Om-Catleolic JI eritage iu Texas
A. Correl, had put in a new altar and several sculptures, and Raymond Everett, professor of Architecture at the University of Texas, had designed the throne and made the wood carvings. Archbishop Lucey and the six other bishops of Texas, Governor and Mrs. Beauford Jester, ex-Governor Dan Moody, several Supreme Court Justices, state repre- sentatives and senators, and Mayor Tom Miller attended the ceremony during which Bishop Garriga preached the sermon. "We bring you," he said, "earnest prayers and sincere wishes that your ministry may be long in years, fruitful and successful; and that you may be happy as you walk into the future in the steps of Odin, the Sower of the Seed, who loved Austin dearly; and that in spirit you will follow Dubuis, the Apostle on Horseback, and walk in step with Gallagher, the Master Builder, in his quiet, unostentatious and efficient manner." That evening a reception was held in the Texas Union Building of the University of Texas at which Governor Jester said: "I want to con- gratulate your Church in its staunch fight against Communism." James E. Kilday, assistant to Attorney General of the United States, Tom C. Clark, represented his chief and brought a letter from President Harry S. Truman. "In times such as this our country and the whole world are desperately in need of spiritual leadership," the chief executive declared. "It is heartening to know that strong men are being called to that leader- ship in our country." Mr. Kilday, as a member of the Department of Justice, then expressed regrets for Attorney General Clark's absence, and added: "As with you of the Catholic Hierarchy and priesthood, so with us of the Justice Department our common aim is to give to each what is his due.... Through all of two thousand years of the Church's history it has loved justice and hated iniquity." President Painter of the University of Texas, Mayor Tom Miller and many other public officials personally congratulated and extended their good wishes to the new bishop, who in his response humbly said, "I pledge to give my all toward the advancement of Christian culture in this area." 106 The vast diocese of Galveston which in 1847 had included all of Texas under Bishop Odin had now become the ecclesiastical province of San Antonio, with jurisdiction over Texas and Oklahoma. It consisted of one archdiocese and seven dioceses. Where in 1847 there had been only a few thousand Catholics scattered over the plains and prairies and but a few churches, besides the old Spanish missions that lay in ruins, there were now over a million faithful and hundreds of churches and schools to minister to their spiritual life.
1 06Tne StJUtl,ern Messenger, May 11 and 18, 1948.
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