12.24.08

Diocese of Fall River

The Anchor

Wednesday , December 24, 2008

Bishop Coleman’s Christmas Message

Christmas, 2008 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14).

We hear these sublime words proclaimed in the Gospel at Mass during the day on Christmas. In a way, they summarize the entire mystery of the Nativity: the Incarnation of the Son of God and his human birth as son of the Blessed Virgin. They succinctly condense what we declare in the Profession of Faith: “For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary and became man.”

At Christmas, we celebrate the coming of Christ in his two natures: human and divine. We find this most profound teaching of our faith — that God became man — not only paradoxical in our attempts to understand it, but also very beautiful in the wonder it inspires in us. Jesus, simultaneously and equally, is both God and man. When we reflect on the implications of this, we are reminded of the two dimensions of our own lives, which our Lord took up in his person in order to redeem them: the physical and the spiritual.

We often get very involved in the preparations for Christmas Day. We are busy sending cards, shopping for and wrapping carefully chosen gifts, hanging strings of decorations, as well as baking, planning, and cleaning.

These have to do with the physical dimension of our existence. They form part of the unavoidable material side of the Christmas season. In a sense, we could say that they have to do with Jesus’ humanity.

Furthermore, on this day we contemplate the poor and weak Infant Christ — the baby in the manger. Especially, during this current time of economic hardship, we can sometimes be discouraged by the various forms of physical poverty present in our world. We might begin to focus on what we need, the money that falls short, or the goods we cannot afford this year. While certainly harsh, these might help us identify with the experience of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, the Holy Family, who also knew human pain.

Nevertheless, we also have to remember the spiritual dimension of Christmas. We might try to appreciate the intangibles of the season: time spent with family and friends, a desire to show greater generosity and patience toward others, to make peace a priority, to worship God, to pray, to receive the sacraments, and to experience and share the Good News of the Incarnation.

During this Holy Season, we feel great joy that “a child is born to us, a Son is given us” (cf. Isaiah 9:5). We make an effort to see beyond the parcels we collect and the bills we will owe. We take time to appreciate the delightful flavors, the merry songs and good cheer, and the bright lights shining in the dark evenings. At the same time, we must not forget the presence of our loved ones, our praise of God on this happy occasion, and our attendance at Church, uniting ourselves with believers throughout the world. Maybe we can even make a little space during the holidays for quiet reflection on these sacred mysteries of our redemption and the spiritual realities they call us to remember.

With prayerful wishes that the blessings and love of the Christ Child fill your hearts and your homes this Christmas, I remain Sincerely yours in the Lord, Bishop of Fall River

News From the Vatican

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December 24, 2008

Vatican foundation solicits funds for AIDS drugs for worldwide use

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — “Light a star on the tree of life” by helping the Vatican provide antiretroviral drugs to people with AIDS in the world’s poorest countries, said Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan.

The Mexican cardinal is president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, which oversees the Vatican’s Good Samaritan Foundation and its efforts to provide AIDS drugs to Catholic health-care centers, mainly in Africa.

“We are a bridge. Anyone who sends us, say, 10 euros ($14), that 10 euros goes immediately to Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe or Zambia because we have innumerable requests to help AIDS patients who are dying,” the cardinal told Vatican Radio.

So far in 2008, he said, the foundation had sent $119,000 to Vatican nuncios in Africa to

purchase the antiretroviral drugs.

From Christmas to the feast of the Epiphany, the foundation makes a special appeal for more funds, he said.

By collecting the funds at the Vatican and depositing them in the Vatican bank, Cardinal Lozano said, the foundation can transfer the funds quickly and directly to the nuncios in the countries where the need is greatest.

Catholic health-care providers make their requests for assistance through the nuncios, he said.

With just under $300, he said, the foundation can buy enough of the drugs to treat one patient in Africa for an entire year.

The foundation’s email address — goodsamaritan@hlthwork.va — can be used to request specific instructions on sending a check or transferring money to the fund.

St. Joseph’s Church

208 S. Main St., Attleboro, MA 02703 Saturday, 3 January 2009 ~ (508) 226-1115

9 am Church Hall: Fatima Video Presentation 10:05 am Church: Procession of Our Lady, Angelus, Crowing Cer- emony, Sung Litany of Loreto, The 5 Joyous Mysteries 11:15 am Mass of Our Lady: Celebrant and Preacher, Fr. Dominic,

Fl. Consecration of Parish to Our Lady 12:35 pm Lunch break (please bring a bag lunch) 1:35 pm Exposition and Procession of Blessed Sacrament 1:55 pm Sermon on Our Lady by Fr. Dominic, Fl. Silent Adoration 2:25 pm Meditations on the Passion of Our Lord 2:45 pm Coffee break 3:05 pm The 5 Glorious Mysteries. Act of Consecration. Benediction. Procession of Our Lady 4:00 pm Enrollment in the Brown Scapular and Conferment of Miraculous Medal.

This Message Sponsored by the Following Business Concern in the Diocese of Fall River Gilbert C. Oliveira Insurance Agency

SEASONAL SETTING — Pope Benedict XVI leads a weekly general audience in Paul VI audience hall at the Vatican recently. (CNS photo/Tony Gentile, Reuters)

Economic crisis can reveal true meaning of Christmas, pope says

B y Carol Glatz C atholic N ews Service

VATICAN CITY — This year’s economic crisis could help people rediscover the true meaning of Christmas and the values of life, love and charity, Pope Benedict XVI said.

After the “consumerist and materialistic scales have been shed, Christmas can then become an occasion to accept as a personal gift the message of hope that comes from the mystery of Christ’s birth,” he said at his general audience December 17.

The pope dedicated the talk at his last general audience of the year to the importance and meaning of the Advent and Christmas seasons.

Christmas celebrates the gift of life, which is sometimes fragile or in danger, he said.

As Christians contemplate the birth of Christ in a lowly grotto, “how can we not think about the many children who, still today, are born into enormous poverty in many parts of the world?” asked the pope.

The birth of a child should be a joyous event that stirs up feelings of kindness, concern and tenderness, he said.

But, the pope said, there are also children who are not welcomed into this world and are rejected.

People must not forget the many infants who are unable to survive after they are born because of a lack of medical attention, he said.

The miracle and mystery of Christ’s birth should also bring to mind the many families who long for “the joy of

having a child and do not see their hopes fulfilled,” he added.

While the present economic crisis is causing so much suffering in many parts of the world, it can also help people focus on the spiritual significance of Christmas, the pope said.

“Under the pressure of hedonistic consumerism, Christmas unfortunately risks losing its spiritual significance and becoming a merely commercial occasion to buy and exchange gifts,” said the pope.

However, he said, the current economic crisis and the financial insecurity and difficulties many families are experiencing should prompt people “to rediscover the warmth of simplicity, friendship and solidarity — the typical values of Christmas.”

With Christ’s birth, the word became flesh, he said. God has become a tangible, concrete person whom we can touch and contemplate and who “knows us, calls us and guides us,”

The Anchor

said the pope.

In the Christ Child, God humbly knocks on people’s doors to offer meaning in their life and the free gift of salvation.

God manifested himself as a poor, humble infant in order to conquer human pride and sin, he said.

“Perhaps we would have surrendered more easily before power or wisdom, but God doesn’t want our surrender.

Rather, he makes an appeal to our hearts and our free will to accept his love” freely, without coercion, said the pope.

He asked the faithful to welcome Christmas as an opportunity to truly renew their lives, to focus less on themselves and pay attention to the needs and hopes of others.

At the end of the audience, the pope encouraged people to create a Nativity scene in their homes, saying the tradition is “a simple and eloquent way to remember Jesus who, becoming man, has come to dwell among us.”

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 52, No. 49

Member: Catholic Press Association, Catholic News Service

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PUBLISHER - Most Reverend George W. Coleman EXECUTIVE EDITOR Father Roger J. Landry fatherrogerlandry@anchornews.org EDITOR David B. Jolivet davejolivet@anchornews.org NEWS EDITOR Deacon James N. Dunbar jimdunbar@anchornews.org OFFICE MANAGER Mary Chase m arychase@anchornews.org ADVERTISING Wayne Powers waynepowers@anchornews.org REPORTER Michael Pare michaelpare@anchornews.org REPORTER Kenneth J. Souza kensouza@anchornews.org Send Letters to the Editor to: fatherrogerlandry@anchornews.org POSTMASTERS send address changes to The Anchor, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722.

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Father Pat’s Christmas features ‘Tears of Love’

By Deacon James N. Dunbar

ATTLEBORO — When the Virgin Mary in tears appeared to two children near a village named La Salette in the French Alps on Sept. 19, 1846, she called for people to return to God, and ended her talk to them with the request that her message be known “to all my people.”

So it’s no mystery why internationally-known singer, Missionary of La Salette Father Andre “Pat” Patenaude’s newly released DVD is entitled “Tears of Love.”

“After all, the Blessed Virgin’s message of reconciliation — and hope — given 162 years ago is still as fresh and meaningful as when it was given, and is the reason why our congregation, founded in 1852, is to serve as a ‘perpetual remembrance of Mary’s merciful apparition’” said Father Patenaude in a pre-Christmas interview.

“As I look around the world today and become more aware of the prevalent loss of faith in many sectors of our society, I am more determined than ever

left the former St. Jean Baptiste Parish on Stafford Road in Fall River — now Holy Trinity Parish — and the Maplewood Section, a well-known a French-speaking neighborhood, to enter the La Salette Fathers’ minor seminary in Enfield, N.H. “I was inspired by the Sisters of St. Joseph who staffed the parish school, and more particularly by our pastor, Msgr. Leonidas Lariviere,” he stated.

They would advance his vocation and take advantage of his developing voice. He found himself taken from classes to sing at funerals, weddings, and other Latin Masses “and to be an altar server too from time to time.”

He would complete his college seminary studies in Brewster, do his novitiate in Center Harbor, N.J. and be ordained a priest along with five others by Providence Bishop Russell J. McVinney in 1969.

Father Patenaude’s French ancestry would come in handy in his subsequent music ministry.

In the early 1960s, at the seminary in Ottawa, Canada, he orga-

SOUNDS OF THE SEASON — La Salette Father Andre “Pat” Patenaude performs at one of his many Christmas concerts recently at La Salette Shrine in Attleboro. (Anchor photo)

to sensitize the people of the new millennium to the message that Our Lady graced us with at La Salette. So I dedicate this DVD to her, whose tears shed for me on that holy mountain, remain a powerful and tender sign of her love … for us.”

Every day during Advent and Christmas until January 4, during the Festival of Lights, Father Patenaude presents a 45-minute concert at 3 and 7 p.m., excluding Mondays, in the Shrine Church, at which a good-will offering is taken.

He often sings at weekend Masses in the Shrine celebrated by his fellow priests.

While the singing priest with the rich tenor voice is marking his 65th birthday, he said it seems like yesterday when at age 13, he

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The Anchor

December 24, 2008

nized a group of six young colleagues who would perform in area parishes and at Masses.

“We called ourselves the ‘AMen’ and all of our songs were in French,” he recalled.

Because the two guitarists who accompanied the group were Oblates of Mary Immaculate and were moving on, he decided to teach himself the guitar.

“I was 23 years old at the time, and it really was a good pastime to take away from long hours of studies,” he added.

It all began with a simple, sixstring Gibson guitar, he recalled.

Later Father Patenaude acquired a 12-string Martin, and although it is not electrified, it allows for amplifying and in 1972 he made his first recording “Amazing Day,” on the 33-and-a-

third record that was the technology of the time.

