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Diocese of Fall River, Mass.

F riday , October 31, 2014

Local 40 Days for Life campaign honored

By Christine M. Williams Anchor Correspondent

NORWOOD — “Absolutely amazing” characterizes the hundreds of people who pray outside abortion clinics across the state, according to Anne Fox, president of the Massachusetts Citizens for Life.

MCFL honored the participants at all six 40 Days for Life locations — Attleboro, Boston, Haverhill, Lynn, Springfield and Worcester — at its annual banquet on October 23. Fox said their prayers make “a huge dif-

ference.”

“When you’re outside that clinic, there are times when you can just feel the prayers working on the inside,” Fox said. “We are fortunate to have 40 Days as part of the Pro-Life family.”

MCFL also honored other individuals, including Dr. Barbara Rocket, a Newton surgeon and longtime Pro-Life advocate who assisted in the defeat of doctor-prescribed suicide in 2012.

“I first met Barbara Rocket Turn to page 14

Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha smiles as he accepts the gift of an artistic rendering of his coat of arms that was created by students at St. Stanislaus School in Fall River. The students presented Bishop da Cunha with the artwork during a morning prayer session on October 24, his first visit to a diocesan Catholic school since becoming Bishop of Fall River. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)

Formation Convention will be ‘Living the Joy of the Gospel’

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

The recent St. Mary’s Education Fund Fall Dinner came to a close with the presentation of this big check to Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha in the amount of $677,639.83 for the benefit of the fund. The total represents proceeds from the Fall Dinner along with money raised in events sponsored over the year by the St. Mary’s Education Fund Cape Cod Committee and the annual interest accrued on the fund.

Helping the bishop hold up the check are Sandra L. Sevigney, left, Fall Dinner chairman, and Jane Robin, executive fund-raiser for the St. Mary’s Education Fund Cape Cod office. (Photo by John E. Kearns Jr.)

FALL RIVER — On November 15, the Diocese of Fall River Office of Faith Formation will host its annual Office of Faith Formation Ministry Convention at the Holiday Inn, 700 Myles Standish Boulevard in Taunton. Registration begins at 8 a.m. and the convention opens with a Mass celebrated

by Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, at 9 a.m.

“In the past, the diocese held a ‘Religious Education Convention,’ which focused primarily on those people involved

with the Religious Education of children,” explained the director of the Office of Faith Formation, Claire McManus.

“Since 1999, when the USCCB released ‘Our Hearts Were Burning Inside Us,’ the emphasis has been on the formation of adults. Spiritual maturity is cultivated through more than simply learning about the faith.

The adult also grows in faith through the Liturgical ministries of the parish, moral formation, prayer, belonging to the parish community, and through the cultivation of a missionary spirit. The convention seeks

to offer enrichment to people from all of these areas of parish life.”

Now called the Office of Faith Formation Ministry Convention, McManus said the renaming of the convention five years ago was to better reflect the reality of the Faith Formation in the parishes across the diocese; “So many ministries in a parish play a part in the Spiritual formation of the individual,” she said. “The concept of ‘Faith Formation’ is more comprehensive than a catechetical program.”

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Pilgrims’ progress: New Bedford parish returns from sixth excursion

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

NEW BEDFORD — For Edwin Aldarondo, there are countless real-life examples of heroes to be found among the many saints who have come before us.

“To me, it’s all about the communion of saints,” said Aldarondo, a parishioner of St. Kilian’s Parish in New Bedford.

“They could be anyone’s heroes.

You don’t have to look at Superman or Batman, just look at the lives of the saints and all they had to go through just for the love of God. It’s extraordinary.”

That’s why for the past six years, Edwin and his wife Ana have organized annual bus pil-

grimages to shrines dedicated to various saints within the United States.

The couple just returned from an impressive three-day jaunt to Washington, D.C. and Emmitsburg, Md., where they and a group of more than 50 pilgrims visited the Franciscan Monastery, or “Holy Land of America,” the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto and Shrine at Mount St. Mary University, and the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Shrine, where the first native-born American saint lived and died.

“When we went to visit St. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s Shrine,

one of the young girls on the bus came up to me and said: ‘How is it possible that, knowing the richness of our faith, people can actually walk away from the Church?’” Aldarondo told The Anchor. “That comment brought tears to my eyes. I said to myself: ‘She gets it. If only other kids could get it like her, we’d be fine.’”

The genesis of these annual excursions dates back to 2007, when Aldarondo’s then-pastor at St. Kilian’s Parish took a trip to Medjugorje, the small village in Bosnia and Herzegovina where some claim the Blessed Mother has been appearing since 1981.

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A group of more than 50 diocesan faithful who attended the most recent bus pilgrimage organized from St. Kilian’s Parish in New Bedford pose inside the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Shrine in Maryland after celebrating morning Mass. (Photo courtesy of Edwin Aldarondo)

October 31, 2014 News From the Vatican ‘What is being proposed is not Marriage’ — Pope calls for defense of family

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Vatican City (CNA/ EWTN News) — In an audience with members of an international Marian movement, Pope Francis warned that the Sacrament of Marriage has been reduced to a mere association, and urged participants to be witnesses in a secular world.

“The family is being hit, the family is being struck and the family is being bastardized,” the pope told those in attendance at the recent audience.

He warned against the common view in society that “you can call everything family, right?”

“What is being proposed is not Marriage, it’s an association. But it’s not Marriage! It’s necessary to say these things very clearly and we have to say it!” Pope Francis stressed.

He lamented that there are so many “new forms” of unions which are “totally destructive and limiting the greatness of the love of Marriage.”

Noting that there are many who cohabitate, or are separated or divorced, he explained that the “key” to helping is a pastoral care of “close combat” that assists and patiently accompanies the couple.

Pope Francis offered his words in a question-and-answer format during his audience with members of the Schoenstatt movement, held in celebration of the 100th anniversary of its founding in Germany.

Roughly 7,500 members of the international Marian and apostolic organization, both lay and clerics from dozens of nations around the world, were present in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall for the audience.

In his answers to questions regarding Marriage, Pope Francis explained that contemporary society has “devalued” the Sacrament by turning it into a social rite, removing the most essential element, which is union with God. “So many families are divided, so many Marriages broken, (there is) such relativism in the concept of the Sacrament of Marriage,” he said, noting that from a sociological and Christian point of view “there is a crisis in the family because it’s beat up from all sides and left very wounded!”

In regard to Mary, the Roman pontiff said that her visit to her cousin Elizabeth is a strong symbol for the movement’s mission, and emphasized how no Christians can

call themselves orphans because they have a mother who continues to give them life.

Pope Francis recalled this history of the movement’s foundation, noting how it was started by Father Joseph Kentenich during the First World War. It was after his time in a concentration camp during World War II, the pope noted, that the priest traveled to the peripheries of the world in order to preach the Gospel.

Witness is key to spreading the Gospel, he said, explaining that true witness means living “in such a way that the will to live as we live is born in the heart of others. Living in a way (so that) others are interested and ask: ‘why?’”

However, the Bishop of Rome emphasized that although we are called to give this witness, “we are not the saviors of anyone,” but rather are the transmitters of Jesus, Who is the One Who already saved us all.

True witness propels us out of ourselves and into the streets of the world, the pope continued, repeating his common declaration that a Church, movement or community that doesn’t go out of itself “becomes sick.”

“A movement, a Church or a community that doesn’t go out, is mistaken,” he said. “Don’t be afraid! Go out in mission, go out on the road. We are walkers.”

In answer to questions regarding how he can be defined as “reckless,” the Roman pontiff admitted that although he can be considered “a little reckless,” he still surrenders himself to prayer, saying that it helps him to place Jesus at the center, rather than himself.

“There is only One center: Jesus Christ — Who rather looks at things from the periphery, no? Where He sees things more clearly,” the pope observed, saying that when closed inside the small worlds of a parish, a community and even the Roman Curia, “then you do not grasp the truth.”

He explained how reality is always seen better from the peripheries rather than the center, and noted how he has seen some episcopal conferences who charge for almost every small thing, where “nothing escapes.”

“Everything is working well, everything is well organized,” the pontiff observed, but they could do with less “function-

alism and more apostolic zeal, more interior freedom, more prayer, (and) this interior freedom is the courage to go out.”

When asked about his process of reforming the Roman Curia, Pope Francis explained that often renewal is understood as making small changes here or there, or even making changes out of the necessity of adapting to the times.

But this isn’t true renewal, he said, noting that while there are people every day who say that

he needs to renew the Vatican Bank or the curia, “It’s strange (that) no one speaks of the reform of the heart.”

“They don’t understand anything of what the renewal of the heart means: which is holiness, renewing one’s (own) heart,” the pope observed, saying that a renewed heart is able of going beyond disagreements such as family conflicts, war and those that arise out of the “culture of the provisional.”

He concluded by blessing

the missionary crosses of those present, who are called to missionaries in the five continents of the world, and recalled how some time ago he was given an image of the Mother of Schoenstatt, who prays and is always present.

The movement’s encounter with Pope Francis came on the second day of their visit to Rome, which culminated with a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica presided over by Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz.

Cardinal Nichols clarifies, dispels media portrayals of synod

Westminster, England (CNA/EWTN News) — After returning from the 2014 Synod on the Family, Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster has clarified that the meeting was focused upon reaching out to those in difficulty, rather than changing doctrine.

“You may have heard or read that this synod has been about changing the teaching of the Church on Marriage, family life or sexual morality. This is not true,” the cardinal said.

“It was about the pastoral care that we try to offer each other, the ‘motherly love of the Church,’ especially when facing difficult moments and experiences in family life.”

In a pastoral letter released October 24, Cardinal Nichols recounted the “rich and moving experience” of taking part in the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops that was held earlier this month in Rome.

He rejected numerous media portrayals of the synod, stating firmly, “There was no suggestion that the teaching of the Church might somehow give approval to the notion of ‘same-sex marriage’ or that its teaching on sexual morality is to change.”

Rather, he said, it was made clear that people should not be identified simply by sexual orientation, because they have a deep and unique dignity as a human person and a Christian that must be respected.

In addition, he said, it was clear at the synod that the Church’s teachings on respect, compassion and acceptance towards all people need to be “translated into loving care, in our daily life in the Church, in our parishes, and indeed in society.”

Cardinal Nichols also dispelled the notion that the synod “represented a ‘defeat for Pope Francis’ or that he was disappointed at its

outcome.”

“At the end of our meeting Pope Francis spoke at length about his joy and satisfaction at its work,” the cardinal said, adding that the pope stressed the synod as “a Spiritual journey, not a debating chamber.”

“In fact, the very word ‘synod’ means making a walk or a journey together,” he said, explaining that this is what the synod participants did as they discussed a global range of issues affecting families, ranging from war, immigration and polygamy to inter-religious marriage, cohabitation and divorce.

Listen to the real struggles of Married couples, synod participants were able to see the overwhelming suffering that accompanies so many people today and the great joy and importance of Marriage and family as a “sanctuary of holiness.”

“Pope Francis set the tone” at the synod, Cardinal Nichols said. “He asked us to look reality in the eye; to speak openly from the heart; to listen humbly and respectfully to each other.”

The result was a “marvelous experience of the Church as a family and of the Church, at this level, hard at work, trying to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit and express them in carefully chosen words.”

While there were disagreements among synod members, there was no rancor or contestation, the cardinal said. Rather, participants demonstrated tranquility and trust, in response to the call of Pope Francis, who emphasized the need for the Church to go out and find the lost sheep in today’s world.

Cardinal Nichols explained the synod process of working to form documents that would reflect the views of participants.

“By the end I believe we got there,” he said, noting that the final synod report was voted on

paragraph by paragraph, to show where the greatest areas of agreement were. That document will be the starting point for next year’s synod, which will focus on “The Vocation and Mission of the Family Today.”

“Central to the work of the synod that has just ended was the desire to strengthen and reinvigorate the pastoral practice of the Church,” Cardinal Nichols emphasized. “A central principle for this pastoral care emerged clearly: that in trying to walk alongside people in difficult or exceptional situations, it is important to see clearly and with humility all the good aspects of their lives.”

“From this point, we learn to move together towards conversion and towards the goodness of life that God has for us and that Jesus opens for us all.”

This approach is particularly important in reaching out to individuals who are not living in the way that God asks, such as those cohabiting or the divorced and remarried, the cardinal said.

Recognizing that there is still “real goodness” in their lives despite these shortcomings allows a basis for approaching them in care and offering an invitation to come closer to the Church and its call, knowing that this is where true happiness is found.

The coming year leading up to next year’s three-week synod has been described by Pope Francis as a time “to mature, with true Spiritual discernment, the proposed ideas and find concrete solutions to so many difficulties and innumerable challenges that families must confront.”

Cardinal Nichols echoed this call, voicing hope that the ongoing prayer and reflection will yield fruit that will renew the Church “in response to the unfailing love of Jesus, under the leadership of Pope Francis and always in union with Him.”

October 31, 2014

The International Church

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Annual olive harvest at Garden of Gethsemane unites faithful with Christ JERUSALEM (CNS) — For Salim Badawi, a Greek Orthodox Palestinian from the West Bank village of Beit Jalla, the opportunity to help a group of Franciscan priests harvest olives in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives offers a sense of hope amid the adversaries his family has faced in their own olive groves.

He said much of the olive grove of his extended family has long been unreachable as it was taken years ago to build an Israeli settlement, now considered a neighborhood of Jerusalem.

An uncle tries every year — unsuccessfully — to reach the land, Badawi said.

“Here I feel hope that maybe one day it will be different, maybe we will one day be allowed to go there and pick our olives,” Badawi told Catholic News Service while reaching into the branches of one of the trees that can be traced to the time of Christ.

“The olive trees are still there, but we can’t reach them. I feel something special in this holy place where we are picking the oldest olives in the area, maybe in the whole world.”

At the bottom of the tree, Karina Henriquez, a volunteer from Chile, places olives that drop from the branches into a sack. For her, the trees that continue to bear fruit after thousands of years are a symbol of Jesus, Who is still giving fruit to all who seek Him. Henriquez does not want to discuss politics, but she knows that Israelis and Palestinians are good people.

“Too bad they can’t solve their problems. We were hopeful with the pope’s visit, but then there was the war,” she said.

Still, Henriquez feels the need to share the pope’s message of speaking to the soul of people about love and peace.

“We have to pray so God will place peace and love in the

hearts of all people,” she said.

Since the Franciscans retook possession of the small olive grove adjacent to the Church of All Nations in 1681, the Franciscan Fathers have tended to eight of what are believed to be the oldest olive trees in the Holy Land.

