09.16.11

Diocese of Fall River

The Anchor

F riday , September 16, 2011

Bishop Feehan High School prepares to celebrate golden anniversary

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

ATTLEBORO — As students filled the hallways of Bishop Feehan High School to face the challenge of another academic year earlier this month, there was an added sense of excitement as the school community embarked on a milestone of its own: a yearlong celebration of the 50th anniversary of the school’s opening and founding.

“There’s a tangible sense of excitement,” agreed Christopher E. Servant, a 1966 Bishop Feehan graduate and the school’s current president. “First, there are banners and signs hung from light poles identifying the 50 years of graduates and announcing the 50th anniversary. For the past month Attleboro’s daily newspaper, The Sun Chronicle, has been announcing a ‘Special Bishop Feehan’ edition, too.”

According to Cindy DionDeTrolio of the school’s advancement office, there are several key events already planned as part of the 2011-2012 academic calendar that will be “enhanced” with special festivities to celebrate the school’s 50th anniversary.

The first will be an opening

Mass for all students, faculty and staff on September 22 beginning at 10 a.m. celebrated by Bishop George W. Coleman.

“Our year will begin with a celebration of the Eucharist where everyone who taught here will be invited back with a lunch, a monthly recognition of those lives who have made a difference in the world and Homecoming Day festivities,” said Sister Patricia Harrington, RSM, a longtime faculty member at the school. “All through the year we will be highlighting at the different activities those who have succeeded in that particular organization who will, hopefully, have words of wisdom for the students.”

Other “enhanced” events will include a Homecoming Game on October 15 beginning at 1 p.m.; an All Saints’ Day Mass on November 1 at 1 p.m.; a Thanksgiving Liturgy on November 23 at 10 a.m.; the Feast of Immaculate Conception Mass on December 8 at 1 p.m.; a Catholic Schools Week Mass on February 2 at 10 a.m.; and a dinner and auction at Christina’s on March 24 beginning at 6 p.m.

“We made the decision that Turn to page 17

solemn remembrance — Students from Stonehill College in North Easton took part in a candlelight vigil last Sunday, remembering the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, including the death of former Stonehill English professor, Holy Cross Father Francis Grogan, who was on board United Airlines Flight 175, the second hijacked plane to strike the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan.

Marital healing: A tool for strengthening a Catholic marriage

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

PHILADELPHIA — Catholics have a new source to help heal and strengthen a marriage, and it can be found right at his or her fingertips.

The Institute for Marital Healing (www. maritalhealing.com), based in Philadelphia, Penn., is a website dedicated to educating spouses, marital therapists and clergy about the common causes of conflict within a marriage. The site provides a plethora of information, including videos, selftaking tests, numerous case studies and literature, and offers staffed professionals to assist those looking for help.

“Our basic philosophy of marriage is profoundly influenced by the writings of John Paul II, particularly, ‘Love and Responsibility,’” said Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons, director of the institute. “The fact that John Paul II was writing about total self-giving in

marriage through romantic love and through the marital friendship, it was a total shift from ‘me’ to ‘we.’ His writings about the human person in marriage and sexuality influenced our work.”

Trained in psychiatry at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Child Guidance Center, Fitzgibbons is an adjunct professor at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at Catholic University, and has worked with couples and members of religious communities for more than 35 years, leading annual conferences focused on growth in marital self-giving.

“My area of expertise in this nature of treatment is in anger,” said Fitzgibbons. “In the field of positive psychology, which is a new field; it focuses on using virtues to try to address emotional and personality conflicts.”

Turn to page 14

Incardination: Same story, different chapter

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

Bishop Feehan High School, Attleboro

FALL RIVER — It’s a personal decision that takes much thought, discernment and reflection. When a Catholic priest chooses to leave one diocese or religious order for another, he must go through an incardination process into his new surroundings.

When a man becomes a Catholic priest, incardination is the canonical act whereby a cleric is attached to a diocese or religious community and subjected

to the authority of its Ordinary.

All priests must be incardinated, since Canon Law prohibits “wandering” clergy.

The reasons for making a request to incardinate into another diocese or community are as many as those who have chosen to go that route. Sometimes the individual can’t even put into words the reason, but he knows there is need for the change.

The incardination process is in no way a reflection on either institution, but rather an often

difficult personal choice.

Within the Fall River Diocese are several men who have recently been incardinated into the diocese from various religious communities. The latest is Father Andrew Johnson, currently the chaplain at Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River and in residence at St. Michael Parish, also in that city.

“Bishop George W. Coleman was most gracious to receive me into the diocese when I made Turn to page 14

News From the Vatican

2

September 16, 2011

Church must teach truth, values that save souls, the world, pope says

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) — Catholic schools and institutions need to be “genuinely Catholic” and pass on the values that support communities and the truth that saves souls, Pope Benedict XVI said.

“This saving truth, at the heart of the deposit of faith, must remain the foundation of all the Church’s endeavors, proposed to others always with respect but also without compromise,” the pope told a group of bishops from India.

In a country with large Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and Christian populations, the Church must continue to teach and promote the “intellectual and moral truth” to the Catholic faithful, the pope said September 8 at the end of the bishops’ “ad limina” visits.

Catholics must then bear witness to God’s love for everyone and reach out to their neighbors, showing them by their words and actions that Christ is the way, the truth and the life, he said.

Through friendship, respect and love, all Catholics can strive “not to condemn the world but to offer it the gift of salvation,” he said.

The Catholic Church makes “an invaluable contribution” to all of Indian society with its many Church-run schools, orphanages,

hospitals and clinics, he said.

Church-run schools have been especially valuable in developing “the spiritual, intellectual and moral faculties of their students,” he said. And schools should continue to practice “sound judgment” and let students learn about “the heritage bequeathed to them by former generations, thus fostering a sense of values and preparing their pupils for a happy and productive life.”

Pope Benedict encouraged the Indian bishops to “continue to pay close attention to the quality of instruction in the schools present in your dioceses, to ensure that they be genuinely Catholic and therefore capable of passing on those truths and values necessary for the salvation of souls and the upbuilding of society.”

“The capacity to present the truth gently but firmly is a gift to be nurtured especially among those who teach in Catholic institutes of higher education” and those who teach seminarians, religious and the lay faithful.

He said “students have the right to receive the fullness of the intellectual and spiritual heritage of the church.” With more solid catechetical formation, Church members will be better able to serve the Church and society.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Crying out to God when one is in the grips of pain or fear is a sign of faith in God, Pope Benedict XVI said. A central tenet of faith is believing that the loving God is always close to His creatures and ready to reach out and save them, the pope said during a recent weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

Pope Benedict told those gathered for the audience that when they are really hurting or afraid, they can use Psalm 3 to express both their suffering and their trust in God. Like the psalmist, he said, “we, too, are tempted to think perhaps God won’t save me, doesn’t

know me, there’s no possibility (of being rescued). The temptation against faith is the ultimate aggression of the enemy. And we must resist it. In this way we will find God and find life.” The psalm, attributed to King David when he was fleeing the army of his rebellious son, demonstrates that believers are never abandoned and “enemies are not unbeatable like he thought because the Lord hears the cry of the oppressed and responds,” the pope said. “Man cries in anguish, in danger, in pain; man cries for help and God responds,” he said. “To cry out means to have faith in God’s closeness and willingness to listen.”

Crying out to God is sign of faith, pope says at audience

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the fifth year — Bishops from India on their “ad limina” visits to the Vatican celebrate Mass at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome , Italy, recently. Bishops are required to make such visits to the Vatican every five years to report on the status of their dioceses. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Hotline to heaven: how relics connect people to community of saints

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A saint’s lock of hair, bone shards, a vial of blood, even a severed hand whose discolored fingers curl in a macabre way are venerated by many members of the Catholic Church.

Others may just get the heebie-jeebies and wonder why holy people’s body parts are even put on display.

But if one believes these men and women lived holy lives and accomplished extraordinary things, “wouldn’t you want a souvenir,” a way to connect and remember that person and what they’ve done, said Elizabeth Lev, an art historian and professor of art history at the Rome campuses of Duquesne University and the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn.

The relic becomes a concrete reminder that the blessed or saint’s body is here on earth and his or her soul is with God, she told Catholic News Service.

“It feels like you’ve got almost like a hotline into heaven,” she said.

The relic is “something we can see and touch, and it becomes our portal to a world we cannot see and cannot touch.”

In the Catholic Church, relics fall into one of three categories: a first-class relic is the physical bodily remains of a saint or blessed like bones, blood and hair; a secondclass relic is a personal possession, such as clothing, devotional objects, handwritten letters or even furniture; and a third-class relic is an object that has touched a firstclass relic. These — usually small snips of cloth that have touched a blessed or saint’s tomb — often end up in public distribution fixed onto prayer cards.

In early Christian times, small holes were often made to run vertically down into a saint’s tomb or even straight into the sarcophagus so that devotional items could be lowered onto the tomb’s surface or come in contact with the relics of

the saint.

Creating such third-class relics became very popular in the late fourth-century in Rome after Emperor Theodosius banned the sale and distribution of corporal relics.

The sale of any relic is staunchly prohibited in the Church. EBay has banned the sale of body parts, and Church officials have called the sale of relics on the Internet sacrilege.

Nonetheless, demand for relics, mostly third-class relics, of Pope John Paul skyrocketed after it became clear that he was on the fast track to sainthood. The promoters of his cause, which were giving out third-class relics for free, had to publicly state repeatedly that relics are never for sale.

A relic has no special or magical powers, Lev said. It would be a mistake to believe any object, even a holy object, can be a sort of “remote control” to make God do one’s bidding or fulfill some heartfelt wish.

It’s true some saints, objects, shrines and icons seem “more efficacious” than others in connecting people to God, Lev said. But it’s not the object or the site bringing grace or a miracle; it is only a channel, an instrument through which God chooses to act.

“God controls what He’s going to do and how He’s going to do it,” she said.

Even in the modern secularized West, tours of saints’ relics have been enormously popular.

More than a quarter of a million people turned out to see the relics of St. Therese of Lisieux when her remains toured cities and villages throughout predominantly Anglican England and Wales in 2009.

Massive crowds also flocked to see her remains during a U.S. tour in 1999, surprising even the event planners.

The huge turnouts sparked curiosity in the secular media and questions about why relics would attract so many people, including nonbe-

lievers.

Lev said an over-secularized world that rejects the divine and embraces the finite and man-made “leaves a void in people, a hunger to know that there is more” than just life and death on earth.

In the Catholic tradition and in its ceremonies and community of saints, there is a constant reminder that those who have died are still always present and part of the Church, she said.

“The Mass itself is the most beautiful representation of this intertwining between heaven and earth,” she said.

But the nature of first-class relics has changed. Most relics of modern-day blesseds and saints are now just a snippet of hair or a vial of blood. It’s inconceivable in the West today that a deceased’s hand, finger or head would be removed from the body and put on display.

People forget “how earthy” the Church once was, when there was a very strong emphasis on various devotions to the Blood or the heart of Jesus, and practically every body part was appropriate for a reliquary.

“Hands, fingers and other body parts were very tangible, very lapelgrabbing ways of saying this is part of the body of someone whose soul is in heaven,” she said.

Even unusual relic traditions, like the supposed foreskin of Jesus, have a deep spiritual significance representing the first Blood He shed, giving special meaning to the devotion of the precious Blood of Christ, she said.

The Church has always faced the problem of confirming the authenticity and validity of relics, Lev said, and doubt in this regard is always permissible.

“A relic is not a binding dogmatic contract: ‘Here is the blood of John Paul II, you may pray before it and your prayers will be answered.’ It doesn’t work like that.

It’s not magic.”

September 16, 2011

The International Church

3

Pope travels to Ancona, urges life centered on eucharistic spirituality

air disaster — People light candles in memory of victims of a plane crash during a service in the cathedral in Yaroslavl, Russia. The plane carrying a Russian ice hockey team to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from a provincial airport September 7, killing 43 people and plunging the Russian and international sports world into grief. (CNS photo/Denis Sinyakov, Reuters)

Archbishop says British courts penalize Christians’ human rights

LONDON (CNS) — A Catholic archbishop said the British courts are wrongfully penalizing Christians through an “incorrect interpretation” of human rights laws.

Archbishop Peter Smith of Southwark said judges were guilty of “woolly thinking” and a bias against Christians who either wore religious jewelry or who had taken a moral stand against acts they held in conscience to be sinful.

The court decisions did not uphold Articles 9 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, he said. The United Kingdom’s Human Rights Act of 1998 is based on the convention.

The archbishop’s comments were directed primarily at courts which, he explained, wrongly upheld the legitimacy of disciplinary measures taken against four Christians who have since decided to challenge the workings of the law at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, on the grounds the British judges were failing to protect their rights.

“The courts are misinterpreting the law,” said Archbishop Smith, vice president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and the chairman of the bishops’ Department for Citizenship and Christian Responsibility.

His remarks came a day after the department responded to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, a government-funded body that had sought the bishops’ views on the four cases.

The request followed permission by the European court for the commission to intervene in the cases of Nadia Eweida, Shirley Chaplin, Lillian Ladele and Gary McFarlane in an attempt to clarify how the law ought to have been applied.

Eweida, a check-in clerk for British Airways, was suspended after refusing to remove a small crucifix over her uniform.

Chaplin, a nurse, was stopped from working on hospital wards and given a desk job after she refused to hide her cross.

Ladele lost her job as a registrar in London after she refused to officiate at civil partnership ceremonies for gay couples. McFarlane, a relationship counselor, was sacked when he refused to give sexual therapy counseling to gay couples.

The commission wants to convince the European court that the law was wrongly applied in the cases of Eweida and Chaplin but

correctly applied in the cases of Ladele and McFarlane.

Archbishop Smith said that although Sikhs and Muslims had successfully used the law to uphold a right to manifest their beliefs in such areas as religious attire and jewelry, Christians were denied the same right because the courts had decided that it was not essential to the practice of their faith.

“Why can’t Christians wear the symbol of the cross?” he asked in a September 6 telephone interview with Catholic News Service.

“It is absolutely part of the Gospel,” he said. “Without the cross there is no salvation. It is at the heart of our faith because it is the symbol and sign of God’s unconditional love.”

Archbishop Smith also insisted that Christians must be allowed “by any reckoning” to act according to their consciences and “not be obliged to do something they know or believe in their consciences to be wrong.”

The archbishop and his department argue that the law was wrongly applied in every case.

The absolute rights of the four to manifest their religious beliefs, the archbishop said, were protected by the European human rights convention.

Article 9 says people have the right “either alone or in community with others and in public or private to manifest religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.” Such rights may be limited when necessary for the normal functioning of a democratic society, says the article.

Article 14 says that all citizens must enjoy the right of freedom of religion.

Archbishop Smith said that the way the articles had been interpreted by the courts revealed a fundamental lack of balance.

“There seems to be a prejudice against Christians or against the manifestation of the Christian faith which totally puzzles me,” he added. “I think it is woolly thinking, to be honest.”

He said that whenever there was a conflict of rights between Christians and homosexuals, for instance, the courts were consistently “coming down heavily on one side and totally ignoring the other.”

“The law properly applied wouldn’t disadvantage anybody but would ensure that we all could exercise our rights fairly,” Archbishop Smith said.

