10.09.09

Diocese of Fall River

The Anchor

F riday , October 9, 2009

Boston Walk for Life reaffirms respect for all

By Christine M. Williams Anchor Correspondent

BOSTON — “LOVE BOTH,” read one sign at this year’s Respect Life Walk in Boston on October 4. The two words intersected at the “o.” Inside that letter was a photo of a pregnant mother’s hand resting on her abdomen.

Thousands marched in the 23rd annual Respect Life Walk to Aid Mothers and Children, organized by Massachusetts Citizens for Life.

For many of the nearly 50 beneficiary organizations, the walk is their largest fund-raiser of the year. The money, donated and raised by participants, contributes to their work of providing adoption assistance, housing and education for women facing unplanned pregnancy as well as counseling for those who have had abortions.

The 5K-walk was preceded by an assembly at the Boston Common’s Parkman Bandstand at Tremont and Boylston streets.

Edith McDaniel spoke about her unwanted pregnancy and the abortion she had more than 20 years ago. She had an abortion because she wanted to protect her career and expected her life to “go back to normal.”

“Life had never gone back to normal and never will,” she said.

“Abortion kills one life and destroys another.”

McDaniel is regional coordinator for Silent No More, a campaign designed to bring awareness to the mental and physical scars left beLOUD AND CLEAR WITNESS — Young diocesan faithful from Annunciation of the Lord Parish in hind by abortion.

Taunton, Holy Family Parish in East Taunton, and Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth, Also speaking at the rally was a Tufts University senior who startwere among the hundreds who marched in Boston last Sunday to let people know that life is precious ed a Pro-Life student organization on campus two years ago. Jaclyn from conception to natural death. (Photo by Maddy Lavoie) Turn to page 12

Annual March for Peace is October 12 - Page 18

Lay Day of Fasting for Priests set for October 24 worldwide

B y D eacon James N. Dunbar

ATTLEBORO — Lay people in the Fall River Diocese as well as clergy and religious are being called to participate in the fourth annual worldwide Lay Fast For Priests that will take place on October 24.

“Every lay person, every member of the Body of Christ in the Fall River Diocese is asked to join others like them across the globe who will fast in order to lift up our priests for God’s protection, divine sustenance and fidelity to their ministry of holy orders,” Ann Rae-Kelly told The Anchor.

For Rae-Kelly, who is Scot-

Pilgrimage, celebration for canonization of Blessed Damien of Molokai

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

tish born and who with her husband John is a parishioner of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Attleboro, this is her fourth year directing the fast day, which traditionally begins at dawn and lasts until 3 p.m.

“Participants can fast from anything that will allow each of them to share in some way in the sacrifice of Our Lord,” said Rae-Kelly who initiated the event in 2005.

“Fasting from food, television, speech, cigarettes or anything else can be offered for the fast hours on behalf of our priests in the local, national Turn to page 18

SUPPORTING THE CHURCH — Long before the canonization of Blessed Damien of Molokai, SSCC, which will take place this weekend in Rome, the parishioners of St. Anthony’s Parish in Mattapoisett honored the future saint by depicting him in a stained-glass window alongside their namesake patron, St. Anthony of Padua, literally supporting their church by holding it aloft in their hands. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)

FAIRHAVEN — Whether in Rome or right here in the Diocese of Fall River, celebrations abound this weekend as Blessed Damien of Molokai, SSCC, is canonized a saint along with four others by Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday.

The missionary and Sacred Hearts Father who worked with leprosy patients on the Hawaiian island until succumbing to the disease himself April 15, 1889, was beatified by Pope John Paul II during a Mass in his hometown of Brussels, Belgium June 4, 1995.

Father William Petrie, SSCC, provincial of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, was blessed to attend the beatification ceremony and is leading a pilgrimage to the canonization in Rome this weekend.

Father Petrie noted there are large contingencies from his congregation traveling from all over the United States to Rome for the event — including a group of 500 joining Bishop Clarence Silva from the Diocese of Honolulu, Hawaii.

“We have 63 going on our pilgrimage,” Father Petrie said. “Of those, five are members of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the rest are laypeople.”

Father Petrie’s group is expected to arrive in Rome tomorrow and they have a packed itinerary of events all weekend beginning with a precelebration Mass at Santa Maria sopra Minerva Church at 7 p.m.

They will then attend the canonization Mass Turn to page 15

News From the Vatican

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October 9, 2009

Aid tied to family planning is ‘an abuse of power,’ says papal nuncio

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican’s chief representative to the United Nations said giving foreign development aid only if a country adopts family planning programs that promote artificial birth control is “an abuse of power.”

Speaking at the United Nations in New York last week, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, papal nuncio to the world body, said true development entails respecting human life.

However, in some parts of the world, “development aid seems to be tied rather to the recipient countries’ willingness to adopt programs which discourage demographic growth of certain populations by methods and practices disrespectful of human dignity and rights,” he said.

He said it is “both cynical and unfortunate” that the developed world frequently tries to export a mentality of artificial birth control to developing countries “as if it were a form of cultural progress or advancement.”

“To predicate the decision to give development aid on the acceptance of such policies constitutes an abuse of power,” Archbishop Migliore said.

In general, it “has been proven to be a naive or cynical and fatal delusion” for leaders to think political, economic and social policies can be forged and managed

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without any ethical framework aimed at protecting the rights and dignity of all people, he said.

Meanwhile, the Vatican’s representative to U.N. agencies in Geneva addressed the needs of the millions of refugees and displaced peoples around the world.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi said September 29 during a meeting in Geneva of the executive committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees that people who have been forced to migrate “urgently need access to opportunities affording integral human development.”

The forcibly displaced “possess valuable potential, in terms of skills, capacities and knowledge, that could be transformed into economic and other developmental benefits for their families (and) host communities, as well as for their countries and areas of origin,” he said.

Presently, opportunities to increase refugees’ skills are seriously lacking, said Archbishop Tomasi.

If host countries and donors invest in more educational and vocational development programs for forcibly displaced people, then they will be helping alleviate some of the problems and the “negative conditions that caused these and other populations to move in the first place,” he said.

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CHECKING FOR DAMAGE — A worker on a lift gestures as he photographs a section of the colonnade in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican recently. The colonnade, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, is undergoing a four-year restoration. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Vatican envoy to U.N. defends Church’s response to sex abuse

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican has defended its response to the problem of sexual abuse of children by priests, saying that the Church had been “cleaning its own house” and that other religions and institutions were similarly tainted.

The Vatican delegation to the U.N. Human Rights Council said in an oral statement September 22 in Geneva that Church authorities fully understand the gravity of the issue of child sex abuse by clergy and have taken measures to eliminate the problem.

The statement was delivered on behalf of Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s representative to U.N. organizations in Geneva, as a formal reply to criticism of the Church by the International Humanist and Ethical Union, a London-based organization.

Keith Porteous Wood, IHEU representative, accused the Church of covering up allegations of the sexual abuse of children, seeking to reduce criminal sanctions and monetary compensation to victims, and avoiding full assumption of responsibility.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, said that, as the Vatican’s envoy, Archbishop Tomasi exercised his right to reply to “a very hard and unjust attack.”

The statement read by Msgr.

Hubertus van Megen, a member of the Vatican delegation to the Human Rights Council, said, “The Church is very conscious of the seriousness of the problem” and cited canon law, which calls for punishing priests involved in sexual abuse, including removal from the priesthood.

The statement cited a 2004 study by the U.S. Department of Education that concluded sexual abuse of students in U.S. pub-

lic schools by school employees “appears to far exceed the clergy abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church.”

According to the Vatican statement, “we now know that in the last 50 years somewhere between 1.5 percent and five percent of the Catholic clergy has been involved in sexual abuse cases.”

The Vatican statement quoted a Christian Science Monitor article that reported on a 2002 study

by Christian Ministry Resources, which concluded that “most American churches being hit with child sexual abuse allegations are Protestant,” and that a similar rate was found within the Jewish community.

“As the Catholic Church has been busy cleaning its own house,” the Vatican statement said, “it would be good if other institutions and authorities, where the major part of abuses are reported, could do the same and inform the media.”

The statement also said that in an upcoming report by the Vatican to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the U.N. body that monitors countries’ implementation of the Convention on the Rights of

The Anchor

the Child, “a paragraph will be dedicated to the problem of child abuse by Catholic clergy.”

Archbishop Tomasi’s statement also distinguished between pedophilia, adult sexual attraction to prepubescent children, and ephebophilia, adult sexual attraction to adolescents. It said that of all the priests involved in abuse cases, 80-90 percent “belong to this sexual orientation minority which is sexually engaged with adolescent boys between the age of 11 and 17 years old.”

The International Humanist and Ethical Union reacted to Archbishop Tomasi’s reply on its website by saying that the Vatican was “comprehensively missing the point” by arguing that sexual abuse of children occurred in other religions and institutions.

“No doubt there are abusers in all walks of life,” the new statement read, “but our point was not the abuse itself but the cover-up in which some of the highest officials of the Church were implicated.”

The union describes itself as a world umbrella organization embracing “humanist, atheist, rationalist, secularist” positions.

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October 9, 2009

The International Church

Pope says African Church must oppose ‘toxic waste’ of materialism

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Africans must tap into the strengths of their cultural and religious values to promote reconciliation on the continent and to resist the “spiritual toxic waste” spread by the West, Pope Benedict XVI said.

Presiding October 4 over the opening Mass for the special Synod of Bishops for Africa, Pope Benedict said the vocation of the Catholic Church on the continent is to work for peace and to promote the holiness that will lead to justice, strong families and care for the weakest members of African societies.

Although there was a sprinkling of the languages spoken most in Africa, the major part of the Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica was in Latin or Italian, including the pope’s homily. The Mass booklets used by the congregation and concelebrants were illustrated with sacred art from Congo, Togo, Burundi and Ethiopia.

Accompanied by guitars and drums, a choir from Congo sang traditional African hymns while the Sistine Choir and an Italian choir led the singing in Latin.

The theme of the October 4-25 synod is “The Church in Africa at the Service of Reconciliation, Justice and Peace.”

Reciting the Angelus prayer af-

ter Mass, Pope Benedict said that, while a synod involves a lot of speeches and work in small groups to draft proposals, it is not a study meeting, but a special time dedicated to listening to the Holy Spirit and to discerning what God wants the Church to do.

The pope said, “Africa is a continent with an extraordinary human richness” provided by almost one billion inhabitants and the highest birthrate in the world.

“Africa is a fruitful land for human life, but this life is unfortunately marked by much poverty and still is suffering from serious injustices.

The Church is committed to overcoming them with the force of the Gospel and with concrete solidarity,” he said.

Pope Benedict offered special prayers for Guinea less than a week after a military junta killed dozens of opposition members.

At the end of the Angelus, the pope prayed that the synod for Africa would “help turn the eyes of the world to that great continent and inspire renewed solidarity with our African brothers and sisters.”

In his homily during the Mass, Pope Benedict said Africa’s spiritual and cultural values, which recognize God as creator and the value of life over possessions, are resources

that can benefit all humanity.

But those values are being attacked, “first of all by an illness that is already widespread in the West, that is, practical materialism” combined with moral relativism, he said.

“Without entering into the merit of the origins of such sicknesses of the spirit, there is absolutely no doubt that the so-called ‘First’ World has exported ... and continues to export its spiritual toxic waste,” contaminating the people of Africa, Pope Benedict said.

The pope said the “second virus” that threatens Africa is religious fundamentalism, particularly when religion is used to promote political or economic interests.

Some religious groups, he said, are “teaching and practicing, not love and respect for freedom, but intolerance and violence.”

Focusing on the Sunday Mass readings, especially the Gospel about marriage being part of God’s plan for creation, Pope Benedict said the permanence of marriage between one man and one woman is not primarily a moral precept, but a result of how God designed human beings.

The pope did not specifically mention the practice of polygamy and other forms of relationships

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the Church considers irregular, but he urged Catholics in Africa to find ways to deepen people’s faith and their understanding of what God wants for humanity, which, he said, would lead to stronger families built on matrimony.

Pope Benedict also emphasized the Gospel affirmation that children generally have an easier time recognizing the authority of God. The Gospel reading, he said, invites the synod to give special attention to the children of Africa and to the fact that they are “a large and, unfortunately, suffering part of the African population.”

“Like the Lord Jesus Christ, the Church does not view them primarily as the recipients of assistance, nor of pity and exploitation, but as full people in their own right,” he said.

Pope Benedict noted the “great dynamism” of the Catholic Church in Africa, which according to Vati-

can statistics has grown from 55 million members in 1978 to almost 165 million by the end of 2007.

The synod, he said, is an occasion to thank the Lord for the growth of the Church and to “rethink pastoral activity and renew the impulse of evangelization” so that every Catholic will contribute to reconciliation, justice and solidarity.

“The vocation of the Church — the community of persons reconciled with God and with each other — is that of being the prophecy and leaven of reconciliation among the various ethnic, linguistic and even religious groups within each individual nation and throughout the continent,” he said.

Ethiopian Orthodox Patriarch Abuna Paulos and representatives of the Greek Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran and Methodist churches participating in the synod attended the Mass.

Diocese of Fall River

OFFICIAL

His Excellency, the Most Reverend George W. Coleman, Bishop of Fall River, has announced the following appointment: Rev. William Rodrigues, Parochial Vicar, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, New Bedford.

Effective, October 9, 2009

The Church in the U.S.

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October 9, 2009

Metuchen Diocese ends probe of alleged miracle attributed to nun

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — The Diocese of Metuchen has formally completed its investigation of an alleged miracle attributed to the intercession of Mother M. Angeline Teresa McCrory. The testimony and evidence collected are now on their way to the Vatican for further review.

