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December 30, 2017Planning is well under way for the ordination of Father J. Mark Spalding of Louisville as a bishop and his installation as the 12th Bishop of Nashville.
“The people of the Diocese of Nashville are very excited about this appointment, and we look forward to a joyful and holy celebration as we enter this new chapter in the life of the diocese,” Diocesan Administrator Father Michael Johnston said in a letter to the priests and deacons of the diocese.
Bishop-elect Spalding, a priest of the Archdiocese of Louisville, was introduced as the next Bishop of Nashville on Tuesday, Nov. 21. He will succeed Bishop David Choby, who died June 3.
The Mass for Bishop-elect Spalding’s episcopal ordination and installation will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, in Sagrado Corazón at the Catholic Pastoral Center.
Sagrado Corazón has seating available for approximately 3,300 people, but diocesan officials expect that the space will be filled to capacity with all those planning to attend.
Numerous bishops from around the region and the country are expected to attend as well as clergy from both the Diocese of Nashville and the Archdiocese of Louisville. Because of the relatively close proximity of Louisville to Nashville – about 170 miles – a large contingent of the bishop-elect’s family and friends are also expected to attend.
Besides local dignitaries, representatives of the Catholic institutions and agencies throughout the diocese will be invited.
To accommodate all the invited guests and the lay faithful who wish to attend the ordination and installation, tickets to the event will be distributed.
“A limited number of tickets for the general public will be allocated to parishes in the Diocese of Nashville based on the number of registered households and distributed on a complimentary basis through the parish offices in the near future,” Father Johnston explained to the diocese’s priests and deacons. “Each parish will receive no less than six tickets for general distribution.”
Several other events related to the ordination and installation also are being planned.
Priests, deacons and deacons’ wives, and religious order communities will be invited to participate in Vespers the evening before the ordination at the Cathedral of the Incarnation. A dinner for invited guests will follow at the Cathedral’s Fleming Center.
The ordination and installation will be followed by a reception at the Catholic Pastoral Center, located at 2800 McGavock Pike, across Briley Parkway from Gaylord Opryland Hotel.