The Catholics of Townsend share a history of growth and struggle.  Our parish is situated in East Tennessee’s Diocese of Knoxville, founded in 1988.  Originally, the whole of Tennessee was one diocese, with our founding Bishop Richard Miles sent to Nashville in 1838 to lead a state-wide diocese with only a few hundred Catholics, no churches, no schools, no clergy except for himself, and only his saddle bags for a chancery!  His ability to make success out of adversity became the hallmark of Tennessee Catholicism.  Continue reading….