Prayer is a way of life for Lay Carmelites By MATT McDoNALD ANCHOR STAFF
MASHPEE - In a little chapel on Cape Cod this Sunday, a Lay Cannelite will be praying for you. And not only for you, but for the Church and the world. At least one member of the Cape Cod chapter goes to St. Jude's Chapel at Christ the King Parish in Mashpee to pray almost every Sunday of the year. It's one aspect of the constant communing with God that members
and affiliates of the Order promise to do when they join. As St. Francis ofAssisi once said about preaching, Cannelites seek to pray always, and only sometimes do they use words. "What attracted me particularly to the Cannelites was the charism of prayer," said Sue Pumphrey, 54, a nurse and East Falmouth resident who joined the local chapter about nine years ago and now serves as director of it. "Our charism is prayer. It's a deepening of your knowledge Tum to page 14 - Carmelites
SENIOR SERVICE - Five retired religious of the Fall River Diocese in residence at the Catholic Memorial Home are among many who will benefit from the annual appeal for the Retirement Fund for Religious to be taken up in area parishes December 8 a~d 9. From left"Dominican Sister Catherine Mary O'Brien, Brother Normand Simoneau, Sacred Hea'rts Sister Marian Storjohann, Mercy Sister Mary Florita Souza, and Holy Union Sister Eugenia Marie!~Arsenault. (Photo courtesy of Mercy Sister . _, .. Catherine Donovan) •
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°Religious'Retirem'enl Appeal shows timely gratitude to those who served By DEACON JAMES
Bill advocating ethical cord blood research introduced By GAIL BESSE ANCHOR CORRESPONDENT
AMHERST, Mass. - Little Diego Lara would not be alive today if it weren't for the mother who donated her baby's umbilical cord blood to a public cord blood bank four years ago. Diego had acute leukemia; chemotherapy didn't work and a marrow transplant match could not be found. What saved the toddler's life was a unit of cord blood stem cells - a byproduct of childbirth that's often
discarded and goes to waste if it isn't collected and stored. The match between Diego's blood and that of the donor was made by the' National Marrow Donor Program Registry. Cord blood is what remains in the umbilical cord and placenta after birth. It's rich in stem cells, which can be coaxed into growing into different types of tissue or blood cells. It has been used successfully to treat about 70 diseases, Tum to page 11 - Cord Blood
Pope Benedict XVI's latest encyclical letter, 'Spe' Salvi" (Saved in Hope) special pullout section.
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NORTH DARTMOUTH They spent their youth as our inspired role models, our teachers of faith, our compassionate allies in good times and in bad, these now aging retired religious Sisters, Brothers and priests. Gratitude for what they have done - and in many instances continue to do in their ministries and especially through their prayers can be realistically expressed this weekend, in panshes across the Fall River Diocese when the 20th annual Appeal by the National Religious Retirement Office takes place. "As the new episcopal representative for religious, I wish to express gratitude to you and your parishioners for your generous response to this Appeal in the past," said Mercy Sister Catherine Donovan in a November 19 letter to pastors. "The parishioners of our diocese have given abundantly to assist religious congregations of men and women ... and this aid has enabled the religious to continue their service to the people .. , while caring for their elderly and retired members," Sister Donovan added. Currently there are approximately 307 religious Brothers and
Sisters and p'riests within the diocese. ' The brea~down lists 189 Sisters, 97 Brothers, and 21 priests representing 25 religious congregations, many of whom are retired, most of them elderly and some in poor health, They are among thousands currently struggling under a crisis in the unfunded retirement for Catholic men and women religious nearing $9 billion and growing. The crisis became evident in the early 1970s, when Catholic schools operated primarily by religious orders were educating more than 10 percent of the student population in the United States. Catholic hospitals. were becoming the largest group of not-for-profit hospitals in the nation. But the salari~s and stipends to
religious were eannarked primarily for good works, new ministries and training and education that prepared . them for their work, For generations, the care of elderly members had been carried out by those entering religious life. But in recent decades, however, elderly religious far outnumber wage-earning religious.. At the same time health care costs have skyrocketed and the numbers in assisted living or nursing facilities have risen dramatically. The situation is such that retired religious today receive on average just one-third of the Social Security benefit paid to the average Social'Security ~ecipient. In 2003, for example, the combined Social Security benefits for Tum to page 14 - Religious
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