09.28.12

The Anchor Diocese of Fall River

F riday , September 28, 2012

Discerning New Age babble

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

EAST SANDWICH — This weekend there will be a two-day presentation at Corpus Christi Parish in East Sandwich entitled “The New Age Movement: Truth or Deception.” It will work to expose many of the misconceptions surrounding the New Age movement. Tomorrow, from 9:30-4 p.m. and Sunday, from 2-4 p.m., speakers Susan Brinkmann and Moira Noonan will offer their expertise and help attendees discern the fallacies that exist between true Christianity and the seemingly fluid way the New Age movement has made its way into the faith.

Pam Wood, the director of prayer groups for the Cape and the Islands Deanery and member of Christ the King Parish in Mash-

pee, has known about New Age for years but “didn’t realize how entrenched it was in our culture.”

When a friend recommended Noonan’s book, “Ransomed From Darkness: The New Age Christian Faith and the Battle for Souls,” Wood found the book so intriguing, she passed the book around to others.

When she caught Brinkmann on television talking about New Age, Wood ordered Brinkmann’s series on the subject and passed it around the deanery as well.

“Initially we started educating ourselves and at some point it was decided that we should try to put on a conference,” explained Wood, adding that money was an issue but after going to various pastors on the Cape, donations poured in.

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NBC correspondent to speak at St. Mary’s Fund Fall Dinner

WESTPORT — Mike Leonard, longtime ous situations that arise in day-to-day living. feature correspondent for the NBC “Today” Along the way, he has also covered political show and a best-selling author, will be the conventions, Presidential Inaugurations, the speaker for the 18th annual St. Mary’s Edu- Super Bowl, the World Series and other specation Fund Fall Dinner. cial events here and abroad. His The Fall Dinner will take work has aired on NBC Nightly place on November 27 at News, NBC Sports, Dateline, White’s of Westport beginning Showtime and PBS in addition with a 5:30 p.m. reception. to “Today.”

Proceeds from the event In 2004, Leonard took his benefit the St. Mary’s Educaparents, then in their 80s, and tion Fund, which provides needsome of his adult children on a based financial scholarships to one-month, cross-country RV students at Catholic elementary adventure that became the baand middle schools throughout sis of a four-part “Today” show the Fall River Diocese. segment, a 12-part Public TeleLeonard joined NBC News vision series, “The Ride of Our Mike Leonard in 1980 and has since spent Lives — Roadside Lessons of most of the time traveling across the coun- an American Family,” and a New York Times try covering in unique ways the usually best-selling book of the same name. overlooked area of everyday American life.

Also an accomplished filmmaker, he His news pieces often bring a focus on the served as executive producer of the awardunconventional and highlight the humorTurn to page 12

QUEEN OF PEACE — Parishioners from Espirito Santo Parish in Fall River carry a statue of Our Lady of Fatima in a peace procession from St. Mary’s Cathedral to St. Anne’s Church in the city. The annual procession will once again take place on October 8. (Anchor file photo)

Processions, devotions to Our Lady planned for October B y K enneth J. Souza A nchor Staff

FALL RIVER — With the pending anniversary of the sixth and final apparition of Our Lady of the Rosary to three Portuguese shepherd children at the Cova da Iria in the village of Fatima, Portugal on Oct. 13, 1917, there are several processions and devotions planned throughout the Fall River Diocese during the month to honor our Blessed Mother.

Since October 1975, the Fall River Diocese has annually held a peace procession and Mass during the second Monday of the month — which is designated as the month of the Holy Rosary. The 37th annual event will once again take place on the Monday of Co-

lumbus Day weekend, October 8, with parish groups and participants congregating in the schoolyard opposite St. Mary’s Cathedral on the corner of Rodman and Second streets in Fall River.

Beginning at 6 p.m., the candlelight procession will proceed along a halfmile route from St. Mary’s Cathedral to St. Anne’s Church, where the Rosary will be recited and a Mass honoring the Blessed Mother will be celebrated.

The procession and Mass were first held to commemorate the 58th anniversary of Our Lady’s appearance at Fatima and to pray for peace in Portugal.

The inaugural procession began at St. Mary’s Cathedral and ended at Kennedy Park where an estimated 30,000 Turn to page 14

St. André to ‘return’ to Fall River Diocese

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

EASTON — He was a simple man of great faith, and became known as the Miracle Worker of Montreal. But Frère André Bessette of the Congregation of Holy Cross, the doorkeeper at St. Joseph Oratory in Montreal wouldn’t hear of that. “In fact he would get annoyed with people who came to him for healing,” said Holy Cross Father Leo Polselli, chaplain of Holy Cross Family Ministries in Easton. He passionately let others know it was not he performing the miracles. “He would tell them to go to St. Joseph for his intercession.”

Frère André Bessette, the little man with the big heart was made a saint by Pope Benedict XVI on Oct. 17, 2010, the first member of the Congregation of Holy Cross to be canonized. Many members of the congregation, including some from

Holy Cross Family Ministries in Easton, were in St. Peter’s Square for the joyous occasion.

Now the humble man who implored others to seek St. Joseph’s intercession is interceding on behalf of Catholic faithful worldwide.

St. André occasionally traveled from his home in Montreal to the Fall River and New Bedford area to visit relatives, some of whom are still here.

As part of Holy Cross Family Ministries yearlong program celebrating the 70th anniversary of its founding by Servant of God Holy Cross Father Patrick Peyton, the Rosary Priest, a special twoday healing Mass and blessing with a relic of St. André will take place at the St. Joseph Chapel at the Father Peyton Center, 500 Washington Street in Easton on October 6 and 7.

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André’s place — St. Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal in Montreal attracts pilgrims from around the world. It was founded

by St. André Bessette, inset, who was canonized in 2010. (CNS photo/courtesy of St. Joseph’s Oratory)

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News From the Vatican

September 28, 2012

New head of doctrinal congregation says abuse victims are first concern

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The senior Vatican official with authority for investigating priests accused of sexual abuse said that, in such cases, “always and everywhere the most important concern is for those who have been the victims of this terrible abuse.”

Archbishop Gerhard L. Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said the congregation also has an obligation to ensure that the process of justice does not “become a lynching.”

The archbishop, who was appointed to his office in July, spoke about the doctrinal congregation and its work in an interview with the German service of Vatican Radio. The broadcaster’s English and Italian programs recently published translated excerpts of the interview.

The German archbishop said he believes he was appointed to the job because he is a theologian and, as a theologian, he will “try to understand what is ailing the Church today. In many countries there is a strong polarization: traditionalists against progressives or whatever you would call them.”

A key task of the Church, he said, is overcoming those divisions based on a strong common faith in Christ.

“We are not a community of people aligned to a party program, or a community of scientific re-

search; our unity is a gift given to us. We believe in the one Church united in Christ. And if you believe in Christ, really believe — not manipulating the teachings of the Church, or singling out individual points to support your own personal ideology, but rather unconditionally entrusting yourself to Christ — then the unity of the Church is also important,” he said.

Archbishop Muller also was asked about inheriting cases, studies and projects the congregation had begun under his predecessor, U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada, including the congregation-ordered revision of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the largest organization of superiors of women’s orders in the United States.

The archbishop would say only that he already knew something about that and other issues before the congregation because he had been a member of the congregation for the past five years while serving as archbishop of Regensburg, Germany. However, he admitted, “I do not have the luxury of taking my time to get acquainted with these issues.”

At the same time, he said, “it is not a completely new start for me” since “as a bishop you find yourself having to tackle these issues,” and many of them also have been longterm theological concerns of his.

Key participants for New Evangelization synod announced

Vatican City (CNA/EWTN News) — Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles and 34 other clergymen were recently announced by the Vatican as synod fathers for the upcoming assembly of bishops on the New Evangelization.

The synod fathers include Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the college of cardinals; Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna; Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham, England; Bishop Dominique Rey of Frejus-Toulon, France; and Father Julian Carron of the Communion and Liberation movement.

Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles is the only American among the 35 synod fathers, who are tasked with guiding the discussions of the assembly’s meetings — However, among the designated “experts” who will participate in the Synod are some other U.S. citizens: Sister Sara Butler M.S.B.T., a professor from St. Mary of the Lake University in Mundelein (Chicago), and a member of the International Theological Commission; Father Jeremy Driscoll, O.S.B., a professor at Rome’s St. Anselm Pontifical Athenaeum, and professor of Liturgy at the Mount Angel Seminary in St. Benedict, Ore.; layman Ralph Martin, the director of

graduate theological programs in the New Evangelization at the Sacred Heart Seminary of Detroit; his fellow faculty member and layman Edward Peters, professor of canon law; and Sister Paula Jean Miller F.S.E., a professor from the University of St. Thomas in Houston.

One other Sister and three other lay people from the U.S. will serve as auditors at the synod.

The synod is due to take place October 7-28, and its presidents delegate are Cardinals John Tong Hon of Hong Kong, Francisco Ortega of Guadalajara, and Laurent Pasinya of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It will bring bishops to Rome from the whole world to discuss the New Evangelization, which is aimed at reintroducing the Catholic faith in lands where it was previously present.

The gathering will be guided by a working document, issued June 19, which is the result of consultation with the worldwide Church for more than a year.

According to that document, the New Evangelization must provide “an adequate response to the signs of the times, to the needs of individuals and people of today and to the new sectors with their cultures through which we express our identity and the meaning of our lives.”

square meal — Nuns with the Belgium based Fraternite de Tiberiade eat lunch in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican recently. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Pope appreciated chance to comfort his children, renew call for dialogue

Vatican City (CNA/EWTN News) — In keeping with tradition, Pope Benedict XVI spent a recent general audience reflecting on his recent apostolic trip to Lebanon, calling it an opportunity for dialogue and an opportunity for solidarity with those in “difficult circumstances.”

“It was,” he said in Paul VI Hall, “a journey I was very keen to make despite the difficult circumstances, because a father must always remain alongside his children when they face serious problems. I was moved by the desire to announce the peace which the risen Lord left to His disciples in the words: ‘My peace I give to you.’”

“During my visit, the people of Lebanon and the Middle East were able to enjoy an important experience of mutual respect, understanding and fraternity, which constitutes a powerful sign of hope for all humankind,” the pope added.

The trip was important for his chance to be present to Catholics as his spiritual children, but also to meet with Christians of other traditions and Muslims living in the region.

“It was a poignant ecclesial event and, at the same time, an opportunity for dialogue in a country which is complex but emblematic for the region, thanks to the tradition of cohabitation and diligent collaboration between its various religious and social components,” he said.

Pope Benedict did not neglect to mention the ongoing conflict in neighboring Syria and to appeal for peace in the nation and the region at large. The Syrian uprising has led to some 20,000 deaths and at least 200,000 refugees, and has caused spill-over violence in Lebanon.

The pope said he appreciated the fact that thousands of Lebanese Catholics came to see him despite the trying circumstances, and he praised those who live a life of “faith and witness” in their country.

“I was able to see directly how

the Lebanese Catholic communities … offer an important and highly appreciated contribution to the daily life of all the country’s inhabitants,” he recalled.

His trip was the occasion for delivering the post-synodal apostolic exhortation “Ecclesia in Medio Oriente” (On the Church in the Middle East), which was signed at the Melkite Basilica of St. Paul in Harissa. The document was meant to support Catholics of the region in “their faith and communion” and in the New Evangelization.

“I invited Middle Eastern Catholics to fix their gaze on the crucified Christ in order to find, even at times of difficulty and suffering, the strength to celebrate the victory of love over hatred, of forgiveness over revenge, of unity over division,” he said of the document.

Middle Eastern Catholics, the pope noted, have the “good fortune to live in that part of the world where Jesus was crucified and rose for our salvation, and where Christianity developed,” and exhorted them to “love for their land, despite the difficulties caused by lack of stability and security.”

He was pleased to see young Christians and Muslims celebrate together and encouraged them to “harmony and reconciliation.”

He said, “I am sure that the people of Lebanon, in its varied but

The Anchor www.anchornews.org

well blended religious and social make-up, will know how to witness with renewed impetus to the true peace that comes from faith in God.” “I hope that the messages of peace and respect that I sought to give, will help the governments of the region to take decisive steps towards peace and a better understanding of the relationship between Christians and Muslims.”

He thanked the Muslim community for welcoming him with “great respect and sincere consideration.”

“Their constant affable presence gave me the opportunity to launch a message of dialogue and collaboration between Christianity and Islam. I believe the time has come to bear sincere and definitive witness together against division, violence and war,” he stated.

Pope Benedict also spent time urging government leaders to dialogue and create a sense of fraternity and solidarity based on the dignity of the human person.

The pope made the three-day trip September 14-16 at the invitation of the country’s prime minister Najib Mikati last November.

Pope Benedict concluded his reflections on the visit by saying that the “days spent in Lebanon were a wonderful manifestation of faith and religious feeling and a prophetic sign of peace.”

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September 28, 2012

The International Church

Bosnia’s Catholic leaders say real dialogue impeded by injustices

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) — Catholic leaders in BosniaHerzegovina said real ethnic and religious dialogue is not occurring and not all religions have equal rights.

“Real dialogue” is being impeded by “legalized war crimes and injustices,” as well as by failure to implement the peace accord that ended the country’s 1992-95 war, said Msgr. Ivo Tomasevic, secretary-general of Bosnian bishops’ conference.

Msgr. Tomasevic welcomed a September interfaith peace appeal, issued in Sarajevo after an international peace meeting sponsored by the Rome-based Sant’Egidio Community gathered 2,000 Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist and Hindu representatives.

However, in a recent interview with Catholic News Service, he said the country still lacks a firm foundation for religious and ethnic coexistence.

“Peace is firstly a gift from God, so it’s important all faiths and confessions pray for it together,” he said. “But we also need to work for peace, at a time when our Catholic population has almost halved and the Catholic presence in Sarajevo is dwindling year by year.”

Msgr. Tomasevic said participants had expressed a wish to create a zone of peace in BosniaHerzegovina, where more than 100,000 people died in the war.

Earlier, the president of the Bosnian bishops’ conference told the Croatian daily Vecernji List that he had questioned claims at the meeting that his country offered an example of religious and ethnic reconciliation.

“In no other European country has the plight of Catholics been as dramatic as here — at least half have left, and those who remain have problems finding a roof over their heads, food, jobs and conditions for life,” Bosnian Bishop Franjo Komarica of Banja Luka said in the published interview.

“I pointed this out many times during the meeting and was warned participants knew

nothing about these things,” he added. “I accepted this, although I don’t know whether people are uninformed, or rather uninterested.”

Bosnian newspapers said Bosnia’s Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric had rejected complaints by Catholic and Orthodox leaders at the meeting that growing Muslim domination had left Christians with no future in Sarajevo.

A statement issued by participants at the end of the meeting said Bosnia was a reminder of hostilities caused by religious and ethnic differences, but also of the “grace of dialogue” and of “how to build the future.”

“Religious and national communities in Sarajevo remind us war is a great evil and leaves a poisoned legacy,” the statement said. “Although we are different, we unanimously believe different people can live together fruitfully anywhere in the world.

This is possible in Sarajevo and elsewhere — we must prepare responsibly for the future.”

Catholics made up 18 percent of the 4.3 million citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina, with Muslims and Orthodox Serbs constituting 44 percent and 35 percent, respectively, before the war, which ended with the formation of separate Serb and Croat-Muslim territories in a united country.

Msgr. Tomasevic told CNS that religious leaders could not make the political decisions needed to create firmer foundations for peace, adding that he feared the meeting’s final statement could be misused by local politicians.

“The peace meeting was all very well, but we still need a more-just society where the three constituent peoples will have equal rights,” Msgr. Tomasevic said.

“It’s important we shape consciences so people will be open to dialogue and tolerant of differences. But injustices are occurring not just at the level of power, but in ordinary life as well,” he said. “Until a better foundation is created, our personal goodness will not be enough.”

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

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The Church in the U.S.

