Texas Gulf Coast Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 9, No. 25, Ed. 1 Friday, October 26, 1973 Page: 1 of 6
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IMPRESSIONS OF AUTUMN
Bishops' Agenda Includes
Communion, Synod, Prisons
WASHINGTON (NC) - The Vatican’s
decree on first Communion and first con-
fession, and the liturgical innovation of
Communion in the hand are on the agenda for
discussion at the next general meeting of U . S,
Catholic bishops.
Some 250 members of the National Con-
ference of Catholic Bishops and the U. S.
Catholic Conference are expected to attend
the NCCB-USCC annual meeting here (Nov.
12-16).
The bishops will also consider proposed
policy statements on the 1974 Population Year
and on prison reform. Another matter ex-
pected to occupy the bishops’ attention will be
the international Synod of Bishops to be held
at the Vatican in October, 1974.
Discussion of first Communion and lirst
confession has been requested by the USCC
Education Committee. A recent V; tican
decree has directed a return to the traditional
practice whereby children receive the
sacrament of Penance before taking first
Communion. In recent years many U. S.
diocese had reversed the order of children’s
first reception of the two sacraments.
A much discussed liturgical innovation —
the reception of Communion in the hand —
will reappear on the bishops’ agenda. In their
November 1970 meeting, the majority of the
bishops favored asking the Vatican for
authorization to introduce the practice. But
they lacked the required two-thirds vote to
pass the proposal.
For centuries, the usual method of ad-
ministering Holy Communion has been for the
priest to place the consecrated host on the
communicant’s tongue. Since the Second
Vatican Council, however, about 15 con-
ferences of bishops around the world have
sought and received authorization from the
Vatican to allow reception of Communion in
the hand.
Under the proposal to be considered next
month, it would be up to the local bishops in
the United States to decide whether or not to
introduce the practice in their diocese.
In addition, the individual communicant
would be free to receive Communion in the
traditional manner or in the hand, according
to his preference. The proposal originates
with the NCCB Liturgy Committee
Sunflowers nearly ready for harvest, cattails starting to go to seed — these are two
impressions of autumn reduced to sketchlike black and white terms. <NC Photo)
From the Bishop's Desk,
texas gulf coast
CATHOLIC
Vol. IX No. 25
Official Newspaper of the Diocese of Corpus Christi
Friday, October 26, 1973
St. Pius X to Celebrate Anniversary
The first National Assembly of the National
Council of Catholic Laity was held in New
Orleans during this past week. I was
privileged to be there together with several of
our priests and a fine representative group of
our laity. The sessions were held in a spacious
hall known as the Rivergate Civic Building
located at an area in the City where Canal
Street joins up with the river. Because of the
magnificent hall which easily housed the
great number of delegates and visitors from
around the country and also gave space for
several display cubicles, and because of the
large number of available rooms that lent
themselves for workshop gatherings, the
meeting was well organized and expertly
conducted.
In one of these workshops with a panel of
three speakers, we heard a calm and logical
presentation from a young medical doctor,
Edward Kilroy of Cleveland, Ohio. His theme
centered around the value of human life.
The speaker pointed out that our attitude
towards life depends much on our viewpoint.
We can view it as God’s life in God’s world.
We can view it as man’s life in man’s world;
and, we can view it as my life in my world.
Our Western Judeo-Christian ethic for the
past five thousand years has always been
identified with the first, namely, to view life
as God’s life in God’s world. Here we have
God as the sole author of life. All life comes
from Him. He alone has the right to take life
from us.
In the ethics of our present day, God is
supplanted by the state. We dare not mention
the name of God in our schools. Man has
become a large organism whose life is in the
possession of the state.
Because we cannot turn away from our
ST. LOUIS, MO. — The Congregation of the
Missionaries of the Holy Family, Overland,
Mo., observed the 65th anniversary of
Founder’s Day on October 16 with a con-
celebrated Mass and reception for invited
priests and religious from the St. Louis area.
The Rev. Anthony Elsing, M.S.F., of Corpus
Christi, Texas, was the main celebrant of the
Eucharist in the seminary chapel at 2500 Ash-
by Road. Seventy-five priests, religious and
seminarians were welcomed by the Rev.
Arthur Ockwood, M.S.F., rector of the
seminary.
The founder of the congregation, Father
John Baptist Berthier, died on October 16,
1906 in Grave, Holland, just thirteen years
after he had established his first community
in that city. Father Berthier had seen the
need for a religious institute for candidates to
the priesthood who could not be admitted
elsewhere because of poverty or age. His goal
was to awaken and further missionary
vocations as the object of the apostolic ac-
tivity of this institute. Young men of many
nationalities had been received into the
congregation during Father Berthier’s
lifetime.
basic concept of five thousand years whereby
we live in God’s world and He has delegated
to man the obligation to preserve life as far as
possible and has forbidden him to end it, we
must resist all attempts by individuals or the
state to engage in fetal euthanasia or murder
of the unborn within the womb. We must also
resist similar attempts to end life outside the
womb, e g. the mentally retarded, the aged
and the sick (euthanasia) and the efforts to
legalize suicide.
