Unsung Hero: A Priest of Integrity
Father Mark is a priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, an active member of SNAP and a member of the Cincinnati Coordinating Committee of VOTF. He has been an inspiration to those who know him, offering to meet with survivors of priest sexual abuse and speaking up as a survivor himself. Mark was active in supporting the Ohio proposed legislation favoring extending the statute of limitation and the one-year window for prosecution of abusers.
Fr. Mark's dedication to those most in need is evidenced by his involvement with the following ministries: From 1980 to 2002, he served as a full time Catholic Chaplain at Levanon Correctional Institution, a state of Ohio close security prison, then as the Cincinnati Archdiocesan Jail Chaplain and Coordinator of Prison Ministry for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati from 2002 to the present. He initiated and formed the Karos prison ministry in Ohio in 1989, and it is now in ten Ohio prisons.
He is the Board Chair and co-founder of the St. Francis/St. Joseph Catholic Worker House, a homeless shelter for men, from 1990 to the present. In 1985, he founded Anawim Housing for the poor. He was also a secondary school teacher for 10 years.
