When he was ordained as bishop of the Diocese of Columbus, Bishop Earl Fernandes automatically became vice chancellor of the Pontifical College Josephinum. That position would have given him a seat on the college’s 21-member board of trustees had he not already been a member.
Father Steven Beseau, the college’s rector/president, appointed then-Father Fernandes to the board in 2019, the year Father Beseau was chosen for his current position. The two have known each other since 2005, when both were working on doctorates in Rome.
Bishop Fernandes was dean of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary of the West in Cincinnati from 2008-2016. Shortly before leaving there for a post with the office of the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio in Washington, he hired Father Beseau to teach moral theology at the seminary, where he remained until coming to the Josephinum.
“Even before Bishop Fernandes was appointed to the board of the Josephinum, I relied on him as an informal consultant to help me in my work as rector/president,” Father Beseau said.
“When he returned to the Archdiocese of Cincinnati to become pastor of a parish, that provided me an opportunity to ask the board if they would consider bringing him on as a member.
“Bishop Fernandes brings his experience as a priest, pastor, theologian, academic dean and a staff member of the apostolic nunciature. He has proven himself to be an invaluable member of the board of trustees, and I am so grateful that he will continue to serve as a member of the board and as vice chancellor.”
Bishop Steven Raica of the Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama, vice chair of the Josephinum board, said, “Bishop Fernandes is a man of joyful faith with a passion for priests and priestly formation. He relates love and enthusiasm for the Church. His position on the board can best be seen through this lens.
“He is a disciple whose encounter with Christ is real and life-changing. His ubiquitous smile exudes the joy of the Gospel about which Pope Francis often speaks.
“For that reason, he offers the board, as well as those in formation (for the priesthood at the seminary), an excitement for responding generously to the call of God, i.e., the call to holiness and a life lived freely and fully for Christ.”
Father Michael Lumpe, vice rector of the Josephinum’s College of Liberal Arts and a priest of the Diocese of Columbus, has known Bishop Fernandes for several years through their mutual friendship with Msgr. Frank Lane, another Columbus diocesan priest, who is a former teacher at Mount St. Mary’s and lives in retirement in Cincinnati.
“Bishop Fernandes is incredibly capable in any number of ways, a true man of the Church. He has excellent skills dealing with people and as an administrator. He’s full of energy and drive, a good listener and will make an excellent shepherd for the diocese.
“From a priest’s point of view, he has been a priest for 20 years and, having been pastor of a large parish, he knows what it takes to lead a parish. I’m sure he will be taking the time to learn the history of the diocese and its people and all that is needed for him to be able to deal with the future necessities of the diocese.
“He also will assist in increasing the number of vocations to the priesthood in the diocese. He already knows a number of bishops and vocations directors in other dioceses, and that should bode well for adding to the number of dioceses who send candidates for the priesthood to the Josephinum for their formation.”
Father William Hahn, vocations director for the Diocese of Columbus, is in residence at the Josephinum and also knows the bishop through connections with Msgr. Lane.
“I think he’s very holy and very intelligent,” Father Hahn said of the new bishop. “He met with most of the priests of the diocese for the first time when they had an already scheduled meeting at Reynoldsburg St. Pius X Church in July, and it was most significant that he was there – not so much for what he said as for his just being there and showing he’s interested in what’s on the minds and in the hearts of the priests.
“He knows a lot of people and is in contact with a lot of resources. One of the first things he asked me as vocations director was if I could get all the seminarians of the diocese together for a gathering separate from the annual priests’ and seminarians’ picnic in August. We’re trying to do that in July. He also asked me about any prospective priests I was working with, so he’s ready to assist with encouraging vocations.”
Father Jeff Rimelspach is pastor of Columbus St. Margaret of Cortona Church, a position in which he succeeded Msgr. Lane. He is in his ninth and final year as a Josephinum trustee. He was appointed to the post for a three-year term in 2013 and has served two additional terms since then. Nine years is the maximum term for a board member.
“Bishop Fernandes is a very happy man with a friendly disposition and is comfortable around a variety of people,” Father Rimelspach said. “You can tell the joy he gets from being a priest.
“He’s very well-organized, able to assimilate a lot of information quickly and act on it wisely. He was asked to perform a number of tasks as a member of the board’s vision and mission committee and followed through on them very competently.
“He’s enthusiastic about the future of the Josephinum and of priesthood in general. A special charism of his is the desire to train good priests.”
Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio to the United States, is chancellor of the Josephinum by virtue of his position. Bishop James Wall of the Diocese of Gallup, New Mexico, is chairman of the board of trustees, whose members are appointed by the rector/president.
Other board members, besides Fathers Beseau and Rimelspach and Bishops Fernandes and Raica, are:
Former Columbus Bishop Robert Brennan, now bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York; Bishops Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City, Missouri and Jeffrey Monforton of Steubenville; Auxiliary Bishop Richard Henning of Rockville Centre, New York; Father Josh Altonji, Diocese of Birmingham; Sister Anne Catherine Burleigh, OP, Nashville, Tennessee.
Sister Anthony Mary Diago, RSM, Phoenix; Deacon Stephen Petrill, psychology professor, Ohio State University; Josephinum vice president for administration John Erwin; Josephinum faculty members Perry Cahall and Douglas Fortner; Charles Bramlage, chief executive officer, Yamo Pharmaceuticals, Columbus.
Rick Jeric, former Columbus diocesan development director and former president/CEO of the Women’s Care Center in Columbus, now executive director of the Catholic Foundation of the Diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin; J. David Karam, president of the Sbarro restaurant group in Dublin; and Catholic author, speaker and broadcaster Patrick Madrid of Granville.