VOL. 49, NO. 34 • Friday, September 9, 2005
FALL RIVER, MASS.
Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly • $14 Per Year
A Woman's Concern pregnancy health center set to open By MIKE GORDON ANCHOR STAFF
FALL RIVER - A Woman's Concern, a center providing pregnancy health services for women of the Greater Fall River area, will be officially dedicated and hold an open house September 17 at 6 p.m. Ceremonies will be held at the Union United Methodist Church, 400 Highland Avenue and the open house will be held at the new location, 384 Highland Avenue at 7 p.m. Bishop George W. Coleman will be on hand to give a reflection on the Gospel of Life. The bishop said he is "excited and hopeful about the opening of
the new center. It is my hope that this inter-faith collaborative effort will provide women experiencing crisis pregnancies the help they need to the building of a true culture of life here in the community." The non-profit center will offer a range of medical and counseling services to hundreds of women who face unplanned pregnanCies including pregnancy testing, diagnostic ultrasound, parenting classes and counseling so women can make a healthy choice about their pregnancy. All services are free of charge. The Reverend John Ensor, of Tum to page 16 - Center
A YOUNG refugee from Louisiana gets some rest with his new furry friend at St. Peter Claver Parish in Houston, a designated American Red Cross shelter. (CNS photo by Erik Noriega, Texas Catholic Herald)
Pastors may take .a collection for relief of hurricane victims By DEACON JAMES N. DUNBAR AND CATHOUC NEWS SERVICE
FALL RIVER - Bishop George W. Coleman has authorized pastors of parishes in the Fall River diocese to take up a collection for hurricane relief in affected Southern states, with funds going to Catholic Chari-
ties USA: The collections may be held on either of the weekends of September 4, 11 and 18, with returns to the Chancery Office no later than September28. In his message to priests, Bishop Coleman said, 'The utter devasta-
tion and destruction by Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and parts ofAorida grows worse by the day. We have only to watch the news and our hearts go out to the people of this area. It will be months and years before the area Tum to page eight - Hurricane
Diocese, St. Francis Corporation outline agreement regarding Cape high school
THIS GRAND old home in the Highlands of Fall River will house A Women's Concern pregnancy health center. Bishop George W. Coleman will attend the opening ceremonies on September 17. (AnchorlGordon photo)
HYANNIS - Sharing a strong desire for the establishment of a Catholic high school on Cape Cod, the Fall River diocese and the S1. Francis Xavier High School Corporation have been meeting during the past months to consider how such a school could come to realization at the former Grade Five School build-
ing on High School Road in Hyannis. These discussions have been fruitful: A memorandum of understanding regarding the acquisition of the building and the initial planning for the creation of a high school at the site has been drawn-up and signed by representatives of both entities.
Its terms stipulate that the S1. Francis Corporation will be responsible for raising all of the funding necessary for the purchase and renovation of the building, which combined is estimated to be $10 million. On August 12, the S1. Francis Corporation acquired the building Tum to page two - School
Diocese's Catholic parishes mobilize voters for 2005 elections By JAMES MCGUNCHEY SPECIAL TO THE ANCHOR
FALL RIVER - The 2005 Massachusetts municipal elections are considered "off-year" elections -less important compared to the 2004 Presidential campaign. Nonetheless, nine diocesan parishes - four in Fall River, four in New Bedford, and one in Taunton - are conducting "get-out-thevote" campaigns this year with the same intensity as during last November's election. In both the primary and final ele<;tions, the parishes will send nearly 30,000 reminder postcards - one to each and every parishi9ner who is registered to vote. Timely reminders from the pulpit and notices in the weekly parish bulletin are necessary to ensure parishioners are heeding the call. But to make a difference in the no-
holds-barred political arena and to guaran- Santo and S1. Anne's in Fall River, and S1. tee that elected officials are mindful of the Anthony's in Taunton, have a strong, devoting strength of the parish, stronger tools cades-long, history ofpromoting citizenship are sometimes required. and voter registration. No one knew, howIf the past is any indication, in Fall River ever, exactly how politically powerful these and New Bedford, parishes really these get-out-the"l h C h" d' . were. vote efforts will n teat O,IC tra Itlon, respon- This lack of inreach 20 percent of sible citizenship is a virtue; partici- formation had a all voters or one in pation in the political process is a price. On the down every five of a~l moral obligation."_ U.S. Conference side, without a fear votes cast. That. IS of Catholic Bishops. of ~ ~~ter backlash, the measurable mpolibclans could rationalize ignoring fluence ofthese parishes alone and that is the foundation of the parish issues because many parishioners building political influence. As the vener- were immigrants and had not become U.S. able Massachusetts politician, Thomas P. citizens. These leaders could direct scarce ''TIp'' O'Neal Jr. once said "all politics is public resources to other, more active, conlocal." stituencies. On the positive side, however, Parishes like Santo Christo, Espirito more perceptive politicians understood that
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there still remained a large number of parishioners who were eligible to vote. In 2000, the Santo Christo pastor Father Gastao Oliviera and a committee of parish volunteers became one of the fIrst parishes to join the Portuguese American Citizenship Project, a non-partisan campaign to promote citizenship and civic participation in the immigrant community. One of the initial steps taken was to identify the registered voters in the parish by linking the parish membership list with the Fall River voter registration and voter participation data. The parish committee discovered that the voter registration rate was 41 percent - significantly less than the U.S. voter registration rate of 66 percent of the voting age population. But 41 percent of a very large Tum to page 12 - Elections