News - May 2014 RSS Feed

On June 6, Msgr. Gregory “Rory” Deane—who was ordained in Ireland in 1954—will celebrate 60 years in the priesthood. In retirement now, he has time to reminisce about his youth, his family, his beloved Ireland and the many changes in the universal church and in the Diocese of Corpus Christi.

Sacred Heart Church in Rockport is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year with renovations that have transformed the church and inspired its parishioners to take a look back at its colorful history with reverence.

In 1673, Jesus began appearing to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a humble nun of the Visitation Order, in Paray Le Monial, France. He revealed to her the tender wonders of his love for her, desiring through her to reveal these same wonders to the whole world.

Pope Francis has called for a missionary transformation of the Church. He is calling all of us not to simply be disciples of Christ, but that we become “missionary” disciples.

A number of serious diseases are known to occur because of defects or mutations in our DNA. Rewriting the DNA to fix the mutated base pairs could in principle cure such diseases. Yet until recently scientists have remained largely stymied in their attempts to directly modify genes in a living animal.

"The Church acknowledges the indispensable contribution which women make to society through the sensitivity, intuition and other distinctive skill sets which they, more than men, tend to possess. I think, for example, of the special concern which women show to others, which finds a particular, even if not exclusive, expression in motherhood" – Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, #103

Father Eulalio P. Ibay, STD, chaplain of the Apostleship of the Sea in the Diocese of Corpus Christi said the ministry “offers spiritual and practical help to seafarers, their families and all who work and travel on the waterways.”

Quoting from Psalm 124, Mother Maria Elva Reyes, PCI, Superior General of the Pax Christi Sisters, closed the consecration Mass at the new Jesus Christ Our Peace Chapel with the words “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice in it and be glad.” The celebrants burst into thunderous applause.

La Parroquia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús en Mathis, Texas, esta enclavada en una comunidad humilde pero con mucho corazón y deseo de ayudar al prójimo como Jesús mismo nos lo enseñó con su ejemplo.

Why does a man become a priest? Because he saw a clever poster that says, “Consider a White Collar Job”? Because someone gave him a brochure about priesthood? In God’s economy of grace, these things can help, but there is something deeper going on in the hearts of would-be seminarians.

"The unexamined life is not worth living,” Socrates famously said. He really meant it, too, as he also said that a person must “interrogate his own nature” and “work precisely” or else he will “miss what is good and become involved in what is bad.”

Sister Mary Lelia Aguilar, IWBS will celebrate 60 years in consecrated life on July 31. She and several other novices made their first profession of vows July 31, 1954, and she professed perpetual vows on Aug. 17, 1958.

Sister Colette Brehony, IWBS comes from a family of women that embraced religious life. Three sisters—Sisters Catherine, Rita and Maria Elizabeth, two aunts and three cousins were members of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament.

On Thursday, May 29 and Friday, May 30, 64 seniors from St. John Paul II High School followed by 71 seniors from Incarnate Word Academy completed their high school journey at the altar of the Corpus Christi Cathedral.

School children travel from throughout the area to attend Sacred Heart Elementary in Rockport, which has a long history of providing a quality Catholic education. Although the school, which first opened in 1921, has been closed several times over the years, it has remained an important part of Aransas County and the surrounding area since 1981.

It took a very long trip, and an even longer wait outside and inside St. Peter’s Square, but it was all worth it for the nine students from St. John Paul II High School who were part of history—the canonization of two saints including their school’s patron.

On Pope Francis’ first trip to the Holy Land, May 24-26, his agenda focused on the search for Christian unity, particularly between the Catholic and Orthodox churches. But inevitably, in a region so rich in history and so fraught with conflict, he addressed other urgent issues, including dialogue with Jews and Muslims, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the plight of the Middle East’s shrinking Christian population.

A federal appeals court in New Orleans stayed an execution scheduled for May 13 in Huntsville, two hours before the state of Texas was set to execute Robert James Campbell. The court said prosecutors in Campbell’s case did not take into account evidence that he had an intellectual disability.

Two reports on Latinos and religion released the first week of May paint a picture of the U.S. Catholic Church at a potentially precarious point with its fastest-growing demographic.

On Wednesday, May 26, Bishop Michael Mulvey celebrated a Baccalaureate Mass for graduates from the Alice Deanery. See photos here.