The Archdiocese of Louisville as of 2023 contained 24 counties covering 8,124 square miles (21,040 km2). As of 2018, the archdiocese had a Catholic population of approximately 200,000. The archdiocese operated 110 parishes and missions staffed by 126 diocesanpriests, 139 permanent deacons, 56 religious institute priests, nine extern priests, 42 religious brothers, and 380 religious sisters. The archdiocese had 48 Catholic elementary and high schools serving more than 18,000 students. The archdiocese served more than 233,900 persons in Catholic hospitals, health care centers, homes for the aged, and specialized homes.[2]
History
1700 to 1808
Prior to the American Revolution, present day Kentucky was part of the British Province of Virginia. To prevent hostility with Native American peoples in the region, the British did not allow European settlers to move west of the Appalachian Mountains. After the Revolution ended in 1781, settlers from the original 13 states started flooding into the region.
The Vatican in 1784 removed the new United States from the jurisdiction of the Diocese of London, establishing the Prefecture Apostolic of United States of America, a jurisdiction in the United States.[3] The first Catholic presence in Kentucky may have been a group of 25 families who traveled from Maryland in 1785 to Goodwin's Station in present-day Nelson County. They later started farms near Bardstown at Pottinger Creek.[4] Most of the early Catholic settlers in Kentucky were English Catholics from Maryland.[4]
The Vatican in 1789 elevated the prefecture to the Diocese of Baltimore, the first diocese in the United States, covering the entire nation.[3] The first Catholic church west of the Appalachian Mountains, Holy Cross, was constructed at Pottinger Creek in 1792.[4] In 1792, the Commonwealth of Kentucky was admitted to the union.[5] In 1793, Stephen T. Badin estimated that 300 Catholic families were living in Kentucky, clustered in six settlements around Bardstown.[6]
In 1808, Pope Pius VII created four new dioceses out of the Diocese of Baltimore. One of these dioceses was the Diocese of Bardstown. It included all of Kentucky along with a vast area of the American Midwest covering six states. The pope appointed Benedict Flaget as the first bishop of Bardstown. Flaget resisted the appointment, but Pius VII insisted he take it.[6] In 1811, Flaget started St. Thomas Seminary near Bardstown. Flaget started construction of St. Joseph Cathedral in Bardstown in 1816. He celebrated the first mass there in 1819, although the cathedral was not completed until 1823. Also in 1819, Flaget founded St. Joseph's College in Bardstown.[7]
St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral
Over the coming years, the Vatican started reducing the size of the Diocese of Bardstown. It created the Diocese of Cincinnati in 1821.[8] That same year, William Byrne founded St. Mary's College near Lebanon.[6] Flaget tried to resign as bishop in 1833, but the Vatican forced him to stay in that position.
In 1834, Pope Gregory XVI erected the Diocese of Vincennes.[9] The first German Catholic church in Louisville, St. Boniface, was founded in 1836; it is today the oldest continually operating parish in the city. Three years later, Gregory XVI erected the Diocese of Nashville. With the creation of these new dioceses, the Diocese of Bardstown now included just Kentucky.[10] To address the shortage of clergy in his diocese, Flaget in 1835 left for Europe, where he would spend the next four years recruiting seminarians to come to Kentucky. During his absence, Coadjutor Bishop Guy Ignatius Chabrat administered the diocese. At this point, Flaget had founded four colleges, a large orphanage and infirmary for girls and eleven academies for girls. He had introduced three congregations of religious sisters and four religious orders of men into the diocese.[11] Flaget returned to Kentucky in 1839.
1841 to 1855
In 1841, recognizing the increased population and importance of Louisville, Gregory XVI suppressed the Diocese of Bardstown and erected the Diocese of Louisville in its place. He designated St. Louis Church in Louisville as its new cathedral.[9] Like the Diocese of Bardstown, the new diocese covered the entire state of Kentucky. Flaget became the first bishop of Louisville.
In 1848, Pope Pius IX appointed Martin Spalding as coadjutor bishop in Louisville to assist Flaget. That same year, 40 Trappists monks purchased 1,600 acres in Nelson County from the Sisters of Loretto. It became Gethsemani Abbey in 1850, the first Trappist monastery in the United States.[6] Seeing the need for a new cathedral, Flaget started construction of the Cathedral of the Assumption in 1849. The new cathedral was built around the older St. Louis Cathedral; workers disassembled the old structure, carrying it out piece by piece through the doors of the new cathedral.
After Flaget's death in 1850, Spalding automatically succeeded him as bishop of Louisville. When Spalding became bishop, the diocese had a Catholic population exceeding 30,000, with 43 churches, ten chapels, and 40 priests.[12] One of his first acts was to visit every parish, school and other Catholic institution in the diocese. He founded an orphanage for boys in 1850.[13] He continued the construction of the Cathedral of the Assumption, dedicating it in 1852.
