Barry C. Knestout

Styles of Barry Christopher Knestout
Reference style	His Excellency The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Bishop

Barry Christopher Knestout (born June 11, 1962) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Knestout serves as the 13th bishop of the Diocese of Richmond.^[1][2]

Previously, Knestout served as the priest secretary for James Cardinal Hickey and Theodore McCarrick and then as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington, assisting Donald Cardinal Wuerl.

Early life[]

Knestout was born in Cheverly, Maryland, to Thomas (died 1997) and Caroline Knestout. His father was a deacon who served as a cryptologist for the National Security Agency and as the director of the Office of the Permanent Diaconate for the Archdiocese of Washington.^[3]One of nine children, Barry Knestout has five brothers and three sisters.^[4] A younger brother, Mark, is a priest incardinated in the Archdiocese of Washington.^[5]

As a child, Knestout lived with his family in Ankara, Turkey, for four years. On returning to the United States, he attended St. Pius X School and Bowie Senior High School, both in Bowie, Maryland^[6] Knestout then studied at the University of Maryland, obtaining a Bachelor's degree in architecture in 1984.^[6]In 1985, Knestout entered Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, earning a Master's in Divinity (1988) and a Master of Arts in moral theology (1989).^[7]

Priesthood[]

Knestout was ordained to the priesthood by James Cardinal Hickey on June 24, 1989.^[8] He then served as associate pastor at St. Bartholomew Parish in Bethesda, Maryland until 1993 and at St. Peter Parish in Waldorf, Maryland from 1993 to 1994.^[6] Knestout was named priest-secretary to Cardinal Hickey in 1994, and remained in that position until Hickey's death in 2004; he also served in the same capacity to then cardinal Theodore McCarrick from 2003 to 2004.

Knestout was raised to the rank of monsignor in 1999, and served as executive director of the archdiocesan office of youth ministry from 2001 to 2003.^[6] He then became pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Silver Spring, Maryland in 2004, and archdiocesan secretary for pastoral life and social concerns in 2006.^[6] In April 2007, Knestout was named vicar general and moderator of the curia of the archdiocese.

Knestout co-chaired the Papal Visit Planning Committee in 2008, overseeing many of the preparations for Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States. He also oversaw a contest for architecture students from the Catholic University of America to design the altar and chair used by Pope Benedict XVI at the Mass at the Washington Nationals baseball stadium.^[6] He was later awarded a Holy Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice for his work.^[9] In his work planning the papal visit, Knestout collaborated with his brother, Mark, who was serving as the director of the Archdiocese of Washington's Office of Worship at the time.^[5] His brother currently serves as pastor of St. Bartholomew Parish in Bethesda.^[10]

Episcopal career[]

Auxiliary Bishop of Washington[]

Coat of Arms as Auxiliary Bishop of Washington

On November 18, 2008, Knestout was appointed titular Bishop of Leavenworth and an auxiliary bishop for Washington by Pope Benedict XVI.^[8] He was consecrated on December 29 by Archbishop Donald Wuerl, with Bishops Francisco González Valer, S.F., and Martin Holley serving as co-consecrators, at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle.^[8]Knestout was the first native of Prince George's County to serve as a bishop for the Archdiocese of Washington.^[5]

Bishop of Richmond[]

On December 5, 2017, Knestout was appointed the 13th bishop of the Diocese of Richmond by Pope Francis.^[1] He was installed as Bishop of Richmond on January 12, 2018, at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.^[2]

On June 31, 2018, follow the McCarrick resignation from the college of cardinals, Knestout denied being approached with any allegations against McCarrick during two previous assignments with him in Washington:

My first assignment was in 2001 while still serving as priest-secretary to Cardinal James A. Hickey. I was asked to also assist as priest-secretary to his successor, Cardinal McCarrick for six months. Despite the double assignment during those six months, most of my time was spent with the elderly Cardinal Hickey – with whom I worked for nearly a decade. In 2003, I was assigned to the Chancery for a year as one of two priest-secretaries at the time for Cardinal McCarrick as his appointment scheduler. During that year, Cardinal McCarrick traveled frequently in his work with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and in his other duties as Cardinal.

On May 10, 2020, Knestout suspended the Reverend Mark White, a priest in two Virginia parishes, for violation of canon law. White had been writing a blog critical of Knestout, Pope Francis and the church hierarchy for supposedly covering up McCarrick's alleged crimes. In 2019, Knestout had ordered White to stop writing the blog. When White resumed it later that year, Knestout obtained a trespass order barring White from church properties in the parishes.^[11]

See also[]

References[]

External links[]

• Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond Official Site