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Diocese of Fall River, Mass.

F riday , May 8, 2015

Dominican Sisters discuss vocations at several diocesan schools, parishes

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

The Voice of the Poor Committee for Social Justice of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Attleboro hoped to raise awareness of the plight of the homeless youth by placing a mannequin, dressed in raggy clothing and in a slumping position, in strategic places in the area. Diana Reeves, chairman for the committee, taped an informational video through Mansfield Cable TV, and posted it on YouTube, titled, “Youth Without Homes Can’t Wait.”

FALL RIVER — While some religious may discern their vocation at an early age, that wasn’t the case for Sister Peter Joseph.

Although she was raised in a good, Catholic family, she recently noted that she didn’t personally know any nuns before deciding to join the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.

“I didn’t have Sisters around me at all,” Sister Peter Joseph said. “It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be a Sister, it was that I didn’t know there still were Sisters around. I never saw any

— so it just wasn’t on my radar.”

During a trip to the area last week with fellow Dominican Sister Peter Thomas, the two nuns took the opportunity to discuss their respective vocations and some of the aspects of religious life with Catholic school students and parishioners in the diocese.

Their four-day visit was sponsored by the diocesan Vocations Office and included stops at St. Michael School in Fall River, St. Francis Xavier School in Acushnet, St. John Paul II High School in Hyannis, and retreat talks given to the ECHO program at Christ

the King Parish in Mashpee and junior retreatants at St. John Paul II High School.

“When I was in middle school, that’s when I really had an opportunity to learn more about my faith,” Sister Peter Joseph said. “Instead of just getting dragged along with my family on Sunday, I started to read things for myself.”

It was also during this time that Sister Peter Joseph’s father — who had been raised in the Lutheran faith — decided to convert to Catholicism.

“He had a conversion when I was in sixth grade and he came into the Catholic Turn to page 14

New homelessness initiatives struggling to take off

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

ATTLEBORO — According to www.MaHomeless.org, the number of people experiencing homelessness is continuing to rise, with the latest 2014 Annual Homeless Assessment Report submitted to Congress seeing Massachusetts have the fourth highest increase in homelessness among all states between 2013-2014. As of March 3, there were approximately 4,500 families with children and pregnant women in Mas-

sachusetts’ Emergency Assistance shelter programs, with 1,419 of those families with children being sheltered in motels.

In Attleboro, a new outreach program from the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Voice of the Poor Committee, is gearing up to create programs that will not just aid those families, but give them the tools to break out of the poverty they find themselves living in — though the program is off to a bumpy start.

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Sister Peter Joseph, left, and Sister Peter Thomas, right, talk to seventh- and eighth-grade students at St. Michael’s School in Fall River. The Sisters recently visited several schools and parishes in the Fall River Diocese to discuss their vocations as members of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, based in Ann Arbor, Mich. Their visit was sponsored by the diocesan Vocations Office. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)

For media technician, Appeal is not only a job but a mission

By Dave Jolivet Anchor Editor

Dave Fortin, owner of Media Image Productions, Inc., edits some of this year’s footage shot to promote the 2015 Catholic Charities Appeal, in his Fairhaven studio. (Photo by Anne Fortin)

FAIRHAVEN — Dave Fortin, of Media Image Productions, Inc., based in Fairhaven, and his wife Anne first became involved with the Diocese of Fall River’s Catholic Charities Appeal nearly 20 years ago.

“We did our first Appeal video in 1996,” Fortin told The Anchor. “Since then, my wife and I have videotaped at ministries throughout the diocese on a yearly basis.”

Producing and editing the many videos over that last 19 campaigns has left an indelible mark on Fortin’s heart and soul.

“When I told my wife The Anchor was looking for some feedback from me, she commented

that even though this is a ‘job,’ it has actually become a ‘ministry’ for me,” he said. “And I guess she is accurate in saying that. The amount of time and effort I put in each year is staggering. And no matter how much you try to get done ‘early,’ in those last four weeks before the kickoff of the Appeal, I end up working long days, seven days a week. I take this very seriously, and try to do my best to make sure everything is just right.”

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May 8, 2015 News From the Vatican Pope’s encyclical could have huge weigh-in on climate change talks

Rome, Italy (CNA/EWTN News) — With experts and global leaders looking to Pope Francis as a moral compass, his upcoming encyclical on the environment could set a key ethical framework for discussion and policies surrounding the topic.

“We look to Pope Francis as a great moral leader for all humanity, all people here from every walk of life and every religion.

His encyclical will make a huge difference. It’s being expected around the world with great anticipation,” Jeffrey Sachs recently told CNA. “The whole world looks to Pope Francis for inspiration, and that’s well beyond the Roman Catholics in the world, it’s all of us,” he said, adding that the pope’s encyclical will play “a huge role” in the climate change discussion.

Sachs is the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and a special adviser to United Nations SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-Moon, who was present in Rome for a one-day summit on climate change and sustainable development hosted by the Pontifical Academy for the Sciences.

Titled “Protect the Earth, Dignify Humanity,” the recent summit focused on strengthening the global consensus surrounding the topic of climate change as something with an adverse effect on every aspect of society.

The event also served as a precursor to the publication of Pope Francis’ anticipated encyclical on environmental degradation and the global effects of climate change on the poor.

DIOCESAN TRIBUNAL FALL RIVER, MASSACHUSETTS Decree of Citation Since his present domicile is unknown, in accord with the provision of Canon 1509.1, we hereby cite Michael S. Lyon to appear in person before the Tribunal of the Diocese of Fall River (887 Highland Avenue in Fall River, Bristol County, Massachusetts) on May 21, 2015 at 2:30 PM to give his testimony regarding the question: IS THE WEBER-LYON MARRIAGE NULL ACCORDING TO CHURCH LAW? Anyone who has knowledge of the domicile of Michael S. Lyon is hereby required to inform him of this citation.

Given at the offices of the Diocesan Tribunal in Fall River, Bristol County, Massachusetts on April 30, 2105.

(Very Rev.) Jeffrey Cabral, J.C.L. Judicial Vicar (Mrs.) Denise D. Berube Ecclesiastical Notary

Expected to be published in mid-late June, the document has already been written and is currently being translated.

For Sachs, who is also a member of the Pontifical Academy for the Sciences, the context of sustainable development in the encyclical “is very helpful” in creating a holistic framework that builds economic, social and environmental awareness of the need to take care of the world in which we live.

The economy, he said, “must work within a moral framework, a moral framework meaning one that can deliver for the human good. And this makes the Church’s message very important for the entire world.”

Although an economy can be considered successful if it multiplies, the moral framework that ensures that the economy is serving the common good is frequently lacking, Sachs observed.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon also weighed in on the topic during a press briefing after he delivered the keynote speech for the summit.

Referring to climate change as “a defining issue of our times,” Ban Ki Moon said that the pope’s encyclical will come at a “critical” point in the discussion on the topic.

Francis is set to address a U.N. Special Summit on Sustainable Development September 25 during his visit to the United States, which is an address Ban Ki Moon said will have “a profound impact.”

In a private meeting with Pope Francis ahead of the summit, the U.N. secretary general said he told the pope that he’s “looking forward to his encyclical as soon as possible. I count on his moral voice and moral leadership.”

Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, was also present at the event, and highlighted the importance of placing a moral framework at the heart of all policies and discussion on the topic.

“Without moral conversion and change of hearts, even good regulations, policies, and targets in the world are unlikely to prove effective,” he told attendees in his speech for the event.

If a proper ethical foundation is lacking from the policies and their implementation, then humanity itself will lack the “courage” and moral substance to carry out event simplest proposals, the cardinal continued.

In comments made to jour-

nalists during a pause in the summit, Cardinal Turkson addressed critics who find issue with the Vatican’s partnership with organizations such as the U.N. that promote population control as a means of combating climate change.

Sachs himself is an avid supporter of population control despite his seat on the pontifical academy.

In response to the criticism, the cardinal recalled the Second Vatican Council’s emphasis on inviting the Church to find “new ways” of ministering to the world.

These new methods of engagement don’t mean running away from the world, he said, but rather establishing a dialogue that works toward “an effective solidarity” with others.

What the Church has been invited to do is to explore the ways in which it can come together with secular organizations, and use the “vantage point of its revelation, doctrine and teaching (to) seek to provide some guidance and support for

the world.”

“So in doing this it’s not inconsistency, but it’s carrying on the mission. That’s what this is.”

Although there is a lot of “discussion and dispute” in the area of climate change, the cardinal stressed that it’s an issue that can only be solved by pooling the resources of economic, political and faith leaders.

The “moral obligation” of preserving and caring for the planet is one which “extends to all — political leaders, corporate leaders, civil society and ordinary people too,” he said, and noted that the concept of sustainable development is one that the entire community of nations ought to embrace.

Ban Ki Moon also emphasized the necessity for collaboration, saying that climate change and sustainable development are issues which demand a “collective action.”

“The faith leaders gathered here today, together with the scientists, are united in reminding us that addressing climate change is an urgent moral im-

perative.”

To care for both the climate and those that suffer from the impact of climate change, particularly the poor and most vulnerable, “is a moral responsibility. All people of faith and conscience can agree upon this,” he said.

Sachs also weighed in, noting that climate change is “a human challenge at global scale” that requires all parts of the world and society to work together.

“It requires the moral leadership of the world’s religions, it requires the science of the world’s climate and earth science experts, it requires the best technologists and technological businesses — working together there are practical solutions, and that’s what we need to find,” he said.

He stressed the importance of working from a moral framework in the discussion, and explained that by raising the moral context that will be given in Francis’ encyclical, “we will see that that economic productivity that is worldwide can be harnessed in a far more affective way.”

Pope: Is the fear of failure causing young people to avoid Marriage?

Vatican City (CNA/ EWTN News) — With the number of children raised in brokenness on the rise, young people view Marriage as a path to failure — so Pope Francis says it’s time for Christians to restore faith in the family.

“The most persuasive witness of the blessing of Christian Marriage is the good life of Christian spouses, and the family,” the pope recently said to some 60,000 people in St. Peter’s Square. “There is no better way of expressing the beauty of the Sacrament!”

Since the end of last fall, Pope Francis has been centering his catechesis for the weekly general audience on the family as part of the lead-up to the World Day of Families in September as well as October’s Synod of Bishops on the Family.

In his address, the pope observed how fewer people today are getting married. In many countries separations are on the rise while the number of children born is declining, he noted, saying that it’s the children who suffer the consequences.

“The first victims, the most important victims, the victims who suffer the most in a separation, are children,” he said.

Francis turned to the ques-

tion of why young people are no longer getting married, suggesting that they have come to view Marriage as something temporary.

He asked if young people prefer to live together with “limited responsibility” or whether they have lost faith in Marriage and the family, saying that if this is the case, then “why don’t they have faith in the family?”

Nearly all men and women desire a stable Marriage and a happy family, Pope Francis said, but fear of failure prevents them from “trusting in Christ’s promise of grace in Marriage and in the family.”

He noted how many Marriages are marked by poverty, degradation and domestic violence, and said that the seed of “radical equality” between spouses must bear new fruits in society.

“As Christians we must become more demanding in this respect. For example: decisively backing the right to equal pay for equal work; the disparity is a pure scandal!” the pope said.

Francis pointed to the Biblical passage in Genesis when Adam blames Eve for giving him the apple, saying that it’s an example of “maschilismo,” chauvinism, which always seeks to dominate women.

“(What) a bad impression Adam made, when God said: ‘Why have you eaten the fruit’ — ‘She gave it to me: it is the woman’s fault!’” he said, adding “Poor woman! We must defend women, no?”

The pope also stressed the importance of recognizing the “motherhood of women and the fatherhood of men” as a wealth of richness, especially for children.

He then turned to the Gospel account of the wedding feast of Cana, reflecting on how Jesus performed His first miracle, turning water into wine, at the request of Mary.

This scene is reminiscent of the book of Genesis, the pontiff said, in which God creates His “masterpiece” — man and woman.

For Jesus to begin His public performance of miracles in the context of a wedding feast is significant, the pope noted, saying that by doing so “Jesus teaches us that the masterpiece of society is the family — the man and woman who love each other!”

Consecrated by God, Marriage “protects the bond between man and woman,” he said, and is “the source of peace and goodness for all of Marriage and family life.”

The International Church Bishop in Nepal: Time is running out for victims of earthquake

May 8, 2015

KATHMANDU, Nepal (CNS) — Time is running out for victims of Nepal’s earthquake, who are suffering because aid cannot reach them, said Bishop Paul Simick of Nepal.

“The biggest challenge now is the time factor. All of us have to rush to reach out to the victims.

It’s already too late,” Bishop Simick recently told Catholic News Service after a five-hour trip to some of the worst-affected areas of Nepal’s capital.

“If this is the state of affairs in the capital, you can imagine the suffering of the people in the remote areas,” Bishop Simick said at the end of the visit to St. Ignatius Parish in Banyatar.

During the two-hour drive from the bishop’s house to the parish, Bishop Simick got out at several places touched by the devastation.

At St. Ignatius, which he reached on a slushy footpath, Bishop Simick visited with local residents. He prayed with members of 15 Catholic families who have taken shelter in the church, including some injured and wearing arm slings. A dozen Hindu families also have sought shelter there.

The parish priest, Father Anil Beck, told the bishop that nine-year-old Michele Ghale had died when her house collapsed.

“We have no trace of five (Catholic) families. The road to their village is blocked. I am trying to reach them,” said Father Beck.

The parish cook, Sharki Ghale, introduced his wife, Temaya and daughter Dilasha — both of them bruised from the collapse of their house overlooking the church.

The bishop also met Sujina Ghale, four, who almost was

cremated when she was mistaken for dead. Sujina, with her bruised face, lay quietly as her mother, Chaju Ghale, recounted her daughter’s escape.

Chaju Ghale was tending grazing cattle and had to walk four hours after she felt the tremors.

“When I reached (home), they were taking her (Sujina) also for cremation (along with six other dead bodies). I pleaded with Phullu Tamang (the village health worker) to check on my daughter, and he found her body was warm,” recounted the mother.

The child had been pulled out from the debris of her house two hours after the quake and kept with other dead bodies until the evening.

Sujina was rushed to the village health center and government officials were informed.

