03.30.07

RCIA process sets many on road to Easter sacraments

By DEACON JAMES N.

ST. MARY'S CATHEDRAL HOLY WEEK SCHEDULE - 2007 SUNDAY April 1, 2007 PALM SUNDAY (Spanish Mass) 12:30 p.m.

Celebrant Bishop George W. Coleman

TUESDAY 4:00p.m.

Celebrant

April 3, 2007

DUNBAR

"But Paul Stebenne, with whom I used to have chats comparing the Protestant Church with the Catholic Church, used to tell me, 'You need to get back in church,' He suggested I go up the street to nearby Christ the King Parish. He never told me he was a parishioner there."

After attending one of the little Congregational churches, "I admitted to myself: 'This is not going to do it for me,''' In May of 2oo5, Perry took Stebenne's advice.

"Once inside Christ the King Church there was a spirit in there that just grabbed me," she recalled. "It was so awesome. I went to church there for six' weeks before I could sit there without crying."

When a friend in New Jersey suggested she become Tum to page 15 - Road

MASHPEE - On Holy Saturday night, April 7, Colleen Perry will take what she calls "an awesome step", to be baptized, receive her first holy Communion, and be confirmed as she enters the Catholic Church in Christ the King Parish.

That this is all happening at age 58, is wonderful but not amazing she said, "because in our seven or eight in the Rite of Christian Initiation ofAdults, some are older and many younger in their teens ... and I'm in between," she told The Anchor.

Her road to the Church began when she couldn't find a Presbyterian church community sufficiently close to her home in Falmouth. She moved to the Cape about a year and a half ago.

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Celebrant

April 7, 2007

SUNDAY 10:00 a.m.

Celebrant

April 8, 2007

EASTER VIGIL MASS '

Bishop George W. Coleman

EASTER SUNDAY MASS

A REMINDER FOR US ALL - Bishop Donald Pelletier, M.S., right, a Massachusetts native and Bishop of Morandava, recently blessed the crucifix in' the new La Salette Shrine Church on the grounds of the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in North Attleboro. The crucifix expresses the physical struggle Jesus experienced during his crucifixion. Bishop Pelletier was in the area for a few days, celebrating with family and friends the 50th anniver$ary of his ordination to the priesthood. '(Photo by Father Ron Gagne, M.S.) .

Bishop George W. Coleman

The Easter Sunday Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral will be televised on Easter Sunday, AprilS, 2007 at 11:30 a.m., on WLNE Channel 6.

Groundbreaking for new Our Lady of Lourdes Church fast approaching

By MIKE GORDON ANCHOR STAFF

WELLFLEET - After many years of waiting, Catholics on the outer Cape will soon have a new house ofworship as plans for the new Our Lady of Lourdes Church were recently unveiled. Construction is expected to begin next month and according to pastor, Father John Andrews, parishioners are excited.

'There is a lot ofenth1,lsiasm from the parishioners and this will be great for area Catholics," he said. 'They've done a lot for it already.'1 The project builder is James Edwards of Edwards and Holmes of Quincy, and taking on such a project is nothing new to them. 'They are very good," said Father Andrews. , ,"They've already built at least a dozen churches in the diocese includ. .,

ing Mashpee, Orleans and North Falmouth. They are capable and friendly."

The cost ofthe project is estimated at $4.5 million and it will be built on a 10-acre lot off of Route 6 that was purchased by Bishop Daniel A. Cronin in 1988.

"We hope to begin in April and complete it in 2oo8, a year to the day Tum to page 20 - Wellfleet

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30, 2007

Pope: Truth" not trend, must guide Christians in dialogue with others

By CINDY WOODEN

People were created by God, who,is truth, in order to find truth VATICAN CITY --..:.. Truth, and 'and not to settle for "the myths of , 'not what is "merely fashionable," , custom, cultural habits or the fashmust guide Christians as they enter ion of the moment," he said. into dialogue with those who hold "In an age like ours, marked by 'different philosophies or religious relativism in debates about values beliefs, Pope Benedict XVI said. and about religion, as well as in inCreating men and women with terreligious dialogue, this is a lesthe gift of reason, God ensured that son not to' be forgotten,'; Pop~ they could recognize the truth about Benedict said.

God, creation and life, he said "Our dialogue with philosophy March 21 during his weekly gen- and other religions, inspired by St. eral audience.

Justin, must remain firmly rooted The pope's audience talk fo- in truth, while always avoiding that cused on St. Justin, the philosopher which is merely fashionable," he and martyr decapitated in Rome in said.

165 for being a Christian.

At the end of the audience, the Pope Benedict explained that pope - who was born Joseph Justin spent his life pondering truth, Ratzinger - thanked Catholics for particularly through Greek philoso- their prayers on his patron's feast phy. His search led him to prayer, day, the March 19 feast of St. Jo- NESTLED IN THE ALPS - Pope Benedict XVI will visit Austria September 7-9 to celebrate the 850th the study of the Jewish prophets and seph. He said he prayed that St. Jo- anniversary of the famous Shrine of Our Lady of Mariazell. The town of Mariazell is seen in this file ultimately to Christianity. seph would "help the fathers of photo. (eNS photo/Michael Herrera) He opened a school in Rome families in their difficult mission." where he "initiated his students in In view of the March 24 World the new religion, which he consid- Tuberculosis Day, Pope Benedict ered the true philosophy, the place also asked Catholics to support "a where he found the truth and, there- greater responsibility to cure this fore, the art of living justly," said disease and a more intense solidarBy JOHN THAVIS the pope. to help stimulate parish and other only in order to become more comity with those suffering from it."

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE The truth introduced to the Jews activities, even if it means giving petitive and productive, but to be While tuberculosis is preventand partially explained in philoso- able and curable, some two billion VATICAN CITY - Pope up some of their entertainments. witnesses of charity," he said. phy finds its completeness in Christ, people in the world are infected Benedict XVI urged young people They should "cheerfully accept the He encouraged young people to Pope Benedict said. with the microbes that cause the to express love in unselfish ways, necessary sacrifices" and testify to study the social doctrine of the ''The Old Testament and Greek disease and one in 10 of them will looking past social goals of com- their love for Jesus among people Church and use, it to guide their acphilosophy are like two roads that become sick with it. tions in the world. Love is a powerpetition and productivity in order their own age, he said. lead to Christ," he said.

The pope said marriage is a ful social force, the only force capable Boxing promoter Don King was to become "witnesses of charity" in "The figure and the work of St. among the estimated 25,000 people the world. "project of love" between a man of changing human hearts, he said.

He held out Blessed Mother and a woman that fits into a divine Justin mark the decisive option of in St. Peter's Square for the audiThe pope said Blessed Mother 'the ancient Church for philosophy, ence. Although he did not get to Teresa of Calcutta as an example design.

Teresa responded to the search for for reason, rather than for the pa- shake the pope's hand, King did of a Christian who translated love "Learning to love each other as love.by society's weakest members gan religion," which placed its em- manage to hand over an enormous into concrete action to help the a couple is a wonderful journey, yet by taking in and caring for the it requires a demanding 'appren- people who were dying on the phasis on holding onto myths rather boxing championship belt as the poorest of the poor. than using one's intelligence to seek popemobile slowly passed in front The pope made the comments in ticeship,'" he said. When couples streets of Calcutta. truth, Pope Benedict said. a message marking World Youth get engaged, he said, it's a period The lives of the saints are full of of him.

Day, which was being celebrated in of preparation that needs to be lived such lessons, and young people should most dioceses April 1, Palm Sun- "in purity of gesture and words." try to know them better, he said.

The Saints & Singers Chorus day. The text was released at the Engagement allows couples to The pope also encouraged Vatican in February. practice self-control and develop youths to attend Mass regularly, The theme of the papal message respect for each other, he said. This telling them that the Eucharist is was love, and he began by telling is true love, which does not place "the great school of love." He said young people that despite emo- an emphasis on seeking one's own the sharing of the eucharistic bread Easter Performance Schedule kindles a desire to give generous tional disappointments and lack of satisfaction, he said.

When it comes to the daily rou- service to others. affection in their own lives, they Date Location Time should know that "love is possible." tine of'family, studies, work and He said he hoped young people "The purpose of my message is free time, the pope asked young would join in youth day celebraFri.,3/30 Tabernacle of Praise, Wareham 7:00 PM to help reawaken in each one of you people to look beyond the cultiva- tions at the diocesan level this year you who are the future and hope tion of talents needed to obtain a in preparation for the 2008 World Sat., 3/31 St. Margaret's, Buzzards Bay 1:00 PM of humanity - trust in a love that social position.

Youth Day international gathering Sun., 4/1 St. Elizabeth Seton, N. Falmouth 4:00PM is true, faithful and strong; a love "Develop your capacities, not in Sydney, Australia. that generates peace and joy; a love that binds people together and alOFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE lows them to feel free in respect for' DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER one another," he said.

Vol. 51, No, 13 Member: Catholic Press Association, Catholic News Scrv ice He emphasized that God is the • Prompt 24 Hour Service • Automatic Deliveries _ source of true love and that Christ's , Put>lished, weekly excePt for two weeks in the summer and the week after Christmas by the catholic Press ofthe Diocese of Fall River, 887 Highland Avenue, • Call In Deliveries • Budget Terms Available suffering and death on the cross Fall River, MA 02720, Telephone 508-675-7151 - FAX 508-675-7048, email: • Free Estimates form the perfect expression of this th~nchor~anchornews.org. ~ price by mall, postpaid $14.00 per year.

Send address changes to P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA, call or use email address You Never Had Service divine love.

PUaUSHER· Moat Reverend George W. Coleman Until You Tried Charlie's The pope focused on three arEXJ$CUnVE EDITOR Father Roger J. Landry fatherroger1andry@anchomews.org eas where young people are called We're located at ...

EDITOR David B. Jollvet davejollvet@anchornews.org to demonstrate love of God: in the NEWS EDITOR Deacon James N. Dunbar Jlmdunbar@anchornews.org 46 Oak Grove Ave., Fall River REPORTER Mike Gordon mlkegordon@anchornews.org church, in marriage and in society. orcall... ..

OFFICE MANAGER Mary ChaM marychase@anchornews.org In the Church, which he de508-675-7426 • 508-674-0709 Send Letters to the Editor to: fatherrogerlandry@anchornews.org scribed as a "spiritual family," the POSTMASTERS send address changes to The Anchor, P.p. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722.

THE ANCHOR (USPS·54S420}PI'lriodieal POSUIge Paid at Fall RIver, Mass. pope said youth's should be willing , CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

Pope urges young people to express love in unselfish ways,

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Pope names new archbishop of Sao Paolo '~rchdiocese in Brazil

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PAPAL PUPIL - A child is silhouetted while looking at the exhibition "Pope Benedict XVI- The Pope of Germany" at the Mate.rnushaus in Cologne, Germany, recently. The exhibition runs through April 23.

(CNS photo/Ina Fassbender, Reuters)

Catholics fight against loosening abortion laws in Mexico City MEXICO CITY (CNS) Catholics and civic organizations have launched a campaign against a Mexico City proposal to legalize abortion during the first three months of pregnancy.

The proposal "has awoken the conscience of civil society in this city," said Armando Martinez, president of the College of Catholic Lawyers in Mexico City.

Martinez said the proposal would violate the Mexican Constitution, and he pledged to file a challenge before the nation's highest court if it is approved.

Abortion in Mexico is currently permitted only in cases of rape; however, in Mexico City, it is also allowed if the mother's life is in danger. Lawmakers said they will discuss the bill in coming weeks.

But it is expected to be approved with the support of the city's majority, left-leaning Democratic Revolution Party.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Pope Benedict XVI named a new archbishop for the Archdioce~e of Sao Paolo, Brazil's largest see.!

The 57-year-old archbishop fills the see left vacant since October 2006 when Pope Benedict app~inted the city's former archbishop; Cardinal Claudio Hummes, as .pead the Vatican's Congregation for Clergy.

Born of German descendants in Sao Francisco, Brazil, Archbishop Scherer has strong ties to Rome. He studied philosophy and $eology at Rome's Pontifical Brazilian College and the Pontifical Gregorian University, and worked as an official for the Vatican's Congregation fbr Bishops from 1994 to 200 1.

I Ordained a priest i~, 1976, he served as pastor in the BJ¥ilian Diocese ofToledo. He taught"and served as rector of a number of I:seminaries and religious institutes in southern Ii Brazil.

Archbishop Scherer Was named auxiliary bishop of Sao Pjlolo in November 2001, and in Ml;ly 2003 he

was elected secretary-general of the Brazilian bishops' conference.

In December 2006, Pope Benedict named him adjunct secretary-general of the fifth general conference of the Latin American bishops. The conference will be held May 13-31 outside Sao Paulo in Aparecida. The pope, who will officially open the conference, is expected to visit Sao Paolo when he travels to Brazil May 9-13.

Sao Paolo is one ofthe most populous cities in the world with more than 11 million inhabitants. While more than 80 percent of the city's ethnically diverse population is Catholic, Archbishop Scherer recently expressed concern about what he called a "silent flight of the faithful." . He said "the faithful are more fickle" in Brazil, according to a February 7 report by Catholic News Agency. He said even though most Brazilians were religious, a lack of religious formation and instruction about the Church was causing a serious flight ofCatholics from the pews, the agency reported.

ltWe cannot direq,t the wind,

Martinez said the Mexican College of Catholic Lawyers has united with other civic organizations to form the ''We Are Life" coalition, which has been organizing a protest for March 22 in front of the city assembly. The coalition also has been planning to lead a pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe March 25 to pray for the bill's defeat.

Martinez's announcement follows numerous statements from the Catholic Church criticizing the bill.

The Mexican bishop's conference has called on the city assembly to "reaffiim its respect for life." The Mexico City Archdiocese said in a statement that city legislators are drafting laws "that go against human dignity."

However, Victor Hugo Cirigo, head of the Democratic Revolution Party in the assembly, has vowed to push the bill through, telling the press that "no church or religion will impose its will on the city."

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Catholic hospitals donate cord blood for adult stem-cell research ALLENDALE, N.1. (CNS) - A New Jersey health care initiative has reached its goal of getting Catholic hospitals in the state to donate umbilical-cord and placenta blood for adult stem-cell research.

During a March 9 press conference at the Elie Katz Umbilical Cord Blood Pr0EEfacility in Allendale, Archbishop Jo· 1. Myers of New", arkandFather oseph Kukura, presi'.'dent oithe Catholic . . Prihceton-based / HealthCar0'artnership of New Jersey, reported on the progress of an alliance among 10 Catholic hospitals that provide obstetrical services.

The statewide stem-cell initiative, which is being steered by Father Kukura, was launched in May 2006.

The Allendale facility will serve as a ~tation to collect the hospitals' bioiogical material for ongoing research.

"I am here to say that the first stage of the initiative has been accomplished. Our tiine-month initiative was to get 10 Catholic hospitals involved (with adult stem-cell research). The Catholic Church is in favor of stem-cell research, but only one kind (embryonic) is problematic to our moral tradition," Father Kukura explained.

Archbishop Myers deemed the initiative "a model in the state and throughout the country" for adult stem-cell research.

He said Father Kukura was invi~ed to Rome by Pope Benedict XVI to address the issue of providing. ~~innovative ways to preserve human life."

"I applaud the efforts of the hospitals, staff and patients for understanding the importance of cord and placenta blood donation, .and for the increasingly important and productive role in the field of stem-cell research," the archbishop said.

"Efforts like this partnership among the Catholic hospitals in New Jersey, Community Blood Services and the Coriell Institute for Medical Research will truly advance the goal of finding cures for diseases without sacrificing human life," said Archbishop Myers, who toured the Elie Katz facility following the press conference.

Dennis M. Todd, president and chief executive officer of Community Blood Services, said the organization has collected 750 units of cord blood through the state's Catholic hospitals in New Jersey.

Of those units, 180 have quali-

G.IVE PEACE A CHANT - Sisters Rita Jongen, Elaine Englert and Magdalena Kellner, who are all Sisters of St. Joseph, voice their opposition to the Iraq War during an interfaith vigil for peace in Rochester, ~.Y., recently. The demonstration, sponsored by Pax Christi, the Sisters of Mercy of Rochester, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester and the Greater Rochester Council of Churches, among ~thers, ~as held to mark the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. (CNS photo/Mike Crupi, Catholic Coune"

Maryland Catholics optimistic despite death penalty ban defeat

By GEORGE P.