ANCONA, Italy (CNS) — A religious life centered on and nourished by the Eucharist should lead to a life marked by gratitude for Christ’s sacrifice, a commitment to self-giving and real unity within the Church and the community, Pope Benedict XVI said.

Traveling to Ancona, on Italy’s Adriatic coast, September 11, the pope presided over the closing Mass of the Italian National Eucharistic Congress and held meetings with priests and married couples in Ancona’s cathedral and with engaged couples in a town square.

With the Adriatic glistening behind the altar platform, Pope Benedict’s homily at the Mass focused on the marks of a “eucharistic spirituality.”

Eucharistic Communion, he said, “draws us out of our individualism, communicates to us the spirit of Christ, who died and is risen, and conforms us to Him: It unites us intimately to our brothers and sisters in the mystery of Communion, which is the Church.”

A eucharistic spirituality is one marked by taking responsibility for one’s role in the Church community and society at large, paying special attention to those who are poor, sick or disadvantaged, he said.

“A eucharistic spirituality, then, is a real antidote to the individualism and selfishness that often characterizes daily life,” he said.

It should lead people to work to overcome divisions within the Church and societies, the pope said.

Meeting with married couples and priests

in the afternoon, Pope Benedict said the two categories of Church members must put more energy into recognizing how both have a vocation that flows from the Eucharist, which is a clear sign that God’s love for humanity is so great that He allowed His Son to sacrifice His life for the salvation of the world.

Priests and married couples must support each other in living out their vows, he said.

Priests must be patient with couples experiencing difficulty, and couples must never stop asking their priests to be “exemplary ministers who speak of God and lead you to Him,” the pope said.

Addressing about 500 engaged couples in the early evening, Pope Benedict encouraged them to use their engagement and marriage preparation as a time of spiritual growth and maturity.

“In some way, ours isn’t an easy time, especially for you young people. The table is set with many delicious things but, like in the Gospel story of the wedding at Cana, it seems like the wine has run out,” he said.

Pope Benedict told the young couples their engagement is a time “to discover the beauty of existing for and being precious to someone, being able to say to each other, ‘You are important to me.’”

He told couples the journey of getting to know each other was a gradual process that should be lived with intensity and truth.

Pope Benedict told the couples to resist the idea that living together before marriage can be “a guarantee for the future.”

The Church in the U.S.

4

September 16, 2011

Pope Benedict offers prayers and blessings on September 11 anniversary

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI offered his prayers and blessings to U.S. Catholics as they prepared to observe the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

In a message to Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. bishops, the pope said, “I join you in commending the thousands of victims to the infinite mercy of Almighty God and in asking our heavenly Father to continue to console those who mourn the loss of loved ones.”

Pope Benedict told Archbishop Dolan, “I extend my most affectionate greetings to you, your brother bishops and all those entrusted to your pastoral care, and I gladly impart my apostolic blessing as a pledge of peace and serenity in the Lord.”

The message, dated September 11, was released September 9 in Washington.

“The tragedy of that day is compounded by the perpe-

trators’ claim to be acting in God’s name,” Pope Benedict said. “Once again, it must be unequivocally stated that no circumstances can ever justify acts of terrorism.”

He added, “Every human life is precious in God’s sight and no effort should be spared in the attempt to promote throughout the world a genuine respect for the inalienable rights and dignity of individuals and peoples everywhere.”

Pope Benedict said, “The American people are to be commended for the courage and generosity that they showed in the rescue operations and for their resilience in moving forward with hope and confidence. It is my fervent prayer that a firm commitment to justice and a global culture of solidarity will help rid the world of the grievances that so often give rise to acts of violence and will create the conditions for greater peace and prosperity, offering a brighter and more secure future.”

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welcome — The Archdiocese of Philadelphia receives its new leader, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, left, during a special Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul in Philadelphia. He succeeds Cardinal Justin Rigali, second from right, who has retired at age 76. (CNS photo/Nancy Wiechec)

Church will get through ‘difficult moment,’ Archbishop Chaput says

PHILADELPHIA (CNS) — Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, installed September 8 as the new archbishop of Philadelphia, encouraged Catholics to know they will get through the “difficult moment” the local Church is experiencing.

Although rain prevented an outdoor procession at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, it did not dampen the spirits of about 1,700 people, including 400 priests and 100 bishops, who attended the installation Mass.

The Mass took place after days of rain and local flooding, and many in the congregation faced long detours just to arrive at the cathedral in the heart of the City of Brotherly Love.

Outside the cathedral, the struggles the archdiocese has faced in recent months were very apparent.

A block away, Catholic high school teachers were picketing during the second day of their strike; in front of the cathedral, while members of the Neocatechumenal Way sang and played guitars and drums, a group of people protesting clergy abuse marched silently, holding aloft signs as a stinging reminder of the recent grand jury report that accused archdiocese officials of failing to prevent abuse of children.

Inside the majestic cathedral though, members of the congregation greeted one another as if at a reunion, and they gave their new archbishop — who headed the Denver Archdiocese for the past 14 years and before that, the Diocese of Rapid City, S.D., for nine years — a warm welcome and long, sustained applause.

The archbishop in turn expressed his admiration for those in the Philadelphia Archdiocese, thanking them for embracing him with “such extraordinary kindness.” He also repeatedly acknowledged the difficulties they currently face and must continue to cope with, without going into any details.

“The Church in Philadelphia faces very serious challenges these

days,” he said during his homily.

“There’s no quick fix to problems that are so difficult and none of us here today, except the Lord Himself, is a miracle worker,” he said. “But the Church is not defined by her failures. And you and I are not defined by critics or those who dislike us.”

He told the congregation that what the Church does in coming months and years to respond to challenges “will define who we really are.”

He also promised them that “no bishop will try harder to help persons who have been hurt by the sins of the past. And no bishop will work harder to strengthen and encourage my brother priests and to restore the hearts of our faithful.”

He urged Philadelphia Catholics to keep in mind the image of Jesus as a good shepherd — symbolized in the bishop’s crosier.

“All of us should keep that image in our hearts in the months ahead because the Good Shepherd really will bring the Church in Philadelphia through this difficult moment in our history to security and joy and a better future,” he said.

Archbishop Chaput, who turns 67 September 26, was ordained as a Capuchin Franciscan priest in 1970 and became bishop of Rapid City at the age of 43. A member of the Prairie Band Potowatami tribe, he is the second Native American to be ordained a bishop in the United States and the first Native American archbishop.

A few times during his homily the archbishop likened his appointment to the Philadelphia Archdiocese as “an arranged marriage,” which drew some laughs from the congregation, especially when he said the “Holy Father is the matchmaker.”

He added that the pope “knows in his wisdom that we will make a good family together.”

“For any marriage to work,” he added, “two things need to hap-

pen. People need to fall in love and together they need to be fruitful.

That’s what we need to dedicate ourselves to today — to love one another and be fruitful together in the new evangelization.”

Archbishop Chaput made special note of the day of his installation, the feast of Mary’s birthday.

He said Mary has been “a constant source of hope and protection” in his vocation and hoped that she would also comfort members of the archdiocese “in the midst of the turmoil of the Church in our time, specifically in Philadelphia.”

After the Mass, the congregation lingered in the cathedral talking with one another, taking pictures and waiting in line for two hours to personally greet their new archbishop. At exits of the church and even onto the street, crowds of Neocatechumenal Way continued their exuberant singing and dancing and only one protester stood on the sidewalk.

Jorge Chavez, a member of Incarnation Church in Philadelphia and one of the afternoon’s bongo drum players, said he was there, along with local members of the Way and dozens from New York and Washington, simply to show support for the new archbishop.

Several people told Catholic News Service that they were very impressed by the archbishop’s words.

Sister Marie Edward, a member of the Little Sisters of the Poor and superior of the order’s Holy Family Home in Philadelphia, said the archbishop certainly “energized” the archdiocese to go forward.

Theresa Romanowski, a member of St. Adalbert Parish in Philadelphia, was impressed not only by the archbishop’s humility and sincerity but by his commitment to do whatever it takes to restore the faithful.

“I feel like our marriage is going to work,” she said, referring to how he described his relationship with the archdiocese.

September 16, 2011

The Church in the U.S.

5

Bishops aim to mobilize Catholics to guard consciences on contraception

total loss — Eric Kemper takes a moment to gather his composure recently as he sorts through the debris that remains of his home after it was destroyed as wildfires burn out of control near Bastrop, Texas. At least two people have died in the wildfire, which has destroyed at least 700 homes and blackened about 45 square miles in and around Bastrop, a city near Austin, the state capital.

(CNS photo/Mike Stone, Reuters)

Parish serves as shelter for victims displaced by Texas wildfires

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Ascension Parish in Bastrop, Texas, has been serving as a shelter and a nerve center for relief efforts related to the ongoing Texas wildfires that have struck the state.

As of September 7, wildfires had been recorded for 296 straight days in drought-stricken Texas. But in the recent surge of such blazes in early September, more than 1,000 homes in the state had been destroyed and four deaths were attributed to the fires.

“We’re not turning anybody away,” said Steve Venzon, one of four Ascension parishioners who are taking daily six-hour shifts in directing aid efforts at the church. The town of Bastrop and Bastrop County are in the heart of the fire zone in the 25-county Diocese of Austin, Texas.

Ascension started housing its first evacuees September 4 but quickly filled up its parish hall.

Evacuees moved to the parish’s religious education building, where 50 people were staying, Venzon told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview.

Venzon added that the religious education building had cots laid out for 200, and was expecting an upsurge in evacuees with the closure of a Red Cross emergency shelter. He said the parish, the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency were coordinating efforts; with a federal declaration of disaster status for wildfirestricken areas, FEMA is able to marshal more resources to help those affected by the fires.

If the religious education building fills up with evacuees, Venzon said, they would return to the parish hall to add bed

space. “After that, God help us,” he added.

Venzon said the pastor, Father Rafael Padilla Valdez, was in the first week of the first parish assignment of his priesthood when the wildfires hit. “He’s done a remarkable job,” he said.

Christian Gonzalez, communications director for the Diocese of Austin, said the wildfires were a combination of drought and heat — the Austin area has recorded more than 80 days of highs in the 100s this year — plus an ironic source: Hurricane Lee. While the tropical storm never drenched Texas, it came close enough for its winds to “suck out some of the moisture we did have” in the air, Gonzalez said.

He added that residents made donations at the Austin diocesan pastoral center during the morning and afternoon rush hours September 6, and that some radio stations in the Texas capital conducted on-air drives September 7 for donations, with the proceeds going to Catholic Charities.

The diocesan website, http:// www.austindiocese.org, has a large orange “donate” button on its home page to allow individuals to make contributions.

Melinda Rodriguez, executive director of Catholic Charities of Central Texas, told CNS that other important donations included warehouse space and 18-wheel trucks to haul donated goods to the warehouse so that they can be sorted and distributed to those in need.

“We’re waiting for organizations like FEMA to get established so we can leverage our own resources most effectively,” Rodriguez said.

She added that firefighters have had difficulty in containing the wildfires, which have scorched tens of thousands of acres. “We’ve been told they’re jumping roads and lakes and other natural barriers,” Rodriguez told CNS. In Bastrop, Venzon said he did not know the fate of his own house, where he lives with his wife, two grown sons and four grandchildren.

“It was standing yesterday. I don’t know,” Venzon said. “The fire got within a few blocks.

The cops blocked it (access) off. It (the fire) was jumping the streets.”

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The U.S. bishops are working to mobilize Catholics across the country to tell the Obama administration that contraception and sterilization do not constitute preventive care for women and must not be mandated as part of health reform.

Through a new website at www. usccb.org/conscience, the bishops hope to generate thousands of comments to the Department of Health and Human Services about its August 1 proposal that would require nearly all employers to provide sterilization and all FDA-approved contraceptives, including some that can cause an abortion, at no cost to women covered by their health insurance plans.

But time is of the essence, because the 60-day comment period on the HHS proposal closes September 30.

The site also includes a second “action alert” asking Catholics to tell their members of Congress to co-sponsor and pass the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act, which would guarantee the protection of conscience rights in all aspects of implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Proposed in the House of Representatives this spring, the legislation was introduced in the Senate August 2 by three Republican senators — Roy Blunt of Missouri, Marco Rubio of Florida and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire.

“Respect for rights of conscience in health care has been a matter of strong bipartisan consensus for almost four decades,” said Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, in a September

7 letter to Congress.

The Respect for Rights of Conscience Act “would change no current state or federal mandate for health coverage, but simply prevent any new mandates under (the health reform law) — such as HHS’ new set of ‘preventive services for women’ — from being used to disregard the freedom of conscience that Americans now enjoy,” he added. “This would seem to be an absolutely essential element of any promise that if Americans like the health plan they now have, they may retain it.”

In addition to the two action alerts, the bishops’ website features backgrounders on consciencerelated topics, news releases and documents on the HHS mandate and similar issues, and a commentary by Richard M. Doerflinger, associate director of the bishops’ Secretariat on Pro-Life Activities, about “the high costs of ‘free’ birth control.”

Doerflinger said it is “nonsense” to see the proposed requirement that health plans offer contraceptives without co-pays or deductibles as “free birth control.”

“Currently women who want birth control coverage pay for it through their premiums, and sometimes also have a co-pay or out-ofpocket expense,” he wrote. “Under the new mandate they will still pay for it, but the cost will be buried in the overall premium — and everyone else, including churches and other religious employers as well as individual Catholics, will be forced to pay for it in their premiums too, so payments coerced from those who object will make birth control coverage a bit cheaper for those who want it.”

6

The Anchor Preventing another class of victims

At the end of August, there was a sad story from Niagara Falls, Canada, that highlighted the vulnerability many priests feel about being falsely accused of sexual abuse. Robert Sammut, 46, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for extorting $90,000 from a priest against whom he had threatened to make a false allegation. Sammut first approached the priest in the fall of 2009 asking him for money, saying that he needed the money to support his kids as well as to pay off some people he owed who were threatening to hurt him. The priest — whose name was not revealed in court documents and whom the prosecutor, Graeme Leach, says is too embarrassed and traumatized to speak publicly about the matter — gave him the $30 he had. Sammut, who has admitted that he was a long time drug addict with more than 30 convictions on his record, began to approach him regularly to ask for more money. After a few months of generosity, the priest said that he could help no more. That’s when court documents described that Sammut began to threaten him that if he didn’t give him cash, he would tell the police and the media that the priest had sexually abused him when he was a minor. Fearing that his reputation and his priestly livelihood would be destroyed by a false accusation, the priest succumbed, wiping out his personal savings, maxing his credit cards and borrowing money from friends and the Church to give to Sammut. The prosecutor said that the priest had always lived very modestly and on a priest’s salary will likely never be able to pay back all he owes, a debt that will cause, the prosecutor added, the priest’s “ongoing victimization.”

Some might ask why would a priest feel so vulnerable against a false accusation, especially from a multiply-convicted drug addict with obvious credibility problems. The answer has to do with how accusations have been getting handled in the United States and Canada since policies on accusations of the sexual abuse of minors were reformed in each country a decade ago. While the reformed policies are justly praised for all that they’ve done to protect children and to hold priest abusers canonically accountable, many priests say that the implementation of the new policies has left priests unprotected from another type of abuse and victimization: character assassination and ministerial destruction by false allegations.

