Students enrolled in OCIA exemplify Catholic schools as tools for evangelization

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Maura Baker

Staff Writer

Evangelization is just one of many functions of Catholic schools. When attending, students are not only educated in theology but submerged in an environment surrounded by prayer and faculty, staff and peers living out their faith.

While Catholic schools are open to students of all faiths who desire a faith-based private education, some students find themselves called to the Catholic faith while attending these schools — choosing to attend OCIA with the eventual goal of Baptism and full communion with the Church.

This year, students and their families from across the diocese will be welcomed into the Church during the Easter Vigil. These candidates and catechumens come from both grade schools and high schools — including three students from Villa Madonna Academy, Villa Hills; one from St. Cecilia School, Independence; two from St. Joseph School, Crescent Springs; two from St. Joseph School, Cold Spring; three from Bishop Brossart High School, Alexandria, and others.

One such candidate is Ava Freppon, a junior attending Bishop Brossart High School, and enrolled in OCIA at St. Joseph Parish, Cold Spring.

“Back in the spring of 2024, I went to a non-denominational church with my friends from school because I found an interest in having religion in my life,” Ms. Freppon said of her experience. “I was then baptized in July of 2024 alongside many of my friends and it was such a fun and important day in my life.”

However, saying that her previous church didn’t give her the “strong passion” she had hoped for, she “attended (her) first Mass at St. Joes that November and (she) loved the Church’s meaningfulness and purpose behind each Mass.”

Later transferring schools to Bishop Brossart High School — a decision made to further encourage her interest in the faith — Ms. Freppon said that she “was excited to have a religion class to hear more about different topics of the faith. As the school year and OCIA sessions went on, I started to notice being able to compare things I learned at school to what I was learning at the OCIA meetings. I feel like I have been able to dive deeper into the Catholic faith and I am excited to continue my life alongside my friends and family under this wonderful following of our Lord.”

Catechumen cites sponsor, parish community, as strength during a long faith journey

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Maura Baker

Staff Writer

Cailin-MacKenzie Adkins is one of over 40 candidates and catechumens of St. Timothy Parish, Union, welcomed as Elect during the Feb. 22 Rite of Election. She will be baptized alongside other catechumens during the upcoming Easter Vigil Mass.

This year is Ms. Adkins third year going through OCIA — overcoming challenges to reach the point of being able to receive the sacraments this Easter.

Growing up in Florence, Ky., Ms. Adkins’ interest in the faith began with her family. Despite having Catholic family, Ms. Adkins was never baptized herself but attended Church with her grandmother “whenever (she) could” at St. Henry Parish in Elsmere.

“Around my senior year of high school, I really just started becoming curious about the Catholic faith,” Ms. Adkins said. “I didn’t know why I didn’t get baptized. When I was little, I didn’t understand it, so I got really interested. I did a lot of research, and that’s what drove me.”

The first year in OCIA, Ms. Adkins was a student at Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee. Due to the distance, Ms. Adkins remembered that she could not attend the OCIA meetings on Sundays. “I didn’t feel like I was putting in the effort, so I didn’t go through with it then,” she said.

The following year, Ms. Adkins attempted OCIA again — however, health issues put a speed bump in the process. Medical issues, including six surgeries in the course of the year, kept Ms. Adkins from completing the OCIA process — but in 2026, she tried once more.

“This year has actually been a really great year,” Ms. Adkins said. “I’ve been able to go to all my classes, and, why I think it’s been so successful is because of my sponsor. Debbi Cranley (the OCIA coordinator at St. Timothy Parish, Union) assigned me my sponsor and she’s amazing … She’s really gotten me into the spirit and helped me through this spiritual warfare.”

Citing her parish as another contributor to her spiritual growth, Ms. Adkins said that “I feel like St. Timothy’s is a very close-knit family community. Father Bolte and Father Hennigan stand outside Church every Sunday and shake every person’s hand that walks into the Church. It’s a really tight knit group, and I think that’s why my faith journey has gone so strong this year, because I’ve been fully committed to it, and everyone’s just very supportive.”

