02.04.11

The Anchor Diocese of Fall River

F riday , February 4, 2011

Groups celebrate week for marriage

By Christine M. Williams Anchor Correspondent

Leaving “Home” — Current residents of St. Francis House in Fall River surround their friend and mentor, Cindy Waters. Because of a financial shortfall, the house is closing after more than eight years of providing a safe and functional home for post-incarcerated women to transition back into the general public. (Photo by Rebecca Aubut)

Fall River’s St. Francis House: Closing after eight years

By Rebecca Aubut Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — The sunlight streams through the window in the living room of the St. Francis House in Fall River, the gentle rays adding shadows to the already forlorn faces of the women sitting on couches and chairs. As they speak, the common thread of traumatic childhoods, jail time and substance abuse are woven into a tapestry that includes choking back tears as they narrate their stories of triumph over adversity. They are clean, sober and sad — an unfortunate combination brought on by the unexpected closing of St. Francis House — but very grateful for all they received there to help them get back on a secure path.

“I feel more loved here than I do in my own family. I had planned on staying here for at least a year,” said resident Leslie Medeiros. “I’m really angry and sad that it’s closing. I know that everybody is going to be around, but it’s not going to be the same. I have trouble getting close to people and these girls are like my sisters.”

When St. Francis House opened in 2002, the program was focused on helping postincarcerated women get back on their feet and reestablish themselves into the general public. Helping connect each resident with doctors, psychiatrists and substance abuse counselors, coupled with mandatory chores and responsibilities in a traditional homelike setting, it

helped almost two dozen women transition into functional citizens of society.

At the beginning of January the program’s director Cindy Waters was informed because of budgetary concerns the program needed to close at the end of the month.

“I had this premonition that we were closing, and I don’t know where it came from because nobody else had it. I had seen the cost of things going up,” said Waters. “I think it was the economy, the cost of things.

The food, electric, gas bills, the van, the computer — you know, all of this stuff that you have to have, and the staff is 24/7. Everybody is very saddened. It is such a loss.”

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Brazilian population in diocese keeps faith alive

B y Kenneth J. Souza A nchor Staff

CAPE COD — While they are sometimes more closely associated with singing Mass celebrations and the fervent charismatic movement, the large population of Brazilian immigrants here in the Fall River Diocese are very much a product of their rich and traditional Catholic heritage.

Brazil boasts the largest number of Roman Catholics in the world. More than 145 million — or 74 percent — of Brazil’s current population are Catholic.

“I feel that the Brazilian culture has remained faithful and devoted to the Church because our culture and history in Brazil is so involved with the Catholic faith,” said Father

Messias Albuquerque, coordinator of the Brazilian Apostolate for the diocese. “This is inside of all Brazilians.”

It’s likely that this passionate connection to the faith inside all Brazilians is what makes their liturgical celebrations seem a bit more vibrant and alive to the typical diocesan Church-goer.

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BOSTON — During a week when much of the culture is focused on idyllic romantic affection, organizations across the country will promote the strengthening of committed lifelong love. Many faith communities have come together to celebrate National Marriage Week, held February 7-14.

The theme for the week in 2011 is “Let’s Strengthen Marriage.” That same goal tops the list of five priorities of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for the current year.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan highlighted the importance of protecting marriage in a January 14 letter to Congress.

“In a manner unlike any other relationship, marriage makes a unique and irreplaceable contribution to the common good of society, especially through the procreation and education

of children,” wrote the USCCB president.

The bishops continue to support “vigorously” the Defense of Marriage Act and call on Congress to oversee executive actions that undermine it, he added.

In a January 14 press release from the USCCB, Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind. said National Marriage Week focuses national attention on the need to strengthen marriage, launches new efforts for marriage education and crisis intervention and promotes a message about the benefits of marriage. Bishop Rhoades is the chairman of the USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.

The initiative, now in its second year, is part of Marriage Week International, founded in Britain in 1997. Its website, www.nationalmarriageweekusa. org, highlights the daunting deTurn to page 18

a blaise blessing — Margaret Martin of St. Anthony’s Parish in New Bedford receives a blessing of the throat, seeking the intercession of St. Blaise. The tradition is one of many in which the Catholic Church advocates the faithful to participate.

Heeding Church’s call to seek saintly intercession, diocesan parishes continue the blessing of the throats

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

ATTLEBORO — On February 3, the Catholic Church celebrated the feast of St. Blaise, patron saint against throat illnesses. On that day, many parishes offered the blessing of the throats through this saint, whose background remains a bit of a mystery to modern-day Catho-

lics.

The speculation is that he was born to an affluent family in the area of Armenia. He was raised a Christian. He later became bishop of Sebastea, and according to tradition, St. Blaise felt a calling to seek refuge in the hill country to escape the persecuTurn to page 14

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News From the Vatican

February 4, 2011

Catholic wedding must mean couple knows Church teaching, pope says

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Men and women have a natural right to marry, but that does not mean they have a right to a Catholic wedding, Pope Benedict XVI said.

For the Catholic Church, marriage is a sacrament that is witnessed by a priest or deacon, but performed by the couple who pledge their union will be forever and that they will be open to having and educating children, the pope said.

“The right to contract marriage presupposes that one is able to and intends to truly celebrate it, that is, in the truth of its essence as taught by the Church,” Pope Benedict said January 22 when he met with members of the Roman Rota, a Vatican-based tribunal that deals mainly with marriage cases.

Because the Church has a very specific religious understanding of what marriage is, “no one can claim the right to a marriage ceremony” in the Church, the pope said.

In his annual meeting with the tribunal officials, Pope Benedict said he wanted to focus on the legal or juridical aspect of Catholic marriage preparation programs, because too often engaged couples — and even those preparing them for marriage — consider the courses simply a bureaucratic hurdle to overcome before the

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wedding.

“In fact, often it is assumed that the priest must act with largesse, since the natural right of persons to marry is at stake,” the pope said, but for the Catholic Church, there exists only one kind of marriage — sacramental — and the right of Catholic couples to celebrate the sacrament can be exercised only if they fully understand what they are doing.

Pope Benedict said anyone involved in marriage preparation programs, but especially the priest or other pastoral worker conducting the obligatory premarriage interviews with the potential bride and potential groom, has an obligation to ensure there is nothing standing in the way of a valid and licit celebration of the sacrament. For the marriage to be valid, the couple must understand the commitment being undertaken, he said.

Pastoral workers and marriage tribunal officials together “must work to interrupt to the extent possible the vicious cycle frequently noted of too easily allowing couples to marry without adequate preparation” and “the sometimes equally easy judicial declaration” that a marriage is invalid, the pope said. Both approaches give people a sense that the Catholic Church no longer sees marriage as truly being binding forever, he said.

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tribunal meeting — Pope Benedict XVI gestures during a meeting with Roman Rota members at the Vatican recently. The Roman Rota is a Vatican-based tribunal that deals mainly with marriage cases and other canonical appeals. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters)

Pope says online social networks can help spread the Gospel

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI invited Christians to join online social networks in order to spread the Gospel through digital media and discover “an entirely new world of potential friendships.”

At the same time, the pope warned of the limits and the dangers of digital communication, including the risks of constructing a false online image and of replacing direct human contact with virtual relationships.

“Entering cyberspace can be a sign of an authentic search for personal encounters with others, provided that attention is paid to avoiding dangers such as enclosing oneself in a sort of parallel existence, or excessive exposure to the virtual world,” the pope said in his message for the 2011 celebration of World Communications Day. “In the search for sharing, for ‘friends,’ there is the challenge to be authentic and faithful, and not give in to the illusion of constructing an artificial public profile for oneself,” he said.

The theme of this year’s World Communications Day, which will be celebrated June 5, is “Truth, proclamation and authenticity of life in the digital age.” In his message, released January 24, the pope acknowledged that the Internet has fundamentally changed the way people communicate today.

“This means of spreading information and knowledge is giving birth to a new way of learning and thinking, with unprecedented opportunities for establishing relationships and building fellowship,” he said.

In the digital world, he said, information is increasingly transmitted through social networks as a form of sharing between persons.

He said this dynamic has favored dialogue, exchange, a sense of solidarity and the creation of positive relations.

“The new technologies allow

people to meet each other beyond the confines of space and of their own culture, creating in this way an entirely new world of potential friendships,” he said.

The pope added that digital communication has built-in limits, including the one-sidedness of the interaction and “the tendency to communicate only some parts of one’s interior world.” The creation of an artificial online image instead of an authentic one “can become a form of self-indulgence,” he said.

The great potential of social networks for building relationships makes it a natural place for the Church to be present, he said.

But there is a “Christian way” of being online — through communication that is “honest and open, responsible and respectful of others,” he said.

Archbishop Claudio Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, was asked in a briefing with reporters whether the pope’s words reflected concern over an aggressive and derisive approach found on some Catholic sites and blogs.

“The risk is there, there is no doubt,” the archbishop said. He added that his council was working on a document that would offer, among other things, some reference points about the appropriate tone and behavior for Church-related Internet sites.

Pope Benedict’s message, while underlining the risks of the Internet, was generally positive about online opportunities, saying they had opened new “spiritual horizons.”

He said proclaiming the Gospel through new media was not simply a matter of inserting religious content into online platforms, but also of witnessing the Gospel consistently when communicating choices, preferences and judgments.

This witness, he said, can and should challenge some ways of

thinking that are typical of websites — for one thing, he said, the truth Christians want to share is not based on its popularity or the amount of attention it receives.

The pope said the Gospel should be presented online not as a consumer item, but as daily nourishment. That requires communication that is “respectful and sensitive, which stimulates the heart and moves the conscience,” he said.

In their online activities, he added, Christians also need to remember that direct human relations remain fundamental for transmission of the faith.

“Even when it is proclaimed in the virtual space of the web, the Gospel demands to be incarnated in the real world and linked to the real faces of our brothers and sisters,” he said.

The pope said that believers can help prevent the web from becoming an instrument that “depersonalizes people, attempts to manipulate them emotionally or allows those who are powerful to monopolize the opinions of others.”

Commenting on that passage, Archbishop Celli said one example of manipulation was when social network users are unwittingly tracked for marketing purposes.

While Pope Benedict’s message spoke of the “wonders” of new online possibilities, Vatican officials agreed that the pope himself doesn’t use new media much.

Asked if the pope personally surfs the Internet, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said: “To be very honest, I would say no.”

The pope still writes with a pen, Father Lombardi said. But he added that the 83-year-old pontiff fully recognizes the opportunities offered by the new technologies, and has encouraged Vatican departments to move forward on digital projects.

The International Church Edmonton Catholic schools to phase out gambling as source of funding

February 4, 2011

B y Ramon Gonzalez C atholic News Service

Engel said the issue is one of social justice and educational equality. While larger schools in more affluent areas can afford to pay for extras, smaller schools cannot.

“I’m thinking there are some schools who literally wouldn’t survive without casino funds,” Engel said January 24. “You take a school that has a population of 150 kids and you take away $80,000 every 18 months.

“They are getting the same

and distribute it on an equitable basis so schools can have EDMONTON, Alberta — adequate, predictable fundEdmonton Catholic schools’ ing,” she added. trustees have voted to abolish Until that happens, schools gambling activities as a source will likely continue to rely on of school funding. casino revenues.

But board chairman Deb“Make no bones about it. bie Engel says casino revenues We are not going to cut people will still be used in Catholic off of casinos when we know schools while the board looks they are relying on it,” Engel for alternative and sustainable said. “We are going to work on options for the district, which a solution before anything like serves the city of Edmonton that is entertained.” with publicly funded Engel said both Catholic education.

Archbishop Richard he archdiocesan chancellor, Fa- Smith and the board Trustees adopted the ther Gregory Bittman, said the are reluctant to set position that “no school or school community archdiocese recognizes that the school timelines for the tranin Alberta should district needs time “to make fundamental sition “until we know have to raise money we are going changes. However, we believe that fund where through gambling with this.” activities in order to raising without casinos is an attainable Trustees plan to meet children’s edu- goal.” meet with community cational needs.” members and parThe board has been ent council members dealing with the issue since the $80,000 as a school with 800 February 24 to discuss “how fall when the Archdiocese of kids. And so it’s just not eq- can we as a community supEdmonton implemented new uitable to our board’s way of port the (archdiocesan gampolicy guidelines that forbid thinking.” bling) policy and continue to Catholic groups to raise monThe board plans to look at fund our schools properly.” ey through “harmful gambling a number of options, including The board has already startactivities.” lobbying the Alberta govern- ed a Catholic foundation that The archdiocesan chancel- ment for changes in how rev- will be responsible for fund lor, Father Gregory Bittman, enue is distributed, so parents raising but Engel said she has said the archdiocese recogniz- do not have to work at casinos. little faith it will be as effeces that the school district needs “We would like to lobby the tive as gambling in raising time “to make fundamental provincial government to find funds. changes. However, we believe out exactly how much money “Do we see the foundation that fund raising without casi- is coming into public educa- as the answer to replace $6 nos is an attainable goal.” tion from casinos and allo- million every 18 months right Catholic schools in the city cate it evenly on a need basis now? No. And neither does the earn about $6 million through throughout the province for person in charge,” Engel said. casino fund raising every 18 adequate, sustainable funding “Will it eventually? That months. All but one of the 87 for education,” Engel said. doesn’t take away the problem schools take part in the prac“We are not asking the gov- that this is not social justice,” tice. They use the money to ernment to come up with more she said. “Even if the foundapay for school field trips, hot money. We are asking the gov- tion makes the money, it’s still lunch programs, equipment ernment to take the money and unjust the way the casino doland other extras. put it into general revenues lars are used.”

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somber ceremony — Youths carry a wreath during a ceremony marking the 66th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp January 27 in Auschwitz, Poland. The day was also marked as International Holocaust Remembrance Day for all the victims of the Holocaust. Hundreds of thousands of Jews and people of other faiths, including Catholics St. Edith Stein and St. Maximilian Kolbe, were killed at Auschwitz. (CNS photo/ Kacper Pempel, Reuters)

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The Church in the U.S.

February 4, 2011

New university president says Catholic intellectual life needs renewal

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Calling for a rebirth in Catholic intellectual life, a pursuit that leads to virtue, John H. Garvey was sworn in as the 15th president of The Catholic University of America in Washington.

“As Pope Benedict said at this university in 2008, ‘this is a place to encounter the living God. ... This relationship elicits a desire to grow in the knowledge and understanding of Christ and his teaching,’” Garvey said in his January 25 inaugural address.

Washington Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, Catholic University’s chancellor, was the main celebrant and homilist for the inaugural Mass, celebrated at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

He was joined by Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George, Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, as well as Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio to the United States, and by more than a dozen bishops from around the United States, and nearly 100 priests.

“The Catholic University is a university — a community of scholars united in a common effort to find goodness, truth and beauty,” said Garvey, 62, who was dean of Boston College’s Law School when he was appointed to his new post.

“The intellectual life, like the acquisition of virtue, is a communal, not a solitary, undertaking. We learn from each other,” he continued. “The intellectual culture we create is the product of our collective effort. A Catholic intellectual culture will be something both distinctive and wonderful if we bring the right people into the conversation and if we work really hard at it.”