Early the next day, she was airlifted by helicopter along with the mother to Kathmandu.

Bishop Simick said he was especially “worried about the situation in the villages.

“Affected people will die a slow death unless relief work is stepped up and well-coordinated,” he said.

“You see people queuing up for water even here. Unless they have drinking water, medicines and shelter, epidemics will break out, and it will a big tragedy. I am worried about the suffering of the people in the villages,” the bishop said as his vehicle passed collapsed buildings.

“But sadly, things are happening the wrong way,” he said.

“We wanted to go to a remote area with relief material. But a local government official informed our people that we could leave the material with them and they will distribute them. This is not what we

Bishop Paul Simick of Nepal visits an injured Catholic earthquake survivor in remote Banyatar parish perched on a hilltop overlooking Kathmandu. (CNS photo/Anto Akkara)

want.”

“I am glad that lot of Catholic charity groups from Caritas network, CRS are here to help us,” the bishop said, referring to Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops’ relief and development agency. “This is a moment of test for the Church in Nepal to coordinate the relief and make use of the relief and disaster management expertise of the entire Catholic Church for the people of Nepal.”

“I myself had a taste of the ordeal of the people when the earthquake happened,” said Bishop Simick, who was more than 100 miles southeast of Kathmandu when the earthquake hit.

“I was coming down a steep hill with my driver after the ordination when I heard a sound like that of a helicopter. The earth was trembling. Houses were falling like a pack of cards and stones were rolling down,” the bishop said.

Later, they drove for several hours and had to stop at Maithili, where the road had been blocked due to landslides.

“We walked for hours and reached a church center. Next day they arranged me a vehicle and finally, I reached Kathmandu,” Bishop Simick said.

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The Church in the U.S.

May 8, 2015

Notre Dame awards Knights of Columbus Evangelium Vitae Medal

NOTRE DAME, Ind. (CNS) — Praised for their “heroic and tireless efforts” to affirm a culture of life, the Knights of Columbus received the University of Notre Dame’s Evangelium Vitae Medal.

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson received the award for the Knights during recent ceremonies at the university.

The Knights were acknowledged for contributing tens of millions of dollars and volunteer hours to worthy causes and ongoing support for various Pro-Life initiatives.

The medal, and its $10,000 prize, has been awarded annually since 2011 by the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture to honor individuals or organizations for outstanding work affirming and defending the sanctity of human life. It is named for St. Pope John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical “The Gospel of Life.”

Anderson said the prize money would be donated to Notre Dame’s Charles E. Rice Fellowship program. The fund is named for the late law professor Anderson described as a good friend and “tireless advocate for life.”

The Knights’ leader urged participants at the award banquet to take bold action in efforts for “a New Evangelization of American freedom” and stressed that Catholic institutions must be allowed to fulfill their mission of treating each human person with dignity.

The free exercise of religion must be preserved, he stressed, for “the autonomy of our religious institutions is not extrinsic to the missionary nature of Christianity; rather it is essential to it.”

Anderson noted that during President Barack Obama’s speech at the 2009 Notre Dame graduation, the president said a way to find common ground about abortion was “to honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion and draft a sensible conscience clause” for the Health and Human Services mandate implementing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. “Six years later, that goal has still not been achieved,” Anderson said.

He said the Obama Administration has been “stubbornly intransigent” on the issue even after discussions with Catholic bishops, cardinals and the Vatican secretary of state.

“During a time when the search for common ground and consensus received heightened rhetoric in Washington, the act itself has become an example of the way in which Washington is becoming less democratic and less capable of consensus,” he added.

The message of the HHS mandate is that “Catholic institutions remain free to fashion their own identity as long as that identity conforms to the dictates of government,” Anderson said.

Students at Our Lady of Mercy High School in Brighton, N.Y., take part in an annual May Day crowning ceremony outside the school. The month of May is devoted to Mary and is traditionally celebrated with a crowning and praying of the Rosary. (CNS photo/Mike Crupi, Catholic Courier)

Forum outlines strategies to end extreme poverty worldwide

WASHINGTON (CNS) — With extreme poverty having been cut in half over the last generation — and the Millennium Development Goals target of poverty halving having been achieved five years ahead of the 2015 deadline — veterans of the global war on poverty believe it is possible that extreme poverty can be wiped out in the next 15 years.

It will be a tall order because an estimated one billion people still live in extreme poverty, defined as living on less than $1.25 a day.

But “progress is possible everywhere,” declared Alex Thier, a U.S. Agency for International Development official who has spent half of his life in the world’s poverty zones, during a recent forum at The Catholic University of America.

The forum, “Ending Extreme Poverty Now: Working Together With the Poor,” was co-sponsored by the university and USAID, along with Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Charities USA, the Africa Faith and Justice Network and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“We live in a world of evident inequality,” Thier said. He pointed to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, which the Haitian government said killed more than 300,000 people, and an even stronger quake six weeks later in Chile which killed just 526 people. The difference?

“Chile didn’t figure out how to end earthquakes,” Thier said.

“Chile became resilient. Haiti did not.”

Another example he offered were the countries of South Korea and Congo, both of which were considered des-

perately poor in 1953. Today, South Korea’s economy and people thrive, while Congo’s “suffered such economic mismanagement they are demonstrably worse today than they were 55 years ago” despite sitting on some of the world’s most-sought-after natural resources, Thier said.

In an interview with Catholic News Service after his remarks, Thier said “a little resources can go a long way” if people establish good governance procedures and exercise oversight over the funds given them.

As another speaker at the forum, National Security Council senior director Gayle Smith, commented, “Development was something we do for the poor. (Today), it’s something we do with the poor.”

The best surefire investment that can be made in extremely poor communities is “education, especially girls’ education,” Thier told CNS. “There’s never a bad investment in a child learning,” he said. “It just pays onwards and onwards.”

“Can we get to zero (poverty)?” Thier asked the audience.

“The path is not foreordained.”

Labor unions, Church groups, women’s collectives and environmentalists’ clubs in poverty-stricken regions, among other organizations, must work jointly on poverty-eradicating initiatives.

But Thier pointed to successes with milk production eastern Pakistan, infant mortality in Nepal, property tax payments via cellphone in the Philippines, and improved Ebola suits in western Africa to demonstrate that poverty can be bested.

Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Vatican’s permanent representative to the United Nations and former papal nuncio to Haiti, pointed to the next round of poverty-reduction goals he expected the U.N. to approve in September — just around the time of Pope Francis’ visit to the world body.

Among those goals are ending poverty in 15 years, ending hunger via improved nutrition and sustainable agriculture, improved delivery of public health services, basic public education for all, mitigating climate change — “what we Catholics call creation care,” the archbishop said — and promoting peaceful institutions and societies.

The countries currently torn by civil strife, Archbishop Auza said, are those that have not met the Millennium Development Goals “or have even regressed.”

Thier told CNS that one revolutionary development common today that he did not have for his first overseas aid trip to eastern Afghanistan 23 years ago was that “you can land at an airport and access email with your cellphone.”

Acknowledging the information revolution that has taken place in her lifetime during a panel discussion at the forum, Catholic University sophomore politics major Anne St. Amant said people her age are more connected than any past generation thanks to social media.

“How do we turn those tweets and how do we turn the Facebook statuses into action?” she asked. “We need to help each other,” she added, pointing to the older people on the panel. “We have to stand in solidarity. We go to the elders.”

The Church in the U.S.

May 8, 2015

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Rabbi receives papal knighthood honor in New York ceremony

Investigators work on a crime scene outside of Curtis Culwell Center after a shooting on May 4 in Garland, Texas. (CNA photo by Ben Torres/Getty Images)

Shooting over Muhammad cartoon event draws prayers from Dallas bishop

Dallas, Texas (CNA/ Wilders wrote after the Bos- about traveling to Somalia in EWTN News) — The at- ton Marathon bombing, “The 2009 to engage in “violent jitempted attack of two gunmen Tsarnaev brothers drew inspi- had,” according to a federal inon a Texas venue hosting an ration from Feiz Mohammed’s dictment.

Officials suspect he was beevent about cartoons depicting [an Australian preacher who Islam’s prophet Muhammad called for Wilders’ beheading] hind several Twitter messages has drawn a prayerful response Internet rants and decided to appearing to pray that God from Bishop Kevin Farrell of kill innocent onlookers at a would accept the two attackers as “mujahideen,” ABC News reDallas. marathon.”

“I am saddened by what ocThe cartoon contest offered a ported.

Some analysts interpreted curred Sunday evening in Gar- top cash prize of $10,000 and the messages as a pledge land,” Bishop Farrell said.

“I pray for all those ine also reiterate our view of loyalty to the leader of the Islamic State, which volved and offer a special that violence in response to has declared a caliphate prayer of thanksgiving for our law enforcement anti-Islam programs like the one in in the territory it conofficers who put them- Garland is more insulting to our faith trols in Syria and Iraq. selves in harm’s way ev- than any cartoon, however defama- Supporters of the Islamic ery day to keep the public tory. Bigoted speech can never be an State praised the Texas attack on Twitter. safe. Certainly, they saved The second person many lives from being excuse for violence.” identified as a gunman taken in this incident.”

“Let us continue to pray for another $2,500 prize awarded was Nadir Hamid Soofi, 34.

Haroon Moghul, of website tolerance and understanding by the votes of readers of the in our world,” the bishop add- website Brietbart.com. The religiondispatches.org of the ed. Police shot and killed the contest was intended to support University of Southern Calitwo gunmen after they opened free speech following the Janu- fornia Annenberg School for fire outside the Curtis Cul- ary 7 terrorist attacks on the of- Communication and Journalwell Center in Garland, Texas, fices French satirical magazine ism, wrote of attending a talk which hosted an exhibit and Charlie Hebdo, the Los Angeles last month by Pamela Geller, one of the featured speakers at contest for cartoons depicting Times reported.

Muhammad.

The Council on American- the Garland event, at Brooklyn The gunmen shot an un- Islamic Relations condemned College on April 22.

Moghul said that he wrote armed security officer before the attack “without reservahis article “before the tragthey were killed. The security tion.” officer was treated at a hospital “We also reiterate our view ic and unacceptable attack for an ankle wound and then that violence in response to an- in Garland.” He said the he released, the Dallas Morning ti-Islam programs like the one wanted his article to still apNews reported. A bomb squad in Garland is more insulting pear “because it shows that I, investigated the scene of the at- to our faith than any cartoon, a Muslim, went to her event, tack for any explosives. however defamatory. Bigoted heard her out, and then came About 200 people attended speech can never be an excuse home,” as opposed to trying to the event, organized by the for violence,” the organization kill her.

“It should be noted that this New York-based American said.

Freedom Defense Initiative.

One of the suspected attack- was the exact approach taken by The organizers paid for 40 po- ers, Arizona man Elton Simp- every mosque in the Garland, lice officers to work security at son, was previously the subject Texas area: to not only respect the event. Its speakers included of a terrorism investigation. He Geller’s right to free speech, Geert Wilders, a Dutch poli- was convicted in 2011 for mak- but to decline their own right tician who has been strongly ing false statements to federal to peacefully protest,” Moghul critical of Islam. agents when he denied talking wrote.

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NEW YORK (CNS) — Rabbi Arthur Schneier, senior rabbi of Park East Synagogue in Manhattan and founder of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, was conferred as a papal knight of the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Sylvester Pope and Martyr.

The honor was recently conferred in ceremonies by New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan.

Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Holy See’s permanent observer to the United Nations, hosted the event.

“Pope Francis is bestowing the honor on Rabbi Arthur Schneier who has worked unceasingly to promote peace and mutual understanding, in the firm conviction that respect for fundamental human rights, including religious freedom, are indispensable values for all peoples of the world to enjoy peace, security and shared prosperity,” Archbishop Auza said in a statement. “A Holocaust survivor, Rabbi Schneier has always held this conviction in his heart and made it a principle of life.”

The Appeal of Conscience Foundation has worked on issues of religious freedom and human rights since it was founded by Rabbi Schneier in 1965.

The honor is given for the contributions of lay people to the life of the Catholic Church. The order is one of five orders of knighthood within the Catholic Church.

The Vienna-born Rabbi

Schneier, 85, survived the Holocaust in Budapest, Hungary, and arrived in the United States in 1947. He has been senior rabbi of Park East Synagogue since 1962.

Rabbi Schneier, in a statement, noted that “the rare honor” Pope Francis bestowed upon him “marks the 50th anniversary of my meetings in the Vatican and the beginning of the cooperation between the Holy See and the Appeal of Conscience Foundation in helping advance religious freedom and human rights.”

“It is also the year that we celebrate the 50th anniversary of ‘Nostra Aetate,’” the landmark Vatican II document, which the rabbi called “a turning point in Catholic-Jewish relations.”

Nostra Aetate is the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on relations with the Jews, Muslims and other religions “The visit of St. Pope Paul John Paul II to the Rome synagogue, Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to synagogues in Europe as well as Park East Synagogue, the first papal visit to a synagogue in the United States, are historic events that have contributed to the evolving relationship between Catholic Church and the Jewish people,” Rabbi Schneier said.

“I am greatly honored to be recognized by his holiness, a voice of conscience who has embraced humanity with his outreach, compassion, love and mercy to all of God’s children.”

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May 8, 2015

Anchor Editorial

The plan for the Jubilee of Mercy

This Tuesday Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, announced the program for the upcoming Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, which will begin on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8, 2015.

He explained that “the very essence of the Extraordinary Jubilee” was mentioned by Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium: “Such a community [the Church] has an endless desire to show mercy, the fruit of its own experience of the power of the Father’s infinite mercy. Let us try a little harder to take the first step and to become involved” (EG 24).

The jubilee year, as is often the case, will not be 365 days. It will conclude on Nov. 20, 2016, the feast of Christ the King.

Archbishop Fisichella said that he wanted “to avoid any misunderstanding” and that “it is important to reiterate that this Jubilee of Mercy is not and does not intend to be the Great Jubilee Year of 2000. Therefore, any comparisons lack validity, for every Holy Year possesses its own unique nature and aims. It is the pope’s desire that this jubilee be celebrated in Rome as well as in the local churches; this will give due focus to the life of individual churches and their needs, in such a way that the initiatives will not place an extra burden on local churches, but will blend into their calendars and usual activities very naturally.”

