SERVING ... SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSmS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
t eanc 0 VOL. 24, NO. 23
FALL RIVER; MASS., THURSDAY; JUNE 5, 1980
20c, $6 Per Year
Pioneer class of deacons will be ordained Saturday The first class of permanent deacons in the Fall River diocese will be ordained at 11 a.m. Saturday at a Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral, Fall River. Bishop Daniel A. Cronin will be the ordaining prelate. Rev. John F. Moore, diocesan director of the diaconate program, has prepared the candidates for ordination. Permanent deacons, although common in the early days of Christianity, had not been a part of Western church life for centuries, until the order was restored in 1967 by Pope Paul VI following the Second Vatican Council. The Official Catholic Directory for 1980 lists 4,093 U.S. permanent deacons. Qualified unmarried men 25 years of age or older are eligible for the diaconate. They may not marry after ordination. Qualified married men at least 35 years of age may be ordained with the consent of their wives. A married d~n cannot remarry if hi~wife dies. Deacons work in parishes or in various ministries under direction of their bishop and the priests with whom they are associated.
The 13 men to be ordained on Saturday will be empowered to officiate at baptisms, weddings, wakes and funerals. They will also have faculties to preach. Another diaconal candidate was Albert L Gallant, a member of St. Mark's parish, Attleboro Falls, who died last January. Also a member of the Fall River program is Dr. Andre P. Nasser, who was ordained last Sunday for the Melkite-Greek diocese of Newton. He will assist Rev. Norman Ferris in St. Anthony of the Desert Maronite Catholic parish in Fall River. Saturday Service Saturday's service, to which admission will be by ticket only, will include the rites of Calling and Presentation of Candidates, Election by the Bishop and Consent of the People. Following an instruction to the candidates, Bishop Cronin will question them as to their willingness to assume the diaconal office. He will then lay his hands on the head of each and will recite a prayer of consecration as all kneel before h~m.
Following the prayer, each deacon will be invested with the stole and dalmatic emblematic of his new office and will be presented with the book of Gospels. As the bishop places the book in the hands of each man, he will say: "Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you now are. 'Believe what you read, teach what you believe and practice what you teach." Lastly the new deacons and the bishop will exchange the kiss of peace. Music for the ceremony will be by the cathedral choir and a brass ensemble, directed by Glenn Giuttari, cathedral music director. Rev. Horace J. Travassos will be cantor. Members of the diaconal class of 1982 will serve at the ordination Mass and sons and daughters of the deacons will form the offertory procession. The latter include Maureen Walsh, Kevin Drinkwater, Lisa Orosz, Jacqueline Racine, Maurice Lavallee, Roderick Meloni and Peter Schondek. Pictures and biographies of the ordinands lire on page 5.
Changes affect 14 parishes
FATHER CONNORS
The Most Reverend Daniel A. Cronin, Bishop of Fall River, has announced appointment of two pastors, five administrators and four associate pastors. All appointments will be effective Wednesday, June 18. Rev. Ernest E. Blais, administrator of Sacred Heart parish, New Bedford, will be pastor of Notre Dame parish, Fall River. Rev. Francis B. Connors, pastor of Our Lady of Victory parish, Centerville, will be pastor of St. Mary's parish, New Bedford. The new administrators are Rev. John F. Andrews, associate pastor at St. Francis Xavier parish, Hyannis, who will be at St. Joan of Arc parish, Orleans. Rev. Martin Buote will administer St. Anne's parish, New Bedford. Rev. ,William G. Campbell, now associate pastor at Holy Name parish,Fall River, will be at St. Dominic's parish, Swansea. Re~. Thomas E. Morrissey, associate pastor at Notre Dame parish, Fall River, will be at Sacred Heart parish, New Bedford.
Rev. John A. 'Perry, associate pastor at St. Julie parish, North Dartmouth, chaplain at Bishop Stang High School and director of campus ministry at Southeastern Massachusetts University, will administer Our Lady of Victory parish, Centerville. Associate Pastors Rev. Joseph M. Costa, associate pastor at Our Lady of Health parish, Fall River, will be associate at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel parish, Seekonk. Rev. Robert C. Donovan will transfer from St. John the Evangelist parish, Attleboro, to St. Frimcis Xavier, parish, Hyannis. Rev. George E. Harrison will transfer from Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Seekonk to St. Julie, North Dartmouth, and will also fill the posts of chaplain at Bishop Stang High School and director of campus ministry at Southeastern Massachusetts University. Rev. John A. Raposo will transfer from St. James parish, New Bedford to Our Lady of Health, Fall River.
Father Blais Father ,Blais was born in Pawtucket May 26, 1918. He was ordained as an Oblate of Mary Immaculate in 1944, serving in Haiti until coming to the Fall River diocese in 1952. He wac; associate pastor of St. Louis de France parish, Swansea and St. Theresa, New Bedford, before his appointment to Sacred Heart, New 'Bedford, in 1972. Already director of Sacred Heart cemeteries in New Bedford, he .was appointed to direct Notre Dame cemetery and mausoleum in Fall River in 1979, a position he will retain in his new pastorate. Father Connors Father Connors was born in Taunton May 14, 1925. A graduate of the former Msgr. Coyle High School in that city, he then studied for the priesthood at St. Charles College, Catonsville, Md. and St. John's Seminary, Brighton. He was ordained in 1950. After brief service as associate pastor at St. Kilian's parish, Turn to Page Three