11 28 14

Diocese of Fall River, Mass.

F riday , November 28, 2014

Bishop da Cunha elected to bishops’ committee that strives to assist immigrants, restore their dignity

was elected to the United States Conference of Catholic BishFALL RIVER — “No one ops’ CLINIC board, at the rewants to leave their home,” cent Baltimore meeting. He was Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, the only bishop elected on the S.D.V., told The Anchor dur- first ballot for that position.

CLINIC is the Catholic ing an interview following the recent U.S. bishops’ meeting Legal Immigration Network, in Baltimore, referring to the Inc., founded by the USCCB large immigrant population and in 1986, whose mission states: resulting dilemmas they face “Embracing the Gospel value in this country. “They are not of welcoming the stranger, people who are looking for an CLINIC promotes the dignity easy life. They are looking for and protects the rights of imsurvival for their families and migrants in partnership with a themselves. They are human be- dedicated network of Catholic ings, our brothers and sisters, and community legal immigrawho are looking for the dignity tion programs.”

CLINIC is governed by they, and all of us, deserve.”

Bishop da Cunha, who has a board comprised mostly of worked extensively with immi- bishops, and along with a lay grant populations since he ar- staff, it has six main objectives: — To operate as a legal suprived in the United States from his homeland, Brazil, in 1978, Turn to page 14

By Dave Jolivet Anchor Editor

Volunteers unload turkeys and chickens that were purchased through the Greater Boston Food Bank to be distributed to needy families the week before Thanksgiving at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in New Bedford. Although the parish hosts a weekly food pantry, there is a greater need during the weeks prior to Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. Story on page 12. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)

Holy Cross Family Ministries invites all to a ‘Family Dinner’ linking life with Christ’s message

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

tent on dating a popular senior named Lukas at school, but her parents want her to wait until she EASTON — It’s a situation many families is 16. across America have faced: a young daughter Paralleling the fifth Luminous Mystery, the wants to go out with an older boy from high Institution of the Eucharist, “Family Dinner” is school but her parents don’t feel she is mature the latest release from the production company enough yet. What to do? founded by the famed “Rosary Priest” and SerThat question is answered in “Family Dinner,” vant of God Father Patrick Peyton, C.S.C., more a new faith-based film now available on DVD than 65 years ago. from Family Theater Productions.

“Our whole push at Family Theater ProducThe 28-minute drama shows how a Mexican- tions is to help families pray, so part of what American family deals with a sensitive issue in- we’re doing here is using the media to strengthen volving teen-age daughter Cristina. She is insisTurn to page 11

Sacred Heart food pantry, soup kitchen to remain in place

Paulina Cerrilla stars as Cristina in “Family Dinner,” a new faith-based 28-minute drama from Family Theater Productions.

FALL RIVER — One of the most utilized food kitchens in the Fall River area will remain open and at its current location until next spring.

With the closing of Sacred Heart Parish in Fall River, the soup kitchen, which has been a mainstay of the inner-city parish for years, will remain in operation at its current location in the church basement.

The soup kitchen hours are 5 to 6 p.m. every Monday. The food pantry is open from 4 to 5 p.m. every second and fourth Monday of the month.

The food bank encourages all who have donated to its operations in the past to continue to do so. All places that accepted donations will continue to do so.

Food stuffs can be dropped off at the Seabury Street site on Mondays from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Financial donations can be sent care of the Sacred Heart Food Pantry to 160 Seabury Street, Fall River, Mass. 02720.

’Tis the season to be holy; Radio CorMariae can help

By Dave Jolivet Anchor Editor

NEW BEDFORD — It’s a small Catholic radio station that was born in March of 2011. At 88.5 on the FM dial, it’s what’s known as a “micro-FM” radio station. WPMW, Radio CorMariae, with its limited range of New Bedford, Westport and Fairhaven, is tiny compared with the giants surrounding it on the FM radio dial. But just as young David slew the giant Goliath in the Biblical story, “little” Radio CorMariae gains its strength from Divine sources, and thanks to the determination and technical savvy of the Franciscan Friars in the Whaling City, the 24-hour source of Catholic news, inspiration and entertainment is reaching a far greater audience than its humble 140 watts would seemingly allow.

Streaming live online and with a free mobile app for Android and iOS smart phones, Turn to page 15

An app for iOS and Android smart phones is available for anyone wishing to listen to Radio CorMariae’s Advent programming (and year-round programming). The app is available at the Apple App Store and Google Play. Radio CorMariae programming can also be heard via live streaming on the station’s website: radiocormariae. com, or at 88.5 on the FM dial.

First Sunday of Advent 2014 — November 30

Turn to page 18

News From the Vatican

2

November 28, 2014

Feed the world, safeguard the planet, pope tells international leaders

ROME (CNS) — Every human being has a right to food, and no business plan or economic policy can override that right, Pope Francis told world leaders gathered in Rome.

“The struggle against hunger and malnutrition is hindered by ‘market priorities’ and the ‘primacy of profit,’ which have reduced foodstuffs to a commodity like any other, subject to speculation, also of a financial nature,” the pope said in a recent address to the Second International Conference on Nutrition.

Sponsored by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization, the meeting brought together officials responsible for health, food and agriculture from 170 countries.

While international discussions often seem preoccupied with defining “new rights,” Pope Francis told them, people who are “hungry remain on the street corners and ask to be recognized as citizens, to receive a healthy diet.”

“They ask for dignity, not for charity,” the pope told the leaders.

“Every woman, man, child, elderly person must be able to count on these guarantees: love, justice, peace. Everywhere,” the pope said. “It is the obligation of every state, attentive to the wellbeing of its citizens, to adopt them without reserve and work for their application.”

Arriving in the FAO conference room, Pope Francis’ face lit up when he saw Queen Letizia of Spain, who had just addressed the meeting. She curtsied before the pope and kissed his ring.

The pope’s 40-minute visit to the FAO headquarters also included a brief meeting with the organization’s permanent staff. He thanked them for their often-hidden efforts to ensure that “men, women, children and grandparents” around the world have adequate, nutritious food.

He also spoke about the importance of their work to ensure access to clean water.

“Water isn’t free, like we so often think,” he said. Access to clean water “is a serious problem that can lead to war.”

In his main talk to the international conference, Pope Francis told delegates: “If we believe in the principle of the unity of the human family, based on the common paternity of God the Creator, and in the fraternity of human beings, no form of political or economic pressure that exploits the availability of foodstuffs can be considered acceptable. No political or economic pressure.”

In an ad-libbed addition to his speech, he asked: “And what of our sister and mother, Earth? Are we free of political or economic pressure so we can care for her to avoid self-destruction?”

“I remember something I heard from an old man many years ago: ‘God always forgives offenses and mistakes. Men sometimes forgive. The earth never forgives,’” the pope told his audience. “Care for sister earth, mother earth, because if not, she will respond with destruction.”

Pope Francis noted that St. John Paul II had addressed the first International Conference on Nutrition in 1992 and warned about the “paradox of plenty,” which is the fact that there is enough food to feed everyone in the world, but still some people go hungry while others overeat, waste food or use edible products for other purposes.

“Unfortunately,” Pope Francis said, “this paradox remains relevant.”

As he has said many times, the pope told the delegates that he is afraid that the word “solidarity” risks being erased from the dictionary because it seems to be disappearing from reality.

“Our societies are characterized by growing individualism and division: This ends up depriving the weakest of a decent life and provokes revolts against institutions,” he said. “When there is a lack of solidarity in a country, the effects are felt throughout the world.”

Visit us online at www.anchornews.org

Pope Francis blesses two new statues by Argentine artist Alejandro Marmo, left, at the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo, Italy, recently. The statues are iron sculptures of the crucified Christ and Our Lady of Lujan. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano)

Rabbi, speaking at Vatican, champions Marriage as male-female bond

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The family based on Marriage between a man and a woman is the “single most humanizing institution in history” and the test of any society’s future, the former chief rabbi of Great Britain told an interreligious conference at the Vatican.

“Our compassion for those who choose to live differently should not inhibit us from being advocates for the single most humanizing institution in history,” said Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, former chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth.

“The family — man, woman and child — is not one lifestyle choice among many. It is the best means we have yet discovered for nurturing future generations and enabling children to grow in a matrix of stability and love,” the rabbi said at “Humanum,” a recent three-day colloquium on the complementarity of man and woman in Marriage. The event was organized by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

“For any society, the family is the crucible of its future, and for the sake of our children’s future, we must be its defenders,” said the rabbi, one of about 30 speakers from different religions who addressed the conference.

Reviewing the history of humanity, Rabbi Sacks spoke about the cultural shift from polygamy to monogamy. Ancient civilizations, which held that the rulers were in the image of God, he said, favored polygamy.

“That is what makes the first chapter of Genesis so revolutionary with its statement that every human being, regardless of class, color, culture or creed, is in the image and likeness of God Himself. From this follows that we each have an equal right to form a Marriage and have children,” he said. “The norm presupposed by that story is: one man, one woman.”

Monogamy “was a real tri-

umph for the equal dignity of all,” he said. While “monogamy did not immediately become the norm” among the Jewish people, many stories in the Bible “point the way to monogamy.”

The rabbi also noted the “deep connection between monotheism and monogamy,” adding there is an equally deep connection between idolatry and adultery.

“Monotheism and monogamy are about the all-embracing relationship between I and Thou, myself and other, be it a human, or the Divine Other.”

The monogamous union between man and woman, he said, “transformed the moral life,” so that love, and not just fairness, became “the driving principle.”

“Morality is the love between husband and wife, parent and child, extended outward to the world,” he said.

Another key moment came with the understanding of the relationship between God and humanity as a covenant, that is, “in terms of the relationship between bride and groom,” the rabbi said.

Next came the “idea that truth, beauty and goodness, and life itself, do not exist in any one person or entity” but in the exchange that happens in giving and receiving, the rabbi said. “The Jewish view is that we are half and we need to open ourselves to another if we are to become whole,” he said.

The biological, cultural and theological developments led to another moment, in which “the home and the family became the central setting of the life of faith” and where parents are called to be educators, he said.

“Education is the conversation between generations, and the first school is the home,” he said. The patriarch “Abraham was chosen not to rule an empire, command an army, perform miracles or deliver prophecies, but simply to be a parent.”

Despite being scattered and persecuted throughout history, the rabbi said, “Jews survived be-

cause they never lost their sense of family, their sense of community and their faith.”

Offering a practical example of religious practice, he said the Jewish Sabbath gives “Marriages and families what they most need and are most starved of in the contemporary world, namely time.”

The rabbi said the traditional family was “remarkable” because it brought together people’s desires and their needs for friendship, companionship, love, identity and care for children.

“Seldom has any institution woven together so many different drives and desires, roles and responsibilities. It made sense of the world and gave it a human face, the face of love,” he said.

But in the current culture, “almost everything that Marriage once brought together has now been split apart. Sex has been divorced from love, love from commitment, Marriage from having children, and having children from responsibility for their care,” he lamented.

He went on to share some British statistics: 42 percent of Marriages end in divorce; the average length of cohabitation after Marriage is less than two years; 47.5 percent of children were born outside Marriage in 2012; more than one million children grow up with no contact with their fathers; 92 percent of single-parent families are headed by women.

“The result is a sharp increase among young people of eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, stress-related syndromes, depression and actual and attempted suicides,” he said.

While there are exceptions, those children “who are privileged to grow up in stable loving association with the two people who brought them into being will, on average, be healthier physically and emotionally,” he said. “They will do better at school and at work. They will have more successful relationships, be happier and live longer.”

November 28, 2014

The International Church

As president unveils program, other efforts aim to help Central Americans

WASHINGTON (CNS) — As millions of immigrants celebrate the possibility of protection from deportation under a new Obama Administration plan, among those who cannot take advantage of it will be the 68,445 families and 68,541 unaccompanied minors who were apprehended at the border in the last fiscal year.

The children and families, most from Central America, drew international attention last summer as their numbers overwhelmed governmental and private agencies that process their legal cases, and provide housing, social services and foster care.

The record-setting number of apprehensions has declined significantly because of efforts on both ends of the migrant pipeline. And steps are being taken to address problems in their home countries that cause people to leave.

Not an option for them is the program recently unveiled by President Barack Obama. It will apply only to long-term residents of the United States, estimated at something under half of the 11 million people in the U.S. without legal immigration status.

A week before Obama’s announcement, Vice President Joe Biden was meeting with the presidents of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador about how to tackle the situations affecting people in their countries. In a program at the Inter-American Development Bank, Biden and the Central American presidents talked about ways to address economic, social, governance and security conditions that contribute to people’s decisions to leave for other countries.

Among the steps agreed to at the meeting, as the White House announced them, were: — Promoting trade between Central American and North American markets, including with a $277 million compact between the U.S. government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation and El Salvador for projects dealing with “investment climate,” education and infrastructure.

— Several crime and gang activity policing programs, focused on police reform, community engagement and providing options for youth such as job training, recreation and life skills.

— Collaboration between the U.S. Department of Justice and Central American counterparts on professional responsibility in the criminal justice systems, in-

cluding police, courts and corrections agencies.

In addition, Biden announced the U.S. in December will open a program in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador that will allow at-risk children to apply for refugee status from within their home countries, avoiding the dangerous and costly trip across Mexico to enter the U.S. illegally. Normally, applications for refugee status are handled in countries other than where the applicant lives.

The programs opening in December will, according to Biden, allow parents who have lawful immigration status in the U.S. to apply through the Refugee Admissions Program for their minor children who still live in El Salvador, Honduras or Guatemala.

Bill O’Keefe, vice president for government relations and advocacy for Catholic Relief Services, lauded the announced steps, but said there also need to be better efforts to protect vulnerable people, especially children, in the short term.

In a statement, O’Keefe said the long-term economic and civic strategy “is critical to address the root causes of the economic, social, and political crises in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.”

But, he added, “for far too long, children and youth have borne the brunt of these crises.”

