FEBRUARY 2013

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New church is blessed for St. Vincent de Paul BY BURNIE COOK CORRESPONDENT The new sanctuary for St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Austin was dedicated with a special Mass celebrated by Bishop Joe Vásquez on Dec. 29. Many families, numbering more than 1,000 individuals, came out to celebrate the

opening of the new church, which has been in the works for years. St. Vincent de Paul Parish was founded in 1995 with 230 families and Father Daniel E. Garcia as pastor. The parish worshipped in the cafeteria at Deer Park Middle School in Northwest Austin for six years. In 2001, the parish moved to a multi-purpose

building at 9500 Neenah Ave., which is near the intersection of Parmer and 620 in Northwest Austin. Now the parish has nearly 1,500 families; Father Garcia is the pastor and Father Ron Feather is the associate pastor. The parish grounds are adjacent to Holy Family Catholic School and St. Dominic Savio Catholic High School.

Austin Diocese 6225 Hwy. 290 East Austin, Texas 78723

Periodical Postage Paid at Austin, Texas

SUNLIGHT streamed in from above as Bishop Joe Vásquez celebrated the dedication Mass at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Austin. (Photo by Shelley Metcalf)

The gathering of parishioners and guests began in the multi-purpose building featuring a slide show of parish history and time-lapse footage of the construction of the new church from ground breaking to completion. In the building where they had worshipped for more than 10 years, Bishop Joe Vásquez greeted the congregation. Representatives from Fisher Heck Architects and Rizzo Construction, Inc. who with liturgical design consultant Ken Griesemer designed and constructed the new church were introduced. The plans and keys for the new church were presented to the bishop who then handed them over to Father Garcia. From there the crowd processed to the church where Father Garcia opened the doors to the public for the first time. Members of the crowd were excited to see the inside, some took deep breaths, and others walked with their eyes wide open, obviously impressed with the new church features such as the large entry way, cruciform baptismal font, wooden pews, altar and more. Carol and Joe Loughran and their three daughters have been parishioners for six years. They were amazed

HELPING MOTHERS

See SVDP on Page 3

FINANCES Diocese releases 20112012 Financial Report on Pastoral Services. Pages 15-18

Gabriel Project celebrates 20 years as a ministry in the diocese. Page 5

BISHOP’S

ESPAÑOL

INTERVIEW

Indulgencia plenaria para el Año de la Fe. Página 30

Finding mercy and forgiveness during confession. Page 21

by the new church and are excited about what it means for the growth of the parish. They are grateful to have such a beautiful place to worship and grow in their faith. From the procession to the blessing of the altar and the tabernacle, the choir led the congregation through the nearly three-hour Mass. Kevin McLaughlin, the cantor for the dedication Mass, and his wife Paula have been parishioners since 1998. “As a music minister, I was very excited to be part of the liturgy that relied so heavily on music to support not only the worship but also the rites of the dedication itself,” McLaughlin said. After the Creed, the Litany of Saints was sung as the congregation kneeled. Then Bishop Vásquez placed relics of St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac beneath the altar, which he then anointed with sacred Chrism. The bishop and Fathers Garcia and Feather anointed the walls of the church with the holy oil. “The altar is the central focus of this church. The altar represents Christ … He was anointed by the Holy Spirit

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THE MISSION OF THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT As the ofcial newspaper for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Austin, the CATHOLIC SPIRIT is dedicated to providing information, education and formation for the Catholic community of Central Texas. This mission calls for the newspaper: • to provide readers with an understanding of our Catholic faith and traditions; • to be a primary source of information on Catholic issues relevant to the community; • to be a unifying element for faith communities, both rural and urban, throughout Central Texas; • to show respect for and appreciation of all cultural groups and traditions; • to emphasize topics afrming the Catholic community and life, while acknowledging the humanity of the community and examining, with courage, topics that challenge and encourage growth in the faith; • to carry a commitment to social justice that will support the renewal of the church in Central Texas.

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An age-old story rooted in Catholicism BY CHRISTIAN R. GONZÁLEZ CATHOLIC SPIRIT STAFF

I’ve been a fan of “Les Miserables” for a long time. I’m a fan of the musical, the novel, the movie and the story itself. I rst saw the show around New Year’s Day 1991 in London’s West End. I have an ad that says in 1992 the musical would be made into a movie. There was a 20-year wait for HOW TO SUBMIT INFORMATION that, but I nally got to see it on Deadline for submission of articles or information for the Christmas night 2012. CATHOLIC SPIRIT is the 10th of the month for publication in the following month’s edition. Over the years, I’ve seen the Deadline for the March issue is Feb. 10. show numerous times and collected You can submit material in any of the following ways: cast recordings in English, French, • E-mail to [email protected]. Japanese, German and Spanish. I • Mail to CATHOLIC SPIRIT, 6225 Hwy. 290 E., Austin, TX 78723. “Les Miserables” is a story of love, forgiveness, redempFor additional information, call (512) 949-2443 or e-mail estimate that I’ve listened to Les Mis tion, salvation and hope. (CNS photo/Universal Studios) us at [email protected]. CATHOLIC SPIRIT has at least a thousand times. What has drawn me to the story unrestricted editing rights. time and time again is that it is a story of love (true have told the truth sending Valjean back to prison. charity), forgiveness, redemption, salvation and Instead he gives him a second chance, “buying his HOW TO SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR most of all hope. As miserable and wretched as life soul” for God. Readers are encouraged to express their opinions on articles published in CATHOLIC SPIRIT. Letters to the editor pro- is there is still hope. I often think of the bishop’s actions when I vide a forum of discussion for the local Catholic community. The book, musical and movie of the musical all see the candlesticks next to the altar at Mass. It’s a The views expressed in the letters do not necessarily repre- have a tremendous amount of Catholicism in them, reminder to me of being in the light and that Jesus sent those of the editor or the publisher of CATHOLIC SPIRIT. including a pro-life component, which is saying a purchased the reward of eternal salvation. Letters to the editor should be limited to 250 words. lot because author Victor Hugo didn’t necessarily The bishop leads Valjean to conversion. We Name and full address of the writer must be provided, see eye-to-eye with the Catholic Church. never know what our own act of kindness may though name will be withheld from publication on request. Spoiler alert: I’ll discuss the plot in some detail, inspire. We reserve the right to edit or withhold all letters. Please but being that musical is called the “world’s favorValjean breaks parole. He reinvents himself and e-mail to [email protected] or mail to Editor, Catholic Spirit, 6225 Hwy. 290 E., Austin, TX 78723. ite” and the book is said to be the second-most runs a factory that makes glass beads. In the movie, read after the Bible, I don’t think I’m ruining the workers assemble those beads into rosaries. It was story for anyone. HOW TO SUBSCRIBE nice to see a rosary in a movie that didn’t involve Subscription rates are $12 for one year. To subscribe, In the musical the Bishop of Digne is the an exorcism. send check payable to Catholic Spirit to CATHOLIC SPIRIT, minor character who sets the story in motion. In There are many heart-wrenching moments 6225 Hwy. 290 E., Austin, TX 78723. Members of a parish the novel, Hugo takes 100 pages to tell us of the in the musical such as “I Dreamed a Dream,” in the Austin Diocese may receive the newspaper for a regood bishop who is so pro-life he twists his ankle Fantine’s and Eponine’s death, but the one that duced rate. Contact your parish staff for more information. to avoid killing a bug. The bishop spends a night always gets me is when Valjean forgives Javert, the counseling a condemned man, accompanies him policeman who paroled him. Javert, with his eyeADDRESS CHANGES OR DUPLICATE MAILINGS to the guillotine and then says, “Death belongs for-an-eye theology, wants to send Valjean back Send all address changes to CATHOLIC SPIRIT, 6225 Hwy. to God alone. By what right do men touch that to prison. During an insurrection, Javert is taken 290 E., Austin, TX 78723. Please include your parish’s unknown thing?” I’ve yet to nd a more succinct prisoner. Valjean, who arrives later, is given the name and city. If receiving duplicate copies of the argument against the death penalty. chance to kill him. CATHOLIC SPIRIT, call (512) 949-2443 or e-mail [email protected]. The story is impossible to sum up here, but Instead Valjean sings, “You are wrong and always Jean Valjean is paroled from prison after serving have been wrong. I’m a man no worse than any 19 years for stealing bread to feed his sister’s son. man. You are free and there are no conditions. No STAFF Publisher: Most Rev. Joe S. Vásquez, Bishop of Austin (He got ve for theft and the rest because he kept bargains or petitions. There’s nothing that I blame Editor: Shelley Metcalf; (512) 949-2400, escaping.) After his parole, he can’t get work or you for. You’ve done your duty, nothing more.” This [email protected] charity. He ends up at the bishop’s house who reminds me of Christ forgiving his executioners. Assistant Editor: Christian R. González; (512) 949-2400, invites him with “There is wine here to revive you. Would I, could I offer that kind of [email protected] There is bread to make you strong,” in an obvious ness? Shouldn’t I be that kind of Christian, too? Advertising: Shelley Metcalf; reference to the Eucharist. And isn’t it true that the Javert can’t live in a world with “New Testament” (512) 949-2400, [email protected] Eucharist does that for us? forgiveness. He loses it and goes out in a big way. Spanish translation: Beatriz Ferrer Welsh Valjean repays the kindness by stealing the For more on their respective beliefs, listen careColumnists: Barbara Budde, Mary Lou Gibson and bishop’s silver. He’s caught by police, claiming the fully to their two big solos: Javert’s “Stars” and Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D. silver was gift and is returned to the bishop who Valjean’s “Bring Him Home.” Both of these are Correspondents: Burnie Cook, Amy Moraczewski, conrms the lie saying, “But my friend you left so actually prayers. Enedelia Obregón, Michele Chan Santos and early, surely something slipped your mind. You Prayer is central to the glorious nale of the Mary P. Walker forgot I gave these also. Would you leave the best show. I hope that everyone I love will pass as behind?” as he hands Valjean two silver candle- peacefully and blessed as Valjean. He prays for his Catholic Spirit subscribes to Catholic News Service sticks. Watch the movie carefully and you’ll see the newlywed daughter, “Take these children my Lord (CNS) and is a member of the Catholic Press Association. candlesticks are never far from Valjean. For the rest to thy embrace and show them grace.” And then he Copyright 2013 by the Austin Diocese. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any editorial content, photograph, of his life, the bishop’s candlesticks continue to prays for himself, “God on high. Hear my prayer. art or design is prohibited without written permission of the pull Valjean out of the darkness. The bishop could Take me now. To thy care. Where you are, let me publisher CATHOLIC SPIRIT (ISSN 0896-2715) is published 11 be.” And with his last breath he prays, “Forgive me times annually (monthly except one issue in July/August) all my trespasses and take me to your glory.” Who by the Austin Diocese. Bishop Joe S. Vásquez, publisher, wouldn’t want to pass in such a prayerful state? The Diocese of Austin has issued the follow6225 Hwy. 290 E., Austin, TX 78723. Periodicals Postage The ending of the movie was changed slightly ing notice: Paid at Austin, Texas. from the musical in that Eponine does not appear • Anyone knowing the whereabouts of POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Catholic Spirit, to Valjean as he makes his way to heaven; however, Roselia Amador Estrada is hereby requested 6225 Hwy. 290 E., Austin, Texas 78723. someone else does and again, I too, hope to be to contact Deacon Ralph Arevalo at (512) 949welcomed into heaven by the “angels and saints.” 2479.

