TYLER – Deacon Rubén Natera was presented the University of Dallas Neuhoff School of Ministry’s Lumen Gentium Award July 3, 2016 during Mass in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
The award is given annually by UD to a graduate of the university’s Neuhoff School of Ministry whose established record of outstanding accomplishment reflects the fruit of “theological education for transformative service.” The award honors graduates who have given exemplary service to the local church in general, the work of faith formation in particular, and the larger community, especially the poor and needy.
Presenting the award was Dr. Marti Jewell of the school’s graduate faculty.
Dr. Jewell said Deacon Natera “has been an exemplary pastoral minister for many decades, serving in a wide range of capacities in many parishes in the Diocese of Tyler.”
Ordained a permanent deacon in 2001, he served as co-director for Hispanic ministries under Bishop Álvaro Corrada, SJ, and was vice-chancellor and chancellor for Bishop Corrada and Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, between 2002 and 2012. He has been actively involved in leadership with deacon formation, as well as Hispanic, music, prison, and other ministries in the diocese. He also was involved in the Diocese of Tyler’s “twinning” program with the Diocese of San Pedro Sula, Honduras. He is an adjunct instructor for the UD School of Ministry.
He is a retired civil engineer from the U.S. Forest Service and retired Civil Engineer Corps Commander from the U.S. Naval Construction Force (Seabees).
“Deacon Natera is well known throughout the state of Texas and beyond for his effective, generous, and skilled ministry,” said Dr. Jewell. “He is beloved by people who know him for his gentleness of spirit, keenness of mind, and for his open-hearted sense of humor. It is my privilege to call him friend.”
In accepting the award, Deacon Natera thanked in particular his wife Maria Guadalupe, who has worked with him in many of his ministries.
“This is indeed a great honor,” he said. “I have to thank my wife, because we don’t do these things alone. If you’re a married person, you don’t do anything alone.”
The Nateras have six children, one of whom is deceased, and 16 grandchildren.
Re-published with permission from The Diocese of Tyler. Special thanks to Susan De Matteo & Sue Necessary.
The University of Dallas has announced a new director of civil rights, Luciana Milano. Milano, who has a Bachelor of Arts in government from Harvard College and a J.D. from Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law, began her new role on Oct. 12.
+ Read More“This is the first time we’ve had a scholarship in honor of a great Catholic intellectual — and now, within the last year, saint,” said President Thomas S. Hibbs, Ph.D., BA ’82 MA ’83, by way of introducing the St. John Henry Newman Scholarship in Philosophy recently endowed by alumnus Matthew Hejduk, MA '98 PhD '06, and his wife, Julia Hejduk, Ph.D. Julia was a colleague of Hibbs during his time at Baylor University, where she teaches in the Classics Department.
+ Read MoreMichelle Cortez-Gonzales, MFA ’20, was a Fort Worth ISD high school teacher with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the University of Texas at Arlington when she decided to go back to school to get her master’s. At the recommendation of a friend, she visited UD, and knew immediately from the wooded area around the Art Village, the architecture of the buildings, and the faculty members she met that UD was the place for her.
+ Read More
