Rome Newsroom, May 7, 2024 / 11:50 am
Pope Francis on Tuesday appointed a new bishop to the Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee, following former Bishop Richard Stika’s resignation last year.
The Holy See Press Office announced that Father James Mark Beckman, 61, will be installed as the new bishop of the diocese. The installation will occur in July.
The bishopric since June 2023 has been under the care of Louisville Archbishop Shelton Fabre, who has served as apostolic administrator following Stika’s departure that month.
Beckman, a Tennessee native, has been a priest with the Diocese of Nashville since his ordination on July 13, 1990. He received a bachelor’s degree in history from St. Ambrose College in 1984 and a master’s degree in religious studies from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium in 1988.