It is good that the Holy See is releasing this information now, since parishes in the United States often plan events far in advance.

The archbishop also said that “for the first time in the history of the jubilee tradition, there will be an opportunity for individual dioceses to open a Holy Door — The Door of Mercy — either in the cathedral or in a church of special meaning or a shrine of particular importance for pilgrimages.”

He also noted that unlike other jubilees, which were based on anniversaries of the crucifixion and Resurrection in 1933 and 1983, “This jubilee is based upon a theme. It will build upon the central content of the faith and intends to call the Church once again to its missionary priority of being a sign and witness in every aspect of its pastoral life.”

Something else new for this jubilee will be “the designation of Missionaries of Mercy.

Pope Francis will give them their mandate on Ash Wednesday during the celebration in St. Peter’s Basilica. The missionaries must be patient priests, possessing an understanding of human frailty but ready to express the loving kindness of the Good Shepherd in their preaching and in the Sacrament of Confession.”

Archbishop Fisichella said that the motto of the jubilee will be “Merciful Like the Father” (Lk 6:36), and that it “serves as an invitation to follow the merciful example of the Father Who asks us not to judge or condemn but to forgive and to give love and forgiveness without measure” (cfr. Lk 6:37-38).

The Vatican’s calendar for the jubilee year could give us ideas for activities back here in Massachusetts (the words in quotes are from Archbishop Fisichella): — Jan. 19-21, 2016 there will be an event at the Vatican “dedicated to all those involved with the organization of pilgrimages. It will symbolically emphasize that the Holy Year is a true pilgrimage and should be lived as such. We will ask pilgrims to make a

journey on foot, preparing themselves to pass through the Holy Door in a Spirit of faith and devotion. It will be essential to prepare those working in the travel industry sector to go beyond the sphere of tourism, because they will be the first to provide assistance to pilgrims.” Maybe around the diocese we could think of walks we could make to our local holy door (like the Azorean Romeiros do during Holy Week in our cities).

— April 3, 2016 there will be an event “for those who in various ways are inspired by a charism of mercy (movements, associations, and religious institutes).” We can reflect on that locally and promote those aspects of our diocesan life that do this and bring attention to them on that date.

— Sept. 4, 2016 the Vatican will honor “charitable volunteers from all over the world.

A volunteer is a dynamic witness of someone who lives the works of mercy in its various expressions and deserves to be celebrated in this special way.”

— Oct. 9, 2016 there will be a “special day to celebrate [Mary] as the Mother of Mercy.”

— “There will be a number of events dedicated particularly to youth, who upon receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation are called to profess their faith. For those between the ages of 13 and 16, for whom there are few opportunities for involvement within the ordinary pastoral life of the Church, we have reserved the date of April 24, 2016 as World Youth Day” on the local level, while the international celebration will be in Krakow from July 26-31, 2016. This can make us think about possibly going to Poland but also about planning for the vast majority of our youth who will not be able to go there.

— There will be a jubilee for deacons on May 29, 2016; for priests on June 3, 2016, the 160th anniversary of the feast of the Sacred Heart; and for catechists on Sept. 25, 2016.

— “On June 12, we will have a large gathering [at the Vatican] for the sick and disabled, as well as for those who care for them with such love and dedication.”

— “On Nov. 6, 2016 we will celebrate the jubilee for those in prison. This will be held not only in prisons but we have been studying the possibility of giving many of those in prison the opportunity to celebrate their own Holy Year with Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica.”

— “There will be significant efforts to enact Pope Francis’s vision and witness of reaching out to those on the existential ‘peripheries’ of society, in order to give a direct testimony to the Church’s affinity and care for the poor, the suffering, the marginalized, and all those who need a sign of tenderness. These moments will have a symbolic meaning, but we will also ask bishops and priests to perform in their own dioceses similar symbolic gestures of communion with Pope Francis so that everyone may receive a concrete sign of the Church’s ministry of mercy and closeness. As a concrete sign of the pope’s charitable love, which is an essential component of this jubilee, effective measures will be taken to meet real needs in the world that will express mercy through tangible assistance.”

We are all in need of mercy because we are all sinners, but without being able to encounter the merciful Face of God in Christ, it is difficult to turn away from our sins. May this jubilee year help us to do so and then help us to be that Face of Christ for others.

Pope Francis’ Regina Caeli message, May 3 Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

Today’s Gospel presents to us Jesus during the Last Supper, in the moment in which death is close at hand. His “hour” has come. He is with His disciples for the last time, and now wants to impress well in their minds a fundamental truth: that even when He is physically no longer in their midst, they will be able to remain united to Him in a new way, and thus bring much fruit.

If one, on the contrary, loses communion with Him, he would become sterile, nay, harmful for the community. And to express this reality, this new way of being united to Him, Jesus uses the image of the vine and the branches: “Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. I am the Vine, you are the branches” ( Jn 15, 4-5). With this image He teaches us to remain in Him, to be united OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER

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to Him, even though He cannot be physically present.

Jesus is the Life, and through Him — like the sap in the tree — passes the same love of God to the branches, the Holy Spirit. Thus, we are the branches, and through this parable Jesus wants us to understand the importance of remaining united to Him. The branches are not self-sufficient, but depend totally on the vine, in which they find the source of their life. It is like that for us Christians. Grafted with the Baptism of Christ, we have received from Him freely the gift of new life; and thanks to the Church we can remain in vital communion with Christ. We must remain faithful to Baptism and grow in friendship with the Lord through prayer, daily prayer, through the listening and docility of His Word — to read the Gospel — in the participation of the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation.

If one is intimately united to Jesus, they rejoice in the gifts of the Holy Spirit that — as St. Paul tells us — are “love, joy, peace, magnanimity, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, meekness, dominion of self ”

(Gal. 5, 22); and consequently does so much good to both neighbor and to society: It is a Christian person.

From this attitude, in fact, it is recognized if one is a true Christian, as from the fruits the tree is known.

The fruits of this profound union with Jesus are marvelous: our whole person is transformed by the grace of the Spirit: courage, intelligence, will, affections, even the body, because we are unity of Spirit and body. Let us receive a new way of being, the life of Christ becomes ours: we can think like Him, act like Him, see the world and things with the eyes of Jesus. Consequently, we can love our brothers and sisters, starting from the most poor and suffering, with His heart and bring thus in the world fruits of kindness, of charity and of peace.

Each one of us is a branch of the one vine; and all together we are called to bring fruits of this common belonging to Christ and to the Church. Let us entrust ourselves to the intercession of the Virgin Mary so that we may become living branches in the Church and to give witness to our faith in a coherent way — a coherence of life and

thought, of life and faith — aware that all of us, according to our particular vocation, participates in the unique salvific mission of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

[Following the recitation of the Regina Caeli, the Holy Father said the following words]: Dear brothers and sisters, I give a cordial welcome to all those who have come from Italy and from so many parts of the world!

Yesterday, in Turin, Luigi Bordino, consecrated lay person of the Congregation of Brothers of St. Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo was declared Blessed. He dedicated his life to the sick and suffering people, and he spent himself tirelessly in favor of the poorest, medicating and washing their wounds. Let us thank the Lord for this humble and generous disciple.

I give a cordial greeting today to the Méter Association, on the Day of Child Victims of Violence. I thank you for the commitment in which you look to prevent these crimes.

We all should commit ourselves so that every human person, especially children, are always defended and protected.

Anchor Columnist Learning from Mary how to know, love and imitate Christ

May 8, 2015

T

7

he temptation that sometimes occurs when people resolve to live by a plan of life is to regard it as a series of various, independent religious exercises meant to build up different Spiritual muscle groups that help us to become overall more fit in faith. But a plan of life is much more than a bunch of discrete prayers and practices: it’s meant to form us to live consciously and continuously in God’s presence.

The greatest model and master of this type of life is the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose contemplative heart used to ponder, treasure and integrate everything that occurred as pieces of a precious and beautiful mosaic, as St. Luke’s original Greek words indicate as he describes Mary’s “keeping all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Lk 2:19,51). To live a plan of life aright, we do well to enter into Mary’s school just like the first disciples did in the upper room before Pentecost.

The recent popes have all stressed that the best way to enroll in Mary’s Academy is through praying the Holy Rosary. And so, in this month of May, which is traditionally dedicated to growing in devotion to Mary, it’s fitting to focus on this greatest of all Marian devotions as a crucial part of our Spiritual game-plan.

Pope Francis has said the prayer of the Holy Rosary. publicly that one of the means Reciting the Hail Mary, we are of his Spiritual strength at 78 led to contemplate the mysteries years of age is that he prays of Jesus, that is, to reflect on the three Rosaries a day. One of key moments of His life, so that, his papal secretaries said about as with Mary and St. Joseph, He him, “He works tirelessly and, is the center of our thoughts, of when he feels the need to take our attention and our actions.” a moment’s pause, he closes his He called the Rosary “a school eyes and simply sits and prays of prayer” and “a school of faith,” the Rosary. He prays at least three Rosaries a day. ‘This helps me Putting Into unwind,’ he told me.

Then he sets to work the Deep again.”

In the preface of a

By Father book on the Rosary Roger J. Landry written by another of his secretaries, the pope wrote, “The Rosary is a prayer that always accompanies and encouraged all of us to get me; it is also the prayer of the our family members, friends and ordinary people and the saints. fellow parishioners to join us in It’s a prayer from my heart.” that school.

And it’s a prayer that he, just Since 1985, praying three like Pope Benedict XVI, St. Rosaries a day has been part of John Paul II and Blessed Paul Pope Francis’ daily plan of life.

VI before him, is urging all The change happened when, as Catholics to take up. a priest, he witnessed St. John To young people preparing Paul II on his knees publicly for the priesthood and conseleading the faithful in the prayer crated life, he said, “Always keep of the Rosary. He saw in his Our Lady with you and please predecessor the fruits of Marian pray the Rosary. Do not neglect devotion and sought to follow it!”

St. John Paul II’s example. Now At a general audience two he’s hoping that we follow his. years ago this week, Pope St. John Paul II gave us a Francis added, “In this month great exhortation in 2002, “The of May, I would like to recall Rosary of the Virgin Mary,” in the importance and beauty of which he called the Rosary the

“echo of the prayer of Mary,” a “compendium” of the Gospel, and something that, “reclaimed in its full meaning, goes to the heart of the Christian life.” It’s a prayer, he said, that has us enter Mary’s contemplative heart and in it helps us not only better to ponder the joyful, luminous, sorrowful and glorious moments in the life of the “Blessed Fruit of [Mary’s] womb,” but also to bring the joyful, luminous, sorrowful and glorious rhythm of our own life into harmony with God’s.

St. John Paul also shared with us in that exhortation his own Spirituality of praying the Rosary, which every Catholic should read to pray the Rosary well or better.

My earliest childhood memories are of praying the Rosary with my family at the kitchen table. It taught me that God was real and part of our daily life. It also taught me how important daily prayer was, with others, for others, and mutually strengthened by others. It deeply nourished my priestly vocation.

I’ve continued to pray the Rosary until this day. I normally pray five mysteries and then briefly meditate on the other 15.

But on days when I have a lot of

time in the car, or on retreat, I’ll pray all 20.

Following St. John Paul II’s insertion of the Luminous Mysteries focusing on Jesus’ public ministry, I’ve also put together several other sets of mysteries — the Mysteries of “Mercy,” of “Miracles,” of the “Parables,” of Jesus’ “Great Sermons,” of “The Priesthood,” of Jesus’ dialogues with St. Peter, and with women — that I seek to pray from Mary’s perspective when I need a little change from pondering the normal 20.

As part of the plan of life, Spiritual authors recommend we pray one set of five mysteries a day, something that takes most people 12-15 minutes. If you’ve never prayed it, there are lots of accessible books, websites and apps to help you, as well as many people in every Catholic parish who I’m sure would be happy to teach you and pray it with you.

The Rosary is one of the greatest means by which we enter into Mary’s school and learn from her how to stay united with her Son through the joyful, radiant and sorrowful episodes of human life so as to be able to ponder with her forever the mysteries of eternal glory.

Anchor columnist Father Landry can be contacted at fatherlandry@catholicpreaching. com.

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Morgan Atkinson’s new documentary on Thomas Merton, the famed Trappist monk from the Cistercian abbey in Gethsemani, Ky., was “40 years in the making,” he joked.

Actually, it was closer to two, but it was Atkinson’s own pilgrimage to Gethsemani 40 years ago that not only broadened his exposure to Merton, but led him to become a Catholic himself.

Atkinson long had dreams of being a Hollywood filmmaker.

Living in his native Louisville, Ky., though, wasn’t going to cut it. “If I want to make films, I should go to Los Angeles,” he recalls thinking. “After a year, I was not exactly tearing things up.” So he headed back home.

“To say I was at loose ends was probably an understatement,” he told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview from Louisville. “I was aware of Merton growing up, but I wasn’t thinking about him, at least consciously. For some reason, I thought it would be in-

teresting to read his book, ‘The Seven Storey Mountain.’ I read it. A lot of it was off-putting to me, frankly, but there was something about the man that was interesting to me.”

From there, “I went to the abbey of Gethsemani, which is about 60 miles from Louisville.

It had a profound impact on me.

From that, I became a Catholic, and have been practicing for the last 40 years.”

Atkinson also has been able to make a living as a filmmaker, including two prior documentaries that have received national airings on PBS. “I would probably return once or twice, three times a year for a retreat. As I was developing as a filmmaker, I thought, gosh, there’s some interesting stories here. At that time, the abbot wanted no part of anyone doing any film there. Then in the 1990s, a new abbot came in and had a different mindset. I had letters of recommendation, and so they let me do a documentary in the monastery itself, Gethsemani, which was well-

on that last year.”

He wanted to time his work on the documentary — while paying the bills with other film work — so that it would be ready for viewing in time for the centennial. “From my first two films on Merton, you develop a network. You know where the scholars are and where to access them,” he said.

It’s that network that Atkinson is working to get the film to more people, regardless of PBS’ ultimate decision. “I have friends and associates across the country who will host showings, not only in this country, but in other parts of the world. In two weeks I’m going to Xavier (University) in Cincinnati and doing a showing there,” he said. “I’ve been talking to a friend in Pepperdine (University) in Malibu (California) and doing a showing there in September.

