12.06.73

Page 1

Diocese Makes Response To Needs of Pico Island

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ANCHOR 'An Anchor 01 lhe Soul, Sure and Flrm-St. Paul

Fall River, Mass. Thursday, Dec. 6, 1973 $4.00 per year Vol. 17, No. 49 © 1973 The Anchor PRICE 10~

Heat and Lights Cut Throughout Nation Lower thermostats and fewer lights are the order of the day for Catholic churches, schools and hospitals across the country as the United States faces its first major peacetime fuel and energy shortage in history. According to reports in diocesan newspapers, many dioceses and parishes are also encouraging car pooling among employees, calling for more austere Christmas displays, insisting on ~iO-milc speed limits for alI institutionalIy owned vehicles, and adopting other cooperative programs to cut their energy consumption. One of ti,e most dramatic euthacks is the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in BelIevile, III., where shrine directors turned off their annual "Way of Lights" Christmas display. The 125,OOO·light extravaganza has drawn almost 250,000 vis·

Experts Assert Vocation Crisis Lessening Here ROME (NC)-The crisis of vocations to the priesthood in the United Stales is. lessening, according to the cautious butopti· mistic evaluation of two U. S. experts on religious vocations. Auxiliary Bishop Raymond Vonesh of Joliet, Ill., chairman of the U. S. Bishops' Committee on Vocations, and Father Edward Baldwin, executive director of the National Center for Church Vocations in Detroit, agreed, in an interview with NC News, that seminaries are "settling down." Fresh from a meeting at the Vatican Nov. 20-24 t<> discuss na· tional "plans of action" to alIeviate the crisis, Bishop Vonesh said: . "I don't think there was anyone present at our meeting who wo.uld say there was not a crisis, but the American seminary is settling down because there is less turmoil in our land. "Today's seminarians are asking for and receiving an active prayer life instead of what was calIed just a few years ago an active apostolate." Father Baldwin added that a few years ago some experts fulIy expected the American seminary to colIapse. Turn to Page Two

itors a year in its three-year history, and it was completely set up by Thanksgiving - but after President Nixon's Nov. 25 speech on the energy crisis, the shrine officials decided to limit this year's display to weekend floodlighting of the Lourdes Grotto in the shrine. At the U. S. Catholic Confer· ence building in Washington, D. C., which houses the national staff offices of the U. S. bishops, general services manager Steve A. Conna11y said workers were removing 50 per cent of the fluorescentlights throughout the building and reducing the wattage of alI halIway and stairwelI bulbs. "We've gotten a cut of 15 per cent in heating oil 'allocation," said ConnalIy. "This means we will lose one month of heat," He said the building temperature has been lowered to 68 degrees, and he was planning to recommend "absolute closing" of the buildinl? on Saturdays. In a letter to all his priests Bishop Bernard Flanagan of Worcester, Mass., directed alI parish properties to reduce building tem\,eratures to the recom· mended 65-68 degrees, eliminate all nonessential lighting, and avoid "extravagant use" of decorative lighting for Christmas displays. He also urged parishioners to folIow suit in their own homes. Cardinal Humberto Medeiros of Boston issued more detailed directives to the same effect, pointing out that the Church must not "stand apart" from the rest of society in facing the natiopal need. "Indeed, as a religious body, we must lead in the spirit of cooperation and compliance," the cardinal said.

December 8

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION Holyday

of Obligation

H:is Excellency, the Most Reveren:! Daniel A. Cronin, Bishop of FalI River, has sent a gift of $5,000 to the Most Reverend Manuel Carvalho, Bishop of An· gra, Azores, in the name of the Diocese of Fall River, to assist in relieving the plight of th3 residents of the Island of Pico, where a devastating earthquake struck last week. Initial reports indicate that substantial damage was caused by the earthquake, and much suffering has been reported. Bis,hop Cronin described the gift as a tangible sign of solidari· ty with those afflicted by the disaster. Churches throughout the Diocese of FalI River included special prayers for the victims of the earthquake in the General Inter<:ession of Masses on the weekend that the news of the earthquake reached the United State!;.. Bis:.10p Cronin further announced that he has alerted Most Reverend Edward E. Swanstrom, Executive Director of the Catholic Relief Services Office, of the situation in Pico, so that facilities and resources of this arm of the. National Conference of

