Director of Curriculum and Instruction

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The Diocese of Covington Office of Catholic Schools is seeking a full-time Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the 2025-2026 school year.  The Director of Curriculum and Instruction will be responsible for the development of curriculum standards, supporting school leaders on curriculum alignment and materials, evaluating assessment data, and establishing Professional Learning Communities to support continuous instructional growth and improvement.  Candidates must hold a minimum of a master’s degree in education or educational leadership and have at least 8 years’ experience in K-12 education, three of which should be in a leadership role.  Experience in curriculum/instruction is preferred.  Qualified candidates should submit a cover letter and resume to Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Michele Ulrich, at mulrich@covdio.org.

Dr. Mandy Sanchez returns to the Diocese of Covington fora presentation on ties between apps, video games and pornography

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Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

Dr. Mandy Sanchez, director of programming at Culture Reframed, will return to the Diocese of Covington on March 3 for another presentation on the dangers of pornography. In a presentation titled, “Just a Click Away – Monitoring the Risks and Rewards of Gaming and Apps for Our Youth,” Dr. Sanchez will explore the most popular social media apps and give parents advice on how best to monitor them effectively.

Dr. Sanchez visited the Diocese of Covington previously on November 2024, to give a presentation titled, “Growing up in a Porn Culture: How Social Media, Gaming and Pornography Harms Our Youth.” She spoke about popular social media apps like Snapchat and Instagram, and how their connection to the porn industry is stronger than many think.

Julie Feinauer, director of the Safe Environment Office for the Diocese of Covington, said that the decision to invite Dr. Sanchez back for another presentation was an easy one. The feedback they received from those in attendance was staggering. “They were all saying specifically this is what people need to hear,” she said. “That was something we felt very strongly about because we realize that a lot of parents are in the dark about what is out there and so it is hard hitting.”

A goal for the March 3 presentation being given by Dr. Sanchez, is to have as many people in attendance as possible. “We want to make sure that we get as many people there as possible,” said Mrs. Fienauer, “She is going to go back over some of the pieces about pornography and access and what’s actually happening in some of the details … she’s also going to bring in social media, the apps, and the gaming. That is what parents are asking for.”

“She is going to talk a little bit about age appropriateness. About when kids should have access to these kids of apps and games … I think that is really important,” said Mrs. Fienauer.

The presentation, Mrs. Feinauer said, “is not for somebody that is going to be prudish about what they’re going to hear because they are going to hear the truth and they are going to hear about very difficult things.” The presentation will take place on March 3, at the Thomas More University Ziegler Auditorium, Crestview Hills. The doors will open at 6 p.m. with the program beginning at 7 p.m.

Young Adult/Youth Minister

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Immediate opening for a full-time Young Adult (18-35) & Youth (14-17) Minister who would work with our mass servers (children and adults) and facilitate Bible Studies. Our current Young Adult ministry is well-established, but the Youth ministry still needs to be organized. Candidates must be outgoing, organized, and have strong people skills. They must be flexible and professional, have an aptitude for learning, and be familiar with technology. This is an exempt, salaried position that involves evenings and weekends. The Young Adult and Youth Minister must be enthusiastically Catholic, living in full communion with the Catholic Faith, and desiring to promote the Church’s mission. They will need to be (or become) an active parish member. We offer a competitive wage. Interested candidates should send a letter of interest, a simple resume including references with email addresses, and compensation history to Stephen Koplyay at skoplyay@covdio.org, or fax to 859/392-1589.

 

Parents and grandparents pray, learn and hope together as they patiently await the return of their children to the Church

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Laura Keener

Editor

Announced in June 2024 by Bishop John Iffert, the Diocese of Covington, as part of its pastoral plan, has embarked on a three-year Campaign of Mercy. In support of the Campaign of Mercy, each month the Messenger has been highlighting a corporal or spiritual work of mercy and ways to connect to that work through service with either a diocesan or local social service organization, a parish group or as an individual. This month the highlighted work of mercy is bearing wrongs patiently.

Bearing wrongs patiently is not an acceptance of injustice or hurts, but a realization that change is slow and requires prayer and persistence. It is also an invitation to healing and forgiveness, two other processes that require time. This week, the Messenger highlights St. Patrick Parish, Taylor Mill, where a group of parents got together to pray for their children who have fallen away from the Church.

