12.14.12

The Anchor Diocese of Fall River

F riday , December 14, 2012

U.S. bishops offer spiritual web resources to families

By Christine M. Williams Anchor Correspondent

SANDWICH — We all know the saying that it takes a village to raise a child, and it is the Church that assists in Faith Formation.

Families seeking to celebrate Christmas and deepen their faith in the current liturgical year need look no further than the website of the United States’ bishops.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ web-

site features a virtual Advent calendar. Two doors on each day swing wide when the cursor hovers over them. One click brings the visitor to a page that hosts resources, including the readings of the day as well as suggested prayer intentions and family activities.

On December 14, for example, the bishops encourage browsers to learn more about the writings of St. John of the Cross,

a Spanish Carmelite priest. They also suggest, “Reflect on Mary and Joseph’s difficult journey to Bethlehem. How can you put love in action and help lighten someone’s journey today?” and provide a link to a page about social justice and charitable works.

The site provides a printable version of the calendar, links to reviews of Christmas movies and resources for dealing with holiTurn to page 18

Mansfield teacher attends conference in Atlanta

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

MANSFIELD — When Dr. Donna Boyle, assistant superintendent of the Catholic schools of the Fall River Diocese, contacted Susan Tamul about submitting her name for consideration to attend an upcoming conference for the Common Core Catholic Identity Initiative to be held in Atlanta, Ga., Tamul admits she was a little nervous.

“When I was first asked to do it, I felt it was a little out of my comfort level to fly off to another state and work with people whom I don’t really know,” said the fourth-grade teacher from St. Mary’s School in Mansfield.

Already a member of the Diocese of Fall River Catholic Schools Education English and Language Arts Committee, Tamul understands the importance of looking at state standards and “comparing them to what we’re already doing to what we will be doing in the future,” she said.

Forty-six states have already adopted the Common Core State Standards, a set of high quality K-12 learning standards that include rigorous content and application of knowledge using higher-order thinking skills to help lead students to college and career readiness. As part of the Fall River committee, Tamul and her committee members are trying to assess

the standards and incorporating those standards into the diocesan learning outcome.

Run by the Catholic School Standards Project, the Common Core Catholic Identity Initiative is a national working group trying to develop resources and guidelines to assist Catholic elementary and secondary schools to integrate elements of Catholic identity into the curriculum and instruction based on the Common Core State Standards. As part of phase one of the project, 35 teachers and administrators from across the United States were chosen to attend the conference in Atlanta to help lay the groundwork for the project.

“What they did was they wanted to get together a working group of teachers from Catholic schools Turn to page 15

Third Sunday of Advent December 16, 2012

PROFESSION OF FAITH — Sister Therese Maria Touma, right, makes her first profession of vows as a Maronite Servant of Christ the Light to His Excellency Gregory John Mansour, bishop of the Eparchy of St. Maron, during a Liturgy celebrated at St. Anthony of the Desert Church on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Sister Marla Marie Lucas, the congregation’s foundress and superior, presented the novice to the bishop. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)

Sister professes vows as member of first U.S. Maronite congregation

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — The Maronite Servants of Christ the Light, the first congregation of active religious Sisters of the Maronite Church within the United States, effectively doubled its ranks recently with Sister Therese Maria Touma making her first profession of vows at St. Anthony of the Desert Church.

“To be honest with you, it was a big leap of faith to join a

brand new congregation,” Sister Therese told The Anchor. “When you don’t have something that’s already established, it’s definitely something where you’re putting your faith and trust in God.” Sister Therese professed her vows during a Divine Liturgy celebrated at the Fall River church last weekend by His Excellency Gregory John Mansour, Bishop of the Eparchy of St. Maron. She will join Sister MarTurn to page 18

Rosary Priest’s pledge program is alive and well in Year of Faith

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

international prayer pals — This is just one page of more than 80,000 signatures of people from around the world who have pledged to say the Rosary daily. This book, compiled

by Holy Cross Family Ministries in North Easton, was presented to Pope Benedict XVI this week.

NORTH EASTON — It was a dozen years ago when Holy Cross Father John Phalen, president of Holy Cross Family Ministries, traveled to the Vatican with a present for the Holy Father. In 2000, as part of the Jubilee Year celebrations, Father Phalen brought Blessed John Paul II a commemorative book containing more than 80,000 names of people from all over the world, who pledged to say the Rosary every day.

This past week, Father Phalen returned to the Vatican with another such book, this time to give to Pope Benedict XVI. This book, too, contains more than 80,000 names of faithful from across the globe who have pledged to say the Rosary everyday, most of them with their families.

“It’s a special opportunity to give this to Pope

Benedict,” Father Phalen told The Anchor. “It’s pretty exciting to have all those people pledging to pray the Rosary. We even received some pledges in languages we didn’t understand, like some of the languages in India and Bangladesh.”

The book is part of the Year of Faith observances and also several special anniversaries HCFM is marking this year. This is the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Family Rosary Crusade, founded by Servant of God Father Patrick Peyton, the Rosary Priest. Family Rosary Crusade would eventually become Holy Cross Family Ministries. It’s the 65th anniversary of Father Peyton’s founding Family Theater Productions, which is still part of HCFM today, and it’s the 20th anniversary of the death of Father Turn to page 13

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Pope: Advent is time to focus on God’s loving plan

Vatican City (CNA/EWTN News) — As the Church celebrates the season of Advent, Pope Benedict said that Catholics should remember “God is present” and recall His “plan of loving goodness.”

“Advent invites us, in the midst of many difficulties, to renew the assurance that God is present,” he told thousands in a recent general audience at the Vatican.

Pope Benedict XVI called Advent the time which prepares us for the coming of Christ, which he said is “the great plan of loving goodness,” which God wants to use to draw us to Him. “He came into the world, becoming a man like us, to fulfill His plan of love and God demands we become a sign of action in the world,” he told the pilgrims.

“This ‘plan of loving goodness’ hasn’t remained in God’s silence, in the height of His Heaven, but He has revealed it by engaging in a relationship with man, to whom He has revealed Himself,” he said.

Pope Benedict noted that God has not delivered simply a set of truths, but has communicated Himself to us by becoming one of us.

DIOCESAN TRIBUNAL FALL RIVER, MASSACHUSETTS Decree of Citation Since his present domicile is unknown, in accord with the provision of Canon 1509.1, we hereby cite Dean M. Amaral to appear in person before the Tribunal of the Diocese of Fall River (887 Highland Avenue in Fall River, Bristol County, Massachusetts) on December 27, 2012 at 2:30 PM to give his testimony regarding the question: IS THE DUFF-AMARAL MARRIAGE NULL ACCORDING TO CHURCH LAW? Anyone who has knowledge of the domicile of Dean M. Amaral is hereby required to inform him of this citation.

Given at the offices of the Diocesan Tribunal in Fall River, Bristol County, Massachusetts on December 5, 2012.

(Rev.) Paul F. Robinson, O. Carm., J.C.D. Judicial Vicar (Mrs.) Helene P. Beaudoin Ecclesiastical Notary

The Anchor www.anchornews.org

News From the Vatican

“God reveals His great plan of love entering into a relationship with man, coming close to him, to the point of being Himself man,” he added.

“St. John Chrysostom, in a famous comment on the beginning of the Letter to the Ephesians, invites people to enjoy all the beauty of this ‘plan of loving goodness’ of God revealed in Christ with these words.

“What do you miss? You have become immortal, you have become free, you have become a child, you have become righteous, you’re a brother, you have become a joint heir with Christ to reign and with Christ to glorify,” the pope said, quoting the saint.

The pope also reflected on how communion in Christ through the Holy Spirit is not something that overlaps with our humanity but is the fulfillment of the deepest human longings.

It is the desire for the infinite that dwells in the depths of the human being and opens it to an eternal happiness, he said.

The pontiff also remembered Blessed Pope John Paul II’s point that “revelation sets within history a point of reference which man can’t ignore, if he wants to come to understand the mystery of his existence.”

According to Pope Benedict, who has been delivering a series of reflections on faith at the weekly general audiences, faith is man’s response to God’s revelation, and we must do as St. Paul says and be obedient to faith.

Faith is an attitude and a change of mentality in which man freely commits himself to God, leading to a “fundamental change in how we relate to the whole of reality, as everything appears in a new light,” he noted.

Seeing with God’s eyes, Pope Benedict asserted, is what makes life solid and allows us to stand and not fall.

“Through our faith, our hope, our love, He wants to enter the world again and again, He wants to shine His light in our night,” he concluded.

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 56, No. 48

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December 14, 2012

JUST a face in the crowd — A man dressed as St. Nicholas attends Pope Benedict XVI’s general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican recently. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

With @Pontifex, pope reaches out to new kind of followers

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — To celebrate the launch of his new Twitter account, Pope Benedict XVI recently tweeted the answers to a handful of questions from his followers.

The pope’s rare question-andanswer exchange on the social media site shows the Church doesn’t just want to teach the truth, but also to listen to others, said Archbishop Claudio Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

Starting on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the pope sent messages in eight languages, including Arabic, from eight different Twitter accounts. @Pontifex is the English feed while the other language accounts use an extension of the main handle. For example, the Spanish feed is @Pontifex_es.

The handle “Pontifex” was chosen because it means “pope and bridge builder,” said Greg Burke, media adviser for the Vatican’s Secretariat of State. The name suggests “reaching out” and bringing unity not just of Catholics “but all men and women of good will,” he said.

Msgr. Paul Tighe, secretary of the communications council, said the pontifex name also “refers to the office more than the person,” that is, it highlights the leader of the Church and the Catholic faithful.

A more practical consideration was that numerous permutations of the name Pope Benedict XVI were already taken by other people not affiliated with the pope, whereas the handle “Pontifex” was available.

Using a handle that wasn’t already taken meant the Vatican didn’t have to “go around and get people to vacate the space,” the monsignor said.

The pope’s first tweets from the new accounts were responses to four or five questions about the Catholic faith sent to the pope on Twitter via the hashtag #askpontifex, he said.

The very first question came

in during the news conference announcing the initiative. It was in Spanish and asked: “What is the core of the message of the Gospel and how can we help to share it?” he said.

While it was expected people would send questions that are offtopic — like one asking who will win an upcoming sports match — only questions dealing with the Catholic faith received serious consideration, said Burke.

The Q&A exchange was offered just that one time, and the rest of the papal news feeds will be excerpts from his general audience talks, Angelus addresses or other important speeches, Burke said.

Each tweet will be crafted by a Vatican official and the pope will review and approve each one before it is sent from the Vatican Secretariat of State’s offices, he said.

The papal tweets will be posted with some regularity but won’t be too frequent given the time constraints of the pope and that each tweet needs his approval, Msgr.

Tighe said.

Even though he won’t be physically sending the tweets, the messages “are pearls of wisdom coming from the heart of the pope’s teaching and coming from his own mind and ideas,” he said.

When asked whether the tweets will carry the weight of papal infallibility, Archbishop Celli said the tweets “aren’t positions taken on dogma,” however, they will be excerpts from his teachings and are a part of the papal magisterium.

To avoid making people feel left out or underappreciated for not being followed by the pope, the pope’s accounts won’t follow anyone else on Twitter, except the other @Pontifex language accounts, Burke said.

The pope’s presence isn’t to amass a fan club, but to encourage all the other Catholics who are present and active online, Msgr.

Tighe said. Even though the pope won’t be using the site to retweet,

follow others or comment, his presence is meant to “encourage them to engage in debate and discussion” with their fans and followers.

The Vatican isn’t afraid of the likelihood of insults or criticism being aimed at the pope on Twitter, Burke and Msgr. Tighe said.

“It’s a free market of ideas and that’s good,” said Burke.

The monsignor added it would be worse to have kept the pope out of the Twittersphere out of fear of engagement and then to leave that space “vacant.”

Claire Diaz-Ortiz, manager of social innovation for Twitter, told Catholic News Service that before the account was made public, @ Pontifex had 11 followers. Within an hour of its unveiling, it had more than 14,000 followers, she said, which was “a pretty great feat” considering the figure snowballed from the Tweets of the pontifical council, Vatican Radio and fewer than 100 reporters at the Vatican news conference.

Diaz-Ortiz said she works with “high profile” religious leaders and started helping the Vatican in the spring of 2012 expand its presence by opening a papal account.

“The thing we see with religion and what makes it so interesting,” she said, “is that their engagement levels are really through the roof.”

She said if you were to compare the number of followers an “average pastor” has to the number “an L.A. film star has, you see that engagement per number of followers is so much higher for a religious leader.”

“What that tells us is that this is the kind of material that people on Twitter want to connect with and want to hear about more,” she said.

She said Christian leaders have repeatedly pointed out “how many Bible verses are really less than 140 characters” to begin with, and the “positive messages of spirituality” in the Gospels already make a nice fit for the Twitter format.

December 14, 2012

The International Church

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CRS, Caritas Philippines ready to speed relief to thousands after storm

disaster relief — A pregnant woman who survived flooding from Typhoon Bopha holds her child on a stretcher while being evacuated from New Bataan, Philippines. Catholic Relief Services and Caritas Philippines planned to begin distributing basic necessities to 1,250 families as soon as possible. (CNS photo/Erik De Castro, Reuters)

Lila Rose spreading U.S. Pro-Life work to Europe

Rome, Italy (CNA) — A young Pro-Life American activist is expanding her work overseas after speaking at her first international conference in France.

Lila Rose, who spoke at the recent International Symposium for Life, held in the southwestern town of Biarritz, is planning on more work abroad.

The conference drew doctors, Pro-Life advocates and bishops from the United States, Russia, Spain, France, Canada and the Holy See, and was aimed at raising public awareness, challenging political leaders and educating young people about love and life.