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September 28, 2012

U.S. bishops launch Spanish Facebook page as Hispanic community grows

Washington D.C. (CNA/ The Facebook page’s launch EWTN News) — As new statis- corresponds with National Histics show the accelerated growth panic Heritage Month, which of the Hispanic population in runs September 15 - October 15. many areas of the country, the The U.S. bishops’ Secretariat U.S. bishops’ conference has for Cultural Diversity recently launched a Spanish-language released new statistics on the Facebook page. growth of Hispanic populations Bishop John C. Wester of Salt in dioceses throughout the counLake City, who heads the U.S. try. bishops’ communications comThese statistics indicate that mittee, explained that “Hispanics one in four counties have doubled make up 16 percent of the total their Hispanic population since U.S. population, almost 40 per- 2000, and there are now more cent of U.S. Catholics, and 50 than 10 million Hispanic family percent of U.S. Catholics under households in the U.S. age 25.”

Among he new Spanish- younger genera“It is critically important to language Face- tions, the Hisengage this depopulation book page will seek to panic mographic, esis particularly pecially through reach out more effective- prominent, makthe expanding ly to Hispanic Catholics. ing up more than field of social It features news stories half of U.S. adult media, and proborn from within the bish- Catholics vide them with after 1982. accurate, qual- ops’ conference and the According to ity information broader Catholic world, the 2010 U.S. that encourages as well as quotes from Census, states them to grow in Alasaints and information on including their faith,” he bama, Kentucky, faith-building resources. M i s s i s s i p p i , said.

The U.S. North and South Conference of Carolina and Catholic Bishops has operated an Tennessee have seen more than English-language Facebook page 100 percent growth in Hispanic for about three years, reaching presence over the last 10 years. more than 40,000 people.

By 2050, the Census Bureau The bishops’ conference is predicted, 30 percent of the total also active on Twitter in Spanish U.S. population will be Hispanic. and English.

Bishop Jaime Soto of SacraThe new Spanish-language mento, chairman of the U.S. bishFacebook page will seek to reach ops’ cultural diversity committee, out more effectively to Hispanic addressed the Hispanic commuCatholics. It features news stories nity in a Spanish video message from within the bishops’ confer- on the new Facebook page. ence and the broader Catholic The bishops “are grateful for world, as well as quotes from the rich contributions of culture saints and information on faith- and faith that Hispanics bring to building resources. this country and to our Catholic Also posted on the social me- Church,” he said. He welcomed dia page are pictures and informa- the Hispanic community to use the tion about Mother Teresa’s mis- new page to “communicate and sionary work in Latin America. dialogue with us.”

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california dreamin’ — Bishop Kevin W. Vann of Fort Worth, Texas, wearing a Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim baseball cap, smiles after receiving a pair of Oakley sunglass from Bishop Tod D. Brown of Orange, Calif., during a recent press conference in Orange. That day Pope Benedict XVI named Bishop Vann to be bishop of Orange and accepted the resignation of Bishop Brown, 75.

(CNS photo/Tim Rue)

Catholics encouraged to participate in Year of Faith through Sacraments, prayer

Washington D.C. (CNA/ EWTN News) — The leader of the U.S. bishops’ evangelization committee has offered suggestions on ways for the faithful to take part in the upcoming Year of Faith through sacramental participation, prayer and action.

The Year of Faith offers an opportunity for “a renewal of faith and evangelization for the whole Church,” said Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay, Wis., who chairs the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis.

On September 24, Bishop Ricken issued recommendations on ways for Catholics to live the Year of Faith, which begins on October 11 and runs through Nov. 24, 2013.

Announced by Pope Benedict XVI in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council and the 20th anniversary of the “Catechism of the Catholic Church,” the upcoming year is intended to “strengthen the faith of Catholics and draw the world to faith by their example.”

Among Bishop Ricken’s suggestions — which were founded upon the guidelines issued by Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – was regular participation in the Mass.

“The Year of Faith is meant to promote the personal encounter with Jesus,” he said.

“This occurs most immediately in the Eucharist.”

He explained that regular Mass attendance can strengthen

one’s faith “through the Scriptures, the Creed, other prayers, sacred music, the homily, receiving Communion and being part of a faith community.”

In addition to simply attending Mass themselves, the faithful can also invite their friends to Mass, the bishop added, explaining that although the Year of Faith has a global focus, “real change occurs at the local level.”

“A personal invitation can make all the difference to someone who has drifted from the faith or feels alienated from the Church,” he said.

Furthermore, the Sacrament of Reconciliation can play an important role in spiritual growth, Bishop Ricken added.

“Confession urges people to turn back to God, express sorrow for falling short and open their lives to the power of God’s healing grace,” he said.

“It forgives the injuries of the past and provides strength for the future.”

The bishop also encouraged Catholics to learn about the saints, whose witness offers us hope and teaches us how to live as Christians. These holy men and women were sinners who continually strove to grow in their relationship with God, he said, and they give us an example of service through ministry, charity, prayer and everyday life.

Bishop Ricken encouraged Catholics to read the Bible every day during the Year of Faith in order to “become more attuned to the Word of God” and

to study the “Catechism” to deepen their understanding of the Church’s “beliefs, moral teachings, prayer and Sacraments.”

He also recommended reading the documents of the Second Vatican Council, which “ushered in a great renewal of the Church.”

The council affected the celebration of the Mass, the laity’s role and the Church’s understanding of itself and those of other faiths, he said, adding that Catholics must understand the council in order to “continue this renewal.”

In addition to prayer and study, the bishop emphasized, the foundational Church teachings “must translate into action.”

He suggested participation at the parish level, in roles such as lector, liturgical musician or catechist, to contribute to the community. He also recommended donations to charity and volunteering to aid those in need.

“This means to personally encounter Christ in the poor, marginalized and vulnerable,” he explained. “Helping others brings Catholics face-to-face with Christ and creates an example for the rest of the world.”

Finally, Bishop Ricken encouraged Catholics to work in their daily lives to adhere to the Beatitudes, which offer an example of virtue and “a rich blueprint for Christian living.”

“It’s precisely the example of lived faith needed to draw people to the Church in the year ahead,” he said.

The Church in the U.S. Palliative care fits Catholic health mission, but too few aware of it

September 28, 2012

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The National Palliative Care Research Center estimates that 90 million Americans are living with serious or life-threatening illnesses and the number is expected to double over the next 25 years.

People nearing the end of life and their families often are confused about the options available to them in terms of pain control and about whether they have an obligation to use all of the lifeprolonging technology available to them. These discussions are particularly lively among Catholics and in the West Coast states where physician-assisted suicide is a legal option.

In Washington, the latest state to legalize assisted suicide, Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane offers an alternative way of dying. It provides “comfort care suites” that allow family members to stay with their dying relative in a homelike environment.

Music thanatologists specially trained to soothe the seriously ill with their voices or the playing of harps are on staff. Health care professionals participate in education programs on palliative medicine and the ethical, moral and legal issues involved in end-of-life care. A meditation garden outside the hospital is

open 24 hours a day and gives in Pittsburgh. On average, his tion is made up of 22 Catholic family members and patients patients come in three weeks health care member organizawho are well enough an oppor- before their deaths, when they tions, with more than 450 hospitunity to experience a peaceful could have been receiving pain tals, nearly 300 long-term care area of waterfalls, streams and management, symptom con- facilities and numerous clinics, walking paths. trol and comfort care for many home health care services and Hospices providing palliative At TrinityKids Care, a pedi- months. atric Hospice program in TorTina Picchi, executive direc- care in 43 states.

“Our goal is to ensure that rance, Calif., teams made up of tor of the Supportive Care Coalievery Catholic health a pediatrician, a regishas palliative tered nurse, a clinical alliative care really in a ministry care as a part of its core social worker, a chapsense is a return to those days services — so that we lain, a home health aide and specially- when we didn’t have the technology to are known as much for trained volunteers try to cure patients and were limited to palliative care as for our for the poor and help dying children providing relief of symptoms and com- concern vulnerable,” it says on and their families make the most of panionship,” he said. “We are so tech- the organization’s webtheir last days, wheth- nologically driven today that it is diffi- site.

The coalition was er at home or in a cult to step back from the technological founded by three Cathohospital or nursing imperative and see that there is another lic health systems in 1994 home setting. Anything from household way to deal with those who are critically because, Picchi says, palliative care is a natural chores to looking af- ill and dying.” extension of the work of ter siblings can be Catholic health care. part of the Hospice “At our very roots we have program, and the team also of- tion in Hillsboro, Ore., believes fers family counseling and grief that a big part of the problem a very strong belief that life is and bereavement services when comes from the mispercep- sacred, every person is truly needed. tion that “palliative care equals a treasure,” she said. “From These kinds of programs Hospice and is only for the end the very beginning of Catholic health care, this is the kind are duplicated throughout the stages of life.” country, but too few people Palliative care “is appropri- of health care that the religious know about them when the time ate for anyone living with a se- sponsors modeled.

“The first thing that they did comes for them to use them. rious illness, regardless of the “Most palliative care patients prognosis,” she said. “It does was to go out to the homes of come in late,” said Dr. Scott not require people to limit their people who were dying and Miller, team physician at the treatment options or to give up.” provide very whole-person care Center for Compassionate Care The Supportive Care Coali- — physical, spiritual and emotional,” Picchi said. “Palliative care is not just focused on the whole person, but the whole in is “preceding the Gospel” in the — such as instructing the igno- terms of they and their loved work of evangelization. rant and comforting the afflicted ones together as a family unit.

Cardinal Arinze said that — are charity of a “higher or- It really ought to be something that Catholic health care is takevangelization, announcing der.” the Good News of salvation in “Those who share the truths ing a lead in.”

Ron Hamel, senior director Christ to every human person, is of our Catholic faith … these the reason the Church exists. are exercising charity of a very of ethics at the Catholic Health Quoting Paul VI’s apostolic high degree. May God bless Association in St. Louis, says exhortation “Evangelii nunti- those who share the bread of the palliative care might provide a welcome relief to a health care andi,” he said, “Evangelizing Gospel.” is in fact the grace and vocation Cardinal Arinze also insisted approach that has become too proper to the Church, her deep- that faith must be expressed in est identity. She exists in order works. He said that attending to evangelize.”

Latin High Mass isn’t enough And when it comes to defin- when the poor are cold and ing charity, the cardinal said it hungry, and that Mother Teresa is preaching the truth. Christ didn’t give fundamental theolforgave sins, restoring people to ogy lectures.

God’s peace and the truth “even The cardinal was president of before healing their bodily ail- the Pontifical Council for Interments,” he noted. religious Dialogue for 18 years, Yet the poor were always at and was asked about charity the forefront of Jesus’ consid- and other religions. He said he eration in His ministry. When “encouraged collaboration” beHe sent His disciples on their tween Christians and those of “trial run evangelizing tour,” other faiths in charitable works Jesus told them to pay attention because there “isn’t Christian to those who needed healing, corruption or Muslim drought.” external and internal, body and Cardinal Arinze finished his soul. talk by reiterating the necesCardinal Arinze reminded the sity of faith expressing itself in audience that charity to the poor charitable works. The Blessed is not merely caring for bodily Virgin “knew it wasn’t enough necessities. “Spiritual needs just to conceive” Jesus — she have priority” he said, adding immediately went to visit Elizathat the spiritual works of mercy beth, he recalled.

“P

Cardinal Arinze says evangelization needs acts of charity

Denver, Colo. (CNA/ EWTN News) — Cardinal Francis Arinze recently said that evangelization is at the center of the Church’s mission and that acts of charity are an indispensable part of this effort.

“If the Church did not evangelize, it would end up in the Vatican Museum,” he told the audience.

The cardinal delivered his remarks to a standing room-only crowd at Bonfils Hall on the grounds of the John Paul II Center for the New Evangelization in Denver, Colo. The talk was part of the Archbishop’s Lecture Series, a Denver tradition instituted by its former archbishop, Charles J. Chaput, now of Philadelphia.

Cardinal Arinze is originally from Nigeria, and served as head of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship from 2002 to 2008.

The cardinal explained to CNA that his message for the talk was that charity is essential for evangelization because “charity is the mother of all the virtues. Without charity all the others fall away.”

Charity, he added, “orders all the others” (virtues) and that it

5

focused on what technology can do than on what a patient needs.

“Palliative care really in a sense is a return to those days when we didn’t have the technology to try to cure patients and were limited to providing relief of symptoms and companionship,” he said. “We are so technologically driven today that it is difficult to step back from the technological imperative and see that there is another way to deal with those who are critically ill and dying.”

He places some blame on the way physicians are educated, but also believes that many patients have “an inability to deal with their own finitude” and would benefit from a “more positive statement about dying within a Christian context” from Church leaders, followed by a parish-based educational effort.

Hamel also blames “both the extreme right and the extreme left” for “fostering misunderstanding about Church teaching and tradition” about the end of life.

In contrast to the position that a patient must be kept alive “at all costs,” he said, “at the heart of the Catholic approach is to neither hasten death nor prolong life endlessly.” Patients and their loved ones must weigh the benefits and burdens of a particular treatment and are not morally required to continue treatment that is “excessively burdensome or without benefit,” he added.

In some ways, Hamel said, palliative care is “nothing new.”

“It’s a return to the kind of care that was provided to the critically ill prior to all this technology,” he said. “It’s a return to our roots in the life and teaching of Jesus and in the early Christian community, which was marked by its care for the sick.”

6

The Anchor Promoting life and freedom

“The Church shouldn’t be talking about politics.” We have all heard this line before.

“I don’t come to Mass to hear about politics,” is another frequent complaint, especially at this time of year. And yet the Church is made up of human beings, who (if they are citizens of voting age) have a right and a duty to vote.

In their document Faithful Citizenship, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops addresses this issue. “Some question whether it is appropriate for the Church to play a role in political life. However, the obligation to teach about moral values that should shape our lives, including our public lives, is central to the mission given to the Church by Jesus Christ. Moreover, the United States Constitution protects the right of individual believers and religious bodies to participate and speak out without government interference, favoritism, or discrimination. Civil law should fully recognize and protect the Church’s right, obligation, and opportunities to participate in society without being forced to abandon or ignore its central moral convictions. Our nation’s tradition of pluralism is enhanced, not threatened, when religious groups and people of faith bring their convictions and concerns into public life. Indeed, our Church’s teaching is in accord with the foundational values that have shaped our nation’s history: ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’”

On page two of this edition of The Anchor we read about Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Lebanon. As he said, it was the gesture of a father being with his spiritual children, especially in a moment of crisis, as the civil war in neighboring Syria begins to affect the precarious peace of the land of the Cedars. However, as the leader of the world’s largest Christian religion and as the temporal leader of the Vatican City State (which is represented in the United Nations as the Holy See — in other words, as the See [or diocese] of St. Peter), his visit also had a political dimension. The pope’s presence reaffirmed our political goals of working for peace and justice in the war in Syria and of working to maintain the respectful balance of power amongst Christians, Shiites, Sunnis and Druse in Lebanon.

On page three we read about another Christian/Moslem balancing act, this one going on in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Christians (especially Catholics, since we are the vast majority of non-Orthodox Christians in that land) need to be involved in the political system so as to defend our rights in that land which was scarred by civil wars which pitted Bosnian Moslems and Catholic Croats against Serbian Orthodox (these Serbs were often “Orthodox” just in name — in reality they were former atheistic Communists). If Catholics in that land do not work together in the political system, they will be further and further pushed out of the society.

We have not arrived at that point yet in the United States. However, at present the Catholic Church is facing a challenge to the rights that it has from the First Amendment to the United States Constitution (and from God Himself) to exercise its religion freely. With the regulations from the federal Department of Health and Human Services requiring religious employers to pay for abortifacients and sterilizations, the present administration has chosen to begin to take away from the Catholic Church (and from other religions or religious people) the right to have this freedom which the founders of our country deemed to be fundamental. The fact that the diocesan newspaper and pastors from their pulpits or in their bulletins bring this up does not mean that they want to “play politics.” This is a matter of defending the Catholic Church’s freedom before it is too late.

