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Mass Legislature to take up Marriage Amendment May 9

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But a looming budget deadline may prompt a recess to a future date By

DEACON JAMES

N.

DUNBAR

BOSTON - Legislators are mandated to open a constitutional conventionMay9toconsidera second needed vote on an amendment that .--

VISITING A HOME ON THE ROAD - Matthew Dansereau, coordinator of Catholic Social Services' Office for Persons with Disabilities makes a house call to one of his clients. The office is one of many , benefiting from donations to the diocesan Catholic Charities Appeal.

"The budget is probably a good excuse to put off the vote," said Edward F. Saunders Jr., executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the public policy arm and voice of the four Catholic bishops of Massachusetts.

"Budget deadline is July 1, and the budget is still .., being worked on in the

defines marriage as the Schedule of parish prayer events House," Saunders said April 25. "But if the union of one man and one woman in the Commonto save Marriage Acf' -'- page 18 House works late into the night and it gets to the wealth of Massachusetts.

But because the 2007 state budget is still being ham- Senatr before the weekend, we might find the Legismered out, the lawmakers may opt to put off the contro- lature more inclined to take up the Marriage Act." versial decision that would advance banning same-sex Saunders noted however that Senate President marriage in the Bay State and puts it before the voters Therese Murray two weeks ago indicated tile LegislaTum to page 18 - Amendment in 2008's general elections.

CSS' Office for Persons with Disabilities has a wide network

By DEACON JAMES N. DUNBAR

quality of life of those in need by NEW BEDFORD - It makes providing comprehensive services to sense that if Catholic Social Services people of all faiths and cultures in ofthe Fall River Diocese is currently the Spirit of God's uoiversallove to advance human tile largest provider of social and hudignity and proman services in mote social justice, truth, and solidarity soutlleastern Masin the local commusachusetts, then its , various agency ofoity. fices must be busy .Like the mother places. organiza'tion, "It's not unusual whose diverse pro.. to field hundreds of gramming model calls, to provide adembodies its misvocacy, mediation, sion, ''to help those in need" with serand resolution for vices designed to all-age persons reach out to those with disabilities even mental retarfacing socioeconomic, cultural and dation - across the diocese centering racial barriers, on tIleir many basic Dansereau's office but special needs," also necessarily said Matthew "-'-'~~~-----"-~'-'networks With other Dansereau, coordinator ofCSS' Of- diocesan offices and groups in getfice for Persons with Disabilities. ting help for disabled clients.

It is one of dozens of CSS agen,''To do it we receive partial fundcies committed to improving the Tum to page 12 - Network '

COMMUNICATION SPECIALISTS - Young acolytes are deep in prayer during a Mass at S1. Rose of Lima Parish in Guaimaca, Honduras. In this month's column on page seven, ,Father Craig A. Pregana describes how important the Mass is to residents of one of the poorest countries in the world. (Photo courtesy of Father Pregana)

Memories of Father Murphy abound across the diocese By

DEACON JAMES

N.

DUNBAR

FALL RIVER - When Father John J. Murphy, 93, the oldest priest in the FallRiver Diocese and whose legacy includes several priests who were his former altar servers, died April 23, at the Catholic Memorial Home, it sparked memories.

"He was a remarkable man and priest, who is remembered as something of a guru - a man for all seasons - who was an outstanding athlete, musician, craftsman, as well as a wonderful priest and he made many friends," re-

ported retired Msgr. Thomas J. "' Harrington.

Msgr. Harrington lives at the "

FATHER JOHN J. MURPHY

Cardinal Medeiros Residence adjacent to Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River, where Father Murphy had also resided until recent weeks.

Born in Fall River, the son of the late Michael J. .and Mary (Sarsfield) Murphy, Father Murphy grew ~p in the former St. Patrick's Parish in the city's Sbuth End. He was a graduate of B.M.C. Durfee High School, St. Charles College in Catonsville, Md., and St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, Md. He was ordained a priest on Tum to page 19-Memories

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$ NEWS FROM THE VATICAN ~ MAy 4, 2007 Critiquing limbo: Vatican responds to changes in theological thought

By JOHN THAVIS

It also cited a collection of Catholic doctrinal documents edited by the late Jesuit Father Jacques Dupuis, VATICAN CITY - In its recent document on un- recipient of some criticism by the Vatican's doctrinal conbaptized children, the Vatican's International Theologi- gregation in the late 1990s when Cardinal Ratzinger, now cal Commission demonstrated how Church teaching can Pope Benedict XVI, was its head. be responsive to changes in theological thought, ChrisBut the document goes beyond strictly theological opinions. It repeatedly refers to the "sensus fidelium" tian beliefs and the "signs of the times."

The document, published April 20, critiqued the tra- the sense of the faithful - to illustrate how Christians ditional understanding oflimbo, arguing instead that there increasingly reject the idea that the vision of God would was good reason to hope unbaptized babies who die go be denied to innocent babies.

One reason the Second Vatican Council rejected atto heaven.

Some people saw that as a reversal of a centuries-old tempts to strengthen teaching against the salvation of WELL-LIKED - Pope Benedict XVI arrives in St. Peter's Square Catholic principle. But rather than announcing a radical unbaptized infants was that bishops felt it was "not the at the Vatican to lead his weekly general audience April 25. (CNS break with the past, the commission said it was assessing faith of their people," the document said. photo/Max Rossi, Reuters) It referred to an important teaching ofVatican II, which an issue in theological evolution.

The very first sentence said that the whole body of ofthe document signaled an the faithful shares in Christ's important distinction when prophetic office and "Cannot it spoke ofthe ''hierarchy of err in matters of belief."

By CINDY WOODEN Finally, Pope Benedict said, truths" in Catholic doctrine.

To support its concluCATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE there is "the spiritual meaning," The teaching on limbo was . sions on limbo, the theologiVATICAN CITY Pope which comes across with the help among those never adcal commission's document Benedict XVI said that in his new of the Holy Spirit, leading the dressed by Scripture and also cited the need for the book he tried to highlight what the reader to a deeper prayer life and a never defined as dogma and Church to read the "signs of Bible says about Jesus, what the closer relationship with God. is therefore subject to theothe times" in order to better "In my book on Jesus, I tried a logical development, it said. moral implications of his teachings understand the Gospel. are and how reading the Scriptures bit to demonstrate this multiple di''When the question of In unusual detail, it listed can lead to a real relationship with mension in today's context," he infants who die without several such signs that supJesus. said. baptism was first taken up port the idea of hope for the The pope said he tried to give in the history of Christian At his April 25 weekly general salvation of unbaptized inaudience, the pope said his three- an example of how to read the thought, it is possible that fants: the warfare and turpronged approach to the Bible's Bible, understanding what is writ- the doctrinal nature of the moil of the international words were inspired by Origen of ten literally, but also how each pas- question orits implications 'scene and the Church's Alexandria, a third-century theolo- sage leads "toward Christ in the were not fully understood," awareness of its mis.sion as light of the Holy Spirit and shows 'it said, gian. a bearer of hope; greater The pope's book, "Jesus of us the way to live."

More specifically, the emphasis on God's love and The Bible, despite the age of its commission said the theoNazareth," went on sale April 16 in路 mercy in a world of suffer_Italian, German and Polish; the En- various books and chapters, is al- _ logical tradition ofthe past, ing people; renewed conglish edition is set for release May ways new because the truths it com- specifically the Augustinian GUARDIAN ANGEL - A figure of a child angel sits cern for the welfare of in15. municates are always relevant, the tradition, seems to have a atop a headstone. In a newly published document, the fants in societies that are During his general audience, pope said. "restricted conception of Vatican'slntemational Theological Commission said scandalized by the suffering The teaching of Origen is a re- the universality of God's there are good reasons to hope that babies who die of children; and increased Pope Benedict called Origen "one without baptism go to heaven. (CNS photo! Bob Roller) of the greatest" teachers of the minder that in prayerfully reading saving will." dialogue with people of -, Christian faith, particularly because the Scriptures and in living its mesThat's an extremely sensitive issue today, one that goes other faiths, which encourages the Church to have greater - of the way he combined scholar- sage concretely "the Church con- beyond the fate of unbaptized babies and has implica- appreciation for the "manifold and mysterious ways of ship, preaching and teaching with tinually renews itself and is re- , tions for the Church's relations with non-Christian reli- God." the example of "exemplary moral juvenated," he said. gions.

Perhaps the clearest instance ofth~ commission's rangPope Benedict prayed that "the conduct."

The new document repeats traditional Catholic teach- ing outside traditional路 theological boundaries was when The pope said one of Origen's Lord will give us new. thinkers, ing that all salvation is through Christ and has a relation- it cited in a footnote the Live Aid and Live 8 charity rock most important contributions to theologians and exegetes today who ship with the Church. But it emphasizes more than once concerts of 1985 and 2005 as examples of global conChristianity was the way he com- will find this multiple dimension, that God's saving ways are ultimately mysterious and that cern for children. bined theological and biblical stud- the permanent relevance of the sa- the holiness that resides in the Church can reach people The International Theological Commission, which acts cred Scripture (and) its newness for outside ''the visible bounds of the Church." ies. as an advisory body to the Vatican, has always had a preOrigen proposed a "triple read- today."

The modem theologians cited by the document in- dominantly European membership, but this document was ing" of the Bible, the pope said.

He also~~ked the people at the clude the late Jesuit Father Karl Rahner and Cardinal Jo- prepared by a drafting committee made up of nine theoFirst, "there is the literal sense, audience to join him in asking seph Ratzinger, both of whom had presented arguments logians from five continents. Father Dominic Veliath, a which hides depths that do not ap- "the Lord to help us to read the for abandoning the concept of limbo.

Salesian from India, headed the committee. pear at first," the pope said. sacred Scriptures in a prayerful "The second dimension is the way and to nourish ourselves semoral meaning: What must we do riously from the true bread of life, ROME (CNS) - Abortion, which As examples of evil presented as nomenon as '''terrorism with a human his word." to live the word?" he said. leads to the deaths ofinnocent humans, progress, Archbishop Amato cited face,' which also occurs daily and is .... _ - - - - is just as evil as killing innocent by- "abortion clinics, authentic slaughter- equally repugnant" with the actions of I OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE standers in a suicide attack, said the . houses of budding human beings" or a suicide bomber. It often is masked secretary of the Congregation for the ''the laboratories where, for example, with "expressions that hide the tragic Member: Catholic Press Association, Catholic News Service Doctrine of the Faith.

RU-486, the morning-after pill, is reality ofthe facts. For example, aborI Published weekly, except for two weeks in the summer and the week after Some evil, like the shootings at made or where human embryos are tion is called (the) 'voluntary intemlpI Ch"kstmas by the Catholic Press of the Diocese of Fall River, 887 Highland Avenue,' Vtrginia Tech, are obvious and visible, manipulated as if they were simply tion of a pregnancy' and not the killFall River, MA 02720, Telephone 508-675-7151- FAX 508-675-7048, email: theanchor@anchomews.org. SUJscil;ltioo price by mail, postpaid $14.00 per year. said Archbishop Angelo Amato in an biological material." ing of a defenseless human being."

S~~ address changes to P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA, call or useemailaddre$$ ''Evil today," he said, "is not only recent speech on terrorism and evil.

Evil also is present "in the parliaPUB USHER - Most Reverend George W. Coleman ''To the daily ration of evil" re- ments of so-called 'civil' nations the action of individuals or well-deEXECUTIVE EDITOR Father Roger J,LancIIy fatherrogeI1and@anch<ai'neWS.org . ported in the news, there must be where they promulgate laws contrary fined groups, but comes from dark EDITOR David B. Jollvet daveloJivet@anchomews.org NEWS EDITOR Deacon James N, Dunbar flmdunbar@anchomews.org added the evil that remains almost in- to the nature ofthe human person, like centers, laboratories offalse opinions, REPORTER Mike Gordon mikegordon@anchomews.org . visible and usually is presented "as an the approval of marriages between anonymous powers that pound our OFRCE MANAGER Mary Chase marychase@anchornews.org , ofthe 'progress' ofhuman- persons of the same sex or euthana- minds with false messages, judging as expression Send Letters to the Editor to: fathetrogedandry@anchomews.org ity," the archbishop told a seminar for sia," he said. ridiculous and retrograde behavior POS'IMASTERS send address changes to The A.n垄hor, P.O. Box 7, FaIl River, MA 02722, THE ANCHOR (USP5-545-020) Periodical Postage Paid at Fall River, Mass. airport chaplains.

The archbishop described this phe- conforming to the Gospel."

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

Pope says his new book highlights different levels of reading Bible

Vatican official compares evil ofabortion to suicide attacks

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MAy 4, 2007 '

4; THE CHURCH IN THE U.5. $

Marquette Diocese unveils strategic plan to help bolster faltering sc!tools Bv DEACON JAMES N. DUNBAR WITH CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE AND OTHER REPORTS

UPPER PENINSULA, Mich.After eight months of studying the problem, a task force has come up with a three-point plan that broadens the basis of support for Marquette'Diocese's nine Catholic schools by approximately $500,000.

All 97 parishes in Upper Peninsula - not just the 22 now supporting the schools or that have schools - will now contribute to the schools, raising $300,000 a year. . Second, the diocese will take up an annual collection for tuition assi!!tance, bringing in an estimated additional $100,000 annually.

Finally, a proposal is pending that would centralize.the schools' services, with savings estimated at between $50,000 and $100,000.

The plan does not call for the closing of any schools or the cutting of teachers.

"It's a recommendation of our Diocese to the future of our Catholic Schools, and really calling upon

all of us together to come to the support of our schools, broadening that basis of support beyond parishes that have schools and the parents that pay tuition," said Bishop Alexander K. Sample.

Bishop Sample, 45~ who was ordained Bishop ofMarquette on Dec. 13, 2005, is the youngest ordinary in the U.S., Three representatives of the Bishop's Task Force for Catholic Schoolsjoined Bishop Sample for a recent news cqnference in Marquette to announce the release of the strategic plan to ensure the long-term viability and stability of schools in that Diocese.

The proposal comes even as the National Catholic Educational Association announced that enrollment figures for Catholic schools nationwide in the 2006-07 academic year, showed "a continued significant decline - 1.8 percent or 42,569 students ' - in the elementary school population and a slight increase in secondary school enrollmeQt." The 51-page NCEA report was

released during the April 10-13 NCEA convention in Baltimore, Md. , Based on the average public' school cost per pupil ~f $8,310, as reported by the federal government last November, Catholic schools save the nation more than $19 billion a year, the report said.

The expressed goal of Marquette Diocese's strategic plan "Is to ins~ a strong Catholic identity in our Catholic schools as an essential component ofthe educational experience that permeated the daily life of faculty, staff and students."

Besides promoting a Catholic identity to the schools, the plan also aims at ensuring academic excellence, proving financial stability, increasing the governance and role of pastors, and assuring growth and enrollment through a centralized marketing and public relations.

According to the plan, the role of pastors in governance of the schools will be clarified and strengthened, as will the role ofthe superintendent of Catholic schools, under the direction of the bishop.

MERCIFUL WORKS':- Deacon Malcolm Lunsford distributes.communion to a death-rqw inmate at Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. Lunsford and his wife, Shirley, regularly visit the state prison together, praying and chatting with inmates. (CNS photo/Karen Callaway, Northwest Indiana Catholic) .

Witness History in the Making: . Join the Beatificration Ceremony of Venerable Father Basile Moreau, esc, founder of the Priest, Brothers and Sisters of HolyCross in Le Mans, France Pilgrimage To Lourdes, Paris and Le Mans, France, for the beatification ceremony of Father Basil Antoine Moreau, esC. Join us for a very special pilgrimage led by Holy Cross Father John Phalen - includes 'Basilica visit and torchlight .

Pl'9cession in Lourdes, Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, dinners, guides, Mass and Rosary daily and so much more.

Lack of insurance closes Chicago archdiocesan foster care program CHICAGO (CNS) ---:- Catholic fund, said Walter Ousley, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chi- Charities' director ofoperations. That cago has begun disQ}antling its fos- left the agency scrambling to come ter care program after announcing up with the rest of the money. that it will stop providing foster care Catholic Charities and the Illinois services as of June 30.

Department of Children and Family The decision, which Catholic and - Services both have formed transition state welfare officials called ''tragic,'' teams to transfer the children and came after Catholic Charities was un- their foster parents to either the state able to get liability insurance for its agency or other private agencies that foster care program. continue to work in partnership with .

The insurance company's deci- the department, said Kendall sion came after Catholic Charities Marlowe, spokesman for the state settled a lawsuit over the alleged agency. abuse of three children in a foster Catholic Charities hopes that home in the 1990s for $12 million. some of its foster care workers also Catholic Charities and other pri- can move to the agencies that will vate agencies recruit and train foster work with their young charges, in parents to be licensed 'by the state, essence moving children, parents and place children with the foster parents workers together as a block, Ousley they have trained, and provide moni- said. toring, casework and social services Marlowe acknowledged that such. to the children. a process would be ideal; providing When the closure was announced the least disruption to the children, last week, approximately 900 chil- . but said the agency cannot make any dren were in the program, said April such guarantees.

