05.13.11

Diocese of Fall River

The Anchor

F riday , May 13, 2011

Seventy-five years later, Little Rose devotees still pray for sainthood cause

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — Former Fall River resident Marie-Rose Ferron’s name might not be familiar to many people in the Fall River Diocese, but her more affectionate “Little Rose” Ferron moniker is likely to conjure the image of a bed-stricken young woman, serenely smiling despite having to endure incredible pain and suffering.

The most memorable of these images would be the black-andwhite photograph of a peaceful Ferron in her final moments with the intertwined pattern of Christ’s crown of thorns apparently protruding from beneath the flesh of her forehead. That striking depiction was used for the cover of Father Onesime A. Boyer’s 1949 biography — the primary resource documenting Ferron’s life — aptly titled “She Wears a Crown of Thorns.”

Published a little more than a

decade after her death on May 11, 1936, Father Boyer’s detailed account of Ferron’s life as a mystic and stigmatist is for many proof positive that the Woonsocket, R.I. woman should be venerated as a saint. And as devotees prepare to commemorate liturgically the 75th anniversary of Little Rose Ferron’s death this week, they remain steadfast in their opinion of her saintly virtue.

“In our minds, we know there have been so many miracles attributed to her, and we’d like to have her recognized as a saint,” said Deacon Nicholas A. Mazzei, president and director of the Little Rose Ferron Foundation. “That’s what our foundation is doing right now.”

“People used to think she was faking it, but she wasn’t,” said Diane Marshall, a family friend who currently cares for Ferron’s cousin, Rose Myette. “She suffered greatly.”

Turn to page 15

celebrating jpii — Students at St. Mary’s School in Mansfield celebrated the beatification of Pope John Paul by creating a time line of his life for the parish community to view. Starting with his birth, childhood and education, the display highlighted the seven visits he made to the United States over several years. Many photos were available, including one with Msgr. Stephen J. Avila.

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

Serving immigrants in Christ’s name

FALL RIVER — As a Church built up by so many immigrants across the generations in the United States, the Catholic Church has historically excelled in the care of immigrant populations and kept a close eye on how public policy affects. It is no surprise, therefore, that there are ardent supporters of those principles working in the of-

fices of Catholic Social Services.

“Many of the criticisms of talk radio or what have you, are so far off base,” said Father Marc Fallon, community advocate for CSS who also ministers to the Spanishspeaking community of St. Mary’s Parish in Taunton. “The idea that people come here for welfare” is off-base, he says, because “it’s impossible for them to get access to that program.”

“Sadly,” continued Father Fallon, “what we find is the very ill-considered reaction to many members of the community that is really at odds with the well-developed theology of welcoming.”

Thankfully, the immigrant community does have support among the parishes in the diocese, said Father Richard Wilson, director of the Hispanic Apostolate and Turn to page 14

Fifty-eight diocesan youth to be recognized for service to the Church

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

ROSE AT REST — Marie-Rose Ferron’s final resting place at Precious Blood Cemetery in Woonsocket, R.I. The former Fall River resident, better known as “Little Rose” Ferron, is buried beneath a gravestone that declares her a “victim of her Jesus” and a “stigmatist” in French. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)

FALL RIVER — Bishop George W. Coleman will preside at the annual St. Pius X Youth Awards ceremony at St. Mary’s Cathedral on May 17 at 7 p.m. Fifty-eight young women and men from across the diocese will be recognized for outstanding service to the local Church. A list of recipients appears on page 18.

This is the 10th annual ceremony, established by then-Fall River Bishop Sean P. O’Malley in 2002.

The award is named after Pope St. Pius X, founder of the Fall River Diocese in 1904, who had a great deal of devotion to the youth of the Church and all they had to offer.

The cherished award is a medal bearing an image of St. Pius X along with his motto, “Restore all things in Christ.”

Bishop O’Malley instituted the award based loosely on the diocesan Marian Medal Award Turn to page 18

Catholic Charities Appeal: No gift is too small Story on page 13

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News From the Vatican

May 13, 2011

Prayer is natural part of human life, Benedict says at audience

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — People of every epoch and in every culture have prayed because human beings have always recognized that there is something greater than themselves in the universe, Pope Benedict XVI said.

“Human life is a mix of good and bad, of undeserved suffering and of joy and beauty, which spontaneously and irresistibly push us to ask God for light and interior strength,” to save us in this life and assure us that there is life beyond the grave, the pope said at a recent weekly general audience, the beginning of a new series of audience talks about prayer.

“We want to learn to live more intensely our relationship with the Lord” through prayer, he said.

“Even those very advanced in the spiritual life feel a constant need to put themselves in the school of Jesus to learn how to pray.”

Pope Benedict began the series by explaining that examples of attempts to pray can be found even in classical pagan cultures.

The ancient Egyptian prayers tended to focus on pleas for help from on high and those of ancient Mesopotamia were characterized

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by an acknowledgment of human guilt and a search for mercy, he said. The ancient Greeks, such as Socrates and Plato, showed a shift from seeking personal favors to requesting assistance in being wise and good.

The ancient pagan pleas “demonstrate that human life without prayer, which opens our existence to the mystery of God, becomes meaningless and lacks a point of reference,” the pope said.

Every prayer, he said, shows two basic truths about the human person: his or her experience of a need for help, and his or her “extraordinary dignity” as a being “able to enter into communion with God.” The desire for a relationship with God is “inscribed on every human heart,” he said, and the keys to entering into such a relationship are found in the Bible.

It is only “in Jesus that human beings become able to draw close to God with the depth and intimacy of sons and daughters,” he said.

“Let us ask the Lord to enlighten our minds and hearts so that our relationship with Him in prayer will be increasingly intense, affectionate and constant,” the pope said.

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 55, No. 19

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ON THE RIGHT TRACK — Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, and Msgr.

Robert J. Vitillo, head of the Caritas Internationalis delegation in Geneva, participate in a photo opportunity at the Vatican train station recently. Officials and supporters of Caritas Internationalis will travel on a historic Vatican train about 60 miles from the Vatican to Orvieto May 21 to mark the the 60th anniversary of the organization and raise funds for its charitable work. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Involve Christ in everything, says pope

VENICE, Italy, (Zenit.org) — Christians need to bring the values of their faith into every sphere, including politics, says Benedict XVI. The pope affirmed this in a recent address to ecclesiastical representatives gathered in the Basilica of Aquileia during his pastoral visit to northeastern Italy.