CRS has long experience throughout Central America and helps operate programs such as gang deterrence and youth job training in some of the most crime-ridden places.

O’Keefe said the CRS philosophy is that “for any investment to provide the opportunity that children and youth in Central America deserve, it must interrupt violence and include targeted poverty eradication.”

He noted that “the most dangerous places tend to be urban areas and the poorest places are usually rural areas,” so tackling both requires “a two-pronged approach that addresses the needs of those communities that suffer high levels of violence, and provides real opportunities to remote, impoverished communities.”

“Economic success in Central America will be measured in job creation, educational improvements and school attendance and strengthening of families,” he said.

Since the summer’s peak numbers of unaccompanied minors and families with children being caught at the border, federal agencies have found more

detention center space for those it keeps in custody. And the children on their own who remain in the United States have largely been placed with family members around the country while awaiting processing of their deportation cases.

Although nearly all of those 68,541 minors were caught in Texas, only about 6,200 of them ended up staying in the state. The Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Department of Health and Human Services is responsible for their care, and typically places them with relatives if at all possible.

About 5,000 were placed in New York state, 4,900 went to California, 4,500 to Florida and about 3,300 each to Maryland and Virginia, to name the states with the largest numbers.

Meanwhile, a detention center for families hastily opened in Artesia, New Mexico, earlier this year will close before January, The Associated Press reported.

The jail-like facility had space for about 700 people and was where many mothers with young children were sent while awaiting immigration court proceedings.

The AP quoted Artesia Mayor Phillip Burch as saying 448 Central American mothers and children had been released from the center in the previous six weeks.

Twenty-eight were deported.

Another 450 people being held there as of mid-November were to be released or sent to other family detention centers in Texas or Pennsylvania.

A new 2,400-bed family detention center, operated by the Corrections Corporation of America, will open in Dilley, Texas, in December, according to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

The Detention Watch Network, which advocated closing the Artesia center, also opposes the new facility.

Silky Shah, co-director of the organization, said “family detention is an abusive and inhumane practice that erodes family bonds and undermines children’s wellbeing.”

Shah said it’s also troubling that the Corrections Corporation will run the Dilley center, calling it “a company known for its human rights violations at countless facilities, including the T. Don Hutto Detention Center (in Texas) which stopped holding families after reports of the appalling treatment and conditions for children in custody.”

3

4

November 28, 2014 The Church in the U.S. Pastoral care of the dying a ‘ministry of presence’ as end draws near

ALBANY, N.Y. (CNS) — The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick is just one way priests and chaplains can minister to the dying and their families.

They — along with others in pastoral care ministry — can also pray, sing, read Scriptures, counsel, help with arrangements and mediate conflicts.

They even grant final requests. One patient at Our Lady of Mercy Life Center nursing home in Guilderland, for example, expressed a lifelong desire to see a certain play.

Marie Venaglia, the Catholic chaplain, rented a DVD from the library and played it for her.

After residents die, the center holds a service for family, staff and visitors. It also has periodic memorial services.

“It’s another form of closure, another way to talk about how (the bereaved are) doing,” Venaglia told The Evangelist, newspaper of the Albany Diocese. “Death is a natural process. We can speak freely about it. It’s not all medical. The pastoral ministry here is all incorporated into the whole care.”

She and other Catholics who encounter death on a regular basis recently reflected on pastoral care of the dying, God’s presence at a deathbed and their common experiences in patients’ final hours.

The Anointing of the Sick — which Venaglia described as “a blessing showing that the whole Church is united in praying for this person at this time in their life, not just a death” — is offered every six weeks and as needed.

Medically, nursing home staff members aim to keep

residents as comfortable as pos- Catholics sought the Sacra- and being there for them. I’ve experienced God’s presence sible. The chaplain’s role is more ment.

“I don’t argue or try to per- helping me to help the person. complex.

“I just try to be a presence to suade,” he said. “Sometimes, Sometimes the right thing to people, try to encourage (fami- my role is just a matter of a re- say just comes out of the blue.”

Shafi Thomas has been a lies) to take care of themselves, ligious aura. My goal is what(because) when the death hap- ever the patient wants. A par- Catholic chaplain at St. Mary’s pens, there will be a lot of de- ish priest looks at the patient and Samaritan hospitals in mands,” Venaglia said. “I reas- through the eyes of religion Troy and St. Mary’s Healthsure them of our support and and his ultimate goal is to help care in Amsterdam, where he is currently Spiritual care direchelp them take the next step as them get to Heaven.” tor. He believes visions are they go through the prepa’m there to reassure them “a sign that the patient is rations. I’m there for regular prayer with them and that it’s going to be OK, that kind of willing to die, has encourage them to go to we’ll take care of their family,” she no fear, knows that his life is not going to end, that the chapel.” said. “It’s real scary, and it’s part of it’s a transition.”

She sits with residents Before they get to that to hold their hands, pray my job to acknowledge, ‘ You might be scared. Let’s try to put it in God’s point, Thomas’ patients and answer questions.

“I’m there to reassure hands.’ Sometimes it’s just repeat- “react in different ways: them that it’s going to be ing one prayer over and over, hav- Some people can accept it OK, that we’ll take care of ing people gather to say the Rosary easily (and) some people question it and wonder if their family,” she said. “It’s doctors did everything. real scary, and it’s part of in the room.”

“The most effective my job to acknowledge, One patient Father Kelly (thing) for me is just listen‘You might be scared. Let’s try to put it in God’s hands.’ Some- encountered secretly had two ing because there is no right or times it’s just repeating one families, who discovered one wrong answer. I just say, ‘I hear prayer over and over, having another at his deathbed. All of you; I understand; I know you’re going through a difficult time,’” people gather to say the Rosary them then abandoned him.

“He was totally alone facing he said. “I don’t defend God in in the room.”

She described death as “a death,” the chaplain recalled. this situation. God is right there very natural process for most “He processed it and we worked and my presence being a chappeople. They just stop breath- together and he died a beautiful lain is also, in a very strong way, ing and it’s a sense of calm death. He fully accepted respon- representative of God.” He often leads this prayer that happens then. You stay sibility for his life and fully acwith families: “We forgive you. with the resident after they’ve cepted the forgiveness of God We ask your forgiveness. We passed and pray and bless them and really enjoyed the presence love you. God loves you. We on their new journey. Out of of God in his final hours.”

He added, “It’s more just thank you and we say goodbye.” respect for that person, I try to Final moments and the way keep a continued presence with taking each person as they are them.”

Father John Kelly, director of Spiritual care services at Albany Memorial Hospital, said half of the patients listed as Catholic don’t practice their faith. He has seen interest in Anointing of the Sick drop dramatically since he started 28 years ago; back then, even nonpracticing

“I

families cope can vary, according to Father John Tallman, who is a chaplain at Our Lady of Mercy Life Center, St. Peter’s Hospital and St. Peter’s Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Albany and the Albany Fire Department.

“Most people have never seen anybody die,” Father Tallman said. “Sometimes it’s easy and sometimes it’s really hard to watch. Some struggle to breathe, and other times it’s very peaceful and they just slip away.”

Some individuals are at peace; some are terrified. A prerequisite for peace, Father Tallman said, is belief that “there is life on the other side of this world. I tell them they have nothing to be afraid of and everything will be all right. They have to put their trust in God.” Father Tallman said being around the dying for decades has inspired him “to be more patient, more appreciative of life; (to) try to always acknowledge the goodness of other people instead of looking at their faults and failures.”

Miraculous events also lift his spirits. One time, a fireman’s infant was given a grim prognosis.

“I baptized the baby, and almost immediately, he got better,” Father Tallman said.

“There’s a lot of stuff that happens to me on a daily basis.”

A view of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway is seen from the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art looking toward City Hall in Philadelphia recently. Pope Francis confirmed he will attend the 2015 World Meeting of Families. The weeklong event in Philadelphia will end with a papal Mass on the city’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway and is expected to draw more than one million worshippers. (CNS photo/ Tom Mihalek, Reuters)

The Church in the U.S. Congress urged to act on poverty, conscience protection, online access

November 28, 2014

WASHINGTON (CNS) — In two letters to members of Congress, the chairmen of four committees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urged action to protect the poor and to enact conscience protections for medical workers and insurers.

A third letter by the chairmen of two other committees encouraged the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission in backing increases in funding for the E-Rate program, which supports Internet access in schools.

The recent letters came a few days after the bishops completed their annual fall meeting and as Congress was going back to work in its post-election lame-duck session.

The agenda before Congress prior to its expected adjournment around December 11 includes funding government operations, whether by passing one omnibus or multiple appropriations bills, or adopting a continuing resolution to keep things running until the 114th Congress convenes in January.

Also likely up for consideration are bills to fund the fight against Ebola, to extend various types of tax cuts and to address the battle against the Islamic State terrorist organization.

Another issue is the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act, which would protect medical workers’ right to decline to participate in elective abortions because of their religious or moral objections.

The bill would prohibit federal, state and local governments that receive federal funds from requiring health care providers and insurance plans to provide abortion despite personal moral objections of participants. The Senate bill has never been taken up by a committee.

In a letter on federal spending and taxes, the chairmen of domestic and international policy committees urged members of Congress to “draw a ‘circle of protection’ around the many programs that serve poor and vulnerable people at home and abroad.”

Miami Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski, chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, and Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, N.M., chairman of the Committee on International Peace and Justice, offered three criteria for making “difficult budgetary choices.”

They include: — Assess every budget choice for how it protects or threatens human life and dignity.

— Measure budget proposals by how they affect those who are hungry, homeless, unemployed

and impoverished.

— Recognize that government and other institutions share responsibility to promote the common good of all.

That letter went on to say that a just framework for tax and spending priorities “cannot rely on disproportionate cuts in essential services to poor persons; it requires shared sacrifice by all, raising adequate revenues, addressing the long-term costs of health insurance and retirement programs fairly, and eliminating unnecessary spending when possible, including on the military, nuclear weapons, and agricultural subsidies.”

They said programs that provide food, housing, medical care, nutrition assistance and tax breaks for the poor are essential parts of the safety net that helps vulnerable people live lives of dignity.

The domestic and international policy chairmen also talked about their concerns about budget constraints on international aid programs.

“Americans are a generous people, but our international assistance ranks near the bottom of donor countries as a percentage of national income,” Archbishop Wenski and Bishop Cantu wrote.

Poverty-focused international assistance programs constitute less than one percent of the federal budget, they said, and have always enjoyed bipartisan support.

With multiple crises expanding demand for humanitarian and disaster assistance, they said it is crucial to expand funding, particularly in the Ebola crisis.

Long-term programs that support agricultural development as well as programs that fund access to water, education, food and other resources “are helping families and communities to step out of poverty,” they said.

A second letter from Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, chairman of the bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, and Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities, encouraged support for the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act. Their letter put the legislation in the context of recent requirements by California’s Department of Managed Health Care that all insurance plans under its jurisdiction include coverage for elective abortions.

“This mandate has no exemption for religious or moral objections, and is being enforced against religious universities, schools and even churches,” the archbishops’ letter said. “Similar proposals have emerged in Washington and other states. California’s action clearly

violates federal law.”

They said the nondiscrimination legislation would strengthen an existing federal policy that prohibits discrimination against recipients of federal funds who don’t participate in providing abortions, including in insurance plans.

The letter said that the only penalty under the current code is withdrawal of funds provided through the departments of Labor or Health and Human Services. The California authorities behind its requirement “believe it is subject to legal challenge and is too sweeping ever to be invoked,” Cardinal O’Malley and Archbishop Lori said.

They urged members of Congress to incorporate the nondiscrimination bill into “must-pass funding legislation.”

“The crisis in California requires Congress to reaffirm a principle that has long enjoyed broad bipartisan support: Government should not force hospitals, doctors, nurses and other pro-

viders to stop offering or covering much-needed legitimate health care because they cannot in conscience participate in destroying a developing human life,” the letter said.

Meanwhile, another piece of legislation that faith-based organizations have actively opposed failed by one vote in the Senate November 18. A bill that would have permitted construction of the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline to carry Canadian crude oil to Gulf Coast refineries failed to get the veto-proof 60 votes in a test vote. The bill passed the House a few days earlier. Republican supporters of the project plan to reintroduce the legislation in January.

A third letter from the chairmen of the bishops’ communications and Catholic education committees to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler thanked him for supporting increased and permanent funding for the E-Rate program. It was created to ensure all

5

children have access to the Internet in their schools.

The letter from communications chairman Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City, and education chairman Archbishop George J. Lucas of Omaha, Neb., said 3,200 of the 6,600 Catholic schools in the U.S. participated in the E-Rate program last year.

“Despite the glowing success of the program, E-Rate has been consistently and severely underfunded,” they said.

“Your proposal to fund the E-Rate program at $3.9 billion annually will allow public and private schools who have been unable to participate in the program due to lack of funds, to provide 21stcentury education and learning with the additional funding connecting students and their teachers to high-speed broadband,” the letter said.

They encouraged the other FCC commissioners to follow Wheeler’s lead and adopt his funding proposal.

6

November 28, 2014

Anchor Editorial

Walking with people with autism

This past Saturday (November 22) Pope Francis spoke at a conference in the Vatican entitled, “The Person with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Animating Hope.” Through his words and gestures, the Holy Father worked to animate hope in those with these disorders, as well as their family members and health care workers who serve them.

The pope noted that “These conditions constitute a fragility that affects numerous children and, consequently, their families. They represent an area that appeals to the direct responsibility of governments and institutions, without of course forgetting the responsibility of Christian communities.” In saying that, the Holy Father reminded the audience that government does have a role to play, since these people are citizens as much as any other person, but also reminded Christians of their duty to serve people with autism, since they are also created in the image and likeness of God. “Everyone should be committed to promoting acceptance, encounter and solidarity through concrete support and by encouraging renewed hope. In this way we can contribute to breaking down the isolation and, in many cases, the stigma burdening people with autism spectrum disorders, and just as often their families,” said the pope. We might wish to make an examination of conscience to see if we have added to the burden of these folks by not embracing them, but rather pulling away from them.

