05.01.15

Diocese of Fall River, Mass.

F riday , May 1, 2015

Pope St. Pius X Youth Award recipients react to honor

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

Award this year from Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., within the context of FALL RIVER — When he was first a prayer service on May 5 at St. Mary’s notified that he’d be receiving the 2015 Cathedral in Fall River.

Pope St. Pius X Youth Award for his The annual award, named for the contributions at Christ the King Parish pontiff who created the Fall River Dioin Mashpee, Kevin Agostinelli said his cese in 1904 and presented for the first initial reaction was one of surprise. time in 2001, recognizes teens who serve “To me, it’s more about the recogni- their parish community with selflessness, tion for my work throughout the parish,” commitment and dedication.

Agostinelli told The Anchor. “I’ve always Nominated for the honor by their been active with the Church and I’ve pastor, recipients are active in a variety been involved with a lot of the youth of ministries and programs within their programs at Christ the King, so I’m defi- parishes. Some are lectors, extraordinary nitely satisfied that I’ve been able to reap ministers of Holy Communion, teachers the benefits with this award.” in parish Religious Education programs; Agostinelli will be among more than others are altar servers, leaders in youth 50 teen-agers from parishes throughout groups, and members of retreat teams. the Fall River Diocese who will receive In order to be eligible for the Pope St. the prestigious Pope St. Pius X Youth Turn to page 14

This is a screen shot from one of five Catholic Charities Appeal videos produced to display the many good works performed in the Diocese of Fall River thanks to the generous donations to the Appeal by thousands of faithful. The videos were specific to each of the five diocesan deaneries and the works performed in them. To view any of the videos visit www.frdioc-catholiccharities.org.

Videos illustrate when it comes to the annual Charities Appeal, it is indeed ‘What We Do’ of Fairhaven, and newly-installed Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., have colFAIRHAVEN — Every picture is laborated to show faithful across the dioworth a thousand words, and the mil- cese, “What We Do.” The videos, which have been shown lions of words emanating from the five at regional kickoff events and at some 2015 Catholic Charities Appeal videos churches, are recorded in English, Spantell stories of hope, courage, faith, healish and Portuguese, and are directed toing, compassion, and the day-to-day living out of Jesus’ Beatitudes from His wards those living in towns in each of the five diocesan deaneries; Attleboro, beloved Sermon on the Mount.

For 71 years the Fall River diocesan Taunton, Fall River, New Bedford, and Cape Cod and the IsCatholic Charities lands.

Appeal has been servEach of the viding those in need eos begin with a brief from the Attleboros montage of Bishop through Taunton, da Cunha’s life, beNew Bedford, Fall ginning in Brazil and River, Cape Cod and ending up in the Fall the Islands, and evRiver Diocese. “Even erywhere in between.

The annual Appeal is the source of though I have been here for a short time,” renewals, new lives, and second chances Bishop da Cunha tells viewers, “I have for thousands of individuals who, for come to know and love the people that one reason or another, are in dire straits God has entrusted to my pastoral care.”

The bishop continues, “As you join us and are in need of the assistance of their in this mission of service, I hope that you brothers and sisters.

This year’s campaign begins, as it usu- will find joy in the Lord’s call to share ally does, with kickoff events and ex- your gifts with our needy brothers and tremely informative and moving video sisters.”

“The collaboration with Bishop da testimonies of those who help and those Cunha and Dave Fortin has been trewho are being helped. And sometimes mendous,” Campbell told The Anchor. former helpers are the ones being helped today by the generous donations to the “Dave is a tremendous producer and Bishop da Cunha has added so much of Appeal.

This year, the diocesan Development his own input into the videos.”

“Putting together the media for the Office, under director James Campbell, media production expert Dave Fortin, of Catholic Charities Appeal is a huge unTurn to page 18 Media Image Productions, Inc. based out

By Dave Jolivet Anchor Editor

The members of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts — United States Province, whose headquarters are in Fairhaven and Kaneohe, Hawaii, recently selected their new provincial government to serve for the next three years. Elected Provincial Superior for a second term was Father Johnathan Hurrell. Father Stanley Kolasa was chosen as Vicar Provincial for Massachusetts with Father Herman Gomes as Vicar Provincial for Hawaii. Father Martin Gomes, pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Fairhaven, was elected as Massachusetts councilor while his Hawaiian counterpart is Brother Richard Kupo.

In 2011, the East Coast and Hawaiian Provinces merged to create the United States Province. Pictured, from left, are Father Herman Gomes, Father Martin Gomes, Father Johnathan Hurrell, Father Stanley Kolasa and Brother Richard Kupo.

Breaking down diocese’s responses to the latest synod questionnaire

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — In October of 2014, the Synod of Bishops entered into the formation of small groups and ended with a concluding document, “Relatio Synodi,” found in its entirety on the Vatican website, and which addresses “The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization” through three comprehensive parts.

“At the Extraordinary General Assembly of October 2014, the Bishop of

Rome called upon the Synod of Bishops to reflect upon the critical and invaluable reality of the family,” reads the document’s introduction, “a reflection which will then be pursued in greater depth at its Ordinary General Assembly scheduled to take place in October of 2015, as well as during the full year between the two synodal events. ‘The convenire in unum around the Bishop of Rome is already an event of grace, in which episcopal collegiality is made manifest in a Turn to page 15

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News From the Vatican

May 1, 2015

Pope Francis assures Nepal earthquake survivors of his closeness and prayers

Kathmandu (CNA/ EWTN News) — Pope Francis led the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the weekly Regina Caeli address in praying for the victims of Saturday’s earthquake in Nepal which has claimed thousands of lives.

“I wish to express my closeness to the populations struck by a powerful earthquake in Nepal and in neighboring countries,” he said, moments after reciting the Marian prayer.

“I pray for the victims, for the wounded, and for all those who suffer because of this calamity.

May they be sustained by fraternal solidarity.”

The pope then lead the crowds in praying the Hail Mary for the victims.

At least 3,000 people have died and thousands more are wounded following a 7.8 earthquake which struck the south Asian nation on April 25.

The epicenter of the quake was 80 kilometers northwest of the country’s capital, Kathmandu, where it toppled a 100-year-old temple, split roads, and destroyed houses and buildings.

Earlier, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, sent a telegram on behalf of Pope Francis to the Bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Nepal, Paul Simick.

“His Holiness Pope Francis was deeply saddened to learn of the earthquake and the resultant loss of many hundreds of lives in Nepal, as well as in neighboring countries,” the cardinal wrote.

“He expresses his solidarity with all affected by this disaster and assures those who grieve for deceased family members of his closeness in prayer.”

The telegram said the pope “commends the souls of the victims to the loving mercy of the Almighty.”

He then encouraged civil authorities and emergency personnel in their rescue efforts.

“Upon them all he invokes the blessings of the Almighty as a pledge of healing and consolation,” the telegram says.

The quake is reported to have caused avalanches in the Mount Everest region of the Himalayas at the peak of climbing season. At least 17 people were killed in the resulting avalanches, and more are still missing.

There are also reports of damages to the airport in Kathmandu, which could hinder initial relief efforts.

This is the second-worst earthquake in Nepal since 1934, when an 8.0 magnitude earthquake all but destroyed the cities of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan.

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

Princess Leonore, held by Sweden’s Queen Silvia, gives a papal key chain to Pope Francis during her grandmother’s private audience with Pope Francis in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican recently. The princess made sure to get her gift back from the pope. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

No boring homilies, pope tells new priests at ordination

VATICAN CITY (CNS) be mindful always of the mys- upon their heads, the 19 were — Ordaining 19 men to the tery they celebrate when they vested as priests. They again priesthood, Pope Francis not preside at Mass, Pope Francis went up to the pope and he lavished oil all over their palms, only told them to make sure told them, “Never rush it!” their homilies were not borAnd, he read, you will bring consecrating their hands.

Moving to the window of ing, but he offered them ad- new faithful into the people of vice on how to ensure their God through Baptism. But he the Apostolic Palace for the preaching would touch peo- added, “never refuse Baptism midday recitation of the “Regina Coeli” prayer, Pope Franple: speak from your heart. to those who request it.”

Priests are called to nourIn the Sacrament of Recon- cis brought two of the newlyish the faithful, he said, so ciliation, he said, “you will re- ordained priests with him to they must ensure “that your mit sins in the name of Christ thank people for their prayers and to offer a blessing homilies are not borpriest, the prepared homily says, with him. ing, that your homimust be intent only on pleasing The pope spoke lies arrive directly in people’s hearts be- God and not himself. “It is ugly to see a briefly about the day’s cause they flow from priest who lives to please himself, who acts Gospel reading about Jesus as the Good your heart, because like a peacock” strutting around, the pope Shepherd. “The bad what you tell them is shepherd,” he said, what you have in your said. “thinks about himself heart.”

Celebrating the Mass April and of the Church. And I — and exploits the sheep. The 26, the World Day of Prayer in the name of Jesus Christ Good Shepherd thinks about for Vocations, Pope Francis the Lord and His spouse, the the sheep and gives Himself planned to use the set hom- Holy Church — ask you never for them.”

The only aim of a good ily given in the ritual book for to tire of being merciful. You priestly ordinations; but as he will be in the confessional to shepherd, the pope said, is has done in the past, he added forgive, not to condemn. Imi- “that of leading, nourishing his own reflections as well, in- tate the Father Who never and protecting his sheep.”

By sending Jesus to lay cluding his homily tips. tires of forgiving.”

The prepared homily A priest, the prepared hom- down His life for all humanspeaks of the effectiveness of ily says, must be intent only on ity, he said, God showed the a holy priest’s example. The pleasing God and not himself. depths of His love for each pope added, “examples edify, “It is ugly to see a priest who person. “His is the highest and but words without examples lives to please himself, who purest kind of love because it are empty words, they are acts like a peacock” strutting is not motivated by any need, it is not conditioned by any just ideas that never reach the around, the pope said. heart and, in fact, they can The 19 new priests includ- calculation” and is not looking harm. They are no good!” ed 13 for the Diocese of Rome for anything in return.

“It is not enough to conPope Francis told the thou- and six for other dioceses sands of people gathered for around the world. As Bishop template and thank Him,” the Mass in St. Peter’s Basili- of Rome, Pope Francis asked the pope said. “We must folca that the men were accepted the 13 if they promised “me low the Good Shepherd. In and put forward by their bish- and my successors your filial particular, those who have ops. “And the bishop risks — respect and devotion.” But for the mission of guiding in the he risks! — and chooses them, the other six, he asked, “Do Church — priests, bishops, just as the Father has risked you promise your ordinary fil- popes — are called to not assume the mentality of a manon each one of us.” ial respect and devotion?”

Reading the prepared homAfter they had knelt before ager, but that of a servant in ily’s exhortation for priests to him and he placed his hands imitation of Jesus.”

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The International Church

May 1, 2015

Bishop: Boko Haram is spreading to Cameroon — while the world looks the other way

Abuja, Nigeria (Aid to the Church in Need) — A bishop in Cameroon has sent out an urgent message that the militant Islamist group Boko Haram is increasingly spreading into his country — but that media around the world are paying no attention.

In a memorandum made available to the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Bruno Ateba of the Diocese of Maroua-Mokolo lamented that the violence perpetrated in northern Cameroon by Boko Haram has not drawn significant international attention.

“What happened in Paris during the attacks there is something we experience here every day,” he said, referencing the January massacre at a French satirical newspaper by Muslim extremists, “and yet nobody in the world says anything about it.”

“Instead, the attention of the world is focused above all on the Middle East,” the prelate said.

Boko Haram, which means “Western education is sinful,” launched an uprising in 2009 in an effort to impose sharia law on Nigeria. More than 6,000 people have died in Boko Haram-led violence in the country, according to Human Rights Watch.

In 2014, Boko Haram became known worldwide when members kidnapped nearly 300 girls from a school in Borno State. Last month,

the group pledged its allegiance to ISIS — also known as the Islamic State — which launched a bloody campaign in Iraq and Syria last summer.

But while the world turns its focus to the Middle East, Boko Haram is infiltrating parts of Cameroon, Bishop Ateba warned.

The bishop said that in his diocese alone, since the last quarter of 2014, two senior diocesan staff, three catechists and more than 30 faithful have been murdered, and there have been numerous abductions.

He also said that numerous mosques have been burnt down and imams have had their throats cut, because “they refused to obey the orders of Boko Haram.”

Since as early as December 2013, the native Muslim community within Cameroon has adopted an increasingly clear stance against Boko Haram, he explained, and Muslims have often come to the aid of Christians threatened by the terror group that is “sowing panic” in northern Cameroon.

Just as it does in Nigeria, Boko Haram also recruits children in Cameroon, ages five-15, enticing them with financial benefits for their families or simply abducting them by force, the bishop reported. This year alone, he said, no fewer than 2,000 Cameroonian children and adolescents have been seized

by Boko Haram — including

Diocese of Fall River

OFFICIAL

His Excellency, the Most Reverend Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., D.D., Bishop of Fall River, has accepted the nomination of the Very Reverend Johnathan A. Hurrell, SS.CC., Provincial Superior of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts — United States Province, and has made the following appointments: Rev. James McDonough, SS.CC., Chaplain at Our Lady’s Haven Nursing Home in Fairhaven

Effective: June 1, 2015 Rev. David Lupo, SS.CC., Parochial Vicar at St. Mary’s Parish in Fairhaven Effective: September 1, 2015

a number of girls.

The infrastructure of the affected region — already one of the poorest in Cameroon — has been severely damaged. According to Bishop Ateba, the terror attacks have caused the closure of more than 110 schools and 13 health centers, while many police stations have been destroyed.

The Diocese of MarouaMokolo is today home to more than 55,000 displaced Cameroonians as well as refugees from Nigeria, he added. Many have sought shelter with friends and relatives, but more than 22,000 are still hiding in the bush.

The situation is particularly bad in the community of Amchidé, where a series of attacks by Boko Haram have caused the entire population to flee, the bishop explained.

As a result, the pastoral activities in the area have come to a complete standstill. The chapel has been burned down and, according to eyewitness reports, there are human skulls lying in the streets.

Praising the courage of the faithful who continue to gather for prayer despite the dangerous situation, Bishop Ateba also addressed world leaders with a plea: “Today we beseech your attention, your prayers and your help.”

“Help us to bring an end to this nameless brutality that is destroying all hope for the future and bringing to nothing all the hard work of generations of believers.”

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The Church in the U.S.

May 1, 2015

Charlotte Catholic church will not host talk by Sister Jeannine Gramick

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (CNS) — Sister Jeannine Gramick, censured for her opposition to Catholic Church teaching on homosexuality and Marriage, will not be allowed to speak at a Catholic church in Charlotte.

The Sister of Loretto was to have been the keynote speaker at a public program titled “Including LGBT People and Their Families in Faith Communities: A Conference Open to All,” scheduled for May 16 at St. Peter Church.

The program was organized

by St. Peter Church’s gay and lesbian ministry and the Charlotte chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, or PFLAG, which is a group for parents, families and friends of those identifying as homosexual that is not associated with the Catholic Church.

