Defending human dignity and protecting society’s most vulnerable necessarily means protecting the unborn and defending their right to life, Pope Francis said in his apostolic exhortation.

Incarnate Word Academy Elementary Level students from kindergarten to fifth grade participated in the tradition of Las Posadas on Dec. 13.

Incarnate Word Academy Elementary Level students focused on peace and the coming of Christ as they participated in an Advent Retreat from Dec. 9-11.

Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez, OFM will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving in the Corpus Christi Cathedral at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 18.

The Ark Assessment Center and Emergency Shelter for Youth in Calallen has received a $5,000 grant from the Coastal Bend Community Foundation. Part of the grant will be used to purchase the duffel bags (containing clothes and other items) that the children take with them when they are discharged from the shelter.

Parishes throughout the diocese celebrated the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12. These photos, taken by Eddie Perez of St. Joseph in Alice, includes scenes from a play on the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego at the 7 p.m. Mass at St. Francis de Paula in San Diego; procession and celebration at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Alice at the 9 p.m. Mass; and procession after the 6 a.m. Mass at St. Joseph in Alice.

On Dec. 12, Bishop Garriga Middle Preparatory School held a Christmas program featuring the re-enactment of the nativity. Guests included Bishop Michael Mulvey, Superintendent of Catholic Schools René Gonzalez and associate superintendents Anna Lozano and Nannette Quintanilla-Hatch.

Pope Francis is not seeking fame or accolades, but being named Time magazine's Person of the Year will make him happy if it helps attract people to the hope of the Gospel, said the Vatican spokesman.

Catholics across the United States will join a global "wave of prayer" that kicks off a campaign against hunger being launched by Pope Francis in a video released Dec. 9. In the Diocese of Corpus Christi Bishop Michael Mulvey has asked Chancery staff to join in the prayer at the appointed time.

Some 600 students, parents, and faculty attended a Thanksgiving Feast and prayer service at Bishop Garriga Middle Preparatory School on Nov. 22.

The children at The Ark Assessment Center and Emergency Shelter for Youth in Calallen joined hands with employees as well as a technician to create a Nativity scene set against the backdrop of Bethlehem.

Students at the Incarnate Word Academy high school level joined together on Wednesday, Dec. 3, for Eucharistic Adoration in the school’s Mother Patricia Gunning Gymnasium.

Msgr. Michael Heras, Pastor of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles Parish in Corpus Christi today announced "The Lighting of St. Peter's, is a community event to inaugurate the lighting of Christmas decorations throughout the grounds and buildings of the church located at 3901 Violet Road," Msgr. Heras said.

Sister Mary Margaret Quinn died on Nov. 29 at the age of 78 in Mother Theodore Hall, St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana. Between 1964-67, Sister Mary Margaret served at St. John Nepomucene School in Robstown.

More than 125 from Incarnate Word Academy and Corpus Christi College Academy returned to Corpus Christi on Nov. 21-24 to attend Incarnate Word Academy’s first annual Alumni Homecoming Reunion Weekend.

At a centennial celebration Mass held at St. Martin of Tours in Kingsville on Nov. 17, Bishop Michael Mulvey told parishioners that “people of faith, people of family” have been living at St. Martin’s for 100 years. He urged them to continue to focus on family and on the young.

In an ever-increasing tumultuous world, there is a special need for prayer. In fact, some say that prayer is the foundation necessary to devise the solutions to combat the troubles of our society today.

I’m my own man! I’m self-made, and I alone should determine my destiny! I will let nothing stand in the way of what I want. There is no other road to happiness!

Guilt has gotten a lot of bad press recently. We live in an age where guilt is practically always something bad, something to get past with the help of a shrink. Particularly when discussing sex, people will declare that religion and morality do nothing more than make people feel guilty.

There is a question that still seems to be unsettled in the minds of many ordinary Catholics. It is a question that comes up when people positively assess our new Holy Father, Pope Francis, but think he still does not go far enough. The question: Why can?t women be priests?