Ofcial notice

February 2013

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Bishop blesses new sanctuary for St. Vincent de Paul SVDP Continued from Page 1

and sent to save the world. As the church proclaims, Jesus is the priest, the altar and the Lamb of Sacrice,” Bishop Vásquez said. Sharon and James Reeves are very pleased with the new sanctuary. They see the meaningful and sacred touches, such as the stained glass rose window depicting the Holy Spirit above

the new crucix behind the altar and the Stations of the Cross, and they are proud to be a part of St. Vincent de Paul’s history and to take part in the dedication Mass. “It [the new building] is icing on the cake,” the couple agreed. Mark Fair, a member of the parish Building Committee said the sense of closeness and welcoming is the hallmark of St. Vincent de Paul Parish. “Throughout the building

project the Building Committee received feedback regarding the importance of maintaining these attributes as the parish continued to grow and move into a new worship space. It was evident at the dedication event that the welcoming spirit of our parishioners made the day special for all those who attended,” he said. At the conclusion of the Mass, Father Garcia thanked all those involved in the build-

ing of the new church. “I pray that this new sanctuary will always be a place where we gather as church to give glory and praise to God for all the good he has done for us,” Father Garcia said. In closing, Bishop Vásquez thanked Fathers Garcia and Feather and the parish for their hospitality. “We continue to marvel at how great and loving our God is who chose to reveal himself

in time and in human nature,” the bishop said. “In this Year of Faith, may the joy of Mary, the Mother of God, who lovingly embraced Jesus Christ, be yours. I pray that your love for Christ will continue to grow so that you may become bearers of Good News.” St. Vincent de Paul Parish is located at 9500 Neenah Ave. in Austin. For Mass times, visit www.svdpparish. org or call (512) 255-1389.

THE NEW CHURCH for St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Austin seats 1,200. The exterior of the new church is pictured above. Father Danny Garcia, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul, blesses the main pillars of the new church. Deacon Allen Desorcie, who served St. Vincent de Paul for several years, lights the altar candles during the dedication Mass. Bishop Joe Vásquez anoints the altar with holy oil. (Photos by Shelley Metcalf)

Hundreds gather for Texas Catholic Pro-Life Day

TEXAS CATHOLIC PRO-LIFE DAY was held Jan. 26 in Austin. This year marked the 40th anniversary of the legalization of abortion. The day included a vigil at the South Austin Planned Parenthood facility, Mass celebrated by Bishop Joe Vásquez, a rally at the State Capitol and a Party for Life. All of the events were well attended, and many commented on the number of young people who were present. “As Catholics we speak out against the culture of death. Our mission is to promote a culture of life that creates a civilization of love and compassion towards all .... Let us embrace our mission of promoting life in all of its stages during this Year of Faith by being radiant examples of Christ’s welcoming and forgiving love in our world,” Bishop Vásquez told the crowd during the Mass. (Photos by Evandro Menezes)

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JP II, St. Louis de Montfort inspire priest’s new book BY MARY P. WALKER SENIOR CORRESPONDENT Updating a spiritual classic is risky, but Father Brian McMaster went forth in humility, faith and prayer to do just that in his new book, “Totus Tuus: A Consecration to Jesus through Mary with Blessed John Paul II.” When asked why he wrote the book, Father McMaster explained that when he was the associate pastor at St. Mary Catholic Center at Texas A&M University, he encouraged students to use St. Louis de Montfort’s book, “True Devotion to Mary,” which includes 33 days of spiritual preparation culminating in a prayer of total consecration to Jesus through Mary. Because St. Louis lived in the 18th century, the students often found his style of writing and language hard to follow. Father McMaster thought that someday he would like to make St. Louis’ work more accessible to a contemporary audience. In addition, as a great admirer of Blessed John Paul II, Father McMaster thought that the late pontiff’s teachings and devotion to Mary could enrich the work of St. Louis. As a young man

during the Nazi occupation of Poland, the future pope used St. Louis’ spiritual writings to make a total consecration of himself to Jesus through Mary. This spiritual preparation and consecration was such a profound experience that he adopted St. Louis de Monfort’s phrase “Totus Tuus” (Totally Yours) for his motto as bishop and pope. Father McMaster believes that Blessed John Paul II’s devotion and relationship to Jesus through Mary enflamed the hearts of Catholics all over the world and even changed the course of history. His goal was to take the best of St. Louis’ writings and infuse them with the thought and spirit of Blessed John Paul II. The work of St. Louis and Blessed John Paul II complement each other and have much to teach us today, he said. “If God chose to use Mary to bring his presence into the world to save us, wouldn’t it also make sense for us to go through Mary to become more Christ-like and receive his presence into our hearts as well?” Father McMaster asked. After he became director of Vocations for the diocese, on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes,

JOE WOLF

Father McMaster made a personal commitment to spend his day off writing this book. Faithful to St. Louis’ vision, the new book takes the themes and structures of his preparation for total consecration and incorporates the insight of Blessed John Paul II, while using language and examples familiar to contemporary Catholics. One “addition” Father McMaster made was to add resolutions for actions to foster holiness. He explained that because St. Louis expected that consecration would be life changing, resolutions for holiness were certainly implied in his writings. This new book makes them a more explicit part of the process. Like St. Louis, Father McMaster wanted to create both a prayerful and practical guide. To test his work, he asked a group of Texas A&M Catholic students, seminarians and Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist to use drafts of the manuscript and pray through the spiritual exercises. This diverse group was overwhelming positive about the book and provided valuable feedback. The students said that the book taught them how to pray, and the sisters were especially helpful with the

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nuances of the language of spirituality. Although writing the book was a signicant commitment of time, it was also an enjoyable spiritual journey for Father McMaster. He prayed to and believes his work was guided by St. Louis and Blessed John Paul II. He finished the manuscript at the St. Malo Retreat Center in Colorado, which the late pope visited when he came to the U.S. for World Youth Day in 1993. Father McMaster feels particularly blessed to have stayed in the same room, FATHER BRIAN MCMASslept in the same bed, and TER has written “Totus Tuus: hiked the same trails as A Consecration to Jesus Blessed John Paul II. through Mary with Blessed Father McMaster’s John Paul II.” It is published by book, “Totus Tuus: A ConOur Sunday Visitor. (Catholic secration to Jesus through Spirit photo) Mary with Blessed John Paul II,” is available in the book will yield many spiritual bookstores and online. St. Wil- blessings in the lives of Catholics, liam Parish in Round Rock will Father McMaster also wants host a free presentation by Father the book to provide temporal McMaster on Marian consecra- support for God’s work in the tion on Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. in the Austin Diocese. He is donating parish’s Sacred Heart Chapel. his advance and all royalties to St. Afterwards, he will sign copies of Mary’s Catholic Center at Texas his book, which will be available A&M University and the Dofor purchase. minican Sisters of Mary, Mother In addition to hoping that of the Eucharist.

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Gabriel Project: 20 years helping women in crisis BY MICHELE CHAN SANTOS CORRESPONDENT Valentine’s Day will mark the 20th anniversary of the Gabriel Project, a ministry to women in crisis pregnancies in the Diocese of Austin. On Feb. 14, 1993, with the support of Bishop John McCarthy, the Gabriel Project began at St. William Parish in Round Rock. Father Louis Pavlicek, pastor at the time, and the parishioners of St. William supported the project, then in its infancy. Two decades later, the Gabriel Project has blossomed into an organization that includes two Gabriel Project Life Centers, one in Austin and one in Bryan; 100 volunteers who work as Gabriel Angels; and 50 parishes. The Life Centers are staffed by paid employees and volunteers. Each center serves more than 100 unique clients each month. At the centers, clients receive free self-administered pregnancy tests, in addition to material assistance, mentoring and classes in everything from breastfeeding to prenatal nutrition and parenting. In July 2011, the Gabriel Project Life Centers became part of Catholic Charities of Central Texas. Rebecca Niemerg, the pastoral care coordinator for the Gabriel Project, said the ministry looks very different than 20 years ago. “But the mission has absolutely stayed the same. The whole mission of the Gabriel Project is to provide emotional, spiritual and material support for pregnant women and families in need,” she said. Niemerg works for the diocesan Ofce of Pro-Life Activities and Chaste Living and coordinates pastoral care for Project Rachel, the diocesan Pro-Life Helpline and Sidewalk Ministry, as well as the Gabriel Project.

To celebrate the anniversary, there will be a Mass and reception Feb. 23, where it all began –– at St. William Parish in Round Rock. The 10 a.m. Mass will be celebrated by Msgr. Louis Pavlicek; a reception will follow from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The event is sponsored by the Ofce of Pro-life Activities and Chaste Living. “When we initially started it, we just wanted to be able to help women,” said Toni Donley, the coordinator of the Gabriel Project at St. Luke Parish in Temple. “There wasn’t a big huge plan. Father Pavlicek, Ann Bierschenk, Sheri Danze –– these were the three leading gures. In their hearts, they all wanted to help pregnant women.”

Parish Gabriel Projects The Gabriel Project signs stand in front of many Central Texas parishes. They say, “Pregnant? Need Help?” and give the number of the Gabriel Project, 1-877-WE CARE 2 or (512) 238-1246. What happens after a woman calls the number? She reaches a Gabriel Angel, a trained volunteer. “The helpline angel will give her information about pregnancy resources located in the diocese,” Niemerg said. “They’re going to listen to her story and brainstorm with her about what she needs, whether it’s a referral to St. Vincent de Paul, job training or social services.” The caller is given the option of having her own Gabriel Angel, a volunteer who will meet one-on-one with her once a month. The volunteers will talk with the expectant mother, bring her some material items and support her emotionally on her journey. “Gabriel Angels are a crucial part of this ministry,” Niemerg said. According to Niemerg, in the last year, Gabriel Angels

have helped 70 mothers. Donley has been a Gabriel Angel volunteer for more than 15 years and is the former cocoordinator of the Gabriel Project for the diocese. “The most rewarding part about it is you really are able to give unconditional love to people who are truly at the most vulnerable time in the their lives,” Donley said of her volunteer work. “You have heart-to-heart contact with the mothers.” “If something happens and they have to go to the ER and are afraid they might lose their baby or they’ve been kicked out of their homes,” Donley said, “you are there and physically present to them and they know that you care.” Niemerg shared a personal story about a pregnant young woman she helped when she was volunteering in New York with a charity similar to the Gabriel Project. “I worked with one mom who had an abortion previously. She called to meet with us. She didn’t know anything we had to offer; her only thought was ‘I cannot go through an abortion again.’ Her mother was really pressuring her to have an abortion. Her mom didn’t talk to her through her whole pregnancy. I was with her at the birth. I watched this young woman grow and blossom into a mother. Her mother stopped by to visit when the baby was four months old. This grandmother was transformed by the child. She became a doting grandmother. It was a wonderful example of how the presence of another changes us.” Niemerg shared this story to demonstrate that “one of the things we do in the role of a Ga-

Lenten retreats offered at Cedarbrake

briel Angel is to hold out hope for the pregnant mother. To tell her, ‘Things can be better than they are right now.’ I was able to hold out hope for her when she did not have any.” People assume finances are always the biggest problem for women calling the helpline, but that isn’t true, Niemerg said. “Money is not always the biggest problem for these moms. It’s that people are not supporting her. She needs to be able to make an act of faith in herself and that’s what friendships allow us to do.” Other times, material needs are very pressing. Some of the women Donley have worked with are struggling with having enough food or a place to live. “Some of the mothers are so hungry when they come to you, you can’t even talk to them until they’ve had something to eat,” Donley said. “That is a reality. We always meet with them at our church, we have an ofce right next to a little kitchen. If they are hungry we can provide something for them that day or I’ll take them to get food.”

