e nc 0 VOL. 44, NO. 47 • Friday, December 8, 2000
FALL RIVER, MASS.
FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COO & lHE fSLANDS Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly • $14 Per Year
Assonet· churches bent on keeping Christ in Christmas ~
'Christmas in the Village' is a monthlong ecumenical celebration of the Birth of Christ byCatholic and Protestant churches. By JAMES N.
DUNBAR
ASSONET - A wondrous array of exhibits, concerts and dramatic presentations designed to help families keep Christ in Christmas are about to begin. Called "Christmas in the Village," and presented by St. Bernard's Parish and the United Church of Christ (Congregational), the events will include religious services, carol sings, handbell and vocal choirs, story times for children, Breakfast with Santa, ''The Doorways of Christmas" entry decorating contest, the ''Trees of Christmas" contest for church and civil groups, open house at both village churches and what the planners are calling "many other surprises." A major portion of all donations made by visitors will benefit Our Sisters' Place, which offers shelter and support to battered women and their children. The Giving Tree Project will be collecting specified gifts for the multiple-handicapped residents of Crystal Springs School, the mothers and newborns of Birthright, and troubled youths in local group homes.
For many years, Father Timothy 1. Goldrick, pastor of St. Bernard's, has displayed his collection of hundreds of folk art creches at La Salette Shrine in . Attleboro every Christmas. But this year the display will come home to the Village' of Assonet as the centerpiece of "Christmas in the Village." ''This is the first year for the celebration and we're excited," said Bob Adams, the maintenance supervisor at St. Bernard's and unofficial coordinator of the core group working hard to put the festivities together. "When Father Goldrick found out that for the first 30 years of my career I did display. work for Sears, his eyes lit up," Adams said. "'You're the guy I need to set up my creches,' Father Goldrick told me, and I have been do-' ing that for several years." Father Tim's collection includes many unusual and one-of-a-kind Nativity scene pieces displayed in native settings. Depicting such scenes from around the world, they can be viewed during the celebrations in St. Bernard's church hall. ''This is the first time all 300 hundred sets of Father Tim's manger scenes will be seen by the public, because at La Salette, only 150 of them were set up over the years," Adams explained. Tum to page 13 - Assonet
These banners were part of a 10-quilt exhibit and Vespers service at St. Lpuis Church, Fall River, for World AIDS Day. "Hope Against AIDS," was made and desimned by students of St. John the Evangelist School, Attleboro, while "Uniting All People," was the work of Holy Name School, Fall River. Dr. Krysten Winter-Green, director of~IDSMinistry in the diocese said she is "very proud of the students' work." (AnchotiGorddn photos)
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