For the Mass, which opened to the stirring strains of “Holy God We Praise Thy Name,” hundreds of faculty members, dressed in their full academic regalia, as well as university staff, members of the university’s board of trustees, alumni and students filled the cavernous basilica. Students were excused from

class to attend the Mass.

Presidents of and representatives from universities and colleges throughout the country also were in attendance. Many members of Garvey’s family were present for the liturgy, with his five children serving as gift bearers.

Garvey and his wife, Jeanne, also have 12 grandchildren, a number of whom were in attendance along with other relatives.

During the Mass, Garvey was presented with the symbols of his new office — the university mace, or scepter, the presidential medallion and chain of office. He wore the presidential regalia, an academic gown of the university’s official colors, gold and white, which mark the founding relationship the university has with the Catholic Church.

He recited the profession of faith and took an oath of fidelity, swearing he will “preserve communion with the Catholic Church.”

In his homily, Cardinal Wuerl praised Garvey, describing him as “a leader who realizes the worth, but also the identity and heritage of this institution. We pledge our collaboration as he undertakes the mission to bring us into a future that holds renewal of spirit, academy, institution and achievement.”

The cardinal assured Garvey and the university that his prayers are with them.

“We ask God’s blessings on this entire academic community, that in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and with your direction, we might all be led more surely and confidently to a deeper and richer grasp and embrace of our faith.”

In his address, Garvey, who is Catholic University’s third lay president, also talked about the secular concept of a conflict between faith and reason.

“The story of this war is so familiar that we often redescribe the conflict of faith and reason as a conflict of religion and science,” he said. “And the challenge for Catholic universities is finding a place for Bibles and pa-

pal decrees between our telescopes and microscopes.”

One of the ways to counter that notion, he said, is to examine the role of virtue in intellectual and campus life.

“A Catholic university should be concerned with the formation of its students.

Campus ministry, residence life, service opportunities, athletics, and student activities are an integral part of our mission,” Garvey said. “The measure of our success is how our graduates live their daily lives: Do they pray and receive the sacraments; do they love the poor; do they observe the rest of the beatitudes?”

These days, ethics classes are popular in secular universities, he said. But does that go far enough? he asked. He proposed that “we do not come to understand what is right, or good, or beautiful, through mental exercises conducted from an armchair.”

He added, “We come to know virtue by seeing it, we learn from virtue by practicing

it, we become virtuous when our practice makes it habitual, a part of our character.”

Garvey urged those in Catholic academic life to see how virtue guides the intellect.

“It’s not the other way around. The particular goals we set for ourselves are illuminated by our character or moral orientation,” he said.

“In our efforts, Aristotle says, ‘Virtue makes us aim at the right mark, and practical wisdom makes us take the right means.’”

He noted the pursuit of virtue can and should be applied to any field of study — not just philosophy or the law, but the social sciences, music, art or architecture as well.

Lastly, he addressed the role of the Catholic university’s unique contribution to the acquisition of virtue. “We learn it better as members of a group,” he said. “We deliver one message about materialism, sex, self-sacrifice and alcohol; our children see another in (the world). Our lesson gains credibility if the children see a community of people they know and admire living it.”

PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) — Love or hate their politics, new House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, and Democratic Vice President Joe Biden are products of Catholic education. Both men rose from humble circumstances.

Contributing to civic life is seen by some as a hallmark of Catholic schools, but others note another benefit the schools provide to the wider community — what they save states in public education dollars.

In Oregon, for example, the amount is about $80 million annually. The savings come because every student who does not attend a public school equals $5,700 Oregon does not need to send to a school district.

“This is our contribution to Oregon’s economy,” said Bob Mizia, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Portland. “That, plus the good citizens created,” he told the Catholic Sentinel, the archdiocesan newspaper.

About 14,500 students are enrolled in Catholic schools statewide. Some estimate that the total amount that these schools save states nationally is more than $26 billion annually.

Families who send their children to Catholic schools still pay their taxes to support public education, in addition to paying tuition and helping create hundreds of jobs.

Each year the National Catholic Educational Association and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops jointly sponsor Catholic Schools Week to draw attention to their contributions. This year’s observance, January 30-February 5, has as its theme “Catholic Schools: A+ for America.”

Schools typically celebrate the week with Masses, open houses and activities for students, administrators, faculty, school staff, the community and families.

“Historically, Catholic schools are known for their high level of academic achievement, moral values and high graduation rates,” said Karen Ristau, NCEA president.

Marie Powell, executive director of the USCCB Secretariat of Catholic Education for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, pointed out that this year nearly 30 percent of the nation’s 2.1 million Catholic school students come from minority populations.

Catholic schools spend less per student

and usually get better results, if SAT scores in Oregon’s state capital, Salem, are any example. They show that students at Blanchet Catholic School score 200 points higher on average than their public school counterparts, even though demographics are about the same.

“It could be any number of things — discipline or family support or the ability to focus resources,” said Kevin Mannix, a former state legislator and chairman of the board for Blanchet. “Catholic schools reflect a dynamic community that supports education. The graduates are imbued with solid moral values and can provide leadership to the community.”

Catholic schools contribute to the wider good by giving public schools an example of steadfastness in educational thought, said Tom Green, a former public school administrator and now dean of graduate studies at the University of Portland, a Catholic institution.

“Catholic schools provide some good lessons about constancy of purpose; they’re less swayed by political rhetoric and the latest fads,” said Green, who was assistant superintendent in two Portland-area districts.

The Portland-based Cascade Policy Institute in 2008 found that 44 percent of Oregon families would send their children to private school if they could.

“Catholic schools particularly give students a lot of one-on-one attention,” said Kathryn Hickok, who directs a fund that helps low-income students in Oregon attend private schools. The Children’s Scholarship Fund has aided 600 students in Oregon so far, many of them choosing Catholic education, even though the families are not Catholic.

“We hear from parents that students at Catholic schools feel shepherded through by caring teachers and principals,” said Hickok, a member of Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Lake Oswego.

“You never know how kids will be touched by Catholic education,” Hickok said. “Catholic schools are good at teaching children values and responsibility. That’s really a hallmark of private schools, especially Catholic and other faith-based schools — personal formation, how you live your values.”

Educators outline ways Catholic schools contribute to wider society

5 The Church in the U.S. U.S. bishops, college presidents to discuss campuses’ Catholic identity

February 4, 2011

By Carol Zimmermann Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON — In dioceses across the country this year, U.S. bishops and Catholic college and university presidents plan to discuss the specifics of how to best promote Catholic mission and identity on college campuses.

The bishops and college leaders will be giving a 10-year review of “The Application of ‘Ex Corde Ecclesiae’ for the United States” a document that was approved by the U.S. bishops in 1999 and then approved a year later by the Vatican. The document officially went into effect in 2001. It outlines how U.S. Catholic colleges and universities should implement the Vatican document on Catholic higher education “Ex Corde Ecclesiae” (“From the Heart of the Church”).

“Ex Corde Ecclesiae” is an apostolic constitution issued in 1990

by Pope John Paul II that outlines the identity and mission of Catholic colleges and provides universal norms to ensure colleges maintain these standards. The document was issued after more than a decade of research involving Vatican departments and Catholic educators around the world. It specifically defines the “mandatum,” or Church authorization, granted by the local bishop to teach theology.

The plan for upcoming local dialogues to review the application of “Ex Corde” at U.S. Catholic colleges and universities was announced January 20 by Los

Angeles Bishop Thomas J. Curry, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Catholic Education.

In a statement, the bishop said he hoped the review will help the bishops “appreciate the positive developments and remaining challenges in the collaborative efforts of bishops and presidents to ensure the implementation of Ex Corde Ecclesiae in the United States.”

After these dialogues occur, bishops will share their reflections with one another at regional meetings during their fall 2011 general assembly in Baltimore. These presentations will then be compiled and presented to the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan.

Bishop Curry said the upcoming discussions between bishops and Catholic college and university presidents should provide “an important means to foster a mutually beneficial relationship.”

He added that the “collaboration is essential to the spirit of Ex Corde Ecclesiae, which is why a working group of bishops and university presidents created the review process together.”

Vincentian Father Dennis Holtschneider, president of DePaul University in Chicago and chairman of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, said he was pleased that the bishops “invited university presidents to help shape the instrument

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Laura Strietmann, the director of a Cincinnati crisis pregnancy center, calls abortion “the issue that is shaping our country,” and said the challenge for Pro-Lifers is to get everyone “to respect life again.”

In her work, she hears the stories of women’s pain and sees pregnant women in need who “are hungry for the truth about abortion,” she said.

“When they come in the door, we need to love them and tell them the truth,” that abortion is taking a life, she added.

Strietmann, a member of St. Rose Parish in Cincinnati who is enrolled in a lay pastoral program at the archdiocesan seminary, believes no woman really wants to have an abortion, but many feel they have no other choice.

She spoke to Catholic News Service as she headed toward the March for Life rally site on the National Mall January 24, where thousands of ProLifers were gathering to mark the 38th year since the U.S. Su-

preme Court handed down Roe v. Wade legalizing abortion.

The Catholic News Agency and Eternal Word Television Network said there were hundreds of thousands of individuals who attended this year’s march.

Bundled up against the cold, with the temperature hovering in the mid-20s, people streamed toward the rally site from various points, carrying all manner of signs, many of them homemade.

Among the messages were: “Choose life: Your mother did,” “Unborn babies feel pain,” “Face it: Abortion kills a person,” “I regret lost fatherhood” and “Defund Planned Parenthood.”

Archpriest Chad Hatfield, chancellor of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y., came with a group of priests and their wives and families and seminarians. He told CNS “the right” to life is a judicial term and stressed that what he and other Pro-Lifers are standing up for is the belief that “life is a gift from God and we’re here to make that witness.”

Women ‘hungry for truth’ about abortion, says head of pregnancy center

that will guide these conversations.” He noted that the Church and society at large are “served well when the leadership of both the Church and higher education institutions work closely together.”

This notion of university and Church leaders working together is something Pope John Paul II hoped would come about as colleges implemented “Ex Corde.”

In a 1987 address to U.S. Catholic education leaders, he said the then-upcoming document calls for “close personal and pastoral relationships” between university and Church authorities “characterized by mutual trust, close and consistent cooperation and continuing dialogue.”

Pope John Paul’s U.S. meeting with Catholic educators at Xavier University in New Orleans took place as Catholic higher education officials around the world debated the possible effects of the muchanticipated apostolic constitution on Catholic higher education.

The pope just briefly addressed one key point in the document that focused on giving greater administrative control of Catholic universities to Church hierarchy.

He told the group of more than 1,000 Catholic higher-education

leaders that bishops must be participants in Catholic colleges and universities and that the work of theologians has to be tested by the Church’s teaching authority.

In 2008, when Pope Benedict XVI visited the United States, he met with more than 400 Catholic college presidents and diocesan education representatives at The Catholic University of America in Washington.

He urged them not to simply transmit knowledge to their students but to bring them to a deeper understanding of faith “which in turn nurtures the soul of a nation.”

Before the address, many were speculating that the pope might have harsh words of reprimand for college leaders for not doing enough to promote their Catholic identity, but instead he spoke warmly to the group, calling them “bearers of wisdom” and telling them of his “profound gratitude” for their “selfless contributions” and dedication.

In one specific reference to Catholic college presidents, near the end of his address, he said he wished to “reaffirm the great value of academic freedom.” He also noted that any appeals to academic freedom “to justify positions that contradict the faith and teach-

ing of the Church would obstruct or even betray the university’s identity and mission.”

Pope Benedict highlighted the importance of Catholic identity — a key issue for Catholic colleges, schools and Religious Education programs — by noting what it is not.

“Catholic identity is not simply a question of the number of Catholic students,” he said. It also is not “dependent upon statistics” nor can it be “equated simply with orthodoxy of course content.”

He stressed that the Catholic identity of a school or Religious Education program “demands and inspires much more: namely that each and every aspect of your learning communities reverberates within the ecclesial life of faith.”

The pope linked the current “crisis of truth” to a “crisis of faith” and said that educators must do more than simply “engage the intellect of our young” but should instead help today’s youths to fully live their faith.

One way Catholic colleges and universities have worked to develop and strengthen their Catholic identity is through mission identity offices currently in place on more than half of U.S. Catholic colleges.

6

The Anchor Education in the heart of the Church

The celebration of Catholic Schools Week in the United States is an annual opportunity to reflect on the privilege and purpose of Catholic education. Education is at the heart of the Church’s mission, a task set in motion by her founder when he instructed his disciples to go into the whole world and teach the Gospel to every creature, educating others in what he had first taught them (Mt 28:18-20). Over the course of the last two millennia, this commission has taken on various organizational structures in response to historical circumstances as well as the maturation of the Church as the institutional level. The Church’s faithful following of this divine imperative led to the establishment of the first universities deriving from the Medieval cathedral schools and the first widespread attempts to provide an education to those who had always been excluded, from the poor, to orphans, to girls, to people in missionary lands where no formal schooling ever existed.

More than in any other country in Church history, this great educational mission has flourished in the United States, where an enormous network of Catholic learning institutions developed at all levels. Today there are more than 6,000 Catholic elementary schools, 1,100 secondary schools, and more than 200 colleges and universities. Even though American Catholics comprise only six percent of the global Catholic population, the United States has 13 percent of the Catholic institutions of higher learning throughout the globe. This is an incredibly rich legacy and an impressive foundation for the continued diffusion of the mission entrusted by Christ to the Church.

The perennial challenge for Catholic educational institutions, however, is to remain faithful to the mission they’ve received. Just as individual Catholics can lose their way, so can Catholic institutions when those who lead them begin to separate themselves and their entities, formally or informally, from the institutional Church, her living faith and moral way of life.

This has happened — in some places, ubiquitously and perhaps without adequate reflection — when Catholic educational institutions began professing that they follow “Catholic values” rather than the Catholic faith. When Catholic schools use such an expression, administrators generally have some values in mind — like the obvious good of Christian service — but generally not all truly Catholic values. The Church has never published a list of “Catholic values” — which makes the expression inherently subjective and partial — but if she did, it would necessarily include the irreplaceable value of the hierarchical Church founded

by Christ, the obedience of faith, reception of the sacraments, and living the fullness of the Church’s moral teaching, things that such Catholic institutions often don’t stress as much as service. The term “Catholic values” already implies an intentional separation from the Church, by promoting certain “values” instead of affirming the whole of the faith. An American ambassador in a foreign country, for example, would never declare that the goal of his embassy was to represent merely “American values,” however he subjectively determined them; his mission would always be, rather, to represent the American government and nation that embodies those values. Likewise, it’s not enough for a Catholic institution to be inspired by “Catholic values.” Like embassies, Catholic schools must authentically represent the Church, her mission, and the fullness of the Catholic faith.

A second level of separation — again, quite common — came when various Catholic educational entities began to declare that they are inspired, not by the Catholic faith, but by the “tradition” of the particular religious order that founded them. Such an expression generally gave a nod to the past while intentionally distinguishing itself from the institutional Church. But in most cases, they also separated themselves from their genuine foundational charisms: many of the founders of these religious orders were absolutely explicit about their order’s union with the entirety of the Catholic faith; therefore, in order to be truly in the “tradition” of such an order, the institutions today should be as fully and unabashedly Catholic and united to the institutional Church as their founders were. The result has been that such institutions are in a situation of a double-infidelity: to the mission they have within the Church as well as to the authentic charism bequeathed by their religious founder. That infidelity needs to be repaired.