But Lila Rose, who has received death threats and promises of legal action for her undercover work in abortion centers, did not want to release much information on her plans for Europe.

“We don’t want to release too many details of our work abroad, but every country in Europe is being affected by abortion,” Rose told CNA. “The idea is to encourage and come up with some strategies that may have been effective in the United States and use them in Europe,” said the 24-year-old, who is originally from California.

“Here in Europe there’s definitely a climate of quietness and apathy about this issue out of fear,” she said.

Rose works for Live Action, a Pro-Life group she founded nearly a decade ago that is known for its undercover investigations and exposés on abortion centers.

Europeans have often told her they thought they couldn’t do her work and that they would receive attacks they could not withstand.

But Rose said that “if you employ professionalism and put

your mind into persuading, you can overcome the challenges you’re told you will face.”

In fact, she was initially told that no one would listen to her, but over time she learned to be persistent and bold.

Rose explained that she is expanding her work to include Europe because “America has exported its pro-abortion ideologies, and so our interest must also look beyond the United States.

“We have to pay attention to what is happening internationally to help our investigative program.”

Looking at the present and the future, Rose maintains that abortion is the greatest current human rights abuse, and yet, she maintains a positive attitude because of the changes she is seeing.

“The day for abortion’s legal end and a revolution in our culture is already happening,” said Rose.

“We’ve some high hills to climb, but abortion numbers are going down,” she said, “and I believe that, because of the cultural changes and successes, the day of the end of abortion is coming soon.”

Live Action has documented many abuses over the last five years in the United States, including alleged sex trafficking and sex abuse cover-ups, which she says have an international component.

“There are certainly efforts abroad with the (Pro-Life) march in Spain and Irish movements run by young people, but the youth movement in the U.S. is really thriving,” Rose stated.

“I think it’s because there is a lot of synergy and encouragement, which is starting to build up now in Europe,” she added.

“Abortion and the culture of death is ruining our countries and

it’s time to stand up,” she said, adding that “a lot of that is beginning to come from the youth and it is only growing.”

She called on all Catholics to communicate persuasively to young people about human sexuality and the Theology of the Body, saying it is our responsibility.

Her tips for young Europeans are to not be afraid and to think courageously and creatively.

“You can do more than you think, you’re called to do more than you think, and you’re needed to do more than you think,” she said.

“Discouragements will come, but be brave, stand up and make a difference in your country and God will give you every grace you need, and you will change your country.”

WASHINGTON (CNS) — As thousands of Philippine families remained in shelters, Catholic Relief Services and Caritas Philippines prepared to speed household supplies and water to eastern sections of Mindanao affected by powerful Typhoon Bopha.

Packing 120-mph winds and torrential rains as it made landfall on the country’s southern-most island December 4, the storm left at least 300 people dead and hundreds more missing, Joe Curry, CRS country representative, told Catholic News Service.

The storm also washed out dozens of roads and bridges, destroyed much of the region’s electrical grid and severely damaged banana plantations in the fertile Compostela Valley.

Speaking by phone from Cagayan de Oro in northern Mindanao, Curry said 13 CRS workers had fanned out across eastern provinces to assess the situation.

“They’re seeing families on the streets without homes, families in evacuation centers,” Curry said.

“There’s a lot of housing damage.

This is an area of the world where housing is quite fragile.”

The two Church-based agencies, working with social action centers of several dioceses, planned to begin distributing pots and cooking supplies, sleeping mats, blankets, basic hygiene materials and water to communities.

Valley residents seemed to be unprepared for the storm, Curry told CNS, unlike in northern Mindanao, where authorities ordered the evacuation of 30,000 people.

The region hit by Typhoon Bopha is usually spared devastating

tropical storms, which usually take a more northerly route, according to meteorological records. Typhoon Washi in December 2011 hit northern Mindanao and its overnight deluge led to flash flooding as people slept in their homes, taking more than 1,200 lives and displacing hundreds of thousands. Curry said casualties in northern communities from Bopha were few and that damage was limited to flash flooding triggered by the storm.

Father Antonio Galela, social action director in the Diocese of Tandag, appealed for food, water, clothing and other basic necessities in a statement on the website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

“Food is the immediate need of the people affected by the typhoon particularly here in Tandag, especially in the evacuation centers,” Father Galela told Church-run Radio Veritas.

Similar appeals were made by the social action directors in Surigao and Mati dioceses.

Authorities said at least 120,000 people in 13 provinces were affected by Bopha, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News.

An estimated 87,000 people took shelter in 162 evacuation centers.

The National Federation of Small Fisherfolk Organization called on the bishops’ conference to open parishes and churches in Mindanao to shelter thousands of people left homeless by the typhoon.

Fernando Hicap, the federation’s chairman, said the failure of the government to provide enough shelters for flood and disaster victims prompted the organization to appeal for help from the bishops.

December 14, 2012 The Church in the U.S. Reform must respect immigrants’ human rights, dignity, says archbishop

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ATLANTA (CNS) — Some 200 national immigration leaders surveyed the landscape of immigration reform at the federal and state level during a recent three-day Catholic conference in Atlanta.

Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta told the leaders that while the federal government recently acted to offer young people brought into the country as children some relief by postponing deportation and granting them work permits if they qualify, the U.S. Catholic bishops will continue to advocate for comprehensive reform with more opportunities, particularly for families and those already living and working in the United States.

The bishops “will resist” any proposal that offers undocumented individuals legal status without a path to become citizens, he said in a keynote address.

“We will argue against the creation of a permanent underclass in this country, where certain parts of our population do not have the rights that others do,” Archbishop Gregory said to applause.

The conference was organized by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., known as CLINIC. It was titled “Migration Policy and Advocacy in 2013 and Beyond: New Challenges and New Opportunities.”

In his keynote, Archbishop Gregory drew a connection to Atlanta’s native son, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and the civil rights movement, saying that has shown the “disastrous results” when people are denied their full rights.

“Our nation has been down this road before, with disastrous results. As we know from our nation’s history, many

persons, including Dr. King, have fought and died so that all persons can enjoy the full rights of citizenship. We cannot forsake this principle for the purpose of political expediency,” the archbishop said.

A second priority of the U.S. bishops, he said, is to ensure that “family reunification remains the cornerstone of our nation’s immigration policy.”

Many families with some members who are U.S. citizens are divided by the current policies and others applying for family reunification wait for years, he said. The system needs to ensure families remain together and the immigration process moves quicker, he said. And reform should not replace a family-based system with a system that “places value on a person’s resume over a person’s family ties.”

Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure to increase visas for foreigners who earned advanced graduate degrees in the U.S. for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It did away with the diversity visa system.

The archbishop said the bishops “accept and support reasonable enforcement measures” for the integrity of the nation’s borders and to protect the common good of citizens. However, “such measures must respect basic human rights and dignity” and include due process protections for immigrants and their families, he said.

Too often over the past 25 years, the government has “pursued an enforcement-only immigration policy,” he said.

“We have witnessed the results of this policy in the inhumane detention conditions in which many immigrants are held

in this country; the separation of parents from their children due to deportation; and the deaths of thousands of our brothers and sisters in the American desert,” he said.

Archbishop Gregory also linked the need for immigration reform and religious freedom.

He said a number of states, including Georgia, enacted laws that criminalized actions of “all citizens who, in the exercise of their religious teachings, want to assist those in need.”

Federal courts intervened to prevent enforcement of these laws, but “we must continue our vigilance and our advocacy against legislation which demeans human beings and interferes with religious freedom.”

The Catholic perspective on immigrants is rooted in the theological truth that all human beings are made in the image of God and retain that dignity, regardless of their circumstances.

In the Old Testament, God commanded His people to welcome the alien and stranger, and in the New Testament, Christians are told they encounter Jesus Himself in the face of the stranger, Archbishop Gregory said.

“As bishops and as a Church, we do not seek immigration reform based on some political calculus of how many votes can be garnered by one political party or the other,” he said. “We seek justice for all migrating peoples because they are our brothers and sisters and are made in God’s image.”

Conference workshops covered a variety of topics, from recent federal court rulings and the future of immigration reform to reaction from state leaders to

the two-year reprieve from deportation with President Barack Obama’s federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Conference attendees talked about glimmers of hope to rewrite immigration laws following the election, but also said vigilance was needed.

Pat Chivers, director of communications for the Atlanta Archdiocese, said she hopes immigration reform becomes one of priorities of the incoming Congress and the Obama Administration.

Chivers said the political parties learned how “powerful the Hispanic community is in voting and contributing to the political process.” That awareness “has definitely brought immigration reform to the forefront of issues to be addressed this year,” she told The Georgia Bulletin, Atlanta’s archdiocesan newspaper.

Sister Marie Lucey, director of advocacy at the Franciscan Action Network in Washington, said she hoped the president “holds true to his word” to make immigration reform a priority.

“There is a lot of hope in the immigrant community that something is going to happen. We have to be very vigilant about what form immigration reform will take,” said Sister Lucey, who is a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia.

Paulette Croteau, from Tennessee, attended to learn more so she could share the issues with her parish. She’s the director of Religious Education at her small church, with a sizable majority of Hispanics.

“I see fear. I see hostility. My heart cries because my Hispanic brothers and sisters are getting a raw deal,” she said.

Pro-Life leaders ask GOP to stand strong on abortion

Washington D.C. (CNA) — Top Pro-Life advocates are calling on the Republican Party to maintain its Pro-Life stance despite calls from some to back off from the position in the wake of the presidential election.

“A real soldier doesn’t stay on the defensive,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, which works to promote Pro-Life candidates and policies. “You go out and state your best case.”

“The folks that have taken the stand on this issue have taken it because we’re

talking about defending vulnerable human life,” she told CNA. “If it’s not about that, it’s not about anything.”

Dannenfelser was one of several ProLife leaders who responded to suggestions by some Republicans, including Arizona senator John McCain, that the GOP should drop or mitigate its Pro-Life stance in order to broaden its appeal after losing the presidential election.

Appearing on “Fox News Sunday” recently, the senator — who unsuccessfully ran for president against Barack Obama in 2008 — suggested that while “I can state

my position on abortion,” Republicans should “other than that, leave the issue alone when we are in the kind of economic situation and, frankly, national security situation that we’re in.”

When asked by host Chris Wallace whether his suggestion to “leave the issue alone” meant allowing “freedom of choice” to abort, McCain responded, “I would allow people to have those opinions and respect those opinions.”

“I’m proud of my Pro-Life position and record, but if someone disagrees with me, I respect your views,” he said.

Pro-Life advocates immediately rejected such suggestions, arguing that the adamant support of life is a winning battle and the right thing to do.

Dannenfelser pointed to the historic words of Martin Luther King Jr., “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s loss on Election Day should not be attributed to his opposition to abortion, said Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, and Brendan O’Morchoe, the organization’s national field operations director.

In a recent blog post on the group’s website, Hawkins and O’Morchoe responded to pundits who were already blaming Rom-

ney’s loss on his support of life.

They pointed to a FOX News exit poll from election night showing that 59 percent of voters supported legal abortion and only 36 percent opposed it.

These numbers do not reflect Gallup’s recent poll showing that the majority of Americans are Pro-Life, they said. Rather, the low turnout shows that Pro-Lifers did not vote.

They suggested that Romney’s relative silence on the subject hurt him at the ballot box, noting that while he said he would de-fund Planned Parenthood and sign Pro-Life legislation, he did not match the Democratic Party’s heavy emphasis on the subject.

“If the Republican Party had made any effort to highlight President Obama’s extreme pro-abortion record, we believe the results of this election would have been much different,” they said.

The grim reality of resistance within both parties points to the realization that the Pro-Life movement must not rely on politicians in the nation’s capital, they said. Rather, it must continue working to change the culture.

“Our mission of abolishing abortion in our lifetime still stands,” they stated.

“It will happen in our lifetime. Culture shapes politics, and our culture is becoming Pro-Life.”

December 14, 2012

The Church in the U.S.

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U.S. bishops recommend prayers for Year of Faith

no room in the u.s. — Actors dressed as Mary and Joseph and carrying a baby representing Jesus lead other actors portraying the three Wise Men as part of a Nativity scene past the Supreme Court in Washington recently. The Christian Defense Coalition gathered with actors and animals to demonstrate that such displays are protected by the First Amendment. The event was held in reaction to other courts’ involvement in the banning of Nativity scenes in some parts of the United States.

(CNS photo/Jason Reed, Reuters)

Catholic charity groups welcome call for fidelity

Washington D.C. (CNA/ EWTN News) — Leaders of Catholic charities in the U.S. reaffirmed Pope Benedict’s recent message on the need to remain firmly rooted in the Gospel and Catholic identity while reaching out to serve those in need.

“The Church’s charitable work is directly tied to our love of God,” said Don Clemmer, assistant director of media relations at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Love of God and love of neighbor are intricately connected, Clemmer told CNA. He observed that this theme, highlighted in Pope Benedict XVI’s new apostolic letter, is also present in his 2005 encyclical, “Deus Caritas Est.” In his recent message, the pope explained that Catholic charity groups must not be “just another form of organized social assistance,” but that charity must instead “express a genuine love for people, a love animated by a personal encounter with Christ.”

Released December 1, the “motu proprio” document was written on the pope’s own initiative and issues new rules on the organization of Church charitable agencies.

The work of Catholic charitable organizations partakes in “the sharing of all the faithful in the mission of the Church,” the pope said. These initiatives, while diverse, must conform to Church teaching, and the bishops must be responsible for ensuring this fidelity.

Pope Benedict asked the bishops to foster charitable efforts that are rooted in Gospel spirituality and faithful to Catholic identity, ensuring that such groups do not contradict Church teaching or lead the faithful into confusion and error.