Mother Angeline founded the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm. Today the sisters, whose motherhouse is in Germantown, N.Y., operate 17 facilities in the United States and Ireland.

The inquiry involved a child who was diagnosed with a genetic disorder prior to birth, but was born without the condition.

Metuchen Bishop Paul G. Bootkoski presided over a recent ceremony marking the completion of the investigation in the chapel of the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center in Piscataway. He expressed joy at the opportunity for the diocese to remember the Gospel message as well as the mysterious works of God. The bishop called Mother Angeline a much-needed role model for disciples of Jesus Christ.

Lori Albanese, diocesan chancellor and notary of the investigation, said the four-month inquiry involved gathering facts and testimony from witnesses, including those who prayed for the intercession of Mother Angeline and the original physicians who cared for

the child.

Additionally, two independent medical experts were interviewed to verify the child’s current state of health, she said.

Due to rules of confidentiality, Albanese said, the identity of the

Saints’ Causes at the Vatican by Andrea Ambrosi, the postulator of Mother Angeline’s cause.

Through a translator, Ambrosi, an Italian canon lawyer, said it would be premature to set a timetable for the cause.

more than 2,000 pages of documentation to be studied by the congregation, he said. The cause itself was formally opened 10 years ago.

The Church’s process leading to canonization involves three major steps. First is the declaration of a

INVESTIGATOR — Bishop Paul G. Bootkoski of Metuchen, N.J., takes an oath required as part of a formal diocesan investigation of a possible miracle attributed to Mother M. Angeline Teresa McCrory.

(CNS photo/Kathleen Ogle, The Catholic Spirit)

child could not be released. She did say the family lived in close proximity to the Metuchen Diocese.

The collected testimony will be presented to the Congregation for

“It’s not going to be overnight,” he said. “It’s difficult to set a time because there are so many other causes” being investigated.

Mother Angeline’s case includes

person’s heroic virtues, after which the Church gives the sainthood candidate the title of “venerable.” Second is beatification, after which he or she is called “blessed.” The third

step is canonization, or the declaration of sainthood.

In general, two miracles must be accepted by the Church as having occurred through the intercession of a prospective saint, one before beatification and the other before canonization.

Among the attendees at the ceremony were Mother Angeline’s relatives, including her nephew John McCrory and his wife, Irene.

McCrory said his aunt was a warm and loving person who sought to spread her joy to those around her.

“She was always a part of our family, but the Carmelite sisters were like her first family,” he said.

“She had a very profound effect on just about everybody she met.”

Born Bridget Teresa McCrory in Mountjoy, Ireland, in 1893, Mother Angeline joined the Little Sisters of the Poor at age 19 but in 1931 in New York she founded the first modern congregation dedicated to the care of the elderly and ill. She died Jan. 21, 1984, her 91st birthday, at the order’s motherhouse in Germantown.

This is the second such investigation that has been undertaken by the Diocese of Metuchen. The first, which took place in 2005, involved an alleged miracle attributed to the intercession of Cardinal Terence Cooke of New York.

October 9, 2009

The Church in the U.S.

Ethicist says ‘mistaken’ reproductive choices can bring ‘surreal’ results

Anchor columnist, Fall River diocesan priest, speaks out

By Nancy Frazier O’Brien Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON — The case of an Ohio woman who recently gave birth to another couple’s child because she was implanted with the wrong embryo at a fertility clinic shows how “potentially surreal” the situation can become when reproduction is separated from the intimacy of marriage, said a leading Catholic ethicist.

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, director of education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, and a priest of the Fall River Diocese, said the situation faced by Carolyn and Sean Savage of Sylvania, Ohio, “reminds us how the exclusivity that is written right into marriage and the marital act is disrupted” through in vitro fertilization and other artificial reproductive technologies.

“You have the possibility now of receiving the wrong child altogether,” he told Catholic News Service in a September 29 telephone interview. “That’s physically impossible the normal way.

Once you step outside the normal elements of exclusivity, it becomes potentially surreal.”

Carolyn Savage gave birth September 24 at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio, to a boy whose biological parents

were Paul and Shannon Morell of Troy, Mich. In a statement, the Savages offered “our heartfelt congratulations to the Morell family on the birth of their son.”

“We wish Paul, Shannon, their twin girls and their new baby boy the best as they move forward with their lives together,” the statement added.

The Savages, who have three children, also asked for privacy, saying, “Our family is going through a very difficult time.”

Carolyn Savage was implanted with the Morells’ frozen embryo in February and was told of the mistake by a doctor from the fertility clinic 10 days later. The Savages have told news media, however, that they never considered an abortion or an attempt to keep the child.

“Of course, we will wonder about this child every day for the rest of our lives,” Carolyn Savage told Meredith Viera of NBC’s “Today” show before the birth. “We have hopes for him, but they’re his parents, and we’ll defer to their judgment on when and if they ever tell him what happened and any contact that’s afforded us. We just want to know he’s healthy and happy.”

Father Pacholczyk said the situation shows that the question that often follows the “mistaken deci-

sions” to have in vitro fertilization is “how can we best pick up the pieces?”

“The best thing we can do is to make sure that no abortions take place, and that was done here,” he said.

“But that does not in any way address the moral dilemmas posed by the prior act — the root cause of the mistaken decision,” said the priest who holds four bachelor’s degrees — in chemistry, biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology, and philosophy — as well as a doctorate in neuroscience from Yale University.

“We’re always picking up the pieces in one way or another,” he added.

Father Pacholczyk said he often receives requests for guidance from couples who have frozen embryos that they can no longer use.

“It’s a burning question for them,” he said. “But I tell them there is no simple answer.”

The priest said the “minimal obligation” for such couples is to “acknowledge that they have children trapped in these frozen orphanages” and to “pay the monthly fees to be sure that their children don’t end up thawing and dying.”

Then, he said, they should “wait and see if someday an answer might present itself,” although he said he is skeptical that science

Cardinal O’Malley among six from U.S, named to Pontifical Council for Family

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI named Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston and five other U.S. Catholics to positions on the Pontifical Council for the Family.

Cardinal O’Malley was one of four cardinals and three bishops named to the presiding committee of the council, which is headed by Italian Cardinal Ennio Antonelli.

The Vatican announced the pope’s appointment of new members and consultants for the council September 30.

Ten married couples from 10 different countries were named members of the council. As the U.S. representatives, Pope Benedict chose a professor of moral theology from The Catholic University of America in Washington and his wife, who are the parents of five children. John S. and Claire Grabowski live in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Only one married couple — Frank and Julie LaBoda — are among the 18 consultants named to the council. The LaBodas, who live in Cross Plains, Wis., in the Diocese of Madison, are international coordinators for the Retrouvaille program for couples experiencing difficulty in their marriages.

The other U.S. consultant named to the council is Teresa Stanton Collett, a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis. She has focused on the importance of protecting human life and marriage and lectures on marriage, religion and bioethics.

will come up with a solution.

Father Pacholczyk also said he sees a need for long-term psychological testing of the children produced through in vitro fertilization or in other unusual reproductive circumstances.

5 “I think studies will find that these children do not do as well (psychologically) as children conceived in the marital embrace,” he said. “I think there will be effects that will be demonstrable, if the studies are done.”

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The Anchor Change for the better, Part II

Last week, in our continuing survey of Catholic analysis of the present health care reform proposals, we began an examination of the “Principles of Catholic Social Teaching and Health Care Reform,” a pastoral letter published jointly by Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., and Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo. They present four principles, the first two of which we covered last Friday: subsidiarity, “the principle by which we respect the inherent dignity and freedom of the individual by never doing for others what they can do for themselves and thus enabling individuals to have the most possible discretion in the affairs of their lives”; and the life and dignity of the human person as the “driving force for care and the constitutive ground of human justice.” We then mentioned how the Kansas City prelates applied both of those principles to the present proposals that have been introduced up until now in Washington.

Today we turn to the other two principles they describe. The third is the obligation to the common good, which, according to the definition found in the “Catechism of the Catholic Church,” is “the sum total of social conditions that allow people, either as groups or individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and easily.” Part of those social conditions facilitating a person’s achieving life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness is obviously that people who are ill or injured are able to be cared for and assisted to toward recovery. Hence they declare that, respectful of the common good, “it is very clear that … we must find some way to provide a safety net for people in need.” They stress, however, that, consistent with the principle of subsidiarity, such a safety net must avoid two things: it must not “diminish personal responsibility” or create an “inordinately bureaucratic structure that will be vulnerable to financial abuse, be crippling to our national economy and remove the sense of human from the work of healing and helping the sick.”

In examination of those conditions, we could say that part of the common good is to increase personal responsibility, particularly with regard to one’s health; it would not be an advance of the common good if either personal decision-making were seriously reduced or if the responsibility that each of us has to keep ourselves as fit and healthy as possible were minimized by making everyone else, rather than ourselves, responsible for paying for the consequences. They add that “these safety nets are not intended to create a permanent dependency for individuals or their families upon the state, but rather to provide them with the opportunity to regain control of their own lives and their own destiny.” The safety nets, in other words, are not supposed to become permanent webs that entangle people in them and limit their legitimate freedom.

Moreover, the conditions for human excellence in our country would not be promoted, they assert, if health care reforms led to the formation of another large, inefficient, costly and corruptionprone federal bureaucracy. It is already bad enough that many need to deal with the red tape of some large health insurance companies; adding multiple levels to the administrative chain through a federal bureaucratization wouldn’t be a step in the right direction. The bishops imply that they believe that present proposals to centralize control of our health care system at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington would do greater damage than good to the common good. Some people may not have as pessimistic evaluations of the efficiency and vulnerabilities of mammoth federal agencies as they and their fellow Midwesterners do, but these bishops are clearly consistent with Catholic teaching when they say that, if health care reforms were to violate the principle of subsidiarity, they would likewise be violating the principle of the common good.

The fourth and final principle they describe is solidarity, which they call “a particular application — on the level of society — of Christ’s command to love your neighbor as yourself” and of the Golden Rule to “do unto others as you would have them do to you.” When we see people suffering, we cannot as individuals and a society walk by on the other side of the road, as the two of the characters did in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. As with the character of the Good Samaritan, who cared for a wounded Jew even though the Jews and Samaritans at the time meticulously avoided each other, we also cannot get so caught up in peripheral issues like race, ethnicity or immigration status, that we forget about the essential humanity of the people who might be suffering in our midst. For this reason, Archbishop Naumann and Bishop Finn state that “legislation that excludes legal immigrants from receiving health care benefits violates the principle of solidarity” and is “unjust” and “not prudent.”

Even though they do not explicitly mention it, the principle of solidarity would likewise say that failing to provide a safety net for illegal immigrants would be “unjust” and “imprudent.” It’s interesting that throughout the country, public health officials are trying to make sure that even illegal immigrants be inoculated against the H1N1 flu virus, because they recognize, at a level of public health, that there is already a connectedness among us. Failure to care for illegal immigrants with regard to the swine flu would place many others at risk. Likewise, failure to care for illegal immigrants in general would place our humanity at risk. The prelates give a simple application of the principle of solidarity when they say, “in evaluating health care reform proposals, perhaps we ought to ask ourselves whether the poor would have access to the kind and quality of health care that you and I would deem necessary for our families.” If the roles were reversed, and our family members were those who would get no medical care when they had been involved in a catastrophic accident, or were in great pain, each of us would want them to have access to health care. Each of us would hope that someone would prove to be a Good Samaritan to us, and that our society would model itself after the Good Samaritan rather than the other two figures in the parable.

None of this discussion necessarily means that the bishops believe that solidarity requires a federalization of health care. It minimally requires that society determine structures so that there is a safety net for those who have no other protection. They ask, without giving an answer (probably because they do not yet have a model to propose), “Is there a way by which the poor, too, can assume more responsibility for their own health care decisions in such manner as reflects their innate human dignity and is protective of their physical and spiritual well being?”

The bishops say that the principles of solidarity and the promotion of the common good mean that “we cannot be passive concerning health care policy in our country.” Each of us has an obligation to the common good and to others not to delegate totally our personal responsibility to elected officials in Washington. They say that “there is important work to be done,” especially in order to ensure that the result of these reforms are not merely “change for change’s sake,” or worse, “change that expands the reach of government beyond its competence,” “change that loses sight of man’s transcendent dignity or the irreplaceable value of human life,” or “change that could diminish the role of those in need as agents of their own care.” Such change would “do more harm than good,” they say, and not be “truly human progress at all.”

They call on the Catholic faithful and all people of good will to “hold our elected official accountable” to these principles of Catholic Social Teaching with regard to health care reform. This is the only way to ensure that all such reform be built on the solid foundation that “all people in every stage of human life count for something.” Otherwise, if health care reform leads us to have to “violate our core beliefs,” they warn that we would not be “aiding people in need, but instead devaluing their human integrity and that of us all.”

October 9, 2009

The martyrdom of waiting

Last week, we focused on the “great miracle” at the feet of his parochial vicar and asked Father of St. John Vianney’s confessional, to which Vianney not only to hear his confession but to beprodigal sons and daughters from all over France come his spiritual director. flocked to be embraced by the merciful love of Once the people of the village discovered that God the Father. The Curé of Ars is rightly called the 29-year-old priest they had known for a dea “martyr of the confessional,” because with un- cade was now a confessor, they began to crowd fathomable stamina for more than 30 years he his confessional, and the sick also began to call imprisoned himself in the confessional up to 18 for him preferentially to come to hear their conhours a day in order to set others free from their fessions at their homes. It’s routine that young sins. priests get more than their average share of work Because of his fame as a ceaseless and he- in the confessional because many penitents anroic confessor, it’s hard for some priests today ticipate that priestly rookies will be easier on to relate to him, because often their experience them out of inexperience. This was not, however, has been quite different that their patron’s: rather what was going on in Ecully. They were asking than having penitents wait up to eight days for for Father Vianney because they knew that there the opportunity to spend five minutes going to was something extraordinarily special about him, confession, many priests would say their expe- even in comparison to Father Balley, their holy rience has been more like needing to wait eight and ascetic pastor. days to have five penitents.

It must have been quite a shock for Father That’s why it’s useful to recognize that it took Vianney, therefore, after Father Balley’s death, to St. John Vianney almost a decade as pastor in Ars be transferred from a parish in which he was inbefore his people began to have regular recourse undated with penitents to one in which he barely to him as a confessor. From 1818-1827, no mat- heard any confessions. ter how much he preached on God’s mercy, on Even still, Catholics in other places saw, and sin and on the sacrament of penance, no matter took advantage of, what his own parishioners how many all-night vigils he spent in his tiny failed or refused to see. During his first several church begging God for the conversion of his years in Ars, St. John Vianney — and all the pasparish, few of his tors of the area people came to — would asconfession. The sist the Carthuonly people who sian monks who generally came would come into were those who, the area to preach according to the lengthy missions custom of the trying to bring time, wanted to the people back

By Father receive holy Comto the practice Roger J. Landry munion at Mass of the faith. Beon Sunday and cause so many for that reason Carthusians had came to confession the previous day. And since been killed during the terror of the French Revothe people in Ars, like in most of the Catholic lution, and because the state of the knowledge world at the time, sought to approach the altar and practice of the faith had collapsed due to the rail only once or a few times a year, the martyr- brainwashing and persecutions of the revoludom St. John Vianney experienced in the confes- tionaries, the Carthusians needed all the priests sional during his first 10 years as pastor of this of the area to help them in the pulpit and in the tiny village of 230 was, like many priests today, a confessional. So the priests of surrounding vilmartyrdom of abandoned, expectant waiting. lages would leave their parishes during the week Adding to his agony as a pastor, while doubt- to assist the Carthusians in these missions taking less providing some consolation as a priest, place in the region. was the fact that in parishes other than his own, The holy monks recognized that there was people were coming to his confessional in great something special about the pastor of Ars as a numbers. confessor. Their preaching would almost always In Ecully, the parish he was assigned upon be effective in getting people to return to the sachis ordination, the people literally couldn’t wait raments, but they began to notice on their misto go to confession to him. Just as it is one of the sions that the lines for Father Vianney were algreat ironies of Catholic history that the future ways much longer than the lines for other priests. patron saint of priests was dismissed from the Moreover, long after the other priests had called it Lyons seminary by the priests on the faculty, so, a day after hearing confessions for hours to return too, it is hagiographically incongruous that the for a late dinner in the rectory, St. John Vianney future martyr of the confessional was not given would remain in the confessional, sometimes the faculties to hear confessions until months af- until long after midnight, to reconcile those who ter his priestly ordination. were still waiting. On occasion, the local pastor It was common practice in the Church until would come to try to “rescue” him about 9 p.m., basically after the Second Vatican Council for but doing so would almost always cause a revolt. bishops and dioceses to restrict the faculties of Pastors admitted that they loved his assistance, priests to hear confessions until some time after because, as one said, “He worked hard and ate their ordination, when they would either pass a nothing.” special test or be considered sufficiently mature Once, on the night before the mission was and experienced to begin hearing confessions. scheduled to end, the crush of people who had On some occasions, they would receive no fac- waited to the last second to go to confession, as ulties to hear confessions at all except when a well as those who were returning to Father Vianpenitent was in danger of death; some priests, ney after a previous experience with him in the in fact, would spend their whole priesthood as a sacrament, surged around his confessional so “simplex priest,” capable of no priestly ministra- much that they pushed over both the confessional tions except celebrating private Masses or public and the confessor within it.

Masses without a homily. On other occasions, On another occasion, because he was so expriests would be given the faculties to confess hausted after a marathon in the holy ice-box, he only certain groups of “easy penitents,” like collapsed in the snow trying to make his way young children. In many places, the last group of home. The rumor soon spread around Ars, howpenitents that priests would be given the faculties ever, that their pastor, in fact, was dead, having to confess was not hardened felons, but religious died of exhaustion in the coffin of his missionary women, a fact I must admit I’ve always consid- confessional. ered both absurd and unwise.

Despite his hearing confessions almost nonRegardless, for the first few months of his stop in other places, when he returned to Ars, priesthood, the future “extraordinary apostle of there was still only a trickle. In 1827, he was the confessional,” as Pope John Paul II would hearing, at most, 20 confessions a day, with those later call him, needed to tell the people of Ecully numbers buttressed by penitents coming from who asked him to hear their confessions that he surrounding villages. had not yet received authorization. That changed After 10 years of prayer, mortification, preachwhen his mentor and first pastor, the saintly and ing and hard work, that would soon change. What learned Father Charles Balley, approached the had been a mustard seed would soon become a ecclesiastical authorities in Lyons and persuaded tree in which not only the people of Ars but all the them that his curate was ready. As soon as he re- penitents of France would be able to find refuge. turned to give Father Vianney the good news, he Father Landry is pastor of St. Anthony of put him to work. The pastor dropped to his knees Padua Parish in New Bedford.

Putting Into the Deep

October 9, 2009

I

can hardly believe it’s been 20 years since I was ordained a priest. Where does the time go? I still feel like I’m the 30-year-old man who was ordained at St. Camillus Church in Silver Spring, Md., in 1989. On the other hand, my body sometimes gently reminds me that I am not 30 years old anymore.

Having lived the last 20 years of my life as a priest, I realize that I am a very rich man. I’m not talking about a Warren Buffet, $37 billion kind of rich. I’m talking about a kind of wealth that even millions or billions of dollars could never buy.

Recently, I responded to an emergency call that was made to Our Lady of Victory in Centerville. The woman on the phone explained that her husband was dying, and she requested that a priest come to the home to anoint him with the sacrament of the sick.

I must admit that often my first reaction when I’m asked to anoint someone is usually not, “Great. I can’t wait to get over there.” Usually, I feel a sense of apprehension and anxiety about entering the situation.

No one really “enjoys” being around serious illness and heart-wrenching sadness. Yet,

H

uman pregnancy begins whenever a sperm unites with an egg inside the fallopian tube. The newly-minted embryo must then travel along the fallopian tube during the next few days before finally implanting into the wall of the mother’s uterus.

In rare instances, the embryo will fail to reach the uterus, and will instead implant in the fallopian tube along the way, which is a very narrow tube not designed to support a pregnancy.

Such “tubal pregnancies” are highly risky, because the wall of the tube can stretch only a limited amount before it will rupture from the increasing pressure of the growing fetus, possibly resulting in the death of mother and child.

Whenever an embryo implants in the wrong place, whether in the fallopian tube or in another place like the abdomen, such a pregnancy is called “ectopic” meaning “out of place.” Ninety-seven percent of all ectopic pregnancies occur within the fallopian tube. Ectopic pregnancy is one of the leading causes of maternal sickness and death in the United States, and presents a formidable challenge to the physician who is trying to help

7

The Anchor

Riches beyond measure

these experiences are often very irony and the humor of a priest confessing something to somebeautiful and powerful. one who was dying was not lost I arrived at the house about on any of us. We all chuckled, 15 minutes after receiving the including the dying man. Then message, and I was greeted by we all prayed together. the woman who had called.

I had brought holy ComHer husband was lying in bed, munion with me so that the conscious, but obviously weak. man and his family could be Their daughter also joined us, and our conversation was relaxed and natural.

I felt at home with the Year For Priests family, and they seemed Vocational Reflection at home with me. But even “feeling at home” doesn’t explain how

By Father I ended up telling the John P. Kelleher, OSB story that spontaneously came out of me within a matter of minutes. comforted and strengthened by Suddenly, I found myself receiving the presence of Jesus telling the dying man a story in the Eucharist. They were about the time I was stopped by grateful to receive this precious the police on the Massachusetts gift. We also celebrated the sacTurnpike as I went through rament of the anointing of the Chicopee. I had been caught sick. I anointed the man on his speeding. The speed limit had forehead and on the palms of his changed from 65 to 55 on that hands with the oil that had been part of the turnpike, and I had neglected to make the necessary blessed by Bishop George W. Coleman at the Chrism Mass. In adjustment and slow my car the midst of our shared prayer, down. So I was issued a speedI felt a sense of peace and calm ing ticket. among us. It seems that the love When I finished telling the of God, in all of its beauty and story, I remarked to the man, splendor, was very powerfully “This is my confession to you. present with us in Word (ScripWill you absolve me?” The

ture), in sacrament, and in our attention to one another during this encounter.

Before I left the house, the family expressed their sincere and heartfelt gratitude for my visit. It had obviously meant a great deal to them. But it had also meant a lot to me. From my perspective, I had shared the presence of Christ with a faith-filled family. But I had also experienced the Lord’s loving presence through them. We had shared stories, we had prayed together, and by being a little playful, I had made a dying man laugh one more time. I am not kidding when I tell you: That made my day.

A few days later, much to my surprise, I actually received a thank-you card from the man who was dying. He told me he was deeply grateful for my visit, and that he missed worshiping with us in the parish community.

His wife told me that he really wanted to get that card out to me. It was so important to him.

It made my day again.

The man who chuckled at my highway confession and at my playful request for absolution

When pregnancy goes awry

of direct abortion. both mother and child.

Another morally problemOf the three commonly performed procedures for address- atic technique involves cutting ing ectopic pregnancies, two along the length of the fallopian raise significant moral concerns tube where the child is embedwhile the third is morally ac- ded and “scooping out” the living body of the child, who dies ceptable.

The first procedure involves a drug called methotrexate, which targets the most rapidly growing cells of the embryo, especially the placenta-like cells which

By Father Tad attach the early embryo Pacholczyk to the wall of the tube.

Some have suggested that methotrexate might preferentially target these pla- shortly thereafter. The tube can centa-like cells, distinct from then be sutured back up. This the rest of the embryo, so that approach, like the use of methoit could be seen as “indirectly” trexate, leaves the fallopian tube ending the life of the embryo. largely intact for possible future Others, however, have noted pregnancies, but also raises obthat these placenta-like cells vious moral objections because are in fact a part of the embryo it likewise directly causes the itself (being produced by the death of the child.

Interestingly, both proceembryo, not by the mother), so that the use of methotrex- dures are normally presented to ate actually targets a vital or- patients exclusive of any moral gan of the embryo, resulting in considerations. They are framed his or her death. A significant strictly as the means to assure number of Catholic moralists the least damage possible to hold that the use of methotrex- the mother’s reproductive sysate is not morally permissible, tem. Many doctors will admit, because it constitutes a direct however, that these techniques attack on the growing child in usually leave the fallopian tube the tube, and involves a form scarred, increasing the chances

Making Sense Out of Bioethics

of yet another tubal pregnancy by setting up the conditions for the occurrence to happen again.

About half of the cases of tubal pregnancy will resolve on their own, with the embryo being naturally lost without the need for any intervention. When an ectopic pregnancy does not resolve by itself, a morally acceptable approach would involve removal of the whole section of the tube on the side of the woman’s body where the unborn child is lodged. Although this results in reduced fertility for the woman, the section of tube around the growing child has clearly become pathological, and constitutes a mounting threat with time. This threat is addressed by removal of the tube, with the secondary, and unintended, effect that the child within will then die.

In this situation, the intention of the surgeon is directed towards the good effect (removing the damaged tissue to save the mother’s life) while only tolerating the bad effect (death of the ectopic child). Importantly, the surgeon is choosing to act on the tube (a part of the mother’s body) rather than directly

died about a week after my visit.

I was able to visit him one more time before he died, but by the time of my second visit, he was no longer able to communicate verbally. I have since shed a few tears for this man and his family, and said a lot of prayers for them, too. I am grateful that my life was enriched because our paths intersected, if only for a short time.

This is what I mean when I say that in my life as a priest I am very rich. Money can’t buy an experience like the one I just described. Money can’t buy experiences with others that are beautiful, powerful, meaningful, touching, sacred or truly life-giving. Yet, in my life as a priest, these kinds of experiences are possible on any given day.

You just have to give yourself to them.

I am happy to say that I am a very rich man. Filthy rich, in fact. But my wealth has little to do with money, and lots to do with the only three things that really last: faith, hope and love.

Father Kelleher was ordained a Benedictine priest in 1989 and is parochial vicar at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville.

on the child. Additionally, the child’s death is not the means via which the cure occurs. If a large tumor, instead of a baby, were present in the tube, the same curative procedure would be employed. It is tubal removal, not the subsequent death of the baby, that is curative for the mother’s condition.

Some say that cutting out a section of the tube with a baby inside is no different than using methotrexate because, in either case, the baby ends up dying.

Yet the difference in how the baby dies is, in fact, critical.

There is always a difference between killing someone directly and allowing someone to die of indirect causes. We may never directly take the life of an innocent human being, though we may sometimes tolerate the indirect and unintended loss of life that comes with trying to properly address a life-threatening medical situation.

Father Pacholczyk earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, and serves as the director of Education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. See www. ncbcenter.org.

8

The Anchor

W

e have all heard it said when someone is doing well in terms of material wealth that he or she “must be living right.”

