SERVING ••• SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
teanc 0 VOL. 25,' No. 20
FALL RIVER, MASS., THURSDAY, MAY 14; 1981
20c, $6 Per Year
CCA total stands at $869,688.35
THE NEW FAMILY LIFE CENTER
Familyministry relocates Bishop Daniel A. Cronin announced this week that the former Bishop Stang convent at 500 Slocum Road, North Dartmouth, will be the new home of the Diocesan Office of Family Ministry. "During this decade of the family, it is fitting indeed that we realize a long-cherished goal." the bishop stated.
The former convent was built in 1959 at the same time as Bishop Stang High School, to which it is connected. Until five years ago, it housed the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur who formerly staffed the diocesan high school facility. In recent years the Sisters of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who staff Spanish apostolates of the diocese, re-
sided there. Those sisters have moved to a New Bedford convent, thereby making the North Dartmouth facility available. The four-story building with full basement will afford ample room for office and retreat facilities. Father Ronald A. Tosti, diocesan director of family ministry, Turn to Page Six
Deacons challenged to simple life style Permanent deacons and their families have be~n. challenged to offer "irrefutable counterwitness to the consumerism of our day" by Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany, N.Y. Speaking at a Boston meeting of the National Association of Permanent Deacon Directors, the bishop called for a diaconal life style "that enables them to live with what is sufficient; a life style that is less dependent upon status, prestige, influence and possessions and which is more open and available in !;er-
vice to others; a life style evidenced by simplicity of clothing, diet and transportation, by ·moderation in use of money, power and entertainment and by prayers for, advocacy on behalf of and work among the poor." Describing the diaconate as "an extension of the mission of Jesus, the Servant-Healer into today's world," Bishop Hubbard said that deacons should be "dramatically different kinds of persons," defenders of human rights, including racial justice and social equality, and "person-
centered" in the tradition of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker. Warning that deacons should not become part of a "new clericalism," the bishop said that they were in an advantageous position to help lay persons realize and implement "the concept of shared responsibility which is so crucial for the future of the church." Turning to the concept of small-based Christian communiTurn to Page Two
Latest reports of special gift donations and parish contributions bring the 1981 Catholic Charities Appeal up to $869,688. 35. COl1tributions from parishes, priests and special gift- donors should be made in person to Appeal Headquarters beginning Wednesday, May 20, until Friday, May 22. The books of the Appeal will be closed at 1 p.m. Friday. This coming weekend, every solicitor, parish and special gift, should make a last effort to canvass every potential donor. These reports should be made to special gift and parish headquarters on Monday.
Ten more parishes have been added to the Honor Roll of parishes surpassing their 1980 final totals since last week's edition of The Anchor. These parishes are: Holy Redeemer. Chatham; St. Elizabeth Seton, North Falmouth; Assumption, Osterville; Notre Dame, St. Anthony of Padua, Santo Christo, Fall River; Our Lady of Grace, North Westport; Immaculate Conception, St. Boniface, New Bedford; St. Rita, Marion. Leading parish and parish total figures appear on page 2 and an eight-page supplement of special gifts and parish donations follows page 6 of this issue of The Anchor.
Sr. Marion Geddes Bishop ])aniel A. Cronin will be principal celebrant and homilist at a funeral Mass at 11 a.m. tomorrow at St. Mary's Cathedral, Fall River, for Sister Marion Geddes, RSM, retired diocesan superintendent of schools. Sister Marion, 67, died Tuesday at Mt. St. Rita Health Center, Cumberland, R.I., following a long illness. At the time of her appointment to the diocesan superintendency she was the first woman religious in the Northeast to hold such a post and possibly the first in the nation. Commenting on her death, Father George Coleman, diocesan director of education, said: "Sister Marion was a dedicated educator and an exemplary religious. She expended her energies in our diocese as 'founding principal of Bishop Feehan High School, as assistant superintendent of schools and as superintendent of schools until her retirement in 1980. "Her wise advice and expertise will be greatly missed. We pray for the repose of her soul and extend our sympathy to her family and to the Sisters of Mercy,"
,Born in 1913 in Berkeley, R.I., Sister Marion entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1931. Through the years she taught in every grade from one through 12, for the most part in the Providence diocese. She served in the Fall River diocese from 1961, beginning with her appointment to the Bishop Feehan principalship. Feehan students and faculty members will be ushers at tomorrow's Mass, at which Sister Mary Noel Blute, RSM, provincial superior, will be the first reader and Sister Martha Serbst, RSM, will be the second reader. Sister Mary Faith Harding, RSM, present Feehan principal, will give the Prayer of the Faithful and the offertory procession will be composed of members of Sister Marion's family. She is survived by a sister, Mrs. Doris Bogan of Tucson, Ariz., and by two brothers, Henry Geddes, also of Tucson, and Thomas Geddes of North Providence. There will be calling hours for her today at Mt. St. Rita's. Interment following tomorrow's Mass will be in Resurrection Cemetery, Cumberland.