Roman Catholic Diocese of Wichita

The first resident pastor within the area now known as the Diocese of Wichita was appointed in 1873. The Vicariate of Kansas came to an end when the Diocese of Leavenworth, covering the entire state, was established in 1877, with Bishop Fink as first bishop. Kansas grew so rapidly over the next ten years that Bishop Fink petitioned the Holy Father to establish two new Sees in Kansas, one at Wichita and the other at Concordia. The petition having been granted, in 1887 the western two- thirds of the state was divided equally in half. The north became the Diocese of Concordia and the south became the Diocese of Wichita. Reverend James O'Reilly, pastor in Topeka, Kansas, was appointed the first bishop of Wichita. However, he became ill and died before being consecrated, leaving the new diocese without a bishop for a year.

In 1888, Reverend John J. Hennessy, pastor in St. Louis, Missouri, was appointed Bishop of Wichita. Bishop Hennessy found a struggling new diocese, missionary in nature. The first census in 1889 gave the Catholic population as 8,000, with 16 priests. Bishop Hennessy was Bishop of Wichita for 32 years. Because of the small number of Catholics in the diocese, the Holy See eventually added nine counties in southeast Kansas to the Diocese of Wichita.

Within the first couple of decades of the 1900s the Catholic population was up to 32,000 and there were 97 parishes, most with schools. Bishop Hennessy built a new Cathedral, honoring Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, which was dedicated in September 1912, the jubilee year of the diocese. In 1951 the western part of the Diocese of Wichita was split off and a new Diocese of Dodge City was formed, which left the Diocese of Wichita with its present boundaries.[1]

In February 2019, it was announced that the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) had been investigating sex abuse allegations against all Catholic dioceses in the state of Kansas, which includes the Diocese of Wichita, since November 2018.[2] On August 14, 2020, Melissa Underwood, spokeswoman for the KBI, stated in an email “As of Aug. 7, we have had 205 reports of abuse and have opened 120 cases.”[3]

• Emil Kapaun (1916–1951), Roman Catholic priest, Army chaplain, Medal of Honor recipient, and candidate for canonization

The Catholic Diocese of Wichita was cited by Fordham Institute as one of six best examples in the United States because of being the only diocesan school system in the country where every grade school and high school is financed by parish stewardship, rather than tuition, for active parish families. In addition, parishes and dioceses across the United States travel to Wichita to study the success of the diocesan Catholic schools.

The diocese has four Catholic high schools, commonly known as secondary schools. Three of the schools are wholly controlled by the diocese; one is a parochial high school. All are supported chiefly through the stewardship of the parishioners. Three of the four high school facilities have been expanded in the last seven years.

The diocese has thirty-four grade schools, often referred to as elementary or primary schools. Twenty-seven of these schools also contain grades 6-8, sometimes called middle school.

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Wikisource has the text of a 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article about Diocese of Wichita.

• Roman Catholic Diocese of Wichita Official Site