Pope Francis then returned to one of his common themes, that of our need to “walk with” each other, just as Christ does. He said, “This must not be an anonymous or impersonal accompaniment, but one of listening to the profound needs that arise from the depths of a pathology which, all too often, struggles to be properly diagnosed and accepted without shame or withdrawing into solitude, especially for families. It is a cross.”

The Holy Father did not downplay the difficulties these people face.

He then offered a specific suggestion of what could be done: “Assistance to people affected by autism spectrum disorders would benefit greatly from the creation of a network of support and services on the ground that are comprehensive and accessible. These should involve, in addition to parents, grandparents, friends, therapists, educators and pastoral workers. These figures can help families overcome the feelings that can sometimes arise of inadequacy, uselessness and frustration.”

Back to the theme of hope at the conference, Pope Francis spoke of the future: “I want to encourage the hard work of academics and researchers, so that they may discover therapies and support tools, to help and heal and, above all, prevent the onset of these conditions as soon as possible; All of this while paying due attention to the rights of the patients, their needs and their potential, always safeguarding the dignity of every person.”

The National Catholic Partnership on Disability (NCPD) notes on its website, “The prevalence of autism is an increasing reality in the parishes and schools of the Catholic Church in the United States. Autism, also often called autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is ‘a set of complex neurodevelopment disorders that include autistic disorder, Asperger disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified. Children who have ASD display mild to severe impairments in social interaction and communication along with restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behaviors, interests, and activities’ (quoting from a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2013 report). The rates of autism have risen steadily, and as of the latest report are at one in 50. Regardless of the reason for the increase, all parishes and schools will have members who live with the range of conditions that are within the autism spectrum.”

Bob and Suzanne Wright, founders of the Autism Speaks foundation, were among the speakers at the conference. Bob told Vatican Radio, “I am so proud to be here at the Vatican, where the [Pastoral Health Care dicastery] is taking three days away from its other activities to have all kinds of scientists come in and talk about autism, about family, about getting together and making things happen — when we have other people using religion for money, for corruption, for terrorism, for horrible things, this example of the Vatican [shows] the right way to be Spiritual and [religious].”

His wife echoed that sentiment, saying, “The religion aspect and the spiritual aspect to me is very helpful,” she said, adding, “we need to show compassion and understanding in taking care of [those with autism].

There is no cure for autism, no known causes and no approved medical treatments of its core symptoms. Our families struggle daily for acceptance and basic services, and parents can barely afford the cost of essential treatments and therapy for their children. We are incredibly grateful that the Vatican has recognized this need.”

Michele Arbogast, a mother whose child has autism, told Religion News Service (RNS) that she had to go to the conference: “In my darkest moments it was my faith that I turned to. Pope Francis has changed the dynamics. He reaches out to those in need.”

The pope’s words and the facts from the NCPD remind us of our duty to be attentive to the needs of those with autism and their families. As we enter into Advent, we are reminded (as we can also read in Father Rodney’s homily on page eight and Deacon Lucca’s column on page 17) that we need to welcome Christ not on Christmas Day as a Baby, but welcome Him each and every day of our lives in the various forms of people in which He comes to us, awaiting our loving response.

Pope Francis’ Angelus address of November 23 Dear brothers and sisters: At the conclusion of this celebration, I would like to greet all of you who have come to honor the new saints,

especially the official delegations from Italy and India.

May the example of the four Italian saints, born in the provinces of Vicenza, OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER

www.anchornews.org

Vol. 58, No. 45

Member: Catholic Press Association, Catholic News Service Published weekly except for two weeks in the summer and the week after Christmas by the Catholic Press of the Diocese of Fall River, 887 Highland Avenue, Fall River, MA 02720, Telephone 508-675-7151 — FAX 508-675-7048, email: theanchor@anchornews.org.

Subscription price by mail, postpaid $20.00 per year, for U.S. addresses.

Send address changes to P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA, call or use email address

PUBLISHER - Most Reverend Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V. EXECUTIVE EDITOR Father Richard D. Wilson fatherwilson@anchornews.org EDITOR David B. Jolivet davejolivet@anchornews.org OFFICE MANAGER Mary Chase marychase@anchornews.org ADVERTISING Wayne R. Powers waynepowers@anchornews.org REPORTER Kenneth J. Souza k ensouza@anchornews.org REPORTER Rebecca Aubut beckyaubut@anchornews.org Send Letters to the Editor to: fatherwilson@anchornews.org

PoStmaSters send address changes to The Anchor, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722.

THE ANCHOR (USPS-545-020) Periodical Postage Paid at Fall River, Mass.

Naples, Cosenza and Rimini, help the dear Italian people to revive the spirit of collaboration and harmony for the common good and to look with hope towards the future, trusting in the closeness of God Who never abandons us, even in difficult moments.

Through the intercession of the Indian saints, from Kerala, a great land of faith and priestly and religious vocations, may the Lord grant a new missionary impulse to the Church in India, which is very great, so that inspired by their example of harmony and reconciliation, Christians from India may continue on the path of solidarity and fraternal coexistence.

I affectionately greet the cardinals, bishops, priests, as well as the families, parish groups, associations and schools present. With filial love, we turn now to the Virgin Mary, mother of the Church, Queen of Saints and model of all Christians.

The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, and she conceived by work of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary ...

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy Word.

Hail Mary ...

And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary ...

Pray for us, O Holy Mother

of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray: Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

After the f inal blessing, the pope said the following: I wish you a peaceful, happy Sunday with the joy of these new saints. I ask you to please pray for me.

Have a good lunch and goodbye.

November 28, 2014

T

his Sunday the Church joyfully begins the Year of Consecrated Life, announced by Pope Francis a year ago.

There’s a practical genius behind ecclesiastical holy years, which focus the attention of the Church on an important aspect of Christian faith and life that needs to be more appreciated and lived.

St. John Paul II, who experienced the importance of holy years in forming and strengthening people in faith under communism in Poland, convened holy years to celebrate and give greater focus to our Redemption (1983), Mary (1987), Jesus Christ (1997), the Holy Spirit (1998), God the Father (1999), the Jubilee (2000), the Rosary (2002-3), and the Eucharist (2004-5).

Pope Benedict picked up from there, convoking holy years dedicated to St. Paul (2008-9), the Priesthood (2009-2010) and the Christian Faith (2012-3).

Now Pope Francis has called his first. It’s fitting that he, the first pope from a religious order since 1846, would be the one to call the first Year of Consecrated Life in Church history.

It may seem strange, though, at least on the surface, that he is calling it now, when he is obviously seeking to concentrate his attention and the scrutiny of the Church and the world on the challenges to the family, with a two-part synod and next September’s

S

ometimes the churning, fearsome waters of a stormy sea seemingly never end.

Sometimes, as the ocean waves crash over your head, you find it hard to catch a brief breath.

Your arms flail in an attempt to stay afloat in such overwhelming conditions.

Just ask the Apostles when they were at sea, and eventually saw the Lord walking to them amid the winds and waves.

Just ask Peter when he was asked by Christ to walk to Him in nature’s onslaught.

And imagine Peter’s relief when Jesus held out His hand to keep the terrified disciple from slipping beneath the sea.

How comforting was it when Christ calmed the seas and the Apostles could breathe a sigh of relief?

We all, at one time or another, or another, or another, find

Anchor Columnists The Year of Consecrated Life

7

World Meeting of Families in nities to persevere and prosper, Philadelphia. the graces of foundational Rather than serving as a charisms and the call to the distraction from the necessary perfection of holiness can’t be and urgent consideration that taken for granted but must be the family needs, however, the steadily renewed.

Year of Consecrated Life, if It is important not to let marked and lived profoundly, the Year of Consecrated Life, will serve as a very helpful however, be eclipsed by the complement.

Church’s response to the crisis Many of the biggest challenges facing the family come from the loss of awareness Putting Into of the radical Spiritual the Deep dimension of Marriage and family and

By Father from the provocations Roger J. Landry flowing from modern confusions regarding love, freedom, commitment, possessions and com- of the family. The Church truly munity. The prophetic dimenneeds this holy year. sion of the consecrated life, We need this year first to lived out as a totally committhank God for the gift of the ted, spousal communion with consecrated life. the poor, chaste and obedient We need this year to show Christ, ought to bring much appreciation to all those who clarity to some of the causes to have said yes to God’s callfamilial difficulties and dising to dedicate themselves to solution.

Him as monks and cloistered Likewise those in consenuns, as religious Brothers and crated life can learn much from Sisters, members of secular the successes and struggles of institutes and societies of apmarried couples and families ostolic life, consecrated virgins, to help them diagnose why hermits, widows and widowers certain communities may be all of whom make the virtues thriving while others are coland values of Jesus more visible lapsing. and point us from the superJust as for Marriages and ficial to the Sacred and the families to survive and thrive, ephemeral to the eternal.

Sacramental graces cannot be We need this year to help taken for granted but must bring about, in some areas, the be continuously relied on and renewal of consecrated life and faithfully and persistently in all areas a greater attentiveresponded to, so for conseness to God’s calling others to crated vocations and commuembrace this way of life.

And we need this year to help rediscover the essence of the Christian life and the meaning of our baptismal consecration.

As St. John Paul II wrote in Vita Consecrata, his profound 1996 exhortation on the consecrated life and its mission in the Church and in the world, which I’d urge everyone to read during this upcoming Holy Year: “The consecrated life is not something isolated and marginal, but a reality that affects the whole Church.

The consecrated life is at the very heart of the Church as a decisive element for her mission, since it manifests the inner nature of the Christian calling and the striving of the whole Church as Bride towards union with her one Spouse.”

“By professing the evangelical counsels,” St. John Paul II continued, “consecrated persons not only make Christ the whole meaning of their lives but strive to reproduce in themselves, as far as possible, that form of life which He, as the Son of God, accepted in entering this world,” imitating through chastity Christ’s own pure love of the Father and others, through poverty Christ’s own self-emptying to proclaim and obtain the imperishable treasure of the Kingdom, through obedience Christ’s own delight in doing the Father’s will in all things.

These prophetic choices constitute a compelling response, respectively, to the hedonism, materialism and autonomous individualism of the modern age that undermine faith and communal life.

They are an abiding reenactment of Christ’s Own choices for the Kingdom, a powerful affirmation of the primacy of God and eternal life, and a rich manifestation of the path to rediscover the values of fraternal communion that reigned in the apostolic Church.

In the midst of a utilitarian and technocratic culture that can consider the consecrated life a pointless “waste,” consecrated men and women remind all of us that the Lord is to be loved with lavish generosity, indeed, with all our mind, heart, soul and strength.

Consecrated men and women are living signs of the resurrection who keep the Church’s salt from losing its flavor and its love from growing cold.

They enflesh for us that “only one thing is necessary” and inspire us to choose “the better part” and the “pearl of great price.”

That’s why the Church needs this year and needs it now. Let’s pray that all of us in the Church, and especially those in consecrated life, may live it well — and radically.

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

ourselves in those dire straits. We heroic feats.

As St. Teresa of Avila so eloall flail and fear slipping into the quently promised in one of her abyss of a cold watery demise. prayers, “Christ has no body now We all fear we just can’t hang on much longer. And we all are offered an outstretched hand, sent by God, to keep our heads above water.

The question is whether we reach out to that hand or not.

By Dave Jolivet Not all of our problems are as perilous as these scenarios, but all but yours. No hands, no feet on of our problems can seem to be earth but yours. Yours are the eyes that way — when we’re going with which He looks compassion through them. on this world. Christ has no body Jesus doesn’t extend His own now on earth but yours.” hand as a lifeline, as he did for Yes, we are the “minions,” who Peter. Rarely is there an angel who mysteriously appears to lead help each other carry on.

The most difficult part of us to shore, and then as mysterireceiving the hand of Christ from ously, disappears. a brother or sister is how to thank No, Christ uses mere huthem. man beings to perform such

How do you thank someone who listens to your plight and knows the right people, places or things that can help — then goes out and seeks them for you?

How do you thank that little minion who goes above and beyond the call of duty to help?

How do you thank someone for just shooting a text message out of the blue, in the middle of a work day with the words, “Just thinking of you”?

How do you thank someone for sharing their story; a story that is so similar and so difficult to bring up again, yet it’s the right thing to do at the right time?

How do you thank that Christ on earth for the prayers for you and those around you — knowing full well, it’s not just lip service, but something they’ll

actually drop on their knees and do?

Christ’s body, hands and feet on earth cannot ease the churning, fearsome waters of a stormy sea.

They can’t turn the roiling waters into a sea of tranquility.

But they can help you flail your arms to stay afloat.

They can keep your head above water so you can catch that desperately-needed next breath.

And they can provide relief and comfort when you think none can be found.

How do you thank these friends; these brothers and sisters in Christ? You simply say it.

Thank you minions. You know who you are.

And if I can ever return the favor, just reach out your hand from that stormy sea.

Dave Jolivet can be contacted at davejolivet@anchornews.org.

Sometimes we can’t do it alone

My View From the Stands

8

M

y initial reaction was I think more than appropriate given the circumstances. I walked in and said out loud, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

It was the day after Labor Day, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2014 and as I walked into the store I could not but help to be utterly amazed: Christmas music was playing, no, more accurately, blaring throughout the store. No, this was not a store specifically designed to cater to all of your Christmas needs. This was a local department store. I was a bit taken aback. Had I missed something? Was my calendar off by a few weeks or for that matter, a couple of months? No, it was September 2 and what I was hearing was indeed “Santa Claus is coming to town!” My curiosity, I must admit, got the best

November 28, 2014

Be watchful and alert!

of me and I began looking back to the Father. We also around: Christmas trees, prepare, after December 17, bows and ribbons, red and for His coming as a Child green and gold everywhere. when the Word became Yes, Christmas had come Flesh. Now, preparation is a to Southeastern Massachuhallmark for the Christian. setts a bit prematurely or so Jesus Himself shakes His it seemed. I know that this will not come as any surprise Homily of the Week to anyone readFirst Sunday ing these words. It of Advent seems that each and every year, holidays

By Father and the preparation Rodney E. Thibault to celebrate them, seem to creep up on us a bit earlier.

