03.18.11

Diocese of Fall River

The Anchor

F riday , March 18, 2011

Speaker: Catholic Church home of ‘authentic feminism’

By Christine M. Williams Anchor Correspondent

NORWOOD — There are many people in today’s society who believe that the Catholic Church is, at its core, a sexist institution and that its very teachings reveal its “eternal sexism,” said Erika Bachiochi at the recent Women Affirming Life breakfast.

These people often believe that “no self-respecting woman can follow Church teaching.” In order to reach them with the Pro-Life message and other beliefs propagated by the Church, Catholics need to

articulate a rational argument that is backed by experience and study, she said.

“Before we can know the Church is for us, we need to know it’s not against us,” she added.

Bachiochi — an author, lawyer, theologian, wife and mother — said that the information needs to be packaged in such a way that truth-seekers of every stripe will have access to it. She has attempted to do so in two recent publications — a book entitled “Women, Sex, and the Church: A Case for Turn to page 15

q & A with Bishop Coleman — Bishop George W. Coleman fields questions from students at St. Michael School in Fall River during a talk he gave there recently, part of the school’s Career Week sessions, when several professionals spoke about their livelihoods. (Photo by Rebecca Aubut)

Lenten practice of fasting linked to penance, prayer

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

SPIRIT OF RADIO — Father Louis Maximilian M. Smith, F.I., Guardian of Our Lady’s Chapel, does some last-minute fine-tuning in the new Radio CorMariae 88.5 FM studio in downtown New Bedford while Friar John Mary, F.I., makes adjustments in an adjacent sound booth. The first-ever Catholic radio station in the Fall River Diocese will officially launch March 25. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)

New Bedford-based Catholic radio station to launch March 25

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

NEW BEDFORD — After more than two years of planning, preparing and fund-raising, the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate based at Our Lady’s Chapel in downtown New Bedford are ready to launch the first-ever 24-hour Catholic radio station in the Fall River Diocese.

On Friday WPMW — also known as Radio CorMariae — will make its official debut at the 88.5 frequency on the FM dial.

Operated by the Franciscan Friars in collaboration with the congregation’s lay apostolate, the Mission of the Immaculate Mediatrix, the new Radio CorMariae has secured the necessary licensing Turn to page 18

FALL RIVER — In his recent Ash Wednesday audience, Pope Benedict XVI stressed the importance of traditional Lenten practices for Catholics such as prayer, almsgiving and, in particular, fasting.

“Fasting means abstaining from food, but includes other forms of self-denial to promote a more sober life-

style,” the pope said. “But that still isn’t the full meaning of fasting, which is the external sign of the internal reality of our commitment to abstain from evil with the help of God and to live the Gospel.”

Pope Benedict said all Lenten sacrifices are meant to be reminders of how we need to give up our attachments to worldly possessions and physical needs and Turn to page 13

Catholic Social Services counseling programs: Working hard with very little

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

NEW BEDFORD — “A lot of working poor who have insurance that does not pay for mental health or that their policy makes them underinsured, will come and seek service for counseling at Catholic Social Services,” said Maria Pereira, chief operating officer at the New Bedford branch of Catholic Social Services.

One of the first programs created by Catholic Social Services, the counseling services have seen a dramatic cut in staff, including the closing of the Attleboro office where many of their programs were run.

“We used to have four or five counselors there,” said Pereira. “It was a very active program. The area had a lot of people who didn’t have insurance or people who had insurance but chose to come to Catholic Social Service. It was a

very busy program.”

The Attleboro office became a casualty after a lot of people got

into state insurance programs, and Catholic Social Services is not a Turn to page 14

never too young — Students at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro attended the 9 a.m. Mass at church in observance of Ash Wednesday. Shown is Pastor Father Richard Roy administering ashes to kindergarten student Connor McHale.

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News From the Vatican

March 18, 2011

Accepting others is being part of Church, pope tells seminarians

ROME (CNS) — Even though not it is not easy to like every member of the seminary, the parish or the Church, being part of Christ’s body means accepting them all, Pope Benedict XVI told Rome diocesan seminarians.

It is true that God calls each individual into a personal relationship with Him, “but at the same time, God’s call is a call in community, in the Church community,” the pope said recently during an evening visit to the diocese’s major seminary.

In the seminary chapel, the pope led the priesthood candidates in “lectio divina,” a prayerful reading of the Scriptures.

In his reflection, the pope told the students that just as in biblical times, God continues to call people to follow His Son, and He awaits their response in word and deed.

“God, the Lord, has called each one of us, each one of us is called by name,” he said. “God, who is so great, has time for

each of us.”

But the personal call also is a call that comes within the community of the Church and is a call to serve God in a particular way through the Church, the pope said.

“At the moment, the seminary is the body in which you concretely realize the call,” he told the students. “Then it will be in a parish” where they will be called on “to accept, to support and to animate the whole parish and all the people — those who are nice, and those who are not so nice — who are part of this body,” the pope said.

To love and serve God means to love and serve the Church, the body of Christ, even when “we don’t like the body,” Pope Benedict said.

The pope told the students that the unity of the Church is not something that God or the Holy Spirit imposes on it, “but it is the fruit of agreement and of a common commitment to behaving like Jesus with the strength of His Spirit.”

Vatican City (CNA/ EWTN News) — Pope Benedict XVI will participate in a first-ever question and answer session that will be televised in Italy on Good Friday.

The program is one of several new initiatives aimed at bringing the image and words of the pope into households around the world.

On March 13, Italy’s national RaiUno Television station officially launched promotions for a program to be aired on the anniversary of Jesus’ death — Good Friday.

The special is set to begin at 2:10 p.m. so that it is playing at 3:00 p.m., when Jesus is traditionally believed to have taken His last breath. The show will feature the pope, who will answer three questions posed by

viewers.

People will be able to write to RaiUno’s “In His Image” (“A Sua Immagine”) program with suggestions for the three questions. All will focus on the life of Jesus.

Vatican Radio described the April 22 television event as “an absolute first.”

“In His Image” host Rosario Carello said that the idea is to bring “reflection” back to Good Friday programming.

“This sentiment has been lost,” he said. For most television stations, Good Friday is “a day like any other for all the channels, there are even quarrels, idle gossip and things like that.”

In an attempt to swim against the prevailing current, the crew from Carello’s program suggested reviving an old show that examined spectators’ questions about Jesus. They thought there would be no one better than the pope to respond to them.

It seemed “crazy” to think about proposing the idea to the pontiff, but they saw “something in Pope Benedict’s style that caused them to at least propose this idea to him,” said Carello.

“We proposed it and here the pope accepted.”

He called the opportunity to see and hear Pope Benedict through the program “extraordinary.”

In a first, Pope Benedict will take questions in Good Friday TV special

Marian Medal awards presentation on video

FALL RIVER — The 2010 Marian Medals Awards Ceremony is now available on DVD from the Diocesan Office of Communications. The DVD cost is $24.95.

To obtain one, please forward a check in that amount payable to the Diocesan Office of Communications, Diocese of Fall River, PO Box 7, Fall River, Mass. 02722. Shipping is included in the video cost.

flag bearers — Religious Sisters wave Vatican flags as they cheer prior to Pope Benedict XVI’s general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican recently. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Lent fasting, almsgiving, prayer bring strength, pope says

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Wishing all Christians a “happy Lenten journey,” Pope Benedict XVI said fasting, almsgiving and prayer are traditionally suggested for Lent because they have proven to be effective tools for conversion.

Lent is a time “to accept Christ’s invitation to renew our baptismal commitments” in order to arrive at Easter in a new and stronger state, the pope said at his weekly general audience March 9, Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent for Latinrite Catholics.

“This Lenten journey that we are invited to follow is characterized in the Church’s tradition by certain practices: fasting, almsgiving and prayer,” he told the estimated 7,000 people gathered in the Vatican audience hall.

“Fasting means abstaining from food, but includes other forms of self-denial to promote a more sober lifestyle. But that still isn’t the full meaning of fasting, which is the external sign of the internal reality of our commitment to abstain from evil with the help of God and to live the Gospel,” Pope Benedict said.

In the Church’s tradition, he said, “fasting is tied closely to almsgiving” and is the sign that after having given up an attachment to things and to sin, the Christian has embraced good works.

“Lent is also a privileged time for prayer,” the pope said. He quoted St. Augustine, who described fasting and almsgiving as “the two wings of prayer,” because they are signs of humility and charity.

Pope Benedict said, “The Church knows that because of our weakness it is difficult to be silent and sit before God,” even though we are “sinners who need His love.”

“For this reason, during Lent, the Church invites us to be more

faithful and intense in our prayer and to meditate at length on the word of God,” the pope said.

The Lenten period is the Church’s gift to Christians to help them prepare to truly celebrate Easter, Pope Benedict said.

“In order to reach the light and joy of the resurrection, the victory of life, love and goodness, we, too, must take up our cross each day,” he said.

Celebrating an evening Mass during which he received ashes from retired Cardinal Jozef Tomko and distributed ashes to cardinals and others present for the liturgy, Pope Benedict said, “Let us begin the Lenten journey trusting and joyful.”

In his homily during the Mass at Rome’s Basilica of Santa Sabina, the pope said there is a risk that Lent is seen as a time of “sadness, of drabness,” when it really is “a precious gift of God, a time rich and full of meaning” for the Church and its members.

In fact, he said, Jesus admonished His disciples not to moan and groan in public as they practiced their penance, because then the admiration they received would be their reward.

Especially during Lent, Christians should be “a living message” of the joy and beauty of being

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saved by Christ because “in many cases we are the only Gospel that people today” will know, he said.

“Here is another reason for living Lent well: to offer the witness of faith lived to a world in difficulty that needs to return to God, that needs conversion,” he said.

Also March 9, the Vatican released Pope Benedict’s message for Brazilian Catholics’ Lenten solidarity campaign; the 2011 campaign focused on the relationship between environmental destruction and human selfishness.

“The first step toward a correct relationship with the world around us,” the pope said, is to recognize that human beings are creatures made by God. “Man is not God, but his image, so he should try to be more sensitive to the presence of God in what surrounds him: in all creatures and especially in other human beings,” the papal message said.

Respect for the environment will never be complete without respect for and “a clear defense of human life from conception to natural death, without a defense of the family based on marriage between a man and a woman, without a real defense of those who are excluded and marginalized by society” and without concrete care of those impacted by natural disasters, he said.

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 55, No. 11

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Published weekly except for two weeks in the summer and the week after Christmas by the Catholic Press of the Diocese of Fall River, 887 Highland Avenue, Fall River, MA 02720, Telephone 508-675-7151 — FAX 508-675-7048, email: theanchor@anchornews.org.

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March 18, 2011

The International Church

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Pope Benedict calls for prayer for victims of disaster in Japan

EVER faithful — People pray during Mass on Ash Wednesday at a chapel adjacent to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 9. (CNS photo/Bob Roller)

Haitians see Lent as a time to ‘meet with God’

By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — With a large cross of ashes on his forehead, Peter Noel — head bowed and deep in prayer — leaned on the windowsill at the back of the chapel where Ash Wednesday Mass was concluding.

He was, he said, beginning a prayerful Lenten journey to “meet with God.” Noel, 30, was among about 200 people who filled the personal chapel of the archbishop of Port-au-Prince and a small tented area outside the chapel’s front door March 9 to mark the beginning of Lent. The chapel has been used for public Masses for months because the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption was destroyed in the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake that leveled much of the Haitian capital.

The chapel was next to the residence of Archbishop Serge Miot, who was killed when the magnitude seven jolt threw him from his balcony.

“The Church is our strength,” Noel said after Mass as people milled under the tent that offered a bit of protection from the early morning heat March 9. “Lent is a season that allows us to pray so we can meet God in our life.”

Since last year’s earthquake, Lent has taken on new meaning, other churchgoers told Catholic News Service.

Deacon Virgile Charles, 80, who helped distribute ashes just before the offertory, said the quake led some people to be-

come more prayerful. Lent, he said, allows survivors “to do their penance in remembrance of what happened.”

“They have to pray more,” he added.

Citiene Toussaint, 76, said he would be praying for all Haitians to “walk in the path of Christ and that a lot of us can find salvation” during Lent.

“When there are things related to leisure and pleasure, everybody’s there,” he said. “But when it’s time to celebrate Christ, there are fewer people.”

For 83-year-old Marie Merejenie Sanon, Lent is a time to share — only if she could, she said.

Sanon survived the earthquake because she was sitting outside of her home, which crumpled in the 35-second, late afternoon temblor that claimed more than 300,000 lives.

“If I could I would share ev-

erything,” she said. “But I lost everything.”

Using a cane to steady herself as she left Mass, Sanon joined friends for the walk to her new home with people who took her in near the cathedral. She said she was fortunate that she could remain in the same neighborhood despite its widespread destruction. A son lives in New Jersey and sends money to her, but it’s just enough for her to live on these days, she explained.

Looking at the people gathered around her, Sanon smiled.

“It’s a beautiful day,” she said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Saying he, too, was horrified by the images of the death and destruction caused by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Pope Benedict XVI asked people to join him in praying for the victims.

“May the bereaved and injured be comforted and may the rescue workers be strengthened in their efforts to assist the courageous Japanese people,” the pope said in English March 13 after reciting the Angelus prayer with visitors in St. Peter’s Square.

Government officials estimated that perhaps 10,000 people lost their lives after the earthquake March 11 and the tsunami it triggered.

Speaking in Italian after the Angelus, the pope said, “The images of the tragic earthquake and the consequent tsunami in Japan have left us deeply horrified.

“I want to renew my spiritual closeness to that country’s dear people, who with dignity and courage are dealing with the consequences of the calamity. I pray for the victims and their families and for all who are suffering because of these terrible events. I encourage all those who, with laudable speed, are working to bring help.

Let us remain united in prayer.”

Bishop Marcellino Daiji Tani of Saitama, one of the dioceses hit hardest by the disaster, told the Catholic missionary news agency Fides that the catastrophe is a reminder that “life is in the hands of God and that life is a gift from God,” and he described the trag-

edy as a challenge for Christians during Lent “to practice and witness to the commandment of love and brotherly love.”

He also told Fides, “Of particular concern to us is the situation of the nuclear power plant in Fukushima. But we must take courage, with the help of the Holy Spirit.”

Two reactors at the Fukushima plant were hit by explosions and another was losing its cooling system. Japanese officials ordered evacuations for hundreds of thousands of people.

In a message March 13 to members of the Orthodox Church, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople said the Japanese tragedy demonstrates the threat posed by nuclear power plants and it calls for serious reflection.

“With all due respect to the science and technology of nuclear energy and for the sake of the survival of the human race, we counter-propose the safer green forms of energy,” the patriarch said.

Meanwhile, the director of Caritas Japan told Fides, “This painful event may be an opportunity to spread the values of the Gospel, that is, the fraternity of all men and women, the building of common good, the recognition that every person has the dignity of a child of God and is important in the eyes of God. “If with our work and our witness, we can communicate that then from this evil will come good,” the Caritas official, Father Daisuke Narui, told Fides.

“Phoenix/scottsdale, arizona” Fr. Joseph P. McDermott

is the Spiritual Director of a Pilgrimage/Tour to Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona

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The Church in the U.S.

