1800 to 1970

The first Catholic immigrants to the Kentucky area came from Maryland in 1785. By 1796, approximately 300 Catholic families were living in the new state of Kentucky. ^[1]Among the early missionaries was Stephen Badin who set out on foot for Kentucky on in 1793, sent by Bishop John Carroll of the Diocese of Baltimore. For the next 14 years Badin traveled on foot, horseback and boat between widely scattered Catholic settlements in Kentucky and the Northwest Territory. For three years, Badin was the only priest in the whole of Kentucky.^[2]

In 1808, Pope Pius VII erected the Diocese of Bardstown, a huge diocese in the American South and Midwest. The new state of Tennessee was part of this diocese.^[3] Pope Gregory XVI erected the Diocese of Nashville in 1837, taking all of Tennessee from the Diocese of Bardstown.^[4]  The Memphis area and western Tennessee would remain part of the Diocese of Nashville for the next 133 years.

1970 to 1982

Pope Paul VI erected the Diocese of Memphis on June 20, 1970, removing its present territory from the Diocese of Nashville and making it a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Louisville.^[5] The pope appointed Reverend Carroll Dozier of the Diocese of Richmond as the first bishop of Memphis.

During his tenure, Dozier implemented the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, including insisting on liturgical changes and giving more important roles to the laity in diocesan affairs.^[6] He also established the diocesan Housing Corporation, the local affiliate of Catholic Charities, the Ministry to the Sick, and a weekly newspaper called Common Sense.^[6] In 1970, Dozier celebrated two masses of reconciliation in Memphis and Jackson for lapsed Catholics; he gave general absolution to those in attendance.^[7] Dozier retired in 1982.

1982 to 2016

In 1982, Pope John Paul II appointed Auxiliary Bishop James Stafford of the Archdiocese of Baltimore as the second bishop of Memphis.^[8] During his tenure, Stafford revised the structure of the Pastoral Office, improved the fiscal conditions of the diocese, and concentrated on the evangelization of African Americans.^[9] The pope named Stafford as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Denver in 1986.

The next bishop of Memphis was Reverend Daniel M. Buechlein, appointed by John Paul II in 1987. The pope named him archbishop of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in 1992. To replace him in Memphis, John Paul II selected Auxiliary Bishop J. Terry Steib of the Archdiocese of St. Louis in 1993. One of Steib's primary accomplishments was reopening eight Catholic schools in Memphis that had been closed for financial reasons by a previous bishop.^[10] Steib retired in 2016

2016 to 2019

Pope Francis named Auxiliary Bishop Martin Holley of the Archdiocese of Washington as the new bishop of Memphis on August 23, 2016,^[11][12][13] Soon after taking office, Holley transferred about 75% of the pastors in the diocese. He first requested their resignations and then rehired them with the title of "parochial administrator" rather than "pastor". This maneuver allowed Holley to transfer priests without their resignations.^[14][15] He also appointed a Canadian priest, Monsignor Clement J. Machado, to three diocesan offices: vicar general, moderator of the curia and diocesan chancellor.^{[lower-alpha 1][16]} In January 2018, citing lack of funds, the diocese announced the closure of the ten schools in its network of Memphis Jubilee Catholic Schools, founded by Steib in 1999 to serve children from poor families.^[17] These actions brought considerable dissension among the diocesan clergy.

In June 2018, the Vatican sent Archbishops Wilton Gregory of Atlanta and Bernard Hebda of St. Paul-Minneapolis to Memphis to conduct a visitation of the diocese to investigate complaints about Holley's leadership. The two archbishops met with several dozen priests.^[18][19] Machado resigned from the diocese shortly after Gregory and Hebda completed their visitation and Holley assigned a different priest to each of the three offices Machado had held.^[20]

In 2018, Pope Francis removed Holley as bishop of Memphis, citing concerns about his reassignment policy. The pope named Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of the Archdiocese of Louisville as the temporary apostolic administrator of the diocese.^[21][22] The following day, Holley told the Catholic News Agency that he believed he was removed from office as "revenge" for advising Pope Benedict XVI against appointing Cardinal Donald Wuerl, for the job of Vatican Secretary of State in 2012. Holley had served as auxiliary bishop in Washington under Wuerl.^[23]

