04.12.13

The Anchor Diocese of Fall River

F riday , April 12, 2013

First Portuguese Elders Conference to be held

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

bunny patrol — The youth members of the Life Teen program at St. Julie Billiart Parish in North Dartmouth recently made and distributed 225 Easter baskets to the Harbour House, a homeless shelter in New Bedford; the Donovan House, a sober transitional housing program for women and their children in New Bedford; and the Stanley Street Treatment and Resources, a non-profit health care and social service agency program. Story on page 19.

50th annual World Day of Prayer for Vocations is April 21

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

FALL RIVER — It’s known in the Catholic Church as Good Shepherd Sunday. April 21, the fourth Sunday of Easter, has been designated by the Vatican as the 50th annual World Day of Prayer for Vocations. The theme this year is “Vocations as a sign of hope founded in faith.” It’s a time when Catholics are especially encouraged to pray for more “shepherds” to guide the faithful of the Church.

“The purpose of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations is to publicly fulfill the Lord’s instruction

to, ‘Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His harvest’” (Mt 9:38; Lk 10:2), said Father Jay Mello, assistant director of the diocesan Vocations Office. “As a climax to a prayer that is continually offered throughout the Church, it affirms the primacy of faith and grace in all that concerns vocations to the priesthood and to the consecrated life. While appreciating all vocations, the Church concentrates its attention this day on vocations to the ordained ministries (priesthood and diaconate), to the religious life in all its forms (male and female,

contemplative and apostolic), to societies of apostolic life, to secular institutes in their diversity of services and membership, and to the missionary life, in the particular sense of mission ‘ad gentes’ (to the nations).”

Father Mello told The Anchor that he is hosting a Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration for Vocations on April 21 at St. Mary’s Church in Mansfield at 7 p.m.

“Other events being sponsored by the Vocations Office can be found on its Turn to page 18

FALL RIVER — On April 17, the first Portuguese Elders Conference will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Clube dos Pescadores (Fishermen’s Club) in New Bedford.

Maria Pereira, chief operating officer of Catholic Social Services in Fall River, said it all started 12 years ago, when Father John Oliveira approached Pereira about what he was seeing in his parish heavily populated with Portuguese people.

“He said, ‘Maria, they are so depressed and all they want to do is talk to me about their aches and pains,’” recalled Pereira, “‘you’ve got to get me a group going where they can socialize and not be so alone.’”

Pereira continued, “A lot of elders who were just going to church but were being very isolated because the cities have lost a lot of jobs, the new Portuguese generation is going away to find other jobs and are leaving their elderly parents living around the church with little support.

So what happened was the only support they had was the church, coming to church every day.”

Twelve years later, the program is a success. Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish hall in

New Bedford hosts weekly meetings on Mondays and Thursdays, while Wednesday meetings at held at Santo Christo Parish hall in Fall River.

“They talk to each other. They play cards and tell jokes,” said Pereira. “We used to have a singing group that is now regrouping again; they sing Portuguese songs. Every Thursday they used to go to a local nursing home to pray the Rosary for the Portuguese patients and sing a couple of Portuguese songs at the end.”

Members have also gone on trips all over New England, enjoyed lunch excursions once a month to local restaurants, shopping together and other activities. At the same time, Pereira has used the gatherings as a tool to help educate the elderly about issues important to them.

Local agencies have presented discussions that have included changes in Medicare and MassHealth, health-related issues like diabetes, cancer and nutrition. Bristol Elders will soon be teaching a six-week class in Fall River about serious management about chronic illness “so that it prevents them from going to the hospital as frequently as they sometimes go,” said Pereira.

Buoyed by the success of the Turn to page 15

Traditional sweet bread marks Easter season for Portuguese Catholics

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — On Holy Thursday morning as parishes in the diocese prepared to celebrate the Easter Triduum, Venilia Camara, co-owner of Açores Bakery in Fall River, was busy preparing for a ritual of her own.

With help from her husband, Duarte, and several co-workers and volunteers, Camara pulled racks of freshly-baked Portuguese massa sovada — or sweet bread — from rolling carts and proceeded to package the small, aromatic rolls inside clear plastic baggies.

This being Easter week, the unique sweet breads all had a brown, hard-boiled egg baked into the center; while large, round family-size loaves nearby contained a circle of five or six similar eggs popping out of the glistening brown crust.

“Between the small and big loaves of sweet bread, I’d say I bake about 4,000 for Easter,” Camara said. “A lot of people will

come in and buy the bread — especially on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. We’re open both days and on Easter Sunday, but it’s not as busy on Easter Sunday.”

While Catholics of Portuguese descent within the Fall River Diocese may be readily familiar with the sight of these egg-cradling sweet breads, known as folar, there are others who may not know the history and origin of this tradition.

“The egg represents life … and Jesus’ Resurrection,” Camara said.

“It goes back to our Azorean traditions that we brought over (to America),” added Connie Vasconcelos, one of the volunteers assisting Camara with the folars inside the bustling Norfolk Street bakery. “We’re trying to keep those traditions alive. The folar is specially made with the egg because it symbolizes the renewal of spring and Easter. This is the only time they are made — at Easter.”

Noting that the concept of Easter eggs Turn to page 14

SWEET SUCCESS — From left, Açores Bakery co-owner Venilia Camara and longtime volunteers Irene Gouveia and Connie Vasconcelos bag small folars — traditional Easter sweet breads with hard-boiled eggs baked into the center — on Holy Thursday in preparation for Easter weekend. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)

News From the Vatican

2

April 12, 2013

Constant complaining keeps one from noticing Jesus’ presence, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — and on with the complaining,” the Complaining frequently and stew- pope said. “I think that many times ing over disappointments can eas- when difficult things happen, inily become an obsession that blocks cluding when we are visited by the one’s view of Jesus’ presence in dif- cross, we run the risk of closing ficult situations, Pope Francis said. ourselves off in complaints.”

When all people can think of is Celebrating a recent morning how wrong things are going, Pope Mass with staff members from the Francis said, the Lord is close, “but Domus Romana Sacerdotalis, a we don’t recognize Him. He walks nearby residence and guesthouse for clergy, Pope hen all people with us, but we don’t recognize Francis preached can think of is Him.” about the Gospel how wrong things are goLike the disstory from St. ciples joined by Luke about the ing, Pope Francis said, the Risen Lord two disappointed the Lord is close, “but on the road to disciples on the we don’t recognize Him. Emmaus, people road to Emmaus after the death of He walks with us, but we can hear beautiful things, but Jesus. don’t recognize Him.” deep down, they “They were continue to be afraid. All of the afraid, the pope said. disciples were afraid,” he said. As “Complaining seems safer. It’s they walked toward Emmaus and something certain. This is my truth: discussed everything that had hapfailure,” he said. pened, they were sad and comBut the Gospel story shows how plaining. very patient Jesus is with the disci“And the more they complained, ples, first listening to them and then the more they were closed in on explaining things step by step, until themselves: They did not have a they see Him. horizon before them, only a wall,” “Jesus does this with us, too,” the pope said, according to Vatican the pope said. “Even in the darkRadio. est moments, He is always with us, The disciples had had such high walking with us.” hopes that Jesus would be the One Complaining and griping — Who would redeem Israel, but they about others and about things in thought their hopes were destroyed, one’s own life — is harmful “behe said. cause it dashes hope. Don’t get into “And they stewed, so to speak, this game of a life of complaints,” their lives in the juice of their comhe said. plaints and kept going on and on

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remembering a predecessor — Pope Francis prays in front of the tomb of the late Blessed John Paul II in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican April 2, the eighth anniversary of his death. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters)

Pope says women’s love makes them privileged witnesses of Christ

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Women have a privileged role in the Church because of their ability to pass on the faith through love, Pope Francis said.

“Women have had and still have a special role in opening doors to the Lord, in following Him and communicating His face, because the eyes of faith always need the simple and profound look of love,” the pope recently told an estimated 50,000 people in St. Peter’s Square.

“This is the mission of women, of mothers and women, to give witness to their children and grandchildren that Christ is risen,” he said. “Faith is professed with the mouth and heart, with the word and love.”

In the second weekly public audience of his pontificate, Pope Francis resumed a series of catechetical talks on the creed begun by Pope Benedict XVI in January.

Commenting on the words, “rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” the pope noted that the New Testament gives women a “primary, fundamental role” as witnesses of Jesus’ Resurrection. He cited the passage in Mark Chapter 16 in which women find an empty tomb and an angel who tells them that Jesus is alive.

“Here we can see an argument in favor of the historical truth of the Resurrection,” Pope Francis said. “If it had been an invention, in the context of that time it would not have been linked to the testimony of women,” since the Jewish law of period did not consider women or children as “reliable, credible witnesses.”

“This tells us that God does

not choose according to human criteria,” the pope said. “The first witnesses of the birth of Jesus are the shepherds, simple and humble people, and the first witnesses of the resurrection are women.”

Jesus’ male Apostles and disciples “find it harder to believe in the Risen Christ,” the pope said.

“Peter runs to the tomb, but stops before the empty tomb. Thomas has to touch the wounds of the Body of Jesus with his own hands.”

By contrast, the “women are driven by love and they know to accept this proclamation (of the Resurrection) with faith,” the pope said. “They believe and immediately transmit it; they do not keep it for themselves.”

“Let us also have the courage to go out to bring this joy and light to all the places of our lives,” the pope said, eliciting cheers from the crowd, as at several other moments in his talk. “The Resurrection of Christ is our greatest certainty, it is our most precious treasure. How can we not share this treasure, this

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beautiful certainty with others?”

“Unfortunately, there have often been attempts to obscure faith in the Resurrection of Jesus, and doubts have crept in even among believers themselves,” Pope Francis said, lamenting what he called a “rosewater”-like faith, diluted by superficiality, indifference, other priorities or a “purely horizontal vision of life.”

Hope in the resurrection, he said, enables Christians to “live everyday realities with more confidence, to face them with courage and commitment.”

Following the audience, the pope spent about 45 minutes personally greeting prelates and other dignitaries, as well as members of the general public, including many small children and disabled people in wheelchairs.

In what has already become a common sight during his young papacy, a number of pilgrims, including a group of Jesuit deacons studying in Rome, broke Vatican protocol by embracing Pope Francis and kissing him on both cheeks.

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 57, No. 14

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April 12, 2013

News From the Vatican

3

Through pope’s embrace, eight-year-old Rhode Island boy touches the world PROVIDENCE, R.I. (CNS) — By Easter Monday, it would be the shot seen around the world.

But a day earlier, Christiana Gondreau could not have imagined that a chance encounter she and her eight-year-old son, Dominic, had with Pope Francis in the middle of St. Peter’s Square following his first Easter Mass would touch the hearts of so many around the globe.

While making his way in the popemobile through a sea of faithful estimated at 250,000, the newly-elected pontiff smiled and waved as he offered Easter greetings to those gathered.

At one point in his second journey around the square, on the way to delivering his Easter message “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world), the white Mercedes transporting the pope stopped. He reached over to greet Dominic after a compassionate Vatican usher named Augustino had repositioned mother and son at a corner of the path so the pontiff could better see them.

Pope Francis lifted Dominic, who has cerebral palsy, while embracing and kissing him. He also spoke to the boy before gen-

tly placing the child back into his mother’s arms.

“The pope definitely was whispering to him, but there’s no way of knowing what he said. Is it a secret?” Gondreau said in a telephone interview from Rome with the Rhode Island Catholic, newspaper of the Providence Diocese.

She is certain, however, that the meeting was Divinely inspired, and serves as a message that God shows favor to all His little ones.

“I do believe that it was a kiss from Heaven, to say this child is loved and I know him,” Gondreau said.

As the pope moved on through the crowd, camera shutters continued to click on Dominic as those in attendance quickly realized they were witnessing a very moving moment.

“Your son is here to show others how to love,” Gondreau said one woman shouted out to her from the crowd after the pope departed.

Others asked her for her email, promising to send photos they had captured of the pope and her son. She would be asked for interviews by news organizations from around the world.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — While the medical world makes technological advancements, it must not forget the power of love and affection in helping those with autism and their families, said Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski.

“Faced with the problems and difficulties that these children and their parents encounter, the Church proposes, with humility, an approach of service to one’s suffering brethren, accompanying them with compassion and tenderness,” he said. Parishes, Catholic associations, lay movements and people of good will can all work together in providing such forms of service, he said.

The archbishop, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, made his comments in a written message marking World Autism Awareness Day April 2.

The stereotypes associated with those diagnosed with autism require “profound revision,” he said. Sometimes just the word — autism — “still generates fear today” even in cultures that have begun to accept many kinds of disabilities, the archbishop said in his message.

Social stigmas already isolate people who are ill or disabled, making them feel irrelevant or alien to the rest of the community, he said.

The solitude and loneliness evident in the larger culture are also becoming “ever more present in modern health care,” too, he said.

Health care in developed countries, while “perfect in its technical aspects,” he said, is “increasingly deprived of and not attentive to the affective dimension, which instead should be the defining aspect of every therapeutic action or approach.”

Heath care workers need to avoid making a patient “feel like a number” and instead concretely convey through their actions, attitudes and words an affection and closeness to the patient and his or her family while never losing sight of the whole person and his or her dignity, the archbishop said.

“No procedure, no matter how perfect it may be, can be effective if it is deprived of the ‘salt’ of love,” he said.

Bringing joy and peace to patients and their families, as well as effective care, “is the best outcome that will enrich all of us,” he said.

Society and the local Church need to look at ways they can welcome autistic children and help these young people contribute to social, educational, catechetical and Liturgical activities in a way that corresponds to each individual’s unique capabilities, he added.

Archbishop: Love is important part of therapy for those with autism

“There was a part of me that didn’t want to leave that spot,” she said, savoring the special moment.

