Warm welcome, warm weather greet Archbishop Kurtz in Louisville

Published: 2007-08-16

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (CNS) -- With solemnity and celebration befitting the Archdiocese of Louisville's nearly 200-year history, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz was installed Aug. 15 as its fourth archbishop during a Mass that drew about 5,000 people to a downtown Louisville arena. Successor to Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly, the new archbishop was presented with a crosier that had been carried by another of Louisville's shepherds, Bishop William George McCloskey, who served at the turn of the 20th century. Archbishop Kurtz wore a pectoral cross that once graced the neck of Bishop Benedict Joseph Flaget, the first bishop of what was then the Diocese of Bardstown, established in April 1808. The diocese was transferred to Louisville in 1841, and in 1937 the diocese was made an archdiocese. Though the events at the Louisville Gardens arena were steeped in history, the day belonged to Archbishop Kurtz and the promise of the future. "You have certainly given me a warm welcome," he said at one point, adding that he meant it both literally and figuratively. The temperature topped 100 degrees.

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