Join Bishop Stika on Pilgrimage

Bishop Richard F. Stika was born July 4, 1957, in St. Louis, Mo. He attended Catholic schools for his entire education including earning a B.S. from St. Louis University and a Master of Divinity from Kenrick Seminary.

He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Louis on Dec. 14, 1985, by Archbishop John L. May at the Cathedral Basilica in St. Louis. Since his ordination, he has possessed bi-ritual faculties of the Maronite Church, an Eastern Rite of the Catholic Church.

He has served as an Associate and then a Pastor in several parishes as well as associate director of the Office of Vocations for the St. Louis Archdiocese and as spiritual director for the archdiocesan Catholic Youth Council. On June 28, 1995, he was made a Prelate of Honor of His Holiness and hence known by the title Monsignor. In 1999 then–Monsignor Stika coordinated for the archdiocese the visit of Pope John Paul II to St. Louis.

Pope Benedict XVI appointed him bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville on January 12, 2009, and he was ordained Knoxville’s Ordinary on March 19, 2009.

Learn more at: https://dioknox.org/