12.09.11

Diocese of Fall River

The Anchor

F riday , December 9, 2011

Hispanic Catholics prepare for feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

NEW BEDFORD — As Catholics throughout the Western Hemisphere prepare to celebrate the feasts of St. Juan Diego today and Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12, Hispanics within the various parishes in the Fall River Diocese are also getting ready for their own annual Mass to mark the occasion.

This year it will be held tomorrow beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Church in New Bedford, with Bishop George W. Coleman as the principal celebrant.

“We always celebrate it on the Saturday before the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe itself,” said Father Richard D. Wilson, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Parish. “The Mass will be bilingual, in English and Spanish,

and our diocesan Spanish choir has been working hard since the spring practicing the songs for the Mass.”

Father Wilson, who is also director of the diocesan Spanish Apostolate, said there will be a dinner and show downstairs in the parish hall immediately following the Mass, including different cultural folklore and presentations.

“Most of our Hispanic community here in the diocese are from different cultures,” Father Wilson told The Anchor. “The older generation of Hispanics are mainly from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, while others are from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, Columbia and Mexico. So it should be a really full evening and I hope everyone will be able to attend.”

The annual observance generalTurn to page 14

ol’ st. nick — St. Nicholas of Myra visits with parishioners at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Hyannis at the annual Breakfast with St. Nicholas held in the preparatory school. In the background, parishioners queue up for pancakes and bacon. Parishioners brought donations for the parish’s St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry and purchased Christmas Food Basket gift cards as well. Works of charity abound across the Diocese of Fall River this Advent season. (Photo by Bo Bowen)

Need is great this Christmas season; diocesan faithful respond in kind

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

FAIRHAVEN — Moses spoke to the Israelites prior to their crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land. He implored, “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land” (Deut 15:11).

More than 3,000 years later, the same plea is raised by diocesan parishes, ministries and agencies.

The poor still exist, in alarmingly ever-increasing numbers. The need is great year-round, but the sting of hunger, poverty and homelessness seems to cut deeper during the Advent and Christmas seasons.

From the Attleboros to Cape

Cod and the Islands, diocesan faithful, in the spirit of Moses’ petition to his countrymen, with their hearts and wallets are being “openhanded” toward their less fortunate brothers and sisters.

There are heartwarming stories and heart-wrenching predicaments.

“This has been a difficult year with Turn to page 18

Citizens start petition to repeal casino deal

By Christine M. Williams Anchor Correspondent

helping hand — Last week’s St. Mary’s Education Fund Fall Scholarship Dinner came to a close with the presentation of this big check to Bishop George W. Coleman in the amount of $605,571 for the benefit of the fund. The total represents proceeds from the Fall Dinner along with funds raised in events sponsored this year by the St. Mary’s Education Fund Cape Cod Committee. Helping to hold the check are Roy Jarrett, chairman of the 2011 St. Mary’s Education Fund Summer Gala; Bishop Coleman; Doris KearnsGoodwin, Fall Dinner speaker; and Michael Tamburro, Fall Dinner chairman. (Photo by John Kearns)

BOSTON — A group of Massachusetts citizens opposed to the recent expanded gambling legislation have started a petition initiative to repeal the casino deal. They are at the same time concerned about the toll such establishments will have on families and communities as well as the manner in which the legislation was pushed through the state Legislature.

The petition is awaiting approval from the Attorney General’s office, and its supporters expect the signature drive to come early in the new year. If enough voters sign on, it will appear on the November 2012 ballot. Success at that stage would automati-

cally repeal the law.

The expanded gambling law legalizes three resort casinos and one slot parlor. The state House passed its bill on September 14 and the Senate followed with its own one month later. The differences between the two bills were resolved in conference committee and the final bill was signed

Third Sunday of Advent

December 11, 2011

by Governor Deval Patrick. Proponents say the slot parlor could open within a year, followed by the casinos about two years later.

The four bishops in the Commonwealth have long opposed legislation that would bring Class III gaming to the state, including this law. Their public policy arm, the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, released a statement in September, urging legislators to vote against the measure.

“While the Catholic Church views gambling as a legitimate form of entertainment when done in moderation, the gaming legislation opens the door to a new form of predatory gaming which threatens the moral fabric of our society,” they said.

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News From the Vatican

December 9, 2011

Pope: New evangelization depends on good Catholic families

Vatican City (CNA) — Pope Benedict XVI emphasized that good Catholic families are necessary to bring about a re-Christianization of countries throughout the world.

“The New Evangelization depends largely on the domestic Church,” the pope said December 1 at the Vatican.

“In our time, as in times past, the eclipse of God, the spread of ideologies contrary to the family and the degradation of sexual ethics are intertwined,” he added.

“And just as the eclipse of God and the crisis of the family are linked, so the New Evangelization is inseparable from the Christian family.”

Pope Benedict made his remarks Thursday at the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for the Family. The council is currently preparing for the seventh annual World Meeting of Families which will be held in Milan, Italy, from May 30 to June 3, 2012.

“The family founded on the Sacrament of Matrimony is a particular realization of the Church, saved and saving, evangelized and evangelizing community,” the pope said.

He explained that just like the Church, the Catholic family is also called to “welcome, radiate and show the world the love and the presence of Christ.”

This “reception and transmission of divine love” in a family is realized in such things as “the mutual commitment of spouses, generous and responsible procreation, in

the care and education of children,” he explained, as well as love for the poor, the local parish and the good of civil society in general.

He described a Catholic family that “succeeds in living love as communion,” as reflecting “the splendor of Christ in the world and the beauty of the divine Trinity.”

Pope Benedict drew much of his address from Blessed Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Exhortation on the family, Familiaris Consortio, and celebrated the document’s 30th anniversary this month.

“In the wake of my predecessors, I too have repeatedly urged Christians spouses to evangelize both with the witness of life and with involvement in the pastoral activities,” he said.

The pope noted that priests and families should work together since Marriage and Holy Orders are two Sacraments “at the service of communion.” Because of this, priests should not see families “merely as the object of pastoral action,” but as “the closest ally of the priestly ministry.”

He then urged bishops, priests and families to work toward educating young people, preparing engaged couples, helping form those already married and ensuring pastoral care for all families.

Pope Benedict concluded by congratulating the Pontifical Council for the Family on their work, including their suggestion of a “family week” for Catholics parishes, associations and movements.

mother and son — A priest holds Mexico’s flag as a woman raises an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe during Pope Benedict XVI’s general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican recently.

(CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Christian theology has role to play in promoting peace, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Theology is not simply an academic discipline or a means of explaining the faith to believers, it also has a role in promoting peace and harmony, Pope Benedict XVI said.

Catholic theology’s attention to the links between faith and reason “is more necessary than ever today” because it demonstrates the compatibility of different sources of knowledge, avoiding “the violent results of a religiosity opposed to reason and of a reason opposed to religion,” the pope said.

Pope Benedict made his comments December 2 during a meeting with members of the International Theological Commission, a group of theologians appointed by the pope to study themes of current interest and offer expert advice to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

During the commission’s plenary meeting November 28-December 2, members continued work on three studies: the Catholic understanding of belief in one God, the relation of Catholic social teaching to Catholic doctrine and the status of Catholic theology today.

Pope Benedict said Christian monotheism — the belief in one God in the three persons of the Trinity — teaches that God is a community of love to which people are invited in a way that makes it possible for brotherhood and harmony among the men and women God has created.

Because “the ethnic and religious conflicts in the world make it more difficult for people to recognize the uniqueness of Christian thought about God and the humanism

it inspires,” he said, “Christian theology, together with the life of believers, must restore the felicitous and clear evidence of the Trinitarian revelation on our community.”

Christian theology always begins with belief in Jesus Christ as the only Son of God, he said. Only on that basis, and in harmony with the tradition of the Church, can a theologian intelligently explore the faith while remaining Catholic, he said.

“Without a healthy and vigorous theological reflection, the Church risks not expressing fully the harmony between faith and reason,” the pope said. “At the same time, without faithfully living in communion with the Church and adhering to its magisterium as the vital space of its existence, theology cannot give an adequate explanation of the gift of faith.”

Pope Benedict said the commission’s study on the relationship between Catholic social teaching and Catholic teaching in general is impor-

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tant, not only in stimulating Catholics’ efforts for justice, peace and charity, but also for helping Catholics show others what Christian faith means in the world.

Catholic social action is not undertaken simply for humanitarian reasons, but is “a response to the Son of God’s coming into the world,” he said.

“The disciples of Christ the Redeemer know that, without attention to others, without forgiveness, without love even for one’s enemies, no human community can live in peace; and this begins with that first and fundamental society which is the family,” the pope said.

Working with others to build a better world, Catholics need to be able to explain the faith-based motivations of their efforts and to understand the reasons that lead others to the same work, he said.

In that way, “those who have perceived the foundations of Christian social action also can find a stimulus to consider faith in Jesus Christ.”

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 55, No. 47

Member: Catholic Press Association, Catholic News Service

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

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

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

PUBLISHER - Most Reverend George W. Coleman EXECUTIVE EDITOR Father Roger J. Landry fatherrogerlandry@anchornews.org EDITOR David B. Jolivet davejolivet@anchornews.org OFFICE MANAGER Mary Chase m arychase@anchornews.org ADVERTISING Wayne R. Powers waynepowers@anchornews.org REPORTER Kenneth J. Souza kensouza@anchornews.org REPORTER Rebecca Aubut beckyaubut@anchornews.org Send Letters to the Editor to: fatherrogerlandry@anchornews.org

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

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December 9, 2011

The International Church

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Chinese priest ordained coadjutor with approval of Vatican, government

hand-to-hand diplomacy — A U.S. Army soldier gives a high-five to an Afghan boy during a patrol in Pul-e Alam, a town in Logar province, central Afghanistan, recently. (CNS photo/Umit Bektas, Reuters)

Audits of six Irish dioceses show better handling of clergy abuse cases

DUBLIN (CNS) — Audits of six Irish Catholic dioceses reveal “a marked improvement” in how the Church is handling clerical abuse allegations.

The reviews, however, carried out by the independent National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church and released November 30, also show that, in the past, too much emphasis was put on the rights of accused priests and protecting the reputation of the Church.

Each review found evidence that insufficient attention was paid to the suffering of victims and the longterm consequences of abuse.

Ian Elliott, chief executive of the safeguarding children board, said the audits show that “reporting allegations to the statutory authorities (now) occurs promptly and comprehensively.” He said that “represents a major development, as past practice did not always reflect this commitment.”

He also said that “the need to create and maintain a safe environment for children in the Church is comprehensively accepted and implemented.”

“There is greater awareness and much greater commitment to safeguarding children than was once the case. Individuals that are seen as being a risk to children are reported quickly to the authorities and steps are taken to eliminate their access to children,” he said.

The audits recommend that the practice of a priest acting as the designated person to whom abuse allegations are made be discontinued.

“It would be our view that it is significantly more difficult for a member of the clergy to perform all of the tasks that are involved in the successful discharge of their responsibilities,” it said.

John O’Donnell, an abuse survivor, dismissed the report as “an

exercise in going through Church paperwork.”

“The real story of what happened in Raphoe to hundreds and hundreds of victims will, in my opinion, only come out when there is a full garda (police) investigation or judicial inquiry,” he said.

Retired detective Martin Ridge, who investigated a prominent clerical abuse case, said, “This audit will do nothing for the victims, as far as I can see.”

Of the 85 priests accused of abuse from 1975-2010 only eight have been convicted.

Overall the six audits, which cover the dioceses of Ardagh, Raphoe, Derry, Dromore, Tuam and Kilmore, confirm the findings of previous judicial reports in Ireland, which said priests accused of abuse were not robustly challenged or adequately managed and problems were often “handled” by moving the accused to positions elsewhere.

The Raphoe audit notes that “it is a matter of great regret to Bishop (Philip) Boyce that his focus on victims’ needs was not greater in the past, and he now acknowledged that he has a very different appreciation of his safeguarding responsibilities” than when he first came into office in 1995, a year before the bishops’ conference implemented comprehensive guidelines.

Bishop Boyce acknowledged that with allegations made against 14 priests from 1976-2010, his diocese “probably” had the highest proportion of accused priests in Ireland.

Responding to the audit of his diocese, Bishop Boyce acknowledged that “there have been very poor judgements and mistakes made.” He said he intends to make “renewed contact” with survivors of child sexual abuse by priests to ensure “their needs for appropri-

ate counseling, spiritual support or words of apology are adequately met.”

Kilmore Diocese, where Bishop Leo O’Reilly took over in 1998, was praised as a “model of best practice” by the review. The report examined allegations received against seven priests since 1975 and found that current practice in the diocese is of “a consistently high standard.”

The audit also found clear procedures in the dioceses of Derry and Ardagh.

The report found that while Bishop John McAreavey of Dromore had reported all allegations to the civil authorities, in some cases that “should have been done more promptly.” The review was highly critical of his predecessor, the late Bishop Francis Brooks, saying that, “in some instances, the practice followed placed too much emphasis on maintaining the good name of the accused priest rather than ensuring the safety of children.”

Archbishop Michael Neary of Tuam was singled out for praise for responding to allegations “with a steadily serious approach, taking appropriate action under existing guidelines, and rapidly assimilating the lesson of the necessity for the removal of the priest, where there is a credible allegation, pending investigation.”

“The fieldwork team has been impressed by the archbishop’s quiet resolve to do what is right and by his industrious and diligent case management team,” it added.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church is conducting audits into all 188 dioceses, religious congregations and missionary societies in the Irish Catholic Church and plans to publish six more audits in mid2012.

YIBIN, China (CNS) — With police officers and dogs monitoring the crowd at St. Mary’s Church, Father Peter Luo Xuegang was ordained coadjutor bishop of Yibin Diocese in southwestern China’s Sichuan province. No phones, cameras or liquids were allowed in the venue, reported the Asian Church news agency UCA News.

Participants had to arrive three hours before the ordination began to go through security.

Bishop Luo had the approval of the Holy See, but an excommunicated bishop attended his ordination, despite a Vatican spokesman conveying the wish that “no illegitimate bishop will participate.” In recent years, many ordinations have followed the pattern of bishop candidates being elected by diocesan representatives, then being approved separately by the government-approved Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China and the Holy See. Bishop Luo, 47, is the third bishop ordained with both papal approval and govern-

ment recognition this year. Bishop John Chen Shizhong of Yibin, 95, presided over the November 30 ceremony, attended by 61 priests, 35 nuns, 800 faithful, government officials and representatives of other religions. Excommunicated Father Paul Lei Shiyin of Leshan, wearing bishop’s garb despite his excommunication earlier this year when he was ordained without papal approval, was among the four other Vatican-approved consecrating bishops. Bishop Luo and Father Lei were ordained priests together in Leshan 20 years ago.

