South Texas Catholic - June 2013 by South Texas Catholic

SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

ON THE

VOL. 48 NO. 6 Publisher Most Rev. Wm. Michael Mulvey, STL DD Editor Alfredo E. Cárdenas ACardenas@diocesecc.org

Bishop Wm. Michael Mulvey will lead the diocesan family in Adoration of the Eucharist at the Cathedral on June 2, Feast Day of Corpus Christi. At the same time, Pope Francis will lead the universal Church in adoration from St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. Photo by Alfredo E. Cardenas, South Texas Catholic.

COVER

Theological Consultant Father Joseph Lopez, JCL JLopez@diocesecc.org Associate Editor Mary E. Cottingham MCottingham@diocesecc.org

Administrative Assistant Adel Rivera ARivera@diocesecc.org

Enter Invisible Monastery Office of Vocations unveils monastery to pray for vocations

Correspondents Rebecca Esparza, Julissa Hernandez, Timothy Hatch, Luisa Scolari If you or someone you know would like to receive the South Texas Catholic call us at (361) 882-6191 Office Address: 620 Lipan Corpus Christi TX 78401-2434 E-MAIL: stc@diocesecc.org www.southtexascatholic.com FAX: (361) 693-6701

Calendar Items Submit your announcements by using our online form, e-mail, fax, mail, or drop it off at the Chancery office. Only announcements for the month of publication will be included in the print edition, if space permits. All other calendar items will appear on the magazine or diocese Web sites.

The South Texas Catholic is not liable or in any way responsible for the content of any advertisement appearing within these pages. All claims, offers guarantees, statements, etc. made by advertisers are solely the responsibility of the advertiser. Deceptive or misleading advertising is never knowingly accepted. Complaints regarding advertising should be made directly to the advertiser or to the Better Business Bureau.

(USPSN 540-860) Published monthly by the Diocese of Corpus Christi for $25 per year. Periodical postage paid in Corpus Christi Texas. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to South Texas Catholic 620 Lipan, Corpus Christi TX 78401-2434.

Keeping up with the Faith...

www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

Msgrs. Mc Gettrick and Rowsome will retire

Returning home Father Pasupalety will retire, return home to family in India

San Juan Diego

Youth Spectacular

24 SouthTexasCatholic.com

Two sons of Ireland

El primero que vio a la Virgen de Guadalupe

Reaching young adult status after 30 years of programs

Class of 2013 Local Catholic High Schools announce graduates

Walking with God

Story of images

Fortnight for Freedom

New priest ordination

Bishop’s interview

Our Lady of Corpus Christi puts on St. Ignatius retreats

Learning about bishops’ Coat of Arms

Struggle for religious liberty continues in cradle of democracy

Diocese will hold ordinations for transitional deacons, priest Corpus Christi: central mystery of our faith

JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

100 Years of combined service for two sons of Ireland Rebecca Esparza Correspondent

s a teenager in his native Ireland, doctors told Msgr. Morgan Rowsome he would never become a priest. 4

SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

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Numerous bouts with rheumatic fever had caused permanent damage to his heart, they told him. However, believing “all things are possible with God,” he went on a pilgrimage to Lourdes in 1961, praying his health would be restored. Just three years later, he was accepted into the seminary. Next month Msgr. Rowsome will retire after 43 years of service to the Church, but retiring just means he’s slowing things down a bit. Handing over the reigns of day-to-day operations for the 1,500 families at St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles Parish in northwest Corpus Christi by mid-June, Msgr. Rowsome joked this is just a transition. “I’m looking forward to becoming a ‘rent-a-priest’ in San Antonio,” he said with a laugh. “I love the priesthood and wish to stay active, but the energy level needed to keep up with such a large parish just isn’t there anymore. You not only minister to your community, but with 10 employees and 10 acres to oversee, you quickly become a carpenter, plumber, accountant and builder all rolled into one.” Ordained in Ireland by 1970, Msgr. Rowsome was sent to Corpus Christi a few days shy of historic Hurricane Celia’s arrival. He served in Laredo for a short time, was transferred to Orange Grove and then moved to St. Peter, where he has remained the last 19 years. A little more than 20 years ago, he had a synthetic aortic valve replacement in San Antonio. Despite his many health setbacks throughout his life, he’s remained a firm believer in the healing power of laughter. “There are miracles waiting to happen every day. I am one of them,” he said. “In today’s society we desperately need more faith. It’s simply not an option anymore. We need to ask God everyday for the strength to carry the cross.” After a short trip to Ireland over the summer, Msgr. Rowsome will return to Corpus Christi to lead a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in November. Parishioner Manuel Garcia, who relocated to Annaville from the Rio Grande Valley four years ago, said he’s come to rely on Msgr. Rowsome’s guidance over the years. “He’s been so supportive, especially during my recent medical crisis,” said Garcia, who volunteers to tidy up the church before each mass. “I’ll miss him but hopefully he’ll have some time to relax. He stays so busy around here.” Msgr. Rowsome added he plans to visit Corpus Christi Msgr. Morgan Rowsome retiring in June from his duties as pastor at St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles. Rebecca Esparza for South Texas Catholic www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

Msgr. Rowsome is looking forward to a slower pace once he retires in June as pastor at St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles. Rebecca Esparza for South Texas Catholic

often. “I’ll deeply miss my community here at St. Peter,” he said. “Everyone has been so good to me. I’d like to thank the parishioners, staﬀ, leaders of the various religious ministries and volunteers from the bottom of my ‘mended’ Irish heart.” Meanwhile, across town on Padre Island, Msgr. Thomas Mc Gettrick at St. Andrew by the Sea prepares to retire from his 57 years as a priest this summer, as well. Msgr. Mc Gettrick arrived in South Texas just five months after being ordained in Ireland, in October 1956. His first assignment was in McAllen, which was then still part of the Diocese of Corpus Christi. He was moved to Laredo for a short time, eventually making his way to Ss. Cyril and Methodius in 1961. He moved to a few other parishes over the years and then served at a mission in Saltillo, Mexico. In 2002, he landed at St. Andrew by the Sea, the only open air Catholic Church in the United States. “Volunteering three years for our mission in Mexico was a great source of growth for me. Any priest who went would probably say the same thing. We served a total of 44 villages at one parish alone, so it required a lot of traveling through the mountains. It was beautiful. The JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

Msgr. Thomas Mc Gettrick admires the landscaping skills of a parishioner for this tribute to St. Francis of Assisi. Msgr. Mc Gettrick retires as pastor of St. Andrew by the Sea after 57 years of service to the church. Rebecca Esparza for South Texas Catholic

people were wonderful to work with and so grateful to have us there. Until we took over, some villages only had Mass once a year,” he lamented. Retirement does not mean doing nothing, Msgr. Mc Gettrick said. “I feel God has blessed me with excellent health, so I plan to keep busy. I’m not going to just stop. I’ll just change my focus a bit,” he said. “I hope to spend more time at CHRISTUS Spohn South and will continue as a Vicar for Retired Priests.” He also plans to continue to assist as needed at local parishes and remain available for the classroom. “I’m a big believer in the importance of prayer. Retirement for me will mean more time for prayer,” he said. Despite being a smaller church of just 400 families, parish activities–in addition to his oﬀ-campus commitments–keep him hopping sometimes 10-15 hours a day.

SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

He’ll miss celebrating Mass with his parish community and visiting with his parishioners, but the slower pace will be welcomed, he said. “I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve. Over the years we’ve had great bishops and wonderful priests. I feel honored to have been a part of that,” Msgr. Mc Gettrick said. The secret of his success at St. Andrew by the Sea is based in the talents and generous spirit of its parishioners. “I’ve just had the good sense to get out of their way,” he said. “It’s their parish more than mine.” Besides no longer working alongside his dedicated parishioners, Msgr. Mc Gettrick will also miss his daily sojourns with nature. “Every morning at 6 a.m., I begin my day with a walk on the beach. I’ll miss that.” www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

Father Pasupalety came to see evangelization in America Learned from sermons from the pews Alfredo E. Cardenas South Texas Catholic

he remote village in southeastern India in which Father Sebastian Pasupalety was born is 100 percent Catholic. And yet, they had never had a priest come from their ranks until Father Pasupalety was ordained 32 years ago.

In July, Father Pasupalety will return to his home after serving 12 years in the Diocese of Corpus Christi. Due to a severe and progressive cardiovascular disease, he thought it best that he retire from active ministry. His doctor said that Father Pasupalety would probably be declared disabled so as to fully recuperate. He may also require a revision bypass surgery in the near future, his doctor said. After 20 years serving in his native India, he wanted to see how the Church evangelized in the modern world; how the Church is able to spread the Gospel in the world’s most advanced country. He came to the diocese www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

in 2001 and has served in the small mission churches of St. Vivian in Petronila and Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Clarkwood. These communities, in fact, are very similar to his home in India. There are about 70 families in each mission with no school, no bank, no grocery store and not much of anything else but acres of farmland and faithful Catholics. His pastor in India had been an important influence in his life, so he realizes the significance of his role in a similar setting. “I enjoy the silent sermon from the pew. That means I’m preaching from the pulpit and the people are preaching from the pews,” Father Pasupalety said. “Their homily is louder than mine. That is my philosophy.” He explained by mentioning a lady in a wheel chair that is always at Mass. “She is preaching a louder sermon than me,” Father Pasupalety said. “They are preaching a deep faith and trust in the Lord. They preach from the heart I preach from the brain.” Father Pasupalety said his parishioners’ “deep, simple faith” was a tremendous eye opener. “I was able to see their faith, when they pray the rosary as a family in their homes, they are kneeling down.” He hopes that his presence has provided the people with a deeper faith. His charism is CCD and Liturgy so he introFather Pasupalety looks forward to returning to family in India but will duced “a lot of new things.” miss his parish families in Texas. During Lent, for example, he Alfredo Cardenas, South Texas Catholic JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

asks children to draw a picture of a Station of the Cross and the parents to write a prayer about that station. He then makes a video of the drawing and prayers together and puts them in a CD to give to the families. During the Year of St. Paul he had the children draw pictures of their favorite Bible passages and then he made a calendar using the drawings. For Baptism, he asks parents to do a project at home and bring it to him at the Baptism. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You can talk for an hour and they wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t listen with babies crying,â&#x20AC;? Father Pasupalety said. The parents learn more about the sacrament from the project than from anything he could tell them at the Baptism, he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I enjoyed my life here,â&#x20AC;? Father Pasupalety said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not

going because I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like the place but because of my health issues and I want to go be with my family.â&#x20AC;? Father Pasupalety comes from a family of one brother and four sisters. When his mother died he was unable to return to India for her funeral. Same when his brother died. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They missed me at the times they needed me. I want to be with family so they can enjoy my friendship, my care. I will be able to help them,â&#x20AC;? Father Pasupalety said. He will return to a diďŹ&#x20AC;erent village. After him, the parish produced 15 priests and â&#x20AC;&#x153;many nuns.â&#x20AC;? Two of his nephews are priests and one niece is a nun. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have been blessed by God in vocations,â&#x20AC;? he said. But he was the first, not only in his family but also in his community.

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Help Us Prevent Financial Abuse

Pilgrimage to the

The Diocese of Corpus Christi at the recommendation of the Diocesan Financial Council and Presbyteral Council have furthered their commitment to good stewardship and Âżnancial accountability on behalf of generous donors by instituting a Âżnancial abuse hotline. The Diocese of Corpus Christi has selected an independent third party, The Network, to provide you with a new way to anonymously and conÂżdently report Âżnancial abuse and fraud. Employees, parishioners, volunteers, vendors and other interested parties will be encouraged to report concerns they have regarding Âżnancial misconduct within the Diocese of Corpus Christi. All inquiries will be treated promptly and discreetly. Callers will have the right to remain anonymous. Call 1-877-571-9748

HOLY LAND AND JORDAN Walk the footsteps of our Lord Nov. 6-17, 2013 Join Spiritual Director, Father Jairo Motta from Sacred Heart Church in Corpus Christi on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Jordan. At the end of this pilgrimage, you will have prayedÂ all the 20 decades of the Rosary where each mystery occurred.Â Cost is $3,190. Call for more information

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SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

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Amelia DeLosSantos, our Beloved “Coach D”, will retire at the end of this school year after 43 years as our coach and teacher. If you would like to share in our congratulations by sending her a card with memories and good wishes you may mail it to: Mrs. Amelia DeLosSantos St. Patrick School 3340 S. Alameda Corpus Christi, TX 78411

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SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

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New social media provides opportunity for Robbie McGuiness Correspondent

n his message for the 43rd World Communications Day in 2010, Pope Benedict XVI said that the new form of social media “can offer priests and all pastoral workers a wealth of information and content that was difficult to access before, and facilitate forms of collaboration and greater communion in ways that were unthinkable in the past.”

Pope Francis too has embraced social media and has tweeted more in his first couple months than his predecessor did during his whole papacy. In getting ready for this year’s 2013 World Communications Day on May 12, the Holy Father continues the theme that social networking is a powerful means of evangelization. Following the papal lead, many in the Church are using social media. A number of parishes and schools in the Diocese of Corpus Christi have Web sites that provide parishioners information on sacraments, personnel and events. However, because of its limitations, Web sites cannot always carry real-time events. Instead, some parishes have embraced the pope’s message and find it more convenient to disseminate local parish events on a social network site, such as Facebook. Facebook has become an easy way to communicate a Father Hesse uses Facebook to communicate with parishioners. Robbie McGuiness for South Texas Catholic www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

message to an even broader community at no cost. St Pius X is among one of a number of parishes in the Diocese of Corpus Christi that is embracing social media as part of the new church culture. Father Paul Hesse, pastor at St. Pius X, created and administers the parish’s Facebook page. “In some ways I communicate with people on a broader basis. People are actively reading on Facebook…and there’s an interaction,” Father Hesse said. He feels Facebook is an effective tool for evangelizing and keeping parishioners informed. Readers build a relationship with each other from exploring the St Pius Facebook page, Father Hesse said. He said that his members like to use Facebook to request an appointment with him or ask for prayers. Facebook seems to be a convenient way for members to reach him. Although it increases his workload, as parishioners bypass his secretary and go straight to him, he insists that Facebook is “mostly positive”. While Father Hesse tries to post daily to his Facebook page to keep his members engaged and informed he has never had a single negative post. He remains positive that social media will continue to have a large impact on building relationships in the church. Incarnate Word Academy uses Facebook to communicate local school news, events and student achievements. Different from the mission and makeup of a parish church, IWA ministers to elementary, middle and high school students in various academic programs. The Director of Technology & Communications, Priscilla Ramos, manages the Facebook page with the help of many others who send her photos, events and achievements. Ramos believes Facebook is a conversation between the organization and its followers. The church, like any business, needs to listen to its audience, she said. She receives pictures or news updates from fellow staff and parents on a regular basis. Ramos believes the constant JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

streaming of information to parents on the Facebook page is effective and appreciated, especially for those who cannot always be at every event. Despite the Facebook page being effective, it takes a lot of time and effort by the administrator. The biggest negative IWA parent feedback “is not being quicker to post events.” The IWA Facebook page was created in 2009 and has grown to 1,699 followers, double their current 2013 enrollment of 813. Facebook has many benefits that can enhance a parish’s relationships and evangelization efforts. However, the Church cautions users of the potential abuse of social media. It provides policies that encourage parishes, schools and other ministries to use when engaging in social media. Pope Benedict XVI, in January 2013, continued to urge engagement in social media but to ensure it is in a manner that is safe, responsible and civil. He pointed out that inherent with the anonymity of social media comes potential negative exchanges that could turn volatile in a matter of minutes on the Web. Careful discernment of language must be monitored constantly. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops provides parishes with guidelines and best practices to help launch an effective social media network. These guidelines are not hard and fast laws, but common sense rules that parishes should follow to keep digital communication respectful and safe. It is important to note if not effectively implemented, a parish organization will not see the intended results. The USCCB guidelines state to have two adults designated as the administrators of the site. This allows for rapid responses, constant monitoring and regular posting. To have an effective Facebook page, comments must be posted at least once a day and should meet parish needs. Comments should be written in the first person, not claiming to represent the positions of the church or the parish name itself. The objective should be to spread the message of God’s love to a broader community and in doing so must practice Christian charity at all times when posting comments. Social media is a useful evangelization tool that has been endorsed by the Vatican but it must be used–like the parables of Jesus–to invite others to an encounter with the mystery of God’s love in a creative and respectful manner. The Pope encourages us to find “true friendship” to satisfy that human longing for community. Building relationships through online social media can support the Church’s mission. Facebook allows the Church to make more connections, share more information and engage more people in dialogue. Social media, properly used, can be a useful tool to help strengthen local parish communities.

SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

Ss. Cyril y & Methodius Religious Gift Shop at Ss. Cyril & Methodius Church All New Merchandise • A.C.T.S. • Silver Jewelry 3210 S.P.I.D. 10 - 5 P.M. MON. - FRI. & 8:30 - 2 P.M. SUN.

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Federation of Our Lady of Guadalupe DIOCESE OF CORPUS CHRISTI

presents

Silent Retreat

“Spiritual Enlightenment, Meditation and Prayer”

June 29

Pilgrimage to Spain November 6-15, 2013 Join Father Rodolfo Vásquez, pastor of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Corpus Christi, on an inspiring journey to one of the most fascinating regions of Spain and Europe. The pilgrimage begins in the vibrant and progressive Mediterranean gem, Barcelona, – where we will visit not only the historic Gothic Quarter, but also the world-renowned Sagrada Familia basilica, designed by Gaudi and recently consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI. The journey will continue to historical destinations such as Montserrat, Poblet and Zaragoza, and places of unprecedented natural beauty that inspire the soul. We will visit major sites along the Camino de Santiago such as Burgos and Leon. We will visit the great European pilgrimage destination of Santiago de Compostela before returning to Madrid via Avila, a beautiful walled medieval village where St. Theresa of Avila lived and wrote her spiritual masterpieces. We have created a program that balances group and individual time and balances spiritual and pilgrimage interests with cultural ones. We look forward to welcoming you on this journey!

9 a.m. – 3:45 p.m.

Schoenstatt Center in Lamar, TX Across the bridge from Rockport/Fulton $20 INCLUDES LUNCH & DRINKS

Theme is “Lecio Devino/Praying with Scripture”. For more information call Mary Garza at (361) 425-6290 or Elvira Rodriguez at (361) 534-4545.

Make all payments to the parish of¿ce. For more information call (361) 991-4400 or Email: churchof¿ce@sjbcctx.org. Visit our Web Site: www.sjbcctx.org

Are you confused by medical terms or the medical situation that you or a loved one faces? Or perhaps you don’t understand what lies ahead for you or a loved one whose medical situation is complicated. Or maybe you just want to have a clearer understanding of the big picture and what decisions lie ahead in those complex medical situations? To assist you in understanding the options available, in communicating with your doctors and to make the best informed decisions about a complicated medical situation, consider a consult with Dr. Madigan; who will ‘translate’ the situation and assist you in ‘walking through’ the process of understanding what is happening to you or a loved one, and what options you have in the days ahead. Consult can be at the office, the hospital or your home and can include key family members.

You may need a Medical Interpreter Coleen M. Madigan, M.D., F.A.C.P. Board Certified in Internal Medicine for over 25 years 613 Elizabeth #704A Corpus Christi, TX 78404 361.883.2323 www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

Job Opening:

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Enjoy the Rich History of the church in South Texas “Becoming the Body of Christ: A History of the Diocese of Corpus Christi” This 208-page coffee table book features the tales of Catholic faith in south Texas, including stories and photos of every parish and mission. Each chapter of the book begins with a stained glass window from Corpus Christi Cathedral and scriptural reflection. Also featured are many historic photos of early churches in the diocese. Call (361) 882-6191 for more information.

Order Now! Limited Copies Available!

Pick up your copies at the Chancey or Order by mail with this coupon:

I would like to order ____ copies of “Becoming the Body of Christ: A History of the Diocese of Corpus Christi.” Books are $20 each, shipping and handling ncluded. Enclosed is my check or money order for $ _____.

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SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

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Catholic Charities clients enjoyed a field trip at the Texas State Aquarium on May 13 as part of the Diocese of Corpus Christiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new initiative to seek ways to assist special needs persons. Making the trip were, from left, volunteer Suzanna Perez, Maria Briones, Maria Robles, Maria Garcia, Alice Young, Belinda Urrea, Julie Mendez, Maria Azua, Elda Hernandez, Yolanda Reyna, Silvia Gonzales, Felicitas Flores and Catholic Charities Director Dora Marquez. Mary Cottingham, South Texas Catholic

Diocese helping enrich lives of persons with special needs Mary Cottingham South Texas Catholic

leven persons with special needs spent the day at the Texas State Aquarium on May 13, as part of an effort by the Diocese of Corpus Christi to help with their spiritual and

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educational needs. They started and ended the trip with a prayer of thanks. Celia Mendez and Dora Marquez, Catholic Charities Directors for the Ministry and Life Enrichment for the Disabled, led the group throughout the dayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s excursion. Mendez interpreted and signed for the deaf, as they took JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

Catholic Charities Director Celia Mendez, left, interprets and signs for Julie Mendez and Maria Azua as they took a guided tour of the aquarium. Mary Cottingham, South Texas Catholic

a private, guided tour of the facility. Two volunteers, Ada Segovia and Suzanna Perez, helped with managing wheel chairs and walkers. “We always try to go somewhere, but this year it didn’t look like we were going to get to go until Stephanie [Bonilla] came to visit our oﬃce and asked them where they wanted to go,” Mendez said. Bonilla is director of the Diocese of Corpus Christi Oﬃce for Child and Youth Protection, whose duties were recently expanded by Bishop Wm. Michael Mulvey. Under

their new mandate from the bishop, the oﬃce is to extend support for the special needs community. “[The trip to the aquarium] was the initial step,” Bonilla said. “Our Safe Environment education and support, as well as connecting the individual with key staﬀ who may assist them further in obtaining pastoral care and promoting their spiritual growth will also be a focus.” After visiting with some of the clients at the Texas State Aquarium, Bonilla asked them again how the diocese can meet some of their educational and spiritual needs. One client asked for easy to read Bibles; another suggested a computer literacy class. Mendez said that they are in need of volunteers to drive clients to and from Sunday Mass once a week. “This is a great first step in developing a supportive relationship with the vulnerable adult population, all with a focus to promoting and respecting the human dignity of every individual,” Bonilla said.

Felicitas Flores and Maria Azua enjoy the dolphins at the Texas State Aquarium. Mary Cottingham, South Texas Catholic

To see more photos of this event

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from the basics of life. “What many of you do is work with the basic elements of life, the land, the seeds, etc.,” Bishop Mulvey said. “Farmers are so important to human life, to society.” He told farmers that they, more than most, knew how to appreciate God because they are dependent on His gifts of rain and good weather. “What you do helps sustain others,” he said. Father Dennis Zerr, pastor at Holy Family, concelebrated the Mass with Bishop Mulvey, and Deacon William Boostrom assisted. The bishop thanked the parish communities of Holy Family and Immaculate Conception for their participation and hospitality. “While we are thankful for the recent rains, we need to continue to pray To see more photos of this event for the bless ings of suﬃcient rain to free us from the ongoing drought,” Bishop Mulvey said.

SouthTexasCatholic.com

Bishop Mulvey greets parishioners at Holy Family in Taft after celebrating the Mass for the Beginning of the Harvest.

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Alfredo E. Cardenas, South Texas Catholic

Bishop celebrates Mass for Beginning of the Harvest Alfredo E. Cardenas South Texas Catholic

Nearly 100 of the faithful came to Holy Family Parish in Taft, some from as far away as Alice, to join Bishop Wm. Michael Mulvey celebrate a Mass for the Beginning of the Harvest. This is the second year that the bishop has celebrated the Mass. The Mass was celebrated on the Feast of St. Isidore, Patron Saint of Farmers and Bishop Mulvey implored St. Isidore to ask God to bless the work of those present and to provide them with the rain they need to harvest a good crop. The bishop reminded the farmers that Jesus used the very basic items of bread and wine in the first Eucharistic celebration. These basic elements come from the Earth, he said. There is a danger in today’s society of moving away www.SouthTexasCatholic.com www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

Bishop Wm. Michael Mulvey has made the following appointments for the good of the people of God in the Diocese of Corpus Christi. Father Juan Fernando Gámez will be Parochial Vicar at St. Joseph Parish in Alice. Father Aralarasu Mathias has been assigned to Christus Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi as Chaplain in CPE. Father José M. Gutiérrez will be the Parochial Vicar at Holy Family Parish in Corpus Christi and Father Eulalio P. Ibay, STD has been named pastor at Holy Cross Parish in Corpus Christi and will remain as Pastor of Our Lady Star of the Sea, also in Corpus Christi. All these appointments take eﬀect on July 1. In anticipation of their ordination to the diaconate on June 1, the following appointments are made eﬀective June 5 until August 9, Alfredo Villarreal as Parochial Deacon at Holy Family Parish in Corpus Christi and David Bayardo as Parochial Deacon at St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Corpus Christi. JUNE JUNE 2013 2013 || SOUTH SOUTH TEX TEXAS AS CATHOLIC CATHOLIC

17 17

La Virgen de Guadal Luisa Scolari Corresponsal

uan Diego, Juan Diegotzin, xo“ coyotito mío, el más amado, por que tienes miedo? Qué acaso no estoy yo aquí que soy tu madre?” Con ésta frase la Virgen de Guadalupe nos invita a acércanos a ella, para que través de su intercesión lleve nuestras peticiones a su hijo, dijo el Monseñor Eduardo Chávez Sánchez, que tiene un doctorado en historia Monseñor Eduardo de la iglesia, y fungió Chávez Sánchez como uno de los prinpostulador de la causa cipales promotores y de canonización de postulador de la causa San Juan Diego de canonización de San Juan Diego, quien fue canonizado el 31 de Julio de 2002. Monseñor Chávez presento una platica sobre la canonización de Juan Diego y de las significaciones de la Virgen d Guadalupe en una conferencia promovida por Las Hermanas del Centro para Retiros Litúrgicos Pax Christi en marco de “el año de la Fe.” La conferencia fue parte de la Segunda Gala Anual, Tesoros del Mar, iniciada por la congregación de las hermanas del Centro de Retiros Litúrgicos Pax Christi para levantar recursos para construir un centro para retiros. Monseñor Chávez, a través de su trabajo como postulador, ha hecho muchas contribuciones académicas internacionalmente al estudio del evento Guadalupano, con más de 28 publicaciones entre libros y artículos. El compartió con la audiencia algunos de los simbolismos de los que está llena la imagen de nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, entre los que destacan el que, “La Virgen de Guadalupe, al estar embarazada es tabernáculo de Jesús, ya que éste está en su vientre, por eso está en el centro de la imagen, lo que significa que Jesús es el centro de su Iglesia.”

SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

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VIDA CATÓLICA

upe es encontrada por todo el mundo

Las Hermanas Wendy Rodríguez, PCI, María Concepción Lozano, PCI y Alicia García, PCI gozan en la Segunda Gala Anual Tesoros del Mar patrocinada por la congregación de las hermanas Pax Christi. Luisa Scolari para el South Texas Catholic

Para los indígenas todos los años tenían un significado, y el año de las apariciones (1531) significaba “algo nuevo empieza, lleno de la sabiduría de Dios,” y el que las apariciones se dieran en el solsticio de Invierno significa que la luz comienza a vencer sobre las tinieblas. La tilma representaba a los indígenas www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

su consagración a Dios, ya que a los cuatro días de nacido, bañaban al niño, le ponían su tilma, lo llevaban a el templo y lo consagraban a Dios. El hecho de que la Virgen insistiera en la autorización del Obispo Fray Juan de Zumárraga para la construcción JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

del templo que solicitaba, implica el respeto y obediencia que la Virgen nos deja como ejemplo hacia la Iglesia de su hijo. Es la principal evangelizadora, en solo cinco aĂąos logrĂł la conversiĂłn de mĂĄs de nueve millones de indĂgenas y cuando habla a todos los indĂgenas del continente, los lleva hacia Dios Nuestro SeĂąor, sin importar razas y fronteras, porque en el amor de Dios no hay divisiĂłn. La cara de la Imagen de la Virgen tiene rasgos mestizos, no indĂgenas, que representa la uniĂłn de Aztecas, Toltecas y Mayas con los colonizadores. Guadalupe es una palabra de origen ĂĄrabe que significa â&#x20AC;&#x153;La elegida por Dios, la iluminadora, y la hermosaâ&#x20AC;? en hebreo. El nombre de Guadalupe significa â&#x20AC;&#x153;lecho del rĂoâ&#x20AC;? lo que significa que ella no es el agua viva, pero sĂ la conductora de ella.â&#x20AC;? La luna sobre la que estĂĄ parada representa que ella no es la luz, sino que la refleja y tambiĂŠn significa la casa de Dios. La posiciĂłn de las estrellas en la tilma de la virgen estĂĄn colocadas en el manto exactamente en el orden como se encontraban las constelaciones en la fecha de las apariciones, del 9 al 12 de Diciembre de 1531, y los ojos reflejan la imagen de Juan Diego de forma exacta. La Virgen escogiĂł a Juan Diego, cuyo nombre antes de ser bautizado era Cuauhtlatoatzin (ĂĄguila que habla, que da el mensaje divino), ya que era Tolteca, quienes adoraban a un solo Dios, no como los Aztecas que veneraban a varios Dioses. Por eso Netzahualcoyotl el rey de la sabidurĂa Tolteca dice en uno de sus poemas, â&#x20AC;&#x153;TĂş eres un solo Dios, tĂş eres el Ăşnico Dios, pero, donde estas?â&#x20AC;? Dijo el MonseĂąor ChĂĄvez, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tal vez por eso las palabras de la Virgen, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Yo soy la madre del verdadero Dios, quiero aquĂ mi casa sagrada para adorar a mi hijo, que quiere estar cerca de ti y ya no quiere mas sacrificios humanos, porque yo sĂŠ lo que es eso, y mi hijo es el Ăşnico y verdadero sacrificioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.â&#x20AC;? La beatificaciĂłn de Juan Diego se dio el 6 de Mayo de 1990 y fue canonizado el 31 de Julio del 2002. MonseĂąor ChĂĄvez explico que, â&#x20AC;&#x153;La canonizaciĂłn de San Juan Diego adquiere

gran importancia, ya que a travĂŠs de ella, la apariciĂłn de la Virgen de Guadalupe deja de ser un dogma de fe, a diferencia de como ocurre con las apariciones de Lourdes y FĂĄtima, pues al afirmar el Papa â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;este hombre estĂĄ en el cieloâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; interviene la Infalibilidad Papal que lo convierte en una verdad total.â&#x20AC;? Juan Diego representa a los laicos y es considerado el santo patrono de los floristas y de los indĂgenas, y representa a todos los hombres humildes, sencillos y obedientes. Un promedio de 20 millones de personas visitan anualmente la BasĂlica de la Virgen de Guadalupe en MĂŠxico, que es atendida por 24 sacerdotes que no se dan abasto, pues llegan peregrinaciones de mĂĄs de 120,000 personas que caminan, bailan y rezan por varios dĂas con una gran devociĂłn a su â&#x20AC;&#x153;Virgencita de Guadalupe.â&#x20AC;? La respuesta nĂşmero uno de los peregrinos es, â&#x20AC;&#x153;vengo a Para ver mĂĄs fotos de este evento visitar a mi madrecita del cieloâ&#x20AC;?, la segunda es: â&#x20AC;&#x153;vengo a que mi mamĂĄ conozca a mi hijo,â&#x20AC;? la tercera es, â&#x20AC;&#x153;vengo SouthTexasCatholic.com/Gala a agradecerle algoâ&#x20AC;? y en cuarto lugar es, â&#x20AC;&#x153;vengo a pedirle algo.â&#x20AC;? Actualmente la imagen de la Virgen de Guadalupe es encontrada por todo el planeta; en la BasĂlica de San Pedro en el Vaticano, a mano derecha de la tumba de San Pedro y en el altar de la Catedral en Roma cubrieron el EspĂritu Santo de Bernini con la imagen de la Virgen de Guadalupe. En China la tomaron e hicieron suya y la podemos encontrar con rasgos asiĂĄticos; tambiĂŠn la podemos encontrar en Filipinas, en la India, en el Himalaya, en Kenia, Nairobi y Mozambique. En Sto. Stefano Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Aveto en Italia, en la Batalla de Lepanto en 1571 le rezaban y en la segunda Guerra mundial le rezaban para que regresaran sanos y salvos y le prometieron una estatua

Ayudenos a Prevenir el Abuso Financiero

Alcance a las vĂctimas y sobrevivientes de abuso sexual por el clero y / o personal de la iglesia

La DiĂłcesis de Corpus Christi por medio de la recomendaciĂłn del Concilio Diocesano de Finanzas y el Concilio Presbiteral han llevado su dedicaciĂłn mas allĂĄ para la buena administraciĂłn y responsabilidad Âżnanciera en nombre de donantes generosos al instituir un â&#x20AC;&#x153;hotlineâ&#x20AC;? para reportar el abuso Âżnanciero. La DiĂłcesis de Corpus Christi ha seleccionado un tercer partido independiente, La Red, para proporcionarle a usted con una manera para reportar anĂłnima y conÂżdencialmente el abuso Âżnanciero e fraude. Los empleados, los parroquianos, los voluntarios, los vendedores, y otros partidos interesados estan impulsados para reportar las preocupaciones que tengan respeto a la conducta de pĂĽca ĂŠtica Âżnanciera dentro de la DiĂłcese de Corpus Christi. Todas las investigaciones serĂĄn tradas inmediatamente y discretamente. Personas que llamen tienen el derecho de mantenerse anĂłnimas.

