The Diocese of Santa Rosa in California () is a Latin Church diocese, or ecclesiastical territory, of the Catholic Church in the northern California region of the United States. It is a suffragan diocese of the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of San Francisco.

The mother church of the Diocese of Santa Rosa in California is the Cathedral of Saint Eugene in Santa Rosa As of 2023, the current bishop is Robert Vasa.

Territory

The Diocese of Santa Rosa in California comprises Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma Counties, all along the North Coast of California

History

1700 to 1840

During the 18th century, all of California was a Spanish colony, part of the province of Las Californias in the Spanish Viceroyalty of New Spain. In 1804, the Spanish split Las Californias into two provinces:

  • Alta California (Upper California) This included the modern American states of California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, along with western Colorado and southwestern Wyoming.
  • Baja California Territory (Lower California). This consisted of the modern Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur.

After the Mexican War of Independence ended in 1821, Spain ceded Alta California and Baja California to the new nation of Mexico. The first Catholic presence in the area was the establishment of the Mission San Francisco Solano in present-day Sonoma in 1823 by Jose Altamira.

In 1828, a Native American woman was listening to Juan Amoros preaching to a group by a creek near present-day Santa Rosa, now part of Mexico. She stepped forward and asked to be baptized a Christian. Since it was the feast day of Rose of Lima, Amoros baptized her as Rosa and named the creek and its surrounding area as Santa Rosa. The Asistencia Santa Rosa de Lima was established there. The new diocese included both Alta California and Baja California. Gregory XVI set the episcopal see at San Diego in Alta California. The first bishop of the new diocese was Francisco Garcia Diego y Moreno. Moreno designated the Mission Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara as his pro-cathedral.

In 1848, Mexico ceded Alta California to the United States at the close of the Mexican–American War. The government of Mexico then complained to the Vatican about San Diego, now an American city, having jurisdiction over the Mexican parishes in Baja California.Over the following decades, parishes were established in these communities:

  • St. Vincent in Petaluma (1857)
  • St. Bernard in Eureka (1858), the first parish in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties
  • St. John the Baptist in Napa (1859), the first parish in Napa County
  • St. Teresa of Avila in Bodega (1861)
  • St. Anthony in Mendocino (1864), the first parish in Mendocino County
  • St. Helena in St. Helena (1865)
  • St. Joseph in Crescent City (1869)
  • St. Mary in Lakeport (1871)St. Patrick's was established as a mission church in Loleta in 1925.

In 1950, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange collaborated with local civic leaders to open Memorial Hospital in Santa Rosa. It is today Providence Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.The same order in 1958 established Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa. It is today Providence Queen of the Valley Medical Center.

Pope John XXIII erected the Diocese of Santa Rosa in California on February 21, 1962, with territory from the Archdiocese of San Francisco and the Diocese of Sacramento. He named Leo Maher of San Francisco as the first bishop of the new diocese.During his seven-year tenure as bishop, Maher established seven parishes, one mission, three high schools, four elementary schools, and several rectories and convents. He also elevated three missions to parish status and oversaw major renovations of four existing parish churches. Maher became bishop of the Diocese of San Diego in 1969. Hurley established terms of office for pastors and associate pastors, opened a low-income senior residence, and created the Priests' Retirement Fund, Project Hope, and the Apostolic Endowment Fund. He founded the Centro Pastoral Hispano and re-dedicated Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Mission. He became bishop of Fresno in 1991. To replace Steinbock, John Paul II appointed Auxiliary Bishop George Ziemann of Los Angeles. Ziemann submitted his resignation as bishop of Santa Rosa to the Vatican in 1999 after admitting a sexual relationship with a man and being sued by him.

To replace Ziemann, John Paul II appointed Bishop Daniel F. Walsh of the Diocese of Las Vegas in 2000. In 2011, Bishop Robert F. Vasa from the Diocese of Baker was appointed as coadjutor bishop to assist Walsh. When Walsh retired later that year, Vasa automatically succeed him as bishop.

