03.08.13

The Anchor Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, USA

Friday, March 8, 2013

Thank you Papa

February 28, 2013

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Bishop Coleman, priests, faithful gather to honor Pope Emeritus

FALL RIVER — Just two hours before Pope Benedict XVI’s pontificate drew to a close, Fall River Bishop George W. Coleman celebrated a Mass for the Holy Father; for his health and well-being, and in thanksgiving for his service to the Church.

Scores of diocesan priests, deacons and faithful gathered at St. Mary’s Cathedral, as a sign of solidarity, union and support for the man who led the Catholic Church and her members for the last eight years.

In his homily, Bishop Coleman lauded the depth and passion Pope Benedict had for God, the Church and the faithful in his teachings and writings over the last eight years. The homily, in its entirety, follows: “Dear Friends: As we gather today to celebrate the Eucharist, we thank God for Pope Benedict XVI and his ministry of service to the Church as Bishop of Rome and Successor of St. Peter. Becoming pope at the age of 78, he expended his energies to help the Church meet the needs of the world today by bringing the message

of the Gospel to the people of the world. On the day after his election as pope in 2005, at a Mass he celebrated with the cardinals who elected him, he told us what he would attempt to accomplish. He said: ‘The Church today must revive within herself an awareness of the task to present the world again with the voice of the One Who said: “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” I know that my task is to bring the light of Christ to shine before the men and women of today: not my own light but that of Christ.

‘With this awareness, I address myself to everyone, even to those who follow other religions or who are simply seeking an answer to the fundamental questions of life and have not yet found it. I address everyone with simplicity and affection, to assure them that the Church wants to continue to build an open and sincere dialogue with them, in a search for the true good of mankind and of society.’

Bishop George W. Coleman gives a homily praising the former Pope Benedict XVI, now pope emeritus, during a Mass in his honor at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River on February 28, the day of Benedict’s resignation from the papacy. (Photos by Kenneth J. Souza)

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Pope Benedict brought the light of Christ to millions of people in every part of the world through his lived witness and his teaching. I was privileged to be present in 2005 for World Youth Day together with more than one million young people in Cologne, Germany. Among them were a number of young men and women from our own Diocese of Fall River.

One evening Pope Benedict offered a meditation to the young people during Eucharistic Adoration.

This is a brief quotation from that beautiful meditation. In describing the Church, he told the young people, ‘The Church is like a human family, but at the same time it is also the great family of God, through which He establishes an overarching communion and unity that embraces every continent, culture and nation. So we are glad to belong to this great family that we see here; we are glad to have brothers, sisters, and friends all over the world.

‘Here in Cologne we discover the joy of belonging to a family as vast as the world, including Heaven and earth, the past, the present, the future and every part of the earth. In this great band of pilgrims we walk side by side with Christ, we walk with the Star that enlightens our history.’

In his homilies, addresses and writings, Pope Benedict offers us deep insight into the Christian life and, through the witness of his life, he offers us an example of someone dedicated to Christ and His Church.

The first encyclical letter of his pontificate, ‘God is Love,’ summarizes the pope’s teachings on love.

He reminds us that since God has loved us first, love is less a ‘command’ than the response to the gift of God’s love. For Pope Benedict, love encompasses the whole of human existence. We need to both give love and receive it as a gift. The Eucharist, he

says, includes the reality both of being loved and of loving others in turn.

Opening his pontificate with a letter on love was, on his part, an ‘act of love’ for the Church. God’s love is so fundamental to human existence that the pope did not hide in the opening statements the reason for this letter, which would set the tone of his pontificate: ‘to speak of the love which God lavishes upon us and which we in turn must share with others.’

It is the awareness of God’s love for him, for the Church, for every human being, that is so evident in Pope Benedict’s teachings and writings.

Yesterday, at his last public audience and in the presence a hundreds of thousands of well-wishers, he shared his personal thoughts, reflecting back on the day of his election as pope.

These were the thoughts found in his heart of that occasion: ‘Lord, what do You ask of me? It is a great weight that You place on my shoulders, but, if You ask me, at Your Word I will throw out the nets, sure that You will guide me.’ He added, ‘Each day the Lord has been close to me: each day I could feel His presence.’

All of us have been blessed by this humble and courageous man who served the Church in an exceptional way during the past eight years. Each time we gather to celebrate Mass his name has been mentioned in the Eucharistic Prayer, because we are in communion with him and with all the faithful throughout the world.

In recent months, he admitted that he felt his strength decrease, while asking God to enlighten him with His light to make him make the right decision — not for his sake, but for the good of the Church. There is no doubt that Pope Benedict has a deep love for the Church. Let us continue to pray for him and to pray for the Church for which we, like the pope, have a deep and profound love.”

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 57, No. 9

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Surrounded by several diocesan priests, Bishop George W. Coleman celebrates a special Liturgy in honor of the former Pope Benedict XVI, now pope emeritus, at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River on February 28.

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Beauty in Liturgy the ‘great legacy’ of Benedict XVI

Vatican City (CNA/EWTN News) — Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI will be remembered in Church history for his work to recover the beauty of traditional Liturgy, according to Bishop James D. Conley.

The head of the Lincoln, Neb. diocese, who has been reading Benedict’s writings on Liturgy for decades, said these works “will remain a great contribution to liturgical theology for years to come.”

“His great legacy,” Bishop Conley told CNA, “will be the re-discovery of the beauty of the traditional Liturgy.”

Benedict awakened a “new way” of looking at the ordinary form of the Mass — the Liturgy which came after the 1960s Second Vatican Council — “with a greater attempt to be more attentive to the rubrics.”

In the former pontiff’s view, Mass should be celebrated with beauty, dignity, and in continuity with the tradition of the Church, Bishop Conley noted.

Benedict’s Liturgical legacy also includes his “blessing” of those “who have a great attachment to the old Mass” and who are in union with the Holy See, the bishop said.

In 2007, Pope Benedict released a directive titled “Summorum pontificum,” which in a “watershed moment,” gave every priest permission to say Mass using the 1962, or pre-Vatican II Missal.

“He made it one of his priorities to introduce the ‘hermeneutic of continuity,’ trying to show that the pre-conciliar Liturgy of the 1962 Missal is the same Liturgy as the Roman Missal of Pope Paul VI,” the bishop explained.

Pope Benedict “allowed the traditions to harmonize so the cross-pollination could take place; so the very best of the reforms of the post-conciliar Liturgy could be enhanced and influenced, by an open, unbiased acceptance of the Mass that preceded it.”

Bishop Conley believes that Pope Benedict has allowed the pre-conciliar Liturgy to flourish alongside of the post-conciliar Liturgy “in a hope that some of the transcendence, the beauty, the tradition, the Latin” will permeate the new Liturgy.

The pope’s own manner of celebrating Mass, including subtle “symbolic gestures” have “sent a message” and have had “a catechetical value” for priests and faithful, said Bishop Conley.

These gestures include distributing Communion to the faithful kneeling; beautiful vestments and those which had fallen into disuse; ensuring a cross and candles are on the altar; and celebrating facing the same direction as the faithful, all elements of a “reform of the reform of the Liturgy.”

“He even created a new way of looking at the two traditions,” reflected Bishop Conley, “the extraordinary form and the ordinary form.” Pope Benedict coined these terms in “Summorum pontificum,” to refer to pre- and post-Vatican II Liturgies respectively.

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“They’re two parts of the same form, and of the same Roman rite: that’s what he really wanted to emphasize by that change in language.”

Transcendence and beauty Pope Benedict has long been “trying to recover that sense of transcendence and beauty of the Liturgy,” reflected the bishop.

Part of this effort was his involvement in the translation of the third edition of the Roman Missal. Bishop Conley noted the former Roman pontiff’s concern that the Latin prayers be translated both accurately and “also with a sense of beauty in the language.”

The bishop also noted Pope Benedict’s creation in November of a “Pontifical Academy for Latin.” He sees this as tied to the pontiff’s desire to increase the use of Latin in the Church’s life, including in her Liturgy.

Bishop Conley also noted how Pope Benedict’s vision was shaped by the Liturgical Movement of the early 20th century, an effort that called for a reform of the Church’s worship, led largely by Benedictines.

“He knew the great players of the Liturgical Movement back before the council,” the bishop said.

One of his major writings on the Liturgy was his 2000 work “The Spirit of the Liturgy.” That hearkened back to a book of the same name by Father Romano Guardini, known as one of those “great players.”

In “The Spirit of the Liturgy,” Benedict — as a theologian writing before his rise to the papacy — encouraged a “New Liturgical Movement” that would recall the best elements of the first Liturgical Movement.

Benedict’s concern with beauty and Liturgy is not one of mere aesthetics, Bishop Conley noted, but flows from a recognition that Liturgical prayer is the “source and summit” of the Christian life, as the Second Vatican Council taught.

“A lot of people are talking about the impact that he’s had on the Church, and you certainly have to say that the Liturgy is going to be one; primarily because he took such a personal interest in it and he believed that everything flows from prayer,” said Bishop Conley.

“That’s what he said when he announced his resignation, that he made this decision after deep prayer.

And now he’s going to a life of deep meditation and contemplation, and all that centers on the Eucharist, and the Liturgical worship of the Church, which he very much has a profound love for.”

A continuing influence Doctor Horst Buchholz, director of music at the St. Louis archdiocese, told CNA that Pope Benedict has offered such a wealth of teaching on the Liturgy that his influence has yet to come to full fruition.

“There has been no pope since Pius X, or even before, with such a fervent love for Liturgy and sacred music like Benedict XVI. We still have to accept, digest, and adapt many of Benedict’s thoughts and

directives on Liturgy and sacred music,” he said.

Buchholz commended Pope Benedict’s example of including the use of the Gradual at his recent Masses in St. Peter’s Basilica. The Gradual is an ancient form of singing the psalm between the readings that may replace the responsorial psalm.

“The Gradual is rarely, rarely ever sung, so that is a very good sign, that people are even aware that there is an option like that,” largely through the example of the pope’s Masses.

Illustration, not imposition Jeffrey Tucker, publications director for the Church Music Association of America, agreed that Pope Benedict has led by example in Liturgy.

“I knew he would show us the beauty of the Roman rite in a way people hadn’t seen it before, and inspire people through example,” he said to CNA. Tucker called Pope Benedict a liberal, “in the best sense of that term.” The Roman pontiff provided “a kind of license” for the pre-conciliar Liturgy, he said, and integrated “the reformed Mass into the tradition of the Roman rite more generally.”

“The reforms at St. Peter’s Masses and (papal) Liturgy generally have been astonishing, extraordinary, especially from a musical standpoint,” Tucker said.

He pointed particularly to the use of the Introit, the official text from the psalms meant to be sung at the beginning of Mass, at every large Mass said at St. Peter’s recently.

