The diocese released the final results of the Real Presence Real Future (RPRF) initiative on Thursday, May 25 after an extensive three-year evaluation process designed to help shape the mission of the diocese for generations to come and serve its people in a 23-county area with a particular focus on evangelization.

Real Presence Real Future results

Bishop Earl Fernandes spent his first 12 months in Columbus since his installation evaluating the recommendations from several rounds of draft models and feedback from parishes, schools, committees and clergy to determine the best course of action to meet the needs of parishioners and priests.

After reviewing the recommendations, the bishop accepted some of them and rejected others.

“Real Presence Real Future, we have said over and over again, it’s about the mission of evangelization,” Bishop Fernandes said. “I think through these changes we will have parishes that are not just maintaining what they have but are actually evangelizing, making new disciples, new followers, so that Catholicism is not seen merely as a religion but as a whole way of life.”

Real Presence Real Future process enters next stage

RPRF was initiated three years ago by Bishop Robert Brennan, who led the diocese from March 2019 until November 2021 when he left to become the bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York. Its genesis came out of a clergy convocation in fall 2019 when priests expressed concerns about future ministry in parishes across an expansive diocese and how to deal with the dwindling numbers within their ranks.

Bishop Brennan appointed Father Michael Hartge, the Moderator of the Curia, to lead the diocese’s RPRF efforts, which began in earnest in early 2021 and included an initial Disciple Maker Index survey, 40 Days of Adoration, a Eucharistic gathering, draft models, question-and-answer periods, regional public commentary sessions and publication of information through the www.realpresencerealfuture.com website.

A first round of draft models was released in fall 2021 and a second round after public feedback was presented in spring 2022. Final recommendations for parish and school mergers, consolidations and closings were presented to Bishop Fernandes in fall 2022 for his evaluation.

Since that time, the bishop has evaluated needs in urban and rural areas while traveling extensively throughout the diocese.

In his previous assignments with the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C., and as a priest in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, he witnessed firsthand similar initiatives to streamline parish structures.

“That this was happening in Columbus was not surprising to me,” Bishop Fernandes said. “After hearing from the priests, (Bishop Brennan) saw some of the data, and he began, so it seemed natural to continue that process of listening and discernment.

“I saw how much pressure the priests were under to try to provide for multiple parishes, even as many of our clergy continued to age. … Sometimes, the structures have to be modified in order to be able to evangelize better.”

In February, Bishop Fernandes announced a host of clergy assignments scheduled for July in collaboration with the diocesan personnel board to account for retirements of pastors in large parishes and also to allow time for priests to prepare to move to parishes where consolidations or mergers are scheduled to take place.

Diocese announces priest assignments

“We have 12 priests who are over age 70 still functioning as pastors,” Bishop Fernandes said. “At a certain point, we knew we were going to have to make decisions and have pastors who have the energy and leadership abilities to help parishes come together to evangelize or pastor multiple parishes.”

The growing presence of religious orders has allowed Bishop Fernandes to offset the shortage of diocesan priests by placing clergy, many of whom are able to minister to ethic populations including Spanish speakers, at parishes in the Columbus area and in other counties.

Priest assignments will affect churches in diocese

One of the new arrivals this summer will be the Capuchin Franciscan Fathers at Columbus Christ the King and St. Thomas the Apostle churches. Both will remain open, as well as All Saints Academy, under the administration of the Capuchins through a canonical merger (an amalgamation of the two parishes) after a final RPRF recommendation to close St. Thomas the Apostle was rejected.

“I think we’ve listened to the feedback of the people in a lot of different areas, and I’ve gone out to the different parishes and been with the people and seen with my own eyes what might be necessary, and I am really sympathetic to the rural areas,” Bishop Fernandes said.

While mergers and consolidations are slated in some rural areas, some alterations to the final recommendations were made. In Muskingum County, Dresden St. Ann and St. Mary Mattingly Settlement will remain open with a pastor in residence, and the two Zanesville parishes will be under the direction of a single pastor. A priest will also serve as a chaplain at Bishop Fenwick Elementary and Bishop Rosecrans High schools.

Priests will continue to be assigned as chaplains at the diocesan high schools not only as a means to educate and guide young people in the faith but also to promote religious vocations.

Those efforts have already started to pay dividends. Fifteen new diocesan seminarians are expected to begin formation later in the summer.

The RPRF final report includes diocesan schools. It suggests that an elementary and high school in the vicinity of Sunbury St. John Neumann Church could be considered in the future to accommodate population growth in the area north of Columbus as well as an elementary school at Canal Winchester St. John XXIII.

Only two schools – Wellston Ss. Peter & Paul and Columbus St. Anthony – are closing at the end of the current academic year.   

“We want to see a robust Catholic school system,” Bishop Fernandes said. “We are blessed to have so many Catholic schools and high schools in the diocese, but with a huge influx of population, we might have to build new schools, and that’s exciting. But we want them to be authentically Catholic.”

St. Anthony Church in north Columbus will be suppressed (a canon law term meaning a parish is abolished) as part of a canonical merger with Columbus St. Elizabeth Church that includes the eventual suppression of Columbus St. Matthias Church. St. Matthias School will remain open.

Considerations factored into the decisions on parishes were population shifts, Mass attendance, finances and facility maintenance and repair costs.

In February, decrees of suppression for Columbus St. Ladislas, Corpus Christi and Holy Cross churches were announced.

Diocese announced suppression of St. Ladislas, Corpus Christi, Holy Cross parishes

“There’s a whole process for implementation of a recommendation that’s not going to happen overnight,” Bishop Fernandes said. “The expectation would be that priests would work with the people in trying to implement a pastoral plan for that particular parish, for evangelization, for catechesis, for education of our young people, for sacramental care of the people in those parishes. That implementation will take a period of time.”

Parishioners whose parishes are on the list to be closed or merged will have questions about how quickly those changes will occur.

Parishes that are part of a canonical merger will seek approval from Bishop Fernandes and the diocesan Presbyteral Council for suppression. Diocesan staff will form transition teams to facilitate the canonical merger at the parish level, and decrees of suppression will be made public at respective parishes, in The Catholic Times and on the diocesan website. 

“There are parishes where pastors have begun to initiate the process within their parishes, but decrees have not been signed,” the bishop explained. “Where two parishes might have to come together as one or where a parish may need to consolidate with another one, that will take time, and the priests will have to lead the process.

“I know that change is difficult for people, and that change can sometimes be painful. And people have to sometimes mourn what was, but on the other hand, they also have to see the opportunity.

“This is an opportunity to give thanks to God for the outpouring of grace in this particular place and an opportunity to discern now where God is calling you and to think about what talents and gifts that God has given you that could be put to use in the service of the church.”

Bishop Fernandes asked the faithful to be patient and charitable in places where change will occur.

“The lay faithful can say to the priest, ‘Look, I want to be part of the solution,’” the bishop said. “I think having people who are engaged in the life of the parish is part of the solution.”

Bishop Fernandes reassured the faithful of the diocese that no decisions were predetermined before feedback was received and emphasized that their input throughout RPRF was invaluable in arriving at this point.

“I believe that Real Presence Real Future has been transparent, and it’s been a process of authentic discernment,” he said. “Adjustments have been made based on what people have said but also based on what we see from the Lord and in prayer.

“Obviously, you can’t please everyone. But I think we were very creative, very sensitive to the different dynamics and different populations, rural and urban, ethnic and so on, to try to come up with the best possible solution for the whole Diocese of Columbus.

“We’re about to set sail on a new mission,” Bishop Fernandes said. “We’re not exactly sure where it will lead, but we know that the Holy Spirit is the One guiding our mission.”