Bishop Earl Fernandes was installed on Saturday, March 18 as a Conventual Chaplain ad Honorem in the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta, commonly known as the Order of Malta.
The investiture took place at a Mass in the bishop's residence chapel with members of the Columbus Region of the Federal Association of the Sovereign Order of Malta in attendance.
Fra’ Thomas Mulligan, president of the federal Association, USA of the Order of Malta, presided over the installation ceremony. Father Thomas Blau, OP, the magistral chaplain of the Columbus region of the order, blessed the insignia that was presented to Bishop Fernandes.
The installation was part of a day of recollection for the local region of the order. Dr. Daniel Gullo, director of the Malta Study Center Hill Museum and Manuscript Library in Collegeville, Minnesota, presented a talk in the afternoon in the Cathedral's undercroft.
He explained that the order’s spirituality is attached to its work as “Hospitallers,” starting in Jerusalem and moving to the islands of Rhodes and then Malta, to care for the sick and the poor but especially to those on pilgrimages to holy sites.
The Columbus region of the order operates its Center for Care Clinic, located next to Columbus Holy Rosary-St. John Church at 640 S. Ohio Ave., to provide free medical and dental care to those in need.