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Diocese of Fall River, Mass.

Friday, August 5, 2016

Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., plants green onions amid some of the vegetables he’s growing on the grounds of his home.

Story on page 14. (Photo by Dave Jolivet) The Anchor - August 5, 2016

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Pictured standing on the far right are George Benoit, Jr., and Robin Benoit, at a luncheon honoring this year’s recipients of the Matt Benoit Scholarship Fund, a scholarship set up in memory of their son who passed away in 2006.

Ten years later scholarship keeps memory of son alive

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff beckyaubut@anchornews.org

WESTPORT — “How do you sum up Matt?” said his mother, Robin Benoit.

“He was a wonderful, young man, wonderful son who loved his family, loved sports and was just an all-around great kid who was loved by everyone. He was a friend to everybody.”

Back in 2006, Matt Benoit was a senior at Bishop Stang High School in Dartmouth. Active in the high school’s ministry, he was an athlete by nature, playing football, basketball — where he was captain — and baseball. Though Matt opted to give up football his senior year to play soccer, he still supported his former teammates and was coming home on a Friday evening after attending a football game with his sister, Angelique, a freshman at Bishop Stang.

“He had called me and said, ‘Mom, we’re on our 2

way home. We just stopped at Wendy’s. I love you, mom.’ And I said, ‘I love you too, Matt,’ and hung up the phone,” recalled Robin.

“The next call was from Angelique.”

After complaining of a headache, upset stomach and a loss of feeling in his legs, Angelique told Matt to pull over to get some air.

Only a mile-and-a-half from home, Matt pulled over in the parking lot of a Methodist Church in Westport, got out of the car and collapsed.

His father, George Benoit, Jr., was in Connecticut when he received a call from his mother-in-law about Matt.

By the time Robin arrived, emergency services had been called and were working on Matt in the ambulance.

Matt was 17 years old when he died.

“He was never sick,” said Robin. “He just joined a gym and had been put in the elite category. He was so proud and told me it was because

The Anchor - August 5, 2016

he was so conditioned, and he was. He was in a lot of sports and very active.”

“The pathology report stated Matt died from a dissection of the aorta and there wasn’t anything anyone could have done,” said George.

Every year, the senior class at Bishop Stang creates their own class slogan. That year’s slogan, ‘One class; one heartbeat,’ was a class motto that

Matt Benoit

became a rallying cry of support after Matt’s death. Three thousand people showed up to Matt’s wake.

George said he immediately wanted to form a scholarship in Matt’s name, and the family got a start on raising funds as donations poured from friends of the Benoit family.

“We also got all kinds of donations in the mail, and that started it off,” said George.

A few months after Matt’s death, friends held a fundraising dinner at White’s of Westport but the Benoit family could do little but attend the event.

“We didn’t do anything,” recalled George, adding that he and the family were still deeply grieving the loss of Matt. “We weren’t even in the world.”

“We just attended,” said Robin. “And then people wanted to do it again, so George and I got a little more involved to where it is

today.”

Every year the Matt Benoit Scholarship fund gives away $20,000 dollars. Four thousand dollars are given to incoming freshmen attending Bishop Stang High School, and the rest is awarded to graduating seniors from public and Catholic high schools in the Southeastern Massachusetts area.

George is hands-on, getting the information out to high schools every year, and eight board members that include Matt’s parents and siblings look over each scholarship application to find those who exemplify the best qualities of Matt; students who can balance their faith with academics, sports and work.

“It is hard,” said George.

“We got like 89 or 90 applications this year, and we sit there and go through them.

The smart kids are going to get their scholarships. My son wasn’t the smartest kid Turn to page 19

Catholic peer leadership connection offered to students at UMass Dartmouth

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff beckyaubut@anchornews.org

DARTMOUTH — In only a few weeks, UMass Dartmouth will be opening its doors and shining a light on academics, but incoming students can connect with his or her Spiritual light with NOVUS, a two-day gathering of first-year students and upperclassmen peer ministers at the campus’ Newman House.

For those peer ministers leading NOVUS, his or her work began earlier in the year when they applied to CorsairWORKS, a peer minister leadership-training program.

CorsairWORKS came

about through “the nature of the Church as told by the Second Vatican Council is to be missionary by nature,” said Father David Frederici, chaplain of campus ministry, who added the idea is to try to get students involved in their catechetical faith early on in their college experience to build relationships on campus.

“It’s not just about an email blast or running an ad on TV screens around campus; it’s first and foremost relational, making the connections that way, before the semester begins,” said Father Frederici. “Peers are much more effective in forming those relationships than Deacon Frank [Lucca] or myself would be.”

Eight students were accepted into this year’s CorsairWORKS, and after a preliminary meeting this past spring before school ended, the real training will begin during a retreat held a

Flanking participants in NOVUS during a meet and greet barbecue at UMass Dartmouth, left, is Deacon Frank Lucca, campus minister, and right is Father David Frederici, campus chaplain.

Lead by CorsairWORKS peer leadership based upon St. James’ saying, “Faith without works is dead,” students learn the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for fruitful servant leadership to their peers at UMass Dartmouth Catholic Campus Ministry and Newman House.

week before school starts.

Peer ministers will move in Tuesday, a week before they would normally move in, and Wednesday they will head to the Sacred Hearts Retreat Center in Wareham to spend almost three days preparing to help lead firstyear students who are taking part in NOVUS. “NOVUS is open to first-

DIOCESAN TRIBUNAL FALL RIVER, MASSACHUSETTS Decree of Citation Since his present domicile is unknown, in accord with the provision of Canon 1509.1, we hereby cite Jose A. Matias to appear in person before the Tribunal of the Diocese of Fall River (887 Highland Avenue in Fall River, Bristol County, Massachusetts) on August 18, 2016 at 2:30 PM to give his testimony regarding the question: IS THE MERCADO-MATIAS MARRIAGE NULL ACCORDING TO CHURCH LAW? Anyone who has knowledge of the domicile of Jose A. Matias is hereby required to inform him of this citation.

Given at the offices of the Diocesan Tribunal in Fall River, Bristol County, Massachusetts on July 28, 2016.

(Rev.) Jeffrey Cabral, J.C.L. Judicial Vicar (Mrs.) Denise D. Berube Ecclesiastical Notary

year students, whether they are residents or commute to campus,” said Deacon Lucca, campus minister.

“They arrive on the Friday evening around 5 p.m. Once CorsairWORKS wraps up, those peer ministers then conduct NOVUS, which begins on that Friday evening and runs until Sunday evening.”

NOVUS will offer tools to incoming students on how to live out a faith-filled life on campus, and offer guidance and advice regarding life in general and help incoming students to adjust to campus life.

“Once they go through NOVUS, as part of their service project — and we do a number of service projects — they assist the freshmen on Sunday with their movein,” said Deacon Lucca.

NOVUS does not end there; the students will meet with peer ministers once a week for the next five weeks for the “Freshmen Five,” and in those meetings there’s

prayer and general discussions about campus life.

“We hope that helps solidify their support on campus,” said Deacon Lucca.

As established students guide incoming students, “they can certainly relate to the new students better than we can,” said Father Frederici, and peer ministers can offer resources to the student along with sharing their faith with others in a friendly, non-proselytizing way.

Having that connection will help an incoming student’s transition from high school to college and allow each student “to nurture their own faith and to challenge themselves to grow in faith so they don’t become complacent, and at the same time teach them ways to facilitate, for example, create a small Christian community, a Scripture study, how to plan an activity where there’s a social event or even Turn to page 15

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First-class relic of Blessed Mother Teresa coming to diocese

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff kensouza@anchornews.org

mutual friend of both Deacon Varieur and the founder of the Missionaries of CharATTLEBORO — In an- ity. ticipation of her canoniza“Hugo worked for Mother tion in Rome next month, Teresa for about eight years; a first-class relic of Blessed he began in the early 1970s Mother Teresa of Calcutta when few people knew or will be coming to South At- were aware of her work,” tleboro.

Deacon Varieur recently told According to Deacon Rick The Anchor. “He became a sort Varieur, a vial of blood that of favorite. So when Mother was drawn from the Church’s came to the United States, next saint will be arriving at she would have Hugo drive his parish, St. Theresa of the for her on the east coast.”

Child Jesus Church on Baltic Deacon Varieur explained Avenue, on September 18 for that Rossi spent about three an 11 a.m. Mass celebration years helping Mother Teand veneration. resa during the 1970s in The vial — one of four South Bronx, N.Y., when that was drawn from Blessed she opened a Missionaries Mother Teresa shortly before of Charity house. They were her death on Sept. 5, 1997 — so close that “when Mother was gifted to Hugo Rossi, a Teresa was dying, she asked

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The Anchor - August 5, 2016

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta speaks at St. Lawrence Martyr Church in New Bedford during her 1995 visit to the Fall River Diocese. (Photo by Jack Iddon)

that one of the vials of blood be sent to Hugo here in the United States,” he said.

Rossi will be bringing the first-class relic with him to South Attleboro on September 18 and will also share stories of his personal encounters with Blessed Mother Teresa.

“Hugo will speak probably for a few minutes about his experiences with Mother, probably after Communion,” Deacon Varieur said.

Noting that any part of a saint’s body — things like bone, hair or blood — are

considered first-class relics, Deacon Varieur said the veneration of these items has become “a great lost tradition of the Church.”

“It’s really a way in which we acknowledge God’s grace and blessing through another individual and we start to think of ourselves as — if Mother can do this through God’s grace, maybe we can do something similar,” he said. “We can all aspire to be like her.”

Although many in the Fall River Diocese were blessed to have seen and met Blessed Mother Teresa in person when she made a visit to her convent house in New Bedford in 1995, Deacon Varieur was not in the diocese at the time.

“I know she came to stay with her (Missionaries of Charity) Sisters here in New Bedford … and we’re still very blessed to have them here in our diocese,” he said.

Now, more than 20 years later, a part of Blessed Mother Teresa will be returning to the diocese — and timing couldn’t be better given that it will be just two weeks after her September 4 canonization.

“We were looking for a time to do it around the canonization and the principle reason for that is we know that canonization is usually a time of great miracles with the saint,” Deacon Varieur said. “The relic veneration is

going to take place within the context of the Mass, probably after Mass at the end of Communion, and then after that people can leave or stay, if they want, for a healing service which will be prayed upon with the relic.”

While some may say that Blessed Mother Teresa’s elevation to sainthood has been a long time coming, Deacon Varieur said it’s been “a relatively quick canonization in the history of canonizations.”

“With her, the Church has sort of bumped up the process a little bit,” he added.

Anyone even remotely familiar with Blessed Mother Teresa and her life’s work would readily agree with her being considered a saint.

“When we think about Mother Teresa, I think there are two things that immediately come to mind,” Deacon Varieur said. “First of all, we think about this sort of steely, Albanian temperament that she had — she was sort of like Christ in that regard.

I mean this was one tough woman. And when you think about the discipline that goes into that and the strength it takes to stay so focused on one thing the way she did, it really is just amazing.

“And then she combined it with a remarkable humility.

Those two things, especially in our modern age, really stand out. That combination of determination and humility to me is just so wonderful. Those two traits are what made her … and God allowing us to know her in our lifetime is just remarkable.”

