Yet another bishop from Wichita. Coincidence?

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Nov 21, 2017

Father Shawn McKnight, a priest of the Wichita diocese, has been chosen as the next bishop of Jefferson City, Missouri.

By my count that will make five priests of the little Wichita diocese (Catholic population: 100,000) to named bishops in the past 20 years. That’s an extraordinary number, and it prompts a question: Was something unusual happening in Wichita about 25 or 30 years ago, that might help to explain such a bumper-crop of outstanding priests? As a matter of fact, yes, something unusual was happening .

Bishop-elect McKnight would have been a seminarian in the summer of 1991. What do you suppose he was doing?

Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.

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Sat25 January
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Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle

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The Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul celebrates St. Paul turning away from persecution of Christians to promoting Christianity. St. Paul, named Saul at his circumcision, a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, was born at Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia. He was a Roman citizen. He was brought up as a strict Jew,…

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