thean Massachusetts' Largest Weekly • $14 Per Year Southe.astern . I
FALL RIVER, MASS.
VOL. 50, NO. 20 • Friday, May 19, 2006
Reaching out to area's immigrants: CSS' legal office is hard at work By DEACON JAMES N.
DUNBAR
FALL RIVER - With Congress debating the most sweeping overhaul of U.S. Immigration Law in two decades, the best advice that can be given today's immigrants is "to stay infonned," says Atty. Ondine Galvez Sniffen. As coordinator of the Immigration, Legal, Education and Advocacy Project of Fall River's Catholic Social Services, Sniffen says she's hopeful that whatever the U.S. Senate and House come CA'''OUC _
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lions of illegal immigrants already in this country, "will allow useful programs that open a path to citizenship for them,"· she said last week. ILEAP is one of the many programs that receive funding from the Catholic Charities Appeal currently underway in the Fall River diocese. Although ILEAP has become the legal outreach to hundreds of cases a year involving area immigrants, the potential clients are a reported 60,000 immigrants that have found a home in communities within the region ofthe diocese, many ofwhich have become members of parish faith communities. And while most are legal immigrants, there are many illegals who also seek out assistance, Sniffen said. "I think a large percentage of the immigrants in our area are here illegally, because we have so many of them call us for consultation and advice."· "When illegals come in to ask
what we can do for them, we assess their cases. I tell them of the risks involved; that they can be picked up and placed in a detention facility. I frankly have to tell most of them, 'There's not really much we can do,'" she told The Anchor. "My advice to them if they are in this country illegally and choose on their own to stay, is to keep infonned of what's happening in Washington. We can't work outside the law." While there is a guest-workerprogram being worked on in the Sen__ cD ate, it is
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more favorable to undocumented workers than legislation passed by the House in December, she noted. Also in the mix are worries that any kind of guest worker program for the illegals will make it even harder for legal immigrants to get through the bureaucracy. Sniffen, who is married with young daughters and resides in Providence, R. I., has been with ILEAP for eight "busy" years. She is a 1997 graduate of Boston University School of Law. ''We provide direct legal services to immigrants who have legal issues. We also provide community outreach by way of education when there are new developments in immigration law and design workshops to educate the community about changes in the law and how it will impact thelp," she said. "We're receiving many calls Turn to page 19 - Immigrants
THIS eNS artwork features caricatures of director Ron Howard, author Dan Brown and actor Tom Hanks. The movie "The Da Vinci Code," released today, is based on Brown's novel that contends Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalene and fathered a child and also portrays Opus Dei as a secretive Church cult that is plotting to take over the Church. In this edition, The Anchor will rum several op-eds and informative stories Catholics need to debunk the untruths. about Christ and his Church. (CNS illustration/ Lucas Turnbloom, The Southern Cross)
Local author g'oes beyond debunking 'The Da Vinci Code' By MIKE GORDON ANCHOR STAFF
FALL RIVER - After Dominican Father John Vidmar read "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown, he started to think it was anti-Catholic. He felt that Catholic teaching and the history.of the Church were being misrepresented. When he got a call from Paulist Press asking him ifhe wanted to write a book about it he didn't hesitate. That book is entitled, "101 Questions and An-
swers on The Da Vinci Code and the Catholic Tradition," and it's not just another in a long series of works by numerous authors to denounce the claims of Brown. It goes beyond that and gives readers a look into the rich history of the Church and Catholic tradition. "After reading 'The Da Vinci Code,' I realized it was anti-Catholic," said Father Vidmar who also stated he felt the book was an important one for Turn to page 12 -Author I,
Msgr. John'J. Smith preparesjor the next phase oj his priesthood By DAVE JOLIVET,
EDITOR
across the Diocese of Fall River in a wide range SOUTH YARMOUTH - After spending just of capacities. Included in Msgr. Smith's long list of assigna few moments with Msgr. John 1. Smith, pastor of St. Pius X Parish, one doesn't get the impres- ments were serving as the diocese's longest runsion that he's on the verge of retirement, nor that ning vocations director, from 1965 to 1997, and ministering in some of the diocese's largest parhe's ready for that step. "I've been a priest for 47 years," he told The ishes. "My priesthood duties have been challenging Anchor, "and I've been blessed and have lived a but not difficult," said Msgr. Smith looking back very happy priesthood." The New Bedford native was ordained a priest over the past five decades. "Through the years, for the Diocese of Fall River by Bishop James L. I've never lost my enthusiasm for parish minisConnolly in St. Mary's Cathedral on April 25, try." . Young John Smith was one of nine children born 1959. The young ordinand was one of 16 men who to the late Ambrose Smith and the late Nora (Sparentered the priesthood at the cathedral that day. He celebrated his first solemn Mass the next row) Smith. His sister Mary Nora Smith is a Religious Sister of Mercy. day at St. Lawrence Church in New Bedford. As a boy, he attended Holy Family grammar Since that joyous day, Msgr. Smith has faithfully and diligently served God and Catholics Turn to page 18 - Monsignor
"I'M READY t9 open the door in the next phase of my priesthood," said Msgr. John J. Smith, during a recent Anchorvisit to the rectory at S1. Pius X Parish in South Yarmouth, where he has been pastor since 1989. (Anchor/Jolivet photo)