05.18.12

The Anchor Diocese of Fall River

F riday , May 18, 2012

Rosary retreat hopes to renew and refresh families, individuals

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

MANSFIELD — Jim Riley and his family have attended the past two Family Rosary Retreats sponsored by Holy Cross Family Ministries, and they made it a point to reserve the time to attend this year’s. Riley, his wife Joanne and daughters Elizabeth, 14, and Theresa, 11, are parishioners of St. Mary’s Parish in Mansfield, and Joanne is principal of St. Mary’s School there.

This year’s third annual event will take place June 2 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Cardinal Spellman High School, 738 Court Street, in Brockton. As in the previous retreats, there will be an English and Spanish track.

“This is a wonderful day all around,” Riley told The Anchor. “We’re so busy as parents with school, sports, and music, it’s up to us as parents to prioritize and make the time to attend a day like this as a family. We recite the Rosary together, but the day is so much more, and it’s appropriate for all ages. We get the chance to have a meal together, attend Mass and Confession and pray together.”

He added that his daughters have enjoyed each day so far. “They love being with Joanne and me and also being with their peers. It’s a great experience for them to be with other faithful families. They’re already Turn to page 18

Office of Child Protection: A voice for the innocent

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — There is one place Debora Jones can be found every Tuesday night in her role as program and safe environment coordinator of the Office of Child Protection at Catholic Social Services in Fall River — overseeing the weekly training session offered to catechists, teachers, principals and directors of Religious Education, and sharing the story of her first investigation of a priority-one sexual assault case while working in Illinois.

The case involved rape, and the victim was just three years old.

“Every time I share it, you just see people’s jaws drop,” said

Jones. Being a novice at the time put her on edge during the interview of the three-year-old. “I remember there was this moment of panic, thinking am I going to remember [my training]? Am I going to say something wrong?

There’s a lot to know.”

The perpetrator was already serving time for raping the fiveyear-old sister of the young victim and Jones was hoping for full disclosure from the little girl; her revelation could possibly add to the perpetrator’s prison sentence.

“She finally told me that he had raped her, but the reason she had kept quiet was because he had taken her baby kitten and Turn to page 18

PROTECTING GOD’S CHILDREN — When she first started in child protective services 30 years ago, “Every six months I would come home and completely sob about nothing,” said Deborah Jones. Now almost three years into her position as program and safe environment coordinator of the Office of Child Protection at Catholic Social Services in Fall River, Jones has reshaped the child protective training directives and oversees a weekly training course for the principals, teachers, directors of religious education and catechists of the 120 parishes and schools that are monitored by her office. (Photo by Becky Aubut)

Catholic Charities Appeal continues to grow, evolve over long history

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — It’s appropriate that the Catholic Charities Appeal here in the Fall River Diocese was borne out of a need to help others during a difficult period in America.

It was March of 1942 and meat, butter, sugar and gasoline were only available with ration stamps as World War II took its toll on life in the U.S. Bishop James E. Cassidy voiced his growing concerns in a confidential letter to priests and suggested starting a diocesanwide charity drive “to provide extra funds for needs present and possible.”

What was essentially a wartime appeal, the first Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Fall River was set for June 7-17, 1942, and it was not only money that was requested, but also prayers for those fighting overseas and their families stateside. Along with those first Appeal pledges came a holy card with a picture

of the Madonna and Child and a prayer dedicated to Mary, Queen of Peace.

By early summer of 1942, more than $150,000 had been collected, and Bishop Cassidy declared it a whopping success. “How gratifying it is to know that good will and concern and charity and willingness to help the individual still lives in so many hearts,” he said.

For more than 70 years now, faithful of the Fall River Diocese have continued to open their hearts to an annual Catholic Charities Appeal effort to provide funding for myriad apostolates and social services within the area. And despite occasional downturns in the economy, the Appeal has always managed to raise more money Turn to page 15

GROWING TREND — A chart indicating the total annual donations in millions of dollars collected each year in the Fall River Diocese Catholic Charities Appeal. (Anchor graphic)

2

May 18, 2012 The International Church Archbishop hopes June congress will help heal wounds of Irish Church

asian pilgrims — Chinese pilgrims pose before the start of Pope Benedict XVI’s weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican recently. (CNS photo/Alessia Giuliani, Reuters)

Pope recognizes Hildegard as saint, advances causes of U.S. bishop, nun

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Although she was never canonized, St. Hildegard of Bingen is to be added to the Catholic Church’s formal list of saints, and Catholics worldwide may celebrate her feast day with a Mass and special readings by order of Pope Benedict XVI. The Vatican announced May 10 that the pope formalized the Church’s recognition of the 12th-century German Benedictine mystic, “inscribing her in the catalogue of saints.” The same day, the pope advanced the sainthood causes of 19th-century U.S. Bishop Frederic Baraga of Marquette, Mich., and of Sister Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, a member of the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth in Convent Station, N.J., who died in 1927.

The pope’s order regarding St. Hildegard recognizes her widespread fame of holiness and the that Catholics have venerated her for centuries.

In St. Hildegard’s time, there were calls for radical reform of the Church to fight the problem of abuses made by the clergy, the pope had said. However, she “reproached demands to subvert the very nature of the Church” and reminded people that “a true renewal of the ecclesial community is not achieved so much with a change in the structures as much as with a sincere spirit of penitence.”

In addition, the pope noted, modern Catholics can learn from her “love for creation, her medicine, her poetry and music that is being recreated today.”

During a May 10 meeting with Cardinal Angelo Amato,

prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, Pope Benedict signed 17 decrees furthering the sainthood causes of dozens of individuals, including Bishop Baraga and Sister Demjanovich.

The decrees for both of the U.S. candidates for canonization recognize that they heroically lived the Christian virtues and are “venerable.” Before they can be beatified, the Vatican must recognize that a miracle has occurred through their intercession.

Father Baraga was ordained a priest in Slovenia in 1823 but left for America in the early 1830s to serve among the Ojibwa and Ottawa in Michigan. Beginning in 1835 he worked in the Upper Peninsula, where his constant travels to Indian villages even in the harsh winter months earned him the nickname “Snowshoe Priest.” He was named the first bishop of Upper Michigan in 1857. In 1866, two years before his death, he moved the headquarters of the diocese from Sault Ste. Marie on the eastern end of the peninsula to centrally located Marquette, where it remains today.

Sister Demjanovich was born in Bayonne, N.J., in 1901. After attending Bayonne public schools, she began studies at the College of St. Elizabeth in Convent Station, graduating in 1923.

Two years later, she entered the Sisters of Charity at Convent Station. She wrote a series of spiritual conferences, which were collected and published after her death as a book, “Greater Perfection.” She died in 1927 at the age of 26.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The wounds and divisions within the Catholic Church in Ireland make the upcoming International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin an important moment for renewal and reconciliation, said Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin.

The archbishop spoke at a recent Vatican news conference as a growing chorus of voices called for the resignation of Ireland’s Catholic primate, Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland, over allegations he did not do enough to stop an abusive priest in the 1970s.

The news conference about the International Eucharistic Congress scheduled for June 10-17 also came on the heels of reports that the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith recently censured five Irish priests over their stance on issues such as the ordination of women, the ban on artificial birth control, mandatory clerical celibacy and homosexuality.

The congress, Archbishop Martin said, “will reflect and showcase the Church in Ireland, a Church which has faced and still faces enormous challenges, but a Church which is alive and vital and anxious to set out on a path of renewal.”

“There are divisions within the Irish Church and at times un-

healthy divisions,” he said, but the eucharistic congress could be “an event of reconciliation and rebuilding of unity” like the congress held in Dublin in 1932, less than 10 years after the Irish civil war.

Before traveling to Rome, Archbishop Martin had said he thought a government commission should be set up to look into the case of Norbertine Father Brendan Smyth, who was convicted in 1997 of sexually abusing more than 20 victims over a period of 35 years. Archbishop Martin had said it was important to investigate “how he was allowed to abuse for so many years.”

But at the Vatican news conference, Archbishop Martin would not say what he thought the cardinal should do. “Cardinal Brady has made a clear statement; he is dealing with it,” the archbishop said.

During the International Eucharistic Congress, he said, a day has been dedicated to the theme of reconciliation, and it’s not only about helping people rediscover sacramental Penance.

The main Liturgy that day, he said, will “touch on the theme of child sexual abuse,” and some of the texts were written by victims of clerical abuse.

But Archbishop Martin said the challenge to the Church in

Ireland goes deeper than the legacy of clerical sexual abuse of children and calls for a renewal of the Church, a change in Church structures and recognizing that the country is much more profoundly secular than most people thought.

The Church, he said, “is trying to address the problems of today with the pastoral methods of the past. We need a much deeper reform of the Church in Ireland,” which means not only structures, but most importantly finding new ways to bring people to Christ and revive an enthusiasm for sharing the faith.

The Irish need “a different type of Church. It will be more modest in its dimensions and its role. It will be, in many ways — and it is today in many ways — a minority Church, but that does not mean it is an irrelevant Church,” the archbishop said.

Archbishop Martin said, “The Church in Ireland shows signs of tiredness” and he hoped hosting the International Eucharistic Congress would be one step in the process of overcoming that weariness.

“I don’t think that Irish churches will be full a week after the congress,” he said, but gathering around the Eucharist with Catholics from all over the world should spark some new enthusiasm.

Vatican spokesman calls on nations to help Syria implement peace plan

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The international community must help bolster Syria’s fragile peace plan, which risks unraveling in the wake of one of the deadliest attacks in 14 months of uprisings and conflict, the Vatican spokesman said.

Some 55 people were killed and more than 370 people injured after a two suicide car bombs exploded near a military compound in Damascus during early morning rush hour May 10.

The government blamed terrorists for the attack while the chief of the opposition Syrian National Council, Burhan Ghalioun, blamed the government for the bombings, saying it was a tactic to keep people indoors and not demonstrating against the regime.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, expressed the Vatican’s “strong condemnation and the heartfelt closeness of the Holy Father and the Catholic community to the families of the victims.”

The written statement May 11 said the latest violence “should

encourage all sides to boost and strengthen their commitment to implementing the Annan Peace Plan, which has been accepted by all sides in the conflict.”

The attacks also show that outside help is needed, it said.

“The situation in Syria requires a firm and joint commitment on the part of the entire international community to implement that plan and, as soon as possible, to send further observers,” Father Lombardi said in the statement.

The Anchor www.anchornews.org

According to the United Nations, as of May 11 there were 105 military observers scattered across major cities and flash points in Syria; the U.N. Mission was to expand and reinforce its presence in those locations.

Father Lombardi said the pope’s Easter day appeal for Syria was “now more pressing than ever: it is necessary without delay to make ‘an immediate commitment to the path of respect, dialogue and reconciliation.’”

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 56, No. 20

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.

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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 Roger J. Landry fatherrogerlandry@anchornews.org EDITOR David B. Jolivet davejolivet@anchornews.org OFFICE MANAGER Mary Chase m arychase@anchornews.org ADVERTISING Wayne R. Powers waynepowers@anchornews.org REPORTER Kenneth J. Souza kensouza@anchornews.org REPORTER Rebecca Aubut beckyaubut@anchornews.org Send Letters to the Editor to: fatherrogerlandry@anchornews.org

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3 The Church in the U.S. North Carolina voters approve amendment upholding traditional marriage May 18, 2012

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (CNS) — With a heavy turnout at the polls, North Carolina voters approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman by a 3-to-2 margin.

In unofficial results calculated late May 8 by the North Carolina State Board of Elections, 1,303,952 people — 61.05 percent — voted for the amendment while 831,788 people — 38.95 percent — voted against it.

The amendment read, “Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state.” It enshrines the definition of traditional Marriage in the state constitution, elevating it from what has been state law since 1996.

Bishop Peter J. Jugis of Charlotte and Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Raleigh, who were at the Vatican May 8 for their “ad lim-

ina” visits, had both championed the amendment, which they said would prevent any arbitrary redefinition of marriage.

Marriage, they reminded Catholics, is based in natural law by God and instituted as a Sacrament

by Jesus Christ. It binds together a family, the fundamental building block of all societies, and provides the most stable and nurturing environment to raise children.

Bishop Jugis said: “I am pleased that the people of North Carolina voted for Marriage. The Church consistently teaches that Marriage is created by God as the faithful and exclusive union of one man and one woman, open to the gift of children.”

In a separate statement, Bishop Burbidge urged Catholics to pray “that whatever divisions may have occurred during this referendum process, may be healed by the grace of God and a mutual renewed commitment by all people

of good will, so that we may together build a society reflective of the unity that is ours as members of God’s family.”

Bishop Jugis had mentioned the Marriage amendment battle during a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI earlier that day. In his homily at Mass at the altar of the tomb of Blessed John XXIII in St. Peter’s Basilica May 8, Bishop Jugis said he and Bishop Burbidge had endured scorn for their efforts to uphold Church teaching on Marriage.

It was a cross worth bearing, he said, “to be courageous in witnessing to the Gospel.”

“I shared with another bishop my sadness over this criticism of our support for something as beautiful and foundational to society as traditional Marriage,” he said.

The other bishop “encouraged me by saying, ‘Wear it as a badge of honor.’”

Ever since the amendment was put on the ballot by the Republican-

Catholic says nation in need of prayer, so creates ‘Rosary for the USA’

PHOENIX (CNS) — As Manny Yrique prayed before the Blessed Sacrament, his heart was burdened with concerns about the United States and the level of animosity in American discourse.

“I knelt down to pray and I was overwhelmed by the feeling that Our Lord wanted me to pray a Rosary,” Yrique said. “I felt Him telling me, ‘Take it to My mother.’”

He pulled out his Rosary beads and as he began to pray, he was struck by the realization that each of the 50 Hail Mary prayers of the Rosary could be offered for one of the 50 United States.

Yrique said he’s always had a strong devotion to Mary. He remembers being eight years old, kneeling with his six-year-old sister to pray the Rosary while their mother was undergoing surgery.

“We didn’t know if our mom was coming back home, so we took out our plastic Rosaries, knelt down at the Virgin of Guadalupe statue that was over my mom’s bed and we prayed a Rosary,” Yrique told The Catholic Sun, newspaper of the Phoenix Diocese. “It was like, ‘Nothing’s going to happen as long as Mary’s with you.’”

Yrique said he designed the Rosary for the United States of America through prayer, often waking in the middle of the night to compose the intentions.

He has already given away or sold 3,000 of the red, white and blue Rosary beads and has ordered another 2,000. He has a website, www.magnalitecatholic.com/ usa_rosary.html. Along with the Rosary, people can order a prayer booklet or prayer card that lists all the intentions as well as the names of the 50 states.

Each of the five decades has a designated intention.

The first three decades are prayed for the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. The fourth decade is dedicated to state and local governments as well as police and firefighters. The fifth decade is devoted to U.S. military personnel.

Yrique’s conviction about the love of the mother of God is something that he said can partly be explained by his own mother’s unshakable devotion to her children.

“I believe that a mother has tremendous impact on her family — I saw that in my mother,” Yrique said. “We knew that nothing would happen to us as children as long as mom was there.

“I believe the Blessed Virgin Mary is the same way — she’s always been my mother and I believe she has the ear of God at her command.”

The “Rosary for the USA” is not a political statement, Yrique said. He’s not praying for a particular candidate to win the upcoming election or for any political party’s success. He’s simply praying for the United States — its leaders and populace.