March 18, 2011

Maryland same-sex marriage bill is dead for rest of legislative session

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (CNS) — A bill to legalize same-sex marriage in Maryland is effectively dead for the current legislative session after a member of the House of Delegates asked that it be recommitted to the House Judiciary Committee March 11.

The move came at the end of a passionate and lengthy debate on the floor of the House of Delegates.

On a voice vote, delegates approved the recommendation made

by Delegate Joseph Vallario of Prince George’s County, and did not have to vote on the legislation.

Stunned supporters of the bill wept in the halls of the Statehouse, while jubilant supporters of traditional marriage cheered and honked horns outside.

Mary Ellen Russell, executive director of the Maryland Catholic Conference, said it was “very clear” that bill supporters lacked the votes needed to pass this year. The measure had earlier made it through the state Senate, and Gov. Martin J. O’Malley, a Catholic, promised he would sign it into law if it reached his desk.

“It’s a clear indication that despite the enormous pressure that the members of the House of Delegates were put under by House leadership to vote against their conscience or against the wishes of their constituents,” Russell said, “people of faith stood up and legislators stood their ground. The voice of the people was heard here.”

Russell said Catholic faith communities across the state played a major role in defeating the bill.

Baltimore Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien had spoken out strongly against the measure and urged Catholics to contact their lawmakers on the issue.

In late February, the archbishop joined Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington and Bishop W. Francis Malooly of Wilmington,

Del., in issuing a statement that commended Catholics for their efforts and urged them to keep up the fight against same-sex marriage.

The Washington Archdiocese and the Wilmington Diocese include parishes in Maryland.

“The entire Church — from our bishops to our pastors to our parishioners — really pulled together to ensure that the voices of Catholics in Maryland were heard,” Russell said. “It’s that kind of advocacy that swayed the day.”

During the debate, Baltimore County Delegate Emmett C. Burns Jr. vehemently rejected attempts by bill supporters to equate same-sex marriage with the civil rights movement of the 1960s. He challenged proponents to “show me your Birmingham, Alabama. Show me the billy clubs and the howling mobs.”

“Those who desire to ride in on our coattails are historically inaccurate,” said the Democrat, an African-American Baptist minister. “The civil rights movement was about putting teeth into the Declaration of Independence. It had nothing to do with same-sex marriage.”

Burns said his life had been threatened for his opposition to same-sex marriage. He asserted that same-sex marriage “turns a moral wrong into a civil right.” It violates natural law, he said, and “always denies a child either a father or mother.”

Burns concluded by saying, “We must not abrogate, we must not dismiss our tradition.”

Although she described herself as a “Pro-Life, Catholic Democrat,” Delegate Anne Healey of Prince George’s County said she supported the bill. She said she knew her position would disappoint many of her constituents.

“I believe I must vote to be sure that everyone is treated equally before the law,” she said.

firm in the faith — Actors participate in a musical dramatization of the life of St. Paul on a stage with the World Youth Day cross in Zamora, Spain, last November. The theme for the August 16-21 international Catholic youth gathering in Madrid is a quote from St. Paul: “Planted and Built Up in Jesus Christ, Firm in the Faith.” (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Youths raising money, making plans for World Youth Day 2011 in Spain

DENVER (CNS) — Hundreds of thousands — even millions — of young people from across the globe celebrating the Catholic faith: That’s what pops into one’s mind when you hear “World Youth Day.” Across the United States, youths and young adults are making preparations to attend this year’s international gathering August 16-21 in Madrid, and part of the planning is raising money to afford the trip.

In the Denver Archdiocese, Jennifer Judge and other members of her youth group at the Church of the Risen Christ have spent nearly two years getting ready, with a large portion of that time spent raising funds, from setting up a baby-sitting service to helping put together a parish directory to selling pumpkins and wreaths — “anything that would help with the cost,” she said.

“In addition to making money, it was a great way to meet people in the parish,” said Jennifer, a sophomore in the girls’ division at Regis Jesuit High School.

“The cost for our trip is $4,000 per person and everyone has been doing whatever they could to raise the money,” the 15-year-old told the Denver Catholic Register, the archdiocesan newspaper.

So far, more than 16,500 youths and young adults from across the United States, representing 380 different groups, have already registered for the World Youth Day. Early-bird registration runs through March 31. Registration information is available at www.madrid11.com/ en.

At least 60 U.S. bishops will accompany the youths on their pilgrimage to the Spanish capital. Among them will be New

York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, who is president of the U.S. bishops, as well as Cardinals Sean P. O’Malley of Boston, Francis E. George of Chicago and Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington.

World Youth Day was instituted by Pope John Paul II in 1985, with the first one held in 1986 in Rome. The international gatherings are generally held every two or three years.

This will be the second time Spain has hosted the event; in 1989 it was in Santiago de Compostela.

The itinerary includes Mass, catecheses, music festivals and an audience with Pope Benedict XVI. The theme is “Rooted and Built Up in Jesus Christ, Firm in the Faith.”

Christopher Stefanick, director of the Denver Archdiocese’s Youth, Young Adult and Campus Ministry Office, said World Youth Day is a momentous experience for young people.

“There is simply no better way to see the universality of the Church and the power of Jesus Christ to unite mankind than at a World Youth Day,” he said.

Denver hosted the 1993 World Youth Day and this year is sending one of the largest contingents, as is Detroit, Philadelphia and New York. Sizable groups also will be attending from California, Arizona and the Washington area.

Stefanick said he will never forget his experience of meeting people at previous World Youth Days and how despite their differences, all were united in the Catholic faith. At one, he recalled that during one of the events, “in a quarter-mile walk, I stopped and danced to a drum with people from the Congo, and chatted with people from France

and Lebanon. All so different — yet all united in the same fundamental outlook on life that springs from the paschal mystery. They’re all my family.”

Unlike vacations, which are an escape from life, Stefanick said World Youth Days are pilgrimages aimed at helping pilgrims to live life more intensely and intentionally.

Jennifer Judge and her group will first fly to Italy where they will spend a week visiting sacred sites before continuing on to Spain.

“I know this will be an awesome experience for me and my friends,” she said. “But the overall reason I’m going is to find God and grow as a person.”

Rose Mary McLeod and her husband, Don, will lead the largest group from the Denver archdiocese to Spain: 145 people.

The McLeods have been responsible for the Neocatechumenal Way in Colorado for the past two decades and have been leading World Youth Day pilgrimages since 1991.

“In our years leading, we’ve taken about 1,000 people in all,” Rose Mary McLeod said.

“This year we have people from about 20 parishes. Many of them signed up a year ago and have been working to raise money in their parishes, serving coffee and doughnuts after Mass, holding bake sales and car washes. We’ve had such great support from all the pastors; they really want their young people to attend.”

The Neocatechumenal Way’s trip, which costs $2,800 per person, will include a three-day stop in Ireland where the youths will have the chance to evangelize in the streets of Galway, Killarney and Cork. Then it’s on to Paris for a brief stopover before taking an overnight train to Madrid.

The Church in the U.S. Cardinal places 21 Philadelphia priests on leave as inquiry continues March 18, 2011

PHILADELPHIA (CNS) — Continuing his response to the clergy sexual abuse scandal in the Philadelphia Archdiocese, Cardinal Justin Rigali placed 21 priests on administrative leave from their clerical assignments March 7.

Parishes where the priests had been assigned were informed of the action at Masses on Ash Wednesday, and again at Masses the following weekend.

The priests’ placement on leave is not a final determination, according to a press release issued by the archdiocesan communications office. The action follows “an initial examination of files looking at both the substance of allegations and the process by which those allegations were reviewed,” the statement said.

Each case will be subject to a further review in a “thorough, independent investigation.”

Cardinal Rigali emphasized the nature of his action March 8.

“I want to be clear,” he said in a statement. “These administrative leaves are interim measures. They are not in any way final determinations or judgments.”

The unprecedented step to remove such a large group of priests responds to the Philadelphia grand jury’s February 10 report that called for the archdiocese to “review all of the old allegations against currently active priests and to remove from ministry all of the priests with credible allegations against them.”

Cardinal Rigali described the turmoil existing among Catholics in the archdiocese since the grand jury’s report. He said the weeks since have been “difficult most of all for victims of sexual abuse, but also for all Catholics and for everyone in the community.”

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams called the action “commendable,” saying it reflects Cardinal Rigali’s “concern for the physical and spiritual well-being of those in his care.”

Williams said his office appreciates that “the archdiocese has acknowledged the value of the report, and seen fit to take some of the steps called for by the grand jury.” He called on the archdiocese to “take the necessary and proper steps to protect children for whom they are responsible, as they have done here.”

The grand jury report had cited 37 priests as continuing in ministry in the Philadelphia Archdiocese despite credible allegations of sex abuse against them.

In addition to the 21, the archdiocese’s statement noted, three priests were placed

on administrative leave after the February 10 release of the report. Of five other cases that would have been subject to the same action, one priest was already on leave, two were “incapacitated” and not in ministry, and two others no longer serve in the archdiocese.

Both of the latter two cases concern religious order priests, and their religious superiors plus the bishops of the dioceses in which they reside have been notified, the statement said.

Another eight priests will not be placed on leave, the statement said. “The initial independent examination of these cases,” it said, “found no further investigation is warranted.”

Gina Maisto Smith, the veteran child abuse prosecutor hired by the archdiocese February 16 to lead the intensive re-examination of all the cases cited by the grand jury, recommended the actions to Cardinal Rigali after completing her initial review.

To re-examine the cases, Smith referred to Pennsylvania child protection law, guidelines from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” and the archdiocese’s “Standards for Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries.”

The cases concerned allegations ranging from child sexual abuse to other incidents of what the archdiocese terms “boundary issues” — discussions or behavior by a clergyman that might indicate a pattern leading to later abuse.

Cardinal Rigali’s statement acknowledged his “responsibility to respond to this report transparently,” and pledged continued cooperation with the district attorney’s office. He said he shared with the office and the grand jury “the desire to deal definitively with the concerns noted in the report.”

The cardinal also addressed the morale of Catholics in the Philadelphia Archdiocese as a result of the scandal. He said for many people, “their trust in the Church has been shaken.”

“I pray that the efforts of the archdiocese to address these cases of concern and to reevaluate our way of handling allegations will help build that trust in truth and justice,” he said.

Cardinal Rigali reiterated his “sorrow for the sexual abuse of minors committed by any member of the Church, especially clergy,” he said. “I am truly sorry for the harm done to the victims of sexual abuse, as well as to the members of our community who suffer as a result of this great evil and crime.”

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faithful soldier — Sgt. Maj. Rocky R. Sapla receives ashes from Auxiliary Bishop Richard B. Higgins of the U.S. military archdiocese during Ash Wednesday Mass at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington March 9. Sapla has been a patient at the hospital for more than two years, recuperating from injuries he received while serving in Iraq. (CNS photo/Nancy Wiechec)

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The Anchor

Catholic courage and commitment in embracing the Cross

On Sunday, Pope Benedict reminded all Christians that Lent “is a matter of following Jesus who turns decisively towards the Cross, the culmination of this mission of salvation. If we ask: Why Lent? Why the Cross? The answer, in radical terms, is this: because evil exists, rather, sin, which according to Scripture is the deepest form cause of every evil.” Lent is the time when Christians embrace their crosses and use them as weapons to defeat evil: to vanquish the evil of placing other gods before the Lord through sacrificing other activities to make time for God in prayer; to overcome the evil of seeking to dominate others rather than lovingly serve them through offering oneself and what one has to others; to overcome the evil of seeking to maximize pleasures and minimize pains by the self-discipline of fasting in order to hunger for God’s words. All of these teach us how to lose our life in this world in order teach us to save it forever by giving it for God and others.

Many of us, however, like Simon of Cyrene, need to be compelled to join Christ on the Way of the Cross, even during the season of Lent. In our day in which, as Pope Benedict noted, the “eclipse of God” has necessarily brought about an “eclipse of sin” — an obscuring of evil and a weakening of the importance of expiation and reparation — many Christians at a practical level have begun to look at the Cross as an optional part of the Christian life. For those who recognize they can’t eliminate the Cross from the Christian life, many seek to embrace it only as a token, fashioning crosses made out of Styrofoam, covered with velvet, and fitted with rollers. We fast a little, pray a little more that usual, and give a little more than the minimum, but we don’t embrace the Cross with heroism, because we don’t believe that heroism is required. We often look at the Cross fundamentally as an added burden to make us stronger, rather than what it really is: an instrument of death, a means given by God to crucify the world to us and us to the world, so that we, being crucified with Christ, may live no longer for ourselves but by faith in Him (Gal 2:18-20; 6:14-15).

For that reason, we have an urgent need for contemporary role models who will show us what it means to embrace the Cross and confront evil with the power of God. This Lent the whole Christian world has been blessed with such a man. On March 2, the Pakistani Cabinet Minister for Minorities, 42-year-old Shahbaz Bhatti, was assassinated by Muslim fanatics associated with the Taliban. Soon after he had left his mother’s house and was traveling through a residential district to a meeting, a team of gunmen stopped his car and riddled him with bullets. The group that carried out the hit, Tehrik-i-Taliban, told the BBC that they had carried out the attack because Bhatti, a Roman Catholic, was a “known blasphemer,” because he dared to do his job and speak out forcefully in favor of religious freedom and against Pakistan’s infamous blasphemy law, which makes it a crime punishable by death to speak disrespectfully of Islam, the Qu’ran or Muhammad.

Bhatti was particularly outspoken in defense of Asia Bibi, the Christian mother of five who was sentenced to be hung for blasphemy. Her capital crime was to say, in a dispute with a belligerent Muslim neighbor who had attacked her Christian faith, “Jesus Christ was crucified for the sins of people. What did Muhammad do for people?” Thanks to an international outcry, including an appeal by Pope Benedict XVI, her execution has been postponed; in the meantime she has been imprisoned in solitary confinement in a prison plastered with posters meant to intimidate, featuring the slain photos of Bhatti and the assassinated governor of Punjab Providence, Salman Taseer, asking, “Who’s next?” On January 4, Taseer was shot 26 times by a member of his governmentassigned security team because of his own defense of Bibi and opposition to the blasphemy law.

Bhatti knew upon taking the cabinet level position to stick up for the rights of minorities in Pakistan — not merely for Christians, but for Sikhs and for the others who are not part of the 96 percent Muslim majority — that he would be a marked man. When he was offered the position, he had no illusions that he was embracing a Cross that would lead to his death. But he lifted it high and courageously, willing to offer his life for Christ and for his country.

In an interview for a 2008 book by Msgr. Dino Pistolato entitled, “Christians in Pakistan: Where Hope Is Tested,” Bhatti was plain about how he was bribed and threatened to abandon his struggle to defend those whose religious freedom and lives were endangered because of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.

“I was offered high government positions and asked to quit my struggle,” he related, “but I always refused to give up, even at the cost of my life. I said: ‘No, I want to serve Jesus as a common man.’ I am happy with this devotion. I do not want popularity; I do not want any position. I want just a place at Jesus’ feet. I want that my life, my character, my actions speak for me and indicate that I am following Jesus Christ.”

