05.17.13

The Anchor Diocese of Fall River

F riday , May 17, 2013

Boston cardinal to boycott graduation over honors to Irish official

Conclave, Vatican appointment raise Cardinal O’Malley’s international profile

2013 Catholic Charities Appeal launches effort to aid thousands across the Diocese of Fall River.

See this week’s special insert.

BRAINTREE — Boston’s Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, OFM Cap. seemed sure he would need his round-trip ticket home from the conclave that elected Pope Francis. Despite this, Italian media christened him a frontrunner, and Boston media seemed to be rooting for a hometown pope.

The media focus on Cardinal O’Malley raised his profile and the added attention will likely continue with his April 13 appointment by Pope Francis to an advisory committee on reforming the Roman Curia.

The committee’s first meeting is slated for October 1.

What is more, the media coverage has been almost exclusively positive, which is not something the Church in Boston has enjoyed in recent history. The priest abuse crisis came to light through Boston newspapers in 2002, and the relationship between the local Church and the news media has been strained ever since.

Speaking with The Anchor, Scot Landry, the Archdiocese of Boston’s Secretary for Catholic Media, said that during the conclave, “The Boston media and their coverage of Cardinal Sean couldn’t have been more positive.”

Landry accompanied Cardinal O’Malley on part of his trip to the Vatican in March. He blogged and led a daily radio broadcast. He was present for the premeetings, the conclave and the announcement of the new Holy Father. Waiting in the rain in St. Peter’s Square, Landry could not clearly see the white smoke, obscured by thousands of umbrellas. Nearby, he heard a group of some 25 Italian nuns chanting in their native tongue, “We want our Capuchin pope.”

And when the new pope’s name was announced, he heard Pope Francis but not the man’s given name, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina. For about two minutes, Landry thought Franciscan O’Malley might be Pope Francis.

“Cardinal O’Malley was receiving half the buzz in Rome in the days leading up to the conclave,” he said. “As someone who admires and is close to Cardinal O’Malley, I was scared for him that he might come out [onto the papal balcony]. I was scared for the archdiocese that he might not be coming home for a long time.”

Instead, out walked the former Cardinal Bergoglio. Pope Francis and the Capuchin Franciscan know each other well and have much in common. Both share a love for St. Francis and the poor. Both are members of religious orders; Pope Francis being a Jesuit. Either would have been the first pope from the Americas. Landry said he believes Pope Francis sees in CarTurn to page 14

Boston, (CNA) — Cardinal Séan P. O’Malley, OFM, Cap., announced that he would not attend the commencement of Boston College due to an honorary degree Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny will receive at graduation.

According to a May 10 statement from the cardinal, “Mr. Kenny is aggressively promoting abortion legislation” in Ireland.

“Because the Gospel of Life is the centerpiece of the Church’s social doctrine and because we consider abortion a crime against humanity,” Cardinal O’Malley explained, “the Catholic Bishops of the United States have asked that Catholic institutions not Turn to page 14

By Christine M. Williams Anchor Correspondent

month of mary — During the month of May, first-grade students at Holy Name School in Fall River, Julianna Nassiff and Collin Sardinha, were part of a ceremony honoring our Blessed Mother by crowning her statue during the school’s weekly Mass.

Diocesan CSS helps develop, manage affordable housing unit

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

NEW BEDFORD — While the majority of the nation’s attention was fixated on the tragic bombings that had occurred during the Boston Marathon the day before, Bishop George W. Coleman quietly went about blessing and dedicating the newlyrefurbished Oscar A. Romero House in New Bedford with representatives from the diocesan Catholic Social Services office last month.

Located at 8 Allen Street in the city’s south end and situated diagonally across the street from St. John the Baptist Church on the corner of County Street, the his-

toric structure will now offer 12 affordable housing units for families at or below 50 percent of the area’s median income.

According to Ed Allard, project director for Community Action for Better Housing, the Romero House is the culmination of a three-year effort that began when CABH purchased the property in December 2010.

“This property had been vacant for about 18 years and it was in terrible disrepair and became an eyesore for the neighborhood,” Allard told The Anchor. “As part of the process, we had to create a new corporation that would own the property and be the recipient of all the funds. That’s Turn to page 18

‘Sourpusses’ hurt Church’s witness, mission, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Using a phrase that translates literally as “the face of a pickled pepper,” Pope Francis said that when Christians have more of a sourpuss than a face that communicates the joy of being loved by God, they harm the witness of the Church.

“The Christian is a man or woman of joy,” the pope said May 10, giving a homily during his morning Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

While happiness is a good thing, the pope said, it’s not the same as the profound joy that comes from “the certainty that Jesus is with us and with the Father.”

If one tries to be happy all the time, he said, that happiness ends up “transTurn to page 14

OSCAR WORTHY — This rehabilitated house located on Allen Street in New Bedford was recently dedicated and named after Oscar A. Romero, the former archbishop of San Salvador and staunch defender of the poor, who was assassinated while celebrating Mass on Mar. 24, 1980. The soon-to-be-occupied affordable housing units within are to be managed by the diocesan Catholic Social Services office. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)

News From the Vatican

2

May 17, 2013

Only Holy Spirit can fill hearts thirsting for love, peace, pope says VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Listen to the Holy Spirit because He is giving people the Good News that God loves them and can renew, purify and transform their lives, Pope Francis said.

The Holy Spirit is the living water that “quenches the thirst in our lives because He tells us that we are loved by God as His children, that we can love God as His children and with His grace we can live as children of God, like Jesus,” the pope said at a recent weekly general audience.

Speaking to more than 80,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis continued his audience talks about the affirmations of faith in the creed, focusing on the Holy Spirit.

“The Holy Spirit is an inexhaustible well of the life of God in us,” he said.

Every human person in every epoch and from all walks of life “desires a full and beautiful life, a life that is not threatened by death but that may mature and grow in fullness,” the pope said.

“Mankind is like a wanderer who, across the deserts of life, thirsts for water that’s alive, gushing and fresh, able to fully slacken his deep desire for light, love, beauty and peace. Everyone desires this,” he said.

It is Jesus Who gives humanity this living water through the Holy Spirit, the pope said, “so that our lives may be guided, animated and nourished by God.” “When we say a Christian is a spiritual person, what we mean is this: A Christian is someone who thinks and acts according to God, according to the Holy Spirit,” he said.

But, he asked, “do we think and act according to God or do we let ourselves be led by so many other things?”

All Christians must reflect

The Anchor www.anchornews.org

on this question and honestly answer in their hearts whether they are listening to God or are distracted, he added.

The living water of the Holy Spirit, the pope said, is a gift from the resurrected Christ “Who dwells in us, purifies us, renews us, transforms us so that we can share in the life of God Who is love.”

That is why St. Paul affirmed in his Letter to the Galatians that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, selfcontrol,” he said.

The Holy Spirit brings people into Divine life as children of God where they can live, as “true children, in a relationship of intimacy, freedom, and faith in the love and mercy of God,” he said.

Living as children of God lets people see with Christ’s eyes, and see others as “brothers and sisters in Jesus to respect and love,” he said.

The pope said if people were to listen to the Holy Spirit, they would hear Him say, “‘God loves you.’ And we, do we truly love God and others like Jesus did?”

“Let us be guided by the Holy Spirit, allow Him to speak to our hearts and He will tell us this: that God is love, He’s always waiting for us, He is a Father Who loves us like a real dad and only the Holy Spirit can tell our hearts this,” he said.

Before praying the “Our Father” in Latin, the pope interrupted the organ player to reiterate and emphasize the message he wanted people to walk away with at the end of the audience: “We have to listen to the Holy Spirit Who is inside us!”

“What does He tell us? That God is good, that God is a Father, that He loves us and always forgives us,” he said to applause.

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 57, No. 18

Member: Catholic Press Association, Catholic News Service

Published weekly except for two weeks in the summer and the week after Christmas by the Catholic Press of the Diocese of Fall River, 887 Highland Avenue, Fall River, MA 02720, Telephone 508-675-7151 — FAX 508-675-7048, email: theanchor@anchornews.org.

Subscription price by mail, postpaid $20.00 per year, for U.S. addresses.

Send address changes to P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA, call or use email address

PUBLISHER - Most Reverend George W. Coleman EXECUTIVE EDITOR Father Richard D. Wilson fatherwilson@anchornews.org EDITOR David B. Jolivet davejolivet@anchornews.org OFFICE MANAGER Mary Chase marychase@anchornews.org ADVERTISING Wayne R. Powers waynepowers@anchornews.org REPORTER Kenneth J. Souza k ensouza@anchornews.org REPORTER Rebecca Aubut beckyaubut@anchornews.org Send Letters to the Editor to: fatherwilson@anchornews.org

PoStmaSters send address changes to The Anchor, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722.

THE ANCHOR (USPS-545-020) Periodical Postage Paid at Fall River, Mass.

good fit — Pope Francis exchanges skull caps with a young girl after arriving for a recent weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Alessia Giuliani, Catholic Press Photo)

Pope tells Sisters the Church needs them, they need the Church

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis told 800 superiors of women’s orders from around the world that the Catholic Church needs religious women and that religious women need to be in harmony with the faith and teachings of the Church.

“What would the Church be without you?” the pope told the women recently. “It would be missing maternity, affection, tenderness and a mother’s intuition.”

Religious superiors, Pope Francis said, need to ensure their members are educated in the doctrine of the Church, “in love for the Church and in an ecclesial spirit.”

Quoting Pope Paul VI, he said: “It’s an absurd dichotomy to think one can live with Jesus, but without the Church, to follow Jesus outside the Church, to love Jesus and not the Church.”

The Sisters, who came from 76 countries, were in Rome for the plenary assembly of the International Union of Superiors General.

The group welcomed the pope with loud applause and with the ululations of the African Sisters among them.

U.S. Sister Mary Lou Wirtz, superior of the Daughters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and president of the International Union of Superiors General, said the Sisters “are very pleased with the pope, and it gives them hope of maybe some change happening in the Church.”

They appreciate the pope’s emphasis on serving the poor and going out to the margins of society, “because that’s what our service as religious women is about.”

In his talk to the women, Pope Francis said their vow of chastity expands their ability to give themselves to God and to others “with the tenderness, mercy and closeness of Christ.”

However, “please, let it be a fruitful chastity, a chastity that generates sons and daughters in the Church. The consecrated woman

is a mother, must be a mother and not a spinster,” he said. While the Sisters were laughing at his use of a very colloquial Italian word for “spinster” or “old maid,” he added: “Forgive me for speaking this way, but the motherhood of consecrated life, its fertility, is important.”

Pope Francis said that just as Mary could not be understood without recognizing her role as being Jesus’ mother, the Church cannot be understood without recognizing its role as being the mother of all believers. “And you are an icon of Mary and the Church,” he said.

The pope said every vocation — and not just a call to the priesthood — begins with a call from God and is a call to continually center one’s life and actions on Christ, “adoring the Lord and serving others without holding anything back for oneself.”

But particularly for priests and religious, responding to that vocation means feeling, thinking and acting in communion with the Church “that generated us through Baptism,” he said. “The proclamation and witness of the Gospel — for every Christian — are never isolated acts. This is important,” the pope said, repeating the phrase and adding that Christians do not do good because of a “personal inspiration, but in union with mission of the Church and in its name.”

For members of religious orders, the whole process of growing in love and dedication to Christ and in service of others is aided by poverty, chastity and obedience, Pope Francis said.

Embracing poverty, he said, means overcoming all temptations of selfishness and instead relying totally on God’s providence. It is expressed in simplicity and learned from living with “the humble, the poor, the sick and all those on the existential margins of life.”

“Theoretical poverty is of no use to us,” he said.

Pope Francis also praised the Sisters for their focus on the meaning and exercise of authority within

their communities: “We must never forget that true power, at any level, is service, which reached its highest point on the cross.”

“Think of how much damage to the people of God has been caused by men and women of the Church who are careerists, climbers, who use the people, the Church, their brothers and sisters — those they should be serving — as trampolines for their personal interests and ambitions,” he said. “This does great harm to the Church.”

Sister John Britta, superior of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in India, said religious women “want to serve the needs of the poor with our pope and bishops. Whatever the pope says, we are ready to do.”

She said she hopes that under Pope Francis the work of women in the Church will be given greater acknowledgment and that on every level of the Church, people will follow Pope Francis’ example so that “authority is shared responsibility, not autocracy.”

Sister Ingeborg Mueller, superior of the Germany-based Precious Blood Sisters, said that although the papacy is only two months old, she has great hope that, under Pope Francis, the Church will increasingly be “a Church of service, a Church that goes out to people and doesn’t just wait for them to come, a Church where people feel welcome.”

Loreto Sister Patricia Murray, an Irishwoman who runs the religious orders’ Solidarity with South Sudan project, said there is a sense among the Sisters that “we’re becoming the Church again — not just an institution. Being Church means we have an obligation to go out and transform that small part of the world that we can.”

“Pope Francis is not just saying things, but he is doing things that are good news,” she said. “We need to be in solidarity with those who are in trouble, but we also need to rejoice with those who are rejoicing.”

May 17, 2013

3

The International Church

Church spokesman: Catholics not divided by remarks over women deacons

OXFORD, England (CNS) — A German Church spokesman denied the country’s Catholic bishops are divided after the bishops’ conference president, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, provoked controversy by advocating a form of diaconate for women.

“There are no new facts — Archbishop Zollitsch has declared himself in favor of a specific deaconry for women, which means without ordination,” said Robert Eberle, spokesman for Germany’s southern Freiburg Archdiocese.

“The bishops want more women in positions of responsibility in the Church on the basis of Catholic doctrine. So there’s no division over reform issues like this,” Eberle said in a recent statement to Catholic News Service.

Archbishop Zollitsch made his proposal April 28 at the close of a Freiburg archdiocesan assembly on Church reforms, at which 33 separate recommendations were debated by 300 participants.

He said he supported “a further deepening of the common priesthood of all baptized persons,” and would promote “a variety of services and ministries.”

He also said both men and wom-

en “should be respected and taken seriously in the Church,” adding that he believed work posts should also be offered to people with “different lifestyles.”

The archbishop added that he was also “committed to new ecclesiastical services and ministries open to women,” including “a specific deaconry for women.”

Eberle said Archbishop Zollitsch was speaking only “in his capacity as local archbishop” and referred to a similar February 20 proposal by Cardinal Walter Kasper, former president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, during the German bishops’ spring plenary at Trier.

The German bishops’ conference press office declined to answer questions about Archbishop Zollitsch’s remarks.

The archbishop’s remarks generated reaction in Germany.

