CCCATHEDRALATHEDRALATHEDRAL N N NEWSEWSEWS April 2011 Volume 16 Issue 7 Tulsa, Oklahoma

Holy Family

Photo: Cathy Nelson

Dear People of Holy Family:

Lent is in full swing and Holy Week is fast upon us. This is THE WEEK of the year for practicing Catholics. We

come together to remember and celebrate the depth and joy of our redemption and God’s most generous and gra-

cious gift of our salvation. Truly we do this in a most beautiful and meaningful fashion.

On Holy Thursday we call to our memory and memorialize the great gift of the Eucharist. This is the gift which en-

ables us, here on earth, to be ever present to the one perfect act of our salvation, the death and resurrection of Je-

sus. In this great gift Jesus has made available to us His final act of obedience to the Father. We gather together in

our Cathedral in this most solemn moment to be one with the angels and saints as they join with Christ in the wor-

ship of God the Father. When we say that earth joins with Heaven, we truly mean just that.

Good Friday brings us face to face with the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross. We pray the Stations of

the Cross and we gather to call to mind the passion and death of Jesus. Here we humble ourselves and come for-

ward to kiss the cross of Christ and realize how deeply we should appreciate this total giving of Himself for us. Here

we are allowed to receive this same Christ in the Eucharist.

Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday are days of great joy and exaltation as we join Christ in His victory over sin and

death. If we have been touched by Christ in His Eucharist and remembered His great gift of suffering, then our

Easter joy can truly be complete as we remember Jesus is truly Risen. He is truly Risen as He said.

Please make every effort to be present for the events of Holy Week so that Easter may be a time of profound joy

and true communion with Christ.

Prayerfully,

Msgr. Gregory A. Gier

Rector

From the Rector

Three-Year Renovation Pledges up-date: $65,517.69 is currently outstanding on the pledges for the Renovation Fund. Thank you for your continued gener-osity.

Identification Statement The Cathedral News is published ten times per year by Holy Family Cathedral located at 122 West Eighth Street, Tulsa, OK 74119. This is Volume 16 Issue 8. Periodicals Postage Permit 022-729 is Paid in Tulsa, Oklahoma. POSTMAS-TER: Send address changes to: Holy Family Cathedral, P.O. Box 3204, Tulsa, OK 74101-3204.

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Holy Week Schedule Monday, April 18 12:05 Mass Tuesday, April 19 7:00 Mass 12:05 Mass 5:30 Chrism Mass Wednesday, April 20 7:00 Mass 12:05 Mass Thursday, April 21—Holy Thursday 3:00-5:00 Confessions 5:30 Mass of the Lord’s Supper 7:00-12:00 Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament Friday, April 22—Good Friday 1:00-3:00 Confessions 3:00 Stations of the Cross 5:30 Good Friday Liturgy Saturday, April 23—Holy Saturday 3:00-5:00 Confessions 8:30 Easter Vigil Sunday, April 24—Easter Sunday 8:00, 10:00, Noon, 5:00 Masses

BY THE RCIA MINISTRY TEAM

At 10:00 a.m. Mass on the three

Sundays leading up to Holy Week,

the RCIA elect and candidates

gather for the “Scrutinies” within

Mass. The Bishop prays over them

and includes a minor exorcism that

frees them from the ef-

fects of sin and the influ-

ence of the devil. The

three events draw their

source from the scrip-

tures of the Mass. First

is the Gospel of the Sa-

maritan woman, where

Christ, the Living Water

is given. Second, “The

Light of the World” is drawn from the

Gospel of the man born blind. The

third scrutiny is about the Resurrec-

tion and the Life from the Gospel.

Easter Joy for the Catechumens and Candidates

From these rites, they receive new

strength in the midst of their spiritual

journey and open their hearts to re-

ceive the gifts of the Spirit.

In order to receive any other sac-

raments in the Catholic Church, one

must be baptized. Our candidates

have already been baptized, but

many Christian denominations that

perform valid baptisms do not pro-

vide a record, or do not keep files on

their members. While some of our

RCIA candidates have an official

form, many have records that fami-

lies kept, or simply letters from wit-

nesses. If those are not

found, candidates are

treated as catechumens

and will be baptized at

the Vigil in a “conditional

baptism.” This creates a

permanent record stored

in the church. This same

record is amended each

time a sacrament is

added, so after the Vigil, they will

have a record of their baptism, first

(Continued on page 5)

This joyful celebration of their first Easter as Catholics will remain a significant transition point in their lives.

