200 nativities help bring the community together during Advent

Bella Young

Multimedia Correspondent

A church of German Gothic design nestled in Covington welcomed a full congregation on the evening of Nov. 23 to celebrate its centennial anniversary. For the past 100 years, St. John the Evangelist Parish, Covington, has served its local community in faith.

The formation of the parish and building of the church began with a need, Bishop John Iffert, who celebrated the Mass, began his homily. The History of the Diocese of Covington, a book published in the 1950’s, has a brief but “interesting” entry on St. John the Evangelist’s Parish. “The reason the neighbors began gathering and began to work on founding a parish here,” said Bishop Iffert, “is because they wanted to build a school.”

The commute to the next closest school at Mother of God was “too long of a commute,” he said, “especially given the condition of the roads at the time. So, apparently, it was easier to build the school and start a parish than for them to fix the roads!”

While the comment was made partially in jest, Bishop Iffert used this origin story to connect to the weekend’s liturgy — the Solemnity of Christ the King. In his homily, he spoke about the promises made by sovereigns and government leaders, such as the Michigan governor who ran on the platform of “fixing the expletive roads.”

“It seems like that’s been a feature of a need for our lives for a long time, especially for folks here in St. John’s Parish,” Bishop Iffert said. “It’s interesting how often our political campaigns, who takes political power … how often it hinges on those very human rights.”

“Jesus remembers something that we and our rulers often forget,” he continued in his homily, “We hear the kings of the world speak of themselves in the third person: the royal ‘we.’ In our democratic age, it sounds officious … that language comes from the idea that the king no longer has a private life, that the king no longer has a self-interest … The king is supposed to be the one who does not promote his own good, but instead lives for the good of others.”

Bishop Iffert said, “Jesus reveals to us that this is the way God cares for us. This is the way God loves us. This is the way God pours out his life, ruling from the cross, emptying himself for the love of us, you and me. This is the way we are called to govern our own lives in a way that we live in service to others.”

Circling back, Bishop Iffert concluded his homily, saying that while the origin of St. John’s Parish was so that “children didn’t have to walk on muddy roads for long distances, the purpose has always been the same. Share that power of love with everyone you meet.”

“That’s what we celebrate tonight,” he said, “100 years of God’s grace, supporting you in that kind of loving service — service that looks like the cross of Jesus, the cross on which he reigns. King of the universe, high priest and champion of our hearts.”