02 28 14

Our Lenten Journey Diocese of Fall River, Mass.

F riday , February 28, 2014

HCFM to air Lenten series

Lent: A time for healing the soul

EASTON — Continuing the tradition of its founder, Servant of God Father Patrick Peyton, C.S.C., of bringing the Good News to Catholics through modern social media, Holy Cross Family Ministries, headquartered in Easton, is offering area faithful a Lenten cable TV series paralleling the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, beginning on Ash Wednesday.

The half-hour program will run each Wednesday at 9 p.m. on Comcast channel 9 and Verizon channel 22.

The family faith series, which is age-appropriate for middle-school children as well as adults, will be hosted by HCFM president, Father John Phalen, C.S.C., author of the book,

NORTH DIGHTON — Marked with ashes in the sign of the cross on the forehead, people proclaim their Catholic faith for all to see on Ash Wednesday, living the evangelical message that Jesus preached in Galilee: “Turn away from sin and believe the Good News.”

A day of introspection observed by fasting, abstinence from meat and repentance, Ash Wednesday is the first day of the 40-day period of Lent, which lasts until Holy Thursday.

Throughout Lent area parishes will open their doors to penitents offering the distribution of ashes, missions, retreats, Eucharistic Adoration, Stations of the Cross, and special Masses and observances during Holy Week, culminating in the joyous celebration of the Savior’s resurrection at Easter.

“I look forward to Lent,” said Father Paul C. Fedak, pastor of St. Nicholas of Myra Parish in North Dighton. “During the season of Lent we draw closer to Jesus. We make sacrifices and go without to remind us that we need Jesus to be part of our lives.”

A reminder of human mortality and repentance, ashes are imposed on the foreheads of faithful with the words:

By Dave Jolivet Anchor Editor

Turn to page 14

This five-video series produced by Holy Cross Family Ministries, paralleling the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, will air on cable TV this Lent.

By Linda Andrade Rodrigues Anchor Correspondent

Actor Diogo Morgado portrays Jesus during His arrival in Jerusalem in a scene from the new movie “Son of God” that opens this weekend in theaters throughout the diocese. The feature film about the life of Christ should be seen as “a love story” according to its executive producers, the husband-and-wife team of Mark Burnett and Roma Downey.

Diocesan faithful eager to see ‘Son of God’ this weekend

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

MASHPEE — Kathy Laird, director of Faith Formation and youth minister at Christ the King Parish in Mashpee, remembers the closing scene in Franco Zeffirelli’s 1977 TV mini-series “Jesus of Nazareth” making an indelible impression on her.

“I tell my kids that during that very last scene — where Jesus is looking at His disciples, but He’s also looking right at the

camera — and He says ‘I’ll be with you until the end of time’ … I feel like He’s talking to me,” Laird told The Anchor.

So when she joins her Faith Formation students and youth group members at screenings of the new film “Son of God” this weekend, Laird hopes they’ll somehow have a similar reaction to seeing a depiction of Christ on the big screen.

“My experience with (‘Jesus of Nazareth’) is that I know how much He loves Turn to page 15

Turn to page 18

Clarifying the annulment process

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — While the Sacrament of Marriage is Sacred, the annulment process is often misunderstood, explained Father Jeffrey Cabral, judicial vicar of the Tribunal Office of the Fall River Diocese. The Church tribunal, better known as the Catholic Church court, declares that through an annulment process a Marriage thought to be valid according to Church law actually falls short of at least one of the crucial components required for a binding union, thus declaring the Marriage invalid or null.

The misconception regarding exactly what an annulment is, and how the procedure unfolds, is often based on the fact that the Church tribunal tends to use the same terminology heard in civil law: “We use the words ‘trial’ or ‘case’ or ‘petitioner’ and [people] have that visual

of being in the same room before a judge and it’s not that way,” said Father Cabral, adding that when it comes to annulments, no one has to come face-to-face in any of the proceedings. “Church canon law is more investigatory; never are the two parties in the same room or see each other. It’s more of an investigation; our investigation is what we call the ‘trial.’”

There are several steps involved before declaring an annulment of the Marriage, and the first step is to work through the civil court before proceeding through the Church court. A divorce must be finalized before an annulment can even be filed, said Father Cabral, adding that part of the documentation required by those filing for an annulment includes the final divorce decree.

Last year more than 100 annulment cases made their way through the Fall River Tribunal Office, and each Turn to page 12

Judicial vicar of the Fall River diocesan Tribunal Office, Father Jeffrey Cabral, often references the “Code of Canon Law” during annulment procedures. (Photo by Becky Aubut)

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News From the Vatican

February 28, 2014

Pope: By taking care of elders, families show world all life has value

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis said the worst thing about growing old is not becoming weaker or infirm, but the “abandonment, the exclusion, the deprivation of love” in today’s “throwaway culture.”

The pope’s remarks came in a written message sent to bioethicists, scientists, healthcare professionals, religious, theologians and other experts attending the Pontifical Academy for Life’s February 20-21 workshop on “Aging and Disability.”

The pope thanked the academy for its “often tiring work, because it demands going against the tide” in a world facing the “tyrannical domination of an economic logic that excludes and sometimes kills.”

“We have created a ‘throwaway’ culture” that is no longer about exploitation or oppression, but about treating people as “the outcasts, the ‘leftovers,’” he wrote, citing his apostolic exhortation, “Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”).

The elderly are particularly affected by this trend of exclusion, especially if they are ill, disabled or vulnerable in other ways, he wrote.

People forget that human relationships “are always relationships of reciprocal dependence” in which the degree of dependence changes over the course of a person’s life, especially at its early and later stages and during periods of illness or suffering.

“The loss of health and hav-

ing a disability are never a good reason for exclusion or, worse, eliminating a person,” he wrote in the message.

The best place to learn the real value of human life and the duty of solidarity is the family, he wrote.

“In the family you can learn that the loss of health is not a reason to discriminate against some human lives; the family teaches not to succumb to individualism and to strike a balance between the ‘I’ and the ‘we.’”

It’s in the family that people learn that taking care of others is “a foundation of human existence,” the pope wrote. How families treat and care for their elders “becomes critical in order to reconfirm before all of society the importance of older people” and the active role they should play in the community.

Though older people may seem to “take without anything to give,” he wrote, their experience “warns us not to foolishly repeat our past mistakes.”

Pope Francis noted the academy was celebrating 20 years since Blessed John Paul II established it to promote the dignity of life and study current challenges to life in the fields of medicine and law.

The academy’s work is meant to “let people of goodwill know that science and technology, when put at the service of the human person and his or her fundamental rights, contribute to the integral well-being of the person,” Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis blesses prisoners from Pisa and Pianosa jails during a private meeting at the Vatican recently. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters)

Pope calls for ‘intelligent, courageous, loving’ approach to families

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Opening a two-day meeting of the world’s cardinals, Pope Francis said the Church’s pastoral approach to helping couples must be “intelligent, courageous and full of love” because the family today is “looked down upon and mistreated.”

“Our reflection must keep before us the beauty of the family and Marriage, the greatness of this human reality, which is so simple, yet so rich, made up of joys and hopes, of struggles and sufferings,” the pope told the cardinals February 20 as they began meeting in the Vatican synod hall.

Pope Francis arrived in the synod hall before many of the approximately 150 cardinals and cardinals-designate in attendance.

He stood in the narrow entryway, greeting those who arrived after him, while the others renewed old friendships, met the new cardinals or sat quietly praying or reading.

After a prayer service, led by the Sistine Chapel choir, Pope Francis thanked the cardinals for coming and told them their two days of discussions would focus on the family, “which is the basic cell of human society. From the beginning, the Creator blessed man and woman so that they might be fruitful and multiply,” being a reflection of God, one and triune, in the world.

The cardinals should try to avoid “falling into casuistry,” the pope said, and instead attempt “to deepen the theology of the family and discern the pastoral practices, which our present situation requires.”

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said his understanding of the pope’s warning about “casuistry” was that it was a plea to “avoid a fragmentation of the discussion by focusing on too many particular cases” and never getting to the point of discerning a general approach

that should guide the Church’s pastoral activity. “I think he is saying that our discussion should not be too fragmented by listing specifically difficult situations or cases that have touched us.”

While many in the world today look down on and even mistreat the family, Pope Francis said, the Church must help people recognize “how beautiful, true and good it is to start a family,” and must find better ways to help Catholic couples live God’s “magnificent plan for the family.”

The cardinals’ two-day discussion with Pope Francis was introduced by retired German Cardinal Walter Kasper, a theologian who has written a book Pope Francis admired on mercy as one of the most basic traits of God and as the key to living a Christian life, individually and as the Church.

In the early 1990s, while he was a diocesan bishop, he and two other German bishops tried to institute a policy that in certain circumstances would allow divorced and civilly remarried couples to return to the Sacraments even without an annulment. The Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith forced the bishops to drop the plan.

According to the Vatican spokesman, Cardinal Kasper dedicated one section of his talk to the theme of divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, a topic Father Lombardi said obviously was on the minds of many participants.

The spokesman said Cardinal Kasper treated the topic “broadly,” insisting that the Church’s response had to show “fidelity to the words of Jesus” and an understanding of the “mercy of God in the lives of people and, therefore, in the pastoral work of the Church.”

The cardinal’s talk included “many references” to the words of Pope Benedict XVI on the topic,

Father Lombardi said, and encouraged the cardinals to look for a path that was neither too strict nor too lenient, with a “penitential path and the Sacrament of Penance” offering possible solutions for helping the divorced and civilly remarried return to the Sacraments.

The Vatican spokesman described Cardinal Kasper’s presentation, which he said the Vatican had no plans to publish, as a broad overview of the theology and reality of the family. It took the cardinal about two hours to read the text, he said.

Father Lombardi said Cardinal Kasper’s talk was an attempt to be realistic about the family today, in the context of its place in God’s plan “for the good of all persons and humanity itself.”

The text also discussed problems the Church faces in pastoral work, he said, “but it did not focus exclusively on these problems.”

“We must have a positive point of departure and rediscover and proclaim the Gospel of the family in all its beauty,” Cardinal Kasper said, according to Father Lombardi. “The truth convinces through its beauty, (and) we must contribute with words and actions to making sure that people find happiness in the family and, in that way, they can witness their joy to others.”

Cardinal Kasper said it was essential for the Church to develop more fully its teaching that the family is the “domestic Church, making it the privileged pathway of the New Evangelization and of the renewal of the Church.”

The German cardinal also told his confreres that “in families, the Church encounters the reality of life; for this reason, families are the proving ground of our pastoral work and an urgent point for the New Evangelization. The family is the future, including for the Church.”

3 The International Church Pope establishes panel, with lay members, to oversee Vatican finances February 28, 2014

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In a move reflecting his drive to reform the Vatican bureaucracy and his oft-stated desire to include lay people in the leadership of the Church, Pope Francis established a new panel to include almost as many lay members as clerics and to oversee the finances of the Holy See and Vatican City State.

Another new office, to be headed by Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, will implement the panel’s policies.

The Vatican announced the changes in a statement February 24, explaining they would “enable more formal involvement of senior and experienced experts in financial administration, planning and reporting, and will ensure better use of resources,” particularly for “our works with the poor and marginalized.”

The Council for the Economy will include “eight cardinals and bishops to reflect the universality of the Church” and “seven lay experts of dif-

ferent nationalities with strong professional financial experience,” the Vatican said.

They will “meet on a regular basis and to consider policies and practices and to prepare and analyze reports on the economic-administrative activities of the Holy See.” The lay members of the new council will exercise an unprecedented level of responsibility for non-clerics in the Vatican, where the highest offices have always been reserved for cardinals and bishops. The Vatican did not release any names of council members.

Reporting to the council will be the new Secretariat for the Economy, which will exercise “authority over all the economic and administrative activities within the Holy See and the Vatican City State,” including budget making, financial planning, hiring, procurement and the preparation of detailed financial statements.

“I have always recognized the need for the Church to

be guided by experts in this area and will be pleased to be working with the members of the new Council for the Economy as we approach these tasks,” Cardinal Pell said in a statement released by the Archdiocese of Sydney, which said he would take up his new position at the Vatican “by the end of March.”

Cardinal Pell is a “man who’s got financial things at his fingertips, and he’s a man who’s very decisive, and I think he’s a got a good understanding of how Roman affairs work,” South African Cardinal Wilfred F. Napier of Durban, who sat on one of the advisory panels that reviewed the arrangements before the pope’s decision, told Catholic News Service.

Pope Francis established the council and the secretariat with an apostolic letter given “motu proprio” (on his own initiative), dated February 24, with the title “Fidelis dispensator et prudens” (“Faithful and prudent steward”), a quotation

Catholic leaders praise missioners who stay in Central African Republic

OXFORD, England (CNS) — Catholic leaders in the Central African Republic praised the courage of missionary priests and nuns who remained in the country during the current conflict, despite offers of evacuation.

“That most have remained here is the greatest act of witness our Church has given,” said Bishop Nestor-Desire Nongo Aziagbia of Bossangoa, Central African Republic.

