History of SPX - 1990's
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This decade started off on a sad note for the parish. Just like the parish was indebted to Bishop Gorman, the parish also had a deep connection, respect and admiration for his successor Bishop Thomas Tschoepe. Bishop Tschoepe retired in 1990 after leading the Diocese of Dallas for just a little over 20 years. AThis was a well earned retirement but the parish was still sad to lose a good friend. Bishop Tschoepe died on January 24, 2009. His successor was Bishop Charles Grahmann. The decade of the 90's would be a jarring period for our parish in many ways. In December of 1990 the parish purchased a house at 2707 San Vicente. This was later called at various times the Hope House or Spiritual Life House.
On a happier note and continuing a St. Pius X tradition of vocations, John Schell joined the community of Deacons in 1992.
Two houses on San Vicente were purchased in 1993. 2717 was purchased in June and 2727 was purchased in December became the 12th and 13th houses purchased by the parish. Both houses were to be used by day care. No further purchases of houses would be made until 2011 although two of the 13 houses would be sold in the intervening years.
In 1994 the Library/Media Center was completed. This building contains state of the art computers, library, and a video production center to serve the whole community. Encompassing approximately 6,000 sq. feet including the covered walkway, this facility serves both the school and the parish.
At the school in 1995, Carol Newman replaced the retiring Ron Accomando as principal in mid-year. Carol was extremely popular with the children and taught almost all of them from her previous position as the physical education teacher.
1996 was a year of tumultuous change for the parish. Martha Jo Kerr, who served as president of the Ladies Society in 1956 and accepted the job as parish secretary that same year, passed away. Cindy Pierotti transferred from the school office to replace Martha Jo as parish secretary. Martha Jo's son Neely carried on her spirit as Office Manager for the church. He began working for St. Pius X in 1974.The local Vietnamese Catholic community, many of them members of St. Pius X since 1975, had the opportunity to establish their own parish with the permission of the Bishop. Their enthusiasm, coupled with financial support from the parishioners led to the purchase Reinhardt Bible Church on Garland Road which was renamed St. Peter’s Vietnamese Catholic Community.
Our Principal Carol Newman was only able to stay with us for a year and a half before she went on to pursue additional education courses in order to be a permanent principal in the diocese. Her position was assumed by Peggy Szeljack, C.V. in 1996.
To end the year, Monsignor Tom Weinzapfel retired after serving the people of St. Pius X for 40 years. His successes and accomplishments always elevated the parish and although few could, many a pastor attempted to emulate his leadership. But what was for the parishioners a real let down was for Monsignor a well earned retirement. He continued his travels around the world but always lent a hand to the neighboring parishes and missions that he helped establish.
Father Ramon Alvarez arrived in January of 1997 as pastor and with him came Father Michael Forge. The parish was very fortunate to have two dynamic and energetic priests to guide the church after so many years of faithful service given to St. Pius X by Monsignor Tom. Father Ramon initiated the replacement of the old church roof with a beautiful copper model that enhances the beauty of an already stunning church. Inside the church the altar flooring was also replaced. Under Fr. Ramon's direction, the Pastoral Council developed the first master plan for the parish. Change is always in the air. In 1997 Bill and Jeanne Jakubowski moved on to the diocesan youth ministry and Catriona Wilke, a graduate of Notre Dame University, joined the staff at SPX to lead the youth. Catriona was joined by assistant director Consuelo (Chelo) Garcia.
The playground at the field was installed in August of 1997. The new playgound cost $12,198.40 installed. Let's not forget the 40 cents. We also had with us Seminarian Salvador Guzman for his pastoral year.
In 1998 we were pleased to welcome Don Zeiler to the parish. Seminarians are required to work in a parish for one year as part of their training. Don later served as a priest for the parish.
The mid-1990’s saw the growth of the Hispanic community both in our parish and the surrounding neighborhood. Many of the new parishioners are first generation immigrants so a Spanish Mass was added to the Sunday schedule in 1997. Over 400 people attended that very first Mass celebrated in Spanish.
Due to the obsolescence of the 1954 'Master Plan', Fr. Ramon formed a committee in 1998 composed of Matt Nevitt, Bill Armstrong and Len Ruby to study the facility requirements of the parish. This Master Plan Committee hired Hendricks and Brantner, an architect firm to draw up plans for future development of the property. This master plan replaced the 1954 version but was never implemented. A third plan developed in 2003 was actually carried out.
Other advancements included adoption of new technology. The first-ever St. Pius X School Advisory Board set out to develop a technology strategy. A technology committee comprised of Debbie Merkel, Allen Schaar, Joel Brown and John Farrell produced both short and long-term objectives and obtained a substantial technology grant from the Catholic Foundation. The group oversaw building a technology backbone and acquiring much needed hardware. The school was online, networked, and the beneficiary of new and updated software and training.
In April of 1999 a new organ was installed. The financing was provided predominately by the Ladies Society. This organ cost $29,235 with a trade-in value from the old organ of $15,000 for a net cost of $14,230. Isn't it funny how we like to remember how much things cost in the good ole days?
Betty Jennings, who served the parish in several capacities and completed more than 25 years as school secretary, retired in 1999. Betty was the second School secretary following the dual role that Martha Jo Kerr handled as both church and school secretary. Her husband, Bill, was equally active and was the first Parish Center Manager.
Advancements continued in 1999. Bob Edmondson created the St. Pius X web site that year. The amount of work to create the site is enormous and the parish is deeply indebted to Bob. Bob maintained the site until John Farrell assumed the duties of SPX Webmaster from Bob in the year 2000.In mid 1999 both Fr. Ramon and Fr. Forge were reassigned. Fr. Ramon became the rector of the Cathedral and Fr. Michael was appointed Director of Vocations for the Diocese of Dallas.
Once again the parish was very fortunate in the choice of pastors as a home grown priest was selected. Msgr. Larry Pichard graduated from St. Pius X School and along with fellow parishioner Stephen Thomas, they were the first two St. Pius X boys to be ordained to the priesthood. Msgr. Larry came to St. Pius X in a pastor swap with the cathedral where he spent many years as the leader and builder of that community. Concurrent with the appointment of Msgr. Larry was the arrival of newly ordained priest Fr. Cliff Garner.
The enrollment of the school continued to grow in the early 1990’s and St. Pius was the only “tuition-free” school in the Diocese. However, contributions to the church did not keep up with the new growth and the church’s ability to subsidize the school at the previous rate was endangered. The painful decision to charge tuition was made in 1999 for the spring 2001 school term. The school continued to receive a large subsidy but much needed fiscal stability for both the school and the church resulted.