Earl K. Fernandes

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His Excellency, The Most Reverend

Earl Kenneth Fernandes
Bishop of Columbus
Earl Fernandes.jpg
Fernandes greeting people following his episcopal ordination in 2022
ChurchCatholic
DioceseColumbus
AppointedApril 2, 2022
PredecessorRobert J. Brennan
Orders
OrdinationMay 18, 2002
by Daniel Edward Pilarczyk
ConsecrationMay 31, 2022
by Dennis Marion Schnurr, Christophe Pierre and Robert J. Brennan
Personal details
Born
Earl Kenneth Fernandes

(1972-09-21) September 21, 1972 (age 51)
Toledo, Ohio
NationalityIndian-American
ParentsSydney and Thelma Fernandes
Previous post(s)Academic Dean, Mount St. Mary's Seminary
Exorcist, Archdiocese of Cincinnati
Alma materUniversity of Toledo
University of Salford
University of Cincinnati
Athenaeum of Ohio
Alphonsian Academy
MottoLatin: Veni Per Mariam
English: Come Through Mary[1]
Coat of armsEarl Kenneth Fernandes's coat of arms
Ordination history
History
Diaconal ordination
Ordained byDaniel Edward Pilarczyk
DateSeptember 29, 2001
Priestly ordination
Ordained byDaniel Edward Pilarczyk
DateMay 18, 2002
Episcopal consecration
Consecrated byDennis Marion Schnurr
DateMay 31, 2022
Styles of
Earl Kenneth Fernandes
Coat of arms of Earl Kenneth Fernandes.svg
Reference style
Spoken styleYour Excellency
Religious styleBishop

Earl Kenneth Fernandes (born September 21, 1972) is Catholic prelate who has served as the Bishop of Columbus since 2022. He is the first Indian-American bishop of the Latin Church in the United States and the first person of color to serve as the bishop of the Diocese of Columbus.[2] As of June 2022, Fernandes was also the youngest diocesan ordinary in the United States.[3]

Biography

Early life

Earl Kenneth Fernandes was born on September 21, 1972, in Toledo, Ohio,[4] to Sydney Oswald and Thelma (née Noronha) Fernandes. His mother and father were born in Goa and Mangalore, respectively, but raised in Mumbai and emigrating to the United States from there in 1971.[5][6][7] His father worked as a physician, being granted a green card in part due to the need for doctors in America during the time around the Vietnam War, and his mother was a teacher.[6] Fernandes has four brothers, one of whom is a deacon in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.[8][9][10][11] Fernandes recalls that his spiritual formation was fostered by the love of the Christian faith his parents inculcated in him.[10] Every day, Fernandes's mother started the day with a morning offering prayer and when the family went to visit their father working in the hospital, he was often found praying in the hospital chapel in his spare time,[10] and often offered free medical care to patients.[6]

The family attended St. Thomas Aquinas Church on the east side of Toledo, a working-class church that Fernandes says was like a second home to him.[6][12] He also attended parochial school at St. Thomas.[13] Fernandes attended St. Francis De Sales School, graduating in 1990 — the same class as Toledo mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz.[14]

Fernandes earned a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Toledo in 1994 and later studied physiology for a year at the University of Salford in England.[15] During a trip to Rome in 1995, he began to feel called to the priesthood through an experience he had in prayer at the Tomb of Saint Peter in the Vatican.[6] Like his four brothers, Fernandes was accepted into medical school and studied medicine for two years at the University of Cincinnati.[3] He left there to enter Casa Balthazar, a house of discernment in Rome, and in 1997, he entered seminary studies for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati at Mount Saint Mary's of the West. He was ordained a deacon on September 29, 2001,[15] and earned master's degrees in theology and divinity in 2002.[15]

Priesthood

St. Ignatius of Loyola Church (Cincinnati, Ohio) where Fernandes was pastor.