I guess this coming year I disciples up in the Gospel will need to purchase my that we hear proclaimed Halloween candy the day this First Sunday of Adafter Easter! vent. St. Mark quotes Jesus As a Church, we begin as saying, “Be watchful and a period of preparation: alert!” We must be watch24 days to be exact, when ful and alert. All too often we focus on the coming we allow the insignificant of the Christ at the end of to become the most importime, the fulfillment of His tant; we allow the mundane promise as He ascended to stir our attention away

from what is truly important in life, namely, being prepared for the return of the Messiah at the end of the ages.

It is easy, especially living in these times, to worry about trees and wreaths; presents and packages tied up with string, but we need to “be watchful and alert.”

Advent is the time when we need to look inward and be brutally honest with ourselves: if the Savior were to come back today, would He find me personally ready to welcome Him? Is my heart, soul and mind ready for the Messiah or do I have some work to do in order to welcome Him? We oftentimes forget that there is a penitential element to the season of Advent.

Perhaps a good first gift this season you could give to yourself would be to make a good Confession if you have not done so in a while. Perhaps attending daily Mass during the season of Advent would be an opportunity to welcome the Author of Life as we prepare for both of His comings. Don’t waste this season of grace on things that are insignificant.

Ready the interior of your own home, your soul, so that when He does return, He will find you “watchful and alert!”

Come, Lord Jesus. Come now, come quickly and do not delay!

Happy Advent.

Father Thibault is pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in South Dartmouth and is the director of the diocesan Off ice of Pastoral Care of the Sick.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Nov. 29, Rv 22:1-7; Ps 95:1-7b; Lk 21:34-36. Sun. Nov. 30, First Sunday of Advent, Is 63:16-17,19;64:2-7; Ps 80:2-3,1516,18-19; 1 Cor 1:3-9; Mk 13:33-37. Mon. Dec. 1, Is 2:1-5; Mt 8:5-11. Tues. Dec. 2, Is 11:1-10; Lk 10:21-24. Wed. Dec. 3, Is 25:6-10a; Mt 15:29-37. Thurs.

Dec. 4, Is 26:1-6; Mt 7:21,24-27. Fri. Dec. 5, Is 29:17-24; Mt 9:27-31.

T

wo enthralling books were just published that document how two Catholic laymen, Dietrich von Hildebrand and Josef Hartinger, in the exercise of their respective professions, public philosophy and law, directly took on the evils of Hitler and the Nazi party at an early stage and yet managed to survive to tell about it. The books show people giving heroic Christian witness at a time when many fellow Christians, including priests and bishops, were wobbly and complicit in the face of evil.

Dietrich von Hildebrand was a prominent moral philosopher and convert to Catholicism who wrote a personal memoir for his wife Alice Jourdain, about his battle with Hitler. Just published by Image Books under the title “My Battle against Hitler: Faith, Truth and Defiance in the Shadow of the Third Reich,” the story of von Hildebrand’s opposition to Nazism preceded the Munich Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, when Hitler’s storm troopers led

Fighting Hitler against all odds

enacts laws that profoundly an abortive coup to take conflict not only with all over Bavaria. The coup attempt failed, but during his natural law, but even with time in prison Hitler wrote the Commandments of God; if deeds which must “Mein Kampf,” an account be called criminal are of his crazed vision of perpetrated on a daily and racial supremacy and German world domination that hourly basis in the name of this state authority; and became a blueprint of the Third Reich when he came to power in 1933. Von HilJudge debrand was there For to constantly warn Yourself that Hitler meant what he said, and

By Dwight G. Duncan that, far from being Germany’s savior, Hitler was its Antiif the spirit that fills this christ and destroyer. state is a spirit of brutal He had to flee his professorship at the University force, unparalleled injustice, diabolical hate, and of Munich in 1933 when mindless impurity, there Hitler came to power will be a much greater because he was on Hitdanger of demoralization, ler’s hit list. He moved to even for all those who do Vienna, where he founded not live within its borders.” a periodical dedicated to He called the “unparalleled combating Nazi ideology and resisting Nazi attempts persecution of the Jews” to devour Austria. In 1935, a repudiation of “any and for example, he wrote, “If a every human solidarity.”

Indeed, the book explains state, employing the fullness of its inherent dignity, that in his 1933 lecture in the Catholic seminary in and by means of its DiVienna, “when he exposed vinely ordained authority,

as un-Christian the antiSemitism widespread in Austria, half the seminarians left in protest.”

When the Nazis seized power in Austria in 1938, von Hildebrand makes a Sound-of-Music style escape, from where he ended up teaching philosophy at Fordham University in the Bronx. Dietrich von Hildebrand was a prophet, and I can only concur with the assessment of Pope Pius XII, who knew him well, when he called him “a 20th-century doctor of the Church.”

The other book documenting early Catholic resistance to Hitler is Timothy W. Ryback’s “Hitler’s First Victims: The Quest for Justice,” just published

by Alfred A. Knopf. It tells the story of Josef Hartinger, a devout Roman Catholic and 39-year-old public prosecutor in Munich who sought to prosecute the commandant and guards of Dachau Con-

centration Camp in 1933 for the murder of Jewish inmates. As Ryback comments, “He willingly risked everything — his career, his welfare, even his life — in the unflinching pursuit of justice. His story suggests how vastly different history might have been had more Germans acted with equal courage and conviction in that time of collective human failure.” What is amazing is how early in the history of the Nazi regime these murders evinced a pattern that would become sickeningly familiar in the ensuing years: “The murder of Jewish detainees in Dachau that spring involved the constituent parts of the genocidal process — intentionality, chain of command, selection, execution — we have come to know as the Holocaust.”

Read these excellent books and resolve never to become complicit in evil.

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

November 28, 2014

28 November 2014 — Homeport: Falmouth Harbor — Black Friday ere on Cape Cod, the “black frost” has occurred. The colorful summer plantings outside the church turned to mush overnight.

In the morning, I had to dig the windshield scraper out of the garage before heading off to Dippin’ Doughnuts.

The steaming hot coffee (I’ve now upgraded to extra-large cups) was particularly satisfying. Following the winds of November, the trees stand bare, etched against a leaden sky. I’m mindful of the poetic lyric of Simon and Garfunkel, “Deep and dark December.”

And as we stand at the conclusion of the Church’s Liturgical year, the Scriptures remind us to be well-prepared for the second coming of Our Lord.

For Catholics, there is a wonderful Sacrament that shines light into our own particular days of darkness. It is the Sacrament of the Sick.

As St. James wrote in about 47 A.D., “Are there any who are sick among you? Let them send for the priests of the Church and let the priests pray over them, anointing them

H

I

smiled as one of my young students volunteered to lead prayer. Someone requested we pray for one boy’s sister. He frowned and said, “I don’t want to do that.” The older sister part of me said (to myself ), “Yes, I’ve been there. There are days when siblings can be annoying.” The teacher in me stepped forward and said, “Someone once told me that if you pray for someone and they don’t want or accept it, then God’s blessing bounces back to you. Can we pray together for your sister?” He smiled and said, “With that in mind — yeah we can.”

Later in the day I had the chance to remember some of the squabbles my brothers and I had so many years ago. Do you remember the Bible verse about forgiving one’s brother 70 x seven times (Mt 18:22)?

Can you believe that one day my brother and I got so angry that we actually started to count the times we forgave each other? We were teenagers who knew the math and took things literally. To be honest, we planned to close

Anchor Columnists Send for the priests of the Church patients in our care. The parish with oil in the name of the record book for the Sacrament Lord.” The Anointing of the Sick has been one of the Spiri- of the Sick fills up quickly.

In addition, Falmouth tual treasures of the Church Hospital has 95 beds. The four for a very long time. For me priests of Falmouth take turns as a priest, the Sacrament of for hospital emergencies. The the Sick is a great privilege two of us at St. Patrick are and honor to administer. To on hospital call 100 hours a pray with the elderly, the ill, and the injured in their time of need is very much a priestly work.

The Ship’s Log To be able to bring the Reflections of a presence of the Lord Parish Priest and of the Church community to the

By Father Tim bedside of a person in Goldrick distress always touches my heart with a sense week. There are deacons onof ministerial fulfillment.

Here at St. Patrick Church, site seven days a week to keep the priests well-apprised of 37 percent of the population the Sacramental needs of all is 65 years of age or older (inhospitalized Catholics. cluding me). The median age To get back to St. James’ is projected to increase. This “call for the priests of the means there will be increasChurch.” OK. Why, when, ing numbers of parishioners how, and who? unable to attend Mass due to Why? Call for the priest age or illness. Deacon Bill if you are growing frailer due Hays heads up the ministry to advancing age. Call for the to the homebound. We are priest if you are seriously ill. also responsible for some 300 Call for the priest if you’re nursing home patients. Deascheduled to undergo major con John Simonis oversees that ministry. The priests of St. surgery. Notice that it’s called the Anointing of the Sick, Patrick are on call 24/7 for all nursing home and housebound not Extreme Unction or Last

Is my soul OK?

stand in direct contrast to that the door to forgiveness after expressing and receiving love. those 490 times!

The writer Corrie ten Boom I do not remember what says that forgiveness is an started us off on that count, but I do remember how angry act of the will. In her book, my mom was when she found “Tramp For the Lord,” Corrie provides a template for each out. With the wisdom of my of us to use when we decide to adult years, I finally undertry to make changes. stand why, even though she was upset, she did not stop us. Our teen-age minds had wrestled Wrestling with God with the question of Holding on for what’s in it for me in forgiveness? Not only His blessing did my brother and I discover for ourselves

By Dr. Helen J. Flavin how draining it was to keep track of all those During World War II, details, but we quickly found that it was more fun just to go Corrie and her sister were arrested for housing Jews. They back to playing. The answer we found was that in choosing were sent to the death camp Ravensbruck. Corrie’s sister to forgive another, we received the gift of joy in living. Betsie died there. Shortly after the war, Corrie visited Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Germany on a ministry of expressed this well when he said, “He who is devoid of the healing and forgiveness. She said, “When we Confess our power to forgive is devoid of sins, God casts them into the the power to love.”

The underlying spirit of the deepest ocean, gone forever. I believe God then places a sign Thanksgiving and Christmas out there that says, no fishing holidays is sharing love and allowed.” One day, after one companionship in commuof these talks, she came face nity. Any outstanding issues

9

Rites. It’s called the Anointing of the Sick because it’s intended for the sick. It is a Sacrament of healing. The Sacrament for those who are dying is the Eucharist, Viaticum.

When? It’s best to celebrate the Sacrament of the Sick when you are alert. That way you can actively participate in the rite and receive Spiritual comfort. Those who are comatose are anointed as well in the hope that they may at least be able to hear the beautiful prayers and Scripture readings.

The rule of thumb is this: don’t wait too long. With the decreasing number of priests, it’s not always possible for a priest to be there in the blink of an eye. A priest will also visit and offer prayers for the recently-deceased and their grieving families, but it may be too late for the Sacrament of the Sick.

How? Well, you can receive the Anointing of the Sick together with others when your parish schedules a communal celebration. You can also approach the priest at any time and request the Sacrament

— in the Sacristy, at the door of the church, in the rectory, or even in the Penance room.

If that doesn’t work in your situation, the priest will come to you.

Who? The best person to request the Anointing of the Sick is you. If you are a patient, ask one of the nursing staff. They normally know what to do and how to do it.

I receive my phone calls from nursing staff on the cellphone I always carry in my pocket.

Communication glitches can occur when the priest is summoned by some wellintentioned friend or neighbor without the knowledge of the nursing staff and without your consent. Your family can be involved as much as possible in the celebration. It can be very meaningful to you when at least some of your family members are present as you receive this Sacrament.

So follow the advice of St. James. “Call for the priests of the Church.” Please give us the opportunity to minister in this personal and powerful way.

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

to face with a man who had been one of the cruelest Nazi guards at the camp. In an instant, she vividly remembered the shame of being forced to march naked past this guard.

As he continued to speak, she realized that he did not even remember her! He said that he had become Christian. He knew that God had forgiven him, but he wished to hear her say that she forgave him.

Corrie froze. She most definitely did not wish to shake that man’s hand in forgiveness. She remembered the words of the Our Father: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.” Somewhere deep inside Corrie knew she should shake the guard’s hand. It just was the right thing to do. She told Jesus, “I can lift my hand. You supply the feeling.” The second Corrie shook the former guard’s hand, she felt a healing warmth flood her whole being. Corrie described this with the words, “I had never

known God’s love so intensely as I did then.”

Is my soul OK? Am I ready for Advent and Jesus’ coming into my world? What should I do when I search my heart and find the areas where I am not ready? I suggest we use Corrie’s template to make a start in our own lives with the people we find most difficult.

In working on this, perhaps we can take a lesson from our students. Each week, they are encouraged to choose and complete one gift for God. After searching one’s heart, one decides to do what one knows is right and to do this as one’s personal gift to God. With such an attitude, one is open to the Holy Spirit bringing God’s healing love.

Wouldn’t it be amazing this Christmas to be able to each have our own tale where we were able to say we had experienced God’s love more intensely than ever before?

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.

10

November 28, 2014

Anonymous benefactor adds to crèche collection at La Salette

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

ATTLEBORO — As the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Attleboro hearkens in the 61st year of its annual Christmas Festival

of Lights, this year’s theme, “Jesus Light of Life,” seems fitting as the shrine’s international crèche collection has expanded to include an additional 1,228 crèches — truly making Jesus the light in the

Father Manuel Pereira uses the back of his hand to carefully open a curio cabinet filled with crèches. In awe of the more than 1,200 crèches donated to the shrine, Father Pereira could not say enough about what he was seeing: “They are unique; there is beautiful stuff here.”

