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Diocese of Fall River, Mass.

Friday, March 4, 2016

Stonehill students to take part in mercy celebration — page 2 Mashpee food pantry thrives on hope and help — page 2 Twice the blessings as Dominican Sisters Marie Thérèse Ernou, left, and Sister Mary Thomas More celebrate their 100th birthdays this year.

(Photo by Becky Aubut)

Pair of 100-year-old Sisters keeping the faith — page 3 The Anchor - March 4, 2016

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Stonehill students, staff team up with HCFM for Year of Mercy celebration

By Dave Jolivet Anchor Editor davejolivet@anchornews.org

EASTON — Since Pope Francis called for a Year of Mercy beginning Dec. 8, 2015, many of the students at Stonehill College have embraced the Holy Father’s call to not only understand God’s mercy toward His children, but also to share that mercy with their brothers and sisters.

In a concrete display of extending God’s mercy to others, Stonehill students, employees, faculty and some Holy Cross Fathers are teaming up with their Easton neighbors, Holy Cross Family Ministries, to offer a special event, “Celebrating the Jubilee Year of Mercy,” on March 18, beginning at the campus quad at 4:35 p.m., and ending in the college’s Chapel of Mary.

“A while back we had a meeting of Holy Cross Fathers involved with Stonehill and that was the genesis of this wonderful event,” Holy Cross Father Anthony (Tony) V. Szakaly, director of Stonehill’s campus ministry, told The Anchor.

“We were thinking of how to answer the pope’s call and we came up with the Stations of the Cross, a perfect example of God’s mercy to His Children through His beloved Son Jesus Christ. We’re also incorporating Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and the opportunity 2

for the Sacrament of Reconciliation.”

The event begins at the campus quad at 4:35 p.m with the Stations of the Cross. “It sounds like an odd time to begin an event, but we have to keep in mind this is a Friday evening and we want school employees to be able to participate, and others around the diocese to be able to come, and also to keep in mind that students often have busy Friday nights.”

The 14 Stations will include Scripture references as well as an original meditation written by student and school groups, based on that Station regarding social justice in today’s world.

“We sent an email to all of the campus groups inviting them to take part in the evening,” said Father Tony. “Groups such as student affairs, campus police, the diversity group, the athletic department, employees, and students responded positively to the invitation. Many were very willing to take part.”

The Stations, save the last, will take place outdoors, “unless the weather is extremely inclement,” Father Tony added. The final station will take place in the Chapel of Mary. “The Chapel Choir will also assist providing Sacred music for praise and meditation.”

A light supper of soup and bread, at approxi-

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Volunteers in the packing room fill grocery bags with canned goods during a recent food pantry at Christ the King Parish in Mashpee. Sponsored and staffed by the parish’s St. Vincent de Paul Society, the weekly food pantry serves hundreds of needy people in Mashpee, Cotuit and Marstons Mills. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)

Mashpee food pantry thrives on hope and help

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff kensouza@anchornews.org

MASHPEE — In what has become a typical Wednesday morning routine for Deacon Frank Fantasia, he begins sorting through cartons of milk and bottles of orange juice in preparation for the line of people that is about to come through the parish hall.

When he spots a familiar young woman with her infant son in tow, he eagerly discards that morning’s “breakfast” — a hastily eaten apple — to warmly greet her.

“That’s one of our success stories,” he later confides to The Anchor, explaining how the young woman first came to the weekly food pantry about a year ago for help and has since gone back to school and is now working to support her child.

“To me, this is real Church,” Fantasia added.

“This is what we’re supposed to be doing.”

The food pantry operation at Christ the King Parish that runs from 9 a.m. to

noon every Wednesday and every other Wednesday evening from 5 to 7 p.m. is unlike similar parish ministries in that clients aren’t obligated to stand in long lines to collect their provisions. Instead, everyone is welcomed to sit and wait at tables inside the parish hall that provide a café-like atmosphere where they can enjoy a cup of coffee and chat with fellow clients or volunteers from the parish St. Vincent de Paul Society.

“That’s another way for them to maintain their dignity,” said Deb Journalist, director of needy cases for SVdP. “They can sit there and enjoy the camaraderie and talk with people and enjoy a coffee. It’s taken years to achieve that atmosphere, but now it’s really a happy place.”

When a client’s number is called, they then receive a shopping cart filled with bags of groceries prepared by volunteers. Before leaving, they can also pick from an assortment of breads and other staples.

“In the packing room,

they have order forms and, depending on the size of the family, they fill the shopping bags with (groceries),” Fantasia said. “Then they come out here and this is what we call our free table. We have a little bit of everything — cakes, fruits, vegetables, and frozen foods. They can take whatever they want from here.”

“Our food pantry is nondenominational,” he added.

“You don’t have to be Catholic and we’re not looking to convert anyone — we’re just trying to feed people, plain and simple.”

According to Dick Reilly, who has overseen the Christ the King food pantry operation since 2004, the bulk of the food is now purchased from the Greater Boston Food Bank.

“When we first started, we were buying half of the food from outside sources,” Reilly said. “But now they have all the food that we need at about half the price.

We get 5,000 to 6,000 pounds of food a week for Turn to page 21

Pair of Dominican Sisters celebrate 100 years of life, faith and service

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff beckyaubut@anchornews.org

“One of my sisters liked to go to the Vespers at the motherhouse,” she said.

The youngest of eight children, Sister Marie Thérèse said she felt “the call of the Lord” at a DIGHTON — The Dominican Sisters of young age. the Presentation was founded in Sainville, “I felt like He was talking to me. I was at France in 1696, and for more than 300 years midnight Mass making my First Communion the Sisters have been engaged in charitable and I said I have to answer,” she recalled. work worldwide. For nearly a third of those She entered the religious order at age 20 300 years, two nuns currently residing at its in 1936, the same year the Spanish Civil War United States’ headquarters in Dighton have been living monuments to the religious order’s began. She remembers how her fellow Dominican Sisters of the Presentation escaped missionary presence in education, health care, the violence and made their way to the mothparish ministries and social services. erhouse in France.

Sister Marie Thérèse Ernou will be turning “We saw the Sisters come in from Spain — 100 in March, and Sister Mary Thomas More I was a novice at this time — they didn’t want will turn 100 in August. While Sister Mary Thomas can often be found relaxing in a chair, us to see them. They were miserable, a mess; they had come by boat,” she said. gazing out a window and enjoying the view, Sister Marie Thérèse would soon experience Sister Marie Thérèse still does her own wash, war herself a few years later during her time in cleans her room and will take out her own Paris, when World War II broke out. Having trash. already professed, she was working in a city “The resiliency of these Sisters really inhospital when the Germans began to make spires me,” said major superior Sister Vimala their way into the city.

Vadakumpadan. “All their lives, they have “It wasn’t good so we had to leave. The supebeen through so much but giving so much life rior said not to stay around, to go south. Some instead of feeling pity for themselves while Sisters were there going through all already,” said Sisthose moments. ter Marie Thérèse.

They are like She didn’t leave spitfires. They are right away, and giving, not only Germans continto the community, ued to make their but also to the presence known people to whom through gunfire they minister. The and bombings.

Sisters love these One day, she people and there said, there was a are still people Blitzkrieg-type visiting them. The of attack that she impact these Sisremembers where ters made on the the bombs came people with whom so down hard and they worked or fast that it scared as friends, it still her. remains.”

“The enemy was Born “in the coming closer, and shadow of the some Germans motherhouse” in were coming to Tours, France, the hospital” for Sister Marie treatment, she Thérèse said her added. earliest memories “One morning of her interaction at two or three with the Sisters o’clock, mother began when she superior said, ‘You was four years old Sister Marie Thérèse Ernou smiles as she points to a photo of go with the miliwhen she would go with her sister herself taken on the day of her profession into the Domini- tary.’ So we left can Sisters of the Presentation. (Photo by Becky Aubut) Turn to page 19 to the convent.

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Diocesan parishes to take part in ‘24 Hours for the Lord’ Jubilee event

SOUTH ATTLEBORO — As part of the Year of Mercy observance proclaimed by Pope Francis, churches throughout the world will be participating in “24 Hours for the Lord” on March 4-5. It is the Holy Father’s wish that in every part of the world, the merciful, forgiving presence of Jesus be manifested during this 24-hour period through Eucharistic Adoration and the availability of the Sacrament of Penance. Here in the Diocese of Fall River, parishes and shrines in various deaneries have responded to the Holy Father’s call. The schedule includes: Attleboro Deanery: National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette (designated Holy Door site), Confession avail-

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able March 4 and 5 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

New Bedford Deanery: Our Lady of Mount Carmel (designated Holy Door site) 230 Bonney Street, New Bedford, from 8 a.m.

Mass on March 4 to 8 a.m. Mass on March 5.

Confessions on March 4 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Taunton Deanery: St. Mary, Taunton (designated Holy Door site) March 4 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Immaculate Conception, North Easton from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on March 5. St. Ann, Raynham, from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on March 5.

Cape Cod Deanery: Holy Trinity Parish/ Our Lady of Life Perpetual Adoration Chapel (designated Holy Door site), 246 Main Street, West Harwich — 24-hour Adoration.

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Confession available March 4 and 5 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Corpus Christi Parish (designated Holy Door site), 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, East Sandwich — 24-hour Adoration. Confession available March 4 from 5 to 10 p.m. and March 5 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Through this initiative, which Pope Francis asked to be implemented in his instruction Misericordiae Vultus, Catholics of every nation are called to experience the mercy of the Lord: “Let us place the Sacrament of Reconciliation at the center once more in such a way that it will enable people to touch the grandeur of God’s mercy with their own hands.

For every penitent, it will be a source of true interior peace.”

Supreme Court Justice Antonin G. Scalia and his then-fiancé Maureen McCarthy’s names appear in the Marriage Registry (shown below) of St. Pius X Parish in South Yarmouth in 1960. Photos courtesy of Father Chris Peschel.

SCJ Antonin Scalia’s 55-year Marriage had roots on Cape

By Dave Jolivet Anchor Editor davejolivet@anchornews.org

SOUTH YARMOUTH — The image of Lady Justice has her blindfolded, an obvious reference to the “justice is blind,” theory that the law is equal to all. “Justice is blind,” may have had another meaning in the life of recentlydeceased Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Some biographies of the 79-yearold judge indicate he met his future wife, Maureen McCarthy, on a blind date while he was attending Harvard Law School.

