ANCHORAGE, ARCHDIOCESE OF

The Archdiocese of Anchorage (Ancoragiensis ) in Alaska was established Feb. 9, 1966, from territory taken from the Dioceses of Fairbanks and Juneau; these sees, previously included in the ecclesiastical Province of Seattle, Washington were made suffragans of Anchorage. The Right Rev. Joseph T. Ryan, National Secretary of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, was named the first bishop of the newly created archdiocese and was consecrated in his native city of Albany, N.Y., on March 25, 1966. At the time of its creation, the see had a population of 130,000, of whom 17,000 were Catholics. Upon Archbishop Ryan's transfer to the Military Ordinariate in 1975, Bishop Francis T. Hurley, who since 1971 had been bishop of Juneau was installed as the second archbishop of Anchorage in 1976. In order to reach the distant reaches of the archdiocese (138,985 sq. miles) Archbishop Hurley piloted his own plane. In 1990, he initiated a mission outreach to Magadan, in the Russian Far East, establishing the Nativity of Jesus Parish, the first and only Catholic parish in that city. In 2001, Archbishop Hurley was succeeded by Roger L. Schwietz, OMI, the Coadjutor Archbishop of Anchorage. Before going to Anchorage Archbishop Schweitz had been bishop of Duluth, Minn.

At the beginning of the 21st century, Catholics numbered 32,376, about nine percent of the total population.

[m. p. carthy/eds.]