According to a 2009 report (revised in 2011) by the Pew Research Center, 10 percent of American adults are now former Catholics; 79 percent of former Catholics leave the Church before age 23.

Additionally, 50 percent of Millennials raised Catholic no longer identify as Catholic today. A person born between 1981–1996, or between the ages of 44 and 29, are considered Millennials. Many parents and grandparents who held these children as infants as the waters of Baptism were poured over their head, who witnessed their joyful glow as they made their First Communion and who prayed with and for them at their Confirmation, are now carrying concern and hurt as they realize that the faith they intended to pass on to their children has been rejected.

Disheartened that two of his four children had walked away from the faith, John Zoburg, parishioner, St. Patrick Parish, Taylor Mill, approached Father Jeffrey VonLehmen, pastor, for advice.

“My wife and I were very concerned about our children, who we raised Catholic from the day they were born all the way through Catholic high school, Catholic grade school … we tried to be the best Christians we could be in living examples. We just didn’t understand it,” Mr. Zoburg said. Instead of an answer, Father VonLehmen tasked him with a project.

“He looked at me, handed me a book and said, ‘I want you to read this, and if you’re open to it, I’d like you to lead the parish through some kind of sessions wrapped around it.’ He told us we were not the only parents or grandparents to come to him with these concerns,” said Mr. Zoburg.

Together Mr. Zoburg and Father VonLehmen developed five monthly sessions using as a resource the book “Return: How to Draw Your Children Back to the Church” authored by Brandon Vogt and published by Word on Fire.

“It is excellent,” said John Schaefer, parishioner, St. Patrick Parish, who attended the sessions. In addition to sharing statistics on the percentages of children who leave home and leave their faith, the book also “highlights the notion of hope,” he said.

About 40 parents and grandparents attended the sessions, with each of their children having varying degrees of separation from the Church and from their parents. Mr. Schaefer is grieved with the most severe separation; his daughter hasn’t spoken to him in four years.

“One of the strongest things that came out of it (the sessions) was this notion of staying tethered to your children, not trying to beat them over the head with a Bible, not trying to force the Catechism into them, that most of them probably already have in them, but just staying connected, just staying lovingly as much as possible. And then, when the time arises in life, hopefully the seeds grow,” said Mr. Schaefer.

Mr. Schaefer finds consolation in the witness of St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine, who prayed unceasingly for her son to return to the faith. He continues to pray the prayer to St. Monica, for himself and for his daughter.

“Kudos to Father Jeff, who is a beloved spiritual director for us, to get this started and for having John Zoburg lead us through this really difficult thing,” said Mr. Schaefer.

For Mr. Zuborg, the prayers and techniques learned are bearing fruit. A year and half later, his oldest daughter has returned to the Church, her husband is in the OCIA program, and their two children will be baptized with their dad during the Easter Vigil this year.

“The book, it teaches you techniques of how to gently just introduce the topic of faith,” he said. For him, the opportunity came in the form of Bible study on Church history. His son-in-law is a scientist and has a natural curiosity about science and history.

“I just casually said, ‘Hey, I’m going to go to this Bible study on the history of Church,’” said Mr. Zoburg. And then he shut up. He didn’t even ask them to join him. Later that week, his daughter asked if she and her husband could come along. “That’s what the book teaches, just dropping little seeds here and there, not to force. Not to say, hey, come to church with me,” he said.

Mr. Schaefer said that praying for children is a lifelong process. He remembered that his own father would pray for him and his five siblings who also strayed from the faith throughout their father’s lifetime.

“My father prayed for two decades, and you know, when he was on his deathbed, all six of us were back in the Church. It was a beautiful moment. You know, it’s a life- long thing. It’s the challenge, not only of the child, but it’s the challenge of the parent,” Mr. Schaeffer said. “Every heartbeat reminds you you’re still alive, every day is still a prayer for your children. That’s the trust.”

If you are interested in learning more about or in hosting similar sessions at your parish, contact John Zoburg at (859) 816-1645.

Pope: Vocation of military and police is to defend life, peace, justice

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Cindy Wooden

Catholic News Services

VATICAN CITY — Thanking members of the military and the police for their service, Pope Francis asked them to be on guard against seeing other people as enemies and instead dedicate their lives to defending life, peace and justice.

“Be vigilant lest you be poisoned by propaganda that instills hatred (and) divides the world into friends to be defended and foes to fight,” the pope wrote in his homily for the Mass Feb. 9 for the Jubilee of the Armed Services, Police and Security Personnel.