Speaking about “how to proclaim Jesus Christ, how to communicate the Gospel and how to educate people in the faith today,” the pontiff indicated that “the mission that has priority,” that God entrusts to the churches of northeastern Italy today, “is that of bearing witness to the love of God for man.”

He said this witness should be manifested in “works of love and life choices on behalf of concrete people, beginning with the weakest, the most fragile, the most defenseless, those who are least self-sufficient, such as the poor, the elderly, the sick, the disabled.”

In the context of an “often exasperated pursuit of economic well-being” and of “grave economic and financial crisis,” he added, the faithful are called to “the Christian sense of life, through the explicit proclamation of the Gospel, brought with delicate pride and profound joy in the various areas of daily existence.”

“Do not renounce anything of the Gospel in which you believe,” he said, “communicating by the way you live that humanism that has its roots in Christianity, ready to build together with all men of good will a ‘city’ that is more human, more just and solidary.”

From this point of view,

he recommended to the local Churches “the commitment to create a new generation of men and women who are able to directly take on responsibility in various social spheres, especially in the political sphere,” which “now more than ever needs to see people, young people above all, able to build a ‘good life’ for all and in the service of all.”

“Christians cannot shirk this task. They are pilgrims who set out for heaven but they already live here below in anticipation of eternity,” he declared.

Addressing the representatives of the 15 dioceses of Triveneto who are preparing for the second ecclesial conference of Aquileia in 2012, the pope emphasized how the meeting will permit the Christian communities “to share above all the original experience of Christianity, that personal encounter with Christ, which fully reveals to every man and woman the meaning and direction of their journey in life and history.”

Gathering in Aquileia, where “the churches of northeastern Italy germinated, but also those of Slovenia and Austria and some churches in Croatia and Bavaria and even Hungary,” is “a meaningful return to the ‘roots’ to rediscover yourselves as living ‘stones’ of the spiritual building that has its foundation in Christ.”

Northeastern Italy, the pontiff added, is “witness and heir of a rich history of faith.” “Christian experience has forged an affable, hard working, tenacious, solidary people,” who are “deeply marked by the Gospel of Christ even in the plurality of their cultural identities.”

He described as characteristic

of this region an “openness to the transcendent dimension of life, despite widespread materialism; a basic religious sense shared by almost the whole population; attachment to religious traditions; the renewal of the paths of Christian initiation; the multiple expressions of faith, charity and culture; the manifestations of popular religiosity; the sense of solidarity and voluntary work.”

“Safeguard, reinforce, live this precious inheritance” he said.

The pope emphasized the importance of faith as the foundation for everything also in the address he gave upon his arrival in Aquileia.

“Only in Christ in fact can humanity receive hope for the future; only from him can humanity draw the meaning and power of forgiveness, of justice, of peace.”

“Always keep the faith and works of your origins alive with courage” he exclaimed. “Be in your churches and in the heart of society ‘quasi beatorum chorus,’ as St. Jerome said of the clergy of Aquileia, by the unity of faith, studying the Word, fraternal love, the joyous and multiform harmony of ecclesial witness.”

In the same way he invited the people to become “again and again disciples of the Gospel, to translate it into spiritual fervor, clarity of faith, sincere charity, ready sensitivity to the poor.”

In concluding he exhorted them to be “assiduous” at “the altar, where Christ Himself is the food, the Bread of life, strength in persecutions, heartening in all discouragement and weakness, the food of courage and of Christian ardor.”

The International Church Attack on Egyptian churches leaves 12 dead, hundreds injured

May 13, 2011

GIZA, Egypt (CNA) — Members of the Salafist Jihadi Islamist movement attacked three Coptic churches in the Egyptian city of Giza on May 7, killing a dozen people and injuring more than 200.

“We have no law or security — we are in a jungle,” said Giza’s Coptic Orthodox Bishop Anba Theodosius. “We are in a state of chaos. One rumor burns the whole area. Every day we have a catastrophe.”

But the Copts “will never leave our country,” the bishop added according to the Assyrian International News Agency.

The attack began on the evening of May 7 when a mob of 3,000 Muslims, thought to be followers of the hardline Salafist school of Islam, converged on St. Mina’s Church. Leaders of the mob accused members of the Coptic clergy of kidnapping a Christian woman who had married a Muslim man.

Their kidnapping story sounded like a familiar pretext, a variation on a story used to stir up tensions and justify violence against Middle Eastern Christians in the past. None of the parishioners had

Japan’s evacuees face anxiety about living conditions

ISHINOMAKI, Japan (CNS) — Earthquake and tsunami evacuees, many of them old people, are living with the anxiety of not knowing where they will live and the more pressing and simple needs of finding hot water to bathe.

Most people who lost their homes to the March 11 disaster in northern Japan remain in evacuation centers in schools, gymnasiums and town halls, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News. Kiyoko Inomata, 85, lost her family and home in Ishinomaki. She lives in a school gym with other evacuees, but officials have announced that the schools must be cleared out by the middle of May so that normal student life can resume.

“The kids have a hard time with us using their school, but they pitch in and help with the cleaning,” said Inomata. Temporary housing is being put up around town, but there may not be enough ready by the deadline and, even if people get into the housing, they are expected to move out of it within two years. “I doubt they’ll throw us out,” said Inomata. “We old folks, though, are in no shape to go hunting for a place to stay.

Where can I go? I want to stay in the area.”

ever heard of the woman being “tortured” inside of their church.

When the mob said they wanted to “search” the church, the Christians refused. Afraid of what would happen next, they made emergency calls trying to get police protection. One priest said that six police officers showed up, but left the church as rioters and snipers began shooting parishioners.

When the army arrived, nearly five hours later, they made an attempt to seal off the neighbor-

hood. But they did not stop rioters from attacking St. Mina’s Church, hurling Molotov cocktails at Coptic homes, and proceeding to two other churches in the area.

“The army was not able to control the situation,” Deacon Youssel Edward stated. “The mob was chanting ‘Islamic, Islamic.’”

According to local reports, the 3,000-strong crowd of Salafists prevented firefighters from reaching the nearby Church of St. Mary and St. Abanoub as they attacked it and shot parishioners. A third

church, St. Mary’s, had its entire first floor burned.

When the violence ended 14 hours later, 12 people were dead and 232 were reportedly wounded. Hundreds of outraged Christians and sympathetic Muslims demonstrated in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Sunday, demanding better protection from the police and military for Coptic Christians.