Gabriel Project Life Centers The Gabriel Project Life Center in Austin is located at 1625 Rutherford Lane, in the Catholic Charities ofces. It is open Monday through Friday. The Good Samaritan Gabriel Project Life Center in Bryan is at 1314 E. 29th Street. Both locations offer pregnancy tests, classes and

trained pregnancy consultants. Clients have a one-on-one relationship with a consultant and they meet each month. Classes are offered four days a week, twice in English and twice in Spanish. “They can take parenting classes, learn about pregnancyrelated topics such as nutrition, and we also have partnerships where EMS comes in and does a class about car seat safety and safe sleeping,” said Allison Skinner, director of social services for Catholic Charities of Central Texas. (The car seat safety class is only offered at the Austin location.) Clients earn points for coming to class and can redeem points for baby items like a stroller, high chair or pack-nplay, or a large amount of diapers. “A lot of people have a misconception that it’s all teen moms, but the majority of our clients are in their late 20s or early 30s. We have dads who attend class, too. The parents are both married and unmarried, and we have a good blend of education levels,” Skinner said. Some clients have not nished high school, while others are college graduates or have advanced degrees. If a client needs medical services, Gabriel Project staff will refer them to medical providers. Skinner said she is grateful for the work of the people who founded the Gabriel Project. “They planted the seed for something that has ourished,” she said.

More on the Gabriel Project The next training for Gabriel Angel volunteers will be April 6 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at St. Helen Parish in Georgetown. Those interested in becoming a Gabriel Project volunteer should contact Rebecca Niemerg at (512) 949-2488 or rebecca-niemerg@ austindiocese.org. Women in crisis pregnancies who need help may call 1-877-WE CARE 2 or (512) 238-1246.

Retreat for struggling marriages

An Ash Wednesday Day of Reection will be presented by Holy Cross Father Retrouvaille is a marriage program that helps spouses uncover or re-awaken the love, Charlie Van Winkle on Feb. 13 from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Cedarbrake Catholic trust and commitment that originally brought them together. For condential informaRetreat Center in Belton. A Lenten Weekend Retreat will be presented March 8-10; tion about Retrouvaille or how to register for the program beginning with a weekend Holy Cross Brother Joel Giallanza will be the presenter. Reections on Holy Week on Feb. 22-24, call 1-800-470-2230 or visit the website at www. helpourmarriage.com. will be held March 23 from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; Incarnate Word Sister Mirian Sturm will be the presenter. For more information or to register, contact Cedarbrake at Project Andrew will be held Feb. 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at St. Mary Cathedral in (254) 780-2436 or [email protected]. Austin. Catholic men between the ages of 16 and 45 interested in learning more about discernment, the priesthood and seminary life are invited to attend. There will be time Married couples who are looking for a getaway and time to reconnect with for prayer, testimonials by priests as well as Mass and lunch with Bishop Joe Vásquez. one another are invited to a Worldwide Marriage Encounter March 22-24 at the Project Miriam will be held Feb. 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at St. Mary Cathedral Wingate Hotel in Round Rock. The weekend begins Friday at 7:30 p.m. and in Austin. Single, Catholic women between the ages of 16 and 45 are invited to attend. ends Sunday around 4 p.m. This is an opportunity for husbands and wives to The morning includes testimonials and prayer with religious sisters serving in the escape the daily distractions of life and focus on each other. For more informa- diocese, as well as Mass and lunch with Bishop Joe Vásquez. For more information, tion or to apply to attend, contact Anh and Greg Thomas at (512) 677-WWME visit www.austinvocations.com. or contact the Vocation Ofce at (512) 949-2430 or (9963) or [email protected]. [email protected].

Discernment opportunities for teens

Married couples invited to weekend away

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CENTRAL TEXAS

C ATHOLIC S PIRIT

Regina South: An example of kindness in action Editor’s Note: The Year of Faith began last October and will run through this November. Each month during the Year of Faith, the Catholic Spirit will feature lay men and women who live their faith in a variety of ways. To suggest a lay person to feature, write catholic-spirit@ austindiocese.org. BY MARY P. WALKER SENIOR CORRESPONDENT Regina South is a busy wife, mother and business owner, who characterizes herself as “typical.” However, those who know her use adjectives such as “seless,” “humble” and “hardworking.” They can cite an almost endless list of times where she has seen a need for Christian charity and either met that need herself or mobilized others to work along with her. South’s focus on service is a natural extension of her upbringing, and she credits her late mother for giving her an example of kindness in action. Her Catholic faith serves as a pillar for her life. “Catholic is who I am, and I try to make decisions daily based on the Catholic faith,” she said. These decisions reflect a passion for helping the poor. As a life-long member of St. Anthony Parish in Bryan, she participates in parish life, both as a leader and one who humbly follows the lead of others. In addition, she is quick to praise the good work of others, who in turn inspire her. “If you want something done, you just call Regina,” said Becky Scamardo, the parish business administrator at St. Anthony, who has known South for many years.

South did not wait to be asked when she started St. Anthony’s meal ministry in 2004. South explained that as she was praying, the word “assume” came to mind. We often assume things are being done, a need is being met, and everything is working as it should. However, after some research, we often nd out otherwise, she said. The ministry started when she discovered that the local Meals on Wheels program, which provides the elderly with nutritious cooked meals delivered to their homes, only operates Monday through Friday. On the weekends, the clients must fend for themselves. Many are unable to leave their homes, have low incomes and are limited in their ability to care for themselves. Although South knew she could not address the entire problem, she believed that St. Anthony Parish could make a difference. Forging ahead with prudence and excellent organizational skills, South rallied her parish to action. One Saturday a month, volunteers meet in the parish kitchen to prepare, package and deliver a freshly cooked hot meal to nearly 100 elderly people in the Bryan-College Station area. The parish supports the ministry nancially and by volunteer efforts, and local businesses provide generous donations. South hopes that other parishes and faith communities in the area will adopt the other weekends during the month. A tasty meal is not the only good thing delivered by the ministry. South explained that many of the clients have limited social contact. Members of the

ministry phone ahead to conrm delivery. Some clients enjoy these friendly phone calls for much welcome conversation. When the meals are delivered, the caring human contact lifts the spirits of people who cannot leave their home. “You wonder if one Saturday a month will make a difference, but then you talk to people and they are so appreciative,” South said. The ministry also receives phone calls of appreciation and thank you notes. Many of the clients are ill, and some have died over the years. South is touched when they receive notes from family members to thank them for the care they had shown their loved one. South’s concern for the poor extends to other endeavors. The parish has an extensive Thanksgiving food basket outreach. Carol Rhodes, a leader in that project, praised South’s dedication in ensuring that 250 families, many from among the area’s working poor, receive a Thanksgiving dinner and other food items. “Regina is a very special person. She has a heart of gold. We are blessed to have her at St. Anthony’s, and I’m blessed to have her as a friend,” Rhodes said. In addition to her service in parish programs, South is active in the community and she serves on the advisory council of Catholic Charities of Central Texas. “She was always at school volunteering,” said Doreen Wentrcek, who also worked with her on the parish’s Advent angel tree, which provides 20 to 250 gifts to the needy through the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

REGINA SOUTH, above with her pastor Father Patrick Ebner, has inspired many at St. Anthony Parish in Bryan to help others. (Photo by Mary P. Walker)

While she enjoys helping others, South admits that sometimes she needs to step back and become less of a “Martha” and more of a “Mary,” listening for the voice of God in her life. She asks herself in prayer, “Is this something that I want to do or what God wants me to do?” For her example, faith, inspiration, organizational skills and dedication to helping

those in need, South received the diocese’s 2012 Lumen Gentium Award, which recognizes lay persons who live their baptismal call in an extraordinary way through stewardship and leadership. Parishioner Gerilyn Kleckley believes that South is a true witness of Christ-like love in action, “She is the most seless person that I know. She is genuine and giving.”

How to obtain a plenary indulgence during Year of Faith BY CATHOLIC SPIRIT STAFF Catholics who participate in events connected with the Year of Faith can receive a special indulgence, according to a decree issued by the Vatican on Sept. 14, 2012. Pope Benedict established the Year of Faith to run from Oct. 11, 2012, to Nov. 24, 2013. An indulgence is a remission of the temporal punishment due for sins that have been forgiven. It can be granted on behalf of the individual petitioner or on behalf of departed souls. The plenary indulgence is being offered to those who visit designated churches and shrines, to those who participate in local events connected to the Year of Faith, and to those who may be too

ill or otherwise prevented from physical participation. According to the Vatican decree, conditions for the special Year of Faith indulgence include the normal requirements set by the church for all plenary indulgences, that is that the person truly repents of their sins, goes to confession, receives the Eucharist, and prays for the intentions of the Holy Father. A member of the church who has fullled those conditions may acquire a plenary indulgence in any of the following ways: • Each time they attend at least three sermons during a mission, or at least three lectures on the Second Vatican Council or on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. • Each time they visit by way

of pilgrimage a papal basilica, a Christian catacomb, a cathedral church or a holy site designated by the local bishop for the Year of Faith and there participate in a liturgy, or at least remain for an appropriate time of prayer and pious meditation, concluding with the recitation of the Our Father, the Creed in any legitimate form, and invocations of the Blessed Virgin Mary and, depending on the circumstances, of the holy Apostles or patron saints. In the Diocese of Austin the following four sites have been designated by Bishop Joe Vásquez for the Year of Faith plenary indulgence: St. Mary Cathedral in Austin, St. Mary Parish in College Station, St. Mary Parish in Lampasas and St. Louis Parish in Waco. • Each time they participate

in the Mass, or the Liturgy of the Hours adding the Creed, in any parish church in the diocese, on the days determined by the local bishop. In the Diocese of Austin the following days have been designated by Bishop Vásquez for the Year of Faith plenary indulgence: Feb. 13 (Ash Wednesday), March 28 (Holy Thursday), March 30 (Easter Vigil), March 31 (Easter Sunday), April 8 (Solemnity of the Annunciation), May 19 (Pentecost), Aug. 15 (Solemnity of the Assumption), Nov. 1 (All Saints’ Day), and Nov. 24 (Solemnity of Christ the King). • On any day they choose, during the Year of Faith, if they make a prayerful visit to the place where they received the sacrament of baptism, and there renew

their baptismal promises in any legitimate form. Members of the faithful who are truly repentant and are unable to take part in public liturgies for serious reasons (for example, cloistered nuns, prisoners, the elderly and the sick) will gain the plenary indulgence on the same conditions, if, united in mind and spirit with the faithful present, especially at a moment when the words of the Holy Father or one of the diocesan bishops are broadcast via the television or radio, they recite at home, or wherever their impediment obliges them to be, the Our Father, the Creed in any legitimate form, and other prayers in conformity with the objectives of the Year of Faith, offering up their suffering or the hardship in their lives.