With humility, honesty and holy firmness, he said that he was willing to sacrifice his whole life for Christ and for those in need. “Because of this desire, I will consider myself even to be more fortunate if — in this effort and struggle to help the needy, the poor, to help the persecuted and victimized Christians of Pakistan — Jesus Christ will accept the sacrifice of my life. I want to live for Christ and I want to die for Him. … Many times the extremists wanted to kill me, many times they wanted to put me in prison, they threatened me, they harassed me and they terrorized my family. Even my parents, my mother and my father, were asked by the extremists a few years ago to stop their son from continuing with his mission, this struggle to help the Christians and the needy. Otherwise they would have lost me. But my father always encouraged me. I said: ‘Until I live, until my last breath, I will continue to serve Jesus, to serve the poor humanity, the suffering humanity, the Christians, the needy, the poor.’”

These were not empty words or a coincidental prophecy. He was quite open about the fact that he knew he would die for his faith and his love of those who were persecuted. Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran, the president of the Vatican’s Council for Interreligious Dialogue, said that in their last conversation four months ago, Bhatti told him, “I know that I will die assassinated, but I lay down my life for Christ and for interreligious dialogue.” Cardinal Tauran added that Bhatti died as an “authentic martyr.”

The bishops of Pakistan agree with Cardinal Tauran’s assessment. In the meeting of the Pakistani Episcopal Conference next week, Bishop Andrew Francis of Multan will urge the entire episcopate to recommend that the Vatican declare Bhatti a martyr who died out of hatred for the faith. “Bhatti is a man who gave his life for his crystalline faith in Jesus Christ,” Bishop Francis said. “It is up to us, the bishops, to tell his story and experience to the Church in Rome, to call for official recognition of his martyrdom. … [His death] has been a grave loss, but we Christians in Pakistan want to transform the death of Shahbaz Batti into a prophecy of the Resurrection.”

Pope Benedict wrote in his 2008 encyclical on Christian hope, “In truly great trials, where I must make a definitive decision to place the truth before my own welfare, career and possessions, I need the certitude of that true, great hope [for eternal life with God in heaven]. For this too we need witnesses — martyrs — who have given themselves totally, so as to show us the way — day after day. We need them if we are to prefer goodness to comfort, even in the little choices we face each day — knowing that this is how we live life to the full.” Shahbaz Bhatti was that type of witness who shows us that way to the fulfillment of the great hope, inspiring us to remain faithful not only under great duress, but also in the “little choices” we face this Lent.

T

March 18, 2011

Santo Subito: Saint Now!

overwhelming clear that they believed that he funeral of Pope John Paul II John Paul II was a saint and wanted to see was celebrated by Joseph Cardinal him officially canonized.

Ratzinger on the morning of Apr. 8, 2005.

There was never a doubt that the faithIn his homily for that Mass, the future Pope Benedict XVI traced the life of Karol ful recognized the extraordinary heroic virtue of this incredible servant of God. The Wojtyla from his youth in Nazi-occupied Church, however, cannot simply declare Poland to his years as Archbishop of Krakow to his ministry as the 263rd successor someone a saint because of his popularity; the Church must carefully and objectively of St. Peter. follow the procedures and guidelines for Cardinal Ratzinger explained that Christ’s last words to the Apostle St. Peter, examining one’s sanctity before such a “Follow Me,” can be taken as the interpre- declaration is made.

The proclamation of someone as a tive key to understand the extraordinary “saint” or a “blessed” by the Church is life of Pope John Paul II. Throughout his made only after a thorough process has life, John Paul II continued to hear our been completed. One of the first criteria Lord calling out to him, “follow me.” He continued to respond to this invitation with is to determine whether or not there is an humble and pure faith, trusting in our Lord identifiable devotion to the person in quesand seeking the intercession and protection tion. In the case of Pope John Paul II, there was obviously a worldwide recognition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to whom he of his sanctity as was made clear by the entrusted his life. testimony of the millions of people who The celebration of the funeral Mass of the pope was a very moving and emotional flocked to Rome.

Another area that is looked at is whether event. There were estimated to be more or not the life of this person will be an inspithan four million people present in Rome ration for the faithful to become more holy for this final farewell to John Paul II. St. themselves.

Peter’s Square The person’s was packed to life must serve capacity as was Putting Into as a sign of the Via della faith and an inConcilazione, the Deep vitation to enter (the road leadinto deeper ing into the

By Father communion Vatican). There with our Lord. were more than Jay Mello Certainly, be70 heads of cause of his exstate in attentensive pastoral visits throughout the world dance, including presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, as which made him the most visible pope in history and the longevity of his pontificate well as many leaders of other religions. (third longest in history), this would not be a Knowing that there were going to be major concern either. record-breaking crowds and that it would The final and most important criterion be difficult to actually get into the square that needs to be met is the particular holiitself, my friends and I camped out on ness and heroic virtue of the person being the streets closest to the square so that put forth for beatification or canonization. we would be first in line the next mornThis is only verified during the precise ing. After being moved a couple of times and formal canonical proceedings, which by security officers, we were in fact first must be accompanied by miracles that are in line when the gates opened the next obtained through the intercession of this morning. This all-night prayer vigil was person. In the case of Pope John Paul II, spent singing songs, praying the Rosary and Chaplets of Divine Mercy, and sharing a French nun, Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, was healed of Parkinson’s disease on June stories of his life.

2, 2005, just two months after John Paul’s It was clear to any bystander that this death. was a man who had deeply touched the The process for collecting and examinlives of so many people throughout the almost 27 years of his pontificate. He spent ing information about the life of the saint is quite extensive. The formal declaration of so much time traveling the globe to share the Church that someone is in heaven must the message of the Gospel and now those not be rushed, even for the most popular people whose lives he had touched had figures. come to Rome to say “thank you.”

During my last year in Rome, I was I remember meeting so many people asked to volunteer in the diocesan office that night from all over the world. Many that was working on John Paul’s becarried photos of John Paul’s visit to their atification process. My work there was country or photos that they themselves had taken. They were holding candles and strictly clerical, handing English correRosaries. They were intent upon testifying spondence and mailing out prayer cards to the great impact that John Paul II had in and relics (pieces of his white cassock) that had been requested. But I was also every corner of the world. able to read many letters that people At the conclusion of the funeral Mass, wrote explaining their love and devotion there were two very moving experiences. for John Paul.

The first was when the pallbearers were Often I would not get much work done bringing the casket into the basilica to be because I was so captivated by the content interred in the crypt. Before entering the of so many letters that came in each day. basilica, they stopped, turned around and held up John Paul, as if to provide his final My coworkers didn’t seem to mind, as they were caught up reading letters in their farewell to the world. own languages as well. We all loved readThe second experience that sticks out ing about how John Paul touched so many in my mind was at the conclusion of the lives throughout the world and we all held Mass when those present allowed their the same opinion, “Santo Subito!” voice to ring out in St. Peter’s square Father Mello is a parochial vicar at St. to the chant, “Santo Subito” Italian for, Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth.

“Saint Now!” God’s people had made it

March 18, 2011

Q: May you please help me to answer these delicate questions?

When a priest is in grave sin and publicly known to be in mortal sin (drunk often; with women, etc.) and the bishop allows him to say Mass publicly, what does canon law say about this? Or, if a priest has even impregnated a woman and then encouraged her to get an abortion (a reality for us here), shouldn’t that priest have sanctions put on him rather than letting him celebrate Mass publicly? — K.G., Sudan A: These are indeed delicate questions and sad ones to answer.

I am not a canonist and so cannot answer regarding the intricacies of the canonical process. However, I can offer some moral pointers with respect to the sacraments.

A priest who falls into grave sin, just like any member of the faithful, should seek sacramental reconciliation as soon as possible. Meanwhile, he should abstain as far as possible from celebrating the sacraments.

By “as far as possible,” I mean that if it is impossible for a priest to go to Confession before attending to the needs of the faithful, then he should make an act of perfect contrition and celebrate the sacrament.

The act of contrition implies both the intention of confessing as soon as possible and the firm resolve not to sin again. This moral principle, of course, is applicable to momentary (and usually secret) lapses.

Canon 916 of the Code of Canon Law states: “A person who is con-

H

aving noted some of the worst excesses of the liturgical confusion that followed in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, I will not pick at old scabs. It will suffice to say that Father Louis Bouyer, a star of the Liturgical Movement and a peritus (expert adviser) at the Council, lamented in the 1970s that in the Catholic Church at the time there was little that merited name “liturgy.” (Eastern-rite Catholics may have forgiven the oversight.)

What caused the reform of the liturgy intended and initiated

by Vatican II to be debacled? I was born during the Council, so I wasn’t paying much attention to questions of liturgical reform at the time. But it seems to me from much reading, from collaboration with internationally respected liturgical scholars, and from experience on both sides of the altar, that a combination of three factors can be indicated, all of which have to do with what was happening to the Church in general.

For starters, the whole cluster of social and cultural attitudes prevalent in the late 1960s had a decisive bearing on the reform, both in its official and in its unofficial application. Where the forces of secularization, individualism, and ideology took hold in the Church, the liturgy was largely emptied of a sense of the sacred, destabilized by all manner of gimmickry, or

7

The Anchor

When a priest is in mortal sin

scious of grave sin is not to celebrate with no apparent signs of willingness to change. Although only God Mass or receive the Body of the knows the heart, a public sin requires Lord without previous sacramental some form of public separation from Confession unless there is a grave the life of sin. Sacraments celebrated reason and there is no opportunity by an unrepentant priest are gravely to confess; in this case the person is sacrilegious acts. They would be to remember the obligation to make valid but illicit. an act of perfect contrition which A priest who induces a woman to includes the resolution of confessing as soon as possible (see also Canon 1335).”

Note that the code requires a grave reason in order to avail of this exception.

One such grave reason is based on the principle of the

By Father good of souls. If a priest is Edward McNamara required to celebrate Mass or a soul requests the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the Anointing of the Sick, or indeed any abort is automatically excommunicated and also irregular and impeded other sacrament from this priest that from exercising his ministry (Canwould have to be performed before ons 1398, 1041.4; 1043). He cannot he can avail of Confession, then he celebrate any sacraments nor himself may, and usually must, administer receive sacramental absolution until the sacrament. the excommunication is formally A second grave reason stems lifted. If he were to continue to act as from the danger of infamy by publicly revealing the state of one’s soul. a priest, not only would the celebrations be sacrilegious, but the SacraThis can occur in the case of a priest in isolated circumstances when there ment of Penance and Matrimony could also be invalid (see Canons is no one else to perform the usual 1331 §2.1). celebrations. There is no need for If his excommunicated state were him to do anything that might lead publicly known, then the faithful people to suspect his lack of a state should not assist at any celebration of grace. nor request any spiritual goods from The case mentioned by our readhim except in the case of imminent er would imply a graver situation danger of death. Even if he were in which the priest is openly living the only priest available, the faithful in an objectively immoral situation

Liturgical Q&A

should not go to one of his Sunday or daily Masses.

In such situations a bishop cannot “allow” a priest to continue as normal. The bishop has a grave responsibility toward assuring the holiness of the sacraments. A bishop could not give a positive permission for a sacrilegious act without himself becoming guilty of the sin of sacrilege. If he were to knowingly turn a blind eye, he would become morally responsible due to culpable negligence and would have some serious questions to answer on Judgment Day. At the same time, the faithful should not presume that the bishop is aware of everything that goes on. If they have certain proof, and not just hearsay, of a priest’s publicly immoral behavior they should present it to the bishop. If the evidence is solid, the bishop should follow the established canonical procedures, first removing the priest from ministry and then deciding how to move forward. If the bishop refuses to act, they should address the case to the apostolic nuncio or directly to the Holy See. In the first case, and provided there was no abuse of minors involved, the bishop should see if there is any hope of an authentic conversion by the priest that would allow him to start anew in some other situation where his past weakness was unknown. I am

The Third Phase: Debacle and Triumph

made a platform for “progressive” that the essential purpose of the causes (radical feminism in North liturgy is instructional when in fact America, Marxist-influenced it is doxological, meaning it is sup“liberation theology” in Latin posed to be the worship of God. America). Scarcely had the CounDeprived of a palpable sense of cil ended when liturgists began the sacred, they get bored quickly turning to contemporary culture and stay away. The sad irony is, of for their inspiration, with a view course, that the Liturgical Movetoward making worship “relevant.” ment struggled for decades to As historian James Hitchcock convince Catholics that the liturgy observed in his book, “The Recovery of the Sacred” (1974): “Although experimental ‘liturgies’ were crafted partly to attract young people, their chief effect,

By Father once their novelty had Thomas M. Kocik worn off, was often to confirm the young in their feeling that religion was irrelevant — the experiments is the font from which flows the were a tacit admission that tradilife of the Church. tional Catholicism no longer had The second factor was the anything to teach.”

Consilium for the Implementation With the prevalence of the verof the Constitution on the Sacred nacular and of Mass versus popuLiturgy. In many ways this group lum, priests were tempted to strike represented the Liturgical Moveup a colloquial tone and make eye ment in its current state of develcontact in a well-meaning effort to opment, with its strengths and engage the people; when offering weaknesses, thrust into a position prayers, however, such behavior of authority. The Consilium had undermines the “vertical” or tranbeen given an unprecedented task scendent dimension of the liturgy, as well as a rather vague power to such that too often the proceedings pursue that task. With the reform appear to be a dialogue between already announced in principle, priest and assembly, with little dian impatient cry for change was rect address to God. Consequently, welling up in many parts of the whole generations of Catholics Church. It has become ever more have been growing up believing widely recognized that the work of

The Liturgical Movement

the Consilium led to such a radical departure from existing liturgical practice as to have neglected an important principle set down in the constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium: “Care must be taken that any new forms adopted should in some way grow organically from forms already existing” (SC 23). In other words, the reform could have been conducted in a manner more in continuity with the traditional Roman liturgy as developed over the course of many centuries, adopted after the Council of Trent, and used nearly universally up through Vatican II. The Consilium, incidentally, came to an end in 1969 with the creation of the Congregation for Divine Worship, which thereafter assumed the task of completing the liturgical reform.

The third factor to consider is the growing climate of dissent and rebellion that was afflicting the Church at that time. Already while the Council was in session, errors regarding the Eucharist, including denials of the Real Presence and transubstantiation, began spreading to such an extent that Pope Paul VI found himself obliged to write an encyclical letter, Mysterium Fidei (1965), for the purpose of refuting those errors. A few years later, the pope’s condemnation of contraception in his encyclical Humanae

aware of several such conversions, such as one in which God made use of a grave illness to bring a very corrupt parish priest to his senses and recover the meaning of his mission and his life. Today, many years later, he is regarded as an exemplary minister of the Gospel.

If change seems impossible, or if he abused minors, he should be removed from ministry. If he has fathered children, his parental responsibilities have priority over remaining in the priesthood.

In the case of the priest automatically excommunicated by inducing an abortion, the gravity of this sin must necessarily exclude him from the exercise of the priesthood.

One hopes that he will repent and have the excommunication lifted, but he can no longer function as Christ’s representative. His removal from ministry is a just and even minimal punishment for having been instrumental in taking innocent life.

Such sad and heartbreaking situations should move us all to pray for the holiness of priests and make reparation for their sins.

Father Edward McNamara is a Legionary of Christ and professor of Liturgy at Regina Apostolorum University in Rome. His column appears weekly at zenit.org. To submit questions, email liturgy@zenit. org. Please put the word “Liturgy” in the subject field. The text should include your initials, your city and state.

