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Diocese of Fall River, Mass.

F riday , October 24, 2014

A tale of two cities: Success on both ‘sides of the bridges’

By Dave Jolivet Anchor Editor

HYANNIS — In last week’s edition, The Anchor featured the marriage of Coyle and Cassidy High School and Taunton Catholic Middle School in the Silver City that occurred at the beginning of the current school year.

Nearly 60 miles to southwest, after crossing the bridge of one’s choice

— Sagamore or Bourne — lies the bustling Cape Cod village of Hyannis. There, too, a pair of schools joined forces and resources to provide the best possible Catholic education to the middle school- and high schoolaged students in the area.

One year ago, this past September, Pope John Paul II High School and Turn to page 14

The 225-seat Chapel of Mary, Mother of the Church, is located at the heart of Stonehill College’s campus and is a popular venue for alumni weddings and celebrations.

(Photo by Nicki Pardo)

Chapel picking: A tour of Stonehill College’s campus ‘Sacred spaces’

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

Students from Pope John Paul II High School recently led a retreat for eighth-graders from St. Francis Xavier Preparatory School, both in Hyannis. The schools are in the second year of a merger that has resulted in expanded programs for all students and a sharing of resources to provide a continuing Catholic education and experience of the highest level.

EASTON — During a recent tour of the chapels scattered throughout the nearly 400-acre campus of Stonehill College in Easton, Father Robert Kruse, C.S.C., a 1955 graduate and retired faculty member, said it’s rare for a college to have so many different places of worship.

“We do have a lot of chapels on campus,” Father Kruse said. “From the looks

of it, you’d think all we did was pray.”

Standing inside the oldest of the four main campus chapels — the 40-seat Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel on the first floor of Donahue Hall, Stonehill’s central administration building — Father Kruse noted how the site is often used for funeral Masses or memorial services.

“If there’s a death in the family and someone would like a Mass celebrated, Turn to page 18

Wareham parish next to launch its own Day of Evangelization

Not that they have fallen away because something negative happened,” they just WAREHAM — On November 1, didn’t feel connected to the faith anySt. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham will see more.

While still a diaconate candidate, its doors open after an 8 a.m. Mass and watch as God’s latest disciples walk out Deacon Murphy heard about St. Vintwo-by-two and knock on Wareham cent de Paul’s upcoming Day of Evandoors as St. Patrick’s launches its inau- gelization and it brought back what Father Sullivan had already been talking gural Day of Evangelization.

Leading the charge is pastoral as- about: “I felt I needed to be proactive sociate of the parish, Deacon David and see what this was all about,” he said.

Unfamiliar with the Attleboro area Murphy, who is excited to see his parish participate in a ministry that he experi- coupled with anxiety over being part enced last year during the Day of Evan- of something new, Deacon Murphy gelization at St. Vincent de Paul Parish brought a notebook to mark down everything he saw — from the Mass, to in Attleboro.

Deacon Murphy was moved by St. the music played, to what was placed in Patrick’s pastor Father John Sullivan, the welcome bags — because he had “a who had already been speaking about funny feeling” that a Day of Evangelizagoing door-to-door in his homilies; tion might be in the future for his own “His whole idea was to greet people,” home parish of St. Patrick’s.

Upon arriving, even finding a parking said Deacon Murphy. “He was inspired by the fact that so many people fall spot made his anxiety grow, said DeaTurn to page 15 away [and feel] nobody misses me now.

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

On October 12 Pope Francis celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving for the canonization of two Canadian saints, St. François de Laval and St. Marie de l’Incarnation. Jack Schrader, right, a seminarian for the Diocese of Fall River, who was ordained as a transitional deacon in Rome on October 2, was asked to serve as a deacon at the Mass.

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October 24, 2014 News From the Vatican Synod’s final report shows nuance on homosexuality, remarriage

Vatican City (CNA/ EWTN News) — The synod’s final report, released October 18, presents substantial changes with respect to the much discussed midterm report, especially regarding homosexual persons and the divorced and remarried.

The final report was voted on, paragraph by paragraph, by the synod fathers; and, by Pope Francis’ choice, the result of each poll has been publicized, thus showing a glimpse into the synod fathers’ thought.

Though all the paragraphs gained a majority of votes, not all of them reached the supermajority of two-thirds, which is required for official approval.

With 181 voting synod bishops (out of 193), a simple majority is 93, while the super-majority is reached at 123 votes.

Speaking with journalists during a press briefing, Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See press office, commented that in light of preparations for the 2015 synod, the paragraphs that failed to gain official approval “cannot be considered as dismissed, but primarily as paragraphs that are not mature enough to gain a wide consensus of the assembly.”

Like the midterm report, the final report is divided in three parts, titled: “Listening, context, and challenges of the family”; “the glance to Christ: the Gospel of the Family”; and “The confrontation: pastoral perspectives.”

The 62 paragraphs of the document are filled with quotes from the Sacred Scriptures, the lack of which in the midterm report was lamented by most of the small groups.

Another outcome of the small groups’ suggestions is the frequent reference to the positive testimonies Christian families can give in contemporary society.

The strong stance against international organizations that bind financial aid to the introduction of homosexual rights has been clarified and emphasized in a separate paragraph, while it was included in a wider paragraph in the midterm report.

At a first glance, all the concerns expressed by the small groups have been taken in consideration.

The paragraphs on the divorced and remarried and on homosexual persons having been the most controversial of the midterm report, the paragraphs on those issues have been slightly modified, though they still failed to meet a wide consensus.

Regarding the divorced and

remarried, almost all the synod fathers agreed that “pastoral care of charity and mercy tends to the recovery of persons and relations,” and that “every family must be listened to with respect and love.”

The consensus is slightly lower when the document stresses that “the synod fathers urge new pastoral paths, that may start from the effective reality of families’ fragility, being conscious that these fragilities are endured with suffering than chosen with full freedom.”

There is even less consensus when the final report speaks about reforming the procedures for the declaration of nullity of Marriages.

In contrast, a paragraph stating that those who are divorced without having remarried, who “often testify to the faithfulness of Marriage” should “be encouraged in finding in the Eucharist the food which can sustain them.”

The report however states that “a particular discernment” must be put in action for a pastoral accompaniment of separated, divorced, abandoned; focuses on the situation of those who separate because of domestic violence; and underscores that divorced and remarried must not feel “discriminated” against, and that their participation in the community “must be promoted” since “taking care of them is not for the Christian community a weakening in faith and in the testimony to the indissolubility of the Marriage.”

The paragraphs on access to Communion for the divorced and remarried (52 and 53) did not gain a supermajority among the synod fathers.

Also, one paragraph concerning homosexual couples did not gain the needed supermajority: paragraph 55 describes the situation of families “having within them persons with a homosexual orientation.” Considered vague, it received only 118 yes votes.

The following paragraph, 56, condemned the linking of international financial aid to the establishment of same-sex marriage, did receive a supermajority.

There is however only one paragraph — the second one — that reached unanimity among the synod fathers.

“Despite the many signals of crisis of the institution of the family in the diverse contexts of the ‘global village’, the wish for a family is still alive, especially among young people, and this motivates the Church, expert in humanity and faithful to her mission, to tirelessly and with profound conviction announce the ‘Gospel of

the family’,” paragraph two states, in part.

The final report provides largely the same view of the current situation of the family as did the midterm report, but it also notes positive testimonies of the family, and the role of grandparents.

The final report also addresses the importance of the affective life: “the individualistic danger and the risk of living selfishly are relevant. The Church’s challenge is to help couples in the maturation of their emotional dimension and in the affective development through the promotion of dialogue, of virtue, and of trust in the

merciful love of God.” In general, the paragraphs based on Sacred Scriptures and providing quotes of Magisterial documents gained a wide consensus among the fathers.

The final report also emphasized the need for a positive reception of Humanae Vitae, Paul VI’s encyclical on regulation of birth, which highlighted many positive aspects of family life and reaffirmed the doctrine of the Church.

Education has always been a primary challenge, as has been stressed since the publication of the synod’s working document,

and this is why the two final paragraphs of the final statement focus on the issue.

The “educative challenge” is one of “the fundamental challenges of families,” and the Church “supports families, starting from the Christian initiation, through welcoming communities.”

“The Church is requested to support parents in their educative commitment, accompanying babies, children, and adolescents in their growth through personalized paths able to introduce them to the full sense of life and arise choices and responsibility, lived in the light of Gospel.”

Marriage and family issues facing Catholics are not all universal

Vatican City (CNA/ EWTN News) — The Synod on the Family has provided an opportunity for people to bring up issues concerning Marriage and family life facing Catholics around the world, but as one auditor has noted, not all of those issues are the same.

Selim and Rita El Khoury, spouses who are coordinators of the Pastoral Office of Marriage and Family in the Maronite Patriarchate in Lebanon, had the opportunity to participate as auditors in the synod, and said that although many issues are being discussed, not all of them apply to Catholics worldwide.

For example, family issues plaguing Catholics in Africa such as polygamy, are not necessarily the same issues facing Catholics in Asia.

“What I see generally (is that) each continent has its own problems, but there are some general for all and there are specific problems,” Selim El Khoury recently told CNA. “What is good is the pope is here every day listening to all and we have a really interesting debate; everybody is giving his ideas.”

In Lebanon, divorce and remarriage is not as prominent as it is in Europe and North America, so there is less focus on care for those types of situations.

The nuclear family remains strong there, with parents and children living under the same roof even once the children become adults, El Khoury said.

However, the slow economic environment in Lebanon has created a disruption in family life by causing many men to leave their families in search of work, sometimes taking them far from home.

El Khoury’s office aims to reconcile families when this problem first arises, rather than intervening only when one spouse seeks an annulment, or leaves the Maronite Church — an Eastern Catholic Church — for the Syriac Orthodox Church in order to get a divorce.

“We are (providing) formation for couples so that they can seek help from the priest in the parish to try to solve the problems because they are getting so big and going to the tribunal,” he said.

The father of three said his children were able to join him and his wife of 25 years for a picture with the Holy Father.

“Our children were here to take photos with the pope, and it was really something marvelous.”

At the start of the synod, Pope Francis took the opportunity to meet with nuncios from the Middle East to discuss the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities by the Islamic State, a militant Sunni Islamist

caliphate.

“As you know, we in the Middle East are facing a really big danger regarding our existence there, especially (those who live in) Syria and Iraq,” El Khoury said.

Although the threat from the Islamic State is not as immediate in his country as it is in other areas of the Middle East, he said that Christians in Lebanon are still concerned.

“We are Maronites: we stick to our homeland and we will never leave it,” he said.

After the synod the Holy Father held a consistory with Middle Eastern nuncios to further discuss issues facing Christians there. El Khoury hoped that they will use that time to pray for the persecuted, and draft a letter to the United Nations.

“The United Nations has to move more quickly,” he said, “not to give food for the people who left their home, but to help them regain their home as soon as possible.”

Pope Francis greets the crowd at the start of a recent general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

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October 24, 2014

Bishops back ballot measure for earned sick leave

BOSTON — The four bishops of Massachusetts have thrown their support behind a ballot question that would allow workers in the state to accrue sick time. Last week, they released a statement calling on voters to approve Question 4 on November 4.

A “yes” vote on Question 4 would allow all employees to earn one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked. They would need to work 90 days before using their first sick day. The sick time would be paid at companies with more than 11 employees.

Small businesses with no more than 10 employees would be required to grant unpaid sick leave.

The amount of sick time would be limited to 40 hours a year. The bishops deemed the law “reasonable and fair.”

Similar laws already exist in

California and Connecticut and a handful of cities across the United States.

James F. Driscoll, executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the public policy arm for the four bishops of the Commonwealth, said the issue of earned sick leave is important to all workers but principally affects low-wage earners.

“This issue goes mostly to the least paid among us,” he said.

The bishops said that work enhances the dignity of the human person and that job security is essential so that workers can support themselves and their loved ones.

Earned sick time contributes to the dignity of every worker and allows them to take care of their own health and that of their family members. Often, it is the low-wage earners who do not earn sick time and fear they will

lose their job if they do not go to work, the bishops said.

“Today, those without sick time are oftentimes forced to choose between going to work sick or losing a day’s pay, in many cases threatening the loss of their job. Tragically, many are forced to send a sick child to school to save their income or their job,” they said.

Margaret LaFleur, a parishioner at St. Michael Parish in Fall River and former elementary school principal, said she has witnessed this reality firsthand. Many parents would send their kids to school sick because they were afraid of losing their jobs. These parents loved their children and wanted to care for them but also needed to provide for them through their work.

“A lot of people who have the benefit of sick time don’t realize how hard it is for the working

poor who don’t have this benefit,” she said. “We are responsible to help our brothers and our sisters who are less fortunate.”

Jack Livremento, a parishioner at Our Lady of Assumption Parish in New Bedford,” called earned sick leave a “justice issue.”

Without it, employees cannot enjoy the fruits of their work.

The Catholic faith calls on its members to work toward establishing a just society. Part of that is making sure that all people, especially the poor who are most vulnerable, are treated fairly, he said.

“I’ve been lucky. Almost my entire employment career, I have had earned sick time as part of the job I was hired for. Over one million employees in Massachusetts do not have it,” he said.

Livremento has been canvassing in support of the ballot measure and called the bishops’ recent support “encouraging.”

“I’m encouraged to feel that we’re on the same page here,” he said.

In their statement, the bishops added that allowing earned sick time will not only mean healthier workers and families, but it will also mean healthier workplaces and schools.

The bishops said that their support of the ballot measure is in keeping with the teachings of the entire Catholic Church. They cited Pope Francis in his 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, “It is through free, creative, participatory and mutually supportive labor that human beings express and enhance the dignity of our lives.”

Along the same vein, the bishops have previously supported increasing the minimum wage and ballot Question 3, which would overturn the 2011 casino law, which they say harms citizens.

Rome, Italy (CNA/EWTN News) — An Iraqi priest who has chosen to return to his city, which lies just six miles from ISIS-controlled territory, said that in the midst of an increasingly desperate situation, the help of world powers is greatly needed.