Now, after three years of trying and spiritual journeying, Ms. Adkins looks forward to finally completing the OCIA process — and especially the sacrament of Reconciliation.

“I think it’s so powerful,” she said, “and the priests at St. Timothy are really kind in helping you through these things, so I’m really looking forward to my first confession.”

Excited also for her baptism itself, Ms. Adkins said that she looked forward to “just being renewed, and one with God in that moment.”

The Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption prepares for a busy Holy Week with services, shroud exhibit

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Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

The week preceding Easter Sunday consists of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. These days, and the ones in between, make up Holy Week, the center of the Church’s liturgical calendar.

“Holy Week is that commemoration that we walk with the Lord in his passion, and death and resurrection and that we become one with him in that through prayer and through the liturgies,” said Father Ryan Maher, rector of the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington, the mother church of the Diocese of Covington.

Throughout Holy Week, like the rest of the churches in the Diocese, the Cathedral will be participating in the sacred celebrations. Starting with Palm Sunday, which marks the return of Jesus from his 40 days in the desert into the city of Jerusalem.

At the Cathedral, the celebration of Palm Sunday Mass begins at 10 a.m. across the street in St. Mary’s Park, Covington. There the Gospel of Luke, proclaiming the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem, will be read. Bishop John Iffert will bless the palms the lay faithful will carry as all process into the Cathedral, a symbolic gesture of Jesus entering the city, through the main doors to begin the liturgy.

On Holy Tuesday, the Cathedral will host all the priests, deacons and religious of the Diocese as well as lay representatives from every parish and mission, at 7 p.m. for the Chrism Mass. This special Mass, during which Bishop Iffert consecrates the holy oils for the upcoming year, is a symbolic show of unity between the Bishop and his priests.

Father Maher said, “The Cathedral is packed with parishioners from throughout the Diocese. All of our parishes are at that special Mass. The unity of the Church is fully visible in the Bishop with his priests and his people all together and the consecrated religious and the deacons as well … It’s always an occasion of joy to celebrate the Chrism Mass with the Bishop; to enter into the liturgy with one mind and one heart with the people there present as well.”

Holy Thursday is the beginning of the Sacred Triduum, which is the three days leading up to Easter. Each day has a different celebration, though as Father Maher said, it is one liturgy celebrated over three days.

“Its really best to immerse ourselves in every celebration, encourage all priests, encourage their people to come to everything, all of the liturgies if they can,” said Father Maher.

The Holy Thursday celebration is the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, which begins at 6 p.m. At this Mass the Church recalls the events of the Last Supper — the institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood.

“The Lord has that Passover meal with the apostles as the end was near and the love that he shows them at the Last Supper and where he, the Lord Jesus, really replaces all of the sacrifices of old. He becomes the true Lamb, there is no more need for the Passover lambs to be sacrificed, he is the true lamb at the Last Supper, it is really Jesus giving his body and blood to his father … and giving his apostles his body and blood to eat and drink,” said Father Maher.

Those who attend the Holy Thursday celebration will also notice an act performed only once a year, the washing of the feet. In the Gospel of John, read at the Holy Thursday Mass, Jesus washes the feet of his apostles, an act of pure love.

“The Bishop, who in the person of the Lord in a special way, will put on an apron and wash the feet of the Cathedral parishioners. That’s always a very moving and really beautiful thing to witness and to participate in,” said Father Maher.

At the end of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper the Blessed Sacrament is carried throughout the Cathedral and placed at an altar of repose, which is an altar separate from the main altar and tabernacle. There the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed until 10 p.m.; lay faithful often spend that time in silent adoration and prayer while the altar is stripped of its candles and linens in preparation for the Passion of the Lord on Good Friday.

Good Friday is the only day on the liturgical calendar that no Mass is celebrated. Good Friday, the day of Jesus’ death, is the celebration of the Lord’s Passion at 3 p.m. With Stations of the Cross at 12 p.m., noon, and confessions from 12–2 p.m.