Vitae (1968) was met in many circles with open hostility, and not only by the laity. It was becoming increasingly evident that the pope could no longer expect Catholics, including priests and bishops, to assent with the obedience of faith.

Subsequent developments in the reform of the liturgy in the postVatican II era, such as the official allowance of Communion in the hand and female altar servers, represent papal concessions to those who disobediently began these practices against liturgical norms.

By effectively rewarding the disobedience of priests and bishops who allowed and even encouraged those practices when they were still prohibited, the concessions, rather than placating progressive pressure groups, convinced them of a new method to influence the direction of liturgical development.

Next week, we will consider some of the progress made during the pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI toward liturgical stability, leading to a “new liturgical movement” informed by the experience of the past 40-plus years.

Father Kocik, parochial vicar of Santo Christo Parish in Fall River, is editor of “Antiphon: A Journal for Liturgical Renewal,” author of two liturgy-related books, and contributor to the forthcoming “T&T Clark Companion to Liturgical Studies.”

8

“W

hen the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate and were very much afraid.”

Close your eyes for a moment and concentrate and imagine that you are Peter, James, or John. You are walking up a mountain with a man that you have been following for a while, the sun is blazing upon your neck, a rock is stuck in your sandal, you are thirsty, and finally you reach your destination.

Before you even have the opportunity to rest, to set up camp you realize that the one that you have been following is now speaking to Moses and Elijah. Then suddenly the voice of God thunders from the mountain top.

My first reaction? I honestly think I might run in fear rather than lie prostrate in fear, but I would be fearful all the same.

There are really two definitions of fear. The first is the most common and basic, “an unpleasant often strong

March 18, 2011

The Anchor

Reclaiming a sense of awe and mystery

emotion caused by anticipaof wonder, love, speechlesstion or awareness of danger.” ness, all wrapped into one We often have negative feeling. It is a positive thing connotations of fear. We are in our life. This type of fear, taught that we should alor awe, is produced when ways strive to conquer those we encounter God, when we things which frighten us. To encounter the mystery of His an extent, that is usually good advice: we should strive to Homily of the Week conquer those things Second Sunday that frighten us, whether it is flying, of Lent the dark or even

By Peter J. clowns. Yet fear can Fournier be a positive thing in our life, because there are things that should frighten us, since they love, or the mystery of His can pose a danger to our very providence in our lives. This lives. A grizzly bear chasing type of fear is a gift from after me comes into mind at God; it is something that this particular moment! most Confirmation students The second definition of learn about in their first year fear can be defined as “a in the Confirmation program. profound reverence and awe It is this second type of especially toward God.” This fear that the Apostles expetype of fear is not really an rience during this moment anxiety, but rather the realon the mountain top. At this ization of who God is as Cremoment they see a glimpse ator in relation to who we are of the love that the Father as His creation. It is a sense has for the Son. This awe

and fear of God is something that we have lost at times in our own lives. Even with all the miracles that the Apostles have seen, the signs that point to the mystery of who Jesus was, this one even still provides an awe inspiring fear in the Apostles. It was still new to them. They realized that Jesus was greater than they had thought, that God was so much more than they could have ever conceived.

The more they learned and the more they witnessed, the more this awe and fear grew in their lives, and in turn the more their love of God grew. When we understand how much God has done for us the only proper response is to fall more in love with Him. We have a tendency to lose this sense of fear and awe, the sense of mystery that comes with being in God’s presence. In a sense

it is understandable. We have heard many if not all of the Gospel stories countless times through books and homilies. We become comfortable with the material and perhaps we feel as though we have a full understanding. Yet with God, with His Word, there is always more to learn, more to grow and more ways to fall in love with Him who loved us first.

This season of Lent we are invited to reclaim that sense of awe and mystery that comes from being in God’s presence. We do this through prayer, penance and almsgiving. When we make these small sacrifices, when we offer things up for Lent, we are taking things out of our life so that we might make more room for God. Through His love and grace may we experience that true wonder of God’s presence in our lives during this season of Lent.

Father Fournier is a parochial vicar at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Hyannis.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Mar. 19, 2 Sm 7:4-5a,12-14a,16; Ps 89:2-5,27,29; Rom 4:13,16-18,22; Mt 1:16,18-21,24a or Lk 2:41-51a. Sun. Mar. 20, Second Sunday of Lent, Gn 12:1-4a; Ps 33:4-5,18-20,22; 2 Tm 1:8b-10; Mt 17:1-9. Mon. Mar. 21, Dn 9:4b-10; Ps 79:8-9,11,13; Lk 6:36-38. Tues. Mar. 22, Is 1:10,16-20; Ps 50:8-9,16bc-17,21,23; Mt 23:1-12.

Wed. Mar. 23, Jer 18:18-20; Ps 31:5-6,14-16; Mt 20:17-28. Thur. Mar. 24, Jer 17:5-10; Ps 1:1-4,6; Lk 16:19-31. Fri. Mar. 25, The Annunciation of the Lord, Is 7:10-14;8:10; Ps 40:711; Heb 10:4-10; Lk 1:26-38.

S

omething quite remarkable happened recently: Cardinal William Wakefield Baum — emeritus Archbishop of Washington, emeritus Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, emeritus Major Penitentiary of the Catholic Church — passed the late Cardinal James Gibbons of Baltimore (who died in 1921) to become the longest-serving American cardinal in history.

It’s an astonishing record that drew little public attention. Yet that’s just the way Cardinal Baum, who exemplifies evangelical modesty and genuine Christian humility, would want it.

William Wakefield Baum was born on Nov. 21, 1926, in Dallas, Texas: a biographical fact that has always struck

Cardinal Baum: a new record-holder

of the nation’s capital). Created me as more than a little ironic, cardinal in the consistory of given that there are few people May 1976 and given the church on the planet less “Texas” and of Santa Croce in Flaminia as less “Big D” than this gentle his Roman parish (or “title”), scholar and pastor. Ordained a priest for the Diocese of Kansas Cardinal Baum participated in the two dramatic conclaves of City-St. Joseph, Father Baum became an ecumenical pioneer, 1978, the “year of three popes”; an advisor at Vatican II, and the first director of the U.S. bishops’ committee on ecumenical affairs before being ordained bishop of Springfield-Cape

By George Weigel Girardeau, Mo., on April 6, 1970.

Three years later, Bishop Baum was indeed, in the conclave of 2005, appointed Archbishop of cardinal Baum, along with CarWashington as successor to dinal Joseph Ratzinger, was the the legendary Cardinal Patrick only cardinal-elector who had O’Boyle (who was, de facto if been in conclave before. not de iure, the first archbishop John Paul II appointed Cardinal Baum as Prefect of the Congregation of Catholic Education in March 1980, a post he held for 10 years until his appointment as head of the Apostolic Penitentiary — the man overseeing the Church’s penitential life or, as Cardinal Baum put it, the servant of “the Lord’s mercy.” He retired from that position after 11 years, thus preventing any further confusion in my office when I would send letters to the cardinal

The Catholic Difference

and some of my evangelical brethren would say, “I didn’t know they had a prison in the Vatican.”

Cardinal Baum remained active on various curial congregations until his 80th birthday in 2006, and exercised a quiet, but often important, influence in the deliberations of the Congregation for Bishops, responsible for episcopal appointments in the developed world.

Of the many Americans who worked in the Holy See over the past 20 years, he was held in a unique respect by his colleagues, including the locals: he spoke excellent Italian, he was not edgy, he was an old-school gentleman, he was deeply learned and manifestly holy. And so, despite never making it onto the media radar screen, he was a genuine “player” in Vatican affairs.

He was a gracious host in one of the Vatican’s great apartments: just above St. Peter’s square, looking straight at the basilica. The apartment was lined with bookcases, overflowing with volumes of history and biography as well as theology.

He always remembered his time in Maryland with affec-

tion, and kept prints of the “Ark” and the “Dove,” the two ships that brought Lord Baltimore’s Catholic colonists to the new world in 1634, in his living room.

Like John Paul II, whom he revered, Cardinal Baum has borne great suffering with even greater patience and nobility.

Macular degeneration has rendered the pleasure of reading difficult for this great reader; a variety of other ailments have left him in serious pain for months on end. Yet in the 23 years I’ve been privileged to know him and call him a friend, I’ve never heard a word of complaint from Cardinal Baum.

Again like John Paul II, he’s always much more interested in finding out how you and your family are doing than in cataloguing his own ailments and sufferings.

A deeply patriotic American, the cardinal was often saddened in recent years by the encroachments of the culture of death across the land. Yet he always urged others to continue the fight for the right things. His courage gave, and gives, us courage.

George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

Digger O’Dell is alive and well

Friday 18 March 2011 — at taker” gradually fell into disuse. home in The Dightons — AwkYou could be “undertaking” ward Moments Day just about anything. “Underhen I was a small child, taker” was replaced by the more my Irish grandmother would sometimes comment, “Here comes Digger O’Dell” when I Reflections of a entered the room. I had Parish Priest no idea what she meant.

Now I find out that

By Father Tim Digby “Digger” O’Dell Goldrick was a fictional undertaker in an early 1940s live-broadcast radio comedy descriptive “funeral director.” called “The Life of Riley.”

That, too, is beginning to fall Digger O’Dell would anby the wayside. The latest term nounce himself with, “’Tis I, is “mortician.” Some think it Digger O’Dell, your friendly has a more professional ring to undertaker. My, you’re looking it. To me, “mortician” sounds a fine today; very natural.” After bit morbid — like the fictional delivering his pithy comments, Morticia Addams of cartoon he would exit the stage with and sitcom fame.

“Well, I’ll be shoveling off.”

The job title may have The character of Digger O’Dell changed, but the stereotype was extremely popular with the continues. Think “funeral direcradio audience. Digger was a tor” and the image that pops dour undertaker who delivered into your head is a thin man seriously funny punch lines. with bony hands and ashen face, The euphemism “undersomber to the extreme; dressed

W

O

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The Anchor

March 18, 2011

The Ship’s Log

Do something

our paltry efforts to fight it are ne major difference useless. With this attitude, it’s enbetween us and our tirely possible to abandon hope. predecessors is the amount of Consider, for example, the information to which we are unfathomable depth of suffering exposed on a daily — even caused by recent natural disasters hourly — basis. Whether we in Japan, popular uprisings in the are at home, at work, or running Middle East, and the drug wars errands, we have a barrage of south of our border. While it’s noise, words and images which true that acts of nature, mobs and expose us to many things, not the corruption are always with us in least of which is the breadth of darkness in the world.

Surely there are “wars and rumors of wars,” but also, we see sin and depravity on such a wide scale that we can be tempted into two unfortunate responses.

By Genevieve Kineke The first response is to adjust our eyes to it and to acquiesce to the ways of the world. Beone form or another, those in the ing fed a steady fare of very bad first group would answer with a news may cause us to wring our shrug; the second with despair. hands initially, but unfortunately And yet Jesus taught us we then allow ourselves to bethat neither response is apcome dull and hardened. Making propriate for His followers. a tenuous peace with it, we say, What do we do in the midst “Suffering’s just a way of life,” of overwhelming events? We or “Everyone does this now,” or love. And in particular, what “My previous expectations must can we do during Lent when be have been too idealistic.” faced with such trials? We Standards are adjusted, expectalove, with a particular emphations reduced and that which was sis on praying for the victims, previously seen as dark becomes fasting for those who have the new light. died or are in peril, and giving The second response also alms. Just as we saw after begins with a little handwringthe Indonesian tsunami, we ing, but instead of growing acwill be offered myriad ways customed to the sad state of the to send our widow’s mites world, we become overwhelmed to help, while knowing that with it. Some are tempted to say we still have great suffering that peace is unattainable, or that here — in our families, in our suffering is so widespread that

The Feminine Genius

in a tall top hat and long black Edwardian overcoat. It’s an image straight from the macabre illustrations of Edward Gorey (who, by the way, lived and worked in our diocese).

I got to thinking.

Thinking, as you well know dear readers, can be a risky business for me. Here’s what I thought: Not everyone has the disposition to be a funeral director, just as not every member of the clergy has the disposition to preside at a funeral. What is needed is compassion, understanding, and an ability to “go with the flow.”

A sense of humor is helpful.

Do modern morticians need a sense of humor to get them through the day? Is the spirit of Digger O’Dell alive and well in the funeral business? I set out to find out.

One funeral director told me the story of how he arrived at a funeral fresh from his day

communities and in our own country. Perhaps these need your support as much as those caught in the larger calamities.

The point is to do something — even something very small.

St. Augustine said, “What is a little thing, is just a little thing.

But to be faithful in a little thing is a great thing.” St. Therese of Lisieux made clear how each little action was to be performed: with great love. Combining these bits of wisdom should encourage each person to do what is possible — and from those little acts of generosity God will draw the necessary graces to make life bearable for those in need.

God well knows our weakness, our littleness. St. Paul noted what God revealed to him concerning this when he wrote, “’My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness’” (2 Cor 12:9) — indeed this is the great paradox of our faith.

Only the power of God can save those in grave danger or sin, and that power will shine through our small acts, performed for love of God and neighbor. It looks like our Lenten program is hereby obvious; it remains for us to respond. Start small.

Mrs. Kineke is the author of “The Authentic Catholic Woman” (Servant Books). She can be found online at www. feminine-genius.com.

off-duty. He was immediately informed by his staff that a certain Father Smith, who would be presiding at the funeral Mass that morning, had come to the funeral home the night before to complain about something or other. Seems Father Smith was having a “bad hair day.”

Everybody knew that Father Smith over at St. Elaina Church was notorious for having “bad hair days.” In fact, that’s all he ever had. Anticipating a problem with the priest, the funeral director led the cortege over to St. Elaina’s. When he arrived, he was surprised to find another funeral was already in progress.

He double-checked his paperwork. The priest complaining at the wake had not been Father Smith from St. Elaina’s, but rather Father Smyth over at St. Triphyllius Church. The funeral procession had pulled up at the wrong church.

With a look of panic on his face, the funeral director drove the hearse over to St. Triphyllius.

They were five minutes late. An impatient Father Smyth, with arms folded, was waiting at the church door.

Following the funeral, the widow approached the funeral director. He braced for the worse.

“I want to thank you,” said the widow, “for taking the time to drive by the family homestead on the way to the church.” The funeral director just nodded. Later, the son of the deceased quietly called the undertaker aside and commented, “Messed up didn’t you?”

“How did you know?”

“I was watching your face in the rear-view mirror.”

Speaking of reflections, here’s a story told by another funeral director. Following a church service, the funeral director, driving the hearse, was giving the pastor a ride to the cemetery.

The clergyman, looking over his shoulder to buckle his seatbelt, let out a blood-curdling scream.

Out of the corner of his eye, he had caught sight of the dead man reaching out from the coffin. He had actually seen his own hand reflected in the glass partition separating the front seat from the casket. A bit jumpy, are we, Father?

Funeral directors strive to do the best they can in honoring the wishes of the family. One funeral home was surprised by all the family discussion as to what the deceased would wear at his wake. The decision was finally made that he would wear a shirt and tie, but that his favorite outfits would be displayed on mannequins around the funeral parlor. The parlor was filled with slinky gowns, feather boas, and sequined headpieces. Seems the dead man performed professionally as a “show girl.” Look serious.

Those like Digger O’Dell, “your friendly undertaker,” who deal with funerals on a daily basis, still need a sense of humor in these grave matters.