“The only solution is to return the people to their homes. This is the only solution. How to do it, this depends on the great international powers, because the world needs to intervene,” Father Ghazwan Yousif Baho told recently told CNA. ISIS “is a full threat not only for the Christians of Iraq or our brother Muslims, or this fundamentalist current, but it’s a threat for the whole world. So the world needs to intervene in one way or another.”

Father Baho is the parish priest in Alqosh, Iraq as well as a guest professor at the Pontifical Urbanianum University in Rome, where he teaches two months out of the year. While in Rome, he also serves as pastor in the city’s SS. Joachim and Ann Parish.

He was present in Rome to accompany an Iraqi couple, Mubarack and Agnese Hano, to a recent audience Pope Francis held with elderly and grandparents. This weekend he will return to Alqosh, which sits only 10 kilometers — around six miles — from the ISIS-controlled city of Qaraqosh.

The militant Sunni Islamist organization was among the rebels fighting in the Syrian civil war.

In June it spread its operations to Iraq, taking control of Mosul and swaths of territory in the coun-

try’s north and west, as well as in northern Syria.

It has now declared a caliphate, which is defined as an Islamic state controlled by a religious and political leader known as a caliph or “successor” to Muhammad.

In Syria on August 13, ISIS seized a string of towns located northeast of Aleppo and near the Turkish border, including Akhtarin. On August 11, it had seized the Iraqi town of Jalawla, located 90 miles northeast of Baghdad in Diyala province.

All non-Sunni persons have been persecuted by the Islamic State — tens of thousands of Christians, Yazidis, and Shia Muslims have fled the territory.

“I am not in favor of war, but right now war is a fact. If they continue conquering territory, someone must stop them, the great powers of the world need to intervene, not only the Americans and the British, but all,” Father Baho insisted.

“They are a threat to humanity.

They are creating hate toward humanity. This needs to stop. We as Christians need to stop them with love, but if they are killing people without reason, it’s difficult.”

Father Baho then referenced the October 2-4 summit held at the Vatican with the nuncios to the seven nations of the Middle East, during which Pope Francis and Vatican officials spoke with them about possible responses to ISIS, as well as how to provide humanitarian aid to displaced persons.

“All of the nuncios of that area also live this situation and know very well what is happening. I

hope that they make the voice of the poor persecuted people heard, and of all those who don’t have a voice in Iraq or in the other areas, like Syria.”

Right now the situation of all those who have fled ISIS’ violent attacks since their initial June 10 launch in Iraq “has become much, much more difficult than before,” Father Baho observed.

Some having been out of their homes for nearly two months or more, many of the refugees are currently living in tents on the street in camps, and winter is approaching.

In addition to the loss of houses and work, children are now beginning to lose their schooling, he explained, because the year is starting and they have nowhere to go.

“Life in refugee camps for these people — one can stand it for one day, two days, 10 days. But after two months, what hope is there for them? It’s true that some help arrives from Caritas, from the U.N., and from so many other organizations. But life in a tent is not a normal life.”

Father Baho pointed out how the situation is especially problematic for women, children and the elderly, so their primary concern now is not that they have lost everything, but simply to find a place to live.

“They have lost their work, their houses, their money that they have in the bank that right now they can’t get. So in this situation the people are desperate.”

“We don’t want to leave our land,” he said, but if this situation continues the way it is, “in one

month people will begin to lose hope in a future in Iraq.”

Although hopes rose with American and British military intervention, “we have learned in these two months that if we don’t see with our own eyes, and we don’t return to our own cities, there is little hope,” the priest observed.

Further intervention, he said needs to happen on several different levels, the first being to help thousands of refugees who are living “in difficulty.”

“There are thousands. In Iraq maybe more than a million refugees. Christians are more than 100,000. But also our brother Muslims who are not in favor of this current of ISIS, also they find themselves as refugees in Iraq. So the first intervention is to help these ones, everyone, not only

some organizations.”

A second intervention would be to stop the advancement of ISIS, “but not only block them, drive them out,” the priest explained.

We also need to create “a way of changing this mentality of hatred toward humanity, to create a mentality of love,” he said, noting how this is the mission that every Christian throughout the world is called to.

“They create hate. We need to create love. This is our war as Christians; not war with weapons but war of creating a society of love, a culture of love, a culture of accepting the other even if he is different.”

“This is very important for us,” he said, however “blocking their advancement depends on world powers.

By Christine M. Williams Anchor Correspondent

Priest returning to Iraq: ISIS threatens the whole world

Diocese of Fall River

OFFICIAL

His Excellency, the Most Reverend Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., D.D., Bishop of Fall River, has announced the following appointments: Rev. Gregory A. Mathias, Diocesan Vicar General, while remaining Pastor of Saint John Neumann Parish in East Freetown.

Effective October 1, 2014 Rev. Jeffrey Cabral, Diocesan Judicial Vicar, while remaining in residence at Holy Name Parish in Fall River.

Effective October 14, 2014

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The Church in the U.S.

October 24, 2014

Daily recitation of Rosary ‘key to world peace,’ priest says at rally SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) — San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone recently carried the exposed Eucharist in a monstrance through the streets of San Francisco, as more than a thousand Catholics processed in a public display of faith from St. Mary’s Cathedral to United Nations Plaza for the fourth annual Rosary rally.

“Pope Francis prays three Rosaries a day,”said keynote speaker Father Andrew Apostoli, co-founder with Father Benedict Groeschel in 1988 of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, urging the about 2,000 people gathered in the Indian summer sun at the noon rally to pray the Rosary daily.

“The key to world peace is to be praying the Rosary,” said Father Apostoli, an expert on the Marian apparitions seen by the three children at Fatima, Portugal, in 1916.

The day’s events began with 10 a.m. Mass in Spanish for Hispanic Ministry Day at the cathedral, followed by a procession past City Hall to the rally at U.N. Plaza.

“Our Lady’s great concern was to save souls from being lost,” Father Apostoli told rally participants, urging all to pray the Rosary daily as Mary told the children in each of her six appearances.

“She even let those three children see a vision of hell so that they could tell us hell was a real thing and we don’t want to go there.”

The Rosary rally, held near San Francisco’s City Hall, is a renewed tradition aimed at bringing public expressions of faith back to the Bay Area. In 1961, Father Patrick Peyton’s Rosary Crusade drew a half million people to Golden Gate Park.

Fifty years later, in 2011 the Legion of Mary, Knights of Columbus, Immaculate Heart Radio, Ignatius Press and the Archdiocese of San Francisco began a new Rosary rally tradition in downtown San Francisco. This

year the Guadalupanas joined as official sponsors.

In a letter to pastors urging participation, Archbishop Cordileone wrote, “Our Rosary rally is a good example of what the Holy Father calls ‘the evangelizing power of popular piety.’”

St. Dominic parishioner and member of the parish’s young adult group, Jerick Rea saw the flyer at church, and came with friend Rose Aerubi. “I felt it would be great,” said Rea who noted that eight novices from the Dominican priory who he sees at daily Mass also were present. “I came to support the archbishop and to pray the Rosary.”

As they have every year, administrators and students from an archdiocesan boys’ Catholic high school volunteered to walk with the archbishop from the cathedral and took up a collection at the rally’s conclusion.

“It’s important because our school is sponsored by the Society of Mary,” said Archbishop Riordan High School President Joseph Conti, many of whose students present were football players who had competed late the previous night. “We are very happy to support the archbishop in this endeavor to bring the Rosary rally back to life in San Francisco.”

“In this very Biblical prayer, we turn to Our Lady so that she may direct us to her Son,” Archbishop Cordileone said. St. John Paul II called the Rosary a “school of Mary,” the archbishop said.

“A school in which he says the Christian people are led to contemplate the beauty in the face of Christ and experience the depths of His love.”

Confessions were heard throughout the two-hour event, and even after the rally concluded at 2 p.m., there were lines of people waiting for Confession administered by the four priests sitting on folding chairs on the tree-lined side of the plaza.

Jennifer Greve and Maggie Steinkamp participate in a recent annual youth rally sponsored by the Diocese of Sioux City, Iowa, at St. Edmond School in Fort Dodge, Iowa. The theme for the day was “Go, I send you, lead with joy,” which comes from Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation, “The Joy of the Gospel.” (CNS photo/Jerry L. Mennenga, Catholic Globe)

New app brings God into digital environment, creates meditation ‘space’ WASHINGTON (CNS) — Amid the imposed and often fast-paced routine of everyday life, an app is giving people a reason to quiet their minds through light meditation and prayer.

PeaceQuest is an immersive 3-D app designed to take users on a Spiritual journey and allow them to establish a deeper connection with God and with themselves.

Father Stephen Fichter, a research associate at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, and Kathe Carson, president of the video production company Kathe Carson Inc., created the app in December 2013. Father Fichter said their motivation came from recognizing the “constant intrusion” of technology in people’s lives.

“The idea when we created the app was a recognition that people nowadays just live such hectic lives, we’re all running from one place to the other,” Father Fichter said in a phone interview with Catholic News Service. “So recognizing the fact that so many people were basically living in this digital world we wanted to kind of bring God into that environment.”

The app runs as a 10-minute video that transports users into a serene, pastoral landscape lush with greenery and chirping birds. Users enter a chapel where the “anam cara,” a Gaelic term meaning “soul friend,” waits to guide them on a meditative journey.

“This is really meant to be an app to help people relax, reconnect with God, get a good inspirational message, help them with whatever they’ve gone through during their day,” Father Fichter said.

Carson called the app “a more colorful way of praying” and said she thinks the graphics and artwork enhance its evangelical element.

“It ends up being a very powerful form of prayer, this type of imagining that’s a more tangible, visual thing,” she said.

“It sort of brings so much more to life and gives things so much more meaning.”

PeaceQuest is influenced by Celtic Spirituality, and its setting is specifically modeled after Glendalough, a scenic valley in eastern Ireland. Father Fichter was inspired by the Irish countryside after training in Ireland as a seminarian, he said.

“I have Irish roots and (Glendalough) is just one of my favorite places on earth,” said the priest, who is the pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Haworth, N.J. “It’s just a really beautiful place, so when we were trying to think of, you know, what would be the setting for this that one kind of came to mind.”

As technology becomes increasingly prevalent, Father Fichter conceded that the Church is “not going to win that battle” of drawing people away from their smartphones and tablets. Rather, he said, he realized that “technology is here to stay” and that the Church needed to be focused on “bringing God into that electronic world.”

“Rather than trying to get people to unplug, which I think is a good thing to unplug, but knowing that they’re going to be in that world, the idea was to try to get in there so that at least there’s a good solid Christian message that’s being brought across,” he said.

“So much has been an effort

to really help the Church enter into the 21st century and really be available where the people are and if people are on their smartphones and if they’re on their iPads, well, we want to be there,” he said.

Though the app is targeted toward the younger generation who own smartphones and tablets, Fichter said it can be useful to an older demographic as well. Carson added that, in focus groups completed before the app was released, many people who weren’t regular Mass attendees found the app particularly helpful.

“They’re basically looking for something like this to have a connection and to be peaceful and for whatever reason that they don’t get to participate in Mass on a regular basis, they’re finding that PeaceQuest definitely fills a need for them,” Carson said.

Currently, the app consists of one meditative journey with different parts that focus on “the acceptance of change in our lives and maintaining hope even in difficult moments,” Father Fichter said.

He said he and Carson have plans to create more quests on the app that center on other themes such as forgiveness and reconciliation.

“This is a great place where we as a Church can truly be evangelizing and really getting out there and getting the message of the Gospel to people in a very attractive, modern way,” he said. “At the end of the day, the message is still very powerful, that it’s about connecting to God,” he said.

The PeaceQuest app is available for iPhones and iPads and can be downloaded at the App Store.

The Church in the U.S. Only way to end poverty is to address its root causes, says speaker

October 24, 2014

CHARLOTTE, N.C. are on the political left, you tinued, all people make deci(CNS) — Poverty is more think it’s about the last two. sions based on “three things: than the lack of money, and So what happens in the com- work, achievement and mauntil we understand its root munity? People start fighting terial security. If you live in poverty, you don’t have matecauses, it cannot be eradi- about causation,” she said. cated.

However, the causes of rial security.”

The lack of material secuThat was one of the mes- poverty are not so ideologisages heard by more than 500 cally clear-cut, she said. “Ac- rity breeds a continual level representatives from Catho- tually, all four of them create of fear and stress, which can prompt people to rely more lic Charities agencies from poverty.” across the U.S. who recently Payne also emphasized on their instincts and feelings gathered for their annual that poverty is more than in making choices, Payne meeting in Charlotte. just about the lack of money. said.

“Researchers say that early In her keynote speech, Poverty is about “a larger set Ruby Payne, an internation- of resources,” she said. That memories, until you’re nine ally recognized author and means that anti-poverty ef- or 10 years old, are stored in anti-poverty expert, shared forts and anti-poverty re- your amygdala,” she said “The data based largely on her search must be about “mov- amygdala is fascinating. The book “Framework for Under- ing from getting by to getting amygdala has a short-term memory for the incident, but standing Poverty: A Cogni- ahead.” a long-term-memory for tive Approach,” and her ayne also emphasized that the feeling or the expemore than 20 years of poverty is more than just rience. And because it experience as a public school educator. about the lack of money. Poverty is happens before you have Her “Bridges Out of about “a larger set of resources,” she words to assign to experiPoverty” approach has said. That means that anti-poverty ence, you continue to act on that, even though you been adopted by a numefforts and anti-poverty research don’t always know why.” ber of Catholic ChariPayne said that inties agencies across the must be about “moving from getting formation is useful in country as a model for by to getting ahead.” understanding people’s programs to better serve behavior because “we those in need. know from research that if The program provides “A lot of the data is colworkshops and tools to help lected on maintenance, but you have to choose between employers, community orga- we have almost no good data acting from experience, or nizations, social service agen- on what happens when people acting on new information, cies, families and individuals transition,” she noted. “We you will almost always choose address and reduce poverty in are using duct-tape models of experience.”

