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I VOL. 41, NO. 44 •
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Friday, November 14, 1997
FALL RIVER, MASS.
FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
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8 from diocese to be invested into Holy Sepulchre Orcfer Two priests and six laypersons of the Fall River Diocese are among Catholics who will be invested as Knights or Ladies of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem at ceremonies to take place November 21 and 22 in Boston. The priests are Rev. Msgr. John l Regan, pastor of St. Patrick parish in Falmouth, and Rev. Paul E Robinson, O. Carm., lC.D., Adjutant Judicial Vicar for the Diocese of Fall River. The laymen and women, who, as members of the order, use the titles Sir and Lady, are Sir E Keats and Lady Ina C. Boyd Jr. of Mashpee; Sir Gregory M. and Lady Marie M. Dunn of Sandwich; and Sir Richard T. and Lady Anne D. Saunders, M.D., of New Bedford. Admission to the order recognizes meritorious service to the Church. It was founded in 1099 by Godfrey of Bouillon and its name derives from the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, where members were knighted during its early years. In later times national divisions were established in various countries, and were further subdivided into Lieutenancies. Members in the Fall River diocese belong to the Northeastern Lieutenancy of t!he United States. The mission of the order is religious and charitable. Members work to maintain a Christian presence in tht: Holy Land through prayer and financial support of its churches, convents, seminaries, schools and orphanages. They aid in fostering general interest in the holy places and strive to exemplify Catholic ethical principals in their daily lives. Rev. Mark R. Hession, who is the Fall River diocesan coordinator for the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, announced for Bishop Sean O'Malley, OFM, Cap., the names of those to be received into the order and explained the schedule for the upcoming investiture weekend. The new members will be invested by Boston Auxiliary" Bishop William F. Murphy, STD, KCHS, in the context of a 4 p.m. Mass on November 22 at St. Clement's Eucharistic Shrine, 1105 Boylston St., Boston. The bishop is archdiocesan vicar general and curia moderator. The Mass will be followed by a reception and dinner at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. Earlier in the day, at the annual business and breakfast meeting, Brother David Carroll, ES.C., PhD., of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association will speak on present conditions in the Holy Land. A scientist and educator, he currently serves as assistant to the secretary general of the Welfare Association, a papal agency om~ring humanitarian and pastoral support. On Friday evening Auxiliary Bishop John P. Boles, KCHS, of Boston will celebrate a 6 p.m. Memorial Mass and vigil service at St. Ignatius Loyola Church 011 the Boston College campus in Chestnut Hill. A reception will follow at BC to honor Holy Sepulchre members who have been promoted in the Order. The two-day program comprises the 17th annual Investiture Weekend for the Order's Northeastern Lieutenancy. George T. Ryan, KGCHS, Northeastern Lieutenant, and his wife Mary are the hosts for the weekend.
252 BISHOPS from the United States gathered this week in Washington, D.C., for their fall meeting Nov. 10-13. They opened the general meeting with votes to hold a national meeting of Hispanic Catholics in the year 2000 and to study ways to revive the penitential practices of fasting and abstinence to support pro-life efforts. (Kearns photo)
u.s. bishops hold fall general meeting WASHINGTON (CNS) - With much of and the proposed text of the first official Spantheir scheduled business already completed, the ish-language Sacramentary for the United States. u.s. bishops headed into executive session on The Sacramentary is the book of prayers used the second day of their fall general meeting in at Mass. Until now, because there was no U.S. Washington. Sacramentary in Spanish, U.S. parishes have been In a tie vote Nov. II that was resolved by a able to choose from among several Spanish provision of canon law, Archbishop Harry 1. Sacramentaries approved by other bishops' conFlynn of SI. Paul-Minneapolis was elected sec- ferences. retary of the National Conference of Catholic Also scheduled before the end of the meeting Bishops and U.S. Catholic Conference. were votes on the continuation of 15 current ad Archbishop Flynn won because he is older hoc committees, in accord with a "sunset" clause than Bishop'Wilton D. under which such comGregory of Belleville, Ill., mittees must be reviewed for value and and the Code of Canon Law says ties go to the eleffectiveness at least der of the two candidates. once every three years. On the second day of On the meeting's the Nov. 10-1,3 meeting, first day, the bishops the bishops also elected voted to hold a national committee chairmen and meeting of Hispanic discussed whethertotransCatholics in the year fer observance of the feast 2000 and to study ways ofthe Ascension to the sevto revive the penitential enth Sunday after Easter, as