Specht, a spokeswoman for Catholic "DCFS recognizes that there is a Charities. More than 150 staff posi- great deal of skill, expertise and a tions are to be cut as well. high l.evel of qualifications among The decision came after Catholic the .outgoing staff," Marlowe told Charities was unsuccessful in finding The Catholic New World, Chicago liability insurance to cover the pro- archdiocesan newspaper. "We gram. Its' current carrier agreed to wouldn't want to lose the skill, care continue providing coverage of all of and love those people bring to child Catholic Charities' services except welfare." foster care.

Catholic Charities has been proThe agency approached 25 pro- . viding substitute care for children viders besides its current carrier; 24 since 1921, and was among the agenturned it down, and路 one did not re- cies that advocated for the creation spond, Specht said. ofthe state's Department of Children The insurance company capped its and Family Services in 1963. It has liability at $10 million, and Catholic continued to advocate for the welfare Charities had a $1 million retention ofthe state's most vulnerable children

since then, Marlowe said.

In the meantime, Marlowe said, his agency will continue to work with Catholic Charities ofthe Archdiocese ofChicago to continue to.provide services to children who live with their parents.

The state is not worried about absorbing the foster children from Catholic Charities' program into other programs.

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CHURCH IN THE WORLD

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MAy4~

2007

Pope·calls 51. Augustine 'model of conversion' for all Christians PAVIA, Italy (CNS) - Paying his conversion came when, after his homage to one of the most important ordination as a priest, St. Augustine • figures of the Church, Pope Benedict was called upon to preach publicly XVI prayed at the tomb of St Augus- a development that required him to tine and called him a "model of con- translate his "sublime thoughts" into version" for Christians of all ages. the language of the simple people. " Although conditioned by the pasA third phase of the conversion" sions of youth and the habits of his came even later when, as a bishop, St. time, St. Augustine sought the truth-:- Augustine revised and corrected his and that led him inevitably to faith, the previous works, a sign of his own hupope said at a recent Mass in the north- mility, the pope said. em Italian city of Pavia At an evening liturgy in the church The pope's two-day visit to Pavia of San Pietro in Ciel d'Om in Pavia, and Vigevano, south of Milan, was the pope stood in prayer before a cryspacked with events: outdoor Masses tal urn that holds the 226 bone fragin both cities, brief encounters with ments of St Augustine. Then he lit a young people, a visit to a hospital and new votive lamp for the tomb. medical center, a university address In a sermon, the pope said St. Auand a prayer service in the church gustine had his eyes opened by an where the relics of St. Augustine are awareness ofGod's love, which is "the preserved. heart of the Gospel, the central nucleus For the pope, it was above all a of Christianity." It was also the theme personal pilgrimage to the final rest- of his own encyclical, "Deus Caritos ing place ofa theologian who inspired Est" ("God Is Love"), which owes his own thinking. As a young priest in much to the thought ofSt Augustine, 1953, the pope wrote his doctoral the- the pope said , sis on St. Augustine's teachings.

Serving Christ, the pope said, is More recently, he has cited St. Au- essentially a question of returning gustine frequently in papal discourses God's love through acts of charity, and documents, and a key theme of with special attention to the material his pontificate - the need to ap~i­ and spiritual needs of others. ate and return God's love - reflects '''The Church is not a simple orgaSt. Augustine's statement that Christ nization of collective events nor, on came "mainly so that man might learn the contrary, the sum of individuals how much God loves him." wholive a private religiosity:' he said.

In a homily to some 15,000 people. '''The Church is a community ofpeople gathered at a riverside park in Pavia, who believe in the God ofJesus Christ the pope explained why he found.the and who commit themselves to implesaint so inspiring and such a good ex- ment in the world the commandment ample for modem people. Born in ofcharity which he left them:' he said North Africa in the fourth century, St. The pope began his trip with a Augustine for many years ignored the three-hour stop inVigevano, a city that coUnsel of his Christian mother and had waited nearly 600 years since the led a hedonistic lifestyle before con- last papal visit. Greeting young people verting and being baptized in Milan before the Mass in the town square, at the age of 33. the pope urged them to find a friend The pope said St. Augustine's spiri- in Jesus Christ tual awakening was not an overnight ''Don't hesitate to trust in him: meet event but a continual process, which him, listen to him and love him with was ultimately successful because he all your heart In yourfriendship with never stopped trying to find out ''where him, you will experience the real joy we come from, where we are going that gives meaning and value to existand how we can find the true life." ence:' he said The pope said a second stage of

SAINTLY REVERENCE - Pope Benedict XVI prays before the remains of St. Augustine during an evening liturgy in the church of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro in Pavia, Italy, April 22. The pope stood in prayer before 'a crystal urn that holds the 226 bone fragments of St. Augustine, then lit a new votive lamp for the tomb. (CNS photo/ Stefano Rellandini, Reuters)

THE MOST GRIM OF REAPERS - Anti-abortion activists hold·up child-size mock coffins near Mexico City's local legislature April 24. The legislature passed a bill that will allow hospitals run by the city governmentto provide abortions. (CNS photo/Daniel Aguilar, Reuters) .

Despite Catholic opposition, Mexi~o City passes abortion bill

By JONATHAN ROEDER CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

MEXICO CITY - Despite an intense opposition campaign by the Catholic Church, the Mexico City ~ssembly has approved an initiative legalizing abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregn~cy.

Following a heated session April 24, the legislature voted in favor ofthe new law, w!rich will allow hospitals run by the city government to provide abortions.

The bill, passed 46-19 with one abstention, will" become law when it is signed by the mayor.

Outside the Assembly, on the "streets of Mexico City'S colonial center, supporters and opponents of the measure faced off, separated only by a thin row of riot police.

Waving banners and chanting over the sound of booming drums, opper nents of abortion vowed to find new ways to defeat the bill, which has put Mexico City, the nation's capital, on the short list ofplaces in LatinAmerica where abortions are allowed - along with Cuba, Puerto Rico and Guyana. ''We will continue fighting to prevent this;' said Ivan Manjarez, a former Mexico City legislator with the conservative National Action Party, or PAN, which opposes abortion. "You cannot take away the rights of those who are weakest."

Currently, abortions are onlyallowed in cases ofrape or serious birth defects or when the pregnancy endangers the mother's life. Doctors who perform unauthorized abortions as well as the mothers who hife them can be jailed for up to 5 years.

Supporters of the bill say the prohibition has resulted in himdreds of thousands of clandestine abortions across the country, ·often carried out in unsafe conditions. Federal health officials recorded.88 deaths in 2006

due to botched abortions; some orga- threats he allegedly received, while nizations claim this figure ·is much bishops hav~ thieatened to excommuhigher. nicate the ~egislators who voted in faThe National Action Party, which vor of the measure. historically has strong ties to the Pope Benedict XVI recently enCatholic Church, says it plans to chal- tered the fray, condemning the mealenge the measure before the Supreme sure in a statement released by the Court, arguing the law violates Mexican bishops' conferenceApril 20.

Mexico's Constitution. However, the '''The pope unites with the church party's minority status in the Mexico of Mexico and countless others· of City Assembly may hinder this effort: good will who are worried by the It controls 17 of the chamber's 66 Mexico City law that threatens the lives ofunbom children;' the statement seats. .

A constitutional challenge requires read.

Some observers said the intense, at least one-third ofthe chamber's support -.22 signatures - and the Na- but ultimately fruitless, efforts to de." tional Action Party has been hard- rail the initiative showed a loss of the pressed to find help from rival parties Church's influence in Mexico. .

In an interview with Catholic News on the issue.

Members of the party say that if Service, Roberto Blancarte, a sociolothe constitutional challenge fails they . gist specializing in religious issues at will file a complaint with the federal the Colegio de Mexico research cen·attorney general's office and seek other ter, said the Catholic hierarchy has dislegal avenues to derail the measure. tanced itselffrom followers, and scanCivic groups are also attempting to dals involving abusive priests have hurt force a citywide referendum on the the Church's image. '''This is a question ofmoral authorissu6.

On April 23, the Mexican College ity," he said. '''This moral authority is ofCatholic Lawyers presented a peti- very diminished so (the Church) is tion, signed by 36,000 capital resi- going to have to completely change dents, demanding a special vote on the . the way it perceives itself and its own power." law.

Meanwhile, public opinion polls But local lawmakers from the leftleaning Democratic Revolution Party, on abortion reveal sharp divisions which controls the city government among Mexicans. A survey conducted and supports the abortion bill, have April 21 by the Mexico City daily argued that the referendum petition Ref01ma shows that a slim majority was turned in too hite. of city residents - 53 percent - apTheDemocratic Revolution Party's prove the decriminalization of abor. support for the bill has put abortion in tion. But this support has waned from the national spotlight and spurred a March, when 59 percent approved. monthslong campaign by the Catho- Outside Mexico City, 59 percent of lic Church. The weeks leading up to those polled disapproved ofthe initiathe vote were marked by steadily tive.

Regarding the Church's efforts to harsher words from both sides.

1qe head ofthe Democratic Revo- defeat the bill, 70 percent of capital lution Party in the city Assembly has residents polled and 54 percent of blamed Cardinal Norberto Rivera those outside the capital said the cam. Carrera of Mexico City for death paign was ''bad.''

MAy 4,2007

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Church leaders' remember ~ussia's

:Remember to give generously to·the Qatholic Charities Appeal

ijrst popularly 'elected president

By CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

said in a letter to Yeltsin's widow, Naina, published on the Moscow Patri;u-chate's Website. "Churches and MOSCOW - Russian Church leaders remembered the life of Boris Yeltsin, Russia's first post7Soviet presi- monasteries were given back to believers, destroyed dent and first popularly elected leader in the country's shrines began to raise their beauty everywhere, many theological colleges were reopened, while the Orthohistory" ' "Russian Catholics received news of the first qox Church's educational, charitable and public acpresident's death with deep sympathy for his family tivities developed."

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, and relatives/' said Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Moscow, "For Catholics, his period in government chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for , • was a time for rebuilding a hierarchy, regaining places External Ch.urch Relations, said in a message that , 'Yeltsin had faced a "diffiof worship, creating comcult life path." munities and reviving the "When Russia was " , Church, seeking its fortunes, he felt "Essential legal and the will of the nation for a sociopolitical conditions new life and stood at the were created for normalizcountry's head at an exing pastoral care of the' ceptionally hard, time of faithful and reviVing the change requiring courage spiritual life of people and decisiveness," he said. ' from various confessions," "As head of state, he fathe archbishop said in a vored a new model of message to Yeltsin's fam, church-state relations, ily April 24. characterized by willingArchbishop ness t9 cooperate."

Kondrusiewiez noted that Yeltsin's funeral April ihe availability of religious 25 Wl!-S attended by apservices nationwide was' proximately 5,000 mourn"living wi,tnessto the beers in Moscow's Christ the nign rule" of Yeltsin, r~­ Savior Russian Orthodox gardless of how his actions Cathedral, which was remight be viewed by "polidedicated in 1999, 66 ticians of various 'parties years after it was blown up and coalitions, econo~st~ A LONG ABSENCE - A Russian Orthodox priest by Soviet dictator Josef commentators and other uses incense as the body of former Russian PresiStalin. experts." dent Boris Yeltsin lies in Christ the Savior CatheYeltsin, who came from Yeltsin died April 23 at dral in Moscow April 25. Yeltsin was the first Rusthe age of 7,6 from organ sian leader buried with Christian rites since Czar a poor peas~ntfamily and failure. He was' buried Alexander III in 1894. (CNS photo!Alexander became a senior Communist Party member, was April 25 in Moscow's Zemlianchenko, Reuters) elected Russia's first post~ Novodevichye cemetery ' and was the first Russian leader buried with Christian Soviet head of state in 1991. He won praise for facing down an attempted Aurites since Czar Alexander ill in 1894.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II of Mosc~w gust 1991 coup as well as for sending army units to acknowledged the .late president as a "bright politi- r~take control of the Russian parliament from hardline cian and political leader" who had favored close opponents in October 1993.

However, he was criticized for launching a 1994 church-state ties. , "He gave all his energy to building a new Rus'sia, in war in Chechnya, where tens ofthousands died, as well which the Russian Orthqdox Church has, finally ob- as for bouts of drunkennt?ss before he was succeeded tained the possibility to serve and witness freely," he by President Vladimir Putin in 1999.

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PRO-LIFE LIVING ROSARY AND·MASS Massachusetts Knights of Columbus I Saturday, May 5 2:'0$ Living Rosary with keynote by i Joseph Reilly Jr. President Mass Citizens for Life 4:30 Mass • I' Rev. Roger Landry S1. Anttibny of Padua Parish in New Bedford Priest Fall River Diocese

North Dakota moves closer to ban on abortion if Roe v. Wade rever~ed , ing Nebraska's ban on partial-birth FARGO, N.D. (CNS) - Fol- Barbour April 19.

Anyone performing an illegal abortion "may be the first step tolowing the advice of Bishop . ' Samuel J. Aquila of Fargo, North abortion under the North Dakota ward that goal." , , "Despite its many limitations, Dakota legislators have approved legislation would be subject to a a bill that will make abortion ille- $5,000 fine and/or rip to five years this partial-birth abortion ban decision ... is a positive step by the gal in the state if Roe v. Wade ,is inWl. The bill passed the House by a government in protecting the overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. ' 68-24' vote and was approved in common good, which the church teaches it must do''''BishopAquila North Dakota Gov. John the Senate 29-16.

In a message emailed to priests said. "That begins with protecting Hoeven was expected to sign the bill which would make in tht: diocese before the votes, inalienable rights, beginning with • abortion a felony except in Bishop Aquqa said the ban the right to life from the moment cases of rape or incest or to save "would acknowledge the inalien~ of conception.

"The dignity of human life bethe mother's life. Called a "trig- able right to life which is intended ger bill," the legislation would by our Constitution, and it would gins at the mo~ent of conception only take effect if the Supreme go into effect when it is deemed and eX,tends through natural Court overturned its 1973 deci- ,that prevailing constitutional in- death," he added. "Therefore, pro-' sion legalizing abortion in all terpretation would allow this posi- motion of the dignity of human tive affirmation of the right to life life and education efforts, ar all 50 states. 'levels must continue in order to Mississippi passed similar leg~ to stand." , He said the U.S. Supreme change the hearts -and minds of ishition earlier this week; it was signed 'into law by Gov.. Haley Court's April 18 decision uphold- those who support abortion."

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Abstinence-only education . It is almost unheard of that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, especially during times of pressing budgetary concerns, would tIirn down free money. Yet that is precisely what Gov. Deval Patrick's administration intends to do with the annual $700,000 federal abstinence education grant that our state has been receiving since 1998. ' , The public reason given by the administration is that a recent governmentsponsored study shows that abstinence-only sexual education programs do not work, which is an outrageous caricature of a report published last month about only four of 900 abstinence programs nationwide. The real reason apPe짜s to be that the members of the administration do not seem to want abstinence education taught to young people. .

We first start with last month's study by Mathematica Policy Research of Princeton, N.J., which has been seized upon by abstinence education opponents as proof that such programs are ineffectual. Mathematica investigated four abstinence-only education programs and concluded that students in them, five years after the programs ended, do not abstain from sexual activity any more than nonparticipating peers. .

The authors of the 164-page study did not conclude,'however,. that abstinence education does not work, but only that these four programs studied showed no noticeable impact Based on their analysis, they gave tWo reasons why they thought the programs did not achieve the resWts they were intended to achieve. First, they noted that the curricula were implemented only "in elementary and middle school grades and stopped before the students entered high ,school. Secondly, they said that many of the participants' peer support systems had weakened or disappeared as the students had dispersed to various high schools. For both reasons, when students needed abstinence support the most"":'- during their hi,gh school yearsit was not there.' ' Critics of the study point out something else, to which the authors of the re, port, perhaps for reasons of political correctness, did not draw much attention.

Three of the four programs studied se~e predpminantIyminority populations where most of the children come from single parent homes. Minimally, they say, the study sample was not representative ofthe vast majority ofcommunities served by the 900 abstinence-only educational programs nationwide, like most of those in the Commonwealth. At a deeper level, the students who received the training , may have been at greater risk of teen-age sexual activity, due to the much higher documented correspondence between teen-age sexual activity and the lack oftwo parents, particularly a father, in the home.

So the upshot is twofold: while these four programs were not successful in helping student participants maintain higher abstinence rates than non-participating peers five years after the instruction, these results cannot be legitimately extrapolated to the other 900 programs now in use in the country as if they do not work either. Studies of several of these other programs have shown that when, abstinence education involves more than merely instruction in middle school classrooms, but continues into high school, engages the support of students' families and communities, and encourages young people to make a pledge to remaining abstinent, the programs have great success in helping student participants, at much higher numbers than their peers, stay abstinent through their high school years and beyond. ' If the members of the Patrick administration believed in the value of abstinence for young people, they should respond to the Mathematica report by asking what can be learned to ensure that abstinence-only programs in the Commonwealth are maximally effective, rather than jump to the false, unscientific and ideologically-motivated conclusion that all such programs do not work. , For example, we are all committed to eliminating teen-age drug use. If a study showed, for example, that four drug-awareness programs were ineffective in persuading kids to say no to drugs, wewould not conclude that all such programs are bound to fail and then voluntarily refuse federal grants for such education; rather, we would study ways to make the,programs more effective, because we all agree on the value that students should not be doing drugs.