Anti-poverty efforts must a comprehensive way. compliance and standardiza“One of the reasons in tion, instead of models where take into account the deepAmerica we have never been we develop human capacity seated experiences, environments and relationships of able to come up with a solu- and resources.” tion for poverty is that there Key to helping people out those who are poor, and strive is no agreement on causa- of poverty, she said, is un- to provide them with infortion,” Payne said. derstanding their different mation, resources and conShe said poverty can be mindset. One of the main nections to more productive traced to four basic causes: barriers in helping the under- environments and relationpeople’s personal choices; resourced is a lack of this un- ships, she said.

Improving employment, economic resources available derstanding, she said. in the community; exploita“People don’t understand education and relationship tion; and people’s personal each other’s environments. opportunities for the poor and financial history.

And one of the things we do are key, she said, because that Speaking about the second is say: ‘Hey, once you know also will impact their thinkcause, Payne said, “The sub- the other person’s environ- ing and help them better ject of economic resources re- ment, it can help you com- navigate their reality.

But that’s not all, she said. ally boils down to jobs. Even municate with them.’ When “To address the issue of if people make all the right you are in a survival envichoices, if there are no jobs in ronment, it’s a very different the unequal-resourced, we do your community, you’re really environment than when you four things,” she said.

“Number one, educate the in trouble.” have much too many resourcRacism, sexism and finan- es. And this leads to hidden resourced (wealthy people) cial predators also could keep rules. The reason hidden because that impacts on their someone from improving rules become important is decision (to support the ortheir lives, she explained, or they break relationships. And ganizations that help the Number they could be held back be- what happens, people get of- under-resourced). cause prospective employers fended. And on the commu- two, educate the under-rebased their hiring decisions nity level, then, it becomes sourced. Number three, we on a candidate’s credit his- very difficult for the commu- are a resource for the commutory, for example. nity to work together,” she nity,” she said. “And number four, we ask that individuals “If you are on the politi- emphasized. cal right, you think it’s about Regardless of where or from poverty be at the decithe first two (causes). If you how people live, Payne con- sion table.”

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Araceli Rodriguez Salazar, 41, stands next to a cross for her son, Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, during a vigil in his honor October 10 in Nogales, Mexico. Jose Antonio was killed after being shot by a U.S. Border Patrol agent two years ago. The agent was in the U.S. and Jose Antonio was in Mexico. The agency has maintained that its officers opened fire on the 16-year-old Oct. 10, 2012, after a group of people threw rocks at them from the Mexican side of the border.

(CNS photo/David Maung)

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October 24, 2014

Anchor Editorial

In support of Question 4

The Catholic bishops of Massachusetts last week, acting together as the Massachusetts Catholic Conference (MCC), called upon voters to vote “yes” on Question 4 on the November ballot. This is the referendum mandating paid sick time for employees. This is the second intervention of the MCC during this election cycle (the first one was a statement urging us to vote “yes” on Question 3, which would bar casino gambling in Massachusetts).

The bishops began their effort of convincing voters to support Question 4 by noting that “in 2013, Pope Francis stated in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium that ‘it is through free, creative, participatory and mutually supportive labor that human beings express and enhance the dignity of their lives.’ The social teaching of the Catholic Church has long been clear on the essential nature of work for the maintenance of the dignity of the human person. It is this teaching that informs our opinion and endorsement of Question 4 today. In March of this year we endorsed the right of the worker to a fair wage, and we wish to continue to reaffirm Catholic teaching regarding the importance of work, family, and the fundamental dignity of all persons.”

After that paragraph of putting their efforts into an ecclesial context, the bishops made mention of the concrete difficult situations which many workers face. “Today, those without sick time are oftentimes forced to choose between going to work sick or losing a day’s pay, in many cases threatening the loss of their job. Tragically, many are forced to send a sick child to school to save their income or their job. These are the same individuals who earn the least amount and struggle to provide the basic needs for themselves and their families. By endorsing a ‘yes’ vote on Question 4, workers in Massachusetts would be able to earn up to 40 hours of earned sick time per year to take care of their own health or the health of a family member. Employers with 11 or more employees would be required to provide paid sick leave to their employees. Employers with less than 11 employees would be required to provide unpaid sick leave.”

It is in the Church’s tradition that she has the right to remind the state and private employers of their moral obligations towards workers.

St. John XXIII in his encyclical Mater et Magistra No. 21 wrote, “It is furthermore the duty of the state to ensure that terms of employment are regulated in accordance with justice and equity, and to safeguard the human dignity of workers by making sure that they are not required to work in an environment which may prove harmful to their material and Spiritual interests.” In advocating for Question 4, our bishops are looking out for the material (and ultimately Spiritual) interests of workers (those who are too ill to go to work and those who are at work and would prefer not to be infected by a coworker).

Back in 1937 Pope Pius XI wrote an encyclical on Atheistic Communism entitled Divine Redemptoris. While communism was the focus of his document, he also reminded capitalist countries of their duty to promote social justice. At No. 52 of that document he wrote, “Social justice cannot

be said to have been satisfied as long as workingmen are denied a salary that will enable them to secure proper sustenance for themselves and for their families; as long as they are denied the opportunity of acquiring a modest fortune and forestalling the plague of universal pauperism; as long as they cannot make suitable provision through public or private insurance for old age, for periods of illness and unemployment.”

Pope Benedict XVI in February 2008 gave a speech to participants of a congress organized by the Pontifical Academy of Life. He spoke of the care that we must give to the sick and to their relatives who take care of them. “It will always be necessary to assure the necessary and due care for each person as well as the support of families most harshly tried by the illness of one of their members, especially if it is serious and prolonged. Also with regard to employment procedures, it is usual to recognize the specific rights of relatives at the moment of a birth; likewise, and especially in certain circumstances, close relatives must be recognized as having similar rights at the moment of the terminal illness of one of their family members. A supportive and humanitarian society cannot fail to take into account the difficult conditions of families who, sometimes for long periods, must bear the burden of caring at home for seriously-ill people who are not self-sufficient.” He was speaking about the “time-off ” that should be given for maternity (and paternity) leave and to take care of an ill relative.

It is not hard to see that sick time for the ill employees themselves would be part of this solidarity for which the pope was advocating.

St. John Paul II, in his message for the World Day of Peace on New Year’s Day 1999, spoke about “the right to work” as a “fundamental right.

Otherwise how can people obtain food, clothing, a home, health care and the many other necessities of life? The lack of work, however, is a serious problem today: countless people in many parts of the world find themselves caught up in the devastating reality of unemployment. It is urgently necessary on the part of everyone, and particularly on the part of those who exercise political or economic power, that everything possible be done to resolve this difficult situation. Emergency interventions, necessary as they are, are not enough in cases of unemployment, illness or similar circumstances which are beyond the control of the individual, but efforts must also be made to enable the poor to take responsibility for their own livelihood and to be freed from a system of demeaning assistance programs.”

Among other things, the pope reminded people that sickness is normally beyond the control of employees and he would have been extremely reluctant to dismiss someone from a job due to it (since unemployment can be so jarring, as the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” says at No. 2436, “Unemployment almost always wounds its victim’s dignity and threatens the equilibrium of his life. Besides the harm done to him personally, it entails many risks for his family.”).

Keeping all these elements of social justice and solidarity in mind, we urge you to vote “yes” on Question 4.

Pope Francis’ Angelus address of October 19 Dear brothers and sisters, At the conclusion of the this solemn celebration, I wish to greet the pilgrims from Italy and from various

countries, with a respectful greeting to the official delegations. In particular, I greet the faithful from the dioceses of Brescia, Milan and Rome, OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER

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who are significantly linked to the life and ministry of Pope Montini. I thank you all for your presence and exhort you to faithfully follow the teachings and example of the newly-Blessed.

He was a staunch supporter of the mission ad gentes; a testimony of this is the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi with which he intended to awaken the enthusiasm and commitment to the mission of the Church. It is important to consider this aspect of the Pontificate of Paul VI, especially today as we celebrate World Mission Day. Before invoking Our Lady all together with the Angelus

prayer, I would like to underline the profound Marian devotion of Blessed Paul VI. To this pontiff, the Christian people will always be grateful for the Apostolic Exhortation Marialis cultus and for having proclaimed Mary as “The Mother of the Church,” on the occasion of the closing of the third session of the Second Vatican Council.

Mary, Queen of Heaven, help us to carry out faithfully in our lives the will of the Lord, as the newly-Blessed had done.

The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, and she conceived by work of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary ...

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy Word.

Hail Mary ...

And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary ...

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray: Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

Anchor Columnist Sounding a clear trumpet on the Gospel of the Family

October 24, 2014

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t. Paul says that if soldiers are being summoned to battle, it’s key that they hear the call of a clear and unambiguous trumpet (1 Cor 14:8).

During, however, the recently concluded Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization — convened to try to defend and strengthen the family in the midst of a variety of conceptual, legal and moral assaults — what seemed to be coming from the Vatican was mainly cacophony, confusion, controversy and chaos.

Most of the commotion, inside and outside the synod, came from the astonishingly imprudent decision on the part of the synod’s general secretariat to publish its much-flawed interim report.

This draft “relatio” created erroneous impressions of the bishops’ actual deliberations, provoking false expectations among those hoping for revolutionary change in the approach to those who are divorced-and-remarried, in non-Sacramental civil marriages, cohabitating, using contraception or involved in same-sex relationships — and among others alarm that the Church was abandoning the deposit of faith on Marriage, the Eucharist, Confession, sin and its consequences.

There’s a reason why first drafts of papal encyclicals, presidential State of the

Union addresses, or Supreme of Pope Francis’ most clearly Court decisions aren’t released articulated principles of evanto the general public: because gelization. they may change drastically First, the Church must between the first draft and the begin with preaching the final version. In the case of the “kerygma” rather than seem to “relatio,” that’s exactly what be consumed about what Pope happened as the majority of Francis calls the “secondary bishops pushed for massive aspects of the faith.” In the revisions of a document they case of the family, the kerygma said did not represent the synod’s consensus on some of the more culturally controverPutting Into sial issues. the Deep In his powerful address at the end of

By Father the synod, Pope FranRoger J. Landry cis said that he would have been “worried and saddened” if there had not been such “animated” is that Jesus loves us, saves discussions. But such vigorus, and is living beside us to ous debates would have been enlighten, strengthen and much more effectively carried free us, especially through the in the synod chambers than ongoing intimate encounter of through the media. a Sacramental Marriage. That The upshot of the maymessage wasn’t heard, howevhem coming out of the synod er, because some synod fathers was to mangle the Church’s were obsessed with pushing trumpet: If bishops and a new openness on issues of cardinals are in open disagree- cohabitation, communion for ment about Church teaching those divorced-and-remarried, and practice with regard to and same-sex relationships. today’s hot button moral isSecond, the Church is sues — as the impression was meant to be a field hospital in given — how can the faithful battle seeking to heal the most be expected to know the truth pressing and life-threatening and live it with confidence? wounds. Many of the deepest The chaotic beginning to wounds in families, Marthe two-year synod process riages and individuals today was not an effective expression have come from the damage of the missionary transforma- wrought by the sexual revolution of the Church that Pope tion with its countless casualFrancis has been laboring to ties of broken hearts, broken bring about. The draft “relaMarriages, broken families, tio” failed to implement five and wounded souls. Instead of

addressing the causes of these lesions, however, the interim report sought to find positive elements in them with what Pope Francis seemed to be describing in his concluding address as a “deceptive mercy [that] binds the wounds without first curing them and treating them, that treats the symptoms and not the causes and the roots.”

Third, the Church needs to take on the smell of the sheep.

The synod did a good job in reaching out to the lost sheep who don’t practice the faith with regard to sexual morality. But it wasn’t nearly as effective in addressing the needs of abandoned spouses who have remained faithful to their marital promises, homosexuals who want help in living chastely, divorced-and-remarried Catholics who faithfully abstain from receiving Holy Communion, and all those families battling against cultural wolves to conform to the sexual revolution rather than to Revelation.

Fourth, the Church must imitate Jesus’ method in Emmaus entering into peoples’ conversations as they head into darkness away from Jerusalem. We must respond with the light of faith, with the law and the prophets, and with hearts on fire that could warm their hearts and lead them eventually back to Jerusalem

and the faith it symbolizes.

The draft entered into modern situations, but without much light of Scripture or of the Holy Spirit’s guiding the Church through centuries, and without the merciful warmth Jesus Himself showed in not condemning the adulterous woman but also calling her to go and sin no more ( Jn 8:11).

Lastly, the Church must take risks and be willing to make a dirty mess to bring the Gospel to the peripheries. But that work implies also taking the bold pastoral risk of challenging people to make the return journey, accompanying them from disorder to order, from darkness to light, from wounds to health, and from sin to sanctity.

The final report of the synod, followed by Pope Francis’ concluding address, sought to bring peace and lucidity back after a disturbing and confusing fortnight that rather than facilitating the work of evangelization seemed to treat the teachings of the Gospel on moral and family life as if they weren’t part of the Good News. The year that awaits the resumption of the synod is an occasion to tune the Church’s trumpet so that it resonate loudly, clearly, urgently, emphatically and beautifully.

Anchor columnist Father Landry is pastor of St. Bernadette’s Parish in Fall River. fatherlandry@ catholicpreaching.com.

Hunger in a world of wasted food is a tragic paradox, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Providing food aid to people in need is not enough to eradicate world hunger, Pope Francis said.

An overhaul of the entire framework of aid policies and food production is needed so that countries can be in charge of their own agricultural markets, he said.

“For how long will systems of production and consumption that exclude the majority of the world’s population even from the crumbs that fall from the tables of the rich continue to be defended?” he asked.

“The time has come to start thinking and deciding based on each person and community and not from market trends,” he said.

The pope made his comments in a message marking

the October 16 celebration of World Food Day, a commemoration sponsored by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization to highlight the global fight against hunger and the need to help farmers and farm workers.

The theme of the 2014 celebration was: “Family Farming: Feeding the World, Caring for the Earth.”

The U.N. organization estimates that 842 million people are chronically hungry, but that many more die or suffer the ill effects of inadequate nutrition. Close to seven million children die before their fifth birthday every year, 162 million children under five are stunted, while at the same time, 500 million people are obese, its latest figures say.

