Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati

Cincinnati's first church, named Christ Church, was organized in 1819, just beyond the city boundaries. Soon additional parishes were formed in Dayton, Hamilton, and St. Martin, Brown County.

As the number of German Catholic immigrants increased, Holy Trinity Church was formed in Cincinnati, the first Catholic parish for Germans west of the Allegheny Mountains. By the mid-nineteenth century, a system of national parishes, especially evident in Cincinnati and Dayton, took shape, providing separate churches for Italian, Hungarian, Polish, Lithuanian and Syrian Catholics.

Ethnic-specific parishes continued to be formed until World War I when Archbishop Moeller successfully petitioned Rome for an end to national parishes and permission to formulate parish boundaries.

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has been served by numerous women's religious orders, including the Sisters of Charity, Precious Blood Sisters, Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, Sisters of Mercy, Little Sisters of the Poor, Ursulines, and Sisters of St. Joseph. The congregations and orders of male religious in the Archdiocese include the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans), Society of Jesus (Jesuits), Missionaries of the Precious Blood, Society of Mary (Marianists), Comboni Missionaries, Glenmary Home Missioners, and Holy Ghost Fathers (Spiritans). Members of these communities staff schools and parishes and serve in a variety of social service roles.

Many of the religious communities in the Archdiocese owe their presence in part to Sarah Worthington King Peter, a prominent Catholic convert and philanthropist, who in the mid-nineteenth century helped finance the relocation of sisters from Europe to Cincinnati.[5]

In November 2003, following a sexual abuse scandal and two-year investigation by the Hamilton County prosecutor's office, Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk entered a plea of nolo contendere regarding five misdemeanor charges of failure to report allegations of child molestation.[6] The court rendered no criminal judgment on the allegations themselves, only on the diocese's failure to report the allegations. The Archdiocese of Cincinnati was also fined $10,000 after being found guilty of failing to report sexually abusive priests in the 1970s and 1980s.[7][8]

In August 2019, it was announced that Auxiliary Bishop Joseph R. Binzer, the Archdiocese's Vicar General who was blamed for failing to inform the Archbishop of Cincinnati about a series of allegations that a priest had engaged in inappropriate behavior with teenage boys was removed from his position as head of priest personnel, while the archdiocese begins its own investigation.[9] Geoff Drew, the priest who Binzer had protected, had previously faced allegations in other parishes.[9] On August 19, 2019, local authorities arrested Drew and charged him with nine counts of sex abuse.[10][11][12] In May 2020, the Vatican accepted Binzer's resignation as auxiliary bishop.[13]

1. Edward Fenwick, O.P. (1822–1833)
2. John Baptist Purcell (1833–1850), elevated to Archbishop

1. John Baptist Purcell (1850–1883)
2. William Henry Elder (1883–1903; coadjutor archbishop 1880-1883)
3. Henry K. Moeller (1903–1925; coadjutor archbishop 1903)
   - Joseph Chartrand (Appointed 1925, did not take effect)
4. John Timothy McNicholas O.P. (1925–1950)
5. Karl Joseph Alter (1950–1969)
6. Paul Francis Leibold (1969–1972)
7. Joseph Bernardin (1972–1982), appointed Archbishop of Chicago (Cardinal in 1983)
8. Daniel Edward Pilarczyk (1982–2009)
9. Dennis Marion Schnurr (2009–present; coadjutor archbishop 2008-2009)

1. Sylvester Horton Rosecrans (1861–1868), appointed Bishop of Columbus
2. Joseph H. Albers (1929–1937), appointed Bishop of Lansing
3. George John Rehring (1937–1950), appointed Bishop of Toledo
4. Clarence George Issenmann (1954–1957), appointed Bishop of Columbus
5. Paul Francis Leibold (1958–1966), appointed Bishop of Evansville and later Archbishop of Cincinnati (see above)
6. Edward Anthony McCarthy (1965–1969), appointed Bishop of Phoenix and later Coadjutor Archbishop and Archbishop of Miami
7. Nicholas Thomas Elko (1970–1985)
8. Daniel Edward Pilarczyk (1974–1982) appointed Archbishop of Cincinnati (see above)
9. James Henry Garland (1984–1992) appointed Bishop of Marquette
10. Carl Kevin Moeddel (1993–2007)
11. Joseph R. Binzer (2011–2020)