Meanwhile, the Church continues to advocate for the defense of human life, from conception until natural death. As you can read in the responses to the letters to the editor, the United States Bishops Conference has reminded us that certain issues are nonnegotiable, especially those pertaining to the direct assaults on human life via abortion and euthanasia.

In November we will have the opportunity to manifest our defense of human life by voting against Question 2, which would legalize physician-assisted suicide. We do not have to rewrite in this editorial the helpful information you can read in today’s paper against this proposed law. Please speak with your friends and relatives about the threat this measure brings to our society. If it gets through, another gaping hole in the wall against the culture of death will have opened up in this state, thus opening a beachhead here on the East Coast.

We will also be voting for office holders, from the president down to local representatives to the state legislature. We need to consider the policies of these candidates. Will they further the promotion of the destruction of human life via abortion and euthanasia?

Will they protect the freedom of religion cherished since the foundation of this country or will they fight it, thinking that they are promoting a more important value (i.e., free contraception)?

Some people say that by arguing in this fashion, the Catholic Church is promoting one political party over the other. That is not true. We are promoting the right to life and the right to religious freedom over the value of any political party’s advancement. It is not the fault of the Catholic Church that many politicians from one party have embraced these policies (although it is our fault that we have not done a good job of catechesis. This failure is one of the reasons why some many Catholics think that it is OK to promote a culture of death from the left, while other Catholics from the right think that “social justice” is just some communist scheme).

We work to promote our policies with people of all political parties — and we also work on many other issues of social justice with candidates for whom we voted and against whom we voted. Our advocacy does not end on November 6 — and neither should the advocacy of any member of the Catholic Church, since we all are the Church.

We all are called upon to work for a land of true freedom, where all can encounter life, liberty and the pursuit of true happiness.

T

September 28, 2012

Humor and joy in the New Evangelization

wo weeks ago, Fordham University of the Exaltation of the Cross, he elaborated: brought together three very funny Cath“When Jesus suffered and died on the olics for a conversation on humor and joy in the cross on that hill called Calvary, on that spiritual life: Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New Friday strangely called ‘Good,’ literally, the York, who is wittiest priest I’ve ever known; ‘lights went out’ as even the sun hid in shame.

Stephen Colbert, the hilarious host of the ComLiterally, the earth sobbed with convulsions of edy Channel’s “The Colbert Report,” last of 11 sorrow as an earthquake occurred. Jesus, pure kids in a Catholic family, married father of three goodness, seemed bullied to death by undiluted and CCD teacher in his New Jersey parish; and evil; love, jackbooted by hate; mercy incarnate, Father James Martin, the jocular Jesuit author of smothered by revenge; life itself, crushed by many books including, “Between Heaven and death. It seemed we could never smile again.

Mirth: Why Joy, Humor and Laughter Are at But, then came the Sunday called Easter!. the Heart of the Spiritual Life.”

Guess Who had the last word? God! He who They were joined by 3,000 enthusiastic laughs last, laughs best, and we believers have Fordham students, who had camped out all never stopped smiling since that Resurrection of night in order to obtain tickets for the event.

Jesus from the dead! Good Friday did not have When word of the “Catholic Comedy Night” the last word … Easter did! That’s why I can first came out, there was talk that the night laugh.” would be broadcast nationally, but those plans He went on to say that St. Paul in his letter to were eventually scrapped in favor of a media the Romans reminds us that if God didn’t even blackout, in response it seems to a request from spare His only Son, then “nothing can separate Colbert so that he could get out of the character us from the love of God” and “everything he plays on his program and speak comfortably works out for the good for those who love and candidly in witness to his faith. Several atGod.” That knowledge, emphasized the carditendees, however, began to tweet live the litany nal, should help us all to have hope, not despair, of one-liners faith instead and the New of doubt, love York Times and rather than spite, Associated Press light in place of both broke the darkness and life embargo and in preference ran very positive to death. “Lord articles. Cardinal knows there are

By Father Dolan and Faplenty of Good Roger J. Landry ther Martin also Fridays in our released the texts lives, but they of their prepared will not prevail. remarks. All Catholics should be happy that Easter will. That’s why a crabby, griping, whinat least some of what was discussed is able to ing believer is an oxymoron!” be shared, because the speakers focused on Father Martin pointed out that so many something very important in the Christian life of the saints have emulated Jesus’ sense of and crucial for the New Evangelization: humor humor and lived with the joy flowing from the and joy. knowledge of Easter’s punch line to the sadness In his introductory talk, Father Martin of Good Friday. He mentioned the many saints described how in the Book of Genesis, God who have become famous for their humor: St. Himself showed His own sense of humor in Lawrence Martyr, St. Augustine, St. Teresa of the miraculous conception of a son when Sarah Avila, St. Philip Neri, and Blessed John XXIII. was 99. Abraham and Sarah both laughed at the “The saints,” he said, “knew that there were prospect and nine months later named their son some good reasons for humor. Humor serves Isaac, which means, “He laughs.” In the beginserious purposes in the spiritual life. Joyful ning of revelation, Father Martin continued, humor can evangelize, and draw people to God. “there was a laugh.”

Self-deprecating humor reminds us of our own He went on to describe Jesus’ humor. Much humility. Provocative humor can also gently of it, he noted, is lost in cultural translation, but speak truth to power. Humor and laughter are Jesus’ dialogue with Nathaniel, His giving John essential in the spiritual life.” and James the nickname “Sons of Thunder” As we prepare for the Year of Faith and seek after they tried to call down fire to destroy an to fulfill Christ’s mission to re-evangelize those inhospitable Samaritan town, His parables about who have found the Gospel boring, lifeless and building houses on sand, about fathers’ giving unattractive, it is important for all Catholics sons stones to eat, and about people with logs in to ponder the mystery of Christian joy. Christ their eyes, all would have been, Father Martin came so that His joy might be in us and our joy said, “laugh-out-loud funny to His listeners.” might be complete.

We also fail to appreciate Jesus’ humor, he The Angel Gabriel’s first word to Mary at continued, because we’re over-familiar with the the Annunciation was “rejoice!”

Gospel texts and, just as jokes often lose their St. Paul constantly urged the first Christians punch if we already know or can anticipate the through his letters to this same type of joy, punch line, so we know the Gospel images too calling us to “rejoice always” in “hope,” “in well to sense their comical irony. the truth,” “in obedience,” “in suffering,” “over But perhaps the most powerful reason we repentance,” “when weak,” “to be poured out fail to see Jesus’ jests, he added, is because the like a libation” and that “the Lord is near.”

Gospels themselves can sometimes seem, as Many Christians, however, don’t heed this biblical scholars say, Passion Accounts with command to Christian joy, perhaps because very long introductions. There’s such a focus they haven’t pondered and built their lives on Jesus’ being rejected by His own, by His deeply enough on God, on the personal prophecies of His own death, by His sufferings consequences of the Lord’s definitive triumph out of love for us, that too much of Jesus’ joyful over death and on the reality that the King of interactions with Mary and Joseph, with the Kings is our loving, providential Father. Instead Apostles, with Martha, Mary and Lazarus and so many Christians behave, as Father Martin others would seem impertinent. The Man of said in an interview, as the “humorless ‘frozen sorrows, rather than the Man of life-giving joy, chosen.’” is often privileged in Christian art, imagination At the end of the night, Father Martin said and evangelization. that Cardinal Dolan leaned over to him and conCardinal Dolan in his remarks, however, fided, reflecting on the night and on the theme, picked up on the last point and provocatively “This is the New Evangelization.” The Gospel said that the reason why Christians need to be really is “Good News,” news that is meant to joyful is not despite but precisely because of the lead us to smile, to laugh and to experience a cross. The deepest theological explanation for joy that lasts forever.

Christian joy and laughter is, paradoxically, the Father Landry is Pastor of St. Bernadette cross. With great rhetorical flourish on the feast Parish in Fall River.

Putting Into the Deep

O

n Election Day in November, in addition to electing a president, we the people of Massachusetts, or at least those of us who take the trouble to vote, will be deciding whether to legalize prescribing “medication” to end someone’s life. Question 2 is a ballot question, and I for one plan to vote “NO.” For one thing, I don’t like medications that are actually lethal. Without euphemism, we used to call them simply “poison.”

I think human life is inherently valuable, inviolable and unalienable. Even or especially when it becomes difficult or painful, as happens with illness and/or old age. I do not think it is the business of government or of individuals to be making the judgment that someone else’s life is not worth living, and consequently enabling third parties to help kill them.

Suicide is something I regard with horror, partly because a strain of mental illness runs in my family, so suicidal urges

7

The Anchor

September 28, 2012

You want me to do WHAT?

and thoughts are not something human freedom was unalienforeign to my experience. But I able, and therefore a person associate them with depression could never totally surrender and mental illness. their freedom through human While suicide is not technislavery. The same is true with cally illegal, assisted suicide life, another of our unalienable has always been illegal berights, in the words of the Deccause it helps kill someone. Consent, it should be noted, has never been a defense to the charge of homicide. The proposed law does not generally

By Dwight Duncan require a psychological evaluation of the people requesting the lethal drugs to assure that laration of Independence. they are in their right mind. So Of course, suicide is a much for the proposed “safechoice unlike other choices in guards”! that it closes off options, rather Our religious tradition has than opening them up. Hualways viewed suicide as man life and liberty are goods encompassed within the Comthat are also mysteries, not mandment “Thou shalt not problems to be solved. Obvikill.” But you don’t have to be ously, you can eliminate pain against assisted suicide for reand suffering by eliminating ligious reasons, any more than the sufferer. But that is targetabolitionists could only have ing the victim rather than the religious reasons to be against disease. slavery. Their view was that It seems infinitely preferable

Judge For Yourself

Catholic Campaign for Human Development now accepting pre-applications for 2012-13 funding cycle

FALL RIVER — The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) is the domestic anti-poverty program of the U.S. Catholic Bishops which works to address the root causes of poverty through promotion and support of communitycontrolled self-help organizations. At the same time, it has a complementary mission of educating on poverty and its causes.

CCHD works with Catholic dioceses to award grants to local, low-income community groups working to address the sources of poverty. Through community development and economic development grants, CCHD provides funding to groups whose activities reflect Catholic moral and social teaching on human life and dignity.

CCHD-funded groups work to change social structures and policies which undermine life and dignity, especially for the poor and powerless.

CCHD has announced that it is now accepting pre-applications for the 20132014 funding cycle.

Applicants will fall into one of two categories: current grantees eligible to be considered for another year of funding (identified as eligible refund grantees) or new applicants. CCHD has created a time line on its website to illustrate the funding cycle for applicants: www.usccb. org/about/catholic-campaign-for-humandevelopment/grants/cchd-grant-processand-timeline.cfm.

Current grantees eligible to be considered for another year of funding are not required to submit a pre-application. Instead, an interim report and refund application will be required later in the year.

During the week of October 15 refund

applicants will receive by email information from CCHD with the forms needed to complete the report and reapplication.

Please note that the full application due date for eligible refund grantees is December 1, 11:59 p.m. (EST). This is two weeks earlier than the deadline from previous years. No applications, whether complete or partially complete, will be considered after this date and time.

A new applicant is any organization that did not receive a national CCHD grant during the 2012-2013 funding cycle.

New applicants are required to complete a pre-application that will be reviewed to determine eligibility for further funding consideration. Potential applicants are strongly urged to carefully review and understand CCHD criteria and guidelines for the grant program to which they are applying.

The grants page within the CCHD website has links to the pre-applications. Please visit www.usccb.org/about/catholiccampaign-for-human-development/ grants/ and click the appropriate link for either “Community Development” or “Economic Development.” The preapplication must be completed and submitted online like the full application.

Pre-applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until November 1 and will be evaluated as they are received. Please note that the due date for submitting online full applications for new applicants who have successfully completed the pre-application is December 15 at 11:59 p.m. (EST).

Those who are not eligible to be considered for further funding will be notified immediately.

to treat the pain and suffering caused by terminal illnesses with compassion and palliative care. The easy solution of the poison pill, however attractive to insurance companies and healthcare institutions looking to cut costs and free up beds, merely undercuts the need of providing comfort care and adequate pain relief. In the words of the Committee Against PhysicianAssisted Suicide, “Massachusetts should improve access to quality health care for terminally ill patients, not access to suicide.”

The current law allows adequate pain relief for ill individuals, even if an unintended side effect is to depress respiration and heartbeat and thus inadvertently hasten death.

But what it doesn’t permit, and rightly so, is to deliberately intend to bring about a patient’s death in order to eliminate pain and suffering.

I’m against the death penalty in general, even for those found guilty of serious crimes beyond a reasonable doubt, so why should I be in favor of it being facilitated by private doctors on innocent, if suffering, individuals, even if they request it in a distraught state?

Indeed, the refusal to do so was part of the original Hippocratic Oath that expressed the ethical duties of physicians to heal and care rather than poison and kill.

What about the poor, the elderly, and the psychologically frail? Won’t they be subject to pressure to choose death rather than continued treatment? Once this becomes legal, of course, psychological pressure can be disguised as a way to get people to exercise their legal choice in the matter. Judge the matter for yourself.

Dwight Duncan is a professor at UMass School of Law Dartmouth. He holds degrees in civil and canon law.

Choose Life license plates ready to distribute funds

By Christine M. Williams Anchor Correspondent

BOSTON — After a nine-year journey, the Choose Life license plates reached their destination this summer. In August, the plates cruised past the goal of 3,000 on Massachusetts highways.

But Merry Nordeen, who championed the Choose Life license plates, does not have her eye on the rearview mirror. Her focus is on the road ahead. She and the Choose Life board members have nearly $100,000 to distribute to local crisis pregnancy centers.

That money had been saved up to replace the $100,000 bond, put up by an anonymous donor. The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles holds the bond until a total of 3,000 vanity plates are registered. Last month, the registry announced that Choose Life had 3,054 plates and that they would release the bond.

Over the past two years, the plates raised more than $170,000, and 3,000 plates will bring in $60,000 annually.

In the past, Choose Life has funded Massachusetts Citizens for Life’s Summer Academy for high school students and provided a matching grant for Boston’s Walk to Aid Mothers and Children, previously held every October.

The organization has also granted money to pregnancy resource centers and provided funds to their counselors and directors to attend training sessions.

“These centers, a lot of them, are in dire need of services, just basic services. But once they get the basic services, we can go into helping them hopefully go medical — getting the ultrasound machines, hiring the medical personnel that’s necessary for the sonogram machines. It just keeps going from there. The work is by no means done,” Nordeen said.

Joanne Everson, executive director of Your Life Matters Pregnancy Health Center in Southbridge, told The Anchor that Choose Life helped keep the center’s doors open with a grant last December. In the middle of a move to a new location, the center encountered some unexpected expenses.

“I was sitting in my office one day, thinking, ‘This is the day Joanne closed Your Life Pregnancy Center,’ and I felt God nudging me to call Choose Life,” she said. Choose Life responded with a grant.

Everson added, “It’s just money, but you need to have it. It’s vital. You can’t do ministry without it, and to be able to have someone that I can turn to and say, ‘Oh help, please.’ And to be able to bless us that way was such a fantastic, unexpected and awesome blessing.”

Choose Life also funded Everson’s trip to a conference in Los Angeles last spring and training for the center’s volunteers.

Melissa Flynn, a former direcTurn to page 14

8

I

n this week’s Scripture readings, Moses wishes for God’s gifts to be distributed as widely as possible. Moses is not concerned that his own prestige may be lost, he is hoping more of his people will receive God’s gift. We see James addressing those who have an abundance of material goods, warning them not to value wealth over human beings. James condemns those who tread on the poor. It is one thing to have wealth but it is what one does with his wealth that matters.

