10.16.09

The Anchor Diocese of Fall River

F riday , October 16, 2009

Newt Gingrich, recently converted, promotes his documentary on JP II

By Christine M. Williams Anchor Correspondent

BOSTON — When secular intellectual elites expunge religion from history, the solution is to get into the movie business, asserted former speaker of the U.S. House Newt Gingrich. At least that was his reaction.

At a fund-raising event for

Catholic Citizenship, the Catholic grassroots education organization in Massachusetts, Gingrich promoted his new documentary about the visit of Pope John Paul II to Poland in 1979. The film, “Nine Days That Changed the World,” is scheduled to come out this fall.

Many cite the papal pilgrimage Turn to page four

A GREAT DAY IN WAREHAM — Members of the Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus provided an honor guard for the statue of newly-canonized St. Damien of Molokai on the grounds of the Sacred Hearts Retreat Center in Wareham during a day-long celebration Sunday. More than 1,000 people attended the celebration, held in conjunction with St. Damien’s canonization in Rome. The event was organized by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and included a Mass, family picnic, ethnic food and entertainment. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)

Faith Formation Convention set for November 7 in Mansfield

By Deacon James N. Dunbar

NEW TO THE FAITH — Newt Gingrich spoke about faith, secularization and history at an October 8 fund-raiser for Catholic Citizenship that promoted his new documentary on the role Pope John II, who was elected pope on this day in 1978, played in the fall of communism. The film is scheduled for release this fall.

MANSFIELD — Two heralded speakers will address representatives of diverse ministries from parishes across the Fall River Diocese at the annual Faith Formation Convention planned for November 7 at the Holiday

Inn here.

Franciscan Father Thomas Washburn, a New Bedford native recently appointed vocation director of the regional Franciscan Province of the Immaculate Conception in Boston, will be a presenter.

Franciscan Father Kenneth P. Paulli, a professor at Siena College in Albany, N.Y., will be the keynote speaker and his address will be “Must You Wash My Feet? Conversations Around the Eucharistic Table.”

Turn to page 17

A miracle story of prayer and faith

Devotion to Blessed Mother Teresa leads to saving a young life

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

NEW BEDFORD — At first glance, a combination lock may appear simply as a dial with numbers and notches. One could spend a lifetime attempting to open the lock with a random sequence of number combinations — with no success. However, the right combination of numbers and turns aligns the pins and cams inside to release the lock. This is not a coincidental sequence.

To many Christians, God works in much the same way. What may appear to be a series of coincidences is in fact the heavenly Father aligning the right sequence of events — for the betterment of his children. God’s ways often amaze and awe believers.

To non-Christians, witnessing such a sequence can be life altering, and that’s exactly what happened to Dr. Satya Reddy, a Hindu pediatrician, currently a professor in the chemistry department at Brown University in Providence, R.I. Reddy was the beneficiary of the right combination of events that led him to Jesus, a devotion to Blessed Mother Teresa, and a miraculous

cure of a pre-maturely born patient of his. The patient was Ian Kinney, now a healthy boy, on the cusp of his 12th birthday, living with his mother Donna Kinney in New Bedford.

Ian was born pre-maturely on Dec. 13, 1997.

“I knew Ian had problems before he was born, and we prayed for the best,” Donna told The Anchor. “But when he was born and I heard him cry, I was overwhelmed with relief, because we weren’t sure he’d even be breathing. He had some problems, and later on the respirator wasn’t even helping. I was devastated. That’s when Dr. Reddy was called in.”

While at a Christmas party, Reddy received a call about an infant in distress at Women and Infants Hospital in Providence, R.I. He left the party and visited the child and his mother. Reddy felt the only chance of survival this boy had was to administer a treatment meant for full-term babies, not premies.

With permission from Donna, Reddy treated Ian and he responded positively. “I met with Dr. Reddy and I knew he was a good man,” said Turn to page 18

REMARKABLE REUNION — Young Ian Kinney, right, was healed through a radical procedure agreed upon by the lad’s mother, Donna, left and pediatric surgeon Dr. Satya Reddy, center, nearly 12 years ago. Dr. Reddy has great devotion to Blessed Mother Teresa and invoked her intercession to go ahead with the treatment. The trio reunited following a September Mass at St. Lawrence Martyr Church in New Bedford, marking the 12th anniversary of Blessed Teresa’s death. (Photo courtesy of Donna Kinney)

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News From the Vatican

October 16, 2009

Archbishop Chaput rejects cardinal’s upbeat appraisal of Obama speech ROME (CNS) — Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver has taken issue with a retired Vatican cardinal’s positive assessment of President Barack Obama’s N.D. speech last May at the University of Notre Dame.

In an essay published by the Italian newspaper Il Foglio October 6, Archbishop Chaput said Swiss Cardinal Georges Cottier, the papal theologian under Pope John Paul II, had been overly generous in his appraisal of the president’s words.

In his speech, Obama expressed commitment to reducing the number of abortions and guaranteeing conscientious objection rights for health workers. Cardinal Cottier said in July that the president had moved in the direction of finding “common ground” with the Church, and that “his words go in the direction of diminishing the evil.”

Archbishop Chaput, noting that many U.S. bishops had objected to the president’s appearance at the Indiana university, suggested that Cardinal Cottier might have deferred to the judgment of local pastors.

“Regrettably and unintentionally, Cardinal Cottier’s articulate essay undervalues the gravity of what happened at Notre Dame. It also overvalues the consonance of President Obama’s thinking with Catholic teaching,” Archbishop Chaput wrote. The English text of his article was published on the website of Il Foglio.

Archbishop Chaput said Obama’s views on vital bioethical issues, including abortion, “differ sharply from Catholic

teaching.” While many have pointed to Obama’s sympathy to the Church’s social teaching, the archbishop said, “there is no ‘social justice’ if the youngest and weakest among us can be legally killed.”

He said the strong opposition by many U.S. bishops to Notre Dame’s hosting and honoring the president was based not on partisan politics but on “serious issues of Catholic belief, identity and witness — triggered by Mr. Obama’s views — which Cardinal Cottier, writing from outside the American context, may have misunderstood.”

Archbishop Chaput added that the president’s search for “common ground” with the Church, praised by Cardinal Cottier, is not necessarily a good thing.

“So-called ‘common ground’ abortion policies may actually attack the common good because they imply a false unity,” he said. “The common good is never served by tolerance for killing the weak — beginning with the unborn.”

Noting Cardinal Cottier’s praise for Obama’s “humble realism,” Archbishop Chaput said he hoped the cardinal would turn out to be right.

“American Catholics want him to be right. Humility and realism are the soil where a common-sense, modest, human-scaled and moral politics can grow,” the archbishop said.

“Whether President Obama can provide this kind of leadership remains to be seen. We have a duty to pray for him — so that he can, and does,” he said.

MUCH TO DISCUSS — The new U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, Miguel Diaz, talks with Pope Benedict XVI at the papal villa in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, recently. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Catholic Press Photo)

Pope welcomes new U.S. ambassador; comments sharply on right to life issues

By John Thavis Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Welcoming the new U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI outlined wide areas of potential cooperation with the administration of President Barack Obama, but drew a sharp line on the issues of abortion and the rights of conscience.

The pope called for “a clear discernment with regard to issues touching the protection of human dignity and respect for the inalienable right to life from the moment of conception to natural death, as well as the protection of the right to conscientious objection on the part of health care workers, and indeed all citizens.”

He made the remarks at a ceremony October 2 to accept the credentials of Miguel Diaz, named in May by Obama as the ninth U.S. ambassador to the Holy See. After the encounter at the papal villa in Castel Gandolfo south of Rome, Diaz held talks at the Vatican with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

The pope’s comments on the right to life touched on a current debate in the United States over provisions of health care reform and how they would affect abortion policies.

Leading U.S. bishops have insisted that any final health reform bill exclude mandated coverage of abortion and protect conscience rights. Obama has said that under his plan “no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place,” but the bishops say none of the proposals under congressional consideration have met that challenge.

The pope smiled and greeted Diaz warmly at the papal villa, chatting with the ambassador before greeting members of the U.S. embassy staff and Diaz’s family. Diaz also prepared a speech,

but the pope and the ambassador handed each other their texts instead of reading them.

In his text, the pope said he recalled “with pleasure” his encounter last July with Obama, and expressed his confidence that U.S.Vatican relations would continue to be marked by fruitful dialogue and cooperation in favor of human rights and human dignity.

The pope praised the founding U.S. ideals of freedom, dignity and pluralism and, in a reference to Obama’s short time in office, said that “in recent months the reaffirmation of this dialectic of tradition and originality, unity and diversity has recaptured the imagination of the world.”

In his own speech, Diaz spoke of the need for the United States to act cooperatively to resolve international problems, saying that “more than ever the United States realizes that we cannot act alone.”

The pope strongly endorsed that orientation toward “a greater spirit of solidarity and multilateral engagement,” saying today’s crises cannot be resolved on individualistic or even national terms. As a prime example, he pointed to the global economic crisis, and said it calls for a revision of financial structures in the light of ethics.

The Anchor

He expressed his particular satisfaction for the results of a recent U.N. summit on nuclear disarmament, chaired by Obama, which unanimously approved a resolution on nuclear disarmament and set the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons.

The second half of the pope’s address examined the necessary connection between genuine progress and “fidelity to the truth.”

The pope defended the right and responsibility of Church leaders in the United States to weigh in on ethical and social questions by “proposing respectful and reasonable arguments grounded in the natural law and confirmed by the perspective of faith.”

The pope repeated a point he made during his visit to the United States in 2008: that freedom is also a continual summons to personal responsibility. He said that requires discernment and reasoned dialogue, and the Church has a rightful voice in this process.

Diaz, 46, who taught at St. John’s University and the College of St. Benedict in Minnesota, is the first Hispanic and the first theologian to represent the United States at the Vatican. Born in Havana, he came to the United States from Cuba as a child with his parents.

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 53, No. 39

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October 16, 2009

The International Church

Synod concerned about Catholics’ attraction to evangelical movements

B y Carol Glatz C atholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — The increasing number of Catholics in Africa who flock to the evangelical churches is a topic of concern at the second special Synod of Bishops for Africa.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, told synod participants October 6 that while the Church in Africa is experiencing rapid growth “there is sadly also an increasingly deeper fragmentation among Christians.”

Sometimes dialogue with the charismatic, Pentecostal and other evangelical communities is difficult or even impossible “because of their aggressive behavior and, to say the least, their low theological standard,” he said.

But ecumenical relations must continue or be established where possible, he said, and the Church must engage in some serious, self-critical reflection.

Some of the questions the Church must ask itself, the cardinal said, are “What is wrong or what is deficient with our own pastoral work? Why (do) so many Christians leave our

Church? What they are missing with us and searching (for) elsewhere?”

Bishop Adriano Langa of Inhambane, Mozambique, told the synod October 7 that one of the main reasons for the exodus of Catholics toward these movements “is the lack or insufficiency of inculturation” in the Catholic Church.

Africa’s cultural roots must be taken into account, but unfortunately the Church has been guilty of “marginalizing, disparaging and even fighting African cultures,” he said.

Other missteps, he said, include focusing evangelization efforts more on children and less on adults, not translating the Bible into local languages, discouraging the reading of the Bible, and not giving African Catholics “a language in an appropriate style.”

Bishop Langa said many African Catholics are left feeling alienated from the Church or inferior to other, more zealous, believers.

Also, anyone wanting to “escape the European and Latin American style and wanting to feel himself as a truly African Christian Catholic leans toward his African brothers of other faiths and creeds and takes on their language and

style,” he said.

Some synod speakers have expressed the need for improved catechetical formation and the building up of small Christian communities within the parishes.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, told the synod October 7 that the development of sects means pastors need to “take better care in the transmission of the content of the faith in the African cultural context.”

“It is necessary to know and appreciate the religious roots” of the African peoples, especially since they already recognized the existence of God before the arrival of Christianity and Islam, he said.

Bishop Alfred Adewale Martins of Abeokuta, Nigeria, told the synod October 8 that it is important everyone in the parish feels noticed and at home.

“We must ensure that no one is anonymous in the parishes,” especially the most vulnerable like the unemployed and young people, he said. And people with “any sort of material or spiritual needs should be supported and assisted where possible.”

A special ministry should be created in each parish that addresses the needs and concerns of young professionals and business leaders who “are targets of neo-Pentecostal groups,” said Bishop Martins.