“At the time I started praying for my country, I was really concerned with how divisive we became over the S.B. 1070 (immigration) issue,” Yrique said.

“So when I saw things happening on the news — when I saw people being angry at one another, shouting at one another, I thought, ‘This is not the way I was brought up.’”

Yrique said it’s important for the 30 million Catholics in the United States to pray for their

leaders, regardless of political persuasion.

“I really believe that it doesn’t matter who we elect if the power of God is not working through our elected officials,” he said. “I’d like people to get off their soapboxes and get on their knees and pray.

God will bless America when Americans remember to bless God.”

led Legislature last fall, the bishops had urged Catholics to vote for it.

They communicated with parishioners in print and online diocesan news media, TV and radio ads, parish bulletins and postcards, billboards and yard signs, and letters read from the pulpit during Masses the weekend before the vote.

The bishops had said the vote presented an opportunity to explain the importance and sanctity of traditional Marriage in the Church and in society.

In a joint letter read at all Masses May 5-6, the bishops wrote, “We are for Marriage, as we believe it is a vocation in which God calls couples to faithfully and permanently embrace a fruitful union in a mutual self-giving bond of love, according to His purposes.

It is not only the union itself that is essential to these purposes, but also the life to which spouses are called to be open, the gift of children.”

Their efforts ran parallel to the campaign by Vote For Marriage NC, a nonpartisan coalition of churches, groups and individuals that organized public support for the amendment, which even at the start of the campaign last fall was considered widely popular among North Carolina voters. Each diocese also donated $50,000 to the Vote for Marriage NC campaign for its advertising blitz and voter education efforts.

In a statement released on election night May 8, Tami Fitzgerald, chairwoman of Vote For Marriage

NC, said, “We are thankful to God and to the people of North Carolina for joining together today to preserve Marriage as the union between one man and one woman in our state constitution.

“North Carolinians have been waiting for nearly a decade to protect Marriage — a sacred institution authored by God — from being redefined against the will of the people,” she added. “The Marriage protection amendment ensures that it will always be the people of our state who determine what Marriage is in North Carolina, not an activist judge or future politicians.”

North Carolina is the 31st state to define traditional Marriage in its constitution, and the last among the Southern states to do so.

The amendment attracted large numbers of people to the polls, with 2.1 million (34 percent) of the state’s 6.3 million registered voters casting a ballot on the question, according to the state elections board results. Turnout was as high as 50 percent in some counties.

Bishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of Oakland, Calif., chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee on the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, praised North Carolina voters, saying the amendment’s passage “demonstrates people’s awareness of the essential role that Marriage, as the union of a man and a woman, plays for the common good.”

It also “affirms the authentic and timeless meaning of Marriage,” he said.

4

The Church in the U.S.

May 18, 2012

Cardinal covers wide range of topics during Town Hall on SiriusXM radio NEW YORK (CNS) — In a genial, live, two-hour national satellite radio broadcast May 8, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York sent his first Twitter message and fielded questions on issues ranging from his priesthood to his favorite foods and beverages.

Cardinal Dolan was featured in a Town Hall event on SiriusXM’s the Catholic Channel 129. Twenty invited listeners perched on stools in a small glass-enclosed studio at SiriusXM’s New York headquarters. They read their queries from prepared cards and responded appreciatively to the cardinal’s thoughtful responses.

The broadcast was moderated by Sirius XM personalities Father Jonathan Morris and Tim Farley. NBC’s “Today” co-host Matt Lauer, former Major League Baseball manager Joe Torre and Shirley Dolan, the cardinal’s mother, were “surprise guests.”

Cardinal Dolan said he aspires to be a saint. “I’m longing for it and trying my best. Great saints are just recovering sinners,” he quipped.

He cited St. Therese of Lisieux, or the “Little Flower,” who famously defined sainthood as doing ordinary things extraordinarily well. “For a cardinal, most of life is routine,” Cardinal Dolan said.

The cardinal applauded St. John Bosco’s creative approach to ministry and said St. Maximilian Kolbe is an inspiration for priests. The priest, canonized in 1982, gave his life at Auschwitz to spare a young father. “I love Maximilian Kolbe because he came to us at a time when priests were questioning our identity and confidence was flagging.”

“We’re all called to be saints. I hope 50 years from now someone will remember something I said or did and be inspired,” Cardinal Dolan said.

The cardinal, who hosts a weekly

talk show on the Catholic Channel, opened the Town Hall with a milkshake toast to the audience and the event was peppered with references to food and drink. Without hesitation, he described his favorite meal — “meatloaf, mashed potatoes, no gravy, butter, a cold beer and cherry pie.” Budweiser is his favorite brand of beer and peach his preferred flavor for a stand-alone snack of pie and cold milk. He also described feigning indecision at a gelato stand to sample many flavors before ordering.

Cardinal Dolan said his guests at an imaginary dinner party would include St. Peter, the Roman emperor Constantine, Abraham Lincoln and Archbishop Fulton Sheen. He said he would ask how St. Peter “recuperated so quickly from denying Jesus to being at his tomb” on Easter.

The cardinal said Lincoln is “one of the holiest and wisest men I’ve ever read about” and then laughingly acknowledged that Archbishop Sheen, a skilled broadcaster, “would probably dominate the conversation.” Jesus, he said, is a presumed guest at the dinner, one whom he meets every day in the eucharistic meal.

Addressing priestly vocations, Cardinal Dolan said families and parishes should invite and encourage young men without pressuring them. He said he aspired to the parish priesthood from an early age, but would likely have become a married father and history teacher if he was not ordained.

“Pope Paul VI said a priest should want to be a husband and a father,” Cardinal Dolan said. “We’re not called to be bachelors. A bachelor freely chooses not to be married. We’re called to be celibate, which means we have a deep longing for a wife and children but we have placed that under God’s domain.

We then have a spiritual spousal relationship with the Church and a spiritual

paternity with our people.”

Cardinal Dolan said his faith was tested in 2000 when his young niece was diagnosed with bone cancer.

“I was never tempted to doubt God, but I was tempted to doubt that God knew what He was doing,” he said.

Ultimately, he latched onto the Gospel question “Lord, to whom shall we go?” and adopted it as his prayer and part of his episcopal coat of arms. His niece is now a young adult.

Cardinal Dolan advised a new grandmother to be gentle, prayerful and persistent in encouraging the baby’s lapsed Catholic father to have the child baptized. “A genius of the Catholic faith is that adults return to the faith through their kids,” he said.

Asked to speculate about an American papacy, Cardinal Dolan said it might happen eventually, but not in the near future. Traditionally, he said, the pope is a referee in international affairs, and the College of Cardinals would “shy away” from choosing someone from a superpower because it might place a burden on him.

When Lauer appeared in the studio, he reminisced with Cardinal Dolan about a moving 2011 visit they made to St. Peter’s Basilica after it was closed to the public for the day. Lauer described himself as “deeply spiritual, but not religious” and said he was raised by a

Jewish father and a Christian Scientist mother. Cardinal Dolan said, “Rome brings out a natural inquisitiveness about religion.”

Joe Torre called in to the program and Cardinal Dolan said, “You’re one of my heroes, Joe. You take your faith seriously.” The former baseball manager and the cardinal had a rapid-fire exchange worthy of late-night sports radio, including updates on former major leaguers Stan Musial, Whitey Herzog, Tony La Russa and Frank Torre, Joe’s brother.

Cardinal Dolan said there is an analogy between the Catholic Church and sports. “Strength in athletics and spiritual life are allied. The same traits that serve well on the field apply to spiritual life: team work, perseverance, grittiness and vigilance,” he said.

Diocesan bishops, like sports managers, have to “craft a team to fit the park,” Cardinal Dolan said. Both have to assess the local situation and develop their personnel to meet the challenges and opportunities.

During the broadcast, the cardinal used an iPad to send his first Tweet.

With the handle @CardinalDolan, he wrote: “Hey everybody. It’s Timothy Cardinal Tebow. I mean Dolan. I’m on Twitter. And I’m live on Town Hall on SiriusXM’s The Catholic Channel 129.”

D.C. archdiocese’s paper hammers Sebelius appearance at Georgetown

Washington D.C. (CNA) — The Archdiocese of Washington’s newspaper has said that HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ appearance as a featured speaker at a Georgetown University awards ceremony is a sign that the prestigious Jesuit school is not standing with the Catholic bishops in defense of religious freedom.

“One can only wonder how the selection of Secretary Sebelius for such a prominent role as a featured speaker can be reconciled with the stated Catholic mission and identity of Georgetown University,” The Catholic Standard editorialized May 10. “Secretary Sebelius’ vision on what constitutes faith-based institutions presents the most direct challenge to religious freedom in recent history.”

In light of the struggle of many Catholics, the U.S. bishops and others to “preserve freedom of religion,” choosing Sebelius for special recognition “can only be seen as a statement of where the university stands — certainly not with the Catholic bishops,” the editorial says.

The Department of Health and Human Services has issued a new rule mandating that employers provide insurance coverage for sterilization, contraception and abortion-causing drugs.

Its narrow religious exemption would not cover most Catholic institutions like health systems, charitable organizations and colleges and universities.

Non-compliance is punished by heavy fines.

The Obama Administration has proposed a compromise, but many Catholic leaders have said it is insufficient to preserve the freedoms of those who object to providing such procedures and drugs.

The Catholic Standard described Sebelius as the “architect” of the HHS mandate’s “radical challenge” to freedom of religion.

Sebelius will address an awards ceremony today for Georgetown’s Public Policy Institute. The event is part of the university’s commencement weekend activities.

“Georgetown University’s response to the commencement speaker decision is disappointing, but not surprising,” the archdiocesan paper said. “When the vision guiding university choices does not clearly reflect the light of the Gospel and authentic Catholic teaching, there are, of course, disappointing results.”

The editorial noted that Pope Benedict XVI recently stressed the need for Catholic higher education in the U.S. to commit to “building a society ever more solidly grounded in an authentic humanism inspired by the Gospel and faithful to the highest values of America’s civic and cultural heritage.”

The Catholic Standard lamented that Georgetown has undergone secularization, blaming this on the fact that its leadership and faculty “find their inspiration in sources other than the Gospel and Catholic teaching.”

The Church in the U.S.

May 18, 2012

5

Catholic leaders reject Obama’s support for same-sex marriage WASHINGTON (CNS) — Catholic leaders rejected President Barack Obama’s May 9 declaration in a television interview that “personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think samesex couples should be able to get married.”

“President Obama’s words today are not surprising since they follow upon various actions already taken by his administration that erode or ignore the unique meaning of marriage,” said Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. bishops, in a recent statement.

“We cannot be silent in the face of words or actions that would undermine the institution of Marriage, the very cornerstone of our society,” Cardinal Dolan added. “The people of this country, especially our children, deserve better.”

In December 2010, Obama said his views on same-sex marriage were “evolving” and that he “struggles with this,”

adding he would continue pray that he and his adminis- to generating and nurturing District of Columbia.

The Maryland Marriage Althinking about the issue. An tration act justly to uphold and children. Other unions exist, liance said May 2 that a petition Associated Press story May protect Marriage as the union but they are not marriage.”

In its statement, the archdi- to put the law to a vote had col10 quoted Obama as saying he of one man and one woman,” ocese said it would “continue lected more than 30,000 voter wanted to announce his support Cardinal Dolan said. “May we to strongly advocate signatures. Nearly 56,000 valid for such unions “in my own way, e cannot be silent in the face for the federal gov- signatures are needed by June ernment’s existing 30 to add the referendum to the on my own terms” of words or actions that would definition of Mar- November ballot, with half due but acknowledged earlier remarks by undermine the institution of Marriage, riage as the union May 31 to the Maryland State Vice President Joe the very cornerstone of our society,” Car- of one man and one Board of Elections.

“For us in Maryland, the Biden prompted dinal Dolan added. “The people of this woman,” adding it vote on Marriage this Novemsupports efforts unhis announce- country, especially our children, deserve dertaken by those ber has nothing to do with ment. better.” who uphold the tra- politics,” said Mary Ellen On May 6, ditional meaning of Russell, executive director of Biden, a Cathothe Maryland Catholic ConferMarriage.” lic, said he was One such effort is a petition ence, in a May 9 statement. “It “absolutely comfortable” with all work to promote and protect same-sex couples marrying, Marriage and by so doing serve drive in the state of Maryland will be a vote on the issue of to overturn a law passed ear- Marriage itself.” She added, adding they should get “the the true good of all persons.”

In a May 9 statement, the lier this year to allow same- “The definition of Marriage is same exact rights” heterosexuArchdiocese of Washington sex marriage in the state. The not a matter of politics. It is a al married couples receive.

The Catholic Church up- said it “opposes the redefi- archdiocese covers five Mary- matter of values and the founholds the sanctity of tradi- nition of Marriage based on land counties in addition to the dation of society and family.” tional Marriage as being only the clear understanding that between one man and one the complementarity of man woman, and also teaches that and woman is intrinsic to the any sexual activity outside of meaning of Marriage. The Spiritual Director: Fr. Joseph P. McDermott, Pastor word ‘marriage’ describes the marriage is sinful.

Immaculate Conception Parish “I pray for the president ev- exclusive and lifelong union of 122 Canton Street, Stoughton, MA 02072 ery day, and will continue to one man and one woman open

“W

HOLY LAND PILGRIMAGE

Arizona governor praised for signing religious freedom bill

Phoenix, Ariz., (CNA) — Gov. Jan Brewer drew praise for signing a measure into law that allows employers in Arizona to opt out of contraception and abortifacient coverage.

“We’re absolutely thrilled that Gov. Brewer signed this important religious liberty legislation after many years of battling over this issue in Arizona and now across the country,” Ron Johnson, executive director of the Arizona Catholic Conference, told Catholic News Agency.

Although the bill will not trump federal law if the controversial Health and Human Services mandate is put into practice, Johnson said he hopes the Arizona measure will “be an example for the rest of the country.”

Johnson explained in a May 10 interview that the bill provides a “better position” for “Arizonians who are interested in suing the Obama Administration over the HHS mandate,” now that their religious freedom is protected by state law.

The Obama Administration’s contraception mandate, announced on January 20, will require employers to of-

fer health insurance plans that cover contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs even if doing so violates religious beliefs.

Catholic bishops from every diocese in the U.S. have condemned the mandate, warning that it threatens religious freedom and could force Catholic hospitals, schools and charitable agencies to shut down.

The bishops have also criticized the rule’s narrow religious exemption which allows institutions to opt out only if they are non-profit organizations that mainly employ and serve people of the same faith.

Signed into law May 11, Arizona’s House Bill 2625 expands the definition of “religiously affiliated” employers to any organization whose articles of incorporation state a religious motivation and whose religious beliefs play a significant role in its operations.

“In its final form, this bill is about nothing more,” Gov. Brewer said in a statement, “than preserving the religious freedom to which we are all Constitutionally-entitled.”

Although the Arizona Catholic Conference has been in favor of the bill since then-

Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed it in 2002, Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Glendale) and Sen. Nancy Barto (R-Phoenix) helped carry it through the Arizona House and Senate in its most recent form.

Johnson called the new law an “extremely important piece of legislation” not only for Catholics, but for all Americans who value religious freedom.

“It’s also a very good time to unite with people of other faiths on this bedrock issue,” Johnson said, “If we don’t do it now, we’re going to see much more serious erosion.”

This law comes after many private companies have filed lawsuits against the Obama Administration for the federal mandate on the grounds of First Amendment violation.

