[5][failed verification] Perpetual adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament is available at many of the parishes and Masses are celebrated in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, American Sign Language, Polish, and Latin.

[12][13] The next bishop of Knoxville was Monsignor Joseph Kurtz of the Diocese of Allentown, selected by John Paul II in 1999.

In May 2020, Stika issued a decree for the resumption of public Masses with protocols to reduce spread of the virus, including directives which prohibit the reception of communion on the tongue.

[16] In April 2021, an official from the Congregation for Bishops in Rome stated that it had received ten accusations against Stika under Vos estis lux mundi, a motu proprio or document issued by Pope Francis.

"[18] Also in May 2021, eleven diocesan priests, roughly 20 percent of the presbyterate, wrote to the apostolic nuncio for the United States, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, requesting of the Holy See "merciful relief" from Stika's leadership.

Stika said that he had sought early retirement due to health issues and denied claims that the Vatican forced him out.

[20] Francis appointed Archbishop Shelton Fabre of Louisville as apostolic administrator for the diocese until the pope named a new bishop.

[22] In April 2010, Bishop Stika revoked the ministerial privileges of Reverend William Casey, assigned to St. Dominic Catholic Church in Kingsport.

Warren Tucker had accused Casey of raping and sexually abusing him during the 1970s, starting when he was an 11 year old altar boy.

[26] In January 2020, the diocese settled a lawsuit from Michael Boyd, who claimed that Monsignor Francis Mankeland and Bishop O'Connell sexually abused him as a child.

The Vatican had forced O'Connell to resign as bishop of Palm Beach in 2002 due to his admissions of sexual abuse years earlier in Missouri.

That same year, Stika invited Sobczuk to study in Knoxville for the priesthood and live at the bishop's rectory.

The diocese also attempted to place internal church documents under clergy-penitent privilege and the pontifical secret, going against prior instructions by the Vatican.

[38] The Carmelites of Mary Immaculate would also accept a settlement with the woman, who was listed as "Jane Doe," but was also identified as a Honduran.

[39] In contrast to the Diocese of Knoxville and the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, it was not immediately clear if Punnackel would personally go along with the dismissal of the lawsuit.

[39] Punnackel declined to settle with the woman at the time the lawsuit was dismissed, with his lawyer arguing that this was justified by the fact that he had already been found not guilty in a criminal trial.