Louisville Priest Named New Bishop Of Nashville

NASHVILLE, TN — Pope Francis announced Tuesday that Father J. Mark Spalding will become the 12th Bishop of Nashville.

Fr. Spalding is currently pastor of Holy Trinity Parish and Holy Name Parish in Louisville. He has also served as a vicar general — the chief deputy of the archbishop — for the Archdiocese of Louisville since 2011.

Ordained in August 1991 at the historic St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral in Bardstown, Ky., the cathedral of the former Diocese of Bardstown, the first Roman Catholic diocese headquartered west of the Appalachian Mountains.

He is a graduate of Bethlehem High School in Bardstown and St. Meinrad Seminary in St. Meinrad, Ind. He received a master of religious studies and a licentiate in canon law from American University in Louvain, Belgium.

Nashville's bishopric has been sede vacante since the death of Bishop David Choby in June. Spalding will be the 12th Bishop of Nashville. The Diocese of Nashville was carved out of the Diocese of Bardstown in 1837 by Pope Gregory XVI and included the entire state of Tennessee until 1971, when West Tennessee was transferred to a new Diocese of Memphis by Pope Paul VI. East Tennessee was transferred to a new Diocese of Knoxville by Pope John Paul II in 1988.

Fr. Spalding's ordination and installation is scheduled for Feb. 2 at Sagrado Corazon at the Catholic Pastoral Center on McGavock Pike.

Photo via Diocese of Nashville