Texas Gulf Coast Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 9, No. 31, Ed. 1 Friday, December 7, 1973 Page: 1 of 6
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Gulf Coast Register/South Texas Catholic and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries.
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Feast of Guadalupe to Open
Holy Year at OLG Parish
Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish has
extended an invitation to all the parishes in
Corpus Christi to celebrate the Feast of Our
Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.
The day’s festivities will begin with
the traditional mananitas in honor of Our
Lady of Guadalupe beginning at 6 a.m. After
the mananitas, the statue of Our Lady of
Guadalupe will be placed in the Sanctuary for
the day and Father Raymond Pena, Pastor,
will celebrate the morning Mass, assisted by
Reverend Mr. Hector Vega, who is a deacon
at the parish.
A breakfast of coffee and “pan dulce”
will be served in the parish hall immediately
after Mass.
Father Ezequiel Inurrieta will celebrate the
second morning Mass at 8:30 a.m.
The principal activities for the day will
begin at 7 p.m. There will be a candlelight
procession, originating in the parking lot of
Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish. The
procession will go around the block and will
conclude with a concelebrated Mass at which
Bishop Thomas J. Drury will be the principal
celebrant and the priests of the city will
participate.
In extending the invitation to the clergy and
the people of God in the city of Corpus Christi,
Father Pena emphasized that this would be
the first official pilgrimage of the Holy Year
at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish. This parish
is one of the designated churches for gaining
the Holy Year indulgences in Corpus Christi.
Father Pena said that all the participants in
this procession - pilgrimage would be able to
gain the plenary indulgences of the Holy
Year.
“Over a thousand persons have partici-
pated in the annual procession and Mass
honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe, in past
years.” Father Pena said. “We expect many
more to attend this celebration in view of the
Holy Year."
After the evening Mass, the parishioners
and friends of the parish will p-esent a
cultural program pertinent to the Feast being
celebrated. Students from West Oso High
School will present a pageant depicting the
apparitions of the Mother of God to Juan
Diego, on the hill of Tepeyac, in Mexico in
1531. The Ballet Folklorico Brillante of
Corpus Christi will present folk dances of
various regions of Mexico, and boys and girls
from the school of religion, conducted by the
Sisters of Missionary Catechists of Divine
Providence, who are taking ‘‘dancing
lessons ' at the Church will also perform.
Pope Seeks Reconciliation of
Catholics Disaffected With Church
Pope Says
Holy Year Period of
Examination of Christianity
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
Oil the feastdav of the Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8, one of the Mass prayers says ‘‘We
proclaim that she was spotless through the power of your grace: may we be freed from our
faults through her hply intercession.” This depiction of the Immaculate Conception is from
Spain’s Prado museum. The artist is Murillo. (NC Photo)
From the Bishop's Desk...
The proximity of the beautiful Feast of the
Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin
Mary reminds us that in these days of stress
and strain, we should, as dutiful children,
turn to Mary to help us in our needs. To aid us
in this endeavor we could do no better than to
read and study carefully the pastoral letter,
issued by the Bishops of the United States,
which is about to be widely distributed
throughout the country. TTie letter is designed
to “reaffirm our heritage of faith in Mary, the
Mother of God and to encourage authentic
devotion to her.”
Hie waning of special devotion to our
Blessed Mother in recent years is attributible
to a variety of causes. Sophisticated moderns
have labelled the devotion of the rosary as a
repetitious and ill-suited prayer. But their
mouthings have had little effect on the rank
and file of Catholics. The “new breed” among
the clergy, about whom we heard not a little
in days gone by, felt that they had a special
necessity to draw attention to themselves,
and like spoiled chidlren, they stood at the
entrance of church an’d seminary to snatch
the rosary from a docile people. TTiey
overplayed the directive that it would be
better to offer the Mass with the celebrant
than tc recite the beads at that particular
time.
But perhaps the best explanation of all for
the decline in Marian devotions is that with
the advent of the evening Mass, not only on
weekdays, but also on Sundays and Holy
days, such devotions as Benediction of the
Most Blessed Sacrament, recitation of the
Rosary, Novenas and such like, had to give
place to the Holy Sacrifice itself. Perhaps, in
candor, we can say that it was not so much a
disowning of these special devotions, but
rather an inability to fit them as to time and
place that caused the turning away from
them. Certain, it is, the Fathers of the Second
Vatican Council, far from downgrading the
Blessed Virgin Mary, paid special attention to
her, particularly in the Constitution on the
Church. In the eighth chapter of that historic
document we find the most beautiful of
tributes paid to Mary.
In their pastoral letter, the Bishops not only
make reference to the Vatican document, but
they draw heavily on Sacred Scripture.
Special treatment is given to “the Virgin
birth,” “Mary’s holiness,” and the doctrine of
her Assumption into Heaven as related to the
Resurrection of her divine Son from the dead.
This coming feast of the Immaculate
Conception affords a splendid opportunity to
parents and teachers to speak to children and
young people about the purity of Mary. And,
oh, how much this subject is being neglected
today! Conceived and born free of the sin of
Adam. Mary lived a most pure life. She is a
true model whose beautiful virtues our
youngsters should emulate.
A careful reading of the Pastoral Letter
which will soon be available to everyone,
should have a salutary effect on our faithful
and should draw them back to a genuine
renewal of special devotion to Mary, the
Mother of God; Mary, the Mother of us all;
Mary, the Mother of the Church.
