South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 20, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, April 12, 1985 Page: 1 of 20
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1
SOUTH TEXAS
Vol. XX, No. 15
Serving the 314,812 Catholics in the Diocese of Corpus Christi
April 12,1985
Bishop Gracida reorganizes the Diocesan Curia
By Rachcile Parry
STC staff writer
CORPUS CHRIS I I — Directives of the Revised
Code o! Canon Law and the increasing mimbd of
diocesan offices have necessitated the reorganization of
the Diocesan Curia in the Diocese of Corpus Christi,
said Bishop Rene H Grantla this week.
The reorganization, widt h bet ame effective April
Iff involves nine administrative offices and six coun-
cils.
An unusual twist in the reorganization is the inclu-
sion of two women in the curia.
Immaculate Heart of Mary Sister Arlene Jekieick
was named diocesan chancellor. She is only the fourth
non-cleric and third Sister in the United States to
achieve that position. (See story page 3.) And Pro-
vidence Sister Maureen Abbott was named the Direc-
tor of the Educational Apostolate
The divisions of the Diocesan Curia now include the
vicar general; the episcopal vicars for the Diocesan
Synod and Council, Evangelization and Parish
Renewal, Clergy and the Hispanic Apostolate, Social
Communications and Services, and the vicar for
Religious and Judicial Vicar; chancellor; fiscal officer;
-aBd Director of the Educational Apostolate.
The councils include the Administrative Council;
Diocesan Synod; Presbyteral Council, Diocesan
Pastoral Council; Diocesan Consultors; and the
Finance Council.
In a recent interview Bishop Gracida explained the
Diocesan Curia refers to the “entire group of diocesan
departments, offices, programs and activities which
arc directly under the day-to-day authority and super-
vision” of the diocesan bishop.
He described the Administrative Council as “a
logical grouping of nine persons who share tire authori-
ty of the bishop with responsibility to particular areas
of Church l*fe and activity.“
See explanation of the
Diocesan Curia, pages 7-10
The bishop said the council members will meet with
him regularly to facilitate decision-making by
eliminating the need for so many proposals to go
directly to him from the start.
“The Administrative Council is analogous to the
president’s cabinet and the Diocesan Curia is
analogous to the executive branch of our
government,’’ he said.
Another change in the curia is the establishment of a
Finance Council, which was mandated by the Revised
Code of Canon Law (promulgated Nov. 29, 1983 by
Pope John Paul II),
According to the 1983 National Conference of
Catholic Bishops’ manual on the revised code, a
Finance Council “approves the annual financial state-
ment of the diocese and prepares the annual budget in
accordance with the directions of the bishop.’’
The council is “to be consulted or to give approva*
to the bishop for various administrative decisions of a
financial character. *’
Bishop Gracida gave two reasons for his de< isinrt to
reorganize the curia.
'The Revised Code of Canon Law “necessitates the
reorganization more or less of every Diocesan Curia in
the world,” he explained, because “new positions of
responsibility” and “new structures for consultation”
have been mandated.
The reorganization also stems from the iarget
number of new and expanded diocesan programs and
activities, the bishop said, “in order to achieve greater
clarity with regard to lines of communication and
authority. “
Bishop Gracida. who was named the fifth bishop of
the Diocese of Corpus Christi May 24, 1983, said he
wanted the timing to be right for the reorganization
He wanted to become familiar with the curia and the
diocesan departments, having learned from his ex-
periences in Florida.
“When I became the first bishop of the Diocese of
Pensacola-Tallahassee on Nov. 6, 1975, I was faced
with the enormous task of organizing the Diocesan
Curia from scratch,’’ he said.
“There did not exist in northwest Florida any
diocesan offices, departments or officials from the
mother diocese of St. Augustine.
“As a consequence of the need to move rapidly to
develop a complete Diocesan Curia, some mistakes
See Curia, Page 3
Dr. Don Miehls named new editor of the STC
CORPUS CHRISTI — Bishop
Rene H. Gracida announced this week
the appointment of Dr. Don Miehls as
the executive editor and general
manager of the Soutr. Texas Catholic.
