t eanco VOL. 32, NO.2.
Friday, January 8, 1988
FALL RIVER, MASS.
FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
•
$8 Per Year
Social problems encyclical topic VATICAN CITY (NC) - POpt: say when it would be issued. VatiJohn Paul II has said he will soon . can sources said a draft of the docpublish .an encyclical on social ument was circulated among some problems that have arisen since Vatican departments weeks ago. Pope Paul VI's landmark encycli"On the Development of Peocal, "On the Development of Peo- ples" included an appeal for wealthy ples" ("Populorum Progressio"). nations to take '''concrete action" to promote development and corThe pope said the new docurect imbalances between rich and ment would commemorate the 20th poor peoples. Pope John Paul has anniversary of Pope Paul's pasmade similar appeals throughout toralletter and would be a continhis pontificate. ' uation of its teachings on social and economicjustice. He made the Pope Paul's encyclical was also announcement during a talk to critical o( liberal capitalism and Roman Curia officials. collectivist economic systems. In a An encyclical is a pastoral letter talk that marked the 20th anniveraddressed by the pope to the whole sary of its publication last March, Pope John Paul said the church's church. This will be Pope John Paul's seventh such letter. social teachings require such a The pope described Pope Paul's "penetrating critique" of both systems when "economic value is seen encyclical, published in 1967, as a "fundamental step" toward a great- as supreme." er church presence in the "draAt that time, the pope also noted matic situations of world peace that the two decades since publicaand development." tion of the encyclical had seen the "I n recalling the continuing releworsening of the international debt. vance of that great document, the Pope Paul's encyclical had warned [new] encyclical will also seek to about the dangers of excessive survey new themes and respond to borrowing by poor countries under new problems which have pres- terms which were to their longented themselves. on the same topic. term disadvantage. to the human conscience of today," Another probable topic of the the pope said. new encyclical, noted by the pope The pope did not say which specific new problems would be dealt with in the encyclical, nor did he
in his talk in March, was the effect of new technologies, including their uses against humanity.
Pro-lifers plan January events Local members of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, a pro-life organization, will travel to Washington, D.C. to participate in the annual Jan. 22 demonstration marking the anniversary of Roe Vs: Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Pro-life organizer Mary Ann Booth said an MCFL bus will leave New Bedford at about 10 a.m. Jan. 21. Sleeping accommodations will be provided at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in the capital city, she said, noting that travelers will ha ve an opportunity to partici pate in a national prayer vigil to be held there that evening. On the 22nd, diocesan participants will meet with other prolifers on the lawn in front of the Ellipse to hear speakers. Mrs. Booth said the round-trip bus ride will cost $35 per person.
She can be reached at 636-4903 for information and registration. Information on Washington buses from Attleboro is available from Alice McAndrews, 226-0292; for Cape Cod the contact person is Doreen Marinelli, 428-5402. All, especially those unable to travcl to the national demonstration, are invited to a local pro-life event sponsored by M CFL in conjunction with Lifeline Action Committee. A film, "Eclipse of Reason," will be shown at 4 p.m. Jan. 23 in New Bedford's Buttonwood Library. A brief candlelight ceremony will follow in Buttonwood Park. Mrs. Booth said she will give private screenings of the film by arrangement. She is also organizing carpooling for MCFL's annual Assembly (or Life, to be held at I p.m. Jan. 17 at Faneuil Hall, Boston, with pro-life writer Julie Loesch as the main speaker.
BISHOP DANIEL A. CRONIN holds his traditional holiday meetings with retired priests and with seminarians of the diocese. Retirees with the bishop are, from left front, Bishop James J. Gerrard and Father Thomas Landry, OP; rear, Father Maurice H. Lamontagne, Father William H. O'Reilly, Msgr. Daniel F. Shalloo, Father Daniel E. Carey, Father James F. Kenney. Msgr. Arthur G. Considine, Msgr. Maurice Souza, Father John G. Carroll. (Gaudette photos)
Is cable network way to go? NEWYORK(NC)- Thesecretary for communications of the U.S. Catholic Conference is recommending thanhe USCC join the new National Interfaith Cable Coalition developed by mainline church groups with encouragement from the cable television industry. The coalition plans later this year to launch the Vision Interfaith Satellite Network, which would carry programming developed by each faith group into the homes of cable TV subscribers. The USCC official, Richard H. Hirsch, said that the proposal that the USCC join the coalition will be considered at the Jan. 19-21 meeting of the USCC Committee on Communication in New York. Any recommendation of the committee would then go to the March meeting of the USCC Administrative Board, a 50-bishop panel which oversees USCC activities between general meetings of the U.S. bishops. Hirsch said the project began
with a call last spring from Robert Thompson. vice president of Telecommunications Inc. of Denver. owner of the largest multiple cable system - 8.1 million subscribers -- in mainline faith groups in a 24-hour ecumenical cable channel. The cable firm's interest, Hirsch said, arose from concern over the "electronic church" programming it had carried and the scandals that were claiming national attention. He said the firm felt that mainline faiths better renected the affiliations of cable subscribers. Hirsch said the Denver firm and other cable system owners are offering free access on one of their channels and also discussing contributing to the interfaith network's initial operating costs. "Once it reaches 14 million to 16 million subscribers, the network will be attractive as an advertising medium:' he said, "and then it can be supported by advertising." The proposal for joining, he said, will include a recommenda-
tion that the new network become the distribution vehicle for the Catholic Telecommunications Network of America, which was created by the U.S. bishops in 1981. At present, he said, CTN A programs go to dioceses, each of which must arrange their use on local cable systems. In places ~here Cathollcs are a small minority, their claims for time on cable systems do not carry much weight, he said. But under the new network system, he said, owners of multiple cable systems in different localities will distrib~ ute the programming on all their systems. Hirsch said he had emphasized to industry officials, however, that the proposal for a new ecumenical channel would not be acceptable if it were used as a justification for taking diocesan programs off other channels where they had previously secured time. Turn to Page Six
2
85 British martyrs are beatified
The Anchor Friday, Jan. 8, 1988
Non-priest parishes. set for Baltimore
VATICAN CITY (NC) Pope John Paul II, beatifying 85 martyrs killed during 16th and 17th-century 'persecution in England, said the church should rejoice that religious hostilities among Christians have ended. The pope's sermon during the beatification Mass struck an ecumentical tone. echoing statements made by Catholic and Anglican leaders in England before the ceremony. Declared blessed were Father George Haydock, an Englishman executed as a traitor in 1584, and 84 others from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. They were killed after England broke with the Roman Catholic Church to establish the Church of England. Beatification is one of the final steps before sainthood. "These martyrs gave their lives for their loyalty to the authority of the successor of Peter, who alone is pastor of the whole flock," the pope said.
BALTIMORE (NC) - The Baltimore archdiocese. addressing a priest shortage problem. will choose three parishes in each of the three vicariates to be headed by non-priest leaders. The vicar bishops of the archdiocese will identify the nine parishes of the 153 in the archdiocese that will participate in the new alternate staffing program. In early December the archdiocesan pastoral council unanimously approved a report outlining how parishes will be selected and managed. The non-priest leader. called a pastoral administrator., will have extensive theological training and will perform all the duties of a priest except for 'sacramental ministry. . A priest whose main ministry will be elsewhere will be assigned to celebrate Mass on weekends as well as to perform such sacramental duties as marriages. baptisms and funerals. Pope John Paul II spoke about the issue last spring. said Sheila Kelly. secretary of the department of personnel for the archdiocese. so the Vatican is aware of the problems of parish staffing in the United States. Other dioceses have experience in coping with the priest shortage. In the Diocese of New Ulm. Minn .. forexample. 18 of74diocesan parishes are run by administrators. . Ms Kelly said. Most often administrators are women religious: accori.li"ng to Ms. Kelly. who 'has "bee'n consulting archdiocesan groups to hear their concerns. "One of the major points is that this is not good theology. The leader of the community and the leader of the eucharistic celebration are ideally one and the same. I think people realize we're compromising theological tradition." At the December meeting of the archdiocesan pastoral 路council. Father Theodore K. Cassidy. pastor of St. Joseph, Sykesville. Md .. said, "We need priests who are at the heart of the faith communities. If this is a model for the Catholic Church of the future. it's a bad sign." Sister Rosalie Murphy, director of the division of collegial services. agreed that Father Cassidy's concern was "well-founded" and that the pastoral administrator idea is "at variance with the sacramental theology from Vatican I I."
No welcome mat MANILA, Philippines (NC)There will be more refugees than ever in the coming decade, but the world's welcome mat is no longer out, says Dr. Elizabeth Winkler, secretary general of the Genevabased International Catholic Migration Commission. Speaking in Manila, she said studies show the number of refugees worldwide will grow, but that governments almost everywhere are tending 路to deter them. The biggest task of aid groups is to lobby for more generous governmental response, she said, noting for example that there are 5 million Afghanistan refugees but only about 2,000 a year qualify for migration to the United States.
('
,
~..
...,.).: ':.. ~
.
"i<i;.
WORK PROGRESSES on the new Washington headquarters for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops/ U.S. Catholic Conference. The five-story, 180,000 square foot structure, to cost about $20 million, is targeted for occupancy next December. (NC photo)
Countdown nears for Bishop's Ball Young women representing 34 diocesan parishes will be presented to Bishop Daniel A. Cronin at the 33rd annual Bishop's Charity Ball. to begin at 8 p.m. Friday. Jan. 15. at White's of Westport on Route 6. Westport. The representatives will rehearse the presentati()n ceremonv at 6:30 p.m: Tuesday at White's.. At 9 p.m. Jan. 15. Bishop Cronin will be presented to ball-
goers by Miss Dorothy A. Curry. president of the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women, and Frank C. Miller, diocesan president of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. The presentee program and dancing will follow until 10 p.m., when the traditional Grand March will take place, followed again by dancing until I a.m. Music will be by the Monte and Rainone orchestras.
Bishop Cronin, introduced by Msgr. Anthony M. Gomes, PA, diocesan Ball director, will speak briefly on charitable undertakings supported by the social event. He will emphasize the work done with underprivileged and exceptional children at summer camps and through other diocesan programs. The bishop, guest of honor at the ball, will be making his 18th appearance at the event.
Jesuits blend ministry, study of skies TUCSON.Ariz.(NC)- MinisF h S . try in the scientific world black h' at er toeger studies such years old. Father Stoeger ex路 b' h t lOgs as black holes - hypotheti- plained . , . . holes an d specu IatlOn a out t e l Christmas star merit priestly inter~a .b?b~les I~I spac~, believed to be But sci.ence may provide insight est at the Jesuit-staffed Vatican ~VISI e co a~se s.tars, so con- ~or 100kIOg at some biblical acObservatory. ensed that neither IIgh~ nor ~at- counts - such as the story of the ' . h . ter can escape from theIr gravlta- Christmas star The obs t erva ory s maIO orne IS tional f eld . at Castel Gandolfo, site of the 1. S. .. Father Stoeger noted that astronpapal residence near Rome. but' He saId ~hat before .sclent~sts omers can trace the patterns of the a~d theologl~~S can beglO talking stars, pl.anets, sun and moon back the Vatican astronomers call Ste! e~e m ust be mutual understandto the tIme of the Magi, the wise ward Observatory on the Univer. Tucson 109 0 f terms. .' 0 fA'nzona campus 10 slty me n wh 0, M a tth ew'G s ospe I retheir second residence. "When a theologian talks about ports, saw the star and journeyed There three Jesuits work as fullcreation and a scientist talks about to worship the newborn Christ. lime astronomers. a ministry they creation they can mean very dif"By what we know now we can say allows them to be dedicated to ferent things. Strict science can't really run the system backward in time; both science and the church. talk about creation in the radical we can do that accurately," he se?se the t.heo.logian can," he said. sai? "One of the difficul!ies is . ~ne. of the astronomers, a speclalist 10 star spectrums, considers The sCIentIst has to have somewe re not sure of the exact tIme of himself a pastor in the world of thing which is not God ... before he Christ's birth." astronomy. can begin his studies," but the The date of Jesus' birth has been "My parish is the world ofastrontheologian has nothing to begin disputed by historians and theoloomy and the world of science" with but God, Father Stoeger gians alike and estimates range said Father Chris Corbally. ' added. from 12 B.C. to 4 A.~. The purpose of the Vatican ObHe said that "creative tension" F~ther Stoeger. saId that the servatory, Father Corbally said, can exist between church and sciChnstmas s~ar mIght not have "is to do science and to do good ence, but where conflict occurs it is been so promlOent to anyone unacscience. The other mission is to be often the result of misinterpretacustomed to frequent study of the that contact in the science ( comtions. sk~~s a~ we~e "h~ Magi. munity) for the church." One example is the fundamen-. I thtnk It IS Important to keep Another observatory staff memtalist interpretation of Scripture in mind that the report in the Bible that holds that Earth is only about where astrologers fr?m the East ber, Father Bill Stoeger, said that while the Vatican astronomers -may 4,000 years old when science reveals are apparently talktng ~bout a consider relationships among sciit is some 12 billion to 20 billion celeStial event or observatIon that ence, philosophy and theology, occurre~ may have been a more "that's not the main focus of our subtle light than what the story work but rather an important byChildren of Love leads us to believe," the priest said. product. We couldn't justify the "Let us love one another, because "Astrologers may have said,'Oh observatory by just doing that," he love comes from God. Whoever that wasn't there before, that's sig2 said. "We must be also deeply loves is a child of God and knows nificant,''' he suggested "whereas in~olved in a bona fide area of the normal person wou'ldn't have sCIence." God." - I In. 4:7 noticed."
That same kind of loyalty is demonstrated today, he said, by people who work for renewal of the church, particularly in the area of Christian unity. "We must all rejoice that the hostilities between Christians, which so shaped the age of these martyrs, are over, replaced by fraternal love and mutual esteem." he said. A Vatican decree said the martyrs were killed because of "hatred of the faith between 1584 and 1679." That was a period of persecution ofCatholics in England. particularly under Queen Elizabeth I. Among the group were 221ay men. including a printer, a bartender and stableman and a tailor. The pope praised the "courage and joy" with which they went to their death. "Blessed Nicholas Postgate welcomed his execution as 'a shortcut to heaven.' Blessed Joseph Lambton encouraged those who were to die with him with the words, 'Let us be merry, for tomorrow I hope we shall have a heavenly breakfast,''' the pope noted in his sermon. More than 2.000 Catholics from the United Kingdom and Ireland were present at the ceremony. along with many bishops. The Anglican Church also sent a representative.
Mrs. dos Santos Father Jose A. Ferreira dos Santos, parochial vicar at Immaculate Conception Church, New Bedford, will celebrate a month's mind Mass for his motller, Clementina D. Ferreira dos Santos, at II tomorrow morning at the parish. . Mrs. Santos, 85, died Dec. 9 in Porto, Portugal. The widow of Francisco Ferreira dos Santos, she is survived by two sons and a daughter in Porto as well as by Father dos Santos.
Director to leave WASHINGTON (NC) - Father Edward M. Bryce. executive director of the U.S. bishops' Office for Pro-Life Activities for the past 10 years, will leave his position to finish doctoral studies and return to his home diocese of Pittsbur~h.
