Archives for November 2021

November 30, 2021 by Jennifer Schack

W H A T | Ohio Historical Marker Dedication Ceremony

W H E N | Sunday Dec. 5, 2021 1 p.m.

W H E R E | St. Raphael Church, 225 East Spring Street, Springfield Ohio

Release Date: Nov. 30, 2021

New Ohio Historical Marker Recognizes 19^th century Catholic Entrepreneur

A new Ohio Historical Marker will be dedicated to Daniel Rudd. Rudd was a 19^th century Catholic entrepreneur who was born into slavery in Bardstown, KY before moving to Ohio and becoming a newspaperman, lecturer, publicist, and advocate for the Roman Catholic Church.

St. Raphael Parish, Springfield, in collaboration with the Catholic Social Action Office and African-American Pastoral Ministries Office of the pastoral center of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, will dedicate a Ohio Historical Marker to honor the life and work Daniel Rudd. The dedication will be held Sunday, December 5, at 1:00 pm, at St. Raphael Church, 225 East Spring Street, Springfield. The event is open to the public. As part of the ceremony, Rev. John MacQuarrie will conclude the ceremony with a remarks and benediction.

Rudd was born into slavery on August 7, 1854, in Bardstown, Kentucky. After the Civil War Rudd moved to Springfield. Having been baptized and raised in Catholicism, he joined St. Raphael Parish, where the teaching of racial equality by the Church solidified his vision of justice.

By 1885 Rudd had established his own weekly newspaper, The Ohio State Tribune. He rebranded it The American Catholic Tribune (ACT) after moving to Cincinnati. Rudd claimed ACT was the only Catholic newspaper owned by an African American. At the height of its popularity in 1892, the publication had a circulation of 10,000. In 1893 Rudd was asked to chair the Afro-American Press Association, representing more than 200 black-owned newspapers.

Rudd explained his vision: “We will do what no other paper published by colored men has dared to do-give the great Catholic Church a hearing and show that it is worth of at least a fair consideration at the hands of our race, being as it is the only place on this continent where rich and poor, white and black, must drop prejudice at the threshold and go hand in hand to the altar.”

In 1888 Rudd called on Black Catholics to form a national group to advocate for racial issues. With the endorsement of Archbishop William Elder, the Congress of Colored Catholics convened in Washington, D.C. More than 200 delegates gathered, worshiped, and met with political leaders, including President Grover Cleveland. Today this organization lives on as the National Black Catholic Congress. Throughout his life, Rudd fought segregation and inequality in schools, hospitals, and other public accommodations. He died in December 1933.

Andrew Musgrave, director of the Catholic Social Action Office, is thrilled to be able to support bringing this long overdue memorial to fruition. “For far too long, the life and work of Daniel Rudd have been overlooked. He is a critical figure in Black Catholicism – and Catholicism in Ohio and the United States – and our office is honored to help make this dream a reality, especially as we celebrate 200 years of Catholicism in the Cincinnati area.”

About the Ohio Historical Markers Program

Ohio Historical Markers identify, commemorate, and honor important people, places, things, or events that have contributed to the rich history of our state. The program, administered by the Ohio History Connection, has proven to be a vital educational tool that informs both residents and visitors about the significant local, state, or national history that happened in or near the location of the marker. More than 1700 Ohio Historical Markers have been installed throughout the state. The Rudd marker will become Clark County’s ninth Ohio Historical Marker.

Jennifer Schack

Director of Media Relations

Archdiocese of Cincinnati

Office | 513.263.6618

Cell | 859.512.5626

[email protected]

Media contact for this event:

Andrew Musgrave

Director of Catholic Social Action

Archdiocese of Cincinnati

Office | 513.263.6691

Cell | 414.801.8780

[email protected]

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati is the 44^th largest Catholic diocese in the country, with more than 440,000 Catholics, and has the fifth largest Catholic school system in terms of enrollment with more than 40,000 students. The 19-county territory includes 208 parishes and 111 Catholic primary and secondary schools.