After he was made aware of Sister Gramick’s expected appearance, Charlotte Bishop Peter J. Jugis directed Jesuit Father Pat Earl, pastor of St. Peter Church, to not allow her to speak at the church.

A Catholic News Service request emailed to Sister Gramick requesting comment was not immediately returned.

Sister Gramick is the cofounder of New Ways Ministry, an outreach to gays and lesbians, which the U.S. bishops have said for years has no approval or recognition from the Catholic Church and cannot speak on behalf of the Catholic faithful in the United States.”

David Hains, diocesan director of communication, said in a brief statement: “New Ways does not speak legitimately for the teaching of the Catholic Church and therefore cannot be allowed to hold gatherings on church property.”

In 1999, the Vatican ordered Sister Gramick, then a member of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, and New Ways’ other co-founder, the late Salvatorian Father Robert Nugent, to stop pastoral ministry to gays, saying they advanced “doctrinally unacceptable” positions about homosexuality. The two were directed to stop talking about homosexuality.

Father Nugent complied, but Sister Gramick defied the ban.

After her religious order threatened to expel her for defying the Vatican’s ban on her ministry to homosexuals, Sister Jeannine joined the Sisters of Loretto in 2001 and said her transfer to a new religious community made

the Vatican’s silencing no longer valid.

New Ways Ministry, based in Mount Rainier, Md., describes itself as a “gay-positive ministry of advocacy and justice for lesbian and gay Catholics and reconciliation within the larger Christian and civil communities.” It advocates for same-sex marriage and acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle.

The Catholic Church teaches that homosexual attraction itself is not sinful, though homosexual actions are sinful. It teaches that Marriage is only a union between a man and a woman and that any sexual activity outside of Marriage is sinful.

In Charlotte, Sister Gramick was to have spoken on “her experience of working for greater inclusion” of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people “and their families in the Church.”

Hains noted that priests and members of religious orders who are invited to speak in churches in the diocese routinely provide a “letter of suitability” to the chancery. The letter stipulates that the speaker is in good standing in the Church, meaning that his or her message will be doctrinally sound and will not contradict Church teaching. Also included in the letter is information indicating that the speaker has received sexual abuse awareness training such as “Protecting God’s Children.”

The chancery had not received a letter of suitability from New Ways Ministry before the decision was made to prohibit the event at St. Peter Church, Hains said.

Diane Troy, president of the Charlotte PFLAG chapter and a member of St. Peter Church, said she was disappointed the parish could not host Sister Gramick.

Troy told the Catholic News Herald, Charlotte’s diocesan newspaper, her goal is to help parents of openly homosexual children, including herself, find a “welcoming” place in the Church in which they can “reconcile their faith with their love for their children.”

She said she knows that Sister Gramick disagrees with Church teaching on homosexuality and Marriage, but added that her intention was to host a conversation about how Charlotte area churches can be “more welcoming” of gays and lesbians.

Troy said organizers still hope to host Sister Gramick in May, but a new location has not been determined.

The Vatican-authorized replica of the Shroud of Turin is seen on exhibit recently in front of a mosaic of Christ’s Resurrection in the golden-domed Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Philadelphia. (CNS photo/Teresa Siwak, courtesy The Way)

Ambiguities about Serra should not discount sainthood, panelists say

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Although the upcoming canonization of Blessed Junipero Serra has stirred mixed reaction, a group of panelists recently said the ambiguities around the friar should not discount the good work he did or the positive dialogue and reconciliation that could result from his sainthood.

“He made a lot of mistakes, but he was a man of his time.

He was flawed but heroic,” said Franciscan Father Joe Nangle about Blessed Serra, the 18thcentury Spanish Franciscan who established missionaries in the U.S. Father Nangle, associate pastor of Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Arlington, Va., was a panelist in the “Founding Padres” discussion held at The Catholic University of America.

It focused on three Catholic priests represented in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall: Blessed Serra and Jesuit Fathers Jacques Marquette and Eusebio Kino.

Much of the discussion focused on Blessed Serra, particularly since his canonization will take place September 23 during a Mass on the lawn of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.

Father Nangle, who served as a missionary in Latin America for 15 years, was not alone in having mixed feelings about Blessed Serra, who was described by Pope Francis as “the evangelizer of the West in the United States” but has been labeled by some Native Ameri-

cans as a brutal colonizer and someone who suppressed Indian culture.

“I appreciate the ambiguities,” said Tracy Neal Leavelle, associate professor of history and associate dean for humanities and fine arts at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., during the discussion sponsored by Catholic University’s Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies.

Leavelle, author of “The Catholic Calumet: Colonial Conversions in French and Indian North America,” said he hoped people would use Blessed Serra’s canonization as a “chance to look at this country with all its flaws.”

Father Henry Sands, who heads the Native American efforts of the Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, similarly acknowledged the uneasiness many Native Americans have expressed about Blessed Serra.

The priest, a member of the Ojibwe, Ottawa and Potawatomi tribes, said that when Blessed Serra’s canonization was announced in January many Native Americans felt he represented many things that “were not right” in the way they had been treated.

He said some of the criticism of Blessed Serra “has been overblown” but he also acknowledged that the canonization offers an opportunity for Native Americans to express their frustration and also gives Christians the chance to “make

a difference in this” by their prayers and efforts to reach out to Native Americans.

Steven Hackel, a history professor at the University of California at Riverside who has written a biography titled “Junipero Serra: California’s Founding Father,” said Blessed Serra’s canonization can draw attention to the friar’s work in developing the Western part of the nation before the country was even established.

He noted that Blessed Serra, a contemporary of George Washington, brought a focus on farming and agriculture, which was crucial to the nation’s development.

Hackel said the Catholic Church should talk more about Blessed Serra and said these discussions could lead to reconciliation with Native Americans.

Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz., highlighted the challenges for pioneer missionaries, noting they had no clear policy to follow particularly about adapting to local culture and languages.

“It was clearly daunting,” he added, noting that Father Kino, who established more than 20 missions in the Sonoran Desert also faced hot temperatures, unpredictable winds and wolves.

The bishop, who is a proponent of the cause of sainthood for Father Kino pointed out that the mission priest, who died in 1711, had “a deep love of God and love for the poor” and believed missionaries should pray, work hard and go where the people are.

May 1, 2015

The Church in the U.S.

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A shepherd who smelled like his sheep — Faithful pay final respects to Cardinal George

Chicago, Ill. (CNA/ EWTN News) — As Cardinal Francis George of Chicago was laid to rest on April 23, religious and lay members of the archdiocese revered him as a caring shepherd who wouldn’t let cancer get in the way of his ministry.

Sister Mary Paul of the Daughters of Divine Love, an international women’s religious order with a congregation in the Archdiocese of Chicago, recounted how Cardinal George’s predecessor, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, had invited the order to Chicago. When he died in 1996, they didn’t know what would happen next.

“When Cardinal George came in, he continued to be a father to us. He knows us personally and he calls us by name,” she told CNA the night before the funeral.

Cardinal George passed away April 17 at age 78 after a years-long bout with cancer.

He was Archbishop of Chicago from 1997 until his retirement in 2014.

That the late cardinal was a warm, fatherly figure to those who knew him was a common sentiment from many who at-

tended prayer vigils for his too sick to attend the Funeral spects to the cardinal. The repose, the Funeral Mass, and Mass for one of the Sisters, line ran out of the church as the subsequent funeral pro- he still came to the wake — the all-night prayer vigil becession ending in his burial at obviously in pain — and re- gan.

The local Knights of CoAll Saints Cemetery. ceived applause from everylumbus were particularly They described him as one there. a man close to the people, Another time when the impressed by his support for evoking the image used by Sisters were looking for a the Knights — “He was a Knight,” they said with Pope Francis of good hat the late cardinal was a pride — but also his priests as “shepherds living with the smell of warm, fatherly figure to those silent fight with cancer the sheep.” who knew him was a common senti- which he had endured “I love the fact that ment from many who attended prayer on and off since 2006.

“I don’t know how he was a Chicagoan at heart, and he came vigils for his repose, the Funeral Mass, he was able to go on with his daily tasks the back to serve this great and the subsequent funeral procession. way he did,” said Greg diocese,” said Michael Verbick, a member of Czyzewicz, commander of the Knights of Colum- new home in the archdiocese, the Knights. “He hid it quite bus Bishop Boylan Assembly the arrangement fell through, well, let’s put it that way. He in Woodstock, Ill. and he gave a sincere apology. suffered very silently, I can asAfter the evening prayer “He has the humility to say I sure you of that. I don’t think vigil for men and women reli- am very sorry that this didn’t he wanted anybody to realgious the night before the fu- work, before he passed,” Sis- ize the pain that he had. He neral, Sister Mary Paul spoke ter Mary Paul said. “So for just wanted to continue doing with gratitude for all that me that was a great humility.” God’s work.”

Standing in line for the FuCardinal George had done “Any time you see him, he for her order. will greet you,” said Sister neral Mass the next morning, When asked what stood Immaculata, regional supe- Jim Goeward, student body out most about his example, rior for the order. “He’s just president at Benedictine UniSister Mary Paul answered, humble. He doesn’t mind that versity in Lisle, Ill., told CNA “His humility.” he’s the big boss, but he will about how he and Cardinal She gave multiple exam- humble himself to be the first George had worked together to plan a big Mass for highples of the cardinal’s fatherly to say hi.” care for them, and their love Shortly after the vigil for schoolers from Chicago and and affection for him in re- religious, the public began surrounding dioceses.

“We were able to build a turn. One time, when he was streaming in to pay their regreat friendship, and he bejust a great friend and Archbishop calls for prayers for Gray Family, peaceful community came hero to me,” said Goeward. response as investigations into death of Freddie Gray continue After the Mass, the funeral procession traveled by the BALTIMORE — Arch- long as senseless violence and of God. Let us pray together bishop William E. Lori, hatred continue.” for the people of our commu- cardinal’s home parish of St. Archbishop of Baltimore, isThe archbishop continued, nity, for those in law enforce- Pascal’s in the Western subsued the following statement “But Freddie’s death is espe- ment who approach their job urbs of Chicago. The parish in response to the protests and cially tragic because of the cir- with dignity and honesty and celebrated its 100th anniverriots and the tragic death of cumstances that led to it, and goodness, and for those in- sary last year, and the school’s Freddie Gray: the pain of his loved ones is vestigating Freddie’s death, 100th anniversary is next year.

Cardinal George graduat“Today, many in our city all the more acute because of that their investigations will are trying to come to grips what his death represents not be swift, thorough, open, and ed from the parochial school with the aftermath of an emo- only for them, but for so many honest, and that it will help tional and sometimes-violent others in our community who our community to find ways weekend that threatens to may not have known Freddie. to address systemic issues. overshadow two realities that For Freddie’s death symboliz- May we unite in prayer for cannot and should not be lost: es the rawest of open wounds immediate and lasting heala family’s devastating loss of and the only salve that will ing, especially between mema young man whose body will heal them is that of truth: bers of our community and be laid to rest today, and a truth about what happened to law enforcement, brought grieving community’s peace- Freddie, truth about the sin about by dialogue, mutual ful quest for answers and jus- of racism that is still present respect and understanding. tice. in our community, and truth We pray that following to“Our hearts cannot help about our collective responsi- day’s funeral and in the days but go out to the loved ones bility to deal with those issues to come, protesters will voice of Freddie Gray, whose pain that undermine the human their views freely and openly and anguish we will share as dignity of every citizen.” but without violence, which they say their final farewells Archbishop Lori then only deepens and prolongs to a son, brother, nephew, and made this appeal to Catholics injustice. And finally, may cousin. Freddie was not mere- and other people. “I ask the we pray together that God ly a symbol, but a real person faithful of the Archdiocese of will grace us always with His whose life was tragically cut Baltimore and all people of presence, so that our broken short. Sadly, it is a pain that good will to join me in pray- city can once again be whole far too many other Baltimore ing for the Gray Family and and that our minds and our families have had to endure for all families devastated by hearts will be open to peace and will have to endure, so the untimely death of a child and love.”

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in 1951. He would sometimes stop by and say Mass when he visited his parents in that neighborhood, parishioners recalled.

The parish is quite proud of its cardinal — pictures of him were displayed in the gym as students watched a live feed of his Funeral Mass, and the school has copies of his two books.

“I think it gives all students, but especially our students from St. Pascal someone to look up to, to follow,” said the school’s principal Denise Akana.

“Knowing that he graduated from here and knowing that he walked the same halls that the kids walk now and was in the same classrooms is sort of mind-boggling,” she added.

As the funeral procession approached, dozens of parishioners lined both sides of the street to wave goodbye.

Asked to describe the cardinal, parishioners painted the picture of a man who was “down to earth,” “very personable,” and “very easy to talk to.” They related how he attended the parish’s 100th anniversary picnic last year and was seen “sitting at the table like an ordinary person,” chatting away with parishioners.

“He’s going to be sorely missed,” Verbick said at the night prayer vigil.

“You would typically think that a cardinal wouldn’t be approachable. But that wasn’t the case with him. And you could feel the love coming from him for everyone.”

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May 1, 2015

Anchor Editorial

Truth amidst the flames

Speaking about Pope Francis’ recent mention of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, Historian Marco Impagliazzo said, “As St. Paul said, the truth will set you free. So now we have this freedom of knowledge of our past, to be more free to build a new future together,” between Armenians and Turks.

Impagliazzo told CNA that the pope’s words were “very important” and showed the freedom he had “to speak, not to accuse the Turkish people or the Turkish government, absolutely not.” Pope Francis, he said, “is aware of this fact, of these massacres, (and) he spoke as a free man, a free man who wants a new consideration of the facts in order to establish a new story.”

The professor said that he believes that there is in Turkey the seeds of future reconciliation, seeds which were in part planted by the Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, who was murdered in 2007 “by a 17-year-old Turkish nationalist named Ogin Samast.

At his funeral, large numbers of Turkish and Armenian citizens marched together ‘to demonstrate to the Turkish people that we don’t have to fear memory,’” Impagliazzo said to CNA. In the United States at the moment (and in the past, too, and most likely in the future), there is a need for the truth to set people free about many things. The riots in Baltimore this week bring to mind the many divides which exist in this country about race and police matters.

Speaking at Georgetown University a few days before chaos broke loose in Baltimore (he gave his address on April 20), Bishop Edward Braxton of Belleville, Ill. drew upon a pastoral letter he recently issued: “The Racial Divide in the United States: A Reflection for the World Day of Peace 2015.”

At Georgetown he asked his audience to do the same thing he had asked the people of Belleville to do in his letter, which was to imagine being a poor white American teen-ager and going into a Catholic church for the first time, finding that almost all the people there were African-American and all the religious art depicted the Holy Family, the Apostles, and all the saints and angels as being African, too. He suggested that the teen would ask why all these religious figures were depicted as being from Africa, since we really don’t know what the first Christians looked like, but that we do know that they were Semitic Jews, and that angels are spirits, not from a particular continent. Bishop Braxton said to imagine that the response from the churchgoer would be that “everyone” accepts this type of art, but that in a few city churches a few statues have been added with saints depicted as being white, but in general people don’t want that.

