The Diocese of Columbus had one of the most eventful years in its 154-year history in 2022.
It gained a new bishop, several new religious orders and a new basilica while continuing a renewal and restructuring process that is expected to result in significant changes in 2023.
The year 2022 also brought a major victory for pro-life forces as the U.S. Supreme Court returned control of abortion issues to the states through its decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case.
Bishop installed
The Vatican on April 2 announced the appointment of Father Earl Fernandes, pastor of St. Ignatius of Loyola Church in Cincinnati and a former staff member of the apostolic nuncio’s office in Washington, D.C., as the 13th bishop of Columbus.
He succeeded Bishop Robert Brennan, who was installed as bishop of Brooklyn, New York on Nov. 30, 2021 after only 2 ½ years as the 12th bishop of Columbus. Msgr. Stephan Moloney, diocesan vicar general, served as apostolic administrator for the diocese between Bishop Brennan’s departure and Bishop Fernandes’ ordination as bishop on May 31, 2022 at Westerville St. Paul the Apostle Church.
“I am so happy to be your shepherd and want to work for you. I promise that I will be close to you,” the newly ordained bishop said near the end of the ordination ceremony.
“The pope wants a synodal church – a church that walks together,” he said. “I want you, the people of God, to walk with me on a journey that leads to paradise.” He also said he hoped to be bishop of Columbus for the next 25 years. Bishop Fernandes was 49 at the time of his ordination, making him the youngest bishop to currently lead a U.S. diocese.
Planning continues
The bishop wasted no time in starting his new job, traveling across the diocese and immediately becoming involved in the diocesan Real Presence Real Future (RPRF) strategic planning initiative that began under Bishop Brennan during Lent 2021.
Following online surveys, meetings and presentations in every parish in the diocese, with feedback from more than 8,300 individuals, Bishop Fernandes in late August received recommendations for parish restructuring from the RPRF planning commission for his consideration. His decision on configuration of diocesan parishes and schools is expected in 2023.
The diocese also conducted meetings that were part of the process leading to the worldwide synod of bishops scheduled in October 2023 and 2024 on synodality – clergy and laity “walking together” with the goal of discerning where the Holy Spirit is leading the Church.
Twelve English-speaking and three Spanish-speaking meetings were conducted throughout the diocese’s 23 counties. Separate sessions were held for college and high school students. Results of these sessions and those of other dioceses in Ohio and Michigan were compiled into a regional document sent to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and eventually to the Vatican.
Abortion focus shifts
The Supreme Court’s ruling on June 24 in the Dobbs case upheld a Mississippi law that bans abortion in almost all circumstances after an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detected. In doing so, the justices upheld the court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion throughout the nation and its 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision that upheld Roe.
As a result, decisions on abortion laws and regulations have reverted to individual states. The Dobbs ruling allowed an Ohio law banning abortion after the first six weeks of pregnancy to take effect, but that law was put on hold by a Hamilton County Common Pleas Court judge in September.
About 2,000 people gathered at the Ohio Statehouse on Oct. 5 for the inaugural Ohio March for Life to urge state lawmakers to continue supporting the unborn. Pro-life organizations throughout the state will work with members of the Legislature in 2023 on measures that would clarify the six-week ban and ultimately make abortion illegal altogether in Ohio, while supporters of abortion focus their attention on a state constitutional effort to allow abortion access.
Religious orders added
Father Michael Donovan, O de M; Father Joseph Eddy, O de M; and Father Daniel Bowen, O de M, members of the Mercedarian friars – the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, established in 1218 – arrived in Columbus in January. They are serving at Columbus Holy Family Church, assisting in the life of the parish and its many apostolates and establishing a house for men studying at the Pontifical College Josephinum to become priests of the order.
Members of the Pallottine order of priests became administrators at four more diocesan parishes. Father Andrez Kozminski, SAC, is administrator of Columbus Sacred Heart and St. John the Baptist churches and Father Slawomir Siok, SAC, was appointed to the same position at Columbus St. Mary Magdalene and St. Aloysius churches.