Prior to 2002, the flaw in the Church’s handling of accusations of sexual abuse of minors by clergy was not fundamentally a deficient policy, but the failure to follow canon law and particular norms that already were on the books. Canon law has clear policies about how to handle accusations of the grave canonical delict (crime) of the sexual abuse of minors and bishops’ conferences had generally adopted clear local policies detailing cooperation with civil authorities and other wise protocols; in many places, however, they weren’t followed. Rather, in many chanceries, a priest’s word in denial of the accusation was all that it took to dismiss the word of a victim or a victim’s family. Even when chancery officials believed that the victim was telling the truth and an abusive priest was lying, not enough was done in many cases to remedy the situation of injustice and abuse.

Many chancery officials seemed regularly to be putting the “good of the institution” ahead of justice for victims and protection of other children.

Many priests — and the association of canonists, justiceforpriests.org — say a similar form of injustice is now occurring with regard to false accusations of sexual abuse against priests. Whereas in the past a potential priest abuser’s word was often taken at face value, now, they say, a proposed victim’s word is given the same weight, no matter what the priest says. Whereas formerly, many Church leaders seemed to put the good of the reputation and finances of the institutional Church above justice for victims, now, they say, the same thing is happening with regard to the way priests are being treated, that innocent priests are being sacrificed to show the Church’s toughness on sexual abuse. And whereas previously it was not so much an issue of a “bad policy” but the way the policy was or was not being implemented, so today, they assert, the same problem persists. The only difference, they say, is that whereas once the Church did not do justice in many places for the rights of accusers, now it’s not doing justice to the rights of the accused.

Right now, the practice in many dioceses is that when an accusation comes in, the accused priest is put on immediate leave as the accusation is investigated. The accusation is treated as “credible” often merely by the fact that it “could have happened” rather than the likelihood that it did. The priest needs to leave his ministry and residence pending the investigation of a diocesan review board, an investigation that often drags on with inexplicable and inexcusable inertia: there are still several U.S. priests who maintain their innocence who were removed from their ministries back in 2002 whose cases have not yet been resolved. Even though the removal from public ministry, the vacating of the rectory, the incapacity to wear clerical dress and the other typical conditions of the leave of absence are not meant to imply that the priest is guilty, in reality it is the equivalent of a punishment given even before the veracity of the allegation is determined. No matter what is said to the contrary, it implies an assumption of guilt until innocence is proven, something that goes against canon law as well as the clear sense of fairness enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. The press releases that many dioceses send out announcing the accusation — which often end up with the priest’s name and face being associated with the abomination of the abuse of minors on the front page of newspapers and the top story on television and radio news reports — clearly injure the priest’s reputation, some say irreparably. All of these factors conspire to make many priests think that if they are falsely accused of sexually abusing a minor, they will never recover.

Two wrongs never make a right. The just response to a failure to adequately protect sexual abuse victims in the past is not to make innocent priests another class of victims now through false accusations. This harms not only the good men who have sacrificed their life for Christ and the Church but also injures their parishes, chaplaincies, and in some cases, the faith of everyone who has ever known them and received a Sacrament from them. What is needed is to defend the full rights both of accusers as well as the accused; to protect both children and priests from injustice and crime; to remove guilty priests from ministry expeditiously and ensure that innocent priests are expeditiously returned.

How to balance these sometimes conflicting rights and responsibilities in practice — especially when we’re dealing with the solemn duties of protecting innocent children from harm and innocent priests from having their ministry destroyed by false accusations — is an act of Solomonic wisdom.

In situations where abuse was probable, it’s right to err on the side of validating the suffering of the likely victim and protecting other young people from potential abuse as the Church does its investigation. It’s wise as a matter of policy — since the Church needs to regain trust of Catholics and the general population to respond to the sexual abuse of minors as everyone would expect an institution founded by Jesus Christ should — to report every accusation to the civil authorities.

But as a matter of protocol, more needs to be done to protect the legitimate rights of priests from being victimized by false accusations. This should begin with fully implementing the canonical requirement of a preliminary investigation, done by competent, experienced, trusted investigators, to ascertain the plausibility of the accusation. Tenable and untenable allegations should be treated differently. A priest who maintains his innocence but against whom a truly credible allegation has been made should be entitled to a speedy investigation and trial not only by the civil authorities (when it applies) but also by the ecclesiastical review boards and tribunals. Everything should be done to protect a priest’s reputation until guilt is admitted or proven, even if for the protection of children for a plausible accusation he has been temporarily removed. If the accusations prove unfounded he should not only be restored to ministry, but adequate remedy should be done for the injustice he has suffered.

Next week we will apply these principles of justice — the Solomonic balancing of what the Church legitimately owes to victims of clergy sexual abuse as well as those who might suffer it with what the Church owes to falsely accused priests — to the vexing topic of the publication of names of priests who have been accused of the sexual abuse of minors.

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September 16, 2011

The spirit of the Liturgy

ather Romano Guardini (1885 For Priests,” Msgr. Marini gave an address 1968) was one of the most imporin Rome, which he called, “An Introductant and influential figures in the Catholic tion to the Spirit of the Liturgy.” It was a Church in the mid-20th century. A priest, reflection on the liturgical vision of Pope author and theologian, he made tremenBenedict XVI. He began by explaining the dous contributions to theology and Chrisneed for an “authentic” spirit of the Liturtian piety throughout his life. In particular, gy as we find in the uninterrupted tradition his theological reflections on the Liturgy of the Church. In doing so, he cautioned played a crucial role in the liturgical reagainst an artificial understanding of what newal of the Second Vatican Council. His the Liturgy is and how it is celebrated. dedication to the Church and his profound Before getting into the central focus theological insights prompted Pope Paul of his address, he also addressed another VI to name him a cardinal in 1965, an ofissue very dear to our Holy Father, what fer he respectfully declined.

Pope Benedict refers to as a “hermeneutic His first major work was entitled “The of reform in continuity.” Msgr. Marini Spirit of the Liturgy.” When it was first asks, “Can one truly speak of a Church published in German in 1918, it brought of the past and a Church of the future as recognition to a young theologian who if some historical break in the body of the would become an important force in the Church had occurred? renewal of theology in the 20th century.

He goes on to explain that “the only His profound reflection on the nature of disposition that permits us to attain the liturgical worship still stands as a guiding authentic spirit of the Liturgy, with joy and light for today’s renewal of worship and true spiritual relish, is to regard both the prayer. present and the This book past Liturgy of also had a prothe Church as Putting Into found impact one patrimony upon another in continuous the Deep young theolodevelopment.” gian, Joseph This obviBy Father Ratzinger. ously becomes Jay Mello In 2000, just an important a few years point of disbefore being cussion when elected pope, Cardinal Ratzinger pubwe speak of the Mass before the council lished his own work entitled “The Spirit and the Mass after the council. of the Liturgy,” in which in the forward he Perhaps one of the greatest challenges explicitly relates to the much earlier classic that we face today in respect to the Mass

by Guardini. Ratzinger felt that his insights can be framed by asking the question, echoed with what Guardini achieved in his what is the nature and purpose of the time regarding a renewed understanding of Mass? Msgr. Marini again puts this in the Liturgy. proper perspective for us, saying, “The Lit“My purpose,” Ratzinger wrote, “is urgy is a gift that precedes us, a precious to assist this renewal of understanding of treasure that has been delivered by the the Liturgy. Its basic intentions coincide age-old prayer of the Church, the place in with what Guardini wanted to achieve. which the faith has found its form in time The only difference is that I have had to and its expression in prayer. It is not made translate what Guardini did at the end of available to us in order to be subjected to the First World War, in a totally different our personal interpretation; rather, the Lithistorical situation, into the context of our urgy is made available so as to be fully at present-day questions, hopes and dangers. the disposal of all, yesterday just as today Like Guardini, I am not attempting to and also tomorrow.” involve myself with scholarly discussion There have been many interpretations and research. I am simply offering an aid of what the council asked of the Church to the understanding of the faith and to the with respect to its liturgical worship. Those right way to give the faith its central form who lived through the 60s and 70s may reof expression in the Liturgy.” member celebrations of the Mass that were Perhaps one of the most profound very innovative, some of which introduced contributions that Pope Benedict XVI has things to the Mass that didn’t necessarily made to the Church during his pontificommunicate what the Church believes. cate has been in the realm of a liturgical Pope Benedict refers to such things as a renewal. Many may remember the years “hermeneutic of rupture” as opposed to immediately following the Second Vatican “reform in continuity.”

Council, when so much was changing in Many have accused Pope Benedict the Church, especially at Mass. As someXVI of trying to go back in time or of one who was actually participating in the being old-fashioned. On the contrary, Pope council, Ratzinger had a particular insight Benedict XVI has sought to continue the into what the council was asking. As a liturgical renewal of the council, but in priest, bishop and pope after the council, an authentic way, one that does not break he has great insight also into how those re- with our Catholic tradition, but one that forms are still being carried out even today. builds upon the rich treasure of our past.

Throughout his pontificate, he has Our Holy Father reminds us that each implemented a number of things that, from Mass is something sacred, something holy, his perspective, the council was asking of and something divine. At each Mass, we the Church. While this article is not the are gathered as God’s people, not simply place to treat each of the things that the as a social gathering, but as an encounter pope has implemented, I would like to with the living and true God who becomes focus on some general principles that were present to us in each celebration of the highlighted by the pope’s personal Master Mass. of Papal Ceremonies, Msgr. Guido Marini.

Father Mello is a parochial vicar at St. In 2010, in conjunction with the “Year Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth.

September 16, 2011

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t the heart of the question of “why do we need new translations” is the simple truth that words have power, beyond the simple acts of speaking them and hearing them; they have the capacity to form us, to uplift us, to draw us into higher truths.

Think for a moment of your own use of words in different relationships. The words you might speak to your own mother will reflect your relationship with her, as much as your words with a coworker while on the job will reflect that relationship. Likewise, the way you speak will be different when speaking to a person whom you deeply love than with a group of people to whom you simply need to communicate information or address a point of view.

The same principles are true when we think of our relationship with God. Certainly, each and every one of us is encouraged to pray “from the heart,”

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umanities scholars can get comically cerebral; our heads fill with the helium of obscure interests and threaten to float away from our bodies and everyone else’s. Mostly, though, we are just looking for a good story. William Shakespeare is a good story because he is an enigma; we know a little about his biography but there is more that we don’t and may never know for certain. For an obsessive-compulsive researcher like me, that situation may as well be a glove across the face and a haughty challenge to a duel at sunrise. At the risk of sounding a bit helium, it turns out that the answers may be less important than the pursuit.

Shakespeare’s religious identity is elusive and that is exactly what one would expect in an age where confessed religious leanings led directly to fines, arrests, torture, disemboweling, and execution. One isn’t likely to find an old T-shirt belonging to the Bard with “Proud Papist” silkscreened on it, nor are we likely to discover a certificate with his picture and signature, reading “Authentic Protestant.” Even this hypothetical “smoking gun” is interesting to contemplate.

Would even that suffice? How can we be certain about what lurks in the hearts of men (even if you happen to be the Shadow)?

If a politician claims to be Christian can we be certain that he is?

If a person forms a tribe of fellow Catholics, might he profess faith in public to reinforce his so-

7

The Anchor

Words to help us believe

is spoken for a specific purpose speaking words to God as we and with a particular meaning. might be so moved. Yet, in Might we also consider the more formal setting of the God’s Word, by which we Liturgy of the Church, wherein think not only of the Bible itwe not only speak unto God, but above all we open ourselves self, but more fittingly of Jesus Christ Himself, who is “the to Him in seeking a deeper Word made Flesh [Who] dwelt encounter with His living presence, our words are not chosen lightly. Some words, such as those meant to convey the real circumstances in the lives of the people, as used in the General

By Father Intercessions (or what is Joel Hastings also called “The Prayer of the Faithful”) will be more expressive of real needs. among us” (Jn 1:14)? The Other words, such as those Word made Flesh, in “speakprayed by the priest during the ing” to us, offers us not merely Consecration, are meant as a teaching and encouragement, proper representation of the but the life of God Himself, words that Jesus Himself, the Who is love. The power of the Son of God, expressed in His Word made Flesh is found in instituting of the Eucharist at His self-sacrificing love, by the Last Supper. In each and which sin and death are conevery part of the Mass, by no quered. Jesus Christ “speaks” means do we offer words only to us in the most eloquent and for their own sake; each word

Praying the Mass Anew

sincerest way possible: by humbly giving Himself up for our sake out of love for us.

Such is the power of the Word of God, made flesh.

As love is the motive of Jesus Christ’s saving work, so too our response to Jesus’ offering of self, of which we are privileged to partake at each and every Mass, ought to be words of true love.

In applying this truth to the new translation, we once more return to our relationships with other persons. Just as your words to your mother would not be those in addressing a co-worker on the job, so too the language we use to address God ought to be all together unique. Taking it further, to be in communication with God is to communicate with the Creator, to Whom we owe our whole existence. Hence, why would we not want to approach Him who made us and loves us,

Was Shakespeare a Catholic?

cial ties while acting another way today? How did an uneducated in private? Who among us can man from what was effectively claim to be faithful all the time, the “red country” of England never succumbing to periods of seem to know about so many doubt? It is upon this indetermisubjects reserved for the educatnacy that most scholars rest their thesis, for, ultimately, no one will Hidden ever know what he really thought or believed.

Shakespeare I imagine when people you’ve known have

By Jennifer Pierce been disemboweled and dragged through the streets, being religiously ambiguous might be your main ed upper-class? I don’t pretend endeavor. If you are Catholic you to have exact answers for these risk arrest, torture, and death; if questions, what I will guarantee, you are Protestant you betray the however, is that asking them is a heroes of the movement, some of worthy endeavor. whom were your friends.

As any student of history will Leaving this problem of tell you, history is written by knowledge aside, there are, after the victors. Understanding this, all, some things we can know. history becomes an exercise We can know what involvein reading what is not written. ments his family may or may The reign of Elizabeth I was a not have had in the Counterperiod of rewriting history and Reformation. We can know if reinventing a national identity any documents from his family that did not exist, a via media history survived. We can know between Catholic rebels and about his business dealings, Puritan radicals. It was driven and whether or not he attended by practicality more than theolservices with the Church of ogy — for if England remained England. We definitely can Catholic it would mean that her know what he wrote about and father’s marriage to her mother, the types of characters he creAnne Boleyn, was invalid, makated. And, then, even the dark ing her illegitimate and destroyspots begin to speak to us. Why ing her claim to the throne. was a man as prolific as he silent The culture of academic on the most controversial issue inquiry often prides itself on its of his day (religion)? Why did social and political resistance Shakespeare seem to disappear and cultivates a mistrust of aufor several years, reemerging, thority. Oddly, on this particular apparently fully-formed as the issue the majority of scholars playwright we think we know seemed to accept the narrative

emerging from Elizabeth’s accession unquestioningly. It fit comfortably within the pat narrative of “The Age of Enlightenment.” Of course, imperial England embraced the inevitable progress toward Reason in The Reformation and threw off the shackles of their dark, superstitious, Catholic past. Of course. Right? It was the zeitgeist, the sign of the times, the path of intelligence and wisdom.

Only a fringe and marginal few, the uneducated and the irrational, would resist.

Except, as it turns out, there was resistance. Not just among

even unto death, with the most noble, humble, and meaningful of words? Likewise, it is more than proper that these words ought to convey God Himself in the most powerful and aweinspiring way as is His nature — so that our own faith in Him and our desire to encounter Him in all of His beauty in heaven may only increase.

