02.24.12

Diocese of Fall River

The Anchor

F riday , February 24, 2012

East Freetown Scout Troop keeps focus on reverence

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

EAST FREETOWN — When Mark Perry, a parishioner of St. John Neumann Parish, was contemplating creating a new Boy Scout Troop at Cathedral Camp in East Freetown, his number one priority was to have its main focus on promoting and sharing the Catholic faith. “Boy Scouts are based on 12 values and the final value on the list is reverence,” Perry told The Anchor. “I wanted to have a troop where Scouts would be able to embrace the Catholic faith and share it.”

While the Boy Scouts of America is not a Catholic organization, it’s had a strong Catholic element to it since its inception in 1910. The first known Catholic Scout Troop was at St. Mark’s Church in St. Paul, Minn.

In 1914, BSA created a “Catholic Bureau,” a precursor of the current National Catholic Scouting Committee, of which Father

Stephen B. Salvador, pastor of SS. Peter and Paul Parish at Holy Cross Church in Fall River, is the National Chaplain. According to its website, the NCCS mission is “to utilize and ensure the constructive use of the program of the BSA as a viable form of youth ministry with Catholic youth of our nation.”

“Scouting is so very important, especially today,” Father Salvador said. “It has kids working with kids, and not just locally or in the U.S., but around the world.

World leaders can’t communicate with one another, but Boy Scouts from around the world can. I’ve seen it in my many Scout travels here and abroad.”

“There has been a long history of the Catholic Church using the Scouting program in teaching our youth valuable lessons on leadership and values,” Father David C. Frederici, Scouting chaplain Turn to page 14

Anchor’s Away – Putting the finishing touches on the front cover of a recent issue of The Anchor, editor Dave Jolivet proofs the layout and then posts each finished page on the copy board near his office door. While the layout of the paper begins on Thursday, he will continue the process well into the following Monday and early Tuesday morning. Throughout the development of the pages, the staff and Jolivet will proof each page before the final copy is approved and sent electronically to TCI Press in Seekonk. (Photo by Becky Aubut)

Peeking between the pages: A week at The Anchor

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — “Will Genevieve be in? Jennifer? Dwight?” asked David Jolivet, editor of The Anchor.

This isn’t a roll call for a morning attendance check at a local school but a confirmation from Jolivet that columnists will be in on time to be slotted into the layout for this week’s edition of

The Anchor. It happens every Wednesday morning during the staff meeting where the six members who make up the staff at The Anchor sit down to discuss upcoming stories and to bounce future ideas off each other.

With more than 27,000 issues printed every week, subscribers are mainly found within the 91 parishes of the Fall River Diocese but the paper Turn to page 16

‘Catholicism’ series praised as important evangelization tool

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

all geared up — At the 2012 Klondike Derby at Camp Cachalot in Miles Standish State Forest in South Carver, Troop 333 Patrol came in second place among 91 patrols (teams). Here the patrol is seen with a Klondike Sled that carries all equipment for the day right before the chasm-crossing where they completed the course in 57 seconds — a record for the day. From left: Anthony Perry, Nicholas Talbot, Kolbe Correia, Caleb Guerra, Matthew Laliberte, Daniel Perry, and Jeremy Lambert, with Mark Perry, Scoutmaster and Tom Laliberte, assistant Scoutmaster.

FALL RIVER — One of the key concepts Father Robert Barron had when he first set out to create his acclaimed 10-part documentary series “Catholicism” was to find a way to bring together the truth and beauty of the Catholic faith.

“That was a big motivating factor for me,” Father Barron told The Anchor. “I wanted to show the texture of Catholicism.

We have all this great, visible wealth in the Church and I didn’t want to reduce it to just words and ideas. Whenever we had an idea to present, we asked ourselves: ‘How can we show that idea?’ And that’s really what inspired the whole series.”

“Catholicism” illustrates the

history and treasures of a global religion shared by more than one billion people around the world.

The series, written and hosted by

Father Barron, was photographed in stunning high-definition and spans more than 50 locations in Turn to page 12

News From the Vatican

2

February 24, 2012

Family is key to new generation rooted in Gospel, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The family is the Church’s best ally for raising a new generation resistant to materialism and committed to living out the Gospel, Pope Benedict XVI told bishops from Africa and Europe.

“Europe and Africa need generous young people who know how to take responsibility for their future,” he said.

All institutions, like the family, school and Church, “must be well aware that these young people hold the future and that it is important to do everything possible so that their journey is not marked by uncertainty and darkness,” he said.

The pope made his remarks during a February 16 audience with 80 bishops, priests and other participants attending a joint conference organized by the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, known as SECAM, and the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences, known by the acronym CCEE. Wherever it finds itself, the Church has a message of faith that “understands humankind, whether in Europe or Africa, as created in the image and likeness of God and who deep down has basic needs that only God can fully satisfy,” Cardinal Josip Bozanic of Zagreb, Croatia said.

“Social and spiritual concerns are both present; one is not separated from the other, but rather, they are dimensions of the one same integral

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development of the human person and society,” the cardinal said.

In his speech to the group, the pope said a huge obstacle in proclaiming the Gospel is hedonism, “which has contributed to making the crisis of values in people’s daily life spread to the family and how people make sense of one’s life.”

The increasing problems of pornography and prostitution are symptoms of this “serious social malaise.”

The Church must also pay close attention to the current culture and work diligently in helping “the light of the Gospel insert itself in the cultural milieu” so as to enlighten it and prevent “false cultures” that dehumanize people from taking hold.

Pope Benedict said the Church needs to pay close attention to the family, which, as the domestic Church, “is also the strongest guarantee of the renewal of society.”

The family safeguards traditions, customs, habits, and rituals of faith, and can have a big impact on fostering vocations, he said.

The mentality of materialism can have a negative effect on vocations, but the family is a pivotal player in the formation of the young, he said.

As the Church, family and other institutions work together in raising the next generations, the pope asked the bishops to pay special attention to young people’s “human and spiritual growth, encouraging them also to do volunteer work, which can have educational value.”

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 56, No. 8

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special guest — Pope Benedict XVI waves as he leaves the major seminary of the Diocese of Rome recently. He is flanked by Cardinal Agostino Vallini, papal vicar of Rome, and Msgr. Concetto Occhipinti, seminary rector. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Church leaders called to preserve tradition, pope tells new cardinals

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Leaders and members of the Catholic Church do not have the authority to determine its teaching and structure but are called to ensure its fidelity to Jesus and to the faith passed on by the Apostles, Pope Benedict XVI told the 22 new cardinals he created.

“The Church is not self-regulating, she does not determine her own structure, but receives it from the word of God, to which she listens in faith as she seeks to understand it and to live it,” the pope said in a homily February 19 during a Mass concelebrated with the new cardinals in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The College of Cardinals was expanded February 18, and the new members included Cardinals Timothy M. Dolan of New York; Edwin F. O’Brien, grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem and former archbishop of Baltimore; and Thomas C. Collins of Toronto.

The family, friends and pilgrims accompanying the new cardinals arrived at St. Peter’s extra early after many of them missed the consistory February 18 because the basilica was full. While they waited for Mass to begin, they joined in the recitation of the Rosary in Latin.

The Mass marked the feast of the Chair of St. Peter, a liturgical solemnity focused on the authority Jesus entrusted to His Apostles.

The feast usually is celebrated February 22 but was early because Ash Wednesday falls on that date this year.

The basilica’s bronze statue of St. Peter, with its foot worn smooth by centuries of pilgrims’ caresses, was draped with red and gold liturgical vestments for the feast day.

To illustrate his homily, the pope used another artwork, Gian

Lorenzo Bernini’s towering sculpture of the Chair of St. Peter, which is topped by the Holy Spirit window in the basilica’s apse.

The Catholic Church is like a window into which the light of truth shines and through which a response of love should radiate, he said.

“The Church herself is like a window, the place where God draws near to us, where He comes toward our world,” the pope said.

Bernini’s sculpture features a large throne, which symbolizes the authority Jesus gave to St. Peter, supported by four ancient Church theologians — two doctors of the Church from the East and two from the West, representing the unity and diversity within the universal Church, he said.

The support of the theologians also “teaches us that love rests upon faith. Love collapses if man no longer trusts in God and disobeys Him,” the pope said.

“Everything in the Church rests upon faith: the Sacraments, the Liturgy, evangelization, charity,” as well as “the law and the Church’s authority,” he said.

Catholics cannot make things up as they go along, he said. They must follow tradition, the sacred Scriptures and the teaching of the apostles, explained and interpreted by the fathers of the Church and the popes.

All the Church teaches and does in the world must be motivated by love and lead to love, the pope said.

“A selfish faith would be an unreal faith,” Pope Benedict said.

“Whoever believes in Jesus Christ and enters into the dynamic of love that finds its source in the Eucharist discovers true joy and becomes capable, in turn, of living according to the logic of gift,” he said.

Like the basilica’s Holy Spirit

window with its radiating golden rays, “God is not isolation, but glorious and joyful love, spreading outward and radiant with light,” the pope told the new cardinals.

Entrusted with God’s love, every Christian — and, particularly, each of the Church’s cardinals — has a duty to share it with others, he said.

The altar servers at the Mass were seminarians from the Pontifical North American College, the U.S. seminary in Rome where Cardinals O’Brien and Dolan both had served as rector before being named bishops.

At the beginning of the Mass, Italian Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, thanked the pope on behalf of all the new cardinals.

Acknowledging the different nationalities and ministries of the new cardinals, Cardinal Filoni said, “We are united by one faith in Christ, love for the Church, fidelity to the pope and a deep awareness of the real and serious needs of humanity.”

The cardinal also thanked the family members present at the Mass, several of whom brought the offertory gifts to the pope.

Cardinal Filoni said every vocation, including the new cardinals’ vocations to the priesthood, is born within a family or other community and nurtured by the faith of others.

Pope Benedict met the new cardinals and their family and friends again February 20 in the more informal setting of an audience.

He asked the family and friends to support the new cardinals with even more prayers, to listen to them more carefully and “be united with them and among yourselves in faith and charity in order to be even more fervid and courageous witnesses of Christ.”

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The Anchor

February 24, 2012

Pope creates 22 new cardinals, including three from U.S., Canada

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI created 22 new cardinals from 13 countries — including three from the United States and Canada — placing red hats on their heads and calling them to lives of even greater love and service to the Church.

The Churchmen who joined the College of Cardinals February 18 included Cardinals Timothy M. Dolan of New York; Edwin F. O’Brien, grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem and former archbishop of Baltimore; and Thomas C. Collins of Toronto.

In their first official act in their new role, the new cardinals were asked to join their peers in giving the pope their opinion, in writing, on the canonization of seven new saints, including Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, an American Indian, and Blessed Marianne Cope of Molokai, Hawaii.

The pope announced at the consistory that the canonization ceremony would be celebrated October 21 at the Vatican.

Cardinal Collins said, “I am delighted that my first action as a cardinal was to join with the College of Cardinals in affirming the canonization of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, who has been such an inspiration for the people of our First Nations and so many others in Canada and the United States.”

Cardinal Dolan also mentioned the consultation on the canonization of Blessed Kateri, who was born in what is now New York state, and Mother Marianne, who served there before going to Hawaii.

“As grateful as I am for being a cardinal,” he told reporters later, “I really want to be a saint. I mean that, but I have a long way to go.”

St. Peter’s Basilica was filled

to overflowing for the ceremony, and several thousand people sat in a sunny St. Peter’s Square watching on large video screens. Choirs from New York and from several Italian dioceses provided music for the service.

At the end of the ceremony, the College of Cardinals had 213 members, 125 of whom were under the age of 80 and, therefore, eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope.

The consistory took the form of a prayer service. After the Gospel reading, in what the Vatican described as an allocution, not a homily, the pope told the cardinals that love and service, not an air of greatness, are to mark their lives as cardinals.

“Dominion and service, egoism and altruism, possession and gift, self-interest and gratuitousness: These profoundly contrasting approaches confront each oth-

New U.S. cardinals share quips, serious reflections

ROME (CNS) — Dressed in red from head to toe — well, almost — the two new U.S. cardinals met the press after the consistory February 18, sharing humorous quips and serious reflections.

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York warned photographers not to take pictures of his feet because, he said, “I forgot to put on my red socks.”

Meeting the media at Rome’s Pontifical North American College before a reception, both Cardinal Dolan and Cardinal Edwin F. O’Brien, grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, said the first thing on their minds as they walked up to Pope Benedict XVI to receive their red hats was not to trip and fall.

An Italian newspaper writer had described Cardinal Dolan as a possible candidate for pope one day.

Asked about that, Cardinal O’Brien said, “His mother thinks so.”

But Cardinal O’Brien added that, given Cardinal Dolan’s position as archbishop of New York and especially given the brilliance of his presentation on new evangelization February 17 to the College of Cardinals, the New York prelate is bound to be given special responsibilities in the universal Church.

Cardinal Dolan also was asked about being “papabile” — “popeable” in Italian — and he laughed it off, claiming — in Italian — that he did not understand the question.

The two U.S. cardinals had both served as rectors of the North American College, the U.S. seminary in Rome.

After the consistory, the halls and courtyard of the seminary were filled with thousands of wellwishers.

Msgr. James F. Checchio, the current rector, said, “To have two

former rectors naturally brings out great numbers of people. But mostly it’s because of who they are, two great men. And the weather’s cooperated. We were planning on putting everyone inside, but were able to fit hundreds of people in the courtyard” because the weather turned warm and sunny.

Cardinal O’Brien, who continues to administer the Baltimore Archdiocese until his successor is named, said the consistory was a reminder that every Catholic — whether lay or ordained — has a responsibility for the whole Church and not just for one parish or diocese.

Asked about his titular church, St. Sebastian on the Palatine Hill, Cardinal O’Brien said he tried to visit it “the other day — but it was locked.”

The church, whose foundations date back at least to the 10th century, stands amid the ruins of imperial Roman residences. It was built on the site of ancient Rome’s Temple of the Unconquered Sun and is believed to be the site of St. Sebastian’s martyrdom in the third century.

While “one hopes it doesn’t happen too soon,” the most important task of a Catholic cardinal is to elect a new pope, Cardinal O’Brien said. “It’s a weighty responsibility and always in the back of one’s mind.”

Before the consistory, he said, he had “three quiet days” to pray and reflect, which was important because the details involved in getting red robes, planning pilgrimages and gatherings with friends “can get in the way, clouding and distorting the whole thing.”

Cardinal Dolan said that when he knelt before the pope, the pope thanked him again for his presentation to the College of Cardinals. “I said thank you for this, I’m the one

who is grateful,” he said.

“The Gospel and the homily were very sobering,” he said, because they recalled the words of Jesus that “we’re not in it for the prestige, we’re not in it for the honor, we’re not in it for the glory.

We’re in it to serve.”

Cardinal Dolan said he was reading the Gospel story of the devil tempting Christ and said to himself, “Dolan, you’ve got temptations galore. I’ve always had them and now I’ve got one more — to let this go to my head literally. And you can’t because it’s all about humility, and it’s all about service and love and being close to God and His people.”