MATYSEK JR. CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

Evangelist Parish in Frederick, cast not only a right, but a duty to prothe decisive vote against the bill. tect itself from those who find ways BALTIMORE - Despite the Sen. Nancy Jacobs, who is also to continue to kill others even while defeat of a bill to ban the death Republican, did not vote because in prison," he said. "Neithercorrecpenalty in Maryland, Catholic of a family emergency. A strong tional officers nor other inmates leaders said they were encouraged death penalty supporter, her vote should have their lives in continual that the abolitionist cause appears would not have affected the out- jeopardy by individuals intent on to have gathered significant come. and able to murder others even strength after many years of frusMooney had publicly wrestled while in jail." with his position on capital punishtrated efforts.

Dowling, who represents the Known as SB 211, the bill would ment in the weeks leading I,lp to the -state's Catholic bishops in Annapohave replaced the death penalty vote. Cardinal William H. Keeler of lis, said the Church did not support with prison sentences of life the senator's amendments. without parole, but it was He said those who have killed March 15 in the Sen"It is my view that societY has not been watching capital punishate Judicial Proceedings only a right, but a duty to protect it- ment "here and around the Committee on a five to five self from those who find ways to con- country know full well one vote. The bill needed· six tinue to kill others even while in exception opens the door to a votes in favor to go the Sen- prison, " he said. "Neither correctional whole variety of future excepate floor. officers nor other inmates should tions."

"The progress we have Although there is another have their lives in continualjeopardy made in the short time of the death penalty repeal bill unby individuals intent on and able to last year has been nothing der consideration in the short of astounding," said murder others even while in jail. " House of Delegates, it is unRichard J. Dowling, execulikely to be debated now that tive director of the Maryland Catho- Baltimore called the senator to dis- the effort has effectively failed in lic Conference, a key bill supporter. cuss the Church's position on the the Senate.

"I believe that we had sufficient issue, and Baltimore Auxiliary Jane Henderson, executive divotes in the House Judiciary Com- Bishop Denis J. Madden, urban rector of Maryland Citizens mittee and on the floor of the vicar, took the unusual step oftes- Against State Executions, said House and Senate," he said. "I'm tifying in person in support of re- Marylanders favor repeal in invery upbeat about how far the pealing the death penalty during creasing numbers.

Church and other repeal advocates committee hearings.

She pointed to a February poll have come."

Mooney introduced bill amend- commissioned by the Maryland Dowling said the support of Gov. ments that would have restricted Catholic Conference and conducted Martin J. O'Malley, a member of capital punishment to those who by Mason-Dixon Polling & ReSales And Service Montie Plumbing St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Bal- commit murder while in prison, but search Inc. that found 61 percent of Maryland voters believe life with& Heating Co. n timore, who forcefully testified in they were voted down.

Fall River's Largest In a written statement sent to out parole is "an acceptable substiOver 35 Years the bill's favor, also has breathed Display of TVs of Satisfied Services new life in the abolitionist cause. newspapers and read before he tute for the death penalty."

The Maryland Court of Appeals Reg. Master Plumber 7023 The Democratic governor promised voted against the bill, Mooney said ZENITH • SONY JOSEPH RAPOSA, JR. to sign the measure into law if it abolition is "not in the best interest issued a temporary moratorium on 1196 BEDFORD ST. h d h' d k for the common good of the death penalty in December FALL RIVER 432 JEFFERSON STREET reac e IS es . while lawmakers evaluate lethal 508-673-9721 .

FALL RIVER 508-675-7496 Republican Sen. Alex X. Maryland's citizens."

Mooney, a member of St. John the "It is mv vjew. thaI societv. has inJ·ection.protocols. . .IVJUt!.• :.. dUil I; J miW ,DOUUI; J:l .lIlA _'1~l'.'1 <I~!~: 1.lrk> .... , • .::a-~-.=-.~~--:::.""::l.-~-~~~"::';o-.::.::..~..c""3.~~~=-_--'::'O~ .=.--_;,:,,'.;:::;.:=.::o-=-:::-:=.;::.c.-=---=.....::; .... '.1~

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fied for transplant, he said. "We ship all over the world and overnight to treatment centers. These cells .are used to treat people with lymphomas, immune deficiencies and other disorders. Out of the 41 units we have transferred, 30 have been from Catholic hospitals in this state."

Out of those who received the stem-cell treatment, 68 percent are now in good health, including a 60year-old woman who was diagnosed with leukemia, he said.

The Elie Katz Umbilical Cord Blood Program facility is one of the first centers in the nation to use procedures that have just been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for private and public stemcell storage. Research aimed at better ways to store units and how to get the word out to more donors, including the minority population, is an important component of the initiative, according to Todd.

Democratic Assemblyman Neil Cohen, who has supported adult stem-cell research since its inception, has been a key figure in building an alliance between government officials and Catholic hospitals.

"Developments in stem cells are changing every hour. This is the pathway to cures and healing in the future," he said.

Democratic Sen. Loretta Weinberg also is a supporter of the adult stem-cell research alliance. "As a widow of a cancer victim, a mother and a grandmother, I look forward to a time for other families to find .' other cures," she said.

Assemblywoman Charlotte Vandervalk believes educating pregnant women is key in advancing adult stem-cell research. ''With education, we can stop the wasting (of umbilical-cord and placenta blood)," said Vandervalk, who is a Republican. "I have files filled with success stories. It fills me with awe of the potential we have here."

Although adult stem-cell research has proven results, a lack of federal funding could endanger the future of using and collecting umbilical-cord and placenta blood.

Under a 2005 law, $15 million per year should be given toward funding such research ~ 2007-10. How- . ever, President George W. Bush proposes only $2 million in funding for umbilical-cord research and storage.

Cohen called the limited funding "sad" and "extremely foolish," adding "the government needs to step up to the plate if they want to be a part of a medical revolution."

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$ THE CHURCH IN TH'E U.S. ~ Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit sends visitors back in time MARCH

5

30, 2007

Bv ANN AUBREV HANSON

the formative years of Judaism and Christianity, More than 200 biblical manuscripts unSAN DIEGO - When the Dead Sea earthed at Qumran are more than 1,000 years Scrolls exhibit opens at the San Diego Mu- older than any previously known copies of seum of Natural History at the end of June, . the Hebrew Bible.

The exhibit will fully present the science visitors will find a great deal more than rolled of,interpreting the scrolls, including: scrolls of ancient parchment.

The curator of the exhibit, Risa Levitt Kohn, and her colleagues at the museum have The DeadSea Scrolls are widelyacdesigned an interactive exhibit that will immerse visitors in the life and times of the Dead knowledged to be among the greatest Sea Scrolls. Kohn is an associate professor archaeological link to the ancient in the department of religious studies at San Middle East, andto the formative years Diego State University. ofJudaism and Christianity. More than While many of the scrolls have been on 200 biblical manuscripts unearthed at loan to other museums in the United States Qumran are more than 1,000 years and elsewhere in the world, no exhibit has older than any previously known copever been as large or as comprehensive as ies of the Hebrew Bible." that planned at the San Diego museum.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient manu- the use of infrared photography to enscripts discovered between 1947 and 1956 in 11 caves near Khirbet Qumran, on the north- hance the appearance of the soiled and weathered texts and DNA analysis to match indiwestern shores of the Dead Sea in Israel.

The scrolls date from the third century vidual scroll fragments; - multispectral imaging to read fragile B.C. to the first century and contain some of the oldest known copies of biblical books, as rolled scripts and chemical analysis of clay well as hymns, prayers and community writ- scroll jars to determine the location of the source of the clay; ings.

More than 100,000 fragments of text were - computer programs to match the edges discovered, and scholars have spent decades of tom scrolls and carbon-14 dating to prepiecing these together into more than' 900 cisely date the scrolls; documents, - paleography to establish a chronology The Dead Sea Scrolls are widely acknowl- based on the evolution of styles of ancient edged to be among the greatest archaeologi- handwriting; cat link to the ancient Middle East, and to - the archaeology of nearby settlements CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

Former Episcopalian to be Los Angeles' first married Catholic priest LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The first mar- as many men participating as women and ried Roman Catholic priest in the Archdio- scores of children. cese of Los Angeles will be ordained this The Lowes also were inspired by CathoMay, the culmination of a pilgrimage of faith lic outreach to low-income communities, that - in the couple's words - has been which had long been one of their priority concerns. "We always had a strong feeling full of adventure and welcome surprises.

A special papai provision will enable Bill . that Catholicism was the Church for the Lowe, a former Episcopal priest, to be or- poor," said Bill Lowe. "It was the Church that cared the most for the poor - Jesus' dained as a Catholic priest.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los An- people." geles will preside at the May 6 ordination Simultaneously, he and his wife started in Camarillo at Blessed Junipero Serra talking about becoming Catholic.

"We didn't leave the Episcopal Church Church, where Bill Lowe and his wife of 44 years, Linda, are members.. because we were angry or upset," he said.

The couple joined the Catholic Church "We were drawn to Catholicism for posiafter Lowe retired from ministry in 2001. tive reasons. But we are deeply grateful for They have served and will continue to serve everything we had in the Episcopal Church." at their parish, also known as Padre Serra, The two were received into the Catholic in a variety of ministries - not unlike their Church in Massachusetts. Then Bill Lowe work in the Episcopal Church. discovered he missed being fully engaged An Episcopal priest for 27 years at Par- in the work of ministry and pastoral counish of the Messiah in Newton, Mass., then- seling; he believed he could still be of serRev. Lowe was known as the "burying par- vice to his new Catholic Church. son" because of his special call to bereaveFour years ago the Lowes, who are origiment ministry and accompanying family nally from Southern California, decided to members through the death of a loved one. move back. Once they settled into The Lowes also raised a son and two Camarillo, Padre Serra Church welcomed daughters, and Linda Lowe worked for more them with open arms, said Bill Lowe, and than two decades as an administrator at the the two became actively engaged in parish Massachusetts Institute of Technology. life.

After he retired in 2001, the Lowes As they began to settle into 'their new started doing something they never had time neighborhood and lay parish ministry, Bill to do before - visiting the Catholic Lowe again looked into the process by . churches of several friends and colleagues. which former Episcopal ministers can be "We were amazed at the vigor and life in ordai~ed in the Catholic Church. After his those parishes. We were surprised by the acceptance as a candidate, he began two joy," Bill Lowe, 68, told The Tidings, news- years of guided theological, spiritual and paper of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. The pastoral preparation for ministry in the Catholic churches were full, he added; wit.h Catholic Church.

of the same period, and the conservation and I: preservation of the scrolls.

Ii It will include several authentic Dead Seall Scrolls on loan from the Israel Antiquities Authority, fully interpreted with a translationII of the text and background information, aSii well as other authentic artifacts, such as pot-II tery, coins, textiles, sandals, combs and ink i' wells, from the ancient site of Qumran.

The Dead Sea Scrolls themselves are bib~ lical and nonbiblical, the latter including such' things as contracts, historical commentary;1 community rules and other souvenirs of an J cient community.life.

Among the scrolls on display will be 24I, Israeli scrolls; Psalms' scrolls containing passages from liturgy still in use today; a sec· tion of the Copper Scroll from Jordan, the only Dead Sea Scroll inscribed on copper; the Deuteronomy manuscripts containing th6 text of the Ten Commandments; and scrollS of the biblical books of Leviticus, Isaiah an~ Job. I' A portion of the second-oldest Hebrew Bible, dating from 900-1000, also will be ott fu~~ I Kohn said the exhibit will have religiousII SCROLL CALL - This copper scroll is documents dating from 250 B.C. to 2007. the only Dead Sea Scroll written on cop"It's a story that continues to this day. That per that will be on display in the San Dishould help put the Dead Sea Scrolls in pe~­ ego Museum of Natural History June 29 spective, for that time and today," he said. ' through the end of the year. The scrolls The exhibit will be open to the public were discovered between 1947 and 1956 daily, except for Thanksgiving and Christ- along the northwestern shores of the mas Day, from June 29 through the end qf Dead Sea in Israel. (eNS photo/courtesy of West Semitic Research) the year. "

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6 The hard line is a loving guard rail After Pope Benedict published his exhortation "The Sacrament of Love" two weeks ago, one of the major newspapers within the diocese wrote a provocative editorial focusing on one of the document's 97 paragraphs. Entitled "Pope's hard line drives faithful away," it argued that the Holy Father "perhaps" is "aiming" to "drive people, especially Americans, away" by his reiteration of the Church's 2,000-year-old practice that divorced-and-remarried believers are not permitted to receive holy Communion. Such a teaching, it wrote, just like the Church's teachings on married priests, gay marriage, birth control, and "other facts of American life" are "leading some American Catholics to withdraw from organized religion." The danger, it warns both Benedict and local Catholics, is that the Church will continue to "lose influence in the United States" and that will make its "charitable" and "saintly work," like the Church is doing "to alleviate the human suffering caused by the recent immigration raid in New Bedford, ... harder to do."

The assumptions on which the editorial's arguments are based are not new. The first is that the Church's more unpopular- we'd say propheticmoral teachings are "driving" faithful away. While there's no doubt that some Catholics have chosen to stop practicing the faith because they no longer choose to practice what the Church teaches, the implication is that if. the Church somehow softenedor changed her teachings on these controver-' sial issues in American life, the Church would better maintain its numbers' and clout. Vet one glance at those ecclesial communities in the United States' that have adopted permissive teachings whenever the modem sensibilities of their members have contradicted explicit Gospel teaching or traditional: Christian practice should be enough to correct this line of thought. Recent comparative statistics. on Church membership in our country show clearly that those denominations that seek to adhere more strictly to Biblical and; traditional teachings are numerically withstanding the onslaught of secularism far better than those denominations that seek to accommodate preach-. ing to practice.

The second assumption is more serious - and more mistaken. It's often implied that the Church's "hard line" on issues like divorce-and-remarriage' contradicts the "love" shown by the Church toward the poor and the needy.

By the first, the Church treats people as "outcasts," as the editorial charges; in the second, the Church welcomes and cares for outcasts. The truth is that the Church',s teaching and the Church's practice are both "sacraments of love." In each, the Church is expressing its faithfulness and love toward Christ and trying to love others with the same charity with which Christ loved them.

With regard to the issue of those who are divorced-and-remarried, the Church's practice is based not on some harsh, mutable, man-made teaching, but on the very words of Love and Truth personified. The question, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" was once asked Jesus explicitly. Those who asked it said that Moses, the greatest religious authority they had up until then, had allowed them to do so. Jesus' response, which seems to have been forgotten by many Christian denominations as well as some Catholics, deserves to be quoted at length: "Jesus said to them, 'It was because of your hardness of heart [Moses] wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and.the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.' Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, 'Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery'" (Mk 10:2-12).

Jesus himself teaches c1early.that those who remarry after divorce are~ committing adultery against their spouse to whom they have been united in one flesh by God until death. It goes without saying that God considers: adultery a very serious sin. Not committing adultery was explicitly named by him as one of the Ten Commandments, one of the 10 most important ways for human beings to show thatthey are in fact living in a covenant of love with God and with others. Because of its destructive force within fami- .

Hes and within society, it was one of the sins. for which the death penalty; . . was associated in Old Testament times (Lev 20: 10).

Some people may think that, because of his merciful interaction with the' woman caught in adultery (In' 8), Jesus somehow'mitigated the sinfulness.. of adultery because he said that he did not "condemn" the woman. But in' t~lIing her "Go and sin no more," he was both stating explicitly its sinful' character and her need to avoid that sin in the future. Jesus gave this com- . mand out of love, because, in two very real senses, adultery still carries a death penalty. The first is that it led to Jesus' death; out of justice, Jesus didn't and couldn't mitigate the sinfulness of adultery but out of mercy took the place of adulterers on death row.. Secondly, adultery remains what St. John later called a "mortal" sin (1 Jn 5: 16). If done with deliberation and consent, it is one of those actions that will lead to an eternal death unless one repents and comes to seek God's forgiveness.

This reality of sharing in Christ's merciful love for those caught in a situation of adultery is one of the important foundations for the Church's practice of npt permitting those Catholics who are divorced-and-remarried to receive holy Communion. If the Church were to allow those in this situation to receive holy Communion, then they and others would be led to believe either that one can now receive the Eucharist in a state of mortal sin, or that adultery is no longer a mortal sin, or both. To be in communion with Jesus Christ - which is what the action of receiving the Eucharist signifies and effects - means to be in communion with his teachings, even and espe-; cially when they are c h a l l e n g i n g . ' Pope Benedict's exhortation is not a stone that he is throwing at Catholics who are divorced and remarried, but a "sacrament of love," an external sign of Christ's own mercy. Like Christ, his earthly vicar compassionately acknowledges the very difficult circumstances in which many Catholics find themselves, and like Christ he states the' truth out of love and seeks to help them tum away from sin and believe in the Gospel, so that they might come iOtP:g.ep\tin~.co~mu..n!bi(w.i!l! !~~ 'kd!4iri);I1is_lif~ ~ri~;'~Y~'1 ~f!l<2re_ tll!portantry~lnThenexf.~c...a------~---~--~-~~~- __ c.~'" - -~ _. _.~_",,,,J

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the living word

HUNDREDS OF DEMONSTRATORS HOLDING TORCHES FORM A GIANT PEACE SIGN DURING AN ANTI-WAR RALLY IN PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, TO MARK THE FOURTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE U.S.~ED, INVASION OF IRAQ.

