Wednesday, September 22, 2010

A Mass of Christian Burial for Father Bernard “Ben” Bruening was celebrated Sept. 20 at Our Lady of Good Hope Parish in Miamisburg. Retired Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk presided. Father Bruening, 77, died Sept. 15 at Berkeley Square Retirement Community.

Father Ben Bruening (CT file photo)

A Cincinnati native, Father Bruening did his preparatory studies at St. Gregory Seminary and studied theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary of the West. He was ordained on May 30, 1959, at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains by then-Archbishop Karl J. Alter.
 
Father Bruening received his first assignment on June 12, 1959, as assistant pastor at the former St. John Parish in Middletown and full-time teacher at Fenwick High School where he remained a faculty member until 1973. During his years at Fenwick, he also served as assistant pastor at the former St. Peter Claver Parish in Middletown; St. Mary Parish in Franklin; and the former Holy Trinity Parish in Middletown. In addition, he served as temporary administrator of St. Mary Parish in Franklin from 1967-69, and associate pastor at St. Matthias Parish in Cincinnati from March to June 1973.
 
Father Bruening went on to serve as pastor of St. Francis de Sales Parish Cincinnati from 1973-85, and pastor of Our Lady of Good Hope Parish from 1985-2003. He also served as dean of the St. Francis de Sales Deanery from 1974-78. He retired in July 2003.

Father Bruening is survived by two sisters, Mary Theresa Ryan of Silver Spring, Md., and Rita Klein, of Cincinnati.

Interment was in St. Mary’s Cemetery in St. Bernard.