THE PHOTO WAS TAKEN DURING THE FIRST SCRUTINY AS THE ELECT AND CANDIDATES LISTENED TO THE EXORCISM BY THE BISHOP.

communion, confirmation and in

some cases, marriage. Many married

candidates have their marriages

blessed in the church immediately

following the Vigil rite.

The Celebration of the Easter Vigil

at Holy Family includes those who

will be baptized plus those who are

received into full communion with us.

The sequence of events during the

Vigil begins with the baptism of cate-

chumens (the Elect), followed by re-

newal of the entire congregation’s

baptismal promises, then celebration

of the acceptance into full commun-

ion of the candidates. Those newly

baptized and received into commun-

ion are then confirmed. Now they are

prepared to receive their first Eucha-

rist along with the rest of the congre-

gation. This joyful celebration of their

first Easter as Catholics will remain a

significant transition point in their

lives.

After the initiation at the Easter

Vigil, our newly baptized are

“Neophytes” literally “New

Branches,” beginning their first year

as new Catholics. They still have

much to learn about being Catholic in

a community setting, and need to be

invited into the various ministries and

groups within Holy Family. Please

make them feel welcome and

needed here so they can continue to

enrich our parish life. Encourage

them by your example and rever-

ence, as the Faith becomes a way of

life for them.

(Continued from page 4)

Students Pray, Learn, and Have Fun

Holy Family Cathedral School 8th students

recently took a trip to Clear Creek Monastery

with Mrs. Spoerl, Monsignor Gier, and Mr. Mal-

com. Students toured the grounds and talked

to the Monks about their work.

Over 50 Holy Family students “slimed” their

principal recently as a prize for successfully

completing the Walk-A-Thon Fundraiser. The

first annual Walk-A-Thon was a huge success

bringing in over $6,000. The Home and School

Association did a fantastic job and deserve

credit for bringing in money that goes towards

funding field trips and other worthwhile en-

deavors in our school. In fact, over the past

three years each and every field trip taken by

Holy Family Cathedral School has been

funded 100% by our Home and School Asso-

ciation.

Early this semester we held our Annual Geography Bee and Connor Winn was

our school winner. Connor then took a qualifying test which was submitted to the

National Geographic Society. Conner scored in the top 100 qualifiers in the State

of Oklahoma! As a result Connor will represent Holy Family at the State competi-

tion on April 1st in Edmond, Oklahoma. If Connor wins he will compete for the

National title! Congratulations to Conner and his great accomplishments.

STUDENTS SLIME THEIR PRINCIPAL

Helga Gorman is the Cathedral’s Woman of Achievement

Helga Gorman is the 2011 Woman

of Achievement from Holy Family

Cathedral. Mrs. Gorman was hon-

ored with fourteen women from other

parishes at a recent meeting of the

Council of Catholic Women. The fol-

lowing is Mrs. Gorman’s biography

as printed in the Women of Achieve-

ment commemorative program:

Helga was born in Elsass, Muehl-

bach. Germany was nearing the end

of World War II. When she was just

one her father was killed in the war.

Consequently, she and her mother

returned to their hometown, Krefeld,

to live with her grandfather. She was

raised in a very devout Catholic

home. In November 1957 she and

her mother received the opportunity

to immigrate to the United States.

One of the first tasks was to learn

English, especially all of the prayers,

while attending the Catholic school of

St. Mary's in Michigan

City, Indiana. She

graduated in 1964,

and began working in

a finance company,

where she met Tom

Gorman. They were

married and started a

family. Helga and Tom

have two daughters,

Helga and Monika,

and six grand children,

Bobby, Candace,

Blaine, Alex, Caleb

and Maddy, and two

great grand children

Elizabeth and Ariana.

In 1972 Tom‘s job brought the

(Continued on page 7)

HELGA GORMAN AND BISHOP SLATTERY

IMAGE COURTESY OF EOC, DIOCESE OF TULSA

Notes from the Knightstand

Come soon, come late!. Easter will

soon come upon us. Now, if you

were to have surely thought that

Easter could come no later than it is

coming this year — think again! And

what do lilies, garlands, and colored

eggs have to do with Easter? Well,

Easter can actually come on any

Sunday between March 21st. and

April 25th - a variable date related to

and associated with the perambula-

tions of the sun and moon. we owe

our ( respect to this occurrence to

the deliberations of the Council of

Nicea in 325 and the Alexandrians,

star gazers extraordinaire, to whom

the task was given to ascertain an

agreeable annual date for Easter so

that all Christendom would be on the

same wave-length. Now, this did not

happen as to plan as the Orthodox

and certain others went their sepa-

rate way regarding Easter but for the

most of Christendom Easter was set

to occur on the first Sunday following

the first full moon occurring after the

vernal · equinox - which happens to

be April 18th this year for the moon

and, thus, Easter on the following

Sunday - April 24th! This, in turn,

means that Palm Sunday occurs on

the 17th which, by coincidence, is

Holy Family Council 10388

the scheduled date for our world fa-

mous pancake breakfast which is

also a movable feast and which will

be moved to the 10th of April - so

mark your calendars accordingly.

