Days before trip, Pope's envoy in Iraq tests positive for COVID
- Feb 28, 2021
The Burton family from Lake Charles, Louisiana, were on the way home from a New Mexico skiing vacation when the worst winter storm in recent Texas history brought the state to a perpetual halt.
The Catholic bishops of Texas said Feb. 20 that the generosity of their fellow Texans reaching out to help their neighbors, even while they are also managing their own needs during a historic winter storm, “is truly edifying.”
The historic winter storms in February shattered electric plants across Texas, prompting energy providers to force blackouts across the state to preserve what fragile electricity they could generate. At least 49 deaths have been linked to the storms and subsequent power outages.
Despite the grip the historic winter storm had on north Texas, faith fueled outreach to Catholics and other community members in the Diocese of Dallas.
For almost a week, through an historic winter storm, Father Pat O’Brien and others at St. Pius X Catholic Church in San Antonio have operated under a simple mantra: “whatever the need is we will be open.”
Parishes across the state of Texas have canceled Ash Wednesday masses amidst a winter storm that’s left over three million people without power and brought record low temperatures all week.