Roman Catholic Diocese of Juneau Roman Catholic Diocese of Juneau The Roman Catholic Diocese of Juneau (Latin: "Dioecesis Junellensis") is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the northwestern United States, comprising the southeastern part of the state of Alaska. It is led by a prelate bishop which serves as pastor of the mother church, Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the City of Juneau. The diocese of Juneau is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Anchorage. The See of Juneau was canonically erected on June 23, 1951 and took its territory from the former Apostolic
Juneau, Alaska Harrisburg after prospector Richard Harris. On 14 Dec. 1881, a miners' meeting of 72 persons decided to name the settlement Juneau, after prospector Joe Juneau. Perhaps they changed the name to be more distinctive, as another Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. Perhaps because of the pressure of this European encroachment, some Tlingit appealed to the Russian Orthodox Church. It had given services in northern Tlingit settlements in local languages since 1800 and 1824. One of its priests had translated scripture and liturgy into the Tlingit language in the 1830s–1840s. The Tlingit arranged for an Orthodox priest to come to