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Pope canonizes Father Damien, four others as models of Christian love

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Calling them “shining examples” of Christian love, Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed five new saints, including Father Damien de Veuster, the 19th-century Belgian missionary who ministered to people with leprosy in Hawaii before dying of the disease.

At a Mass Monday overflowing with pilgrims from around the world, the pope also canonized Sister Jeanne Jugan, a French nun whose Little Sisters of the Poor continue to assist the elderly in the United States and more than 30 other countries.

Thousands of U.S. pilgrims came to Rome for the canonization, including a delegation of leprosy patients and their caregivers from Hawaii, where St. Damien worked and died, and residents from homes for the aged run by Little Sisters of the Poor across the United States.

St. Damien, a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, worked on the island of Hawaii for eight years before volunteering in 1873 to work at a leprosy colony on Molokai, where he served as pastor, doctor and counselor to some 800 patients.

In 1884 he contracted leprosy but, refusing to leave the island for treatment, continued to work until the month before his death at age 49 in 1889.

The procession to place St. Damien’s relics on the altar included Hawaii resident Audrey Toguchi, 81, whose cure from cancer was attributed to the miraculous intercession of St. Damien, as well as her doctor

and a leprosy patient from Hawaii.

St. Damien has been considered an intercessor for patients with leprosy and, more recently, HIV and AIDS. The Vatican’s liturgical program for the canonization described St. Damien as a voice for “rejected people of all kinds: the incurably ill (victims of AIDS or other diseases), abandoned children, disoriented youths, exploited women, neglected elderly people and oppressed minorities.”

In his homily, the pope said that in view of her service to the elderly, St. Jeanne Jugan was “a beacon” for modern societies, which “have still to rediscover the unique place and contribution of this period of life.” She was so effective with the aged because she recognized in them the person of Christ, he said.

The other new saints included a Pole and two Spaniards: — St. Zygmunt Felinski, a former archbishop of Warsaw, Poland, and founder of the Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary.

He lived from 1822 to 1895; — St. Francisco Coll Guitart, a Spanish Dominican priest who founded the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He died in 1875 at the age of 62; — St. Rafael Arnaiz Baron, a 20th-century Spanish Trappist brother known for his humility and life of prayer. He died in 1938 at age 27. At the end of the Mass, the pope spoke from the steps of the basilica to pilgrims who filled the square.

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The Anchor

Newt Gingrich encourages fight against secularization continued from page one

as pivotal to the downfall of communism. Sixteen months after Pope John Paul’s nine-day visit to Poland, the solidarity movement became the first officially recognized free trade union in the communist bloc, with more than 10 million members, the film’s Website asserts.

Gingrich described the scene where Pope John Paul stood in a square in Warsaw and said, “Let the face of God touch this earth.”

The crowd broke into 14 minutes of cheering and chanted, “We want God.” At that decisive moment moral authority was transferred from the soviet system to the people of Poland. A Dominican priest interviewed for the film said of the event, “You could feel the state shrinking,” he said.

Footage obtained by the bishops of Poland — who hired their own camera crews because they did not trust the government-run media to accurately capture the event — shows a crowd of young people lifting a 14-foot cross.

“This is in a communist dictatorship which has spent a generation preaching atheism,” said Gingrich.

Gingrich went on to say that

the challenge faced in Poland is faced in nations all over the world, including the United States.

“The parallels between the cross being put up in Warsaw as a sign of liberty and what the courts in this country have done to the cross are eerie and, I think, frightening,” he said, calling the limiting of religious expression by courts in the is country “antiAmerican.”

“Essentially they are saying, ‘You can be religious in private, in secret, as long as you don’t tell anybody.’ That’s not freedom,” he said.

The Catholic Citizenship event was held at the Union Club of Boston, and the room overlooked Boston Common, the site of the Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul Oct. 1, 1979.

In the event’s introduction Ray Flynn, former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican and founder of Catholic Citizenship, said there was a special relationship to the former pontiff and Boston. Flynn spoke about the fact that the pope chose Boston as the first city to visit in the United States. One million people gathered on the Common for the Mass, and people who remember the day often speak of the

heavy rain.

Flynn said that while ambassador, the pope used to remind him of the rain all the time.

Flynn introduced Gingrich, calling him a friend, great political leader and fellow follower of Jesus Christ. Gingrich recently converted to Catholicism, the faith of his wife, Callista.

In his comments, Gingrich talked about his spiritual journey.

As a young man he sang in a Lutheran boy’s choir. He was raised in a career military family and had military chaplains from different Christian backgrounds throughout his life before becoming Baptist in his late 20s. After marrying Callista, he began attending Mass for 10 years. His conversion to Catholicism was sparked by last year’s papal visit of Pope Benedict XVI. He said of Pope Benedict, “I found him to be utterly different than the all the news media’s original projections. This was not the pope is a rottweiler. This was not an aloof, austere German intellectual. This was a man who was totally in love with what he was doing.”

Gingrich said he was driven by a desire to understand and expe-

October 16, 2009 rience the Eucharist and that his conversion has been “extraordinarily meaningful and positive.”

Gingrich also told The Anchor that if not for his conversion, he still would have produced “Nine Days That Changed the World” because as a historian he was fascinated with that “extraordinary moment in human history.”

The documentary is the fifth film he and his wife have produced, and they recently told Michael Moore that he launched their career in movies.

“I think he was a little surprised,” Gingrich said, adding that he told the documentary filmmaker, “You convinced us that movies in this day and age are a powerful and practical vehicle for communicating and educating people.”

After his prepared remarks at the Catholic Citizenship event, some of the 120 people in attendance asked Gingrich what they could do about the secularization of the nation.

He advised them to first speak out about the facts. Tell people that the Declaration of Independence, our founding political document, states the people gain their rights from the creator. Say to those who cite Thomas Jefferson as justification to prevent prayer at school football games that the former president regularly loaned the

treasury building for religious services. Encourage young people to read Abraham Lincoln’s speeches, in particular the Second Inaugural Address where in 703 words he referenced God 14 times and quoted the Bible twice, he said.

Gingrich also challenged the crowd to encourage local school boards to teach history accurately.

“There has been in the modern west such a deep effort to secularize education,” he said. “Our historic memory is always one generation deep, and if we fail to teach it, then we can’t expect people to have any notion of who they are and where they come from.”

The modern secular world, which starts in academia and grows from there into the courts and news media, does not want to hear the truth. Instead, they prefer to teach “a fantasy version of history that fits their ideological values.” It is the call of Christians to witness to the truth, he said.

“The secularists are so totally out of touch with reality and so fundamentally dishonest that the more we have the courage to stand up in public, they cannot survive,” Gingrich said.

For more information visit the documentary’s Website: http:// ninedaysthatchangedtheworld. com/media.php.

The Church in the U.S.

October 16, 2009

Survey finds declining support for legal abortion among varied groups

By Nancy Frazier O’Brien Catholic News Service

attend church at least weekly; Jews; moderate to liberal Republicans; those ages 30-49; white evangelical Protestants who attend church services less than weekly; and Republican-leaning independents.

“Similarly, several groups that were previously divided in their views on abortion now come down clearly on the Pro-Life

of those who thought abortion should be illegal in most or all WASHINGTON — Although cases cited religious beliefs as a new poll showed a significant the biggest influence, while 12 decline in support for abortion in percent said education and 16 the United States, an official of percent said something else. the U.S. bishops’ Pro-Life secreAlthough overall only 35 pertariat said the results would have cent of Catholics cited their relibeen even more strongly Progious beliefs as the biggest influLife if they had been grouped to ence on their abortion views, 60 truly reflect the current state of percent of Catholics who attend U.S. abortion law. church at least weekly orty-seven percent of Americans did so. For Catholics Deirdre A. McQuade, assistant director for believe abortion should be legal in who attend church serpolicy and communicaless frequently, all or most cases, while 45 percent said vices tions in the bishops’ Secthe percentage who said retariat for Pro-Life Ac- it should be illegal in all or most cases. their religious beliefs tivities, said the survey A year ago in a similar Pew poll, 54 per- influenced their aborresults from the Pew Fo- cent said it should be legal in all or most tion views dropped to 19 rum on Religion & Pubcases, while 41 percent said it should be percent. lic Life released October Asked whether they 1 showed encouraging illegal in all or most cases. support “requiring that shifts in American opinwomen under the age ion against legal abortion and for side,” the report added. “Among of 18 get the consent of at least parental consent before a minor’s Hispanics, seniors, those with a one parent before they are alhigh school education or less, lowed to have an abortion,” 76 abortion.

Overall, Pew reported that Southerners and less-observant percent of Americans said they 47 percent of Americans believe white evangelicals, abortion op- favor or strongly favor such a abortion should be legal in all or ponents now outnumber support- requirement. Even 71 percent most cases, while 45 percent said ers of abortion rights.” of those who think abortion The survey also asked about should be legal in all or most it should be illegal in all or most cases. A year ago in a similar Pew the “biggest influence on your cases said they supported the poll, 54 percent said it should be thinking on the issue of abortion,” requirement. legal in all or most cases, while offering the choices of religious Currently 25 states require pa41 percent said it should be ille- beliefs, education, a personal ex- rental consent before a minor’s perience, the views of family or abortion, and another 11 require gal in all or most cases.

The margin of error for the friends and the media. notification of at least one parMore than half (53 percent) ent. most recent survey was plus or minus two percentage points.

But McQuade said the survey results “do not helpfully reflect the current state of abortion law,” which allows abortions for virtually any reason throughout the nine months of pregnancy under Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

By grouping those who think abortion should be legal in most cases with those who believe it should be legal in all cases, the survey results give the impression that about half of Americans support current abortion law and half oppose it, McQuade said.

“The good news is that if you net the categories to reflect the current state of abortion law, only 16 percent actually agrees with the current state of abortion law,” she said.

That 16 percent said abortion should be legal in all cases. The percentage who said it should be Oct. 8 & 22, 2009 ~ Grief Education legal in all cases has been as high Oct. 8, 15, 22, 29 ~ Journaling My Journey as 27 percent, in July 1995.

Nov. 3, 2009 ~ Remembering Our Loved Ones “Declines in support for legal Nov. 6-8, 2009 ~ Peggy Patenaude Retreat abortion are seen among a wide Nov. 13-15, 2009 ~ Knit Crochet, Embroider, Etc. variety of demographic groups,” Nov. 29, 2009 ~ Advent Recollection the Pew report noted. Among Dec. 4-6, 2009 ~ Advent Retreat those showing declines of at least Dec. 11-13, 2009 ~ Pat Hastings Retreat 10 percentage points in support for legal abortion were white, non-Hispanic Catholics and white mainline Protestants who

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World Fatima apostolate calls for 100 million prayers for life, peace

By Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON, N.J. — The World Apostolate of Fatima/Blue Army USA hopes to inspire 100 million prayers for life and peace on Worldwide Fatima Sanctity of Life Day on Sunday.

Catholics are being asked to pray the rosary and nonCatholics to pray as they are accustomed for 20 minutes to mark the day.

Participants will pray through the intercession of Our Lady of Fatima for an end to war, abortion, terrorism, genocide, child slavery, assisted suicide and all other instances where death is chosen as a solution to world problems.

“The message of Fatima was meant not just for Catholics, but for all people and for all time,” said Michael La Corte, executive director of the World Apostolate of Fatima. “At Fatima we were taught that we must sin less and repair the damage sin causes through acts of repara-

tion and devotion, or the result will be souls lost to hell and wars so bad that nations will be annihilated.”

Prayer events will be held around the world, with events at the main prayer center at the Blue Army Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Washington, N.J., being broadcast live by the Eternal Word Television Network.

Trinitarian Father Clement Machado and Father Andrew Apostoli of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal will speak at the main prayer center about the heightened significance of the Fatima message in today’s world. Other events at the prayer center will include a rosary walk and candlelight procession, Mass and entertainment by Catholic musician Tony Melendez and his band.

Participants in Worldwide Fatima Sanctity of Life Day are asked to register their prayers online at www.wafusa.org.

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The Anchor A public line in the sand

Eight days ago, the U.S. bishops drew a line in the sand on health care reform. Three of the bishops who have been most actively involved in the health care debate — Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Center, N.Y., and Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City — wrote a joint letter on behalf of all U.S. bishops to the members of Congress warning that unless some major changes are made to present legislation being debated on Capitol Hill, they will have “no choice” but to “oppose the health care bill vigorously.”

