Father Brent Shelton, former pastor of St. Mary Parish in Oak Ridge, has been deposed on behalf of the plaintiff in a pending lawsuit against the Diocese of Knoxville.
Image: Fr. Brent Shelton, former Pastor of St. Mary Parish in Oak Ridge, Tennessee Image Credit: Diocese of Knoxville & Canva
By Jennifer Hay [Knoxville Nobility] –
On September 24, 2025, Father Brent Shelton, former pastor of St. Mary Parish in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, gave deposition testimony via Zoom in the case of John Doe (pseudonym) v. Catholic Diocese of Knoxville and Bishop Richard F. Stika. Fr. Shelton appeared as a witness for the plaintiff in response to a subpoena requiring both oral testimony and production of relevant, non-privileged documents.
The plaintiff, John Doe, alleges that in 2019, he was raped by diocesan seminarian Wojciech Sobczuk while employed by the Diocese of Knoxville. He further alleges that the defendants failed to conduct an adequate investigation and defamed him.
Fr. Shelton was ordered to produce documents not previously submitted under an earlier 2022 subpoena, including:
- Records of any diocesan investigations of Sobczuk,
- Records relating to Sobczuk’s discipline, suspension, or expulsion by any seminary, diocese, parish, institution, or religious order, and
- Records regarding investigations of the Diocese itself, including those conducted under Vos Estis Lux Mundi.
The plaintiff’s attorneys have cited Vos Estis Lux Mundi—Pope Francis’s 2019 decree establishing universal norms for addressing suspected sexual abuse—because in 2022, the Vatican authorized an investigation into the Diocese of Knoxville after priests and laity lodged complaints with U.S. Apostolic Nuncio, Cardinal Christophe Pierre.
Bishop Stika resigned the See of Knoxville in the summer of 2023, citing health concerns. However, The Pillar reported that Pope Francis asked for Bp. Stika’s resignation.
After a gap year in which the Diocese was administered by Archbishop Shelton Fabre, Bishop James Mark Beckman was ordained and installed as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville on July 26, 2024.
Fr. Shelton does not presently have a ministry within the Diocese of Knoxville. Formerly, he was pastor of St. Mary Parish in Oak Ridge. He was also dean of the Cumberland Mountain Deanery—one of four deaneries that comprise the Diocese of Knoxville. As dean, Fr. Shelton would have represented the bishop within the deanery by supporting the clergy and coordinating pastoral planning.
On April 26, 2023, Bp. Stika sent an email to parishioners of St. Mary Parish accusing Fr. Shelton of abandoning his ministry. Fr. Shelton has not served in the Diocese of Knoxville since that time.
Last year, however, Bp. Beckman issued a letter supporting Fr. Shelton’s version of the events surrounding his departure: Days before the crisis, Bp. Stika had communicated to Fr. Shelton that he would be removed as dean and assigned to another parish. Fr. Shelton interpreted this action as retaliatory. In good faith, he requested a leave of absence and left on a pre-planned vacation to visit his mother in Texas, expecting his leave to be granted while he was away.
At the time, Bp. Stika was well aware of Fr. Shelton’s involvement in the lawsuit. Fr. Shelton’s first subpoena was a matter of public record. Further, on April 17, 2023—just nine days before accusing Fr. Shelton of abandonment—Bp. Stika signed a letter about Fr. Shelton’s role as a potential witness in the case.
Fr. Shelton is the second diocesan priest to be deposed in this lawsuit. On September 23, 2025, Fr. Joseph Reed gave his deposition testimony as former Vocation Director for the Diocese. Fr. Reed also does not presently have a ministry with the Diocese of Knoxville. Following complaints last year of “boundary violations,” Bp. Beckman removed Fr. Reed as pastor of St. John Neumann Parish in Farragut, though civil authorities found the accusations to be unsubstantiated, and the Diocese found no evidence of sexual misconduct. Fr. Reed has been on sabbatical since July 1, 2025. A petition to church hierarchs on behalf of Fr. Reed, signed by 435 people, has gone unanswered for six months.
In 2023, diocesan attorneys moved for a protective order to limit access to documents exchanged in discovery, but Judge Jerome Melson denied the request. While the testimony and materials from these depositions are not covered by a protective order, such information is typically not made public unless filed in support of an official request.
Both the plaintiff and defendants in this lawsuit have agreed to a schedule that anticipates a trial in 2027.
The Diocese of Knoxville was provided an advance copy of this article and invited to comment, but no response was received. Inquiries to the Diocese may be directed to spokesman John Mecklenborg at jmecklenborg@dioknox.org or 865-862-5746.
The author is grateful to two faithful readers for providing valuable edits to this article, and to a member of St. Mary Parish for sharing her copies of letters related to Fr. Shelton.
Author bio: Jennifer Hay is the founder of Knoxville Nobility, a Substack publication for local pro-life, pro-family news and insights, including firsthand reporting on Knoxville’s 2021 Planned Parenthood arson.
