It was a moment to pause and reflect a time to meet brothers laboring in the same vineyard of the Lord. The 2025 Convocation marked the first time in my 20 years of priestly life that I gathered with such a large number of priests. The days were filled with grace and deep spiritual experiences, not only through inspiring presentations and communal prayers but also through personal encounters with priests of different ages, cultures and pastoral backgrounds.
I felt especially blessed to spend time with senior priests whose lives overflow with wisdom and pastoral insight. After learning about my ministry in the Diocese of Columbus, several of them offered valuable advice for the work of the Multicultural Ministry Office. Their words reminded me that our Catholic identity has always been marked by both diversity and universality. From her very beginning, the Church has embraced peoples from every nation and culture, each bringing their own gifts to enrich the Body of Christ.
Living portrait of universal church
The Diocese of Columbus beautifully reflects this universal character. Indeed, if anyone wishes to witness the universality of the Catholic Church, they need to come to Columbus.
As director of the Multicultural Ministry Office, I take great joy in introducing the many ethnic communities that make up our diocese. Each community lives its faith and worships God in its own unique and beautiful way. While most are integrated into local parishes, some gather monthly or weekly for Mass and prayer in their own languages and cultural expressions, hosted by different parishes. These celebrations are a living testimony of the Church’s diversity within unity.
Among the vibrant communities present in our diocese are the South Korean, Haitian, Indian (Tamil), Filipino, Vietnamese, Brazilian, Nigerian, Cameroonian, Ghanaian, African-American, East African (Swahili-speaking, Kenyan, Tanzanian, Rwandan, and Congolese Catholics), as well as French-speaking communities from various countries. Each group enriches our Church through its songs, language and witness of faith.
What many Catholics do not realize is that our diversity is not only cultural but also liturgical. The Catholic Church is composed of 24 autonomous (“sui iuris”) Churches — one Western (the Latin or Roman Rite) and 23 Eastern Catholic churches, each with its own liturgical traditions, spiritual heritage and disciplines. All are fully in communion with the Pope, the Bishop of Rome.
The Eastern Catholic Churches enrich the universal Church with their deep spirituality, ancient traditions and symbolic beauty. Here are some of those represented in our diocese: Ge’ez (Eritrean and Ethiopian), Syro-Malabar (from India), Maronite Catholic Church (from Lebanon), Melkite (mainly from Syria and Jordan and other countries) and the Byzantine Catholic Church, which is represented by faithful from Slovenia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Hungary, Romania, Croatia and other regions and celebrates the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.
All of these rites share the same faith, the same sacraments and the same communion with the Pope. Their diversity shows that the Gospel transcends language, race, and culture, uniting all believers in Christ.
Church learns, grows through diversity
The Second Vatican Council expressed this truth beautifully in Lumen Gentium (no. 13):
“All men are called to be part of this catholic unity of the People of God … In virtue of this catholicity, each individual part brings its own gifts to the other parts and to the whole Church, so that the whole and each of the parts receive increase.”
Likewise, Gaudium et Spes (no. 44) reminds us that the Church learns from the diversity of peoples and cultures, enriching her mission through them. Pope Francis continues this vision in Evangelii Gaudium (no. 117): “The unity brought by the Spirit can harmonize every diversity.” And the early Church Fathers affirmed the same truth. St. Irenaeus wrote: “Where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church and all grace” (Against Heresies, III, 24, 1).
The diversity of peoples, rites and traditions has never divided the Church — it has revealed the power of the Holy Spirit, who binds all things together in love and truth. Our diversity is not a threat but a gift, a reflection of God’s own beauty within His Church. It is a living witness that the Gospel belongs to every nation, every culture and every tongue (Revelation 7:9).
You are warmly invited to visit these Catholic communities and experience for yourself the richness of worship and faith that together reveal the universal face of the Church. In our diversity, we see the colors of God’s grace different, yet beautifully united in Christ.
Let us continue to celebrate our unity in diversity, walking together as one family of faith, enriched by the many colors that make up the living mosaic of the Church of Columbus.
Below is a schedule of non-Spanish ethnic Masses in the diocese as of Dec. 14. Mass schedules are subject to change. Check parish websites or bulletins for updates.
