t eanco VOL. 42, NO. 48 • Friday, December 11, 1998
FALL RIVER, MASS.
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FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSEn"S CAPE COD & THE ISLANl:S
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Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly • $14 Per Year
Catholic Social Services gears up for Christmas ~
The diocesan agency plans to assist 3,000 needy families during the Christmas season with dinners and gifts for the children.
By JAMES N. DUNBAR
FALL RIVER - More than 2,000 needy families will enjoy a Christmas dinner and toys and gifts for their children this year because of the charity of thousands of donors and the efforts of the diocese's Catholic Social Services. "Last year, between Christmas and the New Year, we provided dinner for 849 families. This year we will service 2,000 at Christmas and close to 1,000 from then until the New Year with baskets of food," reported Arlene A. McNamee, director of Catholic Social Services. "And we do toys as well." PREPARATIONS - Lucia Vieira, a housing counselor "We realize that at the diocese's Catholic Social Services office, exhibits a the numbers are gopantry laden with foodstuffs that along with turkeys will help ing up," said fill 3,000 Christmas holiday baskets to be distributed to the McNamee. "In 1997 at Thanksgivarea's needy in coming weeks. ing we provided
500 families with dinners. This year we did and bring that gift in. We have a group of 1,024." volunteers that will help us collect, wrap and The food and toys will not duplicate what distribute the gifts," said McNamee. is being provided by other agencies. "We The CSS Christmas update comes on the check with other agencies that are providing heels of a report from SmartMoney magato the needy on the holidays to make sure we zine, a monthly published by The Wall Street are not double-serving anyone," she said Journal, that Catholic Charities agencies are She explained that it is money from Catho- the nation's top-notch human services charilic Charities that allows the CSS staff to be . ties. The leading publication of personal busiable to do the job. "But the actual things we get are really ness and finance evaluated the nation's top supplied by many individuals. Some people 100 largest charities. It scored them on how give us the extra money for this extra kind of much they spend on programs and effort. It is not something we can anticipate fundraising and the amount the organization in our budget. We've been off the mark for keeps in savings rather than spends on prothe last two years because the demand has grams. In aggregate figures covering the latest been so high." When CSS sends out a call for donations, three years of date, according to McNamee, "we get a tremendous response," McNamee the magazine reports that Catholic Charities agencies across the United States spent 90.9 reported. " It is overwhelming to see the number of percent of their expenditures on programs. people that came through with food, turkeys The agencies spend just 7.6 percent of puband money. The Christmas effort is being lic donations on fundraising and they saved done this year through various parishes. We only 1.9 percent of their annual revenue. This far surpasses the magazine's recomasked them to put up Giving Trees to determine who the needy people are and what mended guidelines that charities spend at their specific needs are. In some churches least 75 percent oftheir income on programs the cards placed on the trees will identify and not more than a third of donations on older children who need clothes. In others fund-raising activities. "We at Catholic Social Services don't do the cards on the trees indicate clothes needed by younger children or are for toys. Chari- fundraising," McNamee explained. "We rely table parishioners who take a card from the on Catholic Charities, which is our fund-raistree then know what kind of gift to purchase Tum to page 12 - CSS
New Lectionary makes its appearance during Advent ~
New edition is said to open up the treasures ofthe Bible more lavishly. By JAMES N. DUNBAR
TAUNTON - Some new words and phrases will begin to catch the well-attuned ear of many adult Catholics when they hear Scriptures read and the Gospel proclaimed .at
Mass. Beginning with the observance of the First Sunday of Advent, Catholic churches in the United States were permitted to use the first volume of the newJranslation of the Lectionary for Mass. Every Sunday and on feast days and holy days, Catholics hear scriptural passages proclaimed by priests, deacons and lectors from the Lectionary. The book, often carried by lectors in the procession to the altar, contains Old Testament and New Testament readings, psalms and Gospels. This new version was approved by the National Council of Catholic Bishops in June 1992, and confirmed by the Vatican'S Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in October 1997. While use of the latest version is allowed for current use, it will not become mandatory until Volume II, which contains Scripture texts to be read at weekday Masses, is confirmed by Rome, said Father JonPaul Gallant, director of the Diocesan Office ofWorship. Translation of that volume was allowed for submission to Rome by the NCCB last June. However, the new "Workbook for Lectors and Gospel Readers" used as a teaching tool or guide in many parishes, contains the revised translation.
Since the Church's earliest days, the Word of God has been part of its worship liturgy, and the Lectionary, since it contains holy Scripture, is considered the inspired Word of God. The new edition of the Lectionary is actually the third approved for the Church in the United States since Vatican Council II convened in the 1960s, Father Gallant explained. The first edition came into use on Nov. 29, 1971 and was based on the 1970 translation-....,.from the Latin of the "New American Bible." But 16 years later a second edition was published, which incorporated Scriptures reflecting the advance in biblical study by theologians and Scripture scholars. The new edition offers additional cycles of readings for some solemnities and additional options for Masses for various needs and occasions have been introduced. An extensive introduction provides theological and practical background on the edi.tion. The new edition had not been without debate. Editorials in several newspapers of Catholic dioceses in America in recent
years have suggested that the new Lectionary is the result of efforts "from the top down," and offered data from a professional survey of Catholic Americans showing that the overwhelming majority of Catholics in the pews sensed no need for new liturgical translations. The new Lectionary strives for maximum possible fidelity to the biblical text, says the NCCB. When that text is not gender specific, the Turn to page JJ - Lectionary
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The Anchor will not be printed during Christmas week, but will return to your door by New Year's Day, January 1, 1999. The Anchor office, however, will be open for business December 21-23 and 28-30.