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FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FFORSOUTH拢AST MA$SACHUSETTS CAPE COD &. THE ISLANDS VOL. 38, NO. 42
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Friday, October 28, 1994
F ALL RIVER, MASS.
Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
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511 Per Year
Bishops' statements on Nov. 8 election The four Roman Catholic bishops of Massachusetts, Boston Cardinal Bernard Law; Worcester Bishop Timothy Harrington; Fall Rh'er Bishop Sean O'Malley; and Most Reverend Thomas Dupre, administrator of the Diocese of Springfield, have issued two statements regarding the ~ov. 8 general election. They follow:
PRE-EJLECTION STATEMENT In many parts of the world, people struggle for the right to vote and prize this right as a sign of a free democratic society. Paradoxically, so many in the United States who enjoy the right to vote, do not exercise it. On Tuesday, Novernber8th, the people of Massachusetts will have the opportunity to exercise their most precious right as citizens, the right to vote. We urge every registered voter to exercise this right. Each voter has the moral responsibility to vote in an informed and responsible manner. Voters should judge candidates by their positions on issues that affect the local city or town, the state, the nation and the world. They should be aware of where candidates stand on issues of justice and equity. Candidates should have a strqng commitment to the dignity and the sanctity of life in all its phases. Since the foundation of society is the family, candidates must be willing to create and protect the conditions that foster family life and values. . All of us must be k(:enly mindful of our simultaneous right and duty to vote. We appeal to all citizens to vote on November 8th. May God help us all to be active, faithful citizens.
STATEMENT ON BALLOT QUESTIONS Ballot questions call for voters' serious consideration. Voters have a responsibility to inform themselves with reference to these questions and to vote on them as their consciences dictate. All citizens should be mindful of their obligation to vote freely in the interest of advancing the common good. Two of the 1994 ballot questions have evoked our particular concern and summon our expressed position. They are Question #5 and Question #1. Turn to Page 12
Bishop Regan, Fairhaven native, dead at 89 Bishop Joseph Regan, a native of Fairhaven and a veteran China and Philippine missioner, died of cancer, Monday, Oct. 24 at San Pedro Hospital, Davao City, Philippines'. He was 89, and a Maryknoll priest for 65 years, the longest missionary career of any Maryknoller in the 83-year history of the Society, Bishop Scan O'Malley has offered condolences to Bishop Regan's relatives and friends and to the priests of the Fall River diocese who were close to him. The bishop will include a special remembrance of the Maryknoll missioner at the Mass for deceased priests he will offer at 12:05 p. m. Monday, Nov. 7, at St. Mary's Cathedral, Fall River.
"Super 1.010" For the past <I I years Bishop Regan had been a constant presence in the Philippines, continuing to live and work there long after his official retirement in 1980. He outlasted a number of governments and revolutions in the island country, and was almost always in the midst of political unrest. To the Filipinos he became known as "Lolo," or grandfather, and the title of "Super Lolo" was
given him by Bishop Gaudencio Rosales of Malaybalay. He gained such wide respect that once, when bandits who had stopped him on the road recognized him, they exclaimed, "It's Lolo!" and asked for a blessing. Joseph William Regan was born AprilS, 1905, in Fairhaven, the son of William D. and Mary McFarlane Regan. His younger sister, Sister Rita Marie Regan, M.M., 87, served in South China and Taiwan most of her life, and is now in retirement at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Maryknoll, NY. She is attending her brother's funeral in the Philippines. The bishop's father was a railroad car inspector for the New York-New Haven Railroad, and the family moved many times during Bishop Regan's early life. He attended St. Joseph's parochial school in Fairhaven and graduated from Fairhaven High School in June, 1921. In June, 1925, he grad uated from Boston College, then studied at St. Bernard's Seminary in Rochester, N.Y., as a candidate for the Fall River Diocese, before entering Maryknoll in Septern bel' of 1927 Turn to Page 12
