A 1931 Parish on the East Side of Columbus
St. Catharine of Siena Catholic Church sits at 500 S Gould Road, on the near east side of Columbus in the heart of the Bexley and Eastmoor neighborhoods. Bishop James J. Hartley, who led the Diocese of Columbus from 1904 to 1944, purchased 11.86 acres east of Gould Road between Fair Avenue and Bexley Park Road on May 12, 1931, and the new parish was carved out of the territory of St. Thomas to the north and Holy Rosary to the west. A wooden church with three altars and a four-room school were built at a cost of $16,000 as a Depression-era launching pad, and the first parish census counted roughly one hundred families. That temporary chapel and school have grown into a full campus of church, school, preschool, parish center, and a perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel. As the parish approaches its centennial in 2031, the motto under Pastor Fr. Bob Penhallurick is simple: "Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire."
Mass, Confession, and the Adoration Chapel
Sunday Mass at St. Catharine is offered three times: 8:30 a.m., 11:00 a.m., and 5:00 p.m. The 11:00 a.m. Mass is live-streamed on YouTube and is interpreted in American Sign Language, a service offered for parishioners who are homebound, sick, or vulnerable as well as for members of the deaf community. The 5:00 p.m. liturgy is also live-streamed and ASL interpreted. Daily Mass runs Monday through Saturday, with 8:00 a.m. liturgies on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday; a 6:00 p.m. evening Mass on Wednesday; and an 8:30 a.m. Mass on Saturday. The Sunday Mass is a traditional Catholic liturgy about an hour long; most of the words are in English, with some Latin, Greek, and Hebrew woven in.
Confession is heard on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. and on Saturday at 9:00 a.m., both until everyone present has been heard. (No confessions are scheduled on Holy Saturday or on the Wednesdays of December 24 and December 31.) The parish's Confession Times page offers an Examination of Conscience as a downloadable PDF.
The Eucharistic Adoration Chapel is the quiet center of the campus. The monstrance holding the consecrated Host is exposed for adoration from 6:00 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Friday, and from 6:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. Public devotions are scheduled through the week: a Holy Hour for the Unborn on Wednesdays at 3:00 p.m., a Holy Hour for an end to Capital Punishment at 4:00 p.m., ADORE Night in the main church at 6:30 p.m., the Chaplet of Divine Mercy on Fridays at 3:00 p.m., and a Children's Holy Hour on Saturdays at 3:00 p.m. Adorers commit to a weekly hour through the We Adore Him scheduling platform, and a dedicated Adoration line (614-810-7447) and Adoration Coordinator Brendan O'Rourke keep the chapel never left alone.
Sunday Mornings: A Family-Centered Liturgy
St. Catharine describes Sundays as joyful, prayerful, and uplifting, with the invitation "come as you are and expect to feel welcomed as our guest." Children are expected in the pews. The parish believes that nothing is more valuable for a family than attending Mass together every Sunday and that regular attendance helps children recognize the sacred nature of the Eucharist. A large cry room in the east end of the church gives families a quiet place to step out when needed. The parish's primary weekly gathering is the Mass itself, described in Family of Faith materials as the source of the grace families need to become saints.
The parish has a large parking lot accessible from Bexley Park Road and offers additional street parking on Fair Avenue, Gould Road, and Bexley Park Road. Visitors looking ahead at a first visit are encouraged to fill out a "let us know you're coming" form so the hospitality team can keep an eye out for them.
The Monsignor Sorohan Parish Center
Linking the main church to the grade school is the Monsignor David V. Sorohan Center, a 16,000-square-foot banquet facility with a full-service kitchen, a generous lobby, and a spacious gallery that pays tribute to saints and doctors of the Church through stained-glass windows, murals, and statues. The Sorohan Center can seat 500 guests with no tables, 400 with round banquet tables, or 325 with round tables and a dance floor. Rental rates are $469 per hour for the full banquet hall and $235 for the half hall, with a 50% deposit and a $95 insurance fee required. Events are limited to a four-hour minimum and an eight-hour maximum. Beneath the gallery roof, the Eucharistic Adoration Chapel seats 25 worshippers and is adorned with natural stone, rustic wooden trusses, and well-preserved 20th-century stained-glass windows of saints.