While some of the crèches on display feature many colors, this piece from the Philippines uses a rich gold as its primary color to show reverence for the King of Heaven.

life of the festival.

Donated by an anonymous benefactor, the additional crèches brings the total displayed at the shrine to more than 2,000. The original display was the heart and soul of Father Manuel Pereira, M.S., coordinator of the Portuguese ministries, who has been collecting crèches since his youth: “I’ve always had a thing for the Nativity,” he said. “When I couldn’t afford to buy, I would make one myself out of paper and cardboard; those were my first sets. Then I started working with clay, and made a few pieces out of clay.”

His own collection is on display at the shrine, and as Father Pereira walked around the room looking at the new additions, he kept stopping to gaze at each unique crèche, often stooping down to see the details and to appreciate each individual display in all its Spiritual glory: “They’re all beautiful,” said Father Pereira.

The new additions to the international crèche display started with a phone call to the director of the shrine, Father Cyriac Mattathilanickal, from the benefactor. Once all the arrangements had been made, the benefactor and a few friends came to the shrine to arrange and label each crèche display. It took two months of painstakingly packing, moving and unpacking the display until it resembled how the benefactor wanted it — displayed just how each crèche had been in the home, right down to many of the curios Turn to page 18

Many of the more than 1,200 crèches donated to the shrine come in all shapes and sizes.

These three pictured may be small, but they range from simple colors and design to detailed painting and multiple colors.

(Photos by Becky Aubut)

11

November 28, 2014

HCFM invites all to a ‘Family Dinner’ reflecting Christ’s mission continued from page one

that message,” said Anthony J. Sands, senior producer at Family Theater and writer-director of “Family Dinner.”

“Beyond that, one of our producers said something that stuck with me — that we hadn’t yet had one of these (videos) on dating,” Sands added. “And they said don’t kill anybody. It seems like a grandmother or sibling or someone always dies in one of these videos.”

Perfectly cast in the role of Cristina is up-and-coming actress Paulina Cerrilla, who was a contestant on season three of NBC’s “The Voice” in 2012, appearing as a member of the team mentored by Christina Aguilera.

Cerrilla is also a Covergirl model for the Hispanic market and recently appeared in the independent short film “String Theory.”

“I first found out about (‘Family Dinner’) online and thought this was something I would like to be involved in,” Cerrilla told The Anchor. “I knew it was a Catholic company and — being a Catholic — I thought why not do what I love to do and spread a positive message while doing it? I sent my submission in and, thankfully, they found me and liked me and I got cast.”

Not only did the fact that it was a Catholic production help to draw Cerrilla in, but also the “quality of the writing,” she said.

“I loved how it included themes of family and of dating and of sacrificial love,” Cerrilla said. “They’re all very important themes and I’d like to be associated with spreading that message.”

For Sands, casting Cerrilla in the role was a great blessing for the production.

“God is good,” he said. “We put out a call for a young woman who is 18 or older who could play someone in her teens, is Latina, and can speak Spanish.

In a week I had 2,000 submissions for that role alone. It was like trying to find a diamond in the rough. But one of the amazing things about Los Angeles is that it’s such a cutting-edge place. You can sometimes find some great talent out there.”

But when Sands first saw Cerrilla’s audition photo — one of those ubiquitous Hollywood “head shots” — he admitted he wasn’t sure she’d be right for the part.

“I saw a photo of a fairskinned girl with red hair and

freckles applying to play a Latina and I thought to myself, what is going on here?” he said.

Thankfully, Sands took the advice of his producer, Father David Guffey, C.S.C., and auditioned Cerrilla.

“I asked her if she could do a Spanish accent and she said, ‘Are you kidding me? I’m fullblooded Mexican!’” Sands said, laughing. “She immediately rattled off a couple of lines in Spanish and I said to myself: ‘Thank You, Jesus!’”

“I actually am a Mexican redhead — we do exist,” said Cerrilla, whose hair remains the dark brown color of her character, Cristina. “My mother is a redhead and my entire family has red hair. It’s ridiculous; we come in all colors. Taste the rainbow of Mexico!”

Jokingly blaming the Holy Spirit for inspiring him to come up with the idea for “Family Dinner,” Sands said he wanted to do something that was very contemporary and reflected a common concern for families.

“One of the things I’ve noticed, especially in my years working in youth ministry, is that families are often so busy (today) they rarely eat together anymore,” he said. “And when they do eat together, they are often busy looking at their cellphones or other types of media.”

With the framework of the family meal in place, the awardwinning writer-director began to draw parallels between the sacrifices that family members make for each other and the ultimate Sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

“We wanted to drive home the idea of the complete giving of oneself, just as Christ gives of Himself completely in the Eucharist,” Sands said. “We consume Him and He becomes one with us. There are parallels to how parents give themselves completely to the family and how daughters and sons, in return, give back.”

The notion that “the source and summit” of our encounter with Christ revolves around a meal wasn’t lost on Sands, either, and he said that it makes sense that one of the key opportunities for a family to sit down and interact is at the dinner table.

“Lastly, and this is a big one for us, is the idea of service,” he said. “Part of John’s Gospel is the recounting of the washing of the feet (at the Last Supper). Well how many times do

parents, without ever getting proper thanks, wash the feet of their children every day? What we need to do is to recognize how much we need to wash the feet of each other. If we’re going to be like Christ — and if we want true love — that’s what we need to follow.”

Although advancements such as computers and smartphones can sometimes bear the brunt of the blame for distracting people from the more important things in life, Cerrilla has learned to embrace technology.

“I realize that in order to reach people, you pretty much have to go where they are, and where they are is on social media,” she said. “They’re on YouTube, they’re on Twitter; you need to reach them through movies and the Internet. Having grown up surrounded by technology, I realize that’s the most effective way to reach people.”

Since her appearance on “The Voice” two years ago, the Mexican-American from Texas has maintained a regular online connection with her fans through Facebook, Twitter and via YouTube videos of her music that have been seen by tens of millions of viewers.

And she’s never shied away from sharing her beliefs or faith, either.

“I share my talents online, I share my passions with them, I share my thoughts and ideas, and now I get to share my faith with them,” she said. “So that’s something that’s really special to me. I’ve never hidden it, but this is something where I can do what I love to do — which is create — and share a very personal and integral part of who I am.”

Having just turned 19, it’s rare to find a successful young woman in Hollywood who is so devoted and openly committed to her faith.

“It’s not that difficult for me,” Cerrilla said. “I just make sure I’m very anchored in my faith. It’s all about approach.

If you’re unsure or you’re worrying about what people will think of you, then perhaps your approach won’t be as confident.

It’s more important to be proud of what you believe in and then people will be a little bit more open to discussion. That’s why I’m so excited about this film.”

For Sands, who has worked on about a dozen Family Theater Productions over the years, there seems to be a resurgence

Paulina Cerrilla, star of Family Theater Productions’ “Family Dinner,” stopped by The Anchor office last week with writer-director Tony Sands to discuss their new faith-based drama. The short film focuses on a teen-age girl who wants to date an older student at school and draws parallels to Christ’s message of service and sacrifice. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)

in the popularity of faith-based films in Hollywood of late and the timing is right for something like “Family Dinner.”

“There was an element in Hollywood where it was an embarrassing thing to admit: ‘Oh, I’m a Christian or I’m Catholic,’” he said. “Now it’s once again acceptable to make something that’s clearly adhering to those morals and remains marketable. So it’s refreshing not to have to overcome that.

I hope it’s something that becomes common in Hollywood.”

As mutual fans of Pope Francis and his call to use all available media to evangelize, Cerrilla and Sands think projects like “Family Dinner” can inspire youth to become more involved in the Church.

“I love how a lot of young people are really listening to Pope Francis and coming to the faith,” Cerrilla said. “Even people who weren’t born into the faith are taking notice and that’s what it’s all about — it’s about outreach. I’m doing it in my way with the film and he’s doing it in his way, and he’s doing it beautifully.”

“What’s great is Pope Francis is putting a very human face on the faith, too,” Sands added.

Calling God “the great scheduling planner,” Sands said

Cerrilla’s casting in “Family Dinner” has already led to her involvement in two more Family Theater Productions projects.

“We had two more films with strong female roles, so we needed to put someone in there who could deliver great performances and we offered them to Paulina and she graciously agreed, so it’s worked out incredibly well,” he said. “They’ve been shot and are both in postproduction now. They’re already ‘in the can,’ as they say.”

Having relished their collaboration on “Family Dinner,” Cerrilla was only too eager to repeat the experience.

“For me, working with Family Theater Productions is a thrill — are you kidding?” she said. “I’m happy, I’m working, and I’m doing what I love to do. One of my favorite things in the whole world is to be working on a set and to be able to do something that is faith-based with a positive message is just incredible. This is a pretty good partnership.”

For more information about “Family Dinner,” visit www.

HCFMstore.org, where you can view the trailer and order copies of the DVD at a discounted price through December 25. You can also order the DVD by calling 800-299-7729.

12

November 28, 2014

Hundreds line up to collect Thanksgiving fixings at New Bedford parish

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

“Never worry about numbers.

Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you.” — Blessed Mother Teresa NEW BEDFORD — It seemed appropriate that the hundreds who arrived hours early on the Thursday morning before Thanksgiving for the weekly food pantry at St. Anthony of Padua Parish formed a long line that stretched down Nye Street, around the block to Bullard Street, and literally encircled the towering church that dominates the New Bedford skyline.

It was as if the group had gathered there to embrace the building in a giant group hug.

But, in reality, it was the Church — led by the parishioners of St. Anthony of Padua — who were providing some much-needed love and support to the area’s needy by giving out turkeys or chickens and a variety of fixings that would guarantee a veritable Thanksgiving feast the following week.

“We have a beautiful church, but it’s just a building; this is the Church right here,” said parishioner Jose Amaral, gesturing to the people in line.

Amaral was alternately directing people to where they could pick up their food and handing out leaflets with directions on how to properly cook a turkey from in front of the rectory’s garage that had been temporarily converted into a makeshift pickup station.

“Blessed Mother Teresa used to tell her nuns that the greatest gift you can give someone is

to make them feel welcomed,” Amaral said. “I hope that’s what we’re doing here today.”

It was estimated that a record number — close to 1,000 people — had turned out to collect one of 575 turkeys or 250 chickens, along with side dishes and fixings, at the annual Thanksgiving food pantry.

Although the parish runs a food pantry every Thursday, alternately serving those whose last names begin with the letters A to L one week and then M to Z the next, there are three exceptions to this routine during the year — on the weeks prior to Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.

“On average we have at least 300 people, sometimes as many as 500,” Amaral said. “So we split them up into two groups, because if you had them come all at once every week, it would be like this, with a line going around the block.”

According to food pantry coordinator Stacie Hallal, the food comes from a variety of sources, but mostly it is either donated or purchased through money that her fellow parishioners raise.

“We got most of the turkeys and chickens from the Greater Boston Food Bank,” Hallal said.

“We got 30 full meals donated from the Portuguese Madeira Feast committee, and we also picked up another 170 (meals) from the food bank.”

Those all-important pickups are done via the parish’s own box truck, which is emblazoned with “St. Anthony of Padua Food Pantry” on the sides of its cargo area.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, November 30, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Jeffrey Cabral, J.C.L., director of the Diocesan Tribunal Office and in residence at Holy Name Parish in Fall River.

On this particular Thursday, volunteers were busy unloading crates of poultry just before the 11:30 a.m. start time.

One was seminarian Gabby Murphy, who just moved to Wareham from Hawaii in September.

Murphy is a pre-novitiate with the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and he has adopted the weekly St. Anthony of Padua food pantry as one of his service projects.

“I’ve been working here for a couple of weeks, but this is our first Thanksgiving meal,” Murphy told The Anchor. “I’m just in awe of how many people are here. When we pulled up, we thought we were late because all the people were already standing in line (in front of the church). But they told us everyone gets in line early to make sure they get a turkey or chicken.”

Although Murphy said the need is always there, it seems to escalate around this time of year.

“Throughout the year, it’s unfortunate that people go without, but on Thanksgiving everyone should have something to eat,” he said.

Another pre-novitiate with the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, Bill Gural has only recently discerned his vocation after an established career as a teacher.

Having been drawn to the Sacred Hearts Fathers through their “apostolic ministry work,” Gural said he felt compelled to volunteer for the food pantry.

“It’s good to be here today and see so many volunteers helping out,” he said. “I know St. Anthony’s Parish is always so involved and even though it’s painful to see people in need who are suffering, it’s also encouraging to know there are places like this where they can come.”

Murphy and Gural joined a group of about 30 volunteers — many of them parishioners at St. Anthony’s, but others who come from parishes in Wareham and Dartmouth — to help organize and distribute the Thanksgiving groceries.

Hallal said there isn’t an application process — they only request that people sign up beforehand to request a turkey or chicken so they can know how many to order.

“People don’t have to qualify or meet any guidelines to get food,” she said. “We serve everyone and we have to trust

that they have a real need.”

“Some people won’t need a big turkey, so they can get a chicken,” noted coordinator Fred Despres. “We had 478 people sign up for turkeys.”

For Despres, who retired 12 years ago and has been actively involved with the weekly food pantry for the past eight years, it’s gratifying to “give back a little.”

“I’ve been fortunate all my life — I’ve had good jobs,” he said. “So I like being able to help out now.”

Noting that this is one of the biggest turnouts she’s seen,

Hallal is bracing to do it all over again next month.

“We’ll be doing it again the week before Christmas,” she said.

And Amaral will certainly be back to pitch in again, too.

“Pope Francis has said that the purpose of the Catholic Church is we’re here to serve,” he said. “That’s the most important part of our ministry — whether it’s giving out coats or blankets or money or food.

We’re here to serve, but we’re also striving to bring them to the Church.”