This is quite a statement from the leaders of the Church in our country, which has long been one of the strongest supporters of health care reform, but it points to the seriousness of the problems they find in the proposed legislation.

They expressed their clear “disappointment” that progress has not been made on the “three priority criteria for health care reform” they have repeatedly conveyed to Congress as grounds for the Church’s support. The first of these criteria is to “exclude mandated coverage for abortion, and incorporate longstanding policies against abortion funding and in favor of conscience rights.” Despite President Obama’s September 9 promise on national television before members of Congress that “no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place,” attempts to put flesh on those commitments, they note, have been defeated in the Senate.

Richard Doerflinger, associate director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ secretariat of Pro-Life activities, indicated that the Senate Finance Committee has recently rejected two Pro-Life amendments authored by Senator Orrin Hatch to put legislative teeth to the president’s words. One amendment, he said, was an attempt to repeat the abortion funding prohibition that has long governed all federal health programs: “no federal subsidies for benefits packages that cover abortion, with rare exceptions; insurers could offer supplemental abortion policies if they were funded solely by the private premiums of those choosing to purchase them.” The second one “would forbid federal agencies, and state and local governments receiving federal funds under this bill, to discriminate against health care providers that decline to perform, refer for, or pay for abortions.” Both amendments, Doerflinger lamented, were defeated.

The bishops’ letter noted that the conscience rights amendment rejected by the Senate Finance Committee had previously by passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. They said that they “remain apprehensive when amendments protecting freedom of conscience and ensuring no taxpayer money for abortion are defeated in committee votes.” Such legislative maneuvers obviously raise serious questions about whether Democratic leaders in the legislative and executive branches are being honest when they assure that “no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions and federal conscience laws will remain in place.”

The bishops reiterate the principles that “no one should be required to pay for or participate in abortion,” that it is “essential that the legislation clearly apply to this new program longstanding and widely supported federal restrictions on abortion funding and mandates,” and that there be clear “protections for rights of conscience.” After reviewing current bills, they don’t mince words in their evaluation: “No current bill meets this test.” In uncharacteristically stark language, they stress that “if acceptable language in these areas cannot be found” and “if final legislation does not meet our principles,” they would have “no choice” but to “vigorously” oppose the bill as a whole. What they’re saying is that, even though health care reform is desperately needed, no amount of good in other parts of the bill could outweigh the amount of harm that could come if these two principles are not met.

The bishops mentioned the other two “priority criteria,” making “quality health care affordable and accessible to everyone, particularly those who are vulnerable and those who live at or near the poverty level” and ensuring “effective measures to safeguard the health of immigrants, their children, and all of society.” Insofar as they didn’t mention specific ways in which these objectives were not being met, however, we can infer that they are in general satisfied in these two areas. Nevertheless, their stark language with regard to the first priority indicates that they’re not going to be satisfied with obtaining merely two of three. It’s a clear sign of the seriousness of the evil that would be done by the violation of the first criterion.

The bishops of the state of Kansas — who have been among the most active local conferences of bishops in staying on top of health care reform proposals — have expanded upon the concerns articulated by the leaders of the national conference in a recent letter written to all of their representatives and senators in Washington.

“Any health care reform legislation,” they declared, must “truly be in the service of protecting human life. It is absolutely imperative that the final health care reform bill not contain any language permitting public financing of abortion. Indeed, we feel that it is necessary that the final bill contain explicit protections ensuring that public funds will not be used to finance abortion.” After noting the “most disappointing development” that amendments explicitly codifying such protections were defeated by the Senate Finance Committee, they described why unequivocal protections are so important: “Existing protections are not adequate to meet the new circumstances that would exist under some of the proposals currently before Congress. If the federal government is going to expand its regulatory power over insurance providers, or actually provide coverage itself, then existing protections against taxpayer financing of abortion must be adapted to apply fully to these changed conditions. Mandated coverage of abortion by any plan, public or private, would poison the prospects for genuine reform and render the legislation unacceptable.”

With respect to the failure up until now to ensure adequate conscience protections, they implied that we need to pay attention not merely to the president’s rhetoric but to his deeds. “The debate over health care reform legislation has brought renewed focus to President Obama’s regrettable decision earlier this year to begin the process of rolling back the conscience protection regulation put in place by the previous administration. It is critically important that doctors, nurses, and other health care personnel be able to practice medicine without being forced to be complicit in procedures they find profoundly immoral, like abortion.” Without trying to be alarmist, they also brought into focus that the consequences of the failure adequately to protect consciences will be social and not just personal: “Failure to protect conscience rights could potentially put Catholic hospitals in an untenable position, which would have grave consequences for the one out of every six patients who rely upon them for health care.”

They reiterate that they were “grateful for President Obama’s assurance in his September 9 address before Congress that ‘no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place,’” but note that for this promise to be realized,” significant changes to the health care reform bills before Congress will be necessary.”

They conclude with a healthy reminder: “Reform legislation for its own sake is not enough.

Health care reform must improve health care, not merely change it.” The Catholic Church, led by her bishops, are committed to ensuring that all such changes actually do improve it, and have gone on record that they will vigorously oppose any such “reforms” that promote abortion or the trampling on the consciences of health care workers.

October 16, 2009

The internal logic of a great sacrament

A priest classmate recently told me that when- he needed the sacrament; that’s one of the reasons ever he preaches about confession, he now talks why he was willing to sacrifice so much to make primarily about how much he personally needs the sacrament available to others who needed it, confession. He said that this is one of the most too. important lessons he’s learned during his time as St. John Vianney preached often about his exa priest. In the early days of his priesthood, he perience as a penitent. One of his favorite stories would preach regularly about God’s mercy, the was of his first confession. It was the time of the gift of the sacrament of penance, how Catholics persecutions against priests during the French should confess at least once a year, about how to Revolution when priests who hadn’t taken the make a good examination of conscience, grow in oath to the civil constitution were being hunted sorrow, and establish a firm resolution of amend- down and guillotined in the squares of major ment of life. But few of these homilies made a French cities. One of the courageous “refractory” noticeable impact in drawing people back to the priests, Father Groboz, had come to the Vianney sacrament. home in Dardilly, where he would occasionally When he started to ask some of his parishio- take refuge and rest from those who were pursuing ners why his preaching on confession was so bar- him. After blessing each of the kids in the family, ren, they told him that the obstacle to returning he turned to the young John Mary and asked him to the sacrament was the priesthood. A few had how old he was. “Eleven,” the boy replied. “How the idea that the priest was too holy and would long is it since you last went to confession,” Fanot be able to relate to their struggles with sin. ther Groboz queried. “I have never yet been to The vast majority had the idea, particularly after confession,” the future saint told him. “Well, let the revelation of the clergy sex abuse scandals, us set right this omission at once!” Then, the later that priests were too sinful to be able to forgive extraordinary apostle of the confessional knelt sins and give advice in the struggle against sin. down under the clock in his parlor and confessed Regardless of what perspective they were com- the sins he had committed since his baptism. He ing from, they saw the priest as the chief impedi- never forgot the peace he experienced. He never ment. forgot what a So my friend grace it was to decided to try have priests near another apso that he could proach. He bego to confession. gan to preach on For the rest of his his experience life, John Vianas a penitent — ney sought to how he goes to make up for lost

By Father confession each time.

Roger J. Landry week, how he An even battles against the greater illussame temptations tration of St. from week to week, how he receives strength John Vianney as penitent happened in 1845. A from the sacrament to persevere as a disciple and 37-year-old priest, Father Louis Beau, was apan apostle, how the joy of absolution is one of pointed as the pastor of Jassans. One of the first the greatest joys he has experienced in life, and things this young cleric did upon arriving in his how his experience as a penitent has made him, new assignment was to pay a visit to his neighbor he thinks, a far better confessor, capable of re- in Ars. When he arrived, Father Vianney was in lating to people who struggle with many of the the confessional, so Father Beau had lunch with same issues he does and of giving them not only the parochial vicar. At the end of lunch, Father Viadvice but, through sacramental absolution, the anney returned from the church. Father Vianney power of God to heal and strengthen them to be- was exceptionally delighted to meet him and held gin again. his hands in his own for a considerable length of He told me that since he changed his ap- time. Then he asked Father Beau to come to his proach, people have been coming in such num- room. When they got there, the famous confesbers that he’s had to add several extra hours a sor turned to his much-junior colleague and said, week. He’s concluded that the most effective “Friend, your predecessor was kind enough to way to get people to return to the sacrament is hear my confession; you will do me the same sernot by words but by example, that the words vice, n’est-ce pas?” “follow me” are far more compelling than the Before the stunned Father Beau was able to most beautifully-written homilies about the ob- say yes or no, Father Vianney pointed to a chair, jective greatness of God’s mercy and the power Father Beau sat down, and Father Vianney, kneelof the sacrament. ing before him, confessed his sins. Father Beau I am convinced that he is right. I was once a would remain his regular confessor until death. confessor on a retreat for adults, many of whom, By his actions, Father Vianney showed his great for multiple reasons, did not seem interested in faith in the power of the sacrament. He didn’t receiving the sacrament. Another priest on the seek out a “specialty confessor,” but humbly retreat, sizing up the situation appropriately, sug- asked a priest he barely knew, since he knew he gested to me and to the other confessors that, be- was confessing principally to Christ and not to a fore we offer the sacrament to the faithful at the man. end of a penance prayer service, we go to confesIn recent years, the popes have been calling sion to each other to show them that we, too, are priests to be good penitents so that they may be in need of it. We agreed to do it. great confessors. Pope John Paul II, elected to At the end of the prayers of the faithful, four the papacy 31 years ago today, wrote in his enof us went to the other four, knelt down and con- cyclical on the sacrament of penance, “In order fessed our sins, and received absolution. Then to be a good and effective minister of Penance, we got up as the priest who absolved us dropped the priest needs to have recourse to the source of to his knees to do the same. grace and holiness present in this Sacrament. We I believe that every adult in the room ended priests, on the basis of our personal experience, up going to confession that night. When they can certainly say that, the more careful we are were talking about their experiences at the end of to receive the Sacrament of Penance and to apthe retreat, many of them said that the highlight proach it frequently and with good dispositions, was the penance service. Several noted that they the better we fulfill our own ministry as confeshadn’t been to confession for years and weren’t sors and ensure that our penitents benefit from it. planning to go that night, but after having seen And on the other hand this ministry would lose the priests humbly go to confession before them, much of its effectiveness if in some way we were they were deeply moved and said they felt the to stop being good penitents. Such is the internal courage to do the same. logic of this great Sacrament. It invites all of us That’s why in this series of articles on the priests of Christ to pay renewed attention to our “great miracle” of the Curé of Ars’ “besieged personal confession.” confessional,” it is important to pause to conSt. John Vianney paid attention to this internal sider St. John Vianney as a penitent. One of the logic of the sacrament — and that was one of the reasons why he was able to become one of the secrets of how God was able to form him to be greatest confessors in the history of the Church one of the great confessors who have ever lived. was because he was a very devout and regular Father Landry is pastor of St. Anthony of recipient of the sacrament. He knew how much Padua Parish in New Bedford.

Putting Into the Deep

October 16, 2009

T

he earliest recollection I have of even thinking about the priesthood came to me at the age of 12.

It was a Sunday morning and as usual I was at Mass with my family at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in New Bedford.

The pastor, Msgr. Vieira, who was in his 90s, was celebrating the Mass. I remember his walking up the steps of the sanctuary to the altar aided by two other priests. My first thought was, “How amazing it is that at his age he still wants to say Mass.

There must be something to being a priest that inspires this man.”

Msgr. Antonio P. Vieira would enjoy 75 years of priesthood and was called to the house of the Father on March 27, 1964 at the age of 98. The image of him at the altar always stuck with me. It was a thought that would not go away.

I entered the seminary in 1968 right out of high school. It

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The Anchor

Placing ourselves in the Lord’s hands

I found myself questioning if was my first experience being God was truly calling me to this away from home and family. vocation. I wondered if I was After four years at St. John’s worthy. It didn’t take long for Seminary College in Boston, I the Lord to speak to my heart. was advised to take a year off At daily Mass one day the and re-evaluate my vocation. I words of Jesus in John 15:16 hit did so and lived at home with my parents. I got a job and involved myself in Year For Priests the life of the parish.