Ute Hucker, spokeswoman for the German Catholic Women’s Association, said a “specific deaconry” would “not be enough” when women made up 80 percent of the country’s “engaged Catholics.”

“It’s good he said something about women — but Catholic women’s organizations want more than just a special, secondrank position,” Hucker told CNS

Costa Rica campaign highlights dignity of babies with birth defects

San José, Costa Rica (CNA/EWTN News) — A ProLife association in Costa Rica has launched a campaign to raise awareness about the plight of babies with anencephaly, who are often used to justify calls for the legalization of abortion in Latin America.

Babies born with the condition are missing all or part of their brain and usually die within a few hours, although some babies live longer. One baby with the condition born in Brazil lived for 16 months.

In a statement sent to CNA, the Pro-Life group Por la Vida underscored the importance of defending the right to life of babies with anencephaly, one year after Brazil legalized abortion for babies with the condition. A baby with the same condition is currently making headlines in El Salvador, as a similar debate rages in the country.

The awareness campaign in Costa Rica includes testimonies from families who have had babies with anencephaly.

“Antonella, Gabriel, Liam, Isabella are only a few of the names of these babies who lived for a short time outside their mothers’ wombs but who live on

in the hearts of the parents,” the campaign explained.

It added that these parents “wish to tell their stories to show that preserving the life of their child was worth it and that the best decision a mother in this situation can make is to allow her child to live and to die in the arms of his or her loved ones.”

The testimonies posted on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, “have moved the hearts of those who have followed this campaign, which has already received more than 10,000 visits on its first day,” the association said.

One woman explained that she did not see her baby as deformed. Rather, she explained, “to me he is and always will be my baby, the fruit of my womb, my gift from God, my first and only love.”

Por la Vida noted that in Costa Rica, abortion proponents have used the case of a woman called “Aurora” to argue for the legalization of abortion, alleging that her unborn child “suffered from deformations incompatible with life.”

“Aurora’s” case is currently being studied by the Constitutional Court of Costa Rica.

May 8.

“We don’t want women as priests, since we recognize this isn’t possible theologically. But we want women to have the same rights as male deacons, to be trained and ordained for work in the same office.”

The Catholic Church permits only men to be ordained as deacons. Permanent deacons can preach and preside at Baptisms, funerals and weddings, but may not celebrate Mass or hear confessions.

Some historians say women deacons existed as a special category in the early Church.

However, in a general audience talk in February 2007, Pope Benedict XVI said the New Testament reference to Phoebe as a “deacon” was an indication of her important responsibility in the community at a time before the title took on a “hierarchical” meaning, implying ordination.

A 2002 study by the International Theological Commission concluded that the role of women deacons in the early Church cannot be considered equivalent to that of ordained male deacons. It also concluded that the permanent diaconate belongs to the Sacrament of Holy Orders — which the Church says is limited to men only.

Archbishop Zollistch’s suggestion was not to go against that opinion, but rather to open up a new role in the Church, a

form of diaconate for which the women would be blessed, but not ordained.

Irmentraud Kobusch, deputy chairman of the 550,000-member Catholic Women of Germany, said her organization would reject a “special office for women,” and predicted anything less than “Sacramental Ordination” would “be seen by women as depreciation and discrimination.”

However, at an April 29 “Day of Deacons” in Koblenz, the archbishop’s remarks were welcomed by many female Catholics, including Julia Klockner, a regional head of Germany’s governing Christian Democratic Union. She told the Catholic news agency Kathpress that women deacons would offer “a great opportunity for the Church to regain credibility.”

At their February plenary, the German bishops’ conference approved a report setting targets for women to be better represented in Church “management positions,” while Cardinal Kasper also called for a Sacramental

office for women “with its own profile,” which would be distinct from the ordained diaconate.

Hucker told CNS she hoped the new pope’s “welcoming of women in various fields” would have practical consequences, adding that there were now “really good contacts” on reform issues between bishops and lay Catholics in many of Germany’s 27 Catholic dioceses.

“People have come together on the points set out in the bishops’ February report, and I hope work will start on implementing them as soon as possible,” she said. “Engaged Catholics are asking their bishops to do something and coming up with their own concrete ideas, so it will be good news if reforms are now really in motion.”

Catholics make up 30 percent of Germany’s population of 82.3 million, around the same proportion as Protestants, with two percent belonging to Orthodox denominations, according to federal government figures.

Visit The Anchor online at http://www.anchornews.org

4

The Church in the U.S.

May 17, 2013

Bishop arrested for driving under influence apologizes for ‘error’ WORCESTER (CNS) — Bishop Robert J. McManus of Worcester pleaded not guilty May 7 at a Wakefield, R.I., courthouse to charges of drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident.

According to the Boston Globe, the bishop was released on personal recognizance after his attorney, Bill Murphy, told 4th Division District Court Judge Walter Gorman that the bishop waived his right to an extradition hearing. Bishop McManus is due back in court May 28.

The bishop was arrested May 4 in Narragansett, R.I., after allegedly being involved in a collision and driving away from the scene.

Bishop McManus, a Rhode Island native, shares a family home with his siblings in Narragansett.

In a May 6 statement, the bishop said he made a “terrible error of judgment by driving after hav-

ing consumed alcohol with dinner. There is no excuse for the mistake I made, only a commitment to make amends and accept the consequences of my action.”

He also asked for forgiveness from the people he serves and family and friends in the dioceses of Worcester and Providence, R.I. Bishop McManus, 61, has been bishop of the Worcester Diocese since 2004. He previously served for five years as an auxiliary bishop in Providence.

Last year, he objected to an invitation to Victoria Reggie Kennedy, widow of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., to speak at the commencement ceremonies at Anna Maria College in Paxton, which is part of the Worcester Diocese.

The Catholic college retracted its invitation to Kennedy and asked the bishop not to attend the ceremony, saying his presence would be a “distraction.”

Foster care seen as crucial to helping unaccompanied minors flourish

GLENDALE, Ariz. (CNS) — As a child, Johnson Toe spent 12 hours a day farming okra, rice, tomatoes and peppers on his grandmother’s farm in Liberia.

The Glendale Community College sophomore came to Arizona as a refugee eight years ago, when he was 12. He’s still figuring things out with the help of Catholic Charities’ unaccompanied minors program.

“There are so many options,” Toe said, noting that when he arrived he didn’t speak the language. It was hard to get through sixth grade, he said.

What made things even more difficult is that Toe arrived alone.

Back in Liberia, he barely saw his father and never met his mother. His grandmother raised him and he helped her on the farm and with hunting.

“When you grow up, you do whatever your family does — you do anything you can to help your family,” he said.

Violence in Liberia forced Toe and his cousin into a refugee camp in Ivory Coast when he was nine.

At the camp, humanitarian workers would bring food, clothing and other items to help refugees get by. There wasn’t any work or school. Yet, Toe said it was a drastic improvement from the violence he was fleeing.

Before coming to the United States three years later, a car hit and killed his cousin outside the camp. Once Toe arrived in Arizona, Catholic Charities got him into school and into a foster care home.

Nearly 14,000 children are in need of a home in Arizona — that number includes unaccompanied minors. Catholic Charities’ foster care program helps match children with families, and puts an emphasis on keeping siblings together.

Catholic Charities facilitates adoption for children currently in foster care and helps set up special homes for children with medical needs and homes for unaccompanied minors.

Karen Resseguie, senior program manager of unaccompanied minors, said parents “are really the heart of our program.”

“They really are the ones that help (unaccompanied minors) adjust, learn English and acclimate to the culture,” she told The Catholic Sun, newspaper of the Phoenix Diocese. “Foster parents are the ones helping them with school, too.”

Pat Bell got involved with foster care after hearing about the “lost boys of Sudan” through her church, St. Mary’s Episcopal.

“I had to do something,” Bell said, noting she’d watched a documentary on the second Sudanese civil war, which took 2.5 million lives from 1983 to 2005.

“This was outrageous.”

Through Catholic Charities, Bell took in some of the boys from Sudan. Numbering more than 27,000, they were driven from their tribal villages and separated from their parents during the height of the civil war. About 3,800 lost boys were resettled in the United States in 2001.

“It’s the best thing that I’ve ever done,” Bell said of being a foster mother. “You haven’t lived until you’ve given back unconditionally.”

Bell, a school nurse, said she grew up with everything she needed “and many things I wanted.” The children she takes in don’t have the things they need.

“All they wanted was to be safe, to have a pencil and a piece of paper,” she said. “They didn’t want designer clothes — and they thought everything I cooked was delicious! Even my meatloaf!”

Bell describes her house as a miniature United Nations and said she’s received more than she’s given as a foster mother.

Things weren’t easy for Toe when he arrived from the Ivory Coast refugee camp. On top of the change in culture, classmates made fun of him for not speaking English and for being black.

Catholic Charities takes care of his medical insurance and other expenses so he can make it on his own when he turns 21. He attends a monthly meeting about saving money, protecting against fraud and other life skills.

Toe played three varsity sports while in high school and likes to help others with physical fitness.

He works at the YMCA. “You don’t have to keep the birds away from the rice,” Toe said of supermarkets. “I didn’t have a family member to help me when I didn’t have money to pay for things. But I had Catholic Charities.”

The Church in the U.S.

May 17, 2013

5

College invite to Irish prime minister draws ire of Pro-Lifers

CALLOUS INDIVIDUAL — Dr. LeRoy Carhart. (Photo Credit: National Organization for Women via Flickr from CNA/EWTN website)

Celebrated abortionist draws fire after undercover film

Washington D.C. tion. Speaking to women at his tion’s investigations.

(CNA/EWTN News) — New clinic, Carhart minimizes the The footage also reveals footage by an undercover in- risks and potential side effects Carhart advising the women vestigative group shows a of abortion, despite statements not to seek emergency care prominent late-term abortion- to the contrary by the Journal should they need urgent mediist joking about the abortion of Obstetrics and Gynecology cal attention during the multiprocedure and telling women and Planned Parenthood. day abortion process. not to seek emergency care if He also claimed to the un“You don’t call 911,” he something were to go wrong. dercover investigators that he tells them, advising them in“Dr. (LeRoy) Carhart’s tes- has never “had anybody leave stead to “just get in the car” timony is shocking and sicken- there feeling worse than they and drive themselves to the ing,” said Lila Rose, president came,” and that he “never had clinic should they need emerof Live Action, the organiza- to send anybody to the hospi- gency care. tion that conducted the under- tal.”

Information sheets given cover investigation. to patients at CarIn a statement ren a statement released with the hart’s Maryland clinic leased with the vidstate that if patients video, Rose criticized Carhart’s “feel that something is eo, Rose criticized Carhart’s compari- comparison of a dead infant within a wrong and you need to son of a dead infant mother’s womb to “putting meat in a be seen do not go to the within a mother’s crock pot,” as well as references to the ER, call and we will womb to “putting meet you at the clinic.” meat in a crock pot,” tools he uses to complete abortions as a Carhart splits his as well as references “pickaxe” and “drill bit.” weeks between his Neto the tools he uses to braska and Maryland complete abortions clinics, and according Acknowledging that a wom- to Maryland Pro-Life group as a “pickaxe” and “drill bit.”

She also stated that “he out- an died after an abortion at “Defend Life,” he was in Neright lies when he claims that his clinic, he asserted that the braska at the time of Morbelhis patient, Jennifer Morbelli, death was due to “complica- li’s death. died of complications in her tions with the pregnancy, but Pro-Life reports indicate pregnancy rather than from his not from the abortion.” that Morbelli and her family However a Maryland medi- had tried repeatedly to contact abortion.”

Carhart was one of four cal examiner determined that the doctor when she began exprotagonists in the documen- the death of the woman in periencing shortness of breath tary “After Tiller,” which de- question, Jennifer Morbelli, and chest pains following the buted at the Sundance Film was a direct result of a late- abortion procedure. The famFestival in January 2013 and term abortion Dr. Carhart per- ily eventually took her to the has won numerous honors formed at his Maryland clinic. hospital, and she died shortly since its opening. The doc- According to the Baltimore afterwards. tors highlighted in the film chief medical examiner’s ofRose, whose organization is are the four remaining doctors fice, the 29-year-old school releasing a series of similarly in the United States that still teacher died from “amniotic undercover videos, cautioned perform third-trimester abor- fluid embolism following ter- that these problems are not mination of pregnancy” as rare, although they are often tions.

In 2009, Dr. Carhart also well as widespread internal overlooked in the abortion won awards from Physicians bleeding. business.

Carhart is currently under for Reproductive Health and “Our investigation reveals NARAL Pro-Choice America. investigation for Morbelli’s that the horrors of the abortion The doctor is shown in the February 2013 death. Her industry leaves devastated two latest of several videos record- death occurred six weeks be- victims: the mother and the ed undercover by Live Ac- fore the second of Live Ac- child,” she said.

I

Boston (CNA/EWTN News) — Boston College’s invitation to Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny to speak at commencement and receive an honorary degree is drawing opposition from Pro-Lifers who call the invitation “unconscionable” in light of the politician’s push for legal abortion.

“After our painful experience for the past 40 years, we know what legal abortion will do to Ireland,” said Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America.

In a May 7 statement announcing a new Pro-Life initiative, Hawkins warned that legalized abortion in America “has led to the deaths of more than 55 million preborn baby girls and boys, the victimization of millions of women, and the crumbling of families.”

Students for Life has launched the project “Not at BC” to oppose Kenny’s appearance at Boston College.

The college announced on April 25 that Kenny would speak at commencement ceremonies this spring and receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree for the school’s 150th anniversary.

College spokesman Jack Dunn cited the school’s Irish connections as a motive for the choice. Boston College was founded by a Jesuit from Ulster to serve the Irish immigrant population and maintains an Irish Studies program.

Although Kenny and his party, Fine Gael, had promised not to implement abortion legislation, he is now making a strong push to legalize abortion in Ireland when the mother’s life is in danger, including when she threatens suicide.

Critics say the lack of a ges-

tational age limit in a recent proposed law means that abortion would be available on demand in Ireland to any woman who threatens suicide. The law could force Catholic hospitals to comply with abortions and also lacks individual conscience protections for physicians, nurses and other health care workers.

Kenny has also suggested that Pro-Life members of parliament may be expelled from his party if they refuse to vote in favor of the abortion legislation.

The Catholic bishops of Ireland — a traditionally Pro-Life country — denounced the proposed abortion law in a May 3 statement, saying it would “make the direct and intentional killing of unborn children lawful.”

Students for Life of America said the Irish prime minister has bowed to the international proabortion movement in his recent push to legalize the procedure.

The organization said it is “simply unconscionable” for any college, particularly a Catholic one, to “honor the man who would usher in the mass death of Irish preborn children.”