Bishop Braxton used this discussion of the Church as a “framing” device at the beginning and end of his letter and talk, since he is addressing Catholics and reminding them of the truths that Christ brought us, truths that need to be lived out in the Church if we are to be able to call the world to face its own difficult truths.

The bishop then summarized the recent controversial deaths of African-American men. He noted, “Each of the accounts of encounters between white police (or a neighborhood watch person [in the Trayvon Martin case]) and young men of color ending in death is a unique event. While there are some obvious similarities, they are completely distinct and the people involved are all unique individuals about whom we should not generalize or stereotype.”

Bishop Braxton then spoke about the dueling stereotypes in our country: “The work of police officers is very difficult and very dangerous. They deserve our respect and gratitude.

Most police are fair-minded and respect the human dignity and worth of all citizens.

Some, however, are not. There is credible evidence that bias and prejudice influence the attitudes and actions of some police officers, no matter what their race or nationality may be.

Significantly, 57 percent of African-American police believe black offenders are treated with far less respect by white officers than white offenders. However, only five percent of white officers agree that this is true. It is a fact that some young black men commit crimes requiring their arrest by the police. However, this should not lead to the demonization of all black men as dangerous, violent criminals. It is a fact that some white police officers use excessive force and display racial prejudice when they interact with black men suspected of crimes. However, this should not lead to the demonization of all white police officers as racists ready to kill black men at the slightest provocation.”

Bishop Braxton admitted that it is very difficult to find the truth of what happened in each of these incidents, since at least one person is dead and not able to communicate with us, while in some of these situations there were no eyewitnesses.

Writing before Baltimore went up in flames, but after other cities had dealt with rioting, the bishop said, “All American citizens have the right to protest peacefully and demonstrate when they believe that they are faced with unjust laws, unresponsive government officials, and morally unacceptable social structures that do not respect the dignity and worth of every human being.”

However, “no one has the right to break the law by expressing frustration with violence, arson, looting, destruction of property and endangering the lives of fellow citizens. These inexcusable crimes only undermine the efforts of those with legitimate grievances.”

The bishop then addressed how this violence, or even the non-violent protests which block highways, end up causing more grievances. “There are feelings of anger and frustration about the cries of ‘white racism,’ the criticism of the police, the attack on the judicial system, the disruption of normal life by protesters, and the destruction of property by vandals. As one Catholic expressed it to me, ‘Slavery and racism are things of the past.

The protesters should stop complaining, obey the law, follow the orders of the police, get a job, and get on with their lives.’ But, there are still other Catholics who are profoundly distressed. They feel that they were naive in thinking the era of racial conflict was behind us. They are upset by the attitudes and comments of some of their Catholic neighbors.

Some of these individuals, concluding that there is systemic racial prejudice in American society that is morally wrong, have taken to the streets taking part in the mass, nationwide, peaceful protests while condemning the acts of vandalism.”

Bishop Braxton also complained in his letter about a protest done against the police when they were justified in taking action: “Unfortunately, instances in which members of the community have a credible reason for peacefully protesting what may be inappropriate conduct by the police will be significantly undermined if protests take place even when the police are acting properly in difficult circumstances with regretful deadly results.”

The truth will set us free — may we search for it, together, even when it says uncomfortable things about ourselves, so that the future will be what Christ wants it to be.

Pope Francis’ Regina Caeli message, April 26 Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

This Fourth Sunday of Easter, called “Good Shepherd Sunday,” each year invites us to rediscover even more new wonder, this definition which Jesus gave of Himself, reading into it in light of His Passion, death and Resurrection. “The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep” ( Jn 10:11). These words came true when Christ fully, freely obeying the will of the Father, sacrificed Himself on the cross. Then it becomes quite

clear what it means that He is “the Good Shepherd:” He gives life, He offered His life as a sacrifice for all of us: for you, for you, for you, for me, for everyone! And this is the Good Shepherd!

Christ is the true Shepherd, Which realizes the highest model of love for the flock: He has laid down His life freely, no one takes it from Him (cf. v. 18), but gives it in favor of the sheep (v. 17). In open opposition to false shepherds, Jesus presents Himself as the only true Shepherd of OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER

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the people, the bad shepherd thinks of himself and uses his sheep; the Good Shepherd thinks of His sheep and gives Himself. Unlike the mercenary, Christ is a caring, guiding Shepherd Who participates in the life of His flock, not for other interests, for He has no other ambition than to guide, nurture and protect His sheep.

And all this at the highest price, that of the sacrifice of His own life.

In the figure of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, we contemplate God’s providence, His paternal concern for each of us. He does not leave us alone! The consequence of this contemplation of Jesus, the true and Good Shepherd, is the exclamation of profound wonder that we find in the second reading of today’s Liturgy: “See what love the Father has given us.” It’s really a surprising and mysterious love, because in giving us Jesus as the Shepherd Who gives His life for us, the Father has given us everything as big and as valuable as He possibly could give us! It is the highest and purest love because it is not motivated by any necessity, is not conditioned by any calculation, and is not attracted to any interested desire to exchange. Faced with this love of

God, we experience great joy and we are open to gratitude for what we have received for free.

But it is not enough to contemplate and give thanks. One should also follow the Good Shepherd.

In particular, those who have the mission as leaders in the Church — priests, bishops, popes — are called not to take on the mentality of “manager,” but that of the servant, in imitation of Jesus Who, stripping Himself, has saved us with His mercy. Also called to this style of pastoral life of the Good Shepherd are the new priests of the Diocese of Rome, whom I have had the joy of ordaining this morning in St. Peter’s Basilica. And two of them will overlook to thank you for your prayers and to greet you [two priests near the Holy Father were overlooking those gathered].

Mary obtain for me, for the bishops and priests of the whole world the grace to serve the holy people of God through joyful proclamation of the Gospel, heartfelt celebration of the Sacraments and patient and mild pastoral leadership.

After the Regina Caeli: Dear brothers and sisters,

I want to assure my closeness to people affected by a strong earthquake in Nepal and neighboring countries. I pray for the victims, for the wounded and for all who suffer because of this disaster. You have the support of fraternal solidarity. Let’s pray to Our Lady who is close to them. “Hail Mary ...”

Today, in Canada, Blessed Maria Elisa Turgeon, founder of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of San Germano, is proclaimed: an exemplary religious, devoted to prayer, teaching in small towns of her diocese, and to works of charity.

We thank the Lord for this woman, model of life consecrated to God and generous commitment to the service of others.

I greet with affection all the pilgrims from Rome, Italy and from various countries, especially those coming in large numbers from Poland to mark the first anniversary of the canonization of John Paul II. Beloved, always resound in your hearts his call: “Open the doors to Christ!” that he said in the strong and holy voice he had. May the Lord bless you and your families and Madonna protect you.

Anchor Columnist Uniting our work to God

May 1, 2015

W

hen we look at a plan of life, the Spiritual practices meant to help us unite our whole life to God, it’s key for us to examine how to unite our work to God. Most of us spend, after all, at least 25 percent of our week — from the time we’re five through when we’re 65 or older — doing some form of work.

Cumulatively the only activity to which we will dedicate more time over the course of our life on earth is sleeping.

Today’s feast of St. Joseph the Worker is a good opportunity for us to examine the importance of work in a plan of life and in God’s plans for our holiness and happiness.

The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” says that we pray as we live and live as we pray (CCC 2725). If our work is done apart from God, if we work as functional atheists, it’s going to be harder for us to unite ourselves to God even in prayer. But if the work we do unites us to God, then it will become one of the most potent means of our sanctification.

In the beginning of time, God gave us the vocation to work, which was meant to bring creation to perfection.

He commanded us to do three different forms of labor: to “increase and multiply,” cooperating with His creative power to bring new human beings into existence; to “fill the earth

and subdue it,” by bringing we retained the vocation to forth the earth’s inner potential, work, because work remained producing fruits and vegetables good and would now become from the soil, glass and coma means of our redemption: a puter chips from sand, medipathway to overcome our selfcines from plants and more; ishness by working for others, and to “have dominion” over for the family we’re supporting, all living creatures and treating for the persons receiving the them as gifts of God. fruits of our labor, even out of God gave us this vocation to gratitude for our employers or work because through work we would become more and Putting Into more like Him, Who Himself worked in the Deep Creation and, as Jesus would later say, “works

By Father still” ( Jn 5:17). Work Roger J. Landry is meant not only to produce something but to perfect us, by bringing out our potential employees, clients and vendors, just as much as we bring out without whom, in many cases, creation’s potential. We see this, our work would not be possible. for example, in the study that We should never forget forms our brain, in the physical that Jesus spent most of His labor that forms our muscles, time on earth, not preaching, in the caring for children and but working as a construction others that forms our heart. worker (tekton in Greek, Mk This “intransitive” effect of work 6:3). He built houses, made is even more important than its tables and wheels and produced “transitive” outcome. St. Grego- lots of other needed items. He ry of Nyssa would even say that would say that He always did through our work we become what was pleasing to the Father our own parents, through form- and this work over the course ing our character through work of two decades was part of that well or shoddily done. glorification.

After the fall, our work So great was Jesus’ apbecame arduous. There would preciation for human work be pangs in childbirth, workin the Divine plan that He ing the fields would become could not stop using it as an toilsome and sweaty, and analogy for the Kingdom of animals would often rebel. But God. He favorably mentions

New Catholic Citizenship head seeks to expand reach

By Christine M. Williams Anchor Correspondent

SANDWICH — The new head of Catholic Citizenship plans to focus on informing more Catholics and engaging more young Catholics in Massachusetts. Agatha Bodwell of Sandwich, appointed in mid-April, said she hopes to help local Catholics to live their faith completely in every aspect of their life and to connect with others who are doing the same.

“I think, especially in this state, we’re easily intimidated. Our culture is so secular here. It’s easy to just keep our heads down and our mouths shut, and we just don’t realize there are more of us,” she said.

She and others say the transition is a new beginning and opportunity to continue

the organization’s important work. In addition to her position as executive director of Catholic Citizenship, she also took on the role of

Agatha Bodwell

southeastern Massachusetts field director for the Coalition for Marriage and Family.

Catholic Citizenship seeks to help Catholics support pro-family policies and positively influence political

culture. They help Catholics effectively lobby their elected officials and put voter guides in parishes that show sideby-side comparisons of how candidates vote on issues of concern to Catholics.

Bodwell’s first planned event as executive director will be aimed at youth and young adult Catholics.

Through a friend of Catholic Citizenship, she has invited the writers from the movie “God is Not Dead,” released last year, to a film-showing and discussion that will include questions from the audience. Though they have yet to announce the venue, the event is planned for June 18.

The premise of the film, which stars several wellknown actors, is that a college philosophy professor informs Turn to page 18

shepherds, farmers, doctors, sowers, householders, servants, stewards, merchants, laborers, soldiers, cooks, tax collectors and scholars. He compares the work of evangelization to the manual work of harvesters and fishermen.

Since work is so important in God’s plans for us, how do we pray it, so that it might bind us to God throughout the day?

Here are three suggestions.

First, to view our work as an offering to God, seeking to make of it something similar to the pleasing sacrifice of Abel. When we do anything for God, we do it better and it makes us better. I keep a statue of St. Joseph on my desk to ask him to intercede for me to offer my work like he did his.

Second, to offer it for a special intention. I offer each hour for one of the people or intentions for whom I’ve promised to pray. I begin each hour with a brief prayer for the person and ask God to receive the intellectual, physical, or other labor over the course of the following hour for that person. Such a practice also helps me to work with greater concentration and dedication and make my work a Liturgy of the Hours.

Third, to bring our work to prayer and our prayer to work.

In the Morning Offering, I call to mind the work awaiting me and ask God for the grace to unite all of it to the offertory

7 of Mass I’ll celebrate later that day. At night, I examine my conscience as to how united my work was to God, how well I sought to do it, and how I cared for those people whom I met through my work.

Many of the virtues we learn in prayer — perseverance, humility, doing it in Jesus’ name, seeking God’s will and glory — are the same virtues that help us to sanctify our work. And the virtues we learn working — punctuality, dependability, diligence, doing the best we can on any given day — can all help us to pray better. Ora et labora, prayer and work, are meant mutually to strengthen each other and when done well they do.

Work is not fundamentally about earning a paycheck but about serving and loving God and others: in short about helping Christ as light, leaven and salt to save the world. Our desk, sewing machine, keyboard, kitchen, classroom, workbench, operating room, field or boat, is meant to become an altar on which we can offer ourselves to God together with the work we do.

When work takes on this meaning, it helps sanctify us while at the same time we and our work become means through which God can sanctify others. That’s why work is an essential part of any plan of life.

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

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I

f you visit a grape vineyard in the winter what you will see are mostly stumps.

The vine-dresser has pruned the branches close to the base.

Then spring comes. The sap flows up through the vine, new branches sprout forth. A lifegiving force and a new grape growing season is starting.

As Christians, God, the Vine Grower, puts His lifegiving force within us. Christ is the Vine and we are the branches. The life of God flows into us, nourishing us so that we may be made one with Him. This nourishment transforms us from the inside out.

In our world people are influenced by great leaders. Their speeches, ideas, charisma and motivation, draws people to them stirring them into action.

People are influenced by them from the outside in.

Jesus however, not only calls us from the outside, but He goes much deeper. He knows us from the inside out. His influence is that of a Vine Who gives life to His branches. His very life flows through our veins. The union of the vine

May 1, 2015

The Vine is pure love

and the branches is complete.

We receive His strength by This flowing sap is grace, the receiving Him in the EuchaDivine life of Jesus Christ rist. Receiving the Eucharist moving within us. is like a rain shower of grace, The branches are all memwhich refreshes and renews bers of His Body, which make our soul. This life with Christ up the Church. The Church is also enhanced by our prayer and its members are fed new sap continuously, so as to be alive Homily of the Week and produce new fruit.

Fifth Sunday Without this flow of of Easter sap, which is grace, we will whither and die.

By Deacon Each of has the Bruce Baxter responsibility to keep ourselves united to the Vine and to help others to life which is like the sunlight remain on the Vine. Our lives keeping our relationship with are intertwined. The question Him strong. is, “How do we stay grafted on The Eucharist sustains and to the Vine?” nourishes us in our journey to One way is to receive the be with Christ in Heaven. In Sacraments. In Baptism we the Sacrament of Penance we become children of God become reconciled with Him. sharing in His life. This life It is the will of the Father overflows from the Vine to that we share this fruit, His the branches, helping each of love, with others. In order us to grow in faith. When we to yield the fruit we must be attend Mass or read the Bible pruned. When a branch stops we are fed by His Word, which receiving nourishment, it is Spiritual food, to guide our starts to die. When we break daily lives. Christ made it away from the Vine and stop simple and accessible to receive praying, or stop receiving the His grace.

Sacraments, grace no longer

flows through to us. There is no food for the soul. Without the strength that is needed, the soul becomes exhausted and is easily tempted to sin, because the flow of grace has dried up. Grace is lost due to carelessness, negligence, laziness and outside influences. The soul is not receiving the grace needed to be sustained and to yield more fruit.

This soul will die because it will not be able to produce fruit. The Sacrament of Penance restores the flow of His lifegiving grace.

God’s desire is that we share His love with others. He prunes us or cleanses us from sin. Sin obstructs the flow of His grace. In the Sacrament of Penance, we ask our Lord to remove obstacles that keep us from receiving His grace.

In our lives pruning is suffering. It can be physical such as an illness, disease, old age or disability. It can also be hidden interior suffering such as a loss, grief and addiction. We do not have control over our sufferings. God permits them to

happen. He wants us to realize that pruning is under His control and we need to depend on Him, in faith, to help us through the difficulties. The Vine knows each branch individually and knows just how much pruning is needed, for us to unite ourselves to Him. He wants us to put all of our trust in Him. He suffered on the cross and knows our pain.

God sent His Son to earth to teach us about the Father’s love for each of us. As Christians we support each other.

Our lives are intertwined like branches of a grape vine, particularly in the family, the community and in the Church.

We should be ever grateful to Jesus for making each of us a branch on His Vine. We all have a choice to remain on the Vine and produce abundant fruit or turn away from Him and whither up and be tossed into the fire. When God prunes us it is for our eternal good. He demands much from those who have been pruned, but in the end the harvest will be great.

Deacon Baxter currently ministers at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Hyannis.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. May 2, Acts 13:44-52; Ps 98:1-4; Jn 14:7-14. Sun. May 3, Fifth Sunday of Easter, Acts 9:26-31; Ps 22:26-27,28,30,31-32; 1 Jn 3:18-24; Jn 15:1-8. Mon. May 4, Acts 14:5-18; Ps 115:1-4,15-16; Jn 14:21-26. Tues. May 5, Acts 14:19-28; Ps 145:10-13b,21; Jn 14:27-31a. Wed. May 6, Acts 15:1-6; Ps 122:1-5.; Jn 15:1-8. Thurs. May 7, Acts 15:7-21; Ps 96:1-3,10; Jn 15:9-11. Fri. May 8, Acts 15:22-31; Ps 57:8-10,12; Jn 15:12-17.

T

hat Blessed John Henry Newman was one of the great influences on Vatican II is “a commonplace,” as Newman’s biographer, Father Ian Ker, puts it. But what does that mean?

What influence did Newman have on a council that opened 72 years after his death? And from this side of history, what might we learn from Newman about the proper way to “read” Vatican II, as we anticipate the 50th anniversary of its conclusion on December 8?

Those are questions Father Ker explores in “Newman on Vatican II” (Oxford University Press), a book whose brevity is inversely proportional to its depth. Ker is our best interpreter of Newman’s thought; and when Ian Ker says something about how Newman influenced and would “read” Vatican II, serious Catholics will pay attention.

That Newman was a great influence on Vatican II means, in part, that the council’s efforts to retrieve the wisdom of the Church Fathers and the great medieval doctors was presaged

Newman and Vatican II

in Newman’s own work, going bum). There, the Council Fathers back to his Anglican days. As teach that the great tradition Ker writes, “A century before “that comes from the Apostles the theological revival that came makes progress in the Church, to be known as the nouvelle with the help of the Holy theologie [new theology] began Spirit. As the centuries go by, in France in the 1930s, Newman the Church is always advancing and his fellow Tractarians in toward the plenitude of Divine the Oxford Movement were already seeking to return to the sources of Christianity in the writings of the Fathers.”

And that “return” (often called ressourcement theBy George Weigel ology) was not a matter of pious nostalgia but of intellectual adventure: a movement that sought to enrich truth, until eventually the words the Church’s reflection on her of God are fulfilled in her.” Thus own nature and mission at a did Vatican II vindicate Newmoment when theology risked man’s great work on the develfalling into a sub-discipline of opment of doctrine, which grew logic — something dry and from a theological method that abstract, detached from the brought history, and indeed life explosive Good News of the itself, back into play as sources Gospel. of reflection and growth in our That Newman had considunderstanding of God’s revelaerable influence at Vatican II tion? is also evident in the council’s That Newman could make seminal Dogmatic Constitution this contribution to the Catholic on Divine Revelation (Dei Verfuture was due to the fact that

The Catholic Difference

he was neither a traditionalist, who thought the Church’s selfunderstanding frozen in amber, nor a progressive, who believed that nothing is finally settled in the rule of faith. Rather, Newman was a reformer devoted to history, who worked for reformin-continuity with the great tradition, and who, in his explorations of the development of doctrine, helped the Church learn to tell the difference between genuine development and rupture.

One reason Newman can help us “read” Vatican II, Father Ker suggests, is because he was deeply versed in the history of ecumenical councils. He knew that virtually all such mega-events in Christian history began in controversy, were conducted in controversy, and led to controversy — and unintended consequences, more often than not. Thus to pose “conciliarism” as an all-purpose tool with which to fix what

ails the Church would be, to Newman, an implausible idea, given the historical record.

Newman can also help us “read” the post-Vatican II situation in which the Church finds herself because he knew, in the late 19th century, that trouble was brewing: “The trials that lie before us,” he preached in 1873, “are such as would appall and make dizzy even such courageous hearts as St. Athanasius, St. Gregory I, or St. Gregory VII.” Why? Because a world tone-deaf to the supernatural — which Newman saw coming — would be a world in which Catholics were seen as “the enemies of civil liberties and of human progress.”

Sound familiar?

If so, it’s because meeting that challenge is the challenge of our time, through the development of an evangelical Catholicism that lets the world hear rumors of angels once again.

George Weigel is a senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

May 1, 2015

Friday 1 May 2015 — Homeport: Falmouth Harbor — May Day e have finally arrived, dear readers, at glorious May Day. This day has been celebrated since ancient times as marking the first day of summer, although not anymore. Here on Cape Cod, however, we constantly strive to push back the official opening of the summer season from June 21 to May Day. The restoration of this old calendar custom is spearheaded by the Chamber of Commerce.

Have you ever wondered how May Day became the international radio signal for a ship in distress? Well, simply put, it didn’t. The equivalent of SOS, that’s …—-… in Morse Code, is not “May Day.” It’s “mayday” repeated three times.

“Mayday” is an Englishman’s truncated mispronunciation of the correct — but unlikely — French phrase (venez) m’aider.

It means, “Help me!” The use of this term in a non-emergency situation risks liability to civil and/or criminal charges. That being said, mayday-maydaymayday! (Or, if you prefer, SOS!).

The captain of this ship could be jailed if three times he shouted “mayday” falsely. I

W

S

pring is upon us the trees are blooming, flowers are shedding the winter dullness for the splendor of their vibrant colors. Life teems all around us with the promise of more abundant blooms and fragrance yet to come.

Those of us who are gardeners are preparing and getting ready for the growing season.

We till the soil, pull away any weeds that have grown in and prune shrubs and bushes.

We do all this in the hopes of optimizing the spring and summer months. Whether it is a flower garden or a vegetable garden, we hope to have the most beautiful and bountiful one ever.

In this Sunday’s Gospel reading Jesus’ reminds us that “I am the Vine, and My Father is the Vine Grower” ( Jn 15:1). Like any good gardener, He clears away the branches that no longer bear any fruit; pruning those that do. We are also reminded that without the vine, the branches are nothing.

As a child I watched my father clip away at our grape vines

Anchor Columnists Ministry can be messy

tation to make a difficult decithink it’s warranted, though, sion. Documentation might be when the time comes to as simple as keeping a log of remove a Church volunteer. where, when, and how you have How? pointed out the issue to the Once you observed that volunteer but with no apparent other volunteers, and even the results. parish as a whole, are being Before you act on your negatively affected by one individual in some particular ministry, the time has come.

The Ship’s Log First, pray. Try to Reflections of a discern God’s will. Put Parish Priest your own thoughts and emotions in

By Father neutral. Let go and let Tim Goldrick God. You’ll want to mention your concern decision, you may also wish to informally to the volunteer on more than one occasion. Listen take counsel with some trusted individual: another member of to the response. There are always at least two sides to every the staff, perhaps, or a member of an appropriate parish comstory. Each person sees reality mittee, commission, or council. through their own eyes. We Perhaps your counselors will have varying life experiences. have some ideas on the best We are at different places in our journey of faith. State what way to deliver your decision.

Be very prudent. This matter is you understand to be the facts. sensitive.

If you have a question, ask it.

Like it or not, the time has Reassignment or extra training can solve most performance come to remove the Church volunteer. Do it quickly and, issues. Perhaps these hints made in passing will resolve the above all else, as lovingly as problem with no further action possible. As my old professor, Father James Brennan, S.S., required on your part (the best used to say, “All Church process case scenario). If it proves to can be summed up in just two be ineffective, you will need to gather some kind of documen- words — be kind.”

9

The process for removing a Church volunteer is similar to the process for removing salaried personnel. Communicate with the individual in person, never over the phone or by text message or email. Under no circumstances leave a stickynote on the person’s windshield after Mass.

Meet with the volunteer in a formal setting. You may wish to have a neutral person present to observe (but not to speak). Be hospitable. Be positive. If you can do so honestly, compliment the volunteer on some other good thing he or she is able to accomplish in the parish. A proven strategy is to compliment at the beginning and at the end of the meeting. It’s like making a sandwich. In-between, put the meat of your concern.

Be clear and specific in the facts, whether they be based on unacceptable behavior, an attitude problem, or incompetence for the particular ministry. Mind your tongue. Say nothing more than what needs to be said. If necessary, refer to documentation, but in a nonthreatening way.

Stay as calm as possible. Be aware of how you are present-

ing. The volunteer is your sister or your brother in the Lord.

Stick with your decision. The volunteer is probably going to be unhappy with anything you say.

You are acting, not reacting. Do not allow yourself to be derailed by such “drama” as weeping, rage, or ad hominem attack. This is often an Achilles heel for clergy. By our temperament and training, we tend to avoid conflict, to overlook, to forgive and forget. When confronted with drama, we give up and throw in the towel. Our passive behavior accomplishes nothing. The problem remains.

Speaking the truth in love and freeing the volunteer to serve in another area is far more Christian than allowing the volunteer to continue twisting in the wind.

When all is said and done, it would be ideal if you and the volunteer could pray together.

It’s also beneficial to later sit down by yourself and prayerfully ponder what happened and why. Continue to be charitable to the individual.

These situations are very rare, but they do occur. Ministry can be messy.

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

Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and become My disciples” ( Jn 15:8).

So how do we stay true to the Vine? We stay connected to the Vine by reading the Gospel stories, taking the message to live Christian lives as Jesus’ hands and feet here on earth.

To be Christ to all we meet bearing His message of love and hope to everyone we encounter. To participate fully in the Sacraments and Eucharist, to pray and live out our lives connected to Jesus. The more connected we are to the Vine, the more fruitful and joyful our lives will be.

In Sunday’s Gospel, we are reminded and asked to “remain in Me, as I remain in you.” It is a simple statement, but yet speaks volumes.

If we are to bear much fruit, we must “remain in Him,” in all that we do. In prayer, in admiration, in love and even in the suffering, in our work

and actions, in all are waking moments. We are asked to go within, to the quiet of our souls and listen for the voice of God speaking to us from our very depths. “Deep calls to deep” (Ps 42:7a). These are the very roots in which the work of the Master can take hold; it is in these depths that our nothingness encounters God’s Divine mercy and love. It is here that we find the strength and courage to die to ourselves in order to bear much fruit; it is here that we are changed.

Not by hopelessness and despair, but by love. Like the trees all around us, it is from the depths that we draw the strength to bloom. So bloom where you are planted, and remember to “remain in Christ, as He remains in you.”

Anchor columnist 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. rsaraiva@dfrcs.com.

Remain in Me

of the vineyard; yet without and fruit trees, sometimes the vine we are reminded that appearing to leave very little we are nothing. Like the trees of what I recognized before. and vineyard in my childhood Yet, year after year, those backyard, it was from the roots plants that to me appeared that the strength came to diminished or stripped down, somehow bore more and more fruit, often giving us an amazing and bountiful harvest that begged to be shared with others.

When I would ask my

By Rose Mary father why he would Saraiva cut back so much of the branches and vine, he would explain that push forth new branches and this allowed the plant to draw blooms, with the promise of a upon its own strength to bear bountiful harvest. even more fruit; allowing for In order to bear much new growth. fruit, we must remain We, too, are the branches, and at times life seems to keep grounded to the Vine. When Jesus is the center of our lives, clipping away at us. There no matter what is thrown at are days when we often feel us, what storms we bear, we we have little left to give, yet somehow come through with somehow in our very depths so much more to offer. When it comes forth. We not only we seek to strengthen our find the courage and strength relationship with Christ and to persevere, but we experiremain in Him, we are given ence an over abundance of it. so much more, and what we We are always being pruned ask, we receive. “By this the and trimmed by the Master

In the Palm of His Hands

10

May 1, 2015

Fall River Bishop Emeritus George A. Coleman recently confirmed candidates from Holy Trinity Parish, West Harwich and St. Francis Xavier Parish, Hyannis. Shown are the newly-Confirmed with the bishop, pastor Father Edward J. Healey of West Harwich and administrator Father Michael Fitzpatrick of Hyannis, concelebrating priests, the deacons and altar servers. (Photo by Barbara-Anne Foley)

The Fall River Diocesan Council of Catholic Women recently sponsored a Day of Recollection at St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Taunton. The theme for the day was “Come, Let Us Climb the Mount of the Lord.� The guest speaker was Jon Swedberg, who, along with his wife are involved at La Salette Shrine in Attleboro teaching various Bible studies and leading discussion groups. They also have been involved in two Tent Revivals during the summer. From left: Mary Mitchell, president; Fran Brezinski, presidentelect; Swedberg; and Bea Pereira, organizer of the day. The DCCW will hold its annual convention May 2 and the guest speaker will be Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V. For more information contact Helen L. Stager, 212 Dartmouth Woods, Dartmouth, Mass., 02747.

11

May 1, 2015

The ‘theology of the people,’ according to Pope Francis

Vatican City (CNA/ EWTN News) — In a previously unpublished 2012 lecture, Pope Francis explains the inner sense of the “theology of the people,” emphasizing that popular piety is the antithesis of widespread secularization.

The lecture has now been published for the first time, in the Italian edition of “An Introduction to the Theology of the People,” by Argentine theologian Ciro Enrique Bianchi, a pupil of Victor Manuel Fernandez — rector of the Catholic University of Argentina and one of Pope Francis’ closest collaborators.

The book was conceived as a theological and Spiritual profile of the Argentine thinker Rafael Tello, considered one of the founders of the “theology of the people” which Pope Francis holds in high esteem.

The “theology of the people” was popular in Argentina as an alternative to radical liberation theology. While radical liberation theologians looked to Marxist, immanentist interpretations of the Gospel, theology of the people was founded on common peoples’ culture and devotion, including their Spirituality and sense of justice.

While Archbishop of Buenos Aires, then-Cardinal Bergoglio wrote the foreword to the original, Spanish edition of Bianchi’s book on “theology of the people” and gave a lecture at its official presentation. This lecture zeroed in on “the faith of our humble people,” and has been used as the foreword of the Italian edition; excerpts were published April 27 in Avvenire, the Italian bishops’ daily paper.

