03.03.12

Diocese of Fall River

The Anchor

F riday , March 2, 2012

Giving up and giving back

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

GUAIMACA, Honduras — For many, that first cup of coffee in the morning is part of a daily routine done without even thinking. Millions of Americans start their day with a visit to Dunkin’ Donuts, Starbucks or any of a thousand coffee shops. While the cost of a daily cup of coffee doesn’t come close to breaking the bank, the cumulative profits are enormous.

With that in mind, Msgr.

Stephen J. Avila, pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Mansfield began a Lenten tradition last year when he suggested giving up coffee as a Lenten sacrifice. His parishioners ran with the idea and created a “Coffee to Go” program aimed at helping their brothers and sisters in the diocesan mission in Guaimaca.

“Some St. Mary’s parishioners created the ‘Coffee to Go’ logo to promote the program in their parish,” Father Craig A. Pregana, pastor of St. Rose of Lima Parish in Guaimaca told The Anchor. And now Father Pregana is hoping other Fall River diocesan parishes follow suit.

“Lent is about sacrifice,” he continued. “We live a blessed life in the U.S. and we sometimes forget that fact as we go about our daily routine. Lent comes along

to wake us and shake us from the routine by making a sacrifice to remind ourselves that our brothers and sisters go without many of the things we take for granted.

“Through the ‘Coffee to Go’ Lenten sacrificial giving, we simply invite people to make a small sacrifice in their lives in order to make a big difference in the lives of the poor.”

The “Coffee to Go” premise is that faithful give up coffee during Lent and save the money they would have spent daily. The monies will then be collected in the parishes and sent to the diocesan Propagation of the Faith Office to be sent to the Honduran mission.

“The giving program is simple but it makes a great difference in the lives of the people who receive food and clothing from the donations,” said Father Pregana. “For the price of a daily Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, you can put food on the table for a poor family. For the price of a daily Starbucks coffee, you can feed a family for a week.”

The “Coffee to Go” program is one of several local parish Lenten activities meant to assist Father Pregana, his staff, and parishioners.

For more information, visit www.fallrivermissions.org.

on a journey — Bishop George W. Coleman met with candidates for full communion in the Church following the Rite of Election ceremony at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River on February 26.

The candidates will receive the Sacraments of Confirmation and first Communion at the Easter Vigil.

Service planned to mark fifth anniversary of ICE raid

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

NEW BEDFORD — To mark the five-year anniversary of the controversial raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on a south end manufacturing plant in New Bedford, an event is slated for the evening of March 9 to remember the more than 300 illegal immigrants arrested, detained and, in many cases, deported from the country.

Sponsored by United Interfaith Action of South-

eastern Massachusetts, the commemoration will begin with an interreligious service at 6 p.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish at St. James Church in New Bedford presided over by its pastor, Father Richard D. Wilson.

A Lenten Way of the Cross candlelight procession in memory of the raid victims will follow the service, traveling from the church to the site of the former Michael Bianco, Inc. leather goods factory where 361 immigrant workers were taken into cusTurn to page 18

Birth control pill found to increase breast cancer risk

By Christine M. Williams Anchor Correspondent

BOSTON — While President Barack Obama and other supporters of free hormonal contraceptives for women claim benefits to women’s health, opponents are stressing that, in addition to freedom of religion and conscience claims, the birth control pill also poses serious health risks.

In 1999, the World Health Organization classified combined estrogen-progestogen oral contraceptives as a Group 1, the highest class, carcinogen. They confirmed that classification in 2005, saying that the pill “modifies slightly the risk of” cervical, breast and liver cancers. The statement also noted that the pill decreases the risk of endometrium and ovarian cancers.

According to the Catholic

Medical Association’s website, “A meta-analysis (a review of 39 case-control scientific studies from 1980-2002) published in the October 2006 issue of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings showed that taking oral contraceptives prior to pregnancy increases women’s risk of premenopausal breast cancer by at least 44 percent.”

It has been over a decade since the pill found its way into the same class with asbestos, cigarettes and sunlight, but many of the women who take hormonal birth control are unaware of this side effect.

Dr. Rebecca Peck — a Florida family physician, natural family planning instructor and member of the CMA — told The Anchor that some large, significantly flawed studies funded in part by drug companies, have shown no

increased breast cancer risk.

“Thankfully, the recent data is showing that there is increased risk, especially in women who are younger,” she said.

Those at greatest risk are teenagers and others who have not had a full-term pregnancy and have used the pill for more than four years. A full-term pregnancy allows the breast cells to develop and produce milk, which protects those cells against future cancer.

“You’re throwing known carcinogens at young, susceptible breast tissue for decades and telling people that there’s no problem,” she said. “The rate of breast cancer has gone from one in 12 women in 1960 when the birth control pill first came out, and now it is one in eight women.”

Turn to page 18

News From the Vatican

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March 2, 2012

Pope: Vocations are born from openness to the love of God

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Love of God nurtures love of neighbor, especially in people with vocations to the priesthood or religious life, said Pope Benedict XVI in his message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.

The papal message is for the 49th World Day of Prayer for Vocations, which will be observed April 29.

“The profound truth of our existence is thus contained in this surprising mystery: Every creature, and in particular every human person, is the fruit of God’s thought and an act of His love, a love that is boundless, faithful and everlasting,” Pope Benedict wrote.

“It is in this soil of self-offering and openness to the love of God, and as the fruit of that love, that all vocations are born and grow. By drawing from this wellspring through prayer, constant recourse to God’s word and to the Sacraments, especially

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the Eucharist, it becomes possible to live a life of love for our neighbors, in whom we come to perceive the face of Christ the Lord,” the pope wrote.

Pope Benedict wrote that love of God and other people “must be lived with a particular intensity and purity of heart by those who have decided to set out on the path of vocation discernment towards the ministerial priesthood and the consecrated life.”

Calling on the Church to “create the conditions that will permit many young people to say ‘yes’ in generous response to God’s loving call,” the pope recommended “Scripture, prayer and the Eucharist” as the most valuable means “enabling us to grasp the beauty of a life spent fully in service of the kingdom.”

Quoting his predecessor, Blessed John Paul II, Pope Benedict called families the “primary and most excellent seedbed of vocations to a life of consecration to the kingdom of God.”

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papal procession — Pope Benedict XVI arrives to celebrate a recent Mass at the Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Chapter and verse: Pope uses Bible reflection to address ‘his’ priests

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Speaking 38 minutes without a prepared text, Pope Benedict XVI gave priests of the Diocese of Rome a look not only at how he approaches Scripture, but also at his priorities and personality.

Addressing the Rome priests as “my clergy,” the pope led them February 23 in a reflection on faith, truth, hope and humility.

Sitting behind a table and talking without a text — throwing in explanations of Greek words, Scriptural references and trends in modern theology — the pope used Ephesians 4:1-16 as a framework for reflecting on the problems facing the Church and on the way priests should respond to them.

Until last year, the pope’s annual Lenten meeting with the Rome priests was an opportunity for them to ask him questions.

But in 2011, he chose to move to the format of “lectio divina” — reading a Scripture passage together and then going through it almost line by line to draw lessons and inspiration.

The question-and-answer format was used frequently by Blessed John Paul II in meetings with priests and seminarians, giving him a chance to hear their problems and concerns. At the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Benedict kept up the tradition; but especially after the 2008 Synod of Bishops on the Bible, the pope began using the “lectio divina” format more often to let the Bible guide discussions with clerical groups.

The pope’s talk to Rome priests and his off-the-cuff “lectio divina” sessions February 15 with Rome seminarians and in September with seminarians in Germany included references to the Hebrew, Greek or Latin versions of the biblical passage, as

well as the commentaries of ancient Church fathers, especially St. Augustine.

Usually, aides prepare at least the initial draft of papal speeches and homilies, so the fact that the pope addressed the priests and seminarians without reading from a text gave them a greater sense of the way he thinks and approaches Scripture and the challenges facing the Church.

The pope did not ignore the difficulties of being a priest today, but said he and his fellow priests must strive to live as St. Paul admonished the Ephesians, “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love.”

The pope used the pronoun “we” throughout his speech, saying the way he and the priests live their lives will determine their ability to help others believe in Jesus and follow God’s will.

“The great suffering of the Church today in Europe and the West is the lack of priestly vocations. But the Lord always is calling, what is lacking is listening,” the pope said. “We have listened to His voice,” he told the priests, “and we must always be attentive to the Lord calling others, helping them listen and accept the call.”

The Church’s pastors must imitate St. Paul’s style in teaching and encouraging people, using “the loving invitation of a father or mother,” and not “a moralistic admonition,” Pope Benedict said.

Priests, bishops and even the pope also must be humble, which does not mean being a doormat, but accepting the fact that while “we are small” in the grand scheme of things — “I am just one thought of God,” he said — God entrusts each person with a

special gift for the good of the entire community.

“The little humiliations we endure day by day are salubrious,” he said, because they help one maintain a balance between knowing he is unique and knowing he is just one of the billions of unique creatures God formed and called.

“To accept this, to learn this and accept my position in the Church” means to recognize “my little service as something great in the eyes of God,” he said.

“The absence of humility destroys unity,” the pope said, because it feeds pride, competition, a search for power and the denial of the gifts of others.

Another major problem in the Church today highlighted by the pope was “religious illiteracy,” a lack of knowledge about what the Church teaches and why.

“With this illiteracy we cannot grow, unity cannot increase. So we ourselves must recover this content as a richness for unity — not as a package of dogmas and commandments, but as a unique reality that reveals itself through its depth and beauty,” he said.

“We will renew the Church only if we renew people’s knowledge of the faith,” he said, which is the chief reason why he said he proclaimed the Year of Faith and why it is important for Catholics to know the “Catechism of the Catholic Church.”

The Letter to the Ephesians calls Christians to a mature faith, which many people today believe means being “emancipated” from the Church and its teachings, the pope said. But without a firm anchor to the faith and knowledge of what it teaches, they are tossed by “the waves of the world, by the opinions of the world (and) by the dictatorship of the media.”

The International Church Former Anglicans celebrate Mass in St. Peter’s, give thanks to pope

March 2, 2012

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — For perhaps the first time ever, Anglican hymns, chants and prayers reverberated off the marble walls of St. Peter’s Basilica as some members of the world’s first ordinariate for former Anglicans celebrated their coming into the Catholic Church.

“Wonderful is not a strong enough word to express how we feel to be here,” where the Apostle Peter gave his life “and where his successors guarded the faith for generations,” said Father Len Black in his homily.

Mass at the basilica and the pilgrimage to Rome generated “a feeling of coming home,” said the Catholic priest who served as an Episcopalian pastor in the Scottish Highlands for 31 years.

The group of about 94 pilgrims, including a dozen priests, was led

by Msgr. Keith Newton, head of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, which was established in January 2011 for former Anglicans in England and Wales.

After celebrating morning Mass February 24 in a side chapel, the group moved to the center of the basilica and stood in front of the “Confessio” — a lower chapel honoring St. Peter’s confession of faith that led to his martyrdom — and recited the General Thanksgiving, a traditional Anglican prayer.

“That was very moving, thanking God for all we received this year and for the pilgrimage,” he told Catholic News Service.

The weeklong Lenten pilgrimage highlighted the season’s call to conversion but also was an opportunity to thank Pope Benedict XVI for establishing a structure for welcoming former Anglicans into the Catholic Church. Msgr. Newton, the ordinary, also met briefly with the pope at the end of the pope’s general audience February 22.

The pope’s 2009 apostolic constitution “Anglicanorum coetibus” provided a way for entire Anglican parishes or groups to become Catholic while retaining some of their Anglican heritage and liturgical practice.

“We felt this was the answer to our prayers” for corporate Christian unity, the monsignor said.

Ecumenical dialogue seems to no longer have full and visible corporate union as its goal, he said.

Dialogue has become more of an exercise in finding common ground and ways to cooperate, while the Anglican Communion falls further away from seeking revealed truth, Msgr. Newton said.

He said Blessed John Henry Newman saw himself engaged in a battle against liberalism, or rather,

“that view that it didn’t really matter what you believed, they were all equally important and that there was no such thing as revealed religion.”

“And I think that’s exactly what’s happening in the Anglican community — it’s all personal opinions,” he said.

“The problem of the ordination of women and gay marriage are symptoms of the problem — the problem I think is liberalism in religion, secularism.”