“It’s the wanna-be rock star performance,” he chuckled. “I couldn’t play rock guitar if I wanted to, but I’m setting up a tour.”

Atkinson added, “It’s not

something where you think I’m making a ton of money doing this. It just feels good to show the work. You hope the work will inspire people to read more about Merton, to help them shape their lives in a way that they’ll feel better.”

Atkinson was able to combine historical footage of Merton with new interviews from celebrated figures whose lives Merton touched.

Such was the case with popular speaker Franciscan Father Richard Rohr, but even more so with the Dalai Lama, whom Merton met during his Asia trip. Atkinson was able to interview each of them last year.

“The ability to interview the Dalai Lama” was cited

by Atkinson as nearly reason enough to make the new documentary. “That became the real centerpiece of the film in many ways.

“I love the last thing said by the Dalai Lama in my current film,” Atkinson added: “One does something, very good. Ten people, better. Do something.”

New documentary on Thomas Merton celebrates centennial of monk’s birth received by the monks and by viewers on PBS. I was trusted.”

Eventually, he was asked by the abbey, “Why don’t you do one on Merton?”

He is hopeful the new documentary, “The Many Storeys and Last Days of Thomas Merton,” will likewise get a PBS time slot sometime this year, the centennial of the monk’s birth.

Lacking that, Atkinson said, there is a PBS secondary channel that transmits programming to affiliates. “But instead of getting a uniform showing on September 15, at nine o’clock all over the country, they (affiliates) sort of plug it in wherever they want to,” he added.

Atkinson said he focused on 1968, the last year of Merton’s life, because in his first Merton documentary he felt he “didn’t do justice” to that year, which ended in Merton’s fateful sojourn to Asia during which he died of accidental electrocution. “(Nineteen) sixty-eight is such a year in American culture that it had a lot of richness to it as well.

So I thought, OK, I’ll just do it

8

“L

ove one another as I have loved you.” Jesus says this more than once in this week’s Gospel. “No one has any greater love than this than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. As the Father loves Me so I also love you.” In the second reading from the letter of John, He says, “God is love.” He further says “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as expiation for our sins.”

How much more clearly can the message of the Gospel be stated? I think of the Beatles song “All You Need Is Love.” Love is all you need.

It is such a simple command and yet so difficult to follow.

When we ask Jesus, “What can I do to show Your love for me? He answers, “Keep My Commandments.” When we hear this, our mind tends to think of the Ten Com-

May 8, 2015

The fire of Your love

mandments. Have I broken consume us, that leaves us any of them? Have I done looking for ways to love more anything wrong? But Jesus unconditionally, to love more isn’t talking about doing fully. That is why we need the something wrong or harmful.

Holy Spirit, to enable us to Instead He is telling us to do experience God’s love and something positive. To love then find ways we can best one another.

Jesus doesn’t list the Ten CommandHomily of the Week ments so we can Sixth Sunday check them off one of Easter by one and say, “Yes, I have complied

By Deacon with that.” Instead, Gregory J. Beckel He calls for a more expansive Commandment: “Love one another as I have loved express it to others. I think of you.” Can we ever say that we the Prayer to the Holy Spirit. have lived up to that Com“Come Holy Spirit, fill the mandment? When can a hearts of Your faithful and husband or wife say, “There, I kindle in us the fire of Your have loved you, there is nothlove.” ing more I can give or do for If only we could have the you”? It just can’t be done. love of Jesus in our hearts Love is a fire that conall the time, think of how sumes us, that needs to this world would be a better

place. How our homes would be more tranquil. How our world would be more peaceful.

So why is it so difficult to show our love to those we care about the most?

Why do we have disagreements with our spouses that can inflame into feelings so opposite of love?

Why do we argue with our brothers and sisters over matters so unimportant? Why would we give one of our children a hard time. Jesus said He would lay down His life for those He loves, and He did. And yet, there are so many times that we wouldn’t lift a finger for a friend or a loved one.

But what if we saw Christ as the person we are talking to. If we saw Jesus in every person we met. Especially

those we love. Would we argue with Jesus face-toface? Would we deny the opportunity to help Jesus in any way we could — including something as small as doing the dishes? Would we ignore someone at school, or even be nasty to them just because they were not part of our group? What if that person were Jesus in disguise? Could we ever deny Jesus?

May we always know that God is love. May we always follow Christ’s command to love one another. May we always see Jesus in the person we are speaking to. And may the Holy Spirit always inflame our hearts with the fire of Christ’s love.

Deacon Beckel was ordained in 2002 and serves at Christ the King Parish, Mashpee. He is also the Chaplain at Falmouth Hospital.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. May 9, Acts 16:1-10; Ps 100:1b-2,3,5; Jn 15:18-21. Sun. May 10, Sixth Sunday of Easter, Acts 10:25-26,34-35,44-48; Ps 98:1-4; 1 Jn 4:7-10; Jn 15:9-17. Mon. May 11, Acts 16:11-15; Ps 149:1b-6a,9b; Jn 15:26–16:4a. Tues. May 12, Acts 16:22-34; Ps 138:1-3,7c-8; Jn 16:5-11.

Wed. May 13, Acts 17:15,22–18:1; Ps 148:1-2,11-14; Jn 16:12-15. Thurs. May 14, Ascension Thursday, Acts 1:1-11; Ps 47:2-3,6-9; Eph 1:17-23 or Eph 4:1-13 or 4:1-7,11-13; Mk 16:15-20. Fri. May 15, Acts 18:9-18; Ps 47:2-7; Jn 16:20-23.

T

he cold weather months are behind us. The large mounds of snow have dissipated.

The frozen ground has given way to new growth. Flowers spring up nurtured by the April showers that bring the May flowers. The glorious warm days of summer and their relaxing invitation beckon us.

As we begin May we acknowledge that it is the month of many happy events. First Communion is normally celebrated in May. Confirmations and graduations also abound in this month.

It is also a month of remembrances. On Mother’s Day we recall our mother, living or deceased, and recall their love in our lives. Tokens of appreciation are given to them to express our gratitude.

On Memorial Day we recall those who gave their lives for our county. Many civic events punctuate this day and weekend.

On this weekend, now at times called Decoration Day, families take time to decorate the graves of their loved ones. Veterans and scouts usually decorate the graves of veterans with a flag.

These are some of the highlights of this beautiful month of May. In May in particular, we

A month for Our Lady

remember Mary. It is the month As Spiritual director of All when the Catholic Church Saints Catholic School, I entraditionally honors Mary, the courage the tradition of crownmother of God. Paul VI, in his ing a statue of Mary outside the encyclical on the month of May school and our Parish Pastoral states, that May is the “month Center. The students surround which the piety of the faithful the statue of Mary, and an has especially dedicated to Our eighth-grade girl is selected for Blessed Lady, and, it is the occasion for a moving tribute of faith and Living love which Catholics in the every part of the world Faith pay to the Queen of Heaven.”

By Msgr.

This custom of John J. Oliveira dedicating the month of May to the Blessed Mother arose in the 13th century and it continues to the honor of placing the floral this day. crown on the statue of Mary.

In many churches, an altar The second-graders, many of is set up in the Sanctuary with whom have made their First a statue of Mary. Surrounded Communion, form a procession with candles and flowers, it is and bring flowers to be planted a daily reminder of this month in front of the statue. dedicated to the Mother of God The Rosary is recited with and our mother. In our parish each class taking turns in leading a girl, who has made her First a decade of the Rosary.

Communion, is chosen to place It continues a tradition of a crown on the statue of Mary. the Church for many centuries We traditionally have a and it helps us to recognize the candlelight Rosary on the 13th special role of Mary in the life of of May to coincide with the Christ, of the Church and in our anniversary of Our Lady’s first own lives. appearance at Fatima. It reminds Father Gerard Manley Hopus to pray the Rosary for peace kins was a British Jesuit priest as she asked us to do. and poet. One of the poems he

wrote suggests the reason for May being the month of Mary.

It is entitled, “The May Magnificat”: May is Mary’s month, and I Muse at that and wonder why: Her feasts follow reason, Dated due to season — Candlemas, Lady Day’ But the Lady Month, May, Why fasten that upon her; With a feasting in her honor?

It is only its being brighter Than the most are must delight her?

It is opportunist And flowers find soonest?

Ask of her, the mighty mother: Her reply puts this other Question: What is spring? — Growth in every thingFlesh and fleece, fur and feather, Grass and green world all together; Star-eyed strawberry-breasted Throstle above her nested.

Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin Forms and warms life within; And bird and blossom swell In sod or sheath or shell.

All things rising, all things sizing Mary sees, sympathizing With that world of good,

Nature’s motherhood.

Their magnifying of each its kind With delight calls to mind How she did in her stored Magnify the Lord.

Well but there was more than this: Spring’s universal bliss Much, had much to say To offering Mary May When drop-of-blood-andfoam-dapple Bloom lights the orchard apple And thicket and thorp are merry With silver-surfed cherry.

And azuring-over greybell makes Wood banks and brakes wash wet like lakes And magic cuckoocall Caps, clears, and clinches all — This ecstasy all trough mothering earth Tells Mary her mirth till Christ’s birth To remember and exultation In God Who was her Salvation.

Happy May to each of you and may Mary bless you in a special way this month.

Anchor columnist Msgr.

Oliveira is pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in New Bedford and director of the diocesan Propagation of the Faith and Permanent Diaconate offices.

May 8, 2015

Friday 8 May 2015 — Homeport: Falmouth Harbor — Ordination season t’s time, dear readers, for my annual review of priestly vocations. Let’s look first at where we are and then at where we might soon be.

We have an aging clergy coupled with increasing ministerial demands. If I remember correctly (which is lately getting more difficult for me), our diocesan rules for retirement of a priest were promulgated decades ago. A priest experiencing some impediment that prevents full participation in ministry may request retirement from active ministry at the age of 65 years. (I haven’t fact-checked this because I don’t remember where I filed the document.) Of course, priests suffering from catastrophic illness need to retire earlier.

Presently, in the Diocese of Fall River, retirement from active ministry becomes an option available to all at the age of 70 years. All bishops, priests, and deacons worldwide are mandated to formally request retirement at the age of 75 years.

I have no access to clergy personnel files; consequently, I have no hard facts on the birth dates of my brother priests.

I

W

ell friends, we’re wrapping up the semester here in Virginia, and it’s the end of my first year of graduate school. So much is happening here to keep us on our toes. We have final papers, final projects, finals in general. We’re having last gatherings, where our cohort is attempting to relish the final days we have together before we all go our separate ways for the summer. Our time together has been so rich, it’s difficult to imagine that within one week we’ll all be spread out across the country at our respective internship sites.

I will be back in the Northeast, working at Brown, but my peers will be everywhere from Texas to Washington, D.C., and back again. I reflect on my cohort so frequently because of the powerful people they have become in my life. They’ve provided me with a strong sense of community here and sometimes I forget where I am because I’m so at home with them.

This discussion on community seems so relevant now, because I’m headed off to establish myself on a new campus, with

Anchor Columnists Here comes the Class of 2015

70 in 2019. If the calculations However, as any columnist are correct, it means that 16 or worth his salt, I do have a 17 priests will reach retirement source familiar with the situage in the next four years. This ation who prefers to remain anonymous due to the fact that does not count priests who may need to retire for reasons other he is not authorized to speak. than age.

It’s not me. My source is a These 17 seasoned priests priest who recently sat down to figure these things out and sent me the results of his research. I must The Ship’s Log stress that his inforReflections of a mation may not be Parish Priest accurate and also that he has a vested interest

By Father in the matter.

Tim Goldrick That being said, we apparently have three pastors who are will be replaced in the next four already over the age of 70 but years by, at best, five newlyhave chosen not to pursue the ordained priests. These trends option of retirement up to this apply to dioceses throughout point. They still have the opthe United States, although tion available to them, I would presume. Two will reach the age priestly vocations worldwide of mandatory retirement in the have been experiencing phenomenal growth since 1978. year 2017 and one in the year The good news is that there has 2018. been a 25 percent increase in We have four pastors or priestly vocations in the United maybe five (I told you my States this year over last, so the source was a little shaky) who will become eligible for option- situation will not be as bad as it could be. al retirement in the year 2016; The months of May and three pastors who will turn 70 June are the traditional time years of age in the year 2017; for ordinations to the priesttwo pastors who will celebrate hood. Let’s take a closer look at their 70th birthday in the year those going to be ordained to 2018, and four pastors turning

the priesthood this year in the United States, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.

— The average age of these men is 34 years. Back in the day, it was 24 years. Most have completed college before entering the seminary.

In my day, you were sent to a “cloistered” seminary that also happened to be a college. The majority of the Class of 2015 have had full-time work experience before entering the seminary.

Way back when, this was rare.

— Almost all of the men ordained in 2015 have siblings (on average, three) and the vast majority come from homes in which both parents are Catholic. They come, therefore, from solid Catholic families.

— Most of these men began considering the possibility of a vocation to the priesthood at the age of 17 years. Some twothirds of the men participated in vocation discernment programs. They were encouraged to enter the seminary by parish priests, friends, parishioners, or parents (in that order). More than half of the Class of 2015

9 were discouraged from entering the seminary by friends, family members, parents, co-workers, and a surprising nine percent by priests (in that order).

— Before entering the seminary, these men were involved in parish Liturgical ministries, youth groups, Boy Scouts, campus ministry, and the Knights of Columbus (in that order). For me, it was CYO. I didn’t sign up as altar boy until high school under the mistaken impression that it was a requirement for entering the seminary. It wasn’t.

— Before entering the seminary, these men were also active in youth and young adult retreats, as well as Bible study groups.

As I see it, these new priests have a deep devotion to Holy Mass. They spend significant time in private prayer, especially Eucharistic Adoration and the Rosary. They are older, more mature, and more experienced.

They are knowledgeable of Scripture and tradition.

A warm welcome, then, to my 595 new brothers in the ordination class of 2015. OK, now what?

Anchor columnist Father Goldrick is pastor of St. Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth.

Where two or three are gathered

new peers, and new students to serve. How do I ensure that I bring this significant piece of my personal and professional life with me? How do I ensure that I don’t lose the community that I’ve established in Virginia when physically each member of that community is separate? This, for me, is where Christ’s example comes in.

