FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
t eanc 0 VOL. 30, NO. 33
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Friday, August 22, 1986
F ALL RIVER, MASS.
Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
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58 Per Year
Remains in good standing
Father Curran may not teach
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David McCahey, left, and Stephen Maddox "It has to have an impact"
Irish children visit Cape By Joseph Motta Cape Cod. The name evokes good memories. Shopping in Provincetown. Celebrity-hunting in Hyannis. A good meal in Harwich. Maybe just putting your feet up in Falmouth. "I just thought it was going to be a big beach," said David McCahey, II, of Belfast, Northern Ireland. David stayed in Mashpee for part of the summer with Andrew and Margaret Carmichael, members of Christ the King parish, which serves residents of Mashpee and Cotuit. David and fellow Belfaster Stephen Maddox, 10, also a Carmichael guest, were two of 78 children brought to America by the Cape Cod Irish Children's Program. Carmichael is the program's director. The boys became good friends during their stay, Carmichael said. David is Catholic, Stephen Protestant. In Belfast, such a friendship would for the most part be difficult to begin or maintain, due to the political, social and economic climate. Although the problems at issue are only tangentially religious, Carmichael said, the factions involved are labeled Catholic and Protestant and lines are drawn to the point that it is often dangerous for a member of one side to associate with a member of the other.
Of the Irish children who came to the Cape from June 30 to August II , for 60 it was a first visit. Funded by donations from private parties and fraternal organizations, the program sponsors a child once, providing funds for transportation and paying insurance costs. Host families pay for any repeat visits. Children apply to be considered for the journey at their schools. 10 and ll-year-olds are eligible. "Host families provide love, room and board," Carmichael said, "in that order." The program has existed on Cape Cod for 12 years and is the country's oldest organization of its sort. Carmichael, director for his third and final year, said New Bedford, North Attleboro and Fairhaven families have also hosted childrren through the Cape program. Many Irish children's programs in other parts of the nation are modeled after the Cape's he said. "Close to 1500 children come to America each summer," Carmichael noted. "It has to have an impact. The children are never going to forget that they played with children of other faiths while they were here." The retired sales representative and his wife have been hosting children for seven years. Stephen and David were their II th and 12th charges thus far.
"The boys haven't formed any prejudices at their age," he said. "Children in Northern Ireland pick up prejudices from their elders as Turn to Page Six
. Related stories on page 12 WASHINGTON (NC) - Moral church be completely faithful to its theologian Father Charles E. Cur- full and authentic teaching," he ran may no longer teach as a said. Catholic theologian because of his Bishop Matthew Clark of dissent from church teachings, the Rochester, N.Y., Father Curran's Vatican said in a statement released home diocese, said, "In recogniAug. 18 in Washington. tion of the ultimate authority of "You will no longer be consid- the Holy Father who has conered suitable nor eligible to exer- firmed this decision and in a spirit cise the function of a professor of of collegiality with him, I accept Catholic theology," wrote Cardi- the decision as the final word on nal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of this matter and urge all members the Congregation for the Doctrine of our community to accept it in a of the Faith, the Vatican agency similar spirit." that has been investigating Father Bishop Clark earlier had urged Curran's teachings since 1979. a compromise which would allow Archbishop James Hickey of Father Curran to continue teachWashington, chancellor of The ing on the Catholic University Catholic University of America theology faculty. In his statement where Father Curran has taught he emphasized that Father Curran for the past 20 years, announced remains in "good standing as a that he has "initiated the with- priest." drawal of Father Curran's ecclesiBishop James Malone of astical license to teach Catholic Youngstown, Ohio, president of theology." the National Conference of Cath"Father Curran," he added, "will olic Bishops, said the basic issue in enjoy the right to the procedures the Curran case "concerns the fact of due process set forth in the stat- that someone who does not accept the teaching of the church on cruutes" of the university. Archbishop Hickey said he "ful- cial points cannot reasonably exly" supported the Holy See'sjudg- pect to occupy a position which ment on Father Curran. "The Holy requires that he teach what the' Father and the bishops have the church teaches." "Neither I nor anyone else relright and the duty to ensure that what is taught in the name of the Turn to Page Six
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FATHER MARCEL H. BOUCHARD, parochial vicar at St. Julie Billiart Church, North Dartmouth, participates in the 17th annual Blessing of the Fleet, held Jast Sunday in New Bedford Harbor. Father Bouchard took the place of the late Father John F. Hogan, St. Julie's pastor, who had participated in the festival since it began. In tribute to the priest, guests aboard the review vessel, the Coast Guard cutter Vigilant, dropped long~stemmed red roses into the sea. (Rosa photo)