THE ANCHOR -
Diocese of Fall River -
Fri., Jan. 8, 1988
3
Liturgists seek better participation in papal rites VATICAN CITY (NC) Liturgical experts and lay technicians recently met at the Vatican to study ways to improve participation in papal liturgical ceremonies in Rome and abroad. The 20 experts discussed rituals, music employed, levels of invol-' vement by those who attend, altar decor and aspects of television coverage, said a statement by the Office for Pontifical Ceremonies, which sponsored the meeting. It was chaired by recently appointed master of pontifical ceremonies Msgr. Piero Marini. Msgr. Marini is in charge of ceremonies at the Vatican and during papal trips. Masses along the papal itineraries are often megaevents celebrated on huge altars for hundreds of thousands of people. The group heard reports from liturgical planners for the pope's
past visits to Spain, West Germany and the United States. A brief Vatican statement said a number of ideas concerning specific types of ceremonies were proposed and would be studied by a smaller group at the Vatican. Speaking at the Vatican recently, the pope said singing at liturgical ceremonies could express the emotions felt by the congregation. "I hope you realize just how much you can assist the Christian assembly in drawing closer to thl; Lord, not only by delighting the ears of those who listen to you but by touching their hearts," he' told an international meeting of church singers.
The Truth "God grant that I may always be a lover and proclaimer of the Truth and for this Truth may I die." St. Catherine of Siena
$()/IIt1Mce
W~"e
RELIGIOUS STUDIES GRADUATE COURSES POPE JOHN PA UL II greets Dana in New Orleans. She is featured on the first album produced by the Daughters of St. Paul of Boston. (NC photo)
Spring
Daughters of St. Paul in record business experience, she turned to religious BOSTON (NC) - The Daughmusic. ters of St. Paul, a Boston-based order of nuns who specialize in' Dana recorded "Totally Yours" media, have created a new con- '(the pope's motto) for Word Retemporary music label called Kryscords in 1981 and the album "Let tal Records. There Be Love" afterward. Those Its first album, "No Greater successes \Vere followed by a gosLove," features Irish pop singer pel music tour of the United States Dana (pronounced Donna), who and appearances at crusades led sang for Pope John Paul II in New by the Rev. Billy Graham. Orleans during the pontiffs SepThe nuns heard her earlier this tember visit to the United States. year at a Palm Sunday youth rally The record venture is "an effort in Boston'. to reach out to a new generation "We were so impressed we asked through Christian music," said an her to come back to our studio to announcement of Krystal's formarecord," said Sister Salvatore. tion. Krystal plans to record a wide Sister Mary Salvatore, a member variety of Christian artists, from of the order and Krystal's director pop to contemporary Christian of promotions, said the nuns are rock with a special priority going "breaking the stereotypes" with to Catholic artists, the announcetheir new effort. But "once you get ment said. Its next album will be beyond the blue habits, you'll find "Let Me Live," by Crossroads, a that we're as much in tune with Maryland music group which has what's going on as anyone else," performed for youth retreats, Sisshe said. ter Salvatore said. Dana, who has been recording In general, the Christian music for more than 25 years, boasts sevmarket has been dominated by eral musical accomplishments, inProtestant groups with only one cluding a string of top-10 singles and TV appearances in Great Bri- Catholic singer, John Michael Talbot, making a significant dent in it. tain, the announcement said. About A new Catholic talent on the 20 years ago, after a conversion Christian music is Tom Franczak, a seminarian of the Los Angeles archdiocese who spreads the Gos~ pel through rock music. He has played for teen aud iences, recorded Seminarians Daniel Lacroix two albums arid is writing music of St. Mary parish. New Bed- . for a tltird. ford, and Geor~ Seales of OUf Lady of the Assumption~ "When the music i:s up and the Osterville, will be ordained to mess'age that is shared is posiiive," the transitional diaconate by. he said, teens get "a sense of the Bishop Daniel A. Cronin at an church trying to reach [them} iri a II a.m. Mass tomorrow at St. way they can understand." Mary's Cathedral, Fall River. Bob Rainey of Christian Books An. are welcome at the and Gifts in Omaha, Neb., said ceremony and priests of the most Catholics "aren't aware of diocese are invited to particiwhat's going on [in Christian music} pate in the Mass. and they're hesitant" to accept the songs, seemingly afraid that the
Ordination
I
music has some Protestant influences that could harm their faith. The fears are unfounded, Rai c ney said. . "Most of them are scripturally based," Rainey said. "I don't believe they're there to put down a teaching of the church, but to build up a teaching of Christ," he said. Catholics are being more and more accepting of the music, he said, adding, "The artists are starting to see that, and see Catholics as a wide-open market."
19,88
MASTERS PROGRAM IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES RELIGIOUS EDUCATION BIBLICAL STUDIES
Morality and Politi~ Rev. Paul M,..Seav,er, 0:1'.. .' . Fundamentalism ' . . Rev. Terence J. Keegan, O.P: Principles oi Moral Decision Rev. Lawrence J. Donohoo, O.P. The Creator and Creation Rev. John P. Mahoney, O.P. Mary: Woman, Virgin, Mother. Type of the Church Rev. Matthew F. Morry, O.P. For further information write: or call (401) 865·2274 (Classes begin January 25. 19881
Medieval Church History Rev. James F. QUigfey, O.P. Exili'c and Post-exilic Pr~phets . Sr. He/~n OWeUl" O,P.. Sacraments and Worship Sr. Mary Ann Follmar Message of New Testament Dr. Patrick V. Reid Ministry to Youth and Families Sr. Elaine Scully, R.S.M. Graduate Programs Religious Studies Department Providence College Providence, R.I. 02918
DIOCESAN DIRECTORY The 1988 edition of the Fall River Diocesan Directory and Buyers' Guide will be published this month. It will contain complete diocesan information and a much enlarged telephone directory of priests, directors of diocesan institutions, parish religious education coordinators and permanent·deacons. Also included are addresses of retired priests and those serving outside the diocese. New this year will be a complete list of priests and dates of priestly ordination. We are offering the directory at a special prepublication price of $3.50 per copy, plus $1 postage and handling (it will be $5 plus $1 postage and handling after publication). It may be ordered by telephone at 675-7151 or ,by mail, using the coupon below. Either way, your order should reach us by January 19 to qualify for the prepublication rate. ~Q~ ~
----~-----------~._------------------~---.----------------~-------------------------~-------~---
ANCHOR Publishing Co. PO Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722 "
,I
•
•
. ,
Please send GUIDE . me _ _' 'copy(ies) of ttre 1988 DIOCESAN DIRECTORY AND BWYERS' . _ _'Billme' '. _ _ Payment enclosed ($3.50 per copy plus $1 postage and ~andring) . '
"
NAME: ADDRESS:
--'---_ _--'--Street/PO Box
City
_ Zip
4
THE ANCHOR - Diocese of Fall River - Fri., Jan. 8, 1988
the. moorin~ "Decision 88" - Ugh!
"
Ten months to go and "Decision 88" is already a dud. How many more political antic's will the public be forced to endure before they wearily drag themselves to the polls in NoveIJ?ber? Perhaps the reason that so relatively few Americans vote is because so many are fed up with the campaign sideshow. All'in all, there is little doubt that each year the system engenders more flaws and faults. Even those who endorse the blemished concept that ours is the best of democracies are beginning to see that it is also weary. On both the Democratic and Republican sides of the aisle, it's hard to fathom the general integriity of those who seek the highest office in the land. The first question that surfaces is how can senators, representatives and governors leave their elective positions to spend so much time elsewhere. There are, for instance, more candidates in Iowa than cows. Our own governor has spent more time in Dubuque and Council Bluffs than in Somerset and Mansfield, two towns in the state in which he supposedly functions as governor. There are some who say that campaigning does not affect the activity of the office to which a particular candidate has been elected. Ifo that be the case, why have such positions to begin with? If they can be operated on an absentee basis, it would seem that they are an unnecessary drain on the hardearned dollars of the taxpayer. And speaking about dollars, what about the 'bucks the candidates receive from federal matching funds? Each and every one of the present list of stars has declared his intention to fight fiscal extravagance, reshape the budget and reduce the deficit. Not one has offered to contribute to these goals and objectives by returning his surplus to the public coffers. No, to a man, they need the money desperately to keep national television and local newspapers profitable. Political advertising is a . ver-y expensive capitalistic gimmick. Aside 'from the mutual detraction and defamation so often a part of such advertising, candidates must pay cash on the line to attack one another. The vast campaign coffers are squandered on personal vendettas. And they call this the American way? But this use of funds cannot be blamed entirely on the officeseekers. After all, the media supply the public with as much scandal as they can uncover on each candidate. Indeed, to date Decision 88 makes Dynasty look like Disneyland. Campaign rhetoric might lack substance but it's full of juicy tidbits, especially in the area of political infighting. Never have so many candidates played such dirty tricks so early in a campaign. N or can we forget the wives and girlfriends who have added so much spice to the race that it has become an unending emotional saga, all captured on videotape for future generations. As we enter into the election year itself, dare we hope that the American dream not continue to be turned into a I:1ightmare. The leadership our nation so desperately seeks and needs should flo~ from a base of integrity and sincerity. But the present campaign is offering voters few opportunities to judge those all-important qualities in the candidates for the presidency. And sad to say, the months ahead do not promise much improvement in that area. To date: Decision 88--Ugh! The Editor
.
~
~.
Ii, OFFICIAL 'rublish~d
I,
NEWSPAPER Of !tfE DIOCESE ~FFALL weekly by The. Catholtc Press of the Dtoceseof ' 410 Highland Avenue Fall River Man, 02722 675路7151
~"
PUBLISHER
Most
RI:Y.
Daniel A. Cronin, D.O., U.D. FINANCIAL ADMIN1STRA Ms,!r.Jloh!l 'J. ,t>~& .... '"
--
NC photo
GUATEMALAN CHILD IS AMONG THOSE AIDED BY CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES
"Whoever gives one of these little ones a cup of cold water... will not lose his reward." Matt. 10:42
Helping poor to earn living WASHINGTON - Helpingthe poor earn income has become a major focus of Catholic Relief Service efforts in Central America. said the senior director of the agency's Latin America-Caribbean regional office. "Until 20 years ago, charity was. seen as the only way for the church to help poor people," said Terence Martin in a Washington interview. Today, he said, funding community-run cooperatives or credit unions, training workers and creating jobs are seen by CRS as just as acceptable. CRS is the U.S. bishops' overseas relief and development agency. "In countries where people are completely ,without resources, entirely down and out, economic development may not be the appropriate response. First you've got to get people on their feet," said Martin. But in nations "where people just need a little help to get an economic process started," development projects are seen as the most effective way to "help the people escape from poverty," he said. "Your response has to reflect the local reality." He said CRS' increased focus on economic development in the region has resulted from recent growth in the personal income of Latin Americans and a new emphasis by the U.S. Catholic Church on economic justice. Martin cited the U.S. bishops' 1986 pastoral letter on the U.S. economy, which he said has resulted in an "evolving sense of Christian responsibility to the poor" among U.S. Catholics.
The aim ofCRS is nop-political, said Martin. "Our ambition is to promote economic development," he said. "Most - virtually all governments swear allegiance to that ambition. So, in principle, it should be possible to work almost everywhere without difficulty." In practice, however, "governments might perceive as political an activity which doesn't have any political content," said Mart,in. In his experience it is rare that such a heated situation has.developed that it would "pose any risk to the agency," he said, adding "we take prudent steps to avoid provocation." But CRS will not remain in a nation in which it is not allowed to be faithful to its "commitment to the principles of the American church and the universal church," said Martin. He said it would be inefficient and unwise for CRS to re-open an office in Nicaragua, where the agency currently finances 33 development projects that are supervised from its office in Costa Rica. In Nicaragua "it is diffi~ult for an American agency to avoid atternpts on the part of one party or another to get the agency identified with (its) particular cause," said Martin. CRS operated an office in Nicaragua until 1984. "We want to serve all the people in Nicaragua, all the church of Nicaragua," he said. "In the highly partisan environment that Nicaragua is now, it's easier to have an office somewhere else and visit," Martin said.
Examples of CRS projects in Central America are: - A program to train "health promoters" in a squatters' slum located on the side of a deep ravine next to the Guatemala City garbage dump. Residents, who live in huts made of corrugated cardboard sheet metal, suffer from malnutrition, infections from parasites and worms, anemia and respiratory diseases. Most migrated to the city in recent years to escape the violence in rural Guatemala or to look for work. Government health programs are inadequate and, with average monthly income of$20 for a family of six, residents cannot afford private health care. - An agricultural cooperative operating in the rural area surrounding the central Nicaraguan town of Teustepe. Four families with marginal incomes were able to band together and with CRS funds purchase land, basic farm machinery, seed and cattle. To join the cooperative, residents must agree to put their children in school. - Potable water projec~s in the Guatemalan province of Solola; where the lack of purified drinking water is blamed for a high incidence of intestinal diseases. Diarrhea and related illnesses are principal causes of high rates of infant and child mortality in the region. The projects are constructed by local community groups with CRS funds in an attempt to improve hygiene in the area, reduce the incidence of water-related diseases, and involve rural Guatemalans in resolving their own health problems.
Parental successes She sat in one of my parenting seminars, t~ars rolling down her cheeks, as she told us of her great failure in parenting. It seems six months earlier, she got into a power struggle with her 14-year-old and it escalated into a full-blown scene in which they reminded each other of past hurts and failings. He slammed out of the house, went to a friend's and in the heat of anger, told all. The friend's mother called and said, "Joe says he wants to live here. We're willing to let him, if it's okay with you." The mother was devastated. Well, both mother and son cooled down, he came home, they apologized to one another and, I suspect, will someday laugh a little over the affair. But she's still grieving over it. She won't let it go because she views a somewhat typical parent-teen confrontation as a failure rather than an opportunity to learn how not to fight. I asked her what she learned from the scene. She said, "I learned to stop before we say hurtful things that we don't mean but remember forever." "If you learned that, your parenting was not a failure but a success," I said. "We all make mistakes, say things we wish we hadn't, and react with anger we don't
know we possess. Now your task is to put it away and get on with life." "But it's so hard," she said. "I keep remembering him saying, 'I hate you and I can't wait to get out of here.' " "Did anyone else here ever hear a child say in anger, 'I hate you'?" I asked. Most hands went up and the ensuing discussion on how children say such things in anger without meaning them helped soothe the mother's fears. My next question startled her. "You have shared with us your great failure in parenting. Now I would like you to share with us one of your memorable successes. We're a lot better at remembering our failures than our successes. What did you do right?" She thought a bit and then related a situation with her daughter which she handled well. I then asked the group to share the same and found a wealth of shared successes. We need to focus on our successes as well as our failures if we're to remain confident parents. Yet I find that most parents dwell on past failures. We can relate with ease all those things we handled poorly, all the mistakes we made and all the comments we wish we hadn't made. I am as guilty as the next parent. How often I catch myself thinking, "I wish I had done .. ." or "If only I
Listen to the Spirit! The growing shortage of priests in the United States "is an institutional problem, not a spiritual problem," according to a new book by Dr. Dean R. Hoge of The Catholic University of America. His book, "The Future of Catholic Leadership: Responses to the Priest Shortage," was published by Sheed and Ward and is the product of three years of research on U.S. Catholic priests, seminarians, vocation trends and attitudes of adult and college-age Catholics. Hoge says the institutional options that might be employed to curb the crisis fall into several . categories: ordain married men; restore some resigned priests to active ministry; institute a limited term priesthood; ordain women; drop the celibacy requirement. Hoge contends that angry mothers or a decline in the faith of our youth are not responsible for the priest shortage. This latter contention has caused a heated debate between sociologists and church officials. In 1981 Pope John Paull I argued that the vocations shortage is "part of the spiritual crisis which exists in the whole of modern civilization." Insteacl of asking which argument is correct, we might want to ask some further questions. For it is a fact that there is a priest shortage and the number of seminarians is dropping. If as Hoge states, youth have a strong desire to serve the church, why aren't they identifying with the priesthood? What is unattractive to them? Why aren't more youth dreaming of a life dedicated to the service of the altar? If, as the pope argues, there is a spiritual crisis, what is the reason for it? Why aren't more people identifying with the spiritual life of
the church? Where has the attractiveness weakened? What are the blocks? On the flip side, what distracts people from the spiritual and from the priesthood? The church is a Spirit-endowed society; ultimately the Holy Spirit is running everything. This being true, what is the Spirit telling us by allowing a shortage of priests? Were we top-heavy with priests? Is the Spirit creating a better balance in the church? Do the priesthood statistics need to bottom out in order to rebound to new heights? Or should the priesthood remain weak so that through weakness God can better accomplish his work? These questions are not intended to confuse the priest shortage issue further, but to make the point that we are dealing ultimately with a mystery. Does anyone really know what causes a person to identify with one thing and not another? Why a. person is attracted or not attracted to something and how the Holy Spirit works? When we admit we are dealing with mystery we become more humble. Perhaps if all concerned parties were more humble and not
Limited support ROME (NC) - The Vatican supports the U.S.-Soviet treaty eliminating short- and intermediate-range nuclear weapons but is reservingjudgment about the longterm effect of the agreement, said Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, Vatican secretary of state. "Prudence always is in season," he recently said. Superpower summit activities were "followed with much attention, sympathy and encouragement, but we reserve a little of our judgment on the future," he added.
