Weekly Bulletin |
Welcome &
Contact Information |
Business On-Line
Reflections on our Parish Community
Phase I of the Master Plan was officially completed in January. A funeral for John K. Farrell on January 20th marked the first occasion that the ramps were used to access the church.
The Spanish Mass first added in 1997 attracted over 1200 weekly worshippers in 2004. To alleviate the overcrowding, the 1 p.m. Mass changed from English to Spanish. The first week of the change saw attendance double for the Spanish Masses. With all this growth came spiritual needs and thus more ministries conducted in Spanish. Some of our most active ministries include CCD, Tuesday night and Sunday afternoon bible study groups, numerous Jovenes groups, and Guadalupanos.
Over the summer of 2004 the primary building underwent a refurbishment. New flooring, outside painting and foundation sealing were all completed. This is one of many projects done in 2004 to improve the parish facilities. St. Pius X was selected to participate in an intern program in conjunction with Notre Dame University. Four ND students, working on their masters degrees, came to Dallas to work at various parishes for two years. They are gaining valuable experience in parish life. As the year 2004 drew to a close, Fr. Don Zeiler was reassigned to pastor the congregation at Holy Spirit in Duncanville. This was the second tour of duty for Fr. Don at St. Pius X and many great friendships have been made. Fr. Don's replacement is Fr. Jose Figueroa. The school was very active in the 2004/05 term. The following teams, events or positions were pursued again: Speech, Spelling Bee, Geography Bee, Poetry Recitation, and Guidance Counselor. 2005 marked the first ever meet win for our Dallas Parochial League Swim team. In early 2005, Jeanie Easler retired as director of the St. Pius X Early Care and Education Center. Carolyn Blassingame stepped up as the third director in the history of our day care.
The third church tile project was completed in April. Another volunteer success, this completes the changeover from carpet to Italian marble tile. Fr. Philip from India arrived in March to be in residence with us. We are fortunate to have Fr. Phillips for a number of months each year. Paul Powers was assigned to our parish as a deacon making a total of five active deacons. In April of 2005, the back or south parking lot and drive leading to Gus Thomasson Rd. was completely replaced with concrete. The lot was due for a makeover and after construction traffic, it really needed replacement.
With the completion of Communion Hall, the summer of 2005 meant changes at the school. The old teachers lounge and cafeteria became two new classrooms and three storage areas. Room 100 became the art room and new room 101 became the music room. In addition, rooms 303 and 306 in the primary building were converted to a new computer lab and computer development area. Rooms 204, 208 and 209 were painted, new ceilings installed and new lights. The parish hall also underwent an updating. The ceiling was replaced, new lights added, the walls painted, 14 panes of glass replaced, the religious goods store was removed and window curtains replaced. For a complete project list, click here. St. Pius X has always been a very generous and diverse parish. In 1975 when South Vietnam fell, the parish helped a large number of refugees from that country get established here in our neighborhood. After the devastation of hurricane Katrina in August of 2005, our parishioners leapt into action to refurbish and reconfigure 3 houses that the parish used for meetings. These houses were then used to house families fleeing from the destruction of New Orleans from the hurricane. In addition to providing free housing, furniture and utilities for the families, the school accepted their children and the children of other families affected by the hurricane. Free education was provided to a total of 12 students. We are very proud of our parishioners for their efforts. In October of 2005 Rev. Arturo Kannee arrived at St. Pius X as parochial vicar. Fr. Kannee is originally from Venezuela. In late November Deacon Juan Ibarra moved to Virginia. Juan was a tremendous asset to the parish. December saw Kassie Andries leave as CCD director. Long-time Spanish CCD director Josie Pacheco stepped up to handle the entire program. 2005 certainly was an event filled year.