Nabil Sharaf el Din, an Egyptian journalist, told a Coptic television station that the army “is either incapable, or is an accom-

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plice to the Salafis.” He said that the Egyptian military, which took power after the February 11 resignation of former president Hosni Mubarak, could end up discredited if it fails to take a “stern position” with the hardline Muslim group.

Of the 3,000 people who reportedly stormed the three churches, 190 have been arrested.

The military and civil courts have not reached an agreement on how to prosecute those accused of the attacks.

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The Church in the U.S.

May 13, 2011

House passes No Tax-Payer Funding for Abortion Act

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The House has approved a bill that would make the Hyde Amendment permanent, limit tax deductions for the cost of an abortion and block other potential use of federal funds for any clinic or doctor who offers abortions.

The legislation is unlikely to reach a Senate vote and would likely be vetoed by President Barack Obama if it should pass. But supporters of the bill called for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to bring the bill to the floor.

In a 251-175 vote May 4, the House approved H.R. 3, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which would make permanent the restrictions of the Hyde Amendment, prohibiting the use of federal funds for any abortion. The amendment currently must be renewed each year.

H.R. 3 also would prohibit federal funds from being used to pay for any health insurance plan that includes abortion, as well as bar abortion from being offered at any federal or District of Columbia health care facility or by any individual employed by the federal government or the District of Columbia.

The only exceptions in the legislation would be if the pregnancy results from rape or incest or if the woman suffers from a lifethreatening condition related to the pregnancy.

“By passing the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, the House has taken a decisive step toward protecting human life, reflecting the will of the American people,” said Deir-

dre McQuade, assistant director for policy and communications of the USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities.

In testimony to a House subcommittee about the bill in February, Richard M. Doerflinger, associate director of the secretariat, called H.R. 3 “a well-crafted and reasonable measure to maintain long-standing and widely supported policies against active government promotion of abortion.”

In his testimony, Doerflinger cited past surveys showing that the Hyde Amendment — attached to annual Department of Health and Human Services appropriations bills since 1976 — has “consistently had the support of the American people,” with many wrongly assuming that “it is already fully implemented at all levels of our federal government.”

A statement from the White House said the administration strongly opposes H.R. 3 because it “intrudes on women’s reproductive freedom and access to health care; increases the tax burden on many Americans; unnecessarily restricts the private insurance choices that consumers have today; and restricts the District of Columbia’s use of local funds, which undermines home rule.”

The statement said long-standing federal policy prohibits federal funds from being used for abortions, except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman would be endangered and the prohibition is a part of Affordable Care Act, the national health care program passed last year.

REMEMBERING HEROES — A tribute poster with an image of Franciscan Father Mychal Judge and other firefighters hangs on a phone booth outside the World Trade Center site in New York May 5. Father Judge, a chaplain with the New York Fire Department, died Sept. 11, 2001, while giving last rites to a firefighter in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center. (CNS photo/Mike Segar, Reuters)

Pro-Life official says he has sometimes faced ‘ultimate evil’

NOTRE DAME, Ind. (CNS) — Looking back at 30 years of Pro-Life work for the Catholic Church, Richard M. Doerflinger said he sometimes felt he had come into “contact with something very close to ultimate evil.”

“I have to remind myself not to think of myself as fighting against evil people,” said the associate director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities as he received the inaugural Evangelium Vitae Medal and its accompanying $10,000 prize at an April 28 banquet at the University of Notre Dame.

The medal honored Doerflinger for his “remarkable contributions” to the Pro-Life cause.

“In an age when the sanctity of life from its earliest to its final days is assaulted, you have courageously, tirelessly and quietly worked to build and sustain the ‘unconditional respect for the right to life of every innocent person,’ ‘one of the pillars on which every civil society stands,’” the citation read.

Quotations in the citation were taken from Pope John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical “Evangelium Vitae” (The Gospel of Life), for which the medal was named.

In his remarks after the medal was bestowed on him, Doerflinger quoted Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who said, “The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”

“The (life) issues put us in touch with one aspect of humanity: They show what we are capable of when we lose our moorings, when we are not guided by clear thinking on right and wrong,” he said, calling the Catholic tradition “the only game in town if you wanted solidly grounded and consistent defense of the need to respect each and every human life.”

He said that those involved in Pro-Life work “tend to be religious people,” because they have “come to realize that only the grace of God could possibly be powerful enough to overcome the ways in which we insist on harming ourselves and others by acting out some very bad ideas.”

Those “bad ideas” include: promoting abortion supposedly to obtain freedom and equality for women; authorizing doctors to assist suicide allegedly to promote personal

autonomy of suffering patients; and deciding that human embryos are expendable because they have few of the qualities we respect in a person, he said.

Universities, the government and the world need people who will see through “these facades of glittering words and superficially cultured thinking to see the sheer madness they have let loose into people’s minds and hearts,” Doerflinger said.

The Catholic Church, “with its respect for clear thinking and common sense” and “long tradition of careful moral reasoning and its patience with human frailty and our capacity for self-deception,” is the likeliest place to nurture people for this task, he added.

Doerflinger related that after 30 years of promoting the Pro-Life philosophy, he has come to realize that people who really investigate the evidence generally don’t find the Pro-Life message flawed. Rather, they realize how much their lives would have to change if they were to live by that message, so they rationalize continuing to live as they wish.

“Changing their lives, changing our society will require debates and arguments, but in the end, this struggle is not so much like winning a debate as like sparking a conversion, healing illness of the soul,” Doerflinger noted.

“So our critique of today’s bad ideas must always be expressed in love and accompanied by a tremendous willingness to reach out with compassion to those who are frightened, confused, desperate or alone — the victims, if you will, of the sexual revolution and of the revolution in modern thinking that gave us the crazy idea that it is our job to weigh different people and then decide who lives and who dies.”

Helping people turn away from bad ideas is part of the task of a great Catholic university, Doerflinger continued, saying that because Notre Dame relies on so many scholars and thinkers who embrace that task, “It is an especially great honor for me to receive this award.”

The Evangelium Vitae Medal given by the Notre Dame Fund to Protect Human Life will be presented annually to an individual who has made an outstanding effort to affirm and defend the sanctity of all human life.

May 13, 2011

The Church in the U.S.

