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The official diocesan report for the Synod of Bishops was submitted to the USCCB in the spring of 2022. The 10-page report is a synthesis of the months-long synod process utilizing an online survey and listening sessions held at parishes, schools, and ministries around the diocese from December 2021 until March 2022. 

Those attending the Chrism Mass this year beheld a miracle standing before them. Deacon Ken Conklin served as deacon of the Eucharist at the annual liturgy, an act no one more than six months ago thought he would be able to make.

Diocese of Knoxville Catholic Schools have once again passed a rigorous accreditation review process.

Bishop Richard F. Stika is back on the road conferring confirmations after COVID paused most of his celebrations of the sacrament last year, and no one may be any happier about it than he is.

Bishop Stika will be celebrating several of the Masses and Holy Week services throughout Holy Week at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Bishop Richard F. Stika heeded the call of Pope Francis to consecrate and entrust Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25.

Knights of Columbus Council 645 at Immaculate Conception Church marked a milestone last month when it celebrated its 120th anniversary, tracing its origin to February 1902.

Bishop Richard F. Stika will join Pope Francis and bishops and priests around the world later this week in a prayer for peace and in the consecration and entrustment of Russia and  Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Bishop Richard F. Stika has appointed Deacon Hicks Armor as interim Head of School for Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga.

Bishop Richard F. Stika has removed all previously decreed COVID-19 restrictions and directives regarding the liturgy and celebration of the sacraments at Diocese of Knoxville churches, effective March 3, 2022.

A second collection will be taken at Masses the weekend of March 20 to support the Ukrainian refugees who have sought shelter in Poland.

Dr. Mario Enzler’s voice exploded across the hotel meeting room in Gatlinburg in undulating waves, like mini-sonic booms. He may have been addressing ordained priests from the Diocese of Knoxville, men who are used to being in charge, but for the next three days the room belonged to Dr. Enzler, and he never needed a microphone.

Lent, the 40 days of fasting and prayer in preparation for Easter, begins with Ash Wednesday. The Church asks us to surrender ourselves to prayer and to the reading of Scripture, to fasting, and to giving alms during this season.

The Diocese of Knoxville has been serving students with special learning needs for more than 20 years. “We’ve had huge successes with meeting the learning needs of all of our students,” Dr. Prater said.

Please pray for the citizens of Ukraine who are living in difficult and dangerous times right now.  I offer my prayers that peace and freedom, which is rightfully theirs, return to them soon.

On Tuesday, Feb. 22, the Diocese of Knoxville, and Bishop Stika were named as defendants in a lawsuit filed in Knox County Circuit Court.

In its 37th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade on Jan. 11 announced Devyn Dunn of Knoxville Catholic High School as its 2021-22 Gatorade Tennessee Volleyball Player of the Year and on Jan. 31 announced Keegan Smith of KCHS as its 2021-22 Gatorade Tennessee Boys Cross Country Player of the Year.

Dozens of refugees come to East Tennessee each year through Bridge Refugee Services, the only resettlement agency for the area, with offices in Knoxville and Chattanooga.

During Catholic Schools Week, students from kindergarten through 12th grade in Diocese of Knoxville schools participated in an essay contest, writing on what Catholic school means to them and the impact of Catholic education in their lives.