“As Catholics, Christians, and Pro-Lifers of all faiths, the time is now to stand in solidarity with the innocent pre-born, oppose Prime Minister Kenny, and demand he stop promoting the grave moral evil of abortion in Ireland,” said Hawkins.

“Boston College must hold true to its Catholic mission and immediately revoke their invitation to Prime Minister Kenny to speak at their commencement ceremony.”

Students for Life is calling on supporters to contact Boston College president Father William Leahy, S.J. by phone, email or internet forum.

6

The Anchor Trying not to imitate Judas

“We need a ‘big heart’ that is wide open and capable of loving. We must also avoid behaving selfishly at all costs because selfish people, like Judas, do not understand what giving and love are; they become traitors, isolated and alone.” Thus summarized Vatican Radio the homily Pope Francis delivered this past Tuesday, the feast of St. Matthias.

The Holy Father focused much more on Judas than on the saint that the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostles to have take his place (Matthias). He spoke about what a “bitter” person Judas was, because he was so focused on himself.

The pope made reference to the scene shortly before the Paschal Triduum, when Mary Magdalene anointed Jesus’ feet. “Let us think of that moment with Magdalene, when she washed the feet of Jesus with nard, which was so expensive: it is a religious moment, a moment of gratitude, a moment of love. And he [Judas] stands apart and criticizes her bitterly: ‘But ... this could be used for the poor!’ This is the first reference that I personally found in the Gospel of poverty as an ideology.

The ideologue does not know what love is, because they do not know how to gift themselves.”

Judas stood apart from the other people present at the scene, according to the pope, seething and alone. He is the epitome of one who is selfish, who “safeguards his life, grows in this selfishness and becomes a traitor, but is always alone.”

Judas is focused on himself and his ability to get money. “And this idolatry has led him to isolate himself from the community of others: this is the drama of the isolated conscience. When a Christian begins to isolate [him or herself], he or she also insulates his or her conscience from the sense of community, the sense of the Church, from that love that Jesus gives us.”

These words speak to us in a special way during this time of the Catholic Charities Appeal, in which we are called upon to respond to the needs of others, to see each other as equal parts of the community of faith and love that the Church is called to be. There are many articles in this edition of The Anchor about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, Who is invisible, helps us to treasure what really matters in this world (which is not mere matter, which will eventually disintegrate) — those things which are integrated into our lives by grace. In other words, we become rich by imitating more and more Jesus’ way of living, the way of living as God the Son, Who did not cling to His Divinity, so that He might lift us up from the dunghill of our sins and make us more like God. When we are generous with our possessions (in a generosity based in love of God and neighbor, not the “show” generosity of which we are warned at Mass every Ash Wednesday), then we show that we are not “possessed” by them. They are not keeping us apart from our neighbors, but helping to bring us closer to them in love.

Sometimes we fall into this trap (the pope described Satan as being a “scammer” in this homily) without even being focused on money, but just by being focused on ourselves. The other 11 Apostles were hardly sinless — they also were ambitious, had their own goals for themselves and for Jesus which were not in line with God’s plans — but they also could acknowledge their sinfulness, as St. Peter did more than once. They knew that they did not have it all together and that they needed Jesus’ help in coming to true self-fulfillment. Judas, however, did not seem to have that self-criticalness which the other 11 had. Unfortunately, when he does finally realize what a big mistake he has made with his life, he takes it, despairing of any possibility of forgiveness. If he had only been a little less self-focused, he would have known that Jesus loved him and would have forgiven him his betrayal.

After the Ascension, the 11 continue as a community, praying together with Mary, to whom they had been entrusted (through St. John) on Calvary. They pray for the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to come, without understanding exactly Who the Holy Spirit was or what being filled with the Holy Spirit would entail. Nonetheless, they had the generosity of spirit needed to remain bonded together in prayerful expectation.

Pope Francis ended his homily on Tuesday saying, “In these days of waiting for the feast of the Holy Spirit, we ask: Come, Holy Spirit, come and give me this big heart, this heart capable of loving with humility, with meekness, an open heart that is capable of loving. And let’s ask this grace of the Holy Spirit. And may He free us always from the other path, the path of selfishness, which eventually ends badly.

Let us ask for this grace.”

This is a prayer which could be helpful for all of us, assisting us in the battle against evil, beginning with the battle against the tendency to close in on ourselves and ignore Christ’s presence surrounding us, which calls out for us to love and be loved.

T

May 17, 2013

More important than Jesus

he Church is now in the midst of the as a whole allows the Holy Spirit to fill our great annual novena praying for the hearts with faith, enkindling in them the fire of outpouring of the Holy Spirit this Sunday on His love. That’s the way we’re renewed and Pentecost. It’s become my favorite time of the through us the Holy Spirit renews the face of Liturgical year, when I have a chance to ponder the earth.

— and try to help other Catholics ponder — the As Catholics, we’re all called to be charisrole of the Holy Spirit in our life as Christians matics in this fuller sense, those who receive and in the mission of the Church. with faith and respond with fervor to the Holy The most shocking phrase in all of Sacred Spirit’s charisms and interior presence.

Scripture, I believe, occurs during the Last During this great novena, it’s a time for us Supper when Jesus says, “I tell you the truth. It to examine our docility to what the Holy Spirit is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the wants to do in us as our Helper and Guide.

Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I The first thing He wants to do is to help us will send Him to you.” pray better. St. Paul tells us, “The Spirit helps Jesus swears an oath basically saying that us in our weakness; for we do not know how if we have a choice between keeping Him and to pray as we ought.” The Holy Spirit teaches going without the Holy Spirit, or letting Jesus us how to pray. He does this principally not by depart and receiving the Holy Spirit, it’s better putting words on our lips, but changing who for us to have the Holy Spirit. If Jesus didn’t we are as we pray, helping us to be conscious Himself say it, it would be hard to believe, but of our reality as beloved sons and daughters He is essentially saying that the Holy Spirit is confidently crying out, “Abba, Father!” Our even more important for us than He is. prayer needs to become more charismatic, Most Catholics, however, don’t treat the guided by the Holy Spirit, not just during this Holy Spirit this way. We often treat Him as a novena, but always. lesser-known nobody included in a package The second thing the Holy Spirit wants deal with God the Father and God the Son. to do is to help us live differently. Through The Holy Spirit remains for so many Baptism, we have become the temple of His — including Holy Presence, Confirmation and that reality candidates should change and recipients, us and make us priests, religious, different from and highly the rest. St. Paul dedicated laity calls us to “live — just a strange according to the

By Father white bird, or Spirit,” which mysterious derequires setting Roger J. Landry scending flame, our hearts on or howling wind the things of of Biblical histhe Spirit and tory. Rather than a personal, vital “helper and responding to His help to kill in us the things guide” — as the Confirmation Rite begs the Fa- of the flesh, what Pope Francis calls “spiritual ther that He will become for us — He remains worldliness.” We’re called not merely to know the great Unknown. the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit but to live by And our Christian life, and the whole misthem. Someone who is truly “spiritual” lives a sion of the Church, suffers from this remediable charismatic life according to the Holy Spirit in ignorance. things big and small.

There’s a famous scene in the Acts of the Third, the Holy Spirit wants to fill us with Apostles when St. Paul came to Ephesus and a fire to light the world ablaze with the Gospel. met some disciples. He asked, “Did you receive The Holy Spirit came down on Pentecost as the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” tongues of fire — rather than ice-cold, quiverThey responded, “We have never even heard ing lips! — for a reason. It was a Sacramental that there is a Holy Spirit.” sign effecting what it signified: that those who While today, every Catholic has heard of receive the Holy Spirit are equipped and emthe Holy Spirit as a theological concept, few re- boldened to proclaim the Gospel with ardor. ally know Him intimately. Benedict XVI talked Many Catholics are sadly wrapped in spiriabout this ignorance five years ago when he tual asbestos. By Baptism and Confirmation, met with the youth of the world in Australia. however, we’ve all received the same Holy “The Holy Spirit has been in some ways Spirit that the Apostles received on Pentecost. the neglected Person of the Blessed Trinity,” he We just need to cooperate as much as they did declared, and confessed that he, too, was guilty and spread the faith more charismatically, as of this disregard for the first half of his life. It joint witnesses with the Holy Spirit, that Christ was only as a young priest teaching theology is alive and wants to raise not only the dead but that he began to recognize the importance that the living! the Holy Spirit should play in his life.

Lastly, the Holy Spirit wants to build up the “It is not enough to know about the Church. St. Paul tells us He gives each of us a Spirit,” he said at World Youth Day. “We must “manifestation of the Spirit” for the benefit of welcome Him as the guide of our souls, as the the whole. The mission of the Church is not ‘Teacher of the interior life’ Who introduces us just for ordained or consecrated “specialists.” to the Mystery of the Trinity, because He alone We’re all called to be contributors rather than can open us up to faith and allow us to live it consumers, givers rather than takers, co-reeach day to the full.” sponsible participants rather than seated spectaIf we wish to understand the faith, to live tors. Our roles will vary — just as an eye is not it, and to pass it on, we must allow ourselves the same thing as a foot — but all our roles are to be guided by the Holy Spirit, even if we, important. Each charismatic gift is crucial to like Father Joseph Ratzinger, are beginning as accomplish the mission Christ has entrusted to adults rather than as children. For us, the “great the Church for the salvation of the world. Our unknown” must become the “great known,” parishes, our diocese, and the Church Universal our Teacher, Leader, Consoler, and Advocate. must become more charismatic in our identifySince the Second Vatican Council, there’s ing and implementing the particular manifestabeen one group that absolutely hasn’t taken tions of the Spirit each of us has been given. the Holy Spirit for granted: the members of The Holy Spirit’s mission is to lead the the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. The whole Church and each of us. St. Paul begged the Church owes them a debt of gratitude. To those early Christians not to “quench” or “grieve” the who haven’t been part of this renewal, some Spirit of God. He wanted them — and us — of its most striking manifestations seemed a rather to allow the Spirit full reign so that we little strange — like speaking in undeciphermight “please” Him by allowing Him to work able tongues or being “slain” by the Spirit and in us the same moral miracles He worked in the collapsing — and the rebirth in awareness Apostles and members of the early Church. and cooperation with the Holy Spirit it was On Sunday, the birthday of the Church, launching remained fundamentally for prayer the Holy Spirit wants to lead us, our parishes group members or Life in the Spirit seminar and the whole Church on a true charismatic participants. renewal from within. He wants to bring about a But glossalia and other such manifestanew and perpetual Pentecost. tions are not the essence of the renewal the Let’s pray — and open up the windows.

Holy Spirit always wants to bring about in the Father Landry is Pastor of St. Bernadette Church. The true charismatic renewal occurs Parish in Fall River. His email address is when individual Christians and the Church fatherlandry@catholicpreaching.com.

Putting Into the Deep

May 17, 2013

I

t has been more than 40 days since we celebrated Easter. The candy has been consumed; the lilies have been discarded or transplanted with the hope of another growth.

The new clothes purchased for Easter have become part of our wardrobe. Easter is over and forgotten. We look forward to Memorial Day. The Catholic Church is still celebrating the Easter Season.

It will end on Pentecost Sunday, this year May 19.

We are made aware of this impending celebration by the feast of the Ascension we just celebrated. Traditionally celebrated 40 days after Easter, it commemorates the return of Jesus to the Father.

But Jesus promised He would not leave us orphans.

Orphans are not common to our experience. There was a play, “Annie,” about an orphan. There was a comic strip named “Little Orphan Annie.” In New Bedford, St. Mary’s Home cared for children whose parents were not able to care for them. Those in Fall River will recall St. Vincent’s Orphanage which did the same for children in that

T

he Catholic Church was once described to me as a smorgasbord of spirituality. This is a great metaphor to describe the diversity within the Church, better than the “cafeteria” image that castigates Catholics for picking and choosing the teachings that appeal to them. The metaphorical smorgasbord feeds us with the wholesome nourishment of the Gospel, but prepared and served in a variety of ways.

Diversity is not embraced by all, for it can make people very uncomfortable. There are those who wish to impose a standard of unity that is illogical and downright damaging to the soul. They look back longingly to a time when they thought that all Catholics marched to the same drumbeat. Or as one lamented, we should learn from the street gangs that show their unity by displaying their “colors.” This statement denies the reality that the unity imposed by the gangs is totalitarian, designed to strip the youth of dignity and exploit them for the benefit of their leaders. The belief that external unity will lead to internal acceptance of the

7

The Anchor

Where Jesus left off

area, especially during the isolated, abandoned, destitute, depression days. The home, without protection, alone. originally situated on the Words inadequately banks of the Taunton River, describe how the disciples of provided a home for many the Lord would have felt if the children.

Lord had left them totally to Perhaps, at times, we feel themselves. like orphans, isolated and abandoned.

Hopefully, not many feel that way. We might even feel, at times, that God has abandoned us. We

By Msgr. might even conclude, John J. Oliveira with all the scandal in the Church, with decreasing numbers attending Church, that God Yet how was Jesus to stay has abandoned His Church — with them? Could He be left us as orphans. physically present in some The Scripture readings way? Would He take up are a constant reminder of residence in a certain area?

Jesus’ promise not to leave Would He remain in the upper us as orphans. This is often room where they were? Would repeated as a consolation for this be His headquarters?

His followers. Jesus did not Would He go with them want them to feel like they where they went? If He did, were going to be abandoned. how could He be with all the Jesus tells them in the 14th Apostles at the same time? chapter of St. John’s Gospel: The clue is given to us in “I will not leave you orphans; the Gospel of St. John, again I will come to you.” in the 14th chapter: “I will ask Orphan is translated by the the Father and He will give English Bible as comfortless you another Advocate to be or desolate. It gives the with you always, the Spirit of connotation of one who is truth, whom the world cannot

Living the Faith

accept, because it neither sees nor knows Him.” If orphan is a key word for John, so is advocate. Advocate is an English equivalent of the word Paraclete. Advocate is a legal term meaning a defense attorney, a spokesperson, a mediator, intercessor, comforter, consoler, teacher, and a witness.

While assisting for many years in our Tribunal, my role was that of advocate. In fact, I did what the word means. For the person seeking an annulment, I was their defense attorney.

I was their spokesperson in a sense. Through my assistance, I served as their mediator, intercessor. When necessary, I did provide consolation and comfort during the process.

Christ continues in the Church through the Advocate — the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit continues where Jesus left off. Fifty days after Easter, the Holy Spirit came to the Apostles and filled them with the fire of His love. Their hearts were so filled with the fire of His love that they went forth to change the face of

Sitting at the same banquet table

Gospel message is misguided. community it extinguishes One need only listen to the the flame of the Spirit. Enreadings from Pentecost to culturation of the Gospel is grasp how foreign this imGod’s own method of evanposed unity is to the essence gelization. of our Church.

