VOL. 49, NO.2¡ Friday, January 14, 2005
FALL RIVER, MASS.
Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly • $14 Per Year
Kearns named new diocesan director of Communications By
DEACON JAMES
N.
DUNBAR
FALL RIVER - John E. Kearns Jr., of Taunton has been appointed director of Communications for the Diocese of Fall River, it was announced today by Bishop George W. Coleman. Kearns, who has been assistant director of Communications since 1984, replaces Msgr. John F. Moore, effective January 14. Msgr. Moore will continue as executive editor of The Anchor, newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River, and as writer of his longstanding editorial column "The Mooring." "I am very grateful to Bishop Coleman for appointing me to this position," Kearns said. "I appreciate the confidence he and former bishops like Bishop Daniel A. Cronin who hired me and Bishop Sean P. O'Malley, had in me. They and Msgr. Moore have given me great support. The monsignor always thought to include me no matter what the level of the maUer. He had the vision to see that if I was to run a communications office it was worth bringing me to the U.S. bishops meetings in Washington to see how the Church runs on a different level." Kearns was also quick to cite the cooperation and kind assistance of priests, religious, and workers at diocesan offices and at The Anchor.
The son of John E. Kearns Sr., and Dolores P. Kearns of Taunton, and a lifelong member of Holy Rosary Parish there, the new director recalled that his career in ' commuriiChtibns began there. "It was June of 1984, and Bishop Cronin had just dedicated ournew parish center. The bishop struck up a conversation, asked what I did and I told him I had received a degree in communications from UMass-Amherst the year before. The bishop said he was looking for a layperson to begin a communications office for the diocese. He suggested I contact a Father Moore." Kearns said he recalled Bishop Cronin laughing and saying, "It's not the Rockefeller Corporation, but it's a beginning." Two interviews later and on August 1, Kearns landed the job. The early years found him and the diocese trying to plot out how to make the communications office work for the good of the Church. It meant days on the road introducing himself to the secular media. In the mid-1980s the U.S. bishops had begun a CTNA cable network and despite long hours of effort, it never took hold and was abandoned. "By the end of Bishop Cronin's tenure and the arrival of Bishop O'Malley in 1992, the diocese's Tum to page 13 - Communications
NEWLY ORDAINED Rev. Mr. Thomas E. Costa Jr. (top photo) listens to Bishop George W. Coleman during a Mass at S1. Mary's Cathedrallast Saturday during ceremonies in which Costa was ordained a transitional deacon. At right, the' bishop hands Costa the Book of the Gospels during the Rite of Ordination. (Anchor/Jolivet photos)
Bishop ordains seminarian a transitional deacon By DAVE JOLIVET, EDITOR,
MSGR. JOHN F. Moore, left, diocesan director of Communications since 1977, hands the reins over to John E. Kearns Jr. as of today. (Anchot1Jolivet photo)
FALL RIVER - A cold rainy day couldn't prevent family, friends, priests, deacons, fellow seminarians and classmates from attending the Rite ofOrdination ofRev. Mr. Thomas E. Costa Jr. last Saturday at St. Mary's Cathedral here. Bishop George W. Coleman was the principal celebrant of the Mass at which he ordained Costa a transitional deacon, the final step before he is to be ordained a priest some time this summer.
After telling Costa to "do the will of God from the heart," Bishop Coleman completed the rite with the laying on of hands, a prayer of ordination, and a handing on of the Book of the Gospels. Dozens of diocesan priests, permanent deacons, and seminarians were on hand to share in the event. Costa, the son of Mrs. Anne Marie Costa of Seekonk, and the late Thomas E. Costa Sr., was vested in stole and dalmatic, the traditional vestments of a deacon,
by Father Bruce M. Neylon, pastor of St. Stanislaus Parish in Fall River, where Costa is serving a field assignment. Costa will serve as deacon and preach the homily at the 10 a.m. Mass Sunday at St. Stanislaus Church, 36 Rockland Street. Costa is currently completing his Fourth Year Theology at Blessed John XXXIII National Seminary in Brighton, in addition to his St. Stanislaus Parish field assignment.
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