{"id":160642,"date":"2026-04-08T17:42:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T17:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/160642\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T17:42:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T17:42:13","slug":"bishop-schlert-to-celebrate-mass-of-thanksgiving-for-65th-anniversary-of-allentown-diocese-pottsville-republican-herald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/160642\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishop Schlert to celebrate Mass of Thanksgiving for 65th anniversary of Allentown Diocese \u2013 Pottsville Republican Herald"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALLENTOWN \u2014 Bishop Alfred A. Schlert will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving to mark the 65th anniversary of the Allentown Catholic Diocese at 4:15 p.m. Saturday in the Cathedral of St. Catharine of Siena.<\/p>\n

Carved out of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 1961, the diocese is observing its anniversary with activities throughout the year.<\/p>\n

The Mass of Thanksgiving falls 65 years to the day of the installation of Joseph McShea as the first Bishop of Allentown.<\/p>\n

Named by Pope John XXIII, McShea was installed as bishop of the newly-formed diocese on April 11, 1961. He served as the diocese\u2019s spiritual leader for 22 years until his retirement in 1983.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs his successor, I am deeply grateful for Bishop McShea\u2019s visionary leadership,\u201d Bishop Alfred A. Schlert said. \u201cBishop McShea laid the foundations that continue to guide and sustain the faithful, and his legacy remains a source of inspiration for all of us today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schlert, bishop since 2017, said the diocese is a living witness to faith and charity, nurturing families, strengthening community and fulfilling the mission Bishop McShea envisioned.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BishopBishop Alfred A. Schlert will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving for the 65th anniversary of the Allentown Catholic Diocese on April 11, 2026 in Allentown. (ALLENTOWN DIOCESE)
\nLong time coming<\/p>\n

In 1852, Bishop John Neumann proposed the establishment of a diocese in Pottsville during the 8th Provincial Council in Baltimore, according to the \u201cDiocese of Allentown: A History\u201d by John Hanley.<\/p>\n

Bishop Neumann was willing to become the first Bishop of Pottsville, but the proposal was not approved, Hanley reported.<\/p>\n

It would be more than 100 years before a new diocese would be created from the northern part of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe metropolitan Church of Philadelphia for Catholics of the Latin rite is so extensive in territory and includes so many faithful that it deemed opportune and of great advantage to the Christian community to erect from it another diocese, as one bud sprouting from another,\u201d Pope John XXIII wrote in an apostolic letter dated Jan. 28, 1961. \u201cTherefore, we separate the territory of Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton and Schuylkill counties from which we establish a new diocese to be known as the Diocese of Allentown.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rapid growth in the Lehigh Valley and coal region following World War II created a need for localized pastoral care in a region with 150 Catholic churches with about 244,000 parishioners covering 2,700 square miles, according to Hanley\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

The new diocese had 98 elementary schools with 30,000 students and 14 high schools with 7,000 students.<\/p>\n

The red background on the diocesan shield signifies the suffering of St. Catharine, for whom the cathedral is named, and its two fleurs-de-lis are taken from the coat of arms of Pope John XXIII.<\/p>\n

First shepherd<\/p>\n

In a second apostolic letter, dated Feb. 11, 1961, Pope John XXIII appointed Joseph McShea as one \u201cespecially suited to the labors\u201d of the first Bishop of Allentown.<\/p>\n

Archbishop Egidio Vagnozzi, the Vatican\u2019s Apostolic Delegate to the United States, presented McShea with a crozier, or staff, symbolizing his responsibilities as ecclesiastical shepherd in a ceremony on April 11, 1961.<\/p>\n

McShea gave his first blessing to 800 people in the Allentown cathedral.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am your shepherd, and you are my co-workers and flock,\u201d McShea declared. \u201cThe beautiful strains of sacred music expressed the jubilation that fills our hearts at this historic moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JosephJoseph McShea in procession to St. Catharine of Siena Cathedral for inauguration as the first Bishop of Allentown on April 11, 1961. (ALLENTOWN DIOCESE)<\/p>\n

Schuylkill County Judge James J. Curran and Pottsville Mayor Michael Close were among the dignitaries at the installation.<\/p>\n

Born in Lattimer, Luzerne County, McShea was 53 years old when he was named bishop. Previously, he had been auxiliary bishop in Philadelphia from 1952 to 1961.<\/p>\n

With the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, McShea founded Allentown College of St. Francis DeSales in 1964 \u2013 now DeSales University.<\/p>\n

McShea convened the diocese\u2019s first synod in 1968. He is also credited with founding Operation Rice Bowl to combat famine in Africa, later adopted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.<\/p>\n

He was also instrumental in forming Holy Family Manor, a nursing and rehabilitation facility in Bethlehem, and Holy Family Villa, a Bethlehem retirement home for priests.<\/p>\n

McShea died at age 84 in 1991.<\/p>\n

Following McShea as bishop of Allentown were Thomas J. Welsh (1983-1997); Edward P. Cullen (1997-2009); John O. Barres (2009-2016); and Alfred A. Schlert (2017 \u2013 present).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN \u2014 Bishop Alfred A. Schlert will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving to mark the 65th anniversary of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[119,349,153,155,154,433,182,139,28,231,289],"class_list":{"0":"post-160642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-allentown","9":"tag-berks-county","10":"tag-bethlehem","11":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","12":"tag-bethlehem-news","13":"tag-lehigh-county","14":"tag-local-news","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-pennsylvania","17":"tag-schuylkill-county","18":"tag-things-to-do"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}