A
Brief History of the Ministry of the Congregation
of
Holy Cross among the Hispanic People of Austin, Texas
The
history of Holy Cross ministry among the Hispanic people of Austin appears at
first to be largely a story of the development of parish churches. Behind this
building of parishes, though, are stories of Holy Cross religious who worked
with the Hispanic people to build more than edifices—they worked to build a
Church that would include all people of Austin and Central Texas. This survey,
then, attempts to provide a sketch of how the Catholic Church, with the help
of Holy Cross religious, developed to include and serve more fully the
Hispanic people. Construction of churches is part of the story and is surely
included here, but the more important part of the story is the consideration
of the people whose lives are bound up with the development of these churches
and of the Church.
Beginnings
The story of Holy Cross’s ministry to the Hispanic people begins with a sick man—Fr. Patrick
O’Reilly [see fig. 1]. O’Reilly had tuberculosis, and in 1900, in hopes that the mild Texas climate
would foster his recovery, he came to Austin to live among the Holy Cross religious there (Dunne
15). Not finding the health he had hoped for, O’Reilly ended up in Seton Hospital, and was given
four days to live. According to tradition, O’Reilly, aware of the lack of pastoral care for the
Mexican-American people in the area, promised Our Lady of Guadalupe that if he recovered from
his illness, he would dedicate the rest of his life to these people (Culhane, “History” 1). He did at
least temporarily recover, learned Spanish, and started providing pastoral ministry to Austin’s
Hispanics. He began saying masses with “instructions in Spanish” every Sunday at St. Mary’s
Church, which was the only Catholic church in the city then. By 1907, O’Reilly oversaw the opening
of the first Hispanic parish in the city, Our Lady of Guadalupe, located at the intersection of Fifth
and Guadalupe Streets [see fig. 2] (Dunne 15). According to Christopher J. O’Toole, the parish size
burgeoned quickly to include 3,000 people (4). A school was established for the Hispanic children of
the area. During the pastorate of O’Toole’s successors at Our Lady of Guadalupe, Fathers Walter
O’Donnell and Angus MacDonald, Sisters of the Holy Cross came to teach in the school (Dunne
16-17). Holy Cross continued to staff Our Lady of Guadalupe until 1925, when, according to John
Korcsmar, the Indiana Province of Holy Cross (the only U.S. province at that time) called at its
chapter meeting for an increased number of Holy Cross religious to serve at the University of Notre
Dame. Thus, lacking manpower in the south, Holy Cross turned over the pastoral care of Our Lady
of
Guadalupe to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
The
next development of note was the establishment of a new parish in Austin south
of the Colorado River, St. Ignatius Martyr. Finding the people of South Austin
in need of a church, the Congregation coordinated efforts in constructing the
first St. Ignatius Church in 1939. Patrick Duffy was the first pastor. The
church was located on Johanna Street in south Austin, and initially mainly
served the white people of the area (Dunne 26-27; Houser I). This parish is
important to the area of interest here because the mother parish of what would
be called the “Mexican missions,” San Jose, discussed below, was formed
out of St. Ignatius Parish territory. Holy Cross continues to staff St.
Ignatius Parish today, with a larger church on Oltorf Street, and with
1-lispanics comprising more than half of the 2,500
families (O’Toole 17).
In
1936, the Superior General of the Congregation, James Donahue, sent a newly
ordained priest, Alfred Mendez, to Austin to establish “home missions”
among the Hispanic and black people [see fig. 31. Mendez began his work north
of the Colorado River, which was then within the diocese of Galveston. He grew
ill, and ended up in Santa Rosa Hospital in San Antonio. In the hospital, he
met San Antonio Archbishop Arthur Drossaerts, who was also a patient.
Drossaerts asked Mendez to establish a Mexican-American parish south of the
Colorado River in Austin, in the San Antonio archdiocese (Dunne 27; Houser 1).
Mendez recovered from his illness and began coordinating mission efforts south
of the river to the Hispanic people, initially basing his efforts at St.