“He’s worked to make the Roman rite more true to itself, which is very encouraging for those of us at the grass roots level, because now we can point to papal Liturgies as a useful example of what we’re seeking to accomplish in our own parish lives.”

Tucker praised the fact that while Pope Benedict did make minor changes in Liturgical laws, he recognized that “beauty itself, once it’s liberated, compels belief in a sense.” He described the pope as working not through imposition, but with “inspiration, illustration, example — putting beauty on display and creating a kind of global hunger for solemnity and seriousness, and ritual.

Charles Cole, director of the schola at the London Oratory, told Vatican Radio that “under the pontificate of Benedict XVI there has been a particular focus on the relationship of the Liturgy and music and this remarkable heritage and its grown to ever greater prominence.”

In 2007 Pope Benedict wrote an apostolic exhortation on the Eucharist, “Sacramentum Caritatis,” cementing some of his teachings on the Liturgy into the Magisterium.

Writing for The Catholic Herald, Dom Alcuin Reid, a Benedictine monk, said that “his conviction expressed therein, that ‘everything related to the Eucharist should be marked by beauty,’ was reflected in papal Liturgies.

These became master classes on how to celebrate the modern Liturgy in continuity with tradition, where the best of the old and of the new serve to raise our minds and hearts to God.” Bishop Conley concluded with CNA by remembering the pope’s constant example of reverence and beauty in celebrating the Liturgy.

“When I first came to Rome in 1989 as a priest-student, on Thursday mornings he would celebrate Mass in a chapel of the proto-martyrs inside the Vatican.”

“It would be a Latin Novus Ordo Mass, always Novus Ordo, but always celebrated very reverently and with a great sense of transcendence. So not only by his writings, but by the way he celebrated Mass, he was teaching.”

Pope Benedict begins emeritus life; cardinals begin ‘sede vacante’ jobs

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — After Pope Benedict XVI officially became pope emeritus, he ate dinner, watched the television news and strolled through the lake-view rooms of the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said he spoke March 1 with Archbishop Georg Ganswein, the retired pope’s secretary, who said the mood in the villa after the pontificate ended was “relaxed” and his boss slept well.

After watching two news programs, Pope Benedict expressed his gratitude to the media, because he said the coverage of his last day as pope helped people participate in the event, Father Lombardi said.

The papal secretary said Pope Benedict celebrated Mass at 7 a.m. March 1 as normal, read his breviary, had breakfast and then began reading more of the messages he had received in the last days of his pontificate. He expected to stroll

through the villa gardens, praying his Rosary, in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, back at the Vatican, officials from the College of Cardinals had a series of tasks to perform at the beginning of the “sede vacante,” the period when there is no pope.

The most symbolic tasks were carried out by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the camerlengo or chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, and his assistants. During the sede vacante, the chamberlain is charged with administering and safeguarding the temporal goods of the Church.

Gathered with others in the offices of the “apostolic chamber,” Cardinal Bertone asked the time.

At 8 p.m. exactly he was handed a “ferula,” a red velvet-covered scepter, as a sign of his authority.

The cardinal led the staff in a brief prayer to God: “Give Your Church a pope acceptable to You.” Carrying the ferula, he and his aides went into the private papal apartments. They made sure the

Pope’s last words: Thank you for your friendship and love

Castel Gandolfo, Italy (CNA/EWTN News) — After the 15-minute helicopter trip to Castel Gandolfo, Pope Benedict XVI offered a word of thanks to the thousands of people who traveled there to support him in has last hours as pope.

“I am happy to be with you, surrounded by the beauty of Creation and your sympathy that does so much good for me. Thank you for your friendship and love,” the pope said at around 5:30 p.m. from the balcony of his villa.

“You know that today is different than previous ones. I’m no longer the pope. Until 8 p.m. I am, but then afterwards I am no longer pope of the Catholic Church,” he said.

Pope Benedict then offered a window into how he sees this stage of his life.

“I’m simply a pilgrim that is starting the last stage of his pilgrimage on Earth,” he remarked,

“but I would still like with my heart, with my love, with my prayer, with my reflection, with all my inner strength to work for the common good of the Church and of humanity, and I feel very supported by your sympathy.”

“Let’s go ahead together with the Lord for the good of the Church and of the world,” he said as he finished his brief greeting.

Pope Benedict XVI then gave his last papal blessing to the crowd.

“Thank you. And now I impart to you the Lord’s blessing with my whole heart. May God bless you Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Thank you and good night. Thanks to all of you.”

door to the small private elevator was locked, then stretched tape across the elevator door and stamped it with seals.

Withdrawing from the apartment, they deadbolted the main door with a large key, then strung a red ribbon through the handles. An aide, using a glue gun, sealed the ribbon’s knot.

The next day, Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata, vice chamberlain, went to the seldom-used papal apartments at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the pope’s cathedral, and sealed those as well, Father Lombardi said.

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, wrote almost immediately after 8 p.m. to Vatican nuncios and other diplomatic representatives around the world, officially informing them of the sede vacante.

In one of his first acts as dean March 1, Cardinal Sodano wrote to each of the world’s 207 cardinals — including those over age 80 and ineligible to vote in a conclave — notifying them of “the vacancy of the Apostolic See because of the renunciation presented on the part of Pope Benedict XVI.” He also asked them to come to the Vatican to begin the pre-conclave meetings, known as general congregations, March 4 at 9:30 a.m.

The general congregations will continue until all the cardinal-electors, including those under 80, are present in Rome, “and then the College of Cardinals will decide the date to enter into conclave” to elect a pope, he said.

Asked whether Cardinal Sodano was saying that a conclave date would not be set until all the cardinal-electors were present or accounted for, Father Lombardi said the letter “does not have the weight of law,” but he expected the cardinals would not vote on a conclave date until most of them were present and had time to talk and meet formally.

Pope Benedict XVI waves as he appears for the last time at the balcony of his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, February 28. It was his final public appearance before his papacy drew to a close. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters) The Anchor - March 8, 2013

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Brother priests empathize with Benedict’s courageous decision

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

FALL RIVER — In a 10-year span, two Fall River brothers, eight years apart in age, were ordained as priests for the Diocese of Fall River at St. Mary’s Cathedral. Father William J. Shovelton became a priest on June 15, 1946 with Father Gerald T. Shovelton joining the ranks a decade later on Feb. 2, 1956.

Sandwiched in between the Shovelton brothers’ reception of Holy Orders, another pair of brothers were ordained across the Atlantic Ocean, both on June 29, 1951 near Munich, Germany — Georg and Joseph Ratzinger.

All four continue to minister in some capacity as Catholic priests in their 80s, and one in his 90s, to the best of their abilities.

As most Catholics know, Father Joseph Ratzinger was eventually led by the Holy Spirit to become Pope Benedict XVI, succeeding Blessed Pope John Paul II in April of 2005.

At the age of 85, now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI announced on February 11 that he would resign as bishop of the world’s Catholics effective February 28, citing he no longer had the strength to minister to the universal Church. “After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry,” he told a gathering of cardinals at the Vatican.

While many Catholics can understand why the pope emeritus became the first pope in nearly 600 years to resign the Chair of St. Peter, not many can relate to what priestly ministry entails when one is in his 70s, 80s, and beyond. Fathers William and Gerald Shovelton can.

Father William Shovelton, who will be 91 in June, told The Anchor via a telephone interview, “I give him credit for all he has done and accomplished as pope,” he said. “I have to congratulate him for all the places he’s gone to, all the sermons he’s given, and all the brilliant writings he’s published. I don’t know how he did it. Thank God

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it wasn’t me,” he quipped.

“I think he’s been an inspiration for many older Catholics as well as the younger ones,” he added. “I pray for Pope Emeritus Benedict, that he will enjoy his retirement. Not that he’ll ever retire from being a pious and holy man.”

well past the retirement age.

The brothers live together in Lady Lake, Fla., and share the love they have for the priesthood.

Father Gerald continues to celebrate Mass at St. Timothy’s Parish in Lady Lake. “I’m grateful to God that I am able to still be active in ministry,” he

Fathers Gerald, 82, left, and William Shovelton, 91, brothers from Fall River now living in Florida, have served as priests well into their 80s, just as the Ratzinger brothers, Georg and Joseph (Pope Benedict XVI) have. (Anchor file photo) The younger Father Shovelton, Gerald, 82, said, “I’m amazed at what Benedict could do at his age. But, he made a very difficult decision knowing he was doing what was best for the Church and for himself. I was surprised to learn about it at first, but on the other hand, he did something that wasn’t done in almost 600 years, and that was not easy, but he’s a holy man who knows he did the best he could, and always has the Church in mind.

“I’ve said many times to friends, ‘I don’t know how he does it.’ His writings are so intelligent and thought out. I subscribe to the Vatican News Service, so I could read all of his writings and get the most out of them.”

While not traveling the world and publishing books and encyclicals, Fathers William and Gerald Shovelton have continued their priestly ministries

said. “I celebrate weekend Masses and funeral Masses at St. Timothy’s as well as hear Confessions.” He told The Anchor that these duties keep him busy and “I couldn’t imagine keeping the schedule that Pope Benedict did.”

Father William now gets around on a scooter, so his mobility is very limited. “But on occasion, my brother William, will concelebrate Mass with me at St. Timothy’s with his scooter up at the altar,” added Father Gerald.

“I’m in my 91st year, and I’ve been a priest for 67 years,” the older brother told The Anchor. “God gave me the privilege of being His servant as a priest for all these years. I was ordained the same year as Blessed Pope John Paul II. I always jokingly tell friends ‘We were classmates.’

“As I look back on my priesthood, I know I’ve tried my best, and I’m grateful for what I have accomplished.

The same goes for Pope Benedict.

I’m also grateful to God to have lived under Benedict for the last eight years.

The Church is very fortunate to have had him.”

When asked what they hoped would come out of the upcoming conclave, the brothers agreed they were not worried at all.

“The conclave of cardinals is a group of very intelligent men who will take the responsibility of electing a new pope very gravely,” said Father William. “And the man they elect will

also think about it very gravely before deciding to accept.”

Father Gerald concurred and said, “Jesus told us the He would be with us until the end of time. Through the cardinals the Holy Spirit will be with the Church until the end of time, whether that be tomorrow or 6,000 years from now.”

“Whoever is elected will be a good man,” added Father William.

“Everyone can’t be like Benedict. But I’m sure he’ll be directed by the Holy Spirit and will be a holy man to lead the Church.”

Father Gerald added that Benedict reached out to the young. “You could tell by the way thousands of youth would attend his visits around the world,” he said. “I hope many of them are still listening. There are many youth who follow the Church’s teachings. Each pope has his own style, and Benedict ministered by doing what the Holy Spirit wanted him to. I’m sure the new pope will reach out to everyone. I continue to pray for the man who takes Benedict’s place.”

