December 10, 2024 // Bishop

A Magnificent Year for the Church

Todays Catholic

Toward the end of every calendar year, Today’s Catholic looks back at the top stories around the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend from the past 12 months. Between the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage coming through the diocese, hundreds of people from the area joining tens of thousands of their fellow pilgrims at the Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, and four seminarians from the diocese being ordained, few could argue that 2024 wasn’t one of the more remarkable years in the history of the Church, both locally and nationally.

The staff of Today’s Catholic are proud to present the top stories from 2024. 

1. National Eucharistic Congress

The Eucharistic procession through downtown Indianapolis on July 20 was the largest public witness of the 10th National Eucharistic Congress – a five-day gathering that aimed to form, inform, and inspire the more than 50,000 Catholics who registered for the event through diverse liturgies, dynamic speakers, and other faith-filled experiences. Since it was announced in November of 2021 that Indianapolis would host the event, the congress has been seen as the keystone moment of the National Eucharistic Revival – a three-year movement envisioned by the bishops of the United States with the goal of fostering among Catholics a deeper devotion to the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

From its inception, the faithful of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend have enthusiastically embraced the movement. An estimated 5,000 people attended a diocesan-wide Eucharistic pilgrimage in Warsaw on the opening day of the revival – Corpus Christi Sunday in 2022 – making it one of the largest processions in the nation. It is no surprise, then, that the diocese was among the most well-represented at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, which was held July 17-21.

For five days this summer, the congress overtook downtown Indianapolis. Throughout the week, attendees listened to powerful speakers testify to the power of Christ in the Eucharist. Lucas Oil Stadium was filled with an estimated 60,000 worshippers for the closing Mass, and a similar number joined the Eucharistic procession, walking behind Our Eucharistic Lord through the streets of our state capital.

Sarah Nielson and her husband, Dan – parishioners at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Fort Wayne – attended all five days of the congress with their four children. Sarah told Today’s Catholic: “Overall, our greatest joy was being together and experiencing Mass and adoration each day with so many brothers and sisters in Christ. A priest friend of ours described the experience of it all as ‘heaven on earth,’ and it truly was that little glimpse into eternity. Experiencing the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Mass, the source and summit of our faith, and worshiping the Lord in adoration with 60,000-plus brothers and sisters in Christ gave a foretaste of the full taste of heaven to come.”

2. National Eucharistic Pilgrimage

On Pentecost Sunday, May 19, as the Church commemorated the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that supernaturally empowered the disciples to go out and spread the Good News, the four routes of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage kicked off in four states – California, Texas, Connecticut, and Minnesota – to begin their journey to converge in Indianapolis for the National Eucharistic Congress.

Led by “perpetual pilgrims” – young men and women who stayed with Christ in the Blessed Sacrament and brought Him to the people of the towns and cities they visited – the Marian Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which began in Crookston, Minnesota, entered our diocese in South Bend on Friday, July 5, and included stops at the University of Notre Dame and parishes in Bristol, LaGrange, Angola, Waterloo, Auburn, Fort Wayne, Pierceton, Warsaw, and Plymouth throughout the course of six days. These parishes celebrated the coming of Our Lord accordingly, as they hosted special Masses, Eucharistic adoration and processions, meals for the community and the pilgrims, and other special events.

Brian Peterson, a member of the Knights of Columbus who was located toward the front of the procession around campus at the University of Notre Dame, told Today’s Catholic that it was inspiring to glance back a couple of times and see the streets covered with pilgrims. “But the most inspiring thing,” he said, “was that every time we came upon a group of people outside the procession, they knelt in silence. That was just beautiful and breathtaking to be able to see that everywhere! One lady came out of her house, she had a cross, and she was holding it and as we went by, she was kneeling. Just beautiful. That’s what it’s all about.”

3. Gift of Ordinations

During late spring and early fall, the Sacrament of Holy Orders was conferred upon four seminarians of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend.