(t~s J,'HOTqIDAVID W. , CERl'fY, REUTERS)

"FOR THE MIND SET ON THE FLESH IS .DEATH, BUT .

THE MIND SET ON THE SPIRIT IS LIFE AND PEACE" (ROMANS 8:6). '

The cause of the Cross One of the most common devotional prayers during this season of Lent is the Stations of the Cross, by which we relive the last steps of our Lord on the way to his redemptive death.

By praying the stations, we are able to go more deeply into the dramatic events of our Lord's passion, recalling all that he suffered for our salvation.

The stations vividly remind us that Christ was dying to atone for the sins of the world, including all the sins that we would later commit in years to come.

Seeing the causal connection between our own sins and the terrible sufferings of Christ is not always easy..

Like the transmission of original sin, it is a transcendent truth of our faith that is often difficult to grasp. But it is nonetheless the case that the sins of us all caused the passion and death of Christ.

This truth was described centuries before, by the prophet Isaiah, who wrote, "Vet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, while we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were Iiealed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; but the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all" (Is 53:4-6). It is also a truth tha~w.~J~y~~.,ro,~h"p'a.~~, lÂŤRo wrote, "For I delivered to you as

of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures" (iCor 15:3).

1\vo years ago, at the request of an ailing Pope John Paul II, ~hen-Cardinal Ratzinger wrote the meditations and prayers for the Way of the Cross, to be celebrated at the Colosseum in Rome on

contemplate the sufferings of Christ without recognizing the effects of our sins. We cannot recall how the innocent Christ suffered, without admitting that it was our sins which caused that suffering and created the need for atonement and redemption. We cannot consider the events of Calvary without acknowledging that our sins have consequences, the worst of which was the death of the Son of God. This same idea is captured in a moving prayer for the eighth . station, written by Arc~bishop Fulton Sheen: "Let me see that if , ., Good Friday. For the eighth I had be~n less p(oud, the crown station, when Jesus 'meets 'the of thorns would have been less pierCing; that if t had been less wOlpen of Jerus.alem, and tells selfish, the cross would have been them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, less heavy; that'if I had been less do n<?t weep for me, but weep for yoUrselves' and for your children" sinful, the road to Calvary would .~ have been shorter."

(Lk 23:28), Cardinal Ratziilger' It's when we rem'ember that recalled how Jesus invited.the Christ suffered and died because women to redirect their sorro,w to the cause of his sufferings --.:.. theii of our sins that we truly apprecisins and the sins of their children ate, on more deeply personal - and he wrote, "And so the . level, the purpose and value of Christ's suffering. It's when we Lord warns us of the danger in admit that our sins are the cause which we find ourselves. He of the Cross, that we are more shows us both the seriousness of likely to strengtherl" our resolve to sin and the seriousness of avoid sin and atone for evil. It's judgment. Can it be that, despite when we recognize that our sins all our expressions of consternabrought about Christ's passion, tion in the face of evil and that we can put into the deep of innocent suffering, we are all too the mystery we are about to prepared to trivialize the mystery celebrate during Holy Week. of evil? ... Before the image of Father Pignato is chaplain at the suffering Lord, evil can no longer be trivialized." .

Bishop Stang High School in .Th~!e.~~RlJ .f.rqlTh,~o~q8~~li'ji\'eri North Dartmouth '!!!I!'J~~ecre~. to Bishop George If. Coleman.

Holy Father was thaf we cannot

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MARCH

$

30, 2007

TheAnchor

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Often it's the simple things an hour on mountain paths to arrive called "Las Canas," where sugar Each year Bishop George W. at the little chapel. Among them Coleman makes his pastoral visit to .cane is grown, hence the name of our Diocesan Mission in Guaimaca the village. There, we were was a young mother carrying her son in her arms. The boy is about and last month found him celebrat- welcomed by a family to have a eight years old and suffers from a ing confirmation, traveling to simple lunch of rice and chicken outlying villages, and type of dystrophy that prevents him from walking, meeting our brothers and talking, using his hands, to sisters in the Mission.

The bishop and Father the point that he has David A. Pignato arrived difficulty keeping his head at the newly renovated up. His mother must carry him everywhere, which airport in Tegucigalpa. was much easier when he Although visitors still may was a baby. feel as though the plane has landed on someone's As we greeted the folks before the celebration of Mass. who were arriving, Father Pignato driveway, they quickly see that the mentioned that he thought his airport terminal is no longer the size Following lunch, we celebrated a family had a carriage that the of a garage. Father Paul Canuel and penance service and Mass. mother could use for the boy son.

I were there to greet them and take As we were waiting for the services to begin, people were He explained that it was a stroller them back to the parish in with larger wheels that would be Guaimaca,about a two-hour drive arriving from their homes in the in the worn out pick-up truck. area. Some walked for more than well suited for ·the mountain paths.

On the way to the parish we discussed the plan for the week with special attention to the two confinnation celebrations in the parishes of St. Rose in Guaimaca and St. Francis in Orica In addition, we would be visiting the mountain village of Las Cafias, the Sisters' new farm project, the Internado, as well as other meetings and neighborhood visits. The bishop and Father Pignato were eager to experience Guaimaca once again.

The confirmations were filled with life and spirit as the bishop offered the Masses in Spanish.

Although Guaimaca had fewer candidates (approximately 40), the LIFE IN HONDURAS - A young woman, left, is confinned by Bishop parish in Orica set a personal record George W. Coleman in Guaimaca recently. At right, a young mother for the bishop of confirmations carries her eight~year-old son who suffers from a type of dystrophy celebrated at one liturgy: 125 that prevents him from walking, talking, using his hands, to the point candidates! that he has difficulty keeping his head up~ Father David A. Pignato Early in the week, we traveled to sent the mother an old family stroller to help ease her burden. (Photos courtesy of Father Craig A. PreQana.) one of our outlying communities

71 We spoke to the mother and she the mother. was grateful for anything that could In the scheme of things be done. around here -'a stroller may not seem to be a big deal and can easily When he returned hOPle, Father Pignato secured the be found. However, for this young mother the stroller will make her stroller and delivered it to me. life so much easier as she continues A group of college stud~nts from Bridgewater State 'College _ to care for her son. brought the stroller with them Sometimes it is in the simple to Guaimaca as they traveled ways of showing concern and there for a week of mission compassion that we are able to work. One of the members of make the greatest difference and the parish youth group ~s­ live the Gospel. www.HonduranMission.org sembled it and delivere~ it to II

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APRIL 5

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-last weekend NASCAR drivers spent four hours spinning around the fishbowl known as Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tenn., all,the while displaying the "Car of Tomorrow," which is safer and actually puts the drivers' skills to the test a bit more; - and, the golfer not only of tomorrow, but of all the ages, Tiger Woods, is ready to pounce at Augusta National next week in Georgia.

We didn't feel it arrive, and still can't detect its presence, of sleep, albeit four weeks early, but spring is here. All the signs wreaking havoc with every point to it. electronic calendar device from With that said, I rummaged PCs to microwaves to the cursed around the bottom of my closet this dashboard clocks 'that no one can morning, pulled out a short-sleeved remember how to reset. shirt, threw on the wrinkled Yes, spring his here, just don't look out the window yet to find it; garment and headed to work in an attempt to force nature to realize but the signs are there: spring has indeed sprung.

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The signs are here It arrived like a thief in the ' night; came in the back door; flew in under the radar; and any other stealth cliche out there. Spring has sprung - but it doesn't seem so.

Since 8:07 p.m. on the 20th of March, the moment spring crept in, we've had more snowfall than the span covering December ~ough February. The sun is up there somewhere, it's just perpetually wrapped in an enormous cumulus boa.

But it is spring. I know it is. The signs are there: - at least one of my March Madness brackets has been busted for two weeks now; - I've seen scores of robins hopping about, even though they were wearing U ggs and down vests; - we've witnessed the wearing of tpe green by the Boston Red'SOi;' \q~t, " ' ••'RII ,II .~".

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MARCH

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Everybody loves a parade A few weeks ago we received our blessed ashes and began our long Lenten journey. On that Ash Wednesday we made resolutions to do penance.

Perhaps our expectations were high, perhaps not. Now we are asked to proceed into passiontide, the solemn commemoration of those events when the Savior redeemed mankind.

There is an expression: "Everybody loves a parade."

Lots of things are expected when one watches a parade: marching bands, a lengthy array of colorful costumes, lots of cheering, and everyone expects to see the spectacular.

Yes, everybody l~ves a parade. And it was no different when Jesus came to town that first "Palm Sunday." We look at the high expectations of the crowd when Jesus rode on a donkey into Jerusalem, and how their high expectations were simply not high enough. The crowds had expectations for

what this Jesus could do for the people. The crowd who had witnessed and heard about hitn thought he must be the Messiah.

This Jesus must be the one they had been.waiting for, the one to deliver them from Roman rule.

The crowd had very high expectations of Jesus. The crowds were right that Jesus was a messiah, a king, but his kingdom was not of this world, and this "they did not fully understand."

The crowds on the road to Jerusalem apparently thought that if Jesus could heal the sick, give sight to the blind, and even raise the dead, he must be the long expected messiah. And what a wonderful time to do it.

It was Passover. Because of their expectations of Jesus, they paved his way with palm branches, singing to him as he rode on the humble colt of a donkey.

At first glance, you might

think the people in that crowd had made the right choice. They shouted "hosanna" and threw their cloaks before him and waved palm branches at him.

What a parade. Despite the crowd's cheerful expectations however, Jesus was riding the colt of a donkey into Jerusalem

so that he might lay down his life for them,and die. He was to offer himself up, be abused and jeered at, be crowned with thoms, be beaten, and finally be raised up in death on a cross.

What a parade into Jerusalem. Although Jesus was going to his death, he had described what he was about to do in his laying down his life as the

"Hour for the Son of Man to be glorified." As Jesus reaches the crest overlooking Jerusalem, he weeps. The crowds are cheering and hailing him as king, and Jesus is crying. The Lord sobs.

Instead of acknowledging the crowd's acceptance, he cries. He does not want their cheers, he wants their hearts. Can we doubt his sincerity?

Jesus shed tears for you and for me. He shed his blood as a payment for the penalty of our sins. Tell him this Palm Sunday, you do recognize him. Ask him to forgive you of your sins and your pride. He will remove those sins and will abide with you in love.

God's ways are truly higher than our ways. You and I can examine our thoughts and ask whether our expectations are too high or too low. In the providence of God, there is nothing higher or more spectacular than knowing him, loving him and being happy with him. Are our路

expectations high enough when they involve eternity? Just remember that with God all things are possible.

This Palm Sunday, as we liturgically "watch a parade," make sure you know Jesus as your king. On this Palm Sunday lay down your pride and whatever else keeps you from bowing to him. Share in his grief for the lost in this world. Look ahead and see your Savior on the cross. He does want to be your liberator, so that you can live in his love now and forever.

My friends, this week "parades" up to crucifixion and resurrection, Calvary, and an empty tomb, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Let Jesus share his love with you. Will we cry with him, so that we can rejoice with him? Then our sorrow will be turned into joy. May you be part of the Lord's blessed crowd that loves and enjoys his Easter parade.

Father Rita is pastor of St. Mark's Parish in Attleboro Falls.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat, March 31, Ez 37:21-28; (ps) Jer 31:10-13; In 11:45-56. Sun, April 1, Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion, Lk 19:28-40 (procession) Is 50:4-7; Ps 22:8-9, 17-18a,1920,23-24; Phil 2:6-11. Mon, April 2, Is 42:1-7; Ps 27:1-3,13-14; In 12:1-11. Thes, April 3, Is 49:1-6; Ps 71:1-4a,5-6ab,l5,17; In 13:21-33,36-38. Wed, April 4, Is 50:4-9a; Ps 69:8-10,21 bcd-22,31 ,3334; Mt 26: 14-25. Thurs, AprilS, Holy Thursday, Mass of Chrism, Is 61:1-3a,6a,8b-9; Ps 89:21-22,25,27; Rv 1:5-8; Lk 4: 16-21, Holy Thursday Evening, Mass of the Lord's Supper, Ex 12: 1-8, 11-14; Ps1l6:12-13,15-16bc,17-18; 1Cor 11:23-26; In 13:1-15. Fri, April 6, Good Friday of the Lord's Passion, Celebration of the Lord's Passion, Is 52: 13-53:12; Ps 31:2,6,12-13,15-17,25; Heb 4:14-16;5:79; In 18:1-19:42.

Lent and the' modern martyrs Last September, on a lovely afternoon during what Poles call "Golden September," a friend took my wife and me to Jamna, in the forests of southern Poland between the Beskidy Mountains and Cracow. You won't find Jamna on many maps - it's that small. Despite its obscurity, though, Jamna is indelibly imprinted on the spiritual map of the 20th century.

The men of Jamna were active in the Polish anti-Nazi resistance during World War II. On Sept. 25, 1944, the Germans wreaked a terrible revenge. While the men of the village were hiding in the woods so as not to endanger their wives and children, German troops rounded up the women,

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children, and old people of Jamna and murdered some 40 of them in cold blood, in and near their church. One mother held up an icon of Our Lady, to shield the three children clutching her breast and her skirt; all were killed. The villagers' wooden huts were then burnt. Jamna, the Germans thought, was no more.

Father Jan'Gora, a Polish Dominican, was determined that Jamna's sacrifice and the faith that sustained the villagers in their trial by fire not be forgotten. With great persistence, he rebuilt the church in Jamna and surrounded it with a retreat-and-conference

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center; on a hill above the center is a two-story wooden hermitage for those who wish to make a silent retreat.

Near the original church, Father Gora erected starkly

modem, locally carved wooden statues, one for each of the victims of Nazi barbarism: small statues for the children, bent statu~s for the elderly, the mother and her three children together in memoriam, all where they fell.

Father Gora also commissioned a set of four panoramic paintings for the old church's interior: in the first, a local priest says Mass for the resistance fighters in the forest; in the second, bullets strike the icon-shield being held in front Commercial & Industrial Gas/Oil Burners

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of the children; in a third, Pope John Paul II, (who supported Father Gora's passion for Jamna, blesses a re-creation of the icon once shattered by bullets; in the fourth, our Lady looks over the now-peaceful clearing in the forest where embodied evil once thought itself triumphant.

I remembered my afternoon at Jamna recently while watching two films: "The Ninth' Day" and "Sophie Scholl: The Final Days."

"The Ninth Day" tells the true story of a priest from Luxembourg who is temporarily released from the horrors of the Dachau concentration camp and sent home on "leave" - so that the SS can tempt him to become a turncoat, who will pronounce Nazism and Catholicism compatible. Cunningly enough, the moral and spiritual fulcrum of the film doesn't have so much to do with the priest's wily SS tempter, a former seminarian with a gift for argument, but with the priest's sense of his own imperfections and faults, which have been magnified under the brutal conditions of Dachau.

"Sophie Scholl" (which is distributed by Ignatius. Press) is set in Munch in 1943. where-the.. ..

young students of the White Rose resistance movement are trying to alert their university colleagues to the catastrophe that the Nazis are bringing upon Germany. The scenes of the interrogation of 21year-old Sophie Scholl offer some brilliant acting, based on the actual interrogation transcripts.

Even though one knows that this is going to end grimly, with Sophie and her friends beheaded after a mock trial, the moral drama of a young soul trying to wrestle with the demands of conscience in a world gone mad is nonetheless riveting. The film is not without flaws: it underplays the Christian dimension of the White Rose resistance; Sophie's last cellmate is morphed from the evangelical Christian she was into a kindly German communist who avers that, "You have to believe in something." But by the end, it is clear what Sophie Scholl believed in: the truth of God in Christ, which reveals the truth about human dignity - truths that made resistance to neo-pagan tyranny imperative.

Jamna, "The Ninth Day," "Sophie Scholl": three reminders of the modem martyrs who walk the way of the cross with us, this Lent and every Lent.

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

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Can't get there from here Sunday 25 March house - like the dishes rattling of hear the sound of breaking glass.

