The Diocese of Evansville ( la, Dioecesis Evansvicensis) is a

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Southwestern Indiana Southwestern Indiana is an 11-county region of southern Indiana, United States located at the southernmost and westernmost part of the state. As of the 2010 census, the region's combined population is 474,251. Evansville, Indiana's third-largest ...

. On October 21, 1944, the then- Diocese of Indianapolis was split into the

Archdiocese of Indianapolis The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis ( la, Archidioecesis Indianapolitana) is a division of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. When it was originally erected as the Diocese of Vincennes on May 6, 1834, it encompassed all of ...

and the Diocese of Evansville. At the same time, all of Indiana split away from the Ecclesiastical Province of Cincinnati to form the new Ecclesiastical Province of Indianapolis, of which the Diocese of Evansville is a

suffragan see A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, ...

Statistics and extent

The Diocese of Evansville includes all or part of 12 counties in Southwestern Indiana, (of note Harrison Township in Spencer County, the location of

St. Meinrad Archabbey Saint Meinrad Archabbey is a Catholic monastery in Spencer County, Indiana, USA, was founded by monks from Einsiedeln Abbey in Switzerland on March 21, 1854, and is home to approximately 79 monks. The Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology ...

, is part of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.) As of 2014, it pastorally served 90,800 Catholics (17.8% of 510,626 total) in 69 parishes (grouped into 4 deaneries) and 4 missions with 71 priests (66 diocesan, 5 religious), 59 deacons, 234 lay religious (6 brothers, 228 sisters) and 10 seminarians.

History

The Diocese of Evansville was founded on October 21, 1944, at which time it included 5 deaneries (Evansville, Jasper, Vincennes, Princeton, and Washington), 63 parishes and missions, 49,737 Catholics, and 75 diocesan priests. Henry Grimmelsman, a priest of the

Archdiocese of Cincinnati The Archdiocese of Cincinnati ( la, Archidiœcesis Cincinnatensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese that covers the southwest region of the U.S. state of Ohio, including the greater Cincinnati and Dayton metropolitan ...

and rector of the

Pontifical College Josephinum The Pontifical College Josephinum is a private Roman Catholic seminary and university in Columbus, Ohio. It was founded by Joseph Jessing in 1888 and was granted the status of a Pontifical College in 1892 by Pope Leo XIII, making it the only pont ...

in suburban

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

, was named the first bishop, and Assumption Church in downtown Evansville was named the cathedral. The diocese purchased the John Augustus Reitz Home from the Daughters of Isabella for use as the chancery and bishop's residence. The

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

population of the diocese grew rapidly in the post-war years and 12 new parishes were founded between 1944 and 1962 among suburban areas of Evansville and Jasper and the small towns of Fort Branch and Bloomfield, while mission churches in New Harmony and Oakland City were elevated to parish status. The population growth necessitated the building of new schools as well, and three high schools in Evansville – Mater Dei on the west side, Rex Mundi on the north side, and Magister Noster, a high school seminary – were founded, along with high schools in

Ferdinand Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...

, Loogootee, and

Vincennes Vincennes (, ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is next to but does not include the Château de Vincennes and Bois de Vincennes, which are attached ...

, and a college operated by the Sisters of St. Benedict in Ferdinand. Catholic social institutions also experienced growth with the founding of Memorial Hospital, sponsored by the

Sisters of the Little Company of Mary The Little Company of Mary is a Roman Catholic religious institute of women (also referred to as the Blue Sisters) dedicated to caring for the suffering, the sick and the dying. The order was founded in 1877 in Nottingham, England by Venerable Mar ...

, in Jasper, and the construction of a new facility on Evansville's east side for St. Mary's Medical Center, sponsored by the Daughters of Charity. In contrast to other areas of the diocese, the population of downtown Evansville was experiencing decline, and Assumption Cathedral was closed in 1965. The buildings were razed and the land sold for use in the construction of a new government complex (the federal building stands on the former Assumption site). Holy Trinity church, also downtown, and the home of the chancery since 1957, was named the pro-cathedral, or temporary cathedral. Although the church lost its status as

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

, the old cathedra remains the most prominent feature within the oratory. 1965 also brought the retirement of Bishop Grimmelsman. Paul Leibold, an auxiliary bishop in Cincinnati, was appointed to lead the Evansville diocese. Bishop Leibold left the diocese just over three years later, though, when he was appointed archbishop of Cincinnati. Francis Shea of the Diocese of Nashville was named Evansville's third bishop in 1969. A new mission church was opened in the growing town of Santa Claus in 1967, and in 1970, St. Francis Xavier church in Vincennes, the oldest parish in Indiana, was named a

