The 60th anniversary edition of The Dialog, published Sept. 19, 2025, included a review of Catholic news from 1965-2025. This is the seventh of 10 parts.
2004
Ursuline Sister Francis de Sales, who taught at Ursuline Academy in Wilmington for 52 years, died at age 100. Father James Trainor, who revitalized St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception-St. Patrick Parish in Wilmington during 28 years as pastor, died at 69.
Bishop Saltarelli traveled to the Vatican to meet with Pope John Paul II for his ad limina visit.
Holy Angels opened its new church in July. It was the first “real” church building for Holy Angels since its founding as a sister church for St. John the Baptist in downtown Newark in the mid-1950s.
Catholic Charities announced it would cease operating its two remaining group homes — Seton Villa in Bellefonte and Children’s Home in Claymont — by the end of the year, but that other services would expand.
Saint Francis Hospital opened its renovated and expanded emergency department.
St. Hedwig Parish in Wilmington celebrated its 100th anniversary.
The diocesan Bringing the Vision to Life capital campaign topped its $50 million goal by almost 10 percent.
Sister Mary Elizabeth Gintling, 89, the foundress of the Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary and its Joseph House Ministries on the lower Eastern Shore, died in October.
2005
The diocese announced that Holy Spirit and Christ Our King schools would close at the end of the academic year. The closings were recommended as part of a report of a steering team on the future of Catholic schools.
Saint Mark’s graduate Stephen McGowan, a combat medic, was killed in Iraq when a rocket buried beneath a road exploded near Ramadi.
Local Catholics remember Pope John Paul II, who died on April 2, and react to the election of Pope Benedict XVI a few weeks later.
St. Joseph Parish in Middletown broke ground for its new church.
The Franciscan Center, a spiritual haven for downtown workers, residents and visitors in Wilmington, closed its doors after 13 years on Market Street.
Three students uprooted by Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana enrolled at Catholic schools in the Diocese of Wilmington.
Approximately 2,400 people traveled to Ocean City, Md., for the first diocesan Eucharistic Congress.
Msgr. Paul J. Taggart, a longtime priest of the Diocese of Wilmington, died. He had served as a pastor, cemeteries director and administrator following the deaths of two bishops among many other roles. He was 86.
Ss. Peter and Paul Parish dedicated its new church along Route 50 in Easton, Md.
2006
Msgr. John Bura, pastor of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church in Wilmington and St. Basil in Chesapeake City, Md., was named auxiliary bishop Ukrainian Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
Books from the library at Holy Spirit School in New Castle, which closed in 2005, were sent to schools in the Archdiocese of New Orleans that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
The diocese began a study of the future of priestly ministry, with the number of clerics declining and the Catholic population growing.
Father Leonard Klein becomes the first married priest in the Diocese of Wilmington. The former Lutheran minister became one of approximately 100 married Catholic priests in the United States.
Msgr. Michael Szupper retired after 42 years of ministry at the University of Delaware. Two Dominican priests assumed responsibility for St. Thomas More Oratory and campus ministry.
St. Elizabeth Church in Westover, Md., celebrated its centennial.
Saint Edmond’s Academy in Brandywine Hundred unveils its new addition, which includes a gymnasium, theater, classrooms, chapel and science center.
Thirty-nine men and women were inducted into the diocese’s first Knights of Peter Claver council, a fraternal organization for Black Catholics to share their faith and spiritual gifts.
Bishop Saltarelli released the names of 20 priests — 18 from the Diocese of Wilmington and two others who had served here — who had been credibly accused of abuse.
2007
Cathy Weaver was named superintendent of Catholic schools for the diocese. She had been an assistant superintendent since 2002.
Senior Airman Elizabeth A. Loncki, 23, a graduate of Padua Academy, was killed in the line of duty in Iraq. She was a member of St. Peter the Apostle Parish.
Bishop Saltarelli declared 2007 the Year of Catechesis in the diocese. Catechesis is the process of teaching the faith.
Nexus, the annual diocesan high school youth conference, was held for the last time after more than 20 years.
Catholic Youth Ministry of the Diocese of Wilmington celebrated 75 years with a banquet at the Chase Center on the Riverfront.
Oblate Father Mario Bugliosi, who spent nearly a half century ministering in Wilmington at St. Anthony of Padua Parish, died May 1 at age 87.
The Shrine of Our Lady Queen of Peace, a 32-foot statue of the Blessed Mother created by local sculptor Charles Parks, was dedicated in late May. It was the culmination of a 25-year effort by local Catholics.
St. Hedwig School in Wilmington closed after 116 years.
Celebrations in the diocese included St. Elizabeth Parish in Wilmington (100 years), St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Wilmington (150 years) and St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Georgetown (50 years).
St. John Neumann in Ocean Pines, Md., became an independent parish, the diocese’s 58th.
St. Margaret of Scotland Parish dedicated its new church on Route 40 at Frazer Road in Glasgow, and St. Joseph Parish in Middletown did the same at its new church on Route 299.
2008
St. Paul Parish in Delaware City began the celebration of its centennial.
Four hundred people from the Diocese of Wilmington were among the 40,000 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., for a Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI.
The diocese announced that St. Helena and Holy Rosary schools would merge after the school year ended. The new Pope John Paul II School would be located on the grounds of St. Helena Parish in Bellefonte.
St. Thomas the Apostle School in Wilmington closed after 105 years.
Auxiliary Bishop W. Francis Malooly of Baltimore was introduced as the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington in July. He was installed in September.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Roxana, a mission of St. Ann’s in Bethany Beach, was dedicated.
Serviam Girls Academy, a tuition-free middle school, opened in Wilmington.
2009
Bishop Malooly dedicated the new St. Christopher Church in Chester, Md. It seats 850, compared to 200 in the old church.
In Wilmington, St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish closed after 96 years.
Joe O’Neill, a guidance counselor and coach at Saint Mark’s High School since its opening in 1969, died at age 61.
Msgr. John O. Barres, the diocesan chancellor, was named bishop of the Diocese of Allentown, Pa. He became the first priest from Wilmington to be appointed a bishop while still serving in this diocese.
Bishop Malooly opened the Year for Priests during a vespers service at St. John the Apostle in Milford.
St. Francis de Sales Parish in Salisbury, Md., opens its long-awaited parish center.
Michael Marinelli, a graduate of Archmere Academy, became the school’s first non-Norbertine headmaster.
Little Sisters of the Poor in the Diocese of Wilmington rejoiced when their founder, Jeanne Jugan, was canonized.
The diocese mourned the death of Bishop Saltarelli at the age of 77. He was remembered for his pastoral approach.
The Diocese of Wilmington, facing an increasing number of lawsuits related to the clergy sexual-abuse crisis, filed for bankruptcy.
