Louisville Archbishop appointed to oversee Diocese of Knoxville after embattled bishop resigned

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville Archbishop Shelton Fabre was appointed by the Vatican to oversee the Diocese of Knoxville.

The bishop of Knoxville, Tennessee, resigned under pressure Tuesday following allegations he mishandled sex abuse allegations and several of his priests complained about his leadership and behavior, sparking a Vatican investigation. Pope Francis accepted Bishop Richard Stika's resignation, according to a one-line statement from the Vatican. At 65, Stika is still 10 years below the normal retirement age for bishops.

The U.S. conference of Catholic bishops said the archbishop of Louisville, the Most Reverend Shelton Fabre, was named temporary administrator to run the diocese until a new bishop is installed.

In a statement in The Record, Fabre wrote, "While I remain Archbishop of Louisville with my responsibilities here, the Holy Father has appointed me also as the temporary Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Knoxville until a new bishop in Knoxville is named and subsequently installed."

Effective immediately, Fabre said he will split his time between Louisville and Knoxville, and he plans to name a priest from the Diocese of Knoxville to help him until a new bishop is named.

Fabre's message to the archdiocese is that he will stay focused on Louisville as much as he can. "While this appointment will impact my presence at events and celebrations within the Archdiocese of Louisville for a time, I will strive nonetheless to accept every possible opportunity to be present with you," he wrote. "However, I ask for your understanding and patience as I may need to make some pastorally sensitive scheduling adjustments for the good of the faithful of Louisville and Knoxville. Nevertheless, be assured of my firm resolve to provide ongoing spiritual support to you, the lay faithful, priests, deacons, seminarians, and consecrated men and women of the Archdiocese of Louisville."

Stika’s departure, after 14 years as bishop of Knoxville, closes a turbulent chapter for the southern U.S. diocese that was marked by a remarkable revolt by some of its priests, who accused Stika of abusing his authority and protecting a seminarian accused of sexual misconduct. They appealed to the Vatican for “merciful relief” in 2021, citing their own mental health, sparking a Vatican investigation that led to Stika’s resignation.

In media interviews, Stika has strongly defended his actions and his leadership and said he worked to bring unity in the diocese.

In a statement Tuesday, Stika cited “life-threatening health issues” as part of the reason for his resignation. He listed diabetes, heart problems and neuropathy, among other issues, though he also said the public airing of problems in the diocese had affected him.

In addition to the priests’ complaints, Stika is the subject of at least two lawsuits that accuse him of mishandling sexual abuse allegations and seeking to silence the accusers. In one, a former employee at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Knoxville — who uses the pseudonym John Doe — accused a seminarian there of harassing and raping him in 2019.

The suit filed in Chancery Court in Knox County says Stika should have known the seminarian was dangerous because he had been accused of sexual misconduct previously. Instead, Stika encouraged the accuser’s friendship with the man, and the accuser felt pressure to comply for fear of losing his job, it says.

Even after the former employee accused the seminarian of rape, Stika let the seminarian live in his home and steadfastly defended him, the suit says. Stika also told multiple people that the seminarian was innocent and that the accuser was the aggressor, it says. In addition, Stika removed an investigator who was looking into the allegations, replacing him with someone else who never talked to the accuser, according to the lawsuit.

In a second lawsuit, a Honduran immigrant seeking asylum in the United States accused a priest in the diocese of locking her in a room and sexually assaulting her after she went to him for grief counseling in 2020. The woman went to the police, and the diocese was aware of the accusation but took no action against the priest until after he was indicted on sexual battery charges in 2022, according to the lawsuit.

The suit accuses the diocese of spreading rumors about the woman that led to her being shunned and harassed in the community.

The woman, who uses the pseudonym Jane Doe, filed a civil suit against the diocese. The diocese, in turn, hired a private detective to investigate her. The detective illegally obtained her employment records and told police that she had committed employment fraud, according to the lawsuit.

The suit claims the diocese was trying to either intimidate her into dropping both lawsuits or get her arrested and deported.

Around the same time, a group of priests from the Diocese of Knoxville sent a letter to Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio who serves as a representative for Pope Francis in the United States.