They are four brothers who have served the Lord as priests of His Church well into their 80s. They share a love for the Lord, the Church, and its people, and it’s a love that can withstand anything.

“Whether you serve 67 years as a simple priest or as a pope, you do what is right and what is expected of you, and you’ll be satisfied,” said Father William. For Georg and Joseph Ratzinger, and William and Gerald Shovelton, there’s plenty of satisfaction to go around.

Father Georg Ratzinger, the 81-year-old brother of newlyelected Pope Benedict XVI, poses with a regional newspaper at his home in Regensburg, Germany, Apr. 20, 2005. (CNS photo from Reuters)

Recently-ordained priests reflect on Pope Benedict’s papacy

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — As news of Pope Benedict XVI’s historic resignation last month spread throughout the Fall River Diocese, several recently-ordained priests — those who have had the unique privilege of ministering solely under his papacy — reacted with a mix of surprise and respect to the Holy Father’s decision.

Father Ron P. Floyd, parochial vicar at St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham, expressed great sadness at hearing about Pope Benedict’s retirement, but said he understood the decision.

“I felt somewhat bad for him when he was elected, because I know he wanted to retire and live the quiet life,” Father Floyd said. “But now I feel bad for the Church and happy for him. With any change, there’s always difficulty accepting it and you have to look at the bright side of everything. If there’s one thing I think he’s shown us is that the Holy Spirit is moving within the Church.”

Father Floyd said he always felt he had something of a “filial” connection to Pope Benedict that began when he first heard the announcement of his election in St. Peter’s Square back in 2005.

He recalled standing there with Father Jay Mello, parochial vicar at St. Mary’s Parish in Mansfield, when they heard then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had been selected to succeed the late Pope John Paul II. “So many of the young priests when he was elected were very hopeful for his papacy,” Father Floyd said. “I think many of us … theologically had been formed by what he had written. We saw in him a continuation of some of the best things about Pope John Paul II.” “I was immediately brought back to April 2005, recalling very vividly the moment that the white smoke came up from the Sistine Chapel and the words ‘Habemus Papam’ were announced,” Father Jay Mello said when he first learned about the pope’s retirement.

“Having been born two years after the election of Blessed Pope John Paul II, this was the first time this announcement had been made during my lifetime.”

Father Mello was a seminarian in his second year at the North American College in Rome on that memorable day when Pope Benedict XVI was elected.

He also shared two personal encounters with the pope emeritus that he’ll always fondly remember — the first, a chance to celebrate a private Mass with him in June 2004 just months before he would become pope.

“I recall how incredibly patient and kind he was in greeting each of us after Mass, and even more impressed by how easily he conversed with people in different languages,” Father Mello said.

“He didn’t rush through any encounter, but took time with each of us — I remember thinking to myself, what an incredibly authentic man with such a priestly and compassionate heart.”

On Feb. 22, 2006, Father Mello would again meet and shake Pope Benedict XVI’s hand at the Vatican during a ceremony in which Archbishop Sean P. O’Malley, OFM, Cap., was named to the college of cardinals.

Father Jason Brilhante, parochial vicar at St. Pius X Parish in South Yarmouth, likewise remembered his own personal encounter in celebrating Mass

calling us to serve Him,” he said. “He wants to make us realize that Christ is our Good Shepherd — we have to yield to His will and what He wants.”

Father David C. Deston Jr., chaplain at Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, noted how the contrast between Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI was striking for many Catholics.

“Blessed John Paul was like a rock star, but Benedict was more like a teacher, explaining, encouraging, and guiding,” he said. “I got the sense that when he spoke about the Lord Jesus, he was desperate to introduce the world to

While a seminarian at the North American College in Rome in June 2004, Father Jay Mello met then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger just months before he was elected as Pope Benedict XVI. with the Holy Father during his visit to the United States in 2008.

“I had the opportunity to attend Mass he celebrated at the seminary in New York,” Father Brilhante said. “That was certainly an amazing experience. I was about several hundred yards away from the pope. It was surreal. That was certainly a highlight for me personally and I was glad to have been a part of that historic moment.”

Admitting he was as surprised as most of his brother priests that the pope had decided to resign, Father Brilhante felt it was a clear act of humility and courage that exemplified Pope Benedict’s love for the Church.

“To realize that his physical strength is not up to the demands of what the Chair of St. Peter requires of him is a great act of humility,” he said. “I think it took great courage to decide to step down and do something so unprecedented — especially for someone like Pope Benedict, who is known to be a traditionalist.”

As he has done throughout his papacy, Father Brilhante said Pope Benedict is once again leading by example.

“I think the pope is teaching all of his priests, bishops and laity that we should know our humility before God and he is

a very dear friend. His books on Jesus really moved me. Clearly, they were a presentation of the fruit of his own prayer and his own pilgrimage of faith with the Lord. I found them incredibly insightful and moving meditations on the life and ministry of Jesus.”

“Considering all of the doubts and criticism he received when his pontificate began, I feel he has certainly preserved the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, served faithfully and let this ministry be guided by the Holy Spirit,” agreed Father Thomas E. Costa, pastor of Annunciation of the Lord Parish in Taunton. “He has proven to be a Holy Shepherd and let’s not forget his writings on ‘God is Love’ and ‘Saved by Hope.’

These are some of the many treasures he leaves the Church.”

Father Riley J. Williams, parochial vicar at St. John the Evangelist and St. Vincent de Paul parishes in Attleboro, also spent his formative years studying in Rome and was fortunate to meet and celebrate Mass with the Holy Father on several occasions. He considers Pope Benedict XVI not only a humble and faith-filled man, but also a great theologian.

“His knowledge is surpassed only by his humble faith in Christ,” Father

Williams said. “Seeing his demeanor at Masses and the various other events at which I saw him helped me to know better the character of the man behind the writings — one who, despite all that he already knows, makes clear the need to ever seek out more deeply the Lord Jesus.”

Father Williams said he would always treasure the memory of meeting with the pope on the day before his diaconal ordination in October 2010 when a group from his seminary class had a personal audience with him.

“He assured us of his prayers for us, which made a deep impression on me,” Father Williams said. “The value he attached to us responding to our vocations is something that will always stay with me.”

Father Floyd noted how every decision Pope Benedict made during his eight-year tenure was always centered on prayer — even his final abdication of the Petrine ministry.

“I think the one thing Benedict teaches us as an example is to bring everything to prayer — and I really do believe he prayed about this and this is what he believes is in the best interest of the Church,” Father Floyd said. “I think there’s nothing you can do but respect him for that decision.”

As part of the rich legacy that Pope Benedict leaves behind, Father Floyd said one of the most important things he learned from the Holy Father as a priest is how to celebrate Mass with reverence and respect.

“For him, Liturgical theology is theology writ large — it’s not just about how you do things, but how you do things really says what you believe,” he said. “It’s not just an aesthetic. I think that’s clear in the way Pope Benedict celebrates his own Mass and his writings on the Liturgy. I really think that he inspired many of the younger priests, especially in his Liturgical theology.”

Father Floyd was able to watch Pope Benedict celebrate Mass up close and personal on two occasions — once, while serving for him, and a second time as a member of the choir at St. Peter’s.

“Just to watch the way he celebrated the Liturgy was an inspiration to me,” he said. “He really believes and practices what he preaches — lex orandi, lex credendi, or the law of faith is dependent upon the law of worship.”

To that end, Father Mello felt one of Pope Benedict’s greatest contributions during his papacy was allowing priests the option of celebrating the preconciliar Mass.

“On the same day I was ordained — July 7, 2007 — he issued a motu proprio allowing priests to celebrate the Tridentine Mass,” he said.

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7

We continue to await the election of a new pontiff to lead the Church through his offices of sanctifying, teaching and governing. These functions of the bishops (of whose college the pope is the head) were highlighted in the teaching of the Second Vatican Council. In 1998 the office for the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican issued a lineamenta (a guide for the preparation of the then-upcoming synod of bishops) entitled, “The Bishop: Servant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the Hope of the World.”

What that document says about bishops is what we received during the eight years of the pontificate of His Holiness Benedict XVI and what we hope to enjoy from our new pope. The document states, “It is necessary to consider the intention of Vatican Council II on the subject. When its magisterium mentions the three functions [the ones mentioned in the first paragraph of this editorial] of the bishop and the priests, it prefers to give first place to teaching. In this regard, the Second Vatican Council is adopting the succession of ideas present in the words which the Risen Christ addresses to His disciples: ‘All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations baptizing them, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you’ (Mt 28:18-20). Because of the priority given to the bishop’s task of proclaiming the Gospel (a characteristic of the council’s ecclesiology), every bishop can re-discover the meaning of that spiritual paternity which made St. Paul the Apostle write: ‘For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel’ (1 Cor 4:15).”

In many modern languages the pope is called “papa,” which is very similar to the familiar term for “pad” in those languages (for example, “pope” in Spanish is “papa” [this is also a word for “potato” in Spanish] and “dad” in Spanish is “papa”). Here we can also see how we Catholics can “get away” with calling priests “father,” since St. Paul refers to himself as the spiritual father of his readers.

J

ust before the Year of Faith began, Benedict XVI, through his Apostolic Penitentiary in the Vatican, published a list of plenary indulgences that Catholics could receive throughout this Holy Year. Plenary indulgences are traditionally given to incentivize actions that will help the faithful grow in faith and love. These indulgences can eliminate the temporal punishment due to sin and can be sought for oneself or for a deceased loved one. Because they are meant to bring someone into total communion with Christ, the indulgenced actions must be united to a good Sacramental Confession with true repentance for all of the sins one had committed, to the worthy reception of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, and to prayers for Christ’s vicar on earth, the pope.

For the Year of Faith, Pope Benedict awarded plenary indulgences for attending three days of a mission, like what is occurring in may of the deaneries and parishes throughout the diocese, or three lectures on the “Catechism” or Vatican II documents; going to pray in specially designated churches or in any church on days specially named by the bishop; and one that captured my imagination and resolve from the first time I read it — on any day throughout

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A change in teachers

Pope Emeritus Benedict has not left us orphans, since he knows that God the Father is ultimately watching over us and caring for us. Like a good father, the retired pope has left us many good counsels to guide us in his plentiful writings, both his official texts as pope and in his prior role as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and in his unofficial writings in the many books that he has published.

As Vatican II emphasized, the special role of a bishop (including that of the Bishop of Rome) is that as teacher (since a priest can do the majority of the sanctifying things that a bishop can do and since governing also can be delegated in many areas). The Constitution on the Church, known by its Latin name Lumen Gentium, states in #20, “That Divine mission, entrusted by Christ to the Apostles, will last until the end of the world, since the Gospel they are to teach is for all time the source of all life for the Church.”

