12.05.86

FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSP.APER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSEnS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS

VOL. 30, NO. 48

•

Friday, December 5, 1986

Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly

FALL RIVER, MASS.

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POPE JOHN PAUL II dances with teens at a youth UPI/ Reuter photo)

NC News Service Pope John Paul II, who frequently speaks of a drift away from Christian values and practices, developed his own style of "re-evangelizing" in a major trip through Asia,. Oceania and the Indian Ocean.

He did it by prodding instead of pushing and by personally reaching out to virtually every group in society.

The pope's Nov. 19-Dec. I trip began with short stops in Bangladesh, Singapore and Fiji, where he praised the religious values of the non-Christian majorities and offered the collaboration of Catholics in social development.

In New Zealand Nov. 22-24, where religious practice among ail major faiths has seriously declined" the pope's message was stronger.

He said a sense of "holiness" must be regained in everyday life and said living by a "set of vague principles" was not enough.

But it was during his Nov. 24Dec. I stay in Australia that the pope hit his stride, combining praise for the people's generous spirit on the one hand and, on the other, reminding group after group of their spiritual responsibilities.

Although many Australians say with pride that they are a "secular-

~

ized" society, it would be difficult to imagine a warmer welcome than the one the pope got there. He was never directly challenged, rarely criticized and given hours of live TV coverage.

On the pope's side, the visit showed his pastoral concern without giving the impression that he had come to call Catholics - or other Australians - on the carpet.

When he pleaded with lapsed Catholics to "come back" during a Mass in Sydney, it was an invitation - not an order.

The pope's style combined mild exhortation with personal contact.

Speaking to parliamentarians, hospital workers and the sick, he emphasized the sacredness of life and even mentioned Catholic voting power on pro-life issues. He made clear to scientists that the church insists on moral guidelines for research on embryos. In his most controversial speech, aimed at the conscience of Australia's white majority, the pope said the church supports aboriginal claims to traditional lands.

But for the most part, in a trip that seemed made for television, it was the image of the pope that won over most Australians, rather than his formal speeches. They watched as he gently touched the

58 Per Year

Marian Medal will go to 89 in Sunday rite

89 members of diocesan parishes will receive the Marian Medal in ceremonies at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 7 at St. Mary's Cathedral.

The award, to be presented by Bishop Daniel A. Cronin, recognizes persons nominated by their pastors as outstand ing parishioners.

One of this year's medal recipients is 10 I-year-old Nellie T. Tarvis of St. Peter the Apostle parish, Provincetown.

Her pastor, Father Edward J. Burns, described her as a very pious woman. A fisherman's widow celebration in Sydney. (NC- , she had a large family, Father Burns said, and "enjoys life" to the fullest.

Father Burns said that Bishop Cronin visits Mrs. Tarvis annually while in Provincetown for the Blessing of the Fleet ceremony.

Their talks always end the same way, said the pastor:" 'I'll see you next year, Nellie,' says the bishop.'

'I'll be here,' Mrs. Tarvis assures face of an elderly woman in Perth, him." "discoed" with a 15-year-old girl in The list of recipients and their Sydney, queried hardhats in a conparishes follows: crete and steel factory, looked on FALL RIVER DEANERY: Gilin amazement a~ a one-pound prebert Canuel, St. Jean Baptiste, Fall mature baby and candidly answered River; Robert Ciosek, Holy Cross, the questions of fourth graders in Fall River; Joseph P. Costa, EspiMelbourne. rito Santo, Fall River; Miss Frances "If he does this in the United E. Cullen, St. Mary's Cathedral, States next year, he's going to be a Fall River; Mrs. Pauline (Robert A.) . success," said one Australian theoDufour, St. Louis de France, Swanlogian who followed the trip closely. sea.

"He was a human being."

Miss Grace Dunn, Sacred Heart, For Australia's Catholic com- Fall River; Benedict Egan, St. Thommunity, the pope's advice was al- as More, Somerset; Mrs. Mary Ferways in the form of encourage- reira, Our Lady of Health, Fall ment and never mentioned divi- River; Mrs. Gloria (Charles) Franco, sions. Some of his strongest words Holy Name, Fall River; Mrs. Alida Frizado, St. Mathieu Fall about waning religious practice (William) River. ' can:te in a talk in Sydney to AusJoseph A. Guay, Blessed Sacratralian bishops, when he criticized ment, Fall River; Miss Jean Judge, the rate of divorce and aboriton St. Patrick, Fall River; Mrs. Mary and noted a "leveling out of Catho- (Edward F.) Kelly, Sts. Peter and lic life" in the country.

Paul, Fall River; Mrs. Alferina But he made it clear he was not (Romeo) Lajoie, St. William, Fall trying to second-guess the bishops River; Mrs. Evelyn (William) Ledo, Immaculate Conception, Fall River. in their pastoral priorities.

Fernand J. Lizotte, St. Michael, "You yourselves have spoken to Mrs. Louise (Donald) me about all these things," he told Swansea; MacDonald, Our Lady of Fatima, them.

Swansea; Miss Cecile E. Masse, The pope also reminded Catholic Notre Dame de Lourdes, Fall River; teachers in Melbourne that their George Pacheco, Our Lady of the lifestyles should reflect their faith. Angels, Fall River; Mrs. Mary He complimented Australian (Manuel) Pontes, Holy Rosary, Fall church leaders on their steps toward River.

John S. Rego, St. John of God, Turn to Page Six Somerset; Mrs. Irene (Ferninand)

Papal "re-evangelization" meets warm welcome

•

Rezendes, St. Patrick, Somerset; Ms. Palmira Rodrigues, St. Anthony of Padua, Fall River; Mrs. Ellen (Russell) Silveria, St. Louis, Fall River; Herve E. Tremblay, St. Anne, Fall River; Miss Mary Zmuda, St. Stanislaus, Fall River.

ATTLEBORO DEANERY: Mrs. Elizabeth Ann (Donald) Branagan, St. Mark, Attleboro Falls; Mrs. Claire Deschenes, Sacred Heart, North Attleboro; Mrs. Claire L. (William) Dion, St. Mary, North Attleboro; John Duphily, St. Joseph, Attleboro; Mrs. Eleanor L. (Raymond) Hayes, St. Mary, Seekonk; Mrs. Mary M. Maddock, St. Mary, Mansfield.

NEW BEDFORD DEANERY: Miss Mary Alves, Our Lady of Assumption, New Bedford; Joseph R. Blanchette, St. Boniface, New Bedford; J. Orner Breton, St. Anthony of Padua, New Bedford; Mrs. Patricia (Gamberino) Camaioni, St. Lawrence, New Bedford; Mrs. Annie (Filenio) Cardoza, St. Patrick, Wareham.

Leon Copach, St. Casimir, New Bedford; Frank J. Filipek, Our Lady of Fatima, New Bedford; Mrs. Mary T. (Richard) Flood, St. Anthony, Mattapoisett; Mrs. Jeanne (Louis) Gauvin, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, New Bedford; Miss Margaret M. Goggin, St. Joseph, Fairhaven.

Albert L. Goyette, St. George, Westport; N-orman Gonsalves, St. Julie Billiart, No. Dartmouth; Miss Mary B. Gracia, St. Mary, So. Dartmouth; William Hughes, St. John Neumann, E. Freetown; Miss Mary E. Mello, St. John the Baptist, New Bedford.

Theodore R. Normandin, Sacred Hearts, Fairhaven; Mrs. Agnes (Antone) Pires, St. Mary, Fairhaven; Mrs. Yvonne (Daniel) Rego, St. Theresa, New Bedford; Manuel Sampaio, Immaculate Conception, New Bedford; Antone B. Santos, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, New Bedford.

John P. Santos, St. Francis Xavier, Acushnet; Harry Smith, St. Rita, Marion; Joseph F. Sylvia, Sacred Heart, New Bedford; Mrs. Conceicao (John) Teixeira, St. Mary, New Bedford; Miss Dorina Thivierge, St. Anne, New Bedford.

Baptist J. Vercellone, St. Francis of Assisi, New Bedford; Mrs. Imelda (George) Vezina, St. Kilian, New Bedford; Mrs. Louise Viera, St. John the Baptist, Westport; Mrs. Gladys C. (Stanley) Widuch; St. Hedwig, New Bedford.

Turn to Page Two

...

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He comes to save all nations!

,, 2

THE ANCHOR -

Diocese of Fall River -

Mitrian Medals

Fri., Dec. 5, 1986

Continued from Page One CAPE COD DEANERY: Mrs. Rosalie S. Bassett, St. Elizabeth, Edgartown; John F. Coyle, Holy Trinity, West Harwich; Mrs. Kay Fewore, St. Joseph, Wood's Hole; James M. Kelly, St. Pius Tenth, So. Yarmouth; Gino Macoratti, Corpus Christi, Sandwich.

Mrs. Helen E. (George) McCusker, Our Lady of the Cape, Brewster; Mrs. Grace (Frederick F.) Morris St. Patrick, Falmouth; Miss Mary C. Morris, St. Elizabeth Seton, No. Falmouth; Joseph C. Paruti, St. Anthony, E. Falmouth; Robert A. O'Neil, Our Lady of Victory, Centerville.

Mrs. Louise B. (George H.) Snyder, Christ the King, Cotuit; Mrs. Nellie T. (Anthony) Tarvis, St. Peter the

Cardinal Sin calls for prayer

IN CEREMONY at Cathedral Camp, East Freetown, youth ministry leaders plant tulip bulbs symbolic of growth. From left, Paul Gibson, St. Stanislaus parish, Fall River (partially visible); Father William Baker, St. Mary, Seekonk; Judi Moniz, St. George, Westport; Kathy Wrobel, coordinator of Youth Ministry at Cathedral Camp; Jane Wilcox, retreat coordinator at Cathedral Camp (partially visible); Elaine Lucas, St. Bernard, Assonet; Robert Suprenant, St. John Neumann, East Freetown.

Youth ministers look to future' Tulip bulbs symbolized growth at a three-day Diocesan Youth Ministry planning conference held last month at Cathedral Camp, East Freetown.

Priests, sisters, directors of religious education and lay youth leaders representing 16 diocesan parishes received the bulbs at an opening prayer service. John Roberto, director of the Center for Youth Ministry Development, Naugatuck, Conn., nationally known as a conference facilitator, explained that they symbolized the potential of both the recipients and of youth ministry.

The conference was preceded by regional youth leaders' hearings during which information as to 路parish needs and strengths was gathered. The findings shaped the

agenda for last month's conference, which was also based on seven components of youth programs listed by the U.S. bishops in a 1976 document, "A Vision of Youth Ministry."

The components are catechesis and evangelization; community life; prayer and worship; guidance;justice, peace and service; enablement; and advocacy.

At the conference, said organizers, those in attendance shared "dreams, insights and expertise in order to formulate a realistic vision for a parish-based youth ministry program in our diocese."

The schedule included morning, afternoon and evening planning sessions directed by Roberto. The process assumed that the diocese "must form a youth ministry pro-

gram that is uniquely its own based there." Also considered were facilities available and the existing methods of operation in the diocese.

The program also gave time for individual and communal prayer and concelebrated Masses.

By the end of the conference, one-year and three-year goals for a parish-based diocesan youth ministry program had been identified.

Participants and their parishes were Sister Teresa Sparrow, RSM, St. Michael's Swansea; Sister Doreen Donegan, SUSC, Corpus Christi, Sandwich; Rev. Richard Degagne, St. Anthony of Padua, New Bedford; Rev. David Costa, St. Thomas More, Somerset.

Rev. Stephen Fernandes, St. James, New Bedford; Bobbie Paradise, Our Lady of Victory, Centerville and ECHO; Judy Sullivan, St. Pius X, South Yarmouth; Marie Mann, Holy Trinity, West Harwich; Robert Suprenant, St. John Neumann, East Freetown; Elaine Lucas, St. Bernard, Assonet.

Judi Moniz, St. George, Westport; Sister Ann Miriam Gallagher, MSBT, St. Patrick, Wareham; Patricia Sullivan, St. Louis de France, Swansea, and Catholic Social Services, Fall River; Dr. Joseph Ryan, Our Lady of Victory, Centerville.

Anne Marie Silvia and Paul Gibson, St. Stanislaus, Fall River; Rev. William Baker, St. Mary, Seekonk; Rev. Stephen Avila, St. Mary, Mansfield.

Diocesan representatives were Rev. George E. Harrison, Kathryn E. Wrobel and Jane L. Wilcox.

After sharing in the final liturgy, conferees gathered in wind 'and freezing cold to plant their bulbs in the nurturing earth. When they bloom in spring, they will be a sign of the vital future anticipated for the Diocesan Youth Ministry.

