By Amy White
The Texas Catholic
All Saints Catholic Church parishioner Jennifer Brodrick-Tehan has been surrounded by examples of faith and service her whole life. As a child living in a “very Catholic part” of England, she watched her mother visit the sick, her brother lead the choir, and her father assist the nuns at a retirement home. Even her family’s cellar had secret alcoves in the wall for storing Mass materials, reminiscent of an era when priests said private Masses in homes before disappearing discretely. Brodrick-Tehan said her early life was Catholic through and through, and she has taken that faith formation with her through her whole life.
“I’ve always been brought up totally involved with the Church,” she said, “and it just carried on.”
After moving to the United States with her late husband John Brodrick and four children, Brodrick-Tehan was a parishioner at St. Rita Catholic Community, St. Monica Catholic Church, and Christ the King Catholic Church, before joining All Saints 15 years ago.
At All Saints, Brodrick-Tehan has made herself a valuable member of the community through her warm personality and determined volunteer efforts. She keeps busy at the parish as a eucharistic minister, a rosary leader, a lector, and a coordinator for the homebound ministry. She also serves food to vulnerable populations through Meals-on-Wheels and Austin Street Center. With a laugh, Brodrick-Tehan shared that she has even attempted to volunteer in the All Saints choir as a handbell player, though that effort proved to be less successful.
“If she sees something needs to be done, she’s the one that’s going to step up to the plate and make sure it gets done,” All Saints parishioner Mark Lorms said of his longtime friend. “She’s always moving; she’s always on the road; she always has something to do.”
As a lector at the parish, Brodrick-Tehan has proved to be a reliable volunteer and a skilled reader. Although she had never volunteered as a lector prior to arriving at All Saints, she found that her childhood education in elocution served her well.
“When she reads, she stands up there at the ambo so nice and proper, and she looks out at everyone,” Mary Davis, an All Saints parishioner and lector, said of Brodrick-Tehan. “The way she proclaims the readings, she’s speaking to you individually. She’s a wonderful lector.”
Brodrick-Tehan also coordinates the homebound ministry at her parish. When the church receives requests for visits to those who are unable to leave their homes, hospitals, or care facilities, she calls upon her team to serve.
“We visit, we chat, and we talk about different things; and then we pray,” she said. “We arrange for a priest to come and bless them and hear their confession or give them the last sacraments, and I think it just makes them feel they’re not abandoned by the Church.”
Brodrick-Tehan visits homebound members of the community twice a week, taking communion to them and assisting in any way that she can. The All Saints parishioner remarked that many of the people she visits become like family to her.
“Every person she talks to, it’s like she’s known you for years and years,” Davis said. “She’s very warm, very kind, very generous.”
Brodrick-Tehan explained that she sees her service to the community as an expression of her faith, a way to please God by loving neighbor; and she seeks to do all that she can to serve the Church while she is able. The Diocese of Dallas recognized Brodrick-Tehan’s dedication to service on April 26 with the Bishop’s Award for Service to the Church.
“It couldn’t happen to a better person,” Lorms said.
Cutline for featured image: All Saints Catholic Church parishioner Jennifer Brodrick-Tehan is among the recipients of the 2025 Bishop’s Award for Service to the Church. The award honors Brodrick-Tehan’s contributions to her parish, including as a lector, eucharistic minister, and coordinator of the parish’s homebound ministry. (AMY WHITE/The Texas Catholic)