“Even when life is insecure, people still look to their priests and religious as a sign of hope and to Catholic missions as places of refuge. This makes their continued presence very important,” he told Catholic News Service in a recent telephone interview.

The bishop said most missionaries and foreign religious order members had defied dangers and remained in the Central African Republic, where French and African forces are attempting to restore order after more than a year of fighting.

Bishop Nongo said some members of his diocese’s religious congregations had been forced to leave.

“One group of nuns called me in the morning to say their house had been under fire all

night,” the bishop told CNS. “But even then, though their lives were at stake and they clearly couldn’t stay, one of the nuns still decided to remain.”

The bishops’ conference president, Archbishop Dieudonne Nzapalainga of Bangui, told the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need that missionaries provided “reference points and ramparts” for local people as a “manifestation of the power of love.”

“In many places, the missionaries have stayed and haven’t wanted to leave, although we placed no obligation on them and left them free to decide,” Archbishop Nzapalainga said.

“They should be given support to remain as a light in the night. In every crisis, when the missionaries stay, their presence has a mitigating effect,” he added.

Catholics make up around a third of the 4.4 million inhabitants of the Central African Republic, one of the world’s poorest countries; Muslims are about 15 percent.

Missionary clergy and religious order members, many from the U.S., France, Italy, Spain and Poland, as well as from other African countries, have helped circulate infor-

mation and offered shelter to some of the estimated one million people displaced by the violence, which has continued despite the December deployment of 1,600 French paratroopers under a U.N. mandate.

Capuchin Father Serge Mbremandji told the Italian publication La Stampa that, in January, members of the Islamist-dominated Seleka movement had gone “on a shooting spree” at a Catholic mission in Bocaranga, forcing its priests, nuns and catechists to flee.

Polish Capuchin Father Benedykt Paczek told his country’s Radio Plus he had taken refuge at a school after his mission at Ngaoundaye was raided and burned by rebels. He added that the 38 Polish missionaries working at nine separate locations had rejected offers of evacuation by their country’s foreign ministry.

In his ACN interview, Archbishop Nzapalainga said he believed the continuing violence had made people “more fervent” in religious beliefs and practices.

He added that he also had rejected offers of asylum during a January visit to France, concluding “the devil scatters, but God brings together.”

from the Gospel according to St. Luke. The same letter provides for the appointment of an auditor general, “who will be empowered to conduct audits of any agency of the Holy See and Vatican City State at any time.”

The motu proprio makes no mention of the Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican bank.

The pope acted on recommendations from the Pontifical Commission for Reference on the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See, which he established in July to review accounting practices in Vatican offices and devise strategies for greater fiscal responsibility and transparency.

According to the Vatican, the commission “recommended changes to simplify and consolidate existing management structures and improve coordination and oversight across” the Vatican bureaucracy, and called for a “more formal commitment to adopting accounting standards and generally accepted financial management and reporting practices as well as enhanced internal controls, transparency and governance.”

The recommendations were “considered and endorsed” by the pope’s eight-member advisory Council of Cardinals, which met for its third session February 17-19, and the 15-member Council of Cardi-

nals for the Study of the Organizational and Economic Problems of the Holy See, which met for the last time February 24, since it ceased to exist upon the establishment of the new council.

According to Cardinal Napier, a member of the defunct council, at least some of the prelates on the new panel will be drawn from the former 15-member body.

“Something really to be needed to be done,” Cardinal Napier said of the pope’s actions. “For instance, there was no serious budgeting that you could call budgeting. It was quite clear that some of the procedures and processes that were in place were not adequate for today’s world.”

The conclave that elected Pope Francis in March 2013 took place amid controversy provoked by the previous year’s “VatiLeaks” of confidential correspondence sensationally documenting corruption and incompetence in various parts of the Vatican bureaucracy.

Among other measures in his first year, Pope Francis established a special commission to investigate the Vatican bank, expanded the scope and enforcement of Vatican City laws against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, and set in motion an overhaul of the Church’s central administration, the Roman Curia.

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February 28, 2014 The Church in the U.S. Catholic Marriage preparation needs to better ‘evangelize’

Denver (CNA/EWTN News) — The head of a major U.S. missionary apostolate says that evangelization — not simple catechesis — is needed to prepare Catholics for good Marriages by putting Jesus Christ at the center of their lives.

“We have got to recognize the difference between evangelization and catechesis,” Curtis Martin, co-founder of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, told CNA. “There is an attempt, by some of the best Marriage preparation people in the country, to give all the catechesis about Marriage that they possibly can, and they haven’t evangelized on the importance of Christian Marriage.”

“You’re actually filling them with information but they don’t know why they need it.”

Catholics preparing for Marriage should have “actually

encountered Christ and have chosen to make Him the center of their lives, so that this is the driving force in their life and the most important relationship.”

“That is fundamental,” he said.

Martin and his wife Michaelann began the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, known as FOCUS, in 1998. The student missionary organization now has more than 350 missionaries on 83 U.S. campuses.

Martin, a father of nine, has served as a consultor to the Pontifical Council on the New Evangelization since 2011. He said that changes are needed for Marriage preparation in the Catholic Church.

“Nobody wants to marry badly. But our Marriage preparation is not engaging, it is not compelling, it is not effective, despite the fact that we’ve got

some of the most sincere, wonderful people trying to do it.”

Marriage preparation is often perceived as “mostly onerous” and something that must be done in order to marry in the parish one’s parents want.

Martin suggested that Marriage preparation could be a winning moment to introduce people to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and explain “why the Catholic faith can make all the difference in the Marriage they’re hoping to enter into, and succeed in.”

While it is possible to have a lifelong Marriage without supernatural grace, Martin said, “to really be able to love one another with the love of God requires that you have actually known and experienced the love of God.” “The Church’s teachings about Marriage are actually impossible to live without God’s grace,” he said.

‘Restorative justice,’ not death penalty, urged for Tsarnaev

WASHINGTON (CNS) — In light of the proposed death penalty for 20-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, “Jesus weeps ... again” at the injustice, the Conference of Major Superiors of Men said in a recent statement. “Christ calls us to love our enemies and travel the long, difficult, but humanizing and liberating road to Reconciliation,” the conference said.

The CMSM statement came in response to U.S. Attorney

General Eric Holder announcing the federal government will seek the death penalty against Tsarnaev, currently being held in federal prison for his alleged role in the Boston Marathon attacks. The Catholic Church opposes the death penalty in nearly all cases, saying that “the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity are very rare, if not practically nonexistent.”

For some, Tsarnaev’s case is

no exception. “The death penalty is sort of an illusion (that) we can protect life by taking it,” said Catherine Jarboe, director for Catholic State Networks and Organizations at the Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty. “We’re perpetuating the cycle of violence.” CMSM said it weeps for “all the harm done” at the bombings in April, including the harm Tsarnaev and his family felt.

Martin stressed the importance of what he called “remote preparation” for Marriage, forming young people even before they are in relationships.

“Once you’re in love, you’re not going to listen to principles that are going to cause you to break up with that person.”

Rather, knowing these principles will help guide young people about who they fall in love with and help their chances of marrying well, he said.

“Our issue here is that most people have not encountered Jesus Christ and been able to accept Him as the Lord of their life. That’s what the Church exists to do: to evangelize,” Martin said. “Only after that are we going to learn how to follow Christ.

“We’re actually meant to live with God at the center of our lives,” he said. “Jesus comes and restores Marriage to its original state, which was meant to be lived in the state of grace.”

Martin also discussed the problems of divorce and remarriage. He suggested that the high number of annulments in the Catholic Church in the U.S. is due to the fact that the Church is witnessing Marriages that are not valid.

At the same time, he noted that those who are validly married but in a sexual union with someone else, are living in “an objective state of adultery.”

This is “according to Je-

sus Christ, not the Catholic Church,” he added.

“The Church is not the final judge of Marriage. She is the arbiter. God has established the rules, we are not free to change them. We are free to live by them and implement them.”

Martin believes that Pope Francis is trying to address the “disaster” of “far too many broken Marriages” through pastoral care.

“There’s an enormous number of people, millions of millions of people, who live in deep pain every day, because of the breakdown of family. They are loved by God, and we need to manifest that love.”

He said the Church is considering how to be “much more sensitive” to those who are suffering and how to help repair the situation.

Martin said FOCUS has taught its students and staffers “how to be brothers and sisters, how to love people in a non-sexual way.”

“That’s radically important,” he said. “That’s why, as far as we can tell, we’ve watched over 100 staff Marriages,” he said.

In 15 years and 100 Marriages, he said, there has been “not a single divorce.”

He said staffers “learned to love each other as brothers and sisters first, then romance came.” This meant they could receive the Sacrament of Marriage with “a certain kind of foundation.”

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February 28, 2014

Pope tells cardinals they are servants, not courtiers

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Celebrating Mass with the newest members of the College of the Cardinals one day after their elevation, Pope Francis urged them to regard their new role not as one of worldly honor but of humble service and sacrifice.

“A cardinal enters the Church of Rome, not a royal court,” the pope said in his homily February 23, during morning Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. “May all of us avoid, and help others to avoid, habits and ways of acting typical of a court: intrigue, gossip, cliques, favoritism and preferences.”

“May our language be that of the Gospel: ‘yes when we mean yes; no when we mean no,’” he said. “May our attitudes be those of the Beatitudes and our way be that of holiness.”

Pope Francis celebrated the Mass with 18 of the 19 men he had raised to the rank of cardinal the previous day in the same basilica. Cardinal Loris Capovilla, who at age 98 is now the oldest

member of the college, was absent on both occasions for reasons of health.

The 18 new cardinals, clad in the green vestments of the Liturgical season of ordinary time, sat in a near semicircle around the main altar. More than a hundred of their fellow cardinals, also serving as concelebrants, sat in rows at the front of the congregation.

Retired Pope Benedict, whose appearance at the previous day’s consistory had surprised practically all the participants, did not return to the basilica for the Mass.

Pope Francis’ call for humility echoed a letter he had sent the new cardinals shortly after the announcement of their elevation in January, telling them that a red hat “does not signify a promotion, an honor or a decoration; it is simply a form of service that requires expanding your vision and enlarging your heart,” and that they should celebrate their new distinction only in an “evangeli-

cal spirit of austerity, sobriety and poverty.”

In his homily, the pope said that “Jesus did not come to teach us good manners, how to behave well at the table. To do that, He would not have had to come down from Heaven and die on the cross. Christ came to save us, to show us the way, the only way out of the quicksand of sin, and this is mercy.”

“To be saint is not a luxury,” he said. “It is necessary for the Salvation of the world.”

Quoting from the day’s reading from the Gospel according to St. Matthew, in which Jesus enjoins His disciples to love their enemies and pray for their persecutors, the pope said cardinals are called to live out that injunction with even “greater zeal and ardor” than other Christians.

“We love, therefore, those who are hostile to us; we bless those who speak ill of us; we greet with a smile those who may not deserve it,” he said. “We do not aim

Amendment to U.S. Constitution urged to protect traditional Marriage

WASHINGTON (CNS) — A Marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution “would secure in law throughout the country the basic truth known to reason that Marriage is the union of one man and one woman,” said San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone.

In a February 19 letter, he urged the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the Marriage Protection Amendment, a joint resolution sponsored by Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., and introduced last August.

The archbishop, who is chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, urged other House members to co-sponsor the measure.

To amend the U.S. Constitution, it must be approved by twothirds of the House and the U.S. Senate and then be ratified by three-fourths of the states.

“An amendment to the U.S. Constitution is the only remedy in law against this judicial activism that may ultimately end with federal judges declaring that the U.S. Constitution requires states, and consequently the federal government, to redefine Marriage,” the archbishop wrote in the letter, which was addressed to Huelskamp.

Archbishop Cordileone was referring to recent federal court decisions striking down a number of state Marriage laws.

One of the most recent was a February 13 ruling by a federal judge that struck down Virginia’s voter-approved ban on samesex marriage as unconstitutional.

U.S. District Court Judge Arenda Wright Allen stayed her ruling to allow an appeal to be filed, so same-sex marriage licenses will not be granted immediately.

In recent months, decisions similar to Wright Allen’s have been handed down by federal judges in Utah and Oklahoma.

On February 12, a federal judge ruled that Kentucky must recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states or other countries; a Kentucky couple sued the state to force the state to issue same-sex marriage licenses.

Similar lawsuits have been filed in Alabama and Louisiana.

Catholic and other opponents

of same-sex marriage point to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Windsor that found the federal Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional but also required the federal government to respect the primacy of the states in defining Marriage.

Archbishop Cordileone wrote that “just as Roe v. Wade mandated a constitutional right to abortion throughout the country, we now have the possibility of another bad decision mandating a constitutional change in the meaning of Marriage in order to promote (at least to begin with) ‘marriages’ between two people of the same sex throughout the country.”

He told Huelskamp the proposed Marriage Protection Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is “a needed remedy.”

to assert ourselves; we oppose arrogance with meekness; we forget the humiliations that we have endured.”

The pope’s words recalled his previous day’s talk to the cardinals — whose traditional scarlet garb is said to symbolize the blood of martyrs — when he called on them to pray for “all Christians suffering from discrimination and persecution” and “every man and woman suffering injustice on account of his or her religious convictions.”

Following the Mass, the pope

appeared at the window of his office in the Apostolic Palace and addressed a crowd in St. Peter’s Square before praying the noon Angelus.

He said the weekend’s gathering of the world’s cardinals was a “precious occasion for experiencing the catholicity of the Church, well represented by the varied origins of the members of the College of Cardinals, gathered in close communion around the Successor of Peter. And may the Lord gives us the grace to work for the unity of the Church.”

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February 28, 2014

Anchor Editorial

Remembering our brothers and sisters

As Dave Jolivet writes on page 11, we’re all looking for the sun (and even more so, for the Son) during these days. George Weigel reminds us at the end of his column on page eight that anything we are enduring for the faith in this country is nothing in comparison with the violent darkness so many of our brothers and sisters in the faith are enduring throughout the world. They look to the Son to be their light during these terrible days.

The violence and subsequent change of government (one hopes permanently) of the Ukrainian regime has attracted much attention over these weeks, especially convenient to the news media gathered in neighboring Sochi, Russia. There most of the people involved were at least nominally Christians, be they Orthodox or Catholic. Religion has not been a major factor in the civil strife in Kiev; rather the dispute has focused on abuses of proMoscow government against a pro-Western populace.

Meanwhile, the slaughters in Syria continue, with a variety of strains of Islam battling each other and Christians. During February there was a momentary return of the world’s attention to the atrocities going on in that country, while refugees complain about being ignored and neglected by most of the outside world.

In the Central African Republic (as you can read on page three) violence continues.

It had commenced a few months ago, when Seleka rebels (almost all of whom are from the minority Moslem population) began terrorizing the majority Christian population.

In response, secular France, alarmed at the bloodshed, intervened in the country, together with peacekeeping troops from other African countries. Unfortunately, the evil one then inspired many Christians to seek revenge on any Moslems they could get their hands on (and kill). At present the forces of Moslem-majority Chad are trying to protect the Moslems (some say that they are favoring them against the Christians), while France and the other countries try to restore calm.

Also in February the United Nations issued a report on the bloodthirsty cruelty of the North Korean Communist regime (which makes Ukraine look like Utopia). In his column George Weigel mentioned some of the barbarities which the Kim regime has done to our Christian siblings.

South of us in Venezuela, mainly ignored due to the attention Eurasia gets in the news, the part of the populace is revolting under Hugo Chavez’ successor. A baker’s dozen of people have died there (at press time). The Church has offered to be a mediator between the protesters and the government. Bishop Mario del Valle Moronta Rodriguez of San Cristobal, Venezuela wrote, “In the name of the Lord Jesus, we call for an end to violence of all kinds — verbal, aggression, crackdowns — and we seek to show that we are ‘people of peace.’ We deplore the deaths that have occurred during protests in various places in the country, as well as the fact that many people have been injured. We ask that those who have caused these deaths and personal harm accept responsibility and be punished according to the law.”

Meanwhile, violence continues unabated in Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Libya (where Christians from Egypt were found brutally murdered this week), Nigeria, Somalia, Thailand, Pakistan and South Sudan.

Bishop George W. Coleman asks us to keep all of these people in our prayers, remembering that they are our brothers and sisters. He made a point of sending to all of the priests of the diocese a copy of a speech given by Cardinal Timothy Dolan to the bishops at their annual meeting this past November and has reminded us of that talk on other occasions.

Cardinal Dolan began his November speech recalling his traveling to the Ukraine last summer (before the unrest began): “Just last August, I had the honor of concelebrating the Mass of Dedication for the Cathedral of the Resurrection in Kiev. A particularly moving moment came when Metropolitan Shevchuk asked the Lord’s protective hand upon believers suffering persecution for their faith anywhere in the world. That such a heartfelt plea came from a people who had themselves been oppressed for so long made it all the more poignant” (The cardinal was referring to the brutal oppression Ukrainian Christians had suffered during their decades as part of the Soviet Union, especially under Joseph Stalin).

The cardinal shared a shocking statistic about martyrdom: “We are living in what must be recognized as, in the words of Blessed John Paul II, ‘a new age of martyrs.’ One expert calculates that half of all Christian martyrs were killed in the 20th century alone. The 21st century has already seen in its first 13 years one million people killed around the world because of their belief in Jesus Christ — one million already in this still young century.”

What a number! Where is our horror, our concern, our prayers!

Pope Francis prayed with the assembled cardinals in Rome last weekend for Christians suffering for the Gospel, that God would help them in their agonies and that God would help them forgive their persecutors, as Jesus did from the cross. They also prayed for nonChristians suffering in the above-mentioned countries.

Papal spokesman Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, said, “Unfortunately, we have noticed that many of the current conflicts are described as religious in nature, often surreptitiously pitting Christians and Muslims, while the roots of these conflicts are primarily ethnic, political or economic.”

Father Lombardi continued, “For its part, the Catholic Church, in condemning all violence perpetrated in the name of religious affiliation, will continue its commitment to peace and reconciliation, through interreligious dialogue and the many charities that provide aid and comfort daily the suffering anywhere in the world.”

As we prepare to enter Lent next week, may we remember these brothers and sisters of ours, offering prayers and sacrifices for them, seeing how our alms can assist them, and reminding our American political leaders to do what they can to help bring about peace.

We are called by Christ to be light for this darkened world.

Pope Francis’ weekly Angelus address and prayer

Dear brothers and sisters, hello!

In the second reading this Sunday, St. Paul says: “So let no one boast of men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours; and you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:23). Why does the Apostle say this? It is because he finds himself faced with divisions in the community at Corinth, where different groups had been formed that

each regarded some preacher as their leader. They said: “I am of Paul, I am of Apollo, I am of Cephas” (1 Cor 1:12).

St. Paul explains that this way of thinking is mistaken because the community does not belong to the Apostles, rather the Apostles belong to the community. But the community as a whole belongs to Christ!

This belonging to Christ means that in the Christian communities — dioceses, parishes, associations, movements — the differences canOFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER

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not contradict the fact that, through Baptism, we have the same dignity: all of us, in Jesus Christ, are children of God. And this is our dignity: in Jesus Christ we are children of God! Those who have received the office of leadership, of preaching, of administering the Sacraments, must not think of themselves as owners of special powers, as masters, but put themselves at the service of the community, helping it to travel the path of holiness with joy.

Today the Church entrusts this way of pastoral life to the new cardinals, with whom I celebrated Mass this morning. We can greet all the new cardinals with applause. Let us all greet them! Yesterday’s consistory and today’s Eucharistic celebration offered us a precious occasion to experience the catholicity, the universality of the Church, well-represented by the various origins of the members of the College of Cardinals, gathered in close communion around the Successor of Peter.

And may the Lord give us the grace to work for the unity of

the Church, to build this unity, because unity is more important than conflicts! The unity of the Church is from Christ; conflicts are problems that are not always from Christ.

The Liturgical moments of celebration that we have had the opportunity to experience during the course of the last couple days, reinforce the faith in all of us and the love for Christ and for His Church! I invite you to support these shepherds and to assist them with prayer, so that they always lead with zeal the people entrusted to them, showing everyone the tenderness and love of the Lord. But a bishop, a cardinal, a pope have such a great need of prayer to help the people of God to go forward!

I say “help,” that is, serve the people of God, because the vocation of a bishop, a cardinal and a pope is precisely this: to be servants, to serve in the name of Christ. Pray for us to be good servants: good servants, not good bosses! All of us together, bishops, priests, consecrated persons and lay faithful must

offer the witness of a Church faithful to Christ, animated by the desire to serve our brothers and ready to meet with prophetic courage the spiritual expectations and needs of the men and women of our time. May Our Lady accompany us and protect us on this journey.

The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, and she conceived by work of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary ...

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy Word.

Hail Mary ...

And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary ...

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray: Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

February 28, 2014

I

t is hard to believe that Lent will begin on March 5. While the date varies yearly, I am looking forward to it. One of the reasons for my anticipation of this special season is not religious at all. I am anxious for warmer weather. Lent means that the spring season is approaching.

In a sense, Lent is the springtime of the Church. This 40-day celebration begins with ashes and ends with Easter flowers.

We can have different reasons to look forward to Lent. Some, I fear, do not look forward to the celebration of Lent. Others do not even recognize its existence.

For the Christian, it is a time of renewal that is undertaken with the entire Church. It is an opportunity to focus on our relationship with God and each other. We should not look upon it only as a time of penance and “giving up” things. While that is part of it, it is not the goal of the Lenten season.

Each Christian needs to ask one question: “What can I do during these 40 sacred days that will bring me closer to God and what will help me to love others with the love of Christ?”

The pope issues an annual

O

ne year ago today Pope Benedict renounced the papacy at 8 p.m. Rome time.

After a year, I still haven’t found the appropriate adjectives to describe what I was feeling that day, an unnamed cocktail of emotions that are all coming back as I begin to write this column. I was too stunned to cry, but it felt like my innards were bleeding.

The 8 a.m. daily Mass that morning was the most challenging Mass I’ve ever had to soldier through in 15 years as a priest. I offered a votive Mass for the Pope conscious that in six hours he would no longer be pope. In the Eucharistic Prayer, I slowed down to pronounce the words, “For Benedict our pope,” aware that I was saying them for the 2,874th and last time.

A few hours later, the world watched as he left the Apostolic Palace, his secretary, Archbishop Georg Ganswein full of tears at his side, and proceeded to the Vatican heliport for the most memorable helicopter ride in world history.

After he arrived at Castel Gandolfo, he came out on the loggia to greet those packed into the tiny plaza before the papal summer palace:

Anchor Columnists Make a difference in the lives of others

letter for Lent in which he offers lenge is to confront the poverty some suggestions for growing of our brothers and sisters, to closer to the Lord. Although, touch it, to make it our own and usually simpler in his daily-Mass to take practical steps to alleviate homily reflections, Pope Francis’ it. He utilizes the word destituLenten message needs study. tion, which is not the same as His main theme this year poverty. He describes destitution is that of poverty. He takes his as poverty without faith, withinitiative from the words of out support, without hope. He St. Paul who reminds us that, even though Living Christ was rich, for our the sake He became poor, so that, by His poverty, Faith we might become rich.

By Msgr.

Pope Francis then asks John J. Oliveira us to examine what these words mean for us today, what does the invitation to the evangelical life of poverty further divides destitution into mean? three types of poverty: material, He suggests that it means that moral and spiritual. we be aware that God does not Material poverty is to live in reveal Himself cloaked in power conditions opposed to human and wealth, but rather in weakdignity. A person in this type of ness and poverty. The meaning poverty lacks the basic rights and of this poverty is God’s love; a needs, such as food, water, work, love which is generous, a love clothing, etc. that does not hesitate to offer itMoral poverty is to be a self in sacrifice for another. Love, slave of sin and vice. Here we or charity, is sharing with the would group those who are poor one we love in all things. Loving because of their addictions to another makes us similar, creates alcohol, drugs, gambling and equality, breaks down walls and pornography. eliminates distances.

Spiritual poverty is when The pope proposes our chalsomeone turns away from God

and rejects His love. The antidote to this type of poverty is the Gospel. In the Gospel, we find that forgiveness of sins committed is possible. We find the Good News in the Bible that God is greater than our sinfulness.

We are called to save others not through human resources.

Pope Francis reminds us: “In every time and place, God continues to save mankind and the world through the poverty of Christ, Who makes Himself poor in the Sacraments, in His word and in His Church, which is a people of the poor.

God’s wealth passes not through our wealth, but invariably and exclusively through our personal and communal poverty, enlivened by the Spirit of Christ.”

Pope Francis concludes his reflections on Lent with a challenge to each of us. He writes: “Dear brothers and sisters, may this Lenten season find the whole Church ready to bear witness to all those who live in material, moral and spiritual destitution, the Gospel message of the merciful love of God our Father, Who is ready to embrace everyone in Christ. We can do

7 this to the extent that we imitate Christ Who became poor and enriched us by His poverty. Lent is a fitting time for self-denial; we would do well to ask ourselves what we can give up in order to help and enrich others by our own poverty. Let us not forget that real poverty hurts: no self-denial is real without this dimension of penance. I distrust a charity that costs nothing and does not hurt.”

While prayer and fasting are among the three hallmarks of our Lenten springtime or renewal, this year we are asked, in a different way, to concentrate on almsgiving — self-denial; that is becoming poor in order to relieve the destitution of others. Our caring, our prayers, our sacrifices to relieve the destitution of others can be one of our Lenten resolutions this year. Whether the poverty is material, moral or spiritual, may we make a difference in our life and especially in the lives of others.

May God bless you.

Anchor columnist Msgr.

Oliveira is pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in New Bedford and director of the diocesan Propagation of the Faith and Permanent Diaconate offices.

