10.17.08

Diocese of Fall River

The Anchor

F riday , October 17, 2008

The mission of Christ drives new pastoral planning director

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

FALL RIVER — It’s a job at which not many people would succeed, or want for that matter. It’s a position that comes with a stigma, wrongfully so. This past July, Swansea native Doug Rodrigues was hired by the diocese as the director of the Pastoral Planning Office, taking over for former director Father David M. Andrade. Prior to accepting the director position, Rodrigues was a consultant for the office since May of 2006.

Many folks across the diocese associate the Pastoral Planning Office with closing, merging, or suppressing long-time parish communities.

However, in the larger scheme of the mission of the Catholic Church, those occasions are rare, yet highly publicized and frowned upon. But it’s a job that every diocese in the Mother Church needs.

“Pastoral planning is not mainly about closing and merging parishes,” Rodrigues told The Anchor in a recent interview. “The responsibilities of this office are to provide to parishes and the diocese the tools and resources to help plan for the future. The mission of the Church, the mission that Christ left to all of us is to spread the Good News of the Gospel, and we are trying to find the best possible ways to do

that in this day and age.

“Sometimes that calls for big changes, sometimes not, but when we all face the Lord on judgment day, he’s not going to ask us what church building we attended, but what did we do to help build up his kingdom on earth.”

The Catholic Church has been in existence for 2,000 years, and it hasn’t existed without hard work, sacrifice, joy and thanksgiving.

When Christ approached fishermen, tax collectors and other simple men to drop what they were doing and follow him, the changes in their lives were enormous. Yet they were willing to make them because of their great love for Christ. That’s how the Church came to be.

Rodrigues explained that in these tight economic times, the Church, including our diocese and local parishes, must ensure that its resources are used to accomplish Christ’s original mission for his bride. “Our resources must be utilized for the faithful to grow in love and faith — helping people to encounter Jesus Christ through the Church, and providing ongoing education and formation for adults and children alike, and the future of the Church,” said Rodrigues. “If we’re not focusing all our resources Turn to page 18

WALKING WITH A PURPOSE — Members of the Youth Group at Annunciation of the Lord Parish in Taunton were among many who walked in support of life at the recent annual Respect Life Walk to Aid Mothers and Children in Boston. Here the group displays its banner with Bishop George W. Coleman, right, and pastor Father Timothy Driscoll, center.

DAs say Question 2 is bad public policy

By Gail Besse Anchor Correspondent

BOSTON — Marijuana coats your lungs with tar, impairs your sense of time and distance, and is nine times more potent than the drug used 30 years ago by baby boomers.

These are just some of the reasons why voters on November 4 should defeat ballot Question 2, according to its opponents. The referendum seeks to change drug laws

by decriminalizing possession of an ounce or less of marijuana.

A major objection to the proposal is that it downplays the seriousness of illegal activity, according to an array of educators, health care leaders and law enforcement groups.

“The message this sends to our teens and young adults is that smoking marijuana is not a big deal, when it is,” said Bristol County District Attorney E. Samuel Sut-

ter.

Although the drug would remain illegal under the plan, criminal penalties would be replaced by civil ones for possession of an ounce or less.

One ounce equates to $600 in street sales, explained Michael O’Keefe, Cape and Islands District Attorney and President of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association (MDAA).

Turn to page 12

Renewing the faith while planning for the future

B y Deacon James N. Dunbar

MISSION DRIVEN — Doug Rodrigues, the new diocesan director of the Office of Pastoral Planning, stays focused on the mission of Christ’s Church in his approach to the future. (Photo by Dave Jolivet)

TAUNTON — When representatives of parishes from across the Fall River Diocese met earlier this month at the Holiday Inn to hear about faith formation in the context of the ongoing pastoral planning that affects their churches, they learned that it’s about more than bricks and mortar and parish mergers.

“In reality, we are Church, we are the ‘living stones’ that comprise the whole Church, and the pastoral planning message is what must we do in our planning to better bring Christ into people’s lives,” said Benvinda “Beni” Costa, the director of Religious Education at St. Mary’s Parish in South Dartmouth.

Costa was one of about 150 priests and parishioners from 40 parishes who heard

keynote speaker Bill Huebsch, author of “Dreams and Visions” a practical guide to pastoral planning for par-

ishes who are serious about implementing life-long faith formation.

Turn to page 14

‘DREAMS AND VISIONS’ — Keynote speaker Bill Heubsch speaks with Claire McManus, diocesan director of Faith Formation, following a recent conference in Taunton addressing parish faith renewal. (Photo by John Kearns Jr.)

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News From the Vatican

October 17, 2008

Synod helps people listen to God in Bible, says Cardinal Ouellet

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As children of God and brothers and sisters of Jesus, Christians must learn how to listen to what God is saying to them today in the Scriptures, said Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec.

The cardinal, recording secretary of the October 5-26 world Synod of Bishops on “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church,” outlined the main themes for the synod’s debate during an speech in Latin.

Cardinal Ouellet proposed that the 253 synod members consider Mary as the role model for how Christians should respond to the word of God in the Scriptures and, especially, to the Word of God who took on flesh and became human in Jesus Christ.

The Gospels recount not just the fact that the angel Gabriel revealed God’s plan to Mary, but also show her reaction, “her fear, her perplexity and her asking for an explanation” before embracing God’s plan for her life, he said.

The key, Cardinal Ouellet said, is that Mary enters into a dialogue with God and gives herself to God in response to God revealing himself to her.

“In the measure that the Church, in her members, perceives herself as a beloved spouse, the object of a chosen love, it becomes natural to turn lovingly to the holy Scriptures” in order to hear the voice of the God who reaches out to humanity and asks for a response of faith, he said.

Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington said Cardinal Ouellet’s introduction emphasized how important it is “to listen to what God is saying and to respond with that same (kind of) love that motivated God to speak to us in the first place. The love of God that envelops us — that’s why God speaks to us — is supposed to be manifested in us.”

The cardinal had emphasized the fact that the Bible is not so much a list of instructions or doctrines as it is the story God is telling people about himself.

Archbishop Wuerl said the

word of God “is God revealing himself, inviting us to know him, inviting us into a relationship with him. This is the wonder of revelation, that we are actually capable of a relationship with God.” The most important thing, Cardinal Ouellet told the synod, is to help Catholics understand that the Bible is not so much a textbook to study, but a communication from God to be contemplated.

He said there are still areas of scholarly concern that will be raised by the synod: tensions between theologians and biblicists and between the Church authorities and some schools of Scripture scholarship that treat the text almost exclusively as a piece of historical literature rather than as still-valid communication from God. Cardinal Ouellet said the synod members might want to ask Pope Benedict XVI to write an encyclical “on the interpretation of Scriptures in the Church.”

However, the cardinal told the synod, “the goal of the synod is primarily a pastoral and missionary one.”

The cardinal urged the synod members to look for ways to improve catechesis about the Bible, increase people’s awareness that Jesus is present at Mass in the Scriptures and the bread broken and shared, and, especially, to improve homilies.

Despite the fact that the Second Vatican Council emphasized the need to improve homilies and insisted that they be based on the day’s Scripture readings, “we still feel great lack of satisfaction on the part of many faithful with regard to the ministry of preaching.”

Cardinal Ouellet said homilies must “avoid the tendency toward moralism” but challenge Catholics to commit themselves to a deeper relationship with Christ, acting on what God is calling them to through the Scriptures.

“The today that is of interest to the preacher is the today of faith, the faith experience of abandoning oneself to Christ and to obeying him” in following “the moral demands of the Gospel,” the cardinal said.

PIUS DEFENDER — U.S. Sister Margherita Marchione, a member of the Religious Teachers Filippini, displays one of several books she has written about Pope Pius XII. She said she believes the wartime pontiff may soon be declared venerable by Pope Benedict XVI. (CNS photo/Carol Glatz)

Tiny nun takes on tall task of defending Pope Pius XII

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Nearly 50 years after the death of Pope Pius XII, one of his strongest supporters thinks the beatification of this controversial wartime pontiff may be just around the corner.

The optimism of Sister Margherita Marchione, a member of the Religious Teachers Filippini, stems from her desire to see her tireless campaign to reveal the truth about this pontificate finally bear fruit.

She has spent the past decade gathering eyewitness evidence and documentation showing claims that Pope Pius did little or nothing to save the Jews from Nazi atrocities are based on ignorance, error or lies.

Of the 60 books she has authored, nine are dedicated to Pope Pius’ heroism before, during and after World War II. She still spans the globe participating in countless speaking engagements and meetings. But this 86-year-old self-described “fighting nun” from New Jersey said she is finally feeling the toil wearing down on her small fivefoot frame.

“I don’t know what more I can do. But sooner or later the truth will be known,” she told Catholic News Service in Rome.

The fact Pope Benedict has chosen to celebrate a special Mass October 9, which commemorates the death of Pope Pius on the same day in 1958, along with positive remarks made to her by the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, have led her to believe Pope Pius’ canonization process is progressing.

The sainthood cause for Pope Pius hit a roadblock last year just months after the Congregation

for Saints’ Causes unanimously recommended that Pope Benedict declare Pope Pius heroically lived the Christian virtues.

But Pope Benedict set up a special commission to study new archival material about Pope Pius, and to examine how his possible beatification would impact Catholic-Jewish and Vatican-Israeli relations.

The commission is headed by Cardinal Bertone, another outspoken defender of Pope Pius’ wartime role. This led some to believe the commission was not a tactic to delay beatification indefinitely but a way to study new evidence.

Based on her recent conversation with Cardinal Bertone, she said she believes the commission’s work of investigating new evidence is finished.

The pope’s September 18 speech to participants of an international symposium highlighting the heroic efforts of Pope Pius was his strongest yet defending Pope Pius’ legacy.

Speaking to rabbis, Jewish scholars and members of the U.S.based Pave the Way Foundation, the pope said Pope Pius “spared

The Anchor

no effort in intervening” on behalf of the Jews and courageously worked behind the scenes to save thousands from the Nazis’ “criminal plan.”

Pope Benedict said many of Pope Pius’ efforts to support the Jews were “made secretly and silently” because “in that difficult historical moment, only in this way was it possible to avoid the worst and save the greatest number of Jews.”

Sister Marchione said that during the war many Jews urged the pope to refrain from harsh statements against the Nazis since vocal opposition often “boomeranged” and resulted in even more persecution.

In her new book “The Truth Will Set You Free,” to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the pope’s death, Sister Marchione condenses decades of controversy and historical research into a 100-page volume for people to learn about the charges levied against the pope and his heroic acts that had once brought him worldwide praise.

The record must be set straight, she added, because “it’s the truth that will set you free.”

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 52, No. 39

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October 17, 2008

The International Church

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Head of Missionaries of Charity airs refugee situation in Orissa

By Anto Akkara Catholic News Service

NOT MUCH LEFT — This brass inscription plate, which had been attached to the wooden coffin of Cardinal John Henry Newman, is seen after the exhumation of Newman’s grave October 2 at the Oratory House in Rednal on the outskirts of Birmingham, England. The grave was exhumed in expectation of plans for reburial, but the cardinal’s body and his wooden coffin had decomposed. (CNS photo/Peter Jennings, courtesy of the Fathers of the Birmingham Oratory)

Officials cancel plans to rebury decomposed English cardinal

By Simon Caldwell Catholic News Service

LONDON — English Church officials canceled plans to rebury Cardinal John Henry Newman after they discovered that his body had disintegrated completely.

Undertakers attempted to exhume the body of the cardinal October 2 in preparation for his likely beatification next year.

But when undertakers opened his grave, they found there was nothing in it.

Peter Jennings, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Birmingham, England, said in a statement that both the cardinal’s body and his wooden coffin had rotted away; not even any bones or teeth remained. All that was left were the brass handles of the coffin, attached to a few pieces of wood, and a few tassels from the cardinal’s red hat.

Also recovered was a brass plate with a Latin inscription, which reads in English: “The Most Eminent and Most Reverend John Henry Newman Cardinal Deacon of St. George in Velabro Died 11 August 1890 RIP.” “An expectation that Cardinal Newman had been buried in a lead-lined coffin proved to be unfounded,” Jennings said.

“In the view of the medical and health professionals in attendance, burial in a wooden coffin in a very damp site makes this kind of total decomposition of the body unsurprising.

“The absence of physical

remains in the grave does not affect the progress of Cardinal Newman’s cause in Rome,” he added. “The Birmingham Oratory has always been in possession of some actual physical remains of Cardinal Newman.

These consist of some locks of hair.”

Catholic officials were hoping to transfer the cardinal’s remains from a secluded cemetery in the suburbs of Birmingham to a marble sarcophagus in the Birmingham Oratory, where he could more easily be venerated by pilgrims. They had announced plans for the cardinal’s body to be on display for three days in the expectation that thousands of people would come to pray before it.

Specialists had planned to fly to England to take parts of the cardinal’s body back to the Vatican to be made holy relics. Now Church officials have canceled their plans, although a Mass in honor of Cardinal Newman still will be celebrated at the Birmingham Oratory November 2.

Jennings told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview, “If there is no body then there can be no reinterment in a tomb.”

The cardinal had shared a grave with a close friend, Father Ambrose St. John, who had died several years earlier than the cardinal and whose remains were undisturbed during the exhumation.

Cardinal Newman’s sainthood cause was opened in 1958.

In April, Vatican medical

consultants ruled that an inexplicable healing in August 2001 was a result of his intercession.

Deacon Jack Sullivan of Marshfield, Mass., had been suffering from a serious spinal disorder but was cured after praying to the cardinal.

