Knoxsville Tennessee Gets A New Bishop

The Diocese of Knoxville has got a new Bishop this morning. That is Msgr Richard Stika, the longtime vicar-general of the "Rome of the West," AKA Saint Louis The Dicoese of Knoxville is one of those dynamic ones.


Whispers has the story at Rich It Is -- Western "Rome" Meets East Tennessee


On the Diocese Whispers notes:

"Founded in 1988, the Knoxville church comprises just 2% of its area's total population, but stands in the front rank of the Stateside church's ever-burgeoning Southern emergence. Encompassing some 47 parishes and 10 schools spread over 14,000 square miles of Volunteer Country, the growing, energetic diocese has more than doubled in size since 1990. Its seven seminarians may not sound like much, but a diocese of a million members would need 140 men in formation to have a contingent of equal proportion; widely celebrated for his efforts at energizing the turf and bulking up its ordained ranks, Kurtz ordained three priests and 29 permanent deacons in his final weeks before leaving for Louisville. Just in recent weeks, one booming parish near the see city opened a new 900-seat, $11 million church built in the Romanesque style"

I have highlighted that beautiful Church before