Bulletin for June 18

Dear friends in Christ,

Happy Father’s Day to all our dads this weekend. I pray that your family will celebrate your presence in their life by giving you the greatest gift a dad could ever want – complete control of the TV remote for one day! Seriously, we honor all fathers, both the living and deceased, today and thank them for the gift of life they provide. Let us call upon the patron saint of all husbands and fathers, St. Joseph, to watch over and intercede on behalf of all of them. And let us not forget the wonderful gift of life that grandfathers, adopted fathers, step-fathers, foster fathers and godfathers offer their children. May God bless them all!

Before I go much further let me wish a very happy Father’s Day and belated congratulations to our own retired Deacon Jim Osterhaus. Deacon Jim celebrated 45 years as a permanent deacon in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston on June 3. That makes him among the longest-tenured deacons in the entire country, and indeed in the world. He was a member of the first diaconal class when the Permanent Diaconate was restored in 1972 following Vatican II. We like to say that he is a “first-class deacon” in every sense of the word. He served the Church faithfully for many years before retiring about 10 years ago. He’s 88 now, and you can still find him in the pews at CtR most every week as his health allows it. We congratulate Deacon Jim and ask God’s continued blessings upon him.

Speaking of vocations (the diaconate is certainly a beautiful vocation choice in the life of the Church), last week I mentioned we had a young man from the parish accepted into the seminary. Angelo Luna will begin his studies at Holy Trinity Seminary at the University of Dallas this fall. This week, I’m happy to announce that another parishioner, Gretchen Geisheker, has been accepted into the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, a religious community of women based in Meriden, Conn. She hopes to serve her community by working as a teacher in the local schools. 

Gretchen has recently graduated from the University of Dallas and, like many college students who finish college, has some debt from her schooling. She has been working with the Labouré Society to help raise funds to retire that debt so that she may enter into religious life. As you might suspect, religious communities cannot accept aspirants who have debt. The sisters take a vow of poverty and they don’t have the resources to cover the bills from those who wish to join their orders. The Labouré Society, however, is a wonderful organization that since 2003 has helped more than 250 men and women enter into formation for the priesthood and religious life, including several from the Houston area.

Gretchen has partnered with the Labouré Society and is on the threshold of meeting her fundraising efforts. All donations to the Labouré Society will go to help her and others like her throughout the country. It’s a nice way to “pay forward” and help these young men and women be able to answer God’s call to serve the Church. Of course, the Lord directs all vocations and where He might lead them in the future is known only by God. We trust that by cooperating as a community we can help more and more aspirants respond to the call of service in the Church.

We have made a general donation in the name of Gretchen on behalf of the parish, but if you would like to contribute individually to the Labouré Society you may do so through their website at  www.labouresociety.org/gretchen. There you can learn more about Gretchen’s vocational journey, the work of the Labouré Society, and donate to help her and others like her. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Gretchen since she was just a child. She has matured into a beautiful faith-filled young lady who is passionate in her desire to serve the Lord. Having completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Dallas, an exceptional Catholic university, I know she will go on to do great things for the Lord as a member of Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist. Please consider supporting the good work of the Labouré Society. They do good work for the Church in promoting, encouraging and enabling vocations.

In other news, congratulations are in order for our Knights of Columbus Council #8771 from Christ the Redeemer as they hold their annual officer installation commissioning and banquet next Saturday. Thanks to Roger Johnson, who is completing his term as Grand Knight. He’ll be succeeded by Vince Palazzolo. We congratulate Vince and all the fine men who lead our council as officers in this coming year. It will come as no surprise to you that the CtR council is one of the largest and most active in the entire Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. They are a dedicated group of Catholic men committed to serving the needs of the Church. We all know about their annual Lenten Fish Fry, but the KofCs do plenty more good work throughout the year, much of which goes on behind the scenes. They are generous servants in many ways.

One area the KofCs have always been supportive is with our youth and I again this year offer my sincere thanks to them for honoring 10 of our graduating seniors with a $2,000 Knights of Columbus Msgr. Anton Frank Council College Scholarship. This year’s recipients are: Jackson Davis, Emily Deskin, Erica Dixon, Erin Magill, Zachary Mendizabal, Jessica Pena, Michelle Sacco, Adrianna Sierra, Nicholas Vacek and Katie Vincer. We congratulate our scholarship winners and thank the Knights for their generosity. Remember that it is the annual CtR Golf Tournament that funds these scholarships. This year’s tournament is scheduled for later in October. Stay tuned for more details. It’s a great day on the links and benefits a very worthwhile cause.

This coming week is one of my favorite of the year with our annual Vacation Bible School. We are expecting more than 580 kids (yes, you read that right: 580!) and more than 300 adults and teen volunteers to be all over the Parish Life Center the next five days. We have both morning and evening sessions and you can truly feel the spirit of Christ in the air. It’s a great way for our children to grow closer to the Lord. My extra special thanks goes to Linda Watso and Jill Dimiceli from our staff who oversee VBS for us. They are more than capably assisted by a dedicated team of parish volunteers including, among others, Megan Schulz, Karen Finke, Allyson Akins, Kim Carrillo, Carol Kubeczka, who creates our amazing decorations, as well as Jessica Morgan and Taylor Garcia, who make all of our wonderful Bible Buddies come to life. Thanks to all our volunteers. VBS is Stewardship in action. We look forward to a great and holy week for our children. 

Peace,
Fr. Sean