The Arizona Catholic Conference called the law “very helpful” in a press release, for any religiously-affiliated employers “who have an objection to abortion inducing drugs and contraceptives.”

Arizona is now among the 20 states that allow employers to opt-out of contraception and abortifacient coverage in their healthcare plans due to religious beliefs.

OCTOBER 15 - 25, 2012

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~ Includes Airfare, Ground Transportation & Lodging, with Breakfast & Dinner each day ~ INCLUSIVE FEATURES:

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- Boat ride on the Sea of Galilee - Capernaum: visit St. Peter’s House - Tabgha: visit the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves & Fishes and the Church of St. Peter’s Primacy - Mt. of Beatitudes; Mass - Caesarea Phillipi: St. Peter proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah - Yardenit: baptismal site on the Jordan River - Mt. Tabor: site of the Transfiguration - City of Beit Shean: visit the impressive ruins - Prophet Gideon’s Spring; Tel of Jezreel, Queen Jezebel’s summer palace - Dead Sea - Madsada: ascending mountain by cable car - Drive via Ein Gedi; stop in Qumeran, site of the Dead Sea Scrolls - Stand on the Mount of Olives - St. Stephen’s Gate to St. Anne’s Church; see the Pool of Bethseda - On to the Via Dolorosa: starting at Pilate’s Judgment Hall, “to Calvary and the Tomb” at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher - Visit the Western Wall (Wailing Wall); Temple Mount - Drive to Bethlehem: stand on Shepherds Field

- Caesarea, Palace of Herod the Great - Roman Theatre - Aqueduct - Mt. @Mukraka, Eli Jah’s - Stella Maris: Carmelite Monastery - Valley of Armageddon - Nazareth: Visit the Church of Annuniciation; Mass - Visit the Church of Mary’s Well & St. Joseph’s workshop - Cana JERUSALEM: - Mount of Olives: Church of Pater Noster; walk down the hill to the Church of Dominus Flevit; Garden of Gethsemane; visit the Cave of the Tomb of the Virgin Mary; Mt. Zion; Church of the Dormition, Room of the Last Supper; Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu (cock crows); Church of the Visitation - Ein Karem en route to Emmaus - Arrival in the Ayalon Valley & Latrun - Visit to the Beit Guvrin National Park: caves of Tel Maresha - Visit West Jerusalem - Israel Museum: “Shrine of the Book”; Dead Sea Scrolls - Visit to Mount Herzi - Yad Vashem: visit Museum

For further information you may contact Margaret Oliverio @ 781-762-2029 or 781-344-2073

6

The Anchor False evolution and false gold

Last Wednesday, President Barack Obama surprised no one when he announced — contrary to repeated affirmations during his 2004 senate and 2008 presidential campaigns that Marriage is the union of a man and a woman — that he now believes that Marriage can be a husbandless or wifeless institution. The reason that no one was surprised by anything other than the timing of his announcement is that his political actions always belied his words.

Under his leadership, his Justice Department has not only refused its constitutional obligation to defend the laws of the land by refusing to defend the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, but has in fact taken the position that it’s an unconstitutional act of bigotry to hold, as DOMA does, that “the word ‘marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word ‘spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.” One couldn’t expect him to remain a “bigot”— like President Bill Clinton and the 85 senators and 342 congressmen from both parties who overwhelmingly supported DOMA — for long after such a legal declaration.

Likewise in his foreign policy, the administration has ceased to defend religious freedom abroad, restricting it only to “freedom of worship” in order to advance, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described in a 2009 Georgetown address, the “right” of people to “love in the way they choose,” a euphemism that foreign countries readily recognize means the push for the normalization of same-sex activity and marriages. The president couldn’t be pushing for the right for the redefinition of Marriage abroad as a foreign policy priority without eventually coming out of the closet to reveal his support for it at home.

The president called his public switch an “evolution” in his May 9 conversation with ABC’s Robin Roberts, which is interesting for several reasons.

First, he created a taxonomic conundrum by evolving “back” to the position he openly held in 1996 — the year DOMA was passed — when he was campaigning for the Illinois state senate and told IMPACT, a gay activist group, in a questionnaire “I favor legalizing same-sex marriages and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.”

Second, the term evolution — which he has been using for two years to describe the interior ethical flux he said he was in — is clearly a loaded one. Not only does it imply a progression from Neanderthal to enlightened ideas, but it also suggests that the only people opposed to such positive development would be the same fundamentalist primitives who believe the world was created in six 24-hour periods.

Most striking of all, however, is that the particular type of evolution the president said he had gone through was above all theological. “I’ve been going through an evolution on this issue,” the president said to Roberts, describing how politically he has gone from supporting civil unions to same-sex marriages. “I was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people, the word Marriage was something that evokes very powerful traditions, religious beliefs and so forth, but … at a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married. … In the end the values that I care most deeply about and [the first lady] cares most deeply about is how we treat other people. … We are both practicing Christians and obviously this position may be considered to put us at odds with the views of others but, you know, when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing Himself on our behalf, but it’s also the Golden Rule, you know, treat others the way you would want to be treated. And I think that’s what we try to impart to our kids and that’s what motivates me as president and I figure the most consistent I can be in being true to those precepts, the better I’ll be as a dad and a husband and hopefully the better I’ll be as president.”

The president portrays his evolution as a Christian moral imperative occasioned by the application of the Golden Rule to the situation of those seeking to marry those of the same sex. It is indeed a good sign that the president wants to draw his motivation from Christ’s words, “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you” (Mt 7:12) in both the personal and public parts of the White House. It’s clear, however, in terms of the consistent application of this lapidary moral principle, that the president still has much evolving to do.

If he applied it to the victims of abortion, he would be hard pressed to desire that physicians do to him what abortion doctors do to our younger, smaller, more vulnerable fellow human beings. If he applied it to the situation of conscientious Catholics in America, he would not be trying to compel Catholic institutions, business owners and individuals through their insurance plans to fund practices they believe are immoral.

He also needs to evolve toward a correct interpretation of the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule does not mean to do for others whatever they’d like, but to do for them what is for their true good, just as we’d always want others to act in promotion of our true good. The Golden Rule for parents with regard to their kids’ appetites is not to feed them all the cotton-candy, chocolate and ice cream they’d like, but to make them eat their vegetables. The Golden Rule for teachers who care for their students is not to give them little or no homework and easy A’s, but to exercise their developing minds and even to flunk them if they fail to perform.

The Golden Rule for friends of those who are addicted is not to enable or ignore their problems but to intervene forcibly to get them help, even if it be against their desires. The Golden Rule is not about others’ wants, but their genuine needs. It’s always linked to the truth about the good. Jesus was not violating the Golden Rule when He said that to save our life we must lose it: that our true good will come only by doing the naturally unpleasant things of denying ourselves, picking up our cross each day and following Him. The Golden Rule is about Christ-like love, which occasionally involves not giving others what they want if it would be harmful, in the same way we would hope that others wouldn’t indulge our desires if we’d be engaging in an unwitting masochism.

The president needs to evolve, finally, in his grasp of the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus gives us the Golden Rule (Mt 5-7). Jesus also says there that the least in His Kingdom would be the one who relaxes one of His Commandments and teaches others to do the same. He condemns as adultery in the heart any form of lust and challenges us to cut off body parts rather than to sin. He teaches to pray to the Father, “Thy will be done,” not “Thy will be changed.” He warns about false prophets and declares that it’s not those who invoke the name of the Lord in speech but only those who do the will of His Father, who hears His words and acts on them, who will enter the Kingdom. We’re not following the Golden Rule of Jesus unless we’re seeking to live by all of Jesus’ saving teachings and trying to help others to do the same. Anything short of that is a Golden Rule made out of false gold.

When people are hocking false gold and others are buying it, so many people get hurt.

And that’s something none of us would want to be done to us, and that we should never do to others.

D

May 18, 2012

Nurturing vocations in the home

uring the “Year For Priests” a This coming June 9, Bishop Coleman couple of years ago, a number of will be ordaining Deacon Jason Brilhante priests from our diocese were interviewed to the priesthood at 11 a.m. at St. Mary’s and asked some questions about their Cathedral in Fall River. It would be vocation and spiritual journey to the fantastic to have many people there to priesthood. A link to all of these videos can support him and also to encourage more be found on the vocation’s office website, young men. www.FallRiverVocations.org. One of those Inviting your parish priest to your home to give such an interview was Bishop for lunch or dinner is also a great way to George W. Coleman. bring the idea of priestly vocations into your In that interview Bishop Coleman began home. Seeing your parish priest outside of by stating, “It is often said that vocations are the normal setting of Holy Mass can be an nurtured around the kitchen table. I firmly eye-opening experience for young people believe that is true.” I think that many who so easily reduce the priesthood to the would agree with the bishop’s statement, celebration of Mass. because it is in the home that most young There are so many different ways to people normally learn the life of faith and promote, cultivate and nurture vocations devotion. in your own homes, but above all, what is Bishop Coleman recalled his childhood. needed most is support and generosity. So “I can recall in my own home, how there many times I have heard people of faith say were so many elements that created an that they pray for vocations, they want more atmosphere of faith and prayer.” He said priests but that they wouldn’t want their son that such things as having “statues of or grandson to be one.

Blessed Virgin Many times Mary and the this is said Sacred Heart because they of Jesus in Putting Into don’t think that the home, priesthood is a the Deep going to daily very fulfilling Mass during or happy Lent, and way of life,

By Father First Fridays despite the Jay Mello devotions” objective fact were things that that year after helped to nurture his own faith and vocation year research shows that those in priestly to the priesthood. ministry consider themselves to be living I have even heard some priests and very happy and fulfilling lives. bishops compare the family to “one’s Sometimes there is the hesitancy first seminary,” explaining that it is in the to promote vocations because of a home that one first learns the life of virtue, misunderstanding or disapproval of priestly devotion and piety. Seminaries exist to form celibacy. Because chaste celibacy is not a men into priests, but much of their human natural but a supernatural way of living out formation does in fact take place much one’s life, it is often difficult to understand earlier, around the kitchen table, as Bishop how or why one would choose such a Coleman explained. vocation.

In this week’s article, I would like to Sadly, it is sometimes the case that highlight a few practical ways in which parents are unwilling to encourage their parents and families can cultivate and children to consider a priestly or religious nurture priestly vocations in the home. vocation for selfish reasons such as First and foremost is to pray daily as a wanting more grandchildren. While having family. In addition to Sunday Mass, it is grandchildren is certainly a wonderful and so beneficial for families to take time to beautiful thing, and I in no way want to pray together, whether that be the Rosary diminish that, my point is that we need to be or some other form of communal prayer. generous when it comes to our relationship It might be helpful also to include time for with Christ and His Church. each person in the family to add particular Perhaps this brings up another point: intentions. It would be a good idea to in addition to nurturing your children’s pray for those already living a vocation to vocations, whether that be to married, Church ministry, such as your parish priest religious or priestly life, maybe it is also or a man in seminary you might know. a good idea for parents to discuss among Many of our parishes have vocation themselves how they would react if one prayer teams or projects in which families of their sons said that he wanted to be a can participate at home, such as a vocation priest or a daughter desired to enter into a cross or chalice that is taken home for a convent. It is important for young adults to week and prayers are said together as a know that they have their parents’ support family. The diocesan Vocation Office has in pursuing their God-given vocation. prayer cards for anyone who would like In that video that I mentioned earlier, some for their parish or family.

Bishop Coleman assured us that he is Another idea might be to encourage “praying each day for families, that the your children to become involved in children would experience faith and prayer different parish projects, organizations or so that they would be able to respond to activities. Often, children view the life of their vocations.” faith as simply that one hour a week of Our Holy Father is praying, our bishop Sunday Mass. Being involved in parish life is praying and the faithful people of our in addition to Mass can add a tremendous parishes are praying each and every day amount to one’s understanding of the that more young men would be open to Church and our life of faith. the call to serve our Lord in the Holy Attending a priestly ordination also Priesthood. In addition to that prayer, the has a very positive influence on young real nurturing of priestly vocations does men. Seeing the signs and symbols of the in fact take place in the family and around Sacrament of Holy Orders can definitely the kitchen table. peak their interest and help them to be Father Mello is a parochial vicar at St. more open to the call in their own lives.

Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth.

May 18, 2012

7

The Anchor

T

heological concepts are like the processes of cellular biology; you know they’re happening but they’re tough to wrap our heads around. God’s language is not our language, which is why we use images like “tongues of fire” and “the wind blows where it will” to express the awesome and tangible event of the descent of the Holy Spirit. Human images are always inadequate because our phrases do not come close to describing how the experience of the Holy Spirit launched and sustained our Church for two millennia.

One of the most remarkable events told about the day of Pentecost was that the assembly began to understand one another in their own tongue. Perhaps this wasn’t a linguistic miracle but the presence of God’s wordless

An image that can only be painted by God grace that removed the barrier of ficult passage. A pastor may even words. God speaks a language seize the opportunity to welcome that we can all understand — the back the loved ones if they have language of grace. been disconnected from our faith When grace is the native community. This was not the tongue of a parish it speaks loud and clear.

Grace transforms parish life from pit stops for perfunctory routine into instruments of transcendence. When God speaks the language of grace our

By Claire McManus only response is “wow!”

A short time ago in an area parish God whispered His grace into the air, situation for a long-time, welltransforming the mundane into respected pastor when he received the sublime. the call from a local funeral home.

Funerals are part of the ebb A middle-age man had died alone, and flow of parish life. Much of found in his home days later. the pastoral energy is expended There were no people to conon journeying with the family of tact, for there was neither family the deceased as they face this difnor friend programmed into the

The Great Commission

Canadians’ religious freedom in danger, bishops warn

Ottawa, Canada (CNA/ EWTN News) — Freedom of religion and conscience are in danger of disappearing from Canadian society, the country’s bishops warned recently.

“In the past decade in Canada there have been several situations that raise the question whether our right to freedom of conscience and religion is everywhere respected,” the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops observed in Monday’s pastoral letter.

“At times,” the bishops observed, “believers are being legally compelled to exercise their profession without reference to their religious or moral convictions, and even in opposition to them.” They pointed to the dangers of “radical secularism” and an “aggressive” relativism that opposes all claims of truth.

The Canadian bishops also highlighted the anti-religious nature of some “anti-discrimination” laws, as well as the tendency of advocacy groups to use provincial Human Rights Tribunals to promote a radical agenda and block believers from speaking and acting freely.

These “acrimonious procedures,” they said, “would be better replaced by a civilized and respectful debate” that offers “a voice in the public forum to religious believers.”

“If that voice is suppressed in any way, believers should view this as a restriction on their right to freedom of religion, one which should be forcefully challenged,” the bishops stated.

Billed as a “pressing appeal” to people of all religions and outlooks, the Canadian bishops’ “Pastoral Letter on Freedom of Conscience and Religion” cites the country’s

Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which numbers “freedom of conscience and religion” among the fundamental Canadian liberties.

However, the bishops’ message also makes it clear that religious freedom is not a right given by the government. Rather, it is a human right that the state “acknowledges and respects” but “does not grant.”

The Canadian bishops cited the Second Vatican Council’s document on religious liberty, “Dignitatis Humanae,” which declared that a person should not be “forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits.”

As they called attention to national and global threats to this right, the bishops also offered four points for reflection and action. In an introduction to the letter, conference president Archbishop Richard W. Smith of Edmonton summed up its advice to Catholics and “everyone of good will.”