Annual collection benefits 35,000 Sisters, Brothers, priests in religious orders

WASHINGTON — The 27th national collection for the Retirement Fund for Religious will be held in most U.S. Catholic parishes December 13-14.

The annual, parish-based appeal is coordinated by the National Religious Retirement Office and benefits more than 35,000 senior Catholic Sisters, Brothers and religious order priests.

The 2013 appeal raised nearly $28.4 million, enabling the NRRO to distribute $23 million in financial assistance to 424 religious communities. Additional funding is allocated for communities with the greatest needs and for retirement planning and educational resources.

Catholic bishops in the United States initiated the collection in 1988 to address the significant lack of retirement funding among U.S. religious communities. Proceeds are distributed to eligible communities to help underwrite such day-to-day needs as prescription medications and nursing care. Since the collection began, Catholics have contributed $726 million. More than 93 percent of donations directly support senior religious and their communities.

Despite the overwhelming generosity to this fund, many religious communities continue to lack resources sufficient to support retirement and eldercare.

Of 590 communities submitting data to the NRRO in 2013, fewer than eight percent were fully funded for retirement.

The financial crisis is rooted in low salaries and changing demographics. Traditionally, Catholic Sisters, Brothers and religious order priests — known collectively as women and men religious — worked for small stipends that

furnished only the basics of daily living. As a result, many communities lack adequate retirement savings. At the same time, elderly religious are living longer and now outnumber younger, wageearning religious. Sixty-eight percent of religious in communities providing data to the NRRO are past age 70, and the income of those engaged in compensated ministry cannot keep pace with the growing cost of eldercare. In 2013 alone, the total cost of care for senior women and men religious was over $1.2 billion.

In recent years, the NRRO has expanded efforts to help religious communities address the root causes of the retirementfunding shortage. For many, a major obstacle to financial stability is the struggle to maintain outdated congregational properties while providing quality eldercare. In 2013, the NRRO received a $2.5 million grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, payable over three years. A substantial portion of this award is being dedicated to the creation of educational programming and resources related to effective property planning and management.

“Despite the troubling statistics, many religious communities have made great strides in addressing their funding deficits, and contributions to the Retirement Fund for Religious have bolstered this progress,” said Precious Blood Sister Janice Bader, NRRO’s executive director. “Religious are humbled by the generous donations to this fund and determined to make the most out of every dollar.”

More information is available at www.retiredreligious.org.

13

November 28, 2014

Massachusetts groups honored for promoting family values

By Christine M. Williams Anchor Correspondent

STONEHAM — Last month, Morality in Media recognized half a dozen Massachusetts honorees for their “outstanding effort to uphold Judeo-Christian values for the preservation of the family.” Among them were two Catholic groups — the local chapters of the Catholic Daughters of America and the Knights of Columbus. Morality in Media also celebrated the work of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, the Massachusetts Family Institute and state Representatives Jim Lyons and Jim Miceli.

The honorees received their certificates of recognition at a dinner, held at the Bear Hill Golf Club in Stoneham. Rita Covelle, Morality in Media’s local representative, said the honorees “deserve accolades” for perseverance in promoting traditional family values.

Many of the individuals who accepted those certificates expressed gratitude and said the honor was especially significant given the prestige of the awarding organization.

Anne Fox, president of MCFL, said the people at Morality in Media have worked tirelessly for many years. “They’re such a good group, and they do so much good work that we’re particularly honored for them to recognize us.”

Judi Shooter, state regent for the Massachusetts Catholic Daughters of the Americas, accepted the recognition on behalf of all of the group’s members and said that supporting families is central to their call as women of faith.

“As Catholic women with the Blessed Mother Mary as our patroness, we hold life Sacred and firmly believe that honoring life begins with the family unit,” she said.

Morality in Media was founded 51 years ago in New York by

a Catholic priest, a Protestant minister and an Orthodox priest to promote decency in the media. The Massachusetts chapter’s highest priority is the safety and protection of children, according to its website. Among other things, the group lobbied against legislative bills that sought to mandate comprehensive sex education.

Kris Mineau, president of MFI, said there is a great need for organizations that uphold Godly standards, particularly with regard to human sexuality. Morality in Media opposes graphic sex education in public schools and pornography.

Mineau said there has been a “horrific explosion of pornography over the Internet” that is reaching children at an alarming rate.

“The average child now is around nine years old when they first see pornography on the Internet. The greatest danger are the smartphones,” he said.

In 2009, MFI released a report, “The Effects of Pornography on Individuals, Marriage, Family and Community,” that said pornography is a major threat to Marriage, family, children and individual happiness.

Pornography distorts how individuals view sex, causing them to perceive sexual activity as harm-

less recreation.

In 2006, Bishop Paul Loverde of Arlington, Va. issued a pastoral letter that classified the mainstreaming of pornography as a “Spiritual battle.”

“This plague stalks the souls of men, women and children, ravages the bonds of Marriage and victimizes the most innocent among us. It obscures and destroys people’s ability to see one another as unique and beautiful expressions of God’s creation, instead darkening their vision, causing them to view others as objects to be used and manipulated,” he wrote.

MFI’s report stressed that many youth initially come across pornography on the Internet by accident. The report cited a study that found 70 percent of young people aged 15-17 were unintentionally exposed to online pornography. Another study found that 44 percent of youth do not disclose the accidental encounter of pornography to anyone else. Yet another survey found that unintended exposure caused youths to be 2.5 times more likely to intentionally seek pornography in the future.

Mineau said that regrettably, many parents do not realize how readily available pornography is online and even more fail to realize the harm that early viewing of

pornography can cause.

“They just assume that the children can handle whatever they see, and, of course, nothing could be further from the truth,” said Mineau who recommends Internet filters and cell phones without cameras for teen-agers.

Patrick Trueman, president of Morality in Media, spoke at the

dinner about the danger of early exposure to obscene material.

According to Mineau, Trueman pointed out that, “We’re poisoning the minds of an entire generation.”

“What are we going to reap from this?” Mineau asked. “The mission of Morality in Media is more important than ever.”

Knights sponsor ‘Keep Christ in Christmas’ poster contest FALMOUTH — The Falmouth Council No. 813, nights of Columbus, in Falmouth, has invited the Faith Formation classes of the three Falmouth parishes of St. Elizabeth Seton, St. Patrick, and St. Anthony to participate in the organization’s “Keep Christ in Christmas” poster contest.

“By engaging the creative talents and imaginations of our young people, we hope they will come to a deeper appreciation and understanding of the true, Spiritual meaning of Christmas,” said Council No. 813 Grand Knight Gregory S. Pinto.

The contest has three age groups: five-eight, nine-11, and 12-14, with one winner from each age group advancing to a district-wide contest and the chance that their poster will advance to regional, state, and

national levels of recognition.

Each parish’s Faith Formation judging committee will select a winner from each age group, for a total of nine semi-finalists. The final three winners, one from each age group, will be selected by the Falmouth Knights of Columbus Council.

Each child who participates will receive a Participation Certificate, with Award Certificates and prizes given to the semi-finalists and finalists on December 21.

Winning entries will serve as the basis for a series of new Christmas posters that encourage a deeper understanding of the holiday. The posters will be distributed in countries where the Knights of Columbus are active, and will serve as part of our “Keep Christ in Christmas” campaign.

14

November 28, 2014

Bishop da Cunha elected to bishops’ CLINIC board continued from page one

port agency for diocesan immigration.

— The kinds of cases and advocacy positions taken by the Catholic network — involving family reunification, protection of the persecuted, empowerment through work, authorization, legal status and citizenship — have their roots in Catholic social teaching.

— CLINIC views newcomers in their full human dignity, not solely from a legal service perspective. This requires CLINIC and its affiliates to partner with programs and agencies that can meet the nonlegal needs of newcomers.

— CLINIC takes the Catholic view that advocacy draws its legitimacy from service. Service allows advocates to give voice to newcomers, not to speak “for” them.

— CLINIC has adopted a principle of Catholic social teaching — subsidiarity — to guide its programmatic commitments. Subsidiarity leads CLINIC to respect the different roles and capacities of its local partner agencies and to encourage them to assume as much responsibility for newcomers as they can. This allows CLINIC to focus its limited resources on needs that local programs cannot meet. In this way, CLINIC seeks to leverage maximum legal representation for low-income newcomers.

— And, the Catholic network safeguards the rights and promotes the dignity of all newcomers; it does not distinguish among prospective clients based on race, religion or ethnic background.

In June 2004, the USCCB Committee on Migration and CLINIC’s board of directors

voted to make immigration reform, with special emphasis on comprehensive immigration reform, a major public policy priority within the Church. The result was the creation of Justice for Immigrants, the Catholic Church’s nationwide campaign for comprehensive immigration reform. The campaign is designed to mobilize Catholic institutions, individuals, and others in this work. The campaign’s primary objectives are: To educate the public about Church teaching on migration and immigrants; To create political will for positive immigration reform; To enact legislative and administrative reforms based on the principles articulated by the bishops; To organize Catholic networks to assist qualified immigrants obtain the benefits of the reforms.

CLINIC’s largest contribution to Justice for Immigrants is to build the capacity of its network of over 250 affiliate organizations so that they can provide competent and effective legal services to the anticipated large influx of undocumented people seeking to apply for legalization.

Having already served, or currently serving on immigration committees, Bishop da Cunha’s experience and expertise will be an asset to CLINIC during these fluid and sometimes volatile times regarding immigration reform. Only last Thursday did President Barack Obama invoke a presidential executive order granting “deferred action” to a pair of illegal immigrant groups — the parents of United States citizens or legal permanent residents

This week in

so many families that they can ing going on,” he added. remain united, that children and The bishop also said, the U.S. parents, brothers and sisters, bishops will continue to urge who have been in the country husband and wives will remain the president and the Confor five years, and young people together. And that is reason to gress for immigration reform. who were illegally brought into celebrate.”

“We want families to remain this country since 2010.

“The order affects about five united, and for others to come The term “deferred action” million immigrants,” added out of the shadows of illegality. has yet to be defined and re- Bishop da Cunha. “This is going For many, going back to their fined, but will remain in effect to open the door to more involve- homelands would be life-defor three years. ment with CLINIC agencies. structing. Often there is nothYet, the status of those in- Whatever processes CLINIC ing to go back to, and once there volved remains tenuous because develops, they will have to follow they face crime and violence. the 2016 elections could result the president’s orders. We will “We must remember that in the order being rescinded. be very involved in trying to get these are human beings, our “For decades the Church has immigrants legalized, helped and brothers and sisters, and they always advocated for a compre- having their dignity restored.” deserve dignity. It’s the mishensive immigration reform, The president’s rare executive sion of a Christian to help those to fix our broken immigration order came right on the heels of who are in this country, but also laws,” Bishop da Cunha said Bishop da Cunha’s election to to work to help those in other of the president’s order. “The CLINIC. “We are in a period of countries improve their quality action by the president was a historic changes,” added Bishop of life so they have no need to small, but important step to- da Cunha. “There can be wide- leave their homelands.” ward resolution to this complex range impacts on immigrants.

Bishop da Cunha was electnational issue. Even though it’s This is a critical moment. While ed for a three-year term. The a small step, it is better than do- the U.S. bishops have been ad- CLINIC board meets three ing nothing. We know that this vocating immigration reform times a year, with Bishop da is not solving the big issue of for a long time, nothing ma- Cunha’s first encounter comundocumented immigrants in jor has happened since Ronald ing in March. “The other two this country. Many will benefit Reagan’s administration. Yet the meetings are held in conjuncfrom this action, but millions number of immigrants contin- tion with the bishops’ meetings more will remain in the shad- ues to increase.” in April and November,” he said. ows, without being able to leBishop da Cunha said the In between meetings there galize their situation here. lack of concrete and proper im- is an open communication “This action is also just a migration legislation makes it amongst the board members, temporary solution even for difficult for families and those keeping track of the seemingly those who will benefit from it. who want to be part of the com- ever-changing immigration For some, it will only help them munity. “There is a lot of suffer- landscape in the U.S. buy some time. Our hope is that during this time, Congress will act to make immigration reform a permanent solution. Although we are excited about the president’s executive action, we recognize that this is a temporary fix; legislative action is necessary.

“While some people are getting their hopes high, there The Anchor spends nearly $2,000 are still many hurdles ahead of in postage change fees each year! them. Congress could take steps to make the implementation of The Post Office charges The Anchor 70 cents for notificathis executive action more diftion of a subscriber’s change of address. Please help us ficult or even block it. reduce these expenses by notifying us immediately when “Even with many challenges you plan to move. still ahead, this brings hope to

Diocesan history

50 years ago — Plans were being made for the 10th annual Bishop’s Charity Ball inside the ballroom at Lincoln Park in Westport; an evening of generosity that would provide a year’s assistance to underprivileged and exceptional children in the diocese.

10 years ago — Parishioners of St. Ann’s Parish in Raynham celebrated the “burning of the mortgage” for the parish center during a special Mass celebration with Bishop George W. Coleman and pastor, Father Michael K. McManus.

25 years ago — A renovation project at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in New Bedford began with two special Masses and a ground-breaking ceremony. The renovations included an addition to the back of the church comprised of a new Sacristy, a conference and office area, and an elevator.

One year ago — La Salette Father André “Pat” Patenaude was thrilled to be back working to prepare the crèche at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette’s Festival of Lights in Attleboro after missing the previous year’s festival due to a serious illness.

Money is flying out the window

Please Print Your New Address Below

NAME: STREET ADDRESS: CITY, STATE, ZIP: NEW PARISH: MOVING DATE: Please attach your Anchor address label so we can update your record immediately.

Clip and mail form to: The Anchor, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722

15

November 28, 2014

Radio CorMariae airs Advent programming continued from page one

Radio CorMariae will be able to enhance this Advent season, making it one of the greatest Christmas gifts a faithful Catholic can receive.

“The best thing going for our limited-listening area is our free app to listen to the station from anywhere in the world [with Internet connection],” Friar John Mary, F.I. told The Anchor. The app is available at Apple’s App Store and from Google Play.