In 1853, Pope Pius IX erected the Diocese of Covington, taking eastern Kentucky from the Diocese of Louisville.[9] By the late 19th century, large numbers of German and Irish Catholic immigrants were arriving in Louisville.
1855 to 1910
In 1855, an anti-Catholic riot, later known as Bloody Monday, erupted in Louisville. As an election approached in August 1885, tensions were rising in the city. Opponents of the Democratic Party and supporters of the anti-Catholic Know Nothing movement were spreading rumors. They claimed that immigrant Catholics were planning to overthrow the US Government and that Spalding was hiding weapons for this insurrection in his churches. On election day, rioters attacked German Catholics as they arrived at polling stations. Mobs then started burning homes in an Irish neighborhood. Louisville Mayor John Barbee, himself a member of the Know Nothing Party, saved the Cathedral of the Assumption from destruction during the riot.[14]
Between 22 and 100 Catholics were killed before the Bloody Monday riot was suppressed.[15] Following the riot, Spalding wrote, "I entreat all to pause and reflect, to commit no violence, to believe no idle rumors, and to cultivate that peace and love which are characteristics of the religion of Christ."[16] In 1861, during the American Civil War, Spalding closed St. Joseph's College and converted its facilities into a military hospital for soldiers.[13] In 1864, Spalding became archbishop of Baltimore.
To replace Spalding, Pius IX named Peter Lavialle in 1865 as the next bishop of Louisville.[17] During his two-year tenure, Lavialle conducted diocesan visitations, invited the Dominican Fathers to the diocese and erected four churches in Louisville.[18] Lavialle died in 1867.
1868 to 1937
William McCloskey, rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome, was appointed bishop of Louisville in 1868 by Pius IX. When McCloskey took office, the diocese had 64 churches. He introduced the Passionists, the Benedictines, the Fathers of the Resurrection, the Little Sisters of the Poor, the Franciscan Sisters, and the Brothers of Mary into the diocese to run schools and staff institutions. In 1869, McCloskey brought the Sisters of Mercy to Louisville to operate the U.S. Marine Hospital. That same year, he established Preston Park Seminary in Louisville. When McCloskey died in 1909, the diocese had 165 churches.
After McCloskey died in 1909, Pope Pius X appointed Auxiliary Bishop Denis O'Donaghue from the Diocese of Indianapolis as the next bishop of Louisville. During the 1918 influenza pandemic, O'Donaghue closed the diocese's churches. He stated "the civil laws of the community always take precedence over the laws of the church" and adding "I think it was a good thing and the only thing to do."[19] For his efforts and those of the religious sisters and Knights of Columbus in Louisville during the pandemic, General Fred Thaddeus Austin of Camp Zachary Taylor wrote him a public letter of gratitude.[20] The Sisters of Charity opened Nazareth College, now Spalding University, in Louisville in 1920, the first four-year Catholic college for women.[6]
In 1923, the Vatican appointed John A. Floersh of Nashville as coadjutor bishop in the diocese to assist O'Donoghue. When O'Donoghue died in 1924, Floersh automatically became bishop of Louisville. In 1931, the Dominican Sisters founded St. Catharine Junior College at Springfield.[6]
1937 to 1981
On December 9, 1937, Pope Pius XI elevated the Diocese of Louisville to the Archdiocese of Louisville. At the same time, the pope erected the Diocese of Owensboro, taking western Kentucky from the new archdiocese.[9] The Dioceses of Covington, Owensboro, and Nashville were now designated as suffragan dioceses of the Archdiocese of Louisville.[10] The pope named Floersh as the first archbishop of Louisville. In 1941, Floersh criticized The Courier-Journal for featuring a full-page advertisement for birth control devices.[21]
During his tenure as bishop and archbishop, Floersh increased the number of parishes and schools in the archdiocese. He established Bellarmine College in 1950 in Louisville, the local Catholic Charities agency, the annual Corpus Christi processions, and St. Thomas Seminary in Louisville in 1952.[21][6] He also called on Kentucky Catholics to support the American civil rights movement.[21] Floersh retired in 1967.
In 1981, Pope John Paul II appointed Auxiliary Bishop Thomas C. Kelly from the Archdiocese of Washington as the next archbishop of Louisville.[25][26] Kelly led the restoration of the Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville, pushed for interfaith dialogue, and worked for increased lay person leadership in the archdiocese. He started a Campaign for Excellence program that reversed the enrollment decline at Catholic schools in the archdiocese. Kelly admitted to developing an opioid addiction while recovering from surgery for lung cancer, only recognizing the problem after being confronted by his doctors.[27]
In 1988, Pope John Paul II erected the Dioceses of Lexington and Knoxville, designating both new dioceses as suffragan dioceses of the Archdiocese of Louisville.[9] This action established the present configuration of the Metropolitan Province of Louisville. Kelly retired as archbishop in 2007 after 19 years in office. Pope Benedict XVI in 2007 named Bishop Joseph Kurtz of Knoxville as the next archbishop of Louisville. St. Catharine College in Springfield closed in 2016 due to a financial shortfall.[28] In July 2019, Kurtz underwent treatment for urothelial cancer, which required a three-month medical leave of absence from the archdiocese.[29] Kurtz retired in 2022.