After the papal address she then made her way back across St. Peter’s Square from the special seating area offered to one parent or family member accompanying someone with a disability to the Mass.

It was there that she met up with her husband, Paul Gondreau, a theology professor at Providence College who is teaching a class in Rome this semester, and their four other children, including five-year-old twin daughters Maria and Junia.

Paul Gondreau had become mesmerized by the encounter between his son and the pope that he had just witnessed on one of the large television screens broadcasting a live feed of the event from Vatican TV. His elder son Lucas, 12, was the first to notice the loving attention his brother was receiving from the pope, and quickly pointed it out to his father.

“I was just speechless. Lucas and I started crying,” Paul Gondreau said. “It seems the pope was captivated by Dominic.”

He likened the tender moment between pope and child to an encounter of a modern Francis with a modern Dominic, referring to an historic encounter tradition holds once occurred between St. Francis and St. Dominic.

For Lucas, an altar server back home who since arriving in Rome has already experienced the honor of serving Mass at the subterranean tomb of St. Peter beneath

the Vatican basilica, witnessing the pope stop to greet his younger brother was something he’ll never forget.

“It was so touching to see my brother being picked up and held by the pope,” he said. “You could see on (Dominic’s) face how happy he was.”

The professor, along with his family of seven, is living in Rome this semester as he teaches a course on the New Testament and the Eternal City.

Together, they’ve been there for momentous events in the life of the Church, from the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI to the election and installation of Pope Francis.

But the kindness shown to Dominic by Pope Francis will be the most enduring part of their experience together.

Paul Gondreau believes no one shares in God’s cross more intimately than the disabled, and that

He extends His hand over the weak and the vulnerable so that they may serve as models of inspiration.

“No one plans to have a special needs child,” he said. “They are a tremendous blessing.”

He describes Dominic as “cognitively normal,” meaning he understands what is going on around him and can speak some words and some simple sentences, but that his limitations are purely physical.

“God has touched our family all our lives, now, He has touched the whole world with Dominic,” he added.

The Gondreaus’ eldest child, daughter Alena Maria, 16, has been using technology to keep family and friends back home up to date on the all the exciting events unfolding around them in Vatican City.

“I didn’t think that in being here all this would happen,” Alena Maria said.

loving father — Pope Francis embraces an eight-year-old Rhode Island boy with cerebral palsy prior to his first “Urbi et Orbi” blessing on Easter Sunday. (CNA phtoto by Franco Origlia/Getty Images News/Getty Images)

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Catholics rally behind D.C. priest amid controversy

Washington D.C. (CNA/ EWTN News) — Students and parishioners are speaking up for a Catholic priest after two gay students at George Washington University said they want him removed for supporting the Church’s stance on homosexual behavior.

“I have never seen Father Greg be less than compassionate to any student on an issue of sexuality,” Catholic author and speaker Dawn Eden recently told CNA. “He’s been instrumental in helping them to find healing in Christ.”

Eden, who is a parishioner at St. Stephen Martyr Parish where Father Schaffer serves as chaplain to the GWU Newman Center, said participation in Catholic life “shot up exponentially” since his arrival in 2009.

These comments come in the wake of an effort by two former Newman Center members seeking to force Father Schaffer off campus at the D.C. university, saying that they felt alienated by his defense of the Church’s teaching on homosexuality.

Seniors Damian Legacy and Blake Bergen, both of whom are gay, want Father Schaffer removed because he taught that homosexual behavior is immoral, consistent with the teaching of the Catholic faith.

The students said that the priest had told individuals who came to him for counseling that if they experience same-sex attraction, they should remain celibate.

Asserting that this was unacceptable anti-gay behavior, the two gay students have launched a campaign to force Father Schaffer off the campus. According to the campus newspaper, they have filed a formal complaint with the

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administration and are holding a vigil outside the Newman Center until the priest is removed.

Legacy, who is now a priest in the schismatic Old Catholic Church, submitted a report to the administration outlining a program used by other schools to vet religious leaders before bringing them to the campus and plans on asking the Student Association to defund the Catholic student outreach center which reportedly received $10,000 last year.

Current and past Newman Center students have voiced their support of the priest on a blog called, “The Chaplain I Know.”

They argued that it was ridiculous to try to penalize a Catholic priest for upholding Catholic teaching and offered testimonies on Father Schaffer’s character, calling him “self-sacrificing,” “encouraging” and instrumental in their conversions back to the Catholic faith.

“The kindness and unconditional affection he expressed was what gave me the strength to realize that I was loved despite my mistakes,” one contributor wrote.

If Catholics are looking for “someone to rally behind” in order to tell the culture where they stand, Eden said, Father Schaffer is “a good and holy priest” worthy of such support.

“We need to stand up for a Catholic priest who is true to his vocation and who is promoting and defending the Gospel for the good of souls,” she added.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue has called Legacy and Bergen’s campaign a “serious civil issue” that should be the subject of a “campus wide discussion on the meaning of the First Amendment.”

April 12, 2013

welcoming figure — A statue of Blessed John Paul II stands outside a shrine in his memory in Northeast Washington, D.C.

John Paul II exemplified Christian life, chaplain reflects

Washington D.C. (CNA/ EWTN News) — On the eighth anniversary of the death of Blessed Pope John Paul II, the chaplain of a shrine in his memory explained that the pope called others to holiness through the witness of his own life.

“Blessed John Paul II embodied the ‘man of God’ in his life and teaching,” said Father Gregory Gresko, chaplain of the Blessed John Paul II Shrine in Washington, D.C. Father Gresko recently told CNA that since his death, Blessed John Paul II “may be remembered most for the profoundly personal encounters he shared with fellow human beings, regardless of their state or position in life.”

“Pope John Paul II loved the human person and treasured his face-to-face interactions with the people of God,” said Father Gresko, adding that the blessed pope knew “that within each one of them he would find the mark of the Creator, Who had formed each of these persons in the image and likeness of God.” “Blessed John Paul II lived a life of consistent testimony to the

value of the human person at all moments of life.”

Therefore, Father Gresko explained, “it comes as no surprise that billions of people throughout the world felt an intimate loss in their hearts when the beloved pontiff passed from his earthly life.”

He added that the pope left a mark on the world that continues to this day.

“Perhaps the greatest legacy that Blessed Pope John Paul II has left to the world is his own personal witness as to what it means to live a life of genuine faith, ever striving to fulfill in his own life the call to holiness that flows fundamentally from Christian Baptism,” said Father Gresko.

“During his early life and work as a bishop, and then subsequently throughout his papacy,” he said, “The man who would become pope — Karol Wojtyla — showed the world what it means for a Christian to be a “man of God.” The chaplain further explained that Blessed Pope John Paul II taught that man is called to freedom “because he stands in front of God and thus should

never be afraid to stand in front of God.” In turn, man is free from himself and from the material world to follow God. Thus, Father Gresko said, the pope taught that this freedom from the world “helps him to realize his full dignity as a human person.”

“In choosing Christ, the man of God is a free man who makes a complete gift of himself. Free from himself, the man of God accepts suffering and is empowered by the Holy Spirit to love as God loves,” Father Gresko added regarding the late pope’s teachings.

The former pope continues to teach Catholic faithful even today, he said, by providing “an authentic testimony to us of what it means to live the Christian life through the virtuous choices we are called to make in our daily lives.”

The chaplain added that the late pope’s life and writings show Catholics “that the man of God is one who actively seeks the will of God the Father at all moments,” and “grows in holiness as he chooses what is authentically good and shuns that which is evil.”

“Blessed John Paul II demonstrated through his own holiness of life how each one of us — regardless of our own state and position — can, and always ought to, cooperate with the grace of the Holy Spirit to become a saint, which indeed is our fundamental vocation in Baptism,” said Father Gresko.

“An authentic Christian thinks as Christ, acts as Christ, lives as Christ, and loves as Christ.

Blessed John Paul II showed us how to do precisely this.”

April 12, 2013

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5

From incarcerated California youth to pope: ‘You give me hope’

LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Just a few hours before Pope Francis would celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at a youth detention center in Rome, 11 Jesuit novices arrived at Los Angeles’ juvenile hall in Sylmar with their master of novices to wash the feet of 12 incarcerated teenage boys.

Twenty other volunteers were preparing to do the same in all of the facility’s male and female units.

The Jesuits’ foot-washing service in the girls’ gym was being held the night before the traditional Holy Thursday ceremony out of a desire to be in solidarity with the pope, a former master of Jesuit novices in Argentina, who would soon be washing the feet of 12 imprisoned young people between ages 16 and 21 of different nationalities and religious backgrounds at the Casal del Marmo Penitential Institute for Minors.

Letters written to the pope by the Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall detainees participating in the foot-washing rite were emailed that night to Pope Francis in time for his evening service.

“I think you are a humble man,” began one letter, among those read individually by detainees standing next to the juvenile hall co-chaplain, Jesuit Father Michael Kennedy, in the middle of a circle of chairs on the basketball court as part of the local ceremony.

Foot-washing of two or three detainees at a time by Jesuit Father Tom Lamanna, novice master, and the Jesuit novices was interspersed with letter reading.

“When you read this letter, you will have washed the feet of other kids like us,” said another.

“I am writing this letter because you give me hope. I know one day with people like you, us kids won’t be given sentences that will keep us in prison for the rest

of our lives. I pray for you. Don’t forget us.”

In California, a sentence of 50 years to life is common for incarcerated youths ages 14 to 17.

State lawmakers just passed a measure giving minors sentenced to life without the possibility of parole a chance to get their sentences reviewed and resentenced.

Proposed legislation would establish a judicial review process to re-evaluate cases of youth tried as adults and sentenced to an adult prison for more than 10 years.

One of the detainees facing a lengthy sentence broke down in tears after reading his letter, which expressed his fear that he will never return home. As he walked back to his seat, he was supported by spontaneous applause from his fellow inmates, including several members with gang connections.

“I don’t know if you have ever been to where I live,” another

Americans join mounting opposition to mandate

Washington D.C. (CNA/ EWTN News) — With six days remaining to file public comments on the federal contraception mandate, one Catholic leader called on Americans to join more than 140,000 concerned citizens in speaking out against the regulation.

Brian Burch, president of non-partisan advocacy group Catholic Vote, recently told CNA that “input from the public is essential to making the case that the mandate must be repealed.”

Catholic Vote said in an email to its supporters that “as of Easter Sunday 80,901 people have registered comments on the latest HHS proposal, bringing the total comments the proposed ‘accommodation’ to 147,000.”

According to Catholic Vote, this is “the largest number of comments on a government regulation in our nation’s history.”

In January 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it would require nearly all private insurance plans to offer free contraception, sterilization and some abortion-inducing drugs.

The announcement was immediately controversial and has led to lawsuits from more than 150 employers, non-profit organizations and other groups and individuals who claim that the mandate violates their reli-

gious freedom by forcing them to act against their deeply-held religious convictions.

Although a religious exemption was included in the mandate, it was narrowly worded and would not apply to most religious organizations, such as schools, hospitals and charitable groups. Nor would it offer any protection to forprofit businesses run by religious individuals.

After a wave of protest, the federal government announced that it would offer an “accommodation” for the religious freedom of non-profit groups.

Over the past year, the accommodation has gone through various stages of development. Initial proposals from the government were criticized as an “accounting gimmick” that would fail to adequately address religious liberty concerns.

Under the proposed accommodation, insurance companies would offer coverage of contraception and related products for free. The government argued that such coverage can be given for no cost because women enjoy “tremendous” health benefits from contraception and will have fewer children as a result, leading to lower overall healthcare costs.

However, opponents argue that the objectionable products and procedures will ultimately be funded through increased premiums paid by the object-

ing religious employers.

The final details of the accommodation have not yet been worked out but will be released in coming months.

The new policy will go into effect for religious employers on Aug. 1, 2013.

Each major stage in the mandate revision process has included a period for the public to file comments on the proposed changes. The current comment period was open until April 8.

Burch explained that the record number of comments “demonstrates that Americans have deep reservations over the reach of the mandate and that a sufficient number of people believe it is misguided, unconstitutional, and that the mandate ought to be revisited.”

He added that lawmakers “and the courts are both actively looking at the impact of the proposed mandate and how it might impact the religious freedom of both religiously affiliated institutions, but also individual citizens.”

“The administration has every right to ignore the wishes of the public and proceed with the regulation as proposed,” he said, “but the number of comments sends an unmistakable message to elected officials, and even to the courts, that the regulation is deeply divisive and deserving of careful evaluation before proceeding.”

detainee wrote the pope. “I have grown up in a jungle of gangs and drugs and violence. It is hard to be young and surrounded by darkness. Pray for me that one day I will be free and be able to help other youth like you do.”

“Tonight we pray for all victims of violence,” wrote another.

“The families of people we have hurt need healing. Our families need healing. We are all in pain.

Let us feel Jesus’ healing tonight.”

Luis, who at 18 was the oldest detainee at the service, spoke to The Tidings before being led away to his unit for the night. “At that very moment when my foot was washed, I felt humble,” he told the Los Angeles archdiocesan newspaper.

“Someone else was washing my feet, but at that point, I didn’t feel better than him. I would like to go through this experience again, but with me, maybe, washing somebody else’s feet,” Luis said. “I think this was really beautiful. I never felt like this before; I’ve never done anything like this before.

“In myself,” he continued, “I feel renewed; I feel resurrected, like I should move on from my bad life and not try to be the kid who came in here.”

“I thought it was really moving,” commented Jesuit novice James Antonio, 26, about the foot-washing ceremony. “I think it was a very holy service to be serving these youth and just to have a visible sign of what our intentions are: to really serve those who are on the margins of society, the forgotten. It’s a real privilege for me.”