In implementing the new translation such understanding of the power of words is truly invited. In answering “why” we need these new translations, we might keep this reflection of the power of words in mind, aware that words have the power to uplift and inspire, and above all, to love — and that God Himself is worthy of the most noble, majestic, and loving words that we could ever hope to speak.

Father Hastings is Director of the Office of Liturgy and Worship of the Diocese of Duluth and pastor of St. Rose Parish in Proctor, Minn.

the lower classes but throughout the nobility as well. As it also turns out, Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth’s spymaster, identified Shakespeare’s part of the country as a locus of Catholic non-conformity. The term “recusant” emerges in the English language around 1550 to describe those who refused to conform with the state religion.

It was into this “hot bed” of recusancy that our playwright Shakespeare was born.

Jennifer Pierce is a parishioner of Corpus Christi in East Sandwich, where she lives with her husband Jim and three children. This is the first installment in a 12-part series.

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hen I became pastor of Holy Cross Parish three years ago, I asked to meet with Bishop George W. Coleman, who graciously spent 45 minutes in conversation with me. While we discussed a number of topics, the focus was my new pastorate. I asked Bishop Coleman what he saw as priorities for the parishes in his diocese.

He spoke of evangelization as a primary focus, the mandate we have as baptized Christians to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to others. In conjunction with this, he spoke of the need for solid catechesis and good faith formation for the children and youth of our parishes.

He also spoke of the need for our parishes to be missionary, to reach out to the fallen away and inactive members of our parish communities.

This past year Holy Cross Parish engaged in a pastoral

September 16, 2011

The Anchor

Called to be evangelizers and missionaries

planning process culminating goes out several times in the in a three-year pastoral plan. course of the day to offer One of the pastoral priorities work to the laborers hanging of the plan is to “evangeout in the marketplace. lize as a means of outreach While the parable alludes to both active and inactive to Jesus’ heavenly Father as parishioners.” Perhaps our the landowner, let’s imagnext pastoral plan will see ine ourselves in that role. us moving beyond parishioners to the wider community, Homily of the Week further fulfilling our role as evangelizers Twenty-fifth Sunday and missionaries of in Ordinary Time the Gospel of Jesus

By Father James Christ to all in need Fenstermaker, C.S.C. of His Good News.

The mission to evangelize is the responsibility of each bapAs baptized Christians, we tized Christian, to which are sent by the Lord into we recommit ourselves the marketplace to see who each Sunday at Mass and might be hanging around for which we are sent forth. because no one has invited As evangelizers to all and them to something more missionaries to the fallen productive. We possess a away, we might say that we most valuable treasure that find ourselves in the posiwould benefit the workers’ tion of the landowner in this lives in tremendous ways, week’s Gospel parable, who if only they are invited to

accept this treasure. We possess the gift of faith. We possess the spirit of Jesus through which we know the joy and satisfaction of the life of a disciple. Yet there are others hanging around who would benefit so greatly from an invitation to experience this gift of faith for themselves.

Being an evangelizer can be a challenging mission.

Jesus reminded His critics that just as it is not the healthy but the sick who need a doctor, He was sent not to the righteous but to the lost sheep. If we wish to follow the example of Jesus, we too must bring the Good News to the lost sheep among us.

This can cause great misunderstanding on the part of others. We might at times feel that our efforts are in vain. This is especially true

within our own families, as we struggle to find gentle and constructive ways to invite fallen-away spouses, siblings, children, and grandchildren to a life of faith.

But Jesus’ parable reminds us that the timing of one’s acceptance of the gift of faith is not our concern. Our interest, as St. Paul reminds us, is to magnify Christ, for life itself is Christ. Our ways are not God’s ways, Isaiah counsels us, so high are God’s thoughts above our thoughts.

We are invited in today’s readings, and by our bishop, to embrace the Church’s mission to be evangelizers and missionaries. As faithfilled Christians, we commit ourselves to this invitation, confident in the generosity of God’s grace to bring all to salvation.

Father Fenstermaker is pastor of Holy Cross Parish in South Easton.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Sept. 17, 1 Tm 6:13-16; Ps 100:1-5; Lk 8:4-15. Sun. Sept. 18, Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Is 55:6-9; Ps 145:2-3,8-9,1718; Phil 1:20c-24,27a; Mt 20:1-16a. Mon. Sept. 19, Ezr 1:1-6; Ps 126:1-6; Lk 8:16-18. Tues. Sept. 20, Ezr 6:7-8,12b,14-20; Ps 122:1-5; Lk 8:19-21. Wed. Sept. 21, Eph 4:1-7,11-13; Ps 19:2-5; Mt 9:9-13. Thu. Sept. 22, Hg 1:1-8; Ps 149:1-6,9; Lk 9:7-9. Fri. Sept. 23, Hg 2:1-9; Ps 43:1-4; Lk 9:18-22.

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lmost 40 years ago, an aging Anglican clergyman told me a story about his first trip to Paris as a boy — perhaps in the 1920s. His grandfather had called him in, told him that he had a gift to be used in the French capital, and then gave my friend a small pocket mirror. The boy, puzzled, asked his grandfather what the mirror might be for. The following dialogue ensued: “You are going to Paris, I understand?”

“Yes, Grandfather.”

“I suppose they’ll take you to

Russian Orthodoxy and Lenin’s tomb

“Well, my boy, you are to see where they’ve buried the little stand with your back to him and, monster” (meaning Napoleon, in if you must see his tomb, hold the Les Invalides).

“Well, when you get there, you’ll see that things have been arranged so that Englishmen must bow their heads when looking down at him” (Napoleon

By George Weigel is buried in a huge red quartzite sarcophagus on which one does, in fact, look down when entermirror over your head and look at ing Les Invalides). the tomb through it.”

“Yes, Grandfather.”

“Yes, Grandfather.”

I hadn’t thought of this story in decades — until I read this past summer that the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow was urging caution in the face of pressures to remove Lenin’s mummified corpse from its granite mausoleum in Red Square and bury the remains. “It is obvious that the condition of Lenin’s body does not fit into Russia’s cultural tradition … but we should take into account the opinions of various social groups and avoid making decisions that entail social upheavals,” said the Russian Orthodox spokesman for “relations between Church and society,” Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin.

Really?

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, known for over a century now by his Bolshevik nom-de-guerre, Lenin, was one of history’s great-

The Catholic Difference

est mass murderers. In the course of his ruthless efforts to impose communism on Russia and its neighbors through brutal force, terror, and extra-judicial homicides in the millions, he became one of the greatest persecutors of the Christian Church in two millennia. Lenin’s minions killed more Christians in a slow week than the last of the great Roman persecutors, Diocletian, did in years. All this is thoroughly documented — to the point where Russian Orthodoxy considers many of Lenin’s victims as martyrs and saints and celebrates their feasts in its liturgical calendar.

And yet today’s Russian Orthodox leadership cannot bring itself to say that this monster’s mummified corpse should cease, immediately, being an object of curiosity or veneration?

It is true that there are “various social groups” in Russia who would object to shutting down Lenin’s mausoleum and burying his corpse, because they still regard Lenin as a hero. In the face of such moral imbecility, however, surely the role of Russian Orthodoxy, as one guardian of the truth of Russia’s history, is to explain in detail why no morally sane person would want to honor Lenin. As for those 30 percent of

Russians who are said to want to keep Lenin’s mummy just where it is, because it’s a major tourist attraction and thus a source of income, the Church might well explain that some things are not worth making money from, and that tourists should not be encouraged in their disordered desires.

A senior Catholic official deeply involved in ecumenical affairs once said, of Russian Orthodoxy, that “they don’t know how to be anything other than chaplain to the czar — whoever the czar is.”

The martyrs of Orthodoxy under communism belie that wholesale dismissal, although the centurieslong entanglement of the Moscow Patriarchate has created very few models for a Russian Orthodox Church capable of speaking truth to power in 21st century Russia — a country where authoritarianism of an increasingly brutal sort has quickly followed a brief flirtation with genuine democracy. But surely a minimum of self-respect — and respect for its martyrs — ought to compel the Russian Orthodox Church to lead, not oppose or hinder, any move to demythologize Lenin and put an end to his obscene tomb, home to a mummified mass murderer and maniacal persecutor of the Church of Christ.

George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

September 16, 2011

Here we go

Saturday 10 September surface. “Why not do some2011 — at home on Three thing completely different?

Mile River — Swap Ideas Day Let’s try this!” I welcome cren September, push comes ative thinking but I’ve learned to shove. It’s time once that even with an enthusiastic again for planning the parish calendar year.

Yes, dear readers, the annual round of Reflections of a parish activities does not happen automatiParish Priest cally. It takes lots of

By Father Tim advanced planning.

Goldrick Here at St. Nicholas, at our weekly ministry team meetings, we evaluate each event. initial response, the concept Was it successful? Define may not work. Here’s an exsuccess. Does it need to be ample. Hoards of youngsters tweaked? How? Is it worth re- on skateboards and bicycles peating? Debriefing is just as have over the years caused important as advanced plandamage to exterior brickwork ning — if not more so. and masonry at the Pastoral Sometimes, a new idea will Life Center. Concerned for

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The Ship’s Log

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9

The Anchor the safety of the children, the possibility of injury and litigation, and further damage to the infrastructure, I posted warning signs. Groups of kids on skateboards still sneak in when no one is looking, but less so.

But I don’t want to signal that the parish isn’t teen-friendly.

“Let’s have a blessing of bicycles, skateboards, and scooters!”

I gushed one day. The ministry team applauded the idea. It was even advertised on the lawn sign in front of Town Hall.

On the day of the first annual event, there were only two kids in attendance — a little girl riding a beribboned

The heart of bridal love

who evangelized Northern momentous event Europe in the eighth century, took place recently St. Frances of Rome who in the heart of the United served the poor, the sick States. Rosalind Moss, a and the lonely in the 15th Jewish convert to Catholicentury — and countless cism, was named foundress other women who commitof a new institute of aposted themselves to “apostolic tolic life, the Daughters of works of evangelization, to Mary, Mother of Israel’s the consolidation of family Hope, which will follow the life, and to the promotion of age-old Rule of St. Benedict. a Catholic culture of goodHer name in religion is now ness, beauty, truth and life.”

Mother Miriam of the Lamb And yet, don’t all Catholic of God, and her vows were received by His Excellency Edward Slattery, the bishop of Tulsa, Okla., in whose diocese her community will live.

In his address, the bishop noted,

By Genevieve Kineke “From Apostolic times, unmarried women and widwomen have opportunities ows have sought to imitate to do those very things? We the Daughter of Sion, the begin in our homes — conBlessed Virgin Mary in her solidating what is good in unconditional surrender to the heart our own families; the will of the Father and the we embrace what is beautiovershadowing of the Holy ful, while shunning what is Spirit.” So with Mary as harsh or evil, dangerous or their model, Mother Miriam deadly. We share the faith and her companions will in our own creative ways, follow the path of countless and we do all that is posother women over the many sible to promote authentic centuries, those who have culture amidst a world that given all in order to follow is constantly bewildered and the Bridegroom. dazzled by counterfeits.

But the bishop’s subThe feminine vocation sequent words show that allows us to do this through there’s more than just a patboth our physical and spiritern for consecrated souls. tual motherhood. The first Women of God, he noted, receives particular human “observe Anna, the Daughter persons entrusted to us by of Phanuel, who gave thanks God’s creative love, and the to the Lord and spoke of second expands our hearts to Him to all who were looking receive all people in our path for the redemption of Israel;” — from those we encounter he also referenced St. Lioba,

The Feminine Genius

for the briefest of moments to those with whom we share lifelong bonds.

For her part, Rosalind asked to be clothed as a religious so that she might “appear outwardly, in the sight of angels and of men, as an image of the Church, Virgin, Spouse, and Mother, and as one whose heart belongs to the Lamb alone in a covenant of bridal love.” And in that way she was clothed for life in her own distinct garb — a long black habit with scapular and veil.

She will forever be easily recognized as a bride of her Lord and King.

So what about the rest of us? Our work is more visible in some ways, and less in others. We may be more integrated with the world, but with that integration we remain hidden for other reasons — being less distinct and often less focused on God. Our vocation is to prioritize our faith and to use that integration for the good — to enhance the beauty of the world, and to nurture truth and life. As gifted as Mother Miriam has been in her many years of discernment, God has been no less generous with us. It remains for each woman to find her path of service in the vineyard of the Lord.

Mrs. Kineke is the author of “The Authentic Catholic Woman” (Servant Books) and blogs at feminine-genius.com.

bicycle and a young teen-age boy with a well-worn skateboard. The teen-ager refused to come out from his hiding place behind his father’s car.

The boy was embarrassed.

I knew the kid was there. I could see his sneakers sticking out. The frustrated father grabbed his son’s skateboard and held it up for a longdistance blessing. I blessed the little girl’s bike with all due ceremony. The little girl was happy, but it was an event not worth repeating. If one tradition doesn’t work, start another one. It was our “First Annual Blessing of Skate Boards.” It was also the “Last Annual.”

We actually began planning for the 2011-2012 year last June. There are an everincreasing number of parish group events, meetings, and functions. Previously, a group simply showed up at the door and picked a room in which to meet. This is no longer possible. There are now more meetings than meeting spaces.

In order to avoid potential conflict, two forms were distributed to parish group leaders. The first form asked when and where the group intended to hold its regular meetings this year. The second form asked for information on any special events the group might be considering. What was the event? What spaces would be needed and when (including set-up and knock-down). Who would be chairing the event?

What is the chairperson’s contact information? The group leaders were informed that the allocation of meeting space would be on a first come, first served basis — so get those completed forms into the parish office as soon as possible.

Some group leaders immediately reserved a space.

Others, however, dragged their feet. “But Father, you know perfectly well that the St. Francis of Assisi Save Our Skunks Beneficial Society always meets on the fifth

Monday following the first full moon after the Spring Equinox during alternating Leap Years. We’ve always done it that way.” It’s not good when one group believes it takes priority over other parish groups. It’s the misguided notion that “All groups are equal, but some groups are more equal than others.”

We’re now completing our third year as a parish. We’re beginning to fall into a routine of feasts and fasts, of days and seasons — each with its own cycle of calendar customs, traditions and events. This is a good thing. It gives a sense of stability. It gives rhythm to our lives and to our faith.

If there’s one thing that hinders the development of a parish, it’s to have a plethora of independently-operating groups, each group oblivious to what the other is doing.

Those in the group may all be holding hands together and it looks like they’re going somewhere, but they’re marching around in circles.

They’ll never get anywhere that way.

“Let’s try this,” I announced. Soon, there will be a gathering of all parish groups in one place at one time, a kind of summit meeting. People will be invited to talk to each other and develop a coordinated theme for the year. The Parish Pastoral Council has set a goal of outreach to young families. How can the various groups work together in accomplishing this? How can parish groups share their expertise, personnel and resources?

Maybe it will be our “First Annual Parish Calendar Planning Event,” but then again maybe it will only repeated on the fifth Monday following the first full moon after the Spring Equinox during alternating Leap Years. Oh, wait. That meeting room is already taken.

Father Goldrick is pastor of St. Nicholas of Myra Parish in North Dighton.

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The Anchor

September 16, 2011

Sharing God’s blessings

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

Anchor Person of the Week — Carolyn Boff.