Bishop Luo was loaned to the Yibin Diocese in 2009 and was elected the bishop candidate and received the papal mandate last year. At the Vatican, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, papal spokesman, called the ordination “positive.” He said Father Lei’s presence at the ceremony and the “repeated nature of his disobedience to the norms of the Church unfortunately aggravates his canonical position.”

Diocese of Fall River

OFFICIAL

His Excellency, the Most Reverend George W. Coleman, Bishop of Fall River, has announced the following appointments: College of Consultors Reverend Monsignor Stephen J. Avila, V.F. Reverend Monsignor Edmund J. Fitzgerald, V. F. Reverend Gregory A. Mathias Reverend Michael K. McManus, Chancellor Reverend John J. Oliveira Reverend Monsignor John A. Perry, V.G. Reverend Barry W. Wall Effective 11/27/2011

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The Church in the U.S.

December 9, 2011

Pro-Life New Jersey nurses sue hospital over new policy on abortions

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Confronted with what one called “a choice between our faith and our jobs,” 12 nurses are suing University Hospital in Newark, N.J., over a new policy requiring them to care for patients before and after abortions, even if they have religious or moral objections to abortion.

The hospital, part of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, said that because “no nurse is compelled to have direct involvement in, and/or attendance in the room at the time of,” an abortion, its policy does not violate state or federal conscience protection laws.

U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares issued a temporary restraining order November 3 directing the hospital not to compel adherence to the new policy until after the case comes before his court December 5.

At a November 14 news conference outside the hospital in Newark, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., joined the nurses and their attorneys in criticizing the new policy, which was announced in September.

“In pursuit of an illegal and highly unethical policy to coerce its own nurses to participate in abortions including support activities such as pre- and post-procedure complicity in abortion, UMDNJ has not only imposed irreparable harm and suffering on its own nurses, but has willfully and recklessly put federal funding for the institution at risk,” Smith said.

He estimated that the hospital was risking up to $60 million in federal funds by taking actions that violated the Church Amendment, which prohibits institutions that receive federal funding from discriminating against those who refuse to participate in health care services they find religiously or morally objectionable.

Two of the affected nurses, who work in the hospital’s same-day services unit, also spoke at the news conference.

“No health professional should be forced to choose between assisting abortions or being penalized at work,” said Beryl Otieno Ngoje.

“The hospital is not speaking truthfully to the media when it says that it does not compel nurses to violate

their beliefs.”

Fe Vinoya said she and the other suing nurses — who are among 16 nurses in the same-day services unit — have been “confronted with a choice between our faith and our jobs.”

“No nurse should be forced to violate her religious or moral beliefs in order to keep her job,” she said. “Nursing is a healing profession, and the law protects our right not to provide any services related to abortion.”

In a brief filed with the court November 22, the hospital argued that the nurses were being required only to provide “the same routine preoperative and post-operative care that is provided to all patients” in the unit, such as taking the patients’ vital signs and medical history and providing pain medications.

The hospital also said it would cost approximately $280,000 a year to hire nurses to perform the duties refused by the objecting nurses.

“In the current economy, incurring such an unnecessary expense ... would be devastating to the hospital,” the brief said.

In a November 17 letter, chief nursing officer Theresa Rejrat offered to meet with the nurses “to discuss with us potential reasonable accommodations of your objections.”

“Such potential accommodations may include changes in duties, changes in scheduling and/or transfer to another nursing position that does not involve duties that are objectionable to you for religious and/or moral reasons,” she said.

Matt Bowman, legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based Christian legal alliance that is representing the nurses, said the letter itself amounted to job discrimination.

“The hospital is threatening to impose discriminatory transfers or changes in the employment conditions for these nurses because of their religious and moral objections to abortion,” he said. “Such discrimination against Pro-Life nurses violates state and federal law, the court’s order in this case and even the hospital’s own public statements saying that no nurse must assist in procedures to which they object.”

full house — Seminarians pray during morning Mass at Theological College in Washington recently. Enrollment at the college is maxed out for the 2011-12 academic year at 90 seminarians.

(CNS photo/Bob Roller)

Catholic seminary enrollment up, but numbers seen as only part of story

WASHINGTON (CNS) — In his first months as rector of Theological College in Washington, Father Phillip J. Brown has been confronting a problem that the national diocesan seminary for the U.S. Catholic Church “has not had for a long time” — it is bursting at the seams.

Enrollment is maxed out for the 2011-12 academic year at 90 seminarians. Five of those seminarians are back in their dioceses this year gaining pastoral experience, but a Sulpician seminarian and five priests from other countries also live there, bringing the total number of residents to 91 plus faculty members.

“If I had to start with a problem, that’s the problem I’d like to have,” Father Brown told Catholic News Service. “It’s a very healthy sign, a positive sign for Theological College and for the U.S. priesthood.”

The trend of rising seminary enrollment is being duplicated around the country: — At the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, 40 new seminarians arrived this year, bringing total enrollment to 186, the highest level since the 1970s.

— St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., welcomed 30 new graduate-level seminarians, making its class of 100 seminarians the largest since 1980. The influx forced 24 seminarians and two priests off campus into leased space at a former convent.

— In the Diocese of Scranton, Pa., where the St. Pius X diocesan seminary closed in 2004

because of declining enrollment, the number of seminarians has more than doubled from eight to 17 in the past two years.

Most of the Scranton seminarians are studying at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa., where communications specialist Dan Skalski said enrollment has remained steady over the past five years, or at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, where a class of 76 “new men” brought enrollment this fall to a full house of 250 seminarians.

In an April report, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University said enrollment was up for those studying for the priesthood, diaconate and lay ecclesial ministry during the 2010-11 academic year — the latest for which statistics were available.

In all, there were 3,608 postbaccalaureate U.S. seminarians last year, a net increase of 125 seminarians, or 4 percent, over the previous year and the highest number since the early 1990s.

More than three-quarters of them were studying for the diocesan priesthood, while 24 percent intend to be ordained for religious orders.

The trend goes beyond Catholic schools to all seminaries, according to figures from the Association of Theological Schools in the U.S. and Canada from 2010-11.

The organization that accredits theological schools said 75,431 people were studying for the ministry at 261 institutions during the last academic year, an increase of .6 percent from the year before.

But Theological College’s Father Brown said a rise in enrollment is only part of the story.

“It’s not just the numbers but the quality and spirit of the men who are coming,” he told CNS. “I’m tremendously impressed with the quality of the candidates, their zeal,” he added.

“We’re seeing a real renewal of the priesthood.”

Father Brown said the full house has led to “a nice and interesting atmosphere” at Theological College because of the racial and ethnic diversity of the seminarians, who come from “a wide diversity of backgrounds and from a wide diversity of parts of the U.S.” Having more applicants than Theological College can accept also benefits some of the seminarians, who might be referred to a school “better suited to the candidate’s academic achievements and aptitudes,” he said.

Because its seminarians participate in “an exacting and demanding program” at The Catholic University of America, Father Brown said, Theological College accepts those candidates considered most likely to succeed in a rigorous academic environment.

“As the numbers seem to be increasing for all major seminaries, it’s easier to have a more cooperative relationship” among the schools, so that seminarians end up at the seminary that will benefit them the most, he added.

But he said those at Theological College never lose sight of the fact that “our goal is not to produce academicians or intellectuals but to provide good pastors for parishes.”

December 9, 2011

The Church in the U.S.

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HHS defends decision on funding traffiking victims program to Congress

public display — Visitors stop to look at the life-size outdoor creche in Chicago’s Daley Plaza recently. The God Squad, a team of volunteers from Chicago-area parishes, sets up the Nativity scene each year at the start of Advent. (CNS photo/Karen Callaway, Catholic New World)

Criticism grows over governor’s ‘holiday tree’ label for public display

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (CNS) — A 17-foot Colorado blue spruce is standing tall at the center of controversy in the Rhode Island Statehouse rotunda for what it is being — or more importantly, not being — called.

Governor Lincoln D. Chafee invited the public to attend a “Holiday Tree Lighting” ceremony December 6 at the Statehouse, leaving many, including Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, to question the governor’s choice of such secular terminology in referring to a symbol most commonly associated with the Christian celebration of Christmas.

“Governor Chafee’s decision to avoid the word Christmas at the Statehouse ceremony is most disheartening and divisive,” said Bishop Tobin, in a statement released to the media the evening of November 29.

“It is sad that such a secular spirit has swept over our state.

The governor’s decision ignores long-held American traditions and is an affront to the faith of many citizens,” the bishop said.

“For the sake of peace and harmony in our state at this special time of the year, I respectfully encourage the governor to reconsider his decision to use the word Christmas in the state observance.”

Earlier that day, Chafee said in a statement that he is only following in the footsteps of how previous governors have termed the event.

“Use of the term ‘holiday tree’ is a continuation of past practice, and does not represent a change of course on my part,” the governor said.

The governor, attempting to diffuse the controversy, then suggested that those with opinions on both sides of the tree issue instead refocus their energy on helping the less fortunate.

“I would encourage all those

engaged in this discussion — whatever their opinion on the matter — to use their energy and enthusiasm to make a positive difference in the lives of their fellow Rhode Islanders.”

Father Timothy Reilly, chancellor of the diocese, reaffirmed the irony of Chafee’s message.

“In the governor’s attempts to unify, his decision has done quite the opposite,” Father Reilly said.

“The irony is that we see more confusion and lack of unity.

Christmas is a precious and sacred word in our faith vocabulary.”

The son of the donor of the Statehouse blue spruce said he was disappointed that the governor has “removed the word Christmas” in describing the tree.

“We provide him with a Christmas tree,” said Timothy Leyden. “It came from Big John Leyden’s Christmas Tree Farm.

It is not a holiday tree. We don’t sell holiday trees.”

Noting that the farm has donated a Christmas tree to the Statehouse annually for about seven years, Leyden said he has no intention of donating a tree next year.

“We are proud to provide the people of Rhode Island with a Christmas tree,” Leyden said, adding that Chafee’s attempt to “be politically correct has gone overboard.”

“It’s time to get back to the basics and traditions,” Leyden emphasized, stating that he can’t remember ever hearing a customer refer to a Christmas tree as a “holiday tree.”

Leyden said that the farm, which has been selling Christmas trees since 1970, would donate a Christmas tree to the Diocese of Providence that was scheduled to be lighted December 6 by Bishop Tobin at St. Patrick Church on Smith Hill in a ceremony beginning with a prayer service.

Father John Codega, pastor of St. Brendan Church in Riverside, told WPRO News that Christians are “frustrated” with Chafee’s decision.

“The governor is continuing to turn his back on the faith community,” Father Codega continued, adding that by suggesting that Rhode Island lawmakers and others involved in the debate should focus their energy and enthusiasm on feeding those less fortunate, Chafee is insulting the faith community.

“These are the people that are serving the poor,” he said.

For example, the priest added, St. Patrick Church, where the bishop was to lead the lighting ceremony, serves the needy through several outreach ministries including a soup kitchen and food pantry.

WASHINGTON (CNS) — A U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops program aiding victims of human trafficking was denied funding after its administrators declined to propose alternatives to a government requirement that female victims receive “the full range of legally permissible gynecological and obstetric care,” a Department of Health and Human Services official told a congressional committee.

Under grueling questioning from Republican members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform December 1, George Sheldon, acting assistant secretary of the Administration for Children and Families, said he made the final decision to award grants worth $4.7 million to three other agencies that agreed to provide access to services such as abortion, contraception and sterilization under the National Human Trafficking Victim Assistance Program.

The committee hearing was called as House members investigated why the bishop’s Migration and Refugee Services department was denied funding for its program despite receiving high scores during a review of its application for $2.5 million for another year of work and its positive track record of assisting nearly 2,800 trafficking victims and family members since 2006.

Johnny Young, executive director of the bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services, which contracted with the government to assist trafficking victims, told Catholic News Service that he explained to Sheldon the agency could work with alternatives “but we didn’t of-

fer any alternatives.”

“We just said we wouldn’t do anything that would violate Church teaching,” Young said.

Several Republican committee members charged during the threehour hearing that the final decision to deny funding to MRS demonstrated an anti-Catholic bias within the administration of President Barack Obama.

Committee members expressed concern that federal laws governing conscience rights in declining to offer abortion services were ignored

by HHS officials in awarding the grants.

They also accused HHS of including the new policy in the program so that religious organizations and individuals with a moral objection to abortion, contraception and sterilization would be disqualified in the end.

“I look at this and, you know what, we got gamed on this,” Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., said. “We structured this so tightly, we put language in there that would remove Catholic bishops participating even though they have a great track record, even though they scored so high, even though they out-scored other people.”

Sheldon denied the charge, saying that the funding announcement was finalized before he joined HHS in the spring and that HHS attorneys were involved in ensuring that all requirements of the program were legal under federal law.

He also admitted that he did not expect the bishops’ program to offer alternatives that would open the door to allow women trafficking victims to seek services that violate Catholic teaching and pay for such services.

6

The Anchor The recovery of a shared vision and sense of mission

The bishops of the United States of America are now in the midst of their ad limina visits to the Vatican. Normally done every five years, these visits not only give the bishops of the world an opportunity to make regular joint pilgrimages to the tombs of SS. Peter and Paul, but to inform the pope and his chief collaborators about the pastoral challenges in their respective regions and to receive support and guidance to help them meet those challenges. It is customary for the pope, having received tomes of documentation prior to their visit and reviewed it within the scope of the mission of the universal Church, to respond with one or more addresses, depending upon whether the bishops of a country come all together, as happens with small countries, or in a waves of groups of bishops, as occurs with the United States episcopacy, broken down into 15 different groups.

To the U.S. bishops, Pope Benedict has decided to give five formal reflections that he hopes the bishops will find “helpful for the discernment” they are continually called to make for their “task of leading the Church into the future.” It’s expected that all five will touch on “the urgency and demands of a new evangelization” in the United States. We will be focusing on these addresses as they’re delivered over the course of the year.

The first reflection was delivered November 26 in the presence of the bishops from the state of New York. In it, Pope Benedict suggested that the necessary pre-condition for the Church to fulfill her mission of the re-evangelization of the increasingly secularized American culture is for all in the Church first to be re-evangelized, because we can only present the Gospel credibly to others when we know it and are living it. Evangelization cannot be viewed simply as a task to be undertaken “ad extra,” to those outside the Church, he stressed. “We ourselves are the first to need re-evangelization,” he emphasized, a process that involves conversion and believing in Christ and the Gospel that sets us free. “As with all spiritual crises, whether of individuals or communities,” the Holy Father said, “we know that the ultimate answer can only be born of a searching, critical and ongoing selfassessment and conversion in the light of Christ’s truth. Only through such interior renewal will we be able to discern and meet the spiritual needs of our age with the ageless truth of the Gospel.”

