News - December 2015 RSS Feed

Bishop Michael Mulvey has asked all the parishes in the Diocese of Corpus Christi to take up a collection at all Sunday Masses, Jan. 9 – 10, for disaster relief in the Diocese of Dallas. Countless families have lost everything–homes, cars, furniture and family mementos¬–in the historic storms that spawned at least nine tornadoes in North Texas that resulted in 11 deaths and damage expected to top $1billion.

Bishop Michael Mulvey announced at the Bishop’s Guild Annual Christmas Party that the guild will undertake a new mission as ambassadors for Catholic Education.

With three knocks upon the Holy Door of Mercy at the Corpus Christi Cathedral, Bishop Michael Mulvey ushered in the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy for the flock in the Diocese of Corpus Christi during a Sunday Mass on Dec. 13, 2015.

As the Year of Mercy began last month, I initiated the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy with some of the inmates at the McConnell Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Beeville.  Every year, together with a group of priests, I go to the prison to celebrate an Advent Mass with them during which I baptize, confirm and give First Communion to those among them who have embraced or have re-embraced our Catholic Faith.  Every year this is an unbelievably uplifting experience, but in this Year of Mercy it was so in a particular way.  

Tammy Alcala lived with her secret for years, never telling anyone and her pain was devastating. As a 19-year-old college student, she had an abortion. She was young, single and did not think she had any other options.

The day after Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of Mercy at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Bishop Michael Mulvey walked through the doors of the McConnell Unit in Beeville to offer God’s mercy to the inmates at the state’s correctional institution. What he found was a “Church alive” and well among the incarcerated.

El miércoles 2 de Diciembre, un grupo de 41 mujeres pertenecientes al grupo de oración “Caminando en la Fe” de la parroquia de St. Philip the Apostle, acompañadas y dirigidas por el padre Julián Cabrera y sor Rosa Ortiz se enviaron al Santuario de la Virgen de Shoenstatt en Lamar, Texas para tener un retiro de meditación y reflexión sobre el tiempo de adviento. Y que también sirvió de tiempo de adoración y convivencia en un ambiente hermandad católica.

Eagle Scout Aaron Ruiz orchestrated the making and delivery of thousands of homemade emergency preparedness kits to people all over south Texas. Ruiz is in his 11th year of scouts and suffers from muscular dystrophy. When asked why he wanted to do the project he simply said, “for fun and to help people.”

En Noviembre se llevó a cabo en la cancillería la sesión del ministerio hispano. El padre Julián Cabrera aprovechó la ocasión para hacer la invitación a la conferencia Ministerial 2016, “Familia y Misericordia unidas por el amor”, que abarca un ciclo de conferencias en inglés y en español que serán impartidas el día 9 de enero en el American Bank Center.

In the morning of Thursday, Dec. 31, the Holy Father Pope Francis will receive in audience the participants in the 40th International Congress of the International Federation of Pueri Cantores, held in Rome from Dec. 28, 2015 –Jan. 1, 2016. Among the 5,000 youth singers, from around the world, will be the Corpus Christi Cathedral Youth Choir.

The Pax Christi Sisters were founded by Mother Teresa Santoyo in 1969 in the Diocese of Corpus Christi. Our apostolate, as that of all religious, consists primarily in the witness of our consecrated lives. The charism entrusted to Mother Teresa Santoyo is to serve as an enabling instrument of peace which leads each member in the pursuit of the attainment of perfect love, oneness with God.

In October 2015, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay for the execution of Julius Murphy. The Court cited concerns about the possibility of prosecutors coercing statements from witnesses that implicated Murphy in a 1997 murder. This case, which also includes issues related to intellectual disability and racial bias, raises questions about the fair use of capital punishment in Texas.

How often we pray these beautiful words: “Oh Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine!” As God’s people, that is what we most want—that our hearts will be more like the Sacred Heart of Jesus, filled with his love, his mercy, his joy, his peace and his goodness. It was to this end that the “Lay Formation Program” was initiated at Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Saint Helena of the True Cross of Jesus parishes in 2003.

Sometimes God speaks to us most clearly when we do the wrong thing. This is especially true in vocation discernment.

For the good of the people of God in the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Bishop Michael Mulvey has made the following pastoral assignments.

Incarnate Word Academy High school level students recently collected over 300 Christmas gifts for foster children.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Christmas is a reminder that through the birth of Christ, hope and peace are possible and that only through his grace can humanity find peaceful solutions to the world's most difficult problems, Pope Francis said.

The Cathedral Concert Series presented three performances of "The JOY of Christmas!" at Corpus Christi Cathedral on Dec. 18 - 19. A cast of more than 300 local Coastal Bend residents including the choirs of Corpus Christi Cathedral delighted the audience, choir director Lee Gwozdz said. The Cathedral was filled with music and the re-enactment of the timeless Christmas story including angels, shepherds, lambs and the three magi.

Pope Francis has approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Teresa of Kolkata, thus paving the way for her canonization. Pope Francis signed the decree for Blessed Teresa's cause and advanced three other sainthood causes Dec. 17, the Vatican announced.

On Dec. 12, parishioners at Our Lady of Guadalupe at Immaculate Conception Church in Taft reenacted the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego. Kirsten Perez played the role of Our Lady of Guadalupe.