Edward’s University (Houser 1). Donahue’s term as Superior General
expired, and he came to Texas to assist Mendez in his work. These two men,
along with Joseph Houser and Thomas Culhane, went from house to house in their
missionary outreach before any church was constructed [see figs. 4-51. Brother
Lambert Barbier, who was the community cook and was familiar with the area,
often served as the driver for these mission trips, and brought food for the
people who were visited (Dunne 28, Korcsmar interview). Also, Mendez had
Spanish services at St. Ignatius Parish until San Jose Parish was established
(Dunne 28; Culhane, “History” 5).
Mendez
wished to establish a system of missions, with one mother church, to serve the
Spanish-speaking people of Austin. With the approval of Archbishop
Drossaerts, two Austin
churches were built, along with other mission churches in surrounding
small towns. San Jose
Church, which was to serve as the center of the missions, was
constructed in South Austin, within
St. Ignatius Parish boundaries, at the intersection of Third and Mary
streets [see flg.6]. San
Francisco Javier was constructed southeast of the city on the Lockhart
Highway (now U.S.
Highway 183, south of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport) [see fig.
7]. Both San Jose and San
Francisco were dedicated in 1941 (Dunne 28). in 1946, a third
Austin-area mission church was
completed, Nuestra Señora de La Luz, in the Hispanic neighborhood of
Montopolis east of
downtown [see fig. 8] (Houser 2). Mendez served as pastor of this mission
chain of churches from
1939 to 1948. Many priests served as Mendez’ assistants during these years
[see appendix 1]
(Houser 2-3).
Mendez’s vision and system of missionary activity
have on occasion provoked some criticism. Though he worked to establish
churches for Hispanic people, he did not intend for these churches to continue
for a long period of time as strictly ethnic or national parishes. According
to John Korcsmar, Mendez favored the “melting pot” concept of society, and
wanted the Spanish-speaking churches only to serve in a transitional capacity.
One of Mendez’s closest friends and associates, Peter Mueller, writes in a
reflection after Mendez’s death that he “wanted integration not
segregation” [see fig. 9]. Mendez began an English mass at San Jose parish
as soon as the younger generation of Mexican-American parishioners spoke
English well, and sometimes encouraged these younger people to attend mass at
the less predominantly Hispanic St. Ignatius (Mueller 3).
Korcsmar says that Mendez’s construction style of
the churches reflects his vision as well. The church buildings were relatively
inexpensive to construct, since the building materials consisted of used or
free items—railroad ties, field stones for San Jose and La Luz, street car
poles (Austin had ended its street car system to begin the city bus service),
cedar logs, and telegraph poles (“Secondhand” 24). The churches have
received praise for their simple, sturdy mission style, being referred to as
“majestically rustic” (Secondhand” 24; Powers 38). Mendez had the
designs for the churches drawn up, without being charged any fee, by
architectural students at Notre Dame (Culhane, “San Francisco” 1). In
addition, as Korcsmar says, Mendez built nothing more than a church and a
parish hail at each of the church locations, since he wanted parishioners at
the missions to become more inculturated by coming to one rectory or parish
center for pastoral care.
Pastorally, Mendez did love and serve the Hispanic
people, however his vision of Church may appear to our twenty-first century
eyes. He set up a system of “captains” among the Hispanic people, whereby
certain parishioners were responsible for reporting any pastoral needs within
the parish to Mendez or his associates when they were at the churches. Mueller
writes that because of this system, “. . . there was not a Mexican we knew
of who died without the sacraments” (2). Mendez continually stressed the
importance of education for Hispanic people, and was not beyond using methods
that were a little unorthodox. At one point, he authorized Mueller, for
example, to preach at masses that children must attend school according to
Texas state education laws, and to cite California cases in which parents had
been fined for not sending children to school. The enrollment at the school
subsequently quadrupled, so that the Hispanic students were taken to a larger
school facility that could accommodate them—the school for whites. In
Mueller’s words, “there was instant integration” (5). Mueller writes (years after ministry in the San Jose Missions)
that he and Mendez may or may not have used the best system of pastoral care
in the 1 940s, but that they did look upon the Hispanic people whom they
served ‘~as equals,” and spoke with them “eye to eye” (5). Mendez, whatever his vision, established a series of Hispanic
parishes that have continued to serve the Hispanic people of Austin and
Central Texas since their foundation.
