St. Leonard Catholic Church

Parish Announcment for Saint Leonard Catholic Church

Dear Parishioners of St. Leonard,

At 1pm today, January 15, 2025, the Diocese of Columbus will publicly announce the formal union (merger) of St. Leonard Parish with St. Francis de Sales. 

When it is posted, you can find the decree in its entirety online here: 

Catholic Diocese of Columbus 

St. Leonard's final celebration of Mass will be on Sunday, 2/2 at 9:30am with Bishop Fernandes, followed by a reception.

Change can be difficult, especially one that hits so close to the heart such as your home parish. Please know of my unceasing prayers. I encourage you to be patient and persevere through the unknowns that we will undoubtedly face. Fr. Mike, Fr. PC, and I promise to continue to be with you in the weeks ahead to sort out next steps and answer your questions as I work with the transition team, alongside the Diocese. We are all dedicated to making this transition as smooth as possible, one that honors our parishes while embracing the new path God has laid before us. 

We will see you at Mass this weekend where we hope to have more information.

St. Leonard, pray for us! St. Francis de Sales, pray for us!

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Dave

 

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Message from the Diocese of Columbus:

The efforts of our planning initiative Real Presence, Real Future continue to assist us in meeting the needs of Catholics across the Diocese of Columbus. Thank you for your commitment and involvement in that important initiative in our diocese. Part of the importance of RPRF was to help us understand the needs of the whole diocese and that pastoral planning is not intended to be a one-time event but an on-going journey.

While the final recommendation that St. Leonard and St. Francis be merged together was rejected in May 2023 in favor of the current structure in place, there was the understanding that some reevaluation of the model for St. Leonard would be necessary. The time for reevaluation of the model for St. Leonard has come sooner than expected. Bishop Fernandes has asked Fr. Sizemore to continue serving as administrator of St. Leonard moving forward. In light of the pastoral needs of the area, the recommendation now is that St. Leonard Parish be merged into St. Francis de Sales Parish, and that the current St. Leonard church building be repurposed as a ministry support center. As one parish, worship and the sacraments would be together at St. Francis, while St. Leonard church would become a vibrant hub for many ministries, faith formation and evangelization efforts to meet the current and expected needs of western Licking County. 

Results and responses from the 6/11/24 St. Leonard Town Hall meeting will be available in next weeks bulletin.