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Communities throughout diocese schedule Lenten activities
By JO ANNE FLORES EMBLETON
Catholic communities throughout the Tyler Diocese are preparing for the upcoming Lenten season.
Fridays during Lent at St. Edward Church in Athens, a 6 p.m. Mass will be followed by Stations of the Cross and a potluck dinner. Via Cruces will begin at 7:30 p.m., after the meal. A March 17 reconciliation service begins at 5:30 p.m.
In Atlanta, Stations of the Cross will be recited at St. Catherine of Siena Church Fridays at 6 p.m., while Via Cruces begin at 12:30 p.m. Sundays during Lent. Father Felix Chirapurathel will lead Living the Christian Faith,
an interactive forum, at 6 p.m. Wednesdays during Lent. Father Ron
Demski of New Boston will lead a Feb. 16 day of prayer at the Atlanta
church, beginning at 9 a.m. The event includes a penance service,
adoration and benediction, and concludes with a potluck luncheon.
Local Knights at St. William of Vercelli Church in Carthage
will prepare fish dinners Fridays during Lent, with meals served from
5-6:30 p.m. The dinners will be followed by a recitation of the
Stations of the Cross at 6:30 p.m. A Feb. 24 penance service begins at
4 p.m. Parishioners will deliver food and fruit baskets to shut-ins on
March 14. The St. Vincent de Paul Society’s “Easter Open Door” will be
held March 15.
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Award-winner says Catholic schools want students to do more
By SUSAN DE MATTEO
TYLER – Chloé Harry knows a thing or two about hurdles.
A
2002 graduate of Bishop T.K. Gorman Catholic High School in Tyler,
Harry was a track standout during her years there, winning titles,
accolades and scholarships for her prowess as a runner.
Off the
track, however, things weren’t always so easy. Her parents divorced
while she was at Gorman, and the pain she suffered during that time
only added to the strain of an academic career that, by her own
admission, wasn’t always stellar. But no matter how difficult things
got, she had two forces on her side that allowed her to overcome the
hurdles in her life as surely as she leapt those on the track – Bishop
Gorman itself, and God.
“I am nothing without God,” said Harry,
23. “He is the author and the finisher of my life. He has seen me
through so many trials, he has shielded me from so much hurt and
blessed me in so many ways. He really is the rock I stand on, he’s my
backbone and my strength. My faith is a pillar of strength.”
Her
faith is something instilled in her by her parents, Otto Jr. and Sharon
Ann. Their belief in the importance of faith to all areas of life is
what led them to choose a Catholic education for their three daughters,
though the family is not Catholic.
“They really wanted us to have a Christian background, a Christian education,” she said …
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Longview's John Paul II Center a joy, bishop says, and crowded
LONGVIEW
– Gazing at the standing-room-only crowd before him, Bishop Álvaro
Corrada, SJ, congratulated members of St. Matthew Parish for a job
quickly done, then teased them about already outgrowing the new Pope
John Paul II Center.
“What a joy to see this center filled to capacity already. You’ve just
finished building it – Msgr. Xavier (Pappu, St. Matthew pastor) and the
parishioners now will have to build a bigger one,” he grinned, as those
gathered at a Feb. 1 dedication began laughing.
“But,” he said, adopting a more serious tone, “I’m really very grateful
to all of you for building this magnificent center. From the very
beginning, monsignor brought the plans to me and we discussed, we
looked for the place to build. The results are wonderful.”
The 13,000-plus-square-foot metal structure, which has classrooms and a
meeting space for parish youth, is the most recent addition to the St.
Matthew campus, which also includes a church, offices and a rectory as
well as a second residence for guests and seminarians.
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Religious life: ‘God piercing into the heart’
By JO ANNE FLORES EMBLETON
TYLER
– Religious life, said Bishop Álvaro Corrada, SJ, “in its essence, is
God piercing into the heart of the human person so that the person can
pierce into the divine.”
“This interchange is what makes a
religious consecrated,” he told a group of 40 religious men and women
attending a Feb. 2 Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
in observance of world consecrated life day. “That’s what the life of
the vows permits the human person to do: God comes into your life,
rends your life (and) purifies ‘like gold’ so that the human can come
to the divine.”
At present, there are approximately 60 religious
men and women in the diocese, in ministries such as healthcare,
catechesis and pastoral care. In addition, the Tyler Diocese is home to
the Monastery of the Infant Jesus, a cloistered Dominican order in
Lufkin.
The image of God, in his divinity, “appearing in human
flesh all the way into sin and death” is what has “motivated so many
people to enter religious life, consecrated life,” the bishop said.
“This
spiritual experience, this divine experience, this contemplative
experience throughout the centuries has brought different charisms to
live this experience, to present it to different cultures, to different
ages of the world,” he said.
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Religious life: ‘God piercing into the heart’
By JO ANNE FLORES EMBLETON
TYLER
– Religious life, said Bishop Álvaro Corrada, SJ, “in its essence, is
God piercing into the heart of the human person so that the person can
pierce into the divine.”
“This interchange is what makes a
religious consecrated,” he told a group of 40 religious men and women
attending a Feb. 2 Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
in observance of world consecrated life day. “That’s what the life of
the vows permits the human person to do: God comes into your life,
rends your life (and) purifies ‘like gold’ so that the human can come
to the divine.”
At present, there are approximately 60 religious
men and women in the diocese, in ministries such as healthcare,
catechesis and pastoral care. In addition, the Tyler Diocese is home to
the Monastery of the Infant Jesus, a cloistered Dominican order in
Lufkin.
The image of God, in his divinity, “appearing in human
flesh all the way into sin and death” is what has “motivated so many
people to enter religious life, consecrated life,” the bishop said.
“This
spiritual experience, this divine experience, this contemplative
experience throughout the centuries has brought different charisms to
live this experience, to present it to different cultures, to different
ages of the world,” he said.
More>>
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