News - January 2024

Bishop Italo Dell’Oro, CRS, announced Monday, Jan. 29, that a superintendent search committee, comprised of school pastors, principals, donors, and archdiocesan officials has selected Dr. Mazie McCoy as the next superintendent of Catholic schools.

With 2024 being a Leap Year, schools are jumping at the chance to support this year’s 19th Annual Steps for Students 5K Run/Walk on Saturday, Feb. 10.

In his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul cuts through the differences: there is no slave or free; no Greek or Jew; no poor or rich, because all of us become one in the Lord to whom we are constantly called back.

In a world where the sacred and secular seem at odds, sacramentals emerge as a harmonious symphony, blending faith with the rhythm of everyday life. The Church’s rich tradition, epitomized in the use of sacramentals, transcends mere rituals, inviting believers into a sacred dance with the divine.

The nearly 400-year-old sculpted canopy towering over the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica will be surrounded by scaffolding for most of 2024 as it is washed, repaired and restored.

An upcoming presentation at St. Joseph Catholic Church at 1505 Kane St. near downtown Houston will explore St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body and teachings on the Eucharist.

To highlight the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, Catholic middle school students are being encouraged to write poems about Eucharistic Adoration as the theme for the 2024 Catholic Literary Arts’ Archdiocesan Poetry Contest.

National Catholic Schools Week will be celebrated nationwide and in the Archdiocese from Jan. 28 to Feb. 3 with the new theme “United in Faith and Community.” Sponsored by the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop’s Secretariat of Catholic Education, Catholic Schools Week (CSW) is an annual celebration of Catholic education in the U.S. traditionally held the last week in January.

The Office of Aging Ministry will host the Catholic conference on aging, “Nurturing the Roots of Our Communal Tree,” at Prince of Peace Catholic Church in the St. Andrew Discipleship Center, located at 19222 Tomball Pkwy. in Houston, in English and Spanish.

Augustine... Joan of Arc... Judas Tadeo... Mateo... One by one, bearing the name of a confirmation saint, more than 750 adults stepped forward in faith and presented themselves to God as they reverently bowed slightly before Daniel Cardinal DiNardo and Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell’Oro, CRS, and received the blessing of the Holy Spirit and the holy chrism in the Sacrament of Confirmation.

In response to the increasing number of married couples in distressed relationships reaching out for help in parishes across the Archdiocese, the Family Life Ministry is launching a faith-centered program to train ministers who can provide them with essential support, prayer and guidance.

On Feb. 4, women and men in consecrated life will gather in celebration with Daniel Cardinal DiNardo at the 11 a.m. Mass at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, located at 1111 St. Joseph Pkwy. in downtown Houston.

Over 15 years ago, Toni Flagg, who is hearing, and her husband, Deacon Bruce Flagg, who is deaf, discovered their Church home at St. Dominic Center for the Deaf located in the Medical Center area — a significant turning point in their marriage.

A coworker recently mentioned that Pope Francis had called for 2024 to be a year of prayer in preparation for the Jubilee year of 2025. I was taken aback because I had not heard of this.

St. Paul the Apostle is a great model of conversion and a great reflection of how we are to be working on our own hearts. Although he was once the protestor and auditor of his time, his conversion is one filled with hope that can only come from Jesus.

758 Catholics from at least 72 parishes across the Archdiocese received the Sacrament of Confirmation at six separate Masses celebrated by Cardinal DiNardo and Bishop Dell’Oro, according to catechetical leaders.

The annual celebration of Catholic education in the U.S. enters its 50th year.

Catholics nationwide are invited to pray “9 Days for Life,” an annual Respect Life novena starting Tuesday, January 16.

Civil rights activist and minister Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his call to achieve peace through service to one another will be celebrated with a “Mass of Remembrance” at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 14, at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, 1111 St. Joseph Parkway.