“Ms. McCarthy’s family

had a residence in the Yarmouth area,” Father Chris Peschel, a parochial vicar at St. Pius X Parish in South Yarmouth, told The Anchor. “Justice Scalia and Ms. McCarthy were married at St. Pius X Church in 1960 at what is now the parish center.”

“The Scalias were married by a family friend, Jesuit Father Gerard Yates, whom the justice knew from his undergraduate days attending Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.” Father Peschel said that he learned of the wedding in South Yarmouth a few years back when someone called, looking for a picture of the old church for an anniversary tribute for the Scalias.

Father Peschel dug up the old parish Marriage Register and found the couple’s names there.

Justice Scalia and Maureen went on to have nine children, four daughters and five sons, and more than 25 grandchildren.

Faith Formation Office exploring Laudato Si’ with six-week series

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff beckyaubut@anchornews.org

FALL RIVER — “On Care for Our Common Home” (Laudato Si’) is the second encyclical from Pope Francis, and is addressed to “every person living on this planet” for an inclusive dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. Pope Francis calls the Church and the world to acknowledge the urgency of our environmental challenges and to join him in embarking on a new path. In it the pope critiques consumerism and irresponsible development, and laments environmental degradation and global warming.

The pope states, “The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change. The Creator does not abandon us; He never forsakes His loving plan or repents of having created us.

Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home. Here I want to recognize, encourage and thank all those striving in countless ways to guarantee the protection of the home, which we share. Particular appreciation is owed to those who tirelessly seek to resolve the tragic effects of environmental degradation on the lives of the world’s poorest. Young people demand

change. They wonder how anyone can claim to be building a better future without thinking of the environmental crisis and the sufferings of the excluded.

“I urgently appeal, then, for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all. The worldwide ecological movement has already made considerable progress and led to the establishment of numerous organizations committed to raising awareness of these challenges.

Regrettably, many efforts to seek concrete solutions to the environmental crisis have proved ineffective, not only because of powerful opposition but also because of a more general lack of interest. Obstructionist attitudes, even on the part of believers, can range from denial of the problem to indifference, nonchalant resignation or blind confidence in technical solutions. We require a new and universal solidarity. As the bishops of Southern Africa have stated: ‘Everyone’s talents and involvement are needed to redress the damage caused by human abuse of God’s Creation.’ All of us can cooperate as instruments of God for the care of Creation, each according to his or her own culture, experience, involvements and talents.”

The Office of Faith For-

mation of the Diocese of Fall River sponsored a pilot program at the end of February, offering a six-week session to explore the encyclical, Laudato Si’ to be facilitated by Sister Frances Thomas, RSM. “We had envisioned this [series] because it’s an important document that came out, and it would be helpful if we had a session on it because people could reflect on it,” said the director of the Faith Formation Office, Claire McManus. “The document is on the environment and ways we can change our perspective on the environment, and it’s right in line with the teachings of the Church.

Care for the environment is one of the tenets of Catholic social teaching, and Fran is very well-versed in this.

“When the encyclical came out, everyone was talking about it. It was even being critiqued in the secular press, and it had political ramifications; people were lining up [saying] we don’t have to listen to what the pope has to say about the environment, he’s not an expert.

We felt that it was a service to the Church to have people study it, reflect on it, and go back to their parishes and be

a resource.”

Sister Thomas said she was extremely happy that Pope Francis’ second encyclical focused on the environment, saying “it was a step in the right direction.”

“I’ve been involved in ecological issues for about

20 years, kind of on the side since I had other ministries,” said Sister Thomas. “It didn’t allow for a lot of opportunities, but now that the pope has spoken, people are starting to show interest and that’s good.”

Turn to page 24

Portuguese Channel Holy Week programming

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Opening up a 24-hour worldwide confessional

ponder God’s greatest joy and truth Incarnate: insofar as the only one who never needed how He wishes to share that to repent, because she never joy with us. sinned, was the Blessed VirThat’s because this year gin Mary and we know how the Gospel for the Fourth Sunday of Lent is the parable much she pleased God by of the Prodigal Son, the most the continuous fiat of her life, famous short story of all time, Jesus is declaring that whenin which Jesus highlights the ever God is able to reconcile extraordinary celebration that a son or a daughter, His joy is, takes place in Heaven whenever a wayward Putting Into son or daughter returns home to the the Deep Father’s love: God the Father embraces the

By Father child, restores the child Roger J. Landry to full dignity, slaughters the fatted calf, throws a massive celebration, in a sense, almost 100 times greater. and invites everyone else to How can that be? Jesus join the feast. gives us a hint. The reason Right before this parable and intrinsically connected to why the father throws such an over-the-top celebration it, Jesus presents the parables for the return of the prodigal of the Lost Sheep and the son who had squandered not Lost Coin, in which He underscores that “Heaven re- just half of his property but joices more for one repentant the treasure of their relationsinner than for 99 who never ship was, He said, “because my son was dead but has needed to repent.” Those are truly shocking words, a reality come to life again, he was lost we could never believe unless but has been found.”

Every parent of multiple the came from the lips of children should be able readNantucket parish observes ‘24 Hours ily to relate to this. No matter how pleased a mom or dad for the Lord’ today and tomorrow would be with a child who alNANTUCKET —Reuntil 5 p.m. on March 5. ways obeyed, loved, and acted sponding to Pope Francis’ call Confessions will be heard honorably, that could not for “24 Hours for the Lord,” in English, Spanish and compare with the joy a parSt. Mary’s/Our Lady of the French from 7 to 8 p.m., ent would feel if a child who Isle Parish will be holding and Adoration prayers and had been abducted, run away events to help area faithful hymns in Spanish will take from home, or lost at sea, live this Year of Mercy. place from 7 to 11 p.m. all of a sudden appeared at Involved will be pastor On March 5, Confesthe family doorstep safe and Father Marcel Bouchard, sions will be heard in sound. It could not compare Father Carlos Patino of the English, Spanish and with the joy of a parent would island’s Spanish Ministry, French from 10-11 a.m. A feel who, having seen a child and Jesuit Father Jean Luc children’s prayer service will flat-line, all of a sudden saw Enyegue from Boston Col- take place at 11 a.m. the monitor reignite minutes lege, who is fluent in EngConfessions in English, later. lish, Spanish and French.

Spanish and French will be The joyful truth that Jesus is underscoring is that every Today’s (March 4) heard from 11:30 a.m. to Reconciliation is a true Resobservances begin at 5:15 12:30 p.m.; from 2-3 p.m.; urrection, when a child dead p.m. at the church with an and from 4-4:30 p.m. ecumenical Stations of the Mass will be celebrated at through “mortal sin” is Spiritually resuscitated. This is one Cross with St. Paul’s Epis5 p.m., ending the Euchacopal Church, in English ristic Adoration observance. of the reasons why it is fitting that Jesus established the Sacand Spanish, followed by All are invited and enrament of Penance on Easter a Lite-Bites Supper. Eucouraged to attend any of charistic Adoration will the “24 Hours for the Lord” Sunday evening. Whenever the Sacrament of Penance is take place from 7 p.m. events.

his Friday and Saturday, March 4 and 5, mark one of the pivotal points of the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.

Pope Francis has asked every diocese in the world to celebrate on these days “24 Hours for the Lord,” marked by intense prayer and the continuous offering of the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. In the “Face of Mercy,” his Bull of Indication for the Jubilee of Mercy, he made plain the purpose of this special day within the Holy Year: to “place the Sacrament of Reconciliation at the center once more in such a way that it will enable people to touch the grandeur of God’s mercy with their own hands” and allow “every penitent” to find the “source of true interior peace.”

He scheduled it intentionally for the “Friday and Saturday preceding the Fourth Week of Lent,” because on the Fourth Sunday of Lent we celebrate “Laetare” or “Rejoice!” Sunday, and every Catholic will have a chance to

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The Anchor - March 4, 2016

celebrated as it ought to be, Heaven celebrates as if it were Easter Sunday! And God wants us to have that joy, the joy of having our soul brought back to its baptismal splendor, the joy of having all our sins taken away by the Lamb of God and replaced by His Risen Life.

The “24 Hours of the Lord” initiative is not new. It’s the third year that Pope Francis has led one in St. Peter’s. In 2014, he stunned many by going to Reconciliation himself before hearing Confessions for an hour.

In 2015, he took advantage of the occasion to surprise everyone by announcing the Jubilee of Mercy. It’s hard to predict what he will have up his white sleeve this year, as he leads the 24 Hours of Mercy devotion at 5 p.m.

Rome time.

But why, we can ask, is there a need for a marathon session of around-the-clock Confessions like the 24 Hours of the Lord? Why the need for similar outreaches like the “Light is On For You” initiatives in various dioceses on Lenten Wednesday nights, or the Reconciliation Mondays on Monday of Holy Week in various New York dioceses, or the Reconciliation Weekends like the Diocese of Fall River held in 2009 and 2010?

The reason there is a need for something “spectacular” is because the ordinary way of offering the Sacrament of Reconciliation has not been reaching everyone who needs God’s mercy.

A 2008 CARA study sponsored by the U.S. bishops showed that only 26 percent of adult Catholics say they go to Confession the minimum of once a year. Thirty percent go less than once a year and 45 percent never go. Of those who attend Mass every Sunday, 23 percent say they go to Reconciliation less than

once a year and 15 percent report never going. This obviously isn’t because sinning has stopped but because many Catholics treat the Sacrament as an optional part of the faith: 62 percent of Catholics, including 54 percent of regular Sunday Mass-goers, say that they can be good Catholics without going to Penance the canonical minimum.

In short, there’s a crisis with regard to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, a crisis tied to the loss of the sense of sin, poor preaching and Sacramental catechesis, inconvenient hours and busier schedules, rejection of Catholic teaching on specific moral issues, and the novel idea that we have a right to receive Holy Communion no matter what the state of our soul. The Church announces special outreaches like the 24 Hours of the Lord, therefore, not only to try to reach the lost sheep on the peripheries but also in the pews.

Different dioceses are responding to Pope Francis’ summons in different ways.

I’ll be hearing Confessions at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York for several hours on Friday night. In the Diocese of Fall River, the 24 Hours will be held at seven different churches; in the Archdiocese of Boston, in 12. It would doubtless bring great joy to Heaven to see all of these sites teeming with God’s children entering into celestial joy.