Tradition, backed by modern genetic testing, holds that the gnarled trees were grafted at some point during the Crusader era from a single tree that was a witness to Jesus’ agony more than 2,000 years ago.

Today, the trees are part of the Garden of Gethsemane, fenced off and protected from the crowds of faithful who come on pilgrimage to the site. To accommodate pilgrims, the Franciscans keep a box of small branches pruned from the trees from which people can freely take a memento.

As the olive harvest begins in the Holy Land, Father Benito Choque, an Argentine who is superior of the Franciscan community at the church, ponders the significance of the olive in the Bible as he greets pilgrims outside the fence and walks among the trees inside the garden. A few pilgrims ask for an olive from the trees, but the friar gently denies their request. If he gives an olive to one, then all the other pilgrims will want one, too, he explained.

“These oldest of trees are a testament to Jesus’ suffering,” Father Choque said.

The ancient trees continue to speak to those who will hear, he said.

The Franciscans have been in the Holy land for eight centuries under mandate of the Holy See, and their mission, he explained, is to live with the Jews and Muslims, transmitting their charism.

“What the Crusaders in the past did with their weapons, we do with prayers,” Father Choque told CNS. “I believe God has given some-

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thing beautiful to humanity and I think the people of this land are blessed also with the planting of the olive trees.”

Though now there is confrontation not far from the trees, the priest sees the harvest as a time that unites people as families gather to pick olives and neighbors and friends meet at the olive press to make the fruit into oil used in cooking throughout the year.

Franciscan Father Diego Dalla Gassa, who guides volunteers at the garden, said he urges them to consider the vocation of the olive and the olive tree, likening them to the life of Jesus. They are cared for with the rain which God provides and in the end, they are meant to be pressed for the oil so precious and important in the region, he noted.

“It is very beautiful for us to pick the olives here from the trees we have cared for.

When we collect the olives, we understand we are doing what God does with us. When we see an olive on a faraway branch, we must reach out to it to take it and so it happens with us that God is reaching out for us, searching for us,” Father Dalla Gassa said.

“This place interprets all of the life of Jesus,” he added.

“Jesus was pressed here (as the olive is pressed) and we received the beautiful oil, in this case the Blood (of Jesus).”

The Franciscans utilize every part of the olive, the oil is blessed and used for the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, including the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, ordination of priests, and Anointing the Sick. Last year, the Franciscans sent a bottle of the blessed oil to Pope Francis for Holy Thursday in anticipation of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

The olive pits are sent to a few Christian Palestinian families who traditionally make them into Rosaries which are then gifted to the Franciscan priests.

In addition to the eight old trees, the garden includes a younger tree planted by Pope Paul VI during his visit in 1964 and the newest sapling planted by Pope Francis during his pilgrimage earlier this year.

A couple embraces at the foot of the National War Memorial in Ottawa, Ontario, October 23. Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, a Canadian soldier, was shot and killed the previous day while on duty at the memorial.

(CNS photo/Cole Burston, EPA)

Ottawa archbishop recalls words of St. John Paul II after shooting

OTTAWA, Ontario (CNS) — Recalling the words of St. John Paul II, Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast called upon Canadians not to be afraid in the wake of the October 22 shooting that left a Canadian soldier dead and forced lawmakers to barricade themselves inside their parliament offices.

In an email interview a day after the incident, Archbishop Prendergast noted that the violence occurred on the feast of St. John Paul and recalled the saint’s first words when he was elected pope in 1978 were, “Don’t be afraid! Open your hearts wide to Christ.”

“These words apply most appropriately to this present moment in our life in the nation’s capital, but they speak also to all Canadians,” the archbishop wrote.

Authorities said a gunman killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, a member of the army reserves from Hamilton, Ontario, who was guarding the tomb of the unknown soldier at the National War Memorial blocks from parliament. The assailant, whom police identified as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, made his way to the parliament where he fired multiple times before he was shot and killed.

“God is still the Lord of our lives and is at work in the hearts of the bystanders who attempted CPR, called the police and other first responders who showed themselves courageous in putting their lives at risk in a moment of crisis,” Archbishop Prendergast said.

“We have much to be grateful for. To live with moral certitude is to presume people mean us

well and we should live out of that conviction.

“And while remaining alert to signs of behavior that can be harmful, we need to go about our business as the friendly and welcoming people I have come to know Ottawans to be,” he said.

The morning of the shootings, Archbishop Prendergast was in Blessed Sacrament Church in Toronto celebrating the funeral of a friend when he first heard the news.

“As I went back to the Sacristy, someone mentioned that there was a terrorist action going on in Ottawa in generic terms, that much of Ottawa was on lockdown and that I should check to see whether I could fly to Ottawa in the afternoon,” he said. He was planning on an afternoon flight so that he could host his annual Archbishop’s Charity Dinner that evening. More than 700 tickets had been sold.

The archbishop and his staff decided to cancel the dinner in the wake of the shootings. He said the food that had been prepared was delivered to the Shepherds of Good Hope for distribution to Ottawa’s needy residents.

In a press release announcing the cancelation, Archbishop Prendergast offered prayers for the victims.

“Let us offer our prayers to God in support of those who have been most affected by today’s events. As we do, let us also thank God for the beauty of our country and for the blessings of peace and security which are the blessings bestowed upon Canadians,” the statement said.

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October 31, 2014 The Church in the U.S. Former secretary says St. John Paul II shared his flock’s sorrows, joys

WASHINGTON (CNS) — On his first visit to a Washington shrine dedicated to the man he worked under for nearly 10 years, the former secretary to St. Pope John Paul II said he was “deeply impressed” by the tribute and could feel the late pontiff ’s presence within the building.

Archbishop Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki of Lviv, Ukraine, visited the St. John Paul II National Shrine October 22, the first celebration of the pope’s feast day.

During his visit, he toured the shrine’s new permanent exhibit, “A Gift of Love: The Life of St. John Paul II,” which features numerous artifacts, personal items and manuscripts that highlight the pope’s life and papacy. The archbishop called the exhibit “very telling.”

“For me, personally, that was a meeting with John Paul II, the person that I know,” Archbishop Mokrzycki said through an interpreter in an interview with Catholic News Service. “(It was) as if I were at home together with him.”

Archbishop Mokrzycki began working as St. John Paul’s private secretary in 1996, and remained in that position until the pope’s death in 2005. His close relationship to the pope allowed him to gain a deeper understanding of St. John Paul’s devotion to his work and to his congregation, comprised of millions of people from all over the world.

“John Paul II knew that there were many people out there who would not be able to go to Rome to meet him,” he said. “That’s why I encourage the young people from the United States to come and visit this shrine so that they can learn about the teaching of John Paul II.” The shrine’s exhibit, which focuses a great deal on St. John Paul’s extensive travels, empha-

sizes the pope’s desire “to reach out to all the people on all the different continents, to send them a message that he does care about them, that he wants to bring them to Christ,” Archbishop Mokrzycki said.

“Walking through the different galleries, you can learn a lot about him as a person and about what he’s done, what his accomplishments were and all the aspects of his papacy,” he said. “It shows the whole pontificate and the grandeur of his personality and it reflects very well, very accurately, his papacy.”

The official opening of the exhibit took place with a ribbon-cutting the evening of October 22.

Before the ceremony, Archbishop Mokrzycki was among concelebrants of a special Mass on the main floor of the shrine.

Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, the supreme chaplain of the Knights of Columbus, was the principal celebrant. The shrine is a special initiative of the Knights.

The Ukrainian archbishop processed through the congregation with a reliquary holding a vial of the late pope’s blood.

The relic is a centerpiece of the shrine.

Archbishop Mokrzycki noted that the pope felt a unique connection with young people.

“John Paul II in a special way embraced the youth, the young people, because he didn’t want them to squander their life,” he said. “He knew the difficulties that every person has to go through, especially the young people. That’s why he wanted to be close to them.”

As a friend, the archbishop said, St. John Paul was “a normal man” who was always faithful to his friends. His deepest wish, he said, was to be close to the people he served and to continue developing new relationships.

“He prayed, he worked and

knew how to enjoy life. And he showed himself like this to us,” he said. “He wanted to show that he’s close with all the people, that he (could) share their sorrows and their joys.”

During his papacy, St. John Paul canonized 483 saints and beatified more than 1,300 others. Archbishop Mokrzycki said this was an effort by the pope to make saints more accessible by showing that’s “it’s possible to live a virtuous life” in today’s world. On the inaugural celebration of the pope’s own sainthood, the archbishop said he felt a sense of joy.

“I didn’t think that by beatifying (and) canonizing so many people that he would be canonized too in such a short period of time,” he said. “We lost our

beloved pope when he died, but this sense of sorrow has been transformed in the joy of him being a saint today.”

In response to the violence and upheaval facing today’s world, Archbishop Mokrzycki said people should look to the teachings of St. John Paul for guidance.

“We should be led by the law of love and forgiveness,” he said. “(St. John Paul) showed us many examples that there’s a need to protect human dignity, human freedom and the human rights.”

On a more personal level, Archbishop Mokrzycki encouraged people to follow St. John Paul’s example in answering their own calls to faith.

“As John Paul II once said, saints are not there to cherish

them, but to follow them,” he said. “From John Paul II what we can learn is this responsibility for our own vocation and realization of this vocation for what we do and who we are.”

The archbishop fondly related the pope’s nighttime ritual, which he said even Pope Benedict XVI did not know about until he was elected as the late pope’s successor.

“By the end of each day, around 10:30 p.m., he would go to the chapel, he would pray for a short period of time, then he would go back to his bedroom (and) dim the lights,” he said.

“He would open the window, and then he would bless the world.

“He would bless us every day.”

For terminally-ill seminarian, a life with suffering is not void of dignity

Raleigh, N.C. (CNA/ EWTN News) — A seminarian is looking forward to his ordination to the diaconate this spring and the priesthood a year later, even though he was given roughly a year and a half to live back in 2008.

Phillip Johnson, who is now 30, was diagnosed with a grade III brain cancer known as anaplastic astrocytoma six years ago when he was serving as a naval officer in the Persian Gulf.

“I remember the moment I saw the computer images of the brain scans — I went to the Catholic chapel on base and fell to the floor in tears. I asked God, ‘Why me?’” Johnson wrote in a recent column, “Dear Brittany: Our Lives Are Worth Living, Even With Brain Cancer,” for the Diocese of Raleigh website.

He was sent home to the U.S. for radiation and chemotherapy and then discharged from the Navy before entering formation for the priesthood, a calling he said he was aware of since he was 19.

Even with aggressive treatment, most research shows that the average survival time for this type of cancer is 18 months, he said.

Quoting the 29-year-old woman who has documented her decision to die by physicianassisted suicide in an online video, Brittany Maynard, Johnson said that “being told you have that kind of timeline still feels like you’re going to die tomorrow.”

After consulting with his doctors, Johnson learned that he will “gradually lose control of my

bodily functions at a young age, from paralysis to incontinence, and it is very likely that my mental faculties will also disappear and lead to confusion and hallucinations before my death.”

Much like this terminally-ill woman, he does not want to die or “suffer the likely outcome of this disease.”

“I do not think anyone wants to die in this way.”

However, Johnson believes that such suffering does not diminish his worth as a person.

“My life means something to me, to God, and to my family and friends, and barring a miraculous recovery, it will continue to mean something long after I am paralyzed in a hospice bed.”

“My family and friends love me for who I am, not just for the personality traits that will slowly slip away if this tumor progresses and takes my life.”

Johnson recognizes Maynard’s temptation to end her life “on her own terms.” He admitted that at times he wished that the cancer would take his life quickly to end the suffering and that he hoped for a miracle to be cured of the cancer.

Having been given this long to live has now proved to be a miracle in itself, Johnson said. In fact, he has “experienced countless miracles” throughout his illness.

In his preparation for the priesthood, he has been able to serve other terminally-ill people and learned that “suffering and heartache that is part of the human condition does not have to be wasted and cut short out of fear or seeking control in a seemingly

uncontrollable situation.”

“Perhaps this is the most important miracle for me.”

Avoiding suffering at all costs — even at the expense of one’s life — is a way to try to gain control “in the midst of turmoil,” but it ignores the redemptive value of suffering.

“We do not seek pain for its own sake, but our suffering can have great meaning if we try to join it to the Passion of Christ and offer it for the conversion or intentions of others.”

Johnson said that by ending her life prematurely, Maynard will be missing out on the “most intimate moments of her life” in return for a faster option “that focuses more on herself than anyone else.”

In his own experience, the seminarian has endured sadness, but has also experienced periods of “great joy.”

“I still get sad. I still cry. I still beg God to show me His will through all of this suffering and to allow me to be His priest if it be His will, but I know that I am not alone in my suffering,” he said, pointing to the support of his family, friends, and the Church.

Johnson said he will keep praying for Maynard in her illness, that she will “understand the love we all have for her before she takes her own life.”

If she decides against her suicide and chooses to fight the disease, she would be “an incredible example and inspiration to countless others in her situation.”

“She would certainly be an inspiration to me as I continue to fight my own cancer.”

October 31, 2014

The Church in the U.S.

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Ebola survivor Nina Pham: I believe in the power of prayer

A photo of slain New Hampshire journalist James Foley is displayed during a recent memorial Mass celebrated at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church in Rochester, N.H. Foley was captured by Syrian extremists in November 2012 and killed August 19 of this year. (CNS photo/Donis Tracy, Pilot)

Faith, kindness of slain American journalist recalled at memorial Mass

ROCHESTER, N.H. (CNS) — Close to 1,000 of slain journalist James Foley’s closest friends and family gathered at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church in Rochester for a memorial Mass to celebrate the life of a man whose life was taken by Syrian extremists on August 19, but whose legacy lives on.

Foley was captured in northwest Syria, along with British journalist John Cantlie, in November 2012 by Shabiha militia, a group loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad. For two years, the family prayed for his safe return.

On August 19, the Islamic State extremist group uploaded a video to YouTube entitled “A Message to America.” In it, Foley was decapitated, and the killers threatened to execute more journalists — a threat that was fulfilled when journalist Steven Sotloff was murdered only two weeks later. Cantlie remains a prisoner.

Placed just inside the front doors of the Rochester church October 19 was a memory wall — a display of some of Foley’s photographs through the years, as well as mementos of his life, including the manuscript of a novel he was writing. Many of Foley’s friends and family stood before the memory wall and shared memories of trips taken, of laughs shared, of moments now treasured.

Quietly, they filed into the church as Foley’s parents, John and Diane, sat with their four children in the front pew of the packed church to celebrate the life of a son and brother.

