Archive for category: Featured Stories

Maura Baker

Staff Writer

Perhaps the most important fundraiser in support of the Diocese of Covington’s seminarians, the Seminary Ball, was held Oct. 17, among a record crowd of nearly 700 guests — all present in support of seminarian education.

The Diocese of Covington currently supports six young men in priestly formation, who attend seminary thanks to the Seminarian Education Fund, which the ball directly supports.

The evening, held this year at the Receptions event center in Erlanger, included a cocktail hour to string music, a program including a “Q&A” with the seminarians and the premiere of a new video promoting vocations through the lens of Father Joshua Heskamp’s ordination last year, and a conclusion of music and dancing.

Jim Hess, director of the Office of Stewardship and Mission Services, which plans the Seminary Ball, thanked those in attendance for their support of seminarians, saying that through sponsors alone the ball had already raised over $180,000 in support of the Seminarian Education Fund at the beginning of the night. “This year, as in years past, I’m extremely grateful for the generosity of all our sponsors,” Mr. Hess said.

Bishop John Iffert, who concluded the program with remarks of his own, also shared words of thanks, saying, “Thank you to all of our sponsors, who helped make this such a successful and joyful event. Thank you for coming out and enjoying being together tonight. It’s wonderful to see a room like this in our little diocese.”

Bishop Iffert, who joked about not preferring to wear his cassock, recalled a story in which a fellow bishop with similar sentiments referred to his cassock as his “begging clothes” — which he tied in to say that at the Seminary Ball, he was a beggar.

“What I’m begging for,” said Bishop Iffert, “I’m begging for your time. I’m begging for your attention. I’m begging for you to center your life around Christ Jesus … The central truth that we proclaim is that you are so valuable that God becomes man for love of you, that God seeks you out and draws you to himself … Let that be the central truth that we cling to.”

Imploring those gathered, Bishop Iffert said to “help our young people to consider vocations and service to Christ in the Church that are outside the norm and let that flow from that central place of your love for Christ in your life. Make that who you are.”

“We look forward to this night all year long,” said Bishop Iffert. “To come together to pray, to be with one another, to encourage young people whose lives are so full of promise — we give you thanks for this night together.”

Maura Baker

Staff Writer

It’s Carlo Acutis’s first day on the job — answering prayers out of “Intercession Station,” a fictional creation by the team behind the “Tiny Saints Show” where the saints work to answer our prayers.

This is the pitch for the first arc of the animated series — pitched for production by the Tiny Saints company, famous for its charms featuring “cartoon-ified” saints and other Catholic religious figures.

Ben West, creative director of Tiny Saints and one of the brains behind the Tiny Saints Show, who has a background in the animation field, is particularly excited for the project as it begins to take shape.

“The big picture is that, as a brand, we’ve always told the stories of the saints, just in a very tiny way,” said Mr. West, “This is an opportunity to go a little bigger.”

With over $115,000 raised in two weeks for the campaign, the show is pacing to reach its goal, but support is still needed, Mr. West said, with everything from the concepts, modeling, animation and more all put together by Tiny Saints’ dedicated team.

“The opportunity is here in an independent space where we’ve got a crack team who’s ready to bring a really high caliber animation to life,” Mr. West said. “We’ve got a brand and a group of people who are really passionate about this for all sorts of reasons, both from a storytelling perspective and a faith perspective.”

Faith, of course, being one of the animated series’ primary missions, according to Mr. West, in a culture over-saturated with children’s cartoons lacking heart and conscience.

With the goal to release a “pilot” episode in the spring, Tiny Saints continues to raise funds to bring the show to life — raising money right from their webpage, https://www.tinysaints.com.

“We need people’s donations to make it happen,” said Mr. West. “But spreading the word really is what counts for a lot … we’re thankfully well beyond the halfway point.”

Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

At the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year, Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Covington launched a restructured counseling program — CARES, which stands for the Catholic Approach to Resilience, Engagement and Support. Currently the program is being piloted in three diocesan elementary schools, Holy Cross Elementary, Covington; Mary, Queen of Heaven School, Erlanger and Holy Trinity School, Bellevue.

The program was implemented to meet the increasing number of students needing counseling supports, while acknowledging the limited number of counselors available to meet those needs. CARES uses a three-tiered system, ensuring that each child is, “seen, valued and supported not only in academics but also in their emotional and spiritual growth,” wrote Chris Goddard, executive director of Catholic Charities, in the Partners Newsletter.

Catholic Charities has always provided one-on-one counseling. It is still available as tier three and is the most specialized and resource intensive. The two added tiers provide counseling to the broader student populus and small groups.

Jessica Gangwish, counselor to the three pilot schools, said, “tier one is the classroom groups. They are interactive, age-appropriate lessons. It’s to help with developing skills like emotional regulation, self-awareness, decision-making, communication, relationship building, overall life and social skills. Then cultivating empathy and, something we’re really focusing on is resiliency.”

Tier one counseling is effective for about 80 percent of students according to a research article co-authored by Jannik Nitz of the University of Cologne, Germany and available on the National Institute of Health website.

“Tier two,” continued Ms. Gangwish, “are those supportive, additional, one-to-one check ins or small groups. Part of that is screening the kids to promote early identification and get some early intervening, recognizing skills where students are struggling.” According to the Nitz article on multi-tiered counseling, about 10 to 15 percent of a class would benefit from Tier 2 counseling.

Three months into the pilot program, “it’s been going really, really well,” said Ms. Gangwish. “The schools have been really receptive, the teachers are really receptive, and the parents have been really receptive as well.”

