BELLEVUE - The Rev. Ed Kuhlman knows that the church at which he's been
pastor for the last two years is small. But it's important.
"We're really interested in ministering one person at a time. If one person
has a place to go who might otherwise not have a church to call
home, then we're succeeding," said Kuhlman, pastor of Holy Family Catholic
Church.
The independent Catholic church has a core group of 15 to 20 people, with
as many as 50 on holidays.
"My job as pastor is not necessarily to bring
as many people into the church as it is to help people along their
spiritual journey - wherever they might
end up," Kuhlman said.
The church will celebrate its two-year anniversary with an outdoor Mass
at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Tower Park in Fort Thomas, followed by a picnic
at 6 p.m. The church's regular worship service is at 4:30 p.m. Saturdays
at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, 306 Center St., Bellevue.
The church is a part of the Ecumenical Catholic Church + USA, which practices
a liturgical worship similar to the Roman Catholic, Episcopal and Orthodox
churches.
But the church is not under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church,
the Diocese of Covington or the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
It offers an "atmosphere of ecumenical grace, embracing all Christian
believers and the un-churched," according to the denomination's
Web site. The church allows anyone to accept Communion.
It also permits married men and women to be deacons and priests.
Kuhlman, who is not married, discovered the Ecumenical Catholic Church
and became a deacon. While starting the church and serving as pastor he
studied to become a priest and was ordained.
" Over the years, I just felt called to
do this, and the more people I talked to, the more I heard
about people looking for a church like this," Kuhlman
said.
For more information, visit www.cgausvik.com/holyfamilyicc.