FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE- ISLANDS
t eanc 0 VOL. 27, NO.9
FALL RIVER, MASS., FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 1983
$8 Per Year
Torchia Photo
Some of Sacred Heart's windows
Sharing 'Calvary' To shine again
dangerous journey, told the ap proximately 33 million inhabi· ·tants -of the eight countries that he hopes his visit will "foster effective change. above all in interior attitudes, through its message of faith, brotherhood and justice." The papal message stressed the trip's "essentially religious char acter." But relevance to the po litical scene is impossible to avoid in Central America. The Central American church already has been deeply affected by the political violence and is involved in human rights and peace efforts throughout the re gion. The leading Central American chuTch martyr is the late ArCh He said he wanted to get bishop Oscar Romero of San closer to "you who experience Salvador, who was murdered in the scourge of division, of war, March 1980 while celebrating of hatred, of centuries of injus. Mass. tice, of ideological confrontations One day before his departure that s1)ake the world and find for Central America. Pope John the scene of their struggles in Paul - who was schedu~ed to lnnocet;lt populations yearning pray before Archbishop Romero's for peace." tomb in the San Salvador cathe The 62-year-old pope, on his dral - signaled his strong sup port for the man who replaced 17th foreign trip. widely con sidered. his most difficult and Archbishop Romero as the chief
VATICAN CITY (NC) - "I wish to share the Gethsemane and Calvary of your peoples." . Those words, broadcast simul
taneously Feb. 28 over the na . tlonal television and radio net
works of seven Central Ameri
can nations and Haiti, signaled
Pope John Paul II's inamtion to
experience diTectly the suffering
of those countries during his
visit now in progress. In the message he said the purpose of his trip to Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize and Haiti was "to get closer to you, . children of the church and of countries with Chdstian roots: you who are suffering so in tensely."
spokesman for the church in the country. Bishop Arturo Rivera Damas, who had been apostolic adminis trator of the San Salvador Arch· diocese since Archbishop Ro mero's assassination, was named its archbishop by the pope March 1. Archbishop Rivera was asso ciated. wth Archbishop Romero even before he succeeded him. In September 1978 they said in a joint pastoral letter that the mili tary government then in. power in El Salvador was discrimina ting against organizations work ing among campesinos, 01' peas ants, independently of the gov ernment-sponsored campesino movement, OTden. The govern ment was acting in this way to provoke confrontation among campesinos, the two prelates said. Arehbishop Romero referred to Bishop Rivera, who was auxiliary bishop of San Salvador from 1960 to 1977, as "my loyal friend." When Bishop Rivera was named apostolic administrator of San Salvador a month after the Tum to J;lage Seven
The magnificent stained glass windows at Sacred Heart Church, Fall River, will shine with their original luster if its pastor and parishioners have their way. Restorat~on of Sacred Heart's 16 windows wHl hopefully be the first step in major renovation of . the church, said Father Barry W. Wall, pastor.
In a letter to parishioners he noted that the estimated cost of restoring the windows and re placing their dangerously deteri orated frames will be about $10,000 per window. ' The windows, 13 portraying scenes from the Hfe of Christ, two geometrically patterned and one depicting the revelation of Tum to Page Three
Jubilee: Year
Bishop Daniel A. Cronin has notified pdests of the diocese of plans fOT celebration of the Holy Year of Jubilee proclaimed by Pope John Paul II to mark the 1950th anniversary of the re demption of humanity by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Holy Year will be opened at special ceremonies March 25 at the Vatican by Pope John 'Paul II. Uniting with his action, Bishop Cr9nin will open diocesan observan'ce of the year at a Mass at St. Mary's at 7:30 p.m. on the same date. Priests and deacons of the dio cese have been invited to par
ticipate in the Mass and pastors have been asked to designate one family from each parish to be present at the cathedral, thus insuring 'represe~tation for the entire diocesan community' at the opening jubilee ceremony. Jubilee year preparations will also include designation. of seven diocesan churches as places where the jubilee indulgence may be gained. At the clpse of the March 25 cathedral ~ass Bishop Cronin will present the pastors of the chosen chUTches with a symbol of their special status. Other jubilee events will occur throughout the year and will be announced shortly.