“That liturgy is really marked by the whole gaze of the Church, the whole gaze of our hearts solely fixed on the death of our Lord. That’s what that liturgy brings about for us that there is no Mass celebrated on Good Friday and so that day we are just fixed on our Lord’s suffering and death. We begin that liturgy in holy silence, in prostration before the altar and then we move into the Liturgy of the Word,” said Father Maher.

During the Lord’s Passion there is the solemn intercessions, where the Church prays for the Holy Father, the Church and the intention of every person.

Father Maher said, “It’s the Church praying for the world and everyone in the world and then we move from that to the veneration of the cross.”

The veneration of the cross is unique to the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion. “That is where the cross of the Lord is lifted up. Literally, lifted up as Moses lifted up the pole with serpent on it in the desert. So, the Cross of the Lord is lifted up and it is raised high for us to gaze upon and then the cross is venerated by the Bishop, the clergy and all the lay faithful. That, too, is just a beautiful moment as a priest celebrant to be in the sanctuary and watch the faithful come up and see the devotion, the love, the tears, the heart,” said Father Maher.

People can venerate the cross with a bow, genuflection, touch or kiss of the cross. Following the veneration, hosts that were consecrated during the Mass of the Lord’s Supper are brought to the altar for the lay faithful to receive the Eucharist.

The liturgical event of Holy Saturday will be the Easter Vigil at 8:30 p.m. The Easter Vigil Mass is unique because it begins in total darkness. But, as the flame from the Easter fire, blessed by Bishop Iffert, is passed from candle to candle inside the walls of the Cathedral, slowly the light of Christ spreads lighting the way for those inside.

The church remains shrouded in darkness until the Great Alleluia at which time the lights come on, signifying the resurrection of Christ.

This celebratory Mass includes the baptism and entrance into the church of the catechumens and the entrance into full communion with the church of the candidates through the sacraments of First Communion and confirmation. The lay faithful also renew their baptismal promises with the sprinkling right.

“The Easter proclamation,” said Father Maher, “recounts the Lord’s goodness in salvation history. His work, the working of grace, the working of the Holy Spirit, the working of the Lord’s love for his people. Then, we begin the Liturgy of the Word and that’s marked really by those great Old Testament readings.”

Easter season festivities at the Cathedral include the return of an Exhibit featuring a replica of the Shroud of Turin viewable in the Cathedral. This special exhibit will be open for all to view and venerate, 9 a.m.–3 p.m. from April 6–April 10, with extended hours until 8 p.m. on April 5.

While the times of the celebrations throughout Holy Week may vary from church to church one thing does not change, the outpouring of love from Christ to his people as the Church celebrates salvation through Christ.

Giving people a fresh face and a fresh start: Tattoo Removal Ink helps remove more than tattoos

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Laura Keener

Editor

When Jo Martin, a parishioner at St. Henry Parish, Elsmere, retired after a 30‑year professional career, she never imagined she would spend her retirement helping people remove tattoos. She certainly did not picture herself working inside a jail. But today, she runs a nonprofit tattoo‑removal program, Tattoo Removal Ink, that is changing lives across Northern Kentucky.

Her story shows how one small “yes” can grow into something much bigger.

After retiring, a friend from church asked Mrs. Martin if she would tutor people studying for the GED at the Campbell County jail. Her first reaction was, “no.” She admitted, “I did not want to tutor in the jail. I was afraid of going in there.”

But her friend gently pushed her to fill out the paperwork, and a week later the jail called. Soon, Mrs. Martin found herself walking down long concrete halls, knees shaking. But what she discovered surprised her: “They weren’t scary. They were just people — just like me,” said Mrs. Martin

As she tutored, Mrs. Martin noticed something else: many young people had tattoos across their faces, hands and necks. She wondered, How will they ever get a job when they leave here? That question planted the first seed of an idea.

