01.16.09

The Anchor F riday , January 16, 2009

Diocese of Fall River

Catholics muster to fight Freedom of Choice Act

By Deacon James N. Dunbar

FALL RIVER — The Freedom of Choice Act, one of the most radical and divisive proabortion bills ever introduced into Congress with policies far worse that the heinous 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, awaits action, and Catholics across the nation are being urged to wage battle against its passage.

With the approval of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at its November 2008 general meeting, local bishops — including Fall River Bishop George W. Coleman — are sponsoring the “Fight FOCA Postcard Campaign” either the weekend of January 24-25, or January 31-February 1 in their churches.

Catholics in the Fall River Diocese will be asked to send a message to Congress by sending postcards to their U.S. Representative and two U.S. Senators.

The cards would be signed either “in the pews” or following Masses.

The signings as well as the designated weekend are for local pastors to decide.

The postcard’s message asks the congressional delegates to oppose the policies of FOCA because they are out of step with the most basic values of the American people and make abortion an entitlement the government must fund and approve.

The postcard signing gives parishioners as Catholics and members of the Church an opportunity to give public witness to their belief in the sanctity of human life, said Marian Desrosiers, director of the Pro-Life Apostolate for the Fall River Diocese.

“This bill is the most dangerous anti-life legislation ever drafted,” she said. “In its present form it would negate all Pro-Life policy passed at the federal, state and local levels during the past 36 years, Turn to page 18

... IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED — For 12 years, faithful on Cape Cod have received countless blessings committing one hour a week to spend with the Lord in eucharistic adoration at the Our Lady of Life Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Holy Trinity Parish in West Harwich.

A New Year’s resolution for the soul: Spending quality time with the Lord

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

WEST HARWICH — It’s mid-way through January, and by now many have already tossed their resolutions in the circular file, after having failed just two weeks into the New Year.

We have all had them — quit smoking, exercise every day, eat better, etc. Most resolutions concern taking care of the body — and that, in and of itself, is a good thing. But change is seldom easy, and the older we become, the more difficult becomes the task.

But maybe the approach to good health has been all wrong — maybe we should be working from the inside out. Perhaps a sound body can come from a sound soul.

The fact that the new year is a couple of weeks old is no reason to dismiss new resolutions.

There’s always time for personal growth, particularly through a determination to enhance one’s prayer life. An ideal way to fulfill that resolution is to spend an hour a week before our Lord in eucharistic adoration.

Area faithful west of the Cape Cod canal are given the opportunity to spend time with the Blessed Sacrament in diocesan churches in several cities and towns.

“Across the bridges,” diocesan faithful are blessed to have a regional adoration chapel which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Our Lady of Life Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Holy Trinity Parish in West Harwich offers a wonderful opportunity for all to spend time with Christ any time of day.

Julie Bradley, who coordinates scheduling at the chapel with her husband Joel and fellow parishioner Alice Bahnsen told The Anchor that “everyone who spends an hour with the Lord in adoration is so energized by the experience.

From that one hour of praise, it seems you get five hours of blessings in return.”

Bradley, who is a member of Holy Trinity’s Charismatic Prayer Group, has hopes of spreading the word about the benefits and blessings of eucharistic adoration to Turn to page 11

IT’S ALL ABOUT ETHICS — Four professionals from the Fall River Diocese recently received certifications from the National Catholic Program in Health Care Ethics administered by the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. The newly-certified include, from left, Diane Rocha, social worker at Marian Manor; Kathy St. Laurent, bioethics instructor at Coyle-Cassidy High School; Joanne Roque, director of clinical services at the Diocesan Health Facilities office; and Marianne Sullivan, nurse practitioner with the Diocesan Health Facilities office. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza).

Diocesan health care professionals earn national Catholic bioethics certification

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — Four diocesan professionals — three health care workers and one educator — recently completed an intensive yearlong course administered by the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) in Philadelphia, Penn., thereby becoming the first employees of the Fall River Diocese to be certified under the National Catholic Health Care Ethics Program.

Based on established ethical and

religious directives (ERDs) of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the certification brings the laity to a deeper understanding of Catholic ethical and moral issues that are generally reserved for the clergy and for experts.

“The National Catholic Certification Program in Health Care Ethics provides a year-long program that deals with the major bioethical issues that arise in modern medical and research environments,” Father Tad Pacholczyk, a priest of

the Fall river Diocese and director of education at the NCBC, told The Anchor.

“I’m glad the diocese supported our doing this and getting laity involved in all of these issues, which many of our clergy deal with on a regular basis,” said Marianne Sullivan, nurse practitioner with the Diocesan Health Facilities office.

“It just helps in spreading out that knowledge base.”

“I think it’s information that a Turn to page 12

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News From the Vatican

January 16, 2009

President of Caritas Internationalis calls for immediate Gaza cease-fire

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, president of Caritas Internationalis, called for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip to allow the wounded and their physicians to reach the region’s hospitals.

“Caritas calls for action from the United States, the European Union and the international community to press for an immediate cease-fire to enable the sick and wounded to be treated,” said the cardinal, the archbishop of Tegucigalpa.

“War cannot be justified either

by Israel or by Hamas,” the Palestinian militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, the cardinal said.

Caritas Internationalis, the umbrella organization for 162 national Catholic charities, also called for the immediate opening of two more crossings into the Gaza Strip so that medical and other aid can reach the region’s people.

The Caritas statement quoted Claudette Habesch, secretarygeneral of Caritas Jerusalem, as saying: “Our staff in Gaza are witnessing a collapse of medical services. People are dying in their homes because they can’t get treatment.”

Cardinal Rodriguez noted that more than 100 innocent civilians, including children, have been killed and thousands have been injured since Israel began its offensive in late December.

“Innocent people are suffering because aid agencies cannot reach them due to the Israeli military action,” he said.

The Caritas statement said it was unsafe for people to move around in Gaza, meaning both doctors and the injured cannot reach the clinics and doctors cannot reach the homes of the injured.

Food, medicine and other relief

items already were lacking because of the 18-month-long Israeli blockade of Gaza, Caritas said.

Caritas Internationalis is providing primary medical services through Caritas Jerusalem and Holy Family Parish in Gaza City, the statement said. A medical center and a series of aid stations remained operational, although with difficulty, but the mobile clinic has had to remain stationary.

Local staffers for the U.S. bishops’ Catholic Relief Services, which works with the Caritas network, were among those unable to move around Gaza because of the Israeli incursion, said Matthew Davis, CRS country representative for Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.

“They are staying home taking care of their families,” he told Catholic News Service.

“The continued insecurity of the environment makes the coordination of aid distribution incredibly difficult,” he said. “There is a need for a permanent and sustainable humanitarian space and a need for access to supplies and staff and the ability to distribute aid and make assessments.”

He noted that Israel has not permitted humanitarian workers into Gaza since November 4 because of what they deemed to be security issues.

“The Israeli ground invasion has turned everything upside down and made things even more complicated,” he said. “It is going from bad to worse.”

He added that CRS is making arrangements for local purchases of food parcels and nonfood items once distribution becomes possible.

In late December, Israel began airstrikes against Gaza in an effort to stop Palestinian militants from launching rockets into its southern region; Israel began a ground invasion January 3.

VATICAN CITY — The pope, after recently reciting the Angelus with pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square, appealed for an end to the “inhumane brutality” unfolding in eastern Congo where some 20 children were abducted over the Christmas period by armed bandits who launched attacks against villages, leaving many people dead or injured.

Caritas Congo reported in late December that the children were abducted as child soldiers for the Lord’s Resistance Army — a Ugandan rebel group. Caritas Congo is the local affiliate of the international Catholic umbrella group Caritas Internationalis.

Caritas said violence in the

region flared in late December leaving hundreds of people dead.

It said 50 bodies were found in the courtyard of a Catholic church in Doruma on Christmas morning.

The pope urged those responsible for such “inhumane brutality to give the (kidnapped) children back to their families” so that the future of these young people may be safe and fruitful.

The pope made the appeals on the feast of the Epiphany, which is a national holiday in Italy and is largely dedicated to children.

He called on world leaders to renew their promises to defend, safeguard and foster the development of the world’s children.

Pope deplores violence in Congo

THERE HE IS! — Priests attend Pope Benedict XVI’s general audience in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican recently. Nearly 50 newly ordained Legionaries of Christ and their families were in attendance.

(CNS photo/Tony Gentile, Reuters)

True worship entails honoring God concretely in daily life, pope says

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service

be able to really put all of our sins in the abyss of divine mercy and, VATICAN CITY — True worthat way, make them disappear.” ship entails honoring God, not in But true atonement could not the abstract, but concretely in one’s come from the blood of animals, daily life, Pope Benedict XVI said. the apostle taught; it requires more Christians are called to offer direct and real contact with God, themselves “as a living sacrifice, the pope said. holy and pleasing to God,” and to Through his death on the cross, glorify God in their “full Christ took upon himself daily existence,” he said e said St. Paul urges Christians to the sins of all people, January 7 at the first “offer our own bodies — mean- said the pope. weekly general audience He said Jesus “is the ing our entire selves — as a spiritual point of contact between of 2009.

In a hoarse voice, the worship, not in the abstract, but in our human misery and dipope extended his New concrete daily life.” vine mercy.”

Year’s greetings to about “The dismal lump of 4,000 pilgrims gathered evil carried out by huinside the Paul VI hall. to be the bridge or point of contact mankind melts in the heart” of JeHe apologized, saying “I lost between God and humankind, he sus, thereby giving everyone new my voice, but I hope I will be able said. life, he said. to make myself understood.” Those The sacrificial blood on the lid Sacrifice no longer involves at the audience then burst into ap- “symbolically carried the sins from the death of an animal, but does plause. the past year to God and that way involve living one’s life fully for The pope called on the faith- sins were more or less absorbed Christ, he said. ful to renew their dedication to and forgiven by God” so that the He said St. Paul urges Christians “opening one’s heart and mind to people could start life anew, said to “offer our own bodies — meanChrist.” the pope. ing our entire selves — as a spirituMay the faithful continue to He said St. Paul knew this ritual al worship, not in the abstract, but seek to live as true friends of Christ, was “an expression of the desire to in our concrete daily life.” he said.

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE “His companionship will mean DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER that, even with this year’s ineviVol. 53, No. 2 table difficulties, the year can be a Member: Catholic Press Association, Catholic News Service journey full of joy and peace,” he Published weekly except for two weeks in the summer and the week after Christmas by the Catholic Press of the Diocese of Fall River, 887 Highland Avenue, Fall River, MA 02720, said.

Telephone 508-675-7151 — FAX 508-675-7048, email: theanchor@anchornews.org.

“In fact, only if we stay united Subscription price by mail, postpaid $14.00 per year.

Send address changes to P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA, call or use email address with Jesus will it be a good and PUBLISHER - Most Reverend George W. Coleman happy new year,” he added.

EXECUTIVE EDITOR Father Roger J. Landry fatherrogerlandry@anchornews.org In his catechesis, Pope Benedict EDITOR David B. Jolivet davejolivet@anchornews.org continued his audience talks about NEWS EDITOR Deacon James N. Dunbar jimdunbar@anchornews.org the life and teaching of St. Paul, OFFICE MANAGER Mary Chase m arychase@anchornews.org focusing on the apostle’s definition ADVERTISING Wayne Powers waynepowers@anchornews.org of true worship.

REPORTER Michael Pare michaelpare@anchornews.org According to St. Paul, Christ’s REPORTER Kenneth J. Souza kensouza@anchornews.org death and resurrection brought Send Letters to the Editor to: fatherrogerlandry@anchornews.org POSTMASTERS send address changes to The Anchor, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722. about “a historic transformation

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that radically changed and renewed the nature of worship,” he said.

The ancient Jewish ritual for the atonement of sins on Yom Kippur entailed sacrificing the life of an animal and sprinkling its blood upon the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple of Jerusalem, he said.

The lid of the Ark was believed

The Anchor

THE ANCHOR (USPS-545-020) Periodical Postage Paid at Fall River, Mass.

January 16, 2009

The International Church

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V.I. Catholic schools, diocese hit

by Madoff investment losses

By Catholic News Service

PLEADING FOR PEACE — Palestinian children paint in the West Bank city of Hebron recently during a protest against Israel’s offensive in Gaza. (CNS photo/Nayef Hashlamoun, Reuters)

Missionaries of Charity say they’ll stay in Gaza with women, children

By Judith Sudilovsky Catholic News Service

JERUSALEM — Despite the bombings and Israeli ground-force incursion into the Gaza Strip, the six Missionaries of Charity working in Gaza City say life has some normalcy and they plan to remain.

But for other Gazans, life has changed dramatically since Israeli airstrikes began December 27 in an effort to stop Palestinian militants from launching rockets into Israel’s southern region. Since then, more than 500 Palestinians have been killed. Israel also launched a ground invasion January 3.

The six sisters — from India, Malta, the Philippines, Rwanda and Slovakia — continue to bathe, feed and care for 10 incapacitated elderly women and 10 severely mentally and physically disabled children as well as they can, Sister Thertsen Devasia told Catholic News Service in a January 5 phone interview.

“We are OK. The bombings are not so near,” she said. Their home is located in the center of the city just behind Holy Family Catholic Church. “We go to Mass every day at the Latin church. Father sends his car for us and brings us back.”

Some of the children have been terrified by the noise of the bombings, she added, but most do not react to their surroundings. A one-year-old who recently began living with them screams whenever she hears the loud noises, the nun said.

“By the grace of God we are safe and we will stay here. If something happens to our people we will be with them,” said Sister Thertsen.

Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops’ international aid and development agency with offices in Jerusalem, has been in continual contact with the nuns, said Sister Thertsen. Recently when they ran out of diapers, bottled water and cooking gas, CRS was able to coordinate through the Red Cross and the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees to have the material delivered to them.

However, a young Christian Gazan who asked not to be named sounded shaken while speaking to CNS by phone January 4, the morning following the Israeli invasion. He said many Gazans had not slept all night, and as he looked out the window where some government offices had once stood he could see only rubble. In the background his mother called anxiously for him to move away from the window.

“We have lived through bad conditions here but never in my wildest imagination would I have thought that I would be living in a war situation,” he said, wondering at the suddenness of how one goes from living a relatively daily mundane life, even in Gaza, to suddenly being in the middle of a war.

He was audibly distraught over the number of children who had lost their lives since the start of the Israeli attacks in late December. He said in early January that a 15-year-old Greek Orthodox girl died from a heart attack; she was unable to take the strain from the fear of the aerial attacks.

The Gazan said his family had not had any electricity for days and there was no running water. All the food in the refrigerator had spoiled, and although they had run out of bread he was too scared to go out to buy anything. The family lives in the center of Gaza City, which was targeted by Israel, and no stores were open in their neighborhood.

He still was able to have some phone contact and was aware of demonstrations around the world protesting the Israeli incursion. However, he said, protests only created more animosity and hatred and widened the gap between the sides.

Though he was in touch with some of his friends, he had little opportunity to express himself freely, he said.

“I have to choose what to say to friends.

People in Gaza are not afraid to die. There are fanatics here,” he said. “I do not support what either side is doing. I hope this can be a lesson for both sides when this is finished.”

ST. THOMAS, Virgin Islands — The Diocese of St. Thomas and two diocesan schools are among investors who have apparently lost funds entrusted to Bernard Madoff, the Wall Street broker facing criminal charges for securities fraud.

In a letter read at Masses the weekend of December 18, Bishop Herbert A. Bevard disclosed that funds invested by St. Patrick’s Parish in Fredricksted, by St. Mary’s School in Christiansted and by the diocese were “gone in what appears to be the largest security fraud in history.”

He said the losses to the diocesan savings and the schools’ endowment funds are not expected to cause cuts in services.

The Associated Press and a Virgin Islands daily newspaper said the diocese estimates total losses at about $2 million.

Bishop Bevard, who has headed the diocese only since September, said in the letter that over the years returns on the investment had been good, “but not so good that they raised warning flags. The income supplemented the two schools’ operating budgets, allowing them to keep tuition costs low for the students on St. Croix.”

