Father Earl Fernandez, who grew up and attended high school and college in Toledo, was proclaimed the 13th Bishop of the Diocese of Columbus on Saturday.
The Rev. Earl Fernandez, who grew up and attended high school and college in Toledo, was proclaimed Saturday the 13th Bishop of the Diocese of Columbus.
The elected Bishop of Fernandes, who recently served as a parish priest in Cincinnati, holds the position of His Eminence Robert Brennan, who left to become Bishop of Brooklyn.
The 49-year-old Fernandez will be consecrated and appointed Bishop of Columbus in late May.
A priest for nearly 20 years, Fernandez served as dean, pastor, associate professor, religion teacher in high school, head of retreats and more according to Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States.
He speaks four languages - English, Italian, Spanish and French – reads Latin and holds a doctorate in moral theology.
Fernandez served as pastor in Ignatius of Loyola Church in Cincinnati from the end of 2019.
In a letter to parishioners at the church, Fernandez said that “with every call or call from God comes a task. Knowing our own weakness and weakness, the task before us seems terrible and difficult, but I know that with God everything is possible.
Fernandez hails from Toledo and graduated High School of St. Francis de Saleski in 1990. He later entered the University of Toledo, where he received a bachelor’s degree in biology.
He entered a seminary in Cincinnati and then studied in Rome.
His brother Trevor Fernandez is a deacon in the Catholic Church.
There are 207,041 Catholics in the Diocese of Columbus.
