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The Diocese of Victoria was established on May 29, 1982, with the Most Rev. Charles V. Grahmann being installed as the first bishop of the newly created diocese. The Rev. David E. Fellhauer was appointed Bishop of Diocese of Victoria on April 7, 1990. He was ordained and installed as bishop of the Diocese of Victoria on May 28, 1990. The Rev. Brendan J. Cahill was ordained and installed as the third bishop of the Diocese of Victoria on June 29, 2015.
The Diocese of Victoria is comprised of the counties of Calhoun, DeWitt, Goliad, Jackson, Lavaca, Matagorda, Victoria, Wharton, Colorado and the part of Fayette county west of the Colorado River. There are six deaneries in the Diocese of Victoria: Cuero, Edna, El Campo, Hallettsville, Schulenburg and Victoria.
The Diocese of Victoria includes more than 119,600 registered Catholics with a total population of 292,229
Our official newspaper, The Catholic Lighthouse is mailed to over 6,000 homes and is available online. Diocese of Victoria social media currently includes Facebook, Diocese of Victoria.
In addition to its 50 parishes and 17 missions, the Diocese of Victoria owns and operates the Presidio La Bahia in Goliad, Texas. The diocese sponsors 12 diocesan private and parochial elementary schools and 1 private and 2 parochial high schools. These Catholic schools, educate more than 3,000 youth.
The Diocese also sponsors a Catholic counseling center, The Emmaus Center, Counseling in the Catholic Tradition.Founding of the Diocese
The first diocesan offices were known as The Catholic Center and were located at 2007-A North DeLeon Street in Victoria, Texas. In March of 1984, the bishop’s office was moved to the Central Park Plaza Building on Commerce Street, joining the offices of the business manager, chancellor and tribunal, catechetical ministry and youth ministry.
All personnel moved into the current chancery building on August 15, 1985. The building, located at 1505 East Mesquite Lane, was dedicated on September 8, 1985.
The offices of the bishop, chancellor, tribunal, business, Catholic schools, catechetical ministry, vocations, communications/the Catholic Lighthouse newspaper, Victoria Catholic Cemetery, disaster services and youth are housed at the chancery. A chapel and library are also part of the building.
Bishop Grahmann was appointed coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Dallas on December 18, 1989, and was installed as coadjutor Bishop of Dallas on February 21, 1990. From February 21, 1990, the Reverend Monsignor Thomas C. McLaughlin served as administrator of the Diocese of Victoria.
The Reverend David E. Fellhauer was appointed Bishop of Victoria on April 7, 1990. He was ordained and installed as bishop of the Diocese of Victoria on May 28, 1990. Bishop Fellhauer came to Victoria from the Diocese of Dallas where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1965 and had served most recently as judicial vicar of the Dallas Diocese.On April 23, 2015, Pope Francis accepted Bishop David E. Fellhauer's resignation as bishop of the diocese. On that same day the pope appointed as the new bishop of the Diocese of Victoria, the Rev. Brendan J. Cahill, a priest of the Archdiocese of Galvestion-Houston.
The Rev. Brenden J. Cahill was appointed Bishop of Victoria and ordained and installed as the third Bishop of the Diocese of Victoria Texas, June 29, 2015. Bishop Cahill was an Administrator at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Houston, Texas, and served in the Archdiocese of Houston-Galveston.Geography of the Diocese
The Diocese of Victoria is comprised of the counties of Calhoun, DeWitt, Goliad, Jackson, Lavaca, Matagorda, Victoria, Wharton, Colorado and a portion of Fayette county west of the Colorado River. The Archdiocese of San Antonio contributed all of the parishes of the El Campo, Schulenburg and Victoria deaneries to make up the Diocese of Victoria. The former Hallettsville deanery is included in the diocese with the exception of St. James Parish, Gonzales; Sacred Heart Mission, Gonzales; and St. Patrick Mission, Waelder.
The Galveston-Houston Diocese gave the following parishes and missions to Victoria: Holy Cross Parish, Bay City and its mission, Sacred Heart, Wadsworth; Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, Bay City; Holy Cross Parish, East Bernard; St. John the Baptist Parish, Hungerford; Holy Family Parish, Wharton and its mission St. Joseph, Boling; and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Wharton.
The Corpus Christi Diocese added Immaculate Conception Parish, Goliad, and the missions of Immaculate Heart of Mary, Berclair; Our Lady of Guadalupe, Charco; Our Lady of Assumption, Fannin (all three no longer open); and the old Franciscan Presidio La Bahia, Our Lady of Loreto, Goliad.
In December of 1989 the following parishes entered our diocese from the Diocese of Austin: Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish and Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, Eagle Lake; Sts. Peter and Paul Parish, Frelsburg; and St. Roch Parish, Mentz. On March 1, 1995, Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Our Lady of Guadalupe were joined and merged. The parish was named The Parish of the Nativity.
There are six deaneries in the Diocese of Victoria: Cuero, Edna, El Campo, Hallettsville, Schulenburg and Victoria.