He said the diocese researched Madoff

before funds were invested decades ago and found him to be “a highly regarded figure on Wall Street and the former chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange. We were considered ‘lucky’ to be taken on as clients.”

Madoff was arrested December 11 by FBI agents investigating what has been described as a massive Ponzi scheme, a pyramid type of investment fraud, wherein new investors’ funds are paid out to previous investors. The complaint filed in U.S. District Court in New York quoted Madoff as saying the scheme had lost $50 billion.

Bishop Bevard’s letter said there’s no indication anyone connected with the diocese is guilty of any wrongdoing. Regular monthly statements from Madoff’s firm had reflected apparently normal stock transactions.

“I do not yet know if we will be able to recover any of this money, but it would seem that such a hope is not well-founded,” the bishop wrote. He said the diocese and the Redemptorist order that runs St. Patrick Parish would seek repayment of the funds.

“We shall recover from this blow to our financial well-being,” Bishop Bevard wrote.

NOWHERE TO HIDE — An Israeli woman and her two children lie on the ground during a rocket attack near Kfar Aza in Israel just outside the northern Gaza Strip recently. The woman came to meet her husband, an Israeli army officer currently serving on the Gaza border. Rockets exploded as they were waiting for him. (CNS photo/Baz Ratner, Reuters)

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The Church in the U.S.

January 16, 2009

More than two dozen U.S. bishops could retire for age reasons in 2009

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Following the January 5 retirements of 78-year-old Cardinal Adam J. Maida of Detroit and Bishop John J. McRaith of Owensboro, Ky., up to 27 more U.S. bishops, including three cardinals, could retire because of age this year.

There are 16 active U.S. bishops, including three cardinals, who have already turned 75. Eleven more will celebrate their 75th birthday in 2009.

At age 75 bishops are requested to submit their resignation to the pope.

Cardinal Bernard F. Law, archpriest of St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome and a cardinal since 1985, turned 75 Nov. 4, 2006. A former bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Mo., he was archbishop of Boston from 1984 until his resignation from that post in 2002 in the wake of controversy over his handling of cases of clergy sex abuse there. He was named to his Rome post in 2004.

Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York, whose 75th birthday was April 2, 2007, also celebrated 50 years as a priest that year. He was made a New York auxiliary bishop in 1985, bishop of Bridgeport, Conn., in 1988, archbishop of New York in 2000 and a cardinal in 2001.

Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, a Baltimore native who marked his 75th birthday July 26, 2007, has been the Vatican’s major penitentiary since 2003. Ordained a priest in 1957, he was made a Baltimore auxiliary in 1976 and bishop of Memphis, Tenn., in 1982. He became archbishop of Denver in 1986, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, 1996-2003, and a cardinal in 1998.

Following a tradition begun by Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI often has asked cardinals to stay on the job after they reached the age of 75. Even when a cardinal retires in his 70s, he remains an active member of the College of Cardinals, eligible to enter a conclave and vote for a new pope, until age 80.

The 13 other active U.S. bishops who are already 75 and the dates of

their 75th birthday are: — Bishop Manuel Batakian of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Nareg in New York for Armenian Catholics; Nov. 5, 2004; — Auxiliary Bishop John M. Dougherty of Scranton, Pa.; April 29, 2007; — Archbishop Elden F. Curtiss of Omaha, Neb.; June 16, 2007; — Bishop James A. Murray of Kalamazoo, Mich.; July 5, 2007; — Bishop James M. Moynihan of Syracuse, N.Y.; July 6, 2007; — Bishop John M. D’Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind.; Aug. 18, 2007; — Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes of New Orleans; Dec. 2, 2007; — Bishop Arthur N. Tafoya of Pueblo, Colo.; March 2, 2008; — Bishop Edward P. Cullen of Allentown, Pa.; March 15, 2008; — Bishop William L. Higi of Lafayette, Ind.; Aug. 29, 2008; — Bishop Bernard J. Harrington of Winona, Minn.; Sept. 6, 2008; — Bishop Tomas A. Camacho of Chalan Kanoa, Northern Marianas; Sept. 18, 2008; — Auxiliary Bishop Robert P. Maginnis of Philadelphia; Dec. 22, 2008; The 11 currently active bishops who will turn 75 in 2009 and their birthdays are: — Auxiliary Bishop Francis X. Irwin of Boston, January 9; — Bishop Edmond Carmody of Corpus Christi, Texas, January 12; — Archbishop Alexander J. Brunett of Seattle, January 17; — Bishop Raymundo J. Pena of Brownsville, Texas, February 19; — Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius Wang of San Francisco, February 27; — Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., March 2; — Bishop Patrick R. Cooney of Gaylord, Mich., March 10; — Bishop Robert J. Hermann, apostolic administrator of St. Louis, August 12; — Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk of Cincinnati, August 12; — Archbishop Eusebius J. Beltran of Oklahoma City, August 31; and — Auxiliary Bishop Guy Sansaricq of Brooklyn, N.Y., October 6.

UPLIFTING EXPERIENCE — A crane is seen at the construction site for an innovative “smallhouse” nursing home facility being built by the Sisters of Providence congregation in Holyoke. The photo depicts workers erecting the steel framing for the Mary’s Meadow facility. (CNS photo/Father Bill Pomerleau, Catholic Observer)

Sisters of Providence developing ‘small-house’ nursing home

HOLYOKE (CNS) — The health care facility being developed in a Holyoke meadow is so revolutionary the state hasn’t yet figured out how to regulate it.

In essence, that is why there was no formal groundbreaking for the building project now rapidly progressing on the property of the Sisters of Providence.

“The state gave us the approval to do site work earlier in the year.

Then they came back and told us we could lay a foundation. Two weeks ago, they said we could bring in steel and close it in,” explained Sister Mary Caritas Geary, a member of the Sisters of Providence planning team for a new kind of nursing home that will open in 2009.

The project is called Mary’s Meadow, in honor of its location on a former sloping meadow between Providence Place and Brightside for Families and Children.

At least initially, most of the residents of the facility will be older Sisters of Providence, who were all given the first name Mary when they entered their religious community.

But a pleasant name is not the most unique characteristic of the multiwinged building now under construction.

If the sisters open the new facility as planned by July or August, they will be the first in Massachusetts to operate a long-term care facility in the “small-house” or “Green House” model in Massachusetts.

The trademarked term “Green House” refers to 50 nursing homes across the United States being developed by Dr. William H. Thomas and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. One of those homes is the Leonard Florence Center for

Living, a facility now being developed by the Chelsea Jewish Nursing Home in Chelsea.

While not directly a “Green House” facility, Mary’s Meadow will follow many of the ideas of reformers in the “culture change” movement who want to change the way nursing homes operate.

Unlike traditional nursing homes, which cluster resident rooms along hospital-like corridors, small-house nursing homes cluster private rooms for 10 residents around a central service and socializing area.

These “houses,” which are typically free-standing buildings in the suburbs or separate floors in highrise buildings in cities, are more like group homes for developmentally disabled people, or the “cottages” the Sisters of Providence formerly used to care for orphans at Brightside.

“We’re building 40 private rooms, with 10 rooms to each pod. Each pod will be separate and distinct with its own staff,” Sister Geary explained.

Each pod will have its own entrance to encourage small-group living. However, unlike Green House nursing homes, the pods will be physically connected to a chapel in the center of the complex.

But the real secret to the smallhouse model is in its new way of staffing, Sister Geary told The Catholic Observer, newspaper of the Springfield Diocese.

Like any nursing home, Mary’s Meadow will employ nurses and other medical professionals.

But, “in addition to the professional staff, we’ll have universal workers as opposed to certified nursing assistants, homemakers and cooks.

“The universal staff will be

trained to do the cooking, the caregiving and the cleaning. So there will be a small community caring for the people in that one community of 10 patients,” Sister Geary said.

The State Department of Public Health supports the small-house movement, and is encouraging Chelsea Jewish and the Sisters of Providence to proceed with their building plans. But since the concept is still new in Massachusetts, the state has yet to write comprehensive regulations to govern the new way in which the nursing homes will be managed.

Sister Geary, 85, helped the late Springfield Bishop Christopher J. Weldon build the current Mercy Medical Center in the 1960s. “It was fascinating to see some plans they had for one of the buildings they put up in 1909,” she told the Observer.

About 23 of the approximately 62 current members of the Sisters of Providence now live in their community’s infirmary, which occupies a floor of the Sisters of Providence Health System’s Providence Behavioral Health Hospital.

The sisters rent space from SPHS, a separate corporation which is essentially the “landlord” for the infirm sisters.

Up until now, the sisters have held a special religious-use license, meaning that up to 36 sisters, brothers or priests can be cared for in their facility. Only 25 of those licensed beds are currently in use, Sister Geary explained.

The state recently approved conversion of the Sisters of Providence license from religious to general use, and added four beds, meaning that 40 religious, clerical or lay residents can be accommodated at Mary’s Meadow.

January 16, 2009

The Church in the U.S.

5

Survey finds most people favor some restrictions on abortion

By Catholic News Service

CORNER PROPERTY — Catholic parishioners Joe and Jerry Sweeney donated this parcel of their farmland near Churchtown to the Corner of Hope project, a food resource bank that helps combat hunger. Farmers involved in the project take turns helping plant and harvest the plot. (CNS photo/ Joseph O’Brien)

Farmers ‘pay down’ world hunger by donating to Foods Resource Bank

By Joseph O’Brien Catholic News Service

WAUKON, Iowa — On a typical crisp fall day in November, a group of farmers gathered in a ridge-top cornfield between Waukon and Churchtown to harvest a ripe field of corn. A combine donated by a local farm implement dealer rolled its header like a giant electric razor through more than 15 acres of corn, leaving stubble in its wake and stopping occasionally to unload its hopper into one of a continuous stream of grain trucks.

After bringing their grain to market, the farmers deposited the earnings into a bank — but it’s no ordinary bank to help pay bills or mortgages. Rather, it’s one that will help pay down world hunger.

The group of farmers in the field that day represented Corner of Hope, a growing project organized under the aegis of the humanitarian agency Foods Resource Bank. With members of participating area churches — including St. Patrick Catholic Church in Waukon, Old East and West Paint Creek Evangelical Lutheran, Zalmona United Presbyterian and Zion United Church of Christ in Waukon — Corner of Hope has raised almost $70,000 for various overseas agricultural programs since 2005, with $32,000 of that from the 2008 harvest alone.

Begun in 1999, Foods Resource Bank has been providing funds for agricultural programs in the developing world through the donations of farmers, businesses and churches in the U.S. The organization describes itself on its Web site (www.foodsresourcebank.org) as a “Christian, nongovernment, humanitarian organization committed to providing food security in the devel-

oping world through sustainable small-scale agricultural production, thereby allowing hungry people to know the dignity and pride of feeding themselves.”

According to Joan Fumetti, a member of Foods Resource Bank’s Midwestern regional field staff in Dubuque, there are 41 growing projects like Corner of Hope in Iowa.

With 15 member organizations — including Catholic Relief Services, Lutheran World Relief and Church World Service — Foods Resource Bank is a grass-roots operation with little overhead, allowing for a more efficient management of funds, Fumetti said. After the agency receives profits from community growing projects, the money is held until the growing project directs the funds to a specific member organization.

“FRB is not re-creating any services that are already out there,” she said. “For example, if you’re Catholic, you’re already paying for CRS to exist. So FRB simply encourages groups to do a mission through CRS or other member organizations.”

Each group — such as Corner of Hope and its sister project in Winneshiek County, Community of Hope — decides for itself which charitable groups to send its funds to, Fumetti said.

The donations fund a range of agricultural training programs, including agricultural economics, basic agricultural skills, and water and soil improvement, she added.

According to project chairman John Prestemon, Corner of Hope has the double benefit of being both a faith-based and community-based project.

“We’ve found it one of the most exciting and charitable ven-

tures we’ve been in and a pretty remarkable success,” he said.

A member of Zion United Church of Christ in Waukon, Prestemon also points to the cooperation among different churches as an attractive part of the work.

“It’s been such a wonderful ecumenical experience,” he said, explaining that every monthly meeting has at least 15 to 20 people showing up from Catholic, Lutheran, United Church of Christ and other participating churches. “Everyone’s excited about the project, everyone’s enthused — so we don’t have to twist arms to get things done — the whole group is willing to do their part, which makes it go that way without a lot of effort.”

Dennis Byrnes, a parishioner at St. Mary’s Parish in Hanover, with a 200-acre farm in the Hanover area, has been working with Corner of Hope since 2006.

Each year, he said, he had donated some of his own land to the project.

“It so happened I rented a farm from my neighbor and told (the Corner of Hope organizers) I would give them seven acres” for the project, he said. Altogether, he said, Corner of Hope harvests close to 50 acres for world hunger.

With seven children and 19 grandchildren, Byrnes sees Corner of Hope as his response to an issue which hits home — world hunger.

“When my grandchildren visit and they’re hungry, you feed them,” he said. “So you see the satisfaction on their faces. These children are no different from children in Saudi Arabia or Guatemala, or anywhere else in the world. I think it’s just terrible that a young child goes without food.

This was the driving factor for me in joining Corner of Hope.”

WASHINGTON — A new online survey conducted for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops finds a majority of participants support at least some restrictions on abortion.

The survey conducted online in mid-December asked 2,341 people about the circumstances under which they would favor or oppose legal abortion and about what kind of regulations of abortion they would support or oppose.

Among its findings were that 78 percent favor requiring abortions be performed only by licensed physicians and that 72 percent favor requiring women seeking abortions be told of the potential physical and psychological risks and about alternatives such as adoption.

It found 11 percent think abortion should be illegal in all circumstances and 38 percent said it should be legal only under limited circumstances, such as in cases of rape or incest or to save the life of the mother. Forty-two percent said abortion should be legal for any reason.

Among those who said it should be legal for any reason, nine percent would place no limits on abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, while 27 percent would allow unrestricted abortion only in the first trimester, and six percent through the first six months.

Among possible restrictions or regulations on abortion about which participants were asked: — 47 percent said they strongly or somewhat strongly favor laws prohibiting the use of taxpayer funds for abortion; — 58 percent at least somewhat strongly favor laws protecting medical personnel from being required to participate in abortions; — of an assortment of laws such as those requiring parental notification for minors who have abortions, or making partial-birth abortion illegal, only 11 percent of the survey participants said they would not support any of the measures. Fifty percent of the participants said they

would not oppose any of the six mentioned restrictions.

Between five percent and nine percent of the participants in the survey declined to answer some of the questions. The survey questions on abortion were part of an omnibus questionnaire on a wide range of topics. Participants could click on “decline to answer” as they chose, said Deirdre McQuade, assistant director for policy and communications at the USCCB’s Office of Pro-Life Activities.

The news release from the USCCB noted that Harris Interactive, which fielded the study for the USCCB, said the data was weighted using a propensity scoring system to be representative of the total U.S. population on the basis of region, age within gender, education, household income, race/ethnicity and propensity to be on the Internet. Harris said no estimates of sampling error could be calculated, according to the USCCB release.

David Krane, vice president for public affairs and policy for Harris Interactive, told CNS that Harris considers such surveys to be at least as accurate as the traditional phone polling of random samples of the public.

A September survey by NBC News and The Wall Street Journal found 25 percent said abortion should always be legal and another 24 percent said it should be legal most of the time. In that survey, 10 percent said it should be illegal without exception and 37 percent said it should be illegal with few exceptions.

A Time magazine poll released in August found 46 percent said abortion should be always legal in the first three months of pregnancy.

A 2005 survey by CNN/USA Today/Gallup found 69 percent favored laws requiring minors to get consent from their parents before an abortion. A 2006 Gallup Poll found 38 percent of Americans favored making abortion laws more strict; 20 percent wanted them to be less strict and 39 percent wanted them to be kept the same.

6

The Anchor

The dignity of the person and the evil of in-vitro fertilization

Last week we focused on the general outlook of Dignitas Personae, the December instruction of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on bioethical issues at the beginning of life. We noted that the document positively reaffirmed its esteem for scientific research and medical progress, but stated that society must ensure that scientific know-how remain always at the service of the human person from the beginning of his life to his natural end. It must be directed toward healing, not harm.

