Next Wednesday, Catholics in the Archdiocese of Louisville will welcome Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz as their new spiritual leader. He will be installed at a 2:30 p.m. Mass Aug. 15 at The Gardens in Louisville.

The installation of a new archbishop is historic — Archbishop Kurtz will be the ninth ordinary and the fourth archbishop in the history of the archdiocese. And the archdiocese, the first inland diocese in the United States, will mark its 200th anniversary next year.

Father Clyde Crews noted another historical dimension in his 1987 history of the archdiocese, which was formed in Bardstown in 1808.

“The theme of spirituality will not go away,” Father Crews wrote. “It is the single reality that integrates and unifies all that has been said, done and experienced in Kentucky Catholicism over its 200 years.”

Catholics today “differ little in fundamental ways” from the diocese’s early Catholics, he observed. “They search for a life that makes sense here and hereafter; a set of values and honest relationships that will deepen the quality of living; a willingness to serve others ... and a mystical union with the One Christians experience and name as Lord: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”

And Father Crews mentioned another element of continuity between the past and the present. The three priorities of Bishop Benedict Joseph Flaget, the diocese’s first bishop, are “hauntingly echoed” in the mission statement of the archdiocese today, he wrote. “There, the triad of primal purposes of the church are named as proclamation, celebration and service.”

Interestingly, these three things were mentioned by Archbishop Kurtz when his appointment as Archbishop of Louisville was announced June 12.

“I come as every bishop does, ordained to proclaim God’s word; to celebrate the sacred mysteries, especially the holy Eucharist; and to provide pastoral leadership and care,” he said at a press conference in Louisville on June 12. “I hope to do that in a pattern that reflects the person of Jesus.”

He added: “I have a great passion for the gift of life, for the gift of family and a love for seeking to serve, especially those who are poor.”

Archbishop Kurtz comes to Louisville with a wealth of ministerial and administrative experience at the diocesan and parish levels. He has been Bishop of Knoxville, Tenn., for the past seven and a half years. He holds several positions in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: chair of the Committee on Marriage and Family Life and is a member of the Committee for Pro-Life Activities, the Committee on Budget and Finance and the Administrative Committee.

Before becoming Bishop of Knoxville in 1999, he served as a priest in the Diocese of Allentown, Pa., for 27 years and was in charge of social services, diocesan administration and parish ministry. He also taught in seminaries in Pennsylvania.

He said in a recent interview that “my most valuable experience comes from the 11 years I was a pastor” and his “involvement in working with groups of people and systems within Catholic Charities.” But he added, “being a pastor has had maybe the most influence on me.”

Archbishop Kurtz’s motto — which comes from Psalm 31:25 — is: “Take courage and be stout-hearted, all you who hope in the Lord.” He said he hopes to be perceived as the kind of leader exemplified by this motto.

“I would hope that the kind of leader I am is one who, first of all, trusts in God’s power and doesn’t try to do everything himself,” he said in an interview. “I hope I’m seen as someone who seeks to embrace the truth, even the hard truth, of situations” — one who will apply the “truth of our faith to problems when they develop.”

On the day in June when he was appointed Archbishop of Louisville, Archbishop Kurtz emphasized the importance for all to pray and to grow in holiness. “And I’m no exception,” he said. “I invite prayers for me as I have already begun to pray for the people of our archdiocese.”

We Catholics of Central Kentucky join our prayers with those of Archbishop Kurtz as his installation nears. We welcome him as the ninth ordinary of this historic archdiocese, just as Kentucky Catholics of the early 19th century welcomed Bishop Flaget to the fledging diocese.

If, as Father Crews says, spirituality is what links us with our ancestors in faith, let this spirituality be the “reality that integrates and unifies” us as a community of faith today.