The Year of Mercy, Pope Francis has been stressing, must be “linked, first and foremost, to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.” The 24 Hours of Mercy is designed to make that link plain and to spur as many as possible to come to experience the Jubilee Year’s most important gift.

Anchor columnist Father Landry can be contacted at fatherlandry@catholicpreaching.com.

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he Prodigal Son comes home to us once again on the Fourth Sunday of Lent. If ever there was a poster for the Year of Mercy it is this extraordinary display of Reconciliation and forgiveness. This story is a living testament to the organic nature of the Gospels; for they continue to have relevance today even in a world that thinks it has evolved beyond the message.

The world is filled with lives that parallel the characters in this story. There is no shortage of people who squander the inheritance of their relationship with God, pursuing that which can never bring true happiness. The world is also filled with its share of older brothers who believe they must safeguard God’s mercy.

In the few months since we opened this Jubilee year we have already heard multiple interpretations of what it means to be merciful and who deserves to receive it. Some have voiced concern that people will get the wrong idea about what Pope Francis had in mind when he asked the Church to “show her maternal side, her motherly face, to a humanity that is wounded.” Maybe they fear that the wounded will bring their festering wounds into their pristine Church and infect everyone else.

Allow the Father to love us

The title of the story may son publicly quarrels with distract us from its most him at the feast. Yet through important message, for the it all the father never gives son is not the only prodihis sons the treatment they gal in the plot. Prodigal is deserve. Instead, he lavishes defined as being extravagant them with mercy. This is to a degree bordering on really the story of the Prodirecklessness. When we look gal Father, who pours out closely at the story it behis love and forgiveness in comes clear that it is about the father, not the sons. When the younger son chooses The Great to leave, he lands the Commission first slap by asking for his inheritance,

By Claire McManus essentially saying to his father, “I wish you were dead.” His disgrace was an embarrassing display of deepened when he wasted generosity. his money on debauchery, Mercy was the central but then he hits rock bottom theme of Jesus’ ministry. He when he was forced to work ate with sinners to seal their among the pigs. return home with as lavish a Jesus was over the top feast as awaited the Prodigal with this story because His Son. Sinners did not have to peasant audience would have pass any special test to prove been shocked and scandalthey were worthy of being ized by this tale. He doesn’t members of the community; stop there, but further subthey simply had to accept the jects the father to more huwelcome of Jesus. The Jubilee miliation by having him run Year of Mercy is not new, but to meet the returning son, a rededication to Jesus’ central something that an elder of message. It is an opportunity the time would never do. His for the Church to examine embrace of the returning son ways in which she can broadis not a private affair, for the cast an invitation to return father welcomes him home to God or get out of the way with a very public celebration and let God run out to meet for the entire community.

One does not slaughter a fattened calf for a quiet family dinner! The shame deepens for the father when the older

the returning penitent.

But mercy is fragile and vulnerable, for it begins with a shattered heart. It is the cry from the depths of the pig sties of our lives that only the Father knows. It is the invitation to return that is initiated by the Father, not by us.

It is not our Confession of sin that brings reconciliation, but God’s confession of love and forgiveness.

It is not our choice to come to the Eucharistic feast, but God’s preparation of the celebratory feast that draws us near.

When Pope Francis declared the Year of Mercy he did not forge new ground, but hoped to guide the Church toward its primary

responsibility to be an agent of mercy in a concrete way.

He points out that we live in a time when people do not believe that redemption is possible. Rather than fear the return of the sinner, Pope Francis says that “the place where an encounter with Jesus occurs is in our sin.”

The gift of grace is indeed so overabundant that it seems unfair. The greatest act of mercy we can perform is to allow the Prodigal Father to wastefully lavish His love on an undeserving world, to restore and resurrect. “Your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and now he is found.”

Anchor columnist Claire McManus is the director of the Diocesan Office of Faith Formation.

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Anchor Editorial

Bury the dead

One of the Corporal Works of Mercy is burying the dead. That might not seem like such a big deal to us, but historically it sometimes has taken a lot of courage to bury the dead.

In the Old Testament book of Tobit, Tobit’s life is threatened because he dares to defy the civil authorities of the pagan land (Nineveh) where he lives in exile. Against their laws, he goes out and buries the bodies of Israelites who had been murdered on the public streets and had been left to rot.

In the New Testament book of Revelation (11:8) “two witnesses” to Christ are slain in the “great city, which has the symbolic names ‘Sodom’ and ‘Egypt,’ where indeed their Lord was crucified.” Their bodies are left out on the street, but after three-and-a-half days “a breath of life from God entered them. When they stood on their feet, great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from Heaven say to them, ‘Come up here.’ So they went up to Heaven in a cloud as their enemies looked on” (Rev 11:11-12). People disagree as to whether these two were SS. Peter and Paul (killed in Rome) or some of the Old Testament prophets or just symbolize Christians throughout history being martyred. Whatever their identity, their enemies knew that not burying their bodies was a sign of added disrespect (after having killed them).

On the Vatican website’s article about the Christian Catacombs, this explanation is offered: “The custom of burying the dead in underground areas was already known to the Etruscans [the forerunners of the Romans], the Jews and the Romans, but with Christianity much more complex and larger burial hypogea originated in order to welcome the whole community in only one necropolis [city of the dead]. The ancient term to designate these monuments is coemeterium, which derives from the Greek and means ‘dormitory,’ thereby stressing the fact that for Christians, burial is just a temporary moment while they wait for the final resurrection.”

Since part of our creed is the belief in the “resurrection of the body” (which is not a reference to Christ’s Resurrection, which we affirm earlier in the Creed), how we treat the body after death is significant. We Christians do not think of the body as a mere shell or vehicle to carry around the soul, as if the soul were the “real” us, while the body was of no importance.

The fact that God the Son became Incarnate (took on Flesh), shows us how important to God our bodies are.

The Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments put out a Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy in 2001. In paragraph 253 of that document (in the section on funerals) it stated, “The body of the deceased, which was the temple of the Holy Spirit, [is] to be treated with the utmost respect.”

The next paragraph adds, “Christian piety has always regarded burial as the model for the faithful to follow since it clearly displays how death signifies the total destruction of the body. The practice eschews meanings OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER www.anchornews.org

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The Anchor - March 4, 2016

that can be associated with mummification or embalming [the Vatican is not saying that we cannot embalm, so as to have a more pleasant wake; it just wants us to understand that embalming cannot fool us about death, as is attempted in Moscow with Lenin’s corpse on display to this day] or even with cremation. Burial recalls the earth from which man comes (cf. Gen 2:6) and to which he returns (cf. Gen 3:19; Sir 17:1), and also recalls the burial of Christ, the grain which, fallen on the earth, brought forth fruit in plenty” (cf. John 12:24).

Cremation is now allowed for Catholics, although it is not encouraged.

The Church understands that many people choose it, not for the ancient pagan purpose of denying the resurrection of the body, but for the practical purpose that cremation is often cheaper than intact burial. The Vatican document explains in No. 254, “Cremation is also a contemporary phenomenon. In this regard, ecclesiastical discipline states: ‘Christian obsequies [funerals] may be conceded to those who have chosen to have their bodies cremated, provided that such choice was not motivated by anything contrary to Christian doctrine.’ The faithful should be exhorted not to keep the ashes of the dead in their homes, but to bury them in the usual manner, until God shall raise up those who rest in the earth, and until the sea gives up its dead” (cf. Aps 20, 13).

Here we are reminded that we are not to keep the ashes of our loved ones in our homes, nor are we to sprinkle them in various locations. Rather we are to either bury them, entomb them in a niche or have a proper disposition of them into the ocean (not dumping the ashes in, but dropping them in a container into the water).

The Catholic cemeteries of Mendota Heights, Minn. explain on their webpage, “Since the human body was the Temple of the Holy Spirit during life, was fed at the Eucharistic table, and will share in the bodily resurrection, contemporary cultural practices like scattering the cremated remains over water or from the air or keeping the cremated remains at home are not considered reverent forms of disposition that the Church requires.

Other practices such as commingling cremated remains or dividing up cremated remains among family members or friends are not acceptable for Catholics.”

The International Theological Commission in 1992, in a document entitled, “Some Contemporary Questions in Eschatology,” reminded us, “Care must be taken lest the contemporary spread of cremation even among Catholics should in any way render obscure their right understanding about the resurrection of the flesh.”

Christ was mocked by the Sadducees for believing in the resurrection of the body. May the way in which we take care of our dead show our solidarity with Him, while also expressing our love and prayers for them.

Daily Readings March 5 — March 18

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Mar. 5, Hos 6:1-6; Ps 51: 3-4,18-19,20-21ab; Lk 18:9-14. Sun. Mar. 6, Fourth Sunday in Lent, Jos 5:9a,10-12; Ps 34:27,(9a); 2 Cor 5:17-21; Lk 15:1-3,11-32. Mon. Mar. 7, Is 65:17-21; Ps 30:2,46,11-12a and 13b; Jn 4:43-54. Tues. Mar. 8, Ez 47:1-9,12; Ps 46:2-3,5-6,8-9; Jn 5:1-16. Wed. Mar. 9, Is 49:8-15; Ps 145:8-9,13cd-14,17-18; Jn 5:17-30. Thurs.

Mar. 10, Ex 32:7-14; Ps 106:19-23; Jn 5:31-47. Fri. Mar. 11, Wis 2:1a,12-22; Ps 34:17-21 and 23; Jn 7:1-2,10,25-30.

Sat. Mar. 12, Jer 11:18-20; Ps 7:2-3,9bc,10-12; Jn 7:40-53. Sun. Mar. 13, Fifth Sunday of Lent, Is 43:16-21; Ps 126:1-6; Phil 3:8-14; Jn 8:1-11. Mon. Mar. 14, Dn 13:1-9,15-17,19-30,33-62 or 13:41c-62; Ps 23:1-3a,3b-4,5,6; Jn 8:12-20.

Tues. Mar. 15, Nm 21:4-9; Ps 102:2-3,16-21; Jn 8:21-30. Wed. Mar. 16, Dn 3:14-20,91-92,95; (Ps)Dn 3:52-56; Jn 8:31-42. Thurs. Mar. 17, Gn 17:3-9; Ps 105:4-9; Jn 8:51-59. Fri. Mar. 18, Jer 20:10-13; Ps 18:2-7; Jn 10:31-42.

