01.06.12

Diocese of Fall River

The Anchor

F riday , January 6, 2012

Mass. Medical Society opposes doctor-prescribed death B y Christine M. Williams A nchor C orrespondent

BOSTON — When a group of Massachusetts doctors voted to uphold a long-standing policy against physician-assisted suicide, they did so because “physicians are healers and not harmers.”

Last month, the Massachusetts Medical Society’s House of Delegates voted 178 to 56 against doctors’ providing lethal doses of medication to their terminally ill patients. The policy, in effect since 1996, comes up for a vote every seven years. At the same meeting, the house unanimously passed language endorsing quality end-of-life care. The society, the oldest continuously operating medical association in the country, currently includes more than 23,000 members.

The renewal vote coincided with the announcement that a citizens’ initiative petition in favor of physician-assisted suicide had garnered enough

signatures to appear on the 2012 ballot. On December 7, the coalition for the so-called Death with Dignity Act submitted more than 86,000 certified signatures to the Secretary of the Commonwealth; 68,911 were required. The Massachusetts state legislature will have until May to choose whether or not to act on the proposal before it would appear on the ballot later this year.

“The proposed Death with Dignity ballot question would give terminally ill patients greater peace of mind, choice and control in their final days of life. It would allow individuals with six months or less to live to request and self-administer, under strict safeguards, a prescription for life-ending medication,” the pro-euthanasia coalition said in a statement.

The law would require that two doctors verify the mental competence of patients and that there be a 15-day waiting Turn to page 13

preaching to all the nations — Pope Benedict XVI delivers his Christmas message "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world) from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican December 25. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano via Reuters)

‘Rolling with the changes’ 2011: A year in review

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — Looking back at 2011, it could best be described as a year marked by change.

Diocesan priests, parochial staff and laity attended various workshops throughout the year to prepare for the implementation of the third edition English translation of the Roman Missal, which was adopted on the first Sunday of Advent.

More than 440 faithful — many of them catechetical and liturgical leaders — representing some 65 parishes from the Fall River Diocese attended an

instructional workshop entitled “Welcoming the Roman Missal” at the Taunton Inn and Conference Center in March.

The four-hour workshop was led by Msgr. James P. Moroney, of the Diocese Worcester. A faculty member at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, Msgr. Moroney is also former executive director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for the Liturgy and executive secretary of the Vox Clara Committee, the Vatican group that advised Pope Benedict XVI on this latest English translation of the Roman Missal.

During the summer, Msgr. Stephen J. Avila, pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Mansfield and director of the diocesan Office for Worship, conducted a series of presentations on the third edition of the Roman Missal while a series of workshops were also offered later in the year on liturgical musical options for the revised Mass.

Calling for Christians everywhere to support and strengthen each other, the newly-elected Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Bechara Peter Rai, addressed a standing-room-only congregation inside St. Anthony of the DesTurn to page 18

often traveled from his home in Montreal to the Fall River and New Bedford area to visit rela-

tives, some of whom are still in the area.

The founder of St. Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal in Montreal was the first Holy Cross Brother to be canonized.

He is known for his intense piety, famed for miraculous cures and praised for his dedication to seeing the oratory built.

He was born Alfred Bessette Aug. 9, 1845, near Montreal. He was one of 12 children and suffered from a chronic stomach ailment that kept him out of school and often without work. His father died when he was nine and his mother died when he was 12.

Turn to page 15

Congregation of Holy Cross celebrates year of thanksgiving for canonization of St. André Bessette

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

IN GOOD HANDS — Pictured is Dr. Madonna Wojaszek-Healy, along with her husband and their four children. After her four children were diagnosed with ADD and with two also being diagnosed with autism, she became a tireless advocate for children with disabilities and recently presented two workshops at this year’s Faith Formation Ministry Convention. Story on page 14.

NORTH DARTMOUTH — The theme they chose was “Lives Given to God, Love Given to All.” In a nutshell, it describes what St. André Bessette was all about. The Congregation of Holy Cross selected the theme for its first-ever “Year of the Brother,” that began Oct. 17, 2010, the oneyear anniversary date St. André was canonized, lasting until Oct. 17, 2012. The celebration is in thanksgiving for the canonization of one of their own, St. André Bessette, whose feast day is today.

St. André, the first saint to come from the congregation,

humble man — A bust of St. André Bessette at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Attleboro. (Photo by Dave Jolivet)

News From the Vatican

2

Vatican agency says at least 26 Church workers killed in 2011

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — At least 26 Catholic pastoral workers were killed in mission lands or among society’s most disadvantaged communities, although they were more often the victims of violent crimes than persecution for their faith, said a Vatican news agency.

Each year, Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, publishes a list of pastoral workers who died violently. The 2011 list was released December 30.

The agency said that over the course of the year, it registered the deaths of 18 priests, four religious women and four lay people. Twenty-five church workers were killed in 2010 — a figure down from an unusually high number of 37 workers murdered in 2009.

For the third consecutive year, the Americas, particularly Latin America, registered the most murders with the death of 13 priests and two lay people: seven in Colombia, five in Mexico and one each in Brazil, Paraguay and Nicaragua. Six pastoral workers were killed in Africa, four in Asia and one priest was killed in Europe.

In their commitment to serving the needs of others, the men and women made their own safety their last priority, Fides said.

Like other years, “many were killed in an attempted robbery or kidnapping that ended badly, caught in their homes by bandits in search of imaginary riches.

Others were killed in the name of Christ by those opposing love with hatred, hope with despair, dialogue with violent opposition, the right to perpetrate abuse,” it said.

The list of those killed included: — A nun identified only as Sister Angelina, who was killed by militants of the Ugandan guerilla movement, the Lord’s Resistance Army, while she was taking medical assistance to refugees in South Sudan.

— Maria Elizabeth Macias Castro, a member of the Scalabrinian Lay Movement in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, who assisted migrants and was kidnapped and murdered by drug dealers.

— Sister Valsha John of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary was killed in her home in northern India. She helped protect indigenous communities from being driven from their lands by coal mining companies. She had been repeatedly threatened by criminals who had warned her not to interfere, but government authorities reportedly ignored her requests for help and left her without protection, said Fides.

Fides said its provisional list only includes pastoral care workers, not the many other Catholics who died for their faith this year such as the late Pakistan minister of minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, and those killed in the bombings of Christian churches in Nigeria on Christmas.

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

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silent night — Pope Benedict XVI holds a candle at his window overlooking St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Christmas Eve December 24. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Pope’s 2012 to include synod, international trips, canonizations

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A trip to Latin America, a Synod of Bishops on new evangelization, the start of the Year of Faith, creation of new cardinals and proclamations of new saints are all on Pope Benedict XVI’s calendar for 2012.

Of particular interest to the United States, the pope will also continue his meetings with groups of U.S. bishops making their “ad limina” visits to the Vatican during the first half of the year. His talks to the bishops are expected to focus on themes of education, religious freedom and the relationship between culture and religion.

The 2012 highlights are only a small part of the pope’s day-to-day schedule, which includes hundreds of meetings, speeches, messages and liturgies. The German pope, who turns 85 in April, also pursues a “private” agenda of writing whenever he gets the chance, as he works to complete the latest in his “Jesus of Nazareth” series of books — this one on Jesus’ infancy and childhood.

Pope Benedict is virtually certain to call a consistory to create new cardinals in 2012.

He may do so as early as February, when there will be at least 13 “vacancies” in the roster of voting-age cardinals (those under the age of 80); or he may wait until fall, when 10 more cardinals will have turned 80.

When he does name new cardinals, the list could include one or more Americans.

U.S. prelates in line for the red hat — now or later — include

Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien, pro-grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem; and Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York. From Canada, Archbishop Thomas C. Collins of Toronto is a likely choice.

Pope Benedict plans to travel to Mexico and Cuba in March, on a trip that will turn a spotlight once again on Latin America, home to nearly half the world’s Catholics. It will also move the pope onto the radar of U.S. media, which have cut back on their coverage of the pope and the Vatican in recent years.

The pope may also travel to Lebanon, probably in the spring. An invitation from Lebanese leaders came a month ago, and Vatican officials have said the pope wants to deliver his follow-up document on the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East, held at the Vatican in 2010. Such a visit would give the pope a high-visibility platform to weigh in on religious freedom issues during a period of volatile political change in the region.

The fall of 2012 will bring several important events, including the world Synod of Bishops October 7-28. New evangelization has become the leitmotif of almost everything Pope Benedict does these days, and the gathering of bishops will help translate the term into practical pastoral initiatives. The essential idea is to find ways to energize Catholics, reminding them of

their duty to witness the faith publicly and proclaim it to others.

The synod will follow the somewhat streamlined format introduced by Pope Benedict in 2005: a shorter assembly, shorter individual speeches and more free discussion in the synod hall.

The Year of Faith was designed by the pope to help Catholics rediscover the basic content of their faith, and the Vatican’s preparation materials — due out very soon — will have a strong doctrinal element. The special year will begin Oct. 11, 2012, which is the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and some Vatican sources say the pope may publish a document that connects the two events.

Sometime during 2012, the pope is expected to proclaim new saints, including two with special significance to U.S. Catholics: Blessed Marianne Cope of Molokai and Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. Mother Marianne led a group of sisters from New York to the Hawaiian Islands in 1883 to establish a system of nursing care for leprosy patients; Blessed Kateri, daughter of a Christian Algonquin mother and a Mohawk father in upstate New York, will become the first Native American to be canonized.

The date for these two canonizations has not been set, but many think it may happen on October 21, World Mission Sunday.

January 6, 2012

The International Church

3

Mexican bishops declare tour of Blessed John Paul II relics a success

hallowed ground — Franciscan brothers and a nun pray in the grotto in the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem December 20. Tradition holds that the church is built over the spot where Jesus was born. (CNS photo/Debbie Hill)

Catholic Near East president uplifted by faith of Mideast Christians

JERUSALEM (CNS) — Christians in the Middle East show “overwhelming faith,” but many also express fear, said the president of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association.

“I have been uplifted by their demonstration of faith,” Msgr.

John Kozar told Catholic News Service near the end of his threeweek trip to Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Faith “is the only thing that makes sense — how they manage to maintain themselves in this overwhelming situation,” he said.

Msgr. Kozar, making his first trip since taking over his post in mid-September, said he met with people at all levels of society because he wanted his trip to be more than business meetings.

In a meeting with university students in the Christian West Bank village of Taybeh, he said, he sensed young people’s need to carve an identity for themselves as Christian Palestinians within the complex situation in which they live.

“There is the temptation to bolt, to emigrate ... there was a lot of that in Lebanon, less so in Jordan,” he said. “There is a yearning to bridge the reality of being Palestinian, Arab and Christian.”

Because of the violence often associated with the region and with Palestinians, Christians often feel alienated from their surroundings, he said.

He said Christians living in border areas that have experienced wars in the recent past expressed fear about the current volatile political situation in the region. Many Christians live along the southern border of Lebanon, which is controlled by the Islamic militant group Hezbollah, and their villages were in the middle of the fighting between Hezbollah and the Israeli army several years ago.

“There was fear in many places,” Msgr. Kozar said of people he met.

“In Lebanon it is a very tense area; in Jordan the king seems to be not only accommodating but also much more tolerant of different faiths, but at the same time in this part of the world there is great concern about what is happening in Syria and in Egypt,” he said.

“The Church and CNEWA try to reach out and support the people with our accompaniment.”

While in the past the Church was able to financially provide for a wide variety of needs — including food packages and paying for school fees and health care for the population — the current economy calls for a different and perhaps more viable approach to assistance, he said.

“We don’t have the money to build huge edifices or underwrite costly projects. But we can help with planning, with public relations, or medical advice to modernize hospitals,” said Msgr. Kozar. “The sentiment here is: We don’t want charity ... we want you to help us with the technical aspect and maybe small seed money.

“They really want to develop themselves and to develop their future. They just want a little help,” he added.

Msgr. Kozar said he was specifically impressed by a project initiated some 10 years ago and coming to fruition now in the central mountainous region of Lebanon. The project has helped Christian farmers move away from growing hashish — which was the only plant able to grow in the rocky terrain — to planting apple orchards. The project involved creating a lake for irrigation and moving truckloads of topsoil to the area so that the apple trees could be planted, he said.

Msgr. Kozar met with Church

leaders from multiple denominations in Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories. He also visited various Christian-run social, educational and medical projects supported by Catholic Near East.

He told CNS he was moved by the work of the various orders of nuns running projects within the communities and the love they are shown by the people.

He added that he would like to see the Catholic Near East Welfare Association and the Pontifical Mission for Palestine work more toward a ministry of accompaniment in new, creative ways so people can “feel that Jesus, in the presence of the Catholic Church, is always with them, and we are always with them and their suffering.”

MEXICO CITY (CNS) — The Mexican bishops' conference declared a nationwide tour of relics of Blessed John Paul II a “total success” as an estimated 27 million Catholics came to venerate the items — including a vial of the late pontiff’s blood — and pray for peace in Mexico.

Bishops’ spokesman Father Manuel Corral told Catholic News Service that the tour, which concluded December 15 in Mexico City, drew large crowds in each of the country’s 91 dioceses and achieved its aim of having Catholics “praying for peace” along with “encouraging people ... giving them hope during a difficult time.”

