MISSION CHURCHES Confessions are heard before each Mass. History In the fullness of time our Catholic Christian faith was brought to the shores of Lavaca Bay with the coming of the Spanish and French explorers. They were accompanied by the Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries who ministered to the native Indians in the 16th and 17th centuries. In the mid-18th century priests from Victoria came to serve the growing congregation of Irish, French, Italian, and German settlers in these environs. The first Mass was offered in 1857 at the R. D. Blossman home, Father Augustine Gardet, pastor of St. Marys in Victoria, presided. The first church building was erected in 1865 on South Guadalupe Street. It was destroyed by storm in 1886 and rebuilt in 1894. Father W. G. Henderson was on hand to bless this edifice under the title of Our Lady of the Gulf.. After 86 years of dedicated service the Oblates of Mary Immaculate had to withdraw their members to meet more urgent missionary efforts elsewhere. They departed with the undying gratitude of the people of Texas mid-coast. On June 4, 1995, Bishop David E. Fellhauer, the second Bishop of Victoria, appointed Father Dan Morales as pastor of Our Lady of the Gulf in Port Lavaca and its missions of St. Joseph in Port OConnor, St. Ann in Point Comfort, and St. Patrick in Seadrift. Father Morales lost no time in establishing Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic School since he was able to obtain the services of the School Sisters of St. Francis from Panhandle, Texas. Bishop David Fellhauer formally dedicated and blessed the elementary school on its first day of operation, August 14, 1996. With the assistance of an associate pastor Father Morales also opened a Day Care Center in 1999. More recently, the newly acquired St. Jude Hall, the former U. S. Post Office was added to the church property. In the fullness of time God sent his Son, born of a woman. The parish of Our Lady of the Gulf on the shores of Lavaca Bay continues to bring the fullnes