THE ANCHOR - Diocese of Fall River - Fri., Jan. 8, 1988
By DOLORES CURRAN
had .. ." Negative thinking can become habitual. In an attempt to offset this tendency, I am inviting mothers and fathers to share their memorable successes in parenting with me and readers. I will put the most creative and memorable in a future column, trusting that other parents may pick up some lived-experience tips. Just begin your letter with, "My most memorable success as a parent was ..." and send it to me in care of Alt Publishing Co., P.O. Box 400, Green Bay, WI 54305. I can't promise I will use all letters - in fact, I caution I won't be able to use all- but I do hope that you will think back to earlier problems and standoffs in your parenting and admit your brilliance in handling them. At times we need to say, "I am really good." I hope we hear from grandparents and greats, too, because you have much to offer the rest of us. As I've written before, you are our sages, keepers of the wisdom, so don't hoard it. Share it!
By FATHER EUGENE HEMRICK
so sure they really knew the answers, more people might come forward and help us solve the problem of the priest shortage.
Jan. 9 1982, Rev. William F. Morris, Pastor, Corpus Christi, Sandwich Jan. 10 1919, Rev. Jourdain Charron D.P., Dominican Priory, Fall Rive; 1938, Rev. George H. Flanagan, Pastor, Immaculate Conception, Fall River 1977, Rev. Msgr. Emmanuel Sousa de Mello, Our Lady of Lourdes, Taunton Jan. 13 1954, Rev. Emile Plante, M.S., LaSalette Seminary, Attleboro Jan. 14 1977, Rev. John J. Lawler, M.M., Maryknoll Missioner Jan, 15 1948, Rev. Thomas F. Kennedy, Pastor, St. Joseph, Woods Hole 1?77, Rev. Msgr. John E. Boyd, Retired Pastor, St. Patrick, Wareham 111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
THE ANCHOR (USPS-545-Q20). Second Class Postage Paid at Fall River, Mass. Published weekly except the week of July 4 and the week after Christmas at 410 Highland Avenue, Fall River, Mass. 02720 by the Catholic Press of the Diocese of Fall River. Subscription price by mail, postpaid $8.00 per year. Postmasters send address changes to The Anchor, P.O. Box 7 Fall River, MA 02722. '
Just do the best you can Q. I have multiple sclerosis and .accompanying problems. This past year I have been in and out of the hospital and when home I am limited to varying degrees. My confusion is about attendance at Mass and receiving the .Eucharist. When I am totally incapacitated, I can accept Father or a lay eucharistic minister bringing me the Eucharist. But the times I can be up and about, walking or going out by car for appointments, I feel I must make the effort to attend in person, I live alone and in order to get to church special arrangements must be made. I cannot say from week to week what my condition will be. I want to follow what I should do but I am not certain what exactly this is. I don't want to burden others unnecessarily. ,(Pennsylvania) A. You have a heavy cross. I'm sure your priest and eucharistic ministers would say what I am saying: Be peaceful about the situation and don't feel you are pushed to go or not go to Mass. Your heart is obviously in the right place. You are fortunate to have a priest and other ministers in your parish who understand and want to care for you. They will be happy for you when you are able .. to go to Mass. Even if you call at the last minute to tell them you will or will not try to go, they will understand. They know you are doing much . for your parish and for others by offering your prayers and sufferings for them. Q. Please tell me whether a divorced Catholic can be a godparent. I have heard many stories of persons being divorced and remarried and being a sponsor at baptism. One person said the church says no. Another says it is allowed ifthe person is in good standing with the church. Could you clarify this? (New Jersey) A. During the baptism ceremony, parents and godparents alike several times, in one way or another, express their faith and commit themselves to being a model and example to the person baptized in living out that faith. Obviously only someone who is routinely living a full sacramental life in the church and one whose life decisions have not precluded such a sacramental life honestly can make this sort of commitment. For this reason the church expects a sponsor at baptism to be a practicing Catholic, modeling among other things regular reception of the sacraments which is essential to the Catholic life the baptized child will be expected to live as he or she grows. Canon law (No. 874) says a sponsor must "be a Catholic who has been confirmed and has already received the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist and leads a life in harmony with the faith and the role to be undertaken." The introduction to the Rite of Christian Initiation says the same.
5
By FATHER JOHN DIETZEN
The child's godparents, it explains, are added spiritually to the immediate family of the one to be baptized and represent mother church. "As occasion offers, he (the sponsor) will be ready to help the parents bring up their child to profess the faith and to show this by living it" (No.8). Q. I am confused about something I read recently concerning lectors at Mass. An article in our Catholic paper said that the "ministries of lector and acolyte were no longer reserved only for those about to be ordained. They continue to be canonically restricted to men, although 'women lectors are commonplace in U.S. parishes." lhat seems to imply that women lectors for Mass are not approved by the church. Is that true? In the' same article someone at the the recent synod on the laity was quoted as including permanent deacons as "lay ministers." I know you said recently in a column that permanent deacons should not be referred to that way. Which is correct? (Massachusetts) A. Since the article you speak of was syndicated, I have seen it twice myself. The quotes you give are ambiguous at least. The church does. have a liQlenlD formal rite for what it call~ "instituting'; me~ as lectors (readers) and acolytes. Candidates for ordination as deacons and priests are to receive institution in these ministries as part of their preparation for sacred orders. In that sense, the ministry oflector is limited to men. However, at least since 1969 with the approval of Pope Paul VI,. and in accord with a policy reaffirmed by the church several times since then, women have served and, of course, continue to serve perfectly legitimately as lectors, ministers of the Word at Mass. Since they have received the sacrament of holy orders, permanent deacons share in the 路role and responsibilities of clergy in the church. They are not technically or properly referred to as lay ministers. A free brochure answering questions many ask about Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is available by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Father John Dietzen, Holy Trinity Parish, 704 N. Main St., Bloomington, III. 61701. Questions for this column should be sent to Father Dietzen at the same address.
Vietnamese advised VATICAN CITY (NC) - The Vietnamese family should be a center offaith, formation and prayer, PopeJohn Paul II said during a weekly general audience. The pope said vocations to the priesthood and religious life should be a pastoral priority for Vietnamese Catholics, including those who have left the country. He spoke to 25 Vietnamese priests meeting in Rome to discuss pastoral care to Vietnamese outside their homeland.
6
The Anchor Friday, Jan. 8, 1988
.U.S. housing needs help, USCC official tells senators
John Gilmary Shea award to Powell WASHINGTON (NC) - A "striking new interpretation of the fifth crusade's historical and social impact" has been awarded the American Catholic Historical Association's John Gilmary Shea Prize. James M. Powell. professor of history at Syracuse Univeristy. won the prize for his book" Anatomy of a Crusade. 1213-1221." The award was announced at the association's recent annual meeting Washington. During the meeting Bernard F. Reilly. professor of medieval history at Villanova University. Villanova. Pa .. took office as association president.
Cable
Other officers are Dr. Annabelle M. Melville. Commonwealth professor emerita of Bridgewater State College. Bridgewater. first vice-president and 1989 presidentelect and Maurice R. O'Connell. professor of. modern Irish history at Fordham University. second vice-president. The John Gilmary Shea Prize honors the 19th century historian of U.S. Catholicism. It is given yearly to the U.S. or Canadian author whose book. in the judgment of the awards committee. has made the most original and significant contribution to historical research writing about the Catholic Church. Powell is also the author of "Innocent III: Vicar of Chris't or Lord of the World?" "The Civilization of the West" and "The Liber Augustalis or Constitutions of Melfi." He edited "Medieval Studies: An Introduction."
12th black bishop WASHINGTON (NC) - Pope John Paul II has named Divine Word Father Curtis J. Guillory auxiliary bishop of GalvestonHouston. Texas, making him the 12th black bishop in the United States. The new bishop is director of the New Orleans archdiocesan Black Ministries Office and of the Augustine Tolton House of Studies in New Orleans. He has also been assistant provincial of his order's southern province since 1984.
MAIREAD CORRIGAN MAGUIRE
NC photo
"Ordinary housewife" is Nobel prizewinner By Bill Pritchard WASHINGTON (NC) - Mairead Corrigan Maguire is a 43year-old Northern Irish Catholic housewife who daily washes her auto mechanic husband's greasy clothes. does the family shopping. then at night helps her children with their homework. She likes to emphasize the ordinariness of her life. But Mrs. Corrigan Maguire also has huddled with major politicians. lost a tooth to a crowd angry at her views, been threatened with death by Irish terrorists and traveled internationally with a message of peace.
Sunday, January 10
.
WASHINGTON (NC) - The ernment cuts have "condemned U. S. housing situation is in "disasmillions of American families to trous shambles" and demands an live in poor housing, with tens of increase in government-subsidized thousands of families swelling the housing and a change in policy homeless." affecting home-buyers, a U.S. The church has made "stopgap Catholic Conference official reefforts" with temporary shelters cently told a Senate subcommittee. and funding programs to help these The official, Father J. Byran people, he said. Hehir, USCC secretary for social But "the church alone cannot development and world peace, deprovide a significant quantitative cried the current U.S. housing answer to the cries for better houssituation in a "position paper" ,ing," he said. "This is not its speprepared for the Senate Subcomcific role, nor does it have the mittee on Housing and Urban financial and technical resources . Affairs. to build all the required homes." He presented the paper at the He listed several reasons for the request of Sen. Alan Cranston, Dcrisis, including high interest rates, Calif., committee chairman. land speculation and urban flight. The paper, which the USCC made public, urged government to "develop a public policy based on the right to shelter".and to "form a strategy" to implement that policy. , Continued from Page One Father Hehir said the strategy Although the network is ecumust expand the supply of subsidmenical. Hirsch said. each faith ized housing, preserve and modgroup will have time for presenternize existing subsidized housing, ing material from its own perspecdirect federal programs and money tive. and it will not be necessary to to benefit low-income persons and have everything "watered down" develop emergency housing while to what every group eQuid endorse. permanent housing is being built. But there will also be cooperative He added that the church has efforts to present programs emphamade "stopgap efforts" to offset sizing the common features of the the crisis caused by government American religious heritage. he cuts in housing, but long-term said. solutions by government are He said a Southern Baptist cable needed. TV network and Mother AngeliFather Hehir cited statistics to ca's Eternal Word Television Netshow that the current housing criwork have decided they will not sis, wherein the number of homejoin because each is already runless. people "multiplies monthly" ning 24-hour programming and and "tens of thousands of people" they "don't see how they could are forced "to live in the streets," maintain their own identity" in the has reached into the middle class. new network. The median price of a home in " Hirsch said the new network 1970 was $23,400, he said. In 1986, could provide the long-range anthe median home cost was $110,000. swer to CTNA's financial probSince 1983 the cost of housing lems. The immediate effect probahas spiraled by 46 percent, he said, bly would not be great. he said. but but at the same time there has been there could be "significant impact" only an II percent increase in famwhen the network began generatily income. ing advertiser support for program Father Hehir called for more subsidized housing and said gov- . and operations funds.
2:00 P.M.
HEALING SERVICE
REV. ANDRE PATENAUDE, M.S. Sunday Devotions - 2:00 P.M. January 17 - 24 - 31
MARIAN YEAR PRESENTATION WITH BENEDICTION
---------------------JANUARY DAILY SCHEDULE
Masses Monday-Friday 12:10 & 5:10 Saturdays 12:10 & 7:30 Confessions Monday-Friday 1:00 - 2:30 Saturdays 1:00 - 5:00 6:30 - 7:25 Sundays 1:00 - 5:00
P,M. P.M. P.M. P.M. P.M. P.M.
--------------------------~vents.
Please call or write for the Winter Calendar of
Besides being a housewife and mother offive in a quiet neighborhood an hour from downtown Belfast. Northern Ireland: Mrs. Corrigan is a Nobel laureate who for the past II years has worked to reconcile the Catholics and Protestants of her strife-torn British province. Lately she has been pushing for a bill of rights to put legal weight behind the campaign for fair treatment ofN orthern Ireland's Catholic 'minority and is supporting a move to establish mixed Protestant-Catholic schools. "What we're trying to do is through non-violence bring about social and political justice." she said in an interview while in Washington to talk with members of Congress about pressuring Britain for the bill of rights. Back home. Mrs. Corrigan Maguire said. "some people are just now taking a conscientious decision to become real Christians." Her career in promoting peace began with violence. On Aug. 10, 1976, an Irish Republican Army getaway car, its driver slain by a British bullet. crushed to death three of her sister's children in the Andersonstown section of Belfast. The tragedy touched off what became the community of Peace People movement. Within a few days, the movement linked thensingle Mairead Corrigan with Betty Williams, a Catholic married to a Protestant, who had witnessed the incident. They joined forces when Miss Corrigan invited Mrs. Williams to the children's funeral. Al~~~ _~!.t!:.-j~~r_~alist Ciaran'
McKeowan they organized the movement a"nd pursued a campaign of marches, rallies and publicity aimed at stopping the violence. The movement has grown to include a farm and camps for Protestant and Catholic.youths and a program to provide non-partisan help for families of imprisoned members of illegal paramilitary organizations.. . In the fall of 1976, Miss Corrigan and Mrs. Williams were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. A year later, after an international grassroots campaign on their behalf, they were given the award. But "I was very, very sad" that McKeowan was not included in the award, Mr.s. Corrigan Maguire said. "The media zoomed in on the women's thing," she said. McKeowan eventually began a typesetting business. Mrs. Williams was divorced and moved to Florida, where she married an electrical engineer in 1982. Miss Corrigan married her brother-in-law, Jackie Maguire, after her sister committed suicide. Jackie brought his three surviving children to the marriage, and the couple has had two more since. Ofthe threefounders, Mrs. Corrigan alone remains active in the Peace People movement. But she said that except for occasional internatioOltl trips. lind a couple of d.+짜 _' I , ~ .,:~.ti.o.
.i.
