The Rev. Martin Bachman has resigned from his position as parochial vicar of the Our Lady of Fatima family of parishes north of Dayton, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati confirmed, according to reporting by the Cincinnati Enquirer. Bachman, who left a West Side Cincinnati parish last year after admitting he viewed pornography, is out of active ministry again — the archdiocese said he requested to step away, and that he did not leave because of a complaint about his conduct or because of disciplinary action, the Enquirer reported.
Archdiocese spokeswoman Jennifer Schack did not provide a reason for Bachman’s resignation, the Enquirer reported. “Fr. Martin Bachman requested to step away from active priestly ministry and resign from his assignment,” Schack told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Fr. Bachman no longer has priestly faculties and does not currently have an assignment.” Bachman remains a priest, but without an assignment or priestly faculties he cannot minister as a priest, the Enquirer reported.
Bachman had been listed as a parochial vicar on Our Lady of Fatima church bulletins as recently as Oct. 18, and his name was gone a week later, the Enquirer reported. The Fatima family of parishes is north of Dayton, in the northern part of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, which covers Southwest Ohio. A parochial vicar is an associate pastor who serves under a parish’s pastor, celebrating Mass, hearing confessions and serving parishioners alongside the parish’s lead priest.
The resignation closes a second chapter in a controversy that began last year at Our Lady of the Visitation parish in Green Township, on Cincinnati’s West Side. Someone at Visitation complained that Bachman may have viewed adult pornography on a church computer, the Enquirer reported. An archdiocese investigation later determined he had not watched pornography on parish devices or parish property, and Bachman denied that allegation, according to the Enquirer.
In a letter to parishioners, however, Bachman admitted to viewing pornography and playing inappropriate video games outside the church, apologized for his behavior, and said he would leave the parish after completing a planned sabbatical, the Enquirer reported. His resignation from Visitation ended a tumultuous few months there, in which tension between parishioners and their priests boiled over with a disruption during Mass, the pornography accusations, and a plea from Archbishop Robert Casey to end what he called “sinful” rumors and gossip about parish leadership, according to the Enquirer.
At one point last spring, a video of Mass at Visitation went viral after NFL player Jake McQuaide, a Visitation parishioner, shouted questions at a church official demanding answers about the pornography complaint, the Enquirer reported. McQuaide was later escorted out of the church. Although Archbishop Casey declared at the time that the archdiocese had found no evidence of wrongdoing, either criminally or ecclesiastically, Bachman stepped down weeks later, according to the Enquirer.
Bachman then moved to Our Lady of Fatima, where he served until his name disappeared from bulletins in late October. The archdiocese’s statement, as reported by the Enquirer, is careful about what this second departure is not: not a response to a new complaint, and not disciplinary action. It does not say where Bachman will live, whether he may return to ministry in the future, or who will take his place at Fatima — questions parishioners in the Dayton-area family of parishes are likely to ask first.
For Fatima parishioners, the immediate effect is practical as well as personal: a parish family that loses a parochial vicar loses Mass coverage, confession times and pastoral visits until the archdiocese assigns a replacement or neighboring priests cover the schedule. Families with weddings, funerals or baptisms planned in the coming weeks should confirm arrangements with the parish office, which will have the current schedule. NewsForce247 has no information suggesting any change to Fatima’s Mass schedule, and none is reported here.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on: Bachman’s resignation, his loss of priestly faculties and lack of a current assignment, and the archdiocese’s statement that the move was his request and not discipline are confirmed in the Cincinnati Enquirer’s reporting of the archdiocese’s confirmation. Still unknown are Bachman’s reasons for stepping away, any timeline for a possible return to ministry, and the archdiocese’s plan to fill the Fatima vacancy. The archdiocese did not provide a reason to the Enquirer, and NewsForce247 is not speculating about one.
What happens next is an archdiocese decision: whether another priest is assigned to Our Lady of Fatima, and whether Bachman seeks a return to active ministry at some point. NewsForce247 will update this story if the Archdiocese of Cincinnati announces a replacement at Fatima or a change in Bachman’s status.
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