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Bishops, Knights urged to take action to help storm victims in South

troubled waters — A truck drives through floodwaters May 3 in an area intentionally flooded by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers in Charleston, Mo. The engineers blew a hole in a Mississippi River levee the evening of May 2 in an effort to protect a small Illinois town by flooding Missouri farmland. (CNS photo/James Kelleher, Reuters)

Priest-psychologist sees ‘signs of grace’ in abuse scandal

BURLINGTON, Vt. (CNS) — A priest-psychologist said he sees “signs of grace” amid the darkness of the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

Msgr. Stephen Rossetti, clinical associate professor of pastoral studies at The Catholic University of America, said one positive outcome of the abuse crisis has been the continued implementation of the U.S. bishops’ 2002 document the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”

He called it “a miracle of grace the charter is still strong and so insightful.”

Msgr. Rossetti made his remarks May 2 in a keynote address at the National Safe Environment and Victim Assistance Coordinator’s Leadership Conference in Burlington.

The priest, former president and CEO of St. Luke Institute, a treatment center in Maryland for priests and religious with addictions or psychological problems, was a consultant to the U.S. Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse that drafted the charter adopted by the bishops at their Dallas meeting in 2002 and revised three years later.

The charter and its norms are meant to put a comprehensive system in place to address and stop abuse. Msgr. Rossetti said the document “continues to hold up over time.” But he also noted that it is “not the last word.”

He said just as the Church and society continue to grow in their understanding of abuse, the charter will also continue to evolve, “but its spirit and principles stand firm and guide us.”

Addressing those involved with implementing the charter at the diocesan level, he urged them

to recognize that the “vision of the charter is not behind us. It is in front of us.”

“We have not fully realized all that is in this simple little document,” he said, but added that one of its positive outcomes is the “plummeting rates of child sexual abuse in our Church over the past 20-plus years.”

“From where I sit, there is no body or institution that has a more far-reaching child protection program than the Catholic Church in the United States,” the priest noted, saying those involved in this work should “be proud of what has been accomplished. The Church in this country does not get the credit it deserves for this far-reaching program.”

But the problem is far from over, he said, which is obvious each time clergy sexual abuse cases make headlines.

As he sees it, the ongoing work to eradicate abuse is “not simply about changing a few policies here and there” but instead “about changing a culture and a mindset.”

“Passing a few laws is relatively easy; changing hearts requires a long, and at times, agonizing process,” he added.

The priest pointed to some elements of progress, noting that the church today “is a much safer place” and is “better at weeding out potential abusers before they are ordained.” He also said new priests are being educated more “diligently and carefully, especially in the area of human sexuality and personal boundaries.”

“The culture of silence in our Church is breaking down. The Church is no place for molesters and this evil to hide any longer,” he added.

But among the setbacks, he said there is “no excuse for our not dealing with perpetrators better.” He also said he did not understand “why every diocese does not immediately report all allegations of this crime to public law enforcement officials, no matter how long ago the abuse occurred.”

Msgr. Rossetti said the problem of abuse in the Church will only end when the Church fully advocates for abuse victims.

“We must be the ones who demand that children be first and their safety our first concern,” he said. “We must lean down and strain to hear their voices. Then we stand up, and tell the world what they have said.”

WASHINGTON (CNS) — In an effort to help Southern dioceses recover from the devastating tornados of late April, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has approved a national relief collection and Knights of Columbus members in Alabama have been asked to be a visible presence in the devastated areas.

In a May 4 letter to U.S. bishops, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York said he was “happy to approve a collection and commend it to you for the parishes, dioceses, regions, provinces and states affected by the tornados.”

The archbishop recounted a letter he received from Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi of Mobile, Ala., asking for help and noting that the tornado damage “occurred mostly in mission dioceses that do not enjoy the blessing of substantial financial resources.”

Archbishop Rodi said funds collected from U.S. dioceses would be used to “help individuals in need” and also for “rebuilding and repairing any damaged church-owned buildings.”

The violent storms and devastating tornadoes that tore through the region killed more than 350 people. In early May, officials from several dioceses told Catholic News Service they were busy assessing damage to church buildings and schools.

Archbishop Dolan acknowledged that many dioceses have other special collections scheduled in the coming weeks and urged them to do “what you can when you can.” He also said he

planned to appoint a task force of several bishops to analyze the humanitarian and institutional needs of the affected dioceses and to work with Catholic Charities USA to allocate the funds received.

He asked for prayers “for those who have lost so much, and for those who will help so much.”

Members of the Knights of Columbus in Alabama were encouraged by their state deputy, Ray Carney, to contribute what they could to storm relief efforts in their state through a Knights Tornado Disaster Relief Account.

He also passed on a message from Birmingham Bishop Robert J. Baker who asked the Knights to “fly their colors” and be a visible presence, identified by shirts, hats and banners in places where they provide relief.

In a May 2 letter to the Knights in Alabama, Carney said he has already urged members to get in touch with local pastors, schools and convents to open kitchens and feed those in need. He said the current need was for warehouse space, containers or tractor-trailers to store donated items such as clothing, nonperishable food items and baby products.

Carney also asked the Knights to keep the affected region in their prayers, noting that more than 500 people were still missing in the Tuscaloosa area alone.

Gifts for tornado relief can be sent to the Office for National Collections “Tornado Recovery,” U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, 3211 Fourth St. NE, Washington, D.C., 20017.

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The Anchor The vitality of our faith

The Fourth Sunday of Easter is traditionally called Good Shepherd Sunday because on this day the Church always listens to a passage from St. John’s Gospel in which Jesus identifies Himself as the Good Shepherd. It is also the annual occasion when the whole Church turns with confidence to the Good Shepherd who promised “I will give you shepherds after My heart” (Jer 3:15), and begs Him to call from among His good sheep many men to serve Him and His flock as priests.

The theme for Sunday’s 48th World Day of Prayer for Vocations is “Proposing Vocations in the Local Church.” In his message to mark the occasion, Pope Benedict emphasized, “The ability to foster vocations is a hallmark of the vitality of a local Church.” To be spiritually alive, dioceses — and the parishes and families that comprise them — should be generating vocations just as good trees bear good fruit. When they cease to produce vocations, the Holy Father implies, the challenging words of conversion that Jesus said to the Church of Sardis would seem to apply anew: “I know your works. You have the reputation for being alive, but you are dead. Awake and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death” (Rev 3:1-2).

The pope, as he looks at the situation of the worldwide Church, has noted the obvious: some local Churches have great vitality, seen in an abundance of vocations, and others are barely alive.

