The bishop of a diocese often is its biggest newsmaker in any given year, and that held true for the Diocese of Columbus in 2021. Bishop Robert Brennan was unexpectedly called to serve another diocese late in the year after earlier beginning a strategic planning process that will continue under the stewardship of his successor.
Pope Francis on Sept. 29 appointed Bishop Brennan to serve as the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, only 2 ½ years after his installation as bishop of Columbus on March 29, 2019. Though the appointment was surprising because Bishop Brennan had been in Columbus for a relatively short time, he was an ideal choice for his new position because he grew up, and had spent all of his life as a priest and auxiliary bishop, in the New York City metropolitan area until coming to Columbus.
A large group of Columbus clergy, religious and laypersons attended his installation in Brooklyn on Nov. 30. He will be leading the nation’s fifth-largest diocese in terms of population, with 1.5 million Catholics. He succeeds Bishop Emeritus Nicholas DiMarzio, who retired after serving as shepherd of the Brooklyn diocese since 2013. Bishop DiMarzio is 77 and continued to serve his diocese for two years beyond the mandatory retirement age of 75 for bishops.
Msgr. Stephan Moloney, diocesan vicar general and pastor of Columbus St. Andrew Church, on Dec. 2 was appointed as diocesan administrator of the Columbus diocese until the pope selects Bishop Brennan’s successor. Msgr. Moloney will be the diocese’s chief administrative official but does not have all the powers of a bishop.
Bishop Brennan in February announced the beginning of Real Presence Real Future, a strategic planning initiative aimed at increasing the presence of Christ throughout the diocese’s 23 counties and upholding the faith for future generations.
The initiative began during Lent, when about half of the diocese’s parishes took part in a 40 Days of Adoration program. Each day, from Ash Wednesday to Palm Sunday, at least one church hosted a period of Eucharistic Adoration. Some of the hosting parishes displayed the exposed Eucharist for 24 hours or longer. Others exposed the Blessed Sacrament for periods of eight to 16 hours, from the end of one of their weekday morning Masses and concluding with Benediction in the evening.
The initiative continued in July and August with two in-person and four virtual sessions giving anyone in the diocese a chance to ask questions and offer comments about the initiative.
This was followed by a diocesan Eucharistic Gathering on Aug. 27 at Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral and Aug. 28 at Columbus St. Charles Preparatory School. Bishop Brennan at the cathedral and Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson Perez at St. Charles both spoke about how the Church must adapt to meet the spiritual needs of people in an increasingly secularized culture in which fewer priests serve them.
From September through November, each diocesan parish hosted a pair of two-hour consultation sessions to review findings, receive feedback and continue the planning process at the parish level. More than 4,000 people took part in the meetings.
Father Michael Hartge, diocesan vicar for the Curia, said what was learned from those gatherings will be discussed at parishes in mid-March 2022, with recommendations resulting from the consultation process being announced midyear.
An evangelization leadership summit took place on Dec. 4 at Columbus St. Elizabeth Church, with talks by Curtis Martin, president and founder of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students; Pete Burak, director of id, the young adult outreach of Renewal Ministries; and Catholic author and speaker Kelly Wahlquist, plus workshops on evangelization and ministry.
The COVID-19 pandemic continued to affect the diocese, but as more people were vaccinated, they began returning to church, with Ohio’s bishops in June reinstating the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation for those physically able to do so. Schools opened as scheduled in late summer, with few COVID-related problems reported during the first four months of the 2021-22 academic year.
Three priests from the Theatine Fathers, also known as the Congregation of Clerics Regular, came to the diocese in 2021, becoming the first members of the congregation to serve in a state outside Colorado since the order left New York more than 100 years ago.
Father Tomas Carvahal, CR, arrived in July and is assigned to Dover St. Joseph and Zoar Holy Trinity churches. Newly ordained Fathers Victor Cano, CR, and David Arroyo, CR, came to Columbus Christ the King Church in the fall.
