VOL. 45, NO. 30 • Friday, August 10, 2001
FALL RIVER, MASS.
Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly • $14 Per Year
Two take
House vote hailed
next step
towards priesthood
By JERRY FILTEAU CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE WASHINGTON - A leading U.S. cardinal hailed as an important advance for humanity the House of Representatives' vote to ban all cloning of human embryos in the United States. The House passed the Human Cloning Prohibition Act by a vote of 265-162 on July 31. Violators could face minimum fines of $1 million and up to 10 years in prison. Representatives first defeated by a margin of 249-178 a rival bill that would have allo:Wf:ld~lpuing of human embryos to obtain stem cells for research and clinical use. The substitute bill would have banned the implanting of cloned embryos in, a womb .to produce human babies for the next 10 years. .' Cardinal William H: Keeler of Baltimore, chairman pf the U.S. bishops' Committee o.nPro-Life Activities, called t~ v()te "an important first· step#'lJhe path to a truly humane fut:w:e, fuwbich man remains the master~ not the product of bis.· te«hnQlo/n''''' He was quoting from P~~~}ob.fi Paul II's address to PreSkIent Bush when the two met ill Italy two weeks ago. .. 1·· Cardinal Keeler ~geiJ Senate "e ~as>soon passage of the.m as· possible!' He s . . 's~cll a law "will send a clear siWJall that we are not merely the vic~$ (If techcan litllit nical advance, tha.l and direct our technolQgiclll powers to serve and notdemean human dignity," .:, . The Human CIQ~l18J!~rQhibi
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. CHIL~REN O~ Holy Family-Holy Name School, New Bedford, recently gathered with family and fnends to pray the rosary in the grotto of Mary at St. Lawrence Parish, New Bedford. '
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Fame of St. Thomas More is spreading ~
Book by Cape Cod author shows the timeless impact of the 16th century lawyer-diplomat on modern day living. By JAMES N. DUNBAR
NORTH FALMOUTH look back at 16th century Tudor England and focusing on today's world as well, historian and scholar C. Robert Wray examines the "man for all, seasons" in his book "St. Thomas More at the Millennium." In a very readable chronicle of the life and times of the scholar, lawyer and diplomat who suffered martyrdom rather than approve the removal of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church, Wray, a member of St. Elizabeth Seton Parish, paints a literary portrait of a man who would today be a
In a marvelous
champion of Christian unity. More, says Wray, by his own example would place charity and peace atop the priorities of the world's statesman and politicians, who would also be shown how to not take themselves too seriously. In a recent interview at his summer cottage, Wray, a former Naval officer, headmaster and dean.who holds bachelor's and master's degrees in history from the University of Notre Dame, talked about what moved him to document a profound look at More's inner life and thought, his family life, the education of his children, his humor, the acts of charity that so characterized his daily existence, and his constant life of prayer and devotion. But more than that, the man who resigned as an obedient servant and Lord chancellor to his king, Henry VIII, over the latter's actions, is also Turn to page 13 - Book
FALL RIVER - Two men studying for the priesthood for the Fall River diocese will be admitted to candidacy at separate ceremonies this weekend for future ordination as deacons and then priests. Bishop Sean P. O'Malley, OFM Cap., will accept and bless Joseph R. Chagnon of Swansea at ceremonies during Mass Saturday in Our Lady of Fatima Church, Swansea. On Sunday, the bishop will accept and bless Karl C. Bissinger of Fall River during Mass at St. Joseph's Church, Fall River. The rite of candidacy is when a man aspiring to receive the sacrament of holy orders makes a public expression of his intention to do so. The bishop,.in turn, gives the Church's public expression of this intention. The rite of "Admission to Candidacy" is celebrated when there is clear evidence that the aspirant's properly informed intention has sufficiently matured. This rite is usually celebrated during the years when a seminarian is in major seminary, customarily during second or third years of theology. . Bissinger and Chagnon are receiving candidacy prior to beginning their upcoming studies at the Pontifical North American College in Roine.
Karl Oement Bissinger Bissinger, 30, a native of Fall River, is the son of Andrew and Therese (Clement) Bissinger of that city, and is a member of St. Joseph Parish. He has a sister, Lisa Renee Teixeira., He attended Wiley Elementary School and Morton Middle School and graduated from B.M.C. Durfee High School in 1989. He did undergraduate studies at Bristol Community College; received a bachelor's degree in philosophy from UMass Dartmouth in 1998; studied French at Middlebury College in Vermont; and graduated from Bridgewater State College in 1999. Prior to entering the seminary he was involved in his parish as a Mass server, lector and choir member and taught religious education at St. Louis Parish. In college he worked for the Writing/Reading Center at UMass Dartmouth as a writing tuTurn to page 13- Step