History of the Diocese of Sioux City

History of the Diocese of Sioux City

The Diocese of Sioux City was established by a decree of His Holiness, Pope Leo XIII, on January 15, 1902, separating the twenty-four counties in northwest Iowa from the Archdiocese of Dubuque. At the time of its establishment, the Diocese of Sioux City had a Catholic population of approximately 50,000, with 95 priests serving in 84 parishes and 32 missions.

The Diocese of Sioux City is part of the ecclesiastical Province of Iowa with Dubuque as the archiepiscopal See and Davenport and Des Moines as its sister dioceses. Each of these dioceses is a "particular" or "local" Church which, through its bishop, is united to the universal Church of which Pope Francis is the head.

Pope Leo XIII appointed as the first Bishop of Sioux City, Father Philip J. Garrigan, a native of Ireland and a priest of the Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts, then serving as Vice Rector of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Following his installation in Sioux City on June 18, 1902, Bishop Garrigan decreed that the Church of St. Mary Help of Christians would become the Cathedral of the Epiphany.

Although he was almost 62 years of age when he came to Sioux City, Bishop Garrigan carried on an extensive visitation of all the parishes of the diocese and did this despite the absence of good roads and modem modes of transportation. In 1918, as his health declined, Bishop Garrigan requested of Pope Benedict XV the services of an auxiliary or coadjutor bishop. Acceding to this request, the Holy Father appointed Father Edmond Heelan as Auxiliary Bishop. Bishop Heelan, also a native of Ireland, had been ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Dubuque in 1890, and at the time of his appointment was serving as Pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Fort Dodge. 

Upon his episcopal consecration, Bishop Heelan was appointed Rector of the Cathedral of the Epiphany and, upon the death of Bishop Garrigan on October 14, 1919, became Diocesan Administrator. In 1920, Bishop Heelan was appointed the second Bishop of Sioux City by Pope Benedict XV.

During Bishop Heelan's lengthy tenure, the Church as well as the country experienced very difficult times. Not only was this a period of economic depression, beginning with the breakdown of the farm economy in the 1920's, and continuing through the worldwide Great Depression of the 1930's, but these years also encompassed World War II. Nevertheless, despite great upheavals and equally great sacrifices, the Diocese of Sioux City continued to grow. 

Under the leadership of Bishop Heelan, great progress was made in the area of Catholic education and in the form of legislation enacted by three Diocesan Synods providing for the spiritual care of the people.

In 1946, with his own health beginning to fail, Bishop Heelan requested of His Holiness Pope Pius XII that he be given the assistance of a coadjutor. Acceding to this request, the Holy Father appointed Monsignor Thomas L. Noa of Grand Rapids, Michigan to the office of Coadjutor Bishop of Sioux City, with the right of succession. Scarcely a year later, however, Bishop Noa was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Marquette.

Pope Pius XII then appointed Monsignor Joseph M. Mueller of the Diocese of Belleville, Illinois, as Coadjutor Bishop of Sioux City, and he succeeded to the See upon Bishop Heelan's death on September 20, 1948, thus becoming the third Bishop of Sioux City.

Bishop Mueller's 22 years encompassed a time of great expansion within the Diocese of Sioux City, especially in the area of Catholic education. These were years that saw the building of many new schools, churches, rectories and convents. Perhaps Bishop Mueller's greatest contribution was that of consolidating the existing parish schools into larger central facilities, which dramatically improved the quality of Catholic education available to parents and their children. Bishop Mueller retired in 1970 and died on August 9, 1981.

Prior to his retirement, Bishop Mueller had requested of His Holiness, Pope Paul VI, that the diocese receive the services of an auxiliary bishop and in 1965 Monsignor Frank H. Greteman was duly appointed. Five years later, Bishop Greteman was appointed the fourth Bishop of Sioux City. A native son of the diocese, Bishop Greteman continued the work of his predecessors for the next thirteen years, retiring in 1983. One of Bishop Greteman's major contributions was that of instituting the Diocesan Annual Appeal, a yearly financial campaign that supports our Catholic schools, offices in the chancery and local parish initiatives. Bishop Greteman died on March 21, 1987.