CENTRAL TEXAS Ashes to Easter supports missionaries all over the world

February 2013

BY CATHOLIC SPIRIT STAFF This year more than 51,000 little boxes have been distributed to parishes throughout the Austin Diocese so that families can take part in the Ashes to Easter campaign. During Lent, which begins with Ash Wednesday on Feb. 13, families are asked to contribute coins to the boxes and to pray for the missionaries for whom the money is collected. Christina Krueger, the diocesan Missions Coordinator, has taken the reigns of the Ashes to Easter project, which was operated by Father Tom Frank for more than 20 years. “Father Frank lovingly ran this project for so long because he wanted to encourage and support local missionaries and raise awareness about missionary activities throughout the world,” Krueger said. Missionaries are committed to bringing Christ’s love to those who might not ever be offered the gift of faith, she said. “Missionaries work for the universal church,” Krueger said. “Many of them live and work and bring the faith to remote villages and people that the rest of us have forgotten about. It is in people

such as these, that we always encounter the face of Christ.” The money collected through Ashes to Easter supports the efforts of several locally connected missionary efforts: Friends of Los Niños in El Progreso, Honduras – A ministry dedicated to helping meet the nutritional, medical, spiritual and educational needs of children in a small community in Honduras. For information, visit www. friendsoosninos.org. International Foundation for Hope for Arul Ashram in India – Carol Collins, a parishioner of St. Theresa Parish in Austin, works with the Little Brothers of St. John to run an Indian orphanage and school for 40 children living with HIV/ AIDS. For information, visit www.ifoundhope.org. Kids to Kids Outreach Mission Hope in Guatemala – Norm and Maria Kaesberg of Round Rock are missionaries who serve malnourished and homeless children in Guatemala. They teach about the Catholic faith, and they bring in health care workers and medicines to help the sick. For information, visit k2kmissionhope. wordpress.com. Nuestra Madre Santísima de la Luz in Guadalupe Nuevo

Leon, Mexico – Holy Cross priests with Father John Herman as pastor serve the poor in a mission parish struggling with violence, kidnapping and killings perpetuated by Mexican drug cartels. The mission serves 50,000 people and offers food, medical care, school supplies and scholarships for teens. For information, visit www.holycrossusa. org/ministries/parish/mexico/. New Hope for Cambodian Children in Cambodia – John and Kathy Tucker are originally from the Temple area and currently provide medical care and shelter to Cambodian children who have been abandoned and

are living with HIV/AIDS. They are developing more educational programs and vocational trainings for the children. For information, visit www.newhopeforcambodianchildren.com. Hope for Rio Dulce, Guatemala – Ryan Eckert serves the indigenous Q’eqchi villagers by promoting the Catholic faith and supporting four chapels, education and programs that help villagers develop sustainable incomes. For information, visit www.hopefortheriodulce.com. Weavers of Hope – This is an Austin-based project that supports Catholics in the Village of Villa Garcia in Zacatecas,

7

Mexico. Villagers make rugs and tapestries that are sold in the U.S. and the proceeds are returned to the villagers. The ministry also provides educational scholarships. For information, visit www.weaversofhope.org. Wildower Home in Thailand – Mike and Elizabeth Thaibinh, who have ties to St. Mary Parish in College Station, serve pregnant young mothers in crisis situations in Chiang Mai, Thailand. They provide food, shelter, counseling, health care, educational opportunities and vocational training for young women and their children. For information, visit www.wildowerhome.net. MIKE AND ELIZABETH THAIBINH and their children are missionaries who run the Wildower Home, which serves young mothers in Thailand. This year the Wildower Home will receive funds from the Ashes to Easter collection. (Photo courtesy Elizabeth Thaibinh)

CENTRAL TEXAS

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C ATHOLIC S PIRIT

Young priest felt God’s call from an early age BY AMY MORACZEWSKI CORRESPONDENT Father Jonathan Raia, associate pastor at St. William Parish in Round Rock, rst felt called to the priesthood around the time of his rst Communion. Entering seminary following graduation from the University of Texas, the Houston native faced a critical decision. Would he remain in the Diocese of Austin or return home to the Archdiocese of GalvestonHouston? And there was a third option of pursuing priesthood as a member of a religious order. Thanks to the guidance and support of Archbishop Gregory Aymond, who at the time served as bishop of Austin, Father Raia was able to enter the seminary while continuing to discern where the Lord was calling him to serve. Father Raia got to know Archbishop Aymond while working at the Chancery as a college student. “He helped me a lot in my discernment. He was very generous in opening the door and not putting any pressure on me,” Father Raia said. Ultimately, the connections he formed across the diocese while working at the Chancery helped draw Father Raia to Central Texas. Although Archbishop Aymond played a large

role in his formation, the young seminarian knew that the bishop would not be here forever. As it turned out, six days after Father Raia’s ordination in 2009, the bishop’s appointment as the Archbishop of New Orleans was announced. While the loss came sooner than expected, the recently ordained Father Raia had formed strong bonds with other priests in the diocese throughout his time in seminary, and through the priestly fraternity Cor Jesu, which means “Heart of Jesus.” Looking back, Father Raia is now convinced that this brotherhood of priests, the rst of its kind in the Diocese of Austin, is “a large part of why the Lord has called me to this diocese.” In his three years as a priest, Father Raia has discovered a multitude of other reasons for his presence here, many of which stem from his role in walking with people on their path to a deeper relationship with Christ. “A big thing both my brother and I received from our parents growing up was having a personal relationship with the Lord,” said Father Raia. That personal relationship began at home and was fostered through Catholic school, involvement in their parish and especially through the friendships he

formed at the University Catholic Center as a student at the University of Texas. Now he has the privilege and responsibility of leading thousands of parishioners on their own spiritual journeys. Whether through preaching, the sacrament of penance, faith formation classes, or individual spiritual direction, Father Raia is acutely aware of the transformation occurring in people’s lives. Speaking to a diverse audience who may all be at different points in their faith, he has realized that the Gospel message can transform people in a variety of ways. “We have people coming back to the faith and your faithful every Sunday Catholic saying ‘I’ve never heard this before, and this really helped bring it alive for me.’ It’s amazing to see how it transforms people’s lives, even people who have been faithful Catholics. Getting to see that conversion happening is so rewarding,” Father Raia said. As a testament to the importance of on-going religious education, Father Raia continues to deepen his own knowledge of the faith by pursuing a master’s degree in Christian Spirituality. Father Raia has spent ve months over the course of three summers in Omaha, Neb. studying at Creighton University. He has also helped provide spiritual direction for seminarians

Bishop ordains transitional deacon

BISHOP JOE VÁSQUEZ ordained Augustine Uchenna Ariwaodo to the transitional diaconate on Jan. 5 at St. Elizabeth Parish in Pugerville. With the help of God, Deacon Ariwaodo, Deacon Jason Bonifazi, Deacon Barry Cuba, Deacon Alejandro (Alex) Caudillo and Deacon Timothy Nolt will be ordained to the priesthood June 8 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Austin. (Photo by Shelley Metcalf)

FATHER JONATHAN RAIA is associate pastor of St. William Parish in Round Rock. He was ordained in 2009. (Catholic Spirit le photo)

from all over the country in the summer Institute of Priestly Formation on Creighton’s campus. When time allows for a study break, the men enjoy their relentless search to discover Omaha’s best steakhouse. As an undergraduate student, Father Raia spent a semester in Spain. As a dual major between liberal arts and Spanish, he was no stranger to the language, but that time abroad enhanced his ability to communicate effectively in Spanish, he said. This has proven to be a key component in building relationships with parishioners, as Father Raia now conducts nearly half of his ministry in Spanish. However, he has occasionally learned the hard way that certain jokes and stories do not translate well when he receives nothing but blank stares during a homily. Although priesthood remained at the forefront of his mind throughout his college years, Father Raia imagined a possible alternative career in international relations. Instead he has been able to channel his passion for languages and traveling into his ministry, including a recent mission trip to Guatemala. God has provided Father Raia with opportunities to pursue two other passions –– theater and music. Shortly before Christmas, Father Raia put his theatrical talents on display for the high school youth group, alongside members of the core team, with a

skit the adults wrote. Earlier in the fall, the associate pastor joined members of the parish in performing Mozart’s “Requiem” as part of the parish’s Sacred Music Concert Series. “It was a great change of pace to sit in rehearsal and be part of the choir, and not be the one leading for a change,” Father Raia said. While he has enjoyed the vast array of duties assigned to him as a priest, he said, “The things that I thought I would most love when I was discerning and in seminary were celebrating Mass and hearing confessions, and I would say those are the two things still that are most rewarding. In terms of celebrating Mass, one of my favorite things is preaching, especially the Sunday homily. I just really love that opportunity to help people see how God’s Word speaks to their life.” Although the initial inclination toward the priesthood came at age 7, what Father Raia refers to as his “burning bush moment” did not occur until the summer before his sophomore year of college. During adoration, the thought of priesthood came to mind. This was nothing new, but his response suddenly changed when he heard himself say, “There’s nothing I want more than that.” Father Raia now realizes that, “It was really God calling me through my own desire.”

CENTRAL TEXAS

February 2013

9

Retreat for those struggling with abortion

Workshop for those who help engaged couples

Project Rachel is a compassionate and condential ministry that helps women and men suffering emotionally and spiritually from the trauma of abortion. Weekend retreats are available throughout the year at private locations. They are led by a priest and the Project Rachel team. The next retreat is March 15-17. To condentially register for this retreat, call (877) We-Care-2 (1-877-932-2732).

A workshop for those who prepare couples for marriage will be held March 9 at the diocesan Pastoral Center in Austin. The training will prepare participants to give the PREPARE premarital inventory to couples preparing for marriage and to discuss the results in a manner that has been shown to effectively reduce later marital conict. The PREPARE has a specially-designed version for Catholic couples and is available in both English and Spanish. This training, given by a certied PREPARE-ENRICH trainer, will also cover the ENRICH instrument, for couples who are already married. This instrument can be used in marriage mentoring and other marriage enrichment approaches. To register or for more information, contact the diocesan Ofce of Family Counseling and Family Life at (512) 949-2495 or [email protected].

White Mass celebrates health care workers The Catholic Physician’s Guild of Central Texas invites clinicians, health care providers, administrators, and other interested parties to attend the 12th Annual White Mass on Feb. 11 at 6 p.m. at St. Mary Cathedral in Austin. Bishop Joe Vásquez will celebrate the Mass. All are welcome to a reception to be held immediately following the Mass. Please RSVP to [email protected].

Men’s conference features Matthew Kelly The Central Texas Fellowship of Catholic Men will host its rst Men’s Conference Feb. 16 beginning at 9 a.m. at St. William Parish in Round Rock. Matthew Kelly, a wellknown Catholic speaker, will be the presenter. This workshop is for men who want a thorough look at where they are in their lives, personally and spiritually and enables them to better love, live and share the Catholic faith in a more dynamic way than ever before. For more information, call (512) 560-2048 or visit www.dynamiccatholic.com.

Catholic Advocacy Day is April 9 at Capitol Catholics from across the state will gather on April 9 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the State Capitol. Everyone is encouraged to take this opportunity to meet with their local representatives and advocate for the common good. For more information, contact Barbara Budde at [email protected] or Marie Seale at marie-seale@ austindiocese.org or call (512) 949-2400.

Retreat for couples preparing to marry Couples planning to marry should contact their priest or deacon at least six months prior to their wedding date in order to begin the marriage preparation process. Engaged couples are encouraged to inquire at their parish about premarriage retreats and classes. Couples planning to attend the diocesan pre-marriage retreat, “Together in God’s Love,” are encouraged to register as soon as possible. The program will be offered in a series of classes Feb. 5, 12, 19 and 26 and Nov. 5, 12, 19 and 26 from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the diocesan Pastoral Center in Austin. The program will be offered in retreat format March 15-17, May 1719, July 12-14 and Oct. 25-27 at Cedarbrake Catholic Retreat Center in Belton. Engaged couples must provide proof they have taken either the FOCCUS or PREPARE assessment before attending the “Together in God’s Love” retreat. Couples must register by contacting the diocesan Ofce of Catholic Family Counseling and Family Life at (512) 949-2495 or rick-bologna@austindiocese. org.

