CINCINNATI — The Rev. Earl Fernandes, formerly an associate at Holy Angels in Sidney and currently academic dean of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary of the West in Mount Washington and parochial administrator of Sacred Heart Church in Camp Washington, is joining the staff of the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See (the Vatican) to the United States, based in Washington, D.C., effective March 6.

“This is an honor not only for Father Fernandes, but for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati as well,” said Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr, himself a former member of the Nunciature staff. “It attests to the caliber of our priests that Father Fernandes is being called to the service of the church nationally and universally. We wish him congratulations and godspeed in his new ministry.”

The Nunciature is the Vatican’s diplomatic mission to the United States, with the rank of an embassy. The Apostolic Nuncio, currently Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, serves both as the ambassador of the Holy See to the president of the U.S. and as delegate and point-of-contact between the Catholic bishops in America and the pope.

Fernandes, a native of Toledo, was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati on May 18, 2002. After two years as an associate at Holy Angels Church and teaching at Lehman High School, both in Sidney, he went to Rome for further studies. He returned in July 2008 to become academic dean and a member of the faculty at the seminary. He took on the additional post of parochial administrator at Sacred Heart in July 2014. Fernandes is also a columnist for The Catholic Telegraph, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.