The cardinal said another eyeopening moment was sitting next to Cardinal John Tong Hon of Hong Kong during the consistory and listening to him at the February 17 cardinals’ meeting talk about the struggles of being a Christian in China. Several of the cardinals in the room have experienced oppression or persecution “and they know what this red means,” he said, referring to his robes, reminders of the call to serve even to the point of giving one’s life.

He also told reporters that he has no choice but to be himself.

“The Italians say you make gnocchi with the dough you’ve got. Lord knows I’ve got a lot of dough,” Cardinal Dolan said, holding his stomach, “so you just keep at it.”

Cardinal Dolan’s titular church in Rome is Our Lady of Guadalupe, a church consecrated in 1932.

Unlike Cardinal O’Brien’s church, Our Lady of Guadalupe was open when he visited. And the priest told Cardinal Dolan about the leaky roof, the cracked walls and the broken heater.

“I said, ‘Look, I could have stayed home for that,’” he said.

er in every age and place,” Pope Benedict said, but the cardinals must model their lives on that of Jesus, loving others to the point of giving up his life for them.

Cardinal O’Brien told reporters afterward that the ceremony and the pope’s remarks underlined that becoming a cardinal “is not a reward, it brings on greater responsibilities — something the pope experiences every day.”

He said that when he knelt before the pope, “I thanked him; I said I’d serve him completely with my whole heart.”

“The Gospel and the homily were very sobering,” he said, because they recalled the words of Jesus that “we’re not in it for the prestige, we’re not in it for the honor, we’re not in it for the glory. We’re in it to serve.”

In all things, Pope Benedict had told them, “the new cardinals are entrusted with the service of love: love for God, love for His Church, an absolute and unconditional love for His brothers and sisters, even unto shedding their blood, if necessary,” a fact underlined by the red color of the biretta — a three-cornered hat — and the red cardinal’s robes.

“He is servant inasmuch as he welcomes within himself the fate

of the suffering and sin of all humanity. His service is realized in total faithfulness and complete responsibility toward mankind,” the pope said.

“The free acceptance of His violent death becomes the price of freedom for many,” he told the new cardinals, praying that “Christ’s total gift of self on the cross” would be “the foundation, stimulus and strength” of their faith and that it would be reflected in their love and charity toward others.

The pope asked the new cardinals “to serve the Church with love and vigor, with the transparency and wisdom of teachers, with the energy and strength of shepherds, with the fidelity and courage of martyrs.”

The Bible reading at the service was taken from the Gospel of Mark and recounted how the disciples were tempted by the idea of honor, but Jesus told them that greatness means becoming the servant of all.

“Serving God and others, selfgiving: This is the logic which authentic faith imparts and develops in our daily lives and which is not the type of power and glory which belongs to this world,” the pope told them.

The Church in the U.S.

4

February 24, 2012

Bishops counter White House claim they opposed health care reform

Washington D.C. (CNA) — The U.S. bishops have refuted the White House’s claim that they never supported health care reform in America.

“Since 1919, the United States Catholic bishops have supported decent health care for all and government and private action to advance this essential goal,” said Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif.

Bishop Blaire, who serves as chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, responded to a recent statement by White House press secretary Jay Carney.

At a February 13 press briefing, Carney was asked about the bishops’ dissatisfaction with the Obama Administration’s contraception mandate. He replied, “I would simply note with regard to the bishops that they never supported health care reform to begin with, of which this is an important element.”

“This is not the case,” countered Bishop Blaire on February 14.

“Long before the current battles, the Catholic Church was persistently and consistently advocating for this overdue national priority.”

During the recent debates over health care, the U.S. bishops said that universal, affordable health care was “an urgent national priority and moral imperative.”

The bishops’ conference called for health care reform that is universal, protects human life, does not discriminate against immigrants

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and respects conscience rights.

Bishop Blaire explained that the bishops “opposed the final legislation” because it failed to meet these standards.

He added that their judgment has been “sadly but clearly borne out by the failure of the law and the recent regulation to protect conscience and religious liberty.”

The bishops had initially raised strong objections to a federal mandate announced January 20 that required nearly all employers to purchase health insurance plans that cover contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs at no cost to employees.

They argued that the mandate did not include a sufficient religious exemption for those employers who held moral objections to such products and procedures.

President Barack Obama announced an “accommodation” on February 10 that instead requires religious employers to purchase the same coverage from health insurance companies that will be required to provide the coverage in all plans they offer.

The bishops argued that the new policy still fails to offer adequate protections for religious liberty.

Bishop Blaire called on those who have spoken falsely to correct their error and acknowledge the bishops’ “long and consistent record of support for health care which protects the life, dignity and consciences of all, especially the poor and vulnerable.”

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speaking their minds — Members of the Knights of Columbus stand outside the Capitol in Olympia, Wash., to protest a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in the state. The House passed the measure that day and the Senate approved it a week earlier. (CNS photo/Robert Sorbo, Reuters)

U.S. bishop: Church must discover why victims don’t report abuse

ROME (CNS) — Catholic bishops should find out what is keeping sex abuse victims around the world from coming forward, said Bishop R. Daniel Conlon, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People.

U.N. statistics have shown “that sex abuse is widespread and crosses all cultures and societies” and is not just a phenomenon plaguing the Church or Western nations, he told Catholic News Service.

A further indication that abuse is a concern for the global Church is the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s mandate for all bishops to establish anti-abuse guidelines by May this year, he said.

“We as a Church, we want to be at the forefront of society in helping to deal with this issue so, even in countries where there have not been allegations of abuse in the Church, the Church can still be a forceful agent for bringing about change in the larger society,” he said.

Bishop Conlon, bishop of Joliet, Ill., was in Rome to attend two international gatherings dealing with the Church’s response to child protection. The first was a Vaticanbacked symposium February 6-9 organized by the Pontifical Gregorian University. The other was the February 11-14 Anglophone Conference on the Safeguarding of Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults.

The Anglophone conference has been meeting every year since 1996 and brings together bishops and experts in child protection to share concerns, successful policies and prevention programs. Bishop Conlon said the annual conference takes a more practical, rather than theoretical, approach to what is happening in the field of protection and how policies can be improved.

The conference, which began as a meeting for bishops from Englishspeaking countries, has expanded to include lay child protection officers, social workers, lawyers and church leaders from around the world. This year nearly 50 delegates attended from 15 countries, including Chile, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea.

Bishop Conlon said he would like to see even more bishops and representatives attend from Asia and Africa, even if they are not receiving many or any accusations of clerical abuse of minors.

He said, “They would recognize very much that there is domestic abuse” of children, which is also plagued by shame or silence that keeps the tragedy largely hidden.

At next year’s Anglophone conference — to be co-hosted by the United States and Sri Lanka — “I’d like to have someone address the cultural realities in developing nations,” he said, “to help us understand better what makes it unlikely at this point for a victim of sexual abuse as a child to come forward either as a child or later as an adult.

“We know that there’s harm that was done. So as much as we find it painful to deal with those allegations, we know that for the sake of the one who was abused, it’s beneficial to come forward” and say what has happened, he said.

Bishop Conlon said the Vatican’s top investigator of clerical sex abuse, Msgr. Charles Scicluna, spent almost an entire day February 13 with the participants of the Anglophone conference.

The monsignor spoke to the group last year but spent much more time with the group this year going over what the Vatican expects and wants to see in each national

conference’s abuse guidelines.

He said Msgr. Scicluna talked with participants “very humbly about how important it is for this dialogue to be going on. He wants people to tell him when they think that he’s not on the right path in regard to something. And he goes out of his way to say that people do have access to the Holy See, and they should take advantage of that and, at the same time, that the Holy See is listening to what’s going on.”

Though cases involving the sexual abuse of a minor by clergy “sometimes do not move as quickly as they need to move,” there is “no question” that the doctrinal congregation, the office that has juridical control of sex abuse accusations, “is very serious about child abuse and the protection of children.

“There is no question in my mind that putting children first is an article of faith here,” the bishop said.

He said the annual conference is an important reminder that putting children first is a task that calls for constant improvement and is “not an issue that’s going to pass off of the radar screen.”

The protection of children and vulnerable adults has also become an integral part of the Church’s mission “in the same kind of way the catechesis, the Sacraments, supporting families, or taking care of the poor” are part of the Church’s life, he said.

Bishop Conlon was one of four delegates representing the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The others were Al Notzon of San Antonio, chairman of the bishops’ National Review Board; Deacon Bernie Nojadera, executive director of the bishops’ Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection; and Mercy Sister Mary Ann Walsh, USCCB director of media relations.

February 24, 2012

The Church in the U.S.

5

Twelve attorneys general threaten to sue over contraception mandate

defending OUr liberties — Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., chairman of the bishops' Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, the Rev. Matthew Harrison, Ben Mitchell, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik and Craig Mitchell are sworn in before testifying at a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington February 16. The hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee was on religious liberty, prompted by debate over a federal mandate on contraceptive coverage.(CNS photo/Bob Roller)

Wide range of religious leaders testify against contraception mandate

Washington D.C. (CNA/ EWTN News) — Individuals from a variety of religious backgrounds testified at a congressional hearing about the threat to religious freedom posed by a new federal contraception policy.

Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn. explained that the debate is not about whether contraception should be illegal but whether religious employers that object should be “forced to pay for it.”

At a February 16 hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Bishop Lori joined other witnesses to testify about religious liberty concerns presented by the Obama Administration’s contraception mandate.

The mandate will require many religious employers to violate their consciences by purchasing health insurance plans that include contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs at no cost to employees.

Bishop Lori, who leads the U.S. bishops’ religious liberty committee, compared the mandate to a law requiring all delicatessens, including Jewish ones, to serve pork.

He asked whether a customer could “come to a kosher deli, demand to be served a ham sandwich, and if refused, bring down severe government sanction on the deli.”

“In a nation committed to religious liberty and diversity, the answer, of course, is no,” he said.

The bishop said that the mandate reaches “into the internal governance of our religious bodies” and forces them to use their own resources, either directly or indirectly, to provide coverage of services that violate Catholic teaching.

He also criticized the “accommodation” offered by the Obama Administration on February 10 as “simply unworkable” because of the large number of religious insurers and self-insured reli-

gious entities that would still be forced to pay directly for things to which they object.

Under the “accommodation” for religious freedom, religious employers will not directly purchase the coverage they object to, but will instead be forced to purchase a policy from an insurance company that will be required to provide the coverage free of charge.

Bishop Lori said that the administration had “no prior consultation” with the U.S. bishops before announcing the “accommodation.”

He also responded to Catholic Health Association’s positive reaction to the new policy, which the Obama Administration has been using to justify its decision.

“Catholic Health Association does not speak for the Church as a whole,” Bishop Lori said. “The Catholic bishops speak for the Church as a whole.”

He added that freedom of religious expression must not be limited to religious organizations but must also extend to religious individuals running secular companies.

“Institutional rights rest on the foundation of individual rights,” he said.

John Garvey, president of The Catholic University of America, explained that while not all employees of the university are Catholic, they all freely agree during the hiring process “to respect and support” the university’s Catholic mission.

He said that the mandate would require the university to contradict itself, denying through its actions what it teaches in its classrooms.

Garvey pointed to the analysis of Harvard University economics professor Greg Mankiw, who found that the cost of the additional coverage will ultimately be incorporated into the policy and “passed on to the purchaser.”

He referenced a recent article

in the Wall Street Journal, in which three senators supporting the mandate estimated that contraceptives cost a woman $600 dollars per year.

These costs will not simply disappear, Garvey explained, and even if they did, religious employers would still be forced to provide plans that covered the services they found immoral.

Garvey and Bishop Lori were joined at the hearing by ministers of various religious backgrounds and both men and women who serve as administrators at Catholic and Protestant colleges.

Belmont Abbey College — which has filed a lawsuit against the Obama Administration over the mandate — was among the groups represented at the hearing, as was the Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod, which was involved in the recent Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC case where the Supreme Court rejected the Obama Administration’s narrow definition of religion.

Orthodox Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, director of the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University, also testified at the hearing, arguing that the Obama Administration has exhibited a “complete misunderstanding of the nature of religion.”

He explained that by carving out an initial religious exemption, “however narrow, the administration implicitly acknowledges that forcing employers to purchase these insurance policies may involve a violation of religious freedom.”

However, the strict stipulations attached to the exemption assume that religious organizations serving those of other faiths “are no longer acting in a religious capacity,” he said.

In this way, the Obama Administration is posing a grave threat by “unilaterally redefining what it means to be religious,” he explained.

Washington D.C. (CNA/ EWTN News) — Attorneys general from a dozen states say they intend to sue over the Obama Administration's contraception mandate that requires many religious employers to violate the teachings of their faith.

In a February 10 letter, the attorneys general voiced their “strong opposition” to the mandate, which they called “an impermissible violation of the Constitution's First Amendment virtually unparalleled in American history.”

They said that if the mandate is implemented, they are prepared to “vigorously oppose it in court.”

The letter was sent to the Department of Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebilius, Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner and Labor secretary Hilda Solis.

It was signed by Nebraska attorney general Jon Bruning, who was joined by the attorneys general of Texas, South Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Colorado.

Bruning and his fellow attorneys general said that they are “deeply troubled” by the mandate’s “unprecedented coercion of organizations and individuals to act contrary to their religious beliefs.”

They decried the mandate for forcing religious employers to choose between effectively promoting “a message in contra-

vention with their religious principles” and ceasing “activities of incalculable value” to society.

The Obama Administration has come under fire for the recently-announced mandate, which will require virtually all employers to purchase health insurance plans that cover contraception, sterilization and drugs that induce abortions at no cost to employees.

Faced with a storm of protest, the administration announced an “accommodation” for religious freedom on February 10. Rather than directly purchasing the coverage they object to, religious employers under the new policy would be forced to buy health care plans from insurance companies that would be required to offer these products free of charge.

Many critics have been quick to suggest that insurance companies will factor the “free” contraceptives into the pricing of health care plans, and so employers will ultimately be billed for the coverage, thus forcing them to violate their consciences.

Bruning has said that he is not satisfied with the “accommodation,” which he described as a false compromise that “still tramples on religious freedom.”

He and the other attorneys general urged the Obama Administration to reconsider its decision, which they said is not only a “bad policy” but also “unconstitutional.”

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6

The Anchor

Recovering a quite forgotten element of Christian charity

In his letter for Lent, Pope Benedict XVI sought to spur all Catholics to the “very heart of Christian life: charity.” Even though on extraordinary occasions like the natural disasters in New Orleans, Malaysia and Haiti people respond very generously, there is under ordinary circumstances, Pope Benedict said, a growing lack of mutual concern in our culture, flowing from “an indifference and disinterest born of selfishness and masked as a respect for ‘privacy.’” Like the priest and the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan, or the rich man in the parable of Lazarus, many can become so occupied with their own activities that they neglect those who are in desperate circumstances (Lk 10:30-32; 16:19). In an American culture in which independence and personal responsibility are so stressed, there’s the perennial temptation to deny, like Cain, that we are our brothers’ keeper (Gen 4:9).

