diocese
of fall river
t eanc 0 VOL. 23, NO. 17
FAll RIVER, MASS., THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1979
20c, $6 Per Year
Less Patience Advised
On School Aid Issue
AMONG PARTICIPANTS at. Catholic Charities Appeal kickoff meeting: from left, Father Thomas L. Rita, Melvin B. 'Gonsalves, Bishop Daniel A. Cronin, Msgr. Thomas, J. Harrington.
Bishop Sounds a Clarion Call "When a jubilee year commenced in ancient Israel, a great trumpet sounded, the 'yubiil,' which gives the very name to the celebration. Let our meeting this evening be a clarion call to all those within the diocese of Fall River." Thus Bishop Daniel A. Cronin called members of the diocese to participation in the Jubilee Catholic Charities Appeal, the 38th year for the appeal and the 75th for the diocese. He spoke at a kickoff meeting held last Wednesday at Bishop Connolly High School, Fall River. He told the audience of priests, religious and Appeal volunteers that during the jubilee years of israel, glad tidings were proclaimed to the poor, captives were freed and the suffering were healed. "My dear friends," said the bishop, "I should like to suggest that the Catholic Charities Appeal, which we undertake this evening, constitutes an opportunity to realize the elements of the Jubilee Year! "For does not our charitable effort seek to accomplish those very goals of the season of jubilee? To aid the poor and the needy, to provide the healing ministry of the church for those
in pain, to bring hope to those. on the threshold of despair. Through our agencies of social service, our institutions, our programs and our apostolates, we seek to do those very things," Noting that 1978 Appeal proceeds totaled $1,100,000, the bishop said that over 90 per cent of the amount came from parish collections. He expressed the hope that the 1979 drive would top last year's, explain-
ing that· "the rate of inflation has been formidable; in fad, it has surpassed the rate of growth of our appeal." Also speaking were Msgr. Anthony M. Gomes, diocesan appeal director for the past decade; Melvin B. Gonsalves, appeal lay' chairman; and Father Thomas L. Rita, director of St. Vincent's Home, Fall River, an appeal beneficiary. Turn to Page Seven
Initial Plans Formulated For Papal Trip to Poland '.
VATICAN CITY (NC) Plans have been announced for the June return of Pope John Paul II to his native land of Poland. He will arrive in the capital city of Warsaw June 2, staying there overnight. The next day, June 3, he will travel about 140 miles west to Gniezno, which in the year 1000 A.D. became Poland's first archdiocese. Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, primate of Poland, is archbishop of Gniezno and Warsaw· The pope will stay one night
in Gniezno before departing June 4 for Czestochowa, about 140 miles distant, where he will stay two nights. Czestochowa is home of the world-famous national shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, patroness of ,Poland. On June 6 the pope will leave Czestochowa for Cracow, 60 miles to the southeast. He was Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Cracow before he was elected pope last October. The pontiff will remain in Cracow the remaining nights of Turn to- Page Seven
PHILADELPHIA (NC) Pope 'John 'Paul said that American Catholics must be- Catholic education "is above all come "less patient" with the a question of communicating gOVe1rnment's repeated denials Christ, of helping to form Christ of public assistance to church- in the lives of others," related schools and assume a Cardinal John Krol of Phila"strong advocacy role" for their delphia opened the convention basic rights in the face of grow- by telling the educators, "The ing anti-Catholicism, U.S. Sen. time has come to re-evaluate Daniel P. Moynihan told Cath- what appears to have been an olic educators. unconscious drift nationwide Speaking at the final session to stop building Catholic of the. National Catholic Edu- ",schools," The cardinal defended cational Association's conven- the cost by stating that "Cathtion in Philadelphia, the New' olic school graduates will repay York Democrat warned that "a the investment in their educa-· powerful body of opinion has tion and formation by generrisen in this country which is osity to works of the church," much opposed to the influence 'Prior to a recommitment cereof religious belief and religious mony in which the teachers re- . institutions in the secular acti- dedicated themselves to their vities of society," vocation, Bishop Thomas J. Referring to President Car- Murphy of Great Falls, Mont., ter's pledge of support for non- called for the church to recogpublic schools in the 1976 presi- nize and ritualize the teaching dential campaign, Moynihan ministry. said no assistance has come be"The central core, the heart, , cause the adminstration has and the focus of Catholic· edubeen stifled by HEW bureau- cation today is the teacher," crats. Bishop Murphy said. Moynihan told the audience that if the issue of aid to nonpublic schools is not settled by the end of this session of Congress "it will become an issue Bishop Daniel A. Cronin will in the 1980 presidental campaign, and we will get the an- '. be guest of honor at Saturday's all-day convention of the Dioceswers this election," Reflecting on the huge con- san Council of Catholic Women, vention, which attracetd some to be held at Bishop Stang High 18,000 educators, including School, North Dartmouth. He will also be principal conmany from the Fall River diocese, Father John F. Myers, celebrant of the 4 p.m. Mass that NCEA president, said that des- will close the day. Other conpite a drop in enrollment and celebrants will be district and some school closings, "the fu- guild moderators for the counture of Catholic education looks cil, who are reminded to bring albs and stoles. very good," Following a 10 a.m. business During the four-day convention the educators heard a vari- session, the convention program ety of speakers, including Pope will include three concurrent John Paul II on videotape, em- workshops. The DCCW Church Communiphasize the theine that Catholic ties Commission will present education is too valuable to be Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Nogueira allowed to diminish. "The pope's message was so of Our Lady of Victory parish" powerfully strong that it is go- Centerville, and Francis Caming to have a great effect on acho, Our Lady of the Cape, Catholic education in this coun- Brewster. Both men are canditry," the NCEA president re- dates for· the permanent diamarked. "The Holy Father conate and they and Mrs. Nomakes it very clear that we must gueira will discuss this church continue our great school sYS" ministry. tern," Turn to Page Seven
Three Workshops
At DCCW Parley
31JBILEE75
I
catholic charities appeal
t