The turnout, he added, “was more than we had hoped for.”

The tour of Blessed John Paul's relics came at a difficult time for Mexico as drug cartel and organized crime violence

has claimed more than 40,000 lives since 2006. Some areas have experienced declines in violence over the past year, such as Ciudad Juarez, but other parts of the country, including Acapulco, have worsened.

Father Corral said a desire for ending the violence was a factor in bringing out such sizable crowds. He also credited the enduring popularity of Blessed John Paul, who visited Mexico five times during his papacy and helped pave the way for Mexico and the Vatican establishing relations after decades of estrangement.

“He was a beloved man in Mexico,” Father Corral said.

Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to make his first official trip to Mexico in the spring. Father Corral said December 20 that details of the trip would be made public shortly.

HAVANA (CNS) — Cuban President Raul Castro announced his country will free 2,900 political prisoners in the spring, a move he partially attributed to Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming visit.

In a speech to the National Assembly, Castro said the Council of State had taken into account the papal visit as well as requests from prisoners’ family members and top Catholic officials. He also mentioned the 400th anniversary of the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre, patroness of Cuba.

Pope Benedict XVI has said he will visit Cuba and Mexico before Easter, although official dates have not yet been announced.

Cuba released approximately 50 political prisoners in 2010, a move that Havana Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino said was popular within the country but even more important for foreign relations. Cuba’s treatment of political opponents has long been a key element in the 50year U.S. economic embargo of the nation.

Castro says Cuba will free 2,900 political prisoners in spring

The Church in the U.S.

4

January 6, 2012

Detroit Archdiocese: ‘Real Catholic TV’ does not speak for Church

Detroit, Mich. (CNA) — Michael Voris and other hosts of Real Catholic TV should not be broadcasting in the name of the Church, the Archdiocese of Detroit announced.

The archdiocese says it “has informed Mr. Voris and Real Catholic TV…that it does not regard them as being authorized to use the word ‘Catholic’ to identify or promote their public activities.”

In a Dec. 15, 2011 statement addressing the organization’s name, the archdiocese clarified that the Church encourages its members “to promote or sustain a variety of apostolic undertakings,” but forbids them “from claiming the name Catholic without the consent of the competent ecclesiastical authority.”

The archdiocese added that it has been communicating with Voris as well as his media partner at Real Catholic TV on the issue for “some time.”

Last month’s announcement also referenced Canon 216 of the Roman Catholic Church’s current Code of Canon Law, which holds that “no undertaking is to claim the name ‘Catholic’” without authorization.

According to the archdiocese, Real Catholic TV’s programming is “disseminated from the enterprise’s production facility in Ferndale, Mich.,” within the jurisdiction of Detroit’s Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron.

But Voris maintains that Archbishop Vigneron is not the “competent ecclesiastical authority” over Real Catholic TV, which is owned by Indiana resident Marc Brammer.

“I don’t have ownership over the name of the organization.

It’s not my organization. The headquarters are outside of the diocese,” Voris told LifeSiteNews in a recent article. “It’s the wrong person, and the wrong outfit asking the wrong person the wrong question.”

Brammer told LifeSiteNews that “if all of a sudden now there’s this tussle over the use of the word ‘Catholic,’” he would “deal with it through competent ecclesial authority.”

In August 2011, archdiocesan communications director Ned McGrath confirmed to CNA that Real Catholic TV, which began in 2008, “(had) yet to present itself or receive approval of its media enterprise from the Detroit archdiocese.”

McGrath said in August that Real Catholic TV’s materials — including “catechetical presentations” as well as “analysis of Catholic teachings” — could not “be approved or endorsed by the archdiocese at this time.”

The communications director told CNA that the Detroit Archdiocese had been issuing similar advisories about Voris’ presentations “for over three years.”

Marian Medal Awards presentation available on video FALL RIVER — The 2011 Marian Medals Awards Ceremony is now available on DVD from the Diocesan Office of Communications. The DVD cost is $24.95.

To obtain one, please for-

ward a check in that amount payable to the Diocesan Office of Communications, Diocese of Fall River, PO Box 7, Fall River, Mass., 02722. Shipping is included in the video cost.

happy homecoming — U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Steven Vilpors kisses his seven-month-old daughter, Alina, after arriving at Baltimore Washington International Airport Dec. 20. U.S. troops arrived home after their withdrawal from Iraq via the U.S. Air Force base Ali Al Salem in Kuwait. (CNS photo/ Shannon Stapleton, Reuters)

Former Episcopal bishop to head new U.S. ordinariate for ex-Anglicans

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI has established a U.S. ordinariate for former Anglicans who wish to become Catholics and named a married former Episcopal bishop to head it.

The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter — functionally equivalent to a diocese, but national in scope — will be based at a parish in Houston. It will be led by Father Jeffrey N. Steenson, the former Episcopal bishop of the Rio Grande who was ordained a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, N.M., in February 2009.

The establishment of the ordinariate and the naming of its first leader were announced by the Vatican January 1.

More than 100 former Anglican priests have applied to become Catholic priests in the ordinariate and 1,400 individuals from 22 communities have expressed interest in joining. In fall 2011, the members of St. Luke’s in Bladensburg, Md., and St. Peter of the

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Rock Community in Fort Worth, Texas, were received into the Catholic Church with the intent of joining the ordinariate.

It is the second such jurisdiction established under the provisions of Pope Benedict’s 2009 apostolic constitution “Anglicanorum coetibus.” The first was the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, created for England and Wales in January 2011; others are under consideration in Canada and Australia.

The parishes and communities accepted into the ordinariate will be fully Catholic but retain elements of their Anglican heritage and traditions, particularly in the liturgy.

Father Steenson and his wife, Debra, have three grown children — a daughter and two sons — and a grandson.

Because he is married, the 59-year-old Father Steenson will not be ordained a bishop and will not be able to ordain priests. He will, however, otherwise function as a bishop and will be a voting member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

After working briefly in a New Mexico parish following his ordination, Father Steenson has been teaching theology at the University of St. Thomas Center for Faith and Culture and at St. Mary’s Seminary, both in Houston, since August 2009. He also is an assisting priest at St. Cyril of Alexandria Parish in Houston.

Educated at Harvard Divinity School and at Oxford, he is an expert in patristics, the study of the early Church fathers. Born in Camp Rucker, Ala., he was raised on a farm in Hillsboro, N.D., that has been in his family since the 1880s.

In a 2009 interview with Catholic News Service, Father Steenson said he had been “attracted to Catholicism all of my life.”

“It’s not negative things that turned me to the Catholic Church,” he said. “I just felt God saying, ‘It’s time.’”

The time came, he said, in 2007 when he felt the bishops of the Episcopal Church had decided to give priority to their autonomy rather than to unity with the larger Anglican Communion.

Father Steenson said that for him, gay people were not the issue.

“It was the way the decisions were made and the way they were defended,” placing the local church and modern cultural sensitivities ahead of the universal Church and fidelity to tradition, he said.

The priest said that while the Episcopal Church spoke of the importance of Christian unity, it continued to approve practices — ordaining women priests and bishops, ordaining homosexuals and blessing same-sex unions — that everyone knew would be an obstacle to Christian unity.

“The frustration with being a Protestant is that every morning you get up and have to reinvent the church all over again,” Father Steenson said.

The new ordinariate has been in the works since September 2010, when the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith asked Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington to be its delegate for the implementation of “Anglicanorum coetibus” in the U.S. Father Scott Hurd, who was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1993, joined the Catholic Church in 1996 and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Washington in 2000, will be on loan to the ordinariate for three years to serve as vicar general.

Father Hurd, who has been assisting Cardinal Wuerl in the U.S. implementation of “Anglicanorum coetibus,” will continue to be based in Washington.

The Church in the U.S. Be witnesses for Jesus’ life, love, cardinal says at Mass

January 6, 2012

GERMANTOWN, Md. (CNS) — Under a full moon on a cold, dark evening, they walked and prayed together, an estimated crowd of 600 people, holding candles and praying the Rosary as they marched from Mother Seton Church in Germantown to a nearby clinic where lateterm abortions are performed.

Helping to lead the recent candlelight prayer procession was Washington Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, just after he presided at a Mass for Life at the church, marking one year since the arrival Dr. LeRoy Carhart in the neighborhood in December 2010.

Carhart left Nebraska to come to Maryland to perform late-term abortions after his state passed a law prohibiting abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy. Maryland has some of the least restrictive abortion laws in the country.

A standing-room crowd of more than 1,000 people attended the Mass, where Cardinal Wuerl said, “Countless unborn infants are reaching out to hold on to us with all of their strength, since we are the only voice they have in their struggle to find a place, a home, a life in this world.”

The procession wound for several blocks, with the flickering points of candlelight shining in the darkness. The candles were held by people of all ages, ranging from senior citizens to small children, who marched four people abreast on the sidewalk, as cars drove by.

The marchers then stood and prayed before the abortion clinic.

Cardinal Wuerl said, “Let us ask God's blessing on all of us, all who are gathered here, all who speak for life, who walk for life, who defend life.”

Moments later, the cardinal said he was inspired by the size of the crowd witnessing to life at the Mass and procession. “It says that the future is with life. Our task is to keep holding up the Gospel of Life.”

“The power of the symbolism of the light (shining) in darkness was beautiful,” Christa Lopicollo, the archdiocese’s executive director of life issues, told the Catholic Standard, archdiocesan newspaper.

In his homily, Cardinal Wuerl encouraged people to continue to witness to the dignity of all human life through their prayers and actions. “Prayer does change hearts. ... Prayer does work, and it must be our instrument of change,” he said.

He noted that just as St. John the Baptist was a voice crying out in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord, so too has the Catholic Church in the past 20 centuries continued that mission, to be that voice, and to follow Jesus’ call for His disciples to be His witnesses.

“What brings us here is the recognition we’re called to share our faith, to share what we believe.

We’re called to proclaim the Gospel of life” proclaimed by Jesus.

The cardinal called abortion “the single greatest blight on our nation since the age of slavery. How is it possible in history for atrocities to take place, for those things to happen? How could it be there were concentration camps dedicated to the extermination of people? How could we have in our nation slavery — the reduction of people to property?”

Then, he continued, people could ask how it is possible today to have “the wholesale destruction of human life” through abortion.

“How did such atrocities come to be ever accepted by any people, anywhere, at any time? Silence. Silence is the ally of atrocity,” Cardinal Wuerl said.

Today, the cardinal continued, “We are confronted with the evil of abortion on demand. It’s almost inconceivable in our city, in our society (that) it would be legal to kill an almost fully formed child.”

Since his arrival more than a year ago, Carhart has performed an

Our Lady’s Monthly Message From Medjugorje December 25, 2011

Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina “Dear children! Also today, in my arms I am carrying my Son Jesus to you, for Him to give you His peace. Pray, little children, and witness so that in every heart, not human but God’s peace may prevail, which no one can destroy. It is that peace in the heart which God gives to those whom He loves. By your Baptism you are all, in a special way called and loved, therefore witness and pray that you may be my extended hands to this world which yearns for God and peace.

“Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Spiritual Life Center of Marian Community One Marian Way Medway, MA 02053 • Tel. 508-533-5377 Paid advertisement

estimated 700 abortions at the clinic. Weekly prayer vigils are held near the abortion clinic 8-10 a.m. every Monday.

In his homily, Cardinal Wuerl said that “taking life in the womb” can never be justified. He said it was important to reach out in compassion to mothers and fathers contemplating abortion or grieving af-

terward. And he called on people to stand up for unborn children whose lives are at risk.

Dr. Grace Morrison, a parishioner of St. John Neumann Parish in Gaithersburg who has helped coordinate the Monday morning prayer vigils outside the abortion clinic for the past year, said that in the past year, there have been “18 saves

5

we know of.” She was referring to women who changed their minds and left the abortion clinic without undergoing the procedure.

“In order to close this place down, our faithfulness out there is essential. ... I believe it is our prayer, our fasting and our sacrifice that is what it will take to pierce the darkness,” she said.

TEMPORARY HOUSING — A Catholic priest walks inside a church made of snow December 28 in the Bavarian village of Mitterfirmiansreut, near the German-Czech border. The snow church is likely to become a tourist attraction until the beginning of spring. (CNS photo/Petr Josek, Reuters)

6

The Anchor Responding to scandals

Ten years ago today, the Boston Globe published an article on the serial child abuse committed by Father John Geoghan, the suffering of his victims and their families, and the totally inadequate way that those in responsibility in the Archdiocese of Boston responded when they became aware of his sickening sins and crimes. In the following months, it became clear that the case of Father Geoghan was not isolated. Through journalistic investigations, grand jury probes and lawsuits, in Boston and in other parts of the United States, a filth that had been concealed for decades was brought to light: from 1950-2002, more than 4,200 U.S. priests had been accused of harming rather than serving the young people Jesus had entrusted to the Church’s care. It caused an unprecedented, self-inflicted scandal that has cost the Church not merely billions of dollars, but incalculably more in terms of the loss of souls and loss of respect for the Church, the priesthood, the episcopacy, and the Church’s moral authority.