Forming the Faith: From Preschool Through High School
Faith formation at St. Catharine begins in the parish's preschool and school and extends all the way through high school. St. Catharine School, with the tagline "Love of God. Love of Learning. Love of Neighbor," serves grade-school students under Principal Kate Cavello. Preschool Director Ashlee Kurth oversees the preschool program. Both sit alongside the parish in the same campus, and the school and preschool share the same K-8 building blocks and the same parish calendar.
For families whose children are not enrolled in the parish school, the Family of Faith program walks parents and children together through monthly at-church sessions, weekly at-home family meetings, and three formation pathways. The Continued Growth Pathway uses the Devotion curriculum to walk families through twelve traditional monthly devotions and helps them build personalized home devotional prayer books. The First Reconciliation and First Communion Pathway, typically in second grade, includes two retreats and a weekly rhythm that culminates in the November First Reconciliation and the spring First Holy Communion. The Confirmation Pathway, being reshaped for 2026-2027, prepares both fourth-grade and eighth-grade students for the sacrament, with a day-long retreat, an at-home curriculum called Zeal, and required participation in middle school small groups. Family Catechesis sessions run Sunday mornings from 9:30 to 10:50 a.m., and middle school small groups meet on Wednesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, a hands-on program based on the Montessori method, is offered in the Good Shepherd Atrium in the lower level of the church for children in preschool through second grade. Sessions run Thursday afternoons from 1:00 to 2:15 p.m. between September and May, with kid-sized furniture and tactile models of scriptural and liturgical items guiding children into meditation and prayer. Coordinator Rachel Green oversees the program, with tuition of $130 per child and a policy that no family is turned away for inability to pay. Children enrolled in the parish preschool, kindergarten, or first grade receive CGS time during their school day.
Youth Ministry: Lumen High School Group
Lumen, the parish's high school youth group, gathers teens for formation, prayer, community, food, and accompaniment by Catholic young adults. The parish points to sobering statistics as motivation: roughly 36% of Gen Z identify as Christian, 79% of former Catholics leave the Church before age 23, and recent CDC data shows that 36.7% of teens experience persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. Lumen's purpose is to help teenagers encounter Jesus through the beauty of the Catholic faith and to live as disciples who will transform their families, parish, community, and culture. The group's Instagram, @saintcatharineyouth, shares the current schedule. Director Maggie Cook oversees the program.
Men's, Women's, and Small Group Ministries
St. Catharine runs a robust small group ecosystem that meets in homes, the parish undercroft, and even Panera Bread at Broad and Gould. Mixed small groups, family and couples groups, young adult groups, men's groups, and women's groups all form each Lent and continue through Easter. The parish's Lent 2026 anchor study is The Rescue Project, an eight-week experience of the gospel surrounded by food, conversation, and prayer, with companion tracks like Bishop Barron's daily reflections and the Wilderness Within study. The women's ministry adds a number of distinctive rhythms: a Women's Encyclical Study on Pope Leo XIV's "Magnifica Humanitas," monthly Connect gatherings on the third Sunday after the 11:00 a.m. Mass, weekly in-home small groups on Saturday mornings and Tuesday evenings, a Belong team that welcomes new parishioners, Care on Call for neighbors in need, and Women at the Well, a First Saturday gathering at 6:30 a.m. in the Parish Hall. The men's ministry offers both small groups and event-based fellowship. ADORE Nights on Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. are a pillar that both men's and women's ministries point to as a touchstone of the parish.
The Respect Life Ministry and St. Vincent de Paul
The Respect Life Ministry, led by Pam O'Neil, Ursula Sarko, and Gina Hinterscheid, works to "defend and support life from the womb to the tomb" through prayer, education, and practical support to women facing unplanned pregnancy. The ministry organizes the Wednesday Holy Hour for the Unborn and curates the parish's pregnancy resources page, which lists four local partners: Women's Care Center (with two Columbus locations), Bottoms Up Diaper Bank, Mommies Matter, and Pregnancy Decision Health Centers, along with the Abortion Pill Rescue Network's 24/7 helpline. St. Vincent de Paul, a separate ministry, is currently able to assist neighbors only within the 43209 ZIP code and focuses on outreach to the elderly, homebound, bereaved, and those in need of practical help.
SPICE: Special People in Catholic Education
SPICE, or Special People in Catholic Education, is a parish-developed program that funds and supports the learning needs of typical, developmental, and accelerated learners in the school and religious education programs. It is not a separate school: SPICE exists so that every child in the parish can be served in the parish's own classrooms. The program raises money through tiered giving levels (Saffron, Sugar, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Salt & Pepper) and an annual St. Patrick's Day Dinner in the Sorohan Center. Its work is supported by the diocesan Vicar of Education, the pastor, the school principal, and the religious education director.
