The life of our parish community continues to thrive through many organizations and societies. These groups enrich the parish family by providing opportunities get to know each other, to grow stronger in our faith, to use our talents in service to our parish community, and to convert our faith into action.
You are invited to join these communities – both official Mater Dei groups as well as independent organizations who meet at Mater Dei – in helping bring grace and charity to our parish.
- Liturgical / Church
- Devotional
- Care and Outreach
- Community Life – All
- Community Life – Men
- Community Life – Women
- Community Life – Youth & Young Adult
- Independent Homeschool Co-ops
* Independent, Non-parish based organizations
Liturgical / Church
Altar Boys
Contact: Carlos Valdivia – altarboys@materdeiparish
As Catholics, we treasure the “most beautiful thing this side of Heaven” and our altar boys helps us to preserve this sacred tradition. Altar boys assist the priest at the altar during the Sacrifice of the Mass and other liturgical events.
Altar Flowers
Contact: Valerie Graham – flowers@materdeiparish
Arrangement and upkeep of the flowers on the altars at Mater Dei. Even if you don’t know how to arrange flowers, you can participate by helping to prep the flowers for the arrangers or maintaining the arrangements during the week.
Altar Society
Contact: The Parish Life Office – parishlife@materdeiparish
The Mater Dei Altar Society is responsible for the cleanliness and appearance of the sacristy, confessionals, baptistery, and sanctuary. We operate as five teams, with one team working every Saturday morning of each month. Cleaning time is about 90 minutes.
Choral Ensembles
Contact: Michael C. Fowler, MM – musicdirector@materdeiparish
The Music Program of Mater Dei provides sacred music for all sung liturgies of the parish (Holy Mass & Divine Office). We have choirs for both adult and children.
Safety Team and Ushers
Contact: Abel Montes de Oca – safety@materdeiparish
The Safety Team are men of the parish who assist at the Sunday Masses to create a safe and friendly atmosphere by greeting and assisting visitors, directing parishioners to seats, taking up the collection, distributing the Sunday Bulletin, and helping out with safety as needed.
Devotional
Adoration Society
Contact: Mike Drake – adoration@materdeiparish
The Mater Dei Adoration Society organizes parish-wide visitation hours during which the Most Blessed Sacrament is exposed for adoration. The principle recurring adoration event is on the First Friday of every month.
Legion of Mary *
Contact: Luke Malain – sanctamariamaterdeilom@gmail
The Legion of Mary is the largest apostolic organization of lay people in the Catholic Church with well over three million active members in almost every country of the world. The purpose of the group is the sanctification of its members which is done by performing spiritual works of mercy under the patronage of Our Lady; it is a method of living out True Devotion to Mary.
Members are adults in which the duties of their state in life allow for the weekly attendance of our meeting (typically an hour long) and 2 hours of assigned work during the week. Works are approved by the Spiritual Director and assigned by the President. Works must be done in pairs (at least) and members must be Safe Environment cleared by Dallas Diocese before they can be assigned work.
Padre Pio Lay Group
Contact: Jaime Gogo – stpadrepiolaygroup@materdeiparish
The Padre Pio Lay Group is a prayer group that gathers faithful once a month in prayer for particular intention uniting it in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Here we also learn some spiritual direction of Padre Pio to his spiritual children that we can also apply for the sanctification of ourselves. The group meets every 2nd Saturday of the month for 8:30 am Mass and at 9:30 a.m. in the St. Matthia’s room afterwards.
Seven Sisters Apostolate
Contact: Margaret Stender – sevensisters@materdeiparish
The Seven Sisters Apostolate is an international prayer apostolate composed of women who commit to pray for a particular priest from their parish for one hour on a distinct day each week. Women are set up in groups of at least seven to pray for a specific priest each day so that the priest is covered every day in prayer. There are no meetings for the group, but our group Anchoress does send out monthly emails from the international apostolate.
If you can commit to praying an hour each week, or if you are able to be on a list to serve as a substitute for someone else, please contact us.
Care and Outreach
Miscarriage Ministry
Contact: Mary Montes – miscarriageministry@materdeiparish
Michael’s Miscarriage Ministry helps with: Informational resources including pro-life healthcare providers; Emotional Support for your family, including fathers and siblings; Practical support like meals, childcare, and help around the house with a care calendar.
St. Vincent de Paul Society *
Contact: SVDP Mater Dei Conference – svdp.materdei@gmail
The St. Vincent de Paul Conference (SVdP) at Mater Dei ministers to those in need within our parish boundaries through donations from the parish and individuals, providing monetary assistance for rent, utilities, and other necessities.
We minister to “friends in need” who have contacted SVdP through the Dallas area Help Line, which is the starting point for contact in our ministry. Using established protocols, we work one-on-one through phone calls to understand the full scope of the requested assistance. Our ministry uses group networking, a list of resources and other guidelines to determine the best assistance available.
We meet every Tuesday at 7pm; 3x/month via Zoom and once/month at the parish. We welcome those interested to attend a meeting, get to know us and join our ministry.
Project Finding Calcutta *
Project Finding Calcutta is a local Catholic organization that mobilizes volunteers into family-friendly local charitable work. Every other month, on last Saturdays, volunteers meet under the pavilion at Mater Dei after the 8:30am Mass for a small breakfast, prayer and learn about the day’s projects. Groups of volunteers then carpool to the predetermined off site service location. Volunteer work is at a variety of places such as homeless shelters, nursing homes, and soup kitchens. Volunteers are back at Mater Dei by between 12:30-1pm
Volunteers need to register through the PFC website; the link is provided each service month via Flocknote and bulletin announcements. Service Months at Mater Dei are January, March, May, July, September & November. For more information about Project Finding Calcutta; https://www.projectfindingcalcutta.com/
Community Life – All
Respect Life Group
Contact: John Choberka – respectlife@materdeiparish
The Respect Life Group is a ministry of the Mater Dei Knights of Columbus Council. We participate with many other faithful throughout the diocese proclaiming the Gospel of Life through annual events such as 40 Days for Life, Life Chain, the North Texas March for Life, and the Lenten season Baby Banks.