On March 31st and April 1st of 2006 the parishioners once again tackled an enormous volunteer project. The plaza area in front of the school and church was due for a major overhaul. Trees were trimmed, old vegetation removed, stone edging added, yards and yards of dirt and mulch brought in, lighting added to the trees, benches redone and hundreds and hundreds of plants installed. Preliminary tasks were completed Friday including the staging of material but the work really began on Saturday. Over 100 people participated in this wonderful project. Click here for details and pictures. Keeping with a theme of nature, a greenhouse was purchased and installed. This facility is used for the gardening elective at the school and for other nature lovers. As usual, Fr. Philip from India arrived in April to be in residence with us for a couple of months. In an effort to promote internet safety, a Cheyenne Kimball came to the school to perform a concert that was filmed by MTV. The students interviewed Ms. Kimball and all had a great time while learning ways to behave responsibly the internet. Our carnival this year was held May 20th. This was a new experience for us in that in previous years the Ladies Society ran the carnival. This year Jean Cook marshaled the forces of many parish organizations. The new courtyard was the focus of the food booths, the gym had games for the kids and the field was home to a very large entertainment tent and some bounce houses. As they say, a good time was had by all. Prior to the carnival we completed a lighting project on the field. Deacon David Leerssen, Jon Sherman, Tom Farrell and the SPX maintenance staff did a wonderful job of putting up the light poles and supplying the power. Even though this is a regular occurrence we never quite get used to losing priests. In June Fr. Jose was to be re-assigned to St. Luke parish in June. As Fr. Jose left, we were blessed with another visiting priest from India, Fr. Sebastian. And the school lost two employees. Maureen Kelly, a second grade teacher and Cindy "Schatzie" Bell, a long-time secretary both moved on. The parish began a new program called Why Catholic? an adult faith study of scripture and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This is a follow-up of the popular Renew program initiated in 2003 and concluded in 2005. The St. Pius X Men’s Softball Team placed 1st in the Mesquite Church “D” Fall League. And a third Spanish Mass was added in September to accommodate the need. We continue to grow in leaps and bounds. 2006 did not have the number of completed improvement projects as in previous years but we certainly did some important things. The biggest improvement has been to the plaza which has been enhanced with beautiful plants. With Communion Hall coming on line, two houses belonging to St. Pius have been made available. This allowed us to pursue another step in the master planning process, moving the priests from the rectory to homes. These two houses were updated for residential use and the priests moved in the fall. 2006 also saw the continued restoration of the metal fixtures in the church. A tradition at St. Pius X has been the strong commitment to Catholic education. At the end of 2006 the parish completed a 5 year pledge to raise $100,000 to support the construction of the Bishop Lynch fine arts building. And 2007 started with a big change. For the first time in 50 years there won't be a Kerr staffing the church office. Martha Jo Kerr began the tradition in 1956 and Neely Kerr began working at St. Pius in 1974. January of 2007 brought that era to a close. When the priest moved into homes, the rectory is now being used exclusively as an office building, the Pastoral Offices. Work proceeded to remodel parts of this facility into an office space.
After 39 years the tabernacle has been restored. Over time all metal objects are subject to environmental decay and the metal fixtures in the church are no exception. Over the last couple of years all of the holy water fonts, the incense stand, and all candle stands have been restored. The tabernacle is by far the largest and most beautiful metal object in the church and the restoration was completed in time for the 2007 Easter service. This is a dynamic parish, growing, ebbing and growing again. Since January of 2002 St. Pius X was pleased to be able to support and house the fledgling independent ministry of Angels R Us. This group provided resources to indigent mothers and since that time was using a surplus Early Care house for their operation. With the growth of our day care program, this house is once again required for their use and Angels vacated at the end of May.
During the summer, the remodeling of our 2736 San Vicente house was completed. This allowed our Early Care program to have an open house to welcome kids, parents and staff to the new after school care facility. For a full list of improvement projects, click here. Three our young parishioners continued the strong scouting tradition in our parish. Caleb Matthews, Atilano Garza and Luis Lerma, Jr achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. All three conducted their Eagle project on our property, improving the environment by planting trees. Caleb planted trees around our Early Care houses. Atilano planted five pear trees behind the church. Luis planted a number of trees on the field along Materhorn. As 2008 dawned, Palm Sunday saw the debut of a newsletter for the parishioners dubbed "The Pius Times". This first edition is available for viewing here. Fr. Philip once again spent his winter break from the seminary in India. We enjoy having Fr. Philip for what is our summer. The big volunteer project for the year was landscaping around the parish hall. This was quite an effort involving over 120 individuals. In addition, the Eagle Scout projects of two scouts were incorporated into this project. Click here for the full report. To the delight of many, the ladies room in the church was remodeled. Click here for the full list of improvement projects in 2008. 2008 is a milestone in our parish. The 40th anniversary of the completion of the church occurred this year. Curiously a decision needed to be made concerning when to commemorate this event. The original dedication of the building was the feast of Pope Pius X which in 1968 was September the 3rd. However, this feast day was moved to August 21st. So the decision was made to celebrate the occasion close to the feast day rather than the original dedication day. So on Saturday, August 23rd at the 5 pm Mass. Bishop Kevin Farrell celebrated Mass with pastor Msgr. Pichard. On hand and recognized was John Barthel the designer of the building. A short video of pictures taken to document the construction was shown at all Masses over the weekend. After the 5 pm Mass there was a massive celebration in the courtyard in front of Communion Hall where food was abundant. In addition, the Pius Times was devoted to this occasion. Parish life is always a time of beginnings and endings; a time of growth and optimism. We have weekly church attendance of over 5,000 and new parishioners moving in each week. We are celebrate the years of Christian community life since 1954, a time marked by joy, sadness, comings and goings, reaching out to others, ministering to our own. We are composed of smaller communities like Cursillistas, Guadalupanas, Charismatics, Legionairies, Choir members, Eucharistic Ministers, ushers, lectors, teachers and dedicated parishioners working together to grow in Christ and proclaim the Gospel in Casa View. We will continue to be a Christian community, blessed with wonderful leadership. We look forward with faith and hope to the future, confident that God's Holy Spirit will enable us to respond to the needs of His people and our community as we have done in the past. We invite you to be a part of our family.
We thank the following for their help in documenting the history of St. Pius X. Debbie Hutchison |