..".,
~
nights a week at the Peace People's Belfast center, "I am essentially at home with my children." Other volunteers and staff of the movement "do most of the work," she said. One of the movement's projects is establishing small schools with student bodies divided equally between Protestants and Catholics. Five such schools exist in the pro- . vince. But "there has been opposition to this from the Catholic and the Protestant hierarchies," said Mrs. Corrigan Maguire. Because of tradition and history, there is no chance for "totally integrated education in the north," she said. But it could work on a small scale if the~churchescould encourage" the effort, she added. Mrs. Corrigan Maguire indicated little interest in the longstanding campaign by some groups for reuniting the six counties of Northern Ireland with the Irish republic. "We have to work at becoming friends [in the north) and that's a lifetime's work," she said. "We're not a violent people," Mrs. Corrigan Maguire said of her fellow Catholics. "If there'sjustice tomorrow morning in Northern Ireland," she added, Catholics would say" 'let's make it 'work':"':' . ! . ' lit .
r:,
Priest cares for homeless C ouldn't be better Dear Joe Motta: Your article, "God loves variety. Anne Austill's got it" (Anchor, Dec. 18) is great. It just couldn't be better. What a good writer and reporter you are! Anne Austill Cataumet
Superbly done Dear Pat McGowan: Congratulations and thanks for a job superbly done for the Dominican Centennial (Anchor, 11{20). It will be a precious souvenir for many: Dominicans, parishioners and friends of ours. Father Moore has a well-written editorial and the article on "the legendary Father MarchiIOon" pleased a lot of people who knew him. Father Pierre E. Lachance, OP Prior, Sf. Anne's Dominican Community Fall River
Sisters'salaries hiked to lay levels INDIANAPOLIS (NC) Archbishop Edward T. O'Meara of Indianapolis has directed that 192 nuns working for the archdiocese be paid salaries equivalent to that of their lay counterparts starting July I, 1989. "Past methods of compensation for members of religious communities are not adequate to meet the needs of today,n Archbishop O'Meara said. Currently, nuns working for the archdiocese receive a stipend of $820 a month regardless of education, training or experience. After July I, 1989, non-ordained religious will receive compensation equivalent to what a lay employee receives for the same service: professional salaries for professional positions and hourly wages for hourly pOl'itions. As with the stipend, the money will be forwarded to the nun's community. The nuns' gross salaries will be reduced by an amount equivalent to the federal income tax withheld for lay people. Those who take a vow of poverty normally are not subject to income taxes because salaries are paid to their orders, which are tax-exempt because they provide social services, usually through schools, hospitals and social agencies, which otherwise would have to be provided by the government. Archbishop O'Meara also ordered that nuns receive the same benefits as laypersons for identical or comparable positions and that retirement compensation for nuns working for the archdiocese be increased from the present amount of $800 to $2,000 annually, beginning in fiscal 1989. The increases do not affect currently retired nuns, who are expected to benefit from a national collection recently approved by U.S. bishops, Archbishop O'Meara said. They "in no way impinge on the sisters' vow of poverty since payments will be made to their communities," he added. He said he is "continually impressed" because religious truly live the evangelical counsels. "They really live their vow of po,:erty."
NC photo
DOLORES LECKEY
Laity director gets new post WASHINGTON (NC) - Dolores Leckey, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat on the Laity, has been'named to head the newly established Secretariat for Laity and Family Life of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. The new secretariat will serve the NCCB Committees on Laity, Family Life and Women, and will also be concerned with youth and young adult ministry. Mrs. Leckey has served as the first executive director for laity "with distinction for a decade," said Msgr. Daniel F. Hoye, NCCB general secretary, in announcing the appointment. "It is only right that she should head the new effort." One of the first projects of the new secretariat will be a national meeting for diocesan commissions on women to be held Jan. 12-14 in Tampa, Fla. Mrs. Leckey is to deliver the keynote address. Other priorities for the new secretariat will come from a document called "The Family Perspective," soon to be published for the bishops' Committee on Marriage and Family Life. Mrs. Leckey, who was an adviser to the U.S. bishops' delegation to the' October world Synod of Bishops on the laity, joined the NCCB and its twin organization, the U.S. Catholic Conference, in 1977. She has worked in public and private schools and colleges, on a seminary faculty, and in educational and public television. She has been a consultant to parishes and dioceses as well as a leader of conferences and retreats. She earned a bachelor's degree in literature, theology, and philosophy from St. John's University in New York. Mrs. Leckey has done graduate work in Elizabethan literature at New York University, and holds a master's degree in adult education from George Washington University, where she has done doctoral studies. She holds four honorary doctorates. She has written books on spirituality and on the laity's role in the church, as well as numerous articles. She is also a columnist for Faith Today, a publication of the National Catholic News Service. Mrs. Leckey and her husband, Thomas, have four children.
SALT LAKE CITY (NC) - Everyone is homeless at one time or another, said a priest from San Diego who is a self-proclaimed "hustler" for the homeless. "Young married couples just getting started who live with their parents are homeless people. So are people who are in transit from one job to another, from one state to another," said Father Joseph Carroll, president of San Diego's St. Vincent de Paul Center. "Anyone who has had to look for a different place to live has been homeless," said the priest, speaking in Salt Lake City to kick off a Shelter the Homeless campaign. Father Carroll said every U.S. city has its share of homeless residents. Ignoring the situation is no solution, said the priest,. "Problems go away, not because you ignore them, but because you address them, manage them and eventually solve them." Shelters for the homeless should be beautiful buildings which instill dignity in the homeless and in which a community can take pride, Father Carroll said. He insisted that they should be operated in the central city. "These people are city-oriented people. Downtown
THE ANCHOR -
Diocese of Fall River -
in any city is where they are and downtown is where you build your c;ity shelter." Originally from the Bronx, in 1983 Father Carroll opened a shelter for 290 homeless people in the San Diego area and began Share, a food-sharing program.
Fri., Jan. 8, 1988
The priest, who recently completed an $11 million campaign to shelter the homeless in San Diego, describes himself as "a hustler who will do anything to raise funds." He suggests that a course in fundraising be included in seminary curriculums.
BISHOP FEEHAN HIGH SCHOOL MAKE-UP ·PLACEMENT EXAM For Prospective Students
SATURDAY, JANUARY 9
8:00 A.M. to 11:45 A.M.
TEST fEE $5.00 70 Holcott Drive, Attleboro, MA (~ ... ~ Tel. 222-6073
HOUSE OF AFFIRMATION ACCENT ON CARE: QUALITY AND EXPERIENCE
The House of Affirmation responds to the needs of religious professionals (clergy, religious, and laity) through residential and consulting therapeutic centers, research, and education. All programs promote the integration of the physical, psychological, and spiritual dimensions of the developing human person in the context of the therapeutic community. Consulting Centers offer: • • • • •
outclient individual and group therapies candidate assessment community consultation education programs seminars
Residential Centers offer: a holis~ic treatment program in an intensive therapeutic communJty setting with a transitional services component • a three-day''OOmprehensive psychologicaJ assessment program • the same outclie~t and educational services offered through the Consulting Centers .
•
For additional information, contact: Wilfrid L. Pilette. MD Clinical Director House of Affirmation 120 Hill Street Whitinsville. Massachusetts 01588 (617) 234-6266
7
Should we have a senior section?
We at The Anchor have long realized that many of our subscribers are older Catholics who have contributed to their parishes and to Catholic life in general for many years. We would like to know whether readers in this category would enjoy a special section of the newspaper. We would envisage it as including a senior column, news of senior activities in parishes, features and photographs
of older Catholics inside and outside the diocese and occasional information about special offers for seniors. This page is a sample of what such a section might offer. If yo.u like it and want it to continue, please fill in and send us the coupon below or telephone Pat McGowan at 675-7048. Thanks for your interest!
Honesty and public morality By Bernard Casserly Whatever happened to honesty? Though Americans rank it as our most valuable character trait, more than 70 percent of all U.S. adults say they are dissatisfied with honesty and standards of behavior today. Not since Watergate have Americans been as concerned about public morality, according to a benchmark study made by U.S. News and World Report magazine and the Cable News Network (CNN). The survey was made last February by the Roper Organization, well before the Iran-Contra hearings. More recent opinion sampling may show even greater concern about the state of honesty today. Are standards of behavior worse now than in the good old days? The Roper poll asked whether people are more honest today than 10 years ago; 54 percent felt we are less honest. Nostalgia convinces us that things were better way back when, but we didn't have polls then. One of the first, the Literary Digest poll, set opinion back for years when it predicted Alf Landon would defeat Franklin Roosevelt for the presidency in 1936. When Ambrose Bierce defined diplomacy as "the patriotic art of lying for one's country" around the turn of the century, he was expressing a view of our political leaders that has changed very little. Leaders of Congress ranked lowest in honesty, the U.S. News/ CNN study claimed, with 28 percent of responding adults saying our leaders often do not tell the truth on important matters. Only slightly better was the President; 24 percent said he often lies. Local newspapers were seen to be almost as bad by 20 percent of those surveyed. So whom can we trust, if our leading politicians and newspapers are out? Members of the clergy always tell the truth, 49 percent said. Next come doctors, with48 percent. Spouses rank next, with 40 percent. These figures, which indicate more than half of us fear we are being lied to, are more than disturbing. If everybody is lying, why should anybody tell the truth? With American behavior standards seen in such a sorry state, it is easy to understand the growing efforts to restore religion to the curriculum of our pubhc schools. When the teaching of religion is banned, and right and wrong are off limits, what's a student to think? U.S. News told how a New York City student failed to win a word
Genetic laws asked. v AT1CAN CITY (NC) - Pope John Paul II has called for legal restriction on nontherapeutic forms of genetic manipulation as a measure to protect human life and the unborn. A "utilitarian culture" has legalized abortion and is seeking now to legalize euthanasia and human experimentation, the pope told Italian experts discussing legal aspects of biomedicine.
of congratulation from a single school official when she found and turned in a purse containing $1 ,000 in cash. "If I come from a position of right or wrong," her teacher explained, "then I am not their counselor." With teachers like that and both parents working, guess where today's children are getting their moral values. From television, of course, music videos-and their peers. How far this nation has come from the days when the McGuffey Readers, the most popular text in American schools, taught religion right along with reading, writing and arithmetic! Abraham Lincoln had almost no formal schooling, but he read and mastered a few books rich in morality. They included the Bible, Aesop's Fables, Pilgrim's Progress and Robinson Crusoe. History also records that he was familiar with the Rev. Mason L. Weems' Life of Washington. "Honest Abe" (the nickname reflects his legendary honesty), may have been influenced by Parson Weems' story of Washington and the cherry tree. You remember, when asked who cut down the tree, young George replied: "I cannot tell a lie. I did it with my little hatchet." The trouble with that story is that it is apocryphal-of questionable authenticity. But its powerful message-that honesty is all-important-was was taught to millions of American school children for generations. I'll wager Parson Weems' famous fable about the father of our country no longer appears in the reader of our public schools. After all, it teaches a very high form of morality-honesty.
F ATHER LUCIEN Jusseaume, chaplain of Our Lady's Haven, Fairhaven, with, from left, Melissa, Laurie and Jeffrey Braley, participants in a recent holiday Mass at the nursing facility. Jeffrey helped carry the figure of Baby Jesus to the creche and his sisters were gift bearers. Mom to the young trio is Kathy Braley of Our Lady's Haven's business office.
,1
LIKE MANY men in the Fall River diocese, Ray Studer, 68, of Casper, Wyo., is a regular server at daily Mass. Many seniors also serve as parish lectors, leaders of song and special ministers of the Eucharist.
"Senior'boom" seen -affecting religion MILWAUKEE (NC) - America's growing "age wave" means a greater interest in religion in the years to come. says a specialist in aging and health care. "Because of new technology increasing longevity, more and more people will complete all the things they hoped to do in their lives ... and they '!ViII look to religion to help them figure out the meaning of life," said Mark Zitter, director of information resources for Age Wave Inc.,a nationwidecommunications firm dealing with concerns of aging. Zitter was interviewed by the Catholic Herald. Milwaukee archdiocesan newspaper. while he was in Milwaukee to speak at a seminar for Catholic health care personnel. He said that when people have finished raising their families and retired from their job or career. they have time to reflect and ask themselves. "what's the point of all this?" "To be effective. the Catholic Church must realize that older people have different needs - they need meaning in their lives." he added. In his seminar speech Zitter said the "senior boom" will affect all aspects of national life. but especially religion. education. the leisure industry and health care.
Persons over 65 will have more time and money to spend on leisure, will be better educated and will account for half of all health' care expenditures by the year 2000, he said. The typical life expectancy 1.000 years ago was 23, in 1900 it was 47. and in 1985 it was 75. he said. He said about 40.000 Americans are over 100 years old today. but by the year 2050 there will be 2 million over 100 and over 70 million over 65 .. Zitter called the elderly "the largest single untapped resource in America." - - ••••••••••• _...
They are often stereotyped as poor and in ill health. he said. But financially. he pointed out. they hold more wealth in assets and savings than any other age group and usually need less for family. education and housing expenses. In the area of health. he said, "older persons are sick and well at the same time." He said that "over 80 percent" of the elderly have at least one chronic illness such as arthritis. hypertension or hearing loss, "but that doesn·t stop them from playing tennis or traveling."
clip and mail
••• - - - - - _ •••• _ ••••
Pat McGowan The Anchor PO Box 7 Fall River, MA 02722 _ _ Yes, I would like an Anchor senior section
Please indicate your parish; your name and address are not necessary.
j
THE ANCHOR - Diocese of Fall River - Fri., Jan. 8, 1988
CIiA~lIE'S OILCO••INC. "101 IIJ_ (0UII(1l MfMlfl" • FUEL OIL. FOI "OIlAPT 14
l·WAY RADIO
HOOf
S"".I(Y
Chari., V.lolo. Pr.,
OffKI .. OAK &1M Aft.. fAll IMI
. DENMARK'S Pharmacy
RECIS~'~~Rr~~~=CISTS
Invalid EqUipment For Rent or Sale
~
·
• SurClcal Garments -
~
i
• Hollister -
Crutches -
Bird· ,PPB Machines [Iaslic
Stoc~incs
Jobst
SurClcal & OrthopedIC Appliances
"HII,
Trusses - Ox,.en - ' Ox,.en MIS~s. Tents & Reculators • Approved for M.dicare
•
(HA.A'
~ .~
;+H()'P':~ r
24 HOUR OXYGEN SERVICE 24 HOUR EMERCENCY "RESCRIPTION SERVICE
BlO\
673 Main St., D.nnisport - 391-2219 550 McArthur Blvd., Rt.. 28, Pouss.t -
563-2203
30 Main St., Orl.ans - 255-0132
riJ:!
~(ou ..oo"
509 Kempton St.. N.w B.dford - 993-G492 (PARAMOUNT PHARMACY)
THE WIFE of a freed hostage smiles at Bishop Roman after his mediation in December's siege of the Atlanta federal penitentiary by Cuban inmates. (NC/ UPI photo)
Servant, not hero, says bishop of self MIAMI (NC) - Refusing to be labeled a hero, the bishop who played a key role in ending December prison riots in Atlanta and Oakdale, La., describes himself as a "servant," perhaps a "prophet." "A bishop, a priest, is a servant, not a hero," Miami Auxiliary Bishop Augustin A. Roman said at a Miami press conference hours after convincing more than 1,000 Cuban detainees at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta to release 89 hostages. A week earlier, almost 1,000 inmates at the Oakdale detention center had done the same after the Cuban-born bishop gave his seal of approval to a government proposal for ending the siege. Now that the emergency is over, Bishop Roman said, "I will be the same that I was before. A prophet, if you wish, that will call constantly my brothers and sisters to not forget again the people of Cuba." Bishop Roman's efforts to bring together the government and the Cuban detainees, who were protesting an agreement to send them back to Cuba, earned him the title of ABC News' "Person of the Week," but the humble prayerful man whom the crisis had thrust into the national spotlight refused to take credit for the peaceful resolution of the crisis. "We can't have the change from violence to peace without God," he told reporters at the press conference which he had opened with the unusual step of reciting the Our Father. "We have done nothing more than to speak to these people about the Father they had perhaps forgotten," he said. "When people discover the Father, they discover their brothers and sisters and they
are even able to forgive their brothers and sisters." The bishop braved the Cuban siege because "he feels this is why he was put here" as a Cuban refugee and a priest, according to an aide. But "the heartbeat of his life" is a small shrine in the Miami archdiocese to the patroness of Cupa where the quiet auxiliary helps fellow Cuban exiles, said Mary Ross Agosta, media relations director for the archdiocese. Before he was invited to Oakdale by government officials, Bishop Roman had said, "I will go any-. time to help people." He was at Oakdale not as a negotiator, but "more as a pastor," according to Ms. Agosta. She said that the bishop did not go into the prison but that from a truck beyond the fence he asked the detainees to surrender their weapons and free their hostages. In moments "machetes piled around the truck," according to Ms. Agosta. Bishop Roman knows firsthand the problems of Cuban exiles in the United States. He was among the more than 130 Cuban priests whom the Castro regime forcibly deported in 1961. Today he is in charge of the Hispanic apostolate in the Miami archdiocese. Usually he works from Our Lady of Charity Shrine in Coconut Grove, which houses a small wooden statue of the patroness of Cuba that was smuggled out of the country in 1961. "The heartbeat of his life is the shrine," according to Ms. Agosta. There he meets daily with fellow Cuban exiles who need his help and receives letters from around the country.
