However, the colony did require any Catholics seeking public office to take an oath declaring mass to be idolatrous and denying the presence of Christ in the eucharist.

In 1787, James Pellentz traveled from Baltimore up the Susquehanna River into northeast Pennsylvania to minister to the Catholics scattered throughout the region.

[11] The Diocese of Scranton was erected on March 3, 1868, by Pope Pius IX, taking its territory from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

[12] By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Slavic and Italian immigrants, attracted by jobs in the coal-mining industry, comprised half of the Catholic population in the diocese.

In 1871, O'Hara removed Michael P. Stack from his position as pastor of the Church of the Annunciation Parish in Williamsport due to financial mismanagement.

[13][14] In 1896, Pope Leo XIII appointed Michael Hoban as coadjutor bishop of the diocese to assist O'Hara.

The English-speaking miners in the parish were suspicious of an influx of Polish immigrants into the mine fields, fearful that they would drive down wages.

[16] When O'Hara died in 1899 after 31 years as bishop, the diocese had a Catholic population of 125,000, with 78 churches, 130 priests, and 40 parochial schools with 12,000 students.

After Hoban's death in 1926, Pope Pius XI named Monsignor Thomas O'Reilly from the Diocese of Cleveland as the third Bishop of Scranton.

Monsignor Jerome Hannan of the Diocese of Pittsburgh became the next bishop of Scranton, named by Pope Pius XII in 1954.

[25] During his tenure, Timlin held the Second Diocesan Synod, established the Bishop's Annual Appeal and presided over a major restructuring of parishes as a result of the priest shortage.

He introduced a new policy for Catholic schools consisting of regional mergers, construction of modern facilities, new fundraising efforts and a more equitable sharing of operational costs between parents, pastors and the diocese.

[25] In 1985, Timlin announced that he would boycott two events honoring Catholic congressmen because of their support of abortion rights for women.

The first event honored Democratic representative Peter W. Rodino Jr. at a St. Patrick's Day dinner in Lackawanna County.

The second event was the awarding of an honorary degree to Democratic Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill Jr. at a commencement ceremony at the University of Scranton.

[26] In 2003, Timlin refused to attend the commencement ceremonies for the University of Scranton because of the pro-choice stance of honorary-degree recipient Chris Matthews.

In January 2009, Martino announced that, due to a priest shortage and diminishing financial resources, the Diocese of Scranton would either close or consolidate almost half of its 209 parishes.

[31] When the presidents of four Catholics universities and colleges in the diocese asked to meet with Martino, he demanded to see syllabi of all their courses on religion, faith and morals.

[40] In July 2018, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered the public release of a redacted copy of the grand jury report.

[41] In August 2018, Bishop Bambera stated that he would cooperate with the investigation and publish the list of "credibly accused clergy".

[42] The grand jury report later that month showed 59 clergy from the diocese with credible accusation of sexual abuse of children.

[44] The 2018 grand jury report had criticized Timlin's handling of sexual abuse allegations against Thomas Skotek, a priest at St Casimir Parish in Freeland.

In October 1986, after Timlin learned about the crime, he sent Skotek to Saint Luke Institute in Silver Spring, Maryland for psychological evaluation.

[44] In August 2018, King's College in Wilkes-Barre announced that it was removing McCormick's name from the chapel and campus ministry.

The third plaintiff claimed abuse by Ralph N. Ferraldo, an assistant pastor at Our Lady of Grace Parish in Hazleton from 1982 to 1983.