Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville
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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville consists of twenty-four counties in Central Kentucky covering 8,124 square miles. It is the seat of the Metropolitan Province of Louisville, comprised of the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. The third and current Archbishop of Louisville is the Most Reverend Thomas C. Kelly, O.P. The cathedral church of the archdiocese is the Cathedral of the Assumption.
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Statistics
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The archdiocese contains 200,000 Catholics in 66,000 households, served by one hundred twenty-two parishes and missions. One half of all Catholics in the Commonwealth reside within the bounds of the Archdiocese of Louisville, and seventy-nine percent of all Catholics in the archdiocese (forty percent of all Catholics in the Commonwealth) reside in the Louisville Metro area. There are fifty-nine Catholic elementary and high schools serving more than 23,400 students. The archdiocese is home to one hundred sixty-six diocesan priests, one hundred twelve permanent deacons, fifty-two religious order priests, seventy-seven religious brothers, and nine hundred forty-four religious sisters. The archdiocese serves more than 220,000 persons in Catholic hospitals, health care centers, homes for the aged and specialized homes. Services, Mother-Infant Care Program, Senior Social Services, and Rural Ministries Services.
History
The Diocese of Bardstown, the first inland diocese in the United States, was established in 1808, with Benedict Joseph Flaget as the first and only Bishop of Bardstown. The diocese included most of Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.
In 1841, the diocese was moved from Bardstown to Louisville, becoming the Diocese of Louisville. The Diocese of Louisville was elevated in 1937 to become the Archdiocese of Louisville, and the metropolitan province for all the dioceses in Kentucky and Tennessee.
Archbishop Kelly
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The Most Reverend Thomas C. Kelly, O.P. is the current Archbishop of Louisville. Archbishop Kelly is the third Archbishop and first member of the Dominican Order to head the Archdiocese of Louisville. He succeeds Archbishops Thomas J. McDonough (1967-1981) and John A. Floersh (1937-1967).
Archbishop Kelly was appointed by [Pope John Paul II] in December 1981, and he took possession of the archdiocese in February 1982. Prior to becoming Archbishop of Louisville, Archbishop Kelly served as chief administrative officer and general secretary of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and the United States Catholic Conference (USCC) (now the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops). Pope Paul VI named him auxiliary to the Archbishop of Washington, and titular bishop of Tusuro, Africa in 1977. He was ordained at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Archbishop Kelly was born in Rochester, New York, in 1931. He entered the Dominican order in 1951, was ordained a priest in 1958, received a Licentiate in Theology degree from the Dominican House of Studies in 1959, and a doctorate in canon law from the University of St. Thomas in Rome in 1962. Archbishop Kelly celebrated 20 years as Archbishop of Louisville, 25 years as a bishop and 50 years as a Dominican in 2002.
The Most Reverend Charles G. Maloney, DD was ordained auxiliary bishop of Louisville on February 2, 1955. In 1995, he was named titular bishop of Bardstown, Kentucky. Bishop Maloney has since retired from active ministry, but remains the Auxiliary Bishop of Louisville and Bishop of Bardstown.
Metropolitan Province of Louisville
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The Metropolitan Province of Louisville is comprised of the states of Kentucky and Tennessee.
- Archdiocese of Louisville
- Diocese of Covington
- Diocese of Knoxville
- Diocese of Lexington
- Diocese of Memphis
- Diocese of Nashville
- Diocese of Owensboro
Notable figures in the history of the Archdiocese
- Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) — American Trappist monk and author, famed for his work in Buddhist-Christian relations. Entered the Abbey of Gethsemani in the Archdiocese of Louisville in 1941.
- Bishop Benedict Joseph Flaget (1763-1850) was the first and only Bishop of Bardstown and the first Bishop of Louisville. Invariably called "the saintly Flaget," Bishop Flaget served as bishop from 1810 until his death in 1850.
- Father Stephen T. Badin (1768-1853) — The "circuit rider priest." Served the area that would become the Diocese of Bardstown (and later the Archdiocese of Louisville.) The first priest to be ordained in the United States, Father Badin was known as overly strict but zealous.
- Father John L. Spalding (1840-1916) helped found Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and was called the "Catholic Emerson" because of his many books of essays. Father Spalding later became the Bishop of Peoria, Illinois.
- Father James C. Maloney (1911-1998) — founded Boys’ Haven in Louisville in 1948. His brother is Bishop Charles Maloney.
- Monsignor Alfred F. Horrigan (1914- ) was the founding president of Bellarmine College (now Bellarmine University). He also headed the city’s Human Relations commission and was a friend of Thomas Merton.
External links
- The Archdiocese of Louisville
- The Cathedral of the Assumption
- 1910 Catholic Encyclopedia Article on the Diocese of Louisville