Bioethics is the general discipline meant to ensure that scientific and medical knowledge advances good, not evil. For bioethics to serve this function, however, it must itself be bound to the truth about the dignity of the human person. This dignity is not a creation of the government or the whims of parents or others — because then it could be easily taken away by the government or the whims of parents or others — but it is something intrinsic and innate to who we are.

The instruction powerfully affirms this dignity and what its consequences are for those involved in science and medicine. The Congregation says, first, that we bear that dignity at conception; human dignity is not something that we gain when we reach a certain size or age or mental capacity. “The reality of the human being for the entire span of life, both before and after birth, does not allow us to posit either a change in nature or a gradation in moral value, since it possesses full anthropological and ethical status. The human embryo has, therefore, from the very beginning, the value proper to a person.” The Congregation then goes on to say that scientific research and medical interventions need to be evaluated on the basis of how this dignity is respected. “The ethical value of biomedical science is gauged in reference to both the unconditional respect owed to every human being at every moment of his or her existence, and the defense of the specific character of the personal act which transmits life.”

The document discusses several biomedical procedures that respect human dignity, but dedicates most of its attention to those that do not: in-vitro fertilization, embryonic stem-cell research, the “morning after pill,” the freezing of human embryos, therapeutic and reproductive human cloning, human-animal genetic hybrids and some other techniques of genetic engineering, and the facile use of human materials gained through the practice of fetal or embryonic abortions.

With regard to these practices that violate human dignity, the instruction says, by way of introduction, “Various techniques … that would seem to be at the service of life and that are frequently used with this intention actually open the door to new threats against life.” Among all of the techniques discussed, the capital sin would be the practice of in-vitro fertilization, which not only has led directly to many of the other evil practices, but has created a mindset over the last 30 years that embryonic human beings are merely raw materials to be used at the total discretion of those who are older, bigger and stronger. That is why it behooves all Catholics, who have the mission to defend the dignity of their all their brothers and sisters made in God’s image and likeness, no matter how small, to review what the document says about in-vitro fertilization and renew their private and public opposition to it and to all that flows from it.

“All techniques of in-vitro fertilization,” the document points out, “proceed as if the human embryo were simply a mass of cells to be used, selected and discarded.” It mentions that the Church understands the suffering of couples struggling with fertility problems and lauds their desire for a child, but adds that “such a desire should not override the dignity of every human life to the point of absolute supremacy. The desire for a child cannot justify the ‘production’ of offspring, just as the desire not to have a child cannot justify the abandonment or destruction of a child once he or she has been conceived.” Children are supposed to be begotten, not made. They are meant to be the fruit of enfleshed love between a husband and a wife, not the man-made creation of doctors in a laboratory. Not even the most loving parents have a “right” to a child by any means whatsoever. The practice of in-vitro fertilization not only demeans the mother and father, involving them in degrading activity to obtain their sperm and eggs, but violates the dignity of the children manufactured by the practice.

The term “children” in the previous sentence is intentional and it points to a further moral problem with in-vitro fertilization: the production of multiple “spare embryos,” which is done to eliminate the need for men and women repeatedly to undergo the abasing process of sperm and egg extraction if the practice fails, which occurs two-thirds of the time. Multiple embryos are produced, often up to eight at a time; several are implanted in the womb, often leading to the “reductive” abortion of one or more in the case of quadruplets or more; other embryos — their fraternal twins — are discarded, especially if they’re found to have any genetic disorders; others are frozen for future use if necessary. All of these techniques further compound the evil of in-vitro fertilization: spare children are not like spare tires, capable of morally being stored in case they’re needed later.

The instruction says, about the sacrifice of so many embryos, “these losses are accepted by the practitioners of in-vitro fertilization as the price to be paid for positive results. … One is struck by the fact that, in any other area of medicine, ordinary professional ethics and the healthcare authorities themselves would never allow a medical procedure which involved such a high number of failures and fatalities. In fact, techniques of in-vitro fertilization are accepted based on the presupposition that the individual embryo is not deserving of full respect in the presence of the competing desire for offspring which must be satisfied.” It goes on to add, “The blithe acceptance of the enormous number of abortions involved in the process of in-vitro fertilization vividly illustrates how the replacement of the conjugal act by a technical procedure — in addition to being in contradiction with the respect that is due to procreation as something that cannot be reduced to mere reproduction — leads to a weakening of the respect owed to every human being.”

That lack of respect carries over to other questions that derive from the practice of in-vitro fertilization: embryos are tested and if they are of an undesired sex, or do not have the right personal qualities, are simply destroyed in a eugenic pursuit of personal perfection; others are used as raw material for experimentation, like harvesting their stem cells for research; others are frozen and left in cryopreservation for years, with no morally acceptable outlet. We also have the evils of human cloning, which the instruction says takes “the ethical negativity of the techniques of artificial fertilization to their extreme” by seeking “to give rise to a new human being without a connection to the act of reciprocal self-giving between the spouses and, more radically, without any link to sexuality.” Whether the creation of one’s identical twin is done simply out of egomaniacal self-love (reproductive cloning) or in order to kill one’s twin to harvest his or her biological material (so called therapeutic cloning), it is obviously against the human dignity of the twin.

We will take up other parts of the document in future editorials. It is important to pause here, however, to recall that the instruction was written to mobilize Catholics and all people of good will to “urgent action” against these modern practices that are trampling human dignity and creating a culture of death that seeks to justify that disregard. Catholics, in particular, are called to raise up an “evangelical cry” against the evil of in-vitro fertilization and all the evil it spawns.

O

January 16, 2009

First things and last things

n Tuesday I traveled to Immaculate from them. When liberals in President Carter’s Conception Church in Manhattan for administration began to push radical ideas on the funeral of Father Richard John Neuhaus, the family, he shifted political allegiances and founder and editor-in-chief of “First Things” threw his support to Ronald Reagan. In 1984, magazine, author of over 30 books, counselor he wrote his most famous book, “The Naked and friend to presidents and popes, leading Public Square,” to oppose the militant secularcommentator on religion and society, famous ization of our culture forced on us by activist convert, dedicated ecumenist and faithful courts at the instigation of legal groups like the priest. Though born and raised a Canadian Lu- ACLU with their faulty interpretation of the theran, he became, by God’s grace and plans, first Amendment. Not only was this secularism one of the most influential American Catholic incompatible with the vision of the Founding priests of the last 50 years. I was also privileged Fathers, Father Neuhaus forcefully argued, but it would bring dire consequences if allowed to to call him a friend.

I met him for the first time in November continue, putting at risk the religious dynamism 1997, when Pope John Paul II appointed him that De Tocqueville praised and that fueled Lina delegate to the Vatican’s Synod on America. coln, Martin Luther King and so many of the Like most of the American Synod delegates, he other great figures and moments in our nation’s stayed at the North American College, where I history.

He also told me during night school about was preparing for the priesthood. The day of his arrival, he had trouble with his email con- the details of his becoming Catholic in 1990 — nections on his laptop. He mentioned this to what he called his “embrace” of Catholicism the rector who suggested that I might be able to rather than his “conversion,” because he saw give him a hand. I was very happy to be asked the Catholic Church as the fulfillment of what and happier still to get his computer working. he had believed all along as a Lutheran. He had As he thanked me, he mentioned that he was held out hope that he might be able to be an inhaving a few friends over to his spartan semi- strument of God in the reconciliation of Cathonary guest room later than night and wondered lics and Lutherans, but when he realized that many other Luif I might want to therans did not join them. share the same Over the zeal for unity, course of the he became next 27 days, I the Catholic became a regular he considered visitor to these himself always informal nightly

By Father to have been. get-togethers at Roger J. Landry A year after he which he blended was received by the many friends John Cardinal he had living in or visiting Rome with a few seminarians and O’Connor into the Catholic Church, O’Connor priests from the college to talk about the is- ordained him a priest.

As a priest he was, above all other things, a sues that the Synod was confronting as well as the larger problems facing the Church and the man and teacher of prayer. Whenever my anworld. With a cigar in one hand and a glass of nual summer priests’ course was in New York bourbon in the other, he served as an informal City, I would send him an email to see if we seminar leader. He proposed topics, listened, could get together. When he was in town, he questioned, and gave his opinions. Especially would invariably invite me over to his apartwith the seminarians, he seemed to want us to ment for evening prayer and dinner. The young share the experiences of the Synod because he adults living in his brownstone would come for knew that God had called us to be part of the the vespers, singing hymns, reciting the antiphsolution to several of the issues that the prelates onal psalms, and generally pouring themselves into the prayer in imitation of the priest who and experts were discussing during the day.

A few years later, in July 2001, our friend- was leading them.

At one of these dinners I asked him his seship had a chance to grow during a three-week program in Krakow, Poland called the Tertio cret for being so prodigious a reader and writer.

Millennio Seminar on the Free Society. Found- His response I took initially as a non-sequitur, ed by Father Neuhaus and four others, it annu- until I had a chance to reflect on it more and put ally brings together 10 North Americans and it into practice. His secret, he told me, was to 20 central and eastern Europeans to discuss make sure he did his morning prayer before he the cultural, economic, political and religious began to read the newspaper. Once he had put foundations of a free society. As great as the God first and received his help for the day, he classroom instruction, pilgrimages and fellow could then get to the work God was asking him students were, what I remember most was to do with greater concentration. God seemed what I called “night school,” when Father Neu- to multiply his efforts.

One of our mutual friends, who was with haus and George Weigel would host an outdoor table in Krakow’s main square for some of us him to the end, told me that as his mental cain the program. For two to three hours each pacities were beginning to shut down, the one night, we would nurse Polish beer and discuss thing he continued to do lucidly was to pray his breviary. the past, present and future.

Because he was a man of prayer, he was It was there that Father Neuhaus told me at length about his background and his principal peaceful in life and as he approached death. In learning experiences. I was somewhat surprised the February edition of “First Things,” his final to discover that he had left home at 14, got entry, written before Christmas, talked about thrown out of high school for organizing beer last things, what he was facing and how he was parties in Nebraska at 15, bought a gas station facing it.

“Be assured that I neither fear to die nor rein Texas at 16, was able to talk his way into Lutheran seminary at 18 despite not having a high fuse to live. If it is to die, all that has been is but school diploma, marched with Martin Luther a slight intimation of what is to be. If it is to live, King, protested the Vietnam War, was arrested there is much that I hope to do in the interim. for a sit-in demanding the integration of New … This is not a farewell. Please God, we will York public schools, served as a delegate for be pondering together the follies and splendors Humphrey to the 1968 Democratic Conven- of the Church and the world for years to come. tion, ran for Congress as a radical, was pastor But maybe not. … The entirety of [my] prayer to a large and predominantly black Lutheran is ‘Your will be done’ — not as a note of resigcongregation in Brooklyn and was considered nation but of desire beyond expression. To that end, I commend myself to your intercession, a general all-around-liberal “revolutionary.”

He told me how the 1973 Roe v. Wade deci- and that of all the saints and angels who accomsion legalizing abortion changed things for him. pany us each step through time toward home.”

I pray that this good disciple, faithful priest, He had always thought that the Pro-Life position should be a “liberal” one, because liberals bold apostle and friend is now experiencing the are supposed to have a heart for the little guy, fulfillment of that “desire beyond expression” but when his fellow liberals started to defend in the Father’s house.

Father Landry is pastor of St. Anthony’s the freedom to destroy the littlest human beings of all, he began to feel a gradual distance Parish in New Bedford.

Putting Into the Deep

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7

The Anchor

January 16, 2009

St. Timothy’s life and example

grace it offers. he New Year 2009 has While meditating upon the begun, and the Pauline life and writings of St. Paul, Year continues. In fact, we have arrived at the half-way mark. With the celebration of the Living the Conversion of St. Paul Pauline Year January 25, we could also consider this month the apex. In case

By Father you have not yet made Karl C. Bissinger the most of this special Jubilee in honor of the we might wonder what the Apostle’s birth 2,000 years ago, you still have six months Apostle has to say in particular to the youth and to young left to take advantage of the

adults. For some insight, let’s take a look at St. Timothy, one of Paul’s closest friends and companions. Paul refers to him as “my child” (or, “my son”) at least three times in his writings (cf. 1Tm 1:2,18; 2Tm 1:1). Here he is using “son” in a spiritual way; he was not Timothy’s biological father. No doubt Timothy did not remain a youth all his life. Still, he must have been considerably

A future pregnancy would be too risky

V

arious medical conditions one that is functioning normally can affect a woman’s and properly, for the sake of a ability to carry a pregnancy, and contraceptive end. Such violaat times even threaten her and tions are commonplace today. In her child’s life. Some of these the United States, an estimated conditions include pulmonary 700,000 women undergo surgihypertension, Marfan’s syndrome cal tubal ligations each year, and and certain congenital problems about 600,000 men undergo surgiwith the aorta. When a doctor cal vasectomies. informs a woman that she cannot Vasectomies and tubal ligabecome pregnant in the future tions do not treat any actually without serious consequences to existing ailment or pathology. herself and her baby, having her When a woman ties her tubes to tubes tied might seem to be the render any future sexual acts inmost appropriate response. Some fertile, she is choosing to mutilate would further argue that since the a key faculty of her own body sterilization would be for “medibecause she and/or her husband cal reasons,” it would be an “indirect sterilization” and therefore morally acceptable.

Yet in point of fact, a tubal ligation to avoid a

By Father Tad future pregnancy would Pacholczyk not be an indirect sterilization at all. An indirect sterilization is a procedure that in treating an existing do not wish to practice periodic medical problem brings about abstinence to avoid a potentially an unintended loss of fertility in dangerous pregnancy. A tubal the process. For example, when ligation under these circumstances a patient with cancer receives would not, in fact, be for medical radiation and chemotherapy, a reasons, but instead, for reasons secondary and unintended effect of marital convenience. We have may be sterility. Or when a man is a duty to respect the integrity and battling testicular cancer, he may totality of our own bodies, and undergo surgical removal of the cutting healthy fallopian tubes in a testes in order to fight the disease, woman’s body is never a morally with the undesired consequence defensible medical decision. that he will become sterile.

One of the key errors in Indirect sterilizations are morally thinking that stands behind the permissible whenever there is a decision for surgical sterilization serious pathology involved, and is the belief that men and women when the contraceptive effects are should not really be expected to unintended. have control or dominion over When a woman suffering from their sexual drives and impulses. pulmonary hypertension chooses So many today seem to have to tie her tubes, however, that renounced the project of pursuing tubal ligation does not address self-mastery within the domain or cure her hypertension; she is, of sexuality. While it is clear that therefore, opting for a direct steril- we cannot survive without food ization. When a man chooses a or water, it is false to assume, as vasectomy because he is worried our culture seems to do, that we about transmitting a faulty gene cannot survive without sexual to his offspring, he is, likewise, gratification. Sex is not necesopting for a direct sterilization. sary for individual survival, A direct sterilization is morally nor indispensable for a healthy unacceptable because it involves and fulfilled personal life. For a the decision to directly mutilate single person, in fact, a healthy a healthy system of the body, and fulfilled personal life will

Making Sense Out of Bioethics

depend on the proper ordering of the sexual faculties through the self-discipline of abstinence, and an attendant growth in virtue. This holds true in marriage as well, where spouses must pursue the discipline of sexual self-restraint at various times if the marriage relationship is to grow and flourish. They may have to practice such discipline under conditions of military deployment, workrelated absences, and chronic or acute illnesses.

Whenever there may be legitimate reasons to avoid a pregnancy, as in the case of a serious threat to the life of the mother or child, married couples will be called upon to practice a similar self-discipline, by adverting only to those means of avoiding pregnancy that properly respect the gift of their sexuality and their respective masculinity and femininity. Practically speaking, this will entail choosing periodic abstinence during the known fertile times of the woman’s cycle as a means of avoiding a pregnancy. In the past few decades, the techniques of “Natural Family Planning” have become quite sophisticated and precise in their ability to determine when a woman is fertile. Married couples can use this information to limit sexual intercourse to infertile periods, and practice abstinence during fertile periods, when serious reasons warrant it. Respecting marital sexuality in this way, and refusing to compromise our sexual faculties through vasectomies or tubal ligations, promotes important personal virtues within marriage and properly respects the God-given and life-giving designs of our own bodies.

