SERVING ••• SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSmS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
t eanc 0 VOL. 24, NO. 26
FALL RIVER, MASS., THURSDAVi JUNE 26; 1980
20c, $6 Per Year '
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Reaching out:
Dioce'san ministry to separated, divorced, The Diocesan Office of Family, Ministry, directed by Father Ronald A. Tosti, has among its activities a support program for separated and divorced Catholics. Regular meetings are held throughout the diocese. Descriptions of groups in the New Bedford, Taunton and Attleboro areas follow:
NEW BEDFORD AREA By Rev. Edward Holleran:, OFM The National Conference of Catholic Bishops in a 1976 pastoral letter stated, "It remains . a tragic fact that some marri~ ages fail. We must approach those who suffer this agonizing experience with the compassion of Jesus Himself." What are the facts today? 1. Approximately 40 percent
of all marriages (Catholic included) in America end in divorce. 2. It is estimated that there are 8 million divorced Catholics in the United States and about half of them have remarried. 3. The divorce rate .has doubled in, the last 10 years. 4. Two out of every five children bo~ in this decade will live in a single-parent home for at least part of their youth. 5. The number of households , headed by women has increased by more than a third in'this decade, and more than doubled in one generation. 6. More than half of all mothers with school-age children· now work outside the home, as do more than a third of mothers
with children under' the' age of three. 7. One out of every three school children lives in a home headed by only one parent or relative, What are we to make of the above facts? No one is so know- , ledgeable as to be able to interpret them correctly or to, have all the answers. But of one thing we are certain, the chur~h must at least try to interpret them and seek the answers. And this is the reason for the Ministry to' Divorced Catholics. ' The time of divorce is painful, . an experience of failure, an end to dreams, a struggle against ,loneliness, ,an effort to build' a new life. It is a time for the healing
presence of JeSus; a time for the church to give witness to the mercy of the Lord as well as to the indissolubility of marriage. And so MDC addresses the realities of divorce, separation and practical and emotional aspects within the Catholic tradition. The ministry has been functioning with quite some success for more than three years at Our Lady's Chapel in New Bedford, more recently under the lay leadership of Norman Landre\lille and Sophie Sylvia of New Bedford and Rachel Buzniak 'of Asushnet; but from the beginning the .meetings have been coordinated by Father Marc Bergeron and myself. Until last November meetings were monthly but at the sug-
gestion of Father William Murphy S.A, who addre&sed the group in October, the meetings .changed to a weekly basis and have proved a boon in many ways. (Father Murphy has, a most successful MDC apostolate operating out of Our Savior Chapel in the Westgllte Mall, Brockton.) Broadly, the goals of the New Bedford MDC are: 1. To acquaint participants with the contemporary stand of the church concerning annulments, remarriage and the sacraments. 2. To provide education in areas of special need for the group. Guest' speakers in the field of psychology, law and Turn to Page Two
Study' urged of new life
P~T
WASHINGTON (NC) - Promising examination by the religious community. of the religious and eth,ical aspects of creation of new life in the laboratory, Catholic, Protl}stant and JeWish leaders have urged re·examina~ tion of public policies regarding such creation.
OF the large num-
Specifically, the leaders urged reconsideration of whether patent protection should be granted the inventors of such new life and asked that criteria broader than simple profits be applied to its use and distribution.
ber of special' ministers of Holy -Communion commissioned last Friday night. . (Torchia Photo)
188 special ministers commis,sioned' One hundred and eighty-eight special ministers of Holy Communion were commiSSioned last Friday night at St. Mary's Cathedral, Fall River, at a Mass at which Bishop Daniel A. Cronin was principal celebrant. They will serve in parishes, the hospital apostolate and the diocesan program of bringing Holy CQmmunion to the sick in their homes or in nursing facilities,
Their names aqd parish or hospital affiliations follow: Fall River Area Blessed Sacrament: Mrs. Paula Gagliardi, Miss Yvonne Lafontaine. Notre Dame: Sister Florence Marie Benoit, RSM. Mr. Charles Lavoie, Mrs. Pauline Parent. Our Lady of Grace: Manuel Cordeiro, Miss Marie Cordeiro, Joseph Goslin, -David Pragana, Miss Kathleen Quinn.
Sacred Heart: Mrs. Nancy Cote, Sister Jane Andrea, SUSC, Steven Lopes. Saint Anne: Leo Beaulieu, Raymond Clement, Mrs. Claudette Desrosiers, Ulric Desrosiers, Mrs. Jane Lambert. Roland E. Lambert, Mrs. Juliette 'Lapointe, Mrs. Claudette Leduc, Robert O. Leduc, Mrs. Juliette Lessard, Mrs. Rachel Toole, Mrs. Pauline Valiquette.
S1. Dominie: Albert Vincent DiNapoli. Saint William: John Bacon, Mrs. Muriel ,Bates, Mrs. Jane Benevides, Mrs. Vivian Burke, Mrs. Kathleen Campeau. Mrs. Ann Connell, Mrs. Mary Kilby, Mrs. Margaret Laurianno, Steven St. ,Pierre, Mrs. Margaret Vieira. Holy Name: Raymond Beausoleil, Miss Nancy Carroll, Dennis Turn to Page Six
The three - Bishop Thomas Kelly, general secretary of the U.S. Catholic Conference; Dr. Claire Randall, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, and Rabbi Bernard Mandelbaum, general secretary of the Synagogue Council of America - issued a joint statement on genetic engineering June 20, four days after the Supreme Court ruled that the results of such genetic engineering are patentable. "With the Supreme Court, decision allowing patents on new forms of life - a purpose that could not have been imagined when present patent law9 were written it is obvious that. these laws must be re-examined," said the three in their statement. They said they intend to ask Congress to begin developing new patent laws to deal with Turn to Page Eleven