On Solemnity of Christ the King, Bishop Celebrates Mass in Southeast Oklahoma
BOSWELL — Bishop David Konderla participated in a tripleheader of sorts this weekend as he celebrated not one, not two, but three separate Masses at parishes in Hugo, Antlers and Boswell on Sunday.
The parish cluster, located in Choctaw and Pushmataha counties within the
Southern Vicariate of the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma, is currently administered by Fr. Stephen Austin who recently stepped out of retirement to accept the temporary assignment until a permanent pastor is named next year. In the meantime, the Sacramental life of the parishes continues as the bishop confirmed two young men into full communion with the Church in Boswell.
The date coincided with The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. The Solemnity marks the final Sunday of the liturgical year. Advent season begins this Sunday, Nov 30. During his homilies, Bishop Konderla spoke of Jesus as the true King because He is the author of all creation and has all authority.
"We celebrate this day in a special way, as the last Sunday of ordinary time, but also so that we can meditate and think about what it means to say that Jesus is our King," said Bishop Konderla. "Jesus doesn't receive authority from anywhere. Jesus is the author. Through him, all things were made, visible and invisible. We say that in the creed every Sunday."
Immaculate Conception — located in Hugo (nicknamed "Circus City USA") — is the largest of the three parishes. Its building is noted for being the 10,000th church funded and built by the Catholic Extension Society while former Bishop Edward Slattery served as its president. Parishioners at St. Agnes in Antlers worship in the oldest building dating back to 1947 and remodeled in 2005. The parish of St. Jude in Boswell is by far the smallest, having been established in the late 1970s by a handful of local families.
At each of the three parishes, Bishop Konderla was warmly greeted, and a few parishioners arrived for Sunday Mass in Antlers (known as the "Deer Capital of the World") dressed in camouflage after having been out deer hunting earlier that morning.