Indeed, the rich young man in today’s Gospel from St. Mark was living “right” by the standard of his day. He walked away from Jesus in despair, however, when he was told that being good was not enough, that you must also give away your possessions. Not only must he be good, but he must do good things. He must take this gift of material wealth and redistribute it. This didn’t jibe too well back then and it doesn’t sit that well today either.

It’s easy to point fingers at the incredibly rich like Bernard Maddoff, or executives from companies such as Enron or AIG, who, in their greed and unquenchable

October 9, 2009

Wealth management redefined

thirst for more symbolize the ing those material things and “wrong” kind of rich. Jesus’ the accompanying lifestyle. disciples are stunned when he When it comes to how we said, not once, but twice that distribute our wealth, both it is near impossible for a rich personally and as a nation, man to get to heaven. Surely many of the choices that we he cannot mean that it is wrong to be rich.

There has to be a Homily of the Week “right” kind of rich, Twenty-Eighth Sunday doesn’t there? in Ordinary Time There is nothing inherently bad about

By Deacon material wealth. ProbDoug Medeiros lems arise when our focus turns to and becomes dominated by the accumulation and mainmake day in and day out are tenance of material wealth. much more consistent with When this happens, as it so maintaining the status quo often does, there is not a lot than they are with the will of of room for God in our lives.

God. Unfortunately, many of us Jesus told the rich man to use the gift of wealth to progive it all away to the poor cure material things, which, and follow him. This world in turn, leads to a lot of time would cease to function as and energy spent maintainwe know it if we all fol-

lowed these words literally.

While some may argue that this needs to happen, there is more meaning in this message. Jesus is calling us to give away our attachments to wealth and to follow him by doing without our possessions as he would have done.

These attachments cloud our vision. When we let them go, we begin to see what is truly meaningful in our lives.

People have lost a lot of things as a result of the current economic problems. Having and then not having creates opportunity. My leg was amputated about 10 years ago. Every day I struggle just to get from point A to point B, and every day I must let go of the struggle. In letting go, we become free. When we

let go of our attachments to wealth, our priorities come into focus, and we are able to distribute that wealth where it will do the most good, because we can finally see clearly.

God entrusts wealth to us.

We must be wise stewards of that wealth. The more we have, the greater the responsibility we have to God’s people and God’s creation. The current economic problems are the direct result of our ignoring this truth. Only with the grace of God and a conscious and mighty effort to change will we be able to let go of our will and manage wealth according to God’s will.

Deacon Medeiros will be married 25 years next July.

He and his wife Sue have three daughters and two cats. He serves at St. Joseph’s Parish in Fairhaven.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Oct. 10, Jl 4:12-21; Ps 97:1-2,5-6,11-12; Lk 11:27-28. Sun. Oct. 11, Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Wis 7:7-11; Ps 90:12-17; Heb 4:12-13; Mk 10:17-30 or 10:17-27. Mon. Oct. 12, Rom 1: 1-7; Ps 98:1-4; Lk 11:29-32. Tues. Oct. 13, Rom 1:16-25; Ps 19:2-5; Lk 11:37-41. Wed. Oct. 14, Rom 2:1-11; Ps 62:2-3,6-7,9; Lk 11:42-46.

Thur. Oct. 15, Rom 3:21-30; Ps 130:1-6; Lk 11:47-54. Fri. Oct. 16, Rom 4:1-8; Ps 32:1-2,5,11; Lk 12:1-7.

O

n Christmas Day, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev transferred the Soviet nuclear codes to Boris Yeltsin, called President George H.W. Bush to wish him a happy Christmas, and picked up a pen, intending to sign the document that would dissolve the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, created by Lenin 74 years before.

The pen wouldn’t work.

Gorbachev had to borrow a replacement from a CNN crew covering the story.

The Cold War was officially

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Some Cold War truths

over, which was a very good Things are not much better in thing. Yet as we prepare to mark the United States, I fear. the 20th anniversary of the fall Americans are traditionally of the Berlin Wall — the symgood winners who don’t hold bolic centerpiece of the Revogrudges. There was no gloating lution of 1989, which made the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 virtually inevitable — there seems to be a remarkable lack of interest in a struggle that

By George Weigel dominated world politics for 43 years, threatening nuclear ruin to North America, Europe and the USSR, over the collapse of the USSR. devastating Korea and Southeast There were no equivalents of the Asia, and embroiling the Third Nuremberg Trials, or the Allied World in proxy wars from which military tribunals in post-war many developing countries have Japan, to bring the murderers of never really recovered. Somethe KGB to book. There wasn’t thing that large and consequeneven a VC Day — Victory tial, you would think, would Over Communism Day — to merit considerable and ongoing parallel VE Day and VJ Day in attention. Yet, to take but one 1945. Perhaps many Americans example, modern history classes thought it would have been in Polish schools today stop at unsporting to declare victory.

1939 (or, in some cases 1945).

We quickly put the Cold War

The Catholic Difference

behind us.

Worse than today’s lack of interest, however, are those interpretations of the Cold War that suggest it was all a terrible misunderstanding, or that Stalin was “provoked” into hostility toward the West, or that the West could have comes to terms with the Soviet Union long before 1989.

With an eye toward the 20th anniversary of the wall coming down, let me propose a few truths about the Cold War and its ending, with special reference to the Catholic Church and its roles under, and against, communism: Moral equivalence is moral idiocy. The United States and its western allies during the Cold War were imperfect democracies that sometimes did wicked things. Throughout the Cold War (and long before), the Soviet Union was a pluperfect tyranny that did terrible things as a matter of course, murdering millions of innocent people in cold blood. Any suggestion that the U.S. and the USSR were “two scorpions in a bottle” (as one Carter administration nominee famously put it) reflects a fundamental moral obtuseness about the situation.

The Ostpolitik of Pope Paul VI did not ease the situation of the Catholic Church behind the iron curtain. Pope Paul’s openness to dialogue with communist regimes can claim one

genuine (if unintended) accomplishment: it created openings that a Polish pope (who viewed his predecessor’s Ostpolitik with considerable skepticism) could exploit (often against the counsel of Vatican diplomats). On the ground, the Ostpolitik of Paul VI was a disaster in Hungary (where most bishops from the mid-1960s on collaborated with the regime), in Czechoslovakia (where the underground Church felt betrayed), and even in Rome, where Soviet bloc intelligence agencies used the new diplomatic contacts necessitated by the Ostpolitik to penetrate the Vatican in a quite striking way.

Moral power was the key to success. Communism might have collapsed of its own economic incompetence, but why did it collapse in 1989 rather than 1999 or 2009 or 2019?

And why did it collapse without violence (Romania excepted)?

Our premier Cold War historian, John Lewis Gaddis of Yale, has the answer: the moral revolution launched by John Paul II during his first pilgrimage to Poland in June 1979 was the key to all the rest.

There were winners and losers in this epic contest. Be grateful that we won. Be grateful for all those who sacrificed blood and treasure for the victory.

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

A tale of two rectories

Sunday 4 October 2009 — on a letter in the mail announcing I had been awarded Senior the shores of the Segregansett Citizenship by the American River — Full Frost Moon Association of Retired Persons, enjoy all four seasons we have the good fortune to experience here in New England.

Each has its own unique Reflections of a charm. I could never live Parish Priest where May looked and

By Father Tim felt the same as OctoGoldrick ber. When it comes to weather, give me variety.

My preference in my personal weather preferseasons has changed as I grow ences underwent a polarity shift. older. As a boy, I would have Whether or not school is in said that summer and winter recess affects my life very little were my favorite seasons; summer because school was out and now. I completed my formal education almost four decades winter because of all the fun I ago. So much for summer. could have playing in the snow.

As for winter, it’s cold, dark, Back then, if I had been asked and dreary. I used to like winter to choose between the two, I the best, as I say, but I got over probably would have favored it. That leaves me with a choice winter. Christmas would have between spring and fall. At this tipped the scales. time in my life, both are my faAbout the time I received

I

I

9

The Anchor

October 9, 2009

The Ship’s Log

vorites. Spring is now a distant memory, and autumn is upon us, so I like fall best.

Is it just me who feels cheated out of summer?

We had only a couple of weeks of what anyone would call real beach weather. This is not to say I’m a beach person.

Thanks to my Irish genes, I can get a thirddegree sunburn by simply walking by an open window in the month of August.

Even in those long-ago college years, when I spent hours at the beach as a lifeguard, I was still getting serious sunburns in September. This was back in the far distant past before sunscreen had even been invented. This summer is definitely gone. It may have been the shortest summer on record, but I’m ready for autumn. The wheel of the year has turned.

Profiles of life in the womb and beyond

children they are carrying. ’ve got to admit that It is estimated that twice as at times being in the many babies are saved when Pro-Life movement feels a mother sees her child in an like swimming in mud. I am ultrasound than when she is heartened, however, by the only given verbal counseling. certain knowledge that even Now, that is pretty powerful. the big icons of other civil rights movements, like Susan B. Anthony and Martin Luther King Jr., doubtlessly had muddy moments in their own counter-cultural quests, yet they

By Heidi Bratton pressed on to victory.

I am also heartened in our Pro-Life quest by how the With this in mind I have terms of the debate over the “composed” a 4,000-word rights of unborn Americans photographic essay titled, are shifting in our favor.

“Profiles of Life in the Womb Thanks to amazing advances and Beyond.” The sequence in ultrasound technology, no of four pictures begins with one except the most willfully an ultrasound of the profile uninformed can honestly of the youngest of our six believe that an unborn child children, Jesse, taken in my is just a “blob” of tissue. womb at 38 weeks old. I was Ultrasounds have become the so captivated by the clarultimate example of a picity of his ultrasound profile ture being worth a thousand that I positioned his head the words by their ability to open same way and took pictures the eyes and hearts of unof him as a newborn, at six prepared mothers to the real

Home Grown Faith

and at 20 months after birth, respectively. Each profile is unmistakably Jesse’s, and the sequence wordlessly confirms that the adorable toddler we now love to snuggle and smother with kisses was and is the same little boy whose heart beat below mine for the first nine months of his childhood.

Please join my family and me in the 2009 Fall River Diocese “40 Days for Life” campaign as we fast and pray that the parents of all unborn children would have the courage and love to let their baby live. During the remaining days of this campaign I also pray that God would strengthen and encourage each and every person involved in the Pro-Life quest for the rights of the unborn.

Heidi is an author, photographer, and full-time mother.

She and her husband raise their six children in Falmouth. homegrownfaith@ gmail.com.

These mornings are much gloomier now when I take the greyhounds out for their first walk of the day. I bring them in two shifts. Lolo is usually the last of the three to roll out of the sack. If it happens to be raining outside, he opens one eye, blinks, and goes back to sleep.

Once he’s up, however, Lolo is eager to go out and see what’s new in the world. His enthusiasm is difficult to contain at the end of a leash. He’s full of vim and vinegar. I’m not. For this reason, mild-mannered greyhounds Transit and Cleopatra can be walked simultaneously, but it’s best if Lolo travels solo at the start of the day.

The only morning this past summer I found Transit difficult to handle was when we were both astonished to hear the near-by roar of a firebreathing dragon. We looked to the north, south, east and west but saw nothing. When Transit looked up, he spotted the huge creature. Transit’s customary serenity was instantly shattered. He was terrified, poor thing. It took him 15 minutes to stop shaking. A hot-air balloon was passing just a few feet over our heads.

The sky is dark in the dawning. The clouds have changed color, texture, and shape. The birds are strangely silent. The air is chill; the grass damp. Brilliant hues are appearing in the leaves of the maples. I notice that it’s the trees under stress

that begin to show their true color earliest. It’s the same with people.

I am somewhat under stress myself as I prepare to downsize and move from the Spring Street rectory to the County Street rectory. It will be nice, though, once the cold winter winds blow, to luxuriate in a house with functioning central heating.

There is work that would best be done at the County Street rectory before I relocate there.

The exterior will have to wait for another time. The interior is dark and dank. A fresh coat of paint on the walls and a good scrubbing of floors and washing of windows will probably do wonders to brighten up the place. The layers of rotten wooden floorboards in the cellar have been removed by the shovelful. Now that the debris is gone, it appears that the drain system is working. The accumulated mold on walls and ceilings will be next on the list. I am not making this up.

Between the two rectories, both of them need much work just to make them safe and sound. The parish can afford none of it. It’s a choice between cold and mold. We’ll be more likely to find a cure for the common mold.

These are the best of times.

These are the worst of times.

Stay tuned.

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

10 B y Michael Pare A nchor C orrespondent

FALL RIVER — Sometimes in life, you find yourself at a place and you just know that it is where you are supposed to be.

Peter Boudreau has found such a place. It is St. Michael’s Parish on Essex Street.

A native of Somerset, Boudreau and his wife Helen, who lost a 19-month battle with cancer a year ago, joined the Fall River parish seven years ago after enrolling their daughter Cassandra in the parish elementary school.

Where to educate Cassandra was an important decision for Peter and Helen. Peter had attended Catholic school for several years as a child. It was an experience that left a lasting impression. Helen was born in the Azores. Her Catholic faith had deep roots. In their daughter, they saw an opportunity to place an emphasis on the Catholic faith.

“When I was a kid, I didn’t pay enough attention in school or in church,” said Boudreau.

“Having a child allowed me to travel over some places that I may not have traveled so well

The Anchor

October 9, 2009

Where he is meant to be

the first time. We knew that we rive each month are treated wanted her to go to Catholic with dignity and respect. school.”

“The volunteers prepare the While they may not have realized the significance of it at the time, enrolling Cassandra at St. Michael’s School meant that the Boudreaus would register as parishioners at the church and in short time, become a part of a very special community.

