The Anchor Diocese of Fall River
F riday , June 7, 2013
Cape parish to host Year of Faith series
BREWSTER — The paThe talks will be given by rishioners of Our Lady of Father Flavio Gillio on four the Cape Parish, 468 Stony Tuesdays — June 18 and 25 Brook Road in Brewster, in- and on July 9 and 16 — at vite everyone to at9 a.m. and repeated tend a series of four at 7 p.m. each date presentations on in the parish center people whose lives of Our Lady of the “profess, celebrate Cape in Brewster. and share the faith.” This is the secDuring this Year ond series of conferof Faith, these lecences Father Flavio tures will present is giving during this people from the Year of Faith. The Father Flavio Scriptures and from last series on Mary Gillio Church history as was very well-atexamples of individtended, with about uals who have traveled and 120 persons joining the conjourneyed the difficult walk ferences on Tuesdays. Some of faith. They will include came from as far as Provincpeople like Abraham, Jonah, etown. Mary of Magdala, Peter, A well-known speaker Thomas, Paul and contempo- who has given lectures on rary examples of faith-filled Scripture for the past two Turn to page 15 persons.
Vermont assisted suicide law ‘very troubling’ for Mass. By Christine M. Williams Anchor Correspondent
BOSTON — Last fall, Massachusetts voters rejected physician assisted suicide at the ballot box. Last year, Vermont, too, defeated an effort to legalize death by prescription — only to see another measure signed by the governor this May. Some opponents of such laws in the Commonwealth wonder if the news up north foretells their fate. Anne Fox, president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life said in a May 18 email to supporters about the Vermont law, “The death lobby hopes this will open the floodgates, at least in the northeast.” Proponents of doctor prescribed death often claim such measures would give patients greater peace of mind, choice and control of over their final days of life. Physician-assisted suicide is legal in Oregon and Washington. The Green Mountain State became the third to legalize the practice when the law, effective immediately, was signed by Gov. Peter Shumlin on May 20. Vermont’s law allows residents, at least 18 years old and given
less than six months to live, to take a lethal dose of medication. Kris Mineau, president of Massachusetts Family Institute, called the new law’s passage “very troubling.” In Massachusetts the legislature never voted on doctor prescribed death last year, choosing instead to bounce it around in committee and let the issue go directly to voters in November. Citizens defeated the measure with 51.9 percent of the vote. Mineau called the defeat of the measure “miraculous,” noting that before the campaign began, polls showed that opponents of physician-assisted suicide were down 20 points. According to state law, the earliest the same issue could appear in the voting booth again is 2018. Mineau warned that the Massachusetts legislature could take up the issue at any time. “We never rest on our laurels or take anything for granted,” he said. “We expect that they will be back to try to pass legislation in Massachusetts, but I think the good news is that the legislature has heard from the defeat last Turn to page 18
MESSIAH MARCH — A priest carries the monstrance with the Body of Our Lord through the streets of New Bedford during a recent procession on the feast of Corpus Christi. (Photo courtesy of Father Louis Maximilian, F.F.I.)
Bereavement ministry helping those dealing with grief
By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff
FALL RIVER — When Rose Mary Saraiva’s 23-year-old daughter passed away in a car accident in 2006, her life turned upside down. “When Rachel died, I basically stopped living for a year,” said Saraiva. Drowning in her grief, she left her job as a district sales manager when it became too difficult to work. “If you know anything about sales, it’s very trivial and you have to put on a plastic face everyday, have a smile everyday, and I knew that it would be tough,” said Saraiva. “It was OK to put the mask on every once and a while, but to do that everyday? It doesn’t allow you to cope with it, no one wants to hear you’re sad and no one wants to hear your story.” Saraiva stayed home and immersed herself in reading everything she could about dealing with grief, trying to find solace in Google-search results that would help her cope. Once day she received an email inquiring
if she knew anyone who would be interested in part-time secretarial work. Saraiva responded, saying she would be interested in the position and within days, she found herself as part of the Family Ministry staff of the Fall River Diocese. “Ironically I started here a year and a day after Rachel’s death. I don’t think of coincidences,” said Saraiva, who began thinking of creating a bereavement ministry shortly after she arrived. “I wanted that to be my pet project, that I’d love to see local bereavement support groups because when my daughter died, I called the diocese and everywhere I could, and the nearest to me were Centerville (Mass.) and West Warwick (R.I.).” The Fall River native and resident acknowledged that traveling long distances at that time to find a support group would not have worked for her. “I knew that sometimes going five minutes down the road required me to stop 10 times because I couldn’t focus,” said Saraiva, of those moments she would break into intense sobbing,
sometimes without warning. When the offices moved to its current location on Highland Avenue in Fall River in 2010, and transformed from Family Ministry to Faith Formation, Saraiva began to take classes at Bristol Community College to earn a certificate in thanatology, the study on how loss affects physical, psychological and social well-being. The class was not only another step in creating a bereavement ministry in the Fall River Diocese, it was another step in the healing process for Saraiva. “Knowing that when you’re grieving, everything is normal,” she said. “Just understand that because I walk into a room and feel the need to walk back out again — that’s OK. The biggest thing for me was the cultural aspect of grief. We learn that people grieve differently for different reasons.” Being brought up in a Portuguese household where “death was a part of our life,” said Saraiva, that cultural influence showed her that death is an integral part of life and that having her parents allow her to attend funerals as a Turn to page 18