August 2014 by Holy Family Cathedral

Holy Family

August 2014

Volume 19, Issue 1

Cathedral News

In this edition: Stations of the Cross completed The Monsignor Halpine Shrine HFC School is ready to begin New group provides support for widows

The Rector’s Report: Monsignor Gier celebrates the completion of the Stations of the Cross

Artist Cindy Webster smiles as she completes the Fourteenth Station of the Cross.

Dear People of Holy Family Cathedral, While many of us are enjoying the beauty of Oklahoma in the summer, we all get to see the beauty of our refinished Stations of the Cross. Cindy Webster is the artist who hand paints the Cathedral’s Paschal Candle. She worked closely with our former associate pastor Father Matthew La Chance in painting the rectangular imbrication on the walls of the nave. Cindy used a variety of techniques to prime, antique, and color each figure in each Station. She found hints of buildings in the background and made them easily visible. I look forward to praying the Stations next Lent. I anticipate that all of us will have a greater appreciation for the suffering Christ undertook for us. My favorite aspect of the Stations is the weather in the background. The bright sun in the First Station gives way to a progressively darker and more turbulent sky culminating with the solar eclipse in the Twelfth Station. The sun sets as the figures 2

in the last Stations race to wrap our Lord’s body in linen and place Him in the tomb. That Shroud depicted in our Stations of the Cross is in the city of Turin, Italy. The shroud is rarely displayed - only six times in the previous and current centuries. It will be on display next spring. I will be leading a pilgrimage to Turin to see the Shroud. If you would like to come with me, there is information on the parish website: HolyFamilyCathedralParish.com, and on page 6 of this newsletter. I am excited to watch the activity in our parish. School is beginning. Another year of Religious Education starts. RCIA is ready to greet a new class. Let us pray for our numerous parish groups. In Christ,

Rev. Msgr. Gregory A. Gier, Rector

The Monsignor Halpine Shrine: Remembering Diocesan Priests who have died since 1973

Associate Pastor Fr. Louis Obirieze examines the names on the Shrine. BY MIKE MALCOM

The Missionary Crucifix, which likely predates the original 1899 Holy Family Church, hangs inside one of the new shrines in the back of the Cathedral. The Shrine is named for Monsignor James F. Halpine and is dedicated to the memory of the deceased priests of the Diocese of Tulsa. In the forty-one years since the creation of the Diocese of Tulsa, sixtyone diocesan priests have died. There is an engraved plate for each priest with his

name, his date of birth, death, and ordination to the priesthood. The data was gathered over two and a half years from Calvary Cemetery, Fitzgerald Funeral Home, the Office of the Bishop at the Tulsa Chancery, and Holy Family’s internal files. The parish has a supply of blank plates and is ready to add new ones as the need arises.

One of the plates shows data for former Holy Family associate, Father Stan Rother.

Our Deceased Priests Rev. John F. Lynch Rev. James McNamee Rev. Frederick Beckerle Rev. William J. McCarthy Rev. Msgr. William H. Reid Rev. George Alvin Hayes Rev. Joseph A. LaBonte Rev. Stanley F. Rother Rev. R. Anthony Spain Rev. Joseph Delamore Rev. Michael E. Keatinge Rev. Joseph R. Propps Rev. Msgr. Antoni F. Chojecki Rev. Donald F. Smith Rev. James Phan Van Co Rev. Paul V. Brown Rev. Edmund F. Byrne Rev. Patrick Murtagh Rev. Francis B. Warnke Rev. Vincent C. McGouldrick Rev. William J. Kaufman Rev. Daniel R. Allen Rev. Francis E. McGoldrick Rev. Henry J. Broyles Rev. Justin H. Gavin Rev. Msgr. Cecil E. Finn Rev. John P. Cunningham Rev. Maurice J. O’Connell Rev. John M. Cefai Rev. Forrest L. O’Brien Rev. Daniel C. Keohane Rev. Donald W. Brooks Rev. Arthur T. O’Hara Rev. Roger H. Blais Rev. Harry S. Bartnick Rev. Thomas P. Biller Rev. Neal E. Brogan Rev. Robert T. Schlitt Rev. Joseph J. Mazaika Rev. Joseph W. Howell Rev. Finton P. McMahon Rev. Lawrence P. Lange Rev. Msgr. Mark W. Maszkiewicz Rev. Timothy J. Daley Rev. Thomas M. Hildebrand Rev. Stephen A. MacAulay Rev. Lee O’Neil Rev. Jerry McCarthy Rev. Daniel V. Cronin Rev. Jake A. Males Rev. Peter F. Dally Rev. Kenneth A. King Rev. Bernard C. Jewitt Rev. Herman J. Foken Rev. Msgr. James F. Halpine Rev. Robert T. Pickett Rev. Jorge A. Gomez Alvarado Rev. J. Paul Donovan Rev. Daniel Perlinski Rev. Gary Sherman Rev. Kenneth Fulton

