17 Comments
User's avatar
Adam Dupre's avatar

The last paragraph is a JD insert if I’ve ever read one.

Expand full comment
JD Flynn's avatar

I couldn't possibly comment.

Expand full comment
L. Loewenkamp's avatar

Yet another reason to love Las Vegas!

Expand full comment
James Kabala's avatar

I wonder what the long-term plan is for Phoenix. It is now the fifth-largest city in the U.S. and the tenth-largest metro area. To erect it as a province would leave Santa Fe very small. It might be, like Dallas (home of the Stars), a big city permanently in diocese status.

Expand full comment
JD Flynn's avatar

that is my guess, because of the historical significance of Santa Fe.

Expand full comment
Bisbee's avatar

Or could Flagstaff become a diocese (growth wise) with PHX as a Metropolitan See and Tucson as the other Suffragan See?

Expand full comment
Nathaniel L's avatar

A diocese of Flagstaff seems unlikely. The Diocese of Gallup already covers a significant chunk of northeastern AZ, and rightly so, as this area is dominantly Native American and culturally continuous with the rest of the diocese's territory in Western NM.

Expand full comment
vsm's avatar

That cathedral's spaceship interior with its Aztec altar has got to be the one of the ugliest I've ever seen. Surely, the magnificent old crucifix -- which seems to have been stuck on as an afterthought ("Oh, yeah -- this is supposed to be a Catholic church") -- deserves better.

Expand full comment
Bisbee's avatar

It’s been the main church in Vegas for so many years why would it not be the cathedral? Ugliness seems not to be part of the criteria for a cathedral.

Expand full comment
Phil H's avatar

Trivia question: when was the last time a provincial council was held, in the US or anywhere in the world? I'm betting, before the 20th century.

I know Australia just held a national plenary council last year, but those were few and far between in the last 100 years.

Expand full comment
Josh's avatar

Where does one find a list of all the metropolitan archdioceses listed with their suffragan dioceses?

Expand full comment
Josh's avatar

Perfect!

I thought the SPM province seemed big. Turns out I was right and it has the most dioceses of any province in the US.

Expand full comment
KA Byrnes's avatar

This is wonderful news! Vegas is much more in tune with the needs of the region than San Francisco. I love the Cathedral on The Strip. It's so psychedelic and strange, with a large hippie painting behind the altar of Jesus ascending. I've attended many of the parishes there, including one that celebrates the Byzantine Divine Liturgy. The Catholic presence in Sin City is surprisingly vibrant and dedicated. Now I want to go back for a visit!

Expand full comment
Gail Finke's avatar

I think that's where I went to Mass when I was there for a conference -- I am short, and almost everyone at that Mass was Filipino, so it was one of the few times in my life I've felt about the same size as everyone else. It was a very odd looking place but a great Mass.

Expand full comment
Jacqueline G's avatar

Just a Vatican move to weaken San Francisco's Cordileone, whose archdiocese previously included Las Vegas, etc.

Expand full comment
MJ, NorCal's avatar

Agreed.

But to be expected in an era when "Is the Pope Catholic?" begs a new rhetorical response.

Expand full comment