Earl Kenneth Mario Fernandes[2] (born September 21, 1972) is a Roman Catholic prelate who has served as bishop of the Diocese of Columbus in Ohio since 2022.

[13] Thelma made yearly pilgrimages to the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation in Cary, Ohio.

After his 2002 ordination, the archdiocese assigned Fernandes as parochial vicar of Holy Angels Parish and as a teacher at Lehman Catholic High School in Sidney, Ohio.

[19][20] After returning to Ohio, Fernandes joined the faculty at Mount Saint Mary's Seminary in Cincinnati, later serving as its academic dean.

The book defended Pope Benedict XVI's ban of the admission of gay men to Catholic seminaries.

[23] In 2016, Fernandes went to Washington D.C. to serve as secretary to the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò.

[27][28] Fernandes also served as a judge on the archdiocesan marriage tribunal and as a board member of the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio.

[17] Fernandes was active in the Beacons of Light program in the archdiocese, which sought to consolidate its 208 parishes into 57 clusters, each with one priest.

[3] In July 2022, Fernandes assigned a diocesan priest to run the Newman Center of Ohio State University in Columbus.

[32][33] In September 2023, Fernandes announced the closing of 11 parishes in Columbus due to low Mass attendance.

[35][36] Fernandes is a fourth-degree Knight of Columbus, as well as a member of the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.