Abortion Issue
Bill Rejects Forced Participation
The ANCHOR An Anchor of the Soul, Sure and Firm-Sf. Paul
Fall River, Mass., Thursday, June 7, 1973 23 © 1973 The Anchor $4.00 per year VoI,~ 17, ....• .~o. PRICE 10¢
Clergy Transfers Affect Fou rteen Most Rev. Daniel A. Cronin, S.T.D., Bishop of Fall River, today announced clergy assign-
ments in the Diocese affecting 14 priests. Rev. Edmond R. Levesque, assistant pastor of St. George Parish, Westport, for the past 17 years, will assume new duties as administrator of Our Lady of Grace Parish, No. Westport. Rev. Maurice H. Lamontagne, 65, pastor of Our Lady of Grace Parish, No. Westport, for the past 19 years, has relinquished his pastoral duties for reasons, of health. A parish priest for 41 years, he will reside at Notre Dame Rectory, Fall River: Three priests recently ordained were given their first assignments: Rev. Steven R. Furtado, as assistant pastor at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Taunton; Rev. ·Philip J. Higgins, as assistant pastor at St. George' Parish, Westport; Rev. Horace J. Travassos, as assistant pastor at St. James Parish, New Bedford. Two Ipriests, Rev. Peter N. Graziano, ending a period of further study at Boston College REV. MAURICE LAMONTAGNE Graduate School of Social Work, will serve as assistant pastor at Immaculate Conception Parish, Taunton; Rev. Daniel F. Hoye, who will take up graduate study at the School of Canon Law, Catholic University starting in September, will serve, pro tern, at St. Mary Parish, Norton, as assistant pastor. Seven other priests will remain as assistant pastors but will be transferred to other parishes within th~ Diocese. Rev. John F. Andrews, assistant pastor at St. Margaret Parish, Buzzards Bay, will serve in the same capacity at St. Francis Xavier 'Parish, Hyannis. Rev. Timothy J. Goldrick,' from Immaculate Conception Parish, Taunton, to St. Margaret Parish, Buzzards Bay; Rev. Joseph D. Maguire, from St. James Parish, New Bedford, to St. Patrick Parish, Somerset; Rev. Donald J. Bowen, from St. Mary Parish,' Norton, to St. John the EvangeREV. EDMOND R. LEVESQUE Turn to Page Three ,
The Great and General Court of the ComI:Ilonwealth of Massachusetts-the House of Repre· sentatives-by a vote of 200 to 26 has approved a strong version of "conscience" legislation that allows hospitals to decide wheth· er abortions will be performed within their facilities. The legislation distinguishes ,between the right of a woman to have an' abortion (decided upon by recent Supreme Court rulings) and the right of a woman to force a particular hospital or doctor to perform the abortion. Joseph Reilly, executive secretary of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, explained that the new law only conforms Massachusets s~ate law with the Supreme Court decision.
Anniversary On Sunday, June 10, Most Rev. Daniel A., Cr?nin, S.T.D., Bishop of Fall River, will celebrate his fifth anniversary of appointment to the Episcopate. It was on June 10. 1968, after years of work fO,r the Vatican Secretariat of State that the present Bishop of Fall River returned to the U. S. to become Auxiliary Bishop of Boston.
He further stated that the Supreme Court decision on abortions left intact that part of a Georgia law that stated th.at no hospital had to admit a person for an abortion. The first legisiation filed by Senate President Kevin Harrington and House Speaker David M. Bartley established the Ibasis for the legislation. The Social Welfare Committee watered down the original proposal by suggesting that only religious hospitals be so exempted. The final legislation, a substituteversion drafted by Representative Michael Flaherty of Boston, broadened the scope to include any hospital-local, private or religious-and their professional staffs to refuse to participate in,an abortion or the distribution of information on con· traception. Humberto Cardinal Medeiros, Archbishop of Boston, strongly urged the adoption of the original legislation in a letter to his parish priests last week. The state action follows closely an order by a Federal Court that Hale Hospital in Haverhill perform an abortion ,on two women who had requested it of that hospital and the hospital refused. The House of Representatives also voted down a proposal endorsing ,birth control for minors
by a 174·50 roll call vote. Proponents supported contraceptive care for minors without parental consent. c
U. S. Congress On Abortion WASHINGTON (NC) - The House of Representatives passed (May 31) by a vote of 372-1 the Health Programs Extension Act of 1973, which contains a controversial clause stating that the legislation does not' auUl'orize courts or public officials to require doctors or hospitals to perform abortions. The bill extends through fiscal year 1974 funding authority for sections of the Public Health Service Act and other healthrelated legislation. It includes a provision that receipt of funds under the legislation by any individual does not authorize any court or any public official or other public authority to require such an individual to perform or assist in an abortion or sterilization against his religious beliefs or moral convictions. The provision also states that health facilities receiving funds under the legislation cannot be required to make their facilities Turn to Page Three
Commissions Eucharist Ministers Most Reverend Daniel A. Cronin, S.T.D., Bishop of Fall River, commissioned 22 laymen from 10 parishes of the Diocese to serve as lay extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist The ceremony held at the Ca· thedral during the 5 o'clock afternoon Mass, Sunday, June 3, was set in a concelebrated Mass in which the Bishop was the principal celebrant and nine other priests concelebrated. Rev. Daniel F. Hoye, assistant pastor at St. John the Evangelist Parish, Attleboro, was the homilist.
Assisting' the Bishop were Very Rev. John J. Regan, rector of the cathedral; Father Hoye; Rev. Edward J. Burns, pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Swansea; Rev. Edward C. Duffy, pastor of ,St. Mary, Parish, No. Seekonk; Rev. Leo T. Sullivan, pastor of Holy Name Parish, New Bedford.. Rev. George E. Harrison, assistant pastor of St. Mary Parish, New IBedford; Rev. James H. Morse, assistant pastor of Holy Name Parish, New Bedford; Rev. Thomas M. Landry, O.P., pastor of St. Anne Parish, Fall River;
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and Rev. John G. Carroll, pastor of St. Margaret Parish, Buzzards Bay. The laymen representing 10 parishes throughout the diocese were: St. Anne Parish, Fall River: Bernard Theroux of 29 Conant St. and J. H. Leon Gauthier of 225 Ridge St., Fall River. Holy Name Parish, New Bedford: James M. Harrington of 116 Mt. Vernon St. and Martin P. Barry of 327 Cedar St., New Bedford. Holy Trinity Parish, West Harwich: Paul Donovan of Pine Grove Rd., George Gardner of Lothrop Ave., Robet:t Snow of Catherine Rose Rd., all of West Harwich, and James Holden of Sea St., Dennisport. 51. Margaret Parish, Buzzards Bay: Paul Duffy of 12 Locust St., Onset, and James R. McMahon, HI of 25 Canal View Rd., Buzzards Bay. Turn to Page Eleven
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Adult Confirmation
LAY MINISTERS: Shown with Bishop Cronin, second right, and Rev. Daniel F. Hoye, 'second left, are Gilbert Costa, left, and Edward Angelo, right, after the commissioning of 22 laymen of the Diocese as Extraordinary Lay Ministers of the Eucharist. '
Most Rev. Daniel A. Cronin, STD, Bishop of Fall River, wUl administer the Sacrament of Confirmation to adults who have' riot yet received this Sacrament, at the 11 o'clock Mass, Pentecost Sunday, June 10, at St. Mary's Cathedral in Fall River. Adults interested in receiving the ' Sacrament at this time should see their parish priest for details.