In his written message, Pope

Francis said it is “one of the most tragic paradoxes of our time” that there can be so many people going hungry in a world where there is an “enormous quantity of food wasted, products destroyed and price speculation in the name of the god of profit.”

While the world witnesses this scandal with a sense of “impotence, but often with indifference, too,” World Food Day aims to remind people of the “cry of our many brothers and sisters” who lack adequate food security, he said.

Policymakers need to remember to look beyond the statistics and remember that those who suffer “are people not numbers,” he said.

“Precisely because of their dignity as persons they come before every economic calcula-

tion or plan,” he said.

“To eradicate hunger, it’s not enough to overcome the food gaps of those who are less fortunate or to assist those who live in emergency situations with help and aid,” he said.

“Rather, it is necessary to change the paradigm of aid and development policies, modify international regulations concerning agricultural production and commerce — guaranteeing countries where agriculture represents the foundation of their economy and their survival the self-determination of their own agricultural markets.”

To put people and not profits, policies and markets first, he said, there also needs to be a change in understanding what economic activities and goals, food production and environ-

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mental protection are really about.

Pope Francis praised the organization’s focus on rural family farms, saying they offer all of society an important role model of cooperation among generations and respect for natural resources.

“Who are more concerned about preserving nature for the generations that come than rural families?” he said.

The pope said the Catholic Church is “willing to offer, enlighten and guide the development of policies and their actual implementation.”

“Faith is visible when it puts into practice God’s plan for the human family and the world through that deep and true brotherhood that is not exclusive to Christians, but includes all peoples,” he said.

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aving survived one trap last week, Jesus faces another in this weekend’s Gospel. The Pharisees put forth an expert in the law to trap Jesus with a question: “Which Commandment in the law is the greatest?”

This is a question that rabbis and scribes of Jesus’ day were regularly debating, and there was no easy answer. The Law contained a total of 613 commandments: 365 prohibitions or negative commandments and 248 prescriptions or positive commandments.

Yet our Lord not only knew the way to avoid the trap of the Pharisees, but He also knew exactly what they needed to hear. In the same way, Christ also knows exactly what we need to hear.

Instead of singling out a particular commandment as the most important, our Lord goes to the very heart

October 24, 2014

‘Living the law of love’

and soul of Israelite faith and cal. God must be the most gives the principle that is important Person in our life, the foundation for the entire and our love of God must afreligious tradition of the law fect every single aspect of our and the prophets. lives. Loving God with our His answer contains “whole heart, soul and mind” two parts. First, He quotes means that we must give over Deuteronomy 6:5, which is the Shema, the prayer that every Homily of the Week faithful Jew said daily: Thirtieth Sunday “Hear, O Israel! The in Ordinary Time Lord, Our God, is God alone! Therefore,

By Father you shall love the Jeffrey Cabral Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your our entire selves to God. might.”

For the Christian, to know Then, Jesus goes above and and to love God is to enbeyond. He gives His accuscounter Him in His Church. ers a second Commandment It is to experience deeply the that flows from the first. This creating and sustaining love time, however, He quotes Lethat God has for us, and in viticus 19:18: “You shall love return to give God the praise your neighbor as yourself.” and worship He is due. We These two laws, the greatcultivate our love of God by est Commandments, are practicing daily prayer, freinterrelated but not identiquently receiving the Sacra-

ments, allowing God to be the center of our entire lives, and honoring God’s Holy Name.

The second Commandment Jesus gives flows directly from this experience of God’s love. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves because we have been loved by God first. To be like Him, and to love Him in return, is to love what He loves.

When all is said and done, the thing that matters in life is how much we love God and how much we love each other. In a world divided by hatred, suspicion, finger-pointing and distrust, in a world where prejudice and greed occupy far more space than it should, love is the only thing that matters. And this love is a love that looks at the Word of God and discovers that

true love begins by accepting the love that God has for each of us and then allowing that love to flow from our own hearts. God calls us to love in order that we might embrace all our brothers and sisters with the same intense love that God has for us.

Each one of us must become a mirror that reflects God’s love to the world.

Reflecting on the greatest Commandment to love God above all else and to love our neighbor, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, once said: “It is so simple, yet very difficult! This can only be done through grace. Let us ask for this grace.” Indeed, my friends, let us ask of God for this grace to be able to live this law of love.

Father Cabral is the Judicial Vicar of the diocesan Tribunal, and in residence at Holy Name Parish in Fall River.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Oct. 25, Eph 4:7-16; Ps 122:1-5; Lk 13:1-9. Sun. Oct. 26, Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Ex 22:20-26; Ps 18:24,47,51; 1 Thes 1:5c-10; Mt 22:34-40 . Mon. Oct. 27, Eph 4:32—5:8; Ps 1:1-4,6; Lk 13:10-17. Tues. Oct. 28, Eph 2:19-22; Ps 19:2-5; Lk 6:12-16. Wed. Oct. 29, Eph 6:1-9; Ps 145:10-14; Lk 13:22-30. Thurs. Oct. 30, Eph 6:10-20; Ps 144:1b,2,9-10; Lk 13:31-35. Fri. Oct. 31, Phil 1:1-11; Ps 111:1-6; Lk 14:1-6.

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cross the American continent the Catholic Church is served by lay people who work side-byside with clergy serving the people whom Christ has gathered. Some are educated and trained professionals, others are volunteers, but all would say that they answered a call to serve Christ in His Church. This is why it is puzzling that an article in America magazine by Russell Shaw decried the rise of “lay clericalism.” Shaw’s premise is that these educated and inspired lay people are apparently abandoning their baptismal responsibility to be the leaven of the love of God in society. He believes that the empowerment of the lay person sent them into the Sanctuary because they feel that “what counts is participation in some form of ministry that brings a lay person within the penumbra of the clerical state.”

While he recognizes that the emergence of lay ecclesial ministries has been an important development in the Church, he takes issue that the Church has failed in its responsibility to form the laity for mission. “Pope Francis’

The importance of lay ecclesial ministers

vision of a missionary Church of Church history, however. Catholic Action was a engaged in outreach to the movement that was generworld is at risk of being a ated from the highest level of dead letter for American Catholicism. If that happens, the Church’s hierarchy. Pope the clericalism of the Catho- Pius X knew that the Church needed well-informed and lic laity will deserve a large virtuous lay people who share of the blame.”

Shaw’s criticism is misdirected. While he rightly stresses the need to prepare Christian adults to evangelize the world, who does he think will be

By Claire McManus responsible for their formation? He made brief reference to could help rebuild Christian Catholic Action, a lay movement of the early 20th centu- society. There was never any suggestion that participation ry, which sent young soldiers in Catholic Action changed for Christ out to rebuild the the state of the laity, nor was Christian world that had been decimated by modernity it a participation by the laity in the power of the hierarand revolutions. The value of chy. Catholic Action always Catholic Action was that the laity could reach places in the required that the laity be formed Spiritually before world that the clergy could venturing out into the world not. He laments that good to participate in the aposand decent Catholics today do not view themselves as lay tolate of the laity, and that formation was led by clergy. apostles to the world as they Any hope that a variation did in the various Catholic of Catholic Action will reAction organizations that swept across the world in the emerge lies in the presence of well-formed lay people serv1930s and 40s. ing in parishes.

There is an important Church history teaches layer left out of this piece

The Great Commission

us that the Holy Spirit will inspire the necessary structures needed to carry out the mission of the Church.

“Lay ecclesial ministry has emerged and taken shape in our country through the working of the Holy Spirit.”

This was the statement made by the U.S. Bishops Conference in 2005 in their guide for the development of lay ecclesial ministers: Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord.

“They are to use their gifts and leadership roles always for the good of the Church, equipping the community for every good work and strengthening it for its mission in the world.”

The bishops made a commitment to support the vocation of the laity, echoing the encouragement given by St. John Paul II in Ecclesia in America. The co-responsibility of the laity will “lead to a better distribution of tasks, and enable priests to dedicate themselves to what is most closely tied to the encounter with, and the proclamation of, Jesus Christ.” Lay people infuse their ministries with their life experience which

flows directly from their state in life. Working side-by-side with clergy does not clericalize them.

The real problem is not with the promotion of lay ecclesial ministry, but with the failure of pastors to carry out the bishops’ mandate for adult Faith Formation that was spelled out 15 years ago in Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us. Had they implemented the goals and principles of adult Faith Formation they would have created a Church of true disciples prepared to transform and renew the social and temporal order.

“The Church wisely and repeatedly insists that adult Faith Formation is essential to who we are and what we do as Church, and must be situated not at the periphery of the Church’s educational mission but at its center.”

When adults become the priority in the parish, and enter into the world as the leaven in society, you can thank the lay ecclesial minister who prepared them.

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

October 24, 2014

Tuesday 21 October 2014 — Homeport: Falmouth Harbor — Kim Kardashian’s 34th birthday uring the summer months here on Cape Cod, our churches welcome throngs of strangers. Of course, we never refer to them as “strangers” nor do we call them “tourists.” We call them “visitors” or “guests.” The latter terms seem more polite.

The task of our year-round parishioners is to make our summer guests feel at home and among friends as they join us at Mass. When visiting a worshipping community other than your own, it’s helpful to know the proper etiquette. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” I say this although I have never actually visited Rome and therefore have no idea of what they do there.

You know me, dear readers, I’m a great fan of that renowned maven of etiquette, Miss Manners. It occurred to me that it might be fun to write my own etiquette column or two.

When it comes to church etiquette 101, we begin with the fact that we share the rules of proper etiquette with all Catholic churches the world

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s temperatures begin to drop, we begin to ready ourselves for the long winter ahead. We watch as nature scrambles to gather food to hoard for winter, and as birds begin their migration to warmer climes. Every living thing senses the change in season and the need to be ready for what might lay ahead. God has given all His creation the ability to adapt, to be at the ready, and to know that even through the darkest of winter days, there is always the promise of spring.

Recently in a group setting we were asked to discuss what fills us with gratitude. As the group began its discussion, those items that most of us would expect to hear were shared: faith, family, friends, homes, food, etc.

As we progressed through this process we found that once the basic things were addressed, we had to truly think about the question. After a while we were asked to quietly journal about what we felt grateful for in our own lives.

There are so many clichés about gratitude, so much so, that we could fill page after page

Anchor Columnists How to be a perfect stranger

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around. This means that wher- greatest offenders are youth and young men. Baseball caps ever in the world we happen worn sideways or backwards to worship, we fit right in.

Let’s review some of the basics may be a fashion statement, but they don’t belong of church etiquette. in church. A male removes 1. It is considered impolite his hat out of respect for the for members of the congregation to bring with them into church snack The Ship’s Log food, coffee, or other Reflections of a drinks. This applies not only to Mass, but Parish Priest also to such events as

By Father Tim wedding rehearsals. Of Goldrick course, there are always exceptions to the rules of church etiquette.

Babies need their bottles. Tod- Sacred.

3. For young women, there dlers need their raisins. The ill can be another sort of fashmay need water, as might the ion faux pas. It’s those shirts preacher or the choir memand sweaters with elongated bers. Just be discreet. In addition, there is a Eucharistic fast. arms that cover the palm of the hand. These are fine if you Catholics are expected to fast choose to receive Holy Comfor an hour before receiving munion on the tongue, but Holy Communion, with the not if you intend to receive exception of water and mediHoly Communion in your cations. Don’t get me started hand. The same applies to on chomping chewing gum wearing gloves at Commuwhile at Holy Mass. nion or using a hand wrapped 2. It is proper for a woman in bandages or set in a plaster to wear a head-covering at cast.

Mass, should she choose to 4. Then there is the matter do so. Nobody would ever be of appropriate dress in genoffended by a cute little baby eral. Since the death of Joan boy wearing a bonnet. Males, Rivers, the demanding field though, should always remove their hats in church. The of fashion policing will never

be the same. Dress codes vary from season to season and from region to region. I hear that there are ever-vigilant dress code enforcers at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. I know of none on Cape Cod. The Cape is a summer resort area so the dress code here is more casual than in St. Peter’s Square. We call it “Cape Cod casual.”

Being casual, though, does not mean being inappropriate.

This applies equally to all men and women, but most especially those who have some public role in the Liturgy. Leave the flip-flops in the car. No bathing suits, please. Men, tank tops and frayed cut-offs look ridiculously out of place at Mass.

5. In our modern etiquettechallenged age, we now have the cell phone issue. I must confess, dear readers, that I once forgot to close down my cell phone while in church. Of course it rang. How embarrassing. How to save face?

Pope Francis is noted for making unexpected telephone calls (cold calling) so I pretended it was the pope on the line and asked His Holiness

to call back later when I was less busy. I can only get away with that once. Nobody would mind if the cell phone of critical emergency personnel rang at Mass. But, let’s face it, a ringing cell phone or a texting worshipper distracts people from prayer. Some churches have actually installed cellphone signal jamming technology. Why is it those cell phones that do go off have the most annoying ring tones?

And why is it that some call recipients seem oblivious to the fact that the sound of their ringing phone is echoing through the rafters of the church?

6. Back in the day, churches had no rest rooms. Parents would question their children before leaving for church. “Has everyone gone to the bathroom?” People also learned to wait. This is no longer true.

How many times does someone need to use the church rest rooms in the course of an hour?

I’ll be back next week, dear readers, with more helpful advice on how to be a perfect stranger.

Anchor columnist Father Goldrick is pastor of St. Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth.

is what we decide to do with it with them; but all that aside, that defines who we become. when we face our day-to-day Life’s lessons are many and with heartfelt gratitude, we truly it can be a hard and demandcan overcome. It is this awareing teacher, but faith, hope and ness of what brings joy into our lives that counters the darkness. love are what we harvest when it is planted with gratefulness.

This is our hoarding of what sustains us for those long dark days that sometimes come into our lives unbidden. In the words of John Milton: “Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter

By Rose Mary everyday epiphanies, Saraiva those transcendent moments of awe that We are reminded in James change forever how we experi1:1-4, 17: “Brothers and sisters, ence life and the world.”

