Texas Catholic Herald - Jan. 10, 2022

The global impact of a German pope

VATICAN CITY (OSV News) — Very few figures within the contemporary Church have influenced it as deeply and for as long as Pope Benedict XVI, who died Dec. 31, 2022 at 95.

The lasting legacy of Joseph Ratzinger — whom author George Weigel told OSV News was “one of the most consequential Christian figures of modern times” — will be a part of the universal Church for generations to come.

Joseph Ratzinger will go down in history linked to the Second Vatican Council (1962 to 1965), of which he was

Hundreds of thousands pay last respects

to Pope Benedict XVI at St.

Peter’s

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A quiet hush covered the vast expanse of St. Peter’s Square even though it was filled with thousands of people slowly winding their way around the colonnade into St. Peter’s Basilica to pay their last respects to the late Pope Benedict XVI.

Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, was one of the many who visited St. Peter’s Basilica to pray and honor the late pope.

Outdoor souvenir sellers were wellstocked with rosaries Jan. 2, but they seemed to have been caught off guard with a plethora of touristy tchotchkes and few to no images or mementos of the late pope. A damp chill hung in the air at nine in the morning when the doors of the basilica opened to the public on the first of three days to view the pope’s body.

Special accommodations, however, were made for officials of the Roman

HERALD STAFF REPORT

VATICAN CITY — Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who surprised the world by announcing he would retire as pope, died on Dec. 31, 2022. He was 95 years old.

“It is with deep sadness and hope in the Resurrection that we mourn the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI,” Daniel Cardinal DiNardo said in a Dec. 31 statement.

“From 2005 to 2013, the late Holy Father shepherded the Church with great love,” said Cardinal DiNardo said. “His keen intellect invigorated the New Evangelization by drawing hearts and minds into the mystery of our redemption in Christ and inspiring countless men and women to spread the Gospel by the example of their lives.”

Before leaving for Rome to attend the late pope’s funeral events, Daniel Cardinal DiNardo said in his Jan. 1 homily at a Mass at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart that the former pope was a first-rate theologian.

“Someday, they’ll put together all of his homilies from Christmas, Epiphany, Holy Week and Easter, and they’ll combine them together — just like they do those same homilies of Leo the Great and Pope Gregory the Great — and when they read them 100 years from now, they’ll say, ‘Wow, this guy was first-rate.’”

Pope Benedict XVI elevated Cardinal DiNardo to the College of Cardinals on Nov. 24, 2007 — the first and so far only cardinal in Texas.

“Every time I saw him after that... he’d go, ‘Ah Ha! Texas is here!”’ the cardinal recalled.

Cardinal DiNardo said he would be

on his way to Rome soon after the Mass because “Texas should be there.”

Both Cardinal DiNardo and the late Archbishop Emeritus Joseph A. Fiorenza had a unique relationship with

Proclaiming the Good News to the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston since 1964

Upcoming annual Martin Luther King Jr. Mass carries racial justice efforts

CNS PHOTOS

pay their respects at the body of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Jan. 3.

Pope Benedict XVI presents a ring to Daniel Cardinal DiNardo during a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Nov. 25, 2007.

POPE EMERITUS BENEDICT XVI

A pope who ‘cares for his sheep’

Curia, Vatican staff and dignitaries who were allowed access from the back of the basilica and offered a place to sit or kneel on either side of the pope’s body, which was laid out in red vestments on a damask-covered platform.

Before the doors opened to the general public, Mauro Cardinal Gambetti, the archpriest of the basilica and papal vicar for Vatican City State, accompanied Italian President Sergio Mattarella and his entourage and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and other government ministers to pay homage to the late pope.

The first in line outside the basilica was a group of religious sisters from the Philippines, who said they got there at 5:30 a.m.

People kept slowly arriving before sunrise, including a group from Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior, Wisconsin, led by Father Richard Kunst of Duluth. The priest told Catholic News Service (CNS) that he was leading a tour of Rome the day Pope Benedict XVI died.

Father Kunst said he was “a big fan” of Pope Benedict and “not sad at his passing” since the 95-year-old pope had lived a long life and “this is what he lived for — to be able to be with God.”

Father Matthew Schmitz was with a group of 90 young people from ECYD, an international Catholic youth organization affiliated with Regnum Christi.

“We were praying while we were waiting, we prayed the Rosary” and went inside the basilica in silence, he told CNS.

He said he was in Rome for his studies when Pope Benedict was elected in 2005, and “I met him once after an Easter Mass,” which means “I’m still kind of processing” the fact that he found himself back in Rome when the pope died.

Ana Sofia de Luna, who is with ECYD and from Mexico, said, “It’s very sad that Pope Benedict died, but being here and seeing his body was a great blessing, to be able to ask for grace and seeing his body there was very impactful.”

Father Justin Kizewski happened to be traveling with a group of 45 seminarians and nine priests on pilgrimage from Madison, Wisconsin.

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He said, “I’ve been privileged to accompany him through his pontificate: I was here in the square when he was elected, I was here in the square when he resigned, and now here when he’s lying in state.”

“When we read his writings, heard him preach, or saw him celebrate the Mass, we really saw a man that cares for his sheep and gives us an example of how to care for ours,” he said.

Sugey Viramontes from Mexico told CNS that “without a doubt, his example of simplicity, and above all how he spent his last few years, always in prayer, is a great example for us young people.”

Inside the basilica, staff and security kept visitors moving smoothly and quickly, letting people stop before the pope’s remains long enough to make the sign of the cross and take a picture or two before being asked quietly to “Please, move along.”

However, many took advantage of the large nooks and niches in the basilica to press up against a wall or barricade and linger just a little while longer.

The Vatican said some 200,000 people had visited St. Peter’s Basilica in three days, where the late pope’s body had been lying in repose since the morning of Jan. 2.

Pope Benedict’s mortal remains lied in repose in the basilica for three days until the late evening of Jan. 4; Pope Francis presided over the funeral Mass Jan. 5 in St. Peter’s Square.

The Vatican said Pope Benedict had wished his funeral to be simple, emphasizing it would be “solemn, but sober.” Some traditions connected with the death and burial of a pope will be followed, such as three objects being deposited in the pope’s casket before he is buried: his palliums, coins and medals minted during his pontificate, and a “rogito” or scroll that summarizes in Latin the highlights of his papacy.

After public viewing of his body ends the evening of Jan. 4, Pope Benedict was placed in a traditional cypress casket, following a traditional ritual, the Vatican said.

Before the funeral, the casket was carried into St. Peter’s Square, where the faithful joined in the recitation of the Rosary before the Mass.

After the funeral, again following tradition, the casket was sealed and wrapped with ribbons, then placed inside a zinc casket that will be soldered and sealed, and then placed inside a casket made of wood.

The moment of his burial in the grotto of St. Peter’s Basilica, where other popes are buried, will be private. †

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CNS PHOTO

Pope Francis greets retired Pope Benedict XVI at the retired pontiff’s Vatican residence Dec. 23, 2013.

A Prayer for the Repose of the Soul of Pope Benedict XVI

The Vatican shared this prayer prayer for the soul of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI:

Father, eternal shepherd, hear the prayers of your people for your servant Benedict, who governed your Church with love.

In your mercy, bring him with the flock once entrusted to his care to the reward you have promised your faithful servants.

May he who faithfully administered the mysteries of your forgiveness and love on earth, rejoice with you for ever in heaven.

In your wise and loving care, you made your servant teacher of all your Church. He did the work of Christ on earth.

May your Son welcome him into eternal glory.

May your servant whom you appointed high priest of your flock be counted now among the priests in the life of your kindgom.

Give your servant the reward of eternal happiness and let your mercy win for us the gift of your life and love.

We entrust your servant to your mercy with faith and confidence. In the human family he was an instrument of your peace and love. May he rejoice in those gifts for ever with your saints. Amen.

Congregation of the Missionary Carmelites of St. Teresa

HOUSTON — The Congregation of the Missionary Carmelites of St. Teresa was founded in Mexico City on March 8, 1903, by Sisters Teresa Petra Muciño, Carmen Gallardo, Soledad Perez and Antonia Velazquez.

Archbishop Robert E. Lucey requested the congregation to come to the U.S. to serve immigrant people. Their first community in the U.S. was established July 16, 1947, in Cuero, Texas.

Their first ministry in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston began at St. Mary’s Seminary after being incorporated as a nonprofit in 1989. From there, the congregation moved to programs of evangelization and spirituality, serving migrant families in various parishes. Today

they serve in 10 countries. Currently, the congregation has two postulants. This year they celebrate the 75th anniversary of mission in the U.S. Besides their missions in the Archdiocese, they also serve in two

other dioceses.

Their mission is to live and share the friendship of the living God through the apostolates of evangelization, missions and pastoral spiritualty. †

PASTORAL APPOINTMENTS

Effective Jan. 12 Father Joseph Kikanda, SSJ

BRIEFS

Archdiocesan Mass celebrates the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

HOUSTON — The Archdiocese will honor the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and remember his call to achieve peace through service to one another at its annual Mass at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 15 at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, 1111 St. Joseph Pkwy., in Houston.