FOR ALL, YOUR PHARMACY
Ms. Agosta said the bishop has corresponded with many Cuban prisoners and "that's probably why his name came up" when the detainees sought someone they could trust in the negotiati"ons. Ms. Agosta described Bishop Roman as "very quiet, humble, you could almost say simple with out meaning anything derogatory." He is devoted to his prayer life, even in the midst of crisis, she said. During the Oakdale siege "he would say, 'excuse me, I have to go pray.' " Bishop Roman has long championed the cause of the Cuban detainees. Just before the hostage crisis began, he circulated a list of nearly 700 Cuban refugees who had completed their sentences but remained in prison awaiting release to halfway houses. These people, he said, should be allowed to go home. And last December Bishop Roman and another native of Cuba, Auxilary Bishop Enrique San Pedro of Galveston-Houston, denounced what they called the "indiscriminate" and "indefinite" imprisonment of the Cuban prisoners in U.S. federal penitentiaries. Bishop Roman was born in Havana on May 5, 1928, and was ordained in Matanzas, Cuba, July 5, 1959. He earned advanced degrees in religious studies and in counseling at Barry University in Miami. Appointed chaplain and director of Our Lady of Charity Shrine in 1967, he was named vicarfor the Spanish-speaking and archdiocesan consultor in 1976. . He was named an auxiliary bishop of Miami in 1979, the first native of Cuba to serve in the United States in two centuries.
~ Walsh Pharmacy THOMAS PASTERNAK Pharmacist
202 Rock St. Fall River
679·1300 I
~
N.EEDS • • • •
Prescriptions Health & Beauty Aids Greeting Cards Foodstuff
We accept Medicaid. Master Health Plus, Blue Cross & All Major Third Party Plans. Also, WIC & Food Stamps. Consultant Pharmacist for Nursing Homes & Institutionalized Care Facilities MON.-FRI. 8:30-7 SAT. 9-5 SUN. 9-12
PROVIDING FINANCIAL GUIDANCE &
COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP IN SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS SINCE 1825.
CD BANK OF NEW ENGLAND' Member F.D.J.C.
9
"
10
THE ANCHOR-Diocese of Fall River-Fri., Jan. 8,1988
Loving an unplanned baby By Dr. James and Mary Kenny
USING HIS telescopic lenses, Father Koval reads the Gospel at Mass. (NC photo)
Legally blind, he overcomes handicap to read, drive ANN ARBOR, Mich. (NC) Whenever Father James Koval celebrates Mass at St: Francis of Assisi Parish in Ann Arbor, he can easily identify visitors in the congregation. "I put my special glasses on for the opening prayer and the visitors sit bolt upright, lean forward all bug-eyed and their jaws drop," the yOUllg 'associate pastor said. Such surprised attention is a reaction to his glasses - adjustable, telescopic lenses resembling opera glasses protrude from his spectacles. Father Koval needs the low-vision instrument to read because he suffers from congenital albinism, which makes him legally blind. From birth, victims of the disease suffer a pigment deficiency that extends to the retinal tissue, seriously hampering their vision. Ordained in 1986, he became the first legally blind priest in Michigan. "N ow if I ever get made pope it's going to be very difficult for the photographers," he said with a laugh. With his fair complexion and pale blond hair, also from pigmentation imbalance, and a white cassock "they would really have a problem, especially in winter," he added. Good humor about his handicap is a result of healthy acceptance and spirited determination fostered by his parents at an early age, he said. "I'm the eldest of five children, and my youngest brother has the same visual difficulties," he said. "Each of us was always expected to live up to our potential. Low grades - anything below a C were unacceptable in our household." Father Koval said he responded by participating in Scouting, mastering two musical .instruments, graduating from high school with honors and carrying a high average in college. His acceptance twhe seminary, he said, was another challenge. There were not so much obstacles to my entering the seminary as
there were questions on the part of the bishop and the director of vocations," he said. "The major concern was whether I would be able to perform daily priestly duties with my diasability." To Father Koval, the real obstacle was reading liturgical books at Mass from farther away than to or 12 inches. But that was overcome by Michigan's Commission for the Blind, which sent the priest to the Low Vision Clinic of Flint, Mich., where Dr. Edwin L. Novak, clinic director, specializes in vision rehabilitation. He fitted the priest with telescopic and microscopic instruments. With the special glasses Father Koval was not only able to read the finest print but obtained full driving privileges as well,: His handicap helps him reach out and identify with people who have disabilities, he said. It has "formed me into a more compassionate and sensitive person. I listen well to people and their needs, and people gravitate toward that," he said. He cautioned against wellmeaning but condescending treatment of the handicapped because, he said, those with dis~ abilities prefer to be as independent as possible and desire to be recognized as ordinary human beings. And he takes the same message to youths, especially in his talks on vocations. "My theme is: You don't have to be perfect to be a priest. ... If you think you're called, check it out," he said.
Miracles factual
Dear Dr. and Mrs. Kenny: Some time ago you wrote a column about "Mary was a frightened teen" which I read with much interest. Two weeks ago my own IS-yearold daughter gave birth to our grandson. She too was a frightened teen and still is. She did nllt choose to get an abortion but to have the child and to keep it. We are giving her all the support we can. I feel we will all be richer for she said "yes" to life. I was with her when he was born. It was the most rewarding experience of my life to see my own grandson come into this world. I thought of our Blessed Mother when my daughter came and told me she was expecting and especially how her [Mary's] parents felt. I know that my daughter has taken on a big risk, but she'll be able to handle it with all the love she has in her family here. We are all supporting her and helping her to raise this child. I have three other children and all three are helping and supporting her. Again,
thank you for the article on Mary. (Pennsylvania) Thank you for the kind words and for your warm personal account of your family experience. Like many family situations, you seem to be finding that what started as a problem has the potential to bring you much joy. How lucky your daughter is to have support from her entire family, parents, brothers and sisters. In the past, when grown children tended to live near their parents and remain close to them, your solution would not have been unusual. Most children grew up in close contact with aunts, uncles and cousins. The child born to an unmarried mother and the new mother herself would have access to the network of relatives in the neighborhood. Today, when adult children move far from their original home and families are farflung, such support rarely is available. Your letter also speaks eloquently of the joy of children. Popular articles so often speak of "planned children" and "unplanned children," "wanted children" and
"unwanted children,"sounding as though children are commodities, right up there with late-model cars and VCRs as means of fulfilling adult desires. Your joy at your grandson's birth reminds us all that, planned or unplanned, convenient or inconvenient, children are a great gift. Finally your letter affirms the power of the family. Most popular thinking views the family as an emotional support system, a place adults return to for warm fuzzies at holiday times. Your letter demonstrates that even today families can give not only emotional support, but stability and physical assistance as well. Your assistance to your daughter in raising her child is an example of help not available to most teenage mothers. But as you have proved, family ties can be strong enough to turn what looks like a disaster into a grace. Reader questions on family living or child care to be answered in print are invited. Address the Kennys, Box 872, St. Joseph's College, Rensselaer, Ind. 47978.
Christianity asks us to go the extra mile By Antoinette Bosco My sister called me recently because she was upset and wanted to talk to someone. She is the friend of three nuns who live on the second floor of a house in the city where she lives. The sisters rent the flat from a 79-year-old woman. An incident with her landlady left one of the sisters in tears. In the sp'ring, when she moved into the flat, she asked the landlady if she could plant a garden in the backyard. She got an affirmative answer with conditions: It could only be at one far end of the yard and it had to look pretty. The nun more than complied. She centered it with a statue of the Blessed Mother, appropriate for the Marian year, and planted a lovely variety of flowers to make a natural border for her vegetables. As she harvested the vegetables, she kept her landlady supplied with fresh vegetables and frequently thanked her for letting her plant the garden. But now the landlady has changed: her mind and informed the nun that 'she could not plant a garden next year. She said the backyard was hers and she felt closed-in having the garden there. The nun, whose interest in gardening goes back to her childhood on a farm, felt dumbfounded and hurt. Though the landlady was within her rights as the homeowner to make that decision, the incident reminded me how easy it is to hurt others, even though that may not be our intention. And it happens to all of us at some time or other; we do things without anticipating how they will affect others or without judging the actions in light of our calling as Christians.
VATICAN CITY (NC) - The miracles of Christ are historical facts recounted by eyewitnesses Countless incidents come to and they cannot be dismissed as mind: the young woman who delisubsequent "inventions" slipped in-berately wore her sister's justto the Gospels, Pope John Paul II , cleaned blouse to work, knowing recently said. "It is not at all possi- her sister had planned to wear it to ble to exClude the miracles from a party that evening; a son who the text and context of the Bible," missed playing in a ballgame bethe pope said. cause hi~ father got "tied up" in a
phone call from a buddy and didn't drive him to school on time; the aunt who was labeled by the whole family as "the homely one." It is so easy to go through life self-centered and self-concerned, oblivious to the pain we deal to
others. Too often, we tend to think of ourselves as blameless in our dealings. We close our eyes along with our hearts. Christianity calls us to a high standard. It calls on us to go the extra mile for others.
Men misunderstand diets By Hilda Young At breakfast with my husband this morning, I was thumbing through a woman's magazine and spied an article on diets, exercise and diets. and taking off pounds added during the holiday season. "Do you know what irritates me . ,most about these magazine diet features?" I said to him. . Always anxious to hear my insights on such matters, he narrowed his eyes and fixed them on me. "Did you eat the last sausage? That was mine." "They always use 22-year-old fashion models wearing leotards who probably think body fat is a rock band," I explained patiently. "What kind of credibility is that?" "The cinnamon roll," my audi. ence of one shouted. "You even took a bite out of my cinnamon roll." This stimulating exchange got me to thinking. There are probably thousands of people like my husband who would rejoice in having their void of understanding a bout diets filled. For them, I began a compendium of honest diets. - The liquid diet: There is an unspoken axiom among veteran dieters that anything you can drink probably is better for losing weight than something you chew. That's one of the reasons 'magazines want you to liquefy perfectly good vegetables and serve them in a milks hake glass with a straw.
- Fasting: Being generally resolute and determined souls, dieters often begin their efforts with a total fast. Many are able to maintain this commitment for an extended period, often as long as from just after breakfast to nearly lunch. - Complex carbohydrate diet: This has become tremendously popular in that it includes pastas of all kinds. Some zealots, however, tend to oversell the concept and insist it includes exercise. I and several of my friends, though, can testify honestly that we have gained no more on the complex carbo diet, even without exercise, than on any other, including the fast or liquid diets. I was about to outline the bread and water diet. but my h~sband broke my concentration. "I thought you were supposed to lose weight on diets," he snapped, rudely' pulling his plate out of my reach so I could not access his cinnamon roll. The man's lack of basic understanding about diets is worse than I thought.
Carter Prize
ATLANTA (NC) - A human rights foundation founded by former President Jimmy Carter and a Houston philanthropist presented its second annual human rights prize to the Vicariate of Solidarity, a Chilean Catholic human路 rights organization. CarSooner or later, usually sooner, dinal Juan Francisco Fresno Larthe milkshake glass begins to con- . rain of Santiageo, Chile, accepted tain that for which it was named. the $ 100,000 Carter-Menil Human Note: gravy, roquefort and panRights Prize at a recent ceremony cake syrup are popular on this at the Carter Presidential Center diet. in Atlanta.
U .8. "social health" declines
Prelate's centrist, he says MILWAUKEE (NC) - Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland of Milwaukee, noting that many newspapers characterize him as a liberal, said he sees himself instead as "very much a 'centrist' in today's church." Writing in his archdiocesan newspaper, The Catholic Herald, Archbishop Weakland said polarizatiqn of positions in the church means that nuanced views like his own often lead to misunderstandings. "Such polarization is a shame since I think the middle is where we most want to be - and really are," said Archbishop Weakland. "The extreme right offers more security and the extreme left more excitement, but common sense usually dictates a certain balance and a middle course that provide in the end steady and sure progress," he said. Archbishop Weakland, who was a U.S. delegate to last fall's world Synod of Bishops on the laity in Rome, said one reason that "most consider me often on the left when I consider myself dead center" is that an individual's positions often are painted as black or white. "There is no room for gray," he said. He said the "nastiest and most unkind letters I receive come from pro-life people." "I am sure a certain frustration underlies their outbursts," he said. "A nuanced position can seem more like a betrayal to them." Two examples he cited were his views on academic freedom and on violence at abortion clinics.
WASHINGTON (NC) - A Fordham University study of U.S. social health from 1970 to 1985 has found that the nation's wellbeing has declined over 40 percent since 1978. The study based its assessment on several indicators, including increases in alcohol-related highway deaths and the number of
Bamboo curtain raised a little '\C rhOltl
ABP. WEAKLAND He said that "although I might disagree with the position of a theology teacher on abortion, I might still defend academic freedom as a value that is important in our educational system and in our search for truth. Does that make me pro-abortion?" His .opposition to "violence in any form at abortion clinics" often is interpreted as pro-abortion as well, he said. Besides the problem of polarization, Archbishop Weakland said another cause of distortions is in the wayan individual's views may be retold. "So, for example, what I might say or write can become simplified in the retelling and all the nuances dropped. This usually happens when the third or fourth reporter gets hold of the news and tries to condense it. All the qualifying adjectives and clauses disappear." Archbishop Weakland said that despite the dangers, he would continue "to try to carve out my centrist position... knowing that the more thoughtful faithful will see what I am trying to say and do. In this way I also believe I can better minister to the majority on both sides."
Wife succeeds husband as Commonweal editor Holder of a master's degree in history from New York University, she is the author of "Who's Minding the Children: The History and Politics of Day Care in America" (1973), and has written His wife, Margaret O'Brien articles for numerous periodicals, Steinfels, editor of Church, quar- including Commonweal. In a telephone interview she said terly publication of the National Pastoral Life Center in New York, she has no plans for changing will succeed him as Commonweal Commonweal but was' committed to "maintaining the present standeditor. ards" and working on fund raising At the Times, Steinfels succeeds and circulation. She said women's Joseph Berger, who has been transissues would continue to be among ferred to the newspaper's educathe magazine's concerns under her tion department. editorship. Steinfels, 46, a Chicago native, Commonweal, founded in 1924 holds a doctorate in modern and published in New York, has a European history from Columbia circulation of about 20,000. University. He served on the ediThe Steinfels are the parents of torial staff of Commonweal from' two sons. 1964 to 1971 and rejoined the staff In an earlier interview, Steinfels in 1977, becoming editor in 1984. said he saw the Times post as an Mrs. Steinfels, priqr to editing opportunity to explore how "reliChurch, was business manager gion can be taken seriously" in and an editorial staff member for secular journalism. Christianity and Crisis, an ecuHe said Times editor!, wished to menical journal of opinion pub- strengthen their religion coverage lished in New York. "at the level of analysis and ideas," -Acknowledging that choosing a and that he would work in the spouse as an editor's successor was . broader areas of "ethics and unusual, the Commonweal board values" as well as in the strictly of directors said it was unanim- religious field. ously convinced that Mrs. SteinConfidence fels' editing, writing and business "God will pardon me. It is his skills were superior to those of any trade." - Heinrich Heine other possible candidate.