Pope Benedict’s resignation, one year later “You know this day is different in nine days of prayer. This time there was no requiem and therefor me than the preceding ones,” fore no real permission for anyone he said. “I am no longer pope of the Catholic Church. I am simply publicly to go through the various a pilgrim beginning the last leg of stages of grief. In Rome one nevertheless saw all of the first four his pilgrimage on earth. I would still with my heart, with my love, with my prayers, with my reflection Putting Into and with all my inner strength, like to work for the Deep the common good and the good of the Church

By Father and of humanity.”

Roger J. Landry He finished by giving us his last blessing as of Kubler-Ross’ famous stages at pope, saying “good night” — play — denial, anger, negotiating which I thought was appropriate toward unrealistic solutions, and on multiple levels — and thankdepression — as people tried to ing us all. come to grips with the wisdom of Then the interregnum began Pope Benedict’s decision. It added for the first time in 598 years to the tension. without a funeral.

The fifth stage, acceptance, only A few days later I was in appeared in the first days of Pope Rome preparing to help out with Francis’ papacy, when everyone television commentary during the conclave and I discovered that began to see that the cardinal from Argentina would be a sturdy I was far from the only one in a captain of Peter’s Barque. haze. Cab drivers, shop keepers, It also helped that, 10 days affellow talking heads from various ter his election when Pope Francis countries, priests in the curia, and even some cardinal electors all told visited his predecessor at Castel Gandolfo, everyone was able to me that they were struggling to see in the video coverage just how get their proper bearings. quickly the pope emeritus’ physical A papal funeral normally has condition had deteriorated. This the effect of unifying everyone

convinced those who questioned whether Benedict’s lack of strength was more psychological than physical — and whether his renunciation was more cowardly than courageous — that he was much frailer than anyone had thought. The grounds for his decision were now obvious to all.

As we look back a year later, what are some of the larger ramifications of Pope Benedict’s decision?

First, it’s changed the way Catholics and others will approach the papacy.

Prior to last February, a papal resignation was only a theoretical possibility. The reigning attitude was stated by Blessed John Paul II: just as Christ never came down from the cross, he would never come down off of his. Now a papal resignation has become a real possibility. The fact that Pope Francis has had such an incredible first year may lead people naively to think that behind every papal Drew Bledsoe there will be a pontifical Tom Brady.

At a deeper level, now that it’s possible for a pope to resign, there will likely be pressure for him to do so when he becomes infirm, or there are scandals within his curia,

or his teaching is unpopular with the secular media and semi-professional protest movements.

Second, his resignation has changed the dynamics of papal elections.

Now it’s possible to elect a very old candidate, knowing that if he becomes infirm, he can resign.

Likewise it’s possible to elect a very young candidate, because if it turns out he’s not totally up for the task or if he simply becomes exhausted after some time in the papacy, he can renounce the papacy and let someone else take over.

But I hope that the largest and longest-lasting significance will be what Pope Emeritus Benedict has taught us all about the importance of prayer.

Throughout his pontificate, Benedict stressed that prayer is the most important thing anyone does. He told priests in 2008 that time spent in prayer “is the most important time in a priest’s life, in which Divine grace acts with greater effectiveness, making his ministry fruitful. The first service to render to the community is prayer.”

By resigning the papacy in order to continue to serve the Continued on page 14

8

A

s often as we have heard the Gospel about serving God or mammon, it still strikes a chord when we hear it.

We must ask ourselves: Is God first in my life or am I enslaved to the things of this world? Is the accumulation of wealth, the desire to have power, and to be successful, second to God? Do we look for human respect?

The desire for these things, without first putting our trust in God, creates apprehension, anxiety and fear.

Jesus teaches us to be free of worry and anxiety. He uses radical language. “No one can serve two masters. You will hate one and love the other,” (Mt 6:24). He tells us, “Take heart, it is I, have no fear,” (Mt 14:27). “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day” (Mt 6:34).

There are many things that challenge us. We have the ability to truly trust in God. Without a trusting relationship with God, our daily worries can overcome us and control our lives. It is easy to be led from our true Master and into

February 28, 2014

Trust Me

the realm of the master of today for past sins. Today is all doubt, anxiety and fear. that we really have.

Jesus understands our Tomorrow has not arrived. anxiety. He tells His disciples Future concerns can weigh us to seek God first and all their down. There is a tendency to needs will be taken care of. worry about things that might Prayer leads us to a deeper relationship with God. This Homily of the Week friendship with God Eighth Sunday develops into a trust in Ordinary Time relationship.

He teaches us by

By Deacon giving us the example Bruce Baxter of the birds and the wild flowers. “Look at the birds in the sky, they do not sow or reap, they happen but may never actugather nothing into the barns, ally happen. God gives us the yet your Heavenly Father feeds grace we need to help us deal them” (Mt 6:26). “Learn from with whatever comes our way. the way the wild flowers grow.

Trusting God empowers us to They do not work or spin. But take care of all the factors in I tell you that not even Soloour life that causes us anxiety. mon in all his splendor was He will always be at our side clothed like one of them” (Mt to help us. There is no need to 6:28-29). As Blessed John Paul waste our time today on wishII said at the beginning of his ful thinking and imaginings of papacy, “Be not afraid.” what is to come.

Yesterday is over. The regrets It is prudent however to of yesterday cannot change the provide for the future with relipast. We can however be grateance on God and not on our ful today for the joys of the own efforts alone. Worry and past and we can be contrite for anxiety will not cancel out the past mistakes and seek Penance very misfortunes that we fear.

The burdens that may come, will come, but with the grace of God, He will help us to carry them.

What really matters is today.

It is given to us as a gift. Today is the day to not waste a single chance to love, to grow in happiness and to do good. It is the day to give forgiveness and to forgive.

Each day has its own difficulties and joys. God, our Father, watches over every day as a Father Who loves us. In the words of the Prophet Isaiah 49:15, “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb?” Can a woman forget her child? Even if she forgets, God will never forget to care for us.

Living in the present is focusing on real things and giving attention to others. Procrastination until tomorrow or until a better opportunity presents itself is often a missed opportunity.

Think of this. What would have become of the Apostles’ preaching, if they had

waited for a more suitable time or set of circumstances to begin their mission?

What would have happened if the saints chose to wait and delay their response to our Lord?

Pope Francis said, “Christ is alive. May we let ourselves meet Him so that our lives might be transformed.”

Let us ask the Holy Family to grant us the grace to live in the present moment of each day with a heart full of love, as if it were the last possible offering of our life upon the earth.

Pope Francis tells us to say to Jesus, “Lord, may I feel the wonder of meeting You. Let me not entangle my life in questions about whether this or that will happen, or if I will or won’t be able to do something. Instead, may I feel the happiness, the wonder, the joy and the amazement of knowing You are living at my side, and may I know that this is not a piece of fiction.”

Deacon Baxter was ordained in October 2013 and currently minsters at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Hyannis.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Mar. 1, Jas 5:13-20; Ps 141:1-3,8; Mk 10:13-16. Sun. Mar. 2, Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Is 49:14-15; Ps 62:2-3,6-9; 1 Cor 4:1-5; Mt 6:24-34. Mon. Mar. 3, 1 Pt 1:3-9; Ps 111:1-2,5-6,9-10; Mk 10:17-27. Tues. Mar. 4, 1 Pt 1:10-16; Ps 98:1-4; Mk 10:28-31. Wed. Mar. 5, Ash Wednesday, Jl 2:12-18; Ps 51:3-6b,1214,17; 2 Cor 5:20—6:2; Mt 6:1-6,16-18. Thurs. Mar. 6, Dt 30:15-20; Ps 1:1-4,6; Lk 9:22-25. Fri. Mar. 7, Is 58:1-9a; Ps 51:3-6a,18-19; Mt 9:14-15.

T

he Catholic Church began compiling “martyrologies” — lists of saints, typically martyrs — during the first centuries after Constantine. In the pre-Vatican II breviary, a reading from the “Roman Martyrology,” or what we might call the “Catholic Book of Witnesses,” was an integral part of the Office of Prime, the “hour” recited after sunrise. The day’s date was given, followed by a reading of the names of the saints commemorated that day, with information about each saint’s origin and place of death — and, if the saint were a martyr, the name of the persecutor, a description of tortures endured, and the method of execution. It was a bracing way to begin the working day and a reminder of Tertullian’s maxim that the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.

It is somewhat ironic that the loss of Prime from the Liturgy of the Hours — and thus the loss of a daily Liturgical reading from the “Roman Martyrology” — coincided with the greatest century

Rediscovering the martyrology tradition of daily readings from of persecution in the history the “Roman Martyrology” this of the Church. It’s a point coming Lent by spending 10 well-established but little minutes a day reading John appreciated within American Allen’s new book, “The Global Catholicism: we have been War on Christians: Dispatches living, and we’re living now, in the greatest era of persecution in Christian history. More Christians died for the faith in the 20th century than in the previous 19 centuries of Christian hisBy George Weigel tory combined. And while the character of the persecutors from the Front Lines of Antihas changed, from the lethal Christian Persecution” (Image). heyday of the 20th-century The longtime Vatican cortotalitarianisms to the first derespondent for the National cades of the 21st century, the assault on the Christian faith- Catholic Reporter and CNN’s ful today is ongoing, extensive, senior Vatican analyst, Allen has recently moved to the and heart-rending.

Boston Globe as associate editor, Solidarity with the persewhere he (and we) will see if cuted Church is an obligation talent and resources can comof Christian faith. Reflectbine to deepen a mainstream ing on how well each of us media outlet’s coverage of all has lived that obligation is a things Catholic, both in print worthy point on which to exand on the web. Meanwhile, amine one’s conscience during Allen will continue the RoLent. And that brings me to a man work that has made him suggestion: revive the ancient

The Catholic Difference

the best Anglophone Vatican reporter ever — work that has given him a unique perspective on the world Church, and indeed on world Christianity.

His extensive experience across the globe, and his contacts with everyone who’s anyone in the field of international religious freedom issues, makes him an ideal witness to what he calls, without exaggeration, a global war on Christian believers.

That witness includes, in his book, a continent-by-continent overview of anti-Christian persecution, a debunking of various myths about anti-Christian persecution, and some counsel on what can be done to support those who are literally putting their lives at risk for love of the Lord and the Gospel.

Most poignant for Lenten reading, of course, are those parts of Allen’s book that truly are a contemporary martyrology: his telling of the stories of such martyrs of our time as

Shabhaz Bhatti of Pakistan, Ashur Yakub Issa of Iraq, the Tibhirine monks of Algeria, and the pastors and Church elders who were crushed to death by a bulldozer in front of their North Korean place of worship.

In pondering these cases, and the hundreds more that Allen cites, one gets a new understanding of “hatred of the faith,” that ancient odium fidei that identified the deaths of martyrs. Odium fidei expresses itself in many way, of course, not all of them lethal. Allen’s close focus on those who really are at risk of life and limb for the faith is a useful reminder that, whatever the contempt orthodox Christians are called to suffer today for fidelity to Biblical truth in the comfortable, decadent, and increasingly intolerant West, others are being called to suffer far more.

Their witness should strengthen ours.

George Weigel is a senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

February 28, 2014

Editor’s note: This is the second of Father Tim’s two-part story on Father Francis X. Wallace. hen I reported here as pastor of St. Patrick Church, whom did I find in residence at the rectory? It was my old friend Father Francis Wallace (FXW.) I was delighted. What goes around comes around. I hadn’t seen him in years, but I had occasionally received from him a note of encouragement or a prayer card.

Living again in Falmouth, I quickly learned Father Wallace is well-known in these parts for his ministry to the sick. “I’ve never been assigned as a hospital chaplain,” he insists. “I was assigned in 1977 as parochial vicar at St. Patrick Church.” He did, however, make daily hospital visits. “I visited everyone,” he says. “The availability of a priest to hospital patients is of enormous importance. Eventually, you get to meet everyone in town. Besides, it only takes about an hour a day.” Sure enough, he now knows everyone in town — and everyone knows him. In fact, there’s a plaque on the wall of the hospital’s family counseling room.

It dedicates the room to Father Wallace, the priest who never was a hospital chaplain.

After decades serving as parochial vicar here, Father Wallace is now retired from parish work. You would never know it. He drives around town “on errands” every afternoon, often visiting the sick and homebound. He has a system for visiting the local hospital. He prearranges for someone to meet him with a wheelchair at the door and wheel him down the long corridors to the patient he wishes to visit.

Father Wallace is no longer physically able to say public Masses but he celebrates daily Mass privately — on his grandmother’s table. Being hearing-impaired, Father Wallace no longer uses the telephone, but he does meet people in the rectory parlor upon occasion. People are constantly bringing him prayer intentions simply because he prays constantly.

At the rectory, Father Wallace has no computer, no radio, and no television; he’s nevertheless very well-informed on current events. It would put any television news anchor to shame. Father still clips items of interest from the newspapers — especially from the Wall

W

Anchor Columnist FXW — The story continues

Street Journal, but also from the please, under no circumstances load the dishwasher. It has to Cape Cod Times and the Boston be stacked just right. Don’t take Globe and, yes, The Anchor. my job away from me.”

Once or twice a day, a clipping slips under my door. It’s marked “from FXW.” Father Wallace not The Ship’s Log only reads three daily Reflections of a newspapers, but also Parish Priest books — lots of them.

His current interests inBy Father Tim clude Pro-Life advocaGoldrick cy, diplomatic relations

deal about my age, anyway?”

Frank asks. “I just happen to be the last man standing. That doesn’t take any special talent.”

And here’s another fact about Father Wallace — he is playful.

You just never know when a greeting card might arrive in the mail, addressed to the two resident greyhounds, Transit

Nicole Medeiros, Geoff Ross and Maureen Ross wished Father Francis X. Wallace a happy 90th birthday at a celebration for him on Nov. 27, 2011 at St. Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth.

between the Holy See and the United Nations, healthcare in the United States, and the dire situation of many churches in the Near East.

And after all these years, Father Wallace is still in charge of the dishwasher. “You can scrape and rinse the dishes, if you wish, reverend pastor, but,

Father Wallace is the oldest priest in the Diocese of Fall River, although not the longest ordained. That would be Father Bill Shovelton (1946). But never ask Father Wallace his age. You may get two different answers. He sometimes adds nine months, taking gestation into account. “What’s the big

and Justin. This year, there were two Valentine cards.

Both showing a cute dog in a pirate’s hat, each reads “This

9 card is rated ‘ARRRGH’ for cuteness.” The cards were signed FXW. Not to be outdone, the greyhounds slipped over to the drugstore one night and purchased a Valentine for Father Wallace. It featured a cat. “We were afraid you wouldn’t get a Valentine with a cute cat picture. Here it is.” It was signed, “Transit and Justin” (with two paw prints).

Sharing rectory life with Father Wallace enriches my priesthood and the priesthood of young Father Peter John Fournier. This is a multigenerational rectory. With our wide age-span, the three of us benefit from each other socially, emotionally, and spiritually.

I thank God for the gift of Father Wallace.

Father Peter John and I were chatting over coffee one day. He casually mentioned that sometime in the future he would eventually be named a pastor, God willing, and that sometime in the not-to-distant future I would be reaching the age of retirement. “Now, here’s a thought,” he blurted out with youthful enthusiasm, “When I’m a pastor and you’re retired, why don’t you come live in my rectory?” Caught off guard, I answered with one of those handy responses my Irish grandmother so favored, “Well, we’ll see.” Could it be that what has already gone ’round once will be coming ’round again?

Anchor columnist Father Tim Goldrick is pastor of St. Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth.

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February 28, 2014

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February 28, 2014

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uring our weekly Sunday jam session, Emilie’s beau, Danny, and I decided to go “unplugged,” and play acoustic. One of the songs we worked on was The Beatles’ (see photo below) classic by George Harrison, “Here Comes the Sun.” It seemed an appropriate piece to play considering the nasty winter to which we’ll soon (hopefully) be waving goodbye.

“Little darling, it’s been a long, cold, lonely winter. Little darling, it feels like years since it’s been here. Here comes the sun.

Here comes the sun, and I say, it’s alright.”

It has indeed been a long, cold, lonely winter just rife with snowstorms — seemingly every other day, fender-benders, slips and falls, shoveling, scraping, salting, sanding, and stocking up on bread and milk. I’m not quite sure the bread and milk hoarding is required, but in New England, it’s a mandatory pre-storm routine.

But, here comes the sun (do, do, do, do)! Daylight Savings Time is just nine days away, and spring is just 20 more sleeps away.

The world champion (ahhhh) Boston Red Sox are in full swing down in Fort Myers, Fla. preparing to defend the title.

The sun is slowly creeping higher and higher in the southern sky. And Igor romps in the grass instead of plodding through snow-covered surroundings. She has an arthritic knee and despite the fact that she loves the snow, it does a job

With recent attention placed on The Beatles’ 50th anniversary of coming to America, St. Mary’s Parish in Norton called to mind the “orignal Fab 4,” in a sign welcoming worshipers.

‘And I say, it’s alright’

ated. Because of all the miseries on her mobility. I can certainly we endured since last Decemrelate to that. ber, the warmth of the coming But here comes the sun!

As I’ve mentioned a plethora sun and all that it brings will feel all the more welcome. of times in my columns, I’m If we were never hungry, we not a fan of adages, there is one would never know the pleasure that I believe fits in this situof relieving that hunger. If we ation: “Every dark cloud has a silver lining.” And no, that silver lining isn’t the reflection of snowflakes waiting to fall.

The fact that we’ve had such a long, cold, lonely winter makes the

By Dave Jolivet coming spring season all the more appreci-

My View From the Stands

were never thirsty, we would never experience the soothing qualities of a cold drink.

If we never experienced pain, we would never appreciate the times when we feel good.

If we never experienced Good Friday, we would never have Easter. The point I’m trying to make is that human beings have a tendency to take things for granted. If nothing went wrong, how could we possibly appreciate right?

The silver lining of

all our dark clouds is the fact that there is a silver lining — the fact that the dark cloud will eventually disappear leaving ...?

Here comes the sun!

Lent arrives a few weeks before spring, bringing with it its own self-imposed dark clouds.

Midway through spring, when things truly begin to improve, comes Easter and a disbanding of those dark clouds, at which time we can all sing, “Here comes the Son,” and I say, it’s all right!

Dave Jolivet can be reached at davejolivet@anchornews.org.

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February 28, 2014

Clarifying the annulment process continued from page one

one started with a petitioner approaching his or her parish priest, who have the proper forms needed to be filled out and filed at the tribunal office. Questions found on the forms include queries into family background, the ex-spouse’s family background, the engagement period, the Marriage celebration and any other pertinent information.

What’s not mainly relevant is the length of the Marriage; regardless if the couple has been married for 40 years or 40 months; “We concentrate more on how it started and the background more than the length of the Marriage,” said Father Cabral. “Sometimes the length of the Marriage will play into it, in the sense that if someone was married for less than a year, then something was wrong right from the beginning. When someone has been married for 30 years, it may have been invalid but why did they stay together for that long? Sometimes it’s generational or in our area, it’s often cultural, especially among the Portuguese and, in a way, the Hispanics as well.”

The pastor will then submit paperwork to the tribunal, who will then evaluate whether it can actually hear the case. Father Cabral explained there are four ways the Fall River Tribunal Office can hear the case: if the couple was married within the diocese; if the respondent (ex-spouse) lives within diocese; if only the petitioner lives within diocese but the respondent does not,

then the tribunal will have to get permission from the judicial vicar of the diocese where the respondent lives; or the diocese with the most number of witnesses.

Once the case is accepted, the process can take between 12-18 months; there is no guaranteed timeline, said Father Cabral.

Once a case has been filed at the tribunal office, a meeting with the petitioner will be set-up with a tribunal auditor.

“We’re just going to review the questions they’ve already filled out, and go into detail for some questions they haven’t answered well,” said Father Cabral. “This is also the time when the judge will think about what grounds to base the annulment on; technically the case hasn’t been accepted yet. Ninety-nine percent of the time it’s accepted; it doesn’t have to be proven at that point, it just needs some ground to go on.”

And those grounds usually fall under three types: the first, and hardly seen any more, is “impediments,” examples of which are under the age of consent, or a brother or sister wanting to get married. The second ground for an annulment is the canonical form to Marriage: “Church law states that every Catholic should get married in a Catholic church, so when you have a Catholic being Married by a justice of the peace or getting Married in another religious house of worship, and don’t go through the paperwork of the Catholic Church, that is an invalid Marriage be-

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, March 2, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Leonard P. Hindsley, pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish in Westport

cause they are not following the form of Marriage,” said Father Cabral.

The basic form is a man and woman married in a Catholic church by a Catholic priest or deacon; “A lot of people don’t realize as a Catholic, they are bound to getting married in a church. Many get married outside of the church, which is fine, but once they’ve talked to their parish priest, filled out some paperwork, they can get permission to get married outside of the Church,” said Father Cabral.

“A lot of people want to get married on the beach, because they see it on TV or movies, however, in our diocese you’re never going to see that happening, the granting of permission to get married outside on the beach.”

The third category for grounds of an annulment is defect of consent “because as a basic rule, consent makes a Marriage. Catholic theology says that the priest or the deacon is not the minister of the Marriage, it’s the husband and wife — it’s their vows and consent to one another that makes the Marriage. They’re the ministers of the Marriage,” said Father Cabral. “So we look at, was there anyway their consent was defective or coerced? There are a few grounds that are looked upon, like for example — and this is a technical term — a grave defect of discretion of judgment concerning their essential matrimonial rights and duties to be mutually given and accepted.”

There are additional grounds, said Father Cabral, but most fall under the umbrella of the third major grounds of annulment — the “defect of consent.”

Once a case has been officially accepted, the tribunal will contact the respondent (ex-spouse); under Church law, the respondent has 30 days to reply.

“They have a choice,” said Father Cabral, “either not come in at all and not participate in the annulment process, which a good number do not, or we give them a choice of answering the questions on paper or to come in for a personal interview. By Church law we have to contact the respondent to protect their rights because not only will this affect the petitioner, but also the canonical status of the respondent because if the Marriage is declared null, not only is the petitioner free to marry in the Church, so is the respondent.”

If the basic form of Marriage was not followed, the annulment can be filed as “lack of form” and doesn’t take as long due to it mainly being more of an administrative-type of annul-

ment process. The tribunal will search the chancery to see if the couple received permission to marry outside of a church and “if no permission or dispensations were granted to them, and the Marriage license clearly shows they got married outside of the Church, then we can declare that Marriage invalid due to lack of form,” said Father Cabral, who said the petitioner also has to provide two witnesses stating the couple was not married in a church. “If all the paperwork is in order, it can be done in a day.”

When the grounds for the annulment are found to be “defect of consent,” then the annulment process becomes somewhat lengthy, and more than half the cases coming through the Fall River Tribunal Office fall under this category.

The petitioner submits a list of witnesses along with written testimony, and if the respondent has decided to become involved, they also can submit written testimony and a list of witnesses.

The witnesses are essential to the process, said Father Cabral; “Friends and family who know both parties, at least before the Marriage. It’s better to hear from family members, siblings and close friends; we’ll see if the there is corroboration. They might have some insights that the petitioner didn’t want to reveal, or a petitioner who only told their mother the story. The witnesses again have a choice — they can either write down their answers or come in for an interview.”

Everything is documented, and the process takes months.

When all the interviews are finished; “From there we say that the case is published, which means we received all the evidence and the petitioner and the respondent, at this point, have the right to review the testimony. Witnesses can protect themselves saying that they don’t wish for their testimony to be read,” said Father Cabral.

All reading of the testimony has to be done at the tribunal office. Neither the petitioner or respondent can take notes or take pictures — they just can read it; “If they want, they can provide a response and more testimony,” said Father Cabral, “other than that, it stays here.”

The judge also has to have “moral certitude that this Marriage was indeed null from the beginning,” said Father Cabral.

“If we don’t achieve that moral certitude, then Church law states that you have to declare the Marriage valid because every Marriage is considered valid until we can prove it invalid.”

From there the file goes to what is called, “the defender of the bond,” said Father Cabral, adding the title defines his position; “He’s suppose to defend the Marriage bond. He’s the devil’s advocate. The Church is concerned for Marriages and he’s supposed to defend the Sacrament of Marriage as best as he can.”

And if the defender of the bond can find no cause to stop the annulment, the tribunal judge writes the sentence declaring the Marriage null or invalid, and then the file is sent on to be confirmed by a “Court of Second Instance,” which for the Fall River Diocese is the Diocese of Springfield, that offers a second pair of eyes to looking at the file.

“It’s out of our hands at that point,” said Father Cabral. “No more interviews, no one has to drive to Springfield; they’ll either confirm it, or ask us for the whole case because they want to look into something deeper.

Once they confirm it, then that’s when technically the annulment has been granted.”

And that’s when a letter is sent out to those involved, letting them know the annulment has been granted, and “because it involves canonical status,” said Father Cabral, “we will inform the churches of their Baptisms and church of Marriage.”

Most of those coming in petitioning for an annulment have found someone whom they wish to marry in the Church, and cannot do so unless they annul their first Marriage. Others may already be married but have been asked to be a godparent or Confirmation sponsor, and one of the requirements for that role is a Marriage considered valid in the Church, said Father Cabral.

Under the old law, children of annulled Marriages were affected canonically and could not become a priest or nun, a misconception that still persists today; “Children of annulled Marriages are considered illegitimate, when in fact they’re not,” said Father Cabral. “Their canonical status does not change. They were born of a legal Marriage in civil law and a putative Marriage in canon law, which means that everyone thought at the time that the Marriage was valid. An annulment does not retroactively affect a child’s legitimacy. [The couple] had children and children are a gift from God.” “The annulment only looks at whether the man and the woman, when they entered into the Marriage, was invalid from the beginning,” he said.

February 28, 2014

C

ontemporary pundits speak with regularity about a “war on women.” One dedicated website decries the threat to “the rights and freedoms of American women” that would result from any cut in government funding for abortion. The fact that Planned Parenthood in particular has recently been subject to increased scrutiny has abortion advocates frantic over a perceived “witch hunt” aimed at “one of the most important providers of health care for American women.” The claim is absurd on so many levels.