The case is now being studied by a committee of theological consultors.

If they decide that the healing was a miracle and their finding is confirmed by the sainthood congregation and the pope, it will mean that Cardinal Newman can be beatified and declared “blessed.” A second miracle is needed for his cause to progress to canonization.

BHUBANESWAR, India — The superior general of the Missionaries of Charity said the situation in India’s troubled Orissa state is a call for Christians to be witnesses to the faith.

“Disciples cannot be greater than their master,” said Sister Nirmala Joshi, the successor of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who founded the Missionaries of Charity. “God will strengthen his people to face this tough situation.”

Sister Nirmala spoke to Catholic News Service after meeting with bishops and leaders of religious congregations in Orissa.

The Church leaders met to develop a plan to take care of the tens of thousands of Christian refugees who have been fleeing attacks by Hindu extremists since August. More than 30 people have died in the violence.

Nearly 10,000 refugees have fled to Bhubaneswar and government-managed refugee camps in the Kandhamal district.

At the meeting, the Church leaders decided to shift 800 teenagers to Church institutions outside Orissa’s Kandhamal district so they could continue their education. The leaders said they also are exploring the possibility of sending more refugees to Church institutions outside the district to accommodate them temporarily.

“We have to do our best to help the (refugee) people in a situation like this,” said Sister Nirmala, pointing out that the orchestrated attack on Christians was the “work of a few lawlessminded people.”

However, she added that “it is a shame” that the government has failed in its duty “to protect the vulnerable people.”

In such a situation, Sister Nirmala said, “We have to show more commitment to them.”

Missionaries of Charity nuns opened their home for people with Hansen’s disease, or leprosy, in Janla, less than 20 miles south of Bhubaneswar, to house as many refugees as possible.

Sister Suma, superior of the home, told CNS the first refugees who fled to the home were Missionaries of Charity nuns from Sukananda.

Refugees also fled to the Missionaries of Charity home for orphans and women in Berhampur, nearly 90 miles from Bhubaneswar, but Sister Suma said since the center could not accommodate men the refugees were shifted to the leprosy home.

The violence in Orissa began August 24, the day after a Hindu leader and four associates were killed in the Kandhamal district.

The leader, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, had for decades opposed Christian missionary activities and Hindus converting to Christianity. A Maoist group claimed responsibility for the murders, but the Hindu extremists blamed Christians for the murders and began attacking them.

The violence has been concentrated in Kandhamal, where the slain swami was based.

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The Anchor

October 17, 2008

Citizenship and the Well-Informed Conscience: An Introduction to ‘Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship’ Massachusetts Catholic Conference How is a Catholic to fulfill his or her role as a citizen? The Roman Catholic bishops in the United States addressed this important question in their 2007 statement entitled “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.” All Catholics are urged to read and reflect on this document, which is summarized here. References to the full statement include the title’s initials, “FCFC,” and the relevant paragraph numbers.

1.) Why does the Catholic Church speak out on the moral aspects of political life?

The teaching role of the Catholic Church is rooted in the reality that every person has a conscience, and assumes that citizens want to act conscientiously, especially when justice and human rights are at stake (FCFC 17). Forming one’s conscience “begins with a willingness and openness to seek the truth and what is right” (FCFC 18). Catholic social teaching is based on “fundamental ethical principles that are common to all people” (FCFC 55). Thus, by proposing answers touching on the moral dimensions of citizenship that appeal to human reason, the Church is not imposing its religion but instead is responding to every person’s innate desire to uphold the good, including in the public arena. A moral concern for the inviolable dignity of every human being is at the core of the Church’s social teaching (FCFC 10).

2.) But shouldn’t morality be separated from law and public policy?

Law and public policy involve questions of social justice. Justice is concerned about what is right and good, and thus has an objective moral dimension that the Catholic Church is equipped to address (FCFC 9-10). The Church sees its function not as a power broker that replaces the state, but as a source of wisdom providing “greater insight into the authentic requirements of justice” (FCFC 14, quoting Pope Benedict XVI). Besides, “our nation’s tradition of pluralism is enhanced, not threatened, when religious groups and people of faith bring their convictions and concerns into public life” (FCFC 11). The different functions of church and state do not dictate a divorce between law and morality or the exclusion of moral persuasion from the public arena, especially when the dignity of the human person is at stake. The Church is not demanding that government adopt Catholic teachings, but it is insisting that society must defend human rights.

3.) Is the Church telling me whom to vote for in the next election?

No, because that question involves all kinds of personal considerations that “take into account a candidate’s commitments, character, integrity, and ability to influence a given issue” that are best left to the individual voter (FCFC 37). Besides, citizenship covers more than just voting. It includes campaigning for candidates for elective office as well as getting involved in ballot questions, entering government service itself, and otherwise working at the grassroots, regional, and national levels to influence public policy. Being an active citizen, engaged in the political life of one’s own town, state, and country, fulfills the moral duty to promote the common good (FCFC 2). Rather than telling Catholics which candidates to support or oppose, the Church offers basic guidelines for making civic choices in and outside the voting booth consistent with moral principles.

4.) What are the key moral principles of concern to the Church?

There are certain “universal moral truths” about the human person that citizens should always seek to uphold in their civic actions (FCFC 33). Politics must always abide by “fundamental values, such as respect for human life, its defense from conception to natural death, the family built upon marriage between a man and a woman, the freedom to educate one’s children, and the promotion of the common good in all its forms” (FCFC 14, quoting Pope Benedict XVI). Though politics may involve the art of compromise, these goods are non-negotiable. To interfere with them is always and everywhere wrong. “There are some things we must never do, as individuals or as a society because they are always incompatible with love of God and neighbor” (FCFC 22). While not every moral principle can be enshrined in law, “it is important to recognize that not all possible courses of action are morally acceptable” (FCFC 20).

5.) Are there some wrongs that are more serious than others?

Yes. It is wrong always and everywhere, for example, to intentionally destroy innocent human life, promote racism, recognize same-sex marriage, or abandon the poor and the vulnerable by preferring the rich and the powerful (FCFC 22, 29, 46, 50-51, 86). Such actions are “always opposed to the authentic good of persons” and are therefore called “intrinsically evil” (FCFC 22). Additionally, there is a “moral imperative to respond to the needs of our neighbors — basic needs such as food,

shelter, health care, education, and meaningful work — [that is] universally binding on our consciences” (FCFC 25). Moreover, the Church’s consistent ethic of life “neither treats all issues as morally equivalent nor reduces Catholic teaching to one or two issues” (FCFC 40).

6.) But aren’t there legitimate differences of opinion for Catholics on issues of public policy?

The Church insists that “those who knowingly, willingly, and directly support public policies or legislation that undermine fundamental moral principles cooperate with evil” (FCFC 31). A well-informed conscience will never support intrinsically evil actions (FCFC 18). But “the judgments and recommendations” issued by Church leaders in other areas such as “the war in Iraq, housing, health care, and immigration . . . do not carry the same moral authority as statements of universal moral teachings” (FCFC 33). Thus, for example, while a “well formed conscience aided by prudence . . . begins with outright opposition to laws and other policies that violate human life or weaken its protection” (FCFC 31), the affirmative duty to respond to the needs of others “may be legitimately fulfilled by a variety of means” (FCFC 25). In determining how these affirmative obligations should be met, prudential judgments may legitimately differ and there is greater freedom in the exercise of one’s conscience. But even for these issues, not all choices may be equally valid, and the guidance of the bishops should be carefully considered (FCFC 33).

7.) What does Church teaching say about voting, especially when there is no perfect candidate?

Voting in good conscience depends on the ability to “perceive the proper relationship among moral goods” (FCFC 34). Not all the reasons that a particular candidate may offer for his or her election will “carry the same moral weight” (FCFC 37). If one’s vote is based on an endorsement of a candidate’s position favoring abortion rights or racism, for example, then no matter how good the candidate may be on other issues, the “voter will be guilty of formal cooperation in a grave moral evil” (FCFC 34). In addition, a voter legitimately may vote against an otherwise suitable candidate based on “a single issue that involves an intrinsic evil” (FCFC 42). This is because “the moral obligation to oppose intrinsically evil acts has a special claim on our consciences and our actions” (FCFC 37). The Church cautions such voters however not to be indifferent or inattentive to other important moral issues (FCFC 34).

8.) May a Catholic ever vote for a candidate who favors abortion access or other intrinsic evils?

Yes, a voter “who rejects a candidate’s unacceptable position” favoring an intrinsic evil nonetheless may vote in good conscience for that candidate despite his or her wrong position, but only if there is no better alternative on the ballot and one’s vote is based on “truly grave moral reasons” (FCFC 35). The U.S. bishops’ 2007 statement does not describe what sort of serious reasons may justify voting for a candidate that, for example, backs abortion access, but it does reject a voter’s desire to “advance narrow interests,” further “partisan preferences,” or otherwise “ignore a fundamental moral evil” as insufficiently grave (FCFC 35). One’s political engagement should be “focused on the dignity of every human being, the pursuit of the common good, and the protection of the weak and the vulnerable” and thus “as Catholics, we should be guided more by our moral convictions than by our attachment to a political party or interest group” (FCFC 14).

9.) Where can I obtain the U.S. Bishops’ 2007 statement?

The full text of “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” can be found on the Website for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops at http://www.usccb. org/faithfulcitizenship/FCStatement.pdf. Booklet copies can be ordered online at http://www.usccbpublishing.org or by calling 1-800-235-8722.

Download a full-color version of “Citizenship and the Well-Informed Conscience,” reproduceable in color or black and white, that can be distributed as a two-sided 8 1/2 by 11 bulletin insert or handout, available online athttp://www.macathconf. org/08-FaithfulCitizenshipBulletinInsertEnglish.pdf.

Translations will soon be available in Spanish and Portuguese.

October 1, 2008 Massachusetts Catholic Conference, West End Place, Suite 5, 150 Staniford St., Boston, MA 02114-2511 (p) 617-367-6060 (f) 617-367-2767 (e) staff@macathconf.org (w) www.macathconf.org

October 17, 2008

The Church in the U.S.

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Reject candidates who support abortion bill, says Bishop Finn

WINDOW WATCHING — A crowd gathers outside Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, October 3.

People began congregating outside the building after someone reported seeing a mysterious image resembling Our Lady of Guadalupe in one of the windows. (CNS photo/Mark Heck, The Catholic Observer)

Image on office window draws crowds to Mass. medical center

By Lynne Sullivan Catholic News Service

SPRINGFIELD — Hospital personnel at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield expressed concern that patient access to a nearby medical office building was being limited by crowds gathering to look at a window that some claim bears an image resembling Our Lady of Guadalupe.

At a press conference, hospital officials said the window will be examined by an engineer who is an expert in glass and its properties and someone who works in church restoration.

A statement from Mark M. Fulco, vice president of strategy and marketing for the Sisters of Providence Health System, said the examination is expected to yield a report on the physical status of the glass and recommendations “for further analysis of the window,” if needed, and suggestions for preserving it.

According to the Boston Globe thousands of people have gone to look at the window since a Springfield man first told hospital officials he saw an image of Mary in the window in late September.

The crowds have congested traffic and created parking problems, so hospital officials have asked those who come to see the window to park at a nearby church.

This event has propelled the medical center into the national spotlight.

In an statement, Springfield

Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell said, “Statues, paintings, portraits and images all serve to remind us of the reality of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s influence in our lives.

But the reality is not found in the statues, paintings, portraits and images; the reality is much more than that.

“The prayers of people are always powerful and I truly hope that at Mercy hospital those gathering are praying for the people in the hospital as well as the sick and infirm throughout our world,” the bishop said.

Fulco said the office where the window is located is vacant and under renovation.

“The window was actually scheduled to be replaced. The (replacement) window was measured incorrectly, so the window was not replaced when scheduled,” he told The Catholic Observer, Springfield’s diocesan newspaper.

A preliminary evaluation of the window confirmed the reported image “is not anything on the outside of the window on the outside of the building, or on the inside of the window inside the office, but rather between the panes of glass,” said Fulco. He said no one has tampered with the window.

“It appears as if the vacuum seal of the window has broken, and between the panes of glass some moisture has formed. The minerals in that moisture appear to have possibly caused a chemi-

cal reaction that has etched the glass. That’s what we know at this point,” Fulco explained.

The first person said to have told hospital employees he could see something in the window was William Batista of Springfield.

Batista told the Observer he fell asleep praying for his mother, who has cancer and was told by her doctor nothing could be done for her.

“So I prayed for my mother’s health,” he said, and after he fell asleep he “had a vision, just like you see in the window.”

Mark Dupont, diocesan spokesman, said it would take years for the Church to investigate the apparition, but he said the reported image “was inspiring people, and Catholics throughout their history have a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin.”

Mercy Sister Kathleen Sullivan, senior vice president for mission for the health system, said in a short time several people arrived “feeling that it was Our Lady of Guadalupe, and began to recite the rosary and sing various hymns,” she said.

“To me, it’s really an expression of the beauty of people’s faith. It’s really humbling to me to see this beautiful expression.

I’ve never seen anything like this,” Sister Kathleen said.

“The message of Our Lady of Guadalupe is compassion and love, which is really interesting since we are a place of healing,” she added.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Catholic voters should take into account a candidate’s stand on the proposed Freedom of Choice Act as they decide whom to support in November, Bishop Robert W. Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph said in a column for the diocesan newspaper.