This Lent the pope summons us to overcome the “spiritual anesthesia” that can numb us to the needs of others and make us deaf to the cry of the poor. “The great commandment of love for one another demands that we acknowledge our responsibility towards those who, like ourselves, are creatures and children of God,” the pope wrote. At the root of so many local, national and international problems, Pope Benedict noted, is the suffering that flows “above all from a lack of brotherhood.”

This absence of authentic fraternity is found, he observed, at the level of material and physical well-being, but is even more prevalent in terms of concern for others’ moral and spiritual good.

In general we are still “very sensitive to the idea of charity and caring about the physical and material well-being,” but we are “almost completely silent about our spiritual responsibility towards our brothers and sisters.” That’s why he focused most of his letter on “fraternal correction in view of eternal salvation,” an aspect of the Christian life that he believes “has been quite forgotten.”

Jesus speaks about fraternal correction in St. Matthew’s Gospel, when He says that if we observe a brother or sister sinning, we are to “go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the Church; and if he refuses to listen even to the Church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector,” as someone who has chosen to separate himself from the community (Mt 18:15-18). For communities that are “truly mature in faith,” that are truly Christian, there must be this ardent concern for others’ “spiritual health and ultimate destiny.” “Admonishing sinners” is and will always remain a spiritual work of mercy.

This act of Christian charity, however, has become shamefully rare. While many will get together to confront a friend who has an alcohol or drug addiction, few will make the same effort when the friend has a problem with selfishness, lack of forgiveness, dishonesty, lust, laziness, a God-less life, or practices clearly contrary to the Gospel. This is as much a problem for priests and bishops who fail to discipline public figures who cause scandal as it is for lay faithful who fail to speak up when family members or friends are engaged in sinful relationships.

The pope mentions a few reasons for this form of spiritual neglect of others by Christians.

First, there are some who “out of human regard or purely personal convenience, adapt to the prevailing mentality, rather than warning their brothers and sisters against ways of thinking and acting that are contrary to the truth and that do not follow the path of goodness.” Some Christians have lost their salt, because they’ve conformed their minds to the spirit of the age — and are in need of Lenten metanoia. True conversion, as the future Pope Benedict said in 2000, means to “rethink, to question one’s own and common way of living; to allow God to enter into the criteria of one’s life; to not merely judge according to the current opinions; not to live as all the others live, not do what all do, not feel justified in dubious, ambiguous, evil actions just because others do the same; to begin to see one’s life through the eyes of God; not aiming at the judgment of the majority, of men, but on the justice of God.” The first reason that Christians often fail in their charity to help others live as Christ lives is because they themselves aren’t thinking according to Christ’s categories.

The second reason for the failure to be others’ keeper is, the pope stressed, because of a “mentality that, by reducing life exclusively to its earthly dimension, fails to see it in an eschatological perspective and accepts any moral choice in the name of personal freedom.” Christians, too, when they stop orienting all of their desires and choices to God and eternity can begin to think that others’ sinful choices and our failure to admonish them are not particularly consequential.

Fraternal correction, however, is not simply a laudable Christian option, but a moral duty, as God Himself revealed to us through the prophet Ezekiel: “If I tell the wicked man that he shall surely die, and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked man from his way, he [the wicked man] shall die for his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for his death. But if you warn the wicked man, trying to turn him from his way, and he refuses to turn from his way, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself” (Ezek 33:8-9). In other words, giving fraternal correction to a brother or sister in need is not an discretionary thing we may do depending upon our whims; rather it is an obligation, a mission Christ gives us, on the basis of which our salvation, too, hinges.

The third reason is a misunderstanding about what fraternal correction is. “Christian admonishment,” the pope wrote, “is never motivated by a spirit of accusation or recrimination. It is always moved by love and mercy, and springs from genuine concern for the good of the other.”

Admonishing sinners is not a license for tearing other people down, but is meant to help them address the spiritual cancers that are impeding their growing to full stature in Christ. It’s not a green light for chronic complainers and incessant naggers to have a field day, but a summons for all of us to take out the planks in our eyes so that we may look at others with love and help them remove whatever is morally blinding them. It’s a summons to bring to others the healing we ourselves have received from the Divine Physician.

The fourth and final reason for the infrequency of fraternal correction is a failure to appreciate who Jesus really is. Many Christians understand Jesus’ kindness, compassion and love almost as unconditional indulgence. They can forget, as Pope Benedict wrote, that the real Christ “commands us to admonish a brother who is committing a sin.” In this, He’s not merely telling us to do as He says, but to follow Him. Jesus was not “nice” as the world uses the term today. Ask the moneychangers, whose tables He overturned and whom He whipped out of the temple. Ask the Scribes and the Pharisees, whom He called hypocrites, whitewashed sepulchers, and broods of vipers. Ask St. Peter whom He labeled Satan and instruct to get behind Him rather than try to lead Him away from the Cross. Jesus had come to save the moneychangers, the Scribes and the Pharisees, and the Apostles; to do that, however, He had to first let them know that they were veering from the Gospel, turning away from love, turning their backs on Him. In the same way, all Christians who share in Jesus’ mission must have the courage to risk being considered uncivil or no longer “nice” if a brother or sister needs our help.

This Lent, as we convert to thinking as God does through prayer and fasting, let us ask Him for the grace to give more lavishly and lovingly the spiritual alms of fraternal correction, so that after the long Lent of earthly life, together with others we might come to the eternal Easter.

T

February 24, 2012

The priesthood of Jesus Christ

oday we turn to the second of the and those governed, who all joined in Sacraments of Service and also public worship and made open profession the final of the seven Sacraments, Holy of their belief in Jesus Christ as the Son Orders. In the next few weeks, I will reflect of God, crucified and risen. The Church on different dimensions of this Sacrament was established to teach, to sanctify and to to help us to gain a greater awareness govern God’s people. of what it is and of what it is not, hopeThe Church’s entire purpose is to serve fully providing a greater appreciation for God’s saving plan by proclaiming the the Sacrament and for those who have Good News in word and in deed. By givreceived it. ing witness to the truth, the Church shares As is the case with all the Sacraments, with others the mystery of the heavenly the Sacrament of Holy Orders can only Father’s love (Gaudium et Spes 93). The be understood in direct relation to Jesus reason for the Church is to perpetuate the Christ, the one true High Priest who estab- presence of Christ in the world. This is lished the Church and called men forth to why Christ established the priesthood and continue His mission. After His Resurrecalso why the priesthood is indispensable. tion from the dead, He said, “Go, therefore, The Father sent Christ into the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing and He in turn sent the Apostles into them in the name of the Father, and of the the world. The Church, then, continues Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them His mission of proclaiming the Gospel to observe all that I have commanded you. in every generation because it is for this And behold, I am with you always” (Mt reason that she exists. The Church and her 28:19). mission are In order to inseparable shepherd the from Christ Putting Into people of God, and His misthe Deep to increase sion because the number the origin of of disciples the Church is

By Father and to make found in Christ Jay Mello Him present to Himself. every generaOn Holy tion and culture, Christ the Lord set up in Thursday evening, gathered in the upper His Church a variety of offices which aim room with His disciples for the Last Supat the good of the whole body. The holders per, Jesus Christ established the priesthood. of office, who are invested with a sacred In that same upper room He appeared to power, are, in fact, dedicated to promotHis Apostles after His Resurrection and ing the interests of their brethren, so that breathed on them His Holy Spirit to guide all who belong to the people of God may them in their ministry. He gave them the attain to salvation (cf. CCC 874).

Holy Spirit and sent them forth to teach, Jesus, the Son of God, was sent by the govern and sanctify His people.

Father to bring about the Kingdom of God Whenever we speak about the priestand the forgiveness of sins. So that every hood, we must always think of it from generation and culture would know of Him this perspective. Whether we are speaking and have access to Gospel, He entrusted about the nature of the male-only priestHis Gospel to the Church and her minishood, the promise of celibacy or any other ters faithfully to guard and hand on that element of the sacred ministry, we must Gospel. It is from this mission of Christ never fail to separate it from Jesus Christ. and the explicit choosing and sending out Jesus Christ is the one Priest on whom of His Apostles and their successors that the priesthood itself is modeled after and we find the basis for the Sacrament of from which it comes forth. The role of Holy Orders. the priest is to continue the sacramental But before we go any further, I think it mission of Christ in the world. Throughis crucial to understand why in fact Jesus out the Gospels, we hear of many stories Christ instituted the Church. If we’re not of Christ healing, teaching, and instituting clear on this point, it is easy to fall into the the Sacraments to continually allow us trap of thinking the priesthood is some idea access to His grace. Without Christ there that the Church made up and not someis no Church! Without Christ there is no thing that Christ established for a particular priesthood! But it is also important to purpose. note that without the priest there is no EuThe Church was established by Christ charist and without the priesthood there to speak to the world in God’s name. The is no Church. Christ, the priesthood, and mission of Christ was not to be limited to His Church are inseparable and mutually a particular period of time or only a certain interdependent realities. place. To ensure that His Gospel would be In the last 50 years or so, there has been spread to every corner of the world, Christ a crisis in the priesthood, one that goes called certain men to Himself and formed much deeper than the sexual abuse crisis. them. He taught them what He wanted There has been a crisis in the identity of them to communicate. He showed them the priesthood, a tendency to focus on the how they were to conduct themselves. He priest as just one of the guys, and not one gave them the Holy Spirit and shared with (though still very human) who has been set them His authority to celebrate the Sacraapart for sacred ministry. It is my intenments and forgive sins in His name. tion in these next few articles to focus on Jesus established the Church as a visthe very identity of the priesthood based ible society, that is, as a community of on the texts of sacred Scripture and the believers that stood out plainly before the continual teaching of the Church. eyes of all as an organized body, consistFather Mello is a parochial vicar at St. ing of teachers and those taught, governors Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth.

February 24, 2012

T

wo parables of Luke finish our treatment of the synoptics (Matthew, Mark, Luke). I shall not give separate treatment of the parables in Mark because they have already been sufficiently referenced while treating Matthew and Luke.

To put the parable of Love and Forgiveness (Lk 7:3650) into proper perspective, something must be said about the Greek words for love. No form of the word eros, used for erotic love, is found anywhere in the New Testament.

Two other words for love, however, are found; agapao, which is characterized by service and obedience, and phileo, which is characterized by affection. In the present passage, the only word used is agapao.

T

he Catholic motifs in “Hamlet” could fill several months of columns here, were we to make it our main topic of conversation.

For the time being, however, I thought one other scene deserved space before we move on to closing out this series.

The Elizabethan state had an unbearably intimate reach.

Though Elizabeth I publicly stated that she had no intention to “make windows into men’s souls,” it seems that the windows in their houses were fair game. Spies from the court and civilians asked to report on neighbors were instructed to peer into windows and report on subjects who said the old Latin prayers as opposed to the ones published in “The Common Book of Prayer.” There were, of course, rules and regulations about prayer and Church services. Humans will, after all, resist. According to journals and government reports, in the region of the Shakespeare family home, one could hear rebels mumbling the old Latin prayers underneath the Anglican service the crown proscribed, and many, including members of Shakespeare’s family, paid fines and were prosecuted through the courts rather than attend services.

The reach, however, extended even further than that, as even how one expressed grief was under scrutiny and determined “appropriate” or “inappropriate” based on Protestant doctrine.

Last week we discussed the test case of Hamlet’s ghost, a

7

The Anchor

Parable of Love and Forgiveness

In the parable proper that she had been forgiven, (verses 41-42), Jesus dehence her service was truly in scribes future, grateful gratitude. service and devotion to a In the cure of the paralytic creditor who has forgiven a (Lk 5:17-26), Jesus also anhuge debt. Jesus lists the ways in which the sinful woman has been of service to Him, in contrast to His host: She bathed My feet with tears;

By Father dried them with her Martin L. Buote hair; kissed My feet; and anointed My feet with ointment.

Jesus then announces what nounced that his sins were He had done previous to this forgiven because of faith service, that her sins had been (verse 20). It is noteworthy forgiven! Her service — love that from the Cross, Jesus — shows her gratitude. He prayed, “Father forgive them, was able to do this because of they know not what they her faith (verse 50). We can do” (Lk 22:34). While this only assume that His attitude sentence is missing in many had already conveyed to her ancient copies of Luke, what

Parables of the Lord

is remarkable is that Jesus does not forgive or announce forgiveness, for they had no faith. Yet, in an act of supreme service (love), as priest, Jesus intercedes for His executioners.

A disaster is reported to Jesus: the unexpected death of some Galileans at the hands of Pilate.

Then Jesus matches this with an unexpected disaster of a tower collapse that happened by chance. By the common wisdom of the age, there must have been some hidden guilt in the people involved for which they were being punished. Jesus dismisses this idea (see also, Jn 9:2-3), while giving an example through the

Signifiers of the Catholic past

phantasm from purgatory who Eamon Duffy writes: “The is dramatically revealed to be service is no longer a rite of who he claims to be and not intercession on behalf of the a demon from hell. This was dead, but an exhortation to rebellious enough as it openly faith on the part of the livdefied the Protestant doctrine ing.” In the context of this on the non-intercession of and contested social ritual, we are for the dead. There is, however, yet another strikingly Catholic scene concerning death, though it may not at first appear so to us: the burial of Ophelia. One of the

By Jennifer Pierce most controversial fruits of the doctrinal shifts that occurred in the mid-16th century had compelled to consider the fact to do with corpses. Or, rather, that both Laertes and Hamtheir absence. It became illicit let display flamboyant grief to have a corpse present at at Ophelia’s grave and condeath rites and ceremonies. sider it seditious. Even more Further, extant homiletic texts subversive still, Laertes leaps demonstrate that a major goal into the grave and clutches his of the Protestant Reformation dead sister’s corpse. was to change how we think Through an excessive about and relate to the dead, show of grief and a lascontrolling even the details of civious embrace of the body, how one expressed grief. As Shakespeare established bold one sermon has it, open shows signifiers of the Catholic past of grief and melancholy disstill in transition toward the plays were deemed “heathen” Protestant present. Again, it is and “popish.” While this completely cloaked in denimight also make us think of ability. For, though the name the first time we see Hamlet of Denmark was a lightning in court with his mother and rod for Lutheran sensibiluncle criticizing Hamlet’s out- ity, the time period in which ward shows of grief, the more “Hamlet” was set made it a significant thing is Ophelia’s Catholic Denmark, providing burial. the perfect excuse. (RemarkWhen the funeral rite was ably similar to “The Mousere-written in 1552, the entire trap,” the play-within-a-play ceremony shifted radically Hamlet uses to accuse Claudifrom grief, mourning, and us without doing so directly.) contemplation of the corpse, Consequently, in Ophelia’s to a more “reasonable” focus burial, an unmistakable Cathoon the now absent person who lic identity emerges and cries is in Heaven with God. As for vengeance, as compellingly

Hidden Shakespeare

as Hamlet’s ghost. Hamlet protests: “But soft, but soft awhile! Here comes the King, The Queen, the courtiers. Who is this they follow? And with such maimèd rites?” Indeed, if we think of the pointed shift away from the corpse toward the “maimed rites” of Protestant burial, and the case of Ophelia’s funeral, which was also preceded by the famous scene in which Hamlet contemplates Yorick’s skull, it seems that here Shakespeare unmistakably thumbs his nose at the entire Protestant establishment.

