FAU RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSEnS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
FALL RIVER, MASS., FRIDAY,MARCH 2, 1984
VOL. 28, NO. 9
$8 Per Year
Reconciliation
Lenten theme
(Lenten regulations on page 6) In a pastoral letter to be read at all Masses this weekend, Bishop Daniel A. Cronin, noting that "our Lenten program has been clearly marked out for us by the Pope," says that the pon tiff asks for reconciliation with God and neighbor as a hall mark of Lenten observances. The bishop's pastoral follows: ''WIth the arrival this' week of Ash Wednesday, we shall com mence our observance .of the Lenten SeasOn. 1 urge and invite you to enter Into the spirit of the season to the .very best of your abUlty. >€
"This year, we celebrate Lent within the context of the Holy Year which marks the Jubilee of our Redemption. . Oull' beloved Holy Father Pope Jolm Paul II has called upon the Christian faithful to observe the 1950th anniversary of the redemptive passion, death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with particular fervor. The Holy Year will conclude on Easter Sunday of this year. "In his Lenten message, the Holy Father says, 'Let us be more deeDly concerned • • • let us be more sincerely recondled with God and with our neigh bor.' It would seem that our Lenten program has been clearly marked out for us by the Pope.
Season of Lent can occasion a flowering of peace and Joy in our Jives. The celebration of the Paschal Mystery during Holy Week, culminating in the East~ observance, can be for each, of us a rich source of grace. We have but to respond in a pray erful, devout manner to the In vitation to enter Into tlhe Season of Lent well disposed to cooper ate with God's grace. "I pray most earnestly that Almighty God wUl bring to you all a full and abundant measure of the blessings of this Holy Season. Let us together resolve to respond to the promptings of God's Holy Spirit in the coming days. May God love and bless you alU"
Rice Bowl AP. in previous Lents, diocesan
Catholics will participate in the Rice Bowl program of Catholic Relief Services, which wiH be explained in each parish this weekend. . The 1984 campaign will focus on the adverse effect of increased arms spending on funding for human needs, one of the themes' of the U.S. bishops' 1983 pas toral 'letter on peace.
The campaign will also em phasize the .bishops' statement that increasing mi:litarization not only takes resources from the needy but also leads to greater of the poor and those repression "First, we seek reconciliation with Almighty God. Each of us working on their tiehalf. can Improve his or her re!lation The Rice Bowl campaign be
ship with the Lord. Our Lenten gins on Ash Wednesday, March 7.
practices, prayer, meditation,
eRS, ,the overseas aid and de participation in the Eucharistic velopment agency of American Liturgy and other church ser Catholics, estimates that more vices, should direct us to deeper than 16,000 U.S. parishes, conversion. Especially fruitful is schools, colleges and seminaries recourse to the Sacrament of will participate in ,the 1984 pro ReconcUlation or Penance in tlItis gram. Lenten Season. Participants are asked to fast "From reconciliation with Al or to eat a reduced meal once a mighty God, we move easily to week during Lent and to con reconcUlation with our neigh ,tribute the money saved to their bors, with our brothers ami siS parish Rice Bowl fund. " ters. Forgive petty grievances. Twenty-five percent of the Forget the real or imaginary obstacles to genuine love for contributions may be kept by those whom you encounter. each diocese to fund local anti hunger and poverty programs, Works of charity, a true out growth of the Lenten practice of CRS said. The remaining 75 percent funds community self self-de1J.lal, should be an impor tant part of the Lenten program help projects in Third World countries. which ~ach one of us adopts. Now in its ninth year, Opera ..A ~incere, thoughtful effort to attain a measure of growth in tion Rice Bowl has raised more this prOcess of conversion. and than $20 mimon for anti·hunger . reconclUation during the· Holy· projects.
FATHER GEORGE E. HARRISON stands in the chapel of Cathedral Camp, which will be the temporary home of the new parish of St. John Neumann. (Rosa Photo)
New parish erected
Ash 'Wednesday will see the erection of the 113th parish in the Fall River diocese. Comprising the geographical area of Precinct' 2 of the Town of Freetown, the parish will have as its patron St. John Neumann. Its territory includes the sites of Cathedral and Our Lady of the Lake camps and it 'will use the Cathedral Camp chapel as a temporary place of worship. It borders Long Pond, the shores of which were formerly a sum mering place for New Bedford families and have become a popular location for year-round living. Bishop Daniel A. Cronin has named Father George E. Harri son, former associate pastor at St. Julie Billiart parish, North Dartmouth, St. John Neumann's first pastor:The parish has been function ing informally since last Octo ber, said Father Harrison. He said it numbers abOut 550 fami- .
lies and already has in place a parish council, a couples' club, a prayer group and active CCD and CYO programs..
burgh, where he was appointed superior of a Redemptorist house and remained for three years. Returning to Baltimore, he be Philadelphia Bishop came the first Redemptorist pas John Nepomucene Neumann tor in the United States, serving was a European .Immigrant from the parish of St. Alphonsus. As Bohemia, born in 1811, and edu described by Pope Paul V.I in his cated at seminaries in Budweis homily at the saint's canoniza and Prague. tion service on June 19, 1977, In those days of flourishing 'he was "always first in work vocations there were so many and sacrifice, always last in mat· candidates for the priesthood ters of rest, always a model of that his ordination was deferred. regular religious observance." Thus he joined a mission pro In 1852 Father Neumann was ject for A'merica, where he was named bishop of Philadelphia, ordained in New York by Bishop where he established some 100 John Dubois in 1836. Catholic schools and was known The young priest worked near for his love of the poor. Niagara Falls, among foresters, ( He oversaw the construction for four years, then entered the of Philadelphia's cathedral and Redemptorist order where he found time to write a famous devoted most of his pastoral catechism which went into many ministry to German-speaking printings. He died very suddenly" immigrants, first in Baltimore, on Jan. 5, 1860, stricken by where he pronounced his reli sudden illness while on the gious vows and later in Pitts street. 0