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VOL. 37, NO.5.
F ALL RIVER, MASS.
Friday, February 5, 1993
Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
•
$11 Per Year
Pope visits troubled Africa
BLESSED CLAUDINE
SISTER DINA
Rare double honor
Jesus Mary nuns to be canonized, beatified Three Religious of Jesus and Mary serving in the Fall River diocese are among hundreds. of members oftheir community look-ing forward to attending the March 21 canonization of their foundress and beatification of a community member who died in this century. The__Fall River representatives are Sister 'Paulette M.arie, principal of Notre Dame SCfiool;--Fall River; Sister Delvina, a foster grandmother at St. Vincent's Horne, Fall River; and Sister Gertrude, organist for Notre Dame parish, Fall River, who also gives
all about
music lessons at the community's COl)vent. In Rome, in a most unusual occurrence for a religious community, they will be celebrating both the canonization of Claudine Thevenet, who grew up amid the turmoil of the French Revolution; and the beatification of Dina Belanger, born in Quebec in 1897 and noted for her deep interior life. Claudine Thevenet Blessed Claudine was born in Lyons, France, on March 30,1774 Turn to Page II
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WASHINGTON (CNS) - As Pope John Paul II arrives in Uganda on his 10th trip to Africa, the continent and its more than 800 million people seem as troubled as ever. Troops have rioted in the capitals of Zaire and Togo, peace is on the ropes in Angola, Kenya's president has shut down the newly elected Parliament, and Al DS continues to spread across Uganda and other countries. There is continued bloody political-sectarian war in Sudan, while Somalia ·seems to be functioning as a country thanks only to U.S. Marine firepower. But Africans throughout the continent are also trying to tackle and overcome some of their daunting political, social and economic problems. Catholics - African and foreign - are involved. Mozambique, with the help of an Italian Catholic society, has apparently achieved a stable peace after years of civil war; Kenya, despite the action of President Daniel arap Moi, held multiparty elections for the first time. ill years; and South Africa is makingsteady, if painful, progress toward an integrated society. Sudan, the laSt country on the pope's itinerary, will be a testing ground for Pope John Paul II's continuous call to solidarity in opposing human rights abuses and in favor of negotiated peace settlements, a religious magazine said. On Feb. 10 the pope is scheduled-tovisit Khartoum, "the capital of the country where the gr!l~:
est holocaust of our time is burning," said an editorial in the February issue of Nigrizia, a magazine published by the Comboni Missionaries in Verona. The magazine said the pope's nine-hour stay in Khartoum is historic because it marks the first time a pontiff will visit "a nation ruled by·a fundamentalist Islamic government." For a decade, Sudan has been involved in a civil war between the
240,000 postcards mailed 80,000 Catholics in the Fall River diocese sent 240,000 postcards to Congress as part of the National Project Life Sunday postcard drive Jan. 24, said Father Stephen A. Fernandes, director of the Diocesan ProLife Apostolate. Participants signed three postcards each, to their senators and congressional representative, asking the legislators to oppose the Freedom or' Choice Act and other proabortion legislation. . FOCA has been decried by pro-life groups as the most radical pro-abortion proposal to date. It would institute a national policy of abortion on demand, prohibiting any restrictions on abortion throughout the nine months of pregnancy. Turn to Page II
Arab-Muslim government of the North and the black Christians and animists of the South. Nigrizia said the pope's visit takes place at a moment "when relations between the church and state are very tense." "The government, in fact, has assumed a hostile attitude toward the Catholic community, especially after the bishops openly accused the regime of Omar AI-Bashir of supporting a policy of genocide against the black populations of the South and of Kordofan," the magazine said. It is an accepted risk that AIBashir's government will try to use the pope's visit to legitimize itself in the eyes of the world, the editorial said. "We are certain, however, that John Paul II will express - as he has already done - his support of and encouragment for the persecuted Sudanese Christian communities and loudly make his voice heard condemning the systematic violations of the most elementary human rights perpetrated by the Islamic military junta in power." Being a guest of the.country he will be criticizing will be a test for the pope, "who has made solidarity one of the pivotal words of his pontificate; a solidarity which sometimes can assume the characteristics of a true opposition," the magazine said. . Nigrizia also said it will be interesting to see how the pope translates his ideas about violence and humanitarian intervention in a sitTurn to Page II
Getting ftAII Together So you have subscribed to the Anchor. It arrives 50 weeks of the year, filled with news about the life of the church from your local parish to faraway missions to the halls of the Vatican. But where does it all come from? As you read this, the presses have cooled, letter carriers have delivered it to your doorstep and Anchor staffers are already hard at work compiling another week's tidings to greet and inform you Feb. 19. It is an occupational hazard that even we do not know what they will be. We have some idea, of course. Father John Moore will zero in on a timely issue from the mainstream, giving it that unique Catholic angle. His editorial page musings are complemented, on alternate weeks, by comments from Father Kevin Harrington. And we can count on the commentaries of CNS columnists Antoinette Bosco, Dolores Curran, Dr. James and Mary Kenny and Father John Dietzen. There will be an occasional glimpse at life on
the zany side from humorist Dan aged to send us their bulletins and Morris, a bit of nostalgia from word of interesting happenings. Bernard Casserly on the senior Diocesan agencies are goldmines page, and weekly insights into the of potential stories. Sunday Scriptures from Father Catholic School publicity and Roger Karban. development personnel keep us up But while these contributions to date on the noteworthy acarrive with clockwork regularity, complishments of their students. their own deadlines etched in stone, A phone call or note is all it breaking news knows no bounds takes for us to extend our view of time. from Fall River to the Attleboros, Catholic News Service wire sto- the Cape and all points between. ries arrive in steady rhythm, trans- As a topic beckons, Anchor feamitted via satellite from Washing- ture reporter Marcie Hickey is ton DC and appearing with techno- dispatched with trademark camera magic on the Anchor printer in the and pen to capture the moment. Highland Avenue, Fall River, ofOnce the week's news - from fice of Anchor staffer Pat Mc- the lead story in bold headline to Gowan, who is thus very well the last Steering Point - is asinformed. sembled and ads are readied by While CNS supplies word of General Manager Rosemary Dusimportant happenings around the . sault, the editorial staff relocates world, the Anchor must also mon- from Highland Ave. to Leary Press, .itor the heartbeat of our own dio- in view of the heart of the diocese, cese - its struggles, its heroes and St. Mary's Cathedral. heroines, its innovations, how we Here, on Tuesdays and Wedlive the Christian life in today's nesdays, concept becomes printed world, right here, right now. page amidst a flurry of activity To learn about that and make it always subject to last minute news known, we must hear from You, Turn to Page Seven the readers. Parishes are encour-