1540 to 1850 The earliest Catholic presence in present-day Kansas was during the 1540s, when
Juan de Padilla, a Spanish missionary priest, accompanied the explorer
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado on his expedition through the region. During the 18th century, Kansas was under the jurisdictions of Spain and France. The few Catholics in the area were governed by the
Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas, based in
New Orleans. After the
Louisiana Purchase of 1803, Kansas became part of the United States. The Vatican in 1826 erected the Diocese of St. Louis, which included Kansas and the vast
Missouri Territory. During the early 1800s, Catholic missionaries started building chapels for their Native American converts. In 1847, Jesuit priests established the
St. Mary's Mission in
St. Marys in eastern Kansas, along the
Oregon Trail, to evangelize the
Potawatomi people.
1850 to 1870 Pope Pius IX in 1850 erected the Vicariate Apostolic of Indian Territory East of the Rocky Mountains. This huge jurisdiction contained the present-day
states of Kansas, Nebraska,
North and
South Dakota, Colorado,
Wyoming, and Montana. The pope named
John Miège from St. Louis as the
vicar apostolic. Miège arrived in 1851 at an Potawatomi encampment on the
Kansas River. At that time, his vicariate contained five churches, eight priests, and 5,000 Catholics. Miège conducted extensive pastoral visitations throughout the vicariate, visiting Native American villages, forts, trading posts, and towns. He celebrated
mass at these stops on the rear end of his
wagon. In 1857, the Vatican suppressed the Vicariate of the Indian Territory, creating instead the Vicariate of Kansas, including all of Kansas. Miège was named vicar of the new vicariate. Miège erected an episcopal residence in Leavenworth in 1863.
1870 to 1900 The first Catholic church in Wichita, St. Mary's, was dedicated in 1872. That same year, the first Catholic parish was organized in
Hutchinson, holding its services in a
granary. The first resident pastor within the Wichita area was appointed in 1873. The
Diocese of Leavenworth, covering all of Kansas, was erected in 1877 by Pius IX. He named
Louis Fink as its first bishop. Kansas grew so rapidly over the next ten years that Fink petitioned the Vatican to establish two new dioceses in the western part of the state. In 1887,
Pope Leo XIII erected the Diocese of Wichita, taking southwestern Kansas from the Diocese of Leavenworth. The pope named James O'Reilly as the first bishop of Wichita, but he died before his consecration. Hennessy found a struggling new diocese, missionary in nature. The first census in 1889 showed a Catholic population of 8,000 with 16 priests. In 1890, Hennessy persuaded the
Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother to take over management of St. Francis Hospital in Wichita. In 1898, he convened the first diocesan
synod.
1900 to 1950 Hennessy broke ground for the
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita in 1906 and laid the
cornerstone the following October; it was dedicated by Cardinal
James Gibbons in 1912. When he arrived in Wichita, the diocese had 110 priests, 81 parishes, 49 parochial schools, and eight hospitals to serve a Catholic population of 36,905. By his final year as bishop in 1939, the diocese had 56,248 Catholics, 155 priests, 97 parishes, 65 parochial schools, and 13 hospitals. Sacred Heart Junior College in Wichita was established in 1933 by the Sisters Adorers of the Blood of Christ. It is now
Newman University. After Schwertner died in 1939,
Pope Pius XII named Auxiliary Bishop
Christian Winkelmann of St. Louis as the next bishop of Wichita. He died in 1946. Pius XII then appointed
Mark Carroll from St. Louis as Winkelmann's successor. In 1948, Carroll called for the repeal of the
state prohibition law against alcohol sales, calling it "an unwarrantable infringement" on "reasonable liberty." He was an outspoken proponent of
ecumenism and of the use of vernacular in the
Mass. Winkelmann also supported the
American Civil Rights Movement, and stated that his self-confessed mission was "to preach equality of man and dignity and worth." After Carroll retired in 1967,
Pope Paul VI appointed Auxiliary Bishop
David Maloney of the
Archdiocese of Denver as the new bishop of Wichita. In 1977, Maloney publicly declared that he would defy a
city ordinance that prohibited discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations based on
sexual orientation. Maloney retired in 1982. The next bishop of Wichita was Bishop
Eugene Gerber from the Diocese of Dodge City, named by
Pope John Paul II in 1982. In 1999,
Thomas Olmsted of the Diocese of Lincoln was appointed
coadjutor bishop of Wichita by
Pope John Paul II to assist Gerber. When Gerber retired in 2001, Olmsted succeeded him. In 2003, after only two years in Wichita, John Paul II transferred Olmsted to the
Diocese of Phoenix. John Paul II appointed
Michael Jackels of the Diocese of Lincoln as bishop of Wichita in 2005. In 2013,
Pope Francis named Jackels as archbishop of the
Archdiocese of Dubuque. The current bishop of Wichita is
Carl A. Kemme from the
Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. He was named by Francis in 2014. In 2018, the diocese announced that it had ordained ten seminarians as priests for the second year in a row.
Ascension Via Christi St. Francis hospital in Wichita was sued in July 2023 by three female patients who had been raped by an intruder, accusing the Catholic hospital of lax security. The alleged rapist, Miguel Rodela, was captured immediately after the third attack.
Sex Abuse In a 1994 meeting with Bishop
Arthur Tafoya of the
Diocese of Pueblo regarding sexual abuse allegations in Colorado, the priest Robert D. Blanpied admitted to abusing two boys in Wichita. Tafoya permanently removed him from ministry that year. In November 2000, Robert Larson, the former head of
Catholic Charities for the diocese, was charged with sexually abusing four altar boys at St. Mary's Catholic Church in
Newton in the 1980s. He pleaded guilty in February 2001 to one count of indecent liberties with a child and three counts of
sexual battery and was sentenced to three to ten years in prison. Diocesan records would later show as many as fifteen accusations of sexual abuse against Larson going back to 1981. In June 2001, the diocese reached a financial settlement with several of Larson's victims. In February 2019, the
Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) announced that it had been investigating sex abuse allegations against all the Catholic dioceses in Kansas since November 2018. On August 14, 2020, Melissa Underwood, KBI spokeswoman, referring to the entire State of Kansas, stated, "As of Aug. 7, we have had 205 reports of abuse and have opened 120 cases." In September, 2019, Bishop Kemme published a list of 15 diocesan priests that faced credible accusations of
sexual abuse of minors. Eleven of the priests were deceased and the others were no longer in ministry. ==Bishops==