“I thought it went very well,” said his novice master, Father Lamanna. “I was impressed with just how the teen-agers were and their prayerfulness. It went above and beyond my expectations.”

Father Kennedy, founder of the Jesuit Restorative Justice Initiative, said the youths “felt that somebody important in the world (the pope) took a step to say that they are important.”

“Having the Jesuit novices here and having them have a special place — normally they don’t go outside at night here — all the different special aspects of this showed them that they are important,” he said. “I think the idea of having their feet washed worked.

I think it was powerful.”

In an emailed message sent at 2:52 a.m. California time on Holy Thursday to Father Kennedy, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said he was “profoundly touched” by the letters sent to the pope by the teenage detainees.

“I will surely forward to the Pope Francis the letters of your — and his — young friends,” wrote Father Lombardi. “I don’t know if he can read them today before the afternoon Mass — in this moment he is already celebrating the chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica — but he will surely read them with profound gratitude, and he will pray for all the young people that are in the juvenile hall, and all that are in prisons.

“I will also keep all of you in my heart and in my prayers as I will be present during the Mass this evening in the Institute of Casal del Marmo.”

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The Anchor Following St. Francis’ example

This Monday the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, sent a telegram to British Prime Minister David Cameron to express Pope Francis’ condolences upon the death of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. In his telegram, the cardinal wrote, “His Holiness Pope Francis was saddened to learn of the death of Baroness Margaret Thatcher. He recalls with appreciation the Christian values which underpinned her commitment to public service and to the promotion of freedom among the family of nations. Entrusting her soul to the mercy of God, and assuring her family and the British people of a remembrance in his prayers, the Holy Father invokes upon all whose lives she touched God’s abundant blessings.”

Some Britons might get a chuckle out of the last line, referring to the people “whose lives she touched,” since even in death Lady Thatcher remains a controversial figure in the United Kingdom. The situation there is unlike what happened in the United States when Ronald Reagan died, when it seemed as if almost the entire country participated in a secular canonization of him, with “the Iron Lady” herself playing a prominent role in his funeral in Washington and at his burial in California. In England a pub placed above its entrance a banner saying “The Witch is dead,” while some people literally danced in the streets in Glasgow, Scotland upon receiving the news.

Margaret Thatcher began her prime ministership on May 4, 1979, quoting the Prayer of St. Francis out in front of her new residence at 10 Downing Street. Many think it ironic that she chose that as her opening statement, given the battles (literally or politically) she would have with Argentina in the Falklands’ War, with trade unionists and social democrats, with the IRA and many other “enemies” inside and outside of the United Kingdom.

Lord Alton of Liverpool recalled in the Catholic Herald how he had brokered a meeting between Thatcher and Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, “two formidable women. Mother Teresa told me afterwards that she had challenged the Prime Minister about the number of people sleeping rough on the streets and the number of unborn children aborted each day in the U.K. In response, Margaret Thatcher gave her a short speech on Britain’s welfare provisions and social security. Mother Teresa simply responded by asking, ‘But do you have love?’ Notwithstanding this, the two women clearly liked and understood one another very well.”

Conservatives in the U.K. are not as culturally conservative as their U.S. counterparts. Lord Alton complained that Thatcher did not work to lessen abortion’s availability in Britain (she would have had more power to do so than an American president, due to the differences between our two governmental systems). He did give her credit for life-taking research on human embryos.

Father Ashley Beck, a Catholic priest in England who left the Anglican Church in 1994, wrote on the Catholic Herald’s comment section, “As we pray for her soul we should remember the victims of her policies — the poor.”

The Catholic bishops criticized her economic policies, as often happens in the United States. Since there was not a “common cause” on social issues, as often happens in this country, fewer bishops were as close to Thatcher as they were to Reagan.

Thatcher is often linked to Reagan as the Cold War couple, the two leaders who worked in concert to bring down the Iron Curtain. Often even non-Catholics will include Blessed John Paul II in that alliance (many of us Catholics believe that Our Lady of Fatima, working with the Holy Father, were the most important people in this victory for freedom). Many Eastern Europeans gave her much credit for standing up to the Soviet Union. Asked about whether she feared the Final Judgment on her soul, Lady Thatcher recalled a visit she made to a Catholic parish in Poland, after she had left office. She was warmly welcomed and told the questioner, “It comforts me to think that when I stand up to hear the verdict, I will at least have the people of the Church of the Holy Cross in court as character witnesses.”

Now the world has a new leader who also began his administration hearkening back to St. Francis of Assisi. As we can read above, the pope thanked Thatcher for promoting freedom around the world and for the Christian values that she professed (although not always in policies with which the Church agreed). Thatcher herself was born a Methodist, but became an Anglican in adulthood. She explained to the Catholic Herald in 1978, “Methodism isn’t just a religion for Sundays — no faith is only a faith for Sundays. There were a lot of things during the week which one attended. Methodism is a pretty practical faith. It’s also evangelical, and does a lot of missionary work overseas. The visiting missionaries … would come back and tell you of the kind of work they were doing. I must say I was very much attracted to the work they did because they really could see results.”

We ask Our Lord to help us live out our religion not just on Sundays, but everyday, imitating the example of St. Francis, being concerned for our neighbors’ well-being from “womb to tomb.” We pray for our British brothers and sisters at this time and ask God to help them bear good fruit, living out St. Francis’ prayer.

April 12, 2013

Pope Francis and the reform of the Church

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oth before and after the election of Pope “When the Church is self-referent without Francis, there has been much talk about realizing it,” Cardinal Bergoglio went on to say, the reform of the Vatican. Francis gave some wit- “she believes she has her own light. She ceases ness that reform was on the mind of the cardinals to be the mysterium lunae and gives way to that who elected him when he joked with journalists very great evil which is spiritual worldliness on March 16 that some had suggested he take (which according to [the great 20th-century the name “Adrian” after Adrian VI, a pope who theologian Cardinal Henri] De Lubac, is the ferociously reformed the Church’s central adworst evil that can come upon the Church). The ministration after the beginning of the Protestant self-referent Church lives to give glory only to Reformation. one another.”

But the reform that Francis seems intent on Several fathers of the early Church used to carrying out will be much broader than a reform refer to the Church as the mysterium lunae, the of the Vatican curia. What needs to be fixed in the “mystery of the moon,” because the Church was Vatican, he recognizes, is just one symptom of a called to reflect the light of Christ in the same much larger problem plaguing the Church as a way that the moon is illuminated by reflecting the whole. light of the sun.

To re-form means to bring something back Cardinal Bergoglio was saying that when into the shape it ought to have and Francis is the Church becomes corrupt, spiritually worldly already at work, in his words and in his personal and in need of reform, those in the Church begin witness, at trying to lead that much more importo think that the Church gives off her own light, tant, and widespread, renewal. rather than is meant to reflect Christ. The Church Four days before his election, he gave an ceases to some extent to think, speak, behave address in the cardinals’ general congregation and love like Christ, but rather begins to think meetings that several of them noted totally and speak of herself, as if she is an end in herself. changed the dynamics of the conclave. It got From the parish level to the Vatican Curia, she many of them to think that not only this cardinal begins to focus more on her institutional make-up “from the end of the earth” diagnosed profoundly than her Founder, Origin, Guide and Goal. the fundamental corruption afflicting the Church The fundamental choice that the Church must but also had the make, he said, vision and the is whether we passion to lead are going to be the Church back an “evangelizto shape. ing Church that What did comes out of he say was the reherself,” hearing form the Church the Word of God most needed? and faithfully

By Father Thanks to the proclaiming it, Roger J. Landry work of Cardinal or a “worldly Jaime Ortega Church that lives of Havana, we within herself, of know. The Cuban cardinal was so impressed by herself, for herself.” That distinction — and the what Cardinal Bergoglio had said that he asked importance of choosing the former —“must give if he could have a copy of his address. Cardinal light to the possible changes and reforms that Bergoglio replied that he had spoken without must be made for the salvation of souls.” notes and apologized for having nothing to give He then gave what he believed were the him. essential job qualifications for the next pope, During the night, however, Cardinal Bergoglio qualities that the other cardinals evidently thought decided to write out for his confrère what he had he met: “The next pope,” he declared, must be a said earlier — clearly a sign of his charity — and man who “from the contemplation of Jesus Christ gave the hand-written copy to a grateful Cardinal and from worshiping Jesus Christ will help the Ortega when he saw him in the morning. Cardinal Church get out of herself and go to those on the Ortega asked if he could have it published, and outskirts of existence.” the Argentine prelate consented. A few days later, That is what Pope Francis has been trying after Pope Francis’ election, Cardinal Ortega to do, going from his intense relationship with asked him the same question again, now that they Christ out to those on the periphery, kissing had obviously taken on larger significance. Pope children and the handicapped, washing the feet Francis agreed and the handwritten sheets were of incarcerated teens, wading into the crowds, published in Palabra Nueva, the Catholic magapaying his own bills, calling the man who used to zine of the Archdiocese of Havana. deliver his newspaper and so many other similar Cardinal Bergoglio told the cardinals that actions. the Church exists and is impelled by Jesus to He’s also been refusing to allow the Church evangelize, to come out of herself and go to the he’s now been summoned to lead to be selfends of the earth — not just geographically but referential and narcissistically boxed in by also to those at the periphery of existence, who “small-t” traditions of what clothes and shoes the are alienated from God and others through sin, pope wears, the place where he lives or celebrates pain, injustice, ignorance, ideology, material and Mass, the people whose feet he bathes, the schedspiritual poverty, and other types of misery. ule he keeps and the people he meets.

When those in the Church lose this “aposThe fundamental corruption of the Vatican tolic zeal,” when the Church doesn’t come out curia, where it exists, is not about butlers’ stealing of herself to bring Christ to others, she becomes papal documents, questionable financial practices, self-referential and sick. “The evils that over the lavender mafias, or bureaucratic inefficiency. It’s course of time happen in ecclesial institutions,” about focusing too much on self-referential instihe said, “have their root in a self-reference and a tutional concerns and too little on having all parts sort of theological narcissism. The self-referent of the institution participate fully in the Church’s Church keeps Jesus Christ within herself and evangelical mission, in reflecting Christ’s light to does not let Him come out.” illumine a world walking in darkness.

The chief corruption of the Church, he Pope Francis is seeking to lead the entire underlined, happens when she becomes narcisChurch — not only priests and curial officials, sistic, when she starts looking at herself rather but the faithful everywhere — on a spiritual than looking toward God and toward others Jesus exodus. came from Heaven and died to save.

“It’s key that we Catholics, both clergy and We saw this corruption among the Apostles laity, go out to meet the people,” he stressed in who on several occasions began to focus on jock- the 2010 book-length interview, El Jesuita. This eying for position in an earthly kingdom they pre- is “not only because the Church’s mission is to sumed Jesus had come to inaugurate rather than announce the Gospel, but because failing to do so on denying themselves, picking up their cross and harms us. A Church that limits herself to adminfollow Jesus to all those on the periphery. istering parish work, that lives enclosed within a We’ve seen it throughout Church history community, experiences what someone in prison when some have fought more for benefices and does: physical and mental atrophy.” A Church sinecures than for the towel to wash others’ feet. that merely protects its small flock, that gives all We see it in certain segments of the Roman or most of its attention to its faithful clientele, he Curia when high-ranking prelates use their posibelieves, “is a Church that is sick.” tions to try to find spots to advance the career of He’s made the diagnosis and given the prefriends. scription the Church needs. Now it’s time for the And we see it in Church institutions — entire Church to take the medicine that will bring dioceses, parishes, schools, hospitals, charities us back to health so that we can go out as minis— that begin to focus all of their efforts on those ters of the Divine Physician to heal the world. who are already coming, rather than getting Father Landry is pastor of St. Bernadette outside of themselves to serve all those for whom Parish in Fall River. His email address is Jesus gave His life. fatherlandry@catholicpreaching.com.

Putting Into the Deep

April 12, 2013

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esuscitating a patient who undergoes a cardiac arrest or stops breathing often involves multiple procedures.

When a resuscitation “Code Blue” is called in the hospital (or on a TV show), something like a medical “flash mob” comes together to try to save the patient. The sequence of events typically involves a combination of CPR, airway assistance, medications and shocks to the heart when the resuscitation is performed in a clinical setting. Sometimes these interventions can seem unwarranted or extreme, and people wonder whether it would be OK to fill out a “Do Not Resuscitate” order for themselves or for a family member. Would declining permission to resuscitate someone mean they are abandoning their loved one? Each crisis or emergency situation will have unique contours, and the question of our moral duty to provide resuscitation will vary with the details of each case.

Sometimes a DNR order will be a reasonable choice; other times it will not.

If a DNR order is chosen, the condition of the patient must be such that the intervention would be of no significant benefit to him or her. Sometimes out of a generalized fear of medical technology, people may decide to put a DNR in place many years before any serious medical situation arises.

