BY JULIE IRWIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati is appealing a Vatican order to change the name of St. Julie Billiart Catholic Church in Hamilton back to its original name, St. Stephen.
St. Julie Billiart Church and parish were created in 1989 from the merger of three parishes: St. Mary, St. Veronica and St. Stephen. The community worships in the building that was known as St. Stephen Church. After the name change, a St. Stephen parishioner filed a complaint with the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship in Rome.
After the Vatican order was issued this week, the Most Rev. Daniel E. Pilarczyk, archbishop of Cincinnati, decided to appeal to the Signatura Apostolica, the Catholic Church's supreme court. According to canon law, nothing is to be changed during the appeals process, which will take an unknown amount of time.
Shortly after the merger, the St. Julie Billiart church building in question suffered a serious fire and had to be rebuilt.
Three parishes in Middletown merged in 1991 into the parish Holy Family, but their two remaining church buildings have kept their original names of St. John and Holy Trinity.
It is common for merging parishes to choose a parish name different from their original names. St. Julie Billiart is named after the nun who founded the order of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in France in 1801.