Deacon Varieur said he hopes people will join them in celebrating Blessed Mother Teresa’s canonization during the 11 a.m. Mass and healing service on September 18.

“We want anyone who has an interest in Blessed Mother Teresa and her canonization to join us,” he said. “The relic will be here for the day … and all are welcome.”

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ: I want to express my gratitude for all your efforts during the 2016 Catholic Charities Appeal.

Due to you, our clergy, and other lay leaders, we have established another new record of generosity and support for the social and pastoral ministries of the Fall River Diocese.

Your hard work, gifts and pledges have resulted in a total of $4,630,223.72 raised over the past two months. This represents approximately $100,000 over last year’s total and slightly more than $400,000 over the past two years. I consider this a providential sign that we have the heart and the will to sustain and renew our diocese together.

Most importantly, this strengthens our ability to assist thousands of individuals throughout the diocese who turn to the agencies funded by the Catholic Charities Appeal for assistance.

We are blessed by the number of people who respond to this call to promote human dignity and to Pope Francis’ call to “open our hearts to mercy.” Your efforts are a tangible example of your commitment to this principle.

In the name of the many thousands who are assisted by the agencies and apostolates sponsored by the Appeal, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to you.

I hope the summer months will allow you and your families to relax and enjoy some restful moments. Please be assured of my continued gratitude to you for your generosity and advocacy.

I am grateful to all the faithful parishioners and local businesses that have led by example through their charitable gifts.

Sincerely yours in the Lord,

Most Reverend Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., D.D. Bishop of Fall River

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Anchor Editorial

Review of mercy in the fourth quarter

“We each need forgiveness because we each make mistakes. For the majority of us, when we make mistakes or act selfishly, we become ashamed: ashamed by our flaws, our moments of weakness, our anger or our fears.

We can get lost in our shame and we can hide behind our pride. It is natural that we avoid addressing the issues that cause us suffering, but by hiding these issues, it keeps us from finding the healing that comes with being forgiven, with laying our burdens at the feet of Jesus. Jesus enters our nature to help us become better. He sees our suffering, He knows our weakness, He knows our fears and He wants desperately to forgive us because He loves us completely. If you are seeking forgiveness or if you need help in overcoming your shortcomings, your addictions, or your obstacles, find out how to can seek God’s mercy.”

Thus the Archdiocese of Los Angeles invites people to encounter Divine Mercy through its special website, SeekMercy.org. It is a good resource to help us to grow in the riches of God’s mercy that He wants to share with us during this special jubilee year (and every year). Below the section on seeking God’s mercy (some of which was quoted in our first paragraph today), the website has an area about how to “give mercy,” where it describes the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, which we have reviewed here in the editorial column here this year.

“For us to give mercy,” the website notes, “we must first turn our hearts towards the other, we must then join them in their suffering and ultimately pour out the soothing oil of God’s love to heal them. Most importantly, to give mercy we must join in God’s sacrifice — sacrificing our time, our desires and our wants out of love for the other. If you would like to grow in your ability to give mercy in the coming year, commit yourself to doing the Works of Mercy starting with praying about the people in your life who need to receive your forgiveness.”

The website then has a special section on forgiving other people. It quotes Sister Laura Gormley, S.S.L., who wrote, “Forgiveness is not only a simple act of will, but a process that takes time involving our memories and also our feelings. In response to Jesus’ command regarding offering our gift [at the altar and reconciling with our neighbor before doing so], perhaps the best we can do is to take the first step in making peace and then offer our gift.”

The Sister gives us hope, since forgiveness often seems so hard: “One of the factors that can make forgiveness so difficult is our misunderstandings regarding the nature of forgiveness. A common example of such confusion is the frequently repeated maxim, ‘forgive and forget.’ This is often taken as a Biblical teaching, whereas it is actually a line from Shakespeare’s play, OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER www.anchornews.org

Vol. 60, No. 16

Member: Catholic Press Association, Catholic News Service Published bi-weekly by the Catholic Press of the Diocese of Fall River, 887 Highland Avenue, Fall River, MA 02720, Telephone 508-675-7151 — FAX 508-675-7048, email: theanchor@anchornews.org. Subscription price by mail, postpaid $20.00 per year, for U.S. addresses.

Send address changes to P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA, call or use email address

PUBLISHER - Most Reverend Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V. EXECUTIVE EDITOR Father Richard D. Wilson fatherwilson@anchornews.org EDITOR David B. Jolivet davejolivet@anchornews.org OFFICE MANAGER Mary Chase marychase@anchornews.org ADVERTISING Wayne R. Powers waynepowers@anchornews.org REPORTER Kenneth J. Souza k ensouza@anchornews.org REPORTER Rebecca Aubut beckyaubut@anchornews.org Send Letters to the Editor to: fatherwilson@anchornews.org

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The Anchor - August 5, 2016

King Lear. To forget a serious hurt is not possible.”

Another thing which makes our living out of what we say in the “Our Father” — “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us” — is that sometimes the person we need to forgive hasn’t repented or asked forgiveness of us. Sister Gormley explains, “A further obstacle to forgiveness is in thinking that to forgive one must be automatically reconciled with the offender. The ideal is that forgiveness would lead to Reconciliation, however, that may not always be possible, and in some circumstances, not even desirable. Instead, forgiveness on our part is the work we have to do with and for ourselves to be released from the anguish that binds us to the offender. This inner work does not depend on whether the offender acknowledges the offense, seeks Reconciliation, or is still alive or not. In all this work of forgiveness, we remember that we are unconditionally loved

by God, as is the one who has hurt us. Trusting in this love we move forward, step-by-step, held in this merciful love, learning to forgive as we have been forgiven, hoping that, in time, some Reconciliation may be possible.”

In the Church sometimes our lack of mercy towards each other is a scandal, which makes the Gospel hard for non-Catholics or non-Christians to believe, since they see us not living it out. In an article on mercy (austindiocese.org/article/14298/lent-forgiving-others-god-forgives-us) on the Diocese of Austin website, Sister Margie Lavonis, C.S.C., remembered a conflict that she had with another Sister: “Here was a lot of friction and competition in our jobs. When she got a ministry that I felt called to do, it took me years to be able to face her. I would turn the other way when I saw her coming. Then one year during my annual retreat I wrote her a letter asking her to make peace with me and that I was sorry for anything I did to cause the tension. It was not easy, but it was one of the most freeing exercises in my life. Now we are not best friends, but we do talk with each other.”

Unfortunately, many of us (one hopes not most of us) have had similar experiences of conflict in Church situations. We know that we are sinners and are in need of God’s forgiveness, but sometimes it is rather hard to forgive that other person. As noted above, we don’t need to forget what happened or wait for the other person to finally say they’re sorry (sometimes that will never happen). However, for our own Spiritual health and for our own Salvation, we need to forgive. This act of mercy will actually help ourselves, too.

Let us ask God to help us to close out this Year of Mercy according to His plan for our lives, which always involves love and mercy, for ourselves and for others.

Daily Readings August 6 — August 19

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Aug. 6, Dn 7:9-10,13-14; Ps 97:1-2,5-6,9; 2 Pt 1:1619; Lk 9:28b-36. Sun. Aug. 7, Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Wis 18:6-9; Ps 33:1,12,18-22; Heb 11:1-2,8-19 or 11:1-2,8-12; Lk 12:32-48 or 12:35-40. Mon. Aug. 8, Ez 1:2-5,24-28c; Ps 148:1-2,11-14; Mt 17:22-27. Tues. Aug. 9, Ez 2:8—3:4; Ps 119:14,24,72,103,111,131; Mt 18:1-5,10,12-14. Wed. Aug. 10, 2 Cor 9:6-10; Ps 112:12,5-9; Jn 12:24-26. Thurs. Aug. 11, Ez 12:1-12; Ps 78:56-59,61-62; Mt 18:21—19:1. Fri. Aug. 12, Ez 16:1-15,60,63 or 16:59-63; (Ps)Is 12:2-3, 4bcd,5-6; Mt 19:3-12.

Sat. Aug. 13, Ez 18:1-10,13b,30-32; Ps 51:12-15,18-19; Mt 19:13-15. Sun. Aug. 14, Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jer 38:4-6,8-10; Ps 40:2-4,18; Heb 12:1-4; Lk 12:49-53. Mon. Aug. 15, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, (Vigil) 1 Chr 15:3-4,15-16;16:1-2; Ps 132:6-7,9-10,13-14; 1 Cor 15:54b-57; Lk 11:27-28. (Day) Rv 11:19a;12:1-6a,10ab; Ps 45:10-12,16; 1 Cor 15:20-27; Lk 1:39-56. Tues. Aug. 16, Ez 28:1-10; (Ps)Dt 32:26-28,30,35cd-36ab; Mt 19:23-30. Wed. Aug. 17, Ez 34:1-11; Ps 23:1-6; Mt 20:1-16. Thurs. Aug. 18, Ez 36:23-28; Ps 51:12-15,18-19; Mt 22:1-14. Fri. Aug. 19, Ez 37:1-14; Ps 107:2-9; Mt 22:34-40.

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here’s a journey involved, an interior exodus from a form of slavery induced by sin to a promised land irrigated by the milk and honey of God’s mercy. It’s an internal reiteration of the odyssey of the Prodigal Son from a fallen place of self-imposed alienation to the house and restorative embrace of a forgiving Father.

That Spiritual transit is symbolized by the Jubilee Doors that Pope Francis has allowed bishops to establish in fitting churches across the world. A door symbolizes a passage from one place to another: we leave something behind to enter into a new reality. In the most famous Jubilee Door of all, in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, there are 14 Scriptural bronze reliefs indicating the reality being appropriated as we pass through the threshold, all scenes from Salvation history indicating the return of those evicted from Eden to the mercy of God. The Jubilee of Mercy is meant to be one big cosmic door in which we turn our back on sin, turn toward God’s forgiveness, and make with God’s help the moral migration through the portal God has opened wide for us.

Because of the intrinsic dynamism involved in the passage of human conversion to Divine clemency, there’s an even greater sign, an even more powerful efficacious action, than passing through a door. It’s something that should precede and follow traversing the grace-filled gateway: a pilgrimage.

Through Christian history, pilgrimages have been linked to mercy. The first plenary indulgences — which would be able to

The pilgrimage of mercy substitute for and satisfy all Because it is in our backof the penances assigned yard, however, many of us by priests for the commismay take for granted what sion of sins — involved those in other parts of our pilgrimages to the great country, Canada, and even Christian holy sites, like other regions of the world the Holy Land, Rome, and look to with ardor and holy Compostela, journeys that jealousy. might take years on foot, It’s the National Shrine and often involve great of The Divine Mercy in risk and sacrifice. The idea Stockbridge, just off exit was that if penances were meant to be Spiritual medicine Putting Into to realign one’s will the Deep to God’s, such a pilgrimage would do

By Father just as much good Roger J. Landry as years of regular fasting, prayer and charity.

Pope Francis spoke about two on the Massachusetts the connection between Turnpike, nestled in the pilgrimages and mercy in southwestern corner of the his letter inaugurating this Commonwealth close to year of grace. “The practice the Connecticut and New of pilgrimage,” he wrote, York borders. “has a special place in the I’ve been visiting there at Holy Year, because it repleast once a year throughout resents the journey each of my priesthood. During this us makes in this life. Life jubilee, I have gone three itself is a pilgrimage, and times. But it was on a pilthe human being is a viator, grimage last week with 55 a pilgrim traveling along Filipino priests, six bishops, the road, making his way and about a dozen Filipino to the desired destination. lay people that I really saw Similarly, to reach the Holy it with different eyes.

Door in Rome or in any My boss at the Permaother place in the world, nent Observer Mission of everyone, each according to the Holy See to the United his or her ability, will have Nations, Archbishop Berto make a pilgrimage. This nardito Auza, was hosting will be a sign that mercy in New York the annual is also a goal to reach and reunion of the priests from requires dedication and his native Province of sacrifice [and involves] an Bohol who are ministering impetus to conversion: by in parishes in the United crossing the threshold of States and Canada. They the Holy Door, we will find were joined by the bishops the strength to embrace of their natives dioceses and God’s mercy and dedicate several other clergy who ourselves to being merciful had flown over from the with others as the Father Philippines. Many were in has been with us.”

New York for the first time For those of us in the for their four-day reunion. northeast, especially for Instead of spending more those of us in Massachutime seeing all that the Big setts, we have an extraordi- Apple has to offer, however, nary pilgrimage destination Archbishop Auza decided for this Jubilee of Mercy. to lead a pilgrimage to

Stockbridge for meditation and Mass and to have me, as a Missionary of Mercy, give a talk on living the jubilee well.

We spent more than six hours on the road and about four hours at the shrine. I wondered whether the priests and bishops would think it the most appropriate use of a whole day.

Yet the bishops and priests blew me away by telling me how excited they were to be going there. Every year, many said, even from the Philippines, they watch EWTN’s coverage of Divine Mercy Sunday from the shrine and they were fulfilling a dream to make a pilgrimage there. Knowing I was a priest from the Bay State, they emphasized how lucky priests and faithful in Massachusetts and neighboring states must be to have the shrine so close so that we can routinely make pilgrimages there.

They’re right. We are blessed. And we should not bury that gift in the Berkshires.

The shrine sits on 350 acres known as Eden Hill.

It’s run by the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on land they purchased in 1943 for their novitiate. The shrine’s church, built throughout the 1950s, features a copy of the Vilnius image of Divine Mercy, stained glass and mosaics portraying God’s

merciful love, shrines to St. Faustina Kowalska and St. John Paul II with first class relics of each to venerate, and a beautiful jubilee door.

On the beautiful grounds, there are exquisite Stations of the Cross, shrines to Our Lady of Lourdes, the Holy Family, St. Therese, St. Francis, and the Holy Innocents, and a great picnic area. Every day there are two Masses, Confessions, adoration, public recitation of the Rosary and common chanting of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. It also has one of the best and least expensive Catholic gift stores I’ve found anywhere.

Sometimes pilgrimages can be back-breaking. But a pilgrimage to the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy, enveloped by the mountains, blue skies and green fields, more easily reminds one of the beauty we hope to find at the end of the pilgrimage of life, where,

by God’s mercy, we hope to be surrounded by the even greater splendor of the new heavens and earth.

If you haven’t yet made a pilgrimage to the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy this year, there are still 107 days left in the jubilee. Spending one in Stockbridge will inspire and help you on the interior journey that this jubilee is all about.

Anchor columnist Father Landry can be contacted at fatherlandry@ catholicpreaching.com.

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We never know where or when

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here have you seen the Face of Christ?

We are taught to look for God in everyone. The lowly and the mighty are each bestowed with a God given dignity that compels us to act with charity to all and mercy to those who suffer. The essence of what it means to be a Christian is to act like Jesus would and follow His example of radical love of neighbor.

I recently met a parishioner of Holy Trinity Parish in West Harwich who practices her faith in such a manner. Her life story is remarkable, her impact on lives is tangible and profound, and just recently, the consequences of her goodness and witness has resulted in a tangible gift to the children of our Catholic schools that will permanently endow a scholarship with more than $1 million to the Foundation to Advance Catholic Education.

Her name is Joan Ryan.

Her story stretches from Ireland to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Greece, London and now Cape Cod. That might sound like the premise of a spy novel. A tale of international intrigue it is not. Rather her life has been cloaked in the simple virtues of faith, family, and

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service. family — “Bring that fella Along the way, countfor tea” was the telegram less individuals have been from home — she followed touched by her ministry him back to Pakistan and of listening and sharing. set about building and “I love to visit people, and raising a family in a jungle I know that sometimes bungalow. They were there something as insignificant for two-and-one-half years as a smile can lift a perbefore moving back to Dubson’s spirit,” she said. “It’s lin for 10 years. not me, it’s Jesus working Next came 24 years through me. My brother in Saudi Arabia, some in Jim was a priest in New Riyadh and some Jeddah, Zealand for many years and as Peter’s career prospered. he often told me, if he thought I was getting a little bigIt’s What headed: ‘Joan, we We Do are nothing without

By James A. Jesus. We are His Campbell instruments.’ That has stayed with me.”

Joan was born and raised in Belfast, In time a small vacation Northern Ireland. On home on a Greek Island holiday she met Peter Ryan, was acquired and the fama young engineer, back from ily, which now included his work on a tea plantation three children — Christina, in East Pakistan, in what is Brendan and Yvonne — now Bangladesh. The first was spread across the globe. day they met he asked her This is where our story to sew a button on his coat. returns to Cape Cod. The second day he asked Yvonne and her husband her to marry him. Before had settled on the Cape and she gave him her answer, Peter and Joan decided to she remembered a pilgrimretire in 1990 and be near age she had taken to Lough them. Christina settled in Derg in County Mead with Berkshire, England and her father. There she asked Brendan was in Texas. simply for God to guide As a new parishioner at her on the right path. After Holy Trinity in 1993, Joan inviting Peter to meet her approached Father Gerry

The Anchor - August 5, 2016

Shovelton, the pastor, about how she could get involved.

He spoke about a new ministry of the parish, a pastoral outreach to the elderly.

Joan was very interested and got to work immediately, visiting homebound parishioners, saying the Rosary at local nursing homes, and eventually becoming a Eucharistic minister. Her team is now bringing the Sacrament of the Eucharist throughout the parish.

Joan herself has nine people every week that she visits.

“We try to bring the gift of comfort to families struggling to care for their elderly loved ones. And for those without family we provide the loving presence and assurance of God’s love,” Joan says.

I call this column, “It’s what we do,” because the spotlight is meant to tell the stories of either heroic or simple examples of kindness, charity, or outreach that occur on a daily basis throughout our diocese.

What makes Joan’s story different from the thousands of other encounters where our faithful live out their Catholic creed is the serendipitous impact her

actions will now have in perpetuity for the children of our schools.

When Joan met Roger and Helen Verville, they were among those she was assigned to visit and deliver the Eucharist. Joan’s natural ebullience and Irish wit insured that, over time, they would become friends. When Helen’s health failed, Joan was there to help Roger cope. Roger and Helen had never had children and over time had decided to set up a trust to thoughtfully distribute their assets. They both valued education and admired the success of those attending the Catholic schools in their area. Roger made a provision in his trust to endow a scholarship that would benefit students whose families need financial assistance to be able to afford the tuition at any of the schools of the diocese.

We can never know the full impact of our Christian witness. A gesture, a smile, the patience to sit and spend time with a lonely soul, or play with a child can have ripples we never anticipate.

Sometime in the future, a young boy or girl will enroll in a school their parents could not otherwise afford.

They will absorb lessons about numbers, dates, and grammar. They will also learn about love of neighbor, selflessness, and responsibility for the poor.

They won’t know to thank Joan Ryan or Roger and Helen Verville for their scholarship. So I will.

God is good.

Anchor columnist James Campbell is director of the diocesan Development Office/Catholic Charities Appeal/Foundation to Advance Catholic Education.

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n his encyclical, Laudato Sí, Pope Francis speaks of the loss of biodiversity in the world today.

Biodiversity refers to the number of different species of living organisms that inhabit our planet.

More than 1.5 million species are known to science. Estimates of the number of species actually on the planet range from 10 to 100 million. New species are being discovered daily.

In fact, about 18,000 new species were discovered last year. Many are found in remote areas of rainforests and the oceans, but some are found through new fossil discoveries, and even in existing collections of organisms that haven’t been analyzed yet. New species begin to appear through the processes of evolution and speciation while extinction has always occurred as well.

According to the Smithsonian Institute 99.9 percent of all species that have lived on the earth are now extinct. Their demise has been brought about by floods, volcanoes, earthquakes, sea level rise, changes in climate, and even, in the case of the dinosaurs, meteoric impacts. Studies of the past have revealed evidence of five mass extinctions over the past 400 million years. In each event we have lost between 76 percent and 96 percent of the species living on the planet.

Since the last glaciation period about 20,000 to 10,000 years ago, it is humans who have become the dominant factor in the loss of species due to overhunting, habitat destruction, pollution and competition resulting from the introduction of non-native, or invasive species into an

Biodiversity (Variety) is the spice of life area which outcompete the native species for available resources. What the pope wants us to be aware of is that, “the Earth’s resources are being plundered due to our short-sighted approaches to the economy, commerce, and production.” We are currently losing species to extinction at a rapid rate.

So why is biodiversity so important? In the natural world, the larger the number of species the more resilient the ecosystem is to the effects of environmental changes. If the changes cause the loss of some species, the genetic variation in other species may allow them to now prosper and take the place of the lost species in the food web. In ecosystems with low biodiversity the ecosystem can collapse if another species cannot take over the ecological niche, or role in the ecosystem, of the lost species.

Ecosystems in areas that are stable over long periods of time with few major environmental changes, such as rainforests, tend to have developed more niches, and have greater biodiversity. Areas that experience geological changes, such as earthquakes, floods, fires, ice formation, and isolation create situations where only a few species can survive the stresses of these changes or fewer species inhabit an area, as in the case of islands. Under these conditions biodiversity is lower.

The pope expresses his concern for the loss of species that we have yet to discover because they could hold valuable genetic traits that would have made them valuable as human resources

for food, or for medicines, or other uses. He wants us to see that these species have value in themselves, whether or not they are of direct use to us as resources. The pope states that “each year sees the disappearance of thousands of plant and animal species which we will never know, which our children will never see, because

Our Common Home

By Professor Robert Rak

they have been lost forever.

The great majority became extinct for reasons related to human activity. Because of us, thousands of species will no longer give glory to God by their very existence, nor convey their message to us.

We have no such right.”

The pope emphasizes the need for much forethought

when we look to change an existing natural area to one that suits our particular economic needs. He states that, “a sober look at our world shows that the degree of human intervention, often in the service of business interests and consumerism, is actually making our earth less rich and beautiful, ever more limited and grey, even as technological advances and consumer goods continue to abound limitlessly.

We seem to think that we can substitute an irreplaceable and irretrievable beauty with something that we have created ourselves.”

Our urban sprawl into undisturbed areas and pollution give testimony to this.

The current destruction of the rich biodiverse rainforests in Borneo to create plantations to grow a single crop, or monoculture, for the production of palm oil, is an example of this. This

is one of the few remaining wild habitats of the orangutan, considered the most intelligent of the great apes. They, along with their habitat, are being lost. Our own early agricultural techniques and monoculture of corn and wheat decimated the great plains species. The dust bowl conditions of the 1930s were the result.