After that came eight-track cassettes, and then CDs and now this 56-minute DVD done by Blue Stare Media in Dedham, and coordinated by Frances Gunning, his secretary at the Shrine where he is the director.

The early 1970s albums came fast and furious, including “Love One Another,” “My Life,” “Ride the Morning Wind” from Psalm 139; “Come Home Christian,” “Breath of God,” and “Because I Believe,” among 14 that he put together.

“And I have had different, skilled arrangers such as Ed Martel of Pawtucket, Tom Green of New Hampshire, Lloyd Seccato of Connecticut, Tom Kendzia of Westerly, and for “Tears of Love” Tim Stella from New York, who directed “Phantom of the Opera.”

“Tears of Love” has great history because we recorded it during a week’s stay at the Monastery of La Salette in the southern part of the cloud-shrouded Alps where the weeping Virgin Mary had appeared,” Father Patenaude explained.

“At the time we were recording there were visitors — seminarians from Angola and Madagascar, and so I decided to include them in making the DVD,” he added.

“We did more recording here in Attleboro and others taking part were La Salette Fathers Richard Delisle, John Sullivan, Provincial Father Cyriac Mattathilanikal, and Brother Ron Taylor.

“With the exception of the ‘Ave Maria,’ all of the songs on the new DVD are original and mine,” Father Patenaude noted.

Asked if he wrote the lyrics first and the music later … or vice versa, he smiled and said, “It varies. Sometime a melody comes to me — naturally, I guess … and then I find the words to go with it.

At other times there is a message that I reflect on, and then I sort of fit it to a new melody.”

He said he once found himself at a healing service with a cancer survivors and support group.

“I felt a need to sing to them and with them and without any reflection I began to sing a message of hope … stumbling on a refrain ‘I want to see your face,’ and seeing where it would lead,” he recalled.

“And they began singing the refrain and suddenly there was healing. Music can be a healing medium, and it can bring so much hope and peace, especially at Advent, a season of hope, and about Mary, who is the Mother of Hope, the Queen of Peace, as we journey through life,” Father Pat-

enaude reflected.

One of the 14 songs on the DVD is the main theme “Tears of Love.”

He said that with “Tears of Love” he hoped “to bring the message of Our Lady of La Salette alive, to the young, the old, all who come here to the Shrine in her honor,” he said. Another of the topical songs is “Virgin of La Salette.”

tional carols — sometime involving sing-a-longs, and some were in French.

Several of the songs had prerecorded backgrounds including violin, flute and piano, but Father himself sang every song “live” frequently accompanying himself “live” with his guitar.

How was it received by the audience of pilgrims?

“It was so wonderful, greatly

A MOTHER’S LOVE — The new DVD and CD by La Salette Father Andre Patenaude are dedicated to Our Lady of La Salette and the tears she shed for all her children. (Photo by Dave Jolivet)

“And while costs of producing a DVD are at least $15,000, let’s not forget the great potential to a religious vocation that might be found by some who listen, and so its is very well worth it,” he commented.

On a recent Wednesday afternoon, hundreds of pilgrims arrived by bus from across the New England region for a concert. That day, the buses arrived from New York, New Jersey and from Fall River and Providence, R.I. Later buses would be arriving from Canada.

They came to hear Father Patenaude sing, view the lights and the largest religious holiday display in the East from 5 to 9 p.m., visit the International Nativity Sets Display, enjoy a meal in the new cafeteria, perhaps ride the carousel, browse in the expansive Gift Shop, and attend Mass.

Many would receive the sacrament of penance and with Communion at Mass be able to receive a plenary indulgence in this the Year of St. Paul. The Shrine Church has been named as one of eight churches in the Fall River Diocese where the indulgence may be gained after meeting certain conditions.

“You will be able to see double, maybe triple the number of lights because the 300,000 lights will be reflected in the many puddles on this rainy afternoon and evening,” Father Patenaude quipped before the recent afternoon concert. “See every light as hope and enjoy that hope in Mary, who they honor.”

For nearly an hour the audience in the Shrine Church was treated to some of the songs from “Tears of Love,” as well as tradi-

inspiring and I am so glad I came,” said Barbara Deely, who was with a group from the Franklin Senior Center. “What a wondrous voice to listen to, and to make us think of Mary,” she added.

Lil Morriss, also from Franklin, said, “This is the kind of Christmas music, truly raising our hearts to God, that we should hear more often. It is what we should be thinking about especially at this time of year.”

Bob Amadeo, a Fall Riverite now living in Boxwood, said, “I’ve been listening to Father Patenaude’s music for 40 years and am still moved by it. We’re lucky to have him and also this La Salette Shrine which offers us so much spiritually.”

William Donovan of Scituate, R.I., recalls how as a young sailor at Quonset Point also in Rhode Island, he first saw the Shrine display at Christmas many years ago when rerouted there following a traffic accident. “Since then I’ve come back every year.

What a professional concert and what a professional voice Father Patenaude has. It should not be missed by anyone.”

Jeannine Walsh of Boston called the concert “Truly inspirational and makes you want to hear the music over and over again.”

Ann Hussey of Somerset and Linda Fonseca of Fall River are repeat visitors to the Shrine.

They called the concerts and music “great, and really turn one’s thoughts to God as they should be at this time of year. We’ve heard Father Patenaude before in a concert in New Hampshire.

There should be more priests so sensitive to what people need to hear.”

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The Anchor Making room to welcome Maria, José and Jesús

For the last nine days, Hispanic Catholics in our diocese and across the country have been celebrating “las posadas.” This is an annual novena, begun in Mexico and now observed throughout much of Latin American, in which pilgrims, following in the footsteps of Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem, wander from home to home seeking a place to stay. The word “posada” is the Spanish term for “inn.” In the tradition, from December 16th through the 24th, groups of children and adults go from door to door singing hymns, carrying candles and statues of Joseph and Mary, and requesting a place to stay. At each house, the owner refuses, until the fatigued travelers arrive at the place designated for a celebration — often a church — where Mary and Joseph are recognized and allowed to enter. There the night ends by singing traditional Christmas hymns around a carefully-prepared crèche. The whole tradition is meant to help Christians relive the experience of rejection suffered by the Holy Family, so that they might learn to open their hearts, rather than close their doors, to others who come to them seeking assistance.

We might say that the “posadas” are an apt image to describe the experience of so many Hispanic faithful with regard to immigration here in the United States. They knock on the door and, rather than experience welcome, far too many experience rejection.

This is what prompted Bishop Anthony Taylor of Little Rock to write a challenging Advent pastoral letter entitled, “I Was a Stranger and You Welcomed Me.” In the introduction, he reminded the faithful of his diocese, “Advent is a time of longing and expectation, a time of hope.

Mary and Joseph found no warm welcome in Bethlehem, no room in the inn, but they trusted in God’s providence and Mary gave birth to Christ our Hope.… This same Jesus will later declare that whatever we do to the least of our brothers and sisters we do to him. Does Jesus find a warm welcome in our communities? What changes do we need to make here … in order to ensure that today’s Marys and Josephs — today’s Marías and Josés — receive a warm welcome truly worthy of the Savior whose birth we celebrate on Christmas?”

The experience of the Holy Family’s being refugees occurred more than just in Bethlehem.

“Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth at the time Jesus was conceived,” Bishop Taylor continued, “but were apparently not citizens of Galilee, which would explain why they had to go to Bethlehem in Judea for the census. They were refugees in Egypt, having crossed the border without the permission of the government that they were fleeing and they eventually settled in Galilee once it became apparent that the new government of King Archelaus in Judea was no better than that of his deceased father, King Herod.”

The experience of immigration, the Little Rock prelate said, is a constitutive part of salvation history and God has shown himself to be the guide and protector of those who are migrating. Bishop Taylor calls the “God of the Bible” a “God of immigrants” and then marshals his evidence. “The history of salvation unfolds largely in the context of immigration: God called Abraham and Sarah to emigrate from their homeland and led them on a journey that ended with them settling as immigrants in Canaan. Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt and later made arrangements for the immigration of his entire extended family in a time of famine. God called Moses to lead the exodus of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt and made a covenant with them in the desert en route to a new land he had promised them. God later brought his people back to Israel from exile in Babylon, but in the subsequent centuries the Jewish people continued to migrate to cities throughout the ancient world in a diaspora scattered among the nations, sometimes due to poverty or persecution and sometimes in search of better opportunities.”

So in his pastoral letter, Bishop Taylor begins, first, by reminding the Catholic faithful of his diocese about their spiritual roots and salvation history. Then, with equal force, he reminds them and us of our own family trees and national history.

“One of the constant features of American history,” he wrote, “is the fact of immigration and the process of conversion whereby the receiving population learns to soften its heart and open its arms to welcome the newcomer. As we have seen with the earlier waves of Irish, German, Italian and Eastern European immigrants, this process takes time — time for the immigrants to assimilate and time for the receiving population to become comfortable with the newcomers. The ancestors of today’s Americans faced and overcame many of the same obstacles that now confront today’s immigrants. We are astonished today to read of the mean spiritedness of the ‘Irish need not apply’ signs that greeted the Irish Catholic immigrants of the 1800s. But we are also edified by the poem by Emma Lazarus on the Statue of Liberty which concludes with the words: ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore; send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’” The Statue of Liberty still stands with lamp lifted as a symbol of hope to the poor and huddled masses of today, and Bishop Taylor is calling all of us not to forget those words at the statue’s, and our country’s, foundation.

He also does a powerful and penetrating analysis of the Declaration of Independence’s most famous phrase: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” In that sentence, our founders for us profess that it’s obvious that all of us — citizen and immigrant, whether legal or illegal — have all been created equal by God. We declare that we have all been blessed by God with rights that cannot be taken away by any government. Jefferson specified three of those rights, implying obviously that there were others. Bishop Taylor then describes what needs to be our response to the inalienable rights of immigrants toward life, freedom, and the desire for happiness. The immigrants are coming to the United States in search of a better for life, in search of happiness for them and their families, in search of freedom from poverty and often inept, corrupt and dictatorial governments.

Bishop Taylor then tackles head-on one of the most common misconceptions in the debate between “legal” and “illegal” immigration today. “Most Americans,” he said, “do not realize the impossible barriers placed on people who want to enter our country legally. Do you know that it is virtually impossible for Mexicans to immigrate to the United States legally unless they already have close relatives who are American citizens? Do you know that there is presently up to a 16-year wait for these family reunification visas because no more than 26,000 familysponsored visas are allotted to Mexican immigrants in any given year? Virtually all of these are adjustments of status for persons who are already in fact present inside the United States. There are, in fact, virtually no visas available for the more than 500,000 immigrants who enter the U.S. from Mexico each year.” The lack of available visas obviously fuels people who would want to come here legally to cross the border illegally.

As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, it’s important for us to examine how we would have responded if a man with a young pregnant woman on a donkey had knocked on our door in Bethlehem. If we would have responded with hospitality then, Bishop Taylor argues, we need to open our hearts now when María and José come knocking on our borders.

O

December 24, 2008

The voice of Christmas

ne of my Christmas traditions as a teen- how they promoted our vocations. We thought ager, in a parish without a Christmas that these questions were considerate small talk Midnight Mass, was to turn on NBC at 11:30 from a naturally curious man. We were wrong. He p.m. and watch the time-delay broadcast of the was preparing, rather, to give a special Christmas Midnight Mass from St. Peter’s in Rome. Ev- present to a couple back in the United States who ery year Archbishop John Foley would greet us had given two sons to the Church.

