As religious leaders, pastors, and ministers throughout the country gathered their people in prayer during those difficult days, the words of St. John Paul II offered a powerful message of faith and hope: “Sin, evil, terror, and death will not have the last word!”
From Catholicism to Protestantism and back again, Richard Valencia Jr.’s decades-long journey of faith has led him back to the Church truly founded by Christ, the parishioner of St. Joseph Catholic Parish in Waxahachie said.
The trees were shorter, the surrounding city sparser, and the student population smaller when Gregory Roper began his undergraduate education at the University of Dallas more than four decades ago. As he now undertakes the responsibility of leading the university’s undergraduate school as the new dean of the Constantin College of Liberal Arts, much about his alma mater’s campus is different than it once was — but the mission at the heart of the school, he said, remains the same.
Roots run deep at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School for Sara Casner, whose mother, brother, aunt, multiple cousins, and two children all received their education at the school — as did Casner herself, having spent her elementary and middle school formation on the campus. So, when she was appointed principal of the STA Upper School this year, she said, it felt like being home.
“I’ve always had the heart of a teacher,” said Nieves Castillo-Frazier, who became principal of Good Shepherd School in Garland on July 1.
When Deacon Denis and Ramona Corbin mark their 50th wedding anniversary at the Diocese of Dallas Golden Anniversary Mass on Aug. 29, they will celebrate a friendship that has anchored their marriage since their teenage years.
For Abby Orr, Catholic education has been an important part of her life since childhood — first as a student, then as a teacher, and now as a school principal.
At the beginning of each academic year, the University of Dallas’ dean and director of libraries and research Ron Scrogham sees a familiar sight: Incoming students — often accompanied by their parents — make their way into the Cowan-Blakley Memorial Library entrance, through the William A. Blakley Building, and up to the university’s Core Text Collection: a selection of 2,456 books, representing 76 unique titles across a slew of disciplines, which are ready to be checked out of the library for use in the semester ahead. Within about two weeks of the beginning of each term, most of the books in the collection have already been plucked from the library, stuffed into backpacks, and carried to classrooms.
Police officers, firefighters, and emergency personnel routinely face situations most people never have to witness. At the ninth annual Diocese of Dallas Blue Mass and Blessing of the Fleet on Aug. 8, first responders gathered at the National Shrine Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe to pray and to be recognized for their work.
A suit and tie may not be the image that leaps to mind at the word “saint,” but Legatus, an organization of Catholic executives and their spouses, has long sought to foster sanctity precisely among those women and men who are leaders in the professional world.