Father Leonardo Cuautle, MSP, came to Columbus in July to serve as associate administrator at Columbus St. Stephen the Martyr Church. His order, the Missionary Servants of the Word, also staffs Columbus St. Agnes Church and helps with Masses in Spanish at other diocesan parishes.
The Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco began serving at Columbus St. Francis DeSales High School this fall.
The Theatines and the Salesian Sisters join several other religious orders who have established a presence in the diocese in the past two years. These include the cloistered Dominican Nuns of the Perpetual Rosary, the Sisters of Our Lady of Kilimanjaro, the Sister Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.
The Order of the Most Holy Savior of St. Bridget, better known as the Bridgettines, are renovating their convent, located adjacent to Columbus Holy Family Church, and announced plans to add an 8,000-square-foot, 150-seat chapel and a guesthouse with as many as 30 rooms. The chapel would be used for Mass and Eucharistic Adoration and would be the first Adoration chapel adjacent to downtown Columbus.
Construction of the chapel would enable the sisters to live a cloistered life, with an area set aside in the convent for them to meet with visitors or family members. The Bridgettines came to Columbus in 2019. Four members of the order live in Columbus. The expansion would allow more sisters to be stationed in the city.
Mother Angeline McCrory Manor in Columbus, operated by the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, converted 21 of its rooms into a memory care unit, offering specialized care for persons with memory loss related to Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia.
The Museum of Catholic Art and History, formerly the Jubilee Museum and Catholic Cultural Center, reopened in The Catholic Foundation’s building across from the cathedral on Nov. 9. It had been closed since August 2019 because of deteriorating conditions at its previous location, the former Columbus Holy Family School, and because of the pandemic
St. Charles Preparatory School announced plans to build a new convocation center, which is to be completed this coming spring. It will include a 1,200- to 1,400-seat arena with flexible space for athletic events, public presentations, educational programs and cultural activities.
Dublin St. Brigid of Kildare School was selected by the U.S. Department of Education as one of 325 National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2021. The school also had received the honor, which can be awarded once every five years, in 2008 and 2014. It is the only Ohio school in the past 15 years to have received the award three times.
New Lexington St. Rose School was closed because of declining enrollment on May 20, the end of the 2020-21 academic year, after nearly 110 years of serving Perry County. The school had 73 students enrolled from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade at the time of its closure. Enrollment for 2021-22 was projected at 54 students. The diocesan Office of Catholic Schools assisted St. Rose students in relocating to parochial schools in Somerset, Zanesville, Logan and Lancaster.
The diocesan Catholic Men’s Conference took place on Feb. 27 in a virtual format. About 4,000 men registered for the event and watched it either in large groups at more than 30 viewing sites in parishes or individually at home. The diocesan Catholic Women’s Conference did not take place in 2021. Both conferences will be held in February 2022 and return to the state fairgrounds.
Stephan Johnson of Ada Our Lady of Lourdes Church received the Catholic Men’s Luncheon Club’s 2021 Catholic Man of the Year award from Bishop Brennan in a Zoom ceremony. Johnson set up livestream weekend Masses from his parish and Kenton Immaculate Conception Church after the pandemic began and created websites and Instagram and Facebook accounts for both parishes.
At Our Lady of Lourdes, he also is an unofficial parish maintenance person; is co-director, with his wife, of the Parish School of Religion; established a daily virtual prayer group; and serves the church in several other ways.
Bishop Brennan appointed Father Hartge as moderator of the diocesan Curia (administrative offices) and Matthew Schlater as chief operating officer. Both are new diocesan positions. William Davis, diocesan finance director, was appointed chief financial officer. He retired on Dec. 1 after 14 years with the diocese and was succeeded by John Mackessy, who had been chief financial officer of the Columbus-based HMB consulting firm for 26 years.
In addition to assisting Bishop Brennan in diocesan governance, Father Hartge’s principal role is managing the Real Presence Real Future initiative. Schlater, who runs a commercial flooring business, is responsible for directing and coordinating the strategic and operational efforts of all diocesan offices. He also is board chairman of the Damascus Catholic Mission Campus and Catholic Youth Summer Camp near Centerburg. Mackessy oversees the diocese’s technology, insurance and central purchasing offices and provides financial counsel to diocesan parishes, schools and agencies.