The Bible speaks on social justice. It does not condemn wealth but insists on wealth’s responsibility to the poor. Jesus warns His closest disciples about complaining who is the best when they see others who do not belong to their group driving out demons. Jesus’ reply is swift, “Do not prevent them. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in My name who can at the same time speak ill of Me.” How little they have comprehended over these last few years. They may be called disciples, however, they still have much to learn. Last week they were arguing over which of them was the greatest. They truly believe they are the top dogs. They feel they are the only ones who can do Jesus’ works.

Where has Jesus’ teachings gone regarding picking up your cross, serving the people, and being the least? They continually

September 28, 2012

The Anchor

Coming together to do God’s work

question Jesus just as much as Wednesday and Sunday. We also we do. We have a lot in common provide six weekend retreats a with these men. We have been year; three for the men and three subjected to similar weaknesses. for the women.

Like us, they have the same Chaplain Dave has always human tendencies to think about been very helpful in assisting their own needs and desires more us to put these retreats together. than the needs of others.

Being the chaplain at the Barnstable House of Homily of the Week Correction is a wonderful Twenty-sixth Sunday ministry and I work with different faiths. Chapin Ordinary Time lain Robbins is a Baptist

By Deacon minister and is a full-time Daniel M. Donovan chaplain at the jail. We do not criticize other faiths but strive to bring the Word of God to the incarcerated Again, it’s these other groups men and women. We come as coming together, not apart, to do one leading the lost sheep who God’s work. The Good News want to come to Christ to find His is for all of us. Jesus is always unconditional love. ready to welcome us back, no The Catholic prison ministry matter where we have been or is called Residents Encounter what our circumstances are. Jesus Christ. REC was started by Deahas broken the bond of sin and con Dick Murphy and Deacon death so we are all called to share Joe Stanley. The volunteers of in the gifts of His Spirit.

REC are the team members.

St. Paul writes about the fruits The team consists roughly of 50 of the Spirit, “But the Spirit proCatholic men and women from duces love, joy, peace, patience, the Cape Cod area. Most of the kindness, goodness, faithfulness, team has been together more humility, and self control. There than 15 years. The jail ministry is no law against such things as is not about the volunteers, it’s these” (Gal 5:22-23). These fruits about a group of people workare those wonderful characterising together, bringing different tics that grow in us as God works gifts and answering God’s call to in our lives. We do our best to use these gifts in the jail minisbring these same gifts to those try. We hold meetings in jail on in jail.

Monday and Tuesday nights. We I believe there are many have Communion services every roads by which Christ carries

us to Heaven. People can get to the same destination by starting out in a different spot. Our REC follows a similar retreat called Cursillo, a short course in Christianity. We share our Catholic faith with these men and women residents. We show how the Sacraments have helped us grow in Christ.

However, we respect their faiths at the same time.

We do our best so that no one leaves the jail without somewhere to go. Finding halfway homes for the residents is difficult, but with God’s help it gets done. We also hope and pray that they will never come back to this institution. This, however, is not always the case.

Many of the men and women need a breakthrough. They are stuck, or trapped in a destructive pattern of addiction or abuse, and many are inclined to abuse others. They have hearts hardened and turned away from God. They have hit rock bottom. They need a radical change; a change that comes from Christ. Most will receive this breakthrough in finding Christ’s unconditional love and forgiveness through Reconciliation, which is available during the REC weekend.

An important part of our weekend retreat is to have priests hear Confessions on Saturday mornings and celebrate Sunday Mass.

In Mark 9 we hear the harvest

is abundant and the laborers are few. I don’t know where the jail ministry and other ministries would be without the laborers; Christians all pulling together.

The devil would surely like to take over all these jails. He may believe that this is his club and his membership, but we as REC members refer to the jail as the Barnstable House of Christ. No matter what you may feel about the Catholic Church, it has been a leader in social justice, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, consoling those who mourn, and visiting the prisoners.

Like many other churches on Cape Cod, St. Patrick’s in Wareham along with the neighboring churches meet the needs of the community by coming together to feed the hungry and to give shelter to the homeless.

Christians coming together to make a difference in others’ lives.

There have been many saints in the past who have been involved in these ministries, having heard the call of God, and acted.

I pray like Moses did, that the Lord might bestow His Spirit on all. What will you do with your gifts? God bless.

Deacon Donovan serves at St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham and as chaplain at the Barnstable House of Correction.

Editor’s note: This homily accidently ran in last week’s Anchor.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Sept. 29, Dn 7:9-10,13-14 or Rv 12:7-12a; Ps 138:1-5; Jn 1:47-51. Sun. Sept. 30, Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Nm 11:25-29; Ps 19:8,10,12-14; Jas 5:1-6; Mk 9:39-43,45,47-48. Mon. Oct. 1, Jb 1:6-22; Ps 17:1-3,6-7; Lk 9:46-50. Tues. Oct. 2, Jb 3:1-3,11-17,20-23; Ps 88:2-8; Mt 18:1-5,10. Wed. Oct. 3, Jb 9:1-12,14-16; Ps 88:10-15; Lk 9:57-62. Thurs. Oct. 4, Jb 19:21-27; Ps 27:7-9,13-14; Lk 10:1-12. Fri. Oct. 5, Jb 38:1,1221;40:3-5; Ps 139:1-3,7-10,13-14; Lk 10:13-16.

B

ack in the day, altar boys loved to serve weddings because it involved ready cash: minimally, $5 (which in those days meant something), often a 10-spot. Once in a great while an exceptionally generous best man would slip each server an envelope with $25 — a small fortune to a boy in the early 1960s.

Serving weddings should have enlarged more than the youthful exchequer, however.

For wedding servers were exposed, time and again, to the prescribed “exhortation” the priest read to the couple before they pronounced their vows. That exhortation is worth recalling, now that the very idea of “Marriage” is being contested on four state ballots, and in the national election, on November 6: “My dear friends: You are about to enter upon a union which is most sacred and most serious. It is most sacred, because it was established by God Himself. By it, He gave to man a share in the greatest work of

The future of Marriage

creation, the work of the continu- “No greater blessing can come ation of the human race. And in to your married life than pure this way He sanctified human conjugal love, loyal and true to love and enabled man and woman the end.” to help each other live as children It’s impossible to imagine of God, by sharing a common life a Catholic priest pronouncing under His fatherly care. those words at a gay “wedding.”

“Because God Himself is thus its author, Marriage is of its very nature a holy institution, requiring of those who enter into it a complete and unreserved giving of

By George Weigel self. But Christ our Lord added to the holiness of Marriage an even deeper meaning and a higher beauty. He And that impossibility illustrates referred to the love of Marriage several Catholic theological obto describe His own love for His jections to the notion that sameChurch, that is, for the people of sex couples can “marry.” “Gay God Whom He redeemed by His marriage” is opposed to the own Blood. It is for this reason Divine order built into creation that His Apostle, St. Paul, clearly and to the Gospel: for “gay marstates that Marriage is now and riage,” by its very nature, cannot for all time to be considered a be a fruitful one-flesh union, and great mystery, intimately bound “gay marriage,” which by definiup with the supernatural union tion involves grave sin, cannot of Christ and the Church, which be an image of Christ’s spousal union is also to be its pattern. love for the Church. Thus Catho-

The Catholic Difference

lics who support “gay marriage” are deeply confused about Word and Sacrament, the twin pillars of Catholic life.

In public policy terms, the Catholic critique of “gay marriage” reflects the Catholic idea of the just state. Rightly understood, Marriage is one of those social institutions that exist “prior” to the state: prior in terms of time (Marriage existed before the state), and prior in terms of the deep truths embedded in the human condition.

A just state thus recognizes the givenness of Marriage and seeks to protect and nurture this basic social institution.

By contrast, a state that asserts the authority to redefine “Marriage” has stepped beyond the boundaries of its competence. And if that boundarycrossing is set in constitutional or legal concrete, it opens up a Pandora’s box of undesirable results. For if the state can de-

cree that two men or two women can make a “marriage,” why not one man and two women? Two women and two men? These are not paranoid fantasies; the case for polyandry and polygamy is now being mounted in prestigious law journals.

And if the state can define “marriage” by diktat, why not other basic human relationships, like the parent-child relationship, the doctor-patient relationship, the lawyer-client relationship, or the priest-penitent relationship?

There is no principled reason why not. Thus “gay marriage” is another expression of that soft totalitarianism that Benedict XVI aptly calls the “dictatorship of relativism.”

Conscientious voters will keep this — and the Democratic Party platform’s endorsement of “gay marriage” — in mind on November 6.

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

September 28, 2012

Techno-sharks

Saturday 22 September magnificent creature called 2012 — Falmouth Village — the great white. People have Fish Amnesty Day good reason to be leery of n 1975, the movie “Jaws” some shark species, of course, stirred up primordial but they are also fascinated by terror in audiences everywhere. It was great theater, but bad biology. We are most Reflections of a afraid, dear readers, Parish Priest of what we know the least. We know relaBy Father Tim tively little about the Goldrick great white shark. We do know that the great white is not a maniacal killing them; case in point — “Shark machine but an intelligent Week” on Martha’s Vineyard animal whose well-being and and the Discovery television perhaps even existence is bechannel. ing increasingly threatened.

Here on the Cape, there Through modern technology has been an increase in great and scientific research, we are white shark sightings over the beginning to understand the past few years. This season,

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The Ship’s Log

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The Anchor everyone is talking about the great whites (Carcharodon carcharias) that have been spotted off Chatham, Truro, Provincetown, Wellfleet and Orleans. Our sharks have been featured in newspapers, television news programs, and on the Internet. The visiting celebrities on the Cape this summer have not been Hollywood starlets or Washington politicians but giant fish.

Great whites are big, powerful, and sometimes dangerous fish and they are coming into more frequent contact with humans due to the fact that we are spending more time swimming in the ocean.

Pink picket fences

men grant given yearly to s we approach another Planned Parenthood was less “Breast Cancer Awarethan a million dollars out of ness Month,” it would be good a $93 million annual budget. to review how many people are The fact that Planned Parenttouched by this life-threatening hood’s own annual budget runs disease. The statistics ofupwards of $1 billion makes fered by the American Cancer the loss of the Komen grant Society show that there are almost inconsequential—and approximately 230,000 new reminds us that they couldn’t breast cancer cases annually, have accomplished a great deal and 95 percent of those incidents are in women over the age of 40. Moreover, the median age for those diagnosed is 61 (meaning that half are older and half younger than age 61). In all, there are approximately 2.6

By Genevieve Kineke million women presently either undergoing treatment or currently living with it anyway. So why the fire cancer-free. storm?

The numbers rose precipiJust as the quiet but persistent tously during the 1980s and boycott of Komen by Pro-Lifers 90s for two reasons. First, concerned principle, Planned there was simply the expanded Parenthood’s rage that followed use of mammography, which their decision was likewise diagnosed the tumors earlier about principle — based on their and with more accuracy, but premise that the unfettered aca second element is telling: cess to birth control and abortion “Much of the historic increase was not to be questioned, even in breast cancer incidence by groups whose stated goals reflects changes in reproduchad nothing to do with “reprotive patterns, such as delayed ductive” choices. childbearing and having fewer But what about Komen’s children” (cancer.org). How principles? Unfortunately, acmany young women have been cording to Karen Handel’s new told that their approach to book, “Planned Bullyhood,” motherhood can influence their we discover that those prinoverall health? ciples are less than consistent, Surely, the questions about and likewise dance around how early motherhood prothe usual sacred cows. The vides a bulwark against cancer author joined Komen in 2011 must be explored — and this is as a senior vice president of where the politicization of the public policy, and she explains, topic comes into play. In the “When I joined Komen, the last year, we saw the savaglast thing I wanted was controing of the Susan G. Komen versy. Yes, I am Pro-Life, but Foundation for its relationship that had nothing to do with my to the abortion industry. It work at Komen. Komen was must be noted that the Ko-

The Feminine Genius

about ending breast cancer, not abortion.”

This brings us back to the quote above about “reproductive patterns.” There is no doubt that women have fewer children later than previous generations. The question concerns how this happens. If it were a matter of postponing childbearing by postponing sexual intimacy, then there would be a onedimension scenario that would be subject to scrutiny. As we all know, this is not the case.

Presently, young women are becoming sexually active at a far younger age than previous generations, and they rely on birth control and abortion to delay childbearing. Since numerous studies have linked the carcinogenics in hormonebased forms of birth control and the interrupted breast tissue development involved in surgical abortions with increased breast cancer rates, Handel is being disingenuous about her desire to separate Komen’s mission from that of Planned Parenthood.

The real “war on women” is being waged through subterfuge, as women are being sold a lie. Placing picket fences around those elements that are controversial or politically charged won’t create solidarity over women’s health, because what’s inside those regions is at the very heart of the matter.

Mrs. Kineke can be found online at feminine-genius. com. For more information about the contributing factors to breast cancer, visit www.

AbortionBreastCancer.com.

The great white is a predatory animal, but humans do not make up any part of its normal diet. We are not in the food chain. We are far too skinny to interest them. Even though whites are not usually aggressive towards human beings, it’s best to use common sense in their presence. I suspect that the most sensible thing you could do is to steer clear of the animal. You don’t want to do anything that might cause a great white to mistake you for a plump seal. Great whites find seals very tasty.

There are lots of gray seals on Monomoy Island off Chatham.

This is the reason that hungry sharks head there looking for a bite to eat. (Great whites can munch 30 pounds in one bite.)

At the end of July, a great white shark actually attacked a man swimming off Truro.

Fortunately, it was just a little nibble from the shark’s point of view. The man was not seriously injured. Up until that event, the last attack by a great white on a human being in these parts took place off Mattapoisett in 1936.

Although the Outer Cape seems to attract the greatest number of great whites, the sharks have been known to visit Falmouth upon occasion. I’ve read that there was a 15-foot great white spotted in shallow waters near Falmouth at the end of September in 2004. It was the first great white to be tagged with a satellite tracking device in these Atlantic waters, according to reports. That makes it the first “techno-shark.” Technosharks have come a long way in the past eight years.

All summer, I’ve been following media accounts of great whites off the Outer Cape. Some encounters were not accidental. According to reports, a specially-outfitted boat, accompanied by a spotter airplane and a speed boat, has been working off Chatham. The boat has a two-story hydraulic lift and a

wooden platform large enough to accommodate a great white.

Those involved in the task of hooking and tagging great whites do so with great care.

The animals are federally protected. The shark is on deck for only about 15 minutes, but those 15 minutes will lead to fame.

Once the animal is safely onboard and hydration has begun, medical samples are taken. The shark is also outfitted with high-tech equipment. One such tracking device sends signals to off-shore buoys.

Another device is a batteryoperated transmitter that will signal the shark’s movements for four years or more. A third device allows for satellite tracking; another monitors environmental conditions being experienced by the shark.

Following the animal’s release, another piece of equipment, just now being tested, monitors the shark’s reaction to the tagging event. Anyone interested in where in the world the shark might be at any given moment can simply go online and find the techno-shark.

The great white is not the largest species of shark. That distinction belongs to the whale shark. I would dare to say, though, that the great white is the one that has caught the imagination of the American public. Of all the species of shark, the great white is the most famous.

Even so, we do not know how many are in existence, how large they can grow (20 feet?) or how much they can weigh (4,000 ponds?). The information being transmitted from the techno-sharks of Cape Cod will help us to better understand these animals.

Father Goldrick is pastor of St. Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth.

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September 28, 2012

Charitable work keeps retired teacher grounded

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — As a retired teacher who once taught music in the Fall River public school system, Louis Yokell recalled something one of his principals once said that really resonated with him.

“He told me a busy kid is a successful kid,” Yokell said. “I think a busy adult is a successful adult.

There’s always something you can do. If you just sit home and brood, nothing gets accomplished.”

That nugget of advice could very well serve as Yokell’s mantra in life these days, as he keeps busy with a variety of activities at his home parish of St. Joseph’s and nearby St. Michael’s, both in Fall River.

As a parishioner at St. Joseph’s for more than 30 years, Yokell first became involved when his thenpastor, Father John Perry, put out a flier asking for people to volunteer with different parish groups.