Concerns over the Catholic identity of some charitable institutions have been raised in recent years, along with fears that some

groups may be functioning more as secular social service organizations than Church agencies motivated by faith.

In 2008, staff members at Commonwealth Catholic Charities of Richmond, Va., helped a 16-yearold girl obtain an abortion. In 2010, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, run by U.S. bishops’ conference, launched a program of “review and renewal” after being criticized for erroneously funding organizations that promote abortion and homosexuality.

At the same time, pressure from government and secular groups has limited the work of many Catholic organizations in the United States.

Catholic Charities in Washington, D.C., and Illinois announced that they would be forced to close their foster care and public adoption programs due to laws requiring them to place children with gay couples.

Last fall, the Refugee and Migration Services run by the U.S. bishops’ conference was denied a federal grant renewal to serve human trafficking victims after new regulations demanded cooperation with the provision of contraception, sterilization and abortion.

Catholic groups across the country are currently threatened by the federal contraception mandate, which will soon force them to offer health insurance plans covering products and procedures that violate Church teaching. Numerous charitable instructions have filed lawsuits challenging the mandate for violating their religious freedom to maintain their Catholic identity.

Clemmer explained that the Church’s charitable efforts must not be “confined,” because such work is not merely a side activity, but a key part of the Christian vocation that is “mandated in the Gospel.”

Catholic Relief Services, the

international relief and development agency of the U.S. bishops’ conference, welcomed the pope’s message.

In a statement provided to CNA, the organization said that it “takes its Catholic identity very seriously and will look to the new guidance from the Holy Father to further inform our efforts.”

Catholic Relief Services is a member of the Caritas federation, which the pope praised for its “generous and consistent witness of faith and ability to respond to the needs of the poor.”

Pro-Life groups also applauded the apostolic letter. Father Shenan J. Boquet, president of Human Life International, hailed the motu proprio as “a welcome move toward improving the Church’s ability to speak with one voice in the defense of the poor and displaced, the unborn and the elderly, and all who are marginalized.”

In recent years, the “secular development industry” has managed to connect assaults on life with aid to the poor, he lamented in a recent statement, and this poses a threat and a challenge to the identity of Catholic groups seeking to help those in need.

Father Boquet observed that in modern aid efforts, “emergency shelter somehow requires legalized abortion, food comes with condoms and incredible pressure to reduce birth rates, economic assistance requires adoption of a radical sexual and political agenda.”

While dialogue and cooperation are important, he acknowledged, they must done without lending aid to activities that violate the teachings of the Church.

Now, he said, leaders of Catholic charitable groups have the opportunity to respond to the pope’s call by developing “a dynamic, creative and evangelistic new paradigm for the work they are called to do in the name of Jesus Christ and His Church.”

Washington D.C. (CNA) — By working to enrich their prayer lives, Catholics can grow closer to Christ and more deeply live out the Year of Faith, said the U.S. bishops’ leader on matters of evangelization.

“The Year of Faith is about returning to the foundational teachings of the Church and drawing strength from them,” said Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay, who heads the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis for U.S. bishops’ conference.

He pointed to the Nicene Creed, the official prayer of the Year of Faith, as expressing “the core of Christian belief.”

Announced by Pope Benedict XVI, the Year of Faith runs from Oct. 11, 2012 to Nov. 24, 2013 and is an opportunity for Catholics to renew their faith so that they may more fully share it with those around them.

Bishop Ricken offered “10 Prayers for the Year of Faith” that can also be an opportunity for Catholics to prepare for Christmas during the current Advent season.

The bishop recommended several basic Catholic prayers. He explained that the Lord’s Prayer, or Our Father, “is so central to the faith that it’s said at every Mass.”

As the prayer that Christ gave us, it also brings us closer to Jesus and encourages a personal encounter with Him, he added.

Another basic prayer, the Hail Mary, is also important, the bishop said, noting that “Mary will always assist Christians and bring them to her Son.” Furthermore, the Glory Be is a hymn of praise that “beautifully captures the essence of our faith in an eternal, Trinitarian God,” he said.

In addition to these basics, Bishop Ricken suggested the Acts of Contrition, Faith, Hope and Love as good staples for a Christian

prayer life.

He advocated other Marian prayers as well. The Memorare “reminds God’s people that Mary is our mother and that we can turn to her with anything,” he said, while the Magnificat, or Canticle of Mary from Luke’s Gospel (1:46-55), “gives a glimpse of the faith of someone who trusted God so much that He entered the world through her.”

He then suggested the Canticle of Zechariah (Lk 1:68-79) as “a vivid testament of faith from someone experiencing God’s goodness at work in the world.”

The bishop also recommended praying to angels with the Guardian Angel prayer often taught to children and the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel.

“Both are helpful reminders of the need to ask for God’s protection and guidance every day,” he said.

Finally, Bishop Ricken suggested the Prayer for the New Evangelization, which can be found on the bishops’ conference website, usccb. org, and calls for the Holy Spirit to strengthen the hearts of the faithful so that they may witness to the Gospel through their lives.

“The purpose of the Year of Faith is to renew and strengthen Catholics in their practice of the faith so that they may inspire the world with their example,” he explained. “This is the New Evangelization.”

6

The Anchor Leave the light on for humanity

This past weekend in Rome the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and the Knights of Columbus cohosted a congress entitled “Following in the footsteps of the Postsynodal Apostolic Exhortation ‘Ecclesia in America,’ under the guidance of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of All America, Star of the New Evangelization.” Speaking to the participants on Sunday, Pope Benedict remarked on the seemingly dismissal picture which confronts us.

“Secularism and different religious groups are expanding all over the latitudes, causing numerous problems. An education and a promotion of a culture of life is a fundamental urgent need [so as to] confront a mentality which attacks the dignity of the human person and neither favors nor protects the matrimonial and familial institution. How can anyone not be worried about the dangerous situations of emigration, rootlessness or violence, especially caused by organized delinquency, narcotrafficing, corruption or arms trading? And what is one to say about the lacerating inequalities and pockets of poverty, caused by questionable economic, political or social policies?”

After the “doom and gloom,” the Holy Father reminded the participants of where we can encounter the “light at the end of the tunnel” of these desperate realities. “All these important questions require careful study. Yet in addition to their technical evaluation, the Catholic Church is convinced that the light for an adequate solution can only come from an encounter with the living Christ, which gives rise to attitudes and ways of acting based on love and truth.

This is the decisive force which will transform the American continent.”

In this edition of The Anchor we read about Sisters dedicating themselves to serve God and their neighbor under the title of Maronite Servants of Christ the Light. No matter what our vocation is (single, married, religious, or clerical), we are all called to be servants of Christ, sharing His light to a world in the darkness of suffering, which is caused directly or indirectly by sin. That light won’t shine through us unless we have encountered the living Christ. Some of us shine brighter than others — just as an old 120-watt bulb shined brighter than a 60-watt one. Those who shine brighter have allowed themselves to come into more frequent and deeper contact with Christ in their prayer and in their daily living.

Father Edward J. Bunn, S.J., served as president of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. from 1952 to 1964. During the tumult of the 60s a fellow Jesuit was about to leave the priesthood and the Church and he asked Father Bunn why he did not leave, too, since he could see so many problems in the Church. Father Bunn related that he had to think for a minute, so that his answer might be of some use to try to have this other priest not abandon our religion. He then said, “I find myself in a circuit of grace and I don’t want to pull out the plug.”

To paraphrase what the Holy Father said last Sunday, our entire American continent (Pope Benedict was echoing Blessed John Paul II’s declaration that as Catholics we should see ourselves as part of “one America,” not divided into North, Central and South “Americas”) needs to put the plug back into the socket, so that the circuit of love, which is powered by Christ, might unite us altogether in efforts to improve our circumstances.

Nonbelievers could point out to us all of the injustices that existed in America back when the vast majority of the population were churchgoers (Catholics in the old Spanish, Portuguese and French colonies and the countries which replaced them; Protestants in the British colonies and their successor states). However, we could respond by pointing out that although people were attending services back then, we do not know how many of those people were actually having an encounter with the Living Christ, as opposed to just going to church because of conformity to social norms of the time.

Martin Luther King Jr. was mentioned in two articles on page four today. On the top of the page Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta, speaking about the rights of immigrants, made mention of Atlanta’s favorite son, Dr. King, who warned of the “disastrous results” which come about when human rights are ignored. In the lower article, about the move by some Republicans to distance themselves from the Pro-Life movement, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List (a political action committee), quoted Dr. King, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

The injustices which exist in America today are due to the silence of Jesus’ supposed friends, we Christians, who allow these things to happen. The same has unfortunately been true too often over the last nearly 2,000 years since Pentecost.

The late jazz musician and composer Dave Brubeck (who died recently), recalled in an interview with PBS his sadness at losing so many friends in World War II. “At that time I was thinking about composing a piece — I was in my early 20s — on the Ten Commandments, concentrating on all the Commandments but concentrating mostly on ‘Thou shalt not kill,’ and knowing that our enemy, being Catholic from Italy, basically they knew these same Ten Commandments. The Germans, being Catholic and Protestant, knew these same Ten Commandments. Why didn’t they stick with us? And why is there a war if one of our Commandments from God is that you shouldn’t kill each other? It’s still a part of many of the religious pieces I write,” he told PBS’ Hedrick Smith.

A simple answer to Brubeck’s question was that they were being Italians and Germans (or fascists and nazis) first, instead of being Christians first and foremost. The same answer is true regarding what ails us here in America.

Brubeck became a Catholic after composing a Mass (a frequent thing for composers to do, whether or not they are Catholic, from time immemorial) and a priest asked him why he did not include a musical “Our Father” in it. According to PBS, Brubeck told the priest that the work was done and he was going on vacation. “So I get down there, and what happens?

I dream the ‘Our Father’ because a priest tells me I left it out. So I jump up in the middle of the night, and write it all down. And now it’s in ‘The Mass’” (that he composed). Thanks to that intervention, “I joined the Catholic Church, because I felt, somebody’s trying to tell me something.” Brubeck’s encounter with the Living Christ changed his life.

Like the people on page four, Brubeck also quoted Dr. King in his PBS interview. “What you try to do through religious music [is] to reach people where it’s truly going to be the survival of humanity or the destruction of humanity. My second piece, ‘The Gates of Justice,’ was built around Martin Luther King Jr., saying, ‘We must live together as brothers or die together as fools.’ Now there’s one sentence that says it all. It isn’t complicated to figure what the meaning of that is. That’s what you try to bring to people.”

We ask Christ to help us all better encounter Him, so that we might truly live together as brothers and sisters and be a culture of life, light and love.

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December 14, 2012

Giving the Giver

uring the Advent season we’ve berust can’t corrode, burglars can’t steal and come somewhat accustomed to hear- the IRS can’t tax. We should give in a way ing jeremiads against the commercialization that they receive something of the real Gift of the season, from clergy, faithful and even of Christmas. those who long ago stopped caring much This does not mean we should never give about the religious side of Christmas. material gifts. If we know a young child They charge that the generic “holiday who has no winter jacket or winter boots or season” worships not the baby Jesus, but other necessities, it’s a beautiful thing to buy mammon — from wide-screen high definisuch a gift directly or as a Secret Santa. But tion televisions, to iPads, smartphones, Wii when those for whom we’re buying aren’t in consoles, clothes, shoes and jewelry — and material want, how much better would it be leads people to spend more time in malls in this Year of Faith for us to give and spread than they do in prayer. Millions, they point our faith along with our gift? out, think nothing of spending all night in For young kids, we could give a Veggie adoration of commerce on Black Friday Tales DVD, or a good book for kids on Bible yet few will arrange their schedule to get stories or on the lives of the saints. We can up in the middle of the night to adore the give a statue or a framed image of a beautiful Baby Jesus at Midnight Mass. Even many Nativity that can help others ponder the of the most faithful Catholics seem to focus mystery of Christmas throughout the year. more on getting Christmas trees ready and We can support the work of organizations preparing to welcome and assist Santa Claus like Bethlehem Christian Families than they do on getting their souls ready to (bcfmission.com) who come to the churches embrace and assist Christ. of our diocese to sell olive wood sculptures But while there are clear excesses of emmade by the families of Bethlehem, to try to phasis that should concern anyone who cares support economically those who are trying for God, for our culture, and for others, I’ve to maintain a Christian presence in the Holy never really Land, while joined in this giving on to chorus of critiothers beautiful cism. Rather handmade I’ve always goods. been more imIf the person pressed at this for whom time of year by you’re shopping

By Father the generoslikes jewelry, Roger J. Landry ity of people, perhaps you who will spend could get a their time and beautiful Crumoney unselfishly getting gifts for others, cifix necklace, or a stainless steel scapular or not just the members of their family, but miraculous medal, or a Rosary ring like the through Secret Santa Programs, Giving Trees members of my Team of Our Lady gave me and the like, for people they will likely never a few years ago and I’ve used it every day even meet. I’m convinced that the sacrifices since to pray. people make, the selfless generosity that’s If you normally get others gift certificates, involved, and its connection to the celebrarather than giving a pre-paid credit card or tion of the birth of Jesus, must please God certificates to Amazon or to iTunes, perhaps very much. you could give a certificate to the gift shop What I have a great issue with is what at La Salette Shrine, where your friends and gifts we actually give. Rather than giving family can not only visit the great Christmas presents that help others to recognize and re- display but, in passing through the gift store, joice in the reason for the season, rather than allow God to attract them to something that trying to bring them into a greater commuwill help them advance in faith. nion with God-with-us, many Catholics give Other good ideas would be to give a things that can foment others’ idolatries.