During the broadcast of the Mass later that with his deep, sonorous and distinctive voice and his delightful, soothing and dignified man- night, the NBC cameramen focused on the ner. He had been chosen by Pope John Paul II NBC execs and family members sitting in the to be the president of the Pontifical Council for second row. Then the voice of Christmas sprung Social Communications and, therefore, was into action. “There in the second row, you see able not only to provide play-by-play for the identical twin seminarians from Lowell, MassaMass itself but color commentary on the Holy chusetts, Roger and Scot Landry. They graduatFather, the Vatican, Christmas tradition and ed from Harvard and now they are preparing for more. He became an annual Christmas guest the priesthood at the Pontifical North American in our home and his voice became for me the College in Rome. They are the sons of Roger and Midge Landry, who must be very proud.” voice of Christmas.

The phones started ringing at the seminary It was, therefore, a great joy for me when, during my first semester at the North American just about 6 a.m., which was midnight back on College in Rome, I learned that he would be the East Coast. It began with friends and various the celebrant of the seminary’s Christmas Vigil. seminarians who were watching the telecast.

It was a tradition that he would bring all the Then our folks got through and said they were Catholics on the NBC broadcast team for the stunned first when they saw us on television.

Mass, as well as their spouses, to Mass and then They had no words to describe what it was like Christmas Eve Dinner with the seminarians. I for them to have Archbishop Foley introduce us, and them, to the world. They said it made not looked forward to meeting him. having their two I got my sons home at wish, and more, Christmas easier when one of the to handle. faculty members Tonight at approached me 11:34 p.m. on and asked if my NBC, nowidentical twin

By Father Cardinal Foley Scot and I would will be presiding be willing to Roger J. Landry over the broadserve the Mass. cast of the Papal Scot and I hadn’t provided symmetrical service at the altar to- Midnight Mass for the 25th time and doubtless gether in more than a decade — we didn’t serve will be doing similar acts of kindness to families at the College, since you needed to be a third of American seminarians, religious and students back home. The broadcast of the Mass is paid year theologian — but we willingly agreed.

I’ll never forget the beginning of Archbishop for by the Knights of Columbus and is a great Foley’s homily during that 1995 vigil Mass. opportunity to evangelize not just America but With his familiar Christmas voice, he stated that the world with the beauty of the liturgy comif scholars are correct that Jesus was born not in ing from St. Peter’s. He said at the Knights’ the year “0” — a miscalculation by Dionysius Supreme Convention in Quebec City in August, the Short in the year 525 — but in 4 B.C., and if “The NBC television network in the United Jesus were really born on the VIII Kalens of Jan- States asked me to continue to be the voice of uary or December 25, then “the 2,000th anniver- Christmas, and so I will continue as long as God sary of the birth of the Word of God would be,” grants me strength.” This is good news of great he paused for what seemed forever, “tonight.” joy to all the people.

I cannot write on the voice of Christmas withThat certainly got and kept my attention.

After Mass, the NBC folks came on over out telling one more story about his kindness. to greet Archbishop Foley. A couple of them During my fourth year of studies, he asked me if were also interested — people always are — in I would be able to give him a private tour of the meeting the identical twins and asking us the Scavi underneath St. Peter’s Basilica. On occaquestions monozygotes are routinely asked. We sion on Wednesday mornings, when the basilica and excavations office were closed because of would soon meet them again.

When we went down to St. Peter’s for the the papal general audience, I would be asked by Midnight Mass, Scot saw an American papal the office to give private tours to various prelates. chamberlain he had befriended two weeks ear- Cardinal Foley had heard a senior Vatican prelate lier at a seminary dinner for the Immaculate describe the tour I had given him, and he came Conception. The papal chamblerlains, dressed up to me and asked in a good-natured way what in tuxedos with all types of medals, are in a lowly-prelate like him would need to do to recharge of seating visiting heads of state, diplo- ceive a similar visit. We arranged to do so the folmats and other VIPs at the papal events. Scot lowing Wednesday morning. During the tour he went up to him to wish him a Merry Christ- really made me work, because he demonstrated mas. The chamberlain, in return, politely asked how much he knew about early Church history to see our tickets. The tickets weren’t bad, but and had read specifically about the Scavi.

After the tour, he said he wanted to take me he grinned, said, “follow me,” and proceeded to lead us up to the second row of the southern out for lunch to thank me. I told him I was hontransept, the row right behind the cardinals and ored, but that my parents were in town and were bishops in choir. Already sitting there were the planning to take me out to celebrate my birthNBC people we had met earlier in the evening. day. He asked when was my birthday was and I The chamberlain was a little surprised that we replied, “Today.” He then sincerely wished me a seemed to be having a mini-reunion with VIPs, happy birthday and asked me please to greet my but we told him that it was turning out to be a parents for him at lunch.

Almost a year later, he phoned me out of the very special Christmas, thanked him profusely blue at the North American College and asked if and joyously sat down.

About 10 minutes later, Archbishop Foley he could take me for lunch on Wednesday. I said came over to speak to his friends from the net- sure, not knowing what he wanted. When we work. When he saw Scot and me sitting there, he sat down for lunch, he said, “I know that today smiled and asked whether getting good seats was is your birthday, and since I wasn’t able to take something they teach us at Harvard. We laughed you out last year, I wanted to do so this year.”

The thoughtful prelate who gives voice to and said it was yet another case of the humble being exalted. He queried what part of Massachu- the Church’s Christmas joy is generous, I dissetts we were from, whether we were fortunate covered, not just in December.

Father Landry is pastor of St. Anthony’s enough that our parents were still living, what their names were, what they did for work, and Parish in New Bedford.

Putting Into the Deep

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St. Paul on the mystery of the Incarnation

wisdom of God” (1Cor 1:24). t. Paul’s entire unThis might not strike us imderstanding of God’s mediately as particularly seasaving action revolves around sonal, but the phrase “wisdom Jesus Christ. At this time of of God” refers to the divine year, we reflect especially on wisdom. Some books of the the magnificent event of the Old Testament treat wisdom as Incarnation of the Son of God. Unlike the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Living the however, the Apostle includes no account Pauline Year of Christ’s birth in his letters. In other words,

By Father he does not write what Karl C. Bissinger is sometimes called an “infancy narrative.”

He tells us no stories a person (sometimes as “Lady of shepherds guarding their Wisdom”) speaking of itself, flocks or Wise Men seeking a its origins, and its actions. This newborn king, of inns with no represents a purely literary vacancy, angels singing glory personification. In light of the to God, or of any star of BethNew Testament, however, it lehem. seems quite obvious that this With that said, we still find points to a first revelation of statements made by St. Paul the second person of the Holy showing his awareness of the mystery we celebrate at Christ- Trinity. In other words, the Apostle is stating that Jesus has mas. Significantly, in the First a divine origin and is born as Letter to the Corinthians, he wisdom incarnate. says “To those who are called, Next, St. Paul relates in the Jews and Greeks alike, Christ prominent hymn of the Letthe power of God and the

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ter to Philippians the descent of the eternally existing Son of God. He leaves his Father’s side in heaven to become a human being here on earth (cf. Phil 2:6-11). We recall the Apostle’s words: “Though he was in the form of God, [Christ Jesus] did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.

Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance” (Phil 2:6-7). St. John says the same thing in the Prologue to his Gospel when he writes, “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (Jn 1:14). In these ways, these two Apostles relate the Incarnation.

When the Son of God becomes a human being, he comes as the Son of Mary. As such, St. Paul points out that he is also the Son of the great King of Israel, “descended of David according to the flesh” (cf. Rom 1:3). Therefore, he

Christmas Day 2008

young family wakes up without hristmas Day, circa 0 B.C. (or is it 0 A.D.?) — gifts under the tree; in fact without even a tree. Their Christmas an infant son is born to a young dinner will consist of a can of mother and her husband in a beans they received in a rapidly makeshift abode, far from their dwindling donated food basket. home. From this day forward, Christmas 2008 — A woman the world will never be the stares blankly out her bedroom same.

Christmas Day 2008 — A young man, with a much-used syringe, injects himself with heroin, no longer in control of his life, but a slave to the demon narcotic.

By Dave Jolivet Christmas Day 2008 — A young woman discovers she’s pregnant and is crushed by the revelation. window, powerless to fight Unlike the young girl more than the depression that has over2,000 years ago, she’s alone and whelmed her. She wants only to go back to sleep since that’s the does not have faith in her life. only peace she knows.

She doesn’t know what to do.

Christmas Day 2008 — A Seeing no other way out, she homeless youngster, ignored contemplates the murderous as an infant, abused as an deed of abortion. adolescent and abandoned as a Christmas Day 2008 — A teen-ager can’t shake the suiman who never had a break in cidal thoughts that daily rack his life awaits in a prison cell on brain. Will this be the day? death row. He will soon receive Christmas Day 2008 — An a lethal injection for his crimes. immigrant couple feels the He’s afraid and alone. cold stares of strangers as they Christmas Day 2008 — make their way to morning There are teen-agers across the country who are confused about Mass. They have no choice but to pretend to ignore the insults their own sexuality. They don’t sent their way, knowing at least dare seek help, fearing rejecat Mass they’ll feel the presence tion from family and friends of God. and condemnation from callous Christmas Day 2008 — A members of society. young girl awakens knowing Christmas Day 2008 — A

My View From the Stands

she’ll only see one parent this Christmas, after a nasty separation by her parents. She’ll miss one parent, and blame herself.

Christmas Day 2008 — An elderly widow wraps herself in worn-out blankets trying to stave off the cold in an apartment she can no longer afford to heat. Alone, cold and dejected, she slurps on a Christmas feast of chicken and rice soup.

Christmas Day 2008 — A middle-aged woman receives the only gift she’ll get this Christmas Day — another black eye from her abusive alcoholic husband. She’s afraid to leave and afraid to stay.

Do we know any of these people? If we do, it’s our responsibility to let them know that the infant born more than 2,000 years ago in an obscure town called Bethlehem came for them. He came to change the world. He came to change their world.

Let’s let them know that he, through us, can make a difference. What a gift that would be.

I raise a Christmas prayer for everyone — especially those mentioned in this column and those like them.

May the Christ Child born in 0 B.C./A.D. find a way into their lives through those more blessed than they.

has the pedigree to be the Messiah — the Anointed One of God — in David’s line. In another place in the Letter to the Romans, the Apostle reiterates this lineage by quoting the prophet Isaiah, saying “The root of Jesse shall come, raised up to rule the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles hope” (cf.

Rom 15:12; Is 11:10). These make fine scriptural quotations on which to meditate during the Christmas Season. They link Jesus with the history of Israel, with the people from whom he receives his humanity.

St. Paul never mentions Mary, the Mother of Jesus, by name. We find only a single reference in the Letter to the Galatians to his actual birth: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Gal 4:4). This shows that Christ was born as a normal human being. He entered this world the same way as all the rest of us. Although it implies nothing irregular about his conception, it does not deny Mary’s virginity either. The Apostle simply affirms that Jesus has a Jewish mother.

In the Litany of Loreto, we pray to the Blessed Virgin under the title “Queen of Patriarchs.” While this way of

praying to the Mother of God has not become as famous as naming her “Help of Christians, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and Queen of Peace,” it does show that part of our piety includes an awareness of our Lord’s Old Testament heritage, mentioned by St. Paul in his writings. In fact, Mary links Jesus to the ancient Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The genealogies of Christ, which we find in the Gospels (cf. Mt 1:117; Lk 3:23-38) and read at the Christmas liturgy, connect our Lord, through his mother, to the patriarchs. In this way, Mary forms a bridge between the Old Testament and the New. Celebrating Christmas during the Pauline Year can provide us an occasion to see the mystery of Christ’s birth with new eyes. Through Paul, we catch a glimpse of the theological and historical depth of the Incarnation. Boiled down into simple language, it means that maybe we will encounter anew this awesome and wonderful truth of our faith: that, from all time, God has loved us and has willed our salvation. For this joyful reason, the Infant Jesus was born into our world.