The archbishop explained that Catholics, non-Catholics, and even non-believers have a shared interest in “the right of religion to be active in the public square.” Both groups should also seek “healthy ChurchState relations” that distinguish between the two without pushing the Church out of public life.

Canadians were also urged to form their consciences “according to objective truth” — rather than personal preference or the will of the majority — and to safeguard the right of conscientious objection, especially in areas “linked to the dignity of human life and the family.”

In some Canadian provinces, the bishops warned, these rights have already been compromised or lost.

“For example, some colleges of physicians require that members who refuse to perform abortions refer patients to another physician willing to do so,” they noted.

“Elsewhere pharmacists are being threatened by being forced to have to fill prescriptions for contraceptives or the ‘morning after’ pill; and marriage commissioners in British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Saskatchewan must now perform same-sex marriages or resign.”

Under these circumstances, they said, Christians have both a right and a duty to stand against laws that violate the moral order.

The bishops also affirmed parents’ right “to educate their children in their religious convictions and to choose the schools which provide that formation.” The state, meanwhile, “has the obligation to protect this right and to create a suitable environment where it can be enjoyed.”

In the course of upholding their principles, believers may also be forced to suffer for them. The Canadian bishops cited the example of St. Thomas More, an English patron saint of Catholics in political life, who chose martyrdom when asked to put his country above his faith.

Believers who defy an unjust state decree, they warned, “must be prepared to suffer the consequences that result from fidelity to Christ.”

If they are not given an accommodation or reprieve, they should receive “the effective solidarity and prayerful support of their religious communities.”

“The Church’s vitality has often been nourished by persecution,” the bishops noted. “Our era is no exception.”

contacts on his cell phone. All that was asked of the priest was that he conduct a simple graveside service for this man who had passed through and out of life without notice. Moved by the desperate loneliness of this request, the priest resolved to give the man the final parting that all Christians deserve.

Wishing to have a few people present at the funeral, the pastor contacted some of the members of his parish and asked that they attend a funeral for a man they did not know, on a weekday morning when most people are at their jobs. People talked to people, the school community was activated, messages were shared on Facebook, and so on. On the morning of the funeral there was standing room only in the church. The children of the parish school attended, the members of the various parish ministries were represented, parishes from around the area came. The choir led the congregation, and all voices were lifted in song until the final verse was sung. The funeral directors,

overwhelmed by the response, did not have enough placards for the many cars that followed the procession to the cemetery to lay this man to rest. The response to God’s language of grace was not “wow,” but the profound silence that true awe elicits.

God’s love is often expressed with body language, not words.

God’s love is meant to be incarnated everyday in our lives. On this day in May the Church was neither a building nor a hierarchy, but was the embodiment of God’s love. We gather to lift each other up when life becomes too heavy, or celebrate together the passages of life. The man who died alone was lifted up to God within the warm embrace of a community that he did not know in life, but will experience, we hope, in the ever after. His death created an image of Church that can only be painted with the strokes of God. If we can embrace this image we will come close to what the theologians have tried to articulate when they describe the Church as communio.

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

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

8

I

May 18, 2012

The Anchor

‘As You send Me into the world, so I send them’

f we belong to Jesus Christ in any way at all, we become His minister. It is not a matter of clergy and laity.

It is a matter of all of us being in the ministry of Jesus Christ.

Think about Jesus Himself for a moment! He said that He had come “not to be served but to serve” (Mk 10:45).

And we understand Him as “The Man For Others” in this sense. What we don’t seem to understand is that when people came to Him to be His disciples, Jesus immediately began to shape them to be His ministers. They would come to follow Him for any number of reasons. He would feed them. He would heal them, spiritually and physically. He would send them out twoby-two: first the 12; then the 70; then others. Anyone who came to be a part of what He was doing had to understand that he or she was called to ministry.

What happens so often in In our time, this is being our time is that we come to rediscovered. Almost every Jesus Christ to get what we book of the last 10 or 15 years can from Him. We often come on the “renewal of the Church” to Church to have our needs has at least one chapter on the met. We soon discover that “ministry” or the “priesthood” He will not accept us on these terms. Or we discover, at least, that Homily of the Week there is much more involved than simply Seventh Sunday coming to Church to of Easter be passive “receivers”

By Deacon of the gifts that are Robert G. Lorenzo being dispensed. If we are at all conscious of what is going on in our worship, we discover that there of the laity. It is an “in” subject is a personal call to ministry in the Church and one of the that begins in us. Whatever our most hopeful things we can secular vocation may be, whatsee happening in our midst. ever neighborhood or parish And we need to be aware of it. we may live in, whatever our Jesus’ words in this week’s, “I family situation is, while we have sent them into the world,” are there we are called to minapply just as surely to you as ister to one another. You and they do to me, and as they did I — all of us — are involved in to the first disciples. the mission and ministry of the If we come to Church Church. merely to get what we can out

of the Liturgy or out of the preacher, we have not come prepared to be the ministers of Jesus Christ. If we have come here just to save our soul, we will fail. We will lose it. Some of us have been coming to Church all our lives without even hearing the great paradox Jesus lays upon us: “Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will save it” (Lk 9:24). If you will lose yourself, you will find life. If you haven’t heard the paradox, your Church experience never really will come to fullness.

You can blame the choir, you can blame the ushers, you can blame other persons in the congregation, you can blame the hymns, you can blame the building, you can blame the decor, you can blame almost everyone and everything and

still not come to know that the real problem lies in the failure to come to “minister” rather than be “ministered to.”

Have we come to Mass today ready to minister in love to one another? Will we go back to our homes ready to minister in love to our families? Will we leave our homes tomorrow ready to minister in love to our neighbors and fellow-workers?

Are these the things you find yourself preparing for in this assembly? If they are not, then I ask you to listen to Jesus’ call once again: If you have come to save your life, you will lose it. If you have come to lose your life in the Lord’s ministry of love, you will save it.

“As you have sent Me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”

Deacon Lorenzo serves at St. Joseph’s Parish in Fairhaven and at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. May 19, ­­Acts 18:23-28; Ps 47:2-3,8-10; Jn 16:23b-28. Sun. May 20, Seventh Sunday of Easter, Acts 1:15-17,20a,20c-26; Ps 103:1-2,1112,19-20; 1 Jn 4:11-16; Jn 17:11b-19. Mon. May 21, Acts 19:1-8; Ps 68:2-5ac,6-7ab; Jn 16:29-33. Tues. May 22, Acts 20:17-27; Ps 68:10-11,20-21; Jn 17:1-11a. Wed. May 23, Acts 20:28-38; Ps 68:29-30,33-36b; Jn 17:11b-19. Thurs. May 24, Acts 22:30;23:6-11; Ps 16:1-2a,5,7-11; Jn 17:20-26. Fri. May 25, Acts 25:13b-21; Ps 103:1-2,11-12,1920b; Jn 21:15-19.

B

ack in the days when Chuck Colson was willing to run over his grandmother for Richard Nixon, I would have happily done the same to Mr. Colson. Well, that was then, and this is now.

And over the past 20 years, I never met a more thoroughly converted Christian, a more ecumenically serious Christian, or a more tenacious Christian than Chuck Colson, who died on April 21. He was a man whom I came not just to respect, but to love.

Our friendship and collaboration began in the early 1990s, when Herb Schlossberg, the evangelical author, buttonholed me at a Washington reception

Charles W. Colson, R.I.P.

and expressed concern about and prodded by such towering the ongoing fracture between intellects as Avery Dulles, S.J., Catholics and evangelical Protand J. I. Packer, “ECT,” as we estants, two communities that called it, developed into what Herb thought should be working together to shore up America’s public culture. I mentioned Herb’s concern to Richard John Neuhaus; Neuhaus called Colson; and within

By George Weigel a matter of months “Evangelicals and Catholics Together” was born. was arguably the most imporWhat began as co-belligertant theological encounter ever ency in the American culturebetween evangelical Protestant war soon evolved in ways and Catholics. Issues that we none of us had anticipated. had once imagined completely Led by Neuhaus and Colson, off-the-table — Mary; the communion of saints; justification — were not only broached but examined, pondered and prayed over. And the result was not only a deepening of fellowship but a refinement of thought.

That a leading evangelical theologian should today be working on a book on Mary-for-evangelicals says something about the miles traveled, and the centuries of misunderstanding bridged, in those conversations.

ECT returned to the culturewars in 2010, this time in defense of religious freedom.

And just before Colson died, the U.S. bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty

The Catholic Difference

commended and cited the ECT statement, “In Defense of Religious Freedom,” that Chuck had helped push to completion.

Life with Chuck Colson also involved adventures. My favorite took place in Rome, about 10 years ago. At a conference held in the old Synod Hall of the Apostolic Palace I ran into Chuck, who asked if I might do him a favor. Obviously, I replied. Well, Colson said, he had met John Paul II on several occasions, but his wife, Patty, a Catholic, had never met the pope and would be ecstatic if that could be arranged. Nothing easier, I said — at which point Chuck asked if he could bring along another Major Evangelical Figure (as I shall discretely style him) and his wife. No problem, said I. So Patty Colson, Chuck, Major Evangelical Figure, and Mrs. Major Evangelical Figure met John Paul II, and Chuck called me the night of the general audience to express his thanks.

I then asked if he thought a picture of the encounter in the English edition of L’Osservatore Romano would serve our common ecumenical purposes.

Chuck, initially enthusiastic, then got cautious: “Wait; I’d

better check with [Major Evangelical Figure].” The next day I got another phone call from Chuck: “Don’t do anything. The pope was sitting when he received us, and [Major Evangelical Figure]’s picture was taken when he was down on one knee in front of the pope. He’s afraid his fund-raising will collapse if that picture gets out!” I laughed, assured him that I would abandon any idea of having the photo run in the Vatican newspaper — and reflected on the still-supple political instincts of a man who found his true vocation only after being driven out of politics.

Chuck knew the threat Major Evangelical Figure feared: at the beginning of our common work, Colson’s leadership in ECT cost Prison Fellowship, the marvelous ministry he founded, millions of dollars in lost donations. Chuck took the hit and soldiered on because he believed that the truth of Christ would prevail, eventually, over hardened hearts. It was a conviction he came to from hard personal experience.

And it made him one of the great Christian witnesses of our time.

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

May 18, 2012

Flown the coop

Saturday 12 May 2012 — dwelling swallows in question at home on the Taunton River (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) — International Migratory Bird Day recent report by the Associated Press stated matReflections of a ter-of-factly that the Parish Priest swallows no longer return to Capistrano.

By Father Tim What? This is just Goldrick terrible, dear readers! Don’t the swallows always return to Capistrano? Isn’t that what winter for four months in Arthe song says? Where did they gentina. Then they make their go? I set out to investigate the annual 6,000-mile journey to truth of the matter. It was a southern California, arriving slow day. around St. Joseph’s Day in Come to find out, the cliff- mid-March. There they re-

A

B

9

The Anchor

The Ship’s Log

main until around the Feast of St. Juan Capistrano at the end of October. The swallows used to spend those eight months at the Mission San Juan Capistrano, but apparently no longer do so.

Founded in 1776, the mission grew to become a thriving spiritual, cultural, and commercial center.

It was here, for example, that the first California vineyards were planted. The early Spanish friars, of course, noticed the swallows. People called it “the Mission of the Swal-

Picking up the tab for Julia

lawsuits and other forms of y now, most people harassment an inevitable part who follow the news of the landscape. That often have “met” Julia, a cartoon undermines collegiality in the figure introduced by the workplace, and stress about Obama Administration to numbers can make collaboraexplain how women benefit tion tense. No one benefits in from the generosity of many quota-driven atmospheres. government initiatives. From Although eventually Julia Head Start to Race to the finds a good job, it still falls Top programs in the schools, to her fellow citizens to from deferred student loans and free medical care, Julia seems to need financial help in all realms of her life.

Surely, many people benefit greatly by such assistance, but there are troubling aspects

By Genevieve Kineke of Julia’s education and entry into the work force that require supply her with contracepsome attention. tives—which assumes three The references to various things. First of all, her sexual pieces of legislation in Julia’s activity runs contrary to what story line gloss over some Catholics condone, since key facts. Already, women only natural means of spacing make up between 57-70 per pregnancy is allowed within cent of college students, and marriage. Secondly, since a solid 59 percent of graduthere was no marriage menate students. Unfortunately, it tioned (the cartoon sequence seems that early in life boys is deliberately vague) we and girls are increasingly must assume that she is also pitted against one another in engaging in extramarital inzero-sum games, and whattimacy—this, too, is contrary ever is boosting women into to Catholic morals. Thirdly, success in the workplace is though, the problem surpassat the same time undermines the question of individual ing the well-being of men. morality. As Cardinal TimoUltimately, gender-based thy Dolan notes, “This is entitlement programs fail to not just about contraception, foster the complementarity abortion-causing drugs, and on which a healthy society sterilization—although all depends, and instead hostility should recognize the injusticoften accrues. es involved in making them Furthermore, to insist part of a universal mandated on favorable outcomes for health care program... This is women—even when women first and foremost a matter of often choose to balance religious liberty for all.” careers with family—means The trampling of religious that businesses must play a liberty not withstanding, numbers game that speaks next “Julia decides to have to gender trends more than a child.” Again, the nebutheir own fiscal strength, with

The Feminine Genius

lous setting fails to explain what her marital status might be—whether single, married, cohabitating or otherwise.

This carries forward an underlying theme of Julia’s life, that family is undefined and not responsible for helping her make choices—or pay for them. Her choices are our charges, and the taxpayers must foot the bill.

As many have noted wryly, this is not charity but extortion in the guise of charity.

Lest anyone be left wondering about the outcome, Julia bears a son, who is also the beneficiary of government largesse. Despite his mother’s education, job security, and choices made with the help of government programs, these grants did nothing to make her independent—indeed, rather than strengthening families and forging strong citizens, subsequent generations seem only more inclined to cleave to the state for its well-being. And if that state is amoral (at best) or immoral (as many fear) then that will leave little room for those who hope to live with a clear conscience. Rather, we will all be forced to finance ongoing contention between men and women, between religious liberty and draconian state mandates, and between Christian values and the crushing of natural law. Julia looks happy enough—but cartoons are easily manipulated.

It’s real life families who will pay the price.

Mrs. Kineke is the author of “The Authentic Catholic Woman” (Servant Books) and blogs at femininegenius.com.

lows.” The mission complex of San Juan Capistrano gradually fell into disuse, however, and was eventually abandoned. People began calling it “the Mission of the Tragedies.” The birds continued to flock to the ruins of the Mission’s “Great Stone Church.”

At the time, there were no other nesting sites around.

The relationship between the mission and the swallows had become symbiotic.

In 1910, a young priest by the name of Father St. John O’Sullivan was sent to what was left of the Mission Capistrano. Father O’Sullivan had been ordained a priest for the Diocese of Louisville, Ky., but was soon diagnosed with tuberculosis. Doctors told him he had only a short time to live. He moved to a drier climate in the hope of prolonging his life. It did.

As it turned out, Father O’Sullivan had a great appreciation for the history of the place and set about restoring the old ruins with his own hands. He also appreciated the birds. He convinced the local radio station to begin the practice of broadcasting the birds’ return live every March 19. The date also happened to be Father O’Sullivan’s birthday. After a productive life, Msgr.

O’Sullivan died in 1933 at the age of 59 years.