It was the beginning of a relationship that would touch them in a deep and profound way.

Simply put, St. Michael’s Parish became that place they needed to be.

Not long after they became parishioners, Peter and Helen began working together at the St. Michael’s soup kitchen. A team of volunteers dutifully staff the kitchen on the third Saturday of each month. ANCHOR PERSON OF THE WEEK — In addition to prepar- Boudreau. ing food, they organize donations of clothing and put food with pride,” said Boutogether bags of groceries. The dreau. “And when the people 100 visitors that typically ar- come to us there are no questions asked.”

The volunteers, said Boudreau, seem to get as much out of the experience as those who visit for a meal.

“You get a good feeling of doing what you learn in church,” he said. “We are reminded that there are people among us who are worse off than we are and they are people that we see every day.”

Boudreau has been struck by the camaraderie that has developed over the years. He has be-

friended his fellow volunteers at the soup kitchen. Some visitors, many of whom have been caught in the crosshairs of an unforgiving economic downturn, have also become friends.

In addition to the soup kitchen, Boudreau also became involved on the Parish Pastoral Council and has been a constant at the regular Bingo and with the school’s PTO. He does not see it as work, but rather a natural extension of life in the parish community.

That St. Michael’s Parish had become family was never more evident than when Helen Boudreau took ill. Her courageous battle was a challenge like no other for the family. But at every turn it seemed that members of the closeknit St. Michael’s family were there to do whatevPeter er they could to ease the burden. It was a response that Boudreau will never forget.

“They bombarded us with help,” said Boudreau. “There were people in our house every day with food. People gave my daughter rides to school. We were in a blanket of friendship.

They made sure that we didn’t have a worry in the world except for Helen’s illness.”

In the wake of his wife’s passing, Boudreau sees the impact and very presence of St. Michael’s Parish in him and his daughter’s lives as vitally important.

“It’s like she is being raised by the world’s largest family,”

he said.

When Boudreau is working at the Bingo, for example, Cassandra is there to help. She helps at the soup kitchen, as well. They are an extension of one another — and of their parish.

“She is learning by example,” said Boudreau. “And when she is at St. Michael’s, she is in a safe atmosphere.”

Father Edward Correia, the pastor at St. Michael’s sees Peter Boudreau as a shining example of one living his faith.

“He is so ready to help,” said Father Correira. “You feel so comfortable in his presence.”

Boudreau accepts such accolades with humility. He is not doing anything special, he insists. No, he is part of a big family and families look after one another. And like so many who volunteer, Boudreau truly feels that he gets far more out of the experience than he gives.

“The energy I get out of that parish,” he said, “draws you in and makes you want to do more.”

Boudreau thinks back to his days as a youth in Catholic school and realizes that maybe some of those lessons that he didn’t think sank in at the time maybe actually did. He sees Cassandra and knows that he and Helen made a wise choice in joining St. Michael’s. It’s definitely the place they need to be.

“I feel so fortunate to have had a second chance to learn all of this,” he said.

To nominate a Person of the Week, send an email message to FatherRogerLandry@ AnchorNews.org.

October 9, 2009

The Anchor

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Boston priests to try their hand at movie-review series for TV

WASHINGTON — Everybody’s a critic, so the saying goes.

Well, maybe not everybody, but two priests from the Archdiocese of Boston are trying their hand at a Siskel-and-Ebert-style movie-review TV show.

“Spotlight” debuted Monday on CatholicTV, run by the Boston Archdiocese. The priests, Fathers Chip Hines and Bill Kelly, reviewed classic films and current fare in theaters.

Seven episodes had been taped in advance, in part so that Father Kelly could go to Ars, France, on a priests’ retreat. Father Hines, his co-host, said it was likely that Father Kelly would try to take in some French films while he was there.

Father Kelly, who is director of the archdiocesan Office of Clergy Support, likes “arty” films, according to Father Hines, who spoke to Catholic News Service in a recent telephone interview from Wrentham, Mass., where he is pastor of St. Mary Parish.

For his part, Father Hines is a fan of American cinema. “When I was a kid I always loved going to the movies. My parents took me to see ‘Star Wars’ when I was nine years old, the first ‘Star Wars,’” he said.

Father Hines estimated he goes to the multiplex about once a week on average to take in a film. “I love going to the movies, and renting them too — renting the DVDs and poring over the extras,” he said.

He has a subscription with Blockbuster Video in which the retailer mails him three flicks a week — and he sees all three.

“Some of them I like, some of them I don’t, some of them I can’t wait for,” Father Hines told CNS. “I remember ‘Lord of the Rings’ (films) were so highly anticipated I couldn’t wait to see them.”

Father Hines described how the show came about. “Father Kelly, who’s my co-host, and I were waiting for a friend in his office at the chancery. We were going out to dinner, a bunch of us were going out, and we were discussing (the movie) ‘The Depart-

ed.’ We were discussing back and forth over whether Amy Adams’ performance was Oscar-worthy.

One of the guys said, ‘You should have a show,’ and it blossomed from there.”

“I think it’s going to become a real fan favorite,” said Brian Swift, who produces “Spotlight” for CatholicTV. “We’re trying to get some fun programming on the station.”

“Spotlight” makes its weekly bow at 6 p.m. Mondays, with repeats being shown at 8 p.m.

Thursdays, noon and 10 p.m. Saturdays, and 6:30 a.m. Mondays.

So, what does Father Hines like?

“I saw ‘Julie & Julia’ recently.

I thought that was very good. I thought it was well-done, and the acting was excellent,” he said.

“I saw recently an independent movie, ‘Five Minutes in Heaven’ with Liam Neeson.

“It’s about reconciliation, really. A Protestant, played by Neeson, who killed an Irish Catholic in Northern Ireland in the ’70s, and trying to reconcile with his brother,” he said. “I’m big on reconciliation themes. I’m a priest, I should be.”

Father Hines added, “’Indiana Jones’ — I love those movies.

They were among my favorite of all time. I wouldn’t call them art, but I’m not one of those arty, snobby film critics. I like what I like and I want to see what I like.”

He said he is rarely disappointed by his movie choices. “I think they all do have something.

I try to see something positive in everything. My father says, ‘You never dislike a movie.’ I do try to find something redeeming in them, I really do. Acting or directing or cinematography. You can find something to hang your hat on.”

By the same token, though, “I seriously try to avoid something that looks like it’s going to be bad,” Father Hines told CNS. One recent example was Keenen Ivory Wayans’ latest film-genre spoof, “Dance Flick.”

“I said to myself, ‘Yeah, I can do without that one,’” Father Hines said.

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

Vocation Awareness Sunday

Celebrant is Father Kevin A. Cook, diocesan assistant director of Vocations, and chaplain at Coyle and Cassidy High School in Taunton.

October 9, 2009

Boston Walk For Life reaffirms respect for all continued from page one

Thomas said that after a lengthy process of approval, Jumbos for Life — named after Jumbo, the college’s mascot — had a starting budget of $114.26 for the entire academic year.

The group has worked to raise money for pregnancy centers and sponsor talks with national ProLife speakers. The club received recognition as the best new student organization after its first year, she said.

With successes have come challenges. For a time Jumbos for Life was involved in an “op-ed war” in The Tufts Daily, the school’s independent student newspaper, she said.

“Massachusetts is a tough climate for the Pro-Life movement,” she said, but added, “Every life saved and every heart changed is a victory.”

From the podium, James Sedlak encouraged Pro-Lifers to speak out about their beliefs and get the word out about the harm Planned Parenthood does. Sedlak is vice president of the American Life League and executive director of STOPP International, a group dedicated to working against Planned Parent-

hood.

“Planned Parenthood is not wanted in our communities,” he said. “In Massachusetts abortion is Planned Parenthood. They do two out of three abortions in this state.”

He added, Planned Parenthood performs more than 300,000 abortions and makes a profit of $1 billion every year. The organization has opened five clinics this year and a fifth, located in Worchester, is expected to open before the year’s close. However, Planned Parenthood has also closed 15 clinics in 2009.

Sedlak said the tireless work of Pro-Lifers has led Planned Parenthood to close more clinics than it opens. Their work has also made funding for abortion an important topic in the national health care debate, he added.

Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley also thanked those in attendance for their witness. In a statement read

by Marianne Luthin, director of the Archdiocese of Boston’s Pro-Life Office, he said that Catholics need to bring their faith into the public square and oppose the deaths of innocent children.

Cardinal O’Malley was un-

able to attend the walk because he was in France for a retreat during the Year for Priests. His message thanked in particular the youth who are the “hope of the Church.”

“Thank you for your steadfast witness,” he said.

For the second year, the Archdiocese of Boston sponsored a youth rally at Cathedral High School on the morning of the Respect Life Walk. This year’s theme was “Walk as Children of the Light” and participants wore bright orange shirts.

Two of the youth said they wanted to support life by attending the rally, Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston and the walk.

Ali Eddlem, a junior in high school from Taunton, said, “It’s important to recognize every human life as significant.”

Johnny Reed, a 14-year-old from Berkley, said, “The babies never had a chance to live. I think about ‘What if I didn’t have that chance?’”

On the walk, Lillian Smith of Abington talked about attending the event almost since its beginning more than two decades ago.

“We are not going away,” she said. “We’re the only voice the unborn has.”

Many families walk together.

Marianne Hudelson and her husband brought their son this year and even last year when he was only eight weeks old.

We feel it’s important to show face here,” she said.

Hudelson, from Lexington, added that she knows her family represents many Pro-Life families that are unable to attend.

As with each year, approximately 30 protesters stood along the route. Many of them were high school and college-aged women.

They chanted “Our bodies. Our lives. Our right to decide” and “Not the church. Not the state. Women will decide their fate.”

Christina Lenoles, state director of Massachusetts National Organization of Women, said the demonstrators gather to make their opinion heard.

“It’s good for the choice community to counter a view that we do not agree with,” she said.

Donna Barnes of Methuen said she hopes the walk is an opportunity to change a few minds, including those of the protesters.

“I think they’re good people. I think they’re mislead,” she said of them.

Barnes continued that she would like more people to understand that there are always better options than abortion and that support for women facing crisis pregnancies exists.

Like many others, Barnes prayed the rosary while she walked and said of her participation, “It’s all for the glory of God.”

Mostar bishop reiterates rules for Medjugorje parish

MOSTAR, Bosnia-Herzegovina (CNS) — Confirming young people from the parish in the Bosnian town of Medjugorje, Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar-Duvno asked them not to behave as if the alleged Marian apparitions reported in the parish were real.

In late September, the bishop posted on his diocesan Website an Italian translation of his homily from the June confirmation Mass, as well as letters to the Franciscan pastor of the Medjugorje parish and to another priest serving there.

Bishop Peric had told the young people that, during a visit to the Vatican early in the year, the top officials at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Vatican Secretariat of State confirmed they were telling anyone who asked that the Catholic Church has never recognized the alleged apparitions as authentic.

“Brothers and sisters, let us not act as if these ‘apparitions’ were recognized and worthy of faith,” the bishop said in the homily he gave June 6.

“If, as Catholics ... we want to live according to the norms and the teaching of the church, glorifying the Holy Trinity, venerating Blessed Mary ... and professing all the church has established in the creed, we do not turn to certain alternative ‘apparitions’ or ‘messages’ to which the church has not attributed any supernatural character,” Bishop Peric said.

After the confirmation Mass in Medjugorje, the bishop also made a pastoral visit to the parish and published the follow-up letters he had written to Franciscan Father Petar Vlasic, the pastor, and to Franciscan Father Danko Perutina, one of the parochial vicars.

The bishop praised Father Vlasic for the way he was handling what he called “the Medjugorje phenomenon,” which began in 1981 when six young people — Mirjana Dragicevic, Marija Pavlovic, Vicka Ivankovic, Ivan Dragicevic, Ivanka Ivankovic and Jakov Colo — said they had seen Mary on a hillside near their town. Several of them say they continue to see Mary and receive messages from her.

In his letter, the bishop reaffirmed that priests from outside the parish cannot give conferences or lead retreats at the parish without written permission from his office and that no one can use parish facilities to promote the alleged apparitions or messages. The bishop specified that the pastor should ensure that Father Perutina stop offering comments on the messages Pavlovic claims to receive on the 25th of each month.

He also asked Father Vlasic to remove from the parish Website all references to the parish and its church buildings as a shrine or sanctuary and to ban prayers allegedly dictated by Mary or suggested by her alleged messages from liturgies and prayer services inside the church, including public recitations of the rosary.

“We have enough official ecclesiastical intentions (pontifical, episcopal, missionary, etc.) and there is no need to turn arbitrarily to the presumed apparitions and messages and mix them with the public prayers of the Church,” he said.

In his letter to Father Perutina, Bishop Peric said he did not understand why the priest was publishing a commentary on the monthly message Pavlovic claims to receive.

“These are private messages to private people for private use,” he said, ordering the Franciscan to cease commenting on or publicizing them in any way.

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The Anchor

October 9, 2009

T

These Angels have the right angles

here are so many things I would like to write about the recent revelations concerning Ted Williams’ frozen noggin. But sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.

Making no further cracks about Beantown’s greatest hitter’s bean, I move on to another baseball topic. The Red Sox are in another American League Division Series match-up with the Angels of Anaheim, or whatever they are called now.

The history is there, and it favors the Home Towne Team — with Boston winning 12 of the last 13 playoff games and all

By Dave Jolivet four playoff series against the Halos.