Father Pacholczyk earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, and serves as the director of Education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. See www.ncbcenter.org.

younger than Paul for Paul to call him this.

Even with the indications we have about St. Timothy in the Acts of the Apostles and St. Paul’s letters, we know only a limited amount about his life. We know that the Apostle met Timothy as a young man on the Second Missionary Journey (4951AD) in the town of Lystra (Acts 16:1) in the region known as Phrygia in what is south central Turkey today.

Timothy remained with Paul for the rest of that important journey.

St. Timothy’s father was Greek (Acts 16:1), which implies he was also pagan.

His mother and grandmother, however, were Jewish Christians, i.e., they were Jews who became followers of Jesus Christ when they heard the Gospel. A person whose mother is Jewish is considered Jewish, too. Therefore, Timothy was a Jew. St. Paul denied the necessity of circumcision for Gentiles to become Christian; yet, he insisted upon Timothy’s circumcision (cf.

Acts 16:3). This happened not so that the young man could become Christian, since he already was. Paul did this so that Timothy might be able to mix with the Jews, evangelize among them, and minister to them.

St. Paul gives us another reason for thinking of St. Timothy as a young man when the two first met. In the Second Letter to Timothy, the Apostle remembers Timothy’s mother and grandmother, who were still living at the time of Paul’s arrival in Lystra. “I recall your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and that I am confident lives also in you” (2Tm 1:5).

Describing a man in terms of being a grandson would seem to imply a certain stage of youth.

After joining the Apostle, St. Timothy remained with him for the rest of the missionary journey. After that, Timothy accompanied St. Paul only here and there, but also acted at times as a messenger and as a trusted emissary to the Christian communities when they encountered problems. For example, Paul sent Timothy to Thessalonica (cf. 1Th 3:2) and to Corinth (cf. 1Cor 4:17) to take care of some issues. Furthermore, St. Paul includes his name as either a sender or co-author of several of his letters: Second Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, First and Second Thessalonians, and Philemon.

According to tradition, the Apostle sent his disciple to Ephesus. There Timothy spent the rest of his life as bishop and was martyred in 97 A.D. The Church celebrates the memorial of SS. Timothy and Titus on January 26, backto-back with the Conversion of St. Paul, adding to this month’s significance for the Pauline Year.

One thing that may strike us about St. Timothy is how he learned his faith from his mother and his mother’s mother. I think that many of us could point to the formative role our own mothers and grandmothers have played in our lives. I remember my mother teaching my sister and me our prayers when we were children, making sure we went to Mass as a family, encouraging us to practice Lent, and reminding us about the eucharistic fast an hour before Communion. At 93 years old, my maternal grandmother also remains a great example of the faith. She not only taught my mother, but also continues to pray constantly and to learn about Catholic teaching. One summer home from seminary, my grandmother asked me for a new Bible and “Catechism.”

Recently she even told me she enjoyed a series on EWTN about John Paul II’s Theology of the Body taught by a local priest.

Finally, to answer the question, “What would St. Paul say to the youth?” we can turn to the Second Letter he wrote to St. Timothy for some hints. The Apostle writes: “I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands” (2Tm 1:6). “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And what you heard from me […] entrust to faithful people who will have the ability to teach others as well. Bear your share of the hardship along with me like a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2Tm 2:1-3).

“Be eager to present yourself as acceptable to God, a workman who causes no disgrace […]. And, avoid profane, idle talk” (cf. 2Tm 2:15-16).

Basically, St. Paul is saying live according to the faith in Christ that was handed down to you like a precious heirloom, and pass it on to others, to your children, following the example of your parents and grandparents who valued it highly enough to lovingly pass it on to you.

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

8

“S

peak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”

It was on the fourth call that Samuel finally heard the message: the Lord was calling him.

How much are we like Samuel in our first reading? Do we hear the call when our Lord asks us to serve?

This is an important time in the life of our Church and an important time in the history of our country. As you will be hearing about in your parishes later this month, we are faced with the specter of a legislative initiative that would make abortion the law of the land.

The legislation is called “The Freedom of Choice Act.” Its title is innocuous, using the key words of “Freedom” and “Choice.” But its effect would be most harmful.

This act, if passed by Congress and signed by the president, would force taxpayers to fund abortion; require all

The Anchor

January 16, 2009

Standing up and doing the Lord’s will

states to allow partial-birth body is a temple of the Holy and other late term abortions; Spirit within you.” Christians subject women to abortions need to give a witness to the by non-physicians; violate the truth about the human body, conscience rights of nurses, especially when people are trydoctors and hospitals and force ing to claim that the body has them to cooperate in abortions no connection to the Lord, but (which might precipitate the closing of Catholic hospitals for moral Homily of the Week reasons); and finally, Second Sunday and shockingly, strip in Ordinary Time parents of their right to be involved in a minor

By Deacon daughter’s decision to David P. Akin have an abortion.

We are being called to action, as servants of our Lord and Savior, to study instead, with cries of “my body, this issue, and then act upon it. my choice,” lead to the turning Our second reading from of that temple into an execution St. Paul’s Letter to Corinthians chamber destroying the body of addresses depravity in ancient an innocent human being growCorinth, but its clear message ing within. is as relevant today as it was Our responsorial psalm capthen: “The body is not for imtures the rallying cry of our morality, but for the Lord, and Church. “Sacrifice or offering the Lord is for the body. Your you wished not, but ears open

to obedience you gave me.”

With this gift of free will, with this gift of freedom given to us

by God, comes an obligation to speak out when the rights of the unborn are being denied.

As practicing Catholic Christians we have been given a great gift. We did not have to suffer the persecution of the early disciples who followed the “Lamb of God” that John the Baptist pointed out until they, too, faced alienation from family and peers and were martyred for the kingdom.

We have been given the gift of faith, but it comes with an obligation to address injustice in our time. Like the first disciples, “We have found the Messiah,” and we must speak out as forcefully as did our predecessors against that which would deprive any of the right to life, from conception to natu-

ral death.

We live in a culture of death, and it is our role — the role of the Church — to speak up like Paul against blatant immorality when we see it and to prevent the harm that always comes from immorality.

Will we act? Will we have the courage to speak up and say: “Here I am Lord, I come to do your will?”

Later this month, at Mass, you will be given the chance to contact your legislators to let them know that you oppose this madness and want them who represent you to oppose it, too.

This assault on our rights and the right to life cannot go unopposed by people of faith.

All of us, with Samuel, must stand up and say, “Here I am Lord. I come to do your will.”

Deacon David Akin was ordained in 1997 and serves at St. Pius X Parish in South Yarmouth.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Jan. 17, Heb 4:12-16; Ps 19:8-10.15; Mk 2:13-17. Sun. Jan. 18, Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, 1 Sm 3:3b-10,19; Ps 40:2,4,7-10; 1 Cor 6:13c-15a,17-20; Jn 1:35-42. Mon. Jan 19, Heb 5:1-10; Ps 110:1-4; Mk 2:18-22. Tues. Jan. 20, Heb 6:10-20; Ps111:1-2,4-5,9,10c; Mk 2:23-28. Wed. Jan 21, Heb 7:1-3,15-17; Ps 110:1-4; Mk 3:1-6. Thu. Jan. 22, Heb 7:25-8:6; Ps 40:7-10,17; Mk 3:7-12. Fri. Jan. 23, Heb 8:6-13; Ps 85:8,10-14; Mk 3:13-19.

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wenty-five years ago, in one of its intervals of lucidity, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to an unemployed Polish electrician whose surname 95 percent of the world mispronounced. The electrician, Lech Walesa (pronounced vah-WHEN-suh, if you were wondering), was not allowed to attend the ceremony in Oslo: a churlish Polish communist government, which had only recently released Walesa from detention under martial law, refused to give Poland’s secondmost-famous son a passport.

His wife, Danuta, accepted the

Solidarity express

award in his name, and gave Union at the old Gdansk shipa moving speech in which her yards as a memorial to Solidarhusband acknowledged the ity, a research center, and an 1983 Peace Prize as a tribute to the 10 million members of Solidarity, the trade union/social movement he led, which had modeled a new way of being revolutionary in the late 20th century

By George Weigel by mounting the world’s largest peaceful resistance to the world’s worst tyranny. educational facility — and the To mark the silver jubilee of Polish Foreign Ministry invited Walesa’s Peace Prize, the Euro- some 200 young adults from 44 pean Solidarity Center — recountries to come to Poland and cently created by the European ride the “Solidarity Express” — a special train that took them from Cracow and Auschwitz to Warsaw and then to Gdansk.

There, they met Lech Walesa and several other recent Nobel Peace Prize winners and discussed the future of “solidarity” as a virtue necessary for the free society. Along the way, I had the privilege of giving four lectures, to set an intellectual and moral framework for the journey. The lectures addressed the roots of 20th century totalitarianism in defective ideas about the human person; the failed resistance to totalitarianism heroically embodied by the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the 1944 Warsaw Uprising; the role of Pope John Paul II in igniting the Solidarity movement and inspiring the Solidarity martyr, Father Jerzy

The Catholic Difference

Popieluszko; and the triumph of freedom in the Revolution of 1989, which led to the “springtime of nations” that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The young people were fascinating and friendly, and brought a remarkable diversity of experiences to the “Solidarity Express”: the mix included Russians and Georgians, two Macedonians and a Greek, two Israelis and a Palestinian, and a Belarusian human right activist who told me of his being kicked out of his university for his pro-democracy activities.

For all their diversity, however, these young people shared several characteristics: they were all addicted to cell phones, which in a few cases seemed permanently welded to their ears; they were eager to learn; they were almost completely ignorant of the history of the 1980s, the realities of communism, and the reasons for its fall; and they were deeply, if unreflectively, influenced by the post-modern cult of “your truth, my truth, but nothing called ‘the’ truth.”

I hit a few batting practice home runs when the last came up during a post-lecture Q&A period, demonstrating to one young woman that she in fact believed in moral absolutes (such as the legal equality of

women and men). The problem was that, having absorbed the notion that “moral absolutes” are bad, she didn’t know how to account for the secure moral truths in which she believed quite firmly. It was also striking that Hannah Arendt’s classic analysis of Nazism and communism as two variants on the same lethal political disease (demonstrated in the three volumes of “The Origins of Totalitarianism”) came as news to just about everyone; the old Left lie that “Nazism = conservatism-on-steroids” is very much a part of the general culture-smog in which even the brightest young people live these days.

Along the way. I had the opportunity to explore the splendid new Museum of the Warsaw Uprising in Poland’s capital, as well as the “Roads to Freedom” exhibit mounted in Gdansk by the European Solidarity Centre. Those places, and the “three crosses” memorial at the Gdansk shipyard (which was erected at Solidarity’s insistence to honor workers killed during a 1970 strike), are a powerful reminder that freedom is never free.

Which is another lesson I hope got absorbed on the “Solidarity Express.”

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

Moon over Dighton

Friday 16 January 2009 — extinguished. Carnival continued Three-Mile River — just another unabated until Ash Wednesday. day in Ordinary Time By then, you had finally run out of anuary is a slow month. both stamina and food. You were Newspaper columnists ev- ready for a nice quiet Lent. There’s erywhere search for something something to be said about these about which to write. In desperation, several will resurrect that tired old theme, the “post-holiday Reflections of a blues,” otherwise known Parish Priest as “the January blaas.” So will I.

By Father Tim People are plumb exGoldrick hausted this time of year.

When you begin your Christmas festivities in October, old calendar customs. by early January you’ve had quite Nature is in its mid-winter enough, thank you very much. I cycle. We’ve reached the depth of live by the calendar of a simpler the natural year. On a starry night, age. Christmas began on Christ- you’ll notice the winter constelmas Eve. Mardi Gras kicked-off lations. If you have a birdfeeder, immediately after the Yule log was you’ll have finches (Father Tom

J

The Ship’s Log

F

9

The Anchor

January 16, 2009

Frechette loves birdfeeders). It’s woodpecker season, too. They will be tapping on trees looking for lunch.

At night, I hear the field mice scurrying in the walls of this old county house. My greyhounds complain the mice keep them awake.

Mice have enough sense to come in out of the cold.

They do me no harm.

“They’ll leave when the weather warms,” I tell the dogs.

Last weekend was the Full Snow Moon. Bright and beautiful it was as I made my earlymorning dash to Dippin’ Donuts.

The moon is now closest to Earth, called “perigee,” and appeared larger than normal over my ThreeMile River.

The folly of Barbie

conformed, that women were or a full five decades, perpetual objects of male lust, mothers have been and they suspected that female perplexed about Barbie, who graduates with advanced made her debut at the Ameridegrees or elevated rank in the can International Toy Fair military must have proffered in New York on March 9, sexual favors along the way.

1959. Modeled on a German How can professional women doll (itself founded on “Bild be taken seriously when their Lilli” of comic book fame) our competency goes hand-inYankee darling was meant to differ starkly from the doll babies commonly offered to little girls.

Creator Ruth Handler thought it healthy that impressionable little girls become

By Genevieve Kineke comfortable with an adult woman’s frame (though the standing hand with being eye-candy? joke all these years is that no Add to it a third camp real woman with such a frame — mothers who are deeply could herself be very comfortconcerned about the sexism able — much less stand up.) and commercialism inherent Regardless, the German in this 11-and-a-half-inch strip tart turned feminist icon has of plastic. It begins with a few bitterly divided ideologues, changes of clothes, then the who themselves devolved into requisite home and car, and two entrenched and segregated finally her professional accamps. Given Barbie’s percoutrements — and before you petual independence — flirting know it, there’s enough Mattel with Ken while never settling frippery to decorate a playdown with him, and embracing room floor and enough stray myriad career options, Barshoes to threaten the digestive bie has proven that there are tracks of the ensuing genvast horizons open to women eration of little brothers. (The beyond the drudgery of the concern for the older brothers home. Any platinum blond is restricted to keeping the with such dimensions must be dolls clothed or hidden, though comfortable with her sexualI’ve seen many a Barbie ity, and the lack of progeny implies that she can control her wielded in an imaginary gun battle, even sans culottes.) fertility — essential staples in Suffice it to say that — the feminists manifesto. despite her enormous success Yet some feminists were over this last half-century — put off by those daring coifno woman is entirely comfures, her skanky outfits and fortable with Barbie. In this, her sexually-charged curves. traditional moms forge an They were discouraged by uneasy fellowship with trailthe constant innuendo in the blazers and even anarchists, mass media, to which Barbie

The Feminine Genius

who all agree that deep-down there’s more to women than wardrobes, glamorous careers and sultry looks. What we cannot agree on is what that “more” is.

Radical feminists, as a rule, rue the “traps” that ensnare women at every turn. These traps include marriage (which ensnare women in service to men and children), sexual stereotypes (which pits them in a power struggle of an erotic nature), and patriarchy in general (on which they blame war, utilitarianism, and degrading competition). As a safeguard against these things, these feminists preach independence, sexual autonomy and a widespread curbing of masculine excess — often pursuing a virtual castration of all male tendencies.

The Church doesn’t dispute the harms of these sinful inclinations — for they spring from Genesis itself. What the Church demands is that we focus on the root cause: the refusal of men and women each to lay down his own life in service to the other. Material possessions and career distractions cannot save any woman; only when one accepts the call to live in a humble communion of love will all the other dimensions of her life assume their proper proportions. Perhaps the wisdom of the years will eventually bring this truth to us all.

Mrs. Kineke is the author of “The Authentic Catholic Woman” (Servant Books).

She can be found online at www.feminine-genius.com.

The full moon of January has a most appropriate name. Here in The Dightons, as throughout the diocese, the ice and snowstorms this winter have been something else. There is so much accumulated sand in the church parking lot it looks like Horseneck Beach.

