Horseshoe Bay resident Jackie Scott Mathews and Marble Falls resident Diana Virdell received The Paulist Fathers’ Spirit of Hecker Award. The program honors exemplary leaders and volunteers from the parishes, Catholic centers and ministries the Paulist Fathers serve throughout the United States.

The Paulist Fathers, which is based in New York City, have served as pastors of St. Paul Parish since its founding more than 40 years ago.

Paulist Father Ruben Patiño, the current pastor of St. Paul, said Mathews and Virdell have done an outstanding job leading parish benevolence initiatives over the last several years.

“They have been very successful in researching the needs of the community and finding which groups are most in need, focusing on those in the margins of society,” Father Patiño said.

Examples of such programs are those that fight childhood hunger, those that aid children traumatized by court-ordered removal from their homes, those that help disabled military veterans and those that help women and children who are victims of domestic violence.

The two have also spearheaded St. Paul’s support of the rural parish, Good Shepherd in Lometa, as well as providing materials for the children’s religious education program there.

Father Patiño noted that both Mathews and Virdell are well suited to lead St. Paul’s benevolence efforts.

Mathews started her career as an attorney in Houston. Always interested in education, she also volunteered in the Houston schools. She became interested in special education after helping with a nephew born with cerebral palsy. The experience led her to go back to school and earn her special education teaching certificate. When she moved to Horseshoe Bay, she went to work at Burnet Middle School teaching Life Skills and taught there for seven years.

She currently serves on the board for The Helping Center, the area food bank in Marble Falls. She has also served as a volunteer for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA).

Virdell also had a career in education. She worked as a math teacher at Marble Falls High School and became a guidance counselor working at both the elementary and high school levels.

During her work with local children and teenagers over the years, she became acquainted with the charitable organizations in the community that helped children, especially those in crisis situations.

In their work together, Mathews and Virdell look for organizations in the community that rely strictly on donations and grants, those that have the greatest need. The benevolence budget appropriated annually by the St. Paul’s Finance Council is based on community research the two have done. They also get donations — many of them anonymous — from individual parishioners.

Mathews notes that none of the parish’s benevolence activities would be possible without the support of St. Paul’s parishioners and the team effort of the parish office staff, which facilitates the donations.

“All these funds make a difference, and we welcome and appreciate the generous and prayerful support of all our donors and of our pastor, Father Ruben, who is a steadfast supporter of active benevolence in the community,” she said.

Virdell added, “Because of the generosity of our donors, we’re able to help many who have the greatest — and often overwhelming — needs.”

The Spirit of Hecker Awards are named for Isaac Hecker, who founded the Paulist Fathers in 1858. Father Hecker, a candidate for sainthood whose cause is under investigation, originally founded the order of Catholic priests as the Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle.