Maura Baker

Staff Writer

For the fourth year, the annual Covington Lenten Pilgrimage will be returning. The pilgrimage, which consists of a 4.3-mile loop, takes pilgrims to five historic Covington churches — including St. Augustine Church, St. John the Evangelist Church, Mother of God Church, the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption and St. Benedict Church. This year’s pilgrimage will take place March 28 — the Saturday before Palm Sunday — from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

This year, as in years past, the churches on the pilgrimage route will offer times for Mass, confession and adoration — all in preparation for the upcoming Holy Week. Among these opportunities is a Mass held at Mother of God Church at noon, and pilgrimage planning committees are working with parishes to have at least two confessors available and formal Benediction during the pilgrimage’s hours. According to Margie Springelmeyer, who helped establish the pilgrimage four years ago and continues to help coordinate to this day, the publicization of these opportunities is the “main goal” of the planning committee.

“It’s a beautiful opportunity for spiritual growth,” Ms. Springelmeyer said. “Capping off your Lenten journey and heading into Holy Week, it’s a perfect transition time.”

Ms. Springelmeyer invites prospective pilgrims to take the pilgrimage as an opportunity to “reflect on the six weeks of Lent” and bring that devotion to Covington’s five churches, even if they have already attended in years past.

“It’s not just about seeing the churches,” she said. “It’s about experiencing the Lord along your journey.”

Ms. Springelmeyer continued, saying, “We never stop coming before the Lord with what’s on our heart — and, to take a day like this and spend the day with him, with whatever intention it is that’s burning inside your heart each year … Each year makes it a new year when you experience the pilgrimag

Most Rev. Bishop John Iffert

Bishop of Covington

Last week I encouraged myself and you to focus during Lent 2026 on virtues that may help contribute to the establishment of the Kingdom of Peace. I wrote to you about choosing humility (poverty of spirit) as a Lenten practice. Today I propose to you mourning with those who mourn and meekness as paths toward peace.

Mourning our griefs and losses in healthy and holy ways acknowledges our own limits, fosters reliance on God, and can lead to a greater awareness of and identification with others who suffer. Joining others in mourning their losses fosters understanding, cultivates gentleness, and leads to accompanying others through the most sensitive and susceptible of times. It is an imitation of Christ who emptied himself out to join our human state and accompany us through the dark valley.

This Lent we might embrace this beatitude by finally seeking help in processing our own profound losses or traumas that have in some way held us captive. A skilled counselor or spiritual director (or both) can be incredibly helpful on this journey. Prayer that acknowledges our own pain and helps us turn to the assurance of God’s accompaniment may, over the long term, open us to sensitive accompaniment of others.

Considering the sufferings of those we count as opponents (or even enemies) can build the virtue of understanding. Meditate on the losses of someone on the other side of a local, national or international issue and take the time to respect their losses and pain. Is there a way to acknowledge their grief and consider how it might cause us to adjust our worldview, or at least the kinds of rhetoric we employ?

Offering practical, unrequested assistance to one who is mourning the loss of a loved one, of their own mobility and liberty, or of a forfeited dream, is a particularly profound kindness. Perhaps a Lenten effort might be to finally develop a concrete response that we can offer a neighbor at the time of a loss.

Many people offer gifts of food. When my mother died, a crafty friend made us a set of notecards and a lovely list for recording delivered food and gifts. The package came with a personal note offering to help us with the dozens of thank-you cards we would face in coming days. A non-judgmental cup of tea with a friend who feels isolated and needs a listening ear is an offering unto the Lord. Taking time this Lent to find a way to respond to a neighbor’s grief and preparing to put this compassionate response into motion, might be a terrific Lenten discipline.

Meekness is the most misunderstood of all human virtues. It is unfortunate that our English word rhymes with “weakness.” Meekness is nothing of the sort. It is the virtuous capacity to endure hardship, and even injustice, without giving way to our baser instincts and desires. Meekness helps us to maintain our higher and holier faculties. It helps us control our tongues for the sake of maintaining relationships. It empowers us to take deep breaths, avoid rage and the emotional backlash that stems from anger. Meekness helps us forego revenge and it promotes charity. Meekness is integrity and STRENGTH!