DVD of a good Catholic movie — like the To a young boy who adores Tom Brady recently released “For Greater Glory” or any and the Patriots more than Jesus Christ and of the dozens of films at Ignatius.com — or the saints, we fork over a small fortune to a good Catholic book. Pope Benedict’s latest buy him a Pats jersey emblazoned with the short read on the Infancy Narratives of Jesus number 12. For a young girl who obsesses would be a great work for anyone who is about clothes and her outward appearance a college graduate or student. Christopher far more than she cares about the state of Kaczor’s latest work, “The Seven Big Myths her soul, we purchase sweaters, dresses and about the Catholic Church,” would be a great foot gear that will spend far more time in her read for anyone who has questions about the closet than they ever do on her. To teens who Catholic faith. For guys who might think already are isolating themselves from family that reading a book on the faith is not a virile members by electronic games and gadgets, activity, I’d encourage you to challenge them who are looking forward to Christmas not with Father Larry Richard’s accessible and as a day of faith and family but to play a compelling, “Be a Man!” And for women, new game of Wii all day long or to barricade young and old, I’d recommend Colleen themselves in their room downloading and Campbell’s “My Sisters the Saints,” about listening to songs on a new iPod, we sacrifice which I wrote last week. to get them what will indulge, rather than adWhen you send Christmas cards, rather dress, their wasting their time and alienating than sending the secular ones featuring themselves from communion with God and Frosty the Snowman or generic messages others. wishing “holiday cheer,” think about sendIn other words, rather than giving gifts ing one with a beautiful image of Christmas that will help others to celebrate Christmas, with a message that expresses our great embrace the One who comes to us in AdCatholic hope that they may join us in the vent, and grow in faith, we sacrifice to give joy of the Holy Family, shepherds and what may actually hurt them by weakening magi. their faith through catalyzing the materialist In the midst of a world that is trying to secularism pushed by our culture. take Christ out of Christmas, it’s crucial for In this Year of Faith in which we are us who believe in Him — particularly in reflecting on how our faith is meant to this Year of Faith — to take advantage of influence all we are and everything we do, this season to spread our love of Him, by it’s key for us to ponder how our faith is sup- keeping Him front and center in the way we posed to influence what, how and how much spend our time this season as well as in the we give at Christmas. way we sacrifice for others, by trying to give As Catholics we should give differently gifts that can be bridges for those we love to than those who do not share our faith. In our come to the Giver Himself and the greatest giving, we should try to give in such a way Gift of all. that those we love receive something of the Father Landry is Pastor of St. Bernapearl of great price, the buried treasure that dette Parish in Fall River.

Putting Into the Deep

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n TV these days, we’re seeing more and more programs about “body art” and tattoo design. Despite the apparent widespread acceptance of the practice, there are several problems with tattooing that go beyond the sanitary issues, disease transmission and unclean inking needles that can be found in secondrate tattoo parlors.

Tattoos, as some who have gotten them have recognized, have negative associations. An article in the Dallas Morning News a few years ago chronicled the story of a young man named Jesus Mendoza, who was “going to great lengths to remove the six tattoos that hint at his erstwhile gang involvement. He feels branded. ‘It’s the stereotyping,’ he said. ‘The question is: What do you think when you see a young Hispanic male with tattoos? You’re going to think gangs. And I think that, too, now.’”

Similar branding concerns were raised in a recent column

by David Whitley about San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, whose arms and back are full of tattoos.

“NFL quarterback is the ultimate position of influence and responsibility,” he wrote. “He is the CEO of a high-profile organization, and you don’t want your CEO to look like he just got paroled.”

That branding communicates a message that can make life more difficult for those who have tattoos. It should come as no surprise that employers often associate tattooed workers with “reduced productivity” and may show a preference for untattooed employees in hiring or promotions.

Even for the vast majority of tattoo recipients who have no connection with gangs or an indolent lifestyle, a psychological issue is raised by the way they seem to serve as marks of vanity. Placing tattoos in positions where they can hardly be missed — on the neck, the forearms, or even the face — can play into a disordered desire to be flamboyant, disruptive and self-seeking with our bodily image. One young woman, tattooed with the image of a fairy having “stylized butterfly wings, in a spray of pussy willow” expressed her sentiments this way: “I am a shameless exhibitionist and truly love having unique marks on my body.”

These questions about vanity lead to similar concerns about modesty. Modesty in its

7

The Anchor

December 14, 2012

Taboos and tattoos

essential meaning involves the decision to not draw undue attention to ourselves. Tattoos and body piercings most definitely draw attention, and often may be desired for precisely these immodest reasons. We ought to dress modestly, in part, to prevent others from being attracted to us out of a mere “focus on body parts.” One aspect of dressing modestly is to make sure everything needing to be covered is, in fact, adequately covered.

Placing tattoos in unusual positions on the body may tempt us to dress immodestly so as to assure that the tattoo is visible and exposed for general viewing, in the same way that elective breast augmentation may tempt some women to

lower their necklines.

Tattoos, chosen as a permanent change to one’s own body, may also suggest issues with psychological self-acceptance.

Making Sense Out of Bioethics

By Father Tad Pacholczyk

One young woman wanting to get a tattoo expressed her desire to look “edgier,” after concluding that she was just too “squeaky-clean” looking.

The simple beauty of the human body constitutes a real good and that basic goodness ought to be reasonably

breathing easy — The Dartmouth Council on Aging was the setting where Cornel Boudria, registered respiratory therapist, second from right, recently gave a presentation on medications and inhalers that are used for respiratory therapy. The discussion included the demonstration of several types of inhalers and their proper use, followed by a question and answer session. Boudria, who treats residents at Catholic Memorial Home in Fall River and Madonna Manor in North Attleboro, is part of the Respiratory Therapy Department of the Diocesan Health Facilities. The other three facilities in the system where respiratory therapy is also given include Marian Manor in Taunton, Our Lady’s Haven in Fairhaven, and Sacred Heart Home in New Bedford. From left: Nancy Miller, Dartmouth COA Activities Coordinator; Joyce Mello, Dartmouth COA visitor; Boudria; and Olive Veiga, Dartmouth COA visitor, and occasional Anchor letter-writer.

safeguarded. Permanent, radical changes to the human body can indeed signal an unwillingness to accept its fundamental goodness, and in certain cases of very radical tattooing and body piercing, one can even discern a subtle form of selfrejection and selfmutilation.

There is a spiritual dimension involved as well.

Russell Grigaitis, who now regrets getting several tattoos in his 20s, argues in a National Catholic Register interview, “God created the body. A tattoo is like putting graffiti on a work of art.” He compares it with trying to improve a painting by Michelangelo.

Some argue that there can be good spiritual reasons for getting tattoos. For example, people have gotten crosses or an image of Jesus tattooed as a sign of permanent commitment to Christ, or a ring or a spouse’s name tattooed as a sign of their marital commitment. Yet isn’t a personal

commitment to Christ or to one’s spouse more effectively manifested through the realities of inner virtue and a life of outward generosity than by a tattoo?

It’s unsurprising that many who got tattoos in their younger days have grown to regret it later. Pop musician Robbie Williams remarked: “I wish it was like an Etch-a-Sketch where I can wipe them all out: it would be nice to have a pure, clean body again.” The American Academy of Dermatology reported in 2007 that “tattoo regret” is now quite common in the United States.

Tattoo removal is a costly and difficult procedure, and can leave translucent areas on the skin that never go away.

The most effective remedy, of course, is to not seek tattoos in the first place.

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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hings are different this weekend. For the past two weeks, the vestments have been purple. The prayers have been penitential and expecting. Today, though, the mood of the Church changes. The vestments worn are rose or light purple, the pink third candle of the Advent Wreath is lit, and the prayers and readings ask us not to be contrite, but joyful. Today, the Church proclaims “Rejoice!” because the birth of Jesus is very close. Half of the Season of Advent is over, and there is less than two weeks left before Christmas.

In order to reflect on the theme of joy at the coming of Christmas, I would like to examine a character who fully embraced this joy: Ebenezer Scrooge.

In Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” Ebenezer

December 14, 2012

The Anchor

Time to soften our hearts

Scrooge experiences one of lost. By the end of his three the most intense Advents visits, Ebenezer Scrooge is one could ever experience. a new man. He is no longer The night before Christmas, afraid to show compassion to he is visited by three ghoulish creatures: the Ghosts of ChristHomily of the Week mas Past, Christmas Third Sunday Present, and Christof Advent mas Future. Each ghost has the task of

By Father showing Ebenezer William Sylvia the last time he experienced any true joy in his life. In each instance, the joy was only people. He brings gifts, food, momentary; it did not last. and medicine to the home of Unfortunately, Ebenezer had his employee, Bob Cratchit. a hard life growing up and He goes and visits his faced many tragedies. The nephew, the son of his sister, unfortunate thing is that he whom Ebenezer missed let those tragedies harden his greatly. He allowed himself heart, so that he would never to feel joy for the first time be disappointed again by the in a long time, and because loss of joy. In doing this, his of that, his stony heart was heart became so hard, that he broken and a renewed human almost stopped being human. heart beat instead.

However, all was not The people we encounter

today in the readings: Isaiah, Paul, and John the Baptist all allowed joy to rule their hearts. None of them had an easy life. In fact, all of them had to deal with serious obstacles in their lives. However, they were able to endure because they were filled with a joy that only God can give; a joy that can never dwindle or be extinguished.

That joy was expressed in the Gospel by the image of light. John the Baptist came to testify to the light. When we allow God’s light into our minds, souls, and bodies, we can see more clearly than we have ever seen before.

We see things that we could never see before. We can see because we have been filled with the One who is pure joy itself — God.

As we get closer to Christmas, we find the days getting shorter and shorter, the temperature beginning to drop, and the anticipation within us begin to grow. The Church gives us this Sunday within Advent, Guadete Sunday, to rejoice in the fact that Jesus is coming and will soon be here. We will have the salvation promised us and all the consolations that Jesus can give us. Today, let us remember that Advent is quickly coming to a close and that God wishes to soften our hearts, as Ebenezer Scrooge’s heart was softened, so that we can experience the full joy and happiness that Jesus will bring to us on Christmas Day. Father Sylvia is a Technical Assistant at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Hyannis and a Chaplain at Cape Cod Hospital.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Dec. 15, Sir 48:1-4,9-11; Mt 17:9a,10-13. Sun. Dec. 16, Third Sunday of Advent, Zep 3:14-18a (Ps) Is 12:2-6; Phil 4:4-7; Lk 3:10-18. Mon. Dec. 17, Gn 49:2,8-10; Mt 1:1-17. Tues. Dec. 18, Jer 23:5-8; Mt 1:18-25. Wed. Dec. 19, Jgs 13:2-7,24-25a; Lk 1:5-25.

Thurs. Dec. 20, Is 7:10-14; Lk 1:26-38. Fri. Dec. 21, Sg 2:8-14 or Zep 3:14-18a; Lk 1:39-45.

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he most intellectually exciting book I read this past year was Richard Bauckham’s “Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony” (Eerdmans).

Unfolding his research like a detective story and deploying the most contemporary scholarship on what actually counted as “history” in the ancient world, Professor Bauckham makes a powerful case that the Gospels may in fact put us in touch with those who knew the Lord, and certainly put us in touch with those who knew those who knew the Lord. Give it to any priest or deacon you know who preaches out of the “that didn’t really happen”/historical-critical playbook; but get yourself a

Books for Christmas

copy, too. misinterpreted) as proposing a Roman dissertations rarely soggy and evangelically-sterile become important books; even universalism. What Martin less frequently do they befound is of prime importance for come readable books. A happy the New Evangelization, which, exception is Ralph Martin’s like the council, puts the Gospel “Will Many Be Saved?

What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization” (Eerdmans). Martin, a longtime proponent of

By George Weigel Catholic evangelism, decided to look closely during his doctoral studies at what the council’s and its urgent demands at the Dogmatic Constitution on the center of Catholic faith.

Church really taught about Typically inspired by John God’s universal salvific will, Paul, the new Catholic feminism and how that teaching had been is flowering in the United States, interpreted (or more frequently, another sign of the distinctive vitality of the American Church compared to the withered vineyard of Old Europe.

Two recent books display this Catholic feminist counterculture at its most compelling. “Breaking Through: Catholic Women Speak for Themselves” (Our Sunday Visitor), a collection of essays edited by legal scholar and Pro-Life activist Helen Alvaré, addresses a host of issues in the American culture war from the perspective of highly competent women committed to the truths the Church teaches about the moral life.

In a different genre, but just as compelling, is Colleen Carroll

The Catholic Difference

Campbell’s beautifully crafted “spiritual memoir,” “My Sisters the Saints” (Image). A deeply personal reflection, it still, as Cardinal Francis George notes in his endorsement, “teaches a universal lesson: living free is different from being in control.”

As the sesquicentennial of the Civil War continues, I’ve found myself dipping frequently into the never-ending torrent of books on what is called, south of the Potomac, the “recent unpleasantness.” Those who have never feasted on the American Iliad, Shelby Foote’s three-volume masterpiece, “The Civil War: A Narrative” (Random House), might treat themselves to a very large stocking-stuffer this year.

The sesquicentennial also got me reading Jean Edward Smith’s “Grant” (Simon & Schuster), arguably the best biography of a now-ignored figure who for decades was considered by many Americans the equal of Washington and Lincoln.

Candice Millard’s “Destiny of the Republic” (Anchor Books) is not about the war, but rather about an entirely admirable Civil War veteran, James Garfield, who, much against his will, was elected president in 1880, only to fall to an assassin’s bullet a few months after his inaugura-

tion. Or did he? Millard makes a powerful (and chilling) case that Garfield was killed by his doctors, not by the lunatic Charles Guiteau. Emphatically not to be read in the hospital, but a great read in other circumstances.