Cardinal Bergoglio wrote that Latin America was largely characterized by poverty and Christianity, and that this latter is expressed by various and colorful forms of popular piety such as processions, vigils, and public prayer.

“When we approach our people with the gaze of the Good Shepherd, when we do not come to judge but to love, we can find out that this cultural way to express the Christian faith is still present among us, especially in our poor,” he said.

Pope Francis explained that the notion was subjected to an evolution in the course of the years: at first, it was labeled “popular religion,” then Blessed Paul VI called it “popular piety,” and finally the 2007 Aparecida document called it “popular Spirituality.”

Aparecida was the site of the

fifth general conference of Latin American bishops, and its final document addresses the major issues facing the Church there, focused on missionary work.

According to Cardinal Bergoglio, “popular Spirituality is the original way through which the Holy Spirit has led and continues to lead million of our brothers,” and this was clearly acknowledged in Aparecida.

The pope recounted that “four days before the final vote on the draft, this latter had received 2,400 “modi,” or amendments, which had to be solved within those days”; but the chapter on popular Spirituality “was subjected to only two or three observations, and they were all stylistic, secondary observations.”

“That chapter was proposed exactly the way it came out from the commission, which told all the bishops at the conference, “this is a sign,’” wrote Cardinal Bergoglio.

The then Archbishop of Buenos Aires also identified “popular piety as the disclosing of the memory of a people,” and emphasized the good example of José Gabriel Brochero, a popular Argentine priest who was beatified in September 2013.

Pope Francis recounted having been for two years a confessor at the Jesuit house in Cordoba, Argentina, “in the heart of downtown, beside the university,” where he heard the Confessions of “university students, professors, and people from the suburbs who prefer to confess downtown since their parish priest has no

time to hear Confession on Sundays, since he celebrates one Mass after another.”

Among the penitents, Cardinal Bergoglio said he noticed that “there were people who confessed well: they only said what was needed, they never said something more than their sins, and they did not brag; they spoke with much humility.”

Once, Pope Francis asked one of these people where came from, and he said: “From Traslasierra,” the land where Father Brochero preached. So “there was the catechetic memory of Cura Brochero in a people, who expressed this in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.”

Pope Francis added that “popular piety comes from the memory of the people,” and “as the Catholic Church has made a preferential option for the poor, this should lead us to know and appreciate their cultural way of living the Gospel.”

“It is good and necessary that theology cares for popular piety” since it is “the precious treasure of the Catholic Church in Latin America, as Benedict XVI put it when he inaugurated the Aparecida Congress.”

In the end — Cardinal Bergoglio maintained — “when we approach the poor to accompany them, we understand that they live life in a transcendental sense, beyond the huge daily difficulties. In some ways, consumerism has not enclosed them.”

Their life “reaches out for something beyond this life. Life depends on Someone, and this

life must be saved. This is what we found in depth of our people, even if (our people) are not able to express it.”

In the end, Pope Francis said,

“the transcendent sense of life glimpsed in popular Christianity is the antithesis of the secularism that is spreading in modern societies.”

Supporters of traditional Marriage hold signs near the Washington Monument in Washington during the third annual March for Marriage April 25. (CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn)

12

May 1, 2015

‘48 Hours,’ ‘NY Med’ among 20 Christopher Award winners NEW YORK (CNS) — The newsmagazine “48 Hours” and the documentary series “NY Med” are among 20 Christopher Awards winners recently announced by the Christophers, which is rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition of service to God and humanity.

The awards, to be conferred at a May 13 ceremony in New York, are presented to writers, producers, directors, authors and illustrators whose work affirms the highest values of the human spirit.

The James Keller Award, named after the Christophers’ founder, will be presented to Patrick Donohue, founder of the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation. The award recognizes individuals who put their faith into action and change the world for the better.

Donohue’s newborn daughter Sarah Jane was shaken so violently by a hospital nurse that the baby lost 60 percent of the rear cortex of her brain.

After researching ways she and other children like her could be helped and treated, Donohue helped launch the International Academy of Hope, making it the first and only school for kids with brain injuries and brain-based disorders in New York City.

“NY Med” will be given the Christopher Spirit Award, for individuals or projects that exemplify the Christopher motto, “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.” The series focuses on health care professionals and their patients at New York City’s Presbyterian Hospital and University Hospital in Newark, N.J. The Christophers called the show “riveting television with heart-pounding moments that can rival any action series. And by highlighting simple ideals like love, service, and gratitude, it provides a vital prescription to heal viewers’ spirits from some of the hopelessness and darkness in the world.”

Winners of Christopher Awards come in four different categories, films, TV programs, books for adults and books for young people.

Film winners were: — “The American Nurse,” which offers an in-depth portrait of five nurses whose empathy and selflessness lead them to serve those dealing with miscarriage, aging, war, poverty and prison life.

— “Selma,” the story of the

march on Selma, Ala., for voting rights, a watershed moment in the American civil rights movement.

— “St. Vincent,” in which a 12-year-old schoolboy makes a case for sainthood for his curmudgeonly neighbor, in whom the boy sees goodness despite his smoking, drinking, cursing and cavorting with a prostitute.

TV winners were: — “48 Hours: The Whole Gritty City,” which profiles New Orleans music programs that channel students’ energies away from the streets and into positive directions.

— “The Flash,” the TV version of the DC Comics series that allows a man to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a hero after a science experiment goes awry.

— “The Gabby Douglas Story,” which highlights the roles that faith, family and perseverance played in the gold medal-winning gymnast’s journey to the 2012 Summer Olympics.

— “POV: When I Walk,” in which filmmaker Jason DaSilva chronicles his own debilitation after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at age 25, along with the love of his wife, Alice, who has helped him endure.

— “Sacred Journeys with Bruce Feiler,” which followed military veterans injured during wartime to seek physical, emotional and Spiritual healing in the waters of Lourdes, France.

— “Signed, Sealed, Delivered for Christmas,” the story of four postal detectives who try to answer a little girl’s letter to God while dealing with emotional wounds from their own pasts.

Winners in the category of books for adults were: — “Fully Alive,” in which Special Olympics Chairman Timothy Shriver reveals why people with intellectual disabilities have been his greatest teachers in life, giving him a more meaningful way of seeing the world.

— “Haatchi & Little B,” in which a boy with a rare genetic disorder and a disabled puppy, abused and left for dead, transform each other’s lives.

— “The Invisible Front,” in which a decorated Army officer combats the stigma of suicide and mental illness in society and the Army.

— “Jesus: A Pilgrimage,” Jesuit Father James Martin’s ac-

count of his visit to the Holy Land, inviting readers to encounter the Christ of history and the Christ of faith.

— “A Long Way Home,” Saroo Brierley’s own story of getting lost on a train in India at age five, living on the streets for a year, being adopted by an Australian couple, and finally reconnecting with his Indian family 25 years later with help

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

“Little Boy” (Open Road) Under the guidance of his kindly parish priest (Tom Wilkinson), an undersized lad ( Jakob Salvati) living with his mother (Emily Watson) and older brother (David Henrie) in 1940s coastal California tries to prove his faith in God by carrying out a series of good works.

His goal is to win the release of his beloved father (Michael Rapaport), a GI taken prisoner by the Japanese. But, along with the more familiar tasks of feeding the hungry and visiting the sick, the clergyman also requires the boy cleanse his mind of hatred by befriending a JapaneseAmerican widower (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) who has been ostracized by the local community. Religious values and a gentle sensibility pervade director Alejandro Monteverde’s nostalgic parable which is suitable for a wide audience. Even those who appreciate the film’s lessons in devotion and good will, though, may note its occasional lapses into forced plotting and sentimentality. Scenes of combat with minimal gore, a couple of crass terms. The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents.

The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned.

Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

“Monkey Kingdom” (Disneynature) This enjoyable documentary records the exploits of Maya,

from Google Earth.

— “Mercy in the City,” Kerry Weber’s memoir on living out the corporal works of mercy on both coasts of the United States.

Books for young people winners, by age group: — “I Forgive You,” by author Nicole Lataif and illustrator Katy Betz, preschool and up.

— “Maddi’s Fridge” by Lois

Brandt, illustrated by Vin Vogel, kindergarten and up.

— “Here’s Hank: Bookmarks Are People Too!” by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver, ages six and up.

— “Hope Springs” by Eric Walters, illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes, ages eight and up.

— “Eliza Bing is (Not) a Big, Fat Quitter” by Carmella Van Vleet, ages 10 and up.

a female toque macaque monkey living amid the ruins of an abandoned city in Sri Lanka.

Disadvantaged by her low rank within the rigid hierarchy of her species, Maya struggles for her own survival and for the welfare of her son Kip. When her troupe is displaced from their bountiful home territory by the aggression of a rival tribe, however, opportunities arise as the prevailing social structure is suddenly thrown into flux. Dramatic scenery, together with pleasant narration

by Tina Fey, helps to compensate for the low-speed pace of co-directors Mark Linfield and Alastair Fothergill’s study. The occasional intrusion of Darwinian conflict, though it exacts only a single fatality, might be unsettling for the very smallest viewers. But this is otherwise a completely comfortable option for parents. The Catholic News Service classification is A-I —

general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is G — general audiences. All ages admitted.

“Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2” (Sony) Kevin James, who co-wrote the screenplay, returns as the awkward, earnest, perpetually suspicious security guard first seen in the 2009 original. Under the direction of Andy Fickman, this leaden sequel’s humor is supposed to derive from sight gags and from the title character’s frequent intonation of inspirational mantras. But these stout bromides only serve to make the otherwise unobjectionable comedy’s thin plot and deliberate artlessness more glaring. Frequent slapstick violence and mishaps. The Catholic News Service classification is A-I — general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, May 3 at 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Craig A. Pregana, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish at St. James Church, New Bedford

13

May 1, 2015

Death with dignity: A friend recalls last minutes of John Paul II’s life

Rome, Italy (CNA/ EWTN News) — A once avid outdoors-man whose final years were marked by disability and suffering, St. John Paul II witnessed to what it truly means to die with dignity, says a close friend who was with him until the end.

“He gave us tranquility and peace even up to the last day,” Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, who was present at the Polish pope’s death 10 years ago, told CNA in an interview.

Screen shot of HCFM’s Website, www.PrayersForFamilies.org, which enables people to send free eCards “He restored dignity to and prayers to their moms during May. death.”

Cardinal Dziwisz, archbishop of Krakow, who at the time was serving as an aide to John Paul II, recalls singing the Te Deum — a hymn of praise to God — moments after the pope died, because those in the Many prayers honoring he attributed entirely to Mary’s room “were convinced that he EASTON — Mom wants only one thing this Mother’s mothers are available at www. intercession. This experience — had died a holy man.”

Day: your loving presence. And PrayersForFamilies.org, includ- coupled with his Spiritually rich “A man prepares for a lifefamily life as a youth in Ireland time for this important mothe best way to share that with ing these two: “Dear Mother, if I could give — inspired Father Peyton to de- ment, this passage from one life her — either in the same room or a thousand miles away — is you one thing in life, I would vote his life to Mary, Mother of to another for the encounter give you the ability to see your- God, and to the Spiritual well- with God,” he said. through prayer.

This year, Family Rosary is self through my eyes. Only then being of the family. His famous John Paul II died at 9:37 helping people get closer to would you realize how much I words, “The Family That Prays p.m. on April 2, 2005, the day mom with special prayers and love you. May God bless you al- Together Stays Together,” still before Divine Mercy Sunday electronic Mother’s Day cards, ways, especially on this special resonate today.

— a feast he established during A candidate for sainthood, his pontificate — after a long free at www.PrayersForFamilies. day.”

“May the blessing of our lov- Father Peyton was one of the battle with Parkinson’s disease. org. Throughout May — the month of Mary — visitors to ing God shine upon all moth- most influential American Throughout his pontifithe website will find dozens ers. May God grant them much Catholic priests of the 20th cate, the Polish pope spoke out of options to honor all of peace, joy and love — not only century. Known as the “Rosary against what he referred to as their “moms”: birth mother, on this special day for mothers Priest,” he encouraged millions the “culture of death” which of people to pray the Rosary promotes ideologies such as adoptive mother, step-mother, but also every day. Amen.”

In addition, visitors can se- daily. Father Peyton founded abortion and euthanasia, and grandmother, aunt or even the woman with whom they have lect from a variety of eCards Family Rosary in 1942. He in turn championed for the to send to mom on Mother’s used film, television and other promotion of human life and that special connection.

“This Mother’s Day, give Day or any time during the modern media to inspire and dignity. your mom the greatest gift of month. These electronic cards encourage millions of people to Cardinal Dziwisz recalled all: pray for her and with her,” for emailing include special turn to prayer for family unity the pope’s last words to him besaid Father Willy Raymond, greetings and feature a prayer and world peace. fore he died. “I kissed his hands In the spirit of its founder, and he told me ‘Thank you’ and C.S.C., president. “Often it’s to honor mom.

“There is no greater gift Servant of God Patrick Peyton, gave me his blessing,” he reour mothers who do all the praying for us. Now, it’s our than prayer,” Father Raymond Family Rosary encourages counted. turn. We’re certain there isn’t said. “For the mother who has family prayer, especially the He also remembered how a mother who wouldn’t be everything, a prayer from her Rosary. For more information, John Paul II, while on his pleased to know her children children is the best thing we call 800-299-7729 or visit deathbed, asked those who had and grandchildren are praying can give her. Nothing strength- www.FamilyRosary.org. come to say their farewells to To share the gift of prayer read the Gospel to him. ens the bonds of her family like for her.” with your mom on Mother’s Day The Family Rosary website praying together.”

“Priests read nine chapters of or any time during May, just go the Gospel of John for the love This special program was inwill offer many different ways to pray for mom. The site fea- spired by Servant of God Pat- to www.PrayersForFamilies. of God, and so he prepared for tures a selection of prayers — rick Peyton and his devotion to org. And Happy Mother’s Day his encounter,” the Polish prelall honoring mothers, of course. the Blessed Mother. He once to all moms everywhere! ate said.

There are also suggestions for said, “If families give Our Lady Karol Jozef Wojtyla, who making these prayers more 15 minutes a day by reciting the would later choose the name Rosary, I assure them that their meaningful: John Paul II upon his elec— Saying “Grace” when homes will become, by God’s tion to the papacy, was born grace, peaceful places.” having dinner together the youngest of three children While a seminarian, Father — Praying over the phone if in the Polish town of WadoPeyton, a priest of the Conmom is far away wice, a small city 50 kilome— Asking our Blessed gregation of Holy Cross, was ters from Krakow, on May 18, Mother Mary’s intercession for stricken with severe tuberculo1920.

QR code that directs your mother, grandmother or sis. He prayed his Rosary to the In 1942, at the height of other special woman who has Blessed Mother and he made readers to the website: www. World War II, he began courses a miraculous recovery, which PrayersForFamilies.org. made a difference in your life in the clandestine seminary of

HCFM website enables visitors to send free eCards and prayers to moms everywhere during May

Krakow, and was eventually ordained in 1946.

He took part in Vatican Council II (1962-1965), being appointed archbishop of Krakow in 1964, and contributed to drafting the Constitution Gaudium et spes.

