[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10] [Senate] [Pages 13313-13314] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]TRIBUTE TO BARDSTOWN/LOUISVILLE ARCHDIOCESE Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, this year marks the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Diocese of Bardstown, which was established in Kentucky as one of the oldest dioceses in the country. Pope Pius VII carved it from one of the oldest dioceses in the New World. The territory of the Bardstown Diocese once covered a giant swath of land, including what are now the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, and half of Arkansas. The Bardstown Diocese was established alongside the dioceses of Boston, Philadelphia and New York. Its seat was eventually moved to Louisville, Kentucky, and made an archdiocese. But its place in the history of American Catholicism continues to be a point of pride across Kentucky. Kentuckians celebrate this bicentennial throughout the year at the St. Thomas Church, considered the ``Cradle of Catholicism'' in the Bluegrass State and still located in Bardstown. A two-story log house that stands on St. Thomas property is the oldest structure related to the Catholic faith in our region of the United States. Built in 1795 by Thomas and Ann Howard, the property was willed to the church by Mr. Howard in 1810, and it became the first home of the St. Thomas Seminary, the first seminary west of the Alleghenies. It later served as the residence of Bishop Benedict Joseph Flaget, first bishop of the Bardstown Diocese. Bishop Flaget and others who worked to establish the Bardstown Diocese were pioneers of the land as well as of the spirit. Kentucky was the western frontier of the young United States at that time, and frontier life posed many hardships. But the diocese survived and thrived, and the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United States earlier this year was timed to coincide with its anniversary. Madam President, Kentucky is proud to include one of the oldest outposts of faith and freedom in America. I ask unanimous consent that a story from the Louisville Courier-Journal about the celebration of the Bardstown Diocese's anniversary be printed in the Record. There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: [From the Louisville Courier-Journal, Apr. 9, 2008] Catholics Celebrate Kentucky Bicentennial, Bardstown Events Mark 200 Years (By Peter Smith) Bardstown, Ky.--Dorothy Ballard and her sister Martha Willett have been coming to St. Thomas Church, considered the ``cradle of Catholicism'' in Kentucky, all their lives. Their parents were married there in 1920, and ``all of the children have been baptized here, made the first Communion here, confirmed here,'' and several of them have been buried from the parish, Ballard said. So they weren't missing yesterday morning's Mass that began a daylong celebration of the bicentennial of the Archdiocese of Louisville, where about 150 people filled the historic brick church. ``I feel real special that I'm part of this celebration,'' Ballard said. Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz presided at the Mass. ``We pause and give thanks to the Lord for these 200 years of blessed presence of the church within our Central Kentucky, and we ask the Lord to continue to bless us as we move forward,'' he said. The archdiocese also marked the bicentennial yesterday with services at the Cathedral of the Assumption in downtown Louisville [[Page 13314]] and at the Basilica of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral in Bardstown. St. Thomas was chosen to lead off the celebration because the log house that still stands on its property once was the modest capital of frontier Catholicism. Pope Pius VII created the Diocese of Bardstown on April 8, 1808, along with those in Boston, New York and Philadelphia. Previously, the diocese of Baltimore had covered the entire new American republic. The Bardstown diocese originally spanned the entire frontier area between the Alleghenies and the Mississippi River, and between the Great Lakes and Tennessee. The seat of the Bardstown diocese eventually was moved to Louisville, which later became an archdiocese. Its original territory is now divided into more than 40 dioceses across 10 states. The Rev. Steve Pohl, pastor of St. Thomas, said he and many parishioners trace their roots to those pioneer days, when Catholic families of English descent migrated from Maryland to Kentucky in search of better land. They were served by priests fleeing persecution that followed the French Revolution. Their settlements in Nelson, Washington and Marion counties gave the region the nickname ``the Holy Land,'' as attested to by such enduring biblical place names as Holy Cross, Gethsemani and Nazareth. St. Thomas is home to a recently restored log home, owned by Catholic farmers Thomas and Ann Howard and given to the church as a base for the growing diocese. The diocese's first bishop, Benedict Joseph Flaget, lived there for several years, and the house also was host for Kentucky's first Catholic seminary and the first nuns in the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. ``I'm really in joy about today,'' said John Cissell, who traces his roots to early Catholic settlers here. His father was long active in the church and is buried in the cemetery on the church grounds. ``I just feel like I'm carrying on a tradition,'' he said. Pohl, whose ancestors also include an early settler, said the parish is holding a reunion this summer of descendents of Maryland Catholics who settled in Kentucky in the early years. Pope Benedict XVI will recognize the bicentennials of Louisville's and other historic dioceses at a Mass at Yankee Stadium in New York on April 20. The archdiocese also plans a large celebration at Slugger Field in Louisville this summer. ____________________