Anne Applebaum’s “Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956” (Doubleday) is a sobering and richly detailed look at how a hard totalitarianism was imposed east of the Elbe River in the aftermath of World War II, and a fitting complement to Applebaum’s highly-acclaimed study, “Gulag.” How the world Stalin tried to erase was created in the first millennium is the subject of Robert Louis Wilken’s new book, “The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity” (Yale): a masterwork from a master teacher.

And finally, let me mention Ronald Knox’s “Pastoral and Occasional Sermons” (Ignatius Press), a cornucopia of the pellucid, deeply insightful homilies of perhaps the greatest English-language preacher of the 20th century.

Knox is unhappily forgotten in much of today’s Catholic Anglosphere; rediscovering him would do a world of good for homiletics, as it does for spiritual reading.

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

December 14, 2012

T

he Bible is probably the most popular book in human history. It has been read by billions of people since its inception and has been one of the primary sources of guidance for Christians around the world.

However, the Catholic Bible may also be the most misunderstood text. There are many misconceptions associated with the Bible, some of which we will try to clear up here.

First, the Bible is not a science book, and not every word in it is to be taken literally, especially in the Old Testament.

The Bible can be broken up into four parts: History, Wisdom, Prophecy, and Law. One important thing to keep in mind when reading the Bible is the origin of its writings: it is inspired by

W

Why we need faith

Many people like to point this God, but written by humans, out as a fallacy that proves that and the authors had their own the Bible cannot be trusted as writing styles. Many people get the Word of God. It is highly confused about this part. It is true that Scripture is the Word of unlikely that Noah lived to be God, but God did not dictate the Bible to a stenographer. He inRelating faith, stead inspired human science and the authors, who in turn wrote the books of the Bible Bible.

By Alex Pacheco The authors often used figurative language and other literary devices to enhance their work. One point of interest 950 years old. Old Testament writers often exaggerated age that is often misunderstood by to represent wisdom. We can Catholics and non-Catholics conclude, therefore, that Noah alike is the age of some of the was very wise and the author Old Testament figures. For had a lot of respect for Noah. example, the Bible tells us that The author used a common literNoah lived to be 950 years old.

A season of arrivals

ell folks, this article will be my last as a college student. Crazy to think that time has gone by so fast, but it was already three-and-ahalf years ago that I embarked on my journey as an undergraduate preparing to face the world when I completed my degree. And so, the day has come. And it has come in what always feels to me to be the most blessed of seasons, the Christmas season, as the world relishes in the celebration of the seasons and all of which that entails. Thanksgiving has already been upon us, and Black Friday threw us into commercial frenzy of gift-giving and stress. And Christmas, well Christmas is right around the corner — 11 days away!

(Not that I’m counting!)

So what am I looking forward to most? I started to make a list the other day and noticed a pattern. I can’t wait for my brother to be home from his third year away at college.

Christmastime means that my girlfriends from high school and I share in an annual gettogether, normally involving the baking of a mass amount of

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cookies and goodies. A unique excitement accompanies the knowledge that family from out of town will be keeping us company. And in a bittersweet way I cherish memories that this season brings, of both those

Radiate Your Faith

By Renee Bernier who have left us for their true home, and those who remain behind. It seems almost unbearable, as the countdown continues, to contain my excitement.

And then it struck me. As I look forward to a new year to be shared with family, friends, and full of new beginnings, there is a commonality between all of what I am most grateful for, most looking forward to: each is clearly an arrival of sorts. How fitting, then, that at the same moment comes the realization that this is indeed, truly, a season of arrivals.

For on December 25, comes the most important arrival to our Christian roots: Jesus Christ,

Himself. Born into this world on a cold winter night, our Savior arrived virtually unknown to man and without even knowing it, the world would be changed forever and remarkably so. For a moment, I imagine, the world must have stood still.

Hard to imagine, especially in this time of holiday chaos and preparations, but try to imagine that Christ, conceived and brought into the world by a quiet and humble birth, arrived among us to teach us so that we might live and be better for it. And so, it is in this Christmas season that we should stand still, for however brief a moment, and reflect on this arrival amongst all those others that we anticipate. May His holy presence be an everlasting reminder that He is constantly arriving into our lives, and that His birth marks the beginning of that beautiful relationship. Have a very merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.

Renee lives in Swansea and is a senior at Stonehill College in Easton. She is involved with youth ministry at St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham.

ary technique that would have been understood at the time that it was written.

Another common, misinterpreted story is that of Adam and Eve. Besides being more of an explanation for why we have to live with sin rather than an actual historical account of how the first people came to be, it contains some symbolism in it as well.

One example of such symbolism is the use of the Hebrew word (English: nẖş, pronounced nahash), which has been translated into “serpent” or “snake.” The word is used to mean “evil” or to convey a sense of fear. This sense of maliciousness is used to show that the devil was involved in tempting Adam and Eve. They did not have a conversation with a talking snake. Satan himself tempted them to disobey God, just as he does with us every day.

Another aspect of the Creation story that people tend to question is the time that it took God to create the universe. The Bible tells us that God created the universe in six days. First, this is not meant to be a historical fact.

We have overwhelming scientific evidence that shows that the universe took billions of years to form. The Church does not claim that these and other scientific findings, such as the theory of evolution, are wrong. Second,

God is omnipotent, meaning He can create anything He wants in an instant. It’s one of those perks that comes with the job. Also, God does not exist in time, so to argue how long it took God to create the world is impossible.

The seven-day creation period is related to the passage in Exodus that gives us the Commandments: “‘Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day.

Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy’” (Ex. 20:8-11).

It’s important to understand the origins of the writings in the Bible and its context when we read it. Even today a comment out of context can have a very different meaning than intended.

Understanding context becomes even more important when the writing is filled with symbolism, figurative language, and material that requires faith to be understood. The mysteries of the Bible cannot be explained by science, which is why we need faith.

Editor’s note: This completes Alex Pacheco’s column on faith, science and the Bible. He is a junior at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth.

He is a parishioner of Espirito Santo Parish in Fall River.

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December 14, 2012

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December 14, 2012

Catholic beliefs are not open to popular vote, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When the Catholic Church affirms the importance of how all the faithful understand matters of faith and morals, it is not saying Catholic beliefs are open to a popular vote, Pope Benedict XVI said. An authentic “sensus fidei,” which literally means “sense of faith,” can come only when Catholics actively participate in the life of the Church and follow the teaching of the pope and bishops, he said December 7 during a meeting with members of the International Theological Commission.

The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” quotes the Second Vatican Council’s teaching that “the whole body of the faithful ... cannot err in matters of belief. This characteristic is shown in the supernatural appreciation of faith (‘sensus fidei’) on the part of the whole people, when, ‘from the bishops to the last of the faithful,’ they manifest a universal consent in matters of faith and morals.”

Pope Benedict praised the theological commission members for including a discussion of the “sensus fidei” in “Theology Today: Perspectives, Principles and Criteria,” a document they released in March and which affirms the primacy of bishops over theologians as interpreters of Church teaching.

“Today it is particularly important to clarify the criteria which make it pos-

sible to distinguish the authentic ‘sensus fidelium’ from its counterfeits,” the pope said. “In reality, it is not some kind of ecclesial public opinion, and it

is unthinkable to use it to contest the teaching of the magisterium because the ‘sensus fidei’ cannot develop authentically in a believer except to the

extent in which he or she fully participates in the life of the Church, and this requires a responsible adherence to the magisterium.”

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December 14, 2012

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Papal events, Vatican webcam feeds streamed live with new ‘Pope App’

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican is offering a new app that provides live streaming of papal events and video feeds from the Vatican’s six webcams.

“The Pope App” also will send out alerts and links to top stories coming out of the Vatican’s news outlets, said Gustavo Entrala, founder and CEO of the Spanish

Revised and updated ...

2012-2013 Diocese of Fall River Catholic Directory

firm 101.es, which developed the free app.

“You’ll have almost everything that the pope does or says” delivered to a mobile device and app users “will be able to watch the pope live every time he speaks,” he told reporters during a recent news conference at the Vatican.

The app was available December 10 for iPhone and iPad while

an Android version is due out in January, he said.

Most people only get to watch the pope live during the satellite broadcasts of Christmas and Easter events at the Vatican, he said.

“And I was wondering, ‘What if the pope could be able to reach our hands, the hands of every single person in the world’” who has access to a mobile device or smart-

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Celebrant is Father Jason Brilhante, a Parochial Vicar at St. Pius X Parish in South Yarmouth

phone, he said.

“We’ll have everything the pope says directly broadcast to your phone,” for example, his Sunday Angelus, Wednesday general audience talks and other important events, he said.

Users also can browse through the latest photos of the pope as well as search archived media, and all the links will be shareable online, he added.

The Vatican started offering live streaming online of papal events on its Silverlight video player and through its news portal, news.va, in 2011.

The “Pope App” will alert users when an event is about to begin and the mobile device will receive the live feed directly from the Vatican Television Center, he said.

The app also will give users views from any one of the Vatican’s six live webcams. Two webcams are located on the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica: one looking at St. Peter’s Square and, another at the Vatican governor’s office.

Another is situated high on the colonnade around St. Peter’s Square looking at the basilica and papal apartments. One is directed at Blessed John Paul II’s tomb in St. Peter’s Basilica, another is high on the Vatican hill pointing toward the dome of the basilica and the last is aimed at the gardens of the papal summer villa in Castel Gandolfo.

Entrala’s communications company also is designing a new ebook on the Year of Faith that will be released next year.

Archbishop Claudio Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, said the Vatican has already sent out requests to every bishops’ conference in the world asking them to send his office texts, documents, photos, videos and even music tied to “local events celebrating the Year of Faith.”

The first volume of the e-book will be dedicated to the pope’s contribution to the special year — all his talks and other events, he said.

Then there will be one volume for each of five continents containing multimedia materials showing how the Year of Faith was celebrated and lived out locally.

December 14, 2012

jubilee book — In 2000, Holy Cross Father John Phalen, right, president of Holy Cross Family Ministries in North Easton, presented a book filled with thousands of commitment forms from individuals from around the world who pledged to say the Rosary once a day. The book was in commemoration of the Jubilee Year. This year, for the Year of Faith and special anniversaries regarding Holy Cross Family Ministries, Father Phalen brought another such book to Pope Benedict XVI last week.

Tradition of pledging Rosaries continues in Year of Faith continued from page one

Peyton, whose sainthood cause is under review at this time.

Pledges are suggested to people from around the world who make requests for free Rosaries from the Family Rosary website, by mail, or by telephone.

Father Peyton started the Rosaries for the World Program as a campaign to send one million Rosaries to Russia. Since the beginning of the program in 1991, Family Rosary has sent approxi-

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mately 20 million Rosaries to families, schools, parishes, and individuals on every continent.

Folks can also make the pledge on the website without requesting the beads.

Father Phalen, along with Holy Cross Father James Phalan, international president of Holy Cross Family Ministries, is traveling to Rome to take part in an International Congress to review Blessed John Paul II’s

prayer pledge — This pledge form is available on the Family Rosary website at familyrosary.org. People from around the world have signed such a form and placed it in their homes to remind them of the commitment to say one Rosary a day.

Ecclesia America, (the Church in America). The congress is promoted by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and the Knights of Columbus in collaboration with the Institute for Guadalupan Studies. “We will be discussing pastoral planning and pastoral work in the Americas,” said Father Phalen.

“About 200 people will be attending, and we’ll wind up the congress on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Empress of the Americas and the Philippines.”

Father Phalen plans to present the book to Pope Benedict during an audience. “It’s an honor to present him with the book and to ask his blessings on our ministry,” he said. “That’s very important to us.”

Father Phalen explained that Father Peyton, who is famous for the phrases, “The family that prays together stays together,” and “A world at prayer is a world at peace,” made it his mission to ask people to pledge a Rosary a day to be prayed by the family if possible.

“When Father Peyton traveled the world to present his Rosary crusades, he had six mountains to climb,” said Father Phalen. “The first was to ask for 40 holy hours from the priests of the diocese where the crusade was to take place, for its success. The second was to request 40 Masses from the priests for the success of the rally. The third mountain was to ask from them four homilies, or sermons as they were called back then, on the Rosary.

“The fourth mountain was

that Father Peyton visit the sick in hospitals and homes in the diocese where the crusade was to take place and ask people to offer their suffering for the success of the crusade.

The fifth was the center of his mission. He trained 500 men to go house to house, two-bytwo to ask people to commit to saying a Rosary a day. If the people committed to that, they would sign two pledges; one for them to keep on their wall as a reminder to pray that Rosary a day, and the other was to present to the diocesan bishop.

It was key that he present the bishop with the pledges. That’s where the tradition started.

“The sixth mountain was the rally itself, at which all the students in the Catholic schools in the diocese would attend, as would the Knights of Columbus and other Church organizations.

The local bishop would speak and there were other speakers,

and music. These crusades were attended by hundreds of thousands of people.”

The people who are listed in the book that will be given to Pope Benedict were asked to pray for peace, which the Blessed Mother asks for, and for any intentions they may have. The faithful are also asked to download the pledge card if possible and keep it in sight in the home as a reminder of the commitment, just as Father Peyton had requested.

Father Phalen said Father Peyton’s mission was to get families to pray the Rosary together, just as he had when he was growing up in Ireland.

“Father Peyton’s father had the family pray the Rosary together daily,” said Father Phalen.

“And if there were guests at the house, they were invited to pray with them, or they would leave.

There was nothing that would stop the daily Rosary.”