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he image of Jesus sweating Blood in the Garden of Gethsemane is a sobering one.

Never has anyone been known to sweat blood — no matter the degree of anguish, fear, or sorrow endured. Over the centuries, men and women have faced myriad torments from physical assaults, to the destruction of cherished possessions, to total annihilation, and yet the phenomenon in the garden was singular. It had to be related to Christ’s Divinity, which took a particular toll on His mortal flesh.

Knowing that Jesus was without sin, we may find it difficult to understand the mental battle: Wasn’t chafing before the mission some sort of moral failing? Is there even a sliver of Christ that preferred His own comfort to the plan of God, or considered side-stepping the Passion? Surely, even the little we know of the price He paid is monstrous — and His mental anguish makes sense in that regard — but knowing the true parameters of that struggle will help us as we grapple with our own frailty.

Jesus is God, and al-

This Lent keep the garden in mind though He took the form our perceptions are often of a slave (cf. Phil 2:7), quite confused about the He did not forsake the actual merit in our choicDivine attributes that He es. We pursue money and shared with the other per- accolades, treasure and sons of the Trinity. That is comfort out of proportion why His omniscience had to their true value. We such an impact at that neglect persons for things, moment. In many meditations, we are reminded that The Jesus saw each of Feminine us while He was in Genius the garden and thus, if we ponder that

By Genevieve Kineke intimate thought, we realize that He saw countless millions of and others for the sake of people at that time. His ourselves — when we’re love for each was a crush- not pursuing outright ing burden — especially wickedness which we find when much of that love entertaining. It’s all about went unrequited. He saw having the proper prioriHis gifts spurned and His ties, recognizing a hierargreat truth rejected, but I chy of values, and having don’t think that constitut- the freedom to sacrifice ed any part of His hesita- a lower good for a higher tion. God is love, and He good. cannot be anything but In that regard, it makes love. He always knew the sense that Jesus chermagnitude of our shabby ished the flesh He had response to His salvific received from Mary, in act, and so the drops of whose womb His humanBlood had to have anoth- ity was fearfully, wonderer impetus. fully made (cf. Ps 139:14).

For a better underHe valued health and standing, perhaps we wholeness, He held His should consider the life among His beloved parameters of virtue, and how one chooses the good. Everyone chooses the good as he understands it; unfortunately

brothers and sisters quite dear. He hated death, which had wrapped its wicked tentacles around humanity since our expulsion from another garden, corroding the richness intended for mankind.

His resolve after that tortuous time of prayer strengthened Him to trade something that was very good for something He cherished even more: He sacrificed His Sacred Flesh for our eternal Salvation.

As we undertake another Lent, perhaps the struggle in the garden can provide a helpful template for each of us.

As we weigh our actions and consider the goods therein, we can then proportion those ends to other things of value.

Whenever we encounter a clash between a lesser good and a higher good, we have our ready meat for prayer, sacrifice — and Confession!

We cannot know all, but knowing ourselves better — what we value, and how our priorities are arranged — can be a tremendous goal. Knowing why Christ struggled in Gethsemane and what He chose on our behalf should help us with our own battles, for He wasn’t grappling with “act” or “run away,” but a choice between “good” and “better.” And we can always do better!

Anchor columnist Mrs. Kineke is the author of “The Authentic Catholic Woman.”

She blogs at femininegenius.typepad.com.

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Frozen Tuesday 1 March 2016 — Homeport: Falmouth Harbor — “Super Tuesday” state primaries o, dear readers, I’m not about to review the Disney film but rather to reflect on how a “polar vortex” impacts parish life.

An arctic wind swept in on Presidents Day weekend. The plummeting temperatures broke all records. The temperature on Cape Cod felt like minus 33 degrees Fahrenheit.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that weather directly impacts weekend Mass attendance (my nephew objects to me using that cliché. He happens to be a rocket scientist). In several parishes in which I have served, it was customary to note the weather conditions on the weekend bank deposit slips, thus explaining the shortfall.

I received a phone call that frigid Sunday morning inquiring if Masses had been canceled. The answer is always no. We do not cancel Masses here because of weather con-

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ditions. There’s no need. could use that old coat A priest can get from his now. bedroom to the SanctuAs the exceptionally ary without even stepping cold weather approached, outdoors. This is due to parishes received from the foresight of those headquarters a checkwho designed and built list of recommendations this parish complex. Most to assure that church parish priests don’t have properties were properly the luxury.

Come Heaven or high water, The Ship’s Log Mass will be Reflections of a celebrated as Parish Priest scheduled. As to

By Father Tim whether or not Goldrick people should leave the safety of their homes is another question. That is protected. It’s part of my a decision that requires job description, it seems. common sense.

They don’t teach you that I’m acclimated to in the seminary. frigid weather. The rare This particular church arctic blast that someproperty has areas that times reaches Cape Cod have proven problematic must first pass through in the past. One is the Canada. I spent four long laundry room. This is an winters at a seminary in add-on. By the time heat Ontario, Canada. Howlgets to the end of the ing winter winds and sub- line, there’s little left of it. zero temperatures didn’t Once I had to use deserve even a passing a hair dryer to thaw comment. I stayed warm the frozen pipes of the in my army surplus snor- clothes washer (none of kel jacket. Unfortunately, the priests had a hair my pet greyhound long dryer; I bought one at ago chewed the rabbit-fur the drugstore across the trim off the hood. I sure street).

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Leave the faucet in the laundry room dripping. Check. As a backup, there’s always St. John Nepomucene (invoked for protection against floods). Check.

Another problematic area is the rectory’s firstfloor bathroom.

For reasons unknown to me, it was built without a heat source. In February, it can be colder than an outhouse in Alaska. It does, however, have central air conditioning.

That’s not helpful in a polar vortex.

The water pipes in that area had once frozen and burst. Come to find out, an under-insulated crawl space opened directly to the outside. Additional insulation was installed.

Leave the bathroom faucet dripping. Check.

Pray to St. Columbanus (also in charge of floods).

Check.

Another trouble spot is the church hall. The emergency fire sprinklers froze one winter and flooded the room with several inches of water. It seems uninsulated pipes were exposed to outside air. Who knew? The water damage was repaired and insulation installed.

What to do in this cold spell? I keep my fingers crossed and invoke the intercession of St. Florian, patron saint of floods and fires. He can take care of both issues.

Check.

The rectory proper was built long ago. When the wind blows, the curtains flutter. Somebody installed replacement windows, but many of them no longer close properly.

Father Ray Cambra has

found that if you pull the shades, the breeze is redirected to the floor.

At 94, Father Francis X. Wallace is as old as the Lincoln Memorial.

Naturally he’s always cold. Turning the thermostat up to 75 degrees does little to warm him.

In weather like this, he wears a coat indoors.

I had the rectory fireplace checked. The chimneysweep told me it had hardly ever been used.

We could light it safely should the electric go out.

At least we would have a source of heat. As an added benefit, we could perhaps all sit around roasting marshmallows; on second thought, maybe not.

The church itself has a modern heating system, but the ancient and energy inefficient building makes it almost impossible to regulate the indoor temperature. I just hope people wear warm winter coats to Mass.

Then there’s our summer chapel on Falmouth Harbor. No need to worry about the heat. It has no heating system. In the autumn, I just make sure the water pipes are drained and winterized.

Then I hope for the best.

There came an overnight thaw. Early in the morning, Father Wallace woke me. “Tim! Tim! There’s a geyser flooding the laundry room! Saints preserve us!” “I’ve already invoked the saints, Father,” I responded. “Apparently it didn’t work.”

I found myself humming, “Let it go, let it go,” as I appraised the latest catastrophic situation.

Anchor columnist Father Goldrick is pastor of St. Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth.

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Where’s the beef? Why, they’re all around us

n early 1984, America was introduced to good old Clara Peller, whose meteoric rise in popularity was dizzying. Who, you may ask, was Clara Peller?

It’s quite simple really, she can be recognized by three simple words: “Where’s the beef?”

Yes, Clara was that gruff, yet somehow charming, elderly woman who relentlessly rummaged through a large burger bun looking for the actual burger.

Yep, at that moment, the Wendy’s burger chain discovered the next Marilyn Monroe, albeit with some differences.

If dear Clara was alive today (and after her death I

truly hope she did find the American media. beef in every burger she’s I voted this morning in had since — Heaven to the Massachusetts presidenme), and should she again tial primary, and if the media inquire, “Where’s the beef?” is right, my vote pretty much the answer would be quite didn’t mean anything. The simple — they’re all around her.

My View The cattle of which she searched could From today be found in the Stands her neighbors, family,

By Dave Jolivet friends, employees at the stores at which she would shop, and in the musicians to which results are foregone conclushe would listen, and the sions. actors and actresses to which I find two realities in she would see on the large America really unbelievable and small screens.

— at least in a country of We are all cattle, we are all supposedly learned people. beef, led, poked, prodded and 1.) How Republicans and branded by the mainstream Democrats can both be con-

sidered Americans; and 2.)

How you can watch, listen to, or read various news outlets and get a vast dichotomy of “facts,” when in reality it’s mostly opinion.

Yet, in the continuing dumbing down of Americans, so many choose sides and take what they hear as Gospel.

This isn’t new for the media. Back in the ’70s and ’80s networks would be able to project a presidential winner before the polls even closed in the western time zone — virtually making those citizens’ votes barren.

There are those Americans who won’t get out and

vote because the results are “already” in — a big boon to certain candidates.

No news anchor, rock star or Hollywood hero is going to tell me how to vote.

I voted this morning because I want to feel like my ballot makes a difference.

I don’t know if it does. I vote because it’s a privilege given to me by the blood and lives of thousands of brave American brothers and sisters.

And come November, I will cast a ballot for the next President of the United States, and again, I don’t know if it will make a difference. I fear, because I know where the beef is. davejolivet@anchornews. org.

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New England Patriot Devin McCourty recently paid a visit to Madonna Manor Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Care in North Attleboro. This was McCourty’s second visit to the facility and he spent time visiting with the residents, staff members and their families, signing autographs and posing for pictures. Pictured is McCourty with Jay Elias of Dyer Lake Funeral Home and Mary-Ellen Murphy, administrator at Madonna Manor. Not pictured is Mike Michel of Gilmore Insurance Agency, who along with Elias arranged for McCourty’s visit to Madonna Manor.