Catholics from all 10 counties of the Archdiocese will

whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:31

Vicar – Our Mother of Mercy, Houston

LOCAL

The

Arts announces poetry contest

A choice driven by spirituality, love and responsibility

was a true pastor of souls and son of the Church.”

Pope Benedict.

The late pope was the one who bestowed a pallium, the woolen shawl that signifies the bond between the Vatican and the metropolitan archdioceses around the world, upon Archbishop Fiorenza on June 29, 2005. Cardinal DiNardo would receive his pallium from Pope Benedict the following year. This came after Pope John Paul II had elevated the Diocese of GalvestonHouston to the status of Archdiocese in 2005.

A ‘TRUTHFUL REFLECTION OF GOD’

At Mass at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart Dec. 31, Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell’Oro, CRS, pulled out a gold cross he was wearing from under his vestments and said, “This is very special to me, given by a bishop friend in Italy who received it from Pope Benedict.”

As he proudly held the relic, Bishop Dell’Oro said the former pontiff was an incredible figure in the Church.

“Pope Benedict has given us an immense, profound, and absolute truthful reflection of God. He will be known as among the Fathers of the Church,” Bishop Dell’Oro said during the Mass. “A thousand years from now, even 10,000 years from now, people will not likely remember us, but they will remember Pope Benedict the XVI and his teachings.”

Keeping his appointment to celebrate vespers as 2022 was ending, Pope Francis also paid tribute to his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who died early Dec. 31.

“At this moment, our thoughts go spontaneously to our dearest Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who left us this morning,” Pope Francis told thousands of people joining him in St. Peter’s Basilica for the evening prayer service.

“With emotion, we remember him as such a noble, such a gentle person,” the pope said. “And we feel so much gratitude in our hearts: gratitude to God for having given him to the Church and to the world; gratitude to him, for all the good he accomplished, particularly for

his witness of faith and prayer, especially in these last years of his retired life.”

“Only God knows the value and strength of his intercession and his sacrifices offered for the good of the Church,” Pope Francis said of the 95-yearold Pope Benedict, who had spent almost 10 years in retirement in a monastery in the Vatican Gardens.

The prayers of the faithful also included special mention of the deceased Pope Benedict, asking God to allow him to see Jesus face to face.

A GERMAN POPE

Born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger on April 16, 1927, the pope emeritus was elected on April 19, 2005, after the death of then-pope St. John Paul II.

Ordained as a priest in 1951 in his native Bavaria, a state in the southeast of Germany, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had established himself as a highly regarded theologian by the late 1950s. He was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising in May of 1997, and a month later, he was elevated to cardinal.

In 1981, he was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and in 2002, he was also Dean of the College of Cardinals. Appointed by Pope Paul VI, he held the position until he became the 265th pope at the age of 78.

He chose the pontifical name Benedict, which comes from the Latin word meaning “the blessed,” in honor of both Benedict XV and Benedict of Nursia.

Barely a month into his papacy, Pope Benedict XVI began the beautification process for his predecessor and friend, John Paul II, citing exceptional circumstances and waiving the obligatory five-year waiting period. During his papal term, he canonized 45 saints.

Pope Benedict XVI wrote three encyclicals: Deus caritas est (Latin for “God is Love”), Spe Salvi (“Saved by Hope”), and Caritas in veritate (“Love in Truth”).

“Having been present at the Second Vatican Council, Pope Benedict knew first-hand the teaching of the Council and sought to articulate that teaching in his scholarly work as a theologian,” Cardinal DiNardo said. “He did the same as an official in the Holy See, and later as Supreme Shepherd of the Church. Pope Benedict XVI’s sense of the faith and love for the Sacred Liturgy will continue to shape the Church for years to come. He

A CHOICE OF RESPONSIBILITY

On Feb. 11, 2013, the Vatican confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI would resign the papacy on Feb. 28, 2013, as a result of his advanced age, becoming the first pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415 and the first pope to resign without external pressure since Celestine V in 1294.

At the age of 85 years and 318 days on the effective date of his retirement, he was the fourth-oldest person to hold the office of the pope. The move was unexpected as it had become customary for popes to remain in office until death.

“I remember not understanding the decision completely,” Konrad Cardinal Krajewski of Poland told OSV News. “It was for us almost like the world has just crumbled.”

Cardinal Krajewski is Pope Francis’s top charity man at the Vatican, where he has served for almost three decades. Hearing that the German pontiff had resigned was painful for him.

“Back then, we didn’t see why he made this decision which we now know was very much thought through,” he said. “But when he became a prayer’ backup’ for Pope Francis — when he supported the reigning pope with his silent strength — only then I started to admire his decision and determination, which were driven from his spirituality, responsibility for the Church and love for the Church.”

He moved into the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican Gardens near St Peter’s, formerly home to 12 nuns. He was succeeded by Pope Francis on March 13, 2013, following a conclave in which Cardinal DiNardo participated.

In recent months the retired pope had looked increasingly frail, but as recently as Dec. 1 the foundation that promotes his theological work released photos of him meeting with the two winners of the Ratzinger Prize, an award given to recognize scholars whose work demonstrates a meaningful contribution to his theology in the spirit.

He also met in August at the monastery with Pope Francis and the new cardinals the pope had just created.

Pope Francis presided over the Jan. 5 funeral Mass. Afterward, the coffin was taken to St. Peter’s Basilica and then to the Vatican grotto for burial. †

March 15, 2012, “ad limina”

Catholic Literary

Middle school students are eligible to win $500 plus free tuition to a summer writing workshop.

CNS PHOTOS

Pope Benedict XVI greets Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza after bestowing the pallium on the archbishop during a Mass June 29, 2005, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.

Pope Benedict XVI greets then-Auxiliary Bishop-designate George A. Sheltz as Daniel Cardinal DiNardo looks on during a

meeting with Texas bishops at the Vatican.

Pope Benedict leaves behind monumental legacy

first one of its protagonists in the shadows and later one of its most consequential interpreters.

When the council opened in 1962, Father Ratzinger, only 35 years old, was one of the stars of the new German theology. Joseph Cardinal Frings, then head of the German bishops’ conference, took Ratzinger to the council as an expert, and in that position, he played a fundamental role in the development of the conciliar documents on the Church, revelation and sacred Scripture.

“The council’s purpose was to give a new, fresh, compelling articulation to the ancient truths of the Catholic faith,” Weigel told OSV News. “And during the four years of Vatican II, Joseph Ratzinger was one of the three most influential theologians helping to shape both the bishops’ reflections on these ancient truths and in formulating that fresh presentation of those truths.”

After five years as archbishop of Munich, then-Cardinal Ratzinger was called to Rome by Pope John Paul II, with whom he had crossed paths at the council — when John Paul was still known as Karol Wojtyla. As the Polish pope set forth to implement Vatican II, Ratzinger became his closest collaborator on those same subjects on which he had previously influenced the council as an expert.

The council opened new paths for the Church, especially in three areas: the relationship of faith with science; the relationship of the Church with the liberal state; and finally, the links of the Catholic Church with other religions. On these three issues, the differences between the teachings of the previous councils and that of Vatican II were so striking that it seemed to many that the Church had taken a leap into the void.

Faced with interpretations from all sides that Vatican II was a “rupture” with tradition, Ratzinger, first as a theologian, then as John Paul II’s adviser, and finally as Pope Benedict XVI, defended an interpretation of continuity. He explained this a few months after he was elected pope in a speech delivered on Dec. 22, 2005.

The truths taught by Vatican II, he

argued, were already present in the doctrine transmitted by the Church. Vatican II only took care to make them explicit, thus maintaining a continuous evolution of Catholic doctrine. In keeping with the council, Ratzinger wanted Christ to be at the center.

“Ratzinger at Vatican II was convinced that the Church’s address to the world, the Church’s proposal to the world, had to be less ecclesiocentric and more Christocentric,” said Weigel, Pope John Paul II’s biographer and author of “God’s Choice: Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church.”

“The Church had to offer a personal encounter with Jesus Christ, not simply a meeting with the institution of the Church,” Weigel said. “I think this will be something the Church continues to learn from in the decades and centuries ahead.”

THE CATECHISM: A GIFT TO ALL CATHOLICS

Pope Benedict XVI’s contribution, first as a cardinal and later as pope, to the Catechism of the Catholic Church is widely viewed as one of the most important magisterial acts since the 1962 to 1965 Second Vatican Council. Arranged in four main parts, the catechism sought to clarify and re-propose the Church’s doctrine in accord with the teachings of the Second Vatican Council.

As CDF prefect, Cardinal Ratzinger chaired the drafting commission, which spent six years compiling the catechism at Pope John Paul II’s request. He later described its publication in October 1992, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the opening of Vatican II, as “a miracle.”

As pontiff, Benedict XVI went on to approve a new Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in June 2005 (published in English a year later), which condensed the catechism’s contents in a more concise and accessible form around key questions. It was followed by a youth edition, known as YouCat, in 2011.