The last thing we would propose to do is to conduct a drug awareness program , in which, at the same time we endeavor to Persuade young people to say no to drugs and discuss why such behaVior will be disastrous fOf them, we also aggres- ' sively promote the use ofclean needles to try to minimize'the damage ofdrug use.

The more we would emphasize clean neectles, the more students would conclude that we do not believe that they will heed our advice and have the self-control to do what is in their interest. ' Yet that is precisely what the Patrick administration, and othe~; desire to be done with sex education. They support "comprehensive" programs in which students will hear something about abstinence, but then hear a lot about the use of condoms. While abstinence is the only real way that young people will fully avoid the consequences of sexual activity, the students also hear that condoms will protect them from pregnancy, AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. This is doubly problematic. First, condoms are not even close to 100 percent effective in preventing pregnancy, or AIDS, or various other types of venereal diseases, and they do not protect at all against human papilloma virus, which is the primary cause of cervical cancer. Secondly, by implying that condoms are sufficient "prot~tion" against the risks of sexual activity, edilcators end up taking away one of the principal defenses - self preservation - young people have had to discipline their 'sexual urges. The result is that "comprehensive" programs end-up encouraging sexual activity, as two decades of studies have demonstrated. .

Sometimes critics of abstinence-only education assert that ifcondoms are not . encouraged, those children who choose not to remain,abstinent will have sex withoutcondoms and increase their risk ofpregnancy and STDs. The Mathematica study ~owed that, while the four programs failed in achieving higher abstinence rates, dfe participating teen-agers who engaged in sexual activity used condoms at the same rate as non-participating peers. The message about condoms is ubiq- ' uitous;80 that objection is without merit.

The question for our Commonwealth is to determine our end and means with regard to sex education. Do we want to encourage our young people to have sexual relations, albeit with condoms, or do we want to guide them away from adolescent sexual activity? Do we want teen-agers to engage in sexual relations or not?

If we think that it is not in their interest to have sexually active lives at young age, then we should support abstinence-only education, persuade the Patrick administration to receive the federal money to underwrite such programs, and learn from the Mathematica report how to do it with greater effectiveness.

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the living word

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YOUNG GIRL LOOKS AT THE PROGRAM

DURING FIRST COMMUNION AT JESUS THE GOOD SHEPHERD cHuRCH )N DUNKIRK, MD.

MANY CHILDREN ARE RECEIVING THE SACRAMENT FOR THE FIRST TIME IN CATHOLIC CHuRCHES THROUGHOUT THE u.S. (CNS PHOTO!BOB ROLLER)

"LEf

mE CIDLDREN COME TO ME, AND

00 NOT PREVENT 'THEM; FOR 1HE KING-

OOM OF HEAVEN BEWNGS TO SUCH AS THFSE"(MATf 19: 14).

No other name One of the benefits of reflectthe revelation and Christian and the life" (In 14:6), was ing on the activity and preaching belief\> passed down from Christ revealed to us and to the world as and the Apostles, that Jesus Christ the "one mediator between God of the Apostles in the ,days following the R~surrection is that and men" (1 Tim 2:5). Nor is it is the savior, the one whose it helps to clarify the faith we redemptive death reconciled God arrogant or offensive to conclude have inherited and in which we with the human race and through that Christianity is not merely one place our hope: Among the whom God offers salvation to all religion among others, just as powerful proClamations preached the,world.

Christ is not merely one savior

by St.Peter about Christour Lord Reaction to the document, among others. We believe and is the truth that "there is salvation ," however, was rather ferocious, preach what has been revealed to in no one else, for there is no even among some within the , us, that "the full arid complete other name under heaven revelation of the salvific given among men by mystery of God is given in -'" whIch we must be Jesus Christ" (Dominus /;'!~ Putti~g\loto saved" (Acts 4:12).

Jesus, No.6).

St. Peter made this As the document ~ th~;'O~e~p' ~ bold claim with enthusi''I '0) Dominus Jesus and the asm and confidence, - Second Vatican Council since he was convinced made clear, the Church 'that Christ is the savior "rejects nothing of what is of the world. Earlier in true and holy" in other the Gospel, when some of Our Churc~. Emphasizing the truth world religions and has a high Lord's followers left him because that Jesus is tile one savior of the regard for the teachings and o(his "hard saying" about the world was thought to be too precepts of those religions which Eucharist, and Jesus asked the "exclusive" and "offensive" to "often refle~t a ray of that truth Apostles if they, too, would leave members of other world religions. which enlightens all men" (No.2, him, it was St. Peter who reClaiming that Jesus is the only quoting Nostra aetate, No.2). sponded, "Lord,' to whom shall savior was considered by some to Nor does the Church hold that we go? You have the words of be an act of alTogance on the part only members of the Catholic eternal life. We have come to of the Church.

Church can be saved. The Church believe and are convinced that The claim thatthere is salvaacknowledges that "the salvific you are the Holy One of God" (In tion in no one other than Christ is, action of Jesus Christ, ,with and ,6:68-69). With the same confithrough his Spirit, extends beyond. for sure, an exclusive statement, dence, Peter was able to say that the visible boundaries of the in the sense that it rules out other saviors or mediators between 'God Church to all humanity" (No. 12). there is saIvation in no one other than Jesus Christ.

At the same time, however, to be and men. But it is also quite .

Hearing these words of St. inclusive and even universal, for it faithful to the revelation, the Peter recalls the firestonn that / asserts the truth that Christ is the Church insists that all, who are resulted a few years ago upon the . savior of all men. saved are saved only by the release of a Church document on redemptive merits of Jesus Christ, Sometimes we pledge allethe unicity and salvific universalgiance to the tenets of our faith the only Son of God and the ity of Christ. The document, titled with9ut considering the implica- ' savior of the world. This is our Dominus Jesus, was issued by the faith, for which we have no tions and logical conclusions of Congregation for the Doctrine of apology, aild which we should those beliefs. Putting into the the Faith, then under the direction deep of our faith, however, believe and preach with the same ()f its prefect, Cardinal Ratzinger, confidence shown by the first requires us to think through the as a clarification of principles that consequences of our faith, with Apostles. should guide Catholics engaged in.tellectual honesty, and then to Father Pig';lato is chaplain at in inter-religious dialogue. believe and preach those truths Bishop Stang High School in The document contained without apology. We need not North Dartmouth and is nothing new, as flU' as Church secretary to Bishop George W. apologize that Christ, who called teaching goes. It merely affinned himself "the way and the truth Coleman. >'

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MAY 4, 2007

Come what May As a life-long New Englander,

I've often mentioned that the month ofApril was "useless" cold, windy, rainy, and pretty much a miserable stretch of 30 days.

Yet, tum the calendar just one day past April 30 and, for me there is such a marked contrast. I love the month of May. Not because of the weather, necessar- . ily. May can still fire some nasty â&#x20AC;˘ cold fronts our way. No, May has an aura to it. May makes everything young again.

Trees are tinted with green buds, flowers shake off the cold, . damp earth and stretch heavenward, as if to glorify the Creator,

and hundreds of squeaky clean first-graders work through the butterflies in their tummies to receive the Body of Christ for the very first time. . I dare anyone who knows there is a God in heaven not to be affected when watching our innocent youngsters crown a statue of our Blessed Mother and then receive her Son in holy Communion.

May makes all things young again.

I recently had the pleasure to plug into a CD treasure that has May written all over it. The CD is called "Good Morning Jesus!

Prayers and Songs for Children of All Ages." The artist is Dana Scallon, the international Catholic musician from Ireland. On the recording, she teams with the Tullylish Youth Group from her homeland, and the result is sure to bring even the most hardened of hearts back to life.

'The music is meant to be a teaching tool:' Dana told me during a recent phone conversation. ''We attempt to introduce prayer to our young people and why we pray."

All I can say to that is, well done. Listening to the recordings smoothed some of my rough edges - edges the pressures and trials of day-to-day living hones..

Listening also made me wish my children were first-graders all over again.

Dana and friends joyfully reinforce with the listeners such traditional prayers as the Lord's Prayer, the Creed and the Angelus.

The CD teaches young listeners and reminds not-soyoung listeners that prayer is ''the

greatest power on earth."

"Good Morning Jesus:' shines forth in many of our traditional Catholic teachings - the courage of Mary's "yes" to God; the important role of guardian angels to "ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide"; thanking God every day for the little and big gifts he gives us; and most importantly, the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

Among the collection of 13 wonderful recordings is "We are the Children of the Wo.rld." The recording is the theme song for the fifth annual Worldwide Children's Holy Hour to be held this year on October 5 at 10 a.m.

Eastern Tune, from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. One simply cannot help but.be touched when hearing young voices pray in song, "Jesus in the Eucharist, I love you."

The CD opens with "Good Morning Jesus'" and finishes with . ''Night Prayer:' In between is a good, old-fashioned lesson in the Catholic faith. The music is upbeat and very well orchestrated.

And the Irish voices? - A touch of heaven.

I can't think of a better first Communion gift to hclp a young Catholic to learn and grow with his or per faith in a fun and entertaining way. And I suspect there would be more than a parent or two who would want to be included when the Good Lord says, ''Let the children come unto me."

To order a copy of "Good .Morning Jesus:' visit the Website dana-music.com, or call 1-877376-8942.

And, in may be so bold, I strongly encourage all our diocesan Catholic grammar schools to look into the Worldwide Children's Holy Hour this coming fall.

The event will be televised live on EWTN, but the Website encourages all schools to gather the children before the eucharistic presence of Jesus and instruct them that millions of children throughout the world are united with them in prayer, for their own family members and all the .families of the world.

Childreno~eeucharist.org,

provides information and suggestions for including our children with those from across the country and the globe in this special holy hour. davejolivet@anchomews.org

FULL HOUSE - The church in St. Rose of Lima Parish in Guaimaca is always filled with worshipers who hold the Mass very sacred and dear to their . hearts., (Photo courtesy of Father Craig A. Pregana)

Not just an event,"but 'the' event For the past couple of months I have been far from my parish , family of St. Rose of Lima in Guaimaca. Instead, I have been serving the parish communities of Immaculate Conception and Notre Dame in the Flint section of Fall River. Adjusting, for a time, to the rhythm of parish life in the diocese has been interest- . ing, especially to see how accustomed we are to the regularity of Masses and services.

Parishes offer a variety of Masses in order to accommodate the schedule of parishioners and young families. All have a "vigil" on Saturday, and on Sunday, one can attend Mass in the early morning, late morning, and in our case in the Flint, in the late afternoon.

Funerals are celebrated at the convenience of the family or the funeral director. Weddings are not at the regular parish Mass, rather at separate celebrations for the convenience of family and guests. Then, if the schedule at one's own parish isn't convenient, n.eighboring churches probably can accommodate. We are truly blessed with variety and abundance, with the hope of building faith. by making Mass attendance more "convenient."

On the flipside, the Diocesari Mission in Honduras offers fewer options because of fewer priests and greater distances. If a town is fortunate to have a resident priest, he serves the needs of the parishioners "in town" and in numerous outlying villages, or "aldeas." Our parish in Guaimaca . has one church in the center of town, as well as approximately 20 villages for which we are responsibte; some as distant as a few hours through the mountains.

Fortunate is the village that has

Mass celebrated once every one or two months. Imagine for a .

I' moment: the Eucharist celebrated once a month! Needless to say, Mass is not simply "an event" for the village, it is ''the event."

Typically, the "Delegate/of the Word of God, or "Delkgado," who leads the community, prepares

itnmediately with the Mass, per se. The community greets their priest, and those who accompany him for the Mass. There are handshakes and hugs to express welcome and gratitude for coming. The priest, too, listens to his parishioners about what has happened in the community and in their lives since the last visit. After a while, the community and priest are ready to celebrate the Eucharist. No one looks at a watch, and no one gives a thought to "leaving early." Together they hear the word of God and share the Eucharist, and sing with enthusiasm . the songs of praise - every verse them for the celebration of Mass.

On the day of the MaSs - which of every song. It will be at least is rarely on a Sunday since Mass another month or two before they is celebrated in the mainlownthat celebrate the Eucharist again and day - the members (If the they want it to last. community gather in the small Here, we are blessed to have chapel if there is one., If there is an abundance of churches with no chapel, the "home" of the bulle"tins that list a Mass Delegado is the place for the schedule that reads like movie theatre times.. Would we community to gather. Some celebrate differently if we parishioners walk for 'an hour or so to get to the location, carrying . didn't know when our next on their heads their plastic chair, Mass would be? One hopes that the convenience leads us to if they want to sit du1ng Mass. a deeper faith . .As we gather to They arrive at least all hour or so before Mass to practice the songs, celebrate the Eucharist next to pray, and wait. ' time, let us offer a prayer of With the arrival of,the priest, thanks for our abundance. www.HonduranMission.org the celebration begin~, but not ~

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The Anchor ,

MAy 4, 2007'

The New Commandment "With malice towards none; with charity for all; let us strive to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and orphan; and to do all which may achieve and cherish ajust and lasting peace...." These most memorable words spoken by President Abraham Lincoln on March 4, 1865 at his second Inaugural Address, tell us about the thinking and attitude of that great American. As the Civil War was coming to a close, he sought mercy, compassion, forgiveness and charity as the tools to rebuild a divided nation. These words of Lincoln's and many other of his speeches are filled with biblical references and the call to practice Christian virtues, especially charity.

Likewise, the Gospel of John today gives us some of the greatest words and teachings of Jesus, "I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so

you also should love one today's is no different. another." Lincoln knew that this It is good to begin examincommandment was a core ing our practice of this comteaching of Jesus. But it is also mandment by understanding one of the most challenging to that each Christian first needs practice. Lincoln sought to to personally know the experipractice it in one of the most ence of being loved by God difficult times in the history of through his Son, Jesus Christ. our nation. Not only is it a great saying and teaching of Jesus, but even further, he wanted it to be the benchmark of his community. "This is how they will come to By1iatblr,,,\ Hugh J. McCullough know that you are my disciples, that you love one another." Pagans would stop, see their love and Without that basic belief, the say, "These people must be practice of the great commandfollowers of Jesus." ment stops dead in its tracks as Each one of us knows one can often turn to selfhundreds of people, some we centered love instead. But then, love dearly, many we like and once a Christian comes to know admire, while there are some the love that God has for them, others who we don't care for at they can more easily share that all. Perhaps this "New Comlove with another. So first we mandment" g~ven in the Gospel know God loves us, then a today directs us to look at how believer responds with faith and we <;leal with this third group of practices charity. If we do not people. After all, the Gospel know and experience God's message is a challenge and love, how can we share what

we do not know?

Secondly, we need to incorporate into our prayer life, the request that God help us to forgive and forget. It's something most of us need a bit of ,extra help in doing. We all hav7 our own "wounds" of misunderstandings, hurts, resentments and even anger. We pray for many things, but asking him to rid us of our resentments is usually not one of them. In fact there are many who choose to cradle their resentments, keeping them close to their hearts, so they can recycle old hurts, shames and humiliations over and over again in their minds. In this way, they make themselves the perpetual 'victim, blame everyone else for their woes in life and never find a way to the "New Command- . ment" in their lives. And so these folks stay spiritually sick.

Some of us need to step back even further and pray for the help just to be free from the desire to hold on to our resent-

ments. Once we are at this point, we can truly begin to be free and God's grace can flow in.

Finally, we need to pray especially for the very ones we find most difficult to love and forgive, and accept them with the knowledge that God has a plan for each one of them just as he has one for us.

We may not be able to love every person equally nor with the same intensity, power and purpose as God does, but we can respect everyone and accept them, warts and all and become part of a parish, community and city that knows mercy, compassion, tenderness, forgiveness and charity.

Pre~ident Lincoln knew we needed these virtues to heal us after a frightful war. Today' believers know this "New Commandment" needs to be practiced every day, not just in time of war, for it was given to us by the Risen Son of God. Father McCullough is pastor of St. Joseph's Parish in Fall River.

u _ ....y 1l<ad....' Sa~ May S. A,,, \3'.....52; p, 98,14; In 14,7-14. Sun, May Ii, Hfth Sunday of """"A,,, 14,21b-27; '" [45,8-[3; Rv 21; 1-5" Jo 13;31-33~34-35. Mon, May 7, Ao~ 14:5-18; Ps 1l?:1-5,15-16; In 14:21-26. Thes, May 8, Acts 14:19-28; Ps 145:10-13ab,21; In 14:27-31a. Wed, May 9, Acts 15:1-6; Ps 122:1-5; In 15: 1-8. Thurs, May 10, Acts 15:7-21; Ps 96: 1-3,10; In 15:9-11. Fn, May 11, Acts 15:22-31; Ps 57:8-12; In 15:12-17.

Tragedy? Or wickedness?

At Mass on the morning of Aprll 17, hours after a shooting spree at Virginia Tech had left dozens dead (including the shooter), the homilist spoke of the "tragedy" that had unfolded in Blac.ksburg the day before. I had no sooner gotten home from church and checked the email than l found a communication from the Parent and Family

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cable. On the day after the minded ofthe warning we read Affairs Office at the University Virginia Tech shootings, when of Maryland (where my son is a every Tuesday night in little was known (or at least Compline: "Stay sober anq student) deploring the "tragic alert. Your opponent the devil is reported) about the shooter, the incident that transpired at prowling like a roaring lion, Washington Post nonetheless Virginia Tech" and listing assured its readers that "resources available to "deep frustration" was the UM community the likely cause of during this time of . thirty-two murders. immense tragedy." But Spree-killers, a what, I wondered, was' researcher told the the "tragedy" here?