FALL RIVER — Though Carolyn Boff is humbled when recognized for her volunteer work, the Fall River native acknowledged her list of duties at the former St. William Parish of Fall River only grew longer when the parish merged with two other parishes to become Holy Trinity Parish.

Still living at the home she grew up in, Carolyn attended public school until high school. Though many of the religious Sisters are deceased now, said Boff, the Sisters of Mercy who taught her at Mount St. Mary Academy left an indelible impression, including Sister Mary Carmelita.

“She had a very dry Irish wit, which I loved,” said Boff. “I met many wonderful people who became friends; particularly one girl and we’re still the very best of friends after all these years.”

Attending Mass every Sunday at St. William’s held special meaning for Boff. It was the parish where her four grandparents and her parents where married, a heritage she began to make her own as she grew into an adult.

“Attending Mass was something we did because it was the thing to do; we went as a family,” said Boff. “It really wasn’t until later in life that my faith became my own. I really wish I could tell people that there was a significant moment or event that happened, but I can’t recall. It was just some point in my life that it became my faith rather than something that was handed on by my parents and grandparents.”

Wanting to be a teacher, Boff decided to major in social work in college, but after graduating landed a job at a local bank, working there for almost 20 years until her father’s health issues saw her take a leave of absence.

“The longer I was home with my mother and father, the more I realized that I needed to be here with them,” said Boff. “Then after my dad died, I became my mother’s primary caretaker.”

“It was difficult but a joy,” said Ruth Boff. The 88-year-old said that taking care of her late husband took a lot out of Carolyn, but that her daughter was “very, very caring.”

While a member of St. William’s Parish, Boff was able to satisfy that desire to

teach when she was asked to become a Religious Education teacher for the fourth-grade class.

“It was wonderful. I had the nicest, nicest group of kids. It was a great age for me because they were inquisitive and wanted to know,” recalled Boff, “and yet didn’t know it all so that they accepted what we told them and were able to ask questions.”

After a few years, the coordinator for the program asked if she’d like to switch grades, and when Boff said she had been thinking about it, was startled when asked to teach the Confirmation class.

Hesitant at first, and after hearing that the priest of the parish thought she’d be a good fit, Boff’s response was, “He obviously sees something in me that I don’t.” She said to herself, “Just give it a try for one year and we’ll go from there.”

Boff found herself surrounded by familiar faces during the first day: “My first class of teaching ninth-graders were students I had as fourth-graders, and that was great.”

“I have come to love the teen-agers,” said Boff. “I try to help them make the faith their own and have their own personal relationship with Jesus. I always began the class with them having to write a prayer. Formal prayer is wonderful and important, but being able to talk to God in your own words makes it much more personal and meaningful.”

Boff continued to teach until the merger in 2000, and stayed on for the next two years to assist the Confirmation program.

“I felt it was important for the students that I had seen at St. William’s in the Religious Education program to see me involved and that maybe it would help them with the transition,” Boff explained.

The merger itself was difficult, she said, and while Boff said she would cut back on her volunteer duties, she found herself doing even more. Along with assisting with the Confirmation classes, she continued her work as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion and being a lector, and then added being a greeter and a member of the parish pastoral council to a growing list of volunteer ministries.

“I’m not a parent and I haven’t been in that situation, but I think what we need to do is reach out to these families, to ask them what the parish can do for them and help them attain that common goal,” she said. “Some people would have some concrete ideas. We could reach out to these people and ask them how we can help them.”

A more recent addition to her duties has been serving at funerals. For the past five years she has been part of a six-member group on a rotational schedule to help assist the priest during the funeral Masses.

“I find it very much a privilege and an honor to do that, especially if it’s someone I know,” said Boff. “I’m hoping my presence will be a comfort. It has become very important to me.”

She also continues to be a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, being its treasurer for the past 11 years, and promoting the food pantry, soup kitchen, holiday baskets, helping families in need through the LOFT Transitional Living Program, and organizing the Giving Tree during Christmas.

Officially retired to take care of her mother, Boff said her time with her mother has been “a blessing,” and that while she appreciated her father’s outgoing personality, she is appreciative of being able to enjoy her mother’s delightful sense of humor that was often overshadowed by her father’s sociable character.

“So many people say, ‘God bless you,’” said Boff, of the work she has done. “I say, ‘He already has.’”

To submit a Person of the Week nominee, send an email with information to fatherrogerlandry@ anchornews.org.

September 16, 2011

The Anchor

11 First woman elected to head Society of St. Vincent de Paul

ST. LOUIS (CNS) — Sheila Gilbert, a national officer for the U.S. Society of St. Vincent de Paul for the past six years, became the first woman to head the organization September 3.

Gilbert said she was humbled and grateful for this new responsibility. “Having been involved in the organization for some 30 years, I am privileged to serve in the company of exceptionally talented and compassionate men and women who have dedicated their lives to serving those who are most in need,” she said.

The St. Vincent de Paul Society, with U.S. headquarters in St. Louis, is a Catholic lay organization committed to helping the poor around the world. Gilbert said she not only hopes to help members of the society, known as Vincentians, grow personally and spiritually, but she also wants to help the organization more effectively bring people out of poverty. She is a strong advocate of systemic change and says the organization needs to collaborate with other groups on effective ways to reduce or eliminate poverty and it should also advocate for long-term change at the local, state and national levels. “These goals are attainable,” said Gilbert. “We just need to find the will to carry them out.”

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The Anchor

September 16, 2011

Exhibit features Rembrandt paintings that changed how world saw Christ

PHILADELPHIA (CNS) — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John told us all about what Jesus said and did, but not one of them mentioned what He looked like.

The vaguely European-featured Jesus with a brown beard and hair was pretty much the standard for most of history, at least until Rembrandt van Rijn, the greatest painter, draftsman and printmaker of the Dutch Golden Age, came along.

In the mid-17th century he and students at his Amsterdam studio painted a series of at least eight heads of Christ which set the liturgical art world on its ear. Rembrandt’s studio was in a section of Amsterdam with a fairly large Jewish population, and it is believed the same young Jewish man was the model for all the

portraits, which look remarkably like the olive-skinned and dark-haired men you would see strolling the Galilee shore today.

For the first time six of these paintings are brought together for an exhibit, “Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus,” which was first exhibited at the Louvre in Paris and now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (now through October 30) after which it will travel to the Detroit Institute of Art (November 20-February 12).”’

Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus’ marks the first time that an exhibition including a substantial group of paintings

by Rembrandt will be seen in Philadelphia,” said Timothy Rub, director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

lead with your left — Tom Hardy and Nick Nolte star in a scene from the movie “Warrior.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/Lionsgate)

CNS Movie Capsules NEW YORK (CNS) — The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed

by Catholic News Service.

“Apollo 18” (Dimension/ Weinstein) An inventive horror film presented — in the spirit of “The Blair Witch Project” — as a documentary, purporting to tell the story of a top-secret mission to the moon, and why we dare not return there anytime soon. Christmas 1973 finds NASA preparing the titular spacecraft and training its eager astronauts (most prominently Warren Christie and Lloyd Owen). Once on the lunar surface, Owen’s character goes walkabout, stumbles upon footprints and a dead Soviet cosmonaut, and the fun, so to speak, begins.

Before long things start to go bump in the night, shrieks are heard, and creepy crawlies are on the march as Spanish director Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego’s Hollywood debut morphs into a monster movie. Sporadic but intense moments of terror and fleeting profane and crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

“Contagion” (Warner Bros.)

Director Steven Soderbergh reimagines the all-star disaster movie genre with a compelling

tale of a deadly virus’ uncontrolled march across the planet.

Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) returns from a business trip to Hong Kong and drops dead, and soon everyone she encountered along the way meets their maker. It’s an unknown virus, and as a pandemic erupts and millions fall, doctors from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet) and the World Health Organization (Marion Cotillard) race against time to find the cure. Getting in their way is an enterprising blogger (Jude Law) who cries conspiracy, fomenting unrest in the streets. Disturbing images of dying people, corpses and autopsies, a reference to an adulterous relationship and fleeting rough language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults.

The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned.

Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

“Warrior” (Lionsgate) Poignant, well-acted sports drama set in the bone-crunching milieu of mixed martial

arts competition plumbs fraternal discord as two brothers (Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton), estranged from each other and from their alcoholic father (Nick Nolte), face off in a high-profile match. Director and screenwriter Gavin O’Connor uses a brutal sport to viscerally illustrate the transformative power of love and forgiveness. Although the fighting is not graphically depicted or glamorized, some may find certain sequences difficult to watch, and the film’s tacit approval of violence as a means of dealing with conflict renders it suitable for selected viewers only. Intense boxing violence, much crude language, some profanity, one use of rough language, brief sexual innuendo and some alcohol abuse. The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, September 18, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father David C. Frederici, Chaplain at UMassDartmouth and Assistant Chaplain at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford

September 16, 2011

13

The Anchor

Red Mass set for September 25 at St. Mary’s Cathedral

FALL RIVER — Judges, attorneys and others working in the justice system throughout Southeastern Massachusetts, Cape Cod and the Islands are invited to the annual Red Mass to be hosted by the Fall River Diocese at 10 a.m. on September 25 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River.

A long-standing tradition in the Church, the Red Mass is offered each year by the diocese to invoke God’s guidance and strength on those who work to promote justice in the legal Attorney system.

George Thomas Bishop George W. Coleman will be the principal celebrant of the Mass. Homilist will be Father Jeffrey Cabral, a priest of the Fall River Diocese who recently earned a licentiate degree in canon law and now serves as a judge and promoter of justice in the Diocesan Tribunal.

The Red Mass will conclude with the annual presentation of the St. Thomas More Awards to recognize members of the legal community for dedicated service. In addition this year the Red Mass committee has established, with the approval of Bishop Coleman, a special Founder’s Award in memory of New Bedford attorney Joseph P. Harrington, the longtime Red Mass committee chairman who died in August of last year.

Current Red Mass committee chairman Attorney Michael Harrington recently recalled Joe Harrington, who was his uncle, being asked in 1997 by thenBishop Sean O’Malley, OFM, Cap. to help plan a Red Mass in the Fall River Diocese and his ultimately becoming its lay chairman for 14 years.

“This Founder’s Award is the committee’s way of paying tribute to his service,” said Harrington. “It will be presented in the spirit of Joe Harrington’s commitment to his Church and our legal community.”

Receiving the inaugural Founder’s Award will be Attorney George Thomas of New Bedford. Receiving this year’s St. Thomas More Awards are, as distinguished jurist, Judge George Phelan of Fall River, who is an associate justice in the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court; as distinguished attorney, David T. Gay, whose practice is based in Taunton; as distinguished court employee,

Michael C. Stevens of Pocasset, Judicial Case Manager, Barnstable Probate and Family Court; and, as distinguished recipient of the ecumenical award, Alan Zwirblis of Dartmouth, Chief Public Defender, Bristol County.

The Red Mass is so named because of the color of the vestments worn during the Liturgy, which is the Mass of the Holy Spirit, who will be invoked upon those in attendance. Its roots date back to 13th-century Europe, and it is widely-celebrated in dioceses throughout the U.S. The St. Thomas More Awards are unique to the Red Mass celebration in the Fall River Diocese.

They are named for St. Thomas More, a 16th-century English layman and lawyer martyred for opposition to the divorce of King Henry VIII and for refusing to renounce papal authority. The Red Mass committee nominates recipients for the awards.

All are welcome at the Red Mass. A reception and luncheon will follow for which a ticket is required. For information, please contact Atty. Harrington at 508-9945900.

Attorney Thomas earned his law degree from Boston University Michael C. School of Stevens Law. After service in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he and his late brother, Fred, opened the Law Office of Thomas and Thomas in New Bedford. The brothers, who were later joined by George’s son and daughter-in-law, maintained a general practice for 59 years.

Thomas retired in 2005 at the age of 86. He was a member of the New Bedford, Bristol County and Massachusetts Bar Associations.

He and his wife of 55 years, Rejeanne, are parishioners of Our Lady of Purgatory Parish in New Bedford. They are the parents of three sons and the grandparents of two granddaughters.

Judge Phelan became an associate justice in the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court in 2010. In his 30-year legal career, he has served as prosecutor, defense counsel, special assistant U.S. attorney and solo practitioner. He maintained a law office in Fall River for more than two decades focusing on probate and family matters and assisting many elderly and disadvantaged clients for which he was recog-

nized with the Massachusetts Bar Association Community Service Award.

He served on active duty with the Army’s JAG Corps and later as a military attorney in the Army Reserve, retiring with the rank of colonel.

From 2007 to 2009, he was on special assignment to the U.S. State DeJudge partment as a Rule of George Phelan Law Advisor and women’s rights advocate on a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Baghdad, Iraq. While there, he established five comprehensive women’s centers and implemented the first domestic violence census of Iraqi women.

For his work he received in 2009 from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the State Department’s annual Ambassador Swanee Hunt Award.

Emigrating to the U.S. as a child, he grew up in Fall River’s Watuppa Heights public housing and went on to earn his law degree from New England School of Law. He continues to reside in Fall River and is a parishioner of Holy Trinity Parish in that city.

He and his wife are the parents of three grown daughters.

Attorney Gay has been practicing law in Massachusetts since 1974 when he joined his father’s law office in Taunton at the completion of his term of active duty in the U.S. Navy.

His service in the Navy began within months of his graduation from Boston College Law School and included trial and defense counsel work in the Military Justice System and recognition by the Navy in 1974 for professional achievement as Base Legal Officer for the Jacksonville, Fla. Naval Air Station.

Gay has served as school attorney for the City of Taunton School System since 1982 and was City Solicitor for Taunton for six years. He has also been legal counsel for a number of area towns.

Along with his private practice, he has through the years worked to support professional, educational and civic endeavors.

He was among original incorporators of the Bristol County Advocates Program, which established a volunteer program for indigent defense services in that county’s District Courts. He has participated in the Massachusetts

Bar Association Mock Trial Program and has been president of the Taunton and Bristol County Bar associations. As a member of the board or an executive officer, he has served numerous nonprofit organizations in Taunton.

He was a member of parishes in Taunton and East Taunton before relocating to Pocasset where he is now a communicant of St. John the Evangelist Parish.

He and his wife, Patricia, have two sons and six grandchildren.

Attorney Stevens began his service in the Barnstable County Probate Family Court in 1999, first as assistant register of Probate and then as first assistant, before assuming his current post as Judicial Case Manager. Prior to coming to Barnstable, he worked at the Norfolk County Probate Court as assistant register of Probate and as probation officer.

He holds a law degree from New England School of Law. A member of the Massachusetts and Barnstable Attorney County Bar David T. Gay associations, Stevens recently finished a term as president of the latter bar association.

In addition to his work, he teaches part-time in the MBA Program at Curry College and is a college football official.

Stevens and his wife Janet live in Pocasset with their daughter and are parishioners of St. John the Evangelist Parish.

Attorney AttorAlan Zwirblis ney Zwirblis earned his law degree from Boston University School of Law. He joined the Massachusetts Defenders Committee (the Public Defender Office) in 1975 and became Chief Public Defender in Bristol County in 1989. In that capacity, he has responsibility for the training and supervision of 23 full-time lawyers. The office, now known as the Committee for Public Counsel Services, represents indigent clients on trial in the Superior and District Courts, and is dedicated to providing excellent legal representation.