We know that no new revelation will come from God in the new pope. The “deposit of faith” was entrusted to us in its entirety by Christ and the Holy Spirit, Who guided the Apostles to receive it in its fullness. What the popes do is explain to us in each day and age how we are to understand Christ’s revelation in new situations.

Back in 2010 Pope Benedict spoke about the teaching office, addressing it in particular to priests. He said in a general audience, “Today, in the midst of the educational emergency, the teaching function of the Church, exercised concretely through the ministry of each priest, is particularly important. We are very confused about the fundamental choices in our life and question what the world is, where it comes from, where we are going, what we must do in order to do good, how we should live and what the truly pertinent values are. Regarding all this, there are numerous contrasting philosophies, creating confusion about the fundamental decisions on how to live; because collectively we no longer know from what and for what we have been made and where we are going. In this context the Words of the Lord

Back to the beginning

Who took pity on the throng because the people were like sheep without a shepherd came true (cf. Mk 6: 34).

The Lord had noticed this when He saw the thousands of people following Him in the desert because, in the diversity of the currents of that time, they no longer knew what the true meaning of Scripture was, what God was saying. The Lord, moved by compassion, interpreted God’s Word, He Himself is the Word of God, and thus provided an orientation. This is the function in persona Christi (in the person of Christ) of the priest: making present, in the confusion and bewilderment of our times, the light of God’s Word, the light that is Christ Himself in this our world. Therefore the priest does not teach his own ideas, a philosophy that he himself has invented, that he has discovered or likes; the priest does not speak of himself, he does not speak for himself, to attract admirers, perhaps, or create a party of his own; he does not say his own thing, his own inventions but, in the medley of all the philosophies, the priest teaches in the name of Christ present, he proposes the truth that is Christ Himself, His Word and His way of living and of moving ahead. What Christ said of Himself applies to the priest: ‘My teaching is not Mine’ (Jn 7: 16); Christ, that is, does not propose Himself but, as the Son He is the voice, the Word of the Father. The priest too must always speak and act in this way: ‘My teaching is not mine, I do not spread my own ideas or what I like, but I am the mouthpiece and heart of Christ and I make present this one, shared teaching that has created the universal Church and creates eternal life.’”

Pope Benedict took seriously this need to not give his own opinions when teaching authoritatively, but rather explain what Christ had already taught us and how it applies to the reality of today. The next pope will do the same, maybe in a similar manner, maybe in quite a different way. That is for the Holy Spirit to decide.

What we Catholics need to do is to pray that God might open our hearts to be good students and loving sons and daughters of our new “papa,” as we offer our prayers for the life and health of our retired one.

the Year of Faith, making a “pious visit a plenary indulgence through making a to the baptistery, or other place in which journey back to the door through which they received the Sacrament of Bapone’s pilgrimage of faith began. tism, and there renew their baptismal I had been looking for an appropripromises in any legitimate form.” ate date to head back to St. Michael’s I thought that there was a particular in Lowell. I had been planning to go on fittingness to granting a plenary indulApril 19, the 43rd anniversary of my gence for making a pilgrimage to the Baptism, but as Lent began — with place where one was baptized. Benedict all its symbolism with regard to the XVI, in preparation his letter of catechuannouncing mens for the Year of Baptism Faith, com— I just pared faith didn’t want to a “door” to wait any

By Father and a “jourlonger. So I Roger J. Landry ney.” Bapdecided to tism is the make a pilfirst and real door of faith, which is one grimage on my birthday, to thank God of the reasons why in ancient churches for the gift of my life and especially for the baptismal fonts were placed near the gift of my new life in Him. I called the doors or in the courtyards before Father Al Capone, the pastor of my entering the church, to signify that we home parish who has always been so enter into Christ’s Body the Church accommodating to me, and asked him through Baptism. Baptism is likewise if I could pray for a while in the chapel the place where the pilgrimage of faith where all the Baptisms took place back begins, for most of us before our legs in 1970 as well as before the font, since are strong enough even to walk. Bapmoved into the church, that made me a tism is also the place where all our sins child of God. He was happy to welare wiped away for the first time and so come me home. there’s a particular fittingness to seeking Praying in front of the baptismal

Putting Into the Deep

font was particularly powerful for me.

Over the course of years, I’ve often loved to pray before the baptismal fonts that were the spiritual beginnings of some great saints: the baptismal font in the Cathedral of San Rufino in Assisi where St. Francis and St. Claire were spiritually reborn; the baptismal font in the Sé of Lisbon where St. Anthony of Padua became a child of God; the pia in the parish Church of Wadowice where Blessed John Paul II began his spiritual journey. One of the reasons why I so much favor beautiful stone fonts in beautiful stone churches is because these have the best chance for longevity, for one never knows what will become of those who enter and emerge through the life-giving baptismal waters.

I thought back to the day of my Baptism and began to pray for those who were there. For my parents and my godparents. For my twin brother, who was baptized together with me. He’s often jocularly held his five-minute primogeniture from the womb over me in life, but I’ve always shot back that I was the oldest to be born from the womb of the Church. (I don’t really know who was baptized first — neither

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UMass Dartmouth students respect pope emeritus’ decision, express hope for Church’s future

By Father David C. Frederici, Chaplain at UMass Dartmouth

NORTH DARTMOUTH — Exciting. That is the word that college students I spoke with used when asked what they thought about Benedict XVI’s resignation and the upcoming conclave.

It has been a topic of conversations that I have overheard walking around the campus of UMass Dartmouth. There has been a wave of spiritual enthusiasm among many, but the papal resignation has also been greeted with a response of indifference by others. The varying reactions provide a glimpse of what the new pope will be facing as he begins to lead the Church.

All the students I spoke with remembered the last conclave that chose Benedict XVI, but didn’t pay much attention to it at the time and weren’t aware of many of the rituals and other aspects surrounding a conclave. There is a great interest to pay more attention to this one considering it will probably be a very long time before the next one.

Also, some students mentioned that they are paying attention to their faith much more now than they did then and as a result, the election of a new pope has new significance for them.

Students were very impressed with Benedict’s humility in choosing to resign. It was evidence of his desire to put the Church ahead of himself. “If he doesn’t have the energy needed to lead the Church, I commend him for his decision,” one Mass-goer said. Another student expressed some concerns about “What now?” However the conversation that followed exhibited much more confidence. It wasn’t words of consolation on my part, rather the fact that for thousands of years the Church has had a system to choose a new pope to con-

tinue the Petrine ministry. That system is triggered by death or resignation.

In conversations, students told me they were inspired by Benedict’s spirituality, wisdom and example. There was, however, a general discomfort in terms of rating the job he did as pope.

The discomfort among many was a result of their respect for Benedict and the office of pope. Older students have a better memory of John Paul II and when they hear the word pope, they still think of him. One of these students told me that she really didn’t get to know Benedict as well.

A graduate student echoed this sentiment in his observation that he hopes the next pope is “friendlier.” He went to explain that it was hard to relate to Benedict because of his obvious discomfort with some of the public aspects of the ministry that led to a very serious demeanor. He did add that he appreciated Benedict’s efforts to encourage the Church to use modern means in its preaching, such as social media.

Some students stated they were aware of some controversies during his ministry as pope, but didn’t really know much about them. One student was a self-described Benedict fan who appreciated his writing style.

Overall, though, there seemed to be a universal sentiment among the students that it wasn’t appropriate to “rate” a pope. What was important to students was who and what he represented as pope.

The students I spoke with were far more willing to share what they thought the next pope needs to do. Dan, a freshman biology major, hopes the next pontiff does more to highlight the need for reason when it comes to faith. “As a person who studies science, I believe

in evolution and I don’t believe the creation story is literally how the world was created. I am Catholic and hold to the Big Bang Theory (discovered by a Catholic priest by the way). Others need to realize that science and religion don’t necessarily contradict each other.” He was referring to a common thought found on college campuses — that with science there is no need for religion, in fact religion just gets in the way. This is compounded by the mistaken belief that critical thinking doesn’t apply to religion.

Heather, a sophomore history major, wants someone who will continue to inspire her and encourage her to live as a good Catholic. “It is so difficult to live the faith in today’s world and in particular on a college campus. There are so many messages out there that go against what the Church teaches. I need help to live a righteous life.”

In all of these conversations, I was once again impressed with the depth and commitment of faith by students.

They are eager to learn about the faith and to live it in their lives to the best of their ability. At the same time, a harsh reality was again made known — despite the many conversations I had, there are still a very small number

of the Catholics here on campus. On a monthly basis, we see approximately five percent of the known Catholic population at Sunday Mass. It is a stark reminder of the need for the Church to engage the world, and the immense task before the new pope, to be sure we are engaged in fruitful evangelization and New Evangelization efforts throughout the world. Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, who leads the Pontifical Council on Culture, put it best when he said “If we do not get to know the cultural context in which young people live today, the Church’s pastoral program risks giving answers to questions that do not exist” (http://vaticaninsider. lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/ articolo/ravasi-giovani-jovensyouth-21824/. accessed March 1, 2013).

The students I see at Mass and other campus ministry events are still asking the questions. The challenge before the Church, not just at UMass Dartmouth or Southeastern Massachusetts but worldwide, is that the vast majority of the remaining 95 percent are no longer asking questions about God, faith or spirituality or they are seeking the answers from places other than the Church.

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W

ow, how many popes have you lived through?, seems to be the question of the day. For me the newly-elected pope will be my sixth.

I still remember the day we received word that Pope Paul VI had died, and how we watched and waited for that puff of white smoke hailing the election of a replacement. Only to have the events repeated a mere 33 days later as the world was again stunned by news that Pope John Paul I had died. Yet again the world watched and waited as the smoke began to circle above the chimney. Was it black? Was it white? Had they finally decided? Eventually a decision was reached and we welcomed Pope John Paul II, who served us for many years until his death in 2005. The process again began and we heralded in Pope Benedict XVI. But now what? Fortunately a pope is not being elected because his predecessor died, but rather, retired, choosing to step aside; something that hasn’t occurred in nearly 600 years. I have to admit the idea of taking on a position that I could only leave by dying holds no appeal. Yet, these men do just that, they accept the position knowing it is a lifetime commitment. Unless like Pope Benedict, your health begins to fail and you realize that the Church is better served by someone who could focus on her needs without the worries of uncertain health.

From the moment Jesus said, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church (Mt 16:18),” the Church has sought to fill St. Peter’s shoes. A task that has not always been easy, as Church history has shown. So as the cardinals prepare to once again elect someone to take on the

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Feed My lambs

role of St. Peter and all his successors, we wait along with the rest of the world, whether Catholic or not.

So what does this all mean to me as a Catholic?

Personally, I have always looked to the pope as the leader of the Church; I recognize that he, like Peter, is given the authority over the flock. Yet, like Peter, he also has his “disciples” disbursed worldwide.

