05.10.13

The Anchor Diocese of Fall River

F riday , May 10, 2013

New assistant superintendent for diocesan school system named

fall river — A longtime hiring of principals and teacheducator currently serving as ers; evaluation processes; health principal at a parish elementary and safety policies; and advising school in Fall River has been principals on matters relating to named to a key administrative legal issues, student discipline and parental concerns. position for Catholic “Mrs. Kane brings schools in the Fall River a wealth of experience Diocese. from her years as prinLouise P. Kane, now cipal in Catholic and principal at Espirito public schools,” said Santo School, will beDiocesan Superintencome assistant superdent of Schools Dr. Miintendent for personnel chael Griffin. for Fall River Dioc“She is highly comesan schools, effective L ouise P. Kane mitted to the academic July 1, Bishop George and spiritual mission W. Coleman has anof Catholic schools and will be nounced. She will succeed Katha great source of leadership and leen A. Simpson, who is retiring support for the 25 schools of the at the end of June. diocese.”

Kane will focus on a range Turn to page 18 of responsibilities including the

Video highlights small parish with a big heart

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

FALL RIVER — It’s a modern-day version of the children’s classic, “The Little Engine That Could,” and it’s the living out of Mark’s Gospel story of the widow’s offering to the temple treasury, who “out of her poverty, put in everything — all she had to live on.”

Sacred Heart Parish in Fall River is tucked away in the center of the city, not easily seen beyond the surrounding neighborhoods of three-deckers and mills.

Yet, despite its lack of exposure, the parishioners are some of the hardest-working and most dedicated members for which any Catholic parish community could hope.

The church itself on Seabury Street is a beautiful house of worship that’s been a part of Fall River since 1872. Like many older inner-city parishes in the Fall River Diocese and beyond, its parishioners and pastor, Father Raymond Cambra, worry about the future. The “demographics” buzzword has many Catholics on edge, but as Christ said in Mt. 6:34, “Do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself,” the pastor and his flock joyfully operate one of the most successful and utilized soup kitchens and food pantries in Massachusetts.

Hundreds of men, women and children enter through the door Turn to page 18

feeding the hungry — A screen-capture of a young child eating at the Sacred Heart Soup Kitchen in Fall River, is part of a recently-produced parish video, “Sacred Heart Parish: A Church and Its Mission,” to highlight the poor parish’s good works and rich history.

another step on the journey — Eric Queenan and Chris Peschel, seminarians for the Diocese of Fall River, recently received the ministry of Acolyte, the last of the minor orders prior to being ordained a deacon. The ceremony was held April 28 at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton. The Mass was celebrated by Bishop George W. Coleman. From left: Father Karl C. Bissinger, diocesan Vocation Director and the bishop’s secretary; Peschel; Bishop Coleman; Queenan; and Father David Pignato, a Fall River priest on faculty at St. John’s Seminary.

Newtown parish sends its thanks in wake of tragedy

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

NEWTOWN, Conn. — The idyllic community of Newtown, Conn. was shattered on Dec. 14, 2012 when Adam Lanza, after shooting and killing his mother, forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School during morning announcements and opened fire on the students and staff.

Msgr. Robert Weiss was in his rectory at St. Rose of Lima Parish in Newtown when the parish received a phone call that all the town’s schools had been placed on lockdown due to a “random shooting in the town,” recalled Msgr. Weiss. “Very shortly after that I received a phone call from a parishioner who works at Sandy Hook School [saying] you’d better get down here. I got down there and realized it was much more than a random shooting.”

Msgr. Weiss went immediately to the town’s fire station after hearing some of the students had gathered there. He recognized many of the children from his parish, with some running up to him upon his arrival.

Msgr. Weiss began to help orga-

nize the children, getting them to line up so that names could be taken.

“It was very chaotic,” he said. “We were told that some of the children had run into the woods, had run to the police station, some had been taken to the hospital; so there was a lot of confusion. It was pretty much everybody on cell phones trying to get in touch with anybody to see if they could find their child.

There was a lot of heavy anxiety going on, a lot of emotion.”

As parents came to collect their children, the number of students began to dwindle and the parents left standing became a living testament to an unthinkable horror.

“You looked and saw the faces of those parents whose children’s names weren’t called,” said Msgr. Weiss. “As time went on and more families members started gathering, and then the announcement was finally made, it was just — just a seabed of emotion. We went from confusion to chaos to hope — everybody was very hopeful that their child was hiding in a closet — but when it was

announced, there was so much emotion.”

Twenty students — only six or seven years old — and six adult staff members at Sandy Hook were dead.

“At the end of the day, there was nothing to say because it was so overwhelming,” said Msgr. Weiss. “We just tried to be there for each other. There was a great deal of compassion among those parents for each other. One would calm down and then another would start, and they would just go to that one and surround them and hug them.”

The outpouring of support was immediate. The town filled with people, with residents coming home from work early; every parish in the community opened its doors to offer comfort with many having a prayer service.

“I know we had a service at 7:30 and the church was just packed,” said Msgr. Weiss.

“There were about 1,000 people on the property; people were just looking for places to go and be with others.”

Turn to page 14

News From the Vatican

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May 10, 2013

Strong faith is key to Church unity, says doctrinal congregation head

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The unity of the Catholic Church rises or falls to the degree that its members uncompromisingly hold firm to the faith transmitted by the Apostles, said Archbishop Gerhard Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The congregation helps the pope “promote and safeguard the faith of the simple and, at the same time, strengthen the visible unity of the Church,” he said, because “these two tasks are inseparably linked; they hold, stand or fall together.”

Archbishop Muller spoke about the work of the doctrine congregation at a Mass with congregation staff members April 30, the feast of St. Pius V, patron saint of the congregation.

St. Pius, who was pope from 1566 to 1572, “sought to strengthen the unity of the faith through the reform and unification of the Liturgy,” the archbishop said. “And still today one can celebrate the Eucharist with his Missal,” which is the basis for the extraordinary or so-called Tridentine Mass.

The Tridentine Mass fell out of use amid the reforms that followed the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65; but in 2007, Pope Benedict XVI lifted most restrictions on its celebration in an effort to reconcile with the disaffected traditionalists.

The future Pope Pius grew up in a humble family in northern Italy and spent much of his childhood in the fields, caring for his family’s sheep.

“Perhaps it was in those years that he began developing an inclination for silence and prayer, a particular sensitivity to the beauty of nature,” an appreciation of simplicity and “a vigilant readiness to care for his flock.

And who knows if, watching the flock entrusted to him, he could ever have imagined that the Lord would entrust him with a very different flock.”

The future Pope Pius V en-

The Anchor www.anchornews.org

tered the Dominican order and was ordained a priest. His years with the sheep, the archbishop said, were “a quiet and humble preparation for important events that would see him take a key role in the Church of his time, first as an inquisitor and then as pontiff.”

Pope Pius’ concern was “most of all to protect the faith of the simple both in doctrine and in discipline. He defended the Church and the good of the Christian people with all his strength,” the archbishop said, and he led the efforts to put into practice the teachings of the Council of Trent, which was held from 1545 to 1563.

“Pius V was a tenacious upholder of the faith and Church unity,” the archbishop said. “He not only worked to defend the integrity of the faith from heresies,” he also worked for the unity of the Church of the East and West by recognizing four great theologians of the Greek tradition — SS. John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus and Athanasius — as doctors of the Church alongside SS. Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine and Gregory the Great.

Promoting the integrity of the faith and the unity of the Church are key tasks for the pope, Archbishop Muller said, and helping the pope do that is the job of the doctrinal congregation.

Pope Pius “was not willing to negotiate the faith because he knew that any compromise of the faith of the Apostles would be a direct threat to that gift which Jesus prayed for so much and for which He offered His life: the unity of His disciples,” the archbishop said.

“Where the faith of the Apostles is alive and where the visible unity of the Church is realized, witnesses are born” who naturally share the Gospel with others, he said. “When faith and unity are real, charity and a missionary impulse increase as well.”

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 57, No. 18

Member: Catholic Press Association, Catholic News Service

Published weekly except for two weeks in the summer and the week after Christmas by the Catholic Press of the Diocese of Fall River, 887 Highland Avenue, Fall River, MA 02720, Telephone 508-675-7151 — FAX 508-675-7048, email: theanchor@anchornews.org.

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wide-eyed wonder — Pope Francis greets a boy as he arrives to lead his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican recently. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Pope: Unemployment, slave labor go against God’s plan, human dignity

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis called for an end to slave labor and human trafficking as well as greater efforts to create dignified work for more people.

The problem of unemployment is “very often caused by a purely economic view of society, which seeks self-centered profit, outside the bounds of social justice,” he said, marking the May 1 feast of St. Joseph the Worker during his weekly general audience.

“I wish to extend an invitation to everyone to greater solidarity and to encourage those in public office to spare no effort to give new impetus to employment,” he said. “This means caring for the dignity of the person.”

The pope touched on the same theme during the homily at his early morning Mass, before a congregation of unwed teen-age mothers and their children in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where he lives.

In his homily, the pope said unemployment “is a burden on our conscience” because when society is organized in such a way that it cannot offer people an opportunity to work, “there is something wrong with that society: It is not right!”

“It goes against God Himself, Who wanted our dignity to begin with (work).”

“Power, money, culture do not give us dignity,” he said. “Work, honest work, gives us dignity.”

However, he said, “today many social, political and economic systems have chosen to exploit the human person” in the workplace, by “not paying a just (wage), not offering work, focusing solely on the balance sheets, the company’s balance sheets, only looking at how much I can profit. This goes against God!” “People are less important than the things that give profit to

those who have political, social, economic power. What point have we come to?” he asked.

The pope recalled a recent tragedy in Bangladesh, where more than 650 garment workers were killed when the building they were working in collapsed.

The workers reportedly earned just $38 a month.

“This is what you call slave labor,” the pope said.

Today, “we can no longer say what St. Paul said, ‘Who will not work, should not eat,’ but we have to say, ‘He who does not work has lost his dignity’ because he cannot find any opportunities for work.”

A society that cannot offer a person the possibility of work is a society that “has stripped this person of dignity,” he said.

Later in the day, Pope Francis returned to the theme of work and dignity during his weekly general audience.

More than 70,000 people turned out in St. Peter’s Square, many of them Italian families and children enjoying the May 1 Worker’s Day public holiday in Italy and many other countries.

After a long tour around the square in the popemobile, the pope dedicated his catechesis to May 1 as the celebration of St. Joseph the Worker and the beginning of the month devoted to Mary.

He said the two saints represent two key facets of life: work and prayer.

Work is part of God’s loving plan for humanity, who is called to participate in His act of creation, the pope said.

When, in the Book of Genesis, the Lord told Adam and Eve to “fill the earth and subdue it,” the pope said that “didn’t mean to exploit it, but cultivate it, safeguard it, take care of His work.”

“Work is part of God’s loving plan; we are called to cultivate

and safeguard all of creation’s resources and this is how we participate in the act of creation,” he said.

Work gives people dignity by allowing them to participate in God’s creation, support themselves and their families and contribute to the growth of their nation, he said.

While he called for more solidarity toward the unemployed and greater efforts by government officials to reinvigorate employment opportunities, the pope also called on people, especially the young, not to give up hope.

“There is always light on the horizon,” he said.

The pope made a special appeal against slave labor and human trafficking.

“How many people worldwide are victims of this type of slavery, in which the person is at the service of his or her work,” he said. “Work should offer a service to people so they may have dignity.”

The pope also urged his listeners to remember the importance of prayer as the silent contemplation of Jesus and conversation with God. The month of May, the pope said, recalls the beauty of praying the Rosary, which helps people keep Jesus “at the center of our thoughts, our attention and our actions.”

“It would be wonderful if, especially this month of May, (the Rosary) were recited together as a family, with friends, in parishes,” he said.

After greeting pilgrims from Poland, Pope Francis recalled the second anniversary of the May 1 beatification of Blessed Pope John Paul II. He asked the Polish seminarians and teachers present that their lives “be permeated by the faith, charity and apostolic courage of John Paul II.”

May 10, 2013

The International Church

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Canadian brother murdered in Haiti had worked in trying regions

change for the better — Children play along the coast of the Vidigal neighborhood in the southern section of Rio de Janiero April 17. In 1980 Pope John Paul II was so stunned by the poverty he saw there that he gave Vidigal his gold ring as an offering. With help from the Church, the dangerous and drug-ridden neighborhood has since transformed itself. Rio will host World Youth Day July 23-28. (CNS photo/Elie Gardner, Inti Media)

In Rio slum, residents recall 1980 visit, look forward to Pope Francis

RIO DE JANEIRO (CNS) — Carlos Rojas is the keeper of 240 keys at Our Lady of Consolation Church in Vidigal, a hillside slum in south Rio de Janeiro. He opens the church each morning, guards, cleans and closes it each night.

Before the church was built eight years ago, priests celebrated Mass in the street. Wanting their own space, Catholics in the community walked the hillside, going door-to-door, collecting signatures and eventually winning enough support to build their own sanctuary.

Brazil has more Catholics than any country in the world. In 1980 Blessed John Paul II visited the favela, or slum, and left his gold cross-shaped ring there, urging the community to sell it and use the money to better living conditions.

Rojas was on the committee that helped to coordinate the visit.

In July, another pope will come to Brazil for World Youth Day. While Rojas said he quietly hoped for another papal visit, he said another favela deserves the chance to experience what Vidigal did in 1980. Since Blessed John Paul’s visit to Vidigal, Rojas said the Catholic Church has played a pivotal role in helping the once-dangerous and drug-ridden neighborhood improve.

“The only fight, the only one that the Church will serve, is the noble one for truth and justice, the one for the real good, the one where the Church is at one with each man,” Blessed John Paul told the people of Vidigal.

In the years that followed the papal visit, Blessed John Paul’s words rang true. His visit and the media attention it generated turned the government’s eyes to the slum. Rojas says the government began to repair streets and put in streetlights.

But for decades, Vidigal has struggled with more than poverty.

Its ocean view and proximity to the most exclusive areas of Rio make it

coveted real estate. Residents have been threatened by investors and in some cases evicted from their homes. Rojas said the Catholic Church has defended the residents’ rights and helped to protect their land and homes.

Our Lady of Consolation Church built an addition five years ago because it was out of space.

Today the neighborhood has sewer service, running water and a street named after Blessed John Paul.

Hotels have sprung up and real estate prospectors continue to eye the favela, where property values are rising. The neighborhood never sold the gold ring left by the pope: It sits on display in a museum at the Metropolitan Cathedral.

Rojas said he wonders what impact Pope Francis and two million young Catholics will have on Rio. Throughout Rio, he said, youth are often seen as troublemakers and thieves, and events like World Youth Day are important in showing that they are not lost, but are the future.

