News - January 2023

A day after a severe storm spawned a tornado that terrorized the southeast and east sides of metropolitan Houston Jan. 24, the National Weather Service, city and county officials, and insurance adjusters descended upon St. Hyacinth Catholic Church in Deer Park to assess the damage.

For 57 years, the Diocesan Services Fund (DSF) has provided the necessary resources for the ministries of the local Church to flourish. When it was established by Bishop John Morkovsky in 1966, the DSF was more than just a call for support — it was a call to action and, more importantly, an invitation. To this day, DSF continues to invite Catholics throughout the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston to invest in the work of the Church that no one parish can do on its own.

“Lord, I love you.” The pope’s secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, said a nurse heard the late pope’s last words several hours before his Dec. 31 death, according to the Vatican.

While the rest of the world spent the first day of the new year recovering from their celebrations the night before, Catholics celebrated Jan. 1 as the Feast of Mary, Mother of God.

As Christians, poverty is something we are called to address. Most, however, do not realize that there are different forms of poverty aside from material poverty. And what is the great poverty that has stricken our young people of today?

Christians must develop a pastoral heart to care for those who have not heard the Gospel or who have left the fold, Pope Francis said. “By being with Jesus, we discover that His pastoral heart always beats for the person who is confused, lost, far away,” the pope said at his weekly general audience Jan. 18. “Jesus never said, ‘Let them sort themselves out,’ He went out to find them.”

In an offering of themselves to God and invoking the blessing of the Holy Spirit, 557 Catholics from parishes across the Archdiocese received the Sacrament of Confirmation at four separate Masses celebrated by Daniel Cardinal DiNardo and Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell’Oro, CRS, on Jan. 8.

In Galveston-Houston, Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD)-funded NestQuest provides housing and education stability to under-resourced families in their moment of need.

National Catholic Schools Week will be celebrated across the country and in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston from Jan. 29 to Feb. 4 with the theme: “Faith. Excellence. Service.”

Archdioceses and dioceses in Texas and across the U.S. have been celebrating liturgies praying for the peaceful repose of the soul of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, 95, who passed away on New Year's Eve, and was buried in Rome Jan. 5.

A quiet hush covered the vast expanse of St. Peter’s Square even though it was filled with thousands of people slowly winding their way around the colonnade into St. Peter’s Basilica to pay their last respects to the late Pope Benedict XVI.

Very few figures within the contemporary Church have influenced it as deeply and for as long as Pope Benedict XVI, who died Dec. 31, 2022 at 95. The lasting legacy of Joseph Ratzinger — whom author George Weigel told OSV News was “one of the most consequential Christian figures of modern times” — will be a part of the universal Church for generations to come.

Retired Pope Benedict XVI, who had an impressive record as a teacher and defender of the basics of Catholic faith, is likely to go down in history books as the first pope in almost 600 years to resign.

On Nov. 22, 2022, the Holy Father, Pope Francis, spoke to a group of American journalists regarding the various issues that are in the forefront of American society. In addressing the issues of racism in the United States, the Holy Father gave words of encouragement specifically to the Black Catholics of America that we should “resist and not walk away.”

The holidays demonstrate a tricky time of year teeming with hope, devotion, reflection and togetherness. Considering the last few holidays, this season was the first opportunity for us to be together again. Time moved quickly, and planning became my sole focus. While beautiful, time moves fast, and there is so much to do, planning for Thanksgiving meals, Christmas gatherings, or New Year’s guest accommodations.

There is a sculpture by Timothy P. Schmalz called “A Quiet Moment” that my students introduced me to several years ago. It is an invitation into the heart of the Holy Family, into the embrace of St. Joseph, who holds our Blessed Mother, holding Jesus. The simplicity of the Holy Family in the quiet moment of an embrace has richly blessed my prayer life in intimacy and being truly home.

The Congregation of the Missionary Carmelites of St. Teresa was founded in Mexico City on March 8, 1903, by Sisters Teresa Petra Muciño, Carmen Gallardo, Soledad Perez and Antonia Velazquez.

On Jan. 23, American Catholics will once again observe the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of the Unborn. On this day, our bishops ask us to commemorate the passage of the tragic Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in our country by engaging in acts of prayer and fasting.