Parochial Vicar

Rev. David Lemkuhl

Mostly I have lived in Cincinnati. I attended St. Cecilia in Oakley from the 1^st-5^th grades, then St. Therese the Little Flower from the 6^th-8^th grades. La Salle is where I went to high school, after which I went straight to the seminary, also here in Cincinnati. My first 10 years of priesthood were at Our Lady of the Rosary in Greenhills, Immaculate Heart of Mary in Anderson Township and St. John the Baptist in Dry Ridge (near Northgate Mall). During my seminary time, due to the influence of seminarian Jim Willig, I did a youth retreat internship at the Jesuit Renewal Center in Milford, so in 1986 I went back there to do the Art of Spiritual Companionship Program, using Ignatian spirituality. Late in 1989, I was called to become pastor for the first time in Dayton Ohio, at St. Agnes and Assumption, with Dayton Catholic Elementary School--my first urban experience. While there, I participated in the Black Catholic Congress, the Revivals, PMAAC (Pastoral Ministers in African American Communities) and was a founding member of the community organizing effort called LEAD (Leaders for Equality and Action in Dayton) in order to combat crime and drug activity in the neighborhoods.

In 1987, then youth minister Patrick Lesher and I accompanied 16 youth, mostly from Immaculate Heart of Mary, to Kenya for the National Youth Challenge Week. In 1992, I returned to Kenya as a guest of the Comboni Missionaries to discern a calling to be a missionary. After six years as pastor of the two parishes in Dayton, I entered an 8 year contract from 1995-2003 with Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers (through the Lay Missionary Group) and ministered as a missionary in Kenya, East Africa; first working 3 years in a parish, then for 3 years as the National Youth Chaplain under the Conference of Kenya Bishops. In that role, I was involved in World Youth Days in the year 2000 in Rome and 2002 in Toronto. Noteworthy, in 2000 I had a brief face-to-face encounter with Pope Saint John Paul II and in 2002 the Pope asked a Kenyan youth about me at a luncheon!

Transitioning back, I assisted at our Archdiocesan Mission Office while serving weekends at Our Lady of the Visitation until the end of my contract with Maryknoll. I then served as a temporary Administrator of St. Antoninus in Delhi for 5 months (where I celebrated my 25^th Anniversary of Ordination).

Before becoming Pastor here at the Church of the Resurrection, I spent the last twelve years as pastor of two parishes, first St. Margaret of Cortona and St. John Vianney, which merged to become St. Margaret-St. John (2008) and in 2010 I was shared with St. Anthony in Madisonville. Of my 37 years of being a priest, I was pastor of two parishes for 16 years.

People who have ministered with me, experience my consultative, collaborative servant-leadership style and how I am rooted in prayer and love for Scripture. I trust that the Spirit of God works through all the baptized, so I strive to respect all as instruments of His grace.