Wednesday Update, Vol. 2, Number 40, Oct. 30, 2019

Vol. 2, No. 40
Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019
Please note: The Diocese of Tucson offices will be closed on Friday, Nov. 1 for All Saints Day.
Marriage Mass at Cathedral
There were 106 smiling couples at St. Augustine Cathedral last Sunday. They gathered for our annual celebration recognizing wedding anniversaries from one year to 70 or more years.  Our longest wed couple was Phillip and Lucy Montano, married a whopping 76 years!  Then there was William and Bernadette Knebelsberger, married 70 years.  On the other end of the spectrum, we had 11 couples celebrating one year of marriage.

It is wonderful to see our Cathedral filled with these truly faithful people and their families.  They are great witnesses to the power of love and devotion to one another and to God, and they serve as models for the strength found in giving to one another.

 
  Kickoff: Help build a medical respite center for the homeless
Several local agencies are joining together to create a much-needed Medical Respite Center for homeless men and women in Tucson.

The campaign will be launched this evening (Oct. 30) at an event at the Jewish Community Center, 3800 E. River Road from 5 – 6 p.m. The fundraising goal is $5.2 million to build a facility near the El Rio Health Care center near East 22 ^nd Street and Kino Parkway.

This is a very much-needed facility in our community. As Peg Harmon, chief executive officer for Catholic Community Services said:

“Right now, we know that homeless people leaving hospitals and medical centers following surgery or in-patient care have no place to go to recover,” Harmon said. “Instead, people with need of a clean and nurturing environment return to the streets where even basic sanitation – soap and water, clean bedding and proper nutrition - may not be available. The result is that they will experience a poor recovery, secondary infections and possibly death.”

“This center will prevent these bad outcomes for our neediest of people,” Harmon said, adding that about $2.4 million of the needed construction costs already have been raised from private philanthropy.
Organizations backing this effort include the Jewish Community Foundation, the Diocese of Tucson Catholic Community Services, Connie Hillman Family Foundation, El Rio Health, the Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation, St. Joseph Catholic Healthcare Foundation, Primavera Foundation, Gospel Rescue Mission, Salvation Army, Department of Veterans Affairs, Old Pueblo Community Services, Sister Jose Women’s Center, Margaret E. Mooney Foundation and Casa Maria.

I will attend the kickoff and will offer the opening prayer.  As you can see from the list of agencies above, there is great community interest in filling this need for our homeless population.
 
School visit
I will celebrate Mass with the students at Salpointe Catholic High School on Thursday morning.
 
Mass at Holy Hope – Nov. 2
I will celebrate Mass at 8:30 a.m. at Holy Hope Cemetery , 3555 N. Oracle Road in Tucson for All Souls Day.  The Mass is open to the public.
Also on Saturday, I will join in the annual Men’s Conference, this year taking place at the Pastoral Center at Cathedral Square, 192 S. Stone Ave., Building #2.

The keynote speakers are Father Dennis Billy, a Redemptorist priest, author and professor of spiritual and moral theology at St. Mary Seminary and University in Baltimore; and Randy Cirner, a Catholic therapist, evangelist and family minister.  He also holds a master’s degree in theology.

The day includes the opportunity for Reconciliation and a panel discussion with Father Billy, and Cirner and me. Mass at St. Augustine Cathedral concludes the event.

Registration is required, and can be done through our diocesan website at https://diocesetucson.org/mens-conference .
 
Upcoming
Like to bowl? Join us in the first-ever “Let’s Strike for Vocations” event to support our seminarians. The event is being sponsored by our diocesan Vocations Office. This, I am told, is a “friendly competition with or against priests and religious” of our diocese.

Date: Tuesday, Nov. 5
Location: Bowlero, 114 S. Camino Seco from 6 – 8 p.m.
For tickets please contact our Vocations Office at 520-838-2531 or email [email protected].