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Jennifer Schack

Jennifer Schack

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Release Date:  April 14, 2022

Holy Week Celebrations at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral Basilica & Praying the Steps

Holy Thursday Masses will be celebrated today, Thursday, April 14. On Holy Thursday, Catholics commemorate the institution of the Eucharist and the Priesthood by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper. Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, will celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains at 5 P.M.

Friday, April 15, is Good Friday. This day commemorates the day that Jesus was crucified. It is an obligatory day of fasting (one full meal and two smaller meals that together do not add up to the one full meal) and abstinence from meat for Catholics.  The Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion will be celebrated at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral at 12 P.M. Fr. Jan Schmidt, rector of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains, will celebrate the liturgy.

For more than a century, thousands have gathered to “Pray the Steps” in Mount Adams on Good Friday. In preparation for the pilgrims who will pray the steps leading to Holy Cross-Immaculata Church, the faithful will gather at 11:30 P.M. on the evening of April 14, at the base of the steps on St. Gregory Street and, just before midnight, Fr. Anthony Brausch will bless the steps. Around 200 people are expected for the blessing. Fr. Brausch will then lead the group in prayer up the steps. Throughout Friday, April 15, around 10,000 to 12,000 pilgrims will ascend the steps in prayer.

The Easter Vigil Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains will be held at 8:45 P.M. on Saturday, April 16. Archbishop Schnurr will celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ for hundreds of local Catholics. The Easter Vigil Mass is also when new members are initiated into the Catholic Church. Many will be baptized and received into the Church through the R.C.I.A. program (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults).

Easter Sunday Masses at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains will be held at 9:00 A.M. and 11 A.M. on April 21.  Fr. Jan Schmidt will celebrate the 11 A.M. Mass on Easter morning.

 

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati is the 44th largest Catholic diocese in the country, with more than 450,000 Catholics, and has the fifth largest Catholic school system in terms of enrollment with more than 40,000 students.  The 19-county territory includes 211 parishes and 111 Catholic primary and secondary schools.

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Jennifer Schack

Director of Media Relations

Archdiocese of Cincinnati

Office | 513.263.6618

Cell | 859.512.5626

[email protected]

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Deacon John R. Collins, a Deacon of the Archdiocese, died on Saturday, April 9, 2022, following an short illness. He was 79 years old.

Deacon John was ordained April 28, 2007 by Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk. He was assigned to St. Joseph and St. Raphael parishes in Springfield upon ordination. He served at the parishes until his death.

He was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 32 years, Susan Irene Collins. He is survived by his children Mary (Bill) Padgett, Jeff (Helen) Collins, Tim (Aida) Scanlon, Vince (Jamie) Scanlon, and Nicholas (Melanie) Scanlon. John and Susan were the grandparents of twelve grandchildren.

Mass of Christian Burial will be on Wednesday, April 13, 2022 at St. Raphael Catholic Church, Springfield, at 1:00 p.m.

Please keep the repose of the soul of Deacon John Collins in your prayers, as well as consolation for his entire family.

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Release Date: April 2,2022

Cincinnati’s Fr. Earl K. Fernandes Appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Columbus

The Holy Father, Pope Francis, announced today that Father Earl K. Fernandes, of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, has been appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Columbus in Ohio. Bishop-elect Fernandes will be the 13th bishop of the Diocese of Columbus. The diocese has been under the governance of a diocesan administrator since Bishop Robert J. Brennan was installed as Bishop of Brooklyn in November of 2021. Bishop-elect Fernandes will be consecrated and installed as Bishop of the Diocese of Columbus on Tuesday, May 31, 2022.

A press conference welcoming Bishop-elect Fernandes will be held at 10:30 a.m. this morning, in Columbus. For members of the media unable to attend, a public livestream of the press conference will be available here.

Bishop-elect Fernandes was ordained to the priesthood on May 18, 2002. Most recently he has been serving as pastor of St. Ignatius of Loyola Church in Cincinnati since 2019. Bishop-elect Fernandes has faithfully served the people of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in many leadership roles throughout the last 20 years. He served as dean, pastor, parochial vicar, seminary academic dean and associate professor, and high school teacher. He holds a doctorate of moral theology from the Alphonsian Academy in Rome. He is the published author of one book and numerous articles and essays and has given presentations, talks, and retreats around the country. He has been a regular contributor to the Archdiocese of Cincinnati’s magazine The Catholic Telegraph.