The third and most serious level of separation happened when Catholic institutions sought to declare their independence from the institutional Church. For many Catholic universities and colleges, this happened in 1967 with the infamous Land O’ Lakes Declaration, when various Catholic university presidents signed a statement of principles that said “to perform its teaching and research functions effectively, the Catholic university must have a true autonomy and academic freedom in the face of authority of whatever kind, lay or clerical, external to the academic community itself.” To be Catholic in other words, they claimed that it had to be free of every authority, including that of the institutional Church. In terms of the education of students, the signatories declared that there should be “no theological or philosophical imperialism, … no boundaries and no barriers, … no outlawed books or subjects.” By deduction, the truth, even taught by the faith or discovered by reason, wouldn’t be a guide or boundary; pornography wouldn’t be outlawed. Lastly, they rejected any and all accountability to the Church’s hierarchy, asserting rather that Catholic universities, instead of being evaluated, should be the evaluators of the entire Church. The universities, they wrote, should “carry on a continual examination of all aspects and all activities of the Church and should objectively evaluate them.” Many Catholic institutions of higher learning, led by these conductors, went off the rails.

In 1990, Pope John Paul II began the process to try to save these Catholic educational institutions that had lost their way. He published an Apostolic Constitution, Ex Corde Ecclesiae (“From the Heart of the Church”) that observers on all sides recognized was an attempt to respond to, remedy and redeem the damage being done by the philosophy of the Land O’ Lakes Declaration. The pope called on Catholic universities to consecrate themselves “without reserve to the cause of truth” and challenged them to focus on being truly “universities” and truly “Catholic,” forcefully reminding them how those are not contradictory but harmonious terms. In this “magna carta” for Catholic universities, he said that a Catholic university must have four essential characteristics: it must have a Christian inspiration both among individuals and the institution; reflect on all aspects of knowledge from the perspective of the Catholic faith; be faithful to the Christian message in conformity with the magisterium of the Church; and be institutionally committed to the service of the Church and all people. John Paul II said, “One consequence of its essential relationship to the Church is that the institutional fidelity of the university community includes a recognition of and adherence to the teaching authority of the Church in matters of faith and morals.” If an institution declares itself autonomous from the institution of the Church and her teachings, in other words, then it is simply no longer genuinely Catholic.

In 2001, the U.S. bishops published a series of particular norms applying Ex Corde Ecclesiae to Catholic colleges and universities in the United States. It said that Catholic institutions needed to incorporate the principles and norms as far as possible into their own statutes, mission statements, procedures and way of life. In 2006 and 2011, it continued, there would be a means for joint assessment by the universities and the bishops to determine how that implementation is going. As the story on page five of this edition indicates, the process of the 10-year review has already begun.

Almost all educational institutions, Catholic and otherwise, regularly undergo accreditation processes to ensure that they are living up to universally-agreed-upon standards, and this joint assessment is a muchneeded Catholic accreditation process. Its outcome will have consequences beyond an institution’s Catholic identity. It may also have financial ramifications, as we saw in the controversial January 11 decision of the National Labor Relations Board that Manhattan College in New York could not be considered Catholic for religious freedom purposes in a labor dispute. The NLRB claimed, in a ruling that the college is appealing, that it could find nothing distinctively religious in Manhattan College’s governance, faculty, mission statement, curriculum, and promotional literature. It added that the college’s claim of institutional autonomy from the Church actually separated it from the Church’s religious freedom protections. Such tendentious rulings and intrusions by government agencies may give extra motivation to Catholic educational institutions that have not been fully in compliance with the expectations of Ex Corde Ecclesiae, to strengthen their Catholic identity, return to their roots and to the heart of the Church’s saving mission.

February 4, 2011

Doing what is right, not what is easy

T

he past three weeks we have “The Lion King” illustrates the imporlooked at what the Church refers tance of the virtue of prudence as well as to as “theological virtues” — faith, hope the destruction that can come by acting and love. Today we turn our attention to imprudently. the “cardinal virtues”: prudence, justice, In the movie, Mufasa, king of the anifortitude and temperance. mal kingdom, takes his only son, Simba, The Church defines these cardinal or hu- to the top of a mountain where they can man virtues as firm attitudes, stable disposi- see the entire kingdom. Mufasa is trying to tions, or habitual perfections of our intellect teach his son about the wisdom and pruand will that govern our actions, order our dence that is necessary to be a good leader. passions, and guide our conduct according He explains that it is not being able to do to faith and reason (cf. CCC 1804). whatever you want to do, but doing what Like the theological virtues, these is right, even when difficult. After makhuman virtues need to be cultivated and ing some rather imprudent decisions that developed throughout our lives. These lead to devastating situations, this young virtues are acquired through education, by carefree would-be king, over the rest of the deliberate acts and with a perseverance that movie, gradually becomes the prudent and is ever-renewed by repeated efforts that are courageous leader that his father trained purified and elevated by God’s grace. With him to be.

God’s help, the virtues forge our character The important point here is not just the and give us the capability to do that which difference between prudent and reckless is true, beautiful and good (cf. CCC 1810). behavior, but that this virtue is something I was recently having dinner with a that is developed over time, through reflecwise, retired priest friend of mine who told tion, prayer and discernment. In the movie, me that many people today do not think the young lion continually thinks back to in terms virtue anymore, and he is probhis father’s words of wisdom. It is in this ably correct. reflection that Perhaps many he begins to people don’t recognize who Putting Into explicitly dehe is called the Deep sire to be a virto be. Simba tuous person; hears his father

By Father maybe they say to him, Jay Mello don’t believe “Look inside that possessyourself and ing virtues like remember honesty, humility or courage are worth who you are.” more than financial wealth. And this is exThis must be the same attitude that we actly why it is important to think about the embrace as Catholics. If we are to grow in virtues and to ask ourselves the question: prudence, we must continually look inside Do I want to be a virtuous person? ourselves and remember who Christ has The first of the cardinal virtues that we called us to be. We must continually reflect give attention to is the virtue of prudence. and pray over the words of our Lord who The “Catechism” defines prudence as said, “I am the way, the truth and the life the good habit that “disposes a person to (Jn 14:6). In Jesus Christ, in his words and discern the good and choose the correct in his example, we find the perfect model means to accomplish it. It disposes the of what it means to be prudent and wise.

Christian to live according to the law of Pope Benedict XVI explained that Christ and provides the immediate guidfidelity is the first thing that Jesus asks ance for the judgment of conscience” of his followers, but the second thing is (CCC 1806). prudence. He says that prudence demands Prudence is more than just having humble, disciplined and watchful reason knowledge or experience of how to handle that does not allow itself to be blinded by a situation. It is the virtue that we exercise prejudices. It does not make judgments when we look at a situation and proceed according to desires or passions, but acwith careful awareness, looking at it from cording to truth, even though it might be all angles before we make our decision. difficult. The pope continued by saying The prudent person is the one who, in that the prudent person is the one who addition to having knowledge of facts, seeks the truth and acts in conformity to it also relies upon his experience to make a (cf. Homily, Sept. 12, 2009). decision based on what is morally correct Being prudent is hard. It would be and objectively good, and not just what is easier to do what makes us feel good or easy or pleasurable. what brings us immediate gratification, but We could certainly give hundreds of prudence tells us that while these things examples to illustrate prudent decisions vs. may be good, there is something that is imprudent ones. Doing this would be tebetter, and that is doing what is true, beaudious and really not all that beneficial. I do tiful and good. believe, however, that sometimes books or Allow me to close with words that we movies can help to demonstrate the point hear in sacred Scripture about the incomquite well. For example, as we look to the parable good of prudence, “I prayed, and virtue of prudence, I could easily come prudence was given me; I pleaded and the up with tons of movies that highlight how spirit of wisdom came to me. I preferred people can be imprudent. Finding movies it to scepter and throne and I deemed that provide us a solid image of the virtue riches nothing in comparison with it” of prudence on the other hand is a bit more (Wis 7:7-8). Let us make that prayer our difficult. own.

One of my favorite animated movies Father Mello is a parochial vicar at St. provides us with a very good example.

Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth.

February 4, 2011

7

The Anchor

Blessings of non-communicants at holy Communion

Q: At many Masses these days, non-communicating participants approach the altar at Communion time and receive a blessing when they cannot communicate. However, some priests do not do this, saying it is not “in the rubrics.” Is it all right for priests to do this? — M.T., New South Wales, Australia A: As far as I have been able to ascertain, this practice arose over the last two decades or so, above all in English-speaking countries, such as Australia and the United States, where Catholics form a significant minority amid a basically Christian population.

Because of this, it is relatively common to have non-Catholics present at Mass; for example, Protestant spouses of Catholics, catechumens, and other visitors. This is especially true of weddings and funerals when the number of non-Catholics is even larger.

Another common situation, which apparently gave rise to this practice, is the increase in nonCatholic students at Catholic schools and colleges. At times, about half the student body is unable to participate in Communion.

Situations such as these probably inspired the practice of inviting those unable to receive Communion to approach the altar to receive a blessing so as not to feel excluded.

Certainly this blessing is not in the rubrics and there is no obligation to make such an invitation.

S

Recently, a document has apof a hand or hands — which has its peared in several Internet sources own sacramental significance, inapwhich indicates that the Holy See is propriate here — by those distributtending toward a negative view of ing holy Communion, in substitution the practice. The document is a letter for its reception, is to be explicitly (Protocol No. 930/08/L) dated Nov. discouraged.

22, 2008, sent in response to a private query and signed

by Father Anthony Ward, SM, undersecretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship.

As a private reply the

By Father letter is not yet a norm with Edward McNamara legal force and, as it makes clear, is not a definitive reply. However, it provides some valuable pointers on the legiti“4. The Apostolic Exhortation macy of this practice and the mind Familiaris Consortio n. 84, ‘forbids of the Holy See regarding it. any pastor, for whatever reason or The letter said that “this matter is pretext even of a pastoral nature, to presently under the attentive study perform ceremonies of any kind for of the Congregation,” so “for the divorced people who remarry.’ To be present, this dicastery wishes to limit feared is that any form of blessing in itself to the following observations”: substitution for Communion would “1. The liturgical blessing of the give the impression that the divorced holy Mass is properly given to each and remarried have been returned, in and to all at the conclusion of the some sense, to the status of Catholics Mass, just a few moments subsein good standing. quent to the distribution of holy “5. In a similar way, for others Communion. who are not to be admitted to holy “2. Lay people, within the conCommunion in accord with the text of holy Mass, are unable to con- norm of law, the Church’s discipline fer blessings. These blessings, rather, has already made clear that they are the competence of the priest (cf. should not approach holy ComEcclesia de Mysterio, Notitiae 34 munion nor receive a blessing. This (15 Aug. 1997), art. 6, § 2; Canon would include non-Catholics and 1169, § 2; and Roman Ritual De those envisaged in can. 915 (i.e., Benedictionibus (1985), n. 18). those under the penalty of excom“3. Furthermore, the laying on munication or interdict, and others

Liturgical Q&A

who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin).”

Although the letter as such is not legally binding, some of its points, such as No. 2 on the prohibition of lay ministers giving liturgical blessings, are merely restatements of existing law and as such are already obligatory.

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, in a characteristically lucid 2003 article, argued that the Communion procession really isn’t the time for a blessing of children or adults who are unable to receive Communion. He suggested that people in those circumstances remain in their pews and make a spiritual communion. Should children or others come up with their arms folded as if to receive a blessing, he recommended that the priest, deacon or extraordinary minister of holy Communion, instead of imparting a blessing, make a spiritual communion for them, such as “Receive the Lord Jesus in your heart.”

Regarding my personal view, I admit to sharing Archbishop Chaput’s misgivings as to the appropriateness of some practical aspects of imparting these blessings.

For example, since lay extraordinary ministers of Communion are not authorized to give liturgical blessings, in situations where there are numerous non-communicants

the practice could result in a seeming paradox in which they receive blessings from the ordinary ministers of Communion while the Catholic faithful receive the sacred host from extraordinary ministers. Perhaps a lay minister could pronounce a generic formula calling down God’s blessing, but it is rather short shrift compared to Communion.

I am also rather queasy about touching people on the head, while simultaneously administrating the sacred host on the tongue of the next person in line.

My most serious hesitations, however, stem from a fear that, over time, the practice of giving blessings to non-communicants could create a new perception or mentality regarding Communion itself that makes it somehow equivalent to a blessing, thus weakening the special value that Communion should have for Catholics. This danger could be especially present in a school environment with a high proportion of non-Catholics who receive only a blessing.

Father Edward McNamara is a Legionary of Christ and professor of Liturgy at Regina Apostolorum University in Rome. His column appears weekly at zenit.org. To submit questions, email liturgy@zenit. org. Please put the word “Liturgy” in the subject field. The text should include your initials, your city and state.

The First Phase: Early Pioneers of Liturgical Renewal

olesmes under Abbot Guéranger became the origin point for the restoration, not only of Benedictine monastic life in Europe, but also for what would later be called the Liturgical Movement. For Guéranger, the monastery was above all else a place where the solemn and communal celebration of Mass and the Divine Office took top priority. “Inspire a love for the Sacred Liturgy which is the center of all of Christianity,” Guéranger told Maurus Wolter, who with his brother Placidus spent time at Solesmes and took Guéranger’s advice in re-founding the German abbey of Beuron (1863). From Beuron Abbey were founded the daughter houses of Maredsous (1872) and Mont-César (1899) in Belgium and Maria Laach (1892) in the German Rhineland. All these places earned a reputation for exact and splendid liturgical celebration.

The revival of the Benedictine order yielded important contributions to liturgical scholarship.

Dom Maurus Wolter emphasized that in the liturgical year the Church enters into the life of Christ, and that the earthly liturgy is an anticipation of the heavenly banquet. His five-volume Psallite Sapienter (“Sing Psalms Wisely”) (1871-90) promoted greater understanding in the praying of the biblical psalms. Benedikt Sauter, one of Beuron’s founding members and later abbot of

German book intended to help Emmaus Abbey in Prague, wrote the laity follow the Divine Office Choral und Liturgie (“Chant chanted by the monks. and Liturgy”) (1865), which Moving into the twentieth cenpresented Gregorian chant as tury, Dom Odo Casel of Maria the ideal of liturgical music not Laach stressed that Christianity is only for monasteries but for the entire Church. Suitbert Bäumer’s not essentially a system of doctrines or a code of moral conduct, Geschichte des Breviers (“History of the Breviary”) (1895) was but participation in the events of Christ’s life by means of the a groundbreaking study of the Church’s official daily prayer.

Many people came to Beuron to hear the monks’ exemplary singing.

The abbey offered chant courses for visitors and became

By Father a popular center for Thomas M. Kocik pilgrimage, retreat, and study. Its monks went into parishes to liturgy. This is what distinguishes promote participation in singliturgy from ritualism, pageantry, ing the Mass (as distinct from and theatre. The liturgy is not singing in the Mass).

