Jubilarians honored with celebration of gratitude
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| Sister Doloretta Madigan, SHSp, receives her corsage from Victoria Perez of Office for Religious.
Carol Baass Sowa | Today's Catholic |
By Carol Baass Sowa
Today's Catholic
SAN ANTONIO - The long list of this year’s jubilarians in the Archdiocese of San Antonio elicited an exclamation of joy and surprise from Archbishop José H. Gomez at the Mass in their honor at San Fernando Cathedral on June 4. Honored were all men and women religious in the archdiocese ? sisters, brothers, priests and deacons, with jubilarian priests serving as concelebrants with the archbishop and jubilarian deacons assisting.
The archbishop remarked on “the beauty of so many of you dedicated to God” serving in the archdiocese. Foregoing his planned homily, he spoke of the importance of loving God and others reflected in the day’s reading and in the lives of those before him.
Noting the loving example of St. John Berchmans, whom he had mentioned in a letter to recent graduates of Catholic Schools, Archbishop Gomez gave thanks to God for “so many dedicated people ? men and women” in the archdiocese. “I can’t think of anything that would be more important,” he said, “than loving God and loving one another.”
Following the Mass, the honorees attended a dinner at the San Fernando parish hall, where Retired Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Flanagan gave the blessing, and which ended with words from Archbishop Gomez encouraging the honorees to “renew ourselves today to God and to his people.”