There on the dining room table Homeport- Birth anniversary their own accord - they say the . (1908 at London) of Sir David shees are up to their silly shenani- lays a shattered dish. A few moments earlier, it had been Lean, film director of "Bridge on gans. The invocation shee nanna, hanging on the walL No, it's not the River Kwai." gasne is intended to get rid of the , the shees. It's the traffic. , Ab, the idyllic life of This old house shakes a country pastor whenever a vehicle birds chirping in the " ~~", 'f., ,," garden, horses grazing whizzes past. The nail 'rrR~ .. hlns, of a S-J came loose. The dish in the fields, shees ii'," '. rattling the dishes. y~s, came crashing. Twentydear readers, shenanithousand vehicles pass within a few feet of my "gans happen.

'-~oldrick front door every day. I According to live life in the fast lane. spiritual author Father Making Village life even more Edward Hayes, the Irish blessing shees without hurting their challenging, all but one of the shee nanna gasne means ''The ·feelings. But should you happen , four c,ardinal directions has major shees are rattling the dishe~." to hear the mournful cry of a Shees or sidhe populate the keening ban-shee (bean-sidhe), be obstacles. TO,the south, a new , . invisible, world of the Irish exit ramp i,s promised. It's afraid. Be very afraid. needed'to handle a capacity of imagination. When something One evening, I'm sifting unexplainable occurs around the 200 trucks simultaneously quietly reading the newspaper. I

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The adventure of priesthood This is thefifth column on CatholU: vocations, and what parents can do to help children, ,discern their vocation.

We continue this series on: the role of family in the promotion of vocations by considering the priesthood. Because the title 'Father' is given to priests, we don't have to search too hard for a way to explain to our, children the imporlant role of priests within the Body of', Christ or our Catholic Vocational Village. As loving, biological or adoptive fathers'tend to the growth and wellbeing of their families, so do priests, our lovj'ng, spiritual fathers, tend to the growth and wellbeing of our Village.

Although most priests wear clerical collars, not Australian bush hats, and carry'crosses instead of machetes, I also envision these courageous men , like jungle guides keeping clear for us the often overgrown path that leads to heaven. Jesus was the ,first to cut a path of salvation and sanctification through the wild and dangerous jungle. The Apostles were the first to traverse it.. Then Christ commissioned these good men, and through them and their successors to today's priests, to safely shepherd us VIllagers on our journey along this path through this' world and , ',into the next.

For the good, of the entire Village, priests,and bishops have been given imique.ab¢ties and gifts to help us on our communal ,and individual journeys. These include supplying us with the nourishment of the Eucharist, giving us absolution of sin thorough reconciliation, and requesting divine healing for us

through the anointing of the sick. .Along with deacons, priests and bishops care for our souls through baptizing, preaching the Gospel, witnessing marriages; counseling, comforting, and educating, just to highlight a few of their gifts to us.

If I could personally introduce readers to just one of the happy, holy deacons and priests our family is blessed to knoW, it would be worth a thousand~word

essay on this vocation of love, 4t me present a snapshot of this vocation, however, ~ugh the ' words of tWo I know. ''If my mother had nofbeen a , woman qf prayer, I woUldn't be here," s~ys transitional Deacon Andreas Davison, who will be ordained a priest on May 26 in Boston. "My stole is'woven with her tears. She told l!le. 'with your ordination I will give pirth a second time. this time sPiritually.' ''I believe that a healthy family is the backbone of any vocation," Deacon Davison contffiues. "A healthy family is a family that · does normal activities together · like hiking, biking, and visiting museums. If you want your children to have strong'vocations, do these things together, and avoid the TV. If a man feels called to the priesthood he should increaseJus Prayer life, protect his' vocation by having healthy , friends and activities, avoid places 'of temptation, and, really, God will take care of the rest. ''I love being a priest. I always •

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tell people this, because it is true," says Father Marc Montminy, a priest friend from New Hampshire. "Parents can have a positive influence on their children's vocations by the way they speak about priests and religious ' (positively); ~y introducing them to happy priests, by haVing a faith that is growing themselves, and by makiIigtheir kids a part of that growth. Homes where these thingS are happening will provide the climate needed for a rich harvest , of priestly and other vocations."

In the social environment of our time, it is paramount ' for us to defend our faithful priests, . because thi truth is, we have many more faithful, devoted priests than not. Braving uncharted waters and forging , " across unmapped hinds witl) , explorers or without anyone at ' all, Catholic priestshave crisscrossed the globe to rescue ~oul'S from pagan beliefs and ' practices by introducing them to the Good News of Jesu~ Christ. What child wouldn't be in awe of such inspiring heroes of Catholicism?

With this in mind, reading ageappropriate biographies with our children about priests from all oflife, .from all eras, and from all around the globe is another way I highly recommend parents'cultivate respect, admiration, and lovefor priestly vocations ,at home, and foster an openness in our sons to the possibility of this' c~ on their lives. , ,Next week, a concluding look : at nurt\lring vocations at home.

Heidi and her husbandriJise theirfive children in Falmouth. homegrownfaith@y(Jhoo.com.

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9 coming and going at a huge was assumed by the bishops of distribution center. This will give Rome in the lIth century. A pope our parish four highway exits builds bridges between Catholics, more than the entire City of Fall between people of other religions River. Currently there's a or none, and between all people proposal for a big-box shopping of good faith arid God. center at the same exit. Thi's is Every parish priest is a bridge, builder. Along with: preaching and projected to raise the streettraffic tq nearly 40,000 vehicles a teaching, one of my primary tasks day. So much for the country life., is to sanctify (connect people to To the east and to the west, we Godi but also to connect the have bridges leading in and out of People of God with each other, to build Christian fellowship within the parish. Both bridges are my own parish and between my' maIfunctioning. Th~ span . connecting Berkl~y and Dighton' parish and,the diocesan Church. I need to build bridges between this over the TaUnton River "is now a single hine regulated by a Catholic Church and the Protesstoplight It's the only stoplight in ' tant churches in town. I must work to connect my parish to both the parish. You wait fo~ the green ,the local civic community and to light and then hit the gas hoping , to beat it across in time., I recently the world community.

People in the parish are " made it safely over the bridge to, Digh,ton, but when it c~e time to constantly striving to encourage other parishioners to join in return, I found the rickety bridge closed to all traffic. You can't go worship and activities: bridgehome again'. building. Visitors to our liturgies Worse still is the Elm Street often mention how welcome they were made to feel: bridge- ' Bridge crossing the Assonet River to the east. Like London building. Protestant and Catholic churches pray'and socialize Bridge, it's falling down. If your load is too heavy, you can't get toge~er: bridge-building. from the Village to the other end Ecumenical clergy enjoy each . of town, East Freetown. When other's company: bridge-building. that bridge is eventually closed When the parish can help out in for repairs you won;t be able to some civic event like a parade or get there from here either. This ", a ¥uscular Dystrophy fundleaves us with no place to go but ' raiser, we're there: bridgenorth. I'm tip the creek without a building. When there is some paddle. Nothing agairtst Taunton, catastrophic event or dire need in but we all need goo.d hridges in the region, in the nation, or in the world" we do 'what we can: ' our lives.

The pope has many titles: bridge-building.

Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Christ, Mine is not'the exulted task of Successor of ttte Prince of the ' Pontifex Maximus; but it's the same task: bridge-building. You Apostles; Supreme P~ptiff of the , ·can call your parish priest Universal Church" Prllnate of Italy, Archbishop and MetropoliPontifex Minimus ("Mini BridgeBuilder"), but don't be surprised tan of the Roman proviJlce" Sovereign of the State of the if he looks at you strangely. He'll Vatican City, and Servant- of the . probably suspect you're up to Servants of God. My personal some shenanigans. favorite is' Pontifex Maximus Father Goldrick is pastor of Chief Executive Bridge-Builder.

St. Bernard PtlI#h;Assonet.

Pontifex Maximus (or,Supreme StBernardAssonet@aol.com.

Pontiff) can be traced back to the ,Previous columns are available fourth century. The artcient title at www.StBernardAssonet.org. ,

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Dio'cese of Fall River "

PRINCIPAL Coyle and Cassidy High School, Taunton ASST. PRINCIPAL FOR ACADEMICS Coyle and Cassidy.High School, Taunton ELEMENTARY PRINCIPAL Greater Fall River/New Bedford Area Qualifications Include: Faithful commitment to the teachings qf the Catholic Church.

An understanding of the philosophy and mission of Catholic schools. .

Five years teaching experience and appropriate academic credentials.

Applications to close April 20, 2007 Interested candidates should submit a letter of intent, resume, transcripts and three current letters of reference to: George A. Milot, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools 423 Highland Avenue, Fall River, MA 02720 Other joR;» openings listed at: www.dfrcec.com 'i

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$ The Anchor $ Young parishioner enjoys bringing Christ to others

The seeds of hope

A few weeks ago I was in a Chinese restaurant and when I opened my fortune cookie, this

By MIKE GORDON Christ and how we must nurture that relationship." is what it said: "The harder the ANCHOR STAFF He advised that it's important for young people to fall, the higher the bounce."

FALL RIVER - It's never too early in life to have Christ as a central part of their life and know And I immediately thought to make a difference in a parish community.·That's the that he is there. myself, this is a good message; feeling one gets after speaking with 18-year-old "God is always with you. If you water the seeds one worth reflecting upon, Bryan M. Ferreira of Santo Christo ~arish and what they will grow. The relationship will flourish." especially during the Lenten and makes him The Anchor's Person of the Week.

Pacheco praised the efforts of Ferreira to get Easter season.

He's involved in altar service, Religious Educa- . young people involved in the Church. "He has a gift For as we embrace our own tion, confirmation retreats, is a lector and active in for breaking down barriers. With his wit he can make faith journey, our own life youth ministry. According to Ozzie Pacheco, direc- people smile or laugh. He gets others to feel comexp~rience is often like the tor of Youth Ministry at Santo Christo Parish, fortable and gets them involved. He's very dedicated message in this fortune cookie.

"Ferreira is one of the to his faith and the That when we fall; we can indeed "bounce back." That :. when we sin we can indeed be known. He's an out• ' ~IUDes heart." forgiven.

That when life hands / ~lP- ~}f1«k After his own confirstanding. yo~ng ~an." us circumstances that we are \.. ~.:'>_.. . ~. " '., " " .."'~~ mation in 2000, Ferreira Ferreira IS a hfe-long ,_ sure we will not be able to parishioner of Santo ".. joined the parish youth endure, that we can indeed find Christo and a Fall River native. He became an altar group. "It's an active group and being a part of that strength and healing to overserver when he was in the fourth grade and still as- has been a worthwhile experience," he asserted. c~me all adversity. For we have sists today during special occasions. "Ever since I "Being with other young people who understand was a small child I wanted to be an altar server and .their Catholic faith helps strengthen my own faith. seeds of hope within us. Seeds . I've always enjoyed it," he said. "It has helped me We do a lot of fun spiritual and social activities." of hope that can bring new life build a better relationship with God and when I'm In addition to'visiting seniors in nursing homes to the most difficult situations, up on the altar I'm happy. I've been able to share and serVing food at the local food kitchen,Ferreira · situations from which we might that with others in teaching younger children how to was able to attend World Youth Day in 2005. That even be able take on greater serve'at the altar. That's been good." trip to Germany made an impression on him andhe challenges, from which we can Ferreira is a recent graduate ofDiamond Regional hopes to attend WYD in Australia in 2008. "It was · become a better person than we Vocation High School in Fall River and works as an quite an experience for me. It was exciting to see were before. automotive technician .at Sears. He just started at Pope John Paul II in person."

Most , Sears and said His 14-yeareverybody loves I it's an enjoyold sister a story about able job.

Sevanais also a someone who ''There' is a lot member of the suffers through to learn; but I youth group a fallCrom went to school and praised her grace or a brother. "It's for automotive i

By Greta difficult time technology and nice that he's in and emerges did a co-op at the youth group victorious, or Midas." and an altar overcomes unbeatable odds to He is the son server. He's a reverse a situation and come out of Manny and role model and on top.

Mary Lou I look up to Many of our greatest saints Ferreira of Fall him." experienced a fall from grace or , This year, River. "We're very' proud o f .

Ferreira began a period of sinfulness from him," said his serving as lecwhich they grew to become father. tor. Previously greater leaders and instruments His altar serhe did readings for God, including St. Peter, St. vice grew into for youth Paul and St. Augustine. more Church Masses and Many of the greatest stories involvement inthat experience in literature and in the most helped him eluding workpoignant moments in films are Anchor Person of the Week Byran Ferreira and his sister Sevana. iog as a overcome a based upon the premise of the . teacher's aide fear of public'speaking. "I was nervous at first, but I power of that which is good. In for Religious Education for the.past two years. ''That look forward to doing that now. It's a good feeling the classic fictional story of was also something I wanted to do for a while," said to help the Church."

George Bailey in "It's a WonderFerreira. " When he's not helping at the parish, Ferreira enful Life,': George ·overcomes his .He had a teacher that made an impact in his life. joys soccer and playing the trumpet in a Portuguese darkest hour, when financial and has been able to give back to otherS through his band. He's been playing music since fifth grade and misfortune comes his way. For role a teacher's aid. '.'1 had to wait for several years also put that talent to use on the confirmation retreat throughout'his life he had before there was·an opening, but it's an important performing with a pianist. planted. seeds of hope, and in his Pacheco, who has beeninvolved with you.th minopportunity to help young people understand more darkest hour, the love and about their faith." istry for more than 20 years, noted, "Ferreira enjoys . friendship in these seeds .. Last weekend Ferreira was able to do just that being a part of the parish family. Whenever we plan brought a solution to his as he arid several other adult leaders facilitated something he always gets involved in it. That infinancial woes.. 'a confirmation retreat for more than 30 teen- spires other young people."

'In the true life story of Maria VOlunteeri.ng like he does is "something thatis agers. "The retreats are nice because you're toin the. "Sound of Music" we see gether in faith with God. We have guest speak- j\lst insidemy.heart," declared Ferreira. "We need · a young novice who in h\?r ers and there .are a lot of goo,! social and spiri- .. young face,S in the Church and they can get a lot.out darkest hour faced:her fears and . tual activities." ." . '.' ' . of being involved. It's important to help the Church Ferreira gave a witness talk entitled, '.'Growing,~d if we don't, who will? I hope more young people returned to take care Of the Von up in the Body of Christ," and was looking forward will understand that they can get involved just like I Trapp. children, knowing that to his presentation. "It's about our relationship with did." · she would have. to return to work for an engaged man whom

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she herself had fallen in love with. But the seeds of hope planted through her own kindness and the love in her. heart caused everything to change. Don't we just love it when the captain looks at her and says, :'Well, you' can't marry someone, when you're in love with someone else."

And in Helen Keller we see an example of a person who overcame being blind, deaf and mute and who became a great communicator, as well as in the example of Tony Melendez, who being born without arms learned to play the guitar with his feet and who has touched millions with his music.

But the greatest story of all time is of course that of Jesus Christ. For in many ways this is his fortune cookie and.the words in the fortune are truest for him.

For no one had to embrace the darkness, endure suffering for others and fall as hard as did . Jesus. And no one has risen higher than he. Because of him

Our Journey of Faith

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we believe in the promise of eternal life. Because of him we have hope.

His Resurrection gave us the promise of eternal life and the gift of the Holy Spirit and it also strengthens us along our journey to overcome life's challenges and our own sinfulness and helps us to realize what is most important.

Throughout our lives we will have. planted seeds of hope within ourselves that we might. draw upon when we have fallen down, or when life's difficulties overwhelm us. We may plant them through our faith, through receiving the sacraments, through our prayers and through loving others.

And jn those' times when we think we have no hope left, no seeds of hope to draw upon, if we look deeper we will find them there for Jesus has planted them within us, far, far deep within, as he promised that he would.

Greta is an author and illustrator. She and her hus-' band George, with their child;en are members of Christ the King Parish in Mashpee.

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PUT YOUR

FINGER HERE, AND SEE MY HANDS; AND PUTOUT YOUR

HA·ND,AND'· P'LACE IT I N MY 51 D'E;

DO NOT BE FAITH LESS, BUT BELl EVI NG The Parish Family of Our 'Lady of the Assumption in Osterville wishes to all a happy and holy Easter.

May the blessings of our risen Lord aned Savior be with you and yours in this festive s$8so-nl paschal tJjdll.UfI) Servic!$ HotyThuradey: 1 pm· Mas. otth. Lord'. Supper Good Frld'y:

10 .m .. Children'. st....on. otth. ~'ro$$ 12:10 pm .. station. of·the eros. I 1 pm .. Celebration ofth. Lord'. P•••lon .

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,Journey of the Heart: The Life of Henri Nouwen,' to air on PBS nat~d by the connection between that field and religion). After getNEW YORK ,- "Journey of ting his master's degree in Holthe Heart: The Life of Henri land, he taug"t pastoral th~ology Nouwen" is a comprehensive por- at Yale Schooi of Divinity and ,trait of the Dutch-born priest and later at Harvard Divinity School.