When we choose to live with whenever you face trials of any grateful hearts, we learn to make kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the every day a prayer. We begin to testing of your faith produces truly recognize the many blessings in our lives even when none endurance; and let endurance seem to be present. Our outlook have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, becomes less jaded and the beauty that lies within becomes lacking in nothing.” For, “every generous act of giving, with visible. Alphonse Karr says it every perfect gift, is from above, most eloquently: “Some people coming down from the Father are always grumbling because of lights.” roses have thorns; I am thankIt is in our conscious deciful that thorns have roses.” Life sion to live a life of thankfulness gives us so much joy, and often that we are given the strength to much sorrow and pain, but it

persevere even in the bitter cold and darkness of life’s winters.

Recognizing the gifts in every aspect of our lives is akin to knowing that the sun is shining behind each and every dark cloud.

As we embrace this time of harvest and preparation, let us always remember to fill our storehouses with gratitude and joy. Like the creatures of the forest, let us fill them until they are overflowing, so that those who may not have enough can find it in us. Choosing to live our lives seeing the “roses” rather than lamenting about the “thorns” fills us with joy, giving us hope, allowing us to see the good in all things.

So as I quietly sat and pondered what I was truly grateful for, I realized how truly rich and blessed my life has been. That not only was I grateful for all the good things that had come into my life, but also for those moments that taught me to appreciate what I already had. To see that the Lord was guiding

me, constantly nudging me to become the person He knows I am, to be all that God desires for me; to see the gift in each and every moment, and each and every person I encounter, allowing my life to be a prayer of gratitude always.

What fills our heart with gratitude? What truly brings joy into our lives? Questions that we should be asking ourselves routinely, especially when we are feeling bitter or hurt; daring ourselves to look for the blessings that too often are hidden, disguised in the moment.

In these moments when the “thorns” are the only things we see, let us remember to, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (Thes 5:1618). Amen.

Anchor columnist Rose Mary Saraiva lives in Fall River and is a parishioner of St. Michael’s Parish, and she is the Events Coordinator and Bereavement Ministry for the diocesan Office of Faith Formation. She is married with three children and two grandchildren. rsaraiva@dfrcs.com.

Rejoice always

In the Palm of His Hands

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October 24, 2014

Paul VI was pope of firsts, a pope of dialogue, cardinal says VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Retired Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who comes from the same diocese as Pope Paul VI did and worked for him in the Vatican Secretariat of State, described the late pope as a man rich in Spirituality, a thinker and a pastor “very sensitive to the challenges of the modern world.”

Speaking to reporters two days before Pope Francis beatified Pope Paul, the cardinal said his concern for modern men and women and his awareness that the majority of the world’s people were not Catholic, also made him “a great man of dialogue.”

Blessed Pope Paul exemplified “a dialogue respectful of others, one that listens to others and, therefore, trusts that there are values in the other, but also a dialogue that aims to proclaim God’s love for all and to proclaim the truths of the Gospel,” the cardinal said.

Pope Paul led the Church from 1963 to 1978. After St. John XXIII died in 1963, Pope Paul reconvened the Second Vatican Council, presided over the final three of its four sessions and oversaw the promulgation of all of the council’s documents. He also led the process of implementing the council’s reforms.

Cardinal Re told reporters that Pope Paul was a “pope of firsts” — the first pope to take a plane, the first pope since St. Peter to visit the Holy Land and the first pope to give up the papal tiara. The cardinal said the pope’s renunciation of the crown was a sign that his authority did not come from earthly power and that he did not want earthly glory.

“He served the Church and deeply desired that the Church would serve humanity,” the cardinal said.

Redemptorist Father Antonio Marrazzo, the postulator or promoter of Pope Paul’s sainthood cause, told report-

ers that the now 13-year-old boy involved in the miracle accepted for the beatification would not attend the Mass, nor would his parents, who have asked that their identities not be revealed.

The postulator confirmed, however, that the miracle occurred in the United States — reportedly California — and involved a pregnant woman whose life was at risk along with the life of her baby. Advised by doctors to terminate the pregnancy, she instead sought prayers from an Italian nun who was a family friend. The nun placed a holy card with Pope Paul’s photograph and a piece of his vestment on the woman’s belly. The baby was born healthy and continues to be “completely healthy,” Father Marrazzo said.

The Redemptorist said that during the beatification Mass, the relic offered to Pope Francis is one of two wool undershirts Pope Paul was wearing in Manila, the Philippines, in November 1970 when a Bolivian painter, dressed as a priest, stabbed him in the chest. Father Marrazzo said he did not know why the pope was wearing two undershirts that day, but both are stained with blood.

Born Giovanni Battista Montini in 1897 in the northern Italian province of Brescia, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1920 and was named archbishop of Milan in 1954. Elected pope in 1963, he died at the papal summer villa in Castel Gandolfo on Aug. 6, 1978.

Pope Paul VI greets a child as he visits the parish of Jesus the Divine Master in Rome April 2, 1972. Pope Paul VI was beatified by Pope Francis October 19 during the closing Mass of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family. (CNS photo/Giancarlo Giuliani)

October 24, 2014

Diocesan Health Facilities happenings Fairhaven — Our R.N. training at the BrockLady’s Haven, 71 Center ton School of Nursing, and Street in Fairhaven, is currently enrolled has announced that in the Chamberlain Elizabeth Pereira, College of Nursing R.N., has been proand will graduate in moted to oversee In2015 with a Bachelor fection Control, Staff of Science in NursDevelopment and is ing. also the new assistant She is a resident director of Nursing of Acushnet and has at the skilled nursing been employed in Elizabeth and rehab care facil- Pereira, R.N. the Diocesan Health ity.

Facilities system for Pereira completed her two-and-a-half years.

A graduate of Massasoit FALL RIVER — The Diocesan Health Facilities Community College with an system of skilled nursing and Associate Degree in Respirarehab care facilities, is pleased tory Therapy, Bell resides in North Dartmouth to announce the adwith her family. Her dition of Deborah interests include opBell, certified respierating a seven-acre ratory therapist, to farm and running their Respiratory “Don’t Forget Us ...

Therapy Team. She Pet Us,” dedicated is following resito caring for animals dents at Catholic in need. The animals Memorial Home in visit nursing homes, Fall River and Madonna Manor in Deborah Bell group homes, homeless shelters and North Attleboro.

Her past experience in- bring comfort to those in cludes working in acute care need.

Bell is also a member hospitals, chronic care in long of the Catholic Memorial term care facilities and caring for respiratory patients in Home Employee Recognition Team. their homes.

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October 24, 2014

Speaker:Technology can provide personal connection Church members seek VILLANOVA, Pa. (CNS) — A steady decline in the number of Christians who go to church doesn’t mean Christianity is dying but that Church members want a personal connection they aren’t finding in church, said the keynote speaker at a recent technology summit at Villanova University.

Technology can provide that personal connection, according to Steve Hewitt, editor-in-chief of Christian Computing Magazine since 1989.

He outlined ways that churches should be communicating with members — broadcast text messages; broadcast voice messages; Facebook and websites; YouTube and email; and even personally-addressed and handwritten mail.

Broadcast text messages are the most effective, according to Hewitt.

He gave the keynote at “Technology Summit II: Technology in Parish Life” hosted by the Villanova School of Business’s Center for Church Management and Business Ethics. The second such summit to be held at the Catholic university was open to parish management professionals from across the United States.

Each month, the number of churchgoers who attend a service just twice a month declines by two percent, Hewitt said. But at the same time, 60 percent of Christians note that they pray each day, he added.

The biggest thing Church members want from their faith experience is personal

communication, Hewitt said.

In the time of Jesus, personal communication was king and it is king again today, he said.

The summit opened with a welcome from Charles Zech, the Villanova center’s faculty director for Church management.

The day’s agenda included two rounds of breakout sessions covering topics such as social media, Church analytics, technology in youth ministry and mobile Church apps, and a panel discussion titled, “What I Wish I Had Known” about technology.

The breakout sessions and panel discussions were facilitated by professionals from Villanova University, parish managers from around the country, and various organizations with a focus on digital interaction, including Interactive Connections, a faithbased educational technology service for catechetical ministries.

Hewitt’s speech was titled, “What’s New in Technology and Why Everything Is About to Change.” He explored trends in technology over the years and what that means for the future.

He is the founder of Christian Digital Publishers, which publishes Christian Computing Magazine and The American Church Magazine, which he heads as founding editor-inchief. He also started Christian Media Magazine.

He was a pastor for more than 20 years before he left to pursue magazine work full time.

Hewitt launched The Amer-

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, October 26, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Msgr. Gerard P. O’Connor, pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Acushnet

ican Church Magazine in 2008 to address a decline of churches in America. He visited churches across the country and interviewed churchgoers, parish managers and others to find ways to reverse the cycle.

Christian Computing Magazine is an online, free publication that is designed to help Church management better use technology in ministry.

For the past 25 years, Hewitt has been studying the changes in technology to be able to predict where the future is headed and how technology can be best used.

He talked about today’s big players in the technology industry, their pros and cons, why they are failing — if that is the case, and what to expect from them in the future.

“Microsoft is dying,” Hewitt said. He joked about the sigh of distress he let out when he heard that Skype was bought by Microsoft, indicating he thinks it is destined to fail. He said it is interesting that Microsoft is trying to reinvent its image to be like a company that he said is also failing: Apple.

He said Apple’s future is almost entirely up for debate and that since the loss of CEO Steve Jobs, who died in 2011, the company has been on a steady decline. While most might think Apple is what is hot in technology, it is Google that is hot, according to Hewitt.

Google is on the rise, buying out several large companies in the last year — from home automation products to humanoid robots to traffic detection software.

It is the first to experiment with what Hewitt called “visual interface computing” — known as Google Glass. The interactive computer looks like a pair of glasses, projects a display in front of the wearer’s eyes and operates with voiceactivated commands.

He noted contact lenses are being developed that could work the same way — for up to five hours.

“If you’re in church and your pastor is giving a great sermon the game is on,” Hewitt joked.

What’s next in the technological realm? Hewitt said it is “thought interface computing.” NeuroSky is one of many companies developing the technology, which is similar to Google Glass but doesn’t use voice commands — the mind

controls it.

Being able to have any amount of information at our fingertips would diminish the need for education, Hewitt said, and would change everything in society as we know it.

He expects this technology to be widely available within the next eight to 10 years.

“Right now, it’s all about mobile computing,” Hewitt said.

He referenced a survey that his magazine took asking readers how they studied the Bible. Fifty percent of respondents indicated they read the Bible through a tablet or a smartphone. He noted that what is most shocking about this is that the majority of the magazine’s reader audience is made up of pastors or Church

CNS Movie Capsules NEW YORK (CNS) — The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed by Catholic News Service.

“Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” (Disney) The 1972 children’s book

by Judith Viorst becomes a manic comedy about the exploits of a 12-year-old boy (Ed Oxenbould) as he experiences the seemingly worst day of his life. In a departure from the book, director Miguel Arteta and screenwriter Rob Lieber extend the mayhem to the boy’s parents (Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner) and siblings (Dylan Minnette, Kerris Dorsey, Elise and Zoey Vargas) so they, too, can feel what it’s like at the very bottom of the totem pole.

Amid relentless physical gags, a peeing baby and a vomiting teen-ager, there’s a small lesson here in how a family pulls together in the midst of adversity. Mild family discord, some bathroom humor, references to body parts. The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental

leaders.

What is one piece of technology that all churches and parishes should use? According to Hewitt, it’s Apple TV. “Electronic whiteboards cost around $3,000 or $4,000.

Apple TV costs $99,” Hewitt said.

He noted that the small box would allow mobile apps to work in Sunday School classrooms or during worship services to provide an interactive and personal atmosphere for attendants.

Hewitt closed his speech joking that he probably left the majority of those in the room with their heads spinning. But he was outlining the future of society and the implications for all those who will be around to see it. guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

“The Book of Life” (Fox) The “Day of the Dead,” the traditional Mexican method of observing All Souls Day, is the backdrop for this entertaining and visually stunning 3-D animated adventure directed and co-written by Jorge R. Gutierrez. A museum guide (voice of Christina Applegate) tells schoolchildren a fairy tale about two best friends (voices of Diego Luna and Channing Tatum) who compete for the affections of a beautiful woman (voice of Zoe Saldana). Their rivalry is witnessed — and influenced — by two gods, one (voice of Kate del Castillo) the overseer of a Heaven-like land of remembered souls, the other (voice of Ron Perlman) the ruler of a desolate world populated by forgotten spirits.

Although the film includes mythological aspects that might call for discussion with impressionable youngsters, its basic intentions do not conflict with Catholic teaching.

Instead it emphasizes the enduring bonds of family and the importance of praying for the deceased. Nonscriptural religious themes, some mildly scary sequences, occasional bathroom humor, a few very mild oaths in Spanish. The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

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October 24, 2014

The government and Marriage

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hen two people decide to get married, where at least one of the spouses is on federal subsidy because of a disability, the government has a tendency to cut benefits from the married couple based on income. Yet, if these same people decide to cohabitate, they get to keep all their money. Please keep in mind that if a couple decides to marry after living together, their expenses do not change.

They still eat the same food, put the same clothes on their back, clean their house the same way, pay their rent the same way, and shop for groceries the same way.

Let’s put this all in perspective. Yes, all of us have the right to make our own choices. At the same time, there is a portion of our population who choose to get married for the obvious reasons.

They should be able to marry without fear of losing money.

If the government thinks that it’s so terrible for people to depend on subsidy in order to run a household, then why don’t they take it away from people who cohabitate? I’m not saying it’s right or wrong

that the government uses in to cut federal subsidy from order to determine how much anybody, but it seems to me that the government is allow- subsidy to cut from married ing cohabitation more than it couples with disabilities keeps these couples way below the allows Marriage, based on its poverty level. actions.

I know couples with disWhile this is going on, the government is always encour- abilities who want to get married, but they are frightened. aged to separate church from state. I don’t think the government makes this separation here. To Catholics, Marriage is a Sacrament. To the government, where people

By Robert Branco with disabilities are concerned, it doesn’t seem to matter.

