Archive for category: Featured Stories

Laura Keener

Editor

The Diocese of Covington has formed three commissions that will spend the next four months studying, praying and discussing a strategic plan that will guide the diocese for 30 years or more. These three commissions are — Catholic Schools Commission, Catholic Charities Commission and Catholic Foundation Commission. A fourth commission — the Diocesan Governance Commission — will begin its work in the Fall, building on the needs and direction identified by the other three commissions.

The Catholic Foundation Commission is examining whether to create a Catholic Foundation — an independent nonprofit that could help parishes, schools and diocesan ministries with long-term giving and fundraising support. The Catholic Foundation Commission held its first meeting April 15, where Bishop John Iffert addressed the Commission via video.

Referencing the With One Heart planning process that parishes and the diocese have been implementing the last three years, Bishop Iffert said, “Tonight we’re kicking off on another kind of parallel strategic planning process. In this process, especially, we want to work on developing the capacity of the local Church to be able to support ministries that make a difference in people’s lives.”

The work of the Commission, Bishop Iffert said, is “to study and to bring into fruition a Catholic foundation to encourage giving in support of the mission of Jesus and his kingdom. That’s what this foundation is all about, to encourage that natural response that we need to give.”

The conversation for a foundation started about a year ago during efforts to better coordinate planned giving and estate planning across the diocese. Jim Hess, diocesan director for Stewardship and Mission Services, said early talks with Catholic Charities raised a simple question: How can the Church make it easier for people to include their parish, school or ministry in their long-term plans?

“We were having conversations about encouraging planned giving in the diocese and estate planning, and how we could both do that and coordinate that work together,” Mr. Hess said.

When leaders asked other dioceses how they manage that work, he said the answer was consistent: “Every diocese that we talked to said that you have to have a foundation in place.”

Mr. Hess said Bishop Iffert has approved a planning process to explore the idea. Whether or not to move forward with forming a foundation or what the final structure of the foundation would look like is the work of the Foundation Commission and its three subcommittees.

“None of these things have been decided,” Mr. Hess said. “This will be the work of the commission, and it’ll be an intensive work over the next four months.”

At the commission’s first meeting, about 60 people attended, including priests, school leaders, parents and other parishioners. Mr. Hess said the group’s questions took up so much time that organizers didn’t get to the second half of its agenda.

“It was wonderful to see how curious people are,” Mr. Hess said, adding that the discussion helped explain “what a foundation could provide for the diocese and also what a foundation is not.”

In general terms, Mr. Hess described a diocesan foundation as a separate nonprofit organization created to serve the Church’s local needs. “A diocesan foundation would be an independent 501(c)(3), an independent nonprofit that works to support our parishes and schools,” he said.

He said it could offer services the diocese is not currently set up to provide, such as education on estate planning, support for planned giving, and help establishing and growing endowments for parishes and schools.

Mr. Hess said those funds could be professionally managed and “invested ethically … in Catholic and ethical portfolios.” He also said a foundation model can add oversight through a lay board and clearer reporting, giving donors “visibility into how their money is being used, how it’s being invested.”

Just as important, Mr. Hess stressed that a foundation would not replace parish offertory or compete with schools and parishes for donations. “We’re not competing with the parishes and schools,” he said. “The foundation actually expands the capacity of parishes and schools to be able to accept different ways of giving that right now they’re not set up to receive.”

One practical example is fundraising consulting. Mr. Hess said parishes and schools often hire outside firms for capital campaigns, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars for a standard campaign. A foundation could reduce that cost by building an in-house team.

Equally important, when outside firms leave, he said, “any of the relationships that they’ve created with our faithful leave with them.” A diocesan foundation, he said, could help ensure those relationships stay in the Church.

Deacon Jim Fortner echoed the need for a coordinated approach.

“Today, everybody’s separate. There’s no strategy,” he said, noting that parishes are often “on their own” when it comes to endowments, planned giving or major fundraising.

Deacon Fortner said he sees a foundation as “the umbrella that everything hooks into,” helping keep donor relationships and information “inside the Church” instead of handing them to consultants “who come and go and take all that valuable data with them.”

Mr. Hess said recent research into local giving trends has been “very eye opening.” Looking back over decades of records, he said, “on average, the diocese and its parishes receive less than one percent of their income from bequests,” and “the majority of those funds come from priests.”

In dioceses with a working foundation, he said, bequests often average “eight to 10 percent.” For a diocese this size, he added, that can mean around $2.5 million a year in bequest gifts. Currently, the diocese averages about $25,000 in bequests each year.