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To subscribe to The Anchor, or give it as a gift, contact Mary Chase at 508-675-7151 or Email marychase@anchornews.org

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Justice Antonin Scalia returns to dust — and hopefully to Heaven

ustice Antonin Scalia more. A man loved by many, scorned by others.

(1936-2016), who was appointed to the U.S. A man known for great Supreme Court by Presi- controversy, and great dent Reagan in 1986, and compassion. That man, of confirmed unanimously at course, is Jesus of Nazathe time by the U.S. Sen- reth.”

The homily, being ate — an amazing fact, about Jesus Christ yesgiven subsequent developments — served for al- terday, today and forever, most 30 years as the con- and about the Church He founded that Justice servative anchor of the Scalia was nurtured in, court. He was brilliant, also eschewed politics. combative, humorous: an The only mild refereloquent proponent of originalism, the view that the Constitution should Judge be interpreted as For it was understood when it was enYourself acted. He viewed

By Dwight Duncan the idea of the “living Constitution” as an invitation ence was when he said, for judges to substitute “God blessed dad, as is their shifting personal well known, with a love or ideological views for for his country. He knew democratically-enacted legislation. He advocated well what a close-run thing the founding of our reading statutes the way nation was. And he saw they were written, textuin that founding, as did ally, rather than cherrypicking “legislative histo- the founders themselves, ry” from statements made a blessing, a blessing quickly lost when faith is by legislators.

A larger-than-life per- banned from the public square, or when we refuse sonality, he was a devout to bring it there.”

Catholic who loved the The priest son recalled Mass in Latin. His funeral Mass at the Basilica the time he was scolded of the National Shrine of by his father after hearing Confessions: “The the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., issue that evening was not was celebrated by his son that I had been hearing Confessions, but that he Father Paul D. Scalia, a had found himself in my priest of the Diocese of confessional line, and he Arlington, Va. Eschewquickly departed it. As ing eulogizing from the he put it later, ‘Like heck pulpit, his son’s homily if I’m confessing to you!’ struck the perfect tone.

The feeling was mutual.”

After giving thanks for Towards the end of those in attendance on his homily, Father Scalia behalf of his family, he said, “He was a practicing began: “We are gathered here because of one man. Catholic, ‘practicing’ in the sense that he hadn’t A man known personally to many of us, known perfected it yet. Or rather, only by reputation to even Christ was not yet per-

fected in him. And only those in whom Christ is brought to perfection can enter Heaven. We are here, then, to lend our prayers to that perfecting, to that final work of God’s grace, in freeing dad from every encumbrance of sin. But don’t take my word for it. Dad himself, not surprisingly, had something to say on the matter. Writing years ago to a Presbyterian minister whose funeral service he admired, he summarized quite nicely the pitfalls of funerals and why he didn’t like eulogies.

He wrote: ‘Even when the deceased was an admirable person, indeed especially when the deceased was an admirable person, praise for his virtues can cause us to forget that we are praying for and giving thanks for God’s inexplicable mercy to a sinner.’

Now he would not have exempted himself from that. We are here then, as he would want, to pray for God’s inexplicable mercy to a sinner.”

In this season of Lent, we are reminded that all of us come from dust, and eventually return to dust.

But because of Jesus’ death and glorious Resurrection, we hope that our dust will become stardust, and that we will be gloriously united with Jesus and the saints in Heaven, and reunited with our families and loved ones. May he rest in peace. Amen.

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

Fall River Deanery to hold Lenten Mission March 14-17

FALL RIVER — Faithful in the Fall River area will be able to attend any or all of eight Lenten mission talks sponsored by parishes in the Fall River Deanery.

Themed, “Living Mercy: Helping Us Embrace the Year of Mercy,” the daily sessions, running from March 14-17, will be directed by Father Thomas Washburn, a Franciscan Friar of the Immaculate Conception Province and a native of New Bedford.

Ordained to the priesthood in 2000, Father Washburn is currently the executive secretary of the EnglishSpeaking Conference of Franciscan Provincial

Ministers. He is also author of the blog, “A Friar’s Life.”

Father Washburn will present a mission talk on each of the days during the 12:05 p.m. Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral (a condensed version of that evenings presentation).

The Sacrament of Reconciliation will be available each evening at 6 p.m. with Mass and a mission talk at 7 p.m.

March 14 at St. Bernadette Parish, Fall River.

March 15 at St. Bernard Parish, Assonet.

March 16 at St. John of God Parish, Somerset.

March 17 at St. Anthony of the Desert Parish (Maronite Mass) in Fall River.

Diocesan school leaders attend Parents Alliance for Catholic Education conference WORCESTER — To educate Catholic school leaders about the various public resources that the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care provides to Catholic students and families, the Parents Alliance for Catholic Education recently sponsored a conference at the College of the Holy Cross that brought together more than 70 Catholic school leaders from across the state.

In partnership with the EEC, PACE provided to participants an all-day opportunity to learn how their schools might become voucher and state contract eligible and, thereby, also become more accessible to low-income families.

The day included a key-

note address by Marie St. Fleur, a state and national early education public policy leader. In her remarks, St. Fleur emphasized the importance of early education in forming children’s capacity for the kind of learning that is essential for their academic and career success.

In a post-conference evaluation, one participant commented, “I appreciate the opportunity to have a wealth of information presented to us by the people in the state charged with running these [early education] programs.”

To capitalize on the widely expressed appreciation of conference participants, PACE will provide to them over the next weeks and months follow-

up support and technical assistance.

“This was such a valuable day for me. I learned so much and am anxious to learn more,” another conference participant commented. Accordingly, PACE looks forward to sponsoring more conferences and fostering even greater collaboration in the future between the public sector and our Catholic schools.

Steve Perla, interim executive director of PACE, lauded the Department of Early Education and Care for its strong support of a mixed delivery system, which is inclusive of Catholic schools and for its role in making the conference such an enormous success.

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

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Youth Pages

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Please Sir, I want some more

t’s Lent again! Man, that snuck up on me quickly. I know it is an early Lent and Easter this year but I feel like I just caught my breath from Christmas and it was already time to fast. And of course it’s time to pray and give alms.

I think most of us are aware of the three pillars of the Lenten season.

They are fasting, prayer and almsgiving. But I think that most of us focus on the first one. Every year around Ash Wednesday you will hear people asking, “So what are you giving up for Lent?”

Fasting and abstinence are one of the precepts of the Church. Often when we “give up” something from Lent we are abstaining. Fasting is more of moderation of something.

Fasting and abstinence help us to be more disciplined and hopefully that will reflect in all areas of our lives.

When I spoke to my freshmen about Lent and

I told them to be realistic in the fasting and abstaining. If they are someone who watches five episodes of Netflix a day, then giving up Netflix might be too hard for them and they may get discouraged quickly and give up. However, if they switch it to three episodes, fast from it but not abstain, that might be a more realistic sacrifice that they can continue for 40 days.

Either way our thoughts of Lent have been so tied into fasting and abstinence. Many non-Catholics that I know have gotten into the practice of fasting for Lent. This is a great gift for us as Christians to learn temperance and moderation.

But Lent is so much more and I think that we do not often remember to take advantage of the other two pillars.

At Bishop Stang High

School, we gave the students tags that said “fasting,” “prayer,” or “almsgiving,” and ask them to write on them what they were doing for Lent. I had to go to the copier

Be Not Afraid

By Amanda Tarantelli

so many times to print out copies for the fasting ones but not the prayer and almsgiving tags. We have about twice as many things being given up here at Stang as we do prayer and almsgiving.

If we are fasting or abstaining from things or food for Lent (and Netflix seems to be the number one sacrifice this year) the other two pillars should come naturally.

If we have more time because we have given things up, then we can spend more time and

prayer and giving.

There are three major categories of prayer: Vocal prayer, meditation and contemplative. And the great news? You can keep your technology! There are so many great apps and websites that can help you to pray more during Lent. And just like fasting and abstinence, it does not have to be some grand gesture that is going to be too hard. I told my students if you don’t normally pray the Rosary then start small with it. If you add a decade of the Rosary every day during Lent then by the time Lent is over you will have prayed the Rosary eight times. How great is that? You go from never praying the Rosary to praying it eight times in a season.

Prayer is essential in our relationship with God and Lent is a great opportunity to strengthen that relationship. And

The Anchor is always pleased to run news and photos about our diocesan youth. If schools, parish Religious Education programs or homeschoolers have newsworthy stories and photos they would like to share with our readers, send them to: schools@ anchornews.org 16

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fasting and prayer lead so naturally into the last pillar of Lent, almsgiving. If we have improved ourselves by sacrificing something important, improved our relationship with God by spending more time with Him, then next we improve the lives of our neighbors.

Use Lent as the time of year when you purge your closet. If you haven’t worn it since last Lent, you probably won’t wear it again. Go to the dollar store and get some gloves, hats, socks, razors, water bottles, granola bars and lotion and make homeless survival kits. Keep them in your car and if you see someone in need, hand them out. If you are a teen-ager and your parents do all the cooking, cook dinner once a week for them instead. Even if it’s Easy Mac and chicken nuggets, I’m sure they will appreciate the night off from cooking. Volunteer, volunteer, volunteer!

Give back some of your time and treasures to help those less fortunate and we can always find someone less fortunate.

Joyfully enter into the rest of this season. While sacrifice is a word that often comes with a negative connotation, we should not spend this season pouting.

Spend what is left of this season joyfully praying, fasting and giving!

Anchor columnist Amanda Tarantelli has been a campus minister at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth since 2005. She is married, a diehard sports fan, and resides in Cranston, R.I. She can be reached at atarantelli@ bishopstang.com.

Youth Pages

Catholic Schools Week events at St. Francis Xavier School in Acushnet culminated in a basketball showdown with the students vs. staff/parents game at the CYO center. Cheering squads were in full force for both teams.

Pictured are the parents and staff members who played a hard game together to celebrate the fun teamwork of the school community.

St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro had an event- and fun-filled week for Catholic Schools Week. For one of the events the students attended Mass and celebrated the feast of the Presentation by adorning the church with candlelight to recognize that Jesus is the Light of the world. Here, sixth-graders bring up candles to place around the church.