The pope tells us that we need to learn how to lessen our negative impact on habitats. When we divide up areas so that animals, which once freely roamed across a region, are now cut off from other members of their species, their populations suffer due to a reduction in genetic diversity, loss of area to gather food, and lower numbers available for reproductive success. “Biological Corridors” can be created which allow the organisms to migrate from one area to another and stay connected.

Tunnels under highways can Turn to page 20

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T

Let no one look down on you because you are young

en years ago I wrote a reflection paper on Christian Leadership Institute. In that reflection I covered a play-by-play of the days I spent at Cathedral Camp and focused heavily on the relationships I built during my time there.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with CLI, it’s a week-long leadership experience for high school youth around the diocese, and one I returned to pretty much every summer after “graduating” from my own. Last summer, when I interned at Brown, was the first summer I hadn’t returned in some capacity — to help with a workshop, to intern, or as a member of support team. I missed it, but truthfully, I was so busy at Brown that it took returning this summer to remind me fully of the feeling that comes with being at CLI. I guess you could call it the “CLI effect.” It’s a feel-

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ing of true Christian comtruly experiencing the full munity, one where you’re responsibility of team. entirely surrounded by the This year, it hit me durlove and support of adults in ing the closing service, as I the Church who live out the looked around at the rest of very principles CLI teaches. the team I had been prayI felt this as a participant, ing with and playing with and again this year as I was for the past week. CLI is a team member for the first not only for the high school time. I was challenged to students who attend. In a step back and let my group very special way, it is for make decisions, plan events, the team — the adults who stumble and fall — but also are DREs, religious, youth rise up again, better inand campus ministers, lay formed for the next time.

As a participant, I Radiate always got so atYour Faith tached to my team

By Renee leaders, and this Bernier summer I learned what it felt like to get attached to my group members. And this people — who so firmly year, I was part of a new believe in their Church and community. As support the youth as its future. As team, I flitted about making I looked around the darkcopies, cleaning up rooms, ened space we quietly sat in, preparing the next activlistening as reflections were ity or breaking down the shared on youth in Church one before. I darted in and history and their impact on out of team events, without the Church today, I looked at each team member and realized that without them our youth would have no example of how to lead, of how to make that impact.

It was and is a reminder to stay vigilant on our path to living a good, holy life. It was and is a reminder that we are the hands and feet of Christ.

We are called to do His work — the making of the copies for prayer placemats, the digging around for extra songbooks so everyone can sing at Mass, the hard conversations about morality — because it was His will for us, it was His desire to see us draw one another closer to Him and to shepherd those who will come after us.

After CLI, I returned to the Office of Faith Forma-

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tion to work while I look for permanent employment in my field. Part of my tasks laid out for me upon my return is to organize the materials that had made their return to the office at the close of CLI and finalize some Marriage ministry materials. This, friends, has transformed from two projects into about 20. One of those projects has been purging the office of all old receipts and invoices, permission slips from retreats long past, and anything that looks more yellow than the folder that it’s kept in.

How does this relate to my story about CLI? Well, over the past few weeks I’ve discovered more than just receipts and invoices, but files upon files of old Confirmation retreat materials, youth ministry programs from years ago, and activities meant to build community in a variety of settings with youth and young adults.

The collector in me pauses each time, reading through, seeing if it’s anything of interest or if it’s outdated.

After sorting files and files of paper, I have put aside (the polite way of saying hoarded) a small stack that I can’t quite part with.

Different colored pages, all with ideas for icebreakers, team builders, and retreats for our youth. Why do I keep these? Because as a young adult, I see a gap in resources. Here I am holding countless ideas in my hand, for a community that sometimes feels nonexistent.

I’m missing a community of other Catholic 25-year-olds to gather with, to believe with, to share my faith with and if this is the case

then how can we expect our youth to leave CLI and feel supported and encouraged to continue their faith journey?

So this month, my request to you is twofold.

First, please heed Jesus’ message to Timothy. At CLI we tell our teens to let no one look down on them because they are young. You are half of that equation.

Just as much as our teens have a responsibility to stand up for themselves and to make themselves heard, you too have a responsibility to value their opinions and recognize their gifts. Give them credit, give them opportunity, and guide them.

They will shine, I promise you that.

Second, create that space for them to do that growing and to be a light for Christ.

Whatever that means to you — asking them to lector at Mass (even if they’re shy and even if they’re nervous), encouraging them to take the lead on the community service project your youth group is leading, or taking some of your students aside to start a youth group if one doesn’t yet exist. Inform them, give them information about retreats, ask them to write a talk for a Confirmation retreat you’re running, put the call out for volunteers.

If CLI was any indication of our youth’s desire to live out a Christian life of leadership, then they will show up … sometimes you just have to give them the opportunity.

Anchor columnist Renee Bernier graduated from Stonehill College and is a graduate student in the College Student Personnel Program at James Madison University in Harrison, Va.

The man who never made it Monday 1 August 2016 — out in my own backyard — What Will Be Your Legacy Month begins ears ago, my late Aunt Jeanne Goldrick told me that, while attending a meeting in Australia, she had been told by a woman (also named Goldrick) that the family descends from a medieval Crusader knight. Right.

It’s not that I doubted my aunt, you understand, it’s just that she was known to be a teller of tall tales. She had what they call a “creative imagination.” In fact, storytelling was her profession.

Aunt Jeanne wrote for the London-based publishing company Harlequin Romances, under the nom de plume “Emma” — which I later learned was not a pen name at all but actually her given name. My Aunt Jeanne was Emma Jeanne Goldrick. My dear aunt wrote nearly 50 mildly naughty novels for women. I have never read any of them, but I suspect that the raciest thing about them is the cover, which was designed to sell books to mature women.

Once I was making hospital rounds, visiting my parishioners. I knocked lightly on one door and entered the room of a matronly patient. She saw me coming and quickly slipped a book she was reading under the bedcovers. Too late. I had taken a course in speed reading. I read the book cover in a flash.

She was stashing a paperback copy of “If Love be Blind,” written by my aunt. I said nothing,

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pretending not to notice. rick,” eventually becomI could have asked if she ing a surname. The “Mc” wanted the book signed was dropped in some by the author, but that branches of the family, would have been awkincluding mine. So that’s ward. what’s in a name.

Sitting on the back In my family, the hisporch one recent morning, I reThe Ship’s Log called my aunt’s story and decided Reflections of a to get to the botParish Priest tom of it. It was

By Father Tim something to do Goldrick on a quiet summer’s day in Falmouth. tory goes like this: James I researched the subject McGoldrick, blacksmith, on the Internet. As it emigrated to Roxbury, turns out, the story of my Mass. from County crusading ancestor is true Roscommon, Ireland. after all. When has anyHis granddaughter told thing untrue ever been me he dropped the “Mc” posted on the Internet? from his name because If not true, then at least of widespread anti-Irish it has a certain degree of sentiment at the time. truthiness about it (note Sir Knight Goldrick, to reader: “truthiness” is a founder of the family, was word found in the Oxford only a child when JeruDictionary and popularsalem was captured by ized in 2005 by the cothe Crusaders, but he did median Stephen Colbert come of age later during to describe something the First Crusade. At the that might seem true in time of his church and an emotional way, but military service, Goldisn’t necessarily so. rick was already a man “Goldrick” is a transla- of some local stature. He tion of the Irish personal was the Lord of Breffney. name Ualghairg. UalThis was a confederation ghairg, the Crusader in of related Celtic tribes question, belonged to the that lived in what is O’Rourke Clan. O’Rairc today Counties Leitrim, in Irish is based on the Roscommon, Cavan, and Viking personal name Sligo. The McGoldrick/ Hrotherkr.

Goldrick surname is still My ancestor was Ualto be found in northwest ghairg of the House of Ireland. The ruins of the Hrotherkr the Viking family castles can still be (translation: Goldrick seen.

O’Rourke). The son of My ancestor never Goldrick O’Rourke was made it to Jerusalem. Nor McGoldrick O’Rourke did he die in some epic (a name which happens battle. He died on the to mean son of Ualghairg way, probably from drinkof the House of Hrother- ing contaminated water. kr the Viking). The At least, that’s the oral multi-layered names behistory — which, as is came unwieldy and were the case with all history, simplified to “McGoldis told by people who

weren’t there.

I did this genealogical research because of a phone call I had received from the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem.

The Knights and Ladies (Dames) were planning to attend the 11 a.m. Sunday Mass here at St. Patrick Church.

I knew next to nothing about the Order of the Holy Sepulcher. I looked that up too.

Guess what? They trace their origins back to the First Crusade. The Order specifically undertook the defense of the Holy Sepulcher.

Since 1847 the Order has been under the direct protection of the

Holy See. In 1996 Pope St. John Paul II defined the Order as a canonical Association of the Faithful, assigned to assist the Patriarch of Jerusalem.

The particular Knights who were here for Mass are involved in the education of children in the Holy Land.

Although I’m a Knight of Columbus (who was himself a member of the Order of the Cross of Christ), I felt some affinity with the Order of the Holy Sepulcher.

I am, after all, directly descended from the crusader who never made it to Jerusalem.

Or so the story goes.

Anchor columnist Father Goldrick is pastor of St. Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth.

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11

Grab a chance to put your SOX on vs. N.Y.

FALL RIVER — The Anchor is offering its friends the chance to win a pair of tickets to a Red Sox-Yankees game at Fenway Park on September 17.

To thank our generous readers for graciously donating to The Anchor cause, a raffle will be held for all those who have donated at least $20 to The Anchor (not including subscriptions), or those whose donations are

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received at The Anchor office

by September 8.

Those donors who meet the criteria will automatically be entered into the drawing.

The winner will be contacted by telephone on September 9.

Because Red Sox-Yankee tickets are such a hot commodity, we ask that should the winner choose not to attend the game or give the tickets away, to contact us at

The Anchor - August 5, 2016

508-675-7151, so that we may select another winner.

The Anchor would like to thank all those generous folks who have donated and renewed their subscriptions to help us keep our publication in print during these trying financial times in the diocese.

Donations can be sent to The Anchor, 887 Highland Avenue, Fall River, Mass.

02720. Please include phone number.

Sister Eleanor Cyr, SS.CC., marks 60 years of religious ministry

Sister Eleanor Cyr, SS.CC., seen prior to this year’s First Communion Mass of her Religious Education students at St. Mary’s Parish in Fairhaven. (Photo by Jack Iddon)

FAIRHAVEN — Sister Eleanor Cyr, SS.CC., entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts in 1954.

She made her temporary vows in 1956 and final vows in Paris in 1961.

Her first assignment was teaching first- and secondgraders at Sacred Hearts Academy. Later, she taught at St. Joseph School, working with the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders in religion and social studies.

She found the most challenging ministry to be working with the Native Americans in California. She was

then able to serve the Hispanic community in Fontana, Calif., as principal of an elementary school.

After returning to Massachusetts, she has been ministering to the community of St. Mary’s Parish in Fairhaven.

She is extremely grateful to her fellow Sacred Hearts Sisters for their support, dedication, and challenges that they

bestowed on her for the past 60 years.

“It has been 60 years of ministry to the young and less-young in which I have grown Spiritually and humanly,” Sister Eleanor said recently. “Many people have touched my life and for that, I am grateful. So, my slogan is: ‘Honor and glory to the Sacred Hearts.’”