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CENTRAL TEXAS

10

C ATHOLIC S PIRIT

Advent traditions come together for Year of Faith BY ENEDELIA J. OBREGÓN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT Parishes in the Killeen-area came together during Advent to celebrate the Nativity traditions of Las Posadas and Simbang Gabi. The traditions were combined by Servants of the Risen Christ Father Vincent Romuald to promote the Year of Faith in daily liturgical celebrations Dec. 15-23. The celebrations began at St. Joseph Parish and proceeded to Holy Family Parish in Copperas Cove, St. Paul Chong Hasang Parish in Harker Heights and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Fort Hood. Father Romuald, associate pastor at St. Joseph, came up with the blending of the two celebrations as opportunities for parishioners to appreciate the gift of faith, deepen their relationship with God and strengthen their commitment to sharing faith with others as called for in the Year of Faith by Pope Benedict XVI. “Last year we did the traditional posadas,” he said, noting that those are usually done in homes. “This year with the call to enrich, direct and educate we wanted something that would

lead us back to church and the Eucharist.” Father Romuald, a monk in the order of the Servants of the Risen Christ in the Philippines, was in Houston prior to coming to St. Joseph almost two years ago. He received permission from Bishop Joe Vásquez in 2011 to incorporate several cultural traditions in the celebrations. Because of nearby Fort Hood, parishioners come from a variety of cultures:

last stop, the hosts let the procession in and everyone is treated to a party. Las Posadas is also celebrated in the Philippines along with Simbang Gabi, which also owes its origins to Spanish missionaries in the 17th century. Since many Filipino farmers and shermen began or ended their day at dawn, missionaries began having Mass as early as 4 a.m. Simbang Gabi is Tagalog

as she had in her youth in the Philippines. Lily Cruz, president of the Cultura Filipina and the FilipinoAmerican Dance Troupe, said it’s easy to lose cultural traditions when one leaves home. She left the Philippines at age 14. “Sometimes our kids don’t even know the heritage,” she said. “I remember other feast days like Santa Cruz and the Flores de Mayo (Feast of Mary).”

“It is Christ who brings us together ... We may be from different cultures, but we are brought together by him.” –– Myrna Martínez from St. Joseph Parish in Killeen

Filipino, Panamanian, AfricanAmerican and Puerto Rican, to name a few. They are brought together by their common faith. Many of those cultures celebrate Las Posadas, traditionally observed Dec. 16-24, which reenact Joseph and Mary’s search for shelter prior to the birth of the Christ Child. Posada in Spanish means “lodging.” Traditionally, people gather at dusk and the “pilgrims” led by an angel, Mary and Joseph go door to door singing for shelter. Hosts inside each home sing a reply. At the

–– a Filipino dialect –– for Night Mass, and is also celebrated Dec. 16 to 24. Through the years, Simbang Gabi became a religious celebration infused with Filipino customs and food. Since it was typically dark when the churchgoers walked to Mass before dawn, people hung “parols,” colorful star-like lanterns made of paper and bamboo to represent the star of Bethlehem, in their windows. Luz Valiante, 85, made the 12 parols for St. Joseph with the help of her husband, Miguel,

Pastoral support for victims of sexual abuse The Diocese of Austin is committed to providing condential and compassionate care to victims of sexual abuse, particularly if the abuse was committed by clergy or a church representative. If you have experienced abuse by someone representing the Catholic Church, please contact the diocesan coordinator of pastoral care at (512) 949-2400.

Apoyo pastoral a las víctimas de abuso sexual La Diócesis de Austin se compromete a proporcionar ayuda condencial y compasiva a las víctimas de abuso sexual, especialmente si el abuso fue cometido por el clero o un representante de la iglesia. Si usted ha sufrido abusos por parte de alguien que representa la Iglesia Católica, por favor comuníquese con el coordinador diocesano del cuidado pastoral al (512) 949-2400.

How to report an incident of concern The Diocese of Austin is committed to preventing harm from happening to any of our children or vulnerable adults. If you are aware of sexual or physical abuse and/or neglect of a child or vulnerable adult, state law requires you to report that information to local law enforcement or the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services at (800) 252-5400 or www.dfps. state.tx.us. Additionally, if the suspected abuse is by clergy or an employee or volunteer of any diocesan parish, school or agency, a Notice of Concern should be submitted to the diocesan Ethics and Integrity in Ministry Ofce at (512) 949-2400. The l Notice of Concern can be found at www.austindiocese.org (click on the link HOW TO REPORT ABUSE). Reports may be made anonymously.

Cómo reportar un caso de abuso La Diócesis de Austin está comprometida a la prevención del daño que se cause a cualquier niño o adulto vulnerable. Si usted está enterado del abuso sexual o físico y/o abandono de un niño o adulto vulnerable, la ley estatal requiere que se reporte esa información a la policía local o el Departamento de Servicios Familiares y de Protección del Estado de Texas al (800) 252-5400 o al sitio: www.dfps.state.tx.us y además, si la sospecha de abuso es por parte del clero, empleado o voluntario de cualquier parroquia, escuela u organización de la diócesis, se debe enviar un Reporte de Abuso y debe ser presentado a la Ocina de Ética e Integridad en el Ministerio de la diócesis al (512) 949-2400. El Reporte de Abuso se encuentra en nuestra página de Internet diocesana: www.austindiocese.org (Haga click en la liga COMO REPORTAR UN CASO DE ABUSO). Estos reportes pueden ser hechos de manera anónima.

Myrna Martínez is originally from Panama. She said the different cultural celebrations are all united by one thing –– faith. “It is Christ who brings us together,” she said. “We may be from different cultures, but we are brought together by him.” Lois Carter, who is originally from Detroit, said seeing the different cultures at church make her “proud to be Catholic.” “It’s great the church is opening up and including us,” she said. “For a while I was looking and searching for what I used to feel

back home. Now I feel it again.” Each cultural group hosted a dinner after each Mass; therefore, the different groups were able to spend time in fellowship. Father Romuald said that in 2011 the parishes did one activity together. In 2012, the parishes began planning for the nine-day December event in July. Aside from the Novena, the cultural religious teachings were incorporated into religious education for youth and adult education during Advent. “Every day there is a theme,” he said. For example, one day the children in RE learned about the lives of saints and about emulating the virtues of holiness. “Everything is about leading us back to God,” Father Romuald said. “We help people anticipate the Second Coming with faith.” All the activities focused on the Eucharist at Mass, which is the ultimate truth, he said. With so much focus on “facts” about the church, Father Romuald said people forget facts can be deceiving. “Facts are not always truth,” he said. “It’s fact that the Eucharist is bread. But it’s not just bread. It’s Christ. And that’s the truth.”

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February 2013

IN OUR WORLD

11

Pope encourages prayer for unity, community nd it more and more difcult to believe, Pope Benedict XVI told Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant leaders. Christians must work to“Unity is in itself a privileged gether to offer the faith they means –– almost a requirement share to a world that seems to –– for proclaiming the faith in

BY CINDY WOODEN CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

POPE BENEDICT XVI led an ecumenical evening prayer service at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome Jan. 25. The service concluded the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

an increasingly credible way to those who do not yet know the Savior or who, having received the proclamation of the Gospel, have almost forgotten this precious gift,” Pope Benedict said Jan. 25. Presiding over an evening prayer service at the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the pope said that, even as divided Christians continue their theological dialogues in the search for full unity, “It is necessary to pursue concrete collaboration among the disciples of Christ on behalf of the cause of transmitting the faith to the modern world. “In today’s society, it seems that the Christian message has a diminishing impact on personal and community life, and this represents a challenge for all churches and ecclesial communities,” Pope Benedict said in his homily at Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. The key to meeting the challenge, the pope said, is for Christians to pray to God for the gift of unity and step up their efforts at “reconciliation, dialogue and mutual understanding.” “Communion in the same faith is the basis for ecumenism,” he said. During the Year of Faith, which the pope established to encourage Catholics to study the basic tenets of their faith

and strengthen their religious practice and witness, he said Christians should recognize and give thanks for their shared faith in God, in Jesus as savior and in the Holy Spirit, who sancties and continues to give life to the church. “Without faith –– which primarily is a gift of God, but is also a response of man –– the whole ecumenical movement would be reduced to a form of ‘contract’ to which we adhere out of our common interests,” he said. Instead, ecumenism itself is an expression of faith in Jesus, who prayed that his disciples would be one, the pope said. The theme –– “What does God require of us?” –– and reections for the 2013 week of prayer were developed by Christians in India, working with the World Council of Churches and the Pontical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The material highlighted the believers’ biblical obligation “to do justice, love goodness and walk humbly with God.” “True faith in God is inseparable from personal holiness, just as it is inseparable from the search for justice,” the pope said. He prayed for Christians in India, “who sometimes are called to witness to their faith in difficult circumstances,”

and he said that while walking humbly with God means trusting God completely, “it also means walking beyond the barriers, hatred, racism and social and religious discrimination that divide and damage the whole society.” Pope Benedict offered special greetings during the prayer service to members of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, which include the Armenian Apostolic, Coptic Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Malankara Orthodox Syrian and Eritrean Orthodox churches. Meeting commission members earlier in the day, the pope said many of the Oriental Orthodox faithful live in areas “where Christians, as individuals and communities, face painful trials and difculties which are a source of deep concern to us all.” The pope asked the Catholic and Oriental Orthodox leaders to convey to their faithful in the Middle East his prayers that “this land, so important in God’s plan of salvation, may be led, through constructive dialogue and cooperation, to a future of justice and lasting peace.”

Social networks need more logic, love, pope says BY CAROL GLATZ CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE Social media need to promote more logic, kindness and Christian witness than bluster, star-status and division, Pope Benedict XVI said. Given that the online world exposes people to a wider range of opinions and beliefs, people need to accept the existence of these other cultures, “be enriched by it” and offer others what “they possess that is good, true and beautiful,” the pope said. Christians are called to bring truth and values to the whole world –– online and off –– remembering that it’s ultimately the power of God’s word that touches hearts, not sheer human effort, he said in his message for World Communications Day. The theme of the 2013 celebration –– marked in most dioceses the Sunday before Pentecost, this year May 12 –– is “Social Networks: Portals of Truth and Faith; New Spaces

for Evangelization.” The papal message was released on the feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron of journalists, Jan. 24. Social media “need the commitment of all who are conscious of the value of dialogue, reasoned debate and logical argumentation,” the pope said. Social forums need to be used wisely and well, which means fostering balanced and respectful dialogue and debate, he said, and paying special attention to “privacy, responsibility and truthfulness.” Too often, popularity –– garnered either from fame or strategic powers of persuasion –– determines the “significance and effectiveness” of online communication, not “intrinsic importance or value,” he said. Catholics can “show their authenticity” by sharing their hope and joy, and its source in Jesus Christ. Catholics also should give witness by the way they live their lives and how their “choices, preferences and

judgments” are fully consistent with the Gospel, he added. Msgr. Paul Tighe, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, told reporters during a brieng that the pope is asking everyone to take responsibility for creating a more humane culture online by being respectful, honest and contributing to the growth and wellbeing of individuals and society through social networks. Very often in new media “the more provocative I am, the more strident, the more extreme I am in my views, the more attention I get,” he said. But, he said, the pope “is calling for the importance of the quiet voice of reason; we need moderation, reason and logic otherwise our debates are going nowhere.” Archbishop Claudio Celli, the council’s president, said even Catholic sites and forums can be plagued by an aggressive and divisive atmosphere. “The problem isn’t so much displaying straightforward fidelity to particular dogmatic statements of the

faith,” he said; the problem is how to best show God’s mercy and love, which is often more credibly and effectively done with actions and not just words. “I knew my mother and father loved me not because they showered me with solemn declarations, but because they let me experience first-hand what it means to be loved,” the archbishop said. The same needs to happen in the realm of faith, because what humanity needs more than anything is to experience rsthand God’s love and mercy, he said. In his message, the pope said, “Dialogue and debate can also ourish and grow when we converse with and take seriously people whose ideas are different from our own.” Social networks are an important place for people of faith to reach out to others “by patiently and respectfully engaging their questions and their doubts as they advance in their search for the truth and the meaning

of human existence,” the pope said. If evangelizing is to bear fruit, he said, people need to remember that “it is always because of the power of the word of God itself to touch hearts, prior to any of our own efforts.” The level of debate can be toned down and sensationalism avoided when people begin to put more trust in the power of God’s work “than any condence we place in human means,” he said. “We need to trust in the fact that the basic human desire to love and to be loved, and to find meaning and truth –– a desire which God himself has placed in the heart of every man and woman –– keeps our contemporaries ever open to ... the ‘kindly light’ of faith,” Pope Benedict said. He also reminded people to use online networks to invite others into a faith community, religious celebrations and pilgrimages: “elements which are always important in the journey of faith.”