Without knowing the medical particulars of their own future situations, however, this would be an unwise and ill-advised step. It can also be premature to decline a full code early in the course of a progressive

7

The Anchor

Going too far with DNR?

disease, as resuscitation might to have ribs break during CPR. well offer a bridge to healing or Younger patients, on the other to another extended period of hand, tend to show a greater life. As the patient’s condition resilience and are often better worsens, though, he or she may able to tolerate CPR. Patients later decide that a full code has become unreasonable, and choose a DNR at that point. These judgments are tricky to make, because the specifics of each case differ, and those speBy Father Tad cifics change with time Pacholczyk and disease progression. DNR’s should be put in place only when the circumstances warrant it, suffering from advanced cancer that is to say, on a case-by-case, are also known to fare poorly patient-specific basis. In other following resuscitative efforts. words, when CPR/resuscitation In terms of overall statistics, can reasonably be determined when a patient codes in the to no longer offer a hope of hospital and all resuscitative benefit to the patient or if it measures are taken, patients entails an excessive burden to frequently do not end up leavhim, at that time a DNR can be ing the hospital, especially put into place. when they are elderly or have Some of the possible burdens other co-accompanying condithat may need to be considered tions. Based on data from the in deciding whether to pursue National Registry of Cardiopulresuscitative interventions for a monary Resuscitation, studies patient would include some of have determined that patients the following: the risk of rib or who undergo cardiac arrest in other bone fractures, puncture the hospital have an overall surof the lungs by a broken bone vival to discharge rate of about (or from the trauma of lung 17 percent. The rate drops even compression and decompreslower (to around 13 percent) for sion), bleeding in the center of cancer patients. In other words, the chest, cerebral dysfunction the benefits are oftentimes few or permanent brain damage, the and short-lived, while the bursmall risk (about three or four dens tend to be high. There are, percent) that the patient might of course, exceptions — while end up entering a vegetative many patients do not experistate, and subsequent complience significant benefits from cations if the patient ends up resuscitative measures, a small staying on a ventilator for an percentage do. extended period following the So when death is imminent, resuscitation. and disease states are very adDuring resuscitative efforts, vanced (perhaps with multiple elderly patients are more likely organ failure), and assuming to experience complications or other spiritual matters, such as

Making Sense Out of Bioethics

last Sacraments, have been addressed, a DNR order may not raise any moral problems. The key consideration in making the judgement will be to determine whether the benefits of resuscitation outweigh the burdens.

DNR orders can be misused, of course, if they are broadly construed as calling on medical professionals to abandon or otherwise discontinue all care of a patient.

Even as patients may be declining and dying of serious underlying illnesses, we must continue to care for them, support and comfort them, and use the various ordinary means that they may have been relying

on, such as heart and blood pressure medications, diuretics, insulin, etc.

We should always seek to do what is ethically “ordinary” or “proportionate” in providing care for our loved ones, though we are never obligated to choose anything that would be heroic, disproportionate or unduly burdensome when it comes to CPR or other resuscitative measures.

Father Pacholczyk earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did postdoctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the diocese of Fall River, and serves as the director of Education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. See www.ncbcenter.org.

Revised and updated ...

2012-2013 Diocese of Fall River Catholic Directory ... NOW SHIPPING !!

Published by The Anchor Publishing Company P.O. Box 7, Fall River, Massachusetts 02722 Please ship _____ directories x $18 each, including shipping and handling. Total Enclosed $_____

Planning stages — Plans are in the works for the upcoming Diocesan Council of Catholic Women’s annual convention that will take place on May 4 at St. Jude the Apostle Parish in Taunton.

From left, Adrienne Lemieux, convention chairman and past DCCW president; Virginia Wade, president; and Theresa Lewis, parliamentarian, discuss the event. Coffee and pastry will be served at 8 a.m., with the convention beginning at 9 a.m. Bishop George W. Coleman will celebrate Mass at 10:30 a.m., followed by lunch. The guest speaker will be Arlene Booker, retired principal of Our Lady of Lourdes School in Taunton. The topic will be the Rainbow program for children. The $25 registration fee includes lunch. Registration forms are available from board members or by calling Helen at 508-993-5085.

NAME ____________________________________________ ADDRESS _________________________________________ CITY _____________________ STATE _______ ZIP _____ Please make checks payable to “Anchor Publishing” For more information, email theanchor@anchonews.org, call 508-675-7151, or order online at www.anchornews.org

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hen priests get ready for Mass, we put on our alb (reminding us of being clothed in Christ and reminding us of the white garment we were clothed in at our Baptisms) and our cincture around the waist (reminding us of the chastity and purity of heart we are called to, especially through our promise of celibacy). Then we put on the stole (something we do every time we celebrate a Sacrament), which is a sign of our office as priests, of the authority we have received through Holy Orders to act in persona Christi.

Lastly we put on the chasuble, which is symbolic of charity, that though we are acting with an office and authority, charity is what must be seen above all else

April 12, 2013

The Anchor

Willing to grow to love the Lord

as we perform the Sacramiracle of a large catch of ment. fish. By it they are able to Our Risen Lord has recognize His presence. It entrusted His redemptive also becomes a moment the work to the Church and Lord draws Peter deeper priests who are dispensers of the Homily of the Week mysteries of Christ.

But like Peter, who Third Sunday had to learn the hard of Easter way, to faithfully

By Father carry this out means humbly realizing we Kevin A. Cook aren’t the perfect instrument, and one cannot do it without into the mystery of His Christ’s love and grace. love. At the end of the GosIn this week’s Gospel we pel we hear the story of Jehave the beautiful account sus asking Peter three times of the third time Jesus apif he loves Him. Clearly pears to the Apostles after this counters the three times His resurrection. It is here Peter denied Jesus, as well that the Apostles not only as Jesus making Peter the go back to their old occuvisible head and chief paspation of fishing, but here tor of the Church. What the Lord performs a great is also striking is how the

Lord speaks to Peter (and it becomes a great lesson in how the Lord so often deals with us).

Here the Lord asks Peter three times if he loves Him. In the English we miss out on something very important that the original Greek conveys. When Jesus asks the first two times if Peter loves Him, Jesus uses the Greek word agapao (it is a love that is a willing love, the type of love that Jesus shows to the point of the cross).

But Peter responds each time saying he loves the Lord, using the Greek word phileo (which is a love that is merely friendly affection). Peter, because of his

denying Jesus, now knows his love for Jesus is not as strong as his pride lead him to think it was at the Last Supper. Peter now knows he has a long way to go. And he becomes saddened when Jesus must ask him the third time if he loves Jesus, since this time Jesus uses the lesser form of love, phileo (friendly affection) to which Peter affirms. And though Jesus and Peter at this time know Peter’s love still must grow, Jesus entrusts His Church to him. The Lord builds his Church on Peter’s faith and love, though it is not perfect.

Father Cook is pastor of Holy Family Parish in East Taunton and associate director of Vocations and Seminarians in the Diocese of Fall River.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. April 13, Acts 6:1-7; Ps 33:1-2,4-5,18-19; Jn 6:16-21. Sun. April 14, Third Sunday of Easter, Acts 5:27-32,40b-41; Ps 30:2,4-6; Rv 5:11-14; Jn 21:1-19 or 21:1-14. Mon. Apr. 15, Acts 6:8-15; Ps 119:23-24,26-27,29-30; Jn 6:22-29. Tues. Apr. 16, Acts 7:51—8:1a; Ps 31:3cd-4,6ab,7b,8a,17,21ab; Jn 6:30-35. Wed. Apr. 17, Acts 8:1b-8; Ps 66:1-3a,4-7a; Jn 6:35-40. Thurs. Apr. 18, Acts 8:26-40; Ps 66:8-9,16-17,20; Jn 6:44-51. Fri. Apr. 19, Acts 9:1-20; Ps 117:12; Jn 6:52-59.

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ertain ritual encounters have now become standard operating procedure for our new pope. In each of these meetings, Pope Francis has done something surprising, in his low-key, gentle way.

In a Mass celebrated in the Sistine Chapel with the College of Cardinals on the day after his election, the Holy Father raised cautions about clerical ambition — a yellow warning flag that reflected the concerns he had expressed during the papal interregnum about “spiritual worldliness” corrupting the Church, and an unmistakable call to a more energetically evangelical exercise of the priesthood and the episcopate.

In a meeting a few days later with thousands of journalists, the pope reminded his rapt audience that the Church cannot be understood, or reported, as

Impoverished spirits

if it were simply another politi- his choice of papal name, while cal agency; the Church has to using that exercise to make two be understood from the inside important points. out, as “the holy people of God Stressing the Church’s care making its way to encounter for, and work with, the poor Jesus Christ,” without Whom throughout the world, the “Peter and the Church would not exist or have reason to exist.” And then came a subtle but unmistakable challenge: journalism, Francis insisted, “demands a

By George Weigel particular concern for what is true, good and beautiful.” It can’t be all buzz all the time, and if pope reminded his audience in journalism vulgarizes itself and the Vatican’s Sala Regia that becomes buzz only, it loses its Francis of Assisi knew that soul. there were various forms of And then came the meetpoverty. There was the Francising with the representatives can work, which belongs to all of power, the ambassadors acChristians, to serve “the sick, credited to the Holy See. Here, orphans the homeless and all the Holy Father took the oppor- the marginalized”; that work is tunity to explain, once again, a Gospel imperative that also

The Catholic Difference

helps “to make society more humane and more just.” And then there was a different form of poverty: the “spiritual poverty of our time”; that poverty is most evident in wealthier societies and manifests itself in what Benedict XVI often called the “dictatorship of relativism” — the worship of the false god of me, myself and I, imposed by state power, often in the name of a misguided and coercive concept of tolerance.

This second form of poverty had to be challenged by a second Franciscan imperative, the responsibility “to build peace.” Yet, as the pope immediately continued: “there is no true peace without the truth!

There cannot be true peace if everyone is his own criterion, if everyone can always claim exclusively his own rights, without at the same time caring for the good of others, of everyone, on the basis of the nature that unites every human being on this earth.”

The last phrase — “the nature that unites every human being on this earth” — was the money quote here. For that is precisely what so much of the spiritually-impoverished world of radical secularism and lifestyle libertinism now denies: that there is any “human na-

ture” which public policy and law must respect. That’s what those who continue to support “abortion rights” deny. That’s what those who insist that “marriage” can mean any configuration of consenting adults deny. That’s what those who regard children as an optional lifestyle accessory deny. And that’s what those who insist that maleness and femaleness are “cultural constructs,” not givens that disclose deep truths about the human condition, deny.

Those denials, Pope Francis suggested, lead to a spiritual impoverishment that can be as devastating as material poverty. And those denials can lead to conflicts within societies that shatter peace just as much as conflicts between societies.

Pope Francis is no “Brother Sun, Sister Moon” romantic.

As an experienced pastor and a man of keen intelligence, he knows that reality-contact is as important for societies as it is for personal mental health. He’ll make the case in a different way than Benedict XVI. But you can count on this pontificate to challenge the dictatorship of relativism in the name of authentic humanism.

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

The Anchor

April 12, 2013

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veryone loves the underdog; a person, group or team that outwardly appears to have no chance of making it, let alone getting in. Often I will peruse YouTube or check out videos on Godvine when I need a boost, or a reminder that there is still inherent good in this crazy world. My favorite search is “surprising auditions,” and I have yet to be disappointed. You may be wondering, “What does this have to do with faith? How is this at all relevant?” Honestly, it is all a matter of perspective.

When I watch these individuals pour out their all, knowing full well that they only have a few moments to make their dreams a reality, I am fully reminded that God wants all that is good for us. After all, are we not a people of hope? A people of strengths and weaknesses, of triumphs and failures, wanting only to be loved, seen, known, seeking reminders that we are someone; that we truly matter?

For many of those people who brave the criticism of others, who venture out into uncertainty and rejection, who put all their trust and faith into believing that they are someone — someone who has so much to offer to the world; who can make a difference, I say amen!

It is not always easy to pursue your dreams or to take on challenges that force us to become someone new, that push us to our very limits.

As we delve into the Acts of the Apostles during this Easter season, we witness their transformation and rebirth.

We come to an awareness of how their gifts had the ability to change their lives, those of their community, and even the world. Even today, those very gifts still have the power and ability to impact and transform us. Yet, like so many of the would-be stars that cross the stage for that first audition, they give the glory to something greater than themselves.

“Why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?”

(Acts 3:11). Yet, Jesus had faith in them, believed that they were capable of doing all He needed of them, of continuing the work He had begun, thus equipping them with the tools to make a difference.

The Apostles, like so many of the underdogs we have come to know, had their stories, had their own insecurities and fears, but Someone greater

Are you ready? than them, recognized the gift within that could help so many, that could change the world.

When I listen to the stories, when I see the pain and hurt and the trials that have brought many of the hopeful this far, I am reminded of the Apostles so many years ago. They huddled in that upper room fearful for their lives, hiding away from the world, questioning their ability to do what Jesus had

In the Palm of His Hands

By RoseMary Saraiva asked of them, and waiting.

Waiting for the right moment, for the support they needed, and the courage to face the world. Not sure what their futures would be, or if they would even have one, but certain that what they believed in, what they held dear, was well worth whatever lay ahead.

As I read reports of Pope Francis, listen to his homilies and see video clips of his actions and deeds, I am reminded of what Christ has asked each and every one of us to do, to be His Body here on earth.

Our pope is reaching out to the people, those who work, who toil each and every day to make their dreams come true. Who sacrifice day in and day out to insure that those who depend on them have all they need. Reaching out to the forgotten ones, and those whom society perceives as undesirable, giving a voice to those who were silenced, and shining a beacon of hope for

all those who have been adrift.

Daring to step out of himself to be an example to all of us, sharing his gifts of humility and compassion, and imploring all of us to do the same. Like Peter, Paul and all those early disciples, allowing himself to be the eyes and ears, hands and feet, and the reflection of Christ to others.

We are an Easter people filled with hope, reminded each and every day that Christ sacrificed His all so that we could live a life that is full, that holds the promise of eternity, and brings us into a deeper relationship with God, the Father. Each and every one of us has a story, we all have had our share of trials, and we all have God-given gifts and talents.

The challenge for all of us is what do we do with them? Do we continue to live our lives sitting on the sidelines waiting for opportunity to come our way? Or do we throw open the curtain, step out into the limelight, and share our gifts and talents with the world?

Who knows, maybe we can make a difference, be an example to others, allow our actions to speak volumes, take our act on the road as the Apostles did, and in our own way, bring hope to everyone we encounter. Are you ready?