After his arrival, staff members call-
ed former associates of Dr. Miehls,
who said they were pleased with his
new assignment.
Texas Sen. Betty Andujar said,
“Corpus Christi is in for a treat, a
light-handed one, I think.”
Jim Atkins, president of Bell
Helicopter, remarked, “Put me on
your subscription list.”
Phil Record, the evening editor of
the Fort Worth Star Telegram, quip-
ped, “I’ll be listening for explosions
coming from South Texas.”
Dr. Miehls earned his degree in
European Intellectual History from
Texas Christian University with an in-
terdisciplinary dissertation titled,
“The Self in History—A Modern
View,” with the heads of the history
and philosophy departments acting as
readers.
Asked by the STC what the disserta-
tion was about, Dr. Miehis said, “It
was a 400-page meditation on the dif-
ference being bom into human history
makes to naked human nature.”
“Not all things are possible at all
times,” he continued. “Martin Luther
King could not have appeared in the
1930s. Pablo Picasso would have been
thought a lunatic in the Florence of
Michelangelo.
“Thoroughly Modern Millie fit
wonderfully into the 1920s, but Sister
Arlene (Jekielek) could not have been
chancellor then, nor could I have been
editor of the South Texas Catholiche
said.
Dr Miehls, a laicized Dominican
priest, also holds graduates degrees in
philosophy, theology and European
history from the Aquinas Institute and
Loyola University in Chicago. All his
degrees were awarded summa cum laudt
He is a Fulbright scholar and has
also studied at the University of Laval
in Quebec, at De Paul in Chicago
(where he studied under famed Biblical
scholar Jesuit Father John McKenzie),
and at Tulane, where he did
postgraduate work in the history of
science.
In the Chicago area he was a fre-
quent speaker in the popular Thom 1st
Lecture Series. For four years he serv-
ed as literary editor of the journal,
Mmlity (later renamed Listening), con-
tributing six articles to it during his
tenure.
As part of a team, he co-authored
two sets of text books in theology, both
once widely used in Catholic schools.
His teaching career began with an
assignment to Fenwick, a boy’s prep
school run by the Dominicans in Oak
Park, 111., where he taught Latin,
French, geometry, history and formal
logic.
Dr. Don Miehls
In 1964, he was assigned to the
University of Dallas. Tom Slaughter, a
vice president of the T.G.I.F.
restaurant chain, said, “I can still
remember things he taught me in a
survey course 20 years ago.”
Beth Pfaff, the wife of the news
director of the ABC News in Dallas
said, “I think one teacher like him
comes along each century.”
Another student recalled how the
Italian Renaissance came to life for her
when Dr. Miehls taught it on the
Rome campus of the University of
Dallas.
When Bishop Gracida hired him,
Dr. Miehls was at work on his first
novel, inspired by his wife Eugenia’s
dramatic life.
Born in Krakow, Poland, she sur-
vived three years in the infamous
Auschwitz concentration camp before
she was 21.
She then emigrated to the United
States, where she raised five chi’dren,
one of them being Lee Gw'ozdz,
another of Bishop Gracida’s appoint-
ments.
Gwozdz is the director of music for
the diocese and the Corpus Christi
Cathedral, and directs the CathedrJ
Concert Series.
Mrs. Miehls’ first husband, a
medical doctor as well as a professional
musician, died in 1979.
Mrs. Miehls speaks fluent German,
Polish and English; her husband said
in her hierarchy of values, Chopin
stands third, just after God and John
Paul II.
Dr. Frank Reuter, former dean of
the graduate school at Texas Christian
University, paid Dr. Miehls the
ultimate accolade, “He did the im-
possible within a year after I met him.
“After 25 years in this business, he
fundamentally changed the way I think
about my own scholarly discipline.
That took some doing,” he said.
The Miehls family is building a
home on Oso Creek, a block off of
Everhart.
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Miehls, Don. South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 20, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, April 12, 1985, newspaper, April 12, 1985; Corpus Christi, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth840861/m1/1/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .