VOL. 46, NO.7· Friday, February 15, 2°92
FALL RIVER, MASS.
Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly • $14 Per Year
Bishop O'Malley's Lenten Letter Ash Wednesday, 2002 Dearly Beloved in Christ, Lent is a time of repentance and conversion, 40 days of retreat into the desert with Jesus who fasted and prayed. This year, lent has a special sense of urgency. September 11 was a spiritual Ash Wednesday that put ashes on all our heads, reminding us of our fragility and mortality. The scandals in our Church have also caused everyone great anxiety and a renewed awareness that we are sinners in need of Christ's redemption. Ten years ago, we went through the Porter Case that forced us to face terrible crimes of the past and to beg forgiveness: diocesan policies were drawn up with help from the victims, victims' parents, judges, lawyers, canonists, social workers, and psychologists. We hired a trained investigator to conduct sex-abuse trainings and to do investigations, when necessary; and we firmly committed to follow reporting laws. We have submitted 17,000 priests, s_nari~.... Church workers, and volunteers to sex abuse trainings and policy background checks. No priest accused of child abuse is working in any parish of the diocese. The recent crisis, however, has indicated that we must be ever more vigilant in making our Church a safe place for children. The diocesan sexual abuse policy, which calls for periodic review, will be examined by the review board and, if necessary, strengthened. Once the work is complete, seminars once again will be conducted throughout the diocese.
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ask all the Catholics of the diocese to make this lent a time of serious renewal and prayer. We'ask for your prayers for the victims of sexual abuse by priests and Church workers. We ask for your prayers for the Turn to page 13 - Lenten Letter
CARMEN S. COLON looks on as her husband Angel Colon translates her witness talk at last Sunday'S 'Welcoming the Stranger Among Us:' program. (AnchotfGordon photo)
Many heed the call to welcome the stranger By MIKE GORDON
Sunday and attended by more than 100 people. FALL RIVER - Irish-born "My faith has given me hope," Mary Martin of St. John the Evan- said Martin. "Hope that we can reach gelist Parish, Attleboro, came to out to everyone an~ become one in America when she was 14 years old God." She noted that the day was a . and told a gathering at Holy Rosary chance for people to realize that we Church that she is "grateful for my are "all united in Christ." She was faith and the good in America." excited that it reached out to many Martin was among the nearly people. dozen people who gave witness talks The Diocesan Council of Cathodescribing their faith experiences lic Women co-sponsored the event during a program entitled ''Welcom-· with the· ethnic apost9lates of the ing the Stranger Among Us," held diocese and the Eparchy of St. ANCHOR STAFF
Maron. It opened with "God Bless America," and included prayers in several languages, and songs and refreshments from different countries. DCCW President Betty Mazzucchelli said the event was a chance to "celebrate diversity," and that she was very happy with the turnout. "My dream is that this might become an annual event." Deemed a success by many of those in attendance, the program gave many an opportunity to share Turn to page six - Stranger
Area religious gather for Mass, fellowship
RELIGIOUS SISTERS of Mercy lucille Socciarelli (left) and Elaine Heffernan and Sister of St. Anne Jacqueline Dubois gather at White's Restaurant in Westport following a Mass for Religious at the Cathedral.
FALL RIVER - Hundreds of area religious joined Bishop Sean P. O'Malley, OFM Cap., for a special Mass for Religious on February 3 at St. Mary'S Cathedral here. The liturgy was in recognition of World Day for Consecrated Life. Attendees later gathered at White's Restaurant in We&tport for dinner and fellowship. Religious Sister of Mercy Elaine Heffernan, the diocesan episcopal representative for religious, was very pleased with the day's events. "Both center aisles at the Cathedral were filled and Bishop 0' Malley gave such a wonderful homily," she said. ''The Mass and meeting later at White's were truly lifting for all of us."
Bishop O'Malley is the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Commission on Religious Life and Ministry. His World Day for Consecrated Life homily follows in its entirety: ''The word 'remnant' appears 65 times in the Bible. It refers to a small group of faithful who have resisted the inexorable vortex of societal pressure turning people away from God, away from fidelity to God. The 'remnant' were often very poor people who depended, not on their personal ability, nor on money or military might, but only on God. It was with the 'remnant' that God could always refound Israel, return to the ideals and the mission. Turn to page 13 - Religious