The Church has protected The most astounding the essential message of the outcome that occurred at the Gospel through councils, first Pentecost was the realization that people were understood despite speaking different languages.

“Are not all these people who are speakBy Claire McManus ing Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language?” This was the moment when God overcanons, and dogmatic procrode the curse of Babel and lamation. The culture war granted the gift of diversity to waging within the Church is the fledgling Church. not fought over message, but Language is a broad conmethod. Catholic apologists cept, for it is not just words believe that the best way to or dialect, but embraces the spread the Gospel is through totality of a culture. We may the teachings of the Church. all speak the same language On the other side are those but express ourselves differwho believe that evangelizaently. This is a blessing and tion is only possible when a challenge to our ability one shares an experiential to spread the Gospel. When moment of faith. For them, culture is embraced and reciting theological formulae respected the Spirit flouris anathema to spreading the ishes in the faith community. Good News. One of the most When one tries to impose a egregious culture warriors culture that is foreign to the in Church history, Martin

The Great Commission

Luther lent his opinion to the debate over the head-heart battle when he warned against spreading the Gospel with the language of the academy, “How was Christianity taught in the times of the martyrs when this philosophy and theology did not exist? How did Christ Himself teach? St. Agnes was a theologian at the age of 13; likewise Lucy and Anastasia. In all of these hundreds of years up to the present, the courses at the university have not produced a single martyr or saint to prove that their instruction is right and pleasing to God.” In other words, the message is best delivered through the lived experience of the messenger.

The best display of the harmony between unity and diversity is on the stage of the Eucharistic Liturgy. The Mass is not just a collection of words, but is a performance, as Church historian John O’Malley, S.J. observes.

“The words of the Liturgy are unlike those of other cultures for they are stylized for the

the earth. That celebration is called Pentecost Sunday.

There is no such thing then as a Catholic orphan. Every Catholic has God as Father, the Church and Mary as mother.

History will show us that, God is with us through the ages, persecutions, crises, catastrophes, through good times and bad, God is with us.

God is with us to bless us, nourish us, forgive us, heal us, help us and love us.

The Holy Spirit is also our personal advocate.

He comes to each of us at Confirmation. He fills us with His Spirit. May we be sensitive to His presence, not only in our Church, but in our lives.

We should pray come Holy Spirit, do not let us feel abandoned or as orphans.

Come Holy Spirit, guide and protect us. Be our Advocate.

Come Holy Spirit and enkindle in us the fire of Your Love. Send us forth to renew the face of the Earth.

God bless you.

Msgr. Oliveira is pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in New Bedford and director of the diocesan Propagation of the Faith Office.

sublimity of the occasion.

They are not spontaneous.

They are set in inviolable formulae, to be repeated time after time, age after age, without variation.” The words of the Liturgy, however, make no sense if they are not accompanied by actions. The music, vestments, flowers, candles, bells, gestures, and processions are designed to take us into another world beyond the confines of our own culture.

It doesn’t matter whether the music beats to the rhythm of chant, rock, samba, or mariachi; as long as it moves the people to that feast which theologians call the “eschatological banquet.”

The New Evangelization wouldn’t be very new if we go back to the old methods that got us here in the first place. We must continue our efforts to spread the Good News, working together, not in opposition to one another.

It doesn’t matter on which side of the buffet we fill our plate, at the end of the day we will all sit at the same banquet table.

Claire McManus is the director of the Diocesan Office of Faith Formation.

8

May 17, 2013

The Anchor

P

entecost is the feast of completion. The Easter season ends here, as does the history of our redemption until Jesus returns in glory. It is 50 days after Easter; our Lord had ascended nine days before and thus completed our redemption. Now, with the coming of the Spirit in the life of the infant Church and in our lives, there’s nothing left to be said, really. We just have to live it out!

It’s also the feast of passion.

The Apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, fell so in love with the Father and the Son that they rushed out to convert the world to that same love. Note the colors of the vestments: red, the color of fire. The passion of the flesh is nothing compared to the passion of the Spirit. Look at the saints, especially the martyrs, but also St. Catherine of Siena, St. Francis, St. Bernard, St. Ignatius Loyola; read their lives to see

The Holy Spirit gives us what we need

what true passion is. to all your urges and you’ll be Above all, it’s the feast of free, fulfilled and fascinating. the Spirit in our lives: not just But what happens is just the in the lives of the Apostles and opposite. When we follow our Mary, or of the early Church, own human spirit, we get rigid, or even of the canonized closed in and selfish, and we saints, but in our lives.

He is just what we need Homily of the Week in our lives. The Holy Pentecost Spirit is sole and unique, Sunday but also flexible, malleable, and adaptable to all

By Father things and all people; He Andrew Johnson is, in a word, manifold.

The spirit of man— the human spirit— is one entity as well, but deeply, probecome boring to those around foundly divided by sin. This us. The human spirit unis what St. Augustine meant touched by God isn’t manifold, when he described his life but only tragically divided. before his conversion; he saw Look at the readings today a rupture in himself caused to see biblical images of unity by sin. The strange thing is and multiplicity: the tongues that the division in our hearts of fire, the mighty wind, all caused by sin doesn’t make the different nations who us more flexible, adapted and hear the one Gospel of salvaadapting to the world. That’s tion; the Tower of Babel in what modern culture tells us: reverse. But see especially the Virtue is boring! Give yourself Apostles themselves, divided

and isolated in their fear. They become one mind and heart at the coming of the Holy Spirit.

They do finally separate, but only to proclaim the one Gospel to all the world.

So here’s the point: whatever you need to be a better, holier, healthier, more generous and open person, the Holy Spirit will bring it to you. See the sequence of today’s Mass: “Heal our wounds, our strength renew; on our dryness pour your dew, wash the stains of guilt away. Bend the stubborn heart and will, melt the frozen, warm the chill, guide the steps that go astray.” That’s the Spirit being manifold, applying His grace in whatever way it’s needed, to all His children.

With the joy of receiving this manifold Spirit, there are challenges as well, and three that I will mention here, among many. First, we are to

be remade in the Holy Spirit we receive. That means learning to be all things to all people, going out from our own narrow selves to serve the Church. Second, we must realize that the work of transformation in the Holy Spirit is not our work, but His. We can’t force it. We so often have to wait! This is often the hardest test of all for us Americans, who want everything now. But our growth in holiness is the work of the Spirit, and we can only cooperate with patience.

Finally, we must realize that the very first gift of the Holy Spirit is peace, a peace that will be the first work of God in our lives, and prepare for all the rest. “Come Holy Spirit, ever One with God the Father and the Son. It is the hour; our souls possess with Your full flood of holiness!

Father Johnson is pastor of Good Shepherd Parish and St. Stanislaus Parish in Fall River.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. May 18, Acts 28:16-20,30-31; Ps 11:4-5,7; Jn 21:20-25. Sun. May 19, Pentecost Sunday, Acts 2:1-11; Ps 104:1ab,24ac, 29bc-30,31,34; 1 Cor 12:3b-7,12-13 or Rom 8:8-17; Jn 20:19-23 or Jn 14:15-16,23b-26. Mon. May 20, Sir 1:1-10; Ps 93:1-2,5; Mk 9:14-29. Tues. May 21, Sir 2:1-11; Ps 37:3-4,18-19,2728,39-40; Mk 9:30-37. Wed. May 22, Sir 4:11-19; Ps 119:165,168,171-172,174-175; Mk 9:38-40. Thur. May 23, Sir 5:1-8; Ps 1:1-4,6; Mk 9:41-50. Fri. May 24, Sir 6:5-17; Ps 119:12,16,18,27,34,35; Mk 10:1-12.

A

s the Revised Standard Version renders the 14th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, Paul and Barnabas remind the proto-Christians of Antioch that it is only “through many tribulations” that we enter the Kingdom of God. The New American Bible translation drives the point home even more sharply: “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.” Christians in the United States who imagined that, whatever tribulations or hardships they have to endure, they would not include speeches by the president of the United States and the policies of the United States government had better reconsider, in light of President Barack Obama’s April 26 address to the

Tribulation compounded by blasphemy

annual Planned Parenthood Gala for more than 1,000 such deaths at Washington’s Marriott Wardevery day; yet the president man Park Hotel. described Planned Parenthood’s It was an appalling speech that work as “providing quality had the sole benefit of clarifying health care to women all across the last-ditch commitment of the present administration to the most open-ended abortion license possible. And it drew a line in the sand that those committed to the biblical view of the

By George Weigel sanctity of human life cannot ignore — and must challenge.

Planned Parenthood is a multimillion-dollar industry, America.” funded in no small part by the Pro-Life advocates’ efforts federal government, that has to craft state laws requiring been directly responsible for the Planned Parenthood clinics and deaths of millions of unborn chil- other abortionists to follow the dren and is currently responsible minimal sanitation and safety standards required of true medical facilities are, according to the president, a matter of “shutting off communities that need more health care options for women, not less.”

The clinic-regulation laws that have been passed in states across the country are, the president charged, part of an “orchestrated and historic effort to roll back basic rights when it comes to women’s health” — as if abortuaries that do not meet the health and safety standards required of your local McDonald’s are contributing to anyone’s “health.”

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

The Catholic Difference

Moreover, such laws are an attempt to mandate “government injecting itself into decisions best made between a woman and her doctor” — as if a butcher like Philadelphia’s Kermit Gosnell, who severed the spinal cords of infants born alive in botched abortions, was any woman’s personal physician.

Perhaps because the Obama speech to Planned Parenthood coincided with Gosnell’s homicide trial, the president did not utter the word “abortion” once. But the timing notwithstanding, that omission was hardly surprising in an address that may have set a new standard for deliberate misrepresentation of reality. For it requires willful moral blindness about reality to say that “what Planned Parenthood is about” is helping “a woman from Chicago named Courtney” make sure she could start a family, by providing “access to affordable contraceptive care to keep her healthy” in the face of a fertility-threatening disease.

Today, President Obama noted to applause, “She’s got two beautiful kids. That’s what Planned Parenthood is about.”

About the millions of “beautiful kids” (many of them

African-American) who were never born because of Planned Parenthood, the president of the United States had not a word to say. Not a word of remorse. Not a word of compassion, for either the slaughtered innocents of our time or the mothers suffering postabortion trauma. Just a celebration of “your right to choose,” without the slightest moral pause over the question, “Choose what?”

But there was worse. For President Obama concluded his remarks as follows: “Thank you, Planned Parenthood. God bless you.”

And that is nothing short of blasphemy.

Too harsh? No. For in its discussion of this grave sin against the Second Commandment, the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” (No. 2148) teaches that “it is also blasphemous to make use of God’s name to … reduce people to servitude, to torture persons or to put them to death.”

That is precisely what happens in Planned Parenthood abortuaries.

And on that, the president of the United States called down the Divine blessing.

Pray for him. Pray for the United States, which is in very, very serious trouble.

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

H

9

The Anchor

May 17, 2013

How have you experienced the Holy Spirit?

ave you ever read Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s book, “The Little Prince”? In a way, that story reminds me of Isaiah 11:6; “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.” In the book, the pilot is stranded in a desert.

His plane has crashed and he is tinkering with the engine. His survival depends on getting that plane to fly again. He is stunned to hear a child’s voice behind him saying, “If you please — draw me a sheep.” At first, the request seems so incongruous.

To the pilot, this child apparently does not fully comprehend the situation. Yet, as they dialog, it is the little prince who brings the pilot to a greater understanding of what is important in life. It is the same way with speaking with adolescents about the Holy Spirit.

In sharing with them how to seek and find the Holy Spirit, one receives more than one gives.

How have you experienced the Holy Spirit? Have you ever shared this with a young adult? Even if you have never done anything like this before, I challenge you this week to give it a try.

You need not be afraid because that very same Holy Spirit will guide your actions. I know this because I have experienced this firsthand. A number of years ago I was a facilitator for Rainbows, which is a program designed to aid children who have suffered a loss of a family member due to divorce or death. One part of the program is group discussions.

One night, a child burst in just as my group was finishing. He said, “In my group, they told me you are a scientist. You should know about these after-death

flowing from discussions and experiences — lights and stuff. negotiations. Students were How do they work? Hurry up and tell me as I want to get back to the hopeful about what people could do in collaboration. One young cookies!” Such discussions were man preferred we spend less time not part of that evening’s planned probing the figureheads and more topics. Although I am a scientist, I had most definitely never thought of how to approach such a topic with Wrestling with God teen-agers. Since I really Holding on for had no idea what to say, His blessing I just told Our Lord that this one question is Yours.

To my amazement, within

By Dr. Helen Flavin a split second, I heard myself giving that child a time analyzing the ideas they satisfactory answer and then he propose. He said, “Indeed we can was headed back for his second learn from the examples of others; cookie! yet it is their message which At the college and high school should call us to action. Take levels, I have often heard the for example Thomas Jefferson. question, “How in today’s world, Did his prominence as a slave can you choose to be a teacher?” owner discredit the Declaration of Whatever aspect the person is Independence?” addressing, the real underlying A number of students said question seems to be, “Aren’t that ideas were great, but people you afraid of today’s youth?” The answer, of course, is that one is not were more important. One young woman said that people should afraid after taking the time to get spend more time thinking about to know the students as brothers who they really are and what they and sisters in Christ. To assist you would like to do. Another student in this week’s quest, I would like suggested that understanding the to share with you the thoughts of source of an idea might allow some of today’s students. you to better understand that idea.

Recently, I gave my Yet another student cautioned upperclassmen a Marie Curie that people should not examine quote for reflection. Madame someone so deeply that all they Curie was the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in physics. see are the negatives. A young man respectfully disagreed with She said, “Be less curious about Madame Curie and stated, “I’m people and more curious about at a stage of my life where I am ideas.” With this reflection I had thought to encourage curiosity and capable of really connecting with being respectful to one’s neighbor. people. Whereas I have been focusing on ideas for the last 18 However, after I had read the years and two months, I think that quote then listened to students’ finally focusing on people might comments, I felt more like that be a good idea.” pilot who put down his wrench Do any of these student and listened to the little prince. responses resonate with you? Are A common theme of student you ready to take up this week’s responses was creative ideas

Citizenship Services Program naturalization caseworker attains BIA-Accreditation

Fall River — Alanna Keane, Naturalization Caseworker with Catholic Social Services of Fall River Inc.’s Citizenship Services Program, has been accredited by the Board of Immigration Appeals to represent clients in immigration matters. The BIA, part of the U.S. Department of Justice, is the highest administrative body for interpreting and applying immigration laws. Before joining CSS in September 2012, Keane was a Citizenship and Immigration intern with the International Institute of Rhode Island.