The tiered approach is not new to those in the counseling profession with many public schools using what is known as MTSS, Multitiered System of Supports. The primary difference between CARES and MTSS is the faith-based support provided through CARES.

“We make it a point in each session to incorporate the faith in any way that we can, whether it be coping using your faith with prayer or Scripture, going to Mass or talking with a pastor,” said Ms. Gangwish.

Karen Kuhlman, a Catholic Charities volunteer, wrote in the Partners Newsletter alongside Mr. Goddard, “By grounding counseling in a Catholic understanding of the human person, the program helps students flourish academically, emotionally and spiritually, equipping them to live out their faith with confidence and purpose.”

Within this new program, there is a heavy emphasis on instilling strong virtues in students from a young age as a form of prevention, allowing them to have these important skills to fall back on.

“Anything major that may come up, we kind of drilled those skills already to prevent anything further down the road. Instilling these skills that are essential life skills that you need as a student, a high school student, in college, in your work, just as basic life skills. Especially communication and managing emotion,” said Ms. Gangwish.

“We are building a system that strengthens not only academics, but also resilience, compassion and hope – qualities that shape the whole person,” wrote Mr. Goddard. “In this way, Catholic Charities is helping our schools prepare students not only for success in the classroom, but for lives of faith, hope and love — lives firmly rooted in Christ.”

Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

The grounds of Newport Central Catholic High School, Newport, were colored blue, October 8, following a celebratory color run in which students, faculty and staff celebrated their recent CAPE Blue Ribbon School nomination. Blue powder filled the air in celebration of this achievement as students ran around campus greeting faculty and staff. By the end, no one was spared of the blue powder, not even Ken Collopy, principal, who was doused in the celebratory powder by students.

Newport Central Catholic High School applied to be a National Blue Ribbon school in the fall of 2024 with the scores of the 2024 and 2025 graduating classes, both of whom tested above the national average in multiple categories.

“It speaks volumes on how hard our staff has worked and how hard our students have worked,” said Mr. Collopy, “our staff made a lot of intentional efforts to realign curriculum with standards, whether they are state or diocesan.”

Having back-to-back graduating classes qualify for National Blue Ribbon consideration is, “to my knowledge very uncommon,” said Mr. Collopy, as test scores must be in the top 15% of the nation to be considered. However, the back-to-back qualifications speaks to a changing culture at Newport Central Catholic, one where students have “bought in,” said Mr. Collopy.

“Our students bought into the process of ‘we aren’t testing just to test. We are testing to give data to our teachers to better meet our needs,’ and our teachers took that data and they did exactly that. They made adaptations in the classroom to help with their learning. I really believe that’s why we were able to achieve not only with the class of 2024 but also 2025,” said Mr. Collopy.

In a school assembly preceding the color run, Mr. Collopy addressed the students saying, “I ask two things of you every day, to show up with good effort and good attitude…we have not focused on attaining these numbers, the focus has been on just giving your best and looking to improve. That is what God calls us to go, give our best. It is not always easy; the results are showing that we doing this at an extremely high level.”

When schools apply to be considered as a National Blue Ribbon School, they are given the option to exclude certain scores. “We looked at various things including demographics, testing and services. We applied with everyone, we didn’t take anyone out,” Mr. Collopy announced, “These are students in our AP classes, dual credit, honors, also students in our St. Joseph Institute, regular level classes, student athletes, drama. All of those things made all of you National Blue Ribbon Students,” he told them.

Superintendent of Catholic Schools Kendra McGuire spoke at the saying, “This recognition really reflects the hard work and dedication of your school administration, your school staff, and especially you. We are hoping that this is just the beginning of the wonderful future here at Newport Central Catholic,” she said, “you truly are a beacon of light to everyone, and I know this is finally recognizing the achievements your school has made for decades. I look forward to this tradition of excellence to continue for many generations to come.”

Staff Report

Notre Dame Academy (NDA), Park Hills, celebrated the installation of Lauren Hitron as the school’s fifth president, Oct. 1, immediately following NDA’s Foundation Day Mass with Bishop John Iffert. The liturgy honored both the 175-year legacy of the Sisters of Notre Dame and NDA’s 120th anniversary year, uniting generations of students, educators and alumnae in faith and celebration.

President Hitron, who began her tenure in July, was formally commissioned during the ceremony, surrounded by students, faculty, staff, alumnae, family and friends. The installation highlighted NDA’s enduring mission of educating young women to make a difference, a mission that has guided the school since its founding in 1906.

“It is an honor and a calling to serve a community so deeply rooted in faith, excellence and purpose,” President Hitron said. “As we celebrate 120 years of educating young women to make a difference, I look forward to leading Notre Dame Academy into its next chapter — one that honors the legacy of the Sisters of Notre Dame and prepares our students to lead with courage, compassion and vision.”

A native of Louisville, President Hitron brings nearly two decades of experience in Catholic education and leadership development. Before joining NDA, she served as the founding director of the Jean Frazier Leadership Institute at Sacred Heart Schools in Louisville, where she built a nationally recognized, endowed program focused on leadership formation for young women. She also previously served as Director of Enrollment and Director of Recruitment at Sacred Heart Academy.

“President Hitron embodies the heart of Notre Dame Academy’s mission,” said NDA Board Chair Jessica Rawe. “Her faith, experience and vision for young women’s leadership will ensure that the legacy of the Sisters of Notre Dame continues to flourish for generations to come.”