Father Goldrick is pastor of St. Nicholas of Myra Parish in North Dighton.

Revise d and Updat ed

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10

The Anchor B y B ecky Aubut A nchor Staff

EAST TAUNTON — Delores Vincent opened the door to her home with a welcoming smile and a humble heart. Her whole life is one of welcoming the sick, the poor, children and more.

“I think my beginning was very hard, personally. I’ve been very fortunate to have some wonderful, wonderful people in my life,” said Vincent. “I’ve always said that I’ve a guardian angel that has been there, guiding me.

I could never be where I am now without God pushing me along the way and my guardian angel.”

The mother of four grown children lost her own mother when she was two years old.

“My father was left with five girls, so it was a hard life,” said Vincent, who credits one of her older sisters as her “heart and soul,” and said that sister was the driving force behind helping shape who Vincent is today. “Sometimes one person in your life makes all the difference. She’s the one who had confidence in me. Without my family and my husband, I would not be where I am today.”

March 18, 2011

A faith life built on a solid foundation

During her time as an said she feels she plays only until you have to do them,” eighth-grade English teach- a small role in a very active said Vincent, adding the group will go over everyer in a public school, Vin- parish.

“I can’t imagine being thing from Social Security cent said that she was drawn benefits to advising into becoming more widows on changing involved in kids’ names on policies problems and after and bank statements. becoming a guidance The shawl miniscounselor, decided try has become popto take her education ular, said Vincent, of a step further and her membership of earned a master’s dea group that meets gree in social work. once a month to knit “As a social workor crochet shawls er and doing things that are taken to be for the Church, this blessed and then disis God’s work,” said tributed among the Vincent of her work homeless and shutas a clinical social ins. Vincent also subworker. “This is what stitutes once a month we should be doing; as a special miniswe are following ter of holy CommuJesus. This is what nion to the shut-ins, we should be doing, a ministry that she helping one another. clearly enjoys.

As a social worker, “It’s so wonderful it’s a privilege to be being with the elderable to sit down with somebody and hear Anchor Person of the Week — Delores ly because they are Vincent. (Photo by Rebecca Aubut) so happy to see you,” things they’ve never said Vincent. “It’s said to anyone else. not only that they It’s a privilege to be receive the Eucharist, it’s there and be a part of that. recognized for anything,” It’s what I do. It’s what I said Vincent. “I’m nobody also to have somebody there because many of them are love.” special.”

As a parishioner of Even as she says she is no- by themselves. Sometimes Holy Family Parish in East body special, Vincent spe- all you need to do is just be Taunton for more than 40 cializes in being the person there, hold their hand and years, Vincent’s list of ac- that is always there when listen. Say a prayer with tivities may be large but she you need her. As part of a them; let them be a part of r e c e n t l y - the Church even though formed wid- they are not there. They are o w ’ s s u p - still part of God’s people.”

Married nearly 53 years port group, to “the last of the good Vincent helps wom- guys,” Vincent’s husband e n w h o s e accompanies her and is f r a m e o f also a special minister of mind hear- holy Communion. Both kens back to are members of the paran era when ish Society of St. Vincent men worked de Paul and will often man and women the phone lines for those stayed home needing food or clothing; a n d r a i s e d yet another way of helpthe children. ing people, said Vincent, a “ T h e r e privilege.

“It’s a good thing to be are so many things you able to do,” said Vincent. don’t know “You can’t be judgmental

whether they need it or not, that’s not our place. Kindness goes a long way.”

Inspired by a man with vision problems who continued to read as a lector even as his eyesight was failing, Vincent added that ministry to her list, and has been a lector for more than 30 years. She never lost the teaching bug either, helping form the faith for many of the youth in her parish. Vincent laments the fact that parents will often send their children to Faith Formation classes but not attend Mass. After working with those in need, she knows faith can be a source of comfort.

“I find in my job that people who have faith do a little bit better,” said Vincent. “I think you get to a certain age and, I think, religion becomes more personalized. I love the Catholic Church and the formality and ceremony. Those are wonderful traditions.

Add member of the Parish Council, the Women’s Guild, partaking in adoration, as well as creating baptismal blankets and baby bibs for the newest members of her parish, and one wonders how Vincent has time to say hello to her three-year-old granddaughter Rachel, let alone babysit her. Faith as the primary block in the foundation of your youth, said Vincent, is what helps shape you as an adult.

“So much of what we do in our lives is based on our growing-up experiences,” said Vincent. “My first 20 years were very difficult but I’m leaving in a good way. God has been good to me.”

To submit a Person of the Week nominee, send an email to fatherrogerlandry@ anchornews.org.

To advertise in The Anchor, contact Wayne Powers at 508-675-7151 or Email waynepowers@anchornews.org

March 18, 2011

The Anchor

11

Witness of a return to the faith to be shared at Corpus Christi Parish

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

EAST SANDWICH — He truly has been to hell and back — and he wants to tell the world about it. Marino Restrepo, a native of the country of Columbia, was brought to the depths of despair only to be saved by a miraculous “mystical experience” that provoked a deep conversion back to his Catholic faith.

Restrepo will tell his amazing and inspiring story March 22 at the monthly “Dinner With a View” series at Corpus Christi Parish in East Sandwich at 7 p.m., following a potluck supper beginning at 6 p.m.

“I was raised in a very good Catholic family, but I strayed from the faith for 33 years,” Restrepo told The Anchor. “I’m coming to Massachusetts to share my testimony of conversion. It was a mystical experience and a true miracle from God.” During the tumultuous 60s, Restrepo, then a young teen, moved from his home in the coffee-producing countryside in the Andes Mountains to Columbia’s capital city, Bogota. “It was there that I embraced the culture of the day — the hippies and philosophies that lured me away from my faith,” Restrepo said. “I didn’t believe Jesus was God any longer, and I didn’t believe His teachings.”

Circumstances brought him to Hamburg, Germany and ultimately Los Angeles, Calif., where he became part of the entertainment scene as an actor and musician.

He and his band, Santa Fe, signed a record contract and Restrepo’s lifestyle became inundated with pagan practices like astrology, card-reading, and other kinds of superstitions.

He had fallen a long way since his childhood days in the Andes.

While visiting Columbia in 1997, he was kidnapped by Colombian rebels belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC).

He was taken to the jungle for six months, where during the first two weeks there, he was confined to a cave full of bats and insects.

While there, Restrepo learned he was going to be killed once his ransom was paid. It was then, when he was alone, afraid and desperate, that he experienced God alive again in his life.

The encounter changed him, and nearly six months later, his captors miraculously released him. Restrepo resolved then and there to dedicate his life to bringing the message of God’s love and mercy to others.

“All through my fall from the faith, my parents, particularly my mother, prayed for my conversion as long as they lived,” Restrepo

told The Anchor. “I believe their role models. They are looking hate me after a presentation beprayers were key to my ultimate for someone with whom they can cause I say things that should be said, not things they want to hear. conversion.” identify.

Restrepo has seen how the “Young people know instantly But sometimes, later on down the road I get letters “culture of death” from people apolohas “subliminally” gizing for hating me filtered into many and thanking me for areas of life, includspeaking the truth ing the Catholic they’ve since come Church. “I think the to realize.

Church is waking up “Some people now and realizing think I’m too radithe evils out there,” cal. Even some peohe said. “I can feel a ple who go to Mass change coming. It’s every Sunday. They slow, but it’s comdon’t want change ing.” He added that and they don’t want God is always there anyone rocking the with his faithful and boat. But those are the Church is getlukewarm Catholics. ting stronger in its Some in the pews conviction to speak lead double lives. the truth.

The life in the pew He said that as evangelists, all incredible journey — Marino Restrepo, a native of on Sunday, and the Catholics should be the country of Columbia experienced a tremendous “mys- life they lead for the very clear about the tical experience” in a bat- and insect-infested jungle cave. rest of the time. We testimony we are He will speak of his conversion back to the Catholic faith have to evangelize to them too.” giving. “In order to at Corpus Christi Parish on March 22 at 7 p.m.

Bill Bodio, one reach non-believof the Dinner With a ers,” he said, “we must gain spiritual authority. We who you are. So we must be sin- View facilitators told The Anchor, do that by not just talking the talk cere and believe and live what “We’re thrilled to have someone but by walking the walk.” we are teaching. This young gen- like Marino coming. The ‘DinRealizing that today’s youth is eration quickly adapts to modern ner’ ministry was established to the future of the Church, Restrepo technology, so they can quickly began the Young Missionaries of spot insincerity and a false mesthe Holy Father. “The pope has sage. Their peers are also imporbecome a forgotten person, and tant to spreading the good news. we are teaching our youth what It’s their responsibility.” a great leader the pope is and the Restrepo gave up all his earthrole of the Vatican in our salva- ly possessions following his retion,” he said. “We teach young awakening, and travels all over people the Catholic sacred tradi- the world. It’s part of his mission. tions, sacred music, and sacred “I get great reactions from peodoctrines. Young people need ple,” he said. “Sometimes people

create community in the parish and to help that community grow in faith.”

The monthly series has a catered or potluck meal usually followed by a speaker or concert.

“We’ve had some remarkable speakers so far,” added Bodio.

“We had Peter Kreeft and now Marino Restrepo, who has a remarkable story to tell.”

Bodio said Maureen O’Brien, a “Dinner” committee person, knew of Restrepo and his conversion story and was instrumental in getting him to come to East Sandwich. “Father George E. Harrison, our pastor, has been very supportive of our ministry,” said Bodio. “He also knew of Marino and was all for bringing him here.

Father Harrison always supports our spiritual growth.”

Bodio said that the “Dinner” ministry also taps the parish resources, having had several parishioners give stirring witness talks.

For more information on the March 22 event, contact Corpus Christi Parish in East Sandwich at 508-888-0209.

For more information on Marino Restrepo’s ministry visit the website at marinorestrepo.com

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The Anchor

March 18, 2011

In book, pope presents Jesus as reconciler, not political revolutionary

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In his new volume on “Jesus of Nazareth,” Pope Benedict XVI presents the passion and resurrection of Christ as history-changing events that answer humanity’s unceasing need to be reconciled with God. The 384-page book is entitled “Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week — From the Entrance Into Jerusalem to the Resurrection.”

In a foreword, the pope said he did not set out to write another chronological “Life of Jesus,” but instead to present the figure and message of “the real Jesus” — not a political revolutionary and not a mere moralist, but the son of God who inaugurated a new path of salvation based on the power of love.

Through His sacrifice on the cross and His institution of the Church, Jesus carried out a universal mission: “leading the world away from the condition of man’s alienation from God and from himself.” It’s a mission that continues today, the pope wrote.

Throughout the text, Pope Benedict examines the scriptural interpretation of early Church fathers and contemporary scholars, rejecting some arguments and affirming or elaborating on others.

Prominently cited was Rudolf Bultmann, the late 20th-century German Protestant scholar of the New Testament.

The pope said it was important to understand that the events recounted in the Scriptures are historically grounded and actually occurred and are not simply stories or ideas. For example, he said, if Jesus did not actually give His disciples bread and wine as His Body and Blood at the Last Supper, then “the Church’s eucharistic celebration is empty — a pious fiction.”

Likewise, he said, Christ’s actual resurrection from the dead is foundational for the Church. Without it, he said, “Christian faith itself would be dead.”

At the same time, he acknowledged that the historical record about Jesus is not always complete and said that “if the certainty of faith were dependent upon scientific-historical verification alone, it would always remain open to revision.” He took issue with the “historical Jesus” movement in scriptural scholarship, saying it has “focused too much on the past for it to make possible a personal relationship with Jesus.”

The pope took critical aim at scholars who have interpreted Christ’s passion in political terms and sought to portray Jesus as a “political agitator.” On the contrary, the pope wrote, Jesus inaugurated a “nonpolitical Messianic kingdom” in a world where the political and the religious had been inseparable.

“This separation — essential to Jesus’ message — of politics from faith, of God’s people from politics, was ultimately possible only through the cross. Only through the total loss of all external power, through the radical stripping away that led to the cross, could this new

world come into being,” he said.

The pope said that “violent revolution, killing others in God’s name” was not Jesus’ way.

“He does not come bearing the sword of the revolutionary. He comes with the gift of healing,” he said.

The book’s final chapter examines the resurrection from the dead as “the crucial point” of Jesus’ life.

Without the resurrection, the pope said, Jesus would be merely “a failed religious leader.”

The pope said some of the strongest evidence for the authenticity of the resurrection was to be found in the Scripture accounts of the disciples’ encounters with the risen Christ. Jesus is presented as being present physically, yet not bound by spiritual laws, and is not immediately recognized. All of this is presented “clumsily” in the Gospel narratives, which make them all the more credible, reflecting the disciples’ genuine amazement, he said.

“It is important that the encounters with the risen Lord are not just interior events or mystical experiences — they are real encounters with the living one who is now embodied in a new way,” he said.

After his resurrection, Jesus was not a “ghost” or a mere “resuscitated corpse,” but one who has entered a new life in the power of God, the pope said. This comes through clearly in the Gospel accounts, he said.

The pope then asks whether modern men and women can put their faith in such testimony. “‘Enlightened’ thinking would say no,” he said. Science would seem to rule it out — but science has its limits, he said.

He said the resurrection does not contradict science but speaks of something outside our world of experience, a further dimension. He then posed a series of questions to underline that a “new dimension of reality” should not be rejected out of hand by modern thinking.

“Is not creation actually waiting for this last and highest ‘evolutionary leap,’ for the union of the finite with the infinite, for the union of man and God, for the conquest of death?” he said.

In essence, he said, Jesus’ resurrection made that leap, “creating for all of us a new space of life, a new space of being in union with God.” As such, the resurrection was an event that broke out of history yet “left a footprint within history,” he said.

The pope looked at the ascension of Christ into heaven, a concept that may be difficult for people to understand, he said. With the ascension, Jesus’ presence with God is not “spatial” but divine.

“The departing Jesus does not make his way to some distant star,” he wrote. “Ascension does not mean departure into a remote region of the cosmos.”

In joining His Father, Jesus “has not gone away but remains close to us,” accessible throughout history and in every place, the pope said.

the eyes have it — Animated characters Rango, voiced by Johnny Depp, and Beans, voiced by Isla Fisher, are shown in a scene from the movie “Rango.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/Paramount)

CNS Movie Capsules NEW YORK (CNS) — The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed by the Office for Film and Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“The Grace Card” (Samuel Goldwyn) Idealistic drama — set in Memphis, Tenn. — about the transformative relationship between a troubled, borderlineracist police officer (Michael Joiner) and the black patrol partner (Michael Higgenbottom) with whom he finds himself unwillingly teamed. Haunted by the long-ago death of his toddler son, the white cop is disconnected both from his loving wife (Joy Moore) and from the deceased lad’s younger brother (Rob Erikson), now an adrift teen. Though repeatedly rebuffed, his new cohort, a happily married part-time minister, is confident the solution can be found in Gospel values. While not especially subtle, director David Evans’ warm-hearted, unobjectionable message movie — which also features Louis Gossett Jr. as the preacher’s inspirational grandfather — winningly celebrates familial forgiveness and racial reconciliation. Drug-use theme and brief action violence with some blood. The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

“Mars Needs Moms” (Disney) Endearing but frequently scary 3D-animated adventure about a nine-year-old boy (Seth

Green) who comes to appreciate the love his mother (Joan Cusack) has for him after she is kidnapped by Martians and he stows away on the rocket transporting her to the Red Planet.

