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FALL RIVER DIOCESj~N NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
t eanc 0 VOL. 29, NO. 20
FALL RIVER, MASS., FRIDAYi MAY 17; 1985
$8 Per Year
Pope faces a
difficult time
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BISHOP DANIEL A. CRONIN presents the Lahey Memorial Awards to, from left, Con stance Arruda, Fall River (district); Hilda Ferreira, New Bedford; Rosianne Lincoln, :Taun ton; Hilda P. Dagenais, Cape; Mary McGinn, Attleboro. .
DCCW annual meeting
By Joseph Motta Unanimously passing a resolu tion to safeguard their communi ties against the threat of porn ography by trying to make all women aware of its problems, The Fall River Diocesan Council of Catholic Women met Jast Saturday for their annual con vention at Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro. Following a theme of "The Catholic Women Striving for Peace and Justice," the 374 con vention delegates, at a morning business session, noted that por nography "poses a threa<t to our children, even at -a young age," and decided to take a stand against the flood of sexually oriented material <that is inun dating the marketplace. New Jeaders installed after a morning Mass, with Bishop DiLn iel A. Cronin illS principal cele-', brant and homilist, were Mrs. Aubrey Armstrong, president;
Miss Dorothy Curry, first vice president; Miss Margaret McCar- . thy, second vice-president; Mrs. Andrew Mikita, third vice-presi dent; Mrs. George Bauza, fourth vice-president; Mrs. Raymond Poisson, fifth vice-president; Mrs. Barry B. Loew, recording secretary; Mrs. Theresa Lewis, treasurer. AIl events of the day led to the keynote address of Father James A. O'Donohoe, whose topic was "Peace and Justice within <the Context of the Cath olic Faith." A morning workshop featured panelists Father Jay T. Maddock, Secretary of the Diocesan Mar riage Tribunal, 'and Jerry and Scottie Foley of the Diocesan, Office of Famiiy Ministry. In his presentation, Father Maddock illddressed <the rights -and duties of Catholics, :inform ing the delegates as to what those privileges were.
"We have the obligation to be people who are ' supportive of social justice," he said, noting that to solve peace and justice problems one must start at the said that "grassroots level." establishing peace and justice with family, friends and neigh bors would be the first' step to wards having them in effect on a community or world levei. He told the convention that Jesus is telling us that "true peace comes when justice is at hand." F~ther Maddock said that lay people fulfill a role in the three fold mission' of the church; to sanctify, to teach, and to govern. He outlined ways people could meet ,their obligations, such as serving as eucharistic ministers and helping, others prepare for baptism and confirmation, and said that Catholics "have the ~ight and obligation to evangel ize, to bring the Good News to Turn to Page Eight
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,CCA at $1,249,445
The Catholic Charities Appeal books wHl close at 1 p.m. on total has climbed ,to $1,249,445. May 24. Parish Honor Roll 98, with special gifts, priests' donations and parish'returns still 33 parishes have been added to be reported. to the Honor RoB of parishes sur Diocesan Appeal director Msgr. 'passing their 1984 final totals Anthony M. Gomes has asked since -last week's Anchor re that all solicitors make a last port, for a total of 35. NeW Hon effort to canvass every potential or Roll parishes are: Holy Ghost, St. Joseph, St. donor. CoIlections should be de Stephen, Attleboro; St. Mary, livered to Special Gift and par Mansfield; Our Lady of Mount ish headquarters on Monday. Be ginning May 22, all donations Carmel, Seekonk; Our Lady of should be delivered in person to the Cape, Brewster; St. Margaret, Appeal headquarters. Appeal Buzzards Bay; ,St. Elizabeth
Seton, North Falmouth; Our Lady of Lourdes, Wellfleet. Blessed Sacrament, Notre Dame, Holy Rosary, St. Anthony of Padua, Immaculate Concep tion, St. Elizabeth, St. Louis, St. Mathieu, SS. Peter & Paul, Fall . River. St. Bernard, Assonet; St. Louis de France, Swansea; St. George, St. John the Baptist, Westport; Our Lady of Perpetual Help, St. Anne, St. 'Boniface, St. Hedwig, Turn to Page Eleven
UTRECHT, Netherlands (NC) Pope John Paul II visited the Dutch church in May, declining to enter into dialogue with the large body of Dutch Catholics who strongly criticize many church teachings. A survey published in March showed that a majority of the Dutch polled want changes in major church doctrine and dis cipline, which would greatly al ter the moral and institutional face of Catholicism. The pope quickly set the tone of the trip May 12, his first full day in the Netherlands, in a morning talk to Catholic social organizations. "It is not possible to enter into a dialogue on the main subjects raised by the various speakers, i.e., service and care, emancipation and solidarity," the pope said,referring to per sons who spoke before him on various themes of the meeting. "There are technical aspects of these subjects which are beyond my competence." "And furthermore, I am just getting used to your language," he said. The pope spent several months before the trip learning Dutch, the language in which he gave his speeches. Dutch church offi cials also screened speeches of the people scheduled ,to address the pope and limited access to papal events by holding almost all of them indoors; There was only one scheduled outdoor Mass during the May 11-15 trip. Daily outdoor Masses ihave become a trademark of major papal visits. Cardinal-designate ' Adrianus Simonis of Utrecht, head of the Dutch bishops' conference, defended this approach during a May 10 press conference. "This is not a discussion visit," he said. "People will have to dis cuss issues with the bishops." A survey of Catholics published in the Dutch weekly news maga , zine Elseviers showed that only 23 percent fulfill the weekly ob ligation to attend Mass. There are 5.5 mililon people in the Netherlands who profess Cath olicism, and they form about 40 percent of the population. Pope John Paul soon found that the screening process did not isoJate him from criticism. At a May 12 papal meeting with missionary organizations'· Hed wig Wasser departed from her prepared text to criticize church attitudes.
"Are we preaching the libera ting Gospel in a credible way if we lay down the law rather than extend a helping hand? If we exclude rather than make room for unmarried people living to gether, divorced people, homo sexuals, married priests and women?" said Mrs. Wasser, chairman of the missionary coun cil of the Groningen Diocese. "Bishops show themselves 'above us instead of among us and in our midst,'" she added. "Developments in the church in recent times have forced many of us because of our faith in and obedience to Christ to be cratical and disobedient towards the church," she said. Also on May 12, an estimated 3,000 youths demonstrated against the papal vIsit in Utrecht. Demonstrators dashed with po lice and several people were in jured, lOut the main body of pro testors got no closer than one mile from the pope. Some ming led with crowds along a papal motorcade route, and at least one bottle and two cans were flung at the "popemobHe." At an ecumenical gathering the evening of May 13, the pope also ,reiterated his opposition to women priests. "The Catholic Church, like the Orthodox churches, feels con strained iby her faithfulness to the word of God, as she under stands it in the example of the Lord, the witness of the holy Scripture and a tradition of near ly 2,000 years, to exclude the or.dination of women to the min istry of the priesthood," he said. "This position is not meant to ,exclude women from the life of the churoh" still ,less to hamper or hinder the study and imple mentation of their proper role," he adlded. Joint communion by Catholics and Protestants also was op posed by the pope. "Would difficulties really dis appear if, in spite of persisting divisions in faith, Christians of different churches were admitted to full Communion in the debra tion of the Eucharist or the Lord's Supper?" he asked. "Would this not be to soothe the pain, rather that to remedy the sickness of a division that exists contrary to Christ's will?" he said. . Pope John Paul II scored apar theid May 13 daring a speech at Turn to Page Two