Roman Catholic Diocese of Evansville

During the 17th century, present day Indiana was part of the French colony of New France. The Diocese of Quebec, which had jurisdiction over the colony, sent French missionaries to the region. The first French Jesuit missionaries came to the Vincennes area around 1675.[1]

After the British took control of New France in 1763, the Archdiocese of Quebec retained jurisdiction in the Indiana area. In 1776, the new United States claimed sovereignty over the area of Indiana. In 1787, Indiana became part of the Northwest Territory of the United States.

With the creation of the Diocese of Bardstown in Kentucky in 1810, supervision of the Indiana Territory shifted there. In 1827, the bishop of the Diocese of St. Louis assumed jurisdiction in the new state of Indiana. In 1834, Pope Gregory XVI erected the Diocese of Vincennes, which included both Indiana and Illinois. Pope Pius IX created the Diocese of Fort Wayne for Indiana 1857. [2] The Evansville area would remain part of the Diocese of Vincennes, succeeded by the Diocese of Indianapolis, for the next 87 years.[1]

Basilica of St. Francis Xavier (Old Cathedral), Vincennes

Pope Pius XII erected the Diocese of Evansville from the Diocese of Indianapolis on October 21, 1944. The pope named Reverend Henry Grimmelsman, rector of the Pontifical College Josephinum in Worthington, Ohio, as its first bishop. Grimmelsman named Assumption Church in Evansville as his cathedral.[1]

At the time of its founding, the diocese included five deaneries, 63 parishes and missions; it had 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. In 1948, Grimmelsman conducted the first synod for the diocese.[1]

The diocese grew rapidly after World War II; 12 new parishes were founded between 1944 and 1962 in the Evansville suburbs, Jasper, Fort Branch and Bloomfield. The diocese also elevated mission churches in New Harmony and Oakland City to parishes. The diocese constructed the following facilities:

• Mater Dei and Rex Mundi High Schools in Evansville
• Magister Noster, a high school seminary, in Evansville
• High schools in Ferdinand, Loogootee, and Vincennes
• St. Benedict College in Ferdinand
• Memorial Hospital in Jasper, sponsored by the Sisters of the Little Company of Mary
• A new facility for St. Mary's Medical Center in Evansville, sponsored by the Daughters of Charity

St. John the Baptist Church, Vincennes

The population of downtown Evansville declined in the 1960s, forcing the diocese to close Assumption Cathedral in 1965. Holy Trinity Church, the home of the chancery since 1957, was named the pro-cathedral, for the diocese.[1]

After Grimmelsman retired in 1965, Pope Paul VI appointed Auxiliary Bishop Paul Leibold of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati as the second bishop of Evansville.[1] 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 St. John Home in Evansville and the Providence Home in Jasper. The diocese also made these changes:

• Sold its high schools in Ferdinand and Loogootee to the local public school districts.
• Closed Rex Mundi and Magister Noster High Schools in Evansville. Rex Mundi went to Ivy Tech Community College and Magister Noster became the diocesan chancery.[1]
• Closed St. Benedict College
• Consolidated the high schools in Vincennes
• Closed St. Ann Mission in Shelburn in 1978
• Closed Our Lady of Perpetual Help Mission in Dugger in 1982

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.[1] Several parishes built new churches in the 1990s, and the Santa Claus mission became a parish. As the number of priests began to decline and the Catholic population shifted to suburban areas, the diocese in 1997 closed St. Patrick Parish in Corning, St. Mary Parish in Barr Township and St. Michael Parish in Montgomery. The St. Patrick and St. Mary Churches were redesignated as chapels while St. Michael was razed. In 1999, Gettelfinger named St. Benedict, the largest church in Evansville, as the new cathedral for the diocese.[1]

Recognizing the influx of Hispanic 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, the diocese merged St. Mary and St. Simon Parishes in Washington into Our Lady of Hope Parish, then demolished the St. Mary church.[1] The diocese began a formal planning process in 2009 to allocate resources for the future. Pope John Paul II High School opened in Jasper in 2009, but closed in 2012 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.[1]

Emily Herx, a teacher for the diocesan schools, sued the diocese in 2011, claiming that it had discriminated against her because she was a woman. The diocese terminated Herx when it learned that she was undergoing in vitro fertilization to become pregnant.[3] A jury awarded Herx $2 million in 2014.[4]

In 2014, Thompson merged 19 parishes into eight parishes.[1] The diocese also prohibited priests from celebrating more that three masses per Sunday, including the Saturday evening vigil. For some churches in the newly merged parishes, it meant no Sunday masses at all.[5] The diocese in 2015 merged seven more parishes into three parishes.[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.[1] In 2018, the diocese began renovations of St. Benedict Cathedral.[1] As of 2023, Siegel is the current bishop of Evansville.

Bishop Evans in February 2019 released a list of ten clerics in the diocese who faced credible accusations of sexual assault against minors.[6] In August 2019, the diocese notified the Evansville Police Department about an accusation of sexual abuse dating back to the 1980s. The victim was then a 14 year old parishioner at Holy Spirit School in Evansville. The unidentified perpetrator died before 1990.[7]

In 2007, Reverend Fredy Mendez-Morales had sex with a developmentally disabled young woman at a youth camp run by the diocese. Mendez-Morales claimed that he did not know that she was disabled. He later pleaded guilty, was sentenced to ten years in prison and was deported after his release. The girl's mother, Silvia Gameros, sued the diocese in 2009, claiming that it was negligent in supervising the girl at camp and tried to convince her to take emergency contraception after the attack. Gameros and the diocese reached a settlement in 2013.[8][9]

In March 2022, Reverend Bernie Etienne of Holy Rosary Parish in Evansville was suspended from ministry while the diocese investigated an allegation of sexual abuse from the early 2000s. In November 2022, the diocese determined that the allegations against Etienne were not credible and allowed him to return to ministry.[10]

• Annunciation School, Christ the King campus – Evansville
• Annunciation School, Holy Spirit campus– Evansville
• Corpus Christi School – Evansville
• Flaget Elementary School – Vincennes
• Good Shepherd School – Evansville
• Holy Cross School – Fort Branch
• Holy Redeemer School – Evansville
• Holy Rosary School – Evansville
• Holy Trinity Catholic School central campus – Jasper
• Holy Trinity Catholic School east campus – Jasper
• Resurrection School – Evansville
• St. Benedict Cathedral School – Evansville
• St. Bernard School – Rockport
• St. James School – Haubstadt
• St. John the Baptist School – Newburgh
• St. Joseph School – Vanderburgh County
• St. Joseph School – Princeton
• St. Matthew School – Mt. Vernon
• St. Philip School – Posey County
• Ss. Peter and Paul School – Haubstadt
• St. Wendel School – St. Wendel
• Washington Catholic Elementary School – Washington
• Westside Catholic School – Evansville, St. Agnes campus
• Westside Catholic School – Evansville, St. Boniface campus[18]

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

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

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

Providence Home, Jasper – sponsored by the Sons of Divine Providence