The Diocese of San Bernardino has a split personality. Its western reaches around San Bernardino and Riverside are exurbs of Los Angeles, choked with traffic and new construction. Projections suggest that the population of this exploding area will double within the next 10 years, putting enormous pressure on the diocese to build new parishes, provide trained personnel and offer the whole range of pastoral services. To the east, running all the way to Nevada, lie irrigated farmland and the great Mojave Desert, where both water and people are in short supply. Towns and small cities like Blythe, Twentynine Palms and Big Bear Lake host parishes, some with missions of their own, which get by with scant resources. More than forty percent of the population is made up of ethnic minorities, primarily Hispanic, but including Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, Indonesian, Hmong, Guamenian, Samoan and Tongan people. Because San Bernardino has relatively few priests, the bishop has assigned administrators (one deacon, six religious sisters, six lay people) to oversee 13 of the diocese’s parishes and missions.
The Diocese of San Bernardino has:
- 1,183,548 Catholics (43% of total population)
- 107 parishes and missions (19 without resident pastor)
- 85 active priests
2007/2008 Grant
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Contact Information
1201 E. Highland Ave
San Bernardino, California 92404-4641
Telephone: (909) 475-5300
FAX: (909) 475-5155
sbdiocese@sbdiocese.org
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