In mid-April on the other side of town, Msgr. Joel Portela, executive secretary of the Local Organizing Committee for World Youth Day, celebrated Mass at Our Lady of Bonsucesso de Inhauma to celebrate the 100-day countdown to the event. Volunteers from dozens of countries have already arrived in Rio to prepare for the pilgrimage.

At the Mass, their voices joined in song with residents of the community of Mandela.

Mandela and Vidigal were recently targeted by police in an effort to clean up the city and rid the favelas of gangs and drug traffickers.

World Youth Day in July will be the first of many major events the city will host, followed by the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the Olympics in 2016.

Msgr. Portela said while Mandela is a community that has suffered a lot, like Vidigal, it shows signs of life, strength and hope. This is

the message he said World Youth Day will send — that the Catholic Church is everywhere and includes everyone.

“Why Mandela? I like to invert the question, why not Mandela?”

Msgr. Portela said after celebrating the Mass. During the homily he reiterated that World Youth Day is for all of Rio de Janeiro.

That’s the attitude that Rojas said he hoped the new pope would bring to Rio and one he says the Catholic Church should follow worldwide. “Pope Francis says the Church has to go where the people are,” Rojas said. “People don’t go to the Church, the Church must go to them.”

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (CNS) — Marianist Brother Richard E. Joyal, who was murdered in Haiti after withdrawing money at an ATM in late April, was a dedicated missionary who had worked in trying circumstances around the world, according to fellow members of the Society of Mary order.

Brother Joyal, 62, was shot three times in the back in an apparent robbery April 25. He had just withdrawn $1,000 from a bank in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, when two men approached him on a motorcycle, stole his backpack and shot him.

Police said they had arrested a suspect in the murder, but they declined to identify him.

Brother Joyal traveled to Haiti to help close the Society of Mary mission there. He was due to return to his native Canada May 3.

“It’s a pity, a real pity,” Father Gerard Blais, who oversees the Marianist missions in Canada and Haiti, said in a phone interview with Catholic News Service April 30. “We knew the dangers there.

He knew the dangers there.”

Brother Joyal was helping secure visas and passports for 10 young religious Haitian men who were being sent to Marianist properties in other countries as part of the closure of the Port-au-Prince mission.

The Haitian mission was being closed because of a separate murder of a Marianist brother last year.

On August 29, a young Haitian brother was killed in a shooting, Father Blais said.

“It was a very bad situation,” Father Blais said from his office outside of Quebec City. “We still don’t know why he was murdered.

We had to remove three others — two Canadians and one French — from Haiti after that murder. And the bishop asked us to close.”

Father Blais said he asked Brother Joyal to travel to Haiti to close the mission “because he was used to working in hard situations.”

Brother Joyal left Winnipeg, Manitoba, as a young man in 1983 to open the Marianist ministry in India. He spent 20 years there, building a “care center for street children, developing lay communities and promoting vocations to Marianist life, both lay and religious,” according to a report on the mission published in 2006.

In 2004, he arrived alone in the Philippines, traveling to the Mindanao region, where clashes between Islamist separatist movements and the Philippine government had displaced hundreds of thousands of residents.

By the time he left four years later, Brother Joyal had created a ministry focused on working with impoverished, homeless children and a center “dedicated to the formation of young men interested in Marianist religious life,” according to an article in a Marianist newsletter in 2009.

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The Church in the U.S.

May 10, 2013

Daniels is hired as spokeswoman for USCCB president

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Kim Daniels has been hired by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to serve as the spokeswoman for New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, USCCB president.

Daniels most recently served as one of two directors of Catholic Voices USA, started last year. The group’s website said its mission was “to put the Church’s case in the public square” by offering “an authoritative — but not official — group of articulate speakers who make the Catholic case in interviews and debates.”

The organization also conducted media training along the New York-Washington corridor for young adults looking to espouse Church positions on political issues.

Speaking March 20 at a “Catholics in the Capitol” program in Albany, N.Y., Daniels said of Catholic Voices USA, “We start from the conviction that faith enriches public life.

From 19th-century abolitionists to those who marched for civil rights in the 20th century, from those who’ve tirelessly fought poverty to those who’ve struggled for decades now in the trenches of the Pro-Life movement, our civic life is undeniably made better when people of faith bring their beliefs to bear on public issues, and we shouldn’t let anybody tell us otherwise.”

Daniels and Helen Alvare, a George Mason University law professor who was the first director of public information for the USCCB’s Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities in the early 1990s, also started

last year Women Speak for Themselves, an online advocacy group working to block the federal Health and Human Services contraceptive mandate under the Affordable Care Act. The organization’s online petition opposing the mandate gathered more than 38,000 signatures.

She also served as a domestic policy adviser to Sarah Palin after Palin resigned as Alaska governor.

Daniels, an attorney, worked as counsel for the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. She specialized in conscience-rights issues, testifying in opposing legislation that would place regulations on Pro-Life pregnancy crisis centers and bills that would force pharmacists to dispense morning-after pills. She is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Chicago Law School.

She and her husband have six school-age children and live in the Washington suburb of Bethesda, Md. In March 2012, Cardinal Dolan, speaking at a New York archdiocesan diocesan convocation on public policy in Hicksville, N.Y., illustrated the need to have the Church’s message articulated by someone who could connect with the laity.

He recalled when the bishops had hired an “attractive, articulate, intelligent” laywoman to make the Church’s case on abortion and it was “the best thing we ever did,” adding, “In the public square, I hate to tell you — the days of fat, balding Irish bishops are over.”

going to bat for vocations — Father Dave Wells, parochial vicar of Immaculate Conception Church in Mechanicsville, Md., hits during a game against St. Mary’­s Ryken High School at Blue Crabs Stadium in Waldorf, Md., recently. The D.C. Padres, with priests and seminarians of the Archdiocese of Washington as members, raise awareness for vocations. (CNS photo/Bob Roller)

FDA ‘acted irresponsibly’ in lowering age for emergency contraceptives

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The Food and Drug Administration “acted irresponsibly” with its decision to lower the age limit from 17 to 15 for purchasing an over-the-counter emergency contraceptive, said an official of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“No public health consideration justifies the unsupervised sale of such drugs to young teens,” said Deirdre McQuade, spokeswoman for the USCCB’s Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities.

Plan B One-Step now will be sold openly on pharmacy shelves while the generic brands will still be sold under pharmacy counters and only for those 17-years of age.

Those who purchase the drugs will have to show identification to prove their age.

A ruling by a federal judge in early April said the Food and Drug Administration must make emergency contraceptives available to all ages by May 6.

U.S. District Court Judge Edward Korman in Brooklyn, N.Y., said the case wasn’t about the potential misuse of the emergency contraceptive by 11-year-olds because he said the number of girls that age likely to use the drugs was minuscule.

Korman’s ruling was in response to a lawsuit by the Center for Reproductive Rights seeking to expand access to emergency contraception.

McQuade said in a recent statement that she hopes the FDA will appeal the federal

judge’s decision. The FDA said in a statement that its April 30 decision was independent of the court case and was not intended to address it.

Plan B, known generically as levonorgestrel, uses large doses of birth-control pills to prevent conception up to 72 hours after unprotected sex.

According to the FDA it will “not stop a pregnancy when a woman is already pregnant, and there is no medical evidence that the product will harm a developing fetus.”

In 2006, the Food and Drug Administration approved overthe-counter sales of Plan B to women 18 and older; three years later, a court ruling made it available to women 17 and older without a prescription.

Until Korman’s ruling, anyone younger still needed a prescription.

The Associated Press reported that the FDA was ready to lift all age limits on emergency contraceptives and let them be sold over the counter in late 2011, but Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, changed the FDA’s course, saying that even though some girls as young as 11 are physically capable of bearing children they shouldn’t be able to buy the pregnancy-preventing pill on their own.

McQuade said the FDA’s latest decision will make young teens “vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases and sexual manipulation.”

She said studies have shown that “wider access to so-called

‘emergency contraception’ reduces neither pregnancy nor abortion rates, but can contribute to higher rates of sexually transmitted disease, especially among young people.”

The group Concerned Women for America charged that health officials were putting politics and so-called progress ahead of the health of children as well as women.

“It makes no sense that kids need parental permission to take aspirin at school, but they’re free to buy and administer Plan B,” Penny Nance, CEO and president of CWA, said in a statement.

Some women’s groups said the FDA’s decision was seen as not doing enough by some women’s groups who noted that some young women without identification will still be unable to purchase the emergency contraceptives.

A February 21 statement by the German bishops said the “morning-after pills,” or Plan B, can be dispensed at Churchrun hospitals to prevent rape victims from becoming pregnant.

“Women who have been victims of rape will, of course, receive human, medical, psychological and pastoral help in Catholic hospitals — this can include administration of the ‘morning-after pill’ as long as it has a preventive rather than abortive effect,” the bishops’ conference said.

They added that “medical and pharmaceutical methods that result in the death of an embryo may still not be used.”

May 10, 2013

The Church in the U.S.

5

FOCUS prayer breakfast remembers Boston Marathon bombing victims

no change — A man walks past the rubble of a home across the street from Our Lady of Lourdes Church in the New Dorp Beach section of the Staten Island borough of New York April 28. More than 60 percent of the neighborhood’s homes were destroyed, deemed uninhabitable or remain unoccupied since Hurricane Sandy devastated the area six months ago. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

Obama’s Planned Parenthood claims rejected by former employee

Washington D.C. (CNA/ EWTN News) — Although President Barack Obama told a Planned Parenthood conference last week that abortion opponents are stuck in the past, former clinic manager Abby Johnson says the youth of the Pro-Life movement suggests otherwise.

“We’ve seen the Pro-Life movement gaining. We see the abortion movement declining,” Johnson told CNA. She suggested that the president may not know those who are in the Pro-Life movement, such as members of Students for Life of America or the youthful Pro-Life investigative reporting group Live Action.

“We’re full of young people,” she added. “I think he would be surprised to learn who is really leading up the Pro-Life movement and what we’re really about.”

Johnson is a former manager of a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Bryan, Texas, who left her job in 2009 after witnessing an abortion live via ultrasound.

She now encourages abortion clinic workers to leave their jobs through her organization, And Then There Were None.

She commented on Obama’s April 26 remarks delivered to almost 1,000 supporters of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America at a Washington, D.C., hotel. Obama is the first sitting president to address in person the organization which performs about 300,000 abortions each year.

“It’s disappointing that a president would make an address to our country’s largest abortion provider, but it’s not surprising at all,” Johnson said, adding that

the president is politically dependent on abortion-supporting donors and abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.

In his address, Obama described the Pro-Life movement as backward-looking and suited to the 1950s. He said Planned Parenthood is dedicated to the principle that “women should be allowed to make their own decisions about their own health.”

However, Johnson contended that it is the abortion industry that is waning.

“The abortion numbers are declining nationally,” she said.

“We see clinics closing, Planned Parenthood affiliates closing.

Many affiliates are having to merge for financial reasons.”

She also rejected the president’s contention that Planned Parenthood is dedicated to women’s health.

“They’ve shown time and time again that their motivation is pushing abortion and selling abortion to women who knock on their doors.”

The organization has put out a new mandate requiring every affiliate to perform abortions by 2014, she said, and it also has a quota system for abortions that clinics must meet.

“If they were really just about women’s health care, they wouldn’t be doing everything they can to promote abortion,” she charged.

Johnson also observed that abortion providers and supporters are not all irreligious.

President Obama closed his remarks to Planned Parenthood with a prayer: “God bless you!”

Johnson said this should be a reminder that the organization’s

employees “believe they are doing God’s work.”

“People who work at Planned Parenthood or in the abortion industry believe that they are doing sacred work. Planned Parenthood has a large board of clergy, current or former ministers, that are supporting employees,” she said.

“As someone who worked in the abortion industry, I get it. I used to think I was doing God’s work too. I completely believed that I was a Christian and following God’s will,” Johnson continued. “I understand how people can be deceived in this way. Even our president. Even clergy. That’s just the way that sin works.”

She now wants to help Planned Parenthood employees realize they can leave the abortion industry.

“There is a place for them to go. They don’t have to feel like they’re trapped,” she said.

“I believe, first of all, through my own personal experience, that there is something better out there for them. They were born to do something much bigger and much better than working in the abortion industry.”

Recent abortion clinic scandals including deaths and malpractice at abortion facilities, financial fraud and the current murder trial of Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell are other good reasons for abortion workers to quit, Johnson explained.

“I want them to know that they can be held responsible for that,” she said. “There’s no time like the present to get out of the abortion industry and start living a better life.”

Boston (CNA/EWTN News) — A Fellowship of Catholic University Students’ breakfast in Boston offered prayers for the victims of the marathon bombings, as speakers encouraged students to evangelize within their communities.

“In times like these, when we are reminded of the broken world we live in, we are given the opportunity to let Christ shine through all the clearer,” said Justin Petrisek, FOCUS team director at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Bomb explosions at the April 15 marathon in Boston killed three people and wounded more than 250 others. Within days, authorities began a manhunt in pursuit of suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, resulting in the death of the former and the arrest of the latter.

An MIT police officer, Sean Collier, was reportedly killed by the suspects when they crept up upon him and shot him several times in an attempt to steal his gun.

Petrisek said the prayer breakfast was “a wonderful opportunity for us to come together as a community in Boston, especially in light of all that has happened these last couple of weeks.”

Cardinal Seán O’Malley of Boston celebrated Mass before the April 23 breakfast, offering it for the victims of the bombings.

The prayer breakfast, called REACH, is held regularly to help local community members gather in prayer and fellowship and encounter Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. Attendees hear inspirational speakers and learn how to evangelize their families, parishes, work-

places and communities, FOCUS said.

Father Robert Spitzer, former Gonzaga University president and current president of the Magis Center of Reason and Faith in Irvine, Calif., delivered the keynote speech. He focused on the pursuit of true happiness as the key to evangelization.

Curtis Martin, president and founder of FOCUS, said there are three things needed for a successful life: “to encounter God and to come to know Him ... to come to know His plan for you ... and to pursue that plan with passion.”

“If we do that, then we’re going to have successful lives. If we don’t, then in some way we’ll never become who we were meant to be ... and the fight needs to be fought in the hearts and minds of our young leaders,” Martin said.

Other speakers at the event included the former First Lady of Mexico Margarita Zavala de Calderón and Sister Bethany Madonna Burwell of the Sisters of Life.

Levi Rash, a FOCUS missionary at Boston University, said the prayer breakfast reminded him that the scope of the Catholic faith “goes beyond the college campus” and that “there are faithful men and women all over the United States and the world who are fighting for Christ, as well as supporting the way Christ is using FOCUS in his Church.”