From every corner of this globe, there are so many

In the Palm of His Hands

By Rose Mary Saraiva spreading the Good News, so many sharing words of salvation and hope. Who are all these people? Many would venture to say that they are the ordained or religious, those sanctioned to be vessels of God’s grace and mercy. But, as a Christian, as a believer, I know that each and every one of us are “disciples,” called to be emissaries to those near and far.

The pope is simply the earthly shepherd who commissions us all to tend the flock. In Scripture Peter is asked, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” to which Peter answers, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.” Then Jesus instructs him to “feed My lambs” (Jn 21:15-17). This edict is so important and He wants Peter to fully understand what He is asking, that He repeats the question

and response three times. The pope has taken on this task and like his predecessors has enlisted the help of the faith-filled. That means all of us, anyone who responds, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.” So as the conclave gets underway, and the 120 cardinals prepare to cast their votes for the new Bishop of Rome, we wait. We wait and hope that this newly-elected pope will address today’s concerns for the Church; will recognize that the flock continues to need direction and nourishment; and that today’s Church is not strictly found in the confines of a building. That the Church of today is found in the home, in the playground, sporting arena and as Benedict XVI, Pope Emeritus of Rome, so wisely ventured into — social media (yes — Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogging and any other means of getting the “message” out to the faithful). Today’s Catholics and those seeking for that something more, are to be found everywhere we are, and that if we truly mean the words, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You,” we will willingly take to heart the message, “Feed My lambs.”

My prayer is that with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Church will gain a shepherd who will guide us, equipping us with the tools to truly “feed His lambs.”

Rose Mary Saraiva lives in Fall River and is a parishioner of St. Michael’s Parish, and she is the Events Coordinator and Bereavement Ministry for the diocesan Office of Faith Formation. She is married with three children and two grandchildren. rmsaraiva@dfrcec.com.

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April 19, 2005 - February 28, 2013

Newly-elected Pope Benedict XVI greets a crowd of nearly 100,000 gathered in St. Peter’s Square. The 78-year-old German pontiff was elected pope Apr. 19, 2005 on the second day of secret balloting in the Sistine Chapel by the world’s cardinals. (CNS photo by Alessia Giuliani, Catholic Press Photo)

Pope Benedict XVI looks at a copy of his new book, “Jesus of Nazareth,” presented to him at the Vatican Apr. 13, 2007. In the book, the pope says that Christ must be understood as the Son of God on a Divine mission, not as a mere moralist or social reformer. (CNS photo)

Pope Benedict XVI prays at the site of the destroyed World Trade Center towers in New York in this Apr. 20, 2008 file photo. (CNS photo/Nancy Wiechec)

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Pope Benedict XVI cuts a cake presented to him by crew and staff from Air Malta on his return flight to Rome after a two-day visit to Malta. The crew was honoring the pope for the anniversary of his election. (CNS photo)

Pope Benedict XVI releases a dove Dec. 1, 2006 during a visit to the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Istanbul, Turkey, on the final day of his four-day visit to the Muslim country. (CNS photo)

Pope Benedict XVI celebrates Mass in Rome Mar. 25, 2007 a week after he released his apostolic exhortation, “Sacramentum Caritatis” (“The Sacrament of Charity”). In it he said Catholics must believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, celebrate the Liturgy with devotion and live in a way that demonstrates their faith. (CNS photo)

April 19, 2005 - February 28, 2013

Pope Benedict XVI arrives for the celebration of the closing Mass of World Youth Day at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, Australia, July 20, 2008. (CNS photo/courtesy of World Youth Day 2008)

Pope Benedict XVI makes the sign of the cross as he prays at the casket of Pope John Paul II in front of the main altar in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican May 1, 2011. Pope Benedict declared his predecessor blessed during an outdoor Mass outside the basilica.

(CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Pope Benedict XVI prays in front of a statue of Our Lady of Fatima during a candlelight vigil at the Marian shrine of Fatima in central Portugal on May 12, 2010. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters)

Pope Benedict XVI leaves a written prayer at the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in the Old City of Jerusalem May 12, 2009. The prayer appealed to God to bring “Your peace upon this Holy Land, upon the Middle East, upon the entire human family.” (CNS photo/David Silverman/pool photo via Reuters)

Pope Benedict XVI wears a sombrero, a traditional Mexican hat, in Leon, Mexico, March 25, 2012. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano)

Benedict XVI kisses a baby as he arrives to lead his final general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican February 27. He is assisted by Archbishop Georg Ganswein, prefect of the papal household and the pope’s personal secretary. (CNS photo/Alessandro Bianchi, Reuters) The Anchor - March 8, 2013

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By Father Roger J. Landry Pastor, St. Bernadette Parish, Fall River

FALL RIVER — Over the last 25 days since Benedict XVI’s shocking announcement, I’ve been pondering the influence he has had in my formation as a disciple and a priest and have been thanking God for all the blessings He has given me and the Church through this “simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord.”

I first became aware of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger when I was a college freshman, 25 years ago. I had always been a faithful, practicing Catholic, but I had never really taken the intellectual side of our faith that seriously. All of this changed when I got to Harvard and encountered students and professors who were hostile against the faith, pretending that the Good News was wicked and the Church an enemy of humanity.

Perhaps even worse, I also met Catholic students who, while still coming to Mass on Sunday, were, by choice and not by weakness, proudly and flamboyantly failing to live by the Church’s teachings, treating Christian sexual morality as a fire extinguisher on human love rather than the truth that sets us free.

It was a huge wake-up call. After getting ambushed in a few dormitory conversations, outnumbered five or six to one, I concluded that if I were going to defend the Church’s teachings and help my classmates, I would have to become much smarter, learning not just my faith but also contemporary thought much better.

A priest recommended I read “The Ratzinger Report,” the fascinating 1985 book-length interview with the then-Prefect for the Congregation of the Faith. In it, Cardinal Ratzinger minced no words about the problems facing the Church and the world, but also proposed with confidence what the Church needed to do to help those in the world find healing. I was blown away by how deep and clear was his understanding of the problems and the needed medicine.

That led me to start to devour everything I could from him and to read the books and Church documents he cited. Standing on his shoulders, I could see things far more clearly.

For me, Cardinal Ratzinger was a master alpine climber who, through his books, was coming down to guide me on the path to the summit. His vision trained me to become a better disciple and collegiate apostle.

When I arrived in Rome as a seminarian, there were two people I really wanted to meet. The first was, obviously, Pope John Paul II. But a

Blessed by God

close second was Cardinal Ratzinger.

I was not alone in those desires. Many of my classmates were likewise big fans of Cardinal Ratzinger’s writings and courage in defending the doctrine of the faith. Older seminarians told us that he celebrated Mass each week at the Teutonic College inside the Vatican walls. So a group of fellow aspirants to the priesthood and I went one morning to his Mass, celebrated in German, after which he very warmly greeted us, found out where we were from, and encouraged us in our preparation. It was not the last time I would attend his devout Mass!

About a year later, I was standing on the Borgo Pio precisely at 4 p.m. when I saw him come out of the back of his apartment complex. I went over to greet him. He very kindly spent a few minutes with me before he politely excused himself to go on a walk praying the Rosary. Later, I saw him come out of the same door at precisely the same time. The pattern was now clear! I made a resolution that whenever I was in that neighborhood a little before four, I would go over to greet him. I was there a lot, with visiting seminarians and friends.

After I had “accidentally” bumped into him more than a dozen times, he commented, with a grin and a knowing look, “How eez it that you zeem to be here on the Borgo Pio zo often during zee afternoon?” I smiled back at him and said, “You’re not the only one, Eminence, who needs afternoon exercise to work off a big pranzo [lunch]. And you never know whom you might meet!” We had a good laugh together. In all these conversations, he never seemed to be in a rush.

He was always interested in what I and those with me were studying, and he would always give words of encouragement and just share his deep Christian joy.

After John Paul II returned to the house of the Father, I was among the many praying that the Holy Spirit would move the cardinals to elect this German shepherd, because I thought he would be an unparalleled intellectual leader for the Church.

I was on retreat when word of the white smoke came. The retreat master got us all together before the one television in the retreat center. As soon as Cardinal Medina announced the name “Josephum,” I started raising my arms and howling, knowing that there was no way Cardinal Joseph Glemp of Warsaw had been elected on the fourth ballot. Then came the surname “Ratzinger,” and all the other priests on retreat started rejoicing, too.

These last eight years have been for me a real theological feast of faith. For

my personal nourishment as well as for my preaching and writing, I’ve read and taken to prayer almost every homily, Wednesday audience catechesis on the psalms, the saints, prayer, faith and Liturgical feast, his Sunday Angelus or Regina Caeli meditation, questionand-answer session, lectio divina transcription, and foreign speech.

I’ve taught many adult education sessions on his three encyclicals, two apostolic exhortations, and three volumes of the “Jesus of Nazareth” trilogy.

I have plundered all his pre-papal and papal writings on the subject of prayer for retreats that I’ve been preaching to priests, religious, seminarians and lay people over the last couple of years.

From the beginning, I knew that we were in a special pontificate, with a living doctor of the Church sitting on the cathedra of Peter. I was not going to let the grace of his teaching — which I firmly believe will be treated in 500 years the way we today treat the writings of St. Augustine or St. Leo the Great — go in vain. Every time I open my mind and heart to what’s come from his, it feels like my intellect and will are getting bathed in cool, clean water.

Of all that he’s taught and given us, what is his greatest and most durable

lesson? I think it will be his efforts to bring back a true and fitting worship — a logike latreia, to use St. Paul’s words that he so often quoted (Rom 12:2) — in the celebration of the Mass, after decades of Liturgical confusion.

The Mass, he taught by word and witness, is fundamentally theocentric, in which priest and people are called to focus on God, rather than remaining a self-enclosed circle worshipping themselves. The art of celebrating the Mass, he taught priests and faithful by word and witness, is to align our mind, heart, soul, strength and all we are, body and soul, to the prayers being directed toward God the Father.

Among all his teachings that will nourish the Church until the parousia, this I think is his most urgent and important legacy.

As we come together to give God logike latreia during this interregnum and notice the Liturgical lacuna where we once prayed “for Benedict, our pope,” let us ask the Lord to bless and reward this good and faithful servant and raise up for us another pope capable of consolidating and advancing his work of strengthening us in the faith.

Benedictus means “blessed by God,” and that’s exactly what we’ve been during his pontificate.

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M

ark Twain writes, “Kindness is the language which the deaf hear and the blind can see.” The world of great literature is always trying to capture the beauty of human vulnerability and the true power of love. And so it is that one good deed done for another out of love is so powerful that the deaf can hear and the blind do see.