“I didn’t get too involved when we first joined the parish because we had two boys,” he said. “But I signed up and ended up helping to fill food boxes to be given out during Thanksgiving and Christmas.

That was my first step and since then it’s been one thing after another.”

It didn’t take long for Yokell to begin appreciating the value of helping others.

“I didn’t realize until I got involved how many people are devoted to helping others in need,” he said. “It’s really amazing.”

In addition to helping with weekly Mass collections and singing in the parish choir, Yokell has for the past three years served as

the district president for the St. are struggling to make it. They know one man who travels north Vincent de Paul Society for the Fall may be on government aid, but of Boston every day to his job on River deanery. it’s never enough. When you have a bus — he doesn’t have a car. I “My term is ending October 1 a family of two or three kids, the just got a call from another woman and there will be a new president food goes quickly. We have some who needs a car in order to get a coming in,” Yokell said. “By work- elderly people who are on fixed in- job. A lot of these are Catch-22 siting together on a district level, we comes and they’re watching their uations — you need an address in help cover all the parishes within a savings dwindle.” order to get aid, but how do you get deanery. There are districts in each Given the tough economy in the an established address if you don’t deanery in the diocese and we’re greater Fall River area, Yokell said have money coming in?” all united under a diocesan central he’s seen a marked increase in the While Yokell said there might office.” be some people who take Citing the St. Vincent de advantage of such charitable Paul Society’s motto that “no efforts, he tends to look at the work of charity is foreign to work Vincentians do as a way the Society,” Yokell said Vinof giving people a “hand up” centians are ready to help anyinstead of a “hand-out.” one who comes to them.

“Many people in society “We help all those who are experiencing what they come to us for help and we call ‘terror of the moment,’” also seek them out,” he said.

Yokell said. “I’ve been “We’ve done everything from blessed because I have a very helping people with food — strong family that will supthat seems to be what people port anything I do, but some need most — but we also help people don’t have that support them with clothing, rent, paysystem. They basically feel all ing utilities, medical needs alone, and it’s a scary thing. If and providing transportation. my car breaks down, I have If we’re able to help out in people who can help me. But some small way, we do. And they don’t and if they don’t it’s done all through the effort show up for work, they lose of volunteers.” their job.”

Yokell and his fellow St. He also said people can be Vincent de Paul volunteers quick to judge others who are help and support efforts in Anchor living stone — Louis experiencing such setbacks Yokell. (Photo by Kenneth J. Southe city such as the food pan- za) when they don’t realize the try at St. Joseph’s Parish, the situation they’re in. monthly soup kitchen at St. “It’s easy to blame people, Michael’s Parish, and the weekly number of people seeking aid in but when you start talking to them soup kitchens at St. Anne’s and Sa- the last few years. you realize there are other issues cred Heart parishes.

“There’s not much economic like problems with mental or phys“In meeting these people, we opportunity in our area any more,” ical health,” he said. “Some people sometimes get the wrong impres- he said. “Unemployment is nearly have gone through major health sion of poverty,” Yokell said. “We double what the state is claiming, crises such as cancer or a death tend to think of people living on so we’re really in a difficult situa- in the family. I met a 60-year-old railroad tracks or in tents, and that’s tion. We have so many people who woman who is living in a homeless not the case. These are people who are trying to make ends meet. I shelter. Things happen.”

Since it relies exclusively on volunteers and donations from parish affiliates, one of the key fundraisers for the St. Vincent de Paul Society is literally stepping off tomorrow from Kennedy Park in the shadow of St. Anne’s Church just off South Main Street in Fall River.

The fifth annual “Friends of the Poor Walk” is an event that in previous years has raised more than $65,000 to benefit the efforts of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in the

greater Fall River area.

“It’s a national event, but each area raises its own money,” Yokell said. “So it’s important to know that all the money raised stays in the Fall River area.”

Proceeds from past walks have been used to support local food pantries and soup kitchens and purchase non-perishable items that can be given out to those in need.

“We depend on parishes for donations, but there are always shortages so we’ve found that buying those staples in bulk greatly helps out,” he said. “We buy canned items on wholesale in bulk — peanut butter, tuna, chicken, pasta, vegetables, fruit — things that the food pantries are always running short of.”

Although it’s a Catholic lay organization, Yokell said the St. Vincent de Paul Society is dedicated to helping anyone who needs assistance, regardless of religious beliefs.

“The majority of our requests come from people who don’t go to church,” he said. “So, in our own humble way, we are working as missionaries.”

The society is also unique in that they make home visits to those seeking assistance.

“We’re not supposed to help people who just make a phone call,” he said. “We make a home visit and get a chance to talk to them. By doing this, sometimes we see more of a need than they’re willing to admit.”

Yokell said some of the home visits he’s made have been eyeopening experiences for him.

“I’ve had people who were amazed that we came to see them,” he said. “We’ve become so impersonal as a society that people don’t expect you to come to them. I’m thankful that I’ve been able to see and help these people because it makes you appreciate the blessings you’ve received.”

“I find a personal peace in doing this work,” he added. “Sometimes we get too involved in our own worries and our own success.

In the grand scheme of things, that shiny new car doesn’t mean much.

A fellow Vincentian once told me, being a Vincentian is just a matter of opening a door to somebody.”

Despite being retired after 22 years of teaching, Yokell is happy to be able to spend his spare time in service to others.

And he’s quick to encourage others to do the same.

“Get involved with your parish,” he said. “I wake up in the morning sometimes and ask God, ‘what do You want me to do today?’ There’s always a little bit more than needs to be done.”

To submit a Living Stone nominee, send an email with information to fatherwilson@anchornews.org.

September 28, 2012

The Anchor

another milestone — Catholic Memorial Home resident Alice Cote celebrated her 107th birthday on September 16 with friends, family and many well-wishers. She was presented a city proclamation by Linda Pereira, president of the Fall River City Council and also received a state proclamation presented by Eric Poulin, City Councilor, on behalf of State Representative David Sullivan. From left: Poulin; Pereira; Tom Healy, Catholic Memorial Home administrator; Beverly Andrade; and Gail Furtado at Cote’s birthday celebration held in the courtyard at Catholic Memorial Home in Fall River where she resides.

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September 28, 2012

The Anchor

NBC correspondent to speak at Fall Dinner continued from page one

winning 2011 10-part documentary series “Catholicism,” created and hosted by Chicago priest Father Robert Barron and aired on PBS. Shot on location in 16 countries, the production explores the Catholic faith, its history and artistry, its beliefs and practices, through insightful spiritual commentary and stunning high-definition cinematography.

Leonard, who lives in Winnetka, Ill., is a product of Catholic education, having attended Catholic elementary and high schools in suburban Chicago and Providence College where he earned a degree in economics.

Paul M. Lenahan, executive vice president of Bristol County Savings Bank Anawon Trust Division, will chair the 2012 St. Mary’s Education Fund Fall Dinner. He and his wife Karen are members of St. Mark’s Parish in Attleboro Falls.

Like Leonard, Lenahan is a Providence College grad. He recently heard Leonard speak at an event at the college and was struck by his comments on the impact of his Catholic education.

“Mike Leonard spoke of the lasting influence of Catholic schools not only on his own education but also on his wife’s education and that of his four children, all of whom went to Catholic schools from kindergarten through college with the exception of a two-year interval for one son,” said Lenahan.

“I knew him from college and thought with his interesting career and his deep appreciation for his Catholic education, he would make a great speaker for the St. Mary’s Education Fund Fall Dinner.”

Lenahan comes to the helm of the Fall Dinner after leading committee efforts for several years in the Attleboro area to promote the dinner.

Through his involvement, he

said he became more aware of “the tremendous need to acquire necessary funding to help children and families have access to a Catholic school in the diocese.”

The annual Fall Dinner is one of two principal yearly fund-raisers to support the St. Mary’s Education Fund. Since its beginnings in the early 1990s, the St. Mary’s Education Fund has made it possible for thousands of students to attend a diocesan Catholic school by providing need-based partial tuition assistance.

In the 2011-2012 school year, the fund provided more than $585,000 in tuition assistance to 674 students.

“We know that several hundred others still need our help; so, in their name, I ask you to consider contributing once again to this most worthy endeavor,” wrote Bishop George W. Coleman in a recent letter of invitation to support the 2012 Fall Dinner.

The evening will feature a reception and extensive multi-course meal followed by a program to include a video visit to Catholic schools and the guest speaker’s presentation.

Lenahan and committees in four areas of the diocese are now reaching out to businesses and individuals to extend an invitation to sponsor a table or purchase a ticket for the Fall Dinner in support of tuition assistance.

In the Attleboro area, Lenahan is heading the committee’s efforts.

Leading the other area committees are, in Fall River, Nicholas M. Christ; in New Bedford, James Kalife and Carl W. Taber; and in Taunton, Harold J. Rose, Jr. Those interested in supporting the Fall Dinner or obtaining more information on the St. Mary’s Education Fund, should contact Lenahan, any area committee chairman, or the Diocesan Development Office at 508-675-1311.

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back to school — Animated characters Marlin, voiced by Albert Brooks, and Dory, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, are seen in the movie “Finding Nemo 3D.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/Disney)

CNS Movie Capsules NEW YORK (CNS) — The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed by Catholic News Service.

“End of Watch” (Open Road) Gritty police drama with a documentary feel and authentic look, putting the viewer front and center in a clash between good and evil in the inner city. Two police officers (Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena) patrol a section of South Central Los Angeles, a haven for drug dealers and street gangs. Between calls, they banter about life and dream big, sharing their different cultural backgrounds and news about the women in their lives (Anna Kendrick and Natalie Martinez). Written and directed

by David Ayer (“Training Day”), the violence and trash talk will deter many from seeing a riveting, well-acted film with a powerful Christian message of brotherhood and laying down one’s life for another. Pervasive, brutal, and gory violence and torture, frequent drug use, premarital sex, same-sex kissing, partial nudity, sexual innuendo, constant profanity, occasional rough language. The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

“Finding Nemo 3D” (Disney) Delightful aquatic adventure, now rereleased in 3-D, about a timid tropical fish (voice of Albert Brooks) who journeys across vast stretches of treacherous ocean in order to rescue his son Nemo (voice of Alexander Gould), who has been captured by scuba div-

ers and placed in a dentist’s fish tank. With beautiful computer animation and memorable characters, director Andrew Stanton creates an enchanting fish fable about friendship, heroism and the love between a father and son. The Catholic News Service classification is A-I — general patronage.

The Motion Picture Association of America rating is G — general audiences. All ages admitted.

“Trouble With the Curve” (Warner Bros.)

Generally winning yarn about a cantankerous baseball scout (Clint Eastwood) who refuses to admit his eyesight is failing and cannot communicate with his daughter (Amy Adams), a successful but emotionally closed-off attorney. In his directorial debut, Eastwood’s frequent producing

partner, Robert Lorenz, capably manages the twangy material, although the middle innings lag and an excess of salty language narrows the film’s appeal. As for the acting lineup, Eastwood is an old hand at playing the badtempered curmudgeon and both Adams and Justin Timberlake, who portrays her love interest, have charisma to spare. Frequent crude and crass language, much profanity, one instance of rough language, some sexual references and innuendo, and considerable alcohol consumption. 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.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, September 30, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father David Andrade, Pastor of St. Louis de France Parish in Swansea

September 28, 2012

Disturbing forced curriculum While bishops and fellow Catholics across America rally in defense of religious freedom, another assault has quietly taken hold in our schools.

Massachusetts is not a “right to work” state, meaning all teachers are forced to join a union in order to teach. Involved with their profession and students, they know little about their union other than working conditions and contracts.

What most do not know is that the Massachusetts Teachers Association and the National Education Association (MTA/ NEA) aggressively promote abortion, birth control, same-sex marriage, illegal immigration, etc. Under the banner of “working for social justice” they have promoted radical sex education and gay “rights” in our public schools. In the process there is now a growing concern among parents who are finding that their parental rights, religious beliefs and family values are being attacked. Many teachers are also concerned that they are being forced — yes, forced — to teach material that is against their own personal and religious beliefs They are also forced, via dues, to support one political party which seeks the elimination of our Church.

The ultimate result for parents and teachers is that they have lost the right to teach children as opposed to indoctrinating them.

This is another assault, nationwide, on religious freedom and that of speech also. Another battle that must be taken up so that parents (taxpayers) reclaim their rights to supervise their children’s education.

We must demand, along with teachers and all employees that Massachusetts become a “right to work” state without forced unionization.

And Catholic teachers must come together and demand that their “conscience rights” be respected and not be forced to teach material in opposition to their faith beliefs!

Pat Stebbins East Sandwich EXECUTIVE EDITOR RESPONDS: Thanks for your letter and your reminder to Catholic teachers in the public schools that they are called to work to change these policies of their unions. As you wrote, they also have the right and duty to follow their consciences, as do Church institutions themselves (a right which is under attack with the new HHS regulations that they pay for abortifacients

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Our readers respond

and sterilization). I would caution that these teachers are often well-meaning and think that they are helping people with these policies, so we need to work to convince them that true social justice involves the right to life and a society which follows moral norms. In regards to one other thing you mentioned, illegal immigration — in that area the unions and the Church often share the same position, although sometimes for different reasons (the Church out of concern for the horrific conditions in foreign lands, which is often the reason why many on the left also feel this way. However, some might be hoping for support for their political party in the future).

God is more powerful The ballot question in November called “Death With Dignity Act” is the same law that was enacted in Oregon more than a decade ago. Oregon’s experience has not been a slippery slope toward killing sick people for convenience sake. Oregon’s website reports annually on the implementation of its euthanasia law. From 1998-2010, 808 lethal prescriptions were written for people. Two-hundred-andtwelve of the 808 who received prescriptions died of natural causes. They had the legal right to end their lives, but didn’t.

Five-hundred-and-twenty-five used the drugs to end their lives.

Who are the 525 patients who have taken their lives over 13 years? They were, as required by the Oregon euthanasia law, clinically determined to be within six months of natural death. The median age was 71. Ninety-eight percent were white. Forty-seven percent were married and 22 percent were widowed; 24 percent were divorced and eight percent were single. Eighty-one percent had cancer, eight percent ALS, four percent chronic lower respiratory disease (drowning in your lungs), less than two percent HIV/AIDS and six percent other illnesses. Sixty-eight percent had private medical insurance and 30 percent had public medical insurance.

Why did they end their lives?

Ninety-one percent listed quality of life issues and only 21 percent listed inadequate pain control. Less than three percent listed financial burden on family. Eighty-nine percent of Oregonians who ended their lives were enrolled in Hospice. Ninety-five percent died at home.

There is no evidence from Oregon that shows disabled people were killed, or any terminally-

ill person, was killed against his/her will. The DWD ballot question is about faith. We do not serve God’s purpose lying about it. Let us fill the letter columns of our newspapers with testimonials to the mercy of God when we were faced with terminal illness in our families.

Here is mine: While my mother was dying of lung cancer in 1980, her pain medication was doled out on strict schedules that left her with an hour or more of horrible pain between doses. One night I sat with her to wait the 30 minutes until her pain injection was administered. She lamented to me, “If God would say to me, ‘Rita, just six months of suffering and then I will take you home,’ I could submit to this suffering. But I am terrified this will go on for years.” This led to a conversation about the times in her life, and mine, when God came to our aid. In what seemed a few minutes, a nurse arrived with her shot and profusely apologized for being late. The time that we had felt as “a few minutes” was nearly 40, and mother had forgotten her pain!

On top of that, she died exactly six months from her diagnosis.

This is what God is capable of in our times of trial. This is why we want people to trust God, and not give into legalized suicide. We need to share the Good News that God is more powerful than any disease, and no one who trusts in Him will be abandoned at the end of life.

Deirdre Greelish Mashpee EXECUTIVE EDITOR RESPONDS: Thank you for sharing with us your personal story of God’s presence in your mother’s agony, especially how God worked through your time spent with her. We discuss on page five how palliative care can help ease the pain. I wonder if the professionals who treated your mother were unaware of how to best do that (I am not casting aspersions on them, not being versed in medicine). May your witness help guide the voters.