Several REACH prayer breakfasts have been held in 2013 in the cities of Washington, D.C., Kansas City and Omaha. The final REACH event this year will take place today in Philadelphia.

6

The Anchor The Gosnell trial

A little over a week ago in a corner of our diocese a spontaneous protest erupted because of the brief presence (at the request of the government) of a terrorist’s mangled body in a local funeral home. Upon hearing of the arrival of the bomber’s remains, people immediately made signs, grabbed flags and headed down to the sidewalk of the funeral parlor.

We at The Anchor understand the outrage of people regarding the murders of the three people at the marathon and of the campus police officer at MIT, as well as the wounding of hundreds of people by the Chechen brothers (although we sympathize with the funeral directors, who were just performing a service for the government, and with the family of a 39 year-old victim of cancer, whose wake was underway during the protest). However, one could ask, “Where is the outrage about similar killings? Why are there so few people exorcised by the killing of innocents only a few miles away from that funeral home?” (The funeral home is in the town of North Attleborough, while the only abortion clinic in our diocese is in the city of Attleboro).

There are a hardy few who are present on Route 118, across the street from the Four Women Clinic, especially on Thursdays and Saturdays, the days on which abortions are carried out there. They pray the Rosary and are available to help the mothers make a choice for life. They are not there out of any hatred for women, but out of love for the woman and her child.

Down in Philadelphia this week a jury is deliberating in the murder trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, who is accused of having murdered children who survived abortions (at press time, the jury was still deliberating). On page 13 of this edition you can read more about the horrors which went on in his clinic and which probably are going on in other abortions clinics around the country (to say nothing of what happens in other countries, such as Communist China, with its one-child policy).

Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFM Cap., of Philadelphia commented to Vatican Radio about the Gosnell case, saying that it was a natural outcome of where our society is heading.

“After a while we begin to disrespect human life in ways that are just shockingly coarse.

And that’s what happened here. They were treating the babies from the womb as though they were pieces of trash … [It] is clearly a result of cultural change in the United States, where unborn children are treated carelessly, and cruelly, and in a horribly disrespectful kind of way. If we can treat unborn children this way, it means we’re capable of treating born children this way, and the elderly this way. Unless there’s a deep profound respect for human life at all levels, people will see a gradual disintegration of respect for human life at all.”

Here we can see a connection to the marathon bombings. The Tsarnaev brothers are the products of a variety of cultural influences: Russian bloodthirsty cruelty (under the Soviets and their successors) in putting down any move towards independence in Chechnya; Islamic radicalism there and worldwide; hedonistic nihilism in the West; and a familial environment of shoplifting and domestic abuse. Of course, many people have faced these influences or worse and have not turned to killing innocent people. The Tsarnaevs had free will, as did Dr. Gosnell and the people who worked with him. But Archbishop Chaput was pointing out that we don’t listen as much to the “good voices” in our hearts when our consciences have become warped by societal attitudes which say that it’s OK to do away with “inconveniences,” even inconvenient people.

Former Planned Parenthood member Abby Johnson on page five speaks about how people in the abortion industry actually think that they are doing “God’s work,” that they are helping women and making the world a better place. This may sound warped to us, but the devil doesn’t present evil to us in all its ugliness. Instead, as he has since the bite of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (not an apple tree), he makes the sin seem reasonable and appetizing.

Cardinal Sean O’Malley, OFM Cap., preaching the Sunday after the marathon bombing, said, “We all know that evil has its fascination and attraction but too often we lose sight of the fact that love and goodness also have the power to attract and that virtue is winsome.

Passing on the faith means helping people to lead a good life, a moral life, a just life. Thus part of our task as believers is to help our people become virtuous.” In other words, one of the things that we need to do is to both ourselves become more interiorly convinced of the beauty and joy of doing good and then help other people see the same thing (more so by how we act than by what we say).

Abortion seems, to those who support it, to be a kind way to help prevent women from falling into poverty or losing out on other opportunities in life. The Supreme Court, in its 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision, spoke about how the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion had become embedded into people’s minds. “An entire generation has come of age free to assume Roe’s concept of liberty in defining the capacity of women to act in society, and to make reproductive decisions.” In other words, since people bank on abortion as being a fall-back “contraceptive” (it’s not contraceptive, since it is after conception) of last resort, the court could not take it away from people. It would be “inconsiderate” of the court to do so, according to this mentality.

As Rose Mary Saraiva recounts on page nine, if we can’t have a reformed world, free of injustice, “handed to us on a platter,” we’d rather just accept the current evil one. Many “pro-choice” people are truly caring folks, and yet since ending abortion would bring “inconveniences” into life (“being punished with a baby,” is how then-Senator Obama referred to an unplanned pregnancy), they are reluctant to “plant the seeds” (to use the metaphor from page nine) and do the hard work of cultivating the “soil” of our society so as to make this a true Culture of Life and Love. However, if we don’t do so, Cardinal Sean warned, then we can expect more violent deaths. “The individualism and alienation of our age has spawned a culture of death. Over a million abortions a year is one indication of how human life has been devalued. Violent entertainment, films and video games have coarsened us and made us more insensitive to the pain and suffering of others.” This insensitivity was seen in the Tsarnaev brothers and is seen in Dr. Gosnell and practitioners like him.

We Christians can face this situation with hope — hope in God. Cardinal Sean concluded his homily, “Although the culture of death looms large, our Good Shepherd rose from the grave on Easter and His light can expel the darkness and illuminate for us a path that leads to life, to a civilization of solidarity and love. I hope that the events of this past week have taught us how high the stakes are. We must build a civilization of love, or there will be no civilization at all.” We need to get to work — first through prayer and sacrifice, then doing the tough work of transforming our society. If a news helicopter can get us to rush out to protest, what can the Holy Spirit blowing into our hearts accomplish? One would hope a lot.

D

May 10, 2013

Pope Francis’ daily reformation of the Church

uring my years at the helm of The AnEven today, however, when there’s not much chor, I always had the half-mischievous, unease about a brilliant pope’s saying anything half-evangelical desire to put on the front page contrary to the faith, there’s still a concern that, above the fold a headline with the biggest font if the pope says something no one else has in The Anchor’s history, declaring, “Jesus Christ reviewed, what comes out might become an uncoming to our diocese!” necessary distraction from the overall message.

I knew that if we had an edition announcing, That’s what happened to Pope Benedict in “Pope coming to our diocese!,” people would be Regensburg when his citation of a 13th-century passionately interested in the details of how they opinion about Muhammad and violence in would be able to be in the pope’s presence and the midst of a brilliant talk on faith and reason see, hear, touch and meet him. became the sole story. Benedict had been working I was interested to know whether the headline on the talk the night before it was to be given and about Jesus’ coming to the diocese, which obvino one else had a chance to review it. If someone ously would catch readers’ attention, would keep had, he likely would have suggested editing the their attention once we described where Jesus remark that some outside of the academic setting would be appearing in the Flesh (and Blood, Soul interpreted as incendiary. and Divinity): namely, their own home parish, But there are also concerns about the form that where they would have the chance to see, hear, papal teaching takes. Normally popes teach in touch and meet the eternal Son of God. formal and official ways, through written homiThe truth is that the most important thing that lies, allocutions, addresses, messages, encyclicals, happens in our diocese on a daily and weekly exhortations and the like. basis is what Jesus Himself does: teaching us When John Paul II did the book length interthrough His word, feeding us with Himself, makview “Crossing the Threshold of Hope” in 1994, ing us members of His Body, absolving our sins, many theologians didn’t know how to classify joining men and women in one flesh, helping us it. Were John Paul’s responses to be considered to sanctify our work, moving us to love others as official papal teaching or personal opinion?

He has loved us, and bringing us into the commuWhen Pope Benedict XVI authored three nion He shares different volumes with His Father of the “Jesus of and the Holy Nazareth” series, Spirit. he said in the We don’t introduction that treat this as he was explic“news,” because itly writing in a Jesus’ doing these personal capacity

By Father things has been a and invited scholconstant in these ars and others Roger J. Landry parts for more to disagree with than a century. him. But the But at the same basically unprectime, we ought to ensure we don’t take Jesus’ edented distinction between the pope’s “magactivities for granted or them in favor of what’s isterial” thoughts on Jesus from his “personal” novel and passing. thoughts on Jesus continues to give many Vatican The most important news for Catholics to officials and Catholic theologians ulcers. know is the greatest news of all, that the One But with both of these innovations, there was Whose presence the angels heralded to shepherds at least an opportunity for revisions and editing. is still present, now in even humbler appearances.

Preaching off the cuff publicly at daily Mass This is one of the reasons why I am so happy is, in my opinion, a much greater adjustment in that, as part of his reform of the Church, Pope the way the pope exercises his teaching office.

Francis is focusing the attention of Catholics At first, the official organs of Vatican News throughout the world on the most important event didn’t know what to do with this innovation. They he has on his daily papal calendar: Mass. weren’t covering the Masses at all, except for a In the past, “big” papal Masses would always brief notice of which group of Vatican employees draw press attention, when the pope would celehad been invited. brate Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, canonizations, But as Pope Francis has continued to preach ordinations, World Youth Days or other significant each day, the press is now showing up and at least occasions in Rome or elsewhere. is printing summaries of what he said on Vatican But the daily Mass and even most Sunday Radio, the L’Osservatore Romano, and in various Masses of the Holy Father would draw little atten- daily Catholic news services. tion at all.

There are no uploaded audio or video versions During the papacy of John Paul II, the mornof his homilies or full transcriptions yet — a ing Masses were celebrated with a group of sign, I think, that those who are more cautious in special visitors who had written for the privilege the Vatican still want a chance to revise or edit of attending, but there would be no homily, no something that didn’t come out the right way — press coverage, no news. but I’m personally hoping that Pope Francis will During Pope Benedict’s time, he normally encourage them to do so. celebrated private Masses with just his priest The main point, however, is that what the secretaries and the four consecrated women who pope preaches each morning is now what leads took care of his apartment. the normal news coverage of the Vatican. And Pope Francis has taken to celebrating a semithat, I’m convinced, is exactly what our new Holy public daily Mass each morning in the chapel Father wants. of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where he has What the pope’s been doing has changed my taken up residence. He has been inviting different habits. Each morning, as I’m in the chapel praygroups of Vatican employees or other groups ing before Mass, I now visit the Vatican Radio each day to join him for Mass and he prayerfully website, read the summary of what Pope Francis prepares a homily for them that he preaches a preached a few hours before, and often incorpobraccio, or “off the cuff.” rate what he said into my own daily Mass homily.

These daily Masses, and daily homilies based I hope that this reform in the papal ministry normally on the readings of the day, are a revoluwill likewise influence your daily habits. tion. They have made many of those who work I’d encourage you, first, to visit Vatican radio around the pope — who have the job of worrying, each day (http://en.radiovaticana.va/index.asp) and do it well! — quite nervous because no one to see what the pope preached and take it to your knows in advance what the Holy Father will say prayer. But I’d urge you even more to ponder his or how it will come out. sense of priorities and the place of daily Mass in A former professor of mine is now the papal your life. theologian, the one whose task is normally to read Pope Francis is intentionally showing all in advance all of the pope’s homilies, speeches, Catholics how important daily Mass is in the life talks to ensure that they’re in line with the Cathoof the Church. lic faith. Once I had invited him to come have As part of his reform of the Church, he’s dinner with a group of pilgrims I had brought to trying to bring the whole Church with him each Rome and one of them asked him what the papal day to Christ in the Mass. That’s where Jesus, theologian’s job description was. “My job is to through His words and Sacramentally-enfleshed keep the pope infallible!,” he joked in response. word, will help to bring each of us and the whole During the Middle Ages, when those elected Church He founded back into shape. pope didn’t have anywhere near the formidable It’s a set of priorities for reform worthy of a theological education of recent successors of St. big headline.

Peter, making sure the pope didn’t say anything Father Landry is Pastor of St. Bernadette that confused the faith and the faithful was a seriParish in Fall River. His email address is ous concern. fatherlandry@catholicpreaching.com.

Putting Into the Deep

P

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The Anchor

May 10, 2013

The morality and wisdom of incremental legislation

eople with strong ProLife, pro-family convictions will sometimes disagree among themselves about whether they should support a particular piece of legislation being debated in the halls of their state legislature or in Congress. Their disagreement will often center on whether it is morally permissible and politically prudent to support a bill that is a step in the right direction, but that still permits other objectionable practices. Is it good and wise to take an “incremental” approach to reversing an unjust law, confronting the offensive practices “piece by piece,” rather than all at once?

In general, when it is not feasible to push back an unjust law in its entirety (for example, when insufficient votes exist to overturn an unjust law), it can be morally acceptable for a lawmaker to support a piece of legislation that aims to lessen a portion of the evils or harmful effects of that standing unjust law.

The Pro-Life community in recent years has seen various divisions and fractures over this question.

For example, some have

argued that since abortion is a passed or ready to be voted on. grave evil, a Catholic lawmaker Such cases are not infrequent. It can never vote for a piece of is a fact that while in some parts legislation that allows for any of the world there continue to abortions to occur. Thus, if be campaigns to introduce laws a vote were being taken on a favoring abortion, often supproposal that allowed aborported by powerful international tions in cases of rape and incest but enacted new restrictions against abortion in many other situations, some take a hard line and insist the lawmaker could

By Father Tad not morally support Pacholczyk the legislation, but could vote only for a law that outlawed all abortions, in every situation. organizations, in other nations Blessed John Paul II, how— particularly those which have ever, in a well-known passage already experienced the bitter from his beautiful encyclical fruits of such permissive legisla“On the Gospel of Life” (Evantion — there are growing signs gelium Vitae), reminds us of the of a rethinking in this matter. In wisdom and morality of supa case like the one just menporting incremental legislation tioned, when it is not possible to in certain circumstances: overturn or completely abrogate “A particular problem of con- a pro-abortion law, an elected science can arise,” he noted, “in official, whose absolute personal cases where a legislative vote opposition to procured abortion would be decisive for the paswas well known, could licsage of a more restrictive law, itly support proposals aimed at aimed at limiting the number of limiting the harm done by such authorized abortions, in place of a law and at lessening its negaa more permissive law already tive consequences at the level

Newton — Before an intimate luncheon crowd on April 23, famed author, international speaker and Magis Center President Father Robert Spitzer, S.J., recently addressed the rise of atheism and ways to combat the deep rift many agnostics perceive separating faith and reason.

“Students are starving for a coherent argument that defends God,” said the former Gonzaga University president who gave a half-hour talk for benefactors of the new non-profit organization New Apologetics. “Developing resources such as books, videos and a robust online presence is crucial to the success of the New Evangelization.”