He became deeply involved in author of more than 40 books"who ' -is described in narrator Susan the civil rights movement; marchSarandon's opening remarks as ing with demonstrators, and later' "one of the most beloved and im- walking behind the Rev. Martin portant spiritual thinkers of the .Luther King Jro's coffin., He spent 'seven months as a moIik with the COMING OUT OF THEIR SHELLS - Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael are the star 20th century."

Karen Pascal's film airs ~n Trappists and worked with the characters in the animated movie ''TMNT.'' For a brief review of this film, .see CNS Movie Capsules , ' PBS affiliates throughout the poor and oppressed in Latin below. (eNS photolWarner Bros.) month of April (check locallist- America and the L' Arche commudoxically original yet fonnulaic wiUl adults and adolescents. ings). For those unfamiliar with nity for the handicapped., often implausible character motiva''Tortilla Heaven" Father Nouwen, a traditional There is a good deal of foottion, though. the 9/11 theme and (Archangel Entertainment) '. chronologic;!l approach might ,age of Father Nouwen either lecSandler's heart-wrenching character Well-meaniilg misfire about wack)have been preferable, as bio- , turing or at Mass, and generous tug at the emotions. Pervasive rough complications and a mysterious graphical details do not emerge clips from a television interview. and crude language and occasionai stranger in a devout Southwestern 'until about 14 minutes into the Pascal has assembled colleagues profanity, some forthright and crass hamlet when the image ofJesus mani'(C~S ~'((),vii(e film, but once the narrative takes from every phase of his life sexual discussion, and emotional out* fests itself on a tortilla. The ensemble hold, one comes to appreciate the Harvard, Yale, Notre Dame, bursts. The USCCB Office for Film comedy-drama by first-time feature full measure of his accomplish- L' Arch~ International and else& Broadcasting classification is L director Judy Hecht Dumontet, who ,where - who offer' pithy in- , NEW YORK (CNS) :- The fol- limited adult audience,. films whose also co-wrote the script, finds curments.

Beyond being such a prolific sights. lowing are capsule reviews of movies problematic content many adults mudgeonly nonbeliever Isidor Navarro (Jose Zuniga), owner of the writer, Father Nouwen was an imFor all Father Nouwen's men~ recently reviewed by the Office for would find troubling.

"TMNT" (Warner Bros.)

Tortilla Heaven restaurant in a tiny passioned lecturer and teacher tal brilliance, he is descr~bed Film & Broadcasting ofthe U.S. ConComputer-animated feature re- New Mexican town, caught between (Yale and Harvard) and a dedi- paradoxically as childlike' and ference of Catholic Bishops. ''Reign Over Me" (Columbia) vives the Teenage Mutant Ninja a miracle and Mammon as his friends, cated humanitarian. Yet, despite , helpless, often plagued with a Singularly offbeat, albeit Turtle franchise, as four brothers set family, the mayor and the local priest all this, the numerous talking sense of self-rejection. He had a ,poignantly etched, buddy film about out to defeat a villain poised to 00- (all played by a remarkably high-proheads in the film speak of his complete breakdown after the dea successful dentist (Don cheadle) leash 13 monsters on New York. file cast of Latino actors including chronic personal loneliness and terioration cif a "close and, meanwho meets up witlt and tries to rehaWriter-director Kevin Munroe navi- George Lopez, Alexis Cruz, Elpidia ' alienation', all very much at odds ingful" friendship during the, bilitatehis cOllegeioommate (Adam gates a rather overly coplplicatedplot Carrillo, Irene Bedard, Geno Silva, with such an 'outwardly maniC, L' Arche period, though ,the film Sandler), once a dentist· himself and with aplomb, successfully balancing Marcelo Thbert and Ana Ortiz, who is '. , high-energy personality whose is reticent about details. In any now sadly childlike, suffering from action and humor while enforcing the ' on TV's ''Ugly BettY") try to cash in gestures sometimes conjure case, when,he recovered, it was post-traumatic stress disorder as a re- values'of solidarity and atonement. on pilgrimage tourism with the help Woody Allen. with a sense that God must be our sult ofhis wife and children perishing 'Cartoon-level combat and swordplay,. of a shady dealrnaker (an excellent , Born in the Netherlands in first love.

Sept. 11, 2001, and in the process ' a subtle acceptance of a premarital Miguel Sandoval). The film cOntains 1932 to a strongly religious After the massive heart attack comes to terms with some of his own living situation, two instances of the occasional crude epithet and mild mother and intellectual father, . he suffered prior to his death in emotional issues. Writer/directorMike, belching and some disrespectful ban- profanity, rear nudity, some sexual Father Nouwen was also greatly 1996, he said to a friend,"in die, Binder's drama is well-intentioned, te~, and a mild instance of profanity.' humor and a lightly irreverent end gag. influenced by his devout grand- 'just tell everyone I'm enormously and Sandler pulls off a difficult part The USCCB· Office for Film & The USCCB Office for Film & Broadmother. While other children were grateful." with distinction, but the script is para- Broadcasting classification is A-II casting classification isA-ill -adults., playing with toys, young Henri Despite his considerable per- , spent most of his time in his attic sonal demons, he lived his whole chapel equipped with a child-size' life hoping to help others on life's ' altar. Two brothers and a sister journey, and t,his'film will likely confirm his strong early spiritual, inspire others to seek out the writFALL RIVER _ The PortuPalm, Sunday Mass; April 1,7 Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, ' bent, and his great attachment to ings of this spiritual but very hu- " guese Channel, a local cable ac- p.m. from Santo Christo Church, New Bedford; their mother, whose death proved man "wounded ,healer."

Easter Sunday Mass, April 8, ,cess television channel has an- Fall River; devastating.

BeSIdes its airing on public TV nounced its Holy Week schedule. , , Holy Thursday Mass, April 5, 7 p.m. from Our Lady of the RoOrdained a priest iri 1957, he stations, the program can be or-, It is as follows: 9:30 p.m. from Our Lady, of Mount sary Church, Providence, R.I.; came to the United States and dered on'home video by phone at: M arc h 26 30, : 9 30 - 10 p.m., Carmel Church, New Bedford; TV program "Boa Nova da taught psychology at the Univer-, (800)' 523-0226, or online at: .. Caminohos para a Pascoa" Good Friday ,(Passion of the Vida!' ("Good News for Life"), sity of Notre Dame (he was fasci- www.visionvideo.com. ("Easter Journey"); Lord), April 6, 7:30 p.m. from Our April 4 and 18 at 9:30 p.m..

, By HARRY FORBES CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

(CaIIVSUII11es

Portuguese cable TV channel to air Holy Week programming

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, April :1 at .11:00 a.m. ·Scheduled celebrant is Father Maurice O. Gauvin, pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish in New Bedford

Communion and Liberation will host ~ay of the Cross in Fall River April 6 FALL RIVER ~ The Catholic movement Communion' and Liberation has organized aWay of the Cross to take place in Kennedy Park, April 6, beginning at 12 p.m.

All are invited to join this procession.

It will begin at St. Anne's Shrine, ,located 'across the street from Kennedy Park at 818 Middle Street.

The procession will include prayers, readings, and hymns'as it makes various stops in the park.

The goal is to make the Way of an international movement in the the Cross a public gesture of prayer, Catholic Church founded by Monunited to the prayers ofPope Benedict signor Luigi Giussani in 1954. during this holy season. He says, "It Through its members, it is actively is in the mystery of the Cross that the present in more than 70 countries overwhelming Power ofthe Heavenly and many dioceses in the 'United Father's mercy is revealed in all ofits , States. Communion and Liberation fullness. In order to win back the love is a friendship, open to everyone, of his creatures, he accepted to pay a reminding all ofthe living presence very high price: the BloOd ofhis Only of Christ in the Catholic Church.

Begotten Son" (Lenten Message For more information, contact 2(07).

Robert Sampson at 508-995Communion and Liberation is 6235.

MARCH

$ The Anchor $ Bill to redefine marriage in Massachusetts reappears

30, 2007

By GAIL BESSE ANCHOR CORRESPONDENT

BOSTON - A bill to redefine marriage in Massachusetts has resurfaced. Sponsored by Rep. Byron Rushing of Boston, this new maneuver would amend state law to allow marriage "regardless of gender."

The reason why this proposal was filed is a matter of debate, given the fact that marriage licenses have been issued to same-sex couples in Massachusetts since 2004, following the controversial court ruling known as the Goodridge decision.

Although that ruling opened the door to Massachusetts becoming ground zero in the national battle to redefine marriage, state statute has not changed.

And the state battle is intensifying as a May 9 legislative showdown approaches at which the fate of a proposed constitutional amendment that would define marriage as a heterosexual union will be decided.

In the Goodridge decision, the state Supreme Judicial Court in 2003 interpreted the constitution as not limiting marriage to one man and one woman. But the Legislature never voted to change the law to mandate "gay marriage."

"Apparently, the homosexual lobby isn't trusting the actual constitutionality of the Goodridge decision any more than we do," said Brian Camenker, executive director of Mass Resistance.

His Waltham-based pro-family group's Website first publicized news of Rushing's bill, H171O, "An

Act to Protect Massachusetts Families Through Equal Access to Marriage."

In a phone interview Rushing said, "We want the wording of law to be in conformance with the Goodrich decision. The constitutionality of the decision isn't being challenged. People want to amend the constitution."

Actually, Camenker's group and others have questioned both the constitutionality of the decision and the legality ,of "gay marriage" licenses, but no lawsuit has been filed.

However, in a nationally publicized letter to former Gov. Mitt Romney just before he left office in December, Camenker and 43 pro-family leaders urged him to declare "gay marriage" illegal. They said that the state constitution can only authorize the legislature, and not the courts, to decide marriage policy, and that Romney had .no obligation to enforce an unconstitutional ruling.

Among those signing from Massachusetts were Dr. John Diggs, a leading expert on the medical risks of homosexuality; Ray Neary of ProLife Massachusetts; and Phil Lawler, editor of Catholic World News. Romney did not respond, but had in the past disagreed with this theory.

Mass Resistance has also filed a bill, S926, that specifies marriage licenses can only be issued to people who are eligible under state statute.

Meanwhile on a different front, religious and pro-family groups are

gearing up to advance the constitutional amendment, which Romney had backed and which all four Massachusetts bishops strongly support.

As Fall River Bishop George Coleman wrote in a letter to all parishioners: "There are important reasons for backing the amendment. It reaffirms the teaching of Jesus and the consensus of our nation that recognizes marriage as the union between one man and one woman."

Sponsored by the ballot question committee VoteOnMarriage.org, a petition for the amendment garnered a record 170,000 signatures.

The measure would not legally invalidate those "same-sex marriages" already performed and could go \lefore voters in 2008.

Rushing acknowledged that if the measure succeeds, then the constitution would trump the law. "My bill probably won't get heard until the amendment question is settled," he said.

Professor Dwight Duncan of SouthemN:ew England School ofLaw confinned how high the stakes are.

"Even if the SJC were mistaken, as I think they were, they are the final word on the meaning of the Massachusetts Constitution, pending a constitutional amendment," Duncan said. "Goodridge's constitutionality under our state constitution can only be challenged before the SJC, and its composition hasn't changed. And Justice Martha Sosman, who died March 10, was a dissenter in Goodridge."

Dan Avila, policy director for the Massachusetts Catholic Confer-

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ence, the public policy voice of the four Catholic bishops in Massachusetts, said there are yarious theories on why Rushing would refile this bill, which he had submitted in 2003 and in 2005. ',ilt would codify the SJC decision and put lawmakers on record as showing the democratic process confirmed the court ruling," he said.

Duncan agreed; "I think it's to have the legislature democratically ratify the Goodridge decision, since the SJC's ruling wils four-three and is the only basis for the legality of • 11 'M assachusame-sex marnage 10 setts," he said. "It can be criticized on democratic grounds - that the people should dec,~de such a question, and not unelected judges (one judge really, because that was the narrow margin o~ the majority in Goodridge)."

Activists in MassEquality are making extraordinary efforts to kill the amendment, Ii according to a March 22 article in "Bay Windows," a gay activist newspaper.

Even though theyilhave the support of Gov. Deval Patrick, House Speaker Sal Di¥asi and newly elected Senate President Therese Murray, they have'!also hired 13 new full-time lobbyists to sway votes.

In fact, Murray's executive assistant is Chris Mason, who recently worked for MassEquality to defeat II

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the amendment. Murray told the Boston Globe March 22 that she will bring the measure up before the constitutional convention but wi~l work against it.

According toAvila, legislators like Murray who formerly wanted to bury the amendment by a recessing tactic may have had second thoughts - financial ones - because of a federal civil rights lawsuit filed against them

by VoteOnMarriage.org.

"When the SJC ruled in December that it must be put up for a vote, word went around that failure to do so, if it was considered a violation of their oath of office, could cloud their claim to pension benefits," Avila said. "They realized some people could have long memories."

March 25, 2007 Medjugorje,Bosnia-Herzegovina "Dear children! I desire to thank: you from my heart for your Lenten renunciations. I desire to inspire you to continue to live fasting with an open heart. By fasting and renunciation, little cpildren, you will be stronger in faith. In God you will find true peace through daily prayer. I am with you and I ani not tired. I desire to take you all with me to Heaven, therefore, decide daily for holiness.

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Our readers respond Unshared feelings In the February 16 "Our Readers Respond" section of The Anchor I was amazed to read the emotional, subjective, illogical defense of Father Robert Drinan by Deacon Ralph Cox of Holy Trinity Church in West Harwich.

What possible defense of a person's actions can there be in the fact that they were boyhood friends or that he was never censured by the Church hierarchy?

Father Drinan's life shows that, despite his admirable work in law education, he simply was not in doctrinal communion with his Church.

The deacon's pathetic defense shows that, in addition to the numerous Catholic laity not in doctrinal communion, we also have people on our altars who apparently sympathize with counter-Catholic teachings.

Richard F. Tobin Orleans Who's who in the priesthood "Aghast" is the first word that came to mind when I read "Go Look It Up!" written by Daniel Avila in the March 2 edition of The Anchor. It is beyond me at this point in history and in human development that anyone could think that the "presence of Jesus is obscured in a fundamental respect if the priest is not a man." It is actually ludicrous, as well as terribly sad.

It seems to me, representing Jesus has much . more to do with behavior and actions than gender. If "sacraments must represent what they signify by natural resemblance" than being of human nature, whether male or female, is surely enough. I can only imagine the embarrassment the Jesus I know from the Gospels might feel, to hear that women Canllot represent him in the priesthood as well as men. Perhaps one should "go look him up" in the Gospel to learn more about Jesus.

Peggy Patenaude East Falmouth Executive Editor responds When we.go to look up what Jesus actually did in the Gospel, we see unmistakably that the same JesUs who loved women as much as he loved men chose only men to be his apostles.

He did not seem to consider doing so "ludicrous" or "embarrassing." This is the real Jesus whom the Church knows from the Gospe~_ and to whom she remains faithfuL

Welcomlng the stranger Thank you so much for the wonderful March 16 issue of The Anchor. Thanks especially for the in depth coverage of the immigration raid and its subsequent collateral pain and confusion ... and for helping us to connect with our Catholic Social Teaching which holds the life' and dignity of the human person and the centrality of the family with such high regard.

Your editorial, "Remember, 0 America," certainly points the way for us as it eloquently challenges and calls us to stand in solidarity with the poor and vulnerable ... and to welcome the stranger.

Patricia Clock Centerville' Life without parole loopholes What worries me most about replacing .capital punishment with "life without parole" is the chronic tendency of liberals to meddle with anything that looks like it might actually be a good idea. Who's to say that "life without parole" won't be challenged and overturned as "cruel and unusual" by a court with a mind-set like our own SJC? The fact that it hasn't happened yet is no guarantee that it won't happen in the future. Evidence abounds that this country's judicial system is in a mess, largely due to the mush-heads who really believe that policies like parole for multiple sex offenders are a good idea. Guess what, folks - these people aren't going away if "life without parole" does replace capital punishment. They'll be out there looking for loopholes. Headline in a 2012 edition of The Anchor: "Catholic bishops issue statement condemning life without parole as 'unChristian.''' Anyone for life at hard labor?

Oh, wait a minute ...

Bill Black Falmouth Letters are welcome but the editor reserves the right to condense or edit for clarity if deemed necessary. Letters should be typed, no longer than 100 words and should include name, address, and telephone number. Letters do not necessarily reflect the editorial views of The Anchor. Letters should be sent to: The Anchor, Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722-0007, or emailed to fatherrogerlandry@anchomews.org.