The order came to the diocese in 2021, when Father Kozminski and Father Wojciech Stachura, SAC, were assigned to Columbus St. Christopher Church, where Father Stachura is pastor.
Theatine Fathers Victor Mendez Cano, CR; David Arroyo Alonso, CR; and Salvador Cinseros Carrillo, CR, have been serving as parochial vicars at Columbus Christ the King and St. Thomas the Apostle churches since July. Another member of their order, Father Tomas Carvahal, CR, has been at Dover St. Joseph Church since July 2021.
Father Elias Udeh, CSSp, of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, is spending a sabbatical year in residence at Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral.
He is a missionary in Brazil who could have chosen anywhere in the United States for his sabbatical and said he selected Columbus because it seemed to be “a diocese that is very much alive in the faith” and because he was attracted by the RPRF initiative.
Two priests from the Heralds of Good News, an order founded in India, came to the diocese in 2022 and were assigned to parishes as parochial vicars. They are Father Jins Devasia, HGN, at Sunbury St. John Neumann Church, and Father Anish Thomas, HGN, at New Albany Church of the Resurrection.
Members of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary opened the order’s second convent in the diocese at Columbus Our Lady of Peace Church. Four sisters live in the convent, including Sister Zephrina Mary Gracykutty, diocesan missions director. Sisters from the order also serve the group of three parishes in Chillicothe and Waverly.
Members of the Daughters of Holy Mary of the Heart of Jesus began living at the former St. Therese’s Retreat Center on Columbus’ east side in September. The congregation was founded in Spain in 1984, came to the United States in 2011 and has a novitiate in Steubenville. Since 2020, it has offered monthly devotional programs at St. Paul the Apostle Church for young women from first grade to college age.
Father Adam Streitenberger, diocesan evangelization director, was appointed during the summer as director of the Columbus St. Thomas More Newman Center, adjacent to Ohio State University, with Patrick McNulty, who had been working in the evangelization office, as assistant director.
The change was made to bring the diocese’s ministry to Ohio State students and other young people closer in alignment to diocesan priorities of evangelization. This resulted in the departure of the Paulist Fathers, who had operated the Newman Center since 1956. The Paulists declined an invitation to remain at the site as chaplains under diocesan direction.
Church becomes basilica
Lancaster St. Mary of the Assumption Church was declared the first minor basilica in the diocese on Aug. 14 at a Mass celebrated by Bishop Fernandes on the Vigil of the Solemnity of the Assumption. It is the seventh minor basilica in Ohio and the 91st in the United States.
A minor basilica is given this distinction by the Vatican based on factors including its architectural beauty, historic significance and liturgical celebrations. Minor basilicas are located throughout the world while major basilicas are limited to Rome.
Ground was broken in August for a new Bishop Griffin Resource Center on the site of the original center in the former Christ the King Church rectory. The building, which is to be completed this summer, will have more than four times the space of the structure it replaces.
The center, which provides food, clothing, household goods and emotional support to anyone in need, is operating out of a temporary location on Columbus’ east side.
A groundbreaking took place in mid-October for a combined addition and renovation at St. Mary School in Columbus’ German Village neighborhood that will increase the size of the building by 10,000 square feet and remodel 80 percent of the school.
Construction is underway on an addition to the St. Vincent Haven shelter for homeless men in Newark that will increase its capacity to 50 beds, nearly doubling its current space. The anticipated completion date is March 1.
The St. Joseph Cemetery chapel in southern Franklin County underwent a $300,000, five-month makeover that made it much brighter inside with the addition of LED lighting and returned a reproduction of Michelangelo’s Pieta to its former place of prominence above the altar.
Spiritual events held
The diocese joined Pope Francis and Roman Catholic bishops throughout the world on March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation, in recitation of the consecration prayer for Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The pope made the request in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February.
On the same day, a Eucharistic procession that included the consecration prayer and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament traveled across the Ohio State campus.
