Archive for category: Featured Stories

Laura Keener

Editor

The Diocese of Covington has contracted with consulting firm L’Etoile Development Services to help guide its discussions on the formation of a diocesan foundation and its upcoming pastoral planning. Bishop John Iffert says the decision grew from listening and learning — first from other dioceses, and then from local stakeholders.

“We had a working group… exploring the establishment [of a] foundation,” Bishop Iffert explained. “We thought that we would start in just a very conventional way … talking to lawyers … drafting documents and setting up a board.”

But, Bishop Iffert said, advice from other dioceses changed the approach. The best guidance was “to begin from the other direction… start by talking to the people who had a stake in the success of the foundation — our priests, our principals, our school parents, our donors… and then from the grassroots up, design the foundation around the perceived needs.” He added, “You know me, I love to start these processes by listening to people.”

As the diocese looked for help to do that listening and design work, one name kept coming up. “Over and over again, people identified this L’Etoile … Marilyn and Mark are the people that we work with locally, and they have experience in several dioceses, helping dioceses to do that,” Bishop Iffert said.

Marilyn Blanchette is the founder of L’Etoile Development Services. After 30 years in non-profit management — 13 of those years with the Diocese or Orlando, Florida — she established her consulting firm in 2011 to assist dioceses, universities and religious orders to help plan for their future.

Joining Mrs. Blanchette in assisting the Diocese of Covington is Mark Dollhopf. Mr. Dollhopf has nearly 50 years of fundraising, marketing and donor engagement experience working with universities, faith-based institutions, and other non-profits.

Bishop Iffert notes that creating a foundation is a common step for healthy, growing church organizations. “It’s a very common thing anymore,” Bishop Iffert said, noting that many dioceses have foundations, some for 30 years or more.

The Diocese of Rockford, Illinois, was an early adopter, and one which Bishop Iffert is most familiar with, establishing its Catholic Foundation for the People of the Diocese of Rockford in 1987. Other local (arch)dioceses with established foundations include Cincinnati, Lexington and Louisville.

“If you think of a growing, successful, not-for-profit — whether it’s your diocese, schools or university — almost certainly they have a foundation.”

In the near term, the foundation’s “low-hanging fruit” will be helping parishes and schools with work that often gets overlooked. “Parishes are busy places, and … it’s nobody’s job,” Bishop Iffert said about promoting charitable giving. The foundation makes it their job “to help parishes and schools do that work,” especially building endowments and planned giving — needs that can seed long-term support for ministries.

Beyond the establishment of a foundation, wider pastoral planning is centered on consultation. Recently, Bishop Iffert met with every active priest for lunch conversations about the plan and next steps. “Over the last two weeks, we’ve had a lunch almost every day, inviting seven or eight priests in,” he said. Going forward, he plans “one or two meals a month … so that I see each priest at my table once or twice a year,” and to create “another opportunity … for priests to have a special voice” as planning advances.

Why so much listening? Because priests are key partners, and the changes will affect them and their people. “Priests are … my closest collaborators and co‑workers; they’re the only group that has the sacramental nature to form a college with the bishop, … they’ve given their whole lives, so these decisions will have an impact on them,” Bishop Iffert said.

Ultimately, Covington turned to L’Etoile because trusted peers recommended them, their approach starts with listening, and their track record matches the diocese’s goals. As Bishop Iffert put it, partnering with L’Etoile is already “a very productive relationship” — and it’s helping the diocese build a foundation, in every sense of the word, for the future.

Bella Bailey

Multi-media Correspondent

Twenty years ago, Gerald Lundergan, a long-time Maysville resident and then parishioner of St. Patrick Church, Maysville, bought a small plot of land, just off St. Patrick Cemetery, Maysville. With that land, it was his dream to build Stations of the Cross, a spiritual refuge and place of pilgrimage for the faithful. Now, on land just off his original plot, and leased by the Diocese of Covington, Mr. Lundergan’s dream is almost complete. Fifteen life-size, bronze, hand-carved Stations of the Cross will soon be unveiled at The Gardens of St. Patrick’s, Maysville — eight acres of hand-crafted beauty and extraordinary detail, paying homage to Christ’s great sacrifice.