She is an alumna of Sweet Briar College, where she majored in International Affairs and Spanish, and studied at the University of Seville, Spain for her Junior year.

The Citizenship Services Program, supported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under Grant Award Number 2011-CS-010-000006, provides no-charge Citizenship Preparation Classes and legal services to assist applicants for U.S. Citizenship throughout Southeastern Massachusetts, Cape

Cod, and the Islands. Since Oct. 1, 2011 the program has assisted 402 clients from 38 countries. One-hundredand-thirty-three clients have become U.S. Citizens. More than 70 more have submitted applications and are awaiting action, and others are working through the application process. One-hundredand-fifty-two clients have registered in Citizenship Preparation Classes.

Catholic Social Services of Fall River is committed to improving the quality of life for those in need by providing comprehensive social and human services including basic and emergency needs, homelessness, immigration issues, housing and residential services, disabilities, adoption, mental health counseling, elder health services, neighborhood rehabilitation, foreclosure help, citizenship services and much more.

CSS works with persons of all faiths and cultures to advance human dignity and promote social justice and solidarity in our community.

quest and share your thoughts with a young adult of your parish?

Don’t be afraid to let the Holy Spirit guide you.

In Saint-Exupery’s book, the pilot feels pain and grief when the snake sends the little prince back home.

However, he has the little prince’s parting gift, “You alone will have stars as no one else has them. In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing.

And so it will be as if all the stars will be laughing when you look at the sky at night. You, only you, will have stars that

can laugh!” Teachers have stars that are laughing and they get to look forward to next year’s little princes.

Helen Flavin is a Catholic scientist, educator and writer born and raised in Fall River.

She joins The Anchor as monthly contributor. She is a member of St. Bernadette’s Parish. She received her Ph.D. in Neurochemistry from Boston College and teaches in the Chemistry Department at Rhode Island College. She is also a science instructor at Bishop Connolly High School.

She can be reached at hflavin@ bishopconnolly.com.

10

The Anchor

May 17, 2013

Blind singer-pianist says he relies on God to be his eyes

ANNANDALE, Va. (CNS) — Behind all the musical prowess of Carlos Ibay is a young man whose strong connection to the heart of Jesus can be recognized through the many outlets of his ingenuity.

It’s evident in his life, his voice and his song.

On a recent Sunday, seated high above the congregation in the choir loft of St. Michael Church in Annandale, the self-taught organist glides his fingers across the keys of an organ as he sings memorized hymn after hymn in an unforgettable voice.

“You do see the grace of God flowing through him when he plays and ... sings,” Sharon Shafer, the parish’s music director, told Catholic News Service.

“He ... encourages folks to respond ... (and) doesn’t overwhelm the congregation,” said Father Jerry Pokorsky, pastor.

Music is Ibay’s passion.

Ibay, 33, has been blind since soon after birth. He has used his love of music to inspire others to see the good works of God. “I want to see God’s creation, to see His goodness,” he told CNS in a recent interview. “(But) the Lord deprived me of my sight.”

Born premature weighing a little less than two pounds, Ibay spent the first three months of his life in an incubator. He lost his eyesight because of retinitis pigmentosa, caused by too much oxygen in incubator.

As an infant, Ibay, better known as Chucky, would sit in his crib listening to a toy

it’s the sound that matters — Pianist and tenor Carlos Ibay poses for a photo at his home in Fairfax, Va., April 9. Ibay, known as “Chucky,” is in music ministry at his Catholic parish, St. Michael in Annandale, Va. He was born premature and spent the first three months of his life i n an incubator, where he lost his sight because of too much oxygen. (CNS photo /Bob Roller)

train that would go round and round playing the song “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” Then one day he climbed up on the bench of his parents’ Hammond organ and played the song perfectly on the first try.

Realizing they had a little Mozart in the family, his parents bought him a Steinway piano.

Ibay taught himself to play the piano and began singing along to the music at age three.

“Accompanying myself became second nature for me,” he said.

“He is fully capable of accompanying himself,” said

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

Harry Dunstan, founding artistic director of the American Center for Puccini Studies and Ibay’s current voice instructor. “(There are) very few people on the planet who can play and sing as well as Carlos.”

Ibay started taking piano lessons at age six and voice lessons at 15. He continued his studies at George Mason University in Virginia and later studied piano at the Mannes College The New School for Music, a classical music conservatory in New York.

But because he was busy with concerts and competitions around the world, Ibay dropped out of Mannes during his junior year. “It was tough,” he said.

He continued to take piano and voice lessons, performing in venues worldwide: from the Weil Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, to the Arthur Rubenstein Master Piano Competi-

tion in Tel Aviv, Israel, to the Rachmaninoff Concert Hall in Novgorod, Russia.

“I met him when I was at St. Clare’s Catholic Church 10 or 11 years ago,” Shafer said, explaining that Ibay would play as a guest during the Liturgy at the parish from time to time.

In 2008, Ibay started serving as an organist and cantor at St. Michael Church.

“Whenever I play and sing (even just practicing), I always offer it up for the glory of God,” he said.

Ibay has memorized the notes to hundreds of hymns and the words to many others.

His mother will often pitch him the words to each new verse just before he has to sing them. When he cantors the Responsorial Psalm, he generally sings a cappella with no microphone so he can use his hands to read the Braille. With an indelible ability to project,

his voice can be heard easily throughout the church.

“He represents every possible positive aspect of the Catholic faith,” Dunstan told CNS. “Carlos is one of the great champions and finest ambassadors of the Catholic faith you could possibly have.

His personality is irrepressible. People instinctively love Carlos.”

Many people come up to Ibay after Mass to express how his music has touched their hearts.

“The goodness of God (seems to) come out of my music and it goes immediately to their souls,” he said.

Although he cannot see the people he meets, he remembers them by name and by voice.

He also fluently speaks seven languages — French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Japanese and Portuguese — which helps him connect with people.

Ibay spends four hours daily practicing piano and an hour on vocals. He said he believes in taking care of his health and regularly works out on an exercise bike and treadmill, which are each outfitted with a Rosary and a water bottle.

Years of learning and playing music by ear have given him a heightened sense of hearing and smell, skills that those with sight usually do not have.

“The Lord deprived me of my sight not to look at bad things, (but rather) that God’s works might show forth (from my music),” Ibay told CNS. “I just keep going because God helps me go. All the angels and saints are pulling for me, and so I know I’m going to be all right.”

After talking with CNS, he sat down at the piano in his house to sing and play the popular duet “The Prayer.”

“I pray you’ll be our eyes, watch us where we go, and help us to be wise in times when we don’t know. Let this be our prayer, when we lose our way. Lead us to the place, guide us with your grace to a place where we’ll be safe,” he sang.

A member of the Holy Spirit Catholic Church youth group and other young adult activities in Northern Virginia, Ibay is an inspiring witness for his peers.

“Don’t give up on your dreams,” he said. “You have your whole life ahead of you.

The Lord wants you to accept the gift of the Holy Spirit to open up your mind. You will succeed.”

The great gift of the Eucharist I would like to offer some quotes from an instruction from The Congregation for Divine Worship published in 2004 regarding the Eucharist. I would hope that they will provide some positive solutions on the ways to properly and reverently receive Holy Communion. “The faithful should receive Communion kneeling or standing, as the Conference of Bishops will have determined with its acts receiving the recognitio of the Apostolic See. However if they receive Communion standing it is recommended that they give due reverence before the reception of the Sacrament” (Redemptionis Sacramentum [90]).

In the nearly 10 years since that instruction was published, I have never heard any reference to it in any way from the pulpit. I am a faithful participant at weekly Mass, although because of my work I do not regularly celebrate Mass at my parish so I could have easily missed it if it was only referred to once or twice. Obviously, some of our priests must have commented on this instruction as it was only as I began to see some people bowing their heads before

11

The Anchor

May 17, 2013

Our readers respond

receiving Communion, that I became curious and asked about it.

I realized that this was a beautiful way to remind myself every time I received Communion Who it is I am receiving and it has become my practice to do so. I have seen other people genuflecting, which I assume was an alternate suggestion given. With the feast of Corpus Christi fast approaching, it would seem to be the perfect occasion for our priests to remind all of us Who it is that we are receiving and, therefore, how important it is to reverently receive Communion.

The instruction goes on to say “Although each of the faithful always has the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue, at his choice, if any communicant should wish to receive the Sacrament in the hand, in areas where the Bishops’ Conference with the recognitio of the Apostolic See has given permission, the Sacred Host is to be administered to him or her.”

“However, special care should be taken to ensure that the Host is consumed by the communicant in the presence of the minister, so that no one goes away carrying the Eucharistic species in his hand. If there is a risk of profanation, then Holy

Communion should not be given in the hand to the faithful” [92]. I was happy to read that Father Johnson has been very diligent in ensuring that the Host is consumed in his presence, and I know other priests do the same. It is clear though that the choice of how to receive Communion is that of the communicant and not the priest. I do not think that either way is better, nor do I think that receiving Communion in the hand is the cause of any irreverence. I make reference to St. Cyril of Jerusalem, a fourth-century Father of the Church, who instructed his people to form their hands like a throne to receive their King! I always mention this to the children (and their parents) when preparing them for their First Communion.

And I also teach both ways of receiving Communion telling them it is their families’ decision as to which way to receive. I think receiving too casually is a result of habit and the witness of others who do likewise. I think irreverence is due to the fact that some people

do not really believe in the Real Presence of Christ in Holy Communion. And that is the issue that really needs to be addressed soon and often.

Finally, I would like to thank Father Johnson for bringing up this issue of such great importance, and hope that some proper catechesis results from it. I would also like to acknowledge how well the editor has responded to the various letters and the information that he has provided to clarify any misinterpretations. May we all continue to grow in our appreciation of, and gratitude for, this gracious gift of the Eucharist which Our Lord gives to us as a visible sign of His Presence among us.

Patricia Pasternak, DRE Holy Trinity Parish, Fall River, and longtime parishioner of St. Stanislaus Parish

EXECUTIVE EDITOR RESPONDS: Thank you for your letter (and kind words in my re-

gard) and your quotations from the policy which we are to follow.

As you said, we need to constantly remind ourselves Who is present in the Consecrated Host — Jesus Himself. The loving reverence which we show to Him upon receiving Communion and upon passing the tabernacle both reminds ourselves of His great love for us and should serve as a witness to others that Someone very special is present.

Letters are welcome but the editor reserves the right to condense or edit for clarity if deemed necessary. Letters should be typed, and include name, address, and telephone number. Letters exceeding 750 words will be edited to meet the criteria. Letters do not necessarily reflect the editorial views of The Anchor, and should be sent to: The Anchor, Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722-0007, or emailed to fatherwilson@anchornews.org.

12

May 17, 2013

The Anchor

Music scholar says chant is for everyone, not just elite

Denver, Colo.

(CNA/ EWTN News) — Gregorian chant is freely available and a music of the people – not the domain of a stuffy, Catholic elite as it is often perceived, says a music scholar from Alabama.

“You can listen to it, download perfect editions, you can make your own editions, it’s freely shared with the world,” said Jeffrey Tucker, managing editor of “Sacred Music” and founder of “The Chant Café” blog.

Chant is “distributed on an open source platform” and “available to everybody – just like the Gospel, and just like the graces of God,” he said in a recent interview with CNA. The “free culture” aspect of chant is the subject of a paper Tucker will discuss at the Sacra Liturgia 2013 conference in Rome this June. His topic, “The Liturgical Apostolate and the Internet,” will survey how chant suffered in the early 20th century when it was copyrighted, and how it has experienced a resurgence in recent years thanks to entering the commons.

“You went through essentially 1900 years of Christianity with the chant being an open source framework, an open source form of music that flourished in the first millennium through the oral tradition of copying, imitation, and free use,” Tucker explained.

Chant was then was built upon during the second millennium with organum, polyphony, the great works of the Renaissance, and then further inspired the Classical composers, he said.

By the 20th century, however, chant had fallen into dis-use in most parishes. In 1903 Pius X, who sought “to restore all things in Christ,” issued a document by which “he wanted a big push for chant to become truly universalized throughout the Catholic world.”

Tucker’s recent research, which he will highlight at Sacra Liturgia conference in Rome, shows that Pius X wanted Gregorian chant to be “a free gift to the whole Church, and that any publisher should be free to publish it.”

Yet when a new edition of the Graduale Romanum was published in 1908, it was copyrighted.

This was a “catastrophic change” in chant’s status, Tucker said.

For next 50 years, it became “a kind of proprietary product, held by one institution” with an elite controlling it. “It was all kind of stifling, really,” and by the mid60s Catholic musicians were “fed up.”

By the 1960s chant was perceived as “owned,” and “a kind of

corporate product.” Churchgoers wanted something “more free and authentic ... and that’s a big part of why the folk tradition appealed to that generation.”

Yet today, the situations have reversed, Tucker remarked. In the present-day Liturgical environment, “you have exactly the opposite having happened.”

“All the successor music to the folk music that came of age in the 60s, is heavily corporate-controlled, heavily copyrighted, and under proprietary distribution.”

“You have to sign up and be a member, and your parish has to pay ghastly fees for the right to sing the music, and on and on and on,” he said.

“It’s more or less in the same position that chant was in in the 1950s, whereas the chant is now completely open source.”

Five years ago, Tucker was responsible for putting the first big edition of Gregorian chant online, noting that the Internet has greatly contributed to the dissemination of chant and its open source status.

“In the course of a year, we saw the usual pattern take place: derivative works were created, new software platforms emerged, new fonts came to be created, and it seems incredible that that was only five years ago, because now you can download an app for your digital device.”

The development of apps, such as Liber Pro, are demonstrative of the “free culture” and “folk” nature of chant, and “how the open source Liber (Usualis) is being used,” Tucker said.

“All these derivative works came about — recordings were newly posted, now all the chant books are online, you can go to YouTube and listen to any chant, multiple recordings and multiple interpretations, and new chant books came to be written, thanks to the fonts that were written, again on an open source basis.”

“So this thing that used to seem remote, snooty, unfamiliar, spooky, and weird, is now super familiar and available in many different formats, for all people in the world.”

Tucker said that having chant at parishes “changes people’s liturgical experience dramatically.”

“When you show up at Mass, would you rather hear a chanted version of a scriptural antiphon that speaks directly to the liturgical year and season and day — all the way down to the precise reason you’re there that day — or do you want to hear ‘Gather us in’ again?”

“The changes make a big difference in the way people experience the faith, week to week.”

in great company — Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan star in a scene from the movie “The Great Gatsby.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/ Warner Bros.)