How much more commanding, then, is the testimony of sacred Scripture and the living example of Jesus of Nazareth? His story is not just another dramatic narrative; we hold that Jesus is the living Word, a Person Who is fully human and fully Divine Who has come among us to show us the way — “yesterday, today and tomorrow.”

In fact, for the Christian community of believers the world over, Jesus is the revelation of God Who, for our Hebrew friends, literally commanded us to love — God first, our mothers and our fathers and, indeed, to love our neighbors as we would want to be loved.

Our Gospel for Mass this Fourth Sunday of Lent is drawn

The mercy of the Master

from the 15th chapter of St. Luke’s do we. And so, Jesus describes the account of the life of Christ. Dante joy that comes from finding a lost has said that Luke is the writer coin, or even a lost sheep. And most compelled by the “Mercy of then, Luke gives us Jesus’ descripthe Master,” giving us beautiful, tion of the incomparable joy any and in some cases the only deparent has felt upon the recovery scriptions of their of the own central flesh and Homily of the Week role of blood!

Fourth Sunday forgiveTo the ness for Pharisees of Lent the life who are

By Father of the the epitworld. ome of Mark R. Hession In respectthe text ability in and its its most depressing form, Jesus becontext, Jesus is confronted by the comes the “Mercy of the Master.”

Pharisees who take umbrage with The respected sociologist, Brythe fact that He welcomes sinan Froehle, has recently observed ners and enjoys their company. To that identity (not the deficit or our these heartless kill-joys who relish pitiful divisions) is the crucial resentments, Jesus addresses one issue of our times; we can’t inherit of the most moving stories of all our identity, we have to make it. times, “The Prodigal Son.” To felAnd so, here at Our Lady of low “religious,” people not unlike Victory we will once again put our the “older brother” who are addictfaith into action. Casting aside a ed to duty, and full of themselves, didactic catechesis, and embracing Jesus draws the timeless portrait of an intergenerational and experienour Heavenly Father. God knows tial form of Faith Formation over the drama of our experience of a lifetime, we’re going to take recovery and loss — better than a journey through the first three

commandments of the Law of Moses. We’re calling it “Grandparents Day” and modeling the lesson on an ancient, African maxim, “I Am Because We Are.” Homework, before the experience, includes invitations to Skype interviews with family at a distance and a “handing on” of traditions which help make us Catholic Christians, in word and deed. Their generation grew up in another time and culture where one’s Catholic faith shaped families’ lives, and those of whole communities, and indeed the nation’s life. It’s my hope that our youngest generation won’t just want to inherit some of the gifts of faith that formed their forbear’s identity — including the capacity for loving kindness and life-restoring forgiveness; it’s my hope they’ll want to make it their own.

Let us pray: O God, Who rewards the just and will not deny pardon to repentant sinners, listen to our plea; may the humble confession of our faults obtain for us Your mercy.

Father Hession is Pastor of Our Lady of Victory, Centerville, and Our Lady of Assumption, Osterville.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Mar. 9, Hos 6:1-6; Ps 51:3-4,18-21b; Lk 18:9-14. Sun. Mar. 10, Fourth Sunday of Lent, Jos 5:9a,1012; Ps 34:2-7; 2 Cor 5:17-21; Lk 15:1-3,11-32. Mon. Mar. 11, Is 65:17-21; Ps 30:2,4-6,11-12a,13b; Jn 4:43-54. Tues. Mar. 12, Ez 47:19,12; Ps 46:2-3,5-6,8-9; Jn 5:1-16. Wed. Mar. 13, Is 49:8-15; Ps 145:8-9,13c-14,17-18; Jn 5:17-30. Thurs. Mar. 14, Ex 32:7-14; Ps 106:1923; Jn 5:31-47. Fri. Mar. 15, Wis 2:1a,12-22; Ps 34:17-21,23; Jn 7:1-2,10,25-30.

A

The unique impossibility of the papacy

t the point at which John Paul II began his papacy in the first volume of my biography of him, “Witness to Hope,” I borrowed some thoughts from Hans Urs von Balthasar and tried to explain a bit of the uniqueness of the papal office: “To be pope is to take on a task that is, by precise theological definition, impossible. Like every other office in the Church, the papacy exists for the sake of holiness. The office, though is a creature of time and space, and holiness is eternal. No one, not even a pope who is a saint, can fully satisfy the office’s demands. Yet the office, according to the Church’s faith, is of the will of God, and the office cannot fail, although the officeholder will always fall short of the mark. That distinction between the office and the man who holds it is a consolation to any pope. According to (Balthasar), it is also ‘unutterably terrible.’ The office reflects the unity of person and mission in Jesus Christ, of Whom the pope is vicar. Every pope, the saints as well as the scoundrels, ‘stands at an utterly tragic place’ (Balthasar continued), because he cannot be fully what the office demands. If he tries to be that, he arrogantly makes himself the equal of the Lord. If he consoles himself too

16

The Anchor - March 8, 2013

ship with Jesus Christ, simply by being easily with the thought that he must, necessarily, fail, he betrays the demand Who and what He is. The preaching, catechetics and teaching are important, that the office makes of him, the but they come “after” transparency to demand of radical love. The Office of Christ and His love.

Peter always reflects Christ’s words to Natural resilience amplified by Peter — that, because of the depth of grace. The pope must be able to draw his love, he will be led where he does from the not want wellspring to go” (Jn of his 21:18). prayer an But if abundance the job is, of energy, essentialpatience, ly, imposBy George Weigel endurance sible the and comChurch passion. is not The pope knows the wickedness and without the resources of history and evil sins of the world in macrocosm contemporary experience to imagine and the sorrows of individual men and the qualities one would like to see women in microcosm. The grace of in the man who must, as someone strength needed to bear that burden of must, take up this uniquely imposknowledge without being crushed by sible yet essential task. In “Evangeliit must build on a natural physical and cal Catholicism: Deep Reform in the psychological hardiness and resilience.

21st-Century Church,” published just Pastoral experience. John Paul II’s before Pope Benedict XVI’s stunning papacy as previewed by the work as announcement of his resignation, I archbishop of Cracow and his successsuggest seven such qualities. ful ministry there. That model makes A profound and transparent sense for future popes, who must have faith. The pope must be so convinced of the Catholic symphony of truth, and demonstrated evangelically effective pastoral leadership and a capacity so transparent to it in his own life, that to meet the challenges of aggressive he readily invites others into friend-

The Catholic Difference

secularism, which did not end when the Berlin Wall came down.

Good judgment in people. A holy, brilliant, humanly decent pope will find his ministry impeded if he does not have shrewd judgment in choosing men for high Church office, both as local bishops and as leaders in the Church’s central administrative machinery in Rome.

Openness and curiosity. One of the keys to the success of John Paul II’s papacy was his openness to a range of inputs from outside conventional ecclesiastical channels. A 21st-century pope must look to a wide range of information to inform his own evangelical ministry.

Courage. A timid man who sees dilemmas but not ways to address them is ill-qualified for the papacy. So is a man easily rattled by failure. Doing what is hard and absorbing the criticism for doing it is part of the essential responsibility of the pope.

Languages. In a multilingual Church, a multilingual pope is helpful.

All of which suggests that nationality is irrelevant in choosing a pope.

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

Back to the beginning continued from page eight

my parents nor godparents remember — but I was always pretend as if I was and my name is the first one listed in the baptismal register). I also prayed for the priest who made me a child of God, Father Richard L. Mahoney, OMI, a priest who was very old at the time of the Baptism whom I never had the chance to know, but who gave me the greatest gift of my life.

I also prayed with gratitude to God for the two occasions I have been able to return to that font to baptize my nephew Eddie and my niece and goddaughter Molly.

Baptism was the start of my ongoing pilgrimage of faith and so I reflected on the journey that began there.

It was before the side altar of the Sacred Heart, housing the tabernacle, close now to where the baptismal font is located, where I first became aware, at the age of four, that God had given me an intense desire to be a priest. It happened during daily Mass when I observed elderly Father Jon Cantwell hobble with his bad knees down the marble steps of the sanctuary to give Holy Communion to those old enough and lucky enough to receive Him, and then put Jesus back in the tabernacle right before where we were kneeling in the front row. As he genuflected in excruciating pain before Jesus as he closed the tabernacle door, the realization came to me that the priest must be the luckiest man in the world, capable of holding God in his hands and giving Him to others. It was on that day that I asked God to give me the vocation to be a priest.

It was in that church that I made my first and many other Confessions.

It was there, on May 6, 1978, that I received Jesus in Holy Communion for the first time and so many times thereafter. It was in that beautiful house of God that I became an altar boy, which allowed me to get to know several priests who had a huge impact in fostering my priestly vocation. It was at St. Michael’s that I received the power of Pentecost on May 23, 1986, from the hands of then-Bishop Alfred Hughes, the future Archbishop of New

Orleans. It was there that I celebrated my third Mass, on June 29, 1999, and my first wedding — my baby sister Colleen’s — two months later. It was there that I also had the privilege to celebrate several weddings and many funerals of family members and friends in the years since.

My heart began to fill with gratitude for just how many graces God has given me there and how God has been accompanying me ever since throughout the stages of my journey of faith.

Taking in the beauty of that church, which is a tangible sign of the beauty of our faith, I finished my prayer by renewing my baptismal promises and asking God for the grace always to live in accordance with them. I returned to Fall River a new man.

I would encourage everyone to try to make a similar pilgrimage this year. If the church where you were baptized has been closed, please know that you can still receive the indulgence by visiting site of the church where you became a child of God or the font, if it has been relocated to another church. You can also receive a plenary indulgence any year by renewing your baptismal vows at the Easter Vigil and on the anniversary of your Baptism.

Father Landry is Pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River.

His email address is fatherlandry@ catholicpreaching.com.

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The Anchor - March 8, 2013

17

I

In his eyes

have a painting of Christ in my — not without having them explained office, and in my bedroom at to me. home. It’s my favorite artist’s rendiBut that’s not to say I didn’t get tion of what Jesus looked like. In the Benedict’s message for the last eight portrait He is looking skyward and years. I did indeed — in his eyes.

His eyes are almost a crystal blue — Regardless of his health, his eyes penetrating, yet so very loving. always had the love he had for God, I don’t know if Our Lord had baby His Church, and His people in them. blues or not, but I find such inspiraIn Benedict’s eyes I could see tion from the painting, that it doesn’t compassion, love, authority, caring, matter. and concern. He had the eyes of a For me, the eyes have always told loving father. That much I did underthe story — no matter what the story stand from Pope Benedict XVI. No is.

I’ve written about how my pooch Igor’s eyes let me know how she’s feeling and what she’s thinking. The same goes with humans.

Take a look at the

By Dave Jolivet photo spread in this week’s Anchor on pages 12 and 13. It briefly need for a translation there. chronicles Pope Benedict’s eightTake a good look at the photo on year reign as the Holy Father. He page 12 where the pope is raising the goes from a young 78-year-old at the Eucharist during the consecration. It time of his election, to a tired, frail needs no explanation.