Kindergarten students at Holy Family-Holy Name School in New Bedford braved the cold and snow to help out their feathered friends. Pine cone “bird feeders” were made in class with peanut butter and bird seed. Then they were carried over to the rectory and hung on different trees in Father Robert J. Powell’s yard. Father was pleased to find some delicious “meals” available for the winter birds who visit him.

As part of Catholic Schools Week students from St. James-St. John School in New Bedford enjoyed a field trip to a bowling alley.

In celebration of Catholic Schools Week, the students at St. Mary’s School in Taunton participated in a community service initiative where they collected fruit and made fruit baskets that were delivered to various institutions throughout our local community. The fruit baskets were delivered to the staff of various local nursing homes, police stations, fire stations and hospitals in appreciation for the contribution and dedication that the staff members give to these institutions.

Pre-kindergartners at Our Lady of Lourdes School in Taunton recently enjoyed some Mardi Gras fun.

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Youth Pages

Bishop Feehan High School (Attleboro) senior band member DanBishop Connolly High School performing arts teacher Gregory iel Marshall and senior chorus member Julianne Fournier were Cooney directed the Fall River school’s choir at its recent Winter recently selected to participate in the Massachusetts Music EduFine Arts Night. The event showcased a creative mix of student cator’s All-State Festival to be held at the historic Symphony Hall talent, including choral selections, performing arts monologues, in Boston. Marshall plays the concert marimba and Fournier is a a short film, an art gallery, and a scene from the Bishop Connolly soprano.

Theatre Company’s production of “The Crucible.”

Hannah Friedman, a junior at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth entered the American Kidney Fund’s annual art contest, and her piece was selected for the fund’s 2016 calendar and Thank You Card cover for donors. Hannah shared that she saw the flyer at her doctor’s office in Boston, and her dad encouraged her to enter. She said art is a hobby of hers, and she takes art classes at Bishop Stang and privately. The fourth-graders at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro recently She stated she was “hon- presented their annual President’s Presentation. Each student dressed up as ored that my work was se- a particular president and gave a two-minute speech about the importance lected by the American Kid- of their presidency. In addition, the students rapped to a special song that included all the presidents and made poster boards about their president’s life. ney Fund.”

Faith Piazza, principal of St. Joseph School in Fairhaven, recently spoke to the students during a rally for National School Choice Week.

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During Catholic Schools Week students at Holy Name School in Fall River made Valentine’s Day cards for veterans. Here, second-graders wore their 100-day crowns while creating the cards.

Pair of Dominican Sisters celebrate century of life, faith, service

den on the grounds of the headquarters in Dighton well into her 90s.

Paris to go to the motherSister Marie Thérèse Sister Mary Thomas After she professed at house,” said Sister Marie survived the war, ending also has a rich history, but 45 years old in 1961, Sister Thérèse. up back in Paris, studyaccording to Sister Marie When the small group ing to become a nurse, William Lapointe, she’s re- Mary Thomas came to the of nuns arrived at the and working at a hospital luctant to talk about many United States that same year. She continued her motherhouse in Tours, for more than 20 years. of the details. they discovered the GerShe then received a call to Born in Scotland, Sister education and held myriad of jobs that included being mans were occupying the return to the motherhouse Mary Thomas was an amassistant executive director area so they had to leave in Tours, where she disbulance driver in England of Saint Anne’s Hospital immediately. Having no covered she was being sent during World War II. She and administrator of Maarranged transportation, to America. After arriving also worked at a school as Sister Marie Thérèse and in Fall River, she found a a gym teacher in England, donna Manor. She was also active in the St. Mary’s two others becoming Cathedral Choir. set off on close to two In the mid-80s, said foot. The goal nuns who Sister Marie William, “I was to get to also worked a safer locaat the school. believe Sister Mary Thomas started Hospice in Fall tion, “but we Sister MaRiver. I believe she was one were three rie William of the first Hospice nurses. young nuns” thinks those When she saw a need, she walking friendships went with it. It was the time alone. may have “One day inspired Sis- that Hospice was starting and she went right with it.” we were ter Thomas She volunteered at an walking, sudMore to oncology clinic at Saint denly French embrace Anne’s up until two years military her calling, ago, said Sister Marie Wilcame up though it liam. When the clinic was and stopped took until a nonprofit, Sister Marie us,” she reaching William recalled how said, stating her mid-30s Sister Thomas More would the soldiers before she hold fund-raisers for the thought they entered the clinic, including an annual were GerDominican golf tournament where she man. “They Sisters reliwould sit under her umstopped the gious order. brella and sell tickets. three of us “She was Sister Thomas More was and we were not young noted for all her comsitting on the when she enmunity work, receiving a grass, and we tered. I think few awards including the tried to ex- Sister Mary Thomas More is all smiles as she listens to fellow she was 35 member of the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation, Sister Taunton Area Chamber of plain. I tried or 37, about Marie William Lapointe, talk about her life story.

(Photo by to explain that,” recalled Commerce Woman of the Becky Aubut) how I was Sister Marie Year in 1990.

Now Sister Thomas French and William.

More is content to sit and that I was born here.” familiar connection conSister Marie William relax, and those she has The soldiers kept their versing with the Canadian said that Sister Mary touched through her years guns at the ready as the nuns in Dighton. “For Thomas must have stories of service often visit her. three nuns were interrome, it was something of from her time during the “She had many friends. gated. Already exhausted France,” she said. war, but “she would never She was well liked by from days of walking, and She worked at Saint talk about that; much of many, many people. People after being questioned all Anne’s Hospital, and then her life was private. She is still visit her. She doesn’t day, they reached a breakMadonna Manor in North a very private woman.” talk much, just sits and ing point, she said: “If you Attleboro: “I was there to Still, Sister Thomas watches the outdoors, don’t believe us, you can receive the first patient,” More never let go of her often saying how lucky she shoot us. We couldn’t do she said of the then-newly- appreciation for fitness by is to be here,” said Sister anymore. Finally they let built facility. She then keeping up her exercises, Marie William. “She apus go because I was able to worked at Marian Manor especially swimming. She preciates the care she is give them enough inforin Taunton before retiring also was a great gardener, getting. She appreciates mation.” in 2001. working in her little garcontinued from page three

the scenery. She’s so grateful. When you see her look out the window, you feel that she’s going back in time and thinking about so many things.”

And though neither nun has unlocked the secret of immortality, Sister Marie Thérèse credits her gene pool for her longevity and health. Her mother lived to 103, and she had a brother and a sister live to 100.

“I’ve had an exciting life. All the people I’ve had contact with over the years.

They have so much to teach you,” she said in her still present French accent. “The Lord has been good to me.”

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Dartmouth Knights of Columbus host Third Degree ceremony

NORTH DARTMOUTH ­­— The Knights of Columbus Father Hogan Council No. 14236 of Dartmouth recently hosted a Third Degree Ceremony at St. Julie’s Parish in North Dartmouth. The third degree exemplifies the core principle of fraternity in the order.

There were 23 candidates who attended and became full-fledged Knights of Columbus. Members of the Knights of Columbus from the greater New Bedford region attended. Among the local Knights who received the third degree were Michael Gula, Cory Cheesebro, Mike

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

Celebrant is Father John M. Sullivan, pastor of St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham.

Sunday, March 13, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Maurice O. Gauvin, pastor of Espirito Santo Parish in Fall River.

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McCormack, Steve Medeiros, Tom Daener, Andrew Hamel and Bill Villineau.

While the Knights participate in many local activities and charitable causes, they also have national and international partnerships; locally, in programs like Food for Families and Coats for Kids.

Recently, the local council partnered with other groups to collect medical equipment for the Azores and also helped beautify and clean veterans memorials around Dartmouth. Nationally and internationally it helps the Special Olympics and Global Wheelchair Mission, as well as other programs that the Knights of Columbus sponsor. The newest third degree Knights will participate in programs like these. The Father Hogan Council was founded in 2007 and has 90 members.

The Knights of Columbus is a Roman Catholic fraternal service organization with more than 15,000 councils and more than 1.9 million members in the U.S. There are also roughly 200 councils on college campuses as well.

The Knights participate in many charitable events and work with a variety of nonprofit groups to support the community. The Knights of Columbus stand for four core principles which are charity, unity, fraternity and patriotism. The Knights donated more than $173 million dollars to charity and volunteered 71.5 million hours last year and are on pace to exceed that this year. The Father Hogan Council serves the Dartmouth parishes of St. Julie’s and St. Mary’s in South Dartmouth.

Follow the council on twitter @kofc14236 and like them on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ KofC14236.

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Feb. 20 Rev. James H. Fogarty, Pastor, St. Louis, Fall River, 1922 Rev. Raymond M. Giguere, O.P., Assistant, St. Anne, Fall River, 1986 Rev. Thomas E. Morrissey, Pastor, St. Jacques, Taunton, 2006 Feb. 21 Rev. Msgr. Luiz G. Mendonca, PA, Retired Pastor, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, New Bedford, 1997 Feb. 22 Rt. Rev. Msgr. Jovite Chagnon, Founder, St. Joseph, New Bedford, 1954 Rev. Albert A. Croce, C.S.C., 2014 Feb. 24 Rev. Edward F. McIsaac, Retired Chaplain, Rose Hawthorn Lathrop Home, 2002 Feb. 25 Rev. Leo J. Ferreira, V.G., Pastor, St. Mary, Brownsville, Texas, 1988 Rev. William T. Babbitt, Assistant, St. Mary, North Attleboro, 1998 Feb. 27 Rev. Philip Gillick, Founder, St. Mary, North Attleboro, 1874 Rev. Joseph N. Hamel, Founder, St. Theresa, New Bedford, 1956 Rev. John G. Carroll, Retired Pastor, St. Margaret, Buzzards Bay, 1995 Rev. Roland B. Boule, Retired Pastor, St. Anne, New Bedford, 2005 Feb. 29 Rev. Msgr. James J. Dolan, Retired Pastor, St. Mary, Taunton, 1980 March 1 Rev. James F. Masterson, Founder, St. Patrick, Somerset, 1906 Rev. Msgr. Peter L. Damase Robert, P.R., Pastor, Notre Dame, Fall River, 1948 Rev. John McCarthy, CSC, Stonehill College, North Easton, 2003 Rev. William W. Norton, Retired Pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes Wellfleet, 2004 March 2 Rev. Antonio Berube, Pastor, St. Joseph, Attleboro, 1936 Rev. James J. Brady, Retired Pastor, St. Kilian, New Bedford, 1941 Rev. Tarcisius Dreesen, SS.CC., Sacred Hearts Monastery, Fairhaven, 1952 Rev. Alphonse E. Gauthier, Pastor, Sacred Heart, New Bedford, 1962 Rev. J. Omer Lussier, Pastor, Sacred Heart, North Attleboro, 1970 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, C.S.C., 2006 March 7 Rev. Arthur P.J. Gagnon, Pastor, Holy Rosary, New Bedford, 1958 March 8 Permanent Deacon Victor Haddad, 2014 March 9 Rev. Msgr. Henry J. Noon, V.G., Pastor, St. James, New Bedford; Vicar General, 1934-47, 1947 March 12 Rev. Aurelien L. Moreau, Pastor, St. Mathieu, Fall River, 1961 Rev. Adrien E. Bernier, Pastor, St. Mathieu, Fall River, 1989 Rev. George I. Saad, Retired Pastor, Our Lady of Purgatory, New Bedford, 1991 March 16 Rev. Francis J. Maloney. S.T.L., Pastor, St. Mary, North Attleboro, 1957 Rev. Thomas J. Tobin, C.S.C., 2006 March 17 Rev. Henry R. Creighton, SS.CC., 2004 Deacon Michael E. Murray, 2008 March 18 Rev. Robert D. Forand, C.P., West Hartford, Conn., 1989 Permanent Deacon Frank W. Mis, 2011