Writing in the October 3 issue of The Catholic Key, Bishop Finn said he and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., recently emphasized in a joint pastoral letter that Catholics are morally obligated not to support a candidate because of his or her support for abortion but could support a candidate who is for legalized abortion if there were “a proportionate reason sufficient to justify the destruction of 45 million human persons through abortion.”

“If we learn that our ‘candidate of choice’ further pledges — through an instrument such as FOCA — to eliminate all existing limitations against abortion, it is that much more doubtful whether voting for him or her can ever be morally justified under any circumstance,” Bishop Finn said.

The Freedom of Choice Act, or FOCA, was introduced in both the House and Senate April 19, 2007, the day after the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in Gonzales v. Carhart.

It states that “every woman has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child, to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability, or to terminate a pregnancy after

fetal viability when necessary to protect the life or health of the woman.”

Although no action has been taken in either house since then, Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, recently said that “the Catholic bishops of the United States are gravely concerned about any possible consideration” of the legislation in the final weeks of the 110th Congress.

Meanwhile, Archbishop John G. Vlazny of Portland, Ore., urged Catholics in his archdiocese to join him at a recent Mass at Holy Name Cathedral as a countersign to the NARAL ProChoice fund-raiser hosted by Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a Catholic, that same evening. The NARAL benefit also took place two days before the archbishop’s annual Respect Life Mass.

“This is a source of embarrassment for our Church and a scandal for the Catholic community,” Archbishop Vlazny said.

“For a Catholic governor to host an event of this sort seems a deliberate dissent from the teachings of the Church.”

A young-adult Catholic organization called Sacrifices for Life urged Americans to offer prayers for the upcoming election and to “make daily sacrifices for the cause of restoring a culture of life in America.”

The Knights of Columbus also has begun a radio ad campaign urging people to “vote Pro-Life” in November.

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The Freedom of Choice Act and the informed Catholic voter

In the past several months, some prominent Catholics — like Pennsylvania Sen. Robert Casey, Pepperdine law professor Douglas Kmiec and Duquesne legal scholar Nicholas Cafardi — have been making the argument that the most effective means to advance the Pro-Life cause is, paradoxically, not to elect Pro-Life candidates. Rather, they assert, the lives of more babies would be saved by electing candidates who, even though they favor legal abortion, would seek to increase governmental support for the poor and vulnerable women who may be tempted by circumstances to abort them.

This argument, while presumably sincerely made, is based first on a false disjunction, as if voters face an either-or decision between nominally Pro-Life candidates who will do nothing to reduce abortions and pro-choice candidates who are more committed to eliminating the causes that lead to abortion. This is erroneous in principle and in practice: in principle, because there is no reason why a candidate cannot both be in favor of reducing the causes of abortion as well as Pro-Life; in practice, because Pro-Life candidates and office holders almost always support programs to eliminate the causes of abortion provided that the programs themselves are not morally problematic, like abortifacient contraceptive bills.

The argument — although perhaps rhetorically powerful in assuaging the consciences of Pro-Life voters who are thinking of supporting candidates who favor abortion — is also patently politically illogical. If it were true that there would be fewer abortions if people elected pro-choice candidates who want to expand welfare programs, we would expect groups like Planned Parenthood who make billions of blood money annually through the process of abortion paradoxically support the type of Pro-Life strawmen imagined by Casey, Kmiec and Cafardi. We have never heard such endorsements, however, because those who profit from vulnerable women aborting their children know that their business has far more to fear from Pro-Life candidates than from pro-choice candidates.

In an August parody, Catholic World News’ satirist Diogenes applied this flawed argumentation to the issue of the death penalty. Writing after Sen. Casey’s speech to the Democratic convention, he said, “I haven’t heard Catholic Democrats speak the same way on the issue of, say, the death penalty, but I’m certain they’d applaud efforts … to ‘grow beyond’ the absolutist positions that have led to the death penalty stalemate and to seek common ground. Following Sen. Casey’s lead, the following editorial ought to appear … any day now: “The problem with hard-line opponents of capital punishment is that they’re only concerned with what happens to the prisoner at the termination of his or her sentence and don’t care about what happens to him or her before that. Instead of standing outside prisons holding candles and shouting slogans, states rights opponents should seek to address the hardships and anxieties that cause communities to feel they have to execute the felons in their midst. One place to start is to empower citizens by making cheap defensive firearms available to every household, which both discourages intrusive and violent crime and gives the family a greater feeling of control over its own destiny. …

We live in a diverse society. Absolutist stances against hanging, electrocution, and lethal injection may gratify sectarian demands, but do little to heal the divisions that tear the fabric of our pluralist society apart.”

Those who seek the elimination of the death penalty know that their cause would not be advanced by their supporting candidates who favor capital punishment, regardless of claims about addressing its underlying “causes.” They realize that their achievable hopes lie rather with candidates who in principle think that the death penalty is wrong and seek to end it, for candidates opposed to the death penalty in principle are the ones who will more reliably work to eliminate its causes. The same common sense applies with abortion.

It’s important to shift from the philosophical to the practical level, however. This puts into even greater relief how the so-called “Pro-Life” argument in favor of pro-choice candidates is a Trojan Horse.

There is currently a bill in both houses of Congress called the Freedom of Choice Act. It has 107 sponsors in the House of Representatives (of whom 106 are Democrats, including six from Massachusetts) and 20 sponsors in the Senate (all Democrats, including Sen. John Kerry). The Democratic leadership in both houses is on record as committed to passing it, but know that at present they do not have the supermajority necessary to get it past Pro-Life President George Bush’s promised veto.

That is one of the reasons why abortion supporters say they are working so hard to elect Sen. Barack Obama, who publicly pledged, in a July 17, 2007 speech to the Planned Parent Action Fund: “The first thing I’d do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That’s the first thing that I’d do.”

FOCA supporters say that the bill would codify Roe v. Wade just in case the Supreme Court ever overturned it. In fact, however, it would go far beyond the extremities of Roe. The 1973 decision, as evil as it was, allowed state and federal legislatures to make some restrictions with regard to abortion. Since then, all 50 states have passed laws requiring abortion reporting; 46 now have conscience protection laws for health care workers so that they do not have to participate in abortions; 44 require parental notification for minors seeking abortions so that children who cannot receive an aspirin without parental okay cannot receive an abortion; 40 restrict late-term abortions; 38 ban the particularly gruesome practice of partial-birth abortions; 33 require counseling before abortion; 27 give conscience protection to institutions, so that places like Catholic hospitals cannot be forced to do abortions; and 16 mandate ultrasounds before an abortion.

FOCA would eliminate all of these and every other restriction.

Cardinal Justin Rigali, the head of the U.S. Bishops’ Pro-Life Activities Committee, said, “We face the threat of a federal bill that, if enacted, would obliterate virtually all the gains of the past 35 years and cause the abortion rate to skyrocket. … FOCA establishes abortion as a ‘fundamental right’ throughout the nine months of pregnancy, and forbids any law or policy that could ‘interfere’ with that right or ‘discriminate’ against it in public funding and programs. If FOCA became law, hundreds of reasonable, widely supported, and constitutionally sound abortion regulations now in place would be invalidated. Gone would be laws providing for informed consent, and parental consent or notification in the case of minors…. Restrictions on partial-birth and other late-term abortions would be eliminated. FOCA would knock down laws protecting the conscience rights of nurses, doctors, and hospitals with moral objections to abortion, and force taxpayers to fund abortions throughout the United States. We cannot allow this to happen. We cannot tolerate an even greater loss of innocent human lives.”

With FOCA in the mix, it would be downright insane and disingenuous for someone to argue that the unborn would be better served by electing candidates who support it but who also support giving increased governmental aid to those mothers and children who luckily have evaded the abortionists’ forceps.

For this reason, Bishop Daniel Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, said in a column in his diocesan newspaper, “We can never [morally] vote for a candidate because of his or her permissive stand on abortion. At the same time, if we are inclined to vote for someone despite his or her pro-abortion stance, it seems we are morally obliged to establish a proportionate reason sufficient to justify the destruction of 45 million human persons through abortion. If we learn that our ‘candidate of choice’ further pledges — through an instrument such as FOCA — to eliminate all existing limitations against abortion, it is that much more doubtful whether voting for him or her can ever be morally justified under any circumstance.”

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Hand-in-hand in heaven

life of her baby. Together with Luigi she placed hen I meet with couples preparing for marriage, we always discuss why her life and that of their growing child in the Christian marriage is a sacrament. The ultimate hands of the Lord and prayed. Maria suffered enormously during the pregnancy, but both she purpose of every sacrament is to make those and her daughter, Enrichetta, survived. who receive it holy, to make them saints. MarThe Quattrocchis were a very modern riage is no exception. The Church teaches that couple. Luigi worked for the Italian government marriage has a two-fold purpose: the mutual and used his legal skills to help out with various sanctification of the spouses and the procreCatholic organizations including Catholic Acation and education of children. tion. Maria was fluent in French and English, In the course of our conversations, I try to read extensively, and authored multiple books help the couples to grasp this reality. If their on the mother’s role in educating her children marriage lasts 60 years, and they’re blessed which are still considered classics in Italy. They with wonderful kids, good health, lots of friends, professional and personal prestige, but were partakers in Rome’s rich cultural life and political strife. one of them does not make it to heaven, then Despite all the bustling activity at home, Lutheir marriage has failed. On the other hand, igi and Maria always made sure that God came if their marriage is an earthly illustration of first. Every morning they would attend Mass “poorer, sicker, and worse” but they help each together and at night they would pray the rosary other to cross the eternal finish line, then their as a family. They consecrated their family to the marriage will, in the final analysis, have been Sacred Heart of Jesus and placed the certificate successful. of their consecration on the mantelpiece of their Once a future bride and groom grasp that dining room. On the first Friday of each month, marriage is a gift of God to make them holy, other things start to fall into place. They resolve they would go as a family to pray a holy hour of eucharistic adoration. Once a year would attend to learn and to live the faith better so that they weekend retreats at the Monastery of St. Paul’s can help the other to do so. They begin to pray Outside the together, to acWalls. company the othTheir love er to Mass and for God translatto confession, ed naturally into and to encourage love for others. each other to live In order to help by the Lord’s form the boys Commandments.

By Father from poor famiThey start to lies, Luigi and examine whether Roger J. Landry Maria started a they mostly bring scout troop for the other to the Lord or drag the other away. They begin to look which they served as den leaders. Later, during at the question of children from the perspective Italy’s war in Ethiopia and World War II, Maria worked as a volunteer nurse for the Red Cross of eternal joys rather than earthly sacrifices. to care for wounded Italian soldiers.

Many of the happiest moments of my In a house with God so much at its center, it priesthood have occurred when I have witnessed couples begin to see that the greatest gift is not surprising that the children would respond to the Lord’s call to place their lives at his they can give each other is not themselves but service. Filippo became a priest for the Diocese the gift of God. of Rome, Cesare a Trappist monk and Stefania Thoughts about the sacrament of marriage are prominent for me today because on Sunday a Benedictine nun. Enrichetta never married and happily spent her life serving the Lord in the in Lisieux, France, there will be the joint person of her parents. “We brought them up in beatification of Louis and Marie Zélie Martin, the faith,” Maria wrote in one of her books, “so a couple that has fulfilled the purpose of the that they might know and love God.” sacrament of marriage.

The parents were holy, happy, and also huWhile there have been many individual saints who have been married, the Martins, the man. Cesare recalled that like all couples they occasionally argued and “when it was needed, parents of St. Thérèse, will be only the fourth they gave us punishments, reprimands and even couple raised to the altars together. They will a good slap.” join Saints Joachim and Anne, the parents of Their house was continually open to friends the Blessed Virgin Mary; Saints Priscilla and and strangers who knocked on their door askAquila, the friends and collaborators of St. Paul; and Luigi and Maria Quattrocchi, a 20th- ing for food. During the Second World War, century Italian couple whom Pope John Paul II those knocks became more desperate. Luigi and Maria put their lives on the line to hide beatified seven years ago this weekend.

Jews in their apartment. On various occasions That the Quattrocchis and the Martins will when German patrols were in the neighborboth have been beatified on World Mission hood, they even dressed the Jewish men in Sunday is not, I’m convinced, coincidental.

One of the most important means by which the their sons’ priestly garb so that they would escape Nazi roundups.

Church carries out her mission to proclaim the They were married for 46 years. Luigi died Gospel is through holy marriages, which not of a heart attack in 1951 at the age of 71. Maria only are images of the communion of persons passed into eternity 14 years later. in the Blessed Trinity but also reflections and At their beatification in 2001, attended by participations in the love of Christ Jesus for his 50,000, something beautiful and unique in bride, the Church.

Church history occurred. Not only were their Since I wrote about the Martins back in two sons and Enrichetta able to be present for July when their upcoming beatification was the ceremony, but Filippo and Cesare, both announced, I’d like to focus, as we prepare in their 90s, were among the pope’s principal for this Mission Sunday, on the Quattrocchis, whose beatification, John Paul II said, was one concelebrants.

When John Paul II was asked by the Conof the high points of his pontificate. gregation to help resolve the issue of when to Luigi Quattrocchi married Maria Corsini celebrate their feast day, since they had died on on November 25, 1905 at St. Mary Major different days of the year, he made a revoluBasilica in Rome. Luigi was a 25-year-old attorney from Rome and Maria was a 21-year- tionary decision: the Church would mark their passage into heaven on November 25, the day old writer and teacher from Florence. Three they were married and began, through the children were born in their first four years of sacrament, their journey to the eternal wedding marriage, Filippo, Cesare and Stefania, which made their household noisy and lively from the banquet.

