Mass of Thanksgiving and first Mass of Father Gutierrez

Newly ordained priest, Father Richard Gutierrez, celebrated his first Mass, a Mass of Thanksgiving, on the Solemnity of Pentecost on June 9 at his home parish, Holy Family Church in Corpus Christi. 

Father Patrick Higgins gave the homily at the Mass of Thanksgiving for Father Gutierrez. He and Father Gutierrez have been friends for about six years. In his homily, Father Higgins said, “the world desperately needs the witness of love, of people willing to die to themselves, to lay down their lives so that others might have life. Father Richard’s priesthood is that symbol of love to our world, today.”

Father Gutierrez will be chaplain at St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Center and chapel at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. As a seminarian, he spent his pastoral year with the students, and it’ll be like going back home. “I loved it as a seminarian. I’ll probably see a lot of new faces and maybe some I recognize, and I’ll be able to offer them the sacraments and serve them in a different way,” he said. “It’s actually very exciting for me.”

Nina Joiner, Director of the Newman Center in Kingsville is also excited about having Father Gutierrez serve as chaplain. “I think he’s a very nice young man. The students will love him, and he’ll love the students,” she said.

After Mass Father Gutierrez fulfilled his mother's, Helen Gutierrez's, last request by giving his godmother, Janie Muzquiz,  the holy cloth used to soak up the chrism oil after Bishop Mulvey anointed his hands during his ordination on June 8. 

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