practices of fasting and is done in a number ofother abstinence to support countries. But a planned pro-life efforts. They also agreed to vote 011 the matter had been removed from the agenda extend for an indefinite earlier. period the national colBISHOP SEAN O'MALLEY speaks lection for the Office to Most U.S. bishops favored transferring the ob- at this week's U.S. Bishops' meeting in Aid the Catholic servance of Ascension to Washington. (Kearns photo) Church in Central and Sunday when the issue Eastern Europe. Only a came to a vote in 1991, but the proposal did not three-year extension had been requested. achieve the twq-thirds approval needed for pasThe bishops' Ad Hoc Committee to Oversee sage. the Use of the Catechism got approval for a fiveThe only other public business Nov. II was year extension of its national staff office for the debate and the first in a series of votes on a plan catechism. that would restructure the bishops' Catholic ComAlso getting the bishops' support was a $44.38 munication Campaign and expand their national million budget for 1998 and a series of priorities communications planning and activities over the for the bishops' conferences through the year 2002. next five years. The bishops gave their unanimous consent to The plan includes detailed year-by-year goals the sainthood cause of Mother Mary Henriette and strategies ot research, development, staffing, DeliIle, who founded the Sisters of the Holy Famtraining and media use through the year 2001. It ily for black women in New Orleans, and approjects a doubling of national funding for Catho- proved English Mass prayers for the observance lic communications work, from $3.3 million in of the feast of SI. Louis Mary de Montfort. 1997 to about $6.8 million in 2001. The latter vote followed up on a 1996 Vatican Consideration of the plan resumed Nov. 12 decision to add his feast, as an optional memoafter Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morn- rial, to the church's general liturgical calendar. ing executive sessions, with adjournment a posOn another liturgical matter, Archbishop sibility for Wednesday afternoon. Jerome Hanus of Dubuque, Iowa, reported at the Other agenda items remaining for debate and meeting that the Vatican has approved the first vote Nov. 12 were documents describing "light volume of a new English-language Lectionary and shadows" in the 25-year batlle against abor- for U.S. use at Mass. A proposed second volume of the Lectionary, tion and urging Catholics to act in greater solidarity with people beyond the U.S. borders; a originally slated to come to a vote this Novemreport on how to better support Catholic schools; ber, has been delayed until the bishops meet again
next June because the final editorial work on the proposed text could not be completed in time for the fall meeting. The Lectionary contains the texts of Scripture readings used at Mass. Last June the bishops approved a first volume of it, including all the readings for Sundays and certain major feasts. Bishop Anthony M. Pi lIa ofCleveland opened the meeting with his presidential address, centering on reconciliation. A church divided within cannot witness reconciliation to the world, Bishop Pilla told the nearly 300 U.S. bishops gathered at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill in Washington. He challenged those "who claim to be Catholics and at the same time act like bullies." "A church which is not at peace with itself acts as a countersign," he said. Catholic polarization must end because it contradicts the Christian "imperative for reconciliation," he added. One example of a failure at reconciliation was taking place outside the hotel almost as Bishop Pilla spoke. .Angry words were exchanged between members ofDignity, a group of gay and lesbian Catholics, and opponents of the group. Dignity members had convened a press conference in support of "Always Our Children," a statement of the bishops' Committee on Marriage and Family urging parents to love their gay children. The committee statement, issued in October, was not up for discussion at the fall meeting. Meanwhile, an attempt to add a discussion of U.N. sanctions againstIraq to the bishops' agenda was rejected by just five votes. Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton of Detroit had urged the agenda change, saying that the bishops' own teachings on war and peace would mandate a condemnation of the sanctions against Iraq. Since the embargo was imposed in 1990 by the United Nations, with strong U.S. backing, "more than a million people have died, including 600,000 children," Bishop Gumbleton said. The sanctions are "leaving behind a trail of resentment and hatred" of Americans in Iraq, he said. With 163 bishops in favor of revising the agenda and 89 against, the vote was five short of the 168 needed for a two-thirds majority. But after the close vote, Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick of Newark, N.J., chairman of the bishops' International Policy Committee, indicated that he would raise the topic again later in the meeting. Preceding the general meeting were two halfday workshops for the bishops Nov. 9: one on science and religion on the theme of evolution, the other on lay ministry in the church.