1600 to 1800

When French explorer Jean Nicolet entered the Green Bay areas in 1634, he was followed by Jesuit missionaries.^[3] It became part of the French colony of New France.Reverend Claude-Jean Allouez celebrated Mass with a Native American tribe near present-day Oconto in December 1669, the feast of St. Francis Xavier. He established the St. Francis Xavier Mission there. The mission moved to Red Banks for a short time in 1671, and then to De Pere, where it remained until 1687, when it was burned. The missionaries worked with the Fox, Sauk, and Winnebago tribes, protected by Fort Francis near Green Bay. When the fort was destroyed in 1728, the missionaries left the area.^[3]

1800 to 1868

By 1825, the Green Bay area was part of the United States. The first new Catholic church in over 100 years was constructed in Fort Howard in 1825. Its parishioners included many French Canadians living in the settlement. The next church to be constructed in the area was called St. John the Evangelist. Founded by Father Samuel Mazzuchelli in 1831, it is the longest continuously-used church in Wisconsin.^[3] Other early parishes included:

• St. John Nepomucene, Little Chute (1836)
• Holy Maternity of Mary, Manitowoc Rapids (1848)
• St Edward, Mackville (1849)
• St. Luke, Two Rivers (1851)
• St. Anna, St. Anna (1851)
• St. Peter, Oshkosh (1853)
• St. Mary (now St. Francis Xavier Cathedral), Green Bay, (1854)^[3] (German parish)
• St. Willebrod, Green Bay (Dutch parish) (1864)
• St. Patrick Green Bay (1865)

1868 to 1885

In 1868, Pope Pius IX erected the Diocese of Green Bay and named Monsignor Joseph Melcher of the Diocese of St. Louis as its first bishop.^[4] When Melcher arrived in the new diocese, there were 16 priests and a Catholic population of 40,000 people.^[5] By the end of his term as bishop, the number of priests had increased to 56 and the Catholic population increased to 60,000.^[6] Melcher also began preparing for the erection of the new cathedral.

Although the Green Bay area had many French-Canadian Catholic residents, new settlements were populated by other European immigrants pouring into Wisconsin.^[3] These immigrants then formed their own ethnic churches. Melcher died in 1873.

In 1875, Monsignor Francis Krautbauer from the Diocese of Buffalo was appointed by Pope Pius IX to succeed Melcher as bishop of Green Bay.^[4] During Krautbauer's ten years in Green Bay, the Catholic population increased from 60,000 to 70,000, the number of churches from 92 to 126, and the number of priests from 63 to 96.^[7][8] By 1880, the diocese had 44 parochial schools with over 5,000 students.^[8] Krautbauer oversaw the planning and construction of St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, laying its cornerstone in 1876 and consecrating it in 1881. Krautbauer died in 1885.

1885 to 1900

The next bishop of Green Bay was Monsignor Frederick Katzer from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, named by Pope Leo XIII in 1886. In Katzer's five years as bishop, the number of Catholic schools increased from 44 with 5,292 students in 1886 to 70 schools with 10,785 students in 1891.^[9] During this period, the growth of the English language in the area gradually weakened the bonds of the ethnic churches.^[3] In 1890, Leo XIII appointed Katzer as archbishop of Milwaukee.

To replace Katzer in Green Bay, Leo XIII selected Reverend Sebastian Messmer as the next bishop in 1891.^[10] During his 11-year tenure, Messmer encouraged the growth of parochial schools and other religious institutions.^[11] He also invited Abbot Bernard Pennings to establish the Norbertine Order in the United States; they founded St. Norbert College in De Pere.^[11] Messmer was named archbishop of Milwaukee in 1903 by Pope Pius X.

1900 to 1967

Pius X named Monsignor Joseph Fox as the next bishop of Green Bay in 1904.^[12] Fox was the first native born priest from the diocese to become its bishop.^[13] During his tenure, Fox built a new episcopal residence, which later became the diocesan chancery and displayed a strong interest in education and advancing the parochial school system.^[13] Fox resigned in 1914 and Pope Benedict XV appointed Auxiliary Bishop Paul Rhode from the Archdiocese of Chicago as the new bishop in Green Bay. During his tenure, Rhode established ten parishes and 19 parochial schools, and organized the diocesan Catholic Charities and a department of education.^[14] In 1944, Pope Pius XII named Bishop Stanislaus Bona from the Diocese of Grand Island as coadjutor bishop to assist Rhode.^[15]

When Rhode died in 1945, Bona automatically succeeded him as bishop of Green Bay. During his tenure in Green Bay, Bona founded 67 grade schools, four high schools, Holy Family College in Manitowac and Sacred Heart Seminary in Franklin.^[16] He also established a diocesan newspaper and adjusted the social welfare program of the diocesan Catholic Charities to meet new needs, including those of migrant workers.^[16]