IN OUR WORLD Everyone has desire to know who God is, pope says 12

BY CAROL GLATZ CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE The desire to see and know God is innate in everyone, even nonbelievers, Pope Benedict XVI said. But it’s especially important people don’t just seek God when they need him, but make room for him throughout their busy lives, he said during his weekly general audience in the Vatican’s Paul VI hall Jan. 16. At the end of the audience,

C ATHOLIC S PIRIT

the pope also greeted U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who was raised Catholic. The brief encounter came during the so-called “baciamano,” that is, the moment when the pope offers a select group of prelates and special guests a brief handshake one-by-one rather than a private audience. The pope spoke at length with the former CIA director, who was smiling and gently holding both of the pope’s hands, and gave him one of the medallions reserved for special guests.

Panetta, who was stepping down as Pentagon chief, was in Rome as part of a Europe-wide tour to meet with European defense ministers to discuss the conflicts in Afghanistan and Mali. During his catechesis dedicated to the Year of Faith, the pope said, “The desire to really know God, that is, to see the face of God, exists in everyone, even atheists.” It can even be an unconscious desire to simply know “who is he, what is he for us?” the pope said.

That yearning nds fulllment in Christ, he said; as Jesus told his disciples, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” The pope said it was important to follow Christ “not just those moments when we need him,” but to “nd room for him in our daily tasks” and throughout one’s life. “The splendor of the divine countenance is the source of life, it’s what lets one see reality” and its light is a sure guide in life, he said. At the end of his catechesis,

the pope made an appeal for people to join the observance of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Jan. 18-25. The theme for this year’s week is “What does God require of us?” “I invite everyone to pray, ceaselessly asking God for the great gift of unity among the disciples of the Lord. May the inexhaustible power of the Holy Spirit encourage us in a sincere commitment to the search for unity, so that together we may all profess that Jesus is the Savoir of the world,” he said.

A new generation is inspired by works of C.S. Lewis BY JONATHAN LUXMOORE CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE In a wooded suburb of this fabled university city, a battered typewriter sits on a desk beside a bay window that overlooks a tangled landscape of oaks and beeches. Nearby, ancient bookshelves guard a leather armchair surrounded by wall maps and pictures depicting a fantasy world. When Clive Staples Lewis bought The Kilns, a former brick factory, in 1930, he used its remote calm to produce a stream of Christian stories, the best known of which, “The Chronicles of Narnia,” has since sold 100 million copies in more than 45 languages. But Lewis also gained renown for his Christian apologetics. His “Mere Christianity,” published in 1952, was rated “best religious book of the 20th century” by the U.S. magazine Christianity Today. Until now, Lewis has been largely ignored at Oxford University, where he taught for three decades, until his death in 1963. He has gained greater recognition in the U.S., where the Episcopal Church celebrates a “Holy C.S. Lewis Day” each November. With interest growing, however, and three books of the Narnia series now blockbuster lms, things are changing. “Lewis wasn’t a professional theologian, but his sense of the world Christianity portrays was just as profound as the best modern theologians’,” said Judith Wolfe, an expert on the author and a theology faculty member of Oxford’s St. John’s College. “He realized Christian literature wasn’t presenting good characters who were also interesting; the evil characters were always more compelling,” she said. “By portray-

ing Christ as the lion Aslan in the Narnia stories, he hoped to reveal the real-life attractiveness of the holy.” A native of what is now Northern Ireland, Lewis won an Oxford scholarship in 1916, graduating after ghting in the trenches of World War I. He became a fellow of Oxford’s Magdalen College in 1925. The city is full of landmarks connected to Lewis. There’s the Eagle and Child pub where his literary group, The Inklings, met; the walkways where he nur-

Lewis was raised in the Anglican Church of Ireland, but abandoned his faith in school, recalling in “Surprised by Joy: The Shape of my Early Life” how he had received Communion “in total disbelief, acting a part, eating and drinking my own condemnation.” When Lewis returned to the Anglican faith at Oxford in 1931 –– thanks to the devoutly Catholic Tolkien, author of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy –– he described himself as “the most dejected

alignment between the forces of tradition and change,” MacCulloch told Catholic News Service. “This tension runs across the theological categories and can now unite a conservative Catholic with a conservative Protestant, something which wouldn’t have happened half a century ago.” Other experts concur that Lewis succeeded in capturing the Christian imagination where the theological abstractions of churches often seemed too high brow.

Although Lewis disappointed Tolkien by declining to become a Catholic, he was sympathetic to the Catholic doctrines of confession and prayers to the saints. His return to faith released new powers of imagination and launched him on a fresh career as an interpreter who popularized Christianity. tured his fascination for Nordic, Celtic and Greek legends; and the Anglican Holy Trinity Church where he lies buried. As a new generation is introduced to the world of Narnia, Anglican Father Michael Ward, a university chaplain, said he thinks Lewis’ Christian vision is gaining a new relevance. Lewis’ work has appeared on reading lists in both English literature and systematic theology at Oxford. The C.S. Lewis Society hosts weekly seminars at the university’s Pusey House. “Like his close friend, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lewis expressed his Christian faith through narrative and imagination which seems to be chiming in with contemporary needs,” explained Father Ward, co-editor of the groundbreaking “The Cambridge Companion to C.S. Lewis.” “People are picking up intuitively again on the timeless religious element in his books, even if they’re not directly aware of their fundamentally Christian message,” the priest said.

and reluctant convert in all England.” Although Lewis disappointed Tolkien by declining to become a Catholic, he was sympathetic to the Catholic doctrines of confession and prayers to the saints. His return to faith released new powers of imagination and launched him on a fresh career as an interpreter who popularized Christianity. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity,” based on wartime broadcasts for the BBC, tackled popular objections to Christianity, stripping it to its essentials with simple arguments and observations. Diarmaid MacCulloch, professor of church history at Oxford, said Lewis’ nondenominational approach to Christianity explains his popularity in the U.S. and is giving him renewed appeal today. “Lewis has become a standard-bearer for conservative Christians when religion seems to be undergoing a great re-

In “The Screwtape Letters,” a series of imagined exchanges between an older and younger devil, Lewis satirized human weakness and self-deception, showing how Christian communities could be corrupted with “uneasy intensity and defensive selfrighteousness.” In “The Great Divorce,” he exposed the vulnerability of human self-awareness, while in “Reections on the Psalms” he explained why the Old Testament’s contents, however “terrible and contemptible,” were needed to show humanity’s true colors. Walter Hooper, an American Catholic who was living with Lewis at the time of his death, remembers the author as affable and hard-drinking, but also as a man who sincerely attempted, against difcult odds, to live a Christian life. Now 81 and a trustee of Lewis’ estate, Hooper has edited Lewis’ letters and diaries, some of which were rescued from a

bonre two months after the writer’s death. He agreed that interest in Lewis also is growing among Catholics. During a 1988 Cambridge University lecture, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger praised Lewis’ rejection of “destructive relativism.” Hooper recalled how Blessed John Paul II also revealed a knowledge of Lewis’ works when the two met during a 1988 general audience in Rome and the late pope lauded his 1960 work, “The Four Loves,” as well as Lewis’ devotion to a practical apostolate. “Lewis owed it to his fans to avoid complexities and set Christianity’s core beliefs in place,” Hooper told CNS. “But he was adamant those core beliefs, the deposit of faith, must always remain, no matter how things change. If you get rid of Christianity’s sense and meaning, you’ll have nothing to come back to,” he said. Lewis has been criticized by atheists in Britain and the U.S., while many professional theologians still maintain a haughty disdain for him. But Hooper predicted Lewis’ contribution to popularizing Christianity will gain ever greater acknowledgment, especially when the Christian faith appears in danger of being ignored. “Lewis believed he had a responsibility to spread the Gospel through his writings and showed how Christianity could be presented in almost any form, from science ction to children’s fables,” Hooper said. “Because the academics wouldn’t touch him, it’s taken a long time for his creativity to be taken seriously. But Lewis couldn’t deal with anything without illuminating it; and I think many people are now appreciating the inspirational power which runs through his work,” he said.

IN OUR WORLD

February 2013

13

March for Life crowds strong despite cold temps BY CAROL ZIMMERMANN CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE The tens of thousands of participants at the annual March for Life in Washington Jan. 25 demonstrated just how determined they are not only by showing up in such large numbers on a bitter cold day but by continuing a 40year tradition of protesting the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision legalizing abortion. “Forty years ago, people thought opposition” to the Supreme Court’s decision “would eventually disappear,” Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley told the crowd assembled on the National Mall for a rally prior to the march along Constitution Avenue to the front of the U.S. Supreme Court. He noted that Nellie Gray, founder of the annual march who died last year, “was not going to allow that to happen” nor was the pro-life movement. “The march grows stronger every year,” said the cardinal, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Pro-Life Activities. Many speakers praised the resiliency of the crowd, braving a cloudy 20-degree day and stand-

ing on snow dusted ground, but they also spoke of the pro-life movement getting re-energized by young people who are becoming the movement’s new torchbearers. Hundreds of high school and college groups were scattered in the rally crowd of more than 500,000 people. They were texting, taking pictures and creatively protesting by wearing pro-life stickers on their faces and carrying placards in the backs of their jackets. Their placards did not have jarring images or messages but predominantly took a gentler tone such as: “Abolish Abortion Courageously” or “I am the prolife generation.” Jeanne Monahan, new president of the March for Life Education & Defense Fund, is 40 –– just as old as the movement protesting the 1973 Supreme Court decision. Monahan praised Gray for her long dedication to the cause and several speakers also credited her for getting the pro-life movement on its feet with the rst march and leading each one until her death. During the rally, a video tribute to her was shown on the giant Jumbotron. This year’s rally did not include speeches by dozens of politicians. Nine legislators were

announced and only a handful spoke. U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, RN.J., co-chairman of the House Pro-Life Caucus, told the crowd: “Know this, the pro-life movement is comprised of noble, caring, smart and seless people. It is an extraordinarily powerful, non-violent, faith-lled human rights struggle that is growing in public support, intensity, commitment and hope.” Another new aspect at this

year’s rally was more use of social media technology, with speakers prior to the rally’s start urging participants to tweet about the rally and follow March for Life on Facebook. One tweet read to the crowd, which drew a lot of cheers, was from Pope Benedict XVI, which said: “I join all those marching for life from afar, and pray that political leaders will protect the unborn and promote a culture of life.”

Rueben Verastigui, youth activist, had a message for the crowd’s youths. “You can’t just sit around waiting for change to happen have to get up and make it happen.” He told them to be involved in prolife work in their schools and that even if they feel they are alone they should remember this experience. “Look around, we are not alone. We are not the future of the prolife movement; we are the pro-life movement.”