Vocational Reflection I volunteered to teach CCD (as it was called then) and now have a

By Father deep appreciation for all catechists who volunteer John Raposo their time to teach the children of the parish in me like a ton of bricks. “It was the ways of the Catholic faith.

The thought of being a priest, not you who chose me; it was I who chose you.” I discovered however, remained with me. I am particularly grateful to Msgr. that my vocation was not “my” vocation; it was the Lord’s and John Smith, who was the Vocahe was inviting me to accept his tions director at the time, and call. I felt a profound sense of Father Daniel Freitas, a family humility and placed my life in friend, both of whom lent me the Lord’s hands at that time. their support in my resolve to When I completed my studbecome a priest at that time. ies at St. Mary’s I returned to When I re-entered the semithe Fall River Diocese and was nary at St. Mary’s in Baltimore,

ordained by Bishop Daniel A. Cronin on October 22, 1977.

My first assignment as a priest was at St. James Parish in New Bedford. I was happy to begin my priesthood in my “backyard” as it were, since St. James was not far from Mt. Carmel where I grew up. I was fortunate to have Father Armando Annunziato as my first pastor. He was patient with me. I will always remember his kindness and generosity.

Over the past 31 years I have had the privilege of serving God’s people in every part of the diocese — New Bedford, Fall River, Taunton, Provincetown and Attleboro. In that time the Lord has truly blessed me with wonderful, faith-filled people who have assisted me in my ministry. I consider my priesthood intimately linked with the lives of my parishioners. I can only hope and pray

Unitarian. The Unitarians gained gationalism of their Plymouth control of Harvard, the original neighbors. In 1691 the two settlements merged and Congre- Pilgrim church at Plymouth, and all but one of Boston’s fourteen gationalism became the estabcongregations. lished religion in New England.

Another reason for CongregaEach congregation could adopt tionalism’s decline was the Plan the Apostles’ Creed, compose of Union of 1801, an agreement a creed of its own, or remain between Congregationalists creedless. Given its theological and Presbyterians to cooperate basis in Calvinism, Congregain missionary endeavors but tionalist worship was severely usually worked to the latter’s plain: lengthy sermons, Bible reading, unadorned churches, and the singing of Psalms only.

The Fullness It was forbidden to observe the “popish” of the Truth holiday of Christmas.

Today Christmas finds

By Father a place in the ConThomas M. Kocik gregationalist year, as does the Puritans’ own contribution to the calendar, Thanksgiving Day. advantage. Two thousand Congregationalist churches outside Hymns and organs gradually were introduced, and the service New England were lost to the better-organized Presbyterians. was shortened.

In 1931 the CongregaLike their Presbyterian counterparts, Congregationalists tionalists merged with the always have valued higher learn- 100,000-member Christian Church, sometimes known as ing. Church members founded Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Bow- the Baptist Unitarians, who doin, Amherst, Smith, and many denied the divinity of Christ and rejected all creeds. The new deother colleges, most of which nomination initially called itself have since passed from church control. After the Civil War they the Congregational and Christian Churches but later dropped set up hundreds of schools for the “and.” blacks in the former ConfederCongregationalism remained ate states. primarily a New England instiEarly on, the Congregationtution until 1957, when the Genalist establishment had given eral Council of Congregational birth to a radical, anti-doctrinal Christian Churches merged with movement, and by the end of the Evangelical and Reformed the eighteenth century CongreChurch (ERC) to form the gationalists, both in England United Church of Christ (UCC), and America, were divided into whose current membership hovtwo parties: Trinitarian and

ers at around one million. At the time of that merger, the Congregational Christian Churches counted 1.3 million adult members, 60 percent of the total number of members in the new denomination.

By the 1950s denominational mergers were nothing new in American Protestantism.

The ERC was itself a fusion, having been organized by the 1934 union of two German-American denominations: the Evangelical Synod of North America, composed of congregations of mixed Lutheran and Reformed heritage, and the older Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS), founded by immigrants from the Palatinate and other German districts where Calvinism prevailed. Three distinguished twentieth-century American Protestant theologians were ERC ministers: Paul Tillich and the brothers Reinhold and H. Richard Niebuhr.

The UCC was a unique breed. Congregationalism came to these shores with the Pilgrims and became a virtual theocracy in New England; the ERC found its adherents among the descendants of German immigrants in Pennsylvania and the Midwest. Congregationalists refused to bind members with creeds; the ERC upheld both the Lutheran Augsburg Confession and the Reformed Heidelberg Catechism. Congregationalism demanded complete autonomy

that the Lord has touched the hearts of these people through my ministry to them.

As I write this article I am preparing to begin a new phase of my priestly life serving the people of the Catholic Memorial Home in Fall River as their chaplain. After three decades in a parish ministry, this will be a new challenge. Once again I will be relying on God’s grace and the faith of his people to support me in this ministry.

Reflecting on the gift of the priesthood, I think back to an encounter with a priest friend some 30 years ago. At that time we were both new to the ministry and he exclaimed, “I love being a priest.” This sudden outburst was unexpected but understandable. It didn’t take me long to agree with him and I am happy to say that today I feel the same way, “I love being a priest.”

Father Raposo is Chaplain at Catholic Memorial Home in Fall River.

The Congregationalists: Descendants of the Puritans

he Congregationalists are the spiritual descendants of the Puritans who left England to create a godly commonwealth in the New World. Strict Calvinists all, the Puritans criticized the established Church of England as insufficiently Protestantized. Most Puritans sought to “purify” the national church from within, but a separatist minority had given up on official Anglicanism. The Puritans were divided also over ecclesiastical polity: the non-separatists were mostly Presbyterians while the separatists insisted on a church “without pope, prelate, presbytery, prince, or parliament.”

When the first substantial body of Puritans arrived at the Massachusetts Bay colony in the early 1630s, the smaller Plymouth colony to the south had already been in place for a decade.

The Plymouth settlement was a separatist Puritan outpost. These Puritans had fled persecution in England for the greater tolerance found in the Netherlands, but after watching their children take on Dutch ways, they looked farther afield for a place where they might be left alone. About forty of the separatists (with sixty others to fill up the ship) embarked on the Mayflower for an ill-defined North American destination; these “Pilgrims” arrived at Cape Cod Bay in November 1620, and before the first winter was past, half their tiny band had died from cold, starvation, or disease.

The Presbyterian Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay colony eventually adopted the Congre-

for each congregation; the ERC was presbyterian in polity.

Not everyone went along with the various mergers. Four hundred Congregational churches chose not to merge with the ERC and retain the Congregational name. The RCUS still exists and is one of many “continuing” Reformed groups.

Here in New England and in other parts of the country, the local UCC church may still label itself Congregational.

Arguably the most liberal church on the American scene, the UCC supports the abortion license, operates a condom distribution “ministry,” and endorses same-sex marriage.

A few years back it ran television ads about its inclusiveness, contrasting itself with churches where “others” are supposedly unwelcome. One commercial depicted a single black mother with her crying baby, a gay couple, and an Arab-looking gent being propelled out of a church by ejection seats attached to the pews; it concluded with the line, “The United Church of Christ.

No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you’re welcome here.”

Nothing wrong with that, so long as inclusiveness in Christ’s name include also those who prefer an identifiably Christian view of things. Then again, such people are more likely to belong to churches where the Gospel call to conversion trumps lifestyle liberalisms.

Father Kocik is a parochial vicar at Santo Christo Parish in Fall River.

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n our Gospel reading for this Sunday, James and John ask Jesus for special standing in the kingdom of God. And Jesus answered, “It is not mine to give; that is for those for whom it has been reserved.” The two Apostles wanted to be great men. But the plain truth is that greatness cannot be accorded as easily as they were hoping.

Greatness is a quality of life that must be earned. If greatness can be given, it has nothing at all to do with whether or not we are great. Consider position as an example. It can be given. A corporation can hire you and make you chief executive officer a year later.

Does that mean that you are a great person? It has nothing whatsoever to do with it. Political office is the same thing. If enough people vote for you, they can make you mayor, or governor, or senator. But all of

The Anchor

October 16, 2009

Greatness cannot be given

the voters in the world cannot ample. That is a quality of life make you a great man or a great that no one can give to you. You woman. Greatness has nothing have to build it for yourself. to do with position.

And the only way to accomGreatness also has nothing to plish that is by doing generdo with possessions. The test is ous things. Take your lottery the same. Money can be given. And that means it is irrelevant so far as Homily of the Week greatness is concerned.

Twenty-Ninth Sunday You could win the lotin Ordinary Time tery; it is not likely, but you could. Overnight

By Deacon you could become Dick Zeich a multi-millionaire.

Your life will undergo some drastic changes.

The country club will seek winnings and use them to help your membership. Charities someone. Take your executive will solicit you for donations. position in the company, and People will treat you with more use it to encourage someone. deference. But all of the money Take your elective office, and in the world cannot make you use it to serve the least fortunate a great person. Greatness is a people you know. It may not quality of life that can only be make you a great person over earned. night; but you will certainly be Generosity is a good exheaded in the right direction.

The fact is that true greatness is available to any of us.

James and John wanted two of the top spots in God’s kingdom but Jesus said those places had already been reserved. He didn’t say for whom, however. If he did, we probably wouldn’t believe it. The leading citizen in heaven’s domain may be a janitor or a chairwoman. It might be somebody who isn’t even capable of holding a job. God’s measuring rod is very different from ours. To us, station and rank are everything. To God, they mean nothing. To us, outsiders don’t count much, if at all. To God, they are the standard by which he judges the rest of us.

Yes, lottery winners could become generous people; but most of us don’t have to worry about that, and probably never

will. Our challenge lies elsewhere. But it’s just as real.

Most of the generous people I have known were not dealing in millions of dollars. The fact is, that they existed on a meager income. But they were generous. And that is what counts with God. By his reckoning, $10 from one person may mean more than a million dollars from another.

Greatness cannot be accorded to anyone. Even Jesus would not do that for two saints like James and John. But true greatness is within reach of everybody, even ordinary people like you and me. Jesus said: “Anyone among you who aspires to greatness must serve the needs of all.”

Deacon Zeich was ordained in the Diocese of Paterson, N.J. in 1988 and has served at St. Pius X parish in South Yarmouth since 1999.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Oct. 17, Rom 4:13,16-18; Ps 105:6-9.42-43; Lk 12:8-12. Sun. Oct. 18, Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Is 53:10-11; Ps 33:45,18-20,22; Heb 4:14-16; Mk 10:35-45 or 10:42-45. Mon. Oct. 19, Rom 4:20-25; (Ps) Lk 1:69-75; Lk 12:13-21. Tues. Oct. 20, Rom 5:12,15b,17-19,20b-21; Ps 40:7-10,17; Lk 12:35-38. Wed. Oct. 21, Rom 6:12-18; Ps 124:1-8; Lk 12:39-48. Thur. Oct. 22, Rom 6:19-23; Ps 1:1-4,6; Lk 12:49-53. Fri. Oct. 23, Rom 7:18-25a; Ps 119:66,68,76-77, 93,94; Lk 12:54-59.

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everal years ago, after Irving Kristol had had a cancerous lung removed, Father Richard John Neuhaus visited him in the hospital. After they chatted briefly, Father Neuhaus, at the door on his way out, turned back toward the bed and said, “I’ll pray for you, Irving.” To which Irving Kristol replied, “Don’t bring me to his attention!”

It was a typical Irving remark: wry, modest, indomitable. For those with ears to hear, there was also the undertone of an act of faith.

For Irving, whose practice of

Irving Kristol, Catholic social ethicist?

Judaism was not strict, was was not a conventional man nonetheless, as he might put of ideas, however, meaning an it, “theotropic” — intuitively academic. During his tenure as persuaded that the God of editor of the Public Interest, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (and, as some of us would remind him, Jesus) was indeed the master of the universe to which his ancestors in the shtetls of eastern

By George Weigel Europe had prayed.

Irving Kristol died on September 18; it would be hard to find a man which reshaped the domestic who, in our time, more vividly policy debate in America, embodied the claim that ideas Irving famously observed that have consequences. Irving the way to change the world was through small magazines and think-tanks: a bon mot of great comfort to those of us who published in small magazines and worked in thinktanks. In his case, though, it was indisputably true and had been since the 1950s, when he helped launch Encounter, the trans-Atlantic journal of ideas that nourished a principled anti-communism in which both conservatives (which Irving was becoming in those days) and intellectuals of the left (which he had been in his youth) could join ranks in the defense of freedom.