On May 18 at St. Matthew Cathedral in South Bend, Andrew Barnes was ordained to the order of the diaconate by Bishop Rhoades. A son of St. Pius X Catholic Church in Granger, Deacon Barnes was vested by his longtime pastor and mentor, Monsignor Bill Schooler. He told Today’s Catholic ahead of his ordination that he was “excited and a little overwhelmed … from the reality of the priesthood and the diaconate being way bigger than anything we can do on our own. It takes a lot of trust and a lot of surrender to the Lord.”

Two weeks later, on June 2, Bishop Rhoades celebrated the Mass of ordination to the priesthood for Father Oscar Duarte and Father Caleb Kruse. With their families, friends, and brother priests in attendance at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Fort Wayne, each laid prostrate on the cathedral floor as a sign of humility and obedience as they vowed to lay down their lives for the Lord.

In his homily at the Mass, Bishops Rhoades reminded Father Duarte and Father Kruse of the solemnity of this moment and of all their celebrations of Mass as priests. “The Holy Spirit who descends on you today will descend upon the bread and wine every time you say the words of consecration, transforming them into the body and blood of Christ.”

Lastly, Nicholas Monnin, who is studying for the priesthood at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, was ordained to the diaconate on Thursday, October 3, in St. Peter’s Basilica. Following his ordination, Bishop Rhoades said: “Nick is a very bright young man, and I think he’ll be an excellent preacher. He also has a personality that is going to draw people to Christ and to the Church, and that’s what I look for in all of our men that I ordain, that they will be humble servants of Christ and of His Church, and Nick certainly has the qualities needed.”

4. Conclusion of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality

Bishop Rhoades spent the past two Octobers in Rome as a delegate at the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. The focus of the synod was synodality itself, as the delegates were tasked with exploring the theme, “How to be a missionary synodal Church.” Culminating the synodal process that began at the diocesan level in 2021, members of the synod approved a final document that offers concrete steps to take in order to fulfill the Church’s mission of evangelization.

“One of the things that struck me that the final document does well, and I think is a very good thing to remember, is that synodality, as we say in the final document, is not an end in itself,” Bishop Rhoades told Today’s Catholic upon his return this fall. “It serves the mission that Christ entrusted to the Church. I think it’s important to keep that in mind. … All of this is ordered to carry out the mission that Christ entrusted to the Church – the mission of salvation, the mission of spreading the Gospel, of spreading the love of Christ to the world.”

5. Catholic Universities Inaugurate New Presidents

During the Summer, new leaders were inaugurated at two Catholic universities located in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, as Holy Cross Father Robert Dowd was installed as the 18th president of the University of Notre Dame and Dr. Lance Richey became the 11th president of the University of Saint Francis. Each school held a special Mass and ceremonies befitting the occasions.

Father Dowd, who previously served the university as vice president and associate provost for interdisciplinary initiatives, was inaugurated on Friday, September 13, at a ceremony at the Joyce Center.

On Friday, June 7, the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Richey was inaugurated during a ceremony held in the Fort Wayne campus’ North Auditorium. Richey had been serving as interim president since May of 2023. In his inauguration address, Richey said, “I am beginning what I hope will be a wonderful and grace-filled adventure for us all as the University of Saint Francis asks itself once again what we are called to do as a Catholic, Franciscan university in a world that needs both those attributes more than ever.”

6. Local High Schools Claim State Titles

On Saturday, February 24, hundreds of Bishop Luers High School students, parents, alumni, and fans flocked to Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis to see if the school’s girls basketball team could claim yet another state championship to add to the school’s already crowded trophy case. Trailing by nine points at halftime, the outlook appeared bleak. But the Lady Knights outscored Brownstown Central by 17 points in the final two quarters to rally to a 44-36 victory to claim the school’s seventh girls basketball state title, matching the most of any program in state history.