Every year we priests receive seasonal reminders from headquarters. One piece of annual “advice” is to make sure the church walkways and lots are free of ice. This is easier said than done. During a storm, convoys of snow ploughs and sanders spend the entire night treating my parking lot, but still I’m out there broadcasting ice melt on the church’s granite stairs before the 7 a.m. rosary brigade, fearlessly lead by Thelma Sherman, begins to arrive. I wouldn’t want anyone to slip.

My crazy greyhound Loco has yet to understand the purpose of a leash. He considers the command “heel!” a personal insult. He pulls me across the ice as though we were in the Alaskan dog sled races.

It gives passing motorists a chuckle on their way to work, but it could prove injurious. Father Jay Maddock slipped on the ice the other week and he doesn’t even own a dog. Thankfully, Jay was not seriously hurt.

I like to hold Christmas gatherings after Christmas, that way invited guests are more available to attend. Greg Bettencourt, parish director of Faith Formation, recently hosted a “thank you” dinner for our catechists. It was held on-site so that the guests would feel comfortable staying as long as they wished. Some 40 people attended. The entree was roast stuffed chicken breast deliciously prepared by Cecilia Lopes. Since I’m challenged in culinary skills, I just hung around the kitchen all afternoon “taste testing.” Wanting to do something to earn my supper, I joined Faye Perry setting the tables. It’s important to show hospitality and appreciation to those who minister in the parish. Even though folks always say they don’t want any sign of appreciation, my experience is that if it’s offered, they’ll happily accept it. And why not? I do.

It was also my turn to host the monthly meeting of the priests of the Taunton Deanery. The men

had graciously excused me from hosting last year since I was the new kid on the block. To tell the truth, my place was in such disarray (what with my unpacking, the pending parish consolidation and all,) I would have been embarrassed to have my brother priests meet in the middle of the mess.

This month, my number was up.

Some priests are capable of preparing an elaborate luncheon.

I sent out to a Swansea restaurant for their famous soup and to a local supermarket for a sandwich platter.

My 14 guests ate three gallons of soup. Father David Stopyra, who holds the black belt in Deanery luncheons, asked if I had made the soup myself. I responded that it was an old family recipe. This is called a “mental reservation,” a term coined by St. Thomas Aquinas. It was some old family’s recipe, it just wasn’t my family. My family got soup from cans.

After all the priests had left, I sat down quietly, wrapped warm and cozy in my new afghan, lovingly hand-made by faithful reader Mary Dupuis. It may be mid-winter, but life doesn’t get any better than this.

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

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10

The Anchor

We’re really quite the same

I

can warmly recall stopping

by Cooie’s Pharmacy in the 60s after attending Sunday Mass at St. Anne’s Church in Fall River.

There, for a nickle I would buy a pack of Beatles cards accompanied by a stick of bubble gum as hard as a small cedar plank.

I have a sneaking suspicion the gum was endorsed by the American Dental Association which must have made a fortune filling Baby Boomer’s cavities.

Many of us kids collected the black and white photos of the Fab Four, the Mop Tops, the purveyors of the rock and roll British Revolution.

I remember one glorious day when at Mass I couldn’t dig out of my pants pocket the dime destined for the collection basket.

There are some who think I didn’t try hard enough, but the Lord and I know the pocket seemed bot-

My View From the Stands

By Dave Jolivet tomless that morning. Well it just so happened that after Mass, my arm seemed to grow a bit longer — voila, a shinny new dime. Two packs of Beatles cards that day.

I can remember watching black and white programs of the zany Monkees, who combined comedy, slapstick and rock and roll for a successful TV series — much like the madcap Beatles movies.

My brother and I would watch the Paul Revere and the Raiders TV Show just before supper time each weeknight.

On Sunday afternoon rides with mom and dad, the radio station would change from WLKW to WPRO to keep us amused and quiet.

Our generation bought 12-inch record albums and listened to them with ear phones larger than Mickey Mouse’s ears.

Why do I bring this up now, you may ask?

My wife and I recently took part in our parish’s overnight confirmation retreat at La Salette Retreat House with 23 teens and 17 team members.

Having been on many retreats, I never know what to expect. The bus ride to Attleboro was interesting in and of itself.

I can’t count the number of teens on the bus who had a pair of earbud headphones (one-millionth the size of my generation’s ear pieces) attached to an iPod filled with music, videos, movies, and for all I know, a full set of

Beatles cards.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

While watching and listening to their iPods, they adeptly held a cell phone, text messaging who knows who about who knows what. These wunderkinds typed faster with two thumbs than I can with 10 fingers — hopefully a talent that will take them places in the future.

The group was just teens being teens — but far more technically advanced than my generation’s penchant for bubble gum cards.

“What on earth will this weekend be like,” I wondered as I sat on the yellow school bus, totally amused by my surroundings.

For 36 hours, the team, consisting of adults of all ages and backgrounds, and some recently confirmed teens, shared experiences, feelings and ideas with the iPod generation. And the teens for the most part, responded with courtesy, maturity, and thoughtfulness.

This generation of young adults isn’t really much different from those past.

They love to eat, laugh, have fun, and make noise. But sans the iPods and cell phones, they’re also filled with curiosity, respect, imagination, and sensitivity.

To a person, I don’t think the retreat team could have asked for a better experience for and from our charges. I hope they felt the same way. I know some did.

We “old-timers” came back with a renewed hope for the future of the Church. The younger team members did a phenomenal job — and why not? They are peers of the iPod generation, yet chose to give up the last weekend of winter break to share what Christ meant to them.

Nearly one-half of the confirmation candidates indicated that they would like to serve on team after they receive the sacrament.

Not a bad ratio at all.

On the bus ride home, the iPods and cell phones sprouted like tulips in the spring time — popping up all over the bus.

I smiled to myself and wished I had an old turntable and oversized headphones with me, so I could throw on the Beatles’ “Rubber Soul” album, and chill out to “Drive My Car,” “Nowhere Man,” and “In My Life,” on the 40-minute ride home.

But no text messaging for me.

That’s where the generation gap reemerged. My thumbs were simply too old and slow.

But a rock-hard slab of bubble gum would have been a welcome treat.

January 16, 2009

Attleboro couple finds mission in leading others closer to God

By Michael Pare Anchor Staff

ATTLEBORO — Bob Desrosiers readily admits there was a time when he came close to leaving the Church. He was attending Mass each week with his wife, Cecile, and their four children, but he wasn’t getting a lot out of it.

“I was the last one in church and the first one out the door,” he said.

He even suggested to Cil, as his wife is known, that she take the kids. He would stay home. It just wasn’t working for him.

Cil wouldn’t let him off that easily.

The way Cil figured it, they had both been raised in the Catholic faith and the least they could do was to look for answers. She knew that simply walking away wouldn’t provide any.

They had heard about a charismatic prayer service that was held regularly at the nearby National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette.

They decided to give it a try.

And so Bob and Cil visited the prayer service.

Bob remembers a young woman who greeted them as they walked toward a kitchen area where the service was to be held.

There was something about the way she smiled and said hello. There was sincerity in her greeting.

The Desrosiers felt an immediate sense of welcome. ANCHOR PERSONS Then the Desrosiers were and Cil Desrosiers. greeted by Bob’s barber.

Bob had not realized that he had attended the services. Funny thing, it all started to make sense.

It was indeed a special night. Ask Bob about it today and he recalls the details as if it were a week ago.

“It was November 10, 1971,” he said. “Our lives were changed. That night we walked into the prayer service at La Salette we were touched. Both my wife and I were touched by the Holy Spirit.”

Cil has as vivid a memory as her husband.

“Our eyes were opened that night,” she said. “We saw what they were experiencing and we wanted the same thing. We both talked about it on the way home.”

That evening prayer service set the Desrosiers on a lifelong journey that has deepened their faith and helped them to help countless others do the same.

Soon after that experience in the fall of 1971, the couple began running prayer meetings at La Salette, which they continue to do to this day. They also brought their commitment to inspiring others to rediscover the power of faith to their parish, St. Stephen’s on South Main Street in Attleboro. For more than two decades there, they have worked closely with faith-sharing groups, the parish Renew program and various other faith formation activities.

Most recently, the Desrosiers have been busy spearheading the parish’s Spiritual Faith Formation Team’s Video Series, which runs in the fall, during Lent and often, at another time during the year. The fall series just concluded with the video called “Fate: Search for God.”

Both Bob and Cil have been moved by the videos they have seen, but even more moved in seeing the impact the videos have had on others.

“Our goal is to help inspire people of our parish to come and view these positive Christian videos to grow in their own personal lives and to deepen their faith and love of God,” said Cil. “And thus, leave a better person after viewing them.”

Cil said the videos that have been shown in series after series demonstrate to people God is always there for them. And that there will always be difficult challenges for one to face in life, but through God, anything can take a turn for the better. By taking part in the series, said Cil, people are demonstrating a desire to grow closer to God. That, she said, is critically important.

“I believe you have to be looking for God and want to experience him in a personal way,” said Cil. Bob echoes his wife’s sentiments.

“People need to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ,” he said.

“Then they can put him in their daily lives and walk with the Holy Spirit.”

The approach seems to be working. The video series have been well attended, said Cil, with dozens of people showing up for both evening sessions, as well as afternoon sessions designed in part for older parishioners who would prefer not to come OF THE WEEK — Bob out at night.

For Cil and Bob, working together to help strengthen the faith of others has been a blessing for them. They have grown closer to God, and one another.

“These days, you need one another,” said Cil. Bob knows that his life changed when he opened his heart to the Holy Spirit. Seeing the same thing happen to others, he said, is especially heartwarming.

“We have seen people change,” said Bob. “Through these videos today and through those prayer meetings years ago … to see people change because of your involvement … that is a blessing.”

Father James Morse, pastor at St. Stephen’s, sees the Desrosiers as a committed couple.

“They are here for all of the activities of the parish,” he said. “They are a team. They are always together.”

The Desrosiers are thankful that they took the time to attend that prayer meeting at La Salette back in 1971. It changed their lives. Thinking back, there are so many fond memories. One that remains vivid is that of a woman who approached them after a meeting and said; “I don’t know what you’ve got, but I want it!”

Bob and Cil smile at that one. They also smile at the many memories they know they are creating these days, guiding more people closer to God, through prayer services and video presentations.

Toward God, after all, is a safe place to guide someone.

To nominate a Person of the Week, send an email message to FatherRogerLandry@AnchorNews. org.

The Anchor

January 16, 2009

11

A New Year’s resolution for the soul: Time spent with the Lord continued from page one

more of her Cape Cod peers. “The chapel in West Harwich is very centralized on the Cape so it’s not an extreme burden for anyone to come spend time here,” said Bradley. “It’s very accessible. I know a woman who makes a 40-minute drive here for her scheduled hour of being with the Lord, and for her the blessings far outweigh the drive time.”

The West Harwich chapel will celebrate its 12th anniversary Sunday. With humble beginnings in the parish church a dozen years ago, the devotion has spawned a brand new chapel that was dedicated Oct. 13, 2002.

Jane Jannell, another Holy Trinity parishioner who has been involved with the gift of eucharistic adoration on the Cape since the onset, said, “We had such humble beginnings. I was exposed to eucharistic adoration by the Sacramentine Sisters who have been devoted to the Eucharist for nearly 150 years.

“Following a retreat, I told my husband John that we should try to establish adoration in the parish. We approached then pastor Father Gerald Shovelton, and between him and then Bishop Sean O’Malley, we began on each First Friday of the month.”

That later blossomed into each Friday, and ultimately to 24/7 availability.

“Only with God’s help did this get off the ground,” Jannell told The Anchor. “We began in January, when many of our parishioners are off-Cape. But we sustained a strong core group.”

Bradley and Jannell agree there have been some disappointments recently that some of the hours are not covered, but they also agree that not enough people are aware of Christ’s real presence in the Blessed Sacrament and the blessings he offers.

“Many younger people don’t know much about the Blessed Sacrament, but we’re constantly trying to reach out to younger Catholics to let them know,” said Jannell.

Bradley, a Religious Education teacher said, “I try to let my fellow catechists know of the blessings of adoration, and we also expose our students to the chapel, so they’ll know it exists and that Jesus is really present there.”

At 24/7 eucharistic adoration, someone must be present with the Eucharist at all times. “We have backup people if someone can’t make it for their designated hour,” said Bradley. “But many times there are just a few of us who can cover.”

With that in mind, adoration at the chapel will be promoted in church bulletin announcements

across the Cape in the next few months.

Jannell said that she once asked adorers for feedback on the blessings they receive spending time with the Lord. “The answers I got were varied and wonderful,” she said.

A Brewster adorer wrote, “No matter how I feel when I go to adoration, when my hour is up, I leave feeling peaceful, knowing that he loves me just as I am. I also have the power to make him happy and to take away the loneliness he feels from a world that has rejected his love and forgiveness.

A wife wrote: “I have been going to the Adoration Chapel for several years now, and my life would not be the same without it.

It has given me such peace, grace and understanding. No matter what life struggles and burdens I may have, I always leave refreshed and renewed.”

From a husband came this response: “What started out as my doing something for God has turned into God giving me a peace and calmness that remains with me almost always.”

Bradley mentioned that regular adoration helped save her marriage. “My husband and I were having some differences, but the peace and calm we both received from adoration eased them.”

It appears a resolution to spend an hour with the Lord just may be the best gift a person could give not only Christ, but themselves as well.

Health of the soul can make it easier to attain health of mind and body too — greatly reducing the

many well-intended, but failed short-lived New Year’s resolutions to renovate the temple of the soul.

“The blessings this parish has received since the inception of eucharistic adoration have been great and small,” said Jannell.

“But those who take part gain a greater awareness of Christ’s presence, a greater reverence for the Eucharist and attain large and small miracles in their lives.”

As one respondent wrote, “My first response to the ‘Please try to give one hour a week to adoration,’ was, ‘They have to be kidding. What do we do for an hour?’ It seemed like a long time. It’s amazing how quickly the time goes by when you are with the Lord. I frequently find myself running out of time. There is so much to say to him, so many things to ask, and above all, to be thankful for. He gives us eternity; I can give him one hour a week.

He is my best friend and so easy to talk to.”

Faithful who would like to devote an hour a week with the Lord or who would like more information are encouraged to call the chapel at 508-430-4716 and leave a message.

For those on “this side of the bridges,” times and places of eucharistic adoration are always listed in The Anchor’s “Around the Diocese” section.

It’s never too late to make a New Year’s resolution. Not only would a commitment to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament please the Lord, it just may change a life or two — and that sounds like a winwin situation.

THE PRESENTATION — This stained glass window depicting the Presentation of our Lord is one of several that enhance the prayerful mood in the Our Lady of Perpetual Life Adoration Chapel at Holy Trinity Parish in West Harwich. The chapel, which offers eucharistic adoration 24-hours a day, seven days a week, was dedicated 12 years ago this Sunday. (Photo by Barbara-Anne Foley)

12

The Anchor

Health care professionals earn bioethics certification continued from page one

layperson like me wouldn’t have picked up and delved into,” agreed Diane Rocha, social worker at Marian Manor in Taunton. “Being a Catholic and a social worker, you’re aware of the ERDs, you’re aware of where the Church stands on certain issues, but I thought I knew a lot until I really got into it.”

The foursome was encouraged to undertake the certification process by Msgr. Edmund J. Fitzgerald, director of Health Facilities for the Fall River Diocese and pastor at St. Thomas More Parish in Somerset, where St. Laurent is a parishioner.

“All of us have a connection to Msgr. Fitzgerald. He’s my pastor at St. Thomas More … and he knows I have a nursing background and teach bioethics at Coyle-Cassidy High School,” St. Laurent said. “He had approached me more than a year ago to tell me about this program that the NCBC offered.”

“This is a first for our diocese,” Msgr. Fitzgerald said. “I read about the certification program and thought it would be very important because there are so many ethical health questions we deal with in our facilities. Because we’re in the long-term health care industry, we need to have an understanding of the ERDs and of Catholic principles. The idea of having people pray to that we thought was a very important investment.”

