01.19.96

Page 1

t eanc 0 VOL. 40, NO.3.

Friday, January 19, 1996

FALL RIVER, MASS.

FALL RIVER DIOCESAN. NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly

$11 Per Year

THEN AND NOW, Sandra Curry Dias (left) was presented to Bishop Sean O'Malley by her father, Richard, as she had been 25 years ago~ Sondra Viveiros (right) walks with her father, John, brother of Father Joseph Viveiros. 28 young women met Bishop O'Malley,aUhe 41st annual Bishop's Charity Ball on January 12. See additional photos throughout this issue. (Mills photos) . - ....

Despite winter's chill, Ball

makes'~pringtime Magic'

Motta, J r., president of the Attle- dette Armstrong. As each name by Christine Vieira Mills Evening gowns swished and shiny . boro area St. Vincent de Paul was called, presentees, accompaSociety, and Katherine M. Lanblack patent leather shoes peeked nied by their escorts, strode down out from under tuxedo trousers as cisi. diocesan president of the the long aisle to be introd uced to proud parents escorted theirdaugh- Council of Catholic Women. the bishop, flanked by his coters to the Bishop's Charity Ball on "Springtime Magic," the ball chairpersons. The bishop stood in January 12. Hundreds, including theme that many were longing for front of a large mural, depicting a the 28 presentees, gathered at Venus on a night chilled by freezing rain, bea utiful garden, painted by Sister de Milo Restaurant, Swansea, for was brought to life by the decoraGertrude Gaudette, OP. Cordially an evening of fun, dancing and tion committee, headed by Clauwelcoming them to the ball, Bishop appreciation of the many ways in which Catholic Charities helps the diocese. Begun by Bishop James L. Connolly (bishop from 1951-1970) in 1956, the Bishop's Ball wasan idea borrowed from t~e diocese of Minneapolis' "Snow Ball," a soiupheld the program, saying "parWASHINGTON (CNS) - The ents have no right to tailor public ree held in January as a fundraiser U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to for the diocese. Bishop Connolly, school programs to meet their inhear an appeal of a Massachusetts always having shown a keen intercase allowing condoms to be dis- dividual religious or moral preferest in the welfare ofchildren, orig- tributed in public schools is "an ences." The Catholic Action League of inated the project of an annual unconscionable dereliction of Massachusetts condemned the U.S. charity ball largely to benefit the duty," said a Massachusetts CathoSupreme Court for refusing to Nazareth schools for children with lic organization. hear Curtis vs. School Committee special needs and the diocesan The court without comment Jan. camps for underpriviledged chilof Falmouth. 8 declined to take a case involving The league's executive director, the distribution of condoms in dren. c.J. Doyle, called the decision "an. The ball soon beoame the social senior and junior high schools in unconscionable dereliction of duty event of the year. attracting thouFalmouth, Mass. The program alwhich further empowers bureausands including political dignitarlows school nurses to provide them ies, well-known actors, and many to children upon request and after· crats and teachers' unions to trample on the rights of parents." parents eager to have their daughcounseling about their proper use Attorney Jay Sekulow of the ters "presented" not only to the and sexually transmitted diseases. American Center for Law and Jusbishop, but also into the social Vending machines with condoms tice, representing the parents who scene of the diocese. are available at Falmouth High brought the suit, said the Supreme Today, the bishop's 41st CharSchool. Court "has missed an important ity Ball still continues to draw a School officials decided in 1991 opportunity to let parents be parmotivated crowd excited to proto distribute condoms without pamote the worthwhile ministries of rental consent, and a majority of ents with their children when it comes to the issue of sexual acthe many charitable apostolates the town's voters affirmed the protivity." within the diocese. Sponsored by gram in a 1992 election. "A condom has more constituBut following the school offithe Diocesan Bishop's Charity Ball tional protection in America today Committee. the Society ofSt. Vincials' decision, parents in the town than parents and children," Sekucent de Paul, and' the Diocesan sued the school committee. low said in a statement. Council of Catholic Women, this The case made it to the state's Doyle said it is "a sweeping year's bal) was co-chaired by Joseph Supreme Court, which last July

O'Malley presented each young woman with a velvet bo~ of rosary beads. Taunton presentees were: Lucy Bairos, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jose Bairos of St. Anthony's parish; Jennifer Grenier, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Grenier of Holy Family parish; Kathleen Turn to Page 13

Massachusetts Catholic group protests Falmouth condom case decision

tI1iir4Suntfay

Of Or4inarg tTi7tU

Index Church & World 12 Daily Readings 5 Editorial 4 Family Fare " 10 11 Healthwise Mail Packet 11 Our Rock & Hole.. 15 Steering Points 16 Youth News 15

usurpation of the rights of parents to control the moral and religious upbringing of their children" to allow schools to distribute condoms to Catholic children against the wishes of their parents. "When the state effectively encourages minors to violate their religious beliefs and to disregard the religious convictions of their parents, and facilitates them in doing so, then that is nothing less than a government-sponsored assault on the constitutionally protected right to the free exercise of religion," said Doyle's statement. "This is not government neutrality toward religion, but outright government hostility to religion and religious values, which breaches the separation of church and stlite by turning public schools into forums for counter-religious propaganda." Doyle said the ruling reminds people of the need to affirm teachings of Pope John Paul II about parents being the primary educators of children.


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