Space permits mention of only simply a collection of prayers, gestures, and ceremonies; it is a few of the countless other efChrist sanctifying and glorifyforts to bring the laity into closer ing his bride the Church. There contact with the liturgy. Dom Gérard van Caloen of Maredsous is a real presence in the liturgy translated the Mass texts, exclud- of both the person of Christ and his saving action in death and ing the Canon, into French, and resurrection. Dom Casel suffered in 1882 published these texts a fatal stroke during the Easter with commentary in Missel des Vigil, 1948; his last words were Fidèles (“Missal of the Faiththe thrice-sung “Lumen Christi” ful”). Dom Anselm Schott of with which, in his function as Beuron produced the popular deacon, he had just hailed the Missale Romanum (1884), a lay light of Christ. missal containing a translation In September 1909, at a of the entire Mass, including the Canon. In 1894, Schott edited the conference held in Malines, Belgium, a monk of Mont-César Vesperale Romanum, a Latin-

The Liturgical Movement

named Lambert Beauduin gave a speech entitled, “The True Prayer of the Church.” The liturgy, he said, is the primary way the Church teaches; when beautifully celebrated, it speaks truth to the heart more powerfully than any catechism lesson or homily. Dom Beauduin recommended putting bilingual missals into the hands of the faithful in order to assist them in following the liturgical action at the altar, rather than praying private devotions during Mass. He also advocated a wider use of Gregorian chant as desired by Pope Pius X, emphasizing sung or “high” Mass with congregational singing of Latin chant, and reintroducing parish Sunday Vespers.

So well received was his talk, and so far-reaching its effects, that historians date the modern Liturgical Movement to the Malines conference. Soon periodicals on the liturgy were founded and liturgical “study weeks” held at various places. During the First World War, Dom Gaspar Lefebvre of the Belgian abbey of Saint André produced the widely translated Saint Andrew Daily Missal for the laity.

On this side of the Atlantic, Dom Virgil Michel, who had studied under Beauduin in Rome, founded Liturgical Press and the journal Orate Fratres (later renamed Worship) at St. John’s

Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota, in 1926. Both influenced the Liturgical Movement in the English-speaking world. Michel advocated an increased use of the vernacular and the restoration of the offertory procession, and raised the possibility of allowing evening Masses for some groups.

In 1932, Father Joseph Stedman, a Brooklyn priest, produced My Sunday Missal, which helped millions of Catholics pray the Mass.

For all its growth and development, the Liturgical Movement had remained a small group within the Church up to World War II. Though small, it had already provoked controversy. Hackles were raised when, for example, Dom van Caloen suggested that Communion be distributed during Mass rather than after Mass, as had been the custom in his time so as not to “interrupt” or “delay” the priest.

(Recall that frequent Communion for the vast majority of lay Catholics dates only from the beginning of the twentieth century.) Nevertheless, the groundwork had been laid for liturgical renewal reaching to the whole Church.

Father Kocik, parochial vicar of Santo Christo Parish in Fall River, is editor of “Antiphon: A Journal for Liturgical Renewal,” author of two liturgy-related books, and contributor to the forthcoming “T&T Clark Companion to Liturgical Studies.”

8

O

n one level, this is such a simple Gospel — not to mention the fact that we’ve heard it hundreds of times. Its vocabulary has become a part of our everyday speech: light of the world and salt of the earth.

We may ask, what’s the big idea, why focus on such simple things as these? Of course, that’s just the point: Jesus used these simple images because they speak to us so directly. Even children know what salt and light are.

St. Paul was to speak of such simplicity in the words of today’s second reading: “When I came to you, brethren, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and him crucified.” This is the true language of the Gospel

February 4, 2011

The Anchor

Use it or lose it

— accessible to all, even to is meant to do. You’ll be children. It is not a theologiput out. If you claim to be cal language, nor is it meant a Christian and others don’t to be. It precedes theology. see it in you, so that they Jesus never said, “You are incannot give glory to God, dependent existential entities you’re not really a Christian of goodness, called upon to at all. Wake up. Use it or lose give moral inspiration and direction to those sharing your Homily of the Week environment.” He Fifth Sunday could have put it like in Ordinary Time that, but he didn’t.

He didn’t even say,

By Father Andrew “You are what gives Johnson, O.C.S.O. illumination and savor to the whole world.” He said, “You are light and salt; don’t it. Act in harmony with what forget it; live it out.” To my you claim to be.” mind he was saying, “Use it Did you ever notice or lose it. If you are salt and that there’s another, almost you’re tasteless, you’re not parallel text in the New really salt. You’ll be thrown Testament? It is found in the aside. If you are light but Gospel of St. John: “I am the placed under a bushel basket, light of the world; the one you’re not doing what light who follows me will have the

light of life.” How do we reconcile the two texts? Is Jesus the light of the world or are we? Foolish question. Both are true. We are the reflected light of Jesus’ love, and only the reflected light. The minute we think we’re shedding our own light, we’re bound to go out — to lose it. Nevertheless, it is the very same light, since reflected light is real light.

And reflected light is at its brightest when the reflecting surface is clean. Our job is to be perfect reflectors of his love, by his grace. Mary, as always, shows us how best to do this. Lowliness and humility are, surprisingly, the first step in reflecting the glory of divine grace and light and glory.

So the idea here, as was said, is a simple one: Live out what you are. Keep your glass clean for the best possible reflection of the divine light and life. How do we do this, besides the humility just mentioned? By living a good, moral life. Above all, by living a sacramental life: letting the divine power of the sacraments transform us, day by day.

The world of today really needs us, not because of who we are but because of the message we embody in our lives. Jesus Christ is our light and we need only to reflect him. It’s all already given; everything is grace. We only need to live it out. We must use it or lose it.

Father Johnson is chaplain at Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, where he resides at St. Michael’s Parish.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Jan 29, Heb 11:1-2,8-19; (PS) Lk 1:69-75; Mk 4:35-41. Sun. Jan. 30, Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Zep 2:3;3:12-13; Ps 146:6-10; 1 Cor 1:2631; Mt 5:1-12a. Mon. Jan 31, Heb 11:32-40; Ps 31:20-24; Mk 5:1-20. Tues. Feb. 1, Heb 12:1-4; Ps 22:26-28,30-32; Mk 5:21-43. Wed. Feb. 2, Presentation of the Lord, Mal 3:1-4; Ps 24:7-10; Heb 2:14-18; Lk 2:22-40 or 2:22-32. Thur. Feb. 3, Heb 12:18-19,21-24; Ps 48:2-4,9-11; Mk 6:7-13. Fri. Feb. 4, Heb 13:1-8; Ps 27:1,3,5,8-9; Mk 6:14-29.

W

here can you find a Catholic chaplaincy at an institution of higher learning that’s looking to expand its church to seat 1,400, because the current 850 just isn’t enough?

South Bend, Ind., perhaps?

Well, no, actually: College Station, Texas, where the Catholic chaplaincy at Texas A&M, St. Mary’s Catholic Center, is setting a new national standard for Catholic campus ministry.

Aggie Catholicism is something to behold. Daily Mass attendance averages 175; there were closer to 300 Catholic

Aggie Catholic renaissance

1,250 students make or staff Aggies at Mass on a weekday a retreat sponsored by St. afternoon when I visited a few Mary’s. “Aggie Awakening,” years back. Sunday Masses draw between 4,000 and 5,000 an adaptation of Cursillo for worshippers. There are 10 weekly time-slots for confessions, which are also heard allday long on Monday.

Eucharistic adoration, rosary groups, the Liturgy of the Hours,

By George Weigel and the traditional First Friday devotion are staples of Aggie Catholicism’s devostudents, is one of the cornertional life. stones of the campus ministry; A rich retreat program is other, specially designed proavailable, and each year some grams include a silent retreat and a retreat titled “Genius of Women.” In 2009-10, 200 students participated in bi-weekly spiritual direction programs, and another 70 took part in the “Samuel Group,” an exercise in Ignatian discernment that includes a commitment to curb what one campus minister describes as “unnecessary TV and Internet use.” Two-thousand A&M students, not all of them Catholics, have participated in introductory sessions exploring the theology of the body, and many have continued that exploration in followon study groups.

Then there is service. Aggie Catholics participate in domestic and international missions, work with Habitat for Humanity, take part in a ministry to prisoners,

The Catholic Difference

and are involved in various Pro-Life activities. In fact, the 40 Days for Life program is an outgrowth of the Catholic campus ministry at Texas A&M; the national office of 40 Days is staffed by Aggie grads.

The campus ministry also works with a local life center that helps mothers and families in difficult situations.

All this energy has had a discernible effect on vocational formation and discernment. Since 2000, the campus ministry has averaged some nine students per year entering the seminary or religious novitiates; 132 Catholic Aggies have been ordained priests or made final religious vows in the past two decades.

And then there is the vocation to marriage and family, which the campus ministry takes very seriously. Aggie Catholics are also a powerful witness to the rest of Aggieland; 175 new Catholics have entered the Church the past two years through St. Mary’s RCIA program.

The Catholic renaissance at Texas A&M is staffed by two full-time priests, three part-time and semi-retired deacons, one part-time priest, three full-time lay campus ministers, three sisters from the Apostles of the Interior Life, three part-time campus ministers, and four part-time student interns. That

probably strikes many campus ministers as a rather large staff.

In fact, the people who lead St. Mary’s are stretched — and they began where many others are today.

Catholic campus ministry at Texas A&M is a striking example of “If you build it, they will come.” The program is unapologetically orthodox. There is no fudging the demands of the faith. And yet they come, and come, and come, because Aggie Catholicism shows the campus a dynamic orthodoxy that is not a retreat into the past but a way of seizing the future and bending it in a more humane direction. The premise that informed John Paul II’s approach to students his entire life — that young people want to be challenged to lead lives of heroic virtue, in which the search for love is the search for a pure and noble love — is the premise that guides Catholic campus ministry at College Station.

Texas A&M is a special place, culturally; in many respects, it seems to have skipped the ’60s, such that its 21st-century life is in palpable continuity with its past. That’s a deeply Catholic cultural instinct, which St. Mary’s has seized to build a program that is a model for the entire country.

George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

‘We’re gonna have to slap that dirty little %a$@H>#!’

Saturday 29 January 2011 1940s verbally attacked our — W.C. Field’s anniversary of national enemies. Those “enbirth — National Curmudgeon emies” are now our friends. At Day the time, however, the words ne day, while cleanwere politically correct. ing under the eaves at The lyrics were filled with my parents’ house, I found some old recordings. These recordings were from World War Reflections of a II. They were what Parish Priest people called 78s. I had

By Father Tim the time and I had the equipment (I no longer Goldrick have either) so, being curious, I played the records. I was scandalized; ethnic and racial slurs. They shocked, I tell you. The tunes mocked the physical characwere catchy, but it was the lyr- teristic of others. They selfics that caused my jaw to drop. righteously suggested that it These popular tunes from the was our patriotic duty to do

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The Ship’s Log

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The Anchor

February 4, 2011

violence against these evil foreigners. Not only that, but God was on our side. These enemies were not portrayed as individual human souls (with all that implies), but rather painted with a broad brush. These soulless subhumans were all the same and they were all intrinsically evil. The enemy was demonized.

The world would be a better place without them. The music gave permission to shoot them all dead, or at least lock them up in internment camps.

This is a strategy of all war propaganda. The enemy must be dehumanized in order that

Where God takes flesh

grace of selflessness. The met a young family only distress now is not who gave flesh to the for themselves, who will most profound love. It was never receive a warm hug or a brief encounter, but one heartfelt thank you or hear a that left a lasting impression. childlike giggle, but for their The father was an assistant daughter’s future should they store manager, the mother a ever be unable to care for student at a nearby univerher. sity and their only child the For the foreseeable most beautiful young girl of future, this lovely innocent 11. She had alabaster skin, will remain under their a lovely head of long dark watchful eye, being fed hair, and a slender frame of regularly through a feeding average height. But, extraorport, having her arms and dinarily, she’s never uttered legs massaged attentively, a word.

Moreover, she’s never given a hint of recognition to her parents, having suffered dozens of seizures daily since she was two weeks

By Genevieve Kineke old. The house is full of pictures — indoor settings, outdoor hearing streams of loving settings, and some from a conversation poured over recent vacation provided her throughout the day and

by Make-a-Wish. In each, during her restless moments she looks like any attractive at night. Their initial bewilchild — though granted her derment in the face of an expression is serious, for she extremely rare diagnosis has cannot smile, or control any given way to firm advocacy of her muscles; they remain and a medical plan that proentirely flaccid when not vides the best care possible. agitated by the recurring They love her — and that spasms. encompasses an oblation that And yet the affection few are called to live. she has received from her As the months turned to parents — daily, hourly years and the family made — has been constant and peace with the unique gift deeply personal. She is a entrusted to them, the mother cherished daughter who is shared that she eventually loved simply for being the recognized that within their very blessed fruit of their story lay a remarkable lesunion. While there have been son. In those moments when anguished tears and frantic loving words surround the cries over the years, as the child, and a gentle touch reality set in concerning attends to her needs, and their daughter’s prognosis, boundless affection encircles it is evident that so did the

The Feminine Genius

the one so unaware of it all, it became clear to her that so many of us are every bit as inattentive to our own creator. Despite his providence and his infinite devotion for each treasured soul, how few turn to him in acknowledgement or gratitude. We are so unaware of his abiding love.

It was a single evening but a lasting brush with a sublime truth. Our priorities are often so far from where they should be and our yardstick for accomplishments usually too mundane. As we proceed in our pilgrimage toward God, we would do well to consider how our society ranks such love, such selflessness, and especially persons such as this child.

It would seem that we’re creeping perilously close to rationing care by inhuman standards, using those inadequate yardsticks instead of the constant demands of real charity.

This child has transformed her parents, the family has provided an invaluable witness to their community and those who have the eyes to see stand witness to God’s ability to transform bewilderment and anguish into steadfast love and a window of understanding about ourselves. Ultimately, it reminds us to tread gently with creation, for God takes his abode in every child.

Mrs. Kineke is the author of “The Authentic Catholic Woman” (Servant Books).

She can be found online at www.catholicexchange.com.

we might kill them with a “clear conscience.” The songs were absolutely disgusting.

I found them obscene. What were folks thinking back then?

I destroyed those recordings.

From what I can see today, barbarity is back. “The enemy” is now within. The “enemy” is other American citizens, even our freely-elected political officials. We have become a nation deeply divided by political issues. Uncivil discourse is leading to violence and even murder. This cannot be good for our nation.

The shootings outside a grocery store in the state of Arizona are the most recent example. Unless we address this lack of civility in thought, word and action, there will be more violence. This is the stuff of insurrection, rebellion, riot and war. I am afraid for our nation. I am very afraid.

Call me naïve, but I believe that Church people must stand opposed to the vitriolic language, political profiling, sharp polarization and rabid stereotyping we see around us. We should be encouraging human respect, civil dialogue, and careful listening to those who hold opinions different than our own.

Too often, in my opinion, people of the Church can fall victim themselves to the divisions now reflected in our country. We have developed a propensity to attack other Church members with malicious words, vicious slander, and even irrational rage. We are slow to listen and quick to speak. We wrangle and argue with those who think differently than we do. We do so with bitterness and disrespect, questioning the other’s integrity, attacking the other’s character, and even questioning the other’s faith.

Too many of us have become arrogant and belligerent in our personal opinions. We lack both civility and humility. This may prove to be a deadly poison not only to

society, but also to the Church itself. We have fractured the unity of the Body of Christ.

How can a divisive Church that wraps itself in hate instead of charity be a model to a nation divided?

