FEBRUARY 14, 2023 • ARCHGH.ORG/TCH
Catholics urged to donate after deadly Turkey-Syria earthquake ▪ SEE PAGE 10
Forty-five men to be ordained as permanent deacons ▪ SEE PAGES 6-7
FEBRUARY 14, 2023
texas catholic herald 1
Archdiocese celebrates Catholic Schools Week ▪ SEE PAGE 11
Proclaiming the Good News to the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston since 1964
A SHEPHERD’S MESSAGE
VOL. 59, NO. 16
‘GOD IS WITH US AND WE ARE BLESSED’
Let us get up with Tearful parishioners celebrate return to Mass Him from where at tornado-damaged St. Hyacinth Church we have fallen! BY JO ANN ZUÑIGA AND REBECCA TORRELLAS Texas Catholic Herald
BY DANIEL CARDINAL DINARDO Archbishop of Galveston-Houston Dear Sisters and Brothers, I frequently see the television advertisement of an elderly person who has slipped and cries out: “Help, I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up.”The dilemma is solved by wearing an electronic monitor that will respond to the persons A and bring help to raise them up. SHEPHERD’S The scene MESSAGE can act as a metaphor for us in the human condition who need help though some will try to deny it. The first part of establishing a healing is a recognition that we are fallen! “Remember you are dust, and unto dust, you will return.” Those words of reminder and of invitation to repent, spoken to each person on receiving ashes, are a primary action of recognition: We are in need of being saved. Each year Ash Wednesday and its resounding invitation to let the Lord raise us up begins a very serious season, a quarantine — a 40-day observance of renewal and penance to seek the Lord
A PARISH REBUILDS
See LENT, page 2
PHOTO COURTESY OF ST. HYACINTH CATHOLIC CHURCH IN DEER PARK
ABOVE: Father Reginald Samuels, pastor, wears a hard hat as construction workers continue cleanup efforts at his church, St. Hyacinth Catholic Church in Deer Park. BELOW: Five days after a rain-wrapped EF-3 tornado directly hit St. Hyacinth Catholic Church in Deer Park, 400 parishioners came to attend Mass at the church.
Ash Wednesday is February 22, which begins the Lenten season. See pages 2, 17 for Lenten Observance Guidelines PHOTO BY JO ANN ZUÑIGA/HERALD
THE FIRST WORD † 3
HOUSTON — As Houston and its surrounding counties braced for a storm on Tuesday, Jan. 24, people watched the news and stayed abreast of the tornado watches as they headed to work or school and went about their day. The last thing anyone imagined was that an EF-3 tornado would hit the area. A rain-wrapped tornado began in southeast Houston and moved through Pasadena, Deer Park and the outskirts of Baytown before dissipating, directly hitting St. Hyacinth Catholic Church in Deer Park. It caused major damage to the religious education building, parish offices, rectory and Guyot Hall. The least amount of damage was to the main church, which had roof and window damage. Father Reginald Samuels, pastor of the church, said they all received severe weather warnings on their phones. “The alerts were becoming more and more ominous with two tornado warnings with tornadoes in the city of Deer Park,” he said. “When we recognized that the weather was getting extreme outside, we all sheltered in place in the hallway of the offices, and then the tornado hit, and we prayed through it.” While everyone in the building was not injured, the employees’ vehicles in the parking lots were damaged by all the debris, Father Samuels said. “The outpouring of support from the community and the church members has been tremendous,” Father Samuels said. “We have had many people from the community coming by the church complex to see how they can help clean up the property.” Five days later, about 400 St. Hyacinth parishioners, some whose own homes were damaged by the tornado chewing up a 19-mile swath of destruction, carefully made their way through the
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COLUMNISTS † 13 - 14
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See TORNADO, page 4
ESPAÑOL † 17 | AROUND THE ARCHDIOCESE † 19