Between WPMW’s local broadcasting and EWTN feed, Catholic listeners will have a full slate of Advent programming available to them on their FM dial, smart phone or computer.

“For the Advent season, EWTN already plays its own special programming which I have found to be very good,” explained Friar John. “In addition to EWTN’s special programming, Radio CorMariae has airing during Advent, two Novenas: the Immaculate Conception and Christmas.

“For each of the nine days before the Solemnity dates, December 8 and December 25, the particular half-hour Novena program will air twice on the Novena days; at 5:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m.”

The Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary will be broadcast on WPMW on each of the Sundays of Advent, beginning this Sunday, and every day through the Christmas octave, concluding on Jan. 1, 2015.

The station will continue to provide local Catholic news and happenings, with some of its news sources coming from a collaboration with The Anchor. The community calender news is usually aired at the end of even hours of the day, unless preempted by EWTN programming.

Throughout the Advent season, EWTN will provide quality, Spiritually-uplifting programming including: — Advent reflections for each of the four weeks; Week One: Abbot David Charlesworth, O.S.B. of Buckfast Abbey talks about the importance of personal conversion as the means for getting ready for the coming of Christ.

Week Two: Father Thomas Regan, O.S.B. talks about the message of the need to prepare well in order to properly celebrate Advent and Christmas, by putting Christ at the heart of Christmas.

Week Three: Father Guy Nicholls offers a meditation on

the third Week of Advent, inviting us to prepare our hearts like Mary to rejoice in the coming of the Lord.

Week Four: Father Ian Hellyer offers a reflection on the fourth week of Advent, witnessing that hope is at the heart of Advent, found ultimately in the Word made Flesh.

— Christmas on Guitar; classical guitarist Giovanni De Chiaro performs carols and other traditional Christmas music.

— A five-part Advent retreat with Father Pablo Straub on the meaning of Advent.

— A Musical Journey of Christmas with Diane Bish.

— A live Homage to the Immaculate with Pope Francis on the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

— Live Masses on the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception from EWTN in Irondale, Ala., and from the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. — An EWTN Radio Christmas Card including seasonal music and special greetings to listeners around the world.

— An old-fashioned Family Christmas with Irish singer Dana.

— A dramatic reading of Charles Dickens’ classic, “A Christmas Carol.”

A full slate of EWTN programming will air on Christmas Eve day and Christmas Day. Friar John also told The Anchor, “Those who are connected to social media can view our Facebook (facebook. com/RadioCorMariae) and Twitter (twitter.com/ RadioCorMariae) posts, which we try to make appropriate for the season of the year we are in.”

Radio CorMariae is always looking for volunteers to help the station with: web and social media; audio mixing; recording technicians; voice talent; station operations; interviewer; manage volunteers; help plan events; and assist at events.

For the Radio CorMariae Advent schedule (subject to change), to offer volunteer assistance, or to contribute financially, contact the station at its website at radiocormariae. com, by calling 508-996-8274, or emailing info@wpmw.org.

Whether on the road or at home, quality Catholic Advent radio programming is simply a click away at Radio CorMariae, helping to keep Christ in Christmas this season.

Cardinal O’Malley expands on ‘provocative’ ‘60 Minutes’ interview

Boston (CNA/EWTN News) — Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley has clarified his recent “60 Minutes” interview, saying its “difficult questions” on women’s ordination and Vatican investigations of a Missouri bishop and a women’s religious conference needed more discussion and nuance.

“The program’s interviews include difficult questions that are often on many people’s minds. For some people, being featured on “60 Minutes” would be exhilarating, but television interviews are not at the top of my list of favorite things to do,” Cardinal O’Malley said in a recent column for the Boston Pilot.

While he praised “60 Minutes” reporters and the news show’s “trying to go deeper into the topics they address,” he said the “provocative” matters that he discussed “call for more time and consideration than can be given in a 20-minute broadcast segment.”

“I hope that one take-away from my “60 Minutes” interview will be that cardinals, bishops and priests are human, and that we love the Church,” said the cardinal, who is part of a special advisory board for Pope Francis.

The CBS news show broadcast its interview with the cardinal on November 16.

Topics included the ordination of women as priests and Vatican investigations of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, as well as a Missouri bishop.

The cardinal made headlines over comments from his “60 Minutes” appearance touching on Catholic teaching on the priesthood. He had said: “If I were founding a church, I’d love to have women priests.” However, he also added that Jesus Christ founded the Catholic Church, “and what He has given us is something different.”

His television interview also rejected claims that Catholic teaching on priestly ordination was immoral, saying “Christ would never ask us to do something immoral.” He said that “not everyone needs to be ordained to have an important role in the Church.”

The cardinal discussed these remarks in his column, saying, “The Church is called to be faithful to Christ’s will,

and that is not always easy or popular. Understanding the Church’s teaching is always a process that begins with faith.”

Cardinal O’Malley acknowledged that Catholic teaching on women’s ordination is “particularly painful to many Catholic women who feel that the teaching on women’s ordination is a rejection and unfair.” He said, “Many wonderful Catholic women have wished to be priests, among them St. Therese, the Little Flower.”

However, he also pointed for the need to fidelity to Christ’s teaching.

He said his comments had been “trying to communicate that women are often holier, smarter and more hardworking than men, and that the most important member of the Church is a woman, the Blessed Virgin Mary.”

The cardinal in his “60 Minutes” interview also said that the Vatican should “urgently” address the situation of Missouri Bishop Robert Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, who was convicted on a misdemeanor count of failure to report suspected child abuse after he and his diocese failed to report that lewd images of children, which the bishop never saw, had been found on a laptop belonging to a priest of his diocese.

The cardinal appeared to agree with “60 Minutes’” interviewer Norah O’Donnell that Bishop Finn would not be allowed to teach Sunday School in Boston under its “zero tolerance” policy.

In his column, Cardinal O’Malley said advance reporting on his interview “did not reflect the nuances of my answer to the question.”

He said there is a need for “justice for all” and a need to “avoid crowd-based condemnations.”

“I said that the Vatican must attend to this situation. The Holy Father is aware of this need, and recently an episcopal visitator was sent to Bishop Finn’s diocese,” he said.

Archbishop Terrence Prendergast of Ottawa, Canada has visited the diocese on behalf of the Congregation for Bishops.

Cardinal O’Malley stressed the need for bishops to be ac-

countable for the safety of children and for “clear protocols that will replace the improvisation and inertia that has often been the response in these matters.” He also said bishops deserve “due process that allows them to have an opportunity for a fair hearing.”

The “60 Minutes” interview also referred to the Vatican investigation of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

A multi-year, Vatican-initiated doctrinal assessment of the women’s conference raised concerns about dissent from Church teaching on topics including homosexuality, the Sacramental priesthood and the Divinity of Christ. The assessment found major theological and doctrinal errors in the presentations at the conference’s annual meetings.

O’Donnell said the investigation “looked like a crackdown from men in the Vatican.”

Cardinal O’Malley said in the interview that it appeared to be “a disaster.”

In his column, Cardinal O’Malley expanded on his comments and noted that there was also an apostolic visitation of communities of religious women.

“I trust that there were serious concerns that gave rise to the visitations, but it would seem that better planning and a wider participation of American religious and U.S. bishops would have been helpful,” he said in his newspaper column.

“The Church personnel who carried out these assignments have done an admirable job under very difficult circumstances,” he said. “Unfortunately, many religious women have been alienated by the process and the bishops in this country have been blamed for shortfalls in communications and the process.”

Cardinal O’Malley said he hoped that the final report on the visitations will present “a more positive experience that will contribute to healing in our Church and be helpful for the cause of religious life.”

He said the Catholic Church’s upcoming Year of Consecrated Life is “an opportunity to celebrate the great achievements of our religious.”

Youth Pages

16

Third- and fourth-graders at St. Francis Xavier School in Acushnet recently traveled to Plimouth Plantation to enhance their social studies curriculum with experiential learning. Pictured are some of the fourth-graders posing for a picture as they explore an old time canoe.

November 28, 2014

Students at Holy Trinity School in Fall River recently gathered around the school flag pole for their annual Veterans’ Day prayer service. The pre-school and kindergarten children did a wonderful job as they led the students in song honoring this special day.

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

The first-grade classes at St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro recently dressed up as a saint of their choice and stood in front of the whole student body to talk about some traits of their chosen saint.

St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro held a Veterans’ Day program put on by the eighth-graders and Sister Mary Jane Holden, principal. The students sang patriotic songs, performed a sign-language performance, and showed a video about the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington, D.C. Decorating the walls of the gymnasium were stars with the names of veterans who were related to SJE students. The school’s bell choir also performed.

Donna Lucas, a bagpiper from Colonial Pipers, played as the students entered the gymnasium. The school was proud to have in attendance Julie Hall, retired colonel who recently won the Deborah Sampson Award as the state’s outstanding female veteran; other local veterans, friends and families. Shown are members of the eighth-grade class who wrote a poem for each letter in the word Patriotism. Students collected canned goods for local, homeless veterans.

A Lloyd Center teacher works with third-grade students at Holy Name School in Fall River for one hour each month sharing information about birds. Each month’s lesson contains various hands-on activities as well as technical information. The program will end in May with a trip to view various species of birds. Here, students return from adding a part to the “Bird” display.

November 28, 2014

I

t’s hard to believe, but the season of Advent begins this weekend!

Are we ready? In the words of martyred Archbishop Oscar Romero, “Advent is not just four weeks in which to prepare for Christmas. Advent is the Church’s life. Advent is Christ’s presence, and will bring about God’s true reign, telling us, humanity, that Isaiah’s prophecy is now fulfilled: Emmanuel — God with us.”

Reflecting on the words of Archbishop Romero on Advent, it reminded me of one of my favorite stories that we had often used during YES! Retreat team formation and I may have used it in this column before, however, it really speaks to me of the message of Advent.

There are dozens of versions of this story and I’m not sure of the original author, but this is close to a version by Dr. M. Scott Peck.

The story concerns a monastery that had fallen upon hard times. It was once a great order, but because of persecution, all its branch houses were lost and there were only five monks left in the decaying house: the abbot and four others, all more than 70 in age. Clearly it was a dying order.

In the deep woods surrounding the

Youth Pages Advent: Christ living among us

monastery there was a little hut that a rabbi occasionally used for a hermitage.

For some reason, the old monks could always sense when the rabbi was in his hermitage. “The rabbi is in the woods, the rabbi is in the woods” they would whisper. It occurred to the abbot that a visit to the rabbi might result in some advice to save his monastery.

The rabbi welcomed the abbot to his hut. But when the abbot explained his visit, the rabbi

By Deacon said, “I know Frank Lucca how it is.

“The Spirit has gone out of the people. It is the same in my town. Almost no one comes to the synagogue anymore.”

So the old abbot and the old rabbi wept together. Then they read parts of the Torah and spoke of deep things.

When the abbot had to leave, they embraced each other. “It has been wonderful that we should meet after all these years,” the abbot said, “but I have failed in my purpose for coming here. Is there

17

The pinning ceremony for the St. Pius X School House System recently took place after a school Mass. Students new to the South Yarmouth middle school were officially inducted into St. Anthony House, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton House, St. Veronica House, or St. Theresa House.

nothing you can tell me that would help me save my dying order?”

“No, I am sorry,” the rabbi responded. “I have no advice to give. But, I can tell you that the Messiah lives among you.”

When the abbot returned to the monastery his fellow monks gathered around him to ask, “Well what did the rabbi say?”

“The rabbi said something very mysterious, it was something cryptic.

He said that the Messiah lives among us. I don’t know what he meant.”

In the time that followed, the old monks wondered whether there was significance to the rabbi’s words. The Messiah lives among us? “Could he possibly have meant one of us monks?

If so, which one?”

“Do you suppose he meant the abbot? Yes, if he meant anyone, he probably meant Father Abbot. He has been our leader for more than a generation. On the other hand, he might have meant Brother Thomas.

Certainly Brother Thomas is a holy man. Everyone knows that Thomas is a man of light. Certainly he could not have meant Brother Elred! Elred gets crotchety at times. But come to think of it, even though he is a thorn in people’s sides, when you look back on it, Elred is virtually always right.

Often very right. Maybe the rabbi did mean Brother Elred. But surely not Brother Phillip. Phillip is so passive, a real nobody. But then, almost mysteriously, he has a gift for always being there when you need him. He just magically appears. Maybe Phillip is the Messiah.”

As they contemplated, the old monks began to treat each other with extraordinary respect on the chance that one among them might be the Messiah. And they began to treat themselves with extraordinary respect.

People still occasionally came to visit

The second-grade class at St. Mary’s School in Taunton recently gave thanks to veterans by sending “Thank You” cards to patients at the Brockton V.A. Hospital.

St. Michael School in Fall River recently held elections for student council members for the 2014-2015 school year. They are: President Ethan Borges, Vice President Ashton Peixoto, Secretary Alexis Medeiros, and Treasurer Ashlyn Aguiar.

Be Not Afraid

the monastery in its beautiful forest to picnic on its tiny lawn, to wander along some of its paths, even to meditate in the dilapidated chapel. As they did so, they sensed the aura of extraordinary respect that began to surround the five old monks and seemed to radiate out from them and permeate the atmosphere of the place. There was something strangely compelling about it. Hardly knowing why, they began to come back to the monastery to picnic, to play, to pray. They brought their friends to this special place. And their friends brought their friends.

Then some of the younger men who came to visit the monastery started to talk more and more with the old monks. After a while one asked if he could join them. Then another, and another. So within a few years the monastery had once again become a thriving order and, thanks to the rabbi’s gift, a vibrant center of light and Spirituality in the realm.

So as we begin this Advent season, let’s remember that the Messiah lives among us and is in us. Archbishop Oscar Romero reminds us in these thoughts on Advent: “Advent should admonish us to discover in each brother or sister that we greet, in each friend whose hand we shake, in each beggar who asks for bread, in each worker who wants to use the right to join a union, in each peasant who looks for work in the coffee groves, the Face of Christ.