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

“The Great Gatsby” (Warner Bros.)

Splashy, sometimes cartoonish 3-D adaptation of the classic 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Narrator Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), scion of the WASP establishment, recounts his friendship with the iconic self-made man and would-be social insider Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) whose obsessive love for Nick’s alluring but married cousin Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan) leads first to adultery, then to a confrontation with Daisy’s caddish husband Tom (Joel Edgerton) and finally to tragedy. As director and co-writer Baz Luhrmann revels in the frenzied decadence of Gatsby’s Jazz Age party-giving, he creates a fable-like setting that distances viewers from Fitzgerald’s characters and lessens the impact of their downfall. His film also tends to glamorize the sinful relationship at the heart of the story, suggesting that an unpleasant spouse and the inherent superiority of the illicit lovers — who initially fell for each other before Daisy’s marriage — are reason enough to ignore the Sixth Commandment.

Scenes of both lethal and nonlethal violence with minimal gore, an uncritical view of adultery, brief semi-graphic adulterous activity as well as some other sexual content, a glimpse of partial nudity, a few uses of profanity, a couple of

crude terms, a religious slur. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

“Peeples” (Lionsgate) Derivative comedy about the mishaps that befall an easygoing children’s entertainer (Craig Robinson) when he decides to crash his live-in girlfriend’s (Kerry Washington) weekend at home with her affluent, eccentric family. After discovering that she has never so much as mentioned his existence to her relatives, he tangles with her uptight jurist father (David Alan Grier), and tries to win the affection of her more sympathetic mother (S. Epatha Merkerson), a former disco diva. Writer-director Tina Gordon Chism shows the occasional flash of wit as her formulaic farce plays out. But a subplot

involving the judge’s other daughter (Kali Hawk), a television news anchor, sends the message that her lesbian relationship with her producer (Kimrie Lewis-Davis) should be accepted without question. The fact, moreover, that the two women’s bedroom activities draw the salacious interest, close observation and would-be participation of the protagonist’s brother (Malcolm Barrett), who also drops in for a visit, is played for laughs.

Frivolous treatment of homosexual acts, voyeurism, aberrant heterosexual behavior, cohabitation, brief obscured nudity, inadvertent drug use, considerable sexual humor, about a dozen crude terms, some crass language. The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, May 19, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Craig A. Pregana, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish at St. James Church in New Bedford, and diocesan director of the Hispanic Apostolate.

13

The Anchor

May 17, 2013

Church is growing worldwide, especially in Asia, Africa, Vatican says

sister act — The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. (Photo from CNA/ EWTN)

Elderly nun found guilty over nuclear site break-in

Knoxville, Tenn. (CNA) — Sister Megan Rice of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus was convicted May 8 for breaking into and causing damage at a Tennessee nuclear weapons manufacturing facility.

The 83-year-old nun was accompanied in the July break-in by Michael Walli and Greg BoertjeObed, all of whom are members of Transform Now Plowshares.

The three were convicted after two-and-a-half hours of jury deliberation.

On May 4, Sister Mary Ann Buckley, head of the American Province of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, said the order “would like to express our deep concern” over the trial.

“It should be noted that Sister Megan was arrested as she and two others engaged in a peaceful protest, offering prayer for the thousands who have lost their lives as a result of nuclear weapons,” Sister Buckley, representing the Society, said.

On July 28, the three protestors cut through security fences to enter the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, which enriches and stores uranium for nuclear weapons.

They hung banners and crimescene tape, and hammered small chunks off a wall, spending about two hours in the complex before being approached by a guard.

They also sprayed baby bottles, filled with human blood, on the wall of the facility.

“We would like to point out that Sister Megan has dedicated her life to ending nuclear proliferation,” said the statement from her religious community, while also noting that “we do not condone criminal activity.”

Boertje-Obed said the human blood they sprayed on the facility was symbolic of “the blood of children (that) is spilled by these weapons.”

The three perpetrators said while testifying, according to the Associated Press, that they have no remorse for their act and were pleased to have reached such a secure part of the security complex.

Sister Rice said “my regret was I waited 70 years. It is manufacturing that can only cause death.”

The three all indicated they felt “guided by Divine forces,” the Associated Press reported.

After they refused to plead guilty to trespassing, they were charged with sabotage and damaging federal property. The sabotage charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.

The more than $1,000 of damage which they were also convicted of carries a 10 year maximum sentence.

Sister Buckley stated that “Sister Megan has accepted personal responsibility for her actions.”

The statement also said that Sister Rice believes, “with the Catholic Church,” that “nuclear weapons are incompatible with the peace so desperately needed throughout the world and therefore cannot be justified.”

“Our Society has a history of standing up for those in need,” Sister Buckley added. “We are dedicated to helping women, children and families by providing educational, spiritual and social programs across four continents and throughout the United States.”

“We intend to stand by Sister Megan and our Church’s clear teaching against nuclear proliferation as the current situation is resolved. In similar fashion, we will continue to provide the opportunities, skills and commitment that allow those in need to overcome obstacles and lead productive lives.”

Since the July 28 breach, security officials have introduced numerous security changes at the Oak Ridge facility.

civil disobedience — Sister Megan Rice, a member of the Sisters of the Holy Child, and two fellow protesters were convicted May 8 of interfering with national security when they broke into the primary storehouse for bomb-grade uranium in the U.S. in Oak Ridge, Tenn., in July 2012. (CNS photo/Transform Now Plowshares handout via Reuters)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The number of Catholics in the world and the number of bishops, priests, religious men and seminarians all increased in 2011, while the number of women in religious orders continued to decline, according to Vatican statistics.

The number of permanent deacons is showing “strong expansion” globally, but especially in Europe and the Americas, it said.

At the end of 2011, the worldwide Catholic population reached 1.214 billion, an increase of 18 million or 1.5 percent, slightly outpacing the global population growth rate, which was estimated at 1.23 percent, said a statement published recently by the Vatican press office.

Catholics as a percentage of the global population remained “essentially unchanged” at around 17.5 percent, it said.

The statement reported a handful of the statistics contained in the “Statistical Yearbook of the Church,” which reported worldwide Church figures as of Dec. 31, 2011.

Officials of the Vatican Secretariat of State and its Central Office of Church Statistics presented the first copy of the yearbook to Pope Francis during an audience May 13; they also gave him the first copy of the 2013 “Annuario Pontificio,” a volume containing information about every Vatican office, as well as every diocese and religious order in the world.

According to the statistical yearbook, the increase in the number of Catholics in Africa (4.3 percent) and Asia (two percent) greatly outpaced their regions’ population growth, which was 2.3 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.

The growth of the Catholic community in Europe and the Americas was even with regional population growth, which was about 0.3 percent for both, the yearbook said.

At the end of 2011, most of the world’s Catholics (48.8 percent) were living in the Americas, followed by Europe with 23.5 percent, Africa with 16 percent, 10.9 percent in Asia and 0.8 percent in Oceania.

The Vatican said the number of bishops in the world increased from 5,104 to 5,132.

The total number of priests — diocesan and religious order — around the world grew from 412,236 to 413,418, increasing everywhere except the Americas where numbers stayed mostly the same, and Europe, where the number of priests has gone down more than nine percent over the past decade.

The number of permanent deacons reported — about 41,000 — was an increase of more than 1,400 over the previous year and a 40 percent increase over the past decade. The vast majority — 97.4 percent — of the world’s permanent deacons live in the Americas or in Europe.

The number of men joining a religious order showed substantial growth over the past decade in both Asia (up 44.9 percent since 2001) and Africa (up 18.5 percent since 2001); in contrast their numbers fell in Oceania by 21.9 percent over the past 10 years, in Europe by 18 percent and in the Americas by 3.6 percent over the past decade.

The number of women in religious orders has shown “a sharp downward trend” with a 10 percent decrease in the numbers of women religious worldwide since 2001, it said. The increases in Africa and Asia weren’t enough to offset the reductions seen in Europe, the Americas and Oceania, it said.

Catholic women’s orders went from having a total of more than 792,000 members in 2001 to just over 713,000 women at the end of 2011.

The number of candidates for the priesthood — both diocesan seminarians and members of religious orders — showed continued growth worldwide, rising from 118,990 at the end of 2010 to 120,616 at the end of 2011.

In the past 10 years, it said, the number of men preparing for the priesthood rose more than 30.9 percent in Africa and 29.4 percent in Asia. Numbers decreased in other regions of the world, particularly Europe, which saw a 21.7 percent drop in priesthood candidates between 2001 and 2011.

14

The Anchor

May 17, 2013

Cardinal to boycott graduation over honors to Irish official

Conclave, Vatican appointment raises profile

honor government officials or politicians who promote abortion with their laws and policies.”

“Since the university has not withdrawn the invitation and because the Taoiseach (prime minister) has not seen fit to decline, I shall not attend the graduation,” the cardinal added.

In addition to serving as the Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal O’Malley also serves as the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

On April 25, Boston College, a Catholic Jesuit university in Boston, announced that it would host Kenny as its commencement speaker and award the Irish Prime Minister an honorary Doctor of Laws degree at its May 20 graduation ceremony. On May 9, the college reaffirmed its commitment to having Kenny as its speaker following condemnation from various Pro-Life groups within the Boston area and across the country.

Traditionally, the archbishop of Boston delivers a closing benediction during the commencement ceremony.

Kenny and his party has been advancing legislation that would legalize abortion when the mother’s life is in danger — including when the mother threatens suicide.

Abortion is currently illegal in Ireland, and both Kenny and his party, Fine Gael, had previously promised not to advance abortion legislation. Kenny has hinted that Pro-Life members of parliament who vote against the legislation may be expelled from the party.

dinal O’Malley a “brother” who shares a similar vision of “what the Church should be about.”

He thinks that is part of the reason the pope selected Cardinal O’Malley to advise him on reorganizing the curia.

Landry added that Cardinal O’Malley’s work in Boston makes him an excellent advisor on reform. When he arrived in the archdiocese nearly 10 years ago, he prioritized the handling of the abuse crisis. He put victims first, meeting with many of them and caring for them. The cardinal has also worked to modify the infrastructure of the archdiocese’s central administration as well as its parishes. A pastoral plan, recently begun and slated to span most of the next decade, will realign parish resources. Landry called the plan a “blueprint” for other dioceses.

“The archdiocese is in a much better spot than it was 10 years ago,” he said.

Msgr.

Stephen Avila, who served as then-Bishop O’Malley’s secretary for six of the 10 years O’Malley headed the Fall River Diocese, said O’Malley has “credibility” because of the compassionate way he handled the abuse crises in Boston and Fall River.

O’Malley also headed to Ireland in 2010 for an apostolic visit when the Church there was roiled in its own clergy abuse scandal.

Msgr. Avila said O’Malley is a “solid leader” who connects with people.

“He is faithful to the Church, the truth of the Church, but he always speaks it with compas-

continued from page one

Kenny has claimed to reporters that the legislation “restates the general prohibition on abortion in Ireland,” and merely places into law an earlier Irish Supreme Court ruling that permitted abortion in such cases. However, critics note that the lack of a gestational age limit means that abortion would be available on-demand to any woman in Ireland who raises the threat of suicide.

As currently proposed, the law also lacks conscience protections for doctors, nurses, and other health care workers, and would force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions.

Irish bishops have criticized the legislation in a May 3 statement, calling it “a dramatic and morally unacceptable change to Irish law.”

They also note that the legislation, if approved, would “make the direct and intentional killing of unborn children lawful.”

Cardinal O’Malley has also criticized the legislation, saying in a May 10 interview with the Catholic Herald that abortion “is the taking of an innocent human life” and that “everyone should resist” it.

The cardinal noted that while Ireland has had the “good fortune” to “have been opposed to abortion despite the great pressure that they have come under from secularizing forces,” he hopes “that Ireland will continue to stand up against the pressures” to advance abortion within the country.

“Pressure to legislate for abortion is a dehumanizing force in our world,” Cardinal O’Malley added.

In his May 10 statement, the

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

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

Please Print Your New Address Below

NAME: STREET ADDRESS: CITY, STATE, ZIP: NEW PARISH: MOVING DATE: Please attach your Anchor address label so we can update your record immediately.

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

cardinal said he was “sure that the invitation was made in good faith, long before” Kenny’s legislative actions “Came to the attention of the leadership of Boston College.”

Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn recently said to the Boston Globe that the school “invited Prime Minister Kenny a year ago” and chose him “in light of our long-standing connection with Ireland and our desire to recognize and celebrate our heritage.” Dunn also said that the decision to invite Kenny is “independent” of the proposed legislation.

The cardinal offered his “ardent hope that Boston College will work to redress the confusion, disappointment and harm caused by not adhering to the Bishops’ directives,” and resolve the situation.

Adding that while he will not be able to give the final benediction, “I assure the graduates that they are in my prayers on this important day in their lives, and I pray that their studies will prepare them to be heralds of the Church’s Social Gospel and ‘men and women for others,’ especially for the most vulnerable in our midst.”

‘Sourpusses’ hurt Church’s witness, mission, says pope continued from page one

forming itself into lightness, superficiality and leads to a state of lacking Christian wisdom; it can make us fools, dupes, no?”

“Joy is something else. Joy is a gift from the Lord. It fills us from the inside,” the pope said at the Mass attended by staff from Vatican Radio and concelebrated

by Venezuelan Archbishop Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo of Merida and Abbot Notker Wolf, the Benedictine abbot primate.

The joy the Lord gives cannot be “bottled up so we can keep it with us,” he said. “If we want this joy just for ourselves, in the end it will make us sick and our hearts will shrivel up and our faces will not transmit that great joy, but nostalgia, that melancholy that isn’t healthy.” Joy naturally leads to generosity, he said.

Pope Francis said joy is a “pilgrim virtue,” one that moves Christians to journey out into the world preaching the Gospel and proclaiming Christ.

Joy, he said, “is one of the virtues of the great,” of those who don’t allow themselves to get caught up in silly little annoyances or in “little things inside the community of the Church; they always look to the horizon.”

“The Christian sings with joy and walks carrying this joy,” the pope said.

continued from page one

sion,” Msgr. Avila said. “I see him as one who speaks the truth with love.”

On Sunday, May 5, outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston’s South End, Mass-goers spoke with The Anchor about O’Malley’s strengths.

Tony D’Souza said O’Malley is knowlegable and well-traveled, a good choice for advising the pope.

“He has been doing very good work,” he said. “He’s a wonderful person; there’s no two ways about it.

Jerry Zeller agreed, saying, “The cardinal is a positive force since arriving here in Boston. I think he’s done a lot to heal the past here.”