New Apologetics hosted the luncheon to raise awareness of its mission to address some of the most common objections to the faith in a comprehensive way.

“New Apologetics is our response to the call for the New Evangelization,” noted board chairman Rachel McHugh.

“The language we are using allows us to present Catholic doctrine in a way that puts things in a new light and allows those who struggle to really see the Gospel as ‘Good News.’”

As part of its approach, New Apologetics engages in numerous one-on-one dialogues from those who post questions on the Facebook page. Many of the questions center around the problem of evil, but queries range across the full spectrum of tough issues often invoked in criticism of the Catholic Church, Christianity and religion in general.

Any onlooker can witness a tremendous discussion generally reserved for academic symposiums or intercollegiate debates, but all with ordinary people — many of whom are not Catholic or even Christian.

“We are able to dialogue with atheists, agnostics, and those of other faith traditions using a common language of human dignity and recognition of goodness, beauty and truth, which are really the basis for all truly Catholic doctrine,” said McHugh. “It’s amazing to see the response we’re getting.”

“Can you please post the names and qualifications of the people who are running this page?” writes one of the 51,000 page fans, alluding to the fact that the contributors do not disclose their identities.

“I’ve never seen so much au-

Making Sense Out of Bioethics

Father Robert Spitzer addresses the need for a ‘New Apologetics’

thoritative knowledge coming from a single source.”

“We have a board who oversees the contributors,” assures McHugh. “But from the beginning we have felt that the ideas themselves should receive the attention as opposed to the individuals — I think that’s part of the special sense of community we share with many of the folks who pose questions — there is no pretense or impression that we are better than they are.

We’re just people sharing the truth of the Universal Church in the new millennium in the language of the times. And people get that.”

The New Apologetics website is www.NewApologetics.com.

of general opinion and public morality. This does not in fact represent an illicit cooperation with an unjust law, but rather a legitimate and proper attempt to limit its evil aspects.”

Many commentators have observed how dramatic progress has occurred in changing public opinion on abortion in the United States in recent years because of this incremental approach: eliminating partial-birth and lateterm abortions, establishing waiting periods, mandating ultrasounds, regulating abortion facilities, and the like.

Incremental legislation may likewise be needed to respond to certain unethical practices regarding end of life care. In Texas, for example, the law allows a physician to unilaterally establish Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders for a patient, with no process for review or appeal, when the physician is convinced that resuscitation attempts for that patient would be futile. This means that even in the absence of a patient’s or family’s consent or even input, a doctor can decree a DNR order for that patient.

Because this practice has become accepted in Texas, and because stronger corrective legislation was judged unable to garner sufficient votes, the Texas Catholic Conference crafted a form of incremental legislation in 2013 to address this obviously unethical circumstance that violates a patient’s right to consent.

The proposed legislation seeks to assure that patients and their families receive written notice of their rights regarding DNR orders. It also requires hospitals to assign a liaison to work with the patient to provide clear and compassionate communication about their rights once a conflict between the doctor and the patient/family has been identified. It works out important details regarding ethics committee reviews to assure that appropriate medical judgments are applied to the case, and it establishes an expanded time frame for hospital transfers in more complex situations of disagreement between the doctor and the patient or the family.

Passing incremental legislation often represents the most sensible approach to dealing with poorly crafted or morally problematic pieces of legislation. In the absence of needed votes to overturn harmful legislation altogether, it is still possible to make significant progress in limiting the damage that these laws can do through the patient spadework of incremental legislative revision. This is done with an eye towards one day being able to rescind or abrogate the unjust law altogether.

Father Pacholczyk earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, and serves as the director of Education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. See www. ncbcenter.org.

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May 10, 2013

The Anchor

“T

Lives governed by mercy, love and forgiveness

he Resurrection of Christ was God’s supreme and wholly marvelous work”. These words of St. Augustine written in the fourth century are as true now as they were then. This statement, in many ways, encapsulates our entire faith.

Indeed the resurrection of Jesus is the masterpiece of God. It is through the death and resurrection of Christ that we are reborn and restored.

Like a mosaic looked at from afar, we see the resurrection of Jesus as the most significant moment in human history. However, the effects of the resurrection are also part of the masterpiece as well. Each effect of the resurrection makes the very mosaic of our tradition. The faith we share, the living word, the actions we perform in the name of that faith,

the Sacraments, the Church to many but some found it and Tradition– everything is offensive and tried to silence all part of the masterpiece! him. Stephen was faithful, When looked at all together strong and true. He remained as one great work of art, we faithful even in the midst of see the marvelous work of God. We see one such Homily of the Week part of the masterpiece Seventh Sunday in the first reading for of Easter this weekend from The Acts of The Apostles.

By Father Our first reading each John M. Murray Sunday of Easter has been from Acts. In The Acts of The Apostles we opposition; even when that see the effects of the resuropposition meant his death. rection and the power of Eventually his zeal and his the Holy Spirit as the early passion led him to martyrChurch grew and spread. Our dom by stoning. reading this weekend recalls Something Stephen said the martyrdom of St. Stewhile he was being stoned to phen. He was one of the first death should challenge each deacons of the Church and one of us who claim to be a he was the first martyr. He disciple of Jesus Christ. As taught and preached the good Stephen was being killed he news of salvation in Jesus asked that the Lord would Christ. This was appealing forgive those who were kill-

ing him. “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” (Acts 7: 60) This is the powerful and stark image of the Christian; who in the face of evil, calls upon the Lord for mercy and not vengeance. A disciple of Jesus calls out for love rather than hatred.

This is a message we need to hear over and over again. We live in world that is violent. Sinful people commit crimes which harm the innocent. As a response we seek revenge which we incorrectly equate with justice. We want those who have hurt us to suffer in the same way they have inflicted suffering upon us. This is not the way of Christ and it is not the way of the disciple of Jesus.

Recently here in Massachusetts we suffered an

attack that was nothing short of evil. Two young men, guided by hatred and violence, perpetrated something that was unthinkable. Many are calling for the death of the younger bombing suspect. Many cried out in horror as a local funeral home cared for the dead body of the older brother. The Christian must not allow hatred, violence or vengeance dictate his or her life. Rather our lives must be governed by mercy, love, justice and forgiveness. This does not mean we allow ourselves to be trampled all over by the hatred of others but in response to hatred we love.

This is all made possible by God’s supreme and wholly marvelous work – the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Father Murray is pastor of St. Ann’s Parish in Raynham.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. May 11, Acts 18:23-28; Ps 47:2-3,8-10; Jn 16:23b-28. Sun. May 12, Seventh Sunday of Easter, Acts 7:55-60: Ps 97:1-2,6-7,9; Rv 22:12-14,16-17,20; Jn 17:20-26. Mon. May 13, Acts 19:1-8; Ps 68:2-7; Jn 16:29-33. Tues. May 14, Acts 1:15-17,20-26; Ps 113:1-8; Jn 15:9-17. Wed. May 15, Acts 20:28-38; Ps 68:29-30,33-36c; Jn 17:11b-19. Thurs. May 16, Acts 22:30;23:6-11; Ps 16:1-2a,5,7-11; Jn 17:20-26. Fri. May 17, Acts 25:13b-21; Ps 103:1-2,11-12,19-20ab; Jn 21:15-19.

S

ome 23 years ago, Ambassador Max Kampelman—former nuclear arms reduction negotiator with the Soviet Union and Counselor to the Department of State — decided that I needed a bit of diplomatic experience and invited me to be a public member of the U.S. delegation he would lead to the Copenhagen meeting of the Conference on Saecurity and Cooperation in Europe, in the summer of 1990.

It was an interesting gathering, being the first review of the “Helsinki Accords” since the Berlin Wall had come down. The head of the Romanian delegation had a noticeable and somewhat ominous bulge beneath the armpit of his jacket. The head of delegation

Remembering Max Kampelman

of another country, which had person). Max and I worked best remain unnamed, wore a out several sharp, substantive three-piece suit that seemed statements that were not typito have been dry-cleaned in cal State Department pablum clam chowder. The intellectual — on the meaning of pluralism leading lights of the just-completed Revolution of 1989 — the Czechs and the Poles — were fully up-tospeed in their approach to our topic, which was establishing the rule

By George Weigel of law in a post-communist Europe; others, it seemed, would take longer to acclimate themselves to the New (demo(differences engaged civilly, not cratic) Order. differences ignored); on the priMy job was to be the amority of religious freedom in any bassador’s speech-writer and meaningful scheme of human liaison to the Holy See delegarights; on the moral (not merely tion (which was, in fact, one pragmatic) superiority of the rule of law to sheer coercion. I also learned how to sit placidly, feigning interest, to remarkably long-winded speeches from professional gabblers, in the days before you could plug your iPod into your simultaneous translation earphones and thus enjoy some serious music while the diplomatese, like “Ol’ Man River,” just kept rollin’ along.

On the last day, Max gave me lunch and asked me what I had learned. “A great reverence for my great-grandfather’s widowed mother,” I replied. The ambassador’s puzzlement invited further

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

The Catholic Difference

explanation: “… who had the sense to get out of this patchwork of quarreling tribes and come to America.” Max’s own parents being émigré Romanian Jews, he was not inclined to contest my point.

Prior to his death at 92 this past January 25, Max Kampelman could look back on a lifetime of high adventure and great achievement. He was a World War II conscientious objector who nevertheless contributed to the nation’s war effort by volunteering for a starvation experiment at the University of Minnesota that dropped him to 100 pounds but taught medical lessons that saved the lives of former POWs and death-camp survivors. He took advanced degrees in law and political science and became a consigliere to Hubert Humphrey, whom he might well have served as White House counsel had the 1968 election gone differently.

He was a major figure in forcing human rights issues onto the U.S. foreign policy agenda, made an invaluable contribution to the moral delegitimation of the Soviet Union as ambassador for Presidents Carter and Reagan to the Ma-

drid Review Conference on the Helsinki Accords in the early 1980s, and then worked himself into a heart attack negotiating a nuclear arms reduction pact with the USSR. In his last years, Max joined forces with other foreign policy heavyweights like Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, and Sam Nunn in urging that the elimination of nuclear weapons become a national policy goal.

Throughout his public life, Max, who was not an especially pious man, worked out of the Jewish moral heritage he cherished: there was good in men and women, and it should be encouraged; there was evil in people and in the world, and it must be fought; true political authority had to serve the cause of justice.

When Max helped engineer my 1983-84 fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and thus my re-location to Washington, D.C., neither one of us thought he was incubating a papal biographer.

But as his life had taken surprising turns, so did mine, not without his help. The point, he would insist, was to live vocationally.

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

May 10, 2013

C

ome Lord Jesus, send us Your Spirit, renew the face of the earth! Those words are enough to fill me with a sense of awe, with a feeling of being surrounded by love and beauty.

As I drive to and from work each day, or out running errands, I am amazed at the signs of life all around me. Once barren trees begin to burst with renewed hope and life, flowers stretch up towards the sun, regaling the world with their blooms and fragrance. Yellowed lawns roll out their lush green carpets, and birds frolic and bask in the spring sunshine as they sing their songs of joy. What a wonderful spectacle of nature laid out for all to see.

Spring reminds us all that there is always hope, that there is always rebirth, and that no matter what life throws our way, we can weather the storm. This time of year holds so much promise, and we are beautifully reminded of the promises of God, and how Jesus triumphed over death with His crucifixion and Resurrection; from death to new life.

Yet, day in and day out so many of us simply go about

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The Anchor

Renew the face of the Earth

our days not even noticing the growing up in a faith-filled splendor of God’s creation, or family that looked to the Holy Spirit for guidance and taking the time to be grateful strength whenever life threw for all that we are provided us a curve ball. My parents’ with. We often forget that and grandparents’ faith was we are also caretakers of this planet we call home. But even born from a deep trust and with our own oblivion to what belief, that like everything in nature, God will and does is around us at times, we, too, are taken care of.

We are reminded of God’s care time and time again in sacred Scripture: “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow,

By Rose Mary nor reap nor gather Saraiva into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you provide and He sends His not worth much more than Spirit to be with us, walking these?” (Mt 6:26). And if we with us each and every day. read further on, “Consider So many people see Conthe lilies of the field, how firmation as a “graduation” of they grow; they neither toil sorts, believing that they are nor spin, yet I tell you, even “done” with this whole Faith Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” Formation thing. What most do not realize, is that this is (Mt 6:28-29). just the beginning. Well, let’s When I think of the resee, how does this all play newed life that seeps back out; how is this the begininto the flowers and trees, ning, when all the preparation I am reminded of how the for Sacraments is done? Well Holy Spirit fills us, giving it goes sort of like this: us the strengths to rise above Once upon a time, there ourselves. As a child I was were these 12 guys you see, immersed into the traditions who sort of locked themselves of my Portuguese heritage,

In the Palm of His Hands

Celebration of St. Damien’s feast day in Kalaupapa

ince we need to be in Sapu, SS.CC. After the celtune with the rest of ebration of Mass, we expect to the Catholic community out continue this celebration with there in the world, we here in the great town of Kalaupapa will drag ourselves out of bed on this morning, May 10 and at 5:45 a.m., joyfully celebrate Mass at St. Francis Church

By Father in honor of St. Damien Patrick Killilea, SS.CC. since this is his official feast day. On this date lunch at Judd Park close to the we remember and celebrate Kalawao lookout.

Damien’s arrival here in KaI am the “new kid on the laupapa on May 10, 1873.

Tomorrow morning, May 11, we will journey the 2.6 miles to St. Philomena in Kalawao to celebrate Mass at the church which Damien himself enlarged twice, the second time with the help of a good Irish stone mason (I felt the need to slip that one in!). I have asked our provincial, Father Jonathan Hurrell, SS.CC., to be the main celebrant and my “never lost for words” classmate, Father Bill Petrie, SS.CC, pastor of St. Damien and topside Molokai, to be the homilist. We also expect to have with us our vicar general from Rome, Father Camille

Moon Over Molokai

block” here in Kalaupapa, but I understand that each year we celebrate St. Damien on the Saturday after the actual feast day. This way we can offer the opportunity to as many resident workers that are here on Saturday to join us in celebration. After all, the more the merrier … I mean … you know what I mean.

Aloha from Father Pat, SS.CC., St. Francis Parish in Kalaupapa, Hawaii.

in this upper room away from all the hullabaloo that was going on in town. Their Leader had been killed and they were afraid they would be next. While in hiding, this Guy they had been following would come and visit them (You see He had risen from the dead as He had promised). Then around His final visit, He promised to send His Spirit to keep them company and guide them. He told them that His Spirit would give them what they would need to continue doing what He had begun. And lo’ and behold, just like He promised, in comes the Spirit, and just sets them on fire (not literally, just like when you get really excited and all) and they go bursting out the door.