Deacon Fortner said other dioceses encouraged Covington leaders to start talking about estate planning sooner rather than later. “Faithful are passing and we’re just not in the conversation,” he said. Deacon Fortner also pointed to broader challenges, including fewer households participating in parish life, saying the diocese needs “a more strategic approach” if it wants ministries to remain “healthy and robust.”

Mr. Hess said a foundation could also help parishes teach stewardship in a practical way.

“A major aspect of living a life of stewardship is deciding what you’re going to do with the gifts God has entrusted you with when we pass on from this earth,” he said. Mr. Hess said many Catholics have not taken that step, adding that “70 percent of Catholics don’t have an estate plan in place.”

When families do plan, he said, it can bring relief: donors often feel “an immense peace of mind … for their children and grandchildren” because it can prevent the estate from going through probate court and tying things up for months or years for loved ones.

Mr. Hess said that planned giving isn’t only for the wealthy. “For the vast majority of people, the largest gift they’ll ever make in their life is their estate,” he said, which may include a home, insurance policies, or retirement accounts. He said the foundation’s work would especially help “the vast majority of people that doesn’t have … a network of financial planners and legal advisors.”

For example, the average teacher that might have an estate of $30,000 when they die, doesn’t have a legal team but still has a need to sit down with someone to guide through estate planning.

Questions about oversight are central to the commission’s work. Mr. Hess said there are “different models” for how much involvement a bishop has, and the Governance Subcommittee will study what has worked in other dioceses. He said the goal is to set up something that will serve local Catholics for the long haul: “For the decades and centuries to come, we want to take our time now to establish something that is going to serve the Diocese best.”

Over the next four months, the commission will continue gathering feedback and reviewing possible services and governance options before making recommendations. For now, diocesan leaders say the discussion is about building a stronger support system for parishes and schools — while making sure any new foundation is clear in purpose, transparent in operation and focused on serving local Catholic ministries.

For more information on the Planning Commissions visit www.covdioplanning.org.

Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

Altar servers from around the Diocese, along with their families, gathered for the celebration of Solemn Vespers and awards at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington, with Bishop John Iffert, Father Ryan Maher, rector, Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption and Deacon Scott Folz.

The Serra Club of Northern Kentucky welcomed the servers for the annual award ceremony, which celebrates the service of middle school altar servers, who volunteer their time and talents in the assistance of liturgies across the Diocese. This year, more than 150 altar servers were recognized for their outstanding service, with each server present receiving a blue sash, affixed with a silver crucifix. A symbol of excellence, the sash is worn while serving on the altar, denoting the wearer as an outstanding altar server.

In his message to the servers and their families Bishop John Iffert shared that their work, in service to God at the altar, envelopes them into the Church’s “constant routine of worship, constant routine of prayer, of living with the Scripture, of letting the word of God sink into our lives and our hearts,” he said.

Bishop Iffert explained that every hour, of every day, the faithful of the Church are “carrying out the commandment of the Lord to pray always, carrying out the command for the knee of every believer to bend at the Lord’s name.” There is not a moment, said Bishop Iffert, which God’s name is not being exalted in thanksgiving and lifted in glory.

Speaking directly to the altar servers gathered, some of whom were wearing their cassocks and others in their Sunday best, Bishop Iffert said, “you are part of that great offer by your service at the altar and your service in all the other liturgies you might be asked to be part of. Whether that’s Good Friday liturgy, or whether it’s assisting at baptism, or marriage, or funeral Mass; you are an important part of this work offering thanks and praise to God constantly.”

Bishop Iffert thanked the altar servers, for their tireless dedication to the work of the Lord in service at the altar and assured them that they remain in the prayers of the faithful, during every liturgical celebration.

“Every time we pray one of these Hours, every time we lift our face and give thanks to God, every time we turn to the Scriptures, you are included in that prayer and the whole Church in this great cycle of liturgical prayer. Praise for you, for your good, for your happiness, for your safety, for your continued growth in the spirit of God,” he said.

 

Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

The Diocese of Covington is embarking on a new strategic planning process, looking to guide the Diocese through 2030. The planning process will be focused on four key aspects to the ministry of the Diocese of Covington: Catholic schools, Catholic Charities, the Catholic Foundation, and diocesan governance. Faithful from across the Diocese of Covington have been invited to participate in commissions and subcommittees, with the goal of advising Bishop John Iffert on the best path forward in these ministries.

The meeting of the Catholic Schools Commission, April 14, began the process of commission and committee meetings, with the Catholic Charities Commission meeting April 15. The Catholic Charities Commission meeting brought together approximately 50 people, said Deacon Jim Fortner, chief operating officer, Diocese of Covington, all of whom are vested in the success of Catholic Charities.