The aim, Benedict explained at the time, was to provide a deeper understanding of the Church and a

“new impulse for evangelization.” He desired an “authoritative, reliable and complete text on the essential aspects of the Church’s faith,” which also contained “only the essential, fundamental elements of Catholic faith and morals, simply expressed.”

“The Catechism itself should be seen as the final act of Vatican II reforms,” Father Roberto Regoli, professor of Church history at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University, told OSV News. “And the role of Benedict XVI was central to this, in coordinating and defining the Catholic Church’s faith and pastoral doctrine for new times.”

BENEDICT AND A ‘CHURCH FOR ALL’

In an effort to revitalize the Catholic

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For the latest coverage of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s funeral and papal legacy, visit WWW.

ARCHGH.ORG/BXVI. Find special videos and photo slideshows of the late pope’s life and journeys.

Church, particularly in Europe, Pope Benedict XVI issued guidelines in July 2007 allowing a wider use of the 1962 Roman Missal. His apostolic letter “Summorum Pontificum” was widely seen as a bid to heal wounds with traditionalist Catholics who often weren’t allowed to practice this form of worship in their local churches. As a result, some turned to the Priestly Society of St. Pius X, a traditionalist religious order in irregular communion with Rome after its founder, the late French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, ordained four of his priests bishops without permission resulting in his excommunication.

The pope said his initiative drew from earlier work by John Paul II, who had allowed diocesan bishops the ability to permit the celebration of the older form of the Latin Mass, and which was intended as a gesture to those “attached with such love and affection to earlier liturgical forms which deeply shaped their culture and spirit.”

The motu proprio, however, was opposed by some Catholics who described it as a rollback of Vatican II reforms.

In November 2009, Benedict also made pastoral provisions for Anglicans who had requested to join the Catholic Church but who desired to keep their Anglican heritage. His apostolic constitution,

Pope Benedict XVI walks with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople after a prayer service in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican Oct. 18, 2008.

Past supreme knight of Knights of Peter Claver dies

The

He

His

†

“Anglicanorum Coetibus,” offended some Anglican leaders. However, it also came at a time when many Anglicans, including those requesting full communion with the Catholic Church, saw Anglicanism permit unilateral ordination of women and increasingly adopt positions at odds with traditional Christian morality, making ecumenical relations more difficult.

Today, the Catholic Church has three ordinariates for these Catholics of the Anglican tradition — one for the United Kingdom, one for North America, and a third for Australia and Pacific Rim countries.

Benedict XVI also had a special affection for African Catholics.

In the fast-growing African church, which had tripled in recent decades to around 146 million members, Benedict took steps to address crises stemming from worsening poverty, AIDS, religious fundamentalism, as well as from what he described in an October 2009 message as the “toxic spiritual garbage” of Western materialism.

In November 2011, in the apostolic exhortation “Africae Munus,” Benedict reflected on themes and issues discussed during a Synod of Bishops two years before. He offered African Catholics “guidelines for mission” in becoming “apostles of reconciliation, justice and peace.” The exhortation was issued during a papal visit to Benin, Benedict’s second to Africa after a pilgrimage to Cameroon and Angola in 2009.

THE POPE THAT SHOWED THE WORLD HOW TO STEP DOWN WITH DIGNITY

There have not been many popes in history that have stepped down from office — indeed Benedict XVI decided on

IN MEMORIA

something that seemed unthinkable in the modern papacy.

Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 to resolve the Great Western Schism after serving as pope for nearly nine years, was the last one to step down before Benedict XVI.

“I think (Pope Benedict’s resignation) was an honest decision by an honest man who really believed that he had reached the end of his physical and perhaps intellectual capacity to give the Church the leadership it needed,” Weigel told OSV News. “I think it was also an act of quite striking humility.”

The decision was shocking both outside and inside the Vatican.

Today, almost a decade after Benedict’s resignation, abdication from the papacy is seen as something the Church can expect. Pope Francis himself admitted in a recent interview for Spanish ABC magazine that he had prepared a resignation letter in the event of health problems.

It was Benedict XVI that showed the way of this “first” in the modern history of the papacy, offering a lesson in humility and giving an example of what it means to be a pope emeritus.

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI also brings us back to where we started in this discussion of the pontiff’s global legacy — his Second Vatican Council heritage. Before the council, it was not the norm for bishops to retire.

After the council, it became common — though not with the papacy. With his resignation as Bishop of Rome, Benedict built upon Vatican II’s understanding that episcopal leaders could, and perhaps should, relinquish their role in governance — setting a precedent for how future pontificates can approach their time in office. Now, upon his death, many are already calling Benedict XVI “the great.” †

Texas celebrations join special Masses around the world in praying for Pope

Benedict XVI

SAN ANTONIO — Though unable to

in

the papal

XVI at the Vatican, Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell’Oro, CRS, while on a spiritual retreat in San Antonio, joined nearly 20 other bishops in concelebrating a Memorial Mass at San Fernando Cathedral in downtown San Antonio on Jan. 4.

Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, MSpS, of the Archdiocese of San Antonio was the presider at the special memorial Mass, with concelebrants comprised of the bishops of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, who were in San Antonio for their annual retreat.

At a Jan. 1 Mass at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston, Cardinal DiNardo encouraged other Catholic communities in Texas to hold special Masses and prayer services to pray for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

The Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart held a Requiem Mass on Jan. 4 for the late pope, joining a host of other cathedrals around the world in praying for him. †

HOUSTON — The Knights of Peter Claver announced the death of Sir Knight Gene Anthony Phillips Sr., Past Supreme Knight of the Knights of Peter Claver, Inc.

15th supreme knight died Dec. 10, 2022. He was 80 years old.

was initiated as a Charter Member of St. Francis of Assisi Council No. 231 in 1982, and the Knights of Peter Claver Inc. Service Award named in his honor.

funeral was held Dec. 21 at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, where he attended with his wife, Elsa. Interment is in Houston National Cemetery.

CNS PHOTO

Pope Benedict XVI reaches out to people after celebrating Mass at Nationals Park in Washington April, 17, 2008. Pope Benedict XVI visited North America twice, visiting Mexico and Cuba in 2012, and the U.S. in 2008.

join Daniel Cardinal DiNardo

attending

events for the late Pope Emeritus Benedict

PHOTO BY VERONICA MARKLAND/TODAY’S CATHOLIC OF SAN ANTONIO Galveston-Houston Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell’Oro, CRS, third from left, concelebrates Mass at San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio, while San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, MSpS, speaks during the special Jan. 4 Memorial Mass for Pope Benedict XVI.

Catholic School in Galena Park among leading fundraisers for Steps

BY JO ANN ZUÑIGA Texas Catholic Herald

HOUSTON — Raising more than $20,000 for its school last year, Our Lady of Fatima Catholic school in Galena Park is again in the running to be among the top fundraisers for Steps for Students 5K run/walk set for Feb. 11.

Principal Miguel Sanchez of Our Lady of Fatima School in the Port of Houston/ Ship Channel area credits the support of their church pastor, Father Justin Cormie, in raising participation of parishioners as well as school families.

“For any of our events to produce fruit, we need the pastors’ support 100%. Father Justin transmits his energy to the scholars, making them want to participate. He is now challenging them to raise individual funds for Steps,” Sanchez said.

Father Cormie is upping his game as well, raising individually $6,450 so far. The Fatima School Team has raised $7,560 — placing it among the top four schools. But the usual frontrunner, Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic (OLG) School Principal Irazema Ortiz, has raised $10,830 with her OLG school on Navigation raising $23,189.

Father Cormie said, “Seeds of hope are especially nourished by the prayers and sacrifices of our community. The financial aid our school receives from Steps for Students is also a vital aspect of that nourishment, which provides for the basic needs of our faculty and students. We are grateful to our community as well as our brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the Archdiocese who have donated to our school!”

Steps for Students ranks as the Archdiocese’s largest annual event to support and raise awareness for Catholic education, said Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, who usually blesses the crowd before the start of the race. Held at the starting line downtown by the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, the event has drawn up to 10,000 supporters. Last year, many of the 54 Catholic schools and several sponsors raised more than $900,000, bouncing back after a couple of years of the pandemic that nixed big-crowd events, with a 5,000-person crowd in 2022. The funds are used for upgrading

school infrastructures, academic enrichment programs, computers, field trips, tuition assistance and other needs. This year, Steps for Students committee co-chairs Roman and Diana Dávila Martinez are aiming to hit the $1 million mark as they did before the pandemic.

“We are consistently impressed by the creativity of our pastors. Principals and team captains as they motivate their communities and raise funds to support the school’s Steps for Students’ efforts,” said Dr. Debra Haney, secretariat director and superintendent of Catholic schools.

Our Lady of Fatima has been going full steam with different activities to support Steps, including a spaghetti dinner with a silent auction and inviting all students who register to attend a glow-in-the-dark party, Principal Sanchez said.

“We also hosted an event called ‘A Walk through Bethlehem’where we transformed our gymnasium as Bethlehem to share the

message of Christmas to the community. We sold food, took pictures with St. Nicholas, and other fun ways to raise funds for Steps,” he said.

Principal Sanchez also partnered with the Knights of Columbus from St. Philip of Jesus Catholic Church in the surrounding neighborhood for them to sponsor breakfast sales to raise money for the school.

