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When Did You Receive Your Call To The Priesthood? I felt the call the year before I graduated from West Texas A&M University. I was working at the Catholic Student Center in Canyon and frequently attended weekly adoration. It was in these quiet moments and many chats with Father Daniel Dreher that I started to understand what God was calling me to do.

El 12 de junio de 1949 es fecha simbólica para los católicos en el noreste de Amarillo al formarse su primera comunidad de fe católica, una comunidad que llegaría a ser la Iglesia San Lorenzo en 1955 y la Catedral San Lorenzo en 1974. En su edición del 12 de junio de 1949, el periódico diocesano Amarillo Register reportó que Monseñor John Steinlage, rector de la Catedral Sacred Heart, anunciaba que la Capilla de Saint Lucien en el campus de Price College estaría abierta para

La historia de la Catedral Sacred Heart se ha contado muchas veces en los 75 años del West Texas Catholic. El relato empieza con un sacerdote joven, delicado de salud pero fuerte y genial de espíritu. El Padre David H. Dunn llegó al Panhandle de Texas en el año 1900 para servir como pastor de la Iglesia Saint Mary en Clarendon y sus misiones. En agosto de 1902,

For the past five years, a number of young Catholics have taken part in Thematic Retreats, offered by the Diocesan Youth Office and Covenant Teen Young Adults. Many have attended one retreat that led to a second. Then there’s Antonio Tienda, a member of St. Ann’s Church in Bovina. Even two retreats weren’t enough for him and three might be too few as well.

There are times when a room or a home needs a fresh look, or an extreme makeover. The same goes for facilities at our Catholic Churches—sometimes the look needs to be freshened up. That’s exactly what has happened to the newly-named Dwelling, the youth and young adult facility in the basement of St. Thomas the Apostle Church. The new facility was reopened Feb. 2 when

Catholic Worldview Leadership Course May 15th - May 20th, 2011 Estes Park, CO Sponsor by the Augustine Institute & FOCUS

Editor’s Note: In lieu of a conversation with Bishop Patrick J. Zurek for this issue of The West Texas Catholic, we present the homily he gave Jan. 22 during the annual diocesan Respect Life Mass at St. Mary’s Church, Amarillo. During the Christmas Season we always read Isaiah, which like St. John’s Gospel, is filled with the comparison of “Light and Darkness”.

Heavenly Father, we ask your blessing on your chosen servant, Pope Benedict XVI. Grant him the gifts of your Spirit as he guides the Universal Church. Bless our own Bishop, Patrick Zurek, whom you have sent to shepherd the Church of Amarillo. Grant him the Graces of the Spirit to teach, govern and sanctify us on our journey to You through Christ.

June 12, 1949. The date is symbolic for Catholics in Northeast Amarillo, as the first Catholic faith community was formed, a community that would become St. Laurence Church in 1955 and St. Laurence Cathedral in 1974. The June 12, 1949 issue of the Amarillo Register, the diocesan newspaper, reported that “St. Lucien’s Chapel on the campus of Price College, Amarillo,

Established: According to diocesan records, St. Laurence Church was created as a parish on May 16, 1955. St. Laurence Church was designated by the Holy See as the cathedral of the Diocese of Amarillo on Nov. 10, 1974. After extensive renovation, St. Laurence Cathedral was dedicated on Oct. 5, 1975. The first pastor of St. Laurence Church was Father Leroy T. Matthiesen,