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Bishop brings Laudato Sí to life in his own backyard

By Dave Jolivet Anchor Editor davejolivet@anchornews.org

more settled into his Fall River home this year, he felt the urge to convert the FALL RIVER — Nesarea on the southwest cortled behind several large ner of the property from a shrubs on the grounds of benign parcel of land into his home in Fall River, a productive parcel where lies Bishop Edgar M. da he can relax and tend to Cunha, S.D.V.’s small oasis his beloved crops. where he is cultivating a “It’s very nice to come number of vegetable plants out here and get away for a in a garden he created this little while,” he said. “I find spring. it very calming and peaceTaking Pope Francis’ ful.”

May 2015 encyclical letter, The bishop went on to Laudato, Sí (On the Care say, “To my knowledge, of Our Common Home) this is the first garden in to heart, Bishop da Cunha this area of the property. took a barren parcel on the There was a tree on the grounds of his home and north side of the area, but transformed it into a fertile it was taken down. The plot where an abundance ground is very fertile here, of summer produce has and a friend helped me sprung and continues to till the soil and I’ve added spring forth. nutrients, so the plants are In the bishop’s garden doing very well.” one can find corn, letThe area of the bishop’s tuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, home does have its share green onions, and string of animals that would love such a garden. In order to keep the animals out and the vegetables in, the bishop put up a chicken wire fence around the garden.

He also made his own green bean trellis from limbs pruned from some plants on diocesan property on the Cape.

Bishop da Cunha told The Anchor that his love of gardening came from the time of his youth in his native Brazil. “My family planted and harvested each year,’ he said. “I guess, that is why I enjoy planting, taking care and harvesting the fruits of the garden.”

When Jesus spoke to the people to whom He was evangelizing, He would speak to them in terms they understood, often in parables, and often using occupations of the common individuals of His Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., stands among the many time. And farmers were vegetable plants he’s cultivating in a garden at his home one of those groups.

Farming and gardening in Fall River. (Photo by Dave Jolivet) 14

beans. Also included in his garden is a vegetable with which the bishop is very familiar from his native Brazil, maxime.

Maxime is like a cucumber that is similar in size and shape to a chicken egg. It can be eaten raw, be pickled, boiled or fried.

“Maxime makes a wonderful refreshing summer salad,” Bishop da Cunha told The Anchor.

And in the center of the garden is a small burgeoning fig tree. “A neighbor taught me how to protect the tree in the winter,” said the bishop. Since fig trees are a semi-tropical plant, they must be protected from frost. “He told me that he has fig trees in his yard, and buries them and covers them with leaves to insulate them from the cold,” he continued.

Since the bishop is a bit

The Anchor - August 5, 2016

Bishop da Cunha harvests one of several cucumbers already ripened in his garden at his home in Fall River. (Photo by Dave Jolivet)

have been yielding lifesustaining harvests since the beginning of time.

In Laudato Sí Pope Francis references farmrelated terminology more than 30 times. Raising foods to eat is a crucial part of man’s existence.

In Laudato Sí (No. 67), the pope writes, “Nowadays we must forcefully reject the notion that our being created in God’s image and given dominion over the earth justifies absolute domination over other creatures. The Biblical texts are to be read in their context, with an appropriate hermeneutic, recognizing that they tell us to ‘till and keep’ the garden of the world (cf. Gen 2:15). “‘Tilling’ refers to cul-

tivating, ploughing or working, while ‘keeping’ means caring, protecting, overseeing and preserving.

This implies a relationship of mutual responsibility between human beings and nature. Each community can take from the bounty of the earth whatever it needs for subsistence, but it also has the duty to protect the earth and to ensure its fruitfulness for coming generations. ‘The earth is the Lord’s’ (Ps 24:1); to Him belongs ‘the earth with all that is within it’”(Dt 10:14).

In a small, bountiful parcel in the center of Fall River, Bishop da Cunha is indeed caring, protecting and overseeing the Lord’s bountiful earth in his own modest way.

Catholic peer leadership at UMass Dartmouth continued from page 3

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 August 7, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Daniel W. Lacroix, pastor of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish in Seekonk.

a retreat,” said Father Frederici.

“When I first came to UMass,” added Father Frederici, “I had been working in a community college which had a whole different rhythm, so when I came to UMass, we’d be losing students because during conversations we’d discover the transition was so difficult — they’d have all these dreams and hopes of what college was like — it was a total change in everything and in their way of life, it created anxiety and they weren’t expecting that.

“Sometimes they would interpret that anxiety, as they don’t belong here or in college, and by the time we’d find out about it, they’d already made the decision to transfer out or given up on college. To help make that transition to campus, we have stories of peer students who have been able to reach out to a student during that transition and keep them involved in campus and we didn’t lose them.”

There is no cost to participate in NOVUS. For f irst-year students interested in enrolling, go to www.

UMassDCatholics.com, or email Father Frederici at david.frederici@umassd. edu or Deacon Lucca at flucca@umassd.edu.

August 14, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Thomas McElroy, SS.CC., of the Sacred Hearts Community of Fairhaven.

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I

Youth Pages The relevancy of God

can recall growing up attending Mass each Sunday. For me, it was more something that we did than it was an occasion to worship God and to receive Him in the Eucharist. I didn’t really want to go and looked forward to the times when we didn’t make it.

When my parents divorced I remember my mom meeting with the parish priest, but didn’t think anything of it. I don’t recall praying to God for help in the time after the divorce, and don’t think I would have because I wouldn’t have seen why I would.

God is an hour on Sunday, actually 45 minutes.

In high school I did have a powerful Spiritual experience when on a Confirmation retreat. I think I had a smaller such experience when I was confirmed.

There were aspects of Ca-

tholicism that intrigued me. schedule.

I think the relevancy of I did contemplate seminary God is connected to what at the time. Not sure why, we all desire and ask: why?

I really didn’t know much Why am I doing all of this? about what a priest did What is the purpose of my and I did not really find prayer an exciting thing, so existence? Who am I? The Old Testament tells why would I want to spend us that God has planted the my entire day in prayer?

In hindsight, looking back at those Spiritual moments I think it was the peace that I experienced that really

By Father drew me, I wanted David C. Frederici to experience that peace again. desire for Him within the So what is the relevancy human heart. This desire of God? Even if Mass was some- takes the form of the desire for love, for peace and thing I looked forward to meaning and for fulfillment. and I participated in all The Book of Genesis tells the activities that a parish offers, what difference does us that we are made in the it make? Still have to go to image and likeness of God, work, still have to pay bills, meaning God is hardwired deal with people I don’t like into our very being.

Love, beauty, goodness, — situations that are stressful and a completely packed truth: these inspire us and

Be Not Afraid

The Bishop Stang High School (North Dartmouth) Sailing Team had a very successful season. With an overall record of 13-7, the team achieved a Cape and Islands record of 12-0. They earned the titles of Cape and Islands Team Racing Champions; Cape and Islands Fleet Racing Champions; and Cape and Islands Womens Championship Winners.

The team qualified for the Terk Championships, a regional race based on New England Schools Sailing Association Standings, and placed an impressive fourth. Having qualified for the National Invitational Team Racing Championships at Wayzata Community Sailing Center, in Wayzata, Minn., they earned sixth place. The team includes: Olivia Dube, Kevin Gallagher, Clinton Hegarty, Santiago Hirschman, Sophia Hirschman, Elizabeth Lonergan, Victoria Pajak, Madeline Pope, Owen Reuther, Cece Schneider, Arianna Smaldone, and Jullian Sudofsky.

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The Anchor - August 5, 2016

can create an enthusiasm and longing for more in our hearts. Why is that? Because in those experiences we encounter God Himself.

These things deepen our existence, they bring us joy and peace. They not only give us a break from the routine of work and help give us rest, they give us meaning. Life without these things is pretty dreary.

The role of the Church is to help us to recognize God in these things and to help us to nurture a relationship with God so that we can recognize His presence and action in our day to day tasks. This gives us strength to persevere through the mundane as well as the struggles and stresses that occur in life. This recognition helps us to understand who we are and what we are about so that we may live authentically whether at school, work, in our families, etc.

Living a relationship with Christ doesn’t mean that we go around chanting in Latin and spend all of our free time in deep contemplative prayer.

It does mean we do take some time for Him, though. One of the greatest obstacles in the Spiritual life is when we decide one day we will be religious and we decide to spend an hour a day in quiet prayer and attend Mass 30 times a day and read nothing but the lives of the saints.

Slow down. Start small.

Certainly, at minimum you should be going to Sunday Mass. If a daily Mass fits into your schedule, perhaps add one a week. If not, try stopping by the church

for five minutes sometime during the week. Some churches offer Eucharistic Adoration during the week, maybe spend that five minutes during adoration.

If not, the Eucharist is still in the church in the Tabernacle, so adoration is still possible.

Don’t fill in these five minutes. Just realize Christ is present and sit in that presence. Perhaps at the end of the five minutes tell Christ those things you are thankful for, let Him know what you need help with and finish with an Our Father. After a few weeks, you may decide to spend 10 minutes. Go for it.

We can also take five minutes when we are alone at home, on a walk, etc.

Despite how busy we are, it is possible to take the time.

If you think about it, we will rearrange our lives to watch our favorite TV show or watch a movie. Those things take more than five minutes.

Some of these prayer times will be inspiring and lifegiving. Some of them will be more difficult. That’s OK. It’s about a relationship and all relationships take time. This relationship with God, though, can keep us rooted in life. It won’t solve all of our problems and stresses we face in life, but if we work on it, our relationship with God will keep us joyful even in the stress and keep us from being overwhelmed and swept away.

Anchor columnist Father Frederici is pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Pocasset and diocesan director of Campus Ministry and Chaplain at UMass Dartmouth and Bristol Community College.

Youth Pages

Bridget Prendergast, left a sophomore at Bishop Feehan High School, was selected for the National Spanish Exam Global Citizen Scholarship. Only 16 U.S. students received the honor. Prendergast will receive a scholarship for a two-week Spanish immersion program this summer through the Concordia Language Villages in Minnesota. She was chosen based on her scholarship application, which included her Gold Medal test result from the 2015 National Spanish Examination. Olivia Phillips, right, a recent graduate, was selected as a recipient of the Spanish Honor Society $1,000 Senior College Scholarship. Only 20 scholarships are given nationally based on overall academic achievement, a five-minute interview in Spanish and recommendations. In addition, Phillips was the fourth-place finisher in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She will be attending Harvard in the fall.

Dr. Michael Scanlon ’77 and his daughters Samantha ’10, Sydney ’15 and Maggie ’16 were on hand to award this year’s Coyle and Cassidy High School (Taunton) Man and Woman of the Year, in honor of Scanlon’s late parents Joseph and Louise Scanlon who embodied the many attributes of the award. This year’s recipients were Nathaniel Baker, son of Rick and Nancy Baker, and Teresa Bonefant, daughter of Brian and Teresa Bonefant.

Ladder three and Engine six of the New Bedford Fire Department visited with the students from St. James-St. John School in grades preKthree. The children learned about fire safety, what to do in the event of a fire and the importance of having a family emergency meeting place.

