1675 to 1800

During the 17th century, present day Indiana was part of the French colony of New France. The Diocese of Quebec, which had jurisdiction over the colony, sent French missionaries to the region. The first French Jesuit missionaries came to the Vincennes area around 1675. Historical records show that a Father Mermet arrived in Vincennes around 1712, but the length of his visit is unknown.^[3] The oldest Catholic Church in Vincennes is St. Francis Xavier. established around 1732.^[4]

After the British took control of New France in 1763, the Archdiocese of Quebec retained jurisdiction in the Indiana area. In 1776, the new United States claimed sovereignty over the area of Indiana. In 1787, Indiana became part of the Northwest Territory of the United States.

1800 to 1956

With the creation of the Diocese of Bardstown in Kentucky in 1810, supervision of the Indiana Territory shifted there. In 1827, the bishop of the Diocese of St. Louis assumed jurisdiction in the new state of Indiana. In 1834, Pope Gregory XVI erected the Diocese of Vincennes, which included both Indiana and Illinois. Pope Pius IX created the Diocese of Fort Wayne for Indiana only in 1857, including the Gary area. Gary would remain part of this diocese for the next 100 years.

St. Mary the Immaculate Conception parish, founded in 1867, was the first Catholic parish in Michigan City.^[5] The first Catholic parish in Gary was Holy Angels, established in 1906.^[6][7]

During the first half of the 20th century, many Catholic immigrants arrived in Indiana from Eastern Europe and Mexico to work in the region's growing steel industry.^[8] The Diocese of Fort Wayne founded several native language parishes near the steel mills to accommodate these immigrants.

1956 to 2000

In 1956, Pope Pius XII erected the Diocese of Gary, removing Lake, Porter, LaPorte, and Starke Counties from the Diocese of Fort Wayne. He named Reverend Andrew Grutka of the Diocese of Fort Wayne as the first bishop of Gary. Grutka selected Holy Angels church as his cathedral, renaming it as the Cathedral of the Holy Angels. The new diocese had 129 active diocesan priests, 77 parishes, 60 parish schools and 135,485 Catholics, about 25 percent of the population of the four counties. Grutka retired in 1984.

Pope John Paul II appointed Auxiliary Bishop Norbert Gaughan of the Diocese of Greensburg as the second bishop of Gary in 1984. During his tenure as bishop, Gaughan ordained three priests and started a diocesan newspaper, the Northwest Indiana Catholic. In 1986, he established the Catholic Services Appeal. Gaughan created the “We Can Change the Future” program for the creation of pastoral councils.^[9] After Gaughan suffered a stroke, the pope named Auxiliary Bishop Dale Melczek of the Archdiocese of Detroit in 1995 as coadjutor bishop to assist Gaughan.^[10] When Gaughan retired in 1996, Melczek automatically became bishop of Gary.

2000 to present

In 2002, Melczek published “The Many Faces of Our Church:  a Pastoral Letter on Cultural Diversity” to discuss the contributions of different races and cultural groups to the Catholic church. Melczek followed it up the next year with “Created in God’s Image:  a Pastoral Letter on the Sin of Racism and a Call to Conversion.”^[11]

After Melczek retired in 2013, Pope Francis in 2014 appointed Auxiliary Bishop Donald J. Hying of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee as the next bishop of Gary. In 2016, Hying called the first synod in Gary with the publication of his pastoral letter, “Go, Therefore, and Make Disciples of All Nations”. He began an initiative in 2017 to focus on evangelization, vocations and other topics within the diocese.^[12]

In 2019, Pope Francis named Hying bishop of the Diocese of Madison and appointed Monsignor Robert McClory of the Archdiocese of Detroit to succeed Hying.^[13][14][15] As of 2023, McClory is the current bishop of the Diocese of Gary.

Sex Abuse

In January 2005, the Diocese of Gary diocese was sued by an Orlando, Florida, man who claimed to have been sexually abused by Reverend Richard Emerson. Starting in 1978, Emerson served in the Diocese of Gary, then moved in 1986 to the Diocese of Orlando as a temporary assignment. The plaintiff stated that Emerson sexually abused him as a minor in Orlando during the late 1980s and early 1990s at St. Charles Borromeo Parish. In 1991, Orlando Bishop Norbert Dorsey sent Emerson back to Gary because Dorsey was concerned about Emerson's friendships with two boys. The Diocese of Gary removed Emerson from ministry in 2004 after learning about the accusation from Florida. At Emerson's request, the Vatican laicized him in 2006.^[16]

The plaintiff in the 2005 case claimed that the Diocese of Gary ignored earlier sexual abuse allegations against Emerson during his first residence in Indiana.^[17] The diocese was sued in 2008 by an Indiana man who claimed that Emerson sexually abused him as a minor in White County.^[18] In July 2010, a second Orlando man sued the diocese, claiming that he had been abused as a 15 year old by Emerson in Florida.^[19][20]

In December 2003, Melczek removed Monsignor Don Grass from ministry after he admitted to sexually abusing a preteen girl. The victim reported the incident to the diocese in November 2003, saying that the crime happened during the 1960's while Grass was assigned to Cathedral of the Holy Angels Parish. Grass was never returned to ministry.^[21][22]

The diocese in August 2018 published a list of ten priests with credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors.^[23]

Bishops of Gary

• Andrew Gregory Grutka (1956-1984)
• Norbert Felix Gaughan (1984-1996)
• Dale Joseph Melczek (1996- 2014)
• Donald J. Hying (2014-2019), appointed Bishop of Madison.
• Robert John McClory ( 2019–present)

Coadjutor bishop

Dale Joseph Melczek (1995-1996)

Other diocesan priest who became bishop

Carl Frederick Mengeling, appointed Bishop of Lansing

Elementary schools

• Aquinas School at St. Andrew's – Merrillville
• Nativity of Our Savior – Portage^[28]
• Notre Dame – Michigan City^[29]
• Our Lady of Grace – Highland^[30]
• Queen of All Saints – Michigan City^[31]
• St. Casimir – Hammond
• St. John Bosco – Hammond^[32]
• St. John the Baptist – Whiting^[33]
• St. John the Evangelist – St. John^[34]
• St. Mary – Griffith^[35]
• St. Mary Catholic Community School – Crown Point^[36]
• St. Michael – Schererville^[37]
• St. Patrick – Chesterton^[38]
• St. Paul Catholic – Valparaiso^[39]
• St. Stanislaus – East Chicago
• St. Stanislaus Kostka – Michigan City
• St. Thomas More – Munster^[40]

Closed schools

• St. Catherine of Siena – Hammond^[41]
• Holy Trinity
• Holy Angels, which turned into Sr Thea Bowman
• Blessed Sacrament
• St Peter & Paul

Secondary schools

Colleges

Calumet College of St. Joseph^[45] – Whiting