Catholic Daughters from left to right: Eve Trevino, State Secretary; Elva I. Pena, District Deputy #48; Sheila Martinka, State Regent; Carolyn Malik, First State Vice Regent; and Chris Morin, Regent of hosting Court # 2543, Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

The Catholic Daughters of the Americas, Districts #16, 36, 41, 47, and 48, held their biennial multi-district meeting/reception on Saturday, February 27. The hosting court was Court #2543, Our Lady of the Body of Christ, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Corpus Christi. CDA State officers in attendance were: Worthy State Regent Sheila Martinka, Worthy First State Vice Regent, Carolyn Malik, and Worthy State Secretary, Eve Trevino. Chris Morin, Court #2543 Regent, served as Chair and Program Coordinator.

Activities began with Mass, with Msgr. Michael Heras, as celebrant. Msgr. Heras gave an inspiring homily on the responsibilities of being a true Catholic Daughter.

Twenty-eight new members were inducted into the Catholic Daughters, during Mass, by Elva I. Pena, District Deputy #48.

Following the Mass, the members congregated for a morning of spiritual and edifying information.

Mary Gonzalez, District Deputy # 16, gave the opening prayer and Diana Garcia, DD# 36, gave the description of the officers' robes. The first speaker was State Regent Sheila Martinka, who spoke on "Women's Heart Health."

The guest speaker, Msgr. Heras, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, inspired all members to seek how best to serve the Lord.

The following speaker, Carolyn Malik, Worthy First State Vice Regent, spoke on acquiring and retaining membership.

National and State announcements were given by Worthy State Secretary, Eve Trevino. Alicia Rodriguez, DD# 47, gave the roll call. The award for the court with the most members present was given to Court #2380, Most Precious Blood, from Most Precious Blood Church, who had twenty-three members in attendance for the event.

The following Districts were represented:

District #16: Mary Gonzalez, District Deputy; Courts: # 246 Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi; #1149 Msgr. Claude Jailet, Corpus Christi; #2433 Father Thomas Buergler, Corpus Christi;

District #36: Diana Garcia, District Deputy; Courts #1724 Sor Carmen, Robstown; #2290 St. Thomas the Apostle, Robstown; #2422 Sacred Heart of Jesus, Odem; #2376 Our Lady of The Rivers, Three Rivers; #2528 St. George, George West; #2630 Daughters of Our Lady of Lourdes, Corpus Christi; District #41: Frances Salazar, District Deputy; Courts # 1935 Bishop Mariano Garriaga, Corpus Christi; #2277 Juan Diego, Corpus Christi; #2298 Holy Trinity, Corpus Christi; #2544 St. Joseph, Corpus Christi;

District # 47: Alicia Rodriguez, District Deputy; Courts #2181 Court of Angels, Portland; #2375 Maria Immaculada, Taft; #2605 Sisters of Pauline, Aransas Pass;

District # 48: Elva I. Pena, District Deputy; Courts: #2380 Most Precious Blood; #2399 Our Lady of the Mystical Rose; #2460 Angels of Mary; #2532 St. John, Baptizer of Jesus; #2543 Our Lady of the Body of Christ, all from Corpus Christi;

The hosting court, Court #2532, held a raffle to offset the costs of the reception, and the grand prize was an original painting of the Blessed Mother painted by Jesse Flores, Chris Morin's brother, who is a professional artist from San Antonio who has painted the wall murals of the holy sacraments on the walls of the parish hall. The lucky winner of the painting was Virginia Haasl from Court #2532, St. John's.

Court #2543, Our Lady of the Body of Christ, graciously hosted the auspicious event. Committee members were: Chris Morin, Rosemary Garcia, Olga Rodriguez, Ernestine Rosas, Mary Ann Ramos, Martha Martinez, Bette Schwartz, Dolores Cox, Gloria De Los Santos, and Rosie Pena. Gloria's son, Jaime De Los Santos, and Rosie's son, Adam Pena, are seminarians from OLPH studying to be priests.