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FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
teanc 0 VOL· 27, NO.2
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20c, $6 Per Year
fALL RIVER, MASS., FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 1983
Christian Unity • sche,duled serVlc,es Churches in New Bedford and Fall River have announced ob servances of the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity which begins Tuesday, Jan. 18, and will conclude Tuesday Jan. 25. The Greater New Bedford Clergy and Religious Association will sponsor a service in New Bedford at 7:30 each night of the week, as follows: - Tuesday, Jan. 18: Trinity United Methodist Church, 473 County Street (at Elm); - Wednesday, Jan. 19: St. Martin's Episcopal Church, County and Rivet Streets; - Thur~day, Jan. 20: St.
Paul's United Methodist Church, Kempton St. and Rockdale Avenue; - Friday, Jan. 21: South Bap tist Church, 745 Brock Avenue; - Saturday, Jan. 22: Union Baptist Church, Court and Cedar Streets; - Sunday, Jan. 23: St. Law rence Catholic Church, County and Hillman Streets; - Monday, Jan. 24: Friends' Meeting House, Seventh and Spring Streets; - Tuesday, Jan. 25: Pilgrim United Church of Christ, 635 Purchase Street.
In Fall River an ecumenical service will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 18, at Our Lady of liealth Church, 642 Cam bridge Street. The homilist will be Rev. Gerard Blais, pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Fall Rtiver. Sponsored by Niagara Neighborhood churches, includ ing SS. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, the service is open to all area residents. The national theme for the 75th annual Unity Week is "Jesus Christ, Life of the World." The diocesan chancery office has distributed prayer leaflets and a Unity Week poster to all parishes and pastors are
encouraged to hold services dur ing the Unity Week. The suggested 1983 prayer ser vice incorporates the ancient Breastplate of St. Patrick which begins "I arise today through mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, through belief in the threeness, through confess ion of the oneness of the Creator of creation." Began in 1908 The prayer service was de veloped by the Graymoor Ecu menical Institute, run by the , Turn to Page Six
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Code's meaning By Jerry Filteau NC News It Is expected that Pope John Paul II will issue the revised Code of Canon Law Tuesday, Jan. 25. Some questions and an swers about it follow. Q. What is the Code of Canon Law? A. The Code is a unified com pilation of canons or laws gov erning the Latin Rite Roman Catholic Church around the world. Before 1917 there was 110 such code but at that time, after 14 years of work, the first uni fied body of law was issued. The new code has been in prepara tion for 20 years, involving the most extensive consultation with the world's bishops and other experts ever undertaken by the church.
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Q. When will the new code
take effect? A. This is up to the pope and will be stated in the official promulgation decree. It is likely that there will be a delay before new canons are effective, afford ing time for education and prepa r~tion for those affected by them. Some confusion will almost surely arise. An example of this, important for the United States, concerns the American proce dural norms, simplified proce dures used in U.S. church tri bunals for marriage cases since 1970. In 1975 the Holy See ex tended permission to use those norms "until the new order of matrimonial court procedl1re is promulgated for the Latin church.~' U.S. church officials admit uncertainty as to whether Tum to Page Three
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THE ANCIENT PSALM, 'I will go in to the altar' of God, to God who giveth joy to my youth,' is brought to mind by these transitional deacons, ordained last Saturday at St. Mary's Cathedral. From left, Paul Caron, Richard Andrade, John Perry.
New parley on pastor,al By Jim Lackey WASHINGTON (NC) - The committee of U.S. bishops pre paring a pastoral' letter on war and peace has begun writing the third draft 0 fthe letter and has met. again with Reagan admin istration officials in an attempt to clarify certain aspects of U.S. defense policy. Cardinal-designate Joseph L.
Bernardin of Chkago,. chairman of the five-member committee drafting the pastoral letter, char acterized the two-hour meeting Jan. 7 with administration offi cials as "constructive." "We didn't resolve all of the difficulties," said Archbishop Bernardin in an interview with NC News. But the meeting did result in clarifications by both
the war and peace committee and by the administration on cur rent defense policy and on points made in the second draft of the pastoral, he said. In addition to meetipg with ad ministration offcials during pre paration of the third draft, Arch bishop Bernardin said meetings are scheduled in Rome this Turn to Page Two
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