1700 to 1850 Before the
American Revolution, few Catholics lived in present-day West Virginia, then part of the
British Colony of Virginia. The colonial government in Virginia in the late 1600s had outlawed the practice of Catholicism in the colony. After the end of the
American Revolution in 1783,
Pope Pius VI erected the
Prefecture Apostolic of the United States in 1784, encompassing the entire United States. Five years later, he converted the prefecture into the
Diocese of Baltimore. With the 1786 passage of
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, proposed by future US President
Thomas Jefferson, Catholics were granted religious freedom in the new state of Virginia.
Pope Pius VII erected the
Diocese of Richmond in 1820, taking all of Virginia (except for two eastern counties) and present day West Virginia from the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The pope named Bishop
Richard Whelan from the Diocese of Richmond as the first bishop of the new diocese. The first Catholic parish in Wheeling was St. Joseph, established in 1822. In the 1840s, Whelan became concerned that his diocese was too vast to administer. He therefore requested that the Vatican divide the diocese into two, using the
Allegheny Mountains as a natural boundary.
1850 to 1894 Pope Pius IX on July 19, 1850, erected the Diocese of Wheeling, containing the area of
Virginia south of the
Pennsylvania state border and west of the Allegheny Mountains. Pius IX appointed Whelan as the first bishop of the new diocese. During Whelan's 24-year tenure as bishop, he built 42 churches, nine schools, one orphanage, and a hospital. The first church in Charleston, Sacred Heart, was constructed in 1869. By the time of his death in 1874, the Catholic population of the diocese numbered around 18,000.
Pope Leo XIII replaced Whelan with Reverend
John Kain from Wheeling in 1875. After 18 years, Leo XIII named Kain as coadjutor archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Louis in 1893 and appointed Reverend
Patrick Donahue of Baltimore as the new bishop of Wheeling in 1894.
1894 to 1948 Donahue established 38
parishes, six
missions, four hospitals, two
monasteries, an
orphanage and several schools in the diocese. He also established the first official diocesan periodical,
The Church Calendar, in 1895 and held the sixth diocesan
synod in 1899. For all these many achievements, he earned the nickname of the "Great Builder."
1948 to 1985 In 1948, Swint threatened to excommunicate any Catholic women from the diocese who participated in the
Miss West Virginia competition for the
Miss America pageant. He called the pageant "pagan" and stated that if "nakedness" were removed from the pageant, it would "fall to pieces". Two Catholic women withdrew from competition. However, a third Catholic contestant, Mariruth Ford, ignored Swint's ban and participated, winning the competition. In 1952, Swint condemned the planned opening of a
Planned Parenthood clinic in
Parkersburg, West Virginia, that would provide
contraception and other health care services to women. He said it was part of a national plan by doctors to break the Catholic Church's ban on
artificial birth control.
1960 to 1985 In 1961,
Pope John XXIII appointed Auxiliary Bishop
Joseph Hodges of Richmond as
coadjutor bishop in Wheeling to assist Swint. Swint died the next year and Hodges automatically succeeded him as bishop. Hodges dedicated much of his administration to implementing the reforms of the
Second Vatican Council in the diocese, establishing a liturgical commission, a priests' senate, the Sisters' Council, and the
Cursillo movement. A strong supporter of
ecumenism, Hodges established a Commission for Religious Unity in 1964, co-founded the Joint Commission of Roman Catholics and Episcopalians in 1978 with the
episcopal bishop of West Virginia, and joined the West Virginia Council of Churches in 1981. He mandated
parish councils in 1968, introduced
extraordinary ministers to the diocese in 1970 and
permanent deacons in 1975, and renovated the exterior and interior of
St. Joseph's Cathedral in Wheeling in 1973. When the
State of West Virginia was admitted to the Union in 1863 during the
American Civil War, the new state line with Virginia did not match the diocesan boundaries. Some West Virginia parishes were in the Diocese of Richmond while some Virginia parishes were in the Diocese of Wheeling. In May 1974,
Pope Paul VI remedied this geographic disparity by transferring the West Virginia parishes to the Diocese of Wheeling and the Virginia parishes to the Diocese of Richmond. Paul VI renamed the Diocese of Wheeling as the Diocese of Wheeling–Charleston in August 1974. He designated the
Church of the Sacred Heart in Charleston, West Virginia as the co-cathedral. Hodges died in 1985.
1985 to present Pope
John Paul II named Auxiliary Bishop
Francis B. Schulte from the
Archdiocese of Philadelphia as the new bishop of Wheeling-Charleston in 1985. In 1988, After only four years, the pope appointed Reverend
Bernard Schmitt as auxiliary bishop of the diocese. A year later, John Paul II appointed Schulte as archbishop of the
Archdiocese of New Orleans and replaced him in West Virginia with Schmitt. Schmitt resigned in 2004 and John Paul II replaced him with Monsignor
Michael J. Bransfield from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
Pope Benedict XVI raised Sacred Heart to a minor basilica on November 9, 2009. On September 13, 2018,
Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bransfield and appointed Archbishop
William E. Lori as apostolic administrator. Francis then instructed Lori to investigate allegations of sexual harassment of adults by Bransfield. In 2019, Francis appointed Auxiliary Bishop
Mark E. Brennan from the Archdiocese of Baltimore as the new bishop of Wheeling-Charleston. The former principal of
Parkersburg Catholic High School in Parkersburg, John Golebiewski, sued the diocese in May 2020. Golebiewski said that the school declined to renew his contract for the upcoming school year because he had alleged misconduct by the school's chaplain and its football coach. The diocese responded in September 2020 that it had reviewed Golebiewski's allegations, determining that they were not credible; it gave no reasons for his dismissal. Brennan in February 2021 reinstated the diocesan advisory council, which had not met since 2006. On May 1, 2026,
Pope Leo XIV accepted Brennan's resignation and appointed
Evelio Menjivar-Ayala,
Auxilary Bishop of Washington, as the tenth bishop of the diocese. ==Tracy portfolio==