There, with the Martins, Luigi and Maria beginning. Four years later, Maria conceived again, but experienced such severe problems in Quattrocchi remain as powerful intercessors and role models for Catholic married couples, showher pregnancy that her doctors counseled her ing them what Christian marriage is and where to abort her child in order to save her own life. it is supposed to lead.

They gave her less than a five-percent chance Father Landry is pastor of St. Anthony’s of survival if she tried to carry the pregnancy Parish in New Bedford. to term. Yet she heroically refused to take the

Putting Into the Deep

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Mission impossible

the agents, although they were t was a super secret not the complete original cast, government agency, the and other changes were made “Impossible Missions” Force, in later years. They were the an “elite, covert operations unit” trained to complete highly “good guys” who were fearless, sensitive missions. At the beginning of each episode, the team would be given their assignments, and always the choice was given, “your mission, should you decide to accept….”

By Greta MacKoul The original “Mission: Impossible” series was televised from capable, intelligent and heroic 1966 to 1973. In junior high, I became completely intrigued by in carrying out their missions against criminals who were a this show. Peter Graves, Greg danger to the United States or Morris, Martin Landau, Barworld democracy. bara Bain and Peter Lupus are It is somewhat ironic that the the actors who I remember as

Our Journey of Faith

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October 17, 2008

series was entitled “Mission: Impossible,” for there was no mission that was impossible for this team. Understandably, the creators of the show named it “Mission: Impossible” to suggest that without certain capabilities and courage, the tasks would be impossible.

In many ways, Jesus had his own “Impossible Missions” team in the early Apostles who risked their lives in carrying out the mission of Christ, a mission that has continued through the years and continues with us today.

Like the television Impossible Missions team, the mission of Christ needs a team with

Becoming Christocentric

hen the Church began ism and we are not responding in that upper room as a Church. On October 1 our in Jerusalem there was only a guest facilitator, Bill Huebsch, handful of people present who told us that parishes need to be had seen Jesus and witnessed Christocentric, not Ecclesiohis resurrection. There was no centric. Here is the difference extensive ecclesiastical hierarbetween these two approaches. chy, no buildings, no heating A parish that is Ecclesiocensystems, no parking lots, no tric places all of its emphasis employee benefits, no budgets, on knowing about the Church. no catechetical programs; noth- Huebsch reminded us that the Church is not God; we do not ing. The Church began with worship the Church. We must a handful of people, men and have an encounter with the women, who had met Christ and were converted to his way living Christ who is present in of holiness. In other words, Christ did not build a parish center and then conduct registration meetings.

The work of the Church is evangelization and conversion to

By Claire McManus Christ. Period. “For if the Lord does not build the house, in vain do the builders labor” (Ps 127). the Church. Knowing Christ All other activities in the parish leads us to the Church. Knowshould be ordered to the work ing Christ leads us to search of evangelization. Take a look for him, present in the Euchaaround you in your parish and rist. Knowing Christ makes us ask yourself if this is the core search for him, present in one work being done. If it is not, another. This shift in emphayou have lost sight of the missis make us a Christocentric sion. This is why we asked the Church. pastors and their pastoral counHere is what our parish cils to join together on October activities might look like if we 1 for a workshop on how to became Christocentric. Every re-order their priorities. person in the parish would The reality in most of our become hungry for sacred parishes is that they operate Scripture. Every meeting would according to a catechize-first begin with a faith sharing on strategy. Parishes put most of Scripture, and every home their time and resources into would be given a question catechizing the children, and about the Scripture to reflect on then hope that they will be with the family. This is known formed in the faith and then as “breaking open the Word.” someday have a personal enEvery ministry or activity in counter with Christ. This may the parish would end with a rehave worked in past generations flection on how each participant when families were immersed felt Christ’s presence in what in the rich culture of ethnic Ca- they just did. This is called tholicism, but let’s face it, our “mystagogy.” society is immersed in secularFamilies would become the

The Great Commission

center of faith formation for their children; they would become the “Domestic Church,” an ancient ideal put forth by the Second Vatican Council.

The Domestic Church teaches children to pray, forms their moral conscience, and teaches human love as a reflection of divine love. The parish catechetical programs would then offer the knowledge about the faith in support of the formation happening at home. Catechists would have a genuine understanding of their vocation, and just be treated as another volunteer who graciously offered to fill a need.

This would require a commitment by both the catechist and the parish to create opportunities for training and formation.

Now here is the greatest challenge to all of us who have wondered where all of the Catholics have gone who used to fill the pews. Bill Huebsch reminded us that we cannot be Christ-centered if we are telling Catholics who walked away from the Church to sort out their problems first and then come to see us when they are perfect again. Parishes that are Christocentric would welcome into their Sunday assemblies all Catholics, regardless of their situations in life, just as Jesus did. Give them an encounter with Christ, and then sort out their difficulties. As we hear in the Gospel this Sunday, the harvest is abundant. Let us spread the good news to all of our beloved, lost from our assemblies, “the Kingdom of God is at hand for you.”

Claire McManus is the director of the Diocesan Office of Faith Formation.

certain capabilities, faith and courage, so that the success of Christ’s mission is always possible.

“Your mission, should you decide to accept….” In many ways we are all given missions to accomplish, some in our everyday lives, some in the course of a lifetime. Like the voice over in the television show giving the assignments to the Impossible Missions Force, our missions are often given to us by someone we cannot see, God the Holy Spirit, whose voice we learn to recognize. Or God may relay our missions to us through those around us and in some cases through special messengers.

Our Blessed Mother, Mary, was given a mission. She accepted it. She might have said, “You know, there’s this really nice girl who lives in the next village over, she comes from a very nice family, and….”

Didn’t happen. It didn’t happen that way because Mary was chosen precisely because of who she was and who she was created to be.

In our lives, there are many things that God asks of us, as we have entered into a journey of faith, a sacramental life with Jesus, by virtue of our baptism.

Sometimes we may not be up to every expectation, every virtue, every sacrifice.

“How about tomorrow?”

“Maybe next week.”

“Could you get back to me in a year?”

“Too busy right now.”

“Too tired.”

“It’s not fair.”

“It’s too difficult.”

“I’m afraid.”

“Ask someone else.”

But for every time we do fall short of answering God’s call, and choosing to live in God’s grace, there are countless others where we as a people of faith, do live according to God’s will and embrace the mission of Christ: When we spread the Word of God, and faith in Jesus Christ, sometimes close to home, sometimes in far away places, giving up the comforts of the world, and being fearless in the face of danger or harm.

When we serve the poor and forgotten.

When we stand up for justice for others, especially those who cannot speak for themselves.

When we tirelessly serve the needs of our children, or the sick or the elderly in our families.

When we choose sacrifice, kindness, patience and courage over greed, anger and fear.

When we make every effort to follow the teachings of Christ.

What qualities do we need to be like the original Apostles, a spiritual “Impossible Missions” team that successfully brought the faith of Jesus Christ to the world, in the face of disbelief, danger and harm? How can we bring the power of God to all situations and carry out the mission of Christ in our daily lives?

Jesus has given us hope in his words, “With God all things are possible,” and “Nothing is impossible with God.” Greta and her husband George, with their children are members of Christ the King Parish in Mashpee.

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hroughout the world this weekend Catholic churches will celebrate World Mission Sunday. It is a day to reflect upon the missionary work of the Church and our own baptismal call to be missionaries. It is also a day of prayer and sacrifice for the missions.

The offerings collected on World Mission Sunday are sent to a common fund and distributed by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith among the missions and missionaries of the entire world. Our country is one of the leaders in funding missionary activities. Our national director joins other directors from throughout the world in deciding in Rome where funds will be allocated.

Mission dioceses, about 1,100 around the world receive assistance from this fund. Their requests are certified in Rome and they are aided. Funds are used for catechetical programs, seminaries, work of religious

The Anchor

October 17, 2008

We are all missionaries

communities, building of chais attacked, manifests the need pels and churches etc. of Christ. Where sexual mores In his World Mission Sunday seem to be non-existent, religion address this year, Pope Benedict relegated to social events; where XVI states: “The mission manviolent communities and abusive date continues to be an absolute behavior of self and others is not priority for all baptized persons unknown, the challenge for miswho are called to be ‘servants and Apostles of Christ Jesus’ at the Homily of the Week beginning of the new Twenty-ninth Sunday millennium.” in Ordinary Time The pope cites as a special model of this

By Father “apostolic commitment,” Msgr. John J. Oliveira St. Paul whom we recognize in a special manner in this Pauline Year. He was sionary activity is real. Discrimithe Apostle to the Gentiles and nation and poverty are challengmade Christ known far and wide es to be met by the “servants and by his teaching and his travels. apostles of Christ Jesus.”

A cursory glance at our But hope is not lost. The pope world reminds us of the need for reminds us that he wrote in his Christ. The values of a society encyclical “Christ is our hope, that exists where abortion is that the Gospel is a ‘life changlegal, euthanasia is becoming ing’ communication that gives more accepted, fiscal uncertainty hope ….” It is only in Christ that brought about by greed exists humanity finds redemption and and the sacredness of marriage hope, a fact that St. Paul under-

stood so well. Ephesians 2:12 reminds us that anyone who does not know God, even though he may entertain all kinds of hope, is ultimately without hope.

It is the duty of each of us to proclaim Christ. St. Paul did this so well. Evangelization is the response to the love of God that is within us. It is like a parent loving football so much and sharing it with their children. There is first the love and then the need to share that love. We might ask ourselves this Mission Sunday if we love enough to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with others?

Pope Paul VI tells us in “Evangelii Nuntiandi” that “the task of evangelizing all people constitutes the essential mission of the Church” (14). In his address this year Pope Benedict speaks to the bishops, priests and religious of their duty do make Christ known. He says

this to each of us: “Dear faithful laity, you who act in the different areas of society are all called to take part in an increasingly important way in spreading the Gospel. A complex and multiform areopagus thus opens up before you to be evangelized: the world. Give witness with your lives that Christians ‘belong to a new society which is the goal of their common pilgrimage and which is anticipated in the course of that pilgrimage.’”

While Mission Sunday is a time for prayer and sacrifice for the missions, it is also a reminder that we are missionaries.

We are called to proclaim Christ to all those we meet. The world is in need of your missionary work. The world, your community, your Church, your family needs you to be a servant and apostle of Christ Jesus.

Msgr. Oliveira is pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in New Bedford, and diocesan director of Mission Support.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Oct. 18, 2 Tim 4:10-17b; Ps 145:10-13,17-18; Lk 10:1-9; Sun. Oct. 19, Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Is 45:1,4-6; Ps 96:1,3-5,7-10; 1Thes 1:1-5b; Mt 22:15-21; Mon. Oct. 20, Eph 2:1-10; Ps 100:1b-5; Lk 12:13-21; Tues. Oct. 21, Eph 2:12-22; Ps 85:9-14; Lk 12:35-38; Wed. Oct. 22, Eph 3:2-12; (Ps) Is 12:23,4c-6; Lk 12:39-48;Thu. Oct. 23, Eph 3:14-21; Ps 33:1-2,4-5,11-12,18-19; Lk 12:49-53; Fri. Oct. 24, Eph 4:1-6; Ps 24:1-4b,5-6; Lk 12:54-59.

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ccording to the conventional wisdom, American elections are usually determined by pocketbook economic issues. This may give too little credit to the American people’s concern for how a superpower exercises leadership in the world; it certainly doesn’t take sufficient account of how “culture war” issues can be decisive, as they were in settling the electoral college vote in 2004. Still, Ronald Reagan’s famous question in a 1980 debate with Jimmy Carter — “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” — plays a considerable role in shaping voters’ choices.

Catholics seeking to bring themes from the Church’s social doctrine into American public life will thus have many domestic policy questions for the major presidential candi-

Life in these United States

dates: is due to Mexico’s own public 1. Is the much-deplored policy-driven economic inca“partisanship” in Washington pacities? an expression of unprecedented 4. Do you believe that nastiness on the part of legisla“global warming” — in the tors, or does it reflect genuine, deep-set, and significant differences of opinion on serious issues?

2. How will you help save inner-city Catholic schools, which are cruBy George Weigel cial lifelines for at-risk children?

3. How can U.S. immigration policy combine sense of dramatic, man-caused respect for the rule of law and climate change with predictconcern for national security, able, deleterious, and potenon the one hand, with generostially catastrophic effects — is ity toward those who wish to an established fact? If so, how contribute to our national life should we address this issue and improve their own condiwithout wrecking our economy tion? Will you tell Mexico that and those of developing and a lot of the immigration probtransitioning nations? Are you lem in the American southwest at all concerned that today’s environmental movement displays some of the features of a cult?

5. Let’s forget the mantra of “energy independence,” which is a pipedream. Can we significantly decrease our dependence on foreign oil without a major national investment in nuclear power? What can the federal government do to encourage the development of plug-in hybrids and other more energyefficient cars? What do you make of the resistance to oildrilling in the Arctic National

The Catholic Difference

Wildlife Reserve, which some argue puts the migratory patterns and amorous interests of caribou above national security and economic rationality?

6. How would you reform American health care without making doctors de facto employees of the federal government?

7. How would you rationalize homeland security, so that legitimate concerns about terrorism are addressed without wasting vast amounts of travelers’ time and taxpayers’ money?

8. What role, if any, does the federal government have in fixing the broken mess that is the American air transportation system? The Interstate highway system, once a marvel, now suffers from age and neglect; what’s the solution there? And while we’re on the subject of transportation, why isn’t highspeed rail the answer to both transport and energy issues in our major urban corridors?