Msgr. Newton, who was an Anglican bishop, said the real underlying motive for him and many others to break with the Anglican Church was “because we believe in revealed truth” and obedience.

The creation of an ordinariate, which is similar to a diocese but national in scope, was a particularly Catholic way of building reciprocity between traditions in which each shares and contributes its own unique gifts with the other, he said.

“That seems to be exactly the way that ecumenism should go,” he said. “It’s the Holy Father’s vision and we’ve got him to thank for it.”

The ordinariate in England and Wales recently celebrated its oneyear anniversary while the U.S. ordinariate was officially inaugurated in mid-February.

While the situation in predominately Anglican Great Britain is unique, Msgr. Newton said there are some lessons learned to pass on.

The biggest challenges have been practical issues, he said, such as determining where clergy, especially those who are married with families, will live; deciding how much priests will be paid; and finding a place and time to worship that’s convenient for parishioners and clergy.

“One of the lessons we all learned is when you begin this process, you can’t know exactly how it’s going to work out for you as an individual; it really is a step of faith.”

Michael Vian Clark, director of music at the Benedictine Buckfast Abbey in Devon, cobbled together “a scratch choir” out of the pilgrims who came from different parts of Great Britain.

People who didn’t know each other were singing Roman-rite chants and Anglican hymns and psalms in harmony without much practice or preparation because “there’s a ‘have a go’ attitude in the Anglican tradition, particularly with music,” he said.

“Good music in the Liturgy is a slice of Heaven,” Vian Clark said.

“It’s a glimpse to Heaven and it allows people to realize that the Liturgy and the Mass is a gift which is not of this world.

“It’s something that raises all of our hearts and minds and sends us out with a sense of true Christian joy, and I think the Holy Father understands that that’s really important,” he said.

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main attraction — People visit a main attraction in Guanajuato state, the statue of Christ the King, located about 35 miles outside Leon, Mexico. The mountaintop, which is the geographic center of Mexico and one of the most visited religious shrines in the country, is home to the large monument of Christ. Pope Benedict XVI visits Guanajuato March 23-26. (CNS photo/David Maung)

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The Church in the U.S.

March 2, 2012

seeking justice — Peace and justice activists, including Catholics, hold signs calling for social repentance during a prayer service in front of the White House in Washington recently. The demonstrators included those with the Catholic Worker movement, Pax Christi, the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, Jonah House and others. (CNS photo/Peter Lockley)

States, women, senators join fight against HHS contraceptive mandate

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Seven states have filed suit against the Department of Health and Human Services’ mandate that nearly all health insurance plans cover contraceptives free of charge, saying that it violates religious freedom and leaves “countless additional religious freedoms vulnerable to government intrusion.”

Joining the attorneys general of Nebraska, South Carolina, Michigan, Texas, Florida, Ohio and Oklahoma in the lawsuit were a Catholic nun, a lay missionary working with the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, Pius X Catholic High School in Lincoln, Neb., and the Omaha-based Catholic Mutual Group, a self-insurance fund that covers more than 125 dioceses or archdioceses and 200 Catholic religious congregations in the U.S. and Canada.

The latest lawsuit was filed as protests against the HHS mandate mounted. More than 4,500 women signed a letter calling on President Barack Obama, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Congress “to allow religious institutions and individuals to continue to witness to their faiths in all their fullness.”

In addition, 18 U.S. senators asked Obama to rescind the mandate, saying that its implementation “will unjustly impact religiously affiliated organizations and individuals.”

The mandate requires no-cost coverage of all contraceptives approved by Food and Drug Administration, including some that can cause an abortion, as well as sterilizations, as part of preventive health services for women. A narrow religious exemption applies only to those employed by houses of worship.

In a revision announced February 10, Obama said religious employers could decline to cover contraceptives if they were mor-

ally opposed to them, but the health insurers that provide their health plans would be required to offer contraceptives free of charge to women who requested such coverage. He also announced a one-year “safe harbor” before enforcement of the mandate would begin for religious employers.

The lawsuit by the seven attorneys general, all Republicans, followed earlier suits filed by Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina and Colorado Christian University in Denver; the Eternal Word Television Network in Birmingham, Ala.; and Ave Maria University in Naples, Fla. “The First Amendment has, for centuries, served as a rampart against government interference with religious liberty,” says the brief filed with the U.S. District Court for Nebraska. “The federal government’s regulation is an unprecedented invasion of the plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights to free speech, free exercise of religion and free association.”

Sister Mary Catherine of the School Sisters of Christ the King in Lincoln and FOCUS missionary Stacy Molai of Omaha say in the lawsuit that they would drop their health insurance coverage if the contraceptive mandate is not overturned.

Molai has “an incurable chronic condition” and health insurance coverage “is critical in order for Molai to avoid financial ruin and possibly life-threatening consequences,” the lawsuit says.

The open letter from women was organized by Helen Alvare, who teaches law at George Mason University School of Law, and Kim Daniels, former counsel to the Thomas More Law Center, under the banner, Women Speak for Themselves (http:// womenspeakforthemselves.com).

“No one speaks for all women

on these issues,” the letter says.

“Those who purport to do so are simply attempting to deflect attention from the serious religious liberty issues currently at stake.

“Each of us, Catholic or not, is proud to stand with the Catholic Church and its rich, life-affirming teachings on sex, marriage and family life,” it added. “We call on President Obama and our representatives in Congress to allow religious institutions and individuals to continue to witness to their faiths in all their fullness.”

Alvare said the effort to collect signatures for the letter began with an email to a few of her and Daniels’ friends and grew exponentially.

“Almost every email (reply) contained a letter expressing the woman’s enormous relief at the chance to speak for herself,” Alvare said in a news release. “It is moving to read more than 1,000 emails — particularly from doctors, nurses and teachers — expressing their gratitude for the Catholic Church’s willingness to stand down the government’s claim to speak for all women and women’s health.”

The letter from 18 Republican senators said the president’s revised rule “leaves few viable options for religiously affiliated organizations and individuals to avoid using their funds to pay, directly or indirectly, for services they consider morally objectionable.”

Among the options would be to drop health insurance coverage for their employees or to limit hiring only to Catholics in order to fit the administration’s “narrow definition of a religious employer,” they said.

“Because religiously affiliated hospitals and other organizations are major employers in many communities, it is hard to comprehend why this administration would deliberately implement a policy that would have such a detrimental impact,” the senators said.

March 2, 2012

The Church in the U.S.

works of mercy — Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York greets a man outside St. Francis of Assisi Church in midtown Manhattan recently. The newly-elevated cardinal was serving breakfast to the homeless outside the St. Francis Breadline, founded in 1930 by Franciscan Brother Gabriel Mehler to feed people impoverished by the Great Depression. (CNS photo/Octavio Duran)

Government assault may have just begun, Cardinal Dolan warns

Washington D.C. (CNA/EWTN News) — President Obama’s abortifacient, sterilization and contraception mandate may only be the beginning of a historic attack on religious freedom, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan warned his fellow U.S. bishops in a February 22 letter.

“If the government can, for example, tell Catholics that they cannot be in the insurance business today without violating their religious convictions, where does it end?” asked the cardinal, addressing the U.S. episcopate in a letter coauthored with the bishops’ religious freedom chairman Bishop William E. Lori.

The Health and Human Services’ contraception mandate “violates the constitutional limits on our government, and the basic rights upon which our country was founded,” wrote the cardinal and bishop.

They noted that religious liberty “does not depend on the benevolence of who is regulating us.”

The dispute with the administration is “not about Republicans or Democrats, conservatives or liberals,” and “not just about contraception, abortion-causing drugs, and sterilization — although all should recognize the injustices involved in making them part of a universal mandated health care program.”

“It is about people of faith.

This is first and foremost a matter of religious liberty for all.”

In a letter released in both English and Spanish, Cardinal Dolan and Bishop Lori gave their fellow bishops an update

on the Health and Human Services mandate, finalized February 10 over the objections of the Catholic Church and other religious groups.

The mandate requires many religious ministries to cover contraception and sterilization, including abortion-causing drugs, in their health plans.

The U.S. bishops have rejected the rule, along with a promised change purportedly shifting the burden to insurers.

In their letter, Cardinal Dolan and Bishop Lori confirmed that Health and Human Services’ original rule — forcing religious groups to underwrite the “preventive services” directly, rather than contracting to provide them through premium payments to insur-

ers — had become law without change.

“The mandate to provide the illicit services remains,” they wrote. “The exceedingly narrow exemption for churches remains. Despite the outcry, all the threats to religious liberty posed by the initial rules remain.”

Those initial rules drew public condemnation from more than 180 Roman Catholic and Eastern Catholic bishops in the U.S., as well as 53 of the country’s Eastern Orthodox bishops and thousands of other religious leaders.

Cardinal Dolan and Bishop Lori thanked the U.S. Catholic bishops for their “remarkable witness of our unity in faith and strength of conviction dur-

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ing this past month.”

“We came together, joined by people of every creed and political persuasion, to make one thing resoundingly clear: we stand united against any attempt to deny or weaken the right to religious liberty upon which our country was founded.”

“We have made our voices heard, and we will not cease from doing so until religious freedom is restored.”

They insisted that President Obama “should rescind the mandate.”

But the bishops’ fight for their constitutional “free exercise of religion,” guaranteed in the First Amendment, may have just begun.

“Recent actions by the administration have attempted to reduce this free exercise to a ‘privilege’ arbitrarily granted by the government as a mere exemption from an all-encompassing, extreme form of secularism,” Cardinal Dolan and Bishop Lori observed.

Even the contraception mandate’s “unduly narrow” religious exemption — which

allows institutions to opt out if they primarily employ and serve adherents of their own faith, for the purpose of inculcating religious values — “is instituted only by executive whim” and “can be taken away easily.”

The bishops’ president and religious freedom chairman reaffirmed their support for the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act. The bill which would amend the federal health care reform law under which the contraception rule was made, to strengthen its conscience protections.

They urged other bishops to share the English and Spanish versions of the letter with the faithful of their dioceses, and to contact legislators through the action alert at www.usccb. org/conscience.

“Above all,” the cardinal and chairman reflected, “we rely on the help of the Lord in this important struggle. Let us continue to pray for a quick and complete resolution to this and all threats to religious liberty and the exercise of our faith in our great country.”

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The Anchor Growing in faith this Lent

Lent is a time for growth in faith. It begins with our being marked with ashes and instructed to turn our backs on sin so that we may be faithful to the Gospel. There is for sure a need for us to grow in a personal, trusting adherence to God, something that happens as we seek to pray more and better, to discipline ourselves through fasting and other means, and to give of what we are and have in alms to others, confident that our Provident God will not only sustain but reward us.

There’s more to growth in faith, however, than augmenting our free self-entrustment to God. There’s also the need to grow in our knowledge of the content of the faith, what God has taught us in revelation and through the Church Jesus Himself founded.

In early January, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published a list of recommendations for the universal Church, national bishops’ conferences, dioceses, parishes and individuals to grow in their knowledge of the Catholic faith during the upcoming Year of Faith that will begin on October 11. Insofar as Lent calls us to growth in faith both in heart and head, it would be beneficial for Catholics to consider the recommendations now and begin to act on one or more of them.

We highlight 10 of the congregation’s suggestions: Study the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” and the documents of the Second Vatican Council — the Year of Faith will mark the 50th anniversary of the beginning of Vatican II and the 20th anniversary of the publication of the “Catechism.” Like Sacred Scripture, however, these tremendous texts remain unknown to the vast majority of Catholics. They are the most logical place to start growing in knowledge of the faith. For those looking for a Lenten sprint rather than a marathon, they could begin with the recently-published “YouCat” for young adults, the most accessibly-written Catechism the Vatican has ever produced.

Go on pilgrimage — The congregation recommends pilgrimages to the great shrines of Christianity in the Holy Land, in Rome and various Marian sanctuaries. While for most it would be difficult to go on a faith adventure to these sites prior to Easter this year, plans can be made to do so during the upcoming year. A pilgrimage is a privileged opportunity to encounter God and His message in the significant places where He has come or sent others to preach that message. Just as happened with the wise men after their journey to Bethlehem, pilgrims almost always return home “by another route,” strengthened in the knowledge and living of the faith.

