About the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton

Our People, Our Place

The Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton (CAEDM) is a family of Christian disciples, dedicated to serving the mission of the Church by bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to bear on life in our community

Comprised of 445,000 Roman Catholics, the Archdiocese is led by His Grace, Archbishop Richard Smith.

Every Sunday, Mass is celebrated in at least 16 different languages, including Cree, French, Spanish, Polish, Chinese, Croatian, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Italian, Hungarian, Korean, Latin, Sudanese, and American Sign Language.

The Archdiocese covers some 150,000 square kilometres. It includes 58 parishes with resident priests in cities, towns, rural areas and indigenous communities, and another 64 parishes and missions without resident priests. The Archdiocese includes the greater Edmonton area but also covers a geographic region stretching from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the Saskatchewan boundary in the east, from Olds in the south to Grande Cache in the north.

We gratefully acknowledge that the Archdiocese is situated on Indigenous traditional lands

The Archdiocese is located on lands within the Treaty 6, Treaty 7 and Treaty 8 territories of the Alexander First Nation (Cree), Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation (Stoney), Enoch Cree Nation (Cree), Ermineskin Cree Nation (Cree), Louis Bull Tribe (Cree),  Montana First Nation (Cree),  O’Chiese First Nation (Western Ojibwa/Anishinaabe Saulteaux), Paul First Nation (Cree/Stoney),  Samson Cree Nation (Cree), and Sunchild First Nation (Cree).



Our Numbers

Population of Archdiocese: 1,899,097

  • 436,792 Catholics, as self-identified in last federal census *(based on 2016 Canadian Statistics and adjusted by 2% annually)
  • 75,113 families registered with a parish in the Archdiocese
  • 211,229 family members in those parishes

Parishes and Missions: 122

  • 58 Parishes with resident priests
  • 64 Parishes without resident priests

Priests: 126

Permanent Deacons: 40

Religious Sisters: 163

Religious Brothers: 8

Members of Lay Institutes: 5

Lay Missionaries: 15

Seminarians: 12

Seminary: 1

  • 34 Seminarians

Colleges: 2

  • serving 3800 students

Catholic Schools: 304

  • serving 77,005 students

Hospitals: 6

Homes for the aged, chronically ill, invalid and handicapped: 7

  • serving approx. 1980 persons annually

Senior-Assisted Living Centres: 6

  • serving approx. 730 persons annually

Shelters & Services supporting the general protection of life and family:

  • approx. 140 centres serving approx. 70,000+ persons annually
  •  This includes organizations that deal with supports for vulnerable persons and families (couples, single parents, child welfare, domestic violence, drug rehabilitation, immigrants, the poor and needy, etc..)

As of Dec. 31, 2019 Year-end, updated July 2021.