The disparity is not merely a situation of what might be called regional openness or hostility toward vocations: in certain vocationally fertile regions like in Mexico, the Philippines, Colombia and Nigeria, there are also dioceses that are vocationally sterile; likewise in countries that are struggling to produce priestly vocations, like the United States, there remain dioceses that are yielding a rich vocational harvest and even some individual parishes that are yielding more seminarians than whole nearby dioceses do.

Insofar as the parishes of our diocese, objectively, are struggling to foster priestly vocations — we presently have six seminarians from the 91 parishes — and insofar as priestly projections indicate there will be fewer than 60 active diocesan priests in 2020, the Holy Father’s words on vocational promotion in the local Church ought to be particularly pertinent and timely for us.

In his message, Pope Benedict seemed to be synthesizing a list of five “best practices” culled both from the Gospel as well as recent experience from those local Churches that have shown remarkable vitality in producing vocations.

The first practice is prayer. Pope Benedict implied that Jesus always knew that there would be a need for vocations, that the harvest would “plentiful but the laborers few.” That’s why the Good Shepherd called His followers to “pray to the Harvest Master to send out laborers for His harvest” (Mk 9:36-38). Prayer was Jesus’ first action with regard to vocations. Before calling His first followers, Pope Benedict said, “Jesus spent the night alone in prayer, listening to the will of the Father. … It is Jesus’ intimate conversation with the Father that results in the calling of His disciples.”

Pope Benedict draws an important conclusion from Jesus’ words and example: “Vocations to the ministerial priesthood and to the consecrated life are first and foremost the fruit of constant contact with the living God and insistent prayer lifted up to the ‘Lord of the harvest,’ whether in parish communities, in Christian families or in groups specifically devoted to prayer for vocations.” The vitality of a Catholic family, parish and diocese will be manifested first, Pope Benedict indicates, by the frequency and intensity with which they pray to the Harvest Master.

The second practice is to show young people the example of total commitment to Christ with a willingness to sacrifice for Him in ordinary familial, parochial and diocesan life. Jesus’ first disciples were able to leave their boats and tax-collecting tables because they valued Jesus more than they loved a big catch and money. They were longing for the Messiah, thought they recognized Him in Jesus, and therefore were able to leave immediately to go with the One who personally called them with the words, “Follow Me!” Pope Benedict commented, “It is a challenging and uplifting invitation that Jesus addresses to those to whom He says: ‘Follow Me!’ He invites them to become His friends, to listen attentively to His word and to live with Him. He teaches them complete commitment to God … in accordance with the law of the Gospel: ‘Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.’ He invites them to leave behind their own narrow agenda and their notions of self-fulfillment in order to immerse themselves in another will, the will of God, and to be guided by it. He gives them an experience of fraternity, one born of that total openness to God that becomes the hallmark of the community of Jesus.” Since the call of Christ always involves the paradox of losing one’s life to save it, vocational promotion must come both the old and the young “learning to keep our gaze fixed on Jesus, growing close to Him, listening to His word and encountering Him in the Sacraments; it means learning to conform our will to His.” The vitality of a Christian family, parish and diocese will feature all of these markers.

Pope Benedict’s third point is that there’s never a “vocations” or “calling” crisis in the Church, but rather a crisis in hearing that vocation and responding to it. “The Lord does not fail to call people at every stage of life to share in His mission and to serve the Church in the ordained ministry and in the consecrated life,” he stressed. The problem in some areas is that the voice of the Lord can get “drowned out by ‘other voices’ and His invitation to follow Him by the gift of one’s own life may seem too difficult.” Because of this, “every Christian community, every member of the Church, needs consciously … to encourage and support those who show clear signs of a call to priestly life and religious consecration, and to enable them to feel the warmth of the whole community as they respond ‘yes’ to God and the Church.” In practical terms, this means helping the young “to grow into a genuine and affectionate friendship with the Lord, cultivated through personal and liturgical prayer; to grow in familiarity with the sacred Scriptures and thus to listen attentively and fruitfully to the word of God; to understand that entering into God’s will does not crush or destroy a person, but instead leads to the discovery of the deepest truth about ourselves; and finally to be generous and fraternal in relationships with others, since it is only in being open to the love of God that we discover true joy and the fulfillment of our aspirations.”

Fourth, Pope Benedict called attention to the crucial role bishops have in fostering vocations and urged them to “choose carefully” their vocation directors, ensuring they select those who are effective in three things: inspiring vocations, caring pastorally for those with the seeds of vocations, and fostering the personal, and ecclesial prayer that sustains vocations work and guarantees its effectiveness. Benedict is highlighting what most who have studied vocations numbers readily admit: there’s normally a correspondence between the number of priestly vocations in a local Church and the type of sacrifice a diocese makes with regard to vocations promoters; those dioceses teeming with vocations normally began by assigning one or more of its most capable priests to vocations work full-time.

Finally, the pope noted the important role of priests, families, catechists and leaders of parish groups, reminding them that “every moment in the life of the Church community — catechesis, formation meetings, liturgical prayer, pilgrimages — can be a precious opportunity for awakening in the people of God, and in particular in children and young people, a sense of belonging to the Church and of responsibility for answering the call to priesthood and to religious life by a free and informed decision.” Vocations promotion is meant to occur in “every moment in the life of the Church,” and whether it does is another sign of the diocese’s or parish’s vitality.

As we mark the World Day of Prayer for Vocations and turn anew to the Harvest Master, let us pray not only that He grant us an abundance of priestly vocations. Let us also ask Him to send His Holy Spirit to make all our Catholic families and parishes truly come alive through a total commitment to the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for us and calls each of us to lay down our lives for Him and for each other.

May 13, 2011

The Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary

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celebrates Christmas, which recalls the y praying the Rosary we are invited to reflect upon the life of our birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. We may be Lord Jesus Christ. He calls out to each of tempted to speak of this day as the day that God took on human flesh, but that would us as we pray the Rosary, “Follow Me!” In the mysteries of the Rosary we accept be incorrect. God took on human flesh that invitation and follow Him by reflect- about nine months earlier in the womb of his virgin mother. Christmas celebrates the ing upon the mysteries of His life.

Because God actually took on human Nativity, the day that our Savior was born.

In the Nativity we remember how the flesh and really became one of us, He also took on the human condition, which King of the universe was born in a manger is made up of joyful, sorrow, illuminating among animals and shepherds in order to and glorious moments. It is from this per- show us how much He loves us.

