1600 to 1837

The first Catholic priests in Mississippi were French Jesuit and Capuchin missionaries who accompanied the La Salle, Marquette, and d'Iberville expeditions in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1787, three priests, McKenna, White, and Savage, arrived in Natchez from Spain and erected three missions in the vicinity. These missions disappeared after the Spanish Empire ceded the area to the new United States in the early 19th century.^[1]

The Mississippi Territory was originally under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas. In 1826, Pope Leo XII moved the new state of Mississippi into the Vicariate Apostolic of Mississippi. The pope named Bishop Louis-Guillaume-Valentin DuBourg as the vicar apostolic.

1837 to 1860

In 1837, Pope Gregory XVI elevated the vicariate to the Diocese of Natchez, encompassing all of Mississippi. He named Reverend John Chanche, president of St. Mary's College in Baltimore as the first bishop of Natchez in 1840.^[2] At his arrival in Mississippi, Chanche found one priest in the diocese, Brogard, who was there only temporarily. Chanche set to work building a diocesan ^[3] infrastructure.^[4][3] The first Catholic church in Vicksburg, St. Paul's, was built in 1841.

In 1842, Chanche laid the cornerstone of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows, designed by Robert Long Jr. After the Vatican transferred the diocesan see to Jackson, this became St. Mary's Basilica.^[5] In 1847 the Sisters of Charity of Emmitsburg, Maryland, came to Natchez and established Saint Mary's Orphanage.^[6] During his tenure as bishop, Chanche built 11 churches, with a team of 11 priests and 13 attendant missions. Chanche died in 1853.

Bishop James Van de Velde was named as the second bishop of Natchez by Pope Pius IX in 1853. However, after only 23 months in office, Van de Velde died in 1855 of yellow fever.^[7] The next bishop of Natchez was Bishop William Elder, appointed by Pius IX in 1857. At the time he arrived in Natchez, the diocese had eleven missions (churches), nine priests and 10,000 Catholics.^[8][9]

1860 to 1900

After the occupation of Natchez in 1864 by the Union Army during the American Civil War, Elder refused an order from the military government to compel his parishioners to pray for the US president. Elder was then arrested, tried, convicted, and jailed briefly in Vidalia, Louisiana. Elder wrote an appeal from prison to President Abraham Lincoln. Elder explained that his refusal was not based on politics, but on the authority of the Catholic church to regulate its church services. The Federal Government ordered Elder's release from prison on August 12, 1864.^[10]

In 1878, a yellow fever epidemic broke out in Natchez. Ministering to the sick, Elder caught the disease. He survived but lost six diocesan priests.^[9] When he left the diocese, there were 41 churches, 25 priests, six religious houses for men, five convents, 13 parish schools and 12,500 Catholics. Elder was named coadjutor archbishop for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 1880 by Pope Leo XIII.^[8]

In 1881, Francis Janssens from the Diocese of Richmond was appointed the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Natchez by Leo XIII.^[11] During his tenure, Janssens completed construction on the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in Jackson, Mississippi, which had commenced forty years earlier.^[12] The pope named him archbishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans in 1888. St. Joseph School was founded in Greenville in 1888.^[13]

In 1889, Leo III appointed Thomas Heslin of the Archdiocese of St. Louis as the new bishop of Natchez.^[14] St. Mary's Church in Vicksburg, serving the African-American community, was founded in 1906, with half of the funding coming from Sister Katherine Drexel.^[15]

1900 to 1960

When Heslin died in 1911, Pope Pius X named John Gunn as bishop of Natchez. Upon Gunn's arrival, the diocese contained 75 churches, 46 priests, and 17,000 Catholics.^[16] He then began extensive pastoral visits to all the parishes and missions throughout the diocese, which covered nearly 47,000 square miles.^[17] Gunn received significant assistance from the Catholic Church Extension Society, and incorporated the diocese in 1918.^[17] He became known as the "Chapel Builder," and by the time of his death, there were 149 churches and over 31,000 Catholics in the diocese.^[16]

After Gunn died in 1924, Pope Pius XI appointed Richard Gerow of the Diocese of Mobile as the next bishop of Natchez. During his 43-year tenure, Gerow oversaw an extensive renovation of St. Mary's Cathedral, held biannual clerical conferences, and worked to established Confraternity of Christian Doctrine programs in every parish of the diocese.^[18] He moved the episcopal see of the diocese to Jackson in 1948.^[18] On December 18, 1956, the Vatican renamed the Diocese of Natchez to the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson.^[9]

1960 to 1980

In 1963, Gerow condemned the assassination of the American Civil Rights Movement activist Medgar Evers in Mississippi, saying, "We need frankly to admit that the guilt for the murder and the other instances of violence in our community tragically must be shared by all of us."^[19] The following year, he ordered Catholic elementary schools in the diocese to admit students to the first grade "without regard to race."^[20] In 1965, Gerow ordered the desegregation of all grades in Catholic schools, in order to "bring our practice into full conformity with the teachings of Christ."^[21] Gerow retired in 1967.