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SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

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2ELVSR :P 0LFKDHO 0XOYH\ \ HO SHUVRQDO GH OD 'LÂłFHVLV GH &RUSXV &KULVWL VH KD FRPSURPHWLGR D D\XGDU HQ HO SURFHVR GH FXUDFLÂłQ GH ODV YÂFWLPDV \ VREUHYLYLHQWHV GH DEXVR VH[XDO 6L XVWHG R DOJXLHQ TXH XVWHG FRQRFH HVWÂĄ HQ OD QHFHVLGDG GH GL FKRV VHUYLFLRV SRU IDYRU OODPH D 6WHSKDQLH %RQLOOD DQWH OD 2ŕ´&#x161; FLQD GH 3URWHFFLÂłQ GH 1LÂąRV \ -ÂłYHQHV Rŕ´&#x161; FLQD FHOXODU www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

Monseñor Louis Kihneman, Vicario General de la Diócesis de Corpus Christi, a la izquierda, y Monseñor Eduardo Chávez Sánchez comparten la alegría en la cena de gala. En el fondo, a la izquierda, está Nelda Martínez la alcalde de Corpus Christi. Luisa Scolari para el South Texas Catholic

en la montaña mas alta para protegerlos y en 1995 le hicieron su estatua. El Santuario Guadalupano más antiguo en Estados Unidos se encuentra en Santa Fe, Nuevo México y esta imagen fue hecha y bendecida en México. También la encontramos en Wisconsin, San Francisco, Florida, la Imagen de la Catedral de Nueva York corresponde al siglo XVII. Incluso la Imagen de la Virgen de Guadalupe se encuentra

Lentes. Cuidado dental. Medicinas. Tranquilidad. Con $50 o menos podría cubrir a sus niños todo el año. Vea si reúne los requisitos. Solicite por Internet en CHIPmedicaid.org o llame al 1-877-543-7669. Tamaño de la familia (niños y adultos) Ingreso anual de la familia antes de quitar los impuestos

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ya en el espacio en el satélite mexicano SATMEX5, el Monseñor Chávez agregó en tono de broma “a ver si hay extraterrestres en el espacio para que se hagan Guadalupanos.” Conocemos mucho de la historia de las apariciones de la Virgen de Guadalupe a través del libro “Nican Mopohua,” un documento histórico en el que se relata las apariciones de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe y que es escrito originalmente en la lengua náhuatl.

Peregrinación a

TIERRA SANTA Y JORDANIA Andando los pasos de nuestro Señor Jesus Nov. 6-17, 2013 Acompaña Director Espiritual, Padre Jairo Motta de la Iglesia Sagrado Corazón en Corpus Christi en una peregrinacíon a Tierra Santa y Jordania. Al final de esta peregrinación, usted habra rezado todos los 20 decados del santo Rosario, donde cada misterio ocurrio. Costo es de $3,190. Para mas información, llamar Dora Hidalgo

(361) 510-1411 www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

Monseñor Chávez concluyo su participación invitando a el público que se acerquen a la Virgen de Guadalupe, para que todos formen una familia unida en el amor de Dios, y quien muestra siempre el camino a su hijo y nos guiará a Jesús. Las hermanas de Pax Christi incluyen Madre Superiora Elva Reyes, y las demás hermanas: Teresa Díaz, Guadalupe María Cervantes, Laura Nieves, Josefina Pájaro, Gloria Salinas, Bernarda Santiago de León, Arcelia Martínez, María Concepción Lozano, Marcelina Maciel, Wendy Rodríguez, Ana Nguyen, Alicia García, María de los Ángeles Zepeda, Isabel López, Susana Rentería y Consuelo Flores. La madre fundadora es la hermana Teresa Santoyo.

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Youth Spect adult status, Jaime Reyna Contributor

n 1980, Sister Jude Janecek, IWBS, became the first “fulltime paid Youth Minister” for the Diocese of Corpus Christi. Three years later, when Bishop Rene Gracida became the fifth bishop for the diocese, he named Sister Jude Director of Youth Ministry and Young Adults.

Sister Jude pioneered many activities while in the Oﬃce of Youth and Young Adults, including retreats, training for youth ministers and other youth gatherings. One important legacy she left for the youth in the diocese is the Youth Spectacular. “I did not invent Youth Spectacular, I borrowed the idea from the Diocese of San Antonio,” Sister Jude said. “When I saw this work over there in San Antonio, I brought it back here to Corpus Christi.” Youth Spectaculars are held in many dioceses throughout the United States as a day when all junior high and high school youth can come together for one day to pray, praise and worship, have skits, play games and hear speakers on talks geared towards the youth and their faith. They also are joined by their bishop who celebrates a closing Mass. Sister Jude did not have any staﬀ members the first few years, so she organized young adults and college students and formed a resource team of youth ministers to help her with Youth Spectacular. The first Youth Spectacular was held on Feb. 27, 1983 at the O’Connor Hall gymnasium at the Pastoral Center, now the Our Lady of Corpus Christi Retreat Center. “It was only for high school youth when I started it and we had almost 600 youth and young adults in attendance,” Sister Jude said. The theme for the first Youth

SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

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tacular reaching young celebrates 30 years Spectacular was “We are the Church of Today.” The following year, youth attendance increased. “We did invite the eighth graders to the Youth Spectaculars to motivate them when they went to high school,” Sister Jude said. The Second Annual Youth Spectacular was held on Feb. 26, 1984 also at the O’Connor Hall gymnasium. The theme of the Youth Spectacular was “We Shall Be His Witness” and 700 youth and young adults attended the event. The Third Annual Youth Spectacular outgrew the O’Connor Hall gymnasium and was moved to the Corpus Christi Bayfront Plaza on March 3, 1985 with a theme of “In Giving, We Receive” with 841 youth and young adults in attendance. Music, games, skits, icebreakers and training was a part of the Youth Spectacular and helped draw more people every year it was held. Sister Jude said that at these three Youth Spectaculars, youth and young adults came from as far away as Laredo. Laredo was part of the Diocese of Corpus Christi then and more parishes were being served with this annual event for youth and young adults. The Office of Youth Ministry invites all past Youth Spectacular participants, volunteers and leaders to share their pictures, videos, articles and testimonies with the 30th Anniversary of Youth Spectacular scheduled for Sept. 22 and 29. Anyone having pictures and testimonies to share or are available to participate in the 30th Anniversary of Youth Spectacular, should contact the Office of Youth Ministry Director, at (361) 88 882-6191, ext. 637 or email YouthOffice@ DioceseCC.org. (Editor’s note: This is the fist in a series on Youth Spectaculars that www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

will be featured in the run to this year’s Youth Spectacular in September.) JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

The Class of 2013

n Thursday, May 30 and Friday, May 31, 76 seniors from Blessed John Paul II High School followed by 72 seniors from Incarnate Word Academy completed their high school journey at the altar of the Corpus Christi Cathedral.

Celest Aguirre

Jordan Balolong

Justin Bernal

Nathan Alexander

Sarah Brown

Richard Alvarado

Ryan Claus

Bishop Wm. Michael Mulvey celebrated the Baccalaureate Mass for both schools. The featured speakers at the Blessed John Paul II commencement ceremony were class Salutatorian Emily Baker and Valedictorian Lauren Lerma. On the following day at the IWA commencement ceremony featured speakers were class Salutatorian Derek Matthew Ficenec and Valedictorian Brittany Anne Nicole Donald. As part of the graduation ceremony, IWA and Blessed JPII candidates presented roses to their parents in appreciation for their support throughout their childhood.

Melissa Amaya

Ethan Anderson

James Ayala

Emily Bacon Salutatorian

Justin Contreras

Alejandra Del Angel

Carlos De La Rosa

Ariana Escobar

Photo Not Available

Devin Escobar

Selena Fernandez

Kirsten Flores

Amanda Foust

Bonnie Fuentes

Sierra Fulgencio

Aaron Garcia

Kaylynn Garcia

Luis Garcia

Lonnie Gatlin

Mirabella Gonzalez

Teodoso Gonzalez IV

Joshua Greses

Sean Griss

Bryttany Hernandez

Justin C. Hernandez

SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

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CATHOLIC EDUCATION

Tomas Hinojosa

To-Hong Hoang

Aubree Jaso

Chelsea Keefer

Allison Leija

Lauren Lerma Valedictorian

Desiree Lopez

Kelliinez Lopez

Sadie Lopez

Connor Lowrie

Stephen Luis

Jonathan Martinez

Matthew Martinez

Gabriella Martinez

Cristian Martinez

Rachel Martinez

Jacob Martinez

Brian McCutchon

Lauren McGregor

Cristina Mendez

Jaxon Menger

Robert Molina

Joe Moreno

Naomi Moreno

Rene Naranjo

Marco Ochoa

Alexandra Ortiz

Angel Ortiz

Eduardo Perez Jr.

Sarah Perez-Collins

Javier Ramirez

Francisco Reynaga

Kollin Reynolds

Justin Rivera

Christiana Romero

Rachel Serda

Austen Silvas

Victoria Sosa

William Speck

Neil Vasquez

Santino Vasquez

Nicholas Villalobos

Juliana Villarreal

Gabriella Villarreal

Maria Willingham

Congratulations

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JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

Poneh Shannay Baradaran

Alexandra Mariah Barrera

Madison Lucy Aboud

Raymond Burnett Acebo III

Ashley Michelle Arriaga

Alexandra Nicole Atkinson

Lauren Amber Ayala

Jaime Nichole Bibby

Daniel Wright Bomer

Avery Quinn Bottom

Jackson Bright

John Lawrence Bronold II

Robert Maxwell Buchan

Brianna Gabrielle Cosme

Alfred Trent Dimas

Clarissa Loraine Carre贸n

Jacob Will Clark

Cristian Fernandez

Derek Matthew Paul Ficenec Freeman (Salutatorian)

Chelsea Guerra

Michael Edward Harrington

Dodie Nohely Heredia

SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

Brittany Anne Annabelle Nicole Donald Evangeline (Valedictorian) Dura

Kayla Elaine Dural

Alegre Lamar Elizondo

Danielle Rene茅 Garcia

Jacob-Lee Pryor Garza

Alyssa Marie Gentry

Carlos Alexander Gonzales

Madison Bailey Groesbeck

Patrick Arthur Hickham

Taylor Hubbard

Elizabeth Cram Kirkland

Kateri Anne Kroeger

Kevin Noe Lira

www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

Madison Elizabeth Longwell

Gustavo Adolfo Madero

Kanyarat Maliwan

Zachary Martin

Kelvie Chenille Mason

Frank Lowell McNiff III

Katia Maria Mendizabal

Clarra Moore

Cristian Andrew Moreno

Matthew Thomas Morrison

William Niswonger

Jesus David Noyola

Andrew Michael Orgill

Angela Mia Pannone

Victoria Nicole Parra

Hailey Nichole Patrick

Deanna Marie Ramirez

Gabriella Rebeca Rend贸n

Daniela P. Rivera

Olivia Ann Rodriguez

Lauren Marie Saenz

Michael Emile Salloum

Hayley Elizabeth Sanchez

Miranda Sauceda

Andrew Agustin Shull

Jason Christopher Simank

Kevin Michael Smith

Gilberto Sosa III

David Tyler Suarez

Andrew Michael Thomas

Erika Alexandra Tijerina

Michael W. Tinning

Sebastian Villamil

Jesse Clement Woodall IV

www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

Benjamin Rene Sorrell

Congratulations JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

Great gifts for retreats, conﬁrmations and other occasions

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Benefit Dinner

Friday night June 7 at 7 p.m. (Doors open at 6:30 for silent auction) Banquet with guest of honor DANA Scallon of Ireland. There will be a silent auction. If you would like to donate an item, please call Mona Lisa at (361) 289-9095, ext. 301.

the DOME FEST

You’re invited to the DOME FEST A Music Festival for the whole family Saturday, June 8 from 10 a.m. - 10 p.m. FREE Admission 1200 Lantana • Corpus Christi

(361) 289-9095 Free Coffee at

Bookstore: Ext. 309 Retreats: Ext. 321

www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

Saturday June 8 from 10 a.m.- 10 p.m. Entertainment with special guest DANA and the following groups performing throughout the day: OLDE DOGS, NEWMAN, David and Barbara Brown, 1 Neophyte, Jesus and the Jets, Sacred Silence, Uncut Diamondz, Fire and Flame, Verse 34 and more. We still have more vendor spaces available, call (361) 289-9095 ext. 301 for more information or ext. 309 for banquet tickets. For more information for the silent retreats, please visit www.deepprayer.org “Come and See” Jesus in our beautiful Perpetual Adoration Chapel! www.ourladyofcc.org AND “Like” us on facebook @ “Our Lady of Corpus Christi and Cafe Veritas”

JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

for Feast of Corpus Christi Alfredo E. Cardenas South Texas Catholic

n Sunday, June 2, as part of the Feast of Corpus Christi, Bishop Wm. Michael Mulvey will celebrate the 9:30 a.m. Mass at the Cathedral, and at 10 a.m. worshipers will join Pope Francis for an hour of Eucharistic Adoration from St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

“The Diocese of Corpus Christi bears the name of this central mystery of our faith and thus we feel particularly impelled to join with the Holy Father in this unique celebration of unity gathered around the Eucharistic Lord,” Bishop Mulvey said. Upon announcing the Year of Faith in 2012, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, said that among other considerations, the year would provide the opportunity “to intensify the celebration of the faith in the liturgy, especially in the Eucharist, which is the summit towards which the activity of the Church is directed and also the source from which all its power flows.” Pope Benedict set Sunday, June 2,

SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

2013, as a day when the Holy See would preside over a worldwide Eucharistic adoration from St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The universal scope of this moment is to be a gesture of spiritual sharing, Pope Benedict said. He asked that all bishops join with the Holy Father by celebrating in their cathedrals an hour of Eucharistic Adoration synchronized with the Vatican Basilica. Moreover, he asked that bishops extend this initiative to as many parishes as possible. “This event will provide many of the faithful with an opportunity to join with their local bishops and with the successor of Peter in the prayer of adoration to Jesus alive in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar,” a Vatican spokesman said. “As the Feast of Corpus Christi approaches, I want to wish you and your parishioners a happy feast day,” Bishop Mulvey wrote to pastors throughout the diocese. He invited them to join in the hour of Adoration in response to the invitation by the Holy Father “to link the universal Church together in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.” Because the Eucharistic Adoration will occur at 5 p.m. Rome time, the corresponding time in Corpus Christi will be 10 a.m. on Sunday, which is a time when many parishes have already scheduled Sunday Mass, including the Cathedral. The 9:30 Mass at the Cathedral will be concluded at 10 a.m. in order to join the pope in Rome.

