The Catholic Church of

St. Mary the Virgin

   Some of our parishioners may have seen the article in the North Texas Catholic about the “Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher”, who will be meeting in Fort Worth this weekend.  

   The origins of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem are generally thought to date back to the First Crusade, when the Crusade's leader, Godfrey de Bouillon, liberated Jerusalem. As a component of his reorganisation of the religious, military and public bodies of the territories newly freed from Muslim control, he founded the Order of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre. According to most accounts of the Crusades, the first King of Jerusalem, Baldwin I, assumed the leadership of this canonical order in 1103, and reserved the right for himself and his successors (as agents of the Patriarch of Jerusalem) to appoint Knights to it, should the Patriarch be absent or unable to do so.

   The Order’s members included not only the Regular Canons (Fratres) but also the Secular Canons (Confratres) and the Sergentes. The latter were armed knights chosen from the crusader troops for their qualities of valour and dedication; they vowed to obey the Augustinian Rule of poverty and obedience and undertook specifically to defend the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy Places, under the command of the King of Jerusalem.In the 14th century, the Holy See made a substantial payment to the Egyptian Sultan so that he would grant the right to protect the Christian Sanctuaries to the Franciscan Friars Minor. Throughout the whole subsequent period of the Latin Patriarchate’s suppression, the right to create new Knights was the prerogative of the representative of the highest Catholic authority in the Holy Land: the Custos.

   In 1847 the Patriarchate of Jerusalem was restored and Pope Pius IX refounded and modernized the Order, issuing a new Constitution which placed it under the direct protection of the Holy See and assigned its government to the Latin Patriarch. The Order’s fundamental role was also redefined: to uphold the works of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, whilst preserving the spiritual duty of propagating the Faith.
In 1949, Pius XII decreed that the Grand Master of the Order should be a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and assigned the position of Grand Prior to the Patriarch of Jerusalem. In 1962 Pope Saint John XXIII and, in 1967, Pope Saint Paul VI respectively reorganized and revitalized the Order by adding more specific regulations to the Constitution with the intention of making the Order’s activities more co-ordinated and more effective.

  In February 1996, Pope Saint John Paul II further enhanced the Order’s status. Today it is a Public Association of faithful with a legal canonical and public personality, constituted by the Holy See. I am honored to be appointed as a Chaplain to this Order and to have been invested on Saturday during the regional gathering of the Order. May we all keep Jerusalem, and especially our Catholic presence there, in our prayers, not only this week when the Knights are in Fort Worth, but regularly in our own devotions.

Faithfully, Your Friend and Pastor,
Fr. Christopher C. Stainbrook


 

   Every year the clergy of every diocese and entity in the Catholic Church attend a Clergy Retreat and Assembly. Our priest friends in the Diocese of Fort Worth, for example, and the clergy of the  Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest (ICKSP) are both on their annual gathering this week.
   The annual Ordinariate Clergy Assembly will be meeting October 11th-15th (this coming week) at Mundelein Seminary in Chicago. Since the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter encompasses the entire continent of North America, this venue has been chosen as a roughly central location for our annual gathering. (Interestingly for us particularly, it also contains Cardinal Newman’s biretta which is displayed in a glass case in one of their chapels!) 
   As an actively serving Pastor, I am required to attend this gathering. Fortunately for us at SMV, Priest Associates who have reached retirement age are not required to be present. Father Kennedy has graciously decided to remain in Arlington this week, and so the Mass and Confession Schedule will remain unchanged. Please remember to thank Father for his willingness to assume all the masses and confessions this week, and please pray for our Bishop and other clergy who will be attending the Annual Ordinariate Clergy Assembly in Chicago this week.