In Matthew 18:20, we learn that “for where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I among them.” It’s important to remember that we can embody Christ, we can embody our faith in our own selves. It is not lost when we are alone. What this passage tells me is that it is then my responsibility to remain true to that self when gathered with others, when in the presence of believers and nonbelievers. It is our responsibility to be our authentic selves. I am confident that if we do so, then when we gather together with our colleagues, with our students, with friends and family, that Christ is there among us. We’ve asked Him to

come to the table and be part of our circles.

My question still remains — how do I instill a sense of new community and maintain what I’ve already found myself a part of at JMU? As I considered this,

Radiate Your Faith

By Renee Bernier I realized the great tool we have in technology and I did some searching, resulting in four lessons I found to ring true about this very concern. They are as follows: Acts 4:32 says, “The community of believes was one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common.” How true this is of my peers. We share so much, we have become each other’s hearts and minds and we tell each other this. We think together, challenge each other, and weigh our

experiences as subjective and of equal value in their own way.

We are together, after all, for a common purpose: to serve the student population to our fullest extent. But humility should not be forgotten and it is this that must be remembered as we come off of the high of our bond to befriend and work with entirely different individuals with whom we have yet to establish similar relationships.

Perhaps 1 Peter sums this up more eloquently when we read that, “Finally, all of you, be of one mind, sympathetic, loving toward one another, compassionate, humble.” It will be bringing that attitude to our new summer experiences that will allow us to remain true to ourselves and each other. It will allow us to be our authentic selves. This summer we’ll be tasked with the following, as Romans 16:17 says, “to watch out for those who create dissension and obstacles, in opposition to the teaching that you learned; avoid them.” We must be vigilant to protect ourselves,

to protect our treasure — each other and our field — from those who try to belittle, negate, and undermine the value of the work we do and the passion we feel for it. In those moments where we struggle, it will be the support of our JMU community that we’ll rely on.

Finally, we must follow the words of Hebrews 10:24-25: “We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works. We should not stay away from our assembly, as is the custom of some, but encourage one another, and this all the more as you see the day drawing near.”

On a very personal note, this day drawing near is our departure from one another. It is the time we will drive off to our summer campuses and be challenged to fulfill what those passages tell us.

We will be challenged to maintain our relationships, maintain that community, even when two or three of us cannot be gathered.

Anchor columnist Renee Bernier graduated from Stonehill College and is a graduate student in the College Student Personnel Program at James Madison University in Harrison, Va.

10

May 8, 2015

Faithful invited to participate in the cause for sainthood of Luisa Piccarreta

By Linda Andrade Rodrigues Anchor Correspondent

ATTLEBORO — Impoverished and bedridden in her room for 59 years, Luisa Piccarreta wrote about her mystical experiences in a daily diary, a chronicle of conversations she had with Jesus and Mary.

“I have gone round and round the world, and I looked one by one at all My creatures to find the smallest one of all,” she wrote on March 23, 1921. “Among so many I found you. Your littleness pleased me, and I chose you; I entrusted you to My angels so that they would care for you, not to make you great, but to preserve your littleness; and now I want to begin the great work of fulfilling My will. Nor will you feel any greater through this, indeed it is My will to make you even smaller, and you will continue to be the little daughter of the Divine Will.”

Globally, Divine Will prayer

groups gather to study Piccarreta’s writings and to promote her cause for sainthood. Locally, the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette will host the Divine Will Conference of the Cenacle of Boston from May 15 through 17, and all are welcome.

“We’re reading the 36 volumes that were dictated to her by the Lord,” said Deacon Robert Hoaglund, a member of the Cenacle of Boston who serves at Immaculate Conception Parish in Marlboro. “What God does is use the simple people who are humble and open to His will in their lives.”

Padre Bernardino Giuseppe Bucci, O.F.M., a member of the Tribunal for the Cause of the Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, will address the gathering from Italy via Skype throughout the three-day conference. He will speak about the 30,000 pages of her diary known

as “The Book of Heaven” as well as his personal experiences with Piccarreta when he was a child.

Padre Bucci recalled a visit with his Aunt Rosaria to the future saint’s room and her prophecy in “A Collection of Memo-

Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta.

(From luisapiccarret.me)

ries of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta.”

“The eyes of the family were focused on my brother Agostino, a tidy, well-educated, hard-working and reserved boy: in brief, a suitable type for an ecclesiastical career,” wrote Padre Bucci. “Rosaria, you are trying to substitute God’s Will with your own!’ (Piccarreta told his aunt.) ‘The Lord does not want him,’ and turning her eyes to me, she said to her: ‘Look after this one because the Lord wants this one and not that one.’ Later, to the great wonder of all, Peppino, the rowdiest boy in the district of Via Andria, entered the seminary.”

The website Little Daughter of the Divine Will at http:// luisapiccarreta.co/ offers a wealth of information about Piccarreta’s life and cause for canonization, as well as video of her room including the crucifix where she received the stigmata.

The following is an abstract taken from the comprehensive “Biographical Notes” on the site.

Born in Corato in Bari, Italy,

on April 23, 1865, Luisa Piccarreta was raised with her five siblings on a farm. When she was nine, she received Jesus in the Eucharist for the first time, and from that moment on remained for hours praying before the Blessed Sacrament. She became a Dominican Tertiary taking the name of Sister Maddalena at 18.

From the balcony of her house in Via Nazario Sauro, she had a vision of Jesus suffering under the weight of the cross, Who raised His eyes to her saying: “O soul, help Me!” From that moment an insatiable longing to suffer for Jesus and for the Salvation of souls was enkindled in her, and so began her physical and Spiritual sufferings.

Having accepted the role of victim, Piccarreta came to experience a most peculiar condition.

Every morning she found herself rigid, immobile, huddled up in bed, and no one was able to stretch her out, to raise her arms or move her head or legs.

The family mistook these phenomena for sickness and sought medical help, but the doctors consulted were perplexed.

Summoned to her bedside was an Augustinian priest, Father Cosma Loiodice, who made the Sign of the Cross over her body; and her normal faculties were restored. After Father Loiodice left his friary, other priests were called in to intervene.

Piccarreta’s day began at 5 a.m., when the priest came to the house to bless her and to celebrate Holy Mass. After Mass, she would remain in prayer for about two hours. At 8 a.m. she would begin her lacemaking work which she continued until midday. After a frugal lunch, she would stay alone in her room in meditation. In the afternoon — after several hours of work — she would recite the Rosary.

In the evening at 8 p.m., Piccarreta would begin to write her

diary, and at about midnight she would fall asleep. In the morning she would be found immobile, rigid, huddled up on her bed, her head turned to the right; and the intervention of the priest would be necessary.

Piccarreta would stay in her bed for another 59 years as a victim of expiation.

St. Annibale Maria Di Francia became her extraordinary confessor and edited her writings, which were examined and approved by the ecclesiastical authorities.

Conversely, she was publicly disowned by Rome in 1938, and her books were put on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. Obediently, she handed over all her manuscripts.

Piccarreta’s life was very modest; she possessed little or nothing. She lived in a rented house where she was cared for lovingly by her sister Angela and a few devout women. To support herself she worked diligently at making lace, earning from this the pittance she needed to keep her sister, since she herself neither needed clothes nor shoes.

She died at 81 on March 4, 1947 from pneumonia, the only illness diagnosed in her life.

On Nov. 20, 1994, Archbishop Carmelo Cassati officially opened the Cause of Beatification of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta.

Registration for the three-day conference is $160 and includes meals. Send a check made payable to Divine Will Cenacle of Boston, P.O. Box 628, Sudbury, Mass., 01778. For hotel registrations at the Holiday Inn: in North Attleboro, call 508-643-9900; in Plainville, 508-809-7840. There is a Friday and Saturday discounted rate under the name Divine Will Conference/La Salette Shrine.

A shuttle also is available from Rhode Island. For more information, email dianne10e@gmail. com.

11

May 8, 2015

To advertise in The Anchor, contact Wayne Powers at 508-675-7151 or Email: waynepowers@anchornews.org

Fall River Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., recently celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation with the students from St. Nicholas of Myra Parish in North Dighton. Above, the bishop is shown with, from left: Nicholas of Myra Knights of Columbus Council No. 14947 Grand Knight Brian Brown, pastor Father Paul Fedak and Knight Manuel Avila.

At left the bishop is pictured with Luis Pagan, Confirmation candidate Xavier Byrnes, and Father Fedak.

12

May 8, 2015

Tributes to Sister Mary Ann Walsh

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Here are some of the tributes to Mercy Sister Mary Ann Walsh, Catholic press journalist and former spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

She died April 28 in Albany, N.Y. — Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office: “For many years, Sister Mary Ann was one of the people most committed to ensuring the positive presence of the Church in the world of U.S. media. The directors and staff of the Vatican press office always appreciated her competence, her great experience, her openness and her kindness. Her example will remain an inspiration for many communicators, particularly those who serve the Church through communications.”

— Tony Spence, director and editor-in-chief, Catholic News Service: “Sister Mary Ann exemplified the very best qualities of the Sisters of Mercy — service to the people of God and compassion for all. As a CNS Rome correspondent, her tenacity and confidence in chasing down a story won her the moniker among some there, ‘that uppity nun,’ a label she wore proudly the rest of her professional life.

When she returned to the CNS Washington headquarters, she took on the entertainment and media beat, becoming one of the very first nun-journalists to cover film and television with regularity.

Her persistence and heart as a journalist and later a media relations specialist paid off.

Her contacts list was the envy of every reporter in town. She was a remarkable woman and a friend to all of us.”

— Helen Osman, secretary of communications, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: “Sister Mary Ann loved the Church with a ferocity that reporters respected and the rest of us adored. I would not have survived the 2008 papal visit without her, and I sincerely hope she’s going to be giving us guidance from Heaven now, especially in the upcoming months! She brought her tremendous wit, Irish humor and deep Spiri-

tuality to her work, and the Church was well served.”

— Don Clemmer, interim director of media relations, USCCB: “Sister Mary Ann was a deeply kind and patient mentor who loved the Church and served the bishops loyally.

The vast network of friends and admirers she leaves behind is a testament to her work and to who she was.”

— Msgr. Frank Maniscalco, pastor, St. Thomas the Apostle Church, West Hempstead, N.Y., and former USCCB communications secretary: “Sister Mary Ann was a splendid communicator. Although she hadn’t applied for an open position in the USCCB’s media relations office, I decided to offer it to her after seeing her expertise in dealing with the media at the 1993 World Youth Day in Denver. Having been a reporter herself, she understood the requirements of reporters and was tireless in responding to their calls.”

— Msgr. Owen Campion, associate publisher, Our Sunday Visitor: “The death of Sister Mary Ann Walsh removes from the scene of Catholic communications a gifted professional journalist and analyst of contemporary religious trends in this country and beyond, but also a disciple and servant of the Church.

“A true and loyal friend for so long, I mourn her passing but rejoice in the memory of her service.”

— An open “note of gratitude” to Sister Mary Ann published by America magazine in March, signed by dozens of former officials of the USCCB and current and former leaders of various Catholic organizations: “The grace, wisdom and humor you are demonstrating in the face of cancer truly inspires. During interviews and through elegant, candid writing you courageously invite us to experience an intimate part of your pilgrim journey toward the Kingdom of God. We are deeply grateful for this blessing. Please know that we think about life, illness, friendship and community in more profound ways because of your witness.”

Isabell Carre and Ariana Rivoire star in a scene from the movie “Marie’s Story.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/Film Movement)

CNS Movie Capsules NEW YORK (CNS) — The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed by Catholic News Service.

“Avengers: Age of Ultron” (Disney) Occasional flashes of wit relieve the endless succession of explosive special effects in this so-so sequel. When a supposedly peaceable tech project uber-engineer, Tony Stark, aka Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), has been working on goes awry, the other members of the Avengers team — Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye ( Jeremy Renner) — must battle to save humanity from the artificial-intelligence villain (voice of James Spader) their colleague has inadvertently created. This evil self-replicating robot is aided by superpower-wielding twins (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen) who nurse a long-standing grudge against the film’s ensemble of good guys. In following up on his 2012 Marvel Comics-based adventure “The Avengers,” writerdirector Joss Whedon keeps the mayhem stylized. But his script’s approach to its under-realized theme weighing human freedom against the blessings of tranquility is muddled. The proceedings are further dinged — and rendered inappropriate for youngsters — by a number of less-than-heroic exclamations and a couple of illconsidered jokes. Pervasive but

bloodless violence, brief irreverent and anti-Catholic humor, fleeting sexual banter, some crude and crass language. The Catholic News Service classification is AIII — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

“Marie’s Story” (Film Movement) The life of Marie Heurtin (1885-1921), often called the “French Helen Keller,” is dramatized in this joyous film, directed

by Jean-Pierre Ameris. Born deaf and blind and wholly unable to connect to the world around her, by the age of 14, Marie (portrayed by deaf actress Ariana Rivoire) is a feral creature, prone

to wild outbursts. With nowhere else to turn, her exasperated parents (Gilles Treton and Laure Duthilleul) bring Marie to a special-needs school run by an order of Sisters where the girl makes a big impression on one idealistic nun (Isabelle Carre).

What ensues is a master class in unconditional love, patience and perseverance. Ameris brings a rare sensitivity and poignancy to his inspirational story; the profoundly life-affirming results are not to be missed. In French.

Subtitles. Some potentially disturbing scenes of a frightened child. The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, May 10 at 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Jeffrey Cabral, Judicial Vicar of the Diocesan Tribunal, in residence at Holy Name Parish in Fall River

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May 8, 2015

Interested in helping at World Meeting of Families? Volunteer

Father Jerry Hogan, national circus chaplain, baptizes the child of circus performers during a recent Mass in the center ring of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus at George Mason University’s Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va. (CNS photo/Bob Roller)

Circus center ring becomes stage for death-defying feats and religion FAIRFAX, Va. (CNS) — Brazilian trapeze artist Estefani Evans flies through the air above the center ring, mesmerizing the gasping spectators below.

The 25-year-old performer for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus soared to different heights in that same center ring at the Patriot Center in Fairfax when she received the Catholic Sacrament of Confirmation in a special Mass held for her, her colleagues and their children.

Because she travels with “The Greatest Show on Earth” throughout the year and performs most weekends, Evans doesn’t have a lot of opportunities to go to church and becoming a regular parishioner is not a practical option for her.