The diocese in December entered into a short-term agreement with The Catholic Foundation and New York-based CCS Fundraising to manage the Bishop’s Annual Appeal. Andrea Pannell, episcopal moderator for the diocesan Office of Development and Planning, accepted a position as vice president of the Foundation, with Suzanne Roberts, a program assistant in the development office, also moving to the Foundation.
Jerry Freewalt, formerly director of the diocesan Office for Social Concerns and an employee of the office for 26 years, became executive director of the Catholic Conference of Ohio on Aug. 1, succeeding Carolyn Jurkowitz, who retired from that position after 34 years. The conference is the official representative for Ohio’s bishops in public policy matters.
Also retiring from the conference after 34 years was Jim Tobin, its associate director for social concerns, who was well-known at the Ohio Statehouse, where he presented the views of the state’s bishops on public policy.
Mike Winters, senior principal of the diocese’s Catholic high schools in terms of service, retired after 24 years at Columbus Bishop Hartley High School – two as assistant principal and 22 as principal. He spent 46 years as a teacher or principal, all in Columbus diocesan schools.
Catholic Times reporter Tim Puet retired on July 1 after 14 ½ years with the newspaper and 43 years as a journalist in Columbus. He continues with the Times as a contributing writer.
Bishop Brennan ordained Fathers Stephen Ondrey and Jacob Stinnett as priests of the diocese on May 29 at St. Joseph Cathedral. Father Ondrey was assigned to be parochial vicar at Pickerington St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, and Father Stinnett is vicar at Chillicothe St. Peter and St. Mary churches and Waverly St. Mary Church.
Father Eugene Joseph was ordained as a Columbus diocesan priest on July 22 by Bishop Stephen Wright, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, England, at St. Chad’s Cathedral in Birmingham.
Father Joseph, who was born in India and had been living in England since he was 10 years old, completed his preparation for the priesthood at the Pontifical College Josephinum but had to return to England before his ordination because of paperwork problems related to his change in immigration status and because the COVID-related closing of the U.S. Embassy in London delayed the paperwork from being processed. Once the embassy was reopened, his situation was resolved, and he now serves as parochial vicar of Powell St. Joan of Arc Church.
Father Jonathan Smith, who attended Columbus St. Timothy Church and School and graduated from Columbus Bishop Watterson High School, is serving as parochial vicar at St. Andrew Church in Clifton, Virginia after being ordained as a priest of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia on June 5 by Bishop Paul Loverde at Arlington St. Thomas More Cathedral.
Father Joseph Michael Fino, CFR, a Westerville native and former parishioner at the New Albany Church of the Resurrection, was ordained to the priesthood for the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal on May 29 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York.
Father Justin J. Reis, 77, died on March 2. He was a priest for 51 years, serving as pastor at Marysville Our Lady of Lourdes, Lancaster St. Bernadette and Columbus St. Peter churches and associate pastor at four other parishes. He also was active in prison ministry at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville and in the Columbus Catholic Renewal, Cum Christo and Marriage Encounter.
Father Richard M. Engle, 95, was the senior priest of the diocese in terms of age and time of service when he died on April 21, one month from the 65th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. He served as pastor of Dresden St. Ann, Mattingly Settlement St. Mary, Columbus St. Philip the Apostle and Dennison Immaculate Conception churches before retiring in 1995.
Father Victor R. Wesolowski, 64, died on July 27. He was a priest for 13 years, serving as parochial vicar of the Perry County Consortium of Parishes and pastor of Danville St. Luke and Coshocton Sacred Heart churches.
Father Dennis E. Stevenson, 67, died on Nov. 13. He spent nearly all of his 33 years as a priest with the diocesan Tribunal, balancing responsibilities there with pastoral ministry in the parishes where he was assigned or resided. These included Worthington St. Michael, Columbus St. Andrew, Columbus St. Aloysius and Christ the King churches.
