Barry Knestout was born in Cheverly, Maryland, on June 11, 1962, to Thomas and Caroline Knestout. Thomas 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.[1] Barry Knestout has five brothers and three sisters.[2] A younger brother, Mark Knestout, is a priest in the Archdiocese of Washington.[3][4][5]
As a child, Barry 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 in College Park, Maryland, obtaining a bachelor's degree in architecture in 1984.[6]
Hickey named Knestout as his priest-secretary in 1994, a position he would hold until Hickey's death in 2004. The Vatican raised Knestout to the rank of monsignor in 1999. In 2001, Hickey appointed Knestout as executive director of the archdiocesan office of youth ministry, a post he held for two years.[6] Knestout also served as priest-secretary for McCarrick from 2003 to 2004.[7]
In 2004, the archdiocese assigned Knestout to serve as pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Silver Spring, Maryland. McCarrick appointed him as archdiocesan secretary for pastoral life and social concerns in 2006.[6] In April 2007, Knestout became vicar general and moderator of the curia of the archdiocese.[7]
In 2008, Wuerl appointed Knestout to co-chair the Papal Visit Planning Committee in 2008, overseeing preparations for Pope Benedict XVI's 2008 visit to the United States. In planning the papal visit, Knestout collaborated with his brother Mark, who was director of the archdiocese Office of Worship at the time.[3] Barry Knestout ran a contest for architecture students at The Catholic University of America in Washington to design the altar and chair for the pope to use when celebrating mass at Nationals Park in that city.[6] The Vatican later awarded Knestout a Holy Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice for his work on the papal visit.[9]
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 of Washington by Benedict XVI. He was consecrated on December 29 by Wuerl, with Bishops Francisco Valer 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 in Maryland to serve as a bishop for the archdiocese.[3]
Bishop of Richmond
On December 5, 2017, Knestout was appointed the 13th bishop of Richmond by Pope Francis.[4] He was installed on January 12, 2018, at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Richmond, Virginia.[5]
In February 2019, Knestout released a list of 42 priests from the diocese who were facing credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors.[10] On June 31, 2018, following McCarrick's resignation from the college of cardinals, Knestout denied knowing of any sexual abuse allegations against McCarrick while he was serving as his priest-secretary. Knestout made this statement:
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 Reverend Mark White from ministry for violations of canon law. White had been writing a blog that accused Knestout, Francis and the church hierarchy of covering up McCarrick's 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 him from church properties.[11] In June 2020, White's petition to the Congregation for Clergy in Rome to remain in his parishes was rejected.[12]
On October 22, 2020, Knestout announced a $6.3 million settlement to 51 people who were sexually abused as children by clergy from the diocese. He also established the Independent Reconciliation Program to help the healing of the victims.[13]
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