Rose Mary Saraiva lives in Fall River and is a parishioner of St. Michael’s Parish, and she is the Events Coordinator and Bereavement Ministry for the diocesan Office of Faith Formation. She is married with three children and two grandchildren. rmsaraiva@ dfrcec.com.

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Be sure to visit the Diocese of Fall River website at fallriverdiocese.org The site includes links to parishes, diocesan offices and national sites.

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The Anchor

April 12, 2013

Master of metaphor: Pope Francis can weave a vivid tale

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Metaphors are used extensively in the Bible and they pop up just as often in Pope Francis’ talks and teachings.

Some of his most vivid allegories as pope included his urging the world’s priests to be “shepherds living with the smell of sheep” by bringing Christ to people far from the faith; and his telling cardinals that all Catholic elders need to share with the young their insight and wisdom, which are like “fine wine that gets better with age.”

Metaphors did not come to Pope Francis with the papacy.

As archbishop of Buenos Aires, he used similar figures of speech to get simple, yet powerful, ideas across to his listeners.

The following are some metaphors that appear in the book, “Pope Francis: Conversations with Jorge Bergoglio.” The book, by Sergio Rubin and Francesca Ambrogetti, is a series of interviews originally published in 2010 under the title “El Jesuita” (“The Jesuit”). The book is currently unavailable in English.

— Priests and the stink of sheep: The future pope said, “A Church that limits itself to just carrying out administrative du-

ties, caring for its tiny flock, is a Church that in the long run will get sick. The pastor who isolates himself is not a true pastor of sheep, but a ‘hairdresser’ for sheep who spends his time putting curlers on them instead of going to look for others.”

He said the situation today is the mirror opposite of the biblical parable of the shepherd who leaves his 99 sheep to find the one that is lost. “Today we have one in the pen and 99 we need to go looking for.”

— The need to mature in life like fine wine: The future pope tells a story of being in an airport and seeing an older, very well-known, successful businessman waiting at baggage claim. He said it’s common to see young people be impatient, but it came as a surprise to see an older gentleman get “infuriated because his bag was late.”

“It made me sad to see a person who wasn’t able to enjoy the wisdom of old age. Instead of improving (with age) like a fine wine, he had gone sour like a wine gone bad.”

— Knowing how to let children grow and go is like flying a kite: The future pope tells a story of flying kites in his neigh-

borhood when he was a child.

“There’d come the moment when the kite would begin making a ‘figure eight’ and begin falling. In order to keep that from happening, you mustn’t pull the string. The kids who knew more than us would scream, ‘Give it some slack, it’s wobbling!’”

“Flying a kite resembles the approach you need to take regarding a person’s growth: sometimes you need to give them some slack because they are ‘wavering.’ In other words, it is necessary to give them time.

We have to be able to set limits at the right moment, but other times we need to know how to look the other way and be like the father of the parable (the Prodigal Son) who lets his son move out and squander his fortune so that he learns from experience.”

— Salvation from sin is like being saved from drowning: Being upfront and honest about one’s sinful nature actually helps create a more authentic encounter with God, the future pope said.

“There are people who believe they are righteous, follow the ‘Catechism’ well enough and abide by the Christian faith,

but they don’t have the experience of having been saved.”

“It’s one thing to hear about a boy who was drowning in a river and the person who jumped in to save him; it’s another to have personally been at the scene and lent a hand; and even another for it to have actually been you who was drowning while someone jumps in the water to save you.”

“Only we big sinners have this grace” of knowing what salvation really means, he said.

— Sin is a stain only Jesus can remove: “Sin is not a stain that I must wash out. What I need to do is ask forgiveness and reconcile myself, not go to the drycleaners. I have to go encounter Jesus Who gave His life for me.”

— People need to learn from the “shipwreck culture” and salvage the past to build the future: “The shipwrecked castaway faces the challenge of survival with creativity,” he said.

“He needs to begin building a hut using the boards from the sunken ship, together with new things found on the island he’s washed up on.”

“In every new era, one can apply the image of the shipwreck because there are things

that we no longer need, temporary things, and (eternal) values that get expressed in another way.”

— Pain versus resentment: “Resentment is like a full house with lots of people crammed inside so they can’t see the sky, while pain is like a city in which there are still lots of people, but at least you can see the sky. In other words, pain is open to prayer, tenderness, the company of a friend and thousands of things that offer dignity. That’s why pain is a healthier situation” than resentment.

— Optimism versus hope: “It’s best to not confuse optimism with hope. Optimism is a psychological attitude toward life. Hope goes further. It is an anchor that one hurls toward the future, it’s what lets you pull on the line and reach what you’re aiming for” and head in “the right direction.” Hope is also theological: “God is there, too.”

— God’s patience is “comfortable and sweet like a summer’s night.”

— Death, who is “eager,” knocks daily; “I run from it, but it smiles at me inviting me to accept it.”

cast call — Pope Francis signs a cast on the leg of a young pilgrim at the end of his weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican recently. (CNS photo/ L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters)

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The Anchor

April 12, 2013

Homebody, soccer fan, tango-lover — some papal pastimes revealed

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Here are a few of Pope Francis’ favorite things, which he revealed in a series of interviews granted while he was archbishop of Buenos Aires.

The interviews are in the book, “Pope Francis: Conversations with Jorge Bergoglio”

by Sergio Rubin and Francesca Ambrogetti, which was originally published in 2010 under the title “El Jesuita” (“The Jesuit”). It is not yet available in English.

— Favorite sports: When he was young, the future pope played basketball, but he loved going to the stadium to watch soccer with his whole family to see their favorite team, San Lorenzo. He lamented that the fan scene is not what it used to be. At the worst, “people would yell at the referee that he was a bum, a scoundrel, a sellout ... nothing in comparison to the epithets they use today,” he said.

— Favorite city: “I love where I live. I love Buenos Aires.” He has traveled in Latin America and parts of Europe, including Ireland “to improve my English.” However, he said, “I always try to avoid traveling

... because I’m a homebody” and got homesick easily.

— Favorite way to stay informed: Newspapers. He said he turned on the radio only to listen to classical music. He had thought he’d probably start using the Internet like his predecessor, the late-Cardinal Juan Carlos Aramburu of Buenos Aires, did — “when he retired at 75.”

— Favorite mode of transport as cardinal archbishop of Buenos Aires: The subway, which he would always take to get around “because it’s fast; but if I can, I prefer the bus because that way I can look outside.”

— Favorite pastime: As a boy, he liked to collect stamps.

Today, “I really like reading and listening to music.”

— Favorite authors and books: “I adore poetry by (Friedrich) Holderlin,” a 19thcentury lyric poet; Alessandro Manzoni’s “The Betrothed” (“I Promessi Sposi”), which he said he has read at least four times; Dante Alighieri’s “The Divine Comedy”; and anything by Fyodor Dostoevsky and Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges.

The pope recalled that even though Borges was an agnostic,

“he’d recite the ‘Our Father’ every evening because he had promised his mother he would, and died with a sense of ‘religious comfort.’”

— Favorite music: “Leonore” Overture No. 3 by Ludwig van Beethoven conducted by the late-Wilhelm Furtwangler, “who, in my opinion, is the best conductor of some of (Beethoven’s) symphonies and works by Wagner.”

— Favorite dance style: tango, which he said he loves “very much. It’s something that comes from within.” He said he danced the tango when he was young “even though I preferred the milonga,” which is an older form of tango with a faster rhythm.

— Favorite movie: “Babette’s Feast” because it shows the transformation of a group of people who took denial too far and didn’t know what happiness was, he said. The sumptuous meal helps free them from their fear of love, he said. He also likes Italian neorealism films, which often confronted the social, economic and moral consequence of World War II, but added that as archbishop he didn’t have much time to go to

the movies.

— Favorite painting: “The White Crucifixion” by Marc Chagall. The scene “isn’t cruel, rather it’s full of hope. It shows pain full of serenity. I think it’s one of the most beautiful things Chagall ever painted.”

— Favorite person: His grandmother Rosa, who helped raise him when he was little, taught him his first words of Italian and passed on her deep religious sensibility.

— Favorite saint he turns to in time of need: St. Therese of Lisieux. He kept a photo of her on his library shelf with a vase of white roses in front of it.

“When I have a problem I ask the saint, not to solve it, but to take it in her hands and help me accept it.”

— Favorite virtue: “The virtue of love, to make room for others with a gentle approach.

Meekness entices me enormously! I always ask God to grant me a meek heart,” he said.

— Worst vice to avoid: “The sin that repulses me most is pride” and thinking of oneself as a big shot. He said when it has happened to him, “I have felt great embarrassment and I ask God for forgiveness because

nobody has the right to behave like this.”

— Typical reaction to unexpected announcements: He freezes. When Pope Francis was elected pope and appeared at the central balcony, many noticed he looked rather stiff. Turns out that’s how he reacted when he was named auxiliary bishop in 1992 and how he reacts “to anything unexpected, good or bad, it’s like I’m paralyzed,” he said.

— Things he would rescue in event of a fire: His breviary and appointment book, which also contains all of his contacts, addresses and telephone numbers.

“It would be a real disaster to lose them.”

“I’m very attached to my breviary; it’s the first thing I open in the morning and the last thing I close when I go to sleep.”

He also keeps tucked safe between its pages his grandmother’s letters and her last words to her grandkids before she died.

She said that in times of sadness, trouble or loss, to look to the tabernacle, “where the greatest and noblest Martyr is kept,” and to Mary at the foot of the cross so that they may “let fall a drop of salve on the deepest and most painful wounds.”

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April 12, 2013

The Anchor

St. Augustine’s life lights up the silver screen

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

ATTLEBORO — With the recent success of the television mini-series “The Bible” and theatrical films like “October Baby” and “For Greater Glory” seeing impressive box-office returns, it seems audiences are hungry for more than the typical action-driven, special-effects-filled fare Hollywood has been serving up of late.

So timing couldn’t be better for “Restless Heart: The Confessions of Augustine,” a unique feature-length biography of St. Augustine, one of the preeminent doctors of the Church.

The Attleboro parishes of St. John the Evangelist and St.

Vincent de Paul have joined forces to host a special screening of this full-length epic motion picture at Showcase Cinema in North Attleboro on April 25 at 7 p.m. “Restless Heart” uses a historic backdrop to tell the true story of Augustine of Hippo — one of the Catholic Church’s most beloved and well-known saints.

Chris Donoghue, a parishioner of St. John the Evangelist and one of the organizers of the screening, was able to catch the movie in Worcester back in October 2012, which led to his wanting to bring the film to the Fall River Diocese.

“I was very impressed with the quality of the production … it’s a ‘real’ movie,” Donoghue

said. “It was dramatic, entertaining and suspenseful — time really flew by. We all agreed that it was worth hosting our own screening and we are excited at the opportunity to bring the film to Attleboro.”

The message of “Restless Heart” is as timely today as it was only a few generations after Jesus walked the earth. It remains the story of one who pursues fame and fortune without a moral compass — and it tells the changes that occur when events lead Augustine to see the light.

“St. Augustine, I think, is compelling first for his humanity — with all his faults,” Donoghue said. “I think sometimes we as Catholics view the saints

in stained-glass windows or in beautiful sculptures and think they are nothing like us … but they are exactly like us! That’s the point. It is their example, as well as through their intercession, that encourages and strengthens us all on our individual journeys of faith. My impression is also that Augustine wrote out his personal experiences of both sin and grace.

The roots of his teachings are in that authenticity which makes it both beautiful and accessible to people.”

In 430 A.D., in the besieged city of Hippo, the 70-year-old Bishop Augustine told Jovinus, a captain of the Roman guards, the story of how his Christian mother, Monica, saved him. As

a youngster in Roman North Africa, Augustine witnessed the persuasive effectiveness of the orator Microbius, whose lynchpin for any argument was, “These are facts … not words.”

Augustine fell victim to his own ego, becoming a narcissist who was “eager to be eminent.”

Monica, his mother and a Catholic, played a significant role throughout his life, reminding him that her hope and prayers are that “one day, we will be united in our faith.”

He left home for Carthage as a teen-ager to study under Microbius, and became a great orator and lawyer. His lustful, selfcentered ways led to romance with the servant woman assigned Turn to page 15

DEVOTED DOCTOR — Alesandro Preziosi plays St. Augustine during his young- and mid-adult years in “Restless Heart: The Confessions of Augustine.” St. Augustine was among the first group of four Doctors of the Church proclaimed in 1295 by Pope Boniface VIII. St. Augustine’s writings remain today among the most respected and beloved in the Catholic Church. (Photo courtesy of Ignatius Press)

April 12, 2013

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The Anchor

Bishops, pope offer prayers after death of Britain’s Margaret Thatcher

sign here — Tina Fey stars in a scene from the movie “Admission.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS/Focus Features)

CNS Movie Capsules “Admission” (Focus) Low-key romantic comedy in which a college admissions officer (Tina Fey) on a recruiting trip falls for an idealistic teacher (Paul Rudd) at an experimental private school. But complications develop when she discovers that the brilliant student (Nat Wolff) her new love is urging her to accept into her university may be the child she gave up for adoption during her own campus days. While the premise of director Paul Weitz’s slow-paced adaptation of Jean Hanff Korelitz’s novel is at least implicitly Pro-Life, and its wrap-up largely pro-family, Fey’s character makes some inadmissible moral choices along the way — as too does her free-spirited, fiercely feminist mom (Lily Tomlin). Acceptance of cohabitation and of premarital sexual encounters, a benign view of unethical behavior, about a half-dozen uses of profanity, a couple of rough terms, occasional crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

“The Host” (Open Road) Ponderous, dramatically inept science fiction tale in which alien spirits have taken over the bodies of most human beings. When a young resister (Saoirse Ronan) is captured, her soul remains even after the forced infusion of an extraterrestrial consciousness, and she gradually convinces the increasingly sympathetic invader to return to, and aid, the band of earthling fugitives (most prominently Max Irons,

Jake Abel and William Hurt) with whom she had been on the run.