Increase one’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary — Mary is the model of faith, someone who yearns for and assimilates what God has revealed and treasures it within. The congregation in particular urges the faithful to “recognize the special role of Mary in the mystery of salvation, love her and follow her as a model of faith and virtue.”

Grow in friendship with the holy, heroic witnesses of the faith — The Saints and the Blessed in general, but particularly those of a particular country or region, are great examples of men and women who have lived by faith and spent their lives seeking to pass it on as of first importance to others. For those of us in the United States, two new Americans will be canonized on October 21, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha and Blessed Mother Marianne Cope. It would be beneficial to get to know their inspiring lives of faith more intimately during Lent.

Read the writings of the Holy Father — We are privileged as Catholics to be living at a time when one of the greatest minds in the history of the papacy sits on the Chair of St. Peter. Through his homilies, messages, encyclicals, exhortations and other writings, Pope Benedict applies his own deep knowledge of the faith to the various challenges we and other Catholics face. He makes conceptually simple theological ideas that took centuries to distill. This great gift should not be wasted.

A good place to start this Lent would be to read Porta Fidei (“The Gate of Faith”), the short letter about faith with which Pope Benedict announced the upcoming Year of Faith.

Attend missions and days of recollection — Lent is a time in which most of the deaneries of the Diocese of Fall River and many individual parishes schedule missions, which the congregation says are great opportunities for the faithful “to rediscover the gift of baptismal faith and the task of giving witness.” In most, it’s a chance to learn the faith better and to examine how one is living it.

Go to conferences and study days — Likewise, there are various men’s and women’s conferences, adult education opportunities and other offerings by parishes, dioceses and regions to help to grasp the faith better. In many places, the offerings have decreased because of poor attendance.

Lent is an opportunity to begin a momentum in the other direction, producing greater offerings because of excellent attendance.

Celebrate the faith more intensely during Mass — In Mass, the faith of the Church is “proclaimed, celebrated and strengthened,” but we need to receive the seeds God implants on good soil and allow Him to water them and help them grow. At the same time the congregation urges priests and deacons to focus on the faith more in homilies, it encourages faithful to pay even closer attention. The Gospels on the Sundays of Lent are tremendously rich in faith content.

Examine your conscience on sins against the faith — The congregation urges parishes and dioceses to organize penitential celebrations, particularly during Lent, so that all can ask for God’s forgiveness, particularly for sins against the faith. Sins against faith include voluntary doubt, the neglect of revealed truth or willful refusal to assent to it, and the extreme sins of heresy, apostasy and schism. In an age in which many look to public opinion polls or worldly gurus for truth rather than to what God has revealed and the Church He founded teaches, there is ample matter for examination and confession, which will open penitents up anew to the graces for progress in faith.

Give added attention to teaching the faith in Catholic schools, Religious Education programs and homes — Catholic schools and parish catechetical programs are geared not merely toward instruction but education, helping the young to grow in faith in head and heart so that they may live by faith for a lifetime. In the midst of a culture that seeks to inculcate categories and practices incompatible with the faith, there’s a need for Catholic schools, Religious Education programs and parents to pass on the faith in a more powerful and life-changing way. This Lent can be a time in which, through adult witness, the young can be assisted to make their inherited values more personal and influential.

Communicate your experience of faith to peers — As teachers readily admit, one of the best ways to learn a subject is to have to instruct others about it. Likewise, one of the best ways to grow in our knowledge of the faith is through cooperating with the Holy Spirit in sharing it with others.

We live in an emotivist age, in which people are moved less by teachers than by witnesses. Catholics are called to give a witness in their body language to the way the truths of the faith set us free.

One of the greatest alms we can give to others at Lent is the spiritual work of mercy of “instructing those who don’t know the faith.”

None of these 10 suggestions is particularly creative or exotic. They call to mind the instruction of Elisha to the leper Naaman to wash seven times in the Jordan (2 Kings 5). Naaman was disappointed because he had anticipated he’d be asked to do something harder or more adventurous.

But after friends insisted, he bathed seven times in the Jordan and was completely cured. Likewise growth in the knowledge of the faith doesn’t require that we enroll in a special program in a desert monastery conducted in Latin. It requires that we take advantage of the basics that are already, by God’s providence and mercy, very available to us.

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March 2, 2012

‘Upon the foundation of the Apostles’

ast week I explained why Jesus words and works, Jesus wants to say that Christ established the Church and the definitive time has arrived in which the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Before to constitute the new people of God, I go any further, I think it is important the people of the 12 tribes, which now beto point out that the Sacrament of Holy comes a universal people — His Church” Orders does not pertain only to priests, (Benedict XVI, general audience, Mar. but also to deacons and bishops.

15, 2006).

Jesus Christ established the sacred Fully to understand the nature and role ministry with a three-tier structure, the of the Apostles we need to reflect upon order of bishops, the order of priests and the great events recorded in the Acts of the order of deacons, each intimately the Apostles that describe the beginning connected, but each also distinct. Today I and development of the early Church would like to focus on the order of bishafter Jesus’ Ascension into Heaven. This ops as Successors of the Apostles, upon important book of the New Testament whom Christ built His Church. illustrates to us how the Apostles, first “Jesus Christ is Himself the source called and formed by Christ in the Gosof ministry in the Church. He instituted pels, are now sent out to exercise their the Church. He gave her authority and ministry and leadership in the building up mission, orientation and goal: In order of the Church. to shepherd the people of God and to The Apostles were entrusted the task increase its numbers without cease, Christ of “overseeing” the governance, the the Lord set up in His Church a variety teaching and the sanctification of the of offices which aim at the good of the Church. The Greek word for “overseewhole body. The holders of office, who ing” is “episcopos” from which we get are invested the word, with a sacred “Episcopower, are, in pate.” Christ Putting Into fact, dedicated established the to promoting episcopacy the Deep the interests of (the order of their brethren, bishops) to

By Father so that all who oversee His Jay Mello belong to the Church, not people of God just in the first may attain to century, but salvation” (CCC 874). until He returns at the end of time.

The men who are called to this sacred Because they themselves knew that the service are not just joining an organizamission of the Church entrusted to them tion or becoming members of a club,

by Christ must continue after their own they are sacramentally sharing in the death, the Apostles appointed successors one priesthood of Jesus Christ. Through to continue their work. Their succesthe laying on of hands, the Sacrament of sors can be traced in an unbroken line to Holy Orders is conferred upon one who today’s bishops — which is why one of is called by Christ to exercise the ministry the titles given to a bishop is “Successor for which he is being ordained. of the Apostles.”

“In order that the mission entrusted Pope Benedict XVI further explained to them might be continued after their this point, referencing a letter of Pope St. death, the Apostles consigned, by will and Clement I, the fourth pope: “Through her testament, as it were, to their immediate apostolic ministry, the Church, a comcollaborators the duty of completing and munity gathered by the Son of God who consolidating the work they had begun, came in the flesh, will live on through the urging them to tend to the whole flock, in passing times, building up and nourishing which the Holy Spirit had appointed them the communion in Christ and in the Holy to shepherd the Church of God. They Spirit to which all are called and in which accordingly designated such men and they can experience the salvation given then made the ruling that likewise on their by the Father. The 12 Apostles took pains death other proven men should take over in fact to prepare successors, so that the their ministry” (CCC 861). mission entrusted to them would continue By calling each of His Apostles by after their death” (Benedict XVI, general name, Christ indicates that His priesthood audience, Mar. 29, 2006). is not one that is assumed by one’s heriIt can be easy to forget sometimes tage, as it was in the Old Testament, but that our present day bishops, those who His is one in which He calls certain men have been entrusted to lead dioceses to continue His mission in the proclamaacross the globe, are the successors of tion of the Gospel and the celebration of those first men that Christ choose and the Sacraments. Often He chooses rather sent out to bring His message of salvaunlikely figures, like Peter and Paul. tion to the whole world. We must never Jesus called these men to Himself. think of them as mere administrators, He taught them and formed them so that but as those chosen and guided by the He could send them out to spread the Holy Spirit.

Gospel and build up the Church throughThe “Catechism” reminds us that the out the world. After His Resurrection Church is not just a corporation or human Jesus breathed His Holy Spirit upon the institution, but really the Body of Christ Apostles so that the building up of the that continues still today because of its Church, as well as its mission and identity divine life source — the Holy Spirit: “To would not be just the work of men, but of fulfill their exalted mission, the Apostles God working through men. Christ built were endowed by Christ with a special His Church upon the foundation of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit coming Apostles, who were and continue to be upon them, and by the imposition of aided by the Holy Spirit. hands they passed on to their auxiliaries Pope Benedict XVI explained, “In the gift of the Spirit, which is transmitchoosing the Twelve, introducing them ted down to our day through Episcopal into a communion of life with Himself consecration” (CCC 1556). and involving them in His mission of Father Mello is a parochial vicar at proclaiming the kingdom of God in St. Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth.

March 2, 2012

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aving finished our treatment of parables in the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), we now turn to some parables that are found only in John. There is a major shift in content and style with the parables in John from what we experienced with the synoptic Gospels. In Matthew, Mark and Luke, parables were used to illustrate the Church and other aspects of the teachings of Jesus. In John, the parables we shall see are all about the person of Jesus. Another difference in the fourth Gospel is that John avoids the strictly narrative parable.

In His discussion with the Samaritan woman at the well (Jn 4:4-42), Jesus identified Himself as a source of living water. At the Feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles) in Jerusalem, Jesus called out for people to come to Him and drink living

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Parables of Water and Light

water (Jn 7:37-39). To underworld (Jn 8:12). Just as the stand the significance of this claim to be the living water invitation, it is necessary to had special significance at know something about Sukkot Sukkot, so also did the claim and the way it was celebrated to be the light of the world. at that time. Sukkot was an agricultural feast, and as farming relies heavily on rain, the feast was concerned with water.

The final day of the

By Father festival, when the last Martin L. Buote sacrifices were offered on behalf of the other nations, was identified as the occasion when the earth During the feast, tall candelawas judged regarding replenbra at the temple were fed with ishment of water, and consegallons of oil and were suffiquently, when mankind’s fate, cient to illumine every courtcollectively and individually, yard in the city. At the temple was sealed. It was at this point there was a physical light for that Jesus claimed the feast for the city, but Jesus claimed Himself! more. John made great use of Also associated with Jesus’ this figure of speech regarding attendance at Sukkot was His light and darkness, day and claim to be the light of the night throughout his writings.

Parables of the Lord

To see how John takes up this metaphor to illustrate the parable of Jesus of light, consider the following: 1. The prologue speaks of the eternal light that was from the beginning (Jn 1:1-9).

2. The dichotomy between good and evil, light and darkness, which is made manifest in judgment (Jn 3:19-21).

3. The comparison with the light of day (Jn 9:4-5).

4. Another comparison with the light of day, with a hint that the light that He is might be shared (Jn 12:35-36).

5. Another hint that His light would be shared (Jn 12:46).

6. The most dramatic presentation by John of the conflict between light and

dark is given at the Last Supper. When Judas leaves to betray Jesus, John says, “It was night” (Jn 13:27-30).

There was no reason for John to have said this if he were only thinking of the hour of the day. The meal would have started after sunset. This is another type of night, the darkness of evil!

While the title of this series should restrict us to a consideration of parables in the Gospels, it may also be instructive to see that this identification of Jesus with the light is carried over into the first Letter of John (1 Jn 1:5-7, 1 Jn 2:8-10).

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.

Reviewing the revised contraceptive mandate

ll hell broke loose when the Obama Administration required employers — including religious hospitals, Catholic universities and faith-based social service agencies — to provide free contraceptive and morning-after and sterilization insurance for employees as part of Obamacare. And so President Obama announced on February 10 that the religious employers wouldn’t have to provide the free coverage; their insurance companies would, however.

Obama, in addition to being president, is also a lawyer (as am I). So we shouldn’t be surprised to find him “thinking like a lawyer.” As Columbia law professor Karl Llewellyn famously told a first-year class at the law school in 1930 how to think like a lawyer, “The hardest part of the first year is to lop off your common sense, to knock your ethics into temporary anesthesia.”

I say this because there are several problems with the revised mandate, whose promised revision at this date is just talk, albeit presidential talk. After all, the previous regulation has since been promulgated in the Federal Register, and is thus the applicable legal rule until properly withdrawn or amended; neither of which has been done.