Fernandes was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati on May 18, 2002, by Daniel Edward Pilarczyk at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains. His first pastoral assignment was as vicar of Holy Angels Church and a teacher at Lehman Catholic High School.[3] Following this, beginning in 2004,[6] he studied at the Alphonsian Academy in Rome, attaining his licentiate in moral theology in 2006 and a doctorate in moral theology with a concentration in bioethics in November 2007.[13][15] During this time, he encountered the lay ecclesial movement of Communion and Liberation, and was deeply impacted by it, with his episcopal motto being drawn from a prayer of the movement.[16][6] He then taught at Mount Saint Mary's Seminary in Cincinnati and served as the academic dean there.[4] In 2013, he published a book, Seminary Formation and Homosexuality, with the Institute for Priestly Formation which defended Pope Benedict XVI's ban of the admission of gay men to Catholic seminaries.[17]

He was parochial administrator of Sacred Heart Church from July 2014 to March 2016.[15] There he celebrated the Tridentine Mass along with services in Italian and English. He said most in attendance at the Latin Mass were young people

... Looking for reverence and beauty, a sense of transcendence, and to be connected to their parents and grandparents, the generations of faith... The Latin Mass is also quiet. There’s so much noise and business in our lives. They enter into the liturgies interiorly and love it for its tradition, the Faith of their fathers.[18]

Fernandes was also named a Missionary of Mercy by Pope Francis for the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy that year.[19]

In 2016, Fernandes began to serve as a secretary to the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, first to Archbishop Carlo Viganò and then Archbishop Christophe Pierre.[15]

He served as the pastor of St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Cincinnati from 2019 until his appointment as bishop of Columbus in 2022.[20] Fernandes became pastor of the parish after his predecessor was accused of a rape perpetrated prior to the former pastor being ordained as a priest.[21] Parishioners there spoke highly of him and his management of the parish following the crisis.[22][23]

Fernandes is a fourth-degree Knight of Columbus. In the archdiocese, he was a member of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, a judge on the archdiocesan marriage tribunal, a member of the board of trustees of the Pontifical College Josephinum,[15] and an exorcist.[24]

Bishop of Columbus

On April 2, 2022, Fernandes was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Columbus by Pope Francis, with his episcopal consecration and installation occurring on May 31, 2022 at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Westerville, Ohio.[25] He is the first Indian American bishop to serve in the Latin Church in the United States, as well as the first person of color to serve as head of the Diocese of Columbus.[2] Fernandes is the fourth bishop of Columbus who was initially ordained as a priest for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati; the others being Sylvester Rosecrans, Henry K. Moeller, and Clarence George Issenmann.[26]

Fernandes intends to carry on the "Real Presence Real Future" initiative which was a hallmark of his predecessor, bishop Robert J. Brennan's, time in the diocese.[27] The initiative "aims to determine how to maintain a strong Catholic presence in the diocese’s 23 counties and make the best use of its resources."[28] The process likely will result in some parishes closing.[29] Fernandes aided in similar efforts for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati before being moved to Columbus.[30]

One of Fernandes' first actions as bishop was to install a diocesan priest at the Newman Center of the Ohio State University.[31] According to the diocese, the Paulist Fathers operating the ministry would be permitted to remain under the new pastor, but the leadership of the order declined and some parishioners issued complaints regarding the bishop's decision.[32] The Paulist Fathers, who had managed the ministry for 65 years, were replaced as part of an effort to align the student ministry more closely with the objectives of the diocese and to promote the addition of new Catholic lay organizations, including Opus Dei and Courage International.[33]

Fernandes affirmed to the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments the prior request of Robert Brennan that St. Mary of the Assumption in Lancaster to be elevated to a minor basilica. On 7 July 2022, Cardinal Arthur Roche bestowed the title of minor basilica upon St. Mary and, on August 14—the vigil of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin—the honor was announced to the parishioners by Fernandes.[34]

