Any major event in the life of the Catholic Church, including installation of a bishop, takes place within the context of the Mass. Representatives of the Diocese of Columbus and the universal Church will gather at 2 p.m. Tuesday, May 31 in Westerville St. Paul Church to welcome Bishop-elect Earl Fernandes for a Mass during which he will be ordained as spiritual shepherd of the diocese.
Such an event usually takes place in the cathedral of a diocese. But because the bishop-elect is an Ohio native – born in the Diocese of Toledo and serving until now as a priest in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati – he has friends throughout the state. A decision was made to move the ceremony to the Columbus diocese’s largest church to handle the anticipated crowd. The church seats about 1,500 people.
Such events highlight the Church’s worldwide nature. Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio – Pope Francis’ representative to the United States and for whom Bishop-elect Fernandes once worked – will be present, along with bishops from Ohio and throughout the United States, in addition to the Fernandes family and friends.
Also present will be diocesan clergy, religious, representatives of lay organizations and ethnic groups, and civic and ecumenical leaders representing a variety of faith traditions.
There will be various processions preceding the ordination Mass. The final procession will include the bishop-elect; Bishops Robert Brennan, James Griffin and Frederick Campbell, all of whom preceded him as bishop of Columbus; Archbishop Pierre; and Archbishop Dennis Schnurr of Cincinnati.
Archbishop Schnurr will be the principal consecrator, and Archbishop Pierre and Bishop Brennan will serve with Archbishop Schnurr as co-consecrators for Bishop-elect Fernandes. Three bishops are required to concentrate a new one. Other bishops in attendance also will concelebrate the Mass.
The bishop-elect will be accompanied by two priests he has chosen to assist him. They are Msgr. Frank Lane of the Diocese of Columbus, who is retired, lives in Cincinnati and served with Father Fernandes on the faculty of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary of the West in Cincinnati, and Msgr. Richard Marchese, who worked with the bishop-elect in the nuncio’s office. Also accompanying him will be his brother, Deacon Trevor Fernandes of Toledo, a deacon of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Parma.
As in the ordination Mass for a priest, the ordination of the bishop-elect will take place before the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Following the Gospel reading, after the congregation sings Come Holy Ghost, Msgr. Stephan Moloney, who has been serving as apostolic administrator of the diocese in the absence of a bishop, will make a ritual presentation of the new bishop to Archbishop Schnurr.
The Cincinnati archbishop has a key role in the ceremony because he is the metropolitan archbishop for the ecclesiastical province of Cincinnati. All six of Ohio’s Catholic dioceses are part of the province, which is based in that city because the Archdiocese of Cincinnati is the “mother diocese” from which the state’s other dioceses were formed.
The nuncio will read the letter from Pope Francis appointing the new bishop. The letter will be shown to the congregation and presented to the diocesan chancellor, Deacon Thomas Berg Jr., and members of the Diocesan College of Consultors, a group of priests who serve as advisers to the bishop.
Archbishop Schnurr will deliver a homily, and the bishop-elect will make promises to serve Christ and the Church, then will lie face-down as the Litany of the Saints is sung by all in attendance.
He will kneel as Archbishop Schnurr and the two co-consecrators lay hands on him. All bishops present then will also briefly lay hands on him.
Archbishop Schnurr will complete the act of ordination with a prayer of ordination as two deacons hold an open Book of the Gospels above the new bishop’s head. This represents his submission to the Gospel.
The archbishop will anoint Bishop Fernandes’ head with holy oil and present him with the Book of the Gospels and the insignia of his office – a ring, a miter, a crosier and a pectoral cross. (The significance of these symbols is described in another story in this week’s Catholic Times.) The crosier belonged to Bishop Sylvester Rosecrans, the first bishop of Columbus, and dates to 1868, when the diocese was established.
Bishop Fernandes then will be escorted by Archbishops Schnurr and Pierre to the cathedra, the bishop’s chair. He will be seated on the cathedra and at that point will officially become the 13th bishop of the Diocese of Columbus.
After this, he will rise and go to the foot of the sanctuary to receive representatives of the community who will welcome him. Once he receives their greetings, he will return to the cathedra, and the Mass will continue in its usual form.
The first Scripture reading, in Spanish, will be proclaimed by Miguel Buckenmayer, with the second reading by Sister Maria Juan Anderson, RSM. Both readers are friends of the Fernandes family. Deacon Fernandes will be the Gospel reader. Family members will present the offertory gifts. Servers will be the 18 men of the diocese studying for the priesthood.