November 8, 2021 by Jennifer Schack

Effective October 15, 2021

Reverend Carlos Casavantes, FSSP, Parochial Vicar of Holy Family, Dayton.

\Effective November 1, 2021

Reverend Michael Pucke, temporary Parochial Administrator of St. Peter in Chains, St. Julie Billiart and St. Joseph Parishes, Hamilton.

November 3, 2021 by Jennifer Schack

Deacon Elmer H. Fischesser, a Deacon of the Archdiocese, died on Thursday, October 14, 2021, following an eight-month illness. He was 77 years old.

Deacon Elmer was ordained June 20, 1987 by Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk. His first assignment was at the New Jerusalem Community in Cincinnati. He completed an internship and residency program in Hospital Ministry at Christ Hospital in August, 2005. He then served as a Chaplain on the staff of Mercy Health Partners. In April, 2007, Deacon Elmer was reassigned to Mercy Hospital Fairfield as his diaconate assignment. He served the Archdiocese of Cincinnati as a permanent deacon for thirty-four years.

Deacon Elmer leaves his wife, Virginia, to whom he was married for 40 years.

Deacon Elmer donated his body to science. A memorial Mass will be held at Bellarmine Chapel on the campus of Xavier University on Sunday, November 14, 2021 at 1:30 p.m. All are invited to attend.

Please keep the repose of the soul of Deacon Elmer Fischesser in your prayers, as well as for peace and comfort for his wife, Virginia.

November 1, 2021 by Jennifer Schack

All Souls Day immediately follows All Saints Day in the Church calendar for good reason: Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, reaffirms our ancient faith as Catholics “in the living communion which exists between us and our brothers and sisters who are in the glory of heaven or are yet being purified after their death” (LG 51).

In other words, a spiritual union exists among the faithful on earth (sometimes called the Church Militant), the souls in purgatory (the Church Suffering) and the saints in heaven (the Church Triumphant). The Apostles Creed calls this the “communion of saints.” All the faithful departed are part of the communion of saints, as are we.

Perhaps we sense this most strongly when the litany of saints is sung at the Easter Vigil, at ordinations and at infant baptisms, giving the feeling that those canonized saints are truly there among us. However, from the earliest times our houses of worship have been filled with the presence of the saints in statues, paintings and stained glass windows. These images are like the family albums of our family of faith.

The Church has canonized only a relatively small number of those who are with God. In the first reading for the Solemnity of All Saints, St. John in the Book of Revelation shares his vision of “a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue” (Rev. 7:9). Some of the readings that may be chosen for All Souls Day are reassuring about the fate of those who have gone before us. In one of them Jesus says: “And this is the will of the One who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what He gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day” (Jn. 6:39-40).

We look to canonized saints and to saintly people we have known as models of how to conform ourselves to Christ, and we ask for their intercession with God as we face difficulties in life. At the same time, we also need the help of our fellow pilgrims here on earth and pray for the souls in purgatory. We are all united in the Body of Christ. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “The communion of saints is the Church” (CCC 946).

God gave us the Church so that we have the assistance of other Christians to do together that which we cannot do alone – know and be transformed by Jesus Christ so we can follow Him back to union with the Father. Each of us has an important role in the communion of saints as we are all called to radiate the light of Christ to our dark world.

We all do that in different ways. Our archdiocesan prayer for vocations stresses that God created each of us for some definite purpose. We are at our happiest when we identify that purpose and fulfill it, using our unique gifts and talents as God intended.

At the same time, we are called to affirm and support the vocations of others. The millions of vocation prayers, as well as the support given to Mount St. Mary’s Seminary & School of Theology by the members of our local Church, have resulted in many new priests, deacons and lay pastoral ministers in recent years, for which I am very grateful. These individuals serve the faithful in their various ministries, and the faithful in turn sustain them with their encouragement and prayers.

We must never forget that we are all on a journey back to the God who created us and we need help along the way from our fellow members of the communion of saints.