“Towards the end of the fundraising, we will have our own prerace/walk called Fatima Feast on Fitness hosted for the community of Galena Park to bring awareness of our school and continue our fundraising efforts,” he said.

Each year, the school selects a theme, and the 2023 theme is “Out of this World,” with Our Lady of Fatima students seeing artwork of planets, stars, a rockets ship and astronaut, “along with the scholars’

WANT TO GO?

STEPS FOR STUDENTS

WHEN: 7 a.m., Feb. 11

WHERE: Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart 1111 St. Joseph Pkwy. Houston

COST: 5K Timed - $20

5K Untimed - $18 Family Fun Run - $17 Snooze - $20

Rates increase after Jan. 31

REGISTER: www.steps4students.org

names on a wall in the gym to get them motivated,” Sanchez said.

The 18th Annual Steps for Students is a 5K USA Track & Field Associationsanctioned race/walk benefiting Catholic schools of the Archdiocese.

Steps for Students will be held Feb. 11 in downtown Houston with the starting line by the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. A Mass will be celebrated there at 7 a.m., and the race kicks off at 8 a.m.

For more information, to register or sponsor, visit www.steps4students.org. Registering now is the best deal, with only a $20 fee as the highest to register versus rising to $30 after Jan. 31. †

PHOTO COURTESY OF SCHOOL PRINCIPAL MIGUEL SANCHEZ

Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School in Galena Park hosted a “Walk Through Bethlehem” transforming their gym with tents, veils and decorations to share the message of Christmas and to raise funds for Steps for Students 5K Run/Walk. One of the tents shows Bethlehem, which means House of Bread, with an assortment of baked goods.

EDUCATION

Non-Discrimination Policy for Catholic Schools Catholic Schools Office of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston

Government requirements fulfilling Non-Discriminatory Compliance are published annually in January in the TEXAS CATHOLIC HERALD. This notice suffices for schools whose student population is at least 75% Catholic during the preceding three years. Schools that do not meet the three year, 75% test have to advertise in media (print or broadcast) of general circulation.

The Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston admits students of any race to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to the student body. The school does not discriminate on the basis of race, color and national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs and athletic and other school administered programs. (POLICY: 652.1)

POLICY

— ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

HARRIS COUNTY – Houston

Assumption Catholic School

Christ the Redeemer School

Corpus Christi School

Duchesne Academy

Epiphany of the Lord School

Holy Ghost School

Our Lady of Guadalupe School

The Regis School

Resurrection School

St. Ambrose School

St. Anne School

St. Augustine School

St. Catherine’s Montessori School

St. Cecilia School

St. Christopher School St. Clare of Assisi School

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School

St. Francis de Sales School

St. Jerome School

St. John Paul II Catholic School

St. Mary of the Purification School

St. Michael School

St. Rose of Lima School

St. Theresa School

St. Thomas More School

St. Vincent de Paul School

HARRIS COUNTY – Outside of Houston

St. Joseph School, Baytown

Sacred Heart School, Crosby Our Lady of Fatima School, Galena Park

HARRIS COUNTY

St. Mary Magdalene School, Humble St. Martha School, Kingwood St. Edward School, Spring St. Anne School, Tomball

BRAZORIA COUNTY

St. Helen School, Pearland

Our Lady Queen of Peace School, Richwood

FORT BEND COUNTY

Epiphany of the Lord School, Katy Holy Rosary School, Rosenberg St. Laurence School, Sugar Land St. Theresa School, Sugar Land

GALVESTON COUNTY

True Cross School, Dickinson Holy Family School, Galveston Our Lady of Lourdes School, Hitchcock St. Mary School, League City Our Lady of Fatima School, Texas City

GRIMES COUNTY

School of Environmental Education, Plantersville

MONTGOMERY COUNTY

Sacred Heart School, Conroe St. Anthony of Padua School, The Woodlands

— SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Cristo Rey Jesuit College Preparatory of Houston

Duchesne Academy

Frassati Catholic High School

Incarnate Word Academy St. Agnes Academy

St. Catherine’s Montessori School

St. John XXIII College Preparatory

St. Peter Catholic - A Career & Technical High School St. Pius X High School St. Thomas High School

Strake Jesuit College Preparatory

GALVESTON COUNTY

O’Connell College Preparatory School, Galveston

PASTORAL SUPPORT FOR VICTIMS OF CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE

In a continuing effort to provide pastoral care to victims of sexual abuse by clergy or Church personnel, Daniel Cardinal DiNardo would like to remind the faithful of the Archdiocese of the availability of the Victims Assistance Coordinator. Anyone who has been the victim of sexual abuse by clergy or Church personnel is encouraged to call Diane Vines at 713-654-5799. Please keep in daily prayers the healing of victims of abuse and all who suffer in any way.

Poetry contest helps middle school students find their spirit

BY JO ANN ZUÑIGA Texas Catholic Herald

HOUSTON — Middle school students in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston Catholic schools and those being homeschooled are eligible to win $500 plus free tuition to a summer writing workshop.

The Catholic Literary Arts (CLA) is inspiring students to write about religious topics and better their writing skills by hosting a poetry contest for sixth, seventh and eighth graders. This year’s theme is a poem related to one or more of the Luminous Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary.

Sarah Cortez, a published author who is the founder and president of Catholic Literary Arts, said the theme would include Jesus’s Baptism in the Jordan, the Wedding at Cana, the Proclamation of the Kingdom, the Transfiguration and/ or the Institution of the Eucharist.

“This is the only poetry contest of its kind open to students from Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston Catholic schools and Catholic home school communities to develop skills in writing for the glory of God,” Cortez said.

The contest opened for submissions January 1 and will be accepting poems through March 15. Winners will be announced on the contest portal at www. CatholicLiteraryArts.org on March 31. There will be two separate award ceremonies for the Archdiocesan School contest, on April 19, at the University of St. Thomas Jones Auditorium and on April 26 for the homeschooled students also at UST.

Cortez said the Scanlan Foundation is partly underwriting the program, but additional donations and sponsors are still needed. The tax-deductible donations will help provide a cash prize of tuition assistance to the poet laureate and top winners in each grade level.

There have been hundreds of submissions annually in past years. This year, nine winners from Archdiocesan Catholic middle schools will be chosen — three from each of the grades to win first, second and third prizes. And another nine will be chosen from the Catholic home school communities or an independent Catholic school. All 18 will have their poetry published by CLA in an anthology.

Those 18 will also receive medals

as well as paid tuition to participate in Fearless Catholic Writing Camp held each June at the University of St. Thomas. From the first-prize winners in each grade, a poet laureate will be selected by Cortez.

“A committee chooses the first, second and third prize winners in each grade by blind-judging the poetry submitted. No identifying information of names or schools is visible to the judges, and the sole criterion is quality,” Cortez said.

Larry W. Massey Jr., president of the Scanlan Foundation, said, “Our mission is to help Catholic Literary Arts lift up our youth to experience the beauty of poetry.” He added, “By building and supporting this effort, we will enable our children to better develop their minds towards the beauty in our world.”

The top winners from last year included Maria Jesko from St. Theresa Catholic School in Sugar Land, the firstplace winner of eighth grade.

The 14-year-old wrote the poem “Willing Forgiveness” that states in part: “Thus, Satan tries to quench the hopeful light.

How after death, could Christ forgive us all?

But Mary turns to us, her sweet eyes bright.

‘Come, follow my dear Son!’ her loving call.”

Homeschooled student Mariam Henderson, 14, won for her poem “The Spiritual Works of Mercy.”

Henderson, one of nine siblings in her family, said, “It was awesome. I never submitted my writing before to anyone else. My mother would check my writing. So, with the positive feedback from Catholic Literary Arts, I was able to later join the Teen Writing Mentorship program” in the fall of 2022.

Even though the family has since moved to Louisiana, she is still able to participate in the mentorship program via online.

Debra Haney, Catholic Schools Superintendent, said, “This is an amazing collaboration for our schools and the University of St. Thomas, along with support from the Scanlan Foundation and Catholic Literary Arts. It serves as a witness to see our students produce such beautiful work.”

For more information, www. catholicliteraryarts.org or email cathla. org@gmail.com. †

How to submit events for Around the Archdiocese

E-mail the event details (see below) to tch@archgh.org for possible inclusion in Around the Archdiocese. There is no charge for listings but space is limited

Visit www.archgh.org/ata to learn more.

Around the Archdiocese

• Include the name of your event along with date, time, location (with full address) and a brief description of your event

• If the event is for charity, include the benefiting group or organization; Include the cost

THIS

APPLIES TO ALL CATHOLIC SCHOOLS IN THE ARCHDIOCESE OF GALVESTON-HOUSTON

YOUTH

Beyond COVID: Teens living their faith in the world

The New Year always starts out with hope and new goals for the year: lose weight/eat healthy, save money, make time for family and hobbies, etc. And yet, by now, I have already broken or postponed many of those resolutions, but one resolution I continue to maintain each year is to make sure I make time for God.