One thing that we can certainly respective that we examine the mysteries of Christ’s life. We begin with the Joyful member in our praying of this mystery of Mysteries that are traditionally prayed on the Rosary may be for a greater awareness and understanding of what happened Mondays and Saturdays. on Christmas morning. As a culture, we The first Joyful Mystery is the “Anhave allowed the meaning of Christmas nunciation.” In this mystery we recall (and other holy days) to be stripped of that event we celebrate liturgically every its solemnity and sacred nature and be March 25 when the Angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary and announced reduced to just some holiday. Let us pray that through our prayer we may become to her that she would be the mother of God’s only Son. Mary explained that this more powerful witnesses of the Gospel.

The “Presentation in the Temple” is could not be possible, because she never the fourth Joyful Mystery. Forty days had any relations with a man. The angel after Christ’s explains to birth (Februher that she is ary 2), Mary “full of grace” Putting Into and Joseph (without sin) bring Him to and that God the Deep the temple to had chosen her fulfill their for this unique

By Father obligation privilege. under Mosaic Even Jay Mello Law. Simeon though Mary and Anna may not have were two venerable elderly people of been able to fully grasp the mysterious the temple who dedicated themselves to meaning of this encounter, her obediprayer and fasting so that they would be ence to the will of God provides us a able to recognize the time of the Mesgreat example. When Mary says, “Be it done unto me according to Thy will,” she siah. Moved by the Holy Spirit, Simeon tells Mary that her Son will be a “sign displays for us the “obedience of faith” of contradiction” and that He will be that should also be our response to God. rejected by many. Even still today, many Often we are tempted to put our desires, continue to reject our Lord, His Gospel goals or plans first. Mary shows us how and the teachings of His Church. to respond as a true Christian by saying, In this mystery, let us pray for all “Not my will, but Thy will be done.” As those babies who are brought to the we pray this mystery, we pray not only Church by their parents for Baptism. for a greater ability to hear God’s voice Through the graces attained in Baptism, in our lives, but even more so the ability may they too be a sign of contradiction to respond with faithful obedience to in this world that does not want to accept whatever it is that He is asking of us. the Gospel. Let us pray even more ferThe second Joyful Mystery is the vently for those children whose parents “Visitation.” In this mystery we reflect upon Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth decide not to have them baptized and who is pregnant at an advanced age. You deprive them of those graces.

The fifth Joyful Mystery is the may remember that before the angel departed from Mary at the Annunciation, “Finding of Jesus in the Temple.” On a journey home from the temple, Jesus he told her that Elizabeth was also with gets separated from His parents for three child after years of being unable to conceive. The angel reminds Mary that with days. They find Him back in the temple listening to the teachers. Jesus asks them, God, “All things are possible.” Having “Why were you looking for me, did you just found out that she is going to be the not know that I would be in my Father’s Mother of God, Mary doesn’t focus imhouse?” This is the only time we hear mediately upon what is going on in her about Christ’s childhood in the Gospel. own life, but drops everything and goes This glimpse into his hidden life allows to be with her pregnant cousin.

Perhaps a good point of reflection and us to see the continual commitment to His mission as the Savior of the world. prayer here could be for those women Here we have an opportunity to pray who are unable to conceive, or are going for those who have also been separated through difficult pregnancies or even from Christ and His Church for one reaconsidering aborting their child. In this son or another. We pray that through the mystery of the Rosary, Mary shows us intercession of Mary, all those who are her concern for those who are pregnant, not practicing the Catholic faith, espeso what better time to remember them cially young people, might find the Lord in our prayers than during our meditaand enter into a friendship with Him. tion upon the Visitation. We must also In our praying of the Joyful Mysteries, ask ourselves if we are doing all that we let us reflect upon the joy of being a discan to assist those who are in difficult pregnancies. The feast of the Visitation is ciple of Christ and pray for the courage and strength to be more faithful to Him. celebrated on May 31.

Father Mello is a parochial vicar at The third Joyful Mystery is the “NaSt. Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth. tivity.” Every December 25 the world

May 13, 2011

Q: How should brides dress for a wedding Mass? What would not be appropriate? — J.Z., Chicago A: This is a tangled question.

The Church has historically granted wide berth to local traditions in weddings and funerals so customs vary from place to place.

There are few universal norms regarding brides and, although white is the traditional color for weddings in the English-speaking world, it is not obligatory, and there is ample room in multiethnic societies for other traditions, such as Asian or East European.

Many dioceses and even parishes do have guidelines in order to respect Christian values such as modesty and a respect for the spirit of Christian poverty.

These guidelines are especially important today, when what is fashionable is inspired by media stars who are not exactly paradigms of Christian virtue.

With regard to dress, these guidelines should emphasize the specifically religious nature of a Christian wedding and positively present modesty within this context. And while they should generally avoid being a list of prohibitions, they do well to provide clear parameters of what is expected.

The guidelines may also deal with other aspects, since weddings are very special occasions and should be treated as such. At the same time excessive opulence

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arried Catholics today often struggle to understand the moral difference between using contraceptives to avoid a pregnancy and using natural family planning. NFP relies on sexual abstinence during fertile periods in a woman’s cycle, as assessed by various indicators like cervical mucus or changes in body temperature. To many, the Church’s prohibition of contraception seems to be at odds with its acceptance of NFP because in both cases, the couple’s intention is to avoid children. That intention, however, is not the problem, as long as there are, in the words of Pope Paul VI, “serious motives to space out births.” Dietrich von Hildebrand puts it this way: “The intention of avoiding conception does not imply irreverence as long as one does not actively interfere in order to cut the link between the conjugal act and a possible conception.”

That link between the conjugal act and a possible conception is a key source of meaning for our human sexuality. Sex, by its very nature, involves the capacity and driving energy to produce offspring. Anyone in a high school biology class already understands

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How brides should dress

couples who ask for marriage in should be avoided especially if motivated more from vanity than a irregular situations. Dioceses and desire to emphasize the importance parishes often recommend that the couples prefer a less solemn wedof the Sacrament. ding celebration both out of respect I remember a few years ago for Church teaching and as a gesan Italian bishop publicly scolded ture of penance for their failings. a couple for their extravagance The world being what it is, when the bride arrived in an open convertible, followed by a pickup holding her train.

It seems that the hapless couple were trying to enter the record books for the longest bridal veil when

By Father they caught the prelate’s Edward McNamara eye as he left the chancery.

