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t eanc 0 VOL. 40, NO. 34 •
Friday, September 6, 1996
FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
FALL RIVER, MASS.
Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
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513 Per Year
DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER 410 Highland Avenue P.O. Box 2577 Fall River, Massachusetts 02722-2577 508-675-1311
September 3, 1996
Office of THE BISHOP
Dearly Beloved in Christ, Thank you for your outstanding response to the Project Life Postcard Campaign in June. Our faith cannot be divorced from life since true faith informs and affects every dimension of human existence and activity. When President Clinton ceremoniously vetoed the Partial Birth-Abortion Act, men anA women offaith needed to act. Across the nation, we have flooded Congress with millions of postcards urging Senators and Members of Congress to override what the Vatican called the "shameful" veto of our President. Not even a presidential veto can turn a "wrong" into a "right." Partial-birth abortion is a procedure more akin to infanticide than abortion. It is the killing of a tiny infant just seconds from taking his or her first breath outside the womb. Unless Congress overturns the veto, this inhumane procedure will continue. The claimed medical basis for the veto has been definitively refuted. Moreover, no less than 71 % of Americans are in favor of the legislation which sought to ban it, a majority acknowledged by Congress but spurned by the President. The vote to override may occur in the House at the end of the month. Because we are resolutely committed to protecting human life from conception to natural death, the Catholic Bishops have planned a public Service of Prayer identifying the sacredness of human life as God's gift and invoking His aid in its protection. The Prayer Service will take place on the steps of the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, September 12th, at 2:00 p.m. I will join the convener, Cardinal Law, as will thousands of other religious leaders and supporters. I know it is not possible for most of you to be with us that afternoon, but I am confident that you want to be a part of this prayerful action. So, together with bishops across the country, I designate the following day, Friday, the 13th of September, as a day of prayer, acts of charity" fast and abstention from meat. While this sacrifice is not binding, I trust most of you will acknowledge the serious cause which prompts it and will voluntarily accept it as another means whereby our faith affects our daily existence.
CARDINAL JOSEPH L. Bernardin, shown here at a press conference last month, has announced the recurrence of cancer.
"My life expectancy is one year or less."
In these crucial weeks that are to come, let us pray together for a thorough restoration of respect for human life both 'in the hearts of our political leaders and in the hearts of all Americans. Devotedly yours in Christ,
Cardinal announces recurrence of cancer
-7f~~~ Bishop of Fall River
St. John the Baptist, NB, completes jubilee year St. John the Baptist parish, New Bedford, the first Portuguese parish established in North America, will close its 1251,h anniversary year with a Mass at4 p.m. Sunday. Bishop Sean O'Malley will be principal celebrant and other concelebrants will include retired Bishop Aurelio Granada Escudeiro of the Diocese of Angra, Azores; Msgr. George W: Coleman, Vicar General of the Fall River Diocese; Msgr. John J. Oliveira, PA, VE, , Episcopal Vicar for the New Bedford Deanery; Msgr. Henry T. MunrOe, PA, VE, FaJl River
At a banquet at White's RestauDeanery Episcopal Vicar and many rant, Westport, following the liturpriests of the Diocese. gy, Father Oliveira will be master A total of 40 priests and perof ceremonies and speakers will manent deacons will be present, include New Bedford Mayor Roserepresenting the Dioceses of Fall mary Tierney and Attache Rui River, Providence, RI, and Manchester, NH, and the Archdiocese Felix-Alves, representing the Washof Boston. ington-based Ambassador of Portugal to the United States. FelixRev. John J. Oliveira, pastor of Alves will present St. John the St. John the Baptist, said priests Baptist parish with the Gold Medal and deacons will vest for the liturgy of Merit of the Portuguese Comat the Kennedy Center, two-tenths munities, awarded by the nation of of a mile from the church, to which Portugal in recognition ofthe parthey will process, led by the parish ish's service to area Portuguese for banner and Our Lady of Angels . the past 125 years. Band of.New Bedford. t
CHICAGO (CNS) - Cardinal Joseph L. Bernardin of Chicago announced Aug. 30 that the pancreatic cancer for which he underwent surgery in June 1995 has recurred in his liver. "I have been told that it is terminal and m'y life expectancy is one year or less," he said at an afternoon press conference at the archdiocesan Pastoral Center The cardinal, who turned 68 in April, said he would begin a different form of chemotherapy called Gemzar, or gemcitabine, and "if successful, this therapy may increase my time somewhat but it will not effect a cure." "I have been assured that I still have some quality time left," he said in his prepared statement. "My prayer is that I will use whatever time is left in a positive way, that is, a way that will be of benefit to the priests and people I have been called to serve, as well as to my oWn spiritual well~being."
Since his cancer diagnosis last year, the cardinal also has experienced other health problems. Last winter, he suffered several compression fractures in his spine, which doctors attributed to osteoporosis, possibly exacerbated by radiation following his cancer surgery. Later, the Chicago Archdiocese announced Aug. 5 that he tentatively was scheduled to undergo surgery Sept. 16 to relieve severe leg and lower back pain caused by spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal column that can pinch the' nerves. The cardinal, who turned 68 in April, said blood tests done only three weeks earlier had indicated he was cancer-free. But the spread of pancreatic cancer to his liver was discovered during tests done Aug. 28 in preparation for the September back surgery. Five. tumors, each one to two Turn to Page 13