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May 2026

Archives for May 2026

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W H A T | Memorial Day Observance: Wreath Laying and Mass

W H E N | Monday May 25, 2026, 10:30 a.m. Veteran Speech & Wreath Laying  – 11 a.m. Mass

W H E R E | Gate of Heaven Cemetery, 11000 Montgomery Rd. Cincinnati, OH

Release Date:  May 20, 2026

Memorial Day Observance at Gate of Heaven Cemetery

The annual Gate of Heaven Cemetery Memorial Day Field Mass will be celebrated on Monday, May 25. The outdoor wreath laying ceremony and Mass have been celebrated at Gate of Heaven Cemetery for more than five decades, a tradition that gathers hundreds of families. This event has become a family tradition spanning several generations for many who gather each year. For the last several years, The Valor Group / Alta Fiber have donated and placed more than 7000 American flags throughout the cemetery on veteran gravesites. The Valor Group gathers on Friday, May 22, 2026 beginning at 8:00 a.m. for a kick-off program. More than 50 Valor Group volunteers will gather on Friday morning to place flags. Media are invited to attend.

At 10:30 a.m. on Memorial Day, U.S. Army Veteran, Alison Estes will begin the ceremony with a few words honoring the deceased military followed by a wreath laying ceremony. At 11 a.m. Archbishop Robert G. Casey will celebrate Mass outdoors on the cemetery grounds. In the event of rain, the Mass will be moved indoors to Good Shepherd Church, 8815 East Kemper Rd. The cemetery grounds will be open through the day.

For more information about Gate of Heaven Cemetery please visit www.gateofheaven.org.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati is the 45th largest Catholic diocese in the country, with more than 455,000 Catholics, and has the fifth largest Catholic school system in terms of enrollment with more than 42,000 students.  The 19-county territory includes 189 canonical parishes organized into 57 Families of Parishes, and 111 Catholic primary and secondary schools.

Jennifer Schack

Director of Media Relations

Archdiocese of Cincinnati

Office | 513.263.6618

Cell | 859.512.5626

[email protected]

 

Gate of Heaven Contact:

Deacon Tim Schutte

Outreach / Evangelization Office

Office | 513.489.0300 ext. 238

Direct | 513.943-3479

[email protected]

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W H A T | Priesthood Ordination Mass

W H E N | Saturday, May 16, 2025, 11 A.M.

W H E R E | Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains: 325 W. 8th St., Cincinnati OH

Release Date:  May 13, 2026

Nine men being ordained priests for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati will joyfully celebrate the ordination of nine new priests on Saturday, May 16, 2026. The men will be ordained to the priesthood for service to God and the Church. Archbishop Robert G. Casey will celebrate the Mass. Within the course of the ordination rite, the archbishop will lay his hands on the men, invoking the authority given by Christ to the apostles to make new priests.

The nine new priests will contribute to the growing trend of men being ordained priests over the last decade. This year’s class ties the largest group of ordinands in 53 years; classes of nine men were also ordained in 2019 and 1975. Including this year’s ordinands, 65 men have been ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati since 2016!

The nine new priests have served as transitional deacons for the last year. Their ministry has included baptizing, assisting at marriages, and preaching at Mass. The men graduated on May 9 of this year from Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and School of Theology, after at least seven years of formation for the priesthood.

Men to be ordained:

Deacon Nicholas Emmerling

Deacon Curtis Gross

Deacon Kraig Gruss

Deacon David Homoelle

Deacon Daniel Jasek

Deacon Benjamin Klare

Deacon Doug Moore

Deacon Benjamin Packer

Deacon Jacob Schmeising

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati is the 45th largest Catholic diocese in the country, with more than 455,000 Catholics, and has the fifth largest Catholic school system in terms of enrollment with more than 42,000 students.  The 19-county territory includes 187 canonical parishes organized into 57 Families of Parishes, and 111 Catholic primary and secondary schools.

 

Jennifer Schack

Director of Media Relations

Archdiocese of Cincinnati

Office | 513.263.6618

Cell | 859.512.5626

[email protected]

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Into Our Hands column featured in the May edition of The Catholic Telegraph

After a difficult winter and a late-arriving spring, we now tend to the ground that has remained fallow through cold days and months of patient waiting for sunlight. As we break ground in our fields and gardens, we soon discover that the demand to care for creation is not simply found externally in nature. This care must be given to our interior life as well. We must tend to the state of our heart, creating a healthy place for faith, hope, and love to be planted, nourished, and bear fruit.

Over time, untilled soil can become hardened and incapable of receiving water. Our hearts, too, can become hardened, thirsting for the Living Water that first gave us life in Baptism. Rocky soil, overtaken by obstacles and barriers, is a difficult environment for setting deep roots. Our hearts, as well, overwhelmed by attitudes and outlooks as stubborn as any boulder, face the challenge of setting roots deeply in the love and mercy of God. Thorny soil, beset by weeds that overtake it and choke off all light and life, does not permit healthy growth. Our hearts, also, find it hard to thrive when worries and distractions surround and overtake us.

As in our gardens, where we must break ground and till the soil, we also must break open our hearts to receive new grace, to be freed of any stubbornness or stumbling blocks in our way, and to cut back the weeds of anxiety and anguish that encroach upon our growth.

When we enter a church and bless ourselves with holy water, we renew our baptismal identity, softening our hardened hearts and giving welcome to fresh grace. When we receive Holy Communion, responding “Amen,” which is our “yes” to becoming part of the Body of Christ, we become strong enough to confront any unwelcome barrier that might prevent us from truly living as one body, one spirit in Christ. When we exit a church and enter back into our daily life, we commit to walk tall in our faith and not allow worry, fear, or distraction to cast their shadow over us.

The Book of Hosea reminds us, “Sow for yourselves justice, reap the reward of loyalty; break up for yourselves a new field, for it is time to seek the Lord, till he comes and rains justice upon you” (Hos 10:12).

As Catholics, we see this work not as the effort of a single individual but as communal work. All hands must labor in the field to assist in the care of our Church’s growth and fruitfulness. I am reminded of my grandfather, a hard-working and faith-filled farmer. He never attempted to work alone. He invited those around him to assist in the care of his fields. Together they would break ground each spring. Together they would bring in the harvest each fall.

On Sundays, my grandfather would teach me about the grace and gift of Communion. The church we attended was a place of welcome; there were no strangers, only friends. The Mass would conclude with everyone gathering for donuts and coffee. I discovered that the Eucharist was not simply something I received at Mass but a call to divine encounters that would be experienced with family, friends, neighbors, and strangers beyond the Mass.

As we break bread with each other at the Lord’s table, we pray that our sharing in Holy Communion nourishes us and makes us strong, so that we might go forth from the altar ready and willing to break ground with one another. Breaking ground—breaking open our hardened hearts—will allow God’s grace to take root deep in our hearts, to grow stronger every day, and to bear fruit that can be shared with all those who hunger.