Be extremely careful with the words you use, especially with those with whom you disagree, and most especially with those you consider your enemy. The old adage is “the pen is mightier than the sword.” I work with words. I know this to be true. It applies not only to the written word but also to the spoken. These days, people can say anything they want about anyone else and, true or not, it flashes around the world — forever.

They also say, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never hurt me.”

Think again.

Just about anyone closely connected to the Church community can attest to the disintegration of respect. Ask my friend Jean Revil. She knows. Ask the accused priests who have never had their “day in court.”Ask the priests who have been falsely accused of heinous crimes. Even those exonerated are never the same.

Sometimes it feels as though Church personnel have bull’seyes printed on their chests.

Ask me.

None of this is meant to imply that we should all hold the same opinions, think exactly alike, and refuse to disagree.

That, too, along with demonizing the “enemy,” is a goal of war propaganda. It’s called “brain-washing.”

Barack Obama said, “We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us.”

I am, dear readers, apolitical. If someone objects to me quoting the 44th president of the United States, it just proves my point.

Father Goldrick is pastor of St. Nicholas of Myra Parish in North Dighton.

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The Anchor

February 4, 2011

Determination to do God’s will drives New Bedford octogenarian

By Rebecca Aubut Anchor Staff

NEW BEDFORD — The shovel rests on the back porch of the small home sandwiched between apartment buildings in the south end of New Bedford. There may be piles of snow on the ground, but 87-year-old Marion Oliver isn’t going to let that white stuff keep her indoors.

Born and raised in the city, Oliver first showcased that determined attitude at 19 years old when she wanted to get married at St. John’s Parish. Back then, explained Oliver, you needed to live in the area of a parish in order to be able to receive the sacraments there. Wanting to get married at the church that she had called home for years, Oliver had moved away shortly before becoming engaged.

“I asked the priest, because I wanted him to officiate the wedding,” said Oliver, but when he heard where she lived, he had to decline.

“I was very disappointed,” recalled Oliver. “But he gave me a kind of a hint; if you had an address in this area, then he could marry us.

My mother had a cousin who lived on Short Street, and my mother asked if I could use her address. So I went back to the priest and told him I now live on Short Street.”

go to church, all the Scouts together Chuckling at the memory, there,” said Oliver, laughing.

The newly formed troop had as a group and all take commuOliver said, “I was married at St. John’s but I had to lie to get married little girls from Mount Carmel nion,” said Oliver, who was able to there. I’m sorry it was a lie, but I School also attending, with a total be a Scout leader for 10 years balancing her volunteer duties confess.” with being a cloth inspector Oliver would eventuat a local mill. ally settle in at Our Lady of That was more than 50 Mount Carmel Parish, beyears ago. Oliver is now coming an active member a member of Our Lady of of the Church. When her Guadalupe at St. James and daughter turned seven years continues her parish duold and expressed a desire ties, including being an exto become part of the Girl traordinary minister of holy Scouts, Oliver approached Communion at not only the the pastor of the church but church, but to the infirm at was told there was no need nursing homes and shut-ins; for girls to be part of a Scout hence the shoveled drivetroop. way.

“I said OK, you don’t “I will go anywhere to want me to start a Brownie give Communion,” said troop but my daughter is goOliver. “If anyone asks me, ing to be a Brownie,” said I say sure.”

Oliver, and pronounced that Oliver has also been the she was going to put her treasurer of the former St. daughter in a different parHedwig’s Parish seniors for ish, which hosted Brownie the past 15 years. What remeetings. ally gives Oliver pleasure, That did the trick, said though, is being able to Oliver. The pastor, unhappy donate money to charities. with a possible threat of her family attending a differ- Anchor Person of the Week — Marion Working as an insurance broker for more than 20 ent parish altogether, acqui- Oliver. (Photo by Rebecca Aubut) years, Oliver will often take esced to her request.

“He was so upset because he of 24 little girls enjoying marching her commission checks and donate probably figured we would eventu- in parades, hosting fund raisers and the money to those in need.

“They were collecting for a fund ally start attending that church, so selling cookies.

“It was very nice because we’d raiser for Haiti,” said Oliver, who he allowed us to have the Brownies

had just received a commission check for $526. “I kept the 26 dollars and sent the rest to the people in Haiti. I like to do that; it makes me feel so good. There are a lot of people who give, but it makes me feel good to be able to write out a check and send it in. I feel God has been so good to me and I feel like I should give back.”

Oliver lost her husband of more than 50 years to an aneurysm a few years ago, and with a son living in New Jersey, Oliver’s daughter will often check on her. Two years ago, while her daughter was visiting, Oliver decided to take a shower but was overcome with pain.

“Thank God my daughter happened to be here. She was here to do something for me, and she was in the kitchen while I took a shower. All of the sudden I felt pain but I don’t panic; I’m very calm. I shut off the shower, got on my hands and knees in the tub because I knew I was having a heart attack,” said Oliver.

Calling to her daughter, who threw a towel around her mother, emergency services drove her to Charlton Memorial Hospital.

“They told my daughter they didn’t think I was going to make it,” recalled Oliver, who had a blood clot in her heart, and after operating, a second blood clot was found in her leg.

“I told the doctor do whatever you have to do. I feel whatever is going to happen, it’s in God’s hands. I feel God was taking care of me all the way to the hospital, all the way I was saying, ‘Dear God, help me.’ But I wasn’t asking him to save my life, I just wanted to get rid of the pain,” said Oliver.

Only in the hospital for six days, Oliver came home. After making a full recovery, she dove back into her religious duties.

“My faith has helped me so much,” said Oliver. “Somebody once told me, you pray so much but you have so many problems, so why do you still have your faith? I said, ‘I feel that God has helped me.

I’m alive today after that heart attack. The doctors had given up on me and God helped me. It was God that kept me alive. Anything that happens to me, God will take care of me.”

To submit a Person of the Week nominee, send an email with information to fatherrogerlandry@anchornews. org.

The Anchor

February 4, 2011

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BUILT FOR THE FUTURE — Students at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro pose during an open house and groundbreaking ceremony for a new 4,600-squarefoot addition to the parochial school located at 13 Hodges Street. The new construction is set to begin April 1 and will encompass three new classrooms, an administrative office space, and new entrance to the school.

St. John the Evangelist School initiates expansion process

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

ATTLEBORO — St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro kicked off this year’s Catholic Schools Week with a groundbreaking ceremony for the planned construction of a new 4,600-squarefoot addition to the facility located at 13 Hodges Street.

“It consists of three new classrooms, an administrative office space, and a new entrance to the school,” said Principal Sister Mary Jane Holden, C.P. “When you come into our school now you have to go up to the second floor to go to the office, so this will be a more appealing entrance to the building with a covered area for the children to wait for their rides.”

Bishop George W. Coleman celebrated Mass at 11:30 a.m. at St. John the Evangelist Parish on January 30, followed by the groundbreaking ceremony an hour later, which drew a sizeable gathering of students, school staff, parishioners and community members.

“I was so amazed at the amount of parishioners and students and parents who came out for the groundbreaking ceremony,” Sister Holden said. “I thought it was a tremendous boost to us and it showed support for the school and faculty and told us we’re doing something positive and they want to continue to see it grow. It was very uplifting.”

This expansion marks the first new construction done at the school since its opening 56 years ago.

“This new wing is a commitment to maintain the highest standards of education for the children,” Sister Holden said. “When the school first opened, there was one classroom per grade and everything was self-contained. Of course now, the whole concept of education has changed. We

need shared spaces like a music room and a computer lab. When the property beside the school became available and we were able to purchase it, that cleared the way for us to have some space to expand.”

A capital campaign, titled “Expanding in Our Learning and Faith … Investing in Our Children” that was launched last April, has already raised more than $700,000 toward its $1 million project goal.

St. John the Evangelist School currently enrolls more than 260 students in grades K-8 and is pres-

ently placed in the top 10 percent of diocesan schools and top 25 percent in the nation based on annual standardized test scores.

Construction for the school expansion project is expected to begin April 1.

“Nobody can really remember an addition ever being put onto a grammar school in the diocese before, so we think we have a great opportunity here,” Sister Holden said. “We feel very blessed that we’re having the opportunity to expand and offer a better quality of education at the same time.”

To advertise in The Anchor, contact Wayne Powers at 508-675-7151 or Email waynepowers@anchornews.org

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The Anchor

February 4, 2011

Exorcisms continue to pique Hollywood’s imagination

TORONTO (CNS) — The exorcism began after Mass as the exorcist and several parishioners gathered around a troubled young man and started praying over him, recalls Father Joseph Muldoon, episcopal vicar of the Ottawa Archdiocese.

Father Muldoon, who oversees the work of Ottawa’s lone official exorcist, is not an exorcist himself, but this was one of two exorcisms he assisted over the years. Both occurred outside of Canada.

Father Muldoon joined in praying for the young man who dabbled in drugs and the occult. The man exhibited one of the signs of demonic possession: a supernatural strength requiring him to be restrained by several people to prevent harm to himself and others around him.

The priest performing the exorcism, trained under the ancient rite, blessed the man with holy water.

He then placed a crucifix and Bible on his chest, some of the norms of the rite established in 1614.

“The priest gradually, slowly commanded the evil spirit to leave him and never to return, to be placed at the foot of the cross,” Father Muldoon said.

The young man was invited to say Jesus’ name and pray the Our Father with the community. He was freed from the devil’s grasp, said the priest.

Exorcisms have always piqued the Hollywood imagination and provided a steady source of material for filmmakers in the horror genre. And with a new movie released January 28, plus a realityTV series on exorcists, Hollywood is once again entering the battleground of good vs. evil.

“The Rite,” a film featuring Anthony Hopkins, is based on a book by journalist Matt Baglio about the accounts of an American exorcist.

Meanwhile, the Discovery Channel is reported to be working on a reality show called “The Exorcist Files.”

Father John Horgan, a scholar on exorcisms and pastor of SS. Peter and Paul Parish in Vancouver, British Columbia, was a consultant to the 2005 movie “The Exorcism of Emily Rose,” a movie loosely based on an actual case in Germany.

He cautions that Hollywood versions of exorcism usually provide a liberal interpretation of the actual rite. A scene of “being chained and tied up has nothing to do with the Catholic rite of exorcism,” he said.

“Ours is very sober, reverent.

Heads do not turn around” as was made famous in a scene from the 1973 film “The Exorcist,” the most profitable horror film of all time.

An exorcism is the ritual of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place believed to be possessed. According to the “Catechism of the Catholic Church,” an exorcism is performed by an exorcist who asks “publicly and authoritatively” in Christ’s name “that a person or object be protected against the power of the evil one and withdrawn from his dominion.” This power comes from Jesus, who exorcised demons in the Bible.

While Hollywood may play up the drama of exorcisms, the key message about them is not how evil takes over, Father Horgan said: It’s how the power of God always triumphs in the end.

IRONDALE, Ala. (CNS) — The Eternal Word Television Network, based in Irondale, has signed a letter of intent to acquire the National Catholic Register, which describes itself as “the nation’s leading Catholic newspaper.” Effective February 1, EWTN took full control and ownership of the Register, now based in Irondale.

Its editorial and business offices had been based in North Haven, Conn., since 1995, when the Legionaries of Christ bought the paper and moved it to New England from California. “I am very pleased and excited that the Register will now be a part of the EWTN family,” said Michael P. Warsaw, EWTN’s president and chief executive officer. “All of us at EWTN have great respect for the Register and the role it has played throughout its history.

It’s a tremendous legacy that deserves to not only be preserved, but also to grow and to flourish.”

Warsaw said in a recent statement: “I believe that EWTN will be able to provide the stability that the Register needs at this time as well as to give it a platform for its growth in the years ahead. We’re proud to be able to step in and carry on both the Register’s name and its tradition of faithful Catholic reporting on the issues of the day.”

Under the terms of the transaction, no cash will be exchanged between the parties. EWTN, a global Catholic network, will take over the ongoing operational expenses of the Register and will assume the paper’s future subscription liabilities.

The National Catholic Register grew out of the Denver Catholic Register, launched Aug. 11, 1905.

Under the leadership of Msgr. Matthew Smith, the Register system of newspapers was developed, with the first national edition appearing Nov. 8, 1927.

EWTN acquires National Catholic Register; newspaper launched in 1927

devil duty — Colin O’Donoghue and Anthony Hopkins star in a scene from the movie “The Rite.”

For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/Warner Bros.)

CNS Movie Capsules NEW YORK (CNS) — The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed

by Catholic News Service.

“The Mechanic” (CBS) This violence-fueled remake of the 1972 Charles Bronson thriller focuses on the relationship between a crack assassinfor-hire (Jason Statham) and the ne’er-do-well son (Ben Foster) of his murdered mentor (Donald Sutherland), whom he takes on as an apprentice. But the methodical killer’s new protege proves to be a careless, vengeance-hungry loose cannon. Though director Simon West pulls off some clever plot turns, they too often result in blood-spattered scenes of mayhem. Meanwhile, the central characters’ pursuit of base physical satisfaction leads them — and the audience — into a sleazy underworld of brothels. Excessive gory violence, some of it sadistic; strong sexual content, including graphic scenes of prostitution, lesbian-themed pornography and nongraphic male homosexual activity; upper female and brief rear nudity; a half-dozen uses of profanity; and much rough and crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

“The Rite” (Warner Bros.)

Religiously honorable, but aesthetically tentative drama, about a skeptical seminarian (Colin O’Donoghue) who has pursued priestly studies mainly to get a free education and avoid following in the footsteps of his undertaker father (Rutger Hauer). To forestall his dropping out, a superior (Toby Jones) dispatches him to Rome to complete a Vaticansponsored course in exorcism.

There, he shares his ongoing doubts with a reporter (Alice Braga) who has enrolled in the class for research purposes.

But inexplicable experiences during his apprenticeship with a veteran demon fighter (Anthony Hopkins) challenge the young cleric’s secular cer-

tainties. Though shaky on a few details, director Mikael Hafstrom’s conversion tale resoundingly affirms faith and the value of priestly ministry.

Yet the effort to showcase the main character’s spiritual journey as an old-fashioned chillfest weakens its ultimate impact. Possibly acceptable for mature teens. Incest and suicide themes, some gruesome imagery, incidental irreverence, a couple of uses of profanity, a few rough and crude terms. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, February 6 at 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Edward A. Murphy, chaplain at Morton Hospital in Taunton, and in residence at St. Jude the Apostle Parish in Taunton.

February 4, 2011

13

The Anchor

Is seeing believing? How the Church faces claims of Marian apparitions

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service

give peace a chance — A cutout of a dove is seen as Pope Benedict XVI leads the Angelus prayer from the window of his apartment overlooking St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican recently.

The pope and two children from the Italian Catholic Action association released two doves to mark international prayers for peace in the Holy Land. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

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VATICAN CITY — When the bishop of Green Bay, Wis., recently recognized a series of Marian apparitions from 1859, it marked the first time apparitions in the United States received official approval.

That’s quite an achievement considering that more than 1,500 visions of Mary have been reported around the world, but in the past century only nine cases have received official Church approval as being “worthy of belief,” said an expert in Marian apparitions.

The Church has made very few judgments on apparition claims.