Much has been learned in the decade since and the Church has enacted various canonical reforms, both at a national level and — after similar scandals came to light in Ireland, Germany, Belgium and several religious orders — at the level of the worldwide Church. Much still needs to be done. But the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the revelation of the scandals deserves to be marked by the Church as a type of Catholic Yom Kippur: a day of atonement in reparation for the sins of her members, in intercession for the healing of victims and their families, and in supplication to bring good out of this evil by purifying the Church, returning to her a true horror for sin, a genuine desire for holiness and fidelity, and a fire for integrity in living the Gospel Christ has sent the Church to preach. Just as God used the Assyrians in the eighth century BC to bring the people of Israel to conversion, so He seems to have allowed members of the media and various trial attorneys to bring the Church to deep and much needed repentance and reform.

As we look back over the past 10 years, we can note how much the Church in the United States has done to try to prevent the recurrence of the sexual abuse of minors. Beginning in Dallas in 2002, the U.S. bishops committed themselves to procedural reforms that involved the formation of independent review boards to investigate accusations, the removal from public ministry any priest who has admitted or been proven to have engaged in the abuse of a minor even once, genuine pastoral care for to those who have suffered abuse from Church ministers, background checks of Church employees and volunteers, and training both Church workers to recognize and report signs of abuse and young people to notice and report potential grooming behavior. The implementation of these notable reforms hasn’t been easy or uncontroversial, but over the course of the last decade, not only have many of these protocols become the model for dioceses throughout the world but also they have made the Catholic Church as rigorous as any institution in the United States in protecting young people.

Looking back over the course of the last decade, we can also note several other things we’ve learned.

First, the Catholic Church is not the only institution that has needed to confront the evil of sexual abuse within itself. The recent allegations against Jerry Sanduski and the Penn State football program show that sexual abuse of minors, and a failure to respond appropriately by those in responsibility, is not isolated. In fact, a recent study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice compared the general statistics of clergy sex abuse in the U.S. Church to the reported incidence rates and responses in public schools, child care settings, the Boy Scouts, the Big Brothers-Big Sisters organization, athletic organizations, and various religious groups. It established that, although abuse within the Church has garnered by far the most attention, the sexual abuse of minors is a widespread social problem, and in some places, like public schools, the incidence of abuse is much higher and the response of those in authority just as bad as what was found in the Church prior to the reforms of 2002. This has led some to criticize those who have singled the Catholic Church out for attention. The Church in justice legally should be treated no better or worse than other institutions, but we must admit, there is something implicitly good in this special attention, however unintended. There is the general understanding that the Church should morally be held to a higher standard than other institutions, that the expectations of conduct in the Church should be higher than in public schools, or Scouts, or athletic programs. Jesus set those higher expectations Himself in the Sermon on the Mount, insisting that His followers need to have their righteousness exceed that of even the most religious Jews and the most ethical gentiles.

When the Church fails to live up to the basic standards of conduct, her failure at a moral level should be treated more severely. Corruptio optimi pessima, as the Latin aphorism states: “The corruption of the best is worst of all.” The extra attention to the Church even on the part of non-believers is a tacit recognition that the Church should live by the highest standards. The scandals have reminded us of this.

This leads to the second point. There is a valuable lesson about expectations Catholic faithful and society at large has for the Church in general with regard to addressing scandals. People recognize that some in every institution are not going to “walk the walk” but expect that those in positions of authority, once they find out about the disgraceful conduct, will respond with horror and resolve to eliminating the malpractice. The failure on the part of Church authorities to respond adequately to priests’ violating their priestly promises in major ways — for example, cheating on their vocations with women, or men, or the parish books, or theologically or pastorally abusing their people — is treated by the faithful as an even greater scandal than the conduct itself. The sexual abuse of minors is tragically not the only filth to be found within the Church and Church leaders need to be as resolute in eliminating conduct unbecoming of Church ministers who violate their promises and harm the people of God as it has been in the past decade with those who abuse rather than serve the young. The good of souls, not to mention the reputation of the Church, requires it.

Finally, in the Church’s zeal to demonstrate that things have radically changed with regard to the way she handles allegations of the sexual abuse against minors, she has been accused of making another class of victims, namely priests falsely accused of abusing minors. There have been several examples of priests whose ministries were curtailed and reputations destroyed who later were demonstrated to have been the victims of the most vile type of character assassination. There are many other priests who claim innocence and are still languishing in ministerial abeyance almost 10 years after having been accused, without any progress not to mention resolution to the ecclesiastical investigations. Some of their defenders have said that the way they have been treated is almost a mirror image of the inadequate responses on the part of Church leaders to prevent minors from being abused earlier. Whereas in the past a potential priest abuser’s word of denial was often taken at face value, now, they charge, a proposed victim’s word of accusation is given the same weight, no matter what the priest says. Whereas formerly, many Church leaders seemed to put the good of the reputation and finances of the institutional Church above justice for victims, now, they say, the same thing is happening with regard to the way priests are being treated, that innocent priests are being sacrificed to show the Church’s toughness on sexual abuse. And whereas previously the problem was not so much a “bad policy” on the part of the Church to the abuse of minors but the failure of Church leaders rigorously to follow the policy, so today, they assert, the same problem persists in following the Church’s own guidelines in ensuring a quick and fair investigation and trial. The only difference, they say, is that whereas once the Church did not do justice in many places for the rights of accusers, now it’s not doing justice to the rights of the accused. This issue of justice — not to mention the serious rupture in the spiritual fraternity between bishops and priests that has ensued as a result — needs to be addressed and remedied in the years ahead.

The infamous 10th anniversary of the initial public revelation of the scandals is a renewed opportunity for contrition and for the firm purpose of amendment that flows from true contrition. It is also a learning opportunity for lessons that should never be forgotten.

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January 6, 2012

‘And for what I have failed to do ...’

ended last week’s article by refergoing to Confession often enough. The ring to the prayer we recite at the Church requires that we go to Confesbeginning of Mass, the “Confiteor.” This sion at least once a year, but for many prayer is a penitential act in which we of us, that probably isn’t often enough. acknowledge that we are sinners and in Think it through: most of us change the need of God’s mercy and forgiveness, oil of our car more than once a year, especially as we prepare to enter into the because we want clean oil so that our vesacred mysteries of the Mass. hicle functions to the best of its ability, In this prayer we acknowledge our even though we could probably get by sins with the words, “I confess to with changing it only once a year. almighty God and to you, my brothers Do we pray often enough? If prayer is and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in our communication with God, shouldn’t my thoughts and in my words, in what we make it a point to do it every day?

I have done and in what I have failed to Often, however, we allow other, less do.” It is this last line that I would like important, things to come before some to focus and reflect upon in this week’s quiet time with our Lord. What is betarticle. ter for our soul, a few minutes of quiet Typically when we think of a sin, we prayer or a sitcom or ball game? are referring to something that we have Do we know as much about our done that is wrong, like hurting someCatholic faith and the lives of the saints one, stealing, lying, etc. But this line in as we do about television personalities the Confiteor refers to things that “we and the drama of their personal lives? have failed to Is it more do.” We typiimportant and cally refer to beneficial for Putting Into these things as us to know the Deep “sins of omisthe stories of sion.” those who From have given

By Father where does the their lives for Jay Mello idea of a sin the faith, or of omission the lives of come? In the Letter of St. James, we Charlie Sheen or Lindsey Lohan? read, “To one who knows the right thing With respect to our relationships with to do and does not do it, to him it is sin” others, do we make an honest effort to (4:17). This passage seems to be clear in help those who are in need, especially suggesting that we have a responsibility those who are suffering? Do we visit our to do certain things, and our failure to do loved ones who are in nursing homes or so is a sin. homebound?

Our Lord Himself provides us a powDo we speak up for and work against erful parable about this very concept. injustice? Do we work to defend the right St. Luke records the parable of our Lord to life of the unborn? Do we work to in which He speaks about the rich man fight against unjust discrimination? Do and Lazarus. We all know the story, the we remember the dead in our prayers, rich man enjoyed wealth and happiness especially the souls in purgatory? throughout his life while Lazarus was When we think about the sins of left to beg for the scraps that fell from omission, we see that there are lots of the rich man’s table. In the afterlife, the things that we should be doing but often rich man finds himself being tormented fail to do because of busyness but also in hades while Lazarus is comforted in because we can be so self absorbed with the bosom of Abraham. things in our own lives that we can easOur Lord was trying to communicate ily forget about others. several points to His disciples, among Examining our conscience from the which was the responsibility that we perspective of sins of omission can have toward one another. The rich man certainly give us some things to work in the parable had the opportunity to on as we enter into 2012. New Year’s help Lazarus but was so consumed with resolutions such as losing weight or his own life and pleasures that he paid quitting smoking are great ideas but no attention to those suffering around what about looking at ways in which we him. How often do we find ourselves in can improve our spiritual life and our a situation very similar? relationship with our Lord.

But sins of omission are not limited to Thinking about our sins of omission our charitable activity toward the poor. and making firm resolutions to overThere are a number of things that we come them in the new year is one of the have a responsibility to do, that failure to greatest ways to improve our spiritual them could be a sin. life and also to do our part to build up Allow me to highlight a couple of the kingdom of God here on earth. them here. With respect to our life of As we begin 2012, let us acknowlfaith, a sin of omission could be not edge our sins, both those things that attending Mass each Sunday and Holy we have done and those that we have Day of Obligation (this obviously failed to do. Let us beg for God’s mercy excludes those who are unable to attend and forgiveness in the Sacrament of for serious reasons, such as health. This Reconciliation and also for the grace to does not exclude those who are on vaca- overcome our sins and to be more faithtion or choose to make something more ful to Him. important).

Father Mello is a parochial vicar at Another sin of omission could be not St. Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth.

January 6, 2012

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he Sermon on the Seashore that we discussed last week was all about the Kingdom of Heaven, but Matthew has some more parables about the Kingdom as well.

We begin with the Parable of The Kingdom and Forgiveness. Some brief sayings in Luke (Lk 17:3-4) are greatly expanded in Matthew (Mt 18:21-35). The context in both is similar, a discussion about “little ones” followed by a discussion about forgiveness.

Peter offers what he believes to be great generosity in forgiving. Indeed, he seems to be more generous than the attitude of the times. The Babylonian Talmud compiled during the first few centuries of the Christian era opined that forgiving three times was an acceptable maximum. Jesus teaches that we must place no limits. Seventy-seven times (or 70 times seven, the Greek text is ambiguous) is simply a number beyond restriction.

The parable shows a king remitting a debt of 10,000 talents (60 million denarii).

Since a denarius was about equivalent to a day’s wage,

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Other parables of the Kingdom

for a person who earned yard, the context of which is $50,000 per year in today’s significant. In Matthew (Mt economy, that would be a debt 20:1-16), this passage is prein excess of $12,000,000,000. ceded by the incident of a rich This debt that the king forman seeking eternal life, and gave is contrasted to a debt is followed by a prediction of of only 100 denarii that the the Passion. Both Mark and servant refused to forgive. Jesus likens the king to His Father.

Offence against God has the measure of the infinite, and can only be dismissed by

By Father the action of God. Martin L. Buote The New American Bible translates what was owed as “a huge amount” and “a much Luke have the story and the smaller amount,” respectively. prediction, but only Matthew The Revised Standard Verhas this parable. Apparently, sion gives the Greek amounts Matthew wanted to emphasize precisely. Putting this all the idea of the reversal of fortogether, Jesus teaches that tunes for those who thought the grievances we might have their positions privileged. against each other are as noth- The wealthy had the leisure ing compared to sin against to be able to ignore the poor God, and that if we do not and disdain opportunities to forgive each other, no amount be of service to others; those of pleading will bring God to who have been of service, on forgive us. Such forgiveness, the other hand, may have the however, is available in the temptation to demand their Kingdom of Heaven. own level of reward. The parWe turn next to the parable able is not about justice in the of the Workers in the Vineworkplace, but rather about a

Parables of the Lord

loving response to the call of God. The parable of the Wedding Feast as an image of the Kingdom of Heaven (Mt 22:214) is almost matched by the parable of the Banquet in the Kingdom of God (Lk 14:15-24). This parable is not just an image of the Kingdom of Heaven, however.

It is also an image of Christ and His bride, the Church. Many are called but not all respond to the invitation. Even among those who respond, some prove themselves unworthy.

We saw last week from the parables in chapter 13 of Matthew that the Church, as the Kingdom of Heaven in this world, is not perfect, but a mixture of positive and negative elements. The parable of the 10 Virgins, found only in Matthew (Mt 25:1-3), develops that theme a little further.

It is not enough to be a member of the group expecting to be rewarded. People must be vigilant and do the works appropriate to their membership.

The parable of the Talents in Matthew (Mt 25:14-30) and Luke (Lk 19:11-27) is the last narrative parable of the Kingdom of Heaven that we shall consider. The parable of the 10 Virgins spoke of individuals as members of the Church. This parable speaks of individuals as leaders in the Church. It is useless to try to identify the titles of those leaders (Apostles, teachers, prophets, etc.). It is enough to see that certain members of the Church have responsibilities. Since each person in the parable is asked to work according to his abilities, no one has an advantage or a disadvantage; each fails or succeeds according to his own merits and efforts. Of course, what applies to leaders applies to all persons in the Church, because God grants us all sufficient grace.

