Roman Catholic Diocese of Memphis

Diocese of Memphis Dioecesis Memphitana
Location
Country	United States
Territory	West Tennessee
Ecclesiastical province	Archdiocese of Louisville
Metropolitan	Memphis, Tennessee
Population - Catholics	65,779 (4.5%)
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	June 20, 1970
Cathedral	Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Martin David Holley Bishop of Memphis
Metropolitan Archbishop	Joseph Edward Kurtz Archbishop of Louisville
Map
Website
cdom.org

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Memphis (Latin: Dioecesis Memphitana in Tennesia) is a Roman Catholic diocese in Tennessee. It was founded on June 20, 1970, when Pope Paul VI removed the counties in the state west of the Tennessee River from the Diocese of Nashville, which, prior to that time, encompassed the entire state.^[1]

The diocese is broken into two deaneries, the Memphis Deanery comprising Shelby County and the Jackson Deanery which encompassed the other 20 counties in the diocese. Currently, there are 28 parishes in the Memphis Deanery, 14 parishes and 5 missions in the Jackson Deanery.

Bishops

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

The following is a list of Ordinaries (Bishops of the Diocese) of Memphis, along with their dates of service:

• Carroll Thomas Dozier (1970–1982)
• James Francis Stafford (1982–1986)
• Daniel M. Buechlein (1987–1992)
• J. Terry Steib (1993—2016)
• Martin David Holley (2016—)

Other priest of this diocese who became bishop

• James Peter Sartain appointed Bishop of Little Rock in 2000

Education

There is one Catholic University within the geographic boundaries of the Diocese:

• Christian Brothers University (CBU), Memphis. CBU is a Lasallian University

There are a total of 28 primary and secondary schools with a total of more than 8000 students. The High Schools include:

• Christian Brothers High School, Memphis
• Immaculate Conception Cathedral High School, Memphis
• Memphis Catholic 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 blessing of the Bishop.

Closed schools

• Bishop Byrne High School, Memphis

See also

• Catholic Church by country
• Catholic Church hierarchy
• List of the Catholic dioceses of the United States

References

Arms

Arms of Roman Catholic Diocese of Memphis

Notes This Coat of Arms was designed and adopted on the occasion of the installation of Bishop Martin David Holley. Adopted 2016 Escutcheon The arms of the diocese are composed of a red field with white and blue accents. The principal charge is a silver cross of a Coptic Christian style. Blue wavy bars are present on the upper division of the shield. The small mountains are present in the lower part. Symbolism The coat of arms of the Diocese of Memphis has a red field with six small hills in silver (white) at the bottom, from the arms of Pope Paul VI, who established the diocese. At the top of the shield, two wavy blue bands on a “chief” of silver represent the Mississippi and Tennessee rivers, the western and eastern (respectively) geographical borders of the diocese. A silver cross of the style used by Christians in the land of the Diocese’s namesake city of Memphis in Egypt, links brothers and sisters in the faith of both regions to each other, and to the Church worldwide in the time of the new evangelization.

External links

• Roman Catholic Diocese of Memphis Official Site
•  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Memphis". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 

Coordinates: 35°07′03″N 89°58′16″W / 35.11750°N 89.97111°W / 35.11750; -89.97111