VOL. 49, NO. 37 • Friday, September 30, 2005
FALL RIVER,MASS.
Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly • $14 Per Year
St. Mary's Fund Fall Dinner is October 27
ST. JOSEPH'S CHURCH, Attleboro, was the sight of a special Mass recently celebrated by Bishop George W. Coleman marking the 100th anniversary of the parish.
St. Joseph's Parish in Attleboro celebrates centennial jubilee.-....ATTLEBORO - Parishioners at St. joseph's Parish marked the 100th birthday of their parish on September 18 by recalling the past, dedicating the work of their hands, and asking God's blessing as they broke bread together in hopes of another century of evangelization. Bishop George W. Coleman was the principal celebrant of a Mass in the church that resulted from the petition of 13 FrancoAmericans in the early 1900s,
when they asked Bishop William Stang, the diocese's first bishop, to give them a parish to serve the needs of the French-speaking community of Attleboro. Concelebrants of the Mass included Father Michael Carvill, FSCB, the pastor; Father Vincent Nagle, FSCB, the parochial vicar; Father Roger Levesque, a retired priest and former pastor; and Father John Sullivan, MS, from the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette.
Following Mass, Bisbop Coleman blessed and dedicated the newly installed elevator, bathroom suites, and a "warming" kitchen. They were projects in the refurbishing done as part of the parish's jubilee. Later, a parisb dinner was held at the Venus de Milo Restaurant in Swansea. Other parish events that marked the centennial included a potluck supper last March on the Turn to page 12 - Attleboro
WESTPORT - The annual St. Mary's Education Fund Fall Dinner will take place this year on October 27, at White's of Westport, beginning with a 5:30 p.m. reception. A multi-course meal will follow at 6:30 p.m. and a program at 8 p.m. The St. Mary's Education Fund provides need-based scholarships to students at Catholic elementary and middle schools in the Fall River diocese. Proceeds from the dinner benefit the Fund. Volunteer lay committees in four regions of the diocese are reaching out to businesses, community and academic leaders, and individuals to extend an invitation to sponsor a table or purchase a ticket in support of scholarship assistance. In the current academic year, more than $650,000 will be awarded in partial tuition aid from the St. Mary's Education Fund to more than 650 students. Most parents make sacrifices to send their cbild or children to a Catholic school, but sometimes that isn't enough, explained Principal Brian M. Cote of St. Mary's School in Taunton. "For these families, many times the St. Mary's Education Fund is the difference between a child attending St. Mary's or not," he said. Holy Union Sist~r Marie Baldi, the principal of St. Michael School, Fall River, agrees. "Students receiving aid from the St. Mary's Fund would not be able to come to this school without it," she said. "It's a wonderful resource that helps tremendously." Cote added that as costs increase so must tuition and that higher tuition leads to greater need. He encourages families who are unable to afford tuition costs to apply to the St. Mary's Fund. In total, since the 1995-96 school year up through the current one, the St. Mary's Education Fund will have distributed $4.5 million to 4,400 children in elementary and middle schools, and more than 300 in the high schools. Fall DinnerChmrman Nicholas Christ said that he is grateful to the area committee members who are now bard at work contacting potential contributors to solicit their support of the dinner and the St. Mary's Education Fund. They do so, he noted, "because they believe in the Fund's objective to make Catholic schools in the diocese even more accessible to children, regardless of their family's [mancial status." Assisting at the Fall Dinner are four area chairmen and their
Turn to page jive - Dinner
St. Mary's School students win national fame as authors Fourth grade students' book "Haiku Hike" is 2005 national non-fiction prizewinner. By
DEACON JAMES
N.
DUNBAR
MANSFIELD - Twenty-one fourth-grade students at St. Mary's School have walked off with the top prize in the Scholastic Book Fairs' Kids Are Authors national essay writing contest, besting thousands of entries from across the nation. The St. Mary's students won the Grand Prize for their 31-page picture book titled "Haiku Hike," that they conceived, wrote and illustrated. The book is already being published and is being distributed through Scholastic Book Fairs in schools across the nation. "We're absolutely excited that one of our schools had taken the prestigious national grand prize," diocesan Superintendent of Schools George A. Milot, said. "This is a big time award. There are thousands of schools and students vying for this honor annually."
St. Mary's School Principal Joanne Riley said "the whole school celebrated this outstanding achievement by our talented fourth-graders from last year. We were overwhelmed." According to Riley, "Haiku Hike" offers an introduction to the art of Japanese Haiku poetry. The storyline tells of two friends out for a walk, when they realize they have forgotten their camera. So they use Haiku, the ancient form of Japanese poetry, as their notes, to capture their pictures instead. . A delightful mix of silhouettes and watercolor art complement the story and encourages readers to write their own stories. Fun nature facts are included. At an awards ceremony September 16 at St. Mary's School auditorium, acclaimed children's author and illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi, Scholastic Book Fairs Project Manager Carolyn Longest, Riley, and Susan Tamul, who taught the fourth-graders last year and coordinated the writing of the book, made awards to the students. Those included a medal for each student, a commemorative certificate, and a copy of their published book. Turn to page 12 -Authors
ILLUSTRATOR AND co-author of the Caldecott Honor Book "The Spider and the Fly," Tony DiTerlizzi, chats with Will Palanza and Olivia Pires, two of the 21 "Haiku Hike" authors, at recent award ceremonies at St. Mary's School in Mansfield.