Planned Parenthood is a business that sells contraception and abortion, with annual revenues exceeding a billion dollars. Among myriad other offenses, they have been credibly accused of prescribing abortifacient drugs without a pharmacist on the premises, providing abortions to underage girls (hiding statutory rape), and

P

ope Benedict XVI famously said, “To me art and the saints are the greatest apologetics for our faith.”

In that regard, we have been particularly fortunate to have lived alongside and witnessed the powerful example of some modern saints and blesseds. I saw Blessed John Paul II on numerous occasions in the flesh, and indeed, because of his countless trips around the world, he was doubtless actually seen by more people than anyone else in human history.

Pope Francis is going to canonize him on April 27 in Rome, along with Pope John XXIII, the good pope who summoned the Second Vatican Council. Yes, there are and have been plenty of scoundrels and hypocrites in the Church, even among the hierarchy, but they are not a reason for embracing Catholicism. The saints are.

One such modern-day exemplar of Christian virtue is Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, who would’ve turned 100 this coming March 11, had he not died 20 years ago this coming March 23 (Pope John Paul II attended his wake that day). The first successor of St. Josemaria Escriva as the head of Opus Dei (from 1975 until 1994), he will be beatified in Madrid on September 27, by Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Sacred Congregation of the Causes of Saints (Ever since Pope Benedict XVI reverted to the earlier practice, popes since

Anchor Columnists Confronting the lies: The war on women

allowing unlicensed abortionists tion industry creates a “war on women” is only one more lie on to operate in their clinics. Their top of all the rest. initial rallying cry — that aborSo what is the truth? Is there tion should be “safe, legal, and rare” — is laughable, because the a war on women? Of course number of abortions they provide increases yearly while their clinics are not required to conform to basic medical standards, which they claim would be burdenBy Genevieve Kineke some.

All of this duplicity flows naturally from the lies that led to the legalization of there is, but the real enemy is obfuscating the facts about who abortion in the first place. Several well-placed individuals who the aggressor is. The one who were complicit in the scam have lies about women is the one who admitted to lying — from exag- is truly waging the war — and the bulk of our popular culture is gerating the number of deaths couched in lies about women. due to “back-alley abortions,” This culture — a culture of to the facts surrounding the death, according to Blessed John test case for Roe vs. Wade. An Paul II — is steeped in confuindustry founded on lies naturally lies to maintain its existence sion over what constitutes femininity, and the more authentic — and saying that decreasing femininity is distorted or hidden, government grants to the abor-

The Feminine Genius

the darker the effects. In “Mulieris Dignitatem,” John Paul II wrote, “Motherhood as a human fact and phenomenon, is fully explained on the basis of the truth about the person.

Motherhood is linked to the personal structure of the woman and to the personal dimension of the gift: ‘I have brought a man into being with the help of the Lord’ (Gen 4:1). The Creator grants the parents the gift of a child. On the woman’s part, this fact is linked in a special way to ‘a sincere gift of self ’” (MD, 18). When the gift of a child is rejected, the woman’s essence is shredded as well. She remains a mother, but simply one who has denied the truth about who she is.

Original sin disrupted the relationship between man and woman, whereby her desire for him would be met with

Approaching the Church through the saints exemplified faith and confiJohn Paul II do not generally dence in God at every turn. perform beatifications).

St. Marianne Cope, the last Don Alvaro, as he is afAmerican to be canonized, a fectionately called, had his nun who spent the last decades heroic virtue decreed by Pope Benedict in 2012, and a miracle attributed to his intercession

by Pope Francis in 2013. These are the two prerequisites for beatification of a nonmartyr: exemplary

By Dwight G. Duncan virtue, which makes him a model for others in living the Christian of her life serving lepers on life, and demonstrated interMolokai in Hawaii, once wrote: cessory power to work a cure “I think life is all too short to which is humanly inexplicable, spend any part of it in worry which means that you can pray and anxiety.” That was characto him, and not just for him, teristic of Bishop Alvaro. as you would do for any of the He made his first trip to faithful (and not-so-faithful) Rome in 1943, at the height departed. of World War II, on an Italian One very striking quality of civilian passenger plane to seek Don Alvaro was his fidelity to papal approval for Opus Dei. Christ, to the Church, to St. On the way, the passengers Josemaria, and to his vocation found themselves in the midst to Opus Dei (He was one of its of a battle between British first three priests, ordained in bombers and an Axis naval 1944 after some years working flotilla. While other passengers as an engineer). This rock-like panicked and shouted things dependability caused St. Josemaria to give him the nickname like “Mamma mia!” Don Alvaro never lost his composure Saxum, a Latin word meaning or his peace. His faith-filled “rock or boulder.” Originally thought was, “I am going to from Madrid, he was for many years St. Josemaria’s right-hand fulfill a mission which God man and closest collaborator in wants, and so nothing can happen.” building Opus Dei throughout After the death of St. Josethe world from its headquarters maria in 1975, he oversaw the in Rome. successful application of Opus He exuded peace and tranquility. Nothing fazed him. He Dei to become the Church’s

Judge For Yourself

first personal prelature, a jurisdictional structure akin to a diocese, which guarantees the secular character of the vocation to Opus Dei. In her recently published “Prayer Journal,” the great southern writer Flannery O’Connor wrote in the 1940s, “I don’t want to fear to be out, I want to be in: I don’t want to believe in hell but in Heaven. Stating this does me no good.

It is a matter of the gift of grace. Help me to feel that I will give up every earthly thing for this. I do not mean becoming a nun.” While nuns and

13 abuse on various levels (cf. Gen 3:16). Every generation and culture has to deal with that disruption, but the Church insists that contraception and abortion only exacerbate the problem — allowing a man to use a woman and leave her to suffer the consequences. While well-meaning people may think that “reproductive health services” diminish her suffering, they only lead to more death and abuse.

Catholics stand ready to take on those waging a “war against women,” but we see the aggressors as those who disguise poison as fruit and lies as compassion. Don’t be fooled by the deceptive maneuvers of the enemy — that’s the oldest trick in the book.

Anchor columnist Mrs. Kineke is the author of “The Authentic Catholic Woman.” She blogs at feminine-genius.typepad. com.

religious Brothers and priests are great and holy vocations in the Church, most lay people are called to holiness in and through their ordinary lives and work and relations, rather than through taking evangelical vows as religious.

If St. Josemaria is the saint of ordinary life, as Pope John Paul II called him, Don Alvaro was wonderfully true to that calling and to the faith in the challenging times in which we have the good fortune, by the grace of God, to live.

Anchor columnist Dwight Duncan is a professor at UMass School of Law Dartmouth. He holds degrees in civil and canon law.

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February 28, 2014

HCFM to air Lenten cable TV series

“Families and catechists tell us that there are not many resources out there continued from page one that are faith-based and ‘real life.’

“Living the Rosary.” the community by making the programs “Families today are busier than ever The five programs were produced by readily accessible on the local outlet,” and have so many demands on their Family Theater Productions, a member said Father Polselli. “We want to enrich time. We work to reach them in ways of the HCFM family. the Lenten journey of the viewers, but that are easy as well as meaningful, such “Our chaplain at the Father Peyton also, this is a way for us to help the local as these broadcasts on cable. Our videos, Center, Father Leo Polselli, C.S.C., has community understand better what our apps, and many online resources are all had it in the back of his mind for a while ministry does around the world from right at their fingertips 24 hours a day as a way to reach out to the local com- right here in their ‘backyard’ on Route — seven days a week.” munity,” Father Phalen told The Anchor. 138.”

Father Phalen told The Anchor that “Recently, a few of us were gathered, inEach of the five dramas addresses a videos for all of the mysteries of the cluding Ann DiSanto, whose son Sam, modern situation that young people to- Rosary are in the works and over the a high school student, is a volunteer in- day can often face. next few years, the hope is to have all 20 tern with local cable access, so we asked “Children and teens relate quickly to mysteries completed. “For this coming her if she thought Sam would be inter- the characters in the video,” said Father Advent, we have four of the five Joyful ested in working with us to approach Phalen. “Adults can gain an understand- Mysteries completed, that would work the cable outlet. After some discussions, ing of the issues teens, and their families, well for the four weeks of Advent,” he I met with Sam and he taped my intro- are facing as well as how to respond to added. ductions and closing and now they’re these issues by modeling our lives after The schedule for the programs is as ready for broadcast.”

Jesus and His Mother Mary.” follows: Father Phalen will open each segFather Phalen said he encourages Ash Wednesday/First Week of Lent ment with a greeting, and an introduc- families to watch the programs to- — “The Eggplant Lady — The Agony tion to the program and the correlating gether. “All members of the family and in the Garden.” Touching story tells Sorrowful Mystery. He’ll also address extended family can benefit from the how a 16-year-old girl and her grandthe audience at the conclusion. programs, especially by the conversation mother cope with major changes in Father Peyton, the “Rosary Priest,” and discussions they may generate.” their lives. It links their unhappiness whose sainthood cause is currently unFather Phalen said that the series is with the suffering of Christ in the Garderway, was a pioneer in evangelizing wonderful for families to watch togeth- den of Gethsemane. Together they face through the electronic media. He is fa- er, and it works well in a Religious Edu- their problems. A recipe for tears and mous for his adages, “The family that cation or Adult Formation setting. The laughter, faith and family, this program prays together stays together,” and “A programs are available on DVD. will inspire and touch everyone. world at prayer is a world at peace.”

“We are continually uplifted by the Second Week of Lent — “Secret of “I felt airing our programs locally was programs through all the positive feed- the Horse — The Scourging at the Pila great way to share our ministry with back we receive,” Father Phalen added. lar.” A teen-ager faces racial prejudice the first day at a new school and must resist fighting to ensure his family does not suffer because of his actions. As he finds it harder to resist fighting, his father reminds him of the true purpose of martial arts and the real meaning of

sacrificial love. Based on Christ’s Own endurance of suffering in the Scourging at the Pillar.

Third Week of Lent — “Haunted Heart — The Crowning with Thorns.”

Contemporary story addressing the family issues resulting from a father’s alcoholism, the struggles the son faces and the teacher who helps him learn the unforgettable lesson of forgiveness. This powerful story is based on the suffering Christ endured in the Crowning with Thorns.

Fourth Week of Lent — “Carrying On — The Carrying of the Cross.” This is the story of Maria, a spoiled teen from Boston who reluctantly travels to her family’s homeland in the Philippines to visit her grandmother. The grandmother’s money has been missing so Maria’s father sends her there to see why. It’s quite a culture shock for her but the biggest surprise comes when Maria figures out where the money is going! Maria learns to make sacrifices and experiences what it means to truly be “family” to others. “Carrying On” focuses on the issues of materialism and self-centeredness as it parallels the Carrying of the Cross.

Fifth Week of Lent — “The Hero — The Crucifixion.” A compelling drama about a high school football star’s struggle with drinking that leads to a drunk driving tragedy. Program is interwoven with Biblical footage of Jesus’ crucifixion and shares the story of the timeless bond of a mother’s love.

For more information go to www.

FamilyRosary.org. To order copies of these videos or other faith products, go to www.HCFMstore.org.

In unusual video, pope speaks of his longing for Christian unity

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In an unusual video message, recorded on an iPhone by a Pentecostal pastor Pope Francis knew in Argentina, the pope says all Christians share blame for their divisions, speaks of his “longing” for their unity and insists that God will bring the miracle of Christian unity to completion.

“Pray to the Lord that He will unite us all,” the pope tells a group of Pentecostals meeting in the United States. “Let’s move forward, we are brothers; let us give each other that spiritual embrace and allow the Lord to complete the work He has begun.

Because this is a miracle; the miracle

of unity has begun.”

In the video, posted on YouTube and never released by the Vatican, the pope quotes a character from a novel by Alessandro Manzoni; the character says, “‘I have never found that the Lord began a miracle without finishing it well.’ He will finish well this miracle of unity,” the pope added.

The Vatican did not release any details when it announced January 14 that Pope Francis had met with “Anthony Palmer, bishop and international ecumenical officer for the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches,” a group that is not affiliated with the Anglican Communion.

Pope Benedict’s resignation, one year later continued from page seven

Church through a life dedicated to prayer, Benedict has shown that he believes prayer is even more important than the day-to-day work of the papacy. And if that’s true, then it’s hard to argue that any other ministry in the Church — or any other human work — is more important than prayer either.

Like Moses on the mountain as Joshua was leading the Israelites against the Amalekites, Pope Emeritus Benedict is now

praying as Pope Francis leads the Church in the midst of the battlefield to care for the world’s wounded in the field hospital of the Church.

That’s the last leg of Benedict’s pilgrimage on earth, something that he is doing with all his heart, love, and inner strength.

Anchor columnist Father Landry is pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River. fatherlandry@catholicpreaching.com.