Once there, he learns that the aliens (led by Mindy Sterling) want to extract Mom’s nurturing qualities and transplant them into the robots who raise their own young, a process that, if completed, will take her life.

His rescue efforts are aided by a goofy but good-hearted human fugitive (Dan Fogler) and a freespirited Martian rebel (Elisabeth Harnois). A few mild potty jokes aside, director and co-writer Simon Wells’ technically accomplished screen version of Berkeley Breathed’s children’s book — which features a ringing endorsement of the traditional family that parents will appreciate — is suitable for all, though seeing characters run a long gauntlet of dangers may frighten the most sensitive. Considerable peril and a bit of light scatological humor. The Catholic News Service classification is A-I — general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America

rating is PG — parental guidance suggested.

“Rango” (Paramount) Sophisticated, comparatively edgy animated riff on Westerns during which a lonely chameleon (voiced by Johnny Depp) stumbles upon a Mojave Desert town where water and heroism are in short supply. Reteaming with the star of his “Pirates of the Caribbean” series, director Gore Verbinski oversees a visually striking, quite literate movie whose darker, existential ambitions would befuddle and bore kids, when not scaring them, and whose passing, but ill-advised foray into religious humor will jar on the sensibilities of many grownups. Some fairly intense cartoon violence, brief irreverent and frequent toilet humor, occasional innuendo and sexual references, an inaudible crude term and at least one instance of crass language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, March 20 at 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Barry W. Wall, chaplain of the diocesan Legion of Mary

March 18, 2011

E

vangelization, 21st century style, is happening on our airwaves during the 40 days of Lent. The Archdiocese of Boston has launched its Catholics Come Home ad campaign and we are now watching television commercials during Celtics and Bruins time-outs that invite Catholics to return to the Church. These commercials are professional and beautiful, but they are only the beginning of the process of bringing back our prodigal brothers and sisters.

Some of the commercials invite people to look into the contributions to society made by the Catholic Church throughout its long history, but most of the ads are aimed at the fallen-away members of the Catholic family. These commercials feature lives lived in pain and anguish because of sin or addiction. The Catholic Church is offered to them as a place to find peace and forgiveness; a salve for their painful memories. Jesus is reaching out to embrace them and heal their relationship that had been damaged by sin. As it says in the commercials, “maybe this is the sign you have been waiting for.”

One of the ads is a personal testimony from a man who had left

13

The Anchor

Evangelization is everyone’s calling

the Church because he had become book, “The Shattered Lantern,” lazy and just fell into the bad habit Rolheiser uses as example the of missing Mass. This may seem young couples’ objection to attendlike a fairly benign situation, and ing a requisite marriage preparait certainly is a common theme tion program. The couples are not among many of the stories of the against the values being taught in fallen away, but it may present the the program, but they can’t undergreatest challenge to the Church. stand why the Church is concerned Those who have drifted away out of indifference may be the toughest nut to crack because it comes from a deeper malaise within our society. The people who no longer

By Claire McManus find it convenient to come are not members of the Greatest Generation who survived the great Depression about their marriage. “Why are or fought in World War II. Nor the Church and society concerned are they the Baby Boomers who about my marriage? My marriage fought in the jungles of Vietnam is nobody’s business. This is my War or marched on the streets of life, my love, my sex, my honeyBirmingham, Ala. Many of the moon, my future, my concern.” people to whom these commerTheir only reality is their own cials are appealing are from the problems, their own wounds, their generation of upwardly mobile own schedules, their own politiwho are guided by the pursuit cal views, their own lives; nobody of the highest quality of life for else’s reality matters. themselves and their immediate Why, then, would such indifamily, and who seek the greatest vidualistic people need a Church individual achievement. whose foundational reality is Father Ronald Rolheiser corporate? The Catholic Church describes the malaise of this was spawned from an ancient selfgeneration as narcissism, which awareness as “the People of God,” is systemic in our culture. In his which was later transformed into

The Great Commission

the “Mystical Body of Christ.” If a person is marinated in a culture that promotes and rewards individualism, the abstract reality of Christ present in the unity of his people will be totally foreign to them.

If we are to take seriously our call to evangelize the culture, we are going to have to transform the individualism that grips it. Even if people have experienced the Catholic Church through its many charitable or educational enterprises, the most important encounter that they will have with the Church will be through our parishes. The primary purpose of the parish is to gather people to Christ through the celebration of the Eucharist so that they can experience for themselves, in this age, the love that Christ had for his people. Pope Benedict exemplifies this by naming his papal exhortation on the Eucharist the Sacrament of Love, Sacramentum Caritatis. The moment during the Mass when the individual is transformed into a corporate entity comes when we bring the gifts to the altar. Pope Benedict exhorts us to make the Offertory dignified and meaningful, not just the

interlude between two acts. “This humble and simple gesture is actually very significant: in the bread and wine that we bring to the altar, all creation is taken up by Christ the Redeemer to be transformed and presented to the Father. In this way we also bring to the altar all the pain and suffering of the world, in the certainty that everything has value in God’s eyes.”

What Pope Benedict says to those individuals whose only reality is their own, is to take your pain, your disappointment, your addiction, your broken relationship, your accomplishment, your joy, and join it together with everyone else’s, where it will be mixed with the bread and wine and offered to God. To put it in terms that may resonate with this culture, the Offertory is like a class action suit brought before God. Catholics Come Home is only one part of an evangelical campaign that requires participation by each and every active Catholic in our diocese. Our role in this effort is to remind the fallen-away Catholics in our life that there is an Offertory waiting for their concerns.

Claire McManus is the director of the Diocesan Office of Faith Formation.

and sharing in the ultimate sacrifice that Christ endured for our salvation.

Msgr. O’Connor said it’s a stark reminder that our spiritual souls need to be nourished just like our physical bodies.

“Just as the ashes on Ash Wednesday remind us that we are

flesh and we’ll eventually turn to dust, we shouldn’t treat our bodies as a god, but rather as the indwelling of God,” Msgr. O’Connor said.

“The attitude today with vanity in our culture is often about the outer beauty of one’s body instead of understanding it’s the indwelling of the blessed Trinity.”

Fasting linked to prayer, penance continued from page one

aspire to spiritual perfection by doing good works.

The pope went on to quote St. Augustine, who described fasting and almsgiving as “the two wings of prayer,” because they are signs of humility and charity.

“Fasting has always been associated with penance and prayer,” said Msgr. Gerard P. O’Connor, pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Acushnet. “So it fits very well into the season of Lent. Fasting has been a part of our tradition since Moses, who fasted in the desert before he received the Ten Commandments. Christians took this on, as we did with a lot of our traditions, from the Jewish heritage.”

Fasting shouldn’t be confused with abstinence, another Lenten practice in which Roman Catholics are called to abstain from eating meat from mammals and fowl on Ash Wednesday and every Friday during Lent, although fish and dairy products may be consumed.

“Some Catholics will even observe abstinence on all Fridays during the year, or some other form of penance,” Msgr. O’Connor said.

“St. Thomas Aquinas talked about the body and soul being in unity, so the body must be subjected to the spirit, if you like. The thing about fasting is it helps us discipline our bodies so we don’t become self-indulgent and we’re not always think-

ing about our material or physical needs. It helps us focus more on our spiritual needs.”

Under canon law, the current regulations concerning Lenten fasting and abstinence for Catholics in the United States are: — Abstinence from all meat is to be observed by all Roman Catholics 14 years old and older on Ash Wednesday and on all Fridays of Lent; — Fasting is to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday by all Roman Catholics who are 18 years of age but not yet 59; “Fasting should be appropriate to one’s age, condition and health,” Msgr. O’Connor added. “Some people will be strict and not eat at all on Fridays during Lent. Then they’ll choose another day when they’ll eat a partial meal. Others will strictly stick to what the Church recommends about having two small meals and one main meal instead of three full meals during the day. So it depends upon your age and your agility as to what you can withstand.”

According to Father Andrew Johnson, OCSO, chaplain at Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, fasting offers several physical and spiritual benefits during Lent.

“Fasting reminds us that earthly food is not everything,” Father Johnson said. “It helps us to long for spiritual food: the sacraments,

prayer, and the unending nourishment of the Messianic banquet in heaven. It also makes prayer simpler and more intense. When our stomachs are not digesting food constantly, the mind and heart are clearer for prayer.”

“The Lenten call to fasting is an important exercise in strengthening our spiritual life,” said Father George E. Harrison, pastor of Corpus Christi Parish in East Sandwich. “In addition to freeing us up for more time for prayer and good works, the discipline of fasting strengthens us to say ‘no’ to the many distractions and temptations that lead us away from God and contribute to the weakening of our spiritual lives.”

Father Johnson added the money saved that otherwise would have been spent on food can also be redirected to benefit the poor and needy as part of almsgiving.

“Contrary to the modern or post-modern mindset, self-denial is a good thing on its own, and even more so when the proceeds go to help the poor,” he said. “The feeling of an empty stomach also helps us understand what hungry people feel and might make us more likely to be generous to them.”

The notion and long-standing practice of giving up anything a person regularly enjoys or appreciates during Lent — not just food and meat — also stems from this same tradition of identifying with

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The Anchor

CSS counseling programs: Working hard with very little continued from page one

provider for those types of insurance. As a result, the counseling program could only see clients that seemed to fall in the middle — the working poor who had insurance but a large deductible. So Catholic Social Services worked out a sliding fee with clients, picking up the tab for the uncovered amount that is often subsidized by the Catholic Charities Appeal.

“When you are a working family and struggling through difficult economic times and are charged a fee that will take away the basic needs that you need to survive every week; we are fortunate that Catholic Charities is able to help us with that,” said Pereira. “We haven’t found another funding source outside of Catholic Charities.”

Even with the additional strain, Pereira and her small staff work hard to match the needs of those clients they see, including a waiting list that tops out at 25; that’s when they stop taking names, said Pereira, and that list is always at 25.

“I’m there because I like what Catholic Social Services is about, not only the counseling component but all the other services. All the other people who are coming for help there really inspire me,” said Arlene Todd, a licensed certified social worker who has been part of the New Bedford Catholic Social Services counseling program for the past 15 years.

When she joined the New Bedford office there were three or four counselors, said Todd, who is now the only one working out of the New Bedford office and only works part-time.

“If I weren’t there even for that handful,” said Todd of the six to eight people she sees a week, “some of them would not go elsewhere. They will not go to larger agencies.”

Catholic Social Services has a

spiritual connection that often isn’t found in other agencies.

“The people who come to us, we respond to them,” said Todd.

“We are not out there advertising. It’s really the diocese seeing it is important and responding to people’s needs, and to take into consideration that there are people who wouldn’t go elsewhere. They still see the Church as a place to go, and see Catholic Social Services as part of the Church.”

One way Pereira has been able to combat the continued need is to combine clinical forces with Boston University and Boston College and their graduate schools in social work.

“We have a lot of students in training; we become field instructors with the schools,” explained Pereira. “It works both ways and it provides top quality counseling for us.”

Todd agrees that the students help offset the caseloads, and even with only the Fall River, New Bedford and Cape Cod branches now open — all those involved work hard to match the growing demand.

“We take anybody that comes our way unless we feel there is another agency that could handle their needs better,” said Todd.

The needs of certain areas differ, said Pereira. The Cape Cod office often sees clients from the large Brazilian population as they struggle with immigration issues, and of course the economy has seen everyone stressed as they deal with financial obligations.

“I would say that 75 percent of the people I see are anxious and don’t have jobs. That adds to their anxiety,” said Todd. “To be able to help people find some hope in their lives by managing their emotional pain from whatever it is — from loss of self-esteem from losing their job to marital difficulties. I mostly do cognitive training. I try to help

This week in 50 years ago — Sacred Hearts Fathers based at the provincial house in Fairhaven were welcomed to provide missionary work on the island of Abaco in the newly-established Diocese of Nassau, Bahamas.

25 years ago — A Mass of Thanksgiving was celebrated at Coyle and Cassidy High School in Taunton commemorating the centennial of the arrival of the Holy Union Sisters in the United States. A recommitment service for the Sisters was part of the liturgy and the gifts included symbols of the Holy Union Community.

people to change their thinking into healthy thinking. It’s usually life issues and we help them acquire skills or enhance their skills to help deal with these issues.”

After a few meetings, said Todd, she and her client will work to develop a plan to help get them back on track.

“That’s the most important thing. What is the person there for?

What do they see as their need?” said Todd.

Todd cites examples of helping guide parents dealing with a difficult parent-child relationships to a student she has been counseling for a few years; a young woman suffering from anxiety issues stemming from school. There are some, said Todd, who were suicidal and had been hospitalized before coming to see her.

“Now they are living less painful lives,” said Todd, who after listening to their stories was able to refer those clients to psychiatrists for proper monitoring and medication.

“When a person is in emotional pain, counseling needs to be encouraged,” said Todd.

Not all those seeking services are Catholic, but often Todd will touch on the client’s faith and use that as a sounding board for her overall counseling strategy.

“The great part of working for Catholic Social Services is the spiritual aspect that you can bring to counseling. I am strengthened in my faith. If a person can be asked what is your faith system, then that’s the value that’s going to help them,” said Todd.

“Counseling is very important because going through counseling is going through transformation,” said Pereira. “You sort out your problems, looking at yourself and making peace with yourself, with your past, and moving on to your future. It is a very important part of being where you need to be in life.”

Diocesan history

10 years ago — Father Mark R. Hession, pastor of Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville, was elected president of the National Organization for the Continuing Education of Roman Catholic Clergy during its annual convention in San Antonio, Texas.

One year ago — Noted Catholic convert, author and apologist Peter Kreeft, who also teaches at Boston College, came to the Fall River Diocese to discuss the topic of his latest book “Why Be Catholic? Does It Really Matter?” at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Acushnet.

March 18, 2011

Mass. bishops send letter to Congress on proposed budget cuts

The Roman Catholic Bishops in Massachusetts have written the following letter to Congressional leaders, expressing their concern about proposed cuts in the Low Income Energy Heating Assistance Program of the Federal Government, due to the devastating impact that the cuts would have on low income families in Massachusetts and the Northeast: March 11, 2011

Dear Majority Leader Reid, Minority Leader McConnell, Speaker Boehner and Minority Leader Pelosi: As Roman Catholic Bishops in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, we write in support of the Low Income Home Energy Heating Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and wish to express our concern about the recently proposed cuts of $2.57 billion for Fiscal Year 2012 from the program’s current funding of $5.1 billion. We urge Congress to maintain current funding levels for this critical program.

This winter, residents throughout the nation, especially in the Northeast, have endured long stretches of severely low temperatures, harsh storms, and record high home-heating costs. The proposed cuts to LIHEAP would deny over three million qualified American families essential heating assistance.

Thus, if enacted, the cuts would be nothing short of devastating, especially in the Northeast, to these families and their communities.

The recent economic downturn has created a punishing intersection of rising human needs and declining resources. This situation threatens the dignity of the human person and the stability of family life. We are aware that our country’s distressed financial circumstances impose a heightened need for funding restraints and we recognize that, as a result, lawmakers face excruciating choices.

