South by Vásquez

Live from the Austin afterparty... mariachis.

Among other notes, in an unprecedented tribute to what's recently become the Lone Star state's largest religious group, Texas Gov. Rick Perry was in the front pew at today's three-hour Mass, fresh off winning a bruising primary fight.

And speaking of the "triangle" and its ascendant crossover crop, a Lenten message from Bishop Danny Flores of Brownsville:


Almost 90% of its home-Valley's total population Catholic, one notable attribute of the million-member border diocese is worth recalling: just under half the entire Brownsville church is younger than age 25.

And with its freshly-installed ordinary all of 48, another distinction on the wider front... the next-youngest prelate among the heads of Stateside Catholicism's 15 largest sees is none less than the just-turned-60 year-old archbishop of New York.

Even money says not even LA's gonna change that... or even if it does, not by terribly much.

Just like the church it serves, the top of the bench is undergoing "the greatest change we'll see in our lives"... lest anyone's still looking toward it, well, it's already here -- and it's begun with twin appointments in Texas.

For all the rest, as always, stay tuned.

PHOTOS: Loggiarazzi(1); Ralph Barrera/Austin American-Statesman(2)

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