Mashpee food shelter thrives on hope and help

Stonehill, HCFM team for mercy event

about $1,200. When you do the math, we get about a 10 times return on our dollar.”

Noting that the food pantry serves about 100 families every week, Reilly said they try to provide enough food so a family can have three meals a day for at least five days during the week.

“It’s supposed to be once a month, but we’re very liberal with that,” he said. “They can come every week if they need to. I don’t think we’ve ever turned anyone away.”

“The average family size is three people, so that’s 300 people we’re feeding every week,” Fantasia said. “This really helps them, because they can probably save a couple of hundred bucks a week; that’s $800 a month that they can use instead to pay rent, electricity and the other necessities of life.”

On this particular Wednesday morning, the sprawling parish center of the Christ the King Parish complex is a beehive of activity as hundreds of volunteers — most of whom are members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society — scurry about filling up orders, serving coffee, chatting to clients, and addressing their needs.

“We have about 300 volunteers who help in a variety of ways,” Fantasia said. “A lot of our volunteers don’t get out of Mass until 9 a.m., so we really start getting busy between 9:30 and 10 a.m.”

In addition to the many parishioners who volunteer, Fantasia said the food pantry wouldn’t be a success without the support of pastor Msgr.

Daniel F. Hoye, who allows the St. Vincent de Paul Society to use the parish facilities.

“We’re very lucky that we’re able to use the parish hall and facilities here,” Fantasia said. “My dream one day is to have a dedicated facility, but it’s so expensive.

mately 5:30 p.m. will take place in the Martin Center following the Stations.

Those who wish to take part in the meal are asked to make reservations in advance.

The praise, Adoration and Reconciliation part of the celebration will follow the supper, at about 6:30 p.m. in the Chapel of Mary.

“We have a number of area youth ministers and groups, including some Cape Verdean groups, who will be taking part, and the invitation is open to all groups,” said Father Tony. “Groups planning on attending are also asked to RSVP. And we encourage all faithful across the Diocese of Fall River to attend any or all of the schedule of events.

continued from page two

The parish has been wonderful. They don’t charge us rent for the space and we get heat, lights and power included.”

“Our pastor is wonderful to us,” agreed Kathleen Mulherin, SVdP president.

“He lets us use this building — and we use the whole building — every week at no charge. He is very supportive.”

Among the other ministries that SVdP provides, according to Mulherin, is something known as “Needy Cases,” where individual clients meet with case workers to help them better understand and meet their financial needs.

“We have appointments or walk-ins many times — men and women who come in and need assistance, or just to talk about what’s going on in their lives,” Mulherin said. “We meet in a private room where we can talk to them. We try to see them on Wednesdays because we find if we get them in and they see the food pantry, and what a happy place it is, and how much food they can get, then they’ll come back and save money by using our food pantry.”

According to Deb Journalist, the ultimate objective of meeting with the clients is to help them help themselves.

“We’re not here to enable them, we’re not here to support them financially,” she said. “We’re here to help them in an emergency situation to guide them and teach them how to take care of themselves. Oftentimes just sitting with someone and showing them how to budget can help. It’s amazing how many people don’t know how to budget and they don’t see places where they could save.”

While Cape Cod is often viewed as an affluent area,

Journalist said people need only to look at the level of unemployment and homelessness in Hyannis over the last decade to appreciate the reality of the situation.

“I ran a business on Main Street in Hyannis for 10 years and watched the deterioration and the increase in the homeless population,” she said. “It wasn’t that they didn’t want to work, it’s that there just weren’t any jobs for them. They would line up where temporary jobs were given out and the line would be stretching out across the parking lot. It was so sad.

That’s partly why I’m here doing what I do, because I don’t want to see that continue.”

During this Jubilee Year of Mercy, Deacon Fantasia said adhering to the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy and following the example of Pope Francis is what all Catholics are called to do.

“This is exactly what Pope Francis wants us to do, and he keeps preaching that, and I think these people recognize that,” he said. “We’ve got a good crew here, we laugh a lot, but we’ve all got the same objective, mission and focus: to help these people.”

“This work is really rewarding to me, because it’s so hands on,” Reilly agreed. “It’s not just a matter of writing a check, we’re actually helping people.”

“It’s all about breaking the cycle of poverty,” added Mulherin. “The thing that makes me the happiest about being involved with the St. Vincent de Paul Society is knowing that door is always open, and when someone walks through it, there are several people here inside the building who are joyfully willing to help. It’s wonderful.”

continued from page two

“We’re hoping for a good attendance. This is a great Lenten practice.

We have never done anything like this on campus before, and the students and staff have embraced it and we hope the surrounding community will as well.”

The event is free and open to all. Groups attending, and those who would like to participate in the fellowship of soup and bread are asked to RSVP by March 14 to Kimberly Cordeiro at 508-238-1551 or email: kcordeiro@stonehill.edu.

For more information contact the Holy Cross Family Ministries Off ice at 508-238-4095 or the Stonehill College Campus Ministry Off ice at 508565-1487.

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Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese

Parishioners from St. Michael’s and St. Joseph’s St. Vincent de Paul Societies and youth groups recently came together to make blankets for the home-bound of the Fall River parishes.

Around the Diocese A Healing Mass will be celebrated March 7 at 6 p.m. in the parish center of Our Lady of Victory Parish, 230 South Main Street in Centerville. The Mass is sponsored by Our Lady of Victory Catholic Cancer Support Group, which will meet immediately following at 7 p.m. for a light supper, conversation and some Irish music. All are welcome to join them and are asked to bring a table-ready dish to share with the group. For more information about the group, call 508-362- 6909.

The Diocesan Council of Catholic Women will meet on March 12 at St. James-St. John School, 180 Orchard Street in New Bedford. Coffee and light refreshments will be served at 8:30 a.m., with the meeting to follow at 9 a.m. The speaker will be Beatriz Oliveira, developing director for the Schwartz Center. Attendees are asked to bring diapers of all sizes, including adult. For more information, call 508-672-6900.

A special Lenten program featuring Tom Kendzia entitled “The Joy of the Eucharist,” will be held on March 13 at 3 p.m. at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 47 South Sixth Street in New Bedford. For more information, call 508-982-1462.

A Healing Mass will be celebrated March 17 at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford. The Mass begins at 6:30 p.m. and includes Benediction and healing prayers.

At 5:15 p.m. there will be a holy hour including the Rosary. For more information visit www. saintanthonynewbedford.com or call 508-993-1691.

All are invited to pray the Culture of Life Chaplet on March 17 beginning at 1 p.m. in St. Jude’s Chapel of Christ the King Parish in Mashpee. Recitation is on ordinary Rosary beads and includes a brief meditation preceding each of the five decades.

Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., will be the celebrant for the feast of St. Joseph Mass to be held March 18 at 6 p.m. at St. Joseph Parish in Fairhaven. A dinner will follow at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph’s School, with all proceeds to benefit Sister Rose House. For reservations or more information, call 508-994-9714.

The Stonehill College Campus Ministry and Holy Cross Family Ministries in Easton invite all to celebrate the Jubilee Year of Mercy with prayer, praise, Adoration, Reconciliation and fellowship on March 18 beginning at 4:35 p.m. at the outdoor Social Justice Stations of the Cross. This prayer will be followed at 5:30 p.m. with a light supper of soup and bread. At 6:30 p.m. priests will be available for Reconciliation. The event is free and open to all. Groups attending are asked to please RSVP by March 14 to Kimberly Cordeiro at 508-565-1551 or kcordeiro@stonehill.edu. For directions or more information visit www.familyrosary.org/events.

St. Mary’s Parish of Fairhaven invites all to six Awakening Faith sessions, to be held on Wednesdays from 7 to 8:30 p.m. beginning April 6, free-of-charge. This six-session series includes topics such as “Spirituality: What’s the Buzz?”; “Can I Accept God’s Mercy?”; “Can the Mass Make My Life Meaningful?” and “The Church and Me.” Attendees can learn and ask questions, all in a friendly and confidential setting with other Catholics. For more information call 508-992-7300, visit www.sscc. org/stmaryfhvn or email stmarysfairhaven@comcast.net.

To submit an event for consideration in The Anchor’s “Around the Diocese” listing, send the information by email to kensouza@ anchornews.org 22

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Acushnet — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Monday from 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Tuesday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Evening prayer and Benediction is held Monday through Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

ASSONET — Beginning September 14, St. Bernard’s Parish will have Eucharistic Adoration every Monday from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed on the altar at the conclusion of 9 a.m. Mass and the church will be open all day, concluding with evening prayer and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.

ATTLEBORO — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the Adoration Chapel at St. Vincent de Paul Parish, 71 Linden Street, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

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. through November 17.

