News - June 2017 RSS Feed

The college years are stereotypically a time of discovery – discovery ranging from new friends, new viewpoints, new career options or even a new moral code. For a select few students at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, their time on campus solidified their discovery of a calling from God to a vocation of religious life or ordained life as a priest and the St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Center & Chapel at Texas A&M-Kingsville is the hub for much of that discernment.

Two Texas bishops have defended—from charges of fear mongering—the opponents of a new law, which targets sanctuary cities for immigrants, explaining that the bill draws little distinction between criminals and undocumented immigrants. The law in question, Senate Bill 4, was signed into law May 7.

Julieta Brusco, a first-grader at Incarnate Word Academy in Corpus Christi was chosen as the grand national grade-level champion in the 2017 Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest. She was honored at a school assembly on May 12.

Colonel Allan H. Lanceta, commander of the Corpus Christi Army Depot, will give the guest commencement address Friday, June 30, to local graduates of St. Leo University. This year, 55 students from St. Leo’s Corpus Christi Education Center will be conferred associate, bachelors, and master’s degrees at the 7 p.m. event to be held at the Catalina Club, Naval Air Station Corpus Christi.

The 48th Annual Schoenstatt Boys Walk, offering sacrifices, prayers and petitions to the Blessed Mother Thrice Admirable Queen & Victress of Schoenstatt, will take place on Saturday, July 8. One of the aims of the 42-mile walk is to encourage young men to a life of ministry.

To both you and your wife, thank you for choosing the greatest and most important job in the world. Everyone needs a little encouragement occasionally as well as a few suggestions for improvement. So here it is—encouragement and a few suggestions.

Bishop Michael Mulvey will lead the faithful in a celebration of the Feast of Corpus Christi, the titular feast for the Diocese of Corpus Christi, on Sunday June 18 at the Corpus Christi Cathedral. After the bishop’s celebration of Mass at 9:30 a.m. there will be a Eucharistic procession.

Atendiendo al llamado de la Nueva Evangelización, a la que invita y hace el Papa Francisco un llamado muy especial, el grupo de estudio de Biblia y oración en español “Caminando en la Fe” de la parroquia de St. Philip the Apostle, está poniendo al servicio de la iglesia lo que aprenden.

Isaac Kimmel, an alumnus of St. John Paul II High School in Corpus Christi, spent the last year serving as a teacher at John Paul II Junior College in Benque Viejo del Carmen, Belize. The junior college is the only liberal arts college in Belize, “so it fills a really important role,” Kimmel said.

Ten young people were received in the Church at Sacred Heart in Rockport on June 4. The children participated in the RCIA Children’s Class, which prepared them for Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist.

On May 28, Sacred Heart Church in Rockport celebrated a Graduates Mass. The Mass was held in tribute to the memory of Jack Thomas Sanchez, a classmate who passed away on Oct. 6, 2010 of brain cancer. Sanchez’s picture was part of the celebration.

Sacred Heart Church in Rockport held a First Communion Mass on May 21. Those receiving their first Communion are in bottom row (from left) Lauren Holden, Isabella Garza, Avery Blanchard and Lourdes Ortiz; in second row are Brayden Tran, Tricia Boehm, Liam Pina-Boutte and Jocelyn Salas; and in third row are Deacon Ron Janota, Joselyn Martinez, Alexander Carlson, Thomas Pena, Dina Vu and Deacon Daniel Boehm. Father Raynaldo Yrlas, Jr., pastor at Sacred Heart is in the rear.

Sacred Heart Church in Rockport participated in Confirmations at the Corpus Christi Cathedral on May 6. Students confirmed by Bishop Michael Mulvey include (from left) Aransas Blaha, Madalyn Tran, (Deacon Ron Janota, Bishop Mulvey), Jacob Krupa, Marshal Davis and Brian Coronado.

The Office of Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Corpus Christi held math workshops for K2-8th grade teachers at St. John Paul II High School and Bishop Garriga Middle Preparatory School on June 5. The "hands on" workshops are designed to help teachers maintain math centers in their classrooms throughout the year, "so students are engaged and feel empowered," superintendent Rosemary Henry said.

After 63 years of serving the elderly in the Diocese of Corpus Christi, the Carmelite Sisters are closing Mt. Carmel Assisted Living Center located on 4130 S. Alameda. They are giving some 30 residents until July 31 to find a new home.

In the first chapter of John’s Gospel, we read about Jesus inviting two of his disciples to “Come and see.” St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, when asked by people how they could help her, often responded, “Come and see.” This phrase is used commonly now to refer to an immersion experience of discernment, whether it is a short visit or an extended period of active discernment.

On March 17, 2016, then-Secretary of State John F. Kerry announced to the world that the Islamic State was committing genocide against Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East. It was an important statement, because it was only the second time our government had declared genocide in an ongoing situation—the first was Darfur, where some estimate that more than 300,000 people have been killed to date.

Last month I wrote an article about my own mother in honor of Mother’s Day. It is only fair that I offer some reflections about my father in honor of Father’s Day. I return to the wall in my room with the family pictures on it. There is a photo of my father with his brother sharing a tricycle. What is interesting about the frame that houses it is that there are two pictures, one of my father and his brother and one of my older brother and me. By coincidence more than 20 years later, my brother and I are also sharing a “vehicle”, but it was my walking stroller. And there is no doubt that all four of us are related!