MARCH 12, 2024 • ARCHGH.ORG/TCH
GIDDYUP!
AN OASIS OF PRAYER
Parishes, schools mark Go Texan Day in trailrider style
Holy Cross Chapel is a ‘shelter in the storm’ of Downtown Houston ▪ SEE PAGE 8
▪ SEE PAGE 6
texas catholic herald 1
MEET SAINT OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
Upcoming relic tour brings St. Jude to Houston ▪ SEE PAGE 9
Proclaiming the Good News to the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston since 1964
MARCH 12, 2024
NAT’L EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS
VOL. 60, NO. 18
‘CHOSEN IN CHRIST’
Stellar speaker line up joins Cardinal DiNardo in Indianapolis NEC Archdiocesan pilgrimage registrations open through March 14 HOUSTON — As the multi-year National Eucharistic Revival inches closer to its milestone moment within the movement, the Archdiocese recently confirmed that Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, Archbishop of GalvestonHouston, will be amongst a star-studded line up of speakers at the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress (NEC), the five-day event to be held in Indianapolis July 17 to 21, 2024. The format for this summer’s National
EMBRACING LENT PHOTO BY JAMES RAMOS/HERALD
Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell’Oro, CRS, reads the names in a Book of the Elect during the Rite of Election at Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston Feb. 18. At least 2,364 people from 108 parishes set to join or enter into full communion with the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese. SEE RELATED STORY ON PAGE 4.
See CONGRESS, page 10
MINISTRY
Kashmere Gardens community, churches protest another polluting company BY JO ANN ZUÑIGA Texas Catholic Herald HOUSTON — With a dozen industrial companies already surrounding Kashmere Gardens, residents and medical staff of nearby Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital say they have enough air pollution and are protesting a proposed concrete crusher. The historically African-American neighborhood inside Houston’s northern 610 Loop has held townhall meetings and protests since last year to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). But its Director approved a permit this past January for Texas Coastal Materials to build a concrete and See KASHMERE, page 5
THE FIRST WORD † 3
Looking towards Holy Week BY DANIEL CARDINAL DINARDO Archbishop of Galveston-Houston The days of Lent and Holy Week tend to arrive and beckon to us while we are in the midst of many other preoccupations, duties and amusements — from matters of work, business and family — to diversions and entertainments in sports or music. In fact, these very days of focus and concentration may appear as distractions and intrusions on our daily life. Holy Week, in particular, does intrude on our ordinary existence. It is meant to do that. It wants to interrupt us. Business as usual ceases. The days of Holy Week cause us to step back, think and contemplate, celebrate liturgically and in moments of personal devotion, sing and pray
in unison with the whole Church and realize that CHRIST IS THE CENTER. We celebrate the life-giving days of His Passion, death, burial and Resurrection. But these days — these events — are not in the past tense, even though certain historical circumstances surrounding them are past. Christ is risen now, and the yearly observance of His final earthly days, His entrance into Jerusalem, final conflict with His known and unknown enemies, His contest with Satan in the Garden of Gethsemane, His arrest, death and burial, and His Resurrection on the third day, all point to something contemporaneous with each of us: His mysterious loving presence and His guiding us to the Father. In Holy Week, we do not deal with a series of memorial services for a “nice”
A SHEPHERD’S MESSAGE
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ESPAÑOL † 17
CHRISM MASS
Annual celebration set for March 26 at the Co-Cathedral ▪ SEE PAGE 2 dead man but an encounter with the Living God. None of this is trifling! On Passion (Palm) Sunday this year, after the initial blessing and procession with palms, we listen to the Passion narrative according to St. Mark. This Passion story is truly stark and dark. St. Mark is perhaps the most uncompromising in showing Jesus’ gradual abandonment by all, especially the loss of His Apostles who fled. St. Mark also remembers that immediately at Jesus’ death, the veil See MESSAGE, page 2
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