YOUNG PEOPLE walk with a banner past the U.S. Capitol during the annual March for Life in Washington Jan. 25. The pro-life demonstration marks the anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion across the nation. (CNS photo by Bob Roller)

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IN OUR WORLD

C ATHOLIC S PIRIT

New app lets users follow papal events live BY CAROL GLATZ CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE The Vatican launched a new “Pope App” on the eve of the release of the pope’s World Communications Day message, which is dedicated to social networks as important spaces for evangelization. The new app provides live streaming of papal events and video feeds from the Vatican’s six webcams. It sends out alerts and links to top stories coming out of the Vatican’s many news outlets, and carries words and images of Pope Benedict XVI. “The Pope App” went live Jan. 23 for iPhone and iPad, while an Android version is expected to be ready at the end of February. It’s currently available in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian. The Vatican has been stepping up its digital presence in recent years –– the latest example being the papal Twitter feed @ Pontifex, which has attracted more than 2 million followers in nine languages since its debut Dec. 12. The new app will also allow people to follow live broadcasts

of papal events –– such as the Sunday Angelus and Wednesday general audience –– from any mobile device or smartphone. Users will receive an alert when an event is about to begin. The app also shows views from any one of the Vatican’s six live webcams. Two webcams are located on the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica: one pointed at St. Peter’s Square and the other at the Vatican governor’s ofce. Others are located high on the colonnade around St. Peter’s Square, taking in the basilica and papal apartments; directed at Blessed John Paul II’s tomb in St. Peter’s Basilica; high on the Vatican hill, pointing toward the dome of the basilica; and aimed at the gardens of the papal summer villa in Castel Gandolfo. “The Pope App” was launched the day before the feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron of journalists, when the Vatican traditionally releases the pope’s message for World Communications Day. The theme of this year’s message, “Social Networks: Portals of Truth and Faith; New Spaces for Evangelization,” is linked to the Year of Faith and Pope Benedict’s latest calls for a new evangelization.

THIS IS A SCREEN capture of “The Pope App,” launched by the Vatican Jan. 23, the eve of Pope Benedict XVI’s World Communications Day message. The app for the iPhone and iPad provides live streaming of papal events and video feeds from the Vatican’s six webcams. An Android version is expected in February. (CNS/Vatican) (Jan. 23, 2013)

PASTORAL REPORT

February 2013

15

Your generosity helps us share the faith with others Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

2012

REPORT ON PASTORAL SERVICES

FINANCIAL

Diocese of Austin

M ISSION S TATEMENT OF THE A USTIN D IOCESE WE, THE DIOCESE OF AUSTIN, WORD AND EUCHARIST, PRAYER, FORMATION, EDUCATION, SOCIAL MINISTRIES AND ADVOCACY, EMBRACE THROUGH THE

DIVERSE CULTURES THROUGHOUT THE DIOCESE;

Every day that I serve as Bishop of the Diocese of Austin I have found in our parishes a deep love for Jesus Christ and the church that he founded. My heart is lled with gratitude for the extraordinary generosity of our people who come together as a family of faith year after year to answer the Lord’s call to serve one another. Thank you for your witness of charity to the many good works we do each year in our diocese. I am pleased to present the annual accountability report for the Diocese of Austin, which covers the scal year ending June 30, 2012. This year’s report includes nancial information for the Central Administrative Ofces (CAO) of the diocese, summaries of parish nances, special collections, and the challenges we continue to face.

Catholic Spirit photo

As this report shows, many good works have been accomplished through your generosity, including the success of the Our Faith ~ Our Legacy Capital Campaign and the annual Catholic Services Appeal. Both have provided great nancial support to the many programs and ministries in our parishes and schools throughout the diocese, for which I am very grateful. Beginning in October 2012, Pope Benedict XVI has declared a Year of Faith, which invites us as followers of Christ to “rediscover the joy of believing and the enthusiasm for communicating the faith.” For our local diocese, this remains a lifelong calling and an essential part of our mission to teach and preach the Gospel. During this special time for all Catholics, the Holy Father is calling upon us “to rediscover the journey of faith so as to shed ever clearer light on the renewed enthusiasm of the encounter with Christ.” He also reminds us, “The church is alive because Christ is alive.” Indeed, the church is very much alive and we work together to build up the Body of Christ in Central Texas. Your faith is a precious gift. Through your involvement in the ministries of the Diocese of Austin, you can help carry out the goals of the Year of Faith: to deepen our faith, to give witness to the Gospel, to welcome back our brothers and sisters who have left the church, and to hand on the gift of faith to those who are open to receiving it for the rst time. I fully realize that you may not know or ever meet those people in our parishes and communities who will benet directly from your generosity, but I want to assure you that every gift makes a difference. I pray that you will draw inspiration from these words of Pope Benedict XVI, “The ‘door of faith’ is always open for us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into His Church. To enter through that door is to set out on a journey that lasts a lifetime.” Please continue to pray for my ministry and the thousands of people we serve each year, knowing that I will do the same for you. May God bestow his blessings upon you and all those who are dear to you. Sincerely,

SO TOGETHER, AS THE

CATHOLIC CHURCH, WE MAY CONTINUE THE MISSION OF CHRIST IN THE WORLD TODAY. Most Reverend Joe S. Vásquez Bishop of Austin

PASTORAL REPORT

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Diocese is blessed by the generosity of many BY MARY BETH KOENIG CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER The scal year ending June 30, 2012, was marked by ongoing uncertainty in global economies and nancial markets and continued high rates of unemployment in the U.S. In the Diocese of Austin, despite these factors, we continue to be blessed with increasing contributions to meet the needs of our growing Catholic population. The accompanying nancial statements are those of the Central Administrative Ofce (CAO) of the Diocese of Austin. The CAO provides programs and services to parishes, schools and other Catholic organizations in Central Texas. The accompanying nancial statements have been

extracted from the audited financial statements of the CAO. The nancial statements do not include the parishes, missions, schools and activities of The Catholic Foundation – Diocese of Austin. The financial statements of the parishes can be found on page 18 of this insert. The activities of the CAO include general operations for the support of parish and diocesan programs, a centralized insurance program for property/liability/workers’ compensation and health insurance for all parish and school facilities and employees, a centralized diocesan investment and loan program (DIAL) for parishes and schools and management of diocesan investments. The CAO generally operates on a break-even basis. For the scal years

ended June 30, 2012, and 2011, revenues were greater than expenses and net assets increased by approximately $709,000 and $1.7 million, respectively. Total revenues decreased by $819,000 in 2012, primarily due to a $1.9 million decrease in investment income. While investment income was positive in 2012, the nancial markets were volatile and overall returns (realized and unrealized) were lower than in 2011. The decrease in investment income was offset by higher contributions from the Catholic Services Appeal, higher contributions and bequests and higher insurance premiums in the health insurance and property/liability/workers’ compensation programs. Total expenses were relatively at with an increase of approximately $187,000 or less than 1 percent. We have worked hard to manage expenses and be good

stewards of the assets with which we have been entrusted. In the Diocese of Austin, we continue to be blessed with increasing levels of giving at the parishes and to the annual Catholic Services Appeal. Despite very volatile nancial markets, high unemployment and the worst recession since the Great Depression, Sunday and Holy Day collections at parishes in our diocese have increased (see chart on next page). Over the last decade, parish collections continue to increase from $35.5 million to $53.2 million, an average increase of 5 percent per year. The strong and steady commitment to stewardship and generosity of Catholics in our diocese are truly remarkable. We have also seen an increase in See CFO on next page

Statements of Financial Position* June 30, 2012 and 2011

Assets Cash and cash equivalents, primarily interest-bearing Pledges receivable Receivables from parishes and schools Other receivables Prepaid expenses Unrestricted investments Investments restricted by bond covenants Interest in remainder trust DIAL notes receivable Land, buildings, and equipment, net Bond issuance costs, net Total Assets Liabilities and Net Assets Accounts payable and accrued expenses Collections held for transmittal Pledges Payable Interest Payable DIAL deposits Self insurance reserve Line of credit payable Notes payable Bonds payable Current portion Long term portion Discount on bonds payable

2012 $

7,253,619 1,752,093 615,385 285,455 304,950 33,132,702 6,335,645 216,270 84,943,876 18,781,795 3,218,651

2011 $

6,833,762 1,728,899 856,394 223,198 602,017 31,747,529 6,106,567 495,395 87,963,159 18,290,358 3,377,724

$156,840,441

$158,225,002

$

$

1,922,262 1,086,335 347,306 1,213,114 15,142,286 1,930,328 1,000,000 250,000

2,192,069 961,735 604,718 1,224,064 16,607,602 2,045,648 -250,000

1,130,000 81,175,000 (1,253,626)

1,095,000 82,305,000 (1,249,065)

Total Liabilities

103,943,005

106,036,771

Net assets: Unrestricted Temporarily restricted Permanently restricted

47,517,392 5,379,874 170

44,864,740 7,322,991 500

Total net assets

52,897,436

52,188,231

$156,840,441

$158,225,002

Total Liabilities and Net Assets

*The Statements of Financial Position were extracted from the audited nancial statements of the Central Administrative Ofce of the Diocese of Austin. The entire document is available at www.austindiocese.org.

February 2013

PASTORAL REPORT

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Statements of Activities* Years ending June 30, 2012 and 2011 2012 Revenues, gains and other support: Catholic Services Appeal Cathedraticum assessments Contributions and bequests Special collections Interest income from DIAL notes Investment income Insurance premiums Program service fees Catholic Spirit Cedarbrake Catholic Retreat Center Other

$ 4,755,123 5,835,360 2,836,411 562,444 4,350,203 1,913,678 11,657,296 1,255,152 436,709 358,489 890,586

$ 4,330,933 5,838,047 2,481,385 554,671 4,369,795 3,856,837 11,117,739 1,674,981 465,136 379,666 601,221

34,851,451

35,670,411

3,332,890 3,269,481 862,578 476,565 1,458,953 538,409 719,451 96,205 10,043,769 1,411,298 2,526,757 1,290,292 11,720 5,103,878 3,000,000

3,989,907 3,029,511 1,148,684 628,393 1,415,670 544,229 751,211 109,489 9,124,826 1,445,816 2,137,820 1,236,558 50,139 5,214,591 3,128,214

34,142,246

33,955,058

709,205

$ 1,715,353

Total revenues, gains and other support Expenses and losses: Pastoral services Formation and religious education Catholic schools Social services Religious personnel care and development Catholic Charities Communications and Catholic Spirit DIAL deposit interest Insurance program Administration Facilities and information technology Fundraising Distribution to Foundation Interest on debt OFOL Distributions and other Total expenses and losses Change in net assets

2011

$

* The Statements of Activities were extracted from the audited nancial statements of the Central Administrative Ofce of the Diocese of Austin. The entire document is available at www.austindiocese.org.

crease of 60 percent. Additionally, during this timeframe, approximately $58.8 million was collected through Continued from Page 16 the Our Faith ~ Our Legacy Capital annual giving to the diocese through Campaign through June 30, 2012. the annual Catholic Services Appeal As we look to the future, we will over the last 10 years. Last year, nearly be challenged by increasing health care $4.8 was donated to the CSA, com- costs. The nancial effect of proposed pared to $3 million in 2002, an in- new health care legislation is unknown. We will strive to continue to provide quality health care to parish and school employees that is in accord with the teachings of the church while minimizing cost increases. Additionally, we continue to There has been a steady increase in parish Sunday and Holy work with a few Day collections over the last decade. (Chart courtesy Diocese financially chalof Austin Finance Ofce)

CFO

lenged parishes and schools that have signicant debt, deferred maintenance or operating costs. We assist them by working on long-range nancial plans to balance their budgets over time. On the positive side, we are thankful for the newly established endowment funds created with your gifts to the OFOL campaign. The endowments will serve as a strong nancial foundation for our diocese. Distributions from endowments in the Foundation have and will continue to assist in serving the increasing needs of seminarians, retired priests, Catholic Charities, Catholic schools and diaconate and campus ministry for many years to come. This annual report is one way the diocese reports on the nancial results of its activities and ministries. Accountability is an important part of our stewardship responsibilities. Each year, the diocese subjects itself to the scrutiny of an independent audit,

which is published at www.austindiocese.org. Diocesan leadership also regularly confers with the Diocesan Finance Council, whose existence is required by canon law and focuses on nancial policies, procedures and activities of our local church. We remain thankful for our many blessings and for your generous financial support. The last fiscal year marked continued growth and improvement in the nances of our parishes and schools. We depend on your ongoing and consistent nancial support to meet the needs of our growing population, ministries, education of our seminarians and care of our retired priests. May God bless you for the sacrices you make to strengthen the faith of Catholics in Central Texas. Mary Beth Koenig has served as the Chief Financial Ofcer of the Austin Diocese since 2002. She and her husband have three children and they are parishioners of St. Theresa Parish in Austin.