Our plea is that, when considering how to navigate through this dif-

ficult budgeting process, Congress preserve a special place and regard for the most vulnerable of our citizens, particularly those whose precarious economic circumstances force them to choose between shelter and clothing or between heat and food. We pledge the utmost efforts of our own social service agencies; but our resources by themselves do not suffice when providing assistance.

The challenge is to sustain a social safety net in the most efficient manner, not by risking the quality or type of services most needed, but by maximizing the effectiveness of good programs. Programs rooted in the protection and nurturance of the dignity of the human person represent those which are most likely to provide long-term benefits. We recognize LIHEAP as one such program, as it protects and promotes the common good in a particularly crucial way.

Therefore, we respectfully request that Congress maintain current funding levels for LIHEAP in next year’s federal budget. Thank you in advance for your consideration of our request.

Sincerely, Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley O.F.M. Cap. Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Boston

Most Rev. George W. Coleman Bishop of the Diocese of Fall River

Most Rev. Timothy A. McDonnell Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield

Most Rev. Robert J. McManus Bishop of the Diocese of Worcester

Pro-Life Mass to be celebrated March 25

NORTH DARTMOUTH — Bishop George W. Coleman will be the principal celebrant of the annual diocesan Pro-Life Mass to be held at St. Julie Billiart Church on March 25 at 11 a.m.

At the Mass, the bishop will present the winners of this year’s John Cardinal O’Connor awards — one to an adult and one to a youth — who have demonstrated a strong desire to defend life from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death.

The Cardinal O’Connor Award was established by the diocesan Pro-Life Office in 2002 to acknowledge individuals who work tirelessly for the rights

of the unborn and all life. The award memorializes Cardinal O’Connor of the Archdiocese of New York, who was a staunch defender of life. He died in 2000 at the age of 80.

Winners of the annual diocesan Pro-Life Apostolate’s Essay Contest will also be announced.

First- and second-place winners at the high school level will read their winning essays, as will first- and second-place winners of the Junior Division, which encompasses grades six, seven and eight.

Several diocesan schools will attend the Mass, which is also open to all.

March 18, 2011

The Anchor

Catholic Church home of ‘authentic feminism’ continued from page one

Catholic Teaching” and an article that will appear in the spring edition of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy entitled “Embodied Equality: Debunking Equal Protection Arguments for Abortion Rights.”

At the Women Affirming Life breakfast, she spoke to a nearly all-female audience of almost 300 people. By a show of hands, about one-third acknowledged that they had never attended one of the previous breakfasts, which have been organized annually since 1992.

Describing herself as a “onetime secular feminist,” Bachiochi said she traveled a long road to come to the understanding that Catholic teaching is the “embodiment of an authentic feminism.”

She added that while in college she found in secular feminism “a complex and compelling narrative that even offered reasons for my inner turmoil.” That narrative explained her discomfort in her own body and distrust of men and gave her a cause to fight for: social justice for the poor and equality for women.

“As a feminist, I had assumed, along with many of my cohorts, that changing external political arrangements would somehow grant me the internal peace for which I longed,” she said.

But this breed of feminism “adopts a curios logic.” It purports that in order for a woman to be the best she can be, she must be as little like a woman as possible, she said.

Bachiochi added that her support of abortion at that time depended on the belief that it was necessary for women in order for them to take their place as equals in the public sphere.

“The thought that we as a nation would attempt to solve the problems of the poor by helping them rid themselves of their own children haunted me. It especially offended me that the poor were not among the membership of the elitist women’s groups who supposedly spoke for them,” she said.

The poor and middle class benefit the most from stable family relationships. And the effect of contraception and abortion on demand has wreaked havoc on the poor.

Many less-educated women have resigned themselves to raising their children on their own, she said.

The current sexual ethic advocates that the pleasure of adults trumps the very life of a child and denies that women have more at stake in sexual experimentation.

The physiology of women, the very way they were designed, is that sex binds them emotionally to their partners. When women mimic male autonomy, there are a myriad of consequences that include increased risk for anxiety,

depression and substance abuse.

Sexually transmitted diseases are not “gender neutral”; instead they are far more harmful to women and can affect their future fertility.

And when a woman conceives a child, she cannot walk away from the situation as easily as a man. Instead, she intimately deals with the consequence of sexual intimacy, which cannot be eliminated even by abortion.

A woman who waits to have sex until she has met a man willing to commit is more likely to find a man who will commit and less likely to carry emotional baggage into the relationship.

The idea that providing abortion to women will better their position in society is false. The option of abortion asks women to choose between their child and themselves — their career, their aspirations.

Instead, society needs to recognize the distinct dignity of women and do the much more difficult task of creating environments at schools and in the workplace that welcome women who have children, who are, incidentally, the great majority of women, she said.

Marianne Luthin, director of the Archdiocese of Boston’s Pro-Life Office of which Women Affirming Life has been a part since 2002, said the breakfast is meant to bring Pro-Life women together.

“So many of them feel alone,” she told The Anchor. There are few venues where women, especially young women, can hear an articulate and rational talk that leads them to a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the beauty of Church teaching.

Luthin added that there were more young women at the breakfast than she had ever seen in the past.

Christine Kania, a senior studying elementary education at Boston University who is on the board of the school’s Right to Life group, said that the current culture promotes the idea that greater access to contraception will decrease the abortion rate.

“In today’s world that idea is

so widely held that no one stops to consider what effect it has had on the structure of society,” she told The Anchor.

Contraception and abortion have contributed to the chaos in society, but society accepts contraception, abortion and the chaos as normal.

In a recent session of one of her education classes, she learned about a group that seeks to promote in schools the acceptability of stepfamilies. Kania said she recognizes that many children are from blended families and wants to affirm the dignity of every human person, but she also believes that it should be acknowledged that broken homes are not the ideal.

“It is in the stability of marriage that humans find fulfillment,” she said.

Peggy Whitbread, parishioner at St. Mary’s Parish in Foxboro, said that as a grandmother, she is encouraged by the young women who lay claim to the life issues and are able to defend and articulate them.

“It gives me great hope for the future,” she told The Anchor.

She added that when men are exposed to authentic women, those women touch their hearts.

Father Edward Riley, director of the Office of Pastoral Formation at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, testified to that fact. During his homily at the Mass he celebrated prior to the breakfast, he spoke about the positive influence his sisters have had on him throughout his life. Three were in attendance and the fourth was unable to come because she was in the hospital.

That week she had given birth to her 11th child who was baptized and died shortly after.

Father Riley said he understood the sacrifice of the feminine to bear life when he watched his sister, recovering from a caesarean delivery, lovingly reassure her eldest children while they grieved the loss of their sibling.

He said to the women, “You are the guardians of life here on earth and life eternal.”

15

16

Youth Pages

well read — Retired Attleboro Fire Chief Ron Churchill visited first-grade students at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro to read to them as part of the National Read Across America program.

Chief Churchill read books on fire safety to the students.

signs of the cross — The St. Mary-Sacred Heart School community in North Attleboro gathered in observance of Ash Wednesday, the official start of Lent for Catholics and other Christians around the world. Father David A. Costa led the prayer service and offered a reflection focusing on the meaning of Lent. Front row, from left: Anthony DaSilva, Julianna Welter, Sophia Elliot, and Benjamin Sadler. Back: Madelyn Sweet, Father Costa, and Julia Morris.

a great start — Coyle and Cassidy High School officials recently awarded four scholarships to incoming members of the Class of 2015. The recipients of the scholarships were selected from a pool of applicants who applied for admission for next year’s freshman class. Selection was based on placement test results, middle school grades, as well as recommendations from teachers and guidance counselors. From left: Vice Principal Kathleen St. Laurent, President Dr. Mary Pat Tranter, Scott McCluskey, Alissa Piatelli, Robert Scaramuccia, Vice Principal Marie Angeley, Principal Robert Gay.

March 18, 2011

for a friend in need — Holy Trinity Regional School students participated in the “Pennies for Patients” campaign during the month of February. A local child’s name, who is battling leukemia, is given to the school and the students collect spare change to help with expenses. The students at the West Harwich school, who raised more than $800, learned many great academic and spiritual lessons during the event.

Lenten preparation — Students in pre-school through grade six at Holy Family-Holy Name School in New Bedford recently celebrated Mardi Gras. The celebration included a malassadas and juice breakfast and a parade to show off the floats made by each class. The celebration was concluded with the tradition of burying the Alleluias in preparation for the Lenten season. Students in grades seven and eight were attending an off-site Prayer Day for their Lenten preparations as well.

can do attitude — During the month of February students at Holy Name School in Fall River brought in canned goods to give to a local soup kitchen/pantry. Here students from various grades gathered around the canned goods collected just before the boxes were loaded into a van en route to their destination.

Youth Pages

March 18, 2011

P

rayer may be described as our response to an awareness of God’s presence in our lives.

It is really God who initiates this relationship by His presence. Once we become aware of His grace and love surrounding us, we absolutely need to respond.

St. Paul tells us to pray constantly, and I believe we achieve this by developing a prayerful attitude of awareness. We need to build our prayer lives so that our awareness of God’s presence is always with us.

Last month’s article suggested creating a prayer space in our homes and using it daily. I suggested that the first quarter of our prayer time should be spent praising God, simply to help us be in right relationship with Him, and the second quarter of our prayer time should be spent in listening. Now what?

Part of the answer will be dependent on what it is that

17

Prayer – Just do it (part 2)

God, reverently and prayerwe’ve heard in our listenfully. We should not let our ing. If we have become prayer lives be reduced to a aware of some part of our list of needs that we would lives that we are not invitlike God to take care of ing God into, then that without first spending time would be the next step. deepening our awareness of Perhaps it’s the grudge we can’t let go of, the “I’m sorry” we haven’t been able to say, or the hurt we have not allowed to be healed, that is keeping us from givBy Jean Revil ing ourselves completely to God. If we have become aware His place in our lives. By of our sin in listening to placing our intercessions God, then reconciliation would be our next step. Our and petitions later in our prayer time, we decrease prayer does require some the likelihood that we will level of response from us begin to treat God like our if it is to change us — and personal assistant. prayer should change us.

Someone sent me an email Now we will be ready for those prayers of petition containing the “Five Finger Prayer.” It can be a good and intercession that most people start with when they guide in our intercessory prayer. Holding your hands pray. For whom should we in front of you in the tradipray? For what should we tional “praying hands” form, pray? We need to bring everyone and everything to notice that your thumb is

Be Not Afraid

nearest to you. So, begin by praying for those closest to you, your family and friends.

The next finger is the pointing finger. Pray for those who teach, instruct and heal; those who point others in the right direction. The tallest finger reminds us to pray for our leaders including our president, members of Congress, our pope, our bishop, our employers, etc.

The fourth finger is our ring finger. This is our weakest finger, as any piano teacher can attest. This should remind us to pray for the weak and vulnerable, the hungry, the homeless, the poor. Lastly is our little finger, the smallest finger which is where we should place ourselves in relation to God and others. Once we have prayed for all the rest, our own needs are in better perspective.

Finally, when we have lifted all of these intentions

to God, we should take a moment or two and just rest in Him. Allowing ourselves to be held by God at the end of our formal prayer time helps us remain keenly aware of just how present He is in our lives, and how much He wants to fill us with His grace. May this Lenten season provide us with a renewed and deepened prayer life.

Jean Revil teaches theology and is campus minister at Bishop Stang High School. Comments welcome at: jrevil@ bishopStang.com.

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

CYO All-Stars compete, local ‘March Madness’ now underway TAUNTON — The Fall River diocesan CYO local basketball playoffs are now underway in several area cities. The diocesan version of “March Madness” will culminate with a diocesan playoff series beginning March 20.

The annual All-Star tournaments were recently completed with the Fall River girls and the Taunton boys emerging as champions.

The girls’ tourney was played at the Sullivan-McCarrick CYO Center in Fall River. The host city tipped off against New Bedford in the preliminary game that saw a great deal of back-and-forth lead changes until Fall River came out with a 45-36 win.

Brianna Camara led the winners with 12 points, and Brittany Arruda and Brianna Turcotte added 10 and nine points respectively. Mikayla Roderick and Nakira Examand each tossed in eight points for New Bedford.

Taunton and Fall River squared off for the title, when Fall River pulled away in the final three minutes to pull out a 48-34 victory.

Samantha Medeiros scored

13 points for Fall River with teammate Brianna Turcotte adding seven. Nicole Bostick led Taunton with 13 points and Michelle Lopes scored 10.

Brianna Camara was named the tournament MVP. The All Tournament team included Samantha Medeiros, Brianna Turcotte and Brittany Arruda from Fall River; Mikayla Roderick from New Bedford; and Taunton’s Nicole Bostick.

Taunton Catholic Middle School was the site of the boys’ tournament.

The preliminary game matched New Bedford and Fall River, with the lads from the Whaling City coming out on top 54-37.

In the championship game, host Taunton led most of the way capping off a 49-37 victory.

Taunton’s Isaiah Bell was named the tournament MVP. The All Tournament team was made up of Matt Midouin, D.J. Kullas and Jesse Machado from Taunton; Sean Moshen and Greg Fernando from New Bedford; and Chad Willard from Fall River.

no bones about it — The following Bishop Feehan High School students recently won awards at their annual Science Fair. Front row from left: Teresa Lynch, Jessen Foster, Eileen Corkery, Victoria Grady, Delia Calderon-DeJesus, and Siri Devlin. Back row from left: Kyle McGuire, Kyle Gallagher, Ian Kelly, Tyler Long, Justin Lucas, Alex Trombetta, Evan Grandfield and Science Department Chair Eileen Correia.

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The Anchor

New Bedford-based Catholic radio station to launch March 25 continued from page one

from the Federal Communications Commission for what is known as a “micro-FM” radio station and will broadcast within a limited range from Westport to Fairhaven within the greater New Bedford area.

According to Father Louis Maximilian M. Smith, F.I., father guardian of Our Lady’s Chapel and WPMW station manager, Bishop George W. Coleman will celebrate an evening prayer service beginning at 6:30 p.m. Friday in Our Lady’s Chapel, 600 Pleasant Street, which will include Benediction. Immediately following, Bishop Coleman will bless the newly-constructed WPMW studio upstairs from the chapel and is expected to make a brief statement about the station launch.

The prayer service and radio station launch celebration is open to the public and will be broadcast live on FM 88.5 and also streamed on the station’s website at www. radiocormariae.com.

While the station’s schedule will initially include a mix of syndicated Catholic programming from EWTN Radio, Ave Maria Radio and Relevant Radio — all of which provide around-the-clock satellite feeds that Radio CorMar-

iae can tap into — the hope is to eventually produce and broadcast local programming from within the diocese.

“Our initial goal has been to simply get the radio station on the air,” Father Smith said. “That’s where we’ve placed all of our initial effort and I think wisely so.

With time, and depending upon God’s will, we hope to introduce in cooperation with other Friars at our institute more original programming that is produced for broadcast. Our ambitions are not too great at first. We are looking at the moment to offer simple programming that would include things like prayers and the like.

Over time, as we are able to better concentrate on which direction we should go, then we will offer more original programming. This is our long-term plan at this point.”

With a transmission antenna based in Dartmouth, the broadcast signal for WPMW will extend from Westport to Fairhaven and cover the majority of the greater New Bedford region, centralized within the diocese.

