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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington is a Particular Church of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States . It is comprised of the District Of Columbia and Calvert , Charles , Montgomery , Prince George's and Saint Mary's Counties in the state of Maryland . The Archdiocese of Washington is home to the Catholic University Of America , the national Catholic university operated by the United States bishops. It is also home to the Basilica Of The National Shrine Of The Immaculate Conception , a prominent Minor Basilica dedicated to the nation's Patron Saint . PRELATURE The Ordinary of the Archdiocese of Washington is an Archbishop whose Episcopal See is located at St. Matthew's Cathedral in the City Of Washington . The Archbishop of Washington concurrently serves as Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Washington. Its sole Suffragan Bishop is the Diocese Of Saint Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands . The first Archbishop of Washington was Michael Joseph Curley in 1939 . The current Archbishop of Washington is Theodore Cardinal McCarrick , who has held that post since 2000 . HISTORY The Archdiocese of Washington often prides itself in sharing the fact that the Society Of Jesus celebrated the first Mass in the United States on its shores in 1634 . During the colonial era however, Catholics would remain a persecuted people suffering the wrath of oppression allowed by local penal laws. Upon the establishment of the United States by its founding fathers, the Holy See appointed a Jesuit , John Carroll , to be the first bishop of the newly created diocese which would later become the Archdiocese Of Baltimore . The Prefecture Apostolic of the United States, as the entity was known then, had jurisdiction over all American Catholics including present-day City of Washington. In 1939 , Pope Pius XII separated the City of Washington from the Archdiocese of Baltimore and created the joint Archdiocese of Baltimore-Washington. The process of separation was officially concluded on November 15 , 1947 . The independent Archdiocese of Washington was established on October 12 , 1965 , becoming a metropolitan see of its own. ORDINARIES # Patrick Cardinal O'Boyle ( 1947 – 1973 ) # William Wakefield Cardinal Baum ( 1973 – 1980 ) # James Cardinal Hickey ( 1980 – 2000 ) # Theodore Cardinal McCarrick ( 2000 – Present ) RESOURCES
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