In 1939, six years after Msgr. O’Sullivan’s death, a musician by the name of Leon René was, on March 19, listening to the radio when he happened upon the live broadcast of the swallows returning to Capistrano. He was inspired to write the romantic ballad, “When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano.”

The mission and the swallows became forever entwined in the popular culture.

The neighborhood around the mission has now become urbanized. What few swallows there are in the area prefer to build their nests under highway overpasses or on the high-rises downtown.

The majority of the birds have relocated to quieter locales in southern California. The swallows have adapted to the changing situation.

Over the years, the mission has tried to convince the swallows to come home by building artificial nests, supplying muddy straw, and even providing their favorite food — ladybugs. None of this has worked.

In a last-ditch effort, this year a bird expert was hired to lure the swallows back to Capistrano. He did so by playing their mating call for six hours a day over loudspeakers hidden in the Mission garden. I have seen no reports as to whether or not it worked. I doubt it. You can’t go home again.

The sparrows have, alas, moved on but 236 years after its humble beginnings, the mission is thriving. The chapel, built in 1782 and restored

by Father O’Sullivan, is still in use. The ruins of the Great Stone Church are still there.

The mission was elevated to the status of a parish by the Diocese of Orange, Calif., in 1924. A beautiful new church was built nearby in 1986. It was named a basilica in 2000 and a national shrine in 2003.

Like the swallows, the mission has adapted to its situation.

I began by investigating reports of the alleged disappearance of the swallows from Capistrano, but in their story lay hidden a bigger lesson about the nature of the Church itself. The story of the Church, like that of the swallows, is about adapting to the situation. This is the case of the Mission San Juan Capistrano and it is the case of the Church Universal. The Catholic Church is the oldest institution in the world because it adapts. Ever since the Council of Jerusalem, there has been a need to change as the situation in which we live evolves in a different direction.

In our own times, the Church is still in the process of adapting. But then, you don’t need me or a little bird to tell you.

Father Goldrick is pastor of St. Nicholas of Myra Parish in North Dighton.

SECTION on the BLESSED MOTHER www.pamphletstoinspire.com

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The Anchor

May 18, 2012

Church remains central to active parishioner’s life

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — For longtime parishioner Aldina Vital, one of her favorite times of year is just around the corner: the annual feast at her home parish of Espirito Santo in Fall River, traditionally held on Memorial Day weekend.

With three days of activities planned, including a large outdoor procession on Sunday, you’re most likely to find Vital sitting inside the always-popular malassadas booth, liberally sprinkling sugar onto the Portuguese deep-fried confections.

“I don’t do too much as far as cooking for the feast, but I enjoy helping out with the malassadas,” Vital said.

When asked if she knows the often-rumored “secret ingredient” to making the perfect malassadas, she pleads the fifth.

“I don’t have the recipe, but there is a secret recipe,” she said. “I leave that to the other ladies. We have a nice bunch of people who help out.”

As a lifelong parishioner at one of the oldest Portuguese parishes in the diocese, Vital is proud that Espirito Santo has remained so vibrant over the years.

“Our parish is very active,” she said. “I was born in the parish. I went to Espirito Santo School, I got married here and I’ve lived here my whole life.

I was born down the street in a

and we open the envelopes, six-tenement house.”

Vital now lives in a house count the money, and then they that once belonged to her par- make the deposit. I enjoy it, I ents — just about a three-block stretch from Espirito Santo Church on Alden Street. And everyday she makes sure to get plenty of physical and spiritual exercise.

“I try to attend Mass every morning and I walk to church, so I also get my daily exercise,” she said. “I like doing that in the morning.”

Although she lost her husband about nine years ago and now lives alone, Vital said she has plenty to keep her busy.

In addition to the her annual feast duties, Vital has done a little bit of everything at Espirito Santo Parish, from serving as a lector at Mass with her late husband to participating in the Anchor Person of the week Women’s Guild to Vital. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza) teaching Faith Formareally do.” tion classes.

While she had to give up “I was a Faith Formation teacher for about 10 years,” some of her volunteer efforts she said. “I’ve been helping when her husband became ill, out wherever I can. I still help after he passed away Vital said in the rectory each week — we she felt the need to stay active help to count the money and and involved in the parish.

“Staying active is what open the weekly budget envelopes after the weekend Mass- keeps me young,” she said. es. A few ladies get together “Now that the nice weather is

here, I go out in the yard and do yard work and I walk to church everyday.”

Raised by parents who immigrated from the Azores, Vital also remains proud of her Portuguese heritage, even though she was born in the United States.

And she is particularly fond of the many Portuguese devotions that Espirito Santo Parish has sustained, including the seven-week tradition of Holy Ghost domingas in various homes and prayerful devotion to Our Lady of Fatima.

She’s also been a member of the parish Holy Rosary Society since she got married.

— Aldina “The Holy Rosary Society is still very active in our parish, as is the Holy Name Society,” she said. “They’re the ones who help a lot with parish functions. We have about 50 members in the Holy Rosary Society. Once a month we have an 8 a.m. Sunday Mass for all members, living and deceased.”

Vital noted that many of the society’s members are older women of Portuguese descent — like herself — and she prays that younger parishioners will be able to carry on the tradition.

“I speak Portuguese, but not as well as they do,” she said. “I hope we can give the younger people incentive to join and carry on.”

She also likes the fact that

Espirito Santo offers Masses in English and Portuguese.

“I attend both, because I understand both languages,” she said. “There are even some bilingual Masses for special occasions.”

Vital said she inherited her strong faith from her parents, especially her father.

“When we were growing up, after our evening meal we’d pray the Rosary together, and that faith is still in me,” she said. “My mom spoke broken English, but my father could speak it well.”

In addition to being a daily communicant, Vital also sets aside at least an hour a day for prayer.

“I pray to all the saints — St. Anthony, St. Joseph, St. Michael,” she said. “I make it a point to pray an hour everyday and hopefully they will be heard. I pray for the whole world, too, because things are not going very well today.

We’ve got big problems in this country.”

Although she feels blessed that Espirito Santo has plenty of parishioners willing to pitch in and help out, Vital still encouraged others to get involved at their own parish.

“If you make friends, it will give you that incentive to get together,” she said. “We have a nice group of people here in our parish … and they are all very active. We have fun together.”

And while most people will be busy planning or attending backyard cookouts this Memorial Day weekend, Vital looks forward to serving up her usual.

“I’ll be busy working in the malassadas booth,” she said.

To submit a Person of the Week nominee, send an email with information to fatherrogerlandry@anchornews. org.

May 18, 2012

The Anchor

11

Messengers of hope, peace still face persecution, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — People spreading the Gospel are still subject to persecution even though they are bringing a message of peace and hope to a world marked by crises, anxiety and desperation, Pope Benedict XVI said.

“However, despite the problems and tragic reality of persecution, the Church does not get discouraged, it remains faithful to the Lord’s mandate,” knowing that witnesses and martyrs always have been numerous and indispensable for evangelization, he said.

The pope spoke recently to officials of Pontifical Mission Societies meeting in Rome.

“Dear friends, you know well that proclaiming the Gospel often brings difficulty and suffering,” he told his audience.

Currently, much of the world is facing economic, cultural and political change and “often people feel alone,

fallen prey to anguish and desperation,” he said.

In that context, those who proclaim the Gospel, “even if they are messengers of hope and peace, continue to be persecuted like their Master and Lord” Jesus Christ, he said.

Despite the challenges and threat of persecution, Christ’s message “can never give in to the logic of this world, because it is prophecy and liberation; it is the seed of a new humanity that grows, and only at the end of times will it come to full fruition,” the pope said.

He said the task of evangelization always has been urgent, however, the current era impels the Church to go forth “at an even quicker pace” so that people may know the truth in Christ, find salvation and grow in justice and peace.

Christians, too, need to listen to God’s word and be invited again to

conversion, he added.

The pope praised and encouraged a new initiative by the Pontifical Mission Societies and the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples meant to support the upcoming Year of Faith: the World Mission Rosary, first created

by Archbishop Fulton Sheen in 1951, and re-launched by the mission societies. The Rosary — made up of yel-

low, red, white, blue and green beads — helps people pray for the different mission regions of the world and five areas of evangelization: interreligious dialogue, Liturgy, solidarity, witness and proclamation.

The pope said he hoped the project would accompany evangelizing efforts around the world and help Christians rediscover and deepen their faith.

12

Bishops publish blessing for unborn child

Washington D.C. (CNA/ EWTN News) — Ahead of Mother’s Day, the U.S. bishops’ conference published a prayer to bless an unborn child, the child’s pregnant mother, the child’s father and the child’s family.

“God, Author of all life, bless, we pray, this unborn child,” the prayer begins. “Give constant protection and grant a healthy birth.”

The blessing, entitled “Rite of Blessing for a Child in the Womb,” is posted online at the U.S. bishops’ conference website. It is also published as a booklet addendum to the “Book of Blessings,” in which it will be included in future editions.

The prayer says that God has brought to the pregnant woman “the wondrous joy of motherhood.”

“Grant her comfort in all anxiety and make her determined to lead her child along the ways of salvation,” it adds.

The portion of the prayer for the child’s father says that God has “singled out this man to know the grace and pride of fatherhood.” It asks God to grant him courage and to make him “an example of justice and truth”

for the child.

Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship, explained the intentions behind the prayer.

“We hope the use of this blessing will provide not only support and God’s blessing for expectant parents and their child in the womb, but also another effective witness to the sanctity of human life from the first moment of conception,” he said recently.

Then-Bishop Joseph Kurtz of Knoxville, Tenn., who is now the Archbishop of Louisville, had asked the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities for the prayer. The committee prepared a text for the Divine Worship committee in March 2008.

The Vatican approved the prayer on March 25, 2012, the Feast of the Annunciation.

In March, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Houston, who chairs the Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said he was impressed by the “beauty” of the blessing.

The blessing can be downloaded at http://www.usccb. org/about/pro-life-activities/ prayers/pro-life-blessings.cfm.

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

May 18, 2012

The Anchor

out of the shadows — Johnny Depp stars in a scene from the movie “Dark Shadows.” 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.

“Dark Shadows” (Warner Bros.)

Campy comic take on the gothic TV soap opera first broadcast in 1966. Buried alive by an angry mob of New England townsfolk in the mid-18th century, a vampire (Johnny Depp) is accidentally exhumed in 1972, only to find himself a bemused fish out of water in psychedelic-era America. As he tries to restore the dwindling family fortune for the benefit of his descendants (including Michelle Pfeiffer, Chloe Grace Moretz and Gully McGrath), he romances the resident governess (Bella Heathcote), who’s a dead ringer for his true love of long ago, and battles the stillliving witch (Eva Green) whose jealousy-fueled curse transformed him into a bloodsucker in the first place. Though visually striking and initially amusing, director Tim Burton’s riff on a property once beloved by teenage baby-boomers introduces some discordant notes as it seeks to garner laughs from casual sexual encounters. Then the melody gets lost altogether amid a crescendo of special effects and supernatural mayhem. Some action violence, semi-graphic sexual activity, an implied aberrant act, a suicide, drug use, mature references, a couple of uses of profanity, about a half-dozen instances each of crude and

crass language. The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

“The Perfect Family” (Variance) This virulently anti-Catholic dramedy ridicules just about every aspect of the Church, its teachings and members, offering broad caricatures to score negative points. Director Anne Renton sets a perplexing and often sacrilegious tone in the story of a supermom (Kathleen Turner) who is desperate to win the coveted “Catholic Woman of the Year Award” in her parish. Trouble is, her perfect family is anything but: Her daughter (Emily Deschanel) is a lesbian, pregnant and getting “married.”

Her son (Jason Ritter) has left his wife and is having an affair.

And her husband (Michael McGrady) is a recovering alcoholic and philanderer. It takes a rogue priest (Scott Michael Campbell) to reveal that true happiness is attainable with God’s help and not through the Church. Together with screenwriters Paula Goldberg and Claire V. Riley, newcomer Renton has concocted a bilious piece of propaganda that amounts to Hollywood hate speech. Pervasive anti-Catholic prejudice, sacrilegious humor, a benign view of premarital sex and homosexual acts as well as of same-sex marriage, an abortion theme, some rough 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 20, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Ron P. Floyd, a Parochial Vicar at St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham

May 18, 2012

13

The Anchor

Bishop Lynch says LCWR reform is not ‘Armageddon’ for group

worldwide concern for life — People take part in the first-ever March For Life in Rome on May 13. (CNA/EWTN photo)

Young, ‘universal’ turnout for Rome’s first-ever March for Life

ROME (CNA/EWTN News) — Nearly 7,000 Pro-Life advocates marched from Rome’s Colosseum to St. Peter’s Square on May 13 for the city’s inaugural March for Life.

“We’ve never seen anything like this in Rome, capital of Christianity, city of the pope, city to which all Catholics in the world look,” march co-organizer Juan Miguel Montes said of the event.

American cardinal Raymond L. Burke led a group of priests in the march. He said it brought back memories for him of “so many marches” in America.

“They serve a very important function,” he told CNA, “first to give a witness in our whole country to the inviolable dignity of human life but second, to awake consciences to what is happening.”

The cardinal was “pleased” that such an event has finally reached Rome.

“I can only imagine that it will grow and increase every year and that it will be an important part in Italy, as it is in America, for the restoration of the respect for the dignity of human life,” he said.

The march was officially the second annual Italian national March for Life. The 2011 event was held in northern city of Desenzano, on Lake Garda.

This year’s initiative officially brought together 150 associations and a colorful mix of all ages and nationalities.

Twenty-three-year-old seminarian Garrett Nelson of the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, Mont. was on hand with a group of peers from Rome’s Pontifical North American College. For him, it was like the March for Life stateside, but with an extra quality.

“It’s been on a more universal level,” said Nelson. “You see the world coming together to defend the dignity of human life and how important that is. It’s really exciting to see the young and the youth movement of the Church growing up and defending the dignity of human life.”

Minnesota-born Sister Compassionis of the Servants of the Lord religious family joined around 50 of her fellow Sisters for the march.

“It’s fantastic to be here in Italy for the first national March for Life in Rome,” she told CNA. “To be a part of it as the Church and to be a testimony for life — especially on Mother’s Day — to be here to stand for the unborn and the women who have been hurt by abortion.”

In addition to a strong American presence, the Italian core was joined by Germans, French and Hungarians. With enormous flags in hand, a Polish delegation brought up the rear of the more than half-mile long string of marchers.

Tibetan Buddhists even turned out to protest forced abortions in their homeland.

“What we’ve seen here is that there are always more young people in favor of life,” said the co-organizer Montes, a representative of the group Voglio Vivere (I Want to Live). He put the average age of marchers at “well under 40.”

He noted that around four decades ago, laws allowing abortion started being passed in Western governments.

“It’s the generation that should be pro-abortion for education and culture,” he said of the youthful turnout. “In reality, it is ‘anti-abortion’ and it is expressing itself in occasions like this one.”

The March was just a part of

activities this weekend in Rome. A day earlier, the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum hosted a day-long congress themed “Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.” Following the congress, Cardinal Burke led eucharistic adoration at the Basilica of St. Mary Major.

As the capital city of Italy, Rome protests are commonplace.

For many, a Pro-Life march was a long time coming.

Famiglia Domani (Family Tomorrow) leader Prof. Roberto De Mattei said the march is “very important” because “it is the first time in Italy that there has been such an important manifestation for life and against abortion” since the abortion law of 1978.

