Bishop Earl Fernandes expressed delight during his ordination ceremony at the opportunity to be the Diocese of Columbus’ spiritual leader and asked the people of the diocese to join him on a journey he hopes will continue into the mid-21st century.
“I am so happy to be your shepherd and want to work for you. I promise that I will be close to you,” he said in about 10 minutes of remarks near the end of his installation as the 13th bishop of the diocese on Tuesday, May 31 at Westerville St. Paul Church.
“The pope wants a synodal church – a church that walks together,” he said. “I want you, the people of God, to walk with me on a journey that leads to paradise.” He noted that the feast of Pentecost is this coming Sunday, June 5 and invited the diocese’s 278,000 Catholics to join him in “a new Pentecost to set the world on fire.”
“I hope to be here for the next 25 years,“ he said, humorously adding, “Of course, that means you’ll have to be listening to me for the next 25 years.”
“I am asking you to make little sacrifices with great hearts for priestly vocations,” he said at the conclusion of his remarks, noting that because the diocese is ordaining no priests this year, there will be more bishops than priests ordained for the diocese in 2022.
“I also ask the young men present to consider sacrificing and making a gift of yourselves out of love for the people of the diocese” by becoming priests, said Bishop Fernandes, who at 49 is the nation’s youngest bishop.
The new bishop comes to Columbus from Cincinnati, where he was pastor of St. Ignatius of Loyola Church. He thanked Cincinnati Archbishop Dennis Schnurr, who was one of three consecrating bishops at the ceremony, for his “fatherly care and leadership as my bishop. He was influential in bringing about the rebirth and flourishing of a vocations culture in Cincinnati, and I hope to reproduce that here,” Bishop Fernandes said.
Referring to his immediate predecessor, Bishop Robert Brennan of the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, another of the consecrating bishops, he said, “I have big shoes to fill. Bishop Brennan was here only briefly but lifted the morale of the people of this diocese.”
He remarked that he and Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing, Michigan, a former Pontifical College Josephinum president who also was present, are the only two bishops in the world named Earl. He then noted that the Lansing diocese includes Ann Arbor, the home of the University of Michigan, and in a reference to the Ohio State University-Michigan football rivalry, said, “I am sure that he and I will have a friendly wager, and that he will lose.”
About 1,500 people, including more than 30 bishops and more than 260 priests from many dioceses, filled the church for the three-hour ceremony. St. Paul Church was chosen as the site instead of Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral because it is the largest church in the diocese, allowing more people to attend in person. The installation also was livestreamed on the diocesan website and televised live nationwide on EWTN and Catholic Television.
Unlike most of his predecessors in Columbus, Bishop Fernandes did not deliver the homily at his installation because he was not yet a bishop at that point in the ceremony. His ordination to the Order of Bishops occurred shortly after the homily by Archbishop Gregory Hartmayer, OFM Conv, of the Archdiocese of Atlanta.
This was the first time since the ordination of Bishop John Watterson, the diocese’s second bishop, in Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral in 1880 that a bishop of Columbus had not already been ordained a bishop elsewhere.
Archbishop Schnurr was the principal consecrating bishop. Bishop Brennan and Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio to the United States, served as co-consecrators.
Archbishop Pierre on April 2 had announced Pope Francis’ appointment of then-Father Fernandes to succeed Bishop Brennan, who was installed as bishop of Brooklyn on Nov. 30, 2021. Bishop Brennan had been installed as Columbus’ 12th bishop on March 29, 2019 after serving as auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York for nearly seven years.
Msgr. Stephan Moloney, vicar general of the diocese, was Columbus diocesan administrator in the period between Bishop Brennan’s departure and Bishop Fernandes’ installation.
The ordination took place on the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, honoring Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth upon learning that Elizabeth was pregnant with the child who became John the Baptist. In the motto he chose – Veni Per Mariam, Latin for “Come Through Mary”– Bishop Fernandes expressed his reliance on the Blessed Mother. Archbishop Hartmayer’s homily focused on the Scripture readings for the day’s feast and had the theme “Mary journeys, Mary encounters and Mary rejoices,” which the archbishop said was inspired by a homily Pope Francis preached in Romania in 2019.
“Mary journeys,” he said. “She makes a difficult and dangerous journey from Nazareth to the house of Zechariah and Elizabeth. It was a journey that required courage and patience. The experience of a journey is one that resonates within the heart of our bishop-elect, Father Earl.”
He then summarized key points in the life of Bishop Fernandes, the first bishop of Indian origin for a Roman Catholic diocese in the United States. The bishop was born in Toledo; discerned while in medical school that he was being called to the priesthood; studied moral theology in Rome; served at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington; was a teacher and academic dean at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary of the West in Cincinnati; and was pastor of two churches in the Cincinnati archdiocese prior to his appointment as a bishop.
The Atlanta archbishop quoted Archbishop Schnurr’s statement when the appointment was announced: “Through all his assignments, Father Fernandes has been an ever-joyful witness to the goodness, beauty and truth of the Catholic faith.