Earnest good intentions and honorable themes concerning tolerance, nonviolence and altruism cannot save writer-director Andrew Niccol’s screen version of Stephenie Meyer’s novel from the fatal absurdity of its heroine’s split personality — the two halves of which squabble endlessly via a combination of voice-over and dialogue. Much action violence, fleeting gore, a suicide theme, cohabitation with brief semi-graphic sexual activity, a couple of crass terms. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG13 — parents strongly cautioned.

Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

“Tyler Perry’s Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage

Counselor” (Lionsgate) Writer-director Perry puts the stale in morality tale with this story of a would-be marriage counselor (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) and her struggle with a dull husband (Lance Gross), a lecturing minister mother (Ella Joyce) and the temptation to flout her vows (with Robbie Jones). Ethical bearings are righted after considerable emotional pain. But it’s mostly just cliched talk — slow moving, and not in the least compelling. An adultery theme with two nongraphic adulterous encounters, drug use, sexual banter, fleeting crass language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults.

The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, April 14, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Edward J. Healey, pastor of Holy Trinity Parish in West Harwich

LIVERPOOL, England (CNS) — The Catholic bishops of England and Wales offered prayers for the soul of Margaret Thatcher, the former British prime minister who died at age 87 following a stroke.

Baroness Thatcher, who led Britain from 1979 to 1990, died “peacefully” the morning of April 8, according to her family.

Soon after news of her death was made public, Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster, president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, issued a short statement.

“It was with sadness that we heard the news of the death of Baroness Thatcher, who served this country for many years both as a member of Parliament and as prime minster,” said Archbishop Nichols.

“We pray for the repose of her soul and for the intentions of her family and all those who now mourn for her,” he added.

Later that day, the Vatican released a telegram that Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s secretary of state, sent on behalf of Pope Francis. The telegram said the pope “was saddened to learn of the death” of Thatcher and recalled “with appreciation the Christian values which underpinned her commitment to public service and the promotion of freedom among the family of nations.” It said Pope Francis entrusted her soul to God’s mercy and assured her family and the British people of his prayers.

Baroness Thatcher, the daughter of a Methodist greengrocer, became the first woman ever to hold the office of British prime minister when her center-right Conservative Party swept to power at the end of a decade troubled by economic misery and public strikes.

On May 4, 1979, the day of her election, she read out the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi in her first address to the nation.

From the steps of the prime minister’s residence of 10 Downing Street, London, she said: “Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith.

And where there is despair, may we bring hope pledging to bring harmony were there was discord.”

While in office, Thatcher strove to “roll back the frontiers of the state” by privatizing state-owned sectors of British industry and by giving people in social housing the right to buy their homes from local authorities.

She reduced the powers of the trades unions, lowered taxes and introduced monetary policies to lower inflation.

But deindustrialization of the 1980s also saw rising unemploy-

ment and rioting in major British cities, leading to appeals from Catholic and Anglican bishops for Thatcher to take a more “compassionate” approach.

She also took Britain into war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands in 1982 and united with U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Blessed Pope John Paul II in taking a strong position against communist imperialism, for which she earned the moniker the Iron Lady, given to her by a Soviet journalist.

She also took an uncompromising approach to Irish terrorism, and U.K. National Archives opened in 2010 show that she wrote to Blessed John Paul in 1980 to ask the pope to condemn an IRA hunger strike at the Maze Prison in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

In 1984, Thatcher survived an IRA attempt to assassinate her with a bomb in a hotel in Brighton, England.

Thatcher was seldom openly antagonistic toward the Catholic Church, however, and Lord Alton of Liverpool, a Catholic member of Parliament, recalled in a statement how he had once arranged a meeting between the prime minister and Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.

Lord Alton said Mother Teresa told him later that she had challenged the prime minister about the number of people living on the streets and the number of abortions in the United Kingdom.

“In response, Margaret Thatcher gave her a short speech on Britain’s welfare provisions and social security,” he said. “Mother Teresa simply responded by asking ‘But do you have love?’”

Baroness Thatcher, a pharmacist, then a lawyer before entering politics, was opposed to introducing restrictions to the 1967 Abortion Act, but she also opposed the destructive experimentation on human embryos on the grounds that there was no scientific justification for it.

In a statement, British Prime Minister David Cameron, also a Conservative, described his predecessor as a “great leader” and a “great Briton.”

He canceled a meeting in Madrid with French President Francois Hollande so that he could return to Britain.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said Queen Elizabeth II was “sad to hear the news of the death of Baroness Thatcher” and would be sending a private message of sympathy to her family.

Baroness Thatcher will not have a state funeral, in accordance with her own wishes, but she will be buried with full military honors after a ceremony in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.

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The Anchor

An apology is needed I was disturbed by what I read in your March 29 edition in the “Our readers respond” section. I was very saddened by a letter from Ms. Ronayne of Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville, who was responding to a contribution from Father Andrew Johnson regarding the optimal and reverent reception of the Holy Eucharist.

The tone of Ms. Ronanye’s letter was vitriolic and disrespectful.

Most of her complaints against Father Johnson’s opinions were already respectfully anticipated by Father Johnson. For example, Father had explained that Holy Communion on the tongue was instituted to correct a casual approach to reception of the Eucharist, conceding that ancient reception was in the hand. Yet, Ms. Ronayne completely disregards this concession taking a shot across his bow for suggesting something the Father never suggested: that Jesus told His disciples to stick out their tongues (a use of the Lord’s Name and Person in vain, I might add).

In her letter Ms. Ronayne mocks Father with an insincere invitation to her parish, pits her pastor against Father Johnson, pits Emeritus Pope Benedict against Pope John XXIII, “takes further issue” with Father Johnson, while at one point accusing him of lacking compassion, and at another making an unfair judgment that Father Johnson “denigrates all children.”

I would like to remind The Anchor that it is a Catholic newspaper. I would expect to read such ad hominem sniping in one of the local secular newspapers. A Catholic paper, which must understand not only faith but also reason, should

Our readers respond

at least follow established principles of critical thinking. Some such principles are: to not personally attack one’s opponent, to not set up “straw men” to argue against, and to not disregard in argumentation the “principle of charity” which requires representing your opponent’s argument in the most charitable and honest way — and finally not taking “umbrage” (Ms. Ronayne’s term) in such an obvious manner that shows one already has an unjust and callous predisposition before even putting pen to paper. All of these principles were shattered by Ms. Ronayne and The Anchor allowed her the hammer.

This newspaper has some responsibility to foster a Christian dialogue which Father Johnson was trying to elicit, not to facilitate some royal rumble. I believe that Father Johnson deserves an apology from both Ms. Ronayne and The Anchor.

If such letters cannot be properly edited for content I would suggest that this section of the paper be discontinued all together. Those of us who read The Anchor do so for respite from all the sound bites and personal attacks in the secular media. We read it to be informed and edified, not to witness our beloved diocesan priests being besmirched by mud-slinging laity. Such facilitation also makes the paper appear hypocritical; on one page preaching charity and on another disregarding it. I respectfully request that The Anchor be a unifying force, not a divisive one, and be more vigilant in the future.

In Christ, Steven N. Guillotte Director of Pastoral Services

Money is flying out the window In 2012, The Anchor spent nearly $2,000 in postage change fees!

The Post Office charges The Anchor 70 cents for notification of a subscriber’s change of address. Please help us reduce these expenses by notifying us immediately when you plan to move.

Please Print Your New Address Below

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Clip and mail form to: The Anchor, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722

April 12, 2013

St. Francis Xavier Parish, Acushnet

Executive Editor Responds: Thank you for your letter. I understand your motivation in writing, but I do think that some clarifications need to be made.

In my response to Ms. Ronayne I should have included that it was neither Blessed John XXIII nor Vatican II, but Pope Paul VI who allowed Communion in the hand. In 1969 he authorized national conferences of bishops to request from the Holy See (“The Vatican”) permission to distribute Communion in this manner by way of exception. In 1977, at the request of the U.S. bishops, the Holy See granted this permission in our country, on a diocese by diocese basis

(each bishop had to decide if he wanted to allow it or not). It also reminded the bishops of their obligation to teach everyone to receive Holy Communion reverently and to help all to maintain their faith in the Eucharistic Lord.

Last week, at the bottom of the editorial, I did say that ad hominem attacks should not be allowed against the clergy and employees of the diocese, since they have no way of responding.

If any of the letters in this exchange were perceived as such, I would hope it was not the intention of the writers. I think the same policy should be true for our lay readers. Your letter seems to make assumptions about Ms. Ronayne — that she was making an “insincere” in-

vitation to Father Johnson and that her predisposition was “unjust and callous.” I don’t want to have a debate about various letter-writers’ motivations.

I think we need to remind ourselves that this began as a conversation about how Communion should be distributed — and, more fundamentally, how we encounter the greatest gift of Love that exists in our world. To take a lesson from our page two article on Pope Francis’ recent homily, may both “sides” (which term I don’t even like) set aside complaining, pray for each other before our Eucharistic Lord, and realize that when we receive Communion, we also are entering into union with each other — as such, may it always be a Communion in love.

Traditional sweet bread marks Easter season for Portuguese continued from page one

was heavily borrowed from such Christian traditions, Vasconcelos said mainstays like colored eggs and Easter bunnies miss the point.

“They focus just on the eggs, but the meaning goes back to Christ, Who is the center of it all,” she said. “This is good for the kids — for our children and grandchildren — because they are going to ask where the tradition came from.

It’s good to know where these traditions started. A lot of our traditions in America are Churchbased.”

As Holy Week and Easter are also times to reflect on God’s gifts and an opportunity to reach out to others, Vasconcelos first teamed up with Camara 16 years ago to begin another annual tradition centering around the folars.

With help from the Eucharistic Ministers at St. Michael’s and Espirito Santo parishes, the latter of which Vasconcelos is a member, an estimated 400 gift baskets are prepared containing the Easter sweet bread, a variety of fruit such as oranges, pears and bananas, and a small printed message: “This is for you, Remember Jesus loves you! Happy Easter!”

Lacking the more secular candy and chocolates, these Easter baskets are then delivered to the elderly, shut-ins, and clients at diocesan apostolates such as St. Vincent’s Home and Catholic Memorial Home during Holy Week.

“Venilia always tells me how God has been good to them and this is why she wants to keep the tradition going,” Vasconcelos said.

“I know she is very humble and doesn’t want to talk about it. But it is through people like her that these things happen and the reward is so great. When we bring the baskets to the people, they reminisce about their youth and a

lot of them remember the tradition from back home.”

In recent years, Vasconcelos said the outreach has expanded beyond the two parishes.

“It’s not just limited to one parish, we have help from the whole community,” she said. “It’s a nice little pick-me-up for Easter.”

Vasconcelos said some of the older ladies who used to help pack and deliver the Easter goodies are now homebound or confined to nursing homes themselves.

“They now look forward to receiving the sweet bread and gift items every year,” she said.

“The Camaras do things like this throughout the year and no one can understand, unless they go through it, how many blessings they have received.”

In addition to baking and donating hundreds of small sweet breads for delivery, the Açores Bakery also provides more than 300 of the Easter folars for the Romeiros pilgrims who make the annual Lenten devotion from church to church on Good Friday.

“In the morning on Good Friday, some of them choose to just eat bread and water, but we always make special sweet breads for them to take in their backpack,” Vasconcelos said. “They leave from Espirito Santo Church in Fall River at six in the morning and then they walk to every church in the city and ask permission to go inside. It’s mostly men, because the tradition 500 years ago began in the Azores … walking through the mountains where they would stay for a week. So it was very hard for the women to go with them; they stayed home with the children. But now, because it’s only one day, you’ll see some women join in, too.”

Like the folars, Vasconcelos said the Romeiros is a beautiful

Azorean tradition and something she hopes will survive and be passed down to future generations.

“I don’t know how long we can keep it alive, but we have a few young men who have joined in,” she said. “It’s in (our) hands to pass it on. My mother and grandmother did a good job passing on the traditions to us; and sometimes I think maybe our generation is not doing a good enough job of keeping the traditions alive. But if we don’t pass it down, who will?”

As if the ovens weren’t already busy enough during Holy Week cranking out egg-filled loaves of sweet bread, the bakery also makes and donates another 1,200 of the single-egg folars to be delivered to the inmates at the Dartmouth House of Correction.

“We can’t go into the prison, but (co-owner) Duarte Camara goes every year and delivers the sweet breads along with a little message in each,” Vasconcelos said. “You should read some of the letters we get back, thanking us. I think it’s therapeutic for both sides. They really appreciate being remembered and express heartfelt thanks.”

Noting how thankful the Camaras are for all that God has given them, Vasconcelos said the couple is always willing to give back to others — especially during the Lenten and Easter seasons.

“Every year they give thanks to God for their blessings all year and give back,” she said. “Someone has to be an instrument of the Holy Spirit and this little, humble bakery is an example of that. Venilia wouldn’t tell you this, but I can.”

“I love doing this,” Camara said, as she pulled another rack of fresh sweet bread from the oven.

“It’s an important part of my heritage. My grandmother and mother always made the Easter folars for me when I was growing up.”

St. Augustine’s life lights up the silver screen continued from page 12

to him — a woman he couldn’t marry because of her status as a slave — and they had a son.

As a lawyer, Augustine proved worthy of his training by convincing a jury to acquit a man of assaulting his wife; the man later murders the woman, planting a seed of change in Augustine’s heart. He returned home with his concubine and his son, only to be invited to Milan to become the emperor’s orator.