NEW YORK (NC) - Peter Steinfels, editor of the Catholic lay biweekly journal Commonweal, has been named chief religion correspondent of the New York Times.
ROME (NC) - Chinese authorities appear to be loosening some restrictions on religious worship and reportedly have helped reopen about 1,900 churches, says a recent report from Fides, news agency of the Vatican Evangelization Congregation. While the church still operates under the "very limited space" granted by the government, recent visits by outside Catholics have demonstrated the authorities' openness to dialogue and collaboration in many areas, "including religious values," the report said. As a result, the number of Chinese Catholics is believed to be constantly increasing, it said. The report said that although precise evaluation of religious freedom in China is impossible, "at the fourth congress of the Patriotic Association of Chinese Catholics, it was noted that路 I,900 churches were reopened in China with financial aid from the local civil administrations and that the church (has) seven seminaries of theology, three minor seminaries and 10 convents." It said "new vitality" and "increasing growth in the sacramental life" among Chinese Catholics had been reported by visitors, together with a growing interest in religion among young people. Religious freedom varies from place to place, however, depending largelyon the attitude of local authorities, it noted. The report said that the issue of the Chinese church's communion with Rome was "not too clear" at the moment. The governmentsanctioned patriotic association rejects ties with the Vatican and is the country's only officially recognized Catholic organization. Formal relations between the Vatican and China have been suspended since 1949, when the People's Republic of China was founded. An estimated 3 million Catholics live in China today, a tiny minority in an estimated population of more than 1 billion. Recent signs of a possible thaw in Chinese-Vatican relations have included reopening of Peking's largest cathedral in 1986; visits to China by Philippine Cardinal Jaime Sin and Mother Teresa of Calcutta; and recent visits to the Vatican Observatory by Chinese scholars.
heads of households with earnings at or below poverty level from 1978 onward, said Marc Miringoff, senior author of the study. He directs the Fordham University Institute for Innovation in Social Policy. The study, "The Index of Social Health: Measuring the Social WellBeing of the Nation, evaluates the status of 16 social problems, including child abuse, drug abuse, teen suicide, unemployment and the gap between rich and poor. The hghest possible overall index figure is 100. "The best that we as a society fared with regard to these social problems was in the years 1976 and 1978, when we achieved a 74," the study said. "The worst was in 1982, only four years later, when the index fell to 42." Miringoff said that the biggest single decline of the index came in 1981, President Reagan's first year in office, and continued into 1982. The study targeted six causes for the 1978-82 overall decline in well-being: dramatic increases in the number of households headed by persons with income at or below poverty level; alcohol-related highway deaths, children living in poverty; number of unemployed; outof-pocket expenses for health care by the elderly; and number of adults under 65 not covered by health insurance. The trend continued through 1985, when the index found low points were reached in child abuse; teen suicide; number of persons under 65 not covered by health insurance; gap between rich and poor; out-of-pocket health care expenses for persons over 65; and number of unemployed not receiving unemployment checks.
The Anchor Friday, Jan. 8, 1988
In 1985, near-bottom levels were also found among children living in poverty; heads of households earning at or below poverty level; and alcohol-related highway deaths. The study blamed changes in the nation's "direction of public policy, particularly with regard to entitlement programs," for "so great and rapid a decline" in wellbeing. At the same time, it reported that between 1978 and 1985 there was an improved picture in the number of older people living in poverty. It credited the improvement to "consistent bipartisan support of the Social Security program through use of cost-of-living adjustments to maintain the program's benefits." It said that a similar income maintenance policy for families with children and youth might have reduced instances of "child abuse and teen suicide, which worsened significantly" in the same period. It is possible to reverse the trends, the study said. "By concentrating on such programs as Medicaid, food stamps, public assistance, unemployment insurance, Medicare and Social Security... , it seems feasible for us to bring the index up to a level which more closely approaches the best that we have already achieved," the report said.
The Harvest "Goodness is the harvest that is produced from the seeds the peacemakers plant in peace." - Jas. 3:18
We're
Better Together Durfee
-rn
Falmouth
-rn
National~
AttlEboro~
Members Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Asks better system VAT1CAN CITY (NC) - Pope John Paul II, describing the world food supply imbalance as a "tragic situation," has urged governments to adopt a distribution system based on justice and concern for the weak. Speakingto members ofthe United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, the pope said that while current food production is more than enough for worldwide needs, there remain "immediate and acute shortages" in some countries and regions.
11
Loans Personal, auto, mortgage, student -loans from Citizens-Union Savings Bank.
1e_'
f""'Til"iJ7iI5'il!ll..
~l
~~iT
JllI..L...tIC.l~ l\.J.I/,.'-~ ~
SA\11',eS AANK
-
12
THE ANCHOR-Diocese of Fall River-Fri., Jan. 8, 1988
Pope hosts Rome poor at New Year's dinner VATICAN CITY (NC) - In a beds and meals for many of Rome's surprise addition to his holiday poor. The hostel was the pope's activities, Pope John Paul II hosted idea. He asked that it be built after a full-course dinner for 134 of he visited Mother Teresa's house Rome's homeless and destitute at for the destitute in Calcutta, India, a Vatican guest house. in 1986, and served food to its The dinner was held Jan. 3 in a residents. hall usually reserved for bishops While the City of Rome il1so and cardinals. provides welfare services, it usu"The church must "make an effort ally requires registration cards and to encounter the homeless and the other paperwork that many tranunemployed," the pope said in a sients do not obtain. The soup kitbrief talk before sitting down to chens sponsored by the "Circle of eat with a group of Rome's poor- St. Peter," a 100-year-old Catholic est at St. Martha's Hospice in the charity group in Rome, have an shadow of St. Peter's Basilica. open-door policy and host about Seated around the dozen tables set 500 "regulars," most of them homefor the occasion were young and less. old, men and women, Moslems and Christians, street people, bag ladies, unemployed, alcoholics and the mentally ill. The pope greeted each guest, listening to many personal histories, VATICAN CITY (NC)illustrated by copies of applicaFather Michel Sabbah, 54, Nazations for housing and jobs, legal reth-born president of the controsuits and handwritten messages. A versial Catholic University of 47-year-old Italian showed the pope Bethlehem, has been named Latinthe diary left by his wife when she rite patriarch of Jerusalem. abandoned him and their 7-yearIt is the first time in the almost old son. 900-year history of the Latin-rite Several guests, dressed in stockpatriarchate that an Arab has been ing caps and wool shawls, told the named as its head. In the past, pope they slept on trains at night. patriarchs have been Europeans. Recent arrivals from the Third For the past four years Father World brought their children. The Sabbah has been president of nuns who run the guest house had Bethlehem University, located in to send out for fresh milk for a the troubled Israeli-occupied West 3-month-old Filipino baby, the Bank, the scene offrequent clashes路 youngest diner. between Israeli troops and Arab The dining hall atmosphere was demonstrators. il)formal. One elderly guest invited Nearly all the university's stuthe pope to join him for a quick dents are Palestinian. The institugame of cards after dinner. The tion has often been temporarily pope declined. closed by Israeli officials, charging Giorgio Pedrassini, a 65-yearit was being used as a base for' old self-described handwriting exanti-government activities or for pert, announced that he had stupromoting the illegal Palestine died the pope's script and conLiberation Organization. cluded: "This man cannot be The university, financially supbought." The menu included two kinds of . ported by the Vatican Congregapasta, a meat dish, salad, dessert tion for Eastern-rite Churches, has .been defended by church officials, and white wine. who say Israeli authorities use Seated next to the pope were a homeless 24-year-old student from activities of some students as a pretext to close the entire universth Ivory Coast and a 63-year-old ity. unemployed Roman welder. Patriarch-designate Sabbah is a Before the group left, the pope told them: "I think one day the native of Nazareth, the town in Lord will ask the pope not if he's what is now northern Israel where seen this or that minister or ambas- Jesus grew to manhood. The patriarchate cares for 65,000 sador, or cardinal so-and-so, but Latin-rite Catholics in Israel, the he'll ask him whether he's seen'and West Bank, Jordan and Cyprus. spoken with the poor." About 85 percent of the Catholics Those attending the meal were are Arabs living in Israel, Israelithe first to sign up at four church- occupied territories and Jordan. run soup kitchens in Rome for a Its jurisdiction includes the "dinner at the Vatican." They were troubled West Bank and Gaza not told the pope would attend, Strip, the locales of bloody clashes but word leaked out anyway. between Israeli troops and Arabs, Arriving in buses, the guests mostly Palestinians, protesting were. saluted by Swiss Guards as Israeli occupation. they passed through the Vatican Patriarch-designate Sabbah City gates. Nearby stood the unfin- holds a doctorate in Arab lanished first two floors of a Vatican guages from the Sorbonne Unihostel that will eventually provide versity of Paris.
First Arab named to Jerusalem post
-
AT ONE OF his audiences, the pope accepts a signed football from U.S. college students. (NC photo)
Papal audiences combine prayer, fun" VATICAN CITY (NC) - At the start of a Wednesday general audience, Pope John Paul II quietly makes a public Sign of the Cross and sits down in the chair at the center of the stage. At the end of the audience - in contrast to the subdued beginning - he wades into the crowd, shaking hands, collecting presents, holding babies, listening to people telling him their troubles and, in turn, offering sympathy. In between he has read a spiritual message in at least five languages, blessed the crowd numerous times, read off names ofindividual groups present and personally greeted bishops visiting Rome from around the world. Sometimes at the end of the audience he comments on a contemporary world issue. Several times a year, he watches circus performers swing from the rafters of the Paul VI audience hall. Forthe pope, it's all in a Wednesday's work. Except when he is traveling, the midweek general audience is a papal fixture. It is also the best opportunity for an average pilgrim in Rome to see and hc;ar the pope up close. Most of the year the audiences are in the 7,000-seat audience hall. In the spring and autumn, weather permitting, the audiences are outdoors in St. Peter's Square, where often more than 10,000 people gather for the weekly appointment. What pilgrims and tourists see during the 90-minute audience is a polyglot paraliturgical service combined with the pope's natural instinct for pressing the flesh whenever he sees a crowd. The audiences begin with a Gospel reading in Italian, English, French, German and Spanish. The pope then gives a lO-minute homily in Italian. Often he dedicates a series of homilies to the same topic, such as the meanings of the miracles of Christ. The pope then reads short sum- .
maries of the homily in English, German, French and Spanish, often tacking on a list of groups speaking that language present at the audience. The groups respond by standing. and c?eering. If it is a choir, the pope gets to hear a few bars of a religiously inspired song. If there is a substantial Polish contingent, the pope also gives an extemporaneous summary of the homily in his native language. The audience formally ends with the pope giving his apostolic blessing after inviting everyone to sing the "Our Father" with him in Latin. . But the formal ending is the beginning of the real fun. The pope climbs from the stage and begins playing the crowd, leisurely walking along the front row and then up the center aisle. People along his path, held back by waist-high barriers, ply him with everything from spiritual requests to symbolic gifts. Others reach over several rows of people and try to touch him or catch his attention to shout out a message. A favorite gift is books, usually about the pope or dedicated to him. The pope thumbs through them, shares a few words with the presenter, then passes them to a
young bearer. In the weeks before Christmas the pope received numerous baskets of Italian seasonal foods, including bottles of sparkling white wine, candied fruits and zampone, a pigleg skin stuffed with chopped pork. Famous athletes often attend with the tools of their trade. The Harlem Globetrotters, a U.S. black basketball team, once presented him with a red, white and blue basketball. Many gifts, especially those of food, go to local charities. Usually, the pope spends about 30 minutes mingling with the crowd. Does he ever get tired? Apparently not. He's back at it again the following week. Audience tickets, which are free, can be obtained on a first-come, first-served basis by writing to the Prefecture ofthe Pontifical Household, 00120 Vatican City, giving the date desired, then picking up the tickets the day before the audience, U.S.' Catholics can also write in advance for tickets to the U.S. bishops' visitors office, Via dell'Umilta 30, 00187 Rome, Italy, and pick them up the day before the audience. Requests should be sent one month ahead of time.
University restructuring to be Vatican meeting topic VATICAN CITY (NC) - The Vatican Congr~gation for Catholic Education plans a major meeting of international Catholic educators to discuss controversial Vatican proposals for restructuring Catholic universities. The announcement of the parley, set for October, was made by Msgr. Francesco Marchisano, congregation undersecretary, in a recent Vatican Radio interview. Msgr. Marchisano said the congregation has received more than 400 responses from around the world to its draft proposal. Offi.
cials "are studying in great detail" the suggestions, he said. The proposals have stirred controversy, especially in the United States, where many Catholic educators have said they are a threat to academic freedom and the university funding. . Critics said the proposals would .give bishops who are not part of the university structure control over course material, especially regarding theology. The norms would also give bishops power to hire and fire professors on nonacademic grounds, say the critics.
Irish bishops say IRA support sinful DUBLIN. Ireland (NC) - The Irish bishops. reacting to recent violence, have said that joining or supporting violent "republican" organizations such as the Irish Republican Army is a sin. They also said Irish Catholics choosing to join the IRA and similar groups are choosing "between good and evil." The bishops urged Catholics to help police catch those guilty of violence. In a statement read at Sunday Masses. the bishops' standing committee said a recent IRA bombing which killed or wounded more than 70 people in Northern Ireland and the brutal treatment by the splinter Irish national Liberation Army of a kidnapped dentist have triggered "a new sense of revulsion and shame" among the Irish. "There is in the Catholic community north and south a strong desire to find some way of collectively expressing our sympathy and solidarity with the Protestant community in this tragedy." the statement said. referring to the bombing at a ceremony for British war dead at Enniskillen. Northern Ireland. Last year, Dr. John 0 Grady, a Dublin dentist, was kidnapped by Liberation Army members who cut his little fingers off to demonstrate they were serious in their demands for ransom. The two fingers were left in a Catholic cathedral in Corlow, Ireland. 0 Grady was released after 24 days. The bishops' statement asked Catholics to attend daily Mass "in large numbers, so that the whole population may be 'united in repentance, sorrow and prayer at this terrible time." "Everything should be done to demonstrate Catholic revulsion at these crimes." it said. The statement pointed directly at the "republican" movement represented by the IRA and the Liberation Army. "I n the face of the present campaigns of republican violence the choice of all Catholics is clear," it said. "It is a choice between good and evil." "It is sinful to join organizations committed to violence or to remain in them." the statement said. "It is sinful to support such organizations or to call on others to su'pport them." The statement said the bishops sympathize with police "north and south" who uphold the law "in most difficult and dangerous circumstances." "We call on all our people to cooperate with the police in bringing the guilty to justice," the statement said. It said that those who shelter members of violent organizations, store weapons, or help their fugitives "share in the awful crime of murder." "There is no longer any room for romantic illusion," the statement said. "There is no excuse for thinking that the present violence in Ireland can be morally justified." The statement called for prayers for repentance. A spokesman for the bishops' conference said that the bishops said nothing new in their statement, but they said it in a different way. "They have stripped it of all qualifications" or superfluous language to make their point. It is a "stark statement," he said.