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

The Pontifical Council’s call for financial reform

n October 2009 French President Nicholas Sarkozy and then-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown suggested that it was time for a new Bretton Woods Agreement. They envisioned a new multinational pact to stabilize international finance for the 21st century. This has become necessary because the International Monetary Fund that was established as a result of the post World War II Bretton Woods Conference in 1945 is no longer capable of adequately handling the myriad issues and challenges being presented today on the international level, particularly since the continuing financial crisis and recession of 2007. It is thought that a more comprehensive and inclusive agreement is now necessary in order to meet today’s worldwide financial challenges.

Witness the fact that in less than a year, seven Eurozone governments, including Spain, Portugal, and Italy have been toppled and Japan’s economy is barely surviving for a variety of reasons. Greece continues to be

tic human development in on the verge of defaulting on order to eradicate poverty its national debts and being in all the countries of the forced out of the Euro-zone. world, while being inspired Coupled with all this by the values of charity in economic uncertainty is truth (Sec. 67). the serious issue of growThe Vatican’s Pontifiing poverty throughout the developed and underdeveloped world.

According to the United Nations six million children die of hunger throughout the globe every year.

This works out to be

By James T. Grady almost 17,000 poor children around the world dying every cal Council for Justice and single day.

Peace under the leadership In the United States, the of Cardinal Peter Turkson of Census Bureau calculates Ghana responded recently that while children repreon Oct. 26, 2011 with the sent 24 percent of the total population, they comprise 36 release of a report entitled “Towards Reforming the percent of our poor populaInternational Financial and tion. This is the highest rate Monetary Systems in the of poverty for U.S. children Context of Global Public since the early 1960s.

Authority.”

Indeed, it is in this conThe 12-page document text that Pope Benedict made various suggestions XVI in his 2009 Encyclical about the form this global “Caritas in Veritate” (Charpublic authority should take: ity in Truth) called for the there should be established a establishment of worldwide global, financial and monpolitical authority whose role is to focus upon authen- etary authority in the nature

Guest Columnist

of a central world bank; the authority should be a public and transparent entity with all the nations of the world in participation; the authority should establish a World Reserve Fund to support the needs of any member country in time of financial crisis; it should recognize the needs and goals of the less developed member nations, particularly those in Africa, Asia and South America; and a transaction fee should be required for all undertakings of the authority in order to support its work.

To the naysayers it should be pointed out that today’s financial crisis is real and it is global in reach. Millions of people have already been harmed by its impact and many more will soon be experiencing its pain. The International Labor Organization projects that the shortfall in available jobs on a worldwide basis will be a formidable 40 million jobs within the next two years. With this level of

unemployment, Occupy Wall Street may soon become Occupy Main Street.

Something must be done, and done soon. Short-term solutions and those limited to certain geographical areas are inadequate to solve this worldwide economic emergency. The proposal of the Pontifical Council is an attainable solution to this vexing problem, particularly when you consider the absence of any other viable alternative.

Jesus tells us in the Gospel of Matthew, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for any of the least brothers of Mine, you did for Me.” Isn’t it about time we usher in a new era of sustainable global economic growth grounded in the principle of improving the common good for all mankind? Let’s give the Pontifical Council’s timely proposal an opportunity to do its work.

Jim Grady is a retired lawyer, author and visiting professor at Harvard Law School who is a member of St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham.

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he 2011 hunting season for the perfect gift now past, perhaps the story of the visit of the Magi can serve to inspire us to begin this new year by giving a gift to the One who should be first on our list: Christ. If the whole Advent-Christmas cycle allows us to experience Christ’s self-gift of Himself to us, the Solemnity of the Epiphany gives us a chance to reflect on what we will give Him in return, both over the course of this new year and for the rest of our lives. We hear from the prophet Isaiah: “Nations shall walk by Your light, and kings by Your shining radiance.” How shall we make our light shine before the world? How will I carry out a wise stewardship of the graces that God has given to me?

Reflecting on this, I realized that the Magi were onto something when they chose what gifts they would

January 6, 2012

The Anchor

What shall I give Him?

present to the Savior. Each and others? of them symbolizes some The second gift is frankaspect of Christ’s identity, incense, a major compoand by understanding what nent of the incense used in the Magi were presenting, divine worship. This symwe can draw some inspirabolizes the priestly charaction for our own call to holiness as well.

The first gift is Homily of the Week gold. The Magi were Epiphany of not trying to teach the Lord our Lord about smart investments in a time

By Father of financial insecuRiley J. Williams rity. Rather, the gold symbolizes kingship: Christ is king of the world. It is also something ter of Christ. We too share of great value. What of in this through our baptisvalue can I give to my King? mal priesthood, offering Not just money — what sacrifices of prayer and about my time? Could I volpraise to almighty God. unteer to help a charitable For this gift, we can reflect organization in my parish upon our attitude to prayer or community? What about and the Liturgy. Do I see offering up in a prayerful these as habits as mechanimanner what I already do cal rituals, or rather as — as a parent, in a role of encounters with God and service at work? What do I wellsprings of His grace? value in my life, and how The same for prayer: Do I can I offer it up to serve God seek God daily through it,

or rather only do it when I need something?

We can’t forget the final gift, myrrh. Not being there, I can’t know if the Blessed Virgin shot a questioning glance at the bearer of this gift. She would have known, as he did, that it was used at burials. In modern day terms, this would be like bringing a casket to a baby shower.

Indeed, the next time we encounter myrrh in the Gospels will be at the crucifixion and burial of Christ. So, what does this gift indicate? Put simply, it is a foreshadowing of the death of Christ. As Archbishop Fulton Sheen once wrote, while many people came to live, Christ came to die: His self-offering is the reason for the Incarnation.

No matter what the joy of this feast, the myrrh reminds us of the real reason that this

Child is lying in the manger: so that, through offering Himself, He can save us from our sins.

What return shall we make for this gift? If Christ has died for us, so then must we die for Him. While it is unlikely that we will be called to physical martyrdom, a thousand little opportunities for death present themselves to us each day. Every time we place God’s will above our own, every time we “offer something up,” we die a little bit to the world and ourselves, but only to share that much more in the life offered us by Christ. Come, let us offer our gifts to the newborn king — what we value, our prayers, but most of all, ourselves.

Father Williams is completing studies in moral theology at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Jan. 7, 1 Jn 5:14-21; Ps 149:1-6a,9b; Jn 2:1-11. Sun. Jan. 8, the Epiphany of the Lord, Is 60:1-6; Ps 72:2,7-8,10-13; Eph 3:2-3a,5-6; Mt 2:1-12. Mon. Jan. 9, Is 42:1-4,6-7 or Acts 10:34-38; Ps 29:1a,2,3ac-4,3b,9b-10; Mk 1:7-11. Tues. Jan. 10, 1 Sm 1:9-20; (Ps) 1 Sm 2:1,4-8; Mk 1:21-28. Wed. Jan 11,1 Sm 3:1-10,19-20; Ps 40:2-5,7-10; Mk 1:29-39. Thurs. Jan. 12, 1 Sm 4:1-11; Ps 44:10-11,14-15,25-26; Mk 1:40-45. Fri. Jan. 13, 1 Sm 8:4-7,10-22a; Ps 89:16-19; Mk 2:1-12.

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s I remarked late last year, the introduction of the third edition of the Roman Missal and the new translations of the liturgical texts offer the entire English-speaking Church an opportunity to correct some bad liturgical habits that have developed over the past four decades. The point of these corrections is neither liturgical prissiness nor aesthetic nostalgia; there is no “reform of the reform” to be found in lace surplices, narrow fiddleback chasubles, and massive candles.

The point of correcting bad habits is to celebrate the Novus Ordo of Paul VI with dignity and beauty, so that Holy Mass

Breaking bad liturgical habits II

do before and after meals; you is experienced for what it is: were given the power to confer our participation in the Liturgy the divine blessing by being of saints and angels in heaven configured to Christ in Holy — where, I am quite confident, Orders. Catholics who embrace they don’t sing treacly confections like “Gather Us In.” Note to celebrants (not “presiders”): If you’ve fallen into the bad habit of concluding Mass by some variant

By George Weigel of “May almighty God bless us all, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” please the truth of Catholic faith do cease and desist. You were not enjoy clericalism. But they not ordained to the ministry of do not find comfort, much less Word and Sacrament to invoke, evangelical leadership, from generically, the divine blessing, priests who imagine they can which anyone can (and should) avoid clericalism by unwittingly denying the truth of their own sacramental vocation and its distinctiveness.

Extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion: The same admonition applies to you, but in a different way — you must not offer a “blessing,” in any form, to pre-first-Communion children who join their parents in the Communion procession.

Extraordinary ministers are not junior-grade clergy or petty officers; no one outside of those in Holy Orders should “bless” in a liturgical context. Again, this is not a matter of prissiness, and

The Catholic Difference

still less one of clericalism; it is a matter of doctrinal and theological precision — which, if lost, can damage the celebration of the sacred Liturgy. Extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion are vastly over-used in U.S. parishes, a practice that risks of signaling that the Mass is a matter of the self-worshipping community celebrating and feeding itself.

But the problem of the ordinary use of what is supposed, after all, to be “extraordinary” can be addressed another time. For now, pastors must make it clear that no one blesses children during the Communion procession except bishops, priests, and deacons, i.e., those in Holy Orders.

Music directors and pastors: As a general rule, sing all the verses of a processional or recessional hymn. Good hymns have a textual integrity that is lost when we sing hymnexcerpts rather than hymns. It doesn’t take that much more time to sing all six verses of “For All the Saints” or all four verses of “Crown Him with Many Crowns”; cutting such great texts by two-thirds or onehalf inevitably sends the signal

that music in the Liturgy is filler — and there is no room for filler in the sacred Liturgy.

The congregation: Sacred space is different from other space; the inside of the church is different from the narthex (not “gathering space”). Thus we should all break the bad habit of commencing the post-Mass conversation immediately after the conclusion of the recessional hymn or organ postlude. Wait until you leave the interior of the church before beginning to chat with the neighbors. If there is a choral postlude, chatting over it is an insult to the choir, which has worked hard to prepare something beautiful for God; if there is only an organ postlude (with or without a recessional hymn), chatting over it is an insult to the organist.

Thirty seconds of silence after Mass are no bad thing.

And while we’re on the subject of the congregation, might we all reconsider our vesture at Sunday Mass? Dressing in one’s “Sunday best” was not an affectation; it was an acknowledgment of our baptismal dignity.

Let’s reclaim that dignity and its expression in our “Sunday best.”

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

January 6, 2012 Friday 6 January 2012 — at home on the Taunton River — Epiphany (traditional date) he Magi (whatever their number and however they are depicted in our crèche scenes) represent the universal call to holiness. The official list of the saints of the Catholic Church is based on the same reality, and even more so than in former times. The process of canonization has recently been streamlined; however it remains a formidable journey. There’s a progression of steps, each with its own title: beginning with “Servant of God,” then “Venerable,” next “Blessed,” and ultimately “Saint.”

The list of those declared saints contains the names of men and women “from every nation and tribe.” Being an American, I am fascinated by those who lived, ministered, or died within the current boundaries of the United States and its possessions, including those whose names are

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Saints among us

now somewhere in the formal during my lifetime. In the year process of canonization. I must of my birth (1946) Mother admit, dear readers, that a few Frances Xavier Cabrini was of the names on the list are elevated to sainthood. I often unknown to me. One or two heard the name of Mother of them might this year become the next American saints. I have some homework Reflections of a to do.

Parish Priest The list of Americans who have already

By Father Tim completed the proGoldrick cess of canonization is relatively short.

There are only 11. The first three were canonized in Cabrini mentioned during 1930, as members of the group my childhood. A naturalized known as the North American American citizen born in Italy, Martyrs. All were French born. Mother Cabrini died in ChiAll were associated with the cago in 1917.

Society of Jesus (the Jesuits).

Six American saints have Of the eight North American been canonized since my ordiMartyrs, three are considered nation (1972). These include ours. These three are Father Mother Elizabeth Seton Isaac Jogues, Brother Rene (1975), Bohemian born Bishop Goupil, and Jean de Lelande. John Neumann (1977), All three died in upstate New French born Mother Rose York.

Phillippine Duchesne (1988), The remaining seven Ameri- Mother Katherine Drexel can saints have been canonized (2000), French born Mother

The Ship’s Log

The Steve Miller effect

where he will join a few n “Fly Like an Eagle,” dozen of his predecessors.

Steve Miller sang, The average NFL lifespan “Time keeps on slippin’, of the Hall of Fame quarterslippin’, slippin’ into the backs from the modern era is future.” That was nearly 36 short of 14 years. Tom will years ago. I guess he was begin his 13th campaign next right.

September, at the age of 35.

Nothing and no one can All of this means that our stall the perpetual “tickdays with Tom Brady are tock-tick” rhythm of the numbered. clock. And as we get older, We’ve had an incredible that rhythm becomes more up-tempo.

Tom Brady is 34 years old and nearing the end of his 12th year in the National Football League. By quarterback stanBy Dave Jolivet dards, Brady is getting long in the tooth.