On June 1, the top-ranked Saint Joseph Huskies beat No. 2-ranked Fishers 3-2 to capture the IHSAA Girls Tennis State Championship at the Pearson Automotive Tennis Club in Zionsville. The Huskies won at all three singles spots – Molly Bellia at No. 1, Ashi Amalnathan at No. 2, and Anni Amalnathan at No. 3 – to secure the program’s third team state title after coming up short in the state finals the past three years.

7. Retiring Priests Honored for Service to the Diocese

It’s always difficult on a parish when a beloved priest retires and hands over the pastoral and administrative duties to another priest. In 2024, the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend saw five amazing priests leave their roles at local parishes – three to retirement (Monsignor Bill Schooler, Monsignor Robert Schulte, and Father William Kummer) and two others who left the diocese to continue their ministry elsewhere (Father Mark Enemali and Father Polycarp Fernando).

In his final assignment in the diocese before retirement, Monsignor Schooler spent the final 23 years of his active ministry as pastor of St. Pius X Catholic Church in Granger. Monsignor Schooler told Today’s Catholic that he felt it was time to step aside. “It’s time for new leadership in the parish,” he said. “It’s time for me to let go of all that administration and to focus on why I was ordained a priest … to celebrate Mass, confessions, the sacramental ministry. The sacramental ministry is why we were ordained.”

Father Schulte and Father Kummer were ordained as priests together in 1975, and each have been faithful servants of the diocese. For years, along with his parish pastoral assignments, Monsignor Schulte served as the diocese’s vicar general. Father Kummer was known as a thoughtful, caring pastor of several parishes.

Father Fernando, who for years served as parochial vicar at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Fort Wayne, felt called to return to his native Sri Lanka, where he plans on ministering to the sick and the poor.

Father Enemali served the diocese at a number of parishes throughout the past 17 years, most recently as pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Auburn. His religious order, the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, assigned him to teach theology at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.

8. Saint Mary’s Reverses Course on Transgender Admissions

In late December of 2023 (and covered in Today’s Catholic’s first issue of 2024), the administration of Saint Mary’s College announced that the school was reversing its admissions policy on applicants who identify as transgender, following public pushback and Bishop Rhoades’ call to uphold Catholic teaching on the inherent connection between sex and gender. The reversal negated an admissions policy approved by the school’s board of trustees in June that opened undergraduate admission to “applicants whose sex is female or who consistently live and identify as a woman.”

Bishop Rhoades had lamented the college’s decision, saying that “it is disappointing that I, as bishop of the diocese in which Saint Mary’s College is located, was not included or consulted on a matter of important Catholic teaching.” He had urged Saint Mary’s board of trustees to correct the new admissions policy, which he said “(departed) from fundamental Catholic teaching on the nature of woman.”

9. South Bend Parishes Merge

On August 22, Bishop Rhoades officially merged two historic South Bend parishes into one to create the new St. Patrick-St. Hedwig Parish, according to an official decree. “This recommendation is based on declining attendance and sacramental life, especially at St. Hedwig Parish, and the close proximity of the two parish churches. Consolidation is seen as a means to pool the resources of both parishes so as to seek to build up one vibrant parish community,” according to the decree.

Father Zimmer told Today’s Catholic that a large portion of the problem is there simply isn’t sufficient population in the area to support two parishes. He’s hoping that changes and said he’s eager to see the new parish unite through a sense of shared hope in the future.

“I said in my installation homily that we are, I believe, on the cusp of great change in downtown South Bend, and I believe that there will be an increase in housing here, which, if we do that well, should result in more and more people coming to St. Patrick and St. Hedwig,” Father Zimmer said. “When that happens, we should be a significant presence in the city again.”

10. Faithful Flock to View Solar Eclipse

On the afternoon of Monday, April 8, it seemed as though the hustle and bustle of life stopped completely in northeastern Indiana as people of every age and faith took time to view the solar eclipse that blazed a path through the area. People flocked to the towns and cities just south of Fort Wayne to catch a glimpse of the total eclipse, including in Huntington, Decatur, and Bluffton, where local Catholic churches hosted viewing parties to see the rare phenomenon.