A friend told Mrs. Martin about Homeboy Industries, an organization in Los Angeles that helps people leaving gangs and prison. Begun in 1988 by Father Gregory Boyle as a way of improving the lives of former gang members Homeboy Industries has evolved into the largest gang intervention, rehab and re-entry program in the world. Tattoo removal is a part of Homeboy Industries services.

Mrs. Martin traveled to the University of Findlay, Ohio, to hear Father Boyle talk about his work. He invited her to come to California to learn more. Father Boyle encouraged her to start something similar back home.

“I said, ‘How?’ And he said, ‘Figure it out.’” Mrs. Martin remembered. “So that’s what I did.”

She spent months reading government forms, writing a nonprofit application, and gathering a board of directors. Finally, she received her official nonprofit status. “I wasn’t the brightest,” she joked, “but every single step worked.”

Next, she needed a laser. Using money from her late husband’s life insurance, she bought one for $55,000. “Eight years later, the business paid me back,” she said. “But I wasn’t even thinking about that at the time.”

Located inside the Life Learning Center in Covington, Tattoo Removal Ink — now nine years old — removes visible tattoos for people who are trying to rebuild their lives. Many clients come straight from jail or prison. Others are survivors of human trafficking.

“They are branded,” Mrs. Martin said. Recalling the case of young woman who came in to have the name of her trafficker removed, she was told that five other woman have identical tattoos placed near their breast. “That’s exactly what they do is they brand them.”

Other clients “are simply adults who regret choices they made when they were younger,” she said.

For many clients, tattoo removal is a lifeline. Tattoos like gang symbols, hateful words, or names of abusive partners can keep people from getting jobs or feeling safe.

One young man had “KILLA” tattooed across his eyebrow when he came in. Another had devil horns on his forehead. Several had full-face tattoos. “They’re not going to get hired with that,” Mrs. Martin explained. “People judge them immediately.”

Tattoo removal doesn’t just open doors — it restores self-respect. Mrs. Martin told the story of a mother who cried during a video call with her son in jail when she saw that one of his tattoos had been removed. “It was so sweet,” Mrs. Martin said. “He was too young and too innocent to be in jail.”

Another client wrote Mrs. Martin a letter explaining that he had to relive his trauma every morning when he looked in the mirror. Removing those tattoos helped lift that emotional burden.

Tattoo removal is not easy. Mrs. Martin explains it simply: the laser breaks up the ink, the white blood cells carry it to the liver, and the body gets rid of it. But it hurts.

“It’s a different kind of pain,” than getting a tattoo, she said.

Still, many keep going because they want a better future.

Not everyone gets their tattoos removed for free. Paying clients help fund the nonprofit’s work. Even for paying clients Tattoo Removal Ink is a low-cost option. Prices start at $70 for a small tattoo and go up to $300 for larger ones. “Our bottom line is helping people,” Mrs. Martin said. “Not making money.”

Still, the nonprofit has real expenses: laser maintenance, insurance and supplies. Mrs. Martin and her fellow co-worker Gail work entirely for free. “We’ve been doing this for nine years for fun and for free,” she said.

Although Mrs. Martin is 74, she isn’t slowing down. In fact, she has a new dream: a mobile tattoo‑removal unit that could park outside prisons.

“It’s a great idea,” Mary Stutler, board member, said with a smile. “But we’ll need volunteers and another laser.”

She hopes new volunteers — especially retired nurses or doctors — might step up to learn the laser work. But she emphasizes that anyone with compassion could help.

“They might look scary,” Mrs. Martin said of the clients, “but they’re just people.”

Mrs. Martin never expected to spend her retirement this way. But looking back, she sees something bigger guiding her.

Like many Catholics, the 25th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel has informed her faith. Jesus said, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.” (Matt 25:35–36) Throughout her life, most of these works of mercy came easy for Mrs. Martin. The verse about visiting those in prison. “I could never check that one,” she said. “But now I can.”

Her work is more than removing ink — it is restoring dignity and opening doors. It is giving people a chance to build lives they can be proud of.