Now mind you, they made a lot of noise, and you guessed it, a mob gathered. So now these guys just started talking about this Guy Jesus, and how He had come to save us, and so on and so on, and what made it really cool was that they started speaking in all kinds of foreign languages.

Pretty awesome, huh?

Granted this is a modernized version of Pentecost Sunday, but the moral of this story is that Jesus sent the disciples His Holy Spirit then

and continues to send out His Holy Spirit to each and every one of us today. You will note that it was after receiving the Holy Spirit that the disciples found the strength and courage to continue the work Jesus had begun.

We, too, are given the same Spirit and gifts, and with our Confirmation, we begin our ministries. Some of us become catechists, extraordinary ministers, lectors, others begin working with the youth or elderly, and some work quietly on the sidelines doing the unseen work that gets things done.

However we respond is totally up to us and like the plants and trees that wait patiently in the dead of winter; we too, experience a rebirth each and every spring. Every time we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, to lead us, we, too, become like the fragrant flowers, proof that God does wonderful things through each and every one of us, renewing the face of the earth.

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

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The Anchor

May 10, 2013

Despite change of venue, Respect Life Walk draws good crowd

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

ATTLEBORO — Helen Cross, chairman of the 2013 Respect Life Walk to Aid Mothers and Children, couldn’t have asked for a better day.

God chose to bless this year’s annual walk — held on April 28 and for the first time on the grounds of La Salette Shrine in

Attleboro — with a welcomed bit of spring weather after a long and stormy New England winter.

“From my point of view, I thought this year’s walk was a wonderfully peaceful day,” Cross told The Anchor. “It was so nice to get out and enjoy the weather on the beautiful grounds of the shrine.”

It was a blessing in many

ways for Cross, after having to scramble to find a new venue when their Boston location became unavailable at the last minute.

“Originally we were going to have the walk at Castle Island, which would have been more convenient for some people,” Cross said. “But they decided not to add any new events this year,

so that meant we didn’t hear until it was close to our walk date. It was very nice of the staff and administration at La Salette Shrine to allow us to have our walk there this year, and it really was so beautiful.”

Started in 1987, the main function of the Walk to Aid Mothers and Children is to raise awareness and money for pregnancy resource centers and other Pro-Life groups throughout the state. For more than 25 years now, the beneficiaries have relied on the funds received from the walk each year to continue their efforts.

Among some of the key ministries that benefit from the walk here in the Fall River Diocese are Birthright and the Abundant Hope Pregnancy Resource Center in Attleboro; Project Rachel; A Woman’s Concern in Fall River and Hyannis; and the diocesan Pro-Life Apostolate office.

“It’s just great to see the scope of it and all the different ministries and apostolates that benefit from it,” Cross said. “That’s one of the things that the walk really does show you — how big and varied the Pro-Life movement is in our state. It’s a great cause for hope. Most of these apostolates are very small and are run by volunteers, so these are people who are really putting their faith into action.”

In previous years, the walk has taken place in the fall in downtown Boston, starting at the

Common. But organizers decided to move it to the spring to set it apart from the other Pro-Life activities that happen in October, including the fund-raising banquet held by Massachusetts Citizens for Life, the main sponsor of the walk.

In addition to the two-mile walk, there were informational booths from some of the ProLife groups, and activities for children included face-painting, balloon animals and ice cream, with music provided by LIFT Ministries.

“I like to think that when families and young people come to the walk, it gives them an idea of what the Pro-Life movement is about and it really is all about love and how we should treat our neighbors,” Cross said. “That’s an aspect of it that I think is very powerful.”

Appropriately stepping off at La Salette Shrine’s monument to the unborn, a large statue featuring hands holding an unborn child that was dedicated by the Knights of Columbus in 2010, this year’s walk drew and estimated 500 participants — many of them families walking alongside children in strollers.

“It’s not enough to just say ‘I’m against abortion,’” Cross said. “That’s a wonderful thing, but you need to go the extra mile and make it practical in so many different ways. Maybe somebody needs someone to talk to, Turn to page 19

WALK THE WALK — The Kiley Family of Dedham leads the 2013 Respect Life Walk to Aid Mothers and Children. Sponsored

by Massachusetts Citizens for Life, the annual walk was held for the first time this year at La Salette Shrine in Attleboro on April 28. Two-year-old Julia Kiley, front left, was this year’s walk baby.

(Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)

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

The Anchor

May 10, 2013

Benedictines’ fifth sacred music CD produced with the help of angels

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Some would say that the Sisters of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles sound like angels when they sing.

If so, one of the singing Sisters said in a video about the new album, “then the angels helped us ... they come in and sing with us.”

The Sisters’ sacred music has proven popular. Their fifth album, “Angels and Saints at Ephesus,” was released May 7.

The music is a way for the monastic Sisters to reach audiences far beyond their priory in Gower, Mo., in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

“We are happy to be able to be able to share with the outside world a small taste of the peace and tranquility we experience here at the priory,” Mother Cecilia, the order’s prioress, told Catholic News Service in an email. “Oh, that all might discover with St. Augustine that our hearts are restless until they rest in God.” The 17-track album features ancient hymns dedicated to a carefully chosen collection of saints and angels. It was produced by nine-time Grammy Award-winning producer Christopher Alder, who has produced albums for the likes of violinist Augustin Dumay, pianist Lang Lang, tenor Placido Domingo, and conductor Gustavo Dudamel.

“He (Alder) made them almost sound like an orchestra,” said Monica Fitzgibbons, cofounder of DeMontfort Music, which produced the compilation. Fitzgibbons and her husband started the label to help religious orders record music without having to leave their everyday routines and environments.

“The Sisters don’t have to leave to go somewhere not natural,” Fitzgibbons said. “We only ask them for three days of recording ... we get a producer and engineer, (and) ... build a recording studio right there (in the chapel),” she said.

In the video, Mother Cecilia explains that music is an integral part of priory life. Although the Sisters chant seven times a day, much of their time is spent in silence. Their daily routine includes manual labor: sewing the vestments, albs, surplices and altar linens used at Mass by priests. As part of

the process, the Sisters quietly pray for each of the men who will use the items they craft day.

Unlike most professional singers, the Sisters do not engage in stringent practice ses-

sions; rather, their ability to sing well together comes from the many hours they spend glorifying God in song with each other in the priory’s chapel.

“It comes naturally because we’re so close in the heart of our work,” Mother Cecilia said in the video. With an extensive music background Mother Cecilia arranges most of the pieces the Sisters sing. The art for the cover of the album was created by Sister Scholastica, a community member.

“All these Sisters are incredibly talented,” said Fitzgibbons, noting that she and her husband will help develop a theme for a CD. But it’s the Sisters who drive the repertoire.

“We chose the theme angels and saints mainly in order to draw attention to the need we all have of helpers and intercessors on our journey towards heaven,” Mother Cecilia said in explaining the development

of the new album.

“This is something people can listen to year round. Can you imagine what Heaven would be like? I think (God) wants us to contemplate Heaven a little more in our day,” Fitzgibbons said.

In the days after the Boston Marathon bombings, people reached out to the Benedictines for inspiration, asking them to make a piece available from the new CD. The Sisters agreed and Fitzgibbons uploaded to YouTube a track by St. Francis Xavier.

“I think our society can get bogged down by the materialism and atheism that inundates our culture, (that) what you perceive with your senses is the only reality,” Mother Cecilia said. “Sacred music is an extremely powerful means to awaken souls to the truth of spiritual realities.”

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

“The Big Wedding” (Lionsgate) A caricatured portrayal of Catholicism — via a straw-man priest (Robin Williams) and a hyper-pious South American matron (Patricia Rae) — is only the most annoying of this vulgar romantic comedy’s many defects. To protect Rae’s character — his birth mother — from the scandalous fact that his adoptive parents (Robert De Niro and Diane Keaton) are divorced, the groom (Ben Barnes) of the titular nuptials (to Amanda Seyfried) asks Mom and Dad to pretend they’re still married, an arrangement that leaves the latter’s live-in girlfriend (Susan Sarandon) fuming. Overall, the message of writer-director Justin Zackham’s adaptation of the 2006 French-Swiss film “Mon Frere Se Marie” seems to be that, in a world without God, it’s fine to be confused as long as you’re not inhibited. Implied atheism, anti-Catholicism, flawed moral values, strong sexual content — including aberrant sex acts, rear nudity and a frivolous treatment of homosexuality and adultery — a couple of uses of profanity, much

May 10, 2013

The Anchor rough and crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

“Iron Man 3” (Disney) Special effects trump substance in this addition to the blockbuster screen franchise adapted from a series of Marvel comics dating back to 1963. As the titular superhero’s billionaire alter ego (Robert Downey Jr.) battles a mysterious, bin Laden-like terrorist (Ben Kingsley), their conflict endangers his now live-in girlfriend (Gwyneth Paltrow). The range of moral and immoral uses to which advanced technology can be turned are briefly explored through the characters of two promising scientists gone bad (Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall) and through the protagonist’s newly developed anxiety attacks, which leave him questioning his reliance on gadgetry.

But such serious considerations are muscled out of view, under co-writer Shane Black’s direction, by serial gunplay and explosions. Much action violence with some gore, cohabitation, an off-screen nonmarital sexual encounter, at least one use of profanity, occasional crude and crass language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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

a good friend — Jack Shea, center, shown with Jim Caviezel and Father Willy Raymond, CSC, national director of Family Theater Productions. (Photo courtesy of Holy Cross Family Ministries)

Jack Shea, 84, Catholics in Media co-founder and TV director, dies LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Jack Shea, a respected television director who, with his wife Patt, co-founded Catholics in Media Associates, died April 28 in Los Angeles at age 84. Patt Shea said her husband died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease.

Jack Shea, twice nominated for an Emmy Award, also served nearly five years as president of the Directors Guild of America.

Shea also was a former member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Communications.

Born Aug. 1, 1928, in New York, John Francis “Jack” Shea Jr. grew up in Manhattan, attending Regis High School and Fordham University, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history in 1950. That year, Shea began his TV career working as a stage manager for NBC in New York, working on “Philco Playhouse” and other programs.

Shea’s TV career went into the 1990s. He got his break directing an episode of the game show “Truth or Consequences.”

As a director at NBC, Shea helmed episodes of “The Jerry Lewis Show,” “Death Valley Days” and “The Bob Hope Show.” He directed 110 episodes of “The Jeffersons,” 91 of “Silver Spoons,” 22 of “The Ropers,” 15 of “Sanford & Son,” 14 of “Designing Women,” 13 of “The Charmings,” eight of “The Waltons,” six of “Growing Pains,” and multiple episodes of “Valerie’s Family,” “The Royal Family,” “The Golden Girls,” “Punky Brewster” and “Full House,” as well as a decade of Bob Hope overseas specials, 1956-66.

In addition to being a cofounder of Catholics in Media

Associates, Shea was a past president of the Hollywoodbased organization of entertainment industry professionals. Shea and his wife jointly received the group’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.

In a 1994 interview with Catholic News Service, Shea said he helped found the organization to give Catholics working in the entertainment industry “a place that they can identify with.”’ He added, “I am known as a Catholic. I don’t hammer it at anybody, but I don’t hide it.

I think it allows other people at times, other Catholics, to identify with me in that situation.”

An activist with the Directors Guild of America, Shea served in leadership positions with the guild for 35 years. As president, the guild took action on the phenomenon of “runaway production” in which movies and TV shows are shot outside of Hollywood because of tax breaks, encouraged diversity in hiring, formed an Independent Directors Committee and negotiated contracts with Hollywood producers.

“He was a splendid human being,” Msgr. Francis Manis-

calco, former USCCB communications secretary, said of Shea in an April 30 email. “Jack Shea was instrumental in arranging for meetings between some of his members and Cardinal William H. Keeler, a former USCCB president, and then-Archbishop John P. Foley while he was president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, to discuss the moral impact of the entertainment media.”

One of the original organizers and a past president of the Radio and Television Directors Guild the precursor to the DGA, Shea encouraged the merger of the RTDG with the Screen Directors Guild in 1960, out of which the DGA was formed.

In 1992, Shea was awarded the DGA’s Robert Aldrich Award for “40 years of extraordinary service.”

Shea is survived by his wife, four children and six grandchildren. A funeral Mass, attended

by Holy Cross Father Willy Raymond, national director of Family Theater Productions, a part of Holy Cross Family Ministries, was held on May 9 at St. Francis De Sales Catholic Church in Sherman Oaks, Calif.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, May 12, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Marek Chmurski, pastor of St. Lawrence Martyr Parish in New Bedford

May 10, 2013

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The Anchor

Videos show Gosnell practices in other abortion clinics

Washington D.C. (CNA/ EWTN News) — Newly-released videos from Live Action, a ProLife advocacy group, show that doctor Kermit Gosnell’s practice of murdering infants who survive abortions is not isolated to his facility.

“It is clear from our investigation that the horrors revealed during the Kermit Gosnell trial are not exclusive to that clinic,” Lila Rose, president of Live Action, stated recently.

“Our videos expose the truly gruesome, illegal, and inhuman practices going on inside many of America’s abortion clinics ... these inhuman practices are just another day at the office for abortionists and their staff.”

Closing arguments were made in Gosnell’s trial on April 29 as the Pennsylvania abortionist is charged with the murder of one mother and four infants. The babies were allegedly killed in his Philadelphia clinic, the Women’s Medial Society, after being born alive following botched procedures.

Charges involving three other infants were thrown out, after the trial judge decided the prosecution had not presented enough evidence that they had been born alive.

Nine of Gosnell’s employees

have faced state and federal charges for their actions at the clinic.

Eight have pled guilty to various charges in the case — three of them to third-degree murder.

Former employee Stephen Massof in courtroom testimony in early April said that he saw about 100 babies born alive. He said clinic workers then “snipped” the back of their necks to ensure their “demise.”

Massof is in prison after having pled guilty to third-degree murder in the deaths of two newborns.

In a January 2011 Grand Jury report, District Attorney R. Seth Williams found that the Pennsylvania Department of Health had contact with Gosnell’s clinic in 1979, when it first approved it. The department did not conduct another site review until 1989, finding “numerous violations.” Two site reviews found more violations in 1992 and 1993, but failed to make corrections.

“With the change of administration from Governor Casey to Governor Ridge,” the report said, “officials concluded that inspections would be ‘putting a barrier up to women’ seeking abortions.

Better to leave clinics to do as they pleased, even though, as Gosnell proved, that meant both women and babies would pay.”

breathe anymore.”

Another Live Action video shows Dr. Cesare Santangelo, an abortionist in the District of Columbia, saying that when a child survives abortion, “legally we would be obligated to help it, you know, to survive. But ... it’s all in how vigorously you do things to help a fetus survive at this point.