In its inaugural year, the Bishop Connolly High School Interact Club, completed its “Backpacks for Literacy” project in June by presenting more than 75 backpacks to children in grades K–two who attend the afterschool program at the Fall River YMCA. Each backpack included books and a “reading buddy” stuffed animal to foster reading aloud. From left are Connolly students Marianela Dutra Africano, Allison Valton, Aja Pragana, Gillian Jacome, James Souza, and Dierdre Smith.

The Anchor is always pleased to run news and photos about our diocesan youth.

If schools, parish Religious Education programs, home-schoolers, or Vacation Bible Camps have newsworthy stories and photos they would like to share with our readers, send them to: schools@anchornews.org The Anchor - August 5, 2016

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Youth Pages

Pope to young people: Not one of you is insignificant

KRAKOW, Poland our life can truly meet.” to live glumly, to be negative, “It is a kind of virus in(CNA/EWTN News) — There were several key means not to recognize our fecting and blocking everyOur true identity cannot be obstacles which Zacchaeus deepest identity,” he said. “It thing; it closes doors and lived out in glum negativity, had to overcome in apis like walking away when prevents us from getting up but only in the knowledge proaching Jesus, the pontiff God wants to look at me, and starting over. God, on that, in God’s eyes, our value explained, the first his being trying to spoil His dream for the other hand, is hopelessly cannot be measured; no one so physically small that he me.” hopeful!” is insignificant. had difficulty seeing Jesus in The pope added that Francis encouraged the Pope Francis made these the crowd.

“God loves us the way we youth in their awareness of remarks on Sunday to at “Even today we can risk are, and no sin, fault or being God’s beloved sons least 1.5 million young people gathered in Krakow for the final Mass of World Youth Day. “God loves us the way we are, and no sin, fault or mistake of ours makes Him change His mind,” the pope said in his homily to the crowds of young people who filled Polish city’s “Campus Misericordiae,” or “Field of Mercy.”

“No one is insignificant,” the pontiff said. “He loves all of us with a special love; for Him all of us are important: you are important!”

“In His eyes, you are precious, and your value is inestimable.”

In contrast, to not “accept Night of Mercy event for English-speaking pilgrims during World Youth Day held in the ourselves, to live glumly, to Tauron Arena on July 27. (Photo by Jeffrey Bruno/Catholic News Agency) be negative, means not to recognize our deepest identity,” he said. “It is like walk- not getting close to Jesus mistake of ours makes Him and daughters, and recoming away when God wants because we don’t feel big change his mind. mended that they pray every to look at me, trying to spoil enough, because we don’t “No one is insignificant. morning: “Lord, I thank You His dream for me,” think ourselves worthy,” the He loves all of us with a for loving me; help me to be Sunday’s Mass was the pope said. “This is a great special love; for Him, all of in love with my own life!” final major event of WYD in temptation; it has to do not us are important: you are Another obstacle ZacKrakow, and marks the end only with self-esteem, but important!” chaeus faced was his shame of the pope’s July 27-31 visit with faith itself.

God is not concerned before Jesus: “It must have to Poland.

“We have been created about whether you are stylish been quite a struggle — on Pope Francis centered his in God’s own image; Jesus or what kind of phone you one hand, a healthy curiosity address on the day’s Gospel has taken upon Himself our have, Pope Francis said. “In and desire to know Jesus; on account of Jesus’ encounter humanity and His heart will His eyes, you are precious, the other, the risk of appearwith the tax collector Zacnever be separated from us; and your value is inestimable. ing completely ridiculous.” chaeus, a man despised by the Holy Spirit wants to “He believes in us even However, the “attraction the Jews for his collaboration dwell within us. We have more than we believe in our- of Jesus was more powerful” with the Romans. been called to be happy selves. He is always “cheerthan Zacchaeus’ shame, the The scene demonstrates forever with God!” ing us on”; He is our biggest pope said, comparing his enhow Jesus does not simply Francis explained that our fan.” counter to that of someone want to “greet” people, the true “stature” is found in our However, to brood over who behaves in unexpected pope said. Rather, He “wants Spiritual identity: that is, in our problems or “past inways upon falling in love. to draw near to us personally, the fact that we “are God’s juries,” the pontiff said, “is “For us too, this is the to accompany our journey to beloved children, always.” unworthy of our Spiritual secret of joy: not to stifle a its end, so that His life and “Not to accept ourselves, stature! healthy curiosity, but to take 18

The Anchor - August 5, 2016

a risk, because life is not meant to be tucked away,” he said.

However, the pope explained we cannot wait around when Jesus “offers us life — we can’t respond by thinking about it or ‘texting’ a few words!”

The pope went on to encourage young people to not be ashamed of bringing everything to the Sacrament of Confession, “especially your weaknesses, your struggles and your sins.”

“He will surprise you with His forgiveness and His peace,” he said.

Pope Francis challenged young people to not let their “soul become numb,” but to say without fear “yes” to Jesus, aiming for “the goal of a beautiful love which also demands sacrifice.”

Finally, the third obstacle which Zacchaeus faced came from the crowds, their judgment of him on account of his profession, and of Jesus for His willingness to enter the house of a sinner.

“People will try to block you, to make you think that God is distant, rigid and insensitive, good to the good and bad to the bad,” he said.

Instead, Jesus “demands of us real courage: the courage to be more powerful than evil by loving everyone, even our enemies.”

Although people may laugh at you, or judge you for being dreamers, “do not be afraid,” Pope Francis said.

“Don’t be discouraged: with a smile and open arms, you proclaim hope and you are a blessing for our one human family, which here you represent so beautifully!

Unlike the crowds who looked on Zacchaeus with judgement, Jesus “gazed up at him,” the pope said.

Turn to page 19

Scholarship keeps son’s memory alive continued from page 2

— he wasn’t dumb by any means — but he was a Bstudent and an athlete. We’re looking for kids who are like Matt, who go out and play sports and work. We do give scholarships to kids who are number one or two in their class, but they’re also athletes. The biggest part of the scholarship is that essay that kids have to write about how they’re like Matt Benoit.”

“We look for kids who love their family,” added Robin. “They really have to tie in how they’re like Matt.”

All applicants are rated and while bigger awards go to Bishop Stang and Westport High School, other schools are included to honor Matt’s athletic ability. Since he played sports and against students in other schools, said Robin, it only seemed fair to include additional schools. This year, around two-dozen graduating seniors each received a scholarship.

For incoming Bishop Stang freshmen, eighthgrade graduating students coming from St. James-St. John School in New Bedford, where Matt attended and where Robin teaches, are eligible for the award, based on their need. This year the scholarship fund split the $4,000 earmarked for the incoming freshmen among six students.

The scholarship is primarily funded through two annual events — the Christmas dinner held the first Sunday in December at White’s of Westport and a golf tournament held at the Allendale Country Club.

At last year’s Christmas dinner, 325 people attended and 85 baskets were auctioned off. Ashley Medeiros, a classmate of Matt’s, made each basket.

“She’s right there for everything. She’s a wonderful girl and has been there since

its inception,” said Robin.

“She was an aide for me at my school, and now she’s a teacher at St. James-St. John.”

This year’s golf tournament has 172 golfers participating, “28 over the max,” said George. “For the golf tournament and Christmas dinner, it’s the same people who help sponsor.”

There are so many people who help bring their talents and support to the annual fund-raisers, including Rui Cordeiro, Butch and Michelle Souza, Dan and Rosa Moniz, John and Paula Freitas, “and countless others,” said Robin.

“There are some hardcore donors,” said George, as he pointed to a picture of Red Sox players hanging in his office. “My son and I bought that at a Boston Celtics game but I hadn’t hung it up. Matt passed away and I brought it to the auction, and my buddy Rui Cordeiro found out it was something I had bought with my son, and he bid $2,800 for that and gave it back to me, stating, ‘That’s not to be sold.’”

Every year sponsors bid during the Christmas fundraiser to be the corporate sponsor for the summer’s golf tournament, but this year, said George, two companies continue to bid against each other, but had an underlying agenda.

“This year, because it’s the 10th anniversary, [they said] there will be no corporate sponsor, it will be the Matt Benoit Scholarship Fund.

They don’t want their name on anything,” said George.

Stories about Matt began to emerge after his death. An especially touching moment came during Matt’s wake, where people waited upwards of four hours to pay their respects to his parents. Among them, and one of the last in the line of 3,000 people, were

a boy and his mother.

“There was the kid who others would make fun of, and Matt asked him to play soccer. The last kid coming through the line was this kid, and it was like one o’clock in the morning, and he said he wanted to come because no one would let him play soccer and Matt let him play,” said George.

Then there was an elderly woman from Westport, whom the Benoit family didn’t know. She was so touched by the death of Matt and his impact on his friends and family, she kept every article written about him and his family’s efforts to keep his memory alive through the scholarship.

“She was in her 80s, and she started a scrapbook.

[One day] she came up our driveway and said she had something for the Benoits.

She said she was afraid she was going to pass away and we wouldn’t get it. She gave us this book and it’s beautiful. It was from the last 10 years or so, of every article written. We went to meet her at her house and thanked her personally,” said Robin.

“She said she was so touched by his story and everything that’s happened since.”

George and Robin were Bishop Stang High School sweethearts, and their entire family life has been built around their Catholic faith.

Every year a Mass is held at the chapel at Bishop Stang, and many of Matt’s former classmates attend. Each year the Benoit family asks one or two to stand up during the Mass and share their memories and stories of Matt.

“Stang has been very supportive,” said George.

“When Matt passed away, we went to the school and the kids were all there. His jersey (No. 15) is up in the gym. Stang didn’t want to do that because they don’t ‘retire’ jerseys but [a petition was signed] and parents said this should be up there, and

Stang did it.”

At Beech Grove Cemetery in Westport, instead of a headstone — because his sisters didn’t want a stone because it was “too final,” said Robin — the family planted a tree at Matt’s gravesite.

Each month the family goes to decorate the tree; this month will see the tree decorated with golf balls to highlight the golf tournament.

“People kept telling us this would fizzle out after three or four years,” said Robin.

“And every year people start asking in the fall [about the Christmas fund-raiser], and they attend. The chapel is full for his Mass, the golf tournament sells out every year and the Christmas fund-raiser always has more than 300 people. It’s wonderful people who have supported it.”

Pope: ‘not one of you is insignificant’ continued from page 18

“Jesus looks beyond the faults and sees the person,” and sees the “future good,” he said. “This gaze remains constant, even when it is not met; it seeks the way of unity and communion.”

Pope Francis said WYD begins today, but “continues tomorrow, in your homes, since that is where Jesus wants to meet you from now on.”

God does not want young people to remain in the beautiful city of Krakow or in their “cherished memories” of the place.

Rather, “He wants to enter your homes, to dwell in your daily lives: in your studies, your first years of work, your friendships and affections, your hopes and dreams.

“How greatly He desires that you bring all this to Him in prayer!”

Francis reminded young people that Jesus calls them by name, as He did Zacchaeus. “Your name is precious to Him,” he said.

“May we too now try to

imitate the faithful memory of God and treasure the good things we have received in these days,” the pope concluded.

“In silence, let us remember this encounter, let us preserve the memory of the presence of God and His Word, and let us listen once more to the voice of Jesus as He calls us by name.”

On Sunday Pope Francis officially closed WYD in Krakow, thanking the thousands of youth who traveled across the world to participate, and announced that the next global encounter will take place in Panama.