He’s been battered ride with him. In his 11 years and bruised, slammed and as a starter, he’s helped to splattered, bent and broken give us three Super Bowl for 10 full seasons of pro championships; has twice football. He lost 15-andbeen named NFL MVP and three-quarters of the 2008 Super Bowl MVP; captained season when a low hit blew the Patriots in 19 playoff out his knee. games in eight seasons; and Not counting last Sunis a seven-time Pro-Bowler. day’s game, he’s been sacked We’ve been spoiled, big 272 times in the regular time. season and another 29 times As happened with the in the playoffs. And he’s likes of Boston legends like been hit just as hard probTed Williams, Carl Yastrably three times that amount zemski, Bobby Orr, Bill along the way. That’s like Russell, and Larry Bird, falling down stairs every there will come a day, in day for four straight years. It the not-too-distant future, takes its toll. when there will no longer be There is no question that a locker with Brady’s name Brady will easily find his plate on it. way to the NFL Hall of Fame That tough young kid who in Canton, Ohio. It’s there

My View From the Stands

captured our heart in the magical 2001 season is on a crash course with his football swan song.

With all this in mind, I’d like to appeal to all you moms, dads, grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts and uncles to gather together your young New England Patriots fans. Huddle up with them in front of the telly and appreciate something we may have taken for granted for the last decade. Thomas Edward Patrick Brady is falling prey to the Steve Miller effect.

Gather with your young’uns and watch the cool cucumber with the eye black navigate the Patriots through this year’s big dance. There won’t be that many opportunities left. Often, we don’t know what we have until it’s gone. There is still time to appreciate one of the best quarterbacks ever to set foot on the gridiron. Before we know it, time will have slipped into the future and we’ll be watching Tom terrific’s speech at his induction into the Hall of Fame.

And when that happens, who knows what will be transpiring on the fake grass and recycled tires at Gillette Stadium?

Huddle up and enjoy the day.

Theodore Guerin (2006), and, most recently, Belgium born Father Damien of Molokai (2009). Of the 11 American saints, only Elizabeth Seton and Katherine Drexel were actually born in the USA. Seven Americans are currently listed as Blessed; nine as Venerable; and a whopping 25 as Servants of God. The possibility of initiating the canonization process for another eight or so is being openly discussed among some U.S. Catholics. The United States has many saints in the making.

Among those Americans declared Blessed (just one step away from sainthood) are four from the mainland (including a Native American), one from Puerto Rico, and two from Guam. The Vatican announced in December that miracles needed for the canonization of Kateri Tekakwitha and Marianne Cope have been accepted, meaning that they are likely to become the 12th and 13th American saints, perhaps this new year. Other blesseds are: Junipero Serra, Pedro Calungsod, Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, Diego Luis de San Vítores, Francis Xavier Seelos.

Among those in the next tier, called the Venerable, is a Detroit mystic (Father Solanus Casey), four founders of religious orders (Sisters Cornelia Connelly, Henriette de Lille, Mary Theresa Dudzik, and Maria Kapuas), the founder of the Knights of Columbus (Father Michael J. McGivney), a priest-social worker (Father Nelson Baker), two missionaries (Father Antonio of Jesus), missionary to Texas and Louisiana, and

Dominican Father Samuel Mazzuchelli, missionary to Iowa and Wisconsin and a former Haitian slave turned high-society hairstylist and New York City philanthropist (Pierre Toussaint).

Next in the saintly procession come the Servants of God. I see those I recognize: Terence Cardinal Cooke, Dorothy Day, Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, and Father Patrick Peyton. Those I know nothing of, I’m ashamed to admit, include the early martyrs of Virginia and Georgia.

There’s even an informal list of those whose names are being considered by the general public. One of these is Franciscan Father Mychal F. Judge. Father Judge was known for his ministry to the homeless, the hungry, recovering alcoholics, people with AIDS, the sick, injured, and grieving, immigrants, gays and lesbians and others who felt somehow alienated. Father Judge also happened to be chaplain to the Fire Department of New York City on Sept. 11, 2011.

Of all the heart-wrenching photographs that followed the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, one was particularly moving for me.

It showed the body of Father Judge being carried from the North Tower of the World Trade Center. In the morgue, Father Judge’s body was identified as “Victim 0001,” the first of many.

There are holy people who never make the list at all.

God already knows the saints among us. Once your name appears on God’s list, who needs to be on any other?

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

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The Anchor

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

SOUTH EASTON — At Holy Cross Parish in South Easton, a transplant from New Hampshire has made a huge impact on the parish’s ministry and programs. Claire Smith made her way across the border in 1986 and took the slow and steady path to becoming a more active member of the parish.

“She is an incredibly committed, as well as active member, of Holy Cross,” said Father Jim Fenstermaker, pastor of Holy Cross Parish. “If you approach Claire with a need in the parish, you know that she’ll do everything she can to assist.

Claire has a deep spirituality and a firm spiritual foundation to her life. She is a person who integrates so well the spiritual and social outreach dimensions of her Christian faith.”

After attending parochial school and receiving the Sacraments at her parish in New Hampshire, Smith relocated to Massachusetts with her husband and daughter. While she settled at Holy Cross Parish because “it felt like home,” Smith said her relationship with God was a work in progress.

January 6, 2012

Captain of the God Squad

“There were a couple of teer work. “God is so good. As donations, said Smith.

“Holy Cross parishioners are times in there when the Lord coordinator, I think sometimes and I were having our — how I start to worry; for example, extraordinarily generous,” said Smith. “They always can I say this? — we come through — aldidn’t agree on a few ways.” things,” said Smith.

Smith also coorThat all changed in dinates the parish’s church one day when monthly Outreach Smith was alone, Sunday program. kneeling at the altar, Parishioners will doand found herself nate food, clothing, repeating the word diapers and formula “Father” over and for area programs, over again. At that like Birthright of moment, said Smith, Taunton, and the “that one word hit me David Jon Louithat He is the Lord.” son Foundation, My Helping at Father Brother’s Keeper, Bill’s and Mainand Family and Comspring, a homeless munity Resources of shelter that offers Brockton. temporary housing “It’s extremely and food, was one satisfying, doing of her first volunteer that kind of thing for activities.

Initially me,” said Smith. “I assisting with the think sometimes it meals, Smith is now borders on selfishthe coordinator for ness, but I think the the monthly meal most important reaprogram. son is simply it glo“Now I’ve been rifies God. Whether doing it as a coordiwe get it directly or nator for some time,” indirectly, it’s all she said. There have been some rewarding Anchor Person of the week — Claire gifts from God. God is providing for us so aspects to her volun- Smith. that we can provide it we might be running low on for others.” something or people promise to Smith is so immersed in the bring in something and they’ve Pro-Life message that she has forgotten or something has it on her license plate. While come up, so I might begin to attending daily Mass, Smith fret. But every single time the prays for the respect for life Lord comes through.”

— from conception to natural “The last time was for some death — during the intercesgravy. I was sitting there and sion prayers. thinking, ‘Oh no, we don’t have “We have the Respect Life enough; I should have brought Committee at Holy Cross and more gravy.’ The person who have been pretty active since it had promised to bring it, didn’t. is just beginning,” said Smith.

And someone literally walked “I think if we’re not Pro-Life, into the room with a large box, then there really isn’t anything had not signed up to bring any- else; whether we’re talking thing, and one of the things that about the unborn child, or the the person had brought were handicapped, or the elderly two large cans of gravy. Hap- person who is lying in the hospens all the time,” she said. pital and can’t do anything for “We have never, ever run out of themselves. If we’re not willfood.” ing to protect them, then there’s When she first started mak- nothing else. There isn’t going ing meals, it only took two very to be anyone to protect us if large casserole dishes to feed we’re not willing to be there those coming in; just last month for them.” they served 135 people. As the During this past 40 Days for need has increased, so have the Life, Smith was able to pray at

the abortion clinic only one time due to scheduling conflicts, she said, “but I do try to get there, and I do keep that in my prayers, even if I can’t get there physically to say the Rosary.”

As coordinator of the “God Squads,” she oversees the scheduling of the teams of parishioners who clean the church.

“There is a list of things that they can do, and they are absolutely wonderful. I get compliments about the cleanliness and about what the church looks like all the time,” said Smith, who is often the main recipient of the compliments because parishioners know that she coordinates the schedule. “I wish the God Squads could personally get all the compliments and I channel it to the people who do the work. They are wonderful people. They come together and just do the work.”

Smith is also an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, lector, one of the newest members of the parish council, assists with the annual Memorial Mass and reception, belongs to the prayer shawl ministry, is part of the health ministry through the parish and often ends her day by making Rosaries for the Holy Cross Family Ministries.

Very quiet and not one to talk about her volunteerism through the parish, it didn’t really hit Smith just how much she does until she was asked to talk about her work.

“It’s overwhelming, it really is. It doesn’t feel like I’m doing a whole lot,” said Smith.

And yet that’s the only way these types of ministry can get done.

“It is vital. I cannot imagine any parish will survive if they don’t have people working, and again it’s not for the satisfaction that we get but for the glory that we are giving the Lord, Himself,” said Smith. “Time, talent, and treasure — everybody can give something.”

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

January 6, 2012

St. Bernard’s Parish to retire mortgage tomorrow

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

ASSONET — Members of St. Bernard’s Parish in Assonet received a special Christmas gift last month when they learned they were about to make the final payment on a 30-year-old mortgage.

“It was nice to announce at our Christmas Masses this year that we’re now paid in full,” said pastor Father Michael Racine. “That’s a nice little gift to our parish. It’s been nice that we’ve been able to do it in this economy, too.”

Now that the loan has been paid, Father Racine said they are going to officially retire the mortgage tomorrow during the 4 p.m. vigil Mass for the Feast of the Epiphany, which will be celebrated

by Bishop George W. Coleman.

“We’ll hand the bishop a check for the entire mortgage amount, paid in full,” Father Racine said. “Then we’re going to have a celebration at White’s of Westport following the Mass. We’re hoping for a nice turnout — it’s a nice time of year and we’re hoping people

The Anchor

will join us in celebrating our accomplishment.”

It was 30 years ago that the diocese opted to purchase the former First Christian Church building on South Main Street as the new home for St. Bernard’s Parish and Bishop Daniel A. Cronin blessed and dedicated the church on Dec. 20, 1981.

“At the time the building needed major renovations and that was part of the mortgage that was taken out,” Father Racine said. “So this has been a long time coming.”

The original mortgage was $350,000 and Father Racine said when he was first assigned to the parish just four years ago, the balance was still around $200,000.

“To me, that’s a great accomplishment,” he said. “Now we can start looking toward the future and plan ahead.”

Father Racine expressed his great appreciation to the parishioners for putting in the extra effort over the past few years to pay off the debt. He also praised the Turn to page 14

11

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12

The Anchor

January 6, 2012

For pope, 2011 was year of travel, evangelization, and technology

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — An interfaith meeting in Assisi, a new book on Jesus of Nazareth and a websitelaunching tap on an iPad were among the highlights of 2011 for Pope Benedict XVI. Although the year saw a further cutback in individual papal audiences, the 84-yearold pope still enjoyed a productive and busy 12 months, meeting privately with nearly 400 Church or civil leaders, addressing more than 180 groups and presiding over about 40 public liturgies.

He traveled to Croatia, Spain, Germany and Benin, delivering 60 speeches on the road. In weekly talks at the Vatican, attended by nearly half a million people, he gave

a series of reflections on the great teachers of the Church and on prayer — a continuation of the “back to basics” approach that has marked his pontificate. The reduction of papal meetings and the introduction of a rolling platform for his entrance into St. Peter’s Basilica fueled speculation about the pope’s health.

Close observers say that, like most octogenarians, the pontiff tires more easily today, but that he suffers no serious health problems. The year 2011 saw two of Pope Benedict’s favorite themes come into clearer focus: new evangelization and religious liberty. Increasingly, he has linked the two topics, telling bishops that both tasks require courageous truthtelling in sometimes hostile environments.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, January 8, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Timothy J. Goldrick, pastor of St. Nicholas of Myra Parish, North Dighton

war hero — Jeremy Irvine stars in a scene from the movie “War Horse.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/DreamWorks)

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

by Catholic News Service.

“The Adventures of Tintin” (Paramount/Columbia) Visually sumptuous animated adaptation of Belgian cartoonist Herge's famed comic books in which the curiously coiffed young reporter of the title (voiced by Jamie Bell) finds himself drawn into a centuriesold mystery via the purchase of a model ship. His efforts to solve the puzzle are aided by a good-hearted but excessively tippling sea captain (voice of Andy Serkis) and opposed by a deliciously wicked Russian villain (voiced by Daniel Craig).

Director Steven Spielberg’s globetrotting quest spans vibrantly portrayed environments from Tintin’s native Belgium to the deserts of North Africa.

Themes congruent with JudeoChristian values, including the vital role of companionship in overcoming one's individual weaknesses and the need for fortitude in the face of difficulty, are advanced through sympathetic main characters, a screenplay faithful to its classic source material and envelopepushing 3-D technology. The generally family-friendly result will not only afford vigilant moms and dads a chance to relax, but the opportunity to be entertained as well. Occasional stylized violence. The Catholic News Service classification is A-I — general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — paren-

tal guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

“Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked” (Fox) This weak, slapstick-laden — but not unwholesome — third entry in the Chipmunks series has the titular rodent rap stars (voiced by Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney) and their distaff counterparts the Chipettes (voices of Amy Poehler, Anna Faris and Christina Applegate) misbehaving on a cruise ship and winding up on a remote Caribbean island, where they help another castaway (Jenny Slate) and learn some lessons in maturity and responsibility.