Setting the Stage

AT YOUTH MINISTRY planning session, from left: John Roberto, facilitator; Father Richard Degagne, St. Anthony of Padua parish, New Bedford; Judi Moniz, St. George, Westport.

"This unspeakable crime against human life which rejects and kills life at its beginning sets the stage for despising, negating and eliminating the life of adults and for attacking the life of society." Pope John Paul II

VATICAN CITY (NC) - Cardinal Jaime Sin of Manila says the Philippines could use a dose of spiritual "liberation theology" to restore the "spirit of the' revolution" which was diluted after the ouster of President Ferdinand Marcos.

Cardinal Sin said the sense of unity and love that marked last February's political changes were being replaced by egoism and division.

"It seems that everybody wants to be governor or mayor," he said in a recent interview with Vatican Radio.

He said he recently called for 100 days .o.f prayer and. penitence among Flhpmo Cathohcs to help "recapture the old spirit of generosity and altruism."

"It's the people themselves who resolve problems when there's a spirit of love and understanding.

This is the theory of the theology of liberation - we have to liberate ourselves from arrogance, pride and egoism," the cardinal said.

He praised the government of President Corazon Aquino, saying it had restored democracy and a climate of freedom.

But he said government ministers sometimes don't work in unison, adding: "I have called this to their attention."

PRAYER SECOND WEEK OF ADVENt

Apostle, Provincetown; Mrs. Emma (Frank) Todesca, St. John the Evangelist, Pocasset; Mrs. Helen T. (John E.) Varley, St. Joan of Arc, Orleans' Tony P. Vieira, St. Margaret, Buz~ zards Bay~ Mrs. Ethel (Edward) Zink, St. FranCIS Xavier, Hyannis.

TAUNTON DEANERY: Mrs. Aline B. Daillaire, Immaculate Conception,' No. Ea'ston; Augustino Frates, Holy Family, East Taunton; Manuel S. Goulart, Our Lady of Lourdes, Taunton; John E. Kearns, Holy Rosary, Taunton; Mrs. Rosianne Lincoln, St. Jacques, Taunton.

George E. McCaffrey, Sacred Heart, Taunton; Elmer Meunier, St. Paul, Taunton; James Mulvihill, St. Ann, Raynham; Robert P. Murphy, St. Mary, Taunton; Mrs. Emily (Richard) Pacheco, St. Anthony, Taunton.

Richard M. t'aulson, Immaculate Conception, Taunton; Mrs. Aldina (Joseph) Techiera, Holy Cross, So. Easton.

William Morrissette Anchor sports columnist William Morrissette, 82, died Monday at the Catholic Memorial Home, Fall River, after a long illness.

Despite infirmity, Morrissette continued his Anchor column until a few months ago, sometimes gathering news and writing from his bed. He also continued contributing to the Catholic Memorial Home newsletter.

He was a Fall River native, the son of the late Pierre and Arthemise (Vallee) Morrissette. A retired employee of the Newport Navy Station, he was also for over 40 years a sports correspondent for the Providence Journal-Bulletin and the New Bedford Standard Times. He had been Anchor sports columnist since December, 1976, succeeding Peter J. Bartek.

Morrissette was a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

He was a medical statistician at Camp Edwards, Bourne, during the Korean War and he served on several city committees in Fall River.

He was honored recently by the 1986 Fall River area CYO baseball championship team ofSt. William's parish, Fall River when members presented him with an autographed ball.

Morrissette's funeral Mass took place yesterday at the Catholic Memorial Home. He is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Claire Larrivee of Lowell and Mrs. Diane Hickey of Warwick; three sons, William A. Morrissette of Largo, Fla., and J. Raymond and Charles Morrissette of Fall River; also by 16 grandchildren and nine greatgrandchildren.

S"'I8. UP our hearts. 0

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to

prepare

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ways of thine only-be-

gotten Son; that through. his eoming we may attain to serve thee with pUrified minds. who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God. world without end. Amen.

Motta photo

WILLIAM MORRISSETTE

THE ANCHOR - Diocese of Fall River - Fri., Dec. 5, 1986

Abp. O'Connor, commission head, dead at 86 SCRANTON, Pa. (NC) Archbishop Martin John O'Connor, founder of the Pontifical Commission for Social Communications and former rector of the North American College in Rome, died Monday at age 86 in WilkesBarre, about 15 miles from his birthplace of Scranton, where he was ordained an auxiliary bishop in 1943.

The funeral Mass was celebrated today at St. Peter's Cathedral in Scranton. Bishop Daniel A. Cronin, a longtime friend of the archbishop, was among concelebrants.

Archbishop O'Connor was ordained a priest in Rome in 1924 after studies at the North American College. He served as assistant pastor of St. Peter's Cathedral in Scranton from 1925 to 1927 and ..J"rom 1929 to 1935 he was secretary to the bishop and chancellor of the diocese.

He was assistant editor of the Catholic Light, Scranton diocesan newspaper, from 1929 to 1932 and served in several diocesan posts from 1938 to 1946.

After being named auxiliary bishop, he was pastor ofSt. Mary parish, Wilkes-Barre, from 1943 to 1946.

In 1946, he reopened the North American College in postwar Rome and was its rector for 18 years. The college, where selected U.S. seminarians complete their theological studies, had been abandoned at the outbreak of World War II and later was occupied by scores of war refugees.

Under his direction and as a result of his fund-raising,efforts, the college moved in 1953 to a new $4.5 million building on Janiculum Hill, a half mile from St. Peter's Basilica.

In 1948, at the request of Pope Pius XII, Archbishop O'Connor formed a commission for religious and educational films which eventually became the Pontifical Commission for Social Communications. He was president until his 1971 retirement, when he was named president emeritus.

He served on two preparatory agencies for the Second Vatican Council - as president of the Secretariat for Communications Media and as a member of the Central Preparatory Commission.

When the council opened in 1962, he was chosen to serve as a member of the Commission for the Lay Apostolate.

Pope Paul VI named Archbishop O'Connor the Vatican's first apostolic nuncio to Malta in 1965.

He served in that post until 1969. :iiiWi

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ASSISTED BY Msgr. John J. Oliveira, Bishop Daniel A. Cronin blesses Our Lady's Chapel, New Bedford, upon completion of renovations. Left, Father Raymond J. Lynch, OFM, rector; right, Father Matthew Conlin, OFM, viceprovincial. Among improvements, the chapel has been repainted, has a new altar, and its sanctuary and pews have been redone. (Rosa photo).

Pilot names new editor BOSTON (NC) - Philip F. Lawler, editor of Crisis magazine in South Bend, Ind., has been named executive editor .of The Pilot, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston. He is the first lay editor to Iiead the paper in 78 years.

Lawler succeeds Father A. Paul White, who has been with the Pilot for 14 years. Father White's new assignment was not announced immediately.

Lawler is the founder of the American Catholic Conference, created in 1983 to represent views of conservative Catholics.

In 1984 his book, "The Ultimate Weapon," was a study of the U.S. bishops' peace pastoral. In the book Lawler argued for a limited and tactical nuclear response capability, placing the development of such capability in the just-war tradition. He said prayer was the "ultimate weapon" against nuclear war, recalling the message of Fatima.

A native of Dedham, Mass., Lawler, 36, has been editor since last April of Crisis, a monthly journal of lay Catholic opinion, formerly Catholicism in Crisis.

He is the author of four books and his essays an4 book reviews on Catholic social teaching have appeared in a number of newspapers and journals.

Lawler, a 1972 graduate of Harvard University, has a master's degree in political philosophy from the University of Chicago.

He was editor of Prospect, alumni magazine for Princeton University, and in 1979 became managing editor of Policy Review, a quarterly political journal published by the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based public policy group.

Later, he was the foundation's director of studies.

Most Helpless

ABP. O'CONNOR

3

"The unborn child is certainly the most helpless and defenseless person in this country.... He can only depend on others, you and me, to make certain that his cry for justice is heard." - Bishop John R. Keating

Lawler and his wife, Leila, have four children.

Father White joined the Pilot staff in 1972 and was associate editor, then became executive editor.

In September 1981, he was named editor in chief.

A native of Boston, the priest was ordained in 1959. Following a parish assignment, he joined the staff of the clergy personnel office for the archdiocese.

The last lay editor of The Pilot was Katherine E. Conway, whose tenure ended in 1908 when the paper was purchased by the archdiocese. The paper was founded 157 years ago.

Holy day Monday, Dec. 8, is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation. It is noted that there is a separate obligation for Sunday, Dec. 7, and the holy day; in other words, a Sunday evening Mass would not satisfy both requirements.

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4

THE ANCHOR - Diocese of Fall River - Fri., Dec. 5,1986

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The Reality of AIDS

There are many reasons why Americans have still not taken AIDS seriously. First 'and foremost, in typical mainstream fashion, they haye shrugged off the urgency of the AIDS epidemic because they identify it only with gays and drug addiction.

Having thus relegated AIDS to the fringe of society, most citizens rest complacent in the belief that good old American ingenuity will find a cure for it in the very near future. Recent generations have endowed medicine with godlike powers, deeming its practitioners capable of vanquishing all the ills and epidemics of our time. Why get upset about AIDS? But recent studies touching many groups and lifestyles are shouting from the proverbial rooftops that we must be concerned about AIDS; we have no choice but to face the fact that it is out of control and that we can no longer consider certain social groups as safe from it.

AIDS is an acute problem for Americans, a social and medical crisis by any standard of measurement. In the view of many leading scientists, it is a national catastrophe in the making.

All statistics indicate that within the next five years there will be over 500,000 AIDS-related cases in this country - in fact, this estimate is considered conservative.

No longer can people sneer at homosexuals and druggies.

AIDS has bounded out of its original confines and is now a problem for heterosexuals as well. In five years we can e~pect 10 percent of its victims to be mainstream men and women.

Tragically, AIDS will also affect thousands of newborns, infected at or before birth and doomed to short, painful lives.

The predictable popular reaction to all this has been an anti-gay crusade, even participated in by some preachers, which has reduced the suffering ones to the status of the lepers of Bible times.

Thank God for the religious presence of such people as Mother Teresa, who has made helping the suffering gay communitya mission priority. She does not condemn sinners, she teaches that "they will die with love."

In her compassion for the most despised, she is showing Americans how to deal with this epidemic. The voices of fire and brimstone that echo from so many American pulpits, especially those of the so-called fundamental and pentecostal persuasions, must not drive us into a blind alley of hatred, rancor and malice. Being judgmental of AIDS victims will only contribute to an atmosphere of fear and suspicion, elements which exacerbate rather than heal.

More and more we will be forced to make a personal decision whether or not to follow the compassionate Christ. For many, even in the Church, this will be most difficult.

There are, of course, positive steps to take in this situation.

Foremost is the encouragement of an ethical and moral lifestyle. In the midst of so-called sexual liberation, few seem aware ofthe importance and consequences of personal choice.

More sex education is not the answer; with all that has been done in this area, the tide of promiscuity has not been stemmed.

Maybe it's time to return to the virtues of truth, self-control and self-denial. These concepts cannot be conveyed through "safe sex" propaganda. To lead students to think that utterly risk-free sex can be achieved is dangerous and unfair.

As a nation we must move beyond the stance of indifference 'and disdain. All of us are caught up in the AIDS epidemic. Not one of us is untouched.

Now is the time of tough, compassionate decision for each of us. ~ The Editor

OIflClAI. NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FAll RIVER

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New letter sets example

By Liz Schevtchuk WASHINGTON (NC) - Although written by Catholics, the U.S. bishops' new pastoral letter on the economy can be a model for social justice actions by all religious believers, according to one of the architects of the document.

Father J. Bryan Hehir, U.S. Catholic Conference secretary for social development and world peace, recently told an ecumenical forum in Washington that "it's useful to see the letter as one example of many" possible efforts by religious groups.

Father Hehir and his staff assisted the bishops' committee that wrote the pastoral. The document was approved by the bishops Nov. 13 by a vote of 225-9.

"There are few uniquely Catholic principles or conclusions, frankly, in the pastoral letter," Father Hehir told a conference on "The Economic Pastoral Letters and Economic Justice Advocacy."

Sponsored by Interfaith action for Economic Justice, a coalition of Protestant and Jewish denominations and Catholic religious orders, the conference reviewed the Catholic bishops' pastoral and similar statements by Presbyterian, United Church of Christ and other Protestant denominations.

"Esentially, the letter is a moralreligious analysis...of the state of the economy" combined with some policy recommendations, Father Hehir said.

He said it is insufficient for the religious sector to merely ask probing questions of public policy, although, he acknowledged, religious organizations are often told it is

not their task to layout specific criticisms or proposals for policy making.

