E LIVE IN AN AGE bereft of truth. If this statement sounds over-the-top, open a newspaper or search Google. Most of what is published from sunup to sundown is sensationalist nonsense. For this reason, I hesitate to relate the following story. All I can do is promise you it’s true.
I first began working for Watershed in 2007 as a part-time employee. As time went on, I was given more and more responsibilities. All my projects were dedicated to the Jesuit Martyrs of North America — St. Isaac Jogues, St. Noël Chabanel, etc. — which was nothing remarkable, since I had been dedicating my work to these martyrs for almost a decade.
Since its founding in 2006, Watershed has undergone many tumultuous changes (which I will not describe here). I’m told by people who have started companies that “rocky beginnings” are not unusual. To make a long story short, it became increasingly obvious to the Board of Directors that our Lord wanted us to focus on the CCW liturgical projects, which were reaching thousands of Catholics and bearing great spiritual fruit. Many wonderful composers from all over the world have volunteered their time to make these successful.
IMAGINE MY SURPRISE to learn, in December of 2010, that our 501(c)3 public charity had actually been founded on 19 October 2006, the feast of the North American Martyrs! Someone had first told me this in 2009, but that person wasn’t always reliable, so I didn’t believe what he said. But in 2010 I saw with my own eyes the date assigned to us by the Texas Secretary of State (reproduced on the left side). I even took out several liturgical calendars to make sure this was not a mistake — I’m hard to convince sometimes! Incidentally, 19 October is also the feast day of St. Philip Howard, who was inspired to accept martyrdom by St. Edmund Campion.
To be absolutely clear, the date of 19 October had been chosen by the State of Texas, not us. When one considers all the websites, scores, and videos that had already been dedicated to the North American Martyrs — Sts. Isaac Jogues, John de Brébeuf, René Goupil, Jean de Lalande, Charles Garnier, Antoine Daniel, Gabriel Lalemant, and Noël Chabanel — for more than two years, it strikes me as a remarkable thing.
Through the intercession of the North American Martyrs, may those involved with Corpus Christi Watershed accomplish God’s Holy Will each and every day of their lives.