Zwirblis has personally represented thousands of clients and has been trial counsel on hundreds of District and Superior Court felony cases, including murder indictments.

He lives with his wife Judy in Dartmouth, and they are the parents of two sons.

14

The Anchor

September 16, 2011

Incardination: A different chapter

Marital healing: A tool for strengthening a Catholic marriage

the request five years ago,” Father Johnson told The Anchor.

The process begins when a priest submits a request to the ordinary of the diocese to which he would like to incardinate, and also to the ordinary of his current religious community.

“I’m most grateful to Bishop Coleman for accepting me, and also to the abbot of my former order,” said Father Johnson.

“Both have been very supportive and kind.”

Father Johnson, who is originally from the Boston area, chose the Fall River Diocese for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that his sister, the last living close relative of his, lived in Brewster.

He met with Bishop Coleman in August of 2006 and began his five-year probationary period with an assignment at Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Osterville. After two years there he was assigned to St. Francis Xavier Parish in Hyannis for one year, then on to his current position at Charlton Memorial Hospital.

Father Johnson, as well as many other order priests who have made similar transitions, fully credits his former community with providing him with the training and skills needed to be a good diocesan priest. “All that I have to give came from them,” he said. “While in monastic life I had a great deal of time for study of our great Catholic tradition, prayer, and Liturgy. It was there where I developed a great love for the Liturgy.

“While there I had much time to steep in the Catholic tradition and its richness, what it offers us, and how to live it out. I want to share that with others.”

After years of monastic life, Father Johnson realized that he

Fitzgibbons cited Dr. Brad Wilcox, the director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, as the source of two radically different views of marriage.

In his writings, said Fitzgibbons, Wilcox said that the psychological view of marriage is that marriage is about self, about personal pleasures, about your own personal fulfillment, as contrasted to the traditional Judeo-Christian view of marriage that’s holy and involves in total giving of yourself and a sharing of God’s love in being open for children.

When you deviate from the traditional Catholic philosophy of the giving of yourself in marriage, said Fitzgibbons, to the new and more common cultural view of marriage that is focused solely on it being all about yourself and not your spouse, a couple’s marriage will become a battle-of-wills that leads to conflict.

“That self-giving is essential to human fulfillment and happiness in life, as opposed to the psychological view of marriage where happiness is found basically in pursuing your own pleasure — that doesn’t work,” said Fitzgibbons. “The goal of the website is to identify what are the major emotional and character weaknesses that interfere with a spouse’s ability to really give of him or herself in the marriage, and to the children of the marriage. That’s what we are trying to do.”

A number of chapters focus on those points and weaknesses, including one of the major obstacles in self-giving love — anger. That area of the site, said Fitzgibbons, is the most

continued from page one

“had done everything I could in my journey.” He said he would feel more at home in pastoral ministry.

“When I told the abbot, he was not surprised,” said Father Johnson. “He thought it was the right thing to do.”

Father Johnson told The Anchor that “Hospital ministry is wonderful,” adding that he would someday like to minister full time again in a parish.

He was incardinated into the Fall River Diocese on August 24. “I feel relief in many ways,” he said. Almost as if he were a man without a country, for five years he was away from monastic life yet not an official member of a diocese. “I did have a great deal of support through all this, though,” he added. “I got great support from the monastery and from priest friends.”

Father Hugh J. McCullough, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Wellfleet and St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Provincetown was also an order priest.

“I was a Salesian Father for 25 years and I’m very proud of that,” he told The Anchor.

Like Father Johnson, Father McCullough is most grateful for the formation he received from his time as a religious Father. “Being with the Salesians provided me with a life of discipline and prayer,” he said. “The order also gave me a great love and appreciation for the underdog, the poor. Especially kids with problems.”

In addition, Father McCullough said as a Salesian he developed a great sense of hard work and not sitting back.

“I was taught to roll up your sleeves and do it,” he added. All traits he strives to bring to the parishioners he now serves in the Fall River Diocese.

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continued from page one

frequently visited chapter.

“Learning to master anger, as John Paul II writes,” said Fitzgibbons, “is essential for self-giving.”

Often early life has shaped who individuals have become and has formed behaviors that significantly impact a marriage.

A lot of young couples are from divorced families, and they think that forgiving is very difficult, said Fitzgibbons. Marriage driven by selfishness has, over the years, done enormous damage to children and the whole culture.

“Many couples think about divorce because they are unhappy and the whole view is if you’re unhappy, then get out,” said Fitzgibbons. “Through the website, we try to uncover the weaknesses. We did that by providing a test to rate themselves, and they are encouraged to rate their spouse in terms of, where are you with these weaknesses?”

Though he offers webinars and counseling via Skype, Fitzgibbons says that not all couples need therapy; some may just need to recognize what impact a parent may have had on his or her life, and then “work on forgiving that parent.” He added that if we do not acknowledge our history, we may be doomed to repeat it.

“We regularly receive emails,” said Fitzgibbons of the feedback he receives from those who visit the site. “Most people say, ‘I knew something was wrong with my marriage. I love my spouse but I couldn’t quite think what the problem was, but now I understand it.’”

Faith and the traditional view of marriage should be the foundation for every marriage, and

This week in 50 years ago — Bishop James L. Connolly blessed and dedicated the new St. Ann’s Church in Raynham during a special ceremony that was followed by a Low Mass celebration with parishioners and fellow priests in attendance.

25 years ago — The Anchor published a special edition to commemorate the passing of Bishop James Louis Connolly, the fourth bishop of the Fall River Diocese and the founder of the diocesan weekly newspaper.

The 15-page edition included memorials of the former bishop, who served as Fall River’s shepherd from 1951-1970.

it’s never too late to start building from the ground up.

“There are benefits to faith,” explained Fitzgibbons. “There’s research that couples who go to church every Sunday have a better marital friendship, a better relationship than those who don’t. It makes sense because you are relying on two sources of love, not just one. You’re going to be happier. Not everyone has a perfect family, so going into a marriage you bring some degree of disappointment with the most common one being with your father, wishing there was a closer bond. Faith is extremely powerful in terms of those who are Catholic and didn’t have a close father-relationship; they can look to a priest and release that anger.”

God is a Father-figure everyone can trust, and if you put your trust in Him, then trust will bloom within you and spread to those around you.

“The enemy of marital love is selfishness and we have to fight against it,” said Fitzgibbons. “You’re not giving yourself completely to your spouse and you’re not trusting God with His plan. The foundation of marriage is trust; you need to trust your spouse. All of us have trust-weaknesses in life. Trust is essential for married life.”

Fitzgibbons added, “If you give your unhappiness over to God, when you do that it’s good; then you couldn’t be happier in marriage. Faith is extremely powerful in strengthening marriage.”

Fitzgibbons encouraged married and engaged couples, and those who minister to them, to take advantage of the free resources at maritalhealing.com.

Diocesan history 10 years ago — Dave Jolivet, an awardwinning sports writer, editor and production manager with The Anchor, was named its editor by Bishop Sean P. O’Malley, OFM Cap., the newspaper’s publisher. Jolivet replaced Msgr. John F. Moore, who became the publication’s executive editor.

One year ago — Students, faculty and staff at Espirito Santo School in Fall River commemorated the 100th anniversary of the school’s founding with a Mass celebrated by Bishop George W. Coleman at Espirito Santo Church followed by a celebratory luncheon at White’s of Westport.

September 16, 2011

15

The Anchor

Catholics must link beliefs with political action, speakers say

NEW YORK (CNS) — Politics is a good thing, participation in public life is a moral obligation and Catholics need to do a better job of linking their beliefs to their actions, according to speakers at a September 6 conference on “Faithful Citizenship: Voters, Bishops and Presidential Elections.”

The program at Jesuit-run Fordham University featured a lively exploration of a document on political responsibility issued every four years by the Catholic bishops of the United States.

“Polarization is seeping into our ecclesial life and very often we wonder (if) our faith shapes our politics or if it gets turned around to our politics shape our faith.

We can divide up the work in our Church, but we should not be dividing our community of faith,” said John Carr, executive director of the U.S. bishops’ Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development.

“All of us — bishops, professors, staffers, ordinary lay people, academics, students — need to do a better job of linking what we believe to how we act in public life,” he added.

Since 1976, the Catholic bish-

ops have issued a quadrennial statement linking Church teachings to political responsibility. The most recent iteration, in 2007, is called “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of the United States.”

“At this moment of intense cynicism and frankly justifiable frustration with the political process, the most countercultural thing the Church teaches and the bishops have said is that politics is a good thing, that participation in public life is a moral obligation and an essential part of being American and Catholic,” Carr said. “That is more countercultural in some ways than all life is sacred, that war ought to be a last resort, that the poor ought to come first, that marriage ought not to be redefined.”

He said Catholics share a bond of faith, not politics. “We are a Church and not a lobby. We are a community of faith and not an interest group. What brings us together is the word of God and the teaching of the Church, not politics and not ideology.”

Carr said the “Faithful Citizenship” statement lays out basic

principles and applies them to pressing issues facing the country.

Historically, versions of the document have summarized Catholic teaching, with an emphasis on the role of the laity and encouraged participation and engagement. “In public life, what we bring is not only what we believe, but what we do. Who feeds the hungry? Who shelters the homeless? Who cares for the poor?”

Carr said the statement “never declaimed any notion of telling Catholics how to vote” and has always given “priority to human life and dignity, expressed in different language through the years.”

“Faithful Citizenship” urges formation of conscience and practice of prudence, Carr said. It tells Catholics to resist evil and act on their affirmative responsibility to make things better. It says people must distinguish between issues of unequal moral importance. As an example, he said, “A million abortions are not the same as a cut in the WIC program.”

Carr said, “We need more Catholics in both parties in public life, taking what we believe into the public square and fighting for it.

We need more dialogue within our

Church and we need to understand if politics is not about our fundamental values, then it is just about money, ego and power.”

Panelist Robert George, professor of jurisprudence and director of the James Madison program in American ideals and institutions at Princeton University, acknowledged that neither major political party fully embodies the principles laid out by the bishops.

He said the Republican Party needs “more of a dose of Catholic social thought and the Democratic Party needs a very heavy dose of the Pro-Life and pro-family message of the Catholic tradition.”

He said Catholics can use the issue of slavery as a template for political response in current times.

Then, as now, people were raised in a culture that blocked their vision of the true and equal dignity of all members of the human family, he said.

George said Catholics can emulate Abraham Lincoln’s response to slavery. “We have to be persistent and relentless and join forces across the lines of religious differences to offer a common witness to inherent principles of basic justice.”

Carr suggested that both ma-

jor parties establish life and dignity caucuses that would take the “rough edges off the libertarianism of the Republican Party and the individualism of the Democratic Party” and ultimately “get institutions working together to lift people up and empower people.”

Stephen Schneck, director of the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies at The Catholic University of America in Washington, said “Faithful Citizenship” conveys the “glory and richness” of Catholic teaching and recognizes that politics and government are designed by the Creator and are useful for human dignity and the common good.

He said the document confuses some readers who look for “absolute and specific criteria that can be applied juridically to make a summary judgment that voting for such-and-such candidate would always be wrong. Politics is not reducible to morality in quite that way. Prudence is the primary virtue of political life,” he said.

The event was sponsored by the Fordham Center on Religion and Culture and took place at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus in Manhattan.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In the days leading to Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to his homeland September 22-25, German media were asking whether the pope would feel at home in the country he left 30 years ago.

Obviously, he visited Germany frequently while serving in Rome and kept up with friends and colleagues and with developments in Church life, theology and politics. As pope, he traveled to Germany in 2005 to celebrate World Youth Day in Cologne and again in 2006 to visit Bavaria, the region where he was born and raised and served as a theology professor and bishop.

After interviewing key Germans involved in planning the upcoming papal trip, Vatican Radio’s German program in early September said there’s a bit of a sense that the pope and Germans are strangers to each other.

The country was still divided into East and West Germany when he moved to Rome as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and while the communists in the East had succeeded to a large extent in severely limiting Christian life and practice, Church activity in the West still was lively.

In the past 20 years, the number of Catholics in Germany has declined by almost four million, although the overall population has increased by about one mil-

lion, according to Vatican statistics. The number of children under seven baptized annually has dropped to about 170,000 from just above 290,000 in 1991.

And the number of marriages performed annually in Catholic parishes dropped from almost 111,000 in 1991 to less than 50,000 in 2009.

Pope Benedict’s pastoral visits are designed to strengthen and confirm Catholics in their faith and the statistics clearly illustrate why the theme chosen for the pope’s visit to Berlin, Erfurt, Freiburg and Eichsfeld is: “Where there is God, there is a future.”

As with Pope Benedict’s visits to other European countries — particularly to France in 2008 and to Scotland and England in 2010 — secularism is expected to be a key theme during the pope’s trip.

“The Holy Father knows the situation of the Church in Germany,” Jesuit Father Hans Langendorfer, secretary of the German bishops’ conference, told reporters September 7. In preparation for the trip, he said, the pope spent three hours meeting with German Church leaders in Castel Gandolfo in late August.

While the pope cannot resolve all of the problems and tensions within the German Church and society, Father Langendorfer said, he will offer “his view of

how the Church in Germany can find new vitality, inner strength and optimism for the future.”

Several groups have announced they will protest the pope’s visit, including a group that believes the pope’s speech September 22 to the Bundestag, the German parliament, violates church-state separation. Some deputies have announced they will leave the hall in Berlin’s Reichstag Building to protest.

Archbishop Rainier Woelki of Berlin told reporters September 7 that the Church is not worried about possible protests, considering that Germany is a democracy. But, he said, it would be better if people heard what the pope had to say before reacting.

Another protest group said it would demonstrate against Catholic teaching on issues related to sexuality and others have raised objections to the German bishops spending $41.5 million on the visit when the Church could be helping the poor, especially in East Africa.

Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg im Breisgau, president of the bishops’ conference, said the collection to be taken up during the evening Mass September 22 in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium already has been designated for aid to people suffering from the drought, famine and civil unrest in East Africa.

Archbishop Woelki said all

70,000 available tickets for the stadium Mass have been distributed. “We expect a sell-out crowd, although we haven’t sold the tickets, of course,” he said.

Relations with other Christians and with Germany’s Jewish and Muslim communities also will be on the pope’s agenda.

In Erfurt, he will hold meetings with Lutheran, Methodist and Baptist leaders and will visit the Augustinian monastery where Martin Luther lived before he started what would become the Protestant Reformation. The city is in what was East Germany, the least religious part of Germany by far.

Bishop Joachim Wanke of Erfurt told reporters “the common suffering under the old political systems has strengthened our spiritual unity.”

Both Catholics and Lutherans struggled under communism, he said, and Catholic and Lutheran priests suffered and died together in the Nazi camps.

Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, told reporters in August that Pope Benedict personally added ecumenical events to the trip schedule. He said he expects the pope to encourage Catholics and Lutherans to continue working toward greater unity, particularly to give greater credibility

to their missionary outreach and witness.

In addition, he said, the official Catholic-Lutheran dialogue commission is working on projects to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017.

Cardinal Koch said Catholics and Lutherans must remember that they were united for 1,500 years before the Reformation and still hold much in common.

Commemorating the anniversary and moving forward must include “a common purification of memory and an admission of guilt on both sides,” he said.