Bishop-elect Fernandes is a native of Toledo, Ohio, the fourth of five boys, and the son of Indian immigrants. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Toledo and came to Cincinnati to study at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine before discerning a vocation to the priesthood. Additional biographical information about Bishop-elect Fernandes is available on the archdiocesan website: www.catholicaoc.org/bishopelectfernandes.

Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr has released the following letter to the faithful announcing the appointment:

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today the Holy See announced that Pope Francis has appointed Father Earl K. Fernandes of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati the thirteenth bishop of the Diocese of Columbus. Father Fernandes will be consecrated and installed on Tuesday, May 31, 2022. We will miss his incredible intellect, unflagging energy, and concern for all people, but know that these traits will serve him well as he expands his ministry to shepherd the faithful people of Columbus.

Bishop-elect Fernandes has ministered to the people of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in many ways since his ordination to the priesthood on May 18, 2002. Over the past 20 years, he has served as dean, pastor, parochial vicar, seminary academic dean and associate professor, high school teacher, retreat leader, and regular contributor to The Catholic Telegraph and other publications. Father Fernandes also served on the staff of the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C. for three and a half years. Through all his assignments, Father Fernandes has been an ever-joyful witness to the goodness, beauty and truth of the Catholic faith.

Please join me in congratulating Bishop-elect Fernandes on this joyous news. Let us keep our beloved brother in prayer as he starts this new ministry.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr

Archbishop of Cincinnati

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati is the 44th largest Catholic diocese in the country, with more than 450,000 Catholics, and has the fifth largest Catholic school system in terms of enrollment with more than 40,000 students.  The 19-county territory includes 211 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]

A PDF of the release is available here.

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April 2, 2022

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today the Holy See announced that Pope Francis has appointed Father Earl K. Fernandes of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati the thirteenth bishop of the Diocese of Columbus. Father Fernandes will be consecrated and installed on Tuesday, May 31, 2022. We will miss his incredible intellect, unflagging energy, and concern for all people, but know that these traits will serve him well as he expands his ministry to shepherd the faithful people of Columbus.

Bishop-elect Fernandes has ministered to the people of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in many ways since his ordination to the priesthood on May 18, 2002. Over the past 20 years, he has served as dean, pastor, parochial vicar, seminary academic dean and associate professor, high school teacher, retreat leader, and regular contributor to The Catholic Telegraph and other publications. Father Fernandes also served on the staff of the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C. for three and a half years. Through all his assignments, Father Fernandes has been an ever-joyful witness to the goodness, beauty and truth of the Catholic faith.

Please join me in congratulating Bishop-elect Fernandes on this joyous news. Let us keep our beloved brother in prayer as he starts this new ministry.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr

Archbishop of Cincinnati

A PDF of this letter is available here.

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Our traditions have a way of bringing us together, uniting people from different regions, backgrounds and ways of life behind a common passion – the love of our shared faith. Each year, we see an example of this as faithful Catholics from our archdiocese and surrounding dioceses gather to “pray the steps” at Holy Cross-Immaculata Church in Mt. Adams on Good Friday.

Events such as these can help us appreciate the profound, lasting unity rooted in our shared Catholic faith. Sacred Scripture teaches us of this unity; it is fostered through our participation in the Eucharist; and ultimately it is fulfilled in our shared redemption through Christ’s Resurrection.

Scripture often reminds us of how our faith unites us in Christ: “For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another” (Rom. 12:4-5).

God made each of us for some definite purpose. And although He granted us each a specific set of talents and asks us to discern our vocations accordingly, nothing we accomplish would be possible without sharing those gifts with one another. We each have a role to play in the Church, and the Church, as God’s Kingdom on earth, accomplishes Her mission only to the degree that we each contribute our unique gifts and talents for the good of one another. We need one another; this is why God gives us the Church. No one of us can return to the God who created us on his or her own. We have to make that journey together.