"I think the charge, in the first place, is misplaced," he said of critics who claim the churches are overstepping their bounds. "It's not enough... to say you're trying to ask the right questions."

Yet, he said, the religious sector has been increasingly drawn into the public policy debate because of the moral implications of many national issues. For example, he said, "the budget is a moral document. The tax debate is a moral debate."

"The moral factor is (present)," he said. "It cannot be expunged."

He said the bishops discovered, in writing their pastorals on war and peace and the economy, that despite some criticism, "people were quite literally starved" for a moral perspective on those issues.

He suggested that efforts to provide a religious vision and a moral assessment" are imperative because ofthe fragility of chances for survival.

Since the time of the first humans, each generation has known that just as it received life from God th'rough the previous generations, it would in turn transmit that gift to future generations, he said.

"This is the first generation since Genesis that has received the gift and knows we might not pass it on," Father Hehir said.

In such a state, "it is hard to live today without hope" he said. Because of its faith, the religious community can offer "a sign of hope in the larger community," he . added. "The resource of hope

becomes today, I submit, a secular necessity."

Responding to Father Hehir's talk, Rabbi David Saperstein, codirector of the Religious Action Center, Washington, said that "God has not ordained specific answers" to many public policy issues but that should not deter believers from seeking answers.

"Today good moral people can differ" in details of solutions, he said. "While good moral people can differ, what they cannot do is sit on the sidelines."

Porn busters WASHINGTON (NC) - Chicago Cardinal Joseph L. Bernardin and Father Bruce Ritter were among 2I religious leaders who urged President Reagan at a recent White House meeting to fight hardcore and child pornography. After the meeting, Cardinal Bernardin said the administraton plans to introduce a legislative package on obscenity and child pornography to Congress early next year. Cardinal Bernardin and Father Ritter, president of Covenant House, a center for sexually exploited children, met with the president as members of the Religious Alliance against Pornography. The group asked Reagan to mobilize federal resources to "fight against rape, exploitation, humiliation and degradation of the entire human famiiy."

Finger on Lips "Love stands in the presence of a fault with a finger on her lips."

-Charles Haddon Spurgeon

•. , t

Facing rejection I have a priest friend who was at a retreat center when I arrived with the flagged copy of my book to edit. A flagged copy means about 350 pages of typed first draft, corrected by an editor, and loaded with 100 or so little yellow slips attached reading, "What's your point?" or "You already said this," or"U nclear" or "You need statistics on this."

In addition, the pages themselves are colorful with similar bluepenciled comments. It's an awesome chore and one most authors approach with resignation and the realization that hard work lies ahead.

My friend, who has considered writing a book himself, hefted the weighty manuscript, flipped through the pages and said, "I couldn't handle getting something like this back from the publisher. I would feel horribly rejected."

I laughed because that's how I felt the first time an accepted book manuscript came back to me. I was outraged. How could they do this to me? They didn't like my words. They didn't like me.

That was 10 books and 14 years ago and I've become wiser in the interim. Editors may reject my work but they aren't rejecting me personally.

Many of us have experienced this shift in other areas of our lives.

I remember when my mother was living and our children were young.

We were visiting her on our annual summer vacation and she worked all day cooking a lovely meal which our children spurned because they were unfamiliar with the food.

She felt personally rejected. Her feelings were hurt. I tried to explain to her that they didn't mean anything by it and that they rejected my cooking, too. But things were tense for awhile.

As the years and vacations went by, we had many good laughs together over that experience. She learned to get out the hamburgers and hot dogs and forget the complicated meals in which she invested her love. She learned, this time as a grandmother, that when children turn down our cooking, it doesn't mean they don't love us.

Rejection is a powerful emotion which attacks in many forms. A pastor slaves over preparing a scripture course and two people show up. "They don't like me," he thinks. A child cleans his room and his parents say, "Why such a messy closet?" They don't like me, he thinks.

A teenager spends hours on a paper and the teacher writes one cryptic comment, "When are you going to learn the difference between to and too?" We can't pray - the depth won't come - so we figure God doesn't care about us.

Our boss doesn't respond to a suggestion. We feel personally unappreciated. A husband and

Heat in the kitchen There is a saying, "If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen."

Right now, a lot of heat surrounds church issues. Great pressure is being exerted in many directions. Are we going to see more people getting out of the kitchen - priests, sisters, perhaps a bi~hop or two?

And are the heated controversies leading some to play hardball with the intent to maim?

Some would say yes to both questions and add that the time has come to ask when pressure is constructive and when it is destructive.

A recent report raised that question for me even more strongly.

Catholics for a Free Choice, a group which supports legal abortion, launched a project called "Bishops'Watch" to monitor bishops. The goal is to hold bishops accountable for their political activity.

That is just one of many examples of the kind of monitoring that is going on in the church today and creating damaging pressure. In some parishes there are people who monitor every homily and scripture reading for sexist language. There also are groups that are aggressively on the lookout for those who write on touchy theological subjects.

One newspaper even bragged about the role it played in monitoring ·and reporting certain people to Vatican authorities.

Will pressure of this type be productive?

Most likely not. And there is a reason why. For this is a secondrate form of pressure.

Let me explain by discussing another form of pressure.

To learn history, a student should

enter into the times and become one with them as much as possible.

There should be a drive to clarify, learn and sort out the facts in order to achieve this oneness.

In Greek, the word "sympathy" means "to suffer with." It is this "suffering with" the subject matter that defines a real student. There is pressure, much pressure, but it is the type of pressure that drives at a unity with the subject in order to fully understand it.

The pressure that many in the

December 6 Rev. Joseph L. Cabral, Pastor, 1959, Our Lady of Angels, Fall River Rt. Rev. John H. Hackett, Chancellor of Fall River Diocese, JuneDecember 1966, 1966 Rev. Joseph Welch, Retired Pastor, 1971, Our Lady of Victory, Centerville Rev.. John T. Higgins, Pastor Emeritus, 1985, St. Mary, Mansfield December 7 Rev. Ambrose Bowen, Retired Pastor, 1977, St. Joseph, Taunton Rev. Thomas F. Daly, Retired Pastor, 1976, St. James, New Bedford December 8 Rev. John F. Broderick, Pastor, 1940, St. Mary, South Dartmouth December 9 Rev. Rene Patenaude, D.P., Retired Associate Pastor, 1983, St. Anne, Fall River, Director of Youth Activities December 11 Rev. Edward L. Killigrew, Pastor, 1959, St. Kilian, New Bedford

THE ANCHOR -

By

DOLORES CURRAN

father is never thanked by his family for paying the expenses. They just take me for granted, he feels.

A famous speaker admits he cannot read evaluations because he's afraid of negative comments and "I can't handle them."

The secret of facing rejection lies in our ability to distinguish between the act and the person.

One of the first rules I use with a new class or seminar i~, "We can disagree and still like each other."

I insist the group say it aloud together three times. It frees them to voice opinions and objections.

It also helps them deal with disagreements from others in a mature fashion. They don't feel rejected and disliked if someone objects to spanking right after one has defended spanking. Indeed, one will often quip, "We can disagree ..." and the other finish, " ... and still like each other."

If we teach this to ourselves and our families we won't feel so rejected when they roll their eyes at our statements or turn up their noses at our food. They may not like what we say or cook, but they still love us and we them.

By

FATHER EUGENE HEMRICK

service of the church are experiencing today is maddening because it lacks unity as its goal.

Behind these pressure groups one senses too many self-appointed judges frothing with self-righteousness. The spirit is that of a hunt with bloodhounds, rather than an exploration searching for new horizons.

There is suffering but it is not "suffering with"; it is suffering against. Too many want to be teachers, but forget that the best teacher is one who never stops being a real student.

If there is another exodus of those who dedicated their lives to the church it will be because of pressure, a pressure lacking common sense and a common cause.

Can't Shrug "Catholics in public office cannot shrug and shelter themselves behind the Supreme Court's approval of abortion.. : . such Catholics render to Caesar what is God's." - Archbishop Roger M. Mahony :111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

THE ANCHOR (USPS-S4S-020). Second Class Postage Paid at Fan River, Mass.

Published weekly except the week of July 4 and the week after Christmas at 410 Highland Avenue, Fan River, Mass. 02720 by the Catholic Press of the Diocese of Fan River. Subscription price by mail, postpaid $8.00 per year. Postmasters send 'address changes to The Anchor, P.O. Box 7, Fan River, MA 02722.

Diocese of Fall River -

Can we become Masons?

Q. We have been told in recent years that Catholics may join the Masons if certain conditions are fulfilled. Now I read that membership in that organization is permitted only when permission is received from Rome. What is the situation? Are Catholics allowed to hold membership in Masonic organizations or not? (Florida) A. I'm not sure your question can be answered as absolutely as you would like. The best I can do is explain some background and then give a suggestion.

The former (1918) Code of Canon Law stated that anyone who joined the Masonic sect or other society which plots against the church or legitimate civil authority incurred automatic excommunication.

Even then, however, that proscription was not in fact as absolute and universal as it was usually understood to be, for the following reason.

Such regulations come under what might be called the penal laws of the church. The interpretation and application of penal laws . (laws which in some way limit human freedom and apply sanctions) are nuanced and limited by many principles, which form part of the church's tradition of jurisprudence.

One such principle is that any regulation or censure which would forbid actions otherwise open to Catholics must be interpreted in its narrowest sense. Such a regulation usually applies, for example, only where the reason for the law clearly exists in a particular situation.

Thus, membership in a particular Masonic group would be forbidden only when that organization does in fact-oppose the church or government by open prejudice or persecution, undermining civil authority and so on.

In 1974 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith reiterated this interpretation in a letter to episcopal conferences concerning membership in the Masons.

"In the consideration of particular cases," the letter said, "it must be kept in mind that the penal law is subject to strict interpretation.

Similarly, it is sound to teach and to apply the opinion of authors who hold that Canon 2335 (old Code of Canon Law) refers only to Catholics who enroll in associations which truly plot against the church. "Nevertheless, in every case the prohibition remains in effect for clerics, religious and members of secular institutes not to enroll in any Masonic societies."

In 1981 the congregation repeated the position that general principles of interpretation of penal laws should be applied to individual cases.

The later statement to which you refer was a declaration on Masonic associations by the same Vatican congregation on Nov. 26, 1983. While the document clearly intends to tighten up the church's position on Masonic membership, it leaves areas of confusion and

Fri., Dec. 5, 1986

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ambiguity, which will probably be resolved only with experience.

The declaration, for example, seems to want to stress that nothing is changed, that the church's negative position "remains unaltered," and that joining the Masons "remains prohibited." Yet, as others also have pointed out, a new regulation seems to be established restricting the power oflocal bishops.

Such bishops, it says, no longer have authority, mentioned explicitly in the 1981 statement, to judge whether a specific Masonic organization could be approved for membership. Apparently even the 1981 statement was understood differently by bishops and by the congregation. At any rate, the matter must now be referred to Rome.

The new code (No. 1374) does not mention Masons explicitly. It simply forbids Catholics to join any association which plots against the church.

It seems clear that the stricter Catholic position was inspired in large part by certain notorious activities in Italy during recent years involving the highest ranking Masonic officials, and serious conflicts with Masonic groups in other countries of Europe and Latin America.

In some ofthese nations Masons have been perceived as associated with extreme groups and in active and sometimes violent opposition to the church's principles and efforts for racial and social justice.

The specific effects of the new rulings in America will, as I said, have to be clarified with experience. Apparently it is not the intention ofthe American bishops, at this point at least, to disturb those who have joined Masonic groups in good faith during the past several years.

My recommendation to Catholic men and women considering joining any Mason-related associations is to consult their bishop and follow his advice.

A free brochure on Masonic organizations is avaiIablt by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Father Dietzen, Holy Trinity Church, 704 N. Main St., Bloomington, III. 61701. Questions for this column should be addressed to Father Dietzen at the same 'address. ,

Colson honored STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (NC) - Charles Colson, former special counsel to President Nixon who was convicted for involvement in the Watergate scandal, is the 1986 recipient of the Franciscan University of Steubenville's Poverello Medal. The medal is given to someone who exhibits "the Christ-like spirit of charity which filled the life of St. Francis of Assisi." Since serving seven months of a one-tothree-year federal prison sentence, Colson has been a spokesman for criminal justice system reforJil1 and has founded Prison Fellowship Ministries.

6

Papal trip

The Anchor Friday, Dec. 5, 1986

Continued from Page One Christian unity, but, as in New Zealand, cautioned against settling for a "federation of common effort" rather than full unity in faith.