The four representatives from the Fall River Diocese were among the first class of approximately 60 from around the country to complete the first-ever certification process under the NCBC. The group went through an intensive, yearlong course to achieve their certifications that included weekly assignments, online interaction, and teleconferences. They also attended a two-day workshop in Boston and a final conference at the NCBC facility in Philadelphia where each person participated in a one-on-one interview, a mock ethics committee, and the presentation of a final thesis paper on a specific topic of their choosing.

“The final days were a panel discussion and a one-on-one interview with an individual from NCBC,” said Joanne Roque, director of clinical services for the Diocesan Health Facilities office. “And you get to meet all the individuals from across the country that you’ve either heard via a teleconference or seen their name in an email.”

According to St. Laurent, the goal of the program is to train people to become familiar with Catholic moral teachings on all ethical issues relative to health care.

While all health care facilities follow established ethical and moral guidelines, there are more specific bioethical mandates for Catholic facilities as dictated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“We answer to a higher power,”

St. Laurent said. “In secular ethics, you’re looking at man’s reasoning, but in Catholic moral theology we’re using man’s reasoning inspired by the faith that we are fortunate to have. We believe that it’s inspired by the teaching of our Church — so it’s human reasoning inspired by faith and the documents we get from the magisterium that guide us in our ways.”

“Although we have ethics committees for all of our homes and these committees deal with specific problems at the home level,” Roque said, “the main issue was to make sure we have individuals in place who know the Catholic moral teaching and know how to address these different issues. It’s what we stand for as Catholics in the Catholic tradition. Everyone who works for Diocesan Health Facilities isn’t necessarily Catholic, but they need to understand Catholic moral teachings and traditions.”

“Not all the staff members here are Catholic, but one of our ERDs is that they have to follow the teachings of what we’re learning here,” agreed Ray McAndrews, administrator of Marian Manor in Taunton. “They don’t necessarily have to agree with it … but this is the type of care we’re going to give in a Catholic facility — whether it’s a hospital or a long-term care facility.”

“We recently had several graduates from the Diocese of Fall River,” said Father Pacholczyk. “I am very glad to see this, knowing these individuals will be able to assist on Ethics Committees and in other advisory capacities within the diocese. I served on the Ethics Committee at Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River for several years after I was ordained, and recognize how important it is to have individuals with training in ethics who assist in the deliberations of such committees.”

Msgr. Fitzgerald noted how there are many controversial situations in bioethics that go far beyond the routine hydration, nutrition and end-of-life issues. As such, the NCBC certification process is very intensive and very difficult. Some of the thesis topics that the group tackled included in-vitro fertilization, the adoption of frozen embryos, and when it’s morally permissible to deactivate a cardio defibrillator.

“The program, although very intense, did speak to a lot of what we go through and what we see here,” Rocha said. “We do come across some issues in dealing with the elderly and end-of-life care and considering comfort measures when they are reaching end stages. Topics that may come up for us include pain management and the use of medications to keep someone comfortable and pain-free, IV hydration and, at times, even artificial nutrition through feeding tubes.”

“I think some of the beginning

of life issues — artificial reproductive technologies is a big thing — and trying to understand what they are and what the Church teaches on the specific aspects were controversial,” St. Laurent agreed. “I also think always when we look at endof-life, we’ll deal with issues of withholding treatment. It’s sometimes difficult and it’s not always as clear-cut as you might think.”

According to Msgr. Fitzgerald, he felt the new bioethics certification was important enough for the Diocesan Health Facilities office to fund the three health care professionals and provide a scholarship for St. Laurent to participate.

“I select the people for the program, because I want to make sure they have the appropriate background,” Msgr. Fitzgerald said. “We have three more in the program right now … and we’re certainly going to evaluate having people participate every year.”

“It is a great thing to have people on staff who have gone through the program,” said McAndrews, who is currently working towards his own certification along with Dr. Daniel Brown, medical director at Madonna Manor in North Attleboro, and Claudia Levesque, director of social services at Madonna Manor. “I’m glad these four have led the way in the certification process and have become resources for me.”

“Our program typically has about 50 students from the U.S., Canada, and even the Philippines,” added Father Pacholczyk.

All four of the newly-certified expressed their joy and appreciation in having gone through the program and in working with Father Tad Pacholczyk.

“Father Tad is just brilliant,” Sullivan said. “To have been able to work with him and the other ethicists at NCBC was great and to have that resource available to us as Catholics is really great.”

“The NCBC is a resource we are lucky to have as Catholics because here is a panel of individuals who really would hash out a situation and really consider all types of situations,” Rocha said. “It was also interesting to see how these moral theologians and ethicists who have been studying these issues don’t always agree. You may have an opinion going in but after discussing it further, they flipped you, because there are things you just never would have considered before.”

Although the process was arduous and intensive, the foursome had no regrets about participating and agreed it was a worthwhile effort — for themselves individually and for the diocese overall.

“Coming from a purely clinical background, I really felt that it made me stretch and made me look much more broadly at health care decision-making,” Sullivan said. “Instead of just looking at the

January 16, 2009 clinical aspect of things, you have to consider the whole component of our Catholic teaching and the ethical implications of treatment situations and end-of-life care. It stretched me from being more clinical to doing a lot more discernment thinking.”

“This course really makes you think about every aspect of every single case,” Roque added. “There’s no complacency in decision-making. It was pulled out of you to make a decision. If you go with your first instinct, you may have overlooked

something and you need to look at every aspect.”

“I feel like having this program gives me a better foundation to pass along to our young people,” St. Laurent said. “I’m not involved in decision-making the way the others are, but I am involved in the education part and I can’t express how much I believe our youth need to be educated on these issues. They are our future voters, our future physicians, our future health care people, and I know it changes their hearts and minds on these issues.”

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

“Bride Wars” (Fox 2000/Regency) Amiable if predictable romantic bauble about longtime devoted pals (Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway, both in good comic form), who have dreamt since childhood of June weddings at New York’s Plaza Hotel, but then, as adults, have a falling-out just before their much-anticipated nuptials there, after which each sets out to sabotage the other. With the significant moral reservation that both gals are shown to be cohabiting with their fiances, director Gary Winick’s fitfully amusing “chick flick” otherwise has no significant sex or language issues, and there are, at least, some worthy if pat messages of lasting friendship and sensible priorities.

Premarital situations and some mildly suggestive dancing.

The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III — adults, though it’s acceptable for older teens. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

READY FOR BATTLE — Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson star in a scene from the movie “Bride Wars.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules on this page. (CNS photo/Fox)

“The Unborn” (Rogue) Relatively restrained but mediocre chill fest in which a suburban Chicago college student (Odette Yustman) seeks the aid of a Holocaust survivor (Jane Alexander) and a rabbi (Gary Oldman) to battle the evil spirit that threatens her, her boyfriend (Cam Gigandet) and her best pal (Meagan Good). Though it eventually highlights the power of Scripture-based faith, writer-director David S. Goyer’s often predictable thriller dabbles in the kabbalah and other aspects of the occult along the way. A premarital situation, a few crude words and sexual references, a suicide theme and brief skimpy costuming. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned.

Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, January 18 at 11:00 a.m.

Scheduled celebrant is Father Marc Bergeron, pastor of St. Anne’s Parish in Fall River

January 16, 2009

The Anchor

The Anchor news briefs Malaysian government expected to soon lift ban on Catholic paper WASHINGTON (CNS) — The Malaysian government is expected to lift the ban on the Malay-language section of a Catholic newspaper after a controversy over the use of the word “Allah.” Jesuit Father Lawrence Andrew, editor of the Herald, a Kuala Lumpur-based Catholic weekly, told Catholic News Service in an email that a Catholic Cabinet minister told him the government should be issuing a letter soon to revoke the ban. However, Father Andrew said, the paper might not be able to use the word Allah until an ongoing High Court case resolves the dispute regarding the use of the word. The court will resume a hearing on the subject February 27, he said. The controversy began when the Ministry of Home Affairs notified the paper in December that the Malay section of the paper was banned for its use of the word Allah to describe God. Malay is the official language of Malaysia. The government claims the word is exclusive “and should be used by the Muslims only,” Father Andrew said.

He said the Catholics in Malaysia have used Allah in liturgies and prayer books for centuries.

New Orleans Archdiocese gets police help to end parish occupations NEW ORLEANS (CNS) — The Archdiocese of New Orleans, with help from the New Orleans police, ended a 10-week occupation of two closed churches with the arrest of two people. Police gained entry into Our Lady of Good Counsel Church to ask parishioners to leave or face arrest January 6. Two people were arrested and another, a cancer patient, was escorted home. About 12 blocks away at St. Henry Church, police charged one parishioner with criminal trespassing. New Orleans Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes made the decision to request police intervention when it became apparent that the people occupying the closed churches would not leave after being asked to do so by archdiocesan officials. During a press conference at the archdiocesan administration building, the archbishop said his decision to close Our Lady of Good Counsel was in response to safety issues uncovered during previous inspections.

Finance must serve ‘great slice’ of society, says Vatican’s UN nuncio SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) — Put the reeling global economy on a moral footing and give more financial trust to those who are not rich and their faith-based allies, said the Vatican’s representative to the United Nations. “Finance is not a game,” Archbishop Celestino Migliore told Catholic San Francisco in a late-December interview.

“Among some big and wealthy financial agencies, they just play finances as a game.

Really, finance works as long as it’s put in the service of the common good and especially the great slice of our society which is composed of poor people or people who are not rich.” Rich nations must not respond to today’s economic crisis by retrenching to protectionism but must play an ever stronger role in global development, Archbishop Migliore said. Recounting his address to the late December U.N.-sponsored meeting on international development in Doha, Qatar, he said stronger nations must continue their aid commitments to support some 40 countries too weak to manage on their own.

Hong Kong cardinal objects to extending domestic violence law to gays HONG KONG (CNS) — Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong and some Christian legislators have objected to a proposed amendment that would extend a law on domestic violence to cover same-sex cohabitants. The Asian church news agency UCA News reported that a recent statement from the cardinal said extending the law to same-sex couples would “definitely lead to a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the concepts of marriage and family, thereby undermining the foundation of our society.” Even though the Church fully agrees that everyone, irrespective of background, must be protected from any form of violence, “distorted concepts of marriage and family will bring about other serious consequences,” he said. He added that the well-being of local families is a core social value that must be safeguarded. Cardinal Zen said he is obliged to appeal to the government to make “the common good of our society the basis of its legislation on marriage and family.” Later this year Hong Kong’s Legislative Council is scheduled to convene a public hearing on the bill, which would amend the 1986 Domestic Violence Ordinance, UCA News reported.

Diocese of Fall River statement on Albert J. Vaillancourt

January 9, 2009 The Fall River Diocese yesterday (January 8, 2009) learned of an alleged claim of abuse of a minor made against Albert J. Vaillancourt, an eighth-grade teacher at SS. Peter and Paul School in Fall River, and, in accord with diocesan policy, placed him on administrative leave later that day.

The placement of Mr. Vaillancourt on administrative leave is done to facilitate the investigation and should not be construed as an indication of wrongdoing or guilt.

The allegation concerns an alleged incident which took place over 20 years ago, either in 1987 or 1988, while Mr. Vaillancourt was teaching at Notre Dame School in Fall River.

Mr. Vaillancourt has denied the allegation.

Mr. Vaillancourt has taught at Catholic schools in Fall River for over 40 years and has in that time earned the respect of his colleagues and administrators for his dedication to young people. No prior complaints against him have been made. As always, it is only fair that judgment on this claim be reserved until the matter has gone through the legal process.

We have learned that the District Attorney’s office has been conducting a separate investigation into this allegation and we will cooperate.

Along with his work in Catholic schools, Mr. Vaillancourt has long been active in Fall River CYO. He has also been placed on leave from those responsibilities until this matter is resolved.

This is his first year on staff at SS. Peter and Paul School. He was appointed to the faculty there following the closure of Notre Dame School last June.

13

Archbishop O’Brien hits Baltimore airwaves with pitch for generosity

BALTIMORE (CNS) — Standing beneath three bright floodlights at Our Daily Bread Employment Center, Baltimore Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien looked straight into a slow-rolling television camera and made a heartfelt pitch for generosity.

“Please consider contributing your gifts of time and treasure to worthy causes like our Catholic Charities’ Our Daily Bread,” said Archbishop O’Brien, placing a plate full of steaming chicken and rice atop one of two tables filled with hungry guests.

The large camera captured his every move, along with those of a team of kitchen volunteers who prepared food in the background.

“Come, help us make God’s love known to others through Catholic Charities’ programs in the Archdiocese of Baltimore,” the archbishop said. “Our doors and our hearts are always open.”

With that, an official from the television crew declared it a wrap and the guests filled the room with applause. It took just 10 takes for the archbishop to finish his fourth 30-second commercial promoting the archdiocese’s many ministries.

The weekly spots are set to air on a Baltimore television station throughout most of 2009, with a new ad appearing every two weeks.

Archbishop O’Brien told The Catholic Review, Baltimore archdiocesan newspa-

per, that he hopes the commercials will raise awareness about the diverse ministries of the archdiocese.

“I think viewers might be surprised to find a Roman collar on there during news time or regular programming,” Archbishop O’Brien said. “I think they’ll be surprised and pleased to know that we have room for them to help contribute whatever gifts God gives them for the good of others.”

Two commercials already have aired, one focused on Thanksgiving Day and another on the economy. Future topics likely will include Catholic education and religious vocations.

People are responding “very positively” to the commercials, Archbishop O’Brien said. “There have been some emails and a good number of phone calls to the office,” he said.

Sean Caine, archdiocesan spokesman, said the commercials are funded through the Catholic Communication Campaign.

Their goal is to help people feel better about the Church and inspire viewers to enter into a deeper relationship with God. All the commercials will have evangelization as their theme, he said. “It’s a way to reintroduce people — Catholic and non-Catholic alike — to the welcoming environment of the archdiocese, to the ministries of the Church and to the archbishop,” Caine said. “It’s another evangelization tool.”

14

The Anchor

January 16, 2009

Pope baptizes infants, emphasizes parents’ role B y John Thavis C atholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — In an annual liturgy, Pope Benedict XVI baptized 13 infants and emphasized the duty of parents and godparents to educate them in the faith.

The pope strongly defended the practice of infant baptism, saying it acts as a “bridge” between human beings and God, and helps lead children along the path of grace.

The Mass January 11 marked the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. The pontiff celebrated the liturgy in the Sistine Chapel, where the crying of babies reverberated off the frescoed walls and ceiling.

The pope poured water from a shell-shaped dipper onto the head of each of the 13 infants — nine boys and four girls, the children of Vatican employees.

In his sermon, the pope said parents should consider children not as their personal property to be shaped according to their own ideas and desires, but as free children of God who need to be educated in order to make the right choices in life.

Infant baptism, he told parents, does no violence to children, but rather introduc-

Jan. 22, 29, 2009 Jan. 23 - 25, 2009 Jan. 28, 2009 Feb. 8, 2009 Feb. 10, 2009 Feb. 13 - 15, 2009 Feb. 20 - 22, 2009 Feb. 25, 2009

es them into “a new family, greater and more stable, and more open and numerous than your own.”

“Baptism is in a sense the bridge that God has built between himself and us, the road by which he makes himself accessible to us,” he said.

“It is the divine rainbow over our lives, the promise of God’s great ‘yes,’ the door of hope and, at the same time, the sign that shows us the path to walk,” he said.

As in the same liturgy the previous year, Pope Benedict celebrated Mass at the chapel’s original fixed altar that stands against the wall covered by Michelangelo’s fresco of “The Last Judgment.” That meant that during parts of the Mass the pope was turned away from the people.

Later, at his noon talk to pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square, the pope spoke about baptism as a moment of joy and a great gift.

“If we fully realized this, our lives would be a continual grace,” he said.

At the same time, he said, baptism implies a serious responsibility for parents and for godparents, who must educate their children according to the Gospel.

