Diocese of Biloxi Dioecesis Biloxiensis | |
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 Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Biloxi | |
 Coat of arms | |
| Location | |
| Country |  United States |
| Territory |  SouthernMississippi (17 counties) |
| Ecclesiastical province | Province of Mobile |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 24,992 km2 (9,649 sq mi) |
Population
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| Parishes | 43 |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Catholic |
| Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Established | March 1, 1977 |
| Cathedral | Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary |
| Patron saint | St. Joseph the Worker[citation needed] St. Martin de Porres[1] |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| Bishop | Louis Frederick Kihneman |
| Metropolitan Archbishop | Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi |
| Map | |
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| Website | |
| biloxidiocese.org | |
TheDiocese of Biloxi (Latin:Dioecesis Biloxiensis) is adiocese of theCatholic Church that encompasses 17 counties in southernMississippi in the United States. The diocese was erected on March 1, 1977, when it was split from theDiocese of Jackson. It is asuffragan diocese of the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitanArchdiocese of Mobile. TheCathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Biloxi, Mississippi, is the diocesan cathedral.
The Diocese of Biloxi encompasses the counties ofCovington,Forrest,George,Greene,Hancock,Harrison,Jackson,Jefferson Davis,Jones,Lamar,Lawrence,Marion,Pearl River,Perry,Stone,Walthall, andWayne in southern Mississippi.[2]
As of 2023, the Catholic population of the diocese was 54,520, which represented 6.6% of the total population of 831,202. 77 priests, 51 permanent deacons, 28 male religious and 17 female religious serve the diocese.[3]
The first Catholic priests in Mississippi were FrenchJesuit andCapuchin missionaries who accompanied theLa Salle,Marquette, andd'Iberville expeditions in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1787, three priests, Fathers McKenna, White, and Savage, arrived inNatchez from Spain and erected three missions in the vicinity. These missions disappeared after theSpanish Empire ceded the area to the new United States in the early 19th century.[4]
TheMississippi Territory was originally under the jurisdiction of theDiocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas.[5] In 1826,Pope Leo XII moved the new state of Mississippi into the Vicariate Apostolic of Mississippi. The pope named BishopLouis-Guillaume-Valentin DuBourg as the vicar apostolic. In 1837,Pope Gregory XV elevated the vicariate to theDiocese of Natchez, encompassing all of Mississippi.[6] The Biloxi area would remain part of this diocese, succeeded by the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson, for the next 140 years.
When BishopJohn J. Chanche of Natchez visited theMississippi Gulf Coast in 1841, there were no Catholic churches or schools anywhere in the state. The first Catholic church in Biloxi, Nativity Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM), was constructed in 1843.[7] St. Stanislaus College, a boarding school for boys, was established in 1854 in Bay St. Louis by theBrothers of the Sacred Heart.[8]
Missionary priests established a small chapel inPascagoula in 1859.[9] The first Catholic high school in Biloxi, Sacred Heart Academy, opened in 1875. Resurrection Catholic School was started in Pascagoula in 1882 in by the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. In 1898, the first Catholic church inGulfport, St. James, was dedicated.[10] Sacred Heart School was founded in 1900 in Hattiesburg by theSisters of Mercy.[11] St. John High School in Gulfport opened in 1900.[12]
Pope Paul VI erected the Diocese of Biloxi, with territory taken from the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson on March 1, 1977.[13] The pope appointed Auxiliary BishopJoseph Lawson Howze of Natchez-Jackson as the first bishop of Biloxi. He became the first African-American to be appointed a Catholic bishop in the 20th century.[14]
In 1980,Pope John Paul II elevated theDiocese of Mobile to a metropolitan archdiocese[15] and designated the Diocese of Biloxi as a suffragan of the new metropolitan see. Howze retired in 2001 after 24 years as bishop of Biloxi.
Thomas John Rodi of New Orleans was made the next bishop of Biloxi in 2001. Rodi served in Biloxi until 2008, when he was named archbishop of Mobile.
Auxiliary BishopRoger Morin of New Orleans was named the third bishop of Biloxi byPope Benedict XVI in 2009. In 2016, Morin resigned.[16]
As of 2023, the bishop of the Diocese of Biloxi isLouis Kihneman III from theDiocese of Corpus Christi. He was appointed in 2016.[17]
As of 2025, the Diocese of Biloxi has eight elementary schools, four three 7-12 schools and two K-12 schools[18]
Several diocesan priests have been credibly accused of sexual misconduct involving minors. These cases go back to the founding of the diocese in 1977.[22] Bishop Kihneman acknowledged three of these names as credibly accused of sexual misconduct of minors in 2019, but recognized that this was a “small, belated step forward.”[23] The following priests were listed by the diocese as having credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors.
| Ordinaries | |
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| Churches | |
| Education |
* Closed in 2007 and replaced by St. Patrick Catholic High School |
Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Mobile | |
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30°24′43″N88°55′40″W / 30.41194°N 88.92778°W /30.41194; -88.92778