In a homily marked with examples in which Foley lived out the Beatitudes, Father Marc Montminy, pastor of St. Michael Parish in Exeter and close family friend, noted that Foley, who started out as an educator, working among impoverished communities through the Teach for America program, turned to journalism as a way to tell the stories

of people in need.

“Today would have been Jimmy’s 41st birthday,” he said. “In these 41 years, Jim played a pivotal role in the lives of so many.”

Father Montminy described Foley as, “an American journalist, a video reporter, an instructor in Teach for America, a friend, a son, a brother, a hero.”

“It was people’s stories — stories of mechanics, of oil workers, mother and fathers. People living in the extremes,” he said, that were the driving force behind Foley’s mission.

Everything changed, Father Montminy continued, when in 2011 Foley and three other journalists — Clare Gillis, Anton Hammerl and Manu Brabo — were attacked in Libya by proGadhafi forces. Helpless, Foley watched as his friend Hammerl was killed. The other three were captured and held as prisoners for 44 days.

“All did change for Jim at that point,” Father Montminy stressed. “He wanted to see justice and peace. Blessed are the peacemakers.”

After being released in May 2011, Foley returned to his home in Rochester, but seven months later began a series of trips to northern Syria as a freelance journalist working for GlobalPost, Father Montminy recounted. “(Foley) became ever more captivated by the goodness of the Syrian people,” Father Montminy said. “It was because of that goodness, he wanted to do something.

He wanted to report the truth, so that the entire world would know what was happening.”

He said Foley was always sustained “by a deep faith” throughout his ordeals.

“It was this faith that gave Jimmy, over the years, the capacity to believe when no one else was able to,” he said. “He understood the importance and the power of a relationship with a God

that perhaps he had not known so well, but that he had come to know much better in the midst of his suffering and pain. Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” Father Montminy praised the Foley family, noting that their suffering never turned into despair.

“Your grief has been soaked in hope, and that’s what Jim’s life was all about,” he said. “Your witness of faith is the greatest gift and legacy that you can give your son who taught us not only that you can live with conviction and purpose, but also how to die as a hero.”

“He walked a dark journey at times. Perhaps even a dark night of the soul at the end. But when he stood before those who would take his life, he stood in hope. He stood in strength, with dignity,” continued Father Montminy.

“Happy Birthday, James,” he concluded.

Before Mass concluded, three family members delivered eulogies: an aunt and uncle, Rita and Fernando Colina, and Foley’s younger brother by two years, Michael, who noted everyone at Mass had gathered “to celebrate a life worth living, a life lived to the fullest, and one that has left a permanent impression on those he has touched.”

“Jim was different from most people,” Michael said. “He had a combination of qualities that you don’t often find. Jim put others before himself. He did this consistently throughout his life.”

As the oldest of the five siblings, James Foley was always teaching them, “whether or not we were willing to learn,” Michael said.

“His final lesson came in the form of his act of martyrdom,” he added. “Jim died for his faith. He died because he was American.

He represented the core values we stand for. He died so others may live.”

Washington D.C. (CNA/EWTN News) — Nina Pham, a Dallas nurse who has been battling Ebola after treating a patient in Texas, has now been declared free of the disease, and gave thanks to God and all those who have prayed for her in recent weeks.

“I feel fortunate and blessed to be standing here today,” Pham said in a press conference October 24. “I would first and foremost like to thank God, my family and friends.

Throughout this ordeal, I have put my trust in God and my medical team.”

Pham thanked everyone who had been involved in her care, both in Texas and Maryland. She offered special gratitude to Ebola survivor Dr. Kent Brantly for donat-

ing plasma, calling it a “selfless act.”

“I believe in the power of prayer because I know so many people all over the world have been praying for me,” she continued. “I join you in prayer now for the recovery of others.”

The 26-year-old nurse, described by friends as a devout Catholic, is believed to have contracted Ebola while caring for a Thomas Eric Duncan, a patient at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

Duncan passed away from Ebola October 8.

Pham was transferred to the National Institutes of Health in Maryland on October 16.

Numerous tests have now shown her to be Ebola free, and she will return to Texas to continue regaining strength.

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October 31, 2014

Anchor Editorial

Encouraging the terminally-ill to live

On page four of The Anchor we read about North Carolina seminarian Phillip Johnson and how he is dealing with his terminal diagnosis of cancer. He is no “Pollyanna” about the difficulties he will face, but he wishes to take this cross and use it in a way to help other people embrace the Salvation that Jesus offers us; in particular he is praying for Brittany Maynard, another young person with a terminal illness. Unlike Johnson, she wants to “do it my way” (to quote a Frank Sinatra song, which he most likely regrets singing now that God has shown him how many people have used it as a justification for their own arrogant selfishness) and pick the day and the hour when she will die (she moved to Oregon, so that she could take advantage of the physician-assisted suicide law there and had announced that she was going to commit suicide on November 1. Press reports this week said that Maynard was still going to take her own life, but might not be married to that date, due to how her illness is progressing).

Please read about Johnson’s embracing of the cross. Like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, he is not jumping for joy about what he is facing, but he also has the attitude of “Thy will be done.” Another terminal cancer sufferer, Kara Tippets, the wife of an Evangelical minister, is also reaching out to Maynard, asking her to not commit suicide (Tippets’ letter can be read at aholyexperience.com/2014/10/dear-brittanywhy-we-dont-have-to-be-so-afraid-of-dying-suffering-that-we-choose-suicide/).

Tippets addresses Maynard: “Suffering is not the absence of goodness, it is not the absence of beauty, but perhaps it can be the place where true beauty can be known. In your choosing your own death, you are robbing those that love you with such tenderness, the opportunity of meeting you in your last moments and extending you love in your last breaths … one day the story of my young daughter will be made beautiful in her living because she witnessed my dying. That last kiss, that last warm touch, that last breath, matters — but it was never intended for us to decide when that last breath is breathed.”

As anyone who has accompanied a loved one unto death knows, it is not an easy journey, but it is one also marked by many blessings, even as we walk together “through the dark valley” (Psalm 23).

Tippets continued to Maynard: “Brittany, you have been told a lie. A horrible lie, that your dying will not be beautiful, that the suffering will be too great.

“Today my oncologist and I spoke of your dying, of my dying, and of the beautiful partnership I have with my doctors in carrying me to my last moments with gentle care.

For 2,000 years doctors have lived beside the beautiful stream of protecting life and lovingly meeting patients in their dying with grace” [In writing this Tippets is thinking about Christian doctors, who have realized that they are not “gods” playing with people’s lives, but humble servants].

Thinking about the doctor in Oregon, Tippets wrote, “The doctor that prescribed you that pill you carry with you that will hasten your last breath has walked away from the Hippocratic oath that says, ‘First, do no harm.’ He or she has walked away from the oath that has protected life and the beautiful dying we are granted.”

Sometimes the way we Christians address our opponents in the public square pushes

them further away from us, so Tippets asked forgiveness. “There are also people who are speaking in ugly tones that make those of us who believe in Jesus seem unsafe, unkind, or unloving. Will you forgive us for the voices that feel like they are screaming at you from a heart that isn’t loving? But in my whispering, pleading, loving voice, dear heart — will you hear my heart ask you, beg you, plead with you — not to take that pill. Yes, your dying will be hard, but it will not be without beauty. Will you please trust me with that truth?”

Tippets then wrote of Jesus’ crucifixion and Resurrection and said to Maynard, “in that overcoming of death He overcame the death you and I are facing in our cancer.

For everyone living knowing death is imminent — that we all will one day face it — the question that is most important [is this]: Who is this Jesus, and what does He have to do with my dying? Please do not take that pill before you ask yourself that question.

I pray my words reach you. I pray they reach the multitudes that are looking at your story and believing the lie that suffering is a mistake, that dying isn’t to be braved, that choosing our death is the courageous story. No — hastening death was never what God intended. But in our dying, He does meet us with His beautiful grace.”

Ashley Maguire took People magazine to task in the New York Post (http://nypost. com/2014/10/24/suicide-flip-flop-peoples-odd-about-face/), seeing a contrast in the way in which it covered Robin Williams’ death earlier this year (it said that he “lost his battle with mental illness”) and is now promoting Maynard’s plans. Maguire asked, “What makes her suicide any different from that of Robin Williams? He faced a terminal diagnosis too, one that involves years of suffering and bodily unraveling, one for which there is no cure.

But society’s big mistake is in believing that suicide can be a compassionate or dignified choice. Suicide is suicide. There is nothing that can change that. You can put a beautiful woman on the cover of a celebrity magazine as a spokeswoman. But it’s still suicide, and the reality is that anyone who commits suicide, or even ponders it, is suffering deeply.

Assisted suicide only compounds the tragedy and the inhumanity of taking one’s life because it makes the law and other people complicit. It inverts our human obligation to help each other avoid death as much as possible, and instead gives people a reason not to reach out to those who are suffering the most in society, usually the elderly, the disabled, those in chronic pain or the terminally ill. Legal suicide gives society a giant cop-out for doing its most basic duty: caring for these people. With euthanasia, we can all just turn the other way while they take their own lives.”

As we remember all the saints tomorrow (November 1) and as we pray for the souls in purgatory throughout the month (please see Father Chris Peschel’s homily on page eight), we pray for Maynard, Tippets, Johnson and all people carrying these huge crosses (be they due to physical illness, mental illness or whatever). We ask God to help us be like Mary, John and Mary Magdalene, accompanying them, even when we’d like to go off and hide. For those who have already died, we pray for their souls and make sacrifices for them. For the living, may we sacrifice our time and comfort so as to love them as Jesus does.

Pope Francis’ Angelus address of October 26 Dear brothers and sisters: Today’s Gospel reminds us that the Divine Law can be summed up in the love for God and for neighbor. The evangelist Matthew says that some Pharisees agreed to put Jesus to the test (cfr 22, 34-35).

One of these, an expert of the law, asks Him this question: “Teacher, what is the greatest Commandment in the law?” (v. 36). Jesus, citing the book of Deuteronomy, responds:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest Commandment” (vv.

37-38). He could’ve stopped there. Instead, Jesus adds something else that was not asked of by the expert of the law. He said: “And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself ” (v. 39). Even this second Commandment is not invented by Jesus, but rather OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER

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taken from the Book of Leviticus. Its newness consists precisely in putting together these two Commandments — the love for God and love for the neighbor — revealing that they are inseparable and complementary, they are two sides of the same coin. You cannot love God without loving your neighbor and you can’t love your neighbor without loving God. Pope Benedict has left us a beautiful commentary about this in his first Encyclical Deus Caritas Est (nn. 16-18).

In fact, the visible sign that a Christian can show to give witness to the world, to others, to their family, of the love of God is the love of the brethren.

The Commandment of love to God and neighbor is the first not because it is the first in the list of Commandments. Jesus does not place it in the top, but at the center because it is the heart from which everything has to start and from which everyone must return to and reference.

Already in the Old Testament the need to be holy, in

the image of God Who is holy, included the duty to take care of the most vulnerable such as the foreigner, the orphan, the widow (cfr Ex. 22, 20-26).

Jesus fulfills this law of the Covenant, He who unites in Himself, in His Flesh, Divinity and humanity into one single mystery of love.

Now, in the light of the Words of Jesus, love is the measure of faith, and faith is the soul of love. We can never separate religious life from the service of the brothers and sisters, to those concrete brethren we meet. We can never divide prayer, the encounter with God in the Sacraments, from listening to others, from being close to their lives, especially from their wounds. Remember this: love is the measure of faith. How much do you love?

And each one should respond to this: How is your faith?

My faith is seen in how I love.

Faith is the soul of love.

In the midst of the dense forest of rules and regulations — the legalisms of yesterday and today — Jesus makes an

opening that allows us to see two faces: the Face of the Father and that of the brothers.

He does not give us two rules or two precepts, but two faces.

No! Not precepts or rules, He gives us two faces! Actually, it is one face: that of God that is reflected in the faces of so many, because in the face of every brother and sister, especially the smallest, the fragile, the helpless and the needy, the very image of God is present.

We should ask ourselves when we meet one of these brothers or sisters: Are we able to recognize in them the Face of God? Are we capable of doing this?

In this way, Jesus offers every man and woman the fundamental criteria on which to base their lives. But above all, He gives us His Spirit, which allows us to love God and neighbor like Him, with a free and generous heart. Through the intercession of Mary, our Mother, let us open ourselves to receive this gift of love, to walk always in this law, of two faces that are one face, in the law of love.

October 31, 2014

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Anchor Columnist The Extraordinary Synod’s final report

n October 15, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York appeared from Rome on “CBS This Morning” talking about the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Pastoral Challenges to the Family in the Context of Evangelization.

Charlie Rose, Jane Pauley and Norah O’Donnell were peppering Cardinal Dolan about controversial items that had appeared in the synod’s interim report (the Relatio post disceptationem or RPD) that had been released two days earlier.

Cardinal Dolan stressed that the RPD was a “draft document” and added, “boy, does it ever need major revisions,” stressing that that’s what he and the other bishops were hard at work doing during the synod’s second week. He thanked CBS and all the media for “paying attention to that first draft” and politely challenged, “I hope you’ll give as careful consideration to the ultimate Relatio (report) that will come out in a matter of days.”

Well, the media have not given anywhere near the attention to the final report of the synod as it did to its sensational and much-flawed draft. In this case, however, no one can blame the media: 10 days after the October 18 publication of the Relatio Synodi (RS, “The Report of the Synod”), it still exists only in the Italian original, a public relations fiasco equal in incomprehensibility to the decision to publish the draft report.

The 5,400-word interim RPS focuses on the “joys, burdens was released simultaneously to and hopes” of the families of the the media in Italian, English, world, thanking the Lord “for French, Spanish, and Portuthe generous fidelity with which guese; the definitive 8,000-word so many Christian families RS would take about one-third respond to their vocation and longer to translate, but still can mission with joy and faith” easily be translated and reviewed despite “obstacles, misunderin a day’s work (I used to transstandings and sufferings.” That late documents into English for more thoroughly Christian tone three different Vatican dicasteries).

