anc 0 VOL. 32, NO. 27
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Friday, July 1, 1988
FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD &THE ISLANDS Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
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,! Pope in Austria ~\
UNDETERRED by heavy rain, 91-year-old Jack Rivers, grand marshal for Provincetown's 41st annual Blessing of the Fleet ceremony, prepares to cast memorial wreath for fishermen lost at sea into Cape Cod harbor. From left, he is watched by unidentified young acolyte; Father Manuel Ferreira, pastor of Immaculate Conception parish, New Bedford; Msgr. John J. Oliveira; Father Bento R. Fraga, pastor of St. Peter Apostle parish, Provincetown. (Kearns photo)
Blessing held despite storm It rained on his parade, in fact, the parade wasn't held at all, as Msgr. John J. Oliveira subbed for Bishop Daniel A. Cronin at the 41st Blessing of the Fleet, held Sunday in Provincetown. But despite thunder, lightning and a Capewide power outage that made the pre-blessing Fishermen's Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Peter Apostle Church a candlelight ceremony until its last few minutes, the diocesan chancellor retained his sense of humor. "I don't take this personally," he quipped. "Scripture says it rains on the just and the unjust." He brought Bishop Cronin's
greetings to the St. Peter's congregation, saying that although prevented from attending by the U.S. bishops' meeting at Collegeville, Minn., the diocesan shepherd was "with the fishermen in heart and mind." In lieu ofthe traditional parade,
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Asks spiritual renewal, decries Nazi attitudes INNS BR UCK, Austria (NC) Traveling through Austria's wooded hills and rolling farmlands, Pope John Paul II preached a low-key call for spiritual renewal and an emphatic warning never to let Nazi extermination policies happen again. The five-day trip was a tapestry in which "existential questions" about life and death were woven together with the need to assume greater responsibility in preventing the "political earthquakes" which derail human history. At the root of both is the increased turning away from God, especially in Western secularized societies, the pope emphasized in his June 23-27 visit. The trip was mostly to. rural Austria, where religious identification still runs deep although religious practice is shallow. About 85 percent of Austria's 7.6 million population profess Catholicism, but only 30 percent fulfill the weekly Mass obligation. Most people ignore church teach-
ings on sexual ethics, particularly birth control. The trip was an effort to quietly encourage a spiritual renewal by tapping the nation's religious culture. The pope softened criticisms of religious indifference with praise for Catholics faithful to teachings and working to improve church life. He praised Austria's ecumenical activism, especially its efforts with Orthodox churches in the Soviet bloc. Austrian Catholics were encouraged to continue being a bridge to East European Christians. The pope put the blame for the decline in religious practice on the growth of secular attitudes. Although he asked Catholic publications not to be so critical of the church, the pope did not see a general trend toward dissent from church teachings as the cause of the drop in Catholic practice. Instead, he campaigned to convince Austrians that faith is needed to overcome "the fear of death and Turn to Page Six
an old-fashioned trolley transported Msgr. Oliveira and his escorts, including 91-year-old Jack Rivers, parade marshal without a parade, to MacMillan Wharf on Cape Cod Harbor. There, protected by umbrellas, the blessing took place. The traditional "sail-past" of fishing and pleasure craft' was precluded by a small craft advisory, therefore it was Msgr. Oliveira who did the walking, passing up and down the wharf to sprinkle the anchored boats with holy water. Rivers, a fisherman since age 16, Turn to Page Two
A t bishops' meeting
SOl, AIDS, TV are top topics COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (NC) - Sharp criticism of President Reagan's "Star Wars" plan and a surprise decision to join Mother Angelica's Eternal Word Television Network highlighted the U.S. bishops' June 24-27 meeting in Collegeville. After meeting in executive session June 27, the bishops announced they would form a committee to issue a new AIDS statement, building on the current statement by their Administrative Board and in dialogue with the Vatican. The criticism of "Star Wars," as President Reagan's Strategic De-
fense Initiative is popularly known, came in a report, approved overwhelmingly by the bishops, which assessed the state of nuclear deterrence five years after the bishops' 1983 pastoral lette! on war and peace. In the television action, the bishops approved a two-year contract to use EWTN exclusively as the cable network for programs produced by the bishops' conference. The approval came only after the network changed a contract provision to give the bishops' conference controlling votes in a panel which could censor a bishops' conference program.
In other actions at their fourday meeting, the bishops: - Discussed the first draft of a pastoral letter on women's concerns and offered suggestions to improve it. - Criticized inadequacies in a draft Vatican document on the theological and juridical status of bishops' conferences and formed a blue-ribbon panel of bishops to write their response to it. - Debated general absolution at length but came to an inconclusive vote on a norm for its use in the United States. Turn to Page Six
THESE 8TAINED-GLASS windows in Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Springfield, Ill., link American and Catholic history. At left, George Washington commissions Father John Carroll to seek support in Paris for the American Revolution. The priest later became first bishop of Baltimore, the first American diocese, whose boundaries were coextensive with those of the United States. At right, Abraham Lincoln gives New York Archbishop John Joseph Hughes information to take to Europe for use in seeking support of presidential efforts to hold the Union together. (NC photos)