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Mrs. MichaelJ. McMahon, St. Mary's Cathedral parish, will head the hospitality committee for the 32nd annual Bishop's Charity Ball ofthe diocese of Fall River, according to Msgr. Anthony M. Gomes, the ball's diocesan director. The charitable and social-event will be held Friday, Jan. 16 at North Dartmouth's Lincoln Park Ballroom.

Mrs. Richard M. Paulson, Immaculate Conception parish, Taunton, will assist Mrs. McMahon.

Ball proceeds benefit summer camps for underprivileged and exceptional children of all races, colors and creeds and other diocesan charitable apostolates.

Hospitality committee members are Mrs. Raymond Boulay, Miss Jean Drzal, Mrs. Eugene Gagnon, Mrs. Anthony J. Geary, Mrs. Raymond Lavoie, Mrs. Manuel No, gueira, Mrs. RogerDubeand Mrs. John Silvia, Fall River area; Miss Mary Elizabeth LaRoche, Miss Theresa Lewis and Mrs. Rita Rock, New Bedford area.

Mrs. Edward S. Franco, Mrs. Assunta Finnigan, Mrs. Albert G. Moitoza, Miss Margaret M. McCarthy and Mrs. Francis Zellner, Taunton area; Mrs. George Bauza, Mrs. Albert Jackson and Mrs. David Sell mayer, Attleboro area.

Msgr. Gomes named as ushers Michael Arruda, Raymond Boulay, Henry Desmond, Arthur Gauthier, Joseph Gromada, Raymond Lavoie, Antone Pacheco, Honore Vaillancourt, Roger Vezina, Fred Vitullo and John E. Sullivan, Fall River area.

V. Vincent Gerardi, Manuel A.

Gomes and George Mendonca, New Bedford area; Horace Costa, Paul Ouellette and Richard M. Paulson, Taunton area; and Russell April, Attleboro area.

Persons or organizations wishing to be listed in the ball commemorative booklet may contact ball committee members, Vincentians or members of the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women. Listings may also be sent to the Bishop's Charity Ball Headquarters, 410 Highland Avenue, P.O. Box 1470, Fall River, MA 02722, Telephone 676-8943; 676-3200.

Mosaic display

THESE ARE THE FIVE ACTS OF BLASPHEMY WHICH ARE COMMITTED AGAINST THE

Immaculate Heart of Mary 1. Denying Mary's Immaculate Conception 2. Denying Mary's Virginity 3. Denying Mary's Divine Motherhood (refusing at the same time to recognize her as Mother of men)

4. Teaching children a hatred and contempt of Mary and an indifference toward her.

5. Dishonoring Mary's holy images You can make reparation for these insults to Our Lady by practicing the devotion of the five first Saturdays of the month. __.!o!.~~ _ _-

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-

All these talks reflected serious and sometimes bitter topics of debate within the Australian cl1urch. Like the United States, Australia has experienced some opposition among Catholic groups.

For example, Catholics on the National Civic Council in Melbourne have attacked the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace as "semi-Marxist" in its economic and peace positions.

Some church critics ofthe Catholic school system have suggested that educators are to blame for the drop in religious interest and practice among Catholic students.

Theological dissent has also been an undercurrent in Australia's church life. During the trip, a teacher at St. Patrick's College in Manly, Father David Coffey, said he has entered into "dialogue" with the Vatican after the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith strongly criticized some of his views. In a newspaper interview, the priest blamed "groups on the right" for accusations against him.

But in the holiday spirit that pervaded the pope's trip, these things rarely broke the surface.

Certainly the pope had no intention of spotlighting differences in the Catholic community.

Instead, he focused on the value of children, the importance of the family, and the suffering of the sick and aged - things that matter to almost everyone. In his eight Masses, he also pronounced simple sermons on Christ's life words that many in his audience probably had not heard in a long while.

On his trip back to Rome Dec. 1, after a brief stop in the Seychelles, the pope said he would take his "second evangelization" theme to the United States next year, as well as other places. It is important, he said, because people are facing a different world than when they were first educated in the faith - including a modern "mentality, lifestyle, and technical and scientific progress."

AT THEIR annual Bishop's Night, permanent deacons and diaconal candidates gather with Bishop Daniel A. Cronin.

From left, the bishop, Deacon Thomas F. Prevost, St. .. Michael's parish, Swansea; Deacon James J. Meloni Jr., St. Mark, Attleboro Falls; candidate Richard Dresser, St. Francis Xavier, Hyannis. (Rosa photQ)__ , .

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VATICAN CITY (NC) - Miniature l8th- and 19th-century mosaics, many from the United States and the Soviet Union, are being displayed in an unusual exhibit at the Vatican - one of the original centers of the art form.

The 191 mosaics feature intricate arrangements of stones less than one-25th of an inch square, using more than 15,000 different shades of color.

The art, developed in Rome and at the Vatican, was popularized in the 1700s. Some of the most enthusiastic collectors were the Russian czars and several of the most precious mosaics in the current exhibit are from the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad. The· other major source is the Gilbert collection in Los Angeles.

The mosaics feature neoclassi- ' cal themes of allegory and myth as well as romantic views of Roman ruins and hunting and animal scenes.

Nothing Too Hard "For love nothing is too hard.

Love never speaks of sacrifice." Andrew Murray , ; ,:-r.

THE ANCHOR - Diocese of Fall River - Fri., Dec. S, 1986

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The greatest loss Dear Editor: Judith Viorst's book, "Necessary Losses," deals with the significant life losses we all endure. The greatest of these losses, death, is one we meet through loved ones and finally ourselves.

While reflecting on this, the followingpoem came to me: When I Am Gone There is no need for the world to know that I have lived or what God has let me do.

But you should know that I have loved.

I loved you when we laughed and sang And when blue flowers bloomed.

Even better, dear, I loved you when we wept As mournful church bells rang.

In days and years to come I know Nothing of me will remain.

Fear not, I am with you again and again.

I'll be in the sun's warm ray as it gently caresses your cheek And in the jay's and robin's song every day of the week.

You will feel my love deep in your heart Knowing I've loved you from the start.

That love forever binds us and keeps us two as one Though worlds may separate us, love cannot be undone.

There is no doubt; I will love you forever.

So do not worry when others forget I have lived.

You know I am living as long as you love.

Jean Quigley Rehoboth

Stamps needed Dear Editor: Did you realize that cancelled stamps, if cut off envelopes and sent to the Oblate Stamp Bureau, can work miracles in the missions?

Miracles is right! The Oblates of Mary Immaculate use cancelled postage stamps from foreign countries and America to help support missionary activity at home and abroad.

If your readers could save their stamps and send them to the missions in my care, and ask friends, relatives, classmates and coworkers to do the same, Christ's work of preaching the Good News to God's poor can benefit.

Charles Malachosky 1669 Meriline Street Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio44221

A dvent prayer The Anchor recently received an Advent prayer from Mrs. Bridget L. O'Hearne, religious education coordinator at Holy Rosary parish, Taunton. Titled "The Waiting Prayer," excerpts follow.

Help us to stand together with our eyes to the East awaiting the rising of the Star; that compassion be born in our hearts for our brothers and sisters in need, near and far; to find divinity in man in the humanity of God; and to believe

that every birth is the birth of God' among us; every child born is like the Christ Child.

Help us also to be like the Fourth Wise Man, who took a different route from the other three, lost his way, and forever after gave his gifts intended for the Savior to all those in need. He is still wandering around your world in the persons of those who help others and follow your light.

We know waiting comes again and again in the Christian symphony as a note of hope. We listen for your meanings that come to us like whispers; to do something at the right moment. We have that awful longing of all people for fulfillment; give us the patience to wait gently.

Amen and thank you.

Dear Editor: It would seem that the specious ideology of the "seamless garment" is an ill-conceived expedient which has the publicity value of lulling the otherwise humane individual into believin'g that if he steadfastly objects to the death penalty, it will somehow obscure and compensate for his failure to uphold the right of the unborn child to continue to live. Consequently, millions of the innocent perish whereas very few of the guilty lose their lives as a result of the death penalty where, unlike the preborn, some degree of justice has been meted out.

In our recent society there are those who are in need of encouragement to recognize and abide by God'smost compassonate command, "Thou shalt not kill."

Tom Smyth Fall River

Programs that work WASHINGTON (NC) - Clear goals and shared responsibilities are chief factors in making parish religious education programs effective, according to a National Catholic Educational Association other important factors include a paid director of religious education, an average of one catechist for 10 students and a high degree of diocesan support for catechists.

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COMMERCIAL recounts that on one dark night a Fall River, 'MA 02720 man went out to borrow coals so 253 Cedar St., New Bedford Tel. 398·2285 678·5201 he could build a fire to warm his 993·3222 wife and their newborn child. From hut to hut he went, but as it was ~TTT++++TTTTT+T+++++TTT+TT++TTT+++T++T++T+T++¥+TTTTTTTTTT++TTTT+++++T++- late at night there was no response when he knocked. Everyone was asleep.

But then he saw in the distance the glow of a fire, a long way off in the fields. As he approached he saw a great number of sheep Honor the Immaculate Heart of Mary gathered around a shepherd. Next to the shepherd, however, were Practice the devotion of the five First Saturdays three large dogs. On seeing him they growled fiercely, opened their This devotion was requested by Our lady of Fatima on July 13, 1917, when great jaws, showed their sharp she said: "God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. teeth and made for him. He felt "1 shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart one ofthem bite at his leg, another and the Communion of reparation on the first Saturdays. If people listen to my at his hand, and the third try to requests, RUSSia will be converted and there will be peace." cling to his throat. But they seemed powerless and the man was not Then again, on December 10, 1925, Our lady appeared to Sister lucia, one harmed. of the children of Fatima, and told her the following: To get to the fire, though, the man had to pass through the sheep.

"Announce in my name that I promise to assist at the hour of death with the They were packed together so graces necessary for salvation, all those who on the first Saturday of five conclosely that he could not get secutive months, shall through. So he walked over their backs, and none of them awoke or 1. Go to confession and receive Holy Communion, moved. of Just before the man reached the 2. Recite the Rosary, fire, the shepherd, harsh, surly, and unfriendly, looked up. He 3. And keep me company for a quarter of an hour while grabbed his long, spiked staff and meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary threw it at the man with all his might. With great speed the deadly 4. With the intention of making reparation to me./I weapon flew toward the man, but just before reaching him its course was deflected and it went past. ' To practice this devotion, you must fulfill the requests of

THIS SATURDAY IS THE FIRST SATURDAY OF THE MONTH

Our Lady, doing so in reparation for the offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Confession may be made during eight days before or after the Communion.

l

(Courtesy of the Third Order of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Hedwig parish, Ne'tY Bedford, Mass.)

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"Please help me, good man," said the stranger to the shepherd.

"My wife has just given birth and I need some fire to warm her and the child."

The shepherd, unkind as he was, had no desire to help. But seeing that the dogs were unable to hurt the man, that the sheep had not run from him, and that the staff did not wish to strike him, he was somewhat leery; so he said, "Sure, take as much as you want."

The fire, however, had now burned down to glowing embers and the stranger had no spade or shovel with which to carry the live coals.

Seeing this, the shepherd repeated, "Take all you want." He was glad that the man would be unable to take any coals.

But the man just scooped up the hot coals in his bare hands and put them in his mantle. His hands were not scorched, nor did the mantle burn. And he carried the coals away as though they were nuts or apples.

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"What kind of night is this," thought the shepherd, "when the dogs do not bite, the sheep are not scared, and the staff does not kill?"

He called the stranger back and asked him, "What kind of night is this when all things show you compassion?"

The man answered simply, "If you do not see it, I am unable to tell you."

The shepherd was so intrigued that he decided to follow the man.

When they came to the place where the mother and child were, the shepherd saw that it was a cold and clammy cave, with damp walls.

Seeing that the child could die from the cold, he, though he was a hard man, was suddenly touched.

From his knapsack on his shoulder he took a soft white sheepskin and gave it to the mother so that the child could be wrapped in it.

As soon as he did this smaIl act of mercy, he saw what he had not seen before and heard what he had not heard before. Around him stood a ring of white-robed angels, each with a stringed instrument.

All were singing in beautiful tones that this night the Savior was born, a savior who would redeem the world from'its sins.

Selma Lagerlof ends the story by teIling us that what the shepherd saw we too can see, for the angels come down from heaven every Christmas. All that is needed is that we have the eyes to see them.

That is why Christmas is celebrated in the most wretched places, in the greatest poverty, in the grimmest of circumstances behind the Iron Curtain, in prisons, in slums, in refugee camps, in exile, in tarpaper shacks, even in the sad world of the overly rich.

Christmas is the presence of Jesus, 'the presence of innocence, of love, of goodness, of God's grace.

