SMG managed American Bank Center employees will be working with the Ark of Corpus Christi during the month of October to collect needed items for the facility and also put together a special day for the kids on Oct. 31. The Ark is an emergency facility for children of all ages who are victims of neglect.

October is Month of the Holy Rosary and parishioners from all over the Diocese of Corpus Christi attended a "Rosaryfest" at Our Lady of the Rosary Church on Tuesday, Oct. 7. The event began at 8 a.m. with hourly praying of novena prayers and rosaries by groups from Our Lady of the Rosary and other parishes.

"When I go back to Spain, I'm going to be a stranger in my own country," said Father Epifanio "Epi" Rodriguez, OP, in a feature documentary, South Texas Gentle Men of Steel-Los Padres, which will be shown in two sneak previews at 1 p.m. Oct. 28 and at 6 p.m. Oct. 29 in the Little Theatre at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. The documentary will be released next year.

Students from Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic School held a day of festivities on Oct. 7, in honor of the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Students began the day in prayer and song. Each child then presented the Virgin Mary with a gift of flowers.

Preparations for the National Congress on Hispanic Ministry “Raíces y Alas 2014,” to take place Oct. 30 – Nov. 2 in San Antonio are well underway. The theme of “Raíces y Alas 2014” is “Hispanic/Latino Ministry: Evangelizing, Communitarian and Missionary.”

For the good of the people of God in the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Bishop Michael Mulvey has appointed Father Gerard J. Sheehan, SOLT pastor of St. John Nepomucene Parish in Robstown for a term of six years.

One of the main strategies of mission advancement with the South Texas Human Rights Center staffed by two full time volunteers aided by other volunteers is collaboration. This week has been a good example. On Saturday, six persons, two lawyers and four paralegals, came to the Center from ProBAR, the Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, in Harlingen, Texas. They came on their own time because they wanted to find out more about our work. All are part of the Immigrant Children’s Assistance Project.

Some 200 people, including 10 judges, attended the annual Red Mass celebrated at the Cathedral on Oct. 2 by Bishop Michael Mulvey to honor those in the legal profession and in elected public office. Bishop Mulvey said, "Yours is an awesome task; to promote justice while promoting order in our society."

St. John Paul II High School students attend the Red Mass celebrated by Bishop Mulvey on Thursday, Oct. 2.

The Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) is partnering with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Migration and Refugee Services to provide unaccompanied immigrant children with legal representation. The federal government announced this week that the Department of Health and Human Services will grant $9 million to support legal services for immigrant children who entered the United States without a parent or guardian.

Nearly 600 Catholic women leaders from around the country gathered in Grand Rapids this past week at annual convention--a huge success for Catholic women.

My oldest daughter sat across the table from me and shook her head no. The gesture was full of sadness and quiet acceptance. She tapped into an inner strength that she had discovered over the past few years.

Se acerca la catorceava edición de la Carrera internacional de "La Antorcha Guadalupana," y el señor Joel Magallanes, quien es el director ejecutivo de la Asociación Tepeyac de Nueva York, dice que La Antorcha tiene la sagrada intención de la unión de todos los pueblos de América, ya que Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe es considerada la "Reina de las Américas."

One of the most important institutions for promotion of vocations is also one of the most basic--the family. As young people mature, their families are the first point of contact with the faith, as well as the lived example of vocations. So vocation promotion really hinges on Catholic family life.

On Saturday, Aug. 30, Bishop Michael Mulvey celebrated the Installation Mass in the Corpus Christi Cathedral for 11 candidates to the permanent diaconate. The men were installed as Candidates and Lectors in the next step of the diaconate formation program for the Diocese of Corpus Christi.

Sister Celia Hernandez, MJMJ has worked 12-hour days for many years as a cook and cleanup crew all rolled-into-one. Now, at the age of 80 she is tired and her feet and knees hurt. A few months ago she was able to slow down to about a 4-hour day, but the "little ones" and the staff still depend on her quietly working in the background at The Ark Assessment Center and Emergency Shelter for youth.

No student is ever turned away from attending Ss. Cyril & Methodius School and thanks to this innovative open-door policy enrollment has steadily increased the past two years in a row.

Eighty-five-year-old Elma C. Stockwell was born and raised in Benavides, Texas and recalls with great fondness when Santa Rosa de Lima Church was a simple mission. Just six years before her marriage to husband Julian in 1946, the present church was built and dedicated.

President Johnson was fond of saying that he was a free man, an American and a Democrat in that order. These are words that a stalemated Washington could live by. With all due respect to my fellow Texan, I choose to be a Christian, a free man and an American in that order.

The month of October is dedicated to "Respect Life." Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel reaffirms the Church's teaching regarding the value of life. The pope calls us to embrace Christ's Gospel message of love and mercy for those most vulnerable among us.