THE ANCHOR-Diocese of Fall River-Fri., Jan. 8, 1988
13
Religious investors at odds 'with company, told to sell
A T A SYRACUSE diocesan office, Sister Maureen O'Brien counts contributions to a fund for retired sisters. (NC photo)
Nuns' retirement fund drive sets U.S.record SYRACUSE. N.Y. (NC)- The pledge cards given out in all parSyracuse Diocese has received just ishes. formed the largest collection over $4 million in cash and pledges of its type in any U.S. diocese. in the first stage of a five-year Diocesan officials set a goal of effort to raise an $8.4 million $600.000 in one-time cash contridiocesan fund for retired sisters. butions by Jan. I. By Dec. 30 proThe fund addresses the problem of ceeds from that part of the camnuns facing severe financial diffipaign had totaled $1.3 million. culties as more of their members Five-year pledges totaled $2.7 milreach retirement age and fewer lion. young ones are left. to support Msgr. Eckermann said actual them. payments on the pledges amounted Msgr. Charles Eckermann. dioceto $400.000 by Dec. 30, bringing san director of development. said the first-year proceeds from the the total of cash already received Syracuse campaign, which began 掳up to $1.7 million. in November with collections and Bishop Joseph T. O'Keefe of Syracuse kicked off the fund-raising drive with a personal pledge of $50 a month for 60 months. He told Catholics that if 1,800 individuals WASHINGTON (NC) - Curor families in the diocese would rent U.S. practice seems generally match his pledge. it would give a in accord with new norms for $5.4 million base for a long-term church concerts issued recently by fund which. through investment. the Vatican, says Father John Gurwould generate an estimated $21 rieri, executive director ofthe U.S. million to pay religious retirement bishops' Committee on the Liturgy. costs from 1993 until at least 2028. One provision that could affect To be eligible. a retired nun or some churches is a prohibition brother must have served in the agai.nst charging admission for Syracuse diocese for at least five concerts. Father Gurrieri said he years. Benefits are to be prorated did not know of any instances in according to years of service. with the U.S. '~Where there is a request, it's for a free-will offering" to help a maximum of $400 per month. About 1.300 individuals or fampay for heating, lighting' and other ilies made five-year pledges. said expenses," he路said. Msgr. Eckermann. The diocese has about 400.000 Catholics. Pledges ranged from $5 a month to a one-time gift of $75.000. but most AUSTIN, Texas (NC) - The pledges were at the suggested $50Texas Catholic bishops have ap- a-month level, he said. proved an evangelization program Bishop O'Keefe said the fundfor families and neighborhood basic raising campaign will end early if Christian communities as a re- its goal is reached before the five sponse to Pope John Paul II's visit years are up. to Texas. The program" "Mission: Msgr. Eckermann said the dioTexas," will begin next Advent cese concentrated its efforts on and will culminate with a celebra- donations from Catholic individtion Oct. 12, 1992, to mark the uals and families because "the sis500th anniversary of Columbus' ters gave up family life to serve us, discovery of America. so we are their family."
We're in tune
Texas response
SALT LAKE CITY (NC) - A group of investors from religious organizations challenged a major defense contractor's lack of plans for economic conversion and were told to get out as stockholders if they didn't like the company's products. Dominican Sister Patricia Daly, a representative of Christian Brothers Investment Services, asked Morton-Thiokol, the manufacturer of strategic defense missile parts, to sponsor a symposium on economic conversion and change the defense-based manufacturing to non-military-related products. She recently presented the proposal in Salt Lake City at the annual stockholders' meeting. Sister Daly represents an advisory firm in New York that serves religious organizations. The proposition, opposed by Morton-Thiokol's board of directors, failed. But it received 4 percent of the vote, which was enough for the issue to be brought forth again. Presentation Sister Eloise Thomas, a staff member of the Eighth Day Center for Justice in Chicago, asked Charles S. Locke, the company's chief executive officer and board chairman, what the plans were for possible conversion of its facilities to peaceful uses. She was told the company had no intention ofleaving the defense industry. "We are defense contractors and we intend to remain a defense contractor. If you don't like that, I suggest you sell your stock," Locke said. Sister Daly in introducing the resolution said international peace initiatives have the potential to decrease defense spending and corporations must look to alternatives to protect jobs. "Without serious planning for conversion of military facilities, workers and their families will continue to bear personally budget cutbacks and cancellations," she told the shareholders. Locke declined to answer questions during the stockholders' meeting abo!!,t the consequences of reduced defense contracts, but later told reporters there would be massive layoffs in the company as the government reduced demands for weaponry. The United States and the Soviet
Detainee reviews WASHINGTON (NC) - The Justice Department recently announced new panels to review parole and repatriation hearings for Cuban detainees, a process welcomed by the U.S. Catholic Conference Migration and Refugee Services. MRS has pledged assistance in providing halfway houses and sponsors to help detainees meet parole requirements. The action came as followup to agreements between the government and Cuban detainees to end recent takeovers at two U.S. Bureau of Prison facilities. The takeovers occurred after the United States and Cuba announced resumption of a 1984 pact that would return some detainees to Cuba.
Union have made progress in recent talks on the elimination of medium and short-range missiles, cuts in long-range nuclear weapons, the elimination of chemical weapons and reductions of conventional forces. Currently, Morton-Thiokol has no plans for converting specialized defense plans to civilian usage, Locke said. "I'd need to see the agreements (U.S.-Soviet peace accords) first," Locke said. "It was clear there was some antagonism - we simply asked to meet with them," Sister Daly said. She said she had never been told before at a shareholders' meeting to sell her stock and get out. It was the first time she had attended a Morton-Thiokol meeting. Morton-Thiokol has a defenseindustry plant in northern Utah and a salt manufacturing facility on the Great Salt Lake. Generally, MOrlon-Thiokol does not fit the corporate profile for investment set up by Christian Brothers Investment Services, Sister Daly said. However, she added, the 36,200 shares they represent allow proposals on corporate responsibility, such as economic conversion, to be brought before stockholders.
HALLETT Funeral Home Inc. 283 Station Avenue South Yarmouth, Mass.
Tel. 398-2285
Cornwell Memorial Chapel, Inc~ 5 CENTER STREET WAREHAM, MASS. DIGNIFIED FUNERAL SERVICE DIRECTORS GEORGE E. CORNWELL EVERETT E. KAHRMAN
295-1810
OUR LADY'S RELIGIOUS STORE Mon. . Sat. 10:00 . 5:30 P.M.
GIFTS CARDS BOOKS
673-4262 936 So. Main St.. Fall River
Mortgage & Home Improvement Money? Of Course!
=I~ New Bedford InStitution for 5aVilQS
Now 11 convenient offices including Seekonk &. Taunton.
.
.
14
THE ANCHOR-Diocese of Fall River-Fri., Jan. 8, 1988
What's on your mind? Q. Some of my friends are having a party at which X-rated videos will be shown while the parents are away. My boyfriend wants me to go with him, but I don't want to. What should I do? (Vermont) Q. Why is marriage necessary for sex? (Kansas)
..p'
These two questions may not seem connected and yet it seems to me that they both center on a lack of understanding of what sexual intercourse is really about. So let's attempt to expiain what it is about. A human being is a person who expresses herself or himself through the body. A clenched fist tells us one thing, a warm handshake another. And so with laughter or tears or bitter words or the effort that goes into building a house or cooking a dinner. So too with sexual intercourse. But what does it really express? Christians think that every act of sexual intercourse should express a total gift of the man to the woman and of the woman to the man. These are total and permanent gifts of love and of life. Nothing is held back. In the act of sexual intercourse; there'is a comrtmnion of persons. The man and ~oman are so closely united that the Bible describes them as two persons in one flesh, The gift-giving in marriage is a million miles removed from the make-believe love of casual sexual activity, Such activity is more often than not the effort of two persons to use one another as a sex object. The gift-giving of marriage is . even further distant from the sad, futile sexual intercourse that is taped for X-rated videos and rented for a couple of bucks in the allegedly "adult" section of the video store. A party centered on X-rated videos is demeaning to the partygoers. Invitations to such parties are one more item on the growing list of things to which courageous young Christians are urged to "just say no." Q. How does the in-crowd get to be the in-crowd? How could my friends and I become more popular when there is already a popular clique at our school? (Georgia)
-..
A. In most cases the in-crpwd achieves "in-ness" through a combination of qualities and circumstances. Good looks; clever tongues, ingratiating smiles, outgoing personatities,. the talents:of a .p.olitician, t~e abiiity' to be deviQus,. natural talents an~ ,gi(ts (su~h as being a good mUSician or footb,~!l player) -'- you may find all these and'mo're among the' members 'of the incrowd. . .' Why not study the qualities of the in-crowd at your school and see if you can detect what it is that makes them such'a dominant force? (Do some of the members have domineerirtg personalities?) You also might look back over
By TOM By Charlie Martin
LENNON
PAPER IN FIRE She had a dream and boy it was a good one So she chased after her dream with much desire But when she got too close to her expectations Well the dream burned up like paper in fire Paper in fire Stinking up the ashtrays Paper in fire SmOking up the alleyways ~ho's to say the way A man should.spend his days Do you let them smolder Like paper in fire He wanted love with no involvement So he chased the wind that's all his silly life required And the days of vanity went on forever And he say his days burn up like paper in fire There's a good life right across the green field And each generation stares at it from afar But we keep no check on our appetites So the green fields turn to brown Like paper in fire
the last year or two and see whether there were any major or minor events that led to the ascendancy of the in-crowd. . As for you and your friends becoming more popular, better watch out. Popularity, on a social level, is elusive, When it is consciously sought, it has a way of slipping out of one's grasp, Too, the effort to attain popularity can lead a person to act in a more or less hypocritical way. Paradoxically, a measure of popularity is more likely to come to you if you try to put aside thoughts of being popular and focus your attention on such desirable qualities as sincerity. cheerfulness, being considerate and helpful, the ability to speak encouraging words and showing a friendly spirit. Solid popularity seldom is achieved in a few weeks. It takes time and has to weather some . storms of adversity. Perhaps you can find an indirect clue to what you are seeking in some words written well before you were born by the members of the Second Vatican Council. They are few but loaded with meaning: "A p~rson can fully discover his true self only in a sincere giving of himself." What might happen in your daily life if you put great effort into living these words? Q. My sister says you can't really know a person until you've lived with him. So she thinks couples should live together for a year or two before they get married. She says this would lower the divorce rate. Do you think she is right? (Pennsylvania)
Recorded and written by John Mellencamp. (c) 1987 by Riva Music Inc. JOHN MELLENCAMP'S new album "Lonesome Jubilee" combines his lively rock style with hard-hitting lyrics about being down and out in America. His songs describe the suffering faced by the poor, unemployed and hungry. "Paper in Fire" is this album's debut chart single. The song
Ch~istian unity ~y
John Thavis
VATICAN CITY (NC) - Pope John Paul II recently told some 24,000 youths from the Taize ecumenical community in France that he is concerned at the'1ack of Christian unity in the world. "Like you, I am constantly distressed to see that Christians are not all united in the full communion of faith and charity," he told the youths, who crowded S1. Peter's Basilica to near-capacity to
presents several images offailure and disappointment. One person says that when she gets close to her expectations, they burn up like paper in fire. Another individual wants "love with no involvement." Instead he finds that such love is not love at all. The song's last verse discusses
concerns
pop~,
every generation's desire for the good life and how greed and social irresponsibility turn the "green fields" of plenty into the "brown" of waste and overconsumption. For the people in the song, life has become empty and a struggle. However, life is not meant to be like 'this. Using the song's , images, I suggest the following ways to enhance satisfaction in life: I. Set your goals and expectations high, but be sure that they genuinely reflect your own deep interests. Otherwise. upon reaching your goals, you may discover that they are not what you really want. They are more like the ashes of another's desires. 2. Have no doubt that love means lots of involvement, contrary to the song's image of one ·who "wanted love with no involvement." In fact, "commitment" .is a better term, implying that love is much more about giving than receiving. If you want love in your life, recognize the true needs of others, not simply their superficial wants. In any event, we need not experience life as a series of "days of vanity." 3. Start caring about the green fields of our world. I speak not just about Our natural environment, but rather about the overall way people live in our world. Society has an attitude problem: People think of grabbing their share and, sometimes, more than their share. In reality, there's plenty of everything for all, if we work at building a more just and compassionate world. Your comments are welcome always. Address Charlie Martin, 1218 S. Rotherwood Ave., Evansville, Ind. 47714. '
he tells Taize youth
hear his talk. The pope said the lack of unity had particular significance because of the thousands of people suffering daily from hunger and poverty, or in "horrible armed conflicts ...
The youths, many carrying backpacks and sleeping bags, were in Rome for a week of prayer as guests of city parishes. An estimated 5,000 came from the East European countries of Poland, Hungary and Yugoslavia.
Brother Roger Schutz, the founder and head of the Taize community, was in Rome after a two-week tour of Ethiopian famine regions,
The Taize community, founded in 1940. includes young people of many faiths who come together for prayer, The pope visited the community headquarters during his 1986 trip to France.
A. Your sister's views appeal to many young people today. On the surface her ideas seem logical. Often you can't find out how sloppy or dirty or messy or peevish or stubborn someone is until you've lived with them at close hand 24 hours a day. In the past 30 years many couples have tried living together before marrying. And the divorce rate has not gone down. It has gone up, About two years ago a young woman told me young couples.she knew found that even when they , lived together before marriage, they , still kept their guard up f~r fear , their part,per would wa,lk out on - thl( 'temporary ·commitrilertt. OhtY'.a(ter they had ;publicly prOell!,ii;ne.d.-' their,. !OV~ ;in a mar''',; riage ce(e"lt4>~y did th.e~ f~el free to ,.~t'''', • •. be truly'themselves.· ... ,.>., ~'. . ,.' , I,'",. • . . Peoplewlio have celebrated their . (,' ;. f.: A,·JI • • # : 50th wedding anniversary ,will. tell Vi'-itt':·'~"' ,- ~ ."" . .} • I , you ~mphaticallythat they are still: . j, . . ">.:' .. " learning new things about their SIXTH AND EIGHTH: grade students from St. Mary spouse and that their spouse still . School, New Bedford, recently visited Bishop Stang High does things that surp'rise them. This testifies to the richness and School, North Dartmouth, to present a holiday program. The complexity of the human spir.it. 60 youngsters, who also participated in the high school's And it is a warning that living together before marriage does not Christmas liturgy, received school mugs from Stang principal Theresa DougalL guarantee an enduring union.
, .,,' . -- .. #' , •• " •.•.
.'t# _. ':
tv, movie news Symbols following film reviews indicate both general and Catholic Films Office ratings. which do not always coincide. General ratings: G-suitable for .' general viewing; PG-13-parental guidance strongly suggested for children under 13; PG-parental guidance suggested; R-restricted, unsuitable for children or young teens. Catholic ratings: AI-approved for children and adults; A2-approved for adults and adolescents; A3-approved for adults only; 4-separate classification (given films not morally offensive which, however. require some analysis and explanation); O-morally offensive. Catholic ratings for television movies are those of the movie house 'versions of the films.
MAUREEN JONES, center, writing specialist and publisher's representative, answers questions of Ann Walsh and Darren Doane, faculty members at SS. Peter and Paul School, Fall River, at a recent process writing workshop held at the school. Ms. Jones will return to the Fall River diocese in March to offer education .workshops to elementary school teachers.
