The Diocese of Gary () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in northwest Indiana in the United States. It was founded on December 17, 1956, by Pope Pius XII. Its ecclesiastic territory includes Lake, Porter, LaPorte, and Starke counties. The mother church of the diocese is the Cathedral of the Holy Angels in Gary, Indiana. The Diocese of Gary is one of four suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Indianapolis. History During the first half of the 20th century, many Catholic immigrants came from Eastern Europe and Mexico to work in the region's growing steel industry. A number of parishes were founded near the steel mills so that the newly arrived immigrants could celebrate Mass in their native languages. In 1956 the four counties of Lake, Porter, LaPorte, and Starke belonged to the 18 county diocesan territory of the then named Diocese of Fort Wayne. On December 17, 1956, the region was stunned to learn of the announcement that came from they Holy See that a new diocese was to be erected from those four counties in Northwest Indiana and the newly created Diocese of Gary came into existence. On December 29, 1956, Pope Pius XII announced that he had named then Reverend Andrew Gregory Grutka, pastor of Holy Trinity parish, to be the first bishop of the new Gary diocese. The parish of the Holy Angels was selected to become the new cathedral for the diocese, and became the Cathedral of the Holy Angels. The new diocese, at its establishment, found itself with 129 active diocesan priests, 77 parishes, 60 parish schools and 135,485 Catholics, which was roughly 25 percent of the population of the four counties. As of 2012, four parishes in the diocese still offered Mass in Polish, two parishes in Croatian, one in Hungarian, and one in Lithuanian. Fourteen parishes also offered Mass in Spanish. One location offered the 1962 form of the Roman-Rite Mass. Diocese today Serving the diocese are 105 priests, 67 permanent deacons, 10 religious brothers, and 85 religious sisters who are members of various religious institutes. These priests, deacons and persons religious serve a Catholic population in northwest Indiana of 186,420 in 73 parishes and missions. The diocese also operates several educational, medical, and social service organizations. Educational institutions include 17 elementary schools, 3 high schools, 1 college, and a Catholic