Post, are "very, very Terminal cancer in frustrated people who a five-year-old is are so self-centered "tragic." Macbeth is a they feel the whole "tragedy," in that the world is against . subject's flaws are ultimately them...." looking for someone to dethe cause of the unraveling of "Frustrated," "self-centered," vour..." (1 Peter 5:8-9a)? Like his life. What happened at and "feel" are words and Virginia Tech, however, was not original sin, the reality of the Evil One is one of the doctrines , expressions redolent of the a "tragedy." It was a manifesta_ therapeutic society. A different of the faith' for which there is tion of what theologians once vocabulary is required here. called the mysterium iniquitatis, ample empirical evidence.

Hell has sometimes been The instinctive reach for the the "mystery of evi1." The explained as the condition in language of "tragedy" in the murders in Blacksburg were which one is so utterly selfwake of a slaughter like acts of wickedness, not the centered that, incapable of Blacksburg - an instinct "tragic" unfolding of an relationships or love, one's evident at Boston College and unavoidable fate. personality disintegrates into Catholic University as well as These things have to be oblivion. "Hellish," in this very at state schools like Maryland called by their real names. As do suicide-homicide bombings ,- further confirms that the late specific sense, strikes me as a better adjective with which to Philip Rieff was spot-on when in the Middle East. As do the describe the Blacksburg shooter he described ours as a "theraacts of terrorists who plant peutic society." The language of than "frustrated." "Frustration" IEDs along Iraq's roadsides in is a description of a psychologiorder to maim young Ameri- '. .psychology has displaced the cal state. "Hellish" (or language of theology, as cans. Evil is real, and evil can "wicked") is the far more psychological categories of take hold of minds and souls. . accurate description of the understanding have displaced How can any serious Christian moral condition - the state of theological explanations for look at the evil at work in soul - of someone who can what seems otherwise inexpliBlacksburg and not be re-

shoot thirty-two innocent people in cold blood.

Police departments are neither theology departments nor confessionals, and astute psychological profiling of potential spree-killers obviously has its place. My point is a broader, cultural one: that the vocabulary of the therapeutic society is a distraction from the real meaning of situations like the Virginia Tech shootings, which engages the most profound questions of good and evi1. The vocabulary of "tragedy," like the therapeutic vocabulary that is its first cousin, can also lead to an abrogation of responsibility: when your numbe(s up, your number's up, so why live responsibly here and now?

No one want~ a repetition of those "witchcraft" hysterias in which innocents were unjustly executed on spurious grounds of being demonically possessed. Unless we recover the vocabulary of good and evil, however, we will really not come to grips with what possesses a Hitler, a Stalin, a Pol Pot, a Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - or a spree-killer on a Virginia campus.

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

9

MAv4.2007

Burt's obituary Monday 1 May 2007 Homeport - Personal History Month begins "Burt" died. Burt was not his real name. There was no obituary.

What would it have said? Preceded in death by nobody we know of. Occupation: none. Hobbies, clubs and interests: none.

Parish affiliation: none.

Marital status: never married. Survivors: none. Place of birth: unknown.

Woodrow Wilson was President of the United States. Benedict XV was the pope in Rome. The War to End All Wars (it didn't) was raging in Europe. Albert Einstein had just published his paper on relativity. Charlie

Burt was born .'~_'. -...........-.;,ii;,,-----~L... mentally challenged.

Chaplin was at the peak' of his He had been a ward of the state career, earning an unprecedented all of his life. There were only $10,000 a week. The Boston Red two known facts: Burt was born on Tuesday 5 December 1916, the Sox had won the World Series (Score Sox: 4; Brooklyn Robins: Eve of St. Nicholas. He said he 1). And a baby boy named Burt was a baptized Catholic. was born somewhere.

Burt was born into a world Burt died 90 years later. A much different from our own.

concerned funeral director phoned to say there was a "situation." There were insufficient funds for a wake, and nobody to attend the wake even if there were funds. There would be no flower car because there would be no flowers. There would be no family car because there was no family. Could Burt have a Mass of Christian Burial nonetheless?

Every Catholic has a right to a Mass of Christian Burial. Are all not servants and handrilaidens of the Lord? Are all not God's children? Even if Burt wasn't Catholic, I would have conducted a burial service for him anyway. It would be only right.

Burt was a human being.

Burt's body arrived at the church one cold spring morning.

Father knows best gravel instead of a grassy front Corinthians 12:7-8 that, ''There 1\vo-year-olds are not the lawn. When all was said and was given me a thorn in my only ones who dislike heiuing done, we actually saved money flesh, a messenger of Satan, to the word "no." I'm 40 years old, torment me. Three times I by boxing off an SOO-squareand I still prefer a nice, accom~ pleaded with the Lord to take it foot area and creating a sand modating "yes!" Of course the away from me. But he said to volleyball court instead of problem is that many times "no" me, 'My grace is sufficient for having to replace the entire area is a more loving answer than with new topsoil and grass. you, for my power is made any of us, young or old, want to Family and neighborhood perfect in weakness.' Therefore I admit. For example, the other will boast all the more gladly volleyball games have been a day I was all set to slide into the favorite activity ever since! about my weaknesses, so that perfect parking spot in front of Christ's power may rest the soccer field when another car snuck into "_!""""!""""!""""_-~_~_'!"'!'I--:_::--""on me;' As parents, "arrangthe spot by parking in ing" the activities of the wrong direction.

Childhood for our own Needless to say, I children, we can see that wasn't impressed. But I a "no" is often aCCOmpashrugged, parked at the far end of the soccer nied by a complimentary field, and went to play "yes," and that, as St. Paul boasted, both tetherball with my son answers can build our while waiting for his Thank you, God, that the children's Character as well as practice to begin. While we were excavator said, "No, replacing playing, the sneaky car left increase their talents. A "no" to the topsoil was not part of our without our noticing. As my ballet class can mean a ''yes'' to contract;' swimming lessons. ''No'' to son's practice was about to In my parenting experience, taking a walk can mean, "yes" begin, we heard a loud screech "no" isn't any easier to say than to reading books. "No" to more and turned to see a tan car it is to hear. It is a· natural, careen toward the soccer field, potato chips can mean, "yes" to parenting urge to want to better health. Of course,. there cross the place in which I had provide our children with every wanted to park. and smash into are some things for which "no" advantage, every possible good is the only good answer. Saying the fence. Oh, man! No one was thing. The truth is, however, that hurt in the accident, but the out"no" to riding a bike without a we can't give our children of-control car was totaled. Had I helmet, for example, can mean everything, and ironically, parked where I had wanted to "yes" to living another day. Like giving them every good thing park, our van would haye been a I experienced ~ith my parking isn't best for them, anyway. It's spot and our unexpecteq, front goner. Thank you, God, that I didn't get what I wanted. a bit like arranging aqouquet of yard. volleyball court, not getting flowers. The number, size, and Another time that "no" everything we want can be for color of blossOmS we, thoose not worked out for the best was the best. Rather than stomp our to put in an arrangement are as when we upgraded our septic feet and get mad next time we important to the final look as the hear or have to say "no," we system. It never occurred to us number, size, and coloI' of that the excavator was not going ShoUld start looking around for blossoms we do put in. What we to replace the topsoil he rethe accompanying ''yes.'' don't give our children is just as Heidi is an author, photogmoved when installing the leach valuable as what we do give rapher, antlfull-time mother. field. When the last backhoe them in determining who they She anti her husband raise pulled out of the driveway, will become. . theirfive children in Falmouth. however, we were left with St. Paul tells us in 2 homegrownfaith@yahoo.com. about a quarter acre of sand and

Burt, I could see, was going to his pauper. That's especially imporeternal reward in a plain wooden tant for people like Burt. coffin. I greeted the body of Burt .

None of us takes anything with at the door. The church was us when we leave this world. I empty, but for four or five of have never once seen aU-Haul Burt's most recent caregivers. The following a hearse. But most sanctuary was still decorated with leave something behind. Our the flowers left over from Easter, value, however, is not our but even the lilies were wilting. It productivity. Our value is our life. felt sad..

Although Burt left nothing behind but a small, fragile community of I remember one pari~h to which I was assigned in which love, his was a human life. It was there was a woman who attended gift from God. As such, his life each and every funeral, whether had enormous value. This was the life we celebrated at Burt's or not she knew the deceased.

Sometimes, she was the only funeral. person in the church. One day I Yes, Burt has died, God rest asked her why. She said she had his soul. He's buried in a very old never married and had no section of a city cemetery, relatives. She said that everyone amongst long-gone people he should have somebody at his or never knew. The cemetery workers were late in greeting the her funeral. It was only right.

Attending funerals was per cortege at the gate. They were on ministry. She hoped that when she their morning coffee break when some. the hearse arrived. No matter. herself died, she toldm~, I body would attend her funeral.

Burt was in no hurry. Burt will 'I That was decades ago. Fm sure rest in peace' until the Lord I returns. And then Burt will arise the woman herself has since died. iI to glory, whole and complete in I wonder if anyone attended her mind and body. funeral. I hope so.

Moments after Burt's Funeral This is Burt's obituary.

Mass began, I was distrJcted by a Father Goldrick is pastor of commotion. There wereilioud St. Bernard Parish, Assonet. "stage whispers," shuffling feet, Comments are welcome at • • II and chckity-clack sounds.

A StBernardAssonet@aol.com.

II Previous columns are at second procession had formed II and was heading down the center www.StBernardAssonet.org. . Ie. They came WIt. h canes II ms and II walkers, crutches and wheel· Th ey came 10 . thelf II. best chmrs. clothing, such as it was,lisome wearing bicycle helmets to protect them from seizures. They were Burt's friends from an adult day care he had attended. Th.ey were Start your day with our hearty breakfast. his community of love __ his Stroll to the bea'ch in Kennebunkport church. village or relax in our saltwater pool.

In the end, Burt had a lovely funeral. It was so different from Aunique, yet affordable experience the funerals of kings and popes, but no less important in the eyes of God. It was a celebration of a human life.

We Catholics are mo~alleaders in this world of ours - a world in which some human life is often considered to be disposable.

5ranci5can ~ue5t IDoUSe Catholics clearly believ~ in the Alittle taste of Heaven on Earth value of all human life rrom the 26 Beach Avenue· Kennebunkport, Maine moment of conception until (207) 967-4865 natural death. We will"cfi.ange our www.franciscanguesthouse.com " 'I beliefs for neither l'rince nor II

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fZl

110

MAV4,2007

Paula Briden is motivated to assist those who are hungry

By MIKE GORDON, ANCHOR STAFF

Center in Weymouth.

NEW BEDFORD - Sixty-one-year-old Paula She graduated from New Bedford High School and Briden knows what she will do when she retires next became a licensed practical nurse after studies in Bosyear: devote more time and energy towards helping those ton. She eventually returned to school earning an inneed. Currently the director ofthe St Anthony ofPadua associate's degree from Cape Cod Community College food pantry, she has been helping to bring bags of gro- as a registered nurse. ceries and a hot meal to thousands since she first started Briden is a member of the parish SALT group, St. volunteering three years ago.

Anthony's Ladies Together. "It's a new group and we've ''There is a great fulfillment in being here:' declared only been around for a year:' said Briden. ''My friend Briden. ''I find that volunteering at the food pantry gives Pat Greene though it would be a good idea to establish a me great joy and with such a great need in this area it women's group and I enjoy being a part of it. We meet feels good to be able to do something to help people." each month and have guest speakers on spiritual and Briden said that one health related topics. day she received a call r=".......,..."."""""'.".--,....-----,,---,--~..,.....,..-.---=.--c-....,,....---:..,~ We've also helped out with from pastor Father Roger food drives, started a J. Landry who askedifshe prayer line and greet could assist with the peopleatweekend Masses. weekly program. She hapIt's anice way to getpeople pUy said yes and got inmore active in the parish:' volved. ''That was three Asked about chalyears ago and here I am." lenges for the food pantry, she said. After two years Briden said, "food and of volunteering she bedonations. We don't ever came the pantry's director. want to run out ofstufffor "Father Christopher people:' She explained that at first it was difficult Gomes was running it, but for her to ask for food dohe was transferred so I stepped in to see what I nations because she is quiet by nature, but when could do. I had never done this type of work before, people said no, she started asking for the managers of but I attended some semioars and the people from places and became more the Boston Food Bank persistent. were very helpful."

"It was hard at first, but Each Thursday the I worried we would not food pantry is open from have enough. I found my noon to 1:30 p.m. and voice." , She credits the success those who attend receive a 'ofthe food pantry with the bag of groceries and are ANCHOR PERSON OF THE WEEK PAULA BRIDEN. help ofmany. ''We have 30 welcome to sit down and volunteers every week that enjoy a prepared lunch. ''We give people staples like beans, rice, soup, vegetables, show up and other parishes have been very helpful also. milk, and cereal:' said Briden. ''When we started there Local youth groups host events to help our cause and were 30-50 families coming and now we have' 150-190 we're thankful that so many people have been so generfamilies each week and it seems to be growing. With ous with their time and donations."

This year Briden has entered the food pantry into the rents and gas prices skyrocketing, people are struggling:' Feinstein Challenge again and last year they received she added.

"She is an inspiration to us all;' said Msgr. Gerard P. $350 in donations. ''I write a lot ofletters:' she said with O'Connor. ''With her selfless service to the poor of the a smile.

Future goals for Briden include possibly expanding community, Paula and her team of volunteers carry out the corporal works of mercy in a quiet and unassuming the program to include Saturdays. ''Currently there is no soup kitchen open in New Bedford on Saturdays and manner that is most impressive:' The New Bedford native said those who come to the when I retire I hope that is something we can look into:' food pantry are from all walks of life. ''We have seniors she said.

When she is not busy seeking donations, Briden enand people who have lostjobs, young mothers who have fled abusive relationships and a lot of folks who are liv- joys spending time with her grandchildren and knitting ing from paycheck to paycheck." In addition to the food and sewing. ''I find that relaxing:' she said.

She has also served as a Religious Education teacher and hot meal, the pantry also tries to offer assistance and direction. They assist with information about food stamps, and an extraordinary minister of holy Communion.

Volunteers begin at 9 am. and work until 2 p.m. each MassHealth and Medicare. , ''WehaveacouplethatrunstOtheBostonFoodBank Thursday and Briden encouraged others to come and weekly to pick up fresh produce. We have bakers that help out. ''We can always use more volunteers. We put a donate bread and people help put the lunch together and regular notice in the bulletin and sometimes people just show up on their lunch hour to assist unloading a truck. we're grateful for their efforts."

Her son Ross Briden, a retired chef, comes every They are very willing to help."

As for motivation, Briden said the joy she feels from Thursday to cook. ''We do soup, sandwiches and sometimes spaghetti and meatballs. That's always a hit;' said being there and making adifference is all she really needs.

Briden. ''In the summer we do more picnic things like ''It's an awesome thing:' she said. ''Until you get involved as a volunteer at your parish, you're not really hotdogs:' Briden is celebrating her 40th wedding anniversary part of the parish."

She related a story about going on a mission in Afwith her husband Arnie this year. They have three chilrica two years ago and helping to bring medicine, supdren and two grandchildren, ages five and eight. ,She works part-time at St. Luke's Hospital in New plies and clothing to those in need and how it made her Bedford where she is a registered nurse. ''I work in the appreciate what she had. ''These people we were helprecovery room and have been doing that for 10 years ing had nothing, but they had greatjoy. They were happy. now. I have met a lot of nice people and we have a great That affected me.

"Christ has always guided my life and working here staff. I enjoy caring for people." Prior to that, she worked for five years at St. Margaret's Hospital in Dorchester has strengthened my faith. When you have faith to fall and for five years at the Harvard Community Health Care back on it's a true blessing."

NEW FISHERS OF MEN Pope Benedict XVI ordains 22 new priests during a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican April 29.

The pope pleaded for vocations worldwide as he marked the annual celebration of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. (eNS photo/Alessandro Bianchi, Reuters) .

Pope pleads for vocations as he ordains 22 new priests for Rome

By JOHN THAVIS CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI made a plea for vocations worldwide as he ordained 22 new priests for the Diocese of Rome.

"Let us pray that in every parish and Christian community there be greater attention to vocations and priestly formation. That begins in the family, continues in the seminary and involves all those who are dedicated to the salvation of souls," the pope said in a homily.

The Mass in St. Peter's Basilica April 29 marked the annual celebration of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Despite a recent upturn in the number of seminarians, the number of priests has declined substantially over the last 25 years.

Of the 22 new priests who will serve in the Diocese of Rome, 12 were from Italy and 10 from other countries on three continents.

Among the newly ordained was the son of longtime papal photographer Arturo Mari.

The candidates prostrated themselves on the floor of the basilica as a litany of the saints was chanted. Then each knelt before the pope as he imposed his hands on their heads, part of the ordination rite.

In his homily, the pope said priests today need to model their ministry on Christ the good shepherd, who knew his flock well.

The pope encouraged the newly

ordained not to forget that an essential part of their ministry is to demonstrate the joy that comes from being a Christian and from the love that is the basis of the Gospel.