Catholic Bishops would be pre· pared to render any possible assistance. Bishop Cronin issued the following statement in announcing the Diocesan contribution: Nesta hora aflitiva para tantos milhares de Acoreanos, desejo manifestar () meu cuidade e 0 meu pesar pelos sinistrados da I1ha do Pico e outras ilhas do oeste, possivelmente atingidas pelos terramotos. A eles e as suas familias, principalmente as que aqui vivem, e que, separadas pela distancia e falta de communicacoes, sofrem ainda a a angustia da duvida e da incerteza, ofereco 0 canforte das minhas oracoes e dos fieis de toad a diocese. Remeto, nesta altura, em nome da diocese de FalI River, e como sinaI de solidariedade com as nossos irmaos sinistrados da IIha do Pico, a soma de $5,000 ao Sr. Bispo de Angra para Ihe adjudar na sua missao de caridade em ali· vial' 0 sofrimento e necessidade naquela i1ha desventurada. Que a caridade crista surja abundantemente entre todos que ouvem esta mensagem, e venham gen· erosamente em socorro dos nos-

sos irmaos na sua hora de neces· sidade.

* :; *

In this hour of distress for so many thousands of Azoreans, I wish to express my concern and sorrow for the victims of the earthquakes on the Island of Pico and other western islands, possibly stricken also. I offer to the victims and their families, especially those who, living in our area and separated by distance and lack of communication, suffer the added anxiety of doubt and uncertainty, the comfort of my own prayers and those of all the faithful throughout the Diocese. In the name of thoe Diocese, as a sign of solidarity with our afflicted hrothers on the Island of Pico, I am forwarding a sum of $5,000 to the Bishop of Angra, to assist him in the alleviation of suffering' and need as he carries out his mission of charity on that distressed island. I trust that thoe spirit of charity may prevail abundantly among those who hear this message, and that many may come forth generously to the aid of our afflicted brothers.

Bishop Cronin Opens Diocesan Holy Year Preparation With Cathedral Mass

Holy Year Preparation Begins ~

Most Reverend Daniel A. Cro· nin, . Bishop of FalI River, was principal concelebrant Of a Mass at Saint Mary's Cathedral on the First Sunday of Advent, marking the opening of the Diocesan period of preparation for the Holy Year, proclaimed by Pope Paul VI for 1975. Bishop Cronin was joined by the Vicalrs Episcopal· and by the officers of the Senate of Priests of the Diocese, who concelebrated the Mass with him. Homilist for the Mass, Very Reverend Luiz G. Mendonca, V.G., coordinator of the Diocesan Holy Year Committee, identified the 'essential concept of the Holy Year as the interior renewal of man. Father Mendonca noted that renewal will, in turn, bring about the second desired effect of the Holy Year, reconciliation. He cited the theme of the Pauline

.

Testament reading of the Holy Father's announcement Mass for the First Sunday of Ad- . poses for us several questions:vent as characterizing the antic- what is a Holy Year? - what ipation of the Holy Year to be meaning does it have for us?reflected in the People of God: what is expected of us? "May the Lord make you to in· The tradition of the Holy Year crease and abound in Charity to- has its origin in Old Testam.ent wards one another and towards times. It took place every fiftieth all men." year, and was a year of special Father Mendonca's -text: pubHc observance, during which "May the Lord make you to debts were forgiven, slaves were increase and abound in charity freed, and neighbor reconciled towards one another and towards with neighbor. In the history of all men." I Thess. 3-12 the Church, the Jubilee was inLast May Our Holy Father, stituted in the year 1300 by BonPope Paul, announced that the iface VIII, for a purely spiritual Church throughout the world, purpose. It consisted in making will observe 1975 as a Holy Year. a penitential pilgrimage to the Since the time of the initial an- tombs of the Apostles Peter and nouncement, the Holy Father has Paul. repeatedly, in his weekly audiIn the year 1470, Paul II fixed ences, and in most public utter- the twenty five year intervals ances, stressed the importance which have been observed from of this great event in the his· then, to the present time. Even tory and life of the Church. The Turn to Page Four N~w


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