FALL RIVER- DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR. SOUTHEASTMASSACHUSET1FS,· CAPE,COD&.IHEISLANDS' .-' , .
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VOL. 36, NO. 43
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Friday, October 30,1992
FALL RIVER, MASS.
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Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
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$11 Per Year
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TOY TIME: There was aN orth Pole-like chill in the air as Santa put in an early appearance on Sunday, arriving via New Bedford-Fall River trolley at Fall River's Kennedy Park along with a reindeer, snowman and assorted elves. The Yuletide troupe were guests of the New England Vikings Motocycle Club for their fifth annual Christmas toy run to benefit the Fall River offices of Catholic Social Services and The St. Vincent de Paul Society. Donning motorcycle gear to join the Vikings on their route were (bottom left photo) Vincentians director Father Daniel L. Freitas, who rode with Wally Jones, and Mary-Lou Mancini, director of the Fall River office of Catholic Social Services. Helping collect gifts were Ray Caron (center at top left), Vikings vice president and toy run chairman, and the Vincentians' Leopold Thibault. To assure that Santa's workshop is well-stocked for Christmas, toy donations will continue to be accepted at Catholic Social Services, 783 Slade St., and the Catholic Charities Office, 410 Highland Ave., both in Fall River. ,( Hickey photos)
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Morality of national debt discussed
Revised missal 'studied MIAMI (CNS) - At a recent meeting in Miami nearly 300 U.S. liturgists studied progress on a revised English translation of the Roman Missal. "Fuller kind of prayers, with more continuous thought. fuller translations and more drawing out of the biblical allusion" were some of the suggested revisions, Franciscan Father Gilbert Ostdiek told the 1992 National Meeting of Dioc" esan Liturgical Commissions. Father Ostdiek, a professor of worship at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, said people want the Mass prayers to have a "more poetic style" and be "less didactic." In separate votes in a business session, delegates said they would like the U.S. bishops to: - Set the age of discretion as the normal time for baptized children to receive confirmation. - Ask the Vatican to study the possibility of restoring "the ancient practice of celebrating confirmation and communion at the time of
baptism," even when the one being baptized is an infant or very young child. The U.S. bishops are currently studying what the national norm for age of confirmation should be. The general theme of the liturgists' meeting was "Discovering Our Traditions," with the Roman Missal as a special focus. The missal underwent major revisions after the Second Vatican Council by mandate of the council, a gathering of all the world's Catholic bishops. It was translated into English by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy. The commission was established'by bishops from English-speaking countries to help carry out the council's liturgical reforms by providing common English translations around the world for the revised Latin liturgy texts. The commission is currently nearing completion ofa new, more refined translation of the Mass texts.
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Sister Kathleen H1ughes, a sister of the Society of thti Sacred Heart and acting dean atl the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, told the liturgists that 'jeach revision takes several years.'i I The ultimate goal, she added, "is to help people ptay better." Sister Hughes strdssed that none of the revisions is final until approved by the 11 I bishops who form the ICEL board. I She described ICEL as an international group of bishops, Uturgists, linguists and fuusicians that shepherds the revisior of the missal. Before it can be uSed as a liturgical text in any countty, the translation must be apprbved by twothirds of that cou~try's bisllops and reviewed and bonfirmed by the Vatican. l The liturgists' meeting also featured forum~ on mUllticult~ralcelebrations, environment, Latin A merican and liturgical ~rt, and ritual expression. It included a report on I
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ST. CLOU D. Minn. (CNS) The national debt may loom large in this year's political rhetoric, but some voters are debating whether there are moral implications to the state of the economy. "No human decision doesn't have a moral dimension." according to Daniel Finn. a theology professor at St. John's University in Collegeville. "Does the existence of our national debt have effects that are ,morally objectionable? Sure." Evaluating the morality of national debt hinges on who ultimately will payoff burgeoning bills, say other Minnesota commentators in interviews with the Saint Cloud Visitor, newspaper of the Diocese of St. Cloud,
"Any budget is a moral document and indicates what\ve prize and don't prize," said Msgr. James Habiger. executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, which represents the state's bishops in public policy matters, "At thc rate we're spending. we're placing the burden of our debt on the backs of our children." said Msgr. Habiger. "We must make the decision now or impoverish them. Our children are our future and we should put our money where our future is." As with natural resources, "people have to learn how to save instead of spend," believes Dan Turn to Page 10