The Vatican said some 30,000 active and retired members of the military and police from 100 countries — including U.S. military and members of the New York Police Department—registered as pilgrims for the jubilee celebration.

Pope Francis, who has been suffering from what the Vatican said was bronchitis, presided over the liturgy in St. Peter’s Square with a weak and hoarse voice. U.S.-born Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, was the main celebrant at the altar.

The pope read the first paragraph of his prepared homily, ad-libbing a bit about remembering how God is always close by, but then asked his master of liturgical ceremonies, Archbishop Diego Ravelli, to continue reading the text because he was having “difficulty breathing.”

In the text, the pope asked the military and police to “be courageous witnesses of the love of God our Father, who wants us all to be brothers and sisters” and to be “artisans of a new era of peace, justice and fraternity.”

“I would encourage you never to lose sight of the purpose of your service and all your activity, which is to promote life, to save lives, to be a constant defender of life,” the pope wrote in his text.

Pope Francis also thanked police and prison guards who are “at the forefront of the fight against crime and violence” and all those who, in the name of their nations, are “engaged in relief work in the wake of natural disasters, the safeguarding of the environment, rescue efforts at sea, the protection of the vulnerable and the promotion of peace.”

Pope Francis took the microphone at the end of Mass to lead the recitation of the Angelus but also to insist that “armed service should be exercised only for legitimate self-defense and never to impose dominion over another nation.”

“May weapons everywhere be silenced, and the cries of the people asking for peace be heard,” he said.

The pilgrims were formally welcomed to Rome Feb. 8 with an outdoor concert in Piazza del Popolo under a steady rain. Jesuit Father Andriy Zelinskyy, coordinator of chaplains for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, was there with a retired Ukrainian bishop and three other Ukrainian chaplains.

“The goal of a pilgrimage is always to go back to your roots, to find where you are and why you are here. For Christians, it is to love and serve our Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified, died and rose for us,” he told Catholic News Service. “And this is true for war-wounded humanity as well.”

The Jubilee gathering of military and police from about 100 countries “is already a sign of hope,” he said. “We come together to pray, to stand against evil and to renew our commitment to peace and defending human dignity.”

The end of training nears for the first group of mentors ready to accompany online Catechetical Institute learners

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Laura Keener

Editor

The Office of Catechesis and Evangelization continues to make strides in implementing its portions of the “With One Heart” Diocesan Pastoral Plan. About 40 people are nearing completion of the five series “Mentoring Workshops,” offered by the Franciscan University’s Catechetical Institute. Sarah Wells, pastoral associate, Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, led Part I of the final session, “Empathic Listening,” Feb. 8, at the Curia’s Bishop Howard Memorial Auditorium. These soon-to-be mentors are from parishes throughout the diocese.

Priority one of the Diocesan Pastoral Plan is for ongoing faith formation. One of the goals in that priority is to empower parishes and families to fulfill their shared mission of ongoing faith formation. One of the strategies the Diocese is employing to achieve this goal is its partnership with the Catechetical Institute of Franciscan University.

Through the Catechetical Institute’s “Franciscan at Home” online courses, everyone in the Diocese has free and unlimited access to over 200 courses, workshops and tracks — in both English and Spanish — that can help them to grow in their understanding and practice of the faith. And while online courses are the meat and potatoes, having a mentor as a guide along the way has been called “the secret sauce” of Franciscan at Home.

“What a mentor does is helps people to tap into what the University offers,” said Isaak A. Isaak, co-director, Office of Catechesis and Evangelization.

Mentors, Mr. Isaak said, will help pastors and people in the parish use the Franciscan At Home library to create small group Bible studies, retreats and even how to pray rosary and other prayers of the Church. They will also accompany individuals as they learn and deepen their faith life by taking individual courses.

“It’s an accompaniment relationship,” said Ms. Wells. “It benefits them greatly to have a spiritual mentor of some kind, some kind of spiritual big brother or big sister that can just walk with them and really accompany them, for the sake of accountability and for someone to reflect back to you the growth that you’re making.”

“When you have a mentor, you have somebody to go to, someone you can interact with in real time, who is familiar with the course that you’re taking, who can affirm and answer questions. A mentor is also somebody, if they don’t know the answer, they’ll find it and get back to you, so you’re not going to be left wondering,” said Jenn Ledonne, director of Religious Education, St. Mary Parish, Alexandria.