But I’m not entering this playoff season with such high hopes. I’m feeling more like the days when the Bruins couldn’t beat the Canadiens in the NHL playoffs, when the Patriots couldn’t beat the Miami Dolphins in the NFL playoffs, and when the Celtics couldn’t beat anyone in the post-Larry Bird era, never mind make the playoffs.

Sooner or later the odds catch up with teams that seemingly have a stranglehold on another.

The Bruins eventually bopped the Habs; the Pats eventually finally squished the Fish; and the Cs, with a new Big Three, eventually sat atop the NBA throne.

In all the series against the Angels, the teams were fairly evenly matched up. The major difference was Bos-

ton’s offense was a tad better, meaning the Angels’ batters were more often than not stymied by Red Sox pitching.

Things are pretty much the same this season, with the exception that California’s offense is better, and Boston’s pitching can be Jekyll and Hyde-like.

But the Angels have an intangible that, in my opinion, gives them a great edge.

The Halos lost a great young man earlier this season through the recklessness of a drunken driver. Rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart was killed in a car accident in April, and since then his uniform has hung in the Angels’ dugout and locker room for every game.

The Angels have emotion and motivation this season. In prior match-ups, especially in the new millennium, the Angels were coming of a fresh World Series win in 2002. The Sox were coming off fresh disappointing seasons — for 86 years. They had motivation.

I’m pleased the Sox made it this far, but I don’t think they’ll move on to bigger things this season. The Angels are due, and they’re psyched — a pretty formidable combination.

Adenhart is not another Angel in the outfield — he’s human, but his spirit is there. Maybe we could use Teddy Ballgame’s spirit, but all we get is the cold shoulder.

Sorry, couldn’t resist that one.

Go Sox, for what it’s worth.

My View From the Stands

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October 9, 2009 following illness and injury.”

Healy and Mills are excited about the venture. “Through my association with Catholic Memorial I am able to provide much closer follow-up care with weekly visits both in the patients’ own rooms as well is in the physical therapy and occu-

pational therapy areas,” said Mills.

“This helps allow me to customize the individual patients rehabilitation program based on each patient’s strengths and weaknesses as they progress towards their return to safe independent ambulation and their return home.”

COMFORT AND SAFETY — Spacious new state-of-the-art amenities in semi-private rooms, will help residents at Catholic Memorial Home endure rehabilitative treatments more effectively and conveniently. (Photos by Dave Jolivet)

On-site rehab, physician a big plus for Catholic Memorial Home residents

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

FALL RIVER — Catholic Memorial Home, a prominent extended health care facility run by the Diocese of Fall River, has long been known for innovative and groundbreaking care for its residents and their families.

Another of those innovations can be added to the list. The home, which provides extended care to the chronically ill and disabled, with special emphasis on the care of the frail elderly, is currently preparing three rooms in which residents undergoing on-site short-term physical rehabilitation can reside during the process.

This is a first for the Health Facilities, and CMH administrator Thomas F. Healy told The Anchor, “This is a great concept because residents undergoing therapy for orthopedic issues can rehab at the home, and then remain here in state-of-the art accommodations.

This saves them the discomfort and inconvenience of having to be transported to and from the rehab facilities.”

Healy said the transformation of three rooms for the project con-

sisted of totally renovating rooms that used to house four residents, turning them into semi-private facilities, opening up more room for mobility purposes and also equipping them with beds and furniture ideally made for residents experiencing orthopedic rehab.

“The beds and the reclining chairs are extremely comfortable and allow the resident easy access and exit,” said Healy.

The residents also have access to cable TV and phone service.

Another new feature includes the on-site availability of an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Shawn P. Mills, who works out of Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River. Mills has a agreed to consult at CMH and treat residents at the home.

“Dr. Mills has a great rapport with his patients,” added Healy, “and it’s nice to have him on board.”

Mills told The Anchor, “Through my presence at Catholic Memorial, I hope to increase the immediate availability of my experience and ability to diagnose and treat acute injuries and chronic problems. Now patients with both chronic orthope-

dic problems, as well as those suffering acute injuries may have the ability to be seen and treated in the comfort of their own room, without having to leave their environment.”

Mills said with advanced age comes increased risks in certain areas. “Osteoporosis or age-related loss of calcium weakens the strength of our bones, and increases the risk of fractures in what otherwise might be a trivial injury,” he said.

“In addition, as we age we may develop gait unsteadiness or dizziness which then can increase the risk of falls and thereby increase dramatically the risk of fractures, sprains and dislocations. My practice of orthopedic surgery involves both the treatment of these injuries, as well as the management of advancing arthritis, shoulder pain and rotator cuff problems, all encountered in our aging population today.”

He added, “Rehabilitation services can range from general aerobic conditioning and restoration of functional strength and endurance and balance after being weakened by medical illness to the specific requirements of postoperative rehabilitation after knee, hip, or shoulder surgery. These surgeries include hip and knee replacements, or the surgical repair of fractures of the hip and shoulder.

“Our goal is always to speed the patient’s recovery towards the return of ambulation, balance, and functional use of the extremities while providing the safe, supportive environment. In addition to physical and occupational therapy, the patients’ general medical condition is monitored and medications are prescribed not only to help with pain management, but to as well help prevent the development of blood clots known as Deep Venous Thrombosis, which can form during the period of decreased activity

CHANGES IN THE WORKS — Maintenance workers are preparing two more semi-private rooms at Catholic Memorial Home where rehab residents can stay while undergoing treatments at the Fall River facility.

Holy See urges establishment of ‘nuclear-free zone’ in Middle East

By Gustavo Solis Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — A Vatican official called for the establishment of a “nuclear-free zone” in the Middle East and urged all countries to work toward total the elimination of their nuclear arsenals.

Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican’s foreign affairs minister, released a statement recently outlining the Vatican stance on nuclear disarmament. The U.N. Security Council held a summit the same day to discuss nuclear disarmament and nuclear nonproliferation.

“Nuclear-weapons-free zones are the best example of trust, confidence and affirmation that peace and security are possible without nuclear weapons,” said Archbishop Mamberti. He strongly encouraged all countries with nuclear capabilities to adopt all the protocols of nuclear-free treaties and to “establish such a zone in the Middle East.”

Under the treaties, nations agree to ban the development and use of nuclear weapons in a set location. The United States has not signed such a treaty. It has, however, signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which aims at limiting the spread of nuclear weapons.

The Security Council summit adopted a resolution to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, calling for tighter controls on nuclear materials and encouraging the enforcement of international treaties dealing with nuclear nonproliferation.

Archbishop Mamberti said that responding to the modern world’s need for safety and security “demands courageous leadership in reducing nuclear arsenals to zero.”

He said the adoption of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is of “highest importance,” adding that the universal banning of explosions of nuclear components in the testing phase “would inhibit the development of nuclear weapons, contributing to nuclear disarmament.”

Praising the summit initiative, the archbishop urged the Security Council to take further steps to “become a valid advocate in the cause of reaching a world free from nuclear weapons.”

He also urged nations around the world to follow the example of the Security Council by adopting clear and firm decisions aimed at a “progressive and concerted nuclear disarmament.”

In the past, he said, the United Nations’ approach to nuclear weapons has been case-specific, focusing on certain countries’ nuclear programs and on threats by independent groups, but has not made progress “in formulating plans for the establishment of a system of regulation of armaments” worldwide.

The summit was held in conjunction with the Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and preceded the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, which aims to promote universal adherence to the treaty.

October 9, 2009

Pilgrimage, celebrations to mark Blessed Damien’s canonization continued from page one

in St. Peter’s Square at 10 a.m.

Sunday, to be followed by a special luncheon with 500 members of the Sacred Hearts Congregation and 300 invited guests. A Mass of Thanksgiving will be celebrated the following day at the Basilica of St. John Lateran and the pilgrimage will conclude with another Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Peter’s tomb in the Vatican with Bishop George W. Coleman, who is traveling to the Vatican on his own.

“Bishop Coleman is not traveling with our group, but he’ll be joining us for this special Mass,” Father Petrie said.

Although the trip will include some time for sightseeing in Venice, Father Petrie explained how a pilgrimage differs from a vacation.

“The moment they decided they were going with us, they became a pilgrim,” Father Petrie said. “The Damien pilgrimage is a sacred journey, meant to be filled with ‘God experiences.’ Second, a pilgrimage is a faith experience. The pilgrimage is also an occasion for reconciliation, not only with God, but with others. The pilgrimage is a time to petition God through the intercession of St. Damien; a canonization is a time of special grace and blessings for favors received.

Finally, the Damien pilgrimage is an occasion for thanksgiving.

God has blessed us abundantly and we acknowledge those blessings of life with prayerful gratitude as we partake in the canonization Mass of St. Damien.”

Although Father Petrie previously attended the beatification ceremonies for Blessed Damien and also Blessed Mother Teresa, with whom he worked for 25 years, this will be his first canonization ceremony.

“It’s essentially a Mass — a solemn, pontifical liturgy with the pope and all the cardinals, bishops, priests and pilgrims present,” Father Petrie said.

“There’s an energy, there’s no

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doubt about it. You have to get to your seat at least two hours ahead of time. The Sistine Choir sings. For the canonization, there will be five exalted along with Damien.”

Damien will be canonized Sunday along with Blessed Jeanne Jugan, who founded the Little Sisters of the Poor; Blessed Zygmunt Felinski, a former archbishop of Warsaw, Poland, and founder of the Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary; Blessed Francisco Coll Guitart, a Spanish Dominican priest who founded the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary; and Blessed Rafael Arnaiz Baron, a 20th-century Spanish Trappist brother.

Father Petrie said there’s a key moment when the pope will proclaim Damien a saint with a prayer and they will officially unveil a tapestry with his image on it and the choir sings and the bells ring out.

“The Italians in all their excitement start cheering and singing — you can’t imagine all the excitement,” Father Petrie said. “It’s just a moment of grace for everyone who’s there.”

“There’s a dynamic that takes place during the canonization,” he added. “That’s why you need the Mass of Thanksgiving the following day. This goes on for three hours and you’ve already been waiting there for two hours beforehand so you’re exhausted, you’re hungry, you’re thirsty — but you don’t care.”

Those unable to attend the festivities in Rome will have an opportunity to celebrate St. Damien’s canonization at the Sacred Hearts Retreat Center on Great Neck Road in Wareham. The retreat center grounds will be open beginning at 9:30 a.m. where an outdoor Mass honoring St. Damien will be celebrated at 11 a.m.

“There will be off-grounds parking with a shuttle bus to take people back and forth …

and a large tent under which the Mass will take place,” said Father Stanley Kolasa, SSCC, director of the retreat center.

“It will definitely be a sense of excitement focusing on the presence of St. Damien.”

The day-long celebrations will continue through 5 p.m. with ample food, fun and games for the whole family.

Highlights will include music in English and Portuguese, homemade ethnic foods, along with St. Damien souvenirs to purchase such as T-shirts, sweat shirts, and tote bags.

“Primarily it focuses on the celebration that one of us is being made a saint,” Father Kolasa said. “I entered the priesthood and the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts because I wanted to be like Blessed Damien. It is thrilling. It’s a celebration that the ordinary among us is now the holiest among us.”

“It is a prayer answered” that Blessed Damien is being canonized, Father Petrie agreed.

“I was inspired by Damien for my own vocation, but I never thought I’d experience his beatification and canonization.

I feel like I know Damien because of my own leprosy work experience and what he went through.”

Although Damien died on April 15, Father Petrie said his feast day will be observed May 10.

“April 15 always falls sometime during Holy Week or Easter, so our general consul at the time asked Rome if we could change his anniversary to May 10, which is the day Damien actually landed on Molokai in 1873,” he said.

Father Petrie said the Sacred Hearts Congregation is also planning to have a celebration in honor of St. Damien sometime in January at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. “I think a lot of people might be interested who might not be able to get to Rome, but they can get to Washington,” he said.

Little Sisters of the Poor founder is remembered

By Deacon James N. Dunbar

BALTIMORE, Md. — For Sister Josephine Grenon, a member of the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor, the celebrations this Sunday can’t come soon enough.

“Our Mother Foundress, Blessed Jeanne Jugan, who on Sunday will be canonized, is a magnificent woman, too small not to become great. She is a woman for the aged, but a saint for the ages too,” Sister Grenon, a native of North Attleboro, told The Anchor in a telephone interview.

“She offers herself as a friend and patron for the elderly. And yet she challenges young people to give of themselves; and offers an invitation to those growing up in hard economic times,” she explained.

Sister Grenon’s chat followed her call to the diocesan newspaper recently to mildly, yet courteously, submit a complaint.

The nun who is proud to hail

Blessed Jeanne Jugan

from the Fall River Diocese and is an avid reader of The Anchor, stated that while she will reverence and pray fervently to the tobe canonized Blessed Damien of Molokai, among others to be canonized on Sunday, she suggested that “Blessed Jeanne Jugan doesn’t get as much attention.”

“I guess it is because I am a member of the Little Sisters, I think our saint-to-be deserved to have more of her story told,” she said.

Educated by the Sisters of the Holy Union of Jesus and Mary at the former Sacred Heart School — now St. Mary-Sacred School — in North Attleboro, Sister Grenon was following family tradition.

Her grandparents were among the founding families of the parish.

“When the school was completed, my mother, Jeannette Robinson Grenon entered the third grade from a one-room school house.”

And while the nun said the education and spiritual foundation she received from the Holy Union Sisters from grades kindergarten through eight were outstanding, she said her choosing to become one of the Little Sisters of the Poor “was simple. I didn’t want to become a teacher, but to care for the elderly,

as Blessed Jeanne Jugan did.”

