NOVEMBER 26, 2024 • ARCHGH.ORG/TCH
A REASON TO RUN
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CHRISTMAS COMEDY BOOK HITS THE SCREEN
Seminarians and priests are stepping up to run at Steps for Students ▪ SEE PAGE 5
The Chosen’s Dallas Jenkins brings “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” comedy to life ▪ SEE PAGE 18
Little Tex says An apple a day... Try this Franciscan brother’s take on apple pie oat bars for your holiday dessert spread ▪ SEE PAGE 6
Celebrating 60 years of Catholic news in Texas NOVEMBER 26, 2024
Proclaiming the Good News to the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston since 1964
VOL. 61, NO. 11
Preparing a heart and home for Advent “When we let the world know that there is more to the holiday than presents and decorations, we fulfill our mission as Christians to evangelize the world.” BY WOODEENE KOENIG-BRICKER Special to the Herald Imagine expecting a new baby. For months, you prepare to welcome this addition, but in the last month, the preparations really step up. You make sure that the crib is clean, the diapers are in place, the car seat is installed, and family and friends are ready to meet the new baby. That sense of joyful preparation combined with anticipation is the attitude we bring to Advent as we await the arrival of Christ the Lord. Christmas is the high point, but using the days leading up to Dec. 25 to prepare both spiritually and materially is what Advent is all about! What sets Advent apart from the usual secular preparations for Christmas is the spiritual dimension: Advent is a time of both prayer and penance. As Catholics, we are called to exercise a more disciplined approach to our spiritual lives during the four weeks of Advent and to pay special attention to our words and deeds as we wait patiently for the coming of Christ. Waiting is a challenge, but instead of just counting down the days, we are called to use Advent as a time to deepen our relationship with God. Keep things simple: Read a Psalm as a
EMBRACING ADVENT
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Advent calendars, with one box to open each day from Dec. 1 to 25, vary from simple paper calendars with religious images to more elaborate calendars with actual gifts for each day. The tradition of these calendars began in the mid-19th century in Germany.
See ADVENT, page 4
With synod in mind, U.S. bishops focus on advancing core mission priorities BALTIMORE (OSV News) — The U.S. bishops’ annual fall assembly in Baltimore saw the shepherds of the Catholic Church in this country, including Daniel Cardinal DiNardo and Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell’Oro, CRS, make intentional steps toward integrating their work with the synodal missionary style called for by the global Church’s recently concluded Synod on Synodality. At the outset of the Nov. 11 to 14 plenary assembly, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), delivered a homily in
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the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary — “the mother Church of the synodal activity of the hierarchy in this country” — where he called upon the bishops to beg for wisdom “because we recognize that we are servants of the truth and charged to find ways to help those entrusted to our care.” At the opening public session, Christophe Cardinal Pierre, the papal ambassador to the U.S., told the bishops that Pope Francis’ recent encyclical “Dilexit Nos,” on the Sacred Heart See ASSEMBLY, page 2
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Daniel Cardinal DiNardo and Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell’Oro, CRS, gather with bishops from around the country gather at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore Nov. 11, for the opening Mass of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ fall plenary assembly.
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