On June 15, 1983, His Holiness, St. Pope John Paul II appointed Monsignor Lawrence D. Soens of the Diocese of Davenport as the fifth Bishop of Sioux City. Under his leadership, the diocese began the painful process of adjusting to decreasing numbers of priests and religious. Parishes were clustered and schools began to increasingly hire lay staff. Greater emphasis was placed upon lay leadership in the form of parish councils, finance committees and school boards.
 
Also during Bishop Soens' tenure, the Cathedral of the Epiphany was completely renovated and a very successful capital campaign - "A Time to Remember" - provided much improved health care coverage for priests and increased pension benefits for retired priests.

In 1997, Bishop Soens requested of Pope John Paul II that he be given the services of a coadjutor and on August 19 of that year, Monsignor Daniel N. DiNardo of the Diocese of Pittsburgh was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Sioux City. Bishop DiNardo succeeded to the See as its sixth bishop on November 28, 1998, the effective date of Bishop Soens' retirement.

Bishop DiNardo effectively served the needs of the diocese for a little more than five years, during which time its centennial was celebrated. In conjunction with that event, another capital campaign - the "Centennial Campaign for Excellence" - took place, which vastly improved the diocese's financing of a number of offices and initiatives, programs and projects, thus providing much-needed financial stability for the Diocese's second century.

On January 16, 2004, Bishop DiNardo was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston. Shortly thereafter, Monsignor Roger J. Augustine, previously the Diocesan Vicar General, was elected Diocesan Administrator by the College of Consultors. He capably directed the affairs of the diocese for the next 22 months.

On November 10, 2005, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Msgr. R. Walker Nickless of the Archdiocese of Denver as the seventh Bishop of Sioux City and he was ordained and installed on January 20, 2006. Under the guidance of Bishop Nickless, a Strategic Planning Task Force was established in 2007. The bishop endorsed a five-year long range plan for the reorganization of parishes in October 2009. Later that month, Bishop Nickless distributed his first pas­ toral letter, Ecclesia Semper Reformanda (The Church is Always in Need of Renewal), throughout the diocese.
In 2014, Bishop Nickless named the Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend a diocesan shrine. He celebrated his 10th anniversary as Bishop of Sioux City in January 2016. 

In February of that year, he announced the initiation of Ministry 2025, a pastoral planning process for the diocese. He named Trinity Heights Queen of Peace a diocesan shrine in 2017. In the year 2020, the bishop reinvigorated the pastoral planning committee and oversaw the rebranding of the diocesan newspaper The Cath­ olic Globe to The Lumen along with the establishment of Lumen Media that features multi-media efforts to communicate with diocesan parishioners. In 2021, the Office of Evangelization was creat­ ed to include parish renewal, discipleship and marriage and family life. The diocese participated in the worldwide Synod on Synodality starting at the parish level in 2021 and the diocesan level in 2022 . Turning 75 on May 28, 2022, the bishop submitted his resignation.

In January 2023, the Welcome Program with legal immigration services and mental health/social services was launched through the diocese's Office of Multi-Cultural Ministries and Catholic Charities to serve the growing immigration population in Northwest Iowa. Bishop Nickless marked his 50th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood on Aug. 4, 2023. The diocese transitioned the Communications Office, Lumen Media, to a 100% digital news platform in July of 2024.
On Feb. 12, 2025, the Holy Father Pope Francis named Father John E. Keehner as the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Sioux City. He was ordained May 1, 2025, at the Cathedral of the Epiphany.
 
Bishop Keehner authored his first pastoral letter,  Sic Deus Dilexit Mundum, God  So  Loved the World, on May 31, 2026.