About St. Bernard · Dayton, Kentucky
St. Bernard Catholic Church is a small historic parish in Dayton, Kentucky, now linked in a pastoral grouping with Divine Mercy Parish in neighboring Bellevue. Part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington, the parish traces its origins to 1849 and the original St. Francis of Assisi congregation that built the first church in 1854 in the former town of Jamestown (now Dayton). The current church building on Berry Street — the parish's third — was dedicated on August 23, 1914, and named after St. Bernard of Clairvaux in honor of the pastor who built it, Father Bernard Greifenkamp. Today the parish numbers roughly 190 households and is known for its Eucharistic adoration, its food pantry serving Dayton and Bellevue, and its long tradition of hosting priests from India and of helping launch new religious communities.
- Established
- 1849
- Patron
- St. Bernard of Clairvaux
- Rector
- Fr. Martin Pitstick
- Diocese
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington
Why belong here
St. Bernard is a small, walkable historic Catholic parish on the Ohio River where Mass and the Blessed Sacrament are at the heart of parish life — daily Mass, weekly Thursday adoration with Benediction, and Sunday confession before Mass. The parish is tightly bound up with its city: its food pantry (started in 1986) feeds about 400 families a month across Dayton and Bellevue, and the parish has a track record of welcoming student priests from India and helping found the Missionaries of St. John the Baptist. With active liturgical ministries (altar servers, lectors, greeters, extraordinary ministers), Knights of Columbus, O.C.I.A. (RCIA), a St. Vincent de Paul conference, a Bereavement ministry, a Young Adult group, and signature events like the St. Bernard Festival and Fish Fry, newcomers can easily find a place to belong.
Mass times at St. Bernard
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Sunday: 8:45 AM – 9:05 AM (before 9:15 AM Mass)
- Saturday: 3:30 PM – 3:50 PM (before 4:00 PM Vigil Mass)
- Thursday: 11:30 AM – 12:00 noon (before 12:10 PM Mass)
Adoration times
- Thursday: 11:00 AM – 12:00 noon (followed by Benediction)
- Sunday: 6:00 PM (church locked at 6:10 PM) — per the parish schedule listing for St. Bernard
Welcome & Parish Identity
St. Bernard Catholic Church is a small historic parish in Dayton, Kentucky, paired in a pastoral grouping with Divine Mercy Parish in neighboring Bellevue under a single pastor, Fr. Martin Pitstick. Both parishes belong to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington and share a joint website (dmsbcatholic.com) and a joint parish office at 318 Division St., Bellevue. The parish's own description is that 'Jesus Christ calls to every human heart to fulfill our deepest longing, heal our sins and bring us His peace, even when our world is in turmoil,' and the parish welcomes new members through an online registration form with a personal note from the pastor.
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington
- Pastoral grouping with Divine Mercy Parish, Bellevue, KY
- Pastor: Fr. Martin Pitstick (also pastor of Divine Mercy)
- Joint parish office: 318 Division St., Bellevue, KY 41073
- Online New Parishioner Registration available on the parish website
History of St. Bernard
The parish's history is unusually well-documented on its own site, drawing on Fr. Paul Ryan's 1953 history of the Diocese and additional research by a dedicated parishioner. It traces Catholic life in Dayton back to the 1840s in the riverside town of Jamestown, through the building and loss of two earlier St. Francis of Assisi churches, to the construction of the present St. Bernard Church dedicated in 1914 and completed with its Romanesque façade in 1929.
- 1849 — St. Joseph Society and St. Mary Society formed to build a Catholic church in Jamestown
- 1854 — First church dedicated as St. Francis of Assisi (brick, 40 × 60 ft.)
- 1866 — Second, larger St. Francis Church dedicated by Bishop Carrell
- Late 1870s — Parish bankrupt after financial speculation; deed transferred to Bishop Toebbe in 1880 for $7,600
- 1909 — Father Bernard Greifenkamp buys the Berry Street block; cornerstone laid September 19, 1909
- 1914 (Aug 23) — Third church dedicated; rededicated as St. Bernard of Clairvaux in honor of Father Greifenkamp
- 1929 — Temporary 'mission front' replaced with the present Romanesque façade under Bishop Howard
- 1986 — Food pantry founded by Sister Maddalena Guidugli, CDP
- 2002 — Parish school closes; food pantry moves into the lower floor of the former school
- 2014 — Centennial of the 1914 dedication
- Ongoing — Plans for new heating and air-conditioning; the church had no A/C in its first century
The Three Dayton Churches
The parish website tells the story in three acts: the 1854 St. Francis of Assisi church that was outgrown, the 1866 St. Francis church destroyed by repeated Ohio River floods (most decisively in 1913, when the steeple fell into the schoolyard and the pulpit floated in the nave), and the 1914 St. Bernard Church — built while the parish was still penniless — that stands today.
- First Church (St. Francis of Assisi) — dedicated July 9, 1854
- Second Church (St. Francis) — dedicated September 23, 1866
- Third Church (St. Bernard) — dedicated August 23, 1914
- Bells, adoring Angels, and Stations of the Cross carried over from the second St. Francis Church
The 1914 Dedication & the Move from St. Francis to St. Bernard
Bishop Maes's blunt blessing to Father Greifenkamp — 'Well, Father, she is wrecked now. God has done it. All I can say is go to it and build' — set the tone for the third church. The parish was penniless; the superstructure was begun with borrowed money in July 1913 and finished with a temporary mission front. The dedication on August 23, 1914 was marked by a grand parade through Dayton and Bellevue. To mark a clean break from the troubled financial era of the old St. Francis parish, Bishop Maes suggested the new patron — St. Bernard of Clairvaux — Father Greifenkamp's own patron saint, whose feast day is August 20.
