Bishop Strickland endorses $22 million Catholic institute, community for east Texas

This is an ambitious undertaking. National Catholic Register has the details:

A grand oratory, seven Catholic institutes, a retreat center, residences, multilevel educational programs: These are among the ambitious projects about to launch in the bucolic east Texas countryside of Winona, outside of Tyler. Called Veritatis Splendor (The Splendor of Truth), after the encyclical by Pope St. John Paul II on the Church’s moral teaching, the center will bring together a community of believers whose goal is to safeguard the deposit of faith through uncompromising fidelity to sacred Scripture and sacred Tradition. Now in the planning stages, Veritatis Splendor will be a spiritual home where Christians can develop, nurture and preserve all of the chief truths and teachings of Christendom.

The seven institutes of Veritatis Splendor will encompass a range of issues that concern Catholics in the modern world, including life, education, liberty, human rights, law, media and culture. The founders’ vision is that directors of the institutes will live and work in the community and will, by virtue of the offices they hold, become missionaries in the world to transmit Catholic values in a way that promotes truth, goodness and beauty and, in so doing, restore Christ in society.

On nearly 600 acres of land, dotted with forests and pastures and lakes, Veritatis Splendor, a $22-million capital campaign, will build its headquarters, opening its doors to the faithful and planting seeds for other Veritatis Splendor locations regionally and globally. Plans for the headquarters include offices for the institutes, housing (individual residential lots; there are 71 lots in Phase 1. There are plans for Phase 2 and 3 development for residences if there is a strong demand), educational facilities for grades K-12 as well as plans for a university, recreational activities for residents and guests, such as swimming, hunting, fishing, horseback riding, outdoor sports, hiking, prayer gardens/Stations of the Cross, and food cooperative services supported by a large greenhouse and organic farming.

And there’s this:

[Diocese of Tyler] Bishop Joseph Strickland will serve as spiritual adviser to the community and enthusiastically welcomes them to the diocese. While Veritatis Splendor is located within the Diocese of Tyler, it is not an official diocesan project; rather, it is an independent, lay-inspired Catholic organization. But in today’s world, Bishop Strickland noted, this is both a blessing and an opportunity. He strongly encourages this effort designed to strengthen the domestic church.

“I’m the benevolent bishop who is happy to welcome this lay-run effort to build a community of faith,” he told the Register.

There’s more at the Register.

From the Veritatis Splendor website:

It was Jesus Christ that began the foundation of community life, and it was community life that He built with his disciples that helped to form the way of discipleship that resulted in the spread of Christianity throughout the world. After Christ died and was resurrected, the early Church was formed through the disciples sharing their lives and their work together. Families were created and they supported one another by living the truth that Jesus had share with them. It was family life shared within community life that defined the character of the early Church.

As this new wave of apostolic life is formed in East Texas, the community that will be built around Veritatis Splendor’s primary mission, will truly become a mirror of the small Christian communities that formed the early Church with one exception – Veritatis Splendor will exist to protect, preserve and protect the faith so it will not perish in an anti-God and anti-Church culture.

In a society in which Gospel values are being mocked, canceled and outright rejected, the community willelevate these threatened virtues. Veritatis Splendor families will encourageone another to be faithful to the Scriptures and the Tradition of the Church and will challenge each other to be authentic both in the home and in the world.

As we work to restore the basic principles in society that are threatened: the Dignity of Life, Justice, Freedom, Charity, Reason, Fidelity and Truth, VS families will be committed to the mission of Veritatis Splendor in the household, in the neighborhood and in the greater communities of the world.