Abortion advocate Recently the Democratic Convention platform committee put forth its usual extreme proabortion plank, abortion-ondemand, i.e., the direct and deliberate destruction of the most helpless members of our human family, the innocent unborn, at any time and for any reason.

The plank is endorsed by the most extreme of the extremists, President Barack Obama. Mr.

Obama supports: 1) the killing of babies before birth, including sex-selection abortion — “gendercide”; 2) the killing of babies during birth, a barbaric procedure known as “partial birth” abortion; and 3) the killing of babies after birth by opposing a Babies Born Alive Infant Protection Act — “infanticide.”

Is this the kind of man you want to lead our country?

Richard Carey Needham EXECUTIVE EDITOR RESPONDS: I do find it hard to understand how people can support such violence, either when in political office or when voting. The objection is then raised about the other party being the party of war and being against the poor. Are we not still at war now? Are things good for the poor now? As last week’s editorial noted, there is a direct link between how a society views life as being expendable (be it in Hiroshima or in the womb) and how it then treats the living. The U.S. Bishops Conference has told us that abortion and euthanasia are among the “non-negotiables” when we go to vote. In their document “Faithful Citizenship,” at #28 they warned against “a moral equivalence that makes no ethical distinctions between different kinds of issues involving human life and dignity. The direct and intentional destruction of innocent human life from the moment of conception until natural death is always wrong and is not just one issue among many. It must always be opposed.” In the following paragraph they mentioned other political issues, on which Catholics must also fight to make a more just society (“these are not optional concerns which can be dismissed,” they wrote), but the issues of abortion and euthanasia demand our attention.

Catholic in name only I was astounded by Caroline Kennedy’s speech at the Democratic National Convention when she stated that as a “Catholic woman” she was upset about states that are restricting abortion.

If she was really a Catholic in more than name only, she would be praying for an end to the evil of abortion and would be supporting the efforts of the Church to do so.

Norris Shook New Bedford EXECUTIVE EDITOR RESPONDS: It is very hard to understand how people can

square that circle.

Facing important decisions I received my copy of the September 14 Anchor yesterday and was faced with the article “Catholics face important decisions at the ballot box in 2012.” I couldn’t agree more!

Now how many Catholics in the diocese subscribe to The Anchor?; 10-12 percent and not much more, probably less. I bet 50-75 percent of those who subscribe won’t even read this article. So where does this leave us? Whatever happened to the letters from previous bishops, often sent to all parishes to be read at Mass in lieu of a homily which often reiterates what was heard in the two readings and the Gospel? This is the time for all Catholics who still go to church to hear a strong message from their leader.

Joseph H. Belanger Somerset EXECUTIVE EDITOR RESPONDS: Unfortunately, less than 15 percent of Catholics in Massachusetts attend Mass.

A much lower percentage subscribes to their diocesan newspaper. The bishops of Massachusetts are actively working to promote the life issues in this campaign. They realize that sometimes the most effective approach is not “ordering” the people to vote in a certain way (since often people will intentionally vote in the opposite way, so as to show their independence).

The good book We received our 2012-2013 Catholic Directory Book of the Fall River Diocese, it is so beautiful. It has become so handy to see all this year’s transfers of our priests; so much wonderful information. It is a wonderful book for all of us to have. We believe that we should tell our priests how wonderful they are.

God bless our Fall River Diocese. We love our priests.

Leo and Olive Veiga South Dartmouth EXECUTIVE EDITOR RESPONDS: Thank you for your prayers and affirmation!

Letters are welcome but the editor reserves the right to condense or edit for clarity if deemed necessary. Letters should be typed, and include name, address, and telephone number.

Letters do not necessarily reflect the editorial views of The Anchor.

Send to: The Anchor, Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, Mass. 02722-0007, or fatherwilson@anchornews.org.

The Anchor

14

September 28, 2012

Discerning New Age babble continued from page one

A total of seven parishes and a few prayer groups, (including the Cape and Island Prayer Group Deanery and Cape Cod for Jesus Prayer Group), donated to the conference and when Corpus Christi Parish offered to host the event, it all came together.

“What we’re trying to do is educate people primarily what New Age is and how it developed, what its roots are, and that it really isn’t part of the Catholic faith,” said Wood. “People have been so westernized that people don’t realize that it’s very far removed from what we Catholics believe.”

As current editor for the Women of Grace journal and blog, Brinkmann’s WOG blog talks about the extensive damage the New Age movement has done to the Christian faith. When the Vatican released the document “Jesus Christ, the Bearer of the Water of Life” in 2003, Brinkmann used her reporter skills, honed during her time at the newspaper for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and “started to uncover all kinds of stuff that’s very dangerous that people don’t know,” she said.

“We marginalize Christianity and mock it in this society

now. People are ashamed and think, ‘Well, God isn’t real,’” said Brinkmann of those who give into pressure. “That spiritual need is still there and they try to look for some other way to fill that need for themselves and I think that’s what draws so many people into the New Age. They’re just looking for a spiritual high. They really want to connect with God but are just following whatever is being presented to them.”

The Vatican is highly critical of the New Age movement in its document. Gnosticism, the belief that you can save yourself with knowledge and not through God, has created a slew of New Age “cult-like movements” that have individuals truly believing “if you can perceive it, you can receive it,” said Brinkmann. “In other words, you can think your own reality and make things happen and come true.”

The Human Potential Movement is a clear example of this idea. HPM’s philosophy is loosely based on the book, “The Secret,” which tries to guide people into believing that someone out there has the secret to draw all sorts of wealth and happiness into your life, “but you have to buy their book to find out what it is,”

said Brinkmann.

During her presentation Brinkmann wants to help people discern between Christian and New Age and show them the difference between the two. Like the life force energy found in Reiki; energy work is big in New Age, explained Brinkmann.

“It’s the ying and yang in acupuncture. It’s the prana in yoga.

It’s the key in Reiki. What I try to teach them is our God, as He revealed Himself to us, is not life force energy; He’s a person.

In Christianity, God is a Person.

And why do we say that?” said Brinkmann, “because that’s how He revealed Himself in Scripture.”

The minute you take God out of everyday life, said Brinkmann, it’s secularism of body and soul.

When you take God out, you create a vacuum and try to fill it with something else. Poor catechism in Church for the last four or five decades has been chipping away at what used to be a strong Catholic foundation but is now leading to a weaker stance by Christian believers, said Brinkmann. “It’s a big reason why people are lured into the New Age because they don’t know the difference between Christian prayer and Hin-

du and Eastern styles of prayer.

Christian prayer is a dialogue with God; it’s not about blanking your mind, which are what Eastern prayers are — blanking your mind and transcendental meditation.”

The media tends to target the Catholic Church to be maligned and scorned while yoga is elevated as a fad, an exercise program whose true meaning is lost on practitioners. Yoga is a spiritual practice and will never just be postures, said Brinkmann; “Many of those postures are positions of worship to Hindu Gods and people don’t know that.”

People always want to know if it’s OK to do yoga and Reiki, added Noonan; “People want to know if it’s OK to continue to be involved with sorcery on any level, whether it’s Ouija boards or magic, and what will happen to them if they do not stop.”

“The biggest misconception is the naivety among Catholic and Christians as they have been told by the media that it is a fad as opposed to a cultural movement,” said Noonan. “In my talks and in my new book coming out this fall on spiritual deceptions, I explain the history behind the movement.

I include the Vatican document

on the New Age, which explains the cultural shift as a paradigm shift, and how [the movement] has entered all areas of culture in western nations and that it has been a carefully planned agenda all along, not at all a fad.”

Brinkmann says she faces the same questions when she has given her talk around the country; “Why can’t we just Christianize this?” said Brinkmann, who has a ready-made answer. “You can’t just put a Christian veneer over it; they don’t fit.”

Right now more than 60 people have reserved space, said Wood, who hopes the attendees will walk away not just educated but ready to pass on what they have learned.

Brinkmann feels that people need to know it’s not an ideology, but a fact that Christianity and the New Age movement don’t mix.

“My goal at the conference,” said Brinkmann, “is to have everyone leave there that day and feel confident that they will be able to discern on their own whether something is Christian or New Age.” To read Brinkmann’s blog, go to www.womenofgrace.com/blog.

To purchase Noonan’s book, go to www.spiritbattleforsouls.org or call 1-800-633-MARY.

groups are encouraged to bring banners and flags.

In a flyer sent to all parishes, the bishop also invited all priests to attend, and if so to bring an alb and white stole to concelebrate the Mass. The entire procession and Mass is scheduled to conclude at about 8:30 to 9 p.m.

The flyer also recommends that parishes utilize buses to transport parishioners to the event, instructing bus drivers to drop off passengers at Rodman Street near Second Street.

Persons who are ill or handicapped are instructed to proceed directly to St. Anne’s Church, where a special area will be designated for them.

On October 13 a Mass and procession in honor of Our Lady of Fatima will also be celebrated at Holy Ghost Par-

ish in Attleboro. A Mass celebrated by Father Richard D. Wilson, pastor, will begin at 6:30 p.m. to be immediately followed by a candlelight procession that will travel from the church around the block and return to the parish hall for refreshments.

According to Laura Viveiros, who is this year’s organizer for the Attleboro procession, the annual event has been held for some time at the parish and each year a new person is selected via a lottery drawing to organize the procession.

“All are welcome to come to the Mass and join us in the procession,” Viveiros said.

On the same day in New Bedford, several Portuguese parishes in the city will join together to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Fatima on October 13.

Pro-Life funds ready to distribute

Processions, devotions planned for October

tor of a crisis pregnancy center and a current training coordinator, said speakers at the trainings have decades of experience in Pro-Life work. They are able to give the crisis pregnancy staff and volunteers knowledge they have gained.

“The Choose Life license plate is a tremendous blessing to Massachusetts pregnancy centers and those who benefit from the trainings,” she said.

The plate’s journey began when Nordeen heard about the first Choose Life license plates, introduced in Florida 12 years ago. She thought, “That’s a great idea. I want that for my car.” But no one in Massachusetts was working to bring the plates to the Commonwealth. So Nordeen decided to give it a try. She started a corporation, secured non-profit status and began collecting registrations.

Many people told Nordeen it could not be done, that Massachusetts is too liberal and its Pro-Life forces too weak. After five-and-ahalf years of sending out mailings, attending conferences and building a list of supporters, Nordeen nearly ended her effort.

“The numbers were not there,” she said. “My husband and I talked about it, we prayed about it and I said that we were going to try this one more time.”

people attended an outdoor Mass celebrated by then-Bishop Daniel A. Cronin.

The closing Mass has since moved indoors to St. Anne’s Church, but the event still draws sizeable numbers from parishes throughout the diocese to pray for world peace.

Bishop George W. Coleman will once again walk in the procession that begins at St. Mary’s Cathedral on Spring Street at 6 p.m. and ends at St. Anne’s Church, 818 Middle Street, where he will be the main celebrant of a Mass there.

The procession that takes approximately one hour travels west on Spring Street to South Main Street, where it will head south until it reaches St. Anne’s Church.

Several individuals will carry a statue of Our Lady of Fatima at the front of the procession, a visible sign that Catholics seek the Blessed Mother’s intercession in times of war and conflict.

All are invited to join in the procession, which takes place rain or shine. Participants are asked to bring their own candles, with a limited number of candles available at the cathedral.

Also, as in the past, parish

continued from page seven

She put the campaign in God’s hands and the renewed effort yielded new supporters. Many people came together to help with the legwork and offered prayers, Rosaries and hours in adoration.

Massachusetts became the 25th state to offer the Choose Life plates when the plates hit the road in July of 2010. Each features a mother cradling her infant and the words “Choose Life.” The cost of the plates is $90 every two years — $50 is the usual registration fee and $40 a tax deductible donation.

The first year, there is a $12 charge for the plate.

A simple trip to the Registry or Registry’s website is all it takes, and there is no need to wait until your plates are due for registration.

Nationwide, the plates have raised more than $14 million for Pro-Life causes.

Nordeen said she will continue to promote the Massachusetts plate and raise as much money as possible.

“I think they’ll put it on my tombstone,” she said and laughed.

“I prayed that we would be at the point where we would have so much money we don’t know what to do with it. That would be incredible.”

For more information about the Choose Life plates, visit www. machoose-life.org.

continued from page one

Visit The Anchor online at http://www.anchornews.org

15

The Anchor

September 28, 2012

Bishop Pean of Haiti visits La Salette Shrine, shares faith journey

shrine visit — Bishop Yves-Marie Pean, C.S.C., (center) with a Haitian deacon and ministers including two La Salette Missionaries, ready to celebrate Eucharist for the Haitian Pilgrimage at the La Salette National Shrine, Attleboro.

Editor’s note: Bishop YvesMarie Pean, C.S.C., was invited to the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Attleboro recently to participate in the La Salette Triduum Celebration. He presided and preached at a special Pilgrimage Mass for Haitian people on September 16. He is bishop in the Diocese of Gonaīves, where two La Salette priests from Madagascar now serve his people.

While he was here, La Salette Father Ron Gagné sat down with Bishop Pean for an interview. The following are excerpts of that conversation.

Where were you born and raised?

I was born in northern Haiti in Pilate, in Cap Haitian. We are three boys and one girl in our family and I’m the second oldest. My father, Dacius, worked in commerce (buying and selling); my mother, Carmelie Sylne, was an industrious worker and dedicated full-time mother in the home.

How did you discover your vocation?

Since my youth, I was very conscious of my vocation to the priesthood due to my family environment of faith, prayer, and love. Even my extended family was very supportive of my vocation. When I went to secondary school from the age of 14, I was gradually becoming more conscious of being called by God to something special. After studying philosophy, I realized more strongly that time was drawing closer for me to choose a vocation, perhaps the priesthood.

After I finished my secondary education, I chose to enter the Novitiate of the Holy Cross Congregation in my home town of Cap Haitian.

There I continued my studies in philosophy and theology followed by one year of pastoral work. In addition I also was involved in special studies in anthropology and ethnology at the State University in Haiti.

I soon received my license in anthropology and my bach-

chapel visit — School children in their new chapel, financed

by Our Lady of the Cape Parish in Brewster.

elor’s degree in theology.

I was ordained on Oct. 16, 1983, in Cap Haitian in our Cathedral church. A short time later I was given my first assignment in my first choice, parish ministry. However, to my surprise, I was assigned as the pastor at 29 years of age!

After six years in the parish, I soon became Master of Novices for my community for one year. As was expected, I then went to Rome for further studies in spiritual theology at the Gregorian University. I received my license and then my doctorate in that same discipline by the time I was 38 years old.

Then I was asked to become the rector of the Scholasticate in Port-Au-Prince and, at the same time, functioned as a teacher of theology in the Major Seminary while also preaching retreats all over the country and supporting the Family Apostolate.

Eventually I was appointed pastor of a parish a little distant from the seminary and then dutifully called by our Haitian bishops to become the rector of the Major Seminary in Port-Au-Prince in charge of the section of philosophy and teaching also in the Theology Department as well as teaching theology at Notre Dame University in Port-Au-Prince.

One day, after five years of being rector, the papal nuncio called me suddenly to come to his office. When I arrived, he ushered me into his small chapel and asked me to kneel with him in prayer for a brief time.

Then he gave me the letter from Rome which explained that I had been chosen by Pope John Paul II to become the next bishop of Gonaīves, first as coadjutor bishop for one year. He gave me some time to reflect and pray and I eventually accepted their decision.

After a time of preparation, I was consecrated on Oct. 13, 2002 at our Cathedral in Gonaīves. It was a very wellprepared Liturgy and it was an important celebration for my own diocese and truly for our entire country. Thousands of people attended the celebration. Afterwards, however, I felt the heavy responsibility and the many challenges of this new ministry.

