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FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER
teanc 0 VOL. 27, NO. 16
FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS 1
FALL RIVER, MASS., FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 1983
$8 Per Year
Pope teUs U.S. bishops ,
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Give penance priority
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By Father Kenneth J. Doyle VATICAN CITY ~C) - Pope John Paul II has urged a group of U.S. bishops to give special priority to the sacrament of pen ance, including making it avail able during all the days of Holy Week. In recent years, some bishops have adopted a practice of not scheduling confession periods on Holy Thursday, Good Friday or Holy Saturday, in order to es tablish a "liturgical quiet" for contemplating the death and resurrection of Christ. The pope spoke to 23 bishops from eight dioceses in New York and from the military ordinariate on April 15. It was the first group of U.S. prelates to make their "ad limina" reports to the pope, required every five years so bishops can report on the status of their dioceses. During April 14-15, the, pontiff spent several hours meeting in dividually with each of the 23 bishops before addressing them together in a 20-minl!te talk which focused on reconciliation with God through penance. The pope invited the bishops Ii
,/77." ,L'~t THE HOLY YEAR cross enshrined at St. Mary's Cathedral designates it, like seven other diocesan churches. as a place where the jubilee indulgence may be gained. (Gaudette Photo) .. '\t.J
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Recons:ecration
s'et for May
Responding to the wish of Pope John Paul II that the Holy Year of Jubilee now in progress be marked by renewed devotion to our Lady, Bishop Daniel A. Cronin has announced a dioce san-wide Marian program to be implemented next month. Writing to priests of the dio cese the bishop said: "Through out the history of the diocese of Fall River, profound devotion to our Blessed Mother has char acterized the faith and the Cath olic life of bishops, clergy, reli gious and faithful laity. As a further manifestation of this devotion, I am writing to you today to announce a diocesan-wide program which will be implemented next month. "In May, the month of parti cular devotion to Mary, I am
The pope no~ed that the "to go in search' of those who have sinned, so as to invite them themes of the current Holy Year to return to the fullness of the and of the forthcoming Synod father's love" and said that the of Bishops focus on reconcilia hierarchy should "concentrate tion. "We are truly called to pro the attention of the faithful on claim the reconciliation of hu the person of Jesus the redeem er, who personally forgives and manity with God. This means reviving a sense of God, of his reconciles each individual." The faithful should be en· word, of his commandments couraged to confess their sins of the need for accepting his will during Lent in advance of the as the real criterion for human sacred triduum as a spiritual action," he told t.he bishops. This'means "reviving a sense preparation for the final events of Holy Week and in order "to of sin among our people," he diminish the heavy pressure on added. "Proclaiming reconciliation," confessors," the pope said. "Nevertheless, I would ask the pope continued, means in that bishops urge their priests sisting on the greatness of God's to do everything possible in their pardon and on his compassion pastoral generosity and zeal to ate love." The pontiff also asked the make confessions available also during the last days of Holy bishops "to help ensure that the norms" on general absolution Week," he added. "There will inevitably," said ,and on first confession be "un· the pope, "be people who, in derstood and properly applied." The Vatican requires that spite of everything, will need children be taught the meaning this opportunity of grace." On Good Friday of this year, of the sacrament of penance Pope John Paul for the fourth and offered the opportunity to year in a row heard confessions receive it before making their for an hour and a half in St. first Comunion. It also requires Tum to Page Seven, Peter's Basilica.
calling for the reconsecration of our diocese and of each and every parish within the diocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. "In doing so, we shall be re sponding to the example and in vitation of our beloved' Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, who just a year ago traveled to the Marian Shrine at Fatima and consecrated the Universal Church to Mary's Immaculate Heart. "Many good people, reflecting their devotion to our Blessed Mother, have spontaneously prayed for a resurgence of de votion to Mary, the Patroness of the Universal Church and of the Church here in our country. "We here in the diocese of tum to Page Three
Comp,~ters not WASHINGTON (NC) - Peo ple are more important than machines, Mary Ann Banta told Catholic educators, but she said she's watched some teachers en shrine computers in the class· roomrooms "like May altars." At a workshop at the recent National Catholic Educational Association convention in Wash ington, Ms. Banta, president of WATCH (Washington A'ssocia ,tion for Television and Children) spoke on "The Effects of Elec tronic Media-Games on Child ren." Ms. Banta jokingly described new technology as "those things developed after you were born." Teacher may react to something new by einshining it, fearing it or trying to ignore it but Ms. Banta believes that people con cerned about their children's fu ture must address new tech nology as it develops. "If those of us who are con cerned about children leave the decisions to others, we can't complain about being served up garbage. We did that with tele vision; don't do it with com
May altars
puters," she said. Television has been con trolled by people for whom the bottom line is money. "Our bot tom line is the successful de· velopment of young children," Ms. Banta said. The key question now is who will have access to information. When the printing press was de veloped children were cut off because the oral tradition faded in favor of reading, something they couldn't do. With the new electronic technology children without access to computers will
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be even more shut out. "We're going to have information-rich and information-poor children," Ms. Banta said. Because of the overwhelming amount of infonnation becoming available, teachers "are going to have to stop being providers of information .. . and help children sort out and develop a sense of wisdom," she said, a task more difficult that just doling" out facts. Another change Ms. Banta sees is that computers are blur ring the lines between work and play. "Now at last we have a machine that is playful, a rna· chine that is patient," and this makes computers ideal for chil dren. "All of us are playing with the machines now but I think children today will grow up with it" and move beyond the play stage, while some adults and adolescents may stay fixated in the play stage, according to Ms. Banta. The children will lead us," in the new technology, Ms. Banta concluded.