On March 2, Pope Francis appointed Msgr. Jerome Feudjio, the former vicar general of the Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands and rector of the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul, to lead the Diocese of St. Thomas as bishop. The change came following former Bishop Herbert Bevard’s unexpected health complications and resignation in September 2020. The Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands includes the islands of St. Thomas, St. Martin, St. Croix, and Water Island in the Caribbean.
Jerome Feudjio grew up in Cameroon, attended Catholic school, and later earned a degree in bookkeeping. He was a postulant for the Congregation of the Fathers of the Sacred Heart and attended major seminary in Cameroon before travelling to the United States in 1980. There, he met then-Father Séan O’Malley—now Cardinal of the Archdiocese of Boston—in Washington D.C., who invited him to stay at the San Francisco House, the Archdiocese of Washington’s Spanish Catholic center. Feudjio made temporary vows with the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in 1987, and at Southern Illinois University, he pursued further studies in rehabilitation administration while interning at a transitional house to help former inmates adjust to society.
In 1985, O’Malley was ordained coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, where he was serving when Feudjio arrived in 1988. Feudjio has been ministering to the 30,000 Catholics of the U.S. Virgin Islands for more than thirty years, serving as campus minister at Sts. Peter and Paul School, diocesan vocations director, finance officer, administrator, and chancellor.
How are dioceses assigned for U.S. territories?
All dioceses are grouped into ecclesiastical provinces, comprising suffragan dioceses and a metropolitan see or archdiocese. For example, the Province of Boston includes the Archdiocese of Boston and suffragan sees in Portland, Burlington, Manchester, Springfield, Fall River, and Worcester. Stateside, it is easy to group dioceses into provinces, but how does it work for territories and islands far removed from any large archdiocese?
The Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Washington in the District of Columbia, headed by Cardinal Wilton Gregory. The Territorial Prelature of the Virgin Islands, established in 1960, was elevated to diocese status in 1977, becoming the Diocese of St. Thomas. It is the only suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Washington.
The U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has its own archdiocese and several suffragan dioceses. The Apostolic Prefecture of Mariana Islands was first established in 1911, and when it was raised to diocese status as the Diocese of Agana in 1965, it was suffragan to the Archdiocese of San Francisco—six thousand miles away! Today, the Metropolitan Province of Agana includes the Archdiocese (est. 1984) and suffragan sees of Chalan Kanoa, Caroline Islands, and the Apostolic Prefecture of the Marshall Islands.
The lines are not drawn entirely along national boundaries: American Samoa is home to the Diocese of Samoa-Pago Pago, which is a suffragan see of the Independent State of Samoa’s Archdiocese of Samoa-Apia. The Archdiocese of Agana, Diocese of Samoa-Pago Pago, and Archdiocese of Samoa-Apia are members of the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific, but only the Archdiocese of Agana is an observer to the USCCB. The bishops of the six dioceses in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico form their own Puerto Rican Episcopal Conference.
While the authority of an archbishop over suffragan sees is limited, Cardinal Wilton Gregory has been vocal in expressing his support for the appointment of Bishop Jerome Feudjio to his archdiocese’s suffragan see. He told CNA, “Bishop-Elect Jerome is no stranger to the people of the diocese. His long history of service and pastoral dedication to the people of this community of faith are well known and widely respected.”
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