Shining lights - 2025 Light of Christ honorees
Maria Barks, Michael Barks, Cynthia Sanford and Art Sanford from Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church pose before the Light of Christ Award ceremony at Nolan High School, Tuesday, July 29, 2025. (NTC/Rodger Mallison)
For the fourth annual Light of Christ stewardship awards, the Advancement Foundation for the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth partnered with parish priests.
Each pastor nominated from within their parish an individual or couple who exemplify the four pillars of Christian stewardship: prayer, hospitality, formation, and service.
A total of 38 individuals or married couples were honored at one of four events held in July and August throughout the diocese.
At the five ceremonies, held in Mineral Wells, Fort Worth, Denton, and Wichita Falls, the Advancement Foundation also acknowledged the parishes that will receive operating grants for the coming year. (A Stephenville event is planned for the fall.) The parish operating grants are funded by the Annual Diocesan Appeal, which also supports deacon and seminarian formation, Catholic education, Catholic Charities Fort Worth, and other ministries.
A list of all the honorees may be found at AdvancementFoundation.org/Stewardship-Awards, and below we highlight two couples that exemplify using God-given gifts to serve their parish.
Arthur and Cynthia Sanford
Our Mother of Mercy Parish, Fort Worth
Arthur and Cynthia Sanford have based their 46-year marriage on “doing what needs to be done,” supporting each other in service at Our Mother of Mercy Parish in Fort Worth.
“If you are based in faith, there’s no way you can’t be a team,” Cynthia said. “God is the center of your marriage.”
Cynthia was raised with nine siblings by her widowed mother in the tight-knit community of Fort Stockton, where “everybody raised everybody.”
Born and raised in Fort Worth, Arthur credits his Catholic education to his grandmother, who helped him and his brother attend Our Mother of Mercy’s former parish school and Nolan Catholic High School.
Arthur has served on the parish council and school board as well as being an usher, greeter, and Eucharistic minister. He was a school board member for both Our Mother of Mercy and Cristo Rey Fort Worth College Prep. He still volunteers with Nolan, where he was inducted into their 2024 Hall of Fame, an honor shared with their beloved daughter, Tiana Jean Sanford.
For years, Cynthia volunteered extensively at Our Mother of Mercy’s school library, cafeteria, Christmas drives, and as a substitute teacher. At first, “you had to bend my arm back,” she said, laughing, but in the end, she found herself increasingly saying, “yes.” “Your church becomes your community, and you want it to thrive.”
For Arthur, the Knights of Peter Claver are nearest his heart, where he has served in almost every role since 1988. For Cynthia, serving in the St. Vincent de Paul Society for nearly a decade has brought her the most joy. “I like St. Vincent because it gives you that opportunity to treat people like you want to be treated and give them the opportunity to seek God through us. It gives me that opportunity to show God’s love.”
Together, they note, their ministries help one another out, just as they support each other as spouses.
“All these things we get involved in all revolve around service. It strengthens the union we have and enables us to go through life’s journey realizing that we have a stronger power that has blessed us,” Arthur said. “I am a firm believer that God will instill grace if the person opens up for that grace. And the cup will run over: If I’m doing the things I think are good and strong and solid in service, then the grace will run out of me and actually run into others.”
Bert and Christy Hesse
Sacred Heart Parish, Muenster
Bert and Christy Hesse were born and raised in Muenster, attending Sacred Heart Parish and school together. Having grown up together in a close-knit community, Bert and Christy “led a parallel existence” as friends until dancing together one night during Christy’s sophomore year at Midwestern State University. They’ve been a couple since, marrying in 1987.
Christy taught first grade and kindergarten at the Montessori program at Sacred Heart Catholic School before and after raising their nine children. She’s been a cantor since high school, first accompanied by her mother on organ and piano.
Bert, a retired engineer, has been developing his woodworking skills since childhood and has been oil painting and drawing since the early encouragement of his aunt, Sister Roberta, a missionary nun.
Recently, Bert provided his woodworking expertise installing the new organ in Sacred Heart’s choir loft. He assisted constructing and designing the chapel and its altar, as well as making its steeple. He builds caskets on request and painted the new outdoor mural for Fischer’s Meat Market.
The Hesses both grew up and raised their own family supported by Muenster’s tight-knit, Catholic community and school. “We were immersed in [Catholicism] growing up,” Christy said. Much of their extended family on both sides also lives in Muenster.
As a family, they study the saint of the day each morning. On the way to Sacred Heart School, they pray the morning consecration when they drive over their cattle guard. “We try to incorporate little things like that. We do the best we can. It’s not perfect, for sure,” Christy said.
Last year, Bert and Christy went on “the trip of a lifetime,” hiking 425 miles in five weeks of prayer on the Camino de Santiago through Spain, in a pilgrimage to the Shrine of St. James the Apostle, also significant for them as a couple: They possess a first-class relic of St. James the Apostle and were married on his feast day, July 25.
The Hesses ask the readers of North Texas Catholic to pray for an increase in vocations.
Regarding the lifetime of service, Bert and Christy have given to Sacred Heart, Bert’s advice is simple: “Do it.”
“Don’t be afraid — whenever you’re invited or asked — to go ahead and just do your best,” Christy added. “Whenever you try to work for the glory of God instead of yourself, you’ll honor that.”
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