The Catholic Weekly - The Catholic Times at 1520 Court Street, Saginaw, MI 48602 US - History of the Diocese of Saginaw, Part II

In these years following World War II, the church of Saginaw (like most U.S. dioceses)underwent tremendous growth, with new parishes and missions. In 1956, the CapuchinFathers agreed to erect Queen of Angels Retreat House to serve the spiritual needs of people and priests of the area. Since the establishment of the Saginaw diocese, the education of seminarians was a major concern of its bishops. In 1956, Bishop Woznicki's advisors voted to establish a six-year boarding school for the high school and junior college years of seminarians. The official founding of St. Paul's Seminary took place in 1957, the same year that Fr. James A. Hickey was appointed its rector. In 1961, the seminary opened. Lack of vocations forced it to close in 1970. The building is now the diocesan headquarters and home to Nouvel Catholic Central High School.Bishop Woznicki died in 1968, and was succeeded by Bishop Francis Reh from the Diocese of Charleston, S.C. As the implementer of Vatican II for the Saginaw Diocese, Bishop Reh established a Clergy Personnel Board to aid him in clergy assignments. A tenure policy limited priests' assignments to a nine-year maximum. The former four-deanery division of the diocese was multiplied into 12 vicariates. The time-honored tax quota system for diocesan support (employed by many dioceses) was made over into a Catholic Services Appeal directly to the people for their voluntary contributions. In 1975, Bishop Reh renovated and liturgically updated his Cathedral Church of St. Mary .He also established a Diocesan Pastoral Council of lay advisors to himself, as well as an advisory Senate of Priests. Also developed was a Liturgy office, a Finance Board, Latin American Affairs department, Black Catholic Concerns department, and a Human Services Council. In 1971, the Diocese of Saginaw underwent another change when Pope Paul VI formed the new Diocese of Gaylord from the northern part of the Saginaw Diocese. Although Clare and Isabella Counties were added to Saginaw diocesan territory, the re-alignment dropped the diocese from 16 counties to 11 counties which spread across mid-Michigan into the Thumb area. Over the years, three men from the Saginaw diocese have gone on to serve the Church as bishops: Cardinal James A. Hickey (retired archbishop of the Washington, D.C. Archdiocese), Kenneth J. Povish (retired bishop of the Lansing Diocese, Mich.), and Bishop Joseph V. Adamec of Altoona-Johnstown, Pa.. In 1980, Kenneth E. Untener, who was serving as rector of St. John's Provincial Seminary in Plymouth, Mich., was appointed by Pope John Paul II as the fourth bishop of Saginaw.Almost immediately upon his arrival, he moved from the Bishop's Mansion, and began the practice of residing in the rectories of the diocese to better acquaint himself with life in the diocese. He continues the practice today. In 1982, the bishop initiated a Come Home program at Christmas time to invite alienated Catholics back to the Church. He has also worked to re-establish the traditional practices of Lent, and to encourage church vocations. In the 1990s, he established a commission for women, a diocesan Office for Stewardship and Development, a Catholic Schools Foundation, and a new Center for Ministry which is located next to the diocesan offices. Bishop Untener lost a corageous battle with cancer early in 2004 and the people of the Saginaw Diocese waited patiently for word from Rome on the naming of a successor. That announcement came in December of 2004 when The Most Rev. Robert J. Carlson, bishop for the Diocese of Sioux Falls, S.D. was asked by the Vatican to become Bishop of Saginaw. Bishop Carlson's installation took place on Thursday, February 24, 2005 at St. Mary Cathedral. He has been an active and progressive leader for the Diocese of Saginaw. In just two-years, Bishop Carlson has initiated a Catholic Foundation for the diocese which has raised hundred's of thousands of dollars for Catholic education.

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