2023: A Year in Review
December 26, 2023
HOUSTON — As 2023 began, Catholics around the world were mourning the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. As Lent and Easter gave way to spring, the Archdiocese concluded its celebration of its 175th anniversary with a gala and special Mass.
In the summer, parishes continued to encourage the faithful to turn to the Source and Summit of the Church — the Eucharist — as ongoing celebrations of the Eucharistic Revival remained in focus for many. Then, in August, Texans trekked to Lisbon for World Youth Day, the triennial youth celebration with the pope, which saw 311 Texans meet with 1.5 million other pilgrims in Portugal.
Just days after the Oct. 4 feast of St. Francis of Assisi, who prayed to be an “instrument of peace,” war erupted in the Holy Land as violence, prompting prayers and calls for peace.
Pope Benedict XVI dies as the New Year rang
VATICAN CITY — Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who surprised the world by announcing he would retire as pope, died on Dec. 31, 2022. He was 95 years old.
“From 2005 to 2013, the late Holy Father shepherded the Church with great love,” Daniel Cardinal DiNardo said. “His keen intellect invigorated the new evangelization by drawing hearts and minds into the mystery of our redemption in Christ and inspiring countless men and women to spread the Gospel by the example of their lives.”
Before leaving for Rome to attend the late pope’s funeral events, Cardinal DiNardo said in his Jan. 1 homily at a Mass at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart that the former pope was a first-rate theologian.
“Someday, they’ll put together all of his homilies from Christmas, Epiphany, Holy Week and Easter, and they’ll combine them together — just like they do those same homilies of Leo the Great and Pope Gregory the Great — and when they read them 100 years from now, they’ll say, ‘Wow, this guy was first-rate.’”
Pope Benedict XVI elevated Cardinal DiNardo to the College of Cardinals on Nov. 24, 2007 — the first and so far only cardinal in Texas and the southern U.S.
“Every time I saw him after that... he’d go, ‘Ah Ha! Texas is here!’” the cardinal recalled.
At Mass at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart Dec. 31, Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell’Oro, CRS, said, “Pope Benedict has given us an immense, profound and absolute truthful reflection of God. He will be known as among the Fathers of the Church. A thousand years from now, even 10,000 years from now, people will not likely remember us, but they will remember Pope Benedict the XVI and his teachings.”
Tearful parishioners celebrate return to Mass at tornado-damaged St. Hyacinth parish
DEER PARK — A wild winter storm blew through Houston on Jan. 24, bringing with it a rain-wrapped tornado that began in southeast Houston and moved through Pasadena, Deer Park and the outskirts of Baytown before dissipating, directly hitting St. Hyacinth Catholic Church in Deer Park.
It caused major damage to the religious education building, parish offices, rectory and Guyot Hall. The least amount of damage was to the main church, which had roof and window damage.
Father Reginald Samuels, pastor of the church, said they all received severe weather warnings on their phones.
“The alerts were becoming more and more ominous with two tornado warnings with tornadoes in the city of Deer Park,” he said. “When we recognized that the weather was getting extreme outside, we all sheltered in place in the hallway of the offices, and then the tornado hit, and we prayed through it.”
While everyone in the building was not injured, the employees’ vehicles in the parking lots were damaged by all the debris, Father Samuels said.
“The outpouring of support from the community and the church members has been tremendous,” Father Samuels said. “We have had many people from the community coming by the church complex to see how they can help clean up the property.”
St. Peter Catholic breaks ground, welcomes first batch of students
HOUSTON — Celebrating the creation of Texas’ first Catholic career and technical school, Cardinal DiNardo welcomed the first admitted students to the school along with donors and members of the school’s board of trustees March 7.
“We are historic,” Cardinal DiNardo told the crowd attending the groundbreaking ceremony at St. Peter Catholic High School. “But it will succeed in relation to how much we are investing in our youth and Catholic community.”
The 10-acre campus at 6220 La Salette St. and Old Spanish Trail welcomed its first class of incoming freshmen August 2023, which will graduate as the Class of 2027, said the founding principal, Dr. Marc Martinez. The new school is one of the only two four-year co-educational Catholic vocational high schools in the U.S.
“We are combining the Archdiocese’s academic excellence with the latest in technological trends to prepare students both academically and for the workforce,” Dr. Martinez said.
The Archdiocesan Catholic School Office has been working with the St. Peter Board of Trustees to raise up to $11 million to renovate, furnish and equip the former St. Peter the Apostle Catholic School, which closed in 2019.
“With God behind us and the Holy Spirit, we know we will make it,” Catholic School Superintendent Dr. Debra Haney said.
Eucharistic Revival efforts continue in Galveston-Houston
HOUSTON — Throughout the year, parishes and ministries in the Archdiocese have continued to celebrate and embrace the Eucharistic Revival, which entered its second year when the movement shifted its focus to parish renewal.
Launched as an initiative of the U.S. Catholic bishops in June 2022, the National Eucharistic Revival is a three-year movement that aims to deepen Catholics’ love for Jesus through encountering Him in the Eucharist. The revival’s second year leads up to a National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis.