Persons with disabiliWhat if their benefits are ties who want to exercise the reduced? How could they surSacrament of Marriage will vive the Marriage, a Marriage be penalized for it. made in Heaven? I also knew I am blind, and I am also a couple who was engaged trying as hard as possible to for 10 years, with no intenget a job. Some day, I want tions of getting married. The to get married. I want to reason was very clear. They apply my moral beliefs and were afraid to marry because go through with it for all the benefits from one of the the right reasons. I wouldn’t spouses would be slashed. The want to stay single because a man, who passed away, was in system puts the fear of God in us. If I do marry, and if my a wheelchair, and the woman is legally blind. Neither one wife and I are subject to cuts, had a job at the time. I’ve how would we do it? I have even heard of couples who get figured out that the formula

Guest Columnist

divorced for financial reasons, and not because they were no longer in love. Is this how America should be? I say no.

Sure. If you want to cohabitate, it’s your right, but if you really want to get married, that is also your right.

I am asking people to help me send a message to either the federal government or my own state government, with concrete evidence as to why Marriages of persons with disabilities can’t survive the financial cuts that are forced on them.

It’s easy for someone to say, “Get a job.” Yes, we all want to work, but many of us are out of work, and not by our own choosing. So, while we are looking for work, we still have to eat, shop, put clothes on our backs, clean the house, pay rent, buy medicine, etc.

These needs do not stop just because we aren’t working yet.

It takes time, especially for those of us with disabilities, to get a job, even though we spend twice as much energy looking. People with disabili-

ties want to work as much as anyone else, and I’m sure that many of these people who are forced to receive federal assistance don’t want it. However, if the circumstances aren’t what we want them to be, life still must go on.

In closing, allow me to bring some scary irony to this discussion. In Massachusetts, whether it’s enforced or not, there is a law on the books forbidding lewd and lascivious cohabitation. Though no one is ever caught, that isn’t the point. It’s just ironic because these cohabitators appear to be rewarded by the government. So, in Massachusetts, couples with disabilities have two choices. Either they do something illegal or go broke.

If anyone has a comment, please email me at branco182@ verizon.net.

Robert Branco is a resident of New Bedford, a graduate of UMass Dartmouth, an author of several books, including his most recent, “My Home Away From Home: Life at Perkins School for the Blind,” and a columnist and media liaison for several publications for the blind.

Speaker talks to teens about virtue of chastity, calls purity ‘a gift’

FORT DODGE, Iowa (CNS) — Research shows that people who get married as virgins have a divorce rate about 70 percent lower than couples who don’t wait for Marriage to have sex, Jason Evert told a recent gathering of Iowa high school students.

“I know some of you are virgins and some of you are not.

Frankly I don’t care about what has happened in the past,” Evert told about 500 people at St. Edmond School in Fort Dodge for an annual youth rally sponsored by the Diocese of Sioux City.

Evert and his wife, Crystalina, are the founders of the Chastity Project. They both tour the United States and a number of other countries giving talks to teens about the virtue of chastity.

In his Iowa talk, Evert posed the question, “If you hope to get married, are you willing to love the person before you meet them?”

He set standards for what a couple should not do before they get married. He used his own Marriage as an example.

“You do not live together

before you get married,” said Evert, who added a lot of couples think they need to live together before Marriage to see if they are compatible. “If you are a guy and she’s a girl, you are not compatible.”

The second was not to sleep together before Marriage and the third was not to use birth control.

“Fertility is a gift. It is not a disease,” said Evert. “Safe sex is a joke. You are worth waiting for. Purity is gift. Go get pure.

Go to Confession. Never leave Mass. Get a Rosary and pray it every day.”

The speaker also addressed pornography, sexually transmitted diseases and dressing modestly. He told stories from his life and others he has encountered to present his points.

Marcus Johnson told The Catholic Globe, the diocesan newspaper, that Evert’s talk “opened my eyes up to Marriage and all the essential things that go along with Marriage.”

“It made me look at it in a different way,” added the senior from St. Malachy in Madrid. “I’m really glad that

I came.”

The theme for the rally was “Go, I send you, lead with joy,” which comes from Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation, “The Joy of the Gospel.”

Sean Martin, Sioux City’s diocesan director of New Evangelization, catechesis and family life, said the turnout for the rally “has been a blessing.”

He said it was important for the youth “to see other Catholics their age who want to practice their faith and who believe the same things.

For fellowship purposes, it is important for them to know they are not alone in their faith.”

Martin had three challenges for the youth at the start of the rally — have a living encounter with Jesus Christ and His Church, live the message of the New Evangelization and spread the Gospel with joy.

Sioux City Bishop R. Walker Nickless celebrated Mass for the high-schoolers to start off the day.

During his homily, the bishop called three students to the front and asked them about why they are Catholic and the

best and hardest aspects of being a Catholic.

“I look forward to this (the rally) every year,” said Bishop Nickless. “I thank you for giving up your Sunday to be here, but when you think about, it that’s what Sundays are for — the Lord. Today you are giving yourself to the Lord by celebrating the Eucharist, the most important thing you can do today or any day.”

He told the youth he was proud of them because “you make up the future of the Church and the presence of the Church right now. God wants your best efforts. He

wants you to make a difference in this world.”

Bishop Nickless was assisted at Mass by four diocesan seminarians. At the end of Mass, they shared what was difficult about making the decision to go to seminary and once they were there what made the difference. The seminarians were available throughout the day to answer any vocation questions.

The Thirsting, a Catholic alternative rock band from Portland, Ore., provided music throughout the day.

More information about the Chastity Project can be found at www.chastityproject.com.

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October 24, 2014

A tale of two cities: Success on ‘either side of the bridges’ continued from page one

St. Francis Xavier Preparatory School, a stone’s throw from each other on High School Road in Hyannis experienced a unification of their own.

The merger had major differences from the Taunton joint effort, but the successes have been similar.

“Our consistent approach since the outset has been that of two excellent programs united, yet distinct,” Head of School and High School Principal Christopher Keavy told The Anchor. “As such, our first goal has been to maintain the four-year program of St. Francis Xavier Preparatory School and the four-year program of Pope John Paul II High School in full.”

Unlike the Taunton effort, neither the JPII High School nor St. Francis school buildings were in need of renovations, since both were fully functioning prior to their joining forces.

The students have remained in their respective buildings, but various doors of opportunity have been

opened by the venture. “We have expanded opportunity for students in mathematics education, performing arts, athletics, and academic help,” said Keavy. “Advanced mathematics students study in honors courses at the high school.

Our performing arts program has been reorganized so that Sacred music is learned jointly even while our middle school and high school choirs perform other pieces separately.

High school student leaders now assist with middle school retreat programs. Informally our sports teams support one another and a real sense of unity has developed among students and parents.”

Keavy told The Anchor that this academic year seven teachers share assignments in the middle and high schools.

“This has proved to energize teachers and open up sharing among staff previously separate, in easy and organic ways,” he added.

In addition to the expanding of academic and extracurricular activities, the joint

This week in 50 years ago — The second annual Mass for physically, mentally and visually handicapped people of the Fall River Diocese was celebrated at St. William’s Church in Fall River.

25 years ago — Bishop Daniel A. Cronin blessed the interior of newly-renovated St. Jacques Church in Taunton within the context of a Mass, during which music was provided by the newly-reorganized St. Jacques Chorale.

venture has brought together students from both schools on an athletic level. “Middle school students are now able to participate with high school students, particularly in the sub-varsity level,” explained Keavy. “This results in increased opportunity in a dimension of life so important to students. We allow participation in sports such as swimming, sailing, and golf, for example, where there is a high school team and not a middle school team. In sports such as basketball, soccer and volleyball which are offered at the middle school level, we maintain those distinctions.

This is important for school unity and proper peer relationships and social development.”

With a year already in the books, faculty, staff, and parents have expressed positive feedback about the merger.

“Parents are happy to see that traditions they have come to know and love have continued,” Keavy told The Anchor. “Further, many families

Diocesan history

10 years ago — Bishop George W. Coleman blessed and dedicated the St. Catherine of Siena Unit at Marian Manor in Taunton for individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

One year ago — Nationally-known Pro-Life comedian Mike Williams performed at the fourth annual Celebrate Life Dinner at La Salette Shrine in Attleboro to benefit the Abundant Hope Pregnancy Resource Center.

have students in the middle school and high school and are pleased that there are new connections.”

Keavy is proud of the way the student populations of both schools have adapted to and adopted the changes.

“There’s a strong sense that our family has grown,” he said. “High school students look out for and support middle school students and middle school students take pride in the accomplishments of the high school. We’re seeing that JPII students see SFXP as their middle school and SFXP students see JPII as their high school.

“Students have adapted well and easily, which is no surprise because the unification of Pope John Paul II High School and St. Francis Xavier Preparatory School did not take anything away from two excellent schools but rather allows for more opportunities for students of both. A test of this has been a new daily schedule for both schools that we launched this fall.” Keavy added that the change “has been integrated smoothly.”

Like their Taunton counterparts, the joining of two educational entities didn’t come without hard work and dedication from the faculty, staff, students and families

involved.

“Now in year two I feel more adapted and comfortable with the changes in my responsibilities,” Keavy said.

“Obviously, prior to our unification, I was the high school Head of School and not directly connected to SFXP. With my new responsibilities as overall Head of School, I have come to know SFXP as I had not before. I’ve relied heavily on Beth Kelley, SFXP principal, and those teachers who share confidence in the vision of one school, united yet distinct. Former headmaster Robert Deburro worked hard to create an outstanding school, and as I have come to know SFXP, I see that this sturdy accomplishment honors his vision and hard work.”

The mergers in Hyannis and Taunton were different in the needs and approaches, yet the outcomes have been similarly positive. Two schools with long, storied histories “west of the bridges,” and two comparatively younger institutions “across the bridges,” have proved to all in the diocese that change for the better is a matter of cooperation, planning and hard work.

That bodes well for the future of Catholic education in the Diocese of Fall River no matter what side of the bridges one resides.

Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha installation DVD now available The September 24 Mass of Installation of the Most Rev. Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., as eighth Bishop of Fall River is now available on DVD from the Diocesan Office of Communications. Cost of the DVD is $25 and includes postage cost.

To order one, please send a check in that amount payable to the Office of Communications to this address: Diocesan Office of Communications, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, Mass. 02722.

Kindly note Installation Mass DVD on the memo line of the check.

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October 24, 2014

Wareham parish next to launch its own Day of Evangelization continued from page one

con Murphy, adding that once he settled into a pew for Mass, his nervousness continued to put him on edge. “My mind is racing and my heart is starting to pump,” he recalled, “and I realize that I’m really doing this.”

Drawing on his experience as a businessman, Deacon Murphy acknowledged how difficult “cold calls” are, so he knew that doing “cold calls” at doors would be challenging “but the church was filled with people” and he felt the support of the parish community. His anxiety didn’t diminish after Mass as he followed the large group down to the basement to register, be partnered up, given maps and bags, and then set forth.

“It seemed like forever, and now I’m going to have a heart attack,” said Deacon Murphy of the large number of people, some of whom came from Rhode Island to participate.

Being a last minute walk-in, Deacon Murphy said he had to wait a while before being able to register, but it was when he was finally partnered with a woman from Attleboro that he said he felt the Holy Spirit guiding him, as he and the woman drove to their mapped out area and she shared with him that she had felt so anxious and overwhelmed that she had almost left before being partnered with him.

“I told her I had felt the same way!” laughed Deacon Murphy. “It just all worked out.

Once we got to our designated neighborhood and had gotten to know each other, we relaxed a bit.”

The final bits of his anxiety washed away as soon as he knocked on the first door; “I can’t describe it but it will be the most incredible experience you will ever have, just to see what and who will be on the other side of that door, and to see where the Holy Spirit is going to lead you,” said Deacon Murphy. “It is so beautiful.”

Twenty-four hours later, Deacon Murphy came into the church to get ready for morning Mass “just full of life” and told everyone about his experience; “I just kept going on, and so much so, that [Father Sullivan] made it a part of his homily. I knew that we were going to have one of these, then,” he said.

Deacon Murphy waited until after his ordination to begin the process of organizing the event, and Father Sullivan would work into his homi-

lies the message of spreading the Word of God through a Day of Evangelization. Deacon Murphy said he’s received a tremendous amount of help from Sister Catherine Lamb of the Missionary Sisters of the Blessed Trinity, who offered her help, telling him: “‘This is what our order is about; it’s about evangelization and going out to people,’” said Deacon Murphy. “With her help, we’ve really gotten the nuts and bolts in planning the day, what it involves; we even have one of her Sisters, Sister Barbara de Moranville, M.S.B.T., coming in from Philadelphia to help us. She’s done this herself and explains the rubrics after Mass and explains to people what’s going on.”

St. Patrick’s will be meeting at 7:40 a.m. at the church to say the Rosary, with Mass scheduled at 8 a.m. Breakfast will be provided as instructions, assignments and blessings of the parish welcome bags are done. By 10:30 a.m. and for the next two hours, volunteers will be going two-by-two to their

mapped out area to visit the homes of Catholics registered at St. Patrick’s. After returning to the church, lunch will be provided as witnesses share his or her experiences.

Each home visit will have only one member talk while the other prays, said Deacon Murphy. If no one is home, then a welcome bag will be hung on the door. Along with information about St. Patrick’s including a letter from Father Sullivan, the welcome bag will also have additional pamphlets from the Paulists Fathers offering general information about the Catholic Church.

Initially, there was a lukewarm reaction to the Day of Evangelization by parishioners; “They were all skeptical. Almost 100 percent the response was, ‘Are we Jehovah Witnesses?’” said Deacon Murphy. “The first months with all this publicity, you had the really faithful who were on board, but it has taken time [for others]. Everyone had really prayed and thought about this.”

The motives for signing up

to walk door-to-door vary, said Deacon Murphy, citing how one woman, who has been praying for years for her children to come back to the faith, is using the Day of Evangelization to prove to God that she is not just talk and prayer, but is willing to step up and play a more active role.

Currently the effort has 32 door-to-door volunteers with additional individuals doing the food and other duties like stuffing the bags; Deacon Murphy hopes to pull in a few more to get at least 40 door-to-door volunteers on his list to give him 20 teams. Out of this, Deacon Murphy wants to eventually reach out to all Catholics, not just in Wareham but also beyond, and “have a fully established and active committee that can take this and run with

this,” he said.