“I am happy to announce that the next World Youth Day — after the two that will be held on the diocesan level — will take place in 2019 in Panama,” the pope said.

He made the announcement after celebrating the closing Mass for the July 2631 WYD event in Krakow, and before leading youth in the traditional Marian Angelus prayer.

Visit us online at anchornews.org The Anchor - August 5, 2016

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Our Common Home: Biodiversity (Variety) is the spice of life continued from page 9

also achieve this.

In our own area Massachusetts has created the 14,000-acre Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve precisely for the purpose of providing connected habitat for the rich populations of organisms that live there.

Our National Park Service, celebrating 100 years of existence this year, has set aside millions of acres in 59 national parks, to try to preserve areas so that we can see the beauty and majesty of these natural areas and allow the plants and animals to live as they always have.

The Wilderness Act, passed in 1964, offers the highest degree of land protection, by

allowing no roads, vehicles, or permanent structures in the designated area. After signing this Act into law, President Lyndon Johnson stated, “If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it.”

Biodiversity is part of the complex natural systems which have functioned in harmony for thousands, and is some cases, millions of years prior to our appearance on the planet.

The pope reminds us that “because all creatures are

connected, each must be cherished with love and respect, for all of us as living creatures are dependent on one another.”

Anchor columnist Professor Rak is a Fall River native and a parishioner of St. Mary’s Parish in Fall River. He has been a professor of Environmental Technology and coordinator of the Environmental Science and Technology Program at Bristol Community College in Fall River for 18 years. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Holy Cross College in Worcester, and a master’s degree in marine biology from UMass Dartmouth. rrak@verizon.net

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Aug. 6 Rev. Joseph P. Lyons, Pastor, St. Joseph, Fall River, 1961 Aug. 7 Rev. John F. Hogan, Pastor, St. Julie Billiart, North Dartmouth, 1986 Very Rev. Roger L. Gagne, V. F., Pastor, St. Mark, Attleboro Falls, 1987 Aug. 8 Rev. William Bric, Founder, St. Joseph, Fall River, 1880 Aug. 12 Rev. Victor O. Masse, M.S., Retired Pastor, St. Anthony, New Bedford, 1974 Aug. 13 Rev. Edward J. Sheridan, Pastor, St. Mary, Taunton, 1896 Rt. Rev. Leonard J. Daley, Pastor, St. Francis Xavier, Hyannis, 1964 Rev. Gabriel Swol, OFM Conv., Former Associate Pastor, Holy Rosary, Taunton, 1991 Aug. 14 Rev. Raphael Marciniak, OFM Conv., Pastor, Holy Cross, Fall River, 1947 Rev. Conrad Lamb, O.S.B., Missionary in Guatemala, 1969 Aug. 15 Rev. Charles W. Cullen, Founder, Holy Family, East Taunton, 1926 Aug. 17 Rev. Cornelius O’Connor, Former Pastor, Holy Trinity, Harwich Center, 1882 Rev. Msgr. Maurice Souza, Retired Pastor, St. Anthony, East Falmouth, 1996 Aug. 18 Rev. Msgr. William H. Dolan, Retired Pastor, Holy Family, East Taunton, 1977

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The Anchor - August 5, 2016

A ‘cry of hope’ after the death of French priest, Father Jacques Hamel

PARIS, France (CNA/ EWTN News) — At a Mass said for the victims of the July 26 church attack in France, the Archbishop of Paris appealed for hope as he remembered Father Jacques Hamel, who was killed by two Islamic State terrorists as he was celebrating the Eucharist.

At the July 27 Mass for the victims of SaintÉtienne du Rouvray said at Notre Dame de Paris, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois recalled the words of one of the readings of the day from the prophet Jeremiah: “Would you be a mirage for me, like doubtful waters?”

“In this terrible time we’re going through, how can we make our own this cry to God of the prophet Jeremiah, in the midst of attacks of which He was the object? How can we not turn against God and not demand an account from him?” the cardinal reflected.

He also said that to cry out to the Lord “is not to lack faith in God. It is, on the contrary, to continue to speak to Him and to call upon Him in the precise moment when events seem to call into question His power and His love. It is to continue to affirm our faith in Him, our trust in the face of love and mercy He has shown in His Son Jesus Christ.

“Those who wrap themselves in the trappings of religion to mask their deadly project, those who want to proclaim to us a God of death, a Moloch who would rejoice in the death of a man and who would promise paradise to those who kill while invoking him, those people cannot expect humanity to yield to their mirage.”

In his homily, Cardinal Vingt-Trois recalled that

“the hope written by God on the heart of man has a name: it is called life.

Hope has a face, the face of Christ giving His life in sacrifice so that men may have life in abundance.

“Hope has a project, the project of gathering humanity into one people, not by extermination but by conviction and by the call to freedom. It is this hope in the midst of trial that forever blocks for us the path to despair, vengeance, and death.”

For the cardinal, “it’s this hope that animated the ministry of Father Jacques Hamel when he celebrated the Eucharist, during which he was savagely executed.

It is this hope that sustains the Christians in the Middle East when they have to flee in the face of persecution and they choose to leave everything behind rather than renounce their faith.”

Referring to World Youth Day being held in Poland, the cardinal also said that “it is this hope that dwells in the hearts of hundreds of thousands of young people gathered around Pope Francis in Krakow. It’s this hope to allows us to not succumb to hatred when we are caught up in the storm.

“It is this conviction that was savagely wounded at Saint-Étienne du Rouvray, and it is thanks to this conviction that we can resist the temptation to nihilism and a taste for death. It is thanks to this conviction that we refuse to become delirious with conspiracy theories and allow our society become gangrenous with the virus of suspicion.”

“Where shall we find the strength to face dangers if we cannot rely on hope?” he then asked.

Finally, the Archbishop of Paris emphasized that “for we who believe in the God of Jesus Christ, this hope is trusting in the Word of God as the prophet Jeremiah received it and relayed it: ‘Though they fight against you, they shall not prevail, for I am with you, to save and rescue you. I will rescue you from the hand of the wicked, and

ransom you from the power of the violent.’”

Father Hamel was killed July 26 after two armed gunmen stormed a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy during Mass.

The assailants entered the church and took the celebrating priest and four others hostage.

Local law enforcement

reported that the priest’s throat was slit in the attack, and that both of the hostage takers were shot dead by police.

The French bishops designated July 29 as a day of fasting following the attack.

Father Hamel, who was 86, was ordained a priest in 1958. His funeral Mass was said August 2 in the Cathedral of Rouen.

Sister Gloria Beaulieu, S.C.Q.

QUEBEC, Canada — Sister Gloria Beaulieu (St. Paul de Sauveur), 93, a retired Sister of the Sisters of Charity in Quebec, died May 16, 2016 at the mother house in Quebec after 72 years of religious life, where she resided for the past 12 years. Her internment was at the Sisters of Charity cemetery in Quebec, Canada.

Sister Gloria Beaulieu was born in Fall River on Holy Thursday, March 29, 1923 and baptized on Easter. She was the daughter of the late Joseph Beaulieu and Blanche (Raymond) Beaulieu. She is survived by her sister, Estelle Desrochers along with two nephews and three nieces; 11 great nephews and nieces; 13 great great nieces and nephews.

Since childhood she had a great awareness of the religious life and the need for missionary work which she decided to make her life’s passion. She was built for the fraternal and Spiritual life of the religious Sisters.

In 1941 she worked as an assistant seamstress at the Hospice of the Sacred Heart in New Bedford.

She became a novitiate in 1943 where she took the name Sister Paul de Sauveur.

After her profession in 1945 she continued her studies in Fall River and Lowell.

The following year, she taught English and typing at Cap St. Ignace. She returned to do studies at the mother house for a year. She then attended L’Ecole Normale in Thetford as an English and physical education teacher.

She had her perpetual profession in 1950. Equipped with a master’s degree from the Department of Public Instruction she was an educator in Fall River until 1952. Then she returned to Canada as a professor of English and Latin at the Ecole Normale de Levis.

She was chosen for the foundation of the missionary work in Wakabayashai, Japan in 1953 where she started the missionary work with other Sisters.

She became Mistress of the Japanese Novices. In 1957 she obtained a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of the Sacred Heart in Japan. From 1961 to 2004

she worked in Nakanoshima, Japan, and in 1967 she received a degree in theology. She was admired and loved by the Japanese people who found her to be a kind, patient, knowledgeable and a loving person who represented all missionaries in Japan. She was happy to celebrate her religious jubilee in Japan with her fellow missionary Sisters.

In 2004 she retired returning to the mother house in Canada where she had a serious fall that limited her mobility and made returning to Japan impossible. After her recuperation she continued her service by working in the Archives of the mother house as a translator.

She translated the Japanese missionary history from Japanese to French including all the historical development of the new missionary communities in Japan. She also transcribed the old paper documents on the history of the Sisters of Charity so as to preserve their heritage. She continued this service until her health deteriorated.

A memorial Mass in her honor will be celebrated on October 18 at 11:30 a.m. in the chapel at St. Anne’s Hospital, Fall River.

The Anchor - August 5, 2016

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Around the Diocese A facilitator training retreat entitled “Lord, Teach Me to Pray,” will be held Friday-Saturday, August 19-20, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Friday through 4 p.m. on Saturday at Glastonbury Abbey, 16 Hull Street in Hingham. If you are interested in improving your prayer life and helping others with theirs, this retreat and training prepares you to facilitate small Ignatian prayer groups in local parishes. Or if you simply want to learn more about the LTMTP prayer series and Ignatian prayer, you are welcome to attend. The retreat itself is free and is open to all. Retreat Center fees apply for room and meals. For more information or to download a registration form, visit www.lordteachmetopray.com or contact Carol Weiler at 504-439-5933 or carolweiler@cox.net.

The Women’s Guild of St. John Neumann Parish, located at 157 Middleboro Road in East Freetown, invites all to its “One Day Only Barn Sale” being held in the parish barn on August 20 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., rain or shine. The barn sale has a large variety of items available to choose from, and the prices can’t be beat!

A sunset cruise aboard the beautiful Island Queen will cast off on September 13 to benefit the St. Vincent de Paul Society of St. Anthony’s Parish in East Falmouth. The cruise departs at 5:30 p.m., with free parking at the Island Queen pier starting at 5 p.m., and will return at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 per person and include a light supper, 50/50 raffle and surprise door prize. For tickets or more information, please call 1-508-457-0085.

The Culture of Life Chaplet communal prayer in St. Jude’s Chapel of Christ the King Parish in Mashpee has been suspended for the summer but will resume on September 15 at 1 p.m. Copies of the chaplet for personal prayer may be obtaining by contacting the Respect Life Ministry at the parish or by calling Betty Kelley at 508-477-8417. Please consider enriching your Spiritual self through this prayer.

“Hymn Sing for the Year of Mercy,” a music event to celebrate the Jubilee Year of Mercy, will take place at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in Fall River on Sunday, September 25 beginning at 3 p.m. Choirs and organists from the Fall River deanery have been invited to share in presenting and singing hymns that help to reflect on the mercy of God and how we can share this gift with others. There will be several familiar hymns for all who attend to sing with the hope of filling St. Mary’s with the sound of voices uplifted in prayer. Please share this invitation with others and plan to enter through the Holy Door with your family and friends on that afternoon.

