03.25.94

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t eanc 0 VOL. 38, NO. 12

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Friday, March 25, 1994

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FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS

FALL RIVER, MASS.

Soqtheastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly

$11 Per Year

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THE ANNuNCIAnON, depicted in this 15th century work by Italian painter Fra Filippo, is celebrated today. Besides being nine months before i Christmas Day, March 25 was the first day of spring on the Julian calendar. : Early Christians believed the creation of the world took place on the first day I of spring and that Jesus was conceived on the anniversary of that date. I In anticipation of the feast day, Bishop O'Malley Tuesday celebrated the I second annual Pro··Life Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral, where he awarded : savings bonds to winners of a recent youth essay contest sponsored by the I Diocesan Pro-Life Apostolate. With bishop in right photo are (from left) first place winners Carilyn Flynn and Karen Reed and second place winner Kerri I Schoonover. Also a second place winner was Nate Cote. Bishop O'Malley called the Annunciation the "feast of yes" at which I

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Ethifcs of embryo

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The panel has invited written comments from interested individuals and organizations as well as oral testimony at the upcoming hearings. It is slated to report its conclusions and recomm~ndations in June. One of the major ethical concerns expressed by members of the public has been the issue of the personhood of the human embryo. Ms. Irving said the philosophical argument that embryos are not fully human becaus¢ they are not rational, self-aware I)eings "would also render the mentally ill, Parkinsons' patients, Alzheimer's patients, the comatose, drug addicts and alcoholics as nonpersons." She submitted written testimony by Dr. C. Ward Kischer of the University of Arizona's College of Medicine in Tucson. who has taught human embryology to medical students for nearly 30 years. Kischer wrote that the term preembryo "has no scientific ~asis and has been rejected by virtually every prominent human embryologist." The term was coined in 1986 "to justify reconsiderations of the ethical and moral aspects of such socio!cgal issues as abortion. fetal tissue research 'and in vitro fertilizatio'n," he said. Several scientistS on the panel Turn to Page II

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Priestly identity is topic of Holy Thursday letter

research examined BETHESDA. Md.(CNS)- At a National Institutes of Health hearing on federal funding guidelines for human embryo research. a Catholic ethicist charged that a '(fake human embryology" is being used to bypass critical ethical issues. Philosophy professor Dianne Irving of De Sales School of Theology in Washington spoke March 14 at a meeting in Bethesda of the NIH Human Embryo Research Panel. The 19-member panel of ethicists, lawyers, scientists and university officials is to decide which areas of embryo resean:h are accept.able for federal funding, which are not, and which need further review. Ms. Irving, a former NI H research biochemist, said the goal of a false embryology "i:. to designate a pre-embryo - i.e., a pre-person - with different ethical and legal rights and protections than 'real' persons, precisely so they can be used in experimental research with few if any regulations." She said for her doctoral dissertation. on the ethics of using su....plus embryos gained through in vitro fertili7a,tion. she analyzed 23 representative argumcnts for "delayed personhood" and found them all based on incorrect science. The March 14 mf:eting was the second in a series begun with a two-day session in early February. Additional public hearings are planned for April If; and May 4.

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-II\. ;" fI'.... ..." Mary "said yes to God, yes to life, yes to salyation and yes to us, her spiritual children." Today, he said, so many young mothers are pressured to say no and by abortion deny their children "the chance to live, to learn, to love, to pray and to contribute something unique to the world." The only way to overcome abortion is by prayer and a "strategy of love," the bishop concluded - love not only for the unborn child and women in difficult pregnancies but for the woman who has had an abortion, the wavering politician, the abortionist, the pro-choice advocate. We can only win their hearts "when they see how much we love," said Bishop O'Malley. We are called, he said, to say yes to God and yes to life like Mary and like Joseph, who "said yes to someone else's child." (CNS/National Gallery of Art and Hickey photos)

Holy Week photo meditation:

The Seven Last Words o/Christ pages 10-16

INVITATION All are invited to attend the Mass of Chrism at 4 p.m. Tuesday at St. Mary's Cathedral. At this Mass, at which Bishop Sean P. O'Malley will be celebrant, chrism, a mixture of olive oil and balsam used at baptism, confirmation, ordination and dedication of churches and altars, is blessed for use in the diocese throughout the year.

VATICAN CITY(CNS)- The special privilege of being a priest requires thanksgiving and constant fidelity. Pope John Paul II told priests in his annual letter for Holy Thursday. Along with the papal letter, the Vatican March 22 released a new "Directory on the Ministry and Life of Priests" from the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy. The pope's letter and the directory focus on the particular role of priests within the church, especially in celebrating the Eucharist. "For us priests, the priesthood is the supreme gift, a particular calling to sharc in the mystery of Christ, a calling which confers on us the sublime possibility of speaking and acting in his name," the pope said. He asked priests, during the 1994 International Year of the Family, to show their gratitude for the support their own families gave them in their vocation and to work to ensure that the church itself becomes more like a family. The new directory "is a manual which can help priests deepen their understanding of the identity and spirituality of priests, as well as the need for ongoing formation," said Archbishop Crescenzio Sepe. sec- ' retary of the clergy congregation. The 117-page document, addressed specifically to Latin-rite diocesan clergy, includes a synthesis of church teaching on the,

priesthood from the Second Vatican Council through Pope John Paul's 1993 series of general audience talks on the priesthood. But, Archbishop Sepe told Catholic News Service, the document also offers specific suggestions for how priests can respond to contemporary challenges and problems they face within themselves, within the church and from society. The starting point, he said, is for priests to know who they are and how their role in the church differs from that of the laity. "The identity of the priest comes from the specific participation in the priesthood of Christ, in which the one ordained becomes - in the church and for the church - a real, living and faithful image of Christ, the priest," the document said. A priest must be a person of deep prayer, celebrating the Eucharist daily, praying the Liturgy of the Hours and going to confession frequently, it said. The document listed two dangers associated with authority which can weaken the priest's role as "a guide who works toward the sanctification of the faithful entrusted to his ministry." The first is an "overbearing manner," which loses sight of ministry as a call to service, the document· said. The second, it said, is "disdainTurn to Page II


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