The arrival of seven novices to Our Lady of Dallas Cistercian Abbey in 2024 — a record number of novices for the Irving community and a significant hike from the typical one-per-year average — is a blessing that has brought with it more heads in need of pillows, more backs in need of habits, and, crucially, more stomachs in need of meals, according to Father Abbot Peter Verhalen, O. Cist., who made the comment following the abbey’s receipt of a grant from The Catholic Foundation in support of campus renovations.
Top Story
Amalia Macias, a longtime parishioner at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Parish, received the Bishop’s Award for Service to the Church this year, recognizing decades of faith-driven service. The honor, presented by Bishop Edward J. Burns, highlights a life shaped by devotion, sacrifice, and a commitment to others.
Despite the age difference of 19 years between the oldest and youngest of Tom and Valerie McCrary’s nine children, there was never a scene, through the years, of squeezing a party of 11 into a pew for Mass. Their volume of attendees on any given Sunday was large enough for Tom to typically leave ahead of the others to secure adequate seating.
Every day, in some way, Carlo Cueto joyfully says yes to serving God by serving his Church.
As an assistant project manager working in commercial construction management, Argelia Simon Perez’s days are filled with submittals, financials, and quality reports. Her work requires her to be detail-oriented and organized, she said, and to collaborate with clients and workers to get the job done — and to get it done well.
It was baseball, in a sense, that first took Walker Alsobrooks away from the Mass — packing his Saturdays and Sundays so full that his parents stopped taking him to church each weekend — but it was baseball, too, that had a hand in leading him back, according to the newly baptized University of Dallas student athlete, who was initiated into the Catholic Church this Easter Vigil.
On a recent Tuesday evening, a small group gathered online via Zoom to study the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians. The discussion focused on a passage describing how St. Paul organized a collection to support struggling communities, marking an early example of solidarity across distance and difference.
Before a child opens a textbook, walks down a school hallway, or puts pencil to paper in a classroom, she has already received an education in the important lessons of life from a woman, said Sister Sandra Helton, SSND, as she welcomed more than 300 registered attendees to the 14th annual Women’s Leadership Luncheon at Brookhaven Country Club in Farmers Branch on March 25.
In the stillness of the All Saints Catholic Community chapel, parishioners of the Dallas church quietly kicked off a special year of celebration in the presence of the eucharistic Lord. Beginning on March 26 — a half century to the day from the parish’s founding in 1976 — and continuing into March 28, the “50 Hours of Adoration for 50 Years” marked the first of a series of Eucharist-focused golden jubilee events planned to commemorate the milestone anniversary.
Forty men preparing for the permanent diaconate in the Diocese of Dallas were instituted as acolytes March 22 by Bishop Edward J. Burns at Mount St. Michael Catholic School, marking a significant step toward ordination.