Dr. Kilroy pointed to two instances where
the public were subjected to a complete hoax
— (l) the publicizing of a lie which stated that
one of the reasons why abortion should have
been legalized was to put out of existence the
back alley butchers (doctors) who were
performing 10,000 illegal abortions annually.
In actuality the count (which was bad
enough) was not 10,000 but 150. A complete
hoax foisted on a believing public.
A second hoax is the expression ‘ ‘death with
dignity” — a sugar-coated expression to
cover up the bold fact that death should be
induced by medical means. For surely, there
is calm dignity in the moment when a person
breaths his last as every Catholic clergyman
can testify.
The doctor closed his remarks with words
of caution. To terminate the life of the in-
dividual does not help him. Rather we are to
support him in his last hours by the comfort
we will give him. The speaker also referred to
the program of the March of Dimes which will
be conducted in a few months as it has been in
years past. In this connection its National
Board of Directors has refused to make a
forthright statement that it respects the right
of a defective child to a continued life that
should be terminated by a call from God
alone.
The first contingent of Holy Family priests
to the United Sates formed foundations in
Minnesota and Texas, with Father Elsing
heading the group settling in the Archdiocese
of San Antonio in 1926 to work among the
Spanish-speaking Catholics. Father Elsing
has been assigned to a number of parishes
through the years and is currently pastor of
Sacred Heart parish in Corpus Christi.
Clergy
Appointments
The Most Reverend Thomas J. Drury,
Bishop of Corpus Christi, has made the
following clergy appointment:
Reverend (Deacon) Hector Vega, I.S.S.S.,
Deacon assistant, Our Lady of Guadalupe
Parish Corpus Christi, effective October 15,
1973.
By order of the
Most Reverend Bishop
Reverend Msgr. William T. Thompson
Chancellor
Our parish will celebrate the tenth an-
niversary of its’ canonical establishment next
Sunday, October 28. Actually St. Pius X
Parish was officially created by the late
Bishop M. S. Garriga on October 1, 1963 with
your present Pastor assigned to serve as its’
first pastor.
The name of St. Pius X was chosen for the
new parish because Corpus Christi was
elevated to diocesan status in 1912 during the
reign of this saintly Pontiff and also because
St. Pius X is considered the patron saint of the
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, the
organization which your Pastor headed for
almost fifteen years in the Diocese of Corpus
Christi.
The first Mass was celebrated on Sunday,
October 17, 1963 in the K of C Hall on S.
Alameda, which served as our temporary
Outside Mass
VATICAN CITY (NC) - The Vatican
Congregation for Divine Worship made public
Oct. 18 a 68 page booklet in Latin providing
norms for the distribution of communion
outside Mass.
Msgr. Gilberto Agustoni, a congregation
consultor, said at a Vatican press conference
that the booklet is not revolutionary but an
attempt to put between covers a refor-
mulation of the Church’s ritual regarding the
Blessed Sacrament.
The booklet draws heavily from documents
of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul’s
1965 encyclical on the Eucharist, Mystery of
Faith, and the Pope’s 1973 instruction that
allows lay men or women to distribute
Communion in special cases.
The booklet will fill a vacuum created by
that 1973 instruction, Of Immense Charity,
which assigned to lay dispensers of Com-
munion the ritual used by priests.
This posed a problem, for the right to
distribute Communion did not include the
right to give a blessing or indeed to use cer-
tain prayers reserved for priests only.
The new booklet instructs the lay dispenser
to invoke a blessing on all participants, in-
cluding himself, and to sign himself with the
sign of the Cross during that invocation.
Church until December 19, 1965 when our
present Church was dedicated. The first
census taken in December of 1963 showed that
350 families lived in our area. At present we
claim a membership of approximately 500
families.
Much has been accomplished in the first 10
years of our existence as a parish. In fact,
space does not permit us to enumerate all the
things that have happened so far. However,
we thought you would be interested in some
statistics that reflect our spiritual and
material growth. In 10 years 581 persons were
regenerated by the sacrament of baptism —
92 converts, 481 infants; 256 persons were
united in the bond? of matrimony —■ 98
Catholic, 158 mixed religion, 633 received
their first holy communion in our sanctuary
and 72 were afforded the reward of a
Christian burial.
Msgr. Agustoni emphasized that the new
ritual for Communion outside Mass parallels
the elements of Mass leading up to Com-
munion and dismissal of the faithful.
Just as in the ritual for Mass, the
distribution of Communion outside Mass is
composed of a penitential service, scripture
readings, recitation of the Our Father, the
handshake of peace, and, after Communion, a
parting prayer and final blessing.
In his 1965 encyclical, Mystery of Faith,
Pope Paul came down hard on those who
question the defined doctrine of the Church on
transubstantiation, or the changing of the
bread and wine during Mass into the real
Body and Blood of Christ.
