FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS VOL. 39, NO. 45
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Friday, November 17,1995
F ALL RIVER, MASS.
Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
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$11 Per Year
At meeting:
Bishops gather to act on packed agenda WASHINGTON (CNS) - At their annual meeting, held Nov. 13-16 in Washington, the U.S. bishops faced their usual packed agenda. Among their first actions 'was the holding of elections, which named Bishop Anthony M. Pilla of Cleveland pre&,ident of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and U.S. Catholic Conference. From a field of II nominees, Bishop Pilla was elected overwhelmingly on the first ballot, receiving 170 votes to a total of 68 votes scattered among the remaining 10 candidates. His three..year term of office began with the close of the bishops' national meeting Nov. 13-16 in Washington. Bishop Pilla, 63, has been a bishop since 1979 and head of the Cleveland diocese since 1980. He heads an NCCB subcommittee preparing for U.S. Catholic observance of the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of Christ. Serving with Bishop Pilla as NCCB-USCC vice president will be Galveston-Houston Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza.
Eleven bishops, among them Bishop Sean O'Malley, were named to head NCCB-USCC committees", for the next three' years. Bishop: O'Malley will head the Missions Committee. Among others elected were Boston Cardinal Bernard F. Law, Committee for Pro-Life Activities; Nashville, TN, Bishop Edward U. Kmiec Permanent r Diaconate; Ogdensburg, NY, Bishop Paul S. Loverde, Vocations; and Rockville Center, NY, Auxiliary Bishop John C. Dunne, Women in Society and in the Church. During the Nov. p to 16 meeting, the bishops reaffirmed the principles of their 1986 pastoral on the economy and harshly criticized welfare reform mea$ures pending in Congress. Unanimously approved was a LIVEL Y AND enthusiastic, Father Dave Costa explains the day's schedule to 625 youth brief letter to Catholic college students that urges them to "create a violence convention participants. (Vieira photo) climate of hope and a community of welcome" on the :nation's campuses. The bishops approved a $41.8 million budget for 1996, new guidelines for the retirement of bishops,
Turn to Page 12 ... C:ampaign for Human Development collection this' weekend
On the weekend of November '18-19, members of diocesan parishes are invited to join with Catholics across the country in responding to the annual appeal for support of the Campaign for Human Development (CHD), which this year marks its 25th anniversary as a significant force in the battle against poverty in America. CHD is the U.S. Catholic Church's effort to fight root causes of poverty through promotion and support of community-controlled, self-help organizations and through education. Ina letter to parishes, Bishop Sean O'Malley reported that in the last 10 years two organizations within the diocese were aided by funds from the national CHD office: the Cape Organization for the Rights of the Disabled and Massachusetts Senior Action. Both groups aid the disabkd and elderly with advocacy where needed and with transportation. Also assisted over the years have been halfway houses, pro-life organizations, the Hispanic Apostolate, Boy Scout programs, alcoholism support groups and various agencies assisting youth groups, the elderly, and the handicapped. Twenty-five percent of funds
collected within the diocese are retained for local self-help initiatives. Recently such undertakings included funding of a community outreach worker's activities on Cape Cod and an English as a Second Language program, also on the Cape. Functioning at several diocesan locations is the BELL (Basic English for Lifelong Learning) program, which serves immigrant workers with nighttime classes. Several religious women are active in the BELL program, for which funding has been arranged by Arlene McNamee and Craig Gaspard, director and assistant at the Diocesan Department ofCatholie Social Services. Among them are Holy Union Sister Anne Marie Phillips and Notre Dame de Namur Sisters Ellen Dabrieo and Mary Alice McCabe. Gaspard noted that C H D nation~l funding is available to groups meeting four criteria: nonprofit status, providing b'enefit to lowincome participants, offering a nontraditional approach to alleviating poverty or aiding the disadvantaged; and not offering direct services such as casework or therapy. Turn to Page 12
Convention charges youth to end verbal violence
by Christine Vieira Fall River's Bishop Connolly High School auditorium looked as if the Victory Garden had met the Wizard of Oz as giant orange, fuschia, and'yellow paper flowers and palm trees decorated the stage but, more importantly, set a festive mood for "Celebrate YOUth" the recent diocesan convention on violence. "In decorating the stage," said Father David Costa, better known as Father Dave, director of Youth Ministry Services and the conference, "we really wanted vibrant 'splashes of color to illustrate the whole idea of celebrating youth." Teens from all over the diocese, 625 strong, gathered with great excitement to celebrate the energy, enthusiasm, faith and gifts that young people give the Church. Evidenced by their participation in the opening ceremony, keynote address by Sheryll Hirschberger' on verbal disarmament and the closing Mass, the students were eager to be an important part of the daylong event. "It's very timely," said Father Stephen Avila, one of the many priests in attendance, "in the wake of the Rabin assassination." The convention theme focused on the rainbow of which no separate color could give the same effect; nor could the rainbow exist without each of its components. Students learned that the colors, like people, are interdependent and, while they can look good and survive separately, they thrive when working together.
"Violence isn't just physical," said Jason Gleghorn, a Bishop Connolly senior and part of a student committee that assisted with the convention's activities, "it's insulting words too. This type of thing [the convention] gives everyone a greater appreciation of people." Upon registration, students received a ribbon representing one of the colors of the rainbow, on which they wrote their names. During the opening ceremony, selected students explained the theme to the audience. Listeners were to wave their ribbons when they heard their color mentioned and to wave them in unison in a flutter of color at the work "rainbow."
Sheryll Hirschberger, MA, author of "Poised Power" and the convention's keynote speaker, discussed verbal disarmament. She explained the five verbal weapons used to inflict injury onto others. "I call these weapons shame, blame, judgment, begrudgment, and the need to be right," she said. "These weapons hurt people. When we have different points of view, we all need to learn to communicate without violating." "Shame," she said, "is used when we pick on another person's weaknesses. This can be called teasing when we act as if we don't mean to put the other down. It's easy to shame someone who is different Turn to Page 13
SHERYLL HIRSCHBERGER, keynote speaker, involves youth volunteers in her presentation. (Vieira photo)