Diocese of Mayagüez


The Diocese of Mayagüez is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in the United States and consists of the western part of the island of Puerto Rico, an American commonwealth. The diocese is led by a prelate bishop, who pastors the mother church in the City of Mayagüez, Catedral Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria in front of the Plaza Colón.
WWW diocesisdemayaguez.org𝕏 mecomayaguez

History

The See of Mayagüez was canonically erected on March 1, 1976, and is a suffragan diocese of the Metropolitan Province of San Juan de Puerto Rico. As of July, 2011 the bishop of the See of Mayagüez was Alvaro Corrada del Rio. He retired on May 9, 2020, and Ángel Luis Ríos Matos was appointed to succeed him.

Ordinaries

The list of the Bishops of Mayagüez and their tenures of service:
  1. Bishop Ulises Aurelio Casiano Vargas
  2. Bishop Alvaro Corrada del Rio, S.J.
  3. Bishop Ángel Luis Ríos Matos

Territory

The Diocese is subdivided into 29 Parishes: 17 originally located at the Diocese of Ponce, eight formerly at the Diocese of Arecibo, and four new parishes. Its jurisdiction includes the municipalities of Aguadilla, Rincón, Aguada, Moca, San Sebastián, Añasco, Mayagüez, Las Marías, Maricao, Hormigueros, Cabo Rojo, San Germán, and Sabana Grande.

Statistics

By the year 2004 its population consisted of 491,518 people, of which 376,000 were baptized, being 76.5% of the total population.

San Juan Archdiocese bankruptcy

On 7 September 2018, Judge Edward Godoy ruled that the bankruptcy filed by the Archdiocese of San Juan would also apply to every Catholic diocese in Puerto Rico, including Mayagüez, and that all would now have their assets protected under Chapter 11.