Father Bissinger is vocation director of the Diocese of Fall River and secretary to Bishop George W. Coleman.

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Unto us a Child is born

another ideology. It’s a person. paradise by treating people like hese are pretty dark days, alternative to violence is true uniquely hate the world enough God is love, and so today problems, pieces of a puzzle to both literally, in that love. to see it needs changing, and love is born into the world. He be rearranged by force of will on these are the darkest days of Unto us a Child is born, unto love the world enough to see takes flesh and becomes man to the playing board of life. the year, and figuratively, with us a child is given and they shall that it’s worth fixing. We can do offer us an alternative to all the Indeed ideological violence, all the problems that the world call him … the prince of peace. this and live this way because on systems that promise peace by which simply disguises the faces. Hunger, poverty, war, and On Christmas we don’t Christmas love is born into the changing the world. We have idea that might makes right, in violence seem to pervade our celebrate the birthday of a leader, world and into our hearts. Love been told that change is rationality, has plagued world — and the reality of the changes the world not by treating coming. Tonight God the world for the past two struggling economy daily seems our brothers and sisters like chess offers us the possibility to centuries. Tired of this to cast a darker shadow over our pieces to be played, but by treatHomily of the Week change the world, not by these days it seems as if lives. ing them like God’s children to changing laws, or governthe only virtue is tolerInto this darkness tonight, be loved.

A Christmas Homily ments, not by changing ance and the only sin is to God shines a light.

On Christmas we see proof others, but changing sin against it. In a world You see things are not much that God does not tolerate evil ourselves. weary of ideologies; different today than they were in the world. He does not let

By Father God became man, so strangely tolerance has 2,000 years ago on that cold man freely walk down the paths Ron Floyd that man could become become the most popular dark night when the Lord Jesus to destruction we have chosen God. God promises peace ideology — proposing was born. War, famine, political for ourselves. Rather, he sends by giving us the power the 60s mantra: Can’t we all just oppression, religious persecution guru or moral teacher who will his Son, the Word of God, the to be truly human. In Jesus, the get along? In the end thought and violence — none of these teach us how to live in peace. We master plan and meaning of Father demonstrates the fact that tolerance is just another ideology, are new problems. All were prescelebrate the Nativity of Jesus existence, not merely to tell us to perfection and divinity are not just another type of violence. ent in Palestine in the year that Christ, who, though fully a man, do this or that, but to transform incompatible with humanity. We Tonight, into this world of Christ was born. was also fully God. We celebrate us into his children, into what can become like God. We can ours, which yearns for peace and The more things change the a cosmic event, which for us God made us to be, creatures become love. fulfillment, despite all its probmore they stay the same — in Christians is the defining event who are made to love. Therefore, Tolerance is not a Christian lems, our loving Father reaches every age man has responded to of history. on this dark Christmas night, let virtue, because tolerance is the out his hand — giving those who the uncertainty of his existence God, who created all things us thank God with the angels and opposite of love: it is apathy. walk in darkness a great light. and the evil that exists in the and is almighty, all-knowing, saints for the true gift of ChristChristians are not called to ignore mas: Jesus, the source of all true On Christmas we celebrate the world with violence. Attempting eternal, and unknowable, who or tolerate evil; we are called to alternative to the violence that to solve his problems with brute cannot be measured, circumPeace. Gloria, in excelsis Deo! hate it, because we love God. throughout history has promised force, but also with subtler forms scribed, or contained, tonight Father Floyd, the youngest Moreover, we are not called to to solve the world’s problems, of violence that appear quite reais born of the Virgin Mary. The priest of the Diocese of Fall tolerate our brothers who do evil, but delivered only death, destrucsonable based on lofty ideas and alternative to tolerance, and all of River, is obtaining a license in but to love them also. Catholics tion, misery, and shame. The hopes. These ideologies promise the world’s other problems isn’t sacred theology in Rome.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Dec. 27, feast of John, Apostle, Evangelist, 1John1:1-4; Ps 97:1-2,5-6,11-12; John 20:2-8. Sun. Dec. 28, The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Sir 3:2-7,12-14; Ps 128:1-5; Col 3:12-21 or 3:12-17; Lk 2:22-40 or 2:22,39-40. Mon. Dec. 29, 1Jn 2:3-11; Ps 96:1-3,5b-6; Lk 2:22-35. Tues. Dec. 30, 1Jn 2:12-17;Ps 96:7-10; Lk 2:36-40. Wed. Dec. 31, 1Jn 2:18-21; Ps 96:1-2,11-13; Jn 1:1-18. Thu. Jan 1, Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, Nm 6:22-27, Ps 67:2-3,5-6,8; Gal 4:4-7; Lk 2:16-21. Fri. Jan 2, 1Jn 2:22-28; Ps 98:1-4; Jn 1:19-28. Sat. Jan. 3, 1Jn 2:29-3:6; Ps 98:1-3,6; Jn 1:29-34. Sun. Jan. 4, The Epiphany of the Lord, Is 60:1-6; Ps 72:2,78,10-13; Eph 3:2-3a,5-6; Mt 2:1-12. Mon. Jan. 5, 1Jn3:22-4:6; Ps 2:7-8,10-11;Mt 4:12-17,23-25. Tues. Jan 6, 1Jn 4:7-10; Ps 72:2-4ab,7-8; Mk 6:34-44. Wed. Jan. 7, 1Jn 4:11-18; Ps 72:2,10-13; Mk 6:45-52. Thu. Jan. 8, 1Jn 4:19-5:4; Ps 72:2,14,15bc,17; Lk 4:14-22a. Fri. Jan. 9, 1Jn 5:5-13; Ps 147:12-15,19-20; Lk 5:12-16.

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he Roman basilica of SS. Cosmas and Damian tends to elude the casual tourist and the hurried pilgrim, although it’s right off the Via dei Fori Imperiali between Trajan’s column and the Coliseum. A visit at any time is worthwhile, as the apse mosaics are among the most spectacular in Rome — sixth- and seventh-century work that somehow anticipates 20thcentury art deco. SS. Cosmas and Damian is particularly striking during Advent and Christmastide, though, because it’s also home to one of the world’s most colossal crèches.

Born in the midst of daily life

Six yards long, four yards chestnut vender, a fruiterer, a high, and three-and-a-half miller, a man harvesting grapes, yards deep, the Nativity scene a piper, an innkeeper, a fishis Neapolitan in inspiration and erman, a butcher, a hunter, a execution, and dates from the soldier, and a blind man, plus 18th century. Buildings and bridges are made of cork; human and animal figures are carved wood or ceramic. In addition to Mary, Joseph, and the

By George Weigel baby Jesus, the crèche includes the three kings (with five camels and three horses), 29 angels of varithe usual array of shepherds. ous choirs, and some 75 men Two people are sleeping and and women — among them, a one family is caring for another newborn child. The animal kingdom is represented by five cows, one calf, two donkeys, a mule, a dog, two goats, and 23 sheep, in addition to lambs, doves, birds D in their nests, and hens with NO W! newly-hatched chicks.

Il Monumentale Presepio D Napoletano is more than just a JAN UAR Y9 display grander than anything ! on New York’s Fifth Avenue, however. Its composition makes an important, if subtle, theological point, in that the cave of the Nativity is not in the center of the scene. The point? This is not a Redeemer who comes as we might expect a Redeemer to come, with trumpets blar-

The Catholic Difference

epo

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ing and everything pointing to the expected Messiah. No, this Redeemer comes into the world in the midst of everyday life, the life he will transform by the witness and sacrifice of his own life.

Pope St. Leo the Great, in a reading prescribed for the Liturgy of the Hours on December 17, made the same point, a millennium before Neapolitan artists created the Cosmas-and-Damian crèche: “The divine nature and the nature of a servant were to be united in one person so that the Creator of time might be born in time, and he through whom all things were made might be bought forth in their midst. For unless the new man, being made in the likeness of sinful humanity, had taken on himself the nature of our first parents, unless he had stooped to be one in substance with his mother while sharing the Father’s substance and, being alone free from sin, united our nature to his, the whole human race would still be held captive under the domain of Satan. The Conqueror’s victory would have profited us nothing if the battle

had been fought outside our human condition. But through this wonderful blending the mystery of new birth shone upon us, so that through the same Spirit by whom Christ was conceived and brought forth, we, too, might be born again in a spiritual birth; and in consequence, the evangelist declares the faithful to “have been born not of blood, nor of the desire of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” The Redeemer comes, not to fetch us out of ourselves but to unite our humanity to his divinity so that we might be called children of God. This Christmas, the Church in America anticipates at least four years of grave challenge in its living of the Gospel of life. The best response to that challenge is for each of us to become the saints our baptism calls us to be. The Neapolitan crèche at SS. Cosmas and Damian is a reminder that, for most of us, that sanctity will be achieved amidst the quotidian realities of daily life — which just happens to be where the Redeemer of the world was born.

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

Confessions of a Christmas addict

24 December 2008 —Three Ten-Cent-Store Nativity scene.

Mile River — Christmas Eve This fed my habit. As a young y name is Tim and I’m priest, I took a trip to Portugal. a Christmas addict. I I flew home with a Nativity blame my parents. The day I was born, they named me for a characReflections of a ter. Let’s not go there.

My parents called me Parish Priest after Tiny Tim, from

By Father Tim Dickens’ “A Christmas Goldrick Carol.” What were they thinking? It was all downhill from there.

When I was in first grade, scene resting on my lap. It was my pastor, Msgr. John McKe- the month of August. People on on, gave all us kids a pop-up the plane stared at me strangepaper Nativity scene. I kept it ly. I didn’t care. for years. I was hooked. When I now possess hundreds of I was in high school, I inherNativity scenes from around ited my grandfather’s Five-and- the world. During the off-sea-

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December 24, 2008

son, I store them in the guest room. I get few guests. There’s no room in the inn.

This is my first Christmas in a newly founded parish. Parishioners picked their three favorite names for the parish.

I took no part. I didn’t even vote. Bishop George W. Coleman narrowed it down to one name, and it was St. Nicholas. I could see it coming. I know God has a sense of humor.

There was a time when I began my Christmas shopping early — very early. By Halloween, all the gifts were purchased and wrapped. By

Jesus: A survival story

survival story to tell, for if y maternal grandanyone has survived, Jesus mother died in 2000, has. Jesus lived through much at the age of 95. She was a adversity, suffering and death strong woman, raised in a and “remains alive” like no small farming village nestled other. beneath the Swiss Alps in the At the moment of his birth heart of Switzerland. Their he found himself in less than family was large and they did not have much money, but they had their Catholic faith and the realization that with hard work they would survive.

She would often tell the story of how

By Greta MacKoul one day she and her brother were hiking up a mountain. She optimal conditions. There was lost her footing and began to no running water, no sterilized tumble down, hitting her head towels. Nestled in a makeshift on rocks along the way. By bed, in a cold, unheated stable, the time she stopped, she had there was only the body heat a deep laceration in her scalp, of the animals to keep him bleeding profusely. warm.

Her brother was trembling Jesus did not get one of with worry as he asked her those cute little hats to wear if she was OK. She got up after he was born. He did not and told him that she was get a T-shirt from a hospital fine, not to worry. When she noting his birthplace. Mary got back to their house, her and Jesus did not receive parents poured whiskey on her wheel chair assistance out of wounds and wrapped her head their room, after mother and tightly in a towel. That was it; child had received all of the no doctor’s visit, stitches or care that was needed. medication.