In speaking about the conversion needed in the Church in the United States, it’s unsurprising that Pope Benedict began by turning to the “scandal and disorientation caused by the sexual abuse crisis of recent decades.” But he also indicated that the Church’s ongoing conversion “to ensure the safety of our children and to deal appropriately and transparently with allegations as they arise” is meant to help the entire country achieve a similar metanoia. The sexual abuse of minors is a “scourge that affects every level of society,” he said, and the Church’s efforts ought to “help the broader community to recognize the causes, true extent and devastating consequences” so that “all institutions, without exception” will be held to the same “exacting standards” to which the Church is “rightly held.” Re-evangelization always involves conversion, and conversion requires not only hatred of sin but a firm resolution never to sin again. The Church’s repentance and reparation, her protection of children and new transparency, are meant to be a catalyst for all institutions and individuals to unite in the recognition not only of the great evil of sexual abuse but formulate a stringent social game plan to prevent it and punish those who engage in it and enable it.

Pope Benedict then turned to the crucial need for an adequate formation of Catholics to know what they believe and why, and to receive support from the Church to live according to the truth.

“The obstacles to Christian faith and practice raised by a secularized culture,” he said, “cannot be underestimated.” Immersed in this culture, “believers are daily beset by the objections, the troubling questions and the cynicism of a society that seems to have lost its roots, by a world in which the love of God has grown cold in so many hearts.” This can lead to a “quiet attrition.” Once a separation of faith from life begins to occur, eventually the faith weakens and that leads to spiritual tepidity and eventually frigidity. He commended the U.S. bishops for their development of a shared pastoral vision to respond to the rupture of life from faith that has been occurring with regard to the institution of marriage and to participation in political life.

But he said that it’s not enough that the bishops be united in a shared pastoral strategy. The whole Church, he said, must be committed. “The renewal of the Church’s witness to the Gospel in your country is essentially linked to the recovery of a shared vision and sense of mission by the entire Catholic community” and to a “consistent witness at every level” of the life of the Church.

He stressed the importance of Catholic educational institutions, from universities to schools to Religious Education programs to parishes. “Young people have a right to hear clearly the Church’s teaching and, most importantly, to be inspired by the coherence and beauty of the Christian message, so that they in turn can instill in their peers a deep love of Christ and His Church.” He was phrasing his message in a positive way, but he was plainly implying that one of the major issues in the recent past that has led to the urgent need for a re-evangelization is because many Catholic educational institutions have not been teaching the faith fully, clearly and coherently. This not only has short-changed and confused students who have a right to the truth, but sent them out to spread the confusion rather than spread and live the true faith. For the Church to carry out the new evangelization, we must return to this “shared vision and sense of mission” and “consistent witness at every level,” especially in the Church’s educational institutions.

The third aspect of internal renewal and re-evangelization that Pope Benedict raised had to do with the importance of the Mass. He noted that the Church in the United States is now beginning to use the revised translation of the Roman Missal and said that this is a great opportunity to “inspire an ongoing catechesis that emphasizes the true nature of the Liturgy and, above all, the unique value of Christ’s saving sacrifice for the redemption of the world.” Once we lose a sense of the sacrality of the Mass, he implied, it’s easy to lose a sense of the sacredness of all of human life and activity. The Mass is not merely a liturgical rite, but the entrance into the saving sacrifice of Christ. Once the Mass is marginalized, Christ and the salvation He brings are likewise marginalized. “A weakened sense of the meaning and importance of Christian worship can only lead to a weakened sense of the specific and essential vocation of the laity to imbue the temporal order with the spirit of the Gospel,” Pope Benedict said. The corollary is also valid: the stronger the understanding and practice of true Christian worship, the stronger the sense of mission to imbue the temporal order with the salt, light and leaven of the Gospel. The new translation and the catechesis that continues to accompany it, therefore, are important components of the new evangelization, renewing the Church from within, and then, hopefully, bring that renewal out into the streets and neighborhoods.

The present situation of the Church in the United States, Pope Benedict said, can be seen, despite its many challenges, “in positive terms as a summons to exercise the prophetic dimension” of the Church has a whole. Many people of good will in American society are seeing a “troubling breakdown in the intellectual, cultural and moral foundations of social life and a growing sense of dislocation and insecurity, especially among the young, in the face of wide-ranging societal changes.” They are, consequently, looking to the Church “for wisdom, insight and sound guidance in meeting this far-reaching crisis.” Pope Benedict is counting on the whole Church in the U.S. to give a consistent, credible and compellingly prophetic response to this crisis. That response begins with the interior renewal of re-evangelization that is meant to make us individually and a body more united to Christ and therefore more capable of transmitting to others the truth, hope, love and salvation He has brought to the world.

December 9, 2011

The ‘Source and Summit’ of Christian life

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n 1962, Blessed Pope John XXIII articulated, “We are restless until we rest in opened the Second Vatican Council Him.” by praying that “the Holy Spirit would A few weeks ago I explained the meanrenew its wonders in our present day.” It ing of the word “Eucharist” as coming was his intention of renewing and updatfrom the Greek meaning “thanksgiving.” ing the apostolic faith of the Church. The But it is in one of the other names we Catholic Church was about to enter into a have for the Eucharist that we have deeper new and unforeseen phase in its 2,000-year insight into this point. When we refer to the history in which the continuity and identity Eucharist as “Holy Communion,” we are of the past would embrace the modern emphasizing that through our reception, we world. Trusting that the Holy Spirit was are entering into the most sacred, solemn inspiring this “aggiornamento,” (Italian and holy form of communion there is — for “updating”), the pope prayed that the the communion with the Father, Son and Second Vatican Council would be a “New Holy Spirit.

Pentecost” in the life of the Church.

That communion is perfected only This opening address of John XXIII in Heaven where we hope to behold the initiated a path of pastoral renewal by Lamb of God before our very eyes. Saying making a careful distinction between the that the Eucharist is the “summit” of the substance of the ancient teaching of the Christian life reminds us that we were creChurch (content) and the manner in which ated to be in communion with God forever it is presented (method). The pope situ— and this is (or should be) the goal of our ated the work and activity of the council lives. In receiving Holy Communion each in the long progress of history and the Sunday (or everyday for those who are able life of the Church down through the ages. to make it to daily Mass), we are able to get Blessed Pope a glimpse of John XXIII this heavenly added in this reality.

Putting Into opening adThe Eudress that “the charist is the the Deep principle aim most important of the counSacrament we

By Father cil is that the have as well sacred deposit Jay Mello as the definof Christian ing mark of doctrine should Catholicism. be more effectively guarded and taught.”

As I have stressed, we cannot think of the The reason that I mention this is because Eucharist as a mere symbol of our Catholic one of the greatest challenges in the postfaith; it is, rather, the real and efficacious Vatican Council era is in how we properly sign of our communion with God and one understand the Eucharist. One of the most another. Perhaps this is the reason that we visible changes to Catholic life after the make such a big deal about a child’s “First council was the celebration of the Mass Communion.” and thus our understanding of the Eucharist The very first time that a child is able that we receive. It is, therefore, important if to receive our Lord in Holy Communion not necessary for us clearly to identify and is truly a beautiful moment for the recipireflect upon what the council itself said in ent, his or her family, and indeed the whole this regard.

Catholic Church. Each time we receive In the Dogmatic Constitution on the our Lord worthily in the state of grace we Church, Lumen Gentium, the Fathers of the are building up the Body of Christ that is Second Vatican Council explained that the the Church; we are strengthening not only Eucharist is the “source and summit of the our individual communion with our Lord, Christian life.” These are quite profound but also our communion with every other words that are packed with meaning. To get member of the Body of Christ. a fuller understanding of what the council This communion, with our Lord and meant by “source and summit” we can look with one another is weakened and broto the council document on the priesthood, ken by sin. Every time we commit a sin, Presbyterorum Ordinis, which said that, we compromise that communion. But in “the other Sacraments, and indeed all other order that we might be brought back into ecclesiastical ministries and works of the communion with God and His Church, our apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist Savior Himself also gave us the Sacrament and oriented toward it.” of Penance (also commonly referred to The Second Vatican Council clearly as “confession”) to reconcile us back into explained that the Eucharist is the center communion. of our lives as Catholics. From it we have Thus, next week we will turn from the access to God Himself and the grace and Sacrament of the Eucharist, completing strength that we need faithfully to folthe Sacraments of Initiation, to the Sacralow Him each day. It is the “source” from ments of Healing, the first of which is the which we find our identity as disciples of Sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation.

Jesus Christ, who said that unless we eat Before that, allow me one final word on the His Body and drink His Blood, we cannot Eucharist found in the teaching of our preshave eternal life within us. Each time we ent Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI: receive the Eucharist, then, we become “The Holy Eucharist is the gift that Jesus more united to Jesus Christ. This is what Christ makes of Himself, thus revealing to it means when we say that the Eucharist us God’s infinite love for every man and is the “source” of the Christian life, that in woman. This wondrous Sacrament makes receiving it, we come to the source of who manifest that ‘greater’ love which led Him we really are. to ‘lay down His life for His friends.’ What When the council referred to the Eucha- amazement must the Apostles have felt in rist as the “summit” of the Christian life, it witnessing what the Lord did and said durwas teaching us that everything about our ing the Last Supper! What wonder must the lives as Catholics is geared toward entering eucharistic mystery also awaken in our own into perfect communion with our Lord and hearts!” (“Sacramentum Caritatis,” 1).

God. He made us to be in communion with Father Mello is a parochial vicar at St. Him and, as St. Augustine so beautifully Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth.

December 9, 2011

F

or hundreds of years people have tried to harmonize the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. A harmonization would answer all the questions of sequence, time and place in the biography of Jesus.

This attempt was destined for failure from the very start because people forgot the type of literature with which they were working.

Modern authors provide us with many choices. We can choose mystery, biography, history, travel, science fiction, documentary, poetry, western, and the list goes on.

Many of the forms of literature that were in use in the ancient world are still being used by authors today. And so we can relate to some ancient writings easily.

Some ancient forms of literature are no longer being written today, and so we try to fit them into a familiar form to more easily understand them.

One of the forms no longer being written is Gospel.

Our English word Gospel is a literal translation of a Greek word

O

nce I met a woman who had worked for years in fashion and modeling. Unsurprisingly, she was strikingly attractive.

She was accompanied by her teenage daughter who, by contrast, was rather unremarkable to look at, maybe even a plain-Jane. After spending time with them, I began to sense that the mother, whose life had largely revolved around her appearance, seemed to look down on her daughter, perhaps unconsciously, because of her average appearance. Her daughter seemed aware of this lack of maternal acceptance, and seemed troubled and uncomfortable as she tried to compensate and please her mom in other ways.

The girl’s situation was a strong reminder to me of how important it is for every child to experience unconditional acceptance from their parents if they are to grow and mature in a healthy way.

Unconditional love profoundly and beautifully molds us as human beings.

A growing number of parents in our society, however, no longer seem to hold to this key notion of unconditionally accepting their own children. If parents are told by doctors that their children might be born with physical or mental disabilities, many parents today will reject them and even yield to the temptation to end their lives through direct abortion.

I was recently discussing the Special Olympics with the father of a boy who has Down syndrome, and he remarked that

7

The Anchor

The Light of the world

into Anglo-Saxon (godspell), a Jesus is the Word of God. good story, good news, good tidAcknowledging that the ings, etc. In other words, the biog- Gospels are not biographies, and raphy of Jesus is not as important that it is not possible to write a as the message He brings. true biography of our Lord, yet John emphasizes this idea of the various books entitled “Life of message rather than biography Christ” or something similar do in the Prologue of the Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn 1:1). “And the Word became flesh and made

By Father His dwelling among Martin L. Buote us, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:14). have a value. These books give The Letter to the Hebrews exus a fairly accurate picture of the presses this same thought in chap- religious, political, geographical ter one: “In times past, God spoke background within which Jesus in partial and various ways to our was proclaiming the Good News. ancestors through the prophets; Since the Evangelists were not in these last days, He spoke to us writing history or biography, they through a Son, Whom He made felt free to edit and arrange their heir of all things and through material. This is clearly seen in Whom He created the universe” Jesus’ parable on His disciples as (Heb 1:1,2). In truth, Jesus is the the Light of the World. message; Jesus is the Good News; In Matthew, this parable is

Parables of the Lord

found immediately after the parable of salt, and in the same setting (Mt. 5:14,15). In Mark (Mk 9:21) and Luke (Lk 8:16, 11:33), the timing and setting are quite different. In John (Jn 8:12), Jesus applies the phrase “light of the world” to Himself.

The plan of Matthew’s composition has several long sermons that draw together teachings of Jesus which occurred on different days. Thus, Matthew places these two parables together, not simply because they are somewhat parallel, but because He can use one to give explanation to the other.

He gives two examples of how the natural light of this world can radiate and spread. This is followed by an admonition to the disciples to let their good example radiate unto the glorification of God. This is exactly what would not happen if their “salt” became insipid, and was therefore thrown out.

Unconditional parental love

when he takes his son to the local ubiquitous pressure that counsels chapter, there seem to be reduced us to ensure that our children are numbers of new children particiborn without defects. pating each year. He wondered if Bioethicist Luke Gormally this could be due to the expanded targeting of Down syndrome children through prenatal testing and abortion.

Most unborn children diagnosed with

By Father Tad Down syndrome, in fact, are never allowed Pacholczyk to be born. Data from the United Kingdom indicate that between 1989 and 2006 approximately 92 argues it this way: “In part these percent of women chose to termipressures are the natural temptanate a pregnancy with a prenatal tion to avoid the burdens of care diagnosis of Down syndrome, for the handicapped. In part, while in the U.S., several pubhowever, they are the pressures lished studies suggest the figure of cultural attitudes, assimilated may be somewhere between 87 by many Christians, towards the percent and 98 percent. A great child.” many Down syndrome children, He continues: “For many it has indeed, never see the light of day. become merely quaint to think of In the face of these harsh each child as a unique gift of God; data, the importance of explicitly children are more like planned repudiating the eugenic mindset acquisitions in our culture, acquithat has taken hold in our society sitions which should fit into our cannot be overstated. No child is expectations about how our lives perfect, but every child is preshould go, about the ease and cious. We need to act as a people enjoyments that should charac“set apart” in our attitude to the terize our lifestyle. A child who begetting of children who may be might threaten our ease may, if disabled. Historically, Catholics he or she is viewed as an acquisihave always stood apart in this tion, be thought of as a replaceable way. acquisition. And indeed genetic Practically, this means overcounselors will tell parents: you turning our culturally-conditioned can terminate this pregnancy and attitudes towards “imperfect” try again for a ‘normal child.’” children, and accepting every A husband and wife are called child without preconditions. We to give themselves to each other must push back against the almost completely and unreservedly, and

Making Sense Out of Bioethics

to accept each other unconditionally in the marital embrace. Every child of theirs, whether entering the world with a handicap or not, is an expression and fruit of themselves and their acceptance of each other.