Let’s say you went into labor, the membranes ruptured, and you delivered before we got to the termination part of the procedure here, you know? Then we would do things — we would — we would not help it.”

Santangelo compared the decision to a terminal cancer patient with “do not resuscitate” orders.

“We could do the same things here,” he concluded.

Rose told CNA that Live Action conducted its investigations into late-term abortions knowing that a 2007 study in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that one in 30 children survive abortion attempts, and that up to one in 10 children survive abortion attempts performed after 23 weeks of gestation.

“Our weakest children may be surviving these brutal late-term abortions, because in a late-term abortion procedure you’re induc-

ing labor,” Rose said.

“You have to effectively deliver a child, which the abortionist has to kill either in the process or in utero, but sometimes that baby comes out alive.”

A report from Philadelphia’s ABC affiliate, WPVI, on April 9, revealed that several nurses at Planned Parenthood of Delaware had left their employment at the abortion clinic over unsanitary conditions and safety concerns.

“I couldn’t tell you how ridiculously unsafe it was,” Jayne Mitchell-Werbrich told WPVI. And Joyce Vasikonis added that “they were using instruments on patients that were not sterile.”

The news report said the two nurses quit Planned Parenthood of Delaware “to protect their own medical licenses.”

On April 26, President Obama spoke at Planned Parenthood’s 2013 conference, thanking the organization for their “outstanding leadership” and “remarkable work ... providing quality health care to women.”

He derided recent Pro-Life legislation passed in states such as North Dakota, where recently abortion was outlawed beginning at six weeks after conception, when the child’s heartbeat is discernible.

Instead, Gosnell’s trial has Most abortion advocates are, is widespread and abortion bebeen treated as a low-key, local thankfully, not so logical. Most comes “backup birth control.” story. Pro-Life advocates took of them find Gosnell’s actions After all, most women who seek up the task of publicizing it, us- appalling. Yet they have no valid an abortion are on some form of ing social media to make up for or compelling grounds on which birth control.

Kermit Gosnell’s actions are news outlets’ silence. to condemn his particular meththe logical outcome of the aborI suspect journalists would ods of abortion as wrong. rather ignore what happened at Indeed, on the level of moral tion mentality. But they are also, in a deeper sense, the Gosnell’s “Medical Center.” The case raises too he testimony against him includes result of what Blessed John Paul II called the many disturbing quessome of the most shocking state- “contraceptive mentaltions — about the mentality behind abortion, ments ever made in an American court- ity.”

Many people wrongand our culture’s trou- room. His former aides speak of infants bling attitude toward hu- whose hands and feet were kept in jars, ly believe contraception prevents abortion. man life.

For instance, most and their bodies flushed down toilets, after This is not borne out by “pro-choice” partisans they were delivered alive and decapitated. statistics, or by careful thinking about the isdismiss the idea that sues. abortion leads to infanResearch shows that contraticide. They distance themselves principles, infanticide and aborfrom thinkers like Princeton’s tion are equivalent. Kermit Gos- ception leads to riskier behavior, professor Peter Singer — who nell took the abortion mentality more unplanned pregnancies, and consequently, more abortion. defends the killing of newborns, to its logical conclusion. and the “right” to abortion, on This is a hard fact, with dis- When contraception fails — as it the same philosophical basis. turbing implications. It is an in- inevitably does — couples are But Gosnell’s trial shows the convenient fact for journalists, tempted to eliminate the “undifficulty of separating abortion and many members of their audi- wanted” life.

Kermit Gosnell looked at from infanticide, in theory and in ence, to face. This partly explains practice. their reluctance to cover Gos- these “unwanted” lives, and saw Indeed, there is a hideous nell’s trial, since it directly raises burdens placed upon women. He logical consistency in Gosnell’s the question of abortion and its was more ruthless than most, in his efforts to eliminate these livcareer. He started off killing chil- relationship to infanticide. dren in the womb, and ended up But the link between infanti- ing “burdens.”

Most people do not share killing them after birth. At some cide and abortion is not the only point, the distinction between issue raised by this case. There Gosnell’s ruthlessness. But many abortion and infanticide must is also the larger question of in our society seem to share his have struck him as a mere techni- how human life is regarded, in attitude: that human life is somecality, just a matter of geography. a culture where contraception times an inconvenient and un-

necessary burden, rather than a sacred gift from God. This is the “contraceptive mentality” that Blessed John Paul II saw as a root cause of abortion.

When we see any human life as a troublesome burden we must manage; rather than a sacred gift entrusted to our care, there is a temptation to get rid of the burden by any means necessary.

The Gosnell case suggests that our society’s view of human life is deeply wrong. It suggests that a culture of contraception cannot avoid becoming a “culture of death” — in which some lives are seen not as gifts, but as burdens.

Our media outlets thrive on provocation and controversy, but they shrink from life’s deeper questions. They shy away from suggesting that abortion might lead to infanticide. They don’t dare to ask whether the “contraceptive mentality” makes us callous toward life.

The popular media will not take the risk of raising these more fundamental questions by publicizing Gosnell’s trial. That is why we must raise awareness of this case, to help the world see the consequences of contraception and abortion. http://www.dioceseoflincoln. org/SouthernNeRegister/bcc/ bcc050313.aspx

Bob Casey was a Pro-Life Democrat who was replaced as Pennsylvania governor by abortion-supporting Republican Tom Ridge in 1995.

An undercover video released

by Live Action on April 28 of this year showed a counselor at The Bronx’s Dr. Emily Woman’s Health Center saying the clinic would put a born-alive infant in a jar filled with solution that would ensure its death, should the abortion procedure be unsuccessful.

Dr. Emily’s boasts on its website that it offers “gentle abortion” which is streamlined for your convenience, and that for abortions performed between 20 and 24 weeks, “anesthesia guarantees that patients have no pain and no recollection of the procedure.”

The undercover investigator, who was at least 23 weeks pregnant, asked what would be done with the child after the abortion.

The counselor responded that they would put the corpse “in like a jar, a container, with solution, and send it to the lab.”

And if the child twitches, perhaps showing signs of life, “the solution will make it stop. That’s the whole purpose of the solution,” the counselor said. “It will automatically stop. It won’t be able to

Abortion, contraception consequences on display in Gosnell’s ‘house of horrors’

By Bishop James Conley, D.D., S.T.L., Bishop of Lincoln, Neb.

Our news outlets are not known for their squeamish attitude toward violence. On the contrary, reporters are often criticized for fixating on violence, exploiting it as fodder for the 24hour news cycle.

We rarely see journalists shying away from a gruesome case.

Yet, the media has been reluctant to cover the trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell — a Philadelphia abortionist accused of committing unspeakable crimes at his “Women’s Medical Center.”

Already indicted by a grand jury, Gosnell is on trial for running a “house of horrors,” where hundreds of infants were born alive and beheaded with scissors.

The testimony against him includes some of the most shocking statements ever made in an American courtroom. His former aides speak of infants whose hands and feet were kept in jars, and their bodies flushed down toilets, after they were delivered alive and decapitated.

Somehow, this story went largely unnoticed by mainstream reporters. One would expect a murderous doctor, running a “clinic” reminiscent of Auschwitz, to face a media blitz and a burst of public outrage.

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The Anchor

Newtown parish sends its thanks in wake of tragedy continued from page one

Even as people gathered, police upped their patrols as St. Rose of Lima Parish received a phone call 24 hours after the event from someone stating he was a friend of Lanza and was coming to finish what Lanza started.

“I didn’t know what would be safe for people,” said Msgr.

Weiss. “They can’t go to school, can’t go to church; that really put a heaviness on us too.”

December was a month of mourning, filled with wakes and funerals for the victims of the shooting. Eight funerals were held at St. Rose of Lima Parish; all eight were children enrolled in the parish’s Religious Education program. A ninth victim, an adult, was also a member of the parish but her family opted to bury her in New York, said Msgr. Weiss.

“This was not an anonymous

kind of thing, this was very much a home thing,” said Msgr. Weiss.

“We had a very heavy connection with the whole tragedy.”

It was the day after Christmas when Msgr. Weiss received a phone call to come to the post office, and it was there that he witnessed the tangible evidence of the outpouring of support and prayers from around the country and from around the world.

“The packages just waiting for us — the flowers, the fruit baskets — we had at least 800 floral tributes in our church,” he said, “thousands of candles everywhere on the property by people lighting candles and leaving them.”

What prompted his writing a thank-you note and mailing it to dozens of dioceses was the parish was overwhelmed trying to respond personally to each package, said Msgr. Weiss, and

Money is flying out the window In 2012, The Anchor spent nearly $2,000 in postage change fees!

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he wanted to extend his sincere appreciation to all those who sent something.

“We just couldn’t keep up with the thank-you notes. I had hundreds of volunteers working here with me to acknowledge everything that was sent to us, from Rosaries to prayer shawls, poems — it just kept coming in and coming in,” said Msgr. Weiss. “We just wanted to say how grateful we were.

It’s a small town and we don’t have the resources for something of this magnitude. We just wanted to say that we received so many things and are grateful for them.”

Six months later, each family is in a different place but it’s going to take a long time to recover, said Msgr. Weiss, if they ever will truly find peace after such an event. During this year’s Boston Marathon, some residents participated in the race and the last mile was dedicated to Sandy Hook. And the day before this interview took place, the town was reeling from a seventh grader who had committed suicide.

“The town is strong but the people are exhausted,” said Msgr. Weiss. “We are just doing our best day-to-day. Some people are getting worn down while others don’t want it to be forgotten. There’s no one word to fit this town right now.”

The upcoming weekend was also offering a mixed bag of emotions. Saturday was the parish’s celebration of its First Communion class while Sunday was the end-of-the-year Mass for junior high students, which was to be dedicated to the young man who had died.

“That’s kind of where we are,” said Msgr. Weiss. “You go from a high and make it a happy day, and you go to a place where you are so broken and hurt – I think that’s where we all are right now.”

Even as the Boston Marathon bombings and recent sui-

May 10, 2013 cide cast huge shadows on what would otherwise be celebrations, Msgr. Weiss said that each tragedy showcases the resiliency of the residents of Newtown, and their deep faith.

“This is a pretty young community and many of the people are connected to the Church because they want some kind of foundation for their child,” he said. “You never really heard ‘why is God doing this to us?’

They really believed that evil visited this town and that good overcame the evil. The mantra became ‘the dark has covered us

but the light has overtaken the darkness.’

“There’s no answer to a situation like this. This is a community that’s really built of family, friendships and faith – those are the three core values that we lean on here. To me, it’s just a part of who we are; there’s something greater than all of us. You can choose good or evil, and I think most choose good; they choose God. It’s a deep core faith. They may not be churchgoers but that faith is there. The families are trying to find a sense of hope and a sense of peace.”

Newtown parish’s pastor’s letter of thanks to sister parishes

On behalf of our community and parish, we extend our gratitude to each of you who remembered us in prayer following the events of Dec. 14, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School. We quickly realized the universality of the Church by the outpouring of support and concern that was shown to us by so many in our faith communities.

The cards and letters were from staff and students in Catholic elementary schools, high schools, colleges and were the number of cards from parish Religious Education programs, especially the Sacramental programs.

We were also contacted by many Catholic organizations and groups on both the local and national levels. The list of parishes, Catholic-based groups and dioceses who contacted us is an overwhelming one. We are also very appreciative of the number of donations sent to us to assist our parish in our continuing ministry to the community, to help pay the expenses of the victims’ funerals, to support counseling programs, to provide direct aid to the families and so on.

Your generosity reminded us that we are not alone during this very sad and challenging time.

We also want to thank our brother priests, deacons and religious Sisters and brothers for their let-

ters of support and encouragement. Spiritual bouquets, Mass cards, hours of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament and remembrances by many prayer groups have lifted our spirits knowing that our intentions are ever before the Lord.

We also received a number of Rosaries, prayer shawls, religious works of art, memorial vestments, reliquaries, books focusing on grief and healing, original and recorded religious CDs and a variety of poems, spiritual reflections and meditations to help guide us in providing comfort and support. While we tried to acknowledge every letter and gift sent to us, it became an overwhelming task, so please accept this letter as a thank you to every person who remembered us in prayer during the days immediately following the tragedy to these days of recovery and healing. We know that the road ahead of us will be a long one, but we are given great hope by the outpouring of generosity and love shown to us. We are truly blessed by your many acts of faith and kindness.

Please know that you continue to be in our prayers of gratitude for the goodness you have demonstrated to us in so many ways.

God bless.

Msgr. Robert Weiss, Pastor St. Rose of Lima Parish Newtown, Conn.

15

The Anchor

May 10, 2013

Vatican official states flood of reform rumors premature

special delivery — The helicopter carrying Pope Benedict XVI passes the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica as the retired pope returns to the Vatican May 2. The pope will live in a monastery in the Vatican Gardens. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Pope Francis welcomes retired Pope Benedict back to Vatican

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — For the first time in history, the Vatican is home to a pope and a retired pope.

Pope Francis welcomed his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict, to the Vatican May 2 outside the convent remodeled for the 86-year-old retired pontiff and five aides. Pope Francis and the pope emeritus entered the convent’s chapel together “for a brief moment of prayer,” said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman.

The pope emeritus had been staying at the papal summer villa in Castel Gandolfo since retiring February 28. Pope Francis traveled to the villa 10 days after his election to visit, pray and have lunch with Pope Emeritus Benedict; the new pope also has telephoned his predecessor on at least two occasions.

In response to questions about the fact that the retired pope seemed to be much frailer than he was two months ago, Father Lombardi told reporters, “He’s an elderly man, weakened by age, but he is not suffering from any illness.”

In the last year of his pontificate, Pope Emeritus Benedict was seen walking with a cane on more and more public occasions; after Pope Benedict retired, Father Lombardi confirmed that he had had a pacemaker inserted before becoming pope in 2005 and had undergone a brief procedure in November to replace the battery.

While the Vatican is now home to a pope and his predecessor, neither lives in the papal apartments of the Apostolic Palace. Pope Francis continues to live in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the Vatican guesthouse just south of St. Peter’s Basilica where the cardinals stayed during the conclave; the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery where Pope Benedict is living is just to the north of the basilica.

Arriving in Castel Gandolfo a couple hours before his retirement

became official, Pope Benedict told a crowd gathered in the town square to welcome him, “I am a simple pilgrim who begins the last stage of his pilgrimage on this earth.

“With all my heart, with all my love, with my prayers, with my reflection, with all my interior strength, I still want to work for the common good and the good of the Church and humanity,” he said, reaffirming his plans to spend his retirement in a “hidden life” of prayer and study.