The obituaries dutifully described Irving Kristol as a founding father of neoconservatism, which was true enough. But that moniker — coined by an unreconstructed leftist, Michael Harrington, by

The Catholic Difference

the way — tends to obscure at least as much as it illuminates. In Irving’s case, what it obscured was a combination of qualities rarely found in one man: common sense (which compelled his disentanglement from the Trotyskyism of his college days); empirical rigor (which taught him to look, hard, at facts, like the fact that Great Society welfare programs were destroying the families they were supposed to help); good humor (which Irving sometimes found lacking in older styles of American conservatism, and which he supplied in ample measure); courage (to take on the settled liberal consensus among intellectual, journalistic, and political tastemakers); and foresight (as in the creation of Encounter and the Public Interest).

Irving Kristol lived the last two decades of his life in Washington, but he was New York Jewish to his chromosomes; so I trust I won’t offend his memory if I suggest that these qualities were, in some sense, Catholic qualities.

Despite what you will read in certain Catholic journals and blogs today, Catholic social doctrine is not about the infinite expansion of state power into every sphere of public life: education, social

welfare, health care. One of the core principles of Catholic social doctrine is the principle of subsidiarity, according to which decision-making ought to be left at the lowest possible level in a social hierarchy, commensurate with the common good: you don’t ask the local fire department to rout al-Qaeda out of Afghanistan; you don’t ask the federal government to run the local schools or the local doctor’s office (or at least you didn’t, once upon a time).

The Public Interest, which was chiefly responsible for brewing the ideas embodied in the welfare reform of the 1990s, was a journal in defense of subsidiarity and in opposition to what John Paul II called the “Social Assistance State.” That, one suspects, is why Daniel Patrick Moynihan (who was Catholic New York the way Irving was Jewish New York) was one of its first paladins (before Pat veered off onto a political track defined by fear of the New York Times editorial board). And that’s why it makes posthumous sense to remember Irving Kristol as a kind of Jewish Catholic social ethicist. I like to think he’d appreciate the title.

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

Ready! Shoot! Aim!

Wednesday 14 October 2009 complaint from my friend and — On this date in 1066, Anglo neighbor, Father David StopySaxon King Harold, son of King ra. David, a Franciscan priest, Ethelred The Unready, loses his jokingly warned that none other life and the throne of England to than St. Francis himself had William, Duke of Normandy, at copyrighted the blessing of the Battle of Hastings animals and that consequently he best laid plans of mice and men often go awry,” goes the famous line by Reflections of a the Scottish poet Robert Parish Priest Burns. In the original dialect, it reads, “The

By Father Tim best-laid schemes o’ Goldrick mice an’ men gang aft agley.”

My most recent “scheme” to only Franciscans were licensed “gang agley” was the blessing to say the prayer. He informed of pets, which I had carefully me I was in violation of copyplanned for the day before the right laws. I know they didn’t feast of St. Francis of Assisi. have copyright laws in the 13th We have been doing this here century. That Father Stopyra for three years now. The first is such a kidder. Besides, my year we announced the blessconfirmation name is “Francis.” ing of animals, I received a That should grant me a license

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The Anchor

October 16, 2009

The Ship’s Log

Choices last

their “family circle” to include hen Notre Dame two children and collaborated chose President in raising them for 10 years.

Barack Obama as its comThe relationship subsequently mencement speaker and the ended and the woman who had recipient of an honorary degree legally adopted the children — despite his deplorable record entered into a marriage with a on foundational issues of grave man who offered to stand in as importance — many were their father. confused about how to respond.

The shunned lover sued for The office of president carries her parental rights and now with it certain privileges, and yet so does the integrity of an institution founded to advance the truths of our faith. Intricately related to that decision was the choice offered to Mary Ann Glendon, nominated for the

By Genevieve Kineke distinguished Laetare Medal (and who would share a podium at that the children will have three event). She ultimately chose adults to contend with for the to decline her honor in order remainder of their minority — to clarify her disappointment for although Montana hasn’t about the school’s tribute to the recognized same-sex unions as president.

In recent remarks concerning commensurate with traditional marriage, this case offered the those events, she explained her requisite landscape in which actions by noting that “choices motherhood and fatherhood as last.” How very true. Furtherstaples of healthy child develmore, she impressed upon her opment could be picked off like audience that every individual so many squirrels on a fence. decision we make concerning Another newsworthy scemoral concerns carries great nario was found in the lives weight, collectively shaping of twins — the product of an society. “Either we are advancanonymous sperm donation ing the cause of life or we are purchased by a woman who felt cooperating with the culture of an overwhelming need to give death.” Without such vigilance, “how easily today’s atrocity can flesh to her motherly proclivities. The children have exhibbecome tomorrow’s routine.” ited some grave symptoms of A few recent stories in the a congenital nature, and now news underscore these points, she needs the man’s medical as Montana became the most records and would like her girls recent state to sow confusion to know their father. about the nature of parents and To her great distress, owing the legitimate needs of chilsomewhat to her confused dren. Two women engaged in a understanding that the donor lesbian relationship expanded

The Feminine Genius

to bless.

This year, though, my pet blessing plans went awry. It was pouring rain on the day appointed. Even my own retired greyhounds revolted. I had intended to bless my dogs Transit and Cleopatra to show that the pastor of Dighton was “pet-friendly,” as you well know, dear readers. Greyhound Lolo needs more than a simple blessing, so for him I planned an exorcism.

My dogs obstinately refused to leave the house.

They had enough sense to stay out of the rain.

I went out alone into the torrential downpour. I figured I had an obligation to be there, since I had already announced the event to parishioners. Somebody just might show up. I dressed in an alb and cope. I carried the of-

would be accessible to his offspring, she discovered that she has no such rights to either demand. Realizing now that purchasing babies as a commodity places them in a horrific no-man’s land of tenuous ties and indifferent legal structures, she is suing to prove that hers and all such babies “have the same fundamental needs as any other children, and that their interests should be regarded as just as important.”

The Church would agree whole-heartedly with the mothers in both of these cases.

Despite the lamentable choices leading to their current circumstances, each woman came to see the overwhelming good in their children knowing a father. The first woman married a man for that purpose and the second has brought her children’s plight to the media in the hopes that their father would volunteer himself despite the shadow provided by a combination of lab and legislature.

And women looking on as these and similar events unfold are reminded by their stalwart sister in faith that “choices last.” Indeed. And the tragedy of fatherlessness has become a mundane issue in a bureaucracy that simply numbers their cases and sends them across the desks of indifferent judges.

Routine in all but the mind of God. Mrs. Kineke is the author of “The Authentic Catholic Woman” (Servant Books).

She can be found online at www.feminine-genius.com.

ficial “Book of Blessings” and a brass bucket of holy water. I must admit, the water seemed a bit redundant. Nobody did show up, but I was there as I said I would be.

At the appointed time, the steeple bell struck the hour.

Suddenly, out of the bushes jumped a scraggly old squirrel, soaking wet. He ran back and forth erratically, as squirrels tend to do, and came to a standstill right in front of me.

I took it as a sign from God. I blessed the ratty rodent with my holy water and said the proper prayer. The creature looked at me with his beady little eyes as though I was completely out of my mind and then scurried up a tree. Mission accomplished. I had done what I had set out to do. Are not mangy wet squirrels God’s creatures, too? Somewhere in the Town of Dighton, there lives a holy squirrel.

Even with something as uncomplicated as a blessing of animals, advanced planning is necessary. Whatever you intend to do, first you have to prepare, then you have to set your sights, then you have to shoot for your target. “Ready. Aim. Fire.”

Sometimes you miss.

The reverse order, “Ready!

Fire! Aim!” is one of the many pithy expressions used by my friend Monsignor Tom Harrington. Having served so many years in Church leadership positions, he knows of what he speaks.

In the field of real estate, the mantra is “Location. Location.

Location.” In the Church, the mantra is “Planning. Planning.

Planning.” It’s necessary that we have some idea of where we are going in order to progress in that general direction. This

means identifying a vision, setting goals, and achieving objectives. Ready. Aim. Fire.

In the rapidly changing culture in which we live, our Church’s outer limits are 20 years into the future, if that. In the business community, it’s five years or less. This results in the corporate “five-year plan.” As a Church, we need to see beyond five years. Opinions of “the experts” are helpful in planning, but not infallible.

Here’s an example. In one of my parish assignments, the church building needed to install access for persons with disabilities. Architects and engineers were summoned to give “expert opinions.” They came up with a solution. The proposed solution involved a handicapped ramp that ended in what I could call a corral. Persons with disabilities were to be rounded up into a fenced area. There was no access or egress. I know nothing about architectural engineering, but the plan was obviously nuts.

The experts went back to the drawing boards.

Thanks be to God, there is a Diocesan Office of Pastoral Planning. The Church locally and universally is reinventing itself. We need a plan. We are 2,000 years old. We have done this before and we can do it again. The Holy Spirit is with us, as Jesus promised. If not, we would have imploded centuries ago. On we go into a future of hope. We just have to make sure to aim before we shoot and not afterwards.

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

EasternTelevision

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The Anchor

You can go home again

By Michael Pare Anchor Correspondent

NEW BEDFORD — Sister Barbara Walsh is a teacher. She always has been. She always will be.

A native of Fall River and member of the order of Holy Union Sisters, Sister Barbara spent the early part of her career as an elementary school teacher and principal for many years at Fall River’s Holy Name School. It has always been a labor of love.

Teaching others to read and write has been at the core of her faith. It is, unmistakably, what God intended her to do.

“It is exciting to see the light bulbs go off when people learn to read,” she said.

All those years ago, it was exciting to see that light bulb go off in the eyes of a first- or second-grader. Now, it is equally exciting to see that light go off in the eyes of a mother or father, an immigrant painstakingly trying to

become literate to improve their employment opportunities, or simply, to be able to communicate better with their children.

But that’s getting ahead of the story.

After more than 20 years as a Catholic school educator, Sister Barbara turned 50 back in 1982 and found herself at a crossroads. Though she loved her work with children, she felt a renewed calling.

“I wanted to work with the poor,” she said.

And so she did — for the next quarter-century.

One contact led to another and soon, Sister Barbara of Fall River was on her way to St. Peter’s Parish in Monticello, Ky., a rural area in Wayne County, with a population of approximately 6,000. Among them, many immigrants and migrant workers.

Sister Barbara began at the parish as a musician and outreach worker. But that was just a start. There was more to be done. There were

October 16, 2009

poor people to be served. you can’t communicate with your children, you “I saw a need to start a program, so I bought don’t always know where they are or what they a UPS truck and converted it into a mobile are doing.” school,” she said. “I went into the poorest areas And these days more than ever, there is the and worked with one family at a time.” practical matter of surviving in the midst of a She worked to improve their literacy skills. dismal economy.

She was, after all, a teacher. And she knew “If they can’t read and can’t write, they can’t that reading was the key that unlocks so many get better jobs,” said Sister Barbara. “And they doors. are looking for better jobs.”

Many of Sister Barbara’s students were LatiJose Torres, a parishioner at St. Mary’s nos who were working in a chicken processing Parish in Taunton and a member of the dioplant. Their days were marked by long hours cese’s Hispanic Apostolate, sees Sister Barbaand low pay. But worse than that was the fact ra’s return to the diocese as a real blessing. opportunities were few for those who could not “Sister Barbara knows so well the great read or communicate with others. needs of many families integrating to a new “I have always life in the United been a teacher by States, especially trade,” said Sister learning the lanBarbara. “It just guage and culture,” disturbs me so he said. “She has much when I see earned the respect people who cannot of the students. read in their own They love her.” language.”

Father Richard And so Sister D. Wilson, pastor at Barbara drove that Our Lady of GuaUPS truck, that dalupe at St. James magical mobile and director of the classroom, and diocese’s Hispanic changed lives in the Ministry, also sees process. Her proSister Barbara’s argrams expanded. rival as a blessing She taught English that “came out of as a Second Lanthe blue.” guage and offered “She wanted to GED classes for come back and be years. In total, Siscloser to family and ter Barbara spent 26 volunteer on a halfyears in Kentucky. time schedule,” he And then, she said. “Instead, she felt another calling. is working fullThis time, it was to ANCHOR PERSON OF THE WEEK — Holy Union time.” return home, to the Sister Barbara Walsh. (Photo by Ken Souza) Sister Barbara Fall River Diocese. figures retirement Sister Barbara had been away from her family can wait. There is, after all, work to be done. for so long.