1967 to present

After Bona's death in 1967, Pope Paul VI selected Auxiliary Bishop Aloysius Wycisło of the Archdiocese of Chicago as the new bishop of Green Bay.^[17][18] He served as bishop in Green bay for 16 years, until his retirement in 1983. Pope John Paul II that same year named Reverend Adam Maida of the Diocese of Pittsburgh as Wycisło's replacement.^[19] During his tenure in Green Bay, Maida appointed the diocese's first female chancellor and first female parish director.^[20] He also established a diocesan planning council and ministry formation program, initiated a diocesan census, implemented the RCIA process, and raised $9 million through Lumen Christi education endowment campaign.^[20]

In 1990, John Paul II appointed Maida as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit. The pope also named Auxiliary Bishop Robert Banks from the Archdiocese of Boston as the new bishop of Green Bay.^[21] Banks retired in 2003. John Paul II then appointed Auxiliary Bishop David Zubik from Pittsburgh to replaced Banks. Pope Benedict XVI in 2007 named Zubik as bishop of Pittsburgh.^[22]

The current bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay is David L. Ricken, formerly bishop of the Diocese of Cheyenne. Ricken was appointed by Benedict XVI in 2008.^[23] In March 2022, Ricken instituted a policy that required diocesan employees to refer to transgender individuals by the pronoun of their biological sex, and to restrict those individuals to restrooms corresponding to their biological sex.^[24]

The diocese in September 2022 severed its ties with Scouts BSA, formerly Boy Scouts of America. The actions was reportedly related to the terms of the Boys Scouts bankruptcy case.^[25]

Reports of sex abuse

In September 2002, Reverend John Feeney was arrested in Los Angeles on warrants from Outagamie County charging him with child sexual assault.^[26] He was accused of sexually assaulting brothers Troy and Todd Merryfield when they were young teenagers at St. Nicholas Parish in Freedom in 1978. He was convicted in 2004 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was laicized by the Vatican in 2005.^[27] The Merryfield brothers sued the diocese in 2008, saying the diocese committed fraud by transferring Feeney and not informing parishioners about his background.^[28] In May 2012, the brothers won a $700,000 award from the court, but it was overturned later that year.^[29] The diocese finally settled with the Merryfields for $700,000 in November 2015.^[30]

Reverend Donald Buzanowski was convicted in 2005 of sexually assaulting David Schauer in 1988 when he was a student at Saints Peter and Paul School in Green Bay. The Vatican laicized him that same year.^[31] Buzanowski had been previously convicted in 2000 on child pornography charges and served 21 months in prison. In a 2002 letter to the diocese, he admitted to sexually abusing 14 boys.^[32] Due to a change in Wisconsin law, Buzanowski was released in 2012 with seven years of probation.^[33]

The diocese was sued in Nevada in October 2012 by a Las Vegas, Nevada, man who alleged being sexually abused at age 13 by Feeney when he was serving in that city during the 1980s. The plaintiff said that the Diocese of Green Bay failed to tell the Diocese of Reno-Las Vegas about Feeney history of accusations.^[34] A Las Vegas jury in March 2013 awarded the man $500,000.^[30] However, the Nevada Supreme Court reversed the judgement in May 2015.^[35]

Reverend Richard Thomas, a retired priest, was sentenced in October 2016 to four months in jail for exposing himself to a 16 year old boy. During March of that year, Thomas on several occasions exposed himself through the window of his retirement facility to the boy as he walked to school.^[36] Police had arrested Thomas in 1993 for running around naked, but he was sentence to psychological treatment.

In January 2019, the diocese released a list of 46 diocesan clergy who were credibly accused of committing acts of sex abuse.^[37] By May 2019, the diocese had added two more names to this list.^[38] In August 2019, Bishop Ricken was accused of shielding former Bishop Joseph Hart during a criminal investigation in 2002 when Ricken was serving as bishop of Cheyenne. Ricken denied all the accusations, said that he never covered up anything about Hart.^[39]

Bishops of Green Bay

1. Joseph Melcher (1868–1873)
2. Francis Xavier Krautbauer (1875–1885)
3. Frederick F.X. Katzer (1886–1891), appointed Archbishop of Milwaukee
4. Sebastian G. Messmer (1891–1903), appointed Archbishop of Milwaukee
5. Joseph John Fox (1904–1914)
6. Paul Peter Rhode (1915–1945)
7. Stanislaus Vincent Bona (1945–1967)
8. Aloysius John Wycisło (1968–1983)
9. Adam Maida (1983–1990), appointed Archbishop of Detroit (elevated to Cardinal in 1994)
10. Robert Joseph Banks (1990–2003)
11. David Zubik (2003–2007), appointed Bishop of Pittsburgh
12. David Laurin Ricken (2008–present)

Former auxiliary bishops

• John Benjamin Grellinger (1949–1974)
• Mark Francis Schmitt (1970–1978), appointed Bishop of Marquette
• Robert F. Morneau (1978–2013)

Other diocesan priests who became bishops

• Frank Joseph Dewane, appointed Coadjutor Bishop (in 2006) and later Bishop of Venice in Florida
• John Francis Doerfler, appointed Bishop of Marquette in 2013
• Daniel J. Felton, appointed Bishop of Duluth in 2021

Colleges

• Holy Family College – Manitowoc
• St. Norbert College – DePere