February 28, 2014

Diocesan faithful eager to see ‘Son of God’ movie this weekend

the tradition of releasing religious movies like ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ and continued from page one ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’ “Honestly, I couldn’t watch during Easter and Lent,” Alme; and that’s what I want them — on the isle of Patmos. The film to get out of (‘Son of God’),” she is an expansion of that portion of ‘The Passion of the Christ,’” said darondo added. “I think it’s been said. “If nothing else, I want them last year’s epic “The Bible” mini- Laird. “I lasted about 10 min- missing and there’s so much hunto know how much they are loved series that recounted Christ’s life. utes. I waited until I could watch ger for spiritual growth. I rememA year ago, on a tour to pro- it at home, and it was still diffi- ber watching these movies myself

by Jesus and that they want to mote “The Bible,” Downey said cult. My favorite has always been and part of my faith is because I have a relationship with Him.” Laird is greatly anticipating she wished they had 20 hours to ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ ‘Son of God’ grew up watching these movies.” the first feature film in theaters tell Bible stories instead of the 10 is probably in between the two, In addition to actively profocusing on Jesus’ life since Mel that they were allotted. Now, with but definitely more accessible for moting “Son of God” with flyers, Gibson’s powerful “The Passion two-plus more hours, they were families.” posters and social media, Laird Noting how many of her has also offered certain rewards of the Christ” in 2004. She’ll be able to go into a bit more depth younger students are very “visual,” to her Faith Formation students attending screenings of “Son of with Jesus’ story.

“This really is a love story,” said Laird said a major film like this is who attend the movie this weekGod” tonight and tomorrow at the Cape Cod Mall with students Downey, who not only co-pro- an important tool to help them to end. duced with her husband, but also better understand Jesus. and youth group members.

“I’ve put some incentives in “Our goal, in addition to get- place with grades seven and eight “We’re so fortunate that the stars as Mary. “The greatest love ting out the theology of the Cath- to encourage (them) to go see the film is playing right here at the story ever told.”

“The story of the Son of God olic Church, is to get the children movie, because there’s a cost inCape Cod Mall this time,” Laird said. “We usually have to travel is one of the most-known stories into a relationship with Jesus volved,” she said. “It’s one thing if quite a distance to see any of in the history of the world,” add- Christ,” she said. “That’s where we showed (the film) in the parthese movies. I know the closest ed Burnett. “And yet it never gets I think this type of experience ish, but to get kids to go on their they come sometimes is Rhode old. And the way we have told will surpass what I can do with own is a bit more of a challenge, Island … so it makes things so it is very connective, very young, a textbook or just by sitting in a especially at that age. So I told much easier for us to have it play- very gritty and real. You really feel classroom. These kids are so used them if they bring me a ticket connected and can see yourself as to having an audio-visual interac- stub proving that they went to ing (here).” tion this will do a world of good see the movie, they get a free pass For the past two weeks, Laird these characters.” in getting them to make that per- to miss a class of their choosing Edwin Aldarondo, youth cohas been busy promoting today’s release of “Son of God” via parish ordinator at St. Kilian’s Parish sonal connection with Jesus. They without having to make up work, bulletin announcements, printed in New Bedford, will be busing need to see Him as more than just so they were pretty excited about flyers and posters that she’s put up a group of 50 to 60 youths and a historical figure like they do in that. adults from his parish and nearby school with Abraham Lincoln.” in the church and parish hall.

“With the ninth-graders, their “I think it helps kids to iden- incentive is if they bring me a “Our focus has been primar- Our Lady of Guadalupe Parily on Faith Formation families ish at St. James Church to the 4 tify with Jesus and His life,” Al- ticket stub, I give them a couple of in grades one through nine,” she p.m. screening of the film Sunday darondo agreed. “And you have hours of community service. They said. “They’re the ones who don’t at AMC Cinemas at the North the whole complete story — from are required to do eight hours of His birth to the ascension.” often hear about (movies) like Dartmouth Mall. community service before ConHaving planned several ex- firmation. As I explained to them, “We’ve announced it at our this. My youth group knows all about it, but we’re hoping to get youth meetings and it’s been in cursions to some of the smaller, they won’t be cleaning up anythe word out to the other fami- the parish bulletins for a couple independent religious-themed thing afterwards and there’s no of weeks now,” Aldarondo said. films released in theaters — most self-evident community service, lies.”

Released by the makers of last “We’ve sent out group emails recently to see “Gimme Shelter” however I feel once they see this year’s popular History Channel to everyone letting them know in Lincoln, R.I. — Aldarondo movie (they’ll) be in a better posi10-hour mini-series “The Bible” about the movie. We’ve used ev- hopes “Son of God” will mark the tion to do more community serand produced by the husband- ery bit of technology — from beginning of a new trend in Hol- vice.” and-wife team of Mark Burnett Facebook to Twitter — to spread lywood.

Tomorrow night Laird will “I know after ‘The Passion of also be joining the parish youth and Roma Downey, “Son of the word.”

Like Laird, he’s excited about the Christ’ there seemed to be a group for dinner at the mall beGod” has already drawn advanced praise from several Catholic bish- the prospect of seeing a major period of darkness for a while, fore they meet to take in an eveHollywood movie on Jesus’ life in because nothing new was com- ning showing of the film. ops and leaders. ing out,” he said. “Movies like “It is a joy to watch this film multiplexes this weekend.

“We have a very active Face‘Fireproof,’ ‘Courage’ and ‘Fac- book page for our youth group “It’s been a decade since we’ve bring alive the pages of the Gospel and help us see what those seen a movie about the life of ing the Giants’ came out and and we get the word out that who lived at the time of Jesus ex- Christ,” Aldarondo said. “This made so much money it sort of way,” she said. “Our co-presidents perienced,” said Cardinal Donald movie seems to be more family- woke up the giant in Hollywood. are great at staying in touch and oriented and it’s rated PG-13. I Now ‘Noah’ is coming out (next getting the word out through Wuerl of Washington, D.C. He said the movie helps indi- think ‘The Passion of the Christ’ month), and after that ‘Heaven is Facebook, Twitter and old-fashviduals and families “be inspired was too bloody for younger audi- for Real.’” ioned texting — so we anticipate “Hopefully we can get back a pretty good-sized group going all over again with the story of ences.”

God’s love for us.”

Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, said the movie “will speak to your heart and nourish your soul.”

“This is a film that does not simply tell you about Christ, but puts you in the midst of His life, allowing you to see firsthand His public ministry, His love for humanity, and the death He suffered that we might have life eternal,” he said.

“Son of God” tells the story of Jesus through the eyes of an elderly St. John — the only Apostle who did not meet a martyr’s fate

15 to (the film).”

Aldarondo believes that the use of social media, the Internet, TV and film are important tools in the New Evangelization — especially when attempting to connect with younger Catholics.

“Our last three Holy Fathers have spoken about the New Evangelization … and ways to bring the Gospel to others,” he said. “To me, that means using Hollywood and the media and TV to spread the Word. These are great tools that can help bring others into a personal encounter with Christ.”

“For some children this might be the first time for them thinking of Jesus as a personal figure in their lives and someone they can relate to because they’ve experienced this movie,” Laird added. “I want it to be alive for them and I’m hoping that’s what will occur for these families that attend the movie this weekend. Two hours can make a big impact if it’s done well.”

The National Conference for Catechetical Leadership has issued the following disclaimer: “Due to the intense and bloody portrayal of the crucifixion, the scourging and several sequences of violence in the movie ‘Son of God,’ some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

The movie has a rating of PG13 by the Motion Picture Assoc. of America. Rather than simply suggesting parental discretion, the PG-13 rating carries the warning: ‘Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.’”

“Son of God” can be seen beginning today at AMC 12 Theaters, 140 North Dartmouth Mall at 12:55 p.m., 4 p.m., 7:05 p.m., 10:10 p.m.; Regal Swansea Stadium 12, 207 Swansea Mall Drive at 1:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 10:30 p.m.; and Regal Cape Cod Mall Stadium 12, Routes 28 and 132 in Hyannis at 1 p.m., 4 p.m., 7 p.m., 10 p.m.

For more information about “Son of God,” including additional theater locations and showtimes, visit www.sonofgodmovie.com.

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Youth Pages

Last week’s snow day did not prevent kindergarten students at St. Mary’s School in Mansfield from celebrating the 100th day of school. Students created individual vests made of 100 stickers. Before participating in the 100th day parade, each student walked 100 steps, marking their final step with a cut out footprint. The entire student body was able to enjoy following footsteps throughout the day.

February 28, 2014

The fifth-grade students at Holy Name School in Fall River recently interviewed David Reed, editor of Sailing World Magazine. They learned a great deal about writing articles — how to get ideas, choose a title, and how to get people interested in the stories.

Students from St. Michael School in Fall River recently enjoyed a bowling field trip.

Students in grade three at St. James-St. John School in New Bedford recently used the Mimio board to practice multiplication.

The eighth-graders at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro recently took part in an aging simulation. This was in conjunction with the Catholic Social Teachings of the Respect of Human Beings curriculum. Shown are Nick Dafulas and Abby Quinn wearing yellow acetate over their eyes which was to learn what it feels like to have cataracts.

The kindergarten students at Holy Family-Holy Name School in New Bedford enjoyed celebrating 100 days of school. There were many activities throughout the morning including making necklaces with 100 pieces of cereal; making a 100-piece jigsaw puzzle; pretending to spend 100 dollars; making a picture of what they would look like when they were 100 years old; and a scavenger hunt for 100 red hearts.

February 28, 2014

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

Students at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth recently took part in an exciting opportunity of a short performance and Q&A with internationally-renowned classical guitarist Jason Vieaux. The concert was held for the school’s band members, choral students and others interested in music. Vieaux has earned a reputation for putting his expressive gifts and virtuosity at the service of a remarkably wide range of music, and his schedule of recital, concerto, chamber music, teaching and recording commitments is distinguished with return engagements throughout the U.S. and abroad.

This year’s winners of the science fair at Holy Trinity School in Fall River display their awards.

Youth Pages “I was seeking a real love, a real deal, and I have been seeking it for a lot of years. And in that seeking, I found that God’s love is real.” — Dyan Cannon s you may have already read, the Diocese of Fall River’s Office of Campus Ministry is running the Seeker’s retreat this weekend. The Seeker’s retreat is a weekendlong retreat for young adults where they are given the opportunity to spend some time discussing and praying about where they find God in their life. I am currently on the team for the retreat weekend. I must also tell you, I love the name of the retreat.

A seeker is defined as one of three things. Firstly, a seeker is defined as someone who searches for something. Secondly, it is a device in a moving object that detects a target.

And lastly, a seeker is a position on a Quidditch team in the wizarding world of Harry Potter. All three of these definitions are helpful to us on our faith journeys.

I think that the name Seeker is a great name for a young adult retreat because it is during those years, more than any other, that we are trying to figure out for ourselves Who God is and how He is a part of our life. I believe, however, that we will always remain seekers.

No matter how old or young we are, we are always seeking something more. We are always seeking a greater way to know God. St. Augustine says,

A

Kindergartners at St. Francis Xavier School in Acushnet recently posed in their favorite team gear on “Souper” Bowl day. Even though the Patriots didn’t make it (maybe next year?), the school’s “Souper” Bowl challenge was a great success, collecting more than 500 cans on this day for the parish’s St. Vincent de Paul food pantry.

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Seekers unite!

“Our heart is restless until it rests in You.” No matter what we get, we always want more.

This is why we still ask for something new for Christmas and for our birthdays. The gifts we have received are great but then we want more. We can

Be Not Afraid

By Amanda Tarantelli never be completely satisfied with things of this world. We will only truly be filled when we are standing face-to-face with God. Every day we must seek Him more and more in this world until we can be with Him forever in the next world.

There is good news though!

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells us, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Mt 7:7). Jesus tells us that all we have to do is seek Him, and we will find Him! This is awesome! This connects to the second definition of a seeker. A seeker is a device in a moving object that detects the target. We are the moving object and our heart detects the Target. The more we seek our Target, the more we desire to know God, the more we grow in faith and in holiness. It is in our prayer that we become the seeker, the device that detects the Target.

Without prayer, we cannot possibly find the Target. Without prayer, we will not even know what the Target is. Joyce Meyer said, “Prayer doesn’t just change things — it changes us. If we are diligent in seeking God, slowly and surely we become better people.” Prayer helps us reach our target of God and enables us to increase in holiness.

I want to clarify something before my last definition of seeker. I do not use Harry Potter as a reference of faith development or even as a link to Christianity. I am simply using a role in a fiction novel to address my example. In the Harry Potter novels, there is a game called Quidditch that is similar to soccer on flying broomsticks. The Seeker’s position in the game is to find the fastest, smallest ball and catch it.

Catching the snitch ball ends the game and gives the team

with the snitch 150 points. So in the game of Quidditch, the seeker is searching out the most desirable object of the game.

This is how we are all seekers as well. We are seeking out what is most desirable in this world, our God. I ask you to pray for all of those involved in this Seeker’s retreat, but I also ask you to pray that you and I never stop seeking as well. It is only in seeking God and His will for us can we truly find what our hearts desire.