Yet, her Catholic faith is as important to her as the act she has fashioned for the circus.

U.S. Catholic officials recognized this quandary circus people struggle with and have made efforts to supply them with Spiritual and Sacramental nourishment.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops deploy pastoral workers through its Circus and Traveling Shows Ministry to help meet the religious needs of Catholics and people of other faiths who travel with the 50-plus

circuses and 300-plus carnivals in the United States.

Women religious traveled with Evans’ Ringling Bros. troupe for several months to help some of the performers and their children prepare for the Sacraments of Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation.

They received those Sacraments during a special Mass held recently in the center ring at the Patriot Center.

During that Mass, National Circus Chaplain Father Jerry Hogan talked about the Sacredness of celebrating the Liturgy in the center ring.

“The center ring for the circus people is really their Sacred space, where God gave them the talents to become circus performers,” said Father Hogan, who is a priest for the Archdiocese of Boston. “In here we gather together and we thank God for all of their gifts, but we do it in the context of receiving God’s special Sacraments.”

Evans told Catholic News Service that receiving her Confirmation in the center ring merged two dominant passions in her life, her faith and her career.

“There was no better place to do it,” said the trapeze artist, who is in the fifth generation of her family of circus performers. “My religion is very special to me, the circus

is my life, so both together, it’s just perfect.”

Roman Garcia, general manager of Ringling Bros., and his circus-performing wife, Fabiola, witnessed the Baptism of their three-yearold son and the Confirmation of their 13-year-old son and their 15-year-old daughter.

Garcia expressed his gratitude for the circus ministry meeting the pastoral needs of his family and circus colleagues.

“Obviously it’s hard for us to go to Mass because we don’t have a chance to get out of here on Saturday or Sunday, or any day of the week, because we travel every single week,” he told CNS. “We are blessed by the fact that we have (a religious Sister) who travels with us for a few months out of the year and she is able to arrange, you know, different priests in every single region to come in and give us Mass for 45 minutes to an hour.”

The special Mass served the dual purpose of providing pastoral needs and bringing the whole “circus family” together for fellowship, Garcia said.

“We get a chance to, again, have a nice celebration and be united as one,” he said.

A related CNS video can be viewed at https://youtu.be/ b3uBA8wWrRg.

PHILADELPHIA (CNS) — For the past year, the question most often heard by Donna Crilley Farrell, executive director of the World Meeting of Families, was “How can I help?”

Now there is an answer and a way anyone can lend a hand to the four-day conference and events surrounding the visit of Pope Francis to Philadelphia in September.

Registration for volunteers is now open at the World Meeting of Families 2015 website: www. worldmeeting2015.org/.

The meeting runs September 22-25 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

The papal events following the congress are expected to include a visit from Pope Francis to the Festival of Families September 26 and the large outdoor Mass on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway that he is expected to celebrate for up to 1.5 million people September 27.

Some 10,000 volunteers will be needed at the congress and to welcome Pope Francis to the city, Farrell said. Tasks include giving directions to visitors, welcoming them to Philadelphia International Airport or 30th Street Station and even acting as “digital diplomats,” volunteers posting all manner of information on social media platforms.

“Whatever your talent, whatever your passion, there is a role for you,” Farrell said during a re-

cent news conference announcing the call for volunteers.

She encouraged people to bring “all the pride and hospitality that we know exist here” to support September’s events that will be remembered for years to come, “just as we talk of the visit of Pope John Paul II — now saint — 36 years ago in Philadelphia.”

Security is a major concern for event organizers, so volunteers will be screened through a criminal background check. After visitors register their personal information initially on the website, they will receive a confirmation email. Farrell emphasized the importance of waiting for a second email message, after 24 to 48 hours, for confirmation that they have been accepted for volunteer duty.

Volunteers will also be invited to indicate specific preferences for service or talents that would be better served in one role over another. For instance, a person with the skills to translate a foreign language or a person with artistic abilities may be assigned to serve in those roles.

All of the volunteers for the effort will be recognizable in unique and colorful uniforms to be supplied by Aramark Corp.

The Philadelphia-based food services giant was one of a contingent of companies that will provide volunteer support. Others included Independence Blue Cross and Campbell Soup.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — For an upcoming Vatican charity concert, Rome’s immigrants, poor, elderly and marginalized will be getting front-row VIP treatment, while benefactors will be seated in the back.

The charity benefit, to be held in the Vatican’s Paul VI hall May 14, will raise money for the papal Almoner’s Office.

Local charitable organizations and parishes will be bringing about 2,000 people to the concert — people without homes, refugees, immigrants and families and youth experiencing difficult situations, organizers said at a Vatican news conference.

Those people will be given “a place of honor” at the front of the audience hall because “in them is Jesus and for Him we reserve the front row,” said Msgr. Diego Giovanni Ravelli, head of the Almoner’s Office.

The concert on the feast of the Ascension is also open to bene-

factors, volunteers and others.

While tickets are free, seats open to the wider public in the back will have an empty envelope placed on them, asking people to make a donation to the papal charity.

Established in 1409, the Almoner’s Office is the oldest existing papal charity and allocates small donations to individuals requesting assistance with expenses like medical or utility bills and rent.

Msgr. Ravelli said his office received more than 8,000 requests for help last year and distributed more than 1.5 million euros ($1.68 million). The office allocates donations and gifts the pope receives as well as monies received from the sale of papal blessings.

The concert will be an opera based on Dante Alighieri’s “The Divine Comedy.” This year is the 750th anniversary of the medieval Italian poet’s birth.

Poor, marginalized to get VIP seating at Vatican charity concert

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May 8, 2015

Sisters discuss vocations at area schools, parishes continued from page one

Church,” she told a classroom of seventh- and eighth-grade students at St. Michael School in Fall River. “He had always been impressed with my mom’s example of service, and he was a pilot and another pilot he had been flying with was Catholic and really knew his faith, so he started talking to him.”

Sister Peter Joseph’s father converted to Catholicism when she was 11 and “that had a really big impact on me,” she said.

“I was at the age when I started thinking about those same questions,” she said. “So everything my dad read, he gave it to me and I would read it as well. I started to realize there was this whole Catholic mindset that should really be informing everything in my life.”

Impressed by the congregation’s charism of teaching and preaching the Good News, Sister Peter Joseph soon joined the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist and professed her final vows to the order two years ago.

“Our community was founded in 1997 and is primarily located in Ann Arbor, Mich.,” Sister Peter Thomas explained. “There are about 120 of us now. We’ve all taken the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.”

For Sister Peter Thomas, it was St. Dominic’s example and the opportunity to teach that were the biggest draws for her.

“I’m a convert myself, so I’ve always been very interested in why we believe what we believe,” she told The Anchor. “The fact that the Dominicans have been doing this for 800 years was key to the draw.”

With an ever-growing need for vocations to carry on the mission of the Church — especially for religious Sisters — the two nuns were only too eager to share the joy of their life with those in the diocese.

And as Dominicans, this type of missionary work is one of their top priorities.

“St. Dominic loved preaching and he encountered people in his time who weren’t always hearing the truth being preached,” Sister Peter Joseph said. “So he founded the ‘Order of Preachers’ and when Sister and I write our names out, we write ‘O.P.’ after our names, for ‘Order of Preachers.’ We share what we know about God and our life. The whole Dominican family has that same tradition

that we follow.”

A typical day in the life of the Sisters begins at 5 a.m., when they spend a Holy Hour with Jesus in front of the tabernacle. After morning prayers, the nuns will have breakfast together inside a refectory — a tradition dating back to St. Dominic’s time where the religious gather together to eat meals in silence while listing to someone read from Scripture.

“So we’re getting food for our body and food for our mind at the same time,” Sister Peter Joseph noted.

After breakfast, the nuns will begin their daily work routine. For younger novices, this might include cleaning up or attending formation classes in the motherhouse. But Sister Peter Joseph and Sister Peter Thomas will head off to teach at Father Gabriel Richard High School nearby.

The Sisters will gather again in the motherhouse for lunch in the refectory and then enjoy some recreation time.

“We generally have recreation for an hour after lunch,” Sister Peter Joseph said.

“Sometimes we’ll go outside and play soccer or volleyball or basketball — whatever sport you like to do, we probably play it in some variety at our motherhouse.”

Work and additional chores round out the afternoon, while the Sisters will once again come together for dinner, additional recreation time, and evening prayers before turning in.

“We all sit down and pray together; then we’ll have our Compline prayers at night, and we’re in bed by 10 o’clock so we can all get up again at five the next morning,” Sister Peter Joseph said.

“Some people may think it gets boring, because we do the same thing every day,” she added. “But we have a lot of joy and a lot of fun in our day. We love living with the Lord and we love living with each other. It’s one of the great things about being a Sister — we have a strong sense of community.”

Although her congregation was founded in 1997 and is relatively new, Sister Peter Thomas said it remains steeped in Church tradition, like the two-toned habits they receive when they become a novice.

“Our habit is white, which signifies being pure and holy like Our Lady, and our veils are black, which signifies pen-

ance,” she said. “We also wear a 15-decade Rosary on our left side. Knights would wear their swords on the left side, so we see our Rosaries as our weapon to go into battle to fight for Jesus.”

The Sisters will also adopt a new religious name at this time, generally choosing one or two patron saints to replace their baptismal names.

“There’s a lot of instances where names get changed in the Bible, and it’s always an important moment,” Sister Peter Joseph said. “When God gives someone a new mission, sometimes He changes their name to signify what that new mission will be.

“Most of our Sisters are named after one or two saints who become their patrons. But some of our Sisters are also named after Our Lady under different titles — we have Sister Immaculata, for the Immaculate Conception; or our superior is Mother Assumpta, for the Assumption.”

Sister Peter Thomas said being able to share their vocation stories with young people in the diocese — especially during this Year for Consecrated Life — is a great opportunity and blessing.

“I was really excited when the Holy Father announced the Year for Consecrated Life, because I know we need the prayers,” she said. “I was grateful for it — not just for our sake, but to remind the Universal Church that we’re part of the Church family and showing the very organic interplay between the different vocations.”

For Sister Peter Joseph, her congregation’s mission of teaching and preaching goes

hand-in-hand with promoting religious life.

“Our community was founded to teach, certainly, but a particular part of our charism was also to spread religious life itself in response to John Paul II’s call to the New Evangelization,” she said. “We hope to give young women a chance to talk to us and know that religious life is out there and available to them.”

Recalling how she didn’t have any real-life examples of nuns in her life when she discerned her own vocation, Sister Peter Joseph stressed the importance of finding contemporary ways to share the joys of being a Sister.

“We’ve done the Oprah show and a few different things

like that,” she said. “We put out a couple of CDs of Sacred music recently and we also had a couple of Sisters compete on the game show, ‘The American Bible Challenge.’ So we’ve done some of those things to promote ourselves.

“I know one of our Sisters reflected about how we go to the convent for this hidden life with God, so why would we do all this and go out so much?

And to me it’s all for the good of the Church. We need to go out and spread that Good News or invite others in to see us living it. It’s been a privilege to get to be a part of some of those unusual things that were not on my list of things I thought I’d be doing in the convent.”

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This week in 50 years ago — The New Bedford Curia of the Legion of Mary sponsored a May Rally at Sargent Field in New Bedford. A Junior Legionary crowned the Blessed Mother during the rally and Father Joseph P. Delaney spoke about Our Lady.

25 years ago — Thirty-five diocesan faithful were commissioned as pastoral ministers in the second class to graduate from the program sponsored by the Diocesan Office of Pastoral Care for the Sick.

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

Diocesan history

10 years ago — Approximately 200 members of the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women and their guests attended the 52nd annual convention held at St. John of God Parish in Somerset.

One year ago — An evening fundraiser to benefit WQMC FM 102.3, a Cape Cod-based Catholic radio station, featuring former WBZ-TV news anchor Scott Wahle was held at St. John’s Church in Pocasset.

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May 8, 2015

New homelessness initiatives struggling to take off continued from page one

Tom Dwyer, a member of St. Mary’s Parish in Mansfield, has been involved with St. Mary’s St. Vincent de Paul Society since the late 1990s. Back then getting involved with St. Vincent de Paul, said Dwyer, “was about helping the poor and marginalized in our society; do whatever we can to provide them with assistance. I’ve always been interested in social justice issues, and giving the poor the best opportunities we can in keeping with the social tradition of the Gospel.”

Through home visits, the society was able to address a variety of needs, from food to clothing to helping with rent or transportation. Inspired by the realization that the families would need more than a hand-out but a hand-up, the St. Vincent de Paul Society has been trying to move in a new direction focused on social justice, as well as charity: “Rather than providing just aid to marginalized individuals, we’ve been trying on a national basis, trying to focus on systemic change, be they political structures or system laws,” said Dwyer.

The system makes it tough for the marginalized to climb out of the cycle of poverty, said Dwyer, so five years ago, the St. Vincent de Paul Society launched the Social Justice Committee to raise awareness of the root causes of poverty, unemployment and homelessness, with Dwyer as the chairman for the committee.

“We’ve since expanded that, and now instead of just a social justice committee for St. Mary’s in Mansfield, we’re now the Voice of the Poor committee for social justice, and it involves all of the Attleboro area,” said Dwyer. “We’ve always been looking at ways to help the poor and one of the things we became aware of, as the St. Vincent de Paul committee, when you just give individuals direct aid, you’re not really helping them [create] a more sustainable environment. You’re giving them short-term assistance, and sometimes that assistance goes on for a while, but you’re not getting to the root causes.”

gle parent.

As families in the motels used their The Voice of the Poor commit- services, the committee realized that tee focuses on looking at the causes, once again it was a “band-aid” effort helping address the problems, raise that would not result in any permaawareness, and advocate for change in nent solution, so the committee set state and federal laws. The new com- about exploring new options. When mittee expanded its reach to include this past fall Catholic Social Services members from other parishes, and as took over the contract from the state a result, “we experienced some new to become the caseworkers for those energy, a broader perspective, a greater families, a partnership was formed and reach and more resources for different new initiatives began to form. issues,” said Dwyer.

