St. Thomas Parish growing and connecting With One Heart

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Laura Keener

Editor

One of the truly unique aspects of the With One Heart pastoral plan is that it includes not only the diocesan pastoral plan but also the pastoral plans of every parish in the Diocese. And while each parish’s pastoral plan is unique, common themes and initiatives have developed, especially around the need for faith formation and evangelization.

St. Thomas Parish, Ft. Thomas, has made great strides in implementing its parish pastoral plan. Its three stated priorities are welcoming, faith formation and outreach. What has been foundational to all three of these priorities has been updating the parish Camino database.

“Before we could do any outreach, we had to make sure that we know who we are and making sure that we have a good, accurate database of our parishioners so that we can communicate with them,” said Father Ross Kelsch, pastor.

Updating the parish database took a lot of time and effort by the parish staff. Data sheets for each family were distributed at Masses. Families that did not pick up a data sheet were called. What the parish found was that for the 1,000 families in the database, nearly 80 percent had inaccurate information — phone landlines were discontinued and replaced with mobile numbers, e-mail addresses had changed, some had new home addresses, children had moved out of the family home and started a new family of their own — all of these updates are important when trying to communicate with parishioners.

“What that has provided us now is a clean snapshot of who our parishioners are,” said Father Kelsch.

With the updated database, parish ministries can now accurately contact parishioners. So far, the parish is working on a new parish directory, with parishioners uploading their favorite photo to the database.

“Now, in the office here, we get to see those photos in Camino. When we’re talking on the phone with somebody, we can see their face and be like, oh, I see him at Mass every weekend or oh, I see her in the school pickup line. It’s been a real community builder to be able to put the face with the name,” said Elizabeth Gruenschlaeger, parish business manager.

Ms. Gruenschlaeger and her coworker, Audrey Wilson, helped Father Kelsch with the arduous task of updating the database. Their hard work is being rewarded. A ministry fair was held which garnered over 150 new registrations for parish and school ministries — from adding lectors and Eucharistic ministers, to servers, choir members, landscape help and more.

“It’s lightened the burden for everyone who has been serving, but it’s also just nice to have more people involved in ministry roles here,” said Ms. Gruenschlaeger.

Parishioners also receive a weekly digital communication from the parish right to their phone or e-mail through Flocknote.

“We went from no clear vision of who our parishioners are to being able to engage them intentionally and get them involved,” Father Kelsch said. “Outreach is not only helping people outside of the parish, it’s also helping us reach our own people and strengthening those connections, deepening those relationships, so that, ideally, people feel like they belong; to know that we would miss them if they were not here.”

Annual Connect retreats seek to strengthen students’ bond with each other and God

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Bella Young

Multimedia Correspondent

The Youth Ministry Office of the Diocese of Covington hosted what is known as a “Connect” retreat, Feb. 22, for sixth, seventh and eighth graders of the Diocese at Thomas More University, Crestview Hills. This retreat, which happens three times a year, serves to bring students together in community and helps them build a relationship with God.

Michelle Bump, senior theology student at Thomas More and a member of the leadership team, said, “The point is really to bring all the parishes together as a community … it is a time for them to come together for community and for faith and to get to know Jesus a little bit better.

“Any retreat, in particular Connect, is an opportunity for students and young people to get away from the craziness of their daily lives. Students are always packed with school and sports and extracurriculars and family time and friends. It can be really overwhelming … Connect is a special opportunity for students to take that step back and remember their roots, get back to the foundation of, ‘I am a child of God, and this is my time to spend with the people around me,’” said Ms. Bump.

During the retreat students break into small groups and hear from different speakers, they play ice breaker games, get know each other, sing worship songs and participate in Eucharistic adoration.

“We start with the ice breakers … get people comfortable with each other because that way when it is time to pray and praise the students feel more comfortable being themselves and openly worshipping Jesus,” said Ms. Bump.

This year, 130 students attended, a welcome increase from the 80 that attended last year. The students came from all over the Diocese, with many also being either homeschooled or attending a public school.

Angie Poat, diocesan Youth Minister, said about the 47 percent increase in attendance, “it’s really special, it speaks to the desire and the need this is filling … it is like casting the nets, come one, come all.”

Saving Troubled Marriages Worldwide

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Pope calls artists to be ‘custodians of the beatitudes’ during Jubilee

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Justin McLellan

Catholic News Service

Artists and cultural figures must be “custodians of the beatitudes,” embracing their vocation to create beauty, reveal truth and inspire hope in a troubled world, Pope Francis wrote to people participating in the Jubilee for Artists and the World of Culture.