Marian Medals Ceremony Available on DVD The November 2012 Marian Medals Awards Ceremony is available on DVD from the Diocesan Office of Communications. The DVD cost is $24.95. To obtain one, please forward a check in that amount payable to the Diocesan Office of Communications, Diocese of Fall River, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, Mass., 02722. Shipping is included in the video cost.

14 Shame on us Nov. 7, 2012 — the day that our Commonwealth and our country went to pot, literally and figuratively!

For we here in Massachusetts 1) voted to legalize the use of a potentially death-inducing drug, marijuana; 2) came close to legalizing the administration of definitely life-ending drugs by physicians — assisted suicide/ murder; and 3) helped put into office Congressmen, a U.S. Senator, and a president, all of whom support the direct and deliberate destruction of the most helpless members of our human family, innocent babies — before, during and after birth for any or no reason at all. And we call ourselves an enlightened and civilized society.

Those persons, whose God-given rights and freedoms have been trampled on the most are those who voted the tramplers (back) into office — madness! If you asked these persons why or how they could vote as they did — was it ignorance or apathy, the answer you might receive is, “I don’t know, and I don’t care.”

Richard A. Carey, Needham Where is the Church’s voice?

Once again the Catholic vote has helped elect a president whose goals have humbled and impoverished half of our nation, with more to come; promoting homosexuality, birth control, same-sex marriage, abortion and killing babies born alive. Coupled with distinctively Marxist goals; intent upon removing our freedoms of religion and speech he plans to continue “fundamentally changing America” into something we will no longer recognize.

At a press conference November 12, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, joined by Archbishop William Lori and Cardinal Sean O’Malley, commented that there “should not be a separation between so-called social justice issues and so-called moral value issues. All have to do with social justice, with the common good and a healthy thriving society.” He noted that exit polls from the recent election showed that Obama won 50 percent of the Catholic vote, “despite loud concerns from Church leaders over the HHS mandate.” He also noted that Catholics who regularly attend church chose Romney by 57 percent. Archbishop Cordileone also commented that “while the promotion of immigration reform and ProLife policies may be interrelated, the two issues carry a different moral weight.”

So where is our Church’s voice on Pro-Life issues? Where is the thundering call to the laity from Jesus’ chosen ones? Why have so many Catholics lost touch with their faith; have stopped attending Mass? Why have so many churches become social clubs, piously espousing “social justice,” instead of places where the primary goal is to save souls, encourage sainthood and evangelize people in the faith of the One, true God — the vocation and obligation of our clergy? Watered down, protestant style Liturgy; near nonexistent sacramental and devotional life; no teachings on social issues as they might offend someone or rock the boat while parishioners are left yearning for real spiritual leadership.

Faithful Catholics do not aspire to lead the Church; we look for those whom we can follow on the path laid

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December 14, 2012

Our readers respond

out by Jesus! Being a Catholic is not an easy road, but neither was the one to Calvary; accepting and living the truths of this faith is a challenging but so very worthwhile goal.

Perhaps, as Jesus counseled, if one is in a place where the Word is not preached it is time to “shake the dust from your sandals” and find a place where it is. We live in dire times when the faith must be defended and the faithful must gather together for mutual strength and courage. For those intent upon arriving in the Kingdom of God eventually, the only alternative is to find that place — they exist, they are out there. You just have to look until you find a true spiritual home.

Maybe then, if we ever have another election, Catholics will become a force for good instead of fostering more evil.

Pat Stebbins, East Sandwich

Time to confront evil This is only the second letter I have ever written to a newspaper.

The first was in 1973 when Roe vs.

Wade came into law and now I feel compelled to write again. Ironically, it is about the same issue, more or less, except that we have lost about 55 million unborn babies since then.

President Obama has taken 241 actions to promote abortions or destroying human life via embryonic stem-cell research. These actions range from bill signings, speeches, his major appointments, and placing pro-abortion judges on the Supreme Court and other important courts.

Many of them involve using your tax dollars to pay for or promote abortion or pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood. Two-hundred-and-forty-one times. Virtually every month President Obama has been in office, he has done something to promote abortion.

Now I speak from my heart. A persecution is coming to the Church if we don’t move out of our apathy and confront this evil, now as never before. We have become so concerned with “offending” others that we have forgotten about how much our apathy offends God. We cannot be silent as silence breeds apathy.

Real men and women don’t bargain with evil, they crush it. The Church teaches the moral criteria to form a right conscience and we should embrace these Truths and never compromise them for any reason. Either we are with God or against Him. We can’t have it both ways and our immortal souls are at stake.

Maggie Sweeney, Marion Who is responsible?

I’m grieving — Why? Not only because I believe that we are losing our beloved country, but because our Church, many pastors and some bishops, did not speak out. We were not educated from the pulpit about the five non-negotiables: abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem-cell research and cloning, contraception, and same-sex “marriage.” Well, maybe euthanasia if we consider the defeat of assisted suicide. And why was that? Because the Pro-Life Apostolate, Massachusetts Citizens for Life, and some parish Respect Life ministries worked tirelessly to turn that 63 percent “Yes” (pro-euthanasia) votes to a losing 48/49 percent.

It was not enough for some par-

ishes to hand out “Faithful Citizenship” booklets without commentary from the pulpit. Why not? Because either our pastors do not believe in these principles or were fearful of the backlash from Democrat Catholics who vote “Democrat” first.

How about all the social justice petitions when the greatest social injustice is abortion? If the right to life is denied then all other rights have no foundation. “There can be no social justice without establishing the most basic justice, the protection of life. If the right to life is not secure, neither is any other right” — Father Frank Pavone, Priests for Life.

How about the Democratic Convention and platform where contraception, “choice,” women’s reproductive rights, and same-sex “marriage” were celebrated? Where is our Church and our pastors in their battle for religious freedom from Obamacare mandates?

Who is responsible — who is complicit in voting for an administration which is blatantly anti-life and, therefore, anti-religion? Is it the laity or the leaders or both? “God is in control” as my evangelical friends remind me. I do believe that. But God is also just. He gave us free will and the duty to inform our conscience according to the teachings of the Church — the magisterium. Maybe in His justice He is saying to us, “You have murdered more than 55 million babies and you will have to endure the consequences.”

I pray that America will survive and return to her core principles but, in the meantime, we will suffer persecution and that is the consequence, not of God’s judgment, but of our cooperation with evil!

Doris Toohill Co-chairman, St. Joan of Arc Respect Life Ministry, Orleans

Executive Editor responds: I thank Richard, Pat, Maggie and Doris for their prophetic “call to arms.”

As they note, the one battle we won was against assisted suicide, but the Church’s teaching on life and Marriage was ignored by the majority of Catholics (although a bare majority of Mass-going Catholics nationwide did keep those issues in mind). In terms of “social justice,” it is a true teaching of the Catholic Church, which we are not to ignore, although the non-negotiable issues are tied to infallible teachings of the Church (see Bl. John Paul’s Evangelium Vitae). There were two references to Protestantism in their letters — to the fidelity of Evangelicals to the Gospel of Life and to a tendency among some Catholics to imitate the failed approach of some Protestant communities to be the “church of what’s happening now” (a term coined by my distant cousin, Flip). We won’t be laughing, however, if what these laity predict comes to pass — and we can’t laugh at the millions who have died in the U.S. since Roe vs. Wade. May God help us, Catholics, Protestants, and all people, wake up now.

A time of reflection Nov. 16, 1978, is a date that is as important to me as July 26, 1990.

For on that date, just one year after the release of regulations implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibited discrimina-

tion against persons with disabilities in federally-funded programs, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, in assembly adopted a pastoral statement on persons with disabilities. This statement was so profound in its scope that it was entered into the Congressional record as part of the legislative process which produced the Americans with Disabilities Act, signed into law on July 26, 1990 by President George H. W. Bush.

All over the country on July 26, the anniversary of the signing of this historic law is celebrated with picnics, special ceremonies and speeches. In Fall River, our Commission on Disability celebrates the anniversary on the first Thursday in October, which is observed as employment of persons with disabilities month. I always mark November 16 by reading and reflecting on this document and I firmly believe that this date should be a time of reflection for all of us as a Church.

I would like to close this letter by quoting the opening paragraph of this statement, which sets a moral tone for including persons with disabilities, the progresses to make practical suggestions on a diocesan, parish and national level. You can read the entire document by going to the website of the National Catholic Partnership on Disabilities at: www.ncpd.org: “The same Jesus Who heard the cry for recognition from the people with disabilities of Judea and Samaria 2,000 years ago calls us, His followers, to embrace our responsibility to our own disabled brothers and sisters in the United States. The Catholic Church pursues its mission by furthering the spiritual, intellectual, moral and physical development of the people it serves. As pastors of the Church in America, we are committed to working for a deeper understanding of both the pain and the potential of our neighbors who are blind, deaf, mentally retarded, emotionally impaired, who have special learning problems, or who suffer from single or multiple physical handicaps — all those whom disability may set a part.

We call upon people of good will to reexamine their attitudes toward their brothers and sisters with disabilities and promote their wellbeing, acting with the sense of justice and the compassion that the Lord so clearly desires. Further, realizing the unique gifts individuals with disabilities have to offer the Church, we wish to address the need for their integration into the Christian Community and their fuller participation in its life.

There can be no separate Church for people with disabilities. We are one flock that serves a single Shepherd.”

Once again the complete statement can be read by going to: www. ncpd.org.

Dennis Polselli, Fall River Executive Editor responds: Thank you, Dennis. We need to be mindful that when the bishops said “no separate Church for people with disabilities,” they did not mean that the disabled should be forced to conform to the majority, but that the majority should adjust so as to make the disabled truly feel welcome at the Lord’s altar.

End of life issues I always enjoy reading Father

Landry’s column as he always inspires me and challenges me. Now I feel the need to challenge him. I read with great interest his review of the defeat of Question 2. However, I was surprised and saddened by his remark: “At the terrible advice of the political consultants advising the Church, however, we basically suspended all educational efforts until after Labor Day.” Timing is everything and I certainly hear Father Landry’s frustration and the difficulty he felt at being “muzzled,” but the timing was part of our being “wise as serpents.” Back in the spring I attended a meeting at Corpus Christi for those interested in the defeat of Question 2, where the strategy was laid out. It was explained that part of waiting was to prevent the opponents from fighting harder ... they have larger pockets than we do, especially for commercial ads. We fooled them into thinking that they didn’t have to do much as they had the win. I’m sure that a lot of prayer went into the choice of advisors and into following the plan ... a plan that required a great faith and putting into the deep, and since that is the title of his column it would have been good to talk about how the plan challenged our/his faith.

My challenge to Father Landry is to apologize to those advisors for calling their advice “terrible” and thank God for all those who put their trust in Him by enduring being muzzled until after Labor Day. Finally in analyzing why we were trailing, I agree that our educational efforts must be ongoing ... not as a reaction to upcoming legislation but because “what happens at the end of life really matters” and all Catholics should know what the Church teaches about end-of-life care, as we will all face it.

Please share my remarks with Father Landry, as this is more important to me than being “published.”

Jeane Orme, Marstons Mills Father Landry replies: This is a good debate to have. The fact that we won by a hair at the end doesn’t mean the advice wasn’t terrible.

There’s a reason why sports coaches don’t want to go into the fourth quarter getting blown out as a strategy to lull opponents into not fighting harder at the end. In most cases, when you’re getting blown out, you end up losing. The reason why we won was because we were able to convince the majority of our fellow citizens that suicide is always a tragedy and that, even if one favored it, the citizens’ initiative petition was poorly and dangerously worded. If we had gotten the message out earlier through a normal educational strategy, the margin of victory likely would have been far greater, because the biggest opponent we faced was not a group of Kevorkians calling suicide dignified, but ignorance by so many of what was even on the ballot. The consultants should get credit for a victory. But if a team that should win by 20 wins by two at the buzzer because they barely played offense or defense for the first three quarters, we shouldn’t commit the fallacy of saying that that initial strategy was wise. As Bill Belichick might say, a win is a win, but that doesn’t mean all the coaching decisions were right or that no mistakes were made on the field.

C

ognitive behavioral therapy is directed at gaining supervision of our mind’s behavior. It would benefit people having trouble getting to sleep when their “mind is racing.” A patient may wish to let go of a hurt, and get past blaming someone whose words or actions led to them feeling bad. Someone may complain of having their thoughts return frequently to memories or subjects they want to avoid — perhaps distracting thoughts, sinful thoughts, obsessive thoughts. The number of psychological issues that are largely a cognitive “glitch” are almost endless, and, fortunately, cognitive flexibility is the hallmark of the human mind.

Learning to be in charge of our thoughts can be fun and interesting and a surprisingly large number of new patients actually ask if they might feel better if they learn to meditate. Meditation is a good word to describe learning to corral our thoughts to a given focus.

One little book on meditation that is a good layman’s introduction to the breadth of ways of meditating and objects of meditation is Lawrence LeShan’s “How to Meditate (A Guide to Self-Discovery).” In general, meditation is about self-discipline, with the exception that one will often learn to meditate most easily if one picks a method which suits one’s

Meditation 101

personality, and a focus which fits surgery was scheduled for 11 one’s intentions. a.m., after two earlier patients. I For example, I recall realizing wasn’t taken into surgery at 11, or one day that an approaching, at 12, or 1, or 2. I avoided thinknon-optional surgery could be an ing about the two patients who embarrassing opportunity for me were scheduled ahead of me, for to be a “patient behaving badly,” whom things apparently had not at least while I was still conscious. gone smoothly; reading books I Knowing way too much about surgical mishaps, and being lively by nature, I might be intrusive and annoying when the best results come to those who can be relatively

By Dr. Joanne Hager compliant, relaxed and perhaps even “surrendered.”