Since this is the time that the Cathedral Mass is televised on local cable channels, the Eucharistic Adoration will be televised and aired over KLUX radio . Bishop Mulvey has allowed pastors to adjust their schedules, if such a change would meet with the pastoral needs of the parish. If it is not possible to adjust the Mass schedule, the bishop suggested to pastors holding an hour-long Adoration at the conclusion of their last Mass. “Perhaps another hour may be better, but let us do what we can to unite in prayer,” Bishop Mulvey said. “Please encourage your parishioners to celebrate with you and the diocese on this wonderful feast day.” If someone is not able to participate either at the Cathedral or their parish, the new Invisible Monastery organized by the diocese’s Office of Vocations oﬀers a bilingual booklet, “Eucharistic Procession for Vocations,” that helps individuals pray for vocations on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi and other occasions. During the procession, participants are led through four altars, or stations, based on the themes: Called by Christ, Formed in Christ, Sent by Christ, and Remain in Christ. This booklet is available from the Invisible Monastery at ccpriest.org. Pope Francis elevates the Eucharist during recent Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. Paul Haring, Catholic News Service www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

www.SouthTexasCatholic.com www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

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Through the Spiritual Ex Timothy Hatch Correspondent

or over 10 years now, the campus of Our Lady of Corpus Christi has been a refuge from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

First as an academic institution where college students could be formed both intellectually and spiritually as a means to grow closer in their relationship with God so that they would be equipped to carry out Blessed Pope John Paul II’s call for the New Evangelization. Then the priests and lay staﬀ of Our Lady of Corpus Christi soon realized that they could expand the work of the New Evangelization in a new direction and that the Holy Spirit was calling them to serve people of all ages, not just the youth. Thus, since 2010 the Our Lady of Corpus Christi Retreat Center has oﬀered retreats for individuals and parishes within the diocese so that people can come, be still and listen to God amidst a world that often makes it hard to find Him. “We’ve found that many people are hungering to grow spiritually, yet they are finding little opportunity, support and direction to do so. This is a deep need that we can fill in service to the

SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

Sister Miriam James Heidland speaks to participants at the Women’s retreat at Our Lady of Corpus

diocese of Corpus Christi,” Father Dan Estes, SOLT, Director of Our Lady of Corpus Christi Retreat Center said. The most effective way that the retreat center provides the opportunity for people to truly encounter God is

by oﬀering three specific retreats; the Spiritual Exercises retreat, the Divine Mercy retreat and the Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary retreat. The foundation of these retreats is the Spiritual Exercises Silent Retreat, www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

xercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola

s Christi Campus. Mona Lisa Biberstein for South Texas Catholic

which is a three-day retreat. Our Lady of Corpus Christi oﬀers this retreat monthly in order to accommodate busy schedules. The Spiritual Exercises are based on the 30-day Ignatian Exercises, dewww.SouthTexasCatholic.com

veloped by St. Ignatius of Loyola. St. Ignatius developed a series of exercises to help discern and obey the will of God. With divine assistance, he discovered the path, the materials for meditations and directions which formed the frame-

work for the retreat. He called them the “Spiritual Exercises.” The three-day weekend retreat at Our Lady of Corpus Christi condenses the exercises into eleven 20-30 minute talks that follow the flow of the exercises, beginning with the purpose in life, God’s creation, sin, redemption through Christ, reflecting on His life, passion, death and resurrection and finding God in all things. Retreat participants are given time to reflect and pray with questions and meditations to help them in between talks. They also have the opportunity for spiritual direction and Confession. They participate in daily Mass, pray the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the Stations of the Cross. Silence is maintained during the retreat so participants can focus on the points for prayer and listening to God. The Spiritual Exercises are made eﬀective by the silence, the flow of God’s graces and the specific material for prayer. This process helps to deepen one’s relationship with God and disposes one to find Him in all things. Participants practice the Spiritual Exercises through a new concept of prayer that is presented, following a routine that incorporates the sacraments, scripture and periodic spiritual direction. In so doing, the retreat helps the faithful to come to know Jesus, love Him and thus be moved to serve Him. The retreat center is often referred JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

to as a “house of deep prayer” not only because of the serene atmosphere and place of solitude where one can listen to God, but also because priests, deacons and religious are readily available for spiritual direction. Upon special request, the faithful may participate in a five-day, eight day or the full benchmark 30-day directed retreat and prayer in daily life as well as the 19th annotation, designed for those who want to make the Spiritual Exercises but whose life circumstances make it impossible for them to make a full-time 30-day retreat. “Ultimately we are trying to help them enter into deeper prayer coming to know God by listening to His voice. In coming to know Him better, they will love Him more and will serve Him more as well,” Father Estes said. “The Spiritual Exercises have been one of the most eﬀective means in bringing people into a deeper relationship with God since St. Ignatius and they continue to do so. We recognize the need of so many people who are desirous of growing in their spirituality but are having trouble finding a way to do so.” A convenient aspect of the Spiritual Exercises is that they are open-ended and that one can never exhaust the riches contained in them so that it satisfies the desire that so many people have to grow in relationship with God and to become more spiritual. “One can continually come back to them and deepen their relationship with God,” Father Estes said. He explained that there is a progression with these three retreats. Along with a deepening of one’s relationship with God, the Total Consecration retreat helps to foster in the faithful a deeper devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary by following a 33-day period of personal reflection developed by St. Louis Marie de Montfort leading up to a Marian feast. The Divine Mercy retreat helps to foster a greater devotion to and understanding of Jesus’ Divine Mercy as revealed to St. Faustina Kowalska. “We believe that a strong devotion to Jesus and Mary, the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart, is the quickest and surest way to attain union with God; and so we have the two retreats focused on Jesus’ Sacred Heart and coming into communion with Him through the intercession of Our Lady and her Immaculate Heart,” Father Estes said. “Finally, because there is a great need for mercy in our world, we have been blessed with the Divine Mercy devotion. We encourage people to grow in their understanding of God’s mercy and to be people of mercy.” The three-day Spiritual Exercises retreat begins at 5 p.m. on Thursday and ends at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Our Lady of Corpus Christi also oﬀers parish and group based retreats. For more information, call (361) 289-9095 or visit www.deepprayer.org.

....Christian Home-like Living in a Senior Setting

Mount C M Carmell Home H An Assisted Living Facility Operated by the Carmelite Sisters D.C.J. 4130 S. Alameda St. Corpus Christi, Texas 78411

(361) 855-6243 Facility ID # 000607

(Editor’s note: Beginning with this issue, the South Texas Catholic will examine retreat opportunities available to the faithful in the diocese to help grow in their relationship with God during this Year of Faith.)

SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

A story in image: The coat of arms of the bishops of Corpus Christi Msgr. Michael Howell

F Contributor

rom ancient Roman times insignias were used on shields to identify military units. However, over the ages such images became means of recognizing families and individuals in unique heraldic designs.

In this spirit, bishops of the Catholic Church have adopted such coat of arms and mottoes to celebrate their ancestry or formational background as well as elements of the teachings of Christ to which they were especially dedicated. The bishops of Corpus Christi have followed in that tradition. The coat of arms of each prelate oﬀers insights into their personal histories, and the motto inscribed for each reflects an important truth of the faith that is a source of inspiration and direction to their lives and ministry. In 1952-53 the city of Corpus Christi, incorporated in 1852, and the parish of the Corpus Christi Cathedral, founded in 1853 as St. Patrick’s parish in the Diocese of Galveston, prepared to celebrate their centennials. Bishop Mariano S. Garriga chose to mark the occasion of a “Century of Sacrifice” by consecration of the Cathedral. The bishop prepared for the anniversary by dressing the interior of the Cathedral with stenciling, paintings, mosaics and extensive stain glass windows in the north and south walls of the church. The lessons on the Eucharist (Corpus Christi) enshrined in the large stain glass windows also contained the coat of arms of bishops and popes from the beginning of the Vicariate in 1874 to the consecration in 1952.

Bishop Manucy On the north wall in the “Sacrifice of Abraham” can be found the earliest of those insignias–the coat of arms of Bishop Dominic Manucy. When the Diocese of Galveston, which embraced all of inhabited Texas, was first divided in www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

Bishop Dominic Manucy Coat of Arms

1874, the western section became what was then known as the Diocese of San Antonio and the southern section became the Vicariate of Brownsville and Father Manucy was appointed bishop. He came to south Texas in 1875 and ultimately chose to reside in Corpus Christi rather than Brownsville. Bishop Manucy’s coat of arms depicts a sky blue field with a heavenly messenger who displays the cross as the sign through which a Christian can overcome all obstacles. The motto “In hoc signo vinces” (In this sign you will conquer) recalls the story of Roman Emperor Constantine I who learned in a dream in which Christ explained that Constantine should use the sign of the cross against his enemies.

Bishop Verdaguer Bishop Peter Verdaguer succeeded Bishop Manucy as bishop of Brownsville in 1891, and his coat of arms can be JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

Bishop Peter Verdaguer Coat of Arms

found in the Cathedral stain glass entitled “The Sacrifice of Melchisedech”. The motto “Speravi in Te, Domine” (I have hoped in you, Lord) is found in such scripture as Psalm 71–“In you, O Lord, have I put my hope”. The coat of arms features the anchor (the traditional symbol of hope) on a sea of blue and over this symbol is the Sacred Heart of Christ on fire with love for mankind and crowned with thorns as a sign of His sacrificial love in which we place our hope. The Sacred Heart is set on a field of violet–the color of Lenten penance and the passion. Pope Leo XIII issued an encyclical on the Sacred Heart in 1899 prior to also urging the consecration of the whole world to the Sacred Heart in the Jubilee Year of 1900. After reading the encyclical, Bishop Verdaguer promulgated his own letter in 1899 echoing the pope’s wishes for the consecration of the human race “to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.”

of Corpus Christi–three ciborium (the vessels for holding the Eucharistic Body of Christ) on a field of red that represent the sacrifice of Christ who gave himself Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist. To the right on the seal is Bishop Nussbaum’s coat of arms. The top half of his seal holds the symbol of the Passionist Congregation of which he was a member. This symbol chosen by St. Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionist Congregation, includes the branches of the palm and olive. The palm branch is a reminder of the Passion of Christ and his victory over sin and death. The olive branch is a reminder of his title as the Christ (the anointed one) since olive oil was used to make chrism by which the chosen were anointed. Inside the heart (surmounted by a cross) are the words “Jesu XPI (short for “Christi”) Passio”, i.e. the Passion of Jesus Christ. The lower half of Bishop Nussbaum’s personal coat of arms contains a “walnut tree”—the meaning of his name “Nussbaum” (remember the Christmas carol “O Tannenbaum”—a “fir tree” and hence the kind of evergreen tree used for a Christmas tree). The motto of Bishop Nussbaum, “Passio Christi in Corporibus Nostris” refers to the words of St. Paul and reminds the members of the Passionist Congregation that we bear “the passion of Christ in our bodies”.

Bishop Nussbaum After the death of Bishop Verdaguer, the Holy Father decided that the Vicariate had grown suﬃciently to warrant the establishment of the Diocese of Corpus Christi in 1912. He appointed a young Passionist priest, Paul Nussbaum, C.P., to be the first bishop. The coat of arms of Bishop Nussbaum which appears in the stain glass “The Manna in the Desert” contains on the left side the coat of arms of the newly erected Diocese

SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

Bishop Paul Nussbaum, C.P. Coat of Arms

(Editor’s note: This is the first in a three-part series on the coat of arms of the bishops of the Diocese of Corpus Christi.) www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

NATIONAL NEWS

Fortnight for freedom

Struggle for religious liberty continues Alfredo E. Cardenas South Texas Catholic

he Fortnight for Freedom, which Catholics celebrated for the first time last year, takes place from June 21 to July 4 this year.

As with the first Fortnight for Freedom, the kickoﬀ occurs on the vigil of the Feasts of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More and ends on American Independence Day. The Fortnight will begin in the Diocese of Corpus Christi with a Mass at the Cathedral on June 21, celebrated by Bishop Wm. Michael Mulvey. The Mass is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. The day before the initiation of the Fortnight for Freedom, Matthew Moore will begin a series of classes under the heading of “The Courage to be Catholic - Voting Your Conscience.” The talks will focus on voting and Church teaching, as well as the importance of religious freedom. Moore will make six presentations throughout the diocese by invitation of Bishop Mulvey. His presentation will cover the U. S. Bishops’ document “Faithful Citizenship,” which teaches principles that form the conscience www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

of Catholic people. The first class will be held June 20 from 6-8 p.m. at Holy Family Parish, located at 2509 Nogales Street in Corpus Christi. “Last year, we saw a great diversity of events promoting religious freedom across the country,” said a spokesman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops who is sponsoring the two-week event. In 2013, Americans face many challenges to religious liberty, including the Aug. 1 deadline for religious organizations to comply with the mandate by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to include birth control and abortifacient in their health insurance plans. Another issue facing people of faith are potential Supreme Court rulings that could redefine marriage in June, causing serious religious liberty issues for Catholic adoption agencies and many others. During the Fortnight, the Catholic liturgical calendar honors several martyrs who remained faithful in the face of persecution by political power—St. John the Baptist, Sts. Peter and Paul, the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome, St. John Fisher and St. Thomas

More. “Through prayer, study, and peaceful public action during the Fortnight for Freedom, we hope to remind ourselves and others all throughout the United States about the importance of preserving the fundamental right of religious freedom,” the bishops spokesman said. In the Diocese of Corpus Christi, the emphasis for the Fortnight will be at the parish level, where the faithful will engage in praying the rosary, will include the intention in the prayers of the faithful at every Mass during the fortnight, pray the prayer for Religious Freedom at all parish functions and will close the fortnight with Mass on July 4.

Catholics show their support during a rally for religious freedom in downtown Minneapolis. Dave Harbacek, Catholic News Service JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

Cardinal says Gosnell’s atrocities point to ‘liberal abortion culture’

Catholic News Service

f New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushes to have “a right to an abortion” codified in state law, he will face “vociferous” and “rigorous” opposition from Catholic and other pro-lifers, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York said.