It has been argued, correctly, that formally the scene presumes the propriety and

parable of the Barren Fig Tree that the hidden guilt of omission may be punished.

We have been given life and position in the garden of the Lord. If we do nothing to live up to our potential, even with the advantage of special graces, then we should expect the Lord to be less than pleased with us. This conclusion is also reminiscent of Elijah and the prophets of Baal (1 Kgs 18:21-40). If you believe in God, then act accordingly, or expect consequences!

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

fullness of a traditional Catholic funeral on several counts.

When the priest suggests the uselessness of “charitable prayers” he is rejecting a distinctly Roman Catholic practice, since prayers for the dead were said as part of the traditional Catholic funeral rite and were under attack by the reformers. Statistically, we know that at least some of Shakespeare’s audiences were recusant Catholics. To think otherwise is a athematic impossibility. When they hear “maimed rites,” could the possibly avoid thinking of their own maimed rites?

Jennifer Pierce is a parishioner of Corpus Christi in East Sandwich, where she lives with her husband Jim and three children.

8

February 24, 2012

The Anchor

H

ave you ever had a flat tire? I’ve had a bunch over the years and they seem to fall into three general categories. There’s the big “pow!” while you’re driving down the street, the “pssssst” of a slow leak and the always dreaded overnight flat that beckons to you on a rainy, cold morning. No matter the cause, you are compelled to do something.

It can’t be ignored.

Sometimes you can handle it by yourself or, more likely, you need the help of a professional repair person. More often than not, you need a new tire, not just a repair, because you’ve bounced them off numerous curb stones and you’ve overlooked maintenance items like inflation pressures and tire rotation. You have to admit it. It’s your own fault.

Once you’ve taken care of all that, you are ready to resume the journey to your destination.

That series of events, so

Repairing a spiritual flat tire

common to all of us, is an come our natural tendency to everyday analogy for our turn toward ourselves.

Lenten mission to prepare This first part of Lent is to for the great Paschal feast of bring us to “compunction,” Easter. Actually, it also deremorse from the acknowlscribes our everyday mission as Christians that we must intenHomily of the Week sify during Lent.

That mission, at its First Sunday core, is Jesus’ Gosof Lent pel proclamation to

By Deacon “Repent and believe Karl G. Buder in the Gospel.”

Our common understanding of repentance is to turn away edgement of our sinful guilt. from sinfulness and toward Compunction derives from God. True, indeed, but Jesus the word “puncture” and tells us that we must not suggests the deflation of our only repent, but also believe sorely inflated ego. in the Gospel. Repentance Ah, yes … the flattened seems to have a much deeper tire. It doesn’t matter whethmeaning. er that “flat” happened with Jesus is telling us that the a “pow” like St. Paul or a call to repentance is conver“pssssst,” like, perhaps, St. sion of heart. Repentance Augustine. What matters is demands that we make a that you wake up one mornradical change in our maning and your tire is flat, your ner of living. We must turn ego is deflated. You recogtoward God in our daily lives nize that your life has been to the extent that we overbuilt around self-absorption

and self-deceit and you recognize your need for salvation.

During these first three Sundays in Lent, the Church provides us with the constant message of Gospel conversion.

Today the focus is on beginning anew.

We are reminded of the covenant God made with Noah that we see through the lens of our own baptismal covenant.

Noah passed through the flood waters and became aware of his relationship with God. That’s conversion.

God’s covenant with Noah is perpetual and includes us.

Our obedience is rewarded and our disobedience is punished. The story of Noah is the story of a society gone wrong and society was punished with only eight survivors. That’s a sobering outcome we must take into account in the conduct of our lives.

We emerge from the waters of Baptism in a covenant relationship with God, a relationship of conversion, repentance, and proclamation, belief in the Gospel.

We must become a survivor after our own journey in the desert, the wasteland of sin and corruption we encounter every day.

That reality should flatten your tire, if it wasn’t flat already. Now, you are on your cell phone waiting for the tow truck. You have time to reflect on the behavior that got you into this mess.

The repair person, the Holy Spirit working through your confessor or spiritual director, arrives and provides you a new set of tires. You’ll take better care of this set of tires and you’ll find yourself driving to places you never could reach on that old set of tires.

That flat tire was a real blessing!

Deacon Buder currently serves at Good Shepherd Parish in Vineyard Haven.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Feb. 25, Is 58:9b-14; Ps 86:1-6; Lk 5:27-32. Sun. Feb. 26, First Sunday of Lent, Gn 9:8-15; Ps 25:4-9; 1 Pt 3:18-22; Mk 1:1215. Mon. Feb. 27, Lv 19:1-2,11-18; Ps 19:8-10,15; Mt 25:31-46. Tues. Feb. 28, Is 55:10-11; Ps 34:4-7,16-19; Mt 6:7-15. Wed. Feb. 29, Jon 3:1-10; Ps 51:3-4,1213,18-19; Lk 11:29-32. Thurs. Mar. 1, Est C:12,14-16,23-25; Ps 138:1-3,7c-8; Mt 7:7-12. Fri. Mar. 2, Ez 18:21-28; Ps 130:1-8; Mt 5:20-26.

S

ince the introduction of the new liturgical texts this past November, I’ve attended Mass in Australia, California, New York, Rome, Washington, and Phoenix, and in none of these venues have I detected any of the calamities confidently predicted by opponents of the new texts. Not only has there been no visible distress over “consubstantial”; the People of God seem to have rather quickly and painlessly adjusted to the changes, so that, three months into the process, it’s a rare “And also with you” that escapes the lips of an unthinking congregant.

In fact, most of the people who’ve spoken to me about the changes have applauded them.

Things are not-quite-thesame with priests.

Clerical narcissism and Lent

One implicit purpose of the that needs correcting. new translations, with their At Mass in the cathedral deliberate recovery of a sacral church of a major American vocabulary and their adopcity recently, I ran headlong tion of a more formal literinto the problem in a rather ary rhythm, was to discipline striking way. The celebrant the tendency of priests to in question seemed not to turn the Mass into an expression of the celebrant’s personality. The difficulties some priests have had with adjusting to the changes suggests that this tendency was, in

By George Weigel fact, a real problem in implementing the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. Prominent understand that the invitation Catholic psychologist Paul to the penitential rite is now Vitz once wrote of this as a prescribed, and not a matter problem of “clerical narcisfor personal chattiness. Havsism,” and while the phrase ing failed to set up the Misundoubtedly stings, there’s sal properly before Mass, he something to it — something nattered on about his difficulty with “new books” while searching for the Collect of the day. He belted out those parts of the Offertory that the Missal prescribes as being said “quietly.” He rearranged several phrases in Eucharistic Prayer II to his liking. And he prefaced the Prayer after Communion with another voluble commentary on the difficulty of finding the right page.

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The Catholic Difference

I’m sure the priest in question is not a wicked or illintentioned man; he doubtless imagines that he’s making the Mass more user-friendly by taking liberties with the Missal. But, objectively speaking, he’s a prime example of clerical vanity: a man who imagines that his chirpy personality is the key to what Vatican II called the people’s “full, conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations.” It was neither the time nor the place to challenge this essentially narcissistic assumption after Mass.

But had I the opportunity, I would have told this priest, in as kind a way as I could manage, that what he deemed helpful was in fact distracting; that what he thought userfriendly was silly and offensive (as it seemed based on the notion that a congregation of adults would be amused by such shenanigans); and that what he intended as an aid to prayer was in fact an obstacle to prayer and reflection.

Bad habits built up over decades are as hard to break in Liturgy as they are in any

other facet of life. So it will take awhile for the nobility of the new Mass texts to elicit a similar nobility of manner from celebrants who have acquired bad habits over the years. But as Lent is an appropriate time for addressing bad habits, here’s a suggestion for all priest-celebrants: make a Lenten resolution — This Lent, I will do the red and read the black. Period.

In the Missal, rubrical instructions are in red; the words to be spoken by the celebrant are in black. Priests who simply “do the red and read the black” for the six weeks of Lent will have gone a long way toward breaking bad habits that have become default positions. They will also, I predict, garner a lot of thanks from their congregants, most of whom are quite uninterested in celebrants acting like talk-show hosts.

The point, as always, is not liturgical prissiness. The point is to celebrate the sacred Liturgy so that it’s experienced as the participation in the heavenly Liturgy that it is.

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

February 24, 2012

Boom!

Saturday 18 February 2012 sive experience of God’s love.

— at home on the Taunton The late Father Tom MayRiver — Carnival celebrations hew of North Dighton, at the begin world-wide direction of Bishop James oy is the echo of Connolly, created a stanGod’s love in us,” says Abbot Columba Marmion.

A certain holy joy has Reflections of a been echoing in the Parish Priest Diocese of Fall River for more than four

By Father Tim decades. Actually, Goldrick that’s exactly what it’s called — ECHO. In its present form, ECHO is a Cape dardized high school retreat Cod-based weekend retreat program for all juniors and program for high school soph- seniors throughout the Fall omores, juniors, and seniors, River Diocese. Father Mayalthough many college-age hew, working with Brother students participate as well.

Louis Africa, held the first The goal is to provide the ECHO at Coyle High School, young Church with an intenTaunton, in 1968. Soon the

“J

N

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The Anchor

The Ship’s Log

program expanded, even to other sections of the country.

There are modified versions of the ECHO program held in various places to this very day. Just last month, a request came in on how to conduct an ECHO-like retreat in Missouri.

ECHO was brought to Cape Cod by Father Francis Connors in 1970. There it has endured. Six weekends are held every year — three for boys and three for girls.

Some 12,000 young people have participated in ECHO on the Cape during these past 42 years, and more than 250 priests have served as spiritual directors. I am one of them. I

The Komen firestorm — Part II

now a symbol of the extreme ow that the controverdivisiveness that accompanies sy has died down over legalized abortion, and it may the Susan G. Komen Breast well be the undoing of this Cancer foundation, let’s assess noble charity. the lessons.

Previously, the Pink RibReaders will recall that bon campaign was relatively Komen had been lobbied for a uncontroversial — at least to number of years by concerned the bulk of Americans unconPro-Lifers, and the foundation cerned about the wide number finally agreed that offering of studies linking breast cangrants to Planned Parenthood cer to abortion and hormonedidn’t forward its mission. based birth control methods.

An announcement that Komen would henceforth cut off those grants brought two divergent responses: Pro-Lifers were jubilant, and Planned Parenthood and its supporters

By Genevieve Kineke were enraged. After a relentless 48-hour media jihad, Komen Few families were untouched promised to reconsider all by this sort of tragedy and it grants on a case by case basis was reasonably safe to support — including those to Planned a search for a cure. Pink was Parenthood. The board ubiquitous, and most didn’t member suspected of having mind. influenced the initial change No more. Despite all the of policy, Karen Handel, protests to the contrary, Kotendered her resignation. “I men is now a bellwether for am deeply disappointed by the people’s opinion about “aborgross mischaracterizations of tion rights.” Pro-Lifers are the strategy, its rationale, and absolutely justified in withmy involvement in it. I openly holding support, for there is acknowledge my role in the no guarantee about what will matter and continue to believe happen in the case of future our decision was the best one grants to Planned Parenthood. for Komen’s future and the Komen may actually never women we serve.” give them another dime, but CEO Nancy G. Brinker adit won’t matter. Having shied mitted, “We have made misfrom standing by its new takes in how we have handled policy (which didn’t last 72 recent decisions and take full hours) there is no firm prinaccountability for what has reciple guiding its donations. sulted, but we cannot take our “Case by case” isn’t enough eye off the ball when it comes for serious Pro-Lifers, and to our mission.” She mentheir enthusiastic support tioned “the need to distance withered to wavering disapKomen from controversy,” but pointment. perhaps didn’t fully grasp that But what about Planned it’s simply too late. Komen is

The Feminine Genius

Parenthood supporters who crowed over their victory?

Technically, it wasn’t a victory. There is still no guarantee that any money will go to the nation’s leading abortion supplier; the success they claimed was actually just the collapsed bravado of a group that works very hard to help women.

Unfortunately, we’ve learned that if such help threatens in any way to impact the sexual license of women, then it must be demolished. Promiscuity is sacrosanct, despite its myriad harms, and Komen — and all others — have been duly warned.

The supreme irony is that pro-abortion women won’t visibly support Komen either. Pink will no longer be a mindless accessory, a nod to an unimpeachable cause. Supporters of Planned Parenthood are fiercely angry that Komen tried to buck the tide, and they’ll withhold their support as well.

The “Race for the Cure” will lose its community support, large buildings will no longer be bathed in that rosy glow, and Komen’s kitschy couture will be a thing of the past. Rather than having to explain what qualified support stands behind each pink ribbon, women will just pass.

So in that sense, it is a victory for Planned Parenthood, which is a tragedy for women everywhere.

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

began serving on these retreat teams with ECHO #42 in October of 1973 and I just finished serving on the team of ECHO #280. I’ve been around a long time. In fact, I currently hold the record for longevity among ECHO spiritual directors. Perhaps I’ll be awarded the Boston Post cane. As one priest-friend of mine said when I mused that I was getting too old for such intensive youth retreats, “Tim, ECHO is in your blood and always will be.”

As I was driving home from ECHO #280, singing contemporary Christian music at the top of my lungs, the question popped into my mind, “Why, after all these years, has ECHO remained so much a part of my life?

Why does any priest choose to participate in these ECHO youth retreats?” Here is how I answered my own question.

Priests, like everyone else, need a sense of joy to see clearly where they are and where they are going. Joy in God’s presence, after all, is our ultimate destination.

If ECHO retreats are about anything, they are about basking in the joy of God’s presence in the company of other faith-filled people. The bonds between us that are forged in joy are what form us into Church in that moment and in that place. For some, ECHO is their first deep experience of being Church.

Here’s another reason. You would be hard-pressed to find people more supportive of priests than the ECHO retreat community. You come as you are and that’s just fine with them. Priests need more encouragement and support than ever these days but it seems to be in short supply. On an ECHO, over and over again, your personal strengths are named and celebrated. It’s the same, of course, for all those who are making the ECHO retreat. There’s so much

negativity in the world and even in the Church that such affirmation refreshes the soul.

On the ECHO #280 retreat, for example, someone suggested that the group pray for priests.

This is something you hear all the time. It’s a pious thought, but how many people actually follow through? When the suggestion was made to the team and candidates of ECHO #280, however, that’s exactly what they did. They stopped everything, put aside the carefully scripted agenda, and together prayed out-loud for their priests. I found it affirming.

Another aspect of the ECHO retreats that I find edifying is that it is a completely lay-run ministry. A priest is not expected to be directly responsible for every little detail of the retreat weekend.

A priest does what he alone can do, and the rest is done by someone else. It ends up being done very well. This lifts a heavy load from the shoulders of a priest. I suspect that if a priest began to consider himself responsible for everything, the retreat itself would end up the worse for it.

The mainstay of an ECHO retreat, however, is not the weekend itself but rather the follow-up. Twice a week, every week, the ECHO community gathers for prayer and sharing. I attended both gatherings the week following ECHO #280. Wild horses couldn’t have kept me away.