Citing that encyclical, the booklet declares
m its preface:
“In the celebration of Mass . . . the whole
and entire Christ, God and man, is present
substantially and entirely in the sacrament of
the Eucharist.”
Because the Church believes that Christ is
present in the consecrated bread, the booklet
emphasizes that the place where the
Eucharist is reserved should be “a Fitting
place and one suitable for fostering
recollection,” where Catholics may find
“silent and peaceful surroundings.”
We are very proud of our parochial school,
which is now in its’ eighth year of operation
with an enrollment of 172. In addition to these
students, we are providing religious
education to an additional 413 students this
year through our C.C.D. program. We feel
that both of these educational programs are
most outstanding.We have many active
organizations in our parish and they include:
Altar & Rosary Society, C.Y.O., Adult &
Youth Choirs, C.C.D,, Parents Club, Men’s
Parish Council, St. Vincent de Paul Society,
Knights of the Altar and a complete program
of scouting for both boys and girls. If you are
interested in joining any of these parish
organizations please contact us at the rec-
tory.
To date, four buildings have been com-
pleted on the six acres of land that the parish
owns. The church and the school were
dedicated December 19,1965; the rectory and
the youth center on February 21, 1972. A
permanent Church is part of our master plan
and will be built if that is the wish of the
Parish. Our debt has been reduced to $40,000
— thanks to your generous Church support
through tithing or “God’s Acceptable
Sacrifice Program”, whereby every family
gives 5 percent of its’ weekly income in the
Sunday collection.
Bishop Thomas J. Drury will be with us
next Sunday to celebrate the occasion by
singing the 10:30 Mass and offering the
homily. The parish organizations will sponsor
a Halloween carnival in the afternoon from 1
to 6 p.m. in the school “parking area.
Catholics Support
Mexican Quake
Relief
'In response to an appeal to provide
financial emergency assistance to victims of
the recent earthquake in Mexico, Catholics of
the Diocese of Corpus Christi contributed
$11,476.38 to a special collection taken up in all
parishes of the diocese.
Bishop Thomas J. Drury has forwarded the
funds to the Catholic Relief Services for use in
the 200 mile area of Central Mexico which was
extensively damaged. About 500 were known
killed and injuries totaled several thousands
in the August 2ttth quake. More than 25,000
have been left homeless. C.R.S. staff and
volunteers have been on the scene since the
quake, wording with the Mexican Red Cross
and other international relief services to meet
the many needs among the quake victims.
Holy Family Missionaries
Celebrate 65th Anniversary
Vatican Issues Norms For
Distributing Communion
>
Mission Glimpses
■XtfXW^XWiXSXWX-X-X-X^X^^X&rWSAWXtt-X^-XC-^-XO'Xtf-X-X-XvXC^
Father I’eter McNamara is pictured
instructing catechetists in the town of
I’ereisima.
New Mission Church Is Dedicated
It is my hope in the months to come that
from time to time I might be able to let you
see something of the people, activities, and
the places which make up our diocesan
mission, the parish of San Isidro in Arteaga,
Mexico. For four months now, Father Peter
McNamara and Father Michael Chilen have
labored in the mountains outside of Saitiio,
working with the more than 20,000 inhabitants
who live here and there, in towns and on
ranches.
During one of these months, the people of
Purisima, a small village nestled about a mile
and a half high along a mountainside,
celebrated the deciation of their new church.
Built of concrete blocks and a galvanized
By Father Richard Shirley
metal roof, the church was built for ap-
proximately one thousand dollars, the gift of
several Mississippian donors. In this church
dedicated to Our Lady there is no floor other
than the good earth on which it stands, but the
people take a tremendous pride in this the
first church they have ever had. Speaking
about it, Father Chilen said that windows and
doors still have to be put in, but even un-
finished, it is a great improvement over the
outdoors where Mass had to be offered.
Since the dedication on the feast of the
Assumption, Father McNamara has begun
the task of religious education, instructing
catechists who in turn will teach the children
of the village. He has expressed a desire to
have every child attend at least sixteen in-
struction classes before the end of the year.
The work that these two priests are doing in
Purisima is only a reflection of their total
ministry to the 28 other churches and over 50
ranches of the parish of San Isidro. What they
are asking from us back home is primarily
that we support and sustain their efforts with
our prayers and sacrifices. We might not all
be able to stand-up under the demands and
the strains of missionary life, but we all have
the opportunities to lighten their load and
share in their ministry by the generosity of a
prayerful and sacrificial spirit. Donations
small and large are also needed to carry on
the work and the programs of this mission
church, as well as to build new ones. Won’t
you help?
Sticks and stones with a lot of devotion
and hard work have built this new church
for the people on this mountain town.
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Pena, Raymond. Texas Gulf Coast Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 9, No. 25, Ed. 1 Friday, October 26, 1973, newspaper, October 26, 1973; Corpus Christi, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth835246/m1/1/: accessed July 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .