I apologize for the time lapse from the last entries I made on my blog. Much of my time has been (and still is) involved in writing thank you notes and letters to the many, many, people who have written my family and I after my mother’s death. What I have been writing (in one way or another) is that “My mother had a wonderful life. As a maternity nurse and instructor she influenced so many young families, nurses and friends for many years. All of this was rooted in her Catholic Faith. She told me on many occasions how she loved her Catholic Faith and was proud to be Catholic. And, with all of this, she and Dad raised the six of us siblings!”
Thank you for your patience and understanding. Now, back to life in the Diocese of Fort Worth…
The Diocese of Fort Worth is over 50% Hispanic. The Hispanic population for our Diocese is a gift and blessing, but there are always pastoral needs to be met, especially since many of our immigrant families are young and recent in their presence here among us. To provide for their needs — in addition to our native priests, religious, and pastoral workers learning to speak Spanish — it is essential that native Spanish speaking priests and religious be present in our Diocese for pastoral care. We are blessed now with Hispanic seminarians, and a number of recently ordained priests from Mexico who have family in our Diocese. One of the greatest joys for me has been to ordain a number of these men these past years. We are also blessed with religious communities of men who minister in our parishes as well.
To assist the priests with their ministry here, and to help them to understand better the unique setting of pastoral life here in the United States (and Texas in particular), we enlisted the help of the Mexican American Catholic College in San Antonio. Dr. Arturo Chavez, President of MACC, and Fr. David Garcia of San Antonio spent several days with the priests in reflection, prayer, study and discussion. A special thanks to Sr. Yolanda Cruz, SSMN, Vice Chancellor, for helping to arrange this. Vice Chancellor, Peter Flynn, and I and other Diocesan staff were present for these days, which were held at the Montserrat Retreat House at Lake Dallas, and sponsored by the New Orleans province of the Society of Jesus. The days consisted of prayer and reflection on a spirituality of communion!
