June Briefs: Vatican comes to Houston; Life awareness retreat; Faith and Family Night at the Dynamo; WYD Cross heading to Houston
June 12, 2018
Onlookers gaze upward at reproductions of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel frescoes at an exhibit. Photo by James Ramos/Herald.
The Vatican comes to Houston: Exhibit features full-size Sistine Chapel ceiling replicas
HOUSTON — On display June 8 to July 31, a traveling display called “Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition” brings the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel to The Corinthian in Downtown Houston hosted by Brilliant Entertainment.
Visitors are welcome to view high quality full-scale state of the art reproductions of the Sistine Chapel’s renown frescoes hand painted by Michelangelo. For the observer to fully engage and comprehend the artwork, the 34 versions of the paintings have been reproduced in their original sizes on 16-foot panels.
As a result, the visitor can explore the artwork up close at a distance impossible to achieve in the Sistine Chapel. This innovative interpretation of the timeless masterpieces can be viewed up close, including the renown frescoes of the Creation of Adam and The last Judgment.
While the ceiling itself is curved, the reproductions are as close to the original size as possible. Unlike in the actual Sistine Chapel, visitors to the exhibit are welcome to take pictures. Audio guides are available for rent or reservation, and families are welcome to bring strollers.
Tickets range from $10 to $20. The hours for the exhibition are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 12 pm to 7 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, including online tickets purchases, visit http://www.brilliantentertainment.com/.
Life Awareness Retreat offers vocation guidance for young adults
HOUSTON — The Archdiocesan Office of Vocations is hosting a Life Awareness Retreat for single men and women of faith, ages 18 to 45, who are searching and discerning God’s call in their lives.
The retreat will be held July 27 to 29 in the Christian Renewal Center, located at 1515 Hughes Rd. in Dickinson.
Life Awareness is a weekend retreat of prayer, silent reflection, presentations, group discussions and sharing with one-on-one encounters. In addition, it will have guidance from priests and religious sisters to learn more about priesthood and religious life. This retreat is designed to help young adults discern God’s will in their lives. It will provide the time, environment, and opportunity to clarify one’s calling without any pressure of commitment.
The retreat is free. Donations are accepted. For more information or to register, visit www.houstonvocations.com/life-awareness or contact Henry Majoue at 832-606-1372 hjmajoue@gmail.com.
Houston Dynamo celebrates faith on Aug. 4
HOUSTON — The Houston Dynamo will host its Faith and Family Night Aug. 4 at 5:30 p.m.
The evening will include a special pre-game social including testimonial speakers and a school supply drive for Lighthouse students.
Tickets to the game, which will be against Sporting KC, are $24.
For more information, contact Joseph Panzarella at jpanzarella@houstondynamo.com.
World Youth Day cross, icon to travel around U.S.
WASHINGTON — The official World Youth Day (WYD) Cross and Marian Icon, entrusted to the youth and young adults of the world by St. John Paul II in 1984, will make a multi-city tour of the United States in August, the first time in 25 years such a coordinated journey has occurred.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth (LMFLY), in particular its World Youth Day USA (WYDUSA) initiative, is coordinating the national tour. The cross and icon will travel across the country from Sunday, Aug. 19 to Monday, Aug. 27. The five stops along its U.S. journey will include, in order: Chicago, Miami, Houston, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.
Archbishop José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta, O.S.A., Metropolitan Archbishop of Panama and host of the next international WYD gathering in January 2019, extended the Latin American tour of the WYD symbols to include the U.S.
The cross has traveled around the globe since 1984, when St. John Paul II gave it to young people. It has been part of every WYD celebration beginning with the first official WYD event in Rome in 1986. In 2002, the cross came to Ground Zero in New York City for a brief visit to bring comfort to the nation’s young people in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In 2003, St. John Paul II presented the world’s youth and young adults with a Marian Icon, under the title of Salus Populi Romani, which has accompanied the WYD Cross for the past 15 years.
The USCCB is coordinating efforts with local dioceses, institutions and pastoral leaders in each of the five hosting locations. More information about the nationwide journey of the WYD symbols will be released, as details are known, on the USCCB’s WYD website, www.wydusa.org and social media channels (@wydusa).