SALT LAKE CITY — Diocesan Administrator Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald has sent a letter of gratitude and congratulations to Bishop William Houck on the announcement of Bishop Houck’s retirement from the post of president of the Chicago-based Catholic Church Extension Society. Bishop Houck was named president of the Society, which Society exists to sustain and extend the Catholic Faith in poor and remote mission areas of the United States where diocesan resources are insufficient, in September 2001, after retiring as bishop of the Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi. Bishop Houck accepted a five-year commitment to serve as president of the Society. "Sadly, his five-year term has come to an end and the bishop will once again be ‘retiring.’ He will be leaving (the Society) Feb. 28, 2007, wrote Richard A. Ritter, vice president and general Secretary of the Catholic Church Extension Society in a letter to Msgr. Fitzgerald dated Jan. 25, 2007. Bishop Houck will be succeeded by Father John Wall, who is currently serving as vice president of the Society. The Catholic Church Extension Society has long supported the Diocese of Salt Lake City, especially in its building of small mission churches, religious education buildings, and rectories in the rural areas of the diocese. Many diocesan facilities sport the distinctive plaques announcing that contributions to the construction has come from the Catholic Church Extension Society and their generous donors from across the United States. Some of the diocese’s mission churches have been named by Extension Society donors in honor of extraordinary Catholics in their lives. In a weekly meditation on the Extension Society’s website dated Jan. 29, Bishop Houck wrote: "Jesus came and affirmed that the core of our relationship with God is love. We are called to love God above all with our whole heart and soul and strength and love our neighbor as ourselves. "St. Paul helps us to understand love: ‘Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." (I Corinthians 13:4-7) Bishop Houck’s thoughts reflect well the work of the Catholic Church Extension Society and his leadership of it over the past five years. In addition to contributing to the building of mission church facilities in the Diocese of Salt Lake City, Catholic Extension donations assist in the construction and repair of church buildings – nearly 12,000 across the U.S. since 1905. Extension grants to parishes for religious education programs are critical in passing the Faith onto the next generation of Catholics. The sacraments, religious instruction, and counseling are provided at more than 118 college campuses with grants from Catholic Extension. Catholic Extension donations come to the aid of struggling parishes when disaster strikes their communities. In addition, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Task Force called upon the Catholic Church Extension Society to coordinate a Parish Partnership Program to assist the parishes in the Gulf Coast dioceses that were affected by the hurricanes. For further information about the Catholic Church Extension Society, go to their website at www.catholic-extension.org.
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