Whether it’s in individual prayer, family/community prayer, Sacrament or reading Scripture, my faith commitment is strong, although it’s always in need of improvement.

As a parent, I believe it’s extremely important that we help our children also grow in their faith beyond family time or Sacramental commitments at the parish. Our young people need to be engaged in living out their faith in the broader community with other teens. I know that’s easier said than done, especially in this post-pandemic world.

Today’s teens, especially younger adolescents (12 to 14), have lived through the pandemic with many of their social skills underdeveloped. Out of necessity, they needed to rely primarily on online social platforms, educational platforms, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to interact with friends, family and even school. In fact, Gen Y makes way for a new generation known as Alpha (those born after 2010).

These youth are now younger adolescents. Due to the unanticipated immersion into technology, they are the most advanced tech-savvy/social media/

AI-using generation in existence. As a result, they lack in-person socialization skills, which also makes them reluctant to participate in social settings outside of technology.

year a new theme is selected that focuses on issues that affect junior high youth.

The 2023 Archdiocesan Junior High Rally is set for Feb. 18 from 10:30 a.m. until 9 p.m. at Sts. Simon & Jude Catholic Church in The Woodlands.

passion, humor, creativity, and stories to communicate the good news in a way that connects with teens, young adults, and adults

OACE also offers additional programs to help younger adolescents grow personally and as young leaders.

by RANDY ADAMS

It is our goal to help young people experience the importance of community as a Church so that they can grow to be disciples of Christ and apply their faith in their daily lives and social settings.

The Office of Adolescent Catechesis and Evangelization (OACE) is committed to helping parents, pastors, and youth leaders achieve this goal by offering programs where youth interact within the community and the larger church community.

The largest of these programs is the annual Archdiocesan Junior High Youth Rally. The rally is an annual day for younger adolescents (grades sixth to eighth) to gather in community to pray, share, learn and celebrate their Catholic faith with the larger Archdiocesan family. This is a high-energy one-day event that provides younger adolescents from throughout the archdiocese exposure to top keynote presenters, workshops, hands-on activities and Liturgy, which builds their own sense of Catholic community, evangelization and deeper relationship with Christ. Each

This year’s theme is Christ: Yesterday, Today and Forever, based on Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”Today’s youth are bombarded with social media, giving it an outsized influence over what they believe should be today’s reality, and often God’s plan is left out.

Despite science, technology and the geo/social/cultural landscape, Christ does not change His plan or His love for us. The rally will help our youth discern how we can use His love to create our “kingdomverse” instead of the metaverse. We will explore examples of the saints through the ages, along with Scripture and the Sacraments, that help shape our “kingdomverse.” We will break open our theme through engaging talks, service experiences, interactive workshops, challenging community building, powerful prayer experiences and the celebration of the Mass.

This year we are very excited to have Alex Gotay as our main speaker. Alex is a dynamic speaker who uses his unique perspective and combines it with his

The Quest is A one-day leadership program designed for youth in grades sixth to eighth. The program introduces youth to the Servant Leadership model, which provides them with the building blocks needed for peer ministry. It will be held Mar. 25 at St. Dominic Archdiocesan Center, located at 2403 Holcombe in Houston.

Peacemakers is a one-day workshop for youth in grades sixth to eighth to explore issues that impact junior high youth and then formulate a Catholic response to all these issues as children of God. It will be held on Jun. 24 at St. Dominic Archdiocesan Center, located at 2403 Holcombe in Houston.

For more information about programs, contact your parish youth leaders or Randy Adams at OACE, Radams@archgh.org. †

Randy Adams is the executive director at Camp Kappe Youth Retreat Facility and associate director in the Office of Adolescent Catechesis and Evangelization.

COLUMNISTS

Being Pro-Life in a Post-Roe world: Skip the victory parade, it’s time to get to work

On Jan. 22, American Catholics will once again observe the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of the Unborn. On this day, our bishops ask us to commemorate the passage of the tragic Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in our country by engaging in acts of prayer and fasting.

But this year will be very different from previous years. With the overturn of Roe v. Wade, many in the pro-life movement feel that the battle to protect the unborn is finished — and we won. After years of setbacks and disappointments, it is certainly tempting to see this year’s March for Life as a victory parade.

At the risk of raining on the parade, I would like to take a moment to consider our new, post-Roe reality.

For nearly 50 years in this country, legalized abortion was sold as a

panacea for problems we did not have the will to address. For poor women and women of color with limited access to medical services, abortion was “health care.” For families facing the emotional and financial challenges of a prenatal diagnosis, abortion was a “compassionate choice.” For young women who felt pressured to choose between having a child or having a career, abortion was “freedom.”

Abortion was the lid we placed on an unholy Pandora’s box of health care disparity, employment discrimination, and anti-family work culture. Now that

the lid is lifted, we are confronted, as never before, by women who are struggling to give birth to their babies in these challenging circumstances. How will we respond?

In his statement following the overturning of Roe V. Wade, Chair of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities Archbishop William E. Lori writes:

“In a post-Roe world, Catholics... must move beyond a paradigm shift in the law in order to help the people of our nation better see who we can be as a nation by truly understanding what we owe to one another as members of the same human family. To build a world in which all are welcome, we must heed the words of St. Teresa of Calcutta and remember ‘that we belong to one another.’”

Building a “world in which all are welcome” requires dedicated

commitment to the vulnerable among us — born and unborn — who most need our help. What kind of world do we want to welcome these children into? How can we dismantle obstacles that prevent them from thriving? How can we promote a true culture of life, one which values parenting and family?

These are the pressing pro-life issues that must be addressed in our post-Roe reality.

Certainly, there is a time and place for marches — maybe even the occasional parade. But let us not forget that real work is not marching; it is in walking alongside our sisters and brothers in need. †

Amy Auzenne, MSW, MACE, is the director of the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis.

Moving forward with grace and gratitude

The holidays demonstrate a tricky time of year teeming with hope, devotion, reflection and togetherness. Considering the last few holidays, this season was the first opportunity for us to be together again. Time moved quickly, and planning became my sole focus. While beautiful, time moves fast, and there is so much to do, planning for Thanksgiving meals, Christmas gatherings, or New Year’s guest accommodations. Beyond the excitement of the season, some experience sorrow or struggle. We notice those missing from the celebrations, distant and departed loved ones.

Some may experience financial or work obligations restricting the routine

bonds of family and friends. We must also acknowledge the impact and tremendous mental health strains realized during the pandemic. Yet we still joyfully gather. Eventually, during the yuletide joy, the harm of sin becomes prevalent, distracting us from the splendor of the season.

The more time we spend with one another, the more we see the cracks and bruises life imprints on each of us. We see the harm sin has placed on all of us. We lose patience,

begin judging, and place fault on those imperfections.

In judging others, we expose and realize the tarnishes of sin on ourselves. Reflecting on this time leads my thoughts to “ugly” Christmas sweaters. We usually refer to them as “ugly” because they are brash, obvious, dreadful or imperfect. Others can be considered comical, jubilant, imaginative, humorous, or even silly. Distinctly, they are unique, just like people. What if we looked at one another like those sweaters? What if we intentionally and purposely treated others as we treated ourselves? By seeing the person with love and embracing their sweater blemishes, we participate in the fulfillment of Jesus’s birth, teachings and mission. We remember to walk in the footsteps of Christ and choose humility, patience, kindness and forgiveness. Doing so provides us, and those we encounter, with the graces of hope and visions of new days ahead.

An angel in the Gospel of Luke tells

us, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David, a Savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.” Some may say, “Jesus is the reason for the season.”

Nonetheless, we remember the importance of His birth, we meet the season and one another with hope and gratitude. We never forget that God is working with us and through us. Being more like Christ and treating others as ourselves gives others permission to take their place in the body of Christ. In doing so, the same appreciation and optimism from the holidays carries over throughout the year to all those we serve and in all that we do. As such, another grace manifests, the infinite opportunities to know, love, and serve Him. †

JANUARY 15

JANUARY 22

First Reading: Is 49:3, 5-6

First Reading: Is 8:23--9:3

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 40:2, 4, 7-10

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 27:1, 4, 13-14

Second Reading: 1 Cor 1:10-13, 17 Gospel: Mt 4:12-23 or Mt 4:12-17

Franchelle Lee is the director of Special Youth Services.

Celebrating MLK’s life continues fight for racial justice

On Nov. 22, 2022, the Holy Father, Pope Francis, spoke to a group of American journalists regarding the various issues that are in the forefront of American society. In addressing the issues of racism in the United States, the Holy Father gave words of encouragement specifically to the Black Catholics of America that we should “resist and not walk away.”

In February 2021, the Pew Research Center published the most comprehensive survey to date of Black faith in America. One of the most striking finds that came out of this Pew research report is: “More than threefourths of Black Catholics say that a commitment to racial justice is an essential or important dimension of their faith.” Moreover, this is why the Church commemorates and celebrates the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The Church uses this time of commemoration to

rededicate itself to the fight for racial justice.

Catholics all over the nation and world have been fighting for racial justice and calling for an end to racism. Furthermore, the cry for racial justice is being declared by the Catholic leaders of the Church as well.

