Roman Catholic Diocese of Wichita

In 1850, Pope Pius IX erected the Apostolic Vicariate of Indian Territory East of the Rocky Mountains. This vicariate covered all of the Missouri Territory, which then included the Kansas region.[2] Seven years later, Pius IX create a separate Apostolic Vicariate of Kansas, covering the newly created Kansas Territory.[1] The first Catholic church in Wichita, St. Mary's, was dedicated in 1872. That same year, the first Catholic congregation was organized in Hutchinson, holding its services in a granary.[3] The first resident pastor within the Wichita area was appointed in 1873.[4]

The Diocese of Leavenworth, covering all of Kansas, was erected in 1877 by Pius IX. He named Reverend Louis Fink as its first bishop.[2] Kansas grew so rapidly over the next ten years that Fink petitioned the Vatican to establish two new dioceses in the western part of the state.

In 1887, Pope Leo XIII erected the Diocese of Wichita, taking southwestern Kansas from the Diocese of Leavenworth. The pope named Reverend James O'Reilly as the first bishop of Wichita, but he died before his consecration.[1]

In 1888, Leo XIII appointed Reverend John J. Hennessy of the Diocese of St. Louis to replace O'Reilly.[5] Hennessy found a struggling new diocese, missionary in nature. The first census in 1889 showe a Catholic population of 8,000 with 16 priests. In 1890, Hennessy persuaded the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother to take over management of St. Francis Hospital in Wichita.[6] In 1898, he convened the first diocesan synod.[7]

Hennessy broke ground for the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita in 1906 and laid the cornerstone the following October; it was dedicated by Cardinal James Gibbons in 1912.[7] By the early 1900s, the Catholic population had reached 32,000 in 97 parishes, most with schools. Bishop of Wichita for 32 years, Hennessy died in 1920.

In 1921, Monsignor Augustus Schwertner of the Diocese of Cleveland was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Wichita by Pope Benedict XV.[8] When Schwertner arrived in Wichita, the diocese contained 110 priests, 81 parishes, 49 parochial schools, and eight hospitals to serve a Catholic population of 36,905.[9] By his final year as bishop in 1939, the diocese had 56,248 Catholics, 155 priests, 97 parishes, 65 parochial schools, and 13 hospitals.[10] Sacred Heart Junior College in Wichita was established in 1933.

After Schwertner died in 1939, Pope Pius XII named Auxiliary Bishop Christian Herman Winkelmann of St. Louis as the next bishop of Wichita. Winkelmann died in 1946.[11] Pius XII then appointed Monsignor Mark Carroll from St. Louis as Winkelmann's replacement. In 1948, Carroll called for the repeal of the state prohibition law against alcohol sales, calling it "an unwarrantable infringement" on "reasonable liberty".[12] He was an outspoken proponent of ecumenism and of the use of vernacular in the Mass.[13] Winkelmann also supported the American Civil Rights Movement, and stated that his self-confessed mission was "to preach equality of man and dignity and worth."[13]

In 1951, Pope Pius XII erected the new Diocese of Dodge City from the western counties of the Diocese of Wichita.[14] After Carroll retired in 1967, Pope Paul VI appointed Auxiliary Bishop David Maloney of the Archdiocese of Denver as the new bishop of Wichita.[15] In 1977, Maloney publicly declared that he would defy a city ordinance that prohibited discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations based on sexual orientation.[16] Maloney retired in 1982.

The next bishop of Wichita was Bishop Eugene Gerber from the Diocese of Dodge City, named by Pope John Paul II in 1982.[17] In 1999, Thomas Olmsted of the Diocese of Lincoln was appointed coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Wichita by Pope John Paul II to assist Gerber. When Gerber retired in 2001, Olmsted automatically became the new bishop. In 2003, after only two years in Wichita, John Paul II named Olmsted as bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix.[18]

John Paul II appointed Monsignor Michael Jackels of the Diocese of Lincoln as bishop of Wichita in 2005.[19] He was active in promoting Catholic education, and helped establish the Drexel Fund, which aided financially strapped Catholic schools within the diocese. The diocese had 48 seminarians during his tenure. In 2013, Pope Francis named Jackels as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Dubuque.