How comforting for a priest to know that whatever time and energy he puts into a particular retreat weekend, his investment will bear fruit for generations. I have seen this with my own eyes. If someone you know may be interested, retreat applications are available online at www. echoofcapecod.org.

And that, dear readers, is the joy of ECHO. Boom!

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

brothers and sisters in arms — The “behind the scenes and out of sight” crew celebrating the gradually unfolding spiritual effectiveness of the recent boy's ECHO #280. (Photo by Katy Fuller)

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The Anchor

February 24, 2012

Faithful parishioner can’t refuse a call for help

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — Rene Lavoie is one of those good-natured guys with a hearty laugh who’s always willing to lend a helping hand.

“I don’t think the word ‘no’ is in my vocabulary,” he said.

“Whenever they call up for something, I always say: ‘What do you need?’”

He’s so agreeable, in fact, that when one of his former pastors asked him to join an excursion to the former Tally’s Church Supply store in Somerset, he didn’t know he was being recruited as an unwilling wine taster.

“Father told me he didn’t like the taste of the altar wine they were using and he asked me to sample a few,” Lavoie said. “I picked one I liked, and he said he liked that one, too.”

But when Lavoie returned home and told his wife, Marge, she was stunned, knowing that her husband doesn’t like wine or any other alcohol for that matter except beer.

“I didn’t know where we were going in the first place,” Lavoie said, laughing. “I just said yes.”

It’s that selfless attitude and desire to do charitable works that has kept Lavoie busy for more than 40 years at his home par-

ish of Holy Name in Fall River.

Lavoie fondly remembers the Lavoie remembers finding his days when he coached the parish permanent parochial home for the first time in 1966 when his eldest son was just two years old.

“When we first got here, we had Msgr.

Daniel F. Shalloo as pastor,” Lavoie said.

“Back in those days we all helped out however we could. Two of my boys worked at the rectory on Sunday nights answering the telephone.”

Oddly enough, Lavoie’s sons never got a chance to pick up the receiver.

“Usually there was a baseball or basketball game on and every time the phone rang, Msgr. Shalloo would rush to answer it,” Lavoie said.

“Msgr. Shalloo was good friends with Father Paul F. McCarrick and they would call each other after every Anchor Person of the week play. My son told me: Lavoie. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza) ‘Dad, we never get to answer the phones. We just sit basketball teams for the Catholic there doing homework.’”

Youth Organization. He also attempted to start a CYO baseball team, but that never seemed to be as popular as basketball.

He also first met his current pastor, Father Jay Maddock, through CYO basketball.

“Father Maddock used to coach the St. William’s Parish teams when he was parochial

vicar there,” Lavoie said. “When he was transferred here he saw me that first night and immediately recognized me. It was good to see him come to this parish.”

Lavoie said his parish has been blessed to have many great priests over the years.

“I used to do the Confirmation retreat programs here with Father Degagne,” Lavoie said. “I used to drive the bus — we’d borrow a bus from St. Anne’s Parish and I’d take the kids up to the retreats at La Salette Shrine and in Rhode Island. Father Degagne used to come here many a night and shoot the breeze with us and Msgr. Shalloo would always call looking for him.”

In addition to driving the bus, Lavoie would actively participate in the retreats — Rene and serve as the official photographer for the event.

“I would take pictures while everyone was listening to or giving their witness talks,” he said.

“After the retreat, we’d have a follow-up meeting with all the kids and their parents and we’d play a slideshow of the photos from the retreat. It was a great thing; it was beautiful. They could be very emotional.”

Lavoie would also chaper-

one ski trips for groups of altar boys and choir members to New Hampshire under Father William Campbell’s tenure.

“Father Campbell had a chalet up there, and he had a garage in the back with an apartment above it,” Lavoie recalled. “We had a great time back then.”

One of Lavoie’s proudest achievements has been his work with the parish St. Vincent de Paul Society, for which he currently serves as vice president.

“I schedule the home visits when there are families in need,” he said. “They’ll call the rectory looking for help, and then they’ll call me. We get together our people and try to get whatever they need. Everyone works on a twoweek schedule. We’ve got about 15 dedicated people in our society right now.”

Lavoie said he really enjoys making the home visits and seeing the grateful families firsthand.

“Many of the people we help aren’t Catholics or churchgoers, but we help them regardless,” he said. “It’s a good thing.”

Over the years Lavoie has also served as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, bringing Communion to those confined to nursing homes; and he also briefly taught seventhgrade Faith Formation classes.

“I taught for a couple of years because they were stuck for teachers at the time, but it wasn’t my cup of tea,” he said.

More recently, Lavoie has been busy with the parish Men’s Club, for which he served as past president.

“Many years ago, I was president of the Men’s Club, then it fell by the wayside because the Women’s Guild was very active at the time,” he said. “Now, without an active Women’s Guild, the Men’s Club has picked up again.”

Lavoie said they have a monthly Mass and meeting and often invite guest speakers to come in to talk to the group. They also run the popular chowder and fritter supper fund-raiser during Lent that generally attracts more than 300 people.

And chances are if anything else needs to be done at Holy Name Parish, Rene Lavoie will be the first to say “yes.”

“I enjoy it, I really do,” he said. “I love everything I do for the parish. I always try to pitch in because often there’s no one else willing to get involved. It’s a great feeling to do things that help others.”

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

February 24, 2012

The Anchor

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special occasion — Family and friends recently gathered at Madonna Manor in North Attleboro to celebrate Louise (Duquette) Caron’s 100th birthday. As part of the festivities, she received an Apostolic Blessing from Pope Benedict XVI as a gift from the Sisters of St. Dorothy. Caron, an avid Anchor reader, has four children, 16 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren, and 11 great-greatgrandchildren. She was also a member of the Dames de Ste. Anne Society for 50 years.

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

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

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The Anchor

February 24, 2012

‘Catholicism’ series praised as important evangelization tool continued from page one

tiny secret — This is a scene from the animated movie “The Secret World of Arrietty.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/Disney)

CNS Movie Capsules NEW YORK (CNS) — The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed by CNS. “The Secret World of Arrietty” (Disney) Poignant animated fable, based on Mary Norton’s 1952 novel “The Borrowers,” in which a sickly 14-year-old boy (voice of David Henrie) accidentally discovers a family of miniature people living unobserved in the secluded country house to which he has been sent to prepare for a risky operation. Despite his best intentions, his insistence on befriending the daughter (voice of Bridgit Mendler) of the diminutive clan — and trying to help her parents (voices of Amy Poehler and Will Arnett) — imperils the little trio’s previously happy life together.

Beautifully crafted visuals and a tone of gentle melancholy characterize this English-language version of a 2010 Japanese film, directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, which also features voice work

by Carol Burnett as the manse’s meddlesome housekeeper. The materialism of the protagonist’s unseen parents is contrasted with the deep bonds and traditional values that unite his newfound pal and her devoted folks. Brief mild peril. The Catholic News Service classification is A-I — general patronage.

“This Means War” (Fox) Director McG’s ill-conceived blend of action flick and romantic comedy tracks the rivalry between two CIA agents and best friends (Chris Pine and Tom Hardy) after both fall for a perky consumer goods tester (Reese Witherspoon). While they bring

the resources of the spy world to bear in a frantic effort to thwart each other, she turns for advice to her closest pal (Chelsea Handler) whose pointers, meant to be comic, are more often low-minded.

The occasional one-liner aside, the humor rarely works, while the path to a generally moral — though not unmixed — wrap-up is strewn with explosions, gunplay and hand-to-hand combat. Considerable action violence, skewed sexual values, brief semigraphic premarital sexual activity, a few instances of profanity, some adult humor and references, at least one use of the F-word and about a dozen crude or crass terms. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults.

The Vow” (Screen Gems) Stricken with partial amnesia as the result of a car accident, a Chicago artist (Rachel McAdams) awakens from a coma with no memory of her romance with, or marriage to, her husband (Channing Tatum). So he sets out to win her heart all over again, despite the opposition of her controlling parents (Sam Neill and Jessica Lange) who would prefer to see her reunite with her more conventionally respectable ex-fiance (Scott Speedman). Based on real events, director and co-writer Michael Sucsy’s well-intentioned but flawed love story celebrates the extraordinarily determined marital fidelity of Tatum’s character, and strikes a generally amiable tone as it does so. But shallow characterizations — mildly bohemian hubby takes on conniving one-percenter in-laws — and an initial relationship too cute to be credible undercut its impact. Brief nongraphic marital lovemaking, a premarital situation, fleeting rear nudity, adultery theme, numerous sexual references and jokes, at least one use of profanity, a couple of rough and about a halfdozen crude terms. The Catholic News Service classification is AIII — adults.

15 countries.

In this sweeping documentary, Father Barron tells the story of Catholicism around the world using art, architecture, literature, music and all the riches of the Catholic tradition. The production crew traveled to some of the most magnificent and sacred sites in Jerusalem, Rome, Krakow, Warsaw, New York, Istanbul, Ephesus, Lourdes, Mexico City, Athens, Corinth, Mexico City, Uganda, Manila, Sao Paolo, Auschwitz, Kolkata, Philadelphia, Chicago, and beyond.

“I wanted people to take it at different levels, that was always my hope,” Father Barron said.

“When you’re talking about a 10-hour program, it would become tiresome to listen to a talking head for 10 hours. So I hope people can view it on different levels and maybe go back and rewatch things they missed the first time. That, to me, is the genius of ‘Catholicism.’”

The “Catholicism” team was granted exclusive access to shoot privately in many locations inaccessible to the general public.

Highlights include some of the world’s architectural and artistic masterpieces and most sacred places such as The Dome of the Rock, the Hagia Sophia, the tomb of Mother Teresa, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, rare views of the Pantheon, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and the pope’s private gardens, Chartres, Notre Dame, and Cologne Cathedrals, as well as one of the largest religious celebrations on the planet — the feast of the Ugandan martyrs.

“I’m happy when people say they become entranced by what they see on screen, even though they might not be paying attention to what’s being said,” Father Barron said. “I think that’s fine.

I’ve heard about eight- and nineyear-old kids who will watch the series with great interest. They’re not taking in the ideas, necessarily, but they’re taking in the beauty of it, and I think that’s fine.”

Here in the Fall River Diocese, many parishes have adopted and praised “Catholicism” as an important evangelization tool.

“We’re using ‘Catholicism’ in our Confirmation program for ninth-graders as well as the RCIA and the adult Confirmation programs,” said Father Roger J. Landry, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in New Bedford.

“The reason we incorporated the video series this year is Father Barron not only explains very powerfully and persuasively the chief doctrines of the Catholic faith, but he takes people on a virtual pilgrimage to all the great shrines in the Holy Land, in

Christian Europe, in Guadalupe, in Brazil. So it really expands — in a way that only a video can — on the Catholicity of our faith.

“The people have very much liked Father Barron and the video series is an absolutely firstrate thing to watch and to listen to. At the same time people feel inspired and really nourished both in head and heart by what Father Barron gives us.”

“We’ve screened the first five episodes leading up to Lent every week at our parish,” said Louis “Bud” Miller, director of Adult Faith Formation for Holy Name Parish in Fall River. “I like the fact that in a 45- to 50-minute presentation, Father Barron covers a tremendous amount of theology. Also, being shot on location, it’s very beautiful to watch.

The various locations he goes to — the churches, the lands, the architecture, history and religious sites — it’s all visually-appealing and Father Barron remains faithful to the Church’s theology and covers a lot of ground in a brief amount of time.”

Father Jay Mello, parochial vicar of St. Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth, started screening the “Catholicism” series at his parish last fall, offering morning and evening sessions. He was surprised at the turnout for the sessions, which drew an average of more than 80 people each time.

“It just goes to show how thirsty God’s people are for the truth,” Father Mello said. “They don’t want the faith watered down. They want real substance.

“I think it has been a tremendous tool for evangelization, and in particular for the New Evangelization because Father Barron isn’t saying anything new in regards to content, but the way in which he explains these truths of our Catholic faith — his methodology — brings those viewing it right to the heart of our Catholic faith.”

Susan Wallace, director of external relations for Holy Cross Family Ministries in North Easton, said they have been hosting similar screening and discussion sessions and people have been impressed with the “Catholicism” series.

“It’s always great to see what others in the Catholic Church are doing and this is certainly an amazing piece,” Wallace said.

“You’re just so proud to be Catholic when you see it and it’s done with such professionalism and quality that it not only represents our Church well, but serves us well internally.”

Given Father Barron’s previous work through his Word On Fire ministry and website and now his ground breaking “Ca-

tholicism” documentary, Wallace said she sees similarities in him to Holy Cross Family Ministries’ founder Father Patrick J. Peyton, C.S.C. “Father Peyton knew in 1947 that he needed to get on the airwaves,” Wallace said. “He knew you could only reach so many people face-to-face. So he looked to getting on the radio and TV.” Today, Father Barron is using more modern Internet tools like YouTube and social media websites to spread the Good News.

“Father Barron portrays a great image for our Church and it’s come at a time when we need it so much,” she said.

“I find Father Barron is doing, in a way, what Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen did in a previous generation,” said Miller. “One of the things that I’ve said for a while is we need a new Fulton J. Sheen — someone whose presentation is attractive, whose method is orthodox, and someone who is very relatable. I find Father Barron very humble in his presentation style. He’s nonthreatening and he has Good News to get across to the world.”

“That’s certainly high praise,” Father Barron said. “He’s one of my great heroes. We have a picture of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen in our Word On Fire offices. I’m always grateful to hear that. I don’t think I’m at Fulton Sheen’s level, but we’re trying to do what he did and use what we have available to us.”

Wallace and Father Barron agreed that pioneers like Father Peyton and Archbishop Sheen would have loved using today’s Internet-based tools to spread the Gospel message.

“With sites like YouTube you can post a video and have it seen all over the world immediately,” Father Barron said. “Archbishop Sheen had to rely on people tuning in at a particular time on the radio or TV. Now we can use all this means to communicate instantly.”

Father Mello said he is grateful that Father Barron has shared his talents and ability to explain the faith in such a way and he highly recommends the “Catholicism” series to any parish or Catholic seeking to grow in their faith.

“I think Father Barron is such an asset to the Church at this point in history because of how he is able to clearly articulate the deep theological truths of our Catholic faith in ways that those who do not have a theology degree can understand,” he said.

For more information about the “Catholicism” documentary series along with the accompanying 300-page book and workbook study guide, visit www.catholicismseries.com.

February 24, 2012

O

n Jan. 19, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI spoke to a group of American bishops in Rome and warned that “radical secularism” threatens the core values of American culture, and he called upon the Church in America, including politicians and lay people, to render “public moral witness” on crucial issues such as the most cherished of our American freedoms, our freedom of religion.

Today more than ever, our Catholic values are threatened at every turn by our own president and his administration. Here are some typical examples for your consideration: • On his third day in office in January, 2009, President Obama restored funding to overseas organizations that provide abortions and also moved to reinstate funding through the United Nations Population Fund in order to support funding for China’s one-child policy, a program that mandates coerced abortions.