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

. Although the two nursing homes in the diocese, St. John Home in Evansville and the Providence Home in Jasper, both built expanded facilities in the 1970s, the strong growth of diocesan institutions generally abated in that decade. The recently opened high schools in Ferdinand and Loogootee were sold to the local public school districts. Rex Mundi and Magister Noster High Schools in Evansville were closed; Rex Mundi was sold to

Ivy Tech Community College Ivy Tech Community College (Ivy Tech) is a public community college system in the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the state's public community college system and it has more than 40 locations. It is also the state's largest public postsecondary ins ...

, and the chancery moved from Holy Trinity church to the former Magister Noster building. St. Benedict College in Ferdinand was closed, and the high schools in Vincennes consolidated. In Sullivan County, two mission churches, St. Ann in Shelburn and Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Dugger, closed in 1978 and 1982, respectively. Bishop Shea retired in 1989, and Gerald Gettelfinger, the vicar general of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, was appointed the diocese's fourth bishop. Several parishes built new churches in the 1990s, and the mission in Santa Claus, the last in the diocese, became a parish. As the number of priests in the diocese began to decline and population shifted from rural areas to suburban areas, three rural parishes in Daviess County, St. Patrick in Corning, St. Mary in Barr Township, and St. Michael, north of Montgomery, were closed in 1997. St. Patrick and St. Mary became chapels, while St. Michael was razed. In 1999, Bishop Gettelfinger named St. Benedict, the largest church building in Evansville, as the new cathedral for the diocese, which had not had a permanent cathedral since Assumption was closed in 1965. Recognizing the influx of Latin American Catholics into the diocese, a Hispanic ministry center was opened in 2000. Although the number of priests continued to decrease, the diocese began to ordain several large classes of permanent deacons. In 2008, St. Mary and St. Simon parishes in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

merged to become Our Lady of Hope Parish, and St. Mary church was closed and razed. Faced with a declining number of priests and demographic shifts, the diocese began a formal planning process beginning in 2009 to allocate resources for the future. A new high school, named for Pope John Paul II, was opened in Jasper in 2009; however the school was closed at the end of the 2011/12 school year due to low enrollment. In 2011, Charles Thompson, the vicar general of the Archdiocese of Louisville was appointed the fifth bishop of the diocese, replacing the retiring Bishop Gettelfinger. On July 1, 2014, a decree from Bishop Thompson merged several parishes, since the population no longer demanded as many parishes as it did during the mid-20th century. At the same time, the Diocese returned to enforcing a long-waived rule that no priest may say Mass more than three times on Sunday (including the evening vigil on Saturday), meaning some churches in the newly merged parishes would have no Sunday Masses at all.

Bishops of Evansville

# Henry Joseph Grimmelsmann (1944-1965) #

Paul Francis Leibold Paul Francis Leibold (December 22, 1914 – June 1, 1972) was an American clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in Ohio from 1969 until his death in 1972. Leibold previously served as bi ...

(1966-1969), appointed Archbishop of Cincinnati #

Francis Raymond Shea Francis Raymond Shea was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the third bishop of the Diocese of Evansville in Indiana from 1969 to 1989. Biography Francis Shea was born in Knoxville, Tennessee on December 4, 1913. He ...

(1969-1989) # Gerald Andrew Gettelfinger (1989-2011) # Charles Coleman Thompson (2011-2017), appointed Archbishop of Indianapolis # Joseph M. Siegel (2017–present)

Parishes

''Parish names in bold print. Except where otherwise indicated, a parish consists of a single church bearing the same name.''

South Deanery

* ''

Evansville Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in S ...

Daylight Daylight is the combination of all direct and indirect sunlight during the daytime. This includes direct sunlight, diffuse sky radiation, and (often) both of these reflected by Earth and terrestrial objects, like landforms and buildings. Sunligh ...

, and

Warrick County Warrick County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2020, the population was 63,898. The county seat is Boonville. It was organized in 1813 and was named for Captain Jacob Warrick, an Indiana militia company commander killed ...

