Awards and Fellows
Award Recipients and Fellows of the Texas Catholic Historical Society
Nominations for annual awards may be submitted to tchs@txcatholic.org.
Carlos E. Castañeda Award - Created in 1987 to honor those who have given outstand service to the Society through the years. Castañeda, a boderlands and Catholic historian, librarian and history professor at the University of Texas, had his opus magnum, Our Catholic Heritage in Texas published through the Society.
| Recipient | Year |
| Bro. William Dunn, C.S.C. | 1987 |
|
Dr. Joseph Sprug Amendes Honorables: Sr. Generosa Callahan, C.D.P. Bro. Joseph Schmitz, S.M., posthumously |
1988 |
| L. Tuffly Ellis | 1989 |
| Bro. Richard Daly, C.S.C. | 1994 |
| Dr. Patrick Foley | 1995 |
| Kinga Perzynska | 1996 |
| Dr. Jesús F. de la Teja | 1997 |
| Most Rev. John E. McCarthy | 1998 |
| Dr. Thomas W. Jodziewicz | 1999 |
| Dr. Roy R. Barkley | 2000 |
| Hugh Miller | 2001 |
| Fr. Robert E. Wright, O.M.I. | 2002 |
| E. Victor Niemeyer, Jr. | 2003 |
| Texas State Council, Knights of Columbus | 2004 |
| Dr. José Roberto Juarez | 2005 |
| Dr. Félix Almaráz | 2007 |
| Bro. Richard Daly, C.S.C. | 2008 |
| Susan Eason | 2011 |
| Richard Fossey | 2013 |
| Amanda Bresie | 2015 |
| Eric J. Hartmann | 2019 |
| Sister Madeleine Grace, CVI | 2020 |
| Helen Osman | 2021 |
| Claudia Anderson | 2022 |
| Gabby Pérez | 2024 |
Most Rev. Laurence J. FitzSimon Award - Award for extraordinary pastoral services and professional excellence as an archivist of the Catholic Church of Texas. Created in 1989 and named after the Most Rev. Laurence J. FitzSimon of the Diocese of Amarillo and early custodian of the Catholic Archives of Texas.
| Recipient | Year |
|
Sr. Nellie Rooney, O.S.F., Diocese of Amarillo Sr. Gertrude Cook, M.S.A.A., Archdiocese of San Antonio |
1989 |
|
Lisa May, Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston Steve Landregan, Diocese of Dallas Bro. Ed Loch, Archdiocese of San Antonio |
2015 |
| Most Rev. John E. McCarthy, Diocese of Austin | 2016 |
| Eric J. Hartmann, Catholic Archives of Texas | 2017 |
|
Archivists of the Archdiocese and Dioceses affected by Hurricane Harvey: Lisa May, Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston Janet Fontenette, Diocese of Austin Sr. Ester Dunegan, Diocese of Beaumont Dr. Patricia Roeser, Diocese of Corpus Christi Fr. Gary Janak, Diocese of Victoria |
2018 |
| Dr. Marian Barber, Catholic Archives of Texas | 2019 |
| Selena Aleman, Catholic Archives of Texas | 2022 |
| Brian Stauffer, Texas General Land Office | 2024 |
Rev. Paul J. Foik, C.S.C. Award - Established on April 4, 1977 by vote of the Executive Council, and given to the author of the most important recent publication relating to the Catholic history of the Southwest. Rev. Foik founded the Society, chaired the Texas Knights of Columbus Historical Commission, served on the Texas Centennial committee, a founder of the Catholic Library Association, and librarian at the University of Notre Dame and St. Edward's University.
| Recipient | Year |
| Rev. Msgr. Anton Frank and Rev. Msgr. William H. Oberste for their work on Our Catholic Heritage in Texas. | 1978 |
| Most Rev. John E. McCarthy | 1979 |
| Mr. José Cisneros for his interpretation of the borderlands through fine art. |
1981 |
| Dr. Karl Schmitt for his contributions to Texas Catholic history. | 1984 |
| Sr. Sheila Hackett, O.P. for Dominican Women in Texas: From Ohio to Galveston and Beyond. | 1987 |
|
Rev. Bernard Doyon, O.M.I. for The Cavalry of Christ on the Rio Grande, 1849-1883. Bro. William Dunn, C.S.C. for Knights of Columbus in Texas, 1902-1977 and St. Edward’s University: A Centennial History. Sr. M. Loyola Hegarty, C.C.V.I. for Serving with Gladness: The Origin and History of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, Houston, Texas. |
1989 |
| James T. Moore for Through Fire and Flood: The Catholic Church in Frontier Texas, 1836-1900. |
1994 |
| Gilberto M. Hinojosa for co-editing Mexican Americans and the Catholic Church, 1900-1965. |
1995 |
| Timothy Matovina for Tejano Religion and Ethnicity: San Antonio, 1821-1860. |
1996 |
| Margaret Patrice Slattery, C.C.V.I. for Promises to Keep: A History of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas. |
1998 |
| Jesús F. de la Teja for editing Preparing the Way: Preliminary Studies of the Texas Catholic Historical Society. |
1999 |
| Félix Almaráz for Knight Without Armor: Carlos Eduardo Castañeda, 1896-1958. |
2000 |
| Timothy Matovina and Gerald E. Poyo for editing ¡Presente! U.S. Latino Catholics from Colonial Origins to the Present. |
2001 |
|
Donald Mace Williams for Italian POW’s and a Texas Church: The Murals of St. Mary’s. Diocese of Amarillo honorable mention for The Journey of the Diocese of Amarillo:75 Years on the Llano Estacado. |
2002 |
| Jacinto Quirarte for The Art and Architecture of the Texas Missions. | 2003 |
