Emphasis to read Gospel at Catholic schools Mass

KiiiTV3.com South Texas, Corpus Christi, Coastal Bend

Bishop Wm. Michael Mulvey told students to seek education and formation in the Gospel at the annual Catholic schools Mass on Aug. 22.

He celebrated Mass for more than 900 students, teachers and parents to kick off the “2012-2013” school year. Nineteen different Catholic schools were represented in the procession as students proudly carried their school’s banner.

“As Christians we are fortunate. Many [people] would say, ‘God is not fair,’” Bishop Mulvey said. He referred to the Old Testament where God declares that “My ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts… God is generous. We have to learn that God is bigger than we are, so we have to learn from the Gospel and from what Jesus did.

"We may not always understand the Gospel like why “the first should be last and the last should be first,” because it’s not something you can put in your calculator,” but if we read the Gospel every day, we discover something inside of us that we didn’t know was there. What we discover is Joy. We all want to be happy. Jesus shows us how to live, then we become true children of God and true citizens of our beautiful country.”

“May your formation in the Gospel be rich,” Bishop Mulvey said.

Rene Gonzalez, Superintendent of Schools, said the bishop’s message was very inspirational. “Our mission is to form the person in faith. We want students to not only be exposed to scripture but to understand what the Gospel means and how it applies to their daily life,” Gonzalez said.

“We teach our children that God has a reason for everything he does. We may not understand, but our faith is the reason we can do what we are doing. Our faith is what keeps us going,” said Nannette Quintanilla-Hatch, coordinator of the event and Associate Superintendent of Schools. “We don’t just listen but we go out and preach the Gospel. Rene Gonzalez tells us [teachers and staff] to go to out and preach and when we preach, to sometimes use words. In other words we have to show by example. We have to be faith filled people,” Hatch said.

More than 3,620 students are enrolled in Catholic schools in the Diocese of Corpus Christi this year.