• In early 2009, the president authorized funding for stemcell research that relies on the destruction of living human embryos.

• The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reversed its own precedent in July 2009 and sued Belmont Abbey College, a Catholic liberal arts college, for allegedly violating federal employment laws because it refused to pay for artificial birth control in its employees’ health plan.

• In 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton publicly declared that the State Department no longer defends “religious freedom” abroad, but now has embraced a concept of “freedom of worship.” This change thus limits the more robust “freedom of religion” — which includes the right to teach, preach, assemble, organize, advocate, and to engage society and its issues publicly — to being merely the freedom to attend and participate in a religious service.

• The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, popularly known as “Obama Care,” signed by President Obama in March of 2010 intentionally failed to include long-standing restrictions (Hyde Amendment) on abortion funding, as well as sufficiently strong conscience protection for Pro-Life health care providers.

• In 2010 the Obama Administration’s Health and Human Services Department made significant changes to its existing regulations to require the National Human Trafficking Assistance Program to provide the full range of reproductive

13

The Anchor

The erosion of our religious freedom

services, including contraceprepresents a fundamental change tion and abortion. In doing so, by the State Department in U.S. the HHS ignored a Catholic foreign policy. The directive bishops’ Migration and Refugee also requires all U.S. agencies Services Committee’s proposal engaged in overseas activities to that achieved the highest score advance and promote the LGBT of all the proposals that had agenda. been submitted. It thus defunded • The U.S. Park Service a successful program that since recently deliberately failed to 2006 had assisted more than include the words “so help us 2,700 trafficking victims.

God” in an inscription from • The U.S. Department of President Franklin D. RoosJustice and its attorney general, evelt’s address to Congress Eric Holder, from 2010 to date following the attacks on Pearl has refused to defend the existing federal law known as the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as being between a man and a woman, despite the

By James T. Grady constitutional obligation of the attorney general to defend and enforce all laws of the United Harbor, when they constructed States without exception. Holder the World War II memorial in claims that in his and the Obama Washington, D.C. It required Administration’s opinion, the congressional action to remedy law was faulty because it was the affront. motivated by “animus” and is • The U.S. Air Force in 2011 the result of “stereotype-based has required the Air Force Rapid thinking.”

Capabilities Office to change its • In 2011, the U.S. Agency motto from “Doing God’s Work for International Developwith Other People’s Money” ment issued a requirement that to “Doing Miracles with Other contractors such as Catholic People’s Money.” They were Relief Services must distribute concerned that the word “God” condoms as part of its HIV preon a military patch was somevention activities and to include how unconstitutional. contraception advice and materi• On Jan. 20, 2012, President als as a part of its international Obama signed off on a Health development program. and Human Services regula• Recently the Obama tion that requires, under pain Administration’s Equal Emof serious civil and criminal ployment Opportunity Compenalties, that Catholic instimission took a case involving tutions, including charities, the dismissal of a schoolteacher hospitals, and schools and employed at a Lutheran relicolleges, be required to provide gious school all the way to the and pay for insurance coverage U.S. Supreme Court. Last month that includes contraceptives, the court ruled that her emabortion-inducing drugs, and ployment status fell within the sterilization procedures. The well-established First Amendalternative for these Catholic ment protection that exempts institutions is to just go out of employees of religious schools business. On Feb. 10, 2012, the from government jurisdiction. president promised to have the The Obama Administration regulation modified with the lawyer had argued before the cost of these requirements to be court that churches and religious spread among the policyholdschools had no protection under ers by their insurers, including the Constitution and that such the Catholic organizations. employees of religious organiza- Such modification has yet to be tions are no different than the enacted and the new regulations employees of a convenience have been formally adopted, store. The decision of the Subut even so, the costs are expreme Court was 9 to 0 against pected just to be passed on to the Obama Justice Department.

Catholic institutions through • On Dec. 6, 2011, Secrehigher premiums. tary of State Hillary Clinton • In addition to violating the announced that the new and “Free Exercise” clause of the revised U.S. policy concerning First Amendment, the aforesaid gay rights was to promote the regulation also violates the Relidecriminalization of lesbian, gious Freedom Restoration Act gay, bi-sexual, and trans-gender of 1993. This law states that the conduct abroad, and to this federal government may “subend, to provide a three million stantially burden” a person’s dollar Global Equity Fund. This “exercise of religion” only if it

Guest Columnist

demonstrates that the application of the burden to the person “is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest” and “is the least restrictive means of furthering” that interest.

This law also provides that any later override of its protections must be explicit, but there is nothing that explicitly or even implicitly overrides the protections provided for in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. • On Jan. 28, 2012, the U.S. Army through its Office of Chief of Chaplains ordered Archbishop Timothy B. Broglio to delete from his pastoral letter any reference to urging Catholics to avoid complying with the HHS new regulations concerning the Jan. 20, 2012 new insurance requirements for Catholic institutions. The Secretary of the Army permitted the reading of the pastoral letter but without the provision concerning “we will not comply with this unjust law.”

These are not all of the instances wherein our religious freedom has been denied or abridged by and through the Obama Administration. They are, however, representative of the focus and views of our president and his appointees.

This should not come as any surprise. President Obama has stated, “Our deliberative, pluralistic democracy demands … that the religiously motivated

translate their concerns into universal, rather than religionspecific values.” In other words, our president believes that the First Amendment concerning the free exercise of religion should be abandoned in favor of the “universal values” that he and his political allies favor and espouse. It should be abundantly clear by now that the Catholic religion, as well as others, are not among the “universal values” that he supports and advocates.

As our Bishop George W. Coleman states so eloquently and courageously in his pastoral letter of Jan. 31, 2012, “We cannot — we will not — comply with this unjust law [HHS Regulations of Jan. 20, 2012].

People of faith cannot be made second-class citizens.” There are 77.7 million Catholics in the United States, comprising about 27 percent of the electorate.

In a democracy, the remedy to eliminate this sort of tyranny is in the ballot box, unless of course, you wish to continue to be a second-class citizen.

James T. Grady is a retired lawyer and a former visiting scholar at Harvard Law School. He and his wife Sheila are parishioners at St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, February 26, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Richard D. Wilson, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish at St. James Church in New Bedford

14

The Anchor

for god and country — With a painting of the Divine Mercy serving as a backdrop, Troop 333 at Cathedral Camp in East Freetown gathered for a group photo. Formed less than a year ago, the fledgling Troop is going strong, combining fun and Catholic values and sharing them with the boys, their families and friends. Back, from left: Anthony Perry, Jeremy Lambert, Arthur Roderick, Brendin Reposa, and Caleb Guera. Middle: Jacob Roderick, Jack Dompierre, Drew Benton, and Daniel Perry. Front: Cameron Reposa, Nicholas Talbot, Kolbe Correia. The boys are led by Scoutmaster Mark Perry and assistant Scoutmaster Mike McCormack.

East Freetown Boy Scout Troop keeps focus on faith, reverence continued from page one

for the Diocese of Fall River told The Anchor. “Living as a Catholic in the world — whether 100 years ago or today — involves more than going to Church or believing in God. It means living in a society and contributing to that society positively. Scouting helps youth learn that they have unique gifts and talents that can make a difference in the world. It teaches them to not be spectators when they see injustice or suffering. It teaches them that the good Catholic is a good citizen. Scouting teaches them how to do all this in a pluralistic society, how to respect others and that we have a lot we can learn from others.”

Perry knew that not all Scout Troops have a Catholic base, so he wanted to be sure area boys had that opportunity. “Where else but Scouting can boys these days learn leadership skills and live by the oath ‘On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country?,’” said Perry, himself a former Scout.

“Kids today need something other than sports,” Father Salvador told The Anchor. “In sports, some parents are living their childhood through their children.

The world has become so materialistic and the athletes today make huge amounts of money, and some parents think their boys have to start on that track to success very young.

“In Scouting the boys learn citizenship and what it takes to be a responsible citizen. And that includes reverence. There’s such a lack of reverence today, but not

in Scouting. And with all the talk today about ‘going green,’ it’s the Scouts who have been living that all along. They become one with nature and respect it. When Scouts go to a campsite, they leave it cleaner than when they arrived.”

With the permission and the support of the staff at Cathedral Camp, Troop 333 was born last June. Shortly after, Mike McCormack, a former Eagle Scout, Scoutmaster and member of the Narragansett Council Board, asked Perry if he would like some assistance. “It was a Godsend,” said Perry. “Mike was someone with a great deal of Scouting experience and he shared the same desire to keep the focus on our Catholic faith.”

“When I was growing up, Scouting was part of everything in our lives,” said McCormack, who began his Scouting experiences as a student at St. Mary’s School in New Bedford in the 1950s. “All the boys joined and Scouting was part of our lives in school and out of school in the parish. We not only had fun camping and taking part in activities, but we helped out around the parish and school.”

McCormack said he noticed that in the 80s and 90s interest in Scouting began to wane. “The boys just didn’t seem to be interested anymore,” he added. When his grandson recently became involved in Scouting, McCormack felt the need to do so again.

“It’s so important that boys today have a sense of reverence

and a knowledge of the Catholic faith,” he said. “With Mark and others, we are doing our best to get boys ready to move on to adulthood. That’s what Scouting is about. We can teach them and have fun at the same time. We teach them it’s OK to have faith in God and to share that with others.”

Part of the structure of Troop 333 is that everyone is invited to take part in the activities. “We encourage parents, siblings and friends to join us,” said McCormack.

It’s not unusual to find family and friends of the Scouts regularly attending the weekly meetings or the many Scouting events and activities. “We have sisters and cousins and even neighbors accompanying the Scouts,” said McCormack. “We don’t shy away from the faith element.

We begin and end each meeting with prayer, and no one minds.

In fact when it’s time to end the meetings we hear from the youth, ‘What do you mean it’s time to leave?’”

With a corps of 16 boys, Troop 333 is going strong, often with 25 or so people attending the weekly Tuesday meetings that take place on the shores of Long Pond at the camp. “Even in the cold, we meet outside and the kids love it,” added McCormack.

“Everything about this experience has been great,” said Perry.

“This is by Divine providence, I’m sure. Scouting can provide so much to those involved.

Things are difficult out there in

February 24, 2012 today’s society. The Scouts learn to live by certain values, including reverence for God and country. They’re asked to carry that into the ‘real’ world, and that is a challenge for them to live out.

But that’s why we’re here, to help and encourage them, their families and their friends.”

According to Perry and McCormack, the Scouts in Troop 333 have embraced the faith element and are not afraid to exhibit it. Recently the Troop made a trip to the Discovery Center in Bridgeport, Conn., and before the day’s activities, the boys attended Mass at a Bridgeport church in full uniform. “We try to incorporate the Mass into many of our activities,” said Perry. “In fact, we try to schedule our camping trips around the availability of a priest to celebrate Mass with us at the camp grounds.

Off the ground for less than a year, the members of Troop 333 have already experienced a number of fun and challenging events. They attended a “Polar Bear Camp out” in sub-freezing weather in December; formed a Robotics Team to compete in the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology Lego League at Roger Williams College and emerged victorious against 20 other teams; and took part in a Klondike Derby at Miles Standish State Park in South Carver where they tested their camping and survival skills in a teamwork atmosphere, placing second among 91 other Massachusetts Scout Troops.

In addition to the traditional Scouting activities, the boys also take part in religious activities like the Rosary Series where they learn about the five mysteries and how to pray the Rosary; the Footsteps of American Saints activity that provides the boys the opportunity to learn about a dozen or so individuals who are excellent role models for young Catholics.

An example of earning a merit badge in the saints activity would be to read about Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, then complete an online test based on the reading, and then complete several activities such as discussing with family the values they admire most about her and how they can be like her; draw a picture of some of her accomplishments; write a prayer and find a place in nature to say the prayer; and visit a children’s hospital or nursing home and arrange for a visit.

The boys can earn merit badges and awards for several Catholic activities meant to prepare them for life after Scouting.

Several diocesan priests took the Scouting route as boys and are grateful for the experiences and lessons learned.

Father Rodney E. Thibault

was in Troop 15 associated with Notre Dame Parish in Fall River.

“I learned skills that I use on a daily basis,” he told The Anchor.

“Learning how to interact as a young Scout leader, at that time, taught me how to respect individuality without ever compromising my own beliefs. Likewise, learning how to interact with Scouts and leaders of all ages helps me to interact with parishioners, parish staff, hospital staff and hospital patients with relative ease.

“My time as a Scout was a wonderful way to grow up. It has helped shape me into the adult, the priest, the son, the brother, the uncle and the friend I am to many people. One of my proudest moments was when the Eagle Scout award was pinned on my shirt. I will always relish that as a proud time, one which was the result of hard work, dedication and the willingness to look past self and serve God and country.”

“In my travels all around the world I see young people looking for something more,” added Father Salvador. “Scouting affects young people all over in a very positive way.”

Father Frederici has been working to revamp the Scouting program in the Diocese of Fall River.

“Our diocesan Catholic Committee is in the process of reorganizing so that we can better support and promote scouting to the families of our diocese,” he said. “The way we communicate has changed, as well as the challenges facing families. The Catholic Committee on Scouting seeks not only to assist scouts in growing in their faith, but also assist adult volunteers and parents in growing in their faith.

There are programs to help in that effort.”

He said that the diocese will be hosting the Region I meeting for the National Catholic Committee on Scouting in the Fall. “We are hoping to focus a bit more on how scouting can help the adult (parent and volunteer) grow in their Catholic faith. We will be inviting Scout volunteers and interested parents to participate in that gathering November 2-4.

“In addition there have been some conversations about offering some programs online. If we can build up our committee membership a bit, we’ll be able to explore more of these possibilities.”

For information on the diocesan Scouting program, visit www.catholicscout.org or email fatherdavid@catholicscout.org.

For information on Troop 333, call Mark Perry at 508728-2684 and CCTroop333@ gmail.com; or Mike McCormack at 508-998-1218 and CCTroop333ASM@gmail. com.

February 24, 2012

15

The Anchor

Cardinal-designate Dolan leads cardinals’ reflection on evangelization

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Secularism has had an easy time spreading through many traditionally Christian cultures because so many Christians do not know their faith and do not grasp the truth it teaches, Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan of New York told the College of Cardinals.

While the New York prelate did not downplay the challenges the Church faces in reviving the faith of its members and bringing the Gospel to those who have never heard it, he delivered his assessment February 17 with his characteristic smile and broad gestures, telling Pope Benedict XVI and the cardinals that evangelization requires joy and love.

The head of the Archdiocese of New York was asked to give the main address on evangelization and missionary activity at a meeting of the pope with the cardinals and cardinals-designate, who were to be inducted into the College of Cardinals February 18.

The meeting was attended by 133 prelates, including at least 20 of the 22 who were to receive their red hats from the pope the following morning.

The Churchmen entered the Vatican

synod hall, greeting old friends and introducing themselves to the new members. While an announcer repeatedly told them there were no assigned seats and they could sit anywhere, the men about to become cardinals all sat together on the far side of the hall, except for Cardinal-designate Dolan, who was seated next to the pope.