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, The Anchor news briefs 'Physician-assisted suicide bill dies in Vermont House

MONTPELIER, Vt. - The Vermont House ofRepresentatives March 21 defeated a bill that would have allowed a terminally ill patient with a prognosis ofsix months or less to live to ask a physician for a prescription that would end his or her life. The medication would have been administered by the patient. The bill, known as H. 44, was defeated 82-63. "It was a pleasure to learn of (the) vote on H. 44 that defeated resoundingly the proposal;' Father Jay C. Haskin, pastor of Our Lady of Grace Church in Colchester, told The ~nnont Catholic Tribune, newspaper ofthe Diocese ofBurlington. He had testified against the measure. "This action upholds life and human dignity. All of Vermont can be pleased with this ethical vote;' said the priest. Burlington Bishop Salvatore R. Matano and many Catholics were among the most ardent opponents of the bill. Supporters ofthe bill said it would have allowed "death with dignity."

Guamarcbbisbop caDs visit ofWorldYouth Day cross, icon a blessing TUMON, Guam-Thousands ofCatholic youths and young adults opened their arms to welcome the World Youth Day cross and a Marian icon to Guam March 8-11. Guam was the first stop in the Mariana Islands for the symbols of the world's lw:gest youth event, which have traveled tens of thousands ofmiles around the world. The symbols will travel through 20 nations in Asia and Oceania and then through 28 Australian dioceses before they arrive at the World Youth Day opening Mass July 15, 2008, in Sydney. In Guam, at Blessed Diego Luis de SanVitores Church in Throon, Archbishop Anthony Apuron ofAgana hailed the arrival of the cross and icon as a great blessing for the island. They were brought to the church directly from the aitport. It was fitting their first stop was Blessed Diego Church, named for the Jesuit martyr who established the Catholic Church on Guam about 400 years ago. "Welcome to this blessed ground which our forefather Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores paved for us here on our island;' Archbishop Apuron said.

Chinese Catholics begin plans for religious needs of Olympic athletes

BEllING - Catholic leaders in China are making arrangements to meet the religious needs of foreign Christian athletes and visitors during the 2008 Olympic Games in China. Anthony Liu Bainian, vice chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, recently urged the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference to "provide English-language Bibles in hotels." Liu is a member of the consultative congress, the top advisory body ofChina's central government. On March 21, he told UCA News, an Asian church news agency, that his proposal aims to meet "the religious needs offoreign athletes," since many ofthese visitors are Christians. The 2008 Olympic Games are scheduled August 8-24, 2008. Most venues will be in Beijing. However Qingdao, a port city, will host sailing events, and Hong Kong will host equestrian events. Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao will host preliminary rounds of soccer.

Catholic-Jewish commission says freedom must reflect divine will

VATICAN CITY - Human freedom must be exercised in accordance with God's law, including the obligation to protect human life, said members of·a dialogue commission representing the Vatican and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel "Freedom of choice is derived from God and therefore is not absolute. but must reflect divine will and law;' said members of the Catholic-Jewish commission at the end oftheir mid-March meeting in Jerusalem. Members ofthe dialogue commission discussed their communities' teaching on freedom ofreligion and conscience and linlits on that freedom, said the statement published by the Vatican. The human capacity to make choices is a reflection of the divine image in which men and women are made, but freedom also carries with it responsibilities. participants said ''The idea of moral relativism is antithetical to this religious world view and poses a serious threat to humanity;' they said Harvard to return collection of historic bells to Russian Orthodox

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MOSCOW- Harvard University will return acollection of historic bells to the Russian Orthodox Church more than seven decades after they were seized and sold by the regime of Josef Stalin. "These bells are not only a witness, but also a victim ofhistory, a symbol ofthe independence, greatness and identity of the people;' Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy IT of Moscow said March 2L ''I'm happy our guests from Harvard University could feel this part of the Russian soul, conveyed through the tolling of church bells." Orthodox and Harvard representatives signed an agreement to return the 18 bells to Moscow's Danilov Monastery, which has housed the Moscow Patriarchate since being reopened in 1988. Charles Crane. a U.S. diplomat, purchased the 17th-century bells. embossed with icons and verSes, for about $17.700 in 1930, when most ofMoscow's estimated 5,000 church bells had been confiscated and melted down. He donated them to Harvard University.

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Agencies, churches supportjng families split in immigration raid Efforts to free an estimated 200 detained illegal immigrants while providing basic needs to others in New Bedford is ongoing.

By DEACON JAMESN. DUNBAR NEW BEDFORD - Three weeks after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided Michael Bianco Inc., aNew Bedford manufacturing plant and snared 361 illegal immigrants, more than 200 fac~g deportation remain detained in facilities nationwide even as those freed and home face financial plight. ''The initial chaos o(the March 6 raid is over and we.'refinally sure of where those arrested.are ~ing held in the various detentio~ centers in Massachusetts', Rhode Island and Texas, where they were transport~,': s~d.H¥n~ rYtarHues,' ~xecl;ltiv~ dir~tor, of the Immigrants Assistance Center,in New Bedford. ''But the twpfold taSk, now~at hand \s for ~e la~ers and legals; working to free those' arrested by ICE and Write them with their familie~, and at the S31l1e time prQ~de temporary fin~cial assistance for those released and out of work. - to help them pay rent, . utilities and'get them food aDd ~Iothing:' she added: : A typicilI example involves a Guatemalan woman with a,n'infant, who along with her husband was caught up in the raid, Marques related.

'The couple shared an apartment with seven other people, all arrested and detained. They were splitting the $800-a-month rent.

She was released because of the child and now she's in the apartment all alone. Through Massachusetts Immigration and Refugee Advocacy Coalition's $65,000 EI Nmos Fund, (Children's Fund) she is receiving something," Marques said Bishop George W. Coleman responded by meeting with irn-

Road. ' "Contin~~dfrompaieone '

FathbrWilson in essence told the assembly that God asks people pacted families and praying with them. He also asked parishes in to care for each other. . the diocese to take up special collections for them.

'1nsiead ofrespecting your (God's) will, we have broken apart According to John Barry, secretary of the Office of Community Services for the Diocese ofProvidence, R.I., a check for $1,000 farnilieF he said.

Of the 361 immigrants seized, 44 already had orders to be to help the families tom apart has been forwarded to Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Parish in New Bedford, which has opened deport~ ICE officials reported.

Attdmey Ondine Galvez Sniffen, a lawyer in the Catholic Social a food pantry and a provided a counseling office for the DepartServicl'f' office in Fall River, has been representing illegal aliens ment of Social Services.

Immediately following the raid, Father Richard D. Wilson, since within hours of the raid. She is among nearly two dozen pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church at St. James, immedi- attorneys working pro-bono, including attorneys from Greater ately opened his parish hall as a resource centerJor the involved Boston Legal Services.

ShJ!estimated for the media that 21 of the 98 families divided .families, many of whom are Guatemalans and members of his by the !;aid remam sep~ted while 79 families have been tempoparish. .

He also opened up the former St. Hedwig's Church as a vital rarily ~united. All face deportation hearings.

If deportation is ordered, the question that arises is whether food pantryJ and allowed the Massachusetts Department ofSocial I . . r · l·· Services to use the adjacent former convent ot the Missionary the children - who are U:S. citizens because they were born will be left behind. .

Sisters of Guadalupe as a counseling center for involved families here The Boston law finn, Kaplin, 0' Sullivan & Friedman is in the . including those from Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, Brazil, . forefrbnt of a lawsuit against ICE to free those detained on the Portugal, and Cape Verde, II "It's going well, people are still flowing in for food and meet- grounds that flying them to such places as Texas denied them due ing with the DSS and we have many people, churches of many proces~ under the law.

On March 17, a federal judge in Boston allowed the attorneys denominations, agencies, and organizations taking part."

Father Wilson reported that, ''The situation for many of these to continue investigating the allegation but did not rule on the requestII to return all detainees to Massachusetts. families remains acute."

In the interim, Francesco Insolia, 50, of Pembroke, the owner He was among several speakers at a March 17 rally at Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational-Technical High School who of Michael Bianco Inc., and allegedly of Front Line Defense, Inc., Jho with three other executives was arrested in the raid on called for a more humane immigration policy.

A sign on the stage read: ''Release the. Families. Stop the De- charges including recruiting illegal immigrants to work in his factory, i~1 free on bail pending a hearing and production at the plant portation:' The audience, sometimes cheering, cried out in Spanish, 'The continhes.

'I According to Department ofDefense reports last week, it plans people united will never be divided." to susPend the alleged current $170 million contract Insolia has to produce military backpacks and ammunition pouches for U.S. .J .r. troop~l when it ends in August. .

The RCIA was established in the Church in 1972 specifiinvolved in the RCIA she became involved "just to explore it.

But then I found - as in our RCIA group - you could just cally as a modem revival of the catechumenate in the early feel how lives can be touched and changed; and it is phenom- Church, a period of time combining formation and ritual enal. We all began with our own points of view and now the through which non-Christians were prepared for their sacragroup has melded. We're like family." mental initiation in to the Church. The manual waS printed in "Because a record or certificate of my baptism in a Pres- 1986. byterian church when I was about 10 or 13 years old cannot "The local community offaith, the parish, is at the center be found, I am therefore a catechumen, and it has given me of the Easter sacraments, not the priest nor the deacon," said the opportunity to go through the entire RCIA process," Perry, Deacon Lemay. ''The community is the factor. The commuwho is single; commented. ' nity welcomes them, assists them, prays for them and is back"It is a .process that really makes you examine your own ing them up. This is the Church in action," he asserted. he'llrt, where you've beep,in life and where you're·headed. It's He was quick to praise the priests who further the RCIA incredible, and I'm very e~cited:about the upcoming Holy process as well those on the parish level who work at it.

Week and the sacraments.I.am about to receive," she added. ''There is an average four to one ratio ofRCIA team memOn the first Sunday of Lent, February 25, Perry was among bers to every catechumen or candidate because of the various 41 catechumens, those who are. not yet baptized, who signed steps in the process and who help so many on their journey of the Book of the Elect at St. Mary'!! Catl!edral in Fall Riverat a faith, and we owe them our thanks," said Deacon Lemay. service, part of th~ jqurn~y and, giant step into the. Catholic . Beyond the RCIA and the baptizing of adults and the ad.:.

Church. ..' vancing of others in the sacraments, is th~ "re-membering" For 46 others, called candidates, who are already baptized, or bringing back to the Church - resettling in the pews the start of Lent meant participating in a Call to Continuing those who have lapsed in the practice of their Catholicism, Conversion at the cathedral. They seek full communion with he noted.

"It is critical, something we have to discuss more and deal.. the Church through first Communion and confirmation....,-- also

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Thf Defense Department also reported that Insolia's expansion plans for a plant in Puerto Rico have come to a standstill.

In~estigations and inspections also continue into allegations oflabbr abuses within the plant by the owner.

Depise Monteiro, director of the Department of Social Services, who has been at the helm ofdedicated efforts to assist those impacted by the raid in New Bedford, told The Anchor on March 22 th~ the Massachusetts Department ofHealth and Human Services, lithe parent agency of the DSS, has taken over communications duties as well as assisting with other services regarding the immi~t families and their needs. ''Ifs been a strain pn us because we already have a zillion otherthildrenwithissueswehavetotakecareof;'Monteirosaid. . JUjiUl Martinez, director of communications for the DHHS, told The Anchor, 'We've stepped in to help with the II agencies - thft include the DSS - within our agency, and provide the servi<;es currently needed in the New Bedford, and we're dedicatedl:to doing that."

Martinez said the DHHS, which has sent teams of legals to inter0.ew the detainees at sites in Ayer, New Bedford, and in two centers in Texas, said every attempt is still being made to bringing y of the detainees home as possible. as

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in their own parishes. with because it becomes difficult for most people," he said.

Some are even planni~g to receive the sacrament of matri- He encounters it frequently in his own ministry, and recalls == =' about ... mony in coming months, and. will attend conferences - not entering hospital rooms where people aren't receptive to his • part of the RCIA itself - in preparation for that. visit and don't want to receive holy Communion, or ev~n talk C"u • For Deacon Robert Lemay, director of the RCIA in the Fall "for many reasons." .

You have seen the movie, now read what River Diocese, "the process is what evangelization is all about.

More commonly a marriage contracted outside the Church Jesus says about the meaning of His Passion It's a process that takes different lengths of time for different is one of the reasons. It also stems from being a long time II as dictated to stigmatist, Catalina Rivas. people because but it is all about the maturing of their spiritu- away from Church, ·prayer and the sacraments, and forgetting iThis 48 page book has the "Imprimatur'' and is ality and that can be different from person to person. But the the Gospel values and teachings of the Church. recommended for meditation. Mrs. Rivas was goal is the same.,. and it's vital," he added. ''Those who are lost don't necessarily believe they are loved . featured in the recent FOX.1V special, "Signs According to Deacon Lemay, "the word is getting out to by God," he said. "And so if they are going to live their lives as from G0 d", th at was brnadcast wo rldwide.

Ii people across the diocese and the conversions are coming in. sinners, they reflect, why then come back to the Church?

On the other hand, many have a guilt complex, want to receiDe this book, send your name and address People are realizing the need for spirituality in their lives, and doing something about it. We'd like to see more." return to the Church, but don't know how to do it," Deacon .• with $2 for shipping & handling to: It's been a hectic but wonderful Lenten time across the dio- Lemay reported. ''That's when I think re-membering or makI! Love & Mercy Publications cese as catechumens and candidates process through the steps ing them members again, needs to be implemented. There are of preparation in various stages which are all part of the RCIA methodologies. But a training program is necessary before it _~ :i •. .".,,_ " J P..Q~B9"_ .16., '""' J a ~". . . v , (ormation~' ._-- . - - - - - - - - - - .

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The Coyle and Cassidy High School Math Department just completed its annual Krypto Tournament crowning Ted Francis school champion. To achieve this distinction Francis had to defeat four finalists during a two-day period. Krypto is a math challenge that uses a deck of 52 cards that range in number from one to 25. The challenge of Krypto is to apply the four fundamental arithmetic operations to the first five cards in order to produce the value displayed on the sixth card. There is a series of points assigned to each winning round. From left: Dan Combs, Patrick Gaugh, Dan Bettencourt, and Ted Francis.

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St. Mary's School in Mansfield is gearing up for their first middle school musical tonight and tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at the parish center. Pictured are some of the cast of 24 students in Grades five-eight. In the foreground is Myles Kincaid, who portrays John the Baptist!

Judas. For more information or tickets, contact the school at 508-339-4800.

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I'VE GOT YOUR BACK - Ken Lucas, Kathryn Reynolds, and Thomas Marcotte, eighth-graders at St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro, work on answers in the school's recent trivia contest, all the while wearing pajamas.

SHELTER FROM THE STORMS - Young adults from Annunciation of the Lord Parish in Taunton . recently participated in a Food Fast Retreat. They are with a ''third world shelter" they constructed from materials they gathered from their local "dump." The students had a wonderful retreat experience, and fasted to raise money for Catholic Relief Services.

GUIDED BY THE SPIRIT - St. Pius X Confirmation I Class gather for an afternoon of reflection as they prepare for confirmation in 2008 at the South Yarmouth parish.

A BLAST FROM THE PAST - Students at Taunton Catholic Middle School recently received a visit from Benjamin Franklin, portrayed

by Kevin Harrington of Historical Perspectives. The one-man show introduced Franklin as a young man but took students back to his childhood and forward to his elder years by a series of costume changes. Sixth-grader Emma Gasson, gives old Ben a hand in one demonstration.

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GRATEFUL FOR THE VISIT - Pope Benedict XVI greets a boy during his visit to Casal del Marmo Prison for Minors in Rome March 18. The pope celebrated Mass for 49 young detainees, biassed them individually and gave each one a rosary. (CNS photorrony Gentile, Reuters)

Pope tells youths at d~tention center joy involves discipline, freedom ROME (CNS) - Pope Benedict XVI visited a Rome juvenile detention center and told young people that true happiness involves discipline as well as freedom. The pope celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Casal del Marmo Prison for Minors March 18, then met with the 49 young detainees in a gym. Greeting them individually, he gave each one a blessing and a rosary.

The young people, including many immigrants and non-Catholics, said they were moved by the fact that a

pope would take time to visit them. ''When they told us you were coming, we were shocked. We couldn't imagine someone as important as you would come to see us," one young man said in an official greeting to the pontiff. He said the young people at the center knew they had made mistakes, and ''we know we have to pay, but the price is high and we suffer a lot."

The pope's visit brought a ray of hope and festivity to the routine at the detention center, according to officials there.