Chris Goddard, executive director, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Covington, said about the crowd, “I was really pleased with the enthusiasm, the diversity of representation in terms of the breadth and depth of professionals, men and women, different careers and people that came who are very interested in programs and services.”

Deacon Jim Fortner called the group of participants, “prayerful people.”

Their role will be to meet and discuss the future of Catholic Charities in the Diocese in terms of ministry services and how to reach people in need. Mr. Goddard said, “the greatest thing that I heard was that Catholic Charities could expand its reach and scope across the Diocese … there’s a tremendous opportunity to increase awareness across the community, that a lot of people don’t know who we are.”

In opening remarks made via video at the commission meeting, Bishop John Iffert told the crowd, “It’s time for us to engage in strategic planning. That is, planning that is really directed towards building the capacities of Catholic Charities and our Diocese, to be able to respond to the needs of our neighbors who rely on us and our spiritual need to be able to serve others and to give charitably.”

Moving past just increased volunteerism in the community, Deacon Fortner hopes to evangelize through service, a callback to the With One Heart Campaign of Mercy.

“I would love to see then, obviously, by us serving we strengthen the body of Christ through more people, stronger people, fully participating into the works, the spiritual and corporal works of mercy; not just going to Mass, but going to Mass and serving.”

The Campaign of Mercy, a process of evangelization through practice of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, is instrumental and a natural fit for Catholic Charities in the Diocesan strategic planning process.

“This campaign of mercy was fundamental to evangelization,” said Deacon Fortner. “We need to get out there and really do something, break through, as a form of reaching those that are unchurched, those that may not feel the love of Christ’s hands.”

While Catholic Charities has many ministries that meet the physical needs of a person, Mr. Goddard emphasized the importance of inviting people into a life with Christ; emphasizing the need for ministry to be not only “transactional” but “relational.”

“I think equally important,” he said, “is people knowing that they’re loved by God and sharing the good news.”

 

Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

The Faith Community Pharmacy had humble beginnings in a “glorified closet,” inside of a Northern Kentucky St. Vincent dePaul, said Aaron Broomall, executive director, Faith Community Health Network. Since their operations began in 2002 the no-cost pharmacy has served over 10,800 individuals, dispensing more than 650,000 prescriptions.

Their community impact has decreased emergency room visits by 60 percent since 2021, and decreased hospitalizations by 74 percent. But the care provided by the pharmacy is limited by its very nature, “because we can only help people that have prescriptions,” said Mr. Broomall.

“We’ve always had dreams of opening a free clinic in Northern Kentucky, for a really long time,” said Mr. Broomall, but the timing, “never seemed right.”

In 2023 however, the team at Faith Community Pharmacy decided, it was time. “We started looking at it more in earnest, examining what we had, examining what the needs were in our community,” said Mr. Broomall.

The original strategic plan had the new Faith Community Clinic opening in 2027. However, at the beginning of 2025, legislation was passed that “has significant ramifications on our uninsured population in Northern Kentucky,” said Mr. Broomall, whose estimations has the uninsured population of Northern Kentucky rising to more than 40,000 by 2027. With this in mind the new Faith Community Clinic will be opening its doors in Newport, May of 2026, ready to serve the impoverished and uninsured with free, comprehensive healthcare.

With the addition of the clinic, the operations have turned into a health network, warranting a new name, The Faith Community Health Network. This includes both the Faith Community Pharmacy and Clinic.

The Faith Community Clinic will be staffed by volunteer providers, nurses and lab techs, a majority of which are being provided by the St. Elizabeth Healthcare System. The clinic will also have a CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment) approved lab onsite for urinalysis and blood work.

The clinic will also complete a social determinant of health screening. “Those are all these other factors that contribute to health that are not just diagnosis and medication. This can be anything from housing to food to workforce to abuse situations,” said Mr. Broomall.

From that screening, a patient may be directed to community resources so that they can receive what they need, outside of medicinal care.

“We’re really trying to address the holistic person, and all of the challenges that they have, so that they can get to a point of thriving,” said Mr. Broomall.

Part of holistic care is spiritual healing, said Mr. Broomall. “Healing is not just a matter of the physical body, but it has other components to it also. One of those components is spiritual healing,” he said.

“Our hospitality team will offer to pray with every one of our patients that come in … we know that many patients that come to us, they’re stressed, they’re worried, they’re afraid … we want to do everything we can to put their mind at ease and to meet them where they are, and that certainly includes spiritual care,” said Mr. Broomall.