GUADALUPE SERENADED
Members of a mariachi group serenade Our Lady of Guadalupe at the anniversary of an appearance of the Blessed Virgin to Indian Juan
dawn in Los Angeles’ old Plaza church. On Dec. 12. Mexican - Diego on Tepeyac llill outside Mexico City on Dec. 12. 1531. (NC
Americans will celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, marking Photo)
NCC Issues Suggestions For
Nation’s Bicentennial Celebration
VATICAN CITY (NC) — There must be a
reconciliation of Catholics who have become
disaffected with the Church, Pope Paul VI
told a general audience Nov. 28.
The Pope explained that he was speaking of
a reconciliation — a theme of the Holy Year
he has proclaimed — of “those sons of the
Church who, without officially breaking with
the Church, find themselves in an unusual
position in regard to it.
“They wish to remain in communion with
the Church, but they find themselves in an
attitude of criticism and contestation.”
Such sons of the Church, the Pope
continued, often criticize and contest from
plausible motives of improving the Church
and correcting it.
The Pope charged that such persons,
however, so disrupt the Church that “they
themselves tear up the roots of the vital plant
which sustains them.”
The next step for those contestors, the Pope
said, is that “they appeal to pluralism of
theological interpretations .. . without seeing
that they thus construct their own doctrines
which are comfortable and easy to adhere to,
if not directly contrary to the norms and
objectivity of the faith.”
The Pope said that such persons cause him
“great sorrow tempered only by f. sentiment
of even greater charity for them.”
The Pope appealed to Catholics to recall
that the Church, in the words of the Second
Vatican Council, “is the sign and instrument
of our union with God and of the unity of the
human race.”
NEW YORK (RNS) - A 2<Tpage tabloid
designed to aid U S. Churches in beginning
their celebration of the nation’s bicentennial
was issued here by the National Council of
Churches.
Called “The Light in the Steeple — Religion
and the American Revolution,” the
publication begins with wavs the 200th
anniversary of the Boston Tea Party (Dec.
16,) might be observed.
“Religion was a dynamic ingredient in the
nation’s beginning,” the tabloid states on its
cover. “Some of its contributions are well
known. Others have been neglected in our
elementary history books.”
“The Light in the Steeple” is meant to help
“people discover or recall the importance of
religious convictions, experiences and
institutions in the revolutionary era.”
Three pages of the publication are devoted
to a descriptive listing of “commemorable”
events in the revolutionary era. Other
sections discuss specific programs and
activities local congregations and regional
religious groups can sponsor between 1973
and 1989, the latter being the 200th
anniversary of the inauguration of George
Washington as the first President.
Five sermons illustrative of the type
preached in the late 18th Century are
reproduced in “The Light in the Seeple,” a
title taken from the signal given to Paul
Revere from Boston’s Old North church.
Material in the tabloid that may be
unfamiliar to many Americans includes the
impact of the First Great Awakening
(1730-1750) on the origins of the Revolution.
There is also discussion of resistance to the
establishment of an Anglican bishop in the
then British colonies.
Questions relating revolutionary themes to
the contemporary American experience are
printed at the end of several articles.
texas gulf coast
CATHOLIC
Vol. IX Mo. 31
Official Newspaper of the Diocese of Corpus Christi
Friday, December 7, 1973
VATICAN CITY (NC) - Led by the
melodious bells of St. Peter’s Basilica, church
bells of Italy ushered in the Holy Year for
Italian dioceses at noon on the first Sunday of
Advent, Dec. 2.
Moments after, Pope Paul VI said from his
window to thousands in the square below:
“The bells, did you hear them?
“At this hour throughout this land the
simultaneous sound of bells wishes to
announce to the people that the Holy Year
begins on the local level.
“Listen to this concert, listen to this
concert.”
The bells, the Pope said, were the voice
between heaven and earth and a metallic
song 'which soars on high to invoke for us
below the effusion of God’s blessings.”
The Holy Year observances in local
dioceses, the Pope explained, is the prelude to
that year, “singular in all the world, which we
will, God willing, celebrate in Rome in 1975.”
(On Christmas eve of 1974, Pope Paul will
open a sealed door in St. Peter’s Basilica
through which will pass the Holy Year
pilgrims throughout 1975.
(Announcing the Holy Year last spring, the
Pope said that the Holy Year in Rome would
be preceded by a Holy Year in local churches
throughout the world.)
In the intervening months the Pope has
spoken often of the twin themes of the Holy
Year, renewal and reconciliation.
“You already know what the Holy Year is,
but we will explain it to you again,” the Pope
told the crowd, most of whom huddled under
the arched colonnades of St. Peter’s Square to
avoid a freezing, pelting rain.
“Holy Year is a period of religious and
moral renewal... a practical examination of
the genuiness of our Christianity ... a
deepening of our spiritual awareness and a
stimulant to the implementation of our social
charity.”
That, the Pope concluded, is what the bells
are saying today.
“Listen to them, my children,” he said, "as
a joyous and living message.”
Father Louis Joseph
Fr. L. Joseph Assumes
Vocations Post
Father Louis Joseph was recently
appointed Assistant Diocesan Director of
Vocations. He is Pastor of St.
Frances of Rome Church in Agua Dulce.
Father Joseph is the founder and Diocesan
Director of the Knights of the Sanctuary of the
Du. eseof Corpus Christi, an organization for
Altar Boys. The organization which has been
in existence for a very short time already
numbers over 700 members from all parts of
the Diocese.
Father Joseph, a native of Corpus Christi, is
the son of Mrs. Anna Joseph and the late
Simon Joseph.
He is a member of the Diocesan-Senate of
Priests and the bodies’ representative in the
Diocesan Pastoral Council.
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Pena, Raymond. Texas Gulf Coast Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 9, No. 31, Ed. 1 Friday, December 7, 1973, newspaper, December 7, 1973; Corpus Christi, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth835442/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .