[2] Spalding was ordained to the priesthood on August 3, 1991, for the Archdiocese of Louisville at the Basilica of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral by Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly.

He also became chaplain at Bethlehem High School, The next year, he was also named as a part-time judge for the metropolitan tribunal and in 1995 as adjutant judicial vicar.

[2] Bishop Joseph Kurtz in 2011 appointed Spalding as vicar general and pastor of Holy Trinity Parish in Louisville that year.

In November 2018, Spalding released a list of 13 diocesan clerics with credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors who served in Tennessee from the 1940s through the 1990s.

[5] Spalding in January 2024 removed Reverend Juan Carlos Garcia from his position at St. Philip Parish in Franklin, Tennessee, pending investigation.