This virtue allows space for respect, the protection of the dignity of the other, and for considering the other’s perspective with a loving and appreciative eye. It keeps us from jumping to hasty conclusions and actions. Meekness allows us to avoid reacting from our woundedness and instead to see more as God sees and respond more from the heart and mind of Jesus.

To grow in meekness, pray for the gift, of course. It may also be fruitful to consider the last few times we have grown angry and reflect on what was at stake for us when we lashed out. A daily examen that focuses on moments of anger or pique — and the corresponding sense of self-righteousness that can flood us in anger’s wake — may lead us to consider more productive ways to respond. Developing a concrete plan — turning to God, taking a walk or counting to 10 — might help us develop the habit of meekness. If anger is a particular issue for us, we might enter a season of regular, weekly Confession with an emphasis on the moments we have lost our cool and our ability to respond from a Christ-centered place. Of course, daily reception of Communion with the intention of becoming conformed to the One who is meek and humble of heart would be a wonderful Lenten practice.

I have come to think that these three virtues — poverty of spirit, mourning and meekness — are first in Matthew’s list of Beatitudes because they are foundational to the development of all human virtue. They are building blocks along the way of becoming temples of God’s mercy and peacemakers after the heart of Jesus. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we and our whole society might foster these virtuous capacities!

Whatever Lenten observance we choose, may it lead us to become instruments of the peace Christ wills for his people and his Church. May the Holy Spirit guide you and pour out blessings upon you in this sacred time.

Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

As the season of Lent begins, so does the 40-day countdown, as candidates and catechumens move ever closer to full initiation into the Catholic Church at Easter Vigil Mass. This year, during the Lenten season, the Messenger will be highlighting candidates and catechumens who are in the final stages of the Order of Christian Initiation (OCIA).

OCIA has roots that “go back to those early times where there was a lot of persecution of Christians. And so, it used to be a significantly more rigorous process,” said Sarah Wells, pastoral associate at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington. That rigorous process, “fell out of practice,” said Ms. Wells. “By the last few hundred years private instruction was the normative way to enter the Church.”

It was Vatican II that reinstated the Order of Christian Initiation, then known as the Rite of Christian Initiation. The Fathers of Vatican II thought, “it’s about time that the Church goes back to a communal setting for people to enter the Church together, to learn together, to have a community of fellowship, of prayer, accountability; it’s just really good for everyone involved,” said Ms. Wells.

“The early Church grew because of faith sharing,” said Father Ryan Maher, rector of the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption. “So that element is introduced, especially at OCIA, that context of space for sharing of one’s faith that really builds up the whole parish, it builds up our catechetical team, it builds up the clergy. It’s really a beautiful thing to be a part of and receive,” he said. “We give teachings and we give our own witness, but we’re all receiving, and it’s very beautiful.”

This year, the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption has a record-breaking 16-person OCIA class, shattering their previous record of 12 from the year prior. The class is a mix of catechumens and candidates, an important distinction as someone moves through the program.

“The distinction comes after the first rite, the Rite of Acceptance, which differentiates between a candidate, who is a baptized adult, baptized in a different denomination, or a catechumen, who is an unbaptized adult,” said Ms. Wells.

OCIA is separated into three separate rites: first is the Rite of Acceptance, for catechumens, or the Rite of Entrance for candidates. This is the public transition from mere inquiry into conversion to being accepted as a catechumen or candidate. The second rite is the Rite of Election, for catechumens, or the Call to Continuing Conversion for candidates. The second rite is customarily held at the beginning of Lent and begins the period of purification and enlightenment. Here the catechumens are elected by the bishop to receive their sacraments of initiation at Easter. The third and final rite is the Rite of Initiation, for both candidates and catechumens, where they receive the sacraments of initiation at Easter.

Originally named the Rite of Christian Initiation, the name was changed to the Order of Christian Initiation to better reflect the three rites. “An order is a series of rites,” said Ms. Wells.

“In this culture in which we live, which can be so artificial in so many ways and non-relational, that desire to belong to a group, and exposure to the sacraments and to Mass, there’s something about the mystery of the Church and celebrating her rites, it attracts people who are searching,” said Father Maher on the appeal of OCIA.