9. How would your administration’s policies encourage a culture of saving and personal financial responsibility?

10. Everyone who can read a balance sheet knows that the Social Security system is heading over the fiscal cliff. What does “social security reform” mean to

you? What role, if any, do individual retirement accounts play in pension security in America?

11. What can be done to address the well-documented link between abortion-on-demand and higher rates of divorce and extramarital pregnancy?

12. What role should Washington play in elevating our national cultural life? How will you use the presidential bully pulpit to address the cultural sewer of the popular entertainment industry? Pornography is a highly profitable American export; does that concern you, morally and in terms of our public diplomacy?

13. What is the relationship between tax rates and economic growth?

14. To listen to some candidates and commentators during this campaign, you’d think we were all living in a dysfunctional hellhole like Equatorial Guinea. Take a deep breath, avoid hyperbole, and give us your honest judgment of the present state of the U.S. economy. Is it fundamentally sound or not? Would you swap the U.S. economy, even-up, for any other major national economy in the world? If so, with whom would you trade?

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

Sorry, no vacancy

Monday 13 October 2008 — trict of the St. Vincent de Paul At home on Three Mile River — Society. It was our turn to host.

Thanksgiving Day (Canada) The final evaluation meeting of t. Nicholas Parish has the Parish Founding Task Force raised the bar on its was being held in the rectory. own pastoral activity. Every When director of Pastoral Planmeeting space on the property was being utilized simultaneously the other night.

Reflections of a In all six classrooms, Parish Priest faith formation of our youngsters was taking

By Father Tim place. In the church hall Goldrick was a meeting of young people. In the Ministry Room, the parish prayer group had gathered. In ning Doug Rodrigues arrived, the church proper were the men he couldn’t find a parking and women of the Taunton Dis- space. No vacancy.

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The Ship’s Log

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A few months ago, I quietly changed the name of one of the parish buildings. Several people called it The Bingo Hall, as though that was the only thing that went on there. Names of buildings should reflect what goes on inside. Heaven forbid that our parish is only about Bingo.

The most common name for such a building is a Parish Center, but that didn’t strike me as appropriate either. In my way of thinking, the center of any parish is the sanctuary. Everything we do as parish begins and

Reviving All Saints Day, Part II

years’ worth of saints who stood his is part two of a twoagainst and braved horrible part series on using All deaths in order to free us from Saints’ Day as an occasion to grow in Christian virtue and con- such wicked paganism. I shutter to think how Jesus or his mother viction as a family. In part one Mary would feel if they stood in we looked beyond the caricature our Halloween aisles. of St. Patrick to the missionary At a bare minimum, by work he did to rid Celtic Ireland blindly going along with Halof sorcery, human sacrifice, and loween as it now exists, we other pagan practices. I wrote are missing out on a fantastic how it is to this saint that I owe the Catholic part of my Irish heritage, because it was his convictions and brave faith in the fifth century that helped rid Ireland of Druids and their pagan harvest festival, Samhain, thus

By Heidi Bratton paving the way for the institution of All Hallow’s Day and its opportunity to help ourselves solemn vigil, All Hallow’s Eve and our children exercise and in the ninth century. grow in the Christian courage Subsequently, in the late demonstrated for us by the saints 1840s, waves of my Irish Cathowe claim to honor on November lic ancestors came to America, 1. I am reminded of the T-shirts bringing All Hallow’s Day and and bumper stickers we see at All Hallow’s Eve celebrations Christmas boldly telling us to with them. With the help of our “Keep Christ in Christmas.” own fascination with death and Well, I’d like to suggest that as the underworld, and due to the Catholic families this would be embellishment of Hollywood, a good year to begin to keep our the solemn vigil of All-hallowshallowed saints in All Hallow’s eve has since mutated into the Eve, too. The fact is that there neo-pagan holiday we now call are no Druids out there telling Halloween. Sadly, frequenting us to take our kids out trick-orhaunted houses, watching horror movies, and dressing children up treating … or else. We can opt out of Halloween and into All in creepy costumes has become Saints’ Day with little more than commonplace, even by othera few uncomfortable questions wise prudent Catholic families, from neighbors, and maybe befor whom All Saints’ Day was ing thought of as a little overly instituted. zealous for our faith. The saints I have to think that if St. should have had it so bad.

Patrick were to stand in the seaHere are a few ways to make sonal aisles of IParty, Walmart, St. Patrick’s eyes shine, Jesus’ or any supermarket during the sparkle, Mother Mary’s dance, month of October, his Irish eyes and all heavenly citizens rejoice would not be smiling. More as we set about reviving a truly like somberly weeping. Truly, Christian All Saints’ Day. First I cannot cast my Irish eyes on off, go ahead and do something those aisles and see anything but the need to plead for mercy from that involves lots of good candy.

Getting gobs of candy and St. Patrick and more than 2,000

Home Grown Faith

playing dress-up comprise the bulk of the fun of Halloween for young children, and there is nothing inherently wrong with either of those two things.

— Hold a saints’ party at your home or church and invite everyone to come dressed as a specific saint.

— Host a pumpkin carving contest — happy faces only.

— Make “Candy Heavens.” Read a portion of Scripture that describes heaven and then let everyone try to create what heaven looks like out of candy and frosting.

— Read about saints during the month of October. Be a little careful about reading these stories at bedtime, however, as the lives of most saints were not light and fluffy.

— Fast from all candy and go to Mass on October 31 as a prayer offering for the safety and conversion to Christianity of those out celebrating Halloween.

— It’s a little too close to actually celebrating Halloween for me, but some Christian families give trick-or-treaters king-size candy bars over which they have wrapped a scripture verse or a note that says, “Jesus loves you.”

If we are creative, there is an infinite number of ways to keep the hallowed saints in All Saints’ Day. More important than creativity, though, is the clarity we give our children in showing them that celebrating All Saints’ Day and its vigil on October 31, instead of Halloween, is a true life opportunity for us to actually be like our super heroes in the faith, giving evidence of our Christian convictions just as they did.

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

ends in worship. Our reason for existing is to praise the Lord and proclaim his Gospel.

He is both the journey and the destination.

I pondered the matter of a name. I know of one parish in the diocese that calls its building The Hospitality Center.

That has a nice ring to it, but I ended up “borrowing” a name used by the late Cardinal Joseph Bernadin. In the last book he wrote before his death, the cardinal made a passing reference to the “Pastoral Life Center.” Pastoral life is what goes on here. Living out the Gospel message is our mission as Church. St. Nicholas Pastoral Life Center it is.

What impressed me most about “The Night of Many Meetings” was not simply the fact that every room in the place was occupied. After all, the same thing could be said about a hotel rented for an Avon convention or a restaurant packed to the rafters on Thanksgiving Day. What was most significant to me was that every one of the meetings in some way touched an aspect of the Gospel mandate.

The more than 70 members of the District St. Vincent de Paul Society gathered here that night have dedicated themselves to serving the poor.

Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, housing the homeless are tasks that are always important and now during these unstable economic times they are even more so. The men and women of the Society had gathered for the celebration of Eucharist. They were offering their work with the poor as a gift to God. The Prayer Group was offering praise to God in a more informal way, gathered as they were in the more intimate setting of the Ministry Room.

And, of course, there were the kids in the classrooms. We have some 500 youngsters in our parish Faith Formation Program these days. Weekly the volunteer catechists gener-

ously offer to help the parents of these children in their task of passing on faith and values to the younger generations.

With the world the way it is, these kids will need a solid faith foundation to survive.

Surrounded by all this ministerial activity, the Parish Founding Task Force gathered for the last time. The questions on the table: Had the task been completed satisfactorily? How can parish consolidations in the Diocese of Fall River be improved? They looked at the process itself — what worked and what didn’t? Each named an aspect of the process he or she thought was particularly effective. They asked: How well had communication been done with parishioners in general?

How well had the Task Force members communicated among themselves? How well had the diocese communicated? They also looked at the usefulness of the tools, resources, facilitation, etc. provided by the Office of Pastoral Planning. Our objective was to assist other parishes preparing to consolidate. As Father Jay Maddock jokes, “Enjoy your status as the newest parish in the diocese while you can. You’ll only hold that distinction for a month or two.”

As the Task Force worked together to grow a Church, they developed a spiritual bond. In prayer, they deepened their relationship with the Lord. Of course, everybody didn’t always agree on everything, but that simply means the Task Force members had the virtues of honesty and integrity, of mutual respect and flexibility. In the end, the final meeting ended up as faith sharing.

Late that night, as I walked alone through the empty parking lot, I was filled with thankfulness. It had been a day to warm the cockles on any pastor’s heart.

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

10

The Anchor

October 17, 2008

Couple’s love for Christ and each other extends to helping others

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

NEW BEDFORD — The smiles on the faces of those sitting on a granite ledge outside St. Anthony of Padua Church speak volumes. They are among countless poor and needy who come to the downstairs parish center every Thursday to collect bags of groceries or sort through clothing as part of the parish’s weekly food pantry charitable effort.

Not surprisingly, the group of volunteers inside appears just as happy to be on the giving end. They laugh and joke with each other before taking a moment for prayer just prior to the doors opening at noon. One of the couples responsible for this weekly endeavor, longtime parishioners Doris and Ronald “Butch” Boivin, beam like proud parents on the sidelines as everything clicks into place.

For the past few years, the Boivins have been a guiding force behind the parish’s weekly food pantry — a nearly full-time effort which Doris has dubbed their “second career.”

“Some of these people are out there at 7 in the morning, because they come in and sign up and get a number so they can be the first in line to get the best stuff we have —

Boston to pick up groceries.” because, let’s face it, we run out of The couple even recently pur- more involved in parish activities stuff — so they get their number chased a trailer out of their own — as a daily communicant, workand then they leave and come back money to make the various supply ing as a volunteer maintenance and at noon,” Doris said. “We’re in here pickups. “We needed something to repairman on the parish’s Buildabout 8:30 or 9 in the morning bepick up food, so we went out and ing Committee, and assisting Docause we have to bag everything. ris with Wednesday night The doors open at noon and Bingo games. When Doris close at 1:30 p.m., but we’re retired three years later from never out of here before 2:30 her position with Honeywell or 3 p.m., because we have International in Rhode Isto clean up afterwards.” land, the couple decided to The food pantry provides devote much of their time to much more than just bags of the food pantry. provisions; it also offers a va“We worked out of town riety of used clothing items all of our lives,” Doris said. that have been collected “So we’d leave early in the through the parish and other morning and get home late area churches, along with a at night. We never had time regular luncheon which has to volunteer before. Now become quite popular in that we’re retired, this is our the winter months. But this second job and we love it. once-a-week, barely twoWe’re always helping peohour event entails hours of ple in need. It’s just a pleabehind-the-scenes work, sure. If you can save just one most of which is done courlife — and I’ve seen three tesy of Doris and Butch. people since I’ve been here “There’s a Nissen Bakery who’ve turned their lives in Wareham and I go there around — it’s worth it.” maybe every three weeks When asked what he gets and get pastry, that’s given as out of doing all this charipart of the luncheon,” Doris ANCHOR PERSONS OF THE WEEK — Ron- table work, Butch doesn’t said. “Four nights a week we ald “Butch” and Doris Boivin. (Photo by Ken- hesitate to answer with a go to another local bakery neth A. Souza) smile: “satisfaction.” that donates bread which we “It’s our time to give put in the freezer. We also go once back,” he added. bought a trailer,” Doris said. a week to Taunton, New Bedford or “Doris and Butch are both Butch said last week they picked Catholics who, like Christ, give up about 8,600 pounds of food in unselfishly without counting the the new vehicle. Given that they costs,” said Father Roger J. Landry, get about 250 people a week, on pastor of St. Anthony of Padua. “It average, it’s always good to be prefirst started with their willingness pared. to commit an enormous amount of “The first of the month, the time to serve the poor on Thursdays numbers are usually down because they get their checks,” he said. “By at the food pantry. Then it included the end of the month we’ve had as sacrificing a lot of time to make several food runs to Boston, Taunmany as 325 people.”

Since retiring in 2001 from his ton and various generous vendors job as a glazier with Local 1333 out around New Bedford each week. of Providence, Butch has become They recruit family members and

friends and even first-time acquaintances to come help out. The food pantry would never be able to serve 300 families a week without their truly heroic commitment.”

“God needs a helping hand,” Doris said. “He can’t do it all by himself. He needs people like us.

We go after the retirees and we tell them: ‘See how much fun we’re having?’ We tell jokes and we’re in a good mood and we’re happy doing this work in God’s house.”

On this particular Thursday, many of the volunteers that Doris and Butch have recruited are scurrying about the parish center wearing bright green T-shirts emblazoned with the food pantry’s logo busily doing God’s work.

“We’re very fortunate with the volunteers we have,” Doris said.

“We’ve even got Butch’s sister and brother-in-law involved.”

The army of volunteers is not restricted to St. Anthony’s parishioners, either. “They come from Our Lady of Fatima, St. Joseph’s, even from Dartmouth,” Butch said.

“We have one volunteer who told us she is so happy we got her involved,” Doris said. “She said she feels like she has a purpose in life now.”

As a new member of the Knights of Columbus, Butch is also able to tap into that resource to help out as needed. Doris noted that fellow K of C members have been very generous in assisting them with loading and unloading the food for the pantry. “Sometimes it’s hard to get people to come during the workday,” she said. “We’re all retirees.

We each spend about 40 hours a week here, on average.”

But despite the long hours, Doris admitted she feels lost when she isn’t busy with one of her many Church-related activities.

