Kentucky

Kentucky bishop bars priests devoted to Latin Mass from ministry

Published

2 years ago

January 26, 2024

Kentucky bishop bars priests devoted to Latin Mass from ministry

NEW YORK – A small religious community dedicated to the Traditional Latin Mass in the Diocese of Covington, Kentucky, that once had aspirations of becoming a religious institute, now finds itself in limbo after its two priests were barred from public ministry.

Last week, Bishop John Iffert of Covington requested the resignation of Father Shannon Collins, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Park Hills, Kentucky, and removed Father Sean Kopczynski as the parish’s parochial vicar, after the former spoke in a critical fashion about the current version of the Mass.

Our Lady of Lourdes is the only parish in the diocese that offered the Traditional Latin Mass.

Collins and Kopczynski are members of the diocese’s Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist, a religious community founded in 2015, and established as a public association of the faithful by Bishop Emeritus Roger Foys of Covington in 2019 to serve those “attached” to the Traditional Latin Mass, who, Foys said at the time, “so often are driven to the margins of ecclesiastical and civil life.”

In 2019, Foys expressed the hope that the new community would lead parish missions and retreats, teach catechism, serve in foreign missions and staff parishes, with the goal of eventually becoming a religious institute in the diocese.

Yet according to Diocese of Covington records, and as told to Crux by a diocesan spokesperson, Collins and Kopczynski are currently the community’s only official members, therefore its future is in question after Iffert’s decision.

In a Jan. 17 letter to Our Lady of Lourdes parishioners, Iffert said he’s had concerns about the parish’s leadership, meaning Collins and Kopczynski, for a while.

“For some time now, I had serious concerns about the parish’s pastoral leadership,” Iffert wrote. “I attempted to resolve those concerns in conversation and fraternal correction with these priests, who are brothers and sons to me. Regretfully I have been unable to do so.”

“I take this action after becoming aware that Fr. Collins had preached in the parish that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, as celebrated in the current Roman Catholic liturgy, is ‘irrelevant,’ preserves ‘literally nothing of the old,’ and that the reform of the liturgy was motivated by hatred towards traditional Catholics and the ancient liturgies of Rome,” Iffert wrote.

In addition to requesting Collins’ resignation and removing Kopczynski as the parish’s parochial vicar, Iffert removed their faculties to teach, preach, or celebrate the sacraments.

“They are to conduct no public ministry,” Iffert wrote. “They may celebrate a private Mass for themselves, immediate family members, and members of the Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist. They are not permitted to celebrate the Mass publicly.”

On Jan. 25, in response to Iffert’s letter, a website registered as belonging to the Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist, Inc., posted a news release describing the two clerics as “veteran Roman Catholic priests in good standing.”

“The Missionaries seek to be teachers of truth and have never, to the best of their knowledge, promoted any errors in regard to the Holy Faith or taught anything contrary to the perennial Catechism of the Catholic Church,” the news release states.

The Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist did not respond to a Crux request for comment.

The immediate concern for the diocese after Iffert’s decision was to find a home for the Our Lady of Lourdes parishioners, who could no longer go there because the Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist own the church building and the group was no longer willing to permit the diocese use of the building.

Ultimately, Iffert announced that beginning Jan. 21, the pastor of St. Ann Mission in Covington, Father Matthew Cushing, had agreed to offer two Traditional Latin Masses to the Our Lady of Lourdes Parish community on Sunday mornings.

What’s still up in the air is what will happen to the Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist.

The religious community owns the Our Lady of Lourdes church building, purchased and renovated with over $2 million in donations in 2016. In the news release, it wrote that they’ve reached out to Iffert to offer Our Lady of Lourdes church as a home for the Traditional Latin Mass in the diocese.

A spokesperson confirmed Iffert is aware of the offer, and that he and his presbyterate council are “currently discerning what the path forward looks like for the stability of the parish.”

The religious community, meanwhile, said in the news release it will not alter its ministry.

“For the Missionaries, the ancient and apostolic liturgies of Rome are not just a preference, but a necessity of their charism. In accordance with their constitutions, the Missionaries cannot relinquish that liturgical charism in their community, nor within any pastoral work they do,” the news release states.

“Therefore, the Missionaries could not, in good conscience and in obedience to their charism, implement any plan of leading the faithful flock of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish away from the use of the older forms of Sacraments and Divine Worship,” the news release continues.

When asked by Crux, the diocesan spokesperson did not know how much, if any, progress had been made on the Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist becoming a religious institute.

They also did not know how much power Iffert has over the religious community. Its decree, published by the diocesan newspaper in 2019, states that “the association is subject to the authority of the Bishop of Covington,” which at the time was Foys but is now Iffert.

From the priests’ perspective, they said for now they will accept Iffert’s decision and weigh their options.

“In terms of next steps, the Missionaries are praying, consulting and weighing their options,” the news release stated. “Until there is more to say, please keep the faith, and continue to keep the Missionaries, as well as [Collins and Kopczynski] and in your prayers, as they will continue to do for their parishioners and their benefactors.”

Follow John Lavenburg on X: @johnlavenburg

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Kentucky

No. 2 seed Iowa State shuts down No. 7 Kentucky in 82-63 NCAA tourney victory

Published

12 hours ago

March 22, 2026

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No. 2 seed Iowa State shuts down No. 7 Kentucky in 82-63 NCAA tourney victory

ST. LOUIS — Tamin Lipsey knew he had to step up for Iowa State with All-America forward Joshua Jefferson sitting on the bench, his sprained left ankle still encased in a boot, as the Cyclones played Kentucky on Sunday for a spot in the Sweet 16.