This is just a singular example of what can some exceptions may be justified happen when the social aspects in particular circumstances. These of marriage predominate over must be carefully weighed by the the mystery of man and woman pastor who prepares the couple for united sacramentally in the bond marriage. of Christ.

In this context it is important to One reader mentioned that in remember that couples approachtoday’s world “many brides come ing marriage are frequently open to to the altar after a long period of higher spiritual values. Quite often cohabitation, often after bearing they begin to take the practice of children.” The reader thus recommended that priests should encour- their faith more seriously in the light of the commitment they are age brides who arrive at marriage in this state to choose a less formal about to make. These opportunities dress “out of modesty and honesty for evangelization should be used to the full. for herself, and through charity to In general, therefore, it is those brides who approach their necessary to assure that couples marriages in a pure state, that their traditional symbolic dress may not approach a Catholic wedding fully aware of the total commitment be debased or usurped.” involved and of the specifically I certainly agree in principle and indeed numerous dioceses and religious nature of the celebration.

A priest should never accede parishes have regulations regarding

Liturgical Q&A

to hold a solemn celebration if he realizes that the couple has superficial motives or if they are only interested in having a nice ceremony.

Some correspondents also inquired about the proper time for weddings, especially during penitential seasons.

Although there is no absolute prohibition on holding marriages during Lent and Advent (see Introduction to Rite of Marriage 13), many dioceses discourage them, especially during Lent. The Diocese of Rome, for example, asks pastors not to schedule weddings during Lent, although exceptions may be made for a just cause.

If a wedding is allowed to be held during Lent or Advent the couple is asked to respect the nature of the season which means that external aspects such as floral decorations should usually be far more frugal or even absent from the celebration.

Also, while a wedding as such may take place on Sunday of Lent or Advent, only the Mass of the day may be celebrated. Few couples would want to marry before a priest wearing penitential purple.

Another correspondent asked: “Is it still appropriate for the bride and groom to kiss after the marriage vows in church? Is clapping allowed after this?”

NFP and the telos of sex

this. We are able to recognize strikes at the heart of the marital the purpose (or “telos”) of many act. When a couple impedes the different processes in the world: inherent procreative powers of that the telos of fire is to generate heat act through the use of a condom, and to consume combustibles; a pill or other means, they are the telos of an acorn is to become engaging in disruptive and conan oak tree; the telos of human tradictory behavior by seeking to sexuality is to draw man and woman together to procreate and raise children in the family unit.

William May observes, “This is the meaning objectively rooted in

By Father Tad the marital act itself and Pacholczyk intelligibly discernible in it; it is not a meaning arbitrarily imposed upon or given to the act.” Seeing perform the act on the one hand, the telos of a process can reveal while simultaneously blocking it authentic goods to us which can on the other. then guide the moral choices we In natural family planning, on make. the other hand, they are not directAny time a married couple ing any countermeasures towards engages in sexual activity that the fertility of a specific conjugal has been intentionally rendered act; the natural order and telos infertile by contraception, they of the act is respected. As Janet are powerfully acting against the Smith and Christopher Kaczor telos of the sexual act they share. observe, “Contracepting couples Elizabeth Anscombe notes how make themselves infertile; NFP their act is no longer “the kind of couples work with an infertility act by which life is transmitted, that is natural.” but is purposely rendered infertile, Consider an analogy: a woman and so changed to another sort who is blind wants to talk to her of act altogether.” Contraception husband each evening and tell him

Making Sense Out of Bioethics

about the events of her day. He, meanwhile, wants to relax in the evenings by listening to baseball on the radio. He decides that while listening to his wife talk, he will at the same time plug in headphones and follow the game, so his attention will be divided between his wife and the game. He will occasionally says things like “yes, dear” and “uh huh” to give the impression that he is listening with full attention.

A woman on the pill similarly gives the impression that she is receiving her husband fully in the marital embrace, while, in fact, she is shutting down her own fertility in order to ward off his fruitfulness. On a deep level, she is rejecting his life-giving masculinity and speaking a false language to him with her body, much as the sports-minded husband is speaking a contradictory language with his headphones and “yes, dear” responses. If a man uses a condom with his wife, or even if both spouses agree to use contraception, they still speak a false and inauthentic language to one another right at the core of their intimacy.

Suppose that on alternating

This ancient rite of the couple exchanging a kiss as a confirmation of their verbal consent survived during the whole Middle Ages. But it disappeared from the Catholic rite in application of the dispositions of the Council of Trent because it often gave rise to irreverence.

In some countries a vestige of this rite exists in that the wife lifts the veil, which until this point covered her face.

The rite may have survived in the Anglican usage and many people may believe that it formed part of Catholic ritual through the depiction of weddings in movies and television — media not noted for their attention to the finer points of liturgical history.

Although a spontaneous applause may be hard to avoid at this point of the rite, it should not be encouraged or provoked.

It is far more in keeping with the religious nature of the celebration for the assembly to sing an approved acclamation following the rite of consent and again after the exchange of rings.

Father Edward McNamara is a Legionary of Christ and professor of Liturgy at Regina Apostolorum University in Rome. His column appears weekly at zenit. org. Send questions to liturgy@ zenit.org. Put the word “Liturgy” in the subject field. Text should include initials, city and state.

days of the week, the sports-minded husband agrees to stop listening to the radio and instead visits with his wife in a direct and focused manner. Both spouses agree to delay their gratification (he practices “sports abstinence”; she practices “verbal abstinence”), on alternating days, rather than acting against the good of their personal communication by employing countermeasures like headphones.

This is similar to the case of a couple using NFP. On some days, they fully share with each other in the conjugal act; on other days, they delay sexual gratification and freely choose abstinence, so as to avoid speaking inauthentically to each other through contraceptive sex.

In sum, contraceptive intercourse always represents a radically different kind of act than intercourse during a known infertile period.

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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have found that when I go to the bed side of a dying person to pray the Commendation for the Dying and Psalm 23, the responsorial psalm for today’s Mass, as soon as I begin the phrase “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want,” family members almost always begin to recite the psalm with me.

“The Lord is my shepherd” is a phrase that comforts us, pointing to a reality in which we place great faith, knowing that at every moment of our lives the Lord seeks to protect, provide, and lead us through this life to heaven.

