Bob Burroughs of Clermont County has such a passion for fishing that he wrote a book about the subject,Where the Gulls Are.

His deeper passion is for assisting what Our Lord called “fishers of men.”

Bob helped spearhead the One Faith, One Hope, One Love campaign in his home county “because I believe in causes strongly. One is the Athenaeum, another is retired priests. Both of those causes need a shot in the arm.”

Goals for One Faith, One Hope, One Love include $16 million toward fostering vocations and $13 million toward the care of retired diocesan priests.

At age 80, Bob has been a parishioner at St. Philomena Catholic Church in Stonelick Township for half a century. “This parish is 175 years old,” Bob said. “St. Philomena is the oldest Catholic Church in Clermont County, with a tremendously strong tradition.

“It’s a parish that really sticks together.”

That sense of unity goes back to the 1830s when local families raised $50 to build a log church along Stonelick Creek.

Nicknamed “the Little Church in the Valley,” the wood structure was destroyed by fire in 1868 and replaced by a stone building. The current St. Philomena Church was built in 1905.

Bob’s son Lee Burroughs a lifelong St Philomena parishioner in his mid-fifties, has worked with Bob on the fundraising effort. St. Philomena was among the pilot parishes for One Faith, One Hope, One Love. (Father and son are pictured in the photo at right.)

By mid-February, the tiny parish, which counts just over 85 members, had collected pledges exceeding $100,000, or 113 percent of its goal.

The elder Burroughs, a retired engineer who worked in the machine tool business, has been active in several ministries at over the years. He’s been captain of the lector team, a choir singer, a Confraternity of Christian Doctrine teacher “and generally a fixer of things that go wrong,” he said.

Lately he’s also been promoting his book, published by AuthorHouse, via a series of author signings and a blog,wheregullsare.com.

As he’s gone fishing for donations to One Faith, One Hope, One Love, Bob said its provision for retired priests has been an especially popular lure.

“Many of the people here designated the retired priests in their pledges,” he said. “There’s a strong sense of gratitude.”

Image at top of article: St. Anthony Preaching to the Fish, Paolo Veronese, c. 1580