GRAND ISLAND, DIOCESI of. — Diocese in the United States of America, in Nebraska. The diocese was erected on 8 March 1912 with its name and see in Kearney, by division from the diocese of Omaha, and as a suffragan of Dubuque. On 11 April 1917 the see was transferred to G. I., and it was constituted a suffragan of Omaha; the church of St. Mary was erected as the cathedral.
The diocese extends over 14,875 sq. km., with a population of 296,076, of whom 29,753 are Catholics distributed among 53 parishes, with 83 diocesan priests, 3 religious priests, one seminary, one male religious community, and 23 female ones (1949). In 1946 there were 245 conversions.
BIBL.: AAS, 4 (1912), p. 337; 9 (1917), pp. 230–31; The Official Catholic Directory 1947, New York 1947, pp. 468–70.
Enrico Josi