The location he chose as his residence had served since 1994 as home to four different communities of cloistered nuns — Poor Clares, Carmelites, Benedictines and Visitandines — who each spent a five- or three-year term there in a life dedicated to praying for the pope and the Church.

The structure includes what was once the Vatican gardener’s house; before the first group of nuns took up residence, Blessed John Paul II had it expanded to about 4,600 square feet, including a large chapel, refectory and infirmary.

Since the Visitandine nuns moved in November, the building has undergone a remodeling, including an expansion of the library specifically for Pope Emeritus Benedict.

The retired pope will live in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery with Archbishop Georg Ganswein, his secretary, who also serves Pope Francis as prefect of the papal household; and with four consecrated laywomen from Memores Domini, Father Lombardi said.

The building also has a guestroom designed particularly for visits from Pope Benedict’s older brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger.

The Italian government helicopter bringing Pope Benedict to the Vatican from Castel Gandolfo was met at the Vatican heliport by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state; Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean

of the College of Cardinals; and other officials from the Vatican governor’s office and the secretariat of state.

Waiting in St. Peter’s Square to see the helicopter arrive was a priest from Kenya, who did not want to give his name. He told Catholic News Service, “It’s good he (Pope Benedict) comes to pray for the new pope and everyone else. He teaches us how to pray.”

“I guess he didn’t want any fanfare,” the priest said, noting that the large video screens in St. Peter’s Square were blank and the Vatican Television Center did not provide images. A battery of TV cameras stood outside the square with the same hope of catching a glimpse of the helicopter.

Jenna Cooper of Cornwall, N.Y., who is studying at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, said she came to the square “because I love Pope Emeritus Benedict. I wanted to be here to offer my prayerful support. I wanted to witness this historic event.

“It’s a beautiful witness that he’s dedicating his life to prayer; it shows how important prayer is for the life of the Church,” Cooper said.

Father Bryan Jerabek of the Diocese of Birmingham, Ala., also studying at Holy Cross, said he came to see the retired pope fly back and was hoping the Vatican would show video on the monitors, “but he asked to be hidden from the world” so perhaps he asked that there not be live coverage. “But it was nice to see the helicopter.”

As for having a pope and a retired pope living in the Vatican, Father Jerabek said: “It’s absolutely unprecedented. We’re all still trying to figure out what it means.”

Noting that Pope Francis has visited and phoned Pope Benedict, Father Jerabek said, “It’s obvious he wants to have a close relationship with his predecessor. And now he can take a 15-minute walk to see him.”

Vatican City (CNA/ EWTN News) — The number two official from the Vatican’s Secretariat of State has dismissed wide-ranging speculation about the reforms Pope Francis will make as “absolutely premature.”

“The pope has not yet met with the group of advisers who have been chosen and already advice is raining down,” Archbishop Angelo Becciu said in a recent interview with the Vatican’s newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.

“After having spoken with the Holy Father, I can say that, at this moment, it is absolutely premature to put forward any hypothesis about the future structure of the curia,” he stated.

Archbishop Becciu characterized the current time as one in which Pope Francis “is listening to everyone but, in the first place, he will want to listen to those whom he has chosen as advisers.”

Among the proposals that have surfaced are: creating a moderator for the curia, naming two “papal secretaries” — one to handle the Church’s administration and another for international relations — and finally, the idea of shutting down the Vatican’s Institute for Religious Works, which has been the target of negative headlines.

The pope did recently comment on the institute, known in Rome by its acronym IOR, during a daily Mass where some of its employees were present.

As he spoke about how institutions should not get in the way of the love story of the Church, he said, “I know that people from the IOR are here, so excuse me. Offices are necessary but they are necessary only up to a certain point.”

The comment was interpreted by some as an indication that Pope Francis was planning to dismantle the institute, which typically funds missions and other outreach projects in places where stable financing is hard to obtain. But Archbishop Becciu insisted that this was a misreading of the pope’s meaning.

“The pope was surprised to see words attributed to him that he never said and that misrepresent his thoughts,” he told L’Osservatore Romano.

“The only mention about it

was during a brief homily at the Santa Marta, made off the cuff, in which he passionately recalled how the essence of the Church consists in a story of love between God and human beings, and how the various human structures, the IOR among them, should be less important.”

The archbishop also said that he does not know the timing of when Pope Francis will begin his reform project, but he did say that the temporary status of the heads of all the Vatican dicasteries and councils is tied to the Holy Father’s desire for prayer and reflection.

Finally, Archbishop Becciu addressed the suggestion that the commission of cardinals Pope Francis created to advise him would in some way diminish his primacy.

“It is a consultative, not a decision-making, body and I truly do not see how Pope Francis’ choice might put the primacy in question,” he said.

Their mission of advising the pope should be understood in theological terms, he said, likening it to groups “in dioceses and parishes, or of councils of superiors, provincials, and generals in the institutes of consecrated life.”

In the secular world it would not make sense to have a council without decision making power, he acknowledged, but “theologically, advising has a function of absolute importance: helping the superior in the task of discernment, in understanding what the Spirit asks of the Church in a precise historical moment,” he explained.

Archbishop Becciu also noted that process will not move as fast as some have suggested, given that reforms to the apostolic constitution “Pastor Bonus” — which details the structure of the curia — will still need to go through another process to be implemented.

16

Youth Pages

one with boston — Faculty, staff, and students at SS. Peter and Paul School in Fall River participated in a dress-down day to benefit the One Fund which aids victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.

May 10, 2013

looking good for their age — St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro celebrated the 100th day of school with its annual tradition of the first-grade classes dressing as if they were 100 years old. Denise Piette’s and Sally Sullivan’s first-grade classes dressed in old time clothes and adorned themselves with beards, glasses and canes. Shown are Piette’s students dressed up.

he was a good joe — Preschool and first-grade students from St. Joseph School in Fairhaven led a prayer service celebrating the feast of St. Joseph. The students told the story of the life of Joseph, and ended with the song, “Joseph Was A Good Man.” small and strong — Students from St. James-St. John School in New Bedford raised $1,500 for the Boston Marathon victims by wearing their favorite Boston team clothing and being a part of “Boston Strong.”

puppet showing — Fifthgrade students at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro recently studied famous women in history to celebrate Women’s History Month as part of Sister Mary Dumond’s Language Arts class. Each student got to choose their own book to read, had to give an oral report, and create a puppet. Shown here is the entire class holding their puppets.

tops in box tops — Mrs. Krauzyk’s latest “BoxTop” contest brought in more than 5,000 box tops at Holy Name School in Fall River. Pictured are the two students who won the BoxTop contest; together they brought in more than 1,500 box tops.

May 10, 2013

M

y daughter and sonin-law mentioned last weekend that they were planning a garden for their backyard this year. Let’s just say my first reaction was one of great surprise as that’s not something she learned from me. However, my son-in-law grew up on a farm in the Midwest and has the necessary interest and skills to make it happen. Soon seeds will be sown in their backyard and it won’t be long before those seeds start to blossom.

As a result of this discussion, I recalled a story by the Catholic storyteller, Megan McKenna, who shares a story of a woman, who walks into a little shop one day to find Jesus behind the counter. On recognizing Jesus behind the counter, still a little unsure of herself, she asked, “Are You Jesus?” And Jesus responds, “I am.” So, she asks, “Well, do You work here?” And He said, “Yes, I work here but I also own the store.” And she wondered, “Well what is it that You sell?” And Jesus responds, “Everything here is free; indeed you can walk up and down the aisles and pick anything you want and it can be yours,” handing her a piece of paper and pen.

So, eagerly, she takes the pen and paper and goes up and down the aisles and marks everything she wants. She

Youth Pages

17

Words as seeds of God

sees food to feed all the hunreceive everything as already gry of the world; she sees all done for us; like we buy it off the forgiveness for her sins the shelf. That is not quite the of the past; all the hope, all way discipleship works. Disthe clothes for the needy; and cipleship works more like: we shelter for the homeless. She receive the seed of God’s Word picks up all these things and and then it is up to us to plant check-marks them on the list, heads over to the counter, and hands it over to Jesus. Jesus looks at the long list and smiles brightly at her, and walks behind the

By Frank Lucca counter and comes back with a stack of envelopes.

She looks disappointedly at it, to nourish it and to enable it Him and asks, “What is this?” to grow into what is the fullness He said, “In each of these enve- of the discipleship God calls lopes is the seeds for each one forth from us. In other words, of those things that you have if we want peace in the world, asked for.” She said, “I don’t then we must take the seeds understand.” So Jesus goes on of justice and plant them first to explain this is not a store in our own hearts and then in where you buy or receive items; the hearts of others. We must this is a catalogue store, where water these seeds and cultivate you see the items and you get them and be sure they grow not the seeds for each one of them. only in our own hearts, but also It is then up to you to plant the encourage their growth in the seeds and then nourish them hearts of others. into what they can potentially If it is understanding and be. This is the store of dreams. trust that we want then we are This is the store of disciplegoing to have to take trust and ship. She was disappointed and understanding; planting them walked out of the store with no within our own hearts first and envelopes. making sure there is a climate The story that Megan of trusting, understanding and McKenna shares is a wonderful openness in our own hearts. illustration of how it is someThen we can go forth to plant times that we view discipleship. those seeds in the people we We often see it as if we should meet. When we do this we

Be Not Afraid

a story that must be told — Recently Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro hosted John Halligan to speak to students and parents, in separate presentations, on the issue of bullying, cyberbullying, and teen depression. Halligan lost his son Ryan to suicide on Oct. 7, 2003 at the age of 13. At the time of his death, Ryan was a student at a middle school in Vermont. It was revealed in great detail after Ryan’s death that he was ridiculed and humiliated by peers at school and online.

In memory of his son and just a few months after Ryan’s death, Halligan spearheaded the Vermont Bullying Prevention law in 2004. He also led the passing of a law in 2006 pertaining to suicide prevention education in public schools. Halligan has been outspoken about the need for more education and prevention of bullying, cyber-bullying and teen suicide throughout the United States, Canada and Latin America. “Primetime” with Diane Sawyer devoted an entire episode to cyber-bullying and Ryan’s story in 2006 called “Cruel Intentions.” Along with his wife Kelly, he has also appeared on “PBS Frontline” and on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 2009. Here Halligan tells Feehan students the story of his son Ryan.

will produce the fruit that is a result of planting those seeds.

It would be unrealistic of us to expect to receive the fruit without doing any of the work of planting those seeds.

This is the very thing that Jesus reminds us in Matthew 13:1-9, when He speaks about the sower of the seeds. He uses the story of planting seeds because He was talking to farmers; people who would know what that meant.

The idea is that the seed contains everything for the plant. If the seed is planted in the right conditions, it will produce everything that we had hoped for, however, it needs to be planted in a soil that is rich and ready; it needs to be irrigated; it needs to be tilled if necessary; it needs the weeds pulled out so it is not choked and then after all that, then it is reasonable to expect the fruit of our labor.

Now, I am not saying it is easy; it sounds wonderful to come up here and say, “Oh if you want peace, you must plant justice.” But what does that really mean? What does that mean in our life today?

Here and now. I think one of the ways you can to sow good seeds in our lives is in every “word” we use. Every word we use is like a seed we plant in somebody else’s heart and when we choose the right word, we plant goodness and the Word of God in them. But when we use a string of bad words or ill-chosen words, then we rip out of them the potential for a seed to grow. And indeed, we might even plant bad seeds.

Put another way, every word we use has the potential to give life or to take life away. You know this dealing with other kids. In the heat of the moment, we can say a few words that could take years to undo. And yet also in the heat of the mo-

ment, we can say some wonderful and kind words that will last for years to come. What is the difference between one choice of words or the other? Well, I would like to think it is part of our discipleship; we really care for the people, not just our friends or children, but every person we come in contact with. That we care enough to pause and to ask, “What are the most helpful words to use for this person today; what will help them to grow; what will help them to get past this painful period of their life and grow into a fruitful tree that will produce 30, 60 or maybe 100 fold?”

Today we all recognize that we need the nourishment; we need to fertilize, to irrigate our own soil in our own hearts.

That is why we come around the Lord’s table each Sunday.

We do it each week because we know the work of tilling the soil and irrigating it and making it ready is hard work and we need each other to really make it happen. Maybe we could take on a special challenge this week; we know that the Word of God that we have heard is a seed that is given to us and we now go forth from here to use every set of words, well chosen, so that we can plant goodness in other people so that it will reap wonderful harvests in the future ahead.

Today, let us take the Word of God and plant those seeds in our own heart, but also in the hearts of everyone we meet in the words we choose to use.

Frank Lucca is a youth minister at St. Dominic’s Parish in Swansea. He chairman and a director of the YES! Retreat and the director of the Christian Leadership Institute.

He is a husband and a father of two daughters and a sonin-law. Comments, ideas or suggestions? Please email him at StDominicYouthMinistry@ comcast.net.

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

18

The Anchor

May 10, 2013

New school department assistant named continued from page one

welcome to our home — A screen-capture of the front doors of Sacred Heart Church in Fall River slowly opening is part of a recently-produced parish video, “Sacred Heart Parish: A Church and Its Mission,” to highlight the poor parish’s good works and rich history.

Video history highlights small parish with a big heart continued from page one

on Pine Street each week for a hot meal, needed groceries, and even clothing — no questions asked. All this because of the dozens of volunteers who make the commitment to be there for their brothers and sisters in need, and because of the generosity of people and businesses in the Greater Fall River area.

What concerns these Christlike individuals is not keeping the shelves stocked and the plates filled, it’s the repairs needed on the building itself. That’s one of the reasons the parish council came up with the idea of creating a parish video history.

Cyndi Gamache is one of the council members and her husband Ron just happens to have expertise in the video field.

“Cyndi and the parish council asked me if it would be possible to create a Sacred Heart Parish video, not just to highlight the great works of the soup kitchen, food pantry, and the access to warm clothes, but also to tell the parish story and highlight the beauty of the warm, rich church interior,” Ron told The Anchor.

“The purpose wasn’t to sell DVDs of the parish history, but more to preserve its long, fruitful mission to Christ in Fall River,” he continued. “You never know what can happen. Look at the tragedy of the Notre Dame fire in Fall River in the 80s. This video will keep the memories in not just photographs, but in a video story.”

Ron Gamache is a commercial copywriter, has written video scripts and produced the works as well. He’s also a musician who has works that have appeared on the ESPN sports cable

network, PBS and other national venues.

“Once we decided the video was a go, then the prep work began,” he said. “There are three stages to a video: pre-production, that takes in the ideas and puts them in some kind of order; the actual production, the filming; and the post-production when things are edited, cut and honed to make the final product.

It takes time.”