ATTLEBORO — There is a weekly time of Eucharistic Adoration Wednesdays from 7-9 p.m. at St. John the Evangelist Church on North Main Street.

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 beginning at noon until 7:45 a.m. First Saturday, concluding with Benediction and concluding with Mass at 8 a.m. buzzards Bay — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Margaret Church, 141 Main Street, Monday through Saturday, from 6:30 to 8 a.m.; and every first Friday from noon to 8 a.m. on Saturday.

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 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 — S t . M a r y ’s C h u r c h , M a i n S t . , h a s E u c h a r i s t i c A d o r a t i o n e v e r y Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the Chapel of Reconciliation, with Benediction at 11:30 a.m.

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 — St. Bernadette’s Church, 529 Eastern Ave., has continuous Eucharistic Adoration from 8 a.m. on Thursday until 8 a.m. on Saturday.

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 and concluding with 3 p.m. Benediction in the Daily Mass Chapel. A bilingual holy hour takes place from 2 to 3 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 7 a.m.

Mass, with Benediction at 4:30 p.m.

HYANNIS — St. Francis Xavier Parish in Hyannis, 347 South Street, Hyannis, has Eucharistic Adoration from noon to 3 p.m., daily Monday through Friday.

MANSFIELD — St. Mary’s Parish, 330 Pratt Street, has Eucharistic Adoration every First Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with Benediction at 5:45 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. Please use the side entrance.

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.

NEW BEDFORD — St. Lawrence Martyr Parish, 565 County Street, holds Eucharistic Adoration in the side chapel Fridays from 7:30-11:45 a.m. ending with a simple Benediction NORTH DARTMOUTH — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Julie Billiart Church, 494 Slocum Road, every Tuesday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., ending with Benediction. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available at this time.

NORTH DIGHTON — Eucharistic Adoration takes place every Wednesday following 8:00 a.m. Mass and concludes with Benediction at 5 p.m. Eucharistic Adoration also 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.

NORTH EASTON — A Holy Hour for Families including Eucharistic Adoration is held every Friday from 3-4 p.m. at The Father Peyton Center, 518 Washington Street.

ORLEANS — St. Joan of Arc Parish, 61 Canal Road, has Eucharistic Adoration every First Friday starting after the 8 a.m. Mass and ending with Benediction at 11:45 a.m. The Sacrament of the Sick is also available immediately after the 8 a.m. Mass.

OSTERVILLE — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 76 Wianno Avenue on First Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to noon.

SEEKONK ­— Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish has perpetual Eucharistic Adoration seven days a week, 24 hours a day in the chapel at 984 Taunton Avenue. For information call 508-336-5549.

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.

Taunton — Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament takes place every First Friday at Annunciation of the Lord, 31 First Street. Exposition begins following the 8 a.m. Mass. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed, and Adoration will continue throughout the day. Confessions are heard from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m.

Rosary and Benediction begin at 6:30 p.m.

WAREHAM — Eucharistic Adoration at St. Patrick’s Church takes place 9 a.m. Thursday through 7 p.m.

Friday. Adoration is held in our Adoration Chapel in the lower Parish Hall. ~ PERPETUAL EUCHARISTIC ADORATION ~ East Sandwich — The Corpus Christi Parish Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, East Sandwich. Use the Chapel entrance on the side of the church.

NEW BEDFORD — Our Lady’s Chapel, 600 Pleasant Street, offers Eucharistic Adoration seven days a week, 24 hours a day. For information call 508-996-8274.

SEEKONK ­— Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish has perpetual Eucharistic Adoration seven days a week, 24 hours a day in the chapel at 984 Taunton Avenue. For information call 508-336-5549.

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 are invited to sign up to cover open hours. For open hours, or to sign up call 508-430-4716.

Vatican City (CNA/EWTN News) — God’s patience towards sinners is without limit, yet the time for conversion is now, Pope Francis said during a recent Sunday Angelus address at the Vatican.

“It is never too late to convert, but it is urgent, it is now! Let us begin today,” said the pope to the crowds in St. Peter’s Square.

Delivering his remarks before leading those present in the Marian prayer, the pope spoke on Jesus’ “invincible patience,” explaining how God’s “unyielding concern for sinners” should provoke impatience in ourselves.

“Have you thought of God’s patience? Have you even thought of His unyielding concern for sinners, how this should provoke impatience against ourselves?”

“It is never to late to convert! Never! Up until the last moment: The patience of God Who waits for us.”

Pope Francis recounted the story from St. Therese of Lisieux, who prayed for the conversion of a criminal who had been condemned to death, and had refused interventions from the priest.

It was not until his final moment that he took the crucifix held by the priest and kissed it.

“The patience of God! And He does the same with us, with all of us!” the pope said. “And this is His mercy.”

Reflecting on the day’s readings, Pope Francis remarked how everyday newspapers report on violence and catastrophes.

He tied this to the Gospel reading which refers to two tragic events of the time: the Romans sacking the temple, and the collapse of the Siloam tower in Jerusalem which killed 18 people.

The pope says Jesus knows His listeners are “supersti-

Pope Francis: It’s never too late for conversion tious” in interpreting such events as punishment for sins.

“Jesus definitively refutes this point of view, because God does not permit tragedies to punish sins,” he said, but “asserts that those poor victims were no worse than others.”

Rather, Jesus uses these examples as warnings that sinners will perish as these victims did if they do not repent, the pope added, citing the Gospel.

Even today, there is the temptation to blame disasters on the victims, “or even on God Himself,” the pontiff said.

However, in order to take the path of the Gospel, Jesus “calls us to change our heart, to radically make an about turn in our life, abandoning our compromises with evil,” the pope said, citing hypocrisy as an example. “I think we all have in us a little bit of hypocrisy,” he said in an off-the-cuff remark.

Stressing the need for conversion, the pope warned against the temptation toward self-justification: “From what do we need to convert?

Are we not all good people, believers, even sufficiently practicing?”

Despite being like the fig tree which fails to produce fruit, Jesus “with limitless patience” delays killing the tree for another year, Pope Francis observed.

He reflected on the Jubilee Year of Mercy as a year of grace, the period in the Church and our lives before Christ’s “glorious return,” and which is “punctuated by a certain number of Lents which offer us opportunities for repentance and Salvation.”

The Jubilee of Mercy is an Extraordinary Holy Year which officially commenced December 8 — the Solemni-

ty of the Immaculate Conception — with the opening of the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica. It will close Nov. 20, 2016 with the Solemnity of Christ the King.

After the recitation of the Angelus, Pope Francis reflected on the ongoing crisis of refugees fleeing from “war and other inhumane situations.”

He especially acknowledged Greece and other countries “on the front line” for their work in offering “generous assistance” to those crossing their borders, and called on the international community for a “unanimous response” in helping distribute the weight of the crisis.

“For this reason, we need to firmly and unreservedly focus on negotiations,” he said.

The pontiff went on to

welcome “with hope” the current cease-fire in Syria involving government and rebel forces, which had entered its second day.

“I invite all to pray so that this window of opportunity can give relief to the suffering people, encouraging the necessary humanitarian aid, and open the way to

dialogue and much desired peace,” he said.

Pope Francis went on to extend his “closeness” to the people of Fiji, where tropical cyclone Winston killed more than 40 people and left tens of thousands more homeless.

“I pray for the victims and for those engaged with the relief efforts.”

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To advertise in The Anchor, contact Wayne Powers at 508-675-7151 or Email waynepowers@anchornews.org Diocesan office offers course on Laudato Si’ continued from page five

Sister Thomas has been involved in Bible sharing sessions through the Office of Faith Formation, and used that format for her exploration of the Laudato Si’. She wanted to keep the group to 15 or less, and the current session has eight members that came primarily from her Bible sharing sessions.

The six-week session fell into place as she realized that each session would focus on one of the six chapters of the encyclical.

“The focus is not on my teaching, the document speaks for itself,” said Sister

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Thomas. “It’s facilitating their encounter with it; their experience of Creation and the issues the pope focuses on.”

The introduction focused on St. Francis, and the group uses St. Francis’ “Canticle of Creation” as an opening prayer.

“We talked about St. Francis and what he meant to them, as an introduction,” said Sister Thomas. “The first chapter goes into the [current] conditions, which is kind of heavy. The issue of pollution, needing available clean water, and biodiversity — those three issues

The Anchor - March 4, 2016

are prominent in that first chapter. People spoke about their concerns, their encounter with these issues, how it’s affected them, so it’s a discussion and reflection.”

Each participant reads the upcoming chapter at home from either their own printed copy or a copy Sister Thomas provides for a nominal cost.

She likes to keep the session small, and encourages members to participate in each session from start to finish.

Having a group stay with the same members helps build community “and I feel that’s important,” said Sister Thomas. “I know that each chapter is separate, but there’s something about being able to share openly with each other. What has been created in our Bible sharing, I can’t begin to explain how rich it is for those people who are free and able to share the depths of their faith and Spiritual life with each other because they trust each other.”

Each session has had lively discussion and are great, she

added, saying that Laudato Si’ is about “head and heart.”

“There’s a line in there: ‘In order for there to be change, there has to be proper motivation and education,’” said Sister Thomas. “I see in that line that yes, we have to be educated about the issues and that’s important. We have to know what’s going on in the world, and what’s affecting climate change and pollution.

“But there has to be motivation to change, and that comes from Spirituality. That comes from going inside and realizing our connection to all of Creation, to each other, and creating a passion about that, that is influenced by our education. There has to be both. This kind of a session is where I try to connect the head and the heart, that it isn’t all one.”

Sister Thomas also encouraged others to create a group within their own parish, and help spread the message of the pope.

“There are others who can do this; I’m no expert,”

she said. “I’m just an educator who has a passion about this. I have read a lot and done some programs, but someone who has that same passion and understanding, and knows how to facilitate groups could do this.

“I’m just really pleased I’m able to do this. I feel we’re really at the beginning stages and we need to move more rapidly. This does not just have to be for Catholics. This could very well be an ecumenical gathering.

This encyclical is written for everyone living on the planet, that’s the way the pope says it. We don’t need to be just with Catholics, or even just Christians. We have a common home and common destiny here of trying to heal the wounds of earth, and to hear the cries of the poor and those who are wounded by these issues.”

Those interested in participating in a session on Laudato Si’, contact Rose Mary Saraiva at the Faith Formation Office at 508-678-2828.