But the cardinal hopes it doesn’t come to that because Cuomo, he said, has told him “he wants to work hard on alternatives to abortion,” such as expanding adoption, having “greater latitude” in maternity leave and better assisting pregnant women in need and those with small children. “The governor and I have worked closely on other issues,” Cardinal Dolan said.“We’ve been with him and we’ve appreciated what he’s done. I want to believe he means it when he tells me he’s not going to expand what is already a terrible liberal abortion culture.” It is an “extreme oxymoron that abortion is seen as helping women’s health, especially if half the babies abortedare female,” the cardinal said. “So how does this help them?” Besides abortion, the provisions of Cuomo’s proposed 10-point Women’s Equality Act address pay equity; sexual harassment in the workplace; human traﬃcking; income, housing, familystatus and pregnancy discrimination;

SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

Dr. Kermit Gosnell, shown at left in a courtroom artist sketch during his sentencing at Philadelphia Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia May 15, was sent to prison to serve three life terms without parole for murdering babies during late-term abortions and for other crimes at his squalid clinic. In a deal that spared him from the death penalty. Catholic News Service

stronger order-of-protection laws for victims of domestic violence; and recovery of attorney fees in employment and credit/lending cases. “We’re in his corner on most of them–nine out of 10,” Cardinal Dolan said. “But just this one about expansion of abortion that causes us pause... Please, this is the last thing this state needs.” New York decriminalized abortion in 1970, before the Roe v. Wade decision made abortion legal virtually on demand across the country. “Unfortunately we’re known as ‘the abortion capital of the world,’” the cardinal said. “We have the highest rate in the country–in New York City 40 percent of babies are aborted; and among Latinos and African-Ameri-

cans, it’s up to 60 percent.” Cardinal Dolan said he hoped the gruesome details of how nowconvicted Philadelphia abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell ran his abortion clinic and the late-term abortions he performed “will unmask some of the horror that is now obvious in this unfettered abortion-on-demand culture that’ we’ve got.” Gosnell’s first-degree murder convictions in the deaths of three babies born alive during abortions “should make all of us pause... Even so-called ‘pro-choice’ people never wanted it to come to this. Now we’re learning what went on in Philadelphia tragically is not an exception... These (abortion clinics) are pretty clandestine operations that are not open to scrutiny.” www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

VATICAN

Church needs believers with zeal, not couch potato Catholics, pope says Carol Glatz Catholic News Service

he church doesn’t need couch potato Catholics, it needs believers with “apostolic zeal,” willing to preach the uncomfortable words of Christ, Pope Francis said.

“And if we annoy people” with this zeal for Christ, then “blessed be the Lord,” he said in his daily morning Mass homily May 16. The pope celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where he lives, for employees of Vatican Radio and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. The pope concelebrated the Mass with Cardinal Peter Turkson and Bishop Mario Toso, respectively president and secretary of the justice and peace council. In his homily, the pope talked about the day’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles. St Paul caused a near

riot during his trial in Jerusalem when he addressed a group of men divided over the belief in the resurrection of the dead. “Paul is a nuisance” in his preaching, his work and his attitude, the pope said, “because he proclaims Jesus Christ.” Evangelization “makes us uncomfortable; many times our comfort zones, even Christian comfort zones, are bothered” by it, he said. God wants people to always move forward, even despite the trials and obstacles, and to not “take refuge in an easy life or in a cozy world.” St. Paul, by preaching the Lord, “annoyed people,” but he kept at it “because he had that very Christian attitude inside of apostolic zeal, he had real apostolic fervor,” the pope said. “He wasn’t a man of compromise. No. The truth goes forward, proclaiming Jesus Christ goes forward,” he said. Apostolic zeal is not a drive for power, to obtain things, the pope said, but “something that comes from inside that the Lord wants from us.” It does not come from any intellectual or scientific knowledge of Jesus,

though “that is important because it helps us.” Rather, this zeal comes from a real living, personal encounter with the Lord. But going forward and sharing Jesus with the world meant St. Paul always found himself in trouble, not because he wanted to create trouble, but it was trouble for God’s sake, Pope Francis said. Though apostolic zeal happens with love, there is “something crazy” about it, “a spiritual craziness, a healthy craziness.” Apostolic zeal is not just for missionaries, it is for everyone, the pope said, and he asked that people pray to the Holy Spirit for this gift. There are “lukewarm Christians” in the church who “don’t feel like going forward,” he said. “There are even couch-potato Christians, right? Those who are well-mannered, all perfect, but they don’t know how to bring people to the church” with evangelization and zeal. “Today let us ask the Holy Spirit to give this apostolic fervor to all of us and also the grace to be a nuisance to the things that are too quiet in the church” and go to the “outskirts” of life, he said.

...let us ask the Holy Spirit to give...apostolic fervor to all of us and also the grace to be a nuisance to the things that are too quiet in the church and go to the outskirts of life. www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

Seminarians, religious will take next step in their discernment in June Alfredo E. Cardenas

A South Texas Catholic

s summer begins, schools end their academic year. Seminarians are home for the summer and ordinations and professions of faith are being planned. Such is the case in the Diocese of Corpus Christi.

The vocations celebration got underway on May 26 with a Mass of Candidacy at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Portland for Joshua Stephens, who graduated from the University of Dallas (Holy Trinity Seminary) in Irving, Texas. The candidate submits a petition to the bishop, drawn up and signed in his own hand, requesting candidacy. After the Rite of Candidacy has been conferred the candidate can then formally continue his formation. Bishop Wm. Michael Mulvey announced that Stephens would be enrolled in the Pontifical North American

Joshua Stephens

David Bayardo

SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

College in September where he will continue his studies for the priesthood. On June 1, Bishop Mulvey will ordain David Bayardo and Freddy Villarreal to the transitional diaconate at Corpus Christi Cathedral beginning at 10 a.m. Transitional deacons are usually ordained to the diaconate after they complete their third year theological studies. They are “transitional” because they are on the path between layman and priest. There is no diﬀerence in the sacramental sign or the functions between “transitional” and “permanent deacons.” Bayardo is attending St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston and his home parish is Holy Family in Corpus Christi. After his ordination, Bayardo will serve as Parochial Deacon at St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Corpus Christi through Aug. 9. Villarreal also is a seminarian at St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston and his home parish is Most Precious Blood in Corpus Christi. Bishop Mulvey has assigned him as Parochial Deacon at Holy Family in Corpus Christi, also until Aug. 9. Bishop Mulvey will ordain Deacon

Freddy Villarreal

Chris Becerra to the priesthood on Saturday, June 8, at 10 a.m. at the Cathedral. Deacon Becerra completed his formation at St. Mary’s seminary in Houston and hails from Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Corpus Christi. The new priest has been assigned to Sacred Heart in Mathis. “If one has never participated in the ordination of a priest, I would highly recommend attending at least once,” Father Joseph Lopez, JCL Vocation Director for the Diocese of Corpus Christi, said. “It is probably one of the most beautiful Masses one will ever experience. Calling upon rituals that date back to several centuries in the life of the Church, it is a time of great joy and celebration on the part of the newly ordained priest, his family, friends and all those who have supported and encouraged him along the path of his vocation.” On Friday, June 7, Sister María de los Ángeles Zepeda, PCI will make her Profession of Perpetual Vows at St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles Parish located at 3901 Violet Road in Corpus Christi. Bishop Mulvey will celebrate the Mass at 5 p.m.

Deacon Chris Becerra

Sister Maria de los Ángeles Zepeda, PCI www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

Vocations Office opens

VOCATIONS

‘Invisible Monastery’ Catholic News Service and Staff Reports

n June 25, 2012, the Vatican released a set of guidelines to help bishops and church communities promote, recruit and educate a new generation of men for the priesthood. These guidelines were an effort to respond to a “clear and pressing” need for priests.

“Pastoral Guidelines for Fostering Vocations to Priestly Ministry,” a 29-page document was released on the 70th anniversary of the inauguration of the congregation’s Pontifical Work for Priestly Vocations. Among the guidelines was a call to diocesan vocation oﬃces to organize an “invisible monastery” where large numbers of people are dedicated to providing nonstop prayer for priestly vocations. In response to this call, the Vocations Office for the Diocese of Corpus Christi has embraced the idea and invites Catholics to join the Invisible Monastery at their new Web site www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

ccpriest.org. “A monastery is an isolated place where the collection of prayers are gathered and offered up to God as a unified voice,” said Father Joseph Lopez, JCL Vocation Director for the Diocese of Corpus Christi. While praying at the monastery provides the structure some people need in their prayer life, people should pray for vocations “anywhere and at all times,” Father Lopez said. Vianney Vocations, a Catholic company that provides professional services to vocation offices of dioceses and religious orders, created the “Invisible Monastery.” The company’s mission is to help create a culture of vocations and inspire more men to consider the priesthood. People can become members of the Invisible Monastery online by selecting the diocese that they want to support with their prayers. The Web site offers

prayers and other resources that can be used to pray for vocations. Members of Invisible Monastery pledge to pray daily or weekly for vocations; choose their type of prayer–Mass intention, rosary, private prayer, etc.; renew their pledge annually; and receive a quarterly e-newsletter with prayers, resources and ideas for promoting vocations. They may receive occasional communications from the diocesan vocations director with prayer requests or other information. “Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God in thanksgiving and in praise of His glory,” Father Lopez said. “It also includes the requesting of good things from Him. In this case, we ask God to inspire more young men and women to be courageous in answering their call to priesthood and consecrated life. We need more laborers for the harvest!” Praying for vocations can and should

JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

be done by people of all ages, Father Lopez said. “There are not certain people or parishioners that should pray for vocations more than others. Since priesthood and consecrated life is important to us, it is only fitting that we all include an increase in vocations into our daily prayers,” he said. The challenge of attracting men to the priesthood is made more difficult by declining birthrates in the developed world and a materialist, secular culture in which people are less likely to make “courageous and demanding Gospel choices” in their lives, the document said. “In the West, there is a prevailing culture of indifference to the Christian faith, a culture unable to understand the value of vocations to a special consecration,” the document pointed out. Key to turning things around isn’t just setting up new programs and initiatives, but building a vibrant, active and dedicated community of Catholics, united in prayer and with Christ, it said. Some reasons men say “no” to or ignore a call to the priesthood, it said, include: • having parents who are reluctant about their son’s choice because they have different hopes for their child’s future; • living in a society that marginalizes priests and considers them irrelevant; • misunderstanding the gift of celibacy; • being disillusioned by the scandal of priests who abused minors; and • seeing priests who are too overwhelmed by their pastoral duties to the detriment of their spiritual life. Vocations are fostered when boys and young men have an uplifting and transformative Christian experience, the document observed. That experi-

SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

ence can be found in family life, at school, in the parish, as an altar boy, in Catholic groups and associations or in volunteer work, all of which allow them to “know firsthand the reality of God himself, in communion with their brothers and in Gospel mission,” it said. While dioceses and seminaries bear most of the responsibility of determining the suitability of a candidate, vocations offices, too, must be consistent in attracting and forming people who display a healthy “integration and maturing of the affections,” the document said. Men who “show signs of being profoundly fragile personalities” should not be encouraged to consider a vocation. The educational setting must support a candidate’s authentic reasons to be a priest and contribute “to healing any possible individual deviations from his vocation.” A priest represents Christ the shepherd, the document said, and as such, he must draw his strength from and base his vocation on loving and serving Christ and his church. All Catholics, including parents, coaches, catechists and group leaders, should help their young charges to see the priestly vocation as a gift. Boys and young men should be taught the value of prayer and meditation on God’s word, the document said, so that they learn to hear what God is calling them to do with their lives. Father Lopez also invites the public to visit the Vocations Office’s new Web site CCPriest.org, which is an “innovative, eye-catching endeavor to help our young people discern their vocation via the social media outlets.” “Through this Web site, one can learn about discernment, prayers and other young men and women that have answered God’s call to priesthood and consecrated life. We can also be found on Facebook and followed on Twitter@ccvocations,” he said.

The most imp Father Joseph Lopez, JCL Contributor

f you were about to make one decision that would dramatically impact the rest of your life, how would you go about it?

If you were contemplating a crosscountry move, you’d probably learn everything you could about the new city. If you were choosing a career, you’d visit the career counseling oﬃce at your college. Heck, even if you were buying a new flat-screen TV, you’d do some serious research. But there’s one decision that’s far more important than any of these. In fact, it’s so important that it can’t properly be called a decision. We’re talking about your vocawww.SouthTexasCatholic.com

portant decision you will ever make tion–your God-given mission in life. God etches our vocations into our very souls, and thus a vocation is not just a matter of choice, like choosing a career, but rather more like a discovery. Finding your vocation is like realizing something about yourself that has been there all along. But God plants your vocation so deep in your soul, sometimes it’s hard to see. In fact, many people–even Catholics–never even consider looking for it at all. Sometimes marriage is assumed to be the “default” vocation. But God calls some people to a diﬀerent life–a life committed solely to serving God’s people as a priest. Discovering your true vocation takes careful deliberation–a process the Church calls “discernment,” which is derived from the Latin word meaning to “sift through.” All vocations–marriage, priesthood, www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

or the religious life–require a diligent discernment. At right are 10 tried-and-true ways to discern God’s calling for you: These are practical ideas that really work. You’ll notice that by doing these things, not only will you hear God’s voice more clearly, you’ll begin to grow in holiness–which is everyone’s primary vocation. But the best thing you can do to discover your vocation is to simply be open to the will of God. Stop asking what you want out of life, and start asking what God wants. Remember that Jesus wants you to be happy even more than you do. And if He calls you to priesthood, trust that He will bring you fulfillment. Discerning your vocation–the state of life that God is calling you to for the rest of your life–is truly the most important discovery you’ll ever make.

1. Pray and Listen asking the Lord daily to show you His will. 2. Pray the Rosary asking for the intercession of Mary, Mother of priests. 3. Pray a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament regularly. 4. Attend Mass frequently (daily if possible) and receive Communion. 5. Go to Confession on a consistent basis. 6. Read Scripture and meditate on God’s Word. 7. Talk to a priest you find approachable and ask for spiritual advice. 8. Contact the Vocation Director. 9. Talk to seminarians when they come home for the holidays. 10. Become involved in your parish.

JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

A Sacred Moment How to talk to a man about the priesthood Father Joseph Lopez, JCL Contributor

here’s a young man you’ve noticed around the parish. He’s fairly devout, seems friendly and has an obvious love for the faith.

“Perhaps he could be a priest someday,” you think to yourself. But what should you do? Do you: A. Leave an anonymous note in the sacristy just before the Mass he usually serves. B. Choose a quiet moment to say, “John, I’ve noticed your strong character and love for God. I think you should consider the seminary.” C. Give a pamphlet to his Youth Minister, in the chance she may give it to him. D. After Mass, in front of all his friends, you point and wink at him, saying loudly, “Hey Johnny! You’d look good in black!” Mentioning the possibility of priesthood to a young man makes a difference. Surveys show that the majority of priests first considered a priestly vocation because a priest, a friend or a family member planted the idea. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to go about planting seeds. Items A and C above are well

SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

meaning, but too anonymous. The first instance–leaving a note–is so surreptitious as to make the possibility of priesthood seem hush-hush, almost not appropriate for normal conversation. It’s healthier to be up-front about the fact that God calls everyone to a certain vocation, and that priesthood is among the options. Item C–giving a pamphlet through third party–is a bit better, but not the ideal. As with so many things in life, the personal approach is best. And thus the biggest consideration is your relationship to the young man. If you’re his pastor or his father, you are in a position of credibility, so your words can be very powerful. But even if you’re relatively unknown to him–a person who just goes to the same Mass, say, or the parent of one his friends–you can still make an impact. Let’s consider a couple of diﬀerent scenarios. If you’re very close to the young man, look for a special moment. It doesn’t have to be a dramatic, drawnout conversation, but it should have an appropriate level of seriousness. Here is how Father Tom Richter describes just such a scene in Lend Your Own Voice to Christ. “The father looks John in the eye and, with a voice filled with heartfelt care, says these simple words, ‘Son, the qualities I admire in priests, I see in you. And I want you to know that I would be honored if God would choose one of my sons to be a priest.’ He said nothing more than that; he did not need to. His father’s words claimed the attention of John’s heart and confirmed the thoughts in his mind.” It is a sacred moment, heart speaking to heart, in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Yes, item B above is the best approach. But let’s say that you don’t know the young man very well. It’s after Mass, you’ve got your bulletin in hand, walking toward the parking lot, and he happens to cross paths with you

on the sidewalk. There are not many others around. “Hi there,” you say. “I’m Margaret. I’ve noticed that you and I go to this Mass frequently. I hope you don’t think this is too forward, but I just wanted to let you know that you seem like a very faithful young man, and I bet you’d make a great priest if God called you.” Could a scenario like this one be a bit awkward? Yes, but much less so if you’re friendly and kind, and don’t push the issue. It’s more like a compliment than anything else. The man may even blush for a moment, but this much is certain: he’ll never forget it. And later on, the thought may take root and begin to grow. Needless to say, “Hey Johnny you’d look good in black” is not the right way to plant seeds. It makes light of an important issue, and isn’t appropriate given the situation. Instead, look for the sacred moment. At the right time, God can work powerfully through you, even in an ordinary scene like walking down the sidewalk. Father Thomas Rosica, C.S.B., in a September 2010 address to vocation directors and seminary personnel said, “I hope and pray that we who have been entrusted with vocational promotion and seminary formation may never forget one of the most important duties we have: to discern, recognize and acknowledge holiness in the young men entrusted to us. We must be discerners of holiness, fishers of men and not keepers of aquariums. Our task is not only to teach and form future ministers, but to call forth saints for the new millennium.”