She said several cousins were instrumental, including an aunt, Sister Elizabeth of St. Martin, a member of the Little Sisters of the Poor, “who was very inspirational for me. And I recall my parents saying that I wanted to be a nun all my life.”

In 1959, following graduation, the 18-year-old became a postulant with the Little Sisters.

Now 67, Sister Grenon has ministered to the sick and needy for 46 years.

Although one from her congregation in Baltimore will be among approximately 130 pilgrims from that area traveling to Rome and St. Peter’s where Pope Benedict will canonize five, Sister Grenon will not be among them.

“But I will never forget being at the beatification in Rome of Blessed Jeanne Jugan in 1982,” she continued. “It was inspirational and it made me feel how great is it is to be a member of the Church and at the heart of it in Rome. This time I will be there in spirit.”

Revisiting the life and times of Jugan, who was born in the small fishing village of Brittany, France in 1792 and died in 1879 at the age of 86, Sister Grenon said that while the saint founded the congregation in 1842 at age 50, it had been stolen from her.

While Blessed Jugan was confined to the mother house on orders of a priest named Father le Pailleur — who assumed leadership, set another nun in place of Sister Jugan, and proclaimed he was the founder of the congregation — it later was clarified by the Church in Rome and Sister Jugan was restored in history as the rightful founder.

“That Sister Jugan out of obedience remained silent, her littleness in remaining so became her hallmark,” Sister Grenon asserted.

“Her postulants and Sisters around the world would come to know the falsehoods and the true story.”

However, Father le Pailleur’s recanting came 11 years after Sister Jugan had died.

“While it is a sad story, it is beautiful as well because it is another example of how God’s will turns all things into good,” Sister Grenon said.

Today, 2,700 Little Sisters of the Poor continue to follow the ideals of the mission to care for the elderly that Blessed Jean Jugan began, serving in 32 countries across the globe.

On Sunday, the story of St. Jean Jugan, who saw God reflected in the numberless faces of the poor of France, will be heard again, and her 27 years of silent faith that reflected the most fruitful of her saintly life, will be her solid legacy to her followers.

Youth Pages

16

HATCHING A PLAN — An incubator harvesting eggs waiting to hatch was set in the corridor of St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro. Students in the school care for the eggs turning them daily in the incubator. From left, Olivia and Kevin Baker, and Emily and Danny Billard check on the chicks.

October 9, 2009

STAR OF THE DAY — Marine Bio students at John Paul II High School in Hyannis, recently boarded the Venture Inn II for an excursion to learn, gather specimens and materials for the school lab, and experience a day in the life of a marine biologist.

THE LOLLIPOP KIDS — Madison Gagnon, Owen Conroy, and Kiley O’Donnell lead a lollipop procession to honor St. Mary-Sacred Heart School alumnus and retiring custodian Alfred Achin, at a Mass to mark the start of the new school year.

SAINTS ALIVE — Bishop Stang, North Dartmouth, seniors Dan Mello, left, Phil Dufour, second from right, and Andrew Iarocci, far right, surround chaplain Father Jay Mello during the recent Spirit Week costume contest to dress up as future heroes.

KERMIT WANNABE — From left, Jordan Barbosa, Aleece Nicholson, Camryn DoMonte, Sierra Teves, Ariana Nowacki, Katrina Pacheco (background), Hannah Sousa, and Luke Cabral check out a green tree frog from the Regal Reptile Show at Espirito Santo School in Fall River.

Youth Pages Paid in full

October 9, 2009

Y

ou know how much I love sharing stories with you. But before I tell you another, ponder this question: How do you change the world for Christ? We are so caught up in making a difference in our lives, for our families and for ourselves, do we strive to make a difference for Christ as well?

Keeping Christ in mind leads to victory and eternal life.

And now the story. After living a “decent” life my time on earth came to an end. The first thing I remember is sitting on a bench in the waiting room of what I thought to be a court house. The doors opened and I was instructed to come in and have a seat by the defense table. As I looked around I saw the prosecutor.

He was a villainous looking gent who snarled as he stared at me. He definitely was the most evil person I have ever seen. I sat down and looked to my left and there sat my lawyer, a kind and gentle looking man whose appearance seemed very familiar to

representative who sat there me. silently not offering any form The corner door flew of defense at all. I know I had open and there appeared the been guilty of those things, judge in full flowing robes. but I had done some good He commanded an awesome in my life — couldn’t that presence as he moved across at least equal out part of the the room and I couldn’t take harm I’ve done? my eyes off of him. As he took his seat behind the bench, he said “Let us begin.”

The prosecutor rose and said “My name is Satan and I am here to show you why this

By Ozzie Pacheco man belongs in hell.”

He proceeded to tell of lies that I told, things that I stole and Satan finished with a fury times when I cheated others. and said, “This man belongs Satan told of other horrible in hell, he is guilty of all that perversions that were once I have charged and there is in my life and the more he spoke the further down in my not a person who can prove otherwise. Justice will finally seat I sank.

I was so embarrassed that I be served this day.” When it couldn’t look at anyone, even was his turn, my lawyer first asked if he might approach my own lawyer, as the devil the bench. The judge allowed told of sins that even I had this over the strong objeccompletely forgotten about.

As upset as I was at Satan for tion of Satan, and beckoned him to come forward. As he telling all these things about me, I was equally upset at my got up and started walking,

Be Not Afraid

College students move into action as CRS ambassadors

BALTIMORE (CNS) — Instead of dreaming about solving some of the world’s great humanitarian problems, 40 Catholic college students have decided to take action.

Filled with compassion and a fierce dedication to service, students from Cabrini College and Villanova University, outside Philadelphia, answered the call to spread awareness of global humanitarian issues to their college campuses and in their communities.

For their efforts, they were commissioned “CRS ambassadors” at Catholic Relief Services headquarters in Baltimore.

In a time that is deeply touched by terrorism, this generation has a special mission to make sure fear will not tear communities apart, said Dominican Sister Arlene Flaherty, a member of the justice and peace partnership liaison at CRS, the U.S. bishops’ international relief and development agency.

Terrorism leads to fear and tends to break people and communities apart, Sister Arlene said.

Instead of succumbing to xenophobic feelings, the CRS student ambassadors are working to spread awareness about international humanitarian issues affecting many people living in developing countries, she told the group of students at the Baltimore training seminar.

The Cabrini College web-

site says CRS ambassadors are students “who are committed to learning about global humanitarian issues that impact the poor around the world” and work to “raise other students’ awareness and involvement.”

The ambassadors choose to focus on one topic, which can be food security, HIV and AIDS, economic justice through fair trade, migration, microfinance or peacebuilding.

“Becoming a CRS ambassador is really the best thing college students can do for themselves,” said Brittany Mitchell, a former CRS ambassador and recent graduate of Cabrini College.

“It’s really amazing the knowledge you obtain from participating in this program,” Mitchell told Catholic News Service. “The organization taught me more than any book or news program. They really opened up my mind and my heart to the world.

“As a recent graduate, I intend to take the knowledge and compassion taught by CRS and apply it to my life outside of college,” she added.

Chris Cantwell, vice president of the Cabrini CRS ambassador organization, said the program is unique because there are “very few established groups on campus that deal with international humanitarian, social and economic issues.”

Cabrini students Beth Briggs

and Emily Dispoto focus on food security. Dispoto said one thing the group wants to explain is the “difference between people who are hungry and people who are food insecure.”

She believes this information will encourage her fellow students “to pitch in and help.”

Villanova University student Laura Collins, who is focusing on HIV and AIDS, said she believes the CRS partnership with her school benefits students because it provides access to informational Websites, speakers and advocate training.

The joint venture also helps students spread knowledge about key international issues to their contemporaries.

In addition to introducing students to international humanitarian issues, the CRS ambassador program helps students stay on top of legislative issues and gives them experience lobbying their lawmakers.

Last year 33 students from Villanova and Cabrini lobbied their representatives for foreign assistance and additional funding for food aid during a trip to Capitol Hill, said CRS officials.

Cabrini and Villanova are currently the only U.S. campuses to have CRS ambassadors; CRS officials said they hope the program will expand to other interested colleges.

17 I was able to see him now in his full splendor and majesty.

I realized why he seemed so familiar: this was Jesus representing me, my Lord and my savior.

He stopped at the bench and softly said to the judge “Hi dad,” and then he turned to address the court. “Satan was correct in saying that this man had sinned, I won’t deny any of these allegations. And yes, the wages of sins is death and this man deserves to be punished.” Jesus took a deep breath and turned to his Father with outstretched arms and proclaimed, “However, I died on the cross so that this person might have eternal life and he has accepted me as his savior, so he is mine.”

As Jesus sat down, he quietly paused, looked at his Father and replied, “There is nothing else that needs to be done. I’ve done it all.” The judge lifted his mighty hand and slammed the gavel down

and the following words bellowed from his lips, “This man is free — the penalty for him has already been paid in full, case dismissed.” As my Lord led me away I could hear Satan ranting and raving, “I won’t give up, I’ll win the next one.”

I asked Jesus as he gave me my instructions where to go next, “Have you ever lost a case?” Christ lovingly smiled and said, “Everyone that has come to me and asked me to represent them has received the same verdict as you, paid in full.”

Remember, making a difference for Christ may not be easy; you will always be tempted by Satan — he’s never giving up on you. But with a friend like Christ at your side, there is no need to fear — what you can’t handle, he will. Make a difference for Christ in your earthly life, and he surely will make a difference in your eternal life.

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

The Anchor is always pleased to run news and photos about our diocesan youth. If schools or parish Religious Education programs have newsworthy stories and photos they would like to share with our readers, send them to: schools@anchornews.org

18

The Anchor

Annual Peace March, Mass set in Fall River October 12

FALL RIVER — Hundreds from across the Fall River Diocese will carry candles, sing hymns and pray the rosary as they process on the evening of October 12 from St. Mary’s Cathedral to St. Anne’s Church where a Mass will be celebrated at 7 p.m.

The annual Peace March, customarily held annually on the Columbus Day weekend and currently in its 35th year, will take place, rain or shine.

Participants will gather in the schoolyard opposite St. Mary’s Cathedral on Spring Street at 5:45 p.m.

Led by clergy and cantors, the marchers will proceed south on South Main Street to St. Anne’s Church at the top of Kennedy Park where Msgr.

John A. Perry, V.G., moderator of the curia, will be the principal celebrant of the concelebrated Mass.

Bishop George W. Coleman, who traditionally has celebrated

the Mass for Peace, will be in Rome participating in the canonization of five saints, including Blessed Damien of Molokai, a member of the Congregation of Sacred Hearts Fathers, and Blessed Jeanne Jugan, founder of the Little Sister of the Poor.

At the head of the procession that will include members of various parish and diocesan organizations carrying banners and standards will be a statue of the Virgin of Fatima, carried by men from Espirito Santo Parish in the city’s east end, longtime sponsors of the march.

After it is carried into St. Anne’s, it will be enshrined before the altar.

A rosary for peace will then be recited in several languages prior to the Mass.

The choir from Espirito Santo Parish will sing at the Mass.

The readings, in English, Spanish and Portuguese, will reflect the hopes of all the Church for peace.

October 9, 2009

Lay Day of Fasting for Priests is October 24 continued from page one

and universal Church,” RaeKelly explained.

“It is especially significant in this Year for Priests being celebrated throughout the Church, and is endorsed by our Bishop George W. Coleman,” she added.

More than 13 dioceses and archdioceses will be participating this year. Locally, they include the Boston Archdiocese, the Fall River Diocese and the Providence Diocese.

Dioceses in Scotland, Canada, Taiwan, and the archdioceses of Washington and Seattle will again be taking part.

It all began in 2005 after the scandal of sexual abuse by priests had rocked the American Church.

At the time, Rae-Kelly said, “she felt drawn to do something special — beyond prayer — for our priests. I took to fasting. It seems Our Lady wanted me to do even more — perhaps get more people involved. But I ignored it at first.

I felt I shouldn’t get involved in other persons’ lives. Then I

realized more was being asked of me.”

After talking to La Salette Missionary Brother Rob Russell, she was allowed to promote the fast day “for our embattled priests” by speaking at Masses at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in North Attleboro.

Last year during the 3 p.m., closing fast day ceremonies at the National Shrine, a Catholic woman from Korea garbed in traditional Korean clothing made an appeal to fast for priests.

“It showed the immense faith in God to help our priests,” Rae-Kelly asserted.

The ceremonies, which can be held in any parish church, might include eucharistic adoration during the fast hours, taking part in a World Mission Rosary for priests (as October is the traditional month of the rosary), and closing with Benediction and a prayer for priests.

“But one doesn’t have to be in a church or chapel for this

fast day,” said Rae-Kelly. “One can fast on the bus, in the car, at work, at school, even at recreation,” she added.

At the same time as lay people are fasting, “they and the priests are being supported by the prayers of religious Sisters in several communities,” she noted. “These religious are nuclear power houses of prayer.”

Not one to leave any stone unturned, Rae-Kelly has asked pastors to promote the fast day in their parish bulletins, distribute flier information detailing how the fast day works, and provide a sign-up sheet for interested parishioners. With the pastor’s permission, the sign-ups might be made part of the gifts offered at the offertory procession at Mass.

For more information and signing up to participate in the Lay Fast for Priests, contact Anna Rae-Kelly online at www. annaprae.com/layfast_2009, or by email at admin@annaprae. com.

NBSO returns to St. Anthony’s

Specializing in: Brand Name/ Foreign Auto Parts 1420 Fall River Avenue (Route 6) Seekonk, MA 02771

NEW BEDFORD — On October 18, the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra will be performing two of the most well-known choral works of all time at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in New Bedford.