On Oct. 16, 1978, Cardinal Wojtyla was elected pope at the age of 58.

Over the course of his 27year pontificate — one of the longest in Church history — he traveled to 129 countries, and was instrumental in the fall of communism in Europe in the 1980s.

“He did not create resentment, but instead knocked down the walls between people,” Cardinal Dziwisz said, observing he had close friends who were Jews, Muslims, and other religions. “Everyone was important for him because everyone was created in the image of God.” The archbishop of Krakow also spoke of John Paul II’s strong sense of discipline throughout his life, which was always centered on prayer.

“He was a very disciplined man from the point of view of moral ethics,” he said. “Even at work, he never wasted time. He always had time for prayer.”

In fact, for John Paul II, prayer was never separated from work, Cardinal Dziwisz said. “He was immersed in God and in everything he did, he always walked with God and in prayer.”

“He always kept this intimate relationship with God, of contemplation, of contact with God, and here was his strength: peace of mind. God exists, God commands, God, we must follow Him. If you follow God, you see peace, even in difficult times, which as pope, he had many.”

John Paul II was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on May 1, Divine Mercy Sunday, at a ceremony which saw an estimated two million pilgrims flock to Rome. He was canonized April 27, 2014 in St. Peter’s Square by Pope Francis on the same feast day.

Cardinal Dziwisz touched on the impact that John Paul II being declared a saint had upon the faithful.

“I think people were convinced of his sanctity, that the supreme authority had approved the road of holiness, because we are sure that we could imitate his holiness.”

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May 1, 2015

St. Pius X Youth Award recipients react to honor continued from page one

Pius X Youth Award, recipients must have already received the Sacrament of Confirmation, be at least a sophomore in high school and not older than 19.

Agostinelli currently serves as co-president of the parish’s youth ministry, serves as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, is an altar server, has assisted in teaching Religious Education classes to Confirmation candidates, and is a youth representative to the parish council.

One of his favorite activities has been the annual staging of the live Stations of the Cross during Lent, in which parish youth act out each station with musical accompaniment.

“I’ve been doing that throughout high school,” he said. “I’ve been everything from a background speaker to Jesus Christ to a Roman soldier.”

Admitting that he used to dread being “dragged to church” by his parents, the high school senior said he now looks forward to his many parish activities and really enjoys participating.

“I think it’s important to give youth a different perspective on things and, in general, a more accepting perspective of the Church,” he said.

This year’s Mashpee honoree also thinks it’s crucial for young people to get involved in the Church.

“I really don’t think it’s enough to just attend Mass weekly or to attend church from time to time with your family,” he said. “I think it allows us to open our own eyes to see a lot of the benefits that being active in a parish at a young age can have.”

Teagon Francis Sweet, this year’s recipient from St. Mark’s Parish in Attleboro Falls, said her father must have suspected

something as he watched her open and read the award notification letter.

“He was watching me read the letter after I opened it up, and I started screaming from excitement,” she said. “We both started laughing and hugged each other because we were so happy.”

Sweet’s sister received the distinction three years ago, so she was familiar with the Pope St. Pius X Youth Award and knew it was a great honor.

Her parish activities include being an altar server for the 4 p.m. weekend Masses every Saturday and teaching secondgrade Religious Education classes.

“I really like volunteering my time, it makes me really happy,” Sweet said. “I think by getting more involved in the parish, you not only get to know other people, but you learn a lot more about yourself as well.”

Like Sweet, Brandon JohnCarl McKearney of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Attleboro, said his father was very excited to share the good news about the award with him.

“I came home and my dad showed me the letter and he was all excited,” McKearney said. “I didn’t know anything about the award until then.”

For McKearney — who is an altar server, assists with the parish food pantry, is a member of the youth group, and remains active with the Boy Scouts — he’s only too happy to share the joy with his father, who has been an inspiration to him.

“I have a great father and I’ve seen him get involved in so many things, so it’s nice to feel that I can give back just a little of what I’ve been given,” he said.

“It’s nice to be able to give back

This week in

to others.”

Upon learning that she’d be receiving the award for her efforts at St. Dominic’s Parish in Swansea this year, Allison Elizabeth Jacome said she was a bit overwhelmed and greeted the news “with a mixture of awe and excitement.”

“My brother received the award two years ago, so I knew what it was, but I really didn’t think I was going to get it because I think there are tons of people more deserving,” she said.

Jacome is a member of the parish youth council, teaches third-grade CCD classes, helps with the Confirmation classes, assists the St. Vincent de Paul Society in distributing food to the needy, and until recently was the parish’s head altar server.

She’s also involved with the parish’s Holy Spirit Society, which is typically unique to Portuguese parishes. The society is responsible for celebrating the “Domingas,” a Portuguese custom in which people gather in homes during the weeks between Easter and Pentecost to pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

“Although we’re not a Portuguese parish, we do a lot of Portuguese traditions,” Jacome said. “The Holy Spirit Society is one of the smallest groups in my parish, but it’s my favorite.

Many people don’t know a lot about what we do, but once they come they are changed.”

The high school junior said she would encourage other teen-agers to become more involved in their parishes.

“You’re doing something that’s good for you, good for the public, good for the poor, and good for the people who can’t help themselves,” she said. “And

Diocesan history

50 years ago — Choral and instrumental groups at several Catholic schools in the diocese began practicing earnestly for the annual diocesan music festival to be held at Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro.

10 years ago — The diocesan Adoption

by Choice: Pregnancy Counseling and Adoption Program was awarded an “Enhanced License to Operate An Adoption Agency” by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Office of Child Care Services.

25 years ago — Diocesan faithful wearing distinctive Massachusetts Citizens for Life sun visors joined the estimated 250,000 participants in the Rally for Life at the base of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.

One year ago — Four students in Catholic schools in the Diocese of Fall River were named winners in Family Rosary’s annual “Try Prayer! It Works!” contest, a nationwide competition in which nearly 3,000 students participated.

it’s a good feeling to be able to say I’m helping those who cannot help themselves.”

Fellow award recipient Caleb Joseph Raposo from St. George’s Parish in Westport agrees that it’s important for youth to get involved in the Church.

“I think people have a preconception that getting involved in the parish is one way, and that’s it,” Raposo said. “But I think you need to be more open-minded and really be active, because it ends up being a lot of fun. Especially when you’re involved with a group of kids.”

Raposo assists with his parish’s Faith Formation program by helping teach second grade. He’s also involved with the Spiritual Life Committee that decorates the church for various feasts and events, and he’s served on the retreat teams for First Communion and Confirmation students.

“I like helping with the younger kids, because I enjoy interacting with them,” he said.

“It’s not only fun, but it makes you feel good as a person as well.”

Another of this year’s recipients, Austin Borges of St. Joseph’s Parish in Fairhaven, likewise appreciates interacting with younger parishioners.

“I like volunteering for the Vacation Bible School, because I’m good with little kids,” Borges said. “I enjoy teaching them about different things and it’s fun to see their reactions. I have students from grade one to five.”

In addition to helping teach students about the Bible, Borges also leads the youth ministry and is involved in a variety of other parish activities.

“Every little chance I get, I’m at the church helping with every little thing I can,” he said.

The high school sophomore said it wasn’t until he started getting involved with parish activities that he realized how much fun it could be.

“I’ve made so many new friends, and you get to learn more about your faith and help others learn about the faith, too,” he said.

Courtney E. Dupuis, the recipient from Our Lady of Fatima Parish in New Bedford, said she was “honored and happy to get the award” this year.

“I found out that a couple of my friends had received it in the past and I thought it was really cool,” she said.

For the past three years, Dupuis has volunteered as an aide for the parish Religious Education classes — helping students in grades three, five and six — and she’s also assisted with First

Communion students.

The high school senior has found the experience rewarding and recommends that more youth seek out ways to help their parishes.

“I’d say it’s always good to be familiar with the Church, with what goes on, and with what happened back then,” she said.

“It’s good to get involved and be familiar with your faith.”

Sophie Hryzan from St. John Neumann Parish in East Freetown said she never expected to receive the Pope St. Pius X Youth Award.

“My best friend got it last year and I was excited when I learned I was going to get the award,” she said.

Hryzan has been involved with the parish Youth Ministry, serves as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, and has volunteered at the annual parish festival for several years.

“It’s exciting because you get to see everyone in the parish and see all different aspects that make up the Church,” she said.

She suggested more teenagers get involved with a parish group or ministry that “you feel might speak to you.”

“By talking and interacting with other teens, you get to learn what everyone else does and even about some of what the other parishes in the area are doing,” she said.

While most of the 2015 honorees received the news firsthand, Stephanie Berry was actually in Canada when the letter arrived announcing her as this year’s recipient from Immaculate Conception Parish in North Easton.

“My mom texted me and I just wanted to scream, because my brother had gotten the award before and it made me so happy to be able to get the same award as him,” Berry said.

The high school sophomore currently juggles a busy academic schedule with stints as an altar server, Religious Education teacher, lector, choir member, and a more recent attempt to revive the parish youth group.

“I feel like when I’m active, it really makes me a part of the parish,” she said. “And when I’m doing things like altar serving, it forces you to pay attention to the Mass and I feel more connected to Jesus and God.” Saying that she’s not yet had the opportunity to meet Bishop da Cunha, Berry paused a moment when asked about attending the prayer service on May 5.

“I’m a little nervous to receive the award,” she said.

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May 1, 2015

Breaking down diocese’s response to latest synod questionnaire continued from page one

path of Spiritual and pastoral discernment.’ These were the words used by Pope Francis in describing the synodal experience and indicating the task at hand: to read the signs of God and human history, in a twofold yet unique faithfulness, which this reading involves.

“With these words in mind, we have gathered together the results of our reflections and our discussions in the following three parts: listening, so as to look at the reality of the family today in all its complexities, both lights and shadows; looking, our gaze is fixed on Christ to ponder, with renewed freshness and enthusiasm, what revelation, transmitted in the Church’s faith, tells us about the beauty, the role and the dignity of the family; and confronting the situation, with an eye on the Lord Jesus, to discern the ways in which the Church and society can renew their commitment to the family founded upon the Marriage between a man and a woman.”

A questionnaire was sent out to dioceses across the globe, with the responses to be addressed at the Extraordinary Synod on the Family’s concluding “relatio.” In February, Claire McManus, director of the Faith Formation Office of the Fall River Diocese, was tasked with promoting the questions and helping make it available for those wanting to participate.

This was the second time the synod had decided to reach out to the Catholic community in this way — the first was in 2013 — and McManus said she once again found herself taking the heavily-worded questions and breaking them down into more easily digestible pieces of information.

“I didn’t change the wording too much,” she explained. “The wording was difficult but I kept it as close as possible. This time around there were 44 questions and to understand the questions you had to read the document that came out of the first synod.

I gave a link to the document, gave a link to the actual questions as they were written, and then gave the summarized questions to be answered through a Google document form to be sent through electronic form and sent back to me.”

There was a slight hiccup in the promotion when the link McManus put forth in The Anchor didn’t work.

“It only worked if you re-

ceived it electronically and could click on it, so when people tried to type that into their browser it didn’t work,” said McManus. “I got an email from someone accusing me of trying to make it difficult to respond.

Some people have this sense of a conspiracy and that no one wants their information, and that’s hardly the case.”

The situation was rectified, and even as people began to respond, they struggled to comprehend what they were reading while trying to answer the questions.

“I had a wonderful email who saw the [original] questions and the edited version and said, ‘I can’t answer these the way they’re written,’” recalled McManus. “I wrote back to her and told her to give me your story that you wanted to say, because something drives people to answer these questions. In that respect, I would say that the people who did respond had a story to tell.”

There were a variety of responses to the questions; some individuals sought change while others did not. There were some that saw the laity and clergy in agreement, though there was a difference in how each group wanted to address the issue.

One of the questions that received the most heartfelt responses was regarding people who have been divorced and remarried, but have not gone through the annulment process and therefore could not receive Communion, “and everybody wanted them to be able to come to Communion,” said McManus. “There was not one person who felt that these people should remain undeserving.”

The different strategies from the laity and the clergy to address a solution came through in the responses, said McManus. “The clergy had a better sense of the annulment process so they were of agreement that we need to speed up the annulment process, don’t let these people wait so long. It’s cruel; it’s rare that someone is denied annulment.

“A couple of the lay people who had personal experience with this said that the time that they waited to have the Sacrament was a prayerful time — it was almost like Lent — and they knew their annulment was coming and this wasn’t a permanent situation. They actually welcomed the time that they didn’t go to Communion,

and when that time came when their annulment went through, they experienced joy returning to the Sacrament. A couple of people responded that way, and I was really moved by that response.”

The questionnaire was broken into three major parts, with part one focused on “Listening: The Context and Challenges of the Family,” so the synod could hear about the challenges families are facing and respond to them.

A question that McManus addressed, listed under the subsection of part one, was “The Importance of Affectivity in Life,” with the question asking, “How do Christian families bear witness for succeeding generations to the development and growth of a life of sentiment?”

“I think what they were saying in the report is that this is a different generation,” said McManus, “that people actually care about their feelings and their feelings need to be developed over time. Some of the questions about Marriage were referring to practices that take place all over the world; for example, arranged marriages.

So if you’re a modern person who cares about love, feelings and emotional maturity, then throwing you into an arranged marriage is counter to a more modern way of thinking.”

The second part of the same question provided additional fuel for thought: “How might the formation of ordained ministers be improved?” a spin-off of questions asked during the first synod, addressing priest formation.

The first synod questions had responses which stated people felt that priests were not being properly formed in the seminaries to understand the way people change over time in a Marriage, and that they themselves are not being given time for their own emotional maturity, explained McManus: “All this came out of that first synod, so this question (the second time around) made sense, but taken out of context it didn’t make sense, so I reworded it so that it got to the nut of what I felt it was asking.”

The second part of the questionnaire, “Looking at Christ: The Gospel of the Family” was purely focused on being theological and catechetical, with the questions centered on how dioceses are presenting the

Church’s teaching, and then asking how are dioceses teaching this? Part two saw McManus write in the report what is being done in the Fall River Diocese, what’s being done in various parish programs, and she also incorporated the results in the first synod questions sent out in 2013.

Part three, “Confronting the Situation: Pastoral Perspectives,” was looking for “specific action. The clergy were able to respond to this, and some of the lay people answered and one was the mother a priest,” said McManus.

The question, “How is the family emphasized in the formation of priests and other pastoral workers? How are families themselves involved?” triggered an unexpected response from that mother.

“She said, ‘We weren’t involved at all. In fact, I got the feeling to not be involved,’” said McManus of the woman’s answer. “So I put it into the report. I talked to some people about that response, and they said that part of the formation is to have them be separate from their families; it’s not to keep the families away. I talked to a Sister of Mercy and she said, ‘We were cut off and not to connect with the family; that was part of our formation.’ I surmise it’s basically for them to build a reliance on Christ and not the family.

“Maybe that [approach] is not giving them enough of an interaction with family. It depends on which seminary they went to. One of the priests who trained in Rome said he was sent out into the parishes to work with families, so he felt they did have a lot of interaction. That’s what’s wonderful about sending [the questions] out there, you don’t know what you’re going to get.”