Father Michael T. Kottar, 53, died on May 22 in Pickerington, where one of his sisters lives. He had been diagnosed in April with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a degenerative brain disorder. He grew up in the Youngstown area and was a priest for 26 years, serving in the dioceses of Metuchen, New Jersey and Charlotte, North Carolina. He had been pastor of parishes in the North Carolina communities of Shelby and Kings Mountain for 14 years before returning to Ohio to spend his final days.
Father William C. Dettling, OP, 88, died on June 22 in Maryland. The Dominican friar was parochial vicar at Columbus St. Patrick Church in 1992 and 1993 and a theology professor at the Josephinum from 1993 to 2010.
Msgr. Edward Fairchild, 88, died on Dec. 24. He was a priest for 62 years, serving as co-pastor at Columbus Our Lady of Peace, as the founding pastor of Pickerington St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, and as pastor at Columbus St. Peter Church and Westerville St. Paul Church before retiring in 2003.
Deacon John D. “Jack” Rankin, 84, died on May 12. He was ordained as the Diocese of Columbus’ second lay member of the diaconate by Bishop Edward Herrmann on Nov. 3, 1975 at Columbus Our Lady of Peace Church, which he served for 31 years, until his retirement in 2006. He also was a chaplain at Mount Carmel Medical Center for nearly 20 years until also retiring from that position in 2006.
Deacon Thomas V. Johnston, 95, died on June 14. He had been a deacon for 36 years and was assigned to the cathedral, where he served for 30 years until his retirement in 2015. He became associate director of the diocesan diaconate formation program in 1986 and was associate director of the diocesan Office of the Diaconate until 2004.
Deacon Patrick J. Wiggins, 83, died on Jan. 25. He also had been a deacon for 35 years and served at Hilliard St. Brendan Church from his ordination in 1985 until his retirement in 2013.
Religious sisters who died in late 2020 or in 2021 and served in, or were natives of, the Diocese of Columbus, or who were living in the diocese at their time of death, were: Sister Mary Owen Doody, OSF, 92, Dec. 23, 2020; Sister Gwen Koza, SNDdeN, 93, Dec. 29, 2020; Sister Mary Ann Nugent, OSF, 82, Dec. 31, 2020; Sister Catherine Tronolone, OSF, 96, Jan. 9; Sister Agnes Lucille Schubert, OSF, 98, Jan. 11; Sister Anne Rutledge, OP, 85, Jan. 14; Sister Damienne Grismer, SNDdeN, 91, Jan. 15; and Sister Jane Feller, OSF, 77, Jan. 19.
Sister Rita Busch, OP, 96, Jan. 26; Sister Maria DeMonte, OP, 91, Feb. 8; Sister M. Lauren Wiegman, OSF, 95, Feb. 17; Sister Mary Faith Reaney, OP, 86, Feb. 24; Sister M. Paulette Paille, OP, 77, Feb. 25; Sister Susan Youst, SNDdeN, 79, March 9; Sister Martina Keitz, OSF, 91, March 17; Sister Joan Michael McVeigh, OP, 80, June 4; Sister M. Felicity Gaffney, OSF, 100, June 5; Sister Marie Joseph Porrello, OP, 84, June 21; Sister Dolores Marie Schmidt, OSF, 96, July 4; Sister Raymunda Brooks, OP, 93, Aug. 12; and Sister Mary DiLeone, OSF, 88, Aug. 26.
Sister Mary Ann Fedor, OP, 92, Aug. 28; Sister Louella Petry, OP, 91, Aug. 30; Sister Mary Jo Fox, OP, 91, Sept. 19; Sister Joan Popovits, OP, 77, Sept. 26; Sister Carmen Paris, OSF, 98, Sept. 27; Sister Adrienne Colson, OP, 96, Oct. 12; Sister Joan Marie Ford, OP, 91, Oct. 15; Sister Mary Diehl, OSF, 88, Oct. 26; Sister Shawn Bernard Daniel, OCarm, 78, Oct. 28; and Sister Patricia Gavaghan, OP, 83, Dec. 12.