“Art is not a luxury, but a necessity of the spirit. It is not an escape, but a responsibility, an invitation to action, a call, a cry,” said the homily Pope Francis prepared for the JubileeMass Feb. 16 in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, celebrated the Mass with artists from more than 100 countries and read the pope’s homily during the liturgy.

“To instruct in beauty is to instruct in hope, and hope is never separated from the drama of existence — it crosses the daily struggle, the fatigue of living, the challenges of our time,” the homily said.

Pope Francis was unable to attend the Mass because he was hospitalized for treatment of a respiratory tract infection. He had also missed the audience he planned with artists and other Jubilee pilgrims Feb. 15.

In a message for the midday Angelus, released by the Vatican after the Mass, Pope Francis wrote that art is “a universal language that spreads beauty and unites peoples, contributing to bringing harmony into the world and silencing every cry of war.”

At the beginning of the Jubilee Mass, Cardinal Tolentino de Mendonça blessed artists and cultural leaders, calling them “cultural prophets” and “drivers of peace” and praying for their vocations.

Reflecting on the beatitudes from the day’s Gospel account from St. Luke, the pope’s prepared homily said that “artists and people of culture are called to be witnesses to the radical vision of the beatitudes,” emphasizing that their mission is to “give voice to the voiceless” and “transform pain into hope.”

At the heart of the beatitudes, he said, is a divine reversal of worldly expectations — where the poor, the meek, the persecuted and the suffering are the ones truly blessed. “Art is called to participate in this revolution,” he said, urging artists to “bow before the wounds of the world, listen to the cry of the poor, the suffering, the persecuted, refugees, and those imprisoned.”

Particularly in a time of deep social, economic and spiritual crises, Pope Francis wrote, artists play a crucial role in ensuring that humanity does not lose sight of the “horizon of hope.”

Yet that hope is not a “comfortable refuge” but “a fire that burns and illuminates like the word of God,” he said.

“For this reason,” the pope wrote, “authentic art is always an encounter with mystery — with a beauty that overtakes us, with a pain that interrogates us, with a truth that calls to us.”

Particularly at a time when “new walls are raised, in which differences become pretexts for division rather than opportunities for mutual enrichment,” cultural figures “are called to build bridges, to create spaces of encounter and dialogue, to illuminate minds and warm hearts,” he said.

Later that evening, after St. Peter’s Basilica was closed to the public, participants in the Jubilee were scheduled to cross through the basilica’s Holy Door and partake in a quiet, contemplative walkthrough of the basilica’s interior.

Presenting the Jubilee’s events at a press conference Feb. 12, Cardinal Tolentino de Mendonça explained how artists have a special relationship with the basilica as a place where faith, history and artistic genius converge in their highest form.

And in welcoming the artists into the basilica for Mass, he began his opening prayer with a reference to one of Pope Francis’ favorite artists, the 19th-century Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky, who famously wrote: “Beauty will save the world.”

“The beauty that saves the world is manifested in Christ,” the cardinal said, praying that artists would embrace their vocation with courage, offering their challenges and uncertainties in service of the church and the world.

With One Heart update— Diocese begins a six-month pilot to unify social media presence

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Staff Report

The Diocesan communication team is taking the next step in advancing the communication goals outlined in the “With One Heart” Diocesan Pastoral Plan. During the information gathering phase in developing the pastoral plan, one of the key priorities that emerged from the parish listening sessions, focus groups and Deanery strategy sessions was the desire for a more unified and dynamic social media presence across the Diocese.

To help make this vision a reality, the Diocese is launching an enterprise-wide, 6-month pilot of the “Catholic Social Media” platform by Prenger Solutions Group. This content development and distribution tool will allow the Curia to upload social media content, which parishes and schools can select and share on its own social media accounts.

“Many of our parishes and schools have vibrant social media platforms with engaged subscribers and followers,” said Laura Keener, communications director. “The listening sessions conducted by With One Heart have confirmed that the faithful are eager to gain insights into Diocesan events and happenings. Social media has emerged as a desired platform for them to seek and disseminate this information.”

Already, staff in the offices of Catechesis and Evangelization, Catholic Charities, Stewardship and Missions Services, Youth Ministry and the Messenger have met with the Catholic Social Media team on how to use the platform. They care currently working to load content to Catholic Social Media.

Parishes will be brought onboard in four waves. Pastors in wave 1 have already been contacted and will be onboarded in late March, early April. The following waves will be starting soon.

“We’re excited about the possibilities and can’t wait to see how this collaboration will bring our Diocese closer together as we share the Gospel message,” said Mrs. Keener.

Numerous (arch) dioceses and parishes in the United States utilize the Catholic Social Media platform to oversee their social media operations and have discovered its advantages. The Diocese of Covington will assess the platform’s benefits at the conclusion of its pilot program in June 2025.

