Archives for July 2024

July 31, 2024 by Colin Rahill

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

This past Friday, July 26, many of us witnessed the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Paris, which unfortunately featured a grotesque, highly-sexualized parody of DaVinci’s iconic painting The Last Supper. This blasphemous display not only gratuitously mocked the faith of the world’s 2.6 billion Christians, but Jesus’ very institution of the Holy Eucharist, which we Catholics know to be “the source and summit of the Christian life” (Lumen Gentium, 11). Here in the United States, this exhibition was all the more shocking following, as it did, on the heels of the joyful celebration and worship of Jesus in the Eucharist at the National Eucharistic Congress just one week prior in Indianapolis.

Much has been written already on this matter. One particularly good statement that I would commend to your attention is the one below from Bishop Andrew Cozzens, chairman of the National Eucharistic Congress. Bishop Cozzens calls us to a response of prayer, fasting and worship of our Lord in the Mass and adoration – all wonderful disciplines I would highly encourage.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr

Archbishop of Cincinnati

July 27, 2024

“If then my people, upon whom my name has been pronounced, humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their evil ways, I will hear them from heaven and pardon their sins and heal their land.” (2 Chr 7:14)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

At the opening Holy Hour of the 10th National Eucharistic Congress, on Wednesday July, 17, 2024, I prayed these very words, inviting tens of thousands in the stadium and thousands more watching virtually to join me in asking the Lord to pardon our sins and heal our land.

Then on Friday evening, July 19th, we all united around Our Eucharistic Lord again in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis to make reparation for our sins. We humbled ourselves in the presence of Jesus, Our Lord and Savior. Recognizing that if one member of the Body of Christ suffers, we all suffer, we prayed together for healing and forgiveness. We were lead through a litany of healing and repentance in the Eucharist by Fr. Boniface Hicks, O.S.B. Many people told me that this moment of communal penance and reparation was a moment of great healing for them. It was amongst the most powerful experiences of grace for me personally during those holy days.

Just one week later, on July 26th in Paris, where the newly restored Cathedral of Notre Dame stands as an iconic reminder to our belief in the importance of the Mass, which makes spiritually present to us the Last Supper, nearly 1 billion men, women and children, in person and through live telecast, witnessed the public mockery of the Mass, the “source and summit of the Christian life” (LG, 11). During the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics, the famous DaVinci Masterpiece The Last Supper was depicted in heinous fashion, leaving us in such shock, sorrow and righteous anger that words cannot describe it.

Brothers and sisters, we know that what the enemy intends for evil, God uses for good. We know that “where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more” (Rom 5:20).

Throughout salvation history, the Lord and his prophets have called us—the people of God—to respond to the darkness of evil with the light that comes from the Lord. At the heart of this call are prayer and fasting. Jesus told us that some demons “can only come out through prayer [and through fasting]” (Mk 29:9). He modeled this for us when he spent 40 days in the desert before beginning his public ministry, praying and fasting, begging God the Father to prepare him for all that lay ahead—including his perfect gift of self through his death on the Cross.

We believe that the Last Supper is united with the death of Christ on the Cross and, together with the Resurrection, these events are all one in the Paschal Mystery. This passover, which begins at the Last Supper, is the most sacred moment in the life of Jesus. This is when Jesus offered his life for us so that we could share in his divine life forever.

Jesus experienced his Passion anew Friday night in Paris when his Last Supper was publicly defamed. As his living body, we are invited to enter into this moment of passion with him, this moment of public shame, mockery, and persecution. We do this through prayer and fasting. And our greatest prayer—in season and out of season—is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

As the Church throughout the world gathers tomorrow at the Lord’s Altar, let us do so with renewed zeal. Let us pray for healing and forgiveness for all those who participated in this mockery. Let us commit ourselves this week to greater prayer and fasting in reparation for this sin. Perhaps you could attend Mass once more this week or do an extra holy hour?

We may also be called upon to speak about this evil. Let us do so with love and charity, but also with firmness. France and the entire world are saved by the love poured out through the Mass, which came to us through the Last Supper. Inspired by the many martyrs who shed their blood to witness to the truth of the Mass, we will not stand aside and quietly abide as the world mocks our greatest gift from the Lord Jesus. Rather, through our prayer and fasting, we will ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen us with the virtue of fortitude so that we may preach Christ—our Lord and Savior, truly present in the Eucharist—for the Glory of God and the Salvation of Souls.

Let us, strengthened by Christ, be the Eucharistic Missionaries we are called to be.

+In Christ Jesus,

Most Rev. Andrew H. Cozzens, S.T.D., D.D.