At least five million abortions have been carried out since Italy’s Law no. 194 was passed.

A man who identified himself as Vito of Vicenza, Italy’s Con Cristo per la Vita (With Christ for Life) group was among the day’s marchers. Along with other members of the association, he leads weekly prayers in front of 50 abortion hospitals across the country. The nation, he said, needs to be more aware of the problem of abortion.

“In Europe, it is said that this is a ‘social achievement,’” said Vito.

“It’s actually its greatest shame. I give a big welcome to these protests. Let’s do everything we can to give testimony to life, to give a future to Italy and Europe.”

Organizers told CNA that they hope to make the Rome edition of the March for Life an annual initiative. In the future, however, it could be held on March 25, the day nine months before Christmas when Catholics celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — While a Vatican investigation or demand for reform can feel like the end of the world to the group or institution involved, Bishop Robert N. Lynch of St. Petersburg, Fla., said his experience has been that such actions are not devastating and actually can be opportunities.

Bishop Lynch spoke to Catholic News Service recently about his advice to U.S. religious women after the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ordered a reform of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an organization of superiors of most of the women’s orders in the United States.

Interviewed during his “ad limina” visit to the Vatican, the bishop would not comment on the discussions which the bishops of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina had with Vatican officials, including those at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

But, before coming to Rome, Bishop Lynch had written a piece for his blog about the doctrinal congregation ordering the reform of the LCWR and his suggestion that the Sisters not panic.

The bishop told CNS that U.S. bishops “prize and love” the Sis-

ters in their dioceses.

“If you looked at my statistics, the thing that perhaps pains me more than anything else and hurts my soul is that in the 16 years I’ve been privileged to be the bishop of St. Petersburg, I’ve lost 50 percent of my religious women to old age and death,” he said. When he became bishop, there were more than 300 Sisters working in the diocese.

In his blog, the bishop had urged LCWR members to remain calm and prayerful, saying the reform could be an opportunity for reflection, dialogue and improved relationships rather than some kind of wrenching restructuring.

When the apostolic visitations of U.S. seminaries were announced in the early 1980s and again 20 years later, and when the Vatican announced it was studying the role and authority of bishops’ conferences in the mid-1980s, Bishop Lynch said, people reacted as if it were “Armageddon,” but the seminaries and the bishops’ conference survived.

“I believe that there are these moments in the Church and one can either go berserk over them or one can accept them with a certain relative calm and prayer and that’s what I recommended to my Sisters and I stand by that,” the bishop told CNS.

Revised and updated ...

2011-2012 Diocese of Fall River Catholic Directory ... Now Shipping!

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May 18, 2012

Cardinal Dolan urges graduates to reflect Christ’s self-giving love

WASHINGTON (CNS) — New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan praised the class of 2012 at The Catholic University of America, saying in his May 12 commencement address that the 1,500 students receiving degrees that day had all majored in “the Law of the Gift” — learning to pattern their lives after the selfgiving love of Jesus.

Cardinal Dolan noted how Blessed John Paul II described the “Law of the Gift” this way: “For we are at our best, we are most fully alive and human, when we give away freely and sacrificially our very selves in love for another.”

The cardinal noted how Jesus spoke about the “Law of the Gift” when the Lord said, “Greater love than this no one has, than to give one’s life for one’s friends.”

New York’s archbishop, who also is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, encouraged the graduates to draw on their faith to help in the effort to stand up for religious freedom in the United States and to oppose efforts to redefine Marriage.

“Religion, faith, the Church promote a culture built on the ‘Law of the Gift,’” the cardinal said. “Thus, wise people from Alexis de Tocqueville to John Courtney Murray ... have observed that an essential ingredient in American wisdom and the genius of the American republic is the freedom it allows for reli-

gion to flourish.”

He predicted that a challenge the class of 2012 “will inevitably face is the defense of religious freedom as part of both our American and creedal legacy.”

Cardinal Dolan has played a leading role in the U.S. bishops’ defense of religious freedom in the face of recent threats, such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ mandate that would force Catholic institutions including hospitals, universities and social service agencies to provide health insurance coverage to employees for procedures the Catholic Church opposes, including abortioninducing drugs, artificial contraceptives and sterilizations.

Cardinal Dolan said the “Law of the Gift” also provides special insights into the Catholic Church’s teachings on marriage.

The law “is most poetically exemplified in the lifelong, lifegiving, faithful, intimate union of a man and woman in Marriage, which then leads to the procreation of new life in babies, so that husband and wife, now father and mother, spend their lives sacrificially loving and giving to those children,” the cardinal said.

“That union — that sacred rhythm of man/woman/husband/ wife/baby/mother/father — is so essential to the order of the common good that its very definition is ingrained into our interior dictionary, that its protection and

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flourishing is the aim of enlightened culture.”

The cardinal said the Catholic University graduates had first learned those lessons from “the most significant of all professors, your mom and dad,” at home, and he led the graduates in applauding their parents.

“The ‘Law of the Gift’ is part of the DNA of any Catholic school, this sterling one included,” he said.

“That we are at our best when we give ourselves away in love to another — the ‘Law of the Gift,’” Cardinal Dolan continued, “is, I’m afraid, ‘countercultural’ today, in an era that prefers getting to giving, and entitlement to responsibility; in a society that considers every drive, desire or urge as a right, and where convenience and privacy can trump even the right to life itself; and in a mindset where freedom is reduced to the liberty to do whatever we want, wherever we want, whenever, however, with whomever we want, rather than the duty to do what we ought.

Well, the ‘Law of the Gift’ can be as ignored as a yellow traffic light in New York City.”

New York’s cardinal also noted how Pope Benedict XVI has emphasized the importance of Catholic universities being faithful to their Catholic identity as they carry out the Church’s mission in service to the Gospel. He noted that each classroom at The Catholic University of America features the most effective audiovisual aid of them all — the crucifix.

A big part of the joy at that morning’s graduation, the cardinal said, was rooted in gratitude of the university’s solidarity and communion with the Church’s pastoral leadership, knowing “that this university is both Cath-

olic and American, flowing from the most noble ideals of truth and respect for human dignity that are at the heart of our Church and our country.”

Earlier, Cardinal Dolan received Catholic University’s President’s Medal, the school’s highest honor. Cardinal Dolan has a doctorate in American Church history from Catholic University.

Washington Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, chancellor, offered the invocation at Catholic University’s 123rd annual commencement, asking God to bless the university’s work, and he prayed

that at the university, the light of Catholic faith would continue to shine so that those seeking truth will come to know God, Who is truth.

Addressing the graduates, John Garvey, president of Catholic University, noted that many commencement speakers encourage graduates “to follow your dreams and wear sunscreen.”

He urged them instead to draw upon the virtue of patience. “Patience is the disposition to await God’s grace. Get up every morning with the disposition to await God’s grace,” he said.

PHOENIX (CNS) — Gov. Jan Brewer signed legislation May 4 that prevents the state of Arizona or any local government from using taxpayer dollars to contract with organizations that offer abortion as part of their services.

Brewer signed the measure at a reception held in Scottsdale by the Susan B. Anthony List, an organization that works to elect pro-life candidates to public office.

Although state law already prohibits the use of public monies for abortion, the new law closes loopholes that were allowing some funds to trickle through to abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood.

Ron Johnson, executive director of the Arizona Catholic Conference, was pleased with Brewer’s signature on the bill.

The conference is the public policy arm of the Tucson and Phoenix dioceses, the Holy Protection of Mary Byzantine Eparchy of Arizona and the Diocese of Gallup, N.M., which includes northeastern Arizona.

“I’m absolutely thrilled that the governor signed House Bill 2800,” Johnson said. “Abortion providers can be very creative in how they use funds and arrange funds and we wanted to make absolutely sure to close any loopholes.”

Brewer’s signature on H.B. 2800 was the culmination of what Johnson called a “tremendously successful, five-star, Pro-Life legislative session.”

In April, the governor signed H.B. 2036, a bill that outlaws abortions after 20 weeks, and S.B. 1009, which keeps abortion providers out of public and charter schools.

Rep. Justin Olson, the Republican sponsor of H.B. 2800, and Jinny Perron, one of the founders of the East Valley Pro-Life Alliance, both attended the Susan B. Anthony List reception to witness Brewer signing the measure.

“It was awesome,” Perron said.

“We are so happy to be one of nine states that have done this. For the state of Arizona to defund Planned Parenthood is a big step.”

New Arizona law cuts off all state funds to abortion providers

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50 years ago — The diocese petitioned the Zoning Board of Appeals in the Town of North Attleboro for authority to establish a Residential and Nursing Home for the Aged on the premises of the former Hotel Hixon. A million-dollar addition would serve approximately 125 people and the planned facility would include a chapel to be built in front of the present structure with a new nursing wing added to the rear. It would be called Madonna Manor.

25 years ago — Responding to growing concern about acquired immune deficiency syndrome, a diocesan AIDS Task Force was formed, headed by Father Peter N. Graziano, then-executive director of the Diocesan Department of Social Services.

Diocesan history

10 years ago — The Diocesan Core Community for RENEW 2000 met at Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River for faith sharing and to continue preparation for the program’s implementation in parishes. Nineteen people on the diocesan team worked to set up parish RENEW teams at more than 50 parishes.

One year ago — Our Lady of the Cape Parish in Brewster, which was established to serve the towns of Brewster, Dennis and Harwich on Cape Cod, prepared to commemorate its golden anniversary with a special Mass celebrated by Bishop George W. Coleman, followed by a reception in the parish center.

May 18, 2012

Catholic Charities Appeal continues to grow over long history continued from page one

with each successive year.

“I remember the Catholic Charities Appeal as a little boy growing up in St. Lawrence Martyr Parish in New Bedford,” recalled the retired Msgr. Thomas J. Harrington, who served as a longtime director for the Appeal.

“St. Lawrence, in those days, was always in contention with Holy Name in Fall River to be number one in the diocese. And they took great pride in being able to eclipse the nearest rival.”

Back then Msgr. Harrington said he even remembers seeing the familiar “double-heart logo” that is still used on posters to promote the Appeal today and thinking how it suggested the drive was a “charity of the heart.”

After he was ordained and assigned to St. Francis Xavier Parish in Hyannis, Msgr. Harrington

I

15

The Anchor remembered having to form committees and groups of volunteers that were sent out to make doorto-door calls for donations back in the 1960s.

“That continued well into the 1970s and it was always taken up on the first Sunday in May,” Msgr.

Harrington said. “In the city parishes it was not uncommon for the members of different parishes — and, of course, different ethnic backgrounds — walking down the streets greeting one another during the Catholic Charities Appeal.”

In those days before computers and bulk mailing, Msgr. Harrington fondly recalled how the Appeal became a way for parishes to come together for a good cause.

“We’d often have returns coming in on the Sunday afternoons, we had collectors come in and

we’d have coffee and donuts and soft drinks for them in the parish hall,” he said. “Someone from the committee would process the returns that were brought in and on opening night there would always be a tally of what was brought in for cash and pledges that day, so we had an immediate idea of what the first day’s returns were in the diocese.”

By the late 1970s, however, Msgr. Harrington noted how the door-to-door campaign for the Appeal started to wind down.

“First of all, people were getting busy with other things and often the volunteers would have to return when people weren’t home,” Msgr. Harrington said. “And there were some concerns about the security in high rise buildings where many parishioners lived. There was also the thought beginning

Not par for the course

enjoy watching golf on televiA few weeks back I wrote a sion. Some will say it’s like column wondering how people can watching the grass grow or it’s just think they’re better than someone a nap with your eyes open, but I else. Last weekend at the Sawgrass enjoy it ... for a number of reasons. was a perfect example of what First of all, it’s the only sport of animals human beings can be. which I’m still an active particiIn the field was a 27-year-old pant. My days of ice hockey, softnamed Kevin Na, who climbed ball, hoops and tennis are as distant his way up the leaderboard as as my dreams of being a profesthe weekend progressed. So did sional baseball player or rock star. the pressure of winning his first So when I watch golf I can imagine myself making the shots the players are. Actually, not making the shots would be more accurate.

Secondly, the scenery at most golf venues is

By Dave Jolivet breath-taking. Whether it be the ocean at Pebble Beach, or azaleas in full bloom at Augusta. While we sit tournament. here in southeastern MassachuIt was clear during Saturday’s setts in rainy 50-degree weather, I round that Na was struggling with can transport myself to a fairway inner demons, not being able to of lush, green grass with a warm confidently strike the ball, consebreeze in my face. quently pulling away to regain his Thirdly, for the most part golf is composure any number of times. minus arrogant, egocentric players, Also clearly, Na was angry with taunting, cheap hits, and chest himself for slowing the pace of his pounding. It’s a refreshing change, and his playing partner’s round to a like a nap with your eyes open. crawl. Na was in a place he didn’t Granted, there are some things want to be. He was experiencing about the sport I don’t care for, par- what millions of people experience ticularly how the gallery must hold every day ... anxiety well beyond its collective breath and remain the normal dose. And anyone with frozen in space when a player is an anxiety disorder knows that the taking a shot. Please, it’s a sport, symptoms can perpetuate themnot a yoga session. They obviously selves. The more one wants them never played a round with me and to disappear, the stronger they those with whom I golf! show their ugly face.

But that aside, I like watching Kevin Na was a victim ... in golf as a kind of escape from the more ways than one. He was a nastiness that permeates society. victim of anxieties that from the That escape came to a grinding outside seem senseless, but from halt last weekend at the Players within can be crippling. He was Championship at TPC Sawgrass also the victim of his peers, the in northeastern Florida. It was an press, and a group of fans who experience right out of the NFL or either have never had a disorder, or the NBA where rowdy, drunken truly don’t care about others. fans are the rule of the day.

I was watching the Golf Chan-

My View From the Stands

nel Sunday morning before the last round began. Na had a one-shot lead after three rounds. The hosts were ridiculing him. I saw red.

I’m not a Twitter freak, but I saw an opportunity to vent. I tweeted the show congratulating them for making fun of a man who was struggling within. I asked if they felt edified by doing so.

I’m sure no one saw it, but it was something I had to do.

I also tweeted Kevin, telling him to hang in there and he had fans in Massachusetts rooting for him that day. Again, I’m sure he never saw it, but just in case.

On Sunday it was the fans’ turn to plunge the dagger and twist. They taunted Na at nearly every hole. They callously chanted “na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, hey, hey, hey, good bye,” as he approached his shot.

It makes me sick to know people can be so selfish and callous. I guarantee if any of those morons ever had a panic attack or an anxiety attack, they would have shut their mouth.

Kevin Na consistently slipped out of contention on Sunday, I’m sure much to the delight of many, but not me. My heart broke for Na. Not because he didn’t win, but because of how he was treated. I know how he feels. So do many others. It’s not fun, and it’s no one’s fault. It just happens.

I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

Wait, I take that back. I wish every disgusting taunter at last weekend’s tournament could experience a day filled with panic attacks and anxiety attacks. It may change the way they think about Kevin Na. It may change the way they think about a lot of things.

to emerge about people walking in the neighborhoods with cash in their hands and the possibility that someone might approach a volunteer, although it never occurred.”

It was during this time that one of the Appeal’s most visible supporters was at the helm: the late Msgr. Anthony M. Gomes.

“Msgr. Gomes became very closely identified with the Catholic Charities Appeal,” Msgr. Harrington said. “For years he would open up the night of the first returns and have a gathering almost like election returns; it was exciting to be there.”

