Spring 2025 – The Athenaeum Magazine
See the full Spring 2025 issue of The Athenaeum below. This issue celebrates the appointment and installation of The Most Rev. Robert G. Casey, now the Archbishop of Cincinnati, Chancellor of MTSM and Chairman of MTSM’s Board of Trustees. Read about his installation Mass, Vespers before his installation and his visit to the Seminary on the day his appointment was announced.
The spring issue also celebrates the men who have completed seminary formation at MTSM and have been or will be ordained to the priesthood in the weeks ahead. In addition, we celebrate the men who completed the permanent diaconate formation program and have been ordained for ministry in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and the Diocese of Covington and we recognize the men and women who have graduated with Master’s Degrees, Masters Certificates or Certificates from the School of Theology this spring.
The School of Theology has undergone a leadership change with Rev. Ryan T. Ruiz being assigned to become Vice Rector and Director of Formation for Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and Samuel B. Johnson, Ph.D. being appointed as his successor as Dean of the School of Theology. This issue interviews both about their vocations so far and what is ahead.
Another change has come for Rev. Eric M. Wood, who completed his Doctorate in Moral Theology in October and will, for the first time since joining the priest faculty at MTSM five years ago, not be balancing studies with his work in teaching and formation.
Other new faces in new places include meeting the two newer members of Maly Library staff and some change to how MTSM approaches food service. The changes will not stop there, as MTSM prepares to implement a new strategic plan ahead of the bicentennial of the Seminary in 2029.
There are photo features from the MTSM seminarians on the Ministry of Acolyte, Ministry of Lector and Admission to Candidacy, the trip to Washington, D.C. for the 2025 March for Life in January and hosting Behold in November and March.
There is time and space to remember some of our recently departed friends, including Rev. James J. Walsh, who served as President & Rector of The Athenaeum of Ohio/Mount St. Mary’s Seminary from 1984-90, Deacon Thomas E. Westerfield, who was the Archdiocese of Cincinnati’s oldest permanent deacon prior to his passing at 99 years old and served on the MTSM Board of Trustees for 19 years and Matthew L. Bischoff, who entered seminary in 2018 with the ambition of becoming a priest, but saw his time cut short after a bout with cancer.
The Athenaeum is published twice a year for alumni, patrons and friends of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary & School of Theology. To be added to the mailing list, contact: Heidi Walsh at 513.233.6159 or hwalsh@athenaeum.edu.