~ Women in Midlife ~ Women’s Retreat ~ Morning of Prayer ~ Afternoon of Recollection ~ Prayer Shawl Ministry ~ Men’s Retreat ~ Single’s Retreat ~ Journey Into Lent

MAN OF PEACE — Italian Cardinal Pio Laghi distributes ashes at an Ash Wednesday service at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington in 2003. Cardinal Laghi, a former Vatican nuncio to the United States who tried to convince President George W. Bush not to invade Iraq in 2003, died January 10 at the age of 86. (CNS photo/Nancy Wiechec)

Cardinal Laghi, former nuncio to U.S., dies at 86

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Italian Cardinal Pio Laghi, a former Vatican nuncio to the United States who tried to convince President George W. Bush not to invade Iraq in 2003, died January 10 at the age of 86.

Cardinal Laghi had been suffering from a blood disorder, but told a conference just before Christmas that he thought the worst had passed. On that occasion, he again expressed his deep disappointment that Bush did not heed Pope John Paul II’s warnings about the possible consequences of the war in Iraq.

Pope John Paul had sent Cardinal Laghi to Washington as his personal envoy to meet with Bush and to try to persuade him to avoid military action in Iraq. The cardinal later said he felt Bush and his aides had already made up their minds to invade the country and did not seem willing to listen to more input.

In a telegram offering his condolences to the cardinal’s nieces and nephews, Pope

Benedict XVI praised the cardinal for “long and generous service to the Holy See, particularly as papal representative in various countries and as prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education.”

In a statement released by the White House, Bush offered his condolences to Pope Benedict and to all Catholics.

“Cardinal Laghi was a friend who, in his more than 60 years of service to the Catholic Church, worked tirelessly for peace and justice in our world,” Bush said. “Cardinal Laghi always strove to unite people of all religions and promote reconciliation, religious freedom and tolerance.”

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, presided at the cardinal’s funeral Mass Tuesday in St. Peter’s Basilica. Pope Benedict was to be present at the end of the Mass to deliver remarks and preside over the final commendation.

Cardinal Laghi’s death leaves the College of Cardinals with 190 members, 116 of whom are under age 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a papal conclave.

Cardinal Laghi was a seasoned Vatican diplomat who spent a total of 17 years in the United States, first as an assistant to papal representatives in the late 1950s, then as the Vatican representative. He was also the Holy See’s permanent observer to the Organization of American States.

He entered the Vatican diplomatic service in 1952, six years after he was ordained a priest and named apostolic del-

egate to the U.S. in December 1980. When the Vatican and the United States established full diplomatic relations in 1984, he was named the first apostolic nuncio.

In 1990, Pope John Paul named him head of the Congregation for Catholic Education, a position he held until his retirement in 1999.

But even in retirement he continued serving as Pope John Paul’s personal envoy to troubled parts of the globe. In late 2000, Pope John Paul sent the cardinal to the Holy Land to try to convince Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to halt the violence and return to negotiations.

The Italian cardinal was known as an urbane diplomat with a ready wit who was fluent in English, Spanish and French, in addition to his native Italian. He was an avid player of racquetball, squash and tennis, which he used to play with President George H.W. Bush.

Pio Laghi was born May 21, 1922, in Castiglione, a small town in north-central Italy. In 1969 he was made an archbishop and was appointed apostolic delegate in Jerusalem and Palestine. In 1971 he was given the additional post of papal pro-nuncio to Cyprus, and in 1972 the job of apostolic visitor to Greece was added to his duties. In 1974, he moved to South America as nuncio to Argentina, a position he held until 1980.

Pope John Paul named him to the College of Cardinals in 1991.

January 16, 2009

15

The Anchor

‘First Things’ founder Father Richard John Neuhaus dies from cancer

B y Dennis Sadowski C atholic News Service

WASHINGTON — Father Richard John Neuhaus, a former Lutheran minister who became a Catholic priest and a staunch defender of Church teaching on abortion and other life issues, died January 8. He was 72.

His funeral Mass was celebrated January 13 at Immaculate Conception Church in Manhattan.

The founder and editor in chief of the journal “First Things,” Father Neuhaus was hospitalized in New York after becoming ill December 26 with a systemic infection. He had been diagnosed with cancer in late November.

Father Neuhaus, a native of Pembroke, Ontario, often was invited to lecture and participate in panel discussions on religion in the contemporary world. His views on abortion, stem-cell research, cloning and social issues contributed greatly to Catholic and other religious discourse on politics and society.

He also regularly consulted with President George W. Bush on bioethical issues. In 2005 Time magazine named the priest one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in America, despite his no longer being an evangelical pastor. The magazine described him as having “a fair amount of under-the-radar influence” within the Bush administration.

A prolific author, Father Neuhaus wrote numerous books commenting on contemporary issues and the role of the Church in society. In First Things he regularly published long analyses on contemporary topics as diverse as theological disputes between Catholics and Protestants, abortion policies and the application of just-war principles in foreign policy.

Father Neuhaus founded “First Things,” a journal published by the Institute on Religion and Public Life, in 1990.

The magazine was established as an ecumenical journal “whose purpose is to advance a religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society,” according to its mission statement.

The son of a Lutheran pastor and one of eight children, Father Neuhaus was born May 14, 1936. He became a Lutheran minister about 1960 after graduating from Concordia Theological Seminary in St. Louis.

He settled in Brooklyn, N.Y., serving a poor congregation that encompassed the black community in the borough’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. From the pulpit he regularly addressed civil

Father Richard John Neuhaus

rights and social justice concerns and spoke against the Vietnam War. In the late 1960s he gained national prominence as a co-founder of Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam with Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.

His perspective changed by the early 1970s and the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade galvanized him as a member of the growing neoconservative movement.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s he became an outspoken advocate of “democratic capitalism” and began arguing that Judeo-Christian values again should have a place in the public square. He also was an early advocate of faith-based policy initiatives by the federal government.

In 1984 he established the Center on Religion and Society at the Rockford Institute to promulgate his views. After being removed from the institute over philosophical differences five years later, he then founded the Institute on Religion and Public Life.

On Sept. 8, 1990, then-Rev. Neuhaus became a Catholic and a year later he was ordained by Cardinal John J. O’Connor as a priest of the Archdiocese of New York.

In recent years, he began to compare the Pro-Life struggle to the 1960s’ civil rights movement. During the 2004 presidential campaign, Father Neuhaus was a leading advocate for denying Communion to Catholic politicians who supported abortion and voted against Church teaching on life issues. At the time he said it was a mistake to isolate abortion “from other issues of the election and from other issues of the sacredness of life.”

Father Neuhaus underwent successful surgery in January 1993 to remove a malignant tumor in his colon.

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16

Youth Pages

January 16, 2009

STORIES FROM IRAQ — U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Anthony Bryner, left, formerly of Attleboro, and Private Louis Salazar recently visited Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro as part of a Social Justice class’ study made up of four students who reported on daily life in Iraq. The students asked questions regarding the soldiers’ experiences while serving in Iraq. Here Senior Joe Sandoval asks the questions.

THE FRUITS OF THEIR LABOR — Dr. Juana Souza, a parishioner of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in New Bedford, presents pastor Father Kevin Harrington with a fruit basket that was part of Christmas display in the church. Father Harrington and Souza collaborated on a project to collect fruit baskets to be handed out to many, including families in the city’s West End neighborhood. Plans are to repeat the collection at the Easter season.

O HOLY NIGHT — A reverent presentation by eighth-grade students at Taunton Catholic Middle School focused on the Holy Family. Students took part in the readings and powerful pictures were displayed to enhance them. In the last week before Christmas, the Drama Club invited residents from Bethany House Adult Care Center to a turkey dinner served by students in the community service program. Guests enjoyed a performance of “A Christmas Carol,” featuring students in all grades and the TCMS Choir, singing carols and inviting the guests to join in.

LEARNING ABOUT FORGIVENESS — Children at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Attleboro celebrated their first reconciliation recently. They shared in the ritual of lighting the reconciliation candle, which signifies that Christ is our light and that the children are sharing Christ’s light with others.

Shown is Christopher Wright taking his turn at lighting the candle.

STAGE DEBUT — John Paul II High School in Hyannis held its first-ever Christmas production. The event, led by Mark Girardin, was well attended and was followed by a reception and sing-along in the library.

HE HAS A WAY WITH WORDS — Author Jerry Pallotta speaks to the children at St. Pius X School in South Yarmouth about the many books he has written.

January 16, 2009

H

Youth Pages The dating game

ave you given serious thought to your purpose in dating? What are you really looking for in your relationship with your “boyfriend” or “girlfriend”?

Without serious and prayerful thought prior to dating you could be involved in what is called premature dating. Premature dating simply means you are playing “the dating game.” This can cause serious problems that can lead to unforeseen dangers: severed friendships, discord with your parents, an unwanted pregnancy and isolation from those who truly love you. I’ve briefly written about this in the past, but now let’s give this matter more serious thought.

St. Paul writes, in his letter to Timothy, “Shun youthful passions and aim at righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart” (2Timothy 2:22). These youthful passions are the dangers of playing the dating game.

Les John Christie writes in his book “Dating and Waiting: A Christian View of Love, Sex, and Dating” that relating

with one’s own sex is just as and sexual games. Be careimportant as relating with the ful of the language of dating opposite sex. But in dating, — words can do just as much sometimes your friends are harm to you and others if pushed into the background, taken the wrong way, or spoand these are friends who may ken in the wrong context. be needed later. Also there is I remember my own datthe danger of forgetting other ing experience. It wasn’t easy. important relationships in your life like brothers, sisters, and parents. There is the danger of dating for the wrong reasons, such as to impress your friends … to get

By Ozzie Pacheco back at someone, or to cause jealousy. In such cases, you are merely using your date. Another My girlfriend, now my wife, danger is that you become so Sue and I, had our temptadate conscious that within the tions. But we would always parish youth group, you only remember God’s asking us to talk with those you feel are be holy during all phases of potential dates, and you leave our lives, especially during the rest alone. There are also the dating years. The gift of the dangers of mistaking emo- sex is a special gift, a positive tional and physical attraction act of love and affection to be for real love and the danger in used as God intended it to be, letting sexual desires get out within marriage. Our love for of control. each other and the hopes of The dating experience does creating a family helped us to not have to be a negative one. keep the gift of sex just that Dating can actually be fun, — a gift to be given to each and rewarding, but you need other only when God united us to avoid the sensual ploys as husband and wife. Through

ST. LOUIS (CNS) — When Maureen Day was just 11 weeks into her pregnancy, she learned the devastating news that her baby was not developing properly.

Recalling that day years ago when she learned the news at the doctor’s office that her daughter Katie’s heart was no longer beating, Day said she was shocked at “how devastated I was. It caught me off-guard.”

In the days and weeks following her miscarriage, Day, the mother of five, spent much of her time reading on the Internet, including stories of other women who had experienced the same kind of loss and anything else she could get her hands on that had to do with miscarriage and infant death.

By the end of that year, Day had taken that energy, and her background as a professional graphic artist, and turned it into a tangible source of comfort for women grieving the loss of their baby.

Launched in 2002, Day’s nonprofit organization, Heaven Born, provides small, handmade fleece pillows to mothers who have suffered an early pregnancy loss.

Tucked inside a small pocket on the front of the pillow is a booklet with tips on how to cope with the emotions that follow a pregnancy loss.

The pillow “is just something for a mother, when you don’t have anything to hold,” she noted.

The attention is in the details, too. Before the pillows are stuffed and sewn by her and a small crew of volunteers, the fleece material is washed in a detergent especially made for laundering infant clothing.

“I wanted it to have a nice, soothing smell,” Day said. “A woman emailed me once and said ‘the smell is what I smell when I have dreams about my baby.’”

Since its inception, Heaven Born has handcrafted about 1,000 pillows, which have been provided at cost to several hospitals in St. Louis. Day also has since expanded the effort to other hospitals outside the St. Louis area, including ones in Springfield, Mo., and Michigan. Individual pillows also can be ordered at the organization’s Website, www.heavenborn.com.

“I have sent them to England, Ireland — places all over, for people who just happened upon the Web site,” she said, adding that the site has received more than 8,000 visitors since it was launched in 2006.

Day’s physician, Dr. Kent Snowden at St. John’s Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis, offered his support and provided several suggestions for the booklet.

“I wanted to make something in a small, digestible format,” she said. “Just a little something to read.”

Be Not Afraid

Project brings comfort to mothers of ‘heaven born’ babies

Tips in the booklet include some of the feelings an individual might experience after the loss, how to take care of one’s self and communicate with a spouse and specific suggestions on how to honor the baby.

With the help of a friend in the printing business and her doctor, Day had several thousand copies of the booklet printed. She also went to a class to learn basic sewing techniques so she could make the pillows.

St. John’s Mercy was the first to show interest in the effort, after Day was connected with Maggie Loyet, coordinator of the Mercy HeartPrints program at the medical center.

“She’s been wonderful,” said Day. Day also has established a Heaven Born craft community for small groups who would like to sew pillows on their own, “to help those moms and honor their babies,” she said. Groups are provided with supplies and instructions on how to make the pillows as well as brochures and other promotional materials.

“And then there’s the craft therapy part. This is a nice opportunity to get together and share,” she said.

“I told God, ‘This is your deal.

This is whatever you make it.

Whether it’s 10 pillows or 10 million pillows, it’s all yours.’”

prayer, God made our purpose for dating clear.

Have a purpose and a standard and a plan for dating. If your purpose for dating is socializing, great. Get to know others, create lasting friendships, and enjoy other people’s company. If your purpose for dating is mate selection, great.

Then understand each other and recognize each other’s character and personality. A clear purpose means you understand that sexual exploration and experimentation are not healthy purposes for dating.

Maturity is an important standard for dating. It helps you in establishing boundaries for dating. Should you date in public places? What forms of touching and interaction are appropriate? What types of activities should you avoid?

Answer these questions before temptation knocks and it will save you from misunderstandings and mistakes later on. Finally, plan your dating experience. Consider a plan where two people can become friends. Consider a plan where

17 your parents have some input, an agreement that both of you can live with. Don’t keep your parents in the dark about whom you date and what you do on your date.

If you are having some problems or are facing some dangers in your dating experience, you are probably afraid or embarrassed to discuss them with someone. Look to your parents, first — they love you and care about you. Look to your youth leaders — their role as ministers is one of listening and compassion. Both your parents and youth leaders will empathize with you, for they know the urgency of the matter and will understand.

They will give you affection, for they know the pressures of dating can make you vulnerable to the perils and pleasures of dating. They can give you guidance and direction through prayer.

So, go dating, but first call upon the Lord with a pure heart. Then you will see that your aim, your purpose, is right.

Ozzie Pacheco is Faith Formation director at Santo Christo Parish, Fall River.

18

The Anchor

January 16, 2009

Catholics muster to fight Freedom of Choice Act continued from page one

with the overwhelming support from a majority of people.”

It would overturn a broad range of Pro-Life activities currently allowed under the 1973 Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision.

Here’s what FOCA would do: — eliminate regulations that protect women from unsafe clinics and unscrupulous abortionists; — force American taxpayers to fund abortions; — force every state to allow partial-birth abortion, as its sponsors have said a primary purpose of the bill is to ensure that killing partially born children would again be permitted nationwide; — run roughshod over the conscience rights of physicians, nurses, and hospitals that oppose abortion on religious, moral or ethical grounds; — strip parents of their right and responsibility to be involved in their minor daughter’s abortion decision.

While pro-abortion groups have been trying to pass FOCA since 1989, what is imminent is that the arriving Congress seems more disposed than any in recent years to pass the bill — as well as an incoming president who has said he will sign it into law.

President-elect Barack Obama, speaking at a Planned Parenthood Action Fund event in July 2006, told the audience, “Well, the

first thing I’d do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That’s the first thing that I’d do.”

Critics contend that flies in the face of another Obama’s statement: “… I think it’s entirely appropriate for states to restrict or even prohibit later-term abortions as long as there is a strict, well-defined exception for the health of the mother.”

But they maintain that waiting for another flip-flop to put FOCA again on the back burner, would be deadly to Pro-Life policies because the Act provides a fundamental right to abortion and citizens would lose the freedom they now have to enact even modest regulation of the abortion industry.