To reject their own progeny because of a disability is to reject each other on some level. To deny life to their own flesh and blood is also to reject an infinite gift from the Giver of gifts, and to arrogate to themselves a ruthless power over life. Meanwhile, the unconditional acceptance of a child as a gift of God flows from the true and unconditional acceptance of each other as husband and wife, even with all their spousal faults and defects.

As Gormally concludes, “Truly unreserved self-giving carries with

The “Fickle Children” is the next parable, which is found only in Matthew (Mt 11:16-19) and Luke (Lk 7:31-35). Jesus compares the fickleness of children to the contrariness of those who oppose His teaching. It is not clear from the parable alone whether the two musical invitations came from the same group of children to another group, or whether the two groups taunt each other. I think it is more probable that the two invitations come from the same group, just as John and Jesus both came from God. They both stood in the authentic line of the figures of Old Testament prophecy. Their opponents tried to place them in extremes outside that authentic line. The divine wisdom is manifested in them, but not in their opponents.

Father Buote is a retired priest of the Diocese of Fall River. For more than 30 years, he has been leading Bible study groups in various parishes and has also led pilgrims to visit sites in Israel associated with the Bible.

it a commitment to unreserved acceptance of the fruit of that selfgiving. The dignity of the child is only adequately recognized in the acceptance and cherishing of him just as he is.”

We do well continually to realign our thinking, so we can come to see how our children, whether “perfect” or not, are treasures and never possessions; they are gifts, and never acquisitions. They are blessings to be safeguarded and nurtured in the embrace of unconditional parental acceptance.

Father Pacholczyk, earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, and serves as the director of Education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. See www. ncbcenter.org.

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I

saiah tells us in the first reading for this Sunday, (God) “has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted.” This has been true for those who have spoken out on behalf of God in all times. All Christians are called to do this, following the example laid down

by Jesus Himself.

These “glad tidings” are not a matter of “Pollyannaish” naiveté, but are rooted in the fact that only in Christ can we find true liberation.

The message of Christ is the message which brings true spiritual healing, the only type of healing which continues to have effects after death.

The Blessed Mother is someone who has always shared this message. In the responsorial, we hear her “Magnificat” prayer from the Gospel of Luke. She makes this joyful proclamation regarding the surprising, seemingly “upside-down” reality of the Kingdom of God while

December 9, 2011

The Anchor

Making straight the way of the Lord

visiting her cousin Elizabeth, A.D., but instead as a meswho is pregnant with her baby tiza (mixed indigenous and John (the future Baptist). John European) woman. Remember had just jumped for joy inside how Jesus was not immediElizabeth’s womb because he ately recognizable after the recognized that God the Son Resurrection? Apparently the was inside of Mary’s womb. All four (the two mothers and the Homily of the Week two infants in the Third Sunday womb) are rejoicing of Advent because God lifts up the lowly and casts

By Father down the powerful.

Richard D. Wilson Centuries later Mary, again accompanied by her Son in her womb, brought this same glorified bodies of Jesus and message to St. Juan Diego in Mary can change appearances.

1531. He was a convert to the Maybe that will be true for us Catholic faith, having been after the resurrection of the born before the Spanish had dead, if we are faithful and conquered Mexico. Not many are “preserved blameless for fellow Mexicans had emthe coming of our Lord Jesus braced Catholicism by 1531, Christ,” as St. Paul tells us in “turned off” by the association the second reading. of the faith with the Spanish Mary told Juan Diego to invaders. tell the bishop of Mexico City So, in God’s plan, Mary to have a church built in her came to Mexico, not as she honor. The bishop, of course, looked in the first century did not believe this outlandish

story that the Mother of God was now appearing as a mestiza woman on a hillside. He asked Juan Diego to bring him proof. But on the day (Dec. 12, 1531) on which Mary was to give Juan Diego the needed proof, Juan Diego had a much more pressing matter. His uncle is dying and so he set out to get a priest.

Incredibly (from our point of view), he tried to avoid Mary, worrying that she would slow him down (maybe causing the priest to arrive too late to anoint the uncle), and took another route. Mary knew what was going on and appeared to Juan Diego there.

There she brought glad tidings to him and said, “May your heart not be disturbed; do not be afraid of that illness, nor any other illness or anguish.

Am I not here who am your Mother?”

She told him that the uncle

would be healed (he later told Juan Diego that Mary herself came and healed him) and then gave him Castilian roses (which don’t normally grow in Mexico in December) to bring to the bishop as proof.

When Juan Diego opened up his tilma (the garment in which he carried the roses), the bishop was astounded by the picture of Mary (now known as Our Lady of Guadalupe) which had been inscribed on it.

Thus, Mary helped to “make straight the way of the Lord” in Mexico and in all of America, bringing many people to the faith and to a respect for human life from conception to natural death. May we follow her example and do the same, by the ways in which we honor all life, no matter at what stage it is at, no matter from what land it comes.

Father Wilson is pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Parish and director of the Hispanic Apostolate.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Dec. 10, Sir 48:1-4,9-11; Mt 17:9a,10-13. Sun. Dec. 11, Third Sunday of Advent, Is 61:1-2a,10-11; (Ps) Lk 1:4650,53-54; 1 Thes 5:16-24; Jn 1:6-8,19-28. Mon. Dec. 12, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Zec 2:14-17 or Rv 11:19a;12:1-6a,10ab; Lk 1:26-38 or 1:3947. Tues. Dec. 13, Zep 3:1-2,9-13; Mt 21:28-32. Wed. Dec. 14, Is 45:6b-8,18,21b-25; Lk 7:18b-23. Thu. Dec. 15, Is 54:1-10; Lk 7:24-30. Fri. Dec. 16, Is 56:1-3a,6-8; Jn 5:33-36.

D

uring his homily at the Mass pro eligendo Romano Pontifice [for the election of the Roman Pontiff] on Apr. 18, 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger cautioned his fellow-cardinals that John Paul II’s successor would have to deal with an emerging “dictatorship of relativism” throughout the western world: the use of coercive state power to impose an agenda of dramatic moral deconstruction on all of society.

Some Catholic commentators charged that Ratzinger’s warning was so over-the-top that he could never be elected pope. Others thought the formula “dictatorship of relativism” a neat summary of a grave threat to freedom and believed that a man with the courage to call things by their true names

Coercing consciences

ers) are threatened by the dictawould make a fine pontiff. torship of relativism in the guise Recent events throughout the of the Obama administration’s western world have fully vindiDepartment of Health and Human cated the latter.

Services, as the bishops of the In Canada, evangelical pastors have been assessed heavy monetary fines for preaching the Gospel truth about the ethics of love and marriage. In Poland, the priest-editor of a major Catholic

By George Weigel magazine was convicted of violating a complainant’s human rights and United States have warned. assessed a heavy fine because he And then there is Australia, described abortion for what it is: which I recently visited on a 10the willful taking of an innocent day lecture tour. human life. In the United States, A summary of opinion polling health care providers and others involved in the health care system published in the Australian edition of The Week suggests that Aus(including employers and insursies are, well, distinctive. More Australians believe in “humaninduced climate change” than believe in God; yet 20 percent more of the folks living Down Under believe in angels than believe in evolution. Go figure.

Amidst the post-modern confusions, however, Australia is like the rest of the West in that the proponents of “marriage equality” are at the forefront of efforts to impose the dictatorship of relativism, in this instance from Perth to Sydney and at all points in between. Moreover, their rhetoric

The Catholic Difference

has become brazenly Orwellian.

Thus when Prime Minister Julia Gillard (an avowed atheist who makes Nancy Pelosi seem like Margaret Thatcher) nonetheless announced that a “gay marriage” proposal would get a “conscience vote” in the federal parliament, she was accused by her lefter-thanleft opponents of being … undemocratic.

For those unfamiliar with Westminster systems, most parliamentary votes are, as the British say, subject to the party whip: that is, members are expected to vote with the party leadership and are subject to severe retribution (such as being “de-certified” as a party-supported candidate at the next election) if they resist the whip. By contrast, a “conscience vote” is one in which parliamentarians may vote as they like (for reasons of conscience, or what they deem political expedience, or both). But according to Senator Gavin Marshall, chairman of the “Left federal parliamentary Labor Party caucus,” writing in The Age, Gillard’s decision to allow a “conscience vote” on “gay marriage” is “not democratic,” because it “exposes individual parliamentarians to powerful conservative lobby groups” and

the retrograde opinions of those “stubbornly opposed to all social reforms.”

Imagine that: defenseless “individual parliamentarians” having to contend with deeply held (and often religiously informed) moral convictions. What will those nasty, unscrupulous opponents of “social reform” think of next?

George Orwell — our great pathologist of debauched political speech — would have gagged at Senator Marshall’s op-ed piece.

A coerced whip-line vote that imposes a radical and philosophically incoherent agenda on a country not at all sure it wants to go down that road is “democratic,” whereas a free vote on whether the state can re-define a basic human institution at its whim is undemocratic? Please.

If Senator Marshall is right, then the word “democratic” means nothing but willfulness manifest through legislation.

That the willfulness in question is based on a deeply confused relativism about right and wrong, and that it chooses to impose itself through coercive state power, only underscores the point Joseph Ratzinger was making in 2005.

George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

December 9, 2011

Out with the old, in with the new

Sunday 4 December 2011 more solemn language than — at the church on Three Mile commonly used in ordinary River — Second Sunday of discourse. The results of all the Advent hard work shone through when here was no ball slowly priests everywhere cracked dropping in Times Square; no pointy party hats; no counting off the final seconds of the old Reflections of a year. Nevertheless, in Parish Priest the Church, the First Sunday of Advent

By Father Tim began another Year Goldrick of Grace — and what a New Year’s it was!

In Catholic parishes across the land, the Third Ediopen the actual book and betion of the Roman Missal went gan to pray with it. The words into effect. are majestic.

Scholars have been working In advance, there had been on the revised translation for meetings for priests, others a long time. Their task was to for interested lay people, and create a new Roman Missal in still others for Church musiEnglish translation — one that cians. Copy machines in parish would be more faithful to the offices everywhere went into Latin; one that would utilize meltdown mode as, week after

T

The Ship’s Log

E

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The Anchor week, reams of explanatory bulletin inserts were printed for distribution to Mass-goers.

The sacred books could be preordered. Those who ordered early received their new Roman Missals in a timely fashion.

Those who procrastinated learned too late that one of the major publishers ran out and had to rush to print more Missals. Laminated pew cards were purchased in increments of a thousand.

Here on Three Mile River, on several weekends prior to the implementation, members of the Parish Pastoral Council were enlisted to read various statements explaining the changes to parishioners. Music settings were introduced to the assembly several weeks ahead of time.

Civilization hangs in the balance

of formal devotions. As scholver hopeful of keeping ars have posited from time my paltry French skills immemorial, “virtue lies in alive, and even adding a few the middle,” meaning that all words, I receive lovely emails excess should be avoided. regularly from an American My French writer elaboliving in France. I was a little rated with some other helpful startled, though, to read in the uses of the phrase: “Too much header that the word for this work kills the work,” “too week is tuer (to kill). Would much cake kills the cake,” this really augment my path to and “too much fun kills fun.” the crèche? Indeed, I found it Any mother who has spent too most helpful. long at Chuck E. Cheese type Evidently, there is a French venues knows that last one phrase that can be used with a variety of words, and when this writer perused the Christmas wish list of one of her children — a list which proved rather short — the daughter explained:

By Genevieve Kineke Trop de cadeau tuent les cadeaux (“Too many presents kill the very well! presents”). How right she was, While going “cold turkey” and the mother delighted in on particular little vices may knowing that her daughter had be difficult, for those that are come to understand this nugnot sins, attempting moderaget of wisdom. tion can prove even harder.

With the Christmas holiYears ago when we were days approaching, there may pondering what to do with not be much we can do about the television, I begged my changing their requisite exhusband just to toss it. The pectations, but close on their temptation would be gone — heels is a new year with the there would be no resorting to opportunity to make some it “on rainy days,” or “just for resolutions. Often we imagine an hour.” He wouldn’t do it sweeping changes that will at the time, suggesting rather rattle our world — and those that we learn discipline, which around us — and unfortunatewe all found a cruel response. ly we fail miserably before We lurched along with January has ended. varying degrees of self-conThe authentic Christian trol; yet indeed there came a response is actually more baltime to tuer the thing when anced. Too much of anything one too many a vile image is unhealthy — yes, even had snuck fleetingly across prayer, if one speaks strictly

The Feminine Genius

the screen. Now our discipline must be exercised with a VCR alone, so that it really does boil down to balance without concern for depravity.

So as we approach the new year, perhaps we can take the question of balance to prayer.

Where are the excesses in our lives? Is it work? Is it fastidiousness? Is it Facebook? Is it curiosity? I remember peeking into the FlyLady website a few years ago, and learned that her advice to those seeking to establish order in the home was to start by making sure the sink was clean and wiped before retiring to bed.

It was so simple — and nearly manageable. I actually went months with finishing the dishes and putting them away before realizing that she meant the bathroom sink — which was even easier!

So love yourself; love your family, and love God in a balanced and human way.

Look for virtue in the middle, between sloth and the slavish work, between despondency and unsustainable giddy joy.

In return, God will come to you in his own quiet way, affirming your good intentions and smiling tenderly over your well-meaning foibles.

Find balance this year, and resolve firmly to tuer l’excès!

Mrs. Kineke is the author of “The Authentic Catholic Woman” (Servant Books) and can be found online at feminine-genius.com.

On the first Sunday after the actual book arrived, a parishioner ceremoniously carried it in at the Presentation of the Gifts. The Missal was publicly received, held up high so that all could see it, solemnly blessed (there’s an appropriate prayer for such an occasion in the official Book of Blessings) and enshrined on a table at one of the entry ways of the church. This afforded parishioners opportunity to inspect it at their leisure.

The few days before the changes went into effect, high school students here were drafted to uncrate and set out in the pews the newsprint worship aids. The old “missalettes” went into the recycling bin. I held onto the old Sacramentary, though. It had been used in worship and deserved special treatment, although I’m still unsure what to do with it. Finally, all was ready. Come what may, everything that could be done had been done.

At long last the First Sunday of Advent dawned. There was one final “heads up” given from the lectern and then, as always, the Mass began with “In the Name of the Father, and .…” Quite frankly, I was surprised at how smoothly it all went down. People were not at all embarrassed to take their laminated “cheat sheets” in hand and use them. Feeling a little punkish, I threw the congregation a curve ball, just to keep them on their toes. I decided to use the option of the “Lord Have Mercy” in Greek. After the initial shock, they chimed right in. “What language were you speaking in that prayer?,” asked one of the men of the Knights of Columbus afterwards. Although he is old enough to have grand-

children, he was too young to remember.

“Well, Father,” teased the same man, “you managed to struggle through the new translation, but you forgot the Gloria.” Rather, he forgot that the Gloria is not sung during Advent.

An usher asked, “We have our laminated pew cards, Father, but what do you have to assist you in this matter?”

