The Diocese of Owensboro (Latin: Dioecesis Owensburgensis) is a diocese of the Catholic Church in western Kentucky in the United States. The current bishop is William Medley.
== History ==
=== 1785 to 1937 ===
The first Catholic immigrants to the Kentucky area came from Maryland in 1785. By 1796, approximately 300 Catholic families were living in the new state of Kentucky. Among the early missionaries was Stephen Badin who set out on foot for Kentucky on September 3, 1793, sent by Bishop John Carroll of the Diocese of Baltimore. For the next 14 years Badin traveled on foot, horseback and boat between widely scattered Catholic settlements in Kentucky and the Northwest Territory. For three years, Badin was the only priest in the whole of Kentucky.
In 1808, Pope Pius VII erected the Diocese of Bardstown, covering Kentucky and most of the Northwest Territory. In 1841, Pope Leo suppressed the Diocese of Bardstown, which by this time encompassed only Kentucky. In its place, he created the Diocese of Louisville, with jurisdiction over Kentucky. The Owensboro region would remain part of the Diocese of Louisville for the next 96 years. In 1925, the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph founded Saint Joseph Junior College for Women in Maple Mount.
=== 1937 to 1961 ===
Pope Pius XI erected the Diocese of Owensboro in territory taken from the Diocese of Louisville in 1937. The pope also elevated the Diocese of Louisville to an archdiocese and made the new Diocese of Owensboro as one of its suffragans. Pius XI named Francis Cotton as the first bishop of Owensboro. Cotton had first planned to establish his cathedral in Henderson, Kentucky at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church, but then changed it to Owensboro. The diocese's cathedral is named after St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
After his consecration, Cotton brought the Catholic Students' Mission Crusade, a national organization for helping the poor, to the diocese. By 1942, the diocese had collected over $1 million in supplies for distribution in Europe and China after the ravages of World War II. In February 1943, Cotton held a synod in the diocese to set its laws and constitution. He died in 1960.
After 1945, the Ursuline Sisters opened a second, coed campus of Saint Joseph Junior College in Owensboro. The two campuses were combined in Owensboro in 1950 under the name of Brescia College. It is today Brescia University.
=== 1961 to present ===
In March 1961, Henry Soenneker was appointed the second bishop of the Diocese of Owensboro. After Soenneker retired in 1982, John McRaith succeeded him. He established the diocesan newspaper, The Western Kentucky Catholic, in 1984. McRaith retired in 2009.
The current bishop of Owensboro is William Medley, having been appointed in 2009.
In November 2023, Medley visited Nigeria to thank the families of Nigerian priests serving in his diocese. He had made similar trips to India, Myanmar, and Mexico to thank the families of priests from those nations.
=== Sexual abuse ===
The priest Louis Piskula was arrested on sodomy and sexual abuse of a minor charges in February 2011. The victim had approached the diocese in 2010 and was told to notify the police. After pleading guilty, Piskula was sentenced to five years in prison in 2014. He died in prison in 2018.
In October 2018, the diocese permanently removed Gerald Baker from active ministry after determining that sexual abuse accusations against him were credible. He had been accused by three minors in 2016 when he was serving at St. Mary of the Woods Parish in Whitesville; at that point, the diocese put Baker on temporary suspension.
In April 2019, the diocese released a list of 15 priests who were accused of sexually abusing children while serving in the diocese.
== Bishops ==
=== Bishops of Owensboro ===
Francis Ridgley Cotton (1937–1960)
Henry Joseph Soenneker (1961–1982)
John Jeremiah McRaith (1982–2009)
William Francis Medley (2009–present)
== Education ==
=== High schools ===
Owensboro Catholic High School – Owensboro
St. Mary High School – Paducah
Trinity High School – Whitesville
=== University ===
Brescia University – Owensboro
== References ==
== External links ==
Diocese of Owensboro Official Site