Mark Spalding

Joseph Mark Spalding (born January 13, 1965) is an American Catholic prelate who serves as Bishop of Nashville.

Born in Lebanon, Kentucky, Spalding studied at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology and Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. He became an ordained priest in 1991 and served as an associate pastor for the Archdiocese of Louisville at the Basilica of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral in Bardstown, Kentucky.

Between 1992 and 2017, Spalding served in pastoral positions at parishes in Bardstown, Louisville, and La Grange. In 1998, Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly appointed Spalding to additional positions, judicial vicar and director of the metropolitan tribunal. Archbishop Joseph Edward Kurtz in 2011 appointed Spalding as vicar general. Pope Francis appointed Spalding as the bishop of Nashville in November 2017, and he was consecrated in February 2018.

Biography

Early life Spalding was born on January 13, 1965, in Lebanon, Kentucky, and grew up on the family farm in Washington County, Kentucky. His family has roots in the earliest Catholic presence west of the Appalachian Mountains. His ancestors include Archbishop Martin Spalding, John Lancaster Spalding and Mother Catherine Spalding.

Spalding graduated from Bethlehem High School in Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1983. After finishing high school, Spalding decided to become a priest. He entered the Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in St. Meinrad, Indiana, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1987. Spalding attended the Catholic University of Louvain in Leuven, Belgium; he earned a master's degree and a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree there in 1990. He was consecrated on February 2, 2018. by Archbishop Joseph Edward Kurtz, with Archbishop Christophe Pierre and Cardinal Justin Rigali serving as co-consecrators.

In November 2018, Spalding released a list of 13 diocesan clerics with credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors who served in Tennessee from the 1940s through the 1990s.

Spalding, in January 2024, removed Juan Carlos Garcia from his position at St. Philip Parish in Franklin, Tennessee, pending investigation. A teenager in November 2023 had accused Garcia of inappropriate touching.