BISHOP LEDVINA:“The By Msgr. Michael Howell Contributor
T
he first decade of the Diocese of Corpus Christi had been hard on its first shepherd, Bishop Paul Nussbaum, who suffered numerous painful experiences that slowly broke his stamina. What the diocese needed at this point was a strong worker, ready to build up people, structures and programs. The people of south Texas were not disappointed in the arrival of its next bishop, Emmanuel Boleslaus Ledvina who came to be known as “the great builder.”
Bishop Ledvina provided stability for the next three decades, working to build chapels, schools and social services while also building up the faith of Catholics throughout the diocese. Bishop Ledvina was no stranger to the Diocese of Corpus Christi. He had visited frequently and traveled over south Texas extensively during the 12 years since its erection as a diocese while he served as General Secretary of the Catholic Church Extension Society, headquartered in Chicago. The Extension Society magazine characterized Bishop Ledvina as the “quartermaster general of church extension” with “a methodical mind, a sense of fair play and justice
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SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | JUNE 2012
in managing employBishop Emmanuel ees, integrity that has B. Ledvina DD, no flaw in it, and a LL.D (1921-1949) was the second cool head that would Bishop of Corpus put out any flame of Christi and could be excitement even if it called “the builder.” were licking through the wood of his office chair.” That energy and work ethic of 52-year-old Bishop Ledvina was just what the doctor ordered at a time when the area of south Texas was growing by leaps and bounds. Donations made through this society’s efforts had built many of those small chapels during the time of Bishop Nussbaum, and then Father Ledvina had found ingenious ways to bring the Church to the people through his design and use of chapel cars that could travel the back roads and chapel railroad cars that brought Mass and instructions to any community along the tracks that now interlaced throughout south Texas. His reception to the diocese was a grand affair, including a Mass at the old St. Patrick’s Cathedral at which local priest, Father Mark Moeslein, C. P. preached. The next day the bishop was reminded of the challenges ahead when he went to thank Father Moeslein for his sermon, visiting him at Holy Cross parish where the small sacristy served as his living quarters at the time. One of his companions later noted in an article that Father Moeslein “entertained us at lunch…a warmed-up can of tomatoes and some stale crackers.” During his administration as chief shepherd the number of Catholics in the diocese increased from 96,000 to 225,000, the number of parishes from 32 to 64, the number of priests from 32 to 100, the number of sisters in various orders from 125 to more than 350 and the number of paro-
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