Promise 12 Rosary Makers
Contact: Angela Heiter – rosarymakers@materdeiparish
The Promise 12 Rosary Makers at Mater Dei are propagating devotion to the Most Holy Rosary, and hope to make available many Rosaries for our Parish use and also for the missions. All are welcome on the second Sunday to bring rosaries for repair, or assist making rosaries after all Masses in the St. Columban room, in the back of the classroom building.
Rangers of St. Francis
Contact: Anthony Sanders – rangers@materdeiparish
The Rangers of St. Francis is a ministry open to individuals as well as whole families. We seek to guide and protect the family to achieve spiritual Eudaimonia (sanctified human flourishing) through prayer and missionary service, balanced with holy leisure. We regularly engage in corporal works of mercy. We meet on second Saturday mornings at the parish and sponsor a family retreat, open to the parish, every summer.
Community Life – Men
Knights of Columbus *
Contact: Andy Wallace – materdeiknights@gmail
The Knights of Columbus are an active group of men dedicated to providing community-building, material and spiritual support to the parish through a variety of activities throughout the year.
St. Joseph’s Guild
Contact: Raul Canosa – stjosephsguild@materdeiparish
The St. Joseph’s Guild is open to all adult men of the parish and serves to unite the men of Mater Dei around the worship of Christ and service to the Parish.
We sponsor fraternal gatherings including first Tuesday meetings which include Vespers, Benediction and social time; a bi-annual weekend camping retreat and other social and service events.
Community Life – Women
Mater Dei Homeschool Group (MDHSG)
Contact: Jill Fernandes – homeschoolgroup@materdeiparish
A support group for Catholic homeschoolers who are Mater Dei parishioners or friends. We provide support through monthly Mom meetings, liturgical year festivities, fellowship and fun events, service work, field trips and resource and information sharing.
The Ladies’ Sodality of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and St. Francis de Sales
Prefect/Contact: Jeanette Pappin – sodality@materdeiparish
Father Director: Rev’d Fr. Peter Bauknecht, F.S.S.P.
The Sodality is a Roman Catholic Marian Society founded in 1563, which aims at fostering in its members an ardent devotion, reverence and filial love towards our Lord and our Lady.
Through this devotion and through the protection of so good a Mother, it seeks to make the faithful gathered together under her name into good Catholics sincerely bent on sanctifying themselves, each in her own state of life. It seeks to make them zealous, as far as possible, to save and sanctify their neighbor and to defend their Mother the Church.
Monthly Meetings are held every 3rd Tuesdays from 7-9pm, commencing in the chapel with Vespersof the BVM, an exhortation, and Benediction. The meeting then resumes in the hall for announcements, final prayers, and a social in honor of Our Lady.
Community Life – Youth & Young Adult
Little Flowers Girls Club
Contact: Lindsey Surratt – littleflowers@materdeiparish
Little Flowers Girls Club (LFGC) is an activity-based program for teaching virtues and studying saints through Scripture, saints’ biographies and the Catechism. Each month, one of our priests begins our meeting with a teaching to the entire group about the saint and virtue we are studying that month. The girls then break into either the Bluebonnet (ages 5-8) or Roses (ages 9-12) group to engage in age-appropriate activity. LFGC meets on the fourth Saturday of the month from 9:30a-11:30a.
Our Lady’s Fiat
Contact: Debbie Malain – ourladysfiatgroup@materdeiparish
For young ladies ages 13-18, we meet on the second Saturday of each month in the Parish Hall after 8:30 am Mass. Meeting time consists of a tea party brunch, a short devotion and talk led by Fr. Bauknecht, and an activity.
Troops of St. George *
The Troops of Saint George apostolate aims to use the outdoors as our canvas and the sacraments as our path to light the way for the formation of Holy Catholic men and boys.
Whether called to the vocation of the priesthood, the religious life, or that of Holy fatherhood, our fathers and sons will take a prayerful pilgrimage together to fulfill Christ’s desire for them to grow in virtue and in their Holy Catholic faith as they journey toward Heaven.
Contact: Will Sczepanik, Troop 1 Captain – troop1ofsaintgeorge@gmail
Youth Group
Contact: youthgroup@materdeiparish
For youth ages 13-18, the youth group generally meets from September through May on 1st & 3rd Saturdays in the parish hall, from 4:00p-7:30pm. The evenings start with games and group activities, followed by a rosary in the chapel, a group dinner and an interactive talk/discussion led by a priest. Additionally, several times per year the group engages in charitable works inside and outside the parish. Email the above address to get added to the Flocknote group to receive notifications about meetings and activities.
Mater Dei Young Adults
Contact: Dan Florek and Rose Thomas – youngadults@materdeiparish
The Young Adult group is focused on social outings and speaker events with the goal of fostering friendships grounded in the Catholic Faith. Monthly events take place offsite at event locations in the DFW area. In addition, we host First Friday dances at the parish and sponsor several “Theology on Tap” series at a local pub with presentations by various speakers on theological topics of general interest.
The group is based out of Mater Dei parish, but is open to young adults at all parishes and universities. The group is open to all young adults in their 20’s and 30’s, married or single; however, content is focused on the issues pertaining to early professionals and college students. To keep abreast of our current activity, please visit our “MD Young Adults” Facebook page.