What if Jesus had gotSurely, many people have ten sick and died? No, that heard stories of survival in would be impossible. Jesus their own families; from could have been born on the grandparents, parents or even North Pole in the middle of a in their own lives. These blizzard, and God the Father stories may not only include would have protected him physical trauma and healing, from any sickness or death. but also surviving the emoEverything hinged on Jesus tional hardships and difficulsurviving, and that he did. ties of life.

Jesus grew to be a young The word “survive” means man and began his public “to remain alive,” “to live through.” It is part of the human ministry. He touched many people’s hearts while on earth, spirit to “press on” to “move but his message was only parforward” to find strength and tially received by the people healing in adversity. of his time. What he stood for Jesus would have his own

Our Journey of Faith

was questioned. Who he was made him suspect. He was ridiculed, given a trial, beaten and crucified.

But he survived. He arose from the dead, was resurrected into heaven, and many of his words have been preserved for all time.

And although he gave us many important teachings, one of his primary messages is quite simple. “Remain in me, and I will remain in you … Now remain in my love.”

In so many words he has told us, “I’m counting on you now.”

But will Jesus survive in us? Will more and more people continue to deny his presence, or will belief in Jesus Christ gain momentum? Will those who believe stand strong and allow Jesus to survive in them? Will we be that hope that Jesus was counting on?

For Jesus Christ must first survive in us, if the true meaning of Christmas is to survive.

Sometimes we may hear talk of “surviving Christmas.” Possibly a more appropriate point of discussion is, “Can Christmas survive within the heart and soul of each person?”

Jesus’ survival story begins with him and ends with us, for we are now the light of Christmas. And the light of Christmas will shine as it did from a dimly lit stable many years ago, in tears of joy, in giving to one another, in forgiveness, in sacrifice, in kindness and in love.

Yes, Jesus has survived.

And Christmas has too.

Greta and her husband George, with their children are members of Christ the King Parish in Mashpee.

Thanksgiving, I had hand-written crates of Christmas cards.

By the first week of Advent, I had strung more Christmas lights than La Salette Shrine had. My life was out of control.

The problem was that the closer I got to Christmas, the more worn out I became. It got so I couldn’t wait for Christmas to be over and done. One Christmas, while celebrating Midnight Mass, I was so exhausted I collapsed in the presider’s chair and couldn’t move a muscle. My get-upand-go got up and went. My eyes glazed over. I’m sure most folks in the assembly wrote it off as just another liturgical change. Betty Mazzachelli, a nurse, came to my assistance, as did parishioner Bill Kelly.

My music director, being liturgically astute, tried to cover the awkward situation by leading the choir in a rousing chorus of “Do you see what I see?” OK. Maybe it wasn’t the best musical selection.

I had reached rock bottom.

Something had to change. I turned it over. The following year, I sent no Christmas cards.

You know what? Christmas came anyway that year.

I pushed the proverbial envelope the next year. I decided not to send Christmas presents to everyone I had ever met in my life. I also gave up all the buying, wrapping, and delivering gifts to people I only saw once a year. You guessed it.

Christmas came anyway.

Lastly, I decided not to accept every invitation to every Christmas party. Call me anti-social, but Christmas came anyway that year, too.

I’ll always be a Christmas addict, but now I’m a changed man. These days I wait until the very last minute before dragging myself to the mall to buy gifts — and those only

for people with whom I’ll be spending Christmas. My shopping is finished in 30 minutes or less. As an added bonus, everything is on sale.

Last year I had to concentrate on founding a new parish.

For the first time in my life, I never even set up a Christmas tree. Can you believe it?

However (miracle of miracles) Christmas came anyway last year. Surely, you noticed.

Christmas is once again my very favorite season. Beginning the last days of Advent, I put on Christmas music and sit back to enjoy. I read each Christmas card (I don’t receive many anymore, for obvious reasons) and I offer a prayer for the sender’s intention. I stand silently before the manger and ponder the spiritual message. The message is that Christ came as savior of the entire human race, savior of every nation, race, and creed.

How wondrous is that?

Really, what does it matter if you don’t send a card to everyone who sends one to you?

What does it matter if you are unable to fulfill every gift request? What does it matter if on Christmas Day it looks like a roving band of Huns has sacked your house? What does it matter if the very sight of your scraggly, listing Christmas tree with its flashing strobe lights would cause Martha Stewart to turn pale and faint on your living room floor? Chances are Martha won’t even show up at your house this Christmas.

Christmas will come anyway.

What good is it if Christ was born long ago in Bethlehem if he is not born in our hearts each day?

My name is Tim. They call me “Father Christmas.”

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

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December 24, 2008

Stang senior helps give hope at Christmas

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

students bought gifts, some wrapped, but every student donated at least $2, which was used to purchase NORTH DARTMOUTH — Bishop Stang High items and food cards of $50 and $75 denominations School Senior Morgan Cirillo remembers going for each family. shopping with her older sister Kendra to buy gifts “The students were great,” Cirillo said. “Everyone for needy families even before she began attending brought stuff in. If they didn’t bring gifts they brought the high school. Although she didn’t realize it at the money and we purchased gift cards and transportation time, the items were purchased to benefit the Holi- vouchers so everything requested was covered. This day Hope Project run by Child and Family Services year we had a lot more donations than we expected. of New Bedford, the adopted annual Christmas proj- We had one homeroom teacher who donated money ect of Stang’s Student Council. for her entire homeroom, we had parents coming in Cirillo was excited to be able to continue the tra- asking how they could help. One girl’s dad raised a dition when she started attending Bishop Stang and bunch of money at his office over a two-week period became a member of the Student Council. But with and brought it in. We’ve had so much help from the changes in the Student Council leadership and the community this year, it’s been phenomenal. It made arrival of a new faculty our work so much easier.” advisor last year, the projHaving brought back ect was abandoned and a the Holiday Hope Project school-based book drive this year was particularly was adopted instead. But timely, Cirillo said, given Cirillo couldn’t stop thinkhow difficult it’s become ing about Holiday Hope. for families in this tough “Things didn’t get off economic climate. the ground as soon as they “It’s the time of year should have, so we ended where everyone should up doing a book drive,” be happy and everyone Cirillo said. “But everyshould be reaching out one kept asking us about to others,” Cirillo said.

Holiday Hope.”

“Without our help and Missing the annual without our gifts, these tradition that she had first kids wouldn’t be receivshared with her sister, ing much for Christmas.

Cirillo made a point to In our homeroom we had revive the Holiday Hope a request for a four-yearProject this Christmas and old boy and all his mom started talking it up at the wanted for him was edubeginning of the school cational books and then year. “Everyone was so gloves and a jacket. When excited because we loved ANCHOR PERSON OF THE WEEK — Mor- you look at other kids askdoing it in years past,” she gan Cirillo. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza) ing for iPods and video said. “We had to do a little games, it definitely makes convincing this year to bring it back — some people you think. All they wanted was something to read were concerned it was a big project to take on, but I and something to keep them warm everyday. It puts told them ‘nope, we’re going to get it done.’” it in perspective and it brings it back to what ChristIn September, Cirillo went to Student Council mas is all about.” advisor Michelle Tapper-Racine and asked about A parishioner at Our Lady of Victory Parish in once again collecting gifts and donations for Holiday Centerville, where she lives with parents Kenneth Hope. “She told me to go ahead and do it,” Cirillo and Peggy Cirillo, older sister Kendra and younger said. “So I contacted Catholic Family Services and brother Taylor, Cirillo felt that doing charitable work this year we were able to sponsor 12 families. Mrs. for others, especially during the Christmas season, is Racine helped me organize everything. We had one of the best gifts you can ever bestow.

Christmas cards with information about each family “Being able to help other people is just great,” and what gifts they would like, and these were dis- Cirillo said. “We’ve learned (from Jesus) that ‘whattributed to each homeroom in the school.” ever you do for the least of my brothers, you do unto Unlike other Christmas charitable efforts that me.’ This is something that God would want us to do. are more about providing toys for needy children, I think it’s such a blessing and a lot of people want Holiday Hope focuses on some of the more essential to help out, but they don’t know how. We provide a needs for families who have fallen on hard times. great outlet for them.”

“It wasn’t a lot of toys,” Cirillo said of the requests “Morgan is a wonderful example of the spirit of they received. “Everyone asks for toys, but here Christmas, humbly helping those less fortunate and mothers were asking for jackets for their kids and sharing our blessings with each other,” said Karen snow boots. We had a single mom who only asked Quintin of Bishop Stang’s Advancement/Alumni for boots, gloves and a hat so when she went outside Office. to shovel snow, she wouldn’t be cold. It wasn’t about While she’s still planning to get her big sister all the material things.”

Kendra something for Christmas, in her own way The revived Holiday Hope Project kicked off just Morgan has already given her the perfect gift by before Thanksgiving this year, and Cirillo served as bringing back the Holiday Hope Project at Bishop the key organizer and point person, making all the Stang. necessary arrangements and phone calls to collect “It’s something that meant a lot to her and watchdonations and then get them delivered to Child and ing my sister go through that, I think it’s great we Family Services for distribution to the school’s 12 were able to bring it back,” Cirillo said. “It’s unbeadopted families. The Student Council received in- lievable what you can do with just a small group of formation on six large families and six smaller fami- people.” lies that requested a total of 167 gifts to be divided To nominate a Person of the Week, send an up among the school’s 26 homerooms, with the en- email message to FatherRogerLandry@Antire 815-member student body contributing. Some chorNews.org.

The Anchor

December 24, 2008

FATHER CHRISTMAS — Father Tim Goldrick, second from left, poses before a display titled “The Many Faces of St. Nicholas” at his newly-named St. Nicholas of Myra Parish in North Dighton. With Father Goldrick are Father Richard Furlong, priest associate, and parishioner Patrick Tracy as “St. Nicholas.” The figures in the display are on loan from the collection of Father Marc Bergeron of St. Anne’s Parish in Fall River. At top right, is a photo of an ornament marking the first-ever Christmas at St. Nicholas of Myra Parish in North Dighton. (Photos by Steve Platt)

Celebrating the true meaning of Christmas at St. Nick’s

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

NORTH DIGHTON — When the two former parishes of St. Peter’s in Dighton and St. Joseph’s in North Dighton were merged and renamed St. Nicholas of Myra Parish earlier this year, most people felt the name choice was heavily influenced by pastor Father Timothy Goldrick.

Father Goldrick, after all, uses a reference to “Father Christmas” as part of his email address and is known for a evergrowing collection of Nativity scenes that is now approaching 500 at last count.

“The naming of the parish was very ironic,” Father Goldrick said. “But I had absolutely nothing to do with it. I didn’t even vote — I could have voted like everyone else. I was shocked. I knew my reputation was ruined and everyone would think I put them up to it, but I didn’t. I might have left a few books about St. Nicholas lying around on the table, but that’s all I did.”

Father Goldrick has become something of an authority on all things Christmas in the Fall River Diocese and he’s also fostered a reputation as someone who is passionate about celebrating the joy of the season. He traces his interest in Christmas and Nativity scenes back to the time he received one in first grade.

“The pastor gave all the kids one of those pop-up, paper Nativity sets and I thought it was just the most wonderful thing and I kept it for many years,”

Father Goldrick said. “It was very small and I put it up in my bedroom. I liked the idea of the crèche from an early time.”

It didn’t take long for Father Goldrick to graduate to a more extensive crèche set — one that belonged to his grandfather.

