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NEWSLETTER
October , 2004
The Texas Mission
Council [TMC] of the Texas Catholic Conference [TCC] is the only statewide
Mission Council in the United States. Its goal is to support all the
missionary efforts of the Texas Catholic Church, including:
- Updating
and disseminating information about mission activities including diocesan,
religious congregations, parish and lay missionary activity;
- Supporting
different programs that promote the Gospel of Jesus through the Spiritual
or Corporal Works of Mercy in missions at home and abroad
- Promoting
the love and appreciation of other peoples and cultures
- Fostering
the Mission Vocations of Priests, Sisters, Brothers and Lay Missioners
and financial support for their work
Under the guidance
of the TMC, each diocese, parish, and educational institution is also
encouraged to form a Mission Council {or club} to implement the mission
efforts of the Universal Church.
The Board of Directors and the Texas Mission Council’s membership
support missions as unsalaried volunteers who are proud to cooperate
in the work for the missions. All who wish to support the work of the
missions are invited to join us in TMC.
“Mission
is God’s job description”.
MISSION
ACTIVITIES FROM THE DIOCESE OF HOUSTON
The diocese of Houston is one of the leaders in efforts to promote
the work of the missions. Because of the extraordinary efforts
of Auxiliary Bishop Vincent Rizzotto D.D., Mission Office Directress
Hilda Herandez, Maryknoll Mission Educator Awanda Whitworth, and
numerous sending groups and mission-minded parishes, Bishop Fiorenza
has officially approved the formation of the “Houston Diocesan
Mission Council” to promote new mission efforts.
Some
of the Non Traditional Houston Mission Projects
(These are in addition to the traditional projects of mission
orders and congregations)
-
The SOS program (Sending Out Servants) is a
one-week life sharing experience with Indigenous peoples in
Guatemala to deepen understanding of the needs of other people.
-
Members of St Anne’s parish visit Mexico
several times each year to witnesses the Gospel personally by
their lives.
-
St Simon and Jude parish has traveled to Indian
Reservations in Arizona to help students excel in their studies,
and to empower the people to help themselves.
- St
Ignatius parish is paying Catholic School teacher’s
salaries in Central America.
- The
Medical Missionaries of Divine Mercy go to Mexico each
year with medicine and medical personnel to help the needy in
Mexico.
-
The Society of St Martin de Porres provides
medical
assistance for the needy in Guatemala.
-
The Charismatic Center brings a rich prayer-life
and great love to an orphanage on the Mexican border.
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- Maryknoll
Lay Missioners,
Kurt and Anita Kleug from St Michael’s parish
are serving in Kenya, Africa.
and
-
Michael and Elizabeth Thaibinh and their three children from
St Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish are serving refugees
in Thailand.
- The
Shrine of the True Cross has a twin parish relationship
with the parish of Aguijita, Mexico. Mutual visits create a
learning experience that facilitates mission efforts.
-
The Diocese of Houston has sent Fr. Joe Perez as missionary
to Guatemala.
-
St Rose of Lima goes to the “Colonias”
of Laredo on the US border where one million people live in
poverty
- Among
the traditional mission programs, we can mention the work of
the Basilian Fathers who pioneered missionary
work in Texas. Coming from France, from the diocese that whose
Bishop instituted The Holy Childhood Association, they brought
the urgent message of giving pennies (at that time) for the
support of the needy children whose parents were exploited workers
in the cotton and sugar cane fields of that time.
These Basilians also founded seventy-eight parishes in Texas
and initiated the Mission Rosary, which Bishop Fulton Sheen
later popularized on his TV programs.
We owe a debt of gratitude to these Basilian missionaries and
all the Religious who established and maintained the Catholic
Church in Texas.
(This information is courtesy of Basilian Fr. Jack Whitley,
Treasurer of the Texas Mission Council. )
These programs reflect the message of the U.S Bishops.
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Missioner Tales from Maryknoll
(Courtesy of Maryknoll Magazine, the voice of the Maryknoll Fathers
and Brothers. Maryknoll’s formal title is “The Catholic
Foreign Missionary Society of America”)
“In
preparing for our Christmas pageant in the Marshall Islands, I was looking
for an infant to be the baby Jesus. I met a mother after Mass and asked
if we could use her infant baby in the role. She was delighted and all
went well
Two months later, this same mother asked if we could baptize her oldest
daughter. After a pause, she asked if it would be all right if we also
baptized the baby Jesus at the same time.”
Sr. Dora Nuetzi, M.M.
“After
we received a large donation of food stuffs to distribute to the needy
here in the Yucatan, Mexico, the ubiquitous ants began helping themselves
to the sugar. So Don Ermilio Tzec, our 80 some year old sacristan devised
a water trap around the legs of the table to protect the food. Afterwards,
he took a large, syrupy wrapper from a broken food package and set it
out on the floor. When I asked him, Don Ermilio replied, “The
ants have to struggle to live just as we do.”
Fr. John P. Martin, M.M.
“I
was making the rounds at Bugando Hospital in Mwanza, Tanzania when a
patient held my hand and made a request. Joseph, emaciated by Aids,
asked, “Could you please bring me some toothpaste?”
Supplies like that are not available in the hospital, so I brought him
a tube I bought in a local store. When I stopped to visit him the following
day, I was told that Joseph had died. I picture him standing before
Good with a stunning smile.”
Sr. Catherine Erisman, M.M.
Editor’s Note
If you find these missionary tales appealing, perhaps you may also have
a missionary vocation. Contact TMC for more details on how you can become
an active missionary. If not, your daily prayers and generous financial
aid will always be welcome to the missionaries who serve the poor around
the world.
The
Texas Mission Council’s annual meeting will be held at
the Holy Spirit Retreat Center in Laredo, Texas, beginning
on Friday evening, January 28th, and ending at noon on Sunday,
January 30, 2005. Final details and enrollment will be in our
December Newsletter.
This meeting is open to the general public and will examine issues related
to Missionary Outreach to the US/Mexican border. The TMC emphasizes
mission both at home and abroad and the border touches on both of these
issues
Keynote
Speaker for the Texas Mission Council’s
annual meeting will be the noted US Hispanic Theologian:
FATHER VIRGIL ELIZONDO
 Fr.
Elizondo is the author and editor of numerous books and countless articles
and presentations on national and international television. From the
Near East Pastoral Institute in the Philippines where he began his pastoral
studies, to the Institut Catholique in Paris France, where he received
his S.T.D/PhD, Fr. Elizondo is known as one of the top theologians in
the world specializing in Hispanic Pastoral Ministry and Cultural Mores.
Fr. Elizando is founder of the Mexican American Cultural Center and
its first President as well as former Rector of the Cathedral, in his
hometown of San Antonio, Texas.
(Awanda Whitworth, Secretary, Texas Mission Council, 713-688-1060)
THE
OFFICIAL DIOCESAN REPRESENTATIVES IN TMC ARE:
[1] Mary Wisniewski, San Antonio –
[2] Fr. Michael Colwell, Amarillo
[3] Deacon Bill Scott, Austin –
[4]Fr. Edwardo Ortega, Brownsville
[5]Fr. Renaldo Yrlas, Corpus Christi –
[6]Sr. Nancy Sullivan, Dallas
[7]Amy Zeder, Fort Worth –
[8]Hilda Hernandez - Houston
[9]Msgr. Thomas Davis, Laredo –
[10]Fr. Larry Droll, San Angelo
[11]Deacon & Lupe Natera, Tyler –
[12]Fr. Roger Hawes, Victoria
(Beaumont, El Paso and Lubbock have no official representative yet)
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