I’m fully engaged in my ministry as a bishop while still retaining my identity as a member of the congregation of the Holy Cross and do keep my fraternal links with the members of my community.

Can you describe your diocese and your Catholic people?

Our Church is very alive with good Liturgy. My people have great faith and vibrant

and their devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, our country’s patroness.

What vision do you have for your own ministry as bishop in your diocese?

All in all, my ministry as bishop means continuing to accompany the people of God in faith, to be more close to them, to strengthen and help them realize — perhaps through my presence and my efforts — that they are not alone. On the one hand, I am very concerned with the education of youth because education is a key factor in sustainable development and naturally I’m also concerned with the work of a deep evangelization of my people. On the other hand, I also feel that I am called to be the expression of the compassion of God — God’s hope and mercy. I wish to share all

hope in the providence in God. All this is so important at this time since our people have experienced so many recent trials, including social and political crises, hurricanes, inundations, floods and seismic activity (earthquakes). It is very challenging to serve my people in such a challenging time but they have so much confidence in God. Above all, they are a wonderfully courageous and resilient people.

It is odd that when others come to help our people and become overwhelmed by our situation, it is our own people who often give encouragement to those who have come to help us! All this is for me a manifestation of God’s blessings and compassion in the midst of our trials and sufferings. With God we are never alone; our people know and believe this strongly. They pray a lot and have great confidence in God and in the Virgin Mary and express this through praying the Rosary

this with the lonely, the youth, and the poor. I believe that our country can experience a new spring, a new civilization of love, but only with God’s continuing help.

For the entire Catholic Church, we must fight for our faith and our values; bring the forces of good to confront evil wherever we find it. The heritage of the disciples and early martyrs urges us to continue to transmit our Catholic faith and be faithful in spite of our own failures and sins, with God’s grace as the source of our strength. For myself, I also see the strength for this mission supported by the example of my own people.

Finally I love to pray with my people. Each morning we celebrate Mass together, pray the Rosary and spend time in adoration; this feeds us. In this I find strength and courage to continue to work with all my heart for my people. We simply don’t have the right to give up.

16

Youth Pages

a different world — Holy Union Sister Eileen Davey, center, recently visited St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro, sharing what life is like for students in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Sister Eileen runs a pre-school program for 80 children ages three to six in a narrow space, located against the outer back wall of a parish church in one of the poorest sections of the capital city of Port-au-Prince. Sister Eileen visited SMSH to offer thanks to the students and faculty for their continued support of the Holy Union Sisters in Haiti.

ready to serve — The Class of 2013 at Holy Name School in Fall River recently held elections for class officers. The elected officials are, from left: Allison Mullins, treasurer; Isabel McDonnell, vice president; Reagan McDonald, secretary; and Hailey Dalio, president.

it’s easy being green — The third-grade class at St. Joseph’s School in Fairhaven does its part to make this world a green place by recycling.

September 28, 2012

sacred art — This first-grade student at St. James-St. John School in New Bedford was so impressed with her Religion class she went home and created this beautiful masterpiece. She decided to share it with her class.

troop support — The second-grade class at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro recently made thank you cards for the troops in association with Team Hasbro and the Operation Gratitude Letter Writing Campaign. Second-grade teacher Kathleen Harrington explained that, “Writing the thank you letters is a great way for our students to show support and appreciation for the troops and the sacrifices they’ve made for their country.”

On the SmartBoard in the background is the sample letter format that the students used. Smiling with pride are Gabrielle Gjoni, Connor McHale, Andrew Smith, Jack Pora and Aidan Killough (right side front).

on his own merit — Students at Pope John Paul II High School congratulate senior Matthew Brown (third from left) on his selection as one of only two high school students on Cape Cod to earn the designation as National Merit semifinalist. From left: Victoria Sirois, Brendan Mulhearn, Brown, Siobhan Hurley-DelVecchio, Natanne Nunes, and Keely Major.

Youth Pages

September 28, 2012

L

17

What do I stand for?

ately, whether watching the news, viewing the neverending political TV commercials or simply perusing my Facebook wall, I can’t help get the feeling that we Catholics may sometimes be our own worse enemy. There seems to be so many different points of view, so many disagreements, so much tearing down of the basic tenets of Catholicism, so much misinformation about what we believe or don’t believe; most of it promulgated by our fellow Catholic or Christian brothers and sisters! Who wouldn’t be confused? I’m sure Satan is thrilled with what is going on as we not only have to share or defend the faith to non-believers but many times to those with whom we share a common Baptism and belief in Christ!

Today’s instant communication, that we now “enjoy,” spreads information and disinformation at mega speeds never before seen. If I see it on TV or read it on Facebook or in the paper, it must be true.

Correct? Well, the answer is no!

The Archbishop of Washington recently published a letter to men preparing for the priesthood, which I believe gets to the very root of the problem we are facing.

He states to these men, “You need to be well grounded in authentic Catholic teaching.” We believe that in the Catholic Church we have “Her teaching, the reasons for her teaching and especially her moral and social justice teaching,” which has been passed down from the time of Jesus Himself. And yet we continue to try to adapt these teachings to the times rather than allow these teachings to adapt the time in which we live. Doesn’t it seem that the further we push from the authentic teachings of the

Jesus and of His Church, the more though many of the statements trouble we get into as a people and on marriage were contrary to my a world? beliefs. By sitting silently, I now These thoughts have been feel that I may have well indicated swirling around in my head for my acceptance of their positions weeks and I didn’t really know what to do about it. But God, in His way, sometimes, gives me insight in unusual ways.

Recently I was driving home from a Coast Guard

By Frank Lucca mission. I had just spent some hours on a boat with a number of people whom I did not know well at all. on this topic.

During our mealtime the conversaAfter leaving the boat, I was tion turned to marriage for some driving home as I said, and I rereason. Of the seven people on the ally wasn’t giving the situation boat, only two of us were married. any thought whatsoever. God The others were all divorced and had other plans. I suddenly heard a few were living in what they some words of a new song, which described as “common law marI now know is “Some Nights” by riages.” The joking and the tone FUN. The words struck me like a of the discussion focused on how two-by-four and I felt this overunnecessary marriage was and of whelming guilt as though I had course moved to other topics such just denied Jesus, just as Peter had as same-sex marriage. One person done in the high priest’s courtyard. actually went so far as to blame his As I listened to the words I really failed marriage on a “naïve” priest. couldn’t tell you what the song When I questioned him on that, was about, but the constant refrain he said that the priest should not stuck in my head as I heard it over have married them after spending and over. “Oh Lord, I’m still not only an hour with them prior to sure what I stand for oh. What do I their marriage. He then blamed the stand for? What do I stand for?” priest for the two years it took him That night I came to the realto get the divorced finalized and ization that perhaps many of us, the money it cost him in settleespecially those who are younger, ment! Some of the comments were probably haven’t gotten to the even more outrageous in my view. point of knowing what we stand I recount this only because you for. I truly feel I know what I stand would think I would have engaged for, and yet, when given the opthem in this discussion, but I am portunity, I ducked the discussion embarrassed to say, that since it entirely. Cowardly. Going forward, was my first time on this particular however, with the Grace of God, boat and “outnumbered,” I found I now have made a conscious myself, consciously or uncondecision to not back down in the sciously, making a decision to future. Of course, we cannot tear sit silently and not challenge the down or be vicious or condemnstatements that were made, even ing because that only fuels the fire

Washington D.C. (CNA) — A new nationwide initiative is asking young American voters to remember the importance of life when they cast their ballots this November.

“We wanted to find a way to engage young Pro-Lifers in this election,” said Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, the country’s largest ProLife youth organization.

Hawkins told CNA that the group is launching the “I Vote ProLife First Initiative” to educate young voters and encourage them to vote for candidates who respect life.

The project is being carried out by a coalition that Students for Life worked to form with other Pro-Life groups, including The Frederick Douglass Foundation, Pro-Life Action League, Rock for Life and Live Action.

Hawkins explained that a fiveday college campus tour will be “kicking off our election efforts,” which will ultimately seek to mobilize young people across the nation, recruit 1,200 volunteers and educate 300,000 voters before Election Day. Young adults will be invited to sign a pledge stating that a candidate’s position on life will be the most important issue they consider in an election.

On September 17, the initiative’s campus tour began its trek through Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

In five days, the tour will reach nine major universities in four swing states. The diverse colleges include University of Michigan, Purdue University, Ohio State University and Franciscan University of Steubenville.

Hawkins explained that this

Be Not Afraid

Campus tour invites college students to vote Pro-Life first

election has important implications for the Pro-Life movement.

“We know this election is going to be a close election,” she said, explaining that success in swaying even a portion of one demographic could make a critical difference in the outcome of prominent races.

While young people have historically had low rates of voter turnout, Hawkins pointed to a recent poll conducted by the organization showing that college students are expected to vote in large numbers this November.

She explained that many of the voters in this age group are undecided because they like and dislike different aspects of each candidate.

The goal of the campus tour is to encourage a shift in the way that Pro-Life issues are considered, from being “just one issue” to being “the top issue,” she said.

and is contrary to how we are to live. One blogger, I recently read, wrote, “Leadership, especially true Christian leadership, mandates that we don’t just get people worked up against something. We have to lead them forward to something.” In the case of marriage, “we should be for true Christian marriage and we should live that kind of marriage in our own lives. Christians must be for marriage as a loving, giving, living institution that ‘cocoons young children in a world of stability, positive discipline and love so that they can grow up and create loving homes of their own.’” I’m not sure this would have changed minds that evening on the boat, but perhaps it might have planted a small seed that would have some future benefit and I would have, at least, been true to what I stand for. We shouldn’t be afraid to state what we stand for, just as others do. We need not worry to offend if we do it in a way that simply states what we stand for. Of course, we should always approach these situations with charity and love.

It is critical that we know what we stand for. Wouldn’t you agree?

That takes time, study and prayer.

I expect to read or hear things that are contrary to my beliefs, but statements that I hear or read, made by Catholics that run so contrary to Catholic teaching, often surprise and sadden me. It is important for each and every one of us, then, to know our faith and what we stand for.

Where can we learn these truths? Well, my friends, it does take some study. Not necessar-

ily in a course but by taking the time to learn about our faith. And where can you learn more about the truths of our faith? Well there is the “Catechism of the Catholic Church.” Unfortunately, I can tell you, through experience, that it is not an easy read. Now, for young people, and even the rest of us, the Holy Father has released an aid to the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” designed for youth and young adults. The book is called “YouCat,” for “Youth Catechism.”

In its 300 pages, you will find answers to just about any question you may have about our faith.

Pope Benedict writes in the preface to “YouCat”; “You need to know what you believe, you need to know your faith with the same precision with which a computer specialist knows the operating system of a computer. Yes, you need to be more deeply rooted in the faith than the generation of your parents so that you can engage the challenges and temptations of this time with strength and determination.”

Christ is counting on each and every one of us. Once armed with the truth, we can then stand up for what we believe in and communicate well what we stand for to a world that so desperately needs to hear Christ’s message.

Frank Lucca is a youth minister at St. Dominic’s Parish in Swansea. He is chairman and a director of the YES! Retreat and director of the Christian Leadership Institute. He is a husband and a father of two daughters and a son-in-law. Comments, ideas or suggestions? Please email him at StDominicYouthMinistry@ comcast.net.

18

The Anchor

St. André ‘returns’ to diocese continued from page one

“This will be a celebration of what St. André stands for,” said Holy Cross Father Leo Polselli, chaplain of Holy Cross Family Ministries. “A celebration of his outreach to all people. When he was alive St. André was concerned with a class of people not readily welcome in all areas of society. People who were down and out. That’s an important aspect of our Church today.”

The events each day will run from 1 to 4 p.m. and will include a celebration of the Eucharist, a procession, Rosary prayer, anointing with holy oil from St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal, and a blessing with a relic of St. André. The October 6 celebration will be in French Creole, with an English celebration on October 7.

“We have a large Haitian community in this area,” Father Polselli told The Anchor. “And the October 6 celebration will be very special for them. The celebrant and homilist is Father Jean Gustave Miracle from St. Angela’s Parish in Mattapan. He is quite a preacher and has a large following. It’s quite a thrill he would come. And he’s bringing musicians from his parish.”

The English celebration will have Holy Cross Father Hugh W. Cleary, director of the Office of Campus Ministry at Stonehill College in North Easton and the former Superior General of the Congregation of Holy Cross from 1998-2010.

Father Polselli said the format would be the same each day, beginning with an outdoor procession with the relic, the holy oil, a statue of St. André and a banner. “We’ll pray the Rosary and then we’ll proceed to the Chapel of St. Joseph that holds 250-350 people for a Mass at which there will be a healing service with the oil and a special blessing with the relic.

“Frère André would invite sick people to come to him to be anointed with oil. He would tell them the oil has no miraculous powers. It is God Who heals.

He would tell them to pray to St. Joseph for his intercession. The oil is a gesture of faith in God’s healing power.”

There will be no special prayers during the anointing.

“Everyone can pray in their own way,” he said.

The relic, on loan from St. Joseph’s Oratory, is a cloth with St. André’s blood on it. It is encased in a small crucifix. “Again, relics have no special powers,” Father Polselli added. “They are a devotional that enriches our prayer lives, inviting us to call upon the saints for their intercession. They

are with God in Heaven praying on our behalf.”

“This will be a joyous celebration,” said Father Polselli who said he has a certain devotion to St. André. “He’s from the same community. He was the humble doorkeeper who was open to all.

There were some who did not feel welcomed by area parishes, and they were welcomed by him.

I admire that.”

More than one million people paid their respects to the humble

have satchel will travel — St. André Bessette, a member of the Holy Cross Brothers and founder of St. Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal in Montreal, is pictured in an undated photo from the archives of the oratory. He is the first saint of the Congregation of Holy Cross. He is known for his intense piety, miraculous cures and for his dedication to the building of the shrine honoring St. Joseph. Holy Cross Family Ministries in Easton is hosting a Healing Mass and special blessing with a relic of St. André on October 16-17.

(CNS photo/archives of St. Joseph’s Oratory)

Brother when he died in 1937.

Today, more than two million people a year visit his shrine at St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal.

On January 6 of this year, St. André’s feast day, nearly 100 people attended a healing Mass at the Father Peyton Center. Another good showing is expected for the October celebrations. “Things have run smoothly,” said Father Polselli. “And volunteers are stepping forward, eager to help out.”

For information, call Holy Cross Family Ministries at 508238-4095, extension 2027.

September 28, 2012

Vatican synod to examine when divided Christians can preach together

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The potential power, but also the limits, of an ecumenical proclamation of the Gospel and defense of Gospel values is likely to be a key topic during October’s world Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization.

The ecumenical focus will be particularly sharp October 10 when — at the personal invitation of Pope Benedict XVI — Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury will deliver a major address to synod members.

While popes have long invited other Christians to be “fraternal delegates” and make brief speeches at the synods, Pope Benedict has begun a tradition of inviting important religious leaders to deliver a major address. In 2008, Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and Chief Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen of Haifa, Israel, addressed the Synod of Bishops on the Bible.

Another rabbi and two Muslim leaders gave speeches at the 2010 special synod on the Middle East.

Bishop Brian Farrell, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said the invitations demonstrate the pope’s recognition that the “challenges facing religious belief itself and Church life are common — no church, no religion is an island — and we need one another and can learn from one another.”

In addition, he said, ecumenical and interreligious cooperation shows the world that “we are together in promoting the values of belief and the moral-ethical values that we stand by.”

Ecumenical cooperation is crucial when trying to transmit the faith in the modern world and to re-propose Christianity in areas, especially Europe and North America, which had a Christian tradition, but are becoming in-

creasingly secularized.

“The mission that the Lord entrusted to the Apostles, to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth, has not been fulfilled — mostly because of divisions among His followers,” Bishop Farrell said.

The beginnings of the modern ecumenical movement usually are traced to a 1910 conference of missionaries “who had the experience of being seen as preaching against each other instead of preaching Christ,” he said. The missionaries recognized the scandal they were causing as they “exported their divisions” to Asia, Africa and other parts of the world.

