Roman Catholic Diocese of Evansville

Pope Pius XII erected the Diocese of Evansville on October 21, 1944, and named Reverend Henry Grimmelsman of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati as its first bishop. Grimmelsman named Assumption Church in Evansville as his cathedral.

At the time of its founding, the diocese included five deaneries (Evansville, Jasper, Vincennes, Princeton, and Washington), 63 parishes and missions, a population of 49,737 Catholics, and 75 diocesan priests. The diocese purchased the John Augustus Reitz Home in Evansville from the Daughters of Isabella for use as the chancery and bishop's residence.

The diocese grew rapidly after World War II; 12 new parishes were founded between 1944 and 1962. These parishes opened in suburban areas of Evansville and Jasper and in the towns of Fort Branch and Bloomfield. Mission churches in New Harmony and Oakland City were elevated to parishes. The diocese also built three high schools in Evansville – Mater Dei on the west side, Rex Mundi on the north side, and Magister Noster, a high school seminary. The diocese also founded high schools in Ferdinand, Loogootee, and Vincennes. The diocese also created a college operated by the Sisters of St. Benedict in Ferdinand. Memorial Hospital, sponsored by the Sisters of the Little Company of Mary, was founded in Jasper. A new facility on Evansville's east side for St. Mary's Medical Center, sponsored by the Daughters of Charity, was also built.

St. John the Baptist Church, Vincennes

In contrast to growing areas of the diocese, the population of downtown Evansville declined in the 1960's, forcing the closure of Assumption Cathedral in 1965. Holy Trinity church, the home of the chancery since 1957, was named the pro-cathedral, or temporary cathedral, for the diocese. Although Assumption lost its status as cathedral, the old cathedra remains the most prominent feature within the oratory.

After Grimmelsman retired in 1965, Pope Paul VI appointed Auxiliary Bishop Paul Leibold of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati as the second bishop of Evansville. Three years later in 1969, Paul VI named Leibold as archbishop of Cincinnati. The pope appointed Monsignor Francis Shea of the Diocese of Nashville as Leibold's replacement in Evansville.

Shea constructed a new mission church in Santa Claus, Indiana, in 1967. The diocese also expanded facilities at the two nursing homes in the diocese, St. John Home in Evansville and the Providence Home in Jasper, The 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; the diocese sold Rex Mundi to Ivy Tech Community College, and moved the chancery from Holy Trinity church to the Magister Noster building. St. Benedict College in Ferdinand was closed, and the high schools in Vincennes were 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.

St. Joseph Church, Jasper

When Shea retired in 1989, Pope John Paul II named Monsignor Gerald Gettelfinger of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis as the next bishop of Evansville. Several parishes built new churches in the 1990's, and the Santa Claus mission became a parish. As the number of priests began to decline and the Catholic population shifted to suburban areas, three rural parishes in Daviess County (St. Patrick in Corning, St. Mary in Barr Township, and St. Michael, in Montgomery) were closed in 1997. St. Patrick and St. Mary churches became chapels, while St. Michael was razed. In 1999, Gettelfinger named St. Benedict, the largest church building in Evansville, as the new cathedral for the diocese.

Recognizing the influx of Latin American Catholics into the diocese, Gettelfinger opened a Hispanic ministry 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 merged to become Our Lady of Hope Parish, and the St. Mary church was closed and razed. The diocese began a formal planning process in 2009 to allocate resources for the future. A new high school, named for John Paul II, 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, Pope Benedict XVI named Monsignor Charles C. Thompson of the Archdiocese of Louisville as the fifth bishop of the diocese, replacing Gettelfinger. On July 1, 2014, Thompson merged several more parishes. 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). This meant that some churches in the newly merged parishes would have no Sunday masses at all.[1]

Pope Francis appointed Thompson as archbishop of Indianapolis in 2017 and replaced him in Evansville with Auxiliary Bishop Joseph M. Siegel from the Diocese of Joliet. Siegel is the current bishop of the Diocese of Evansville.

Evans released on February 22, 2019, a list of ten clerics in the diocese who faced credible accusations of sexual assault against minors.[2]In August 2019, the diocese notified the Evansville Police Department about an accusation of sexual abuse dating back to the 1980's. The victim was a 14 year old parishioner at Holy Spirit School in Evansville. The unidentified perpetrator died before 1990.[3]

In March 2022, Reverend Bernie Etienne of Holy Rosary Parish in Evansville was suspended from ministry while the diocese investigation allegation of sexual abuse from the early 2000's. In November 2022, the diocese determined that the allegations were not credible and allowed Etienne to return to service.[4]

• Mater Dei High School, Evansville
• Reitz Memorial High School, Evansville
• Rivet Middle/High School, Vincennes
• Washington Catholic Middle/High School, Washington

• St. Vincent (formerly St. Mary's Medical Center), Evansville - sponsored by the Daughters of Charity
• Memorial Hospital, Jasper - sponsored by the Sisters of the Little Company of Mary

• Providence Home, Jasper - sponsored by the Sons of Divine Providence

• Rex Mundi High School - Evansville
• John Paul the Great High School - Jasper