Common sense, for example, would say that if there’s free contraceptive coverage,

someone’s gotta pay for it. protected by the U.S. ConThere’s no such thing as a stitution and by the federal free lunch. Obama now says Religious Freedom Restorathat the religious employers tion Act. The government don’t have to provide free mandate to cover contracepcoverage, but the insurance tion is not a rule of general companies do. Here’s the rub: applicability since it exempts 1) Insurance companies set their rates based on their costs. If their costs increase because of government mandate, their premiums will go

By Dwight Duncan up. If the employee isn’t going to pay the increase (after all, this is free, no-co-pay, a very narrow category of no-deductible coverage), religious organizations like then the employer will. The parish churches. It also subU.S. Constitution prohibits stantially burdens religious government from taking pripractice (anyone acting in acvate property for public use cordance with Church teachwithout the payment of just ing on contraception, aborcompensation, so it can’t just tion, and sterilization). Thus order companies to pay for the government must show a something without compencompelling government intersating them somehow. This est to justify the regulation, is essentially a shell game in and must demonstrate that the which people get stuck paying regulation is no more restricfor other people’s condoms, if tive of religious freedom than not worse. necessary to achieve its goal.

2) Many Catholic dioI doubt very seriously that ceses are self-insured, when it the government can establish comes to health coverage for that there is a compelling employees. Presumably, they interest in free contracepwill have to pay directly for tives. Why is it so important things that the Church teaches to disassociate sex from are intrinsically evil, like the procreation anyway? Further, morning-after pill that can what interest is that of govcause abortions. Sounds like ernment? If anything, govern“knocking one’s ethics into ment, if sincerely concerned temporary (or not so tempoabout the common good, rary) anesthesia.” should be concerned about 3) There’s also the serious the birth dearth of future matter of religious freedom citizens and taxpayers that a

Judge For Yourself

contraceptive culture entails.

Who is going to pay for these record deficits, after all? Put differently, why is pregnancy being viewed as a disease that it is the business of government to prevent? And, if it’s cheaper to not have children than to have them, then the same logic would justify free abortion coverage, plus assisted suicide coverage. (It’s cheaper to poison patients than to care for them, too.)

But even if the federal government could establish that there’s some kind of compelling interest in free contraceptives, surely forcing religious and other conscientiously opposed individuals and organizations to provide them is not necessary to achieve that end. Just have government provide them, out of general tax revenue. That is, government could provide free contraceptives directly.

(Don’t get me wrong. I’m against that too. It’s just that the legal argument won’t justify forcing private parties to do the dirty work.)

The government is most likely going to lose the lawsuit brought by Belmont Abbey College against the Obama Administration over this mandate. According to the Becket Fund, which is representing Belmont Abbey, the administration, in a court filing on February 16, said, “Not that the mandate is legal; not that the mandate is consti-

tutional. Instead, it asked the court to duck the key issues because the administration has ‘indicated that they will propose and finalize changes to the regulations’ at some unspecified date in the future.’ “‘Apparently, the administration has decided that the mandate, as written and finalized, is constitutionally indefensible,’ said Hannah Smith, senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

‘Its only hope is to ask the court to look the other way based on an empty promise to possibly change the rules in the future.’”

A recent web posting gave “Four strategies to think like a lawyer”: “1) Accept ambiguity. 2) Don’t be emotionally tied to a position. 3) Argue both sides. 4) Question everything” (www.lawnerds. com/guide/mind.html). When it comes to this administration’s contraceptive mandate, I’d recommend skipping its first three strategies and just question everything. Judge for yourself.

Dwight Duncan is a professor at UMass School of Law Dartmouth. He holds degrees in civil and canon law.

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March 2, 2012

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his weekend’s readings focus upon beloved

sons.

From Genesis we hear about Abraham’s being put to the test, to offer his only son as a living sacrifice. After Abraham’s obedience, God spared Isaac and made Abraham the father of all nations.

St. Paul offers us the comforting words, “If God is for us, who can be against us?,” and reminds us that our heavenly Father loved us so much that He “did not spare His own Son, but handed Him over for us all.”

And the Gospel of the transfiguration features a voice comes from a cloud saying; “This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him.” All are examples of the filial love between a parent and a child. Our relationship with God is to be the same, even more so. We are to love Him as He loves us. To listen, obey, and to be guided to our eternal home. To place our

Obedience to the will of God

trust in the One who truly held on to our own convicloves us. tions and ignored what we now So often, however, we don’t know as an obvious truth. listen and obey, acting like a Truly to listen takes work. It wayward child. We put aside requires a conscious effort. To the truths that we know in our hearts and let our own emotions, Homily of the Week desires, and ill-conceived notions direct Second Sunday our actions. We don’t of Lent listen — and, so often,

By Deacon rebel.

Dennis G. O’Connell Growing up in the 1970s, my father was constantly telling me, “Get a haircut. You open our hearts and accept the look like a hippy.” It wasn’t knowledge and understanding so much a suggestion; it was of one far greater than we are. command. Mind you, this was Putting aside our own thoughts the 1970s and so, of course, I and desires and placing our ignored him. trust in the One who possesses Today, looking at old phototrue wisdom. graphs, I wonder why, oh why, When this happens, when I didn’t listen to dad — with we honestly listen to God my hair down to my shoulders speaking to us in our hearts, and looking like ... a hippy. we must respond. This is an Face it, we all have a litany action that requires something of times when we wish that we more than simply reflecting had listened to someone far upon the truth that we have wiser. We have all stubbornly heard, something more than

just contemplating upon the wisdom of God. It is a response that requires us to change our wills, acknowledging that we are not the ones who are ultimately in control, that there is One far greater than we are. It is not “our” will, but “Thy” will, be done.

Naturally, this is evidenced by how we do, in fact, respond.

Do we continue to maintain our ill-conceived independence or do we allow what we have heard to mold us into authentic children of God? By truly listening, are we, ourselves, changed?

Our response should be, in essence, obedience. The same obedience we witnessed in Abraham. God tested Abraham, just as He tests all of us.

Though we may not be forced to make the same unthinkable decision that was asked of Abraham, we are, nonetheless,

required to be obedient to the will of God. Today, obedience may seem passé; an old fashioned virtue that somehow demeans our independence. Our society expects us to be independent thinkers, people intellectually capable of making our own decisions free from outside influences.

Yet obedience to the will of God is paramount and a primary component in our relationship with our heavenly Father. It shapes us into who we need to be. Without obedience, we are lost.

It’s how we respond that matters; obediently responding to what we hear. Though we may not always understand, we must be open to what God is asking us to do. There is One far wiser than we are Whom we must follow and listen to if we are to receive our final reward in Heaven.

Deacon O’Connell serves at Corpus Christi Parish in East Sandwich.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Mar. 3, Dt 26:16-19; Ps 119:1-2,4-5,7-8; Mt 5:43-48. Sun. Mar. 4, Second Sunday of Lent, Gn 22:1-2,9a,10-13,15-18; Ps 116:10,1519; Rom 8:31b-34; Mk 9:2-10. Mon. Mar. 5, Dn 9:4b-10; Ps 79:8-9,11-13; Lk 6:36-38. Tues. Mar. 6, Is 1:10,16-20; Ps 50:8-9,16bc-17,21,23; Mt 23:1-12. Wed. Mar. 7, Jer 18:18-20; Ps 31:5-6,14-16; Mt 20:17-28. Thurs. Mar. 8, Jer 17:5-10; Ps 1:1-4,6; Lk 16:19-31. Fri. Mar. 9, Gn 37:3-4,12-13a,17b-28; Ps 105:16-21; Mt 21:33-43,45-46.

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The Catholic diaspora and the tragedy of liberal Catholicism

n a February 14 note to his people, Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I., the archbishop of Chicago, commented on the question of “who speaks for the Catholic Church,” which had become a subject of public controversy thanks to the Obama Administration’s “contraceptive mandate” — which is, of course, an abortifacient and sterilization mandate as well. The cardinal noted the administration’s crude attempt to play divide-andconquer with the Catholic Church in the United States, a ploy in which some nominally Catholic groups quickly acquiesced. Yet something important in all of this was being missed, the cardinal suggested “The bishops of the Church make no attempt to speak for all Catholics; they never have.

The bishops speak for the Cathorejected the “accommodation.” lic and apostolic faith, and those And they will prevail. that hold that faith gather around The administration is on the them. Others disperse.” shakiest of legal ground in atThe diaspora, in this case, tempting to impose contraception, was entirely predictable: colsterilization and abortifacients as umnists and politicians who had “preventive services” that must questioned the administration’s mandate, and organizations and associations that had raised serious questions about it when it was first announced, quickly fell back into line when the

By George Weigel administration, on February 10, announced an “accommodation” that was an obvious shell game, a ruse be provided, on demand and with that didn’t change the moral issue no co-pay, in all health insurance involved one whit. programs. As my friends Edward Others, however, continued to Whelan and David Rivkin pointed gather around the bishops, who out in the Wall Street Journal on February 15, there is every reason to think that the administration’s mandate, even as tweaked by the false-flag “accommodation,” will fail two legal tests: the test of the First Amendment’s protection of the free exercise of religion (recently upheld in a robust way by the Supreme Court in a 9-0 decision against the Obama Administration), and the test of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. As this battle unfolds, there is every reason for the bishops and those gathered around them to be confident of success.

Visit The Anchor online at http://www.anchornews.org

The Catholic Difference

But what about the diaspora: those Catholics individuals and organizations that re-embraced the administration as soon as Caesar announced his “accommodation” (or, in the case of Sister Carol Keehan and the Catholic Health Association, helped Caesar trot out his ruse)? These individuals and associations typically think of themselves as “liberal Catholics,” a self-description proudly trumpeted by one of their spokesmen, Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. Therein, I suggest, lies a great reversal, and an even greater tragedy.

The most significant contribution to the universal Church of pre-conciliar liberal Catholicism in America was the development of a Catholic theory of religious freedom — which led, in due course, to Vatican II’s epic Declaration on Religious Freedom, to the post-conciliar Church’s history-changing defense of human rights, and to the Church’s crucial role in democratic transitions around the world.

This achievement, in which the debates on religious freedom at Vatican II were pivotal, unfolded in close collaboration with the U.S. bishops. It was Cardinal

Francis Spellman of New York, for instance, who brought Father John Courtney Murray, S.J., to the Council, where Murray became one of the intellectual architects of the Declaration on Religious Freedom. And it was Murray (now falsely enlisted post-mortem into the pro-Obama camp of the Catholic diaspora) who, with the U.S. bishops and others, worked the Council process so that it became clear to a critical mass of the world’s bishops that religious freedom was indeed congruent with what Cardinal George called “the Catholic and apostolic faith.”

That liberal Catholics of the 2012 diaspora refuse to concede the grave threat to religious freedom posed by the administration’s mandate, and that they have given political cover to a gross infringement on religious freedom by a federal government that looks ever more like Hobbes’ Leviathan, is a grave breach of ecclesial communion in itself. It also represents a tragic betrayal of the best in the liberal Catholic heritage in the U.S., even as it illustrates the utter incoherence into which postconciliar liberal Catholicism in America has tragically fallen.

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

March 2, 2012

Happy Lent

Sunday 26 February 2011 tion period with which we are — at the church on Three Mile familiar is not Holy Week but River — First Sunday of Lent something else. It was first men(formerly known as Dominica tioned in Church documents in Prima in Quadragesima) the fourth century. It’s unclear if he day following Ash Wednesday, I sat down with my morning coffee and three Reflections of a newspapers. There were Parish Priest articles on the latest religious trend among

By Father Tim non-Catholics. Oh dear.

Goldrick According to the reports, ashes had been distributed the day before at bus the canon referred to the whole and train stations, courthouses, assembly or just to those adults subway stops, coffee shops, and preparing for Baptism at Easter. street corners. It was for “conIf the prayer and fasting were venience,” said proponents, and meant only for the catechumens, for “those who feel uncomfortit nevertheless quickly spread able” in church. As I drove up to to the whole Church. Perhaps it the service window at the local was taken as a symbol of soliMcDonald’s and ordered my fish darity. Today, for example, when sandwich, I half expected the a schoolboy loses his hair while clerk to ask, “Would you like a undergoing medical treatment, side order of ashes with that?” his classmates sometimes shave When it comes to Lent, some of their heads to signify encourageus seem to be missing the point. ment and support. At any rate, What, pray tell, is the reason for Lent was intimately connected the season? The 40-day prepara- to the preparation of the cat-

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The Ship’s Log

echumens, that is, the process of initiating adults into full membership in the Church. When the catechumenate fell into disuse, the focus of Lent shifted away from Baptism. The emphasis then became how our sins contributed to the passion and death of Christ. The joyful dimension of Lent had disappeared.

