An “awesome” and “spirit-filled” celebration brought together thousands of Catholics from around the Archdiocese of Louisville June 29 at Slugger Field in Louisville.

The day-long event celebrating the archdiocese’s 200th anniversary included a special liturgy, food, children’s activities and three concerts. It drew about 6,000 lay faithful, several bishops, archdiocesan priests, religious and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, D.C.

“The spirit was working,” said Kathy Hart, a member of Annunciation Church in Shelbyville, Ky. She and her husband Robert Hart, who is to be ordained a deacon in August, took part in the opening procession of the Mass and then volunteered as hospitality ministers during the afternoon festivities.

“I thought it was great,” said Robert Hart. “We all came together as a community of the archdiocese.

“In the old days, we used to do the Corpus Christi procession” on a large-scale, he noted. “It’s nice to come together again like that.”

The gathering was “awesome,” said Kathy Irby, a parishioner of St. Martha Church.

“I didn’t want to miss it,” she said. “Everybody that put it together (made it) a grand celebration.”

Shayne Duvall, a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Louisville who is assigned to Immaculate Conception in LaGrange for the summer, said that after attending two papal Masses when Pope Benedict XVI visited the United States in April, “this was nice.”

“It was more homey seeing more people you know,” he said. “The weather was beautiful. And this was a very well-organized event. Our true colors showed. We did this right — very reverently and spirit-filled with prayer and worship.

“The majority of seminarians got to sit together and watch all the priests process in together, thinking, ‘One day that’s going to be me,’ ” said Duvall. “It was very uplifting.”

Seminarian Matthew Hardesty, who led the liturgy’s procession, said the event “was reminiscent of the papal Mass” at Yankee Stadium April 20, where he was a torchbearer and ascended to the altar at one point to kneel near Pope Benedict XVI.

“It was an honor to be a cross-bearer” at the June 29 event, “leading that big long procession,” said Hardesty. “It brought back some of the feelings of the papal Mass.”

Maggie Sherrard, an eighth-grader at St. James School in Elizabethtown, Ky., who also took part in the procession, said, “I thought it was cool and kind of special.”

Father William Hammer, pastor of the Basilica of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral in Bardstown, Ky., said the bicentennial event “makes you think back to (the diocese’s first bishop, Benedict Joseph) Flaget — what he thought 200 years ago and the times they would have gathered like this, for the dedication of St. Joseph,” for example.

While some people in the archdiocese can trace their roots to the early settlers of the area, others, including many Hispanic Catholics, are relatively new to the archdiocese. But they can feel just as invested, according to Leticia Brito.

Brito attended the liturgy with a group of fellow parishioners from St. Rita Church in Okolona.

“For me, for my family, for the Hispanic community, this is a very important celebration,” she said. “It’s special because 200 years ago was the first time the church came here.

“I love it,” she said. “It’s a big celebration. You can feel that Catholic spirit.”

Frances Oakley, a member of Most Blessed Sacrament Church, also said the bicentennial event reminded her of the annual Corpus Christi processions that in year’s past drew big crowds from around the archdiocese.

“I grew up with Corpus Christi at Churchill Downs,” she said. “I want to instill in my kids that the Catholic faith goes beyond one parish” and show them the breadth of the archdiocese.

The Slugger Field event did just that, she said. “We all prayed and had good cloud cover,” she said, noting that their seats were not protected from the sun, but that a layer of clouds shaded the seats and field during Mass.

A steady breeze also helped to keep people comfortable during the two-hour liturgy.

Afterward, folks flocked to concession stands for ice cream, popcorn and lemonade.

Oakley and her husband stayed to hear the concert by Patrick Henry Hughes, a local musician who has drawn national attention. The Oakley’s four children played in an area at Slugger Field set up for kids that included a carousel, bean bag toss and face-painting.

Following Hughes’ concert were appearances by the local group “The Monarchs” and the band “America” of 1970s fame, known for songs such as “Ventura Highway” and “Horse with No Name.”

During “The Monarchs’ ” presentation, four women — three members of St. Gabriel Church and a Sister of Charity of Nazareth — stood and clapped with the music.

They were Yvonne Riggs, Gina Enneking and Karen Kuenzig — who were members of the 100-voice choir at the liturgy — and Sister of Charity of Nazareth David Clare Reasbeck. All four agreed the celebration was a “nice party.”

“I love it. It’s so much fun. All of the community is together,” said Kuenzig, who is director of music at St. Gabriel.

“An awesome experience for families young and old” is how Sister Reasbeck, a volunteer at Sts. Mary and Elizabeth Hospital, described the day. She said that at the Mass “people around me were singing their hearts out.”

Enneking thought there was a “natural progression” of events at the celebration, from Mass to the concerts — “sharing a meal together and partying afterward.”

Record staff member Joseph Duerr contributed to this story.