“It’s not always possible to ascertain if they are true or false because the phenomenon is much bigger than us,” said Marianist Father Salvatore Perrella, assistant dean at the Pontifical Theological Faculty Marianum and a theologian who also serves as an expert for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The enormous job of determining the veracity of an apparition falls to the local bishop, said Father Perrella.

To help with that task, the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation established a set of norms in 1978 to guide the process of discernment and the investigation of reported apparitions and revelations.

The process “is never brief,” said Father Perrella. For example, the Green Bay apparitions received approval 151 years after the first apparition was reported, but that’s just half of the nearly 300 years it took the Church to approve the apparitions of Our Lady of Laus in France, he said.

The process is lengthy because visionaries and witnesses must be questioned and “the fruits of the apparitions, such as conversions, miracles and healings” must be examined, he said.

The local bishop sets up a commission of experts, including theologians, canonists, psychologists and doctors, to help him.

According to the norms, the bishop and his commission “must determine the veracity of the facts and the mental, moral and spiritual wholesomeness and seriousness of the visionary and his or her testimony,” he said.

Father Perrella said that when the bishop’s investigation is complete, he can come to one of three conclusions: he can determine the apparition to be true and worthy of belief; he can say it is not true, which leaves open the possibility for an appeal; or he can say that at

the moment he doesn’t know and needs more help.

In the last scenario, the investigation is brought to the country’s bishops’ conference, Father Perrella said. If the body of bishops cannot come to a conclusion, then the matter is turned over to the pope who delegates the doctrinal congregation to step in and either give advice, send a commissioner and-or set up a commission to investigate.

At every step of the investigation, “the person in charge of everything is the bishop,” he said.

The alleged apparitions at Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina are an example of a situation in which the country’s bishops requested the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to intervene.

The congregation established an international commission in 2010 to investigate the claims of six young people who said Mary appeared to them daily beginning in 1981.

The apparitions apparently are continuing and thousands of people travel to the small town each month to meet the alleged seers and to pray.

Father Perrella, who is a member of the Vatican commission to study the alleged Medjugorje apparitions, told CNS the work is only just beginning.

“The pope wants a decisive conclusion made,” he said, adding that it will be a very long process.

The case under study “is a serious thing” that is “very complex” though not impossible to resolve, he said.

For the past 30 years, people have claimed to see apparitions of Mary at Medjugorje.

Such an extended duration of

alleged apparitions in one place is no longer “something that generates suspicion,” he said. That’s because there are similar precedents such as the apparitions of Our Lady of Laus, which lasted 54 years and received formal Church recognition in 2008.

The Church approaches each claim “with the maximum prudence, investigative rigor and an invitation to live out the Gospel rather than follow the apparitions,” he said.

In fact, the Church never requires the faithful to believe in the Marian apparitions, not even those recognized by the Church, he said.

But “by believing in the resurrection of Christ, one can believe in the apparition of Mary” in which Mary is actually present in her body and can be seen on earth, he said.

The Catholic Church affirms that Mary was assumed, body and soul, into heaven and that she, like Christ, defeated death and triumphs in heavenly glory with the totality of her being.

For that reason, Father Perrella said, Mary can appear in bodily form while the saints or other deceased can’t.

“Mary never comes on her own accord; she is ‘God’s ambassador’” charged with a specific message for a specific time and place, he said.

He said that while the apparitions and messages are never the same, in general, Mary appeals for people’s conversion and seeks to assure men and women that they are not alone in the world and can depend on God’s loving mercy.

Her appearance is not meant to result in her glorification, but of God’s, he said.

Our Lady’s Monthly Message From Medjugorje January 25, 2011

Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina “Dear children! Also today I am with you and I am looking at you and blessing you, and I am not losing hope that this world will change for the good and that peace will reign in the hearts of men.

Joy will begin to reign in the world because you have opened yourselves to my call and to God’s love. The Holy Spirit is changing a multitude of those who have said ‘yes.’ Therefore I desire to say to you: thank you for having responded to my call.”

Spiritual Life Center of Marian Community One Marian Way Medway, MA 02053 • Tel. 508-533-5377 Paid advertisement

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The Anchor

February 4, 2011

Faithful heed Church’s call to seek saintly intercession

Diocesan Brazilians keep faith alive

tion that was befalling Christians during the eighth century.

He was eventually captured, sent to prison and sentenced to death by starvation.

While in captivity, he is believed to have saved a young boy from choking on a fish bone.

St. Blaise died in prison.

It is believed that the blessing of the throats began in the U.S. in the early 1600s, through St. Blaise’s intercession. Nearly 400 years later, parishes across the Fall River Diocese continue the February 3 tradition.

The Church has stressed the importance of seeking the intercession of saints for centuries. Citing Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, one of the principal documents of the Second Vatican Council, the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” states, “Being more closely united to Christ, those who dwell in heaven fix the whole Church more firmly in holiness. They do not cease to intercede with the Father for us, as they proffer the merits which they acquired on earth through the one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus. So by their fraternal concern is our weakness greatly helped” (CCC 956).

Father Arnold R. Medeiros, pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Pocasset and St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in North Falmouth told The Anchor, “Those

But Father Albuquerque simply describes it as a means of getting everyone to actively participate in the Mass celebration.

“Brazilian Masses are quite different from traditional American ones,” Father Albuquerque agreed. “We believe the Church is our Father’s home, therefore we feel at home. We believe that the Church is the bridge between us here and our Father in heaven — and because of this belief, church-going is very important.”

Clearly, Father Albuquerque doesn’t characterize a Brazilian Mass as anything remotely somber.

“Our Masses are lively and happy and they can last anywhere from an hour to two, depending on the celebration,” he said.

“The Mass is the Mass, wherever you go,” added Father Paulo Barbosa, who assists with the diocesan Brazilian apostolate. “But I think it’s part of the Brazilian culture in the type of songs we sing and the way we pray. It’s very warm and very outgoing. Often during an American Mass the priest is the only one speaking, but in a Brazilian Mass people are more part of the celebration.”

Father Albuquerque said Brazilians teach their children early on about this joyful way to express their faith and encourage them to actively participate not just in Mass celebrations, but in all Churchrelated activities.

With a sizeable number of Brazilians living either temporarily or permanently in the Fall River Diocese — many on Cape Cod — Father Albuquerque is kept busy with Brazilian Mass celebrations and other ministries serving the immigrant population.

“Right now I’m celebrating the 7 p.m. Saturday Mass at Good Shepherd Parish on Martha’s Vineyard, the 7 p.m.

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who attend a Mass where the blessing is offered take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to be a part of this powerful prayer. At least 90 percent of the congregation comes forth. I thinks it’s a great thing. We need all the help we can get, and it’s not a prayer for a cure, but a preventative intercession.

“It’s important for Catholics to seek the intercession of the saints. They are great individuals with whom to emulate and seek their prayers, especially our Blessed Mother, the great intercessor. Our younger generation doesn’t have many role models out there, and the saints are the perfect role models for us.”

“It’s a nice tradition, blessing the throats and reflecting on St. Blaise,” said Father John M. Murray, pastor of Holy Ghost and St. Joseph’s parishes in Attleboro. “I like to look at it as not just a blessing of the throats for healing, but also our words pass through our throats and it’s a blessing not just for what can enter our bodies, but also for what can leave our bodies. Our words.

I say the traditional blessing prayer, but I try to incorporate into my homily the importance of what our words can do.”

Father Murray also said that it’s important to seek the intercession of our brother and sister saints in heaven. “The prayers of the saints are powerful,” he said.

“After all they see the heavenly

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Father face-to-face. What better help can we get?”

Father Edward E. Correia, pastor of St. Michael’s Parish in Fall River, has been a priest for more than 40 years and has incorporated the rite in his parish Masses at each of his many assignments. “Even today,” he told The Anchor, “everyone attending the Mass comes up for the blessing. There’s no reluctance on the part of the faithful for gaining an extra blessing.”

Father Correia said he’s never been told of a healing through the blessing, “but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened” through St. Blaise’s intercession.

“The blessing of the throats is a longtime tradition in the Church,” said Father John J. Perry, pastor of St. Jude the Apostle Parish in Taunton. “The Church teaches this is a sacramental, which is a small way to receive God’s grace. The tradition is a great reminder of the healing and curative powers of God. In the same way that people wear blessed holy medals, the intercession of the saints is a reminder of the close relationship that God and Christ has with us.”

Father Perry also said that a good number of people call to ask for the blessing if they cannot make it to a Mass when the blessing takes place. “We’re always pleased to offer the blessing when the faithful ask. It’s a way to touch upon the grace of God.” The blessing of the throats includes the priest holding two crossed, unlit candles and placing one on each side of the individual while reciting “Through the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from every disease of the throat and from every other illness. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

continued from page one

Marian Medal awards presentation on video

FALL RIVER — The 2010 Marian Medals Awards Ceremony is now available on DVD from the Diocesan Office of Communications. The DVD cost is $24.95. To obtain one, please forward a check in that amount payable to the Diocesan Office of Communications, Diocese of Fall River, PO Box 7, Fall River, Mass.

02722. Shipping is included in the video cost.

Sunday Mass at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Hyannis, and the 7 p.m. Monday Mass at St. Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth,” Father Albuquerque said, adding that attendance at Brazilian Masses averages about 250 people.

“I’m also making hospital visits, anointing the sick, blessing houses, hearing confessions and teaching Bible classes, to name just a few,” he added.

There are also Brazilian Masses celebrated by Father Barbosa at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in Fall River on Saturday at 7 p.m. and at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Parish in Taunton on Sunday at 6 p.m.

“I have the two Masses a week but I’m also busy with catechism, visiting the sick, and even doing things like driving people to work and shoveling snow,” Father Barbosa said, laughing. “I’m doing a lot of things I never thought I would do — things I wouldn’t consider ‘priest work.’”

With an influx of Brazilian immigrants coming to the Fall River Diocese, Father Albuquerque said it’s an important and vibrant apostolate.

“There are a lot of longtime Brazilians living on Cape Cod; many of them legal residents who have established the U.S. as their home,” Father Albuquerque said. “But every week, I have one or more Brazilian families saying ‘goodbye’ to me because they are moving back to Brazil. It is a new but all-too-common situation for Brazilian communities.”

Although Father Albuquerque didn’t have any one answer as to why Brazilian families will often return to their homeland, he said it makes it difficult to plan for Masses and ministries here in the diocese.

“The number of people attending Masses always fluctuates depending on the time of year,” Father Albuquerque said. “We usually see increases in the fall, winter and spring, but noticeable diminishes during the summer months. But, for now, we have a new history in Brazil and here in the United States.”

“The last two years have been very tough, because many of the Brazilian immigrants don’t have legal documentation to be here,” Father Barbosa added. “So many of them are returning to Brazil.

And the situation in Brazil has been getting better, so I think that’s why they also want to go back.”

February 4, 2011

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The Anchor

L.A. Catholic elementary schools extending school-year calendar

By Paula Doyle Catholic News Service

LOS ANGELES — At a time when California public schools have fewer instructional days because of the state’s budget crisis, Catholic elementary schools in the Los Angeles Archdiocese will be adding four weeks of instruction to their school year.

Kevin Baxter, archdiocesan superintendent of elementary schools, said the plan, announced at a principals’ meeting in midJanuary, is for as many schools as possible to adopt a 200-day academic calendar for the 2011-12 school year, increasing instruction by approximately 20 days.

All of the archdiocese’s 210 parish elementary schools, which have a total enrollment of 52,000 students, will be operating under the 200-day calendar by the 2012-13 school year. Local Catholic schools will retain flexibility in setting start and end dates but the academic year must conclude

by June 30 each year.

The increase in the number of days will essentially add four weeks to the calendar, establishing an 11-month school year instead of the current 10-month year that fulfills California state requirements.

In 2009, the ongoing recession forced the California Legislature to cut costs by reducing the minimum number of days of schooling to 175 from the U.S. standard of a 180-day school year.

The U.S. is kind of at the bottom with regard to length of the school year,” Baxter pointed out.

“A lot of countries — like Indonesia, Japan, China and Singapore — have 220-230 days and they outperform us on international tests.” He said extending the academic calendar has been heralded for years.

“The relationship between more substantive, effective time in an academic setting and increased student performance is clear and the elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles are responding to this critical national issue in order that our students grow up to be successful leaders in the global workforce,” Baxter told The Tidings, newspaper of the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

Under the extended school year, elementary schools will have 200 academic days, plus three designated teacher development days and one day for spiritual retreat. The 10 percent increase in instructional time will result in a 10 percent increase in salaries for staff. An increase in tuition cost is expected at most schools, although anticipated en-

rollment increases may offset the level of increase.

“We think that the increase in tuition will actually be a cost savings to families who pay additional fees for summer programs to supervise their children when school is not in session,” said Baxter. “The expectation is that the increase in tuition costs would be lower than the cost of a comparable summer program for families.”

He added that research shows that the two-month summer break can negatively affect student performance, especially students from low-income backgrounds.

According to local Catholic school principals who have had a 190-day school year in place for the last few years, extending the school year helps to counteract the academic regression that can take place over the summer.

“We started an extended school year two years ago because we felt too many children were out and about in the summer not properly supervised, and when they came back to school they had forgotten a lot academically,” said Karen Kallay, principal of Ascension School in South Los Angeles, which currently has a 194-day year beginning in early August and ending in midJune.

She said Ascension experienced a jump in student test scores and an increase in student enrollment after implementing the extended school year.

“It’s been so advantageous for us. It has given our children the opportunity they so truly deserve,” said Kallay.

Sister Judith Flahavan, a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur who is principal of Nativity School in South Los Angeles, has seen improvement in students’ test scores, especially at the junior high level, since the school went to an extended year eight years ago.

“It’s really amazing because many of our Hispanic students start school without speaking English,” said Sister Flahavan.

When Santa Isabel School in East Los Angeles implemented a 190-day year in the fall of 2010, more than 50 new students joined the school.

According to the school’s principal, Anna Marie Silva, parents were happy to reduce summer baby-sitting expenses and students were pleased to be reunited sooner with their classmates. Teachers also appreciated the extended time for academics.

“For everybody, it is a good situation,” she said.

important part of the day — Rafael Ortiz, center, joins his second-grade classmates in a prayer during school at St. John Neumann in Rochester, N.Y. More than 2.1 million students are enrolled in Catholic elementary and secondary schools across the U.S. (CNS photo/Mike Crupi, Catholic Courier)

New York Archdiocese to close 27 schools in reconfiguration plan

NEW YORK — Twenty-seven Catholic schools in the New York Archdiocese — victims of low enrollment and rising costs — will close at the end of the school year in a move that archdiocesan education officials describe as part of a strategy to ensure long-term success of the overall system.

New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan and Timothy McNiff, superintendent of schools, announced the closings January 11.

The schools — 26 elementary schools and one parish high school — were among 32 cited in November as “at risk” of losing archdiocesan subsidies and likely to close.

However, four of the schools originally called at risk will remain open after presenting viable plans to continue operating, and a decision on a fifth school was deferred for a few weeks for further review, the announcement said.

The closings are in line with the strategies of “Pathways to Excellence,” a wide-ranging strategic plan that focused on the “3 R’s” of reconfiguration, regionalization and reinvestment over the next three years. The goal is a modernized school system that is academically excellent, fully enrolled and affordable.