Now, Easter is replete with myths

and legends as to the "whys and

wherefores “of our various customs

but none is so colorful as the colored

egg. One such myth is that upon the

Resurrection Mary Magdalene went

to the Emperor of Rome and greeted

him with "Christ is risen!" - to which

the Emperor duly replied "Christ is no

more risen than that egg is red",

pointing to an egg on his table. Im-

mediately, the egg turned blood red·

Thus the legend: the "red" repre-

sented the Blood (death) of Christ

from which Life would spring forth.

Various appropriate colors soon fol-

lowed: purple (royalty), blue

(heaven), and so on. Flowers carried

the same connotation: a new life

springing forth from a seemingly

dead branch and were woven

through the hair as a symbol of

Christ's Resurrection. And the Easter

lily? well, when Christ walked the

earth all the flowers bowed in rever-

ence before Him - all except the

proud lily. However following the

Crucifixion the lily, overcome with

remorse, bowed its head in sorrow

and shame and grows that way to-

day!

Happy Easter to one and all! Pax.

BY MARTIN REIDY

An Easter lily, an Easter bonnet

an Easter garland, There upon it!

An Easter basket, an egg there in

all celebrating, the death of sin!

family to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her hus-

band traveled while she was a stay

at home mom. She busied herself

with PTA, brownies, Girl Scouts,

bowling, soccer, softball, swimming,

handball, skiing, and skating.

In 1991 the family became parish-

ioners of Holy Family Cathedral.

Shortly thereafter Sister Eugenia

Brown spotted Tom and Helga. Ini-

tially they became Extraordinary Eu-

charistic Ministers and members of

the parish council. Helga joined the

Woman's Club and was Vice Presi-

dent for a term and is currently the

secretary. She has been a sacristan

since 1994 taking care of all linens,

laundering, ironing, and mending.

Willingly she also took on the job of

maintaining all candles in the cathe-

dral. Repeatedly she has been a

sponsor for catechumens in the

R.C.I.A. classes. However, her favor-

ite job is sewing and cross-stitching

baptismal collars for every baby who

is baptized at Holy Family.

Helga is also pleased to be an

active participant in the perpetual

adoration program at St. John‘s Hos-

pital. She has always helped at the

cathedral with receptions, funeral

lunches, meals-on-wheels and any-

thing else the parish needed.

The most rewarding and humbling

time she recalls was participating

with her husband Tom in the deacon-

ate program. In 2007 he was or-

dained a permanent deacon. This life

changing experience has altered her

daily walk with Our Lord.

(Continued from page 6)

Holy Family Cathedral

P.O. Box 3204

Tulsa, OK 74101-3204

The Council of Catholic Women’s

Family Concerns Commission along

with the Holy Family Women’s Club

are asking for help from the women

of the parish. We are collecting hy-

giene products, hairbrushes, lotions,

soaps, toothbrushes, etc. These

items will be given to the Day Spring

Villa in Tulsa. Collection boxes will

be placed at the main entrance and

the south side door. Donations will

be accepted until May 15.

The relics of St. Damien, the Leper Priest of Moloka'i,

will be visiting Tulsa this Tuesday through Friday (April

5 through April 8). You can come and venerate these

relics at the Cathedral Tuesday night, April 5, from

7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and on Wednesday after the

7:00 a.m. Mass til noon Mass; and again from 5:00

until 9:00 p.m. Actor Casey Groves will be presenting a

one—man play on the life of St. Damien at 7:00 p.m.

Thursday night, April 7, at Bishop Kelley's PAC.

(Suggested donation is $10.00.) Priests will be avail-

able to hear Confessions during the time the relics are venerated at the Ca-

thedral. The Anointing of the Sick will be conferred on those with serious

and chronic illnesses during a special 5:30 Mass at the Cathedral on

Wednesday night. For more information or to register to receive the Sacra-

ment, e-mail Martha Chambless at martha.chambless@dioceseoftulsa.org