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Growing Together in Faith

2/12/2025

“Each marriage is a kind of ‘salvation history,’ which from fragile beginnings — thanks to God’s gift and a creative and generous response on our part — grows over time into something precious and enduring.” // Pope Francis

Valentine's Day serves as the culmination of National Marriage Week, a week that Catholics celebrate each year. The 2025 theme for National Marriage Week is 'Marriage: Source of Hope, Spring of Renewal. Pursue a Lasting Love!'

As we celebrate marriage this week in our Jubilee of Hope, we want to recognize two couples from our family of parishes who met in their youth at one of our family churches and have grown together in faith since as husband and wife. Throughout their marriage journeys, they have turned to their faith as a source of hope and renewal, recognizing that God is the piece that holds them together.

Howard and Holly Emsley

The Emsley's love story is one every young Catholic hopes for! Both Holly and Howard grew up in households with committed Catholic parents. A Catholic education was priority growing up, and a connection to faith was instilled in them from a young age. When God brought both to the Dayton area for work as young adults (Howard at Wright Patterson and Holly at Miami Valley Hospital), they each registered as parishioners at Incarnation Church to continue their faith as adults.

As they joined the parish in the Fall of 1987, a new young adults group was forming to build a faith community for young married couples and post-college singles. They both decided to get involved with the group and found themselves together constantly as their social lives became entwined with Incarnation Young Adult adventures, sports teams, faith events and weekly Mass as a group. After a few months of budding friendship, the two began purposefully dating and quickly realized that their relationship was something special. Howard proposed on the Serpentine Wall in August 1988 and they were married in September of 1989. Their marriage was just the start from this young adults group, as more than a dozen marriages came from it (many of which are still active at Incarnation and other parishes in the area).

Emsley Wedding, September 1989

Since their wedding day, Holly and Howard have found a deep connection to their faith through their children. As they grew throughout adolescence, the Emsley family was greatly involved at Incarnation School, which provided a strong Catholic education and environment, as well as sacramental preparation. They also created religious traditions for their household, and made sure that the Mass and parish activities were regular events on their family calendar. As their children have now reach adulthood and make independent decisions about their own faith lives, Howard and Holly can see where the Catholic teachings they grew up with are ingrained in their values. They continue to pray for their children daily, and hope that they fully understand how God is always there with them in any stage of life

While much of their faith since marriage has been nurtured through raising their children in the traditions and practices of the Catholic faith, they have found a new outlook on their faith lives as empty nesters. They have prioritized expanding their knowledge of religion and relationship with Christ both collectively and individually, joining small groups, ministries, planning teams and Bible studies at OLL and adding more distinctive prayer time into their daily schedules. Together, Holly and Howard attend various events and retreats held by the parishes, and enjoy visiting new churches while traveling to really visualize the expansive nature of the universal Catholic Church.

When asked if they had one tip to share with newlyweds or those who are preparing for marriage in our family of parishes, this is what they had to say: "Marriage is a journey for two that is a lot easier in you can agree on a common set of values, develop and foster a strong set of friendships, maintain regular family playtime and meals and support each other in a joint faith life."

Grandchild Baptism (photo includes Thomas, the eldest Emsley child, his wife Abby and their daughter Harper)

Andy DeVito and Noelle Collis-DeVito

While both Andy and Noelle were students at the University of Dayton, they actually didn't meet on UD's campus. What brought these two together was St. Francis of Assisi Church.

In Noelle's first year of college, she wrote an essay for her religion class about her interest in youth ministry. Her professor happened to be married to the Youth Ministry Coordinator for St. Francis at the time and connected them. As she began her commitment to working with the youth of St. Francis, she met a family with three teens in the program who, when it was mentioned that she was a student at UD, shared that their brother played football for the same university. One day, their older brother picked them up from youth ministry, and it was Andy. A mere 24 hours after briefly meeting, Andy was contacting each "Noel/Noelle" in the UD phonebook in hopes of inviting Noelle to a Bible study with him, and that was the beginning of their relationship with Christ at its core. The two volunteered at St. Francis together, attended and led retreats and mission trips together, participated in Bible studies and other faith-sharing groups/events. These patterns remained a constant throughout their relationship and have kept the two together through all of life's challenges.

Collis-DeVito Wedding, June 2005

Andy and Noelle were married in June 2005 at Noelle's childhood parish in Fishers, Indiana. The two found themselves primarily focused on the liturgy of their wedding day, inviting friends and family to participate as altar servers, lectors, cantors and Eucharistic ministers. It can be easy to get swept up in the fun and excitement of the reception party, but the true celebration was the Mass and the sacrament itself.

Today, faith remains the main focus of Noelle and Andy's relationship. After a time of serving as the Coordinator of Youth Ministry for St. Francis herself, Noelle has taught baptism classes, sang in the choir, served as a catechist, planned Vacation Bible Camp, began the Making Music Praying Twice ministry and has facilitated retreats for young people of the parish. Her most recent endeavor has been working with the Awaken program to increase accessibility to children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Andy has participated in the Men's Retreat, volunteered with youth ministry at both the Jr. High and High School levels, served as a catechist and on Pastoral Council and has assisted with Vacation Bible Camp. The two also participate in a small faith community as well to ensure that their marriage is one where faith is at the forefront of all things.