Working with the YMCA in AttleThe plight of the homeless living in boro during this past February vacamotel rooms became a concentrated tion week, 15-17 children of the motel effort for the committee. Many of the families signed up for the opportunity homeless families are placed in motels to come to the YMCA and receive throughout the state, where they re- daycare. Transportation was offered side for various lengths of time before and “we provided them a nice, onefinding permanent housing. week experience to do some things, “These situations in these motels otherwise they’d just be sitting in the are really dire,” said Dwyer. “You’ve got motel,” said Dwyer. families packed into a small motel room Hoping to build from that, the and living there for months, and in some committee tried to hold a “Listening cases more than a year. Two motels in Session,” where the adults on the folthe Attleboro area became recipients of lowing Sunday of that school vacation these homeless families, one in North week would be given their own platAttleboro and the other in Attleboro” form to address what kinds of help and it wasn’t long until those families they felt they needed, such as childbegan to reach out for services, includ- care, transportation or employment ing those offered through the St. Vin- training skills. cent de Paul Society.

“Whatever it was, we wanted to talk Having visited the motel families, and hear from them,” said Dwyer, and seen the living conditions they are though roughly 10 adults signed up, in, and talking with the families, “I’m only one individual showed up, even amazed at their resilience at having to with transportation having already survive day-to-day,” said Dwyer. “It been arranged. is not a fun environment. Many are “It’s not clear why the others didn’t working hard just to survive, to get show up. It is kind of problem for famenough food for their children; it’s a ilies like this,” said Dwyer. “They’re in very tough existence. They should not tough shape. They’ve lost a lot of drive be considered lazy, many are discour- and initiative, so it’s hard for them to aged and don’t see hope for the future.” believe a better life is possible and to There is a difference between gen- have them commit to fighting their erational poverty and situational pov- way out of poverty. They’ve been pretty erty, with many never being given well beaten down.” opportunities and “that’s what we’re Undeterred, the committee tried trying to provide for them; they’re again in April with a similar progood people,” said Dwyer. “They want gram, but this time they expanded to do better, they just don’t know how.” their reach and had the Attleboro and At the end of March, there were 30 Hockomock YMCA involved, and families, not evenly balanced between they combined daycare for the chilthe two motels, with 32 school-age dren with adults being required to atchildren and 21 pre-school children; tend a comprehensive weeklong edua few adults were working, with most cation program. but not all families being led by a sin“We worked with the Attleboro

Literacy Center,” said Dwyer, “who enlisted a number of other community organizations to offer about 30 hours of programming and training — everything from working with computers, to a nutrition program that focused on doing nutritional meals with microwaves because that’s all they have available in motel rooms, job interviewing, preparing resumes, basic health for children; it was a quid pro quo, that if you wanted your child to participate, you had to participate.

“The idea was to spark some interest in adults in what might be possible.

They were going to be exposed to the Career Counseling Center in Attleboro, what the Attleboro Public Library had to offer for resources, what Bristol Community College has as far as for adult educational programs — to give them an idea of what is possible.”

Transportation was lined up, nonprofits and other organizations ready to go, but that Friday before the vacation week — though expectations were high as 14 children and eight adults seemed to have committed — the number of participants dropped “for reasons we are trying to work through” and the program was cancelled.

The committee will meet with Catholic Social Services to see what happened since CSS was handling the direct contacts with the families, “and we’re not giving up,” said Dwyer, “and will look for ways to resurrect the program because the same situation is coming up this summer. There’s no place for the kids to play at the motel; it’s a tough way to live, especially in a country like ours.”

The state got wind of the new initiative, and was observing to see if they could model programs after what Attleboro was trying to launch, said Dwyer, who added “it’s been a difficult process” and that no one was under the illusion that poverty would be solved in one week.

“We have to regroup and see why it fizzled at the last minute, and what can we do for the summer,” said Dwyer. “Is there a way to make this work?

We’ve had a setback, but that doesn’t mean we’re defeated.”

Youth Pages

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May 8, 2015

Fifth-grade students from St. James-St. John School in New Bedford recently learned about layers of the earth and atmosphere as a project for science class.

Members of American Heritage Girls Troop MA 3712 beautified the Rosary Garden next to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Seekonk in preparation for upcoming First Communions. From left: Madison Burbank, Ireland Larkin, Avy Conti, Siera Larkin, and Lily McCormick.

Why do birds have feathers? Why do birds migrate?

These were the questions explored by the third-graders at Holy Name School in Fall River during their recent Lloyd Center’s Feathery Focus class.

Students at St. Mary’s School in Mansfield recently dove into the wonders of the Pacific Ocean with one of the world’s largest maps of the world’s largest ocean. The map, measuring 26 feet by 35 feet, gave these student explorers a fun, interactive experience through rich content and exciting activities that enliven the study of geography. Designed for grades kindergarten through eight, the map is on loan at St. Mary’s through National Geographic’s Giant Traveling Maps program. To learn more about the Giant Traveling Map project, for borrowing information or to download map activities, visit www.nationalgeographic.com/giantmaps.

Sophia Elliott, a fifth-grader at St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro, won a chance to be principal for a day. She gave the students a no-uniform day for a dollar and all the money collected went to charity. Elliot helped raise more than $400 with the no-uniform pass, with a matching amount, so $800 was donated ultimately. In this photo Elliot sits with school Principal Denise Peixoto in the principal’s office.

In celebration of the 100th day of school, students at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro wore crowns, made posters with 100 items on them, and even laced 100 Fruit Loops into necklaces.

Pictured are Kelly Boulay and her kindergarten class wearing their crowns.

The Portuguese Kids held a recent fund-raiser at St. Michael School in Fall River. The event featured a delicious meal of Shrimp Mozambique and Portuguese-style pork steak prepared by Eric Resendes and Carlos Amaral, and a great comedy show by the Portuguese Kids. Shown with the comedy troupe are Principal Sister Marie Baldi with one of the event coordinators, Ana Resendes, and some of the event workers.

May 8, 2015

I

had never really been into Christian music and then about three years ago, I gave up “secular music” for Lent and started listening to KLove and I found a passion for it. Recently, more and more Christian musicians have made their way up here to the New England area. I went to a MercyMe concert recently. It was fantastic.

They have a song called “Dear Younger Me” and the lead singer was talking about the song before he sang and he said, “If you were to come face-to-face with the eight-year-old version of yourself, what you say?” There was silence and then he responded, “Yeah, chew on that for a while.”

This got me thinking

Youth Pages Dear younger me (Part I) that this would be a great Anchor article but I thought advice just from me to my younger self wouldn’t be that great. I went out to the Facebook world and posed the same question. I got some great responses so I thought I would share them with you. I unfortunately couldn’t share all of them and to keep from plagiarizing, thank you to all my friends and family who provided the following advice: “Keep your eyes and ears open and learn from those who have come before you.”

“Don’t sweat the small stuff, life has a way of working out. Embrace your fears,

Members of the Bishop Stang High School Drama Club rehearse for its production of “Bye Bye Birdie,” a story that revolves around rock ‘n’ roll superstar Conrad Birdie (loosely based on Elvis Presley).

The Attleboro Lodge of Elks recently honored Bishop Feehan High School (Attleboro) seniors Katherine Franklin and Jackson Perry for their academic achievements and active community life during “Elks National Youth Week.” The students will be recognized as “outstanding young people of our community who will become our future leaders.” From left: Franklin, Feehan principal Sean Kane, and Perry.

you will learn a lot about yourself.”

“Don’t be afraid of who you are; becoming selfaware is a long and sometimes painful process, but well worth it in the end.”

“Love those around you,

Be Not Afraid

By Amanda Tarantelli

but most of all love yourself.

Don’t take to heart hurtful words. They are just that — words. Don’t take for granted the people who love you most in life; you never know how long you have with them” “Never ever be afraid to be yourself ! And if people don’t like the real you it’s probably because they don’t like themselves! And remember always share a smile, it could brighten someone’s day!”

“Don’t let work rule your life, remember to have fun, and never lose faith.”

“All those times in your life when you were afraid to do something because of what others would think or say? All those people are thinking about their own actions and aren’t really paying attention. Just do it and enjoy the experience life has to offer.”

“By default you are no different than anyone else, by seeking you grow far beyond the default. Grow by learning and doing, help others grow by leading a life that people will want to learn from you and do the things you do.”

“Don’t grow up.”

“Don’t be afraid to stand out! Embrace who you are no matter what anyone else thinks.”

“You are beautiful and valuable not because of how you look, or what you accomplish, but because God made you and He loves you.”

“Always stay positive.

Things are always worse somewhere else so be grateful with what you have while you have it!”

“Can I use your leftover ideas?” This wasn’t actually advice, he was asking to borrow the leftover advice but I thought it made good advice too!

“You are forgiven. You know that in your heart, so believe it. Change your decisions being based on feeling like you can never recover, and own the fact that no matter what mistake you made you can be forgiven. Also, keep in touch with your friends, tell them the truth always, and know that they are doing the same. Keep dancing, keep singing, and never give up on ‘you.’”

“Go to the gym! Those muscles won’t grow on their own.”

“Eat your veggies.”

“Do the best you can do every day. Reach for the moon and come back with a couple of stars. Treat others the way you want to be treated and most of all stay in school!!!!!!”

“Get better grades in high school so you could start practicing medicine way, way sooner.”

“There is only one me who will ever walk this earth. There is no one better than you! But not in a boastful way, just surround yourself with people who love you and love them back. Help others and you will be helped in return. Be kind but never let yourself be taken advantage of. It’s OK to say no and not have

17

to give a reason. Admire what you may not have, but be satisfied with what you are given. Plan for the future, but balance it with enjoying the present. Be grateful!!! And call your mother, just because!!”

“I’d have to wait 40 more years for a Red Sox championship, that The Beatles only have six more years together and that the Rolling Stones would still be together 50 years later.

Right!? I would also tell myself that the peace and warm feelings I had being with my second-grade teacher at St. Anne’s School in Fall River, Sister Anne of Jesus, would be found in happy, holy people all my life; and that those are the types of people to surround myself with to stay on the true course.”

“Invest in Microsoft.”

And the best advice was from my brother. He said, “Be nice to your sister.” I was given so much great advice that I could not fit it into one article so I will continue next month with the rest of the advice.

If you would like to add any, please don’t hesitate to email me. So until next month.

To be continued.

Anchor columnist Amanda Tarantelli has been a campus minister at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth since 2005. She is married, a die-hard sports fan, and resides in Cranston, R.I. She can be reached at atarantelli@bishopstang. com.

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

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May 8, 2015

Appeal efforts are not just a job but a mission for media technician continued from page one

Fortin is very good at his job, but it’s not just the finished product that he’s concerned about when it comes to the Appeal audios and videos. “My wife and I have four children and three grandchildren. Each year, we come away from these interviews feeling blessed. We see first-hand the difficulties people can have in life. And we come away feeling proud to be part of this diocese, and proud of being able to have a hand in raising the money to make these services possible.”

This year the Fortins shot more than 15 hours of video at 25 diocesan locations, conducting 55 interviews with folks who help those in need and those who are receiving assistance thanks to the many donations to the Charities Appeal. In all it took approximately 200 hours of post-production editing to make the 15 audio and 21 video programs, recorded in English, Portuguese and Spanish, used in this year’s Appeal.

“At least once a year, someone I am interviewing looks directly into my eyes and says, ‘If it wasn’t for [your donations/ this agency], I would be dead,’” Fortin told The Anchor. “You can’t imagine the feeling. Being in that room, having that person look directly at you, and saying those words. It has come from women coming out of prison.

Young mothers who had been living on the streets with their children. A construction worker who ended up homeless and ready to give up on life. The diocese has positively affected the lives of so many people. And working on this video strongly influences my life. It really puts anything that is happening in my life into perspective.”

Fortin has seen, and felt, a gamut of emotions from the people who have appeared on the Appeal programs since 1996, and he’s quick to credit the hard-working, dedicated faithful who work and volunteer for a plethora of diocesan ministries. “The people who work for the agencies and apostolates are extremely caring and dedicated,” said Fortin. “They are the ones who arrange for the ‘clients’ to be interviewed. Without these first-hand testimonies we couldn’t create these videos. Not only do the directors of these shelters and housing programs welcome us into their facilities, we get to see how great they are with the people they serve, and how they change people’s lives.”

Despite the multitude of hours he puts into each campaign, Fortin credits those with whom he works for the highlypolished and moving finished products.

He praises the efforts of James A. Campbell, director of the Appeal, the diocesan Development Office and the St. Mary’s Fund; and John E. Kearns Jr., director of the diocesan Office of Communications.

He also credits a litany of diocesan faithful for lovingly reaching out to their peers across the diocese to help those in need.

“Year in and year out we receive great cooperation from everyone in the diocese,” Fortin said. “Arlene McNamee at Catholic Social Services opens up her agency for us. She coordinates with the directors of the shelters and everyone at the various CSS offices. Claire McManus from the Office for Faith Formation is always helpful in guiding us to the best times and places to capture the great work done by her office and their ministries.

“This list of people who helped pave the way for the success of this year’s Appeal videos is long, and I’m afraid to start listing people, for fear of leaving someone out. However, without the help of people like Father David Frederici, diocesan director of Campus Ministries; Father Rodney Thibault, director of Pastoral Care; and Cheryl Gallerani and Claudia Kennedy at the CSS office in Hyannis, we couldn’t do what we do.”

This campaign, Fortin had a new ally in the fight against poverty, hunger, abuse, addiction and other evils facing diocesan brothers and sisters. “Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., had a big role, since he recorded all 15 audio CDs, and was featured on-camera in all 21 videos,” explained Fortin. “In addition to the time he spent reviewing and editing the scripts, he came to our studio in Fairhaven for an intensive three-and-a-halfhour recording session. We shot ‘green screen’ video segments for the videos’ openings and closings in all three languages. He then went into the sound booth to record the 15 audio sermons, each six-and-a-half to eight minutes in length.

“After he left, his work wasn’t over. He made himself available to review things via the Internet.

I was amazed at how quickly I would hear back from him with

his feedback. I got used to answering my cell phone and hearing Bishop da Cunha’s distinctive voice, greeting me with some friendly words, and providing his input.”

But it wasn’t only Bishop da Cunha’s time and recommendations that impressed and touched Fortin. It was the bishop’s genuine concern and efforts to listen and offer hope to struggling brothers and sisters across the diocese.

