The first Catholic priest to serve in present-day Minnesota was
Jean-Pierre Aulneau, a French missionary at
Fort Saint Charles near
Penasse. He was killed by a
Sioux war party in 1736. The Minnesota area went through several Catholic jurisdictions before the creation of the Diocese of Crookston: •
Diocese of Saint Louis (1826 to 1837) •
Diocese of Dubuque (1837 to 1850) •
Diocese of Saint Paul (1850 to 1879) St. Mary's Mission at Red Lake was established in 1858 on the
Red Lake Reservation to serve the
Chippewa/Ojibwe people in the region. The pope named
Timothy J. Corbett of Saint Paul as the first bishop of Crookston. During his 28-year tenure, Corbett established over 50 churches and 12 schools through soliciting funds. Corbett resigned in 1938.
Pope Pius XI in 1938 named
John Peschges of the
Diocese of Winona to be the second bishop of Crookston. Peschges established the
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, a program of religious courses for rural youth, in the diocese and founded other organizations for agricultural development. During his tenure in Crookston, Schenk established over 30 new churches, founded
Our Northland Diocese newspaper, and organized diocesan offices of the Catholic Social Service Agency and the
Catholic Youth Organization. To succeed Glenn, Pope Paul VI named
Kenneth Povish of the
Diocese of Saginaw in 1970. During his five-year tenure, Povish implemented the reforms of the
Second Vatican Council, establishing
parish councils in each parish and a
pastoral council for the diocese. Povish became bishop of the
Diocese of Lansing in 1975. Paul VI replaced him in 1976 in Crookston with
Victor Balke from the
Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. In 1990, Balke dedicated the current Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
2007 to present Pope Benedict XVI in 2007 appointed Monsignor
Michael Hoeppner of the Diocese of Winona as the next bishop of Crookston. Following a Vatican investigation of Hoeppener for coercing a sexual abuse victim,
Pope Francis ordered his resignation as the bishop of Crookston. The pope accepted it on April 13, 2021. As of 2023, the bishop of the Diocese of Crookston is
Andrew Cozzens, formerly an auxiliary bishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. He was appointed by Francis in late 2021.
Sex abuse In 2006, a teenage girl accused the priest Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul of raping and
sodomizing her on many occasions in
Greenbush when she was age 14 in 2004 and 2005. He arrived in the diocese as a visiting priest from India in 2004, but returned home in 2005 to visit a sick relative. Bishop Balke then revoked permission for Jeyapaul to return to Crookston. The girl sued the diocese in 2009. The diocese soon received a similar accusation against him from another woman. In November 2014, the United States
extradited Jeyapaul from India to face sexual assault charges in Minnesota. Jeyapaul pleaded guilty to sexual assault in May 2015 and was sentenced to one year in prison, followed by deportation to India. In 2011, Ronald Vasek, a former
diaconate candidate, reported to the diocese that Roger Grundhaus had sexually abused him when he was a teenager during a trip to
Ohio in 1971. In October 2015, Bishop Hoeppner asked Vasek to sign a letter recanting his accusations against Grundhaus, which he did. In May 2017, Vasek sued Hoeppner on ground of coercion, the first such lawsuit ever file against a Catholic bishop in the United States. In September 2017, Vasek, the diocese and Hoeppner reached a financial settlement. In September 2019, Archbishop
Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis began an investigation into Hoeppner's actions, the first investigation of an American bishop for failing to the follow the sexual abuse procedures in the 2019 papal document
Vos estis lux mundi. Hoeppner resigned in 2021. In July 2019, the diocese announced a $5 million financial settlement with 15 alleged victims of sexual abuse by diocesan clergy. __NOTOC__ == Bishops ==