During the morning session, Pope Benedict did not address the assembly and was not one of the seven participants who commented on the presentation by Cardinal-designate Dolan and a brief statement by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, on plans for the 2012-2013 Year of Faith.

The discussion was scheduled to continue during an evening session and the meeting was to close with the recitation of evening prayer.

In his presentation, Cardinal-designate Dolan said that when Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, asked him to be the main presenter, he hinted that he did so because New York “might be the ‘capital of secular culture.’”

“New York — without denying its

faith pit stop — Fifteen men from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Seekonk recently attended a men’s retreat at Campion Center in Weston, Mass., sponsored by the men’s group and led by Father Vic Chaupetta from La Salette Shrine (kneeling in center). Father Chaupetta invited the men to focus on Mt 20:32, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

New Bedford Deanery to host Lenten Mission on Personal Holiness

New Bedford — From February 27 through March 1, all the Catholic parishes in the New Bedford area are jointly sponsoring a Lenten Mission at St. Mary’s Church on Tarkiln Hill Road.

The mission, entitled, “The Quest for Personal Holiness,” will be led by Father Thomas Hoar, SSE, who is the director of the St. Edmund’s Retreat House on Ender’s Island in Mystic, Conn.

Father Richard Wilson, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish at St. James Church and dean of the priests of New Bedford, said that the theme of the mission touches on the heart of the Christian life. “In Baptism, every Christian is called to be holy, as our Father in Heaven is holy.

Lent provides the opportunity to grow in holiness. This mission will provide an op-

portunity to rediscover this call and live Lent as a time of healing, repentance and prayer.”

The Mission will take place twice a day during Masses at noon and 7 p.m. Confessions will take place for an hour before each session.

On February 27, the theme of Father Hoar’s homily will be “Reconciliation: An encounter with the healing love of Jesus Christ.” On February 28 it will be, “Virtue as the foundation of the life of holiness.” On February 29, he will preach on “The Cross as the key to victory.” On the last night of the mission, March 1, he will address “Prayer: God’s will be done.”

Father Wilson said that all Catholics are not just invited but encouraged to come.

dramatic evidence of graphic secularism — is also a very religious city,” he said, where even those “who boast of their secularism” exhibit an openness to the Divine and have questions about God. While secularism “is invading every aspect of daily life,” the New York prelate said, it also is true that most people, on some level, still question the ultimate meaning of life and still ponder the idea of God. “Even a person who brags about being secular and is dismissive of religion has within an undeniable spark of interest in the beyond, and recognizes that humanity and creation is a dismal riddle without the concept of some kind of creator,” he said.

The cardinal-designate said those people don’t want to be considered objects of missionary activity, but Christians have an obligation to help them maintain their search for meaning in life.

Humility, joy and love are key to the success of the evangelization efforts of the Church and its members, he said.

“Triumphalism in the Church was dead” after the Second Vatican Council, he said, but “so was confidence.”

Catholics recognize that they and their Church need conversion, too, he said. And, they must be convinced that what they are sharing with others is not a doctrine, but the person of Jesus.

At the same time, because Jesus is

the truth, Catholics must make a commitment “to combat catechetical illiteracy,” he said.

“True enough, the new evangelization is urgent because secularism has often choked the seed of faith, but that choking was sadly made easy because so many believers really had no adequate knowledge or grasp of the wisdom, beauty and coherence of the truth,” he said.

The cardinal-designate told the College of Cardinals that when he was a seminarian, he was told to smile because a missionary or evangelist had to be a person of joy.

“When I become the archbishop of New York, a priest told me, ‘You better stop smiling when you walk the streets of Manhattan or you’ll be arrested,’” he said, but he still believes Christians must show the world that faith is saying yes “to everything decent, good, true, beautiful and noble.”

Cardinal-designate Dolan said that on the eve of receiving his red hat from the pope, he also had to speak of the fact that Christians are called to love and serve the Church and their neighbors, even to the point of shedding their blood if necessary.

The cardinals, he said, “are but ‘scarlet audiovisual aids’ for all our brothers and sisters,” who also are called “to be ready to suffer and die for Jesus.”

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16

The Anchor

Peeking between the pages: A week at The Anchor continued from page one

can also be found in mailboxes outside of Massachusetts, including California, New Mexico and Hawaii; the paper even has six loyal print subscribers in Canada.

“When Bishop Coleman appointed me back in 2005, he said he looked at The Anchor as a great means of formation of Catholics in the diocese,” said executive editor Father Roger J. Landry. “Since I’ve taken over, I’ve tried to focus on information and formation, and the newspaper breaks down into those two areas. We’ve got the news, which is part of the information, and we’ve got the columnists, which would be more formative.”

This April will mark the 55th year The Anchor has helped deliver news to area Catholics, and every weekly edition begins its own “formation” at those Wednesday meetings. Each meeting provides a launching point not just for the impending edition for that week, but for stories that are often pitched weeks in advance of upcoming issues. Prior to his arriving for the meeting from his church, St. Anthony of Padua Parish in New Bedford, Father Landry looks online for stories from other international news sources in addition to keeping a finger on the pulse of the liturgical seasons of the Church and local diocesan news.

“I’m constantly searching for story ideas; a lot of remote preparation for every edition happens over the course of time,” said Father Landry. “I think the amount of local news that we cover beats any other diocesan newspaper in the country. That’s not just by chance, it also means we have to work harder in order to be able to fill the front page with several stories every week.

I’m happy that we’ve been able to show the great good that’s been occurring in the parishes throughout our diocese and various diocesan agencies, and

especially in the hearts of the ‘Living Stones’ through which Christ continues to build His Church.”

Wednesday may be the common launch point for the paper, but after the meeting is over and Father Landry leaves, the remaining five staff members who call The Anchor offices home during the traditional work week launch off in five separate directions with differing deadlines for each of them.

None are more in tune with the direction of his landing than the editor himself, who has been with the paper for 15 years. Not only does Jolivet have to begin the layout and sifting through photos for the school and youth pages after the staff meeting, this week had him dealing with the “newbie” reporter of 18 months asking him questions instead of blindly accepting the two-page list of duties he performs as editor.

“There are those who feel the Catholic press tends to put a slanted and biased twist on stories, but actually it’s quite the opposite,” said Jolivet. “The Catholic press is all about telling the truth and setting people free.

A prime example is the abortion issue. The pro-choice camps spread the propaganda that it’s all about a woman’s freedom to choose. The truth is that the so-called freedom comes at the price of human lives … millions of them. The Catholic press reveals that truth, among many others.”

That’s why the choices behind the articles chosen from the Catholic News Service, Catholic News Agency and Zenit are so important. All week, as stories roll in from international sources, some stories make the final design of the paper only to be pulled at the last second for stories that are deemed more important. As columnists and stories roll in, Jolivet also has to contend with advertising during his construction of the layout.

Wayne Powers came on board as advertising manager almost four years ago and for him, there is “no typical day, no typical week. Each day is unique.”

Powers meets with Jolivet to work together to meet requests from advertisers, usually based on color, black and white, and the size of the ad itself. Powers will give Jolivet an ad sheet with a list of clients and potential placement requests by Friday and unless there is the rare late entry on Monday, the tally of ads running that week is complete.

For that week anyway, because as Powers stated, his job isn’t on a weekly basis but on a rolling-type deadline, “I always try to work ahead,” said Powers.

“There’s no specific time frame for things to occur.”

Having been in advertising for 20 years, Powers knows how to cultivate new relationships with clients while maintaining connections with the current ones.

“Building that trusting relationship goes a long way,” said Powers.

This May will mark eight years as office manager for Mary Chase. This is not an answer-the-phone-and-take-notes position but a multi-faceted job that keeps her on her toes.

“I do different things Monday through Friday, so it’s hard for me to list the things I do every day. This time of the year — because it’s drive time — is my busiest time of the year. I have all my subscription envelopes coming in. I have all the corrections from the parishes coming in,” said Chase, adding that parishes will amend their subscriber’s list at each parish on an annual basis.

Chase spends Mondays sending labels to TCI Press in Seekonk for the paper and balances a weekly payroll that includes all the reports, taxes and employee checks. Afternoons are for accounts receivable as numbers are calculated for the deposit made each Friday.

Chase also said the mailings for the 2012 directory will be coming up soon, and while she does answer the phone to take down a change in address or transfer the call, she likes her job very much.

“I like dealing with the public and customer service. Sometimes phone calls are not always pleasant, but on the whole they are,” said Chase. “When people do call, [they say] they love The Anchor. On my subscription drive envelopes they’ll write, ‘Love your paper. Love the

February 24, 2012 stories and reporters.’ It’s nice to hear that besides complaints that they’re not getting the paper on time; that’s not our fault.”

There are two staff reporters, the author of this article and Ken Souza, a reporter who has been with The Anchor on a full-time basis for the past three years. Souza also adds to his reporter’s duties by updating the paper’s website every Tuesday morning. The staff reporters and editor have written for the secular press in the past and like Jolivet stated, writing for Catholic newspaper allows the Catholic belief system to shine in controversial topics like abortion or physician-assisted suicide.

“There is a particular point of view that Father Landry wants to get across as opposed to the secular press,” said Souza. “The message is to follow the teachings of the Church. A lot of people think being Catholic is one thing but to follow the edicts of the Vatican is another.”

Of course, regardless of how much or how often you pray, deadlines for stories can creep up on you even as a reporter toils at his or her craft.

“Nine times out of 10 you’ll get people who are very cooperative and talk about themselves,” said Souza, “but it’s tough trying to drag information out of people who don’t want to talk.”

Even Father Landry admits that his own weekly editorial often finds its way to Jolivet’s computer on that same Tuesday the final edits are being done.

“One of the reasons Anchor readers complain the font is so small is because it is much harder to write a shorter editorial as opposed to a longer one; and if you are doing it at the last second, the editing process is much harder one for me than the creative process of composing the words,” said Father Landry, with a chuckle.

As he and Father Landry spend Monday and Tuesday emailing back and forth, and talking on the phone as the paper’s layout of stories, columns and advertisements is finalized, Jolivet will work into the paper his latest column for “My View From the Stands.”

“I especially enjoy putting together my column,” he said.

“I’m far from a theologian or a preacher, but I am a Catholic dad and husband. And I’m human. I try to reach others who, like me, are just trying to be the best person her or she can be.

And if I can do that with a little humor, then all the better. I have fun with it, but I can’t always say that for my family, who just happens to be fodder for many of my creations. But after all

these years, they’re used to it.

And my dog Igor never seems to mind at all.”

The reporters and editors each read the entire paper and highlight corrections, allowing it to be proofread four times before going to press. By 2 p.m.

Tuesday, with final approval from Father Landry, Jolivet will send off the final product in .PDF format to a file transfer protocol site while sending a copy to Father Landry’s computer.

This is when TCI Press will open the file and run it through their software, making any adjustments that are needed. The pre-press department will review it before each page is processed through the plate system where it is set up for pagination. The pre-press department will review it again once a copy has been made; the press is shut down until the paper has been reviewed. Even as the press is started again, another copy is pulled to assure quality.

With a press running at 20,000 copies an hour, Steve DiCaprio, president of TCI Press, said the most fascinating aspect for people might be seeing the machines running at full speed.

“I just had some college students here from Brown University a couple of weeks ago, and they were very amazed by the print process,” said DiCaprio, adding the group was “surprised how everything is married together.”

The Anchor’s 20 pages require three different rolls of paper running through the press at the same time. All copies are printed and completed by Wednesday, with labels added and shipped to the Providence post office by Thursday before dawn. By then a staff meeting will have already taken place, so while subscribers are enjoying the latest copy of the paper, the staff at The Anchor have already put the wheels in motion for the next edition.

“The need for an authentically Catholic press is only growing as the secular media keeps marginalizing and distorting the presentation of our Catholic faith,” said Father Landry, summarizing why the Church marks Catholic Press Month in February. “God help us if it were only through the secular media people received their information. Many people would be terribly misled about what the Church believes and practices. So to have an organ that is able reliably to pass on what we truly believe in and how that belief is genuinely Good News for the salvation of the world is ever more urgent.”

Youth Page

February 24, 2012

I

don’t know why it happened at that particular moment. I didn’t feel it coming on.

Suddenly an intense feeling of sadness tempered with hope and joy swept over me taking me totally by surprise. Tears began to stream down my face as I tried to hide what was happening to me from those around me.

We were at the new Broadway production of “Godspell.” I had seen the show when I was in high school so I surely knew the story line, and, of course, I knew how it would end — or should I say how it would begin for those of us who follow Christ. I surely expected to be affected by the crucifixion scene as I was 40 or so years ago, but the powerful moment I experienced was not at that particular scene. It was just after the second act had begun.

“Godspell” is musical based on a series of parables from the Gospel of Matthew (and for those trivia fans; three of the parables are actually only recorded in the Gospel of Luke).

An exuberant high-energy cast performs the parables with a sense of uplifting humor and the lessons are very clear although hardly portrayed the way one might expect in some cases. As one blogger wrote, “The dramatic reenactment of the Gospel is played with a sense of mischief and mission. It’s all done with a kind of irreverent reverence.”

Of course, being a musical, wonderful, catchy songs are interspersed throughout. Let’s just say the place can really get rockin’ and I was rocking along

Nor do I

human and therefore weak. We with it until it happened. only need to look at the Apostles In the scene, one woman is to understand this. cast out as an adulteress. Jesus Jesus knew that His messays to those prepared to stone her to death, “Let the one of you sage was for everyone and that He could not share it with all who is faultless cast the first people by Himself. So He chose stone.” As you will recall, one by one they leave.

Jesus is left alone with the woman standing before Him. Jesus looks up and says to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned

By Frank Lucca you?” She says, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus says, “Nor do I.” special friends — disciples with That’s the moment when it hapwhom He shared the message pened. The tears started to flow in a deeper fashion. I’m not and I felt this intense sense of sure they would have been my sadness for my own sinfulness first choice. They would seem and yet a joy and a hope that I to have been the most unlikely too am forgiven.

She watches Jesus walk from of choices for Jesus. They were not educated. They were not her, and begs Him to remain “By My Side.” During this song, eloquent speakers. Yet Jesus saw something in each and every one we see Judas agree to betray of them, and that small band of Jesus and receive 30 pieces of silver for it. The tears continued followers shared it with all the people and changed the world. to flow.

They were able to do so because I was so deeply touched by they said yes, answering the call that simple portrayal. What can of Christ to follow Him. He has make us worthy of such love called us also. I wonder what He from our God that He continusees in me. Do you ever wonder ously calls us back to Him even what He sees in you? How can when we sin over and over we possibly be worthy? And yet again? I know He expects us to He still calls us! learn from our mistakes, “Go Whenever I feel unworthy and do not sin again,” but that or doubt myself, I like to think doesn’t always happen does it? about St. Peter. Remember, he There is a hopeful lesson was the one who could never here, I believe. Jesus, as they quite get things straight, who say, didn’t come to call saints always talked too much, who but sinners. A healthy person often said and did the wrong is not in need of a doctor, only thing, who always seemed to the sick are. He knows we are

Be Not Afraid

World Youth Day officials in Brazil unveil winning logo for 2013 RIO DE JANEIRO (CNS) — Officials of World Youth Day 2013 unveiled the winning logo for the event at a ceremony attended by more than 100 Brazilian bishops, government officials and local organizers.