Mansfield parish to mark centennial Sunday will be a once-in-a-hundred-years occasion for St. Mary's parish. Mansfield. where centennial celebrations began last April and will culminate Sunday with an anniversary Mass at noon. with pastor Father Peter N, Graziano as principal celebrant and many priests as concelebrants, including Rev. George Scales. parochial vicar. and Rev. Michael K. McManus, in residence in the parish. Honored guests will include Bishop Sean O'Malley and priests and sisters who formerly served in or were from the parish, including Holy Cross Father George De Prizio, the third man from the parish to have entered the priesthood, and Father Jay Maddock. pastor ofSt. William's parish. Fall River, and judicial vicar of the diocesan marriage tribunal. in 1975 the sixth Mansfield man to be ordained. Bishop O'Malley will be principal speaker at the banquet following the Mass, to be held at Holiday Inn in Mansfield. Events leading up to the centennial started last March when seven commi-ttees began regular meetings to plan spiritual, educational and social activities for the parish. A four-day mission aimed at spiritual renewal of participants took place last April, followed by summer programs for youth and for families as a whole. In the meantime work was proceeding on a centennial history, prepared by Andrew Todesco, to be published in December, and a centennial gift committee has made preparations for a memorable contribution to the parish: replacement of the existing concrete entrance walk to the church by a granite walk way. In addition, stone benches will be installed on either side of the
two front doors and a living tree will be placed in the glassed-in former baptistry that divides the doors, forming a sunlit meditation area. said Bob Fox, a parish religious educator and public relations chairman for the anniversary. Parish History The following history of St. Mary's combines material from a booklet issued to commemorate the dedication of its parish center June 14. 1987. and a histol'y by Heather Aiello appearing in the Mansfield News July IS, 1994. The parish center booklet reports that "from the first Mass, which was celebrated in a pine grove in West Mansfield in 1844, to the dedication of the beautiful parish centeronJune 14,1987,St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church of Mansfield has grown and prospered through the leadership of its pastors and through the perseverance of its parishioners." Even earlier. the seeds of SI. Mary's were sown in West Mansfield, where tradition has it that the first Mass offered in the area took place about 1838 at the home of a Mr. Sullivan. Catholics had been d ra wn to the area to work on a railroad then being constructed and in West Mansfield coal mines. Later, liturgies were celebrated in Mansfield itself. in the home of the O'Rourke family, with priests from St. Mary's parish, Taunton, ministering to "parishioners" from Mansfield, Foxboro, Norton, Easton and other localities. Massgoers would gather at the O'Rourke's on Saturday evening for supper and, following the meal, a room was prepared for confessions. "Then the men would 'go out for a smoke: while the ladies would prepare an altar with their finest linens for
'celebration of Mass the following morning." As the Catholic population grew beyond the space available at the O'Rourke's, Masses were celebrated at Union and Unitarian halls as the Mansfield area became successivelya mission of Easton, North Bridgewater, Foxboro and North Attleboro parishes. "By 1869," relates the parish center booklet, "there were 40 families in this Catholic community, "The need for a permanent church building was first recognized in IS70. A building committee acquired property on Church Street on Jan. IS, 1871, for the then "exorbitant" sum of $225. Donations were collected door-todoor and ,parishioners also contributed vest ments a nd other necessary items. "Plans were drawn and ground was broken July 26, 1871, and the wooden building was completed in time to offer the first Mass there on Christmas Day of that year: however. the first resident pastor, Rev. Thomas P. Elliott, was not appointed until 1893; and it was not until 1894 that St. Mary's was separated from St. Mary's, North Attleboro, of which it had been a mission, and erected as a parish in its own right. "The first St. Mary's in Mansfield was destroyed by fire July 29, 1914, and both in response to the fire and in recognition of the need that had already existed for a larger church, construction of a brick building began quickly and its dedication took place Sept. 26, 1915. "The second St. Mary's served the parish through the early 1960s. Turn to Page 12