The Greek word for the 40-day period is Tessarakonta. The Latin word is Quadragesima. In English, we say “Lent.” Our word Lent is based on the AngloSaxon. Lencten referred to the lengthening hours of daylight.

Lenctentid meant spring. It was also the name for what we call the month of March.

The fasting of Lent had practical origins. Put simply, by the end of winter there was little food left. People had consumed their supplies of perishable meat, eggs, and dairy products.

They were lucky to eat one daily meal. Fasting means eating only

I’m always here

here are myriad places I’d like to visit in my lifetime, but nowhere else I’d rather live than here in New England.

In the upper right corner of the U.S. we usually have the four seasons (although the past few years it seems as though there were only two). The beauty of the seasonal changes is that while the area’s physical elements don’t change, how they’re experienced does.

Allow me to explain,

By Dave Jolivet because even I don’t quite understand my last statement.

One of New England’s most endearing features is its coastline ... at least for me. I truly enjoy being on the sea, in the sea, and near the sea. And eating what comes from the sea isn’t bad either.

Enjoying what the Atlantic Ocean has to offer isn’t limited to the summer season. That’s why I recently hopped into my car and took the ride down Route 88 from Fall River to Westport; destination being Horseneck Beach.

The traffic was much lighter than those summer Horseneck excursions and I had my pick of a parking spot. But the lot was far from empty.

I wasn’t the only one who enjoys the sea shore regardless of the time of year.

In the summer months, the beach is refreshing, but very busy. In the dead of winter, the ocean has the opportunity to talk to you and you have the opportunity to listen.

The lap of the waves on the shore was music to my ears ... and my blood pressure. And I didn’t even have to stick little head phones in my ears to enjoy it. With a cool breeze in my face, I hit the beach for a solo walk at my own pace, and in my own direction.

The waters sparkled in the sunshine. The sea foam lathered the sand, and small rocks and shells body-surfed up the shore, only to scurry back to the sea, chasing the wave they had just ridden.

The beach is covered with stones and shells

worn smooth by the constant ebb and flow of one of God’s great creations. These stones and shells, what some may consider sea trash, are, to me, small works of art ... each with its own color and shape, revealing the personality of the Artist.

As I walked along the beach, I was greeted by a few frolicking canines, also enjoying the surroundings. They ran up as if saying, “Hey you, look. I’m having great fun!” “Me too,” I responded. “Me too.”

I could have continued such a solitary walk for hours, but reality called all too quickly. I couldn’t help but raise a “thank you,” to the Creator of the vast playground. The prayer wasn’t for anything in particular, yet it was for everything ... for giving us everything we need and then some ... if we would only take the time to realize and appreciate it.

As I made my way back to the parking lot, I heard the whisper, “Come back any time. I’m always here.” I wasn’t quite sure if it was from the ocean, or the Good Lord. Or both. “Thanks. I think I will,” was my answer.

one meal a day.

Originally, in addition to fasting during Lent, healthy adults also abstained from meat and all animal products (milk, eggs, and cheese). The later went to the little children and frail elderly. You survived on root vegetables, grain, dried fruits, and nuts. In some of our Eastern Churches, even fish was disallowed. Back then, the question as to whether or not the olive in your martini broke the Lenten fast was never raised.

The basic principle is that “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” so why not use the physical lack of food to our spiritual benefit? There’s clear evidence of 40-day fasts in the Bible. First among them is the 40 days of prayer and fasting Jesus spent in preparation for His ministry.

In very early Church custom, that single meal could not be taken until the sun had set.

Later, it was relaxed to 3 p.m.

Civil laws were passed. Courts themselves recessed for the season. Theater productions were unlawful. Sporting events were banned. Wars were suspended.

Marriages could not take place.

Lent is much easier today.

In the most recent translation of the Roman Missal, the prayer known as “Preface I of Lent”

speaks of how during Lent we await “the sacred paschal feasts with the joy of minds made pure.” This prayer reminds us that Lent is intended to have a certain joyful aspect.

Lent is not an end in itself nor is it all about us. Lent is about preparing for the feast of Easter, that most joyful of all feasts, in a community of faith. We are joyful during Lent because we are anticipating Easter. We prepare for Easter by purifying our minds and hearts, utilizing the ancient spiritual tools of prayer, fasting, and works of charity.

Lent is characterized by recalling (or preparing for) our Baptism into the Paschal Mystery of Christ and by doing penance for not living up to the holiness to which we have been called.

“When you fast,” says the Lord, “do not look glum like the hypocrites.” With the restoration of the Rites of the Catechumenate and the tens of thousands of adults across the country entering the Church at Easter, I suspect that a sense of joy will eventually return to the season of Lent.

May I, dear readers, be the first to wish you a happy Lent?

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

My View From the Stands

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

Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina “Dear children! At this time, in a special way I call you: ‘pray with the heart.’ Little children, you speak much and pray little. Read and meditate on Sacred Scripture, and may the words written in it be life for you. I encourage and love you, so that in God you may find your peace and the joy of living.

“Thank you for having responded to my call.” beach for all seasons — Horseneck Beach in Westport is as enjoyable in the dead of winter as it is in the heat of summer. (Photo by Dave Jolivet)

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

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The Anchor B y B ecky Aubut A nchor Staff

NEW BEDFORD — Normand Patnaude never had to trek far to hang his hat in his native city of New Bedford, but it took traveling on a pilgrimage through Italy for him to cement his faith and create a never-ending list of volunteer activities at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Acushnet.

“Patnaude is a person who throws himself into the parish,” said Msgr. Gerard O’Connor, pastor at St. Francis Xavier.

“He is a tremendous help to us all and will do anything you ask of him. We all love Norm.

He is an inspiration, is always positive, and supports the parish however he can.”

Patnaude was baptized and received Holy Communion at the now-closed St. Joseph Parish in New Bedford, even briefly attending St. Joseph’s School. His family became

March 2, 2012

Pilgrimage abroad feeds backyard faith members of St. Theresa Parish in New Bedford until it closed.

“It was a tough thing to go through,” recalled Patnaude.

“We didn’t know where we were going to go. I was looking for the same type of parish we had at St. Theresa’s — a small, tight-knit parish where everybody knew everybody.”

He found that warm reception at St. Francis Xavier and enjoyed listening to Father Paul Caron’s sermons. When Father Caron was transferred, Father Daniel Lacroix became pastor and within a few months had asked Patnaude to join the newly-formed Development Committee. Patnaude obliged and became heavily involved in the committee’s fund-raising efforts, helping organize dinner dances, golf tournaments and other events that raised money for the general fund to sustain the

Francis Xavier Parish was tion of his faith is his being a church.

“It was nice to see every- starting eucharistic adoration, Man of the Sacred Heart. Afbody come together and work “which was something I knew ter returning from a second towards a common goal,” said nothing about,” admitted Patn- pilgrimage in 2008, Patnaude aude. His wife signed up to do took part in a living Rosary in Patnaude.

Along with being an usher an hour, but at the last minute the parking lot of the church.

While the group was — a duty he pergathered, he met the formed at St. Thepresident of the Men resa’s Parish — of the Sacred Heart, Patnaude added in who recruited him to elevator operator to do an Enthronement his work around the of the Sacred Heart parish. Always faithof his family. ful, his turning point “I never knew came in 2006 when what the Sacred he and his wife went Heart was all about. on a pilgrimage to Growing up as a Rome.

Catholic, I would “I’ve always see pictures of the wanted to go to EuSacred Heart [and rope and it had a nice think], ‘Oh, that’s itinerary. They were nice but what is that going to go to the all about?’” said PatVatican and to Pomnaude. “I just never peii; it seemed pretty knew and it sounds interesting. My wife stupid to be that igwas the one who norant.” talked me into it,” He is ignorant no said Patnaude. more. Two pictures, What he saw and one of Jesus and the experienced durother of Mary, are ing that pilgrimage prominently dischanged his life forplayed in his living ever, said Patnaude. room. The entire pro“I was really surcess of the enthroneprised when I was going to these holy Anchor Person of the week — Nor- ment created a deep bond with Jesus that places. We saw the mand Patnaude. (Photo by Becky Aubut) Patnaude never knew four major basilicas was possible. and we took a trip “When you do it, you make to Lanciano, Italy,” said Pat- she couldn’t do it so Patnaude naude. “They have the chapel stepped in for her and said, “I Jesus head of your household,” there where one of the eucha- haven’t given it up. It’s funny explained Patnaude. “You ristic miracles took place. We how God works. I can’t say make a pact with Him and alactually got to see the heart enough about eucharistic ado- low Him to lead your life. You put your entire trust in Him. tissue that had changed from ration.”

The Development Com- One of the hardest things in the bread to the heart tissue. We also got to see the drops of mittee morphed into becom- world is to put your complete blood that were transformed ing an Events Committee, and trust in Him, but if you can do from the wine. It was quite Patnaude served as the chair- that, you can do anything. It’s man for a while. After hearing just amazing.” something to see.”

Patnaude was so moved by Patnaude came back with him sing during Benediction, a better understanding of his Msgr. O’Connor asked Patn- the experience that he has befaith; “When you see miracles aude if he would like to join come an evangelist in his own like that, you really know your the choir; he accepted. And right, helping enthrone famifaith is true. I didn’t come for the past two years, Patn- lies to the Sacred Heart.

“It’s a great thing, espeback the same person, not the aude has participated in the March for Life. cially in today’s world where same Catholic,” he said.

His proudest demonstra- there are so many outside inWhen they returned, St. fluences,” he said. “All these sins taking place against God and there’s almost no voice to counteract that. This is one way to bring families closer together, to make that bond, so that they can fight anything.

Jesus promises He will be there for them. Going through the enthronement, He actually writes their names in His heart.

It’s a beautiful promise that Jesus makes; why wouldn’t you do it?”

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

March 2, 2012

The Anchor

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The Anchor

March 2, 2012

Characters in Web-based series face issues that mirror Lenten themes

LOS ANGELES (CNS) — A new, locally produced Webbased dramatic series offers a unique Lenten experience to believers as well as seekers.

Produced by Loyola Productions in association with the Midwest Jesuits and Loyola Press, the post-apocalyptic drama “40” premiered its first episode on the series website, www.40theseries. com, and social media sites on Ash Wednesday.

The series — filmed on location in Los Angeles early last December — centers on the journey of seven strangers who appear to be the only survivors of a mysterious, calamitous event in an empty Los Angeles, devoid of people.

Two new episodes will appear each week during Lent on the “40” website, YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook until the finale airs April 4, which is Wednesday of Holy Week, also known as “Spy Wednesday,” an apparent reference to Christ’s betrayal by Judas. The episodes air on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Jesuit Brother Michael Breault, an award-winning writer/director, developed the Lenten series to offer something new and engaging. “‘40’ is not just a series; it’s unique in that it also serves as a Lenten allegory,” Brother Breault told The Tidings, newspaper of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. “At the heart of each episode are questions and scriptural meditations designed to enhance a person’s Lenten journey.”

“The characters in ‘40’ are unique in their own way, but they all carry universal human qualities and, when the world is crashing down around them, they have a need to come together to search for answers,” said Jesuit Father Eddie Siebert, founder of Culver City-based Loyola Productions and “40” executive producer, and a board member and chaplain for Catholics in Media Associates in Studio City.

The characters of different ages and backgrounds discover they all have the same mysterious blue mark on their shoulder and ponder why they have been “left” or “chosen.” They deal with issues that mirror Lenten

themes, such as exile and journeying, loss and grief, hunger and thirst, mortification and fasting, sin and redemption, the path through the desert and the Way of the Cross.

The series, said Father Siebert, requires viewers to use their imagination as they watch the characters wrestle with unanswered questions.

“St. Ignatius (the Jesuits’ founder) was all about using imagination to deepen one’s experience of faith,” explained the priest. “If we don’t raise the bar by inviting people to open their hearts and imagination, their faith experience can become stagnant.”

He added that he was thrilled that talented actors from different faiths and walks of life came together to participate in “40.”