“Here’s what I have,” I said, as I held up the ceremonial copy of the Roman Missal.” My version is 1,314 pages long.

I understand now why some older priests had difficulty adapting when the Mass was first introduced into English in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Back then, it involved many more changes. Still, I have used that Second Edition Sacramentary for nearly 40 years. I knew the prayers by heart. There are so many tabs in the new book that I hardly know which page to turn — and I have to read every word. Sometimes even when I’m looking right at the current translation, the old words come out of my mouth.

Go figure.

I pasted removable arrows in the new book to draw my attention to passages that might have the potential to trip me up. God helps those who help themselves.

We just have to snicker at our fumbling and get on with it. I joked with parishioners that I would ring a bell when one of us slipped up. You can’t take yourself too seriously. In 30 years or so, I suppose there will be a Fourth Edition, but I’m not going to worry about it.

Father Goldrick is pastor of St. Nicholas of Myra Parish in North Dighton.

10

The Anchor

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

TAUNTON — Being a Faith Formation teacher for 40 years shows a dedication to one’s faith and desire to spread the Word, but that devotion just scratches the surface of all that Anna Correia gives to St. Anthony Parish of Taunton. She is a member of the parish pastoral council and the Holy Rosary Sodality, and does home visits as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion.

“She’s one of those ladies who has been very close to the Church all her life. Her family was very Church-oriented,” said the pastor of St. Anthony Parish, Father Henry Arruda. “She’s been involved in every aspect of any activity in the parish, and is one of those very special parishioners that we, as pastors, are grateful to God to have. I wish we had more like her in the parish. She is very dedicated and wonderful. I could go on and on because she really is one of those dedicated people.”

St. Anthony’s Parish shaped Correia’s faith from her birth; the Taunton native received all her Sacraments and was married in the old church before the new church was built. Some of her earliest memories of the parish were attending Faith Formation classes in the old church’s basement.

“My family always went to Mass. My dad used to open the

December 9, 2011

An incomparable devotion to faith

door of the church at six o’clock message across, every year she in the morning before he went to would offer a unique homework work so the ladies could go in. assignment.

My mother was a charter member of the Holy Rosary Sodality, which I now belong to, for many years. It’s really been instilled in our lives,” said Correia, adding her mother came from the Azores and lived her faith by example.

“She was a very religious woman; my mother was a lady.”

Correia retired two years ago after teaching Faith Formation classes for 40 years, and only did so because the cold winter months caused trouble with her osteoarthritis.

“I miss it terribly,” she said. “Hopefully within those 40 years, I’ve touched a few hearts.”

She started with the younger children and then worked her way up to the Confir- Anchor Person of the Week mation class. Correia Correia. (Photo by Becky Aubut) said she wanted each student to learn their faith and understand that being “I want you to ask your parCatholic was more than just the ents, grandparents or guardian, name of their religion. To get the on Wednesday evening about six

o’clock, to bring you in the car and go by St. Vincent de Paul, which is in the back of our parish,” she would tell her class, “and I want you to come back and tell me what you see.”

Those who went would see a long line of people waiting to get food distributed

by St. Vincent de Paul. One boy, said Correia, could not believe how long the line was, and she asked him, “What does that teach you?”

When the boy said he now appreciated all he had, Correia knew her message had found a home.

“They don’t realize this. These kids have a roof over their heads, everything is put on the table; a lot of these kids don’t stop to think about that,” said Correia. “I know I didn’t when I was younger, and I was born in 1931 — Anna during the Great Depression, but we were all poor. Kids don’t stop to think; they get so busy with their lives. They don’t stop to realize that maybe even some of their neighbors are living like that.”

Correia recalls another of her Confirmation students who went looking to fulfill her community service hours. “This young girl went across the street from the church and knocked on all the doors. An elderly lady answered, and the girl told her she needed to perform 10 hours of community service to receive Confirmation,” said Correia.

The young girl wrote notes for the elderly woman and helped do things around the house. In return, the elderly woman helped teach the young lady how to cook.

Even after fulfilling her hours, the girl continued to help the elderly woman until the woman went into a nursing home, eventually passing away.

“What a wonderful example for this young girl,” said Correia.

“Things like that, I say, ‘Thank you Jesus, I hit a couple of them, and maybe a couple of the parents too.’”

Along with doing home visits, Correia delivers Holy Communion to four area nursing homes, trying to get to all of them at least once or twice a month. Having an outreach ministry is such a vital aspect of the Catholic faith, said Correia, sharing a story of a man she visits regularly and who doesn’t have much family in the area.

“I feel so bad for him,” said Correia. “I go and sit with him and pray. I try to console him and say to him, ‘You have a lot of people who come in and take care of you.’ I think it’s very important that people in a parish go and visit some of the people in the nursing homes.”

Correia’s late husband was also active at St. Anthony’s Parish, and she tears up when talking about his sudden death, adding that she has no idea how she would have coped if she didn’t have her faith.

“We have to accept God’s will; I didn’t question God. You have to accept it,” said Correia.

“If it wasn’t for my religion, my God, my people in my parish who were so good to me, my neighbors, I don’t know if I would have done as well as I have done.”

Her late husband was an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, said Correia, and was the first Religious Education coordinator of the Faith Formation program. Now Correia’s daughter shares coordinator duties with another woman from the parish while her grandson teaches fifth grade. Correia starts every morning with Mass and because it’s the Advent season, she and her daughter will be in the sacristy cleaning the chalices and ciboriums while listening to the choir rehearse.

“We all love St. Anthony’s.

Everybody works hard for St. Anthony’s. Father Henry is a great priest and a wonderful friend. He keeps our church beautiful, and he also has a hardworking parish,” said Correia.

“That’s what makes anything a success — it’s everyone working together.”

To submit a Person of the Week nominee, send an email with information to fatherrogerlandry@anchornews. org.

The Anchor

December 9, 2011

thank you — The diocesan religious remember all the faithful in the Diocese of Fall River in prayer. They are grateful for all those in the diocese who share in the care of all consecrated men and women through the annual Retirement Fund for Religious, the collection for which will be taken this Sunday.

Pictured on left: Sister Barbara Hunt, RSM; top right: Holy Union Sisters Adrienne DeChamplain, Bernadette Piche, and Therese Landry; and bottom right: Sister Mary Agnes Shannon, O.P.

CUA president pleased ruling confirms legality of single-sex dorms

WASHINGTON (CNS) — John Garvey, president of The Catholic University of America, said he was “gratified” by the dismissal of a complaint filed against the university saying its single-sex dorms discriminated against women.

“We were confident from the beginning that our actions were entirely legal,” Garvey said in a statement.

The November 29 order by the District of Columbia’s Office of Human Rights said offering only single-sex dormitories is not unlawful discrimination under the city’s Human Rights Act. It noted that if colleges were to comply with the complaint’s reasoning, it would cause “a prohibition on same-sex bathrooms, locker rooms and sports teams, which would lead to absurd results.”

The complaint was filed by John Banzhaf, a public-interest law professor at George Washington University, also in Washington.

Banzhaf filed another complaint in October against Catholic University, saying the school discriminated against Muslim students by failing to provide prayer rooms free of Catholic symbols. The complaint is still pending before the Human Rights Office.

In an October 28 statement to parents, students and faculty members, Garvey called that complaint a “manufactured controversy.”

The order dismissing the complaint against single-sex dorms pointed out that Banzhaf only provided “conjecture and speculation” instead of facts about how single-sex dorms might negatively affect women.

It also said Banzhaf “has not demonstrated that women would not have equivalent access to educational opportunities or be subject to any material harm.”

Garvey announced June 13 that the university would be taking a stand against binge drinking and the “culture of hooking up” by phasing out coed dorms.

11

12

December 9, 2011

The Anchor

CNS Movie Capsules NEW YORK (CNS) — The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed

by Catholic News Service.

“The Descendants” (Fox Searchlight) Spiritually bereft dark comedy in which, with his wife (Patricia Hastie) left braindead by an accident, a grieving Hawaii lawyer (George Clooney) and previously neglectful father is forced to deal with the impact of her loss on their two daughters (Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller) as well as with a family crisis involving the planned sale of a pristine beachfront property held in trust for generations. Director and co-writer Alexander Payne’s astringent adaptation of Kaui Hart Hemmings’ novel is neither hostile to religion nor to people of faith. But belief of any sort is conspicuously absent as characters grapple with fundamental questions and emotions. Mature themes, including end-of-life issues and adultery; frequent rough and crude language; and fleeting profanity. The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture

Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

“My Week With Marilyn” (Weinstein) This behind-the-scenes look at the making of 1956’s “The Prince and the Showgirl” — one of Marilyn Monroe’s least successful films — offers a fascinating study of her tortured soul and of a clash of cultures in 1950s Britain. The young assistant (Eddie Redmayne) to the movie’s distinguished director and leading man, Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh), is smitten by Monroe (Michelle Williams) and eager to protect her from the sniping establishment, who resent her beauty and lack of classical training. Monroe, on the other hand, is desperate to be taken seriously as an actress but hampered by her dependence on pills and alcohol. When the set becomes a battleground of titans, Monroe retreats to the country with her newfound friend in tow.

Directed by newcomer Simon Curtis, this screen version of Colin Clark’s 1995 memoir is, for the most part, surprisingly chaste and free of exploitative intent. Fleeting rear female nudity, brief adulterous kissing, a few profane expressions, some rough language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted.

Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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

Celebrant is Father Rodney E. Thibault, Chaplain at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford

MUSIC MAN — Liturgical composer and performer Tom Kendzia spoke to music ministers from the diocese during an Advent workshop at St. Margaret’s Parish in Buzzards Bay on November 22.

Kendzia offered suggestions and ideas on how to inspire parishioners to sing during Mass. (Photo

by Kenneth J. Souza)

Bringing music to the Masses

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

BUZZARDS BAY — For composer and music minister Tom Kendzia, there’s nothing more disheartening than knowing his songs or performance during a Liturgy may have discouraged people from coming back the following week.

“It breaks my heart when I hear that many Catholics don’t go to Mass anymore and that what we do (as music ministers) is sometimes responsible for that,” Kendzia said. “And we have to bear some responsibility, unfortunately. We’re not responsible for all of it, but we need to take it seriously.”

Kendzia presented a workshop for fellow music ministers from about a half-dozen parishes in the diocese on November 22 at St. Margaret’s Parish in Buzzards Bay. He began his discussion by noting that a recent poll of Catholics indicated the two most popular reasons for attending Mass were the homily and the music.

“The Eucharist was way down on the list — that was shocking to me, because the Eucharist is essential to the Liturgy, it’s the central part of our faith,” Kendzia said. “To me that suggests the Mass is seen as more like entertainment rather than ritual.”

A well-known composer, arranger, producer, teacher, clinician, author and performer, Kendzia has been a professional liturgical musician for more than 30 years. He has published 15 collections of liturgical and instrumental music, including “The Ships That Sailed” and “Make Us One.” He currently serves as music and Liturgy consultant for Harcourt Religion Publishers and is music director at Christ the King Parish in

Kingston, R.I., where he lives with his wife, Mary Carol, and their two children.

While he believes that the music sung during Mass should be engaging, Kendzia said it should not become a performance, whereby the choir is simply there to entertain the congregants.

“The lyrics and the way music is used liturgically should help people understand their faith,” he said. “Obviously, that is better aided when the music works.”

During a special Mass for pastoral musicians prior to the workshop in celebration of the feast of St. Cecilia, the patron of music ministers, Father Thomas Washburn, OFM, pastor of St. Margaret’s Parish, concurred with Kendzia’s comments in his homily.

“Tonight I would invite us to think about not just what it means to be musicians, singers or musical directors, but what it means to be liturgical musicians, singers and directors — because that one word really makes a big difference,” Father Washburn said. “When we gather for Mass and use our musical gifts, it is not a performance. What we do is like what St. Cecilia did: we pray through song. It’s not just something that accompanies the Mass — it elevates the Mass to a new level.”

Referring back to the original documents of Vatican II, Kendzia said he was always struck by the quote that said “good Liturgy nurtures and fosters faith; poor Liturgy can weaken and destroy faith.”

“That’s very strong language,” he said. “But we know when the music is good, something happens to us. Likewise, when we hear a good homily, challenging us to live our faith, it also can change our hearts.”

As Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth, executive director of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, said in a powerful speech to liturgical musicians last August in Atlanta: “Maybe the greatest challenge that lies before us (in the implementation of the new translations) is the invitation once again to sing the Mass rather than merely to sing at Mass.”

The summons to “sing the Mass” rather than merely “sing at Mass” was originally made in the liturgical reforms of and after the Second Vatican Council but has yet to be acted upon in many American parishes.

“Musicam Sacram,” the Church’s instruction on music in the Liturgy, stated in 1967, “Liturgical worship is given a more noble form when it is celebrated in song, with the ministers of each degree fulfilling their ministry and the people participating in it.

Indeed, through this form, prayer is expressed in a more attractive way, the mystery of the Liturgy, with its hierarchical and community nature, is more openly shown, the unity of hearts is more profoundly achieved by the union of voices, minds are more easily raised to heavenly things by the beauty of the sacred rites, and the whole celebration more clearly prefigures that heavenly Liturgy which is enacted in the holy city of Jerusalem.”

Kendzia agreed that “full, active, conscious participation in the Mass” is the desire of the U.S. bishops.

“We are called to actively participate in a fully conscious way … not unconscious or semi-conscious; and Catholics are notoriously semi-conscious during Mass,” Kendzia said. “I don’t know who’s to blame for Turn to page 13

December 9, 2011

W

hat persuaded me on the subject of Shakespeare’s religion was not his Catholicism per se, but his “secret” Catholicism. I have an anti-authoritarian streak and it seemed rather punkrock to me that this playwright would be Catholic at a time where it was decidedly uncool to be Catholic and definitely dangerous to be so. It also affirmed another theory I devised in another research subject area concerning effective creative writing. Writing, I propose, is most effective and most creative when it strives to say something that cannot or should not be said. Even Christ realized that there were some things that should not be said directly; even more importantly He said things that could not be said directly, because there are some things that simply cannot be known directly; this is shape of parable and the seed of love in action.

With these ideas in mind I began a six year journey into Shakespeare and his context for my dissertation.