2019 to present

In 2019, Francis appointed Bishop David Talley of the Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana as the new bishop of Memphis.^[24] As of 2023, Talley is the current bishop of Memphis

Reports of sexual abuse

In 2004, a Memphis man sued the Diocese of Memphis in a sexual abuse lawsuit. The plaintiff claimed that Reverend Juan Carlos Duran at Church of the Ascension in Raleigh had sexually abused him in 1999 when he was 14 years old. Before coming to Memphis, Duran had been expelled from the Franciscan Order due to abuse allegations. The Dominican Order allowed him to join despite warnings from the Franciscans. After a diocesan investigation, Steib banned Duran from ministry and sent him to a center for treatment.^[25] Duran was permanently removed from ministry in 2004.^{[26] [27]}In 2006, the diocese settled the case for $2 million.^[28]

In September 2005, a man sued the diocese in a case involving Reverend Paul St. Charles, the leader of the Catholic Youth Organization in the diocese. The plaintiff accused St. Charles of molesting him at a drive-in movie when he was an altar server in the 1970s. Steib had ordered a diocese review of the allegations in 2004 and in November 2004 suspended St. Charles from ministry.^[29][26]

The diocese was sued in September 2006 by a man who claimed to have been sexually abused by Reverend Daniel Dupree in Memphis when the plaintiff was a teenager in the late 1980s.^[30]In 1992, Dupress left the priesthood. He admitted in a letter to diocese officials to having abused 14 boys and young men A court dismissed the suit in 2008, stating that the statute of limitations had passed.^[31]Dupree was laicized in 2006.

Also in 2006, three women sued the diocese, saying that they had been sexually assaulted as children multiple times by Reverend Joseph Nguyen from 1994 to 1999. The assaults took place at the girls' homes and in the confession room at Blessed Sacrament Church. In 2007, the diocese settled the three lawsuits for $100,000 per plaintiff.^{[32] [33]}

In 2010, unsealed court documents revealed that at least 15 Catholic clergy who served in the diocese were accused of committing acts of sex abuse and that $2 million was secretly paid to one of these sex abuse victims.^[34]

In February 2019, the Diocese of Richmond released a list of priests with credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors. The list included Bishop Dozier, who had served in Richmond before being appointed bishop in Memphis.^[35] In September 2019, the City of Memphis removed Dozier's image from the "Upstanders Mural" in downtown Memphis.^[36][37]

After his installation as bishop in 2019, Talley had ordered a comprehensive review of prior sexual abuse allegations by the Diocese of Memphis, using an outside firm.^[38] In February 2020, the diocese released a list of 20 diocesan clergy who were credibly accused of sexually abusing children.^[39]

Bishops of Memphis

1. Carroll Thomas Dozier (1970–1982)
2. James Francis Stafford (1982–1986), appointed Archbishop of Denver and later President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity and Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary (elevated to Cardinal in 1998)
3. Daniel M. Buechlein, O.S.B. (1987–1992), appointed Archbishop of Indianapolis
4. J. Terry Steib, S.V.D. (1993–2016)
5. Martin David Holley (2016–2018), removed by Pope Francis
   - Joseph Edward Kurtz, Archbishop of Louisville (apostolic administrator, 2018–2019)
6. David Talley (2019–present)

Other diocesan priests who became bishops

• Robert W. Marshall, appointed Bishop of Alexandria in Louisiana in 2020
• James Peter Sartain, appointed Bishop of Little Rock in 2000 and later Bishop of Joliet in Illinois and Archbishop of Seattle

Higher education

Christian Brothers University – Memphis

Primary and secondary schools

The Diocese of Memphis has 28 primary and secondary schools with a total enrollment of approximately 8,000 students. The high schools include:

• Christian Brothers High School – Memphis
• Immaculate Conception Cathedral High School – Memphis
• St. Agnes Academy-St. Dominic School – Memphis
• Saint Benedict at Auburndale High School – Cordova (Memphis)
• Sacred Heart of Jesus High School* – Jackson

* Operates independently and with the approval of the bishop.

Closed schools

• Bishop Byrne High School – Memphis
• Memphis Catholic High School – Memphis