Father Leo Schloemer A Mass of Christian Burial for Father Leo Bernard Schloemer was celebrated April 3 at Our Lady of the Fields Chapel in Fairfield. Father Schloemer, 94, died March 25. He was a Glenmary Home Missioner for 67 years. A native of Cincinnati, Father Schloemer made his first …

Franciscan Father Blane Grein has been a priest for 56 years. Most of that time has been spent in mission work, for which the friar is grateful. “I feel I’m a very blessed individual,” he said. He originally hails from St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Carthage, and recalls an early …

St. Maximilian Kolbe was born as Raymund Kolbe on January 8, 1894, in the Kingdom of Poland, part of the Russian Empire. He was a Polish Conventual Franciscan friar and a martyr in the German death Camp of Auschwitz during World War II.

By Gail Finke (An earlier version of this story was previously posted in error.) A real estate venture by Catholics who both wanted to make their fortunes and establish a village far from the anti-Catholic sentiment of urban Cincinnati, rural St. Bernard was home to one of the country’s original …

By Gail Finke (An older version of this story was posted in error.)  Franciscans in Europe didn’t pastor churches. Even when sent on foreign missions, they established friaries, where they lived together in community and worked with the poor.  But in America, things were different. Father David Endres, dean of …

  By Gail Finke It’s the little clay baby in the manger—or maybe the empty manger, waiting until Christmas morning for the figure to appear. It’s the watchful figures of Mary and Joseph (“Mary always has to go on Jesus’s right, and Joseph always has to hold a lantern or …

Franciscan Community Garden feeds the hungry By Erin Schurenburg “The beginning of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis was, as is usual in the exceptional works of God, small, inconspicuous, and secluded, and remindful of the tiny mustard seed in the Gospel,” (from “Short Account …

10th year! Benefits parish library, “Project Read” tutorial program, local nursing homes, prisons, and Teens with Disabilities program. Thousands of books and other media! Saturday and Sunday.

10th year! Benefits parish library, “Project Read” tutorial program, local nursing homes, prisons, and Teens with Disabilities program. Thousands of books and other media! Saturday and Sunday.

Bring your family for Evening Prayer, followed by pizza and a salad! All ages welcome — add this event to your family Lenten observances. Sisters Margie Niemer and Patti Zurich will lead. Please RSVP with number attending by March 17 to 812-933-6437. There is no fee but  freewill offering will …