As it turns out, I picked an interesting time to study Shakespeare and his religion. From the time I started in 2004 until now, the scholarly weight has shifted away from a Protestant and rather secularist Shakespeare toward an almost certainly Catholic one. This year has been a grand punctuation mark as the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Vatican newspaper both suggested formal statements confirming that Shakespeare was Catho-

The Anchor

‘Secret’ Catholicism

lic. This was not the case as I began my work in exchange for having the ability studies, and even now scholarly skeptics to pen Southwell’s “The Burning Babe.” persist in a phenomenon called confirma- Though he knew the danger to his life tion bias. When we are passionate about with the accession of Queen Elizabeth, a topic, we have a tendency to project he requested to be sent on mission to our own beliefs onto our subject, and find England and addressed his lyric poetry our own pre-existing beliefs everywhere to the faithful Catholics still living there. we look. An He wrote an agnostic, secuimpassioned larist scholar and public has a funny plea to Elizaway of finding beth, making an agnostic, the case that secularist one could be a Shakespeare. faithful CathoBy Jennifer Pierce I suppose I lic and loyal should not to the crown. hold myself Elizabeth was above that particular fray; remarkably, not inclined to agree. She set Richard I tend to find a passionately Catholic Topcliffe, a member of Parliament and Shakespeare with a taste for medieval feared priest-hunter-cum-torturer, on his philosophy. I stop short of one who likes trail and he was captured, abused, and NYC pizza and Chinese food. tortured over the course of three years Prior to this shift, however, it could be before he was executed by dragging, parvery amusing to read evidence under dis- tial hanging, and disemboweling while pute. Often, scholars go to great lengths still alive. to ignore compelling information. Take The Southwell-Shakespeare link the case of Robert Southwell, SJ. was not only direct through the ShakeRobert Southwell was a Jesuit misspeare maternal bloodline but also very sionary to England, and one of several likely intimate. The strongest evidence connections between Shakespeare and is a published letter entitled “St. Peter’s the Jesuits. Southwell himself was a poet Complaint” written to “My Good Cosen, good enough to inspire Ben Jonson’s Maister WS.” It is an address to a poet begrudging admiration as he wrote that whom Southwell admires, but whom he would gladly destroy all of his own he admonishes to take up graver matter in his poetry. There are oblique refer-

Hidden Shakespeare

Bringing music to the Masses continued from page 12

that, but Catholics have been historically encouraged to come to Church and leave their brain in the car. So you don’t think, you just do. And that’s too bad, because Jesus taught by telling stories that made you think.”

Admitting that it’s difficult to get people at Mass to sing just a few hymns, Kendzia nevertheless said it’s the music ministers’ job to somehow engage them so it becomes a unified effort.

“Music has a unique ability to do that,” he said. “When we say the Lord’s Prayer, for example, you get a sense that everyone is praying together. It’s the same thing when we sing together and even more so when we sing something that is strong and powerful and unique. It helps us understand the presence of God in a special way.”

With the fresh start of Advent and the newly-revised translation of the Roman Missal now in place, Kendzia said this is also the ideal time to reintroduce Catholics to the importance of singing at Mass.

“Advent is a wonderful season to sort of recharge your energy with music and prayer,” he said. “And here’s a great opportunity with the changes in the Roman Missal to learn what the Mass is all about.

Your role in the Liturgy is very important — it should make people want to come back to Mass next Sunday.”

“St. Augustine said it best when he suggested when we sing, we pray twice,” Father Washburn agreed. “The music we sing at Mass is not the pure work of musicians, but it finds its origin in God and it’s something we offer back to Him in order to glorify Him.”

The Anchor will not publish on December 30. It will return with the January 6, 2012 edition.

13 ences in the poem to Shakespeare’s work “Venus and Adonis,” which was likely published the same year (1592) that Southwell penned this letter. Whether or not the WS is William Shakespeare is somewhat uncertain. Through Christopher Devlin’s 1956 biography of Southwell, however, we know that there is a documented blood relationship between Southwell and Shakespeare’s mother.

There are no other first, second, or third cousins on Southwell’s side with the initials WS, and certainly none with the reputation for poetry that our WS had, let alone having authorship of a poem concerned with Venus, a subject he names specifically in the letter. The last line of the letter is: “it rests in your will.”

Though this may seem reasonably compelling to you and me, there are scholars who insist that though, yes, there is a blood link between Southwell and Shakespeare’s maternal line there must have been another cousin, one with the initials WS, who wrote poetry, and happened to write a poem on the subject of Venus the same year that Shakespeare did. You likely know, by now, my opinion on this theory, just as you know my opinion on NY pizza and Chinese food. However, I should warn you that I, too, am subject to my confirmation bias.

Jennifer Pierce is a parishioner of Corpus Christi in East Sandwich, where she lives with her husband Jim and three children.

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The Anchor

December 9, 2011

Hispanic Catholics prepare for feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Citizens start petition

ly rotates among the seven Hispanic parishes in the diocese: Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Parish and St. Kilian’s Parish in New Bedford; St. Francis Xavier Parish in Hyannis; St. Mary/Our Lady of the Isle Parish in Nantucket; St. Mary’s Parish in Taunton; the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in Fall River; and St. Joseph’s Parish in Attleboro.

With a growing number of Hispanic cultures moving into the area, Spanish language Masses are among the most popular non-English services in the diocese, second only to Portuguese.

“The Hispanics have not yet eclipsed the Portuguese as far as the number of Masses in the diocese, but the Spanish population here has increased significantly in recent years,” Father Wilson said.

“The Spanish Mass is the most well-attended Mass at our parish.”

“We have a parish where 40 to 45 percent of our parishioners are Spanish-speaking,” agreed Father Hugo Cardenas, IVE, pastor of St. Kilian’s Parish in New Bedford.

“I’d say most of our parishioners are from Guatemala, but we do have Latinos from Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador, along with some Brazilians and Cape Verdeans. We have a very small parish, but we have about 250 people who attend the two Masses on the weekend.”

The annual celebration commemorates the appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Juan Diego in Mexico in December 1531.

One of the earliest documented Marian apparitions, Our Lady of Guadalupe remains one of the most popular and well-recognized iconic images of the Blessed Mother

Supporters of expanding gambling in the Bay State claim the measure will create thousands of jobs and bring in hundreds of millions of new tax dollars. The bills appropriate 25 percent of casino revenue and 40 percent of slots revenue to go back to the state and local communities. In the short term, each casino license bid starts at $85 million.

No study has yet been done of the costs of such legislation. The only study, produced by the gambling industry in 2008, expects that the state’s current economic woes will be in the past by the time casinos arrive. It neglects to factor in the consequences of other bordering states like New York and New Hampshire legalizing casinos. It also never considers the social costs of excessive gambling. Critics say that these oversights lead the study to greatly overestimate revenue and job creation.

John Ribeiro of Repeal the Casino Deal, the group behind the petition initiative, told The Anchor that the law was pushed through the Legislature as emergency legislation in an effort to grease its passage. Then, at the last minute, concessions were made to the gaming industry, including extra revenue allocated to the horse racing industry. That group will have a nine percent take from the single slot parlor license and a 2.5 percent take from the three casinos.

“Why are we going to spend money that may come from this on propping up the horse racing industry and not on schools and roads? We have bridges falling down across the state,” he said.

“It just doesn’t make sense. What community shouldn’t be in line before the horse racing indus-

continued from page one

alongside her subsequent appearances in La Salette, France (1846); Lourdes, France (1858); and Fatima, Portugal (1917).

Although the name might suggest the series of apparitions between December 9 and December 12 took place in “Guadalupe,” they actually occurred on a hillside in Tepeyac, northwest of present-day Mexico City. It was the Blessed Mother herself who asked to be identified as the “Virgin of Guadalupe,” the latter word thought to be a misinterpretation or incorrect translation of the original Aztec phrase for “(she) who crushes the serpent.”

After requesting that a church be erected in her honor, Our Lady instructed Juan Diego to collect an assortment of roses that were growing nearby despite the cold winter weather and take them to Bishop Juan de Zumarraga as proof of her presence and intentions. Juan Diego dutifully gathered the roses in his tilma, a coarse cloak woven from cactus fibers, and took them to Bishop Zumarraga.

But when he opened the tilma to reveal the roses, the iconic image we’ve come to know as Our Lady of Guadalupe miraculously appeared on the cloak itself.

“Our Lady of Guadalupe is our Blessed Mother,” Father Cardenas said. “She’s the mother of all Christians and she belongs to all of us.

She is the Mother of God, and you cannot separate the Mother from the Son. And God wants it that way.

We all have a super-close relationship with our mothers.”

Our Lady’s message to this humble Native American and recent Christian convert was a simple

Father Thomas Kocik’s 2005 Anchor series “Loving and Living the Mass” Revised and Expanded Second Edition Based on New English Translation

Published by Zaccheus Press Excellent for Christmas Gifts To order visit www.ZaccheusPress.com or call 1-970-416-6672

mission of evangelization — a call to bring the inhabitants of the thenNew World to the Catholic faith.

Her timely appearance at the end of Spain’s conquest of Mexico and before the fledgling country fought to win its independence would lead to her first being proclaimed the patroness of “New Spain” by Pope Benedict XIV in 1754 and then as “Queen of Mexico” by Pope Pius XII in 1946.

“Our Lady of Guadalupe was not ethnically mestizo — she was neither Native American nor Spanish — but she changed her appearance for them and appeared as an ethnic mix,” Father Wilson said.

“And it’s interesting because mestizo people were kind of despised on both sides. You can see how God is always looking out for all people, especially those who are on the margins of society.”

Blessed Pope John Paul II, who had a well-known personal devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, proclaimed Our Lady of Guadalupe as the “Empress of America” in his “Ecclesia in America” on Jan. 22, 1999 and personally dedicated a chapel within St. Peter’s Basilica in her honor.

“Our Lady appeared in Mexico and she appeared in our color,” said Father Cardenas, who was born in Mexico. “We can relate to her because she looked like us. This is the reason why Our Lady takes on the characteristics of the culture. It is easier to relate to her. God knows that, and He sends us His mother to guide us to Heaven.”

“It’s important to know that she came to confirm the message of the Franciscan missionaries who went to Mexico in the years before the apparition,” Father Cardenas added. “This is considered the largest conversion in the history of the Catholic Church.”

Father Wilson said on the actual feast day, December 12 beginning at 6 a.m., they will sing traditional mañanitas, or “little morning songs,” to the Blessed Mother at Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Church, with refreshments served in the parish hall immediately following. The regular English Mass will also be celebrated at 9 a.m. that day with a bilingual Mass set for 7 p.m.

On December 16 beginning at 5 p.m., they will also have a posada at La Salette Shrine in Attleboro.

“We’ll act out how Mary and Joseph went door to door and were turned away until they were finally welcomed at the stable (in Bethlehem),” Father Wilson said. “We’ve been doing this for a few years now jointly with the Diocese of Providence, R.I. It’s an ethnic tradition which comes from Latin America.

It will be right after the 4 p.m. Mass and is timed with when they turn the lights on at the shrine.”

continued from page one

try?”

He warned that the concession was a sign of things to come.

“Casino laws around the country never get more stringent.

They always get looser as time goes on because the promises of revenue that are made are never met,” he said. “The casino industry’s playbook is to do whatever it takes to come in, and then, as revenues don’t meet expectations, say, ‘Well, what we really need to do is allow smoking in these facilities.’”

He called the petition the “natural step in the evolution of our opposition” and said that this is a battle the group expects to win.

“There’s no movement that wants to bring casinos to Massachusetts other than at the State House. The people have been largely shut out of the process up until now, and now we have a say,” he said. “The polling that we have seen has been largely funded by casino proponents, and it shows very soft support for casinos in Massachusetts. That’s after casino interests have spent more than $20 million promoting casinos here.”

Kristian Mineau, original signer of the petition and president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, said that casinos create economic blight, tear families apart, increase rates of divorce, bankruptcy and suicide. A federal study shows that gambling addiction rates double within 50 miles of a casino.

“These three casinos will put every person in Massachusetts within 50 miles of a casino, and we already have some 300,000 gambling addicts in the state.

This would double that number.

It could possibly impact every family in Massachusetts,” he said.

Specializing in: Brand Name/ Foreign Auto Parts 1420 Fall River Avenue (Route 6) Seekonk, MA 02771

December 9, 2011

‘YouCat’ offers students accessible, engaging Catechism

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — In an effort to streamline and distill the essential tenets of the Catholic faith for young adults, a new textbook was introduced last year and promoted at World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain.

Entitled “Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church,” or “YouCat” for short, the 304-page volume was drafted in the form of a conversation and has been made available in 25 languages, including Arabic and Chinese. Based on the lengthier “Catechism of the Catholic Church” that was published by Blessed Pope John Paul II in 1992 and the “Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church” published in 2005, “YouCat” is divided into four chapters containing 527 questions and answers about the Catholic faith.

Ignatius Press has published the English-language edition here in the United States, which includes a foreword from Pope Benedict XVI. “This Catechism was not written to please you,” the pope writes to young people in the introduction to the volume. “It will not make life easy for you, because it demands of you a new life. It places before you the Gospel message as the ‘pearl of great value’ (Mt 13:46) for which you must give everything. So I beg you: Study this Catechism with passion and perseverance.”

Because of its recent publication, the “YouCat” hasn’t yet been widely adopted in parish Faith Formation programs, according to Claire M. McManus, STL, Director of Faith Formation for the Fall River Diocese.

“We usually review new materials and resources sent to us by the publishers and if they have merit we include it in our library,” McManus said. “This is such a new resource that I do not know if or how many parish programs are using it.

Publishers are welcome to promote their material directly to the parishes, who are then free to use whatever conforms with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee on the Catechism.”

One parish that has adopted the “YouCat” for some of its religious education efforts is St. Anthony of Padua Parish in New Bedford, where it is being used in RCIA and youth and adult Confirmation programs. “‘YouCat’ is the most easilyread Catechism the Church has published,” St. Anthony’s pastor, Father Roger Landry said. “It puts the teaching of the Church into engaging language and layout that’s readily understood by teen-agers, Catholics coming back to the faith,

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The Anchor

and those intrigued by our faith.”

Father Landry said that he first witnessed the effectiveness of the Catechism when he was approached on Ash Wednesday last year by a young married couple who were youth ministers in a Protestant church in the diocese. The husband was very tech-savvy and somewhat attracted to the teachings of the Church. He picked up a copy of the “YouCat,” read it with his wife, and the two came to Catholic Mass on Ash Wednesday asking what they would need to do to become Catholics as soon as possible.

“I saw the fruits of the ‘YouCat’ in them before I had a chance to read it myself,” Father Landry

commented.

Father Landry believes there was a great need for something like the “YouCat” for use in the catechesis of teens and adults. “Students in Confirmation programs as well as those in RCIA and Adult Confirmation should be introduced to the Catechism, because if they don’t encounter it in their formal instruction, when are they going to read it? The problem was that the ‘Catechism’ published in 1992 was a somewhat intimidating tome and the ‘Compendium’ was rather dry.

The ‘YouCat,’ in addition to transmitting the faith, does so with some style and vitality that people appreciate.”

Developed in 2006 under the direction of Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Vienna by German theologians, religious educators and priests along with more than 60 young people who posed some of the questions contained in the book, “YouCat” also contains highly-readable commentary, margin photos and illustrations, summary definitions of key terms, Bible citations and quotes from the saints and other great teachers. The questions are direct and honest — even at times tough — while the answers are straightforward, relevant and

compelling.

