Pope Francis

y John Henry
Correspondent
All photos courtesy
Being enriched in e
genero
Permanent Deacons
The effects and benefits of the Annual Diocesan
Appeal spread far across the diocese. The appeal
funds several ministries and is dependent on the
generous giving of local faithful. The following are the stories
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th
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Catholic Charities
Tuition Assi
“God has a way of
calling you,” Deacon
José Aragón said.
“And he kept calling me.
I saw myself being more and
more involved with different
things at the church. From one
thing I went to another and
another. It was a progression.”
This son of Juarez, Mexico,
and El Paso, Texas, eventually
found his ultimate calling
in the Permanent Deacon
Formation Program.
Aragón has been a deacon
for six years, assigned to St.
Jude Parish in Mansfield.
Deacon José is an auditor
for the Small Business Administration
with about 30
years of service in the federal
government. He is married
with two children, a son-inlaw,
and two grandchildren.
As a youngster, Deacon
José’s family lived next door
to a permanent deacon, and he
decided then he would never
want to do that because, he
said, laughing, “he worked
too hard.”
But, as he became more
and more involved in his
church, people asked him if
he was a deacon. “I still had
it in my head that I would
never be a deacon. I struggled
with that.”
Eventually, he gained the
courage to ask his parish’s
deacon about entering the diaconate.
With that he started
the process of finding out.
“Through discernment, I
learned the process of praying
and keeping a prayer diary,”
Deacon José said.
“As it was happening, I
couldn’t really see it because
I was so busy. When I would
go back three months and six
months later reviewing that
journal, I could see God’s
hand in my life. Taking that
further into these six years,
more and more I see God’s
hand in everything I do. Even
in the trials of life, I see myself
putting myself more in the
trust of God’s hand.”
With a
contagious
smile and sense
of humor, Patrick is
continually reaching
out to homeless
veterans in the Fort
Worth area.
Patrick knows what it’s like
to be one. He first crossed paths
with Catholic Charities Fort
Worth while he was living in a
tent in Fort Worth. A veteran
from Austin, Patrick moved to
Fort Worth in the late ‘70s for a
job. Upon arriving, he learned
that the job was only a temporary
position with infrequent
and inconsistent hours.
Soon he found himself on
the streets, camping to survive.
In 2010 he met Catholic
Charities Street Outreach
Services case manager Rosa
Dominguez, who assisted him
in finding a new tent and providing
his
basic needs.
Patrick described
that from the beginning
Dominguez was willing
to go the extra mile working
with him, only asking that he
be willing to fully commit his
efforts as well.
“The thing that CC has
done that stands out the most
is to lessen my cynicism of
outreach,” Patrick said. “You
go around and you try to get
assistance and you either run
into an ego … or abuse.”
Through working closely
with Dominguez and developing
a plan, in 2011 Patrick
got off the streets and into an
apartment of his own.
With the assistance of
Catholic Charities, Patrick
today is thriving in his own
place and trying to help others
follow his path.
The diocese’s
Catholic
schools are
the foundation for
thousands of children
and young adults to
live saintly and holy
lives.
For thousands of others,
the tuition is prohibitive
in an era of soaring costs.
Frequently families simply
cannot afford to send their
children to Catholic schools.
Average annual tuition for
high school is $12,000, while
tuition for the elementary
schools is about $5,500 a year.
It’s an issue addressed by
the Diocese’s Tuition Assistance
Fund.
For the 2014-2015 school
year, the fund awarded
$624,400 to 786 students
through scholarships that
generally range from $500 to
$1,500. The scholarships are
Page 20 North Texas Catholic September / oCtober 2015