Standing in the Gap: Helping Our Widowed Friends

Holy Family Cathedral is pleased to announce the formation of a church community dedicated to providing meaningful and practical, emotional and spiritual support for our widows. We will follow the program developed by Stand in the Gap Ministries. It calls for a prayerbased, small group movement. Why? __________________________________________________________________ Listening to the needs expressed by widows, Stand in the Gap has learned that two forms of ministry are needed. • PRACTICAL HELP w ith every day c hores and responsibility • LISTENING HEARTS to help w ith the spiritual needs and emotions __________________________________________________________________ Stand in the Gap has interviewed many widows. These themes emerged. After a few months the calls stop - many friendships drift away - feelings of vulnerability creep in - a widow will usually not ask for help - and only other widows understand the grief. “My married friends, and even my grown children, think they know what I am going through as a new widow. They don’t have a clue. Only a widow can understand the heart of a widow.” Jenny, SITG Ministries Group __________________________________________________________________ Please join us for a gathering of interested parishioners. We will meet after the noon mass on Sunday, September 14th to learn more about this proven program, and our plans to offer this support at Holy Family. We will meet in the Halpine Room and welcome your questions at this organizational meeting. If you have immediate questions, please call Karla at (918) 245-6785.

HFCS Principal Southerland sees School “making a difference in individual lives.”

year we were overwhelmed by the willingness of you, the parishioners of Holy Family Cathedral, to give to the school through our annual “second collection,” through pledges to Club 130, through purchasing trash bags and candy bars, by attending the Petzet Dinner, and by supporting our Annual Dinner and Auction. Last year’s Knight of a Thousand Stars was the most successful auction on record, bringing in just under $50,000.00 for our school. Dear Holy Family Parishioners: 2013-2014 was a wonderful year for Holy Family Cathedral School. We saw our enrollment grow to 155 students, and we welcomed many new families into our community. Due to the generosity of the parish, and various charitable organizations, we were able to continue to make repairs to our school building, to upgrade our elementary playground, and to replace worn-out equipment and materials. We were also able to make headway in replacing outdated textbooks and adding much needed technology. In addition, thanks to numerous parents, countless benefactors, The Holy Family Woman’s Club, The Knights of Columbus, The Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulcher, and the Centennial Committee; downtown businesses like the The Chalkboard, Ludger's, Wil-

liams Companies, and The McNellie’s Group; organizations like The Robinson Foundation, The Elf Project, The Chapman Foundation, The University of Notre Dame; and the generosity of Scott and Gayna Carter, Kay Keith, the Spannier Family, Mark Nelson, the Nelson Family, the Robb Estate, the Petzet Family and the Maldonado Family, we were able to insure that our students were able to participate in religious retreats, competitive sports leagues, academic competitions like MathCounts, Academic Bowl, and Odyssey of the Mind, and that they were able to participate in educational and fine arts field trips and activities. As we head into the 2014-2015 school year, we are hopeful that the bond between the parish and the school will continue to grow. This past

As summer wanes, and the school year approaches, we ask that you continue to keep the students, faculty, and staff of Holy Family Cathedral School in your thoughts and prayers. Our parish and our school are truly unique and special. We provide the opportunity for a high quality, Catholic education to those in our city who need it the most, and are frequently the least able to afford it. By providing a community where the under-served are given the same opportunities and experiences as those received by their peers with parents who are CEOs, lawyers, and doctors, we are building the Body of Christ through community; and we are truly making a difference in individual lives, and the world. (Continued on page 7)

The Shroud of Turin will be on public display next spring!

Shroud of Turin continues to draw pilgrims including Pope Francis

Holy Family parishioners are invited to join Msgr. Gier on an unforgettable pilgrimage to Turin to see the Shroud, then on to Florence, Assisi, Siena, and finally Rome.

Msgr. Gier will offer Holy Mass daily at many of the important churches we will visit, including St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. A photographic negative shows new details in the Shroud of Turin.

The dates are April 19 – 28, 2015. More information and a registration form are available at www.pilgrimages.com/ holyfamilycathedral.

