FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSEnS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
t eanc 0 VOL. 25, NO. 42
FALL RIVER,
MASS.~
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1981
20c, $6 Per Year
Bishop Delaney gets running start on new job By Pat MeGowan
Fal1 River runners had a Ilew companion last week - the j'llstminted bishop of Fort Worth, Texas, home for a gala reception but not about to forego his c~us颅 tomary morning run. So before he plunged inti) a schedule that inoluded time vvith his parents and other ;relatins, reunions with dozens of priest friends and a memorable Mass and reception at his native Sacred Heart parish, Bishop Joseph Patrick Delaney tooht a five-mile run among the tombstones and monuments of Oak Grove Cemetery. Last month, before 8,000 cheering Texans, he was ordained the second bishop of Fort Worth.
Last Thursday night, before an equally enthusiastic churchful of the friends of his boyhood and eal'ly priesthood, he spoke of his gratitude to "my first famiJy in the church," Sacred Heart parishioners, and to the Roily Union sisters who taught him at the parochial schoo1. Representing the sisters, Sister Barbara Kirkman, SUSC, was a reader at the Mass. So was P. Henry Desmond, who once supervised young Joe Delaney as a supermarket stockboy and checker. At the end of the Mass Bishop Daniel A. Cronin admonished the new bishop Texas-style, "Y'all come back again," then led the congregation in a prolonged
standing ovation. Guests of honor at the foHowing ;reception were Bishop Delaney's parents, Joseph and Jane Delaney, now members of Holy Name parish, Fall River. Described by Father Robert Wilson of Forth Worth as "possibly the brightest, hest organized and most visionary priest dn the state," Bishop Delaney discussed the Texas ohurch at a wide ranging interview. "Texas is where New England probably was about 100 years ago," he said, "booming, growing and exciting." He said that the area economy as heallthy and that he expects the Fort Worth diocese to grow with it. "We are experiencing a great
for Texas Catholic schools, "based on the FaH River model." He was for several years assistant superintendent of schools for the FaH River diocese under Msgr. Patil"ick J. O'NeiU. He said those years and his pastora'l experience here served him well in Texas. "The bishop of Fort Worth is the same person who was the student at Coyle and the priest at Sacred Heart, Taunton," he summed up. He paid special tribute to Sister Anna Gertrude, SUSC, longtime principal at Sacred Heart grammar school. "When I was in seventh grade," he recounted, "she told me 'You should conTurn to Page Six
The pope'8 ring
19 atten~l parley Nineteen women represented the Fall River diocese at the 40th national convention of the National Council of Catholic Women held last week in Kansas City. They were headed by Miss Ethel M. Crowley of West HarWich, president of the DiocE:san Council of Catholic Women, who was also named to the NCCW nominating committee. Also with the delegation was Father James F. Lyons, New Bedford district moderator. The women brought with them a unique gift to the national council, a four by five foot banner depicting Our Lady of Good Counsel, NCCW patroness. The pale blue satin ban:l1er, designed to lead NCCW delElgations in procession or to be placed on the platform at meetings, was created by Mrs. Aubrey Armstrong, Somerset, DCCW second vice-president. She said it represented some 30 hours of work, involving applique, embroidery and quilting. Lettering is royal blue Jrelt, bordelled with chartreuse Jrelt, colors repeated in the madonna Turn to Page Twelve
Hispanic influx," he noted, "and it's projected that by 1990 half the children in our school system wi'll be Hispanic and that by 2000 half the entire popu'lation will be." As well as Hispanics, he said, Easterners and Midwesterners are flocking to the Fort Worth area. "They expect the church to be as they knew it at home, but they find that it's much more innovative, creative, open and 'lay-oriented," he observed. Bishop Delaney is regarded as an expert in financial management. Serving with Cardinal Humberto Medeiros in the BrownsvHle, Tex., diocese before being called to Fort Worth, he organized an accounting system
MISSION SUNDAY
'I bring you news of great ioy, a ioy to be shared by the whole people.' Luke 2:10
Last year in Brazil Pope John Paul visited the people of Vidigal, a slum community near Rio de Janeiro. He was so moved by the poverty he saw that he pulloed off his gold ring路 of office and gave it to the slumdwellers. "Just a few weeks ago, I read the sequel to that event," said Msgr. John Oliveira, diocesan director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, as he opened the annual Mission Sunday campaign in the diocese of Fall River. "The favelados, as members of such desperately poor communities are called, decided among themselves to place the ring in the Museum of Sacred Art in ~io. A spokesman explained, 'The ring was not given exclusively to us in Vidigal, but to all the fav~ elados!' "This strikes me as a par.able that Jesus himself might have told to illustrate what we ought to do with the gift of faith. Do we keep it to ourselves or do we seek to share it with our neighbors? "An equally beautiful part of this story is its parallel to Jesus' account of the widow's mite. Her offering was valuable in that it represented everything she had. For the favelados of Vidigal, who live in makeshift
misery, the gift of the Holy Father's ring was a sacrifice of everything of value within their community. "I stand in awe of these people and pray that our spirit of unity with the poor might be as deeply rooted at theirs. "As we prepare for Mission Sunday," M!:ogr. Oliveira 'continued, "this incident takes on wider significance because it illustrates the relationship that should exist between communities of faith all over the world. "We are one! We do not give our treasure away to others; rather we magnify and enlarge what we have by drawing others to share it with us. As the people of Vidigal were enriched by sharing the pope's ring, so are we enriched when we share our gift of faith w:ith the poor churches of the missions. How do we do it? "When Pope John Paul was in Ghana last year, he said that everyone who heard the Good News message must pass it on 'from village to village . . . from home to home.' "This Sunday is Mission Sunday, a day celebrated all over the world to affirm the unity existing among all who share Turn to Page Six