Families know that when a baby is born into the family, things are never again the same. The pattern of family life is irrevocably shifted and altered. It is the same with the birth of Christ - the world has never again been the same.

That light still shines in the darkness and the darkness still has not been able to overcome it (John 1:5).

We need Christmas, and God knew it so he provided it. Let's not lose it. There'll never again be a night like it.

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lege," observed Mrs. Curran, addSeveral stresses, she said, were ing that problems certainly existed time-related: insufficient couple in many "model families" but that and personal time, guilt for not too often family name and pride accomplishing more in a given were more important than family time; and insufficient family play health. time.

She distributed a list of the 10 Couple time, she said, is usually top everyday family stresses, invit- first to go; but "it's better for kids ing husbands and wives to number to have parents who spend time them in order of their stress factor, with each other than all their time then to compare lists. High on the with the kids. " The way to get the list for most married women, she time, she declared, "is to share said, was lack of shared responsi- responsibility for home tasks and bility for household tasks; it hardly to (whisper) lower your housekeepfigured on men's lists. ing standards. " Other findings: money was the With a daunting list of activinumber one stress-producer in all ties, Mrs. Curran was asked how income categories, indicating that much time she gives to her weekly more money doesn't reduce stress column. It takes about an hour to but that arguments about it con- write, she said, but pointed out tinue regardless of amounts in- that it cal1s upon the experience of volved. a lifetime.

Dolores Curran visits diocese

By Pat McGowan "How long is it since you've had a conversation about how much fun teenagers are to have around?"

Rueful smiles greeted that query from Anchor columnist Dolores Curran, speaking at Holy Cross parish, South Easton, as part of an adult education series.

Mrs. Curran, syndicated in Catholic newspapers across the nation with a total circulation of four million readers, discussed the making of her 1983 book, "Traits of a Healthy Family."

Her more recent book, "Stress and the Healthy Family," might have been an even more appropriate topic.

Although she did not mention it in her South Easton address, she has just come through what she termed "a year to forget."

"In a one-year period beginning . with last Thanksgiving," she said, "we lost a grandparent to sudden death, went through severe illness and a move with another grandparent and survived a horrible head-on crash involving my husband and son."

In a telephone conversation this week from her home in suburban Denver, she reported that both husband and son are now "doing fine" and that her son, a 17-yearold high school senior, is back to wrestling. , She made her experiences the subject of a recent column, quoted in part here instead of running in its usual slot: "I've long noticed that misfortune in families, like broken appliances, seems to come in threes - or fours and fives. I don't know if one initiates the next but we experienced firsthand the phenomenon of barely recovering from one major problem before another attacked.

"Emotional energy becomes drained and it gets increasingly difficult to dredge up resources to deal with the new. One is tempted to run away, to throw up one's hands and say, 'I can't handle any more, God.' "I saw this in myself in September. We survived a nightmarish August with a sudden hospitalization of our grandmother 500 miles distant, quick flights, changes of plans and a major lifestyle change for her.

"Five days after we felt relieved about her health, we experienced the automobile accident, the airlifting of my son by helicopter from the mountains to the hospital, emergency rooms, hospital visits, suddenly changed plans, and all the trauma that the unexpected engenders. .

"As I said, we're fine now but I reflect on the whys. Why such a year? What did God have in mind?

What good came of it?

"Like most families, we have sailed along smoothly for years.

Then suddenly we learned that we aren't in control, that God is. I believe this is why he sends families a month or a year like ours, to remind us of our fragility and dependence upon his redeeming love.

"The year brought us together, tested our strengths and exposed our weaknesses. Most of all, it renewed our faith and trust in a caring God who showed us once again that he loves us passionately, unconditional1y and constantly. "

1986 CHRISTMAS

Festival of Lights

.~

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Ou.r

Wa.y"

DOLORES CURRAN In South Easton In South Easton, where Joseph Moore is director of religious education and Susan Hayward chairs the Religious Education Commission that sponsored her talk, Mrs. Curran described herself as a "parent educator" with 15 years' experience addressing parish groups and conventions in 40 states and several foreign countries.

In that time, she observed, she has noted that "families know more about what's wrong with them than what's right. It seems they don't want to talk about their good points, maybe because they feel they'l1 be expected to live up to them at all times or because they don't want to brag."

She said she took a positive approach in writing "Traits of a Healthy Family," asking 551 practitioners in the fields of religion, education, family health, counseling, social work and volunteer organizations to list what they considered characteristics of we11functioning families.

Nearly all listed the same 15 traits, although not all in the same order, she said. They include the ability to communicate, support and trust, to share responsibility, to teach right and wrong and to admit and seek help for problems.

Asked how her own family stacked up against the criteria, she chuckled. "We've had our share of going to the principal's office and having the police knock at the door," she admitted, saying she wishes she'd had her own research to guide her as a young parent.

"If I had it to do again," she said, "I'd listen more, I'd have been less of a disciplinarian when the children were very little, and I'd ·have taken more time to enjoy them."

Discussing the often-heard comment, "S/he comes from a good family," Mrs. Curran asked "What did your parents mean when they said thlrt?"

There was head-nodding agreement to her comment that it usual1y meant that those being discussed were a solidly two-parent

family with the father working hard, making good money and being active in the community; the mother staying at home, mainly in the kitchen; and the kids making the honor roIl. It was also important that the family be "our kind" as to religion and ethnic origin and that it have no apparent problems.

"Those are 'billboard traits' " said Mrs. Curran, noting that a family could have everyone of them but not be healthy by the standards discussed in her book.

"Nobody said it might be better for a father to spend more time with his family or that it wasn't essential for every kid to go to col-

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THE ANCHOR-Diocese of Fall River-Fri., Dec. 5, 1986

POSITION AVAILABLE DIOCESAN DIRECTOR OFFICE OF CATECHETICAL MINISTRY DIOCESE OF NORWICH, CONNECTICUT Composed of 76 parishes in eastern Connecticut midway between Boston and New York. M.A. in religious education or equivalent and a minimum offive years experience as a parish Director of Religious Education required. Salary negotiable.

Send resume, three letters of reference and statement of vision of Religious Education To: Search Committee, 43 Perkins Avenue Norwich, CT. 06360 Position beginning July I, 1987.

Application deadline January 15, 1987.

Losing a breast to· cancer

By Dr. James and Mary Kenny Dear Dr. Kenny: I had my left breast removed last month after cancer had been discovered. Now I am very depressed, feeling what's the use of living, and have even thought of suicide.

Strangely, I think I handled the crisis itself rather maturely. Sure, I was upset when my doctor told me there was a malignancy, but I thought it through and made a good decision. I even breeztd through my stay in the hospital.

My friends could not believe how brave I was. But now I am falling apart.

My husband tries to be supportive, but he doesn't know what to make of me. I feel so unbeautiful.

And knowing the possibility of a recurrence makes me ask ifl should get started on anything new. I am only 37. My two children wonder why I am crying all the time.

I need to get on with my life, to rediscover my enerl;)' and enthusiasm. Please ~elp me. - New York Your feehngs ~re ~er~ n?rmal.

What you descnbe IS sImIlar to what most women who lose a breast go through.

Ask your physician to put you in touch with other area women who have had a mastectomy. Get

together with them. They are usually glad to help, as I suspect you will be too. They are the experts.

I like your letter very much because you are so honest. You use the word "cancer." You say how you feel. Some women give themselves an impossible handicap because they try to deny as much as they can.

Yes, the possibility of death is a real and heavy issue. Your physician can give you the odds on a complete recovery without any recurrence. But there are no guarantees.

0

The only answer to the increased possibility of death is to live your life more fully. Live each moment as if it, were your last. This is a good message for all of us. Life itself is terminal.

However, research shows that women who lose a breast are more worried about a diminished sexual self-concept than about mortality.

There is a sense of mutilation, the loss of feelings of femiility. Breasts are very real symbols of worth and beauty.

Don't avoid the issue. Women do not like to lose a breast. You need to mourn its loss.

After accepting its loss, you need

to express all your feelings about the surgery: feeling unattractive, worried about death. Sad. Angry.

Empty. Jealous. And then the good feelings: brave. Proud that you are beginning to cope. Sensitivity to the pain of others. Lovi!!8lif~. __ You can appear as beautiful as you did before your surgery. Hospitals and women's support groups can teach you how to make a simple breast prosthesis. Use their advice and expertise. Pride in your appearance is legitimate, and it is important to your self-confidence.

Husbands are terribly important at this time. The husband must communicate that his wife is still an attractive sexual partner. Most husbands are eager to help and do not feel revulsion.

We grow, not from our satisfactions, but in how we handle our challenges. Fortunately or unfortunatelY,life presents us with them regularly. You have a major one.

Like little else, losing a breast depresses a woman. Reflect on what it is that truly makes you beautiful and worthwhile. You are as beautiful as you let yourselffeel.

Reader questions on family living and child care to be answered in print are invited. Address the Kennys, Box 872, St. Joseph's College, Rensselaer, Ind. 47978.

Society's tearing down of mothers

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If my children had a problem in school, the teachers and guidance counselors pronounced: "It's because there's no father." When my children excelled, the usual comment was: "It's overcompensation for having no father." It was a nowin situation.

Why is everybody so eager to tear mothers down, especially the mental-health profession, never giving mothers credit for all they do?

Ms. Caplan says that motherblaming is as old as the hills, and Sigmund Freud set the practice in stone as a central theme of psychotherapy.

Mothers make convenient scapegoats. Why? Because no matter what, most hang in with their children unconditionally. We're non-moving targets.

The first problem is that society tells us we have to raise perfect people, an impossible task. Then

Mothers get blamed for everything that goes wrong with their children, according to a recent edition of Psychology Today. When I saw that article I found myself relating. I think it is true, and it is time to put a stop to the unfairness.

Psychologist Paula Caplan, who studied 125 mental-health articles published in the past 15 years, said that "mother-blaming" is encouraged by mental-health professionals. And the rest of us accept the abuse. "No matter what the situation, the mother always gets blamed," she said.

Mothers got blamed for 72 different disorders in the research Ms. Caplan studied. They included phobias; schizophrenia and hyperactivity. Fathers were treated well generally, but mothers almost always were described in negative emotional terms.

But, as Ms. Caplan points out, mothers can't possibly be the root of all problems. What about fathers, teachers, other children, poverty, heredity, physical disorders, television, movies, books

By Hilda Young or the host of external and internal OK, I admit it, our annual parinfluences that arise in the life of ish Christmas bazaar intimidates any human being? me. Or, more accurately, other Society's unfairness to mothers . people's creativity intimidates me. starts right at the beginning. A My friend Suzanne donates cookpriest told me recently that if an ies that are so darling only barbarinfant cries in church, the first ians or fourth-graders would think reaction is that the mother can't of eating them. The years I made control her baby, with not a thought cookies they sold as hot pads. given to the father's responsibility.

Betty takes old buttons, aspirin "Mothers, are in charge of crying bottles, cotton, sequins and glue babies," he said. and creates Christmas tree decoraAs a single mother, I encoun- tions people save as heirlooms. I tered mother-blaming in spades. was excited one year when I saw a .No matter what happened, I was woman buying a handful of the at fault for not having a husband. tree decorations I had made. Then I overheard her say she needed targets for the BB gun she was givAll That's Required ing her grandson.

"Where love is not, there is Rosalyn is the worst. She makes nothing that pleases God. For that gingerbread houses that architects one should love another, is all that photograph, that draw crowds, God requires of us." - William that make you wish you lived in Tyndale them. The Christmas season I don-

we get blamed for not living up to society's unrealistic expectations.

The second problem: We get seduced into accepting the impossible goals set for us and then feel guilty for not being able to achieve them.

If we get defensive in the face of unfair criticism, society says that only proves our guilt. Well, I think it's better to get defensive than to accept and internalize this misplaced guilt.

I think mothers ought to begin fighting back, first by accepting our limitations. No human being on earth is perfect, not mothers, not fathers, not children. We have to reject society's impossible demands upon us. We have to let ourselves off the hook.

Mothers should strive to do the best they can in raising their children and the rest is really in God's hands. There is no predicting what the outcome of child rearing will be.

Christmas craft-less ated one to the bazaar someone made a tiny "condemned" sign and hung it from one of my saltine cracker window shutters.

Oh, yes, every year I read Christmas craft magazines cover to cover.

It only makes it worse. I've decided that their editors know Betty, Suzanne and Rosalyn personally.

"Quit trying to copy your friends," my husband advised. "Just· make something you're good at."

"Do you think burned toast will really sell that well?" I said, feeling sorry for myself.

"Come on, be positive," he said cheerily.