“My grandfather had a small Nativity scene that was a typical Woolworth set and I was fascinated with that as a young child,” Father Goldrick said.

“I would start asking him in August about putting it up. At one point I told my grandfather I would like to have it, so when my grandfather died, I got that set. People always ask me around Christmas which is my favorite Nativity set — I have almost 500 sets — and that would be it. That’s the one that is my favorite because it is my childhood crèche from my grandfather.”

Father Goldrick maintained that cherished family heirloom crèche as his one and only set for a while, until a trip to Portugal inspired him to pick up a second one as a souvenir.

“I had just one crèche and after I became a priest I was on vacation in Portugal and I asked myself, ‘what would be a good thing to take home as a souvenir?’” Father Goldrick said. “I thought, well, a crèche.

I already had one, but what’s wrong with having two? So I came home on the plane with a Portuguese crèche on my lap and people thought I was odd.

Once I had two, forget it. Now I just have so many of them.

That’s how my collecting began.”

Thinking he was the only person with this rather unique penchant for collecting crèches, Father Goldrick soon learned there were many others who shared his love for Nativity scenes. In fact, there was an organized society of crèche collectors forming in the United States.

“In the beginning, none of us knew each other existed — we all thought we were the only ones in the world with this weird obsession with crèches,” Father Goldrick said. “Now there are more than 400 members in the society nationwide, and they are also affiliated with the international association of crèche collectors, which has its headquarters in Rome. Our mission is to further the tradition of the crèche. It’s not a political group and it’s non-denominational. It’s an eclectic group of people who all have this common love for the crèche.”

Father Goldrick noted how he keeps busy during every Advent and Christmas season spreading the joy of the coming of our Savior through talks and displays of his crèche collecTurn to page 15

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The Anchor

December 24, 2008

Christmas in heaven

“A

s the mother of Christ, [Mary] is preeminently an Advent figure — the morning star announcing the rising of the Sun of Righteousness…. So she remains, for us who are still on the journey of faith, the ‘star of the sea’ guiding us through the dark journey towards the moment when faith will be transformed into the everlasting vision in which we look upon God our Savior ‘face to face.’” So wrote Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J., in 1997. On December 12, the feast of our Lady of Guadalupe, he died in New York City at the age of 90.

He lived an interesting life.

Son of John Foster Dulles, sec-

Judge For Yourself

By Dwight Duncan

retary of state under President Eisenhower in the 1950s (after whom Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. is named), he went to Harvard College in 1936 and converted to Catholicism the year he graduated, 1940. He had learned that “in all the controversies my sympathies were spontaneously with the Catholic position.”

He then attended Harvard Law School for a year and a half, leaving to join the Navy after Pearl Harbor. But after serving throughout the Second World War and being awarded the French Croix de Guerre for his liaison work with the French Navy, he joined the Society of Jesus in 1946. He became a leading American theologian.

“I’m more interested in doctrine than in law. Doctrine is what is true, and law tells you what you are supposed to do.” He was ordained to the priesthood in 1956, and named a Cardinal

by Pope John Paul II in 2001, one of the few cardinals that was not a bishop, and the first American theologian to be so recognized, as Cardinal Newman had been from England in the 1800s.

He lived in interesting times.

He was a co-founder of the St. Benedict’s Center in Harvard Square in the 1940s, where Father Leonard Feeney was eventually expelled from the

Jesuits and excommunicated for disobedience. In the turbulent seas of the 1960s and 70s, he avoided being capsized by the winds of change and dissent that swept the Church in the wake of Vatican II and the sexual revolution. He was always known for his humility, good sense, and faithfulness. At his farewell lecture at Fordham earlier this year which someone else had to read for him, he gratefully wrote, “I often feel that there is no one on earth with whom I would want to exchange places.”

Afflicted by polio he had contracted in Italy in 1945, he could no longer speak and was partially paralyzed. He wrote: “The good life does not have to be an easy one, as our Blessed Lord and the saints have taught us. Pope John Paul II in his later years used to say, ‘The pope must suffer.’ Suffering and diminishment are not the greatest of evils but are normal ingredients in life, especially in old age. They are to be expected as elements of a full human existence. Well into my 90th year I have been able to work productively. As I become increasingly paralyzed and unable to speak, I can identify with the many paralytics and mute persons in the Gospels, grateful for the loving and skillful care I receive and for the hope of everlasting life in Christ. If the Lord now calls me to a period of weakness, I know well that his power can be made perfect in infirmity. ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord!’”

I’m sure that Cardinal Dulles had prayed the Hail Mary millions of times during the course of his life: “Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.” The hour of his death came on her feast, Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas. My uncle Steve, who also prayed the rosary and would argue in a friendly way with my father as to who said more rosaries, died the same day. Now they can enjoy Christmas in heaven. Amen.

Dwight Duncan is a professor at Southern New England School of Law in North Dartmouth. He holds degrees in civil and canon law.

Please note there will be no Anchor on Friday, January 2. We will publish again on January 9.

I’M ALL EARS — Scene from the animated movie “The Tale of Despereaux.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/Universal)

CNS Movie Capsules NEW YORK (CNS) — The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed by the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“Gran Torino” (Warner Bros.)

Improbable and gritty if ultimately humane redemption tale of a crusty Korean War vet (Clint Eastwood in peak form) who resents the encroachment of the Laotian Hmongs who have moved into his Detroit neighborhood, but becomes their reluctant hero and unlikely friend after he saves the young teen (Bee Vang) next door from being pressured to join a marauding Hmong gang. Eastwood directs with his customary frontier worldview, with the cultural tolerance theme and a positive priest character (Christopher Carley) strong pluses, though the nonstop racial epithets and expletives are, even in this context, excessive. Pervasive rough language, profanity and racial slurs, violence with bloodshed, and a morally tangled ending. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted.

Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount) Overly long but imaginative expansion of an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story set in New Orleans about a man born old (Brad Pitt) who ages backward from World War I to the present and his bittersweet romance with a

dancer (Cate Blanchett). Under David Fincher’s direction, the leads give fine performances and outstanding digital effects make the forward and backward aging remarkably believable, and the unusual story — presenting a unique, often profound perspective on the transience of human life and how we deal with the people we meet and the things we experience, including death — is thought-provoking and poignant.

Implied nonmarital situations including nongraphic encounters, some rough language and brief profanity, mild innuendo, outof-wedlock pregnancy, adultery, brief rear nudity and wartime violence. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

“The Tale of Despereaux” (Universal/Relativity)

Charming animated adventure story about a chivalrous mouse (voice of Matthew Broderick) who is banished to a rat-filled tunnel for fearlessly befriending a distressed human princess (voice of Emma Watson), contrary to the timid customs of his society, and gains the protection of a globe-trotting rat (voice of Dustin Hoffman) with gourmet tastes, who also dreams of derring-do.

Though somewhat overloaded with multiple plot lines, co-directors Sam Fell and Rob Stevenhagen’s painterly adaptation of Kate DiCamillo’s 2003 best-selling, Newbery Medal-winning children’s novel is delightfully innocent and idealistic as it celebrates its hero’s sense of honor and love of reading and charts his companion’s discovery of the power of forgiveness. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-I — general patronage.

The Motion Picture Association of America rating is G — general audiences. All ages admitted.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, December 28 at 11:00 a.m.

Scheduled celebrant is Father Jay T. Maddock, pastor of Holy Family Parish in East Taunton

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, January 4 at 11:00 a.m.

Scheduled celebrant is Father Timothy J. Goldrick, pastor of St. Nicholas of Myra Parish in North Dighton

The Anchor

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The Anchor

December 24, 2008

news briefs

Stem-cell debate expected to regain momentum in 2009 WASHINGTON (CNS) — In the year marking the 40th anniversary of “Humanae Vitae,” Pope Paul VI’s encyclical on human life and birth control, discussion of bioethical issues was relatively muted in 2008, but the debate is expected to regain momentum in 2009. The year began with high hopes that discoveries by research teams in Japan and the United States in November 2007 would make stem-cell research involving the destruction of human embryos obsolete. That was followed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ approval in June of a new document calling the use of human embryos in stem-cell research “gravely immoral” and unnecessary. However, such steps seemed to have little effect on those already committed to embryonic stem-cell research. The two major U.S. political parties each nominated candidates for president who pledged to lift the ban on federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research. As the year drew to a close, the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued “Dignitas Personae” (“The Dignity of a Person”), an instruction warning that certain recent developments in stem-cell research, gene therapy and embryonic experimentation violate moral principles and reflect an attempt by man to “take the place of his Creator.”

School angers Catholics over honorary degree pick, insurance coverage WASHINGTON (CNS) — The University of San Francisco has angered some Catholics by giving Irish President Mary McAleese an honorary degree even though she has publicly supported gay rights and the ordination of women in the Catholic Church.

A university official defended the honor, stating McAleese did not address any partisan or religious themes during her acceptance speech on campus December 11, and he said the college’s Catholic identity remains strong. The Jesuit-run university also has been criticized for supplying health insurance that provides abortion coverage. Though university officials plan to remove a provision in its student health insurance coverage that would pay for an abortion, a Catholic organization complained that the same benefit continues to be offered to the university’s employees. Patrick J. Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society, — a Manassas, Va.-based Catholic college watchdog group — praised the university’s swift response to the student insurance coverage, but he called on school officials to drop abortion coverage from the employee health plan as well.

San Francisco chapel is setting for national TV Christmas special SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) — A one-hour television Christmas special set at the Porziuncola Chapel Shrine at the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi in San Francisco was recently taped and was to be distributed to ABC affiliates nationally for broadcast at their discretion Christmas Eve, tonight. Msgr. Harry Schlitt hosts the program. Vicar for administration and moderator of the curia for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, Msgr. Schlitt is a well-known broadcast media veteran. The hour-long program was produced by the Indiana-based New Group Media for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office of Digital Media with a grant from the USCCB’s Catholic Communication Campaign. The noncommercial program, directed by Chris Salvador of New Group Media, features a Billy Budd Films claymation re-enactment of Jesus’ birth narrated by Christopher Plummer, Christmas carols sung at the shrine, and a video segment on the Trappist Monastery of Mepkin Abbey in South Carolina, which houses 350 creches from around the world.

US group calls Iraq one of the worst violators of religious freedom WASHINGTON (CNS) — A U.S. watchdog group monitoring international religious freedom said Iraq should be named one of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom. In a report the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said Iraq deserved the designation “in light of the ongoing, severe abuses of religious freedom and the Iraqi government’s toleration of these abuses, particularly abuses against Iraq’s smallest vulnerable religious minorities.” The commission said Chaldean Catholics and other Christians face dire circumstances. “These groups do not have militia or tribal structures to protect them and do not receive adequate official protection,” it said. “Their members continue to experience targeted violence and to flee to other areas within Iraq or other countries, where the minorities represent a disproportionately high percentage among Iraqi refugees.” The commission, an independent body, makes its recommendations to the president, secretary of state and Congress. Four commissioners out of nine voting members dissented from the decision to name Iraq as a country of particular concern, saying that government inaction or complicity with such abuses had not been established sufficiently.

D

The smallest of sanctuaries

let him to act. espite the determined Mary’s call placed her press of the elements, the hardship that travelers faced between the strong guidance of Joseph and the unbending needs far from home and the chaos of a newborn. Like all mothers, that Caesar’s census caused in her attention was fixed on the the surrounding countryside, marvel of her Child who — there was peace in one corner of the empire. In one cave, new despite being true God and true man — was received into her life found welcome and shelarms in a natural way, fragile, ter because of a husband and hungry and in great need of huwife who embraced their duty man warmth. In order to freely with love. The ordinary cave at offer her maternal love, it was Bethlehem was transformed from within, for no other reason than the singular care of its occupants — the Holy Family.

