As of [update] , the diocese had 92 parishes and 12 missions in its territory. The Diocese of San Bernardino is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Los Angeles. In , the Diocese of San Bernardino reported a population of 1,, Catholics, a 22, increase from the previous year.
The main cause of this increase was thought to be the increasing migration of Hispanics to the area in part due to the economic opportunities and affordable housing in comparison to the rest of California. In , the Spanish split the Province of California into two territories:. Bernardino of Siena. The Franciscans also named the San Bernardino Mountains. The first bishop of the new diocese was Francisco Garcia Diego y Moreno. After ceding Alta California to the United States at the close of the MexicanβAmerican War in , the government of Mexico objected to San Diego, a see city now located in the United States, having jurisdiction over Mexican parishes.
In response, the Vatican divided the Diocese of California into American and Mexican sections in The American section became the Diocese of Monterey; the see city was moved to Monterey because of its more central location.
Francis de Sales, the first parish in Riverside County, was established in In , the Vatican divided the diocese again, with the southern portion becoming the Diocese of Los Angeles-San Diego. During Straling's episcopate, the diocese grew from about , people to ,, and from 85 parishes to Under Barnes, the diocese operated three high schools, twenty-three elementary schools and three pre-schools.
In , Barnes inaugurated the Annual Bishop's Golf Classic to fund scholarships to families who are unable to afford a Catholic education for their children. When Barnes retired in , Rojas automatically succeeded him as bishop. In May seven priests were ordained for San Bernardino, the largest number of ordinations in the diocese's history. Former Monsignor Patrick O'Keefe was charged in August with 15 felony counts of oral copulation with a minor.
