Bishop visits St. Thomas More parish

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Bishop Mulvey and Father Kozub (above) celebrate Mass at St. Thomas More. 

Rebecca Esparza for South Texas Catholic

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Bishop Michael Mulvey recently visited St. Thomas More Parish as part of his regular pastoral visits to parishes across the diocese. St. Thomas More began as a collegiate parish serving Del Mar College, located across from the church on Baldwin Blvd. A few years after that designation, it was elevated to a full parish.

Pastor of St. Thomas More, Father Thomasz Kozub, welcomed Bishop Mulvey with open arms, noting during Mass what an honor it was to have the special visit.

“I want to thank you for your faith,” Bishop Mulvey told a packed church on June 12. 

“One of the reasons I make these visits is to help you strengthen your faith and it helps strengthen mine, too. These visits also allow me to personally thank parishioners for their participation in different initiatives within the diocese, including the Legacy of Faith-Future of Hope, which we are one and a half years away from completing.”

Mulvey said he was proud to announce a success story from one of the many projects of the Legacy of Faith-Future of Hope Capital Campaign.

“We built new facilities at our local universities and one of the reasons for doing that was to foster vocations. I’m happy to report we already have two young men who have joined the seminary and we look forward to many more in the future,” he said.

Bishop Mulvey’s homily explained how Jesus is the presence of God in our faith and how he has power over death.

“We may ask ourselves, what about our own healing, when we have called out to the Lord…does he hear us? Our faith tells us, absolutely, he does. But what he is also saying is, ‘Give yourself to me, so I can be Lord of your situation.’”

Bishop Mulvey said that a sad commentary on society today is the rapid progression of secularization, where God is removed from our daily experiences and where God simply becomes an idea. He cautioned parishioners to be aware and on the lookout for this trend, ready to combat it with their faith.
 

Bishop Mulvey greets parishioners after Mass. Rebecca Esparza for South Texas Catholic

“What replaces that presence of God, which should be with us always, is ourselves. We as a society are fixated on ourselves. In the midst of these difficult moments, we are either brought to our knees asking for God’s presence or we just write him off as non-existent,” Bishop Mulvey said in his homily.

He asked parishioners to examine their relationship with God, especially when faced with life’s daily challenges and struggles.

“Do we realize God is first in our life and always present? It is in these difficult moments we come to understand and accept God’s presence. And even if that restoration of life or health does not happen, there is a sense in us through faith, that God is present to us. His powerful presence and love is there,” he said.

Bishop Mulvey also shared his recent experiences with the prison ministry, recalling the difficult hardships one particular prisoner had in his life, which eventually led him to choose an adult life of crime. The prisoner wrote to Bishop Mulvey a letter outlining why the bishop's visit was so important and how his life changed at a three-day Catholic retreat.

“These stories of Jesus bringing people back to life are so important to us. It is the pattern of our life, our Christian life of faith. We need to rely on God and it’s in these painful moments of life that we come to realize this,” he said.

As he wrapped up his homily, Bishop Mulvey asked parishioners to delve deep into their hearts and examine how we touch other people’s lives, with Christ in us.

“Are we at that point of having God first in our lives, through our own personal struggles, through our past and present? Have we become self-absorbed or have we given everything to God, everyday? Give everything over to God, what is his to begin with.”