Bishop Shelton Fabre from the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux was named by Pope Francis in 2022 as archbishop of Louisville.[30] The archdiocese was sued in 2021 by Sarah Syring, a former Catholic school teacher. The archdiocese fired Syring after the single woman told them that she was pregnant. She sued under the Kentucky Civil Rights Act, which prohibited gender discrimination. She claimed that archdiocese had failed to terminate several male employees who fathered children while single.[31]
As of 2023, Fabre is the current archbishop of Louisville.
Sexual abuse
In the wake of the uncovering of widespread sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Louisville in 2002, it was revealed that Bishop Kelly played a part in reassigning priests he knew or suspected had abused children and reaching confidential settlements with victims. Kelly resisted calls for him to resign.[32]
In March 2003, Louis E. Miller, an archdiocesan priest, pleaded guilty to 44 counts of indecent and immoral practices and six counts of sexual abuse, covering 21 victims. However, he was accused of child molestation in 94 lawsuits against the archdiocese. Miller was sentenced to 20 years in prison.[33] He died in prison in 2017.[34] In June 2003, the Archdiocese of Louisville paid $25.7 million directly from its own assets to settle claims of sexual abuse by its clergy from the 1940s to 1997. The abuse accusations were directed at 34 priests, two religious brothers, and three lay people.[35]
Joseph Hemmerle, a priest from the archdiocese, was convicted in 2016 of inappropriately touching a ten-year-old boy in 1973 while serving as director at Camp Tall Trees in Brandenburg.[36][37] The plaintiff had accused Hemmerle of forcing him to strip naked and then sexually molested him. Hemmerle received a seven-year prison sentence.[38] In 2017, Hemmerle pleaded guilty to molesting another boy at the camp in 1977 and 1978; he received a two-year sentence.[39]
Benedict Joseph Flaget (1833–1841), title changed with title of diocese Guy Ignatius Chabrat (coadjutor bishop 1834–1841), title changed with title of diocese
Stephen T. Badin (1768–1853) – Known as the "circuit rider priest", Badin was the first priest ordained in the United States. Served the area that would become the Diocese of Bardstown.
Thomas Merton (1915–1968) – American Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani and author. He was known for his writings on Christian spirituality and his work on Buddhist-Christian relations.
James C. Maloney (1911–1998) – Founded Boys' Haven of America in Louisville in 1948. His brother was Auxiliary Bishop Charles Maloney of Louisville.
Coat of arms of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville
Notes
The coat of arms was designed and adopted when Archdiocese was erected
Adopted
1808
Escutcheon
The coat of arms has a blue background with two wavy white lines, The background displays a fortress wall with three red arrowheads. Two fleur-de-lis and a white star are displayed about the wall.
Symbolism
The blue background symbolizes the Bluegrass region of the archdiocese. The wavy lines represent the waterfalls of the Ohio River. The wall symbolizes the old fort on Corn Island on the Ohio river. The arrowheads represent the French and Indian War of 1754 to 1763, which raged in the region. One fleur-de-lis represents the French King Louis XVI, the other represents the French missionaries in the region, including Bishop Flaget. The star represents Our Lady of the Assumption, patroness of the cathedral.
Education
High schools
As of 2023, the Archdiocese of Louisville has nine Catholic high schools and four kindergarten through 12th grade schools. The high schools serve over 5,000 students.[40][41]
^Clarke, Richard Henry (1872). "Right Rev. Peter Joseph Lavialle, D.D.". Lives of the Deceased Bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States. Vol. II. New York: P. O'Shea. pp. 586–592. Retrieved May 4, 2022 – via Internet Archive.
^"CATHOLICS WILL CLOSE CHURCHES: Bishop O'Donaghue Makes It Plain That Civil Laws Take Precedence". Messenger-Inquirer. October 11, 1918.
^"APPRECIATED: Gen. Austin Writes Letters to Bishop O'Donaghue and Grand Knight Clines, Expresses Gratitude of Soldier Boys to Catholic Sisters and K. of C.". Kentucky Irish American. November 30, 1918.
^ abcd"High Schools Archives". Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Louisville. Archived from the original on June 30, 2023. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
^ ab"K-12 Schools Archives". Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Louisville. Archived from the original on June 30, 2023. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
^"Elementary Schools Archives". Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Louisville. Archived from the original on June 30, 2023. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
