J. Mark Spalding


Joseph Mark Spalding, D.D., J.C.L. is an American priest and bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the twelfth bishop of the Diocese of Nashville.

Biography

Spalding was born in Lebanon, Kentucky and grew up on the family farm in Washington County. His family has roots in the earliest Catholic presence in the United States west of the Appalachian Mountains; among his relatives are Martin John Spalding, John Lancaster Spalding and Catherine Spalding. He was graduated from Bethlehem High School in 1983; and obtained a B.A. in history from Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in 1987. He received a master's degree and an S.T.B. from the "Catholic University of Louvain" in 1990.
He was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood on August 3, 1991 for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville at the Basilica of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral by Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly, and returned to Louvain for a Licentiate in Canon Law.
He was appointed pastor of Holy Name Catholic Church in Louisville on October 1, 2016.

Bishop of Nashville

appointed Spalding on November 21, 2017 to be the twelfth bishop of the Diocese of Nashville. Spalding was consecrated and installed as bishop in a Mass on February 2, 2018; among the concelebrants of the Mass were Archbishop Christophe Pierre and Cardinal Justin Rigali.

Episcopal succession