He left without the woman or their son — and ultimately lost them both.

When ordered to speak out against Catholic Bishop Ambrose, who is seen as a threat to the young emperor and his power, Augustine listened to Ambrose preach and ultimately used the bishop’s own words — and the words of the Scriptures — against him.

When the emperor ordered Augustine to seize the basilica in Milan to weaken the bishop, he witnessed the senseless murders of innocent Catholics as the Roman army attempted to take over the basilica.

Before the speech, in a meeting with Augustine, the bishop suggested to the young lawyer that men never find the truth. “They must,” he said, “let the truth find them.” The truth found Augustine following the attack on the basilica.

He decried the murders of innocents in a speech before the emperor and walked out — into a Catholic conversion. He told Bishop Ambrose that, for the first time, he stopped talking and listened. After baptizing him, the bishop noted that God would ask more of Augustine than of others because of his gifts as a great communicator. And in a prophetic gesture, he handed the newly-baptized Augustine a jar of ink and encouraged him to “use it all.”

In one of the film’s most powerful scenes, the nowCatholic Bishop Augustine is pitted against the bishop of the Donatists, a sect against whom

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The Anchor

April 12, 2013

he struggled for many years.

An impartial judge decided this climactic debate in favor of the Catholics and Augustine.

Back in Hippo, on the eve of a vicious attack by Vandal raiders, Bishop Augustine urged the Roman garrison to negotiate with the Vandal King Genseric, but they proudly refused. He passed up a chance to escape on a ship sent to rescue him by the pope, and stayed by the side of his people. By then, he had used almost all of that ink — in writing some of the most beloved documents in Church history, including “The Confessions” and “The City of God.” Donoghue said Augustine’s great conversion of faith shares similarities with another great doctor of the Church, St. Paul.

“More than the fact that both spoke out against the Church is the fact that both had their own unique but no less real, life-changing encounter with the Risen Lord,” he said.

“They were both effective and gifted men who, as a result of their conversions, put their talents at the service of Christ and His Church — and that made all the difference. It was their experience of Christ, and their willingness to apply it to their lives and their work, that I think makes them such important teachers of the faith.”

Adding that “Restless

Heart” does a good job portraying what life was like during the decline of the Roman Empire, Donoghue said it remains a timeless tale filled with life lessons since “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

“Uncertainty and fear, difficult economic times, war, social upheaval and corruption — sound familiar?” he asked, adding: “Many people look around at what is happening in the world today and experience fear, doubt and despair; yet it is precisely into a world much like our own that the Gospel was originally proclaimed and in which the Church took root.

The story of St. Augustine is timely today because it is ultimately a story of faith and a message of hope — and that’s a message I think people are longing to hear.”

The $20 million “Restless Heart” runs 127 minutes, was directed by Christian Duguay (“Joan of Arc,” “Pius XII”) and stars Allesandro Presiosi, Monica Guerritore, Johannes Brandrup, Serena Rossi and Franco Nero.

More information about the movie can be found at www.restlessheartfilm.com.

For more information about the screening or to purchase tickets, contact Chris Donoghue at 617-794-8442 or email AttleboroRHmovie@gmail.com.

First Portuguese Elders Conference slated continued from page one

weekly meetings, Pereira decided a larger group of Portuguese elders — she’s expecting more than 200 to attend — would be beneficial to the population. This conference will also be used as a platform to help educate the Portuguese elderly.

“We decided to have this conference to reach even more elders,” said Pereira. “The conference is about attitudes. It’s about changing your attitude about living well and living healthy. It’s about getting out of the house, going for walks, engaging in the community, volunteering — a lot of elders want to volunteer.”

Dr. Odete Amarelo, parishioner of St. Michael Parish in Fall River, will focus her presentation on self-esteem and self-worth.

“A lot of elders lose their own sense of who they are because they were mothers, fathers, workers; and now ‘I am nothing,’” said Pereira. “It’s about reinventing yourself in your old age and what are you going to do? You can be a grandmother but also be a volunteer. You can teach your skills to other kids.”

Pereira recalled how last year a group of New Bedford High Schools students would come and visit once a week and do conversational Portuguese with the elders so that the students could apply their textbook knowledge in traditional conversation. “[The elderly] can teach the

language. They can teach how to crochet or teach their cooking; it’s so that they don’t feel like it’s the end of the world, it’s just a new phase,” she said.

Dr. Nisa Remigio, from Quebec City, Canada, is coming to talk about storytelling as a form of therapy. When hearing stories about what people overcame and accomplished, said Pereira, the elder person who is listening “can see their life backwards and start coming to terms of their own sense of identity.

The afternoon will be full of discussions regarding preventative care; “Take your medications, go for walks, eat a healthy diet,” said Pereira. “It’s all about taking care of yourself.”

Senior Medicare Patrol will also talk about being more involved with their doctor appointments, making sure the elderly are in good communication regarding the service that they want; “Sometimes there are things they don’t need to take, so they empower themselves and be a partner in their healthcare,” said Pereira.

“This conference is about attitude, changing and being involved,” said Pereira. “I think it’s going to be a wonderful day for them. I hope to do this for all the elders in the diocese.”

If you would like more information regarding the first Portuguese elderly conference or the weekly meetings, please contact Pereira at 508-558-7260.

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Youth Pages

in jesus’ footsteps — St. Mary-Sacred Heart School’s fourth-grade classes put on its annual Stations of the Cross performing a tableau miming each of the 14 stations. During each station, Father David Costa, director of the North Attleboro school, read a short passage about what Jesus might have felt during this time. Then a student read a short passage linking to how Jesus felt, by helping the students think of a time in their lives when they might have felt hurt, alone, lost and afraid, as Jesus did during each station.

April 12, 2013

providing hope — Pre-k students from St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro recently collected art supplies for New Hope as their Lenten Service Project. Shown here with the students and their baskets are pre-k teachers, Tammy O’Malley and Kim Cavanaugh along with Kim Thomas (center), executive director/president of New Hope.

triumphant entry — Students in grades two and six from Holy Name School in Fall River worked with their Prayer Partners to prepare for the celebration of Palm Sunday. Students made their own palm branches and learned about Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem.

a great honor — Eighth-grade students from St. Joseph School in Fairhaven recently presented Live Stations of the Cross at St. Joseph Church. Students eagerly await this special presentation every year as they feel it is a great honor.

They ended the service with a musical selection, “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?”

lenten tradition — Students at St. James-St. John School in New Bedford prepared for Easter with their Stations of the Cross program.

africa-bound — As part of the African Library Project, students at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Mansfield collected used children’s books and raised money to have them shipped to Africa. The books, which were collected at St. Mary’s throughout Lent, will be used to create a school library at Boti Roman Catholic Primary and Junior High School in Ghana.

Youth Pages

April 12, 2013

S

17

Extraordinary ordinariness

ince the election of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, the media and the world seem to be taken with his simplicity and humble approach.

As a priest mentioned to us recently, he has the demeanor of an ordinary parish priest. By that I mean one who loves being close to the people and involved in their daily lives and caring for each and every one of them.

That’s a good thing and no small task when you are the spiritual father of 1.2 billion of us!

When I look at Pope Francis, I wonder what we can learn from the way he goes about his ministry. I immediately thought of a phrase that I’ve often heard — “Live an extraordinary life in an ordinary way.” Maybe it goes the other way around but in any case it’s a call to action and it basically tells us that we don’t have to be out on a soap box or out front. We can bring others to Christ by living an ordinary Christian life. We can make a difference in the world by being ordinary.

After all, the first 30 years of Jesus’ life were pretty ordinary.

He lived in an ordinary home in traordinary at His Resurrection. an ordinary town. He worked I like to think of Jesus as with His dad. He learned a trade. an ordinary man. A Man Who I’m sure He helped His mom lived, and felt like we do. While around the house. I think that on Earth, He laughed, He cried, this is a model for all of us. This He loved and He even got angry. ordinary time took up most of That is pretty ordinary stuff.

His life so I’m thinking it must be an important message to us all!

Even when He began His public ministry, most of what He did was ordinary. He traveled with friends,

By Frank Lucca He preached, He taught. Yet in each of these ordinary events, He showed us what it means to live an extraordinary But in how He took the ordinary life! and made it extraordinary is Think about His miracles. where I think the message lies.

The first took place at an ordiI truly believe that each and nary event — a wedding. The every one of us can be extraordiordinary became extraordinary nary — but in an ordinary way. I when He turned the water into don’t have to give out profound wine. The ordinary Passover messages or write a column that dinner on what we now call will razzle-dazzle people. I only Holy Thursday was a meal with have to be me doing the best I friends that turned extraordinary can and living a life modeled on when He turned the bread and Christ. wine into His own Body. The There is a song, whose title ordinary act of dying turned exescapes me now, that has the

stanza, “I only have to be what You made me.” The artist is saying that God gave us talents and abilities and we only need to use them to the best of our ability. Some folks are musicians, others are writers and scholars.

Others are good people who live what would be considered a simple life.

It is in that ordinariness that we can each be extraordinary.

I challenge all of us today to look around in our ordinary lives and see what we can turn to the extraordinary.

Take a look at the person that is ostracized in school or work and reach out to them. Visit the sick or call someone who is lonely.

Thank a teacher for their hard work. Show support to someone who is upset, ill or hurting.

Work at a soup kitchen, teach a CCD class or rake someone’s lawn. Thank your ordinary parish priest for his selfless giving of his life to his parishioners.

Pope Francis, in his simplicity and humbleness is demon-

strating to us how we are to act as Christian disciples — living a life modeled on Christ. He’s just being himself. Is there any doubt he’s acting like Christ would act in the many situations we’ve had the opportunity to see him act? I believe that he is.

It is in our ordinary actions that someone will also see Jesus in us. They will want to know why we are the way we are.

They will try to be more like us.

Our simple ordinary action will affect others in such a way that they will change a bit and so will we. The ordinary actions of our ordinary lives can also bring someone to come to know Jesus better.

Now that’s extraordinary!

Frank Lucca is a youth minister at St. Dominic’s Parish in Swansea. He chairman and a director of the YES! Retreat and director of the Christian Leadership Institute. He is a husband and a father of two daughters and a son-in-law. Comments, ideas or suggestions? Please email him at StDominicYouthMinistry@ comcast.net.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When hundreds of thousands of young Catholics gather with Pope Francis in Rio de Janeiro in the summer, reflections on safeguarding the environment will be part of the program.

Like earlier editions of World Youth Day, the July celebration in Rio de Janeiro will include morning catechetical sessions and afternoon cultural events.

“From the beginning of planning — under Pope Benedict XVI — we thought that a major theme in Brazil, known as ‘the lungs of the world,’ would have to be the environment,” said Marcello Bedeschi, president of the John Paul II Foundation

for Youth, a Rome-based organization that assists with World Youth Day planning.

“We did not know that there would be a new pope and that in his first three major addresses, he would speak about safeguarding Creation, not in political or ideological terms, but as a Christian obligation,” Bedeschi said.

Corrado Clini, Italy’s environment minister, has been working with the foundation, the Pontifical Council for the Laity, the Brazilian government and the Rio Church’s World Youth Day organizing team to promote the reflection of young people on the importance of biodiversity and protecting the

tempts to draft and build consensus around a set of “Sustainable Development Goals” as a follow-up to the conference, “grass-roots support and participation is essential,” Clini said.

“World Youth Day is the best context for expanding this vision of global solidarity,” which includes a commitment by industrialized nations to moderate their consumption habits, promote development in poor countries and share with them the knowledge and technology they need to build their economies without threatening the environment.

The Catholic Church can have a big impact on promoting the goals because it has an ability to bring moral teachings

— including those about safeguarding creation — into the hearts, minds and daily lives of its faithful, the minister said.

WYD 2013 is scheduled for July 23-28. The special reflection on the environment is scheduled for the second day of the gathering. Clini, his Brazilian counterpart, scientists, theologians, U.N. officials and members of Catholic groups devoted to safeguarding creation will lead the reflection with young people.

At the end of the gathering, the youths are expected to issue a “manifesto for safeguarding creation,” which will be drafted with assistance from Conventual Franciscan friars from Assisi, Italy.

Be Not Afraid

Safeguarding creation expected to be major theme at WYD in Rio environment. He also is working to encourage cooperation between several Italian and Brazilian companies to reduce the energy and water used at WYD and to recycle as much of the refuse they produce as possible.

At a recent news conference at the Vatican, Clini said the fact that the youth gathering will take place one year after the international community gathered for Rio +20 — a U.N. sponsored conference on sustainable development — is a great opportunity to rally the passion Catholic youths have for protecting the world God created.

As the United Nations at-

group effort — Students in Mrs. Burr’s fifth-grade class at All Saints Catholic School in New Bedford performed the Stations of the Cross with emotion and deep spirit for the whole school during Holy Week. The entire class took part, worked together and put on an amazing performance.

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

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50th annual World Day of Prayer for Vocations is April 21 continued from page one

website (fallrivervocations.org) or Facebook page, where a number of pictures, videos and articles can also be found,” he added.