Landry said Cardinal O’Malley viewed the media attention as an opportunity to welcome inactive Catholics back to the fold. “I know Cardinal O’Malley specifically hoped the extra attention focused on the Church would have an impact on the Catholics Come Home campaign.”

After his return to Boston, larger than usual crowds followed O’Malley during all of Holy Week. On Palm Sunday, he celebrated his first Mass in Boston after the conclave, and the cathedral was packed, Landry said.

“There’s a lot of interest in everything he has to say now, not just in Boston but across the Catholic community and the world,” he said, adding that people perceive that O’Malley was close to being elected pope and many think he may still take on the role someday.

15

The Anchor

May 17, 2013

the apple of her eye — Catholic mom and blogger Lisa Hendey of Fresno, Calif., attends a meeting between bloggers and bishops in Baltimore last fall. “Part of our vocation as mothers is to be within our home and do our work with love, and (as Catholic bloggers) we can also do work that draws people closer to Christ and His Church,” said Hendey. (CNS photo/Nancy Phelan Wiechec)

Through blogs, Catholic moms share their faith as ‘digital disciples’

a Catholic mom blogger from the Diocese of Albany, N.Y., whose blog, www. notstrictlyspiritual.com, began about five years ago as a sort of “spiritual journal online.”

A former Catholic journalist and currently a monthly columnist for Catholic New York, the newspaper of the New York Archdiocese, Poust said she started her blog as a way to write about things she couldn’t always cover as a Catholic reporter.

“It’s a blend of all areas of my life,” said Poust, a wife and mother to three kids — ages 16, 13 and 7.

When readers respond positively to one of Poust’s blogs, maybe one she based on a personal life struggle, she said, “It really affirms what I’m doing — using social media tools to reach people who aren’t necessarily in the pews or churches,” she said.

“They’ll email or comment and say they are going through the same thing and feeling alone on the journey,” said Poust, who also is the author of several books on the Catholic faith.

Rebecca Teti, a member of St. Jerome Parish in Hyattsville, Md., is the moderator of the blog Coffee Talk, which can be found at www.Catholicdigest.com and was launched more than one year ago.

It is an open forum for readers to discuss, ask a question, share a story or offer advice.

Daily topics include parenting, natural family planning, education, Marriage or the different issues facing members of “sandwich generation” — those raising children and also caring for aging parents.

Readers are invited to “raise

WASHINGTON (CNS) and 21. She also is the author in this era of the New Evange— One of Mary’s titles is of “A Book of Saints for Cath- lization, said Hendey.

“Christ’s First Disciple,” and olic Moms” and “The Hand“It allows us to put informasome of Christ’s earliest fol- book for Catholic Moms.” tion and thoughts out there and lowers were women, two of Hendey said her eight-year- invite readers into dialogue,” whom He appeared to she told the Catholic art of our vocation as mothers Standard, newspaper first after His Resurrection. is to be within our home and of the Washington Now, some 2,000 do our work with love, and (as Catholic Archdiocese. years later, another “There are comspecial group of wom- bloggers) we can also do work that draws ments, more voices en, specifically Cath- people closer to Christ and His Church,” and a real sense of olic moms who blog said Lisa Hendey, a Catholic wife and being a part of a comon the Internet about mom blogger from Fresno, Calif. munity,” she said, detheir faith, the Cathoscribing the difference lic Church, as well as between a website and the joys and challenga blog. “You’re not es of parenthood and everyday old blog, www.catholicmom. just reading something. It’s family life, can be considered com, grew out of a website she much more interactive.” among Christ’s newest evange- launched in 2000.

Mary DeTurris Poust is lizers or “digital disciples.”

Nowadays, she has about “Part of our vocation as 150 regular contributors, mostmothers is to be within our ly moms, a few dads — all volhome and do our work with unteers — who are writing on love, and (as Catholic blog- various topics such as daily gers) we can also do work that prayer, the Church’s Liturgi50 years ago — Bishop James L. Connolly draws people closer to Christ cal seasons, Marriage, family celebrated a pontifical Mass while Richard and His Church,” said Lisa finances, books and movies.

Cardinal Cushing presided at the dedication Hendey, a Catholic wife and Hendey stressed that although of the $750,000 Newman Center at the Unimom blogger from Fresno, Ca- the blog’s content covers a versity of Massachusetts in Amherst. Bishops lif. multitude of Catholic-related of two other Massachusetts dioceses also took In between carpool, dinner subjects, all essays must be in part in the ceremonies. and homework duties, a grow- accordance with Church teaching number of Catholic moms ing and doctrine.

25 years ago — With the commingling of have turned to Internet blogA blog is a website on which earth from the Holy Land, Rome, its mother ging as a newfound outlet to an individual or group of users parish and the garden of nearly every parishenrich their own Catholic faith, record and share opinions and ioner’s home, ground was broken for the new as well as the faith journeys information on a regular basis.

Christ the King Church at Mashpee Comof their regular readers, with There are more than 150 milmons. whom they form a sort of spiri- lion blogs on the Internet, with tual camaraderie. nearly 3,000 of them designat“We try to be supportive to ed as Catholic blogs. There are parents in the trenches of the no stats on the number of blogs domestic Church,” said Hen- operated by Catholic moms, dey, a mom of two sons ages 18 but it is a growing “ministry”

“P

This week in

a question, tell a funny anecdote, share an interesting article, ask for advice or prayer,” with a few ground rules to keep in mind: “Keep it clean, keep it kind, and keep it ‘kosher.’”

An example of a recent Coffee Talk blog post came from a reader expressing her dismay over her 14-year-old son’s reluctance to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. Several readers chimed in with suggestions about the importance of keeping the lines of communication open between parents and children, advice on the best catechetical resources, as well as promise of prayers for the woman and her son.

“Many Catholics don’t have the advantage of like-minded Catholics being nearby in their neighborhood who support and pray for each other,” Teti said, adding that the blog offers that notion in an online community.

“The whole idea is to create the idea of girlfriends talking over coffee in a living room.”

Teti, a wife, a mom of four children ranging in ages from nine to 16 and a Catholic convert, said there are downsides to the blogosphere, even among Catholics blogs.

She recommends setting strict limits on time spent online. “It can suck you in. Set objective limits of not spending more than one hour,” she said. “Real relationships can suffer.”

Her own faith, Teti said, has grown, through her work, which allows her to see how many Catholics take their faith seriously in a holy way. “It’s easy to believe you are isolated,” she said, noting that the Catholic blogs sites she’s visited give her a real sense “Catholicism is rich, lively and important, and that is heartening.”

Diocesan history 10 years ago — Dr. Mary Patricia Tranter was named principal of Coyle and Cassidy High School in Taunton, replacing Dennis R. Poyant, who had previously served as headmaster and left to assume another post.

One year ago — Father Patrick Killilea, longtime pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Fairhaven, announced he would be leaving the diocese to follow in St. Damien’s spiritual footsteps with a new pastoral assignment at Kalaupapa, Hawaii.

16

Youth Pages

easel does it — Seven students from St. Francis Xavier Preparatory School in Hyannis won awards at the Scholastic Art Awards this month. Grace McInerney received a Gold Key for her digital art. Nicholas Glaser won two Silver Keys for a drawing and a painting, and Francesca Marini received a Silver Key for a drawing. As well, Francesca was awarded an honorable mention for a painting and Grace received an honorable mention for a photograph. Other students receiving Honorable Mentions: Will Landry, Sadie O’Conor, Dara Qualter and Kylin Willis. Bridie Eckel, Maeve Moriarty also had work selected to compete. From left: Sadie O’Conor, Dara Qualter, Kylin Willis, Grace McInerney, Nicholas Glaser, Bridie Eckel, Maeve Moriarty, and Francesca Marini.

praying twice — Students in the choir at St. James-St. John School in New Bedford sing for a recent school Mass.

real troopers — American Heritage Girl Troop MA3712, which meets at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Seekonk, recently beautified the Our Lady of Fatima Rosary Garden as a service project. The troop meets the first and third Thursdays of the month from September through June.

academic soxcess — Three Bishop Connolly High School students have been recognized by the Pawtucket Red Sox and Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River for being named a 2013 Most Improved Student.Sophomores Dylan Holland and Eric Mosley as well as Senior Karlin Furtado will be honored during a pre-game on field ceremony at the June 6 Pawtucket Red Sox game.

The Pawtucket Red Sox Most Improved Student Incentive Program recognizes the hard work and dedication of these students during the 2012-2013 school year. Here, Principal Christopher Myron congratulates Mosley.

May 17, 2013

spanish standouts — Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro celebrates annual Spanish awards with three stand-out students and dozens of high achievers. Sophomore Emma Clerx (right) was selected for the National Spanish Exam Global Citizen Scholarship. Only 16 U.S. students received the honor. Clerx will receive a scholarship for a two-week Spanish immersion program this summer through the Concordia Language Villages in Minnesota.

Junior Delia Calderon De Jesus and senior Evan Grandfield (left and center) were first-place winners in their divisions, and earned national recognition for excellent performance in the 2013 National Spanish Awards. Grandfield was the top scorer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

big hat holiday — The two second-grade classes at St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro celebrated Cinco de Mayo with their teachers at school.

Patricia Diamond and Anne Sullivan’s classes enjoyed a fiesta of a day. They danced to some music from Mexico, ate yummy tacos and paraded around the school in their handmade sombreros.

Youth Pages

May 17, 2013

I

was once paged to the emergency room at one of the hospitals in our diocese for a family requesting a priest after the death of a loved one. This type of request is not uncommon to priests, whether serving in hospitals or in a parish. As was my routine, I stopped by the charge desk to get updated on the situation. Nothing out of the ordinary (at least for the ER): an elderly gentleman came in as a code (cardiac arrest) and they were not able to revive him; wife was in the family room, etc. I stopped by the patient’s room briefly and then made my way to the family room.

I’ll tell you I was caught off guard a little when I entered the room. The man’s wife turned to me with a big smile and came over and gave me a big hug.

My first thought was, is there a problem here? Her husband is dead and she has a big smile.

Did she not like him? Did she knock him off?

Well, it didn’t take long before I realized that a call to the police to arrest a murderer was not necessary. What I was experiencing was being in the presence of a woman filled with the love and presence of

17

Words as seeds of God

God. They had been married love and holiness flow from her for almost 60 years, and everyand is contagious. She is a great thing that they had wanted to model of faith and also a chaldo, they had done; everything lenge to anyone who seeks to they had wanted to say to each call themselves Christian. other, had been said. I suspect that this would be the elderly couple you would see sitting at a restaurant not saying a word to each other.

It was a love so deep,

By Father words would ruin the David C. Frederici experience, all that was necessary was sitting in the presence of the beloved.

St. Paul will tell us, “all this The conversation that folis from God, Who has reconlowed kept returning to her ciled us to Himself through experiences of Reconciliation, Christ and given us the ministry with others and with God. “How of Reconciliation, namely, God can I expect to be forgiven was reconciling the world to by others if I do not forgive Himself in Christ, not counting others?” She also spoke of her discomfort with going to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but if she wasn’t receiving God’s forgiveness, forgiving others wasn’t possible. This was a woman of great faith and someone who was deeply in love with God. As a result, she is able to love others deeply, to forgive others and is a person at great peace with herself, the world and God. God’s Presence,

Be Not Afraid

their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of Reconciliation.

So we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us” (2 Cor 5:1819).

Perhaps the greatest obstacle in our spiritual journey is holding grudges, pigeon-holing others, holding them in contempt, etc. Life in Christ is a life of Reconciliation; saying yes to Christ is saying yes to living Reconciliation: seeking it and sharing it.

When we live Reconciliation, we open ourselves to being filled with God’s love and Presence, it allows us to see Christ present in those around us and we are able

to love more deeply, able to live in great peace, faith, and joy.

Reconciliation is at the heart of the Gospel and the mission that Jesus has entrusted to us, the Church. Reconciliation is the core of our existence as human beings. We desire intimate, fulfilling relationships with other human beings. These relationships are what connect us to God. God is the one Who enables us to see His Presence in them. That is why Reconciliation needs to begin with Him, so we can seek the happiness, fulfillment and completeness that are found in being children of God. Father Frederici is diocesan director of Campus Ministry and Chaplain at UMass-Dartmouth and Cape Cod Community College.

SERVING AT GOD’S ALTAR — The Hispanic Community at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in Fall River recently blessed new and veteran altar servers.

blessed mother’s day — The students at Holy Trinity School in Fall River recently honored our Blessed Mother by presenting her with flowers during their annual May Crowning ceremony.

18

The Anchor

Diocesan CSS helps develop, manage affordable housing unit continued from page one

required by the state lenders: they do that so they can separate the assets and liabilities from the parent company — in this case CABH — from new projects that are being developed.”

As an arm of the diocesan Catholic Social Services that was established in 1996 to address the area’s affordable housing needs, CABH seeks out potential projects like this to rehabilitate and turn into viable housing units that are then managed in partnership with CSS. “CSS had been eying this property for some time,” Allard said. “When I first got hired, I remember (CSS Executive Director) Arlene A. McNamee telling me we have to develop this property. We were tempted to reach out to the owners several times, but … for some reason they wouldn’t let this property go. We finally hooked up with the director of the Waterfront Historic Area League (in New Bedford) and they had a relationship with the owners … and were able to navigate the whole thing and get them to agree to sell us this property.”

Built in 1876 by the Allen family, the house was later owned by the Tripp family and originally contained four commercial spaces on the first floor with another 19 boarding-house type units spread throughout the building.

But in recent years Allard said the prominent 8,600-square-foot corner property remained vacant and was in serious need of a makeover.

“We went through it before we started the rehab and it was unbelievable,” Allard said. “The building was in bad shape, but surprisingly it was structurally sound. If it were allowed to con-

tinue that way, it would have made no sense to try and salvage it.”

“It was bad,” agreed Martha Reed, coordinator of property management for CSS. “It was probably one of the worst properties I’ve ever been in that we rehabbed.”

After securing funding from a variety of state agencies including MassHousing and partnering with organizations like the Planning Office for Urban Affairs of the Boston Archdiocese, Allard said renovations began in July 2012 and were completed this past March. Given the competition for such affordable housing projects, Allard was pleased with the quick response.

“It’s rare when you go to the state for the first time and get funded,” he said. “In this case we were fortunate that we got a commitment from the state on our second round. It took less than a year — almost 10 months to complete.”

Originally budgeted at $1.9 million, the final project came in closer to $3 million once construction overruns and development costs were factored in.

“Those are large numbers, but the reality of it is you’re getting 12 units and you really can’t do these kind of projects without that kind of funding because some of these properties are allowed to fall into such disrepair that the private sector never gets involved in them because it’s just not economically feasible for them,” Allard said.