At every Mass we renew our awareness of Christian unity and strengthen the bonds of charity and faith which unite us in our common mission. The Eucharist – Christ’s Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity – is the source and summit of our existence as Christians (cf. Lumen Gentium, 11). Everything we do and all that we are comes from Christ and His love for us, and we enter into that mystery most profoundly through the Church’s liturgy.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “Through the liturgy Christ, our redeemer and high priest, continues the work of our redemption in, with and through his Church” (CCC 1069). The Lord who has conquered sin and death lives gloriously with His Father in heaven, and He also lives and works through His Church. Together we are united to form the Body of Christ. And the heart of that Body is the Eucharist.

While the Eucharist remains the heart of the Body of Christ here on earth, the mystery of the Lord’s Resurrection unites the faithful in our redemption from sin and offers us a shared hope that we might participate in His Resurrection at the end of time.

Many things in this life foreshadow the joy of the perfect, lasting unity we will experience in heaven. Living in that joy, united together in our faith, is our great hope as Christians. This Easter, may we unite as witnesses to the risen Christ and share with each other the hope of eternal unity with God and, in Him, with one another.

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Reverend Michael F. Leshney died on Sunday, March 27, 2022, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was born on November 15, 1945, in Cincinnati. He did his preparatory studies at St. Gregory Seminary and studied theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary of the West.  He was ordained on June 2, 1973, at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral, Cincinnati, by Archbishop Joseph L. Bernardin.

Father Leshney received his first assignment on June 20, 1973, as a resident associate at Teresa of Avila Parish, Price Hill (Cincinnati). On July 1, 1977, he was appointed to teach at Elder High School, Cincinnati, while continuing as resident associate at St. Teresa of Avila Parish.  On June 30, 1978, he was appointed resident associate of St. Catherine of Sienna Parish, Cincinnati, while continuing to teach at Elder.  On May 15, 1981, he was appointed resident associate of Assumption Parish, Mt. Healthy (Cincinnati), while continuing to teach at Elder.  On June 25, 1984, he was appointed chaplain of the Madonna Council, #3891, of the Knights of Columbus.  On July 28, 1987, he was appointed resident associate of Nativity Parish, Pleasant Ridge (Cincinnati), while continuing to teach at Elder.  On August 1, 1991, he was appointed to the faculty at Moeller High School, Cincinnati, while continuing at Nativity Parish as resident associate.  He remained on the faculty at Moeller High School until June 2000.  Father Leshney was appointed parochial vicar of Good Shepherd Parish, Cincinnati, on July 1, 2000. On November 6, 2001, he was appointed pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish, Reading, for a period of six years, and reappointed as pastor commencing on November 7, 2007 through June 30, 2008. He was appointed parochial administrator of St. Mary Parish, Bethel, and St. Peter Parish, New Richmond, effective July 1, 2008, and on July 1, 2009, Father Leshney was appointed pastor of the two parishes for a period of six years.  He was reappointed as pastor of St. Mary Parish and St. Peter Parish for another six-year term on July 1, 2015.  Father Leshney retired on November 1, 2017.

Reception of the Body: Friday, April 1, 2022, at 9:15 a.m. at Guardian Angels Church, 6531 Beechmont Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45230; (513-231-7440.) Celebrant: Reverend P. Del Staigers. Visitation: 9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m., following Reception of the Body until Mass of Christian Burial.

Mass of Christian Burial: Friday, April 1, 2022, at 11: 00 a.m. at Guardian Angels Church. Celebrant and Homilist: Reverend Anthony J. Marcelli.

Burial: Friday, April 1, 2022, following the Mass of Christian Burial, at Guardian Angels Cemetery, 7150 Beechmont Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45230. Celebrants: Reverend Anthony J. Marcelli and Reverend Thomas M. King.

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W H A T | Rosary Novena and Participation in Consecration

W H E N | March 17-March 25

W H E R E | March 25 Mass at Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains

 

LINKS:

The Mass with Archbishop Schnurr and prayers to follow will be live-streamed and can be viewed here.

The Consecration by the Holy Father will be live-streamed by Vatican Media Live and can be viewed here. 

The Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary text can be found here. 

 

Release Date:  March 17, 2022

Faithful asked to unite in prayer with the Holy Father and Catholics around the World for peaceful resolution in Ukraine

The following letter has been released from Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr to the faithful of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati:

March 17, 2022

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

In response to the Holy Father’s announcement that he will consecrate Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, I invite all Catholics of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati to pray for the intention of a swift and peaceful resolution to the war in Ukraine.