In a press release from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Robert J. Carlson, chairman of the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations said, “The Church’s basic mission is to preach the Gospel and help build a civilization of love in our world today. We need good holy priests and dedicated men and women committed to the consecrated life to help build the

In Your Prayers Please pray for these deceased priests during the coming week April 14 Rev. Louis N. Dequoy, Pastor, Sacred Heart, North Attleboro, 1935 Rev. Cosmas Chaloner, SS.CC., St. Francis Xavier, Acushnet, 1977 April 15 Rev. Christopher G. Hughes, D.D., Retired Rector, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Fall River, 1908 April 16 Rev. Arthur E. Langlois, on sick leave, Denver, Colo., 1928 Rev. Norman F. Lord, C.S.Sp., Hemet, Calif., 1995 Rev. John W. Pegnam, USN, Retired Chaplain, 1996 April 18 Rev. Hugh B. Harrold, Pastor, St. Mary, Mansfield, 1935 Rt. Rev. John F. McKeon, P.R., Pastor, St. Lawrence, New Bedford, 1956 Rev. Joao Vieira Resendes, Retired Pastor, Espirito Santo, Fall River, 1984 Rev. Wilfred C. Boulanger, M.S., La Salette Shrine, Attleboro, 1985 Rev. George E. Amaral, Retired Pastor, St. Anthony, Taunton, 1992 April 19 Rev. William Wiley, Pastor, St. Mary, Taunton, 1855 Rev. Msgr. Leo J. Duart, Pastor, St. Peter the Apostle, Provincetown, 1975 Rev. Daniel E. Carey, Chaplain, Catholic Memorial Home, Retired Pastor, St. Dominic, Swansea, 1990 Rev. Msgr. Antonino Tavares, Retired Pastor, Santo Christo, Fall River, 2008

Kingdom of God here and now.

Therefore, we want a stronger culture of vocations in our own nation to help each Catholic realize that we all have a responsibility to invite young people to consider if God is calling them to the priesthood or consecrated life.”

The release also indicated resources to help the laity and clergy “build a culture of vocations in homes and parishes,” can be found on the USCCB website, usccb.org/ vocations. Among the resources are videos of priests and religious men and women giving witness to their vocations, videos of testimonies from parents whose children

have answered the call, prayers and discernment resources for men and women, downloadable lesson plans for educators, and retreat resources for parishes.

“We have seen a slight increase in religious vocations in the U.S. over the past few years,” said Father John Guthrie, associate director of the Secretariat for Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations.

“It is our hope to continue this development by helping every member of the Church to encourage and promote vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life. The resources on the website are valuable tools in this effort.”

Around the Diocese 4/14

On April 14, Holy Trinity Women’s Guild will host a spectacular Spring Penny Sale at 1 p.m. in the church basement located on the corner of Tucker Street and Stafford Road in Fall River.

Admission is $1, which entitles one to 100 prizes on the grand table. Additional raffles will be offered for the larger prizes such as food baskets and appliances, etc. Door prizes are free to players in attendance. Also, a luncheon menu will be available including: chow mein sandwiches, hot dogs, chouriço and peppers, variety of delicious pastries and other goodies.

4/16

The Daughters of Isabella Hyacinth Circle had to cancel last month’s meeting due to inclement weather, but they are eagerly ready to start anew. The next meeting will be held at St. Mary’s in South Dartmouth on April 16 at 7 p.m. in the parish center. The group will be holding its annual baby shower for Birth Right. Please bring a baby gift to benefit local young parents in need. All past, present, and new members are welcome.

4/18

A Healing Mass will be held April 18 at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford. The Mass will begin at 6:30 p.m. and includes Benediction and healing prayers.

At 5:15 p.m. there will be a Holy Hour including the Rosary. For directions or more information call 508-993-1691 or visit www.saintanthonyofnewbedford. com.

4/18

All are invited to join in prayers for “Building a New Culture of Life” on April 18 at 1 p.m. in St. Jude’s Chapel of Christ the King Parish in Mashpee. Prayers will consist of the four mysteries of the Rosary with meditations on each.

4/21

An antique road show will be held on April 21 at 1 p.m. at St. Anthony Church in East Falmouth to benefit the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. A donation for each item will be requested to have it valued by professional antique dealers. Complimentary light refreshments will be served. For more information call 508-457-0085.

4/27

The Cape Cod Deanery will sponsor a Life in the Spirit seminar at St. John the Evangelist Parish Center, 841 Shore Road in Pocasset on April 26 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. and April 27 from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The seminar will include witness talks and small group discussions. Please bring your own lunch on Saturday. For more information and to register contact Pam at 508-759-2737.

April 12, 2013

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese

Acushnet — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Monday and Tuesday from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Thursday from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Evening prayer and Benediction is held Monday through Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

ATTLEBORO — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the St. Joseph Adoration Chapel at Holy Ghost Church, 71 Linden Street, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

ATTLEBORO — The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette holds Eucharistic Adoration in the Shrine Church every Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. through November 17.

Brewster — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the La Salette Chapel in the lower level of Our Lady of the Cape Church, 468 Stony Brook Road, on First Fridays beginning at noon until 7:45 a.m. First Saturday, concluding with Benediction and concluding with Mass at 8 a.m. buzzards Bay — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Margaret Church, 141 Main Street, every first Friday after the 8 a.m. Mass and ending the following day before the 8 a.m. Mass.

East Freetown — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. John Neumann Church every Monday (excluding legal holidays) 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Our Lady, Mother of All Nations Chapel. (The base of the bell tower).

East Sandwich — The Corpus Christi Parish Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, East Sandwich.

Use the Chapel entrance on the side of the church.

EAST TAUNTON — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the chapel at Holy Family Parish Center, 438 Middleboro Avenue, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. On First Fridays, Eucharistic Adoration takes place at Holy Family Church, 370 Middleboro Avenue, from 8:30 a.m. until 7:45 p.m.

FAIRHAVEN — St. Mary’s Church, Main St., has Eucharistic Adoration every Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to noon in the Chapel of Reconciliation, with Benediction at noon. Also, there is a First Friday Mass each month at 7 p.m., followed by a Holy Hour with Eucharistic Adoration. Refreshments follow.

Fall River — Espirito Santo Parish, 311 Alden Street, Fall River. Eucharistic Adoration on Mondays following the 8 a.m. Mass until Rosary and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.

FALL RIVER — St. Bernadette’s Church, 529 Eastern Ave., has Eucharistic Adoration on Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the chapel.

FALL RIVER — St. Anthony of the Desert Church, 300 North Eastern Avenue, has Eucharistic Adoration Mondays and Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

FALL RIVER — Holy Name Church, 709 Hanover Street, has Eucharistic Adoration Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Our Lady of Grace Chapel.

FALL RIVER — Good Shepherd Parish has Eucharistic Adoration every Friday following the 8 a.m. Mass and concluding with 3 p.m. Benediction in the Daily Mass Chapel. A bilingual holy hour takes place from 2 to 3 p.m. Park behind the church and enter the back door of the connector between the church and the rectory.

Falmouth — St. Patrick’s Church has Eucharistic Adoration each First Friday, following the 9 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 4:30 p.m. The Rosary is recited Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.

MASHPEE — Christ the King Parish, Route 151 and Job’s Fishing Road has 8:30 a.m. Mass every First Friday with special intentions for Respect Life, followed by 24 hours of Eucharistic Adoration in the Chapel, concluding with Benediction Saturday morning followed immediately by an 8:30 Mass.

NEW BEDFORD — Eucharistic Adoration takes place 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 233 County Street, with night prayer and Benediction at 8:45 p.m., and Confessions offered during the evening. Please use the side entrance.

NEW BEDFORD — There is a daily holy hour from 5:15-6:15 p.m. Monday through Thursday at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue. It includes Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Liturgy of the Hours, recitation of the Rosary, and the opportunity for Confession.

4/27

NEW BEDFORD — St. Lawrence Martyr Parish, 565 County Street, holds Eucharistic Adoration in the side chapel every Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

4/28

NORTH DIGHTON — Eucharistic Adoration takes place every First Friday at St. Nicholas of Myra Church, 499 Spring Street following the 8 a.m. Mass, ending with Benediction at 6 p.m. The Rosary is recited Monday through Friday from 7:30 to 8 a.m.

Good Shepherd Parish, 1598 South Main Street in Fall River will be holding its annual Penny Sale on April 27. The kitchen will open at 5 p.m. and drawings will begin at 6 p.m. Admission is free with hundreds of prizes, along with a children’s table and a money rose table. Menu items include linguiça, meatball and chow mein sandwiches, stuffed cabbage, clam cakes, meat pie, stuffed quahogs and much more.

The Walk to Aid Mothers sponsored by Massachusetts Citizens for Life will be held on April 28 at La Salette Shrine in Attleboro.

Please note: the location has been changed from Boston. In addition to the new location, there is a website where you can register and set up a sponsor page so people can sponsor you online. The new site is located at http://respectlifewalk.org/. If you cannot walk, you can log onto the website to sponsor someone who is walking for your favorite beneficiary. For more information call 508-673-9757 or 508-415-2599.

5/4

A Day with Mary will be held May 4 at St. Margaret’s Church, 141 Main Street in Buzzards Bay from 7:50 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. It will include a video presentation, procession and crowning of the Blessed Mother with Mass and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. There will also be an opportunity for Reconciliation. A bookstore is available. Please bring a bag lunch. For more information call 508-996-8274.

NORTH DARTMOUTH — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Julie Billiart Church, 494 Slocum Road, every Tuesday from 7 to 8 p.m., ending with Benediction. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available at this time.

OSTERVILLE — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 76 Wianno Avenue on First Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to noon.

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

Taunton — Eucharistic Adoration takes place every Tuesday at St. Anthony Church, 126 School Street, following the 8 a.m. Mass with prayers including the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for vocations, concluding at 6 p.m. with Chaplet of St. Anthony and Benediction.

Recitation of the Rosary for peace is prayed Monday through Saturday at 7:30 a.m. prior to the 8 a.m. Mass. taunton — Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament takes place every First Friday at Annunciation of the Lord, 31 First Street. Expostition begins following the 8 a.m. Mass.

The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed, and Adoration will continue throughout the day.

Confessions are heard from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. Rosary and Benediction begin at 6:30 p.m.

WAREHAM — Every First Friday, Eucharistic Adoration takes place from 8:30 a.m. through Benediction at 5:30 p.m. Morning prayer is prayed at 9; the Angelus at noon; the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3 p.m.; and Evening Prayer at 5 p.m.

WEST HARWICH — Our Lady of Life Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Holy Trinity Parish, 246 Main Street (Rte. 28), holds perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. We are a regional chapel serving all of the surrounding parishes. All from other parishes are invited to sign up to cover open hours. For open hours, or to sign up call 508-430-4716.

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

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The Anchor

April 12, 2013

Local parish becomes Easter Bunny to less fortunate kids

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

NORTH DARTMOUTH — This year the youth members of the Life Teen program at St. Julie Billiart Parish in North Dartmouth rolled up their sleeves and got down and dirty in the grass — plastic grass, that is — by making Easter baskets for less fortunate children in the area.

The Life Teen program is for high school youth between the grades of nine-12, and is done in lieu of regular Faith Formation “catechesis,” explained Sue Geier, member of St. Julie Billiart Parish.

“They gather, proclaim and do a sharing where they get into small groups. It is catechesisbased, but it’s done in a different manner,” said Geier. “It tends to keep teen-agers more involved in the Church and interested in their faith.”

One of the requirements of the program is to perform 30 hours of service, both community- and parish-based. Throughout the year the group focuses on many different activities, but last year inspiration struck the parish’s youth minister Joe Martino, who had the idea of making Easter baskets.

“He came up with the idea because the parish that he belongs to, which is St. John Neumann in East Freetown, does it with its couple’s club,” said Geier, “and he thought it was such a great idea as a service project for the teens. He proposed it last year and it went over so big last year, that we decided to keep it as an annual event.”

Last year approximately 125 baskets were made and all donated to the Kennedy-Donovan Center; the KDC supports individuals and families with developmental disabilities and similar needs, to reach their maximum potential and quality of life through advocacy and individualized services.

“I work for the KennedyDonovan Center; I do early intervention,” explained Geier, on how the baskets ended up being donated to KDC. This year 225 baskets were made and were donated to the Harbour House, a homeless shelter in New Bedford; the Donovan House, a sober transitional housing program, funded by the Catholic Charities Appeal, for women and their children in New Bedford; and the Stanley Street Treatment and Resources, a non-profit health care and social service agency program.

“We did those children first so that every child got a basket,” said Geier. “All the products put in the baskets were

donated by the parishioners, and it ranged from plastic eggs filled with candy to chocolate bunnies, toys and bubbles and coloring books; it was an assortment of things.”

Guidelines were created to help the Life Teen members put baskets together. Items were sorted out, then the youth were told to try and stick to specific themes to the baskets; “If it’s going to be for a boy, then do all-boy choices. If it’s for a girl, then do all girl things. If it’s for a baby, then do all baby things.

We didn’t want the baskets just thrown together,” said Geier.

Easter bags were filled with treats to accommodate older children.

“The kids [of Life Teen] loved it because it counts as service time for them,” said Geier, “but this year it happened to fall on St. Patrick’s Day so they came together for Mass and came into the parish hall to arrange baskets.”

“I would love to have it get to a point when we could actually see some of the kids receiving the baskets, so that the teen-agers can actually get that connection to whom they are giving these baskets,” said Geier, adding that because of privacy issues, meet-

ing face-to-face is not an option.

Even with the limitations due to the privacy issues, Geier was able to hear from the staff at KDC, who gave donated baskets to the individual families that they worked with; “They were thrilled that we did it again this year, and the kids were ecstatic that they knew the Easter baskets were coming,” said Geier. “Last year it was a new thing, but this year they knew the baskets were coming.”

In the early intervention part of her program, Geier said she is not allowed to stress the religious aspect of Easter; “We have to keep it general,” she explained. “For some families it does have that meaning, but it’s the giving back that we try to instill in teen-agers. That’s what the service is about. It’s not something we want to make a requirement to make your Confir-

mation, it’s about giving to others and learning how that feels.”

The hands-on approach to projects like this really drives home the message of “how they can affect and make a difference in people’s lives,” said Geier.

“We explain to them that they’re making an impact and this is part of being a Christian.”

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The Anchor

April 12, 2013