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Listen to your heart, God is showing you the way Trust and celebrate each step in your discernment Sister Julianne Kuntscher, IWBS

S Contributor

ister Rose Miriam Gansle, IWBS, baptized Mary Sylvia Gansle, daughter of Justus John and Sylvia Becker Gansle, was born on June 6, 1942, in Corpus Christi, Texas. Growing up she experienced an intense desire to be a religious sister, and was attracted to the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament, many of whom she knew well as they had been her teachers from pre-kinder through high school. “I admired them and wanted to give my life to God as they did,” Sister Rose Miriam said, as she reflected upon her interest in the congregation. She entered the congregation on Sept. 7, 1960, a few months after graduating from Incarnate Word Academy in Corpus Christi. After having spent time in the initial stage of religious life in the convent, Sister Rose Miriam received the habit of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and her religious name. She, with other young women in her group, professed first vows in June 1963, and made perpetual vows on Aug. 14, 1966. Sister Rose Miriam taught in Catholic schools for 27 years, four of those years in Brownsville schools, two years at St. Gertrude School in Kingsville and several years at Cathedral, Sacred Heart, St. Patrick and St. Theresa schools in Corpus Christi. She also taught adult education classes at St. Pius X Parish. One common thread has always run through her teaching experience–a musical thread that produced a tapestry of fine quality and beauty. Sister Rose Miriam sang in the Corpus Christi Chorale for eight years and has conducted choirs, both on high school and diocesan levels. She was a member of the Corpus Christi Diocesan Liturgical Commission, and has held oﬃces in the congregation, www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

visit religious communities, to get to know the members of those communities and to become acquainted with their way of life. in Public Relations, Community Life and Apostolic Commissions, as well as those of Education, Vocation and Initial Formation. Sister Rose Miriam was appointed to a term of Sister-in-Charge at St. Patrick Convent in Corpus Christi, and she served as Secretary General of the Congregation for many years. She also served as codirector of the Incarnate Word Associates program with Associate Kay West. “There were diﬃculties through the years, but much joy as well,” Sister Rose Miriam said as she reminisced upon the past 50 years. “Our living, sharing and praying together give me support, inspiration and strength. With the call to the vocation ministry, and to the ministries of teaching, initial formation, secretarial work, music and family, I have had countless opportunities for learning, meeting people and growing personally. The greatest blessing of all is growth in intimacy with God and being free to serve.” Sister Rose Miriam encourages those who are discerning religious vocation to maintain a deep prayer life, to seek spiritual guidance, to visit religious communities, to get to know the members of those communities and to become acquainted with their way of life. She tells discerners, “Listen to your heart, to your family and friends and to the circumstances of your life. God is showing you the way; trust and celebrate each step in your discernment.” In 2009, Sister Rose Miriam began ministry with the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament in Cleveland, Ohio. She serves as secretary to the General Administration of the Incarnate Word Sisters in Parma Heights, and also secretary of the International Committee on Reconfiguration, representing a group of six congregations seeking unity among Incarnate Word Sisters. JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

LETTERS

Newton says thank you On behalf of our community and parish, we extend our gratitude to each of you who remembered us in prayer following the events of December 14, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School. We quickly realized the universality of the Church by the outpouring of support and concern that was shown to us by so many in our faith communities. The cards and letters from staﬀ and students in Catholic elementary schools, high schools, colleges and universities reminded us of the faith to which we are called to witness through the tradition of Catholic education. No less important were the number of cards from parish religious education programs, especially the sacramental programs. Many Catholic organizations and groups on both the local and national levels also contacted us. The list of parishes, Catholic based groups and dioceses that contacted us is an overwhelming one. We are also very appreciative of the number of donations sent to us to assist our parish in our continuing ministry to the community, to help pay the expenses of the victims’ funerals, to support counseling programs, to provide direct aid to the families and so on. Your generosity reminded us that we are not alone during this very sad and challenging time. We also want to thank our brother priests, deacons and

religious sisters and brothers for their letters of support and encouragement. t. Spiritual bouquets, Mass cards, hours of adoration before re the Blessed Sacrament and remembrances by many prayerr groups have lifted our spirits knowing that our intentions are ever before the Lord. We also received a number of rosaries, saries, prayer shawls, religious works of art, memorial vestments, ments, reliquaries, books focusing on grief and healing, original and recorded religious CD’s and a variety of poems, spiritual reflections and meditations to help guide us in providing comfort and support. While we tried to acknowledge every letter and gift sent to us, it became an overwhelming task, so please accept this letter as a thank you to every person who remembered us in prayer during the days immediately following the tragedy to these days of recovery and healing. We know that the road ahead of us will be a long one, but we are given great hope by the outpouring of generosity and love shown to us. We are truly blessed by your many acts of faith and kindness. Please know that you continue to be in our prayers of gratitude for the goodness you have demonstrated to us in so many ways. Monsignor Robert Weiss, Pastor Saint Rose of Lima Parish Newtown, Connecticut

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The morality and wisdom of

incremental legislation Father Tadeueusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D. Columnist

eople with strong pro-life, pro-family convictions will sometimes disagree among themselves about whether they should support a particular piece of legislation being debated in the halls of their state legislature or in Congress. Their disagreement will often center on whether it is morally permissible and politically prudent to support a bill that is a step in the right direction, but that still permits other objectionable practices. Is it good and wise to take an “incremental” approach to reversing an unjust law, confronting the offensive practices “piece by piece,” rather than all at once? In general, when it is not feasible to push back an unjust law in its entirety–for example, when insufficient votes exist to overturn an unjust law, it can be morally acceptable for a lawmaker to support a piece of legislation that aims to lessen a portion of the evils or harmful effects of that standing unjust law. The pro-life community in recent years has seen various divisions and fractures over this question. For example, some have argued that since abortion is a grave evil, a Catholic lawmaker can never vote for a piece of legislation that allows for any abortions to occur. Thus, if a vote were being taken on a proposal that allowed abortions in cases of rape and incest but enacted new restrictions against abortion in many other situations, some take a hard line and insist the lawmaker could not morally support the legislation, but could vote only for a law that www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

Making Sense out of

BIOETHICS outlawed all abortions, in ever y situation. Blessed John Paul II, however, in a well-known passage from his beautiful encyclical “On the Gospel of Life” (Evangelium Vitae), reminded us of the wisdom, and morality, of supporting incremental legislation in certain circumstances. “A particular problem of conscience can arise,” he said, “in cases where a legislative vote would be decisive for the passage of a more restrictive law, aimed at limiting the number of authorized abortions, in place of a more permissive law already passed or ready to be voted on. Such cases are not infrequent. It is a fact that while in some parts of the world there continue to be campaigns to introduce laws favoring abortion, often supported by powerful international organizations, in other nations– particularly those which have already experienced the bitter fruits of such permissive legislation–there are growing signs of a rethinking in this matter. In a case like the one just mentioned, when it is not possible to overturn or completely abrogate a pro-abortion law, an elected oﬃcial, whose absolute personal opposition to procured abortion was well known, could licitly support proposals aimed at limiting the harm done by such a law and at lessening its negative consequences at the level of general opinion and public morality. This does not in fact represent an illicit cooperation with an unjust law, but rather a legitimate and proper attempt to limit its evil aspects.” Many commentators have observed how dramatic progress has occurred in changing public opinion on abortion in the United States in recent years because of this incremental approach: eliminating partial-birth and late-term abortions, establishing waiting periods, mandating ultrasounds, regulating abortion facilities and the like. JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

between the doctor and the patient/family has been identified. It works out important details regarding ethics committee reviews to assure that appropriate medical judgments are applied to the case and it establishes an expanded time frame for hospital transfers in more complex situations of disagreement between the doctor and the patient or the family. Passing incremental legislation often represents the most sensible approach to dealing with poorly crafted or morally problematic pieces of legislation. In the absence of needed votes to overturn harmful legislation altogether, it is still possible to make significant progress in limiting the damage that these laws can do through the patient spadework of incremental legislative revision. This is done with an eye towards one day being able to rescind or abrogate the unjust law altogether.

Incremental legislation may likewise be needed to respond to certain unethical practices regarding end of life care. In Texas, for example, the law allows a physician to unilaterally establish Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders for a patient, with no process for review or appeal, when the physician is convinced that resuscitation attempts for that patient would be futile. This means that even in the absence of a patient’s or family’s consent or even input, a doctor can decree a DNR order for that patient. Because this practice has become accepted in Texas, and because stronger corrective legislation was judged unable to garner suﬃcient votes, the Texas Catholic Conference crafted a form of incremental legislation in 2013 to address this obviously unethical circumstance that violates a patient’s right to consent. The proposed legislation seeks to assure that patients and their families receive written notice of their rights regarding DNR orders. It also requires hospitals to assign a liaison to work with the patient to provide clear and compassionate communication about their rights once a conflict

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(Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D. is a priest of the diocese of Fall River, MA, and serves as the Director of Education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. See www.ncbcenter.org.)

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Authentic Ch

The challe

Deacon Stephen Nolte Contributor

n today’s society the importance of having a father in the home is often down played. Regardless of the countless eﬀorts by media and others to portray as unnecessary the need for having both parents in the home, the reality of numerous studies conducted since 2005 shows a great disparity between children raised in intact two-parent homes and those raised in single-parent or cohabiting situations. Statistically less than 60 percent of all children in the U.S. live in a home with their biological father. Study after study shows that children living without their father in the home are two to three times more likely to experience serious negative outcomes than children raised in a stable two-parent home with both mother and father. A young girl whose father leaves the house before she turns age six is 35 percent more likely to become pregnant before the age of 18 than one whose father stays in the home. Young men raised in a single-parent home are 11 percent more likely to become incarcerated than those raised in a two-parent home. And this isn’t all. These same studies document a 17 percent higher dropout rate among young people whose fathers are absent. The dropout number increases by 60 percent for those in cohabiting households even versus single-parent abodes while the incidence of marijuana and other drug use is 116 percent higher. www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

ristian Fatherhood

nge of being a hero What we learn from these surveys is that the presence of the father brings strength, stability and value to the family. Without his presence each of these is lacking and the children are left to continue suffering the consequences well into their own adult years. These same studies document the economic impact of the absent fathers as well. Married men earn 18 percent more than those who do not commit to marriage but choose to cohabitate or live the single life, and the median net worth of married households was 93 percent higher than non-married. To further compound the eﬀect of absent fathers is the occasion of various forms of abuse and neglect visited upon children. Comparing the intact home where both biological mother and father reside with their children to homes involving stepparents and single parents cohabiting with a partner to whom they are not married, the eﬀects of the absent father is magnified even more. For instance, in an intact home the incidence of physical abuse is 1.9 percent, compared to 9.8 percent in a stepparent home and 19.5 percent if the single parent is cohabiting. The numbers for sexual abuse are equally alarming with .05 percent in intact homes, 4.3 percent in homes with stepparents and 9.9 percent in cohabiting homes. If we are to reverse the damage and woundedness caused by the absence of the father due to unwed pregnancies, incarcerations, divorces and cohabitation, we must recognize that these children need their fathers to be actively engaged in their lives. We must be willing to step up as men and assume the role, which www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

belongs to the father. What is that role and what are its challenges? Perhaps what is most important is realizing that proclaiming oneself as a father is simply not enough; rather, one must be willing to be a father. Being implies action, and being a father implies that we take action to turn the hopes and dreams we hold for our children into reality. Further, having been created in the image and likeness of God we are called to be like Him in certain ways. God loves us and wants only the very best for us. To this end He exhorts us to strive for the very highest ideals, seeking only to love. When He sees us go astray He continues to love us, forgiving and encouraging us to reach for something better. That is the task every father has. Being fatherly does not mean controlling the children in your charge. It does mean caring for them and being responsible for them. Before we can be responsible for others we must first have personal responsibility, being accountable for our own words and actions. This seems to go against the present cultural current which tells us that we can do whatever we desire because we can. Personal responsibility calls for us to do what it right and just, not what is expedient or convenient for our own personal desires. This alone is not easy, but it is also not the only thing required of fathers. Fathers have a great responsibility as primary educators for their children. They should teach them the diﬀerence between right and wrong. The manner in which they respect and defend their wife, the mother of their children,

teaches the children how to treat not only their mother, but others with whom they have relationships as well. Among all that is required of a father, his primary responsibility the one to be a Christian witness to his children. The most immediate opportunity for evangelization and catechesis is in our own homes. The father must bring his children to a real and personal relationship with Christ. For this to occur, it is imperative for children to see their father pray. We must show our children how to talk to God. An authentic father is a father of faith, strength, character and courage. A father who is obedient to God and courageous to the point of sacrificing his own child, as St. Joseph did, and Abraham would have done. An authentic father has faith that the Lord will provide for him, and more importantly, for his family. In the words of Abraham, “God himself will provide.” (Gn 22:8) How do we fathers live so as to set an example of authenticity to other men? How can we live up to the challenge? And if we are up to the challenge, how do we go about living authentic fatherhood? To be an authentic, Christian father means that we are not just Catholic on Sundays, but it is who we are every moment of our lives. We are children of God, created in His likeness, to bring glory to Him. To be a father in the likeness of God is a call to authentic leadership, to action and to prayer. Being a Christian father means revealing and reliving in the world the very fatherhood of God. It requires us to be no less than a hero. JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

Giving up secrets Allows us to know the deep things of God in our lives Sister Anne Marie Walsh, SOLT Contributor

eople seem to have a lot of secrets these days. We could almost say we live in an age of secrets.

