History of the Diocese of Stockton

The Diocese of Stockton was formed on January 13, 1962 on Californian territories split off from the Archdiocese of San Francisco and from the Diocese of Sacramento.  In 1966, it gained more territory from the Diocese of Sacramento.

The Dio­cese is comprised of six counties: San Joaquin, Stanis­laus, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Alpine, and Mono.  It covers over 10,000 square miles with a total pop­u­la­tion of over 1.3 million peo­ple.  There are 85 active priests that ser­vice thirty-five parishes and four­teen missions.

Calav­eras, Tuolumne, and Alpine coun­ties are located on the west­ern side of the Sierra Nevada moun­tain range. Most parishes in these coun­ties date back to the gold rush days. Mono County is on the east­ern side of the Sierra Nevada Moun­tain range and is usu­ally cut off from the rest of the dio­cese dur­ing win­ter. The parish church located in Mam­moth Lakes pro­vides for the spir­i­tual care of vaca­tion­ers dur­ing the win­ter and summer.The largest racial/ethnic groups in our Dio­cese are White and Hispanic. There are also many of Fil­ipino and South East Asian descent. The largest Azorean Por­tuguese pop­u­la­tion out­side the Azores is found in the Dio­cese of Stockton.

Six Bishops have served the Diocese of Stockton:

1. Hugh Donohoe (1962-1969), appointed Bishop of Fresno
2. Merlin Guilfoyle (1970-1979)
3. Roger Mahony (1980-1985), appointed Archbishop of Los Angeles, (elevated to Cardinal in 1991)
4. Donald Montrose (1985-1999)
5. Stephen Blaire (1999-2018)
6. Myron Cotta (2018-present)