Good day everyone. I have been praying for you for the past several months in this time of transition. I am blessed to be with you.
I thought I would share a bit about myself. I was baptized at St. Martin of Tours Parish in Cheviot. My parents moved to a larger home in Groesbeck, near the intersection of Colerain and Galbraith, when I was a few weeks old. I attended St. Ann Grade School, LaSalle High School, and Miami University, graduating with a BS in Business in 1977. Then I worked as a Certified Public Accountant for eleven years. During those years, a life-changing event happened while I was on a Cursillo weekend retreat. On that weekend, I experienced the love of God and the mercy of God that changed my life. A few years later, in June 1986, the Executive Director of one of the clients I served as a CPA told me that he thought I should become a priest. I prayed about his invitation for a year, and then took a couple Scripture classes at the Athenaeum of Ohio as I prayed about how I might respond to God’s call in my life. Many days, my prayer was simple, “Lord, what do you want me to do with my life?” I was accepted to Mount St. Mary’s Seminary of the West in Cincinnati in 1988. I was ordained a deacon in 1993, a priest in 1994, and the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 2011. I resigned as auxiliary bishop in May 2020. From late September 2020 to June 2021, I served the parishioners at St. John Parish in Deer Park and St. Saviour Parish in Sycamore Township. From July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022, I served as the pastor of Corpus Christi Parish and St. John Neumann Parish in Cincinnati. I have learned so much in these ministries about faith and hope, and trusting in the providence of our loving God.
Over the past several weeks, I have had a chance to converse with Fr. Tom Mannebach and staff members. These conversations have been enlightening. I have learned that you are committed to living your faith in God. It will be a blessing for me to serve with you and learn from you. The hope for all of us, as I first learned from my parents and teachers years ago, is to know, love and serve God in this world so that we might be happy with Him in heaven. God is calling all of us to be saints! If I can ever be of assistance to you, please let me know.
This weekend, it’s a blessing for us to give thanks to God for our freedom. Ours is a great nation that espouses liberty and justice for all, born and unborn. Truly, God has shed His grace on us. The United States of America was founded on the belief that God is the reason for our existence. The signers of the Declaration of Independence knew that they needed God, and our country needed God. That has not changed. May we never forget, that without God, we will never remain free.