The fact that the translations of the Putting Into RPD appeared instanthe Deep taneously but the RS still hasn’t appeared

By Father after a-week-and-aRoger J. Landry half suggests that those in charge of getting the documents translated were much more zealous about pervades the new draft. having people read the muchThe RS communicated much flawed draft than the muchmore clearly that the Church’s corrected final document. teachings on Marriage flow That’s perplexing, to say the not from earthly deliberation least. concerning sociological realiLast week I was in Louisiana ties but from the “revelation of giving talks on the synod to Le- the love of God in Jesus and gatus Chapters throughout the uninterruptedly taught by the state and had a chance to do a Fathers, Spiritual masters and textual comparison between the Magisterium of the Church.” It draft and the final document. A pondered the indissolubility of staggering 700 amendments had Marriage, for example, not as a been proposed to the 58-para“yoke imposed on people but graph interim report and the rather as a ‘gift’ given to people final report was much ameliounited in Marriage,” an endowrated. I’d like to note some of the ment rooted in Jesus’ indissolumore important improvements. ble, faithful, commitment to the The final document emphaChurch. It also drew much more sized the Good News about explicitly from the rich contributhe family far more than the tions from the one whom Pope draft’s deflating catalogue of Francis has called the “Pope of well-known problems facing the the Family,” St. John Paul II. family. The new first sentence It expanded the discus-

ALBANY, N.Y. (CNS) — Entire families navigate their smartphones while sharing meals at restaurants. Students text in class. Parents take phone calls at their children’s sporting events and plays.

It’s no surprise that cellphones affect even church.

It has become common for parishes to place blurbs in their bulletins about silencing cellphones and for lectors to make announcements about it before Liturgies, reminding parishioners they’re in a place of worship.

In some places, Massgoers heed the notices — with a few exceptions for people who work in emergency fields or don’t understand how to silence their phones. At other parishes, ringtones, texting or even taking calls during Liturgies can distract the presider and the people in the pews.

Dorothy Sokol, parish life director at Our Lady of Grace Par-

ish in Ballston Lake, N.Y., notices phones ringing and worshippers texting at Mass, despite signs in two different places and announcements cautioning against it. She said some people don’t know they’re offending people, but she’s distracted by it, especially when parents let toddlers play electronic games on their phones.

Some parishioners use a tablet or smartphone to follow along with the readings for Mass, and “there’s a place” for that, she said.

As for texting, “people have to be conscious that they’re in church to pray with a community and to try, if possible, to put the distractions away,” Sokol told The Evangelist, Albany’s diocesan newspaper.

She’s not sure how to handle teen-agers she’s seen texting repeatedly.

“What do you say?” she wondered. “Do you give the teen-ager grief when the parents are sitting right next to them and not saying

sion of the family to embrace “parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, relatives near and far and the bonds between in-laws.” More care was given to single moms and those who are victimized by abandonment and divorce. It added paragraphs on adoption, parental rights in the education of children, and Marian devotion in the family to help the family stay together, praying together.

The RS totally eliminated the confusing language in the RPD about the “positive elements in imperfect forms” involved in cohabitation and civil marriages, about “valuing” the same-sex orientation itself rather than those with the same-sex orientation, and about the “law of gradualness” that seemed to imply sinful behavior was no big deal. Instead, it focused on emulating Jesus’ two-fold response of mercy: warmly embracing those in sinful circumstances while at the same time lovingly calling them to “go and sin no more.”

It also added a discussion on the terrible destruction wrought in families by pornography.

Adultery of the heart can be as ruinous to Marriage and familial love as adultery in the flesh (Mt 5:27-29) and young people raised in a pornographic culture are often deeply wounded in their capacity to love real persons and form faithful, chaste bonds.

R U texting in church? Put the phone down! anything? The last thing I want is for them to stop coming. You have to figure out what’s best.

Unfortunately, asking, ‘What would Jesus do?’ isn’t a good question” — the Son of God never had a cellphone.”

Father Richard Carlino, pastor of St. John the Evangelist and St. Anthony parishes in Schenectady, calls himself a “strong endorser of silencing the cellphones.” People cooperate for the most part, but some don’t hear the announcements at the start of each Mass.

“It throws my whole concentration off ” when a phone rings during Mass, Father Carlino said.

But “I don’t think they do it maliciously.”

In recent months, he’s also had to talk to parishioners about texting — which he considers less distracting than a ringing phone, but “still a distraction from what they’re supposed to be doing in church. Their mind is not on the Lord. There are exceptions, but

the exceptions should be few.”

On the other hand, “I’m happy they’re there, even if they’re doing stuff they shouldn’t be.”

Father Thomas Holmes, pastor of St. Henry Parish in Averill Park and St. Mary Parish in Nassau, gets so frustrated by poor technology etiquette at Mass that he joked about installing an electric dog fence around the churches — or at least a signal scrambler.

“Almost every weekend, somebody’s cellphone goes off during Mass, oftentimes during the Consecration,” he said. “I often laugh, and it’s a sarcastic laugh.

I’ve said a couple of times, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ I think they should be embarrassed.”

There’s a sign on the door of St. Henry’s asking those who enter to turn their phones off. Father Holmes was puzzled and disappointed when he noticed someone had crossed out the words.

“It’s disheartening,” he said.

7 Finally, it wisely included revised paragraphs on the pastoral care of those who are divorced and remarried and those with same-sex attractions, even though these revisions didn’t receive the necessary two-thirds supermajority to be approved by the synod. If they had been excluded from the RS altogether, media commentary may have focused more on what wasn’t in the document than what was.

The reasons why these paragraphs failed to garner sufficient approval was because they were just a dry summary of what was discussed or what the Church teaches rather than an adequate, evangelical proposal of the loving call to conversion and holiness for those in these circumstances, something that synod fathers and the whole Church need to do better.

When the translations of the RS finally emerge, everyone should see that the conclusions of the synod are as different from the general impressions given through the media as the RS is from the RPD. Despite the inexcusable lag time, hopefully not just the media but all intelligent Catholics will fulfill Cardinal Dolan’s wish to give it as much “careful consideration” as they gave to the coverage of the interim report.

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

“There’s no reason for anybody to have their cellphone on in church.”

He has spotted teen-agers and young adults texting at Mass, but hasn’t confronted anyone. Texting only distracts him if he notices it, but he still wishes it didn’t happen at all in church.

“I’ve watched people walk into telephone poles while they’re texting, so it doesn’t surprise me” that it’s hard to turn off the technology, he said. “People are attached.

I’ve had parents tell me that their kids text each other while they’re sitting next to each other on the couch.

“Overall, I think people should have a little more sense when it comes to their cell phones. They forget why they’re (at church). It’s only an hour of their life.”

Andrea Freeman, office manager at St. Matthew’s in Voorheesville, saw someone texting at a wake, but said otherwise it doesn’t happen there often.

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October 31, 2014

We would do well to pray for the faithful departed

remember well having a conversation with a friend and at some point during it I spoke the dreaded “p” word, purgatory. Another friend listening on asked me, “Do you still believe in that?”

I responded with the first thought that came to my mind, “I was not under the impression that this belief was optional.”

From time to time the Church’s calendar permits the celebration associated with a particular day (November 2 All Souls Day, for instance) to be celebrated in place of what would have been the Sunday Mass of that specific week.

All Souls Day, in a concrete way, lends the opportunity to reflect upon that teaching of purgatory, which is frequently shied away from and subsequently misunderstood by even many regular Massgoers.

Our “Catechism” tells us that purgatory is the final pu-

rification of the elect, which is to pray for the dead at funeral entirely different from eternal Masses, a Mass a month after punishment. The short of it is someone’s death, or annithat purgatory, unlike Heaven versary Masses celebrated in or hell, is not a place to which subsequent years of death. All one’s soul is regulated for Souls Day commemorates all eternity. All souls in purgatory those holy souls, not just one are eventually destined for Heaven. Purgatory is a sign for us of God’s Homily of the Week immense love and Thirty-first Sunday mercy and serves as a in Ordinary Time reminder that our souls must indeed be free

By Father Christopher of sin before entering M. Peschel into Heaven. Purgatory is the place where that happens. We who live in particular. are reminded to pray for the The Mass texts for All souls in purgatory and offer Souls Day serve as a guide for sacrifices and prayers on their the intentions of our prayers. behalf. This teaching takes its There are three options for cue from the second book of prayers for this week’s Mass Maccabees where it men(in fact, this is one of the few tions, “Judas Maccabee made times a priest is encouraged atonement for the dead, that to celebrate three Masses in they might be delivered from the same day). The first Mass their sin.” It has been longmentions hope of resurrecstanding practice for Catholics tion, the second mentions the

merit of the joys of eternal happiness, and the third prays that the departed “may gaze eternally on you.” This week’s Gospel reading from John excerpts some of Jesus’ prayer: “That everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life” ( Jn 6:40). “May” have eternal life means that eternal life is not something that is to simply be presumed.

Indeed presumption is still a sin against the virtue of hope.

The prayers of the Mass and the Gospel all indicate that this week we pray for souls that are not yet in Heaven. If a soul has attained Heaven, then there is no need for our prayers, the end goal so to speak, has already been reached. If a soul is in hell, our prayers do absolutely nothing for them. All Souls Day is about praying for the souls of

the faithful departed, but more importantly, it’s about praying for the departed who are in purgatory. Indeed, All Souls Day is about purgatory, or it’s about nothing.

We would do well this week to pray for the souls of the faithful departed, especially those of our family, friends, and indeed remembering those souls who have nobody to pray for them.

Where the faithful departed have gone, we are most certainly to follow. Perhaps we could take the time to commend our souls and the souls of the faithful departed to the Blessed Mother especially through the praying of the “Hail Mary” prayer, which asks that she “pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.”

Father Peschel is a parochial vicar at St. Pius X Parish in South Yarmouth and chaplain at Cape Cod Hospital.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Nov. 1, All Saints Day, Rv 7:2-4,9-14; Ps 24:1b-4b,5-6; 1 Jn 3:1-3; Mt 5:1-12a. Sun. Nov. 2, Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (All Souls’ Day), Wis 3:1-9; Ps 23:1-6; Rom 5:5-11; Jn 6:37-40. Mon. Nov. 3, Phil 2:1-4; Ps 131:1b-3; Lk 14:12-14. Tues. Nov. 4, Phil 2:5-11; Ps 22:26b32; Lk 14:15-24. Wed. Nov. 5, Phil 2:12-18; Ps 27:1,4,13-14; Lk 14:25-33. Thurs. Nov. 6, Phil 3:3-8a; Ps 105:2-7; Lk 15:1-10. Fri. Nov. 7, Phil 3:17—4:1; Ps 122:1-5; Lk 16:1-8.

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ecently Pope Francis proclaimed his predecessor Paul VI to be “blessed,” which means that he is worthy of imitation, that people can pray for his intercession with God, and that his feast day, September 26 (which is actually his birthday, the day he was born in 1897), can be Liturgically celebrated in some places, presumably his home diocese of Brescia in Italy, as well as in Milan, where he was archbishop from 1954-1963, and in Rome itself, where he was pope from 1963 to his death in 1978.

In his extensive biography of Paul VI, the British journalist Peter Hebblethwaite recounts a telling story: “Cardinal Montini’s last sermon before the conclave was in the Milanese church [in Rome] of San Carlo in Corso where the heart of St. Charles Borromeo is preserved.

His text was John 21:18, ‘Truly, truly, Peter, when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go.’ He was not speaking of himself, but of the Petrine office.

Yet he was in tears, and so was everyone else. They knew.”

Pope Paul VI joins ranks of Blessed

Church, and reiterated the I thought of this moment doctrine of transubstantiation when Pope Francis quoted, as a way of safeguarding belief in his homily at the beatificain the real presence of Christ in tion, the entry that Pope Paul the Holy Eucharist, at a time made in his personal journal at when widespread Liturgical the end of the Second Vatican experimentation worked against Council in 1965: “Perhaps the a sense of the Sacred and tranLord has called me and prescendent. served me for this service not As Pope Francis said, “In because I am particularly fit for it, or so that I can govern and rescue the Church from her present difficulties, but so that I can suffer something for the Church, and in that way it will

By Dwight G. Duncan be clear that He [the Lord] and no other, is her Guide and Savior.”

And suffer he did, this humility the greatness of but with a steadfast and joyful Blessed Paul VI shines forth: Spirit, because he was pope in the crazy and turbulent 60s and before the advent of a secularized and hostile society, he could 70s, when it seemed at times hold fast, with farsightedness that the future belonged to those in open and defiant rebel- and wisdom, and at times alone lion from authority of whatever — to the helm of the barque of Peter, while never losing his joy sort. and his trust in the Lord.”

In the face of the sexual He brought the Second revolution, he proclaimed the Vatican Council to a successimportance of not separating ful conclusion. Among other the loving from the procreative meaning of sexuality in his 1968 things, the council solemnly proclaimed the universal call encyclical Humanae Vitae, on the regulation of birth. He also to holiness in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, reaffirmed the importance of Lumen Gentium, a teaching that priestly celibacy for the Latin

Judge For Yourself

he declared in 1969 “is considered the most characteristic element of the entire teaching of the council and, as it were, its ultimate purpose.” His beatification means that he actually practiced what he preached, that he walked the talk.

Two other beatifications of the past month shed some light on this. One, on October 3 in Newark, N.J., of Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, an American Sister of Charity who died in 1927 in her 20s. She wrote movingly that “Union with God is the Spiritual height God calls everyone to achieve — ‘anyone,’ not only religious, but ‘anyone’ who chooses, who wills to seek this pearl of great price, who specializes in the traffic of eternal goods, who says ‘yes’ constantly to God the Holy Ghost.”

The other was the beatification, at which I was fortunate enough to be present, on September 27 in Madrid of Blessed Alvaro del Portillo, first prelate of Opus Dei and successor to St. Josemaria, its founder. Opus Dei, to which I belong, has the mission of spreading the search for holiness through ordinary life.

Blessed Alvaro met with Blessed Paul VI in 1976 and told the pope that the founder taught him to daily offer his Mass for the Church and the Roman pontiff. Paul VI, moved, insisted that he pray only for the Church. Blessed Alvaro in reply told him respectfully, “Holiness, I cannot separate the Head from the Body. I can’t pray for the Church without asking at the same time for the visible Head of the Church, the Successor of St. Peter.’ The pope insisted, ‘No, no. Pray for the Church, for the Church.’

I insisted: Your Holiness just told me to be very faithful to the Spirit of our founder. I am faithful to his example and obey also in this your Holiness.’ Then he answered me: ‘Good, do as you wish.’” (Hugo de Azevedo, Mision Cumplida: Mons. Alvaro del Portillo.)

In his humility, Blessed Paul VI would not ask for prayers for his person. Pope Francis, on the other hand, never stops asking for prayers. The takeaway: become a saint and remember to pray for the Church and the pope.

Anchor columnist Dwight Duncan is a professor at UMass School of Law Dartmouth. He holds degrees in civil and canon law.