Mrs. Martin says, “Every step worked. And now I’m here, doing something I never imagined — but something that really matters.”

History and art help parishioners grow in faith during parish pilgrimage

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Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

The season of Lent is a time of reflection, preparing oneself for the coming of Christ at Easter. It is a time of sacrifice, denying the flesh in order to grow in relationship with Christ. For the parishioners at St. Catherine of Siena Parish, Ft. Thomas, Lent is also a time of community and togetherness, as they participate in Father Stephen Bankemper’s, pastor of St. Catherine of Siena, Lenten pilgrimage.

This year, 50 parishioners joined Father Bankemper on a pilgrimage to St. Francis Seraph Parish, Cincinnati, where they learned the storied history of the parish, including the underground cemetery, beautiful artwork and the news of their imminent closing.

Every year, Father Bankemper will prepare reflections on the history and artwork of a pilgrimage church, helping his parishioners see the beauty of the faith.  “Beauty is such a good way to lift your thoughts and mind higher … art can really express the faith in a lot of ways,” said Father Bankemper. “I enjoy that part because I love art myself, and I love the saints, and I love the stories of Scripture.”

“When you see that beauty,” said Therese Schaefer, pilgrim, “it just automatically lifts my mind and my heart to God, that you know, this is what he deserves, this is the beauty that we should be giving him.”

For Mrs. Schaefer’s son, Noah, these pilgrimages have brought him closer in relationship to Christ and the saints.

“As we’re going through and discussing all the artwork, we’re also discussing all the different saints. Especially with some of the artwork, where it shows depictions of early life but also a lot of them that are martyred,” he said. “During Lent we’re called to make little sacrifices. I think it definitely shows us how much more we could be doing, depending on what the saints have done.”

Father Bankemper’s Lenten pilgrimages bring together his parish community, bonding them in communion during Lent. “A lot of times in Lent we can be individualistic. At times, we forget that Lent is something that we’re all doing together … so for me, it is also a way of highlighting the communal character of Lent.”

“It helps our community be closer, it helps our parish be more of a family and experience these things together,” said Mrs. Schaefer. A sentiment echoed by Mr. Schaefer, “It’s a nice way for all of us to spend more time together. We see each other at Mass every week, but I think opportunities like this, to go outside of Mass, to be doing something that’s building our faith together, it helps us to become more friends and family.”

“My favorite part is always the same, being with them [parishioners] on this little faith trip. That’s my favorite part, just journeying with them,” said Father Bankemper.

Bishop Iffert shares a message of reconciliation and the gift of life at the 2026 Kentucky March for Life

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Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

Rain clouds departed, and the sun shone down on the 2026 Kentucky March for Life, March 11, where the theme was Every Life is a Gift. Students from Notre Dame Academy, Park Hills; Covington Catholic High School, Park Hills; Newport Central Catholic High School, Newport; St. Henry District High School, Erlanger; Holy Cross District High School, Covington; Bishop Brossart High School, Alexandria; St. Patrick High School, Maysville; and eighth-grade students from St. Joseph School, Cold Spring, traveled to the Kentucky State Capitol, Frankfort, to march in support of life.

Joining the students at this year’s Kentucky March for Life was Bishop John Iffert, who celebrated morning Mass at Good Shepherd Parish, Frankfort, and spoke on the steps of the Capitol. There, he shared with students, marchers and demonstrators alike a message of reconciliation for women who have suffered abortions and the love of God for all life.

Asking the audience to imagine a time where a meaningful gift was imparted to them, Bishop Iffert said, “always, an important part of that is, you know, that the person who gives you that gift loves you, wants to be close to you, wants a relationship with you. That’s exactly the same for every human being.”

The gift of life is, in all ways, filled with the intrinsic dignity and value instilled by God. “From conception to natural death, the unborn, disabled, the weak, the poor, the imprisoned, the aging,” said Bishop Iffert.