85-year-old in the final year of his I will miss those eyes, much the papacy. That’s pretty easy to see. same way I still miss the eyes of But there is one constant in any Blessed Pope John Paul II. photo you see of Pope Benedict — For me, the eyes can’t lie. It’s my his eyes. fervent hope and prayer that BeneThroughout the pages of this dict’s successor will also have the week’s Anchor, you’ll find many eyes of a loving father. accounts of how Pope Benedict’s Years ago on a retreat, I used the writings, homilies and teachings were old Peter Gabriel song, “In Your second to none; about how history will view him hundreds of years from Eyes” to describe Jesus’ eyes. I think that reference would be an approprinow — as one of the most prolific ate goodbye to Benedict: Catholic authors of all time.

“In your eyes, the light the heat, I don’t doubt that in the least. But in your eyes I am complete.

I have to be perfectly honest here.

In your eyes, I see the doorway to I can’t appreciate the greatness of a thousand churches, in your eyes his writings for one reason. I didn’t the resolution of all the fruitless understand many of them. The lansearches. guage, always eloquent and flowing, In your eyes I see the light and the was many times over my head. heat in your eyes.

Having worked in the Catholic Oh, I want to be that complete. press for nearly 20 years, one would I want to touch the light, think I should fully comprehend the heat I see in your eyes.”

Benedict’s works, but I simply can’t

My View From the Stands

Pope Benedict XVI met with Fall River Bishop George W. Coleman and the other U.S. bishops from northeastern states on their “ad limina” visits to the Vatican in November 2011. From left: Bishop John B. McCormack of Manchester, N.H.; Bishop Salvatore R. Matano of Burlington, Vt.; Pope Benedict XVI; Bishop Coleman; and Auxiliary Bishop Francis J. Christian of Manchester, N.H. (CNS photo/ L’Osservatore Romano)

Pope Benedict XVI blesses the marriage of Paula and John Wilk following a papal audience on Ash Wednesday. The couple was married on Feb. 17, 2007, and honeymooned in Rome. Paula is director of Religious Education at St. Patrick Parish in Wareham. The couple met while serving on a vocations committee for the Archdiocese of Boston. The pair invited friends to pray a marriage novena with them for the nine days leading up to their wedding. (Photo courtesy of the Wilks).

PAGE ONE PHOTO — Pope Benedict XVI waves to pilgrims from a cruiser in 2005 as he arrives on the Rhine River for World Youth Day near Cologne, Germany. The pope emeritus placed young people at the center of his concerns and reached out to them with networking media such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. (CNS photo/Catholic Press Photo, Pool)

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The Anchor - March 8, 2013

Area youth say goodbye to pope

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

N ORT H D ARTMO U T H — When Pope Benedict announced his retirement on February 11, it marked the first time in almost 600 years a pope stepped down from his role as Holy Father of the Catholic Church; and while not unprecedented, some of the graduates of the Christian Leadership Institute program, who were gearing up for this year’s youth convention at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth, admitted they didn’t believe the news.

“The first time I heard it, I didn’t think it was actually true,” said Sara DaCosta, member of St. Joseph’s Parish in Fairhaven. “I saw it on Facebook, so I was like, ‘that’s probably not real.’ But I watched the news later that night and I was like, ‘the pope’s retiring? Is that even possible?’”

The high school junior’s parents confirmed the news, and while DaCosta says she is still not clear about the exact reason why the pope is stepping down, she feels comfortable that the pope is making the right decision.

“He did a good job” leading the Church, said DaCosta.

High school students Ben Patterson and Sara Ferreira were equally caught off guard, admitting they had no idea a pope could retire from the papacy.

“It was definitely surprising,” said Ferreira, a member of St. Dominic’s Parish in Swansea.

“I thought it was a position for life,” said Patterson, a member of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Seekonk. “I think, though, that if he feels that he needs to retire, that’s good on his part. He knows the Church comes first, and I think it’s good of him to not be in it for the power, that he knows enough

is enough.”

This is the second time in their young lives that those interviewed will be bearing witness to the election of a new pope. Caroline Kirby said she was eight or nine years old when Pope Benedict XVI was elected, and the teen-age member of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Attleboro still remembers gathering around the television to look for the white smoke signaling a decision had been reached.

“It’s very interesting because the last pope that resigned was during

the schism,” said Kirby, referring to what historians call “The Great Schism,” when the election of Pope Gregory XII was done with the express condition that, should Benedict XIII, the rival papal claimant at Avignon, France, renounce all claims to the papacy, Gregory would also renounce his, so that a fresh election might be made, ending the Church’s divisions.

“I think it’s very courageous of him. It takes a lot of courage to say, ‘I’m not good enough right now; I can’t handle it but I’ve done

During the most recent youth convention at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth, organized by the graduates of this year’s Christian Leadership Institute program, many CLI graduates voiced their surprise at Pope Benedict announcing his retirement. The high school students expressed their understanding of the pope’s decision, and hope the new pope will continue to inspire the youth of the Catholic Church. (Photo by Becky Aubut)

what I can, and now someone else can take over,’” added Kirby. “He brought a lot of humility and was more of a quiet listener. He wasn’t the world traveler like John Paul II was, but he gave us the more quiet, dignified, humble leader. He showed by example. He was a very loving father figure and very loving towards the youth.”

“He was a spiritual leader that brought a lot of people back to the faith,” said Patterson. “I think it was just the example that he set through his own faith and actions; he was a good role model for the youth of the world.”

Toby Monty, member of St. John of God Parish in Somerset, said that Pope Benedict “did a good job keeping everything together. There were always critics,” especially regarding the sex abuse by priests, said Monty. “I was surprised that he could keep going.”

Ferreira echoed Monty’s sentiments, adding “He’s probably going to face a lot of criticisms now, but I think it was a very good decision because of his health,” she said.

As Benedict settles into his new role as pope emeritus, the cardinals will assemble to begin the selection of a new Bishop of Rome. And while she is little older this time around, Kirby hopes the new pope is “involved with the youth,” but also focuses on Pro-Life issues of “the unborn and the elderly,” said Kirby. “Pope John Paul showed us how to die with dignity and Pope Benedict showed us how to recognize our weaknesses.”

“I think we need a strong spiritual leader,” said Patterson, “that can reach out to not only the youth but to all Catholics throughout the world and really inspire them to live their faith and profess their faith through the things they say and do on a day-to-day basis.”

The Anchor - March 8, 2013

19

Newly-ordained priests reflect on Pope Emeritus continued from page seven

Father Mello said he has been inspired by many of Pope Benedict’s writings, in particular the homily he gave during his papal installation Mass, from which he quoted, in part: “If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to Him, are we not afraid that He might take something away from us? Are we

not perhaps afraid to give up something significant, something unique, something that makes life so beautiful? No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and He gives you everything.

When we give ourselves to Him, we

Our Lady’s Monthly Message From Medjugorje February 25, 2013

Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina “Dear children! Also today I call you to prayer. Sin is pulling you towards worldly things and I have come to lead you towards holiness and the things of God, but you are struggling and spending your energies in the battle with the good and the evil that are in you. Therefore, little children, pray, pray, pray until prayer becomes a joy for you and your life will become a simple walk towards God. “Thank you for having responded to my call.”

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

receive a hundredfold in return.”

Over the years, Father Brilhante has likewise been greatly inspired by Pope Benedict’s writings and he hopes he will continue to publish and share his teachings during retirement.

“I’ve enjoyed reading Pope Benedict’s writings about the Church fathers and how things have changed in the modern world and how sensitive he’s been to teaching the faith in times of difficulty,” he said. “Pope Benedict was able to articulate our faith in ways that made it applicable in a very secular time.

He still has a clear mind and he’s very intuitive to matters of faith.”

Like his brother priests, Father Floyd didn’t want to speculate about Pope Benedict’s ultimate successor; he just remained hopeful that the college of cardinals would be guided by the Holy Spirit in making this important choice.

“I think Benedict has given us an example of really praying through his decision and I hope the cardinals approach it that way, too,” he said.

“If there’s one thing to learn from his

papacy — particular with the whole Vatileaks scandal, which was really all about infighting in the Vatican — it’s that we really need to pray about these decisions and let the Holy Spirit work in our hearts. I hope the cardinals do that and I think if they do, it doesn’t matter to me who they elect. I just hope they do so prayerfully.”

“I know and trust that he is doing what he feels is best for the Church,” said Father Deston. “The Barque of Peter is a tough ship to steer, and a demanding one, so that he feels a more vigorous man than he needs to take the tiller makes good sense, and is, I think, quite an act of humility and trust.”

“The faithful have not known Pope Benedict for very long, so there are not as many memories of him as Pope John Paul II, but I admire him because he had the courage to do what is in the best interest of the Church,” added Father Costa. “Sometimes you have to look for greatness that is not found in power, but in humble service and faithfulness.”

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The Anchor - March 8, 2013

Celebrant is Msgr. Gerard P. O’Connor, Pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Acushnet

A

t the 27th World Youth Day, Pope Benedict XVI spoke to the young Church saying, “The Church’s vocation is to bring joy to the world, a joy that is authentic and enduring, the joy proclaimed by the angels to the shepherds on the night Jesus was born (cf. Lk 2:10). Not only did God speak, not only did He accomplish great signs throughout the history of humankind, but He drew so near to us that He became one of us and lived our life completely. In these difficult times, so many young people all around you need to hear that the Christian message is a message of joy and hope!”

In 2005, I was blessed to have been a part of World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany, along with many young people from our diocese.

There, we heard the same message from Pope Benedict XVI. Throughout his papacy, Pope Benedict’s message to young people has been one of hope and joy and how the youth of the world can find these gifts so that they may experience them more deeply and bring them to everyone they meet.

I shall remember Pope Benedict XVI by the way he expressed his love for the young Church and how they can experience this joy in seven ways.

Our hearts are made for joy!

Everyday of your lives is filled with simple joys: the joy of living, the joy of seeing nature’s beauty, the joy of a job well done, the joy of helping others, the joy of sincere and pure love. These are the Lord’s gifts. These

L

Joy and hope

steadfast, reliable and faithful to comare some reasons to rejoice and be mitments. This applies most of all to happy each day. But, you also face a friendship. Your friends expect you to number of difficulties that compels be sincere, loyal and faithful because you to ask: is perfect joy really possible? I believe it is but you will need true love perseveres even in times of to learn what it is that gives you a real difficulty.

The joy of conversion! Experiand lasting joy and what is only an encing real joy means recognizing the immediate pleasure. temptations that lead us away from it.

God is the source of true joy!