A three-year national Eucharistic revival initiative sponsored by the USCCB began with Eucharistic processions on Sunday, June 19, the Feast of Corpus Christi, at Columbus St. Cecilia Church and Friday, June 24 at Sacred Heart Church.
Two Dominican friars from Columbus St. Patrick Priory – Father Thomas Blau, OP, (pictured) and Father Stephen Dominic Hayes, OP – were among 50 priests nationwide chosen by the USCCB to enkindle the flame of devotion as preachers for the revival.
A Eucharistic procession led by Bishop Fernandes was part of Rescue Project Live!, an all-day program featuring talks by Father John Riccardo of the Archdiocese of Detroit on June 18 in the Celeste Center of the state fairgrounds, which drew more than 2,500 people.
Father Riccardo, an author and EWTN Radio program host, reminded his audience that although Jesus suffered greatly before He died, the purpose of His life and death was ultimately to rescue humanity from sin and to be victorious over death so we could share in the victory and live forever.
Nearly 3,000 people came to Columbus St. Mary, Mother of God Church from across Ohio to view relics of St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) from Oct. 28 to 30. The relics included a lock of his hair, crusts of his wounds and gauze from bloodstains of the 20th-century Capuchin friar, who bore the stigmata, the five wounds of Christ on the cross.
A relic of St. Bernadette Soubirous – a fragment of a rib of the visionary of Lourdes – visited the diocese June 2-6 and drew hundreds of people at both Ada Our Lady of Lourdes and Lancaster St. Bernadette churches.
Relics of Blessed Carlo Acutis and St. Manuel Gonzalez Garcia were displayed at the cathedral, the Newman Center and Christ the King, Delaware St. Mary and Worthington St. Michael churches.
The relics are on a tour of the United States as part of the National Eucharistic Revival. St. Manuel and Blessed Carlo are special intercessors for the event.
St. Manuel, from Spain, is known as the Apostle of the Abandoned Tabernacles. He devoted his life and ministry to teaching people about the Eucharist and cared deeply for youth.
Blessed Carlo has acquired the nickname of “the computer geek saint,” though he has not been canonized. In 2020, he became the first member of the millennial generation to be beatified. He died in 2006 at age 15.
Dr. Allen Lewis of St. John Neumann Church was selected as the Catholic Men’s Luncheon Club’s 2022 diocesan Catholic Man of the Year for his work with the Sancta Familia Center for Integrative Medicine in Columbus.
The clinic, which he founded in 2010, focuses on helping patients achieve optimal wellness utilizing integrative and functional medicine to restore health to the mind, body and spirit. It includes Sancta Familia Caritas, a charitable ministry for priests, deacons and the religious.
Diocesan offices change
Bishop Fernandes announced in December that he was reinstituting the diocesan Office for Divine Worship, appointing Father Paul Keller, OP (pictured), a parochial vicar at St. Patrick Church, as its director. He also appointed Dr. Richard Fitzgerald, director of music at the cathedral, to the new position of music director for the diocese.
Two deacons of the diocese were appointed to newly created positions. Deacon Stephen Petrill of Dublin St. Brigid of Kildare Church is associate director of the diocesan Office of the Diaconate, and Deacon Jeffrey Fortkamp of Our Lady of Peace Church is associate diocesan cemeteries director. Both continue to serve their respective parishes.
Father Stash Dailey, who had served at Holy Family Church for four years as administrator and five years as pastor, was transferred to the Josephinum, where he has become vice rector for formation. He remains as diocesan vicar for religious orders of priests, sisters and brothers.
Jason Mays was appointed as diocesan communications director in late May. He serves as the bishop’s media liaison; oversees media relations for other diocesan offices and publication of The Catholic Times; and provides marketing and public relations guidance. He was a staff member at WCMH-TV in Columbus for 21 years, most recently as managing editor.