Sharing a personal experience, Bishop Iffert recalled a time before seminary when he had a “breakthrough” on the pro-life movement. “There were two stories that kept appearing in the Chicago Tribune,” he said. One, was of a baby born prematurely, highlighting the work of the doctors and care staff and the “tremendous scientific and medical efforts that were being made to preserve this child,” said Bishop Iffert. The other story was one of a father who was suing for rights, hoping to prevent the mother of his child from receiving an abortion.

“It occurred to me,” said Bishop Iffert, “the only difference between these two lives is that one was wanted and one was not.”

“What determines the value of a human life, what concern determines who is human and who is not, cannot be as subjective as whether that life is desired or not. It must be something more integral. What it is, is God’s creative image; that God calls this being into existence and gives that life to us as a gift,” said Bishop Iffert. And, in the same way that the unborn are filled with dignity and value, so are the women who have suffered abortions.

In response to demonstrators whose loud advocacy of Kentucky House Bill 714 supported the prosecution of women who have abortions, Bishop Iffert said, “The Catholic Bishops of the United States have affirmed again and again and again that the woman who has an abortion is a victim of that abortion, is harmed by that abortion.”

“Our approach to women who have had an abortion has been to accompany them, to walk alongside them, both women who have taken this action and who are in danger of taking this action. It is an approach that is rooted in the healing ministry of Jesus, to forgive and to help the individual person come to accept the redemptive love of Christ, and that is what we commit ourselves to.”

A robust applause and cheers rang out from Diocesan students in support of Bishop’s message, a witness to the faith of Diocesan students knowing that reconciliation is the message of Christ.

Speaking once more to the crowd, Bishop Iffert said, “…we will serve the Lord through reconciliation, not anger, and I call on you to do that same.”

2026 DPAA unveils new participation goal with announcement weekend

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Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

The 2026 Diocesan Parish Annual Appeal (DPAA), “Live as Children of Light,” officially hit the pews, announcement weekend, March 14–15, with a video message from Bishop John Iffert. In the video, Bishop Iffert detailed the good work of the DPAA for essential Diocesan ministries, including ministry services, seminarian and clergy education, care for retired priests and support of Catholic Charities.

In support of these ministries the DPAA has a goal $2,754,000. To reach this goal, the Diocese relies on the support of many, no matter the size of the gift, said Jim Hess, director of Stewardship and Mission Services. And while the dollar amount pledged has increased year over year, the number of gifts pledged continues to decrease. In response to this trend, the Diocese has released a participation goal, alongside the individual parish monetary goal.

This new participation goal is not incentivized financially, said Mr. Hess. Rather it is “a way to encourage giving at the parish level of every size,” he said. “It stresses the truth that we are called to be good stewards of what God has entrusted us with, whether we have the capacity to make a large gift or a small gift, every one of us is called to be good stewards.”

The participation goal was calculated by the number of families that donated to the 2025 DPAA per parish and increasing that number by five percent. “Every participation goal is attainable, and is a good stretch goal for the parish,” said Mr. Hess.

Explaining the goal further, Mr. Hess said, “every parish has a dollar goal, because there is a minimum required amount to run a diocese and its ministries, as well as a participation goal, because we do want to encourage everybody to pray about this, and everybody to participate in some way if they feel called to do so.”

“When we are considering giving in the Catholic context,” said Mr. Hess, “we actually have a need to give as human beings. That’s what stewardship is in the Catholic context, we are all called to be stewards of what God has given us. We’re not called, each of us to make a huge difference, but we’re called to be stewards of what God has given us.”

“It’s a good thing for us to give,” he said. “It’s a good thing to recognize that we’ve been given gifts from God and are called to invest those gifts prayerfully and where we feel called to do so.”

Experiencing the Church in different cultures helps unite young people to Christ, Bishop says about upcoming World Youth Day as diocese prepares for pilgrimage

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Maura Baker

Staff Writer

World youth day is an international gathering of youth and young adults — a celebration uplifting their presence in the Church. In 2027, the next World Youth Day will take place August 3–8 in Seoul, South Korea — the first time that World Youth Day will be hosted in East Asia. The theme for this year’s event is “Take courage! I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16:33)

As in years past, the Diocese of Covington will be coordinating a pilgrimage — with interested parties, especially young adults ages 18–25 (although all are invited to accompany them on the journey), invited to register by March 16 to reserve a spot.