The pope repeated his prayer for an increase in priestly vocations at his noon blessing. Speak~ ing to some 40,000 people in St. Peter's Square, he said the call to priestly ordination and religious life was a call to service and communion.

"I invite you to join me in praying that young people will answer this call to communion and the service of the Church by responding generously to .Christ's call to the priesthood and religious life," he said.

According to the Vatican, the number of priests worldwide has decreased from 416,000 in 1979 to 406,000 in 2004, the last year for which statistics are available.

At the same time, the number of Catholics in the world has increased 44 percent. As a result, the number of Catholics per priest has jumped 47 percent, from 1,835 in 1979 to 2,705 in 2004.

Europe has had the biggest decline in the number of priests, with a drop of 19 percent during the 25year period. Africa has shown the biggest increase, with 86 percent more priests.

Over the same period, the number of bishops in the world increased 27 percent, from 3,775 to 4,784.

MAY

,

4, 2007

The Anchor' $

11 Olympic flag to their Israeli counterparts and continued with the group for the rest of the run. It was the first time since the run was initiated that the Palestinians were able cross through the checkpoint without any form of security check, said Rafael BenI Hur, senior deputy director-general of the Israeli Ministry of Tourism.

In Jerusalem, the athletes were greeted by Israeli andiCatholic officials, including Archbishop AnI tonio Franco, papal nuncio to Israel and the Holy Land, and Franciscan Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who is in charge of

I

Christian sites in the Holy Land.

A papal telegram sent by the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said the pope expressed his "vivid appreciation" of the marathon as it "exalts the value of sports at the service of peace and highlights the importance of joint prayer in order to contribute toward greater understanding among peoples and the building of a global community inspired by faith in God and the respect of every human life."

The pope said he hoped the marathon would promote "fruitful dialogue between ... different religions."

Free concert!

RELAYING A MESSAGE OF PEACE - Athletes hold up a torch in front of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, West Bank, at the start of the Pope John Paul II Marathon for Peace April 25. Italian, Israeli and Palestinian athletes participated in the annual 1O-kilometer (6.2-mile) run from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. (CNS photo/Ammar Awad, Reuters)

u.s. seminarian runs· in Holy Land not to win, but to promote peace

By JUDITH SUDILOVSKY CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

guage that could bring together individuals from conflicting backgrounds for a higher value.

The fourth Pope John Paul II run was organized by the Rome Pilgrimage Office and the Catholic Italian Sports Center, which also organized the Clericus Cup soccer tournament for priests and seminarians in Rome. The sports center selected one representative from each of the 16 teams in the tournament to participate in the marathon.

Smith was selected to represent the North American team because of his previous

We remember that he is with us in the real world, so somehow we hope to overcome these problems," said Smith.

Bethlehem leaders told the runners they were giving hOl?e to the younger generation by showing . them that the future can be better than the current situation, Smith said.

During the run, the Italian sportsmen carried the torch that had been blessed by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome.

At the Rachel's Tomb crossing, the Palestinian runners handed the

JERUSALEM - After having run the 26-mile Rome Marathon in March, seminarian Philip Smith said he was not daunted by the prospect of running the 6.2-mile ·Pope John Paul II Marathon for Peace.

But, he said, those six miles were s~ Antho"y 01 Padua Parish more than just a marker of distance. \)$9 AcusIlneI A-.o, Haw Dl:dtlnl Running with a group of 150 Palestinian and Israeli athletes from Manger Square in Bethlehem to the Western Wall in Jerusalem provided a symbolic bridge between the two populations and promoted peace in a region so much in need of it, he said. marathon experi- . .- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .

Smith said the group of athletes ence.

Smith, from ran together the entire route so there was no sense of competition Tiffin, Ohio, said he among them. has been involved "It was a very moving experi- in sports since high ence, not competitive at all. We school, when he moved at a very slow pace so we played on a number could all stay together," he said, of varsity teams. adding that he now has a better He said it was idea of the situation in the Holy important to see his Join Bishop George Coleman for a special hour to pray Land. trip to the Holy Smith spoke with Catholic Land for the run for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

News Service following the April primarily as a pilFather Karl C. Bissinger, assistant director of the 25 run. grimage following "This marathon is an opportu- in the footsteps of diocesan Vocation Office is the guest homilist. nity to use sports by people of dif- Jesus as well as one ferent convictions" to work for of concern for hupeace and understanding, said the man dignity.

S~@ns@r~-d by While visiting 22-year-old student from Pontifical North American College in the holy sites, Th~ liJ~@©$$Qn Council Rome. "There is a great diversity Smith said he was of of people from allover running for reminded that Jesus C~t~@U© Wom~iil peace, and we can all see that we lived when there ~a"O©J ~h~ Di@c@~~fi'll have the common goal of peace, was strife and war~ and sport is the way to do it to"This brings to V@©l§1t~@U'Il Off~oo gether." mind the fact that He noted that this was a con- Christ comes into And Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and / will cept that Pope John Paul had en- our world with war make you become fishers ofmen " (Mark /:/7) . couraged - viewing sport as a lan- . and with violence.

Saturday, May'S at 7pm

-

...

Holy Hour for Vocations

Sunday, May 6,2007 at 2:00 p.m. at St. Mary's Cathedral in Fall River w.

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12

Seeing the whole in the part Father Thomas M. Kocik begins a regular series this week on the distinctiveness ofthe Catholicfaith.

There are many possible answers to the question why one should become and remain Catholic.

Among these are Catholicism's rich spiritual and liturgical life, its communal spirit, its optimistic view of creation, its respect for human life at all stages, its openness to all cultures and peoples, its loyalty to the past, its . sacramental imagination, its marriage of faith and reason, and its knack for maintaining unity in diversity. All good answers, these; but none gets to the heart of the watter. When all is said, the most compelling reason for embracing Catholicism (or any religion, for that matter) is the belief that it is true. The flipside, logically, is the judgment that all other religions are false, or at least less true. As

G. K. Chesterton's fictional Father Brown said, "I believe in some things; therefore, I don't believe in others."

Jesus Christ is Lord of all or he is not Lord at all. What it means to say Jesus is Lord and live accordingly is something that has united and divided Christians from the start. Among the many brands of Christianity past and present, there is Catholicism. The word "catholic" means universal, as in pertaining to the whole.

Catholic Christianity, as its name suggests, considers itself the fullest and truest expression of the faith which Jesus imparted to his first disciples and which, since apostolic times, has been believed, professed, and handed down from generation to generation of saints and sinners. Catholics see themselves as part of this living Tradition of Christian faith and life. The apostolic Tradition encompasses, to varying degrees, the vast number of Christians beyond the Catholic fold, principally the Orthodox and the Protestants. However, from the Catholic .perspective, Tradition is incomplete without the ministry of Peter and some other distinctively Catholic things.

To say it boldly, Catholicism embodies the fullness of divinely revealed truth.

Not the exclusive truth, but the fullness of truth - a crucial distinction. From Justin Martyr through Athanasius and Augustine to Aquinas, the great Christian theologians understood that all truth is the truth of Christ, the eternal Word who enlightens everyone (cf. Jn 1:9). Whateverknowl-

edge of God exists outside Christianity is, in the Latin phrase, semina Verbi, "seeds of the Word" liberally sown by the Spirit who blows where he wills (cf. Jn 3:8).

These seeds come to full flower-· ing in Christ, whose mystical body is the Church. Since there is only one Christ, there can be, at the deepest level, only one Church. In the Nicene Creed professed by Catholics, Orthodox, and many Protestants, the Church is described as "one, holy, catholic and apostolic." Catholicism claims to be that Church - not just one among many branches or manifestations of Christ's Church, but the Church of the Creed in all its fullness. Does this mean that, in the Catholic view, all nonCatholic Christians are entirely outside the Church? Not at all. For just as Catholicism acknowledges truth and holiness in non-Christian religions (the seeds of the Word), so it recognizes elements of the one Church the Catholic Church - in other Christian bodies. It is not a matter of "all or nothing" but of "all or less." As I say, there are many reasons for living and dying as a Catholic; but the best reason is believing that Catholicism is the "all" its name signifies.

"What knows he of England who only England knows?" asked the poet Kipling, suggesting that we know ourselves better when we know others. If that is true, then we Catholics stand to gain from learning about other religious traditions. That is the aim of this biweekly series. We will start by observing the intellectual climate prevalent in our Western culture, which takes Pilate's cynical question, "What is truth?" to be a discussion-stopper. Mter exploring the possibility of knowing truth, including religious truth, we will spend several weeks touring the major non-Christian religions, allowing the seeds of the Word reflected in them to point us to the truth (there's that word again) fully revealed in Christ. Then we will turn our attention to the major Christian traditions outside Catholic unity, discovering how the .Gospel truths professed and lived in those communities turn out, in the end, to be at their strongest and richest within the full stream of Tradition (which is to say, Catholicism). By discovering something of our own in what is alien, I believe we can better understand ourselves in light of what we have received.

The result, please God, will be a faith that is more vibrantly catholic - and Catholic.

Father Kocik is chaplain at Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River.

Catholic;Charities Appeal sets sail on campaign to 'Offer Hope' FALL RIVER -, With all of the pr~liminary work tory; $3,936,578. This was certainly a sign that they were now in the "rear view mirror;' the annual Catholic Chari- confident their donations were being directed solely to ties Appeal kicked-offits 66th campaign on May 1. With Catholic Charities endeavors, with 94 cents of every the theme; "Caring, Sharing, Offering :Hope," the 94 dollar going directly to the agencies and apostolates parishes of the Diocese ofFall River have launched what funded by the Appeal." they hope will be another year of unprecedented suc-.· Those at the kick-offs were once again reminded of cess. the tremendous increase in services being offered by the "The strength of our Appeal is that it is 'parish diocesan agencies and apostolates funded by this yearly based,'" stated Mike Donly, director of Appeal, and the tremendous demand to Development for the diocese, and coassist the ever-increasing number of ordinator of the Appeal process. "All men, women and children looking to of the 94 parishes see it as the work the diocese for assistance in their time not only of their Church, but also of of need. This is the message that will their parish, to extend their Caring be brought back to all of the parish and Sharing beyond their parish communities as they "kick-off" the boundaries to do whatever they can process of Offering Hope to those to lessen the suffering of the most vulwhom they may never see or receive a ''thank you" from, but whom they know nerable among us."

This past week saw kick-offs in th.e must be ministered to if they are to follow I Attleboro-Taunton, Cape Cod and IslandS, and the message of the Gospels.

Fall River-New Bedford areas to mark the beginThis Annual Appeal is the only time during Ding ofthe parish phase ofthe campaign. A record num- the year the diocese asks its parishioners and friends to her ofparish committee members, workers, pastors, and come together to assist in ministering to the literally I • supporters of the Appeal, many of whom have been m- tens of thousands of individuals and families who come volved for decades in this venture, attended these kick- to the agencies funded by the Appeal for assistance. offs. "How could you consider undertakihg such a huge Donations to the Appeal can be sent to the Catholic endeavor without the confidence that ybu were going Charities Appeal Office, P.O. Box 1470, Fall River, MA. to get such wonderful support from these loyal and gen- 02722; dropped offat any parish in the diocese; ormade erous parishioners. With nearly 40,000 diocesan parish- on the Website: frdioc-catholiccharities.org. ioners contributing to the Appeal last year, it is no wonFor information visit the Website or contact the Apder we raised the third largest total in th~ Appeal's his- peal Office at 508-675-1311

Network ing from the annual Catholic Charities Appeal campaign, and also are partially funded by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development," he reported.

A member of St. Joseph's Parish in Fairhaven, Dansereau will have been five years on the job come August.

'The Office for Persons with Disabilities has been around for more than 25 years, first as an active apostolate of the diocese, then as part of CSS," he reported. For the past eight years it has been one of the agencies of the multi-service, multi-sited, not-for-profit organizations of CSS whose central office is located in Fall River, with offices in New Bedford, Attleboro, Taunton and Hyannis on Cape Cod. CSS is currently also the largest provider offood outside Boston, and the largest provider of beds for the homeless outside ofthe Greater Boston Area.

"We too cover the entire CSS coverage area, which is the Fall River Diocese and occasionally serve disabled or disadvantaged clients outside the diocese too," Dansereau noted.

Asked what specifically his office does, he said, 'That is a tough question to answer easily. We do so many things. One could say we are a referral office. We make referrals to legal services, counseling, state and federal services like worker's compensation, and even local disability programs. But we're also active in doing much work ourselves,

Continued from page one

aJd that usually involves serious conflicts. My own background is in vocational rehabilitation." i On the Website of the Office of Disabilities, the stated mission is, "to facilitate social justice, equality, societal inclusion and equal education fdr students with disabilities. To empower individuals, families, and care providers in meeting their socill1, educational, spiritual and basic I needs."

Dansereau told The Anchor, "We sure do all of that. Our clients range inlI age from three to 70."

• . An overvIew finds the Office of Disabilities advocating for disabled clients, as it attempts to resolve disprltes involving schools and funding agencies on the state and federal levels; other disability programs, employers, landlords and even other I diocesan orgimizations.

"Approximately 50 percent of our current caseload involves students in the public school system, ~ause of a lack of funding for special education which many of our clients need, and whose families face a 61ank wall sometimes. Most of the caSes now are in the New Bedford schools. Schools usually are reluc~t to spend money in special ed.

TI)ey try to do as little as they can in these areas. We advocate for those who need those services and their parents." :"We deal with those with physical as well as mental disabilities. We try to work things out for clients on su.ch things as Social Security, MassHealth and Medicare, health

and human services - as well as special education. We also work on legislative matters when needed," he added.

The work takes Dansereau, who works full time - along with a parttime staffer - not only into areas of special education, but also with facets of the American with Disabilities Act of 1990, which he must champion.

The programs also connect clients with developmental disabilities with a "Faith Companion: in the religious community of their choice. It also serves as a resource to Catholic parishes in providing information and ideas for inclusion of the disabled in the active life of the parish and in assisting teachers so that individuals may be instructed in preparation for receiving the sacraments.

The office offers information and workshops on a variety of topics including environmental health, estate planning, state and federal funding sources and special education.

There is also case management provided for under serviced or unserviced clients. And always the office is looking for partnerships, especially local ones to accomplish the mission.

"Last year our caseload was 347, all involving case management," said Dansereau. "Right now we have 30 active cases. They involve a variety of issues we're working to resolve or remedy them using all the resources on hand."

MAy 4, 2007

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Commonwealth on verge of legalizing 'farmi'ng' hU,man emb'ryos

By GAIL BESSE

and female nudity, innuendo, wartime violence including shootings and beatings, vigilante justice. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L -limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R - restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. ''Firehouse Dog" (Fox) A pampered Hollywood pooch rescues an inner-city station house .from closure and helps' a father and son (Bruce Greenwood and Josh Hutcherson) bond in this catch-all family comedy, which tries to be parody, mystery and action-adventure rolled into one. Director Todd Holland's too-Iong-for-the-kids movie has too many plot strands and some cruder than expected language, toilet humor and i?nuendo, although mostly in reference to canines. Mild crass language and gags, scenes of action peril and one brief instance of physical violence. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II - adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG - parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children. ''The TV Sef' (THlNKfilm) Lightly amusing behind-thescenes story of writer (David Duchovny) whose pilot for a network comedy-drama, inspired by his brother's suicide, is gradually watered down by the iron-fisted, velvetgloved network president (Sigourney Weaver) with the empathetic,but weak-willed British production head (loan Gruffudd) rehlctant to intervene, and an erratic leading ,man (Fran Kranz) ca~sing further headaches. Writer-director Jake Kasdan's perceptive satire on the television industry shows the lengths to which an artist is forced to compromise his vision. Contains repeated use of the fword in a satiric context to show the vacuity of the superficial characters, other crude words and expressions, and mild profanity. The USCCB Of~ fice for Film & Broadcasting classi,fication is A-ill ~ adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R - restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult . guardian.

"Let them know that you sup- nently. scrapped.

NORTH ATTLEBORO - We port ethical forms of research such At a Public Health Council pubcannot let women be exploited as as adult stem-cell research, but op- lic hearing in Boston April 25, IC~~ "egg producers" and human· em-. pose embryonic because it kills business and bio-medical interests bryos "farmed" as fodder for sci- human life. We cannot kill people spoke in favor of dismantling the (CaIIVSUIII(e~ . entific experiments, State Rep. in the quest to help others," the regulations, according to a report NEW YORK (CNS) ~ The folElizabeth Poirier says. in Boston University's V,aily Free MCFL alert reads. lowing are capsule revie~s of movLegislators who share these In addition, it advises people to Press. The paper said the Public . ies recently reviewed b~ the Office concerns are signing-on to a letter call Gov. Patrick at 617-725-4005 Health Department "intends to refor Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. urging Gov. Deval Patrick to keep t~ oppose his plan, noting "Ethics, vise'its interpretation" of the law, Conference of Catholic Bishops.

I, in place keep current state health not science or politics, should "saying the ban has stifled the "Are We Done Yet?" department restrictions that pre- guide researchers. We cannot let commonwealth's scientists."