“If we don’t come here for a day or two, eventually we say to each other: ‘OK, I think we’ll go to the church. There must be something we can do,’” she said. “It just mushrooms … once you get inside the doors, you see so much that needs to be done, so many people who need help.”

“They’re both witnesses that not only can one person make a difference, but the incredible difference one couple in love with each other, with God, and with others can make for hundreds of poor families and for a parish,” Father Landry said.

Doris urged those who have some spare time to consider helping in their effort, or any similar charitable work being done in their own parish. “Don’t just sit there and watch television — give yourself to your church,” she said. “They need you, and they need you desperately.

It’s all about helping people, it really is.”

“It’s all about being here,” Butch added, gesturing to the busy group of volunteers around him. “I don’t know how else to put it.”

October 17, 2008

Emmaus Weekend Retreat November 14, 15 & 16

Approved by the Diocese of Fall River, an Emmaus retreat weekend at Cathedral Camp in East Freetown, is for people who are seeking to grow in their relationship with Christ, regardless of their present faith level.

Come experience what more than 3,000 others in the diocese have for more than 30 years.

For an application/information, contact Frank Medeiros at 401-624-3070 or visit: www.emmausretreat.com

Please visit us at: www.CarmelTerrace.org or 508 788 8000 933 Central St. Framingham, MA 01701 On the campus of St. Patrick's Manor

11

The Anchor

“T

On Eagles wings

here’s a new kid in I think we’re out of miracle town. I don’t want to comebacks, and it’s time for the hear about it. There’s a new kid Rays to shine. And that’s OK. in town, I don’t want to hear There’s an old adage saying about it.” The old Eagles tune that which does not kill me only from 1977 fits the Tampa Bay makes me stronger. Well, young Rays very well doesn’t it?

Red Sox fans, prepare to bulk up.

I’m going out on a limb here, Several generations before as I usually do, and only once in you grew up “getting stronger” my life have I fallen from a limb, and ended up with an arm that looked like Aerosmith’s Rockin’ Roller Coaster in Disney World.

The Red Sox are

By Dave Jolivet currently down to the Rays two games to one, and don’t look good at all. The new kids in town are with the Red Sox. And we’re younger, faster, stronger, cockier, none the worse for wear. Almore talented, and apparently though there are certain buzz will be staying for a while. words that cause us to assume What we’re seeing here in the fetal position: Bucky Dent, New England is a changing of Bill Buckner, John McNamara, the guard. As giddy as Red Sox Harry Frazee, and “No, no, Nation was about the Yankees not Nanette.” Other than that, we’re a making the playoffs, the regular stable bunch. world is equally tickled pink We all grew up, got jobs, about the collapse of the Sox. raised families, produced the

My View From the Stands

newest generation of Red Sox Nation, and still have our wits about us.

You youngsters have seen the Red Sox as the new kids in town at the dawn of the new millennium. We old-timers shared in your exuberance. We promise to share in your pain as well. We’re very experienced.

That’s the ebb and flow of sports. We can’t win them all, and it was fun while it lasted.

Now if the Sox come back and make it to the World Series this year, I fear I’m not as stable as I thought.

But in my view from the stands, I see a new kid in town and I don’t want hear about it.

And as far as the New England Patriots are concerned, another Eagles classic, “Heartache Tonight” sums up this painful season: “Somebody’s gonna come undone, there’s nothing we can do.” Farewell to our “Peaceful, Easy Feeling” (Eagles, 1972).

12

The Anchor

St. Paul on the vocation to marriage

A

s St. Paul established Christian communities in his missionary efforts around the Mediterranean, he reflected a great deal about the Church. One of the images on which he relied to help explain Christ’s relationship to the redeemed was that of a husband’s love for his wife.

This, in turn, has influenced the Christian theology of marriage.

A look at what the Apostle to the Gentiles says about the vocation to marriage can reveal that Catholic teaching comes from

Living the Pauline Year

By Father Karl C. Bissinger and harmonizes with the Bible.

This can also prove that, contrary to what some might think, our doctrines are not the result of a Church authority’s imagined whims or supposed stubbornness.

Before St. Paul ever set foot on foreign shores, men and women obviously married and raised families. This shows that marriage belongs to the natural order of creation. In other words, when a man and woman become husband and wife, promising each other exclusive love, lifelong fidelity, and the openness to have children together, they participate in God’s plan for the world, whether they realize it or not. Their openness to the blessing of children is a special participation in the continual work of the Creator, who commanded us to “be fruitful and multiply” (Cf. Gn 1:28).

We can sometimes, however, think about marriage only on this human or natural level.

St. Paul helps to open us up to what is special about the marriage between Christians. Jesus elevated the natural institution of marriage to the dignity of a sacrament. The outward sign of a Christian couple’s married love for, and lifelong commitment to one another is meant to reflect the mystery of Christ’s love for the Church. Through this sacrament, the couple receives the grace that sanctifies and sustains them throughout their married lives.

Unfortunately, St. Paul sometimes has the reputation of having a dim view of marriage compared to vocations to virginity and celibacy. Everyone notices the elbow-jabbing that goes on in the pews on the Sunday when we read from the Letter to the Ephesians, “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord” (Eph 5:22). Despite the fact that most of us stop listening there, the Apostle actually

goes on to give an equal standing to wives with their husbands within the Christian household: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her” (Eph 5:25).

St. Paul reiterates Jesus’ teaching prohibiting remarriage after divorce. “To the married, however, I give this instruction (not I, but the Lord): A wife should not separate from her husband — and if she does separate she must either remain single or become reconciled to her husband — and a husband should not divorce his wife” (1Cor 7:10-11; see also Mk 10:2ff). This instruction comes straight from the mouth of Christ.

In favor of the faith, however, Paul makes one exception to this rule. This refers to the socalled “Pauline Privilege,” which still forms part of the Church’s Canon Law. If a Christian is married to a non-Christian, Paul first recommends that the couple stay together. The grace of the baptized partner can be a source of sanctification for both of them and the children that may come from their union. If the non-Christian does not allow the Christian to live in peace and practice the faith, however, then the Christian has the right to depart. No tie to the previous marriage would restrict that person from remarrying (cf. 1Cor 7:12-16).

Finally, we return to the image with which we started: the couple united in the sacrament of holy matrimony reflects the mystery of Christ’s love for the Church. This image continues the Old Testament description of the relationship between God and Israel as that of husband and wife. This blessed union between Jesus and the Church illustrates the love and fidelity that a husband and wife should have for each other on earth. In turn, the fidelity and intimacy that exist between a husband and a wife reflect the steadfast love of God for his people.

In this way, too, St. Paul provides another theological, as well as a very spiritual and mystical, reason for holding fast to the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman.

During this Pauline Year, we should let the Apostle help us contemplate more deeply the mystery of marriage. May we try to see it with his eyes of faith, for all the wonder with which he saw this beautiful sacrament of love!

Father Bissinger is vocation director of the Diocese of Fall River and secretary to Bishop George W. Coleman.

DAs say Question 2 is bad public policy continued from page one

Buyers would still be enriching illegal drug dealers by purchasing any amount of marijuana from them.

“Make no mistake,” O’Keefe said. “This is about the incremental legalization of drugs.”

These district attorneys’ opinions are shared by the MDAA and associations representing all Massachusetts sheriffs and chiefs of police. In a joint release that references numerous health and public safety studies they ask, “Do you really want to encourage your kids to smoke dope?”

Question 2 is backed by the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy, a political action group funded mainly by liberal billionaire financier George Soros. The founder of the controversial group Moveon.org, he has led numerous efforts to liberalize drug laws.

Records filed with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance show that Soros gave the committee $400,000 of the $429,000 it raised in 2007.

O’Keefe pointed out that some of the same backers of this initiative petition had advocated in 2000 for ballot Question 8, which would have enabled drug dealers, including some repeat offenders, to avoid prosecution by deferring them to treatment instead of having criminal sanctions imposed.

According to a summary of Question 2 by Whitney Taylor, committee campaign manager, those found in possession of an ounce or less would be given a $100 fine, “similar to a speeding ticket,” and have to forfeit the drug.

“Police would be freed up to focus on serious crime, rather than arresting 7,500 people annually for marijuana possession,” Taylor wrote in the Massachusetts Information for Voters guide. “Ques-

tion 2 would end the creation of a permanent record (CORI) and barriers to housing and employment.

Taxpayers would save $30 million a year in arrest costs.”

The district attorneys disputed these claims. “Decriminalization will lead to more crime, more usage, more dealers and more serious arrests,” Sutter said.

“This is bad public policy and would increase costs to the Commonwealth,” added O’Keefe in a phone interview. “The governor, the attorney general, Boston’s Black Ministerial Alliance and all the state’s school superintendents are against it.”

O’Keefe also wrote in the voters’ guide: “Massachusetts law already requires our judges to dismiss charges and seal records of first-time offenders.

“Marijuana contains nine times the mind-alerting THC as 30 years ago, is twice as carcinogenic as tobacco, is a primary factor in juvenile hospital admissions, and its users are 10 times more likely to be involved in automobile crashes.

It is more strongly associated with juvenile crime than alcohol.”

Also among the question’s opponents are Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Students Against Drunk Driving.

Under the proposal, fines collected would go to the city or town where the offense occurred. Offenders under age 18 would also be required to attend a drug awareness program and their parents or legal guardian would be notified.

Local ordinances could still prohibit public use of marijuana, and no regulations against driving under the influence, selling, manufacturing, or trafficking would be changed.

The political action committee’s

October 17, 2008

Website, Sensiblemarijuanapolicy. org, terms marijuana possession a “minor infraction” and calls Question 2 a “moderate, mainstream proposal that enjoys a wide and deep level of support.” Among those endorsing it are the national American Civil Liberties Union and its state chapter.

“Proponents would like to think that there is something innocuous about what they’re putting together,” responded the Rev. Jeffrey Brown of Union Baptist Church in Cambridge. “I’d like to tell you as an inner city pastor that this question is dangerous.”

In a Boston Globe oped article October 5, he and Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone warned that changing the law could reverse a five-year decrease in marijuana use among Massachusetts teens and increase addictions to other substances. “Pot is a powerful gateway drug,” they wrote.

And in a release posted on the Website Noquestion2.org, Brown said, “We have too many young people within our communities with lives that are broken and families that are broken, with drug abuse being used as a way to anesthetize their plight, for us to be a supportive of this.”

In explaining why Christians have a moral obligation to foster respect for health, the “Catechism of the Catholic Church,” No. 2291, states: “The use of drugs inflicts very grave damage on human health and life. Their use, except on strictly therapeutic grounds, is a grave offense. Clandestine production and trafficking in drugs are scandalous practices. They constitute direct co-operation in evil, since they encourage people to practices gravely contrary to the moral law.”

By Michael Pare Anchor Staff

NORTH DARTMOUTH — This Sunday, during a Mass in the Basilica of St. Therese in Lisieux, France, the parents of St. Therese, Louis and Marie Zelie Guerin Martin, will be beatified. The occasion will provide an opportunity for Catholics around the world to pause and reflect on the beauty and strength of Catholic marriage.

“News like this helps to focus people on the sacrament of marriage,” said Jerry Foley, a program director with the Diocese of Fall River’s Office of Family Ministry.

“A lot of time, in this busy world, we tend to take marriage for granted.”

The sanctity of Catholic marriage has become a priority issue, not only in the Fall River Diocese, but throughout the Bay State and across the country. Catholic marriages have been on a precipitous decline in recent years.

An ongoing initiative in the Fall River Diocese coincides with an effort spearheaded by the Massachusetts Catholic Conference in Boston, the public policy arm of the Bay State’s Catholic bishops. The 18-month community outreach program, entitled “The Future Depends on Love” is about engaging local parishes. The idea behind it is to reach out to young couples through their pastors and the parish leaders who know them best.

In Louis and Marie Martin, those leaders have an example of a Catholic marriage that found strength in God and blossomed despite many tragedies.

Fittingly, the beatification of the Martins takes place on World Mission Sunday. St. Therese and St. Francis Xavier are the patron saints of missions.

The Martins were declared venerable, the first step in the sainthood process, in 1994. But despite the encouragement of Pope John Paul II to move the cause forward, the miracle needed for their beati-

13

The Anchor

October 17, 2008

Beatification of Louis and Marie Zelie Martin is a shining example for married Catholics fication was not approved by the Vatican until July of this year. The announcement of their beatification took place on August 19.

With beatification, the diocese where the candidate or candidates lived or the religious order to which they belonged is authorized to hold public commemorations on the person’s feast day. With the declaration of sainthood, public liturgical celebrations are allowed around the world.

The Martins will be the second married couple this decade to be recognized as saints. In the fall of 2001, Pope John Paul II beatified Luigi (1880-1951) and Maria (1884-1965) Beltrame Quattrocchi of Rome, who were married for 50 years and had four children.

On that October day, the Holy Father explained during the homily that the couple “lived an ordinary life in an extraordinary way.”

“Among the joys and concerns of a normal family, they had an extraordinarily rich spiritual life,” said Pope John Paul II. “Daily Communion was at the center, to which was added filial devotion to the Virgin Mary, invoked by praying the rosary every night, and reference to wise spiritual counsel.”

Louis Martin (1823-1894), a gifted watchmaker, and Zelie Guerin (1831-1877), a talented lacemaker, met in the small city of Alencon, France. They too, humbly lived extraordinary lives.

Louis and Marie Zelie eventually married and had nine children, five of whom joined religious orders. Theirs is a love story — a love of God, and a love of one another.