Pope Francis said of the events in the United States over the last few years: “We cannot close our eyes to any form of racism or exclusion while pretending to defend the sacredness of every human life.”

Daniel Cardinal DiNardo in June of 2020 issued a statement regarding racism in our Church, community and country: “Plainly stated, for it is plain to see, we in America have a plank in our eye with regard to racism. This is a tough but necessary reality to confront, because we cannot address a problem until we acknowledge it. This includes us

as members of the Catholic Church.”

In 2018 the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a pastoral letter called: ‘Open Wide Our Hearts,’ which condemns racism and vows to use the Church to combat it.

In the pastoral letter, the bishops wrote: There have been many times when the Church has failed to live as Christ taught — to love our brothers and sisters. Acts of racism have been committed by leaders and members of the Catholic Church — by bishops, clergy, religious and laity — and her institutions. Consequently, we all need to take responsibility for correcting the

injustices of racism and healing the harms it has caused.

As we go about to commemorate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the month of January, The Catholic Church acknowledges its role in fighting for racial justice. We all can look to the life of this American leader and follow the dream in which this American religious leader taught us all to do.

In concluding his address in 2023, Pope Francis stated, “Racism is an intolerable sin against God. The Church, the pastors and lay people must continue fighting to eradicate it and for a more just world.” †

Surrendering in the midst of transition

There is a sculpture by Timothy P. Schmalz called “A Quiet Moment” that my students introduced me to several years ago. It is an invitation into the heart of the Holy Family, into the embrace of St. Joseph, who holds our Blessed Mother, holding Jesus. The simplicity of the Holy Family in the quiet moment of an embrace has richly blessed my prayer life in intimacy and being truly home.

This past Advent, I shared this image with our RCIA class at the University of Houston Catholic Newman Center. The responses of the young adults were so rich. The image invited them into deeper intimacy in their relationship to the Holy Family. Even though they knew the story of the Holy Family well, they realized that there is always more to grasp. It was exciting and refreshing to see them being inspired and touched in a new way.

When I moved back to Houston in 2016, I joined the Charis Retreat Team, where we planned the annual young adult retreat that focuses on transitions. It became apparent and so clear that transitions are an everyday part of our pilgrim journey home. We are in constant transition, whether we realize it

by SALISHA MILLER

or not. Transitions are always challenging, but they provide an opportunity to abandon and surrender ourselves as a disciple of Jesus Christ. It is a disposition of the heart that let’s go to allow God to work in our lives.

This past August, I transitioned to a new job as campus minister at the University of Houston Catholic Newman Center. I was leaving the “home” of the students and families I served for many years at St. Martha in Kingwood and transitioning into a new community. Keeping my gaze on Christ and my home in the heart of the Holy Family, I trusted that the Lord was leading the way. On my first day at the Newman Center, I noticed a sign on the wall that welcomed all to their home away from home. Next to this was a handmade sign, beautifully calligraphed, with my name on it, welcoming me home. I was touched deeply by these loving gestures of welcome and invitation by name. The

Lord was loving me through these young adults, welcoming me home, and telling me I belong. I felt like I was at the heart of the Holy Family statue.

And so, I open the invitation to you in this new year to allow God to speak fresh to your heart. He may speak through a piece of art, a Scripture you know so well, or a sign on a wall welcoming you home. In this New Year, I hope all of us find new ways to be God’s instrument to draw people home to His

Father Reginald Samuels is the vicar for Catholics of African Descent and pastor at St. Hyacinth Catholic Church in Deer Park.

Love, His Heart, the Heart of the Holy Family, our Family, and our Church. †

Salisha Miller is as campus minister at the Catholic Newman Center at the University of Houston.

by FATHER REGINALD SAMUELS

Principal Celebrant: Cardinal Daniel DiNardo Archbishop of Galveston-Houston Reception to Follow at

A ‘genuine friend of the Jewish people’: JewishCatholic dialogue leaders remember Benedict

VATICAN CITY (OSV News) — Pope Benedict XVI is being remembered for his lifelong role in deepening JewishCatholic relations, bringing to life the dialogue called for by the Second Vatican Council, according to many leaders within the Jewish community who spoke with OSV News in recent days.

The late pope emeritus, who died Dec. 31 at age 95, was “a genuine friend of the Jewish people,” one who saw the Christian-Jewish relationship “in unique theological terms,” said Rabbi David Rosen, international director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee (AJC) in an email to OSV News.

Rabbi Burton Visotzky, director of the Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue at the New York-based Jewish Theological Seminary, said, “Benedict held a special place in his heart for Jews and Judaism, whom he referred to as Catholics’‘fathers in faith.’”

Rabbi Noam Marans, AJC’s director of interreligious and intergroup relations, told OSV News Pope Benedict “helped to shape the theology of the Church with regard to the Jewish people.”

While Pope St. John Paul II “is often understood as the pope who most propelled Catholic-Jewish relations,” Marans said that Pope Benedict ensured that sustained engagement between the Catholic Church and the Jewish community became “what popes do” as a matter of course.

Philip Cunningham, professor of theology and co-director of the Institute for Jewish-Catholic Relations at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia,

said that Pope Benedict “literally followed in the footsteps of John Paul II by also undertaking a pilgrimage to Israel and praying at the Western Wall (in Jerusalem),” adding that “he was welcomed at synagogues in Rome, Cologne and New York.”

Cunningham said the late pope was “visibly moved during his visit to the Auschwitz death camp” in May 2006, asking “startling questions for a pontiff” in his address, such as “where was God in those days? Why was God silent? How could God permit this endless slaughter, this triumph of evil?”

Having grown up under the Nazi regime — which had compelled him to join both the Hitler Youth and the Nazi military, the latter of which he deserted in 1945 — the young Joseph Ratzinger

“understood the horrors of Nazism,” said John Cappucci, principal and vice chancellor of Assumption University in Windsor, Ontario, where he also holds the Stephen Jarislowsky Chair in Religion and Conflict. “Throughout his ministry, from priest to pope, (Benedict XVI) condemned Nazism.”

As head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then-Cardinal Ratzinger “helped clear the way for John Paul II” in the implementation of “Nostra Aetate,” the Second Vatican Council’s landmark document on the relationship between the Church and other religions, said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean and director of global social action for the internationally based Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Speaking to OSV News by telephone

from Israel, Rabbi Cooper — who also serves as vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom — described Pope Benedict as a kind of “theological shortstop for John Paul II,” one whose “quiet influence in the background was quite evident.”

“In many ways, (Pope Benedict) was one of the architects of the principles that shaped ‘Nostra Aetate’ at Vatican II,” said Arthur Urbano, professor of theology and chair of the Jewish-Catholic Theological Exchange Committee at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island.

At the same time, the Germanborn pope occasionally faltered in his relationship with the Jewish community, arousing criticism and concern. When he relaxed restrictions on the use of the 1962 Roman Missal, the older form of the Roman rite Mass, with his 2007 document “Summorum Pontificum,” controversy ensued over that rite’s Good Friday intercession for the Jews, which prior to Vatican II had called for their conversion without reference to their ongoing covenant with God. Pope Benedict composed a new prayer in response, “but many on both sides of the dialogue” still found it “did not reflect the new state of Jewish-Catholic relations,” said Urbano.

At the same time, Pope Benedict’s lifetime history of dialogue with the Jewish community — in person and in print — attested to what many saw as a “genuine engagement with the Jewish people,” said Edward Kessler, professor and founder of the Woolf Institute at Cambridge University, which promotes dialogue among the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths. †

CNS PHOTO

Pope Benedict XVI visits the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in the Old City of Jerusalem May 12, 2009. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, the rabbi of the Western Wall, is pictured third from left. The pope left a written prayer for peace in a crevice of the wall.

STATE & NATION

Priest weathers Christmas blizzard on fireboat celebrating Mass for two

BUFFALO, New York (CNS) — Father Paul Seil experienced a Christmas unlike any other in his 67 years of life in Buffalo, New York.

In the midst of the multiday blizzard that paralyzed parts of western NewYork, Father Seil, chaplain for the Buffalo Fire Department, had to evacuate the rectory at his parish in the city’s Old First Ward neighborhood on Christmas Eve, then spent the night aboard the department’s fire boat and celebrated a short Mass Christmas morning for crewman Jack Kelleher.

Finally, the afternoon of Christmas Day, Father Seil made it to the rectory at St. Joseph Cathedral — courtesy of Kelleher — where he has been “holed up” since.

“This is the worst storm I’ve ever seen,” Father Seil, a native of Buffalo, told Catholic News Service (CNS) on Dec. 27, 2022.

The blizzard and subzero temperatures prompted Buffalo Bishop Michael W. Fisher to urge Catholics living in the worst affected communities to avoid venturing to their parish for Christmas Mass and to take advantage of livestreamed liturgies instead.

“Do not attempt to attend Masses in person,” Bishop Fisher warned on Dec. 24, 2022.

As of Dec. 29, 2022, at least 37 people in Erie County, NewYork, had died during the storm, according to local officials. Over the course of four days, the storm dumped 4 feet of snow in Buffalo and surrounding communities.