Please join me in praying a Rosary novena over the nine days beginning today, March 17, and culminating on March 25 at the 11:30 a.m. Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains. During this Mass, we will be spiritually united to Pope Francis and Catholics around the world in asking for our Blessed Mother’s intercession for the end to this tragic conflict. Mass will be followed by the public recitation of the Rosary, and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will be available until Benediction at 5:00 p.m.

For all who are unable to come to the Cathedral Basilica, please offer your daily prayers and, if possible, participation at Mass in your parish for these intentions on March 25.

May the Immaculate Heart of Mary, through her powerful intercession, lead to the conversion of hearts and minds and peace throughout the world, especially at this time in Ukraine.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr

Archbishop of Cincinnati

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati is the 44th 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.

 

Jennifer Schack

Director of Media Relations

Archdiocese of Cincinnati

Office | 513.263.6618

Cell | 859.512.5626

[email protected]

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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

During the season of Lent, we prepare for our Lord’s passion, death and resurrection by practicing the spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Jesus teaches us that some things can only be accomplished through prayer and fasting (cf. Mt. 17:21). As we consider what we can do in response to the horrors of war unfolding in Ukraine, we should keep our Lord’s instruction to his disciples in mind. Please join me in not only praying, but also in fasting and offering up our sacrifices for peace and for all those suffering in this tragedy.

Prayer for Ukraine

God of infinite mercy and peace, we pray for the people of Ukraine who are experiencing fear, violence and death. We entrust all their families to You, and we pray that they may not yield to discouragement or despair but be heralds of hope. Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Zarvaniza, spread your maternal mantle over all people of goodwill who live in the great nation of Ukraine. We pray in this moment of crisis that people throughout the world may reach out in solidarity to our brothers and sisters in need through prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Bring peace to all troubled hearts. We ask this through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

+Dennis M. Schnurr

Please consider contributing to humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine: https://www.catholicnews.com/update-where-to-give-to-help-ukraine/

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Effective December 4, 2021

  • Reverend Roberto Carlos Becerra Reyes, (Diocese of Coatzacoalcos), Parochial Vicar of Our Lady of the Rosary, Greenhills, St. Matthias the Apostle, Cincinnati, and St. Ann Parish, Groesbeck.

Effective July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023.

  • Reverend Mark Hoying, C.PP.S., Parochial Vicar of NW8 Family of Parishes which includes Holy Redeemer, New Bremen, St. Rose, St. Rose, St. Sebastian, Celina, Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Cassella, Precious Blood, Chickasaw, St. John the Baptist, Maria Stein, St. Augustine, Minster, St. Joseph, Egypt.
  • Reverend Anthony Fortman, C.PP.S., Parochial Vicar of NE6 Family of Parishes which includes Precious Blood, Dayton, St. Paul, Englewood, St. Rita, Dayton, Holy Trinity, Dayton, St. Joseph, Dayton and Emmanuel, Dayton.

Retirement from active ministry

  • Reverend David Fay, Pastor, St. Gabriel, Glendale, effective July 1, 2022
  • Reverend J. Dennis Jaspers, Pastor, All Saints and St. Vincent Ferrer, Cincinnati, effective July 1, 2022
  • Reverend Greg Konerman, Pastor, Church of the Holy Angels and St. Anthony, Dayton, effective July 1, 2022
  • Reverend Thomas Kreidler, Pastor, Immaculate Heart of Mary, effective July 1, 2022
  • Reverend Thomas Nolker, Pastor, St. James the Greater, White Oak, effective July 1, 2022
  • Reverend Dale Peterka, Chaplain, Jewish Hospital, effective April 6, 2022
  • Reverend Donald Rettig, Pastor, St. Vincent de Paul, Cincinnati, effective July 1, 2022
  • Reverend Terrance Schneider, Pastor, St. Luke, Beavercreek, effective July 1, 2022
  • Reverend James Schutte, Pastor, St. Leo and St. Boniface, Cincinnati, effective July 1, 2022
  • Reverend James Simons, Pastor, St. Denis, Versailles, Holy Family, Frenchtown, and Immaculate Conception, Bradford, effective July 1, 2022

100 East Eighth StreetCincinnati, OH 45202 USA(513) 421-3131

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