Bishop-elect William F. Medley, a priest of the Archdiocese of Louisville, will become the fourth leader of the Diocese of Owensboro during a ceremony next Wednesday, Feb. 10.

The ordination will occur at 2 p.m. CST at the Owensboro Sportscenter, 1215 Hickman Ave., Owensboro, Ky.

During the ceremony, which is open to the public, the bishop-elect will be ordained a bishop through the laying on of hands and a prayer of consecration, and installed as the head of the Owensboro church.

The ritual will be conductetd in the presence of the apostolic nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Pietro Sambi. Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville will be the principal consecrator for the ordination. Archbishop Emeritus Thomas C. Kelly of Louisville and retired Owensboro Bishop John J. McRaith will be co-consecrators. The new bishop succeeds Bishop McRaith.

Present to support and bless him at his ordination will be at least 150 of Bishop-elect Medley’s friends, fellow clergy and former parishioners from the Archdiocese of Louisville who plan to travel by bus to the celebration.

The public is invited to attend the event at the Owensboro Sportcenter, which can accommodate about 5,800 people for a basketball game. The floor of the center also will be open for seating.

Those who have difficulty climbing stairs should arrive early to find a seat on the floor, according to the Owensboro diocese’s Web site. An invitation to the ordination posted on the Web site also asks that people planning to attend be in their seats no later than 1:30 p.m. CST. No tickets will be issued for the event.

A public reception will be held immediately after the ordination and installation at The Hines Center in Philpot, Ky., which is located about eight miles southeast of the Sportscenter.

Among the crowd of Catholics planning to attend the celebration will be priests and staff of the Archdiocese of Louisville and parishioners of St. Bernadette Church, located on the Jefferson-Oldham county line. That is where the bishop-elect was pastor until Feb. 1. About 49 parishioners will be sharing a bus to attend the ordination, while other families said they plan to drive on their own.

“There’s a lot of excitement that our priest was chosen to be the next bishop,” said St. Bernadette’s business manager Tina LaTulippe. “They want to be a part of that.”

LaTulippe said that in the midst of the excitement “there’s quite a bit of sadness here, too.”

In a sense, those attending the ordination will be “letting go” of their pastor to the Diocese of Owensboro, said Mary Alice Zettel, principal of the regional school, St. Mary Academy, which serves St. Bernadette. She said parishioners did most of their grieving and letting go during a dinner and reception held at St. Bernadette last Sunday, Jan. 31.

“When we go down (to Owensboro), it will be to celebrate. He’s not ours anymore,” she added. “And we have to let go.”

About 60 parishioners and staff of the Basilica of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral in Bardstown, Ky., where the soon-to-be-bishop served from 1993 to 2005, also will be taking a bus and a large van to the ceremony next week.

“Our parishioners are so excited and feel so blessed his ordination is here in Kentucky and that we can go to it and stay in contact with” Bishop-elect Medley, said Kay Corbett, worship director at the parish.

“I think Bardstown will be very well represented,” she said, adding that a lot of the staff, faculty (at the parish school) and parishioners currently involved in the parish worked closely with the bishop-elect when he was pastor.

“He hired me as worship director,” she noted. “You feel blessed as an individual that you got to work under him. He’s got a great sense of humor, a sensitive and loving heart and a real concern for people. Owensboro is really blessed.”

St. Joseph School will close for the day on Feb. 10 to allow faculty and students to attend the ordination. Principal Michael Bickett said about a third of the school’s staff plans to attend the ceremony. He said the school schedule allowed for several snow days, so the closing isn’t expected to cause a scheduling problem.

For those who can’t attend, the celebration will air on a number of TV stations around the region, including the following stations. All airings are live unless otherwise noted.

• WEHT 25.2 ABC Evansville, Ind.
• WBKO 13.2 FOX Bowling Green, Ky. (Insight Cable channel 8, digital broadcast channel 13.2-(VHF) and Insight digital channel 910).
• WQWQ CW Cape Girardeau, Mo. (Channel 9 Paducah, Channel 24 Murray, channel 12.2 digital).
• Channel 19 in Louisville at 7:30 p.m. EST (Insight Cable Channel 19 digital 96.9 in Louisville).
• WAVE 3.3 NBC Louisville, Ky.
• Time Warner Cable Owensboro, channel 72.