October 31, 2014

Thursday 30 October 2014 — Homeport: Falmouth Harbor — “Mischief Night” hile a student in high school, I met with a priest to inquire about the nature of seminary life. He told me I was like a rough, lackluster stone. The seminary, he said, would shave off irregularities, smooth out flaws, and polish me into a fine gem. The seminary sounded like a charm school crossed with a jewelry store.

A decade later, my deacon classmates and I formally presented ourselves for ordination to the priesthood. The ordaining bishop pronounced that we were “jewels in the crown of the Diocese of Fall River.”

Over the years, others have said I’m a “real gem,” but I suspect they may have been implying something quite different.

Be that as it may, I now return to my musings on proper church etiquette.

7. Mindfully cross yourself with the Holy Water upon entering and leaving the church.

This gesture and accompanying prayer are reminders that you have all the dignity of a baptized handmaid or servant of the Lord. You have a right to stand before God in worship.

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s a school community, each morning we have been praying a decade of the Rosary. Hanging on the side wall of my classroom is a framed jigsaw puzzle reproduction of the William Holman Hunt painting “Light of the World.” Just this week, my students noticed that during prayer I was gazing at Jesus knocking on the door with no handle. After prayer, I asked them what they saw in the picture. With one voice, they responded, “Jesus.” I then asked Who was inside. There was silence. Then, one child said, “There is light inside. God is inside.” Then he asked, “How can God be inside and outside?” In an instant, his young mind had discovered the mystery of St. Teresa of Avila’s doctrine of the union of the soul with God. The young students were astonished to realize that each of us has the privilege time and again to invite Jesus when He knocks to enter our heart.

Pope Francis has declared a Jubilee Year in honor of St. Teresa of Avila. It began this month on her feast day (October 15) and will culminate on October 25,

Anchor Columnists How to be polished and refined in church

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Once Mass has begun, do not Make sure the gesture does wander aimless down the aisle not give the appearance that looking for your recently lost you are merely clutching your relatives. pearls.

11. Don’t hog the aisle seat 8. Arrive at church a bit and force others to crawl over early. This allows time to pray you, even though your family privately and prepare yourself for Mass. You will get more out of it. Do not The Ship’s Log disturb others who may Reflections of a themselves be in prayer.

Linger after Mass for a Parish Priest prayer of thanksgiving,

By Father Tim if possible. Catching Goldrick up on the latest news is important for community building, but best may have donated that particureserved for the church lobby lar pew in 1924. Just smile in or hall. a friendly manner and slide in 9. Genuflect towards the or at least stand and let them tabernacle by bending your pass. right knee and touching it 12. I think toddlers should to the floor (if able to do so) ordinarily sit in the front of when entering or leaving your the church, not in a segregated pew. It’s a sign of respect for the presence of our Eucharistic “cry room.” They can better see what’s happening. No one Lord. Unfortunately, my days can stay focused while staring of proper and dignified genuinto the back of some guy’s flection have passed. I might overcoat. The baptized, even of very well fall over, so I bow tender age, have a right to be profoundly instead. in the worshipping assembly.

10. If you arrive unavoidOn the other hand, if your ably late, slip quietly into a infant or toddler flies into a back pew so as not to distract tantrum, head for the nearest other worshipers (This implies place of quiet respite. Don’t that those who arrive early be embarrassed. These things should thoughtfully leave the back pews for the late-comers). happen. Don’t wait too long.

When the child is calm, return to the worship space. Little ones get over these episodes quickly. And those who have no small children, please don’t growl, sigh loudly, or give the “evil eye” to parents who are in this situation.

13. Respect the personal boundaries of others. You may yearn to hold hands while praying the Our Father or singing “Kumbaya,” but the person next to you may not. You may wish to shake hands or embrace at the sign of peace, but the person next to you may be more reserved or worried about flu season. The prayer book says that you may offer the sign of peace to those around you, not that you must.

It is best to avoid arm wrestling while at Mass.

14. Make sure to receive Holy Communion properly.

This involves a worthy disposition in approaching the altar; a physical sign of reverence (like a bow); speaking aloud the word “Amen” signaling your preference to receive Communion in the hand or on the tongue; and consuming the Sacred Host reverently and promptly. Those non-Catholics

present at Mass will find their own protocol printed in every “Missalette.” Communiontime is for the reception of Communion, not for bestowing private blessings. Everyone, Catholic and non-Catholic, child or elder, is blessed at the conclusion of Mass. By the way, only those ordained are authorized to give a Liturgical blessing.

15. Most churches provide special seating and other conveniences for those with disabilities. Don’t use these designated areas if you have no disability. If you have a disability, do use the designated spaces. Both are acts of charity.

Do not block exits or aisles with stored wheelchairs or walkers. Avoid unnecessarily impeding the pace of processions.

In a perfect world, dear readers, these would be a few suggestions that would make Liturgical worship more rewarding for all of us. Of course, we do not live in a perfect world. In the end, church etiquette is simply respect for others mixed with a little common sense. Be kind.

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

2015. This Jubilee Year celebrates to mentor a younger parishioner upon the journey. the 400th anniversary of her For those who might wish a beatification. St. Teresa was a place to start before attempting mystic, contemplative, writer, to tackle St. Teresa’s writings, the and reformer. She is the patron Internet provides biographies, of Spanish Catholic writers and popular quotes, and even short was the first woman Doctor of articles on her writings. One the Church. That title comes from the Latin docere which means to teach.

As John Fink describes Wrestling with God in “The Doctors of The Holding on for Church,” in essence, the His blessing title recognizes significant contributions made to

By Dr. Helen J. Flavin the understanding of the Catholic faith.

Why is she also called such example is Dr. Muto’s St. Teresa of Jesus? This reflects reflections on St. Teresa’s insights the closeness to God evident in into the Lord’s Prayer http:// her life and writings. St. Teresa www.epiphanyassociation.org/ said, “For prayer is nothing else sites/default/files/TAV%20 than being on terms of friendship with God.” According to St. Mystical%20Itinerary%20of%20 Teresa, the characteristics needed the%20Lords%20Prayer%20 to cultivate or deepen that friend- March.pdf.

What are some areas for ship are love for one another, exploration especially relevant to detachment from earthly things, mentoring a younger Catholic? and true humility. The challenge St. Teresa’s parents were deeply available for each of us is to use religious, but her dad refused conthis year to reflect upon St. Tesent for her to enter the convent. resa’s insights. Rather than walk this road alone, we should choose St. Teresa looked within herself, found who she was, and chose a friend for the journey and/or

to enter the convent anyway. For much of her life, she was ridiculed because of her visions. She kept going anyway (inner peace from God). St. Teresa said, “God has been very good to me, for I never dwell upon anything wrong which a person has done, so as to remember it afterwards.

If I do remember it, I always see some other virtue in that person.”

In her religious life, her “Spiritual guide St. Peter of Alcantara” directed her to ask God to guide her to what would be most pleasing to Him. She chose each day to live a deep, personal relationship with God. St. Teresa said, “The Lord knows everyone as he really is and gives each his work to do — according to what He sees to be most fitting for his soul, and for His own Self, and for the good of his neighbor.”

Legend has it that one day St. Teresa shook her fist at Heaven and told God, “If that is the way You treat Your friends, no wonder You have so few of them!” The first time I heard that tale I was at a very low point in my life.

The priest who was speaking with me had told me to tell God exactly how I felt. I did what I was told to do. To my surprise, before I even finished, a feeling of peace settled into my heart. I, not my physical circumstances, had changed. If you never have felt this, then it is time to try. If you have felt this, then this year it is time to share your story.

As we start this jubilee year, let us be guided by the words of the “Peace Within” prayer which is attributed to St. Teresa: “May today there be peace within. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you never forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.

May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.”

Remember to watch for what God will accomplish with the seeds you plant. I smile as now, when we pray, my students turn to gaze upon Jesus knocking on the door that has no handle.

Anchor columnist Helen Flavin is a Catholic scientist, educator and writer and a member of St. Bernadette’s Parish in Fall River. biochemwz@hotmail.com.

Journey in a prayer with St. Teresa of Jesus

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October 31, 2014

Guardian angels watch over us

By Linda Andrade Rodrigues Anchor Correspondent

NEW BEDFORD — Guardian angels are the servants and messengers of God.

“How great the dignity of the soul, since each one has from his birth an angel commissioned to guard it,” St. Jerome said.

The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” teaches that as purely Spiritual creatures, angels have intelligence and will: they are personal and immortal, surpassing in perfection all visible creatures, as the splendor of their glory bears witness.

“The Holy Spirit advises me,” and “there’s the angel who advises me,” said Pope Francis. “Nobody walks alone, and none of us can believe we are alone.”

Nine years ago I interviewed a devout Catholic who believes she had an encounter with an angel. She works in marketing and lives in Rhode Island. She shared her story on the condition of anonymity.

Sitting in the front passenger seat of her boyfriend’s car, the woman, along with her two girlfriends, was riding around town late one night.

Out of the blue, a car cut them off running them off the road. Spinning out of control, they crashed into a telephone pole.

“I remember the point of impact,” she said. “I was holding onto the door with a death grip to brace myself as we hit the pole.”

Her boyfriend and friends managed to crawl out of the crushed car, but she was trapped inside.

“I remember not being able to feel my legs,” she said. “I panicked because I couldn’t catch my breath.”

The telephone pole was inside the car; her feet were in the engine compartment.

“I actually saw my life flash before my eyes at the moment of impact,” she said.

“I remember seeing family members who had passed on.”

She heard their voices calling to her.

Then she saw a hand coming through the

twisted metal. She reached for it.

“I’m a nurse,” the person said.

She told the nurse about the voices.

“Don’t listen to them,” the nurse said. “You’re going to be fine. It’s not your time yet.”

It would take more than an hour for emergency personnel to cut her out of the car with the Jaws of Life. All the while, she kept asking for the nurse who had promised not to leave her.

But the paramedics told her, “There’s nobody here. We’re going to take care of you.”

Her injuries were grave.

Her legs and pelvis were shattered, she had massive internal injuries and bleeding, as well as a blood clot. She received Last Rites.

She spent three months in the hospital’s trauma unit, and it would take a year of intensive physical therapy for her to walk again.

A short time after her discharge from the hospital, she arranged to meet the paramedics who had saved her life.

“They couldn’t believe I was there,” she said. “They assumed I wasn’t going to make it.”

Once again, she asked them about the nurse. They told her there was a witness walking his dog in the woods, but there was no nurse.

“It may have been your mind playing games with you,” the paramedic said.

“Your body was in shock.”

Today she bears few scars from the accident that nearly took her life. She is married to her boyfriend, the driver of the car, and is convinced a guardian angel came to her on the night of the accident.

“I still feel she’s watching over me,” she said. “I always feel protected.”

A resident of Mine Hill, N.J., Loci Lenar reports news of Christian signs and wonders on his blog and website — “Angels, Wonders and Miracles of Faith” (http:// lenarpoetry.blogspot.com) and “Signs, Wonders and Miracles” (www.ChristianMiracles.com) — which have recorded more than a million page views.

Lenar also documents his own Spiritual encounters, following instructions from his Spiritual advisor, Father Richard Tartaglia of St. Mary’s Church in Denville, N.J.

Sharing his experiences, he has been interviewed several times for the program “Sacred Treasures” on the international Catholic station Radio CorMariae, which is broadcast locally by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate of Our Lady’s Chapel in New Bedford at 88.5 FM (WPMW ).

Lenar often visits churches to photograph stained-glass windows and statues to use on his website and blog.

Five years ago he stopped to pray at the Church of St. Michael in Netcong, N.J., and photographed a statue of St. Michael the Archangel.

“Without the flash, you see the striking rainbow beyond the statue and around the arms,” he told me. “I gave the small memory card to Father Richard.”

Catholics invoke St. Michael the Archangel in prayer for physical protection.

Lenar said that Jesus is calling people to pray for Divine protection, not just for their families but for the world.

“We are living in difficult times, but through prayer we could change things,” he said.

“The message is now more important than ever before to invoke the powerful name of Jesus and to pray for the intercession of St. Michael the Archangel to protect our families and nation, especially in light of the violence surrounding our world and the Middle East.”

Two years ago thieves broke into the basement of St. Bernard’s Church in Assonet, causing massive damage to the property, pilfering church offerings and leaving behind a feeling of unease that this Sacred ground had been violated.

Consequently, Father Michael Racine inserted the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel in the front cover of church missals.

Just before the closing rites at every Mass, the congregation invokes the saint’s protection: “St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.”

October 31, 2014

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The Greater New Bedford Catholic schools’ seventh- and eighth -graders, with assistance from the Bishop Stang High School ProLife Club, recently gathered for a Rosary Rally. The purpose was to bring students together to educate them in the Pro-Life movement, and give them an opportunity to pray together for the unborn and the mothers and fathers who find themselves in unplanned pregnancies. It’s hosted every year by Holy Cross Family Ministries and the Diocese of Fall River Pro-Life Apostolate, having been held the past four Octobers at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth. The program kicked off with Mass at St. Julie Billiart Church next door to the high school, followed by praise and worship music throughout, a keynote speaker, followed by the Rosary. There were Rosary beads that stretched around the gym and were held up by students. Each decade was led by a different one of the five Catholic schools and they wore a different color robe to match the Mission Rosary Beads. Students from the schools led the Hail Marys said in each decade.

Students from four of the Catholic elementary schools in Fall River — Espirito Santo School, Holy Name School, Holy Trinity School and St. Michael School — participated in the first-ever Living Rosary at Bishop Connolly High School on October 24. The morning event included a Mass celebration, after which the students recited the Rosary inside Bishop Connolly’s auditorium to commemorate the month of the Holy Rosary. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)

Be sure to visit the Diocese of Fall River website at fallriverdiocese.org The site includes links to parishes, diocesan offices and national sites.

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October 31, 2014

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

“The Best of Me” (Relativity) Based on the 2011 bestselling novel by Catholic author Nicholas Sparks, this entertaining but morally flawed drama about destiny, directed by Michael Hoffman, poses a perennial question: If given a second chance, would you pursue a lost love?

Former high school sweethearts ( James Marsden and Michelle Monaghan) are reunited after 20 years apart when they return to their small Louisiana hometown for the funeral of a mutual friend (Gerald McRaney).

The duo continues to carry a torch for each other, despite her unhappy Marriage and unresolved issues from his past. That history is examined in flashbacks featuring their younger selves (Luke Bracey and Liana Liberato).