George Weigel joins Institute for Religious Liberty in commemorating the anniversary of Pope St. John Paul II’s death

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Maura Baker

Staff Writer

Thomas More University’s Institute for Religious Liberty welcomed George Weigel, theologian and Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) as the keynote speaker for its Feb. 12 presentation, “Pope St. John Paul II and Religious Liberty.” This presentation is first in a series by the IRL, commemorating the 20-year anniversary of the titular saint’s death.

Heralded as “one of America’s leading public intellectuals,” Mr. Weigel is best known for his widely translated and internationally acclaimed two-volume biography of Pope St. John Paul II: the New York Times bestseller, “Witness to Hope,” and its sequel, “The End and the Beginning.”

As the keynote presenter, Mr. Weigel’s talk began detailing large parts of the history of religious liberty and the Catholic Church, from the way church and state intertwined throughout the Byzantine Empire and middle ages, to the American revolution, and beyond.

“The Church had spent hundreds of years thinking that in one way or another, it needed the help of the state to do what it alone could do,” said Mr. Weigel, “The American experience suggested that there might be another way of looking at this.” — that being the separation of Church and state, allowing for Rome to appoint bishops in the new world and handle its own affairs separate from politics. This led directly into the Second Vatican Council where “groups of bishops came eager for a Catholic affirmation of religious freedom,” said Mr. Weigel.

In 1895, only 70 years before the Council, on the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the American hierarchy, Pope Leo XIII sent a letter to the bishops of the United States, in which he “commented very favorably on the growth of the Church in the United States … and said that this distinctive American arrangement, a constitutional separation of Church and state institutionally, could be tolerated.”

As George Weigel’s presentation was the first in the series, those interested in the celebration of Pope St. John Paul II and the Institute for Religious Liberty can look forward to the second installment on March 31 with keynote speaker Dr. Paul Kengor, titled “John Paul the Great: Seven Things Every Catholic Should Know.”

Annual solicitors luncheon kicks off phase one of the DPAA

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Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

The Diocesan Parish Annual Appeal, DPAA, is fast approaching as phase one officially commenced with the solicitors luncheon, Feb. 12. The luncheon is used to thank the solicitors who volunteer to call the top DPAA donors.

In years past, the number of donors contacted has stayed consistent at 200, with approximately 30 solicitors making calls. This year however, there were over 60 solicitors, allowing for the top 300 donors of previous DPAA efforts to be contacted.

Jeff Jehn, general gifts chair for the DPAA, said “Due to the fact that we had such good recruitment of adding new people, we’ve increased the number to 300 and because of that, we are going to see, I believe, some very good results for what we are trying to accomplish.”

By the time the DPAA is launched in parishes in late March, thanks to the work of the solicitors the campaign will be closer than ever to its goal of $2,700,000.

At the luncheon, solicitors peruse cards containing the names of 300 top donors, finding people they may know.

“The dollar figure of the number of gifts that are represented by that table … will be over $1,600,000. That will take us over 50 percent of the total goal of the DPAA. I think that is pretty incredible, that our top 300 donors are a little over $1,600,000. I’m so happy that we are doing this process, I think it is a real strength of our Diocese and of the DPAA,” said Jim Hess, director of the Office of Stewardship and Mission.

Lisa Knochelmann, leadership gifts chair, quoted Bishop John Iffert saying, “‘As we begin this Jubilee year inspired by Pope Francis’ call to mercy, our DPAA theme, ‘Pilgrims of Hope, Missionaries of Mercy,’ invites us to find the heart of Christ by sharing our spiritual and material gifts. We can extend God’s love, compassion and hope to those who suffer.’”

As solicitors were enjoying lunch, Bishop Iffert spoke to them about what giving to the mission of the DPAA truly means.

“All of life is a return to the Lord what he has given to us, that is what we’re here for. The Lord reveals himself to us, reveals his loving nature, reveals his redemptive purpose, reveals his desire that we are all to be saved and to spend eternity in his divine company … We respond with a grateful return into the Lord. Not just a percentage of who we are, but we respond with our whole being,” Bishop Iffert said.

Part of that whole being, Bishop Iffert said, is the way we live your economic, financial life. That is not to say that one should begin selling off assets.

“How much you give does not make you a member or not member,” said Bishop Iffert, “All we ask people to do is enter into a relationship with the Lord and do what God asks us to do. That’s how we’re judged. God judges us by our conscience, some people will only be able to give a very small gift.”

Bishop Iffert ended his talk in gratitude for the solicitors. “Thank you for joining us … thank you for saying yes to that invitation,” said Bishop Iffert.

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.

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.”