Governments have become skilled at keeping secrets; businesses are adept at the same thing. Institutions, whether they are educational, medical or religious, all keep secrets for good reasons and not so good reasons. But this reflects people in general. People tend to keep a lot of secrets. There is a pressing need to recognize that secrets make a diﬀerence. They can determine the direction of our lives, and the manner in which we pass from this world into the next. For whatever reason, people today seem to have more secrets than ever. They have secret activities, secret wounds, secret weaknesses, secret sins, secret fantasies, secret lives. People have secret thoughts, secret addictions, secret jealousies, secret plans, secret ambitions, family secrets, secret judgments, secret desires and secrets without number; secrets we keep even from ourselves. Few of us can admit to being ready for heaven when we consider that in heaven, our insides will show on the outside. Nothing will be hidden. Everything will be transparent. Transparency here would completely change our image. And because we are often not willing to change, we keep secrets. At the same time, even though we hide things about ourselves, we have a certain aﬃnity for, or attraction to the secrets of others. There is almost nothing people like better than hearing a good secret. Why? There are several reasons. One, it diverts attention away from our own secrets. But we also love secrets because we love hidden knowledge. We live in a state of being that is still looking for something that hasn’t been completely revealed to us yet. We’re searching, whether we know it or not, for the one Word, so to speak, that will answer all of our questions and give sight to the vision, the understanding we seek. The devil knows this about us. Would that people understood that the devil has to penetrate the world of knowledge by study

SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

and observation too–albeit with a superior intelligence, and that he perverts what he knows to his own ends. Those ends are not full of happy consequences for human souls. He is interested in luring people away from the real light. He does it with promises of hidden knowledge, just as he did in the Garden of Eden. This is one of the most lucrative marketing techniques around. Money rolls in when you claim to have the secret to long life, to health, to beauty, to success. This is also one of the reasons professional gossips, psychics and clairvoyants prosper in our culture today. People want to know those secrets. We on the other hand, have the source of all knowledge, the fount of pure Wisdom and Light in God Himself. And we have been given, in Jesus Christ, and through His Church, a direct line to that source, who is for us, our true Father, the Father of all lights. The temptations of some dark meddler should never cause us to turn our glance away from our Good Father, as our first parents did in the Garden, and as we so often do in our own lives. Interestingly enough, Jesus mentions that the Father Himself keeps secrets from the “wise and learned” and reveals things to the “little ones.” Why is that? This might have been a good question for Adam and Eve to have asked as they were being tempted to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We know most certainly that God never does anything without good reason, and a reason that redounds, often in mysterious ways, to our greatest benefit. Might it be that God protects the sacred and hides divine treasures for our sake? Anyone who has studied covenant knows that profaning the sacred is dangerous. We can be destroyed by our profanation. A simple look at the human wreckage surrounding the modern desecration of the gift and mystery of sexuality confirms this. In other words, could it be that just as Jesus told us not to cast pearls before swine, He follows His own counsel with us? He puts His treasure in safe places…He is careful with what is precious beyond measure. And at the same time He is merciful to those of us who would have a terrible accounting to give for squandering a poorly understood gift, if we received it and did not really appreciate or care for it. www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

Secrets like this can be a good thing; in fact they can be a very good thing if their purpose is to protect a treasure–whether that be jewels or a reputation, from vandalism or theft, misuse or destruction. But some secrets should never be kept. And unfortunately, people usually have more of these kinds of secrets. We pay a price for many of the secrets we keep. We can safely say, I think, that many of the sicknesses of our age are determined by the secrets we keep. This is well known in the world of addiction and codependency; “We are only as sick as our secrets.” This is actually a psychology that was first explicated in the Sacred Scriptures. Psalm 32 says, “I kept it secret and my frame was wasted…” The distress, the groaning, the anxiety, the depression, the disturbance of so many today more often than not comes from holding secrets that should not be kept. St. Paul mentions this relationship between spiritual realities and physical consequences. He says, in 1 Corinthians, 11:29, “For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.” With the rising tide of illnesses in our age, we await a physician who will make this connection and diagnose the real cause of so many of the physical and psychological disorders of our day. I know a woman who struggled with terrible depression much of her adult life, watched Mother Angelica faithfully, but would not take the secret of her abortion to the Confessional. She died recently and my prayer is that before she died she finally released her secret into the loving mercy of God so she could enter her heavenly home with “joy and an upright heart.” Her secret certainly didn’t keep her in peace or bring happiness into her life. In fact, it brought her to the verge of a mental breakdown. So why do we keep the secrets we do? This is a mystery really, since we only fool ourselves in keeping these kinds of secrets. God is certainly not fooled. There is nothing He doesn’t know about us. The story of Ananias and Sapphira, found in the fifth chapter of Acts, tells us exactly what can happen when we dissemble before God. They pretended to the Lord, as St. Peter points out, that they were giving everything to the community of believers, when in fact they retained a portion for themselves, which they could have rightfully retained if they had chosen to. After St. Peter had spoken, Ananias, and later his wife Sapphira– who arrived late and was questioned separately, both died on the spot, apparently for attempting to deceive God. Keeping secrets from God is impossible, and it can be deadly!

If not immediately, then at our own judgments, when in our encounter with God Who is pure Love and Light and Goodness all that is hidden will be revealed. To our own overwhelming confusion we will find ourselves suddenly naked before the Lord, rather than clothed in the garments of grace He so freely and continually oﬀers us, all because fear, or attachment, or pride kept us from giving up our secrets. Does this mean we should blurt out everything to everyone all the time, like they do on the tacky talk shows that seem to pollute the airwaves? No. There is something inherently debasing about psychologically disrobing in front of millions of people. There is something degrading about vomiting up things in public that properly belong in a counselor’s oﬃce and more often in a Confessional where the justification, relief and redemption that people are really seeking can be given. This is really how Saints actually begin to become Saints. They get rid of their secrets. And they don’t lie to themselves about who they really are. That is why they are such shining examples of humility. They know themselves in Truth, and it sets them free to soar to the heights! They give their secrets, both their sins and their treasures, over to God. He takes the sins, and in Confession completely annihilates them, wills to remember them no more. They are gone, gone, gone, with no more power to determine their life, and will never again reappear in accusation against them, even at the end of time. Never! And then our Father does an even more astounding thing. He begins giving them “treasures out of the darkness and riches that have been hidden away.” (Is 45:3) He takes miserable secrets and begins to replace them with the secrets He holds. What an exchange! The saints are no fools! They know this bargain is unmatched anywhere in the whole universe. In the heart of our Redeemer, we are given, by way of His own sacrificial love, infinite riches in exchange for giving to Him our sinfulness, our pride, our imperfections, our self-importance. Great confessors, like St. John Vianney and St. Padre Pio spent themselves in this work of getting people to give up their secrets so that they could begin to know the deep things of God in their lives. There is a reason the sacrament of Peace and Reconciliation is an Easter Sacrament. There is a reason that the Holy Spirit, Who comes in Pentecost like a mighty wind to sweep out the secret and dark recesses of our souls and fill them with fire and light, is the culminating gift of the Easter season.

...secrets make a diﬀerence. They can determine the direction of our lives, and the manner in which we pass from this world into the next.

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(Sister Anne Marie Walsh, SOLT is the General Sister Servant for the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity.) JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

The Bishop of Rome as Christian radical All Christ, all Gospel, all mission, all the time George Weigel Columnist

t was a brief greeting to former colleagues. But if you read Pope Francis’ April 18 letter to the Argentine bishops’ conference closely, you get a glimpse of the man, his convictions and his vision.

First, the man Jorge Mario Bergoglio has remained very much himself, rather than adopting what some might deem the pontifical style. Any pope who can write his former colleagues in these terms, “Dear Brothers: I am sending these lines of greeting and also to excuse myself for being unable to attend due to ‘commitments assumed recently’ (sounds good?)” is a man at home in his own skin, and one likely to remain that way.

Then, the convictions Pope Francis believes that the Church in Latin America took a decisive step toward a new future in 2007. Then, at the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean, held at Aparecida in Brazil, the leaders of the Church moved far beyond the “kept” Catholicism of the past–the Catholicism that was “kept” by legal establishment or, more recently, cultural habit–and embraced a robustly evangelical Catholicism in which, as the pope wrote on April 18, “the whole of ministry (is) in a missionary key.” The move from “kept” Catholicism to evangelical Catholicism is for everyone, the pope seems convinced. “Kept” Catholicism has no future anywhere, and not just because of aggressive secularism and other corrosive cultural acids. “Kept” Catholicism has no future because it doesn’t merit a future: or, as the pope put it to his former colleagues, “A Church that does not go out, sooner or later gets sick” in the hothouse atmosphere of its own self-absorption, which Francis has also called “self-referentiality.” When the Church is about itself, rather than the Gospel and the invitation to friendship with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Church betrays the Gospel and the Lord. How? The “self-referential Church” falls victim to “a kind of narcissism that leads to

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spiritual worldliness The Catholic and to sophisticated Difference clericalism,” which in turn are obstacles to what the bishops at Aparecida called “the sweet and comforting joy of evangelizing.” That joy, Pope Francis quickly added, is “many times united to the Cross.” But the joy that comes from the embrace of the Cross helps the ordained ministers of the Church “to be each day more fruitful, spending ourselves and unraveling ourselves in the service of the holy faithful people of God.” And if the pastors are seen to pick up the Cross and live joyfully in the embrace of the Crucified and Risen Lord, the people of the Church will find the courage to do the same: thus the entire Body of Christ becomes a powerful witness to the truth that it is in self-giving, not self-assertion, that we find happiness. As for the pope’s vision, Francis seems willing, even eager, to lead a Church that takes risks in boldly proclaiming the Gospel. “It is true,” he wrote the bishops of Argentina, that “something can happen” to a Church that “goes out,” just as things can happen to someone who leaves the safety of home: accidents can happen. But “I wish to say to you frankly,” the pope continued, “that I prefer a thousand times an injured Church than a sick Church,” a risk-taking Church to a Church palsied by self-absorption. Thus the vision toward which this pope “from the end of the earth” is calling the entire Church: all Christ, all Gospel, all mission, all the time. The Bishop of Rome as Christian radical is going to take some getting used to. Expect serious disorientation in those ideological redoubts where the old battles over the now-superseded Church of the Counter-Reformation remain all-consuming. Some may find it hard to reconcile Christian radicalism with orthodoxy. But, as I argue in Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21st-Century Church, that’s precisely what orthodoxy is-the adventure of radical conversion ordered to mission. The 266th Bishop of Rome would seem to agree. (George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. The Denver Catholic Register distributes his column.) www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

Interview with the bishop

Corpus Christi: central mystery of our faith

On June 2, the Church celebrates The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ or the Feast of Corpus Christi. As the bishop of the see of Corpus Christi, what are your thoughts on that day?

This year will be the fourth that I celebrate, as the Bishop of Corpus Christi, the feast of Corpus Christi. A bishop is required to be present in his diocese to celebrate the feast. This lends great significance to the feast for the whole Church, and in particular for me as the bishop of the diocese bearing the same name. The feast of Corpus Christi brings together my ministry as bishop and the ministry of all who comprise the Body of Christ. The sentiment that I have celebrating this feast is one of great hope. The Body of Christ is the sacrament of communion, communion with Christ and communion with one another. All of us should take seriously that we form the Body of Christ together as working together, praying together and serving as His body. Therefore, for me the feast of Corpus Christi is a feast of faith in the real presence of Christ and a celebration of hope that together we form the Body of Christ, the Church. Q. In his Ecclesia de Eucharistia, Blessed Pope John Paul II said the “Eucharist contains the Church’s entire Spiritual wealth…” What did he mean by that? This quote must be answered with one word–Jesus. From the beginning of the Church we have professed that when we celebrate the Eucharist (Mass) that Jesus Christ is present both in the gathering of the disciples and in the sacramental species. St. Thomas Aquinas reminded us, that only by faith can we truly recognize and understand the mystery of His presence. As Christ instituted the Eucharist at the last supper with his apostles, He memorialized the words we repeat every day in www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

the Church throughout the world; “this is my body, this is my blood.” In the early catechism of the Church it states, regarding His presence, “If He said it is, it is.” St. Cyril of Alexandria says, “Do not doubt whether this is true, but rather receive the words of the savior in faith, for since he is truth, he cannot lie.” And so the Eucharist contains the entire spiritual wealth of the Church because it “is” the presence of Christ Jesus. It is as well the sacrament of His eternal love for us as it is the memorial of His dying on the cross and rising from the dead. It is not by human reason alone that we enter into this mystery, but by faith. Q. Pope John Paul II said “dark clouds of unacceptable doctrine and practice” have unfortunately developed in celebrating the Eucharist. Have you seen any of those practices in the Diocese of Corpus Christi and what is being done to correct them? From the early days of the Church there have been attempts to introduce unacceptable doctrines and certainly unacceptable practices into the celebration of the Eucharist. I believe this is because we do not fully grasp the meaning of what we are doing. We must realize that first and foremost the celebration of the Eucharist is a sacred act given to us by God that should not be relegated to personal tastes or newly invented ideas to make the celebration more “relevant” to our day and time or worse to each individual person. The Eucharist celebrated and prayed with simplicity and dignity, allows the words to be heard and understood. These words of prayer should pierce into the hearts and the minds of us, the faithful. Therefore, it is important that none of us introduce into the liturgy extraneous practices or ideas that seem to be tantalizing to the human mind or emotion. Eucharist is the Lord coming to us, speaking to us, embracing us. I would encourage everyone during this Year of Faith to take time to return to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Paragraph 1322) and take the time to read some of the articles regarding the Eucharist. It is important to read those articles with the docility of faith, asking for the Holy Spirit’s gift of knowledge. JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

Q. What can the faithful do to prevent receiving the Eucharist from becoming, as Pope John Paul II said, “mere habit” and to ensure that it is not received “unworthily, that is to say in a state of mortal sin?” The Eucharist must never become mere habit, in other words none of us should approach the Eucharist at Mass as an obligation or duty. To avoid this attitude of “mere habit” our presence and participation must first be an act of faith not merely to “get something out of it.” We should also be docile and open our minds and hearts to the word of God, as it is being proclaimed and explained. When we can “translate” the word of God into daily life and experience and live sacrificially in line with the sacrifice of Christ, life has meaning and is dynamic, not mere habit. Then with that intentionality of living life not as habit, but as an encounter, we return to the Eucharist with listening to His word and embracing His presence with a new heart and a new mind and a new thirst for Christ’s presence in the Eucharist. This Eucharistic way of life is then a daily discovery of God’s will and not habit. And when one comes to the celebration of the Eucharist weekly in this dynamic of life, Mass is new, not habit. Much more of course could be said about this, however, as a basic response I would say that when the living word of God becomes life, it becomes a dynamic discovery each day of God’s will for me as an individual person and my responsibility of serving others as Christ has commanded us to do. Then returning to the Eucharist is full of life, full of meaning, full of depth and fully an encounter with the true presence of Jesus Christ and the Eucharist. Q. What was it like when you were first able to administer the Eucharist as a priest, to consecrate the bread into the Body of Christ? Has this feeling persisted through the years? Consecrating the bread and wine under the action of the Holy Spirit into the Body and Blood of Christ is a moment, I would say, when time stands still; when one realizes that they are in another dimension of life. There we are in God’s presence, which is God’s action coming to us in the Eucharist. Bestowing upon us a great gift that is His presence according to His promise that He is with us always until the end of time. That persists today. Yes it is a solemn moment for me personally and a solemn moment for any pastor to see in front of him the people of God and all of us joining together as the Body of Christ in unity. It is a time also to recognize people’s diﬃculties in life and what they are doing to share in the suﬀerings of Christ. But also, in the great hope of resurrection, it brings all of us into a deep sense of family united around Christ the good Shepherd.

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Consubstan Father J. Patrick Serna Contributor

atholics in English-speaking parts of the world used the same English translation of the Nicene Creed during Holy Mass from 1971 until 2011. For 40 years, Englishspeaking Catholics professed that Jesus is “one in being with the Father,” whenever the Nicene Creed was recited.

