Columbus St. Mary Magdalene and St. Agnes parishes have combined as the Hispanic population on the west side of Columbus continues to grow. The two parishes merged in March of this year.
Father Héctor Del Rio Piña, CR, of the Order of Clerics Regular, also known as the Theatine Fathers, is serving as the parish’s pastor.
The bilingual priest served as parochial vicar at St. Mary Magdalene and St. Agnes parishes since December. He was appointed pastor of St. Mary Magdalene at the end of April following the merger.
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“The change for them is hard,” he said of parishioners, “but I see they are very enthusiastic. They want to work; they want to serve.”
St. Mary Magdalene has approximately 300 registered families, equating to more than 700 parishioners. St. Agnes has about 550 families registered.
The new parish was formed at St. Mary Magdalene largely because of space, the priest said. The church is larger and has a parochial school.
All Masses but one are now celebrated at St. Mary Magdalene. A Sunday Mass in Spanish is offered at the St. Agnes campus.
Several sacraments and events will also continue to be celebrated at St. Agnes.
Baptisms, weddings, quinceañeras (a special blessing for young Catholic women as they enter adulthood) and Parish School of Religion (PSR) classes are held at the church. St. Mary Magdalene has a pre-school program, which will be moved to the St. Agnes campus to provide room for additional growth.
Combining the two parishes has presented challenges.
“Some people don’t speak Spanish, or some people don’t speak English, … but I’m starting to combine the meetings (to be) bilingual,” Father Del Rio Piña said.
“The people, the parishioners, they are very good people. They want to work together.”
St. Agnes has a lot of “young people,” Father Del Rio Piña noted, “a lot of young people, a lot of altar servers, a lot of choirs, a lot (of children) in PSR. It’s … a new community – very new community. St. Agnes has a lot of feasts; they love traditions, feasts.”
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St. Mary Magdalene School is expected to expand as an increasing number of families express interest in Catholic education. The expansion was a factor in the parish merger.
Father Del Rio Piña is one of five Theatine Fathers who serve in the diocese. The order first arrived in July 2021. Father Tomás Carvajal, CR was assigned to Dover St. Joseph Church.
The priest’s arrival in the Columbus diocese marked the Theatines’ first assignment in a state outside of Colorado since the order left New York more than 100 years ago.
“We came here just to see if the diocese was going to be interested in our charism as a community of priests, and Bishop Earl (Fernandes) was interested, and he opened the doors for us,” said Father Antonio Flores Cota, CR, provincial superior for Theatine Fathers in the United States. “We are very happy being here.”
In the Columbus diocese, two Theatine priests are serving in Tuscarawas County at Dover St. Joseph and Zoar Holy Trinity parishes. The remaining three serve at St. Mary Magdalene, Columbus-Powell St. Peter St. Joan of Arc parish and as vicar for Hispanic Ministries in the diocese.
Father Flores Cota said the order hopes to officially install a Theatine community in the Columbus diocese.
“I hope very soon we’ll have the canonical house here with more stability, just like we have in Denver,” he said. “We’ve been working with Bishop (Fernandes). He’s enthusiastic, and we hope it’s going to happen next year.”
The Order of Clerics Regular was founded by St. Cajetan in 1524 Italy. The order’s United States province, or region, known as Our Lady of Purity Province, is based in Denver.
The Theatine charism, or mission, was to form priests to be examples of virtue to the laity. The order founded hospitals and oratories (chapels for prayer) and wore the black cassock worn by diocesan priests.
The order has fewer than 200 members throughout the world and is present in several countries.