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William Albert Wack

Bishop of Pensacola–Tallahassee

Bishop

1967

1994

Ordained

2017

Consecrated Bishop

Pensacola–Tallahassee

Diocese

United States

Country

The Life

William Albert Wack, CSC, born June 28, 1967 in South Bend, Indiana, is the ninth of ten children of Dr. James and Alice Wack; his younger brother Neil is a Holy Cross priest. He studied at the University of Notre Dame (BA in government and international relations, 1989; Master of Divinity, 1993) and professed solemn vows in the Congregation of Holy Cross on August 28, 1993. He was ordained a priest on April 9, 1994.

His priestly ministry took him to Colorado Springs as a parochial vicar (1994-1997), to Notre Dame in vocations and campus ministry (1997-2002), to Phoenix as director of the Andre House of Hospitality (2002-2008), and to Austin as pastor of St. Ignatius Martyr Parish and vicar forane of the Central Austin Deanery (2009-2017). Pope Francis appointed him the sixth Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee on May 29, 2017; he was ordained and installed on August 22, 2017, at the Pensacola Bay Center, succeeding Gregory Parkes.

As bishop he has written two pastoral letters, Sharing the Gift (2021) on evangelization and Reborn, Anointed, Nourished (2025) on restoring the order of the sacraments of initiation, and in October 2023 he closed the diocesan phase of the cause of the Martyrs of La Florida. He was selected chairman-elect of the USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis in November 2025. His motto is 'Come. Follow Me.'

Major Works & Initiatives

Sharing the Gift (pastoral letter)

First pastoral letter, on evangelization and missionary discipleship; released November 6, 2021.

Statement on the Society of St. Pius X

September 2018 diocesan statement clarifying that the SSPX chapel in Miramar Beach is not in full communion with the Church and directing the faithful to the diocese's three diocesan traditional Latin Masses.

Martyrs of La Florida cause

Closed the diocesan phase of the beatification cause of Antonio Inija and 57 companions at a Mass in Tallahassee on October 12, 2023; the sealed acts were taken to Rome for the Vatican phase.

Reborn, Anointed, Nourished (pastoral letter)

Second pastoral letter, May 28, 2025, beginning a phased move (2025-2028) to the restored order of initiation: Confirmation and First Communion in second grade, around age seven.

In His Own Words

Now I know for sure that God is merciful, having called this sinner to serve in this capacity.

Statement on his appointment as Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee, May 29, 2017

At the present time there is a traditional Latin Mass offered every Sunday in Pensacola at 10:30am at St. Stephen Catholic Church/Our Lady of Fatima Diocesan Shrine. There are additional opportunities to participate in a Latin Mass at St. Thomas More Parish in Pensacola and at St. Louis Catholic Church in Tallahassee.

Diocesan statement on the Society of St. Pius X, September 2018

The Old Mass, See by See

Pensacola-Tallahassee2017-08-22 – presentNo act of his own

3 sites → 1 site

What he inheritedWack himself held the see when Traditionis Custodes issued (bishop since 2017), so the TC-era state is his own record, not an inheritance: he began the era with three diocesan traditional Latin Mass sites that he had publicly listed in 2018 (St. Stephen and St. Thomas More in Pensacola; St. Louis in Tallahassee), all served by diocesan priests, with no FSSP or ICKSP presence.

2018-09Pre-TC context: issued diocesan statement on the SSPX chapel in Miramar Beach (not in full communion; attendance does not fulfill the Sunday obligation), directing the faithful to the diocese's three diocesan traditional Latin Masses. ↗
2021-07-16Traditionis Custodes takes effect. No decree, norms, or public statement implementing it by Bishop Wack was located; CNA's diocesan tracker (updated August 2, 2021) records Pensacola-Tallahassee as 'N/A', and no TC document appears on the diocesan website. ↗
2022-10-09St. Thomas More, Pensacola: Sunday 8:00 a.m. Latin Mass moves from the first and third Sundays to the second and fourth Sundays (frequency unchanged, two per month); Tuesday 6:00 p.m. Latin Mass continues. Parish-level scheduling change; no diocesan restriction published. ↗
2023-05-21St. Louis, Tallahassee: by this date the parish's first-Sunday 10:30 a.m. Mass is listed as a solemn Novus Ordo and no Latin Mass (formerly Thursdays and first Sundays) appears in the weekly schedule; the exact date and reason for the ending are not documented in located sources. ↗
2025-03-25Fr. Nicholas Schumm, pastor of St. Thomas More, Pensacola, and celebrant of its Latin Masses, begins a leave of absence (diocesan assignments list, April 22, 2025); the parish's Tuesday and Sunday Latin Masses, still listed in January 2025, disappear from bulletins by mid-2025 and are not restored. ↗
2025-07-01Fr. Luke Farabaugh becomes pastor of St. Thomas More, Pensacola; under the new pastor the parish lists no Latin Mass (diocesan parish finder, October 2026), leaving St. Stephen, Pensacola, as the diocese's only traditional Latin Mass site. ↗

sspx_warning_2018: Pre-TC: September 2018 statement that the SSPX chapel Saint Anthony Mary Claret in Miramar Beach is not in full communion; Catholics should not receive Communion there and attendance does not fulfill the Sunday obligation; the statement points to the three diocesan TLMs instead.restored_order_2025: Pastoral letter Reborn, Anointed, Nourished (May 28, 2025) moves the whole diocese to the restored order of initiation (Confirmation and First Communion at about age seven), phased 2025-2028 - the major liturgical-policy act of his TC-era tenure, though unrelated to the 1962 Missal.

