t eanc 0 VOL. 35, NO. 24
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Friday, June 14, 1991
F ALL RIVER, MASS.
FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSEnS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
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CCA ends 50th year at alltime high total Bishop Daniel A. Cronin an~ nounced today that the 1991 Catholic Charities Appeal has concluded its 50th year with the largest sum yet realized by the fund drive: a total of $2,291,186.30. Appeal proceeds are distributed throughout the year to diocesan agencies, enabling them to continue providing a wide variety of pastoral, educational and social services to residents of SoutheastBISHOP DANIEL A. Cronin views the final Catholic ern Massachusetts. The bishop's statement follows: Charities Appeal report compiled by Appeal director Father "The final results published in Daniel L. Freitas. (Hickey photo) this week's Anchor show once again , a successful Catholic Charities Ap"The 1991 Catholic Charities nonetheless is most welcome. The peal in our beloved diocese of Fall River. The 1991 Appeal manifests Appeal realized a gain of$73,042.46 parishes once again have brought clearly the hard work and generos- over last year's Appeal. This repre- about the major proportion of the ity of so many of the clergy, relig- sents a 3.3% rise which, although it contributions of the Appeal and • is less than what we had hoped for, ious and laity of our diocese. Turn to Page II
Singing priests, kids. rated standing 0 Story and photos by Marcie Hickey What has just the right measure of music, humor, antics' and fun? Okay, besides "Late Night with David Letterman"? Think sacred and secular music, show tunes, instrumental and vocal solos, comedy and church hymns, all on the same stage and presented by performers in Roman collars and children in Catholic school uniforms. They may not have hit the big time yet, but Priests for Life have a loyal following - enough to fill to capacity the 850-seat auditorium of Fall River's Bishop Connolly High School May 24, even after a five-year hiatus since their last performance. The concert benefited Birthright, an organization which assists women with unplanned pregnancies in choosing alternatives to abortion. Organized by Janet Barbelle, regional Birthright consultant for Massachusetts, and directed by Father Stephen Fernandes, head of the diocesan Pro-Life Apostolate, the c,oncert featured the talents of nine diocesan priests, two seminarians and the St. Anthony's School Choir of New Bedford. Steven Massoud of St. James parish, New Bedford, was accompanist.
Final rites for Bishop Gerrard By Pat McGowan
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AT PRIESTS for Life Concert: students from St. Anthony's School, New Bedford·, rehearse their numbers before the show; as Benjamin Franklin, Father Stephen Fernandes, center, debates with Thomas Jefferson (seminarian Edward Peck) and John Adams (Father Jon-Paul Gallant) the merits of making the turkey the national bird in "The Egg" from the musical 1776; and Father Clement Dufour demonstrates he wears many hats during a solo act. The evening's entertainment included renditions by the priests of traditional hymns, some in Latin, intermixed with secular songs and selections appropriated from the scores of musicals. In their own version of "Tradition" from Fiddler on the Roof, Turn to Page II
A sun-drenched St. Mary's Cathedral was the setting for the June 7 Mass of Christian Burial for Bishop James Joseph Gerrard. Cardinal Bernard F. Law, archbishop of Boston, spoke and gave the final commendation and Bishop Daniel A. Cronin of Fall River was principal celebrant and homilist. Ten other New England bishops, well over 100 priests and deacons
and hundreds ofthe faithful, many of them former parishioners of the slight, unassuming auxiliary bishop, crowded the cathedral for the liturgy. Bishop Gerrard died June 3, six days before his 94th birthday. A priest for 68 years and a bishop since 1959, he was the first New England bishop appointed by Pope John XXIII and, as Bishop Cronin pointed out in his homily, "the last bishop who could recall, as a young boy, when the saintly Pope Pius X
established the diocese of Fall River in 1904. (The complete text of the homily appears on pages 8 and 9.) Preceding last Friday's Mass, the Evening Prayer for the Dead took place Thursday in the cathedral, where Bishop Gerrard's body lay in state, with a large silver bowl of red roses at the foot of his coffin, and an honor guard from Bishop Stang Assembly of the Turn to Page Nine
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PATTERNS: Iron fence, white-robed priests and the shadows of St. Mary's Cathedral create rhythmic patterns as procession enters cathedral for funeral Mass of Bishop James J. Gerrard. Other pictures pages 8-9. (Hickey photo)