For these star-crossed lovers, there are many shocking twists and turns on the road to reconciliation and redemption. There are also a number of ethical lapses at which J. Mills Goodloe and Will Fetters’ script winks, making this appropriate material for mature, discerning viewers only.

Gunplay, domestic violence, drug use, benignly viewed adultery and nongraphic nonmarital sexual activity, an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, occasional profane and crude

language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

“Fury” (Sony) Writer-director David Ayer combines brutal realism with a passing admixture of scriptural spirituality in this powerful study of the psychological effects of combat, set during the last stages of World War II in Europe. Assigned to a veteran tank crew, despite having been trained for a desk job, a novice gunner (Logan Lerman) has difficulty killing the enemy until subjected to the savage mentoring of the vehicle’s commander (Brad Pitt) and the peer pressure of his newfound comrades (Shia LaBeouf, Michael Pena and Jon Bernthal).

As he navigates the kill-orbe-killed environment into which he has been thrown, the neophyte warrior gradually learns to follow the lead of his superior — suspending some aspects of basic morality while keeping other facets of his humanity intact. Mature moviegoers will require sound judgment to assess the terms of that bargain as well as a high tolerance for harsh visuals to endure the graphically portrayed circumstances which lead to its adoption. Pervasive wartime violence with much gore, an off-screen nonmarital bedroom encounter, numerous uses of profanity, relentless rough and crude language.

The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling.

The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, November 2, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Paul E. Canuel, a retired priest of the Fall River Diocese

Father Jason Blahnik, director of the Catholic Campus Ministry at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, takes a selfie with students at the Newman Center on campus recently. Father Blahnik said he’s always looking for new ways to engage young people and attract them to his Catholic ministry. (CNS photo/ Jeannette Merten, The Compass)

Priest says taking ‘selfies,’ posting them a way to connect to students OSHKOSH, Wis. (CNS) — As the Catholic Campus Ministry director at the Newman Center on the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh campus, Father Jason Blahnik is always looking for new ways to engage young people and attract them to his Catholic ministry.

This summer, he discovered a new one.

While walking alongside the Fox River on a hot day, he was struck by the humor of a sign warning, “Danger, thin ice.” He thought, “I bet people would get a good laugh out of this.” He took a “selfie” — a photo of himself — with the sign and posted it on his Facebook page.

The selfie prompted the amused response he had hoped for from students who were not on campus for the summer. He then started posting selfies of himself standing near university landmarks that the absent students would recognize.

“With the students gone, this was a way to connect them with UW-Oshkosh and the Catholic ministry even if they weren’t there,” Father Blahnik told The Compass, newspaper of the Green Bay Diocese. “Kids do a lot of selfies and snapshots. It’s me putting a foot into their world. It endears them a little bit more to the ministry.”

He said that now that school is back in session, students are taking selfies of themselves at the Newman Center and are posting them as well.

“It’s a chance to communicate with them in a little bit different way than normal,” said Father Blahnik, who was ordained in 2009. His “selfies” posted on Facebook can be viewed via the

link bit.ly/jason_selfies.

And how is it going over with the students? Father Blahnik obligingly asked for a nearby student’s opinion and got an enthusiastic response. “They think I’m the best, apparently,” he reported wryly.

In the back of his mind, Father Blahnik’s current approach was influenced by the popular selfies being taken by Pope Francis.

“If the boss is doing it, I guess it’s OK,” Father Blahnik said.

In the university student union, campus organizations can set up information tables, and Father Blahnik plans to sponsor a table once a month with a cardboard cutout of Pope Francis that students can pose beside for selfies.

“We may need to create an album on Facebook just for those photos,” Father Blahnik said. “The aim of the tables is to be a voice if somebody has questions about the Catholic faith. It gives the students a chance to see the Church is present on campus. Sometimes we need those reminders. It encourages them to think about religion. Sometimes we put that on the back burner when we’re busy.”

He said a hospitality commit-

tee of students will be present at the tables as well as at offerings at the Newman Center. “Regardless of who the person is, they will be feeling welcome, worshipping Christ, loving Christ and being loved by Christ,” he said.

Father Blahnik said he wants to reach out to young people on a personal level and to have fun.

He is offering such activities as carving pumpkins, doing arts and crafts, playing Catholic charades, knitting baby caps for charities or just dancing around to music.

He said his foray into selfies is a way to show that he is willing to go to the young people’s level in a good way.

“There’s some authenticity there,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to connect with the culture of young people now, and they appreciate that. It shows that Christ can enter even into something like this.

“Some people think that if we’re having fun, we’re sinning.

That’s not the case. It’s fun to be Catholic,” he explained. “There’s a joy to it, living and loving people.

It’s a great life. There are so many ways of following Jesus in a good way. I want them to have fun.”

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October 31, 2014

Liturgical items top agenda at USCCB general meeting in Baltimore

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Liturgical matters will take center stage on the agenda of action items at the fall general meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, to be held November 10-13 in Baltimore.

There will be five Liturgical items up for consideration.

All are subject to amendments from bishops. All but one require approval of two-thirds of the bishops, followed by final approval from the Vatican.

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., who is president of the USCCB, will deliver his first presidential address. He was elected to a three-year term last November. As is customary, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States, also will address the assembly.

During the meeting, the bishops will choose a new secretary-elect for the USCCB, and vote for the chairmenelect of five committees.

A number of presentations will be made, including one on underserved communities and Catholic schools, and another on a recent pilgrimage of prayer for peace in the Holy Land.

The bishops also will conduct the canonical consultation on the sainthood cause of Father Paul Wattson. Father Wattson was an Episcopal priest who co-founded the Society of the Atonement, also known as the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement, to further Christian unity. He was received into the Catholic Church as were all men and

women in the society at the time, and devised the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, still observed each January.

On the first day of the meeting, the bishops will concelebrate Mass at the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore in honor of the 225th anniversary of the establishment of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Baltimore was the first diocese founded in the United States.

The bishops had similarly marked the bicentennial of the U.S. hierarchy in 1989 with a Mass at the basilica.

The Liturgical items up for consideration: — A revised translation of the ritual book “Dedication of a Church and Altar,” used whenever a new church is built or when a new altar is made. The revised English translation incorporates the modifications from the Code of Canon Law as well as bringing the translation into conformity with the Roman Missal, Third Edition.

— A first-ever official English translation of the ritual book “Exorcisms and Related Supplications,” revised after the Second Vatican Council, and promulgated in Latin in 1999 with an amended version in 2004. The main part of this book is the rite of major exorcism and includes an introduction outlining criteria for its use, which is always the decision of the bishop alone.

While this text affirms the reality of evil in the world, it even more so affirms the sovereignty of Jesus to overcome any and all evil.

— A supplement to the Liturgy of the Hours of an English translation of the prayers used for the feast days of saints who have been added to the general calendar since 1984.

— Modifications to the Revised Grail Psalms, originally approved in 2010 by the Vatican. The USCCB Committee on Divine Worship recommended improving the translation and its “sprung rhythm” to make proclamation and singing easier.

The fifth Liturgy-related item would authorize rewriting for later approval guidelines from its 1995 document “Guidelines for the Celebration of the Sacraments with Persons with Disabilities” in light of medical developments and increased awareness of challenges faced by Catholics today, such as gluten intolerance, also known as celiac disease.

Other action items to be addressed by the bishops include the 2015 USCCB budget, the 2016 diocesan assessment, and a proposal to proceed on a revision to the “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services.”

In USCCB elections, Archbishops Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans and Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services have been nominated as secretary-elect. The five committees seeking chairmen-elect, and their bishopnominees, are: — Committee on Communications: Bishop William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., and Archbishop Joseph

Plante Jewelers ‘Give a Gift’ event to benefit St.Vincent’s Home

FALL RIVER — Plante Jewelers is giving gifts to get gifts for the children of St. Vincent’s Home. Making the holidays happier for children is the goal of Pierre and Nancy Plante’s “Give a Gift” event. “We want to make sure every child at St. Vincent’s has a gift to open at the holidays,” said Pierre. “We think it will be something our customers will want to be a part of,” he added.

Starting November 1 and going right up to December 24, customers who join Nancy and Pierre by donating gifts for the children can visit Plante Jewelers with an unwrapped present. Each

customer who drops off a gift will receive a gift from Plante’s — a sterling silver bracelet.

St. Vincent’s staff will wrap and deliver the holiday gifts to the children. Suggested presents include pajamas, fleece hats, gloves or mittens, sweatshirts and sweatpants, and toys or gift cards. A complete Holiday Wish List is available at Plante Jewelers, or on St. Vincent’s website at www.stvincentshome.org.

Plante Jewelers is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Holiday hours begin Novem-

ber 30. For more information, please call Nancy Plante at 508-673-0561 or email info@ plantejewelers.com.

Plante Jewelers was started in Fall River in 1905 and moved to Swansea in 1990.

Pierre and his wife Nancy are third generation owners and the creative team behind the business. They and their staff all have degrees in art. They offer unusual jewelry, some of it by local designers, rare gemstones, custom design, and services including jewelry and watch repair, restyling, and appraisals.

For more information, call 508-673-0561 or email nplante@plantejewelers.com.

F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kan. — Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church: Archbishop Gustavo GarciaSiller of San Antonio, and Bishop Joseph J. Tyson of Yakima, Wash.

— Committee on Doctrine: Bishop Robert J. McManus of Worcester, and Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit.

— Committee on National Collections: Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi of Mobile, Ala., and Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, Calif.

— Committee on Pro-Life Activities: Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of N.Y. and Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles.

The secretary-elect and the chairmen-elect will serve one year in that capacity and then begin a three-year term.

The bishops also will vote on members for the board of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network and Catholic Relief Services, the USCCB’s international aid and development agency, as well as hear a presentation by Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, chairman of the CRS board, and CRS president Carolyn Woo on CRS’ work on capacity building.

Other presentations scheduled for the USCCB meeting: — Underserved communities and Catholic schools, presented by Archbishop George J. Lucas of Omaha, Neb., chairman of the Committee on Catholic Education, and Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas, chairman of the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church.

— The pilgrimage of prayer for peace in the Holy Land, presented by Bishop Richard E. Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace.

— USCCB engagement with the Church in Africa, presented by Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington.

— The observance of the Year of Consecrated Life and the “Guidelines for the Reception of Ministers in the United States, Third Edition” and plans for their implementation, presented by Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Raleigh, N.C., chairman of the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations.

— A status report on the 2013-16 USCCB strategic plan, “The New Evangelization: Faith, Worship, Witness,” presented by Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle, USCCB secretary, — Separate reports by Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, chairman of the Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage; Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty; and the USCCB working group on the life and dignity of the human person.

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October 31, 2014

Area 40 Days For Life campaign honored at MCFL banquet continued from page one

right after the Supreme Court decision,” said Fox. “I said, ‘What can we do about Roe v. Wade?’ and she said, ‘There’s a meeting of Mass. citizens in your town next week, and that’s how I got started.’”

Bea Martins spoke about each of the four chapter members who received awards from MCFL. Monica Silvey, chairman of the Greater Lawrence Chapter, has made an amazing effort to increase the chapter’s presence. James and Bernadette Lyons of the Greater Lawrence Chapter have shown great dedication to their community; James served for many years as a state legislator. Muriel Ostrowski of the Burlington Chapter has helped “hundreds of women to become mothers and to take care of their children” as the executive director of Heartbeat Pregnancy Center. Martins called Thomas Pasternack, a pharmacist and member of the Greater Fall River Chapter, a “stalwart,” particularly for his assistance in fighting physician-assisted suicide legislation.

After the honors, Fox spoke to the hundreds gathered at the

Four Points by Sheraton in Norwood.

“Life is not a social issue. Life is the basic issue. We could solve so many of society’s problems with the restoration of the right to life,” Fox said.

“The legal system is corrupted by abortion,” she added. “When abortion is involved, common sense goes out the window.”

She used as an example the new buffer-zone law, passed in the 11th hour of the previous legislative session. The United States Supreme Court unanimously struck down a different, 35-foot buffer zone law in June.

Despite the unanimous decision and the fact that no incidents occurred outside of clinics in the interim between buffer-zone laws, politicians scrambled to pass the new buffer zone law in July. The new law allows a single police officer the discretion to require anyone “substantially impeding” access to the clinic to stand back 25 feet for a period of eight hours.

Fox said that the main focus of MCFL is education; even when preparing for an election, the focus is on educating voters

about candidates. She outlined the projects MCFL has been working on, including coordinating events for young people, opposing new physician-assisted suicide legislation, publishing Pro-Life materials and organizing the annual Respect Life Walk that aids mothers and children.

MCFL is also behind a nonbinding question on the ballot in 11 districts this November — 6th, 7th, 8th Bristol (Fall River, Freetown); 12th Hampden (Wilbraham, Springfield), 4th, 5th, 12th Norfolk (Braintree, Weymouth, Norwood); 5th Plymouth (Rockland, Norwell, Hanover) and the 3rd, 4th, 16th Worcester (Fitchburg, Leominster, city of Worcester). The question will instruct local legislators to vote in favor of an upcoming bill that would require the state to license and inspect abortion clinics. Currently, there are at least 15 unlicensed, uninspected facilities.

The keynote speaker, Ryan Bomberger, praised the ballot initiative and the regulation of abortion clinics. He quipped, “Self-policing usually doesn’t work.”

Steve Marcotte, Ron Larose and Darleen Howard, coordinators of 40 Days for Life Attleboro, stand with Anne Fox, president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, after receiving MCFL’s Ignatius O’Connor Award on behalf of all 40 Days participants at the recent MCFL banquet. (Photo by Edward Boylan)

Bomberger and his wife created The Radiance Foundation, an educational, life-affirming organization. The group has many projects, including ads that brought attention to the fact that black children are much more likely to be aborted. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People called that campaign “racist.”

Bomberger expressed disdain for that idea and for organizations that seek to support blacks but also support abortion. “Abor-

tion does not advance colored people. It kills them,” he said.

He said his first hero is his birth mother who was raped but chose to give him up for adoption.

“God can always make triumph rise from tragedy,” he said.

“We are stronger than our perceived or actual circumstances.

People overcome every day.”

He added that there is a myth that unintended equals unwanted equals unloved.

“Some of the best things in life are unplanned,” he said.

Letter to the editor

November 4 ballot — Important question Question No. 5 will be on the ballot in Fall River, Freetown and Westport corresponding to three legislative districts in our area, for Representatives Carole Fiola of Bristol 6th, Alan Silvia of Bristol 7th and Paul Schmid of Bristol 8th. Please note Paul Schmid has a section in New Bedford Ward 1, Precincts D, E and F and it is question No. 6 on their ballot. The question asks, “Shall the state representative from this district be instructed to vote in favor of legislation that requires all non-hospital facilities performing more than 10 abortions a year to be licensed as ‘clinics’ and to be inspected at least every two years by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health?”