The missionaries saw “their work being undermined by their own divisions,” which they increasingly acknowledged were violations of the will of Jesus that His followers be one, the bishop said.

Meanwhile, among some Catholics in the early 1900s, “there were the beginnings of a spiritual interest in the idea of prayer for Christian unity,” he said, but the quantum leap in the Catholic Church’s commitment to ecumenism came with the 196265 Second Vatican Council.

Bishop Farrell said the change in the Church’s attitude reflected an “education of the bishops at the council, because most of the bishops came with the kind of theology that considered our Protestant brothers and sisters, and the Orthodox to a certain degree, as just outside the Church.”

Through discussions and studies at the council, he said, the bishops gained “a new perspective: We have a common faith in Jesus Christ, we have a common Baptism, and this is already a huge element of real communion in the faith.”

The ecumenical task, embraced by the Catholic Church,

involves prayer and dialogue to move that communion “from imperfect to perfect,” he said.

Until the process is complete, however, there will be some limits to the possibilities for ecumenical cooperation in evangelization, because Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans and other mainline Christians aren’t just inviting people to profess faith in Jesus Christ, but to live that faith in His Body, the Church.

“There is a kind of superficial ecumenism that says, ‘it doesn’t matter what church you belong to,’” Bishop Farrell said, but the Catholic Church and most of its dialogue partners reject that view.

Because Christians aren’t passing on “some Gospel of their own making,” but a faith they have received, “sharing one’s faith means sharing one’s belonging to a particular community that has given me that faith. It means sharing the conviction, in conscience, that the Gospel comes to me in its fullness in this particular community,” the bishop said.

The role of the Church and, in fact, the definition of what it means to be fully Church is at the heart of the ongoing, sometimes difficult, theological ecumenical dialogues, he said.

For the Catholic Church, Bishop Farrell said, “We can’t work for a common minimum denominator; nor can we say, ‘let’s keep our differences and just accept one another as we are.’

“We have to aim at whatever is required for the fullness of incorporation into Christ and into the one Church He founded. But where is that Church?” he said.

“That is the question that will trouble us until Christian disunity becomes Christian unity: not uniformity, but true, grace-filled communion in faith and Christian living.”

Teachings on baptism, Trinity make Mormons different from Protestants

WASHINGTON (CNS) — With Mitt Romney at the top of Republican Party presidential ticket and Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate, the Republicans for the first time do not have a Protestant on the ticket.

Ryan, the vice presidential candidate, is Catholic. GOP presidential hopeful Romney is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and as the Catholic News Service Stylebook on Religion notes, “It is not a Protestant church.” The word “Protestant” is the proper term for the new churches of Western Christianity formed during the Reformation, for the branches of those churches and for their members. The main branches of Protestantism include

Baptist, Congregational, Lutheran, Methodist, Quaker, Presbyterian and Reformed denominations.

Some significant differences in belief and practice between Mormonism and Protestantism come into play. “Well, it probably would refer mainly to the teachings on Baptism,” said Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City, which is home to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often referred to as “LDS.” The bishop said: “In 2001, the Vatican conclusively determined that we do not accept LDS baptisms, and the LDS church does not accept Catholic Baptisms, so there’s no surprise in that.” In explaining its decision, the Vatican said that even though the Mormon

baptismal rite refers to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the church’s beliefs about the identity of the three persons are so different from Catholic and mainline Christian belief that the rite cannot be regarded as a Christian Baptism.

Catholics and other Christians believe that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are three persons of a triune God, while Latter-day Saints believe them to be separate and distinct persons. Another point that distinguishes them from Catholics and Protestants is their church’s “Book of Mormon,” four books that are appended to their religion’s Bible. The books are considered “extracanonical” by Christians and are not included in Catholic or Protestant Bibles.

September 28, 2012

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 — The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette holds eucharistic adoration in the Shrine Church every Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. through November 17.

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 beginning at noon until 7:45 a.m. First Saturday, concluding with Benediction and concluding with Mass at 8 a.m. 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 — The Corpus Christi Parish Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, East Sandwich.

Use the Chapel entrance on the side of the church.

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, from 8:30 a.m. until 7:45 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 a.m. Mass until Rosary and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.

FALL RIVER — St. Bernadette’s Church, 529 Eastern Ave., has eucharistic adoration on Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 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. Please use the side entrance.

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.

NEW BEDFORD — St. Lawrence Martyr Parish, 565 County Street, holds eucharistic adoration in the side chapel every Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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 noon.

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. taunton — Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament takes place every First Friday at Annunciation of the Lord, 31 First Street. Expostition begins following the 8 a.m. Mass.

The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed, and adoration will continue throughout the day.

Confessions are heard from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. Rosary and Benediction begin at 6:30 p.m.

WAREHAM — Every First Friday, eucharistic adoration takes place from 8:30 a.m. through Benediction at 5:30 p.m. Morning prayer is prayed at 9; the Angelus at noon; the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3 p.m.; and Evening Prayer at 5 p.m.

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.

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The Anchor Four free seminars for Alzheimer’s caregivers offered

SWANSEA — The Southeastern Massachusetts Alzheimer’s Partnership will be presenting four free seminars for caregivers. A panel of local professionals will offer caregivers information on the following topics: elder law, reverse mortgages, Alzheimer’s Association programs, adult day health programs, homecare services, geriatric care manager programs, assisted living settings, long term care, hospice, and services offered through Bristol Elder, Coastline and Old Colony Elder Services.

The seminars will held at three different sites as follows: The First Congregational Church, 1113 GAR Highway, Swansea, on October 30, from 5 to 7 p.m. RSVP to Judy Andrade at 508-379-9700, ext. 233.

The Bay View Retirement Community, 4380 North Main Street, Fall River, on November 3, from 9 to 11 a.m. RSVP to Sharon E. Martin at 508-6790144, ext. 106.

The Fairhaven Council on Aging, 229 Huttleston Avenue, Fairhaven, on November 7, 2012, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

RSVP to Pat Midurski at 508992-6278.

The Alzheimer’s Association Office, Village South Plaza, 473 South Street West U13, Raynham, on November 17, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. RSVP to Phoebe Worcester at 508-822-9200.

Light refreshments will be served.

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Sept. 29 Rev. J.A. Payan, Founder, St. Mathieu, Fall River, 1899 Sept. 30 Rev. John J. Griffin, Pastor, St. Paul, Taunton, 1963 Rev. George Taraska, OFM Conv., Parochial Vicar, Holy Rosary, Taunton, 1993 Oct. 1 Most. Rev. William O. Brady, S.T.D., Archbishop of St. Paul, Minn., 1961 Oct. 2 Rev. Joseph E. Sutula, Pastor, St. Casimir, New Bedford, 1961 Rev. Rene R. Levesque, Pastor, Blessed Sacrament, Fall River, 1999 Rev. Msgr. Stanislaus T. Sypek, 2011 Oct. 3 Rev. Msgr. Arthur G. Considine, Retired Pastor, St. Mary, South Dartmouth, 1991 Oct. 5 Rev. Jean D. Pare, O.P., Assistant Director, St. Anne Shrine, Fall River, 1999

Around the Diocese 9/29

The Greater Fall River Friends of the Poor Walk to benefit the Society of St. Vincent de Paul will be held tomorrow beginning at 9 a.m. at Kennedy Park, South Main Street and Bradford Avenue in Fall River. This fifth annual walk will benefit the local efforts of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in the Fall River area. Registration forms will be available at the event. For more information, call 508-672-9129 or 508-642-3440 or visit www.svdpfriendsofthepoorwalk.org.

9/29

The Cape and Islands Prayer Group Deanery will host a New Age Conference at Corpus Christi Parish Hall, East Sandwich, tomorrow and Sunday. Conference speakers Moira Noonan and Susan Brinkmann will compare Catholic teaching with New Age beliefs during Saturday’s sessions and on Sunday will consider the effect of avitar, wicca, vampires and the like on the faith of our youth. There is no charge for the conference. Lunch which will be provided on Saturday for those who pre-register. Saturday’s session runs from 9:30 a.m. to 3:40 p.m. Sunday’s session runs from 2 to 4 p.m. For more information or to pre-register, call Pam at 508-759-2737 or Pat at 508-349-1641.

10/5

The Fall River Area Men’s First Friday Club will meet on October 5 in the chapel of St. Mary’s Cathedral, 327 Second Street in Fall River, beginning its 65th year of activity. Following the 6 p.m. Mass celebrated by Father John Ozug, pastor, a hot meal will be served in the school hall across the street. The guest speaker will be Bill O’Neil, who will show the members and guests how to make a Rosary. Any gentleman wishing to attend may do so. For more information or to make reservations, call Norman Valiquette at 508-672-8174.

10/6

Father Stan Fortuna, CFR, will be at St. Lawrence Martyr Church in New Bedford on October 6 for a concert night of rapping, praise and jamming that will touch your heart and your spirit. Father Fortuna’s message is about “Youth spreading the Gospel.” He will be the main celebrant at the 4 p.m. Mass and his concert will begin at 7 p.m. An international artist, Father Fortuna is noted for his evangelical musical contributions of various genres, primarily Catholic-based jazz and hip hop. Tickets for the concert will be available at the door.

For more information, call 508-992-4251 or visit www.francescoproductions.com.

10/6

A Healing Mass and Blessing with St. André’s Bessette’s relic and anointing with St. Joseph Oil will be held at the Father Peyton Center on October 6 — French language and on October 7 – in English, from 1-4 p.m. both days at 500 Washington Street in Easton. St. André’s relic will be available for blessings and veneration. The afternoon will include procession, Rosary prayer, anointing, blessing and Eucharist. For information call Holy Cross Family Ministries at 508-238-4095 or logon www.FamilyRosary.org/Events.

10/9

“Launching the Year of Faith: A Night of Faith to Get the Upcoming Year of Faith off to a Good and Holy Start” will take place October 9 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at St. Bernadette Parish, 529 Eastern Avenue in Fall River. The night will include: a talk by Father Roger J. Landry on Pope Benedict’s letter, “The Gate of Faith,” on suggestions from the Vatican for living the Year of Faith well, on various examples of faith for today’s Catholics, and on other practical ideas for adults, teens, families and parish communities; Eucharistic Adoration during which those present will pray to the Lord to “increase our faith,” as was asked of Jesus in the Gospel; and the recitation of the Rosary to enter into the exemplary school of Mary’s faith during the month dedicated to Rosary. All are welcome.

10/10

“Essential Catholicism: A Preparation Course for Adult Confirmation” will be held on Wednesdays, October 10, 17, 24 and November 7 and 14 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Bishop Connolly High School, 373 Elsbree Street in Fall River and on Mondays, October 15, 22, 29 and November 5 and 12 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Holy Cross Parish Center, 225 Purchase Street, South Easton.

10/11

Holy Name Parish, Fall River, invites post-confirmation adults to a new session of an Adult Faith Formation program, entitled “The Virgin Mary and Theology of the Body,” focusing on Blessed John Paul II’s masterful work, “Theology of the Body” and how we can further understand these teachings through better knowing and loving our Blessed Mother. Each week we will learn about different topics in our world including the human person and human body, God’s gifts of sexuality, marriage and different moral issues in our world. The sessions begin on October 11, from 6:30 - 8:15 p.m. at the Holy Name School/Parish Center. To register and/or obtain more information contact Greg at the Faith Formation Office, 508-678-732 or go to www.hnfr.com and click on Faith Formation.

10/13

There will be a Rosary Crusade at Peg Noonan Park, Main St. Falmouth on October 13 beginning at noon. It is part of the rallies across the country occurring at noon in honor of Our Lady of Fatima. Everyone is welcome to come and pray the Rosary for peace and for our country. For more information call 508-540-3827.

10/16

A retreat titled “Your Own Heart and Soul,” will be facilitated by internationally-known speaker/writer Paula D’Arcy on October 1618 at the La Salette Retreat Center in Attleboro. For information contact Peggy Patenaude at 508-548-9149 or timeoutretreats@comcast.net.

11/9

A healing Mass will be held on October 18 at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue, New Bedford beginning at 6:30 p.m. and includes Benediction and healing prayers.

There will be a holy hour at 5:15 which includes the Rosary. For information visit stanthonyofpaduanewbedford.com or call 508-993-1691.

1/13

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Seekonk is sponsoring its 12th trip to the Honduran Mission. A group of 10-15 volunteers will travel to Guaimaca, Honduras from January 13-21. For information contact Pam Potenza at pgp624@hotmail.com or 508-472-4242. Doctors, nurses, dentists, carpenters are especially needed, but all are welcome.

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September 28, 2012

The Anchor

I

The gourd: A gift from God

t’s my favorite season of I get a big kick each autumn the year — autumn. And I leafing through that year’s prefer saying autumn rather than “Old Farmer’s Almanac.” The fall ... sounds classier. Besides, American classic is always filled fall sounds more like something with quirky tips, stories, jokes, I do in winter on the ice and recipes, gardening suggestions, snow ... which I also love by the trends, and advertisements. way.

Then there are the weather preThere’s so much to like about dictions. I enjoy keeping track autumn. First and foremost it’s the glad farewell to humidity. The muggies and I don’t get along. I find it very refreshing to see my breath in the morning when

By Dave Jolivet taking Igor out. It’s the time of year when you remove the clunky old A/C from the window and sleep of how close they come. This with the windows open again, year, the “OFA” is predicting a giving you a front-row seat to cold, dry winter for Southeastthe nighttime concerto perern Massachusetts. In contrast, formed by crickets and frogs.

AccuWeather is predicting a Autumn means football snowier winter than usual. Ah and the Ryder Cup challenge the drama of it all. in golf. And speaking of golf, Autumn means October and I love playing 18 holes in the the month of Mary. It means crisp autumn air, even though Thanksgiving, the best meal of the fallen leaves make it much the year, and then the advent of more difficult to find my ball ...

Advent. providing it’s on the fairway in Autumn means apples. Even the first place. if you don’t like them, they’re fun to pick.

And autumn means using the oven again. The smell of absolutely anything roasting in an oven on a Sunday afternoon is heavenly.

Autumn means wearing jeans again, and sweaters and sweatshirts.

And autumn heralds the arrival of one of God’s greatest gifts to mankind — the pumpkin. Is there a more cheery vegetable than a pumpkin?

There must

My View From the Stands

be because it’s a fruit. (I had to look that one up to be sure.)

Oh the things mankind can do with pumpkins. The big balls of sunshine can be used for breads, muffins, pies, cakes, cookies, coffee, beer, waffles, butter, puree, and even cosmetics. And don’t forget the seeds.

Cinnamon and allspice were created to sprinkle atop pumpkin seeds and pop in the oven. How good are warm, crispy pumpkin seeds fresh out of the oven?

Wait! There’s still more. What brightens up a stairway or a deck better than a collection of pumpkins? The gourds naturally reflect the autumn sunshine, illuminating wherever they’re sitting.

In addition, there has to be that perfect one for carving.

Emilie challenges me each year to come up with a new creation.

In the past, I’ve carved her, Igor, the Beatles, Cap’n Jack Sparrow, Mickey Mouse, SpongeBob SquarePants, and the Red Sox logo. With the exception of the Fab Four, who turned out like Lego characters, the creations were spot on.

I’m tempted to do Jesus, but after a few weeks, the pumpkin starts to sag and I don’t want Him looking like Popeye come Halloween.

I will miss Sunday afternoons riding the waves at Horseneck Beach, but the shore is a great place to walk in autumn.

There’s a chill in the air in the morning now, and there’s a slight tint in the trees already.

It’s time to put away the floor fans and bring back my electric faux fireplace. With the flick of a switch, the warm glow of burning logs will enhance a Saturday afternoon of watching college football.

Some people see autumn as a time when heating bills resume, the days grow shorter, and summer is a distant memory. For me, it’s a time to slow down, enjoy my family, and prepare for my second favorite season of the year.