By virtue of our very nature, we like to be with other people. We were not meant to be alone. And so the faithful among us often tend to flock together with others in either small, intimate faith communities or at their neighborhood church or parish. This coming together with others is such an important thing to us that we even call it "our church family."

Next to our kin, these friends together make up the group we often value most. We share much in common with our church family, most of all our faith and devotion to Jesus Christ. Instinctively we often cling to this family, but the relationships we forge at the local church level is usually as far as we go.  

Catholics, though, are part of a much larger church body: the diocese, which can be thought of as an extended family. This extended family is made up of the people you rarely see and sometimes just hear about at the dinner table or when sitting in the back seat of the car listening to your mom and dad talk.

Rarely does a diocese collectively gather. While we share many commonalities, we adhere mostly to the comfort of the smaller family unit, much like the Protestants adhere to their congregations or house churches. Dioceses seldom have occasion to hold an event that everyone throughout the geographic area attends. Sunday is one of those notable exceptions.

At 11 a.m., Sunday, October 16, 82,000 Catholics from the 73 churches and missions in the Diocese of San Angelo have been invited and encouraged to attend a Mass in honor of the diocese's 50 years of spreading the faith in West Texas.

Just think of it as a family reunion. You'll get to see your long-lost cousin, the car salesman who talks a lot about his golf game; an uncle who has always kept to himself but who you remember as being very kind, and the great aunt who has that funny laugh. The last time you got together with them you thought it might be boring, but it turned out to be a fun an interesting day. Very much worth the trip after all. Read full story >>