The next bishop of Natchez-Jackson was Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Brunini, appointed by Pope Paul VI in 1967. He was the first native Mississippian to serve in that post.^[22] During his tenure, Brunini was an outspoken advocate of the Civil Rights Movement; he once declared, "We as religious leaders can't blame the politicians if we don't do our job first."^[23] He co-founded and served as the first president of the Mississippi Religious Leadership Conference.^[22] In 1977, Paul VI erected the Diocese of Biloxi, removing the southern counties of Mississippi from what was now called the Diocese of Jackson.

1980 to present

When Brunini retired in 1984, Pope John Paul II named William Houck from the Archdiocese of Mobile to serve as bishop of Jackson. Houck retired in 2003 and John Paul II appointed Joseph Latino of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodoux that same year. He instituted the Office for Protection of Children. Latino retired in 2013.^[9]

As of 2023, the bishop of the Diocese of Jackson is Joseph Kopacz from the Diocese of Scranton, named by Pope Francis in 2013. In October 2019, the diocese was sued by Arie Mattheus de Lang, its former financial director. Lang claimed that the diocese fired him in 2018 when he complained about its budget practices and a potential conflict of interest involving Kopacz. The diocese said that he was terminated due to performance issues.^[24]

Sexual abuse

Kenneth, Thomas and Francis Morrison Jr., three brothers from Jackson, sued the diocese in June 2002, claiming that they had all been sexually abused as minors by the priest George Broussard during the 1960s and early 1970s. The brothers said the alleged abuse took place at St. Peter's church behind the altar, at the rectory and at a family lake house. After two of the boys told their father about it, he reported the abuse to the diocese in 1973. The diocese then allowed Broussard to remain at St. Peter's for another 18 months.^[25] He left public ministry in 1975.

Mark Belenchia and a man identified as John Doe sued the diocese in July 2002, saying that they had been sexually abused as teenagers by two diocesan priests. Belenchia accused the priest Bernard Haddican of sexually abusing him, after plying him with cigarettes and alcohol. Doe said that he was sexually assaulted by the priest Paul Madden during a 1973 trip to Ireland.^[26][27] A judge dismissed the two cases in 2003, saying that they had passed the statute of limitations.^[28]

In 2006, the diocese settled lawsuits with 19 sexual abuse victims for $5 million, with an average payout of over $250,000 per victim. The Morrison brothers were included in this settlement.^[29]

In 2020, the media reported that La Jarvis D. Love claimed that he was sexually abused by the monk Paul West at a Franciscan grade school in Greenwood. Love in early 2019 accepted a $15,000 settlement from the Franciscan Order.^[30] In August 2019, Love's three cousins, Joshua Love, La Jarvis Love and Raphael Love, also accused West of sexually abusing them in the mid-1990s.^[31] In August 2020, West was extradited from Wisconsin to Mississippi to face trial on sex abuse charges against La Jarvis D. Love.^[32][33] West was convicted in April 2022 of sexual battery and gratification of lust and sentenced to 45 years in prison.^[34]

Vicars Apostolic of Mississippi

Louis William Valentine DuBourg (1825–1826)

Bishops of Natchez

1. John J. Chanche, P.S.S. (1840–1852)
2. James Oliver Van de Velde, S.J. (1853–1855)
3. William Henry Elder (1857–1880), appointed Archbishop of Cincinnati
4. Francis Janssens (1881–1888), appointed Archbishop of New Orleans
5. Thomas Heslin (1889–1911)
6. John Edward Gunn, S.M. (1911–1924)
7. Richard Oliver Gerow (1924–1956), title changed with title of diocese

Bishops of Natchez-Jackson

1. Richard Oliver Gerow (1956–1967)
2. Joseph Bernard Brunini (1967–1977), title changed with title of diocese

Bishops of Jackson

1. Joseph Bernard Brunini (1977–1984)
2. William Russell Houck (1984–2003)
3. Joseph Nunzio Latino (2003–2013)
4. Joseph R. Kopacz (2014–present)

Former auxiliary bishops

• Joseph Bernard Brunini (1957-1967), appointed Bishop of Jackson
• Joseph Lawson Howze (1973-1977), appointed Bishop of Biloxi
• William Russell Houck (1979–1984), appointed Bishop of Jackson

Other diocesan priests who became bishops

• Bernard Francis Law, appointed Bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau in 1973; future Cardinal
• Ronald Paul Herzog, appointed Bishop of Alexandria in 2004

Elementary and high schools

• Cathedral High School – Natchez
• St. Joseph Catholic School – Greenville
• Vicksburg Catholic - St. Aloysius – Vicksburg ^[35]

Middle and high schools

St. Joseph Catholic – Madison^[35]