(ColurnbialRevolution) vent scientists from setting up science or government decide Newton Rep. Peter Koutoujian Only fairly amusing sequel to "farms" that would clone human which human lives are valuable said that dropping the restrictions 2005's "Are We There yet?" as a embryos solely so they can be de- and which are not." on human embryo farming will couple (Ice Cube and ~ia Long), stroyed and their stem cells foster research and develop- along with her two kids," relocate to used for research. ment, according to the re- the great outdoors and a huge house "I'm very concerned that port.

"This is an industry that , desperately in need of rcifutbishing.

"Millions ofwomen willbe affected if people'don't oppose this as this research goes forward. The wil. help the Massachusetts Director Steve Carr trotS out every egregious practice, Patrick's cliche imaginable and relies too procedure to obtain eggs usespow- economy," he said. plan will go through," the The bottom line is money, heavily on slapstick humor, but the erful drug$ to suppress and stimuNorth Attleboro lawmaker late the ovaries in order to produce according to Poirier. film does c~ a strong roIirrnation said in a recent interview.

"There's a big research com- of family ~d friendship: and virtuan extraordinary number of egg~ All four Massachusetts plex plamied for Allston- ally no objectionable material. Brief which will then be fertilized.

Catholic bishops have also Brighton. That's why there's innuendo, a comedic physical scuffle ''This procedure has resulted in this push to lift the restric- and other slapstick violehce, scenes publicly opposed the of drinking, marital discord and a governor's March 30 an- hospitalization and even death in tions." some cases.

Manyofthe drugs have nouncement that he will In their public statement tense nongraphic birth ~cene. The _ notbeen studiedforlong-term safety scrap the restrictions put in opposing Gov. Patrick's plan, USCCB Office for film & Broadcastnor have been FDA approved." place by former Gov. Mitt the state's four Catholic bish- ing classification is A-II i adults and Romney. ops said, ''The governor mini- adolescents. The Motion Picture Association ofAmerica rating is PG Poirier urged people to mizes the profound moral conparental guidance suggeSted. Some ask their own state representative Poirier said it's ironic that al- cerns at stake and attributes to scimaterial may not be suitable for chilto sign her letter. though embryonic stem-cell re- ence the exclusive authority to dedren.

It reads in part: "Embryonic' search has produced no docu- termine right and wrong. History has ''Black Book" (Sony Classics) stem cells are obtained by harvest- mented cures, the most promising demonstrated that science must be Glossy, well-acted World War II ing them from living embryos, up research has come from stem cells governed by ethical principles saga set in Holland abo* a Jewish to 14 days old. The high demand taken from placentas and umbili- rooted in the fundamental values of singer (a compelling Carice van for eggs needed for researchers ei- cal cord blood, but the state has no human dignity and sanctity of life Houten) who, after her" family is ther to farm human embryos for provisions to accept these natural or it will become the engine of great gunned down by the Nazis, joins the experimentation or to produce hu- byproducts of birth. destruction." .

Dutch Resistance who ask her to roI' man embryo clones will foster the "Women are willing to donate The bishops urged the governor mance and spy on the loc31 Gestapo exploitation of women. Most will them, yet we throw them away and to instead support ethical adult chief (Sebastian Koch) with whom be poor women who will choose the state wants to experiment on stem-cell research that shows far she then genuinely falls ip love. Dito donate their eggs in exchange humans," she said. "Those of us mOre promise. "This is the direc- rector Paul Verhoeven haS made esfor monetary consideration. who know this is wrong have an ob- tion that 'life sciences~ should pur- sentially an old-style Hollywood es"Millions of women will be af- ligation to do something to stop it." ,sue," they said. pionage story but with a good deal of ' fected as this research goes forTo find out who your elected present-day permissiveness, and Catholic Citizenship, a Bostonward. The procedure to obtain eggs based lay-run group that encour- officials are; call the state Elec- though the til.m has some serious inescapist uses powerful drugs to suppress ages Catholics to participate in the tions Division at 61,7-727-2828 (1- tent, it registers mainly and stimulate the ovaries in order legislative process, has also urged 800-462-8~83) or go to entertainment, even ifinspired by true events. In Dutch, Germah, English to produce an extraordinary num- people to oppose embryonic stem- www.wheredoivotema.com. ber of eggs, which will then be fer- cell research.

Gail Besse is a Massachusetts· and Hebrew, with subtitles. Strong tilized.

And action is needed quickly, freelance writer. She can be con- rough and crude languag¢ and pro"This procedure has resulted in before the regula.tions are perma- tacted at: gailbesse@comcast.net. fanity, sexual encounters;' full male hospitalization and even death in some cases. Many of the drugs La Salette Retreat Center have not been studied for long947 Park Street term safety nor have been FDA apAttleboro,ll1A 02703 proved."

508-222-8530 The letter noted that Ann Kiessling, the director of the only Current Retreat Offerings known American clinic collecting May 18 - 20. 2007 ',- Married Couples' Retreat human eggs for stem-cell research, May 2S - 27. 2007- Women's Interparish Retreat has said that the long-term risks of .June 1 - 3. 2007 - Retreat for Breast Cancer Survivors these hormonal treatments might .June 8 -10.2007 -!!Livin&: Life According to a Divine Plan not be fully known for another 20 .

Scheduled celebrant is .June 8 --10. 2007 - Church Workers' Retreat years.

Father Edward A. Murphy, .June 22-28. 2007 --i Preached and Directed Retreat Massachusetts Citizens for Life chaplain at Morton Hospital GriefEducation: SUDPort Group for Separated & DIvorced joined Poirier's effortwith an April in Taunton For more information, please call or write the Retreat Secretary 26 alert that advised people to call eomail: lasaletteretreats@hotmail.com website: www.lasalette-shrine.org legislators at 617-722-2000 and for information rega;ding the La Salette Shrine call 508·222·5410 ask them to sign her letter.

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

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An abortion ruling prompts reflections on women, men and love The recent decision by five jus- . guish she might have about abortices of the U.S. Supreme Court in tion, must be counted as impediGonzales v. Carhart, upholding a ments to and not attributes of her statute passed by Congress to ban full humanity. partial-birth abortions, provoked a As a logical conclusion from this furious dissent by the four other line of thinking, these maternal members of the court, authored by characteristics serve only to inhibit Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. a woman from accepting the price Justice Ginsberg was upset that needed to pursue the really importhe majority opinion, issued by Jus- tant socioeconomic work found tice Anthony Kennedy, nof only outside the home, and thus they upheld the ban, but also had the te- make her unequal to men. Abortion merity to use such terms as is being sold, then, as the great "mother,"· "unborn child," and equalizer between Qlen and women. "baby."

For Justice Ginsburg, at stake Particularly galling to Justice . here is "a woman's autonomy to Ginsberg was the .. majority's reference to the r------~---"bond of love the mother has for her child." This characterization was rooted, Justice Ginsberg . argued, in "notions of women's place in the family" that supposedly have been "long since discredited." Women should not be "re- control her life's course, and thus garded as the center of the home enjoy equal citizenship stature." Let and family life" because that would me share a story that I heard a while preclude their "full and. indepen- back that provides a different acdent legal status under the Consti- count of what is at stake. . tution," as if motherhood and fuJI Fifty yeats ago this coming Occitizenship were mutually exclu- tober, just a day before the Russians sive. launched into orbit a beeping metal For women to "control [their ball with spindles, a doctor delivown] destiny," wrote Justice ered a baby and discovered some Ginsburg, the state must give them serious problems. The infant had a the same freedom as men to disre- cleft palate and other facial malforgard their parental bonds. During mations, caused by a deficiency of pregnancy, this freedom can only folic acid in the mother's system. _be actualized through the destrucThe doctor took aside the child's tion of life in the womb by means father and warned him. The doctor that even Justice Ginsburg admit- recommended putting the child in ted were "brutal" and "gruesome." an institution. The doctor believed A woman's "full potential" lies that the facial disfigurements indiin her equal partidpa~ion in the cated an underlying mental disabil"economic and social life of the ity. The child probably would exNation," Justice Ginsberg asserted. perience abnormal development.

Thus, according to this perspective,.

The father asked that the mother a woman's unique ability to become and he see the baby. The doctor a mother and, more significantly, demurred, saying that the emotional any motherly feelings of moral an- trauma would be too great. Besides,

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Our Lady's Monthly ~essage From Medjugorje April 25, 2007 l\:1edjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina

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"Dear children! Also today I again call you to conversion. Open your hearts. This is a time of grace while I am with you, make good use of it. Say: 'This is the time for my soul.' I am with you ~d love you with immeasurable love. -.

"Thank you for having responded to my call."

Spiritual Life Center of Marian Community 154 Summer Street Medway, MA 02053· Tel. 508-533-5377 Paid advertisement

it would be more difficult to send the child away if a bond deveJoped between mother and child.

The father spoke with the mother and she insisted that the child be brought in. The doctor relented and the baby was placed in the mother's arms. She looked down at the infant and started to cry. The doctor turned to a nurse and said something like "See, I knew it would be too devastating for her to see the child."

The mother explained later that she did not start crying because of any trauma on her part from witn~ssing the child's disfigurement. No, she cried because she thought of the pain that the infant would experience in life as a result of the disabilities.

That very day the infant heard for the first time the Gospel of Life, communicated in the quiet sobs of a mother and echoed in a father's commitment, both bonded in love to a child with a claim on their autonomy.

Both father and mother knew that the infant's place was with them, and brought the child home.

She had to give up her job as a nurse, a job she loved, to care for this child along with the five other children already at home. The infant required several hospitalizations but grew into. an adulthood quite different from the one predicted by the doctor.

The teller of this story was one ofmy sisters, the father and mother were my own, and the child was me.

The story was shared a year or so after my mother's death, when I was in my 208. I had not heard it before. o Women are equal to men but they are not identical. The essential difference, according to John Paul II, has something to do with men having the gift of being able , to give ofthemselves in a receiving way and women receiving in a giving way. As Pope Benedict XVI has emphasized, human fu1fillment lies ultimately not in the "economic and social life ofthe Nation" but in love, shaped by the very form ofthe male or female soul.

At stake in the battle over abortion is the meaning of humanity it-· Self. Can we learn to live in a way faithful to the dignity of every human being and open to the two different ways of being and loving as . human? A mother loves as only a mother can - a father loves as only a father can. From the complementary nature of my parents' saCrifice, I as their child continue to learn . where my true fulfillment rests.

Daniel Avila is the Associate Director of Policy & Research of the Masstu:husetts Catholic Conference.

MAy 4, 2007

• The Anchor 'news briefs Study finds U.S. Hispanics drawn to charismatic churches WASHINGTON (CNS) - The'Church familiar to and preferred

by Hispanic Catholics in the United States is a livelier, more charismatic place than the one most American Catholics are used to, finds a new survey on Latinos and religion. A detailed survey by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Forum on Re~ ligion and Public Life says about a third of U.S. Catholics are Latinos and that they are bringing a more eva~gelical style of faith into the broader Church as their numbers grow. Despite an overall drop in the percentage of U.S. Hispanics who are Catholic - due largely to those who joined evangelical and Pentecostal churches - Latinos will continue to represent an ever-larger share of the U.S. Catholic population because of immigration and high birthrates, it said. About 68 percent of U.S. Hispanics say they are Catholics. The study is titled "Changing Faiths: Latinos and the Transformation of American Religion."

Catholic school students raise money for public school academic team WAUKESHA, Wis. (CNS) - For many parishes and schools, funds are raised and camaraderie is s~ared over plates of spaghetti in a school cafeteria or church hall. For members of Waukesha West High School's academic decathlon team, 'the recent spaghetti dinner meant the difference between competing at the national level and staying home. And there would have been no chance of competing had it not been for the National Honor Society students at Messmer Catholic High School in Milwaukee. After reading a newspaper article about the state champion academic decathlon team at West not being able to afford the $10,000 trip to compete at nationals in Honolulu, students in Messmer's National Honor Society wanted to help. Messmer's volunteer business teacher Bob Monday suggested raising funds for the team. "From the students' viewpoint, they saw it as students helping students," said Monday. He estimated that more than 900 meals were served and more than $5,000 was raised from the dinner alone.

Church official: Swazi government does not intend to make reforms CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) - The government in Swaziland has no intention of making democratic reforms, a Church official said after the king's representatives canceled their seventh appointment to meet with church and civil leaders. "At least we are now seen to be truthful when we say our government is not committed to dialogue, despite its assurances to the contrary," said Father Pius Magagula, an official of the Manzini Diocese'sjustice and peace commission. Father Magagula is one of two Catholic representatives to the National Constitutional Assembly - a coalition of churches, labor movements and opposition parties - which was to discuss change in southern Africa's only absolute monarchy with members of the king's hand-picked Cabinet in mid-April in the capital, Mbabane. "There was a lot of anger" and disappointment at the last-minute cancellation, Father Magagula told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview from Manzini.

Jesuit: Canadians complicit if they hand over prisoners for torture OITAWA (CNS) - I f Canadian soldiers hand over Taliban captives knowing that Afghan authorities will torture them, the soldiers, their commanding officers and the Canadian government are complicit and morally compromised, said a Jesuit author.

Jesuit Father John Perry, author of "Torture: Religious Ethics and National Security," said even the suspicion that the prisoners will be tortured should be enough to change the soldiers' actions. "We can't smugly say 'they promised us they won't do this, and we believe them,''' he said in a recent telephone interview from Winnipeg, where he teaches at St. Paul's College at the University of Manitoba. Father Perry noted that there is plenty of evidence that the Afghan prison system applies torture as routinely as North American police take DNA samples - "just in case someone knows something." Church teaching is clear: Torture is never permissible, even for the gravest reasons, he said. Allegations that Afghan officials are torturing Taliban captives have dogged Canadian officials for months. In an report based on interviews with 30 prisoners, The Globe and Mail newspaper said they claimed to have been beaten, starved and otherwise mistreated.

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by living simply Cat~olics can help protect the earth

By DENNIS SADOWSKI CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE COLUMBUS, Ohio - Every Catholic can. do something about· climate change by adopting a life of voluntary simplicity,' the Vatican's U.N. nuncio lJelieves.

It comes down to "working less, wanting less, spending less," thus reducing, the impact each person has on the environment, Arch-. bishop Celestino Migliore told par- . ticipants gathered in Columbus for the second in a series of regional Catholic conversations on climate change April 14.

Citing Genesis' call to. human. ity to oversee creation while protecting it and the Church's social doctrine, the Vatican diplomat out· lined the Holy See's position on the need for Catholics to heed the environmental dangers the planet faces. ''The denigration of the environment has become an inescapable reality," the archbishop said.

"There is no doubt that the latest assessment has established a strong cOOnection between human activity and climate change," he said, referring to a February statement by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

and that 'are consistent with Catho- and listening instead of a mode of lic values. The USCCBI'is a major prescribing solutions." supporter of the coalitiqn..

He expects it will be at least six' "The public policy repledies are months befor~ the bishops back any Archbishop Migliore acknowl- require turning to people in the de- very complicated," Misleh said. of the climate change bills pe.nding edged that although not all scien- veloping world, especially those· "We're more in a mode bflearning in Congress. tists agree that climate change is living in dire poverty, and making occurring other environmental decisions with their advice and conthreats, such as indiscriminate de- sent, the papal nunCio said.

"With humans open to love, cre· forestation, water pollution, the lack There are manYrthings to do on a daily basis to . of potable water in many parts of ation becomes the place for the the world and the depletion of fish mutual exchange of gifts among live a simpler life and help stop global warming by stocks, demand action from the people," he said. reducing the ou~putof carbon dioxide. . world ~ommunity and individual The Ohio conference was the Catholics alike. second of three gatherings being USE COMPACT FLOURESCENT BULBS ''We need to drink deep from this held across the country to address Replace frequently used light bulbs with compact frustrating foundation of knowl- the Catholic response to climate flourescent ones. edge and wisdom, known as the change. The first was in Florida in aggressive and progressive degra- . March'and the third will be June 2 INFLAtE YOUR TIRES . ·dation of the environment, that has in Anchorage, Alaska.

Keeping auto tires inflated saves around $840 a year.

I become an inescapable reality,'? he The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is convening represen-. said.

USE RECYCLED. PAPER Archbishop Migliore called tatives from across a broad specUsing 1'00% post consumer recycled paper can save five pouryds of carbon dioxide per rea'!' of paper.

God's placing of humans in the trum of society for a thorough disqaiden of Eden with the instructiO'n cussion on clim~te change. not only to tame nature, but to keep, The April 14 conference reADJUST YOUR THERMOSTAT' or preserve, it as well. God's in- flected that desire by involving repTurn thermostats down two degrees in the winter and up two degrees in the summer to save money. struction was not so much ~ com- resentatives from utility companies, mandment but a blessing "to per- a consumer group, environmental fect, not destroy, the cosmos," he organizations, agriculture, higher TAKE SHORTER SHOWERS education, state government, local said.

Save almost $100 per year by reducing the amount Any steps to protect the environ- parishes and diocesan social action of time spent in the shower. ment must depend on more than the offices. use of technology and traditional Dan Misleh, executive director USE A PUSH MOWER economics; they must depend on of the 10-month-old Catholic CoaUse hum~n energy to significantly reduce the amoun~ of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. "ethical, social and religious values lition on Climate Change and a conas well," he said. ference planner, said the bishops are Likewise, any corrective. steps looking for steps that "make sense" BRING 'CLOTH BAGS TO THE MARKET This reduces waste and requires no additional energy.