The Gardens at St. Patrick’s and its 14 completed stations, with one remaining to be completed on Ascension Sunday, May 14, will be blessed and dedicated by Archbishop Emeritus of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Bishop John Iffert. Cardinal Dolan and Bishop Iffert will celebrate Mass together on Holy Wednesday, April 1, to music composed by esteemed musician Francisco Carbonell, who studied at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, Rome. The composition will be performed by Dr. Everette McCorvey and his American Spiritual Ensemble. The 19-person vocal ensemble will be accompanied musically by a brass choir consisting of trumpets, horns, trombones and tubas.

The celebration of Holy Mass, April 1, will take place at the outdoor altar and accompanying amphitheater seating, which are nestled into a small hillside, just before the first station.

“The Stations of the Cross, to me, is what it’s all about,” said Mr. Lundergan. “If you live the Stations of the Cross, you understand why you’re here on Earth.”

Upon arrival at the Gardens at St. Patrick’s, visitors will be greeted by a welcome center, ticket booth and a 7.5-story-tall cross. This cross will cast a shadow over the twelfth station, the crucifixion, at the time of Christ’s death, 2 p.m. Inside the welcome center, guests will be greeted by stories about the “crucifixion, stations, the history of the stations,” said Mr. Lundergan.

Before beginning their spiritual journey, visitors will walk through a recreation of the Garden of Gethsemane. Though not officially a location in the Stations of the Cross, the Garden of Gethsemane is an important part of the Passion of Christ. At the garden there is an olive press from Jerusalem, symbolic of the Garden of Gethsemane’s role as a functional olive garden at the time of Judas’ betrayal.

The replicate Garden of Gethsemane will lead visitors to the first of 15 stations, all of which are life-sized and hand-carved by Italian sculptor Reto Demitz, and his team of sculptors. The bronze statues include important figures in the Stations of the Cross including, of course, Jesus, Pontius Pilate and Mary, mother of Christ, but also Veronica, Simon of Cyrene and the women of Jerusalem.

“I wanted to make it just exactly the way it really was. So, there would be no discrepancies about what went on during this time in the life of Christ, who was there and who witnessed it. And so, when you walk these stations, hopefully you’ll feel like you’re there the day that it’s happening,” said Mr. Lundergan.

“It’s my hope that if you’ve got pain, you’ll come here and be relieved, if you’ve got a problem, you’ll come here and figure it out. I hope this is a solution place,” said Mr. Lundergan, “that people will come here and know that this is a quiet, sacred place … it’s a sacred place for you to figure out things that you want to do better in your life and how you conquer things in your life.”

Such a precise level of detail will be prevalent throughout the walking path as visitors travel from station to station. Mr. Lundergan partnered with a research team out of Lexington, Kentucky, to ensure the path which visitors walk, will closely replicate the Via Dolorosa, the path Christ walked as he proceeded towards death.

“I wanted it to be close, if not just like the real walk in Jerusalem,” said Mr. Lundergan.

Including two small bridges featured along the route, which will take visitors over a manmade stream twice, because “the path that we’re on that Christ took the day of his crucifixion, he crossed over the water twice,” said Mr. Lundergan. “So, we have recreated that. We took the natural stream that was here and we rebuilt it.”

The stream has been landscaped with limestone rock from a local quarry, an homage to Maysville history. The stream will be supplied by three 10,000-gallon tanks circulating water through the landscape.

Each station along the path will have an audio accompaniment, where visitors will be able to hear reflections from Cardinal Dolan and Mr. Lundergan as they walk the route. Visitors will have the opportunity to stop at each station and truly reflect as benches are provided at each station, with kneelers included at the twelfth station.

“We all have little roadblocks in our life. And if you can come here and solve that roadblock by just reflection and prayer and really realize what the Lord went through for us, maybe this is all worthwhile,” said Mr. Lundergan. “The whole idea just behind this whole thing is to give back in a way that will be very beneficial to people — middle-aged people, senior people, anybody that needs quiet time, that wants to reflect and wants to figure out their next move in life.”

He continued saying, “I’m just hoping that people will use this as a way to get closer to the Lord and prepare themselves for the real life that they’re going to live in Heaven.”

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.”

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.

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.