Under Msgr. Gomes’ guidance, the Appeal would begin with a diocesan-wide kickoff meeting at which the bishop would address volunteers, replete with talks from representatives of the various apostolates that benefited directly from the Appeal along with a band and lots of “cheering and enthusiasm,” Msgr. Harrington said.

“On the last day he would have a little party with a celebration as the final returns came in,” he said.

Msgr. Gomes was succeeded

by Father Daniel L. Freitas as director of the Appeal. Father Freitas took over during the transitional period when the Appeal went from being a door-to-door operation to predominantly a mail drive.

“Of course that changed things a bit — people would bring their donations into church and pop them into the collection basket or mail back the pledge cards,” Msgr.

Harrington said. “Most parishes devised a list of what we called the active parishioners — those who generally used the budget envelopes on a regular basis — and the inactive but nonetheless important parishioners who were invited to take part in the Appeal.”

While he admitted he was sad to see the door-to-door effort end, Msgr. Harrington noted how technology and the advent of computers greatly improved ways in which to promote the Appeal when he succeeded Father Freitas as director in the 1990s.

One of the first things he did as Appeal director was coordinate a video presentation with David Fortin of Media Image Productions in New Bedford and John Kearns Jr., director of the diocesan Communications Office.

“We gathered people who were beneficiaries of the Appeal to speak and the very first video was remarkably different from the one produced today, which is so much more beautiful,” Msgr. Harrington said. “What began to happen then was videos of events that the bishop took part in — things like visiting Cathedral Camp during the summer or administering the Sacrament of Confirmation to mentally-challenged individuals — were shot and used in subsequent videos.”

With the Appeal now being done primarily through mailedout pledge cards and the tracking and tallying of donations having transitioned from written note cards to computer-based spreadsheets, Msgr. Harrington retired and stepped down as director in 2004 to pave the way for the firstever lay director, Mike Donly, who had recently retired from Coyle and Cassidy High School in Taunton.

“He came aboard and has been a tireless worker for the Catholic Charities Appeal,” Msgr. Harrington said. “I thought one of his greatest strengths was the establishment of very vibrant and vital regional committees with people from the different deaneries assisting the Appeal. This led to the idea of regional kickoffs.”

Borrowing the concept from Msgr. Gomes’ previous diocesanwide kickoff rallies, Msgr. Harrington said the regional kickoffs seemed to work better because the local media outlets — print, radio and TV — were more likely to focus on an event held within a given geographical area than the entire diocese.

“The quality and extent of the published material that is put out for the Appeal every year has also expanded and improved immeasurably under Mike Donly’s direction,” Msgr. Harrington added.

“This is accomplished miraculously by a very limited staff and largely through the cooperation and assistance of the priests in the diocese and the countless parish volunteers.”

Given the size and location of the Fall River Diocese, Msgr.

Harrington said he is always impressed with the amount of money that is raised each year through the Appeal.

“We do not have the same cache with business and industry down here in southeastern Massachusetts that places like Boston have,” he said. “And I think the basic nuts-and-bolts of our Appeal is parish-generated. Even though the number of parishioners participating may not be growing, the per capita contributions have been steadily increasing.”

Noting how the apostolates and services that benefit from the Appeal have also changed over the years, Msgr. Harrington maintained that a donation to the Catholic Charities Appeal is still the best return of investment that any donor can make.

“The Appeal headquarters for the diocese is a very modest operation,” he said. “While there is some overhead, it’s very little.

This is all done not by high-paid professionals whose services we contract for — it’s done in parishes with much of the bull work done by pastors and volunteer committees.”

16

Youth Pages

May 18, 2012

float like a butterfly — The Wellness Team from St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro recently hosted Dr. Meghan Schaffer from Bayside Chiropractic in Providence, R.I. She conducted the program “Straighten up America” to the students in grades kindergarten through four. This program emphasized spinal health through movement. The students learned moves such as the Twisting Star and the Butterfly while working on core balance. Shown here is Dr. Schaffer along with third- and fourth-graders.

springtime tradition — Students from Holy Name School in Fall River recently celebrated Mary’s month with a crowning of a statue of the Blessed Mother.

mexican fiesta — Recently Coyle and Cassidy High School students who take Spanish were treated to a traditional Mexican lunch at El Mariachi Restaurant on the Taunton Green. The lunch afforded the students an opportunity to practice their Spanish by greeting the staff and asking for food items in the target language.

HERD OF YOUNG ELK — Eight Bishop Feehan High School students were among those recognized as outstanding young people of the community at the Attleboro Elks Youth Appreciation Night held during the Elks National Youth Week. The Elks presented awards to youth chosen as exemplifying excellence in areas of scholastics, athletics, leadership, and civic duty who will become our future leaders. From left, Brandon Boisclair, Sturdy Memorial Hospital volunteer; David Monti and Andrea Luongo, Feehan nominated recipients; Feehan President Chris Servant; Matthew Corbett, incoming freshman from Wamsutta Middle School; Jared Teixeira, Attleboro Boy Scout; Caroline Gaughan, Attleboro Girl Scout; and Brett Chatfield, Sturdy Memorial Hospital volunteer.

prose pose — Eighth-grade students from St. Joseph’s School in Fairhaven pose inside the RotchJones-Duff House and Garden Museum, New Bedford, after participating in the Young Poets evening which was sponsored by the museum. Students composed and read their original poetry with other middle school students from local schools.

Youth Pages

May 18, 2012

T

here is probably no other small sentence — with such small words — that has such tremendous power over each and everyone one of us as human beings. There is most likely no other small sentence that is batted around more often — most often without any thought to its true meaning. That sentence is: “I love you.” I believe that there is no other statement that can energize us with such power, that can provide us with such joy or that can also break our hearts with such despair. In no other way do we so deeply reflect our God in whose image we are created.

Like God, being made in God’s image, we are — primarily — made to be lovers. Not in a physical sense, not even in a strictly emotional sense, but in a much deeper way. This sense in which we are called to be lovers refers to service, that we be caretakers for one another.

Doesn’t that say it so powerfully — that we be caretakers for one another? Imagine what our world would be like if we were caretakers for one another?

The First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians is one of the most quoted of his letters, and, in fact, one of the most quoted books of the Bible, particularly the passage on love which includes the beautiful message, “Love is patient, love is kind”(1 Corinthians 13:4).

The entire passage has probably been heard by just about everyone. It has also appeared on greeting cards, on plaques

17

What’s love got to do with it?

and is often proclaimed during as not something you feel, but weddings — in fact, when my something you do! wife and I were married it was By reflecting the character on our invitations and in our of Christ, St. Paul calls us to program. genuine and costly ChristBecause of its being associlikeness. One author suggests ated with weddings, we may think that Paul is talking about romantic love — but he isn’t. Most of the time the passage is taken out of context, and the reason why

By Frank Lucca Paul was writing this to the community he founded at Corinth in Greece is lost. In this passage that wherever Paul mentions known as the “love” passage, the word “love,” we should Paul is pretty angry with the substitute the word “Jesus.”

Corinthians. He is disgusted So 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 could with their behavior, and read something like this: Jesus through his words he is giving is always patient and kind. them the proverbial “kick in Jesus is never jealous. Jesus the pants.” is never boastful or conceited.

Paul isn’t talking about a Jesus is never rude or selfish. warm, fuzzy, butterflies-in-the- Jesus does not take offense and stomach type of love. No, he’s is not resentful. Jesus takes no talking of a “vigorous, active pleasure in other people’s sins love” rooted in God’s love for but delights in the truth. Jesus us — love that is so strong that is always ready to excuse, to it can heal the deepest divitrust, to hope, and to endure sions in a community. This whatever comes. In 1 Corinthiis a love that has some teeth! ans 13, St. Paul is calling us to Agape, the type of love that St. be like Christ by imitating His Paul is speaking of in this letter love. Now that’s “What Jesus to the Corinthians, is a sacriWould Do!” ficial type of love. Our Lord It has been said that St. Paul Jesus Christ best demonstrated created the understanding of this love. His love for us is love that still guides Christian agape. It has been said that Jemorality today. He talked sus wasn’t held to the cross by about love in ways that love nails, but by love. That shows had never been spoken about the depth of His Divine love. before. He made it personal, Because He loved us so deeply, not abstract, and he seems to we are called to love others understand our struggles even just as much. Agape is defined today. St. Paul said the highest

Be Not Afraid

virtue to pursue is “to love one another.” Even for us today, this Pauline understanding of love is especially valid for every aspect of living a Christian life.

If we take the time to look around at successful love relationships that surround us, and I acknowledge that we don’t see it often, I believe that we see two people who share this type of self-giving love that Jesus demonstrated for us. Perhaps the next time we are prepared to say “I love you,” we will better understand what type of love is expected of us as Christians. It’s not just three small words. It’s everything we live for summed up by those three little words. It isn’t easy but when we live it, it raises us up to that Christ-likeness that we are all called to strive for.

An old legend says that in his old age the Apostle John was so weak that he had to be carried into the church meetings. At the end of the meeting he would be helped to his feet to give a word of exhortation. He would invariably repeat, “Little children, love one another.”

The disciples grew weary of the same words every time.

Finally they asked him why he said the same thing over and over again. He replied, “Because it is the commandment of the Lord, and the observation of it alone is sufficient.” Amen.

Frank Lucca is a youth minister at St. Dominic’s Parish in Swansea. He chairman and a director of the YES! Retreat and director of the Christian Leadership Institute. He is a husband and a father of two daughters. He may be reached at stdominicyouthministry@ comcast.net.

The Anchor is always pleased to run news and photos about our diocesan youth.

If schools or parish Religious Education programs, have newsworthy stories and photos they would like to share with our readers, send them to: schools@anchornews.org

St. Vincent’s Home teams with Mechanics Cooperative Bank for annual Kick-Off to Summer Celebration

FALL RIVER — St. Vincent’s Home executive director John T. Weldon announced that Mechanics Cooperative Bank will be the title sponsor of the fourth annual Kick-Off To Summer Celebration June 29 from 6 to 11 p.m. on the deck of the Battleship Massachusetts. Mechanics Cooperative Bank’s $10,000 sponsorship represents the lead corporate sponsorship of the annual celebration for the fourth consecutive year.

The evening celebration overlooking Fall River’s waterfront includes complimentary beer and wine, cash bar, gourmet dinner, dancing to the sounds of the World Premier Band, and both silent and live auctions. The successful fund-raiser is expected to draw more than 400 guests from Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

The Kick-Off To Summer Celebration is the only celebration of its kind in Southeastern Massachusetts that signals the start of

the summer months. “Mechanics Cooperative Bank is proud to take the lead as title sponsor of St. Vincent’s highly successful Annual Summer Celebration,” said Deborah A. Grimes, Mechanics Cooperative Bank’s executive vice president and St. Vincent’s Board Member. Mechanics Cooperative Bank supports St. Vincent’s efforts in providing youth with the support they need to live independently within the community as productive, responsible and healthy young adults.”

Proceeds from the Summer Celebration will benefit St. Vincent’s Life Skills program. Funds raised will provide opportunities for youth to build self-confidence, master sound thinking and problem-solving, make connections with positive adult role models and receive specialized job coaching and training, which ultimately may develop into career choices.

The evening will feature gour-

met food stations including clam chowder and lobster bisque by Blount Fine Foods as well as specialty dishes prepared by the Fall River Grill, Lafrance Hospitality, Ma Raffa’s, Mario’s Lebanese Syrian Bakery, Mesa 21, Not Your Average Joe’s, St. James Irish Pub, Stop and Shop Bakery, Trio Café and Lounge, and Waterfront Grille. Domestic and imported beers will be available, compliments of Quality Beverage, as well as complimentary wine provided by the TA Restaurant.

Exclusive silent and live auctions will feature such items as destination packages to Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, autographed sports memorabilia, golf outings, and jewelry.

Tickets to the celebration are $100 per person and may be purchased by contacting Melissa Dick at 508-235-3228.

ready for summer — Deborah A. Grimes, Mechanics Cooperative Bank’s executive vice president and St. Vincent’s Home Board Member, presents St. Vincent’s executive director, Jack Weldon, with the Annual Kick-Off To Summer Celebration presenting sponsor check of $10,000.

18

The Anchor

May 18, 2012

Rosary retreat aims to renew, refresh

A voice for the innocent

looking back on this with good memories and our hope is they’ll do it with their families when they are adults.”

“I like to go to the Family Rosary Retreat because it gives us a chance to listen to speakers who have been touched by the faith and to hear their stories,” Elizabeth told The Anchor. “It also gives me a chance to participate in the activities and learn more about my faith.

I have been going to the Rosary retreat for a few years, and I feel that every time I attend, I become closer to God.” “I like how we get to meet new Catholic families and spend time with them,” added her sister Theresa. “I also like all the kid activities.

Last year we got to watch a ‘Veggie Tales’ movie outside. We also got to learn more about the Bible and how to find verses. All the people there were really nice and kind. When we had a question they would know the answer.”

Past Rosary retreats have drawn hundreds of faithful, seeking an oasis from the pushing and Servant of God Father Patrick pulling of evPeyton, C.S.C. eryday routines.

“We try to make each retreat different,” said Beth Mahoney, mission director for Holy Cross Family Ministries headquartered in Easton. “In past years we have had periods during the day when the families were separated and the children would attend special activities and talks.

But in the true spirit of Servant of God Father Patrick Peyton’s motto of ‘The family that prays together stays together,’ the families will experience the retreat this year as a family all day. Our goal is to enhance Father Peyton’s vision.”

Mahoney pointed out that while the event is called a Family Rosary Retreat, it is for everyone, not just families.

“This year’s theme is ‘Closest neighbors, trustworthy friends, brothers and sisters: Living the Beatitudes together in Christ.’ The message is true for everyone, as we are all brothers and sisters in Christ at all times.”

“Sometimes the word retreat can scare people,” said Riley.

“What this really is is a fun family day that’s casual yet containing an excellent caliper content.”

Attendees are to gather for registration from 8 to 9 a.m. on June 2. The next hour is devoted to welcoming everyone and sharing in music of praise and worship.

Keynote speakers in English and Spanish will address the retreatants at 10 a.m. for 45 minutes

broken its neck in front of her, saying ‘If you tell anybody, I will do this to you, your mom and your sister,’” recalled Jones. “So as I try to impress on my trainees every week, when you wonder why kids don’t tell somebody, there’s a reason. These perpetrators are smart and they know how to keep these kids quiet. It’s terrifying for a child to speak up.”

Jones brings 30 years of experience of working in various positions in the child welfare system, spending the last 10 years as a child protective investigator. By the time she was hired at the Office of Child Protection in August of 2009, she said she had “seen it all.” Operating alongside executive director Arlene McNamee and chief operating officer Maria Pereira, 120 sites — the parishes and schools of the Fall River Diocese — are monitored by the office.

Cases often start with a phone call by a DRE or principal; Jones will then schedule a meeting with the alleged victim.

The initial screening is to see if abuse and/or neglect has actually occurred, and the guidelines set out by the Department of Children and Families are firmly followed.

“I go out and take a look, meet with the victim and see if it needs to be made into a report that will go to DCF,” explained Jones, adding it’s her job to weed out those who have suffered from actual abuse from those who are making allegations that are simply a cry for attention. “Sometimes they’ll disclose to their friends something awful, and we’ll get called to go in and then we find out it wasn’t true, that the student wanted attention and sympathy.”

It took years for Jones to learn to disconnect herself from her emotions during an interview.