I had a month in which to train my mind to be a had brought to distract me helped better surgery patient. So daily I — I even napped. At 3 p.m. a would sit in meditation posture nurse suggested I might be more and focus all my attention (and comfortable and private lying on intention) upon chanting the a gurney in back. I was ultimately prayer, “Father, may Thy will be rolled off to surgery at 5 p.m. As done,” the attitude I wanted to I was exiting the waiting area, have toward the surgery. I put it to a nurse commented that usually a hymn melody (to make it even people who have to wait that long easier to remember and focus on). are a real pain in the anatomy, but The first day I sang it slowly, over I wasn’t. Victory! Oh … and the and over, for about a half hour; at surgery went well too. Thank you, the end I was much more cenLord. tered, calm and “light”; it felt as So one thing you can focus if I had chosen a good improved on in meditation is a prayer, or an mind-set. I repeated this daily for intention — or a candle, a burning 15 minutes, for the next month. incense stick, or a painting that capThe day of surgery I arrived tures something important that you two hours early as requested, want to make part of you, or the with no food since midnight; my feeling of your breath in your nose.

Book Therapy

Mansfield teacher attends conference in Atlanta continued from page one

nationally to develop resources and lessons to be guidelines to help other teachers to implement the common core state standards, but with a Catholic element to them,” said Tamul, who was one of the 35 selected for the task.

The three-day conference had attendees working the first evening they arrived, said Tamul.

Saying it was “a wonderful experience,” Tamul met people from Oregon, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Utah; her own five-person team consisted of a teacher from Florida, a teacher from New York City, a principal from New Jersey and a woman from the Loyola University Chicago Center of Catholic School Effectiveness.

The goal of each team was to create a unit specifically geared towards age-appropriate learning standards while incorporating a Catholic identity within the lessons.

“There were a lot of great presenters there. It was a great way to run the program, I thought.

They interspersed workshops and learning experiences throughout. We would work for a little while on the units we were creating, and then we would stop and they would have someone present something, like ‘how to create

15

The Anchor

December 14, 2012

effective, essential questions,’ or ‘how to create authentic assessments,’ or something like that,” said Tamul.

While breaking down lessons to weave in Scripture, Catholic values or Church social teachings, Tamul said the experience of working side-by-side with educators from across the country was “an eye-opening and humbling experience” that helped promote “everything that is positive for a teacher,” she said. “It drove home for me that these are the things we are doing every day, and this was a way to formalize it.”

An added bonus was the camaraderie felt by those participating.

The groups worked hard but had time to share personal stories, so you “couldn’t help but get close to those people,” said Tamul.

There were a few technological issues during a couple of presentations and Tamul’s group ran out of time before finishing their unit. However, while time and technology may not have been on their side during the conference, technology certainly gave the group the time to finish what they started when they left.

“My group had not completed our unit but through email and working on Google Docs, we

were able to access the same documents and work from it at home.

We had a due-by date we had to meet,” said Tamul.

The finished “exemplar” units can now be used as a resource for teachers and can be found on the Catholic Schools Standards website: www.CatholicSchoolStandards. org and clicking on the Common Core Catholic Identity Initiative link. Each unit can be adapted up or down to adjust to the grade level, said Tamul.

“The important thing is you don’t want to force it into something,” said Tamul, “but I think you can find ways where it can naturally make its way into any of your subject areas throughout the day.”

The integration of the Catholic identity into the core curriculum standards will be an ongoing process, and while Tamul may have been hesitant in the beginning about getting that process started, she now has no regrets.

“I have to say it was such a wonderful experience that I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” she said.

“I felt like I learned so much from people; we shared so much of [everyone’s] expertise, I feel enriched by the whole experience.”

The folks who want to stop counterproductive thoughts do best to design a thought to put in place of the useless thought(s). So you might rehearse the improved thinking like this: “From now on, when I find myself starting to think (and feel) that a colleague in the next cube is annoying, I will remember to interrupt that thought and think (and feel) instead, ‘I’m grateful I have a thoughtful friend like X as a workmate.’”

Or whatever true and productive thought would be most useful for you, instead of the trouble-making thought which showed up. If you repeat that intention-thought for five minutes a day for a couple weeks, you will find the better thought showing up earlier and earlier in the process of starting to have the silly thought, until the silly thought disappears entirely and is peacefully replaced with healthy thought. What a relief!

For people whose minds tend to race a lot, a calming strategy is to visualize your thoughts as actors walking across the stage of your mind, or as bubbles rising from the bottom to the top of the aquarium of your mind. Sit in meditation, focused on this image of your mind, and sit back and watch it. While your mind is still, you may have the pleasure of no actors/no bubbles. Then one will appear, and just allow it to continue walking across or floating up until it is gone. Do not invite it to tea or start a conversation with

it or reflect upon it, merely let it go. This will give you something to practice for at least 15 minutes per day. The more times you have to stop yourself from trying to interact with the actor or bubble, the more opportunities you have had to retrain your mind to remain disengaged from its own contents (After all, most absent-minded [!] thoughts are of no more value than the latest mouthwash jingle that got stuck in your head last week!).

Before long you will have entire five- or 10-minute or longer periods between bubbles. One very monkey-minded (as she called it) patient went into such a comfy, still mind state that she felt ecstatic the very first time she practiced empty-mind meditation. Now that is a nice change. Try it … ?

Editor’s note: Dr. Hager will periodically submit reviews of books she feels would be pertinent to Catholic readers.

She is a parishioner at St. Pius X Parish in South Yarmouth, and co-led a course in meditation at Our Lady of the Cape Parish.

She was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Behavioral Medicine at Harvard Medical School and conducted research in physiological correlates of anxiety, behavioral modification of blood pressure and use of the relaxation response in chronic stress. She has taught at Penn State, Cornell, Emmanuel College, Mass College of Pharmacy, and MIT Lincoln Labs.

She has had a private practice of Medical Psychology and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for more than 30 years in Brookline and Yarmouth.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Archdiocese for the Military Services (AMS), announced its new app, AMS Catholic Faith Deployed, which is now available on iTunes. Designed for use on iPads and iPhones anywhere in the world, the AMS app is designed to extend access to and sharing of Catholic teachings for Catholics serving in the military.

This new AMS app, developed and funded in cooperation with UpWord Studios, (www. upwordstudios.org), a non-profit organization that supports and funds the creation of Catholic new media, features: — Mobile access to the AMS Digital Resource Center for a wide range of video, audio and multimedia digital content; — Daily and seasonal prayers and mediations for personal inspiration from Liturgy Training Publications and Loyola Press; — Embedded resources for the Year of Faith from ACTA

publications; — Free monthly updates for Bible studies, meditations, Catholic humor, and other content; — Live stream portal for live webcasts.

“There are more than 1.8 million Catholics in all branches of the U.S. military, around the world and in the VA System,” said Dr. Mark Moitoza, AMS vice chancellor for Evangelization. “We’re continually looking for ways to reach Catholics wherever they and their families are deployed, and the AMS app provides us with a new mobile multimedia channel to share Catholic teachings with a wider, globallydispersed audience.”

The AMS Catholic Faith Deployed app is now available as a free download on iTunes. A tax deductible donation may be made to UpWord Studios, Inc. (http:// razmobile.com/uws.html) to support the ongoing projects bringing hope, faith, and Christ to the troops.

Archdiocese for the Military launches iOS app for Catholics in the military

16

Youth Pages

balancing act — Under the direction of Kristin Rojas, assistant vice president of Financial Literacy and Community Outreach at Pawtucket Credit Union, Bishop Feehan High School economics students have the opportunity to attend a series of six financial literacy seminars during the months of November and December. Here she communicates critical personal financial strategies to (lower left) Maxwell Johnson and (lower right) Kelly Schofield, in an economics class at the Attleboro school.

the power of the pen — VFW Patriot’s Pen essay contest winners from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Mansfield were recently acknowledged at the Mansfield Veteran’s Day parade and ceremony.

James Morrissey (center), Commander of Post 3264, is pictured with first-place winner John Griffin (grade eight) and first-place winner Macy Reid (grade seven). The theme this year was, “What would you tell our Founding Fathers?”

living rosary — Students at St. James-St. John School in New Bedford recently gathered to pray a living Rosary in memory of all the families and friends of the school.

December 14, 2012

environmental study — The fifth-grade class at Holy Name School in Fall River has been studying environments. Each group of students planted either pea, barley, corn, or radish seeds in four different containers changing only the amount of water (the variable) in each container. The pictures show the students measuring some of the plants. The general conclusion was that moist soil was the optimum environment for most plants.

sharp-shooters — At St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro, students recently participated in a Turkey Shoot during Physical Education class. Students donated either two canned goods or $1 for a chance at 10 shots. One person from each grade was dubbed the “Turkey Shoot Champion.” All the proceeds will benefit the St. Vincent de Paul Christmas Baskets. Pictured are the champions holding their certificates along with all the food. More than eight baskets of canned goods and $100 were collected.

russian villagers — The drama group at Coyle and Cassidy High School in Taunton recently presented the Neil Simon comedy, “Fools.”

Some of the villagers of Kulyenchikov, a remote village in Russia in the 1800s, were portrayed by Jessica Telforts, D.J. Ruggeiro, Kayla Hathaway, and Gabrielle Lamb in this rehearsal photo.

Youth Pages

December 14, 2012

17

A year-round way of life

W

hen I was in college I had a philosophy professor who would give us a quiz at the start of each class.

The questions would range from topics from class readings to something he may have seen on his drive that morning. His purpose was twofold: 1.) take attendance, and 2.) begin the lecture and class discussion from the perspective of everyday life.

Be Not Afraid

By Father David C. Frederici At the end of the quiz everyone would pass their answers to the front of the row and he would collect them. One day I was sitting at the head of the row. When he came to collect the papers, I said “Merry Christmas!” It was the spring semester, so it was to bring a bit of humor on my part to an ordinary classroom activity.

He actually stopped, called the attention of the rest of the class and told them what I had said.

He turned to me and said “Thank you very much.” He then said to all of us that Christmas isn’t just a “once-a-year-be-nice-to-everyone” season. It is a 365-daya-year way of life. If you are serious about Christmas, live it.

The same could be said about

Advent. Yes, liturgically the Church marks Advent for four weeks out of the year. In reality, it is lived everyday by the Christian. Advent isn’t about getting ready for the birth of a newborn.

It is about anticipating and preparing for Christ’s return.

Advent reminds us that God is beyond our comprehension, as is His vision and His plan. When He offers us His love, He is not just thinking what we will need for this earthly life, He is thinking of our perfect union with Him that is only possible in the Heavenly Kingdom.

Our lives on earth are spent preparing for that by learning more about this God and uniting ourselves more and more to Him. The sentiments of hope, joy, peace and goodwill to all are characteristics of this preparation.

We come to realize — and experience — that the darkness that exists in our world does not have power over God. Our lives are spent opening our minds and hearts to the light of Christ. The more we nurture our relationship with Christ, the less we fear, the more we love.

Let us take advantage of this season of Advent, but let us seek to live Advent 365 days a year.

Father Frederici is Chaplain at UMass-Dartmouth.

Small community makes large difference

FALL RIVER — For more than 40 years, Bishop Connolly High School has organized a Thanksgiving food drive in order to serve local families. A small community can make a large difference, and the students at this small Catholic high school gathered food to fill more than 50 baskets and raised enough money to buy an additional 50 turkeys.

Instead of asking one organization at the school to be responsible for the project, BCHS students joined together to work on the food drive as a school-wide community. Each homeroom collected food donations and

funds for the purchase of turkeys and other items. At the end of the month, all donated goods were given to St. Bernadette’s Parish, the Big Friends Little Friends program, and local families in the area.

Bishop Connolly has been holding this food drive since 1967, the year it opened. Dan Boudria, a science teacher at the high school, has organized the school’s efforts for the last 12 years. At the end of the month, he ensured that each basket had all the necessary fixings for a Thanksgiving feast and delivered them to individuals in need.

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.

giving back — The faculty and staff of Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth recently participated in their annual retreat, however this one was a bit different from the usual format.

Wanting to give back to the community in a special way, the participants gathered for Mass in the school’s chapel and then boarded buses and vans for a trip to the south end of New Bedford. The destination was Gifts to Give, a non-profit organization with a simple vision to create a caring community where they could share their gifts to ensure children are connected to what they need. Each faculty and staff member was assigned a task and groups cleaned and sorted toys, folded and sorted clothes, and arranged books according to reading levels and interest areas to be given to local families in need. Pictured are: Matt Voci, Eric LeVie, Peter Shaughnessy, Nicole Baillargeon, Father Richard Roy.

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The Anchor

Sister professes vows as member of first U.S. Maronite congregation continued from page one

la Marie Lucas at the congregation’s novitiate house based in North Dartmouth.

“Sister Therese is our first vocation, aside from myself,” Sister Marla said. “It is our ardent prayer and hope that many more young women, especially from our Maronite communities, will consider giving their life to the Lord like Sister Therese.”

Founded in 2008, the Maronite Servants of Christ the Light was established to assist parish priests throughout the eparchy — which is a regional province of the Maronite Church — in a variety of pastoral work, ranging from directing Religious Education programs, to working with families, youth, and the elderly.

“We have Sisters who run schools, run nursing homes, and I really found that this charism of spiritual motherhood in our own Church was really close to my heart and I honestly think my love of Jesus is what brought me here,” Sister Therese said.

“We’re meeting the spiritual needs in our parishes. We’re an institution-based congregation and we’re really about the New Evangelization and what we do as spiritual mothers and as Maronite servants.”