'' * Dean: Rev. Phil Kreilein *12 parishes as of July 1, 2016 ''

'' :* St. Benedict Parish (cathedral) :*Resurrection Parish :*Holy Redeemer Parish :*All Saints Parish ::*St. Anthony of Padua Church (parish church) ::*St. Joseph Church :*Annunciation of the Lord Parish ::*Christ the King Church (parish church) ::*Holy Spirit Church :*Good Shepherd Parish :*Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish :*St. Boniface Parish ::*St. Boniface Church (parish church) ::*Sacred Heart of Jesus Church ::*St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr Church :*Sts. Mary and John Parish ::*St. Mary Church (parish church) ::*St. John the Apostle Church '' Boonville'' :*St. Clement Parish ::*St. Clement Church ::*St. Rupert Church, Red Brush ''

'' :*St. John the Evangelist Parish '' Newburgh'' :*St. John the Baptist Parish

North Deanery

* ''

Greene Greene may refer to: Places United States *Greene, Indiana, an unincorporated community *Greene, Iowa, a city *Greene, Maine, a town ** Greene (CDP), Maine, in the town of Greene *Greene (town), New York ** Greene (village), New York, in the town ...

, Knox, Sullivan, Daviess, and

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

Counties''

* Dean: Rev. David Fleck *9 parishes as of July 1, 2016 ''

'' :*St. Francis Xavier Parish ::*St. John the Baptist Church (parish church) ::* The Basilica of St. Francis Xavier (minor basilica) ::*Sacred Heart of Jesus Church ::*St. Thomas the Apostle Church, St. Thomas ::*St. Vincent de Paul Church '' Bicknell'' :*St. Philip Neri Parish '' Bloomfield'' :*Holy Name of Jesus Parish '' Jasonville'' :*St. Joan of Arc Parish ''

Linton Linton may refer to: Places Australia * Linton, Victoria Canada * Linton, Ontario * Linton, Quebec United Kingdom England * Linton, Cambridgeshire * Linton, Derbyshire * Linton (near Bromyard), Herefordshire * Linton (near Ross-on-Wye), Her ...

'' :*St. Peter Parish '' Loogootee'' :*St. John the Evangelist Parish ::*St. John the Evangelist Church (parish church) ::*Immaculate Conception Church, Shoals ::*St. Joseph Church, Bramble ::*St. Martin of Tours Church, Whitfield ::*St. Mary Chapel, Barr Township '' Montgomery'' :*St. Peter Parish ::*St. Peter Church (parish church) ::*All Saints Church, Cannelburg ::*St. Patrick Chapel, Corning ::*St. Michael the Archangel cemetery and property, Daviess County '' Sullivan'' :*St. Mary Parish ''

'' :*Our Lady of Hope Parish

East Deanery

* '' Dubois and Spencer Counties''

* Dean: Rev. Raymond Brenner *12 parishes as of July 1, 2016 ''

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...

'' :*St. Joseph Parish :*Holy Family Parish :*Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ Parish '' Celestine'' :*St. Peter Celestine Parish ::*St. Peter Celestine Church (parish church) ::*St. Raphael Parish, Dubois '' Chrisney'' :*St. Martin I Parish ::*St. Martin I Church (parish church) ::*St. John Chrysostom Church, New Boston '' Dale'' :*St. Francis of Assisi Parish ::*St. Joseph Church (parish church) ::*Mary, Help of Christians Church, Mariah Hill ::*St. Nicholas Church, Santa Claus ''

'' :*St. Ferdinand Parish '' Huntingburg'' :*St. Mary Parish ''

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

'' :*Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish '' Rockport'' :*St. Bernard Parish '' St. Anthony'' :*Divine Mercy Parish ::*St. Anthony of Padua Church (parish church) ::*Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, Schnellville '' St. Henry'' :*St. Henry Parish

West Deanery

* '' Gibson County,

Pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

, and Posey Counties, and

Vanderburgh County Vanderburgh County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 179,703. The county seat is in Evansville. While Vanderburgh County was the seventh-largest county in 2010 population with 179,703 people, it is also the ...

west of

'' * Dean: Rev. Anthony Ernst effective June 29, 2016http://www.themessageonline.org/messagepdf/directories/Yearbook_C_Clergy.pdf *13 parishes as of July 1, 2015 ''

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

'' :*St. Joseph Parish ''Evansville'' :*Corpus Christi Parish '' Ft. Branch'' :*Holy Cross Parish '' Haubstadt'' :*Ss. Peter and Paul Parish '' Mt. Vernon'' :*St. Matthew Parish '' Oakland City'' :*Blessed Sacrament Parish ''Petersburg'' :*Ss. Peter and Paul Parish ''

Poseyville Poseyville is a town in Robb Township, Posey County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 1,045 at the 2010 census. History The town of Poseyville was originally called Palestine when the town was first surveyed and laid out by J ...

