FALL RIVER DIOCESAN ,NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
t eanc 0' VOL 31, NO.5.
F ALL RIVER, MASS.
Friday, January 30,1987
Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
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$8 Per Year
Anchor Weekend begins tomorrow Tomorrow begins Anchor Weekend in diocesan parishes. offering readers the convenience of renewing subscriptions via the collection basket instead of by mail. In today's confused moral climate. most recently exemplified by discussion of surrogate motherhood and "right to die" issues, there is need for authoritative restatement of unchanging principles. Catholic Press Month. which .begins Sunday, provides the oppor-
tunity for diocesan newspapers. such as The Anchor. to reaffirm their commitment to such principles. That commitment was well expressed ·Iast year at a bishopseditors conference on the purpose and goals of the. Catholic press. Conference participants issued a statement listing 13 ways in which diocesan newspapers and magazines serve the Church and its people. It follows:
Press Statement The basic purpose of the Catholic press is to help Catholics to understand the world and to fulfill their role in it. The Catholic press achieves this purpose:
1. By supporting the mission of the church as professional journalists. 2. By reporting fully, fairly and accurately the events of the day as they relate to Christians. 3. By serving the readers' right to be informed.
4. By helping readers to hear God speaking to them in the events of the times. .5. By striving to convey the Christian meaning of human events to all segments of society. '6. By presenting and explaining the magisterial teaching of the church. 7. By helping fulfill the bishops' obligations to teach and instruct the people of God ...and to hear them in return. 8. By portraying the church as it is, with its strengths and weakpesses.
9. By reflecting the unity and diversity in the church and in the world. 10. By helping readers respect and support the human dignity of every person. 11. By providing continuing education leading to an informed public opinion. 12. By providing a forum for dialogue within the church. 13. By helping to build up the local, national and universal community.
Pink, blue crosses in New Bedford
Abortion anniversary sparks nationwide rallies WASHINGTON (NC) - The 14th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision legalizing abortion was commemorated Jan. 22 by 5.000 marchers trudging· through heavy snow in Washington. But it also was remembered by thousands more across the country in marches. vigils. rallies and prayer services in their local communities.
Carrying pink and blue crosses and wearing black armbands, about 50 New Bedford area pro-lifers braved a blizzard to participate in a one-hour march through the whaling city of New Bedford. According to Mary Ann Booth
of Massachusetts Citizens For Life, sponsor ofthe New Bedford march, many elderly persons and children were among participants. The marchers met prior to departure from Our Lady of the Assumption Church for an opening prayer by Father Thomas McElroy, SS.Cc., its pastor. "We walked through the snow and showed our commitment to the abortion issue," Mrs. Booth said. The one-hour march took the group into downtown New Bedford, through a pedestrian mall and to the New Bedford Public Library, where Rev. Fred Boggs, . minister to Fall River's nondenom-
inational Church of Christ, offered prayer before the contingent returned to Our Lady ofthe Assumption. Many participants carried signs, Mrs. Booth saId, with messages such as "Thou Shalt Not Kill," "Abortion - A Baby Can Live Without It," and "Unborn Babies Are People Too." Others, she said, including child marchers, bore pink and blue crosses, donated by New Bedford carpenter Andy Ferguson. Marchers also wore black armbands distributed by MCFL members. "A man in his mid-20s bused in from Fall River for the march," Mrs. Booth said. "He had seen one
of our advertisements and felt committed to come. When he left, he asked ifhe could keep his armband. "He'l stay in my mind. He just wanted to do his part." America's permissive abortion policy conceals a strong racial bias, a black social worker claimed Jan. 18 during the 14th annual Assembly for Life held at Boston's historic Faneuil Hall. Erma Clardy Craven. director of black outreach for the National Right to Life Committee. told a large gathering that the practice of abortion also often masks male selfishness. Frances Hogan, president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, con-
gratulated pro-lifers for placing a proposal for restricting abortion funding on last November's ballot. The proposal was defeated but she pledged a renewed struggle, during thel990election campaign. against tax-funded abortion. In Greensburg, Pa., Father Joel Lieb, director of the diocesan human life program, told participants that "human effort alone won't change people's hearts (about abortion). We need God's help." He added that legislative efforts are not making headway but still are worthwhile because they show legislators and society that the issue of abortion won't go away. Turn to Page Six
"Good Grief" seminar
Talking about de.ath . By Pat McGowan
NOT USUALLY so dramatically as in the case of this Turkish woman cradling her·dead child after a disastrous earthquake, but in a thousand ways grief enters our lives. How to cope with it was the topic of a recent St. Anne's Hospital workshop. (NCj UPI photo)
"Death is the ultimate suffering. loss and grief. but throughout life there are events such as loss of a job. a broken engagement. a divorce, disappointment in one's children: understanding these 'small deaths' is one of the best ways to prepare for death itself." That was the message of pastoral minister Sister Cecilia Baranowski. RSM. of the pastoral care department of. St. Anne's Hospital. Fall River. who spoke earlier this month to some 200 health care providers at a daylong seminar designed to help them explore their feelings about death and dying. Titled "Good Grief."the seminar was also intended to help the providers in contacts with dying persons, those facing bereavement and the bereaved. Telling ofan outstandingly cheerful hospital patient suffering multiple medical problems, many con-
genital. Sister Baranowski said she asked the woman how she maintained her positive outlook. "When I was a child," was the response. "my mother. taught me that sickness needn't bring you down." The patient demonstrated, said Sister Baranowski, that lifelong attitudes towards Qld age and death are developed in childhood. She then asked participants to think of a "little death"in their own recent experience and recall their reactions. She cited upset at feeling out of control of the situation as her own first response to a highway accident. "I was on my way to New Jersey." she recounted. "I totaled my car but my first reaction was 'Now I won't get to New Jersey.' I was really upset that my well-made plans were going wrong." Anger at loss of control emerged Turn to Page Six