Why on earth is this question being asked, you might wonder, assuming that surely all medical facilities in Massachusetts are licensed and inspected. This striking lapse of protection came to light from the criminal prosecution following the tragic death of Laura Hope Smith, age 22, in Hyannis. She had entrusted herself to an abortion provider in Hyannis in

2007. After the procedure, the doctor left the premises and left Laura’s care to his staff. Laura’s heart stopped, but the doctor did not have any heart monitoring equipment, the blood pressure cuff was broken, and his staff was not trained in CPR. This was an unnecessary, sad death, one that could have been prevented. Surely women deserve to have medical facilities licensed and inspected by the Department of Public Health, so that bad facilities are shut down or brought up to meet responsible medical standards of care. Per the Guttmacher Institute, there are 40 abortion providers in Massachusetts, and 16 of them are unlicensed facilities.

Please do vote on November 4. You have a choice: A “yes” vote will tell your representative that you want medical facilities to be licensed and inspected by the DPH. This will ensure that quality life-saving equipment and training on life-saving methods are standard practice.

A “no” vote will mean nothing changes, leaving women’s lives at unnecessary and unreasonable risk such as the tragedy that occurred the day Laura Hope Smith lost her life in Hyannis.

The choice is yours, do we help to protect women or do we do nothing?

Question 5 is a non-binding public policy question, not a law. It is the initial step in the process to gain the public’s viewpoint. In January of 2015, Massachusetts Citizens For Life will file a bill with the Massachusetts Legislature seeking legislation to close this dangerous gap in oversight.

Bea Martins, Chairman, Greater Fall River Chapter Massachusetts Citizens for Life

15

October 31, 2014

Formation Convention will be ‘Living the Joy of the Gospel’

ing, and to show participants a presentation to encourage continued from page one them to draw from their own As the convention has has served as associate profesAn author of many books, experiences. evolved, so has the choice of sor of Missiology. general session presenter Joe “John Collins never runs out “She is an excellent present- Paprocki, D.Min., will be of creative ideas for catechists,” speakers, his or her topics and presentations in English and er and has vast experience in drawing from his latest book, said McManus. “John is also in Spanish; “We broadened catechetics, mission and min- “Under the Influence of Jesus,” sponsored by Sadlier. Kevin the themes of our workshops istering to people with dis- to explore how individuals can Dowd was very well received and general sessions to reach ability,” said McManus of her engage in a more evangelizing last year; Pflaum is sponsoring the needs of a diverse group of former thesis advisor while she catechesis that not only in- his workshop. parish volunteers and any adult attended Weston Jesuit School forms but also transforms: “Joe “We always like to address wishing to take part,” said Mc- of Theology. “She is fluent in Paprocki is very well known the needs of catechists workManus. “There will always be Portuguese and worked and among catechetical leaders as ing with children with special workshops for catechists and studied in Brazil.” he is the author of many books, needs, and this year Loyola is As a national religion con- including ‘The Catechist’s sponsoring Deacon Larry Sutparish catechetical leaders whose work with children and sultant for Bilingual Resources Toolbox,’” said McManus. “He ton who is the author of ‘How youth always require learning for William Sadlier, Inc., Vic- has been in the diocese many to Welcome, Include and Cattor Valenzuela has been in times doing workshops for echize Children with Autism new skills.”

This year’s convention ministry for 25 years, including Loyola Press, who is sponsor- and Other Special Needs.’ Fatheme is based on Pope Fran- classroom teaching, youth min- ing him for this convention. ther Tom Washburn, OFM, is cis’ exhortation, Evangelii istry, teacher training and writ- He is a very entertaining pre- a popular speaker who grew up Gaudium (Living the Joy of ing and development of new senter and is focusing on the in New Bedford. He has been the Gospel). Each of the three materials; “Victor Valenzuela is personal dimension of evan- a presenter for us in the past, general session presenters will presenting the general session gelization. We can’t just share and this year he is bringing his break open the exhortation in our Hispanic track, [and] the Gospel; we have to be the Franciscan Spirituality into and help parish leadership ap- has immense experience in cat- Gospel!” an explanation of the work of ply it in their context, said Mc- echetics and works in diverse The convention is bringing Pope Francis.”

Manus. General session pre- cultures,” said McManus. “He back some popular presentMcManus is “very excited” senter Sister Margaret Eletta is focusing on the enculturation ers, including John Collins, to have Bishop da Cunha celGuider, O.S.F., is a member of of the Gospel message through a retired elementary school the ecclesiastical faculty of the the various forms of piety and principal and former director Boston College School of The- feasts common in the Hispanic of curriculum and elementary ology and Ministry (formerly culture. He is also focusing on school teacher. Kevin Dowd Weston Jesuit School of The- the skills required for quality is also returning to present a FALL RIVER — The ology) where, since 1990, she catechetical experience.” workshop focused on bullySoutheastern Mass. Alzheimer’s Partnership is presenting a series of free seminars for caregivers from November 5 through 18.

The panels are made up of 50 years ago — Members of the St. 10 years ago — Msgr. Daniel F. Hoye, professionals in the fields of Luke’s Physicians’ Guild of Fall River celthen-pastor of St. John the Evangelist Adult Day Health; Assisted ebrated their ninth annual White Mass Parish in Attleboro, was elected to a top Living Settings; Alzheimer’s for physicians, dentists, nurses, druggists leadership post in the Canon Law SociAssociation Programs; Elder and others engaged in the health field at ety of America at the annual convention Law; Geriatric Care-Manager St. Anne’s Hospital Chapel. held in Pittsburg, Ohio.

Programs; Homecare Services; Hospice; Long-Term Care; 25 years ago — Bishop Daniel A. CroOne year ago — Steve Karlen, the Monitoring Programs; and nin blessed and dedicated the new parish national director of Outreach for the 40 Reverse Mortgages. Members center at Our Lady of the Cape Parish Days For Life campaign, visited those of state agencies on panels inin Brewster. The new structure included standing vigil outside the Four Women clude: Bristol Elder Services; an office, audio-visual room, kitchenette, Health Services in Attleboro, the only Coastline Elderly Services; Old 10 Religious Education classrooms, and operating abortion clinic within the Fall Colony Elder Services. a hall with capacity for up to 250 persons.

River Diocese.

The seminars are: November 5 from 4-6 p.m. at St. Andrew the Apostle Church, 19 Kilmer Avenue, Taunton. RSVP to Phoebe

ebrate Mass — his first convention Mass — and the Mass will also honor individuals who have served in ministry for a significant number of years, allowing Bishop da Cunha a front-row seat to the dedication of people in the diocese.

Vendors will also be on hand at the convention, including the Daughters of St. Paul.

“The convention allows us to gather together as a community of Church that reveals our common mission in the Diocese of Fall River,” said McManus. “Sharing thoughts with others that come from diverse areas of the diocese helps us to broaden our view of ministry and gives us a feeling that we are in this together. We try to make the convention a place of welcome and hospitality.”

For more information on registering for the convention, please called the Office of Faith Formation at 508-678-2828, or go on the office’s website: www.

FallRiverFaithFormation.org.

Southeastern Mass. Alzheimer’s Partnership sponsoring area seminars

This week in

Diocesan history

Worcester at 508-822-9200 or pworcester@dhfo.org.

November 6 from 4:306:30 p.m. at the First Baptist Church, 228 North Main Street, Fall River. RSVP to Michelle Tavares at 508-6731290 or highlandadultdaycare@ verizon.net.

November 6 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 102 Green Street, Fairhaven. RSVP to Pat Midurski at 508-992-6278 or pmidurski@communitynurse. com.

November 18 from 5-7 p.m. at the First Christian Congregational Church (“White Church”), 1113 GAR Highway, Swansea. RSVP to Judy Andrade at 774-229-6607 or mammie1946@live.com.

Light refreshments will be served.

Youth Pages

16

October 31, 2014

Sixth- and seventh-grade students at St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro recently posed under pink and white flags in honor of breast cancer awareness month. The flags were made by the entire student body. They were made under the direction of their art teacher, Mrs. Shawn Sweet. The students created the flags and hung them from the school in honor of the month of October in general, but this year the student body is very much aware of breast cancer as a member of the school’s staff is affected by the disease.

In honor of St. Francis, the first-grade students at Holy Name School in Fall River donated various items to Forever Paws Animal Shelter. They listened to and learned about pet care from Gail Furtado and Bev Andrade,volunteers from the shelter.

Students from St. James-St. John School in New Bedford raised more than $500 for the Juvenile Diabetes Fund on behalf of two of their students who have Type 1 diabetes.

Fifth-graders at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro recently took part in a service project where they packaged 175 sets of Rosary beads to send to the Sisters of the Cross and Passion in Chile and Peru.

The Sisters will distribute them to poor families that they visit. Some of the Rosaries were made by students and others were donated.

Around the table are Caroline Smith, Olivia Sirard, Sarah Riberio, Isaac Pereira, Michael McCarthy and Adam Pearlstein.

In its 13th year, the Timothy J. Cotter Scholarship Fund has awarded more than $50,000 to students attending Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River. Given in memory of Timothy J. Cotter, who was president of Bank Five from 1983 to 1998, this scholarship fund has benefitted so many students making it possible for them to receive a Catholic education. Cotter believed very much in Catholic education since having been educated through the parochial school system himself; he felt a huge obligation to want to help others. From left: Christopher Myron, principal; recipients Emily Fiola and Hannah Lopes; Mrs. Cotter; and recipients Sarah Cabral and Jacob Schnurr.

October 31, 2014

I

was bopping down Route I-195 the other day heading toward UMass Dartmouth (does anyone say bopping anymore? Oh well, I just did). A song came on the radio that caught my attention. I believe the title is “Secrets,” by Mary Lambert.

The song brought on some deep sadness as I drove along. It brought to mind many people that I have met or have worked with. Whether working with adults, our young high school students or college-age students, I come across many people who, just as the song portrays, hide their true selves from others and who are misunderstood. They are protecting themselves from a world that just won’t accept them as they are. They have been hurt and marginalized so often. They are lonely.

They feel unloved and many times they are just lost.

I have also met others who seem to have it all together, but they are also hiding the pain of brokenness or falsehood. We all, whether we want to admit it or not, hide behind different masks at different times, trying to be the person others expect us to be or the person we would want to be. We put so much pressure on ourselves to be perfect.

The song features confessional lyrics based on Lambert’s real-life insecurities such as: I’ve got bipolar disorder; I’m overweight; and I’m always late. I’ve got too many things to say. My family is dysfunctional.

Youth Pages Masks are for Halloween Sometimes I cry a whole day. I care a lot, and never know when to stop.

And I’m passive-aggressive. I’m scared of the dark and the dentist.

And I never really grew up with a message of acceptance and self-empowerment.

The chorus of the song then continues with, “They tell us from

By Deacon the time Frank Lucca we’re young to hide the things that we don’t like about ourselves, inside ourselves. I know I’m not the only one who spent so long attempting to be someone else. Well I’m over it.”

Too thin, too heavy, too tall, too short, good at sports, clumsy, rich, poor. Smart or not as smart. We all grow up in a world that is just too quick to make fun of or marginalize people. Is there any wonder why we need to put up the walls outside to protect ourselves inside? Is there any wonder why we need to slap on masks to portray ourselves as someone other than who we are? The others see us in our various masks.

So let’s take off these masks. Only God Who created us sees us as we really are. When you stand before God, you are what He created.

As I said, I have met so many young people (and adults) who live

Be Not Afraid

behind different masks. They have their “church” mask: the person they are at youth group. And yet, they may also change the mask they wear in their group of friends or their family group. The result of this is that many of us have lost the sense of who we are and who we are meant to be.

Who are you really? Do you know your identity? That mask is limiting your vision. Wearing that mask, you can’t see what eternal differences you can make in the lives of those you touch.

It is important to remember that your life isn’t the only one affected

17

by what you do. You are connected in some way to all of God’s people. So take a chance and take off the mask.

Peel it off. Cut it off if you need to.

To share God’s love you don’t need to be perfect. You only need to be authentic and real. And when you are, God can do wondrous things through you.

Let’s leave the masks for the Halloween costumes.

Frank Lucca is a permanent deacon in the Diocese of Fall River, a youth minister at St. Dominic’s Parish in Swansea, and a campus minister at UMass Dartmouth. He is married to his wife of 36 years, Kristine, and the father of two daughters and their husbands, and an eight-month-old grandson. Comments, ideas or suggestions?

Please email him at DeaconFrankLucca@comcast.net.

Kindergarten children pray during the weekly October Rosary that took place with all students at Holy Trinity School in Fall River.

St. Mary’s School in Mansfield celebrated Grandparents Day with students hosting Mass and a reception to honor the unique relationship between grandparents and their grandchildren. An extra special reunion took place as two families were reunited during the reception. Andrew McCormick and Meghan (McDermott) Lash were enrolled in the Raynham public schools together, graduating in the mid-80s. This year, children in the St. Mary’s Class of 2023 realized their parents went to school together.

The two families, including grandparents, reunited with each other during the Grandparents Day festivities. From left: Julie McCormick; grandparents Robert and Joan McCormick; Andrew McCormick with his son, Michael McCormick; Meghan Lash with her daughter, Elizabeth Lash; grandparents Betsy and Tom McDermott; and Father Michael McManus, pastor of St. Mary’s Parish.

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

18

October 31, 2014

New Bedford parish returns from sixth pilgrimage excursion

with her on successive pilgrimNow that he’s completed ages. his sixth pilgrimage and fulcontinued from page one “I wanted to teach the faith filled his initial promise to “When he returned I asked York City. That maiden voyage Aldarondo said. “If it grows to to (them) and I thought it the Blessed Mother, Aldahim if he thought it was true,” in 2009 took them to the St. a point where we need to add a would be a great opportunity rondo said he’s going to take Aldarondo said. “To this day, he Frances Cabrini Shrine, the St. second bus, why not?” to do so,” Nason said. “I started a one-year sabbatical in 2015 “We started with one-day off with the oldest and when to spend time with his family; never responded to my ques- Vincent Ferrer Church, and the tion but, more or less, in my glorious St. Patrick’s Cathedral, trips, and now the further away the other made her First Com- but he’s already gearing up for heart I knew he had experi- where the group closed the day we go, it requires more travel munion, she joined in. By 2016 the planned 2016 venture to time,” he added. “So we had to I’ll be able to take all three of Canada. enced something extraordinary with a vigil Mass.