MARTIN -

CAtHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

life withiJ me How can one man stop his ending I thought ofjust your face Relaxed, and floatkd into space (Repeat refrain.)

Now waking in the sun I calculate whatliI had done Like jumping from the bow Just to prove I knew how It's midnight's late reminder of The loss ofher, t~e one I love My will to quickly end it all Set front row in my need to fall Into the ocean", end it all Into the ocean,1 end it all (Repeat refrain.)

Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye) Sung by Blue October Copyright (c) 2006 by UniversaU Motown Records .

INTO THE OCEAN I'm just a normal boy That sank when I fell overboard My ship would leave the country But I'd rather swim ashore Without a life vest I'd be stuck again Wish I was much more masculine Maybe then I could learn to swim Like "14 miles away" 'Now floating up and down I spin, colliding into sound Like whales beneath me diving down I'm sinking to the bottom ofmy Everything that freaks me out The lighthouse beam has just run out I'm as cold as cold as cold can be Refrain: I want to swim away but don't know how Sometimes itfeels just like I'm falling in the ocean Let the waves up take me down Let the hurricane set in motion Let the rain ofwhat I feel right now Let the rain come down Where's the Coast Guard I keep looking each direction For a spotlight, give me something I need something for protection Maybeflotsamjunk will do just fine The jetsam sunk, I'm left behind I'm treading for my life, believe me (How can I keep from breathing) Not knowing how to think I scream aloud, begin to sink My legs and arms are broken down With envy for the solid ground I'm reaching for the

"Eclectic," "different," "funky": Critics use these words to describe Blue October's music. Last year the Houston-based quintet released their second major label album, ''Foiled,'' and soon found'themselves with the high-on-the-charts hit "Hate Me." Currently getting signpicant aitplay off the same CD is ''Into the Ocean."

The song is about a person's hurt.

The song's character, describing his pain, says it is like "sinking to the bottom of my everything." Apparently ''the loss of her, the one I love" led to this situation. Hechar!lcterizes his feelings as a wish to "end it all" by falling "into the ocean."

Mostofusexperiencehurtandloss sometime. We may tvonder how we can live through this time. If this loss involves the end of a close relationship, we may feel that we never will find someone like the one we've lost.

When our feelings are hurt deeply, we need to be careful not to overreact.

This does not mean <:tenying the loss.

Grief over a significant loss is natural and necessary.

However, exaggerating what already hurts does not help us. Fight this mental tendency by defining the true nature of the loss.

Further, try to be patient with yourself. Realize that some days may feel depressing, but other days will be better. Try notto forecast what your mood should be.

Instead, remain attentive and compassionate towarg the feelings emerging within you.

Feelings are called "emotions" for a reason. They are the energy of the soul in motion, and they heal best when allowed to have this "motion."

Yet, allowing feelings to "move" doesn't mean they have to swallow us up. Acknowledge what you feel, but after awhile begin to direct your mental focus to something else - for example, a practical, everyday concern like doing the laundry. It proves beneficial to frame one's feelings with everyday concerns; then we recognize that the hurt is not our whole reality.

Of course, anyone who ever thinks seriously about "ending it all" is in real danger and must tell someone immediatdy, asking that person's assistance in finding those who can help people get past suicidal thoughts.

God's help and healing are given one day at a time. Even when you feel very alone with a loss, you are not You will be guided to those who can help you heal this hurt. Trust that God will lead you to discover a new and different future.

Your comments are always welcome: Please write to me at: chmartin@swindiana.net or at 7125W 200S, Rockport, IN 47635.

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Great expectatio,ns I:

Sabrina didn't think much of herself. At least that's the impression she reflected. Always being quiet and often unassuming, it was painful to recognize what she really felt inside or what she desperately needed. Maybe not surprising, however. Sabrina's life had always been filled with hardships. From her very beginning of life, at about the age of one, Sabrina had a life threatening brain tumor. She went on to face many years of physical therapy: learning to walk and use her hands, and living the rest of her life with a shunt from her brain to her stomach (a tube for assistance to keep bodily fluids away from major arteries). At this same time, her mother was diagnosed with cancer and passed away when Sabrina was six years old. She remembers her father telling her, "He took her. Jesus took mom to heaven so she wouldn't be sick anymore." Sabrina later recalls, "All I could do was think to myself that now my world would end, because a man named Jesus whom I didn't even know took my mom from me. This is when all my faith came

crashing down. I believed Jesus would help my mom set better, but instead he took her." Sabrina feared that the life she was living was void of hope. Or at least she thought.

Her family, her peers and her Church had nothing but great expectations from her. As Sabrina grew to recognize this her life slowly began to fill with hope. I asked Sabrina to share her story of hope, which began at her confinnation year: "Jesus was a name I hadn't even thought about since he took my mother. I began hearing the words 'Holy Spirit,' 'adult in th~ Church,' and 'responsibility' over and over again. Never did I realize where these words came from or who made them possible, until I hit another obstacle. My stepmother was now diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. All I could do now was think back on that man named Jesus that took my mother and ruined my life once. Why is he back and why did q~,5n~8~~~ho

life again? Almost at the end of the eighth grade, I was told I had to go on a weekend retreat. All I could do was laugh, because I\ot only did I dislike this man named Jesus, but, now I have to be with him for a whole weekend. On this weekend, all I did was think about

"Best Friend." He had never come back to my life, because he had been in it from the" start, but I I chose to close him out of it when my mother passed ~way, and every time something badI, happened. He has stayed by my side my whole life to help me through my troubles, and now I realize it. Now you tell me, 'ain't it good to know tha~ you've got a friend?' II About a month ago, I found out that my grandfather had cancer.

Through lthis battle, this time, I am going to what everyone was doing back at remember that Jes~s will be by my home, and I paid attention to side at all times. This time I won't nothing but the talks people gave lock him out. I realized that my about themselves. When the confinnation was the start of a new weekend was over and I got home, friendship. Some people think I was so relieved because I could confinnation is theend, but don't finally be myself and not have to let it be, let it be the beginning of listen to anything about Jesus for a your lifelong frien4ship with little while. As my confirmation Jesus, After realizing I have a true , 'Best Friend' in Jesus, I have been rolled around I began to realize who this man was and why he kept a youth group meIVber. and a catechism teacher, 'for about fiye coming back to my life. He isn't a stranger or just a man; he is my .,xears now. Being an active., ..... 1" I!

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member in the Church has helped me to realize that a friendship with Jesus isn't like one in school or out in public. An ordinary friendship may end at anytime, but a friendship with Jesus lasts a lifetime if you just let him into your life; the faith you have in him will help you live. Jesus is the one who will help you get through everything, even if it's to get through a good laugh."

Today, there's nothing that Sabrina has left unturned or untouched. At every event of youth ministry and CCD, Sabrina's presence has always been that constant reminder that young people do live up to the hope of the Church; the hope that comes from faith, the hope that's so I beautifully described in the song, Faith of the Heart: "I've got faith to believe I can do anything. I've got strength of the soul, and no one's gonna bend or break me. I can reach any star; I've got faith of the heart."

God bless.

Owe Pacheco is Faith Formation director at Santo Christo ParishA Fall River.

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4J A Person's A Person No Matter How Small $

Recently, the topic of stem-cell research has raised many questions throughout society. It offers a scary view into what the future may bring if limits are not placed on current scientific operations; it also resurfaces issues that have plagued our nation for decades, touching upon the topics of abortion and in-vitro fertilization. We must ensure that the human right to life supersedes science's right to explore. Like all life issues, we must see the stem-cell debate as a matter that calls for the utmost protection oflife, beginning with the tiniest and most vulnerable being - the human embryo.

One of the problems with the stem-cell debate is that it has brought a large amount of hype and confusion to people across the nation. Media coverage fervently stresses its significance, but has often failed to provide people with the full picture. We are well aware of the "great potential" of embryonic stem cells, but have never been given a solid example of their effectiveness in the treatment of serious human diseases. In a sense, embryonic stem cells have been thrown into the spotlight, while other sources ofeffective stem cells are often pushed to the background.

Although they have been praised for their potential, embryonic stem cells allow for the destruction of human life. In order for em-

A Person's A Person No Matter How smaU I think that embryonic stem-cell research is immoral and wrong.

There are alternatives to embryonic stem-cell research that do not destroy life that we should explore. God entrusted us to protect life.

Life should not be destroyed to save a life. God has lead us toward advances in medicine and life-saving technology, but this should not be at the expense ofhuman life. No one has the right to take a life at any point during development. Embryos are alive and have rights, as do all human beings. We need to advocate that destroying embryos is a violation of human rights.

There are many alternatives to embryonic stem cells, such as stem cells from bone marrow, umbilical cords and amniotic fluids. No one has ever been cured from embryonic stem cells. Adult stem cells however have cured people and are 20 to 30 years ahead in research.

To harvest stem cells from an embryo, the embryo mustbe destroyed.

Since no progress has been made and this is murder, it is cruel and pointless. Curing illnesses is a great virtue, but not at the cost 'of destroying human life. God is leading us toward better medicines and cures, so we need to pursue these ways as long as we don't harm life.

God wants us to treat everyone with love and respect. An elderly person, a newborn, and an unbOrn baby are all equal in the eyes of God. God created us in his likeness and image. If we all have God inside of us then destroying life is hurting God. We, as an intelligent race, need to protect life and protest what is wrong. Even though the embryo does not fully resemble an infant it is a life that we must cherish. Life is precious!!

We live on this earth because of God. In his eyes an unborn baby is a viable and precious gift. If this injustice does not stop now, when will it? Will we kill fellow humans to harvest organs or enslave races to do medical tests on them? One should not die even ifthe death is to save another. Given the chance to thrive, an embryo will grow and become a child, a teen-ager, an adult and an elderly person. Then he or she will enter into the kingdom of God. We need to tell our government leaders that we want a stop to this injustice. Scientists, ourbrightestminds, should be moral without harming life. In the eyes of God everyone has equal value and dignity.

Nicholas Paiva, Grade Eight St. Joseph School, Fairhaven

The Anchor

MARCH

bryonic stem cells to be harvested, vital tissue associations must be disrupted, preventing the further development of a human being.

Although scientists point out the potential of embryonic stem cells, many have failed to mention the fact that embryonic stem cells have never been successfully used in humans to treat illnesses. Moreover, although the media repeatedly mentions the advantages of embryonic stem·cell research, it rarely discusses the many harmful consequences that would accompany the use of these stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells are said to proliferate limitlessly on their own; however, this limitless proliferation in the human body could lead to the development of fatal tumors. Embryonic stem cells are also immunogenic; this opens the risk to self-rejection of body tissues because stem cells are read as incompatible with the body's natural immune receptors.

If there are so many downfalls with the use of embryonic stem cells, why should we even bother looking into this area ofresearch?

The answer lies in the already proven benefit of ethical stem cell research. Three types of stem cells in particular are most effective in the areas where embryonic stem cells lack. Adult, umbilical, and amniotic fluid stem cells have demonstrated their real potential in

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DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER

PRl)IFE APOSTOLATE 2007 Pro-Life Essay Contest Award Winners

BRIGHT FUTURES - Winners in the Pro-life Essay Contest who received awards from Bishop George W. Coleman at the annual Pro-Life Mass on March 26, include, front, Nicholas Paiva, Meghan Gibson, Anna Stankiewicz honorable mention, and Laura Lourenco, honorable mention; rear, Brittany Rezendes, Bishop Coleman, and Peter Bratton. (Anchor News Photo)

30, 2007

medical treatments, offering possible cures for debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, MS, leukemia, and severe forms of paralysis. Recently, scientists were able to use adult stem cells derived from fat tissues to treat certain forms of heart disease. Additionally, a mother recently used her daughter's umbilical cord stem cells to treat leukemia Doctors have become especially excited about amniotic fluid stem cells; these stem cells have nearly the same self-replicating <:apacities' and plasticity as embryonic stem cells, but are derived from natural birth and do not require the destruction of a human life for use.

With the many advantages of non-embryonic stem cell use, one would wonder why so many people are still set on funding for embryonic research. Instead of devoting efforts to a process that clearly destroys human life, we should dedicate ourresearch to Pro-Life methods that have proven their worth in the medical field. Most importantly, we must ensure that stem-cell research upholds the Catholic teaching on respecting all forms of life; this must especially include the protection of life in its smallest and most vulnerable form.

Meghan Gibson, Grade 12 Bishop Feehan High School, Attleboro,

A Person's a Person No MaJter How SmaU Embryonic stem-cell 'research is very wrong, and even the smartest scientist does not have the right to end a human being's life just because it might save another. An embryo is a human, not a tool, and it saddens me to know that they are being destroyed on a whim.

"Science's ability to predict and control must never be employed against human life and its dignity, but always placed at its service, at the service ofthis and future generations,"* explained Pope Benedict.

Our advantage over the weakest beings in our society should not be abused ruthlessly. We need to educate all of the people in our community about the evils of embryonic stem-cell research.

There are four types of stem-cell research, and the Church only opposes one, embryonic stem-cell research. We have no right ending someone's life to benefit research, even to save someone else. In order to harvest its stem cells, the embryo must be destroyed. It does not bother people to do that, because they refuse to believe that an embryo is a living human being, more than just a clump of cells. The Fifth Commandment clearly states 'Thou shall not murder;' and destroying an embryo is desh'oying a human, despite its size. Since there are still three morally correct, useful, and faithful types ofstemcell research, we should abstain from using embryos for that purpose.

Embryos are small and helpless; they are the weakest and most vulnerable members of society, so we should work to protect them.

As Horton protects the invisibly small Whos, we need to protect the tiny embryos that are targeted for this research. And, as the kangaroos in the story refuse to believe that the Whos are human because of their size, people in our community refuse to believe that the embryos are humans. It is our duty to convince those people that embryos are humans too, so they can join the effort to protect them. Just like the smallest cry from Jojo can make a difference, yours can too, despite how small you believe it is. Trust in God, and pray to him to protect the embryos; if he can move mountains, we have to believe that he can protect the smallest beings in society.

With this knowledge, we can only pray that the people in society learn the truth of embryonic stem-cell research. We need to protect the smallest members ofsociety, not take advantage over their size by destroying them. We all began as an embryo, so why should we destroy God's gift of life? It could have been your best friend, your sister, brother, or cousin who was denied the wonderful gift of life. *Papal address to Pontifical Academy ofSciences November 8,

2006.

Brittany Rezendes, Grade Eight St. Joseph School, Fairhaven

A Person's A Person No Matter How Small What is life? When does life begin? A basic course in human biology teaches how two gametes, one sperm and ovum, fuse to ereate what is known as an embryo. The embryo develops into a fetus, the fetus develops into an infant, the infant into a young child, this young child into ateen-ager ... and.on it goes. So iflife doesn't start at conception, where does it start? Is it physical development, size, or mental capacity that determines life? What about people with physical malformations or mental handicaps, or babies who die within the womb, or even quadriplegics? Are any ofthese human? Embryos are not the size oftoddlers, but toddlers are not the size of adults. Is there some standard of size, some dimensional rubric that determines whether or not a person is fit to be called a human?

If this is truly what our culture believes, then we draw near to the concept of a community in which only those acceptably tall people are allowed to live. It sounds almostlaughable. Imagine a world where height determined humanity, where failure to meet a certain size description justified the use of the small for the bel1efit of the big.

TIw n;ality'9f,~s }deoI9$Y. hpwev~, is iffiythingbut laughable.

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Embryonic stem-cell research is one ofthe most despicable forms ofevil in our world today. Young women are persuaded to sell their own eggs for college money. Production replaces procreation as the origin of human life. In a country where all are supposedly granted the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, human beings are harvested, manipulated, and eventually destroyed. What about the results? What about all the lives being changed through embryonic stemcell research? Not one single person has been cUred through this research, not one suffering human being has truly, substantially benefited from the destruction of countless others.

Anyone with a basic knowledge of human biology could tell you that life begins at conception. What many people do not know, however, is that destruction of human embryos is unnecessary for the acquisition of stem cells. Stem cells can be found anywhere from the umbilical cord ofa newborn baby to the body fat ofan adult. Not only are these "adult" stem cells .moral to use, they are also effective. Thousands of people suffering from illnesses such as Parkinson's Disease and leukemia have benefited from treatments derived from moral stem-cell research.

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It doesn't take a moral theologian or an accomplished biologist to determine that embryos are human beings and should be treated as such. Likewise, it doesn't take a theologian or professor to defend these small lives. Surely, we are called to increase our knowledge of stem-cell research in order to better understand why we believe what we do. But saying that we as lay people are not called to stand up for human life because we are not bishops or saying that teen-agers are not expected to defend their faith because oftheir youth is comparable to saying thatjust because embryos are small, they are not obliged to receive the same respect as their larger counterparts. If we really believe that size doesn't matter, then we must recognize the impact that each one· of us can make, no matter how young we are. A person's a person no matter how small, and this truth we must defend, one and all.