What incredible stories of love that have grown from our parishes; we are inspired by their witness to God's love in their marriages. To say it best, Noelle shared some knowledge for other couples:

Marriage helps you grow closer to God by deeply understanding what it means to love unconditionally. We seek to serve one another, but as humans, we both have shortcomings that can lead to moments where we are not on the same page. Relying on God during these difficult times is what has not only gotten us through but has strengthened our relationship. We have learned that sacramental love (agape) is not romantic. It is an action that you choose every day, even if you do not “like” the other person. Agape is loving without expecting anything in return.

Romantic love is also essential in a marriage, but when you commit to someone “in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health,” agape is the kind of love that perseveres when times are tough. We have committed to always choosing each other, even when we have differences of opinion and sinfulness gets in the way. We aspire to love the imperfect person as perfectly as God loves each of us.

This type of love takes practice and has had positive implications in our lives beyond our marriage. As we seek to love one another, it has taught us how to love others similarly. This agape love has strengthened our relationship and has flowed into our connections with our children, extended family, friends, and others we encounter.

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Evangelization in Action

2/3/2025

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This past weekend, two of our parish staff members were honored at the Center for the New Evangelization Appreciation Banquet. This annual banquet recognizes and celebrates evangelists across the Archdiocese of Cincinnati who go above and beyond to share the Gospel and bring people closer to Christ.

One staff member who received an award at this year's banquet was our very own pastor, Fr. Brian Phelps! Fr. Brian received the Radiate Christ Award for Parish Evangelization.

His program bio read:

"Fr. Brian Phelps is the pastor of Our Lady of Light Family of Parishes in Centerville and Dean of the Emmanuel Deanery. He was ordained a priest in May 2014 and eventually appointed pastor of Our Lady of Light in July 2022. Fr. Brian was nominated for the Radiate Christ Award by an OLL parishioner. In her words, 'Fr. Brian [has] done an incredible job leading Incarnation and St. Francis through the Beacons of Light transition... the joining of our parishes into one larger family has been both spiritually enriching and organizationally practical... on a more personal level, Fr. Brian's counsel and guidance have been very helpful to me... His gentle and patient guidance and generosity with his time really made a difference for me.'"

Our second staff member who received an award at this year's banquet was our Digital Communication Specialist, Sarah Chivers. Sarah was the first to receive the Radiate Christ Award for Communications, a new category for the 2025 Radiate Christ Awards.

Her program bio read:

"Sarah Chivers is the Digital Communication Specialist at Our Lady of Light Family of Parishes in Centerville. Sarah demonstrates an amazing ability to use her creative skills to promote the Family of Parishes and evangelization happening locally and nationally though their social media, website, and other digital mediums. Sarah has a knack for using photography and video to share the story of the OLL Family of Parishes and God's calling to people throughout the Archdiocese and beyond."

Congratulations to Fr. Brian and Sarah! We are so thankful to have such innovative and motivated staff members serving our family of parishes.

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Staff Gospel Reflection | The Presentation of the Lord

2/2/2025

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As our parish staff was discussing this weekend's gospel, something beautiful of note was the concept of celebrating both the youth, our future, and the elders, our wisdom.

In the Presentation of the Lord, we see Mary and Joseph present Jesus in the temple. This was a custom of their time:

"Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord, and to offer the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord." // Luke 2:23-24

As the reading comes to a close, Luke states:

"The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him." //Luke 2:40

This is what we hope for the youth of our faith - that they grow closer and deeper in the love of Christ. These young people are the future generations of the Church and the next generation of saints. It is our responsibility to raise them to be good, kind and wise in their faith, so that they continue to build up the Church for generations to come.

But as we lift up and prepare our young ones to take on such a significant role in the Church, we recognize and remember all that our elders before us have done. As we too grow in age, we recognize the effort and passion that generations of Christians have given to make the Church what it is today, to make it a faith foundation of over 2,000 years full of tradition and reverence.

We witness in the Presentation of the Lord, Simeon and Anna's lifelong commitment to their faith. When seeing Jesus, they recognize that their trust in God was fulfilled: He had provided the one who would complete His promise of salvation.

"Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.” // Luke 2:29-32

What a vulnerable aspect to both life and faith - to see this passing of the torch, bringing Christ's light to more and more people throughout the generations. As we see new life come into the world, so we also see our loved ones return home to God's loving arms. They have ran the good race, they have fought the good fight. They have given and provided and shared their wisdom with those around them. And it is our responsibility to carry out their good deeds and continue to be Christ's light to the world.

❓ How can you help to build up the next generation of saints? Do you see young people with a curiosity for religious life, or a passion for the Church? Where can you assist our youth or encourage them to be involved?

❓ Who do you recognize as a wise elder within your community? How can you personally recognize them for the efforts? How can you continue to carry the torches of their commitment to our Catholic faith?

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Growing Together in Faith

Howard and Holly Emsley

Andy DeVito and Noelle Collis-DeVito

Evangelization in Action

Staff Gospel Reflection | The Presentation of the Lord

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