The pope named him archbishop of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in 1992. Buechlein, appointed by John Paul II in 1987.

The next bishop of Memphis was Reverend Daniel M. The pope named Stafford as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Denver in 1986. During his tenure, Stafford revised the structure of the Pastoral Office, improved the fiscal conditions of the diocese, and concentrated on the evangelization of African Americans. In 1982, Pope John Paul II appointed Auxiliary Bishop James Stafford of the Archdiocese of Baltimore as the second bishop of Memphis. In 1970, Dozier celebrated two masses of reconciliation in Memphis and Jackson, Tennessee, for lapsed Catholics he gave general absolution to those in attendance. He also established the Diocesan Housing Corporation, Catholic Charities, Ministry to the Sick, and a weekly newspaper called Common Sense. The pope appointed Reverend Carroll Dozier of the Diocese of Richmond as the first bishop of Memphis.ĭuring his tenure, Dozier implemented the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, including insisting on liturgical changes and giving more important roles to the laity in diocesan affairs. Pope Paul VI erected the Diocese of Memphis on June 20, 1970, removing its present territory from the Diocese of Nashville and making it a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Louisville.

The Memphis area and western Tennessee would remain part of the Diocese of Nashville for the next 133 years. Pope Gregory XVI erected the Diocese of Nashville on July 28, 1837, taking all of Tennessee from the Diocese of Bardstown. The new state of Tennessee was part of this diocese. In 1808, Pope Pius VII erected the Diocese of Bardstown, a huge diocese in the American South and Midwest. The Jackson Deanery encompasses the 15 parishes and five missions in the other 20 counties in the diocese.The Memphis Deanery includes the 28 parishes in Shelby County.The parishes and missions are split into two deaneries: The Diocese of Memphis consists of all the Tennessee counties that are west of the Tennessee River. The Diocese of Memphis is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Louisville in Kentucky. The diocesan cathedral is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Memphis.

The Diocese of Memphis ( Latin: Dioecesis Memphitana in Tennesia) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the western part of Tennessee in the United States.

Wee Three by Marta Moran Bishop