Faithfully, Your Friend and Pastor,
Fr. Christopher C. Stainbrook
 
 

   Today is the first day of our Religious Education program for the year, and we are so excited to begin a new year with all of our parish children and teens. We have record enrollment (again) this year, at almost 170 students! That is more than double what we have had in years past, and we are doing our best to adapt our space and our volunteer team to meet the needs of our flourishing classes.
   We have an exciting year ahead of us, as we reopen our Level 2 Atrium to continue in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, and as we continue our transition into fully implementing the Restored Order of the Sacraments. As many of you remember, last summer Bishop Lopes initiated the use of the restored order in the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter in his pastoral letter Come, Holy Ghost, becoming the 14th US Bishop to do so. Following the inspiration of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in Sacramentum Caritatis, Bishop Lopes restored the Sacraments of Initiation to the order they held from the Acts of the Apostles until 1910, and which they still hold for adult Catechumens and in Byzantine and other Catholic rites: first Baptism, then Confirmation, then First Eucharist. Here at St. Mary the Virgin, we celebrate that order by conferring Confirmation in the same Mass at which children later receive their First Holy Communion. Every child of the age of reason -- seven years or more -- is eligible to receive these greatest gifts of our faith. It is our privilege in the Religious Education program to assist parents in preparing their hearts and minds to receive these gifts of grace, and this year again we will have almost 60 new soldiers in Christ this spring: around 40 receiving Confirmation alone, and nearly 20 receiving First Confession, Confirmation, and First Holy Communion in the restored order. We are so thankful for the outpouring of grace of the Holy Spirit on our parish, sealing our young people in the freshness of their faith, and fulfilling their joy in the Eucharist!
   In all ways, God has blessed our parish with an abundance this year, and we have a wonderful, large group of students with which to journey more deeply in their faith. In Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Level 1, Mrs. Carol-Ivette Granados, Mrs. Michelle Weissenstein, Mrs. Amy Horan, and Mrs. Christina Tu will introduce students aged 3-6 to the parables, the life of Christ, and the sacraments and liturgy of the Church through hands-on, Montessori-based works. In Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Level 2, with Mrs. Nece Zipper and Mrs. Jen Dreisbach, students aged 6-9 continue their concrete exploration of the words of Scripture and the liturgy of Tradition with a more complex understanding of salvation history and the moral life. With Mrs. Kate Husted, 4th-5th Grade students will delve into the tenants and meaning of our faith using the Faith and Life text, Credo: I Believe. Grades 6-7 will pursue Scripture Studies with Mr. Joe Morris and undertake a close exploration of the Biblical texts. Grades 8-9 will study Beginning Apologetics with Mr. Dylan McBryde, delving into the faith by learning how to defend it from common, real-world objections, using the Beginning Apologetics series. Mrs. Lisa Irlbeck will continue her course on Christian Moral Life with Grades 10-12 with a study of the Papal encyclicals Casti Conubii and Humanae Vitae, as well as Men, Women, and the Mystery of Love by Edward Sri. Confirmation Sacrament Preparation for “older” students (all those between 9 and 16 years old) will be undertaken in two age groups by Ms. Brinta Horan, Mr. Adam and Mrs. Annie Muller using a program they designed from the Didache textbook, Confirmation.
   In addition, this year, we will have an Adult Prayer and Reading Course led by Michele and Kevin Vina and Teresa and Mike Pratt! They will begin the following Sunday with a small-group study of prayer and lectio divina using the book Into the Deep by Dan Burke. Look for them in the parish hall during catechesis, from 9:15-10:15 on Sundays!
   We will also soon be starting up our Carlo Acutis Youth Group, beginning with First Friday Adoration and Fellowship nights! Teens will meet at the parish for the last hour of Eucharist Adoration, Benediction, and then will share a meal together in the parish hall. Teen Dances, of course, will continue to be a part of this ministry, and Service Saturdays are in the works!
   All in all, I am so grateful to be a part of this amazing team of parishioners and parents who are giving their time every Sunday to guide our parish children in the Faith. I am looking forward to a year full of blessings for our parish, and I ask each of you to join me in praying for each teacher and child we have, parents and children catechising at home, our devoted priests, and everyone involved in passing on the faith to our youth. Come, Holy Ghost, and fill the hearts of Thy faithful. 
In His Peace,
Amy Horan, Director of Religious Education
The Catholic Church of St. Mary the Virgin