To understand the Christmas story is to

By Genevieve Kineke understand God’s loving plan for the family, and that plan is simply necessary for her to depend on the placement of layers around a shell of protection around her, that which is most vulnerable. and she could trust Joseph. In At the surface, visible to the trusting Joseph, she trusted God. outer world are the concrete At the center of the circle is details, which St. Joseph made God himself, who chose to bepossible. More specifically, he collaborated with God and exist- come needy, to entrust himself to a faithful daughter of Israel. ing structures to be where he This required that he shed the was called and to receive what was necessary. God nudged him layers of comfort that he, the (firmly) to take Mary as his wife Eternal Shepherd, normally provides to his flock in order to and Caesar Augustus nudged humble himself as the purest of him (even more firmly) to Bethlehem. His affection for his Lambs. The heart of this mystery reveals the essential layers wife and paternal care concernbetween the very Rock of Ages ing the imminent birth drove him to find adequate shelter, and and a tender babe — comforted he was rewarded with the stable by the lullaby of a weary mother in a wayside cavern.

— superior to an open field to When we understand our be sure, but note-worthy to all vocation, our very call from subsequent generations for its humility. God spoke, Joseph lis- God, then our large cold world gives way to the small warm tened, and his fatherly vocation

The Feminine Genius

sanctuaries on which life itself depends. From a heart that embraces the Christ-Child springs a smile that finds him at the door, for a faith that recognizes the need for tangible details of welcome transforms once-dingy rooms with the glow of communion. From the chaste union of awkward couples new life bursts forth, to be nurtured by motherly hands and guarded by fatherly prudence.

The overwhelming cares of the larger world should not concern us this Christmastide — any more than the brawling interests of the farflung empire concerned Mary and Joseph. Their pilgrimage entailed finding shelter, welcoming a child and building a sanctuary that spread no further than between ox and ass and the manger they shared. Surely we can do the same. It requires layers and collaboration. When pieces are missing we make do, finding treasures in the smallest things.

The ancient walls of the cave, the firm shoulders of Joseph, the gentle bosom of Mary, the trusting child. Family sanctuaries are the outposts of heaven, and the ones we build must take shape around the flame of faith. God himself is within. Be at peace.

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

FIVE DECADES REMOVED — This billboard, “Nostalgia & Memories,” greeted attendees of the 50th Class Reunion of the former Jesus Marie Academy in Fall River. Twenty-two members of the Class of 1958 attended the event held at White’s Restaurant in Westport. The alumnae attended a Mass at Notre Dame Church in Fall River. Classmates came from nearby and from as far away as Florida, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia and Arizona. JMA, staffed by the Sisters of Jesus and Mary, was a girls’ Catholic high school that opened its doors in 1877 and closed in June 1971.

Youth Pages

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LISTENING AND ENJOYING — Students from Catholic grammar schools in the New Bedford area react to a presentation by renown speaker Jason Evert, who recently delivered an address on chastity at St. Lawrence Martyr Church in New Bedford. Evert extolled the virtues of chastity and recommended the students stay the course of the faith rather than fall prey to the counterculture prevalent in today’s society. Evert mixed humor in with his important message, keeping his audience attentive and interested.

Evert and his wife Crystalina speak to thousands of students each year, have published books and are no strangers to TV and radio shows. (Photo courtesy of SouthCoastToday.com)

December 24, 2008

’TIS BETTER TO GIVE — Members of the Santo Christo Parish Youth Group stand among hundreds of gifts donated by parishioners for the annual Christmas Giving Tree campaign. During these hard economic times, the Fall River parish rose to the challenge to make this year’s campaign a success. The gifts were given to Catholic Social Services for distribution to needy children.

NOT-SO-RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS — The youth group at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Attleboro planned a recent family Mass for the parish. The group baby-sat for the young children during the Mass, then served pizza in the hospitality center. The group plans events during the year including movies, bowling, and game nights. Recently they assisted with making Advent Wreaths in the Parish Center, and visiting local assisted living facilities.

HONORING OUR LADY — St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro recently celebrated Mass in observation of the feast of the Immaculate Conception, in honor of Mary, the mother of Christ, who was conceived without sin. Seventh-grader Elaney Marcotte proclaims a reading during the special Mass.

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

BOWL SEASON — Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro recently held its Annual College Bowl, a game of questions and answers played by five teams representing each grade as well as a faculty team. This “Varsity Sport of the Mind” not only provides an arena for the fastest minds at Feehan to demonstrate their great skills under the fire of tough questions from College Bowl host, President Chris Servant, but it’s also a source of highly anticipated entertainment for the entire student body.

This year, the winning team was from the senior class comprised of Cory Bigda, Matthew Johnson, Caitlyn Doucette, and Sarah Travis. Seniors cheer, spelling out “Bigda” name, to support her and the rest of the team.

Youth Pages It’s a bird … It’s a plane … It’s ….

December 24, 2008

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wo movies arrived recently the failure of faith; faith in oneself and from the online video site we faith in God. do business with. They were movies It seems to me that right now we about superheroes. I hadn’t specifically need a real superhero. Not Hancock, ordered them to arrive at the same time, nor Batman. Not even our presidentbut had checked them off as something elect whom so many are hoping will I might be interested in renting when be able to turn things around. No, it they were first released in the theaters. is only faith in our Lord Jesus that Oddly, just a week before, another can turn things around for us. We may superhero movie was released. What yearn for the superheroes, but only gives with all of these movies featuring Jesus is the real thing. superheroes?

Even though, on that Christmas Day There is no doubt that recently there so many years ago, Jesus veiled his alhave been a lot of films featuring sumighty power to take on human weakperheroes. It seems like there are more ness to become one of us, this tiny little of these types of films today than at child would still change the course of any time in recent history. We have the mankind forever. old standbys like Batman and SuperToday, we know that we are called to man, Wonder Woman, and Spiderman, be Christ to others, and with his help, but also superheroes like Ironman, we too can help change the course of Hulk and Hancock which have all been what is going on in the world today. No released in the matter what past year. our circumOf course, stances, we superheroes are still truly have always blessed in this been popular. country. As a Perhaps bepeople we have cause we know so much more

By Frank Lucca that we are all than most of in need of help. the world’s Now more than people. We, ever, with the state of our country and therefore, need to be there for one anof the world, we need more help than other. We need to not only be good, but ever before. to do good for those even less fortunate This week we celebrate Christmas than ourselves. Each one of us is called during a time when our country’s to be a “superhero” for each other. Isn’t economy is broken. There are more that the true meaning of Christmas? people out of work today and losing The rabbi on “The Today Show,” their jobs than at any time in recent his- closed with this thought, “No matter tory and we a facing a possible depreshow difficult things are, God gives you sion. 401k’s have evaporated. We are a the strength to make it through and the country at war. We hear about parents ability to turn this all around and create who beat their children. We read about something good in this life.” shootings and murders all around the I recall a saying that I heard many country. It’s a mess out there. years ago. “Pray as though everything On last Tuesday’s “The Today Show,” depends on God, but act as though eva rabbi and a minister participated in a erything depends on you.” Perhaps that discussion on finding hope during times is no more true than it is today. of uncertainty. They spoke of many who So which superhero do we turn to, to are concerned about what is going on fix our world today? today and afraid of the future.

Frank Lucca is a youth minister at What struck me the most was a com- St. Dominic Parish in Swansea. He ment by the rabbi. He mentioned that is chair and a director of the YES! he tells his congregation that no matter Retreat and director of the Christian the difficulties, tragedies, disappointLeadership Institute (CLI). He is a ments and challenges that they face, husband and a father of two daughthere is only one real failure and that is ters.

Be Not Afraid

Pope chooses themes for the next three World Youth Day celebrations

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI has chosen the themes for the next three World Youth Days in order to help young Catholics better prepare for the international gathering in 2011.

The Vatican published the list of themes for 2009-2011 in a recent press release.

The next international gathering will be held August 16-21, 2011, in Madrid, Spain.

The theme for the 2011 event is “Rooted and built up in Jesus Christ, firm in the faith.” The quotation is taken from the second chapter of St. Paul’s Letter to the

Colossians.

“We have set our hope on the living God” is the theme chosen by Pope Benedict for the 2009 celebrations, which will be held on the diocesan level.

In 2010, also on the diocesan level, young people will focus on the theme “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

The pope chose all three themes ahead of time “to help build a spiritual itinerary that will lead to the international WYD scheduled to take place in Madrid,” in 2011, said the Vatican press release.

IGNORING THE COLD — A seventh-grade student at St. John Vianney School in Northlake, Ill., prays during a recent Mass at Federal Plaza in Chicago. More than 400 people braved frigid temperatures to join Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller for a historic Mass in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe. (CNS/Karen Callaway, Catholic New World)

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The Anchor

December 24, 2008

Minnesota bishops urge ‘compassionate dialogue’ on full immigration reform

By Julie Carroll Catholic News Service

EVANGELICAL EMCEE — Host Father Robert Reed sits with young contestants on the set of the game show “Wow.” Father Reed is a Boston archdiocesan priest who devised the Catholic program and also serves as director of CatholicTV. (CNS photo/George Martell, courtesy CatholicTV)

Boston religion TV game show proves popular

BOSTON (CNS) — The boosters of a Boston religion TV game show think of it as being styled after “Jeopardy!” But in looking at the age of the contestants, it could well pass for an even younger version of “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?”

The program in question is “Wow!” Sometimes it goes by its full name — “Wow! The CatholicTV Challenge.”

It’s been produced for the past three years by CatholicTV, a television ministry of the Archdiocese of Boston founded more than 50 years ago.

In the half-hour show, three third-graders, usually from the same school, get to show off what they know about their Catholic faith.

Father Robert Reed, a Boston archdiocesan priest who is director of CatholicTV, devised “Wow!” and hosts it. He also stands ready to fill in the gaps in the contestants’ knowledge — and the viewers’ as

well — with details on the issue at hand.

“Feedback was excellent, especially from parents,” said Chris Pham, a spokesman for the show, in an email exchange with Catholic News Service. “The show is clean, educational and, unlike most parentally approved shows, kids actually want to watch the show.”

Pham noted, “One parent called — she was also a Religious Education teacher — and asked if she could have the questions from the show so that she could use them for her class. She wanted to set up a little ‘Wow!’ show in her classroom.”

The young contestants come to the studio with their teachers for a taping, generally all conducted during summer vacation. “The teachers typically are smiling and laughing when they leave,” Pham said. “They find it pleasing to show the kids that the faith can be fun and enjoyable.”

He added, “The children tend to

take the competition very seriously.

They spend hours in preparation at their schools.”

Father Reed himself has to write, on average, 70 questions plus answers and additional information for each show, which amounts to about 1,400 questions by the time a season’s worth of shows are taped.

Each show has a theme, such as the sacraments, saints or another Catholic category. The theme is introduced by an animated dog — voiced by Father Reed. Each show features three rounds of three students each. The winners of those rounds face off against each other in a final round. Each show’s winner gets prizes — typically, a set of DVDs. About 50 installments of “Wow!” have been produced. Archived shows can be accessed online at www.catholictv.org/shows/ default.aspx?seriesID=137.

To catch the latest episodes, computer users can watch at the same time the Boston TV audience is watching: 6:30 p.m. Mondays, 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Tuesdays, 10:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. Wednesdays, 1 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Thursdays, 1 p.m. Fridays, 8 p.m. and midnight Saturdays, and 9 a.m. Sundays.

