only 17 priests to staff 46 parishes and missions. On September 17, 2020, Pope Francis suppressed the Diocese of Anchorage and the Diocese of Juneau and erected the Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau. He designated the Diocese of Fairbanks as the only suffragan of the new archdiocese. Francis appointed Zielinksi in 2022 as bishop of the Diocese of New Ulm. As of February 2023, Francis has not appointed a new bishop. Archbishop Andrew Bellisario is serving as the apostolic administrator. Sexual abuse cases In 1969, Bishop Whelan granted the request for Joseph Lundowski, a lay volunteer, to officially distribute communion at St. Michaels Parish in a remote Alaskan village. Lundowski was neither a priest or a deacon. In 1964, Vicar General Father John E. Gurr had received a letter from a priest that complained that Lundowski was sexually abusing boys in his parish. The diocese took no action. After a local resident spotting Lundowski molesting a young boy, he exposed the scandal in the village. The local priest, himself accused later of child molestation, immediately flew Lundowski out of the village. In February 2008, the diocese announced plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It claimed an inability to pay settlements to the 140 plaintiffs who had filed claims against the diocese for sexual abuse by priests or church workers. The Society of Jesus, Oregon Province, was named as a co-defendant in the case, and settled for $50 million. The diocese, which reported an operating budget then of approximately $6 million, claimed that one of the diocese's insurance carriers failed to "participate meaningfully". When the diocese filed for bankruptcy in 2012, it acknowledged that reports of abuse spanned "over the last six decades." Over time, the diocese's list of "credibly accused" clergy grew as well. Bishops and other ordinaries Prefects Apostolic of Alaska Pascal Tosi (1894–1897) Jean-Baptiste René (1897–1904) Joseph Raphael John Crimont (1904–1917), appointed Vicar Apostolic of Alaska Vicars Apostolic of Alaska Joseph Raphael John Crimont (1917–1945) Walter James Fitzgerald (1945–1947) Francis Doyle Gleeson (1948–1951), title changed with change of title of vicariate apostolic Vicar Apostolic of Northern Alaska Francis Doyle Gleeson (1951-1962); Appointed first Bishop of Fairbanks Bishops of Fairbanks Francis Doyle Gleeson (1962–1968) - George Theodore Boileau (Coadjutor Bishop 1964–1965), died before succession Robert Louis Whelan (1968–1985) Michael Joseph Kaniecki (1985–2000) Donald Joseph Kettler (2002–2013), appointed Bishop of Saint Cloud Chad William Zielinski (2014–2022), appointed Bishop of New Ulm