The following men began their service as priests in Cincinnati before being appointed bishops elsewhere (years in parentheses refer to their years in Cincinnati):

• John Martin Henni, Bishop and later Archbishop of Milwaukee (1829–1843)
• Henry Damian Juncker, Bishop of Alton (1834–1857)
• Joshua Maria Young, Bishop of Erie (1838–1853)
• John Baptist Lamy, Vicar Apostolic of New Mexico and later Bishop and Archbishop of Santa Fe (1838–1850)
• James Frederick Bryan Wood, Coadjutor Bishop and later Bishop and Archbishop of Philadelphia (1844–1857)
• John Henry Luers, Bishop of Fort Wayne (1846–1857)
• Caspar Henry Borgess, Coadjutor Bishop and later Bishop of Detroit (1848–1870)
• Richard Gilmour, Bishop of Cleveland (1852–1872)
• John Quinlan, Bishop of Mobile (1852–1859)
• Augustus Toebbe, Bishop of Covington (1854–1869)
• Joseph Gregory Dwenger, Bishop of Fort Wayne (1859–1867)
• Henry Richter, Bishop of Grand Rapids (1865–1883)
• Francis Beckman, appointed Bishop of Lincoln and later Archbishop of Dubuque (1902–1923)
• Urban John Vehr, Bishop and later Archbishop of Denver (1915–1931)
• Francis Augustine Thill, Bishop of Salina (1920–1938) (He became Bishop of Concordia in 1938, and was still in office there when the diocese name was changed from Concordia to Salina in 1944.)
• Anthony John King Mussio, Bishop of Steubenville (1935–1945)
• Christopher Cardone, Bishop of Auki later Archbishop of Honiara (1986-1988)
• John Joseph Kaising, Auxiliary Bishop for the Military Services, USA (1962–2000)
• Robert Daniel Conlon, Bishop of Steubenville and later Bishop of Joliet (1977–2002)

• Msgr. Carl J. Ryan (1946–1964)[34][35]
• Fr. Herman H. Kenning (1970–1974)[36]
• Sr. Kathryn Ann Connelly, S.C. (1983–2002)[37][38]
• Bro. Joseph Kamis, SM (2002–2010)[39]
• Dr. Jim Riggs, Ph.D. (2010–2015)[40]
• Ms. Susie Gibbons (2015–present)

The Archdiocese publishes a monthly magazine, The Catholic Telegraph. It began publishing as a weekly newspaper in 1831, making it the first diocesan newspaper and second oldest Catholic newspaper in the United States, and converted to magazine format in 2020. Its defunct sister newspaper, Der Wahrheitsfreund, was the first German Catholic newspaper in the country.

The national magazine St. Anthony Messenger is published in Cincinnati by the Franciscan Friars with the archdiocese's ecclesiastical approval.

Several area Catholic radio stations, owned by separate entities, serve the Archdiocese:

• WNOP 740 AM Licensed to Newport, Kentucky. "Sacred Heart Radio" plus a sister station
• WHSS 89.5 FM in Hamilton, a repeater of WNOP.
• WULM 1600 AM located in Springfield "Radio Maria" (based at KJMJ in Alexandria, Louisiana) serving portions of the Dayton area: a fifty-mile radius in the daytime. (ten mile radius at night) plus a sister station:
• WHJM 88.7 FM licensed in Anna, transmitting from Botkins with a live studio located in nearby Minster which serves a forty-mile radius within the Upper Miami Valley and southern portions of the Lima area. Radio Maria also streams on the internet
• WLRU-LP 106.9 FM in Hillsboro.

Other stations reach into portions of the Archdiocese:

• WVSG 820 AM located in Columbus "St. Gabriel Radio" (the former WOSU (AM).
• WRDF 106.3 FM licensed in Columbia City, Indiana with studio in Fort Wayne as "Redeemer Radio" which can be heard in portions of the northwestern corner of the Archdiocese, plus an audio stream.