Father Langendorfer, the bishops’ conference secretary, told reporters he did not know whether the pope would meet privately with German victims of clerical sexual abuse as he did during trips to the United States, Australia, Malta and England.

In January 2010, claims of abuse were made against staff at a Jesuit-run school in Berlin.

After publicity about the case, many German dioceses and religious orders reported new accusations of abuse by Catholic priests. The bishops’ conference opened a hotline offering advice, therapy and contacts for victims and by September had enacted stronger child protection measures, including a requirement that all accusations be reported to law enforcement.

In his homeland, pope to face growing secularism, some protests

Youth Pages

16

September 16, 2011

Fashion show and luncheon to support St. Mary’s Education Fund

FALMOUTH — A luncheon and fashion show planned for September 22 in Falmouth will offer guests not only a look at what’s new in fall clothes but also a chance to help some students attending Catholic schools in the Fall River Diocese.

The fourth annual Fashion Show and Luncheon Tea will take place at the Coonamessett Inn in Falmouth, beginning with an 11:30 a.m. social. Proceeds from the event will support the St. Mary’s Education Fund, which provides need-based scholarships to elementary and middle school students at Catholic schools in the diocese.

Dr. Michael Griffin, who became superintendent of schools in the Fall River Diocese in July, will be guest speaker at the luncheon.

Falmouth resident Peggy Foley is chairing the event. She explained that a three-course meal will be served and that the fashion show to follow will feature apparel from Mulberry Corners of Osterville, J. McLaughlin of Osterville, and Caline for Kids of Falmouth.

Tickets are $35 per person.

Please call Jane Robin to make reservations at 508-759-3566.

The deadline for reservations is September 19.

a big day for all — St. Margaret Regional School in Buzzards Bay celebrated its first day of school on September 1 with pastor Father Tom Washburn’s birthday. The students all came together as an entire student body and presented Father Tom with individual hand made cards, a birthday cake and a gift. Then the students sang “Happy Birthday” to him.

Feast of Blessed Mary — A cloudy day did little to diminish the devotion that shined from participants during the Feast of Our Lady of Angels. Hundreds of people lined Main Street in Fairhaven to watch the procession held every Labor Day. A group of altar servers from St. Mary’s Parish of Fairhaven gathered donations as they made their way down the street.

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

If schools or parish Religious Education programs, have newsworthy stories and photos they would like to share with our readers, send them to: schools@anchornews.org

the eagle has landed — Although delayed by two days because of a power outage, students at St. John the Evangelist School, Attleboro, finally made their way back to school on September 1. Pictured here with the new SJE Eagle Mascot are siblings Luke, Molly, Ryan and Jeremiah Sullivan.

Youth Pages

September 16, 2011

S

emper Fidelis is a Latin phrase meaning “Always Faithful.” The United States Marine Corps and many schools and organizations have this phrase as their motto, often shortened to “Semper Fi.” But what exactly does this mean?

Let’s first take a look at the Book of Habakkuk in the Old Testament.

The name Habakkuk, according to some, comes from the Hebrew word Habaq which means, “to embrace.” The book is a four-chapter conversation between God and the prophet Habakkuk. He had lots of questions for God. First, he couldn’t understand why God would use an evil empire to punish His people. Yet Habakkuk provides a powerful lesson about God’s faithfulness and faith in our Creator. Habakkuk chose to trust in the reliability of God. God called Habakkuk, just as He calls us, to act in faith and remember His character, believe

Always faithful

His Word and trust the testimoreality that God is! Trust is the ny of believers, including you. If reality that God will never let you trusted God yesterday, why you down. “God is faithful” (1 can’t you trust Him today? Can Cor 9). you identify with Habakkuk?

How do we live always beOften we struggle with God’s ing faithful to God, others and timing or ask what on earth ourselves? Start by not rushing, He is doing. The secular world in haste, to accept the ways of tries to force on us a view that offers several options to deal with this kind of trouble: first, resign yourself to your fate with no hope for change; second,

By Ozzie Pacheco distract yourself with alcohol, drug abuse, promiscuity or an unhealthy appetite for wealth; the world. Often, they are not third, put on a false bravado, God’s ways. Seek the truth and holding your chin up while trust in God. Want to “ace” that you’re really falling apart inside. next test? The world may tell There is a certain passion you just to get by; why waste that overcomes a person who your time studying: what’s it is always faithful. That’s a going to get you in the long passion filled with zeal, adorarun? But be firm, resolute and tion and love for God, self and faithful to your studies. Don’t others. That passion is borne be faithful just once, or some of truth and trust. Truth is the times, or most of the time. Be

Be Not Afraid

17 always faithful. Doesn’t God ask that we be faithful to Him all of the time?

If your car starts once every three tries do you feel satisfied that it is faithful as a reliable car? Is it considered faithful service if your paper is delivered every Monday and Thursday although you signed up for everyday delivery? Does your boss consider you a reliable employee if you only miss work a few times a month unannounced? If your refrigerator stops working for a day or two every now and then do you find yourself saying, “Well, it works most of the time, I’m happy with it?” If the water heater provides an icy-cold shower every now and then, is it dependable? If you miss a couple of loan payments every year does the bank say, “Ten out of 12 isn’t bad!”?

How then does God view your

faithfulness and loyalty to Him? Isn’t being always faithful a way of life and not just a motto?

At the end of his book we learn how Habakkuk’s name gives true meaning to his faith in God; he chooses to cling firmly, to embrace God regardless of what happens to his nation. His faithfulness is praised in Psalm 89, “I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.”

We all have specific stories to tell. And sometimes we are overwhelmed with how good God is. We see His blessings in our daily lives and we know we don’t deserve them. So, let us thank God for sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to be sacrificed for us. What an amazing gift of faith! What an amazing gift of love!! Thank you God for being always faithful to us!

Ozzie Pacheco is Faith Formation director at Santo Christo Parish, Fall River.

“I would like to say, with all due humility, that Bishop Feehan has clearly established itself as the technological leader among all area high schools, public or private,” Servant said.

“In addition, our beautiful 40acre campus and facilities have undergone recent renovations … that have allowed us to attract the very best students and athletes from all over southeastern Massachusetts.”

Like his namesake, Bishop Daniel F. Feehan was an early pioneer among Fall River’s shepherds.

Born in Athol to William and Joanna (Foley) Feehan on Sept.

24, 1855, he moved as a young boy to Millbury with his family where he attended school and became a friend of the future President William H. Taft.

Father Feehan graduated from St. Mary’s College in Montreal, Canada, and spent his formation years at St. Joseph Seminary in Troy, N.Y. He was ordained a priest on Dec. 20, 1879. Father Feehan’s first parish was in West Boylston and served twice at St. Bernard’s in Fitchburg.

During his second time, he was pastor for 18 years.

On July 2, 1907, at the age of 52, Father Daniel Feehan was appointed the Bishop of Fall River, a new diocese formed just three years earlier in 1904.

He succeeded Bishop William Stang who was the first Bishop of Fall River. During his 27-year tenure, the longest of any Fall River bishop, he became known

as the “Benevolent Bishop.”

Bishop Feehan established 36 parishes and was especially devoted to children, giving much attention to the child care institutions of the diocese. Bishop Daniel F. Feehan died July 19, 1934.

Servant and Sister Harrington are excited to be able to celebrate all that Bishop Feehan High School has accomplished over the last 50 years while looking with promise ahead to all it will undoubtedly achieve in the future.

“Our mission has called us to teach the children of Catholic families in the Attleboro area in the ways of Jesus Christ,” Servant said. “Although faith may have played a bigger role in attracting students and their families in the 1960s than it does now, the role that faith plays at Feehan has not diminished.

We hope Feehan will continue to fulfill its mission to serve the sons and daughters of Catholic families by serving as a leader for faith-based secondary college preparatory education.”

“Each person who has walked through those doors is what makes Bishop Feehan special,” agreed Sister Harrington.

“The parents who sacrifice to send them here, the graduates who continue to help fund scholarships or the development with the latest technology continually. The dedication of each teacher certainly is instrumental is preserving the lasting legacy of ‘Feehan First.’”

Bishop Feehan prepares to celebrate golden anniversary continued from page one

we would not just have one signature anniversary event that would be over and done in four hours,” Servant said. “Rather, we consciously decided to enhance several traditional events that we have held throughout the course of school history with the 50th anniversary theme. All of which will have special invited guests in addition to the distribution of Feehan medallions to individuals, past and present, whose lives have helped us sustain our mission over the past 50 years.”

Having been involved with Bishop Feehan High School more than 40 years now, dating back to when he enrolled as a freshman in September of 1962, Servant beams with pride over the school’s past half-century of accomplishments.

“I was drawn back to the school because a friend asked me to fill in for him teaching English for two weeks when he went into Army Reserve training in June of 1972,” he said. “I really enjoyed the experience.

There was a tangible sense of energy and excitement in the school and I felt a calling to teach and give back.”

Noting that the school and its occupants have always been friendly and hospitable to everyone, Servant said it was this “welcoming culture” that convinced him he had found a home.

“This was the charism embedded into the school by the Sisters of Mercy who have staffed it since opening in

1961,” Servant said.

Sister Harrington, herself a Sister of Mercy, doesn’t need to be convinced of the impact her order has had on Bishop Feehan High School’s rich history. She was inspired by her own role models at St. Mary’s and Holy Name elementary schools and later Holy Family High School, all in New Bedford. And it’s the reason she came to teach at Bishop Feehan High School in 1969.

“It is the reason for our existence,” Sister Harrington said.

“We tell the youngsters the best sermon that they can give is to ‘walk it.’ Christ’s hands in this world today are yours. Everything stems from our belief and trust in Him.” The second of four regional Catholic high schools constructed in the Diocese of Fall River, Bishop Feehan High School opened its doors in the fall of 1961. Bishop Feehan, a Roman Catholic institution, was founded to form a partnership with the families of the Attleboro area in educating teenagers in the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Church.

From the outset, Feehan’s mission was clear: to provide the best in quality Catholic education. Under the guidance of the Sisters of Mercy, who were selected by then-Bishop James L. Connolly to staff the school, Feehan embarked on a journey of building a strong collegepreparatory program built on the foundation of Christian values.

In September 1961, six Sisters of Mercy welcomed the 192 students who made up the first class at Bishop Feehan High School. As the founding members of the faculty, the Sisters established a school whose mission and traditions would be forever rooted in the Mercy charism, including: a joyful and hopeful faith in God; a generous love and compassion for the overlooked or the most in need; a gracious and genuine hospitality; a commitment to excellence no matter how small or seemingly mundane the endeavor; and foundress Catherine McAuley’s penchant for “turning what you can into jest.”

All these became hallmarks of the legacy of Mercy that define Feehan students today and aspire to be as a school community in the future. This commitment continues today as each member of the Feehan family strives to achieve the three goals of sanctity, scholarship, and sportsmanship — which are symbolically manifested in the school’s nickname and its symbol, “The Shamrock.”

In recent years the school has experienced tremendous growth in its academic standing, physical plant and technological advances. Since its first graduating class in 1965, Bishop Feehan High School has been universally recognized for academic excellence, athletic achievement and boundless spirit.

18

A

lright all you BabyBoomers and older, it’s time to gather the young’uns around and spin them a life-lesson yarn. Share this column with someone you love. If you’re a post-Baby-Boomer listen up if you have ears. Don’t be afraid, us old folk are only trying to help you through this.

Folks like me grew up with an expression, “That which does not kill me, only makes me stronger.”

Remember these words over the next few months.

Right now, you’re probably not sure what emotions you’re feeling, but you do realize something is not right. Please rest assured, what you are experiencing is normal, it’s just that you’ve never been exposed to it in such a large dose before.

Let’s refresh you memory. Just

The Anchor

September 16, 2011

That which does not kill me ...

a few weeks ago, your Boston Red for the Red Sox. It wasn’t only the Sox were kings of the diamond, leaves that began to fall around sporting one of the best records in here each September. all of baseball. They were unstopEvery year, the boys of summer pable. That’s pretty much been would build up our hopes through the status quo for you for the past 10 years. But now you’re asking, “What up?”

This is the part of the story that may seem a bit scary to you, but hang in there, this was an anBy Dave Jolivet nual occurrence for us old-timers. It will do you good to remember that the Home Towne Team (and us August, and then drag their nails old-timers) trudged through an 86- against a chalkboard for the final year championship drought, and 30 days of the season. in those nearly nine decades, we I don’t know if these Boston lived through many “What up?”

Red Sox can weather the storm moments. and make the playoffs. If they do, You see, dear Generation Xers, I’m afraid they’ll be limping in, prior to 2004, September had not setting us up for a quick exit. But been a particularly good month please believe me when I tell you, if the Red Sox nosedive carries them out of the October festivities, Decree issued you will survive. It may make for Bishop George W. Coleman used for Catholic liturgical worship. an uneasy winter, but, this too, has decreed that the Church of A new larger church for Saint Saint Mary located on 132 South Mary Parish in Norton was built Worcester Street in Norton be rel- and dedicated in April 2010 to acegated to profane but not sordid commodate the parish communiuse. This action was taken in ac- ty’s growth over several decades. cord with Canon 1222, §2 of the In accordance with Canon Law, Washington D.C (CNA/ Code of Canon Law. The decree the decision of the bishop to is- EWTN News) — On the anniverwas given Friday, September sue the decree on the parish’s for- sary of the September 11, 2001 at16, 2011 and will take effect on mer church followed consultation tacks, leading American Catholic Thursday, October 6, 2011. with the pastor of Saint Mary Par- bishops mourned the dead, comRelegation to profane use is a ish, the Parish Pastoral Council memorated their sacrifices and term used in Church law when a and the Parish Finance Council looked for signs of renewal and Church building is converted from and the Presbyteral Council of the resurrection. sacred uses and will no longer be Fall River Diocese.

Their Sunday homilies noted the consoling power of God, the struggle between good and evil, Revised and updated ... and the need for fellowship, peace and reconciliation.

In New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Archbishop Timothy Dolan told how the city’s firemen regularly inspect the cathedral’s wooden ceiling. They have a custom of etching their names in the high, grime-encrusted windows.

“On there are four names of firefighters who were here just days before 9/11 and who lost their lives trying to rescue oth... Now ers on that dreadful day we recall right now. We might renovate this Shipping! cathedral, but we are never going to clean those windows, because those names are going to remain etched there, as those names rePublished by The Anchor Publishing Company main engraved on our hearts,” he P.O. Box 7, Fall River, Massachusetts 02722 declared.

Turning to spiritual concerns, Please ship _____ directories x $18 each, the archbishop spoke of “the inincluding shipping and handling. Total Enclosed $_____ tense battle that is being waged in the human heart.”

“It’s that battle, that war, that NAME ____________________________________________ is going on in the human soul ADDRESS _________________________________________ that gives rise to all the violence, and battles and wars that we see CITY _____________________ STATE _______ ZIP _____ outside … It’s a battle between Please make checks payable to “Anchor Publishing” sin and grace, between darkness and light. It’s a war where For more information, email theanchor@anchonews.org, evil is against good, where death call 508-675-7151, or order online at www.anchornews.org is versus life, lies versus truth,

My View From the Stands

shall pass.

Remember when the New England Patriots choked in Super Bowl XLII against, of all people, Eli Manning and the N.Y. Giants?

The queasiness eased after a few months, didn’t it?