Noting that the Romero House is comparable to the St. Dominic’s Apartments facility on Middle Street in Fall River in that it was developed by CABH and is now managed by CSS, Reed

said they also differ in that the Fall River site is earmarked for elderly residents aged 62 and older while the new facility was designed to provide affordable housing for the area’s homeless.

“There’s an incredible need for affordable housing in the area,” Reed said. “Our preference was for homeless families and I think out of the 120 applicants, there were 98 that were eligible, based on income, and of that I’d say 75 to 80 percent were homeless.”

With just 12 units available, Reed said once they opened the application process and determined who met the income requirements, the only way to fairly select future tenants was via a lottery system.

“The lottery process was bittersweet, because we were able to provide housing for 12 eligible families and individuals, but at the same time there were so many people who weren’t selected,” she said. “It was my first affordable housing lottery and it was really upsetting. But it’s nice to finally see some of the families getting their paperwork done and getting situated this week. We already had one person move in yesterday … and we expect everyone to be moved in by June 1.”

Allard said the 12 units consist of two two-bedroom apartments, four one-bedroom apartments, and six studio apartments, all with spacious closets, modern bathrooms and updated kitchens with appliances.

The basement of the three-story building also provides storage space for each tenant as well as a laundry room, community room, and onsite office space for the property and maintenance man-

May 17, 2013 agers.

“There is no live-in manager,” Reed said. “There’s a maintenance person onsite Monday through Friday and the property manager is there 18 hours a week. We also have a 24-hour emergency service line, so if there’s a problem they can get in touch with us.”

Reed said that Erica Hill, who manages the St. Anne’s singleroom occupancy facility in New Bedford for CSS, will also serve as property manager for the Romero House.

Named after Oscar A. Romero, the former archbishop of San Salvador who was an outspoken opponent of injustice, a staunch defender of the poor, and who was assassinated while celebrating Mass on Mar. 24, 1980, the timing of the Romero House opening seems appropriate given that the Vatican just unblocked the cause for canonization of the would-be saint.

“I had proposed that we name the new facility the Oscar Romero House,” Allard said. “He’s someone I’ve always had strong feelings about. I appreciate what he represented, what he stood for, and the fact that he gave his life for his beliefs. Plus in New Bedford we have a growing Latino community and I think (making this facility) his namesake makes sense.”

While there are other public and private entities that strive to develop affordable housing options for the area, Allard said the “marriage” between CABH and CSS remains unique.

“At one time we used to think it was enough just to create affordable housing (units) … and for a large part, that’s true,” he said. “But what we’ve discovered over the last 15 to 20 years is that it’s not enough. You really have to provide a social service component, because our clients come with a lot of baggage and a lot of history. If you don’t address that, you’re setting yourself up for failure. CSS provides not only the housing management expertise, but also a supportive services component.”

“We have access to a whole network of services and if we see one of our clients struggling, we can help them,” Reed agreed.

“It’s not because the client wants to fail, it’s because they may lack some of the basic daily living skills that you or I take for granted.

“A lot of our clients are coming from very difficult pasts with huge housing barriers. There is a vulnerability to many of our clients. Many of them have had to deal with financial challenges, mental-health challenges, and physical challenges and we offer them hope. This may be the first

time some of them have had an opportunity to restart their housing situation.”

Although CABH doesn’t receive funding from the Catholic Charities Appeal, Allard said they do receive a tremendous amount of in-kind support from Catholic Social Services, which does benefit from the diocesan appeal.

“We survive on what we call developer’s fees,” he said.

“When we develop a project, we write a fee into it that ranges between four and eight percent, depending on the economics of the project. That’s the lifeblood of CABH. We also apply for grants on a regular basis.”

Calling the Romero House one of CABH’s “signature projects,” Allard said he’s very proud of the facility and he’s pleased that they were able to take a former eyesore and transform it into something that has had a positive impact on the neighborhood.

“This project stands out for a lot of reasons,” he said. “We’re very happy and I think the tenants are really going to appreciate it.

“I’m fond of saying: ‘We may own the building, but this is their home.’ We see this kind of transformation in all our buildings, to tell the truth. It’s like a new lease on life for many of these tenants.”

As residents began moving into their units this past week, Reed added how she could already sense their newfound pride in ownership.

“They’re such beautiful units and some of these residents have never had their own brand-new refrigerators or appliances,” she said. “One of them told me he feels safe sleeping there. It’s a place they can truly call home.”

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming week May 19 Rev. Ambrose Lamarre, O.P., 1940 Rev. Thomas Trainor, Pastor, St. Louis, Fall River, 1941 Rev. Arthur C. Levesque, Pastor, Our Lady of Fatima, New Bedford, 1988 May 20 Rev. Antonio L. daSilva, Pastor, Our Lady of Health, Fall River, 1952 May 22 Rev. Daniel L. Freitas, Retired, Former Pastor, St. John of God, Somerset, 2012 May 23 Rev. William F. Donahue, Assistant, St. Francis Xavier, Hyannis, 1944 Rev. Alfred J. Guenette, A.A., 1995 May 24 Rev. James F. Clark, Founder, St. James, New Bedford, 1907 Rev. Patrick Heran, SS.CC., Former Rector, Sacred Hearts Seminary, Fairhaven, 1985

May 17, 2013

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese

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

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

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

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

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

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

Use the Chapel entrance on the side of the church.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

19

The Anchor Pope canonizes hundreds of Italian martyrs

Vatican City (CNA/ EWTN News) — Pope Francis on Sunday canonized hundreds of 15th-century Italian martyrs who died rather than renounce their Christian faith.

“The martyrs’ faithfulness even unto death and the proclamation of the Gospel are rooted in the love of God that has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit,” said Pope Francis during the May 12 canonization Mass at the Vatican.

He saw in their lives an inspiration for victims of persecution today.

“Let us ask God to sustain those many Christians who, in these times and in many parts of the world, right now, still suffer violence, and give them the courage and fidelity to respond to evil with good,” the pope said.

In 1480, Turkish invaders beheaded Antonio Primaldo and his hundreds of companions in the far southeastern Italian town of Otranto after they refused to give up their faith.

Pope Francis compared Antonio Primaldo to the first Christian martyr, St. Stephen, who is described in the Acts of the Apostles as “a man full of the Holy Spirit.”

“This means he was full of the love of God, that his whole person, his whole life was animated by the Spirit of the Risen Christ, so as to follow Jesus with total fidelity, even unto the gift of self,” he said.

He said St. Antonio Primaldo and companions found their strength “in faith, which allows us to see beyond the limits of our human eyes, beyond the boundaries of earthly life, to contemplate the Heavens opened and the living Christ at the right hand of the Father.”

The pope also named two other new saints.

The first canonized Columbian-born saint, Laura di Santa Caterina da Siena Montoya y Upegui, was “an instrument of evangelization,” he said.

“This first saint born on the beautiful Colombian soil teaches us to be generous together with God, not to live the faith alone but to communicate, to radiate the joy of the Gospel by word and witness of life in every place we find ourselves,” he added.

Pope Francis said she was a teacher who then became “the spiritual mother of the indigenous peoples.” She gave them hope and welcomed them with “the love she learned from God,” bringing them to God in a way that respected their own culture.

He underscored that the saint “teaches us to see the face of Jesus reflected in the other, to

overcome indifference and individualism.”

The pope said she teaches us this by “welcoming everyone without prejudice or constraints, with love, giving the best of ourselves and above all, sharing with them the most valuable thing we have, Christ and His Gospel.”

Pope Francis also canonized

Maria Guadalupe García Zavala, a Mexican vowed religious who co-founded the Congregation of the Handmaids of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and the Poor.

The pope said she “gave up a comfortable life to follow the call of Jesus” and taught people to love poverty “in order the more to love the poor and the sick.”

Around the Diocese 5/18

Deacon Bruce Bonneau of St. Mary’s Parish in Fairhaven will celebrate his 20th year of ordination to the diaconate tomorrow at St. John Neumann Parish in East Freetown at the 5 p.m.

Mass. Deacon Bonneau was a former member of the parish and served there for nine years prior to being assigned to St. Mary’s. All are welcome to celebrate this Mass of thanksgiving and praise for his years of ministry.

5/20

Alumni, parishoners and friends of SS. Peter and Paul School are invited to a celebration of 90 years. Mass will be celebrated at Holy Cross Church, 47 Pulaski Street in Fall River at 6:30 p.m. on May 20. Immediately following Mass, a reception will take place at SS. Peter and Paul School (please use the Dover Street entrance). Call the school at 508-672-7258 to RSVP or for more information.

5/24

St. John Neumann Parish in East Freetown invites all to its 29th Annual Lakeside Family Festival on Memorial Day Weekend, May 24-27. Hours of operation are Friday from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from noon to 11 p.m., and Monday from noon to 5 p.m.

There will be a huge barn sale all weekend along with amusement rides, entertainment, a car show on Sunday (rain date is Monday) and a “Blessing of the Bikes” on Saturday. For more information visit www.sjnfreetown.org.

6/1

Good Shepherd Parish, 1598 South Main Street in Fall River, will be holding its annual Pot Luck Supper on June 1 at 5:30 p.m. Menu items include Portuguese, Polish and American foods. For tickets or more information call the rectory at 508-678-7412 or email gsfallriver@gmail. com.

6/2

St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford, will host a Corpus Christi procession on June 2 beginning at 2 p.m. On this fest of the most holy Body and Blood of Christ, the procession will begin with benediction and then proceed outside with the Blessed Sacrament led by the St. Anthony Band. The procession will travel to St. Kilian’s and Immaculate Conception churches before heading back to St. Anthony’s. All are welcome to join Jesus on the streets of New Bedford. For more information visit www.saintanthonynewbedford.com.

6/7

St. Theresa’s Parish, 265 Stafford Road in Tiverton, R.I., will host a Yard Sale on June 7 from 5 to 8 p.m., on June 8 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on June 9 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the church grounds.

There will be plenty of items for everyone such as books, small appliances, toys, household goods, jewelry, records, DVDs holiday decorations and more!

The kitchen will be open Saturday and Sunday. For more information visit www. sstandctiverton.org.

6/10

St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford, will celebrate the feast of its patron, St. Anthony, with a three-day novena June 10-13 concluding with a 6:30 p.m.

Mass on June 13. The homily will be given by Father Svetozar Kralijevic, OFM, a Franciscan priest from the parish of Medugorje. There will be a blessing with a St. Anthony relic and all are welcome.

7/19

The Pro-Life Apostolate of the diocese is pleased to announce the third annual Pro-Life Boot Camp for young adults entering high school through senior year will be held on the campus of Stonehill College in Easton on the weekend of July 19-21. For more information and registration forms, contact the Pro-Life Apostolate, P.O. Box 2577, 450 Highland Avenue, Fall River, Mass. 02722; call 508-675-1311; or email pla@ plrachel.com.

20

May 17, 2013

The Anchor

Philadelphia abortionist convicted of murder, manslaughter PHILADELPHIA (CNS) — A Philadelphia jury May 13 found Dr. Kermit Gosnell guilty of murder in the deaths of three babies born alive during abortions and acquitted him of a fourth similar charge. He also was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death by a drug overdose of a patient who had an abortion.

Gosnell, 72, was accused of snipping the spines of babies born alive during illegal lateterm abortions. Pennsylvania law prohibits abortions after 24 weeks of gestation.

A few weeks earlier in the sixweek trial, after the prosecution had rested its case, Judge Jeffrey Minehart of the Common Pleas Court, dismissed three other murder charges against Gosnell, saying they lacked evidence.

The same jury was to convene May 21 to consider Gosnell’s sentence. Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty.

Gosnell was arrested in 2011 and charged with seven counts of infanticide and one count of murder in the case of a woman from Virginia who died during an abortion.

Several patients and former employees testified about squalid conditions at the clinic, described by some as “a house of horrors.”

Several former workers in the clinic, including Gosnell’s wife, Pearl, a cosmetologist by training, earlier pleaded guilty to charges including third-degree murder, racketeering and performing illegal, late-term abortions.

Prosecutors said one of the babies Gosnell killed was at nearly 30 weeks of gestation and was so big that Gosnell joked it could “walk to the bus,” reported The Associated Press.

The involuntary manslaughter charge came in the death of Karnamaya Mongar, 41, of Woodbridge, Va., who was given repeated doses of powerful drugs to induce labor and sedate her.

The jury also found Gosnell guilty of infanticide, racketeering and more than 200 violations of Pennsylvania laws, for performing abortions past 24 weeks or failing to counsel women seeking abortions 24 hours before providing the procedure.

keeping the faith — The Easton Circle Daughters of Isabella recently held a Household Goods Shower at My Brothers Keeper in South Easton. Many beautiful items were donated by the Easton Circle members to assist My Brothers Keeper in its charitable endeavors. From left: past regent Kathleen Bendixen; evening program members Bonnie Norrman and Barbara Cerce; regent Maureen Papineau; and in-house program manager for My Brothers Keeper, Beth Sullivan.

He still faces federal drug charges over abuse of prescriptions for OxyContin and for letting staff members make out prescriptions to patients who paid cash.

The case against Gosnell took shape after a team of health inspectors and investigators looking into drug trade raided Gosnell’s clinic, known as the Women’s Medical Society, in February 2010.

A grand jury report that followed reported on filth throughout, including blood on the floor, cat feces on the stairs and surgical rooms that resembled a “bad gas station restroom.”

The investigators gathered the remains of 45 fetuses stored in bags, milk jugs, juice cartons and cat food containers.

Gosnell’s license was suspended and he was arrested in January 2011.

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

in celebration mode — The Diocesan Council of Catholic Women recently celebrated its 60th anniversary at the yearly convention held at St. Jude the Apostle Parish in Taunton. Bishop George W. Coleman celebrated the Mass. In the top photo are the newly-installed officers with the bishop.

From left: Joyce Ehrenzweig, recording secretary; Mary Mitchell, president; Bishop Coleman; Fran Brezinski, president-elect; Madeleine Lavoie, vice president; and Marguerite Ronan, treasurer. Some of the past DCCW presidents were honored at the event. Below, seated, from left: Emma Andrade (1963-1965), Joanne Quirk (1971-1973), Theresa Lewis (1997-1999), and Virginia Wade (20112013). Standing: Adrienne Lemieux (1979-1981), Claudette Armstrong (1985-1987, 2007-2009), Lynette Ouellette (2003-2005), Elizabeth Mazzucchelli (2001-2003), Jeanne Alves (2009-2011), and Lillian Plouffe (1999-2001). The guest speaker was Arleen Booker, former principal of Our Lady of Lourdes School in Taunton, who spoke on the diocesan Rainbows Program.