At least 25 others across 11 U.S. states died because of the storm, which affected tens of millions of Americans and Canadians beginning Dec. 21, 2022, and lasted for five days.

Father Seil’s Christmas adventure began after the electricity went out on the evening of Dec. 23, 2022, in much of the neighborhood around Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, which has served the community for 125 years.

He said he went to sleep that night bundled in warm clothing and woke up the next morning to a “pretty cold room.”

Relocating to the kitchen, Father Seil

periodically used the stove for a little heat, making sure the carbon monoxide detector he had worked. That situation lasted just a few hours.

“I heard a sound of rushing water. The pipes broke evidently, and water came pouring down through the kitchen ceiling and extinguished the stove,” he said.

“With water coming in and no heat, it was getting a little desperate. I was scared. I was a little afraid of what the future might bring,” he said.

Soon, Father Seil put out a call for help on the fire radio he carries as fire department chaplain, a ministry he began in 2018. But the department couldn’t respond. Fire trucks and emergency vehicles answering emergency calls were getting stuck in snowdrifts up to 6 feet high.

“There was nothing for me to do,” Father Seil said.

That’s when Kelleher responded with an offer to help.

The marine engineer aboard the fireboat, named the Edward M. Cotter, said he could try to make it the mile from the boat’s mooring along the Buffalo River to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

Five blocks from the church, tall drifts blocked Kelleher’s SUV. He radioed Father Seil asking if he could trudge to him instead.

Quickly packing a few overnight necessities and Communion wafers and dressing in his fire turnout gear, Father Seil tried walking through the deep snow and gale-force winds. He quickly realized, however, that the storm’s intensity was too much.

That’s when a couple of neighborhood residents who were checking on people in their homes offered to help, followed by a man in a snowmobile who had made his way from an outlying area to evacuate people to safety. Father Seil called him a godsend, a Christmas gift.

“I got on the back, strapped in my bags. In a few moments, we were at Kelleher’s Chevy Blazer,” Father Seil said.

The fireboat was operating on a generator, which provided heat and electricity. “It was nice. It was warm,” Father Seil said.

IN BRIEF

Catholic activists renew calls to abolish capital punishment

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — After a report dubbed 2022 “the year of the botched execution,” Catholic activists renewed their calls for an end to capital punishment in the U.S. at both the state and federal levels.

Despite declining public support for the practice, and a campaign promise from President Joe Biden, a Catholic and a Democrat, to repeal the federal death penalty, a bill to do so gained little traction last Congress, when Democrats still controlled both chambers.

In his 2020 encyclical “Fratelli tutti,” Pope Francis cited Pope St. John Paul II, whom he said “stated clearly and firmly [in the encyclical “Evangelium vitae”] that the death penalty is inadequate from a moral standpoint and no longer necessary from that of penal justice.”

In a Dec. 16 report, the Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington-based nonprofit that studies capital punishment, found that 7 out of 20 executions that took place last year, or 35%, were “visibly problematic” due to “executioner incompetence, failures to follow protocol, or defects in the protocols themselves.” †

CNS PHOTO/INSTAGRAM OF JASON MURAWSKI JR. VIA REUTERS

A snowplow clears the snow in Buffalo, N.Y., Dec. 25, 2022, following a deadly winter storm that struck the region, in this picture obtained by Reuters from social media.

after ‘year of the botched execution’

MUNDO CATÓLICO

Testamento espiritual del Papa Benedicto: ‘Manténganse firmes en la fé

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — El mensaje final del Papa Retirado Benedicto XVI a los católicos de todo el mundo fue: “¡Manténganse firmes en la fe! ¡No se dejen confundir!”

A menos de 10 horas de informar al mundo que el papa de 95 años había muerto el 31 de diciembre, la oficina de prensa del Vaticano publicó su testamento espiritual, una declaración de fe y acción de gracias.

A diferencia del testamento espiritual de San Juan Pablo II, el del Papa Benedicto no incluyó instrucciones para su funeral o entierro y no mencionó lo que debería suceder con sus pertenencias.

“A todos aquellos a quienes he agraviado de alguna manera, les pido perdón de corazón”, escribió el Papa Benedicto.

Escrito en alemán y con fecha del 29 de agosto de 2006 — en el segundo año de su pontificado de casi ocho años — el Papa Benedicto XVI escribió con gran afecto de sus padres, su hermana y su hermano, la belleza de Baviera y su fe en Dios.

“Si en esta última hora de mi vida miro hacia atrás, a las décadas que he vivido, primero veo cuántas razones tengo para

dar gracias”, escribió en el documento cuando tenía 79 años.

“Ante todo, agradezco a Dios mismo, dador de todo bien, que me dio la vida y me guió en diversos momentos de confusión, siempre me levantó cuando

empezaba a resbalar y siempre me devolvió la luz de su semblante,” dijo. “En retrospectiva, veo y comprendo que incluso los tramos oscuros y agotadores de este camino fueron para mi salvación y que fue en ellos donde Él me guió bien”.

Nacido en 1927, Joseph Ratzinger se crió en una Alemania que luchaba por recuperarse de la Primera Guerra Mundial; Adolf Hitler llegó al poder cuando el futuro papa tenía solo 7 años.

En su testamento, agradeció a sus padres, “quienes me dieron la vida en una época difícil y quienes, a costa de grandes sacrificios, con su amor me prepararon un magnífico hogar que, como una luz clara, ilumina mis días hasta el día de hoy”.

“La clara fe de mi padre nos enseñó a nosotros los hijos a creer, y como señal siempre se ha mantenido firme en medio de todos mis logros académicos”, dijo. “La piedad sincera y la gran bondad de mi madre son un legado por el que no puedo agradecerle lo suficiente”.

El Papa Benedicto le dio gracias a Dios por los muchos amigos, tanto hombres como mujeres, que había tenido a su lado, y por sus maestros y alumnos, con muchos de los cuales siguió reuniéndose en los últimos años de su vida.

Un papa conocido por su preocupación por el medio ambiente, él agradeció a Dios por la belleza de su tierra natal bávara, “en la que siempre he visto brillar el esplendor del Creador mismo”.

“Rezo para que nuestra tierra siga siendo una tierra de fe”, escribió antes de suplicar a sus compatriotas alemanes que no permitan que nada los aleje de la fe.

“Y, finalmente”, escribió,“doy gracias a Dios por toda la belleza que experimenté en cada etapa de mi recorrido,

EN BREVE

especialmente en Roma y en Italia, que se ha convertido en mi segunda patria”.

Dirigiéndose a toda la Iglesia, el Papa Benedicto instó a los católicos a aferrarse a su fe y no permitir que la ciencia o la investigación sacudan los cimientos de su creencia.

“A menudo parece como si la ciencia, las ciencias naturales por un lado y la investigación histórica (especialmente la exégesis de la Sagrada Escritura) por el otro, fuera capaz de ofrecer resultados irrefutables en desacuerdo con la fe católica”, dijo.

Pero aseguró a quienes leyeron el documento que a lo largo de su vida había visto a la ciencia ofrecer “aparentes certezas contra la fe” para luego verlas desvanecerse, “demostrando no ser ciencia, sino de interpretaciones filosóficas que sólo parecen pertenecer a la ciencia”.

Al mismo tiempo, dijo, “es en diálogo con las ciencias naturales que también la fe ha aprendido a comprender mejor el límite del alcance de sus pretensiones y, por tanto, su especificidad”.

En 60 años de estudio y observación teológica, dijo, había visto colapsar tesis “inamovibles”, incluidas las ofrecidas por la “generación marxista” de teólogos.

“Vuelve a surgir lo razonable de la fe y está emergiendo de nuevo”, escribió. “Jesucristo es verdaderamente el camino, la verdad y la vida, y la Iglesia, con todas sus insuficiencias, es verdaderamente su cuerpo”.

Por último, el Papa Benedicto escribió: “Pido humildemente: oren por mí, para que el Señor, a pesar de todos mis pecados e insuficiencias, me reciba en la morada eterna”. †

Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio hablará de la Eucaristía en Alvin

ALVIN — Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio, conocido como Dr. Italia, dará una charla llamada “Preparando el Camino” sobre la Eucaristía en el Salón Parroquial de la Iglesia Católica St. Juan Bautista, localizada en 110 E. South St., en Alvin.

El evento se llevará acabo el 3 de febrero a las 7 p.m.

Organizado por las Hijas Católicas de las Américas #2073, todos están invitados al evento. Se recomienda una ofrenda de amor.

D’Ambrosio es una personalidad de la radio y la televisión, autor de bestsellers del New York Times, profesor de teología y orador que lleva más de 30 años guiando a la gente en un viaje de descubrimiento. Para más información, comuníquese con stjohnaff@ gmail.com o en la oficina de la iglesia al 281-331-3751. †

APOYO PASTORAL A VÍCTIMAS DE ABUSO SEXUAL DEL CLERO

En un continuo esfuerzo por facilitar atención pastoral a las victimas de abuso sexual del clero o del personal de la Iglesia, el Cardenal DiNardo gustaría recordar a los fieles de la Arquidiócesis la disponibilidad del Coordinador de Ayuda a Víctimas. Si alguien ha sido victim de abuso sexual del clero o del personal de la Iglesia, se les anima llamar a la Diane Vines al 713-654-5799.

favor rece por la sanación de las víctimas del abuso y

todos los que sufren de alguna manera.