As he blends animation and live action, director Mike Mitchell piles on the pratfalls — along with references to other similarly themed media offerings, from the TV show “Lost” to Tom Hanks’ 2000 big-screen drama “Cast Away.” The Catholic News Service classification is A-I — general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is G — general audiences. All ages admitted.

“War Horse” (Disney) Epic screen version of Michael Morpurgo’s 1982 novel, previously made into a successful stage play, about an English farmer's son (newcomer Jeremy Irvine) who

trains and cares for a thoroughbred horse that his father (Peter Mullan) misguidedly buys just to thwart the local squire (David Thewlis). Despite the animal’s successful adaptation to farm work, and the lad's emotional bond with him, at the start of World War I, the tiller sells him to an army officer (Tom Hiddleston) bound for the Western Front, thus initiating a series of adventures and trials that are, by turns, touching and harrowing.

While the intensity of the drama, the level of violence and some of the vocabulary used make director Steven Spielberg's vast canvas unsuitable viewing for kids, mature audience members will encounter a stirring affirmation of human solidarity amid the tragedy of the trenches — a realization of shared values brought about, ironically, by the heroism and endurance of the nonhuman protagonist. Considerable combat and other violence, including an execution; about a half-dozen uses of crass language; and a few vague sexual references. The Catholic News Service 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.

January 6, 2012

13

The Anchor

Society opposes doctor-prescribed death continued from page one

period between the request for and writing of the prescription.

Members of the Massachusetts Alliance Against Doctor Prescribed Suicide said at a press conference on the State House steps December 8 that such safeguards end once the prescription is written. There are no requirements that a disinterested party be present at the time of death.

Attorney Patricia Stewart said, “A policy that facilitates the intentional taking of human life in secret is inherently dangerous, and public policies that are dangerous jeopardize the welfare of the public.”

John Kelly, an activist for people with disabilities, said he and others with disabilities are on the front lines of dealing with a healthcare system that is always trying to cut costs and limit access to care.

Having profit-driven insurers, state regulators and even doctors deciding who gets to die can lead to abuse.

He also expressed concern that the legislation promotes negative views of life with disabilities, adding that in Washington and Oregon — the two states where the practice is legal — the reasons people choose doctor prescribed death are often related to loss of abilities.

“The people who are being reported to have taken the suicide potion, they use them for reasons that are very social and addressable such as feeling lack of autonomy, losing control of one’s bodily functions, and we’re here to say that this is not something that deprives anyone of dignity,” he said.

Mark Carron, a former state representative who also spoke at the conference, said that the question of legalized suicide should never be put to society.

“The healthcare system must maintain its attraction to people as being a place for health and healing, not for extermination,” he said.

Most of the Massachusetts Medical Society membership seems to agree with that sentiment, though the organization’s leaders stress that the group has not yet taken up the issue of the ballot measure.

Lynda Young, a physician and the president of the society, told The Anchor that the organization’s Committee

on Legislation would likely make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees sometime before the measure is voted on

by Massachusetts residents.

“I think people are going to look to us for support or no support,” she said.

On the issue of physicianassisted suicide, the society’s house made it clear in their vote that doctors are “healers and not harmers,” she said.

Young said most members agreed the best way for a terminally ill patient to die would be for them to be responsive and pain-free.

“We certainly understand the critical nature of end-oflife care issues and alleviating pain and suffering,” she said.

“When you’re dealing with a patient at the end of their life, you are not going to heal them, so as a physician, you try to make a person as comfortable as possible.”

She added that patients and their families alike benefit from preparing for inevitable death. “A lot of the time it’s the family that will say, ‘You can’t let him kill himself. You can’t. You just have to make him comfortable. We couldn’t deal with that.’”

This week in 50 years ago — Five Sisters of the Congregation of the Resurrection arrived at their new home at 405 County Street in New Bedford and received the deed from the owners of the former Lawyers’ Building in the first step in opening a nursery school for the children of the greater New Bedford area.

25 years ago — Sister Louise Angele Chouinard, SSJ, a teacher at St. Mary’s School in New Bedford, was among the recipients of the Miriam Joseph Farrell Award for distinguished teaching on the elementary school level.

Revised and updated ...

2011-2012 Diocese of Fall River Catholic Directory ... Now Shipping!

Published by The Anchor Publishing Company P.O. Box 7, Fall River, Massachusetts 02722 Please ship _____ directories x $18 each, including shipping and handling. Total Enclosed $_____ NAME ____________________________________________ ADDRESS _________________________________________ CITY _____________________ STATE _______ ZIP _____ Please make checks payable to “Anchor Publishing” For more information, email theanchor@anchonews.org, call 508-675-7151, or order online at www.anchornews.org

Diocesan history

10 years ago — For the fourth consecutive year, Catholic Social Services and 21 parishes teamed up to make Christmas a little brighter for area families in need by collecting gifts through Giving Tree programs and then organizing and wrapping them during Advent.

One year ago — With its first-ever graduating class slated to receive diplomas in June, Pope John Paul II High School in Hyannis reached an important milestone by earning accreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

14

The Anchor

Advocate speaks on behalf of children with disabilities

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

JOLIET, Ill. — When Madonna Wojtaszek-Healy presented two workshops on children who have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and disorders that fall under the autistic spectrum at this year’s Faith Formation Ministry Convention in Taunton, she was speaking from personal experience.

Wojtaszek-Healy currently teaches second grade and holds a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Illinois. In 1992, she was the mother of three children, all under the age of five, and kept to a tight schedule that included lots of engaging activities for her energetic brood. There didn’t seem to be a cause for concern until her oldest son entered kindergarten.

“It became clear to us he was having a few issues. At home he was fine because I kept him pretty busy; I have a natural way of knowing how to keep kids busy,” she said of her teaching background.

“But when he would go to school in a class with about 22 other kids, he would seem to forget all of the directions. His teacher was concerned and she threw out to me one morning in conversation when I was dropping him off, ‘Do you think it’s possible he has ADD?’” ADD and ADHD were disorders that had been covered in her studies at the university, said WojtaszekHealy, “but it had never really occurred to me that my own child had it. I kept him busy because he did have a high-energy level.”

After contacting a friend, who was a clinical psychologist and who did a work-up on her son, the diagnosis of ADHD was official.

Wojtaszek-Healy said that she began to read everything she could on the subject to consider different treatment options.

Within two years of her oldest being diagnosed, her second son entered kindergarten and was diagnosed with ADD. When he also had trouble getting along socially with other children in the classroom, Wojtaszek-Healy began to watch how he interacted with his siblings at home.

“By then his own sister was old enough to have a mind of her own, and he wasn’t very nice to her,” said Wojtaszek-Healy, adding that her son’s impulsive behavior “wasn’t doing him any good in social interactions. It was like, OK, now we have two.”

Her second son was eventually diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder. Her daughter also started showing some signs of ADHD but because she was a girl, said

Wojtaszek-Healy, a lot of her hyperactivity manifested itself through a lot of talking.

She gave birth to a fourth child and when he was two years old, “it was pretty clear the writing was on the wall that he was going to join his brothers in that world of ADHD.” Her fourth child would eventually be diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, too. Her children have been the driving force behind Wojtaszek-Healy’s advocacy in educating people about the disorders.

“I always make it a point to mention that the U.S. Bishops made a statement in 1978, where they talked about including people with disabilities in the life of the Church,” she said. “One of the things that they said is that it’s the responsibility of pastors and of the people in the pews to learn about various disabilities so that they can be supportive of those with disabilities and to their families.”

That’s part of social justice, that all are included — especially the poor and the vulnerable. People with disabilities fall right under that category of being vulnerable, and it’s a lesson that Wojtaszek-Healy wishes people would learn.

“What comes out of that for me is a sense of compassion. When you have a child and you’re in a classroom setting, their behaviors look — to put it lightly — undisciplined. Many times we make moral judgments about those children, that they’re not good, can’t control their behavior and don’t want to live by the rules or Commandments. What I try to do is spread the word, the need for compassion.

When you look at a child like this, instead of thinking ‘bad’” she said, “Think ‘vulnerable.’ Reframe it.”

Many times children will interrupt you not because they want to bother you, but because they want to be involved. They are paying attention, just not like how everyone else is doing it. When teachers, catechists and other parents forget themselves and make a mistake in judging the child too harshly, added Wojtaszek-Healy, isn’t it nice to know that God will still love and forgive us?

“You try to look at them through God’s eyes and know that God makes all kinds of people, and this is just one of them,” she said. “How can I spread the message of God’s love to this child so that they feel cared for? They know that other people are looking at them critically, and their parents know it too.

That’s what I think is important for anyone who is a volunteer or paid employee of the Church — what face do we want to give the Church? Because I believe the Church is supposed to be a place where everyone is welcome.”

A question often posed to Wojtaszek-Healy is, “What about those other kids who are behaving well but having their studies interrupted?”

“My response to that is, they are learning something very important,” she countered. “It’s learning to deal with and accept the child with ADHD or Asperger’s Syndrome or any other disorder.

They’re learning compassion and a sense of inclusion. When they see others making accommodations for those with disabilities, they learn that compassion and the accommodation is modeled.”

That five-year-old kindergartner is now a 24-year-old magna cum laude college graduate. Her son was able to find a job right out of college and is living on his own; “To me, he’s a success story,” said Wojtaszek-Healy.

Her second oldest son is still in college, her daughter is at the top of her class in college and her youngest son is a senior in high school working hard to maintain his 3.7 GPA. “The work at home has paid off,” she said. “We’re grateful that we are able to enjoy our children.”

Wojtaszek-Healy and her husband offer a website as a resource (www.rootedinlove.org) and one of the books that she recommended was, “Healing ADD: The Breakthrough Program that Allows You to See and Heal the six types of ADD,” by Dr. Daniel Amen. An expert on Asperger’s Syndrome, Tony Attwood has written two books dealing with the subject, and Wojtaszek-Healy said that parents could be inspired by the story of Temple Grandin, an activist who was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome but didn’t let it define her.

“She’s brilliant,” said WojtaszekHealy.

Structure is so important and each child brings his or her own unique needs to the table. Keep the household as normal as possible, she recommended, and most of all, don’t try to hide it.

“Share it up front. Some hope that if you give the child the right medication and send them out into the world, nobody will notice there’s something different about them,” said WojtaszekHealy. “It’s very difficult to sit in a pew in church with children who have ADD or other autism spectrum disorders. You want to bring them to church and be part of the life at Church, but you have people turning around and looking at you while you’re trying to keep them quiet. People need to understand that we are doing the best we can, and that we belong there.”

January 6, 2012

St. Bernard’s Parish to retire mortgage continued from page 11

tireless work of Jeff DeMarco, director of parish development and member of the parish finance council, for helping to get the parish finances back on track.

“We actually started about eight years ago,” DeMarco said.

“The church was behind like $18,000 on the interest, so we came up with a plan to pay off the mortgage. I explained to everyone that it would take seven to 10 years to get it done.”

What DeMarco and his fellow parishioners didn’t expect, however, was that they would raise enough money to pay off the entire mortgage so quickly.

“I told them it would take seven to 10 years, but our final payment made in December was exactly seven years from when we started,” DeMarco said. “The best part about this whole effort, though, is it has brought all the parishioners together. They were all working on teams, at different events and dinners to raise the money.

Working on those fund-raisers, everyone felt they were a part of it.”

One of the things frustrating parishioners, according to DeMarco, was the fact that they were making payments but the mortgage balance never seemed to be decreasing much.

“When I first got here, they had been paying on it for 20 years,” he said. “They had a program where they were paying $20 a month or something like that — but it hadn’t done anything.”

With interest accruing and other expenses mounting, DeMarco said the parish began falling behind and was unable to put a dent in the principle.

“It wasn’t only the mortgage that was falling behind, but the entire parish finances needed work,” DeMarco said. “So we did other fund-raisers that were dedicated to cover parish finances while some were dedicated to paying off the mortgage. We also worked with the diocesan financial office to take that extra $18,000 interest and roll it back into the mortgage so that each payment we made went directly to paying down the (principle) and not the interest.”

Although he currently works as food service director at Massasoit Community College in Brockton, DeMarco earned a degree in business management

before going into the culinary arts.

“Accounting is my second career,” he said. “When I was in high school, I was torn between accounting and culinary, but my handwriting was so bad, that I went into cooking. Back then we didn’t have computers and everything was handwritten.

Over the years I’ve done people’s taxes and I’ve always been involved with keeping track of accounting for restaurants.”

One program DeMarco suggested was something called an “extra effort club” where families were asked to make annual donations toward the mortgage fund in amounts ranging from $500 to $1,500 above what they would normally give.

“Everyone was faithful in doing that for the past seven years,” he said. “That helped a lot. And once they saw the balance coming down, they started getting excited about it.”

They also had a 30-week club for the last two years and got into the baking business every weekend by offering Portuguese malassadas for sale after Masses.

“I think we’ve sold more than 60,000 malassadas over the last seven years,” DeMarco said.

“We even have our own malassadas hotline,” Father Racine said, laughing. “When you call, just hit number six. It’s funny how the pastor’s extension comes after the malassadas hotline. It was just something we created when we put the new phone system in for people to place orders.”