Mrs. Ledonne and Ms. Wells are both a part of the leadership team made up of parish directors and coordinators of religious education that is assisting Mr. Isaak with implementation of Franciscan At Home.

Mentors, Mrs. Ledonne said, can help learners break out of their comfort zone and explore courses and workshops that they might not otherwise choose.

“Everybody has different areas that they’re trying to grow in ministry, and having a mentor in those areas, I think is especially beneficial. When clearly there’s a need, they can help identify that offer suggestions and affirm you throughout the process,” she said.

Every parish and school in the Diocese of Covington is already registered and waiting for parishioners to create their own free account. Simply go to https://franciscanathome.com/diocese-covington to create a free account. Then choose from the dozens of courses, workshops and tracks available through Franciscan at Home. And, if you are interested in finding a mentor, contact Isaak Isaak at iisaak@covdio.org.

Project Rachel— walking with post-abortive women on the road to forgiveness

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Laura Keener

Editor

Announced in June 2024 by Bishop John Iffert, the Diocese of Covington, as part of its pastoral plan, has embarked on a three-year Campaign of Mercy. In year one, parishioners are asked to identify and make a corporal or spiritual work of mercy their own, incorporating that work of mercy into their life through service to others. In year two, the work of evangelization begins by inviting another Catholic person who is not active in the life of the Church to join in that work of mercy. Finally, in year three, the ask to join in that service work is extended to someone who is unchurched, eventually with an invitation to praying together.

In support of the Campaign of Mercy, each month the Messenger has been highlighting a corporal or spiritual work of mercy and ways to connect to that work through service with either a diocesan or local social service organization, a parish group or as an individual. This month the highlighted work of mercy is bearing wrongs patiently.

Bearing wrongs patiently is not an acceptance of injustice or hurts, but a realization that change is slow and requires prayer and persistence. It is also an invitation to healing and forgiveness, two other processes that require time. Project Rachel, a ministry of the Diocese of Covington, welcomes women who have had an abortion to experience God’s healing mercy and forgiveness.

After decades of carrying the guilt of an abortion, one woman began the process of reconciliation and healing as she was preparing to the enter the Church through RCIA. After entering the Church, she learned of Project Rachel from a witness talk during Christ Renews His Parish.

That witness, “was my catalyst to make the call,” she said about finding the courage to join a Project Rachel series. Due to the sensitive nature of abortion and out respect for the confidentiality of the Project Rachel program, the Messenger agreed not to identify the woman who was interviewed for this article.

Project Rachel is a confidential, 8-session program for women of all, or no, faiths. Project Rachel is a listening and sharing ministry consisting of two leaders — one woman who has had an abortion and one woman who has not — and just a few new participants. To facilitate the process of healing, women are encouraged to share their story, but no one is coerced to share or do anything that makes them uncomfortable. The program is offered through the Diocese’s Pro-Life Office at no cost to participants.

“It’s extremely difficult to make the call,” she said. “Statistically, women will have many touches before they’re ready or are able to talk about their abortion with someone else. If someone is sharing that experience with you, it’s so important to be empathetic and to listen to them and to encourage them. We know of Jesus’s promise to us that we’re forgiven, but oftentimes it’s them forgiving themselves that’s impossible,” she said.

In addition to being a mentor for Project Rachel, the woman interviewed also works at a local pregnancy care center helping vulnerable or abortion-minded women to take the time to recover from the shock of learning of an intended pregnancy and encouraging them to choose life for their baby. According to statistics provided by the Guttmacher Institute, one in four women will have an abortion during their lifetime. Also, from the Guttmacher Institute, in 2020, 42 percent of abortion patients reported having a prior abortion. For these women coming into the pregnancy care center, she shares the healing she experienced through Project Rachel.

“I spoke to a woman today, her priest gave her the card with the number for Project Rachel and encouraged her to try to make that call,” she said. “For her, that was a step toward her being able to forgive herself; she’s willing to try. She’s suffering in that violence of abortion, but she is wanting healing. She’s willing to walk that walk with someone else, through the Church, through the healing power of Christ and with the Holy Spirit to get there.”