Right now the buzz is in the air, said Deacon Murphy, and “you can feel the excitement” at the parish over the upcoming day.

“I tell people, this is the ultimate — this is the real test of faith,” he said. “Right now I know people are prayerful, do other ministries, but this is the initial ministry that Jesus had given to all of us. Even if it’s a personal anxiety for you to get over, to do this for the Lord and to be out there in true mission world is just immense and you will be so filled. The words and the prayers will come to you.”

Walk-ins are welcome but interested parties can register early. Those wanting more information on registering can call St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham at 508-295-2411.

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Youth Pages

Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students from Holy Name School in Fall River recently visited the Stanley Street Fire Station. Firefighter Ken tried to join the kindergarten students in their line, teasing the students about his height.

Sixth-grader Grace Felix designed a family crest with her grandparents, Michele and Dick Wilcox, at the recent Grandparents Day at St. Pius X School in South Yarmouth.

Students in the Running Club from St. James-St. John School in New Bedford get limbered up before a run.

From left, Bishop Connolly High School Principal Christopher Myron, Allison Sasse, tournament founder Mary-Jane Keyes, and Makensie Brown, recently gathered on the greens at the 2014 Bishop Connolly Alumni Golf Tournament at The Acoaxet Club in Westport. The annual benefit raises money to support the school’s Thomas P. Keyes Memorial Scholarships, which have been awarded to Connolly students for the past 23 years. This year’s Keyes scholarship recipients include Sasse, Brown, and Mitchell Riel.

October 24, 2014

Students from St. Francis Xavier School in Acushnet enjoyed their annual Fall Family Fun Night. The event is organized by the School Events Committee with assistance from the middle school students.

Families came together to enjoy each other’s company in a carnival setting at the school with food, music, a photo booth, games, prizes and much more.

Sixth-grade students from St. Mary’s School in Mansfield are participating in the “Journey North” project. Students will follow the migration of Monarch butterflies to Mexico and back north to New England.

October 24, 2014

W

hat kind of a Church are we? I’m often asked that question by youth, especially in regards to the difference between being Christian and being Catholic. Being Catholic is being Christian, a follower of Christ who has been entrusted to continue His mission. Yes, we are called to be His disciples.

As a Catholic Church there are four marks that define who we are: We are “One” — the faithful united into one communion of believers; We are “Holy” — Jesus, the Source of all holiness calls us all to holiness; We are “Catholic” — Christ is universally present in the Church, we are His Body; we are “Apostolic” — Christ entrusted His church to His Apostles and they have handed it on to us. It is this fourth mark of the Church I want to talk about today.

What does it mean to us, as a Church, to be apostolic? First of all, it doesn’t mean that only priests and bishops have been entrusted to

Youth Pages Take ownership carry out Christ’s mission. We have with you every second. Don’t worry all been given that responsibility. about what might go wrong or what Each of us needs to take ownership your friends might say. Trust God of the unique gift that God gave us enough to face problems as they to “go and make disciples of all the come, instead of making problems to nations” (Mt worry about.

28:19). This In other is evangelizawords, take tion. This is ownership spreading and of the faith sharing the given to you Word of God. and trust God

By Ozzie Pacheco And this is completely. what being In doing this Christian and God will help Catholic means. you to make good and wise choices, So how do you do it, you ask? Be and most importantly, choices that bold! Let God do His work through are holy. you. “For I am the Lord, your God, As I was collecting my thoughts Who grasps your right hand; it is I for this article, I read a story in the Who says to you, ‘do not fear, I will latest all *you periodical that reinhelp you’” (Is 41:13). To be an apforced my trust in God. Ten years ostolic Church means every day is ago Barbara was diagnosed with an adventure, and God wants you to stage four ovarian cancer. Her doctor live it to the fullest. He asks you to didn’t give her any treatment options. be bold and courageous. He is there He basically told her there was no hope. Barbara told her doctor: “You don’t know my God,” and found herself another doctor. She wanted to live. Barbara kept her faith strong by praying daily. It gave her strength to work through everything. She often said, “Praying might not change the situation, but it can change your per-

Be Not Afraid

St. Vincent’s Home in Fall River has received a grant from the Sisters of Mercy Ministry Fund Council for the Life Skills Program. Here, from left, Mercy Sisters Elaine Marchand, Catherine Donovan, and Bernadetta Ryan, review the Life Skills Grant Award Letter.

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spective.” Barbara went on to mentor newly-diagnosed cancer patients, watch her daughters graduate from college and become a grandmother of three. For 10 years Barbara took ownership of her condition and met the challenge. She did not put her life on hold. Sadly, Barbara passed away recently. But, her undying hope and unshakable faith left her family, and us, an example of how we all need to put our faith and trust in God. Can God count on you to do His work of life? Or will you put your life, and God, on hold? We busy ourselves with so many things for the sake of enjoyment and accomplishment. But, what exactly are we enjoying and accomplishing? Our world makes an idol out of busyness. “The busier I am, the better I must be” is a lie that comes from the world. It’s time to slow down and take God off hold. Take ownership of what matters most.

Spend time in His presence and be in communion with all the faithful.

Spend time in His peace and be holy.

Spend time in His love and shower the world with this gift. This is being apostolic. Hand it on! God bless!

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

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

St. Vincent’s Home receives funding from Sisters of Mercy

FALL RIVER — St. Vincent’s Home has received funding in the amount of $9,000 from the Northeast Mercy Ministry Fund Council of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. Youth in St. Vincent’s Life Skills Program will directly benefit from the grant award through assistance with transitions to independent living and young adulthood, specific school-to-work experiences, and opportunities to learn the necessary skills to live independently as well as to complete their education.

St. Vincent’s youth participate in an assessment of interests to better identify strengths and weaknesses. Youth receive job coaching, career development and learn valuable employment skills at work-based learning sites throughout the community. Youth are encouraged to establish meaningful, sustained connections with supportive adults and community organizations which promote

a successful transition to independent living.

St. Vincent’s board member and Sister of Mercy Catherine Donovan, noted, “St. Vincent’s Life Skills Program upholds the Mission of the Sisters of Mercy by addressing the needs of people who are materially poor, empowering them to achieve lives of dignity.”

St. Vincent’s executive director, Jack Weldon stated, “We are grateful for the funding from the Sisters of Mercy and the Mercy Ministry Fund Council which empowers youth to become equipped with the skills necessary to transition to independent living as productive young adults in today’s complex society.”

The Northeast Mercy Ministry Fund Council funding will be used to provide youth with vocational stipends for work completed at work-based learning sites throughout the community.

The Knights of Columbus Council No. 86 recently awarded achievement scholarships during a family luncheon at White’s of Westport. This marked the eighth year of awarding scholarships and its 120th anniversary as a council. Seven $500 and one $1,000 scholarships were awarded to students of Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth and Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River. The scholarships are in memory of past Grand Knights of the council. The recipients were, seated from left: Mary Mahoney-Pacheco and Breonna Diniz; and standing, from left: Michael Santos, Jarod Aguiar, Anthony Mahoney-Pacheco, past Grand Knight Paul Sardinha, current Grand Knight George Pais; Matthew Diniz, Nathan Diniz, and Evan O’Connell.

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October 24, 2014 “(The Holy Cross Congrewhere many special campus celebrations are held, such as gation) is very intentional in the Christmas Eve Liturgy and its articulation and expression tar,” Father Kruse said. “Father other holy days. of faith, of belief, of prayer, of John Denning and I looked at Before the Chapel of Mary worship, of a sense of the Sacit several times and finally de- opened in 1978, the college’s ramental, and I think that’s recided on this arrangement to main chapel had been located flected not just in the chapels bring people closer to the altar. in a cramped converted base- themselves, but also in the small I think it works out well. And ment storage room in the Duffy touches,” McGovern said. “It we brightened the chapel, as Academic Center. During uses religious art with a delicate well, to give it a warmer feel- crowded weekend Liturgies, touch, but it’s a powerful one.” ing.”

The newest of Stonehill’s students sometimes fainted and According to Martin Mc- a Campus Ministry report not- chapels, opened in 2010, is — Govern, director of commu- ed, “A tall man can hardly stand appropriately enough — locatnications for Stonehill Col- erect without fear of bumping ed on the fourth floor of New lege, the Our Lady of Sorrows his head on a low ceiling.”

Hall, one of the campus dorms.

Chapel is also the home to Named in honor of the first In the wake of 9/11, in daily morning Masses during which three alumni and one member of the Holy Cross the academic year and hosts a Holy Cross priest was killed, Congregation to be canonmonthly Mass of alumni inten- the Stonehill community gath- ized, the St. André Bessette tions on the third Thursday of ered inside the Chapel of Mary Chapel can accommodate 50 every month. to share in their grief and soli- worshippers and serves the 250 “Then there would be spe- darity. student-residents who, day or cial occasions where it might be Located between the head- night, can take advantage of its called into play,” he added. quarters of Holy Cross Family location for a moment away for Noting that the mission Ministries and the Holy Cross quiet reflection or prayer. of Stonehill College and its Center residence for priests “This is in the heart of a founding order has always been along the Washington Street 250-student residence hall,” “to educate both the mind and side of campus is the Chapel of McGovern said. “The vice the heart,” McGovern said the St. Joseph, the Worker. president for mission, Father predominance of campus chaFirst opened in 1962, the James Lies, C.S.C., lives here pels shouldn’t be surprising.

European-style chapel boasts and it wouldn’t be unusual for “One of the goals of the large, carved wooden doors fea- him to celebrate Mass here on (college) has been to develop turing St. Joseph and the mem- a regular basis. Once again, it’s an appreciation for Sacred bers of the Holy Family on one integrated into the fabric of spaces and to ensure there are panel and the Blessed Mother residential life on campus.”

Sacred spaces and that they are and Baby Jesus on the other.

In the corner of the chapel acknowledged and accessible,” Although used primarily by is a small bronze statue of St. McGovern said. “We hope they Holy Cross Family Ministries André, the humble doorkeeper have an atmosphere of welcome and the priests in residence, who ministered to the sick and and that they’re integrated into students often use the smaller needy of Montreal at St. Jothe life of the institution and back chapel, which can easily seph’s Oratory. the life of the people who live accommodate 30 or more for “I think it’s clear that the here, work here and study here. regular Tuesday-night Mass chapels and their design are not They’re not incidental.” celebrations. Lined with long brash — they are very underAs if to emphasize the point, benches and chairs, students stated,” McGovern said. “And one of the largest chapels is often prefer sitting on the car- in their understatement they located at the virtual heart of peted floor. are very deliberate.”

Stonehill’s campus.

The 225-seat Chapel of Mary, Mother of the Church, offers a spacious hexagonshaped interior, a handcrafted church organ, and beautiful stained-glass windows. This warm and inviting space for worship and reflection plays a major role in the Spiritual life of the college and remains a popular venue for alumni weddings and celebrations.

“The sense of the aesthetic is important, because one of the things that we want as a liberal arts college is to make sure that everything from the artistic to the Spiritual aesthetic to the sublime has a place and is nurtured and encouraged,” McGovern said. “You just can’t be utilitarian and I think that’s something we’ve been trying to achieve (with the chapels).”

The Chapel of Mary also hosts special Sunday night Masses, which are organized by The oldest of the four main campus chapels, the 40-seat Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel is located on the first floor of Donahue Hall, Stonestudents with the student choir hill College’s central administration building. (Photo by Nicki Pardo) providing music, and it is also

Chapel picking: A tour of Stonehill College’s ‘Sacred spaces’ continued from page one

it might be held in this chapel, along with the Chapel of Mary, which is the main chapel at the center of campus,” Father Kruse said.

Originally used as a seminarians’ chapel for future Holy Cross priests in the days before Stonehill was formally established in 1948, the Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel is so-named for the congregation’s patroness.

“Our Lady of Sorrows is the patroness of the entire (Holy Cross) congregation,” Father Kruse told The Anchor, adding that people often mistakenly refer to them as the Congregation of the Holy Cross.

“Our congregation was founded in a suburb of Le Mans, France, where the great 24-hour race is held every year,” Father Kruse explained. “And this suburb was called Sainte Croix, Holy Cross. So we are not the Congregation of Holy Cross, we are the Congregation from Holy Cross — that is our Latin title: Congregatio de Sancta Cruce. And I kind of like that (distinction) because it gives an emphasis to place: where you’re from.”

Even after 50 years as a faculty member, it’s clear Father Kruse still enjoys sharing his vast knowledge of the college’s rich history.

He explained how the Donahue Administration Building was originally a private mansion purchased from the Ames family in 1934 and how it was later named for Father James W. Donahue, C.S.C., the superior general of the Congregation in the 1920s and 1930s and, more importantly, the man responsible for first bringing the order to the Fall River Diocese.

“Until then, the congregation was much more concentrated around Notre Dame and Indiana,” Father Kruse said. “(Father Donahue) was very eager to see us become established in the eastern United States. He also happened to be good friends with Bishop James E. Cassidy — they were close — and so it was the Fall River Diocese that he settled on.”

Recently renovated and reconfigured to better accommodate students, the Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel still retains the original stained-glass windows from the seminary days along with the colorful ceramic Stations of the Cross that resemble the style of Italian artist Della Robbia.

“The altar used to be at the far end and the seats were arranged (the long way), pretty deep going back — but (the seats were) very far from the al-

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October 24, 2014

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese Acushnet — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Monday from 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Tuesday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Evening prayer and Benediction is held Monday through Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

ATTLEBORO — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the St. Joseph Adoration Chapel at Holy Ghost Church, 71 Linden Street, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

ATTLEBORO — The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette holds Eucharistic Adoration in the Shrine Church every Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. through November 17.

ATTLEBORO — There is a weekly Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration Thursdays from 5:30 to 6:30 pm at St. John the Evangelist Church on N. Main St. Brewster — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the La Salette Chapel in the lower level of Our Lady of the Cape Church, 468 Stony Brook Road, on First Fridays beginning at noon until 7:45 a.m. First Saturday, concluding with Benediction and concluding with Mass at 8 a.m. buzzards Bay — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Margaret Church, 141 Main Street, Monday through Saturday, from 6:30 to 8 a.m.; and every first Friday from noon to 8 a.m. on Saturday.

