JULY 9, 2024 • ARCHGH.ORG/TCH
SHINING BRIGHTLY St. Dominic Village shines bright with Catholic compassion ▪ SEE PAGE 9
HOW TO PRAY A HOLY HOUR ▪ SEE PAGE 5
texas catholic herald 1
DECATS MARKS 30TH ANNIVERSARY
Annual summer program celebrates milestone year ▪ SEE PAGE 11
Little Tex says A bid farewell After 30-plus years in Catholic education, Superintendent Debra Haney says goodbye ▪ SEE PAGE 20
Celebrating 60 years of The Texas Catholic Herald JULY 9, 2024
Proclaiming the Good News to the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston since 1964
VOL. 61, NO. 4
PHOTO BY JAMES RAMOS/HERALD
The monstrance is displayed on the altar of St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish in Freeport during period of Eucharistic Adoration. Many parishes offer weekly, sometimes daily, times of Eucharistic Adoration.
Eucharistic Adoration: A treasure of the faith (OSV News) — Suppose you were told that Jesus wanted to meet with you personally for an hour at your parish. Who would say no to such an invitation? Me, for one. When Eucharistic Adoration was inaugurated at our church several years ago, I politely declined to be an adorer, as I didn’t feel the devotion suited me. I had come into the Catholic Church late in life and with a lot to learn in a short time, including the finer points of Eucharistic theology. While I believed in the Real Presence, it was mainly an intellectual assent. Its profound implications had yet
THE FIRST WORD † 3
|
COLUMNISTS † 12 - 13
|
to settle in my soul. As an evangelical Protestant, I had been quick to quote John 3:7 — “You must be born again” — yet skipped right over the astounding things Jesus said to His disciples only three chapters later about eating His body and drinking his blood. But Jesus made the blind see, and that included spiritual blindness, as I was about to learn. Mainly to get some very persistent women off my back, I finally consented to put in my hour every Thursday in the chapel that had been set aside for Eucharistic devotion.
ESPAÑOL † 17
At first it was just another hour in the day for me, with wandering thoughts and frequent checks of my watch. But as the weeks went by, I gradually began to use my Holy Hour more productively. I prayed. I read the Bible. I meditated. And, in time, I began to adore. The list of notable Catholics devoted to Eucharistic Adoration is a long one. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen saw it as essentially an act of obedience: “The only time our Lord asked the apostles for anything was the night He went into agony. Not for activity did He plead but for an hour of companionship.” Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist See EUCHARIST, page 4
| AROUND THE ARCHDIOCESE † 19