Production challenges for the 14-episode series included a limited budget and the requirement to make Los Angeles look empty during filming which took place December 5-16. Filming permits were obtained for shooting scenes in a warehouse, where the “survivors” gather, and in a residential area for exterior shots taken during the early morning hours to get the “empty street” look.

Loyola Productions has set up focus groups around the country at two universities, a high school, parishes and prayer groups to watch the series and offer feedback. “People are thrilled that we’re trying something innovative to assist them on their faith journey,” said Father Siebert.

“My hope is that people see ‘40’ as a tool to help deepen their experience of Lent, to bring them closer to God and their community and to experience Easter in a new way,” the priest said.

“Using a cutting-edge medium combined with mixed media to prepare for a centuries-old spiritual tradition is very exciting for us and the entire Jesuit community,” he added. “We hope to reach a wide audience and get people talking. ‘40’ is about conversation and community.”

More information on the “40” series and the full schedule of airdates is available at 40theseries.com.

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

danger ahead — Lt. Rorke reacts to a grenade explosion in a scene from the film “Act of Valor.”

For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo, courtesy of IATM)

CNS Movie Capsules NEW YORK (CNS) — The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed by Catholic News Service.

“Act of Valor” (Relativity) Earnest but graphically violent dramatization of the work of the Navy’s SEALs unit. Co-directors Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh employ real-life, necessarily anonymous members of that elite corps to enact a fictional story in which the rescue of a kidnapped CIA operative (Roselyn Sanchez) reveals a terrorist plot to smuggle advanced explosives across the Mexican border. Suspenseful action sequences are interspersed with a narrative ramming home macho values and lead up, all too frequently, to unsparingly portrayed bloodletting. Pervasive, often gory violence, including torture, a couple of uses of profanity, about a dozen instances each of rough and crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling.

The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted.

Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

“Coriolanus” (Weinstein) William Shakespeare’s tragedy is brought to the big screen by Ralph Fiennes, who stars as the title character and makes his directorial debut. The setting has been updated to an imaginary version of present-day Rome, where Coriolanus, a general, faces the resentment of a growing mob hungry for food and weary of war. Fortunately for him, there’s an enemy at the gates to distract the masses. The warlord repulses their attack and defeats

their leader (Gerard Butler). As the people hail his triumph, the victorious commander’s mother (Vanessa Redgrave) and a politician (Brian Cox), scheme to make him leader of the government.

Which side wins in the bloody and morally ambiguous mayhem that follows, good or evil? That’s a conundrum scholars have been trying to unravel for 500 years. One thing at least is certain: This is not a film for the faint of heart. Intense and pervasive violence, including shootings, stabbings, explosions and torture. The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

“Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance” (Columbia) Nicolas Cage returns as the monosyllabic Johnny Blaze in the sequel to the 2007 comic bookbased cult hit “Ghost Rider.” Codirectors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor set the story eight years after the first installment, with a French monk (Idris Elba) promising to lift Johnny’s demonic curse — whereby he’s periodically transformed into a skeleton that spits fire — if he’ll rescue a boy (Fergus Riordan) from Satan’s clutches. Constant hand-to-hand and gun violence, fleeting crass and profane language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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

Celebrant is Father Maurice O. Gauvin, Pastor of St. George Parish in Westport

March 2, 2012

Point well taken Thank you for the editorial of January 6 on responding to scandals. It was well-thought out and had a powerful message.

There were a few points where its effectiveness could have been enhanced perhaps.

The print was too small for our eyes!

You made your points extremely well. Widespread misbehavior in secular paths is disheartening but does have a balancing effect. The point that the Church is expected to live by higher standards is well taken.

The column was worth the struggle to absorb the points in small print you were making.

Eileen P. McGrath Nantucket Oppose HHS mandate The Catholic Church and every person in this country regardless of their religion has been forced to stand against President Obama and his administration because of the health care bill. Our forefathers came here because of persecution on all aspects of their lives, including religion.

I hope every member of every church will stand against government intervention and control. Encouraging abortion is wrong.

Priscilla Veld Northborough, Mass.

Remember in November We are distressed with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ decision to require nearly all private health plans, including those offered by religious employers to cover contraceptives including the “morningafter” pill which according to the FDA can cause death of a baby developing in the womb.

The very narrow religious exemption for employers that primarily serve and employ members of that faith does not extend to religious institutions that provide housing, healthcare, spiritual care, education and other services. Religious institutions are being forced to fund procedures that for 2,000 years they considered murder.

To add insult, the federal government has allowed a year for those institutions to change their beliefs or face millions in annual penalties.

This is what happens when power is turned over to the federal government. The president assumes the power of the

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The Anchor

Our readers respond pope.

Government-controlled beliefs are just the latest intrusion into our lives. We now are told what light bulb to use, the water flow in our showers, faucets and toilet. This assault will continue despite any symbolic retreat by the president. Never doubt that in the second term or under a future president, these intrusions will continue and escalate. Remember in November.

Theodore Kirchner Bolton Standing together as Catholics It has been said that the only time Catholics stand together is at the Gospel. Sadly, judging from recent elections, this statement appears to be true. For a majority of Catholics repeatedly vote for politicians who take positions diametrically opposed to core teachings of the Church.

This election year we have a golden opportunity to show that we can stand together and stand tall by not supporting candidates who favor the funding of anti-life groups and the defunding of Pro-Life organizations.

If we are really Pro-Life, we will vote Pro-Life. For, after prayer, that’s the best thing we

can do to help restore in our land legal, right-to-life protection to all human beings, born and unborn.

Richard A. Carey Needham Reaping what’s been sown In respect to the recent health insurance controversy between President Obama and the Catholic bishops, the bishops may be shocked, but many of us aren’t even surprised that things have come down to this.

The bishops made a fateful decision some years ago when they decided to embrace socialism under the title of “Social Justice,” and now they must learn to live with it.

In my opinion, in spite of their good intentions, they made a deal with the devil — and now he’s come to collect.

Esther Picard Fall River In favor of vouchers I want to address the response of Frances Winterson in the February 17 Anchor as regards government vouchers for Catholic schools. It seems as if Ms. Winterson missed the way in which the voucher system works. Vouchers are not “Catholic school bailouts” whereby the government would be funding Catho-

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lic schools, the tuition vouchers are given to the parents of children who are not enrolled in government schools. By comparison, tuition vouchers are like food-stamps the government gives to those who need them, but does not tell you what grocery store to use them at, nor do they control how that store is operated just because you redeem foodstamps there. Vouchers give choice to the parents, and yes, in a pluralistic society, that would mean the freedom to use any private school including Islamic schools or those run by cults. But again, the government would in no way dictate what school the vouchers can be redeemed at, the choice lies with parents.

The reality is, every nongovernment school (including Catholic schools) saves the government and therefore the taxpayers money. Every child enrolled in a Catholic school is one less child the government has to pay to educate. The recently-deceased Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, when he was bishop of Brooklyn, N.Y. was known to have put a sign in front of each Catholic school in his diocese saying, “This Catholic school saves taxpayers [$$$]” inserting the appropriate dol-

lar value of course. Tuition vouchers would save many of our Catholic schools, our instruments of the New Evangelization, from closing. Most government school districts, including Ms. Winterson’s in Taunton, would be unprepared to receive the influx of students if the Catholic schools closed.

I think the voucher system is a prudent and wise idea for saving the fine tradition of Catholic education in this country.

Seminarian Chris Peschel Brighton Letters are welcome but the editor reserves the right to condense or edit for clarity if deemed necessary. Letters should be typed, and include name, address, and telephone number. Letters do not necessarily reflect the editorial views of The Anchor.

Letters should be sent to: The Anchor, Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, Mass., 02722-0007, or emailed to fatherrogerlandry@ anchornews.org.

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The Anchor

March 2, 2012

Philadelphia archdiocesan high schools to stay open; foundation formed

PHILADELPHIA (CNS) — All four Philadelphia archdiocesan Catholic high schools that were recommended for closure will remain open, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput said to a round of applause from those gathered at a news conference February 24.

At the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center in Philadelphia, where he was joined by leading state legislative leaders and local philanthropists, he also announced the establishment of a new independent foundation to support Catholic education in the archdiocese called Faith in the Future: The Fund for Educating Tomorrow’s Leaders.

The foundation has a goal of raising at least $100 million in the next five years, he said.

In January, the Blue Ribbon Commission on Catholic education had recommended that four high schools — St. Hubert and West Catholic in Philadelphia and Conwell-Egan in Fairless Hills and Msgr. Bonner-Archbishop Prendergast in Drexel Hill — close at the end of the school year in June.

The schools had an opportunity to appeal the recommendation made in January. It was expected that Archbishop Chaput would announce his final decision on the appeals February 17, along with

announcements on final decisions on the grade schools.

But the announcement was postponed, and behind the scenes, school communities, philanthropists and state lawmakers rallied to build support to keep the high schools open, especially through fund raising.

That support was one reason for the decision to keep them open, Archbishop Chaput said.

“The show of support of these schools from alumni, parents and friends in the community has been extraordinary,” he said. “Twentythousand donations have come in from everyday working lay people. These people believe in Catholic education and want to fight to make our schools healthy again.

“We have a long way to go to put these four high schools and our whole school system on a strong footing. But this is the kind of deep, grass-roots commitment we need to renew our educational ministry.”

He listed three other reasons for his decision including strong support from state officials for expanded funding for Educational Improvement Tax Credits and school vouchers, termed “opportunity scholarships;” major gifts of millions of dollars from phi-

lanthropists; and the hard work and creativity of the Blue Ribbon Commission and staff of the Office of Catholic Education.

Ed Hanway, a member of the commission and the chairman of the new educational foundation, described the day’s announcements as marking “the dawn of a new era of Catholic education in Philadelphia.”

He said the foundation already has cash and pledges of approximately $12 million, “with a nearterm goal of $15 million by May 1 of this year. We are committed to raising an additional $15 million

by June 2013 and completing an additional endowment of $70 million by 2017.”

Archbishop Chaput told The Catholic Standard & Times that the financial condition of the Catholic school system could be stabilized through the initiatives he announced.

“I wouldn’t have made the decision that I did if I didn’t think so, and hope so,” he said. “We don’t have enough money to secure the schools indefinitely into the future.

“We need to have enrollment, certainly. We need to have those opportunity scholarships from the commonwealth, we need to have ongoing interest on the part of the donor community — not only Catholics but people who share our commitment to education — the ongoing support of the archdiocese of course, and our people and our pastors are all included.”

Archbishop Chaput continued, “I think we have enough to get started. But if we don’t see improvement on all those levels, we won’t be able to continue. We have to keep the goal of constantly increasing support in mind, all the time.”

In addition to providing financial support to Catholic schools, Faith in the Future will provide

operational support in the form of development, marketing and help to boost school enrollment.

Hanway also said the foundation’s mission is to provide “active public advocacy for Philadelphia archdiocesan schools.”

Philadelphia Auxiliary Bishop Michael J. Fitzgerald, who oversees the Secretariat for Catholic Education, announced February 17 that 49 Catholic schools will form 23 regional schools and 10 schools will close outright.

The bishop released the final decision on closings or consolidations of elementary schools as recommended by the Blue Ribbon Commission, which was formed about a year ago.

The final decision was reached after an appeals process ordered

by Archbishop Chaput following the panel’s January 6 recommendation that one school would close outright and 81 schools would form 37 regional schools.

Advocacy for Catholic education in the form of political and community support was a theme Archbishop Chaput stressed at

This week in 50 years ago — Sacred Heart Parish in Fall River opened its own lending library.

No charge was made for membership and parishioners were allowed to borrow books for a three-week period. New books included “Gone Tomorrow,” “Edge of Sadness,” “It Always Rains in Rome,” “Before I Sleep” and “Mary, Queen of Scots.”

25 years ago — A new extended care program at St. Joseph’s School in New Bedford offered a happy, healthy environment for children from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. The program was open to three- and four-year-olds and to school children before and after school hours.

the February 24 press conference.

Besides recognizing the support of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett for school choice initiatives, the archbishop thanked state officials who were in attendance.

Two of those present in particular are seen as key supporters of school choice — Rep. Michael Turzai of Pittsburgh, House majority leader, and Sen. Dominic Pileggii of Delaware County, Senate majority leader.

