FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISlANDS
t eanco VOL. 28, NO. 20
FALL RIVER, MASS., FRIDAY, MAY 18, 1984
$8 Per Year
Teaching all nations
Most grueling trip
By Father Kenneth I. Doyle NC News Service Pope John Paul II has flown around the world and across several punishing changes of climate to preach the Gospel in the Far East. In the process, he met U.S. President Reagan in Alaska's freezing weather and bare-footed native warriors in the South Pacific's tropical heat. From May 2-12 the pope flew miles to read Christ's message in South Korea, Papua New Gui nea, the Solomon Islands and Thailand. It was the most grueling of the 21 trips outside Italy which the pope has taken during the five-and-a-half years of his pon tificate. The voyage took him to Mount Hagen in the we$tern !highlands of Papua New Guinea, where a Stone Age culture was unknown to the rest of the world until 1934 when three gold prospectors from Australia found a popula tion of 1 million people isolated by mountains. On May 8, the pope celebrated Mass at Mount Hagen, speaking to tribes people in the pidgin. language, telling them that the love of Christ unites them all in one community which shou,ld be marked by love. In Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, he praised the development of Christianity in so short a time. Only a century ago in the Solomons, mission aries were often eaten by can nibals. In South Korea, he honored one of Catholicism's fastest growing populations by making saints of 103 martyrs at the first canonization to take place out side of Rome in the church's modern history. In Thailand, he urged Catholics to regular sacrament8l1 practice in a land where Catholics make up less than 0.5 percent of the 48 million population and where becoming a Catholic takes a courageous decision which places a person outside the mainstream of Thai life. But the pope also acts know ing that he is influencing others besides Catholics. One of the rea sons the pope canonized the Korean martyrs locaUy was so that nqn-Catholics could become more aware of Catholicism. Sou~ Korean newspapers obliged! In a nation where only 4 percent of the people are Cath-
olic, newspapers were filled with accounts of the heroism of the new saints. Similarly in Thailand, the pope's presence brought· new re spectability to Catholicism· in an overwhelmingly Buddhist society. On the morning after the pope's arrival in the capital of Bang kok, a newspaper ran a giant front-page headline: "Pope Wins Thai Hearts." An additional benefit of such a trip is its effect on Catholics throughout the world. How can one calculate what it does for an understanding of the universal ity of the Church to see the pope giving communion to a Papuan whose face is painted red and yellow and who wears a feather ed headdress?
The pope also realizes that as
well as chief shepherd of 700 million Catholics, he ds a world moral leader. He uses that prom inence to call attention to press ing moral problems such as gross violations of human rights in
South Korea.
In a dramatic event in Thai 'land, the pope Vlisited an Indo
chinese refugee camp, taking international attention with him as he focused on the plight of refugees displaced from their homelands by the Commun,ist takeovers in Laos, C4mbodia and Vdetnam. 'He told diplomats that "there is something repugnant and ab normal for hundreds of thousands of human beings to have to leave their own countries because of their race, ethnic origin, political conWeUons or religion.': However, though a powerful moral leader, the pope does not claim to have solutions for every situation. In South Korea, for instance, a student said to him, "Whenever we assert what we think to be true, some of us are taken to prison, some are forced to en-, list in the military and some are driven more to 'leftism." A yO\lng worker added, "The news media do not acourately inform people of our real situa tion and, without labor unions free to present our desires, the lives of workers remain deeply hidden in the shadows of pros perity . ~ . In these circum stances, how should we announce the Gospel to our fellow work ers?" The pope did not gUve specific answers. Instead, he told the youth to bear witness to the truth Turn to Page Sixteen
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He/UPI Photo
'l:Iow can one calculate what it does for an understanding of the universality of the Church to see the pope giving communion to a Papuan whose face is painted red and yellow and who wears a feathered headdress?'
Appeal at $1,123,785
Latest
reports
of
Special
Gift donations and parish con tributions Ibring the 1984 Cath
olic
Charities Appeal
up
to
$1,123,7'85.41.
Donations from parishes, priests and Special Gift donors should be made in person ,to appeal headquarters from Wed nesday, May 23, until Friday, May 25. The Appeat books will be -closed Friday, May 25. This coming weekend, every parish and Special Gift solicitor should make a' last effort to can
vass every potential donor. These reports should be made to Special Gift and parish head quarters on Monday. Honor Roll Parishes 23 parishes have been added
to the honor roUs of parishes surpassing their 1983 final totals since last week's edition of The Anchor. They are: St. Stephen, Attle boro; St. Francis Xavier, Hyan nis; St. Elizabeth Seton, North Falmouth; St. Joan of Are, Or
leans; St. Augustine, Vineyard Haven; Our Lady of Lourdes, Wellfleet; Holy Cross, Holy Rosary. St. Anthony of Padua, S1. Elizabeth, S1. Louis, S1. Wil liam, Fall River
St. Patrick, Somerset; S1. John the Baptist, Westport; Our Lady of Perpetual Help, St. Francis of Assisi, St. John the Baptist, St. Kilian, New Bedford; Sacred Hearts. Fairhaven; Holy Rosary, St. Jacques, S1. Paul, Taunton; St. Ann. Raynham.