Bishop John Iffert, who attended the previous World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2023, reminisced on the experience. “I still remember the crowds with the flags from every nation being brought in,” he said, “I still remember the prayer services that were organized by young people — very kinetic, very active.”

“It’s a time of great joy and enthusiasm,” he said, “for Christ and the life of the Church.”

Bishop Iffert said that he remembers seeing World Youth Day “stir faith in young people,” he said, “You see young people who come to World Youth Day and who leave with a more directed sense of their faith and how to move out into the world. It’s something to look forward to.”

Those who attend World Youth Day can expected to “encounter the Church around the world and see the vitality of faith that young people around the world bring. I pray that when young people attend World Youth Day and they get to know the people they encounter, not simply as aliens to them, but as brothers and sisters in Christ — I pray that these kind of encounters will make the violence that we’re seeing in the world today unthinkable for us to participate in,” said Bishop Iffert.

“It’s an encounter,” Bishop Iffert then described of World Youth Day, “The Church is the Body of Christ on earth. As we come to know the Church better, we come to know all the manifestations of the Church in every culture … We can’t help but come to know Christ more intimately, more completely.”

Bishop Iffert, who has also previously attended Mass and experienced the Church in foreign countries such as Vietnam recalled witnessing Christ “embedded in that culture, in a way that helped me come to know Christ better.”

Bishop Iffert also plans on joining other bishops worldwide in Seoul next year, saying that he is most looking forward to “encountering the Church of South Korea” and “encountering the Churches from around the world through their young people.”

“Experiencing from all those different perspectives,” he said, “Helps us learn more and more of the Body of Christ and who Christ is … and that is what I hope for.”

Interested parties can register at https://forms.gle /9JW61qveAUGbdWxy6, or contact Isaak Isaak, director, Catechesis and Evangelization, at (859) 392–1529 or iisaak@covdio.org.

‘You are the divine life of God,’ Bishop tells guests at second DPAA dinner

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Maura Baker

Staff Writer

The second Diocesan Parish Annual Appeal kickoff dinner, March 5, joined donors, ministry leaders and supporters with Bishop John Iffert, Lisa Knochelmann, DPAA general chair and Dr. Greg Salzman, DPAA leadership gifts chair at Receptions event center, Erlanger.

Marking the end of the leadership gifts phase and the beginning of the public phase of the campaign, the event included a ministry fair where guests could meet with the people behind the ministries that the DPAA supports — including Curia offices and organizations within the diocese and its community that minister to youth, homeless people, the poor, people with disabilities, students, the Hispanic community and more.

Following dinner, Dr. Salzman offered words of thanks to individuals who had already donated to the campaign, with nearly $700,000 raised so far in the first phase alone — already well on the way to the $2.754 million goal.

Bishop John Iffert also spoke at the dinner, referencing the theme of the 2026 DPAA, “Live as Children of Light,” from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians (5:8–9).

“Paul said once you were darkness,” Bishop Iffert quoted the passage. “Notice the strength of that language.

Recalling a talk given at a Cursillo retreat he gave, Bishop Iffert said that there was “a point (he) made over and over and over again: Grace is simply the gift of God’s divine life. It’s the gift that God gives to us,” he said.

“All of the spiritual thinkers, all of the great teachers, all of the apostolic and sub-apostolic figures talk about grace that is the very divine life of God with the metaphor of light,” Bishop Iffert said. “The grace of God enlightens the soul … Once you were in darkness, once you were capable of no good, but now the light of God, by the baptism of Jesus Christ, has taken residence in you and made you a temple of the Holy Spirit.”

“You are the divine life of God,” he said, “and the light that is God’s grace and being shined into every corner of your being.”