Por

por

FOTO DE CNS

El papa Benedicto XVI posa en Alpeggio Pileo cerca de su residencia de verano en Les Combes, en el Valle de Aosta, en el norte de Italia, el 14 de julio de 2005. El papa Benedicto XVI murió el 31 de diciembre de 2022 a la edad de 95 años en su residencia en el Vaticano.

WITHIN THE ARTS

Priest with autism offers prayer resource for others like him

(CNS) — When one seeks guidance about how to improve in a particular sport, it is preferable to get it from someone who has played that sport. When one seeks guidance regarding an addiction, one who is well into recovering from it is an excellent resource.

Thus, it makes sense for autistic people and their families seeking better ways to pray to get direction from an autistic person, especially when the person giving it is a Catholic priest. That is how Father Matthew P. Schneider, a member of the Legionaries of Christ, sees his goal in writing “God Loves the Autistic Mind.”

The priest begins by sharing his story and giving a summary of how autistic people pray differently than neurotypicals, i.e., those who have a “standard system of connectivity.” The former’s prayer, he notes, focuses on information, while the latter’s is emotional.

He writes, “The autistic logical foundation tends to be more solid than the more emotional foundation neurotypicals

may have for their spiritual life. We autistics often need a reason: ... If you say I should do X because you say so, I will pretty much ignore you. If you give me a decent reason, I will generally follow through. We need a reason why, but once we have that reason, we remain steadfast in our resolve.”

In the first part of the book, Father Schneider provides an overview — primarily by comparing and contrasting how autistic people and neurotypicals think and how knowing this is critical to their prayer lives. He familiarizes readers with words, e.g., stimming, that are an integral part of the autistic mind. Stimming is the repetitive performance of certain physical movements or vocalizations, as a form of behavior by persons with autism or other neurodevelopmental conditions; selfstimulation.

He addresses myths about autism, including the idea held by some that it is some sort of demonic possession. He relates the story of a woman who was the subject of an attempted exorcism.

He also notes that autistic people, even in adulthood, are likely to pray in a “childlike” manner, which he writes “refers to someone who relates to God simply, a person for whom faith and the spiritual world seem ordinary in this life,” adding that “childlike” is different from the self-centeredness and pettiness of one who is “childish.”

While the first part reads like a research paper, complete with footnotes, the second part of “God Loves the Autistic Mind” is engaging, as it includes 52 mediations, several of which include the personal stories of autistic people, including the author’s, a Scripture passage and a reflection.

‘GOD LOVES THE AUTISTIC MIND: A PRAYER GUIDE FOR THOSE ON THE SPECTRUM AND THOSE WHO LOVE US’; PAULINE BOOKS & MEDIA US; PAPERBACK, 224 PAGES.

Topics include “Jesus Loves Me as an Autistic,”“From Loneliness to Being Alone

with God” and “Remain Watchful in Our Own Lives.”

Father Schneider considers “God Loves the Autistic Mind”a“first attempt at enculturating the faith to autistics. I don’t expect it to be perfect, but I do intend to keep some important truths in mind: the orthodoxy of the Catholic faith and the reality of being autistic.”

This first attempt is important because of the autistic faithful for whom it was written. However, tighter editing, e.g., elimination of the frequent and distracting use of “I think,” would have made it a better book. Nonetheless, it is eye-opening for neurotypicals and one that autistic people might find affirming in their prayer lives. As Father Schneider writes: “We need to avoid stigmatizing autism and recognize that autistics are called to be and can become saints.” †

FATHER MATTHEW SCHNEIDER, LC

JAN. 14

SENSORY FRIENDLY MASS, 5 p.m. at Warren Chapel at St. Dominic Center (2401 Holcombe Blvd., Houston). Deaf and Hard of Hearing Ministry, with Ministry for Persons with Disability, is hosting an ASL interpreted Sensory Friendly Mass celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell’Oro, CRS, followed by a social after Mass. 713-741-8798.

JAN. 19

CAFÉ CATHOLICA LITE, 7 p.m. Christ the Redeemer (11507 Huffmeister Rd., Houston). Young adult speaker series with Sister Bernadette Mota, FMA, Vocations Director for the Salesian Sisters, speaking on “New Year Resolutions: Be who you are and be that Well.” Includes light snacks, talk, Q&A, and prayer. Free, open to young adults 18-39. yacm@archgh.org; 713-741-8778.

HOLY HOUR FOR LIFE, 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. at St. Mary’s Seminary (9845 Memorial Dr., Houston. Join the U.S. bishops and Catholics around the country for an overnight Eucharistic Adoration on the vigil of the National March for Life in Washington. Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell’Oro, CRS, will open and close the vigil. Pre-register to ensure all-night Adoration coverage and parking at the seminary at https://archgh. cventevents.com/HolyHourforLife no later than Jan. 16. Info: Office of Pro-Life Activities at 713-440-3443.

JAN. 22

LUNAR NEW YEAR CELEBRATION, 12:15 p.m. at Ascension Chinese Mission - Activity Center (4605 Jetty Ln., Houston). A lion dance, other performances, red envelopes for kids and door prizes celebrate the Lunar New Year. Purchase

tickets after Saturday/Sunday Masses starting Dec. 25 or by calling 713-822-8985 or emailing hsu8985@gmail.com or by Venmo to @EugeneNg-5 with a note including the purchaser’s name and number of tickets.

JAN. 25

MEMORIAL MASS, 7 p.m. at St. Jerome (2749 Hollister Rd., Houston). Diapers, pull-ups, wipes and formula donation drive benefits Mercy Ministry. A reception follows in the Community Center. Sponsored by Catholic Daughters

of the Americas Court of the Holy Family. maryjalbert@sbcglobal.net or 281-381-0309.

JAN. 28

BUS TRIP TO TEXAS RALLY FOR LIFE IN AUSTIN, 8:30 a.m. at St. Dominic Center (2401 Holcombe Blvd., Houston). Bus check-in begins at 8:30 a.m., with a 9 a.m. departure for the annual Texas Rally for Life at Austin in remembrance of and to march in support of all human life. Register to ride the bus at https://archgh. cventevents.com/TexasRallyForLife. Cost: $35. The trip includes two stops at Buc-ee’s (to and from Austin). 713-440-3443.

CASINO NIGHT, 6:30 p.m. at St. Jerome Parish Activity Center (2749 Hollister Rd., Houston). “A Night of Purpose - Mardi Gras Casino Night” features casino tables, slot machines, poker tables and auctions to benefit St. Jerome Catholic School. Cost: $50 per person, includes $500 in casino chips, hors d’oeuvres and one drink ticket. For ticket purchase and/

or sponsorship information: 713-468-7946; lvinasco@stjeromecs.org.

SACRED ART LIVE, 6 to 9 p.m., St. Mary’s Seminary (9845 Memorial Dr., Borski Center). A celebration of living artists, both local and national, creating inspired works including the Dominican Sisters of Mary Immaculate. Free. www.sacredartlive.org.

FEB. 3

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION, 6 to 9 p.m., Cathedral Centre (1701 San Jacinto St.). U.S. Spiritan 150th Anniversary Celebration. International food, music and stories. Tickets are $150. Purchase: bit.ly/150thcelebration.

FEB. 5

RETREAT FOR PARENTS AFTER INFANT LOSS, Office of Pro-Life Activities hosts “Pierced by Sorrow, Released into Joy” retreat for parents following miscarriage, stillbirth, or early infant loss. This single-day retreat is part of the Jerome’s Hope ministry. Cost is $35/person; $60/couple. Register online at https://archgh.cventevents. com/PiercedBySorrowReleasedintoJoy. Info: 713-741-8728.

FEB. 11

HEART OF WORSHIP, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., St. Laurence Catholic Church (3100 Sweetwater Blvd., Sugar Land). Full day of inspiring talks, prayer, praise and worship, Mass, Adoration, dinner and fellowship. Early Bird Registration just $30 by Jan. 20; after that it is $50 per person. Open to everyone sixth grade and older (No childcare available). Information and register: www.stlaurence.org/how.

MARCH 5

TURKEY AND DRESSING DINNER, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Sealy Columbus Hall (310 Hwy 90 West, Sealy). $12 plates include turkey, dressing with gravy, green beans, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, hot roll and tea. Desserts are by the slice with free will offering. $10 whole cakes for sale. Dine-in, take home or drive thru. CDA cakes and homemade goods, silent and live auction, JCDA silent auction and drawing at 1 p.m. Homemade cheese rolls for $15. 281-220-9084.

To find additional listings online, visit the website at WWW.ARCHGH.ORG/ATA.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ST. CECILIA CATHOLIC CHURCH

Teens at St. Cecilia Catholic Church in Houston hosted a Christmas tree contest during a recent youth group event at the parish.

MERRY AND BRIGHT