The Diocese of Knoxville (Latin: Dioecesis Knoxvillensis) is a diocese of the Catholic Church in eastern Tennessee in the United States. Founded in 1988, it is a suffragan diocese of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Louisville. The see church is the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Knoxville. The diocese is one of the fastest growing ones in the United States.
== Demographics ==
The Diocese of Knoxville covers most of East Tennessee In addition to the see city of Knoxville, the diocese includes Chattanooga and Johnson City.
As of 2020, there were an estimated 70,000 Catholics within the diocese, which covers approximately 14,000 square miles (36,000 km2).
== History ==
=== 1808 to 1988 ===
In 1808, Pope Pius VII erected the Diocese of Bardstown, a huge diocese in the American South and Midwest. The new state of Tennessee was part of this diocese. The Diocese of Nashville was erected on July 28, 1837, taking all of Tennessee from the Diocese of Bardstown. The Knoxville area would remain part of the Diocese of Nashville for the next 166 years.
With the construction of railroads in Tennessee in the 1840s, Irish Catholic immigrants started moving into the Knoxville area. Sts. Peter and Paul, the first parish in Chattanooga, was erected in 1851. Bishop Richard Niles of Nashville erected Immaculate Conception Parish in 1855, the first parish in Knoxville.
In 1930, the Sisters of Mercy opened St. Mary's Hospital in Knoxville.
=== 1988 to 2010 ===
Pope John Paul II erected the Diocese of Knoxville in 1988, taking its territory from the Diocese of Nashville. Anthony O'Connell of the Diocese of Jefferson City was the first bishop. He transferred in 1998 to be bishop of the Diocese of Palm Beach. The next bishop of Knoxville was Joseph Kurtz of the Diocese of Allentown, beginning in 1999. Kurtz went on to be archbishop of the Archdiocese of Louisville in 2007.
The third bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville was Richard Stika from the Archdiocese of St. Louis, named by Benedict XVI in 2009. That year, the Vatican elevated Sts. Peter and Paul Church to a minor basilica.
=== 2010 to present ===
In September 2014, Stika initiated fundraising to construct a new cathedral in Knoxville. Stika dedicated the new Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on March 3, 2018. In 2016, the diocese began a cause of canonization of Patrick Ryan, a priest who served in Chattanooga in 1870s. In 2021, the diocese transferred his remains from Mount Olivet Cemetery in Chattanooga to the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul.
Public masses were suspended throughout the diocese in March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2020, Stika ordered the resumption of masses with protocols to reduce spread of the virus, including directives prohibiting the reception of communion on the tongue.
In April 2021, an official from the Congregation for Bishops in Rome stated that it had received ten accusations against Stika under Vos estis lux mundi, a motu proprio or document issued by Pope Francis. The accusations alleged administrative misconduct, claiming that Stika impeded or restricted an investigation into accusations of sexual misconduct against Wojciech Sobczuk, a Polish seminarian. The official stated it was likely that the Congregation would authorize Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville to investigate the accusations.
In May 2021, a group of diocesan priests and employees alleged that Stika had taken funds from diocesan education and employee benefit funds, including loan money from the 2020 Paycheck Protection Program, to help pay for the $36 million cathedral. One anonymous priest said "we are nearly bankrupt... there's just not going to be cash there."
Also in May 2021, eleven diocesan priests, roughly 20 percent of the presbyterate, wrote to the apostolic nuncio for the United States, Archbishop Christophe Pierre. They requested that the Vatican provide the diocese with "merciful relief" from Stika's leadership.
Stika's retirement was accepted by Pope Francis in June 2023. Stika said that he had sought early retirement due to health issues and denied claims that the Vatican forced him out. Francis appointed Archbishop Shelton Fabre of Louisville as apostolic administrator for the diocese. In 2024, James Mark Beckman of Nashville became the fourth bishop of Knoxville.
After Hurricane Helene caused massive destruction in East Tennessee in October 2024, Beckman said that the diocesan Catholic Charities branch was working to help survivors.
=== Sexual abuse cases ===
In April 2010, Stika revoked the ministerial privileges of William Casey, a priest assigned to St. Dominic Catholic Church in Kingsport. Warren Tucker had accused Casey of raping him during the 1970s, starting when he was an 11-year-old altar boy. When confronted with these accusations, Casey admitted his crimes to diocesan officials. Casey was convicted of first-degree sexual misconduct and aggravated rape in July 2011 and sentenced to 30 years in prison. The Vatican laicized Casey in 2013.
In February 2021, a male organist at Sacred Heart Cathedral sued the diocese, alleging that he had been raped at his home in February 2019 by Wojciech Sobczuk, a Polish seminarian. The Jesuit Order had dismissed Sobczuk in 2018 after receiving accusations of sexual misconduct at SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Michigan. That same year, Stika invited Sobczuk to study in Knoxville for the priesthood and live at the bishop's rectory.
Shortly following the alleged rape of the organist, Stika sent Sobczuk to St. Meinrad Seminary in St. Meinrad, Indiana. However, St. Meinrad dismissed Sobczuk in February 2021 after receiving multiple new allegations of sexual misconduct. Sobczuk returned to Knoxville to live in the episcopal residence. Diocese officials appointed an independent investigator, but Stika later dismissed him. Stika hired another one, who only interviewed Sobczuk before closing the investigation.
In July 2022, the diocese successfully sought to de-anonymize the Sobczuk victim in court proceedings, going against prior diocesan policy regarding victim privacy. The diocese also attempted to place internal church documents under clergy-penitent privilege and the pontifical secret, going against Vatican instructions.
== Coat of arms ==
== Bishops ==
=== Bishops of Knoxville ===
Anthony Joseph O'Connell (1988–1998), appointed Bishop of Palm Beach
Joseph Edward Kurtz (1999–2007), appointed Archbishop of Louisville
Richard Stika (2009–2023)
James Mark Beckman (2024–present)
=== Other diocesan priest who became bishop ===
James Vann Johnston Jr. appointed Bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau and later Bishop of Kansas City-Saint Joseph
== Education ==
=== High schools ===
Knoxville Catholic High School – Knoxville
Notre Dame High School – Chattanooga
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website
The East Tennessee Catholic Online
Archdiocese of Louisville