The 2012 Bishop’s Annual Appeal

“Let Us Be Imitators of Christ”

Cistercian Preparatory School will conduct our once yearly admissions testing for talented boys in grades 5 -12 on two consecutive Saturdays, January 28 and February 4.  The deadline for all 2012-13 applications is January 27^th For information on admission requirements, registration materials, and financial aid, please call 469-499-5400, email admissions@cistercian.org or check the school website at www.cistercian.org.

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In today’s gospel it tells us that Jesus went off to a deserted place to pray; He took the time to refresh his spirit. When was the last time you took time to get away as a couple and renew your relationship? Deepen your communication, strengthen your relationship, rekindle your

romance and renew your sacrament by attending the next Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekend in the Dallas/Fort Worth area March 16-18, 2012 or May 4-6, 2012. For more information visit: www.dfwme.org or to register call Angelo & Shanna Nasche, (972) 317-2400, or e-mail register@dfwme.org

Every Tuesday Professor Emeritus Lyle Novinski, long-time member of the UD Art Faculty and the Faith Community, teaches a credit course on the history of the development of art and architecture in the service of the liturgy. He welcomes auditors/visitors especially Church of the Incarnation parishioners and students. Come listen to the lectures and discussions whenever convenient. Hear the philosophy and stories behind the great paintings and frescoes, the building of Chartres, St. Peter’s Basilica, the new Los Angeles Cathedral and much more. The first lecture, on January 17, will focus on Early Christian Art and the development of iconographies. There is no charge. However, donations to the UD Art Department are always welcome. Sacred

Art and Architecture may, of course, be taken for undergraduate or graduate credit–just check with the Graduate Office for application and tuition details. Again, that’s Tuesday evenings from 7-10pm in the Haggerty Art Village Auditorium. The Art Village is across the Mall, on the East side of campus. The course includes visits to and analysis of area churches. Email lyleski2@verizon.net if you have questions.

----------------------------------------------Daughters of God- Called to be Faithful, the 2012 Women’s Retreat will be held Saturday, Feb. 18. Catherine Upchurch, author and instructor for the Little Rock Scripture Study Series, will lead the retreat from 9:30 am - 3:30 pm, at Prince of Peace Catholic Community  in Plano.  Registration is $30 by February 3 and $40 after Feb 3rd.  No walk-ins.  A registration form with further details is available at www.popplano.org or call Prince of Peace at 972-380-2100.

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Please feel free to take home a calendar for the new year located in the narthex.

Opportunities are available to participate in the Women’s and Men’s ACT Retreats being sponsored by St. Monica Parish. The Women’s Retreat is Feb. 23-26, 2012, while the Men’s Retreat is March 1-4, 2012, both at the Catholic Conference and Formation Center at 901 Madison in Dallas. The ACTS Retreats provide opportunities for participants to form a deeper relationship with our Lord through: Adoration and daily prayer, Community with others, Theology by study of our Christian faith, Service to our family, our Church and each other.

For more information or to receive an on-line registration form, contact John or Marilyn Roppoloat 972/245-1739 or email, roppolo.john@tx.rr.com.

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Didache Bible Study

The Spring semester of Didache has begun. Didache, a lay Bible Study group, will be studying Paul’s Letters to the Corinthians. Expand your knowledge of the Scriptures and spend some quality time with your neighbors in Christ. Join us in the Gorman Lecture Hall after the 9:00a.m. Mass.

For further information, contact Richard Anastasi at 214-709-0723 – rjanastasi@gmail.com

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Bishop Kevin Farrell calls upon the Catholic community to participate in a survey regarding Catholic education. Whether or not you have school-aged children, the Bishop urges everyone to participate in the survey. The Bishop’s strategic planning committee was appointed in early 2011 to review the effectiveness of the diocesan schools and make recommendations that will chart the course for the future. The committee will study the survey results together with all the data collected during its research. Please take this short, anonymous survey by going to www.cathdal.org and click on the survey icon. The survey is open for participation from January 28^th to February 13^th.

THE CHANCEL CRUCFIX

We have recently moved the Heri Bert Bartscht crucifix from the Baptismal area and installed it on the wall above the altar. I thought you might want to know the symbolism and the significance of this crucifix. I want to thank Lyle Novinski, Emeritus Professor of Art here at the University of Dallas for providing the following information. –Fr. Don

In the midst of the terrible winter of bitter fighting at Stalingrad, the high water mark of the German invasion of Russia in the Second World War, a young German artist soldier froze his feet and was sent back to Germany to recuperate.  Hitler had ordered the German forces to die to the last man to avoid any retreat from the front at Stalingrad. The young soldier was the late Heri Bert Bartscht, who emigrated to Texas in the mid 50’s and established a reputation as a sculptor in Dallas, winning many awards.  He joined the University of Dallas Art Department in 1961.  One of his early works in Texas was the Crucifix now placed in the Chancel.  Professor Bartscht carved the figure from a slender native Texas red cedar log, adding the arms pegged in place, and reserving the lighter colored sapwood, the living portion of the tree, for the loincloth of the figure. The University used the Crucifix for many years in special liturgies in the Maher Athletic Center before purchasing it as one of the pieces to adorn the Church of the Incarnation which was dedicated in 1985.  The policy was to include in the Church only original works by artists. Immediately after World War II many artists  in Europe made crucifixes that responded to the War.  The Vatican Museum of Modern Sacred Art includes many of these pieces. The art seemed to be a universal response to the horrors of the war experience, the devastated cities, the destruction of millions of people in indescribable ways. Heri Bartscht responded in like manner, even after coming to peaceful Dallas, with this piece. But this figure, unlike so many representations of the Crucifix, is not directed toward the suffering of the human body of Christ, the pain of the torture of the action of crucifixion, but toward another expression.  The figure is not angled, sagging in death, nor distorted in pain; the feet, though pinioned, are relaxed over each other and the hands are open.  The face,with its open eyes and mouth, is not experiencing an external suffering of pain, but rather an internal one, a witness to the horror that Christ observes. What Heri Bartscht placed within this piece is Christ’s reaction to the devastation He witnesses from the Cross and from His omniscience, the knowing what horrors man will inflict on man in the future.  Heri’s work emphasizes that the corpus is both God and Man in His Incarnation. This insight, indicating both the earthly physical pain and the divine for knowledge, is particularly appropriate to its placement in the Church of the Incarnation.  It separates it from representations of the Crucifixion  which primarily emphasize the suffering of a temporal body.  Professor Bartscht’s Christ is subject to physical pain, but far deeper is the open-eyed horror at witnessing the human figures of His creation in mutual painful destruction at Stalingrad, and today, and in the future. Other Church of the Incarnation works by by Professor Bartscht include the Stations of the Cross, the Michael the Archangel statue and the Eucharistic Chapel crucifix. -Lyle Novinski, Emeritus Professor of Art