PASTORAL REPORT

18

C ATHOLIC S PIRIT

Parish nancial information* (Unaudited) Years ending June 30, 2012 and 2011

2012 Assets Cash and cash equivalents DIAL Deposits Investments (includes building funds) Plant assets Other Total Assets Liabilities Accounts payable to Central Administrative Ofce Other accounts payable Funds held in trust Notes payable Bonds payable Other liabilities Total Liabilities Net Assets Revenues Sunday, Holy Day and Other Collections Building Funds Gifts, Bequests and Grants Fundraising (net of related expenses) Program fees Investment income Our Faith ~ Our Legacy Collections (Parish Share) Other Income Total Revenues Expenses Pastoral services Religious development Social services School subsidies Plant operating and maintenance Diocesan assessment Interest expense General and administrative Other expenses Total Expenses Revenue Over Expenses

$ 11,945,434 13,729,835 18,588,970 431,919,513 9,032,144

2011 $

9,837,220 16,607,602 15,429,659 418,518,850 8,773,062

485,215,896

469,166,393

258,128 794,230 10,059,746 71,169,105 4,821,667 2,846,522

105,924 1,223,987 9,847,296 73,916,472 4,850,000 743,593

89,949,398

90,687,272

$ 395,266,498

$ 378,479,121

$ 53,226,292 9,396,992 4,604,761 4,614,722 1,976,849 1,426,003 2,044,663 5,757,085

$ 51,448,935 7,590,128 4,633,004 4,304,200 1,700,556 1,291,932 3,488,540 6,531,366

83,047,367

80,988,661

10,523,178 6,503,314 1,716,444 2,918,316 15,106,121 5,317,389 3,809,196 16,664,876 4,119,200

10,380,638 5,654,282 1,764,044 3,512,096 14,902,969 5,197,256 4,116,496 16,035,888 4,173,945

66,678,034

65,737,614

$ 16,369,333

$ 15,251,047

*This unaudited summarized nancial information includes the consolidated balances and activities of all 127 parishes and missions in the Diocese of Austin.

Special collection totals Special collections are a vehicle by which Catholics can reach beyond their own immediate needs and assist the work of the Catholic Church at the diocesan, national and international levels. The following collections were taken up in diocesan parishes in the 2011-2012 scal year. Propagation of Faith.............................................................................$160,464 Taken up Oct. 22-23, 2011, this collection helps the Society of the Propagation of Faith bring the Gospel to developing countries. Catholic Campaign for Human Development ...................................$155,698 Taken up Nov. 19-20, 2011, this collection supports the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, which empowers the poor to claim their economic rights and reclaim their dignity. Clergy and Religious Retirement Fund .............................................$239,643 Taken up Dec. 10-11, 2011, this collection helps retired priests, brothers and sisters with their medical expenses. Feast of the Holy Family ......................................................................$147,306 Taken up Dec. 31-Jan. 1, 2012, this collection supports Pro-Life Activities, Annunciation Maternity Shelter and Our Lady of Angels Maternity Shelter. Catholic Higher Education ..................................................................$133,444 Taken up Feb. 11-12, 2012, this collection helps support Catholic higher education and campus ministries in our diocese.

World and Home Missions ..................................................................$194,480 Taken up Feb. 22, 2012, this is a combined collection for the church in Latin America, the African American and Native American home missions, Catholic home missions and Eastern Europe. Catholic Relief Services .......................................................................$194,184 Taken up March 17-18, 2012, this collection supports the Holy Father’s Relief Fund, Migration and Refugee Services, and the Department of Social Development and World Peace. Holy Land...............................................................................................$135,644 Taken up April 6, 2012, this collection supports the shrines and the people of the Holy Land. Seminarians and Priests......................................................................$186,213 Taken up April 14-15, 2012, this collection supports the education and formation of diocesan seminarians and priests. Peter’s Pence ........................................................................................$191,942 Taken up June 23-24, 2012, this collection helps the Holy Father respond to requests for emergency funds from the most disadvantaged throughout the world. Total special collections ...................................................................$1,739,018

February 2013

IN OUR WORLD

19

Haiti struggles to recover from devastating quake BY DENNIS SADOWSKI CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE Soon after a monstrous earthquake devastated much of Haiti three years ago, the mantra among Haitian government leaders and a good share of relief and development agencies was “build back Haiti better.” The mantra demonstrated the resiliency of a country battered all too often by Mother Nature. However, as the Jan. 12 anniversary of the quake came and went, the “build back” slogan has faded from most discussions, but the work of rebuilding –– in reality building –– a country has moved ahead even if progress has been slow and difcult to measure. More troublesome is the continuing sense of frustration among Haitians –– especially among the 360,000 who remain in tent camps, according to the International Organization for Migration –– who see little visible change in their lives or their surroundings. “Haiti is not going to become a middle-income country overnight,” acknowledged Eileen Wickstrom Smith, deputy coordinator for assistance in the Ofce

of the Haiti Special Coordinator at the U.S. State Department, in a teleconference with reporters Jan. 9. Given that reality, the emphasis on development has turned to sustainability and building the capacity of Haitians from all walks of life to overcome the devastating poverty that has strangled the Caribbean nation for much of its 200-year history. Haiti’s needs were overwhelming before the earthquake shook the Haitian landscape and claimed 316,000 lives while displacing an estimated 1.5 million people. The catastrophe amplied the problems: lack of infrastructure, especially water and sanitation; a shortage of safe and affordable housing; little access to health care; and poor coordination across the education sector. Matters became more complicated nine months after the earthquake when a cholera epidemic erupted when the waterborne disease was introduced by Nepalese troops who are part of the U.N. stabilization forces, MINUSTAH, in the country. Through Jan. 6, cholera had claimed 7,939 lives and aficted more than 638,000 people, according to the Haitian Ministry

of Health and Population. Throw in hurricanes Isaac and Sandy, which devastated a large part of Haiti’s agricultural lands in 2012 and it seems like Haitians can’t catch a break. In developing responses to these calamities, Catholic organizations, such as Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, along with the U.S. government and the United Nations now speak in similar terms. They stress that the answers to Haiti’s future lie with Haitians themselves. “We want to build things with Haitians for Haitians, and it takes a little longer,” Darren Hercyk, country representative in Haiti for CRS, explained in an interview from Port-auPrince, the Haitian capital. “In the end I have not found a problem where all parties have not bought into it.” Hercyk said the earthquake changed the way CRS approaches its work from being primarily in rural areas to one with a major presence in urban programming. For example, CRS is tackling the rebuilding of St. Francis de Sales Hospital, which was destroyed in the earthquake, into

a 200-bed state-of-the-art teaching facility. The U.S. bishops’ overseas relief and development agency has partnered with the Haitian Ministry of Health and the Catholic Health Association to carry out the project. The goal, Hercyk said, is to network the rebuilt hospital with others across the country for the delivery of care and the training of future doctors and nurses. Other key partnerships identied by Hercyk include a Catholic education program and the development of affordable and safe housing to move people still living in squalid tent camps scattered across the country. Thanks to a recently completed nationwide assessment of 2,315 Catholic schools that enroll more than 600,000 children, about 20 percent of Haiti’s school-age population, CRS and the University of Notre Dame will be able to develop schoolspecic programs, Hercyk said. Meanwhile, at the USCCB, the focus is on building the capacity of clergy, bishops included, to identify leaders in their faith communities and manage ministries with an eye toward the future. Father Juan Molina, director of the U.S. bishops’ Ofce for

the Church in Latin America, told Catholic News Service that some Haitian bishops have visited U.S. dioceses at the invitation of the USCCB to see how ministries are carried out, parishes are managed and vital fundraising is conducted. “I think Haiti has a lot of human and other resources that are untapped, but because of the present situation there is no coordination,” Father Molina said. “If we can garner especially the human resources and an image that can help everyone go beyond the present desperation and see a Haiti that can work, I think we’ve done our job of supporting our brothers and sisters in Haiti.” The State Department’s Smith admitted huge challenges remain for Haiti. At a U.N.-sponsored meeting of donor nations two months after the earthquake governments pledged $5.3 billion through 2011 and a total of $9.9 billion through 2014 for Haiti’s rebuilding. Less than half those amounts have come through. Smith acknowledged that there has been a “slowness of donors to make good on pledges.” “Much work remains to be done,” she said.

IN OUR WORLD Bishop Cantu of San Antonio named to Las Cruces, NM 20

C ATHOLIC S PIRIT

BY CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of Las Cruces, N.M., and named as his successor Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Cantu of San Antonio. The changes were announced in Washington Jan. 10 by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the U.S. The Diocese of Las Cruces was established in 1982 and Bishop Ramirez, now 76, was named its first bishop. Canon law requires bishops to submit their resignations when they turn 75. Bishop Cantu, 46, has been an auxiliary bishop in San Antonio since 2008. The man he succeeds in Las Cruces had likewise been a San Antonio auxiliary bishop in his rst episcopal assignment before being appointed to head the Las Cruces Diocese. The date for his installation has not been determined. “I am humbled that the Holy Father would appoint me to lead a beautiful diocese

in a state that I am not terribly familiar with,” Bishop Cantu said in a statement. “There is a deep sense of ‘being sent’ –– sent, as the apostles were by Christ, to announce the good news of the Gospel to the four corners of the earth.” “To be following a great man in the person” of Bishop Ramirez was also humbling, he added. Born Dec. 5, 1966, in Houston, Bishop Cantu received his bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Dallas and two master’s degrees from the University of St. Thomas in Houston. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston in 1994. Ten years later, the diocese was made an archdiocese. He did graduate studies in theology at the Pontifical North American College in Rome 1998-2002. He was administrator of the Archdiocese of San Antonio between the departure of Archbishop Jose H. Gomez to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the installation of Archbishop Gustavo GarciaSiller. Archbishop Garcia-Siller

in a statement expressed “heartfelt joy” over his auxiliary’s appointment but said he will miss “his constant presence, valued friendship and the tireless collaboration we shared in our ministry.” Bishop Ramirez was born in Bay City, Texas, Sept. 12, 1936. Both his parents and

their families were migrant workers in southern Texas. He attended public schools in Bay City and graduated in 1959 from the University of St. Thomas in Houston. He was ordained to the priesthood as a member of the Basilian Fathers in 1966. He served in parishes in

Canada, Detroit and Mexico. He was on the staff of the Mexican-American Cultural Center (now the Mexican American Catholic College) in San Antonio when in 1981 he was appointed auxiliary bishop of San Antonio. A year later, he was named founding bishop of Las Cruces.

POPE BENEDICT XVI has named Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Cantu (left) of San Antonio bishop of Las Cruces, N.M., and accepted the resignation of Bishop Ricardo Ramirez, 76. Both bishops are pictured during their 2012 “ad limina” visits to the Vatican. (CNS photo by Paul Haring)

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