Thank you, gracias

A very special thank you to all previous bishops, living and deceased, for their leadership and support. Thanks also to our current and previous theogical consultants; to all former staff members; and to current and past correspondents and contributors.

Researching the last 50 years has been both a challenge and a joy. It has been an eye-opener regarding the many blessings and sacrifices that people in this corner of God’s Kingdom have enjoyed and endured in their steadfast pursuit of and love for Christ. Through the years there have been many changes in the diocese and at the South Texas Catholic, all in the pursuit of the truth that is God’s love. 

We are grateful to all the bishops that have shepherded the South Texas Catholic through good times and bad. To Bishop Thomas Drury we owe our very existence. To Bishop Rene H. Gracida, whose vision and commitment shaped a vibrant Catholic press, we also owe our thanks. To Bishop Roberto Gonzalez we are thankful for his commitment to preserving a newspaper during a time of retrenchment. To Bishop Edmond Carmody we say thank you for restoring the newspaper to its former self after the financial hard times were behind us. To Bishop Michael Mulvey, thank you for your unswerving support and for your trust, which has allowed us to creatively take the newspaper to a magazine with a presence on the World Wide Web.

We also owe a special word of thanks to the John G. and Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation for their financial support through the years, but especially for a grant to help us memorialize the last 50 years. With the help of the foundation, we are in the process of digitizing the last 50 years of newspapers/magazines to make them available to the public and researchers on the Web. 

The database will be searchable so, for example, someone who is researching their parish for a historical marker will be able to find all the stories we may have on the parish. If someone new to a position of ministry in the diocese wants to come up to speed on how the ministry got here, they will be able to follow its development through the years. We anticipate that this database will be of great value to the faithful throughout the diocese.

We hope that this special edition may become a keepsake, as was our centennial special edition, which included our transition to the magazine format. Trying to pack 50 years of news into a few pages is a near impossible task, but we tried our best. Perhaps someone’s favorite ministry or event is not included or perhaps in the interest of space we may not have summarized an event in the best light. Our omission, error or perceived misrepresentation were not intentional, they were simply victims of the scarcity of time, space and talent.

That being said, we will move forward towards our next 50 years with confidence in the knowledge that we are being guided by the eternal, and in the eternal there is always room for forgiveness and mercy. 

The greatest storyteller of all time was Jesus Christ. His parables are the most remembered, and certainly have had the most impact. Part of the reason for this—aside from their obvious intention to impart God’s truth and love—is their simplicity. People understand them, or to use the vernacular of today, people get it. That is the model that we have tried to follow in presenting our stories. Can people relate to them? Are they easy to understand? Do they promote the Gospel message?

Our intention, indeed our priority is—in the words of Auxiliary Bishop Christopher Coyne of Indianapolis, Secretary for the USCCB Committee on Communications—”to proclaim the joy, the mercy and the love of Jesus Christ, at all times and in all places and to all people.”