In 1948, Joseph Houser succeeded Mendez as pastor of San Jose Parish and the missions
grouped with it. Early on in his pastorate, Houser showed he did not ascribe to Mendez’s vision for
the San Jose Missions. He began a development plan that eventually transformed the mission
churches into more typically characteristic ethnic U.S. parishes (Korcsmar). Houser oversaw the
construction of a new San Jose Church (relocated to 2425 Oak Crest Street), a parish school, a
medical clinic, and a day care center [see fig. 101 (O’Toole 24; Dunne 45). La Luz and San
Francisco
Javier Parishes saw significant development under Houser’s leadership as
well.
When
La Luz Church was built in 1946, Montopolis Drive was the only paved road in
the neighborhood. Following the development of Bergstrom Field nearby during
and after World War II, though, more Hispanic families moved into the
Montopolis neighborhood (Culhane, “San Francisco” 2). In 1948, the same
year that the Austin Diocese was established, Montopolis was incorporated into
the city of Austin (Houser 2). With this growth in the parish, La Luz Church
became too small to accommodate all the parishioners. In 1953, a new church
was dedicated in the Montopolis neighborhood under the new name of Nuestra
Señora de los Siete Dolores, since Austin’s Bishop Louis Reicher had stated
the parish should be named after a feast day found in the missal [see fig.
11]. Under Houser’s development plan, Dolores Parish was also given its own
rectory and pastor, Charles Delaney, and San Francisco Javier became a mission
of Dolores (Houser 4). Delaney is known to have been beloved by the people of
San Francisco and Dolores. He enacted Houser’s vision for development by
establishing a school at Dolores Parish (Korcsmar interview).
San
Francisco Javier Parish saw a decrease in the number of parishioners as La Luz
/ Dolores grew in size. At the time of its founding in 1941, the parish served
more than four hundred Spanish-speaking families (“Joint Jubilee”
article). Subsequently, some parishioners moved to Montopolis and La Luz /
Dolores Parish when this nearby neighborhood developed, while a number of
members of the younger generation of Mexican Americans moved away from the
area altogether (Culhane, “San Francisco” 2). San Francisco was a mission
of San Jose from 1941 to 1953, and
of Dolores from 1953 to 1957. In 1957, Elmer
Rupp became the first pastor of San Francisco Javier Parish [see fig. 12]
(Dunne 46). For years, Rupp lived in a back part of the parish hail because no
rectory had been built at San Francisco and because funding was scarce
(Culhane, “San Francisco” 3). Rupp served as pastor until 1978, when he
was succeeded by John Haley [see fig. 13]. Haley helped to develop the parish
facilities further, coordinating an expansion to the church as the number of
parishioners increased to include a heterogeneous mixture of whites and
Hispanics (O’Toole 23). Holy Cross continued to staff San Francisco until
February of 2000, when, because of fewer Holy Cross priests available in
Austin to maintain apostolic commitments, the pastoral leadership of the
parish was assumed by the Diocese of Austin.
In
1962, Fred Underwood became pastor of Dolores Parish in Montopolis [see fig.
14]. Underwood, seeing the need for assistance and change in this neighborhood
sometimes referred to as “poverty island,” embarked on an ambitious
program of neighborhood development. With the assistance of Elmer Rupp,
Underwood worked with the people of the neighborhood to develop a non-profit,
non-sectarian Community Center on Montopolis Drive. Since the Center was not
technically sponsored by the Church and was not to offer religious education
of any kind, it was funded by a government loan and became a collaborative
effort of local, state, and national governments (O’Toole 19-22). Programs
offered at the Center over the next few years included adult continuing
education, a Youth Corps targeted at school dropouts, day care and Head Start
programs, job referrals, and the availability of social workers. Underwood
also pushed to have a bus line extended from the Montopolis neighborhood to
central Austin, where people could catch the public busses (O’Toole 20).