And speaking of the Patriots, be careful about relying too heavily on them making up for the Home Towne Team’s Fall fall. I know it’s hard to believe, but Tom Brady is getting long in the tooth for a quarterback. (If you don’t know what the expression means, look it up. Consider this a teaching moment as well.)

You GXers have only seen Tom be terrific, but remember, he’s now 34, missed one entire season to a devastating knee injury that required major surgery and rehab, and he’s been knocked around a great deal by some pretty big and young bodies over the

past couple of years. Although this week in Miami was an awesome display (but it was Miami). In fact, many of the Patriots are “getting up there.”

If you have Super Bowl aspirations, just take a look at what some younger teams did last weekend: the defending champion Green Bay Packers, the Baltimore Ravens, and the (gulp) N.Y. Jets.

Are we as good as them? Hmmmm.

Also remember, prior to 2001, the Pats (and us old-timers) experienced a 40-year championship drought. I’m just saying. It has been a long seven years since their last one!

Please know that I’m not trying to spread gloom and doom. I’m just trying to prepare you for what may lie ahead. Been there, done that, made it through.

So, if the Red Sox do indeed complete the choke, perhaps you should thank them. After all, they’re only making you stronger.

On September 11 Catholic bishops reflect on event’s spiritual implications

2011-2012 Diocese of Fall River Catholic Directory

pride against humility, selfishness against selflessness, revenge versus mercy, hate versus love, Satan versus Almighty God.” The September 11 attacks made it seem that darkness had conquered, he said. But goodness “triumphed” when temptations to despair, fearful panic and revenge gave way to “rescue, recovery, rebuilding, outreach and resilience.”

“The side of the angels, not of the demons, conquered. Good Friday became Easter Sunday. And once again God has the last word,” Archbishop Dolan said.

He recounted a commemoration on the previous night in which the children of firefighters who perished in the attacks spoke about their fathers with “immense gratitude and pride.” The New York Fire Department commissioner is “amazed” at the number of these children who now want to be firefighters and rescuers. Anthony Palumbo, the son of deceased firefighter Frank Palumbo, is now preparing for the priesthood.

At St. Peter Parish in Washington, D.C., Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, delivered a 5 p.m. homily. He recalled that he was in Washington at the U.S. bishops’ annual meeting on that fateful day.

They immediately adjourned and did “the only thing the Church can do.”

“We prayed. We walked from our conference building to the Basilica of the National Shrine where we all joined in the celebration of the Eucharist,” he said. “We were not alone. The basilica was filled.

Thousands of students gathered at

the Mass.”

There was “an instinctive need” to stand with each other before God and a “re-awakening of our need for God,” the cardinal said in his homily published in the Washington Post.

The anniversary of the attack is a time “to hear all over again what Jesus has to say.”

“When we listen to the consoling yet challenging words of Jesus we find not just an ethical or moral system, but a whole vision of the purpose of life. Jesus came to reveal to us who His Father is, and therefore who we are. As we come to know our relationship to God, we come to know our role in life,” he said.

“We are to live in solidarity with one another recognizing that only if we put on the ‘new person’ — this new man or new woman in Christ — is there any hope for peace,” the cardinal continued.

While bringing violent perpetrators to justice is beyond most individuals, what everyone can do is renew his or her personal commitment to “bring that peace to our world, our community, our families, our lives — peace that is rooted in God’s plan and in that justice to which He calls all of us.”

“Love does conquer hatred,” he insisted, stressing the need to banish “those things that are sources of division: ethnic and racial bias, religious bigotry, political opportunism.”

“Do not let the darkness extinguish the light. Do not let hatred smother love,” he encouraged the congregation.

September 16, 2011

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese

Acushnet — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Monday and Tuesday from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Thursday from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Evening prayer and Benediction is held Monday through Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

ATTLEBORO — St. Joseph Church holds eucharistic adoration in the Adoration Chapel located at the (south) side entrance at 208 South Main Street, Sunday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

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 following the 11 a.m. Mass until 7:45 a.m. on the First Saturday, concluding with Benediction and Mass. buzzards Bay — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Margaret Church, 141 Main Street, every first Friday after the 8 a.m. Mass and ending the following day before the 8 a.m. Mass.

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 Sandwich — Eucharistic adoration takes place at the Corpus Christi Parish Adoration Chapel, 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, Monday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday, 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. Also, 24-hour eucharistic adoration takes place on the First Friday of every month.

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, following the 8 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 8 p.m.

FAIRHAVEN — St. Mary’s Church, Main St., has eucharistic adoration every Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to noon in the Chapel of Reconciliation, with Benediction at noon. 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 8:00 a.m. Mass until Rosary and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.

FALL RIVER — Notre Dame Church, 529 Eastern Ave., has eucharistic adoration on Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the chapel.

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 until 6 p.m. in the Daily Mass Chapel. There is a bilingual Holy Hour in English and Portuguese from 5-6 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 9 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 4:30 p.m. The Rosary is recited Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.

HYANNIS — A Holy Hour with eucharistic adoration will take place each First Friday at St. Francis Xavier Church, 347 South Street, beginning immediately after the 12:10 p.m. Mass and ending with adoration at 4 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.

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.

NORTH DARTMOUTH — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Julie Billiart Church, 494 Slocum Road, every Tuesday from 7 to 8 p.m., ending with Benediction. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available at this time.

NORTH DIGHTON — Eucharistic adoration 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.

OSTERVILLE — Eucharistic adoration takes place at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 76 Wianno Avenue on First Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and every Friday from noon to 5 p.m., with Benediction at 5 p.m.

SEEKONK ­— Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish has 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.

WAREHAM — Adoration with opportunities for private and formal prayer is offered on the First Friday of each month from 8:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Church, High Street. The Prayer Schedule is as follows: 7:30 a.m. the Rosary; 8 a.m.

Mass; 8:30 a.m. exposition and Morning Prayer; 12 p.m. the Angelus; 3 p.m. Divine Mercy Chaplet; 5:30 p.m. Evening Prayer; 7 p.m. Sacrament of Confession; 8 p.m.

Benediction.

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 from other parishes are invited to sign up to cover open hours. For open hours, or to sign up call 508-430-4716.

WOODS HOLE — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Joseph’s Church, 33 Millfield Street, year-round on weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. No adoration on Sundays, Wednesdays, and holidays. For information call 508-274-5435.

19

The Anchor Msgr. Ronald N. Beshara

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Msgr. Ronald N. Beshara, STL, JCL, 66 of West Palm Beach, Fla., former Pastor of St. Anthony Maronite Catholic Church of Danbury, Fla., died September 5 after a brief illness.

Msgr. Beshara was a native of Fall River and son of St. Anthony of the Desert Parish and alumnus of Prevost High School, both in Fall River. He was ordained in the Maronite Catholic Church on May 29, 1971.

He is survived by his mother, Imelda M. Beshara; his sister, Donna Marie Harrison; his brother, Paul Methot; and his nephews, Ben L. Harrison, Ronald M. Harrison, Luke Methot and Peter Methot.

His funeral was celebrated September 9 at St. Juliana Church in West Palm Beach.

Donations may be sent to the Mary, Mother of Light Church Building Fund or to Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Seminary, 7164 Alaska Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20012.

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Sept. 17 Rev. Thomas F. McNulty, Pastor, St. Kilian, New Bedford, 1954 Cardinal Humberto Sousa Medeiros, Archbishop of Boston, 1970-83, Pastor of St. Michael, Fall River, 1960 -1966, 1983 Rev. Felix Lesnek, SS.CC., Former Associate Pastor, St. Joseph, Fairhaven, 1991 Sept. 18 Rev. Luke Golla, SS.CC., Seminary of Sacred Heart, Wareham, 1945 Rt. Rev. Msgr. Edmund J. Ward, Retired Pastor, St. Patrick, Fall River, 1964 Sept. 19 Rev. Henry E.S. Henniss, Pastor, St. Mary, New Bedford, 1859 Msgr. Arthur W. Tansey, Retired Pastor, Immaculate Conception, Fall River, 1985 Sept. 20 Rev. Simon A. O’Rourke, USN Chaplain, 1918 Rev. Omer Valois, Retired Pastor, Sacred Heart, New Bedford, 1958 Sept. 21 Rev. George Pager, Founder, Sacred Heart, New Bedford, 1882 Rev. George Jowdy, Pastor, Our Lady of Purgatory, New Bedford, 1938 Rev. William H. Crane, SM, Superior at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Victories, Boston, 1988 Sept. 23 Rev. Antoine Charest, SM, Former Assistant, St. Jean Baptiste, Fall River, 2001

Around the Diocese 9/17

The annual feast of Our Lady of Good Voyage will take place tomorrow and Sunday at Our Lady’s Chapel, 600 Pleasant Street in downtown New Bedford.

During tomorrow night’s vigil of the feast, there will be a solemn, candle-lit procession of the statue beginning at 6:30 p.m. On Sunday, however, instead of the customary procession to the New Bedford harbor, a solemn Portuguese/English Mass will be celebrated beginning at 3 p.m. with Deacon Edward Pacheco as homilist. A pot-luck reception will follow the Mass downstairs in the hall as usual. For information call 508-996-8274.

9/20

Eleanor McCullen, a longtime Boston sidewalk counselor, will be the keynote speaker on September 20 at the Corpus Christi Parish Center, 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, East Sandwich, at the annual fund-raising banquet for A Woman’s Concern, the pregnancy resource center in Hyannis. McCullen will recount her experiences on the Pro-Life battle lines and advise those who wonder how they can help. Seating and “Lucky Draw” begin at 6:30 p.m. Complimentary dinner and program runs from 7 to 9 p.m. Contact Barbara Bowers at 508-385-7867 for reservations or more information.

9/24

Courage, a support group for Catholics wounded by same-sex attraction, will gather to seek God’s wisdom, mercy and love on September 24 beginning at 7 p.m. For location information, call Father Richard Wilson at 508-992-9408.

9/24

The St. Margaret and St. Mary Conference of St. Vincent de Paul of Buzzards Bay will hold its annual fund-raising walk, “Walk a Mile in My Shoes,” on September 24 beginning at 9 a.m. at the head of the Cape Cod Canal by the train depot. It is a one-mile hike each way and a great learning opportunities for families to share with the poor. Registration will take place on the lawn of St. Margaret’s Church, 141 Main Street, starting at 8:15 a.m. and pre-registration forms are available inside the church. A Rosary for the poor will also be recited following the 8 a.m. Mass.

9/24

Holy Cross Parish, 225 Purchase Street, South Easton, will hold its second annual Fall Festival on September 24 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. This year’s event will feature a performance by the Toe Jam Puppet Band at 12 p.m. and an hourlong juggling performance featuring Henry the Juggler. There will also be plenty of games, raffles, prizes, wine tasting, arts and crafts, and great food of all kinds. For more information and a schedule of events visit http://www.holycrosseaston.org.

9/24

The Women’s Guild at Immaculate Conception Parish in Fall River will be sponsoring a Flea Market on September 24 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. They will be accepting clean items in good condition through September 23, which can be dropped off at the church hall on County Street. For more information call 508-674-8695 or email dotnic566@verizon.net.

9/24

The Fall River District Council of the St. Vincent de Paul Society will host the fourth annual Friends of the Poor Walk at 10 a.m. on September 24 beginning at Kennedy Park in Fall River at the corner of Bradford Avenue and South Main Street. All proceeds will directly benefit those in need in greater Fall River. For more information call the Thrift Store at 508-672-9129, Lou Yokell at 508-642-3440, or visit svdpfriendsofthepoorwalk.org.

9/24

The Fall River Diocesan Council of Catholic Women has been reorganized and district levels have been eliminated. Members of the diocesan board, together with members of parish affiliates and individual members are invited to three meetings held each year. The first meeting will be September 24 at Annunciation of the Lord Parish, 31 First Street, Taunton. A short meeting will start at 9:30 a.m. followed by a presentation from Msgr. Stephen J. Avila, director of the diocesan Worship Office, entitled, “New Words.

Same Mass. Examining the New English Translation of the Roman Missal. All are invited and refreshments will be served. The meeting will end at noon.

9/25

The Social Justice Committee of the St. Vincent de Paul Society of St. Mary’s Parish, Mansfield, will be hosting a panel discussion, “Perspectives: Justice and Immigration,” on September 25 at 6 p.m. in the parish center. Participants will be Bob Hildreth, Boston philanthropist and founder of Families in Educational Leadership; Father Richard Wilson, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish at St. James Church in New Bedford; and Sarang Sekhavat, Federal Policy Director for the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. This free program will feature presentations by the participants, questions and answers and a facilitated discussion. Refreshments will be served. For more information call 401-438-6511 (day) or 508-339-6156 (evening) or visit http://www.svdpattleboro.org/ SocialJustice/SJcommittee.html.

9/28

Msgr. Stephen J. Avila will give a presentation entitled “New Words, Same Mass: Examining the New English Translation of the Mass” at St. Julie Billiart Parish in North Dartmouth on September 28. The same presentation will be given at 10:30 in the morning and at 7 p.m. All are welcome.

20

The Anchor

September 16, 2011

U.S. bishops back reversal of Alabama immigration law

Washington D.C. (CNA) — The U.S. bishops have backed efforts in Alabama to turn back a state law they say would threaten the Catholic Church’s ministry to undocumented immigrants.

Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, chairman of the migration committee of the U.S. bishops’ conference, offered his “solidarity and support” to Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi of Mobile, Bishop Robert J. Baker of Birmingham, and other religious leaders in the state who are trying to reverse the law.

Archbishop Rodi and

several Protestant denominations are seeking relief from a law they say criminalizes parts of the Church’s mission and interferes with the free exercise of religion.

“The Catholic Church provides pastoral and social services to all persons, regardless of their immigration status,” Archbishop Gomez said September 8. “Our mandate is to provide for the pastoral and social care of all of God’s children. Government should not infringe upon that duty, as America’s founding fathers made clear in the U.S. Constitution.”

He called upon the Obama administration and Congress to enact “comprehensive” immigration reform.

“Our nation is in great need for a federal solution to the challenge of illegal immigration, one that balances the rule of law with humanitarian principles,” Archbishop Gomez said.

The Alabama legislature’s HB 56 requires law enforcement officers to attempt to determine the immigration status of a person “who they suspect is an unauthorized alien of this country.”

It also criminalizes the “transport, concealment, harboring and housing of unauthorized aliens,” in a broad manner that critics say will make most forms of assistance to immigrants illegal.

In an August 1 letter to Catholics in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, Archbishop Rodi said the law makes it illegal for a Catholic priest to baptize undocumented immigrants, hear their confessions, or preach the Gospel to them.

“Nor can we encourage them to attend Mass or give them a ride to Mass. It is illegal to allow them to attend adult scripture study groups, or attend CCD or Sunday school classes,” he said.

He charged that the law prohibits “almost every activity” of St. Vincent de Paul Society chapters or Catholic social services and could even make it illegal for these immigrants to attend Alcoholic Anonymous meetings.

“This law,” the archbishop said, “attacks our very understanding of what it means to be a Christian.”

The Justice Department has filed its own lawsuit charging that the law intrudes on the federal government’s immigration policies and responsibilities.

The law was scheduled to take effect on September 1 but a federal judge temporarily blocked it. A decision on the law is expected by the end of September.

Be sure to visit the Diocese of Fall River website at fallriverdiocese.org The site includes links to parishes, diocese offices and national sites.