Tennessee native will be the new bishop for Diocese of Knoxville

Tyler Whetstone, Knoxville News Sentinel

The Catholic Diocese of Knoxville has a new bishop.

Pope Francis has appointed the Rev. James Mark Beckman, who has spent more than 30 years as a priest in the Diocese of Nashville. His ordination is scheduled for July.

“I am blessed and honored to accept this appointment from the Holy Father,” Beckman, 61, said in a news release. “I am a native Tennessean, and I am grateful that I can continue serving the Church and now the faithful of the Diocese of Knoxville in this region that I know well and love tremendously.”

The Catholic Diocese of Knoxville will hold a press conference to introduce the new bishop. Join us live at 10:30 a.m. ET. This page will be updated with the stream below.

Beckman replaces Bishop Richard Stika, who resigned in June 2023 amid mounting complaints about his leadership and handling of allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct.

Louisville Archbishop Shelton Fabre has overseen the diocese since Stika's resignation and will continue to do so until Beckman is ordained this summer.

“I have known Bishop-elect Beckman for a long time,” Fabre said in a statement. “We were seminarians together at the Catholic University in Louvain, Belgium, many years ago. I believe in my heart that he will be a good shepherd for the faithful of the Diocese of Knoxville.”

Beckman was born in Lawrenceburg, south of Nashville near the Alabama state line. He was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Nashville in 1990. His assignments there include:

James Mark Beckman
James Mark Beckman

  • Associate pastor of Holy Rosary Parish, Nashville (1990-91)

  • Teacher and associate principal of Father Ryan High School, Nashville (1990-96)

  • Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Springfield and St. Michael Mission, Cedar Hill (1996-2002)

  • Pastor of St. Matthew Parish, Franklin (2002-15)

  • Pastor of St. Henry Parish, Nashville (2015-present)

Beckman also served as the Diocese of Nashville's director of priest personnel since 2018, among numerous other appointments and committees.

Healing to continue

Stika’s shadow remains over the diocese. In April, Knox News reported Stika was still contacting whistleblowers directly with threats of a lawsuit, including a priest who is a key witness in the sexual assault lawsuit against the church.

That lawsuit was filed by a former diocesan employee who alleges a former diocesan seminarian raped him and details how the diocese, led by Stika, interfered with the investigation and worked to discredit him. Knox News independently verified the interference, which led to the firing of an independent investigator.

Just last week a separate lawsuit against the diocese and the Rev. Antony Devassey Punnackal was settled in federal court. The suit was brought by a woman who accused Punnackal of sexual abuse and the diocese of trying to intimidate her after she reported the incident.

The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

The settlement followed a Sevier County jury clearing Punnackal of sexual battery charges in November.

This is a developing story.

Tyler Whetstone is an investigative reporter focused on accountability journalism. Connect with Tyler by emailing him at tyler.whetstone@knoxnews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @tyler_whetstone.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Pope Francis appoints new bishop for Diocese of Knoxville

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