Jerry Freewalt, who previously was employed by the diocesan social concerns office for 23 years and was its director for three years, returned to that position late in 2022 after resigning as director of the Catholic Conference of Ohio, a position he held for about a year. The conference’s longtime director, Carolyn Jurkowitz, has resumed that role on an interim basis.
Ordinations held
Father Paul Marich, OP, was ordained a priest of the Dominican Order on May 21 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. The Youngstown native is serving as parochial vicar at St. Patrick Church, where he had been a transitional deacon since September 2021. He replaced Father Charles Shonk, OP, a Lancaster native who is pursuing doctoral studies in theology in Rome.
Father Michael French, CPM, who grew up in Columbus, became a priest of the Fathers of Mercy, whose primary apostolate is preaching parish retreats in the United States, Canada and Australia, on June 4. He was ordained at the Chapel of Divine Mercy in Auburn, Kentucky, by retired Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky.
The past year marked only the second year since 1912 that no priests were ordained for the Diocese of Columbus. Deacon PeterClaver Kasasa Kiviiri was ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Emeritus Frederick Campbell on May 27 at the cathedral.
Deacon Kiviiri anticipates being ordained a priest in May 2023 after completing studies at Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts, which specializes in priestly formation for men age 30 and older.
He came to the United States in 2006 from his native Uganda to study for the priesthood, decided after two years not to continue, then became a seminarian again in 2018 after a talk with Bishop Campbell.
Clergy, religious deaths
Father William J. Faustner, 74, died on July 31. He was a priest for 47 years, served as pastor of Kenton Immaculate Conception and Newcomerstown St. Francis de Sales churches and associate pastor of six diocesan parishes, and was a teacher and a hospital chaplain.
Father G. Michael Gribble, 79, a priest for 41 years, died on Aug. 3. He spent the past 13 years of his active priesthood as rector of the cathedral before retiring in 2013 and moving to the Buckeye Lake area, remaining active as a senior priest. He also was pastor at Columbus Holy Rosary-St. John Church and Granville St. Edward the Confessor Church.
Father Paul Rubadue, OSB, 87, a Benedictine monk born in Columbus, died on July 21. He entered the religious life as a Xaverian brother in 1952, transferred his vows to the Benedictine order in 1981 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1986. For the next 36 years at St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, he conducted choir workshops, was a soloist at many functions and directed a small chamber music group known as a camerata.
Father Arthur J. Espelage, OFM, died on Dec. 9. He professed his first vows as a member of the Franciscan order in 1963 and had been a priest for 51 years. He was best known in the Diocese of Columbus for serving as adjutant judicial vicar in 1994 and 1995 and judicial vicar from 1995-1997. He also taught at the Josephinum and served in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and dioceses in New Mexico, Florida and Arizona.
Deacon Charles G. “Greg” Waybright, 63, died on June 30 after an extended illness. He was ordained a deacon in late November 2016 and served at Pickerington St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish for three years before being granted a leave of absence in 2019 because of his illness.
Religious sisters who died in 2022 and served in or were natives of the Diocese of Columbus, or who were living in the diocese at the time of their deaths, were: Sister Mary Roderic Schaub, OP, 85, Feb. 7; Sister Christine Diensberg, OSF, 81, March 2; Sister Dorothy Lemon, OP, 100, March 14; Sister Carol Jander, OSF, 83, March 14; Sister Mary Edith Ryan, RSM, 99, March 23; Sister Margaret Ann Zimmerman, OSF, 101, April 28; Sister Helen Marie Schumacher, OSF, 90, May 5; Sister Elaine Ballmann, SNDdeN, 90, June 20; Sister Nancy Miller, OSF, 76, Aug. 1; and Sister Mary Zigo, OSF, 106, Nov. 23.
Deacon Dwight T. Larcomb Jr., 88, died on Tuesday, Dec. 20. He was ordained to the diaconate in 1986, serving Marion St. Mary Church from his ordination until 1992, when he moved to Hawaii, where he continued his ministry on the island of Kaneohe. He returned after his wife’s death in late 2005 to Marion, where he visited the sick and homebound as a retired deacon.