Archbishop Chaput praised support for educational tax credits and opportunity scholarships in the Legislature, but directed his most urgent appeal to the wider Catholic community to lawmakers to pass school choice legislation.

“Otherwise, we’ll be right back in a school crisis in the future,” the archbishop said, so “every parent, every president, every principal, every alumnus and alumna of our schools and every pastor in the archdiocese needs to understand that their active, personal commitment to this issue is crucial.”

Diocesan history

10 years ago — Students at SS. Peter and Paul School in Fall River learned what it’s like to work in live radio when the school debuted “SSPP H-E-R-O” radio via the school’s intercom system. Each morning a group of three students would play patriotic music, read local and national news stories, report on the weather and bring information to their schoolmates and teachers.

One year ago — Four Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate from New Bedford miraculously escaped a harrowing accident with only minor cuts and bruises after making a six-hour trek to Maine, N.Y. to teach catechism classes in their eight-passenger Chevy Venture van.

March 2, 2012

The Anchor

music to their ears — William Buchholtz plays a Native American flute during the blessing of a newly-located and named Kateri Center in the Archdiocese of Chicago recently. Established in 1982 as the Anawim Center, it is the only Catholic ministry for American Indians in Illinois. The center was renamed to honor Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, the North American Indian maiden who will canonized October 21. (CNS photo/Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)

Those devoted to Blessed Kateri ‘walking on air’ about canonization

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (CNS) — Since first learning in December that Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha was to be canonized, the head of a committee named for her in the Syracuse Diocese said those who have a devotion to the saint to be “are walking on air.”

“I can’t tell you how excited we are,” said Emily Garrow-Stewart, a Mohawk who grew up hearing Blessed Kateri’s story in her home.

“She has been a part of my life since I was a child,” she said. “There was always a picture of her in the house. She is such a good role model and example.

In my mind, there is always such a light about her.”

Blessed Kateri, known as “the Lily of the Mohawks,” was born to a Christian Algonquin mother and a Mohawk father in 1656 along the Hudson River in what is today upstate New York. She was baptized by a Jesuit missionary in 1676 when she was 20. A year later she fled to Canada and died there in 1680.

Her sainthood cause was opened in 1932, and she was declared venerable in 1943. In June 1980, she became the first Native American to be beatified.

In December, Pope Benedict XVI advanced the sainthood causes of Blessed Kateri and Blessed Marianne Cope of Molokai by signing the decrees recognizing the miracles needed for their canonizations. On February 18, the pope announced they would be canonized at the Vatican October 21, along with five others.

Sister Patricia Burkard, general minister of Blessed Marianne’s order,

the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities, said in a statement released the same day that the sisters “have been in joyful anticipation of hearing the date” since December.

Learning of it, she said, “completes the cycle of 37 years of efforts to get us to this moment. We now go forward in joyful anticipation with the next steps of planning.”

Blessed Kateri will become the first Native American saint. This is the fulfillment of a long-held dream for many in the United States and Canada.

In the Syracuse Diocese, the Kateri Tekakwitha Committee was formed in 1978 as part of an initiative to engage the Native American community in the diocese.

The committee, made up of Native American and non-Native members, works to evangelize in Blessed Kateri’s name by caring for the sick, elderly, bereaved and lonely, and through outreach to young people.

Garrow-Stewart, who chairs the committee, said she has seen many examples of her intercession in her own life, most recently when her son faced a serious medical procedure.

“I never prayed so hard,” she told The Catholic Sun, the diocesan newspaper, in an interview before the pope announced the canonization date.

“That is when she is with you, though, when you are really down. I know she is always around me. I feel her in my life always.” Her son, she said, is on the mend.

Others connected with the commit-

tee have known Blessed Kateri’s presence as well.

Jim Howe, a parishioner at St. Ann’s Church in Manlius, knew something of Kateri when growing up, but said his first real experience with her came when his infant daughter was diagnosed with cancer.

“I’m not sure why, but in those dark days of dealing with her illness and hospitalization, I said a prayer to Kateri, asking for her help. My daughter survived and today is a healthy college student who hopes to be a pediatric cancer specialist herself,” he said.

Though he can’t prove any divine intercession, Howe said the experience led him to spend about 10 years on the committee, where he was able to learn more about her life, the life of Native Americans in the region, and the importance of Kateri in the lives of the Mohawk community.

In other reaction, Sister Kateri Mitchell, a Sister of St. Ann and executive director of the Tekakwitha Conference National Center in Great Falls, Mont., said hearing the date announced for the canonization for Blessed Kateri “was for me one of great joy.”

She told Catholic News Service in a February 22 email that it also brought “a real sigh of relief that at last many of her sisters and brothers will gather as Church at the Vatican to give praise and thanksgiving to our Creator who has gifted us with a model in the person

15 of this young indigenous woman who emulates a life of holiness by her deep faith, prayer life and close relationship for a God who is her all.”

Father Wayne Paysse, executive director of the Washington-based Black and Indian Mission Office, noted in a February 21 statement that her canonization will be “one of the first actions of the Church during the Year of Faith, which begins next October 11.”

“Surely this is a signal to us that soon-to-be St. Kateri Tekakwitha is for all of the Church both a model of faith and of the new evangelization,” he said. “For now, let us continue to pray to God for all we need, firm in the knowledge that Blessed Kateri is interceding for us from her place in Heaven.”

In Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Blessed Kateri’s canonization “will be a great day for Canadian Catholics and a deep honor for our country.” She is entombed at St. Francis Xavier Mission in Kahnawake (Caughnawaga) in Quebec.

Archbishop Richard Smith of Edmonton Alberta, who is president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Canadians “rejoice together with our American brothers and sisters in this joyful news.”

He noted that Blessed John Paul II described Blessed Kateri as “an example of fidelity ... a model of purity and love.”

16

Youth Pages

March 2, 2012

letter perfect — Holy Name School in Fall River recently recognized students who won the spelling bee held in grades one through eight. dragon tales — Mira and Coby Yin, students at St. Joseph School in Fairhaven, celebrated Chinese New Year with the kindergarten class. They led the class through the school on an exciting parade and taught the children all about the traditions of Chinese New Year. To end the celebration, the children enjoyed Chinese food and stories. The children truly enjoyed learning all about the culture and traditions of Chinese New Year.

fruits of their labor — Students at St. Mary’s School in Taunton recently participated in a community service initiative where they collected fruit and made fruit baskets that were delivered to various local nursing homes and hospitals in appreciation for the contribution and dedication that the staff members give to these institutions. With their principal are, front, from left: Anthony Mastriani, Nicholas Madeira, Brian Foster, and Nicholas Pemberton.

Back: James Mastriani, Gabriella Reis, Sadie Fuller, Joshua Lajoie, and Samantha Wallace.

magnifying class — Students in grade six at St. James-St. John School in New Bedford use cheek cells to preview under microscopes in science class.

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

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

SOCK-CESS STORY — Students from St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro collected 406 pairs of socks for veterans. The socks were delivered to the New England Center for Homeless Veterans in Boston.

Youth Pages

March 2, 2012

in tune with each other — St. Francis Xavier Preparatory School eighth-grader and first flutist, Morgan Oats; seventh-grader and first clarinetist Julia Grady; and Velna Zuzick, a music teacher-conductor at the Hyannis school, participated in the recent All Cape Band Workshop. The day finished with a concert at the Nauset Middle School. Eleven schools participated sending their best musicians creating a band of 130 students.

T

Pray, sacrifice, serve

he sign outside of Bish- ourselves. Some of the technology we use has already op Stang High School states these three imperatives: enslaved us to the point that pray, sacrifice, serve. It’s Lent! we don’t even talk to the Prayer, fasting and almsgiving people we are with because we are checking our Faceare the three pillars of Lent, book status, texting someand so we are called to pray, one else, or playing a mindsacrifice and serve. Prayer less game. Lent is a great and service are more actiongift, allowing us to regain oriented and give a person a that sense of discipline that sense of control in the doing, keeps us free to love. but sacrifice seems hardest Another reason we need because it is not doing; it is doing without.

What are you giving up for Lent?

That’s a common question over these next 40 days. The less common quesBy Jean Revil tion is “why?” Why do we give something up? Why do we to focus on sacrifice is that sacrifice? There are quite a our sacrifices help us to few reasons. One is simply follow Christ’s command because we can. We are not to pick up our cross and slaves to our passions or to follow Him. Sacrifice is a our instincts. We have free great form of prayer. Fastwill, and we are capable ing was an essential part of of disciplining ourselves the prayer of Jesus in the so that we remain free. It’s desert. Giving up something easier than you think to we have grown to depend succumb to the enticement on, like a form of food, or of pleasure. Before you know it, the things we want a portion of TV viewing, become the things we need. or a form of technology, is another version of fasting.

But life is not about how much chocolate we can con- Our sacrifices not only alsume, how many friends we low us to connect with the fasting of Christ but they have on Facebook, or what allow us to be in solidarity level we reach on Angry with our brothers and sisters Birds. Life is about love … loving God above all things, who do without every day of the year. The people who and loving our neighbor as

Be Not Afraid

do not have enough food to eat, the children who do not have a safe place to play, the people who put your iPhone together who will never be able to afford to own one; these are our brothers and sisters. We who have been abundantly blessed have a responsibility to remember, pray for, and care for those who struggle in their daily existence. Fasting, at the very least, may help us remember them.

In the end, our sacrifices are a matter of justice. Jesus Christ took on our sins, the sins of every single one of us, so that we would be forgiven. He paid the price and He invites us to share His work. Every sacrifice made in love, every form of fast offered in prayer, continues the saving work of Jesus Christ.

It is right and just to do our part, to accept His invitation, to unite ourselves to Him in an even deeper way during these 40 days. These are only some of the reasons why we should sacrifice. Now that you think about it, what are you giving up for Lent?

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

17

Youth catechism is best selling Catholic book worldwide

Rome, Italy (CNA) — The co-creator of the Church’s catechism for young people has revealed that it’s now the top selling Catholic book in the world.

“The latest figures show that “YouCat” has sold 1.7 million copies worldwide. It’s been a great success in nearly every country where it has been published,” said German publisher Bernard Meuser in a February 23 interview with CNA. “For example, it is number one in Spain, number one in America, and number one in Germany along with the pope’s latest book.”

In 2006 Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna and Meuser decided to work on catechism that transmitted the Church’s teachings “in a way that younger people can understand.”

He said Cardinal Schönborn’s key advice was that “if you do something for young people, you should do it with young people.”

Over the next five years the two men worked with theologians, educators, priests, and over 60 young people to create “YouCat.” The name is an abbreviation of “Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church.”

The distinctive, slim, yellow volume was published ahead of the 2011 World Youth Day in Madrid, and contains 527 questions and answers. They are accompanied by numerous quotations, images and illustrations

including their trademark “stick man” who becomes animated by the rapid flicking of each page.

“I was astonished that the young people liked the book so much,” Meuser said. “We’ve had so much praise from young people and, yes, they really like the stick man.”

The “YouCat” Facebook page has also garnered over 21,000 followers to date.

The book is currently published in 20 languages, but Meuser said that by next year that total will rise to 30, including Chinese and Arabic.

One of Pope Benedict’s hopes for the book has also come to fruition. The catechism has generated many study groups, including one in the Philippines that has more than 12,000 participants.

Meuser praised God, “who helped us from the beginning,” for the project’s success.

“I really think it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.”

18

The Anchor

March 2, 2012

Pill found to be linked to breast cancer

Service planned to mark fifth anniversary of ICE raid

Peck added that the birth control pill cannot be considered preventative care because what it prevents is pregnancy, which is not a disease. She and four other women members of the CMA reiterated that sentiment in a statement released on February 22.

“A child is not a disease, nor are fertility and pregnancy.

They are physiological states of healthy individuals,” they said.

“President Obama’s mandate is bad for women’s health and for the profession of medicine.”

Birth control also increases the risk of the Human Papaloma Virus, a sexually transmitted disease that causes cervical cancer.

The pill decreases the amount of cervical mucus, which makes women more susceptible to various infections, including Hepatitis and HIV. “Something in the pill also acts in conjunction with these diseases, the HIV and HPV, almost as a cofactor in a mutagenic process,” Peck added.

The health risks for women are not limited to increased risk of cancer and STDs. It is well known that the pill comes with cardiovascular risks including heart attack, stroke and other blood clots. Women who regularly take the pill are more likely to suffer from fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, migraine headaches and other serious illnesses. Some higher doses have been known to cause osteoporosis.