“O Lord my God, I believe in you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Insofar as I can, Insofar as You have given me the power, I have sought You. I became weary and I laboured. O Lord my God, my sole hope, help me to believe and never to cease seeking You. Grant that I may always and ardently seek out Your countenance. Give me the strength to seek You, for You help me to find You and You have more and more given me the hope of finding You. Here I am before You with my firmness and my infirmity. Preserve the first and heal the second. Here I am before You with my strength and my ignorance. Where You have opened the door to me, welcome me at the entrance; where You have closed the door to me, Open to my cry; enable me to remember You, to understand You, and to love You. Amen.” — Prayer of St. Augustine of Hippo Anchor columnist Amanda Tarantelli has been a campus minister at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth since 2005. She is married, a diehard sports fan, and resides in Cranston, R.I. She can be reached at atarantelli@bishopstang.com.

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February 28, 2014

Lent: A time for healing the soul continued from page one

“Remember that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.”

The practice of dusting oneself with ashes to express sorrow for sins harkens back to Biblical times. Answering the Lord, Job said, “I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

“Lent calls each of us to renew our ongoing commitment to the implications of the resurrection in our own lives, here and now,” said Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister in “The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life.” “But that demands both the healing of the soul, both penance and faith, both a purging of what is superfluous in our lives and the heightening, the intensifying, of what is meaningful.”

Youth in the Faith Formation Program at St. Mary’s Parish in Fairhaven abstain from eating candy during Lent and use that money to support poor families at the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary missions in Texas, the Philippines and Africa.

“The kids sacrifice during Lent,” said Sister Eleanor Cyr, SS.CC., director of Religious Education at the parish. “Instead of buying candy, they put money in a jar every week for the missions.”

Sandy Cabral, who administers the Faith Formation Office at St. Nicholas of Myra Parish, said that students will receive Reconciliation and observe the Stations of the Cross during Lent.

“Journey into Lent: Come Discover Wisdom’s Path” will be held March 5, at the La Salette Retreat and Conference Center in Attleboro. Led by Dorothy J. Levesque, the Ash Wednesday Day of Prayer will begin at 8:45 a.m. and include presentations, prayers and private reflections, concluding at 4 p.m. after the celebration of Mass and distribution of ashes.

The center also will offer the “Spirituality for Everyday Living” series mini-retreat “Growing in Compassion” on March 18 from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

“Life provides innumerable opportunities to apply either judgment or compassion,” said Peggy Patenaude, retreat facilitator. “It is often easier to criticize and judge than to try to understand and forgive. Lent reminds us to make the

choice to keep growing. It invites us to go inward and challenges us to become more like the all-loving Christ.”

A native of Annunciation of the Lord Parish in Taunton, Christopher M.J. Peschel was ordained a transitional deacon

by Bishop George W. Coleman in January. Currently, he is organizing the St. Joseph’s Men’s Retreat — which will include talks, a holy hour and time for fellowship with fellow Catholics — slated for March 15. The day will begin at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Attleboro at 10 a.m. and end at 4 p.m. with Mass.

Three parishes staffed by Sacred Heart Fathers — St. Mary’s and St. Joseph’s in Fairhaven, and Our Lady of the Assumption in New Bedford — will offer the Lenten Mission “Coming Home to the Joy of the Gospel.”

“We are reaching out to all our parishioners,” said Father Martin Gomes, SS.CC., pastor of St. Mary’s. “We sent out flyers, focusing on inactive parishioners who are here on occasion but very faithful in making sure their children attend religious formation.”

The three-day Lenten Mission

will be held at St. Mary Church in Fairhaven from March 10, through March 12, beginning each evening at 7 p.m. Mission presenter will be Father Stan Kolasa, SS.CC., director of the Sacred Hearts Retreat and Spirituality Center in Wareham.

Seventh-, eighth- and ninthgraders of the parishes also will attend the Lenten Mission.

“Information about the mission has been given to all our Confirmation students,” Sister Cyr said.

During Lent Catholics spend time with Jesus Who dwells in our midst in the consecrated host in the tabernacles of our churches.

Eucharistic Adoration is offered throughout the diocese, including perpetual Eucharistic Adoration at Our Lady’s Chapel in downtown New Bedford.

“Lent is one of those elements of Christian practice that binds the Christian community to one another and to its beginnings,” said Sister Chittister.

“We are not alone. We walk with the Church throughout the world on this journey to renewal. We walk, too, with the One Who has gone before us to bring us home again.”

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February 28, 2014

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese Acushnet — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Monday and Tuesday from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Thursday from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.

Evening prayer and Benediction is held Monday through Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

ATTLEBORO — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the St. Joseph Adoration Chapel at Holy Ghost Church, 71 Linden Street, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

ATTLEBORO — The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette holds Eucharistic Adoration in the Shrine Church every Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. through November 17.

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 beginning at noon until 7:45 a.m. First Saturday, concluding with Benediction and concluding with Mass at 8 a.m. 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 — The Corpus Christi Parish Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, East Sandwich.

Use the Chapel entrance on the side of the church.

EAST TAUNTON — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the chapel at Holy Family Parish Center, 438 Middleboro Avenue, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. On First Fridays, Eucharistic Adoration takes place at Holy Family Church, 370 Middleboro Avenue, from 8:30 a.m. until 7:45 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 — Espirito Santo Parish, 311 Alden Street, Fall River. Eucharistic Adoration on Mondays following the 8 a.m. Mass until Rosary and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.

Sister Irene Rheaume, RJM (Mother Massabeille)

WELLESLEY — Sister Irene Rheaume, 101, of Wellesley, formerly of Fall River died February 16, at Elizabeth Seton Residence in Wellesley. She was a Religious of Jesus and Mary.

Born in Fall River on Feb. 28, 1912 she was the daughter of Edmund Rheaume and Merilda (Bouchard) Rheaume.

After attending the former Jesus Mary Academy in Fall River, and St. Clare High School in Woonsocket, R.I., she entered the Congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary on Aug. 15, 1933.

She received her bachelor’s degree from Manhattan College in New York, her master and doctoral degrees from Fordham University, also in New York. Sister Irene held various positions of leadership in the American Province during her lifetime serving as

FALL RIVER — St. Bernadette’s Church, 529 Eastern Ave., has continuous Eucharistic Adoration from 8 a.m. on Thursday until 8 a.m. on Saturday.

In Your Prayers

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.

Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks

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 and concluding with 3 p.m. Benediction in the Daily Mass Chapel. A bilingual holy hour takes place from 2 to 3 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.

MANSFIELD — St. Mary’s Parish, 330 Pratt Street, has Eucharistic Adoration every First Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with Benediction at 5:45 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. Please use the side entrance.

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.

NEW BEDFORD — St. Lawrence Martyr Parish, 565 County Street, holds Eucharistic Adoration in the side chapel every Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

NORTH DARTMOUTH — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Julie Billiart Church, 494 Slocum Road, every Tuesday from 7 to 8 p.m., ending with Benediction. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available at this time.

NORTH DIGHTON — Eucharistic Adoration takes place every Wednesday following 8:00 a.m. Mass and concludes with Benediction at 5 p.m. Eucharistic Adoration also 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.

OSTERVILLE — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 76 Wianno Avenue on First Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to noon.

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

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.

Taunton — Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament takes place every First Friday at Annunciation of the Lord, 31 First Street. Exposition begins following the 8 a.m.

Mass. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed, and Adoration will continue throughout the day. Confessions are heard from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. Rosary and Benediction begin at 6:30 p.m.

WAREHAM — Eucharistic Adoration at St. Patrick’s Church begins each Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. and ends on Friday night at midnight. Adoration is held in our Adoration Chapel in the lower Parish Hall.

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.

March 1 Rev. James F. Masterson, Founder, St. Patrick, Somerset, 1906 Rev. Msgr. P L. Damase Robert, P.R., Pastor, Notre Dame, Fall River, 1948 Rev. John McCarthy, CSC, Stonehill College, North Easton, 2003 Rev. William W. Norton, Retired Pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes Wellfleet, 2004 March 2 Rev. Antoine Berube, Pastor, St. Joseph, Attleboro, 1936 Rev. James J. Brady, Retired Pastor, St. Kilian, New Bedford, 1941 Rev. Tarcisius Dreesen, SS.CC., Sacred Hearts Monastery, Fairhaven, 1952 Rev. Alphonse E. Gauthier, Pastor, Sacred Heart, New Bedford, 1962 Rev. J. Omer Lussier, Pastor, Sacred Heart, North Attleboro, 1970 March 3 Rt. Rev. Msgr. Timothy P. Sweeney, LL.D., Pastor, Holy Name, New Bedford, 1960 March 5 Rev. James McGuire. Pastor St. Mary, New Bedford, 1850 Permanent Deacon Manuel H. Camara, 1995 Rev. James A. McCarthy, Retired Pastor, St. Mary, Falmouth, 2007 March 6 Rev. Joseph F. McDonough, Former Pastor, Sacred Heart, Taunton, 1906 Rev. John W. Quirk, Founder, St. Joseph, Taunton, 1932 Rev. Bernard P. Connolly, S.S., St. Charles College, Maryland, 1932 Rev. Antoine Lanoue, O.P., 1996 Rev. Jerome Lawyer, CSC, 2006 March 7 Rev. Arthur P.J. Gagnon, Pastor, Holy Rosary, New Bedford, 1958

superior, principal, province representative at the General Chapter in Rome as a delegate and as translator, and as the International Liaison for Lay Volunteers.

In 1977 she was named Province Archivist, a challenging, yet much-needed work. She served faithfully and with courage

whatever was asked of her.

Sister Irene leaves her religious community, and four brothers and sisters, Alexander Rheaume, Lillian Raiche, Fernand Rheaume, and Constance Ouellette of Fall River.

She was pre-deceased by seven brothers and sisters: Sister Jeannette Rheaume, a Sister of Providence, Roland, Roger, Ernest, Alice, Armand and Theresa.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at St. Bernadette Church in Fall River on February 19.

Around the Diocese The Fall River Area Men’s First Friday Club will meet on March 7 in the chapel of St. Mary’s Cathedral, 327 Second Street in Fall River. Following the 6 p.m. Mass celebrated by Father Karl Bissinger, the group will have a hot meal catered by White’s of Westport in the school hall across the street with guest speaker Christopher Myron, principal of Bishop Connolly School. The Mass is open to the public. Guest men interested in joining the dinner should contact Norman Valiquette at 508-672-8174 with any questions.

An Attic Treasures Sale, sponsored by the St. John Neumann Parish Women’s Guild, will be held on March 8 in the parish hall, located at 157 Middleboro Road in East Freetown from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. A continental breakfast and hot homemade lunch will be served. The hall is wheelchair-accessible and admission is free. Take the Chace Road exit off Route 140.

A St. Joseph’s Men’s Retreat (for men 18 years and older) will be held on March 15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Organized by Deacon Chris Peschel, the day will include lunch, talks, a holy hour and time for fellowship with like-minded Catholic men. A freewill donation will be accepted. The day begins at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Attleboro at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. with Mass. Family members are encouraged to have their family attend Mass at the church. For more information or to make a reservation, contact Deacon Peschel (chrispeschel@yahoo.com) or Shawn Seybert (shawnseybert@comcast.net).

Share an afternoon of reflection on St. Patrick and a few other Irish saints on March 16 at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Attleboro. Registration will begin at 2 p.m. followed by a presentation on some saints of Ireland and Mass at 4 p.m. Then at 5 p.m., an Irish dinner will be served and the Noel Henry Irish Band with the Haley’s School of Irish Dancers will perform until 9:30 p.m. Please call 508222-5410 or visit www.lasalette-shrine.org for more information about tickets and reservations.

A Healing Mass will be held on March 20 at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford. The Mass will begin at 6:30 p.m. and includes Benediction and healing prayers. At 5:15 p.m. there will also be a holy hour including the Rosary. For location or more information, call the rectory at 508-993-1691 or visit www.saintanthonyofnewbedford.com.

St. Anne’s Parish in Fall River will host a Lenten Day of Recollection with Father Peter Stravinskas (author, educator, and editor of The Catholic Response magazine) on Laetare Sunday, March 30. The first presentation on the Sacrament of Reconciliation begins at 3 p.m.; the second, a meditative guide to St. John’s Passion narrative, begins at 4:30 p.m., with a break between the two talks. Solemn vespers and Benediction will be at 5:45 p.m. followed by sung Mass (Ordinary Form) at 6:30 p.m. For directions or more information, visit www.StAnneShrine.com or call 508-674-5651.

The Stations of the Cross will be celebrated each Friday in Lent at 6 p.m. at St. Bernadette Parish (529 Eastern Avenue) in Fall River. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen’s eloquent Way of the Cross meditations are used. Before and after the Stations of the Cross, the Msgr. Prevost Council of the Knights of Columbus are offering clamcakes and chowder in the parish hall to assist people in living their Lenten abstinence. All are welcome.

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February 28, 2014

Visit the Diocese of Fall River website at fallriverdiocese.org The site includes links to parishes, diocesan offices and national sites.

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