The Faith Community Clinic will have a Spiritual Advisory Committee, whose founding board chair is the Dioceses own Msgr. William Cleves, pastor, Holy Spirit Parish, Newport. All lay members of the hospitality team will undergo training to ensure there is no “spiritual harm,” to patients of the clinic.

“We want to ensure that everybody who is talking to our patients, is doing it in a way that promotes a God that loves them, and God that’s there for them, and a God that wants the best for them,” said Mr. Broomall.

This comprehensive, holistic approach to healthcare will make the hour that patients spend at the Faith Community Clinic, “one of the most valuable hours they have in their year,” said Mr. Broomall.

“By the time they give us that hour and they walk out the door, they will understand where they’re at with their health, they will have had somebody offer them care for their spiritual needs, we will have talked to them about the other challenges that they’re facing and worked with them to connect them to other resources so that they can be holistically healed and be on a better trajectory towards thriving, and we will have provided them with critical education,” he said.

Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

The first in a series of four meetings took place, April 14, for the Catholic Schools Commission as part of the new Diocese of Covington strategic planning process. This commission is one of three that will meet throughout the 2026 summer months to discuss a strategic plan which will carry the Diocese through 2030. The fourth commission, Diocesan Governance, will meet in the fall months and will build on the fruits of the commissions that came before.

Each commission is broken into four sub-committees. The Catholic Schools Commission sub-committees will focus on: mission and Catholic identity; academic excellence; governance and leadership; and operational vitality.

In his opening remarks, shared via video, Bishop John Iffert said to those in attendance, “The Diocese of Covington is rightly proud of its schools. In a Diocese of fewer than 90,000 Catholics, we have more than 10,000 people, 10,000 students in our Catholic Schools.”

It will be the work of the Catholic Schools Commission and its sub-committees to discuss, “a clear strategy around how do we strengthen the faith of the students and the teachers? How do we strengthen the Catholic identity,” said Deacon Jim Fortner, chief operating officer, Diocese of Covington.

The commission will, “really examine the faith, how it’s delivered, how we hire teacher’s, what’s our qualifications to be teaching,” he said.

Nearly 140 people attended the April 14 commission meeting including principals, teachers, priests, women religious and dedicated laity of the Diocese.

“It was like the Who’s Who, it was an all-star cast of experts in the schools,” said Deacon Fortner. “I’m pretty confident we have the right people. But they have got to believe in it themselves … this is not just an exercise.”

Kendra McGuire, superintendent of Catholic schools, said, “there’s a lot of people signed up on the commissions with a lot of varying backgrounds and knowledge and experiences, and I think with their input and review of this, I am hopeful that we will come out with … a strategic plan that we can move forward with to improve our schools.”

The Catholic Schools Commission is, so far, the largest of the four commissions, helping to realize Bishop Iffert’s vision for this strategic planning process.

“I want this process to benefit from as wide a collaboration as possible,” said Bishop Iffert in his video message. “I would like to see the participation of the entire Church – clergy, consecrated religious, lay people — working together to make decisions that are in our common interest and the common interest of our community.”

About the collaborative effort, Deacon Fortner said, “it’s a synod approach of listening, engaging people. The approach, I feel is very, very rich in theology and in practice in our Church.”

Deacon Fortner said that it is Bishop Iffert’s intention to be as transparent as possible, so that conversations and recommendations can be both mission and data driven. To that end, commission members received enrollment data from the last 30 years for every elementary and high school in the Diocese and will soon receive similar financial data. Additionally, the results of a recent survey of 1,200 alumni, parents, donors and priests have been shared.

Soon, leaders for the four sub-committees of the Catholic School Commission will be selected and prepared to lead the discussion of the fundamental aspects of Catholic education in the Diocese of Covington.

Mrs. McGuire emphasized that keeping the Holy Spirit at the forefront of the process is essential. “All of our work is guided by the Holy Spirit,” she said. “Our mission of Catholic education, at the center, is to be Christ-centered schools that are teaching about Jesus and the faith, and so everything we have do has to be through that lens.”

“I think the thing is, pray and trust that the Holy Spirit is going to guide us,” said Deacon Fortner. “It’s about spiritual transformation, it’s changing lives.” This, Deacon Fortner said, is why the Diocese is focusing on strategy, it is about changing the lives of those who walk through the doors of Diocesan schools.

“What is sacred in this process is the revelation that Jesus Christ is Lord, and the sacrifices of prayer, talent and treasure that our ancestors had offered in sewing the seed of faith in our region,” said Bishop Iffert.  “As far as I’m concerned, there are no other sacred cows, there is no other set agenda. We need to discern together the way forward.”