“That is why we give, because God has taken the cold, dark winter night out of my heart and yours, and in its place put the warmth of divine love, the fire of the Holy Spirit and the light of his divine grace and wisdom — and so we want to be light for others,” said Bishop Iffert. “That’s it. That’s why we’re here … It is because God first graced us with the opportunity to be grateful and to respond to the world in kind. That’s who we are. Thank you for being children of the light,” he told attendees, “Thank you for being those kind of people.”

 

Associates of the Congregation of Divine Providence celebrate 50 years of joy and community spirit

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Staff Report

The year was 1976. The Apple Computer Company was founded; the book Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry was published; Catholics around the world celebrated the centenary of Pope Pius XXII’s birth; the Cincinnati Reds won the World Series. Alongside these historic events, the Associates of the Congregation of Divine Providence (ACDP) of Kentucky began. Now, in 2026, they celebrate their 50 year anniversary. Their beginning was small, with one young woman from Rhode Island being the first to formally commit to living the four fundamental virtues of the sisters’ founder, Blessed John Martin Moye. These virtues are simplicity, apostolic charity, spirit of poverty and abandonment to Divine Providence.

These virtues began to attract other women. Initially, the majority of them were vowed religious who had returned to the lay apostolate. With time, though, women and men from the community at large became part of the ACDPs, and the membership grew.

Candidates go through a formation program that takes them more deeply into the meanings of the four fundamental virtues, gives them a history of the founding of the Sisters of Divine Providence, and emphasizes a very important fact: ACDP members do not change their way of life — their call to the apostolate — whatever that call may be. Rather, the ACDP life takes associates more deeply into their personal spirituality, the way they live their apostolate, whether it be the president of a thriving company or a volunteer at a homeless shelter.

As the ACDPs celebrate their 50-year anniversary, they find themselves moving toward 100 members. Presently, both men (including priests) and women fill the ranks, all being connected by their dedication to Gospel values lived through the practice of the four fundamental virtues. Their inclusivity closes no doors. Each member ministers in their own unique way, including homemaking, teaching, nursing, counseling, parenting, grandparenting, pastoring, designing, caregiving, helping refugees, cooking for the homeless, ministering in parishes, etc.

“Being an associate has deepened my relationship with God in unbelievable ways,” said Anne Etzel, who has been an associate since 2007. Through friendships with Sisters and fellow Associates, she has come to experience God’s love more intimately and consistently. Living the charism has shaped her sense of self and vocation, blessing her volunteer service and returning to her “over and over again” the assurance of God’s faithful care. As she looks ahead, Ms. Etzel describes the associate call as a source of peace — an anchor as she moves closer to “seeing the face of our Providential God.”

Present members come from nine different states, Ireland and Ghana. When members were asked why they chose to become associates, responses included joy and community spirit among members; attraction to the emphasis on Gospel values; the sisters’ deep spirituality; building a deeper relationship with Divine Providence; having a sense of purpose that transcends career achievements; wanting to foster personal spirituality in communion with others.

In Ireland, associate Pauline Maher’s path into the Associate community was shaped by both relationship and need. Her initial draw, she recalls simply, was Sister Leslie Keener and God Space — a place of shared prayer, reflection and presence. That ministry became especially vital to her during the COVID-19 pandemic and at the time of her mother’s passing. “I felt held by the community,” Ms. Maher shared, describing how regular participation sustained her through grief and uncertainty.

The anniversary year opened on January 17 with a beautiful prayer service presented by the CDP sisters, followed by lunch and socializing. Several special events are planned throughout 2026 to help celebrate this milestone, among them being a Mass to be celebrated by Bishop John Iffert and pilgrimages within the tri-state area.

While the majority of the current ACDPs are considered senior citizens, the organization is attracting a younger population. The future looks optimistic for growth, not just among this group but for associate communities in general. With fifty years completed, the next fifty are anticipated with hope, joy, and trust in our provident God.

For more information about becoming an associate, contact Marilyn Schleyer, formation coordinator, at (859) 380-6155 or schleyermarilyn@gmail.com.