Abortion, she said, is the sin that never seems to go away. Reminders are everywhere — in the crosses of the Cemetery of the Innocents displayed at parishes, during homilies, at political marches and during political campaigns, in discussions at small prayer groups and sometimes among family members. What’s important to remember, she said, is that when talking about abortion, to be aware that at least one woman in the room has probably had an abortion and that it is of the greatest importance for her to hear that healing and forgiveness is available through the Church. If your conversation leads a woman to disclose her abortion to you, don’t be afraid of that conversation. And don’t be afraid to revisit the conversation later, discreetly of course.

“Be open to being able to have that conversation. Love the person in front of you as Jesus would, hear her story and be able to help get her to a place where she’s willing to seek healing. Help her, help guide her to that, it’s so important,” she said. “The Church has that healing and forgiveness and it’s readily available. Just make sure that those touches are out there.”

While she admits that the journey to healing is long, with many stops and starts along the way, bearing that hurt patiently doesn’t mean putting off seeking forgiveness or from encouraging someone to seek forgiveness.

“If someone has a person in their life that’s come to them or shared their story, don’t be afraid to talk with them. Don’t be afraid to bring it back up again,” she said. “It might cause tears, and you might be afraid of the pain. Don’t be. Don’t be afraid to check in with them and see where they are. Oftentimes they’re not going to make that call the first time, so don’t be afraid to follow up and check back in with them. Pray with them about making the decision to make the call and step into healing.”

When a private choice becomes a secret burden, reach out for help and healing after an abortion. Call the Project Rachel confidential phone number at (859) 392-1547.

For more information on the Campaign of Mercy visit www.covdio.org/mercy.

Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption updates digital tour, with North window in high def

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Maura Baker

Staff Writer

In 2010, Msgr. William Neuhaus, at time the rector of the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington, published a 360-degree digital tour of the cathedral using panoramic photography. Now, more than 10 years later, the digital tour has been updated with new imagery of Covington’s iconic cathedral.

“I decided that with some of the recent enhancements and additions over the last 10 years that we re-conducted that tour,” said Father Ryan Maher, the cathedral’s present rector.

Father Maher said that part of the parish’s pastoral plan priorities is to “continue to be a welcoming community,” and the up-to-date tour serves as a “kind of way to welcome people virtually to the cathedral.”

The new tour was put together by Ron Rack Photography, out of Cincinnati, and features beautifully detailed and colorful photos of the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption and many of its windows, artwork and features. Various buttons allow for easy navigation and allows visitors to see details they would otherwise not be able to view in person. Notably, the tour features a large-scale, high-definition image of the Cathedral’s North window that can be zoomed in upon.

The release of the updated tour also coincides timely with the jubilee, offering a pilgrimage option to the sick, incarcerated and those who otherwise cannot visit the pilgrimage site in person. For the purpose of obtaining indulgences, according to the Decree on the Granting of Indulgence during the Ordinary Jubilee Year 2025 called by His Holiness Pope Francis, 13.05.2024, “The faithful who are truly repentant of sin but who cannot participate in the various solemn celebrations, pilgrimages and pious visits for serious reasons (especially cloistered nuns and monks, but also the elderly, the sick, prisoners, and those who, through their work in hospitals or other care facilities, provide continuous service to the sick), can obtain the Jubilee Indulgence, under the same conditions if, united in spirit with the faithful taking part in person.” Digital spaces can serve as ways to help facilitate this relationship for those who cannot visit in person, with full information on obtaining an indulgence available online at www.usccb.org/jubilee2025 or at https://covdio.org/jubilee/.

Catholic Education sows the seeds of God’s word

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Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

Catholic Schools Week is a long-standing tradition and national celebration of Catholic education. As a student, it means pajama days and pizza parties, as a teacher it means small tokens of appreciation. The highlight of the week is the annual Catholic Schools Week Mass, where students, faculty and staff from all Catholic schools in the Diocese gather and celebrate Catholic education with Bishop John Iffert and the Catholic Schools Office. From St. Patrick High School in Maysville, to Prince of Peace School in Covington, there were representatives from each school in attendance at the January 29 Mass.

In opening remarks from Kendra McGuire, superintendent of Schools, she said, “That is why we are here, to celebrate Catholic Schools Week as the same faith community. This is one week that we pause each year to appreciate the education where Jesus is the focus. A time to where we thank our parents, for sacrificing to send us to Catholic schools. To the principals and teachers, who work so hard to educate us. The volunteers, who give so much of their time, their talents and their treasures to ensure that we can walk with more and more students to learn about Jesus each day. To our priests, who walk with us each day inviting us to grow in our relationship with Jesus, especially in the sacraments.”