The four main sections include “Doctrine: What Catholics believe,” “The Sacraments: How Catholics celebrate the mysteries of the faith,” “Moral Life: How Catholics are to live,” and “Prayer and Spirituality: How Catholics should pray.”

In addition to being given to participants at World Youth Day, “YouCat” has been adopted for use at the Steubenville Conferences run by the Franciscan University in the U.S. and Canada for the next two years. “‘YouCat’ is a beautiful gift to Catholics,” said John Beaulieu, Franciscan University’s Director of Youth and Young Adult Outreach. “We are looking forward to helping spread that gift through the conferences. The hardest thing for young Catholics today is to commit with their whole heart that the Church has the answers because of all the relativism and secularism they are bombarded with. ‘YouCat’ is such a beautiful gift because it is written to engage young people to understand that truth, that relationship.

“We have tried not to promote books or other resources at our conferences, but when the pope says it is his desire that Catholics study this Catechism, we believe we need to use it and talk about it.”

Adapting the content of the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” into a format intended to engage young people and young adults, “YouCat” attempts to be a far more accessible and contemporary expression of the Catholic faith.

Calling “YouCat” a “nice piece of work,” McManus hopes the new Catechism will eventually be adopted by parishes throughout the diocese.

“You need to know what you believe,” the Holy Father added in his foreword. “Yes, you need to be more deeply rooted in the faith than the generation of your parents so that you can engage the challenges and temptations of this time with strength and determination.”

The angel usually faces north

G

ood old Igor, our fama rotating Christmas tree, thanks to ily canine, adapts well Iggy. Whenever anything happens to change. In fact, if she spoke outside, she is there to watch, and human and attended Mass with if need be, provide commentary. us, she’d no doubt handle the new When she does, the tree gently English translation of the Roman turns a few degrees.

Missal with ease — unlike her When the Jolivet clan arrives human counterparts. home from work and school, it’s Each season, her fluffy coat always a guess as to which directhins or thickens, allowing her tion the angel will be facing. We to keep cool or warm. We like to can accurately gauge how many experiment with new treats for visits from the UPS or FedEx her, and as long as its edible, she drivers occurred that day, since likes it. those are the two who whip Igor So every December, when a into a frenzy most. plastic, wire and wooden pine tree Occasionally I return our angel sprouts in front of our sliding glass doors out to the deck, she barely bats an eyelash (if dogs have them).

She enjoys

By Dave Jolivet sunning herself in that spot, which has an ideal southern exposure that to her original position when the allows sunlight to pour into the chord for the lights is stretched a house from mid-morning to late bit too much. afternoon — particularly in the Iggy also likes to lovingly place winter months. Yet, she’s more her chew toys and the occasional than willing to share her spot with sock she made off with, on the tree an artificial tree. skirt. Knowing full well she’s not As I struggle up the basement allowed to take socks, she gives steps with the boxed tree in tow, us an innocent “See what I did,” I let it fall with a flop on the livglance, hoping we’ll blow off the ing room floor after my ascent. offense. It usually works.

Quickly Iggy arrives at the scene As mobile as our tree is each to sniff out the situation. “Is this year, Iggy is careful not to place food?” she asks herself. “Nope, the angel on the floor looking up. better go lay down again,” says Yet. her countenance.

The same goes for the famAs each new row of branches ily crèche. One might think that sprouts, she watches with one eye Igor, being half Border Collie open as she lays in a big fuzzy ball and half Australian Cattle Dog, on a chair close by. would instinctively attempt to Next come the lights — same herd the sheep and cows keeping reaction, as with the inclusion of watch over the Baby Jesus. Nope. garland and a potpourri of ornaThe entire cast of holy characters ments ranging from Patriots, Red remain intact.

Sox and Bruins items to artwork And come Christmas Eve, Iggy from Emilie as a kindergartner. is more than willing to give up her Last goes the tree skirt. That’s spot for some colorful packages when Iggy plops down and stakes under the tree. I think she knows a rightful claim in the southern sun. couple are for her. Come morning, This is her eighth year sharing the she patiently watches the wrapspot with her fake friend. pings coming off, waiting for her The angel perched on top of turn, at which time she gently the synthetic sapling overlooks the removes the outer shell for her living room, facing north ... when own Christmas goodies. It’s at that first placed there. time when you can almost hear the But for eight years, we’ve had angel’s sigh of relief.

My View From the Stands

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Youth Pages

mass appeal — Students at St. Joseph School in Fairhaven celebrate First Friday Mass together. The middle school students, kindergarten students, and the elementary school children partner up to celebrate the Mass together. The younger children enjoy walking with the older students to the church and discussing the Mass together. The children also get together during holidays to celebrate.

our lady’s little helpers — Since October is dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus, the third-graders at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro studied the Rosary. Each day they said a decade of the Rosary for all the people in their Special Intentions Booklet. They also made their own Rosary beads with the help of Bob and Joan Sutula, grandparents of classmate Seamus Sutula. With Joan Sutula are, from left: Seamus Sutula, Molly Janicki, Savannah Blanchard and Tereze Gjoni. Standing in the background is Michele Schremp.

holiday cheer — The Bishop Connolly High School Food Pantry and National Honor Society took initiative to help out the greater Fall River community for this holiday season. Through the donations of the student body, the Fall River school was able to collect more than 41 baskets filled with various canned goods for families in need. Each basket also contained a turkey bought with money donations.

December 9, 2011

berry interesting — The fifth-grade class at Holy Name School in Fall River recently observed the properties of cranberries and learned that four air pockets help the berries float to the top of the bogs so they can be harvested. They made cranberry sauce using water, sugar, and the berries. The next day, the students compared the school-made and storebought sauces and graphed their results.

grateful groups — The Kids in Christ and EDGE youth groups at St. Julie Billiart Parish in North Dartmouth recently sponsored a “Thanksgiving for Seniors” meal for the seniors of the parish. Students, along with adult volunteers, also delivered meals to the home-bound.

something’s fishy — Fourth-grade teacher at SS. Peter and Paul School in Fall River, Elyse Sackal, “kisses the fish” held by event organizer sixth-grade teacher, Katie McCaughey. This event ended Spirit Week at the school raising $979 donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Youth Pages

December 9, 2011

I

Shake up the world

t’s no surprise that the humility. But, seriously, aren’t most written about person you thankful for the person that in all of human history is Jesus you are? You should be! Don’t Christ. After all, He shook the be afraid to show your love world to its core by His words for yourself and to be thankful and actions. His coming, as the for all that you are and want to Messiah, Savior and King, was become. Doing Christ’s work foretold centuries before. Yet, begins with love for God and He was born in humility, a man yourself. From there, everyone meek and mild, with straw and else will benefit. hay for His bed. His mission was to find the lost, heal the sick, forgive the sinner, feed the hungry, love His enemy, serve and not be served. He shook humanity to the bone,

By Ozzie Pacheco for His ways were not man’s ways. Man’s thinking would never be the same. He lit a fire on the earth that still burns Today, many people still look today — the light of His love for the reassurance that Jesus that shines in the hearts of is the Messiah. They may not all who believe in Him. Two see Him, but they indeed do thousand years later we remain see you. Your witness to Christ in awe of the man who said, is how you can begin to shake “Come, follow Me.” (Mk 1:17) up the world. Your witness can This is His simple message and reawaken people’s faith. This, in heart of the Gospel: come to Me and of itself, is a miracle. This and see. miracle may not be so dramatic How has Jesus said this to as Jesus’, but all who witness you? Are you focused on shinyour faith will see Christ in you. ing His light for all to see? Are You love God because you love you willing and ready to shake yourself and your neighbor. up the world as Jesus did?

There is no other reason why Before the Thanksgiving God’s love lives in you. Yet in holiday I asked a group of our humility we say we don’t eighth-graders what they were deserve God’s love, and rightmost thankful for in their lives. fully so. But He still gives it to The overwhelming response us and we take care to receive it was God and family. What was and do good with it. most interesting, however, was Every Advent season I am the response that was not shared reminded of two special people among any of the students — whose lives were changed being thankful for themselves! forever and today are models of It could have been an act of faith for our Church: Mary and

Be Not Afraid

Joseph. In her young teen-age years Mary was asked to be the mother of God’s Son. She was afraid at first. But then she listened and was no longer afraid. Mary’s “Yes” shook the world. She became Christ’s first witness. Joseph, betrothed to Mary, became very disturbed at Mary’s pregnancy. He, too, was afraid. But, the angel of the Lord dispelled Joseph’s fear; “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Mt 1:20-21). And by his faith and actions, Joseph shook the world because he listened to God. What awesome faith we find in Mary and Joseph. Mary’s faith in God gave us Emmanuel.

Joseph’s faith in God gave us understanding. Their love for God teaches us that we need to listen to God in everyone and in everything. It is in that listening that we can respond to God’s call, as His children, to love as He loves and to forgive as He forgives.

Now is the time. Be ever watchful! Be ever alert! Be always ready! God has chosen you because of your special gift to others — yourself. Let the fire of Jesus’ love burn in your heart so that you may go out and shake up your world. Thank You for doing that!

Ozzie Pacheco is Faith Formation director at Santo Christo Parish, Fall River.

mission driven — A check in the amount of $225 was recently presented to members of Coyle and Cassidy High School’s Spanish Honor Society by students of St. Mary’s Elementary School, both in Taunton. The money will be used to help support the Marie Poussepin Center for Comprehensive Formation presently serving more than 70 young girls from the poorest villages in the Guaimaca, Honduras area. The Spanish Honor Society adopts the mission each year as its Advent Service Project. Front from left: St. Mary’s students Sean Harris, Sadie Fuller, Joshua Lajoie, and Melissa Johnson, and Coyle students Morgan Fuller and Kevin Dupont. Rear: Principal Brian Cote and Spanish Honor Society Moderator Anthony Nunes.

17 The Anchor is always pleased to run news and photos about our diocesan youth.

If schools or parish Religious Education programs, have newsworthy stories and photos they would like to share with our readers, send them to: schools@anchornews.org

18

The Anchor

Need is great; diocesan faithful respond in kind continued from page one

more people with less resources than we have seen in years,” said Arlene A. McNamee, director of the diocesan Catholic Social Services Office.

“The fact is we cannot meet the needs that are presenting themselves and anticipate more to come over the next 12 months,” she continued. “People need jobs. We are seeing folks who have had jobs all their lives now without jobs and they do not qualify for any public help because they own a house or are over income from last year’s income tax filing.”

“There are more homeless families in motels than we have seen in a long time. They are all over the diocese. Christmas will be bleak for many who have been in these motels for months, with poor cooking facilities. Perhaps parishes who are near these motels would like to host a Christmas dinner or party for the children? We would be happy to make the connections for them.

CSS has the motels where they are housed and are happy to make the necessary connections.”

McNamee said another unexpected obstacle to overcome this season is the lack of food to buy at the Greater Boston Food Bank.

“Because they do not have enough of a supply of food to help us, we are forced to go to the open market for food. We are desperate for donations of pasta, pasta sauce, peanut butter, cereal, tuna, canned fruit, bagged beans, jelly, macaroni and cheese, canned beans, rice, par-

malit, and juice.”

The CSS Christmas Program, that provides clothing and toys to more than 5,200 area children, is currently supported by 24 parishes in the Diocese of Fall River, but the numbers may be larger this year because of the greater number of unemployed families, according to McNamee. “Assistance with clothing and toys would be greatly appreciated,” she said. “Toys for children of all ages are needed as well as coats for age five and six girls and clothing for 18-month boys, 2T, 3T, and 4T girls; and 2T, 3T and 4T boys as well as books and clothing for girls size five and size eight, 10, 12, 14 and 16 boys.”

One of the heartwarming stories is happening in the town of Fairhaven. In 2008, Sharon McGraw became a member of the parish Pastoral Council at St. Mary’s Parish in Fairhaven. She volunteered to help with the communications and the outreach ministry.

“One of the members suggested it would be wonderful for people to visit the residents of nursing homes,” McGraw told The Anchor.

“I listened to my heart and came up with the idea of having the children in the Faith Formation program make Christmas cards that could be hand-delivered to the residents.”

In 2009, a small group of student volunteers visited Our Lady’s Haven, The Royal, Alden Court and Atria Fairhaven with more than 300 cards made by students in grades one through eight. “The

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need, the many men and women making up the society just don’t react; they act.

There are many parish conferences in the councils in each of the five diocesan deaneries, and their endeavors are diverse.

The Cape Cod and the Islands Deanery is a hive of busyness. At Our Lady of the Cape Parish the SVDP is preparing 61 Christmas baskets for hungry families, offering ham, turkey or chicken. Plans are also well underway for a hot Christmas dinner to be served at the parish center. Last year, the parish provided 250 sit-down dinners and delivered 500 more to the homebound.

At St. Joan of Arc in Orleans, the parish Christmas Giving Tree will provide gifts for area individuals, as well as for clients of the NOAH Shelter, SKIP, A Baby Center, Children’s Place, and the Lower Cape Outreach Council’s “Santa’s Toy Shop” clients. SVDP volunteers have devoted more than 40 hours to these efforts.

At St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in North Falmouth, members contact guidance counselors at the Falmouth elementary and middle schools, as well as the Emerson House, a residence for women in recovery and their children, for a list of families who need clothes and winter necessities. The list is incorporated into the parish giving tree.

On the island of Nantucket, members at St. Mary’s Parish donate to local nursing homes, the Food Pantry and the local Toys For Tots, as well as taking Christmas

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residents were very touched and so welcoming that we did it again for Christmas 2010,” added McGraw. “As a result Wendy Cabral, the Engage Life Director for Atria Fairhaven, invited the children to join the residents in a game of Bingo in July. The children and residents had a wonderful time together.”

The parish then added Easter visits, and a couple of sessions with the residents to make cards for U.S. troops.

The good deeds did not go unnoticed by the Atria staff. Following the lead of the youngsters, the staff elected to replace its usual Christmas gift exchange this year, instead providing a gift for someone in need on the St. Mary’s Parish gift tree. “Every year St. Mary’s puts tags on the gift tree and each tag has information regarding the gender, age and gift idea,” McGraw explained. “The gifts are left unwrapped under the tree and Catholic Social Services picks up the gifts and matches the gifts to families in need. The staff at Atria Fairhaven will be helping 40 children receive gifts this Christmas.”

Scores of members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society within the Fall River Diocese are working diligently to help ease the strains on the countless hungry, poor and homeless in the region.

Always remaining true to its mission statement striving to grow spiritually by offering person-toperson service to individuals in

December 9, 2011

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fruit baskets to shut-ins, making as many short visits as possible. And at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville, the society has been working hard with several area families including one couple with two young children and the father out of work with a serious injury.

Vincentians provided two “rescue bags,” a food gift card and a payment for half their monthly rent.

The Holy Trinity, West Harwich SVDP recently, with the assistance of Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy of Cape Cod, helped a women obtain a desperately needed heating system boiler.