DeMarco said now that the mortgage is paid off, they plan to start putting money aside for future parish projects.

“We’re in great shape now,” he said. “We actually have a few bucks in the bank.”

To that end, Father Racine said they have already established a capital improvements account to cover any unforeseen expenses and to possibly fund some upgrades to the parish hall and kitchen.

“I think when people see things getting done, they don’t mind contributing because they see where the money is going,” he said. “The parishioners here are great and I can’t thank them enough. And I think we’re all relieved — it’s an accomplishment we can all be proud of.”

Visit The Anchor online at www.anchornews.org

January 6, 2012

The Anchor

15

Congregation of Holy Cross marks ‘Year of the Brother’ continued from page one

When he entered the Congregation of the Holy Cross in 1870, his childhood parish priest, Father André Provencal, sent a letter to the novice master saying, “I am sending a saint to your congregation.”

While serving as a porter at the Holy Cross-run College de Notre Dame and a high school in Montreal, André developed a strong devotion to the step-father of Jesus, St. Joseph. His reputation as a simple holy man with miraculous healing powers spread. People came from far and wide to seek his help. André would pray with them and suggest they seek St. Joseph’s intercession.

When Blessed André was canonized in October of 2010, the Congregation of Holy Cross was elated, particularly the Brothers. “It was a joyous event for us,” Holy Cross Brother Harold Hathaway, the last remaining Holy Cross Brother in the

diocese, told The Anchor. “It was fulfilling that the first Holy Cross saint was not a teacher, but a Brother, a humble porter with a lack of a formal education.”

Brother Hathaway said that St. André represented well what the calling of a Brother is. “Brothers are not ordained and we can’t celebrate Mass and consecrate the holy Eucharist, but we present the Lord’s love and care for others through service.”

A graduate of Msgr. Coyle High School in Taunton, Brother Hathaway said he was drawn to the Congregation of Holy Cross, and in particular the Brotherhood, because of the examples he saw in the Brothers who taught at Coyle. “I saw them as men of prayer,” he said. “They seemed very happy in what they were doing, meeting the spiritual needs of those they encountered.

“I was also drawn by the life of community they lived. I got from them a great sense of prayer.”

As a Brother, a man becomes consecrated to Religious life through vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

The Congregation of Holy Cross website elaborates: “Within the Congregation of Holy Cross, Blessed Basil Moreau dedicated the religious Brothers to the patronage of St. Joseph. Just as St. Joseph was an integral part of the Holy Family, so too,

Holy Cross Brothers have an essential presence in the Holy Cross family. Our Holy Cross Brothers are committed to a life of prayer in order to grow in holiness and draw the world into deeper holiness.

Our participation in the common life unites our community and provides support and encouragement for our confreres.”

Brother Hathaway will celebrate 50 years as a Brother in 2013. “I’m very happy with the life I’ve chosen,” he said. That life led him to be a teacher and a school administrator at schools in Texas and Massachusetts. Currently he resides at Holy Cross Priests’ House in North Dartmouth where he maintains the property and helps care for the retired Holy Cross priests who live there. “I hope that my life as a Brother in service to others has touched many others,” he reflected.

The Congregation of Holy Cross first established roots in the Diocese of Fall River in 1933, when Bishop James E. Cassidy invited the Brothers to teach at Coyle High School.

Holy Cross Priests purchased the North Dartmouth house in 1934 to be used as an Eastern Novitiate for the Congregation and a seminary. “Besides religious formation, a small working farm was established to provide meat, eggs, and fresh vegetables for the local Holy Cross communities and eventually to the North Easton community,” said Brother Hathaway. “The farm was run by the Brothers along with assistance from the young novices and seminarians.”

While he is the only remaining Holy Cross Brother in the diocese, Holy Cross Brothers have a strong presence in other parts of the U.S. and around the world.

The Congregation is still very active at Holy Cross Family Ministries and Stonehill College in Easton.

“Over the years the educational and sacramental ministries of the members of the congregation in the Diocese of Fall River have resulted in the Lord’s blessings not only to the congregation, but likewise to the diocese and other Religious Orders and Communities through vocations to the priesthood, as Brothers and Sisters,” said Brother Harold.

He continued, saying that the congregation’s designation of the Year of the Brother is a time to reflect on the roles of the Brothers and also a time of thanksgiving for that life and the life of St. André Bessette, and a time for prayer. “From the earliest days of the Church, men and women have consecrated their lives to Christ through the vows of Religious poverty, celibacy and obedience,” he said. “Within the congregation, Blessed Basil Antony Moreau, the founder, dedicated the Religious Brothers to the patronage of St. Joseph and called upon them to participate in the common life that unites and supports the Holy Cross community locally and globally. We ask that all join in prayer with the members to ask the Lord to inspire men to join their lives to ours in the various educational and pastoral ministries by becoming a professed Religious Brother in the Congregation of Holy Cross.”

For more information on the Holy Cross Brothers, priests and Sisters, visit www.holycrossusa.org.

christmas at the vatican — Decorations are seen on the Christmas tree as Pope Benedict XVI leads a recent general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican.

(CNS photo/Paul Haring)

16

Youth Pages

a familiar ring to it — The St. John the Evangelist School Bell Choir recently played a concert at La Salette Shrine. Shown here are students Natasha Zaarour, Rachel Hitchcock, Timothy Fortin, Derek Moreau, Kevin Baker, Brian MacDonald, Joseph Zaarour, and Alexander Simoneau along with Sue Fortin, music director at the Attleboro school, as she led the group in one of the various songs they played.

stage presence — Coyle and Cassidy High School in Taunton recently held its 15th Annual Shakespeare Competition. National Endowment for the Arts Shakespeare in American Communities Awards were given to freshman Abigail Hood and senior Julia Benson, shown here performing a monologue from “Troilus and Cressida.”

January 6, 2012

under a spell — Fellow students and family members were in attendance recently for the first-ever Coyle and Cassidy High School Chinese Spelling Bee. Chinese teacher Lei Yang recently hosted this interactive event at the Taunton school to illustrate her student’s command of the language. Students from her three different sections of Chinese were split into five different teams, the Black Bears, White Lions, Flying Tigers, Fire Dragons and Sea Horses. Students demonstrated their knowledge of sentence structure, writing of Chinese characters, and proper Chinese character pronunciation known as Pinyin. Many had to translate English to Chinese characters. Chinese characters are one of mankind’s oldest systems of writing, and originate from pictures for keeping. Learning to write Chinese characters enables students to understand Chinese history and culture.

a jump in their step — Students at SS. Peter and Paul School in Fall River explored African cultural arts through a traditional West African drumming and dance performance held at the school

by Akwaaba Ensemble recently. The program was supported, in part, by a grant from the Fall River Cultural Council, a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

needed funds — Fall River Staples general manager Danielle D’Atri presented a $10,000 check to St. Vincent’s Home in Fall River to support enrichment programs for local youth. Staples Foundation has awarded $25,000 to the home to date. From left: St. Vincent’s executive director Jack Weldon, St. Vincent’s Life Skills coordinator Rachele Foley, Staples district manager Bruce Christian, Staples general manager Danielle D’Atri, Staples regional sales Manager Mary Beth Connolly, and Staples regional manager Jeff Rowe.

people’s choice — The senior class at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth has elected class officers for the 201112 year. Conor Gay is president; Annie Kuphal, vice president; Kayla Lanagan, secretary; and Eric Rice, treasurer.

January 6, 2012

T

he 12th day of Christmas is January 6, traditionally the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord.

The wise men arrive in Bethlehem and now the world knows what Mary and Joseph have known for months and what the shepherds learned that first night — God is with us; Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. To experience such an epiphany, one’s eyes must be wide open, as well as one’s heart and mind. I think about the wise men and their journey. I marvel at their spirit of adventure and their search for the great King whose birth was announced

Youth Pages Epiphany

an awareness in us of just by the appearance of a star. how near God is, how surThey knew they had to go. rounded by His grace we They knew that something really are. Some people’s wonderful was happening, although I doubt they knew just how wonderful it was at the beginning of their journey. Sometimes those moments of epiphany, those moments where we

By Jean Revil clearly recognize Christ, come in hindsight. lives reveal Christ to us We have all had those with great clarity. I think moments, moments close to of Blessed Pope John Paul Christ. It may have been a conversation, an act of kind- II. I was privileged to be at World Youth Day in Denver, ness, a scene of indescriband again in Toronto, to see able beauty, which caused

Be Not Afraid

17 and hear him in person. I remember getting up early the morning of his funeral to watch it on TV, and to this day I don’t know why I didn’t go to Rome to be there.

Why wasn’t I more like those wise men who were willing to be witnesses to holy greatness? I don’t have an answer.

Closer to home, I think of Father Matthew Sullivan, SS.CC. What a holy priest he was. I would watch him minister in the Dartmouth House of Corrections and be awestruck at how visible Christ was in him. Epiphanies still occur in the world. Eyes are being opened every day and Christ is made manifest to the world.

I want to live with my eyes open, wide awake to the moments of grace that fill each day. It sounds so easy, but it’s a constant struggle.

We Christians live in the world, but we are not of the world. Too often, we are caught in the tasks of the day

and the demands of life and we develop a sort of tunnel vision. Grace needs an opening to be recognized. Brother Lawrence, a 17th-century monk, encouraged people to “practice the presence of God” and to learn to see His glory in every piece of life.

It involves prayer above all, and through prayer, a type of vision that goes deeper than what the eye can see — like the wise men who looked at a baby and saw the King of nations.

Beyond having those moments of epiphany, I pray that my life may be an epiphany, if only for a moment, if only for one soul.

There could be no greater hope for any of us. May this new year be a year of living wide awake and wide open to the manifestations of Christ in our lives and through our lives. Blessed Epiphany!

Jean Revil teaches theology and is campus minister at Bishop Stang High School. Comments welcome at: jrevil@bishopStang.com.

they deliver — Sixth- and seventh-grade students from St. Pius X School in South Yarmouth prepared to deliver gifts to families in need this Christmas season.

a little piece of haven — Youth group students from St. Julie Billiart Parish in North Dartmouth recently brought Christmas joy and song to residents of Our Lady’s Haven in Fairhaven.

all saints in action — Middle school students at All Saints Catholic School in New Bedford reached out to those in need during the Christmas season by collecting hundreds of non-perishable food items to donate to a local food pantry. Their efforts will continue through the spring to assist the needy in the New Bedford community.

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

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

18

The Anchor

‘Rolling with the changes’ 2011: A year in review continued from page one

ert Church in Fall River during a special Liturgy celebration in October.

The stop was one of several on Patriarch Rai’s first tour of U.S. Eparchies since being elected in 2011 and the first-ever visit of a Maronite Patriarch to the Fall River Diocese.

“The Church here and the Church in the Middle East are the same,” Patriarch Rai said during his homily. “His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, recently held a synod of bishops in Rome and wanted to tell the world that the Church in the Middle East is not alone — that the whole Catholic Church is with them.”

As if to emphasize the point, Patriarch Rai was surrounded on the altar by a large contingency of priests and deacons from the diocese — including Bishop George W. Coleman — and visiting clergy from throughout the Eparchy of St. Maron of Brooklyn, to which St. Anthony of the Desert Parish belongs.

In early November, Bishop George W. Coleman, along with other bishops from New England, went to Rome for their ad limina visit. Abbreviated from ad limina Apostolorum (to the threshold of the Apostles), the visits traditionally take place every five years and are required of every diocesan bishop and apostolic vicar. The trip includes a visit to the tombs of SS. Peter and Paul, along with consultations with appropriate Vatican officials and an audience with the Holy Father.

Bishop Coleman is part of the ad limina of Region One in the United States encompassing all the dioceses in New England.

Making his second ad limina visit since his installation in 2003, Bishop Coleman promised, in an interview with The Anchor, to bring the “thoughts, prayers and intentions of the people of the Fall River Diocese” along with him to the Eternal City. He last fulfilled his obligation in 2004, shortly before the death of Blessed Pope John Paul II. This was the bishop’s first ad limina with Pope Benedict XVI. This year’s World Youth Day held in Madrid, Spain in early August, drew an estimated 1.4 million pilgrims into the city, including dozens of youth from the Fall River Diocese who traveled to the event to help cement an already-established Catholic faith.

Representatives from the diocese included groups from St. Anthony of Padua Parish in New Bedford, St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham, and Sacred Heart Parish in Fall River.

After nearly a decade at the helm of Catholic schools in the

Fall River Diocese, Dr. George A. Milot announced he would retire from his position as superintendent of schools at the end of the academic year.

Among the many issues during Milot’s tenure, he was instrumental in the establishing of a high school on Cape Cod, Pope John Paul II in Hyannis, and sought to be an effective and caring navigator in the difficult process of school mergers and closings.

Milot spent most of his professional career in Catholic education in the Fall River Diocese. He began as a teacher and coach at Bishop Stang High School, North Dartmouth, in 1966 and in 1974 became principal there, serving until 1982. He returned to the diocesan school system in 1994 as principal of Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro.

Then-Bishop Sean P. O’Malley, OFM Cap., appointed him director of the diocesan Education Department in January 2002, thereby becoming the first layperson to serve in the top education post in the diocese. The title was changed to superintendent of schools in a later reorganization of the diocesan education apostolate.

