05.22.09

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The Anchor Diocese of Fall River

F riday , May 22, 2009

Controversial bills await action on Beacon Hill

Theologian Scott Hahn coming to Fall River Diocese

BOSTON — True or false: civil marriage between people of the same sex was legalized five years ago by Massachusetts lawmakers? False. Although municipal clerks have issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples since then, state statute to redefine civil marriage never changed. Same-sex marriage advocates have refiled a bill to accomplish this. That bill and others with far-reaching effects on the family, school children and freedoms of speech and religion await action in the 2009-10 session. One bill would legalize sodomy. Another would make compulsory a public school health curriculum for grades preK12 with portions on sex education that push abortion, contraception and homosexuality. Massachusetts Catholic bishops have opposed this bill for the past three years as a violation of parental rights to explain the intimate subject of sexuality to children. According to the “Catechism of the Catholic Church,” parental rights in regard to moral education and spiritual formation are “primordial and inalienable” (No. 2221); homosexual acts are “gravely disordered” and “under no circumstances can they be approved” (No. 2357). The bill to legalize marriage “regardless of gender” is H 1708, sponsored by Rep. Byron Rushing of Boston and now in the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. Turn to page 18

NEW BEDFORD — Catholics the world over regard the conversion of St. Paul — and his subsequent ministry as Apostle to the Gentiles — as milestones in the Church Christ founded. To emphasize that, Pope Benedict XVI called for a Pauline Year jubilee beginning June 28, 2008, to mark the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of St. Paul about the year 8 A.D. at Tarsus in Asia Minor known today as Turkey. So it was most appropriate when, as the Fall River Diocese planned celebrations for the Pauline Year, people of great faith who were converts to Catholicism would be instrumental in proclaiming it. “I wanted someone outstanding to be the final speaker as the Year of St. Paul ends on the upcoming June 29 feast of SS. Peter and Paul, and Dr. Scott Hahn, himself a convert and professor of theology and Scripture at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, and director of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology is perfect,” said Father Andrew Johnson, OCSO, director of the Pauline Year in the diocese. Hahn, 52, an exceptionally popular speaker and teacher who has delivered thousands of talks nationally and internationally on a wide variety of topics related to Scripture and the Catholic faith, will “break open” what is often referred to as “The Gospel according to St. Paul” at three sessions on June 27 in St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford, one of the sevTurn to page 18

By Deacon James N. Dunbar

By Gail Besse Anchor Correspondent

GENTLE WOMAN, PEACEFUL DOVE — Sarah Bowles, a seventh-grader at St. Pius X School in South Yarmouth, places a crown of flowers on Mary after a May procession. First-grader Aveen O’Brien was the crown bearer.

Military chaplains: A calm port in a turbulent sea By Dave Jolivet, Editor

FALL RIVER — The funeral Mass at St. John Neumann Church in East Freetown last week served as a grim reminder of the ultimate sacrifice thousands of our sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends, and neighbors have made to make this country, and the world a safer place. Freetown resident, 22-year-old Tyler J. Trahan, a member of the U.S. Navy, was killed April 30 in Fallujah, Iraq. It doesn’t matter if one agrees with this war, or any war, the hard fact is that thousands of Americans continue to place themselves in harm’s way so that others may be free. Thousands of our fellow countrymen and women live each day always looking over their shoulder and sleeping with one eye open. Fear and uncertainty are a way of life for these heroes.

One thing remains constant; from World War I nearly 100 years ago, to the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, Catholic chaplains are there with and for our troops, bringing the love of God to places where that would seem impossible. Just as enlisted men and women risk their lives serving our country, Catholic chaplains are right there by their sides — sometimes making the ultimate sacrifice themselves. In World War II, Army chaplain Father Arthur C. Lenaghan, a priest of the Fall River Diocese, gave his life on the battle fields of Italy carrying wounded U.S. soldiers to safety. In the Korean War in the 1950s, Army chaplain Father Emil J. Kapaun of the Eighth Calvary Regiment, was captured with scores

of his battalion and spent years in a North Korean prisoner of war camp, often sacrificing his meager portions for wounded comrades and risking death by spiritually ministering to his fellow POWs, regardless of race, color or creed. Father Kapaun died in the prison camp because of a lack of medical aid, and his cause for canonization has been initiated in recent years. Bishop Francis Xavier Roque, retired auxiliary of the Archdiocese for Military Services, USA, recently spoke with The Anchor about what Catholic chaplains mean to those preserving our freedom in far away lands. The retired bishop, now in residence at St. Timothy’s Parish in Warwick, R.I., be-

came an Army chaplain at the height of the Cold War in 1961. He has been awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Distinguished Service Medal for his tours of duty in Korea and Vietnam. Serving with the Second Infantry Division in 1965-66, then Father Roque was stationed at the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea. By then the Korean War was over, but at the time DMZ tensions ran high. “The North Koreans didn’t like us at all and we were just yards away from them,” recalled Bishop Roque. “The area was also strewn with land mines making it very dangerous. It was a poor area and it was a very lonely life for our soldiers. The chaplain brought the influence of God and the Church to our soldiers there.” Bishop Roque served two tours of duty Turn to page 14


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