The current bishop of the Diocese of Wichita is Carl A. Kemme from the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. He was named by Francis in 2014.[20] In 2018, the diocese announced that it had ordained ten seminarians as priests for the second year in a row.[21] Ascension Via Christi St. Francis hospital in Wichita was sued in July 2023 by three female patients who had been raped by an intruder, accusing the Catholic hospital of lax security. The alleged rapist, Miguel Rodela, was captured immediately after the third attack.[22]

A Wichita man sued the Diocese of Wichita in 1995, claiming that he had been sexually assaulted by Reverend Robert D. Blanpied. The alleged attacks started in 1965, when the plaintiff was ten years old, and continued for four years. A court ruled in 1997 that the statute of limitations on the case had expired.[23] In a 1994 meeting with Bishop Arthur Tafoya of the Diocese of Pueblo regarding sexual abuse allegations in Colorado, Blanpied admitted to abusing two boys in Wichita. Tafoya permanently removed Blanchid from ministry that year.[24]

In November 2000, Reverend Robert Larson, the former head of Catholic Charities for the diocese, was charged with sexually abusing four altar boys at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Newton in the 1980s.[25] He pleaded guilty in February 2001 to one count of indecent liberties with a child and three counts of sexual battery and was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison. Diocesan records would later show as many as fifteen accusations to the diocese of sexual abuse against Larson going back to 1981.[26] In June 2001, the diocese reached a financial settlement with several of Larson's victims.[27]

In February 2019, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) announced that it had been investigating sex abuse allegations against all the Catholic dioceses in Kansas since November 2018. On August 14, 2020, Melissa Underwood, KBI spokeswoman, referring to the entire State of Kansas, stated, "As of Aug. 7, we have had 205 reports of abuse and have opened 120 cases."[28] In September, 2019, Bishop Kemme published a list of 15 diocesan priests that faced credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors. Eleven of the priests were deceased and the others were no longer in ministry.[29]

In November 2021, Kemme placed Reverend Michael Schemm from Resurrection Parish in Bel Aire on suspension pending investigation. The diocese had received sexual abuse allegations again Schemm dating back to the 1990s. The diocese forwarded the allegations to local police.[30] In March 2022, Schemm was returned to ministry. Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett reported that the statute of limitations for this case had expired. The diocese concluded that there was insufficient evidence to the allegations against Schemm.[31]

The diocese instituted "Virtus Training" for all individuals serving in the diocese;

"Members of the clergy, religious, employees and each volunteer who has regular contact with a minor is required to attend a live awareness session called Protecting God’s Children for Adults. This session, provided by certified VIRTUS Facilitators, gives participants an awareness of the signs of child sexual abuse, the methods and means by which abusers commit abuse and 5 concrete steps to create safe environments and to prevent abuse."[32]

1. James O'Reilly (1887); died before being consecrated bishop
2. John Joseph Hennessy (1888–1920)
3. Augustus John Schwertner (1921–1939)
4. Christian Herman Winkelmann (1939–1946)
5. Mark Kenny Carroll (1947–1967)
   - Leo Christopher Byrne (coadjutor bishop 1961–1967), appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis before succession
6. David Monas Maloney (1967–1982)
7. Eugene John Gerber (1982–2001)
8. Thomas J. Olmsted (2001–2003), appointed Bishop of Phoenix
9. Michael Owen Jackels (2005–2013), appointed Archbishop of Dubuque
10. Carl A. Kemme (2014–present)

• John Henry Tihen, appointed Bishop of Lincoln in 1911 and later Bishop of Denver in 1917
• Ignatius Jerome Strecker, appointed Bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau in 1962 and later Archbishop of Kansas City in Kansas in 1969
• Eugene John Gerber, appointed Bishop of Dodge City in 1976 and later returned to this diocese as Bishop of Wichita in 1982
• Ronald Michael Gilmore, appointed Bishop of Dodge City in 1998
• Paul Stagg Coakley, appointed Bishop of Salina in 2004 and later Archbishop of Oklahoma City in 2010
• James Douglas Conley, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Denver in 2008 and later Bishop of Lincoln in 2012
• John Balthasar Brungardt, appointed Bishop of Dodge City in 2010
• Shawn McKnight, appointed Bishop of Jefferson City in 2017

• Bishop Carroll Catholic High School – Wichita
• Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School – Wichita
• St. Mary's-Colgan Jr/Sr High School – Pittsburg
• Trinity Catholic Jr/Sr High School – Hutchinson[34]