Counseling and Pregnancy Resources
The parish makes available the services of Spirit of Peace Clinical Counseling, a separate entity staffed by licensed Roman Catholic and Christian counselors who combine standard clinical practice with the beliefs and spirituality of the Church. Three counselors see clients on-site: Joe Geig (MS, LPCC-S, CSRRS), Stephanie Coleman (LPCC), and Joseph Reis (MFT). Areas of focus include anxiety, depression, grief, marital conflict, family counseling, adolescent issues, sex addiction, post-traumatic stress, and spiritual issues. The counselors accept a wide range of insurance plans and offer reduced-fee schedules. The counseling office is dedicated to that use only, and e-therapy sessions are available through a secure online video platform or by telephone. Parishioners are asked to contact the counselors directly.
Music, Liturgical Ministry, and the Knights of Columbus
Music is led by Director of Music and Principal Organist Michael Hammond, who joined the staff in 2016. The Adult Choir sings each Sunday at the 11:00 a.m. Mass, rehearses Monday evenings from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., and adds solemnity to the Triduum, Solemn Vespers, and other major celebrations. Liturgical ministry at the parish includes roles for altar servers (open to students in fifth grade and up who have received Baptism and First Communion), extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, lectors, sacristans, hospitality ministers, and the Art & Environment Committee, which plans, designs, and maintains the seasonal decoration of the church year-round. The Courageous Daughter of the Eucharist is a service team for girls in grades four through twelve who serve as sacristans on the third Sunday of each month and at school Masses. The parish's Knights of Columbus council (Council 11354) supports the parish through its fraternal works of charity, unity, fraternity, and patriotism.
Stewardship and the Push Toward 2031
St. Catharine's giving model centers on recurring electronic giving through OSV Online Giving, supplemented by one-time gifts, gifts of stock or mutual funds, IRA Qualified Charitable Distributions, and bequests through a Bequest Letter of Intent. The parish also stewards three named funds in addition to its general endowment: the Emmaus Road Scholarship Fund, which allows Ohio taxpayers to redirect a portion of their state tax liability into scholarships for Catholic school students; the Monsignor Sorohan Catholic Education Endowment Fund, which provides need-based tuition assistance to St. Catharine School students; and the Joseph Dury Vocations Fund, which supports vocations and evangelization. The parish's 2024-2025 Spiritual and Financial Impact Report frames stewardship as the work of the next several years: as the parish approaches its centennial in 2031, the goal is to build a future where the parish continues to thrive for generations to come. The parish encourages giving levels that stretch faith, suggesting that those not yet giving consider starting at 1% of income and that those already giving consider moving up a step.
The People Behind the Parish
St. Catharine is served by Pastor Fr. Bob Penhallurick and by Fr. Petros Botachew, a priest of the Apostolic Vicariate of Gambella, Ethiopia, who is in residence at St. Catharine while serving as the Director of Multicultural Ministries for the Diocese of Columbus. Two deacons assist at the parish: Rev. Mr. Anthony Whalen, a transitional deacon, and Rev. Mr. Christopher Reis, a permanent deacon ordained in 2012 who has been a long-time parishioner. The parish staff includes Business Manager Dan Davis, Parish Secretary Karen Lawler (who was herself married at St. Catharine in 1983), Director of Music Michael Hammond, Director of Family Faith Catechesis Maggie Cook, Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Coordinator Rachel Green, Parish Events Coordinator Sam Agra, and Accounting Specialist Sheyenne Dempsey. Adoration is coordinated by Brendan O'Rourke. School Principal Kate Cavello and Preschool Director Ashlee Kurth lead the parish school, and Safe Environment Coordinator Kathy Kropp oversees Protecting God's Children compliance. Maintenance and Facilities Director Mike Gill leads a maintenance team that includes Ray Mason, Christine Riser Carroll, and Renee Hanks-Williams.
First-time visitors are invited to use the "let us know you're coming" form on the parish's Plan a Visit page. Sacramental emergencies are handled through a dedicated line (614-673-4355) that dispatches a priest to the location. Parish registration forms are available for download, and FlockNote provides text and email updates. St. Catharine is a Latin Rite Catholic parish in the Diocese of Columbus, under the pastoral care of the Most Reverend Earl K. Fernandes and in communion with His Holiness, Pope Leo XIV.