Lipsey, who grew up in the shadows of the Iowa State campus in Ames, answered with the finest game of his four-year career.

The senior guard poured in a career-high 26 points, tied a career high with 10 assists, and led a suffocating defense that shut down the Wildcats in the second half, allowing the second-seeded Cyclones to pull away for an 82-63 victory in the NCAA Tournament.

“All the guys knew we had to step up in different ways,” Lipsey said, “however that presented to us.”

Lipsey didn’t do it alone, of course — he needed someone scoring to pile up all those assists. Milan Momcilovic scored 20 points and Nate Heise, getting the start in Jefferson’s place, added 12 to help the Cyclones (29-7) advance to a Midwest Region semifinal against either third-seeded Virginia or No. 6 seed Tennessee on Friday night in Chicago.

It will be the eighth Sweet 16 trip for the Cyclones and the third under T.J. Otzelberger, though the question now is whether they will be whole for it. Jefferson, their second-leading scorer and top rebounder, is scheduled to have an MRI exam on Monday.

“We’ll see how that goes and take it from there,” Otzelberger said.

Kentucky (22-14) jumped to a 20-9 lead in the opening minutes Sunday before Iowa State fought back to take a 31-30 halftime lead.

The Wildcats were still within 46-40 with 13½ minutes to play when the Cyclones forced three of the Wildcats’ 20 turnovers in quick succession. They converted all three into baskets at the other end, part of a decisive 13-1 run, which not only allowed Iowa State to seize control but also seemed to finally deflate Kentucky.

The Wildcats had been buzzing after a buzzer-beater from Otega Oweh forced overtime in a first-round victory over Santa Clara.

“We had a tough time finding baskets and more importantly we had a real tough time getting a stop,” Kentucky coach Mark Pope said. “They shot 50 percent in the second half from 3, and they played really well. You’re not going to win games when you give up 51 in the second half, and there’s a lot of reasons that happened.”

Oweh followed up his 35-point performance against the Broncos with 18 against the Cyclones, playing most of the second half in foul trouble. Denzel Aberdeen led the Wildcats with 20 points, though the pair of guards didn’t get a whole lot more help.

“We didn’t play fully hard for the full 40 minutes,” Aberdeen said, “and we had to do a better job.”

For two teams that can score in bunches, there was little elegance for much of their first matchup since the 2012 NCAA tourney, when the Wildcats beat Iowa State in the second round on their way to winning the national championship.

The Cyclones missed their first 11 tries from beyond the 3-point arc. Kentucky had 12 turnovers in the first half.

“We got a little disoriented,” Pope said, “and that’s what Iowa State does. They increased their pressure and we turned it over 12 times in the first half, and kind of contributed to our own demise.”

Iowa State eventually began driving to the basket and picking up fouls, and generated offense from the free-throw line until its shots started to fall. That began just before the break, and Heise’s buzzer-beating 3 gave the Cyclones a 31-30 advantage.

They went on to outscore Kentucky 51-33 after halftime to coast into the semifinals of the Midwest Region.

“We knew we had to be at our best. I’m proud of our guys,” Otzelberger said. “Felt like the game didn’t start the way we’d like but on defense, our pressure as the game wore on paid dividends for us. We generated turnovers and scored off our defense.”

Up next

Iowa State and Virginia have split four previous meetings, though the Cavaliers won the most recent matchup and the only one in the NCAA Tournament. The Cavaliers cruised 84-71 in the Sweet 16 on March 25, 2016, before losing to Syracuse in the Elite Eight.

The Cyclones beat Tennessee during the 1969 season but they’ve lost the last two to the Volunteers, the first during a tournament in December 1977 and the most recent on January 27, 2018, during the Big 12-SEC Challenge.

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Kentucky

Who is Otega Oweh’s brother of Kentucky basketball star?

Published

1 day ago

March 22, 2026

Press Room

Who is Otega Oweh’s brother of Kentucky basketball star?

Kentucky basketball will be back in action on Sunday in the Round of 32 against Iowa State thanks to the heroics of guard Otega Oweh.

Oweh hit the game-tying buzzer-beater against Santa Clara in the first round, sending the game to overtime. The Wildcats ultimately won 89-84.

The back-to-back Second Team All-SEC selection comes from an athletic family. His brother, Odafe Oweh, plays in the NFL, recently signing a free agent deal with the Washington Commanders. Oweh played college football at Penn State, and he was a first-round pick in 2021.

He previously played for the Baltimore Ravens and Los Angeles Chargers, earning All-Rookie Team honors in 2021.

The younger Oweh led Kentucky to the Sweet 16 last season, and thanks to his clutch shot on Friday, UK is playing for a shot at a return trip to the tournament’s second weekend.

This article originally appeared on College Sports Wire: Who is Otega Oweh’s brother who plays in NFL?

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Kentucky

Game time set for Iowa State vs. Kentucky in March Madness second round

Published

2 days ago

March 21, 2026

Press Room

Game time set for Iowa State vs. Kentucky in March Madness second round

Iowa State men’s basketball will play Kentucky in the second round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament in St. Louis, Missouri, on Sunday, March 22.

The No. 2-seed Cyclones (28-7) are coming off a 108-74 win over Tennessee State. The No. 7-seed Wildcats (22-13) are coming off a thrilling 89-84 win over No. 10-seed Santa Clara, which featured a buzzer-beating logo 3-pointer by Kentucky to send the game into overtime.

Check below for the need-to-know game information for Iowa State’s first-round matchup in the NCAA Tournament:

Buy Iowa State NCAA tournament tickets vs. Kentucky