Then it would not be possible to rob them, to cheat them, to deny them their rights. They are Christ, and whatever is done to them Christ will take as done to Himself.”

Yes! That is what Advent is: Christ living among us. Seen Him lately? Been Him lately?

Anchor columnist Deacon 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 nine-month-old grandson. Comments, ideas or suggestions? Please email him at DeaconFrankLucca@comcast.net.

18

November 28, 2014

Pope, creating six new saints, uses newly-abbreviated formula

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Using a newly-simplified rite, Pope Francis proclaimed six new saints and praised them for the love and self-giving with which they served God and built up His Kingdom by serving the poor and needy.

Creating the two Indian and four Italian saints on the feast of Christ the King, the pope said, “They responded with extraordinary creativity to the Commandment of love of God and neighbor,” dedicating themselves, “without holding back, to serving the least and assisting the destitute, sick, elderly and pilgrims.”

The Mass in a St. Peter’s Square still damp from an early morning rain began with the canonizations using an even briefer formula than what had become standard with St. John Paul II. The formula had been expanded by now-retired Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.

The new rite did away with the three “petitions” used by Pope Benedict; the cardinal prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes would ask the pope three times to canonize candidates and the pope would respond by asking God to “sustain with His grace” the act of canonization and not allow the Church to err in such an important matter. In response to the third petition, the pope would recite the formula for canonization.

Instead November 23 Cardinal Angelo Amato, congregation prefect, requested Pope Francis canonize the six candidates and the pope responded by introducing a Litany of the Saints, praying that through their intercession God would “sustain with His grace the act which we now solemnly undertake.”

After singing the Litany, Pope Francis read the canonization formula, proclaim the new saints: — Kuriakose Elias Chavara, the Indian founder of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, a Syro-Malabar Catholic order. Born in 1805, he died in 1871.

— Euphrasia Eluvathin-

gal, a member of the Carmelites founded by St. Chavara. She lived 1877-1952.

— Nicholas of Longobardi, an Italian friar of the Minim order, who lived 1650-1709.

— Giovanni Antonio Farina, an Italian bishop of Vicenza and the founder of the Teaching Sisters of St. Dorothy. He died in 1888.

— Ludovico of Casoria, the 19th-century Italian founder of the Grey Franciscan Friars of Charity and the Grey Franciscan Sisters of St. Elizabeth.

— Amato Ronconi, a 13th-century Italian lay Franciscan and founder of a hospice for the poor, which is now a home for the elderly in Rimini, Italy.

In his homily at the Mass, More than 1,200 crèches were donated to the La Salette Shrine in Attleboro. From all over the world, many of the crèches pay homage to the culture of the artist, including this one from Kenya and featuring Pope Francis focused on the individuals dressed in Masai tribe garb. (Photo by Becky Aubut) feast of Christ the King and the description in the day’s first reading (Ez 34:11-12, Anonymous benefactor adds to La Salette Shrine crèche collection 15-17) of how God shep- continued from page 10 herds His people. cabinets used, which were also produce these things artisti- and to see things here from “These verses,” the pope owned by the benefactor. cally, it’s amazing.”

Africa, India, Senegal — it’s said, “are interwoven with Brother David Eubank, amazing.”

The result is a breathtaking verbs which show the care visual of hundreds of artist M.S., shrine publicist and The different styles, added and love that the Shepherd depictions of the Holy Fam- young adult ministry coordi- Brother Eubank, “depict one has for His flock: to search, ily using every type of mate- nator, was drawn to a very re- simple scene from the Bible to look over, to gather the rial imaginable. From tin to alistic-looking baby in a crib; in many different ways acdispersed, to lead into pas- glass, to wood and cloth cording to [the artist’s] ture, to bring to rest, to seek — even tightly-rolled hen you look at each culture.” the lost sheep, to lead back newspapers and soda The outdoor courtyard crèche — and you look abuts the crèche display the confused, to bandage the cans have been used to wounded, to heal the sick, to create the Holy Family. at our theme, ‘Jesus Light of Life’ area and the stained-glass Many of the crèche dis- — this display really brings it out, crèches hanging from the take care of, to pasture.”

The Old Testament de- plays pay homage to the that Jesus is the perfect gift from large windows will reflect scription is “fulfilled in Jesus culture from which they God for the season,” said Broth- the light of the fire pits Christ,” he said, and those have been created, like a er Eubank. “It you keep that in as families roast marshmallows and drink hot who minister in Christ’s few of the South Amerimind, and you look at the crèches, can crèches whose color chocolate — an unintenname — the pope, the bishchoices are the bright tional but fully welcome [you see] how a simple Babe has ops and priests — must folhues associated with the connection to this year’s brought Salvation to the world.” low His example “if they do South American culture. theme. not want to become hirelings.

Almost every country “When you look at In this regard the people of in the world is represented, “The hair is just awesome,” each crèche — and you look God have an unerring sense including the United States, he said. “It’s porcelain. It just at our theme, ‘Jesus Light for recognizing good shep- Netherlands, China, India, sticks out to me.” of Life’ — this display really herds and in distinguishing Guatemala, Egypt, Kenya, And that’s the appeal for brings it out, that Jesus is the them from hirelings.”

Venezuela, Czechoslovakia those walking through the perfect gift from God for the Thousands of Catholics and Europe. display, said Brother Eubank: season,” said Brother Eubank. from India, especially from Even the Christmas tree — “Certain Nativity sets speak to “It you keep that in mind, Kerala, traveled to the Vati- also owned by the benefactor certain people, and when they and you look at the crèches, can to celebrate St. Chavara — is adorned with ornaments come they will roam around [you see] how a simple Babe and St. Eluvathingal. Meet- that depict the Nativity. but be drawn to one particular has brought Salvation to the ing the pilgrims briefly, Pope “The artists — not only Nativity set that makes them world.”

Francis said the two Indi- show the story of Jesus and in awe about the whole season During the Festival of ans “remind each of us that the birth of Jesus — but how of Christmas.”

Lights, there will be concerts, Not only will people be Masses, photos with Santa God’s love is the source and it inspired these artists to crethe goal and the support of ate the same story all over the drawn to crèches for their Claus, nightly illumination of all holiness, while love of world but in different im- beauty, Father Pereira add- the lights, and other events. neighbor is the clearest dem- agery, even using parts from ed, but also to connect from A full schedule of the festival onstration of love for the their own country,” said Fa- where they came from: “It’s can be found online: www. ther Pereira. “The artists were the international part of the lasalette-shrine.org, click on Lord.” captivated by this story, and to people, where they’re raised, the Christmas Lights link.

“W

19

November 28, 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.

NORTH EASTON — A Holy Hour for Families including Eucharistic Adoration is held every Friday from 3-4 p.m. at The Father Peyton Center, 518 Washington Street.

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.

Annette St. Onge, mother of Deacon Lawrence St. Onge

NEW BEDFORD — Annette St. Onge, 93, of New Bedford died November 11 at The Oaks Nursing Home after a brief illness. She was the widow and beloved wife of Adelard W. St. Onge and daughter of the late Antonio and Aurore (Metivier) Medeiros Barboza. She was born in New Bedford and lived there as well as in Acushnet and Lakeland, Fla. She was the loving mother of a son, Deacon Lawrence A. St. Onge and his wife Jacqueline of New Bedford and a daughter, Sandra L. Sevigney and her husband Mark of Assonet. She was the much loved nana to her grandchildren Kim M. McCormack and her husband Bruce of East Freetown, Lisa M. Martin of Scituate, R.I., Attorney Jennifer Sevigney Durand and her husband Bertrand of Stoughton and Brian J. St. Onge and his wife Fonya of Raynham. Her greatgrandchildren Bruce McCormack III, Ashley McCormack, Christopher Shinnamon, Jaime Shinnamon, Abigail Durand, Margaret Durand, Erica St. Onge and Jacob St. Onge brought special joy and love to her life. She is also survived by three brothers, Emile Barboza and Norman (Pete) Barboza of New Bedford and Robert Barboza of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. and one sister, Barbara Lewis of New Bedford.

She was predeceased by her

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Nov. 29 Rev. Thomas H. Shahan, Former Pastor, St. Mary,Taunton, 1902 Rev. Francis A. McCarthy, Pastor, St. Patrick, Somerset, 1965 Nov. 30 Rev. William J McCoomb, Pastor, Immaculate Conception, North Easton, 1895 Dec. 1 Rev. Phillipe Ross, Chaplain, Sacred Heart Home, New Bedford, 1958 Rev. Edward J. Gorman, Retired Pastor, St. Patrick, Somerset, 1964 Dec. 2 Rev. Arthur Savoie, Pastor, St. Hyacinth, New Bedford, 1917 Rev. Dennis W. Harrington, Assistant, St. Mary, Taunton, 1958 Rev. Stanislaus Basinski, Former Pastor Holy Rosary,Taunton, 1970 Dec. 3 Rev. John W. McCarthy, P.R., Pastor, Sacred Heart, Fall River, 1926 Dec. 4 Rev. Patrick Byrne, Pastor, St. Mary, New Bedford, 1844 Rev. Charles Ouellette, Assistant, St. Jacques, Taunton, 1945 Rev. Edward C. Duffy, Pastor, St. Francis Xavier, Hyannis, 1994 Dec. 5 Rev. Eugene J. Boutin, Manchester Diocese, 1986 Rev. Coleman Conley, SS.CC., Chaplain, Sacred Heart Home, New Bedford, 1990

brothers Anthony Medeiros, Arthur Medeiros, Armand Barboza and Rene Barboza, her sisters Irene Medeiros, Theodora Turgeon and Joan LeBlanc and her grandson, Jeffrey A. St. Onge.

Mrs. St. Onge attended New Bedford schools and worked for many years as a stitcher in various New Bedford textile mills having retired in 1981 from Eastern Sportswear. After retiring she moved to Lakeland, where she

resided for 17 years, returning to this area in 2001.

A Mass of Christian burial was celebrated November 14 at St. Bernard’s Church, Assonet. Burial was in Pine Grove Cemetery.

Donations may be made in her memory to The Neediest Families Fund, c/o The Standard Times, 25 Elm Street, New Bedford, Mass.

02740.

Saunders-Dwyer Funeral Homes was in charge of the arrangements.

Around the Diocese Holy Family Parish, 370 Middleboro Avenue in East Taunton, will celebrate the fifth annual Novena to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception beginning November 30 through December 8. Each evening at 7 p.m. in the church there will be adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, a talk by a different priest, Confessions available, praying of the Rosary, and Benediction. This year’s reflections will meditate on the some of the different mysteries of the Rosary and a particular aspect of our faith that we can learn to live in a deeper way. This is a powerful way to spend time in prayer, grow in one’s knowledge of the faith, and learn examples for us to emulate, especially in fostering our devotion to Mary.

The Fall River Area Men’s First Friday Club will meet on December 5 at St. Joseph Church, 1335 North Main Street in Fall River. Following the 6 p.m. Mass, a hot meal provided by White’s of Westport will be served in the school hall behind the church.

The guest speaker this month is Richard Lafrance, CEO of White’s Hospitality Company. The Mass is open to the public. Guest men interested in joining the dinner should contact Daryl Gonyon at 508-672-4822.

Sister Faustina and Sisters from the Academy of the Immaculate Mary, Queen of Apostles Convent in Bellingham, will be among the 200 crafters at the 38th annual Christmas Crafts Fair at Durfee High School in Fall River on December 6-7. They will sell handmade Rosaries as well as other handmade religious items. Sponsored by the Fall River Scholarship Foundation, the fair is open to the public from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on both days. There is free admission and parking adjacent to the field house which is handicap accessible. Proceeds from the fair will benefit the Fall River Scholarship Foundation, a non-profit organization that awards scholarships to deserving Fall River students in pursuit of a higher education.

The Catholic Women’s Club of Christ the King Parish located on Jobs Fishing Road in Mashpee will sponsor its annual Christmas Fair on December 6 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the parish center. Featured will be a variety of crafters selling handmade items including old world Santas, gel candles, ceramic and porcelain tiles, melted glass cheese boards, jewelry, gourd creations, felted hats and purses, scarves, wooden angels, clutch purses, American Girl doll clothing and nautical ornaments. Additionally, there will be handcrafted live Christmas wreaths and seasonal arrangements, gift and cash raffles, lovely boutique items, unique hostess baskets, baked goods and a shopping room for children with face-painting and games. Hungry shoppers can relax over lunch in the Holly Café.

A Day with Mary will be held December 6 at St. John the Baptist Parish, 945 Main Road in Westport, from 7:50 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. It will include a video presentation, procession and crowning of the Blessed Mother with Mass and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. There is an opportunity for Reconciliation. A bookstore is available. Please bring a bag lunch. For more information call 508-996-8274.

Vendors are wanted for the ninth annual Holiday Craft and Vendor Fair to be held at St. Margaret Regional School on Main Street in Buzzards Bay. The fair will be held on December 6 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, contact Dawna Gauvin at 508-295-7879 or email dmsgauvin@gmail.com.

The members of the Holy Trinity Charismatic Prayer Group invite all to join in an Advent Celebration on December 11 at 7:30 p.m. in Damien Hall at Holy Trinity Parish in West Harwich. The evening will begin with praise and worship followed by a presentation on Advent by Deacon Ralph Cox. Join in this opportunity to prepare for the coming of the Lord, praise Him, worship Him and share His Word; then join the group for fellowship after the service. All are welcome. For more information contact Jane Jannell at 508-430-0014 or Eileen Sullivan at 508-432-8149.

A Healing Mass will be held on December 18 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 directions or more information visit www.saintanthonynewbedford. com or call 508-993-1691.

20

November 28, 2014

To advertise in The Anchor, contact Wayne Powers at 508-675-7151 or Email

waynepowers@anchornews.org