About Us

Fr. Martin Pitstick

Pastor of Divine Mercy & St. Bernard
(859) 261-6172
pitstickm@gmail.com

I’m Father Martin, pastor of Divine Mercy (Sacred Heart) & St. Bernard Catholic parishes. Whether you are Catholic or not, I would welcome the opportunity to get to know you and listen to your questions about God or Faith. Feel free to invite me for a cup of coffee, or to stop by my office. Jesus Christ is the answer to the longing all people find deep within their hearts. He is the Savior of the world who gave his life to redeem us from our sins and win for us the gift of eternal life. He conquered death, proving his claim to be God by rising from the dead. Jesus, who is both God and Man, loves you. The Christian religion is not primarily a philosophy, moral code or set of beliefs. Although it contains all of these, it is first and foremost a saving, personal encounter with the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus can help you with whatever difficulties you may be facing in your life. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. By entrusting your life to Jesus, and following his commandments of love, you can know his promise of Eternal Life, through the forgiveness of your sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. In baptism, we become his disciples, as part of His divine family, the Church, which he founded as our sure guide and support.

Click Here to Learn More about Fr. Martin Patstick

Indian Student Priests

Fr. Roshan Varghese, MST is currently residing at St. Bernard.

Since 2009, St. Bernard Church has been pleased to host student priests from India, who are working on getting their Masters Degree in Education. Pictured below are the priests who have lived and served at St. Bernard Church, while getting their degree. Xavier University offers them free tuition and we offer them lodging in exchange for their help in saying Masses. Afterwards, they return to India, often to be principals of large schools.

These are priests of the Missionary Society of St. Thomas the Apostle (MST), of the Syro-Malabar rite, which is in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. This means that Roman Catholics may attend a Syro-Malabar Catholic Mass, the same as they would a Roman Catholic Mass, and go to Holy Communion. The Syro-Malabar Mass is referred to as “Holy Qurbana” (the word “Qurbana” means “Sacrifice” or “Offering”). When the Indian priests come to study at Xavier, while living at St. Bernard Church, they need to learn to say Mass according to the Roman Rite, and receive faculties from our Bishop, so that they can say Mass in our parishes while they are here. Here is an explanation from Wikipedia:

“The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church… or Church of Malabar Syrians is an Eastern Catholic Major Archiepiscopal Church in full communion with the Pope. It is one of the 23 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in the Catholic communion. The Church is headed by Major Archbishop Cardinal George Alencherry of the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly in Kerala, India. The members of the Church are known as Mar Thoma Nasranis or Syrian Catholics. It is the largest of the Nasrani denominations with around 4.6 million believers and traces its origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century.

“The Syro-Malabar Church follows the East Syrian Rite liturgy, traditionally attributed to saints Addai and Mari, which dates back to 3rd century Edessa, and like the Chaldean Rite is a Syro-Oriental Rite. It is the second largest Eastern Catholic Church, the largest being the Ukrainian Catholic Church. It is one of the two Eastern Catholic Churches from India, the other being the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church which follows the West Syrian Rite liturgy.”