Two longtime members of the diocese’s Chancery staff were honored with Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice awards at the 5:15 p.m. Mass on Sunday, Oct. 6 at Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral.
Bishop Earl Fernandes presented certificates to Msgr. Stephan Moloney, the diocese’s longtime vicar general before retiring from that role in July, and Julie Greer, who has worked as the executive assistant to Bishop Emeritus James Griffin, Bishop Emeritus Frederick Campbell, Bishop Robert Brennan and Bishop Fernandes during her 20 years with the diocese.
Msgr. Moloney and Greer also received pins during the 12:05 p.m. daily Mass on Monday, Oct. 7 at the Cathedral and were recognized at a reception and luncheon afterward.
The Cross Pro-Ecclesia et Pontifice is bestowed on laypersons and clergy who have given service to the Catholic Church. The papal award was founded by Pope Leo XIII in 1888 and was originally intended to mark his 50th priestly jubilee.
The insignia of the Cross Pro-Ecclesia et Pontifice was later altered by Pope Paul VI to a gold Greek cross with images of Apostles Ss. Peter and Paul in the center. The ribbon is half yellow and half white, the colors of the Holy See.
Msgr. Moloney, 68, is currently the pastor at Columbus St. Andrew Church and the vicar forane for the Northwest Columbus Deanery, which includes eight parishes. He has been at St. Andrew since 2013.
He retired this summer from his service in the Chancery, where he assisted the bishops for 36 years with pastoral and administrative governance of the diocese as vice chancellor, chancellor, vicar for spiritual life and vicar general. He also served as diocesan administrator in the absence of a bishop from December 2021 to May 2022 after Bishop Brennan was appointed to the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York and before Bishop Fernandes came to Columbus.
The Ada native entered seminary after high school and received his undergraduate degree from the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus. He then attended Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and was ordained a priest in 1982 by Bishop Edward Herrmann at Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral. His first parish assignment was Columbus St. Peter Church, where he spent his first few years as a priest.
Msgr. Moloney completed his canon law studies at the Angelicum in Rome, earning a licentiate in canon law (JCL, or juris canonici licentia in Latin) in 1988. He was then appointed vice chancellor for the diocese. He also served as vicar for spiritual life during that time.
In November 1997, he was named vicar general and chancellor by Bishop Griffin. He was the chancellor for 10 years and continued as vicar general until this past summer.
Msgr. Moloney was first in residence at Gahanna St. Matthew the Apostle Church while working at the Chancery full time for 20 years until, in 2008, he was named pastor at Columbus Immaculate Conception Church in addition to working in the Chancery. He served as pastor at Immaculate Conception for five years until becoming pastor at St. Andrew.
In addition to his regular duties in the Chancery, he accompanied Bishop Griffin on ad limina visits with Pope St. John Paul II in 1993, 1998 and 2004 and Bishop Brennan in 2019 to meet with Pope Francis.
Greer, who has a BA in music and communications management from the University of Dayton, came to the diocese in the spring of 2004 as an executive assistant to the bishop after working for the Columbus Symphony in a similar role and previously for other symphonies and arts organizations around the country.
She is a member of New Albany Church of the Resurrection, where she is involved in choir, the Parish School of Religion (PSR) and Vacation Bible School (VBS).