East Freetown — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. John Neumann Church every Monday (excluding legal holidays) 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Our Lady, Mother of All Nations Chapel. (The base of the bell tower).

EAST TAUNTON — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the chapel at Holy Family Parish Center, 438 Middleboro Avenue, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. On First Fridays, Eucharistic Adoration takes place at Holy Family Church, 370 Middleboro Avenue, from 8:30 a.m. until 7:45 p.m.

FAIRHAVEN — St. Mary’s Church, Main St., has Eucharistic Adoration every Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the Chapel of Reconciliation, with Benediction at 11:30 a.m. Also, there is a First Friday Mass each month at 7 p.m., followed by a Holy Hour with Eucharistic Adoration. Refreshments follow.

Fall River — Espirito Santo Parish, 311 Alden Street, Fall River. Eucharistic Adoration on Mondays following the 8 a.m. Mass until Rosary and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.

FALL RIVER — St. Bernadette’s Church, 529 Eastern Ave., has continuous Eucharistic Adoration from 8 a.m. on Thursday until 8 a.m. on Saturday.

FALL RIVER — St. Anthony of the Desert Church, 300 North Eastern Avenue, has Eucharistic Adoration Mondays and Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

FALL RIVER — Holy Name Church, 709 Hanover Street, has Eucharistic Adoration Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Our Lady of Grace Chapel.

FALL RIVER — Good Shepherd Parish has Eucharistic Adoration every Friday following the 8 a.m. Mass and concluding with 3 p.m. Benediction in the Daily Mass Chapel. A bilingual holy hour takes place from 2 to 3 p.m.

Park behind the church and enter the back door of the connector between the church and the rectory.

Falmouth — St. Patrick’s Church has Eucharistic Adoration each First Friday, following the 9 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 4:30 p.m. The Rosary is recited Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.

MANSFIELD — St. Mary’s Parish, 330 Pratt Street, has Eucharistic Adoration every First Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with Benediction at 5:45 p.m.

MASHPEE — Christ the King Parish, Route 151 and Job’s Fishing Road has 8:30 a.m. Mass every First Friday with special intentions for Respect Life, followed by 24 hours of Eucharistic Adoration in the Chapel, concluding with Benediction Saturday morning followed immediately by an 8:30 Mass.

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.

Please use the side entrance.

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 — St. Lawrence Martyr Parish, 565 County Street, holds Eucharistic Adoration in the side chapel from 7:30-11:45 a.m. ending with a simple Benediction NORTH DARTMOUTH — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Julie Billiart Church, 494 Slocum Road, every Tuesday from 7 to 8 p.m., ending with Benediction. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available at this time.

NORTH DIGHTON — Eucharistic Adoration takes place every Wednesday following 8:00 a.m. Mass and concludes with Benediction at 5 p.m. Eucharistic Adoration also takes place every First Friday at St. Nicholas of Myra Church, 499 Spring Street following the 8 a.m. Mass, ending with Benediction at 6 p.m. The Rosary is recited Monday through Friday from 7:30 to 8 a.m.

OSTERVILLE — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 76 Wianno Avenue on First Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to noon.

SEEKONK ­— Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish has perpetual Eucharistic Adoration seven days a week, 24 hours a day in the chapel at 984 Taunton Avenue. For information call 508-336-5549.

Taunton — Eucharistic Adoration takes place every Tuesday at St. Anthony Church, 126 School Street, following the 8 a.m. Mass with prayers including the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for vocations, concluding at 6 p.m. with Chaplet of St. Anthony and Benediction. Recitation of the Rosary for peace is prayed Monday through Saturday at 7:30 a.m. prior to the 8 a.m.

Mass.

Taunton — Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament takes place every First Friday at Annunciation of the Lord, 31 First Street. Exposition begins following the 8 a.m. Mass. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed, and Adoration will continue throughout the day. Confessions are heard from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. Rosary and Benediction begin at 6:30 p.m.

WAREHAM — Eucharistic Adoration at St. Patrick’s Church begins each Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. and ends on Friday night at midnight. Adoration is held in our Adoration Chapel in the lower Parish Hall. ~ PERPETUAL EUCHARISTIC ADORATION ~ East Sandwich — The Corpus Christi Parish Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, East Sandwich. Use the Chapel entrance on the side of the church.

NEW BEDFORD — Our Lady’s Chapel, 600 Pleasant Street, offers Eucharistic Adoration seven days a week, 24 hours a day. For information call 508-996-8274.

SEEKONK ­— Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish has perpetual Eucharistic Adoration seven days a week, 24 hours a day in the chapel at 984 Taunton Avenue. For information call 508-336-5549.

WEST HARWICH — Our Lady of Life Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Holy Trinity Parish, 246 Main Street (Rte. 28), holds perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. We are a regional chapel serving all of the surrounding parishes. All are invited to sign up to cover open hours. For open hours, or to sign up call 508-430-4716.

Rev. Dr. Robert P. Lawrence to speak at area men’s First Friday Club

FALL RIVER — Rev. Dr. Robert Lawrence, pastor emeritus and former senior minister of the First Congregational Church in Fall River, will speak at the historic Fall River Area Men’s First Friday Club following a 6 p.m.

Mass at St. Joseph’s Church on North Main Street in Fall River on November 7. The Mass is open to the public. Reservations for the hot meal from White’s of Westport following the Mass served in the church hall and to listen to Rev. Lawrence must be made with Daryl Gonyon at 508-6724822.

Lawrence is completing a 60-year ministry, having served churches in Little Compton, R.I., and Fall River. He is responsible for beginning the Pastoral Care Department at Charlton Memorial Hospital.

He also served as chaplain aboard the ocean liners Queen Elizabeth II and the Queen Mary II and served as chaplain for U.S. Summer and Winter Olympic Games.

Lawrence championed efforts to remove more than 3,000 guns from the streets of Fall River, create the first Fall River Police K-9 Unit, and purchase public safety equipment, such as defibrillators.

In January 2014, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth announced it had received an anonymous $1.14 million donation in honor of Rev. Lawrence and his contribution to community, church, and his fellow man.

“He’s a chaplain’s chaplain,” said a fellow ordained minister. “It

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks 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 Oct. 27 Rev. Francisco L. Jorge, Assistant, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, New Bedford, 1918 Rev. Edmond L. Dickinson, Assistant, St. Mathieu, Fall River, 1967 Rev. Joseph F. O’Donnell, Retired Pastor, Immaculate Conception, North Easton, 1990 Oct. 28 Rev. Alfred E. Coulombe, Pastor, St. George, Westport, 1923 Rev. Stanislaus Kozikowski, OFM Conv., Pastor, St. Hedwig, New Bedford, 1956 Oct. 30 Msgr. Robert L. Stanton, Retired Pastor, St. Paul, Taunton, 1992 Rev. Denis Sughrue, CSC, Director of Postulancy, Holy Cross Novitiate, North Dartmouth, 2002

doesn’t matter to Bob if a person is down and out or if they are in the highest office. He’s a man for all people.”

As for why he continues with his crusade of community involvement, Lawrence recalled an episode that occurred 65 years ago. He was in a restaurant in Washington, D.C., and ordered a coffee. It was during World War II and there were rations on several items, one of which was sugar.

Lawrence received one packet of sugar and asked the waitress for more.

To this day, he will never forget her response.

“She told me, ‘No. Stir up what you’ve got,”’ said Lawrence. “That really made an impact on me.”

Lawrence has been stirring things up ever since, and it’s the local community that is better because of it.

Rev. Lawrence has a special interest in autographs of prominent people from the area that have contributed to the history of the community. This will be the subject of his presentation to the Men’s First Friday Club.

Around the Diocese A Mass of Healing will be celebrated October 28 at 6 p.m. at Our Lady of Victory Parish, 230 South Main Street in Centerville. If you are coping with any physical illness, dealing with worries, fears or anxieties, struggling with a life crisis or just feeling lost Spiritually, then come join this special Mass of Healing to pray for these concerns. Immediately following the Mass, the Cancer Support Group will meet in the parish center and everyone is welcome to attend. For more information call 508-362- 6909.

The women’s guild at St. John Neumann Parish, 257 Middleboro Road in East Freetown, will host its annual Christmas Bazaar in the parish hall on November 1 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. This one-day bazaar will feature a variety of booths, sure to interest all tastes, including gift basket raffles, home-baked goods, a Chinese auction, antiques and collectibles. A hearty homemade lunch will also be served and admission is free.

A Day With Mary will be held at St. Kilian’s Parish, 306 Ashley Boulevard, New Bedford on November 1 from 7:50 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. It will include a video presentation, procession and crowning of the Blessed Mother with Mass and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. There is an opportunity for Reconciliation and a bookstore is available. Please bring a bag lunch. For more information, call 508-996-8274.

Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish will host its annual Holiday Fair on November 7 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on November 8 from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the church hall, Coyle Drive off Route 152 in Seekonk. Super raffles include an Apple iPad Air, 46-inch Samsung LED smart HDTV, scratch tickets, “Kim’s Special Raffles,” famous “Baskets Galore,” and more! There will also be jewelry, hand-knit and sewn items, Christmas items, adults and kids instant win, toys, and more for sale. Enjoy home-baked goods, fudge, candy and meat pies. “Louise’s Café” will be open both days, so plan to stop by and indulge.

St. Anthony of Padua Parish in New Bedford is having its annual Holiday Bazaar on November 8 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on November 9 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the parish hall at 1359 Acushnet Avenue (Nye Street entrance). Admission is free and the bazaar will feature homemade crafts, Chinese auction and assorted raffles, along with full-course meals, baked goods and meat pies. For more information call 508993-1691.

St. Mary’s Parish, 106 Illinois Street in New Bedford, is hosting its annual Holiday Fair on November 8 from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on November 9 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The fair will feature a full kitchen, crafts, bake table, white elephant table, Chinese auction, and much more. For more information contact Linda at 508-995-4166.

A Healing Mass will be celebrated on November 13 at St. Anthony of Padua Parish, 1359 Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford. The Mass will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will include Benediction and healing prayers. At 5:15 p.m. there will be a holy hour, including the Rosary. For more information call 508-993-1691 or visit www. saintanthonynewbedford.com.

The Diocesan Marriage Preparation Program is looking for married couples who would like to enrich their Marriage while helping engaged couples prepare for their lifetime together. There is also a Re-Marriage Prep Program for couples entering their second Marriages. If you are interested in sharing the joys and challenges of married life, please contact your pastor or the Diocesan Office of Faith Formation at 508-678-2828 or email cmcmanus@dfrcs.org.

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his October has provided quite a few days that were more summer-like than autumn. Not wanting to waste such gifts, Denise, Emilie, Igor and I like to take advantage of those times by extending our deck time as far into the year as possible.

Last Saturday, I had the afternoon to myself and following the completion of a few chores, I planned on settling into

October 24, 2014

No one could do a thing about it

an afternoon (into the evening) day of watching one of my favorite things: college football. That’s usually just a precursor to the next day when I spend the afternoon (into the late night) watching another of my favorite things: pro football.

But last Saturday was one of those anti-autumn days and Igor and I opted to spend the afternoon on the deck.

I hooked up my Bluetooth speaker to listen to my favorite all-time artist, the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan, for a few hours of sweet Blues music.

The day was spectacular. After an hour or so a cloud bank started to roll past in the deep blue sky above me. I don’t know why, but I watched the approaching formation as it slowly drifted above.

Shortly after, in the middle of the formation appeared a break in the clouds allowing the sun to brighten up some of the areas of the billowy bunch.

As I watched, a cross formed in the clouds. I quickly grabbed my phone and snapped a picture. The image only lasted about five seconds, but it was one of those instances I mentioned in my last column of God subtlety telling me, “Hey, I’m here,” and usBy Dave Jolivet ing one of His children’s (Bob Marley) lyrics, “Every little thing’s going to be alright.”

I immediately posted the photo on Facebook and just as quickly started getting “likes” on it.

As I continued to watch the cloud bank heading eastward, I also started to think (it happens).

There, up in the heavens, the Almighty sent me, and through the photo, others as well, a little reminder He’s always there for us — and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

The leader of our country couldn’t send Air Force One into the clouds to disrupt the image.

The state legislature couldn’t file a bill disallowing such cloud formations to occur over the Commonwealth’s skies.

A group looking out for Americans’ “civil liberties” couldn’t sue the meteorological society for allowing a religious image to appear in the heavens.

ISIS couldn’t fire a surface-to-air missile into the formation hoping to obliterate the reminder of Christ’s Sacrifice for

My View From the Stands

all mankind, including them.

The highest court in the land couldn’t be asked to make judgment on whether the cloud formation was constitutional or not.

I know that across this great country, and across the world, there are people, organizations and governments that want to squelch the existence of God into oblivion. In many instances these sad souls accomplish their objectives using the methods that are available to them.

However, what we should all keep in mind is that they will never completely attain the goal. They will never stop God from showing His glorious Face whenever and wherever He so chooses.

There are times when we can become frustrated, and worse, some lose their homes or lives because of evil people, but evil will never prevail.

God can choose to give us a boost in the face of a newborn, in the embrace of a loved one, in the wag of a dog’s tail, in the quiet of a holy chapel, in the witness of a retreat team member, or even in a cloud formation or stumbling upon a scene from “Evan Almighty” on TV. Despite the times that I, and likely others as well, feel that God is nowhere to be found, He is there — waiting to for us to find Him. It’s not a game of “Where’s Waldo,” it’s just a matter of faith.

Last Saturday I was on the deck with my dog, simply digging some fine Blues and some fine weather when God made an appearance — for me. And if He does it for me, He does it for everyone.

Keep the faith despite, and in spite of, those who try to take it away. It’s OK to keep your head in the clouds, because sometimes God is there too.

Dave Jolivet can be contacted at davejolivet@anchornews.org.

While lazing on my deck last Saturday afternoon, a cloud bank rolled through the area. I glanced up and saw the above image. I was able to snap a picture of it with my phone. The image, which lasted only a couple of seconds, is just one of those life moments when the Good Lord reminds us, “Every little thing is going to be all right!” (Photo

by Dave Jolivet)