Bishop of Crookston

Chairman of the Board of the National Eucharistic Congress

July 30, 2024 by Colin Rahill

July 30, 2024

Dear Members of the St. Susanna Family,

On Monday, July 29, I accepted the resignation of Father Barry Stechschulte as pastor of St. Susanna Parish. I am thankful for Father Stechschulte’s dedicated service these past four years to the St. Susanna community.

I have appointed Father Jeff Kemper, a retired priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, as temporary administrator of St. Susanna Parish, effective immediately. Father Kemper will have the administrative authority of a pastor until such time as a permanent pastor is identified and appointed. I am deeply grateful to Father Kemper for accepting this temporary assignment and for his commitment to serving the people of God.

Please know of my prayers during this time of transition at St. Susanna. May God bless you this day and always.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr

Archbishop of Cincinnati

July 8, 2024 by Colin Rahill

Deacon William (Bill) Saluke, a deacon of the Archdiocese, died on July 3, 2024 at the age of 98. Deacon Bill was ordained by Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati on September 25, 1976, the very first permanent ordination class in the Archdiocese. He served the Archdiocese as a permanent deacon for forty-seven years.

Upon his ordination, Deacon Bill was assigned to St. Mary Parish in Dayton. He served faithfully at the parish throughout his entire ordained ministry.

Deacon Bill was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Helen, in 2018, to whom he was married for 69 years. He leaves their ten children and their spouses, nineteen grandchildren and twenty-eight great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be Friday, July 12, 2024 at Westbrock Funeral Home, 5980 Bigger Rd, Kettering, OH from 4 to 8 pm. Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet will be said at 8 pm.

Mass of Christian Burial will be Saturday, July 13, 2024 at St. Mary Catholic Church, 310 Allen St, Dayton, OH at 10:00 am. An additional visitation will precede the Mass at the church from 9:00 to 10:00 am. Burial to follow at Calvary Cemetery, 1625 Calvary Ave, Dayton.

You may read the full obituary on the funeral home’s website here.

Please keep the repose of the soul of Deacon Bill Saluke in your prayers, as well as peace and consolation for his entire family.

July 1, 2024 by Jennifer Schack

Download PDF Version – English | Download PDF Version – Spanish

As you read this, thousands of our brothers and sisters in Christ are on pilgrimage, walking from various regions of our country to meet for the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. This July 17-21, faithful from across the country will joyfully gather at Lucas Oil Stadium with hopes of deepening their faith in the great gift of our Lord’s own Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.

Whether or not we are able to participate in person at the Eucharistic Congress, it will still be a period of grace for the entire Church. The union we experience in the Church is more profound than simply being together in the same physical location as other believers. By our common baptism and shared faith in the Lord, the bonds of unity among the faithful surpass the limits of space and time. Over the centuries, artists have sought to give form to this reality by depicting the Church as a great procession of believers – women and men of “every nation, race, people, and tongue” (cf. Rev. 7:9) – all moving on pilgrimage toward heaven. We walk toward eternity together, each making our unique contribution for the good of the whole, and each benefiting from the spiritual gifts which God pours out on all His children, wherever they may be.

This union we share as a Church is fundamental to our life as Christians. Together, we journey back to the God who created us. We need one another; this is why Christ gave us the Church. Each of us contributes our gifts and talents for the benefit of the whole faith community. Our journey to heaven is an extended spiritual pilgrimage. With others at our side, we move toward a common destination: the fullness and perfection of life with God forever.

At the end of this month, I will celebrate the 50th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood. It is an occasion to reflect on the vocational journey to which God has called me over the course of these years. Following this path has led me to many unexpected places, and I have had opportunities and met people along the way whom I never could have imagined while growing up in rural Iowa. With gratitude, I reflect on the many ways I have witnessed God work through the Church and shower His transformative grace upon His people in diverse circumstances and situations. None of this would be possible if there hadn’t been others at my side with a shared desire to work for God’s glory and the good of His people. Together, and with the grace of God, we can accomplish much.

An integral aspect of the Christian life is this movement toward what lies beyond. We are people of hope, always striving to share in the salvation Christ made possible for us. In eternity, we will behold the face of God in all its glory, and in knowing God perfectly we will also experience the perfection of our own being. This is why I chose as my episcopal motto a line from Psalm 105, “Seek the face of the Lord.” These inspired words have motivated pilgrims across the centuries as they journeyed together toward a holy shrine.

In all things, God calls us to discover His presence and purpose, to keep moving closer to Him, both in this life and for all eternity. May He grant us the grace to persevere toward that goal on this pilgrimage we call life – together in Christ Jesus our Lord!