Take Action!

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Health workers must argue for' ,moral system, says U.S. doctor

ROME - Health professionals care, he said, no system will be ad- ing money" because 25 p~rcent to need to band together to "argue for equate unless it is tackled as an et!U- 30 percent of health care costs go a morally valid and just" health care cal or moral problem, not just an to administrative expenses. system,. said a prominent U.S. economic or political one.

Pellegrino saId people had a reCatholic physician.

"It's a fact that cert3.in members sponsibility to take care of their ''We as health professionals have ofour society become sick, old, and .health, but if people smoke or take enormous moral power, and we're frail ... and you can judge the qual: drugs "and are then sick and dying, not using it. By that I mean we're ity of a society by how they treat have they lost their human dignot alerting our sQCiety to what's their sick, old, frail and dying" nity?" happening to patients and When asked about what saying that w~ feel it needs' insurance companies could to be improved,'.' said . "It's a fact that certain members do to offer a more equitable Edmund Pellegrino, a long- of our society become sick, old, and or just allocation of health time leader in developing frail ... and you can judge the qual- care, Pellegrino said he bioethical standards based ity of a society by how they treat their '-'would eliminate the insuron Catholic values. He also sick, old, frail and dying" members, ance companies. We don't is chairman of the U.S. .including foreigners, he said. need them and they're mak. .

President's Council on Bio~ ing a profit on the blood, ethics. sweat and tears" of people In a recent talk at the Pontifical members, including foreigners, he who are sick, suffering or dying.

Regina Apostolorum University in said.

"By the way, I'm not a rebel, I'm Rome, the 87-year-old former People need to decide whether not- a socialist, nor am I a commupresident of The Catholic Univer- . health care is a right, a privilege, a nist. I believe what I am saying is sity of America spoke on "Justice commodity or a moral obligation of consistent with the notion of Chrisand Fairness in Health Care" as part a good society, he said. tian charity," he said.

In the United States, health care of his weeklong series of lectures After all, he said, "what did Jesus sponsored by the university's bio- is treated as a commodity or a prod- do when he wasn't preaching? He ethics department. · uct or service that can be bought or was healing, day in, day out."

The number ofAmericans with- sold for the highest pficethe marout health care coverage is on the . ket can bear "and that 'virus' is beMontie Plumbing rise; as of 2004 approximately 45.8 ing spread to the rest of the world," & Heating Co. million people were uninsured; ac- he said.

Over as Years "The sick have a moral claim on cording to the U.S. Census Bureau.. of Satisfied Services But insured or not, people are all of us" because of their human Reg. Master Plumber 7023 not getting the kind of ~ealth care dignity, he said, adding that he beJOSEPH RAPOSA, JR. they need, Pellegrino said. Al- lieves health care is a moral obli432 JEFFERSON STREET though poli~ymakers talk about gation owed to all human beings.

FALL RIVER 508-675-7496 various ways to improve health He also said people were "wast-

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A TONY NEXT? - The Bishop Feehan IndOor Percussion Ensemble captured first place at this year's-New England Scholastic Marching Band competition held on the UMass-Amherst campus. W.ith the win, the Attleboro team completed an undefeated inaugural season of competition.

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ORDER ON THE COURT- Members of the eighth-grade Girls' Basketball Team from St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro, display trophies they earned ... for taking third place in the annual St. John's Invitational Basketball Tournament.

Front: KaraHoward and Christina Caruso. Middle: Briege Lee, Hunter O'Brien, and Molly Endler. Back: Katelyn Boisseau, Hannah Curran, Shelby Finan, and Samantha DiPietro. They are coached by Jack Caruso and Steve Lee.

MAKING LINUS PROUD - Members of the St. Mary's Parish Youth Group in , Seekonk display some of the blankets they made and donated to hospitalized children as part of Project Linus.

TROPICAL ELATION - Seventh-grader Shannon Robey from St. John the Evan~ PLAYING HARDBALL ~ Bishop Feehan Senior Gregory Hopkins of Mansfield, signs : gelist School in Attleboro, was the lucky raffle winner at the school's recent Hawaiian a letter of intent to play Division 1 baseball at St. John's University in Queens, as his Fun auction. Sh~ won her choice of a trip to Hawaii or $3,000 cash. With Robey is Principal Mary Jane Holden. , " parents and coach Greg Gagne look on.

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17

But you can let go

By CHARuE MARTlN CAN'T LET GO

THE JUDGE'S SEAT - Sister of Mercy Suzanne White, a kindergarten teacher at St. Anthony of Padua School, New Bedford, judges projects in the school's Science Fair as sixth-grader Andrew Santos looks on. Below, winners hold up their ribbons. From left: Sydney Mota, Andrew Santos, Ty Majka, Corinne Pavao, Cassandra Charpentier and Nina Santos. .

Well you're the closest thing I hav~ To :bring up in a conversation About a love that didn't last But I could never call you mine Cause I could never call myselfyours And ifwe were really meant to be Well then we justify destiny It's not that our love died, Just never really bloomed Refrain: Well I can't let go No, I can't let go ofyou You're holding me back without even trying to .

I can't let go I can't move on from the past Without lifting, a finger you're holding me back And then we saw our paths diverge And I guess I felt OK about it Until you got with another man And then J couldn't understand Why it bothered me so How we didn't die we just Never had a chance to grow (Repeat refrain.)

And it might not make sense To you or any ofmy friends Though somehow you s .till affect the Things I do And you can't lose what you never had .

I don't understand why I feel sad Every time I see you out with someone new I can't let go No, I can't let go No, I can't let go ofyou (Repeat refrain.)

I can't let go No, I can't let go ofyou

CATHOL!C NEWS SERVICE

You're holding me bacR without gather up what lessons can be even trying to learned from the experience.

I can't let go Consider who you need to I can't move on from the past forgive, including how to extend Sung by Landon Pigg forgiveness to yourself.

Copyright 2006 by RCA Moving beyond the past is helped when you develop. a clear Perhaps my first reac~on was predictable. I wondered,··"Is that sense of purpose, decide how you his real name?" Well so far I want to make a positive di.fference haven't found out differently. with your life. The world has no Apparently Landon Pigg's first shortage of"hurt, but you have the hit, "Can't Let Go," repr¢sents the· ability to respond to the hurt in real Landon Pigg. However, others'lives.

Pigg's musi,c isthe bigger story.

The song's chara~ter can begin His major label debut is generatsuch a process by discovering who in his community could ing sOme stunning reviews, even Pigg to ~ young benefit from his support, time and comparisons of , I John Lennon. Now, thaqs lofty generosity. For example, he might : volunteer as a Big Brother, work kudos!

"Can't Let Go" describes a in a Habitat for Humanity guy's painful efforts to Qlove building project or get more beyond a past romance. for him involved in his church. Doing so "it's not that our love di~d, just is not an attempt to deny that he misses his former girlfriend; it never really bloomed ... 'never had just says that he will not make this a chance to grow." He thought hurt the center of his world. that he was over this relationship "until you got with another man."

These steps do not form a sure Getting over a serious'fomance recipe for moving beyond the is challenging, especially when it past, but they do create new paths is not clear why the relationship for continuing one's life journey.

When hurt touches our lives, we ended. So learning how to "let go of the past" is an essential skill need to grieve our losses, reach out for the support of friends and for living effectively today.

Many times the way to release resolve to re-engage ourselves the past is through forgi~eness. with the present.

Why situations don't work out as ' . We can "let go," one day at a we hoped is often difficult to time. determine. Looking for blame, Letting go of hurt moves us into the wonder and opportunity excuses or getting lost in self-pity that God places in each present rarely helps us move on! Howmoment. ever, the spiritual gift of forgiveYour comments are always ness offers different options.

Through forgiv~ness, we no welcome. Please write to me at: longer have to understarid chmartin@swindiana.net or at thoroughly why things ~ent 7125W 200S, Rockport, IN wrong. Instead, we can <;:hoose to 47635.

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Come to the table Ahhhh ... it's May. Warm weather, singing birds, buddiog flowers and trees, and the end of' April showers (I hope) signify the month of May. Senioritis will kickin any day now for our graduates and the rest of our youth eagerly await the two most glorious words in the English language - summer vacation.

But May is something so much more. It is usually the month when most first Communion celebrations are held. The front doors of the church are thrown open as the gentle spring breeze brushes the arm of ~very parent,granqparent, and godparent anticipating the moment the children process down the aisle in their new-but-often . itchy suits and dresses. Some children are terrified to move with so many eyes watching while others smile from ear-to-ear trying to control themselves from shouting, ''Look at me!" in the middle of the choir's refrain. As the procession' continues to the first rows of the

church, smiles slowly sweep across the congregation's faces. After all, have you tried to not smile while these adorable kids take their seats?

You would have an easier time . receiving an A+ on an organic chemistry test.

The Mass continues and .

-then the most anticipated moment of the liturgy arrives: the moment when the priest places the holy ) Eucharist on the tongues or in those tiny, eagerly ~awaiting hands and says ''The Body of Christ" to the child for the first time. As they return to their pews for prayer, proud looks'adorn their faces.

These children come to the Lord's table to receive his Body in the Eucharist with such zeal and enthusiasm that echo their love of Jesus. Can you recall your first Communion? Do you still receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus with that same zeal and excitement? Do you feel any

excitem(:nt at all?

As I write this, I'm reminded of the famous passagefrom Luke's Gospel, ''Let the children come to me and do not prevent them; for the

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kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it," (18:16-17). The children who will receive first Communion, have the faith and excitement Jesus talks about in the Gospels. These children, our young Catholics, embrace Jesus Christ whole-heartedly when they say "Amen" to the priest Then something happens.

Between firSt Commupion and confinnation and even beyond confinnation many of us lose that excitement We lose the fire and excitement we once had not just for the Eucharist but, for church in general. Why does the faith we had as children elude us as we grow older? Sometimes, as in my case, life circumstances pull us away from our faith and Catholic identity and some of us are able to come to know that enthusiasm and passion later in life.

Wbat tOO many youth and adults lose sight of is the gift of receiving the' holy Eucharist at MaSs each and every ~unday. Whenthe pastor or extraordinary minister of Holy Communion places the ~ody of Quist on our tongue or in our hands a sense of unity with Jesus should envelop us. '!\vo years ago, I traveled to Israel with a couple of friends ~ part of a Protestant tour. 'The mini~~r leading II

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the mostly Protestant tourists praised Catholics for receiving the holy Eucharist every Sunday. For as he put it, "How can you get too much of Jesus? It's like saying I'm not going to read Scripture because I don't want to hear too much of God's word."

As Catholics, the eucharistic table not only unit~s us with Jesus, but it unites us as a community grounded in the faith, hope, and love of Christ's message. The holy Eucharist, as it is the Body of Christ, is the core of our Catholic identity.

So as we come together as community each week, let's be like those children in Luke's Gospel. Let's remember our first Communion.

Then perhaps we canjoyously come to the table.

Crystal is the Youth Ministry Coordinator at St Lawrence Parish in New Bedford and an assistant in the Diocesan Youth Ministry Office. Email questions or- comments to cmedeiros@dfrcec.com

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Amendment ture would probably open the convention b~t then put it into recess.

"But· things can change quickly," said Saunders.

The constitutional convention next Wednesday is intended to set the amendment before legislators for their second needed 25 percent ofthat body - or 50-vote approval - for final advancement.

The amendment needs approval votes in two consecutive conventions before it can come before Massachusetts voters next year.

"I think we definitely have the 50 votes to move the Marriage Act right now," reported Saunders, "even after

The Anchor ,

MAy 4, 2007

Contin~ed from page one_

losing some staunch supporters who did not seek reelection last year. But right now the important thing is to thank the legislators who have supported the Act and continue to call them and thank them and ask them to continue with their support."

The MCC is planning an upcoming letter by the Catholic bishops urging voters to stay in contact with their legislators, he reported.

When the initial vote finally on the Marriage Act came last January, it was after two recesses by reluctant law makers, after their obligation as elected officials to take up the citizens' petition, was repeatedly spelled

out to them by former Gov. Mitt Romney, the courts, and the four Catholic bishops.

Gov. Deval Patrick is an opponent of the Marriage Act and is on record as working to defeat it. This comes even as reports surface of Patrick's office reportedly "in disarray" financially and in areas of planning.

While there are seven months left in the current session for legislators to make the second vote, any delay "is not in our favor," asserted Bea Martins, coo~dinator ofCatholic Citizenship for the Diocese ofFall River.

"Itoo think we have the 50 votes needed right now. We have to sup-

r--------------------------------,· Prayerful places to seek .God's help to advance Marriage Amendment I

The following is a list of parishes where Mass, adoOur Lady ofMount Cannel in New Bedford. Adora- I ration, prayers, and devotions are scheduled to seek in- tion on May 4 following the 8 a.m., Mass and ending at \ tercession for the Legislature's approval furthering the 10 p.m.'

I Marriage Amendment petition at the May 9 constituOur Lady of Perpetual Help in New Bedford. May tional convention in Boston: 4, eucharistic adoration beginning after the 7:30 am.

Attleboro Deanery Mass until 9:00 a.in.

St. Mary in Mansfield. Holy Hour on May 4 at 3 p.m.

St. Anthony in New Bedford. Holy hour on May 4 at . Cape Cod Deanery 4 p.m.

Corpus Christi in East Sandwich. Adoration: May 4, St. Julie Billiart, North Dartmouth. May 8, day of 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., and from 7 to 8 p.m. Special inten- fasting and prayer with holy hour at 7 p.m. , tion prayers: 9:30-10:30 a.m. and 7-8 p.m.

St. Kilian in New Bedford. Adoration May 4 starting St. Elizabeth Seton in North Falmouth. May 4, Eu- at 7 a.m., and ending at 7 p.m., with Benediction; and charistic adoration beginning at 9:30 a.m. concluding Masses at 8:15 a.m., and 7 p.m.

• with Benediction at noon. Parishioners are asked to use St. Lawrence in New Bedford. May 4, eucharistic the last hour specifically for the prayer intentions and to adoration starting after the 4 p.m. Mass, concluding with fast on this day. . ,Benediction at 6:30 p.m. ' St. John the Evangelist in Pocasset. May 4, holy hour St. Mary in New Bedford. Adoration May 4 after the after the 7:30 a.m. Mass, with prayers, exposition and 8 a.m. Mass, and ending with Benediction at 3 p.m.

Benediction.

Thoo1on Deanery St. Joseph in Woods Hole. Adoration on the First Holy Family, East Taunton. May 4, eucharistic adoFriday, May 4, following the 8 a.m., Mass and ending at ration beginning after the 8 a.m. MaSs concluding with .

5 p.m. Stations of the Cross at 4:30 p.m., and Benedic- Benediction at 8 p.m. . tion at 4:50 p . m . .

Morton Hospital in Taunton. Sunday, May 6, adoraSt. Margaret in Buzzards Bay. May 5, rosary and tion in the chapel. . prayer intentions following the 8 a.m. Mass.

Included among the many prayer partners in St. Patrick in Falmouth. Adoration on Friday, May 4 the diocese in support of the Marriage Amendafter the 9 a.m., Mass and ending at 4:30 p.m., with ment as the union between one man and one Benediction. woman, are the Pro-Life Apostolate~ the Fran- \' ciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word, retired Fall River Deanery St. Mary Cathedral. May 5, adoration in the Chapel priests of the diocese; students, staff and faculty I following ~e.9 ~m. M a s s . . at Bishop Stang Higl! School in North Dartmouth; I St. Dormmc m Swansea. Adoratlon oil May 4 after S1. John's Seminary in Brighton; Brothers of I the 8 a.m. Mass and ending with Benediction at 6 p.m. Christian Instruction, Fall River; Daughters of I St. John of God in Somerset. Adoration May 4 after - Charity, Seekonk; Missionaries of Charity, New the 8 a.m., Mass and ending at noon.

Bedford; Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate, I New Bedford Deanery .

New Bedford; Dominican Sisters of Charity of the I Our Lady of <?uadalupe at St. James Churc~ ~ New Presentation ofthe Blessed Virgin, Dightoni Sis- I Bedford. Adoratlon on Sunday, May 6, begmnmg at ters of Charity of Quebec, New Bedford; Sisters of Ste. Jeanne d' Arc, Fall River.

I L 12:30 p.m., and ending with Benediction at 4:45 p.m. ~

port our legislators who favor the amendment and be prepared for whatever comes our way," she added.

"We have to press for a vote."

She added, "We'll be in Boston in large numbers ... from the four Catholic dioceses in Massachusetts as well as proponents of the Marriage Act from other religious groups and agencies statewide."

On April 24, Martins led a contingent from the Fall River Diocese, which joined with other amendment proponents at the annual Lobby Day at the statehouse to again get their message across on marriage, as well as another matter, the proposed Benefits Fairness Act. '''The hearings room, which seats approximately 75, was packed," reported Martins. The speakers were Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, and Evelyn Reilly, a member ofthat organization.

While it is a separate issue from VoteOnManiage.org - the campaign to allow voters to decide on the definition ofmarriage - the Benefits FairnessAct would ensure'citizens in the Commonwealth who are ineligible for marriage to be afforded necessary rights, protections and benefits not currently provided for under Massachusetts'law.