"OK," I said. "How about a recipe card listing 12 ways to use burned toast without wasting it."

You know, it's selling like hot cakes.

Send comments to Hilda Young at General Delivery, Lopez Island, Wash. 98261.

Doesn't Yield

THE ANCHOR-Diocese of Fall River-Fri., Dec. 5, 1986

11

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FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 16, 1987 LINCOLN PARK BAllROOM.,..

WOMAN of the hour Ethel Frates, left, with Our Lady's Haven residents Evelyn Oliveira and Pauline Fredette and Msgr. John J. Regan.

At Our Lady's Haven, Fairhaven

Veteran worker honored Residents of Our lady's Haven, Fairhaven, celebrated Thanksgiving last week with a party, themed "We Gather Together," and a surprise recognition of the nursing facility's personnel director, Ethel Frates, for her 25 years of service.

According to Mrs. Martha Daneault, Haven administrator, Mrs. Frates "came to us in 1961 to earn some Christmas money, working as a nurses' aide. Ethel adapted to caring for the elderly and decided to stay. The days turned into weeks, the weeks to months, the months to years and the years to decades.

She's done everything from soup to nuts, including playing big yellow birds, gorillas, mermaids, leprechauns, Mrs. Claus and anything else you could possibly dream of."

Bioethics study planned for 1987 v ATICAN CITY (NC) - The Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith plans to issue a document on bioethics before the end of 1986, Vatican press spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls has announced.

The congregaton has been preparing the document for a year and a half, aided by written opinions from theologians and scientists around the world, he added. last December, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the doctrinal congregation, announced that the congregation was working on the document because many bishops had requested moral guidance on the complex issues raised by modern medical and scientific techniques.

Vatican officials said the pope is highly Interested in the topic and might decide to issue his own statement in addition to that planned by the doctrinal congregation.

A letter from Bishop Daniel A. Cronin was presented to Mrs. Frates by Msgr. John J. Regan, director of Diocesan Health Facilities; her dedication was also recognized by the offices of State Senator William Q. Maclean Jr. and Governor Michael S. Dukakis, the Town of Fairhaven, the Coastline Elderly and the Regional Council of Elders.

Pauline Fredette, who has called Our lady's Haven home for a longer time than any other female resident, and Evelyn Oliveira, president ofthe Haven's Residents' Council, also made presentations.

Economy pastoral texts available WASHINGTON (NC) - A summary of the U.S. bishops' pastoral letter on the economy and a study text on implementation of its teachings will be available from the U.S. Catholic Conference in Washington.

The summary, "For All the People," may be ordered at .75 a copy from the USCC Office of Publishing and Promotion Services, 1312 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20005, tel. 1-800235-USCC. A study text, "Building Economic Justice: The Bishops' Pastoral letter and Tools for Action," will be available at about $7.95 a copy.

The U.S. bishops approved the 54,000-word pastoral on the economy, "Economic Justice for All: Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy," last month.

The complete text, will be published by the USCC this month at $2.95 a copy, also from the USCC publishing office.

It is available immediately for a single-copy price of $3.50 from Origins, the documentary service of National Catholic News Service, also at 1312 Massachusetts Ave., NW.

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THE ANCHOR-Diocese of Fall River-Fri., Dec. 5, 1986

Personal sin affects society, says pope vATICAN CITY (NC) -

";>

Every personal sin has a social dimension because it helps form an "environment of sin," Pope John Paul II said recently.

This gives rise to a concept of "social sin" by which "we recognize that, by virtue of our human solidarity, each individual's sin in . some way affects others," the pope said at a weekly general audience.

"Every sin has repercussions on the entire ecclesial body and the whole family and thus can be said to have a truly social dimension," he continued.

In the Bible, sin is described as evil and injustice "in the broadest sense," he said.

The pope cautioned, however, that the cause of sin cannot be reduced to only social conditions.

Sin is primarily "a. conscious and free act of the individual person," he said.

"The world as such cannot be the constructor of sin," he added.

Regarding personal sin, the pope said human beings need the help of Christ through the sacraments to overcome it.

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"Man finds that by himself he is incapable of battling the assaults of evil successfully," he said.

Politics noble CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (NC) - Pope John Paul II told members of the Belgian Parliament that the church considers politics a "noble" vocation, even though it is often marred by egoism.

The pope said Catholics have a duty to participate in political life in order to "purify" it. He recently spoke to the officeholders at his villa outside Rome.

The pope said the political world is often "marked by attachment to egoistic interests." But he said the Second Vatican Council taught that Catholics sbould bring their faith to politics, not "turn away" from it.

"Seen in this way, political activity is unquestionably a vocation in the noble and Christian sense of the word," the pope said.

He also suggested that politicians find time for more "reflection, contemplation and prayer."

"A man who is spread too thin or upset by immediate issues, or too preoccupied with his popularity rating, will not be able to validly exercise his political responsibility," the pope added.

The Call to Vocations "The word of God and vocations. Vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life exist in the church and for the church in accordance with God's plan, which in his love he has willed to reveal to us. May the Lord Jesus grant us the grace to know, to believe, to accept, through his word, these calls, which belong to the mystery of his merciful love." - Pope John J,>aul II

ESCORTED BY a spear-bearing Fijian warrior, Pope John Paul II blesses the crowd as he arrives for a Mass in Suva, Fiji. The island group was one of the first stops on the pontiffs 13-day trip; he returned to Rome on Monday.

When in Rome, practice "spaghetti Zen" ROME (NC) - When a letter mailed on one bank of the Tiber takes two weeks to get to the other, and rush-hour traffic seems only slightly faster, one may be forgiven for asking, "Why did I ever move to Rome?"

It has been asked by more than one American tired ofdiesel fumes, Gypsy pickpockets, gouging landlords and buses packed to eyepopping limits.

The tourist's experience of the Eternal City's churches and horsedrawn carriages can seem all an illusion once Rome becomes home.

As Father Thomas Powers, director of the graduate school of the North American College put it, many ofthe U.S. priest-students who arrive every year come with more than just luggage: "They bring a great many presumptions as well, and their presumptions do them in."

Rapid mail service, attentive waiters, orderly lines - these are a few of the expectations he advises them to check at the door.

But it isn't just a matter of Italian inefficiency vs. American standards of service. The operating principles of Roman life differ from any American city of equivalent size. Despite superficial evi-

dence that Rome is just another 'blue-jeaned colony of American cultural values, quite a different heart beats beneath its cobblestoned exterior.

"Rome seems like a big city, yet it follows many village ways," said Kimberly Monari, an ItalianAmerican and free-lance journalist who recently moved here.

She cites as an example the three-hour lunch that bisects the working day, closing every government and church office and almost every shop. Not for love or money can one buy a loaf of bread at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

request for a building permit must be approved by more than 60 offices.

However, there are virtues to be discovered as well. Joseph Shapiro, new Rome bureau chief for U.S. News and World Report,. says he was at first surprised by Romans' lackadaisical approach to appointments - such a~ the computer salesman who recently missed his appointed hour by four weeks.

But Shapiro quickly added that "one of the joys of Rome is slowing down a little bit."

"Americans see time as money," said Father Powers. "Italians see time as a gift."

Despite a population in excess 00 million, Rome's neighborhoods The first commandment of the resemble self-contained little towns.

In one's own neighborhood, one Eternal City, therefore, is patience can expect friendly smiles, a chat in all things. One might call it and a small "sconto" (discount) "spaghetti Zen." from every merchant. But the next Rome has seen empires of both neighborhood over might just as church and state rise and fall. It is well be another country. filled with monuments to every If Rome sometimes seems a vil- kind of human greatness and vanlage, at other times it more closely ity. For a Roman immersed in all resembles a jungle. The bureau- . this history, the long view comes cracy is suffocating; a day-long as naturally as breathing, and their wait in line for a simple document words of advice to frenetic Ameriis not uncommon. New phone serv- cans are often simply "piano, ice can take two years, and a piano" (slowly, slowly).

Governor's commuting of death sentences praised WASHINGTON (NC) - New Mexico Gov. Toney Anaya's decision to commute the death sentences of five killers has been praised by church leaders in Washington and in his home state.

The governor, a Democrat and Catholic who is leaving office at the end of the year, announced Nov. 26 he was reducing the death sentences to life imprisonment. Two ofthe five - the only prisioners on death row in New Mexico - had been scheduled for execution in January.

All five had been convicted of crimes ranging from the rape and murder of an 80-year-old woman to the murder of a police officer. , The governor said "capital punishment is inhumane, immoral, anti-God and incompatible to an enlightened society."

"I'm very pleased with the action . he has taken," Archbishop Robert

Sanchez of Santa Fe said at an' Albuquerque news conference two hours after the governor's announcement. "He has been a countersign to the movement in America which seems to favor the destruction of human life."

"The taking of human life is evil, whether by an individual or by the state," Archbishop Sanchez added.

The archbishop's sentiments were echoed by Episcopal and Lutheran bishops in New Mexico. The archbishop is president of the 12denomination New Mexico Conference of Churches, which includes the Episcopal and Lutheran churches.

In Washington, the commutations also were praised by Msgr.

Daniel F. Hoye, general secretary of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and its public action twin, the U.S. Catholic Conference.

Msgr. Hoye said the action "is not only consistent with the bishops' desire to abolish the use of the death penalty, it is a courageous ~nd important act that moves the nation toward that goal in a very real way."

"This is clearly an instance where respecting the sacredness of human life means taking action in the face of potentially strong adverse public opinion," Msgr. Hoye wrote Archbishop Sanchez in a letter released by the USCC Dec. I. "Let us hope that this action will help break the cycle of violence so prevalent in American society today," the monsignor added.

Msgr. Hoye noted that the archbishop had expressed hope that the Christmas season be a time for peace in the hearts of crime victims and mercy for death-row inmates.

This wish is "an eloquent expres-' sion ofthe deep respect for human

life that is so needed in our time," he told Archbishop Sanchez.

Anaya, who is limited by sta.te law to a single term as governor, said that as his tenure ends "for me to simply walk away now will make me as much an accomplice as others who would participate in their execution."

"My personal beliefs do not allow me to permit the execution ofan individual in the name ofthe state," he said.

Some prosecutors and the state's governor-elect Garrey Carruthers, a Republican, denounced the commutations.

It's Better "A Christian man will reckon it better to be imposed upon by his own kindness and easy temper . than to wrong his brother by an unfriendly suspicion." - John Calvin

13

THE ANCHOR-Diocese of Fall River-Fri., Dec. 5, 1986

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CHRISTMAS YOU'RE IN BETHLEHEM

VERY REV. JOHN J. SMITH, left, diocesan and Attleboro area vocations director and

Bisho~ Daniel A. Cr?nin'discuss vocations to the diocesan priesthood with young 'men attending an Information Day at Holy Name parish center, New Bedford. (Rosa photo)

Perpetual exposition backers run into liturgical snags WASHINGTON (NC) - Backers of a movement for perpetual eucharistic exposition in parishes said they have asked the Holy See's opinion of a view by the U.S. bishops'Committee on the Liturgy that the practice is against general church law.

Msgr. Frederick McManus, a canon law professor at The Catholic University of America and a leading U.S. expert in Catholic liturgical law, defended the committee's view, however.

The practice differs from other eucharistic devotions, such as the traditional 40 hours' devotion, in that the Eucharist is exposed in the church indefinitely rather than for a limited period of time.

L. Owen Traynor, a Los Angeles lay m!ln and founder of the Apostolate of Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration, said in a telephone interview that Pope John Paul II '~very definitely" backed the apostolate during a recent private audience at the Vatican. Traynor said the pope gave him a golden monstrance for exposition ofthe Blessed Sacrament as a sign of his support.

Father Franklyn McAfee, president of the Notre Dame Pontifical Catechetical Institute in Arlington, Va., with which the apostolate is affiliated, said perpetual adoration of the exposed Eucharist is now practiced in a number of U.S. dioceses, among them Charleston, S.c.; Sioux City, Iowa; Stockton, Calif.; Washington, D.C.; and Arlington.

Father McAfee said a growing number of bishops in other countries have begun to adopt perpetual eucharistic expostion in parishes, and "they don't know what's wrong with the American bishops" who question or object to the practice.

Leaders ofthe apostolate, Father McAfee said, were "very angry" when a recent newsletter of the bishops' liturgy committee said that ch,urch law permits perpetual exposition of the Eucharist "only in the case" of religious communities which have perpetual or extended adoration of the Eucharist as part of their rule.

Traynor said the arguments against perpetual exposition ci~ed by the bishops' committee were "just red herrings," and what was

really at issue was an attempt "to destroy the belief in the real presence (of Christ in the Eucharist).