| María F. Rollin for editing Fighting Padre of Zapata: Fr. Edward Bastien and the Falcon Dam Project. | 2004 |
| Most Rev. Leroy T. Matthiesen for Wise and Otherwise: The Life and Times of a Cotton-picking Texas Bishop. | 2005 |
| Timothy Matovina for Guadalupe and Her Faithful: Latino Catholics in San Antonio from Colonial Origins to the Present. | 2006 |
| Gloria Fraser Giffords for Sanctuaries of Earth, Stone, and Light: The Churches of Northern New Spain, 1530-1821. | 2008 |
| Roberto Treviño and Dr. Richard Francaviglia for co-editing Catholicism in the American West: A Rosary of Hidden Voices. |
2009 |
| Marilyn H. Fedewa for Maria de Ágreda: Mystical Lady in Blue. |
2010 |
| Christine Morkovsky, CDP for Living in God’s Providence: History of the Congregation of Divine Providence of San Antonio, 1943-2000. |
2011 |
| Alan J. Watt for Farm Workers and the Churches: The Movement in California and Texas. |
2012 |
| Timothy Matovina for Latino Catholicism: Transformation in America’s Largest Church. |
2013 |
| Patrick Foley for Missionary Bishop: Jean Marie Odin in Galveston and New Orleans. |
2014 |
| John C. Pinheiro for Missionaries of Republicanism: A Religious History of the Mexican-American War. | 2015 |
| Julia G. Young for Mexican Exodus: Emigrants, Exiles, and Refugees of the Cristero War. | 2017 |
| Brett Hendrickson for The Healing Power of the Santuario de Chimayó: America’s Miraculous Church, NYU Press, 2017. | 2019 |
| Peter Guardino for The Dead March: A History of the Mexican-American War. | 2020 |
| Mark Newman for The Catholic Church in the Diocese of Galveston-Houston and Desegregation, 1945-1984. | 2021 |
| Michael J. Pfeifer for The Making of American Catholicism: Regional Culture and the Catholic Experience. | 2022 |
| Gracjan Krazewski for Catholic Confederates: Faith and Duty in the Civil War South. |
2023 |
|
Best publication on colonial Catholic history: Fr. Bob Wright for Indigenous Autonomy at La Junta de los Rios
Best publication on modern Catholic history: Amanda Bresie for Veiled Leadership
|
2024 |
Patrick Foley Award - Award for the best article in the annual Catholic Southwest journal. Created in 1999 as the Robert S. Weddle Article Manuscript Award. Patrick Foley served as the first editor for the Catholic Southwest.
| Recipient | Year |
| Susan Anderson Kerr and Christopher LeCluyse for European Iconography on the Texas Frontier: St. Mary’s Cathedral, Austin | 2007 |
| Ralph Frasca for The Press and the San Patricios during the Mexican-American War: Martyred Catholics or Traitorous Deserters? | 2008 |
| Charles R. Porter for Queretero in Focus: The Franciscan Missionary Colleges and the Texas Missions |
2009 |
| Donald R. Baucom for Thomas Merton and the Southwest | 2010 |
| Christina Cruz González for Our Lady of Pueblito: A Marian Devotion on the Northern Frontier | 2013 |
| Rev. Robert Wright for The Virgin of San Juan Juan del Valle: Shifting Perceptions in the Borderlands |
2014 |
| Thomas W. Jodziewicz for Sr. Blandina, Fr. Bakanownski and the Significance of Germs on the Frontier | 2015 |
| R. Eric Platt for Prudence and Intransigence: Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel and the Prelude Catholic Education Integration in Southeastern Louisiana | 2016 |
| David J. Endres for Judge Leander Perez and the Franciscans of Our Lady of Good Harbor: A School Integration Battle in Buras, Louisiana, 1962-1965 | 2017 |
| Julia Young for Creating Catholic Utopias: Transnational Catholic Activism and Mexico’s Unión Nacional Sinarquista | 2019 |
| Claudia Anderson for Seeking Solace: Lyndon B. Johnson Turned to the Catholic Church |
2020 |
| Amanda Bresie for Contested Communities: The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in the Southwest | 2021 |
| Matthew Butler for Montezuma’s Children: Seminary Exiles and the Transformation of Catholicism in Postrevolutionary Mexico, 1937-1965 | 2022 |
| Karl Kuykendall for The Role of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul in the Evolution of Healthcare in Central Texas | 2023 |
| Maggie Elmore for Presidential Martyr: How Kennedy’s Death Created New Political Possibilities for Mexican American Catholics |
2024 |
Texas Catholic Historical Society Fellows - Fellowships are awarded to members who have distinguished themselves by service to the Catholic History of Texas.
| Recipient | Year |
|
Dr. Félix Almaráz Dr. L. Tuffly Ellis Sr. Dolores Kasner. O.P. Most Rev. John E. McCarthy Dr. Karl M. Schmitt |
1988 |
| Bro. William Dunn, C.S.C. | 1989 |
| Dr. Patrick Foley | 1990 |
| Bro. William Dunn, C.S.C. | 1997 |
| Rev. James T. Moore | 2001 |
| Dr. Jesús F. de la Teja | 2002 |
| Thomas W. Jodziewicz | 2004 |
| Rev. James Vanderholt | 2016 |
|
Dr. Gilbert Cruz (posthumously) Dr. Gilbert Hinojosa |
2018 |
|
Steve Landregan (posthumously) Dr. Richard Fossey |
2019 |
| Sr. Madeleine Grace, CVI | 2021 |