09.19.08

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Diocese of Fall River

The Anchor

F riday , September 19, 2008

‘Visibility’ key to success of high school priest chaplains

By Deacon James N. Dunbar

TAUNTON — Being chaplain to students at Catholic high schools in the diocese is not much different from parish work in the sense that in great part it can be a waiting game. “Developing a sense of when to be aggressive and when to sit back and wait patiently to be approached is one of the great challenges in being a chaplain to high school students, which I enjoy so very much,” said Father Kevin A. Cook, chaplain at Coyle and Cassidy High School in Taunton. “In great part it’s the visibility — being there among them — that is important, so that when the time comes and they want to come to you, you’re there,” he added.

The Anchor also talked to Father Thomas E. Costa, chaplain at Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro, and Father Jay Mello, chaplain at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth. Although “freshmen” in their first ministry to students, Fathers Costa and Mello concurred that “hanging out” with students especially at games, practices and other athletic events in the afterschool hours is most productive in getting to know them, their needs, and what must be done to become more effective in making them prayerful, faithful, responsible and practicing Catholics. “I found out that it takes a lot of energy to be a campus chaplain,” Turn to page 15

THAT’S A WRAP — John E. Kearns Jr., diocesan director of Communications, discusses the taping of a meditation session with Ellen McCloskey, assistant director of the Digital Media Office of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, at the Media Image Production studio in Fairhaven last week. Several clergy and lay representatives, including Bishop George W. Coleman, taped meditations for daily readings to appear on the U.S. bishops’ Website, www.ccc-tv.org. Shown on the monitor is Claire McManus, diocesan director of Faith Formation. (Photo by Dave Jolivet)

Brief, daily meditations and reflections are just ‘a click away’ By Dave Jolivet, Editor

FAIRHAVEN — As Deacon Robert G.L. Normandin of St. Louis de France Parish in Swansea put it, a simple, inspirational two- or three-minute reflection on daily Scripture readings is “only a click away.” The deacon was referring to the Website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, www.ccc-tv. org, where Web surfers can find a text version of the daily readings as well as a video and audio reflection for that day. Ellen McCloskey, assistant director of the Digital Media Office of the USCCB, was in the area last week, supervising the taping sessions of several representaVISITING THE IMPRISONED — Replica of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe ending a 16-day prayer tour of the Fall River Diocese was venerated by more than 25 women inmates at the Bristol County House of Correction on September 9, who also attended a Mass and recited the rosary. From left, Sister Aloka of the Missionaries of Charity in New Bedford, who ministers to the inmates; James Rioux, coordinator of volunteer services at the correction facility; Father Kevin A. Cook of the Vocations Office who celebrated the Mass; and Missionary of Charity Sister Carmelina, also of the New Bedford convent. The image was taken to the facility by Pro-Life Apostolate Director Marian Desrosiers and Assistant Director Jean Arsenault, whose office hosted the tour. (Photo courtesy of Marian Desrosiers).

tives from the Diocese of Fall River, who will be seen and heard offering their meditations on the Website in the coming months. “Ellen approached me and asked if the diocese would consider becoming part of the online venture,” said John E. Kearns Jr., diocesan director of Communications. “I presented the idea to Bishop George W. Coleman, and he was pleased to comply with the request.” Several individuals from the diocese agreed to offer their input, including Bishop Coleman, Msgrs. John J. Oliveira and Gerard P. O’Connor, Fathers Gregory A. Turn to page 18

For these loyal ladies, attending televised Mass is a gift to others

By Michael Pare Anchor Staff

NORTH DARTMOUTH — It may have been a Saturday morning, but the ladies wore their Sunday best. They always do. The occasion is weekly Mass. On this Saturday morning in September the venue is the chapel on the campus of Bishop Stang High School. It is where the diocese’s Television Apostolate most often tapes the Mass shown Sundays at 11 a.m. on the Providence-based WLNE Channel 6. Channel 6 has been carrying the diocesan televised Mass since 1963, according to John E. Kearns Jr., director of the diocese’s Communications Office.

“Their commitment has not wavered all these years,” he said. Msgr. Stephen J. Avila, pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Mansfield, has for the past two decades served as director of the diocese’s Television Apostolate. Msgr. Avila said the diocese’s televised Mass is among the longest running in the country. “In the beginning it was shot in black and white and the vestments had to be blue,” he recalls. The televised Mass is funded through an annual collection in January, as well as by the Catholic Charities Appeal. At the Bishop Stang chapel, a pair of cameramen set up three WLNE cameras. Two are hand-

operated and focus on the altar, while the third is stationary and focuses on the organ in the rear of the chapel. Kearns assists in the production, helping to ensure that Mass goes off without a hitch and within the time constraints of television. Most Saturdays, the crew tapes two Masses. Priests from throughout the diocese are invited to celebrate. They often bring along a few parishioners and sometimes the organist or vocalist. But the key to the production, said Kearns, is the group of loyal ladies from the Fall River Diocesan Council of Catholic Women. More than a dozen of them are Turn to page 11


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09.19.08 by The Anchor - Issuu