Featuring noted soprano Andrea Matthews and commanding baritone Philip Lima as well as more than 120 singers from The Chatham Chorale, Mastersingers by the Sea, and other choruses from the local area, the NBSO will perform Fauré’s magnificent Requiem, featuring the famous movement “Pie Jesu” and Poulenc’s

dramatic Gloria, one of the most recognized choral works of the 20th century. Tickets are $28 general admission and children/students are $10.

Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem is one of the most often performed and most appreciated of all choral works, perhaps due to its very different view of death and its significance than is typical for the Requiem Mass. Rather than offer visions of the terrors to come, Fauré created a Mass to comfort the living. Indeed, the composer commented that he saw death itself “as a hap-

py deliverance, an aspiration towards the happiness of the hereafter” and described his Requiem as being “dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest.”

The work is intimate and sincere in its expression of faith, and its interweaving of rich choral declamation of the text with a shimmering orchestral accompaniment creates a hopeful vision of the afterlife that embraces the listener with affirmation and confident faith.

Francis Poulenc’s widely acclaimed Gloria is a gorgeous, soul-affirming work that combines powerful choral sonorities, remarkable orchestral colors, and Poulenc’s unique attitude of joyous appreciation for life to produce a masterpiece of deep spiritual understanding that touches on a large range of emotions.

From its iconic opening figure to the final Gregorian Chantlike Amen, this is a statement of profound and reassuring faith, brilliantly complex and rich in meaning.

The concert will be held October 18 at 3 p.m. and will be performed at St. Anthony of Padua Parish, 1359 Acushnet Ave., New Bedford. For tickets, call the Z Box Office at 508-994-2900 or online www.zeiterion.org.

October 9, 2009

Around the Diocese 10/9 10/11

The Villa at St. Antoine, 400 Mendon Road in North Smithfield, R.I., will hold an open house at the assisted living facility on October 9, 16, 23, and 30 at 2 p.m. For information call 1-401-767-2574.

The Sacred Hearts Community invites everyone to celebrate the canonization of Blessed Damien October 11 at a gathering at the Sacred Hearts Retreat Center, Great Neck Road in Wareham from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a special Mass at 11 a.m. Free parking. For information visit www.retreats@sscc.org or call 508-295-0100.

10/14

A meeting of the Divorced and Separated Group will meet October 14 at the Family Life Center in North Dartmouth. This will be an open meeting discussing topics regarding separation and divorce. For information call 508-965-9296.

10/15

A meeting of the District I Diocesan Council of Catholic Women, under the auspices of Our Lady’s Council, will take place at Holy Rosary Church in Fall River, October 15 at 7 p.m. A living rosary will be recited as part of the meeting.

10/17

St. Jude’s Parish, Taunton, will host a Gingerbread Craft Fair in the church hall, 249 Whittenton Street, Taunton, on October 17 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free admission and free parking. Lunch will be available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information call 508-823-1805 or 508-822-1882.

10/17

A Woman’s Concern South Coast Center invites you to “Celebrate Life” with an evening of music, wine and food at the Westport Rivers Vineyard and Winery, Westport, October 17 from 4 to 7 p.m. For tickets or more information, call 508-646-2665.

10/18

The Knights of Columbus Council 813 will sponsor a Holy Hour for Vocations (Rosary for Vocations) at St. Patrick’s Church, Main Street, Falmouth, on October 18 from 3 to 4 p.m. All are invited to come and call upon the Lord to send us holy and zealous priests.

10/18

Bishop Connolly High School, 373 Elsbree Street, Fall River, will host an Open House Sunday, October 18 at 1 p.m. For more information or to request an application package, call Anthony Ciampanelli, director of admissions, at 508-676-1071, extension 333.

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese

ACUSHNET — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Mondays and Wednesdays 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Fridays 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturdays 8 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays end with Evening Prayer and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.; Saturdays end with Benediction at 2:45 p.m.

BREWSTER — Eucharistic adoration takes place in the La Salette Chapel in the lower level of Our Lady of the Cape Church, 468 Stony Brook Road, on First Fridays following the 11 a.m. Mass until 7:45 a.m. on the First Saturday of the month, concluding with Benediction and Mass.

BUZZARDS BAY — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Margaret Church, 141 Main Street, every first Friday after the 8 a.m. Mass and ending the following day before the 8 a.m. Mass.

EAST TAUNTON — Eucharistic adoration takes place First Fridays at Holy Family Church, 370 Middleboro Avenue, following the 8:30 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 8 p.m.

FAIRHAVEN — St. Mary’s Church, Main St., has a First Friday Mass each month at 7 p.m., followed by a Holy Hour with eucharistic adoration. Refreshments follow.

FALL RIVER — St. Anthony of the Desert Church, 300 North Eastern Avenue, has eucharistic adoration Mondays and Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and on the first Sunday of the month from noon to 4 p.m.

NEW BEDFORD — Eucharistic adoration takes place 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 233 County Street, with night prayer and Benediction at 8:45 p.m., and confessions offered during the evening.

NEW BEDFORD — There is a daily holy hour from 5:15-6:15 p.m. Monday through Thursday at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue. It includes adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Liturgy of the Hours, recitation of the rosary, and the opportunity for confession.

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 508336-5549.

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 at the church 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 following the 8 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 5 p.m. The Divine Mercy Chaplet is prayed at 4:45 p.m.; on the third Friday of the month from 1 p.m. to Benediction at 5 p.m.; and for the Year For Priests, the second Thursday of the month from 1 p.m. to Benediction at 5 p.m.

TAUNTON — Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament takes place every First Friday at Annunciation of the Lord Church, 31 First Street, immediately following the 8 a.m.

Mass and continues throughout the day. Confessions are heard from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m., concluding with recitation of the rosary and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.

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.

WEST HARWICH — Our Lady of Life Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Holy Trinity Parish, 246 Main Street, holds perpetual eucharistic adoration. For open hours, or to sign up call 508-430-4716.

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

19

The Anchor Brother Normand E. Simoneau FIC; Fall Riverite ministered for 74 years

FALL RIVER — Brother of Christian Instruction Normand E. Simoneau, 89, a native of Fall River, Mass., who served as a religious for 74 years, died September 24 after a long illness.

Born in Fall River, the son of the late Napoleon Simoneau and Dorilla (Roy) Simoneau, he entered the juniorate of the Brothers of Christian Instruction at Alfred, Maine, on June 18, 1932, and the Novitiate of the Brothers at La Prairie, Quebec, Canada on Aug. 15, 1935.

He made his perpetual profession on July 7, 1941.

Though a very competent teacher and school administrator, he left the teaching field to devote himself to full time maintenance.

He was an excellent carpenter who was never satisfied with approximate measures or slipshod Brother Normand E. Simoneau, FIC work.

After spending time as maintenance director of the Dominican Sisters campus in Adrian, Mich., he was

assigned the task of maintaining the congregation’s Plattsburgh school. Brother Normand is survived by one sister, Mrs. Annette Nadeau of Windsor Locks, Conn., and many nieces and nephews.

His funeral Mass was celebrated September 29 in the Brothers’ Chapel in Alfred, Maine.

Burial was in the Brother’s Cemetery.

The Lafrance-Lambert & Black Funeral Home in Sanford, Maine, was in charge of arrangements.

NORTH CAROLINA — Manuel A. Oliveira, 73, husband of Armanda (Pereira) Oliveira of Fall River and brother of Father Gastao Oliveira, pastor of Santo Christo Parish, also in Fall River, died September 28.

Born in Ponta Delgada, St. Michael, Azores, he was the son of the late Altino Caetana Oliveira and Maria Louisa (Furtado) Oliveira.

Before retirement he was an insurance agent for Neto Insurance Company.

He was a member of St. Michael’s Parish, Our Lady of Light Society, and was president of the United Steel Workers Union at the Brayton Point Power Plant. He held a degree in agriculture, had served for two Manuel A. years in the Oliveira Portuguese Army and had served as a lifeguard in Portugal.

Besides his wife and priest brother, he leaves a son, Carlos Oliveira of Warwick, R.I.; two daughters, Suzanne White of Hendersonville, N.C., and Sonya Calvano of Somerset; seven grandchildren; and nieces and nephews.

His funeral Mass was celebrated October 3 in Santo Christo Church, followed by burial in Notre Dame Cemetery, also in Fall River.

The Manuel Rogers and Sons Funeral Home in Fall River was in charge of arrangements.

Manuel A. Oliveira; brother of Father Gastao Oliveira

Pax Christi Mass. assembly/retreat is October 24-25

ATTLEBORO — On October 24 and 25, Pax Christi Massachusetts will hold its 18th annual conference at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Sal-

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Oct. 12 Rev. Felician Plichta, OFM Conv., Parochial Vicar, Corpus Christi, East Sandwich, Former Pastor Holy Cross, Fall River, 1999 Oct. 13 Rev. David I. Walsh, M.M., Maryknoll Missioner, 1999 Rev. James J. Doyle, C.S.C., Holy Cross Residence, North Dartmouth, 2002 Rev. J. Marc Hebert, C.S.C., Holy Cross Residence, North Dartmouth, 2006 Oct. 14 Rev. Dennis M. Lowney, Assistant, Sacred Heart, Taunton, 1918 Rev. Msgr. Edward B. Booth, Retired Pastor, St. Mary, North Attleboro, 1972 Rev. Frederick G. Furey, SS.CC. Former Pastor, Our lady of Assumption, New Bedford, 1999 Rev. Andre P. Jussaume, Pastor, St. Louis de France, Swansea, 2003 Oct. 15 Rev. Msgr. Raymond T. Considine, PA, Retired Pastor, St. William, Fall River, 1996 Oct. 16 Rev. Raymond M. Drouin, O.P., Former Pastor, St. Anne, Fall River, 1987 Oct. 17 Rev. Gerald E. Lachance, M. Afr., 1984

ette in Attleboro. The theme for the two-day program will be “A Call to Peace: Resistance and Reconciliation, in the Spirit of the Beatitudes.” Focusing on demilitarization, immigration, and health care, Father Joseph Nangle, OFM, and Sister Kathleen Pruitt, CSJP, will tell their own stories, facilitate a panel of local experts, and lead small group sharing in a world café format.

“A Call to Peace” combines the Assembly and the Retreat which Pax Christi Massachu-

setts usually sponsors as two separate annual events. Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday. Participants may register for Saturday only, including lunch, or for overnight through Sunday noon, including meals.

Mass with the Shrine community at 4:30 p.m. is included in the Saturday schedule. Students are welcome for what they can afford to pay.

For information, costs, and a preregistration form, visit www.paxchristima.org.

20

The Anchor

October 9, 2009

Anglicans and Catholics pray for full communion

By Father Thomas Kocik Special to The Anchor

EASTON — Nearly 100 people gathered in the Chapel of Mary at Stonehill College, Easton, on September 27 for Solemn Evensong, or sung evening prayer in the Anglican tradition. That event concluded the third annual Festival of Faith, which brings together members of St Paul’s Anglican Church in Brockton, and the Congregation of St Athanasius, a Catholic community in the greater Boston area that uses a Vatican-approved “Anglican Use” liturgy. With few exceptions, all in attendance were former members of the Episcopal Church, Anglicanism’s American branch.

Besides their common baptism, the participants said they share a deep concern about the widening doctrinal and moral chasm between the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church. “In all too many ways,” said Catholic homilist Father Peter Stravinskas, “Catholics and Anglicans are farther apart today than they were in the time of Cardinal Newman.”

The soon-to-be-beatified John Henry Newman (1801-90), a convert to Catholicism and hero to many Anglicans and Catholics alike, was one of the founders of the Oxford Movement, which sought

to revive Catholic doctrines and practices in the Church of England.

“One need only consider topics like artificial birth control, abortion, same-sex unions, or the ordination of women,” Stravinskas elaborated.

The Reverend Atwood L. Rice III, an Anglican priest from Louisiana, said the festival represents “a movement toward common worship … to show our unity in Christ.”

The Anglican Use of the Roman Rite is codified in the Book of Divine Worship, approved by the Vatican and the U.S. bishops in 1983. It is the result of a “Pastoral Provision” of the late Pope John Paul II allowing for married, former Episcopal ministers to be ordained as Catholic priests, and for the formation of parishes that use the Anglican rite.

Father Richard Bradford, chaplain to the St Athanasius community and a former Episcopal priest, described the Pastoral Provision as a prime example of ecumenical goodwill on the part of the Catholic Church. “Rome,” he said, “has proven she will leave no unnecessary stone unturned to facilitate the return of our separated brethren to Catholic unity.”

Through the Pastoral Provision, more than 100 former Episcopal

clergymen have become Catholic priests in the United States.

While some doctrinally-conservative Anglicans have decided to join the Catholic Church, others have decided to stay and take up the cause within their own communion. “My dream,” said the Right Reverend Paul C. Hewett of Pennsylvania, “is to die an Anglican bishop in full communion with the Pope.” Bishop Hewett and the other Anglicans present belong to the “Continuing Anglican” movement, an association of splinter churches committed to preserving Christian orthodoxy within worldwide Anglicanism. His dream may seem like a contradiction in terms to those who are unaware of the fact that Anglican bishops were in full communion with the Pope for nearly a thousand years, until King Henry VIII separated England from the Church of Rome.

Whether “continuing” Anglicanism has a future depends on how many people can be persuaded that there must be more to the “catholicity quotient” of Anglicanism than vestments, incense, and lovely music. “Would you think me indelicate or ungracious?” Father Stravinskas asked the Anglican congregants, “if I asked you to listen for Peter knocking at your door?”