Most Rev. William Francis Medley
Fourth Bishop of the Diocese of Owensboro
The Most Reverand William Francis Medley was born on September 17, 1952 in Marion County, Kentucky to Dorothy C. Hayden Medley and James Werner Medley. He was baptized at St. Francis of Assisi Church, St. Francis, Kentucky and attended elementary school there. After attending St. Thomas Seminary High School, the future Bishop Medley received a bachelor of arts in philosophy and psychology from Bellarmine University in Louisville and a master of divinity from Saint Meinrad School of Theology in St. Meinrad, Indiana. He served as a transitional deacon at St. Rita Parish in Louisville and before his ordination in 1982, he served as a social worker for the Kentucky Department of Human Resources from 1974 to 1978.
Bishop Medley was ordained to the priesthood on May 22, 1982 at the Cathedral of the Assumption by the Most Reverend Thomas C. Kelly, O.P., of Louisville. After ordination, Fr. Medley became associate pastor at St. Pius X Parish, Louisville from 1982 -1985 while serving as chaplain at Assumption High School. In June 1985 he was assigned associate pastor at the Cathedral of the Assumption, Louisville, where he served until 1988. In June of 1988, he was assigned as administrator of St. Benedict Parish, St. Charles Borromeo Parish and Holy Cross Parish, Louisville, and in 1989 he was appointed director of the Office of Clergy Personnel. In 1990 he became the establishing pastor of St. Martin de Porres Parish, which was formed through the merger of the former parishes of St. Charles Borromeo, St. Benedict, and Holy Cross.
In September 1993, Fr. Medley was appointed pastor of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral, Bardstown, Kentucky (the original See of the Archdiocese of Louisville). During his tenure at St. Joseph, the church was designated a minor basilica. During this time, he also served as the administrator of St. Monica Parish in Bardstown.
In June 2005, Fr. Medley was appointed pastor of Mother of Good Counsel Parish, Louisville, Kentucky and in 2007 he became pastor of Transfiguration of Our Lord Parish in Goshen, Kentucky. As part of the restructuring of parishes in the Archdiocese of Louisville, he was appointed pastor of the new parish of St. Bernadette, which was formed by the merger of Mother of Good Counsel and Transfiguration of Our Lord parishes on April 8, 2008.
On December 15, 2009, he was appointed to be the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Owensboro, Kentucky, by Pope Benedict XVI. He was ordained bishop on February 10, 2010.
In 2014, Bishop Medley participated in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ peace pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In 2018, after observing that the diocese had increasing numbers of international priests serving within it, the bishop recognized the promise of our local Church better reflecting the universality of the Church. This launched his landmark goal of visiting the seven nations from which the diocese’s international priests have come. That year, he visited Mexico to thank the families and communities from which had come several priests serving the Diocese of Owensboro.
In January 2020 he visited India, in light of the past 15 years (and counting) of service in the diocese from Indian priests. On that trip he also visited Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), from which communities of refugees have been coming to Kentucky over the past decade. In 2022, he visited Guatemala, the native country of several diocesan clergy and many who now call western Kentucky home; and in 2023 he visited Nigeria, from which multiple priests and sisters have come. In 2024 he concluded his initiative with a visit to Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the home of several priests and sisters currently serving in the diocese.
Today, Bishop Medley serves on the Board of Trustees for Brescia University in Owensboro and on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee on the Church in Africa.
