Our Story

The Paraclete Catholic Books and Gifts was first conceived by a Ministry Formation program trying to design a final project. While it did not fit the program’s parameters, Karl Fillauer did not abandon the idea of providing a much needed Catholic resource to help serve the spiritual needs of Knoxville’s 2% Catholic population at the time. 

From this, The Paraclete was born in 1987. After many years of private ownership, The Paraclete was donated to the Diocese of Knoxville in 2012. Since then, the proceeds from sales have been used to help support the future education  of our diocesan seminarians. This is our continued mission and to all our loyal customers…. we thank you for your support!