In his homily, Bishop Iffert recalled a story which took place over many decades. As a child he attended a summer camp, at this camp they took a hike to Packentuck waterfall. Bishop Iffert said that the hike to the waterfall was relatively easy the first time he went as there was a paved path. Upon his return year after year however, the pavement started to crack, roots begin to poke out of the pavement, and vegetation from the surrounding woods begin to encroach. Before long, Bishop Iffert said, the path was unrecognizable, life had grown and blossomed in a place where it was seemingly impossible.

“Those little cracks in the pavement, seed fell down there and lived and died and lived and died and broke open those little cracks and ford first sediment, then sand, then soil … 40 years after my first visit, you can’t recognize there was ever a road there, the forest has reclaimed it,” Bishop Iffert said. The seed of the word of God can work in you, Bishop Iffert said, the same way that the seeds of the forest worked in the paved path to Packentuck.

“You are more than a couple of trillion cells and an electric charge finding your way through the world. Instead, you are that noble, loving, heroic person you sense yourself to be … Catholic Education exposes you first of all to the faith, of God, so that you know your life is more than just a bunch of cells and an electric charge, that you are an eternal spirit, you are an eternal spirit enfleshed in this magnificent creative body. Being that creature of flesh and spirit, God has made you to sense his ways in the world and respond to them and to become that noble person you know yourself to be and are capable of becoming,” Bishop Iffert said.

Catholic education, which is celebrated Catholic Schools Week, instills and sows the seeds of God’s word into the hearts and minds of students, so that in 40 years, when they look back, they will see God’s work in their life.

Bishop Iffert thanks consecrated persons for witness, faithfulness, trust and most especially joy

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Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

Religious brothers and sisters throughout the Diocese of Covington gathered in celebration, Feb. 1, with Mass and breakfast for the World Day of Consecrated Life. Bishop John Iffert was the celebrant with Deacon Eric Ritchie assisting at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington.

The gospel reading, Mark 4:35-41, is well known; the apostles awaken Jesus, who is asleep in the stern of a boat, to quell the stormy seas, allowing for the safe passage of the apostles and himself. Mark writes of this event, but Mark was not there to witness it, rather, he receives the story from the apostle Peter. Bishop Iffert says in his homily, “Mark of course is considered by many to be a disciple of Peter, who accompanied Peter for years as a secretary and coworker. The Gospel is included among apostolic writings because it is believed that Mark received the teaching from peter and that he received that teaching, and he remembered it well.”

“Remember,” Bishop Iffert continued, “it was a difficult thing to be a Christian in the times when Mark wrote. It was a challenging reality to be a Christian. If you were a Jewish Christian, you were likely alienated from family, from profession, from the honor that attaches to family. You were likely alienated from synagogue, from community.”

Mark was writing during the dawn of a new institution, Bishop Iffert said, the institution of the Catholic church. “This little community in Rome that had been considered an outcast was beginning to grow as a result of the witness of those martyrs and beginning to realize that they could not go on to think of themselves as a sect of Judaism, but that they were becoming something new.”

“In that sense,” Bishop Iffert said, “I believe the … vocation of Mark writing his Gospel, is very much like the vocation of consecrated people in this world. There are lots of folks who do not understand consecrated life. There are lots of folks who do not understand how we can make the decisions that we make, how we can make the sacrifices that we make.”

Making the devotion to consecrated life in today’s world can be difficult, Bishop Iffert said, it is not like the consecrated life of generations before. “You are consecrated religious at a time too late to be laid to rest by those armies of young, consecrated men and women coming behind you. You are consecrated religious at a time when you are selling off your mother house, at a time when you are embracing the language of right sizing, at time when you are struggling to figure out who is going to lead the institutions you have created and bring them into the future.”

Much like Mark, unsure who will take the helm of their new institution, being a member of consecrated life at a time where the numbers are shrinking rather than growing, lends to a feeling of unsureness. But, Bishop Iffert said, there is an assurance, “I know your life is filled with sacrifices to the Lord, but it is a joy to join Jesus on his cross. It is a joy to live in the assurance of God, it is a joy to let that promise direct everything in our lives.”

“Thank you,” Bishop Iffert said, “for your witness, and your faithfulness, and your trust and most especially your joy.”