“For that first year, I just add additional days. Now on my granddaughters with me — over there.”

“Next year would be my sevFeeling disappointed that he decided I wanted to do these a three-day trip, we leave on a that will be my goal.” enth year, and the Lord rested wouldn’t ever be able to make three,” Aldarondo said of the Friday and we get to our desti“The fact that so many youth on the seventh day, so I decidsuch a distant pilgrimage, Al- selections. “For every other nation and it’s already evening, are attending these pilgrimages ed to rest on the seventh year darondo soon found himself shrine in each state I went so we’ve got just enough time every year is also what excites and take some time to be with asking why there weren’t simi- through the same process. If to get into our rooms at the ho- me the most,” Aldarondo said. my family and just pray,” Allar “holy places” closer to home you look into it, there are a lot tels, sleep and then wake up for “They are the future of our darondo said. “We may live our more (shrines) out there than the next day when we officially Church and they are learning, own pilgrimage, but we need to here in the United States.

“I felt guilty about having you think. We don’t have to start going to see the shrines.” first-hand, what the Catholic re-energize for whatever 2016 Joseph Trainor, a parishio- faith is all about.” questioned God,” he said. “So make these extraordinary pilmay bring.” the next day I went to my pas- grimages to Europe — we have ner of St. John the Evangelist Of the 55 people aboard this But Aldarondo stressed this tor and I Confessed to him. shrines right here, within a rea- Parish in Attleboro, has been year’s bus, Aldarondo said al- is only a temporary hiatus from on four of the most recent “St. most half — about 20 — were the pilgrimages.

And he told me that because I sonable distance to us.”

While he does all the plan- Kilian’s pilgrimages,” which he youth. had questioned God, perhaps “I fulfilled my promise to I wouldn’t get to go to Med- ning work, with his wife “help- admitted have all been “a lot of “A lot were members of our our Blessed Mother when we jugorje, but maybe the Lord ing out with the paperwork fun.” youth group and CCD program went to the National Basilica “Going with them, you’re who have been confirmed, but of the Immaculate Conception, wanted me to do something and details,” Aldarondo doesn’t here — meaning at our parish.” drive the bus on the pilgrim- able to just sit, say prayers and instead of walking away they and I’ve seen conversions takHis pastor’s words of encour- ages, opting instead to serve as relax on the trip down,” he said. decided to stay and help out,” ing place where many people “And I get to take pictures and he said. “Some are now aides in who are already committed to agement inspired Aldarondo to tour guide. visit some shrines that I prob- the CCD program, while oth- one or more ministries in their The large motorcoach-style make a promise to the Blessed Mother to organize yearly pil- buses used can comfortably seat ably wouldn’t have been able to ers are lectors and altar servers, parishes want to do more,” he grimages to various shrines in anywhere from 55 to 57 people, see on my own.” but one way or another, they are said. “But I keep praying that if When asked what shrines still committed to the Church.” it continues to bear fruit, why order to “receive miracles of and Aldarondo said they have conversions of hearts,” he said. easily filled a bus every year made the biggest impressions Nason, who admitted that all stop it?”

Using his work connections since beginning the pilgrim- on him, Trainor cited their three of her pilgrimages with AlThat’s good news for Nason 2010 trip to Fonda in upstate darondo have been “great trips,” and her three granddaughters. and experience as a bus driver ages.

“We get people who call us New York to see the Shrine said her favorite was probably with the New Bedford-based “I explained to them that from all over the diocese, but of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, and the 2013 trip to Philadelphia (Edwin) is taking a little rest Tremblay’s Bus Company, Aldarondo was soon making the this past year we didn’t even their visit this year to the St. to visit the National Shrine of next year, but I promised they arrangements for their first one- have to advertise the trip — Elizabeth Ann Seton Shrine St. Katherine Drexel, because would go on the next trip in day pilgrimage aboard a com- (the bus) was already halfway in Maryland and Basilica of “she teaches about helping other 2016,” she said. “It takes a lot of fortable motorcoach to New filled with returning pilgrims,” the National Shrine of the Im- people and how important the work to put it all together, but maculate Conception in Wash- Eucharist is.” it’s a great evangelization tool. ington, D.C. As the Perpetual Adoration “Even if you can go only “It’s the biggest Roman coordinator for her parish, Na- once in your lifetime, there’s Catholic church in America,” son retains a particular affec- just something about going on Trainor said of the basilica. “I tion for St. Katherine Drexel. a pilgrimage that helps you to think you could take three or “I think we need to look to live your daily life. To me, your four St. Anne’s Shrines in Fall saints as examples because we whole life is a pilgrimage, your River and fit them inside and can all become saints,” she said. whole life is a journey, and the still have room left over. It’s “By reading about their lives, we ultimate goal is to reach Heavmassive.” can learn about them and real- en and to reach God and also Having been deeply moved ize they weren’t all holy at the to know that Jesus came here by the St. Kateri Shrine in New beginning, they had to find God for a reason: to show us how to York, Trainor is also looking and learn to not stray off the love Him, how to do service for forward to a planned 2016 ex- path and achieve holiness. Once other people, and the prize will cursion to Canada to visit the you love God, you can also love be waiting for us at the end of site where the Native American and help other people.” the journey.” saint is buried.

“I know Edwin is planning a trip to visit St. Kateri Tekakwitha’s grave in Ontario, and then go to Montreal to see St. André Bessette’s shrine up The September 24 Mass of Installation of the Most there, too,” he said.

Rev. Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., as eighth Bishop of Linda Nason, a parishioner Fall River is now available on DVD from the Diocof Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Seekonk, is likewise esan Office of Communications. Cost of the DVD is looking forward to the 2016 $25 and includes postage cost. pilgrimage to Canada, to which To order one, please send a check in that amount she hopes to bring her three payable to the Office of Communications to this adgranddaughters. dress: Diocesan Office of Communications, P.O. Box Having joined the St. Kilian’s 7, Fall River, Mass. 02722. group on three previous trips, Kindly note Installation Mass DVD on the memo Nason initially took one, and line of the check. then two of her granddaughters

Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha installation DVD now available

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October 31, 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.

Bishop da Cunha installation Mass on cable TV

The Mass of Installation of Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, recorded September 24 in St. Mary’s Cathedral, Fall River, is airing on several cable television public access channels in the Fall River Diocese.

As of press time, the announced schedule is as follows: — Bourne, cable channel 13, Sunday, November 2 at 4 and 10 p.m.

— Falmouth, cable channel 13, November 2 at 12:28 a.m. and November 3 at 3 p.m.

— North Attleboro, Comcast channel 15 or Verizon channel 24, November 7 and 21 at 12:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.; November 8 and 22 at 4 a.m. and 5 p.m.; November 9, 23 and 30 at 6 a.m. and 9 p.m.; November 10, 24 and December 1 at 12 a.m. and 4 p.m.; November 12 and December 3 at 3 a.m., 2 and 10 p.m.

— New Bedford, cable channel 95, November 6, 13 and 20 at 3 p.m.

— Sandwich, cable channel 13, October 31 at 6 p.m.

— Taunton, Comcast channel 15 or Verizon channel 22, November 2, 4, 9 and 11 at 9:30 p.m. and November 8 at 12:30 p.m.

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Nov. 1 Rev. William H. McNamara, Retired Pastor, St. Mary, Mansfield, 1924 Rev. Louis N. Blanchet, Assistant, St. Jean Baptiste, Fall River, 1927 Rt. Rev. Msgr. John F. Ferraz, Pastor, St. Michael, Fall River, 1944 Rt. Rev. Msgr. George F. Cain, Pastor, St. Mathieu, Fall River, 1953 Rev. William E. Farland, Pastor, St. Joseph, Taunton, 1987 Rev. William F. Gartland, C.S.C., Stonehill College, North Easton, 1988 Rev. John F. Sullivan, SS.CC., Retired Pastor, Holy Trinity, West Harwich, 1994 Rev. Manuel T. Faria, Retired, Catholic Memorial Home, 1999 Nov. 2 A memento for the repose of the souls of our bishops, priests and permanent deacons not on this list Rev. Joseph S. Fortin, Founder, St. Jean Baptiste, Fall River, 1923 Rev. Michael V. McDonough, Chaplain, St. Mary’s Home, New Bedford, 1933 Nov. 3 Rev. Jose M. Bettencourt e Avila, Retired Pastor, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, New Bedford, 1988 Nov. 4 Permanent Deacon James M. O’Gara, 1990 Nov. 5 Rev. Daniel A. Gamache, Retired Pastor, St. Joseph, New Bedford, 1998 Nov. 6 Rev. Patrick S. McGee, Founder, St. Mary, Hebronville, 1933 Rev. Joseph Oliveira, Retired Pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes, Taunton, 1999 Nov. 7 Rev. J. Edmond Tremblay, Retired Chaplain, Sacred Heart Home, New Bedford, 1985

Around the Diocese

Bishop Stang High School, 500 Slocum Road in North Dartmouth, is hosting an Open House, Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m., providing information on academic programs, campus tours, athletic and co-curricular fair, financial options, the iPad Initiative and more.

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.

St. Theresa’s Parish, 18 Baltic Street (Route 1) in South Attleboro, will host a “Christmas in the Village” Bazaar on November 14 from 5 to 8:30 p.m. and November 15 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The event will have food — including meat pies, homemade fudge and bakery items — along with raffles, games of chance, a country store, and penny social.

A lunch and film screening of the new release “Family Dinner” will be held on November 17 following the noon Mass in the cafeteria at the Father Peyton Center in Easton. Join them for a free warm lunch while watching this 28-minute video. This modern and entertaining drama is about learning the nature of true love and the selfless service of Christ’s love to call us to share in the institution of the Eucharist. This Holy Cross Family Ministries event is free and open to the public. For more information visit www.FamilyRosary. org/events or call 508-238-4095.

Good Shepherd Parish, 1598 South Main Street in Fall River, will host its Annual Turkey Shoot on November 22 with the kitchen opening at 5 p.m. and drawings beginning at 6 p.m. There will be tables with turkeys, vegetables, potatoes and all the fixings — you could win to cook the perfect Thanksgiving dinner. The evening will also include a mini penny sale. Items on the kitchen menu include linguiça, chow mein and meatball sandwiches, clam chowder, stuffed cabbage kale soup and much more.

Admission and coffee are free! For more information call 508-678-7412 or visit www.gsfallriver.com.

A Country Christmas Bazaar, presented by Corpus Christi Parish, 324 Quaker Meetinghouse Road in Sandwich, will take place November 22 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Come and see the many wonderful handmade creations by our crafters, the aroma of our homemade baked treats, and enjoy a delicious lunch at our café, take a chance at our Noella raffle and our handmade quilt raffle, and stop by to see many of your favorite vendors. This spectacular event will be taking place at the parish center including classrooms.

St. Anthony of the Desert Parish, 300 North Eastern Avenue in Fall River, will hold its annual Food Festival and Craft Show on November 23 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Come and enjoy great Lebanese foods such as kibee, tabouli, stuffed grape leaves and more. Experience Lebanese pastries, mamoul, baklava, apricot cookies plus more homebaked treats. Shop the local crafters who come back every year with special gift items for the holidays. A special this year is a coat sale: there will be a limited amount of name-brand coats (irregulars) at great prices. So come by, enjoy a great lunch or take out, and do your holiday shopping at the same time.

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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October 31, 2014

I

Reaching a new low in heights

open water below those gaps. ’m not sure when it hapI also remember playing pened. I wasn’t always like “around the ship tag” on the this, but somewhere, somehow, Battleship Massachusetts with my and at some time it crept into friends several times a month my psyche and hasn’t let go (when it only cost 50 cents to since. get aboard). We would climb I have a fear of heights. Last all over that vessel and I hadn’t week Denise and I celebrated a fear. our 36th wedding anniversary Maybe it was shortly after I (or should I say St. Denise). As a little surprise, thanks to a great made my excursion across the Braga, when I fell out of a big Groupon coupon, we spent a night at a Cape Cod resort, with old maple tree in my pépère’s yard some great seafood and R and R. and totally mangled my left arm.

I completely broke the radius On the way to our little getand ulna. I was in the hospital away, we traveled up I-195 to for five days and in a heavy Route 25. It was shortly before plaster cast, losing completely I hit the junction of the two my summer vacation. highways that I began to get I don’t remember climbing the sweaty palms and increased trees after that. heart beat. I knew what was on I also don’t remember finding the way — the dreaded Bourne out for the first time that I had Bridge. developed acrophobia. Perhaps I I literally counted down the shut that out of my memory. miles on Route 25 until that horrifying turn that takes one onto the bridge. Climbing eastward on the bridge I literally sang

By Dave Jolivet “la-la-la” out loud as Denise tried to take When Denise and I were first my mind off things by talking to me. I have no idea what she said. married and she was pregnant with our daughter Lauren, we Once I reached the apex and lived on a third-floor apartstarted the descent, so too did my heart rate slow down and my ment. I wouldn’t let Denise hang clothes on the line up there, so hands unclenched the wheel.

I would do it — with only my As I mentioned earlier, I arms out the window and my wasn’t always like this. As a face planted firmly on the inside young boy I was always climbof the window. I must have been ing trees, scaling large walls and quite a sight. walking across them on a span I’ve had problems with the about six inches wide, with no Bourne and Sagamore bridges fear of falling.

When the Braga Bridge con- (also with 135-feet clearances), necting Somerset and Fall River the Braga at times (but it’s much wider than those skinny was completed in the spring of Cape bridges), and other lofty 1966, I was a few months shy places. of 10 years old. I remember the I did go to the top of the public was invited to walk across Empire State Building and the bridge before it was opened Rockefeller Center in New York to traffic. My dad, brother and City, but I hugged the building I made the walk, and I had no walls the whole time. problems, and the Braga has I don’t know if things are a clearance over the Taunton getting worse as I get older, but River of 135 feet. In fact I have home movies of the walk (I have I surely hope not. My Anchor office is on the second floor! home movies of everything my And another thing, was the brother and I did as kids thanks Cape Cod Canal really that necto dad). essary? I truly love the Cape and I remember walking or bikIslands, but those evil bridges are ing across the old Slade’s Ferry such deterrents. bridge, who’s “sidewalk” was There must be a spot for made of planks of wood with an auto-ferry on either shore gaps every 20 feet or so. My between the demon spans. Isn’t friends and I would traverse the there? span with no problem. Granted Dave Jolivet can be contacted the bridge had a clearance of at davejolivet@anchornews.org. about 20 feet, but still it was

My View From the Stands