The proposal, submitted in January 2006, has never been acted on.

Martihs noted that the Benefits Fairness Act offers citizens a practical and cost-effective way of securing legitimate and necessary rights, responsibilities and benefits ''based on need and not on sexual preference."

Appeal videos to' air on local cable TV A video offering a look at some of the programs and ministries that are funded by the Catholic Charities Appeal is airing on cable TV public access channels in communities t~roughout the Fall River Diocese.

As The Anchor went to press

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Martins explained that the purpose of the proposed legislation is to cre~ ate a new category of contractual relationships entitled "Reciprocal Beneficiary Contracts." She said, "It recognizes that situations exist where people are in interdependent mutually supportive relationships -like relatives - who are ineligible to be married, but who would nevertheless benefit from a status similar to next of kin."

The specific benefits would include hospital visitation rights; the right to designate a reciprocal beneficiary to make health care decisions in the event the other reciprocal beneficiary is unable to do so; insurance benefits; health coverage; joint tenancy with survivors in a home; inheritance where there is no will; bankruptcy; next of kin status; and right to recover damages.

The Benefits Act is strongly endorsed by VoteOnMarriage.org and the allied organizations that support the Marriage Amendment.

The Benefits Act is being supported by Senator Richard Moore of Worcester-Norfolk and Rep. Paul Donato of Medford.

Saunders, who's office worked on the draft of the Benefits Act, said it probably would not be taken up until next November. "It's important but not a priority item right now."

A typographical error in last week's Anchor, missed by several sets of eyes, stated a marriage should be between one man and one man - is evidence how unaccu~­ tomed ~e eye is to that phrase.

FOR ALLDAY WALKING COMFORT JOHN'S SHOE STORE 295 Rhode Island Avenue Fall River, MA 02724

airings were scheduled as follows: Dartmouth, Fall River, New Bedford: Comcast Channel 9, on May 4, 5, 11, 12, 18 and 19 at 6 p.m.; May 6,13, and 20 at 8:30 p.m.

Lower Cape TV (Brewster, Eastham, Orleans, Provincetown, Truro, and Wellfleet), cable Channe117, May 8 at 1:30 p.m.

Mashpee, cable Channel 17, May 8,15 and 22 at 6 p.m.

New Bedford, cable Channel 95, May 7, 14, 21, and 28 at 8 p.m.; May 9, 16,23, and 30 at 1 p.m.

Taunton, cable Channel 15, May 8 and 15 at 8 p.m.; May 9 and 16 at 6:30p.m.

Westport, cable Channel 17, May 6 and 13 at 11 a.m.; May 7 and 14 at 2 p.m.

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Around the Diocese ~ :1'"' "..

Memories

[Eucharisti~Ado.;tion ~ ----]

to assist beginning at 4 p.m.

ATTLEBORO - A Divine Mercy holy hour is held each Wednesday following the 6:30 p.m. celebration of Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette. The Blessed Sacrament is exposed during the holy hour.

For more information call 508222-5410.

NORTH EASTON - Witness history in the making. Attend the beatification ceremony ofVenerable Father Basile Moreau, CSC, in Le Mans, France. Holy Cross Family Ministries is conducting a pilgrimage to Lourdes, Paris and Le Mans, including the beatification ceremony of Father Moreau, the founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross. September 9-17.

Contact: Marie Dennehy, 508238-4095 or 800-299-7729, or mdennehy@hcfm.org.

FALL RIVER - First Saturday devotions will be held tomorrow beginning at 9 a.m. at St. Mary's Cathedral. Mass will be followed by exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament until noon.

NEW BEDFORD - Perpetual eucharistic adoration is held at Our Lady's Chapel, 600 Pleasant Street. For more information call 508-888-7751.

~ealing Services

[搂-Life Activities

ATTLEBORO - A Hispanic healing service will be held Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette.

For more information call 508222-5410.

EtureslPresentations

TAUNTON - A yard sale will be held tomorrow at Our Lady of Lourdes School, 52 First Street, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon. It will be held in the school gym and includes clothing, furniture and baked goods. Free coffee will be served..

]

TAUNTON - The annual convention ofthe Fall River Diocesan Council of Catholic Women will be held tomorrow at St. Antho~y's Parish, 126 School Street, beginning at 7:45 a.m. with coffee and registration. It is themed, "Because My Mother Said Yes," and it will include a talk by Atty. Philip Moran. For more information call 508-672-6900.

IMiscellaneous FAIRHAVEN - Our Lady's Haven seeks volunteers to assist at the nursing facility in transporting residents to and from their rooms to meals, activities and daily Mass. People are needed during the week and on weekends.

For more information call Manuel Benevides at 508-999-4561.

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ATTLEBORO - The 20th annual Pro-Life living rosary and Mass will be held tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette. President of the Mass路achusetts Citizens for Life; Joseph Reilly Jr., will be key~ note speaker. Mass will be celebrated at 4:30 p.m. by Father Roger J. Landry. The day is sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. For more information call 508-222-5410.

ATTLEBORO - Pro-Life advocates picket and offer prayers on Wednesdays from 4-5 p.m. and Saturdays from 7:30-9 a.m. at "4 Women's Clinic," at the corner of Park and Emory streets, where abortions take place on those days. Participants are needed to pray and picket to help save the lives of unborn children.

ISocial Events NORTH DARTMOUTH Project Rachel, }l ministry of healing and reconciliation for post-abortion women and men is available in the diocese. If you are hurting from an abortion experience and want help call 508997-3300. All calls are confidential.

FALL RIVER - The Fall River area's men's First Friday Club will meet tonight for a 6 p.m. celebration of Mass at Good Shepherd Parish, 1598 South Main Street.

A meal in the church hall will fol- NORTH DARTMOUTH- The low and pastor Father Freddie . Diocesan Divorced-Separated Babiczuk will give a presentation Support Group will meet May 9 on the Holy Land. For more in- from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Family Life Center, 500 Slocum Road. It formation call 508-672-8174. will include a presentation of the FALL RIVER A soup video, "GettingYour Relationship kitchen is open on Mondays in Focus." Refreshments will be from 5-6 p.m. at Sacred Heart available.. For more information Church Hall, 160 Seabury call Bob Menard at 508-965Street. Volunteers are welcome 2919.

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The Anchor $

June 3, 1939 by Bishop James A. Cassidy in St. Mary's Cathedral.

The former Father Cassidy had been pastor at St. Patrick's when young John J. Murphy was a student in its grammar school.

Father Murphy's assignments as parochial vicar included St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Provincetown, Holy Name Parish in Fall River, and St. Lawrence Parish in New Bedford. He was pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Seekonk, St. Joseph Parish in Taunton, and Holy Name Parish in New Bedford, until his retirement on June 28, 1989.

That came just weeks after he celebrated his 50th anniversary as a priest.

He later assisted at St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in North Falmouth and St. Thomas More Parish in Somerset, before moving to the Cardinal Medeiros Residence in Fall River.

Msgr. Harrington recalled that when Father Murphy was a curate at St. Lawrence Parish in New Bedford in the early 1950s, "I was one of the altar servers in that parish he trained for a special consecration ceremony. The other young servers included Francis L. Mahoney, John J. Smith, John F. Moore,anc} Barry W. Wall. We al~ became priests. I still have some of the diagrams Father Murphydrew showing us what we had to do in the ceremonies."

Father Manuel P. Ferreira, also retired and at the Cardinal Medeiros Residence, said he too

_ In.X'?~~~~y~!~_.

Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks May 1 Rev. Francis 1. Quinn, Founder, Immaculate Conception, North Easton; Founder, Sacred Heart, Fall River, 1882 Rev. Joseph F. D'Amico, Pastor, Sacred Heart, Oak Bluffs, 1996 Rev. Walter A. Sullivan, Pastor, SI. Mary, South Dartmouth, 1997 May 2 Rl. Rev. Msgr. M.P. Leonidas Lariviere, Pastor, SI. Jean Baptiste, Fall River, 1963

MayS Rev. Leo M. Curry, Retired Pastor, SI. Dominic, Swansea, 1973 Rev. Albert Rowley, SS.CC., in residence, SI. Francis Xavier, Acushnet, 1985 Rev. Raymond A. Robida, Catholic Memorial Home, Fall River, 2003 May 6 Rev. Thomas P. Elliott, Founder, SI. 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.1., Professor, Spring Hill College, Mobile, Ala., 1958

Continued from page one

had been an altar server for Father Murphy, but at St. Peter's in Provincetown.

"FatherMurphywasaregularfellow. During the World War IT years, around 1941, he started a drum and bugle corps at St. Peter's, and I was a member. He could play the trumpet and he taught us how to play."

Another favorite pastime that involved the boys in the parish occurred daily when Father Murphy would meet the boat alnving at the Cape from Boston.

"He would wrap a coin in a dollar bill for us to dive for in the shallow water so that the people on the boat would see us vying for them.

Then the people on the boat would start throwing out coins too," Father Ferreira said.

He recalled that the Murphy Family would come to the Cape for a two-week vacation every year at a cottage at Beach Point.

"That's how I came to meet his family and I knew them all. Father Murphy lived with us at the Medeiros Residence until a few weeks ago when he left to have a hip replacement. He was still driving his car and didn't want to lose his independence," said Father Ferreira.'

In a 1986 article in the former What's Happening section. of the Fall River Herald News, Father Murphy fondly recalled that while a student at Durfee High School he was one of the first nattily-uniformed ushers at the former Durfee Theater downtown when it opened in September 1929. It was a showcase for its time.

It seemed an ideal job for the young man who was active in Durfee High Sch?ol's drama club and theater group. and whose multi-talents also included playing the trumpet and路 the violin.

"I ushered there from opening night 'till I left to go to college -

and was even called back during Christmas vacation times to help out. The pay was not enormous, but it all added up to help pay for college," Father Murphy said. "My Durfee Theater days were' happy ones, and I have pleasant memories of the people with whom I worked."

With nostalgia, he wrote, "Like the Durfee Theater itself, we have all but disappeared - and only memories remain."

In the 1986 interview, Father Murphy also spoke of his vocation.

"I've enjoyed a very happy life in the priesthood. Each parish was special to me. I've actually spent more time away from Fall River than in it, but I still consider myself a Fall Riverite. My roots are there."

Msgr. Harrington also recalls that Father Murphy "was a class runner on the track team at Durfee High School, and was so good that he was considered as a candidate for tryouts for the Olympics. He was quite a craftsman too, in wood ... and things electrical. When he was at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Seekonk, he and the men of the parish actually constructed the parish center.'"

Father Murphy's survivors include a sister, Rita F. Johnson of Riverside, R.I.; two nieces, Maureen Vavolotis and Kathleen Danforth; and a nephew, Michael Johnson. He was the brother of the late Michael A. Murphy and Marie A. Murphy.

His Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated April 27 in Holy Name of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in New Bedford with Bishop George W. Coleman as principal celebrant. Burial was in St. Patrick's Cemetery, Fall River.

The Saunders-Dwyer Home for Funerals in New Bedford was in charge of arrangements.

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Yearbook says U.S. Chris~n ch",rch membership rising WASHlNGTON - Total mem- of all Christian church membership. bership in U.S. Christian churches With an increase of 1.94 percent continued to rise in 2005, despite on- over its previous year's total, the going declines in some of the . Catholic Church was also among the country's largest mainline Protestant fastest-growing of the nation's 25 churches, according to the 2007 Year- largest churches, followed closely by book of American and Canadian the Assemblies of God, which reChurches. corded 1.86 percent growth, and the Total recorded inclusive member- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ship in 2005 was 165,878,323, up Saints, with 1.63 percent growth. more than 2.4 million from the preIn 2004 the Catholic Church came vious year, the yearbook said. in third behind the other two in rate The 439-page yearbook is an an- of growth. Because of annual flucnual publication of the New York- tuations, a better indicator of trends based National Council ofChurches. is membership change over a longer This year's book is the council's 75th period, such as a decade. edition.

Between the 1997 and 2007 yearIt lists U.S. and Canadian church books, the recorded change in Cathobodies, with a brief description of lic population was from 60.3 million each and its national headquarters, of- to 69.1 million, or an iIicrease of 15 ficers, periodicals and major agencies percent. The Assemblies of God reor boards. corded growth of nearly 19 percent It also includes directories ofU.S. in that decade, and the Latter-day and Canadian seminaries, religious Saints grew by nearly 21 percent. periodicals, ecumenical organizaSix mainline Protestant bodies tions, cooperative religious organiza- among the 25 largest churches tions, institutions engaged in religious showed losses in membership in research and a selective directory of 2005. The United Church of Christ non-Christian religious organizations. was down 3.28 percent; the PresbyBecause it relies on data collected terian Church (U.S.A.), 2.84 percent; by the church bodies, the 2007 year- American Baptist Churches in the book covers 2005 data gathered by U.S.A., 1.97 percent; Evangelical the churches in 2006. The yearbook Lutheran Church in America, 1.62 reports what year the figures come percent; Episcopal Church, 1.59 perfrom, since not all churches collect cent; and United Methodist Church, new data every year.

1.36 percent.

The Catholic Church remained the As in other recent years, overall largest Christian church in the U.S. . seminary enrollment in the United in 2005 with a reported membership States and Canada grew, reaching of 69,135,254, or nearly 42 percent 81,302 in 2005.

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FAITH ISSUES - Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., moderator Tim Russert of NBC and Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., take part in a Boston College forum on "Catholic Senators and Preside~tial Candid~tes: Th~ir Faith and Public Policy" April 23. During the forum, Dodd and Brownback explained how theIr Catholic faith informs their public policy decisions on issues such as abortion, capital punishment and the war in Iraq. (CNS photo/Gregory L. Tracy, The Pilo~

Catholic presidential candidates share views on faith, policy

By DONIS TRACY CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE NEWTON, Mass. Two Catholic senators and presidential candidates shared their views on their faith and how it affects their public policy decisions April 23 at Boston College's Conte Forum in Newton.

"My faith has had a huge influence on me," particularly the teaching of Catholic social justice, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., told the crowd of nearly 4,000. However, he underscored that "faith informs my decisions. It doesn't define my decisions."

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., also said his faith is "a big part of the decision-making process," but he noted that most of his views predate hisjoining the Catholic Church four years ago.

Both senators agreed that all too often the concept of the separation of church and state has stymied the discussion of faith in regard to public policy. .

"I think we've made a huge mistake" not talking about faith in the public sector, said Dodd. "People confuse the notion of having faithbased policy and replacing policy with faith beliefs."

The separation of church and state is necessary, Brownback said, but it "shouldn't be a wall so high that we can't meet to talk."

Moderated by Tim Russert, host of NBC's "Meet the Press," the forum featured discussion by the senators on issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, the death penalty and the war in Iraq.

When asked about the war, both agreed on the need for President George W. Bush to meet with legislators to seek a resolution to the conflict.

"The only solution is a three state-one country solution,"

Brownback proposed. "We're not going to solve the Sunni-Shia fight." Sunnis and Shiites, also called Shia, are two of three main groups in Iraq; the Kurds make up the third group.

Dodd concurred, adding that iraqis must themselves decide to resolve the conflict. ''There's not a military big enough or a treasury deep enough if they don't make a decision to end the conflict," he said.

Russert asked the senators to express their views of the death penalty in light of the exoneration of Jerry Miller, the 200th person released from prison as the result of DNA testing that proved his innocence. Both senators supported the existence of capital punishment but said it should only be applied in extreme circumstances when public safety is at risk. In addition, both of them felt strongly that the entire prison system in the United States needs to be reformed.

"We have a national problem with this and it's a big one," said Brownback, urging Boston College students to get involved in reforming the system.

The senators, however, disagreed sharply on other societal hot-button issues such as embryonic stem-cell research, abortion and same-sex unions.

Dodd indicated he is in favor of embryonic stem-cell research in cases where "the choice goes down to whether to discard embryonic stem cells or utilize them." However, he noted he is opposed to human cloning.

Dodd'also said he is in favor of legal recognition of same-sex unions, though he added that he is "not comfortable" applying the term marriage to those unions.

Regarding abortion, he said he believes in a woman's legal right to

choose and expressed concern that the Supreme Court's recent ruling on the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act might not adequately take into account protection of a woman's health.

However, he noted that the governrnent "bears an obligation" to try to reduce the number of abortions taking place each year. To that end, he announced he is going to submit legislation that would promote adoptions in this country.

Brownback, who is opposed to embryonic stem-cell research, said he believes the issue "boils down to one question: What is the youngest of humans - is it a person or property?"

"What we're doing with this is treating the youngest of humans as property," he said. Alluding to the slave trade, Brownback added, "We've been down this road in human history before and we've always regretted it."

Rather than support embryonic stem-cell research, Brownback believes the government should support adult stem-cell research, which has already been credited for treating 73 different diseases, most recently juvenile diabetes.

In addition, Brownback said he believes allowing same-sex marriage would weaken heterosexual marriages, noting that in European countries where same-sex marriages have been legalized, heterosexual marriages have sharply decreased.

Despite their differences, Dodd stressed the need for the nation's leaders to "come together" to discuss ways to move beyond their ideological differences.

"The country is not as divided as we think on these issues," he said.

"We've got to do a much better job than get into our respective comers, screaming at each other."