Peter M. Bratton, Grade 10 Bishop Stang High School, North Dartmouth Christ the King Parish, ~pee

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Around the Diocese ~ ----------'·--l Holy Cross Church, 47 Pulaski Street.

I-Eucharistic Adoration "~-..:.

ATILEBORO-ADivineMercyholy hour is held Wednesdays following the 6:30 p.m. celebration ofMass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette.

The Blessed Sacrament is exposed during the holy hour. For more information call 508-222-5410.

ATILEBORO - Perpetual eucharistic adoration is held at St. Joseph's Church, 208 South Main Street. For more information calI508-226-1115.

FALL RIVER - Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament takes place weekdays following the 7 a.m. Mass at Holy Name Church, 7('f) Hanover Street It continues in the parish adoration chapel until 9 p.m. For more information call 508-6796732.

NEW BEDFORD- Perpetual eucharistic adoration is held at Our Lady's Chapel, 600 Pleasant Street. For more information call 508-888-7751.

IHealing Services

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ATILEBORO - A Hispanic healing service will be held Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette. La Salette Father John Sullivan will lead it For more information call 508-222-5410.

BREWSTER - La Salette Father Richard Lavoie will celebrate Mass April 4 at 7 p.m. at Our Lady of the Cape Church, 468 Stony Brook Road. A healing service will follow. For more information call 508-385-3252.

ILectureslPresentatlons ATILEBORO-A Bible study on the GospelofJohn is ongoing at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette. It is held in the Reconciliation Chapel Saturdays from II a.m. to noon through May 26. For more information call 508222-5410.

ATTLEBORO - John Polce will present his Bethany Nights program tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the National Shrine of Our Lady ofLa Salette. It will include music, prayer and the opportunity to be prayed over individually. For more information call 508-222-5410.

CENTERVllLE-TheStationsofthe Cross will be prayed Friday evenings during Lent at Our Lady ofVictory Parish, 230 South Main Street. All are invited to join as members of its various faith community groups lead this evening of prayer. For more information call Patricia Oock at 508-775-5744.

IMiscellaneous BUZZARDS BAY - The Guild ofSt Benedict Joseph Labre, a support group for families and friends of those with emotional troubles, depression and mental illness, will meetApril 29 at 3p.m. at St Margaret's Church. Meetings include prayer and an opportunity to share with one another. For more information call Tunothy Duff at 508-759-1903.

For more information call 508-6768463.

MANSFIELD - Divine Mercy Sunday will be celebrated from 3-4:30 p.m.

April 15 at St. Mary's Church, 330 Pratt Street. Mass Will be celebrated at 5 p.m.

The nine-day novena will begin on Good Friday following the Stations ofthe Cross and will continue at 3 p.m. each day exceptApril7-8. For more information call 508-339-2981.

NEW BEDFORD - The Daughters of Isabella will meet April 7 at 7 p.m. in the parish center of Holy Name of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish. For more information call 508-990-7595.

WEST HARWICH- The Novena of the Divine Mercy will begin on Good Friday at Holy Trinity Parish. On Easter Monday, the Divine Mercy holy hour will be sung at 7 p.m. A Mercy Sunday celebration will be held at 2:45 p.m. April 15. No confessions will be available that day. For more information call Jane Jannell at 508-430-0014.

EAST TAUNTON - The second annual Respect Life Conference will be held tomorrow beginning at 8 am. at Holy Family Church, 370 Middleboro Avenue. Guest speakers include Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk and Linda Thayer.

It will conclude at 3:30 p.m. with aprayer service. For more information call 508823-2044.

jRetreats ATILEBORO-ATriduumRetreatis being offered April 5-8 at the La Salette Retreat Center, 947 Park Street. It begins at 3 p.m. and will include presentations, liturgies and opportunity for private reflection. For more information call 508-222-8530.

DARTMOUTH - St. Luke's Hospital School of Nursing Alumni Association is planning a homecoming for all graduates of the school May 4-6 featuring receptions, dinner, brunch, hospital tours and more. Anyone knowing the whereabouts of any graduate can contact Cecilia M. Russell, president, Alumni Association, 124 Slocum Road, Dartmouth, MA 02747.

NEW BEDFORD - An organ recital featuring Peter Lea-Cox will be held Sunday at 3p.m. at St Anthony ofPadua Church, 1359AcushnetAvenue. He will perform on its historic 1912 Casavant Freres pipe organ. For more information call 508-993-1691.

ISupport GroUps NEW BEDFORD - Courage, a support group for people dealing with same-sex attraction while striving to lead chaste lives, will meet tomorrow at 7 p.m. in the rectory of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish at St. James Church, 233 County Street.

Encourage, a ministry for family members and friends meets at the same time. For more information call Father Richard Wilson at 508-9929408.

FALLRIVER-BishopConnolly High School's "ThsteofSoutheastern New England Gala," will be held tomorrow from 5:~:30 p.m. at the school. It includes music by the StudioCBandand both live and silent auctions. For more information' call508-6?6-1476 or visit the Website: NORTH DARTMOUTH - Project Rachel, a ministry ofhealing and reconwww.bishopconnolly.com. ciliation for post-abortion women and FALL RIVER - Gorzkie Zale, Polish men is available in the diocese. If you Lenten lamentations, will be sung ffJI- are hurting from an abortion experience lowing the 8:30am. Sunday Masses dur- and want help call 508-997-3300. All ing Lent at SS. Peter and.•~ul ~sh at calls are confidential.

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Holy Union Sister Irene Silvia; was teacher and administrator FALL RIVER - Holy Union Sister Irene Silvia, 89, a 'resident of the Catholic Memorial Home, died March 22 in Charlton Memorial Hospital after a brief in illness.

Born in North Dighton, the daughter of the late Joseph and Mary (Silveira) Silvia, she ate tended Taunton schools and entered the Holy Union Sisters on Aug. 22, 1950. She was professed in 1953. She received a bachelor of science' degree in education from the College of Sacred Hearts in Fall River and studied at Villanova University in Pennsylvania and Georgian Court University in New Jersey.

Sister Silvia taught at elemen, tary schools in New York, New

Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. She was principal of St. Pet,er School in .--,-",1: Poi n t Pleasant, N.J. Her last teaching assignment was / at St. Mary's School in Taunton.

She also SISTER IRENE . vol u n SILVIA, SUSC teered as an English teacher to Portuguese-speaking adults from 1972 to 1984.

In 1986 she moved to the Holy

Union retirement community in Fall River where she served as assistant to the community administrator. She was among the first group of Holy Union Sisters at the Landmark in Fall River, and in 2000 moved to the Catholic Memorial Home.

She leaves a sister, Theresa Silvia of Taunton; nieces and nephews; and her Holy Union Sisters. She was the sister of the late George, Joseph, Richard and Edward Silvia.

Her funeral Mass was celebrated Tuesday in the St. Margaret Mary Chapel at the Catholic Memorial Home. Interment was Wednesday in St. Francis Cemetery in Taunton.

Deacon Thomas F. Prevost, 82; served at St. Michael's, Swansea SWANSEA - Deacon Thomas served aboard the uss Nields (DD is survived by three daughters, :1

F. Prevost, 82, of Pershing Avenue, 616) and was a member of the Diane Prevost-Read of Swansea, died Sunday at Charlton Memorial American Legion and Disabled Pauline Daunis and her husband Hospital. He was the husband of American Paul, and Jocelyn Atwater and her Evelyn T. (Rapoza) Prevost, and Veterans. husband James, all of South DenHe was nis; three sons, Thomas F. Prevost, ministered at St. Michael's Parish here. ordained a Jr. and his wife Janie of Southwick, Joseph M. Prevost of Swansea, and Born in Fall River, the son of the permanent Normand Prevost of Hyannis; A late Frank and Antoinette (Hamel) deacon by Prevost, he lived in Swansea for B ish 0 p sister, Georgette Asselin of Fall more than 50 years.

Daniel A. River; and grandchildren, greatgrandchildren, nieces and nephA graduate of the former Msgr. Cronin on Prevost High School,hewas a prop- Nov. 6, ews.

He was the brother of the late erty manager for Gingras Properties, ' 1982 at the Lillian Holland, Jane Fournier and Fall River, many years ago and Cathedral DE:CpON THOMAS owned and operated CentralAlumi- ofSt. Mary r. REVOST Roland, Leo, Normand and num in Taunton for many years. of the Assumption, and assigned to Leonidas "Shorty" Prevost.

Deacon Prevost studied finance, St. Michael's Parish. , His funeral Mass was celebrated He was a life member of Post Thursday in St. Francis of Assisi management"reaLestate andtaxationr at Bentley College, business admin- 2045, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Church in Swansea by Bishop istration and management at UMass- a member ofthe Disabled American George W. Coleman as principal eelDartmouth and certified real estate Veterans' Commanders Club and ebrant. Entombment was in Notre Dame Cemetery Mausoleum in Fall management at Rhode Island Jun- American Legion, Post 303. ior College.

Besides his wife of 59 years, he River.

A Navy veteran of wwn, he SERVICE.. .By caringJamily and service-family proJessionals TRUST fn the people you know CHOICE Custom-designed, personalized tributes Please pray for these priests AFFORDABIUTY... Dignijied services within a budget during the coming weeks April 3 Rev. Henry F. Kinnemy, Fonner Pastor, SI. Peter, Sandwich, 1905 Rev. Roger G. Blain, O.P., 2000

April 4 Rev. Lionel Gamache, SMM., 1972 Rev. James F. McCarthy, Retired Pastor, Sacred Heart, Fall River, 1985 Rev. Gaspar L. Parente, Retired Pastor, SI. Theresa, Patagonia, Ariz., 1991

April 6 Rev. Philip Lariscy, O.SA Founder of the New Bedford Mission, 1824 Rev. Edward 1. Mongan. Retired Pastor, SI. Mary, North Attleboro, I~ Rev. Msgr. JohnA Chippendale, Retired Pastor, SI. Patrick, Wareham, 1977 Rev. Lorenzo Morais, Retired Pastor, SI. George, Westport, 1980 Rev. Msgr. William D. Thomson, Retired Pastor, SI. Francis Xavier, Hyannis, 1987 Rev. Gerald E. Conmy, CSC, Associate Pastor, SI. Ann, DeBary, Fla., 1994 Rev. Msgr. Francis J. Gilligan, PA SID, Archdiocese of SI. Paul, 1997 Rev. Lucien Jusseaume, Chaplain, Our Lady's Haven, Fairhaven, Retired Pastor, SI. Roch, Fall River, 200I

April 7 Rev. JamesA Dury, Retired Pastor, Corpus Ouisti, Sandwich, 1976

AprilS Rev. Alvin Matthews, OFM, Retired, Our Lady's Chapel, New Bedford, 1988

April 9 Rev. Cornelius McSwiney, Retired Pastor, Immaculate Conception, Fall River, 1919 Rev. Edward F. Dowling, Pastor, Immaculate Conception, Fall River, 1965 '

For over 135 years, fUlllilies have turned to the Waring-Sullivan service family of compassionate professionals to guide them through life's most challenging times,

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ofthe groundbreaking:' added Father Andrews.

Currently, parishioners worship in Eastham at the Church of the Visitation. It was built in 1952 and seats approximately 400. Once the new church is built the old church, a former mission church for Orleans will be sold to help fund construction. The fonner OurLady ofLourdes

Church was bought by the town and those funds are also helping to pay for the new church.

Joseph Kane has been a parishioner at Our Lady of Lourdes since 2000 and is now studying to become a·permanent deacon. He will be ordained in October and is looking forward to the new house of worship.

"It's thrilling:' said Kane. "Father

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Andrews is doing a great job and we're on a good road because of the work he's done. He's been a good leader."

Kane said the current church is not centrally located for those living in . the area and such a project will "strengthen our growing parish. ''It will be a better space for people· "and there will be less traffic to contend with also. We will be able to gather as a Catholic family that much easier and having a new church that's centrally located and fully handicapped accessible will be a great thing for everyone."

Currently, more than $3 million has been collected for construction.

That includes the sale of a parcel of land in Truro and donationS from parishioners. The new building will have 16 stained glass windows and already II have been donated at the cost of$12,000 each. The church will use items from the former house of worship, including the altar which Father Andrews said carne from Belgium.

"It's an exciting time for us," he added. "I've been amazed at what people have been able to do for this project. I listed the window donation opportunity in the bulletin in December and later that day I had someone

LOOKS GOOD ON PAPER - A rendition of the proposed Our Lady of Lourdes Church to be built in Wellfleet. Drawing by Holmes & Edwards Architects, Quincy. call and ask if it was too late to buy a window.1\vo more people called that same day."

A new church in Wellfleet was scheduled to be built· in 2003, but plans were put on hold when funding stopped. The clginal plan; proposed by Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, .

OFM Cap., called for a 700-seat .. church and for a mission church to remain open. It did not come to fruition and $65,000 in donations were returned.· "At the time, I didn't see how it would ever come to fruitition:' said FatherAndrews. "Eventually Bishop

George W. Coleman decided that a smaller church· in Wellfleet was the answer and plans got underway again.

"Bishop Coleman said if we sell the Church of the Visitation we'll have $1 million for construction and then there will be three churches on the outer Cape. I couldn't believe it:' said FatherAndrews. "I never thought we'd build another one."

The new church will seat 500. It will have a parish center and meeting space. A new rectory will eventually be constructed on site and the current one will be sold to finance that.

Annual Pro-Life awards presented at Mass

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St. Anthony of Padua Church 1359 Ac:u,hnct Avenue, New Bedford. MWlSO.cl\usetts

NORIHDARTMOUTH - Hailing the BlessedVrrgin "as the mother oflifeand an example for all to follow:' Bishop George W. Coleman presented the John Cardinal O'Connor Award to a Falmouth· couple and parents of eight, and to winners in a Pro-Life essay contest at a Mass March 26 in St. Julie Billiart .

Church on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord.

After the AnnunCiation "it might appear that Mary was on her own, but God was with her:' Bishop Coleman said in his homily. "It is like that for us too. God calls us and we respond.

It might seem like we are on our own, but God is always with us."

He said "Mary was the first to make room for Jesus. She was the first to be his disCiple and follower. Jesus . told us that we are his mother and his .brothers if we hear the word of God and put it into practice. Let us always pray to Mary to help us to faithfully be disciples of Jesus, and like her, to also be his servants."

The Cardinal O'Connor Award, given annually by the Pro-Life Apostolate ofthe Fall River Diocese, was presented to James and Maureen Remillard, members of Christ the King Parish in Mashpee, who, after raising four children of their own, adopted two girls from Korea and a brother and sister from Ethiopia. ''They and their family are examples ofwhat it means to honor and defend human life, especially through adoption," Bishop Coleman said.

Marian Desrosiers,director ofthe Pro-LifeApostolate, told the congre"gation that included many students from several diocesan schools, that

the criteria for the award· "is based on the dedication, devotion and their· living the truths set forth in Pope John Paul U's encyclical letter, ''The Gospel of Life." ''The Remillards are a.deserving couple and famHy ... and their lives portray a genuine celebrati~n of the Gospel of Life," she added.

The award memorializes John Cardinal O'Connor, a vigorous defender of human life, who died in ' 2000 at the age of 80.

Top winners in the essay contest and who read their essays following Mass were, Junior High School Division: First Place, Nicholas Paiva and Second Place, Brittany Rezendes.

Both are eighth-graders at St. Joseph's School in Fairhaven.

In the High School Division: First

Place; Meghan Gibson, a senior at Bishop Feehan High School-in Attleboro; and·.Second Place, Peter Bratton, a sophomore at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth.

Honorable mention award winners included: Junior High School Divi-"' sion, Anne Stankiewicz, an eighth- . grader at SS. Peter and Paul School in Fall River; and High School Division, Laura Lourenco, a senior at Coyle and Cassidy High School in Thunton.

Bishop Coleman called the essay winners ''True. followers ofJesus because of their defense of human life too."

Several diocesan priests concelebrated the Mass and two deacons assisted. Students and musicians from Bishop Stang High School sang and accompanied the Mass.

ALL FOR LIFE - Members of the Remillard Family from Falmouth who received the 2007 annual John Cardinal O'Connor Pro-Life Award, included, front, Nathan, eight, Kaitlin, 10, and Meghan, eight; and rear, Jame~ Remillard, Bishop Coleman, Maureen Remillard, and Salem, 16. Not shown are Ian 14, Erin, 19, Colin 23, and Ryan, 25, who is a U.S. Marine serving in Tunisia. (Anchor News Photo)