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e VOL.46, NO. 14
• Friday, AprilS, 2002
Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly • $14 Per Year
FALL RIVER, MASS.
Taster on :M.artfla's lti1teyard .
. SILHOUETTED AGAINST an Easter sunrise, Father Michael R. Nagle, pastor of the Martha's Vineyard parishes. presides at a service on one of the Island's beaches. At right, George and Marion Santos, and their boys, five-year-old Grant, and three-year-old Maxwell attend Easter Services at their parish, St. Augustine's, Vineyard Haven. '
At' Chrism Mass bishop asks clergy, laity to ~eet challenges
Catholic Charities Appeal· begins FALL RIVER - Special promotions are on the agenda as the 2002 Catholic Charities Appeal in the Fall River diocese is getting underway. This year's early date of the celebration of Easter affords all pastors and parish committees a full month to promote the 2002 effort, says Msgr. Thomas J. Harrington, director of the Appeal. The initial phase of the campaign is traditionally the most intensive because it is "parish based." Michael J. Donly, diocesan director of development, has been Tum to page J2 - Appeal
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BISHOP SEAN P. O'Malley, OFM Cap., blesses oils at the annual Chrism Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral on March 26. (AnchorfGordon photo)
FALL RIVER - The following is the text of the homily given by Bishop Sean P. O'Malley, OFM Cap., at the Chrism Mass celebrated Thesday in SL MaIy's CatbedraI.. ''In our Capuchin monasteries. as Lent approaches we gather in House 0JapIers to discuss what special Lenten practices the community should take on - beyond those required by Church Law or our ConsIitution. I remember one such gathering where the superior wrote suggestions on a blackboard and then asked for a vote. He wrote the tally on the board and was about to announce what penance had been democrnti.cally selected for our community when a very quiet lay brother raised his hand and said: 'Father GuaIdian. I propose that we do the penances that got the least votes those are the real penances.' When people ask me what I am doing for Lent, I say, 'I am reading the newspa-
pelS.' This has been the most painful experience of my life. I love the Church and the priesthood and these scandals are a heartrending scourge. I know that so many Catholics are suffering the same agony. The resignation of two very popular priests in recent weeks has been painful. The old Latin adage comes to mind: 'Peccata optimi pessima.' We are horrified by the accounts of the victims and saddened and shamed by the stories and the mishandling of cases. It is ofgrave concern that some priests have not kept their vows and have been sexually involved with teen-agers and, in far fewer cases, with small children. Having met with scores of victims of clerical child abuse at the time of the Porter case, I am painfully aware of the grave damage inflicted on children or teen-agers when the perpetra-
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