Westport man's work 'heard at Holy Cross An arrangement of the StarSpangled Banner by Westport resident Robert G. Ouellette was performed by the choir at Holy Cross College, Worcester, at a recent parents' weekend. Ouellette, 19, a sophomore music major, is a member of his hometown's St. George parish. His work for the 80-voice choir's concert, which had a salute to
organist at St. Anne's parish, Fall River. During his Connolly years, Ouellette was parttime accompanist for the chorus, starred in a number of school theatrical productions and played the organ for his graduation Mass. "Going to Holy Cross has allowed me to realize everything that music has to offer," said Ouellette. "I'm now taking lessons, with the assistance of a scholarship from the Yeager Music Foundation of New Bedford, on the new Taylor and Boody pipe organ at Holy Cross. It's considered by many to be one of the top 10 organs in the country." His instructor is James David Christie, visiting professor of music and college organist, a world-renowned concert performer and organist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
NOTE Please check dates· and times of television and radio programs against local listings, which may differ from the New York network schedules supplied to The Anchor. New Films "Batteries Not Included" (Universal) - Failed fantasy about a group of tenement dwellers who are terrorized by a greedy real estate developer until two miniature spaceships come to their rescue. Some whimsical special effects, but this urban melodrama never gets far off the ground. Some scenes of intense menace and realistic violence. A2, PG "The Family"(Vestron) - Interesting Italian production recounting the lives of several generations of a family inhabiting an elegant apartment in Rome. Some mature themes. A3, PG "Patti Rocks" (FilmDallas) Boring, pretentious and ultimately repellent movie about a married clod (Chris Mulkey) who cajoles a friend (J ohn Jenkins) into coming
with him to help persuade his pregnant, out-of-town girlfriend to have an abortion. Consists of little more than an interminable car ride with two adolescent males talking dirty about sex and women, with the payoff being a romp in the girlfriend's bed. Unremittingly rough language and a simulation of sex. 0, R
America theme, was commissioned by director Bruce I. Miller: It was written for four-part chorus and full orchestra. Ouellette, a choir member, is a 1986 grad uate of Bishop Connolly High School, Fall River. He enrolled at Holy Cross as a premed student but "soon switched to a music major when I finally realized how much music means to me."
Thursday, Jan. 21, 8:30-11 p.m. EST (ABC) - "Alien" (1979)Science fiction thriller about a deep space freighter whose crew is ravaged by a hungry alien intruder. Depends more on shock than suspense. Considerable gore, graphic violence and foul language. A3, R Religious TV Sunday, Jan. 10 (CBS) - "For Our Times" - Richard Hottelett, former U.N. correspondent for CBS News, reports on the magnitude of the world debt and the different approaches underdeveloped countries are taking in repaying their international loans while trying to meet their own national economic needs. Religious Radio Sunday, Jan. 10 (NBC) "Guideline" - Television and radio personality Arlene Francis discusses her volunteer work with various senior citizen projects in New York City.
The young man began his music education 14 years ago with piano lessons from Normand Gingras,
Montie Plumbing & Heating Co. Over 35 Years of Satisfied Service Reg. Master Plumber 7023 JOSEPH RAPOSA, JR. 432 JEFFERSON STREET
Fall River
675-7496
679-5262
LEARY PRESS
SHAWOMET GARDENS 102 Shawomet Avenue
Somerset, Mass.
Tel. 674-4881 3% room Apartment 4% room Apartment Includes heat, hot water, stove reo frillrator and maintenance service.
ONLY FULL·lINE RELIGIOUS GIFT STORE ON THE CAPE • OPEN MON-SAT: 9-5:30 SUMMER SCHEDULE OPEN 7 DA
Sm'all, simple HOUSTON (NC) - Unmarried couples who live together but decline to stop cohabiting before a Catholic wedding should have a small, simple ceremony like that used in "convalidation" of civil marriage, a new policy in the qalveston- Houston diocese specifies. The policy, "as any true pastoral response, is based on the truth of the church's teaching," Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza wrote in promulgating it.
Sullivan's Religious Goods 428 Main St. Hyannis
775·4180 John & Mary Lees, Props.
Train For AIRLINE/TRAVEL CAREERS!!
• • • •
TRAVEl AGENT TICKET AGENT STATION AGENT RESERVATION 1ST
Start locally, full time. part time. Train on live airline computers. Home study and resident training. Financial aid available. Job placement' assistance. National Hdqtrs., Lighthouse Pt.. FL.
vATICAN CITY (NC) - Basic Christian communities are a growing staple of church life in Latin America, Africa and Asia, according to speakers at the 1987 Synod of Bishops. In priest-poor Third World countries, they are seen as the principal way of keeping faith alive and providing religious formation and in Latin America, they are a major component of the church's social consciousness. African and Asian bishops call them a primary means ofencouraging and maintaining lay involvement in church life. . They have also taken root in the United States and "within the parish provide the ongoing formation of the laity in prayer, Scripture study, life-sharing and outreach to the needs of society," said Archbishop John L. May of St. Louis, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.
15
Film on TV
Growing staple
ROBERT G. OUELLETTE
The Anchor Friday, Jan. 8, 1988
A.C.T. TRAVEL SCHOOL
THE SECOND grade's contribution to a holiday celebration put on by religious education students at St. Joseph parish, Taunton, was this live nativity scene. The open-to-allparishioners program also i~luded participation by 4-H entertainers and the parish folk group, according to religious education coordinator Margaret Travis. Father Kevin J. Harrington, parochial vicar, closed the celebration with Benediction. (Brooks photo)
-.
,
.. 16
TH'E A~CHOR-Diocese of Fall River-Fri., Jan. 8, 1988
Iteering pOintl PUBLICI" CUIIMEN are asked to submit news items for this column to 11Ie Anchor. P.O. Box 7. rail River. 02722, Name of city' or town should be Included as well as full dltes of all activities. Please send news of future rather than past events. Note: We do not carry news of fundralsln, activities such as blnps. whlsts. dlnces, suppera and bazaars. we are hippy to carry notices of spiritual I'rOlrlm$. club meetlnl!s. youth projects and similar nonprofit activities. rundralsln, proJects may be advertised at our replar rates, obtainable from 11Ie Anchor business office, telephone 675-7151. On Steerlnll Points Items I'R Indicates ra/l River, NB Indicates New Bedford.
CURSILLO INFO Cursillo information night for prospective candidates 8: 15 p.m. Tuesday, Our Lady of Victory Church basement, Centerville; information: Dwight Giddings, 428-4797. DIVORCED AND SEPARATED CAPE AND ISLANDS ' Ministry for divorced and separated Catholics of Cape Cod and the Islands meeting 7 to 9 p.m. Jan. 17, S~. Francis Xavier Church hall, Hyan-
ST. JOSEPH, FAIRHAVEN New Jerusalem prayer meeting 7:30 tonight. Adoration until 7 tonight. Vincentian meeting after 9:30 a.m. Mass Sunday, church hall. Sister Gail Fortin will speak about Peru 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, rectory; all welcome. Parish council meeting 7:30 p.m. Jan. 21, rectory. Alcoholics Anonymous and Alanon meetings Monday. Bible study 9:45 a.m. Tuesday. Adult Forum 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Boy Scouts Tuesday. Legion of Mary Tuesday. Prayer meeting Wednesday. Liturgical meeting 7:30 p.m. Thursday. School science fair Thursday.
CHRIST THE KING, COTUIT/MASHPEE N?n-confirmed adults wishing to receive the sacrament should contact Father Ronald A. Tosti, pastor, 428-0166. Prayer and praise 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, St. Jude the Apostle Chapel, Cotuit. Novena to St. Jude after 8 a.m. Mass Thursdays, St. Jude's Chapel. 1987 statistics included 80 baptisms, 50 first communions, 26 marriages and 15 funerals. Family Commission meets 7:30 p.m. first and third Thursdays of each month, CCD Center. ST. MARY, NB . Adult sacramental preparation pro- . gram begins 10 a.m. Jan. 23, CCD Center; meetings to be held each fourth Saturday. Parish council meeting 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, CCD Center. Parishioner Daniel Lacroix will become a transitional deacon for the diocese on Saturday; parish celebration of thanksgiving II :30 a.m. Jan. 17. O.L. CAPE, BREWSTER A new baptismal preparation program has been inaugurated. .
ST. STANISLAUS, FR • The parish b.egins its 90th anniversary celebration this month. A O.L. VICTORY, Mass this morning was celebrated in CENTERVILLE thanksgiving for 33 years of mar. Guil~ meeting noon Jan. II beriage between 'Thomas and Joan gIn~ WIth lunch, parish center; all Drewett. The 7 p.m. Mass Saturdays parIsh women welcome. Ultreya holhas been discontinued due to the fact ida~ family party 3 p.m. Jan. 10, nIS. that the parish is now served by only -parIsh center. Blood pressure clinic 2 one priest. to 4 p.m. Jan. 21, parish center. ~~'c'~~~jHE EV ANGE'LIST, ST. MARY, FAIRHAVEN Coffee and doughnuts will be DIVORCED AND SEPARATED Parish council meeting 7 p.m. ' served in the parish center after the NB Greater New Bedford support Tuesday, rectory; all parishioners 8,9:15 and 10:30 a.m. Masses Sun-, welcome. day; representatives of Cursillo, group for divorced and separated ECHO, Emmaus, the Secular Fran- Catholics meeting 7 to 9 p.m. WedDIVORCED AND SEPARATED ciscan Order and Marriage Encoun- nesday, Family Life Center, N. DartFR ' mouth; tax consultant Patricia Pelter will be present with information. Gr~ater Fall River support group The· 5 p.m. Sunday evening Mass letier will speak on tax filing for the f?r dlvorc~d and separated Cathohas been discontirlUed for January separated and divorced. !lcs meetings 7 p.m. Jan. 12 and 27, and February. Our Lady of Fatima church hall, BLESSED SACRAMENT, FR ST. JAMES, NB Swansea. Prayer meetings 7:30 p.m. FriCYO general meeting 2 p.m. Sun- days, small chapel; all welcome. SACRED HEART, FR day. School advisory council meets Parish mission week of Feb. 29. 7 tonight, school library. Centennial ST. JULIE, N. DARTMOUTH Rose Hawthorne Lathrop Cancer Ladies' Guild meeting 7:30 p.m. celebration begins with II a.m. Mass Home sewing group meets I to 3 Jan. 13; Bonnie Bachand of St. Sunday; 100 balloons will be released p.m. Tuesdays. rectory; new members Luke's Health Care Services will from the church steps after Mass; welcome. speak. coffee and doughnuts follow, hall:
O~&.,
..9nc.
OIL BURNERS COMPLETE HEATING SYSTEMS SALES & INSTALLATIONS
HEATING OIL PROMPT DELIVERiES DIESEL OILS
...
999·1226
24 HOUR SERVICE
D of I, NB Daughters of Isabella meeting 7:30 p.m. Jan 19, weather permitting, VFW building, Park St. ORDER OF THE ALHAMBRA Fall River Leon Caravan will participate in a Region One Council meeting tonight, Our Lady of Grace parish hall, 59 Nichols St., Chelsea; Mass 8 p.m. ST. MARY, N. ATTLEBORO Healing service and Mass with Father William T. Babbitt 2 p.m. Sunday, church; information: Sister Florence Richard, 695-5248. ST. KILIAN, NB Widowed support group meeting 7:30 p.m. Monday, rectory basement. all Widowed persons welcome' information: 998-3269. ' SECULAR FRANCISCANS POCASSET ' . St. Francis of the Cape fraternity meeting 2 p.m. Sunday, St. John the Evangelist parish center, Pocasset; Father Edwin Dirig, OFM, Mass celebrant and homilist; information and rides: Robert Collyer, 563-2654, Upper C~pe; Dorothy Williams, 3944094, MIddle and Lower Cape. ST. ANNE, FR Den I Cub Scouts meeting 2:30 today, school. NEWMAN LECTURE SERIES Lectures and discussions sponsored by Newman Association at Southeastern Massachusetts University, N. Dartmouth, noon to 1 p.m. on scheduled dates in Board of Governors room; all welcome; lunch may be brought or ordered. Information: Anthony J. John, 999-8872, 999-8317; upcoming sessions: Ways of Belief, Sister Madeleine Tacy, OP. Jan. 25; Mary in the New Testament, Rev. David Buehler, Feb. I; Transition from Campus to Parish Ministry, Father Richard Gendreau, Feb.8. ST. DOMINIC, SWANSEA Parish council meeting 9 a.m. tomorrow, lower rectory. CORPUS CHRISTI, SANDWICH Several parish boys are making a Jan. 15 to 17 Cape Cod ECHO retreat; applications for it and a girls' ECHO Feb. 5 to 7 available from Father James A. Calnan, 8880209. Vincentian meeting 7 p.m. Monday. rectory. Booklets about religious life available at church entrance. SS. PETER AND PAUL, FR School Mass II this morning; all parishioners welcome. HOLY GHOST, ATTLEBORO Vincentian meeting follows II a.m. Mass Sunday. Appreciation dinner for parish workers 6:30 p.m. Feb. 13. Portuguese American Club.
465 NORTH FRONT ST. NEW BEDFORD
piping systems inc. X-RAY QUALITY PIPE FABRICATION SPRINKLERS - PROCESS PIPING PLUMBING- GAS FITTING - HEATING
32 Mill Street (Route 79) P.O. Box 409 Assonet, MA 02702 644-2221
LaSALETTE CENTER FOR CHRISTIAN LIVING, ATTLEBORO Retreat for singles ages 20 through 40 Jan. 22 to 24; led by Father Ernest Corriveau, MS, and Norene Dupre; information: 222-8530. CATHOLIC NURSES, CAPE AND ISLANDS Cape Cod and Islands Council of Catholic Nurses meeting 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, St. Pius X Church hall. S. Yarmouth; Father Jay T. Maddock of the diocesan marriage tribunal will speak on the tribunal process. IMMACULATE CONCEPTION TAUNTON ' Social Activities committee meeting 7 p.m. Jan. 21, rectory; all welcome. Divorced and separated Catho-lics meeting 7 p.m. Sunday, church hal!. DOMINICAN LAITY, FR St. Rose of Lima chapter Illeeting, rosary and Benediction, 2 p.m. Sund~y, Dominican Academy, Fall RIver. F AMIL Y LIFE CENTER, N. DARTMOUTH . Christ the King parish, Cotuit/ Mashpee, overnight retreat begins tonight. Bishop Stang High School juniors' retreat day Wednesday.
A LITTLE BOY crawls onto the podium to get a better look at Pope John Paul II during a recent audience at Castel Gandolfo, Italy. The youngster eventually took a seat at the pope's feet. (NCjUPI-Reuter photo) ST. JOSEPH, NB Prayer gro~p Bible study 7 p.m. Jan. 13; meetmgs and rosary 7 p.m. Jan.. 20 and 27, rectory basement; LegIOn of Mary Mass and holy hour 5 p.m. today. Senior social Jan. 2 I. Drama Club 2:30 p·.m. Mondays and Wednesdays. Cheerleaders 6:30 p.m. Mon~ays, 2:30 p.m. Tuesdays, 6 p.m. FrIdays. Junior Girl Scouts 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays. Brownies 3:45 p.m. Thursd~ys. Cub Scouts 12:30 p.m. Saturdays. Parish council 7 p.m. Jan. II. Vincentians 10 a.m. Jan. 17. HOLY ROSARY, TAUNTON Information on classes for prospective converts: Father Bonaventure Jezierski, OFM Conv., pastor, 823-3046. Adult Bible study on St. Paul's Letter to the Colossians, led by Father Gabriel Swol, OFM Conv., 7:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays Feb. 17 through March 30, parish center; all welcome. CATHEDRAL CAMP, E. FREETOWN Our Lady of Victory parish Cent~rville, eighth grade day of re~ollec tlOn.2 to 9 p.m. Wednesday. St. PatrIck, Falmouth, youth retreat with Father Joseph D. Maguire Jan. 15 to 17.
New Life program coming to Taunton Beginning Jan. 17, the New Life program for divorced Catholics will be brought to the Taunton area by the Diocesan Office of Family Ministry. The program addresses the human person as a whole, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Through "growth meetings," spiritual meditation, scriptural reflection and personal sharing, it leads individuals from what may be a painful existence to "the joys of a new life." The program will be held in the basement of Immaculate Conception Church, Taunton. Divorced Catholics are welcome.