- New patron: St. Bernard of Clairvaux (feast day August 20)
- Originally finished with a temporary 'mission front' because of parish debt
- Items from old St. Francis Church preserved: bells, adoring Angels, Stations of the Cross
Foreign Priests & the Missionaries of St. John the Baptist
St. Bernard has a distinctive vocation of hosting priests from other countries. Since 2009, the rectory has housed student priests from India who are working on a Master's in Education at Xavier University; the parish offers lodging in exchange for help saying Masses, and many of them have returned to India as school principals. From 2011 to 2016, two priests-in-residence who celebrated the Traditional Latin Mass used the rectory as the base for founding a new religious order, the Missionaries of St. John the Baptist; they purchased their own property in 2015 and moved out in late summer 2016.
- Since 2009: Indian student priests earning M.Ed. at Xavier University
- Xavier University provides free tuition; parish provides lodging in exchange for Mass assistance
- 2011–2016: Priests-in-residence who celebrated the Traditional Latin Mass
- These priests founded the Missionaries of St. John the Baptist
- Fr. Roshan Varghese, MST — current Indian priest resident at St. Bernard
Staff, Clergy & Office
The parish is pastored by Fr. Martin Pitstick, who also serves as pastor of the linked Divine Mercy Parish in Bellevue. Fr. Roshan Varghese, MST, an Indian priest in the student-priest program, is in residence at St. Bernard. The joint parish office is at 318 Division St., Bellevue; the St. Bernard church itself is at 401 Berry St., Dayton.
- Fr. Martin Pitstick — Pastor, Divine Mercy & St. Bernard
- Fr. Roshan Varghese, MST — priest in residence at St. Bernard
- Parish office: 318 Division St., Bellevue, KY 41073
- St. Bernard Church: 401 Berry St., Dayton, KY 41074
- Pastor email (per site): [email protected]
- Parish email (per history page): [email protected]
Ministries & Organizations
The parish lists a wide range of ministries under the banner 'Where Faith and Family Come Together.' They are grouped into Liturgical ministries, Outreach & Service, Parish Life organizations, and Formation. A 'Ministries General Inquiry Form' is available on the website for anyone wanting to volunteer.
- Liturgical: Altar Society, Greeters, Lectors, Altar Servers, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion
- Pastoral Care: Visit Sick/Homebound, Bereavement
- Formation: O.C.I.A. (RCIA)
- Outreach: St. Vincent de Paul (St. Bernard Conference), St. Vincent de Paul (Divine Mercy Conference), Food Pantry
- Parish Life: Knights of Columbus, Young Adults (DMSB Young Adults), St. Bernard Festival Committee, St. Bernard Fish Fry Committee
- Behind-the-scenes: Office Work, Maintenance, Yard Work, Cleaning, Training Ministry
Food Pantry
The St. Bernard Food Pantry was started in 1986 by Sister Maddalena Guidugli, CDP, originally operating out of the rectory. It now operates out of the lower floor of the former parish school and, by 2016, was serving about 400 families per month in Dayton and Bellevue.
- Founded 1986 by Sister Maddalena Guidugli, CDP
- Originally in the rectory; now in the former school building
- Serves ~400 families per month across Dayton and Bellevue (as of 2016)
St. Vincent de Paul & Outreach
There are two St. Vincent de Paul conferences in the parish grouping — one tied to St. Bernard in Dayton and one tied to Divine Mercy in Bellevue — both listed among the parish's outreach ministries.
- St. Vincent de Paul — St. Bernard Conference
- St. Vincent de Paul — Divine Mercy Conference
Formation & Sacramental Preparation
Adults seeking to enter the Catholic Church or complete their initiation sacraments are served by O.C.I.A. (the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults — the current name for the RCIA process), listed as a ministry of the parish. Bereavement and Visit Sick/Homebound ministries round out the parish's pastoral care.
- O.C.I.A. (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults)
- Bereavement Ministry
- Visit Sick/Homebound Ministry
Parish School
St. Bernard ran a parish school for generations. A new school building was constructed in 1888 under Father Schmid, and the school continued to operate through the twentieth century. With declining enrollment, the school closed in 2002, and its lower floor was repurposed to house the parish food pantry.
- New school building erected 1888 under Father Stephan Schmid
- School closed 2002 due to declining enrollment
- Lower floor of former school now houses the Food Pantry
Contact & Visiting
New parishioners and visitors can register online through the 'New Parishioner Registration' page on the parish website, which includes a personal welcome letter from Fr. Martin Pitstick offering to meet after Mass or by appointment. The joint parish office sits at 318 Division St., Bellevue, while the St. Bernard church is at 401 Berry St., Dayton.
- St. Bernard Church — 401 Berry St., Dayton, KY 41074
- Joint parish office — 318 Division St., Bellevue, KY 41073
- Parish phone (per Catholic Church Directory): (859) 261-8506
- Pastor office line (per website): (859) 261-6172
- Website: http://dmsbcatholic.com
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Fr. Michael Herzog1854–1857
First resident pastor of the original St. Francis of Assisi parish in Jamestown (later Dayton).
- Fr. Charles Schaffroth1857–1860
Continued building the parish plant; purchased land for the parish cemetery, blessed by Bishop Carrell on May 1, 1858.
- Fr. Francis Grome1860–1877
Built the second, larger St. Francis Church, dedicated 1866. Later pastorate ended amid parish bankruptcy from wild financial speculations.
- Fr. Stephan Schmid1886–1904
Built a new school in 1888 and a new rectory in 1898; led the parish through repeated Ohio River floods.
- Fr. Bernard Greifenkamp1904–
Succeeded Father Schmid; purchased the Berry Street block in 1909, laid the cornerstone that year, and dedicated the current St. Bernard Church on August 23, 1914. The church was named after his patron, St. Bernard of Clairvaux.