Fr. Chuck announced last week that our new electronic bells in the church tower would ring out again on Easter Sunday.
Paulist Father Michael Smith came to Austin in May 1908 to look over the property at 21st and Guadalupe where St. Austin Chapel would be built. The year before, the Paulists had accepted the invitation from Galveston Bishop N.A. Gallagher to establish a center of Missionary activity in Austin. With the appointment of Fr. Smith, an active campaign for funds was begun over the State and in Austin. The local Knights of Columbus appointed a committee to solicit funds with S. V. Dooley as chairman.
Work on the chapel began nearly a year later. 1907-1908 were depression years and subscriptions were slow coming in. Fr. Smith returned to New York and was able to get $4,000 for the Church and $1,000 for the furnishings. At this time the Paulists thought the chapel would be a temporary structure. Charles Shurr was chosen as contractor and builder and George Endress was the architect selected to draw plans for the chapel to be in the Mission style.
The chapel was completed and included a tower. The first Mass was on Christmas 1908. But there was no money left for a bell! Years later a bell was installed in the tower, bearing the inscription: “Presented to St. Austin’s Chapel by Mrs. S. V. Dooley in honor of Pope St. Sylvester, December 31, 1915.” The tower feature was preserved in the new church building dedicated in 1953.
On the Paulist Focus from Fr. Dave O'Brien
Fr. Dave O’Brien, St. Austin pastor 1984-1990, attended the General Assembly of the Paulist Community in New Jersey in 1986. The Paulists had adopted three central goals at that Assembly and Fr. O’Brien wanted to share them with St. Austin parishioners and, so he wrote, “we hope to involve the lay people among whom we work in the goals of our community.”
The three central goals adopted for the Paulist contemporary mission were: Evangelization, Reconciliation and Ecumenism. Here is how Fr. O’Brien described them.
Evangelization, the preaching of the Gospel to those who have not heard it, invites all people to hear the Word of God and share in our Church life together.
Reconciliation, the work of Christian healing and compassion, calls us to reach out to our Catholic brothers and sisters, alienated from the Church community, and calls us to respond to the wounds of society and the hunger for peace and justice.
Ecumenism, the search for the unity God wills for the Church, opens us to the spiritual riches and Gospel traditions of other Christian churches and urges us to work with one another for unity in life and mission. The Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle continues to affirm these three central goals today.
Back in 1985, the Boy Scouts of St. Austin’s Troop 34 came together for sports, crafts and service activities. The 17 boys of the Scout Troop came from all over Austin. Scoutmaster Tim Graham and Assistant Scoutmaster Steve Stovall directed the troop’s many different projects.
At the close of this year’s Catholic Schools Week, we present some memories from the St. Austin’s Class of 1999. The last names have been omitted to protect the innocent.
--Mary “My fondest memory is knowing Mr. Wiggins.* Mr. Wiggins understands us, has fun with us, is a great high school preparer, and makes us laugh!”
If I had it to do over again, I’d try to make more mistakes next time, I would relax a little, I would limber up quite a bit, and be A little sillier than I have been this trip. I’d take more chances, I’d take more nonsense journeys, I would climb more mountains and swim More rivers and watch more sunsets. If I had my life to live again I would start going barefooted earlier in the Spring And I would stay that way until later in the Fall.
Here are some qualities for “the perfect priest” published in a 1983 Immaculata magazine article. The article suggests that these qualities were compiled from a survey. We present them hoping they will inspire a chuckle from all the readers and from our perfect Paulist priests as well.