Since its introduction, the pill’s estrogen content has been decreased, which has decreased the number of blood clots but caused a new problem. The pill has increasingly relied on its secondary function, thinning of the uterine wall, to thwart pregnancy. Breakthrough ovulation,

tody by ICE officials and immediately transported to the Bristol County House of Correction, Fort Devens in Ayer, or flown to out-of-state facilities as far away as Texas and New Mexico on Mar. 6, 2007.

According to Francisco Ramos, executive director of United Interfaith Action of Southeastern Massachusetts, the traumatic events of that day are still felt in the local Hispanic community even five years later.

“There is still a sense of fear in the community,” Ramos said.

“People don’t talk openly … and there’s still a sense of trauma in the community that needs to be healed. This is one of the main reasons we decided to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the event and bring it out into the open.”

While many of the male workers were deported from the U.S. shortly after being arrested, others were detained for more than three weeks awaiting their fate.

“About half of them stayed here in the U.S. and found ways to remain, either by seeking political asylum or getting a work permit,” Ramos said. “But even five years later, some of them are still being told that they are going to be deported. Some are being monitored by ICE agents while others are being requested to travel to Burlington to check themselves in every week. That becomes difficult because they need to find rides and take time off from work.”

In the days following the traumatic raid that garnered national media attention and stirred up a divisive immigration debate, the remaining family members of those being detained — mostly Guatemalans, Mexicans and Hondurans, with a few Brazil-

continued from page one

which occurs more often on lower doses of the hormones, can lead to a fertilized egg, and that embryo may not be able to implant in the thinner uterine wall.

The result is that the embryo is aborted.

“When the pill had higher estrogen, it effectively suppressed ovulation most of the time. When they had to ratchet down the estrogen dose because it was causing too many vascular events, they noticed that there was a fair amount of breakthrough ovulation. The studies say anywhere from 10 to 40 percent of the time, you get breakthrough ovulation,” she said.

Many do not recognize the pill as an abortifacient because in 1965, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists adopted the definition of conception as “the implantation of a fertilized ovum,” rather than fertilization itself.

Peck called it a “sign of our times.”

“When the truth is too uncomfortable, we just change the meaning of words,” she said.

Speaking about the Catholic Church’s opposition to contraception, Peck stated that the reason for such a stance relates to the fact that the pill shuts off the procreative nature of sex.

“The Church is against it because it goes against the unitive and procreative aspects of the marital act,” she said. “The pill is indeed causing an unwillingness or inability for the couple to give themselves openly to God.” Though there was no way to predict many of the health problems associated with the pill, it is no surprise that something opposed to natural law would cause serious issues, she added.

“God did not design the body for this,” she said.

continued from page one

ians and some Portuguese and Salvadorans — gathered in the parish hall of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish at St. James Church, where many were parishioners.

“I was out in Sturbridge at a Lenten retreat for those working in the Hispanic ministry when the raid happened,” Father Wilson told The Anchor. “One of the first people who called was Paul Graham from UIA, who asked if they could use the parish hall for a place where people could meet. We just had the recent parish merger at the time, so we also had additional space at the former St. Hedwig’s Church, where we could also give out food and supplies.

“Catholic Social Services and other agencies were running shuttle services up to Boston to the immigration court for the hearings. It was good to have a centralized location for everyone.”

Father Wilson remembered how scared and confused many of the immigrant workers’ family members were that day and how they took comfort in banding together at their home parish.

“I know there’s all this fear about immigration,” Father Wilson said. “Obviously we can’t have open borders and allow everyone to come here, but as Catholics we also need to reach out to those in need. We have to find a way to improve the situation worldwide.”

Father Wilson said many of the victims of the ICE raid were simply doing what they could to survive, having left countries where they were otherwise threatened with torture or death.

“It’s a very difficult situation where they are,” Father Wilson said. “When people can’t find work where they are … you can understand why they would want

to escape from that. And when they come here, they need to feed their families. If it were me, I’d do it, too. What are you going to do? Let your family starve?”

Although he wasn’t with UIA at the time of the ICE raid in 2007, Ramos has been working to deal with the victims on a consistent basis since arriving here last July.

He said the aftershocks of that cold winter morning are still being felt in the greater New Bedford area today.

“I’ve been meeting with many of the families who went through it,” Ramos said. “The effects of that raid are still here, unfortunately. People are still being harassed. The raid is still happening in their lives.”

Father Wilson noted that in the five-year interim, many of the 361 workers arrested that day who weren’t deported have remained in New Bedford and are hoping to become documented workers.

“It’s a very slow process,” Father Wilson said. “I’m working with a lady now who is still trying to get her citizenship, but it can be an endless process.”

As a way of thanking those who have helped the former employees of Michael Bianco, Inc. over the last five years, Ramos said they plan to recognize several local individuals and organizations during the March 9 commemoration.

“The plans might change a little bit, but we hope to honor some of the key people and organizations in the area who helped the immigrant workers during and after the raid,” he said. “There were many people who helped the victims deal with the situation that day, and they need to be recognized publicly.”

catholic social services FALL RIVER 1600 BAY ST. P.O. BOX M SO. STA. 508-674-4681

Website: cssdioc.org

NEW BEDFORD 238 BONNEY ST. 508-997-7337

TAUNTON 79 BROADWAY 508-824-3624

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March 2, 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 March 2, 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, from 8:30 a.m. until 7:45 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.

The Anchor

Around the Diocese Fund-raiser

The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette, 947 Park Street in Attleboro hosts a special Lent fund-raiser “Fish Fry” every Friday in the shrine cafeteria from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and 4 to 7:30 p.m.

3/2

The Fall River Area Men’s First Friday Club will meet tonight at the Parish of the Good Shepherd, 1598 South Main Street, Fall River. Following the 6 p.m. Mass celebrated by Father Freddie Babiczuk, 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.

3/2

A La Salette eXtreme Youth Meeting will be held tonight at 6:30 p.m. at La Salette Shrine, 947 Park Street in Attleboro. The evening will begin with First Friday Adoration from 1 to 5 p.m., followed by Mass at 5:15 p.m. in the shrine church. The eXtreme Youth Meeting will follow Mass at 6:30 p.m.

3/3

Good Shepherd Parish in Fall River will host an International Buffet and Dance tomorrow 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 tomorrow 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.

3/7

A four-part seminar entitled “If You Want Peace, Work for Justice,” will be offered at 7 p.m. during Lent at Holy Trinity Parish in West Harwich. Focusing on the rich tradition of social justice teaching in the Church, individual sessions will include: a video presentation of “Walking With Jesus” on March 7 that traces these teachings from beginning to the present; Maryknoll Missionary Father Joe Towle will speak March 14 on the many ways each of us can live the spirit of justice each day; on March 19 Father Esebio Martinez, a pastor living on the border in Texas, will speak on immigration issues and the Christian response to them; and the seminar will conclude on March 28 with a summary call to action by the community.

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.

3/9

On March 9-11, there will be a girl’s ECHO Retreat held at the Craigville Conference Center in Craigville. ECHO is a retreat program for sophomore, junior and senior students who wish to deepen their relationship with Christ and participate more fully in his/her parish community. For information call 508-759-4265 or visit www.echoofcapecod.org.

3/10

Courage, a welcoming support group for Catholics wounded by same-sex attraction who gather to seek God’s wisdom, mercy and love, will next meet on March 10 at 6 p.m. (please note change in start time). For location and further information, call Father Richard Wilson at 508-992-9408.

3/15 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.

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.

3/15

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.

3/20

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.

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.

St. Mary’s Parish in New Bedford is hosting the Stations of the Cross according to Mary on March 13 at 7 p.m., followed by a small coffee and dessert bread reception in the parish center.

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.

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.

3/24

The St. Mary’s Council of the Knights of Columbus will celebrate a special Mass for the Unborn Child on March 24 at 4 p.m. at St. Mary’s Church, 1 Power Street, Norton. In addition to the Mass, there will be a baby shower where people will have the opportunity to donate items for unwed mothers with little infants. These can include clothing, diapers, lotions, furniture, and even toys. The baby shower will extend to all the Masses on Sunday as well. All are invited to attend and donate.

3/25 4/1

A Brazilian Healing Service will take place March 25 at 2 p.m. at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette, 947 Park Street in Attleboro with Father Almir Urbano, M.S.

A three-part Lenten series entitled “I have come that they may have life ... abundantly” and led by Anna Rae-Kelly will begin April 1 at 4 p.m. in the Welcome Center at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette, 947 Park Street in Attleboro. The series will resume on April 2 and 3 at 7:15 p.m. in the Reconciliation Chapel. All are welcome. For more information see www.annaprae.com.

19 Cuban-American businessman urges contact with island

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CNS) — A Philadelphia businessman and Cuban-American who follows developments in Cuba said it’s becoming more normal to be openly religious in the communist island nation.

“It is popular to be a Catholic in Cuba today — although we have a long ways to go to get to the next level,” said Jorge Fernandez, a Cuban-born business executive who first went back to his homeland for the 1998 visit of Blessed John Paul II as well as numerous additional trips over the years.

“I truly think the winds of change that started with John Paul will just be accelerated, and a positive thing for the world,” he said, adding that he urges the Obama Administration to further ease general travel restrictions because “it is through engagement that change will occur.” A member of a parish in Buckingham, Pa., father of three and executive director at Marketorum LLC, a Lambertville, N.J.-based marketing, business strategy and technology agency, Fernandez is organizing a private delegation for 50 Americans planning to travel to Havana for the closing Mass with Pope Benedict XVI, who will be in Cuba March 2628.

The trip is not officially associated with any diocese but is permitted under the State Department rules that apply to religious-based travel to Cuba.

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks March 3 Rt. Rev. Msgr. Timothy P. Sweeney, LL.D., Pastor, Holy Name, New Bedford, 1960 March 5 Rev. James McGuire, Pastor, St. Mary, New Bedford, 1850 Permanent Deacon Manuel H. Camara, 1995 Rev. James A. McCarthy, Retired Pastor, St. Mary, Falmouth, 2007 March 6 Rev. Joseph F. McDonough, Former Pastor, Sacred Heart, Taunton, 1906 Rev. John W. Quirk, Founder, St. Joseph, Taunton, 1932 Rev. Bernard P. Connolly, S.S., St. Charles College, Maryland, 1932 Rev. Antoine Lanoue, O.P., 1996 Rev. Jerome Lawyer, CSC, 2006 March 7 Rev. Arthur P.J. Gagnon, Pastor, Holy Rosary, New Bedford, 1958 March 9 Rev. Msgr. Henry J. Noon, V.G., Pastor, St. James, New Bedford; Vicar General, 1934-47, 1947

20

The Anchor

March 2, 2012

Lent should be time of grace, defeating temptation, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The 40 days of Lent are a time of spiritual renewal in preparation for Easter, but they also are a time to recognize that evil is at work in the world and even the Catholic Church faces temptations, Pope Benedict XVI said.

The pope explained the mean-

ing of Lent during a recent weekly general audience.

Like the people of Israel during their 40-year exodus and like Jesus during His 40 days in the desert, the Catholic Church and its members experience the grace of God, but also are besieged by evil around them and are tempted by power and selfishness, the pope said.

Jesus, before beginning His public ministry, withdrew to the desert for 40 days. Fasting, “He nourished Himself on the Word of God, which He used as a weapon to defeat the devil,” the pope said.

Pope Benedict said experience of God’s grace and of temptation is not unique to modern Catholics or to the Church.

During their 40 years in the desert, the people of Israel were guided by God, fed with manna and given water from a rock, but they also were tired, complaining and tempted to return to idol worship, the pope said. And, spending 40 days in the desert before beginning His public ministry, Jesus experienced the closeness of God, but also faced the devil’s temptations of “power, success and dominion.”

“This ambivalent situation also describes the condition of the Church journeying through the desert of the world and history. In this desert, we believers certainly have the opportunity of having a profound experience of God, who strengthens our spirit, confirms our faith, nourishes our hope and animates our charity,” the pope said.

However, he said, “the desert is also the negative aspect of the reality that surrounds us: the aridity, the poverty of words and values, the secularism and materialism” that attempt to convince people that God does not exist.

Still, “the desert time can be transformed into a time of grace” because God’s love is more powerful than the temptations of the world, the pope said.

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