According to several published biographies, Louis Martin was born into a family of soldiers.

He spent his early years at French military posts, absorbing the sense of order and discipline of army life. At 22, he sought to enter religious life at the monastery of the Augustinian Canons of the Great St. Bernard Hospice in the Alps.

SHINING EXAMPLES — Louis and Marie Zelie Guerin Martin, the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, are pictured in a combination photo created from images provided by the Sanctuary of Lisieux in France. Pope Benedict XVI has approved the beatification of the couple, and the date has been set for Sunday, World Mission Sunday, during a Mass in the Basilica of St. Therese in Lisieux, France. (CNS photo/courtesy of Sanctuary of Lisieux)

The blend of courage and charity of the monks and their famous dogs manifested in rescuing travelers in Alpine snows appealed to Louis. He embraced the idea of rescuing lost pilgrims in the mountains, but had more difficulty mastering the Latin lessons required of the monks. When his academic efforts faltered, he became ill and dispirited. He ultimately abandoned his hopes for the monastic life.

Louis eventually settled in Alencon and pursued his watchmaking trade.

Marie Zelie Guerin was also born into a military family.

As a young lady she sought unsuccessfully to enter the religious order of the Sisters of the Hotel-Dieu. She then learned the Alencon lacemaking technique and became a master of the craft.

She was remarkably talented and started her own lace business. She also made the decision that if God did not want her as a religious, she would marry and have many children who would then be consecrated to him.

A Website dedicated to the Martins’ daughter, “Therese of Lisieux,” describes in detail the miracle that would bring Louis and Zelie together: “One day when she was crossing the Bridge of St. Leonard, Zelie noticed a man pass by and heard a voice insider her.

The voice said; ‘This is he whom I have prepared for you.’ The man was Louis Martin, whose mother had noticed Zelie at the lacemaking school.”

On the evening of her marriage, Zelie visited her sister at a convent in Le Mans. She so wished that she could have entered. But she also recognized that God had other plans for her.

After marrying, Louis and Zelie lived a life of chastity for 10 months, after which, under the direction of a confessor they agreed that they would have children of their own. Once convinced that this was God’s will for them, they had nine children in 13 years. The last of those children was Marie Francois Therese.

Zelie once confided in a sisterin-law: “When I was carrying her I noticed something that never happened with my other children; when I sang, she sang with me.”

The Martins would endure great pain. Within three years of their marriage, their two baby boys, a five-year-old girl, and a six-anda-half-year-old all died of various illnesses. The couple was shaken, but their faith never wavered. Zelie once said: “My children were not lost forever. Life is short and filled with miseries. We shall find our little ones again up above.”

The series of tragedies only intensified the love of Louis and Zelie Martin for each other. They poured out their affection on their five surviving daughters and their new-born, who a century later, the world would know as St. Therese,

and call the “Little Flower.”

This Sunday’s ceremony in France is not likely to make headlines here in the United States. It is not creating a buzz with national media outlets. But it should serve as a reminder that the love shared by this humble man and woman was truly extraordinary.

Father David Costa, pastor at Sacred Heart Parish on Church Street and St. Mary Parish on Park Street in North Attleboro, sees the beatification as a sign of “a universal call to holiness.”

“It is a reminder that holiness is lived in all vocations,” said Father Costa. “That’s a good reminder to us that God works in all areas.”

Father Gregory A. Mathias, director of the Diocese of Fall River’s Office of Family Ministry and pastor at St. Julie Billiart Parish in North Dartmouth, sees the beatification of the Martins this Sunday as an important and meaningful event.

“The beatification of this couple comes at a time in history when the Church is undergoing a crisis in the vocation of marriage,” said Father Mathias. “Whereas the culture makes us fearful of the demands of marriage, and makes marriage appear to be a loss of freedom, the Martins exemplify for the Church the beauty of a vocation lived out in faith, hope and love.”

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October 17, 2008

Renewing the faith while planning for the future continued from page one

The speaker, who hails from Minnesota, has long been involved in adopting a faith formation aimed at the entire faith community in a parish, and is a popular lecturer as well as author of several books on the topic.

“Huebsch was exciting in telling us about what works best, namely, how we must make a stronger faith commitment in our parishes,” said Costa, who has heard the speaker at conferences in the past.

While Huebsch has keyed on generational faith formation in other talks, “this time it was more than just the direction of our children, but the entire family in the parish,” Costa added.

In essence, what Huebsch said, was that faith formation “is not about launching a whole new program, a sudden change with a ringer binder full of goals, objectives and action plans and steps … but rather a combination of great leadership, coaching parents to form their own children, focusing on the core work of the parish, and creat-

ing sustained commitment.”

“From what I saw, there was some very positive reaction. The people in attendance seemed energized,” said Douglas Rodrigues, director of Pastoral Planning for the Diocese of Fall River, and one of the cosponsors of the event.

“That representatives of 40 parishes of the 90 in the diocese — as well as approximately 30 of the pastors diocese wide attended, “I considered a very good representation,” Rodrigues commented.

“It was very uplifting to see,” he added.

Rodrigues said Huebsch “has been working out in the field nationally and it was nice to get a perspective from different parts of the country.

He posed a different question about pastoral planning. He asked, ‘How can we deepen our relationship with God and where is my faith life as part of a community of faith … in my parish?’”

Claire McManus, director of Faith Formation for the diocese, said the program on pastoral planning was important “because it is so much a part of the revitalization of all our parishes.”

She added, “It was the first truly collaborative event in my

Vocationist Fathers Florham Park, NJ 07932 973-966-6262 www.vocationist.org

two years in Faith Formation.

It was absolutely remarkable.

And we must follow up … to have the parishes that did not sent representatives to take part sometime in the future.”

She noted that Huebsch was invited to make his presentation to parish councils “not because they are representative what’s going on by way of parish matters, but because the council members are representatives of the people themselves. In this way it avoided being a collection of agendas, but rather addressed the life of the parish. This is our goal, the restoration of parish life.”

McManus said her role in pastoral planning has to do with faith formation in each of the parishes throughout the diocese. “And to do that we need a well-formed laity.”

For Norm and Gloria Bessette, active members of St. Thomas More Parish in Somerset, where Norm is a member of the Parish Council, Huebsch’s talk pointed up where all parishes — not just those involved in a merger or consolidation — need to go.

“Bill (Huebsch) emphasized that every person in the parish needs to seek and maintain an encounter with Christ, if the faith life of the parish is to be restored, sustained and grow,” Norm said. “He’s a good presenter. He explained how important it is that adults must be committed to their faith beliefs if they want their children to be as well. We regularly see much non-commitment and as a result we see many kids who fall away and are lost.”

In an interesting story of a man who, over a period of time, floated beach balls on a pond, Huebsch dramatically pointed out “how we might take the time to float our ideas for advancement of programs at the parish level, one at a time, taking the time to make the trial balloons successful before moving on to another,” Norm Bessette added.

For those who were not able to attend the presentation but would like to profit from its contents, Huebsch has placed his full PowerPoint presentation on the Website pastoralplanning.com. Internet users should scroll toward the bottom, click on the Fall River link, and then scroll to the bottom again and click on the Dreams and Visions PowerPoint.

The Anchor

news briefs

Cafardi resigns as university trustee after backing Obama WASHINGTON (CNS) — Following his public endorsement of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, a Catholic legal scholar has resigned from the board of trustees at Ohio’s Franciscan University of Steubenville. Nicholas P. Cafardi submitted his letter of resignation which was accepted by the school’s president, Franciscan Father Terrance Henry, on behalf of the board, according to a statement issued by the Catholic university October 7.

The resignation came a week after a column on Obama written

by Cafardi, dean emeritus and a professor of law at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, appeared in the National Catholic Reporter. In the column he endorsed Obama in spite of his support for legal abortion and stated, “We have lost the abortion battle — permanently.” A statement issued by Franciscan University said Cafardi’s exit was voluntary. He had served on the board of trustees since 2002.

NCEA collects funds to help school, parish after hurricanes WASHINGTON (CNS) — The National Catholic Educational Association in Washington has pledged to help Catholic schools and parishes as they recover from the effects of Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Gustav through a fund-raising program called “Child to Child Two: A Catholic Campaign to Aid Education.” The fund-raising echoes a similar program conducted after Hurricane Katrina when Catholic school students collected $1 million for hurricane victims. The current campaign, like the previous

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October 17, 2008 one, asks students in Catholic schools and parish Religious Education programs to donate $1 to the recovery efforts. Information about the “Child to Child Two” campaign is avail-

able online at www.ncea.org.

In the Diocese of Lake Charles, La., several Catholic churches finally rebuilt from Hurricane Katrina were severely damaged. In the Diocese of Beau-

mont, Texas, Catholic schools opened September 25 after weeks of cleaning up and drying out classrooms and common areas. In the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, Galves-

ton Catholic School, projected to be without power for another three to four months, is currently closed. Donations will be used to purchase supplies or support other educational needs.

Youth Pages

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October 17, 2008

COUNCIL LEADERS — Elections for 2008-2009 Student Council officers at Bishop Stang High School, North Dartmouth were held recently. From left: Ellen Carroll ’09 returns as president; Corinne Ainsworth ’10 is vice president; Morgan Cirillo ’09 returns as secretary; and Sarah Celone ’09 also returns as treasurer of the Student Council. Appointed members of the Executive Board are Christina Quinn ’09 as publicity coordinator and Melanie Cordeiro ’10 as historian. Webmasters are George Morganis ’09 and Pheobe Laplante ’10.

GETTING TO THE CORE OF IT — Sally Sullivan at St. Mary-Sacred Heart School’s first-grade class had its annual apple party. The children learned about Johnny Appleseed, and tasted all different ways apples can be eaten, including, apple cider, apple crisps, dried apples, apple bread, apple cookies and so on. During the party the children from the North Attleboro school played games like pin the worm on the apple, the apple toss and created an apple craft.

REJOICING FOR LIFE — John Paul, Eamon and Andrew Martin of Fairhaven were among the 50 giving witness to the gift of human life outside the Four Women Abortion Clinic in Attleboro on October 2.

FAMILIAR RING TO IT — WCSC-TV chief meteorologist Bill Walsh, left, recovers his long lost class ring from his friend, Bishop Feehan Principal Bill Runey.

‘Ring of Irony’ at Bishop Feehan: Class ring returned

ATTLEBORO — What do a Pawtucket railroad worker, an Attleboro high school principal, and a Charleston, S.C. meteorologist have in common? The answer is a Bishop Feehan High School class ring.

The railroad worker, Paul Arrighi, found the ring between the tracks and threw it in a drawer for safe keeping, soon to become out of sight, out of mind.

Arrighi rediscovered the ring when rummaging through that drawer years later, deciding it was time to find its rightful owner.

He emailed Bishop Feehan Principal Bill Runey, inquiring if anyone knew of a man named William Walsh, who’s name

was engraved in the ring, and if he had lost his high school ring. Runey, a recent transplant from Charleston, S.C. himself, and an acquaintance of Walsh, Charleston’s WCSC-TV’s chief meteorologist, was instantly curious to know if this was the same William Walsh engraved in the ring.

An email exchange confirmed Runey’s suspicion and Walsh recently made a trip back to Feehan to retrieve the ring.

“It feels the same walking into the school 28 years later as it did when I attended here,” said Walsh, “Even though Arrighi didn’t attend here, I’m grateful for his spirit of giving, a spirit that I always felt while I was here.”

BLESSINGS THE BEASTS — SS. Peter and Paul School fourth-grader Steven Love (at left in black sweatshirt) and his classmates look on as Father Stephen Salvador bestows his blessing upon the Love Family’s cat, Leroy, held by mom Susan Love, during the school’s annual Blessing of the Animals held October 1.

October 17, 2008

I

experienced for the first time one of Steubenville East’s “Extreme East” prayer events, held at La Salette on the first Friday of each month. I was moved by the theme of these prayer gatherings; “Extremely in love with Jesus!” When I got home that night I recalled another story of an “extreme love for Jesus.” The author is unknown to me. Read on….

There was a wealthy man, who, with his devoted young son, shared a passion for art collecting. Together they traveled the world, adding only the finest art treasures to their collection. Priceless works by Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet and many others adorned the walls of the family estate. The widowed, elderly man looked on with satisfaction as his only child became an experienced art collector.

Then, war engulfed the nation, and the young man

Youth Pages Extremely in love with Jesus

left to serve his country. After only a few short weeks, his father received a telegram. His beloved son was missing in action. The art collector anxiously awaited more news. Within days, his fears were confirmed. The young man had died while rushing a fellow soldier to a medic.

Distraught and lonely, the old man faced the upcoming Christmas holidays with anguish and sadness. On Christmas morning, a knock on the door awakened the depressed old man. As he walked to the door, the masterpieces of art on the walls only reminded him that his son was not coming home.

As he opened the door, he was greeted by a soldier with a large package in his hand.

He introduced himself to the man by saying, “I was a

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, October 19 at 11:00 a.m.

World Mission Sunday

Scheduled celebrant is Msgr. John J. Oliveira, pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in New Bedford and diocesan director of Mission Support.

friend of your son. I was the one he was rescuing when he died. I have something to show you.” As the two began to talk, the soldier told of how the man’s son had told everyone of his, not to

mention his father’s, love of fine art. “I’m an artist,” said the soldier, “and I want to give you this.” As the old man unwrapped the package, the paper gave way to reveal a portrait of the man’s son.