It is that desire to serve that

inspired Sister Marla, who previously was in the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate congregation for 26 years before embarking on this new ministry four years ago, to found the new order.

She chose to include “servant” as part of their name after Mary’s pronouncement at the Annunciation that she was “the servant of the Lord” and added the phrase “Christ the Light” in reference to the pre-eminent image of Jesus in spirituality, particularly in the writings of St. Ephrem.

“Our Liturgy is woven throughout with references to Christ as light or different metaphors of light,” Sister Marla said.

“As consecrated women, we are to radiate the light of Christ, the light of His merciful love and hope to those we serve.”

It was Sister Marla’s years of pastoral work in caring for the needs of the poor and sick in various parishes in New York; Pennsylvania; Washington, D.C.; and Connecticut that led Bishop Mansour to suggest she start the new religious congregation.

“The contribution made by consecrated women in the Church is beyond measure and the Maronite Church is no ex-

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ception,” Bishop Mansour said in an official statement granting permission to found the order.

“The time has come for the Eparchy of St. Maron to foster and sponsor a community to assist the priests in the pastoral care of the eparchy … and Sister Marla Marie Lucas and the Maronite Servants of Christ have approval to do just that.”

Sister Therese, who grew up in Sydney, Australia, said it was the congregation’s mission to serve people in a variety of ways that drew her to consider devoting her life to the order.

“I was actually looking to join a community of Sisters in Australia, but the mission and charism of this community really drew me to the spiritual motherhood of our Maronite Church,” she said. “Working with and among people and bringing them to the Lord was exactly what I was looking for.

In Australia we don’t have Sisters doing the same kind of pastoral ministry or focusing on the spiritual life of people.”

As such, Sister Therese left Australia three years ago to begin her postulancy at the congregation’s newly-established novitiate on Tucker Road in North Dartmouth in January 2010.

“We are currently involved with ministering to the elderly at The Cedars Assisting Living in North Dartmouth,” Sis-

December 14, 2012 ter Therese said of her pastoral work here in the diocese. “I’ll be doing youth ministry and Religious Education. We also help with retreats and we go to a lot of different parishes on an eparchial level. It’s very dynamic — we’re not limited to doing one, specific thing. We go wherever we are needed, to whatever parish, to help whatever priest needs assistance.”

In addition to corporal and spiritual works of mercy, the Maronite Servants of Christ the Light also live the communal life of the convent through contemplative prayer, meals, fellowship, silence and solitude, and exercise and rest. Daily prayer includes communal recitation of the Divine Office, daily Divine Liturgy, Eucharistic adoration, spiritual reading, and recitation of the Rosary.

The congregation’s habit consists of a gray tunic and black scapula embroidered with a gold Rabbula Cross, an ancient symbol of Christianity found in Lebanon and in a sixth-century Syriac Gospel Book. The contrast of the cross also symbolizes Christ’s light shining in the darkness and the Sisters carry a Rosary made of olive wood — the traditional wood of Lebanon — to remind them of their intimate connection to the Mother of God. Although she didn’t experience much of a culture shock transitioning from Australia to the United States, Sister Therese

did find it difficult to adjust to the New England climate change at first.

“You definitely have a shock to your body coming from there to here … it’s much more milder over there,” Sister Therese said, adding that she warned her mother to pack lots of warm clothing for her recent trip to attend the Divine Liturgy last weekend. “I found that my first winter here was a shock to my body. Our seasons are always the opposite of what it is over there.”

Upon completing her pastoral work here and professing her final vows, Sister Therese hopes to return home and expand the congregation’s outreach.

“God-willing, hopefully it will continue to grow and I look forward to bringing it back to Australia,” she said.

Sister Therese added she’s proud to be the Maronite order’s first novice and she prays that “other young women will take courage and be inspired to lay down their life in service to Church and God.” “We want to radiate Christ’s light to people — that’s part of our name and part of our mission,” Sister Therese said. “We want to bring people to His light and His healing.”

For more information about the Maronite Servants of Christ the Light, visit their website at www.maroniteservants.org or contact Sister Marla Marie at 508-996-1753 or email sister@ maroniteservants.org.

U.S. bishops offer spiritual web references to families continued from page one

day stress. It contains prayers for blessing Advent wreaths, Christmas trees and crèches as well as a Festival of Lessons and Carols and audio retreats. The retreats, produced by Franciscan Media, include music and a scripture reflection from a different bishop each week.

The website also features a calendar for Christmas and resources for celebrating the Year of Faith, which began on the first Sunday of Advent.

Among other resources, the USCCB’s web page for the Year of Faith features Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley’s 2011 pastoral letter “Our Participation in the Sunday Mass.”

Sarah Jordan, a Catholic mother of eight from Sandwich, called the USCCB’s web resources “fantastic.” Raising a family in the faith is difficult and parents need support, she said.

“We live in a very, very secular culture — where God is not even acknowledged most of the time. So, that’s a huge challenge — to keep God in the forefront.

Our business keeps us away

from Him and the noise — between iPods and iPads and TV and movies and radio — really gets in our way. It’s a challenge to keep the faith in the secular world right now, but it’s possible,” she said.

In her family, Christmas has always been “very joyful” when spending time together took top priority, she said, adding that the traditions kept during the Advent season have contained lessons for the entire year.

The bishops’ Advent page clearly explains the liturgical season. The word Advent is from the Latin “ad-venire,” which translates “to come to.” The resources are meant to encourage daily activity to prepare spiritually for the birth of Jesus Christ.

“The Advent season is a time of preparation that directs our hearts and minds to Christ’s second coming at the end of time and also to the anniversary of the Lord’s birth at Christmas,” the site reads.

Each Advent, Jordan sets up a manger and for each good deed one of her children does, a piece of hay is placed in the baby Je-

sus’ crib so that He has a soft place to lay His head on Christmas Day. While their children certainly receive Christmas gifts, Jordan and her husband stress that Christmas is not about material goods. They encourage their children to offer gifts of service to each other.

“We are really right in the middle of the world, but I want my kids to bring God into everything they do. That’s the only way I think we’re going to change the world,” she said.

Jordan said that having the coming year dedicated to faith is “perfect timing.”

“I think we’re going through a crisis of faith right now in our country,” she said. “I just see a lot of sadness and division and confusion, especially in family life. There’s so much help out there through the Church.”

To view the USCCB’s Advent page, visit www.usccb.org/ prayer-and-worship/liturgicalresources/advent/. Links to the Christmas and Year of Faith pages can be found there as well.

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December 14, 2012

The Anchor

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese

Priest remembers Alfred Hitchcock’s faith

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 — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the St. Joseph Adoration Chapel at Holy Ghost Church, 71 Linden Street, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

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. through November 17.

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 beginning at noon until 7:45 a.m. First Saturday, concluding with Benediction and concluding with Mass at 8 a.m. 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 — The Corpus Christi Parish Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, East Sandwich.

Use the Chapel entrance on the side of the church.

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, from 8:30 a.m. until 7:45 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 — St. Bernadette’s Church, 529 Eastern Ave., has Eucharistic Adoration on Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 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.

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. Please use the side entrance.

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.

NEW BEDFORD — St. Lawrence Martyr Parish, 565 County Street, holds Eucharistic Adoration in the side chapel every Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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 noon.

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 508-336-5549.

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. taunton — Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament takes place every First Friday at Annunciation of the Lord, 31 First Street. Expostition begins following the 8 a.m. Mass.

The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed, and Adoration will continue throughout the day.

Confessions are heard from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. Rosary and Benediction begin at 6:30 p.m.

WAREHAM — Every First Friday, Eucharistic Adoration takes place from 8:30 a.m. through Benediction at 5:30 p.m. Morning prayer is prayed at 9; the Angelus at noon; the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3 p.m.; and Evening Prayer at 5 p.m.

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.

New York City (CNA) — In a December 6 article for the Wall Street Journal, Jesuit priest Father Mark Henninger recounted his time with famed director Alfred Hitchcock towards the end of his life.

In 1980, Father Henninger was invited by his friend Father Tom Sullivan to visit Hitchcock’s house in Bel Air, Calif. one afternoon to say Mass there.

Recalling his introduction to the director that day, Father Henninger said that “Hitchcock awoke, looked up and kissed (Father) Tom’s hand, thanking him.”

The priest noted that seeing scripts from Hitchcock’s films, such as “North by Northwest,” created a distraction for him as he said Mass in the study.

“Hitchcock had been away from the Church for some time, and he answered the responses in Latin the old way,” Father Henninger remembered.

“But the most remarkable sight was that after receiving Communion, he silently cried, tears rolling down his huge cheeks.”

Father Henninger continued to visit the Hitchcocks until Alfred’s death on April 29 of that year. He reflected on how remarkable it was that Hitchcock let himself be pursued by God at the end of his life.

Something “whispered in his heart,” he wrote, “and the visits answered a profound human desire, a real human need.”

Father Henninger’s story in the Wall Street Journal comes as a biopic on the director, “Hitchcock,” is in theaters after a limited release on November 23.

Hitchcock was raised Catholic in London, and attended Salesian and Jesuit primary and secondary schools. His films were largely thrillers with twist endings, and his career as a director spanned from

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Dec. 15 Rev. Mortimer Downing, Pastor, St. Francis Xavier, Hyannis, 1942 Rev. John F. O’Keefe, Assistant, St. Patrick, Fall River, 1955 Dec. 19 Permanent Deacon Eugene L. Orosz, 1988 Permanent Deacon Maurice LaValle, 2007 Dec. 20 Rev. Manuel S. Travassos, Pastor, Espirito Santo, Fall River, 1953 Rev. John A. Janson, OFM, Missionary in Brazil, 1996 Dec. 21 Rev. Henri J. Charest, Pastor, St. Mathieu, Fall River, 1968 Rev. Manuel M. Resendes, Retired Pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes, Taunton, 1985 Rev. Laureano C. dos Reis, Retired Pastor, St. Anthony of Padua, Fall River, 1989

1925 until 1976.

A 1953 film, “I Confess,” was Hitchcock’s sole film concerning a priest.

The main character in the movie is a priest who ends up being investigated for a murder which he did not commit. Moreover, he heard the Confession of the murderer, and so is unable to defend himself.

“Hitchcock tries to put a cross in every scene in that film, because the cross hangs over the decision this priest has to make,” Ben Akers, director of the Denver Catholic Biblical School told CNA. “In one of the key scenes where he’s making this decision whether or not to clear his name, which would mean breaking the seal of Confession and leaving the priesthood, he’s walking around the streets of Quebec … and you see Christ carrying His cross, and underneath the arms of the cross you

see this priest walking by in the very center.”

Deacon Scott Bailey, who is studying to be a priest for the Archdiocese of Denver, is also a fan of Hitchcock and of “I Confess,” in particular.

“It’s an incredible portrayal of a priest … and I think it really hammers in the meaning, the reality, of the Confessional seal.”

“It ended up being a really awesome movie and a very Catholic film … the priest really puts his life on the line by not saying anything.”

The portrayal of a priest so committed to the sanctity of the Sacrament of Confession has helped Deacon Bailey to reflect on his coming ordination to the priesthood, and the role he will have as a confessor.

“I find it a huge responsibility, more than anything; exciting and terrifying, all at once.”

Please note that the Advent mission slated for St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Swansea with Father Patrick Martin beginning tomorrow through December 19 has been postponed until a future date to be determined. Father Martin has been in and out of the hospital with a back problem. The Anchor will run the new date when it is known.

Around the Diocese 12/16

A Christmas concert will be performed Sunday at 4 p.m. at Our Lady of the Cape Church, 468 Stony Brook Road in Brewster featuring choral, solo, harp and organ music.

Doors open at 3:30 p.m. and there is no reserve seating. Admission is free. For more information call 508-896-2950.

12/16

The Sacred Hearts Retreat Center, 226 Great Neck Road in Wareham, is hosting an Open House on Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m. Drop in for a cup of cider or hot chocolate and some delectable treats. Come see the superbly decorated house, the “hundred mangers,” and chat with friends, old and new. For more information call 508295-0100.

12/20

A Healing Mass will be held on December 20 at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford.

The Mass will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will include Benediction and healing prayers. At 5:15 p.m. there will also be a holy hour including the Rosary. For directions or more information, call 508-993-1691 or visit www. saintanthonyofnewbedford.com.

1/5

A Day with Mary will be held January 5 at Our Lady’s Chapel, 600 Pleasant Street in New Bedford from 8:45 a.m. to 4:50 p.m. It will include a video presentation, procession and crowning of the Blessed Mother with Mass and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and an opportunity for Reconciliation. There is a bookstore available during breaks.

Please bring a bag lunch. For more information call 508-996-8274.

1/8

Scripture Alive, a six-week Bible sharing session for adults held on Tuesday mornings or evenings will begin January 8 from 10 a.m. to noon at St. John Neumann Parish in East Freetown or at the Catholic Education Center, 423 Highland Avenue in Fall River from 7 to 9 p.m.

Both sessions are facilitated by Sister Frances Thomas, diocesan assistant director for Catechesis and Formation. Register for the sessions by contacting Sister Frances or Rose Mary Saraiva at the Office of Faith Formation at 508678-2828.

1/24

Adoption by Choice, an adoption and pregnancy counseling program of Catholic Social Services of the Diocese of Fall River, will hold an information session for individuals interested in domestic newborn or international adoptions on January 24 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Catholic Social Services central office, 1600 Bay Street in Fall River. For more information or directions, call 508-674-4681 or visit www. cssdioc.org. Handouts and refreshments will be available and there is no charge for the session.

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The Anchor

December 14, 2012 Be sure to visit the Diocese of Fall River website at fallriverdiocese.org The site includes links to parishes, diocesan offices and national sites.