The Diocese of Richmond () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church in the United States. Its current territory encompasses all of central and southern Virginia, the Hampton Roads area, and the Eastern Shore of Chesapeake Bay. It is a suffragan diocese of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Baltimore, from which its territory was taken, and is a constituent of the ecclesiastical province of Baltimore. As of 2018, the diocese contained 241,276 Catholics and 142 parishes. The diocese currently has 91 active priests, 41 retired priests, 140 permanent deacons, seven religious brothers, 181 religious sisters of Catholic religious orders and 31 seminarians serving 139 parishes. There are 28 diocesan Catholic schools in the diocese, with a total enrollment of 8,827 students in 5 high schools and 22 elementary schools. The diocese's current bishop is Barry C. Knestout, who was appointed by Pope Francis on December 5, 2017. He was installed to the position on January 12, 2018. History 1600 to 1800 Prior to the American Revolution, few Catholics lived in the British Colony of Virginia. Attempts to found Catholic settlements in Virginia were made by Lord Baltimore in 1629, and by Captain George Brent in 1687. In 1634, Father John Altham, a Jesuit companion of Father Andrew White, performed missionary work among the Native American tribes living on the south bank of the Potomac River. The colonial government of Virginia soon enacted stringent laws against the practice of Catholicism. In 1687, Fathers Edmonds and Raymond were arrested at Norfolk, Virginia, for exercising their priestly functions. During the last quarter of the 17th century, the few Catholic settlers at Aquia Creek near the Potomac, were attended by then Father John Carroll and other Jesuit missionaries from Maryland. 1800 to 1820 With the 1786 passage of Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, proposed by future US President Thomas Jefferson, Catholics were granted religious freedom in the new state of Virginia. Reverend Jean Dubois, accompanied by several French priests and letters of introduction from the Marquis de Lafayette, arrived in Norfolk in August 1791. At the end of that year, the Virginia General Assembly invited Dubois to celebrate a mass in the courtroom of the new Virginia State House. This was the first mass conducted anywhere in Richmond.Future US President James Monroe hosted Dubois in Richmond until he was able to rent a house there. Dubois later opened a school