In some ways, things have come full circle “I would come home about once a year for as Sister Barbara has returned to the Fall River a meeting, and even then, it was always a short Diocese. While her students are mostly adults, visit,” she said. along with some children, the goal has never Sister Barbara figured she would find a changed. Teach them to read. Give them a niche and begin a life of semi-retirement. But chance to open the doors in their lives. that hasn’t quite happened. Again, there is work “I am using the same skills I needed as an to be done. elementary school teacher,” she said.

She found her way to Our Lady of GuadaSeveral publishing companies, she said, unlupe at St. James Parish in New Bedford and derstand adult literacy programs and there are the diocese’s Hispanic Apostolate. Sister Bar- some wonderful books available to help her in bara lives in the parish’s former convent, which her endeavor. And there is of course that deep serves as home for the Hispanic Apostolate desire on the part of her students to learn. In and, most importantly, as an education center. several instances, Sister Barbara teaches child Sister Barbara’s dining room doubles as a com- and parent. She sees it as a beautiful opportuputer lab. Her basement is a learning center. nity.

Five mornings per week and four evenings, she “I tell the kids that they have to go home teaches adults — nearly 40 of them at this point and talk to their mother for at least 15 minutes — basic literacy. Children visit her two after- in English,” she said. “They all want to talk in noons each week for literacy instruction.

English, but they don’t have the vocabulary. The Sister Barbara loves her work. It is impor- best way to work on that is to learn to read.” tant. It is life-changing.

And so it doesn’t matter if it is Monticello, “There is a huge demand,” she said. “There Ky., or New Bedford, Mass. It is the same lesare people who have been living here for 20 son the teacher has been teaching for years. or 30 years with grown families and they still Reading opens doors. don’t know how to speak English. The parents To nominate a person of the week, contact need to be able to speak to their kids. When fatherrogerlandry@anchornews.org.

October 16, 2009

The Anchor

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The Anchor

October 16, 2009

With a little help from my friends

S

unday could have been a beastly day. Within a matter of hours the Red Sox and the Patriots suffered devastating losses — coughing up seemingly comfortable victories.

Anyone who knows me well would suspect I would have been as grouchy as a bear emerging from hibernation. But I wasn’t. On the contrary, I was singing, swaying and strumming. You might say I got by with a little help from my

My View From the Stands

By Dave Jolivet friends ... and family.

Instead of spending what would have been a very frustrating day watching what might have been on the playing field, the Jolivet living room was transformed into Shea Stadium in 1965, with special guests John, Paul, George, and Ringo.

My eldest daughter and her beau joined Emilie, Denise and me for what turned out to be a seven-hour Wii Beatles Rockband marathon.

I think one of the few things in life that could have prevented my blowing a gasket over the SoxPatriots disaster was an afternoon with the Fab Four and the not-soFab Five.

With a set of drums, a micro-

phone, a bass guitar, a lead guitar, beverages, dips and chips, adults in their 50s and 30s hooked up with a teen to get the feel of what it’s like to be a rock icon.

While things just kept getting worse for Jonathan Papelbon and Sox fans, we were jammin’ to “It’s Getting Better All the Time.”

While Matt Prater’s overtime field goal meant lights out for the Pats, we were groovin’ to “Here Comes the Sun.” We wannabe Beatles were unstoppable on the “Easy” level, and not so bad on the “Medium.” It’s when we confidently moved on to the “Hard” mode that I was moved to dub our group the “Dung Beatles.”

Regardless of the many times we failed to complete a song, it was a great day with family and friends. I did have one eye on the portable TV and saw both disasters unfold, but in character as my George Harrison alter-ego, I just kept thinking, “I Feel Fine.”

Last Sunday had all the potential in the world to stimulate my “aggravatory” glands, instead, my attitude was “Let It Be.” We may never be greeted by screaming fans, but the not-soFab Five will definitely “Come Together” again and collectively belt out “Good Day Sunshine,” regardless of what the Home Towne Teams throw at us.

MARKING A CENTURY — From left, Bishop George W. Coleman concelebrates a Mass marking the 100th anniversary of Holy Rosary Church in Taunton, with pastor, Father David M. Stopyra, OFM Conv., Father Jay T. Maddock, and Master of Ceremonies Father Karl C. Bissinger. (Photo by John Kearns Jr.)

Taunton’s Holy Rosary Parish celebrates jubilee of its church

By Deacon James N. Dunbar

TAUNTON — The 100th anniversary of the dedication of Holy Rosary Parish’s house of worship was celebrated October 4, with a concelebrated Mass followed by a luncheon in the Parish Center.

Bishop George W. Coleman was principal concelebrant, with pastor Father David M. Stopyra, OFM Conv., Father Michael Kolodziej, OFM Conv., the Franciscans provincial; and Father Jay T. Maddock, dean of the Taunton Deanery, as concelebrants.

Deacons Thomas J. Souza and Thomas P. Palanza, were deacons of the Mass.

“It was a celebration of thanksgiving for the 100 years of what has been given this parish and its members over the century,” said Father Stopyra, who has been pastor for 12 years. “We simply said thanks to God for all his blessings we have received.

And we didn’t ask for another 100 years,” he said laughing.

“We kept the celebrations low key because of so many older parishioners and their inability to travel long distances. So, instead of heading out to a banquet place, we had a nice luncheon right here. It was so very nice indeed.”

The history of the parish dates to 1899, when visiting Polish priests from Boston, Fall River and New Bedford came to Taunton to minister to 30 Polish Catholic families in the Whittenton area, Weir Village and on Park and Grove streets. As im-

migrants they came to find work in the cotton mills, foundries and the growing silver industry.

Although Holy Rosary Parish was established by Bishop William Stang in 1906, and Father Hugo Dylla was named its first pastor, it wasn’t until 1908 that construction of Holy Rosary Church was begun.

History notes that Ella A. Converse of Worcester, for the sum of $1 “and other valuables” released property to the 1904-founded Diocese of Fall River, which was turned over to the parish. A sum of $3,600 was borrowed from the Taunton Savings Bank to fund the new church.

On Thanksgiving Day — Nov. 25, 1909 — the new house of

worship, referred to as “the little white church on Bay Street,” was blessed and dedicated by Bishop Daniel Feehan.

Father Dylla was succeeded

by Father Stanislaus Basinski.

In 1923 the parish was turned over to the Conventual Franciscan Fathers who have continued to administer it.

The rectory, once the Taylor mansion, was soon wired for electricity.

Over the years the church has undergone several renovations, inside and out.

In 1984, the faithful dedicated its new Parish Center, a testimonial to the perseverance of generations of hard-working parishioners.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, October 18 at 11:00 a.m.

World Mission Sunday

Celebrant is Msgr. John J. Oliveira, diocesan director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, and pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in New Bedford

October 16, 2009

The Anchor greatness and participate in a shared belief that they were gathered together as one people in Jesus Christ.

The committee of faith felt its participation in the second annual St. Vincent de Paul Walk was not only a monetary success, but a spiritual blessing to the com-

ON YOUR MARK — Participants prepare to make the one-mile trek along the Cape Cod Canal to pray and walk in the second annual St. Vincent de Paul Walk.

Cape Cod walkers hit the pavement to pray and raise funds for the poor

BUZZARDS BAY — The newlyformed St. Vincent de Paul Society of St. Margaret’s in Buzzards Bay met in early September at the home of Ralph and Sandy Guerra. These team members were aghast to learn about the small balance that remained in the treasury. Plans were immediately set in motion to conduct a walk for the poor in conjunction with the annual national Friends of the Poor Walk.

It was decided that this onemile event would take place on September 26 on the Cape Cod Canal walkway beginning right in their own backyard, Buzzards Bay. Prior to this date they set aside a weekend campaign to collect donations at all Masses.

“Awareness” messages were also printed weekly so that people would learn about St. Vincent de Paul and his love for the poor along with the Society’s founder, Blessed Frederic Ozanam.

Walkers were encouraged to sign up and reach out to others to sponsor them. All supporters were given blue wristbands with SVdP and “Walk a mile in my shoes,” embossed on them.

This display of unity and the out pouring of gifts was overwhelming.

Twenty-five walkers led by

cadets from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy gathered to walk and pray the Glorious Mysteries of the rosary as other non-walkers gathered within the church to pray.

The morning was exceptionally bright and beautiful. The Cape Cod Canal is an exquisite example of engineering obtained through God’s gifts to mankind. Walkers indicated they could feel God’s peace and

13 munity.

St. Vincent de Paul’s method of not only being a savior to the poor but a teacher to the people that works of mercy enrich everyone was an incentive to the conference to continue to hope and work for needy in the community.

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October 16, 2009

NBSO returns Sunday to St. Anthony’s with popular choral works

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

NEW BEDFORD — The solemn sounds of two of the most well-known choral works by French composers Gabriel Fauré and Francis Poulenc will fill the majestic confines of St. Anthony of Padua Church as the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra once again returns for an October 18 performance under the direction of NBSO music director Dr. David MacKenzie.

Fauré’s popular “Requiem” and Poulenc’s acclaimed “Gloria” will be performed by the NBSO along with noted soprano Andrea Matthews, commanding baritone Philip Lima, and more than 120 members of The Chatham Chorale, Mastersingers of the Sea, and other choruses from the area.

MacKenzie said he chose to perform the two choral works not only because of their liturgical origins, but also because of the two composers’ unique approach to breaking with the traditional musical forms of the time.

“Fauré was a person who avoided the mainstream,” MacKenzie said. “He consciously reacted against the heavy Germanic tradition at the time — the influence of Wagner, Liszt, Berlioz, and

Brahms. Fauré really focused his efforts and interests on the smallerscale, more intimate expressions of music.”

“Similarly, Poulenc avoided the mainstream,” MacKenzie added.

“He was associated with writer and film director Jean Cocteau and was involved with the theater of the absurd. He was more interested in doing music that was witty, intelligent, well-crafted and generally light-hearted and entertaining. It was functional music.”

MacKenzie noted how the most famous requiems by classical composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Giuseppe Verdi are all very somber and often preoccupied with atonement, while Fauré’s “Requiem” has been more accurately described as “a vision of the afterlife as resting in peace” or “a lullaby of death.”

“It’s odd because the ‘Requiem’ is essentially a Mass for the dead, and yet Fauré wrote a Mass for those who remain alive — as a comfort for the living,” MacKenzie said. “It doesn’t dwell on the terrors of the afterlife or the day of judgment as obviously Verdi does, or even Mozart. Fauré avoids this sequence entirely. The only reference to the day of judgment is near the end — it’s a very powerful but very

sincere and simple statement.”

A highly respected music teacher and organist who played for many funeral Masses, Fauré set out to write something decidedly different from the works he frequently performed. His “Requiem in D Minor, Op. 48” was composed between 1887 and 1890 and would eventually go on to become his best-known work.

“The work didn’t gain universal acceptance until about the 1950s,” MacKenzie said. “It wasn’t even performed in the United States until 1934.”

Today Fauré’s “Requiem” has become one of the most appreciated and best loved compositions of its kind — eclipsing similar contributions from Hector Berlioz, Giuseppe Verdi and Johannes Brahms.

“The ‘Pie Jesu,’ or ‘Kind Jesus,’ is the most famous movement of Fauré’s ‘Requiem,’” MacKenzie said. “Of course, if you ask who wrote it, most people would probably say Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The overall mood of the work is of peaceful serenity.”

Like Fauré’s “Requiem,” Francis Poulenc’s widely-acclaimed “Gloria” is a gorgeous, soul-affirming work that combines powerful choral sonorities, remarkable

orchestral colors, and the composer’s unique attitude of joyous appreciation for life. From its iconic opening figure to the final Gregorian Chant-like “Amen,” this is a statement of profound and reassuring faith, brilliantly complex and rich in meaning.

Poulenc was inspired to write his “Gloria” in response to the deaths of several close friends.

“He returned to his spiritual roots with the tragic deaths of very close friends … and was obviously very profoundly affected by these deaths,” MacKenzie said.

Noting that a critic once described him as “half monk, half brigand,” MacKenzie said there is a dichotomy to Poulenc’s work that often makes the music and text seem at odds with each other.

