1793 to 1980

Pope Pius VI erected the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas encompassing the pioneer parishes of New Orleans and Louisiana and both Florida colonies in 1793.^[2] After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, all of present-day Louisiana became part of the United States. In 1825, the Vatican renamed the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas as the Diocese of New Orleans.^[2]

During the 1850s, missionaries from Texas and Abbeville started visiting the Lake Charles area. The first Catholic chapel in the area, Saint Francis de Sales, was constructed in 1858. The first parish was organized in 1869.^[3]

Pope Benedict XV erected the Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana on January 11, 1918, with territory taken from the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The new diocese included the Lake Charles area for the next 62 years.

The Church of the Immaculate Conception in Lake Charles was built in 1913.^[3]

1980 to present

Pope John Paul II erected the Diocese of Lake Charles on January 29, 1980, taking its territory from the Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana.^[4] He named Reverend Jude Speyrer as the first bishop of Lake Charles.^[5] Speyrer designated the Church of the Immaculate Conception as the diocesan cathedral. Speyrer retired in 2000 after 20 years as bishop.

The second bishop of Lake Charles was Auxiliary Bishop Edward Braxton of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, named by John Paul II in 2000.^[6] The same pope selected Braxton in 2005 to serve as bishop of the Diocese of Belleville.

The current bishop of the Diocese of Lake Charles is Glen Provost, from the Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana. He was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007, two years after Braxton moved to Belleville.^[7]

Sexual abuse

Police arrested Reverend Mark Broussard in March 2012 on multiple charges of aggravated battery and sexual battery. He was accused of sexually abusing three boys as young as eight years old between 1986 and 1989 at Our Lady Queen of Heaven and St. Henry's Parishes in Lake Charles. Diocesan officials knew that he had had sexual contact with at least four other children, but never reported the crimes to law enforcement.^[8] Broussard left the priesthood in 1995.

Broussard was ultimately charged with ten counts of abuse.^[9] One of Broussard's victims sued the diocese in February 2013. Broussard was convicted in February 2016 of aggravated rape, molestation of a juvenile, and aggravated oral sexual battery.^[10] He was sentenced in March 2016 to 250 years in prison.^[11]

In April 2019, the diocese released a list of 11 clergy with credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors.^[12]

Bishops of Lake Charles

1. Jude Speyrer (1980-2000)
2. Edward Kenneth Braxton (2000-2005), appointed Bishop of Belleville
3. Glen John Provost (2007–present)

Other diocesan priest who became a bishop

Sam Joseph Galip Jacobs, appointed Bishop of Alexandria in 1989