This is what is under attack. " Father John Gurrieri, executive director of the liturgy committee's secretariat, declined comment on any aspect of the challenge to the committee's position, saying the newsletter itselfstated the position clearly.

can also take place with the Eucharist in repose in a tabernacle.

He emphasized that he did not question the devotion or sincerity of those promoting perpetual exposition, but he said that permanent exposition of the Blessed Sacrament has traditionally been allowed only by special permission from the Holy See.

The newsletter said the committee statement grew out of extensive committee discussion and consultation with advisers in response to requests from "several bishops and diocesan liturgical commissions" about the practice.

Msgr. McManus, a consultant to the liturgy committee and onetime director of its secretariat, said the committee was opposed only to perpetual exposition in parishes, not to perpetual ador,Sltion, which

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carried It high onto the charts. It relates the story of a frustrating relationship. The guy is "crazy for this girl but she don't know what she's looking for." Consequently he feels lost. not knowing how to respond to her needs and wants.

Sometimes one person in a relationship feels that the other should know his or her needs and

By Charli. Martin be sensitive enough to respond appropriately. For example, a girl may want her boyfriend to take her dancing. Gradually she IF SHE KNEW WHAT SHE WANTS is hurt because hedoes not notice If she knew whatsbe wants this need. Meanwhile the guy He'd be giving it to her thinks she prefers cycling.

If she knew what she needs Resentment could be avoided lie could give ber tbat too by taking responsibility for one's If she knew what she wants own needs. It is unfair for either But he can't see through her person to have to guess what the She wants everything other's interests are.

He can't pretend to give her everything In our example, the girl needs Or there's nothing she wants to say she wants to go dancing.

She don't want to sort it out Of course. the guy may feelawkHe's craty for tbisgirl ward when dancing and thus not .

But she don't know what she's looking for enjoy it.

I'd say her values aren't corrupted To resolve the conflict suCCeSSBUI she's open to cbange fully, white respecting each othThen one day she's satisfied er's point of view, the couple The next I find her crying needs to decide how to address And it's nothing she can explain. both persons' needs. Perhaps they Some have a style could agree on activities that That they work hard to refine both could enjoy on a date. and So they walk a crooked line ij;)ccasionally go dancing or cycling That she won't understand . . as-welL Why anyone would have to try Effortsat communication build To walk a line when they could Oy. trust as couples come to realize No sense thinking lhat each person has different I could rehabilitate her needs and interests. This helps When she's fine, fine, fine provide the emotional environShe's got so many ideas jogging ment for real love to grow.

Around in her head .

Sbe doesn't need nothing from mine.

Your comments are welcome Recorded by The Bangles. Written by Jules Sbear. and may be used in future (c) 1935 by Funzalo Music Ltd" Juters MusIc Im.l, columns. Address Charlie Mar· TlIEBANGLES'''lfSheKnew second Top Forty hit. It has a tin, lZ18 S. Rotherw<Jod Ave., WhatSbe Wants"wastbegroup's mellow, easy rock sound that has EvansvRle, Ind. 47714.

Are we experiencing

By Cecilia Belanger

-

"I can't wait for Christ to come," I've heard people say. They mean it sincerely. They await the Second Coming with bated breath. They're frightened by our world; they're disgusted by its immoral behavior.

One can't help feeling that the rising suicide rate, especially among young people, is a sign that far too many cannot cope with society.

Perhaps we're in a second Gene-

~

second Genesis?

sis, a time where there's "a darkness on the face of the deep."

We're being called into that stream of redemptive history which began when the spirit of God moved on the face of the waters and will end when "the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christ."

During Advent many think more deeply about their faith and its direction. Many realize that we're

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part of a story, moving through the tears and laughter, the ecstasies and depressions with "our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom faith depends from start to finish."

The first coming of Christ showed us what life could be. The second will assure us that it is his way which will prevail in the end.

The light shines on the darkness in spite of the darkness! But sadly, still far too many of us still prefer the darkness.

To believe in a Second Coming is not, in my opinion, to hold peculiar ideas about the end of the world, but to let oneself be drawn to the cross.

A blessed and holy Advent to all.

Bishop Connolly 37 students at Bishop Connolly High School, Fall River, were recently inducted into the National Honor Society.

Father James C. O'Brien, SJ, principal, congratulated them for their contributions in the areas of scholarship, service and leadership.

Chapter officers lit candles and explained the four requisites for admission to the organization to parents and friends. John Sabra, chapter president, spoke on character; Patricia Estrela, leadership; Jeffrey Condon, scholarship; Jonathan Holda, service.

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POPE JOHN PAUL II with one of his many new Australian friends. (NC-UPI/ Reuter photo)

Wh-at's on your mind?

TOM

Q. I go to church every Sunday and lots of people there say that teen-agers should talk to God. I find it very hard to talk to someone whom I don't know or I'm not sure is there because they don't respond. (Nevada) A. Those haunting words express a dilemma that probably plagues not only other teenage believers but adults as well. The question really deserves a much longer reply than this space allows. But here goes.

A young woman told me recently that most of the time she found silence necessary if she was to hear God. Silence, calm and a spirit willing to wait.

The Lord has spoken to humans in the words found in the Bible.

For instance, he has told us that "I have loved you with an everlasting love." He has said over and over in the pages ofthe Bible, "Fear not. I am with you always. I love you."

It is helpful to sit silently and calmly and slowly repeat words such as these, and to imagine God speaking them to you now, today, this minute. For that, in fact is what he is doing.

Search the Scriptures for other messages.Then, when possible, find

a quiet time and place to listen to God speaking to you. Repeat in your mind the words God has spoken to you in the Scriptures.

Then speak to him in your own words - and again listen.

There is another way of knowing God and learning more about him and sensing his presence in our world. Joseph Plunkett tells us about this way (without explaining it) in a short and lovely poem whose title comes from its first line: "I see his blood upon the rose."

In this beautiful poem, nature speaks to the author about God: "His body gleams amid eternal snows ,] see his face' in every flower Rocks are his written words AII pathways by his feet are worn.... His strong heart stirs the ever-beating sea."

But what about human persons?

Are there some ways, for instance, in which a mother's and father's love reveals God to you in some way?

In what other ways might people show you something about God? Send questions to Tom Lennon, 1312 Mass. Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005.

By

LENNON

The Anchor Friday, Dec. 5, 1986

•

tv, movIe news Symbols following film reviews indicate both general and Catholic Film Office ratings, which do not always coincide.

General ratings: G-suitable for gen· eral viewing; PG·13-parental guidance strongly suggested for children under 13; PG-parental guidance suggested; R-restricted, unsuitable for children or younger teens.

Catholic ratings: AI-approved. for children and adults; A2-approved for adults and adolescents; A3-approved for adults only; A4-separate classification (given· to films not morally offensive which, however, require some analysis _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _""111: and explanation); O-morally offensive.

NOTE

AMONG RECENT Ann Jillian television appearances was "Killer in the Mirror," a made-for-TV movie in which Ms. Jillian portrayed twin sisters. (NCjUPI photo)

Prayer helped actress deal with breast cancer CINCINNATI (NC) - For actress Ann Jillian a prayer engraved outside her parish church changed "the way I looked upon everything" when at age 35 she learned she had cancer and faced surgical removal of both breasts.

Ms. Jillian, whose career has included television, Broadway, Hollywood and Las Vegas appearances, said in an interview with Franciscan Father Jack Wintz in St. Anthony Messenger magazine that her faith saw her through the surgery and follow-up chemotherapy.

The interview was featured in the November issue of the magazine, published in Cincinnati by the Franciscan Friars.

The prayer at her parish church, St. Francis de Sales in Sherman Oaks, Calif., said that God either "will shield you from suffering, or he will give you unfailing strength to bear it."

The prayer "really helped me," said Ms. Jillian, who described in the interview the anxious days prior to final diagnosis and double mastectomy in 1985.

"It changed the whole course of the ordeal for me - the way I looked upon everything. Up to that point everything was turbulent. Now I looked at these words and went, 'Oh,' and I released everything into God's hands."

She described the evening before the operation when she and her manager-husband Andy Murcia received the Eucharist.

"Andy and I took Holy Communion," she told the Messenger.

"I had a picture of Jesus Christ next to my bed. Before going to sleep I turned to the picture and said, 'You've suffered and I'll suffer too, if I have to. But I'm begging you, don't let me die.' " In II days, she was back at work, but wit.h a new perspective.

"I was a good Catholic prior to my bout with cancer, believing that to be a good Catholic one had to work at it. That in itself presented a small cross to bear," she said.

"But after my cancer detection I had a 'real cross' to carry, and for some reason I felt all this was God's will and he must take away

from me the worry that comes with cancer and direct my life more closely than ·before.

"I had always felt I was in his hands and whatever he wished for me would be, but now I knew even more that I was in his hands, making things much easier on me."

A television film on her life, "The Ann Jillian Story," is scheduled for NBC in 1987. She said she hoped it would give viewers "confidence, not fear, love for each other, as God intended, and a better knowledge for women on how to protect their health regarding breast cancer..

"This film just might make people be nicer to each other because it shows us, hopefully, what really is top priority when it comes to our lives," she said. "We might all see that the petty things that get us crazy every day are just that petty - and should have no place in our life. This film should lead to love, family, togetherness - faith that we all will go home one day to God and we should have our hands full of good, not bad," she added.

Since her diagnosis, Ms. Jillian said, a major priority is to reach out to others who face the same illness.

"Word gets through to me and I call and write a note, and I always try to send along my St. Francis de Sales prayer to each woman," she said. "This prayer helped me the most."

Coyle and Cassidy Mark Bettencourt, Lisa Whittemore and Charles Barton, students at Coyle and Cassidy High School, Taunton, recently participated in WLNE-TV's TV News Game, competing against Lincoln, R.I., Junior-Senior High School.

David Simas was Coyle-Cassidy's alternate player.

* * *

During Advent, the religious education department is sponsoring Monday prayer services and lighting of an Advent wreath.

Patience "Patience is a bitter plant but it bears sweet fruit." - German proverb

Please check dates and times of television and radio programs against local listIngs, which may differ from the New York network schedules supplied to The Anchor.

New Films "Therese'~(Circie) - The life of a young girl who became a cloistered Carmelite nun at the age of 15 is chronicled in this impressionistic account of exemplary piety and unconditional love. Visualizes exquisitely the simplicity and beauty ofthe interior life expressed in a religious community. A3, no Motion Picture Association of America rating.

"Solarbabies" (Orion) Through uncompromising friendship and team effort, a group of non-conformist teens break away from their captivity in a dry, harsh and cruel adult world ofthe future to save themselves, a mystical crystal ball and their pre-teen mascot from evil. Escapist fantasy features endless roller-skating sequences, fanciful but derivative wasteland sets and stylized violence. A2, PG-13 "Song of ttie South" (Buena Vista - Re-issue of the classic Disney musical mix of animation and live action featuring James Baskett as the amiable old storyteller who helps a youngster understand the ways of the world through folktales. Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and Brer Bear are the animated characters with charm, emotions and a lesson to learn. AI, G "Three Amigos"(Orion) - Steve Martin stars and produces but doesn't dominate this pictorially grand but sometimes stylistically brutal Western parody about three actors playing silly caballeros in a Mexican village which mistakes them for hired guns. Martin Short and Chevy Chase costar. Some rough language. A2, PG "The Boy Who Could Fly" (Fox-Lorimar) - Tender and sensitive fable about an autistic teenager and the young girl who brings him out of his muteness. A decent, unpretentious story with some surprising special effects presents some positive role models and goodnatured fun for little ones. Recommended. A I, PG "Firewalker"(Cannon) - Chuck Norris portrays a self-conscious soldier-of-fortune and Lou Gossett Jr. his partner in a light romantic adventure yarn. Norris shows that his hand-to-hand combat skills are only to be used in self-defense.

A simple but plodding adventure for youngsters. A2, PG

15

Cruel Reality "A nuclear holocaust is a frightening possibility but the holocaust of abortion is a present cruel reality and fact that takes first priority." - Cardinal Bernard F. Law

Films on TV Sunday, Dec. 14, 9-11 p.m. EST (NBC) "48 Hours" (1982). In this rebroadcast, Eddie Murphy is the streetwise ex-con on parole for 48 hours who helps Nick Nolte, a tough cop, track down two killers.

Murphy's debut is unfunny. Caustic wit, derivative plot, disagreeable characterizations and needless violence. 0, R

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Religious TV Sunday, Dec. 7 (CBS) - "For Our Times" - The work of the philanthropic Greek Orthodox women's organization, Philoptochos (friends of the poor), founded in 1931 by the late Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople, is profiled with examples of its activities on Long Island, N.Y., and in Fort - Wayne, Ind.