“Mary encounters,” the homilist continued, describing Mary’s meeting with Elizabeth as an event in which the women “embrace and awaken the best of each.” He noted that in a recent interview, the bishop described instances of prejudice he had encountered.
“You did not give in to anger or despair,” he said. “Rather, you let these experiences of adversity shape your empathy and compassion. You took to heart the wise counsel of St. Teresa of Calcutta: ‘True love is love that causes us pain that hurts and yet brings us joy.’
“Mary rejoices,” Archbishop Hartmayer said. “She is filled with joy because she entrusts herself to the Lord in all things. Mary reminds us that God can always work wonders if we open our hearts to Him and to our brothers and sisters.”
He quoted this description of a bishop’s work by Pope Francis: “A bishop will sometimes go before his people, pointing the way and keeping their hopes vibrant. At other times, he will simply be in their midst with his unassuming and merciful presence. At yet other times, he will have to walk after them, helping those who lag behind and, above all, allowing the flock to strike out on new paths.”
“This is the road that lies ahead of you, my dear brother Earl,” Archbishop Hartmayer said.
The ceremony began with a procession of civic and religious leaders, including Gov. Mike DeWine and his wife, Fran, followed by the deacons and priests of the diocese and other bishops in attendance, including Bishops Frederick Campbell and James Griffin, Bishop Brennan’s predecessors as bishop of Columbus. Both live in the diocese in retirement.
Bishop Fernandes was accompanied by two priests he chose to assist him. They are Msgr. Frank Lane of the Diocese of Columbus, who is retired, lives in Cincinnati and served with him on the Mount St. Mary’s Seminary faculty, and Father Richard Marchese, who worked with the bishop at the papal nuncio’s office, where he was stationed from 2016-2019.
The first Scripture reading for the Mass, in Spanish, was proclaimed by Miguel Buckenmayer, with the second reading by Sister Maria Juan Anderson, RSM. Both readers are friends of the Fernandes family. Bishop Fernandes’ brother, Deacon Trevor Fernandes of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Parma, was the Gospel reader.
Following the Gospel reading, the congregation sang Come Holy Ghost, and Father Fernandes was presented to Archbishop Schnurr, who was the principal consecrator because he is the metropolitan archbishop for the ecclesiastical province of Cincinnati, which includes the Diocese of Columbus and all five of Ohio’s other Roman Catholic dioceses.
Archbishop Pierre said in brief remarks that a bishop’s role is to be, like the Apostles, “a witness to the Resurrection,” then read the letter from Pope Francis appointing the new bishop. The letter was presented to the diocesan chancellor, Deacon Thomas Berg Jr., and the Diocesan College of Consultors, a group of priests who serve as advisers to the bishop.
As Bishop Brennan had done at his installation, Bishop Fernandes then walked up and down the aisles of the church and held the letter aloft for all to see.
After the homily, the bishop-elect, in response to questions by Archbishop Schnurr, promised to guard the Catholic faith and discharge the duties of his office. As he did when he was ordained a priest, he then lay face-down as the Litany of the Saints was sung by all in attendance.
Following the litany, he kneeled before Archbishop Schnurr, who laid hands on his head, with the other bishops present each doing the same.
The archbishop concluded the act of ordination with a prayer as two deacons held an open Book of the Gospels above the new bishop’s head. He then anointed Bishop Fernandes’ head with holy oil and presented him with the Book of the Gospels and the insignia of his office – a ring, a miter, a crosier and a pectoral cross. The crosier belonged to Bishop Sylvester Rosecrans, the first bishop of Columbus, and dates back to 1868, when the Diocese of Columbus was established.
Bishop Fernandes then was escorted by Archbishops Schnurr and Pierre to the cathedra, the bishop’s chair. Once seated on the cathedra, he officially became bishop of Columbus. Rising from the chair, he received a fraternal kiss of peace from all the bishops present. The Mass then continued in its usual form. Following the prayer after communion and before his closing remarks and the final blessing, Bishop Fernandes walked up and down the aisles of the church bestowing his first blessings on the congregation.
Besides those already listed, other bishops present included the archbishops of Hartford, Connecticut and Detroit and bishops from all the dioceses of Ohio and the dioceses of Grand Rapids, Michigan; Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia; Crookston, Minnesota; St. Thomas, Virgin Islands; Covington, Kentucky; Des Moines, Iowa; Jefferson City, Missouri; Joliet, Illinois; and Rockville Centre.
Representing Eastern Catholic rites were the archbishop of the Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh and the bishops of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma; the Romanian Catholic Eparchy of Canton; the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic, New Jersey; the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of the United States and Canada; the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon; and the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Parma.
Other participants in the liturgy were: Deacons Joe Ciaciura and PeterClaver Kasasa Kiviiri and masters of ceremonies Andrew Burson, David Johnstone, Kevin Girardi, Tyler Carter and Deacons Dan Hann and Reed Hauser.
Members of Bishop Fernandes’ family were gift bearers, and the seminarians of the Diocese of Columbus were servers. The St. Joseph Cathedral choir, directed by Dr. Richard Fitzgerald, with organist Amanda Mole and the cathedral’s brass ensemble, provided music.