Rome: No Roman dispensation for any site in the diocese is publicly documented. After the February 2023 rescript reserving parish-church TLMs to the Holy See, St. Stephen (a parish church) continues its Sunday traditional Mass with no published dispensation located; whether one was sought or granted is not in the public record found.

Since the SSPX decree of 2 July 2026: No statement recorded as of 2026-10-23.

Reviewed 2026-10-23Confidence: medium

Domus Dei’s Verdict

The Bishop & the Mass of Ages

Attrition without a decree

Bishop Wack never published a decree, norms, or statement implementing Traditionis Custodes that research could locate: the Catholic News Agency's July-August 2021 diocesan tracker recorded no response from Pensacola-Tallahassee, and the diocesan website carries no TC document in his name. At the start of the TC era the diocese had three diocesan traditional Latin Masses, all celebrated by diocesan priests; no FSSP or Institute of Christ the King community has served in the diocese.

The flagship Mass, the Sunday 10:30 a.m. High Mass at St. Stephen Parish in Pensacola - also the diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima - has continued without interruption and is still listed by the diocese in 2026, alongside weekday traditional Masses. The other two sites lapsed quietly: St. Louis in Tallahassee had replaced its first-Sunday Latin Mass with a solemn Novus Ordo by May 2023, and St. Thomas More in Pensacola lost its Tuesday and Sunday Latin Masses in 2025 when their celebrant, the pastor, took a leave of absence and the incoming pastor did not restore them. No document attributes either ending to Traditionis Custodes.

The result is a diocese that went from three traditional Latin Mass sites to one during the TC era without a single published act of restriction by its bishop - a record of attrition by circumstance rather than by decree.

References & Further Reading

Pope Names Priest as New Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee — USCCB Office of Public Affairs · USCCB · 2017Appointment of Fr. William A. Wack, CSC, announced May 29, 2017; see vacant since November 2016.

Biography of Bishop William A. Wack, CSC — Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee · ptdiocese.org · 2026Diocesan biography: appointed May 29, 2017; ordained and installed August 22, 2017; education, vows, assignments; second pastoral letter titled Reborn, Anointed, Nourished (May 28, 2025).

History of our Diocese — Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee · ptdiocese.org · 2026Parkes reassigned November 28, 2016 and installed at St. Petersburg January 4, 2017; Wack ordained and installed August 22, 2017.

Pope Names Reverend William Wack, CSC, New Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee — Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops · flaccb.org · 2017Quotes Wack's May 29, 2017 statement; notes Msgr. James Flaherty served as diocesan administrator from January 2017.

Diocesan statement regarding the Society of St. Pius X — Bishop William A. Wack · Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee (PDF) · 2018September 2018: SSPX chapel in Miramar Beach not in full communion; lists the diocese's three diocesan TLMs (St. Stephen and St. Thomas More, Pensacola; St. Louis, Tallahassee).

Pope Francis' Traditional Latin Mass Restrictions: Has Your Diocese Responded Yet? — Catholic News Agency · National Catholic Register · 2021Diocesan response tracker, updated August 2, 2021: 'Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee: N/A.'

St. Stephen Catholic Church - Traditional Latin Mass, Pensacola — St. Stephen Parish · latinmasspensacola.org · 2026Parish site: Sunday 10:30 a.m. High Mass since September 2008, Thursday Low Mass, Saturday Gregorian Mass; describes itself as the only parish in the diocese offering the Traditional Latin Mass.

Parish Finder — Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee · ptdiocese.org · 2026Current diocesan listings (crawled October 2026): St. Stephen still lists Sunday 10:30 a.m. Latin (High Tridentine) and Thursday Tridentine Masses; St. Thomas More, Pensacola, and St. Louis, Tallahassee, list no Latin Mass.

Priests' Assignments - April 22, 2025 — Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee · ptdiocese.org (PDF) · 2025Fr. Nicholas Schumm on leave of absence effective March 25, 2025; Fr. Luke Farabaugh named pastor of St. Thomas More, Pensacola, effective July 1, 2025.

10.

Parish bulletin, May 21, 2023 — St. Louis Catholic Church, Tallahassee · files.ecatholic.com (PDF) · 2023Weekly schedule lists '10:30am Mass (Solemn Novus Ordo 1st Sunday of the Month)' and no Latin Mass; the parish's August 30, 2020 bulletin had listed a Thursday and first-Sunday Latin Mass.

11.

Parish bulletin, September 11, 2022 — St. Thomas More Parish, Pensacola · files.ecatholic.com (PDF) · 2022Announces the Sunday 8:00 a.m. Latin Mass moving to the second and fourth Sundays from October 9, 2022; Tuesday 6:00 p.m. Latin Mass continues.

12.

Parish bulletin, January 12, 2025 — St. Thomas More Parish, Pensacola · files.ecatholic.com (PDF) · 2025Last located bulletin listing a Traditional Latin Mass at St. Thomas More (Tuesday, January 14, 2025, 6:00 p.m.); bulletins from June 2025 onward list none.

Portrait: Own work (Author of this aesthetic version) / Wikimedia Commons

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