“The reconfiguration committee has done its job well, with compassion for school families in transition and with concern for the future of Catholic education, which is at the heart and soul of this process,” Archbishop Dolan said. “We can all be proud of the opportunities our Catholic schools have provided to so many children, rich or poor.

“Thanks to the parishes that now, painfully, must close their schools, for their understanding and commitment to Catholic education.

Moving forward, we encourage local communities to join us as we build a bold future for Catholic schools for the 21st century,” he said.

McNiff, architect of the strategic

plan, described it in a recent interview as “the right strategy for the future of our schools, and it’s going to work.”

Over the years, there have been many school closings in the archdiocese, reflecting a national trend, but this group of closings will be the largest number at one time in the archdiocese.

The elementary school closings will affect 3,652 students, representing seven percent of the elementary enrollment in the 10-county archdiocese. The number of affected high school students is 110, out of 26,501 secondary school students currently enrolled.

McNiff told Catholic New York, the archdiocesan newspaper, that the archdiocese, through the InterParish Finance Office, has been providing school subsidies that have recently reached $23 million.

The archdiocese will continue to subsidize its schools, but without the closed schools in the mix the subsidies will be cut to about $13 million, McNiff said.

He said the recommendations to close specific schools were made after consultations with pastors, the archbishop and the local school community. “These were collective decisions,” McNiff said.

Many of the schools that will close were underenrolled, McNiff said. And even though there are still schools that are not up to enrollment capacity, the hope is that students from the closed schools will enroll in other Catholic schools nearby.

“If we’re successful in doing that, we will have accomplished another significant part of our strategy, which is taking the remaining underenrolled schools and bringing enrollments up,” he said.

McNiff said part of the reason the school closings were announced so early is to allow for families to make transitions to new Catholic schools.

“We’re going to bring more

resources toward helping those families,” he said, adding that the resources will include counseling and tuition assistance as needed.

The regionalization component of the Pathways to Excellence plan would change the governance of the schools from the parish-based system that’s been in place since the first Catholic school in New York was founded more than 200 years ago.

Instead, the plan recommends that the schools be run by regional boards of pastors, parishioners and others who would oversee operations of all Catholic schools within the region’s boundaries.

A committee has just begun meeting to work out the details, but it’s expected there will be about a dozen such regions throughout the 10-county archdiocese.

McNiff said the idea is to have all parishes within a region contribute to the schools in a given region, even if the parish does not have a school on its own property.

“The regions will be large, and they’ll have a critical mass of parishes and schools so they’ll be able to sustain themselves,” McNiff said. “Every parish will contribute to the pot,” he said. “That will be a big help.”

He said he expects to be able to identify the regions by the end of 2011, with three of them able to “go live” as pilot programs in September 2012.

If the pilots are successful, the rest of the regions will begin operating in September 2013.

The third “R,” reinvestment in Catholic education, is linked in part to the first two parts of the school reconfiguration plan. A percentage of the revenues from rents and sales of former school buildings —whether they are schools that will close this year or schools that have closed in the past — will be returned to the school system, probably in the form of tuition assistance, McNiff said.

Youth Pages

16

little helping hands — Kindergarten students from St. Mary’s School in Mansfield recently participated in a collection for the local food pantry. Here they display some of the donations.

February 4, 2011

winter fun — More than 320 guests of the sixth annual St. Mary’s Education Fund Winter Brunch recently held at the Coonamessett Inn in Falmouth, were greeted by Father Arnold Medeiros, pastor of St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in North Falmouth and St. John’s in Pocasset, and event chair, Dorothy Hiltz of Mashpee. With them are student greeters, Alice Pendergast from St. Francis Xavier Preparatory School in Hyannis, Julia Keras from St. Pius X School in South Yarmouth, and Cassandra Robin from St. Margaret Regional School in Buzzards Bay. (Photo by Bruce McDaniel)

Bishop Connolly teacher recognized as ‘Unsung Hero’

FALL RIVER — Michael Vieira, Social Studies Department chairman at Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River, has been recognized as an “Unsung Hero,” by St. Michael’s College, Vermont.

First-year students at the college are asked to tell about heroic teachers who truly made a difference in their lives and inspired them to pursue higher education.

Vieira was nominated by his former student, Alyssa Oliveira, Class of 2010.

Oliveira had this to say about Vieira: “Mr. Vieira takes the time and patience to learn about and become part of the lives of every student that steps foot into his classroom. He not only cares about their academic achievement, but also about their achievement as individuals. He attends as many sporting events as possible, and in a sense is the unofficial school mascot. Mr. Vieira is not only a teacher to his students, but a friend.” high praise indeed — Bishop Feehan High School’s renovation of its four-story former convent building into the new Mercy Hall was recently featured in “American School & University” magazine as an “Outstanding Design in Interior Renovation” for 2010. The editors commended the school for carefully integrating the modern building systems, new and renovated classrooms, and office spaces into the existing building. “The addition is a high performance, glass-enclosed library and classroom wing that highlights the school’s vision for the future.” The renovation resulted in a 30,000-square-foot facility housing a library/media center, new computer lab, departmental work spaces, conference rooms, seven new classrooms, and is handicapped accessible. Shown is the library circulation area at the Attleboro school.

the message is clear — Lauren Dykas and Kevin Dupont, juniors at Coyle and Cassidy High School in Taunton, took part in the annual March For Life in Washington, D.C., joining hundreds of others who made the trip from the Diocese of Fall River.

under his spell — Cyrus Thomson, an eighth grade student at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro, has won the schoollevel competition of the National Geography Bee. All students in grades five-eight took part in the bee, which also includes numerous schools in Massachusetts.

This was the second time Thomson has won. The bee is sponsored by the National Geographic Society. He has taken a written test to see if he qualifies for the state finals. Only 100 students from Massachusetts schools are chosen to participate in the finals.

Pictured is Thomson with his Social Studies teacher, Jay Hoyle.

Youth Pages

February 4, 2011

I

n the 1995 film “Apollo 13,” when NASA officials are trying to come up with possible ways for the crew to return home safely, Ed Harris who plays Gene Krantz recites one of the film’s most notable pieces of dialogue, “We’ve never lost an American in space, we’re sure as hell not going to lose one on my watch. Failure is not an option.”

Failure is not an option.

In a society filled with over-achieving-type-A-uber-stressed teen-agers, young adults and adults, we seem to have taken those five little words to heart. We are afraid of failure. Somehow we have allowed the obsession for the perfect “fill-in-the-blank-here” that we simply do not allow ourselves to take the time to simply breathe, exist and listen to God’s word.

Young adults, particularly those in their first four years of college, are under immense pressure not to fail. They are concerned about keeping their GPAs up so not to lose their financial aid, scholarships, parental financial support or even their own sense of self-worth and self-esteem. These young men and women often focus on the need to make it on the Dean’s List or even the Chancellor’s List each semester and that any GPA below 3.2 is nothing short of scandalous. But in an era where high schools administer GPAs higher than 4.0 — which is the

Failure is an option

“perfect GPA” — is it no wonder that touches the hearts and minds of all young people treat failure as if it were humans. It is one of our ingrained huthe plague? man qualities. Perfection is an imJust last week one of those young possible goal that too often produces adults called unnecessary me stressed stress, anger, out and self-loathing worried that and scores of the deciother negasion to live tive feelings. on campus I am, howmay not have ever, not sugBy Crystal Medeiros been the right gesting that one and this as humans young person we should did not want simply rest to feel like a failure because of it. on our laurels and not strive to be and Sometimes, it is necessary for us — no do the best we can. On the contrary matter our age — to allow ourselves we want to make the effort, but the to fail. For in order for us to truly effort we make should not consume succeed, we must learn and grow and our every thought, feeling or action. we cannot learn and grow if we do not For when we do that, then we are not realize that sometimes failure is an making room for the grace of God to option.

Learning and growing from our failures is a lesson that is also found throughout Scripture. But we must also remember that we must take our failures to God in prayer and we must recognize that in those times of self-doubt and self-discovery that he is with us always. Psalm 73:26 says, “Though my flesh and my heart fail, God is the rock of my heart, my portion forever.”

Failure, in some form or another,

Be Not Afraid

flourish within us. Sometimes, we just need to ask for a little guidance but we must also be attentive that the answer we receive is not always (if ever) the one we want to hear.

“I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me,” (Phil 4:13) is more than a line of verse from Scripture. It serves as a reminder that even though we may stumble, fall and even fail, if we put our strength in him, he will empower us. But we have to overcome overwhelming need for self-control and allow him the opportunity.

So, my apology to Gene Krantz but our continued growth as individuals and a community calls for us to realize that failure is, in fact, an option.

Crystal is assistant director for Youth & Young Adult Ministry for the diocese. She can be contacted at cmedeiros@dfrcec.com.

The Anchor is always pleased to run news and photos about our diocesan youth. If schools or parish Religious Education programs have newsworthy stories and photos they would like to share with our readers, send them to: schools@anchornews.org

a kid at heart — Two children stand with Pope John Paul II in 2005 as they release two white doves off the balcony of the pontiff’s private apartment at the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI approved a miracle attributed to Pope John Paul’s intercession, clearing the way for the late pope’s beatification on May 1, Divine Mercy Sunday. The late pope has also been named patron of World Youth Day in Madrid.

(CNS photo/Catholic Press Photo)

Pope John Paul II named patron of World Youth Day

MADRID (CNS) — The future Blessed Pope John Paul II will be the official spiritual patron of World Youth Day 2011, which will be August 16-21 in Madrid.

The Vatican announced January 14 that Pope Benedict XVI would beatify his predecessor, the pope who founded World Youth Day and presided over many of its largest gatherings around the world.

The same day the Vatican announcement was made, about 200 representatives of bishops’ conferences and youth groups were meeting in Madrid to prepare for the August gathering.

17

Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, told the representatives in Madrid the news of Pope John Paul’s upcoming beatification.

Auxiliary Bishop Cesar Franco Martinez of Madrid, general coordinator of World Youth Day 2011, then announced that the future Blessed Pope John Paul would be one of the official patrons of the gathering. The other patrons are SS. Isidore, Maria de la Cabeza, Teresa of Avila, Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, John of the Cross, John of Avila, Rose of Lima and Rafael Arnaiz.

18

The Anchor

St. Francis House: Closing after eight years continued from page one

Though supplemental money from the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office stopped a few years ago, the Diocese of Fall River continued to provide funding, becoming the primary source of monetary support. Calls reaching out for funds to continue the program hit dead-ends, so with a heavy heart Waters had to find the six women residents alternatives to their ongoing treatment.

“Cindy has a heart of God. She always had time for me.

Cindy took a chance on me and let me start volunteering here,” said resident Annie Drumheiser.

“Mind you, I hadn’t worked legally since I was 25. I felt so proud that somebody trusted me. I saw myself different because of what Cindy did, and I saw people different. That was very big for me.”

Yvonne Williams felt her life was falling apart until she walked through the doors of St.

Francis House. Relishing the structure the program offered, Williams credits Waters as the driving force behind the program’s success.

“I came here and didn’t know what to expect, but as soon as I walked in the door, I met Cindy and we talked for a while,” said Williams. “I came here to stay a few days later and my whole life began to change. It’s the environment and the love from the staff and the other women.

We pull together emotionally and because of our pasts, we’re learning to live life on life’s terms and become mature, and to stay away from drugs and alcohol.

“When I came here, I was taught that I did have a life ahead of me, and that I deserved it. I was taught that I was a lovable person. I was just inspired.

It didn’t feel like a program, it felt like a home.”

This week in

While many of the women expressed having broken spirits upon entering the home, they all embraced the Holy Spirit and the faith-filled foundational message of the program. Resident Lisa Costa was the first woman to receive the sacrament of confirmation in the home, a goal she feels proud to have accomplished.

“I always wanted to do it,” said Costa, who began to tear up as she continued. “I’m scared to death to face the real world.

I’ve been sheltered here for 16 months, but they told me that they’re going to be there for me. They’ve given me tools that I need to move on. I set goals now. I’m devastated it’s closing — devastated. I just thank God that I started my journey here, that I learned a way of life here and not somewhere else. I just thank God that I was lucky enough to have these people in my life and I will take them with me wherever I go.”

Admitting it took a long time to open up to other people, resident Sherri Melia also feels that God played a huge part in her recovery process.

“I can feel God with me everyday,” said Melia, who had attended Catholic schools for most of her youth. “I can feel him when I ask for help, that I’m not by myself anymore.”

Three of the residents will become part of St. Matthew’s House, a single-room occupancy program for sober women; two others will become members of two separate programs run by Catholic Social Services; and one resident has decided to return to her home.

“When I came here, I wasn’t used to being with so many women,” said Desiree Rogers, fresh from her first night sleep-

Diocesan history

50 years ago — Bishop James L. Connolly blessed and dedicated Our Lady’s Chapel located on Pleasant Street in downtown New Bedford. The first Franciscan chapel in New Bedford, adjacent to the new building, was opened May 22, 1956.

10 years ago — The Fall River Diocese honored members of religious orders and institutes of consecrated life as part of the World Day for Consecrated Life. Bishop Sean P. O’Malley, OFM Cap., celebrated a Mass at Holy Name Church, Fall River.

25 years ago — Sacred Heart Sisters Marie du Divin Coeur and Willibrord, residents at the community’s House of Prayer in Fall River, celebrated important milestones. Sister Marie turned 100 and Sister Willibrord turned 102. Best wishes were extended to the Sisters from Bishop Daniel A. Cronin.

One year ago — Fifty pilgrims from across the Fall River Diocese traveled to Washington, D.C. to give thanks for the recent canonization of St. Damien of Molokai with a special Mass celebrated at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

February 4, 2011 ing in her own bed after staying in the home for months. “It was really different for me. I’ve been to college and I have a taste of the college life and this house reminds me of a sorority — all my sisters.”

Rogers paused, and then said, “We need programs like this in the city. Not every program in

the city is a St. Francis program, not organized in this way. I just feel for all the girls out there who will never get the chance to experience what I’ve experienced. I will definitely represent the last St. Francis girls, I will not let them down. I will give this place a good name. It definitely gave me a better life.”

Groups celebrate week for marriage continued from page one

cline of marriage.

In the 10-year period from 1995 to 2005, marriages in the United States dropped five percent, and in Massachusetts they dropped 10 percent. Catholic marriages in the United States decreased by 30 percent during the same time period, according to data provided by the Archdiocese of Boston.

In the Diocese of Fall River, marriages declined by 25 percent in that decade. From 2000 to 2009, marriages in the diocese have declined by more than 40 percent with the deaneries of Attleboro and New Bedford seeing the number drop by more than half, according to statistics provided by the diocese.

The National Marriage Week website notes that on average children brought up with a mother and father do better in school, enjoy better physical and mental health and are less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol. Marriage leads to greater wealth, health, longevity and happiness for the entire family.

In an audio message on the website, Christopher West, a fellow at the Theology of the Body Institute in Pennsylvania, talked about the need each person has to know the proper order of sexuality.

“There’s a hunger in each and every human being to want to understand the meaning of the body and sexuality,” he said.

“But when that hunger is not met from the banquet of God’s plan, we inevitably go to the fast food menu of the culture.”

He stressed that everyone needs to understand “God’s glorious plan for making us male and female.” And precisely because so many people have not been formed in the divine vision of married love, those who have need to get that message out, he said.