The revised English translation of the Nicene Creed is a more literal translation of the original, and this translation expects English-speaking Catholics to proclaim that Jesus is “consubstantial with the Father.” Why all the fuss? Isn’t the Catholic Church being somewhat nitpicky whenever she starts demanding that we change a little word this way or that? Answer: All the fuss is necessary because it is of fundamental bedrock importance that we state what we believe as accurately and thoroughly as possible, since it pertains to what we believe about God, and our belief about God has everything to do with our chances of eternal salvation. The Catholic Church is not being nitpicky since she is here to help us get to Heaven, and helping us state what we believe about God in a more accurate way has everything to do with helping us with clarity as we strive towards the goal of eternal life in heaven. As time goes on, new ways of saying old truths better are frequently necessary, and it is worth the inconvenience of change which we all experience. The new more literal English translation, “Consubstantial with the Father,” comes from the original Greek word homoousion (oμos means “same,” ovσia means “essence” or “being”), and the Latins used the word consubstantialem to express the same. “Consubstantial with the Father” is superior to the 1971 translation of “one in being with the Father,” because of what we must believe about Jesus’ divinity. If the divinity of Jesus is in any way compromised, then the salvation of every human baby, child and adult is also www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

ntial with the Father compromised. The enemies of Jesus knew that if the tomb were to be found empty on Easter Sunday morning, then it would be true that Jesus Resurrected, which would also mean that everything Jesus said was true. Jesus told us that He and the Father were one, which would mean that the Son is God since the Father is God. If Jesus were truly God as the Father is truly God, people would have to change and be inconvenienced, and people do not like to experience change. Out of fear that Jesus might be divine, people begged Pontius Pilate to “…issue an order having the tomb kept under surveillance until the third day…” Pilate told them, “You have a guard, Go and secure the tomb as best you can” (Mt 27:64-65). Despite the fact that guards protected that

Nicene Creed I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father; through Him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation He came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man. For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate, He suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and His kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in one holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

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tomb like no other tomb has ever been protected before or since, the tomb still turned up empty on the third day. Our Catholic “So the peoFaith ple gave the soldiers a large bribe, with the instructions: ‘You are to say, his disciples came during the night and stole him…’ The soldiers pocketed the money and did as they had been instructed.” (Mt 28:12-15) While physically alive on earth, people hated the thought that Jesus might be divine, and AFTER His physical death people continue to detest the truth of Jesus’ divinity. Arius, a Catholic bishop in the third and fourth centuries and father of the heresy known as Arianism, wrote to Eusebius of Nicomedia, “We are persecuted because we say that the Son has a beginning, but that God is without beginning. This is the cause of our persecution, and this we say because he is neither part of God nor of any essential being of God.” In order to help further his heresy along, Arius promoted catchy tunes and Christian music that included the words: “There was a time when the Son was not,” these songs with misleading words were very damaging to true teaching. We have to be careful even today what we sing, especially in the liturgy. The 1971 English translation that Jesus is “one in being with the Father” can lead to confusion about the divinity of Jesus. For example, for nine months a baby shares the same body and fluids as its mother, it can be said of them that they are one in being, but no one would ever refer to them as being consubstantial. This relationship of baby to mother is NOT the same relationship which Jesus, the Son, shares with God, His Father. Another example; God creates, and everything created comes from God. In a limited and qualified way, it can be said that even CREATED things share in the being or existence of God, and to suggest that Jesus is in any way shape or form a creature who shares in the being of God JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

would be the Arian heresy all over again. “Consubstantial” is a heresy-resilient word which says something more specific and unique about the essential identity and divinity of Jesus than the phrase “one in being with” does. If Jesus would not have been a divine person with a human nature and divine nature, the possibility for humans to be saved would have been compromised, and in the traditional theological musings of saints before us, our salvation would NOT have been possible. God created Adam and Eve, and as such they were finite, that is, fixed, limited and quantifiable. The original sin of Adam and Eve, and every sin of a human, is an infinite/immeasurable offense on behalf of the creature against God, inasmuch as humans are finite and God is infinite. The Father of Scholasticism, St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109), said–in Why God Became Man–that someone needed to pay this infinite debt to God. Anselm tells us, “God will not do it, because he has no debt to pay; and man will not do it, because he cannot. Therefore, in order that the God-man may perform this, it is necessary that the same being should be perfect God and perfect man, in order to make this atonement.” In order to make up for these sins, which are infinite offenses against God, humans owe God something infinite. As St. Anselm said earlier, man is finite and cannot pay an infinite debt; even angels are finite, only God is infinite. In order for a man to pay the infinite debt to God, it is necessary for God to become man, since only God is infinite. This is why God became man, and this is why it is so important to protect what we profess to believe about Jesus Christ’s divinity. The suffering and death of the God Man, Jesus Christ, paid an infinite debt to God the Father, and this satisfaction of the infinite debt was made possible because of His divinity. The Church was already getting medieval, even before the medieval times arrived, when she declared at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, “Those who say ‘there once was when Jesus was not’, and ‘before he was begotten he was not’, and that ‘he came to be from things that were not’, or from another hypostasis or substance, affirming that the Son of God is subject to change or alteration, these the catholic and apostolic church anathematizes.” The aforementioned reasons give us an insight into why we believe that Jesus is True God, of the same substance as God the Father. This is why we embrace the improved English translation of “consubstantial” without complaints, because Jesus’ divinity is essential to our salvation, after all. (Editor’s Note: This is the sixth installment in a continuing series on the Nicene Creed.)

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Growth in Prayer Sister Kathleen McDonagh, IWBS

W Columnist

God.

hat Is Prayer? Prayer, we are told, is the lifting up of our minds and hearts to

How is this “lifting up” accomplished? Young children in good Catholic families are taught to say simple prayers as soon as they can speak. They learn to say such simple prayers as “Thank you, Jesus, for that good dinner” or “Keep me safe, Jesus, while I am playing.” Perhaps they hardly realize the meaning of what they are saying, but as they slowly mature, they come to realize that they are talking to Jesus, and Jesus is God, and Jesus does care for them. If not before, then when they come to the age of preparation for First Holy Communion, they learn to say the prayers so necessary to communal praying in our Catholic faith: the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be to the Father, the Apostles’ Creed and the Act of Contrition. Do they realize what they are saying as they pray these prayers? Probably not completely, but hopefully, they will grow in their understanding as they mature. And in this day and age, as they are present at Mass and participate in the prayers assigned to the faithful, they become very familiar with these and make them their own. “Make them their own…” Does this growth in the most basic prayers really take place automatically? No. There is nothing automatic about prayer. It is, therefore, important that the adults who are teaching children to pray are themselves aware of the meaning and application of eﬀorts to pray. They are communicating wholeheartedly and consciously with God through Jesus and often with intercessions to Mary and the saints for help in their prayer. www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

This is true, not only of those who are teaching children to pray, but of all adults in their own prayer life. Sometimes–quite often, in fact–we meet dedicated adults for whom prayer is simply the recitation of formulae learned many years ago and to which they are sincerely faithful. Once they have “said their prayers” for the day, however, they turn away from the spiritual side of life and concentrate on the everyday demands until tomorrow or whenever it is “time to pray again.” So for some people, prayer is a happening at a specific time, in a specific place, and then it is set aside to allow for the “basic things of life” until prayer time returns 24 hours later. But what is more basic than communion with God? He made us. He redeemed us. He loves us. He is most

interested in our well-being. Does He care about what we are doing, what is happening to us, as we go about our daily lives? Most certainly He does, and so to turn to Him as we are immersed in the “ordinary happenings” of our life is a very important part of our being persons of faith. We are called to be not only persons of faith but persons of faith whose faith helps us to reach out to God in all the circumstances of life– directly or through the intercession of Our Lady, the saints, even those of our human friends who are prayerful. So prayer is never just something that I have made my own, that fits into specific moments or hours in my daily life and then is over until those moments or hours return the next day. It is never just a matter of words which

change little from time to time. No, prayer is the expression of my relationship to God. Just as, in my relationship with my true human friends, I commune diﬀerently according to the ongoing circumstances of my life, so with God. I share with Him my joys, my sorrows, my fears, my hopes and my plans. And as I grow in my relationship with Him, I share especially my joy at relating to Him when He seems very close but also my sense of loss when, as happens from time to time, I cannot seem to find Him. He trusts me to continue to trust in Him–to know that however distant He may seem to be, I await with confidence His moment of return. And in that experience of His return, my faith and trust in Him are built up anew.

JUNE LITURGICAL CALENDAR June 1 Sat Saint Justin, Martyr red | Memorial | Sir 51:12cd-20/Mk 11:27-33 (352) June 2 SUN THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST white (Corpus Christi) | Solemnity | Gn 14:18-20/1 Cor 11:23-26/Lk 9:11b-17 (169) Pss Prop June 3 Mon Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs red (Ninth Week in Ordinary Time) | Memorial | Tb 1:3; 2:1b-8/Mk 12:112 (353) Pss I June 4 Tue Weekday green | Tb 2:9-14/Mk 12:13-17 (354) June 5 Wed Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr red | Memorial | Tb 3:111a, 16-17a/Mk 12:18-27 (355) June 6 Thu Weekday green/white [Saint Norbert, Bishop] Tb 6:10-11; 7:1bcde, 9-17; 8:4-9a/Mk 12:28-34 (356) June 7 Fri The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus white | Solemnity | Ez 34:11-16/Rom 5:5b-11/Lk 15:3-7 (172) Pss Prop www.SouthTexasCatholic.com

June 8 Sat The Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary white | Memorial | Tb 12:1, 5-15, 20 (358)/ Lk 2:41-51* (573) June 9 SUN TENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME green | 1 Kgs 17:17-24/Gal 1:11-19/Lk 7:11-17 (90) Pss II June 10 Mon Weekday green | 2 Cor 1:1-7/Mt 5:1-12 (359) June 11 Tue Saint Barnabas, Apostle red | Memorial | Acts 11:21b-26; 13:1-3* (580)/Mt 5:13-16 (360) June 12 Wed Weekday green | 2 Cor 3:4-11/Mt 5:17-19 (361) June 13 Thu Saint Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church white | Memorial | 2 Cor 3:15—4:1, 3-6/Mt 5:20-26 (362) June 14 Fri Weekday green | 2 Cor 4:7-15/Mt 5:27-32 (363) June 15 Sat Weekday green/white [BVM] 2 Cor 5:14-21/Mt 5:33-37 (364) June 16 SUN ELEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME green | 2 Sm

12:7-10, 13/Gal 2:16, 19-21/Lk 7:36—8:3 or 7:36-50 (93) Pss III June 17 Mon Weekday green | 2 Cor 6:1-10/Mt 5:38-42 (365) June 18 Tue Weekday green | 2 Cor 8:1-9/Mt 5:43-48 (366) June 19 Wed Weekday green/white [Saint Romuald, Abbot] | 2 Cor 9:611/Mt 6:1-6, 16-18 (367) June 20 Thu Weekday green | 2 Cor 11:1-11/Mt 6:7-15 (368) June 21 Fri Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious white | Memorial | 2 Cor 11:18, 21-30/Mt 6:19-23 (369) June 22 Sat Weekday green/ white/red/white [Saint Paulinus of Nola, Bishop; Saints John Fisher, Bishop, and Thomas More, Martyrs; | BVM] | 2 Cor 12:1-10/Mt 6:24-34 (370) June 23 SUN TWELFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME green | Zec 12:10-11; 13:1/Gal 3:26-29/Lk 9:18-24 (96) Pss IV June 24 Mon The Nativity of Saint

John the Baptist white | Solemnity | Vigil: Jer 1:4-10/1 Pt 1:8-12/Lk 1:5-17 (586) | Day: Is 49:1-6/Acts 13:22-26/Lk 1:57-66, 80 (587) Pss Prop June 25 Tue Weekday green | Gn 13:2, 5-18/Mt 7:6, 12-14 (372) June 26 Wed Weekday green | Gn 15:1-12, 17-18/Mt 7:15-20 (373) June 27 Thu Weekday green/white [Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop and Doctor of the Church] Gn 16:1-12, 15-16 or 16:6b-12, 15-16/ Mt 7:21-29 (374) June 28 Fri Saint Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr red | Memorial | Gn 17:1, 9-10, 15-22/Mt 8:1-4 (375) June 29 Sat Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles red | Solemnity | Vigil: Acts 3:1-10/Gal 1:11-20/Jn 21:1519 (590) | Day: Acts 12:1-11/2 Tm 4:6-8, 17-18/Mt 16:13-19 (591) Pss Prop June 30 SUN THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME green | 1 Kgs 19:16b, 19-21/Gal 5:1, 13-18/ Lk 9:51-62 (99) Pss I

JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

JUNE CALENDAR Transitional Diaconate Ordination On June 1 at 10 a.m. there will be a Transitional Diaconate Ordination at Corpus Christi Cathedral. Reception to follow at St. Joseph Hall.

Help Feed the Homeless On June 2 join the Cursillo Movement to Help Feed the Homeless at 8 a.m. at Mother Theresa Shelter, located at 513 Sam Rankin in Corpus Christi.

Cursillo de las mujeres Cursillo de mujeres se celebrará del 6 a 9 de junio en el Corpus Christi Cursillo Center localizado en el 1200 Lantana en Corpus Christi. Para obtener más información, por favor llame al América López, Vocal del PreCursillo- mujeres, al (361) 592-1927 o americalopez@yahoo.com. Hacer un amigo, ser un amigo, y traer a un amigo a Cristo!

Beneﬁt Dinner at OLCC On June 7 at 7 p.m. at Our Lady of Corpus Christi Campus on 1200 Lantana. Special guest will be “Dana.” Proceeds will oﬀset cost of the Dome Fest. Call OLCC at (361) 289-9095 for more information.

King of the Court Basketball Tournament On June 7-8 each parish or Catholic High School can sign up either a Boys’ Team or a Girls’ Team or both for this basketball tournament. The winner of each team will have a chance to win $500 for their youth group or youth related event for their parish or Catholic High School. For more information go to www.diocesecc.org/ Basketball.

Priesthood Ordination On June 8 there will be a Priesthood Ordination at Corpus Christi Cathedral at 10 a.m. Reception to follow at St. Joseph Hall.

Dome Fest On June 8 from 10 a.m. - 10 p.m. on Our Lady of Corpus Christi Campus on 1200 Lantana. This music fest will be fun for the whole family. There will be a variety of local bands and musicians: jazz, Irish, Christian and

SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013

more. Entrance is Free.

‘A Covenant of Love with Mary’ Classes at OLPH On June 10 at 6:15 p.m. at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish Hall. There will be Mass followed by a video and talk at 6:45 p.m. and a light dinner and celebration.

The Ark Benefit Golf Tournament On Friday, June 14 The Ark Assessment Center and Emergency Shelter for Youth will have their third annual Benefit Golf Tournament. Tee time is 8 a.m. Registration begins at 6:30 a.m. If enough players are registered, an afternoon tournament will be held (morning and afternoon to be filled in order of registration). The Tournament will be held at North Shore Country Club in Portland. Registration deadline is Friday, June 7. For more information go to SouthTexasCatholic.com/TheArk.

Corpus Christi Catholic Engaged Encounter On June 15-16 beginning Saturday at 7 a.m. at Our Lady of Corpus Christi Retreat Center on 1200 Lantana St. in Corpus Christi. For more information call the Diocese of Corpus Christi Family Life Oﬃce at (361) 882-6191 or go to www.DioceseCC.org/FamilyLife or Deacon Ron Martinez at (361) 7651124 or Email: deaconron@olphcc.net.

Mini Youth Spectacular 2013 On June 15 come celebrate the Mini Youth Spectacular 2013 in Beeville. Our Lady of Victory Parish will host the event sponsored by the Diocese of Corpus Christi Oﬃce of Youth Ministry. For more information, please contact the Diocese at (361) 881-6191.

Catholic Charismatic Renewal Conference On June 15 from 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. at Most Precious Blood Church on 3502 Saratoga Blvd. in Corpus Christi there will be a healing service, praise and worship and alabanza y adoracíon with keynote speaker Walter Matthews, Executive Director of the CCR National

Service Committee, USA. To purchase tickets or more information on this year’s conference call us at: Catholic Charismatic Renewal (361) 850-3281 or (361) 852-3692.

SWLC Hispanic Pastoral Musicians Conference The Southwest Liturgical Conference’s Eighth Bi-Annual Hispanic Pastoral Musicians Conference will be held in McAllen. Sing to the Lord, and praise without borders! The event is hosted by the Oﬃce of Liturgy & Worship in the Diocese of Brownsville. For more information go to www.diocesecc.org/ SWLC.

Worldwide Marriage Encounter On June 28-30 at Our Lady of Corpus Christi Retreat Center, located at 1200 Lantana in Corpus Christi. This is an enrichment experience for married couples. Learn more here.

Silent Retreat in Lamar On June 29 from 10 a.m.- 3:45 p.m. Silent Retreat hosted by Federation of Our Lady of Guadalupe of the Diocese of Corpus Christi. Schoenstatt Center in Lamar across the bridge from Rockport/Fulton. Registration 9-9:30 a.m. For more information call Mary Garza at (361) 425-6290 or Elvira Rodriguez at (361) 534-4545.

Natural Family Planning Class On Saturday, June 29 from 12-2 p.m. at Saint Peter Apostle Church for engaged or married couples. Call Steve or Ann Craig to register at (361) 7671228; or see online options at www. nfpandmore.org.

To see more calendar events go to:

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JUNE 2013 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC

June 2013 Issue SOUTH TEXAS CATHOLIC P.O. Box 2620 Corpus Christi, TX 78403 (361) 882-6191

SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2013