BY ROSEANNE BELL The Shroud of Turin is one of the world’s most

heart and moves us to climb the hill of Calvary, to

famous relics. There have been only four expositions

look upon the wood of the Cross, and to immerse

of the shroud in the 20th century and two in the 21st

ourselves in the eloquent silence of love.”

century. It last went on display in 2010.

supreme Word of God comes to us: Love made man,

cloth measuring 14.5 feet by 3.9 feet, is believed by

incarnate in our history; the merciful love of God

many to be the cloth in which Christ’s body was

who has taken upon himself all the evil of the world

wrapped after his crucifixion. Bearing the imprint of

to free us from its power,” Francis said.

a man and the apparent signs of wound marks that

“This disfigured face resembles all those faces of

correspond to those Christ sustained during his cru-

men and women marred by a life which does not

cifixion, the shroud has been the focus of a great

respect their dignity, by war and violence which

deal of debate over the centuries. The Vatican,

afflict the weakest.”

faith. Over the years, many Popes have visited and

In 2010, the History Channel produced a documentary about the Shroud and the efforts of a team of scientists to verify its authenticity. You can find

prayed at the Shroud. After his visit in 2013, Pope

the documentary, titled “The Real Face of Jesus,” on

Francis wrote:

YouTube. You may find more information on

“The face in the shroud invites us to contemplate 6

“By means of the Holy Shroud, the unique and

The Shroud, a piece of herringbone twilled linen

which now owns it, regards it as a powerful aid to

Early registration is encouraged as space is limited.

Jesus of Nazareth. This image … speaks to our

www.shroud.com, as well.

SCHOOL (Continued from page 5)

Despite tremendous increases for recurring expenses like property insurance, utilities, maintenance, and supplies, Holy Family continues to keep its tuition low so that normal, everyday Catholic families are able to give their children the gift of a Catholic school education. With a Catholic rate of just $3,950.00 per year (discounts given for multiple children) and a preschool tuition of just $4,800 (full day program), Holy Family remains one of the most affordable Catholic school options in Tulsa. In order to continue to insure that we can keep our rates low, while

maintaining a top notch facility and faculty, we ask that you prayerfully consider making a pledge to Club 130 (sign up sheets are in the vestibule on the south exit), giving generously at this year’s second collection on September 14th, or adopting a student (contact the school office at 918-5820422 to find out how). We also ask that you protect the congregation and the students in our school and RE classes by respecting the Fire Zone that stretches the length of the school building. Please avoid parking in that space at any time. The fire hydrant for both the church and the school is af-

fixed to the west side of the school building, and it is a violation of the law – as well as a safety hazard – to park in the painted Fire Zone area in front of the school. I’d like to close by thanking you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers, support, and generosity to me personally, and to the school. May God bless you and keep you. Yours in Christ,

Leslie Southerland, Principal

Upcoming Activities and Events Pray the Rosary every Sunday before the 8:00 a.m. Mass. The recitation of the rosary begins at about 7:30 a.m. Bible Study meets Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. in the Halpine Room. Deacon Jerry Mattox leads a study of one book of the Bible at a time, exploring it in context and in depth. Dinner & a Movie: On the first Friday of the month, the Knights of Columbus sponsor a monthly pot luc k dinner and the showing of a full length Catholic or Christian movie. The pot luck dinner starts around 6:30 p.m. and the movie begins around 7 p.m. Interested in knowing more about the Catholic Faith? The Summer Inquiry Sessions happen on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Come and visit with members of the RCIA Team and discuss questions that you may have about the Catholic Faith. If you have questions, email Sisterjeri45@yahoo.com.

The Diocese of Tulsa’s Youth Office is hosting the Diocesan Catholic Youth Conference on Oc tober 4, 2014, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. Because of this, and Pope Francis, we chose the motto of St. Francis My God, My All as the theme. Headlining this year will be Christian Music Artist Audrey Assad. The keynote speaker will be Chris Stefanick from Real Life Catholic , and there will also be performance art from speed painter Mike Debus. Dante Schmitz w ill k ic k off the Youth Conference with music. The Conference features many exhibits from universities, religious orders, and other local apostolates for the youth to enjoy and engage. Many priests of the Diocese will be present in the afternoon to hear confessions, and Adoration will take place around the clock. The youth will also be able to meet, interact with, and attend Mass celebrated by Bishop Slattery. On top of it all, there w ill be a lot of fun activities, as the baseball fields will be loaded with all kinds of attractions. All registration is done online. Go to http://

tulsadcyc.eventbrite.com and click to join a group. Type in “Holy Family Cathedral” to find our group. Cost is $45 if you register before September 13. The fee covers admission to the conference and the concerts, and also includes lunch, dinner, and a t-shirt. If you have any questions, contact Mike Malcom, 918-810-0652 or mikemalcom@gmail.com. Everyday, Christian Retreat. A retreat by young adults, for young adults (ages 18-39) will be held at Catholic Charities in Tulsa on August 9th, 9am6:30pm. This 1-day retreat gives you insight into how you can bring Christ into your life every day -- during work, with community, at home, in the Church. Cost is covered by the Office of Young Adults, but requires registration by August 1st. For more information, and to register, visit YoungAdultsEveryday.org.

Holy Family Cathedral PO Box 3204 Tulsa, OK 74101-3204