'' :*St. Francis Xavier Parish ::*St. Francis Xavier Church (parish church) ::*Holy Angels Church, New Harmony '' St. James'' :*St. James Parish ''St. Joseph'' :*St. Joseph Parish ''St. Philip'' :*St. Philip the Apostle Parish ''St. Wendel'' :*St. Wendel Parish ''Snake Run'' :*St. Bernard Parish

Religious Orders

Several religious orders are active in the diocese: *

Congregation of Divine Providence The Congregation of Divine Providence (or Sisters of Divine Providence) is the name of two Roman Catholic religious institutes of women which have developed from the work of the Blessed Jean-Martin Moye (1730-1793), a French Catholic priest. Th ...

* Daughters of Charity *

Order of St. Benedict , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , found ...

:*Sisters from Monastery Immaculate Conception in

Ferdinand, Indiana Ferdinand is a town in Ferdinand Township, Dubois County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 2,157 at the 2010 census. Ferdinand is part of the Jasper Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Ferdinand was founded in 1840 by Fr. J ...

:*Sisters from Our Lady of Grace Monastery in

Beech Grove, Indiana Beech Grove is a city in Marion County, Indiana, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city's population is 14,192. The city is located within the Indianapolis metropolitan area. Beech Grove is designated an "excluded city" under Indiana la ...

* Poor Clare Sisters, who have a monastery southwest of Evansville *

Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (SBS) are a Catholic order of religious sisters in the United States. They were founded in 1891 by Katharine Drexel as the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People. During her life, Saint ...

* Sisters of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis *

Sons of Divine Providence The Sons of Divine Providence ( it, Figli della Divina Provvidenza), commonly called the Orionine Fathers, is a Roman Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men founded in 1903 by Luigi Orione (1872–1940) in Turin, ...

* The

Little Sisters of the Poor The Little Sisters of the Poor (french: Petites Sœurs des pauvres) is a Catholic religious institute for women. It was founded by Jeanne Jugan. Having felt the need to care for the many impoverished elderly who lined the streets of French towns ...

also served in the diocese at St. John's Home for the Aged, Evansville for 131 years, before selling the home to a private management company in November 2013 due to declining vocations.

Catholic Education

;Primary Schools * St. Benedict School, Evansville * Christ the King School, Evansville * Good Shepherd School, Evansville * Holy Rosary School, Evansville * Holy Spirit School, Evansville * Corpus Christi School, Evansville * Holy Redeemer School, Evansville * Resurrection School, Evansville * Westside Catholic School, Evansville * St. Joseph School, St. Joseph * St. Matthew School, Mt. Vernon * St. Philip School, St. Philip * St. Wendel School, St. Wendel * Holy Trinity Catholic School, Jasper * St. Bernard School, Rockport * St. John the Baptist School, Newburgh * Holy Cross School, Fort Branch * Ss. Peter and Paul School, Haubstadt * St. Joseph School, Princeton * St. James School, St. James * Flaget Elementary School, Vincennes * Washington Catholic Elementary School, Washington ;Secondary Schools * Mater Dei High School, Evansville *

Reitz Memorial High School Reitz Memorial High School or simply Memorial High School (MHS) is an inter-parochial Catholic high school on the east side of Evansville, Indiana. It sits on land bought with money donated by Francis Joseph Reitz in 1922 in memory of his parents ...

, Evansville * Rivet Middle/High School, Vincennes * Washington Catholic Middle/High School, Washington

Healthcare

;Hospitals * St. Vincent (formerly St. Mary's Medical Center), Evansville - Sponsored by the Daughters of Charity * Memorial Hospital, Jasper - Sponsored by the

;Nursing Homes * Providence Home, Jasper - Sponsored by the

Diocesan Arms

References

Former High Schools

Rex Mundi High School Rex Mundi High School was a Catholic high school in Evansville, Indiana. Its name comes from the Latin ''King of the World''. The premises are now used for Ivy Tech Community College. It opened in the fall of 1958 in a rapidly expanding area clos ...

- Evansville * John Paul the Great High School - Jasper