Our Lady of the Gulf

Dear Parishioners of Our Lady of the Gulf,
 
Please click the updated links below to review the guidelines in English or Spanish.

Particular implementation of reopening June 1, 2020 (update)
Particular implementation of reopening June 1, 2020 (Spanish)

I would like to inform the parish that Bishop Cahill has assigned seminarian Richard Barfield to our parishes for the next couple of years as he completes his training to become a Catholic priest.  Richard’s vocation journey is a unique case, because he was an ordained Protestant minister in the Church of the Nazarene before converting to Catholicism.  Under the 1980 Pastoral Provision of Pope St. John Paul II, and now expanded even wider, Protestant ministers of certain denominations can petition Rome to allow them to become ordained Catholic priests after their conversion to the Catholic faith.  Richard is one of those cases.  With Rome’s approval and under the supervision of Bishop Cahill personally, Richard is completing the final years of training for priestly ordination.  He and his family will move into the parish on Monday, May 25 and live in the old daycare, which has been converted back to a house.  We welcome Richard and his family to our parishes and look forward to helping him become a good, holy, and competent Catholic priest for the Diocese of Victoria. 

Below is a brief biography about Richard:
 
Richard Barfield was accepted as a seminarian of the Victoria Diocese in December of 2018. He and his wife Dawn have been married 24 years and have 5 children. He was born on March 8, 1970, grew up in Van Vleck and graduated Van Vleck High School in 1988. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology at Austin Peay State University, a M.A. in Biblical and Theological Studies and a M. Div. at Luther Rice Seminary and is currently completing a M.A. in Moral Theology at The Notre Dame Graduate School at Christendom College.

Richard enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1990 and was stationed onboard the USS Pensacola in Norfolk, Virginia. He and his family joined the Church of the Nazarene after his discharge from the Navy in 1996, in Clarksville, Tennessee. From 1999 to 2006, Richard served in various associate and senior pastor capacities in the Church of the Nazarene on the South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee Districts. In 2006, Richard joined the U.S. Army Reserves in discernment as a Chaplain Candidate and was immediately accessioned onto active duty in 2008 after completion of his officer’s basic leadership course. For 11 years, he served our troops as Battalion Chaplain at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, Caserma Ederle Army Base in Vicenza, Italy and Fort Polk, Louisiana.
Richard, Dawn and family began their conversion to Catholicism while Richard was deployed to Afghanistan in 2012, but at the direction of military service bishops, remained in the Army until their entry into the Church could be complete. Richard had an audience with Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese of Military Services who introduced him to Bishop Brendan Cahill of the Victoria Diocese in June of 2017. Bishop Cahill directed the completion of the Pastoral Provision dossier required for Protestant ministers entering discernment for the priesthood. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith granted permission to Bishop Cahill to accept Richard as a seminarian in October of 2018. After his honorable discharge from the U.S. Army, Richard and his family returned home to Texas and the Victoria Diocese where he officially entered into the Church making a Solemn Profession of Faith and receiving the Sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Eucharist on December 16, 2018 by the hands of Bishop Cahill.

Richard and family have been serving at Queen of the Holy Rosary in Hostyn and Saints Peter and Paul parishes in Plum. The Barfield Family is enthusiastically looking forward to continuing this discernment journey alongside the parish.
 

415 West Austin St | Port Lavaca, TX
361.552.6140 | Fax 361.552.4300
olg@olgulf.org

Reverend Tommy Chen, Pastor
Reverend Max Landman, Parochial Vicar

Parish Office Hours
Monday - Thursday:
8:30 AM - 4:00 PM

Please note the following Mass schedules will not be available through March 31st & Reconciliation is by appointment only - please contact the Parish office to schedule.

Schedule of Masses 
Monday - Friday: 8:05 AM
Saturday: 5:30 PM
Sunday:
8:00 AM & 10:00 AM (English)
12:00 Noon (Spanish)

Reconciliation 
Saturday: 4:30 - 5:15 PM in the church or by calling the parish office to schedule an appointment

First Fridays
8:05 AM Mass
8:45 AM Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
12:30 PM Benediction

OLG Capital Campaign

Cost of Renovation
$2,000,000.00
 

Loan Balance
$323,536.75

updated March 2020

Child and Vulnerable Adult Reporting Procedures

If you witness, suspect, or know of child and/or vulnerable adult abuse, YOU MUST FILE A REPORT WITHIN 48 HOURS!
Contact Civil Authorities:Department of Family and Protective Services

1-800-252-5400 or www.txabusehotline.org

If the person is in immediate danger, call 911.

If Church Personnel Is Involved In Alleged Abuse:

Step One— Contact Civil Authorities.
Step Two— Contact one of the following:

Coordinator of Pastoral Care and   Outreach, 
Vicki L. Pyatt, LMSW
(361) 827-7186 or email 
pastoralcare@victoriadiocese.org;

Bishop or Chancellor of the Diocese of Victoria at
(361) 573-0828; and Written Allegations Should Be Sent To: 
Office of  the Bishop 
P.O. Box 4070
Victoria, Texas 77903