“In fact, when ‘Gloria’ was first performed in 1961 in Boston, all the critics were saying it was sacrilegious — the text is ‘We praise

thee, we glorify thee, we worship thee,’ and yet the music is almost like a cabaret-type call style,” MacKenzie said. “It’s almost as if at the end of the movements you really want to have cheerleaders shouting: ‘Give me a G!’” “And yet for him it was not impious, because Poulenc did not spend a lot of time wondering about the afterlife,” MacKenzie added. “To him, the significance of the spiritual text is its setting within the human context: what life means to us.

So the music comes across as very sincere and strangely devout at the same time.”

The concert will be held Sunday at 3 p.m. and will be performed at St. Anthony of Padua Parish, 1359 Acushnet Ave., New Bedford. Tickets are $28 general admission and children/students are $10. For tickets, call the Zeiterion Box Office at 508-994-2900 or online www.zeiterion.org.

THE SOUNDS OF MUSIC — The New Bedford Symphony Orchestra performs at St. Anthony’s Church in New Bedford. The esteemed group will return there Sunday at 3 p.m. for a concert.

(Photo by Mare Studios)

October 16, 2009

The Anchor

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Youth Pages

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A BANNER DAY — Students from Holy Family-Holy Name School in New Bedford, together with Sister Muriel Lebeau, SSCC, prepare for the celebration of the canonization of Father Damien de Veuster, SSCC. In the past weeks more than 60 banner quilt pieces were created by students throughout the school to reflect the life and ministry of Father Damien of Molokai, who was proclaimed a saint in Rome October 11. These were used as a part of a local canonization celebration at the Sacred Hearts Retreat Center in Wareham.

GREAT WAY TO START — St. Peter the Apostle Parish students recently gathered for a Pancake Breakfast to celebrate the first day of Religious Education class in Provincetown.

BARING GREAT FRUIT — St. Mary-Sacred Heart School’s first-graders recently held their annual Apple Party. They learned about Johnny Appleseed, while trying different apple foods including apple muffins, apple butter and apple cider. They also played apple games and made apple crafts at the North Attleboro school. Sophia Conrad wears the apple head hat as an amused classmate, Jack Reardon, looks on.

THE WRITE STUFF — The Fall River Knights of Columbus Council 86 recently presented $500 scholarships to five Catholic high school students who wrote winning essays on the history and value of a Catholic education. Winners, from left, are: Dorothy Mahoney-Pacheco (Bishop Stang), Lindsey O’Conner (Bishop Connolly) whose scholarship was received by her mother Charlene O’Conner; Joseph Moore-Costa (Bishop Stang), Ashley Marie Camara (Bishop Connolly) and Cortney Bouchard (Bishop Connolly). Standing in the rear from left are Moe Sirois, Grand Knight, James Boule, secretary, and Raymond Duddy, treasurer. Also winning a $500 scholarship, but not pictured, was John Petruszka, a member of Council 86 and a seminarian for the Diocese of Fall River studying at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton.

October 16, 2009

AN HISTORIC TRIP — From left, Jaime Ferreira, a secondgrade teacher at St. Joseph’s School in Fairhaven, and Michael Cholette, right, a fifth-grade teacher greet Sacred Hearts Sister Mary Dolorine Pires, during a trip to Molokai to visit sites pertaining to St. Damien.

A walk on holy ground: Retracing the footsteps of St. Damien

FAIRHAVEN — Two St. Joseph School faculty members recently returned from Kalawao and Kalaupapa.

On Molokai, Hawaii they visited historic sites pertaining to Saint Damien de Veuster.

Second-grade teacher Jaime Ferreira and fifth-grade teacher Michael Cholette flew to Molokai where they braved the mule ride down the 1,600-foot cliffs to the settlements below.

A tour of Kalawao, the original settlement, and Kalaupapa, the later settlement followed the one-and-a-half-hour ride down a hazardous trail with 26 switchbacks.

The tour included St. Philomena’s Church currently undergoing a $600,000 renovation, St. Damien’s grave site, and the unmarked graves where thousands of leprosy victims were buried

by Damien himself.

“The view from topside was breathtaking, the mule ride exciting and the tour of Kalawao humbling,” said Cholette. “The books and articles written on Father Damien cannot prepare one for the experience of walking the land to retrace Father Damien’s footsteps as he ministered to the victims of leprosy.”

It’s certainly not an easy ride or hike as Ferreira gave up her mule to hike back up the mountain when a fellow tour member could not make the return climb on her own power.

The day on Molokai was merely a side trip during their stay in Honolulu where the educators attended an education seminar. Ferreira and Cholette had been invited to attend the seminar by Sacred Hearts Sister Mary Dolorine Pires, who secured permission from her provincial, Sister Helen Woods, in celebration of the Sisters of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary’s 150th anniversary in Hawaii.

The Molokai adventure was an

opportunity to research firsthand the life, struggles and death of Father Damien documented in numerous written accounts.

St. Damien brought hope for the hopeless, teaching the settlers how to build homes and grow food; brought faith where there was little faith; and brought happiness where there was little to be happy about. He lived with them, became one of them and died a man happy to have done God’s will the way God wanted and to the best of his ability often exemplifying Jesus’ life in the Gospels.

“We took page after page of mental notes and several rolls of film as we listened to the guide and saw the sights throughout the adventure,” said Cholette.

“Not all we read or heard could be taken as truth. The bit about curling leaves to put in the holes in the floor of the church for the victims of leprosy to spit out phlegm contradicts what members of the Congregation will tell you. Examine the holes more carefully and you see a pattern formed by the now missing wooden pegs once used to secure the pews to the floor.”

The seminar enabled members of the Congregation’s various branches and locations within the province to meet share and network. Old friendships were renewed with Sister Pires, affectionately known as “Sister Hershey Kiss” by the students at St. Joseph School for her gifts of Hershey Kisses to symbolize charism. She visited St. Joseph School three times in the last six years to teach the faculty, students and parents the history and charism of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and its founders.

Ferreira and Cholette formed a new friendship during the seminar with Sacred Hearts Sister Dolores Pavao, a former St. Joseph School faculty member and New Bedford resident.

October 16, 2009

O

ver the course of the last year, we as a society have endured record high job loss, a collapse of our banking system, a housing crisis and limited job opportunities for college graduates. Personally, it’s been a year of hopelessness and great loss for some. Many of my friends and colleagues have dealt with the death of a loved one or a serious illness in recent months. I have not been immune from such loss either as my family and I ushered my grandmother home to God this past summer.

To say it’s been a bad year is an understatement that sometimes feels magnified to the umpteenth power. There is a scene from Winnie the Pooh where he and Christopher Robin are walking through the woods and notice dark clouds overhead. They proclaim “Tut-tut. It looks like rain.” For some of us, young and old, that dark cloud

Youth Pages Hope on the living God

cially of those who believe” (1 just doesn’t seem to dissipate Timothy 4:10). It is remarkably with the warmth of the sun-not fitting that Pope Benedict selectthat there’s been much warm ed this as the 2009 World Youth sun this year.

Sometimes life is nothing but Day theme. This Scripture verse serves as a reminder that no a comedy of errors — a scene matter our struggles, which by out of one of Shakespeare’s comparison are insignificant to comedies. In fact as I write this article my thumbs are furiously pecking away at my Blackberry as my brakes let go on the way to my office where a different draft of this article lies on my hard drive with

By Crystal Medeiros a full keyboard at my disposal. Dave Jolivet, editor of The Anchor, will never the struggles our early Christian believe this one. But through brothers and sisters endured, if life’s ups and downs, through we truly believe in Christ and its curve balls, fast balls and the grace of God ... if we always linedrives that seem to bounce turn to the risen Lord, then we right off our heads (can you tell turn to hope. He is our life preit’s playoffs?), there’s hope. server. He is the one we cling “For to this end we toil and to whenever we feel like we’re struggle, because we have our hope set on the living God, who drowning and he is the one we should turn to when things are is the savior of all people, espe-

Be Not Afraid

going swimmingly in our lives.

Hope on the living God. This is our theme for our annual high school convention and junior high rallies that kick off next Sunday. Once again organized by our Christian Leadership (CLI) graduates, this year’s convention is shaping up to be the best one yet.

Steve Angrisano, noted Catholic musician and national speaker will be focusing on our theme in his keynote. Our grads are working on a dynamic opening prayer and activities that will get youth of different parishes interacting with each other. All of this culminates with a closing Mass celebrated by Bishop George W. Coleman.

Each year I am amazed by our young people and what they are able to accomplish in the name of their Catholic faith.

Observing them and working

17 with them always provides me with a sense of renewed hope that our faith is alive and well in the hearts of our young people. They simply need to be given a voice and a place at the table. They have such remarkable gifts and talents to offer our Church. As adults, we have a responsibility to foster their faith so that they too may recognize that we have set our hope on the living God. Without our encouragement and nurturing and providing them opportunities to not only experience but to live out their faith, then we have failed them beyond all belief.

Join us this year as we set our hope on the living God. Help throw out the life preserver of faith to our young people.

Crystal is assistant director for Youth & Young Adult Ministry for the diocese. She can be contacted at cmedeiros@dfrcec. com.

Heralded speakers to highlight Faith Formation Convention continued from page one

FEEDING THE BODY AND MIND — Pictured enjoying a relaxing lunch at Coyle and Cassidy High School in Taunton are, from left: freshman Kelsey Christian, Katie Bandanza, Angie Smith, and Bridget Nolan.

DESSERT FOR A CAUSE — Upperclassmen at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro held a fund-raiser, selling snacks after lunches to raise money to purchase lockers. The school has promised to match the funds the students raise. Front to back: Katelyn Hickey, Fred Thomson, Tim Fortin, Michael Lepore, and Owen Murray purchase items from Brittany Sells.

“We’re inviting members of all parish ministries, not just those in Religious Education, because they all play major roles in the transformation of so many in regards to the sacraments,” said Claire McManus, director of Faith Formation for the Fall River Diocese, who is coordinating the convocation.

“Its theme is ‘Moments of Grace, Our Sacramental Gift,’ and the role of the Eucharist is key to the transformation and evangelization of individuals as we look especially at confirmation and the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults,” she added.

It is expected that approximately 300 will attend the convention “being held, as we promised in areas of our diocese other than in the southernmost communities like Fall River and New Bedford and North Dartmouth,” McManus noted.

“Msgr. Steven Avila, pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Mansfield, is working hard to assure leaders of parish ministries in that area attend.”

Music minister for the convention will be Dan Davey, of St. Mary’s.

Father Washburn, a native son of Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Parish in New Bedford, has been a member of the Franciscans since 1991 and was ordained a priest in 2000.

He holds a master of divinity degree and a master of theology degree from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, and a certificate in Youth Ministry from the Center for

Ministry Development.

He has been associate pastor and coordinator of Youth Ministry at parishes in New Hampshire and Connecticut.

In 2002, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Catholic Education highlighted his “Burning Hearts” Confirmation Program, based on RCIA principles, as a model for the nation.

“His model of the sacrament of confirmation involves not only catechesis — the teachings involving that sacrament — but a transformation as well. It is the model the USCCB recommends we follow,” McManus explained.

The RCIA process traditionally involves four principal components: Inquiry, in which candidates, some already baptized, discern why they are seeking confirmation; catechesis, the time of learning about the sacrament and its fruits; the rite of initiation or candidacy; and the mystagogia that follows.

Father Washburn’s workshop is entitled “Setting Hearts on Fire: Confirmation and the RCIA.” It asks: Is the celebration of the sacrament of confirmation in your parish an experience of a new Pentecost each year? Or is it the endless battle of classes, paperwork, parents, requirements and ultimate graduation — young people confirmed and never to return until it’s time to be married?

“Come and discover new ways to light the fire of faith in young people through the preparation

for this sacrament using principles present in the RCIA so that they might say with the disciples on the way to Emmaus, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us?’” said Father Washburn.

Father Paulli, a Franciscan priest of the Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, is chief of staff and professor of education at Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y. After graduation from Siena in 1982 with a bachelor of science degree in marketing/management, he taught high school and subsequently entered the Franciscans.

Following studies at the Washington Theological Union in 1990 with a master’s degree in theology, he was ordained that same year to the priesthood.

After serving in two parishes he studied at Columbia University’s religion and education graduate program and was awarded a doctorate in May 1999.

In addition to his administration, teaching, research and writing, Father Paulli has given numerous retreats to men and women’s religious communities in the U.S. and Canada.