Underwood’s next major building project was housing development on land that
was owned by Dolores Parish, funded by a two million dollar loan that
Underwood had secured from the Diocese of Austin (Dunne 45;
O’Toole 22). Also during Underwood’s time as pastor of Dolores, the
religious education program improved. Brother Joel Giallanza became
catechetical director and a group of Franciscan Sisters began serving the
parish as religious educators. in 1972, Underwood brought the fervor of the
charismatic prayer movement to Dolores Parish (Korcsmar interview). The prayer
movement at Dolores Parish reflected to some extent the city- and nation-wide
charismatic wave of that time. The next two pastors of Dolores Parish were
Steven Lambour and Joel Atwood, who continued the neighborhood and parish work
Underwood had begun (Dunne 45).
As
was mentioned above, Joseph Houser was Alfred Mendez’s successor as the
pastor of San Jose Parish, and it was during Houser’s pastorate that San
Jose ceased being the mother parish of other mission parishes. Houser served
as pastor of San Jose from 1948 to 1967, and his successor was John Haley,
who, as was discussed above, was the second pastor of San Francisco Javier
Parish. During Haley’s time as pastor of San Jose, a large community center
was built to
accompany the
school and church Fr. Houser had constructed (Korcsmar interview). In 1976,
John Korcsmar became pastor of San Jose Parish. He emphasized social justice
issues among parishioners, and worked to form the neighborhood into the South
Austin Neighborhood Council, whose function was, among other things, to help
children who were classified as “problem kids” or had dropped out of
school. Korcsmar also began organizing Austin Interfaith, a political
partnership among various faith denominations that grew out of the Communities
Organized for Public Service (C.O.P.S.) program in San Antonio (Reese 34).
In
1982, Korcsmar was named pastor of Dolores Parish, while Underwood, who had
been vocation director after his pastorate at Dolores, was named pastor of San
Jose. As pastor of San Jose, Underwood continued to emphasize the charismatic
prayer movement, San Jose became something of a city-wide, area, charismatic
church (Korcsmar interview). With so many people from around the city coming
to worship at San Jose, the church built by Fr. Houser became too small.
Underwood then oversaw the construction of a massive new San Jose Church that
Bishop John McCarthy dubbed the “Cathedral of South Austin.” Underwood was
pastor of San Jose until 1993, when the Diocese of Austin assumed pastoral
control of the parish.
At Dolores Parish, meanwhile, Korcsmar continued his
work in the area of social justice (see fig. 15).
With Korcsmar and other pastors’ support, Austin Interfaith grew into a
much larger collaborative effort. The coalition works to improve
neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces. It became affiliated with the Texas
Industrial Areas Foundation Network (I.A.F.), an umbrella organization that
includes programs similar to Austin Interfaith from around the state. Austin
Interfaith and 1.A.F. regularly sponsor “accountability sessions,” in
which politicians are asked whether they share the social justice goals of the
people in these organizations (McNeely).
Besides carrying forward the tradition of neighborhood empowerment and involvement as pastor of
Dolores, Korcsmar has established programs to provide active lay persons with training grounded in
theological education. Korcsmar continues as pastor of Dolores Parish today.
Dolores
is the one parish that grew out of the San Jose Missions system that is still
staffed by Holy Cross today. As the Southern Province of Holy Cross has
developed some new (Hispanic and other) apostolic commitments outside of
Austin and declined in active membership, the province has painfully had to
withdraw from some long-standing Holy Cross parochial commitments. The story
of how the parishes considered here developed is important for Holy Cross
religious to remember, though, since this story gives us a sense of how we as
a community have progressed to our current position. The Southern Province’s
continuing commitment to Hispanic ministry reflects the reality that the
heritage of Holy Cross in the South has been enriched by a history of service
to the Hispanic people.
© Copyright 2000, Congregation of Holy Cross, Southern Province