“We ask you to join with us as we pray and fast for the conversion of the hearts and minds of President-elect Obama and all members of the new Congress, to a deeper understanding and compassion for all human life,” said Desrosiers.

“Please support this urgent postcard campaign and let your voice count,” she added.

“Educate yourself and others on the need to restore the truth and foundation of this great nation. Our voices must be heard in the public square demanding protection for all human life, starting from the first moment of fertilization. The expanded attack against innocent human life

must be stopped.”

Desrosiers recalled that when the FOCA proposal raised its ugly head in the 1980s a postcard campaign at that time helped cut short its path to approval.

It was reintroduced in 2004 by U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler in the House and Sen. Barbara Boxer in the Senate.

Boxer’s accompanying press release at that time spelled out the unlimited and widespread effect of the proposal. It stated: “…FOCA would supersede all other abortion related laws, regulations or local ordinances … especially those that the Supreme Court has held to be constitutional under Roe and its progeny.”

Massachusetts cosponsors of the FOCA measure within the Fall River Diocese are Sen. John Kerry, Rep. Barney Frank, and Rep. James McGovern.

Other sponsors in the Commonwealth included Representatives Niki Tsongas, John Tierney and Michael Capuano.

“They need to remove their names immediately from this radical bill and not allow the passage of any federal legislation that will negate Pro-Life policies,” Desrosiers told The Anchor.

And in a direct message to the incoming president, Desrosiers said, “Please, President-elect Obama, bring us ‘real’ change.

Restore everyone’s right to life and protection to all U.S. citizens born and unborn. Give women the help they really deserve to be able to protect their children and rebuild the family as the sanctuary of all human life.”

Cape Cod couples’ club celebrates 40th anniversary

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P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722 theanchor@anchornews.org 508.675.7151 This Message Sponsored by the Following Business Concern in the Diocese of Fall River Gilbert C. Oliveira Insurance Agency

EAST FALMOUTH — The St. Anthony’s Couples Club of East Falmouth recently celebrated its 40th anniversary with a gathering at St. Anthony’s Church basement.

Members enjoyed refreshments, including a 40th anniversary cake.

In addition, attendees watched an audio/visual program of their 20th and 25th anniversaries.

The club was inaugurated in January 1969 under the guidance of then pastor, Father George Amaral.

Of the original six couples, Robert and Pearl Sylvia and Norman and Olive Thayer continue to be active in the club. The Sylvias were the first president and co-president of the newlyformed club which carries the motto, “Friendship Through Religion.”

Catholic Communication Campaign is January 17 and 18

FALL RIVER — This annual national campaign is unique in that it is designed as a shared collection, meaning half the proceeds stay in the local diocese and the other half is forwarded to the Catholic Communication Campaign office of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference to support national projects.

The portion remaining in the Fall River Diocese is used to fund the weekly Television Mass, which airs at 11 a.m. each Sunday on WLNE-TV, channel 6.

Now a fixture of Sunday morning television in southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and beyond, the Television Mass last September marked its 45th anniversary. Former Fall River Bishop James L. Connolly celebrated the first TV Mass live from the Channel 6 New Bedford studio on September 22, 1963, just months after the station signed on for the first time.

The Fall River Diocese sponsors the Television Mass for the benefit of those who are unable to attend a parish Mass usually because of infirmity or advanced age.

“It is a wonderful ministry which provides a significant service to our viewers,” said Msgr.

Stephen J. Avila, director of the Television Mass Apostolate.

“Just last month I was in an assisted living facility in the diocese and I was struck by the number of residents who men-

tioned the TV Mass to me and noted how important that Mass is to them,” he continued.

“But it doesn’t come without cost,” he said. “The diocese must pay for the production and halfhour airtime.”

Cost for the Television Mass runs between $55,000 to $60,000 each year.

In addition to proceeds from this weekend’s CCC collection, the Television Mass is also supported by the Catholic Charities Appeal.

Msgr. Avila expressed on behalf of Bishop George W. Coleman his gratitude to those who support the TV Mass through the CCC collection. He said that donations may also be sent directly to the Diocesan TV Mass at P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722.

At the national level, the U.S. Bishops’ Catholic Communication Campaign serves millions through video, radio, the Internet, podcasts, movie & DVD reviews, and more.

Among a sampling of CCCfunded services available on the Internet are blogs, live streaming videos, articles, and daily Scripture readings for listening and downloading.

Recent CCC video offerings include reflections on daily Mass readings, a series on the sacraments, and Faith Works, a collection of videos showing people, places, and programs affecting faith in our everyday lives.

2008 Marian Medal Awards presentation available on video

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

To obtain a video, please forward a check payable to the Diocesan Office of Communications, Diocese of Fall River, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722. Shipping is included in the video cost.

January 16, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WEST HARWICH — Our Lady of Life Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Holy Trinity Parish, 246 Main Street, holds perpetual eucharistic adoration. For open hours, or to sign up call 508-430-4716.

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

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

FALL RIVER — Catholic Social Services will host “Adoption by Choice,” an informational session for individuals and families interested in domestic newborn or international adoption January 25, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., at 1600 Bay Street. A snow date is February 1. To register and for information call 508-674-4681.

FALL RIVER — “A Faith and Culture Forum” focusing on assisting children to lead disciplined lives and achieve academic excellence, an observance of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, will be held January 25, at 2 p.m., in Union Methodist Church, 600 Highland Avenue. Participants from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River will include Father Marc Bergeron, ecumenical officer; and George A. Milot, superintendent of schools.

FALL RIVER — A Free Throw Championship competition sponsored by the Msgr. Jean Prevost Council No. 12380, Knights of Columbus of Notre Dame Parish, will be held January 25 at 6:30 p.m., at the CYO on Anawan Street. For more information contact Joe Pereira at 508-679-9275.

FALL RIVER — A healing Mass will be held at St. Anne’s Church on January 22 at 6:30 p.m., with rosary at 6 p.m., followed by benediction and healing prayers after Mass.

FALMOUTH — The St. Mary’s Education Fund Winter Brunch has been rescheduled to January 25 at noon at the Coonamessett Inn. Call Jane at 508759-3566 for reservations.

MASHPEE — ECHO of Cape Cod is looking for Youth Applicants for its Spring Retreat weekends to be held at the Craigville Conference Center in Centerville.

Applicants must be high school sophomores, juniors, seniors, or freshmen in college. Scheduled retreats are February 6-8 for boys; March 6-8 for girls, and April 3-5 for boys. For information visit echoofcapecod.com or call Mary Fuller at 508-759-4265.

MASHPEE — Non-practicing Catholics who feel separated from the Church or seldom attend Mass are encouraged to participate in the six-session “Catholics Returning Home” to be held on Tuesday nights from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Christ the King Parish Hall beginning February 3. No matter how long you have been away and no matter the reason, you are invited to renew your relationship with the Catholic Church. For information call 508-477-7700.

Support Groups NORTH DARTMOUTH — COURAGE is a group for people who are experiencing same-sex attraction and would like to live the Church’s teaching for chastity. They gather for prayer and conversation, seeking to support each other with the support of Christ. The next meeting will be held on January 31 at 7 p.m. For location information, call Father Richard Wilson at 508-992-9408.

Pro-Life ATTLEBORO — Concerned faithful are needed to pray the rosary outside Four Women, Inc., an abortion clinic at 150 Emory Street, Thursdays from 3-4 p.m., or 4-5 p.m. and Saturdays from 7:30-8:30 a.m. For information call 508238-5743.

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The Anchor Father Robert J. Sevigny; missionary to South Africa

THIBODAUX, La. — Father Robert J. Sevigny, 81, a native of Fall River, Mass., and a priest with the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, La., died December 27.

The son of the late Philip and Rosina Sevigny, he grew up in Blessed Sacrament Parish in Fall River. He studied for the priesthood

at the Oblate College in Bar Harbor, Maine and the Oblate House of Theology in Natick, Mass.

Ordained a priest in Lowell, Mass., on June 24, 1953, he was missioned to Lesotho, South Africa in 1954, and later served in parishes in several dioceses in the United States.

He leaves several sisters-inlaw, cousins and nephews.

His funeral Mass was celebrated in Thibodaux by Thibodaux Bishop Samuel Jacobs.

A memorial Mass for Father Sevigny was celebrated recently in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River.

Deacon Antonio M. daCruz; served at Our Lady of Assumption

NEW BEDFORD — Deacon Antonio M. daCruz, 80, of Marion died January 6, unexpectedly at St. Luke’s Hospital. He was the husband of the late Joanna S. “Jenny” (Santos) daCruz.

Born in Warwick, R.I., the son of the late Miguel J. and Francesca (Reis) daCruz, he lived in New Bedford and Dartmouth most of his life before moving to Marion three years ago.

Deacon daCruz was a parishioner of Our Lady of the Assumption Church where he served as deacon. He was ordained to the permanent diaconate in 1982.

He was formerly employed as a electronic engineer at the U.S. Naval Underwater Systems Center for many years until retire-

ment.

He was a member of the Knights of Columbus and the National Association of Retired Federal Employees. He was a graduate of Northeastern University, class of 1956 and was a member of the Eta Kappa Nu Fraternity.

He was a loving father and grandfaDeacon Antonio ther.

M. daCruz He leaves two sons, Antonio daCruz Jr. of New Bedford and Miguel “Michael” daCruz of Dartmouth; five daughters, Linda Teixeira of Marion, Joan

Dancy and Andrea Barrett, of New Bedford, Anita Atalig of Tamuning, Guam and April Agbai of Baltimore, Md.; 20 grandchildren, including Leo Beltran, III and Victor Maisonave III, who were Deacon daCruz’s caretakers for a few years; 20 greatgrandchildren; and nieces and nephews.

He was also the father of the late Koren daCruz and the brother of the late Joseph daCruz, Robert daCruz and Mary Walker.

A wake service for Deacon daCruz was held Monday in Our Lady of the Assumption Church. His funeral Mass was celebrated there on Tuesday, followed by burial in St. John’s Cemetery.

Pro-Lifers, new Congress to rub elbows in D.C. continued from page 20

host the third annual “Champions for Family” awards reception January 22 at the Phoenix Park Hotel in Washington. Honorees include U.S. Rep. Joseph R. Pitts, R-Pa.; Dr. Rene Bullecer, who heads Human Life International in the Philippines; and Father Jerome Magat, parochial vicar at Our

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

Jan. 19 Rev. Thomas E. O’Dea, Assistant, St. Lawrence, New Bedford, 1999 Jan. 20 Rev. Roland J. Masse, Assistant, Notre Dame de Lourdes, Fall River, 1952 Jan. 21 Rev. Msgr. Henri A. Hamel, USAF, Retired Chaplain, Retired Pastor, St. Joseph, New Bedford, 1983 Deacon John Cwiekowski, 2001 Jan. 24 Rev. Aaron L. Roche, O.P. Immaculate Conception Mission, North Easton, 1870 Rev. Louis A. Casgrain, Pastor, St. Mathieu, Fall River, 1920 Rev. Edward H. Finnegan, S.J., Boston College Faculty, 1951 Rev. Thomas F. McMorrow, Assistant, Our Lady of Victory, Centerville, 1977 Rev. Cornelius J. O’Neill, Retired Pastor, Sacred Heart, Taunton, 1999 Jan. 25 Rev. Jack Hickey, O.P., Dismas House, Nashville, Tenn., 1987

Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Arlington, Va., and founder of the Guadalupe Free Clinic, a free medical clinic for the poor.

On January 23 the American Life League will hold a conference from 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Liaison Capitol Hill Hotel in Washington, followed by a 6 p.m. concert sponsored by Students for Life of America and featuring Barlow Girl and Laura Ingraham.

Speakers at the conference will include Judie Brown, American Life League president; Catholic political commentator and sometime candidate Alan Keyes;

and David Bereit, director of the nationwide 40 Days for Life campaign that combines prayer, fasting, vigils and community outreach in 204 U.S. cities and 49 states, said Marie Hahnenberg, project director for the January 21-23 “training and activism week” sponsored by the American Life League in Washington.

On January 23, the final day of the pilgrimage, Bishop Coleman will celebrate Mass for the locals at 9 a.m., in St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington before all depart for the trip home, with buses arriving at approximately 11 p.m.

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20

The Anchor

January 16, 2009

Pro-Lifers and new Congress to rub elbows in Washington Record number of diocesan pilgrims set to make trek to nation’s capital

By Deacon James N. Dunbar and Catholic New Service

WASHINGTON — Hundreds of Fall River Diocese Pro-Life marchers, young and old, will merge with tens of thousands just like them on January 22 to commemorate the 36th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade heinous decision legalizing abortion, just days after President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated.

With millions expected in Washington for inauguration events the week of January 19 and thousands of participants anticipated for the official 2008 March for Life and related activities, organizers predict it will be a “crazy week” in the nation’s capital.

“So it will be a wonderful opportunity for our Pro-Life pilgrims — especially the teens and young adults from our high schools — to show the incoming

administration and new Congress ment to the march and its activi- tend its youth rally at the Verithe strong support for life that pre- ties, and it is outstanding,” Desro- zon Center, Washington’s largest vails among so many Americans siers added enthusiastically. sports arena, from 7:30 to 11:30 and how important respect for The groups are expected to ar- a.m., with a 10 a.m., Mass celelife at all stages should be on the rive at lodgings in McLean, Va., brated by Washington Archbishop agendas of our national Donald W. Wuerl, and at leaders,” said Marian Bishop Coleman o it will be a wonderful oppor- which Desrosiers, director of and diocesan priests will tunity for our Pro-Life pilgrims be concelebrants. the Fall River Diocese’s — especially the teens and young adults Pro-Life Apostolate.

The main event will On January 21, from our high schools — to show the begin with a noon rally seven buses will leave the National Mall, incoming administration and new Con- on from various departure followed by a noon points at 9 a.m., carry- gress the strong support for life that pre- march along Constituing approximately 400 vails among so many Americans.” tion Avenue that will people including stuend at the U.S. Supreme dents, chaperones and Court. From there, paradults from schools and parishes at approximately 6 p.m., where a ticipants are encouraged to meet across the diocese who are signed Mass will be celebrated at 7 p.m. with members of Congress to lobup, said Desrosiers.

Bishop George W. Coleman, by on abortion-related issues.

Another group of approximate- will again lead the local contin“The first session of the 111th ly 40 from St. Patrick’s Parish in gent of marchers.

Congress will convene in January, Wareham, will also be heading to On the morning of the march, with all newly elected members Washington on a separate bus. the Washington Archdiocese ex- of the House and many newly “That is more people than we pects more than 20,000 Catholic elected members of the Senate,” have ever had make the commit- teens from across the U.S. to at- organizers of the march wrote on the official Website, www.marchforlife.org. “We shall be a large group of Americans to bring our prayers and our important simple Pro-Life message to the new administration.”

The theme of this year’s march is “Remember — The Life Principles Mean ‘Equal Care’ With No Exceptions,” meaning the intentional killing of even one unborn human is never justified or necessary, the Website said.

Organizers are also stressing that the U.S. must provide equal care for both a pregnant mother and her unborn child.

The National Prayer Vigil for Life will begin with a 7 p.m. Mass

“S

January 21 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, and conclude with a 7:30 a.m. liturgy January 22. Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on ProLife Activities, will celebrate the evening Mass and Bishop Paul S. Loverde of Arlington, Va., will be the principal celebrant for the morning Mass.

For the first time since the all-night vigil has been held, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will direct people who won’t fit into the basilica for the events to similar Masses within walking distance, said Deirdre A. McQuade, assistant director for policy and communications for the USCCB’s Office of Pro-Life Activities.

“We estimate that 12,000 people were at the vigil last year,” McQuade told Catholic News Service. “So, we’re making sure they have a place to worship close by. We want everyone to have an opportunity to participate.”

Several other events will take place in Washington and around the country to mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision.

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 21 the Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life will be held at Georgetown University in Washington; the conference is intended to educate college and high school students.

The Filipino Family Fund and Culture of Life Foundation will Turn to page 19