A massive wildfire in October 2017 partially destroyed Cardinal Newman High School and severely damaged Saint Rose Elementary School, both in Santa Rosa. In July 2019, Oscar Diaz, pastor of Resurrection Parish in Santa Rosa, admitted to stealing $95,000 from the parish. Although he was not prosecuted, the diocese permanently suspended Diaz from ministry.In March 2023, after facing nearly 200 sex abuse lawsuits, the diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The diocese in October 2025 put two properties for sale to bolter its finances in the wake of its bankruptcy declaration. The properties were mission churches that were not being used for masses.As of 2026, Vasa is the current bishop of Santa Rosa.

Sex abuse

Bishop Steinbock suspended youth minister Donald Kimball in 1990 after Kimball admitted to having sex with six girls. However, his actions did not become public until a 1997 lawsuit was filed against the diocese by four victims, both males and females. He was laicized in 2000. Kimball was convicted in 2002 of molesting a 13-year-old girl, but the conviction was overturned by the US Supreme Court in 2003.

In 1996, the priest Gary Timmons was convicted on charges of committing lewd or lascivious acts with children and sentenced to four years in prison. Ever since the 1960s, the diocese had transferred Timmons to new parishes and then a summer camp whenever charges of child sexual abuse had been reported.

Bishop Ziemann was sued for sexual battery and defamation in 1999 by Jorge Salas, a diocesan priest. Salas claimed that Ziemann forced him into a sexual relationship in return for not prosecuting him for his theft of funds from a parish. Ziemann denied the charges, but admitted to having a personal relationship with Salas. In 2007, the diocese settled a lawsuit by ten individuals who alleged being sexually abused by Ochoa. The diocese paid them a $5 million financial settlement, including $20,000 donated by Walsh himself.

In 2019, Bishop Vasa published a list of 39 clergy connected with the diocese who had credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors.In March 2023, the Diocese of Santa Rosa filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid numerous sex abuse cases.

Bishops

Bishops of Santa Rosa in California

  1. Leo Thomas Maher (1962–1969), appointed Bishop of San Diego
  2. Mark Joseph Hurley (1969–1986)
  3. John Thomas Steinbock (1987–1991), appointed Bishop of Fresno
  4. George Patrick Ziemann (1992–1999)
  5. Daniel Francis Walsh (2000–2011)
  6. Robert Francis Vasa (2011–present)

Coadjutor bishop

Robert Francis Vasa (2010–2011)

Deaneries

As of 2025, the Diocese of Santa Rosa includes 40 parishes and 22 mission churches served by 37 active diocesan priests and 12 religious priests.It is divided into five deaneries:

  • Humboldt/Del Norte – Del Norte and Humboldt Counties
  • Mendocino/Lake – Lake and Mendocino Counties
  • Napa – Napa County
  • Sonoma North – northern Sonoma County
  • Sonoma South – southern Sonoma County

Education

As of 2023, the Diocese of Santa Rosa has a student enrollment exceeding 3,000.

Elementary schools

As of 2025, the Diocese of Santa Rosa has the following Catholic elementary schools:

  • St. Apollinaris School – Napa
  • St. Eugene School– Santa Rosa
  • St. Francis Solano School – Sonoma
  • St. John the Baptist School – Healdsburg
  • St. Rose School – Santa Rosa
  • St. Mary of the Angels School – Ukiah
  • St. Vincent Elementary School – Petaluma
  • San Jose Sanchez Del Rio School – Fort Bragg

High schools

As of 2025, the Diocese of Santa Rosa has the following Catholic high schools:

  • Cardinal Newman High School – Santa Rosa, independent private school
  • Justin-Siena High School – Napa, operated by the LaSallian Brothers
  • Kolbe-Trinity School – Napa, independent private school
  • St. Bernard's Academy – Eureka, operated by the diocese
  • St. Vincent de Paul College Prep – Petaluma
  • Redwood Memorial Hospital – Fortuna
  • Petaluma Valley Hospital – Petaluma
  • Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital – Santa Rosa
  • St. Joseph Hospital – Eureka

See also

  • Catholic Church by country
  • Catholic Church in the United States
  • Ecclesiastical Province of San Francisco
  • Global organisation of the Catholic Church
  • List of Roman Catholic archdioceses (by country and continent)
  • List of Roman Catholic dioceses (alphabetical) (including archdioceses)
  • List of Roman Catholic dioceses (structured view) (including archdioceses)
  • List of the Catholic dioceses of the United States

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Notes

  • Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa Official Site