“We’re happy with our frequency range,” said Friar John Mary, F.I. “We are not allowed to broadcast outside a certain range

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under our current permit. It drops off after you head north on Route 140. But the signal does carry into Freetown and some outlying areas.”

Friar John said there is a possibility they might be able to expand their coverage area in the future.

“If another frequency opens up or someone wants to sell their station, we’d be happy to negotiate with them,” he said. “We couldn’t just expand as-is, there would have to be a vacancy on another frequency in the area.”

With only six Franciscan Friars assigned to Our Lady’s Chapel and only two — Father Smith and Friar John — who are dedicated to ministering to the radio station, the order relies on a devoted group of laity to assist them in operating Radio CorMariae.

“We’re working with a dedicated group of laity who are very committed to helping us carry out various duties for the station including sound engineering and recording some small segments for broadcast,” Father Smith said.

“We anticipate this cooperation between the Friars and the laity will continue and help us to move forward.”

In particular, Friar John credited sound engineer Frank Baptista, who previously worked at the UMass Dartmouth radio station, and Jim House for providing help with recording broadcast segments.

John Sweeney, a retired builder from Marion and a Third Order member of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, was also instrumental in helping to build the new studio for WPMW while Dennis Onofrey, a local stone mason, pitched in with construction and helping to soundproof the second-floor facility.

“Without their help, we would still be struggling,” Friar John said. “They have been fantastic to work with.”

Having been involved with various forms of communication media over the years, the Franciscan Friars are well-prepared to operate

March 18, 2011 and maintain a 24/7 Catholic radio station.

“We follow the spirituality and charism of St. Maximilian Kolbe,” Father Smith said. “His inspiration was to use any and every legitimate means possible to evangelize. In particular, his goal was to bring souls closer to Our Lady, because he knew that this was the surest and shortest way to Jesus, who is our salvation. This is our underlying philosophy and it will be the underlying philosophy of this radio station. We want to bring people closer to Our Lady and help them live the fullness of the Catholic faith.”

The use of radio to spread the good news is also in keeping with Pope Benedict XVI’s recent call to use new media as an evangelization tool.

“The testimony of others who have jumped into Catholic radio over the last decade is that this particular means of communication has been very effective at bringing people back to the faith and in helping them to deepen their faith,” Father Smith said. “Just from that standpoint alone, it’s a powerful motivation for all of us who are called by the Holy Father

to engage ourselves in this operation to the best of our abilities.”

WPMW is not alone in this calling as WQOM 1060 AM — also known as the Station of the Cross — was recently launched in the Archdiocese of Boston to provide similar original Catholic radio programming.

“With the proliferation of Catholic radio over the last decade, I think we are certainly seeing the fruit of a divine call at this particular time and a wonderful response on the part of priests, religious and laity,” Father Smith added. “We leave everything in the hands of God, but we hope by His grace to cooperate in bearing as much fruit as possible.”

WPMW is owned by the Academy of the Immaculate, Inc., a non-profit organization under the auspices of the Friary and will be operated exclusively by the Friars.

It is also affiliated with AirMaria. com and has garnered the support of the Catholic Radio Association.

For more information about Radio CorMariae, visit www. radiocormariae.com.

For more information about the Station of the Cross, visit www.wqom.org.

FALL RIVER — Bishop George W. Coleman will officiate at the Legion of Mary of the Fall River Diocese’s annual Acies Consecration Ceremony at St. Mary’s Cathedral on March 20 at 3 p.m.

Retired Father Barry W. Wall, diocesan director of the Legion of Mary, will assist the bishop.

The bishop, attending clergy, active members, and auxiliary members will recite a prayer at the Vexillum, the Legion Standard.

The Allocutio will be given to Father Hugh J. McCullough, pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Fall River, and spiritual director of the Our Lady of Good Counsel praesidium there. St. Joseph’s Parish was one of the first parishes to establish the Legion of Mary 59 years ago, along with

St. John of God Parish in Somerset.

There are six current active praesidia in the diocese, in New Bedford, Fairhaven, Attleboro, Fall River, and South Dartmouth.

The work of the Legion of Mary is to evangelize, including by telephone and correspondence. Members also reach out to families of newly-baptized children giving them “souvenirs,” and providing first Communion, Confirmation, and graduating classes with religious articles and literature.

As the Legion prepares for its 60th anniversary, active members look to promote their organization and add new members to continue the important work of saving souls through the Blessed Mother.

Annual Acies ceremony is March 20 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River

March 18, 2011

Father Douglas W. Hawkins, C.S.C.

NEW BEDFORD — Holy Cross Father Douglas W. Hawkins, CSC, 80, died at Sacred Heart Home in New Bedford on March 3 due to complications following recent surgery.

Father Hawkins was born on Apr. 29, 1930 in Fitchburg, the son of Harold and Eva (Shurtlit) Hawkins. He entered Our Lady of Holy Cross Seminary in 1948 and received his bachelor’s degree from Stonehill College in 1953. He studied theology at the Gregorian University in Rome from 1953 to 1955.

He made his first and final profession of vows in the Congregation of Holy Cross on Aug. 16, 1951 and 1954, respectively. He was ordained a priest on Mar. 16, 1957.

Father Hawkins received a master’s degree in education from Fairfield University in 1962 and a master’s degree in mathematics from New York University in 1967. Father Hawkins taught at Notre Dame High School in Bridgeport, Conn., Bennington Catholic High School in Bennington, Vt., and St. Peter’s High School in Gloucester, Mass.

He served as the principal at St. Peter’s High School in Gloucester and Holy Saviour Menard School in Alexandria, La. Following his ministry as an educator, Father Hawkins served for more than 30 years as a pastor and pastoral assistant in the Diocese of Burlington, Vt., serving in parishes in St. Albans, Bethel, Chester, Brandon, Wilmington, and in other localities as needed. He was the superior at the Holy Cross Residence in North Dartmouth from 2004 to 2007 and, after further parish assistance in Vermont, resided there until shortly before his death.

Father Hawkins is survived by his brother, Alan H. Hawkins of Leominster, and nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his parents and his sister Edith Taylor.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at St. Joseph’s Chapel at Stonehill College in North Easton on March 7 and was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery on campus.

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese Acushnet — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Fridays 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturdays 8 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays end with Evening Prayer and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.; Saturdays end with Benediction at 2:45 p.m.

ATTLEBORO — St. Joseph Church holds eucharistic adoration in the Adoration Chapel located at the (south) side entrance at 208 South Main Street, Sunday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

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 following the 11 a.m. Mass until 7:45 a.m. on the First Saturday, concluding with Benediction and Mass.

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 — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at the Corpus Christi Parish Adoration Chapel, 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, Monday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday, 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. Also, 24-hour eucharistic adoration takes place on the First Friday of every month with Benediction at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning.

EAST TAUNTON — Eucharistic adoration takes place First Fridays at Holy Family Church, 370 Middleboro Avenue, following the 8:30 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 8 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 — Notre Dame Church, 529 Eastern Ave., has eucharistic adoration on Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the chapel.

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.

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 until 6 p.m. in the Daily Mass Chapel. There is a bilingual Holy Hour in English and Portuguese from 5-6 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.

HYANNIS — A Holy Hour with eucharistic adoration will take place each First Friday at St. Francis Xavier Church, 21 Cross Street, beginning at 4 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.

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.

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.

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

March 19 Rev. John J. McQuaide, Assistant, St. Mary, Taunton, 1905

NORTH DIGHTON — Eucharistic adoration 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.

March 20 Rev. Francis A. Mrozinski, Pastor, St. Hedwig, New Bedford, 1951

OSTERVILLE — Eucharistic adoration takes place at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 76 Wianno Avenue on First Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and every Friday from noon to 5 p.m., with Benediction at 5 p.m.

March 22 Rev. Joseph A. Martins, Assistant, St. John the Baptist, New Bedford, 1940 Rev. James T. Keefe, SS.CC., Chaplain, U.S. Army, 2003 Rev. Peter M. Donoghue, CSC, Former Dean, Stonehill College, 2008

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.

March 23 Rev. James F. Kelley, USN Ret., Archdiocese of Anchorage, Former Assistant, St. Mary’s Mansfield, 2002 March 24 Rev. John J. Murphy, CSC, 2004 March 25 Rev. John J. Brennan, SS.CC. Retired, Founder Holy Redeemer, Chatham, 1991 Rev. Paul Leo Deyo, SS.CC., 2008

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WAREHAM — Adoration with opportunities for private and formal prayer is offered on the First Friday of each month from 8:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Church, High Street. The Prayer Schedule is as follows: 7:30 a.m. the rosary; 8 a.m. Mass; 8:30 a.m. exposition and Morning Prayer; 12 p.m. the Angelus; 3 p.m. Divine Mercy Chaplet; 5:30 p.m. Evening Prayer; 7 p.m. sacrament of confession; 8 p.m. Benediction.

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.

WOODS HOLE — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Joseph’s Church, 33 Millfield Street, year-round on weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. No adoration on Sundays, Wednesdays, and holidays. For information call 508-274-5435.

Around the Diocese 3/18

Fish and chips (take-out only) will be sold to benefit the residents of Our Lady’s Haven, 71 Center Street, Fairhaven today and on all Fridays during Lent from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tickets must be purchased in advance. For more information call 508-999-4561.

3/19

Courage, a welcoming support group for Catholics wounded by same-sex attraction who gather to seek God’s wisdom, mercy and love, will next meet tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. For location information call Father Richard Wilson at 508-992-9408.

3/22

The monthly “Dinner With a View” series at Corpus Christi Parish in East Sandwich will continue March 22 with a potluck supper beginning at 6 p.m. followed by guest speaker Marino Restrepo who will share “From Hollywood to Being a Hostage in Columbia: Marino Restrepo’s Incredible Conversion Story.” For information contact the parish office at 508-888-0209.

3/23

A four-week course on the Eucharist will be held at Holy Trinity Parish, Stafford Road, Fall River on Wednesday evenings beginning March 23 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the school library. Topics to be discussed will include “The Eucharist and Sacred Scripture,” “Vatican II’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy,” “The Mass as Word and Sacrament” and the upcoming changes in the Roman Missal. All are welcome and coffee will be served.

3/26

A retreat with Portuguese-speaking Catholics and Rodrigo Ferreira, director of Louvor e Gloria, will be held at the Father Peyton Center, St. Joseph Chapel, 518 Washington Street, in Easton on March 26 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ferreira will offer reflections on marriage, family and prayer and the retreat will include Mass and adoration. For more information call Holy Cross Family Ministries at 508-2384095, ext. 2027.

3/26

Holy Ghost Church, 316 Judson Street, Tiverton, R.I. will host a Day of Evangelization March 26. The day will begin with 8 a.m. Mass and conclude with lunch and sharing of experiences.

There will be a short period of training and home visits. Home visitors will be paired with someone who has previous experience. Those who are not able to make visits are invited to remain in the church to pray for God’s blessing on the day. For information and registration visit HolyGhostCC.org or call 4016245-8131.

3/28

Experience La Salette missionary Father André “Pat” Patenaude’s unique ministry of music and healing as he celebrates a Healing Service on March 28 at 7 p.m. at St. Lucy’s Parish, 909 West Main Road (Route 114) in Middletown, R.I. Those who wish it will be prayed over after Mass. For more information call Dottie at 1-401-846-0977.

3/31

The Divorced and Separated Support Group of the Fall River Diocese will host an open meeting on March 31 in the parish center of St. Julie Billiart Parish, 494 Slocum Road, North Dartmouth beginning at 7 p.m. Attendees are welcome to discuss personal experiences with separation and divorce and refreshments will be served. For more information call 508-678-2828, 508-993-0589 or 508-673-2997.

4/3

The Knights of Columbus Council No. 12380 will sponsor a blood drive April 3 from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the parking lot of Notre Dame Parish, Eastern Avenue, Fall River. Breakfast and lunch will be provided for all donors.

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I couldn’t care less

here’s an expression often misquoted by many individuals — “I couldn’t care less.”

When some individuals mean to say that they truly couldn’t care less, they often blurt out “I could care less” — which means just the opposite.

Last Friday, the National Football League and the Players’ Association union decided to terminate negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement. And frankly, I couldn’t care less.

At perhaps the most inopportune time, the labor breakdown was decided upon and announced in the media as the world watched in horror at the images coming out

there. Several nuclear reactors were, of Japan following the gigantic 9.0 and still are as of press time, in earthquake that rocked the region imminent danger of a catastrophic and the ensuing killer tsunami that meltdown. followed.

For days now many have been glued to the television in this age of instant information, watching as entire cities and towns were washed away in a torrent of filthy ocean water. The earthquake damage was

By Dave Jolivet bad enough in northern Japan, but the tsunami, that arrived with less than 15 Thousands have been evacuminutes’ warning, was something ated from the hot zones. Thousands that not even the earthquake-ready more are still missing, and estimates Japanese people could withstand. are that thousands more will have But the problems didn’t end

My View From the Stands

March 18, 2011 perished in Japan’s worst natural disaster.

Yet back in the U.S., the spoiledbrat mentality of the NFL owners and players reared its ugly head in the middle of horrors going on the other side of the globe.

I don’t know who’s wrong or right in the NFL debacle, and again I couldn’t care less. To me it was a slap in the face of mankind to have both sides “hold their breath until they turn blue,” then storm away with their ball and go home crying last Friday.

I guess the millions of dollars tossed around in that arena are simply not enough for the parties involved. Even the lowest paid players make more than a decent living as compared with most us.

No, neither side will budge as thousands of men, women and children are in desperate need of a morsel of food and a cup of water.

One minute these good people had a home, a family, a job, food, water, medicine and a means of transportation. The next minute the scenes were eerily reminiscent of the horrors of World War II following the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I believe the news coming out of Japan will continue to get worse before it gets better. It will take years before the people will recover.

Yet, a half a world away, a group of human beings who play a game for a living, or who own the rights to those players, want more, more,

more.

There was a time, before March 11, when I actually cared about the 2011 NFL season. I hoped there would be a resolution and things would carry on.

Now, I truly don’t care if the NFL ever sees another huddle, hike or touchdown. In fact, I wouldn’t mind seeing this sick display of human nature come back and bite all those involved.

I wouldn’t mind witnessing the NFL crumble under the weight of its own greed.

Sports shows and media markets can take sides on this issue and tell us who is or isn’t to blame. The bottom line is that these folks had a good thing going and it wasn’t enough.

I couldn’t care less about the NFL. What I do care about now is our brothers and sisters in Japan, and in Haiti, and in war-torn regions of the globe, and those who are oppressed, tortured, trafficked, and disrespected.

I’m a sports fanatic, but last Friday literally shook up my world.

It was a reality check that exceeded 9.0. My brothers and sisters are hurting and in need and are all around the world. The NFL Players Association and owners are not my family. They’re an embarrassment and a disgrace to humankind.

Let’s all pray for our brothers and sisters and reach out to help as best we can — even though we don’t haul in millions for playing games.

Bishop Coleman authorizes collection for Japan disaster victims

FALL RIVER — Bishop George W. Coleman has authorized a collection at the discretion of the pastor, to be taken on the weekend of March 20 or 27 to assist victims of the crisis in Japan. “The prayers of all go out to the Japanese people, the thousands who have been lost and their families,” wrote the bishop. Catholic Relief Service in partnership with Caritas Japan, part of the Japanese Catholic Conference, will assist the immediate needs of those affected.