The answers to the questions about Marriage ministry programs will also act as a guide for McManus and her office to help address their Marriage programs: “Getting the responses that I did, told me a lot about what we need to do better,” said McManus. “When you say Marriage prep, you think about that one-day Marriage preparation program that we have, so what was coming out of the response is the couples are not given enough preparation and so my visceral reaction is we’re not doing enough.

“Then you realize that Marriage preparation should not be a one-day process, it should really be a part of the life of the

parish. A lot of the questions asked that, asking how people in the parish are utilized to help form these couples? There were a lot of good ideas that came out [of the responses], including there be mentoring.”

Because there are beautiful destinations for Marriage within the diocese, said McManus, many couples prefer that the Marriage preparation take place in a parish that is close to where they want the wedding to be held as opposed to the parish that they will call home.

“It’s not going to be where they’re going live and to raise families so there’s a disconnect, and they don’t feel connected to parish life,” said McManus.

“The guys down at the Cape do a wonderful job; some of our parishes there do 40 weddings a year, and they do all the prep and focus, meet with the couple.

They’re doing a lot of work for couples who may not be part of the life of the parish, and some feel it’s pointless. I think that’s an area we can work on, that maybe the responsibility of formation stays within the couple’s parish even if they go to a destination. [The couple] can make their formation about the Marriage, not the wedding.”

McManus said she did not cherry pick the best responses and gloss over other answers; “In the report, [the people] should know that when there was a divergent response, that went into the report as well,” she said. “I didn’t pick the responses that fit the agenda, I said very specifically that the majority of people felt this way but I also said that people felt like this and this.”

She added, “People need to know that their response went into the report.”

Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., has already seen the final report for the Fall River Diocese, and now it will head out to the USCCB, where they will put together a report that will be sent to the Synod Fathers, who will read those reports and address the responses this coming fall.

Even though the deadline has passed for answers being part of the report sent to the Vatican, McManus encourages people to respond “because it will inform us when we sit down with the bishop, we can say that a lot of people felt the same way about this issue.”

For clergy, the link is: http://synod2015.weebly. com/ and for laity, the link is http://2015synodlaityresponse. weebly.com/.

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Youth Pages

Abby Hallagan, a sixth-grader at St. Mary’s School in Mansfield, celebrated Earth Day by participating in the Earth Day Poem Project while enjoying the sunshine outside. “Our World” by Abby Hallagan: “Trash, trash on the ground, Everywhere I go all around, Cutting down trees, What about the bees? The animals have no where to live, We’ve got one chance to give Why don’t we start now, Let’s put our heads together and figure out how.

Clean our Earth, OUR WORLD!”

Recently, seven new members were inducted into the All Saints Catholic School (New Bedford) Chapter of the National Junior Honor Society. Guest speaker Bridget Correia reminded inductees and current members about the importance of the characteristics for which each was chosen for membership — scholarship, leadership, service, citizenship and character. These attributes were also highlighted in a candlelight ceremony led by current members and the All Saints NJHS faculty moderator, Patricia Ferreira.

May 1, 2015

Fall River Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., recently visited the staff and students at St. Michael School in Fall River, where he spoke to the students and celebrated Mass with them. With the bishop are Father Jay Mello and Sister Marie Baldi, S.U.S.C., school principal.

The First Communion class of St. Lawrence Parish in New Bedford participated in a Jesus Day Retreat, led by Sister Muriel Ann Lebeau, SS.CC. The children made bread and received a special prayer pillow made by Nancy Machado.

Pre-kindergarten students at Our Lady of Lourdes School in Taunton recently finished planting flowers in front of their school in honor of Earth Day. Katie St. Jean and Bianca Oliveira lead St. Elizabeth Ann Seton House at St. Pius X School. The house system joins students in grades five-eight as a community within the school, oftentimes focusing on social and community issues. Here the house captains are presenting Ginny Lewis, from DY-ECH, with a check for $1,000. The school recently raised this money through a “Change for Change” initiative spearheaded by the school’s four houses.

Fourth-grade students at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro recently had full bellies while learning about animal and plant cells.

The students worked in pairs and made an animal cell with a round waffle or a plant cell using a square waffle. They spread Cool Whip on the waffles which represented the cytoplasm. A banana slice represented the nucleus, red grapes represented the cell’s vacuoles and raisins represented the mitochondria.

Displaying their “animal cell” are Adrienne Kyere and Autumn Perry.

Representatives from the YWCA came to Holy Family-Holy Name School in New Bedford to give instructions on CPR life-saving techniques to the eighth-graders. Here one student practices doing chest compressions correctly on a “victim.” The other student has a checklist to evaluate how well her friend can do the CPR sequence.

May 1, 2015

T

he other day I was meeting with a high school student in my parish preparing for Confirmation. One of the questions I asked was why Church isn’t a priority for most high school students. His answer was all of our energies are on three other priorities: school, sports and family. I suspect that is a pretty average situation, not just for high school students, but also those in college and even older.

We know that only about 10-15 percent of the millenial generation go to church on a regular basis. We also know that 90 percent of those high school students who are active in their faith stop going to church their first year of college.

We are in the process of formulating goals and objectives for Catholic Campus Ministry for the next five years at UMass Dartmouth. At our first meeting we were going over the results of a survey we did of Catholics on campus. The students observed that Church is often related to their parents. They went to church and youth group because it was important to their parents and we had fun in the different activities and trips. But now in college, they trying to figure out who they are, to create the person they want to be, not the son of this person or the daughter of that person. Basically, Church was part of the identity of their family, but not them.

These various surveys, studies and observations tell us that one of the greatest tasks before us as a Church is helping students to take ownership for the faith themselves, of nurturing and de-

Youth Pages Time to let your light shine

mean that you can put off until veloping a real, intimate relation- offered them in the fall actuhave worked with My Brother’s later your meeting with Christ ship with Jesus Christ.

Keeper and help students find ally intervened to keep at least and your sharing in the Church’s College Campus Ministry volunteer opportunities in the one student from dropping out mission. Even though you are programs in the Diocese of Fall community. because of homesickness/transiyoung, the time for action is now!

River are built on three pillars: Finally, Campus Ministers tion issues.

Jesus does not have ‘contempt for faith, community and service. don’t just hang out in the office This summer we are offeryour youth.’ He does not set you Faith: We provide opdreaming up programs, aside for a later time when you portunities for Spiritual but we are present in the growth: Mass, Sacraments, life of the campus, present will be older and your training will be complete. Your training catechesis, theology for students who need to will never be finished. Christians courses, retreats, Scripture talk or vent. Countless study, etc. Some of these interactions ranging from are always in training. You are ready for what Christ wants of programs are offered social interactions to a

By Father you now. He wants you — all of online. student in crisis happen David C. Frederici you — to be light to the world, as We provide opportunivery informally: while only young people can be light. It ties for Spiritual direcwe are at lunch, walking is time to let your light shine!” tion. This past year we began a across the quad, in the library, ing an overnight retreat for any Editor’s note: Father Frederici vocation discernment program: coffee shop, etc. recent high school graduate who researched his statistics from a helping students to involve God In 1999 St. John Paul II was is heading off to college in the in discerning their vocations and present at a youth rally at the Keil number of sources. If anyone would fall. It will be an opportunity to like to know those sources they can careers. As the student progresses, Spiritually prepare for the transi- Center in St. Louis. I close with contact The Anchor. they will have the opportunity to tion and learn from those in colhis words to the youth, words Anchor columnist Father Fredexplore different vocations in the lege how to maintain and grow that still ring true 16 years after erici is pastor of St. John the EvanChurch. they were first spoken: in faith while a student. gelist Parish in Pocasset and diocesan Community: “human beings “This is the time of your Service: College students (of director of Campus Ministry and are social beings,” we need others all faiths or no faith) are crav‘training,’ of your physical, intelChaplain at UMass Dartmouth to flourish. lectual, emotional and Spiritual ing volunteer opportunities. We and Bristol Community College.

The Novus program at UMD sponsor a monthly soup kitchen, development. But this does not invites students to a pre-orientation program. The program is run by our peer leaders. It provides incoming students to get a head start in meeting their classmates, other students and get familiar with the campus before the start of orientation and school. This past year was the first year we have run the program and it was a great success. The students formed close friendships that have strengthened over the year.

They are very active in Campus Ministry events and they are always bringing new students to Mass or other activities and events. This program along with the Peer Leaders and a small Seventy-six Bishop Feehan High School (Attleboro) students recently experienced “Real World Day” at Christian community process we Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I., as a culmination of Feehan’s economic Financial Literacy Month.

Be Not Afraid

Damien Council Knights of Columbus awards scholarships

Mattapoisett — Damien Council No. 4190 Knights of Columbus recently awarded 10 scholarships of $500 to deserving area students. Funds were raised from middle school dances held throughout the past school year, as well as other council fund-raising activities.

Directing the scholarship program was Grand Knight Al Fidalgo and the scholarship committee including Chairman Jim Grady, Jim Alferes, Jim Hubbard, Carl Junier, and Jason Mello.

Scholarships were awarded to the following students: — Victoria L. Caton of Mattapoisett and Old Rochester Regional High School.

— Julia K. Days of Fairhaven and Fairhaven High School.

— Benjamin L. Elliott of

17

Fairhaven and Fairhaven High School.

— Carolyn L. Foley of Mattapoisett and Bishop Stang High School.

— Michael J. Kassabian of Mattapoisett and Old Rochester Regional High School.

— Julia R. Nojeim of Marion and Old Rochester Regional High School.

— Margaret M.P. O’Day of Mattapoisett and Old Rochester Regional High School.

— Liam R. Prendergast of Sandwich and Sturgis Charter East Public School.

— Benjamin M. Reis of Fairhaven and Bishop Stang High School.

— Abigail L. Rottler of Mattapoisett and Bristol County Agricultural High School.

For four weeks prior to this event, the class discussed budgets, credit, investment, loans, etc. as part of the daily curriculum, with guest lecturers representing different parts of the financial services field.

This year David Santoro, a certified financial planner, and Kristin Rojas, vice president of community affairs for the Pawtucket Credit Union, were guest speakers. From left, Gabrielle Delos, Bridget Gaughan, Marisol Handren, and Kacey Sharpe were some of the students in attendance.

Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth, recently announced it has several winners for the 2015 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards as well as an award and participation at the Emerging Young Artists Exhibition at UMass Dartmouth. The winners were from left: Myles Goulart: Honorable mention, photography; Alice (Sihuang) Man: Honorable mention, jewelry; Sabrina Mendes: Silver Key, drawing and illustration and three honorable mentions in drawing and illustration; and Thomas Quinlan: Honorable mention, comic art.

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May 1, 2015

Videos illustrate the great works done through the CCA continued from page one

dertaking,” Fortin told The Anchor. “We work closely with Jim Campbell and his staff, along with John Kearns in the Communications office. This year we created three different ‘kickoff ’ videos, which were around 16 minutes long. I’ll edit a fourth version, which combines all three, for use on the Catholic

dences, putting into action this year’s Appeal slogan, “Feed the Hungry, Shelter the Homeless, Comfort the Sorrowful, in His Name ... It’s What We Do.” The videos target each area and who the Appeal helps in that region. The examples are numerous: hospital chaplaincy, the parish Christmas program,

In this screen shot from one of five Catholic Charities Appeal videos produced to display the many good works performed in the Diocese of Fall River, Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V. appeals to the generosity of the diocese’s many faithful. “No matter how large or small your contribution may be,” he said, “you can, by this one act, live your faith by helping others experience the same love of God that blesses us all.” To view any of the videos visit frdioccatholiccharities.org.

Social Services website. We then create a shorter ‘church’ version, which runs around six minutes, for each of the five deaneries (a sixth version is edited for use on the TV Mass). We also edit separate Portuguese and Spanish videos, for each of the five deaneries. When you add the two ‘half-hour’ cable TV/public access versions, it totals 21 different video programs.”

Fortin added that for parishes that don’t use video, they have created “a different audio sermon for each deanery, in each of the three languages, totaling 15 different CDs.” In each of the productions is contained heart-warming stories and images of people helping people, all funded by people.

Whether it be individuals who are assisted by Catholic Social Services’: St. Clare’s in Hyannis, a sober transitional housing for women who are coming out of incarceration; the Donovan House and Sister Rose House in New Bedford offering transitional housing for women and their children and a short-term homeless shelter respectively; or the Samaritan House in Taunton, a transitional homeless shelter; the reaction of those assisted is quite similar — gratitude for the help received thanks to people they don’t even know.

In the videos, Bishop da Cunha is seen talking and praying with residents of these resi-

campus ministry, the weekly TV Mass, adoption services, the permanent diaconate program, the Hispanic Apostolate, the Office for Persons with Disabilities, English as a Second Language, GED programs, citizenship classes, CYO sports programs, and the annual high school youth convention, to name some.

The videos not only tell personal stories, but also share the

on my refrigerator for a long time.”

Campbell pointed out that thousands feel the compassion and assistance made possible through the Catholic Charities Appeal, and “it’s because of the parishes in this diocese,” he said.

“I am so grateful for the support for the diocesan parishes. They make the Appeal successful. We are so dependent on them and it’s the parishes that make the difference in all these lives.”

During each of the videos, Bishop da Cunha warmly invites the faithful from across the Diocese of Fall River to be a part of this “mission of service.”

“No matter how large or small your contribution may be,” he said, “you can, by this one act, live your faith by helping others experience the same love of God that blesses us all.”

Fortin told The Anchor that to complete the mission for this year’s Catholic Charities Appeal videos and audios, “We shot more than 15 hours of video at 25 different locations.

We conducted 55 on-camera interviews. There were 15 audio programs totaling more than an hour-and-three-quarters; 21 video programs totaling more than three hours. It took about 200 hours of post-production audio and video editing to piece it all together.”

The messages have been spoken and the pictures have been taken. The success of the 2015 Catholic Charities Appeal now depends on the hard

Catholic Citizenship has new head continued from page seven

his class that each student will need to disavow the existence of God on their first day or face a failing grade.

One student refuses and is given the task of proving that God is not dead.

In addition to events like this one, Bodwell hopes to engage more young Catholics by increasing the use of social media, updating the website and inviting them to engage in political life. She hopes to invite them to canvas for Pro-Life, pro-family candidates during their summers off from school.

Bodwell has other political goals as well. Catholic Citizenship has endorsed four state bills this legislative session. Two would repeal or partially repeal the Transgender Equal Rights bill which outlaws discrimination against transgendered people but can be interpreted to allow men and women who identify as the opposite sex access to opposite sex rest rooms. Another, the Women’s Safety Act, would require abortion clinics to be licensed and inspected. The last is called Justina’s amendment, named for Justina Pelletier, the Connecticut teen who was kept from her parents for 15 months because a Boston hospital claimed her parents were pursuing the wrong treatment course. Justina’s law would explicitly state that parents have the right to decide the best medical treatment for their children.

In recent years, Bodwell has served as president of the Respect Life Committee at her parish, Corpus Christi in East Sandwich. She has also worked for various politi-

cal campaigns and signature drives. Sometimes, when she invites others to sign a petition or vote for a candidate, someone will tell her that the campaign is hopeless.