Distinctions

Foreign orders

See also

References

  1. ^ "Bishop-designate surprised by his appointment". The Catholic Times. April 12, 2022. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
  2. ^ a b King, Danae; Doyle, Céilí (April 2, 2022). "Columbus Diocese's new Bishop-elect Earl Fernandes is first Indian-American Catholic bishop". The Columbus Dispatch. Columbus, OH. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d Bean, Doug (April 2, 2022). "Cincinnati priest appointed as new Columbus bishop". The Catholic Times. Retrieved April 2, 2022. The bishop-elect’s devoted Catholic parents came to the United States from the Goa state of southwestern India in the early 1970s. His father was a physician, and the five boys in the family followed in his footsteps and were accepted to medical school. Three of them completed med school, Bishop-elect Fernandes answered his call to the priesthood and another brother is now a judge in Toledo.
  4. ^ a b "Resignations and Appointments, 02.04.2022". Vatican Press. April 2, 2022. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  5. ^ Dsouza, Alfie; Mangalorean, Team (April 4, 2022). "Fr Earl Fernandes, Son of Goan Parents, the FIRST Indian-American Roman Catholic Bishop in USA". Mangalorean.com. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g "04/18/22- Bishop Elect Earl Fernandes- Easter Greeting - St Gabriel Catholic Radio". Saint Gabriel Catholic Radio. April 19, 2022. pp. (timestamps) 00:55, 01:35, 3:50, 10:15, 16:05, 25:00, 38:00. Archived from the original on April 19, 2022. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  7. ^ "Thelma R. Fernandes Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information". www.walkerfuneralhomes.com. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  8. ^ "Christ in Our Midst". Annunciation Radio. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  9. ^ "Four men are ordained deacons in Toledo diocese". The Blade. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  10. ^ a b c Mullen, Shannon (April 2, 2022). "Pope Francis appoints first Indian-American to head a U.S. Roman Catholic diocese". Catholic News Agency. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  11. ^ "Sydney Fernandes Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information". www.walkerfuneralhomes.com. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  12. ^ Dsouza, Alfie; Mangalorean, Team (April 9, 2022). "AN EXCLUSIVE: Fr Earl Fernandes having Mluru Roots, the FIRST Indian-American Appointed as BISHOP in US". Mangalorean.com. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
  13. ^ a b Catholic Diocese of Columbus (May 30, 2022). "Bishop Fernandes Ordination Vespers And Mass Program". archive.org.
  14. ^ "New Columbus Bishop grew up in, went to school in Toledo". wtol.com. April 2, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g "Congratulations to Our Own Father Earl K. Fernandes, Bishop-elect of the Diocese of Columbus". Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  16. ^ Telegraph, The Catholic. "The Way of the Cross and Public Witness". Catholic Telegraph. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
  17. ^ Fernandes, Earl K. (August 2013). Seminary Formation and Homosexuality. Institute for Priestly Formation. ISBN 978-0-9887613-0-8.
  18. ^ "The right medicine". One Faith, One Hope, One Love. The Catholic Community Foundation for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. August 18, 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  19. ^ "Cincinnati priest appointed as new Columbus bishop". The Catholic Times. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  20. ^ "Welcome Reverend Earl K. Fernandes, STD – St. Ignatius of Loyola Church". Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  21. ^ Cheatham, Craig; WCPO. "Trial for Cincinnati Catholic priest accused of rape rescheduled for October". journal-news. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  22. ^ "The Columbus Dispatch". www.dispatch.com. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  23. ^ "Former parishioners sad to lose esteemed pastor". The Catholic Times. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  24. ^ King, Danae. "5 things to know: Columbus Catholic bishop-elect Earl Fernandes". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved April 21, 2022.
  25. ^ "Location, time set for Bishop-elect Fernandes' ordination and installation". The Catholic Times. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  26. ^ ""Former Bishops" - Catholic Diocese of Columbus". www.google.com. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  27. ^ King, Danae (October 12, 2021). "'Hallmark' of his time as bishop, Brennan hopes diocese reorientation continues without him". The Columbus Dispatch. Archived from the original on April 28, 2022. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  28. ^ "Bishop-designate surprised by his appointment". The Catholic Times. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  29. ^ King, Danae (October 12, 2021). "'Hallmark' of his time as bishop, Brennan hopes diocese reorientation continues without him". The Columbus Dispatch. Archived from the original on April 28, 2022. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  30. ^ "Bishop was active in parish restructuring in Archdiocese of Cincinnati". The Catholic Times. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  31. ^ "Bishop of Columbus Shifts Direction of Ohio State Newman Center". NCR. Retrieved July 16, 2022.
  32. ^ Behrens, Cole (July 31, 2022). "Paulist priests celebrate their last Mass at Ohio State's Newman Center". Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  33. ^ King, Danae (July 1, 2022). "Ohio State's Catholic student ministry to get new leadership at Newman Center". Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  34. ^ "Press Release, Diocese of Columbus, Basilica of St. Mary" (PDF). Diocese of Columbus. August 14, 2022.

External links

Episcopal succession

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Bishop of Columbus
2022-Present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent


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