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Dec. 12. The school's adult and student choruses will be featured, as will its concert band. Elaine Saulnier directs the choruses; Joseph Taylor is band director.

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THE ANCHOR-Diocese of Fall River-Fri., Dec. 5, 1986

ST.STEPHEN,ATTLEBORO Penance service II a.m. tomorrow for grades 2, 3, and 4; 7 p.m.

Dec. 9 for grades 5 through 8. Parishioners are invited to select a petition from the church prayer basket to take home and pray for during the subsequent week. Advent prayer services 7:30 p.m. Dec. 10 and 17.

Council of Catholic Women Christmas party 6 p.m. Dec. 15, Col. Blackinton Inn, Attleboro.

Iteerin9 pOintJ DIVORCED/SEPARATED, ATTLEBORO Depression and Coping with the Holidays will be the topic of Madeleine Flynn, Attleboro Catholic Social Services director, at a support group meeting at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 9 at St. Mark's church hall, Attleboro Falls.

ST. ANNE, FR Boy and Girl Scout paper drive 9 a.m. to I p.m. Saturday. First penance I p.m. Sunday.

â&#x20AC;˘

....

ST. MARY, NB Volunteers needed to assist in setting up parish nativity scene at I p.m. Sunday. Parish prayer group will attend 7 p.m. Mass Monday, the holy day. Retreat renewal will follow 7 p.m. Mass Dec. 21, school hall, a change from date previously announced.

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, TAUNTON Altar boy candidates will meet at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 13, church. CYO basketball information: Bruce Ducharme.

ST. JOSEPH, FAIRHAVEN First penance 2 p.m. tomorrow, church hall. Advent services 9 a.m.

Dec. 9 and 15. Gifts for New Bedford soup kitchen and homeless shelter may be brought to the school

by Dec. 15.

ST. KILIAN, NB Widowed support group potluck supper, Christmas party and gift exchange 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8, rectory basement.

O.L. ASSUMPTION, OSTERVILLE Women's Guild Holly Tea honoring. past presidents with harp selections by Cynthia Gordon O'Neil I p.m. Dec. 9, church hall.

VINCENTIANS, FR District Council communion breakfast following 9 a.m. Mass Sunday, Sacred Heart Church, Fall River.

ST. THOMAS MORE, SOMERSET Parishioners who helped make the traditional Thanksgiving Day meal possible are thanked by the pastor. A Giving Tree for homebound parishioners and a Jesse Tree decorated with Advent symbols are set up in the church foyer. Women's Guild Christmas party 6:30 p.m.

Dec. II, Magoni's restaurant, Somerset.

BL. SACRAMENT, FR Thanks are expressed to Marie LaTulippe for the gift of a chalice in memory of the LaTulippe family.

Parish adult and children's choirs will present a Christmas concert, "Birthday of a King," at 3 p.m. Sun. day in the church hall.

HOLY GHOST, ATTLEBORO The attractive parish logo, combining the Cross with a dove, symbol of the Holy Spirit, is available as a tree ornament. Marriage Encounter representatives will explain the program at all Masses this weekend.

Donation's from parishioners and the cooperation of Vincentians enabled six families to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner.

HOLY NAME, NB Women's Guild meeting with entertainment 7:30 p.m. Monday.

ST. GEORGE, WESTPORT Mass and healing service 2 p.m.

Sunday.

ST. RITA, MARION Healing service 7 tonight.

D OF I, NB Daug~ters of Isabella meeting with potluck supper and entertainment 6:30 p.m .. Dec. 16, VFW Hall, Park St.

OUR LADY'S CHAPEL, NB A recollection day for sisters will begin at 10:30 !l.m. Dec. 13 with a meditation by Father Raymond Lynch, OFM, and include an Advent penance service.

NOTRE DAME, FR Parish calendars available in church and at credit union. New altar boys meet 6:30 tonight, church.

Students high school age and older will meet 7 tonight, Lourdes chapel, for presentation by Father John R. FoIster. Those interested in a senior high school retreat may call the rectory. Schoolchildren and parents who denied themselves a snack, dessert or meal have contributed over $300 to Oxfam America,' a hunger relief program. Parishioners are asked to return census cards promptly.

Council of Catholic. Women Christmas party Dec. 8, White's restaurant, Westport. Four of 24 winners in a recent public library poster contest were Notre Dame School third graders taught by Mrs. Claire Allard: Andrew Ouellette, Jeremy Corriveau, Linda Botelho and Jason Garrity.

ST. MARY, FAIRHAVEN Sacred Hearts Assn. meeting after 7 o'clock Mass tonight; Christmas party 6:30 p.m. Dec. 16, Davy's Locker, New Bedford. Members request contributions pf personal grooming items for use at area homeless shelters. Family Mass 9:30 a.m. Sunday, followed by coffee and doughnuts. Adult forum 7 p.m. Dec. 16, with a presentation by the Samaritans on suicide prevention.

Choir is in need of male voices: information David Couto, 992-7388.

O.L. MT. CARMEL, NB An Advent holy hour will be held at 7 p.m. Dec. 9 and 16.

CHRIST THE KING, COTUIT/MASHPEE Catholic Women's Club meets 10 a.m. each Tuesday for arts and crafts.

All welcome.

BLUE ARMY Five-hour vigil 7:30 tonight St. Francis Xavier Church, Acushnet.

The Students} Faculty and Staff ,",

of Bishop Connolly High School in Loving Memory of REV. RICHARD J. WOLF, S.].

MRS. NANCY CARREIRO MR. ANDREW VALIQUETTE MR. JOHN HAND MISS PATTI SULLIVAN

and in grateful appreciation for their presence among us have donated $1400.00 to St. George's College, Kingston, Jamaica

ST. MARY, SEEKONK Emmaus retreat closing ceremony 7 p.m. Sunday, Neumann Hall, Cathedral Camp, East Freetown.

Another retreat is set for Feb. 6 to 8.

Galilee reunion 7 p.m. Dec. 14, Neumann Hall, with Cindy Hanzarik and Mike Demers as witnesses and Father James Nickel, SS.CC., Mass celebrant. Vincentians meet Dec. 14. First penance 2 p.m. Dec. 14.

CATHOLIC WOMAN'S CLUB, NB Christmas party with entertainment by Miss New Bedford, Marlene Nunes, and Bruce Lackey. Members are asked to bring food and paper products for a Christmas basket.

FATHER HOGAN FUND A Providence College scholarship fund established in honor of the late Father John F. Hogan, founding pastor of St. Julie parish, North Dartmouth, has received gifts and pledges totaling over $82,000. Contributions may be made c/o Atty.

William J. Synnott, PO Box F-62, New Bedford 02740.

ST. ANNE'S HOSPITAL, FR Tree-lighting ceremony with carols by the Allegro Glee Club and prayer service honoring patients or loved ones unable to be at home for the holidays, 7 p.m. Dec. 10, main courtyard. Ostomy information day for patients, families, health professionals and all others interested I to 5 p.m. Dec. 6, Room 112, Clemence Hall.

LEGION OF MARY, NB Curia meeting 6:30 p.m. Sunday, St. Mary's rectory, Fairhaven.

Christmas party Dec. 14.

DISABILITIES APOSTOLATE The diocesan Apostolate for Persons with Disabilites will hold a signed Mass at noon Dec. 21 at St. Vincent's Home, Fall River. A Christmas social and gift exchange will follow at White's restaurant, Westport. A party for children and families at Crystal Springs School, Assonet will take place at 2 p.m.

Dec. 22.

O.L. MT. CARMEL, SEEKONK Youth Ministry meeting will follow 7 p.m. Mass Sunday. A ski trip is planned. An Advent Tree will be in place this weekend, bearing tags with names of parishioner unable to attend Mass, to whom churchgoers are asked to send a card. Rosary and holy hour7 tonight. Unusual request: a few sprigs from a blue spruce tree for use in the parish Christmas wreath. Information: 252-4579.

ST. JOHN OF GOD, SOMERSET Women's Guild Christmas party Dec. 15, Town Room, Somerset.

Information: rectory. Trip to Nutcracker ballet 5:30 p.m. Dec. 18.

ST.GEORGE,WESTPORT Gratitude is expressed to parishioners who hosted the lonely for Thanksgiving. The Advent gifts of sharing, joy and sound will be celebrated in the parish, with sharing to follow 5:30 p.m. Mass Sunday with a prayer service and international potluck supper;joy at 7 p.m. Dec. 14 as Father Richard R. Gendreau speaks on Advent Joy and Enthusiasm and a social hour follows; and sound at 7 p.m. Dec. 21 as groups share their musical talents and all join in caroling. Crowning the season will be the gift of self to Jesus at Christmas Mass, say liturgy committee members, organizers of the unique program. Teen Club members will entertain parish children through 4th grade in the school hall 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

ST. JOAN OF ARC, ORLEANS .. Are we ever going to have an organist again?" asks pastor Father John F. Andrews plaintively, explaining that he has advertised and searched in vain. A capella choir, anyone? Dr. Larry Hartung is establishing a lector program for Visitation Church, where family Mass will resume in the new year and a committee is investigating lighting needs. Visitation Guild holiday potluck dinner 5:30 p.m. Dec. 12.

HOLY NAME, FR Youth group trip to LaSalette Shrine, Attleboro, begins 5 p.m.

Sunday with a Mass at Holy Name School.

CATHEDRAL, FR Women's Guild members will visit fellow members in area nursing homes tomorrow; the group has requested that II :30 a.m. Mass Sunday be offered for the intentions . of Bishop Daniel A. Cronin.

ST. STANISLAUS, FR Exposition of Blessed Sacrament from 11:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. Sunday. Women's Guild Advent social Dec. 10, White's restaurant, Westport. Christmas wafers (oplatki) are available in the sacristy.

DOMINICAN LAITY, FR St. Rose of Lima chapter meeting 7:30 p.m. Dec. 12, Dominican Academy, 37 Park Street, Fall River.

ST. JOSEPH, NB Legion of Mary holy hour 5 p.m.

Dec. 19; annual reunion 2 p.m. Dec. 14, Regina Pacis Center, New Bedford. Prayer group Christmas party and gift exchange Dec. 10; prayer meeting Dec. 17. Seniors will hold a Christmas party Dec. II at Thad's resta urant.

CORPUS CHRISTI, SANDWICH St. Theresa mission choir seeks flutists and violinists for Christmas services. Vincentians' meeting 7 p.m.

Dec. 8, rectory. Rosary prayer 3 p.m., Bible study 8 p.m. each Wednesday, prayer meeting 8 p.m. each Friday. Lasagna supper for parish high school students and parents 6 p.m. tomorrow, Father Clinton Hall, followed by activities planning session. Participants are asked to bring lasagna or a dessert. Walking for seniors 9 a.m. each Wednesday by the Canal at the end of Freezer Road. No speed or distance requirements; all welcome.

COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS Upper Cape chapter of this support group for bereaved parents and other family members meets 7:30 p.m. each first Wednesday, Falmouth Library. Information 5400492.

ST. PATRICK, FR Advent Light Service 7 p.m. Dec. 17. Giving Tree program which served over 600 nursing home residents, shut-ins and retired sisters last year, will be repeated. Gifts should be in by Dec. 14.

ST. JOHN EVANGELIST, POCASSET Babysitting each Sunday at 9: 15 a.m. Mass Women's Guild communion breakfast following 9 a.m. Mass Dec.8.

ST. DOMINIC, SWANSEA Volunteers to bring patients to Country Gardens nursing home chapel area at I:30 p.m. each Wednesday needed. Women's Guild Christmas party 6 p.m. Dec. 9, Dapper Dan's restaurant. Thanks are expressed to parishioners who made it possible to donate over a dozen Thanksgiving baskets to needy families despite the fact that a request for aid was omitted from the bulletin. Adoration of Blessed Sacrament all day today, ending at 7 p.m. with devotions to the Sacred Heart and Our Lady. Advent Evensong with folk and hand bell choirs 7:30 p.m. Dec. 14. Christmas meal following 5 p.m. Mass Dec. 8 for all over-60 parishioners, who will be asked to be prayer partners for confirmation candidates.

ST. JAMES, NB Parents' meeting for first communion candidates 8:45 p.m. Dec. 7.

Altar boy candidates will meet at II a.m. tomorrow, church. Women's Guild meeting and entertainment by Stetsonaires 7:30 p.m. Dec. 10.

SS. PETER & PAUL, FR Retired Sisters of Mercy have expressed gratitude for the annual assistance of parishioners. A Giving Tree program will aid the needy.

Since 1982 the parish Rosary Guild has made and sent 23,000 rosaries to mission stations.