“I just don’t think you can ever give up,” she said, adding that she has seen some surprising victories.

Bea Martins, former Catholic Citizenship representative for the Diocese of Fall River, said that through Bodwell’s previous work, Bodwell has proved to be a great advocate for faith and values.

“She has shown in her role on the Cape in various work that she has done previously that she has the skills to lead Catholic Citizenship,” Martins said. “She’s very well informed.

She’s clear and concise and is a good communicator.”

Patricia Doherty, the outgoing executive director, said she is glad to “pass the torch” to such a strong leader especially since the organization will face many challenges.

“The Church has to step up to fight the cultural decline and the expansion of socially liberal ideas that are coming directly in contact with religious liberty. It’s a battle that is Spiritual and not just political,” she added.

Bodwell complemented Doherty, calling her an asset to the organization.

“All the friends of Catholic Citizenship want to thank her for her years of hard work and dedication. We’re going to miss her,” she said.

For more information on Catholic Citizenship, to join the mailing list or get involved, visit their website at http://catholic-citizenship. org.

The Post Office charges The Anchor 70 cents for notification of a subscriber’s change of address. Please help us reduce these expenses by notifying us immediately when you plan to move.

Please Print Your New Address Below

In this screen shot from one of five Catholic Charities Appeal videos produced to display the many services performed in the Diocese of Fall River, Keegan LaRue, a member of the Campus Ministry program at UMass Dartmouth tells viewers of the good works performed at the university thanks to the Catholic Charities Appeal.

heartfelt “thank yous” from those directly affected.

“In the videos we reference Archbishop Oscar Romero’s Prayer, particularly the line, ‘We plant the seeds that one day will grow,’” said Campbell. “For me, it’s not something that came out of the blue. I’ve had that prayer

work and dedication of the diocese’s parishes and generous faithful.

To view the videos or for more information on the 2015 Catholic Charities Appeal, visit frdioc-catholiccharities.org, or call the Development Office at 508-675-1311.

NAME: STREET ADDRESS: CITY, STATE, ZIP: NEW PARISH: MOVING DATE: Please attach your Anchor address label so we can update your record immediately.

Clip and mail form to: The Anchor, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722

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May 1, 2015

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese Acushnet — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Monday from 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Tuesday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Evening prayer and Benediction is held Monday through Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

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

ATTLEBORO — The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette holds Eucharistic Adoration in the Shrine Church every Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. through November 17.

ATTLEBORO — There is a weekly Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration Thursdays from 5:30 to 6:30 pm at St. John the Evangelist Church on N. Main St. Brewster — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the La Salette Chapel in the lower level of Our Lady of the Cape Church, 468 Stony Brook Road, on First Fridays beginning at noon until 7:45 a.m. First Saturday, concluding with Benediction and concluding with Mass at 8 a.m. buzzards Bay — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Margaret Church, 141 Main Street, Monday through Saturday, from 6:30 to 8 a.m.; and every first Friday from noon to 8 a.m. on Saturday.

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

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

FAIRHAVEN — St. Mary’s Church, Main St., has Eucharistic Adoration every Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the Chapel of Reconciliation, with Benediction at 11:30 a.m. Also, there is a First Friday Mass each month at 7 p.m., followed by a Holy Hour with Eucharistic Adoration. Refreshments follow.

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

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

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

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

FALL RIVER — Good Shepherd Parish has Eucharistic Adoration every Friday following the 8 a.m. Mass and concluding with 3 p.m. Benediction in the Daily Mass Chapel. A bilingual holy hour takes place from 2 to 3 p.m. Park behind the church and enter the back door of the connector between the church and the rectory.

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

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

MASHPEE — Christ the King Parish, Route 151 and Job’s Fishing Road has 8:30 a.m. Mass every First Friday with special intentions for Respect Life, followed by 24 hours of Eucharistic Adoration in the Chapel, concluding with Benediction Saturday morning followed immediately by an 8:30 Mass.

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

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

NEW BEDFORD — St. Lawrence Martyr Parish, 565 County Street, holds Eucharistic Adoration in the side chapel Fridays from 7:30-11:45 a.m. ending with a simple Benediction NORTH DARTMOUTH — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Julie Billiart Church, 494 Slocum Road, every Tuesday from 7 to 8 p.m., ending with Benediction.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available at this time.

NORTH DIGHTON — Eucharistic Adoration takes place every Wednesday following 8:00 a.m. Mass and concludes with Benediction at 5 p.m. Eucharistic Adoration also takes place every First Friday at St. Nicholas of Myra Church, 499 Spring Street following the 8 a.m. Mass, ending with Benediction at 6 p.m. The Rosary is recited Monday through Friday from 7:30 to 8 a.m.

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

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

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

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

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

Taunton — Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament takes place every First Friday at Annunciation of the Lord, 31 First Street. Exposition begins following the 8 a.m. Mass. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed, and Adoration will continue throughout the day. Confessions are heard from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. Rosary and Benediction begin at 6:30 p.m.

WAREHAM — Eucharistic Adoration at St. Patrick’s Church begins each Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. and ends on Friday night at midnight. Adoration is held in our Adoration Chapel in the lower Parish Hall. ~ PERPETUAL EUCHARISTIC ADORATION ~ East Sandwich — The Corpus Christi Parish Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, East Sandwich. Use the Chapel entrance on the side of the church.

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

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

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

Pope’s suggestion: Remember when you first met Jesus

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In every relationship, including one’s relationship with Jesus, it is important to remember that “first encounter,” that initial, life-changing moment of love, Pope Francis said.

Celebrating a recent Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, Pope Francis used the first reading’s account of the conversion of St. Paul to begin a homily about a whole list of encounters Jesus had with individuals in the Gospels. After John and Andrew met Jesus, they stayed with Him “the whole evening” and became His disciples; Simon became Peter, the “rock” on which Jesus built His Church; one man with leprosy healed by Jesus came back to thank Him; and a woman was healed just by touching the hem of Jesus’ robe, the pope said. “Look at the many stories there (in the Gospel) and see how Jesus encounters people, how He chooses the Apostles — all the encounters with Jesus there,” the pope told the small congregation.

Catholics should read their Bibles, paying special attention to those stories of encounters and look at details that might be similar to their own meeting with Jesus even though “everyone has their own” story to tell.

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks May 2 Rt. Rev. Msgr. M.P. Leonidas Lariviere, Pastor, St. Jean Baptiste, Fall River, 1963 May 5 Rev. Leo M. Curry, Retired Pastor, St. Dominic, Swansea, 1973 Rev. Albert Rowley, SS.CC., in residence, St. Francis Xavier, Acushnet, 1985 Rev. Raymond A. Robida, Catholic Memorial Home, Fall River, 2003 May 6 Rev. Thomas P. Elliott, Founder, St. Mary, Mansfield, 1905 Rev. Asdrubal Castelo Branco, Retired Pastor, Immaculate Conception, New Bedford, 1980 Rev. Ernest E. Blais, Pastor, Notre Dame de Lourdes, Fall River, 1994 May 7 Rev. Raymond P. Levell, S.J., Professor, Spring Hill College, Mobile, Ala., 1958

Around the Diocese

The Fall River Area Men’s First Friday Club will meet on May 1 at St. Joseph Church, North Main Street in Fall River. Mass begins at 6 p.m. and will be celebrated by Father Edward Correia. Following Mass, the club will gather in the church hall next door for a hot meal prepared by White’s of Westport. The guest speaker this month is author John Cummings, who will discuss various Fall River personalities from his recent book about notable people who impacted local history. Copies of the book will be available for sale. The Mass is open to the public, and any gentleman wishing to join for the hot meal (cost $11) and listen to the speaker should reserve a seat by calling Daryl Gonyon at 508-672-4822.

The Southeastern Massachusetts Alzheimer’s Partnership is offering seminars for caregivers. Panel members are professionals in a variety of fields and will provide valuable information. Seminars will be held May 3 at 12 noon at St. Andrew the Apostle Church, 19 Kilmer Avenue in Taunton (RSVP to Phoebe Worcester at 508-822-9200 or pcworcester@ gmail.com) and May 6 at 4:30 p.m. at the Fairhaven Council on Aging, 229 Huttleston Avenue in Fairhaven (RSVP to Pat Midurski at 508-9926278 or pmidurski@communitynurse.com).

A Healing Mass will be celebrated May 4 at 6 p.m. at Our Lady of Victory Church, 230 South Main Street in Centerville. The Mass is sponsored by the Our Lady of Victory Catholic Cancer Support Group, which will meet immediately following the Mass in the parish center at 7 p.m. At this meeting Ellen McCabe, RN and director of Professional Education for Hope Hospice of Cape Cod, will speak on “Living with Hope.” The Mass and meetings are held on the first Monday of each month and are open to anyone. For more information about the group, contact Geri Medeiros at 508-362- 6909.

The Fall River Diocesan Council of Catholic Nurses will sponsor “The Sacraments for Today” with Father William Kremmell on May 16 from 8:30 to 11:15 a.m. at Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River. The presentation will take place in the Nannery Conference Room in the Clement Hall Building, with Mass and lunch to follow. Father Kremmell is a retired priest of the Archdiocese of Boston who leads retreats, parish missions and days of prayer, as well as helping out at different parishes in the archdiocese. To register or for more information, contact Betty at 508678-2373.

Abundant Hope Pregnancy Resource Center of Attleboro will host its sixth annual Walk for Life on May 16 at 10 a.m. This is a fun time to connect with others in the Pro-Life movement and a great family event to raise life-saving funds. The event will begin and end at the center, located at 182 East Street in Attleboro. Call 508-455-0425 for sponsor forms or just join in on the morning of the stroll. Registration begins at 9:30 a.m.

A Healing Mass will be celebrated on May 21 at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford. The Mass will begin at 6:30 p.m. and includes Benediction and healing prayers. At 5:15 p.m. there will be a Holy Hour, which includes the Rosary. For more information call 508993-1691 or visit www.saintanthonynewbedford.com.

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May 1, 2015

Huff Post editor: ‘Why doesn’t the Left advocate for persecuted Christians?’

ROME (CNA/EWTN News) — Lucia Annunziata, a journalist who directs and edits the Italian edition of The Huffington Post, has accused the political left of remaining silent before ongoing massacres of Christians, which she called the “most horrible of the crimes perpetrated against the weakest.”

The self-proclaimed atheist also complained that young journalists are not proposing to The Huffington Post stories about persecuted Christians. “I ask myself where is the Left, with a capital L, [it has remained silent] in front of the most terrible of crimes against the weakest — the massacres of Christians whose blood is shed.”

“Why have I not received any petition to sign, though I receive many of varied kinds? Why has no one promoted, if not a public protest, a sit-in, or a meeting?

I hear no slogans for persecuted Christians, nor do I get documents or petitions on the issue,” Annunziata complained.

“With few exceptions, never does the Left express pain or horror for the men and women who die because of their faith.”

She underscored that she is not Catholic, but “atheistic, and willing to remain so,”and has not been a cheerleader for Pope Francis.

Yet as a journalist, she emphasized that “the news is the loneliness of this very popular pope, who has been for months the sole voice to denounce the massacre of the faithful, and is presently the only head of state capable of pointing the finger against the immobility of Western countries over these massacres.”

According to Annunziata, the reason for Western countries’ silence in front of the massacres of Christians is “the fear that defending Christians means” promoting conservatives back home, “and finally legitimizing” the claims of Rightist political parties which are “already fanning the flames of racism and of the clash of civilizations” for their own interests.

I

Where is your God?

Tsarnaev. awoke this morning with This following just another an unexpected tune floatday of thousands of unborn ing around in my head. The babies who were slaughtered song came out in July 1974, in abortion mills, yet weren’t written by legendary Soul and R&B performer Stevie Wonder. considered newsworthy.

This following a day when It was a cut off his classic vinyl, my own plate, already overflow“Fulfillingness’ First Finale,” ing, had another ladleful heaped titled “Heaven is 10 Zillion upon it.

Light Years Away.”

I feel compelled to print This was following a night Stevie’s lyrics here, and I’m not watching angry people rioting quite sure why. But I will. in the streets of Baltimore on They say that Heaven is 10 zilthe day that Freddie Gray, killed by some evil Baltimore policemen, was laid to rest.

The scenes were ugly, as human beings hurled rocks and bricks at other human beings; burned

By Dave Jolivet police cars; looted and burned fellow human beings’ livelihoods; and lion light years away viciously hampered the efforts And just the pure at heart will of good, but completely outwalk her righteous streets someday numbered, police and firefightThey say that Heaven is 10 zilers in protecting innocent lion light years away neighbors.

But if there is a God, we need This was following a night Him now watching massive rescue efforts “Where is your God?” with the slim hopes of finding That’s what my friends ask me survivors in last week’s gigantic And I say it’s taken Him so earthquake in Nepal. long This was following a night ’Cause we’ve got so far to come. watching on TV how radical Tell me people extremists continued their blood Why can’t they say that hate is bath against humanity by slit10 zillion light years away? ting the throats of five journalWhy can’t the light of good ists working for a Libyan TV shine God’s love in every soul? station.

Why must my color black This was following a night make me a lesser man? watching on the sports staI thought this world was tions which college football made for every man player would make how many He loves us all, that’s what my millions of dollars after being drafted into the National Foot- God tells me And I say it’s taken Him so long ball League this week; while ‘Cause we’ve got so far to come. thousands upon thousands of But in my heart I can feel it, refugees try to scrape up enough yeah, food to feed their families each Feel His Spirit wow oh woo day in a country that is not their Feel it, yeah, feel His Spirit own.

I can’t say that Heaven is 10 This following another day zillion light years away in court deciding if mankind But if so let all be pure at heart should take the life of convicted Just to walk her righteous marathon bomber Dzhokhar

My View From the Stands

streets I pray Let God’s love shine within to save our evil souls For those who don’t believe will never see the light “Where is my God?” — He lives inside of me And I say it’s taken Him so long ’Cause we’ve got so far to come.

No people, “where is your God?” Inside please let Him be And I say it’s taken Him so long ’Cause we’ve got so far to come.

But if you open your heart you can feel it yeah yeah Feel His Spirit, yeah Feel it, feel His Spirit, wow oh wow Feel it, you can feel His Spirit I opened my heart one morning and I sho nuff could feel it yeah yeah Feel His Spirit yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah You can feel it, yeah, feel His Spirit You can feel it, yeah, feel His Spirit.”

I’ve highlighted in bold the lines that are resounding in my heart and soul as I write this. Particularly, “Where is your God?” It’s so hard to feel God now.

I do feel Him at Mass and especially in and at the Eucharist.

But I have to admit that it’s very difficult for me to carry Him out of the church building with me.

I know there are others like me who cannot make sense of their lives more often than not.

For us, I raise the hope and prayer that “I opened my heart one morning and I sho nuff could feel it, yeah yeah. Feel His Spirit yeah, yeah.”

Until then dear friends, let’s pray for one another and keep the faith — even though it feels like Heaven is 10 zillion light years away. davejolivet@anchornews.org.

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