Gustavo Huguenin, 25, creator of the winning logo, is a

Brazilian from the interior of Rio de Janeiro state. The contest was opened to anyone, and the logo was chosen by a Vatican council from more than 200 entries from around the world.

The logo shows Rio’s most famous symbols — Christ the Redeemer statue, Sugarloaf

Mountain, the Brazilian coastline — and the World Youth Day pilgrim’s cross inside a heart symbolizing the heart of the disciple. The green, yellow and blue of the heart are the colors of the Brazilian flag.

Huguenin said he got the idea after reading a passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew. He said participation in the contest was an act of faith.

To celebrate the occasion February 7, the Christ the Redeemer statue was lit in different colors, representing the 150 countries that will participate in World Youth Day. Organizers confirmed that World Youth Day will be held July 23-28, 2013, with Pope Benedict XVI and youths from all over the world.

Last year’s World Youth Day in Madrid was attended by more than one million people.

17 put his foot in his mouth. That’s what I love about him. I see some of those same traits in me!

But, this didn’t prevent Jesus from choosing him to lead the followers after Jesus left. We can also be joyful and hopeful in the fact that, even Peter needed many reminders of the call to follow Jesus. He was told to “cast out into the deep a second time” and he felt great unworthiness in responding to the call of Jesus. He turned out OK and so can we.

It is important that as we enter this Lenten season to understand that we don’t need to be perfect. Lent is a very important time for us as Catholics.

It is the time when the Church invites us to reflect and examine our lives and how we are following Jesus. Unfortunately, we will fail to answer His call on occasion. We may even hang up on Him. But the Good News is that He continues to call us nonetheless. He never gives up on us. How great is our God? He stands ready to take us back.

He only asks that we do not sin again. No easy task as we know!

And so, we surely must be

filled with great hope and joy in knowing that if we ever doubt our worth or value — or doubt that we are loved — or that we are unworthy of God’s love and call, just reflect on these simple words ... God so loved the world that He sent His only Son to die for us. No matter how much we hurt or how much we suffer, we are loved. Do not forget that.

Jesus was held to the cross not by nails — but by love. In spite of our limitations and failings, God accepts us. His acceptance makes us acceptable to ourselves; it allows us to accept others. We need His forgiveness to live as His people.

“Has no one condemned you?” Jesus asks us today. “No one, Lord,” we say. And Jesus says to us with love, acceptance and understanding, “Nor do I. Now come, follow Me.” Frank Lucca is a youth minister at St. Dominic’s Parish in Swansea. He is the chairman and a director of the YES! Retreat and the director of the Christian Leadership Institute. He is a husband and a father of two daughters. His email address is stdominicyouthministry@ comcast.net.

18

The Anchor

February 24, 2012

Some headed south, we headed north

F

or some, the Presidents’ surroundings of our home, Day and February vacaEmilie and I donned layers tion week is a time to pack of sweatshirts and socks and up, head southeast and enjoy a headed northwest to Provisun-splashed beach on Floridence, R.I. for a day of ice da’s Atlantic or Gulf coast. I skating at the outdoor facility must admit that sounds pretty at Kennedy Plaza. good, and for my wife Denise Once I hit the ice and it sounds extremely good.

My Washington/ Lincoln’s birthday activities were as sunsplashed, but a little more chilled out.

With Denise opting

By Dave Jolivet to remain in the cozy

My View From the Stands

chilling out — Emilie and her dad skating at Kennedy Plaza in Providence, R.I. for Presidents’ Day. (Photo by Mikki)

worked the rust off the blades of my CCM hockey skates, and the rust out of my achy knees, I was in my version of Heaven.

As a boy, I spent many winter hours flying across the frozen surfaces of the wading pond at Kennedy Park, South Watuppa Pond in Fall River, and Sawdy Pond in Westport.

As teens, equipped with hockey sticks and boots as the nets, my friends and I would literally start skating in early morning and wind up as the sun was setting.

It was always important to bring a boatload of pucks to replace the errant shots that slid into those “black holes” dotting the surface, never to be seen again.

Those days are long gone ... for a few reasons. Age, and the fact that the ponds just don’t freeze over in the winter like they used to. In fact this winter, they have yet to provide a safe surface for skating. And there’s less than of month of winter remaining.

But this past Monday in Providence, it was like “going home.” Emilie, her friend Mikki, and I had a ball. We skated, talked, laughed, and never once hit the ice with anything other than our skates! The sun felt great, the breeze was refreshing and I was in my glory zipping around the outdoor rink with people of all ages, particularly my two companions.

I truly miss the days of spending hour upon hour on the ice. It was comfort food for me to slip on the old CCMs and propel this old body on a fresh sheet of ice. Granted, there’s a little more of me to propel these days.

To cap off the day, the three of us hit a local Taco Bell for a gourmet dinner of tacos and gorditas. It just doesn’t get any better than that. We made sure to bring some home for Denise, adding some extra packets of hot sauce so she could maintain that warm fuzzy feeling she was enjoying without us.

When we got home we labored up the deck steps, tired yet content. We all grabbed iPads, smart phones or PCs to see what we missed while away. And frankly, there was nothing that was any better than what we had done the previous several hours.

Some people headed south for the week, but as for me and my peeps, we headed north.

And with the exception of Denise, that was the preferred Presidents’ Day destination.

February 24, 2012

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese

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

ATTLEBORO — The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette holds eucharistic adoration in the Shrine Church every Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. until February 24, 2012, and from January 7 to November 17, 2012.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available at this time.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

19

The Anchor Papal representative to Ireland promises to strengthen relations

DUBLIN (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI's new representative to Ireland has promised to strengthen relations between the country and the Holy See. Archbishop Charles Brown, a native of New York, spoke while presenting his credentials as apostolic nuncio to Ireland and dean of the country’s diplomatic corps to President Michael Higgins.

In brief remarks to Higgins, Archbishop Brown said that Pope Benedict XVI had asked him to “solidify and strengthen” the relations between Ireland and the Holy See. The meeting came three months after the Irish government provoked controversy by closing its embassy to the Vatican.

While ministers blamed the closure on economic concerns, the move was widely interpreted as representing a chill in relations: The government had been highly critical of the Vatican’s approach to child abuse scandals in the country.

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Feb. 25 Rev. Leo J. Ferreira, V.G., Pastor, St. Mary, Brownsville, Texas, 1988 Rev. William T. Babbitt, Assistant, St. Mary, North Attleboro, 1998 Feb. 27 Rev. Philip Gillick, Founder, St. Mary, North Attleboro, 1874 Rev. Joseph N. Hamel, Founder, St. Theresa, New Bedford, 1956 Rev. John G. Carroll, Retired Pastor, St. Margaret, Buzzards Bay, 1995 Rev. Roland B. Boule, Retired Pastor, St. Anne, New Bedford, 2005 Feb. 29 Rev. Msgr. James Retired Pastor, St. Taunton, 1980

Dolan, Mary,

March 1 Rev. James F. Masterson, Founder, St. Patrick, Somerset, 1906 Rev. Msgr. P L. Damase Robert, P.R., Pastor, Notre Dame, Fall River, 1948 Rev. John McCarthy, CSC, Stonehill College, North Easton, 2003 Rev. William W. Norton, Retired Pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes, Wellfleet, 2004 March 2 Rev. Antoine Berube, Pastor, St. Joseph, Attleboro, 1936 Rev. James J. Brady, Retired Pastor, St. Kilian, New Bedford, 1941 Rev. Tarcisius Dreesen, SS.CC., Sacred Hearts Monastery, Fairhaven, 1952 Rev. Alphonse E. Gauthier, Pastor, Sacred Heart, New Bedford, 1962 Rev. J. Omer Lussier, Pastor, Sacred Heart, North Attleboro, 1970

Around the Diocese 2/26

The student members of the St. Francis Xavier Preparatory School Social Action Club are beginning their annual Lenten Food Drive on Sunday. This food drive benefits the St. Francis Xavier Parish’s St. Vincent de Paul Society. People are asked to drop off nonperishable food items any Saturday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the thrift shop, located at 100 Pine Street in Hyannis. The drive will continue through Easter. For information contact Maribeth Burch at 508-771-7200 ext. 206 or by email at mburch@sfxp.org.

2/27

St. Louis de France Parish, 56 Buffington Street, Swansea, will host weekly Centering Prayer gatherings using the Lectio Divina format. The group will meet in the family room of the main church and gather at 6:15 p.m. every Thursday in Lent beginning February 27 through May 21 (except April 23 and 30 due to school scheduling). Prayer beings promptly at 6:30 p.m. For more information email forums4ami@gmail.com or call 508-264-5823.

2/27

“The Quest for Personal Holiness: A Deanery Mission” will be held at St. Mary’s Parish, Tarkiln Hill Road in New Bedford beginning February 27. Father Thomas F.X. Hoar, SSE, Ph.D. of St. Edmund’s Retreat Enders Island, Mystic, Conn., will lead the mission. This Deanery Mission will provide an opportunity to rediscover and prepare for the season of Lent as a time of healing, repentance and prayer. Mission sessions and topics will include: “Reconciliation: An encounter with the healing love of Jesus Christ” (February 27); “Virtue: as the foundation of the life of holiness” (February 28); “The Cross: As the key to victory” (February 29); “Prayer: Thy will be done” (February 30). Daily Mission Masses will be celebrated at noon and 7 p.m. All are welcome.

2/29

A screening of the “Catholicism” series will be held weekly at the Father Peyton Center, Holy Cross Family Ministries, 518 Washington Street, North Easton, on Wednesdays from February 29 through March 28 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Each one-hour segment will be shown followed by discussion. This amazing program, which is airing on public television, illuminates what Catholics believe and why, while immersing in the art, architecture, literature, music and all the riches of the Catholic tradition. For more information about this series, visit www.catholicismseries.com. For more information about events at the Father Peyton Center, visit www.familyrosary. org/events or call 508-238-4095.

3/2

The Fall River Area Men’s First Friday Club will meet March 2 at the Parish of the Good Shepherd, 1598 South Main Street, Fall River.

Following the 6 p.m. Mass celebrated by Father Freddie Babiczuk, there will be a hot meal in the church hall. The guest speaker will talk about a newly published book, “Your Prayer List: The one thing you would want to take to Heaven.” Any gentleman wishing to attend may do so. Phone Norman Valiquette at 508-672-8174 for guest seat reservations or with any questions.

3/3

On March 3, Good Shepherd Parish in Fall River will host an International Buffet and Dance at the Liberal Club located at 20 Star Street in Fall River from 5:30 p.m. until 11 p.m. Buffet items will include American, Portuguese and Italian, plus more. Music will be provided by the 5-A-Live Band and Portuguese music to be announced. For tickets call the rectory at 508-678-7412 or visit www.gsfallriver.com for more information.

3/3

A Day With Mary will take place on March 3 from 7:50 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, New Bedford. It will include a video presentation, procession and crowning of the Blessed Mother along with Mass, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and an opportunity for Reconciliation. There is a bookstore available during breaks. For more information call 508-996-8274.

3/8

The Divorced and Separated Support Group will present the video “Facing Your Anger” on March 8 beginning at 7 p.m. at the parish center of St. Julie Billiart Church, 494 Slocum Road in North Dartmouth. The video offers constructive ways to deal with anger issues during divorce. Discussion with the support group will follow. For more information call 508-678-2828, 508-993-0589 or 508-673-2997.

3/15

The Cape and Islands Prayer Group Deanery is sponsoring a Day of Recollection on March 15 at the Sacred Hearts Retreat Center in Wareham. For more information or to register call 508-349-1641 or 508-759-2737.

3/15

Catholic Social Services’ Citizenship Services Program offers Naturalization Workshops at which its legal staff assists people with the N-400 Application for Naturalization. The contact is Ashlee Reed, email: areed@cssdioc.org or 508-674-4681. The next workshop will be held on March 15 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Catholic Social Services, 261 South Street in Hyannis.

3/20

The Daughters of Isabella will reconvene for fellowship and fun on March 20 at 7 p.m. at Holy Name of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, 121 Mount Pleasant Street in New Bedford. The local chapter of Hyacinth Circle welcomes all past and present members to come and join them for a reflection night to discuss the old and welcome the new.

Misc.

Catholic Social Services offers Citizenship Instruction in formal classes and on an individual or small-group basis for clients who are not suited to the formal setting for a variety of reasons. CSS is recruiting volunteer tutors to work with clients who need assistance in English, preparation for the citizenship interview, and/or study in U.S. History and Civics for the citizenship test. Hours are variable. CSS will provide materials and subject matter guidance. Ideal candidates will have some teaching background and experience working with people whose first language is not English. For information contact Lemuel Skidmore, email: lskidmore@cssdioc.org or 508-771-6771.

20

The Anchor

February 24, 2012

New Bedford Catholic cemeteries consolidated into single entity

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

NEW BEDFORD — Father John J. Perry, diocesan director of cemeteries, recently announced the three Catholic cemeteries located in New Bedford — Sacred Heart Cemetery on Mount Pleasant Street; St. Mary’s Cemetery on Kempton Street; and St. John the Baptist Cemetery on Allen Street — would all be run as a single entity under the collective title “New Bedford Catholic Cem-

eteries.”

In a memo to diocesan priests and funeral directors last week, Father Perry noted that the office at St. John the Baptist Cemetery would be closed and the office staff there would be relocated to the Mount Pleasant Street office on the grounds of Sacred Heart Cemetery.

One of the reasons that precipitated the change was the fact that St. John the Baptist Cemetery had reached its capacity and will no longer require an onsite office to handle burials and committal services.

“St. John the Baptist Cemetery has no further graves to sell,” Father Perry said. “So they’ve reached capacity. But St. John’s will still be cared for and maintained in the future.

The only burials that would take place there now would be for those who have purchased lots that haven’t used them.”

Father Perry noted there will now be essentially four offices for the diocesan-run Catholic cemeteries — the collective Taunton Catholic Cemeteries located on East Britannia Street; the just-established New Bedford Catholic Cemeteries located on Mount Pleasant Street; Notre Dame Cemetery on Stafford Road in Fall River; and St. Patrick’s Cemetery on Robeson Street in Fall River.

“We’re kind of following the model we already had in place for the Taunton Catholic cemeteries,” Father Perry said.

“Since St. John’s ran as a parish cemetery and is now coming under the umbrella of the diocesan cemeteries, it will run more like a diocesan entity. As one unit, they’ll all have the same rules, regulations and office hours.”

Father Perry noted the individual phone numbers for the cemeteries will remain in service and all calls will be routed to the new central office on Mount Pleasant Street.

The hours there would also be extended to 8 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., Monday through Friday, in order to provide greater service while “running more efficiently and economically,” Father Perry wrote in his memo.

“As a matter of uniformity for New Bedford Catholic Cemeteries, the policies, procedures and pricing of St. John the Baptist Cemetery are now the same as those of the other cemeteries,” Father Perry said.

“Procedures and policies will remain as they were for St. Mary’s and Sacred Heart cemeteries.”