It’s crucial to promote healing for the victim in everything you do, said Jones, and to make sure you don’t do anything that could potentially muddle the court case if a perpetrator goes to trial.

“There’s a lot of stuff to know and it’s hard to juggle. You can’t show any emotion. You can’t show sympathy or anger towards the perpetrator, none of those legitimate emotions because it may cause the child to shut down or misread you,” said Jones, adding if an interviewer is not careful, the child may shut down for good and not reveal the abuse for decades. “You have to be almost clinical. You have to be calm and stay that way. It’s very counterintuitive, but that child has been carrying this tremendous burden.

continued from page one

to an hour.

“Our English keynote speaker is Dominican Sister Theresa Rickard,” said Mahoney. “She is the CEO and president of New International, a help facility for dioceses whose work includes Arise, a spiritual renewal program in the Boston Archdiocese and Welcome Home Catholics.” She has a doctorate in ministry and is experienced in providing resources for parishes and dioceses for deeper understanding of the Catholic faith.

The Spanish keynote speakers are Manuel and Grace Frias. “They are from Puerto Rico and are clinical psychologists, well-known in the Spanish Catholic community for their pastoral and family counseling,” said Mahoney.

Following the presentations, the attendees will break into smaller groups for guided discussions on what they’ve heard and will have the opportunity to ask questions and/or make comments to the speakers.

“The staff will group like-people together,” added Mahoney. “That way single people can share like experiences as well as families.”

At meal time, lunches will be provided and there will be the opportunity for eucharistic adoration and Confession, as well as the time to view Family Theater Productions’ newest film, “You Will See.” Retreatants will gather again for a discussion on what happened in the smaller groups and again present questions or comments to the speakers as well as to Mahoney and Father John Phalen, president and director, Family Rosary USA, part of HCFM. Prior to the closing Mass at 4 p.m. to be celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop John Dooher of the Boston Archdiocese, there will be eucharistic adoration and the Rosary.

“As a ministry, we’re very excited to be able to offer this retreat to families and individuals,” said Mahoney. “Our goal is that everyone leaves renewed, energized and on fire about their faith, prayer and the Rosary.”

“As a family, we seek opportunities to grow in faith, share our faith, and live out our faith,” said Joanne Riley. “This retreat allows us to step away from our daily routines, responsibilities, and activities to spend some time together doing just that. We meet other families seeking to do the same. At the retreat we have seen some beautiful witnesses to our faith and grown in knowledge. It has been a blessing for our family to have had this opportunity and we encourage other families to consider attending.”

The cost is $10 per person with a $50 family maximum and includes lunch. To register or for more information, visit familyrosary.org/ retreat or call 1-800-299-7729.

continued from page one

When they decide to talk, it’s a real honor. They have decided that you’re the safest person to talk to.”

During her Tuesday training sessions, Jones stresses that she has not only handled everything from a dirty house to murder, she has taken into protective custody the children of doctors, lawyers, police officers, case workers and psychiatrists.

There is no demographic that is exempt, said Jones.

“I think there is this misconception that even though we’ve had the clergy abuse scandal, that happened a long time ago; in nice Catholic communities, nothing bad happens, and that’s just not real,” said Jones. “Not everyone around shares our faith, and even those who share the faith have personal issues that get in the way. If we were all perfect there would be no need for absolution and Confession.”

Shortly after she arrived at the Office of Child Protection, Jones set to work creating a Child Protection Manual; a huge binder chock-full of information regarding child protection policies for the Fall River Diocese that includes basic office information regarding services and abuse prevention, thus standardizing the training process for “anybody who has unmonitored access to children,” said Jones.

The bishop not only approved the manual, but also mandated that all those who have contact with children must attend a training session. Every parish and school has at least one manual in its possession, and the weekly training sessions hosts an average of eight people per week.

During those two-hour training sessions, Jones reviews the dos and don’ts of having personal contact with children. She also adds in the newer issues that children are dealing with, like bullying inside and outside the classroom, suicide and Internet safety. The most recent danger of the Internet that Jones is promoting during the sessions is the way pedophiles can trace a child’s exact town and address through photos posted on popular websites.

“I try and stay on top of these trends,” said Jones, who scours the Internet on a daily basis for the latest information.

“What I always tell folks is, they’re my partners out there.

I’m only one person for the entire diocese,” said Jones. “So if people go through the training, they’ll know what to watch for.

Behaviors they might have dis-

missed, they will report it. What we stress all throughout the training is, it’s not your job to investigate: don’t ask questions or stick your nose in it. Let your reporting agent know and I’ll deal with it.”

She added, “I tell people that, yes, we do this [training] because of the clergy sexual abuse scandal, but honestly in my thousand cases I had one pastor who was a Protestant minister.

I’m not in this because of clergy; I’m in this to protect kids in general.”

Jones also attends an annual conference; for four full days, the conference will focus on the latest concerns like cyberbullying, clinical issues, newer ways to respond to victims and the most recent assessment on what’s happening in the Church.

The conferences allow her to network with colleagues from around the country, said Jones, and garner ideas from each other.

The Office of Child Protection offers a plethora of information of every media type, from videos to free booklets to handouts focused on topics such as, “Smartphone Privacy Issues” and “Grooming — Child/Teen Lures Prevention Program.”

“The intentional groomer tries to create a very dependent relationship with the child so the barriers come down,” said Jones, who cites the Penn State Case as a classic example. “The groomers will spot a child because they’re the best profilers on the planet. They will take their time because they’re patient.”

There are also numerous online resources that can be found on the office’s website: http:// www.cssdioc.org/services/child_ protection_services/index.html.

Because Jones has been working so long in a field that has a high turnover rate, she is considered a “lifer.” The work, said Jones, has gotten in her blood.

“Yes, you get burned out; I’ve gained a lot of weight doing this.

Everyone has his or her coping mechanism and for me it was chocolate,” said Jones, chuckling. “What happens is, after doing it for so long, you get really good at it and then you feel that you shouldn’t leave.”

She continued, “I don’t try to make people sick, but I think anyone working with children in this day in age needs to be aware.

They need to know what’s out there. We can’t stick our heads in the sand and think because we’re Catholics that it doesn’t happen here. It happens everywhere, unfortunately. We need to be aware and be prepared.”

May 18, 2012

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

ATTLEBORO — St. Joseph Church holds eucharistic adoration in the Adoration Chapel located at the (south) side entrance at 208 South Main Street, Sunday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

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 — SS. Peter and Paul Parish will have eucharistic adoration on March 30 in the parish chapel, 240 Dover Street, from 8:30 a.m. until noon.

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 — Notre Dame Church, 529 Eastern Ave., has eucharistic adoration on Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 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 until 6 p.m. in the Daily Mass Chapel. There is a bilingual Holy Hour in English and Portuguese from 5-6 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.

HYANNIS — A Holy Hour with eucharistic adoration will take place each First Friday at St. Francis Xavier Church, 347 South Street, beginning immediately after the 12:10 p.m.

Mass and ending with adoration at 4 p.m.

MASHPEE — Christ the King Parish, Route 151 and Job’s Fishing Road has 8:30 a.m.

Mass every First Friday with special intentions for Respect Life, followed by 24 hours of eucharistic adoration in the Chapel, concluding with Benediction Saturday morning followed immediately by an 8:30 Mass.

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

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 5 p.m.; and every Friday from noon to 5 p.m., with Benediction at 5 p.m.

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.

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 troubled over Mexican drug trafficking violence

Rome (CNA/EWTN News) — The former head of the Pontifical Council for Health Care, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, said Pope Benedict is very concerned about the violence in Mexico caused by the drug trade.

In an interview with CNA, Cardinal Lozano Barragan said the pontiff “is calling on all Mexicans, especially those involved in drug trafficking, to understand and realize that life does not end here, but that another life that never ends comes after this one, and that it will depend on what we do in this world.”

The cardinal lamented that it “is often believed that the end to which our entire existence must be directed is the possession of power and money, in order to have limitless pleasure, even if one dies immediately or lives a short life.”

Mexican officials estimate that over 34,000 have been killed in the country due to drug-related violence since 2006.

Cardinal Lozano Barragan joined the pope in voicing dire concern over the current situation in Mexico, stressing that perpetrators are “going to be judged for eternal life according to how we live now.”

“Those who kill others are guilty of death and will be judged by God, and afterwards will come what is called eternal death,” he said.

Cardinal Lozano Barragan noted that God is merciful and that no sin is beyond His forgiveness “in this life.” But after death, he said, comes justice.

The cardinal said Pope Benedict XVI’s March 23-25 visit to Mexico fulfilled its objectives, as the pope “united all Mexicans in order to strengthen our Catholic Church.”

“One can sense in Mexico an enthusiasm, a dedication and a

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks 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 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 25 Rev. Michael P. Kirby, Former Assistant St. Mary, North Attleboro, 1925 Rev. James V. Mendes, Pastor, Our Lady of Angels, Fall River, 1961

total commitment to the Holy Father,” he said. The pope has fond memories of his stay in the coun-

try, “and he is very happy because everything happened just as he hoped.”

Around the Diocese 5/19

Courage, a welcoming support group for Catholics wounded by same-sex attraction who gather to seek God’s wisdom, mercy and love, will next meet tomorrow at 6 p.m. For location and further information, contact Father Richard Wilson at 508-992-9408.

5/19

A Memorial Mass has been arranged for Father Gilles Genest, M.S. tomorrow at 9 a.m. at Our Lady of Victory Church in Centerville. Father Genest was the spiritual director of the Cursillo Movement for many years. After the Mass there will be a gathering in the center for refreshments and to share memories of a very special friend. For more information call Mary Lees at 508-771-1106.

5/20

On Sunday at 7 p.m. at St. Brendan’s Parish in East Providence there will be a Heart of Worship Event titled “Free to Worship Without Fear.” This is a special opportunity to worship and pray before the eucharistic Lord; that all people might be truly free to peacefully practice their faith without oppression, at home and abroad. Father Andrew Beauregard, FPO, will lead the group in prayer and all are invited.

5/22

Father Roger J. Landry, executive editor of the The Anchor, will discuss “Religious Freedom: An issue of grave concern in the United States and within our own Catholic Church” on May 22 at 7 p.m. in the Corpus Christi Parish Center, Quaker Meeting House Road in East Sandwich. A question-and-answer session will follow. The program will be videotaped by the Cape Cod Family Life Alliance for airing on its cable TV time spots. For more information, call 508-385-7867 or e-mail bgailbowers@ comcast.net.

5/24

A Healing Mass will be celebrated at St. Anne’s Church, 818 Middle Street, Fall River, on May 24 beginning with recitation of the Rosary at 6 p.m. Benediction and healing prayers will follow the Mass.

5/27

There will be a Divine Mercy devotion service at St. Margaret’s Parish, 141 Main Street, Buzzards Bay on Pentecost Sunday, May 27 beginning at 3 p.m. with two Sisters from the Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy in Dorchester. The devotion will include exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, holy hour and Chaplet of the Divine Mercy. Mercy Sister Catarina will also offer an inspirational talk. Refreshments and an opportunity to meet the Sisters will follow in the school hall. For more information call 508-295-8952.

5/30

The Pro-Life Prayer Groups of Holy Trinity and Holy Redeemer parishes will host a holy hour May 30 following the 9 a.m. Mass at Holy Trinity Church, 246 Main Street, West Harwich. There will be Pro-Life prayers, the Rosary, and Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament. All are invited to pray for an end to abortion.

6/8

An Emmaus retreat weekend will be held June 8-10 at the La Salette Retreat Center in Attleboro. Emmaus is a weekend retreat program for people who are seeking to grow in their relationship with Christ, regardless of their present level of faith and practice. For more information call 508-646-3902.

6/14

“Strong Catholic Families: Strong Catholic Youth,” an evening designed for parents and children of all ages, especially those preparing for Baptism, First Reconciliation, First Communion and Confirmation, will be held June 14 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at St. Mary Parish in South Dartmouth. There is no cost to attend, but registration is required. To register or for more information, contact your pastor, parish youth minister, or Crystal-Lynn Medeiros, assistant director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the Fall River Diocese, at 508-678-2828 or email cmedeiros@dfrcec.com.

7/7

Our Lady of the Cape Parish in Brewster will host its annual summer fair on July 7 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in at the Parish Center, 468 Stony Brook Road in Brewster. Come by for toys, crafts, jewelry, books, antiques, attic treasures, collectibles, art work, tools and baked goods along with kids’ face painting, cash raffle and silent auction, cafe goodies and outdoor barbecue. Admission is free.

20

The Anchor

May 18, 2012

Pope calls on Catholics to take part in new Renaissance

Florence (CNA/EWTN News) — Pope Benedict XVI went to the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance to call upon every Catholic to once again play a full part in renewing today’s culture.

“Be ferment in society, be present as Christians, be active and coherent,” said the pope during morning Mass in the town of Arezzo in the region of Tuscany May 13.

“The whole Church is sent out into the world to preach the Gospel and Salvation. But it is always God’s initiative; He calls us to different ministries, so that each one plays his prop-

er role for the common good.”

Pope Benedict was making a one day visit to the Tuscan towns of Arezzo, La Verna and Sansepolcro. In Arezzo he offered Mass in a local park before a congregation numbering in the tens of thousands.

The pope noted that the area was the birthplace of “great Renaissance personalities” such as the poet Petrarch and painter and architect Varasi.

Such men had played “an active role in affirming that concept of man which left its mark on the history of Europe, drawing strength from Christian values.”

Given these historical precedents, the pope asked, “What vision of man are we proposing to new generations?” He suggested that an invitation to live God’s love towards all people should see a new Christian culture embody “distinctive values” including “solidarity, attention to the weak, respect for the dignity of all.”

This is particularly manifested, he said, in the “defense of human life, from its beginning to its natural end” and “the defense of the family, through laws that are just and protect the weakest elements.”

Later in the day the pope

travelled on to the town of La Verna to visit the Chapel of the Wounds. It was there that St. Francis of Assisi received the stigmata in the year 1224.

With Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti in the congregation at morning Mass, the pope offered the “shining witness of St. Francis” as a guide to how Christians should cope with the current economic downturn in Italy and beyond.

“Since the remotest times, attention to others has moved the Church to show concrete signs of solidarity with those in need, sharing resources, promoting simpler lifestyles,

going against an ephemeral culture which has disappointed many and determined a profound spiritual crisis,” he said.

At the conclusion of Mass the pope led the congregation in the Eastertide Marian prayer, the Regina Coeli. He prayed that each pilgrim would “continue serving God and man according to the teaching of Jesus, the shining example of your saints and the tradition of your people” and he commended them to the “maternal protection of Our Lady of Comfort, whom you love and venerate, accompany and sustain you in this task.”

bishop’s night in new bedford — The Catholic Women’s Club of New Bedford recently held its annual Bishop’s Night at the Wamsutta Club. Joining Bishop George W. Coleman were, from left, Mary Mitchell, Leonora Carreiro, Delia Silva, club president Lynne Kuczewski, Joyce Audette, and secretary to the bishop Father Karl C. Bissinger.

annual event — The Diocesan Council of Catholic Women recently welcomed Bishop George W. Coleman to its 59th annual convention. From left: Gina Desmarais, vice president and convention cochairman; Virginia Wade, president; the bishop; guest speaker, Beth Mahoney, mission director for Holy Cross Family Ministries; and past president and convention cochairman Adrienne Lemieux.

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