Registration opens at 8 a.m., with a Mass at 9 celebrated by Bishop George W. Coleman.

Workshops will be held from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m., and from 2:15 to 3:45 p.m., with 15 sessions offered by a variety of presenters. Lunch is from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m, with the keynote address from 1:30 to 2:15 p.m.

For more information, directions and to register, visit www. fallriverfaithformation.org.

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The Anchor

A miracle story of prayer, faith and healing continued from page one

Donna. “He suggested the new approach and he felt it was his only chance. I trusted him and signed the agreement.” Ian survived — miraculously. “I knew I had made the right choice,” added Donna, “there were still some problems to deal with, but Ian was responding.”

The miracle itself is amazing, but it’s the story of how it came to be that reveals the hand of God at work.

Reddy was born in India and was raised in the Hindu faith.

He came to America in the ’70s to become a pediatrician, particularly working with pre-mature babies. After several years of medical school, Reddy eventually settled at Women and Infants Hospital, through Brown University.

“It was on a flight from Providence to Phoenix two days after

Mother Teresa died that I came to know Mother Teresa,” Reddy told The Anchor. “I knew a little bit about her, but I didn’t know her.”

Reddy’s flight had a layover in Philadelphia at which time he found a book of Mother Teresa’s teachings in an airport book store. “I picked it up and just knew I had to read it. I don’t know what happened to me in the skies between Philadelphia and Phoenix, but I connected with Mother Teresa at that time.

“I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Her teachings were exactly what I was thinking and feeling as a doctor. It was on that flight that I had a transformation as a Hindu. I began to love Jesus, his teachings, Mother Teresa and her teachings.”

When Reddy returned to

Providence he felt the need to “share Mother Teresa’s teachings with the nurses in my office. They were already doing the work of Mother Teresa. They were providing love and care to babies who had no one to love or care for them — just as Mother Teresa did, working with the poorest of the poor. Oftentimes pre-mature babies are born to drug addicts who abandon the child after it’s born. The child is already an addict, so it was poor, sick and with no one to love it.

The nurses who worked with me were the Mother Teresas to those babies.”

Reddy pointed out that not all premies are born and abandoned. “I found that when atrisk pre-mature babies were born to loving parents, those parents showed great faith in God, and had crosses and other items in the rooms with them to help them,” he said. “They loved their children and shared that love with them.”

As Reddy learned more about Jesus and Mother Teresa, his love and faith in God grew stronger. “I saw so many Mother Teresas around me. Many people don’t recognize the Mother Teresas around them.”

While providing daily teachings of Mother Teresa to his nurses, Reddy decided to dedicate December of 1997 to Mother Teresa and his nurses. It was then he received the call about Ian. “After visiting Donna and Ian I went back to my office to sit calmly and evaluate the case,” said Reddy. “I was sad. I prayed

October 16, 2009 to God for help. I had a photo of Mother Teresa and I talked to her. I knew the radical treatment was the right thing to do.”

“I believed in prayer, and prayed for Ian right from the start,” said Donna. “I was happy to know that Dr. Reddy was also prayerful, as were his nurses.

There were a lot of people praying for Ian.” When Donna learned about Reddy’s devotion to Mother Teresa, and his request for her intercession, she said, “I know Mother Teresa had a hand in Ian’s healing. I don’t know all that much about her, but I do know that she was a remarkable woman. I really can’t put into words the feelings I have towards Mother Teresa.”

In the years following Ian’s miracle recovery, Reddy would send Donna a card on Ian’s birthday. “I hadn’t heard anything back in years,” he said. “Then on July 5, 2005, I received an email from Donna telling me that her young son was doing well. I was happy to hear from her and responded to her email.”

“I thought a lot about Dr. Reddy through the years,” said Donna. “That’s why I felt I had to try and find him. I researched his whereabouts on the computer, found him, and sent him a thank you note and an update on Ian. There are not many doctors like Dr. Reddy.”

“A couple of months after hearing from Donna, I was reading an article in the New England Journal of Medicine about the procedure I performed on Ian,” Reddy said. “The article said that treatment does not work in pre-mature babies. It was not supposed to work, but it

did for Ian.” Reddy planned to attend this year’s Mass at St. Lawrence Church in New Bedford for the 12th anniversary of Mother Teresa’s death. “I knew Donna lived in New Bedford and I looked in the phone book and found only one Kinney,” said Reddy. “I called the number and left a message saying I would be in New Bedford on September 5 and would like to see you and Ian.” Reddy hoped he had reached the correct number, but as of 8:30 the morning of the September 5 Mass, he heard no reply. “I left Providence not knowing if I had reached Donna and Ian. But while at St. Lawrence’s, I got a phone call from Donna and she said she would come to meet with me.”

The incredible meeting took place in the parking lot at St. Lawrence Church 12 years after Mother Teresa passed away, and nearly 12 years after Ian was expected to. “It was an amazing reunion,” said Reddy. “I felt an electricity, a joy. It’s always exciting to see miracle babies, and I have seen my share. It means a lot to me. I learn so much from it and I get closer to God.” “The day Ian and I met with Dr. Reddy, I was so overwhelmed,” Donna recalled. “I had to fight back the tears. I knew Dr. Reddy was thrilled to see us, and I know Ian was excited to meet the man that helped save his life. It was a beautiful reunion.”

Reddy said he shares Ian’s story with other parents who are experiencing a crisis birth. “It helps other parents to hear this,” he said. “At a time like that it’s difficult to have faith, but when they hear stories like Ian’s, they say, ‘Why not for me too.’”

Still a Hindu, Reddy says he is a better Hindu for all he’s experienced. And his love for God and Jesus continues to grow, as does his devotion to Blessed Mother Teresa.

“I think Dr. Reddy is a great person, and a man of great faith,” said Donna. “When Ian was first born, it was a faith struggle for me and a struggle to pray, but thanks to Dr. Reddy and his staff, and through the grace of God, I am able to call Ian my miracle child.” Donna told The Anchor she and Ian “are doing quite well now.” That, she believes, is because of prayerful people, Mother Teresa’s intercession, and the power of God’s healing.

“You can’t take faith away from medicine,” Reddy told The Anchor. “Doctors cannot completely save unless they have God.” Donna and Ian are living proof, and that’s no coincidence.

October 16, 2009

Around the Diocese 10/17

St. Jude’s Parish, Taunton, will host a Gingerbread Craft Fair in the church hall, 249 Whittenton Street, Taunton, tomorrow 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, tomorrow 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, Sunday 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 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.

10/18

Marian Desrosiers, Pro-Life Apostolate Director of the Fall River Diocese, will speak on “God as Our Origin and Our Destiny” Sunday at 3:30 p.m. in the parish center of Our Lady of the Cape Church, 468 Stony Brook Rd., Brewster. Admission is free and refreshments will be served.

10/19

Three hours of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will take place at Damien Residence, 73 Adams Street, Fairhaven, on October 19 beginning with Mass at noon. Intentions are for the reparation of sins against human life, especially abortion.

10/25

Sacred Heart Parish, Pine and Seabury streets, Fall River, will hold a Chopstick Auction, October 25 at 1 p.m. Food will be available after 11:15 a.m. and there will be more than 100 prizes and special raffles. Proceeds will benefit the upkeep and heating of the church.

10/26

Holy Trinity Parish, 246 Main Street, West Harwich, will host a parish mission October 26-29 at 9 a.m. (with Mass) and 7 p.m. (no Mass) each day with Father Kenan Peters, a Passionist priest.

Father Peters will also speak about the mission at all the Masses on the weekend of October 24-25. For more information call the Holy Trinity Parish office at 508-432-4000 or email htchurch@comcast.net.

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.

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The Anchor

From fear to hope A village forgives in Nepal

SIRSIYA, Nepal — He was, for them, “papa.” The poor living near Mary Help of Christians parish in Sirsiya in southeastern Nepal came to depend on the loving presence of Father John Prakash Moyalan.

So his brutal murder in the early hours of the first of July 2008 was, for these villagers, a most painful shock.

“They never imagined a holy man, their ‘papa,’ would have to die in such a horrifying way,” Nepal’s Bishop Anthony Sharma told MISSION. Word of the circumstances of Father John’s death quickly spread through the area. Armed men had forced their way into the residence that Father John shared with the other priest in the parish, Father Jacob. They demanded money from Father John; he refused and was shot to death in his room.

“There was an immediate outpouring of grief,” Bishop Sharma explained. “Village elders and young men starting taking time from their farm work to visit the parish from that day forward. They were ‘on call’ to protect the priest who remains here.”

A memorial service was held a month later. Although there were only 260 Catholics in the parish, more than 3,000 people, non-Catholics, came from outlying villages to gather in the courtyard in front of the school, to remember Father John.

“We prayed that day for the perpetrators of the act, asking the Lord

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Oct. 19 Rev. Manuel A. Silvia, Pastor, Santo Christo, Fall River, 1928

Oct. 21 Rt. Rev. Msgr. Edward J. Carr, P.R., Pastor, Sacred Heart, Fall River; Chancellor 1907-21, 1937 Rev. Francis E. Gagne, Pastor, St. Stephen, Attleboro, 1942 Rev. Walter J. Buckley, Retired Pastor, St. Kilian, New Bedford, 1979

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.

Oct. 22 Rev. John E. Connors, Pastor, St. Peter, Dighton, 1940 Rev. Jerome F. O’Donnell, OFM, Our Lady’s Chapel, New Bedford, 1983

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.

Oct. 23 Chor Bishop Joseph Eid, Pastor, St. Anthony of the Desert, Fall River, 1970

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.

Oct. 24 Rev. Marc Maurice Dagenais, O.P., Retired Assistant, St. Anne, Fall River, 1982 Most Rev. Joseph W. Regan, M.M, Retired Prelate of Tagum, Phillipines, 1994 Oct. 25 Rev. Reginald Chene, O.P., Dominican Priory, Fall River, 1935 Rev. Raymond B. Bourgoin, Pastor, St. Paul, Taunton, 1950 Rev. James W. Connerton, CSC, Founder, Stonehill College, North Easton, 1988 Rev. Msgr. John J. Steakem, Pastor, St. Thomas More, Somerset, 1999

to forgive them ‘because they did not know what they did,”’ Bishop Sharma said.

So moved by their act of forgiveness and realizing the great impact of Father John’s loving service, the Silesians’ decided to continue the work started by this missionary priest.

Soon after arriving at the parish in 2000, Father John visited the many surrounding villages. Seeing these people in great need — landless, bonded farm laborers whose families, especially the children, had little opportunity for health care or education — he decided to change all that.

He built Don Bosco School, which today has more than 630 students; he also put together development and educational programs that would benefit some 10,000 persons in the area, mostly all non-Christians. “The people started seeing the Catholic Church and the Catholic community here as there to help them,” Bishop Sharma said. “They

came to count on that help.”

In the months since Father John’s death, the Catholic community has grown a little, to about 300 persons. They, along with some 2,000 from the area, gathered once again in the school’s courtyard just this past April. They were here for a celebration this time; one of their own people, a young man from Sirsiya, Benjamin Mardi, was being ordained a priest — another priest to serve the poor, to lift them up with the love of the Lord in the example of their beloved “papa,” Father John.

“Fear does not rule in Sirsiya anymore,” Bishop Sharma concludes.

“There has been forgiveness and healing, and signs of hope for all around.”

Mission Sunday collections for the Society of the Propagation of the Faith will be taken at all diocesan Masses this weekend. Please use the coupon on page 20 of this week’s Anchor to donate to this important cause.

Annual wedding anniversary Mass is Sunday in North Dartmouth NORTH DARTMOUTH — St. Julie Billiart Church will be the site Sunday at 3 p.m. of the annual Thanksgiving Mass celebrated to acknowledge couples marking significant wedding anniversaries in 2009, including the first.

Bishop George W. Coleman will be the principal celebrant of the Mass, and will bless the couples as they continue to live their vocation of married life.

This year will mark the 30th anniversary of the marriage Thanksgiving Mass.

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October 16, 2009

The Society for THE PROPAGATION OF THE FAITH ... a Pontifical Mission Society Complete the coupon and submit it with a donation in the basket this weekend at church, or send to: Rev. Msgr. John J. Oliveira, P.A., 106 Illinois Street, New Bedford, MA 02745 Enclosed is my World Mission Sunday gift for the Missions ...

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