Gamache said one of the most vital components of a video is the music. “The right type of music must appear at the right part of the video for it all to make sense and be coherent. Father Cambra, who is a great musician told me he had a piece ‘in his head’ for sometime and he provided me with the sheet music for it and much of that piece is used in the parish history part of the video.

It’s beautiful.”

Called “Sacred Heart Parish: A Church and Its Mission,” the video was shot over a two-day period. On a Sunday, scenes from the 10 a.m. Mass were used, as well as interviews with some of the parishioners. The next day, on the Monday when the soup kitchen is in operation, is when those scenes were filmed. “We shot well more than 30 minutes of video, but had to pare it down to about 12 minutes,” Gamache explained.

“That was hard to do. We had so much good film.”

“This is not a home movie.

We wanted to show the church as a house of worship; its beauty, reverence, and the rich symbolism of its interior architecture and artwork. And, we wanted to show that despite meager resources and a smaller congre-

gation, the parish community fulfills its mission of service, as Christ asked all to do.”

The video not only highlights the fine work done with those less fortunate, it also tells the story of how the parish sends “care” packages to parishioners deployed in dangerous areas; how it responds to natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy; and how it developed a threeyear project to raise money to send two young parishioners and a chaperone to World Youth Day in Spain in 2011.

The video can be seen on the Sacred Heart Parish website (sacredheartchurch-1872.org/), and on YouTube (http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=rQYdO8 Cpe3E&feature=youtu.be).

“Feedback on the video has been very favorable,” Gamache told The Anchor. “Former parishioners who moved out of the area commented on how it brought back fond memories; I’ve heard from people who told me they were married here, or their children made their First Communion here. They said they ‘know this place.’ It validates some very special feelings.”

Gamache said he recommends that other parishes consider making a parish video, recounting, “You never know.”

He told The Anchor he would be happy to provide information to interested parties who contact him at rongamache@comcast. net, or call 508-673-6828.

For those who would like to help Sacred Heart Parish with upkeep, they can visit the website (s a c r e d he a r t c hur c h-1 8 7 2 . o r g ) or contact the parish at 160 Seabury Street, Fall River, 02720.

In fact, Griffin noted that she is already demonstrating her abilities in those areas through her current service as chairman of the diocesan Principals Committee on the implementation of the Common Core State Standards in English/Language Arts.

Before becoming principal at Espirito Santo School in 2008, Kane served in that same capacity at the West Glocester Elementary School in Glocester, R.I., for eight years, and at the Good Shepherd Middle School within the Greater Woonsocket Catholic Regional System for five years.

She was also interim principal at an elementary school within the Woonsocket Catholic system and at an elementary school in Burrillville, R.I. She brings from her overall 20 years as a principal much experience in a variety of areas of school administration including staff evaluation; interviewing and hiring; budgeting; professional development; personnel matters; and collaboration with all members within a school community.

Kane said she was drawn to applying for the assistant superintendent position after experiencing how important the help and support provided by the Diocesan Education Office has been to her while a principal at Espirito Santo School.

“I am excited about joining a leadership team that has good vision for Catholic schools and the students we serve,” she explained.

“I’ve also always thought it important to try to keep challenging myself.”

Kane will become part of the Catholic schools office top administrative structure comprising the superintendent and one

other assistant superintendent, Dr. Donna Boyle, whose focus is curriculum. The three will work together in setting the overall direction for the Catholic schools of the diocese and in planning for areas such as staff development.

While excited about the possibilities ahead, Kane admitted that she is “leaving a piece of her heart at Espirito Santo. It’s a wonderful community and I’ve become very attached.”

Kane is also a classroom veteran, having taught kindergarten through grade three at different times for 23 years in public and parochial schools in Rhode Island, New Jersey and Virginia.

A resident of Cumberland, R.I., she holds a master’s degree in Elementary Education from Providence College and a bachelor’s in that same discipline from the former Dunbarton College of Holy Cross in Washington, D.C. Simpson retires as assistant superintendent for personnel after 11 years. She was the first to serve in the position following its creation in a restructuring of diocesan schools’ administration in 2002.

She joined the faculty of St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro in 1984 after an earlier teaching career in Warwick, R.I. public schools.

She subsequently became a principal, first of St. Mary-Sacred Heart and then of Taunton Catholic Middle School in 1989.

“As assistant superintendent, Mrs. Simpson has been an outstanding leader,” Superintendent Griffin said, “particularly in the guidance and direction she has provided to our principals over the past 11 years, and her development of effective policies for our schools.”

honoring our lady — Pope Francis burns incense before the icon of Mary “Salus Populi Romani” (health of the Roman people) after praying the Rosary during a service at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome recently. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

May 10, 2013

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese

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

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

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

Brewster — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the La Salette Chapel in the lower level of Our Lady of the Cape Church, 468 Stony Brook Road, on First Fridays beginning at noon until 7:45 a.m. First Saturday, concluding with Benediction and concluding with Mass at 8 a.m. buzzards Bay — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Margaret Church, 141 Main Street, every first Friday after the 8 a.m. Mass and ending the following day before the 8 a.m. Mass.

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

East Sandwich — The Corpus Christi Parish Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, East Sandwich.

Use the Chapel entrance on the side of the church.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Falmouth — St. Patrick’s Church has Eucharistic Adoration each First Friday, following the 9 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 4:30 p.m. The Rosary is recited Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.

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

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

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

NEW BEDFORD — St. Lawrence Martyr Parish, 565 County Street, holds Eucharistic Adoration in the side chapel every Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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

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

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

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

Taunton — Eucharistic Adoration takes place every Tuesday at St. Anthony Church, 126 School Street, following the 8 a.m. Mass with prayers including the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for vocations, concluding at 6 p.m. with Chaplet of St. Anthony and Benediction.

Recitation of the Rosary for peace is prayed Monday through Saturday at 7:30 a.m. prior to the 8 a.m. Mass. taunton — Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament takes place every First Friday at Annunciation of the Lord, 31 First Street. Expostition begins following the 8 a.m. Mass.

The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed, and Adoration will continue throughout the day.

Confessions are heard from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. Rosary and Benediction begin at 6:30 p.m.

WAREHAM — Every First Friday, Eucharistic Adoration takes place from 8:30 a.m. through Benediction at 5:30 p.m. Morning prayer is prayed at 9; the Angelus at noon; the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3 p.m.; and Evening Prayer at 5 p.m.

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

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

19

The Anchor New life walk location brings good results

continued from page 10 maybe someone needs a place to stay, maybe someone else needs material goods. To me, (the walk) puts together the two parts of what I think it means to be Pro-Life — to have that public witness while showing there is a better way.”

Even though attendance this year was a little below expectations, Cross was pleased with the turnout and very satisfied with the location.

“Considering we had to move the walk at the last minute, it was great,” she said. “I think it worked out to be very convenient for people from the Fall River Diocese — we always get a lot of participants from the Fall River area — but people from the Boston area had to travel a bit to get there.”

As for next year’s event, Cross said they haven’t yet decided whether it will be held at La Salette Shrine again or return to a location more central to Boston.

“What I really liked about this location was … you really felt your faith was very well supported,” she said. “When you’re on what I like to call the ‘mean streets’ of Boston, you’re giving a visible public witness, but it can be a little daunting. But a lot of people like that, so I guess I’m not sure at this point what we’re going to do next year.”

With the lush greenery and gardens in full bloom at La Salette — not to mention the shrine’s adjacent Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary, Oak Knoll — Divine signs of life were evident all around the dedicated participants in this year’s Walk to Aid Mothers and Children.

As Matt Hanafin, a member of the walk committee, succinctly said after the event: “God was with us at the walk.”

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming week May 12 Rev. John F. deValles, DSC, U.S. Army Chaplain, 1920 Rev. Herve Jalbert, Retired Pastor, Blessed Sacrament, Fall River, 1986 May 13 Rev. Msgr. Osias Boucher, USA Ret., Pastor, Blessed Sacrament, Fall River, 1955 May 14 Rev. Robert McDonnell, C.S.C., Pastor, Holy Cross, South Easton, 2006 May 16 Rev. William McDonald, SS., St. Patrick, Falmouth, 1941 Rev. Msgr. J. Joseph Sullivan, P.R., Pastor, Sacred Heart, 1960 Rev. Arthur dos Reis, Retired Pastor, Santo Christo, Fall River, 1981 May 17 Most Rev. James E. Cassidy, D.D., Third Bishop of Fall River, 1934-51, 1951 Rev. Albert Evans, SS.CC., 2003

For more information about the walk or its many beneficia-

ries or to make a donation, visit www.respectlifewalk.org.

in full force — Young Pro-Life advocates from Annunciation of the Lord Parish in Taunton were well-represented at the 2013 Respect Life Walk to Aid Mothers and Children recently held at La Salette Shrine in Attleboro.

Around the Diocese 5/11

U.S. Post Office Letter Carriers will be holding the annual food drive to collect food for local food pantries tomorrow. Last year they collected 42,000 pounds of food to benefit local food pantries. With unemployment in the area hovering around 15 percent, the need in the area is great. The pantries that benefit include Catholic Social Services on Bay Street in Fall River; St. Anne’s and Sacred Heart in Fall River; St. Thomas More and St. Patrick’s in Somerset; and the former Notre Dame, now St. Bernadette’s, in Fall River. For more information about the food drive, call 774-319-4211.

5/14

“The Journey to God,” a six-session Year of Faith reflection on advancing in prayer and the spiritual life, will be held at Holy Family Parish in East Taunton on Tuesday evenings, May 14, 21, 28 and June 4 and 11 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. each night. Presented by Bud Miller, the series will be instructed and guided by the wisdom and experience of five saints: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Francis De Sales, St. Catherine of Siena, and St. Faustina Kowalska. The series is open to the public and all are welcome.

5/16

Father Flavio Gillio will present a series of Marian Lectures at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette, 947 Park Street in Attleboro on May 16 and 23 beginning at 7 p.m. each night. The lectures will be held in the shrine’s Chapel of Reconciliation. Father Gillio is an Italian priest who lived in Israel for eight years and taught Scripture and Biblical Hebrew in Jerusalem and Naples, Italy.

5/16

Prayers for “Building a New Culture of Life” will be offered on May 16 beginning at 1 p.m. in St. Jude’s Chapel of Christ the King Parish in Mashpee. Prayers will consist of the four mysteries of the Rosary with meditations on each. All are welcome.

5/16

A Healing Mass will be celebrated on May 16 at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford. The Mass will begin at 6:30 p.m. and includes Benediction and healing prayers. At 5:15 p.m. there will also be a holy hour including the Rosary. For more information visit www.saintanthonyofnewbedford.com or call 508-9931691.

5/20

Alumni, parishioners and friends of SS. Peter and Paul School are invited to a celebration of 90 years. Mass will be celebrated at Holy Cross Church, 47 Pulaski Street in Fall River at 6:30 p.m. on May 20. Immediately following Mass, a reception will take place at SS. Peter and Paul School (please use the Dover Street entrance). Call the school at 508-672-7258 to RSVP or for more information.

5/24

St. John Neumann Parish in East Freetown invites all to its 29th annual Lakeside Family Festival on Memorial Day Weekend, May 24-27. Hours of operation are Friday from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from noon to 11 p.m., and Monday from noon to 5 p.m. There will be a huge barn sale all weekend along with amusement rides, entertainment, a car show on Sunday (rain date is Monday) and a “Blessing of the Bikes” on Saturday. For more information visit www.sjnfreetown.org.

6/1

Good Shepherd Parish, 1598 South Main Street in Fall River, will be holding its annual Pot Luck Supper on June 1 at 5:30 p.m. Menu items include Portuguese, Polish and American foods. For tickets or more information call the rectory at 508-678-7412 or email gsfallriver@gmail. com.

6/7

St. Theresa’s Parish, 265 Stafford Road in Tiverton, R.I., will host a Yard Sale on June 7 from 5 to 8 p.m., on June 8 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on June 9 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the church grounds.

There will be plenty of items for everyone such as books, small appliances, toys, household goods, jewelry, records, DVDs, holiday decorations, and more!

The kitchen will be open Saturday and Sunday. For more information visit www. sstandctiverton.org.

20

May 10, 2013

The Anchor

rough around the edges — After a winter of seemingly relentless weekend storms, a recent visit revealed the once sandy shores of Horseneck Beach in Westport covered in rocks and shells with drops of three-feet or more in surface levels. (Photo by Dave Jolivet)

N

Making things right

ot being able to keep my- want to identify. self away from the beach Where soft sand once lie, until the summer, I recently rocks and shells were piled high. made my way south down Route There were places on the beach 88 from Fall River to Westport where there was at least a threeand Horseneck Beach for a little foot drop from where the hard Sunday beach combing. stuff ended and the soft sand that Accustomed to the soft, remained began. sandy stretches of shoreline that This didn’t stop the scores of Horseneck offers in the summer people who were walking the months, I witnessed that the poor shore while I was there, also beach looked like it had gone 15 enjoying the sun and sea, nor the rounds with Joe Frazier — and dozens of canines whose greatest lost. joy in life is carousing on a New I needn’t remind anyone who lived in Southeastern Massachusetts this past winter of the poundBy Dave Jolivet ing the area took, almost every weekend it seemed. For you snowbirds, England beach. those were the scenes you chuckOne could see that the Mass. led at while watching the evening Department of Conservation and news in places where folks don’t Recreation was already in repair even know what a wind-chill mode, having collected and factor is. amassed precious sand that found While nor’easters can batter a home in the parking lots and inland areas with highs winds man-made walkways. The piles and feet of snow, usually causwere ready to be spread back on ing power outages, it’s the coast the beach for the beginning of that bears the brunt of storms the season (in a few weeks on launched our way by the angry Memorial Day).

Atlantic Ocean. The damage My buddy Frank Lucca’s done to homes built too close for column on page 17 refers to God comfort to the sea, take devastat- giving us the seeds to plant to ing hits. change things. Well, my time The beaches, too, are pounded spent at Horseneck last week with a high, snarling surf that evoked a similar thought process. drags ocean junk in and rips preThe damage and the chaos cious sand away ... over and over caused by Mother Nature was and over again. The mighty winds not man’s doing, but, with God’s rip the powdery granules, hurling resources, it will be man who them God knows where, never to will make things right again for be seen on a beach again. thousands to enjoy another sumA walk down Horseneck mer season at Horseneck.

Beach last weekend was like The storms and power outwalking on the moon. Much of ages, not of our making, in our the garbage that the sea threw own lives, too, will be made back to where it originated was right, with God’s resources and strewn across the beach: beer and the work of ourselves and those soda cans, rope, lobster cages, around us. Just a day at the and items I couldn’t or didn’t beach.

My View From the Stands