You can recognize the fullness of this The present-day culture often pressures you joy in the to seek Person immediof Jesus ate goals, Christ. achieveKeep ments and searching pleasures. for this joy To have and each

By Ozzie Pacheco lasting joy time you you need find it you to live in will know love and truth. God wants you to be that the cause of all this joy is the happy. One way you can receive this closeness of God Who became One happiness is by receiving the Sacraof us. “Rejoice in the Lord always. I ment of Penance and Reconciliation, shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord often!

Joy at times of trial! When you is near” (Phil 4:4-5). Our first reason share in the sufferings of Jesus, you for joy is the closeness of the Lord, also share in His glory. With Him and Who welcomes us and loves us. in Him, suffering is transformed into Preserving Christian joy in our love. hearts! How do you receive and Witnesses of joy! Pope Benemaintain this gift of deep, spiritual dict wished for young people to be joy? The Liturgy, the celebration of “missionaries of joy.” You cannot be Mass, is a special place where the happy if others are not. Joy has to Church expresses the joy which she be shared. Go and tell other young receives from the Lord and transmits people about your joy at finding it to the world. the precious treasure which is Jesus The joy of love! Pope Benedict Himself. said, “Joy is intimately linked to When history writes about Pope love.” In every area of your life, you should know that to love means to be Benedict XVI it will remember him

Be Not Afraid

as a humble servant of God. His mission was one of love and reconciliation that led him to the desire that “all may be one” (Jn 17:21). Pope Benedict XVI also believes in you, the young people of the Church. He stressed, time and time again, how the youth of the Catholic Church need to be witnesses to Christ, and share Him with all those around them. He doesn’t want you to just be a “normal teen,” he wants you to be on fire for Christ, and to share His love with all those around you.

That is our challenge; it isn’t just a challenge that Pope Benedict XVI made up on his own, but a challenge that he echoes from Christ. To be a disciple and a Catholic is to share the hope we have in Christ with others, to let them know God’s love through us and to be passionate defenders of the truth of our faith.

“The Church has confidence in young people, she hopes in them and in their energies, she needs them and their vitality, to continue to live with renewed enthusiasm the mission entrusted them by Christ. I very much hope, therefore, that the Year of Faith may be, also for the younger generation, a precious opportunity to rediscover and strengthen our friendship with Christ, from which to derive joy and enthusiasm to profoundly transform cultures and societies.” — Pope Benedict XVI God bless!

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

Godspeed to this beloved Holy Father

ittle did we guess as we prepared for Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent of this year, that one of the things we would be obliged to give up this Lent is our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. It is a great consolation that he will continue to live in Vatican City and to support our Holy Church and the papacy in prayer and suffering. We had a chance this past Sunday to watch on EWTN the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster’s Retrospective of Pope Benedict’s 2010 State Visit to Britain, and we could see how drastically physically diminished he has become in the almost three years since.

And it was impossible not to be struck once again with how hugely grateful to him, to the Church in England, and to the Anglican Church we are, for the palpably holy, loving reunion of our two churches on that occasion. The sight of Anglican bishops en masse embracing Roman Catholic bishops of England so very heartily and happily blew one

away with the joy of it. All of us with U.S. individuals and entire parishes English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish to this generous, compassionate and roots could not help but feel healing respectful invitation — how much we in our hearts of the ancient wound the all have for which to be grateful to Tudor Crown struck to our once-one Pope Benedict.

Church.

How frequently we have seen this How introvertgood to ed, mild see again scholar former violate Prime his very Minister nature, Tony Blair joyously among the visiting,

By Dr. Joanne Hager dignitaries e.g., Africa greetfor World ing our Youth Holy Father — knowing he had by Day, or America in 2008, embracthen been received into our Roman ing the enthusiasm of the wild, huge Catholic faith. One wonders how crowds, giving profound homily many, at the time of that visit, anticiafter profound homily. And with how pated Pope Benedict’s January 2012 much benefit have his visits been announcement of the Anglican and crowned; after his visit to the New Episcopal Ordinariates for converYork City archdiocesan seminary that sion of members of those Churches year, the number of new vocations into our Mother Church. How happy skyrocketed! and enthusiastic has been the huge Most of all have we been grateful response of English, Canadian and for his evident humility, simplicity

Book Therapy

and devotion. He has been a truly Holy Father to us all. We remember his frequent requests, as Cardinal Ratzinger, to Pope John Paul II to be allowed to retire and return home to Bavaria to pray and write, which were every time denied. He allowed himself to be abashed by his predecessor’s tireless persistence in office despite all his ailments, and continued to assist Blessed John Paul II to fulfill his office until his death. One wonders if John Paul II could have known the Holy Spirit would move the 2005 conclave to elect his faithful subordinate to be his faithful successor. For which may God be praised.

Dr. Hager is a parishioner at St. Pius X Parish in South Yarmouth, and co-led a course in meditation at Our Lady of the Cape Parish. She was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Behavioral Medicine at Harvard Medical School and has had a private practice of Medical Psychology and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for more than 30 years in Brookline and Yarmouth.

The Anchor - March 8, 2013

21

In Your Prayers

Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks

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

Around the Diocese 3/9

An Attic Treasures Sale, sponsored by the St. John Neumann Women’s Guild, will be held in the parish hall, located at 157 Middleboro Road in East Freetown tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. A Continental breakfast and hot homemade lunch will be served and the hall is wheelchair accessible. Take the Chace Road exit off Route 140.

3/10

A Family Rosary Retreat will be held March 10 from 1:30 to 5 p.m. This family event centers on the theme “Lord I Believe — Help My Unbelief” and will consist of an afternoon of activities including inspiring keynotes, family activities, Eucharistic Adoration, Rosary Prayer and a screening of a new video release on the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary. Many hands are needed to conduct the program.

Whatever your talent, they would be grateful for whatever time you could offer. The event will be held at Bishop Stang High School, 500 Slocum Road, North Dartmouth. For more information call 508-238-4095 or visit www.familyrosary.org/retreat.

3/16

The Knights of Columbus Council #11690 of Norton is holding a baby shower for single mothers and infants the weekend of March 16-17. The baby shower is being held in conjunction with the Knights of Columbus Day for the Unborn on the Feast of the Annunciation. Donations of basic necessities for babies such as diapers, bibs, lotions, and the like will be collected for local single mothers with infants and distributed through Birthright. Items can be dropped off at the entrance of St. Mary’s Church in Norton at all Masses. For more information contact Joseph or Kathleen Travers at 508-212-6271.

3/19

The Daughters of Isabella Hyacinth Circle will be holding its monthly meeting at 7 p.m. on March 19 at the St. Mary’s Parish Center in South Dartmouth. Join them for a Lenten renewal with Benediction and a talk to follow given by a man of God. Any new Catholic women who are interested in joining the group are welcome.

In peace and love all current, past, and potential new members are welcome to join them for fellowship, sisterhood, faith renewal, and fun.

4/6

A Day with Mary will be held April 6 at St. John the Evangelist Church, 1 St. John Place in Attleboro from 7:50 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. It will include a video presentation, procession and crowning of the Blessed Mother with Mass and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

There is an opportunity for Reconciliation. A bookstore will be available.

Please bring a bag lunch. For more information call 508-996-8274.

4/4

The Lazarus Ministry of Our Lady of the Cape Parish in Brewster is offering a six-week bereavement support group called “Come Walk With Me,” that begins April 4 and runs through May 9 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The program meets for six weeks at the parish center and is designed for people who have experienced the loss of a loved one within the past year. Pre-registration is required and there is a $10 charge for materials. Contact Happy Whitman at 508-385-3252 or Judy Pregot at 508-896-8355 for additional information.

Misc.

Maya textiles from the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology (Brown University) and the weaving collective Oxib’ B’atz (New Bedford) will be on display through April 7 at the Whaling Museum in New Bedford. Maya weaving is a storytelling practice rooted in tradition that remains an essential form of expression to this day. Anthropologist Margot Blum Schevill recently donated her extensive textile collection, gathered during the 1970s, to the Haffenreffer Museum. Meanwhile, the Oxib’ B’atz continue weaving using the traditional backstrap loom. This look at historic and contemporary textiles will reflect a new understanding about the textile manufacturing industry in the past and present, and will explore the industry’s central role in the history of New Bedford and in the lives of its residents. The exhibit is co-curated by Anna Ghublikianand and María D. Quintero and is funded by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese

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

ATTLEBORO — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the St. Joseph Adoration Chapel at Holy Ghost Church, 71 Linden Street, from 7 a.m. to 9 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.

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, every first Friday after the 8 a.m. Mass and ending the following day before the 8 a.m. Mass.

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

East Sandwich — 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.

EAST TAUNTON — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the chapel at Holy Family Parish Center, 438 Middleboro Avenue, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. On First Fridays, Eucharistic Adoration takes place at Holy Family Church, 370 Middleboro Avenue, from 8:30 a.m. until 7:45 p.m.

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

Refreshments follow.

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

FALL RIVER — St. Bernadette’s Church, 529 Eastern Ave., has Eucharistic Adoration on Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the chapel.

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

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

FALL RIVER — Good Shepherd Parish has Eucharistic Adoration every Friday following the 8 a.m.

Mass until 6 p.m. in the Daily Mass Chapel. There is a bilingual Holy Hour in English and Portuguese from 5-6 p.m. Park behind the church and enter the back door of the connector between the church and the rectory.

Falmouth — St. Patrick’s Church has Eucharistic Adoration each First Friday, following the 9 a.m.

Mass until Benediction at 4:30 p.m. The Rosary is recited Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.

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 every Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

NORTH DARTMOUTH — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Julie Billiart Church, 494 Slocum Road, every Tuesday from 7 to 8 p.m., ending with Benediction. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available at this time.

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

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

SEEKONK ­— Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish has Eucharistic Adoration seven days a week, 24 hours a day in the chapel at 984 Taunton Avenue. For information call 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. Expostition 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 — Every First Friday, Eucharistic Adoration takes place from 8:30 a.m. through Benediction at 5:30 p.m. Morning prayer is prayed at 9; the Angelus at noon; the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3 p.m.; and Evening Prayer at 5 p.m.

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

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

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The Anchor - March 8, 2013

The Anchor - March 8, 2013

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Farewell Pope Emeritus “There have also been moments in which the waters were turbulent and the wind contrary, as throughout the history of the Church, and the Lord seemed to be asleep.

But I have always known that the Lord is in that boat and that the boat of the Church is not mine, it is not ours, but it is His and He does not let it sink.”

Feb. 27, 2013 Final General Audience

Pope Benedict XVI leaves following an audience with Romanian Pre sident Traian Base scu at the Vatican February 15. The meeting was in the pope’s schedule before he announced February 11 that he would resign effective February 28.

(CNS photo/pool via Reuters) 24

The Anchor - March 8, 2013