Bishop makes pastoral visit to Sacred Heart

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Bishop Mulvey blesses Central Catholic kindergarten student Kieran Silgero as he greets parishioners after Mass at Sacred Heart parish during pastoral visit.

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For more than a century, Sacred Heart Church has been meeting the spiritual needs of the faith community in the inner city of Corpus Christi. Today it continues to serve as an anchor for this community, but more than half of its parishioners are believed to be former inner city residents that have maintained ties with the parish.

Father Juan Coma opened Sacred Heart in 1903 on Tancahua Street, but it was first called Our Lady of Guadalupe. In 1915, it was moved to Last Street and the name was changed to Blessed Sacrament. Two Incarnate Word Sisters opened a school in 1912 and soon had between 100-150 students.

The church was renamed St. Mary when a new sanctuary and school were built on 12th Street to meet the increasing demand of refugees fleeing the civil war in Mexico. In 1923, the church was moved and renamed one more time. This time its address was at the corner of Comanche and Alameda, and it was then called Sacred Heart.

Father Anthony Elsing, MSF came to Sacred Heart in 1936, and remained its pastor through 1952; he returned as pastor from 1960-66 and again from 1973-76. It was under his direction that the present church was built–entirely by parish labor–in 1942.

Sacred Heart progressed and grew through the years, but it was not only in their neighborhood that they evangelized. In 1946, Holy Family began as a mission of Sacred Heart. Three years later, St. Joseph also got its start as a Sacred Heart mission.

A great many people who grew up in the inner city and have achieved some degree of financial success have moved to other parts of the city. Some headed south, others west and still others stayed close by, but beyond the territorial boundaries of Sacred Heart, in areas now served by its former missions. But they still call Sacred Heart home and not only return every Sunday for Mass, they are active in the parish on a daily basis, serving in the pastoral and finance councils, as religious education teachers and in other parish ministries.

Many of them were on hand on Sunday, Jan. 18, when Bishop Michael Mulvey made his pastoral visit to the parish. It was the bishop's first pastoral visit of the year and he told parishioners it is one of the duties as bishop that he looks forward to. At the parish's Spanish Mass, Bishop Mulvey said that for a long time he had wanted to be present at parishes during their Sunday worship.

The bishop was also present at the English Mass later that morning and had breakfast between the two Masses, joining parishioners celebrating with pastor Father Angel Montana, JCL the 23rd anniversary of his ordination as a priest. After the 11:30 a.m. English Mass, Bishop Mulvey met and had lunch with the pastoral and finance councils.

In his homilies, Bishop Mulvey said that there were three functions of the Church and of worship, union, communion and mission.

The first calls us into a deeper union with God, a union in which we must be able to listen to what God wants from us. Too often we make demands of God, but true worship involves allowing him to make demands of us, Bishop Mulvey said.

"How can we listen to God if we don't know him? How can we know him if we don't listen to his word?" Bishop Mulvey asked. "We have to learn to listen."

We must also live in communion with Jesus Christ, the bishop said.

"We live in a divided world, marked with hate, violence and racism, yet when we go to church everyone is our sister and our brother," Bishop Mulvey said.

The parish, he said, is a community of people–of saints and sinners. He said, "we are sinners seeking to be saints...to be saints, we must come together as a family."

Worship is an empty gesture if it does not include mission. To be missionary disciples, the bishop said, "We are called to leave these doors and go" and take the treasure we have received–Jesus Christ–to others, through word and example.

"Our mission is not to…draw people to ourselves…but to make disciples of Jesus Christ," the bishop said.

At the meeting of the pastoral and finance councils, the bishop said their function was to create a healthy life in the parish so the word of God can be preached. He said the pastoral council was the "dream team" that, working with the pastor, comes up with ideas for new buildings and programs. The finance council was the reality team that advises the pastor what is financially feasible.

Bishop Mulvey thanked both councils for giving of their time and talent to strengthen parish life.

"It was a blessing and a privilege to have the bishop with us," parishioner Brenda Medina said. "It felt like the Holy Spirit was with us. What an honor for our parish."