“As anyone who has met Bishop da Cunha can testify, he is a very warm and welcoming man,” Fortin told The Anchor.

“Anne and I traveled around the diocese, videotaping Bishop da Cunha at Masses, events and agencies. No matter where he went, and no matter who he met, he seemed at ease, and he made the people he was meeting with comfortable. Whether it be at St. Clare’s in Hyannis, a transitional home for women coming out of prison, or homeless shelters like the Samaritan House in Taunton, or the Grace House in New Bedford, in a few minutes he had everyone talking and laughing. And even though the camera was there, it wasn’t a performance. He truly listened and interacted with the people.

Listening to their stories, asking questions, providing some comforting words, and joining with them in prayer.”

Fortin told of one instance when a young girl at the Donovan House, a transitional home for women and their children, encountered Bishop da Cunha.

“There is a shot of a young girl reading to the bishop, looking up to him with her big eyes,” Fortin said. “That entire scene just happened spontaneously.

The bishop walked into the room and engaged the young girl. I barely had time to get set up and capture it on video.”

Fortin hopes this year’s efforts will help people realize just how many people in the diocese need the help of their peers. “I think viewers will come away with a great feeling about the diocese and how it serves people in need,” he said. “And I hope watching the video helps them make the decision to donate to the Catholic Charities Appeal.

“And now, to get started on the 2016 Appeal videos. We’ve already started shooting.” Not just a job, but a mission.

To view the videos or for more information on the 2015 Catholic Charities Appeal, visit frdioc-catholiccharities.org.

At Expo 2015,Vatican pavilion offers space for learning, relaxation MILAN (CNS) — The Holy See’s official pavilion at the Milan Expo 2015, the newest edition of the everyfive-years world’s fair, will be a public space of relaxation and learning.

But for the next six months, the pavilion also will be a place for formal studies, symposiums and academic conversations related to an examination of global food security, hunger and nutrition.

One of 140 countries represented at this year’s “Universal Exposition,” the Vatican chose for its pavilion the theme: “Non di solo pane” (Not by Bread Alone). It is designed in part as a garden-style space promoting agriculture, sharing meals and recognizing God’s presence in the world, according to developers.

The theme is a Gospel-infused variation of the overall theme of Milan Expo 2015, which is “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.” Expo Milan 2015 is expected to draw more than 20 million visitors to its 1.1 million square meters of exhibition area for the next six months.

The pavilion was developed, built and managed in a partnership with the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture, the Italian bishops’ conference and the Archdiocese of Milan, along with the Pontifical Council Cor Unum.

Milan’s Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and Bambino Gesu children’s hospital were scientific partners, helping develop and support the theme for the pavilion, which is open to the public from May 1 to October 31 at the Expo site, 10 miles northwest of Milan’s city center.

The Vatican’s website for the Pavilion notes that in papacies from Pope Pius IX to Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican has

taken part in international exhibitions “to demonstrate the Church’s desire to make her voice heard and to offer her testimony regarding the delicate themes, relevant to the future, that are from time to time proposed by the expositions, especially in recent decades.”

Some recent Holy See pavilions at past world’s fairs tended to emphasize Sacred art and functioned almost as a mobile Vatican museum and small chapel space curated for a specific Expo themes such as The Oceans and water.

This year’s pavilion-creation team sought less to create a kind of official chapel for Expo; it is not adorned with overt Christian symbolism, but does display the words, “Give us this day our daily bread” in 13 languages.

An off-white, minimalist exterior structure is among the smallest of the national pavilions at Milan Expo and is adorned with a yellow fabric entrance suggesting the Vatican flag colors. Inside the 747-square-foot pavilion, four concepts are expressed: ecological, economical-trade, educational and religious.

At least two noteworthy works of Sacred art are on loan to the pavilion in order to adorn the interior: a tapestry rendering of Peter Paul Rubens’ “The Institution of the Eucharist,” and a painting, “The Last Supper,” by Renaissance painter Tintoretto. Photo exhibitions and video installations will support the pavilion themes.

The Holy See Pavilion will be host to panel discussions, symposiums and film presentations addressing world hunger, food sustainability, care for the environment, diet and nutrition, and a theological conversation on the relationship between food and mankind.

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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May 8, 2015

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese Acushnet — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Monday from 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Tuesday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Evening prayer and Benediction is held Monday through Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

ATTLEBORO — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the Adoration Chapel at St. Vincent de Paul Parish, 71 Linden Street, from 7 a.m. to 7 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.

ATTLEBORO — There is a weekly Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration Thursdays from 5:30 to 6:30 pm at St. John the Evangelist Church on N. Main St. 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, Monday through Saturday, from 6:30 to 8 a.m.; and every first Friday from noon to 8 a.m. on Saturday.

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 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 11:30 a.m. in the Chapel of Reconciliation, with Benediction at 11:30 a.m. 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 continuous Eucharistic Adoration from 8 a.m. on Thursday until 8 a.m. on Saturday.

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.

MANSFIELD — St. Mary’s Parish, 330 Pratt Street, has Eucharistic Adoration every First Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with Benediction at 5:45 p.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.

NEW BEDFORD — St. Lawrence Martyr Parish, 565 County Street, holds Eucharistic Adoration in the side chapel Fridays from 7:30-11:45 a.m. ending with a simple Benediction 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.

NORTH DIGHTON — Eucharistic Adoration takes place every Wednesday following 8:00 a.m. Mass and concludes with Benediction at 5 p.m. Eucharistic Adoration also 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.

NORTH EASTON — A Holy Hour for Families including Eucharistic Adoration is held every Friday from 3-4 p.m. at The Father Peyton Center, 518 Washington Street.

ORLEANS — St. Joan of Arc Parish, 61 Canal Road, has Eucharistic Adoration every First Friday starting after the 8 a.m. Mass and ending with Benediction at 11:45 a.m. The Sacrament of the Sick is also available immediately after the 8 a.m. Mass.

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 perpetual 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. Exposition 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 — Eucharistic Adoration at St. Patrick’s Church begins each Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. and ends on Friday night at midnight. Adoration is held in our Adoration Chapel in the lower Parish Hall. ~ PERPETUAL EUCHARISTIC ADORATION ~ 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.

NEW BEDFORD — Our Lady’s Chapel, 600 Pleasant Street, offers Eucharistic Adoration seven days a week, 24 hours a day. For information call 508-996-8274.

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

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 are invited to sign up to cover open hours. For open hours, or to sign up call 508-430-4716.

Being Christian is service, not ‘makeup’ for a pretty soul

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Being Christian is humbly serving others, not applying “makeup” to your soul to make it prettier, Pope Francis said.

“To be Christian is to do what Jesus did — serve,” he said in a homily during a recent Mass in the chapel of his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

Thinking about oneself and being self-centered “is a sin, it’s a habit we have to break,” he said, according to Vatican Radio. Just ask for forgiveness and pray “that the Lord convert us,” he added.

“To be Christian isn’t about appearances or social conduct, it isn’t putting a bit of makeup on the soul so that it’s a little more beautiful,” he said.

A Christian serves others and people should ask themselves, “Do I have others serve me, do I take advantage of others, the community, the parish, my family, my friends or do I serve, am I at the service” of others?” he said.

Being a Christian is also about recognizing that one is part of an entire people on a journey with God, not an individual whose Spirituality is concocted in an abstract or controlled environment, like a laboratory, he said.

God has made His people “walk for centuries in order to reach” maturity, “the fullness of time,” he said.

“How many sinners, how

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks

May 9 Rev. J.E. Theodule Giguere, Pastor, St. Anne, New Bedford, 1940 Rev. John P. Clarke, Pastor, St. Mary, Hebronville, 1941

May 12 Rev. John F. deValles, DSC, U.S. Army Chaplain, 1920 Rev. Herve Jalbert, Retired Pastor, Blessed Sacrament, Fall River, 1986 May 13 Rev. Msgr. Osias Boucher, USA Ret., Pastor, Blessed Sacrament, Fall River, 1955 May 14 Rev. Robert McDonnell, C.S.C., Pastor, Holy Cross, South Easton, 2006

many offenses” along this journey, this long history of sin and grace, he said. “Our history must take on saints and sinners. It is my personal history, everyone’s, it must take on our sin.”

God’s grace is always there, he said, because He is “with us, accompanying us in (our) sin in order to forgive and accompanying us in grace. There is no Christian identity without history.”

Around the Diocese

The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette, 947 Park Street in Attleboro, will host a Watoto Concert of Hope on May 16 at 6 p.m. at the shrine church. The Watoto Children’s Choir is made up of 18 orphan children from Uganda and they have performed for the Queen of England, former U.S. President George Bush, and other dignitaries as well as for the general public.

For more information call the shrine at 508-222-5410 or visit www.lasalette-shrine.org.

The Fall River Diocesan Council of Catholic Nurses will sponsor “The Sacraments for Today” with Father William Kremmell on May 16 from 8:30 to 11:15 a.m. at Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River. The presentation will take place in the Nannery Conference Room in the Clement Hall Building, with Mass and lunch to follow. Father Kremmell is a retired priest of the Archdiocese of Boston who leads retreats, parish missions and days of prayer, as well as helping out at different parishes in the archdiocese. To register or for more information, contact Betty at 508-678-2373.

Abundant Hope Pregnancy Resource Center of Attleboro will host its sixth annual Walk for Life on May 16 at 10 a.m. This is a fun time to connect with others in the Pro-Life movement and a great family event to raise life-saving funds. The event will begin and end at the center, located at 182 East Street in Attleboro. Call 508-4550425 for sponsor forms or just join in on the morning of the stroll.

Registration begins at 9:30 a.m.

On May 17 at 3 p.m. the Parish Life Committee and Women’s Guild are hosting a Living Rosary at Holy Name of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, 121 Mount Pleasant Street in New Bedford. After the Rosary there will be a buffet served in the hall. To volunteer to serve as a “bead” in the Rosary or for more information about the buffet, call 508-992-3184.

All are invited to pray the new Culture of Life Chaplet on May 21 at 1 p.m. in the St. Jude’s Chapel of Christ the King Parish in Mashpee. Recitation is on ordinary Rosary beads and will include a brief meditation preceding each of the five decades.

A Healing Mass will be celebrated on May 21 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, which includes the Rosary. For more information call 508-993-1691 or visit www. saintanthonynewbedford.com.

A support group to help people cope with the loss of a loved one will meet on Fridays at 10 a.m. through June 5 and again from July 10 through August 20 at Catholic Social Services, 1600 Bay Street in Fall River. Facilitator Phyllis Habib, MSW, LCSW, will lead the group. All are welcome and there is no fee to participate. For more information or to register, call 508-678-2828, extension 27 or email rsaraiva@dfrcs.org.

20

E

ach of the five senses that the Good Lord gave to most of us react to sets of stimuli we encounter daily.

With regards to the sense of sight, for me color is the stimulus that sparks the soul.

I find it very apropos that there are two months that the Church devotes, in one way or another, to our Blessed Mother Mary. May, of course, is the month of Mary, and October is the month of her beloved prayer commemorating the story of her salvific Son, the Rosary.

Both months are noted for the magnificent colors they produce. In May we have the world renewing itself with the return of flowers, grasses, and plants. It’s as if the winter months are a coloring book just waiting for watercolors or crayons to complete the scene.

May is the month the Good Lord picks up the paint brush and crayons and delicately fills in the colors, never going out

May 8, 2015

Color my world sometimes see is a figure who of the lines, much unlike the is simply plaster of Paris. masterpieces created by my In other depictions of Mary, pups that adorned my refrigparticularly the classic painterator for years. ings, I see Our Lady as a figure October is the month that that is beyond my reach. allows us, like squirrels and It’s for these reasons that other creatures great and small that gather food stuffs for the winter, to absorb the final colors of the year that explode like fireworks all around us. Aside from the evergreens, those

By Dave Jolivet are the last colors we’ll see for a good half-year.

Both months associated perhaps my favorite rendition with our Blessed Mother reflect her joy, her peace, her love, of sweet Mother Mary is “The Madonna of the Streets,” by and her motherhood through Italian artist Roberto Ferruzzi myriad colors that soothe the in 1897. senses.

According to a history of I think sometimes I lose the painting by Barbara E. Stethat sense of Mary as our vens in St. Anthony Messenger mother through a lack of conin 2000, Ferruzzi didn’t intend centration. the painting to represent Mary I see statues of Mary all and the Baby Jesus. He called around. Some are completely the piece “Madonnina,” which white, and others have her translates into “Little Mother.” colorfully adorned. But what I But those who saw the painting couldn’t help but see the tender young Mary with the Child Jesus peacefully asleep in her embrace.

This is how I envision our Blessed Mother.

The history also relates that the subject of the painting was the mother of Sister Angela Marie Bovo, a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet, who died last June.

Sister Angela’s mother, Angelina, was the young girl and her younger brother, Sister Angela’s uncle, Giovanni, was the infant.

Ferruzzi entered the painting in a prestigious art exhibit in Venice that same year, and the Catholic community embraced the painting as a beautiful new rendition of the young Mary and the tender Infant Jesus.

The story continues that

My View From the Stands

many of the Italian immigrants passing through Ellis Island introduced the painting to Catholics in America.

The story says the portrait was “embraced enthusiastically. The image showed the young girl’s vulnerability and sweetness. The timeless nature of her mantle and the cold background suggested” the new title of “Madonna of the Streets.”

I will always envision the Blessed Mother like this. In fact this image is etched on the gravestone of my son DJoe because of the warmth of Our Lady’s embrace that was greatly needed back then — and still is.

I didn’t come from a huggy environment and only learned the true value and warmth

of an embrace through the countless retreats I’ve been a part of through the years. Our children were brought up on hugs and it’s still a major part of my life.

This painting also reflects colors that are pleasing and comforting in my eyes, getting back to the origin of this column.

It’s a scene that could easily find a home in May or October.

We all need embraces. And one of the greatest embraces we can receive is one from sweet Mother Mary. It’s there in the Rosary, in Scripture, and in the “Madonna of the Streets.”

Happy Mothers’ Day to all moms and especially to Mother Mary, who so often colors my world. davejolivet@anchornews.org.

“Madonnina,” (Little Mother) by Italian artist Roberto Ferruzzi, which later became known as “The Madonna of the Streets.”

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