Diocese of Sioux City celebrates 100 years
Letter from Bishop DiNardo

Posted June 13, 2002

Dear friends in Christ,

I am happy to write this letter for the special issue of The Globe marking our centennial as a diocese. On June 16 we will officially celebrate this jubilee; the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio, Most Reverend Gabriel Montalvo, the pope's official representative in the United States, will remind us of the deep ties of communion this local church in Northwest Iowa has with the universal church. It was Pope Leo XIII who created this diocese in January of 1902.

We want to assure our present Holy Father of our affection and loyalty. Our praise and thanks go to the Lord for his presence and guidance of this diocese for a century of Catholic life and faith, but that life and faith has been nurtured through the work and care of the Roman See, which presides in love over all the local churches.

As a relative newcomer to this diocese and to Iowa, I want to express my own gratitude to the generations of Catholics who came to this land and built up the church and continue to do so together with the priests, deacons and religious who have played such a prominent role in helping the faithful people of this diocese grow and increase in witnessing to the Lord and their Catholic faith.

I would be remiss if I did not add thanks to the Archdiocese of Dubuque, which cared for this future diocese for almost 50 years before it was erected. That thanks extends to the parish at Jackson, Neb. and to Jefferson, S.D., which supplied pastoral care in the early days of Sioux City itself.

Our sister dioceses of Des Moines and Davenport also helped this local church. The hallmark of our current joy is also gratitude for Catholics near and far that helped this diocese to become a place of prayer, proclamation, sacramental life, education and outreach to the poor, needy and distressed.

Many nationalities and ethnic groups have found a home in the Diocese of Sioux City though the earliest settlers were Irish and German. Though there was eventual welcome for all, such welcome was not won without skirmishes, part of the human fabric of the church, a church that is always holy and divine because of its founder, Jesus Christ, and because of many holy members, but also a church very human, full of sinners and constantly subject to a reform towards holiness.

It is my hope that the lessons from the past will teach us to be very welcoming to our newest members, who especially come from Mexico and other Latin American countries and from Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam. They are significant in numbers and I pray that they will join so many others who came from Ireland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Bohemia, France, Canada, Poland, the Netherlands, Croatia, Lithuania, Italy, Lebanon, Syria and a countless host of other places of which I am unaware, and help to constitute a great mosaic of one Catholic faith.

Many priests have labored in this diocese since the earliest days of settlement, perhaps as many as 900+ active priests since the early 1800s. Some are well known while the work of others remains relatively unknown except to the Lord. We thank them. No less heroic has been the pastoral contribution of thousands of women religious who have come here from a wide variety of religious communities. The remarkable perseverance and zeal of the earliest nuns who came here in the 1860s is outstanding, and such work continues until now. The permanent deacons are a more recent ministry, but, for that reason, no less essential to our pastoral efforts.

The activities of this diocese in education, health care, social services and outreach are a splendid legacy of its past, and I hope that the institutions such as our Catholic schools, our one university, our three hospitals, nursing homes, our Catholic Charities as well as the various fraternal groups and associations like the Knights of Columbus, the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women, etc. will continue to thrive.

There is a great splendor and richness to diversity and multiple activities. But the greatest splendor is that of the simplicity of our faith centered on Jesus Christ. There is no other name under heaven by which we are saved and delivered and made holy. It is our joy and the center and summit of our lives to meet and encounter him personally and completely - "until he comes" - in the Eucharist. Nurtured by his Body and Blood we are equipped for our pilgrimage of faith and action in the world and for the life of the world. Despite any setbacks, personal or institutional, we can move with conviction and assurance, since by faith we know it is not our action that is leading but the action of the Holy Spirit. All praise to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

May the prayers of the Mother of God and all the saints spur us on in our next century of Christian faith and life.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

†Most Rev. Daniel N. DiNardo
Bishop of Sioux City