Dr. Michael S. Griffin, Ph.D., former principal of Holyoke Catholic High School in Chicopee, Mass., became the new superintendent of schools for the Fall River Diocese with Milot’s departure in June.

Marylee Meehan of West Yarmouth was appointed to the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care by Pope Benedict XVI in January.

The council was established

by Pope John Paul II in 1985 with his Apostolic Letter, “Dolentium Hominum.” The tasks of the council are to, according to the letter, “stimulate and promote the work of formation, study and action carried out by the diverse Catholic International Organizations in the health care field as well as other groups and associations which work in this sector, or on different levels and in different ways.”

A first-time world congress held in October at the birthplace of Sacred Heart devotion, Parayle-Monial, featured Father William Petrie, provincial superior of the U.S. East Province of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, who is based in Fairhaven. Father Petrie was also one of the organizers of the event, which aimed to renew the sense of hope worldwide in the knowledge of God’s unconditional love for humanity, through the promotion of personal relationships with Jesus, Christ-centered families, and a worldwide mission to bring this

message to all people.

After more than two years of planning, preparing and fund-raising, the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate based at Our Lady’s Chapel in downtown New Bedford launched the first-ever 24hour Catholic radio station in the Fall River Diocese.

WPMW — also known as Radio CorMariae — made its official debut at the 88.5 frequency on the FM dial in March.

Operated by the Franciscan Friars in collaboration with the congregation’s lay apostolate, the Mission of the Immaculate Mediatrix, the new Radio CorMariae secured the necessary licensing from the Federal Communications Commission for what is known as a “micro-FM” radio station and now broadcasts within a limited range from Westport to Fairhaven within the greater New Bedford area.

The diocesan Pro-Life Apostolate also sponsored its first annual diocesan Pro-Life Boot Camp on the campus of Stonehill College in North Easton in July. The camp offered students opportunities for daily Mass, introduction to John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body,” praise and worship, prayer time outside a local abortion center, and time to create and perform fun ProLife skits. In addition, the attendees performed service projects for families in need through Pro-Life and pro-family organizations.

With higher than expected snow accumulations and wicked winter weather throughout the Fall River Diocese at the beginning of the year, many pastors found themselves struggling to cover the rising costs of snow removal and heating during backto-back storms in January.

Meanwhile, heavy winter winds at the end of February caused some structural damage to the steeple atop St. Bernard’s Church in Assonet, forcing pastor Father Michael Racine to have the tower removed. But by the end of November, a brand new steeple — designed by architect and parishioner Andrew P. DiGiammo — was hoisted atop the church along with the church’s signature gold “Cross of Christ.”

The Sacred Hearts Retreat Center in Wareham kept busy during the summer months hosting both the second annual Quo Vadis Days retreat for 19 young diocesan men in July and the firstever Called By Name Retreat for Young Women at the beginning of August.

Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin was the featured speak-

January 6, 2012 er at this year’s St. Mary’s Education Fund Fall Dinner held at White’s of Westport in November.

Two Franciscan priests started off the year with new pastor assignments in the Fall River Diocese.

Father Conrad Salach, OFM Conv., was named pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in New Bedford, taking over for the retiring Father Roman Chwaliszewski, OFM Conv.

Father Thomas Washburn, OFM, was named pastor of St. Margaret’s Parish in Buzzards Bay, taking over for the retiring Father Francis De Sales Paolo, OFM. Three longtime diocesan priests also opted to retire from full-time ministry at the end of June: Father John F. Andrews, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Wellfleet; Father Henry J. Dahl, pastor of St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Provincetown; and Father Brian J. Harrington, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Seekonk.

But a fresh face was added to the clerical ranks as Father Riley J. Williams made his priestly promises before Bishop George W. Coleman at the beginning of July inside St. Mary’s Cathedral.

The Holy Union Sisters celebrated 125 years in the United States with regional celebrations throughout the northeast, including an April Liturgy at St. Michael’s Parish in Fall River — where the Sisters have ministered at the parish school for 80 years — followed by a reception and brunch at the Venus de Milo Restaurant in Swansea. Another Mass was held in October at Sacred Heart Church, Fall River, celebrated by Bishop George W. Coleman, followed by a reception at White’s of Westport.

In April, Our Lady of the Cape Parish in Brewster marked its 50th anniversary with a Mass celebrated by Bishop George W. Coleman, followed by a reception in the parish center.

Established by Bishop James L. Connolly on April 19, 1961, the parish was created to serve the towns of Brewster, Dennis and Harwich north of the mid-Cape highway, better known as Route 6. Originally based out of the Immaculate Conception Chapel on Main Street, the new Our Lady of the Cape Parish was entrusted to the care of the Missionaries of La Salette.

St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham celebrated its 100th anniversary with year-long celebrations that included a special Mass with Bishop George W. Coleman and a parish banquet. The parish also created a centennial directory, featuring photos of parishioners who chose to be included in the publication, and a pilgrimage to Ireland

in October.

St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Fall River likewise marked its 100th anniversary with a special Mass at the end of May celebrated by Bishop George W. Coleman, followed by a reception at White’s of Westport. Founded in 1911 to serve the growing Portuguese population in the diocese, the fledgling parish originally celebrated Masses in the basement of the old St. Roch’s Church until a church was built and dedicated in 1913.

It was also a century ago that the parishioners of St. Dominic’s Parish in Swansea gathered for their first Mass. To celebrate the 100th anniversary, parishioners followed in the footsteps of their predecessors by attending a special Mass of Thanksgiving in November concelebrated by pastor Father Joseph F. Viveiros; Msgr.

John A. Perry, diocesan vicar general; and other priests who have served the parish in the past. The Liturgy was preceded by a ceremonial ringing of the parish bell 100 times with members representing the various ministries in the parish each taking a turn.

And St. John the Baptist Parish in New Bedford, the oldest Portuguese parish in America, marked its 140th anniversary with a special Mass.

Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro, the second high school to open its doors in the Fall River Diocese, celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding with a Mercy Day school-wide Mass in September. The entire student body along with faculty members and staff joined together with alumni, invited guests and students from other diocesan schools for the Mass celebrated by Bishop George W. Coleman.

Taunton Catholic Middle School also celebrated its 40th anniversary with a two-day event the following month. The former Msgr. Coyle High School, originally established by the Sisters of the Holy Union, opened its doors in September 1971 for 606 students in grades six through eight and the fifth grade was added in 1987.

St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro kicked off Catholic Schools Week last year with a groundbreaking ceremony for the planned construction of a new 4,600-square-foot addition to the facility located at 13 Hodges Street.

Bishop Coleman celebrated Mass at St. John the Evangelist Parish followed by the groundbreaking ceremony, which drew a sizeable gathering of students, school staff, parishioners and community members. The expansion marked the first new construction done at the school since its opening 56 years ago.

January 6, 2012

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese

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

Formerly paralyzed Maryland priest sees miracle as he begins walking

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

EPHRATA, Pa. (CNS) — When Redemptorist Father John Murray bashed his head against a railing after tripping along a New Jersey boardwalk 15 months ago, the consequences were devastating. The former pastor of St. Mary in Annapolis and St. Wenceslaus in Baltimore suffered a broken neck that left him instantly paralyzed from the chest down.

Rushed to a hospital, he underwent emergency spinal cord surgery and later began rehabilitation at a prominent New Jersey institute.

Doctors had little encouragement for the once-active priest who was known across the East Coast for his preaching abilities. The chances he would ever walk again were virtually zero. “When they said I’d never be able to move again, they took away all hope,” Father Murray told The Catholic Review, Baltimore archdiocesan newspaper. But on Nov. 28, 2010, Father Murray did something everyone said would be impossible. While living and undergoing rehabilitation at Stella Maris in Timonium, Md., he moved his

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

In Your Prayers

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

Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks

ATTLEBORO — The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette holds eucharistic adoration in the Shrine Church every Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. until January 6, 2012, and from January 7 to November 17, 2012.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available at this time.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The Anchor

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, 2003 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, 2000 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 Jan, 12 Rev. Thomas P. Grace, Pastor, St. Patrick, Fall River, 1918 Rev. Manuel C. Terra, Retired Pastor, St. Peter, Provincetown, 1930 Jan. 13 Rev. Emile Plante, M.S., La Salette Seminary, Attleboro, 1954 Rev. Ralph D. Tetrault, Retired Pastor, St. Patrick, Wareham, 2007 Rev. Joseph A. Richard, A.A., St. Francis Home, Worcester, 2008

left leg ever so slightly, gently lifting his foot off the ground.

“I was ecstatic,” Father Murray recalled with a smile. “Here I was about six weeks after they told me in New Jersey I’d never move again and, lo and behold, I could move.

Just the foot, but it kept going and going and going.” Today, Father Murray is completely mobile. Using a walker, he is able to walk on his own at his new residence at St. Clement Mission House in Ephrata. Father Murray sees only one

explanation for his renewed gift of independence: An encounter with the miraculous. When most people think of miracles, he said, they usually bring to mind instantaneous cures of a debilitating disease or terminal illness. “We think of it as any exceptions to the laws of nature,” the priest explained. “In biblical times, what was called a miracle was anything that showed the power of God. What happened to me wasn’t instantaneous, but it certainly was miraculous.”

Around the Diocese 1/6

The Fall River Area Men’s First Friday Club will meet tonight at the Parish of the Good Shepherd, 1598 South Main Street, Fall River.

Following the 6 p.m. Mass celebrated by Father Freddie Babiczuk, the club will have a hot meal in the church hall. The guest speaker is Sister Carole Mello, director of spiritual care at Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River. Any gentleman wishing to attend may do so. Call 508-672-8174 for reservations or more information.

1/12

The Divorced and Separated Support Group will begin a “Divorce Care Series” on January 12 beginning at 7 p.m. at St. Julie Billiart Parish, 494 Slocum Road in North Dartmouth. The video presentation will be “What’s Happened to Me?” which covers the pain of divorce and its effect on our lives. For more information call 508-678-2828, 508-993-0589 or 508-673-2997.

1/13

If your marriage is in trouble and you are considering separation or divorce, Retrouvaille can help you. The next New England Retrouvaille weekend will be held January 13-15. To register or for more information, call 800-470-2230 or visit www.HelpOurMarriage.com.

1/19

A Healing Mass will be celebrated at St. Anne’s Church, 818 Middle Street in Fall River on January 19 beginning with the praying of the Rosary at 6 p.m. Benediction and healing prayers will take place immediately following the Mass.

1/22

Cape Cod Bus for Life, Inc. has room available for anyone wishing to attend the March for Life in Washington, D.C. The bus will depart on January 22 and return on January 24. Cost includes bus transportation and a two-night stay at the Washington Court Hotel.

For more information call 508-291-0949.

1/22

The seventh annual Winter Brunch to benefit the St. Mary’s Education Fund will be held January 22 at the Coonamessett Inn, 311 Gifford Street in Falmouth, beginning at noon. Proceeds will provide “need-based” scholarships to children in need of financial assistance to attend one of the schools in the Diocese of Fall River. For reservations or more information call 508-759-3566.

1/22

The public is invited to a Pro-Life Hour of Prayer to be held on January 22 at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church, 80 Bay Street in Taunton beginning at 2 p.m. The holy hour will include exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Rosary prayer, and a presentation by Gregg Bettencourt. The hour of prayer is sponsored by the Taunton Deanery Pro-Life Committee in the diocese.

2/4

A Day with Mary will take place on February 4 from 8:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. at Our Lady’s Chapel, 600 Pleasant Street in downtown New Bedford. It will include a video presentation, procession and crowning of the Blessed Mother along with Mass, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and an opportunity for Reconciliation. There will be a book store available during breaks. For more information call 508-996-8274.

20

The Anchor

January 6, 2012

National Vocations Awareness Week takes place January 9-14

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The U.S. Catholic Church will celebrate National Vocation Awareness Week January 9-14 to promote vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and consecrated life through prayer and education.

This distinctive week gives Catholics an opportunity to renew prayers and support for those who are considering one of these vocations.

To advertise in The Anchor, contact Wayne Powers at 508-675-7151 or Email waynepowers@ anchornews.org

“It is our responsibility to help children and young people develop a prayerful relationship with Jesus Christ so they will know their vocation,” said St. Louis Archbishop Robert J. Carlson, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations.

“Through a culture of vocation in families, parishes, schools and dioceses, Catholics can nurture an environment of

discipleship, commitment to daily prayer, spiritual conversion, growth in virtue, participation in the Sacraments and service in community,” the archbishop said. “Without this environment, promoting vocations becomes simply recruitment.

We believe we have much more to offer our young people.”

People can visit the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Facebook page — www.

facebook.com/usccb — during the week to see examples of clergy and religious. They also can view reflections under the vocation retreat tab where each day a Scripture passage, reflection and prayer will be posted.

Resources for promoting National Vocations Awareness Week, such as prayer cards, Holy Hour materials, prayers of the faithful and bulletin-

ready quotes, are available on the USCCB vocations webpage at www.usccb.org/beliefs-andteachings/vocations.

National Vocation Awareness Week began in 1976 when the U.S. bishops designated the 28th Sunday of the year for this event. In 1997, the celebration was moved to coincide with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which will be January 9 in the new year.