1600 to 1800 The first Catholic presence in present-day Wisconsin was that of French Catholic missionaries in the Green Bay area in the 17th century. When French explorer
Jean Nicolet entered the Green Bay areas in 1634, he was followed by Jesuit missionaries. Wisconsin became part of the French colony of
New France. The first catholic missionary in the Superior region was
René Menard, a French
Jesuit missionary who was fluent in the
Ojibwe,
Odawa, and
Huron dialects. In Spring 1661, he explored to
Chequamegon Bay on Lake Superior. The first new Catholic church in the Green Bay area in over 100 years was constructed in
Fort Howard in 1825. Its parishioners included many
French Canadians living in the settlement. In November 1843,
Pope Gregory XVI erected the Diocese of Milwaukee, taking its territory from the Diocese of Detroit. The new diocese covered all of the Wisconsin Territory, including part of present-day
Minnesota. Other early parishes in the Green Bay area included: • Holy Maternity of Mary,
Manitowoc Rapids (1848) • St Edward,
Mackville (1849) • St. Luke,
Two Rivers (1851) • St. Anna,
St. Anna (1851) • St. Peter,
Oshkosh (1853) • St. Mary (now St. Francis Xavier Cathedral), Green Bay, (1854)
1868 to 1885 In 1868,
Pope Pius IX erected the Diocese of Green Bay and named Monsignor
Joseph Melcher of the Diocese of St. Louis as its first bishop. When Melcher arrived in the new diocese, there were 16 priests and a Catholic population of 40,000 people. By the end of his term as bishop, the number of priests had increased to 56 and the Catholic population increased to 60,000. Melcher also began preparing for the erection of the new cathedral. Although the Green Bay area had many French-Canadian Catholic residents, new settlements were populated by other European immigrants pouring into Wisconsin. By 1880, the diocese had 44 parochial schools with over 5,000 students. During this period, the growth of the English language in the area gradually weakened the bonds of the ethnic churches. During his 11-year tenure, Messmer encouraged the growth of
parochial schools and other religious institutions. He also invited Abbot Bernard Pennings to establish the
Norbertine Order in the United States; they founded
St. Norbert College in De Pere. Fox was the first native-born priest from the diocese to become its bishop. During his tenure, Fox built a new episcopal residence, which later became the diocesan
chancery and displayed a strong interest in education and advancing the parochial school system. In 1944,
Pope Pius XII named Bishop
Stanislaus Bona from the
Diocese of Grand Island as
coadjutor bishop to assist Rhode. When Rhode died in 1945, Bona automatically succeeded him as bishop of Green Bay. During his tenure in Green Bay, Bona founded 67 grade schools, four high schools,
Holy Family College in
Manitowoc and Sacred Heart Seminary in Franklin. He also established a diocesan newspaper and adjusted the social welfare program of the diocesan
Catholic Charities to meet new needs, including those of
migrant workers. He served as bishop in Green bay for 16 years, until his retirement in 1983.
Pope John Paul II that same year named
Adam Maida of the
Diocese of Pittsburgh as Wycisło's replacement. During his tenure in Green Bay, Maida appointed the diocese's first female chancellor and first female parish director. He also established a diocesan planning council and ministry formation program, initiated a diocesan census, implemented the
Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) process, and raised $9 million through the Lumen Christi education endowment campaign. Banks retired in 2003. John Paul II then appointed Auxiliary Bishop
David Zubik from Pittsburgh to replaced Banks. In 2007,
Pope Benedict XVI named Zubik as bishop of Pittsburgh. The current bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay is David L. Ricken, formerly bishop of the
Diocese of Cheyenne. Ricken was appointed by Benedict XVI in 2008. In 2009, Ricken declared that the apparition seen by Adele Brise in 1859 was "worthy of belief". In 2020, the Brise shrine was designated as the
National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion. The diocese severed its ties with the
Boy Scouts of America in September 2022. The actions was reportedly related to the terms of the BSA
bankruptcy case.
Reports of sex abuse In September 2002, John Feeney was arrested in
Los Angeles on warrants from
Outagamie County in Wisconsin, charging him with child sexual assault. He was accused of sexually assaulting brothers Troy and Todd Merryfield when they were young teenagers at St. Nicholas Parish in
Freedom in 1978. He was convicted in 2004 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was
laicized in 2005. The diocese settled with the Merryfields for $700,000 in November 2015. Donald Buzanowski was convicted in 2005 of sexually assaulting David Schauer in 1988 when he was a student at Saints Peter and Paul School in Green Bay. The Vatican laicized him that same year. Buzanowski had been convicted in 2000 on child pornography charges and served 21 months in prison. In a 2002 letter to the diocese, he admitted to sexually abusing 14 boys. Due to a change in Wisconsin law, Buzanowski was released in 2012 with seven years of
probation. Richard Thomas, a retired priest, was sentenced in October 2016 to four months in jail for exposing himself to a 16-year-old boy. During March of that year, Thomas exposed himself on several occasions through the window of his retirement facility to the boy as he walked to school. In January 2019, the diocese released a list of 46 diocesan clergy who were credibly accused of committing acts of sex abuse. By May 2019, the diocese had added two more names to this list. ==Shrines and oratory==