Though the world would never consider it the work of a genius, the painting featured the young man’s face in striking detail. Overcome with emotion, the man thanked the soldier, promising to hang the picture

above the fireplace. True to his word, the painting went above the fireplace, pushing aside thousands of dollars of paintings.

During the weeks that followed, the man realized that even though his son was no longer with him, the boy’s life would live on because of those he had touched. He would soon learn that his son had rescued dozens of wounded soldiers before a bullet stilled his caring heart. As the stories of his son’s gallantry continued to reach him, fatherly pride and satisfaction began to ease the grief.

The following spring, the old man became ill and passed away. The art world was in anticipation.

According to the will of the old man, all of the art works would be auctioned on Christmas Day, the day he had received his greatest gift. The day soon ar-

17 rived and art collectors from around the world gathered to bid on some of the world’s most spectacular paintings.

Dreams would be fulfilled this day; greatness would be achieved as many would claim, “I have the greatest collection.”

The auction began with a painting that was not on any museum’s list. It was the painting of the man’s son.

The auctioneer asked for an opening bid. The room was silent. “Who will open the bidding with $100?” he asked. From the back of the room came, “Who cares about that painting? It’s just a picture of his son. Let’s forget it and go on to the good stuff.” More voices echoed in agreement. “No, we have to sell this one first,” replied the auctioneer. “Now, who will take the son?” Finally, a friend of the old man spoke, “Will you take 10 dollars for the painting? That’s all I have. I knew the boy, so I’d like to have it.” “I have ten dollars.

Will anyone go higher?” called the auctioneer. After more silence, the auctioneer said, “Going once, going twice. Gone.” The gavel fell.

Cheers filled the room and someone exclaimed, “Now we can bid on these treasures!”

The auctioneer looked at the audience and announced the auction was over.

Stunned disbelief quieted the room. Someone spoke up and asked, “What do you mean it’s over? We didn’t come here for a picture of some old guy’s son. What about all of these paintings?

There are millions of dollars of art here. I demand that you explain what’s going on.” The auctioneer replied, “It’s very simple. According to the will of the father, whoever takes the son ... gets it all.”

Puts things into perspective, doesn’t it? Just as those art collectors discovered, the message is still the same: the love of a father, a father whose greatest joy came from his son, who went away and gave his life rescuing others. And because of that Father’s love, whoever takes the Son, gets it all.

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

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Pastoral Planning director is driven by Christ’s mission continued from page one

and efforts on those things, we’re not being faithful to the mission.

“Pastoral planning is connecting the dots across the diocese. Finding the best way to utilize our resources for the faithful across the diocese — for spreading the Gospel.”

For the Church to thrive, not simply survive for our children and their children, Rodrigues explained that we have to get back to basics.

“Who are we, and what are we called to do?”

Just as the head of a household has to make important and sometimes difficult decisions — cutting back here or there — he or she always has the family in mind. Not just for the present, but for the future. The Church family is exactly the same.

The sad fact remains that some of the sacrifices and changes our apostolic ancestors made for Christ, are necessary today — but as usual, not without Jesus’ help.

Experienced with some parish closures, mergers and suppressions, Rodrigues knows full well the scope of emotions the faithful experience at such traumatic events. He knows there’s anger, resentment, denial, and the “why me?” responses that are common with receiving bad news and loss itself. He is all too familiar with the emotions in his own faith journey.

Late in 2003, while working in

the same capacity for the Diocese of San Bernardino in Calif., Rodrigues contracted a rare heart infection, which ultimately led to a valve rupture in his heart. A medical team advised him he needed immediate open-heart surgery. “I was laying on a hospital gurney, drugged up, asked for a second opinion, and they literally told me there was no time for that,” recalled Rodrigues.

“I asked what my chances were, and they told me I had a 15 percent chance of survival.” Anger, fear, resentment, denial, and “why me?”

Obviously Rodrigues beat the odds and survived the eight-hour surgical ordeal. When well enough to travel, he headed back east to be closer to his family. Eventually he hooked up with the diocese, working part-time as a pastoral planning consultant to Father Andrade.

“I have always been interested in this field — finding better and more efficient ways of following the mission of the Church,” said Rodrigues, who attended St. John’s Seminary College in Brighton, and later received a master’s degree from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. “I taught Religious Education briefly at Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River, and held the same position for several years at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth.

“While at Stang I encountered

an organization called Catholic School Management. The national company had the same premise as a diocesan pastoral planning entity, but on a school level. I became involved and truly enjoyed the experience.”

As a graduate student at Notre Dame, Rodrigues was exposed to diocesan pastoral planning. “It was working with local parishes in faith formation, and I was excited about it,” he said. His Notre Dame experience and connections led him to the position in San Bernardino.

When his illness led him back home, he still had the passion for “building up the kingdom,” by helping the local parishes in the Diocese of Fall River.

While working as a consultant for the diocese, Rodrigues received another medical bombshell. He was diagnosed with stage three cancer that had metastasized through several parts of his body. Surgery and chemotherapy were the plan of attack. “And if I don’t have the surgery?” he asked. “You’ll die,” was the response. Again, anger, fear, resentment, denial, and “why me?”

After the surgery and many chemotherapy treatments, Rodrigues was found to be cancer free in February 2007.

“Believe it or not, I am blessed man,” Rodrigues told The Anchor.

“There’s a reason that I’m still here.

October 17, 2008 When that rare time comes for big changes in a parish community, I have some understanding about what they’re feeling. I truly know the anger, fear, resentment, denial and ‘why me?’ but I also know that hope that comes from surviving seemingly impossible circumstances. I had to look at what matters most in life and ask myself some tough questions about who I was and what I was doing. As a result, I had to change my expectations, I had to change myself, even to the point of having parts of my body removed in order to live. That’s what it took, and that’s what had to be done. As a diocese and local parishes, as a community of the faithful, we also have to look at what matters most — the mission the Lord Jesus gave us. Then we have to ask whether or not we’re really serving that mission, and whether or not we’re using our resources in the best way. Inevitably we’re going to have to change, and change and conversion is what we’re all about as Christians.”

And hope is what Rodrigues feels the Office of Pastoral Planning is all about. “Believe me, there were times, especially through the illnesses, when I struggled with my faith.

But during my journey, the faith never disappeared. And that’s the same approach I have with the mission of the Church, especially in this area. I want the faithful to be excited about their faith community, I want their community to be vibrant and

full of the promises of Christ.”

Sometimes the faith journey of a diocese or parish calls for big changes, and sometimes not. Peter, a gruff, hard-working fisherman literally walked away from his lifetime occupation to follow a man he didn’t even know — but someone he knew would make a difference not only in his life, but in all mankind. The man who once mended nets and gutted fish for a living became the keeper of the keys of the kingdom on earth.

That is a big change — a change that was necessary for the mission of Christ’s Church.

Doug Rodrigues and the Office of Pastoral Planning continue that tradition of Christ’s calling. If the Church is going to thrive for not only another 2,000 years, but for another 50, it will take planning — done carefully, thoughtfully, thoroughly, and with the people of God as the focal point. These are features Rodrigues knows well, and despite the stigma attached to the position, is willing to share with his Catholic brothers and sisters across the diocese. “Not many people would want this job,” he said. “But I’m excited about it.”

The mission of the Church — to expand the kingdom of God — has always been the same. Fulfilling that mission changes with the times. Change is sometimes difficult, but approached with each other and Christ’s guidance, it’s all for the betterment of the Church — and her people.

October 17, 2008

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Around the Diocese Eucharistic Adoration:

Eucharistic Adoration

ACUSHNET — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Church, 125 Main Street, Mondays from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., ending with Evening Prayer and Benediction.

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

NEW BEDFORD — Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament takes place at St. Joseph-St. Therese Church, 51 Duncan Street, Mondays following the 8:30 a.m., Mass until 1:30 p.m. For more information call 508-995-2354.

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.

NEW BEDFORD — A seven-hour eucharistic adoration Prayer Vigil being offered for priests and religious will take place Sunday at Our Lady’s Chapel beginning at 6 p.m. with Mass, continuing until 1 a.m. with public and private prayers. All are welcome. For information call 508-996-8274 or 508-994-5035.

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.

ON RETREAT — The Diocesan Council of Catholic Women recently held a day of recollection at St. Bernard’s Church in Assonet. More than 30 members from the Taunton, Fall River and New Bedford deaneries attended. From left: Terry Lewis, event chairman; Father Michael Racine, pastor of St. Bernard’s; Father John Gomes, guest presenter; and Claudette Armstrong, DCCW president. (Photo

by Maddy Lavoie)

TAUNTON — Eucharistic adoration takes place every Tuesday at St. Anthony Church, 126 School St., 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.

Miscellaneous Miscellaneous: CHATHAM — A Tridentine Mass is celebrated 11:30 a.m. every Sunday at Our Lady of Grace Chapel on Route 137.

EASTON — The Father Patrick Peyton Center, 518 Washington Street, offers a course, “All Saints: Witnesses For All Times,” Wednesday mornings and repeated Thursday evenings. For more information contact CSC Brother Joseph Eparza at Holy Cross Family Ministries, 508238-4095, ext. 2013.

FALL RIVER — Scripture study of St. Paul’s Captivity Letters continues October 22, 29 and November 5, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at the Holy Name Parish Center, 709 Hanover Street. For more information call Diane Baron at 508-678-7532.

FALL RIVER — A Healing Mass will be celebrated October 23 at 6:30 p.m., in St. Anne’s Church, 818 Middle Street. The rosary will be recited at 6 p.m., and healing prayers and Benediction will follow the Mass.

FALL RIVER — A holy hour takes place at Holy Name Church, 709 Hanover Street, Tuesdays at 7 p.m. It consists of the rosary, Immaculate Medal novena, a homily, Benediction, and the opportunity for confession. The Divine Mercy Chaplet is recited each Wednesday at 3 p.m.

FALL RIVER — Sacred Heart Church, 160 Seabury Street, is holding a seasonal bazaar October 25 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., including craft items, goodies, raffles and more. The kitchen will be open all day serving a variety of favorites. For information call Janice Rosa at 508-674-3296.

LAKEVILLE — A Day of Reflection will take place at His Land-Bethany House, October 26 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. with others and members of the St. Francis of the Cape Fraternity. For registration and information call Marge at 508-295-6279.

HYANNIS — A Solemn Day of Prayer for Life, Justice and Peace, will take place at St. Francis Xavier Parish, 347 South Street, November 3, beginning at noon, with a Mass at 12:10 p.m.; novena prayers throughout the day; and ending at 8:20 p.m., with Night Prayer and a homily. For more information call the parish at 508-775-0818.

NEW BEDFORD — Holy Name of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish will hold its Parish Bazaar tomorrow, 10 a.m., to 5 p.m., in the church at 121 Mount Pleasant Street.

SOMERSET — The Daughters of Isabella will hold its monthly meeting October 29 at 6 p.m. at the Old Town Hall. A graphologist from the International Graphoanalysis Society will explain the science of handwriting analysis.

SOUTH YARMOUTH — The Prayer Shawl Ministry at St. Pius X Church, 5 Barbara Street, will host an interfaith workshop retreat tomorrow, 10 a.m.- 2:30 p.m. For more information contact Barbara St. Cyr at barbst8138@verizon.net.

WEST HARWICH — Holy Trinity Parish’s annual Harvest Bazaar will take place November 8, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. in the church hall, 246 Main Street. It will feature Padre’s Pies and entertainment

by Marcus the Magician.

OSTERVILLE — The rosary is recited the First Friday of each month at 7:30 a.m. at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, before the 8 a.m. Mass, for vocations.

Support Groups NEW BEDFORD — Courage, a group for people who are experiencing same-sex attraction and would like to live the Church’s teachings of chastity will meet October 25 at 7 p.m. Encourage, a ministry dedicated to the spiritual needs of parents, siblings, children, and relatives of people with same-sex attractions will meet at the same time. For locations call Father Richard Wilson at 508-992-9408.

NORTH DARTMOUTH — A meeting of the diocesan Divorced and Separated Support Group will take place October 29 at 7 p.m. at the Family Life Center, 500 Slocum Road. The video, “The Road to Healing and Help,” will be shown, followed by group discussion and refreshments. For information call 508-999-6420.

Pro-Life ATTLEBORO — Concerned faithful are needed to pray the rosary outside Four Women, Inc., an abortion clinic at 150 Emory Street, Thursdays from 3-4 p.m., or 4-5 p.m. and Saturdays from 7:30-8:30 a.m. For information call 508-238-5743.

NEW BEDFORD — The 40 Days for Life Campaign continues at St. Kilian Church, 306 Ashley Boulevard with daily Mass at 8:15 a.m.; exposition of the Blessed Sacrament beginning at 9 a.m.; 5:30 p.m. recitation of the rosary; and Benediction at 6 p.m. For information call 508-9927587.

LOVERS OF LIFE — Massachusetts Citizens for Life recently held its annual awards dinner. From left, Pat Fox, chapter service award; Paulette Martinville, director of the greater Fall River MCFL; and Father Joseph Viveiros, pastor of St. Dominic’s Parish in Swansea, winner of the Pro-Life Community Award. Another diocesan recipient was Lloyd McDonald, chapter service award. (Photo by Bea Martins)

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks

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 Oct. 22 Rev. John E. Connors, Pastor, St. Peter, Dighton, 1940 Rev. Jerome F. O’Donnell, OFM, Our Lady’s Chapel, New Bedford, 1983 Oct. 23 Chor Bishop Joseph Eid, Pastor, St. Anthony of the Desert, Fall River, 1970 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

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October 17, 2008

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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