In addition to “Wow,” CatholicTV’s lineup includes other family-friendly and educational shows as well as religious and news programming, according to a news release.

Programs are available online anytime but also can be seen on cable in selected areas in the U.S. and Canada and via Sky Angel IPTV, which is Internet protocol television that uses a broadband connection.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Four years ago, Carmen Dean couldn’t have imagined the crowd that would fill her church, Risen Savior in Burnsville, to celebrate the December 12 feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas.

Latinos of all ages dressed in festive garb joined in an elaborate procession culminating with several men carrying a statue of the brown-skinned Mary toward the altar.

On that same day, Minnesota’s bishops issued a statement asking Catholics to renew their commitment to welcoming immigrants.

They also declared January 4 Immigration Sunday in all parishes in the state.

When Dean became Hispanic ministry director at Risen Savior in 2004, just 60 Hispanic families were registered there. Now 500 Hispanic families belong to the parish, whose mission Dean sums up as: “All are welcome.”

“The Hispanic population has grown so much because there is a lot of need for spiritual attention in the Hispanic community,” Dean said in Spanish.

“The Church is the place where immigrants go to ask for economic help, moral help, someone to give them a hand, and, above all, to help them grow in their Catholic faith formation,” she told The Catholic Spirit, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The Minnesota bishops’ twopage statement, titled “Welcoming Our Immigrant Sisters and Brothers,” was signed by the leaders of Minnesota’s six dioceses. On December 16 Catholic leaders held a telephonic press conference to discuss the statement and call for “compassionate dialogue on comprehensive immigration reform.”

In the statement the bishops said they are “alarmed by the antiimmigrant sentiment that is dividing our communities” and called on Catholics to join them in promoting “compassionate and just immigration reform.”

“In our pursuit of justice,” the bishops wrote, “we must work together to transform hearts, minds and communities.”

The statement was released on the second anniversary of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids at the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Worthington and Swift plants in five other U.S. cities. As a result of the raids, the bishops said, “many of our sisters and brothers were separated from their loved ones.”

“The harsh enforcement of federal immigration laws pushes many of our immigrant sisters and brothers into the shadows and makes them more vulnerable to workplace intimidation and abuses,” the bishops wrote. “While we recognize our nation’s right to maintain secure borders, we oppose policies that separate families and fuel suspicion, fear, intimidation, hatred and violence.”

The bishops called on Minnesota Catholics to join them in their “pursuit of justice.”

“We are called to recognize Christ in every newcomer and to respect the dignity of all human beings, regardless of their legal status,” they said.

“Immigration is something that Catholics should be concerned about because it involves the dignity and value of our fellow human beings,” said Archbishop John C. Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis. “We are all brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, and we need to be attentive to the needs of our neighbor.

Bishop John F. Kinney of St. Cloud said the idea for Immigration Sunday was born out of discussions the bishops had in the wake of an increasing number of immigration enforcement raids in Minnesota and across the nation.

“There’s a great concern that we have about separation of family members and also kind of an anti-immigration feeling among some people throughout the state,” Bishop Kinney said.

“We felt it was an important moment for us to say something to the people of our state about how important it is to remember that we are all members of the same human family, and whatever our nationalities or our languages or our cultures, as different as they might be, we are all brothers and sisters in God,” he said.

2008 Marian Medal Awards presentation available on video

FALL RIVER — The 2008 Marian Medal Awards Ceremony is now available on video from the Diocesan Office of Communications. Copies may be ordered in either VHS format ($21.95) or DVD format ($23.95).

To obtain a video, please forward a check payable to the Diocesan Office of Communications, Diocese of Fall River, PO Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722.

Shipping is included in the video cost.

December 24, 2008

Around the Diocese Eucharistic EucharisticAdoration: Adoration ACUSHNET — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Church, 125 Main Street, Mondays from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., ending with Evening Prayer and Benediction.

EAST TAUNTON — Eucharistic adoration takes place First Fridays at Holy Family Church, 370 Middleboro Avenue, following the 8:30 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 8 p.m.

NEW BEDFORD — Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament takes place at St. Joseph-St. Therese Church, 51 Duncan Street, Mondays following the 8:30 a.m. Mass until 1:30 p.m. For more information call 508-995-2354.

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

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

TAUNTON — Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament takes place every First Friday at Annunciation of the Lord Church, 31 First Street, immediately following the 8 a.m. Mass and continues throughout the day. Confessions are heard from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m., concluding with recitation of the rosary and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.

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.

WEST HARWICH — Our Lady of Life Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Holy Trinity Parish, 246 Main Street, holds perpetual eucharistic adoration. For open hours, or to sign up call 508430-4716.

Miscellaneous Miscellaneous: CHATHAM — A Tridentine Mass is celebrated 11:30 a.m. every Sunday at Our Lady of Grace Chapel on Route 137.

FALL RIVER — A holy hour takes place at Holy Name Church, 709 Hanover Street, Tuesdays at 7 p.m. It consists of the rosary, Miraculous Medal Novena, a homily, Benediction, and the opportunity for confession. The Divine Mercy Chaplet is recited Wednesdays at 3 p.m.

FALL RIVER — A Pilgrimage with Bishop George W. Coleman to Washington, D.C., for the annual March for Life is being organized by the Pro-Life Apostolate of the diocese for January 21 to 23. The Pilgrimage will include the Vigil Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. A special “youth bus” will be departing on January 21 and returning January 23 and is being arranged to accommodate youth at a reduced fare. For more information, please call the Apostolate office at 508-997-2290.

HYANNIS — A Woman’s Concern will sponsor an eight- to 10week women’s Bible Study, “Forgive and Set Free,” to begin January 15, time and place to be determined. The study is designed to help post abortive women receive God’s healing love. If you, or someone you know, is interested in attending, call AWC at 508-790-0584 or Martha at 617-538-8813. All calls are confidential.

MASHPEE — A Cape Cod bus trip to the March for Life in Washington, D.C. will take place January 21, 22 and 23. The trip includes round-trip bus fare from the Cape and two nights’ lodging in the D.C. area. It will depart on January 21 and return to the Cape on January 23. For more information, please call Kevin Ward at 508-291-0949. This package is tremendously low-priced and registrations will fill up quickly.

Pro-Life ATTLEBORO — Concerned faithful are needed to pray the rosary outside Four Women, Inc., an abortion clinic at 150 Emory Street, Thursdays from 3-4 p.m., or 4-5 p.m. and Saturdays from 7:30-8:30 a.m. For information call 508-238-5743.

15

The Anchor Celebrating the true meaning of Christmas at St. Nick’s continued from page nine

tion. For him, it’s a joyful and glorious way to revisit the arrival of the Messiah each year.

“The Knights of Columbus in New Haven, Conn., have been running a crèche exhibit for many years,” Father Goldrick said. “The one running this year is titled ‘Nativities of Europe: Folk Art to Fine Art,’ and they came and asked if they could borrow some of my sets. They have approximately 30 of them on display now. The exhibit runs through February 1. I’ve also been going around giving talks at different churches during Advent. I’m not planning on putting up a giant display this year at the church — but I put them all on display last year, every one of them.”

Just as there are countless

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks

Dec. 29, Rev. Msgr. J. Armand Levasseur, Retired Pastor, St. Anne, New Bedford, 1969 Rev. Rafeal Flammia, SS.CC., Retired Pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption, New Bedford, 1993 Dec. 30 Rev. Thomas C. Mayhew, Pastor, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Seekonk, 1991 Jan. 1 Rev. Jose Valeiro, Pastor, St. Elizabeth, Fall River, 1955 Rev. Antonio M. Fortuna, Pastor, Immaculate Conception, New Bedford, 1956 Rev. Francis R. Connerton, SS. STD., St. John’s Seminary, Plymouth, Mich., 1968 Rev. Leo T. Sullivan, Pastor, Holy Name, New Bedford, 1975 Jan. 4 Rev. Eugene L. Dion, Pastor, Blessed Sacrament, Fall River, 1961 Rev. Joseph L. Powers, Founder, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, North Falmouth, 1999 Rev. Francis B. Connors, Retired Pastor, Our Lady of Victory, Centerville, 2003 Jan. 5 Rev. William McClenahan, SS.CC. Former Pastor, Holy Redeemer, Chatham, 1994 Jan. 6 Rev. James F. Roach, Founder, Immaculate Conception, Taunton, 1906 Rev. Rene G. Gauthier, Pastor, St. Jean Baptiste, Fall River, 1997 Jan. 7 Rev. Alfred R. Forni, Pastor, St. Francis of Assisi, New Bedford, 1970 Rev. Gustave Gosselin, M.S., La Salette Shrine, Attleboro, 1989 Rev. Jude Morgan, SS.CC., Former Pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes, Wellfleet; Rev. Raymond A. Robida, 2003 Jan. 8 Rev. John Kelly, Founder, St. Patrick, Fall River, 1885 Rev. Alfred J. Carrier, Founder, St. Jacques, Taunton, 1940 Rev. Arthur C. Lenaghan, USA Chaplain, Killed in Action, 1944 Rev. Evaristo Tavares; Retired, Our Lady of the Angels, Fall River; Rev. Louis Joseph, U.S. Air Force, 2000 Jan. 9 Rev. William F. Morris, Pastor, Corpus Christi, Sandwich, 1982 Jan. 10 Rev. Jourdain Charron, O.P., Dominican Priory, Fall River, 1919 Rev. George H. Flanagan, Pastor, Immaculate Conception, Fall River, 1938 Rev. Msgr. Emmanuel Sousa de Mello, Retired Pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes, Taunton, 1977

styles and configurations of Nativity sets, Father Goldrick noted there are as many different traditions and customs surrounding them. One common tradition is to leave Jesus’ manger bed empty prior to Christmas Eve. Father Goldrick said different cultures have different traditions — many Portuguese parishes, for example, will carry in the infant Jesus during midnight Mass and also participate in a veneration of the newborn Messiah.

The celebration of Christmas Masses at St. Nicholas of Myra Parish this year will be especially jubilant, Father Goldrick said, as it marks the first such celebrations under its new patron saint.

In addition to the traditional Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Masses, Father Goldrick said the parish has been involved with many different charitable efforts such as collecting food for the poor in conjunction with the St. Vincent de Paul Society, making survival kits for homeless people, providing knitted mittens to needy children, and making donations via a parish Giving Tree.

“We have a sleigh in the front yard and this year we’ve created our First Christmas 2008 ornament,” Father Goldrick added. “It’s gold plated with our parish coat of arms on one side, and a Nativity scene on the other. We’re selling those with all proceeds to benefit the new parish Youth Group to help them get started.”

Father Goldrick is also pleased with the growing number of worshippers he’s seen in church of late — not only people he recognizes from the two former parishes, but also new

faces he’s never seen before.

“We don’t know where they’re coming from,” he said.

“But we’re on a roll for our first Christmas at St. Nick’s. There’s a lot of energy that’s being generated here from the people.”

Despite the increasing popularity of the secular conventions of the holiday, with an emphasis on commercialism, gifts and Santa Claus, Father Goldrick remains hopeful that the true meaning of Christmas will never be lost. As pastor of St. Nick’s, he’s confident it won’t.

“I do believe people are getting back to celebrating the true meaning of Christmas … at least they are here,” Father Goldrick said. “Santa Claus doesn’t show up here. The Taunton Gazette has been running pictures of Santa Claus all over the place, but the one picture of St. Nicholas they published recently came from here.

I said to myself, ‘good, we’re showing our true colors.’”

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The Anchor

December 24, 2008