t eanc 0 VOL. 37, NO. 45
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Friday, November 19,1993
FALL RIVER, MASS.
FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
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$11 Per Year
"Living out the Gospel"
CHD collection aids diocesan groups, others across nation The annual Campaign for Human Development collection will be taken up in diocesan parishes at all Masses this weekend. CH D funds self-help projects in the United States organized by low-income groups committed to improving their communities. Since CHD's founding in 1970. it has awarded grants and loans totaling $200 million to over 3.000 grassroots projects. All this has been made possible through the generosity of American Catholics. Over the years, the Fall River diocese has received nearly $500,000 in grants, channeled through the office of Catholic Social Services. Among them has been the Integration Project of CORD, Cape Organization for Rights of the Disabled. The project assist the mentally retarded in integration into group homes and the larger community, ,lddressing such issues as health care, housing, home care, tra nsportation, handicapped access and employment discrimination. CHD funds have also aided the Portuguese Youth Cultural Association and a food coope rative in Fall River; and a housing advocacy group in New Bedford. Last ycar. said Bishop James H.
Garland of Marquette, Mich., the CHD collection raised $12.5 million. its largest amount ever. The bishop. chairman of the U.S. bishops' Campaign for Human Developm'ent Committee, noted that 1993 grants amounted to $7.4 million to 225 community projects. In addition. he said. one quarter of the amount collected in a diocese remains within that diocese for distribution to local self-help programs. In annol,;ncing the grants. Bishop Garland expressed gratitude to American Catholics for their generosity and reminded them that "CH D represents. in a very tangible way. our Church living out the Gospcl in action, and standing in solidarity with the poor." Father Joseph Hacala. S.J. cxecutive director of CH D, noted several trends that emerged from thc 1993 CHD-funded projects: • Economic development grants indicate the heightened need for jobs, job quality and job security for low-income people. • Grants went to a significant number of firsttime funded projects, which highlights the ongoing need to develop new responses to issues of housing. employment, health and education.
• Growth of church-based community organizing projects. as evidenced by 80 such groups receiving grants. Such church and synagogue organizations are making an impact by training leaders. identifying issues. and taking strategic action to solve local problems. • A large number of projects relate to children and families. One example is the Association for Children for Enforcement of Support (ACES). an initiative that specifically addresses the needs of low-income single parents. With 300 chapters throughout the country. ACES helps single parents collect full child support on a regular basis and advocates for better enforcement of child support orders. • Among the largest 1993 grants was that of$70,000 awarded to the Farm Labor Organization Committee, an organization of Mexican and African-American migrant and tenant farm workers that develops indigenous leadership to act on issues facing tomato industry laborers in the Midwest, Southeast, and Mexico. Other organizations receiving funding included groups that work for affordable housing, health care, job training, and worker-owned businesses.
"A gentle sweetheart of a guy" By Pat McGowan A priest who "wouldn't actually have chosen social service ministry" is leaving that minis! ry after nearly 20 years a& directc r of the Diocesan Department of Catholic Social Services - and is a .so leaving a hole in many hearts Father Peter N. Graziano admits that his interest really lies in the J'ields of theology and church hist:>ry and that his idea of a blissful retirement occupation would be that of reading the Fathers of the Church. Not that he is contemplating retirement in the near future: he is leaving Catholic Social :;ervices and his seven-year pastorate of SS. Peter and Paul pari:;h, Fall River, to assume the paSl)rate of St. Mary's Church, Mansfield, home to a large and activl~ parish community. Looking back over his :iears as Social Services director, he said "I was taken totally off guard when Bishop Cronin asked me to take over that office and sent rre to get a master's degree in social work." When Father Graziano assumed directorship of the agenc~, he recalled. "it had three staff m ~mbers. We were crowded into ,1 small office in the North Mair. Street building in Fall River now occu-
pied by Diocesan Health Facili-. ties. At times we almost had to share desks, we had so little space." From 1974 to 1986, Father Graziano directed Social Services while commuting from New Bedford where from 1974 to 1981 he was also director and chaplain of the former St. Mary's Homefor children, ministered at the New Bedford House of Correction and from June 1981 to Sept. 1986 was pastor of St. James Church.
FATHER GRAZIANO
Over the years he was also expanding Social Services, in the process staffing satellite offices in Attleboro, New Bedford and Hyannis and moving the Fall River office to its present Slade Street location. Today the four offices are staffed by a total of 30 people. Father Graziano cannot say enough in their praise. "I feel fortunate and blessed to be their director," he said. "It's a marvelous , marvelous staff-very dedicated to a ministry that demands flexibility and sometimes being on call day or night." He is pretty flexible himself. At about the same time Bishop Cronin asked him to take overSocial Services, said Father Graziano, he added, "And by the way, you're going to be director of the Hispanic Apostolate." "I didn't even spea~ Spanish," said the priest, but with typical energy he wrote to "40 or 45 religious communities" seeking to recruit sisters to assist him in his new job. "Then," he related, "I went to a Spanish convocation, met a Mexican sister and asked if she thought her community might be interested in coming to the diocese. She got Turn to Page II
BALL CHAIRPERSONS MRS. MANUEL T. NOGUEIRA AND JOSEPH F. GROMADA
1969 presentees sought
Bishop's Charity Ball chairpersons named The honorary chairpersons of the 39th Annual Bishop's Charity Ball have been named by Rev. Daniel L. Freitas, diocesan director of the event. They are Joseph F. Gromada of St. Stanislaus parish, Fall River, diocesan president of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, and Mrs. Manuel T. Nogueira of St. John of God parish, Somerset, president of the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women. The groups are the honorary cosponsors of the ball, to be held Friday, Jan. 14, at Venus de Milo restaurant, Swartsea. The winter festivity will benefit the new HIV / AIDS Ministry established by Bishop Sean P. O'Malley, OFM Cap., and, as in the past, exceptional and under-
privileged children of southeastern Massachusetts and other diocesan apostolates. Members of the ball committee, St. Vincent de Paul Society parish conferences and affiliates of the Council of Catholic Women are urged to submit names of persons, groups and organizations for listing in the ball booklet. Listings are under five categories with each category entitling the donor to ball tickets. Further information on the event is available from Bishop's Charity Ball headquarters, PO Box 1470, Fall River 02722, tel. 676-8943 or 676-3200. Where Are the 10? The Anchor for Dec. 26, 1968, Turn to Page II
PROPHETIC MOMENT: "I was called by God!" Jerry Rezendes, as the prophet Jeremiah, announced, opening the Diocesan Youth Convention Nov. 14. See story page 14. (Hickey photo)
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