Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nassau

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nassau (Latin: Archidioecesis Nassaviensis) is an archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in the Caribbean. The archdiocese encompasses the islands of the former British dependency of the Bahamas. The archbishop is the metropolitan responsible for the Diocese of Hamilton in Bermuda, which is a suffragan diocese, and the Mission sui iuris of Turks and Caicos, and is a member of the Antilles Episcopal Conference.

Archdiocese of Nassau Archidioecesis Nassaviensis
Location
Country	The Bahamas
Territory	The Bahamas
Ecclesiastical province	Province of Nassau
Statistics
Area	13,872 km2 (5,356 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2013) 340,400 50,202 (14.7%)
Information
Denomination	Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	March 21, 1929
Cathedral	St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, Nassau
Patron saint	St. Francis Xavier, St. Therese of Lisieux
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Archbishop	Patrick Christopher Pinder
Map
Website
archdioceseofnassau.org

The first permanent Roman Catholic presence in the Bahamas was established in 1885 by the Archdiocese of New York, given the trade connections between the Bahamas and New York City. The archdiocese was originally erected as the Prefecture Apostolic of the Bahama in March 1929, and was no longer associated with New York by 1932. The diocese was subsequently elevated to the Vicariate Apostolic of the Bahama Islands in January 1941, and then to a full diocese, as the diocese of Nassau, in June 1960. On June 22, 1999, the diocese was again elevated as the new Archdiocese of Nassau.

As of 2004, the archdiocese contains 30 parishes, 15 active diocesan priests, 14 religious priests, and 48,000 Catholics. It also has 28 Women Religious, 14 Religious Brothers, and 13 permanent deacons.

Bishops

Ordinaries

• John Bernard Kevenhoerster O.S.B. (1931–1949)
• Paul Leonard Hagarty O.S.B. (1950–1981)
• Lawrence Aloysius Burke, S.J. (1981–2004), appointed Archbishop of Kingston in Jamaica
• Patrick Christopher Pinder (2004–present)

Auxiliary bishop

• Patrick Christopher Pinder (2003–2004), appointed Archbishop here

References

• Archdiocese of Nassau page at catholichierarchy.org retrieved July 18, 2006