The 12th annual Msgr. Thomas J. Harrington Open Golf Tournament to benefit Holy Family-Holy Name School in New Bedford will be held on September 25 beginning with registration at 11:30 a.m. and a shotgun start at 1 p.m. at the Allendale Country Club, 1047 Allen Street in North Dartmouth. For more information about the event, contact Tricia Grime at pgrime62@msn.com or call 508-648-2783. Volunteers are also needed to help with the event — if interested, call 508-993-3547.

To submit an event for consideration in The Anchor’s “Around the Diocese” listing, send the information by email to kensouza@ anchornews.org

Visit the newly-designed Diocese of Fall River website at fallriverdiocese.org The site includes links to parishes, diocesan offices and national sites.

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The Anchor - August 5, 2016

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese Acushnet — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Monday from 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Tuesday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Evening prayer and Benediction is held Monday through Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

ASSONET — Beginning September 14, St. Bernard’s Parish will have Eucharistic Adoration every Monday from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed on the altar at the conclusion of 9 a.m. Mass and the church will be open all day, concluding with evening prayer and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.

ATTLEBORO — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the Adoration Chapel at St. Vincent de Paul Parish, 71 Linden Street, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

ATTLEBORO — The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette holds Eucharistic Adoration in the Shrine Church every Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. through November 17.

ATTLEBORO — There is a weekly time of Eucharistic Adoration Wednesdays from 7-9 p.m. at St. John the Evangelist Church on North Main Street.

Brewster — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the La Salette Chapel in the lower level of Our Lady of the Cape Church, 468 Stony Brook Road, on First Fridays beginning at noon until 7:45 a.m. First Saturday, concluding with Benediction and concluding with Mass at 8 a.m. buzzards Bay — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Margaret Church, 141 Main Street, Monday through Saturday, from 6:30 to 8 a.m.; and every first Friday from noon to 8 a.m. on Saturday.

East Freetown — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. John Neumann Church every Monday (excluding legal holidays) 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Our Lady, Mother of All Nations Chapel. (The base of the bell tower).

EAST TAUNTON — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the chapel at Holy Family Parish Center, 438 Middleboro Avenue, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. On First Fridays, Eucharistic Adoration takes place at Holy Family Church, 370 Middleboro Avenue, from 8:30 a.m. until 7:45 p.m.

FAIRHAVEN — S t . M a r y ’s C h u r c h , M a i n S t . , h a s E u c h a r i s t i c A d o r a t i o n e v e r y Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the Chapel of Reconciliation, with Benediction at 11:30 a.m.

Also, there is a First Friday Mass each month at 7 p.m., followed by a Holy Hour with Eucharistic Adoration. Refreshments follow.

Fall River — Espirito Santo Parish, 311 Alden Street, Fall River. Eucharistic Adoration on Mondays following the 8 a.m. Mass until Rosary and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.

FALL RIVER — St. Bernadette’s Church, 529 Eastern Ave., has continuous Eucharistic Adoration from 8 a.m. on Thursday until 8 a.m. on Saturday.

FALL RIVER — St. Anthony of the Desert Church, 300 North Eastern Avenue, has Eucharistic Adoration Mondays and Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

FALL RIVER — Holy Name Church, 709 Hanover Street, has Eucharistic Adoration Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Our Lady of Grace Chapel.

FALL RIVER — Good Shepherd Parish has Eucharistic Adoration every Friday following the 8 a.m. Mass and concluding with 3 p.m. Benediction in the Daily Mass Chapel. A bilingual holy hour takes place from 2 to 3 p.m. Park behind the church and enter the back door of the connector between the church and the rectory.

Falmouth — St. Patrick’s Church has Eucharistic Adoration each First Friday following the 7 a.m.

Mass, with Benediction at 4:30 p.m.

HYANNIS — St. Francis Xavier Parish in Hyannis, 347 South Street, Hyannis, has Eucharistic Adoration from noon to 3 p.m., daily Monday through Friday.

MANSFIELD — St. Mary’s Parish, 330 Pratt Street, has Eucharistic Adoration every First Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with Benediction at 5:45 p.m.

MASHPEE — Christ the King Parish, Route 151 and Job’s Fishing Road has 8:30 a.m. Mass every First Friday with special intentions for Respect Life, followed by 24 hours of Eucharistic Adoration in the Chapel, concluding with Benediction Saturday morning followed immediately by an 8:30 Mass.

NEW BEDFORD — Eucharistic Adoration takes place 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 233 County Street, with night prayer and Benediction at 8:45 p.m., and Confessions offered during the evening. Please use the side entrance.

NEW BEDFORD — There is a daily holy hour from 5:15-6:15 p.m. Monday through Thursday at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue. It includes Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Liturgy of the Hours, recitation of the Rosary, and the opportunity for Confession.

NEW BEDFORD — St. Lawrence Martyr Parish, 565 County Street, holds Eucharistic Adoration in the side chapel Fridays from 7:30-11:45 a.m. ending with a simple Benediction NORTH DARTMOUTH — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Julie Billiart Church, 494 Slocum Road, every Tuesday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., ending with Benediction. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available at this time.

NORTH DIGHTON — Eucharistic Adoration takes place every Wednesday following 8:00 a.m. Mass and concludes with Benediction at 5 p.m. Eucharistic Adoration also takes place every First Friday at St. Nicholas of Myra Church, 499 Spring Street following the 8 a.m. Mass, ending with Benediction at 6 p.m.

The Rosary is recited Monday through Friday from 7:30 to 8 a.m.

NORTH EASTON — A Holy Hour for Families including Eucharistic Adoration is held every Friday from 3-4 p.m. at The Father Peyton Center, 518 Washington Street.

ORLEANS — St. Joan of Arc Parish, 61 Canal Road, has Eucharistic Adoration every First Friday starting after the 8 a.m. Mass and ending with Benediction at 11:45 a.m. The Sacrament of the Sick is also available immediately after the 8 a.m. Mass.

OSTERVILLE — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 76 Wianno Avenue on First Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to noon.

SEEKONK ­— Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish has perpetual Eucharistic Adoration seven days a week, 24 hours a day in the chapel at 984 Taunton Avenue. For information call 508-336-5549.

Taunton — Eucharistic Adoration takes place every Tuesday at St. Anthony Church, 126 School Street, following the 8 a.m. Mass with prayers including the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for vocations, concluding at 6 p.m. with Chaplet of St. Anthony and Benediction. Recitation of the Rosary for peace is prayed Monday through Saturday at 7:30 a.m. prior to the 8 a.m. Mass.

Taunton — Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament takes place every First Friday at Annunciation of the Lord, 31 First Street. Exposition begins following the 8 a.m. Mass. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed, and Adoration will continue throughout the day. Confessions are heard from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m.

Rosary and Benediction begin at 6:30 p.m.

WAREHAM — Eucharistic Adoration at St. Patrick’s Church takes place 9 a.m. Thursday through 7 p.m.

Friday. Adoration is held in our Adoration Chapel in the lower Parish Hall. ~ PERPETUAL EUCHARISTIC ADORATION ~ East Sandwich — The Corpus Christi Parish Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, East Sandwich. Use the Chapel entrance on the side of the church.

NEW BEDFORD — Our Lady’s Chapel, 600 Pleasant Street, offers Eucharistic Adoration seven days a week, 24 hours a day. For information call 508-996-8274.

SEEKONK ­— Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish has perpetual Eucharistic Adoration seven days a week, 24 hours a day in the chapel at 984 Taunton Avenue. For information call 508-336-5549.

WEST HARWICH — Our Lady of Life Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Holy Trinity Parish, 246 Main Street (Rte. 28), holds perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. We are a regional chapel serving all of the surrounding parishes. All are invited to sign up to cover open hours. For open hours, or to sign up call 508-430-4716.

The Anchor - August 5, 2016

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Oh, Canada … I’m back!

I

I’ve been to Montreal twice, t’s been a while, but we finally get to go on a fam- once the first time Denise and I got away after we had our ily vacation this summer. Our firstborn, Ben. We flew there choice of travel was the Great and the bus shuttle to the North. No, not the North Queen Elizabeth Hotel was Pole, but north of the border there to pick us up. The driver anyway.

I’ve been to Canada several saw the Jolivet name on our times in the past; Quebec My View City, which even as a From young lad, the Stands I realized resembled

By Dave Jolivet a great old European city. I don’t remember making luggage tags and automatically blurted out, “Ou allez vous?” a fool of myself then. I was young and my parents were in I gazed at him with a dumbfounded look and responded, control of things.

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The Anchor - August 5, 2016

“Huh?” “Where ya’ going?” he responded with a tone of irritation. OK, now Dave was in charge.

Visit number two to Montreal was with two buddies of mine. We drove there to go see a hockey game in the cathedral of the National Hockey League, the Montreal Forum, to see Les Canadiens play the

Chicago Black Hawks. Les Canadiens are to ice hockey what the New York Yankees are to Major League Baseball, and the Forum de Montreal was the equivalent of Yankee Stadium.

On the way to Montreal, we experienced a violent rain storm in the Berkshires heading into New York state, and we swore we saw a tornado touch down to our left while on the Mass Pike. Once we got to the Forum, we were sitting amongst a packed crowd of Canadian crazies, and one of my friends sang “The Star Spangled Banner,” with great robust and animation. I wanted to crawl beneath my old wooden seat out of fear.

Plus the next day was a vote in Quebec Province pitting English-speaking Canadian citizens against the Frenchspeaking. I kept my mouth shut.

I’ve been to Toronto twice as well. The first time included a stay in Niagara Falls, where the magnificent water falls were no inspiration to the toilet in our hotel room. The kids got the biggest charge out of the things I said while waiting for maintenance to correct the situation.

My second trip to Toronto was a visit to the Catholic Press Association’s annual convention. In my spare time, I made a visit to the Hockey Hall of Fame. While there, I suffered a kidney stone attack.

Consequently the rest of the trip was a real pain. I had to have the stone blasted a month later.

Well right now, I’m writing this column from my hotel room in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, a stop-over for our trip to Halifax for the rest of the week.

While going through customs today, I did it again. I’m with Denise, Emilie and her beau Danny. Just as we were about to drive to the custom’s officer, they changed shifts.

There were customs’ agents walking all over the place. We all thought they were either looking at us, or looking for someone. Then everything cleared and we were waved forward by a young woman.

She greeted us with “Hello.

Bonjour.” Without thinking I immediately responded with a perfectly pronounced “bonjour.”

Then I remembered that’s one of the only 10 words I know in French. I feared, as did Emilie, that she would continue to speak in French and find me out as the French fraud I was.

She continued in English.

Phew! But I was still nervous. Customs can make one feel like a criminal even though you’re clean as a whistle. She asked for all our passports, and peppered us with questions. She asked what our occupations were and we all answered, and Danny stumbled saying veterinary technician. She didn’t hear him, so of course I decided I would save the day. It took me five tries to say veterinary technician. The patient customs’ officer had to crack a smile at that time. I feel she wasn’t laughing with me.

Plus, when we got to our hotel, we discovered that August 1 is a provincial holiday. In St. Stephen, it is New Brunswick Day. Everything but eateries were closed. No snacks or beverages tonight.

Well, I have four more days to see how I can improve on my history of impressing the nice Canadian people. The way I see it is that I have nowhere to go but up — or up north.