The revival’s first year was titled “The Year of Diocesan Revival,” and efforts focused on formation for diocesan leadership and diocesan-wide events. The revival’s second year, “The Year of Parish Revival,” aims to reach Catholics in their parishes through renewed attention to the “art” of the Mass, Eucharistic devotions, and small-group faith sharing and formation.
In the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, a local committee continued working with parish and clergy leaders on implementing this next phase. Eucharistic processions — which consist of the Eucharist, typically displayed in a monstrance, followed by the faithful for any length of distance inside or outside of a church — became common forms of public devotion for Catholics at points in the Church’s history when the teaching on the Real Presence was questioned. Catholics believe the Eucharist truly is the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, who instituted this Sacrament at the Last Supper.
Parishes around the Archdiocese hosted celebrations for the feasts of Corpus Christi and Christ the King focused on the Eucharist, which featured processions and special prayer nights.
To learn more about the Eucharistic Revival, visit www.archgh.org/revival.
Holy Land’s leaders Christians to ‘stand strong’ amidst war
JERUSALEM (OSV News) — Two months after deadly fighting began in the Holy Land, patriarchs and heads of the churches in Jerusalem called upon the faithful to forgo any “unnecessarily festive activities” during the Christmas season this year and to “stand strong” with those facing the afflictions of war, focusing more on the spiritual meaning of Christmas.
“Since the start of the war, there has been an atmosphere of sadness and pain. Thousands of innocent civilians, including women and children, have died or suffered serious injuries,” they said in a Nov. 10 statement. “Many more grieve over the loss of their homes, their loved ones, or the uncertain fate of those dear to them. Throughout the region, even more have lost their work and are suffering from serious economic challenges.”
Israel launched a military assault on Hamas after Hamas terrorists from Gaza breached the southern border with Israel Oct. 7. Thousands of heavily armed terrorists infiltrated the border and attacked some 22 civilian agricultural communities and cities inside Israel. Israel estimated about 1,200 people died in the attack. Almost 240 people, including babies and elderly, were kidnapped into Gaza.
Israel has continued with its military incursion against Hamas targets both on land and by air.
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, which is governed by Hamas, more than 11,100 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7. Although there is no breakdown available distinguishing between Hamas members and civilians, the World Health Organization has said that most of the dead are women and children. Israel charges that Hamas uses civilians as human shields. By Nov. 13, 4,609 children had been killed in Gaza.
Despite their repeated calls for a humanitarian ceasefire and a de-escalation of violence, the war has continued, said the Church leaders.
Redemptorists who founded Holy Ghost parish in 1946 transition parish leadership to Spiritans
HOUSTON — This year, the Redemptorist Missionaries of the Denver Province announced they were leaving Houston July 1.
A well-known Redemptorist priest, Father Len Broniak, C.Ss.R., who has been the director of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Ministry for 20 years, will remain in Houston through February 2024 after the National Catholic Office for the Deaf conference meets in Houston and his position that requires unique skills is filled.
“I am trilingual,” Father Broniak said, “I have offered many Baptisms and weddings in English, Spanish and American Sign Language so the whole family could participate in the celebrations.”
The Redemptorists are a religious congregation of Catholic priests and brothers founded in 1732 by St. Alphonsus Liguori in Naples, Italy. About 4,000 Redemptorists are currently working for the poor and abandoned in every part of the world, with more than 130 Redemptorist priests, brothers and students representing the Denver Province in the U.S.
The Congregation of the Holy Spirit, also known as the Spiritans, assumed responsibility for the parish on July 2. The new pastoral team includes Father Binh T. Quach, C.S.Sp., pastor; Father Daniel Abba, C.S.Sp., parochial vicar; and Father Neil McQuillan, C.S.Sp., parochial vicar.
Galveston-Houston pilgrims trek to Lisbon for WYD
LISBON — On the streets of Lisbon, a bright Texas flag flapped in the air, joining hundreds of other national flags as a delegation of 311 pilgrims from the Archdiocese made the great adventure to Portugal’s capital city of Lisbon for World Youth Day (WYD).
There on the Iberian Peninsula, surrounded by Portugal’s ancient churches and buildings, they trekked miles across Lisbon’s iconic cobblestone pathways in search of the Sacraments, prayer, faith, Pastéis de Nata — the famous egg custard tart dessert — and possibly a glimpse of Pope Francis.
Led by Angela Pometto, director of the Office of Young Adult and Campus Ministry for the Archdiocese (YACM), and Thalia Romero, YACM associate director, the Archdiocesan group was one of more than 1,300 groups comprised of more than 28,600 pilgrims from across the U.S. that attended WYD in Lisbon. Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell’Oro, CRS, also joined the young people, hosting special catechesis and gatherings to meet with them.
The U.S. was among the five largest delegations participating in WYD, which took place Aug. 1 to 6 in Lisbon, Portugal. The theme of WYD was “Mary arose and went with haste.” Youth from all countries of the world except from Maldives arrived in Lisbon for the event. WYD and government organizers estimated that more than 1.5 million attended the international celebration.
A variety of groups comprised the delegation from Galveston-Houston, some from parishes, young adult groups, mission organizations and colleges like the University of St. Thomas and Texas A&M University at Galveston.