Other families consist of a single mom with a teen daughter who were given 100 gallons of heating fuel; a single mom with two children with empty food cupboards who were given rescue bags and a food gift card; and an unemployed mother with a daughter and granddaughter, who were relocated to another state where she obtained a job and housing.

A sampling of the works going on in the New Bedford area include a giving tree at St. Mary’s Parish in New Bedford. The recipients of the gifts are a local nursing home, adult day care center, a children’s program and CSS. The parish extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion also visit shut-ins with a small gift, thanks to the SVDP. In the Fall River Deanery, efforts include members from St. Patrick’s Parish in Somerset volunteering every Thursday evening at the Fall River Homeless Overflow Center; the St. Thomas More Conference coordinating a children’s winter clothes drive, with donations being given out just prior to Christmas vacation to needy children in the Fall River school system; and the SVDP store in Fall River coordinating with Straight Shooters Family Billiards on a Christmas fund-raiser for toys for needy children. Other parishes are handing out food baskets and coordinating giving trees.

The SVDP works with Bishop Feehan High School in the Attleboro Deanery, putting on a Santa Shop that provides gifts for more than 200 families. At St. Joseph’s Parish in Attleboro members hold a Christmas party at which they hand out gifts to children, as well as providing holiday food baskets to those in need.

Several Attleboro are parishes also team up with the Council of Churches and the Martial Arts Connection providing 400 food baskets for families in need.

These are but a sample of the kind works performed across the Diocese of Fall River. For information on assisting contact Catholic Social Services at 508-674-4681; members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in parishes across the diocese; or your parish to see if it has a program this Christmas season.

December 9, 2011

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese

Acushnet — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Monday and Tuesday from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Thursday from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Evening prayer and Benediction is held Monday through Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

ATTLEBORO — The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette holds eucharistic adoration in the Shrine Church every Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. until December 9, 2011, and from January 7 to November 17, 2012.

ATTLEBORO — St. Joseph Church holds eucharistic adoration in the Adoration Chapel located at the (south) side entrance at 208 South Main Street, Sunday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Brewster — Eucharistic adoration takes place in the La Salette Chapel in the lower level of Our Lady of the Cape Church, 468 Stony Brook Road, on First Fridays following the 11 a.m. Mass until 7:45 a.m. on the First Saturday, concluding with Benediction and Mass. buzzards Bay — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Margaret Church, 141 Main Street, every first Friday after the 8 a.m. Mass and ending the following day before the 8 a.m. Mass.

East Freetown — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. John Neumann Church every Monday (excluding legal holidays) 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Our Lady, Mother of All Nations Chapel. (The base of the bell tower).

East Sandwich — Eucharistic adoration takes place at the Corpus Christi Parish Adoration Chapel, 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, Monday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday, 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. Also, 24-hour eucharistic adoration takes place on the First Friday of every month.

EAST TAUNTON — Eucharistic adoration takes place in the chapel at Holy Family Parish Center, 438 Middleboro Avenue, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. On First Fridays, eucharistic adoration takes place at Holy Family Church, 370 Middleboro Avenue, following the 8 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 8 p.m.

FAIRHAVEN — St. Mary’s Church, Main St., has eucharistic adoration every Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to noon in the Chapel of Reconciliation, with Benediction at noon. Also, there is a First Friday Mass each month at 7 p.m., followed by a Holy Hour with eucharistic adoration. Refreshments follow.

Fall River — Espirito Santo Parish, 311 Alden Street, Fall River. Eucharistic adoration on Mondays following the 8 a.m. Mass until Rosary and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.

FALL RIVER — Notre Dame Church, 529 Eastern Ave., has eucharistic adoration on Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the chapel.

FALL RIVER — St. Anthony of the Desert Church, 300 North Eastern Avenue, has eucharistic adoration Mondays and Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

FALL RIVER — Holy Name Church, 709 Hanover Street, has eucharistic adoration Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Our Lady of Grace Chapel.

FALL RIVER — Good Shepherd Parish has eucharistic adoration every Friday following the 8 a.m. Mass until 6 p.m. in the Daily Mass Chapel. There is a bilingual Holy Hour in English and Portuguese from 5-6 p.m. Park behind the church and enter the back door of the connector between the church and the rectory.

Falmouth — St. Patrick’s Church has eucharistic adoration each First Friday, following the 9 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 4:30 p.m. The Rosary is recited Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.

HYANNIS — A Holy Hour with eucharistic adoration will take place each First Friday at St. Francis Xavier Church, 347 South Street, beginning immediately after the 12:10 p.m. Mass and ending with adoration at 4 p.m.

MASHPEE — Christ the King Parish, Route 151 and Job’s Fishing Road has 8:30 a.m.

Mass every First Friday with special intentions for Respect Life, followed by 24 hours of eucharistic adoration in the Chapel, concluding with Benediction Saturday morning followed immediately by an 8:30 Mass.

NEW BEDFORD — Eucharistic adoration takes place 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 233 County Street, with night prayer and Benediction at 8:45 p.m., and Confessions offered during the evening.

NEW BEDFORD — There is a daily holy hour from 5:15-6:15 p.m. Monday through Thursday at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue. It includes adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Liturgy of the Hours, recitation of the Rosary, and the opportunity for Confession.

NORTH DARTMOUTH — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Julie Billiart Church, 494 Slocum Road, every Tuesday from 7 to 8 p.m., ending with Benediction.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available at this time.

NORTH DIGHTON — Eucharistic adoration takes place every First Friday at St. Nicholas of Myra Church, 499 Spring Street following the 8 a.m. Mass, ending with Benediction at 6 p.m. The Rosary is recited Monday through Friday from 7:30 to 8 a.m.

OSTERVILLE — Eucharistic adoration takes place at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 76 Wianno Avenue on First Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and every Friday from noon to 5 p.m., with Benediction at 5 p.m.

SEEKONK ­— Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish has eucharistic adoration seven days a week, 24 hours a day in the chapel at 984 Taunton Avenue. For information call 508336-5549.

Taunton — Eucharistic adoration takes place every Tuesday at St. Anthony Church, 126 School Street, following the 8 a.m. Mass with prayers including the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for vocations, concluding at 6 p.m. with Chaplet of St. Anthony and Benediction. Recitation of the Rosary for peace is prayed Monday through Saturday at 7:30 a.m. prior to the 8 a.m. Mass.

WAREHAM — Adoration with opportunities for private and formal prayer is offered on the First Friday of each month from 8:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Church, High Street. The Prayer Schedule is as follows: 7:30 a.m. the Rosary; 8 a.m. Mass; 8:30 a.m. exposition and Morning Prayer; 12 p.m. the Angelus; 3 p.m. Divine Mercy Chaplet; 5:30 p.m. Evening Prayer; 7 p.m. Sacrament of Confession; 8 p.m. Benediction.

WEST HARWICH — Our Lady of Life Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Holy Trinity Parish, 246 Main Street (Rte. 28), holds perpetual eucharistic adoration. We are a regional chapel serving all of the surrounding parishes. All from other parishes are invited to sign up to cover open hours. For open hours, or to sign up call 508-430-4716.

WOODS HOLE — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Joseph’s Church, 33 Millfield Street, year-round on weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. No adoration on Sundays, Wednesdays, and holidays. For information call 508-274-5435.

19

The Anchor Father Robert J. Campbell, M.S.

HARTFORD, Conn. — Father Robert J. Campbell, 80, a member of the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette, Province of Mary, Mother of the Americas died November, 30 at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, Conn.

Father Campbell was born in Easthampton, Mass. on June 24, 1931, son of Merrill and Claudia (Courtmanche) Campbell.

After attending parochial school in Easthampton, Father Campbell completed his education with the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette in seminaries in Enfield, New Hampshire and Attleboro.

He entered the Novitiate of the La Salette Province of Mary Immaculate in East Brewster, Mass. on July 1, 1951 and pronounced first vows on July 2, 1952. Father Campbell made perpetual profession of vows on July 2, 1955, and was ordained to the priesthood on May 24, 1958 in St. Anthony Church, New Bedford, by Bishop Turner.

His giftedness in working with youth was recognized and over the years Father Campbell served as seminary professor, director of the minor seminary, vocation recruiter, and formation board member. He also served his religious community in administrative positions, as provincial secretary, house councilor and local superior in the Attleboro and Enfield houses.

He was named to Our Lady of the Cape in 2010 as senior priest.

In 2011, as his heath declined, Father Campbell was named to

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Dec. 10 Rev. Thomas C. Briscoe, Former Pastor, St. Anne, Fall River, 1918 Rev. Andrew S.P. Baj, Former Pastor, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, New Bedford, 1971 Dec. 11 Rev. Edward L. Killigrew, Pastor, St. Kilian, New Bedford, 1959 Dec. 12 Rev. Paul F. McCarrick, Pastor, St. Joseph, Fall River, 1996 Dec. 13 Rev. Reginald Theriault, O.P., St. Anne, Dominican Priory, Fall River, 1972 Rev. Adrien L. Francoeur, M.S., La Salette Shrine, North Attleboro, 1991 Dec. 14 Rev. Msgr. John J. Hayes, Pastor, Holy Name, New Bedford, 1970 Dec. 15 Rev. Mortimer Downing, Pastor, St. Francis Xavier, Hyannis, 1942 Rev. John F. O’Keefe, Assistant, St. Patrick, Fall River, 1955

residence in Hartford House in Hartford. He recently resided at St. Mary Home in West Hartford.

In addition to his La Salette confreres, Father is survived by two sisters, Simone Drapeau of Springfield and Doris Kovitch of Easthampton, Father Robert and a brother, of J. Campbell, M.S. Maurice Easthampton and also many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by six broth-

ers, Andrew, Arthur, Gerard, Armand, Ralph and Eugene.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at the Enfield Shrine Chapel in Enfield, N.H. on December 2. Burial was at the La Salette Cemetery in Enfield.

A Memorial Mass will be celebrated tomorrow at 9 a.m. at Our Lady of the Cape Church, 468 Stony Brook Road, Brewster.

Contributions in Father Campbell’s memory may be made to the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette Retirement Fund, 915 Maple Avenue, Hartford, Conn., 06114-2330.

Around the Diocese 12/10

The Ladies Guild of St. Mary’s Parish in South Dartmouth will host its greens, baked goods and malassadas sale tomorrow from 1 to 6 p.m. and again on Sunday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Christmas centerpieces, cakes, and cookies will be on sale the first day with free coffee while malassadas will be on Sunday only. For more information call 508-993-5716.

12/10

“Faith of Our Fathers and Mothers,” a new book detailing the history of Our Lady of Victory Catholic community, will be launched tomorrow. Author Edward W. Kirk, an attorney and longtime parishioner, will sign copies from 2 to 4 p.m. in the parish center, 230 South Main Street in Centerville. Former Vatican ambassador Ray Flynn will be on hand along with members of some of the parish’s founding families.

12/11

Good Shepherd Parish, 1598 South Main Street in Fall River, will be holding its annual Christmas Concert and Supper Sunday at 4 p.m. Music will be provided by the parish’s combined choirs that will perform in English and Portuguese. Supper will be roast turkey and holiday ham along with Portuguese stuffing and mashed potatoes. Tickets can be obtained by calling 508-678-7412 or visiting the website www.gsfallriver.com.

12/11

Sung Vespers will be held at 7 p.m. on Sunday at St. John the Baptist Church, 945 Main Road in Westport. Come praise God by chanting the psalms and singing the hymns of Evening Prayer, listening to the Word of God and offering petitions to God for the needs of all.

12/12

The South Attleboro Knights of Columbus will host a “Keep Christ in Christmas” concert with Father Pat on December 12 at 6 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 304 Highland Avenue (Route 123) in South Attleboro. All are invited to attend and free coffee and pastry will be served. Non-perishable food donations will be accepted.

12/15

The Charismatic Prayer Group of Holy Trinity Parish, West Harwich, will host an Advent Celebration on December 15 at 7:30 p.m. in Damien Hall. The evening will begin with praise and worship followed by an Advent presentation by Deacon Frank Fantasia of Christ the King Parish in Mashpee. Join this opportunity to praise the Lord in song, worship Him, and share His Word. For information call 508-432-8149 or 508-430-0014.

12/15

after the Mass.

A Healing Mass will be celebrated at St. Anne’s Church, 818 Middle Street, Fall River, on December 15 beginning with the Rosary at 6 p.m., followed by Benediction and healing prayers

12/22

The diocesan Divorced and Separated Support Group will meet on December 22 at 7 p.m. in the parish center of St. Julie Billiart Church, 494 Slocum Road in North Dartmouth.

The group will take time to gather socially during the difficult Christmas season.

Refreshments will be served and parking is available at the left of St. Julie’s Church. For more information call 508-678-2828, 508-993-0589 or 508-6732997.

1/7

Courage, a welcoming support group for Catholics wounded by same-sex attraction who gather to seek God’s wisdom, mercy and love, will next meet on January 7 at 7 p.m. For location information, call Father Richard Wilson at 508-992-9408.

20

The Anchor

December 9, 2011

At audience, pope praises groups for efforts to ban death penalty

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI gave a special greeting of encouragement to delegations meeting in Rome — including a group from Illinois — to promote the abolition of the death penalty.

During his weekly audience November 30 at the Vatican, Pope Benedict said he hoped the work of the delegations would “encourage political and legislative initiatives being promoted in a number of countries to eliminate the death penalty” and promote progress in penal law that speaks equally to “the human dignity of prisoners and the effective maintenance of public order.”

The 12-person Illinois group, members of the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, was led by state Rep. Karen Yarbrough. Under Governor Pat Quinn, Illinois became the 16th state to abolish the death penalty in March.

Following the audience, Yarbrough told Catholic News Service that the papal audience represented a capstone to an intense year of efforts that paid off with legislation banning capital punishment in Illinois.

The November 29-30 Rome meeting, sponsored by the Sant’Egidio Community, encouraged people in cities around the world to join a public demonstration of opposition to the death penalty. In Rome, for example, the Colosseum was lit up November 30 to show the city’s adherence to the initiative.

Yarbrough said that “lighting the Colosseum, once a place of death, means a lot.”

The main part of the pope’s audience talk dealt with the significance of prayer in the life of Jesus Christ and in His relationship with God, a continuation of his series of reflections on prayer.

The pope said that Jesus, by His own example, “most fully reveals the mystery of Christian

prayer.” He said this was particularly evident with the prayer Jesus said after His Baptism in the River Jordan by St. John the Baptist. The pope said this prayer “reflects His complete, filial obedience to the Father’s will, an obedience which would lead Him to death on the cross

for the redemption of our sins.”

Through prayer with God, the pope said, Jesus “received the confirmation of His mission” among men.

Jesus learned to pray from His very devout mother and the Jewish tradition, but the real source of His prayer was His

“eternal communion with the Father.”

Pope Benedict said Jesus teaches today’s Christians that

prayer must be constant, profound and characterized by “self-surrender and complete openness to God.”