On the National Marriage Week website, the community of faith is called the “natural school of marriage” and its organizers strongly recommend that churches institute marriage preparation for engaged couples, something only 28 percent of them are currently doing.

The website also offers tools for individuals who want to

strengthen their own marriages and for faith communities that wish to assist their members and the community at large in the same endeavor.

A wide range of resources are also available through the bishops’ website on marriage, foryourmarriage.org. Like the bishops, many Catholic groups work to strengthen marriage all year round.

Worldwide Marriage Encounter, a marriage enrichment program started by a Spanish priest more than 50 years ago, focuses on communication between husband and wife and teaches them how to live out a sacramental relationship in the service of others. The program is now available in more than 90 countries.

Jim Richard, who, with his wife Elaine, serves as the area leader for Worldwide Marriage Encounter in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, told The Anchor that in the program couples spend a weekend focusing on their marriage.

Busy lives and difficult financial times can cause couples to pull away from each other, he said.

From his own experience of attending the program four years ago, Richard observed, “It brings you closer to God. Instead of pulling apart, you pull together.” Couples leave with stronger, happier marriages and the tools they need to communicate in today’s culture of distraction.

Marriage Encounter also promotes World Marriage Day on February 13. This year’s theme is “Love One Another.”

Catholic Citizenship has provided parishes in the state with a bulletin insert advertising National Marriage Week. It reads in part, “The Church teaches that marriage is between one man and one woman. Although society attempts to redefine it, Catholics unwaveringly defend the traditional understanding of marriage.”

The insert encourages Catholics to pray for marriage and pray that legislators enact laws that protect the institution. They can also support actions that uphold marriage as well as support engaged and married couples, the insert said.

The Anchor

February 4, 2011

Pope says St. Joan of Arc is model for Christian politicians

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — With her deep prayer life and total devotion to serving God and the good of her fellow citizens, St. Joan of Arc is a wonderful model for Christian politicians, Pope Benedict XVI said.

“Hers is a beautiful example of holiness for laypeople involved in politics, especially in difficult situations. Faith is the light that guided all her choices,” the pope said during a recent weekly general audience.

The pope’s remarks about St. Joan were part of a series of audience talks about influential Catholic women of the Middle Ages.

Addressing about 3,000 people gathered for the audience, the pope said that St. Joan of Arc, like St. Catherine of Siena, was a young laywoman and mystic who lived her faith commitment “not in a cloister, but in the midst of the most dramatic realities of the Church and the world of her time.”

St. Joan and St. Catherine are perhaps the best examples of “those strong women who at the end of the Middle Ages brought the Gospel to bear on the complex events of history,” he said.

From the transcripts of the French saint’s trial, “we know that her religious life matured with mystical experiences beginning when she was 13 years old. Through the voice of the Archangel Michael, Joan felt called by the Lord to intensify her Christian life and to work personally for the liberation of her people,” the pope said.

Those involved in condemning her as a heretic and having her burned at the stake included priests and theologians who disagreed with her politically and were un-

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Feb. 6 Most Rev. Frederick A. Donaghy, M.M, Bishop of Wuchow, 1988 Feb. 7 Rev. Arthur N. Robert, O.P., St. Anne Shrine, Fall River, 1991 Feb. 8 Rev. Raymond P. Monty, USAF, Retired Chaplain, 1996 Feb. 9 Rev. Msgr. John J. Kelly, Pastor, SS. Peter & Paul, Fall River, 1963 Rev. Peter J. McKone, S.J., Bishop Connolly High School, Fall River, 1972 Rev. Vincent R. Dolbec, A.A., Assumption College, 1985 Feb. 10 Rev. Edward L. O’Brien, Pastor, St. Mary, Mansfield, 1966 Rev. Lucien A. Madore, Retired Chaplain, Mt. St. Joseph School, Fall River, 1983

Feb. 11 Rev. John O’Connell, Founder, St. John Evangelist, Attleboro, 1910 Rev. John J. Sullivan, S.T.L., Retired Pastor, Holy Rosary, Fall River, 1961 Rev. William J. McMahon, Retired Pastor, St. Joan of Arc, Orleans, 1987

able to overcome that disagreement to judge her fairly, the pope said.

The role of Churchmen in condemning the saint, he said, is a “disturbing and enlightening” picture of the reality of the Church on earth, which as the Second Vatican Council said, “is always holy and is always in need of purification.”

The truth is that St. Joan of Arc was involved in the French political situation because of her total love for Jesus and for her neighbor, he

said. “This saint understood that love embraces the whole reality of God and of man, of heaven and earth, of the Church and the world,” he said.

The young French saint carried a banner with an image of Jesus holding the world, “the icon of her political mission.

The liberation of her people was a work of human justice which Joan engaged in with charity for love of Jesus,” the pope said.

Around the Diocese 2/5

A Day with Mary will take place tomorrow from 8 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. at Our Lady’s Chapel, 600 Pleasant Street in New Bedford. It will include a video instruction, a procession and crowning of the Blessed Mother along with Mass, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and an opportunity for reconciliation. There will be a bookstore available during breaks. For more information call 508-984-1823.

2/7

The Pro-Life Committee of St. Julie Billiart Parish, North Dartmouth, will present a screening of the groundbreaking film “Demographic Winter: Decline of the Human Family” on February 7 at 7 p.m. in the conference room located in the parish offices. The film reveals how societies with diminished family influence are now seen as being in social and economic jeopardy. Popcorn will be served and admission is free.

2/8

The next meeting of the Catholic Cancer Support Group will take place at Our Lady of Victory Parish, Centerville, on February 8. It will begin with Mass and anointing of the sick at 6 p.m. in the church. Following the Mass there will be a pot luck meal in the parish center. All are welcome to attend. For more information call Mary Lees at 508-771-1106.

2/10 2/10

A Healing Mass will be celebrated at St. Anne’s Church, 818 Middle Street, Fall River on February 10 at 6:30 p.m. The rosary will be recited at 6 p.m. and Benediction and healing prayers will be offered after Mass.

The diocesan Divorced and Separated Support Group will meet on February 10 at 7 p.m. in the parish center of St. Julie Billiart Parish, 494 Slocum Road, North Dartmouth. This will be an open meeting with time reserved for all participants to speak freely and openly. For more information call 508-6782828 or 508-993-0589.

2/11

To commemorate the World Day of the Sick and the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, public adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and the anointing of the sick will take place in the chapel of the Father Peyton Center, 518 Washington Street, Easton on February 11 beginning with rosary prayer at 9 a.m. followed by adoration and Mass at noon. The anointing of the sick will be administered during Mass. For more information call 508-238-4095.

2/11

The Sacred Hearts Retreat Center in Wareham and Office of Faith Formation will sponsor a “Retreat for Men and the Boy Within” February 1113, guided by Father Stan Kolasa, SS.CC., and Deacon Bruce Bonneau.

Retreatants will arrive on February 11 at 6 p.m. and will depart on February 13 at 1 p.m.

For more information email retreats@sscc.org or call 508-295-0100.

19 Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese Acushnet — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Fridays 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturdays 8 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays end with Evening Prayer and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.; Saturdays end with Benediction at 2:45 p.m.

ATTLEBORO — St. Joseph Church holds eucharistic adoration in the Adoration Chapel located at the (south) side entrance at 208 South Main Street, Sunday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Brewster — Eucharistic adoration takes place in the La Salette Chapel in the lower level of Our Lady of the Cape Church, 468 Stony Brook Road, on First Fridays following the 11 a.m.

Mass until 7:45 a.m. on the First Saturday, concluding with Benediction and Mass.

Buzzards Bay — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Margaret Church, 141 Main Street, every first Friday after the 8 a.m. Mass and ending the following day before the 8 a.m.

Mass.

East Freetown — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. John Neumann Church every Monday (excluding legal holidays) 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Our Lady, Mother of All Nations Chapel. (The base of the bell tower).

East Sandwich — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at the Corpus Christi Parish Adoration Chapel, 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, Monday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday, 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. Also, 24-hour eucharistic adoration takes place on the First Friday of every month with Benediction at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning.

EAST TAUNTON — Eucharistic adoration takes place First Fridays at Holy Family Church, 370 Middleboro Avenue, following the 8:30 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 8 p.m.

FAIRHAVEN — St. Mary’s Church, Main St., has eucharistic adoration every Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to noon in the Chapel of Reconciliation, with Benediction at noon.

Also, there is a First Friday Mass each month at 7 p.m., followed by a Holy Hour with eucharistic adoration. Refreshments follow.

FALL RIVER — St. Anthony of the Desert Church, 300 North Eastern Avenue, has eucharistic adoration Mondays and Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

FALL RIVER — Holy Name Church, 709 Hanover Street, has eucharistic adoration Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Our Lady of Grace Chapel.

FALL RIVER — Good Shepherd Parish has eucharistic adoration every Friday following the 8 a.m. Mass until 6 p.m. in the Daily Mass Chapel. There is a bilingual Holy Hour in English and Portuguese from 5-6 p.m. Park behind the church and enter the back door of the connector between the church and the rectory.

Falmouth — St. Patrick’s Church has eucharistic adoration each First Friday, following the 9 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 4:30 p.m. The rosary is recited Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.

HYANNIS — A Holy Hour with eucharistic adoration will take place each First Friday at St. Francis Xavier Church, 21 Cross Street, beginning at 4 p.m.

MASHPEE — Christ the King Parish, Route 151 and Job’s Fishing Road has 8:30 a.m. Mass every First Friday with special intentions for Respect Life, followed by 24 hours of eucharistic adoration in the Chapel, concluding with Benediction Saturday morning followed immediately by an 8:30 Mass.

NEW BEDFORD — Eucharistic adoration takes place 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 233 County Street, with night prayer and Benediction at 8:45 p.m., and confessions offered during the evening.

NEW BEDFORD — There is a daily holy hour from 5:15-6:15 p.m. Monday through Thursday at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue. It includes adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Liturgy of the Hours, recitation of the rosary, and the opportunity for confession.

2/11

SEEKONK ­— Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish has eucharistic adoration seven days a week, 24 hours a day in the chapel at 984 Taunton Avenue. For information call 508-336-5549.

2/26

OSTERVILLE — Eucharistic adoration takes place at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 76 Wianno Avenue on First Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and every Friday from noon to 5 p.m., with Benediction at 5 p.m.

A healing Mass in honor of Our Lady of Lourdes that will include anointing of the sick will be celebrated at St. Jude the Apostle Parish, 249 Whittenton Street, Taunton on February 11 at 6 p.m. Father Edward A. Murphy, chaplain at Morton Hospital in Taunton, will celebrate the healing Mass in observance of World Day of the Sick. Recitation of the rosary will precede the Mass at 5:30 p.m. and the sacrament of reconciliation will be available from 5 to 6 p.m. Benediction and a healing service will immediately follow the Mass.

Courage, a group for people dealing with same-sex attraction while trying to live chastely, will next meet on February 26 at 7 p.m. The group is faithful to the Catholic Church’s teaching on human sexuality. The meeting lasts about an hour and all are welcome. For location and more information call Father Richard Wilson at 508-992-9408.

NORTH DIGHTON — Eucharistic adoration takes place every First Friday at St. Nicholas of Myra Church, 499 Spring Street following the 8 a.m. Mass, ending with Benediction at 6 p.m.

The rosary is recited Monday through Friday from 7:30 to 8 a.m.

Taunton — Eucharistic adoration takes place every Tuesday at St. Anthony Church, 126 School Street, following the 8 a.m. Mass with prayers including the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for vocations, concluding at 6 p.m. with Chaplet of St. Anthony and Benediction. Recitation of the rosary for peace is prayed Monday through Saturday at 7:30 a.m. prior to the 8 a.m. Mass.

WAREHAM — Adoration with opportunities for private and formal prayer is offered on the First Friday of each month from 8:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Church, High Street.

The Prayer Schedule is as follows: 7:30 a.m. the rosary; 8 a.m. Mass; 8:30 a.m. exposition and Morning Prayer; 12 p.m. the Angelus; 3 p.m. Divine Mercy Chaplet; 5:30 p.m. Evening Prayer; 7 p.m. sacrament of confession; 8 p.m. Benediction.

WEST HARWICH — Our Lady of Life Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Holy Trinity Parish, 246 Main Street (Rte. 28), holds perpetual eucharistic adoration. We are a regional chapel serving all of the surrounding parishes. All from other parishes are invited to sign up to cover open hours. For open hours, or to sign up call 508-430-4716.

WOODS HOLE — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Joseph’s Church, 33 Millfield Street, year-round on weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. No adoration on Sundays, Wednesdays, and holidays. For information call 508-274-5435.

20

I

t seems like years ago, but in reality it was but a few short weeks when the New England Patriots were the hands-down favorites to win

The Anchor

February 4, 2011

Hoping for a cheesy Super Bowl

Super Bowl XLV. That was before the impossible happened — when the dreaded N.Y. Jets roared through Foxboro and sent the

Pats packing.

The shock waves of that hitand-run event are still reverberating across New England.

Somehow I think we could all

tolerate our weekly nor’easters that proudly displayed the a bit better were the Super prominent “G” surrounded by Bowl favorites actually heada field of (cheese) yellow. ing to Dallas this week.

I fondly recall heading The only saving grace is home after an afternoon of ice that the incredible flying maskating at South Park (now chine from the Meadowlands Kennedy) in Fall River to didn’t make it to the big dance watch the 1967 NFL chameither. I don’t think I could pionship game between the have watched the game if the Pack and the Dallas Cowboys Jets were deep in the heart of played in -15 degree temps Texas this Sunday — much with a windchill of -35 delike when the Yankees are in grees in the Ice Bowl at Lamthe World Series.

Regardless of who is in the Super Bowl each year, it’s still a treat to watch.

And one can’t

By Dave Jolivet watch the game without selecting a team to latch onto. beau Field in Wisconsin.

It’s a no-brainer for me this I danced with glee as Starr year — come Sunday, I will be snuck into the end zone for a cheesehead. the game-winning touchdown As I’ve mentioned several with 16 seconds left. I revelled times in this column, the Patri- in the victory over the Oakots were always my first love land Raiders two weeks later ... even when they were in the in Miami in Super Bowl II. It fledgeling AFL. But when it was the Pack’s fifth champicame to the NFL, I bucked the onship in seven years. I read trend of most New EnglandKramer’s chronicle of that ers, including all of my chums, season, “Instant Replay” three to root for the N.Y. football or four times.

Giants. I was a Packers fan.

I have always maintained I loved Vince Lombardi, an affinity for the Packers up Bart Starr, Willie Davis, Willie to the Brett Favre era. It was Wood, Jerry Kramer, and Ray then I switched allegiances to Nitschke. I loved the helmet the Chicago Bears. But with the exodus of Favre, I was able to reestablish my connection to the cheese state. It will be like old times for me.

Come Sunday at 6:30 p.m., in lieu of wearing a ridiculous cheesehead wedge on my noggin, I’ll crack open a box of Cheez-It crackers and a jar of Cheez Whiz dip and cheer for my Pack. And should they win, I believe it will be time for a reread of “Instant Replay.” What else is there to do when we won’t have a Super Bowl Duck Boat parade to go to in Boston, and when we get a snowstorm every Wednesday?

My View From the Stands