Throughout the Old and New Testament God uses this image of the shepherd, and it is often spoken of by the prophets that God Himself will shepherd His people. This reality is what we celebrate today on this fourth Sunday of Easter: Christ, the Word Incarnate, is the Good Shepherd. In today’s Gospel, Jesus

May 13, 2011

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Our Good Shepherd and shepherds

speaks of Himself as the gate deacons). As we celebrate through which the sheep pass Good Shepherd Sunday, we through to pasture. He will should bring to our prayer a go on further to speak of desire for a deeper affinity Himself as the Good Shepand unity with our human herd. He is, as St. Peter in the shepherds, in particular the second reading would write, successors to the Apostles, “the Shepherd and Guardian the bishops. of our souls.”

Our Lord is the only way to God the Homily of the Week Father, the only way to know God’s will Fourth Sunday and to how to live of Easter as God calls. Like a

By Father shepherd leading his Kevin A. Cook flock through difficult terrain to pasture where nourishment will occur, Jesus leads us to The bishops, in union with the true nourishment of God’s the successor of St. Peter, the grace through the truth, Bishop of Rome, are entrustprayer, and the Sacraments. ed with an extraordinary task Though He is the Good to teach, govern, and sanctify Shepherd and the One leadthe Church, carrying out this ing the Church to pasture, great work in a spirit of serHe also has chosen to lead us vice. They have been graced and help us hear His voice to teach with the authority of through human shepherds Christ in faith and morals so (through bishops, priests, and we may truly come to know

the Good Shepherd. And yet, as history and the Scriptures show us, our shepherds are still human and must strive in their daily lives, as all must, to respond to the universal call to holiness. As we know some bishops have fallen in very grave ways and caused great scandals, but they are not the majority.

Every bishop has his struggles like all of us, but nowadays many of us tend to focus too much on their imperfections and do not allow ourselves to be led in the truth by them (and therefore do not let Christ truly shepherd us as He wants).

Our world is faced with incredible challenges and seems to be slipping more and more into darkness, but Our Lord, with our bishops, is willing to lead us to His light.

This is why all the more we

must pray for our bishops that they may receive the grace to lead us courageously and faithfully. Pray for them that all of them will strive to grow daily in holiness. We should pray that we have the heart of a child towards our spiritual father (not treating the bishop as just some administrator we have to obey) and recognize our unity with him will strengthen the witness and unity with Our Lord. Lastly, let us remember to pray for all those whom Our Lord is calling to become shepherds after His own heart, that they will hear His voice and respond courageously to give their lives for Christ and His Church (and therefore for the world).

Father Cook was ordained in 2001 and is currently the pastor of Holy Family Church in East Taunton, as well as assistant director of the Vocation Office for the Diocese of Fall River.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. May 14, Acts 1:15-17,20-26; Ps 113:1-8; Jn 15:9-17. Sun. May 15, Fourth Sunday of Easter, Acts 2:14a,36-41; Ps 23:1-6; 1 Pt 2:20b-25; Jn 10:1-10. Mon. May 16, Acts 11:1-18; Pss 42:2-3;43:3-4; Jn 10:11-18. Tues. May 17, Acts 11:19-26: Ps 87:1-7; Jn 10:22-30. Wed. May 18, Acts 12:24-13:5a; Ps 67:2-3,5-6,8; Jn 12:44-50. Thur. May 19, Acts 13:13-25; Ps 89:2-3,21-22,25,27; Jn 13:16-20. Fri. May 20, Acts 13:26-33; Ps 2:6-11; Jn 14:1-6.

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ander, Wyo., is not an easy place to get to. I got there in February by flying from Washington to Denver and then sitting around the Denver airport for hours, while the local commuter airline that flies to the airport nearest Lander tried to get its small planes refueled in 15-below-zero weather. While waiting, I was informed that the flight schedule of this particular airline, which will remain nameless, is more subjunctive than indicative.

Yet the wait, the aggravation, and the bitter cold were worth it, for they were part of getting introduced to a new venture in Catholic higher education that’s unfolding in Lander: Wyoming Catholic College, where students

Aquinas and horses

David Ricken of Green Bay, in read Thomas Aquinas in the attendance. Bishop Ricken came original Latin, take a mandatory to the diocese of Cheyenne, freshman course in horsemanWyo., straight from the Roman ship, and go on a three-week, Curia, which must have been survival-skills trek through the Rockies before they crack a book. Oh yes: at Wyoming Catholic, students are not allowed to have cell phones, but the college provides a gun room for their rifles. A visitor from the

By George Weigel Ivy League found this combination disconcerting. I found it charming. something of a culture shock (or Wyoming Catholic College a relief). But he quickly caught will celebrate its first comthe adventurous spirit of the mencement on May 14 — outplace and decided that Wyodoors, of course — with one ming, which has something short of its founding fathers, Bishop of 70,000 Catholics, needed a Catholic college. Starting such an enterprise these days is an act of faith. But Bishop Ricken, who is not short on faith (or hope, or charity), found partners with a similar pioneer attitude and a similar passion for classic Catholic liberal arts education (cowboy style). Thus Wyoming Catholic College was launched, before the good bishop was transferred to a diocese where one of his principal catechetical challenges is explaining why the Lombardi Trophy is not a fit object of Christian worship.

Wyoming Catholic is a by-

The Catholic Difference

product of the most striking exercise in unintended consequences in the history of federal higher education funding. In 1970, Washington’s largesse led the University of Kansas to create a pilot project in classic liberal arts education called the Pearson Integrated Humanities Program, or IHP. The program was led

by John Senior, Dennis Quinn and Frank Nelick, three brilliant teachers who believed passionately that higher education meant immersion in the classic texts of western civilization and civilized conversation about them. Many IHP students soon discovered that wrestling with the literary and philosophical classics of western civilization meant encountering, and thinking seriously about, the Catholic Church.

Conversions, intellectual and religious, followed. Those conversions later produced numerous vocations to the priesthood and the religious life, and two bishops. Authoritarian liberals on the KU faculty killed the IHP in 1979. But for several glorious years, your federal tax dollars were building a wholly unexpected vocations factory. As the late Peter Rossi used to say,

there are many ironies in the fire.

The people who designed the curriculum at Wyoming Catholic College are disciples of John Senior and the IHP approach to liberal learning. The program they offer students is, obviously, not for everyone, just as reading Aquinas in Latin on horseback (metaphorically if not literally) is not for everyone. But serious students who want to be stretched intellectually, who want to deepen their friendship with Jesus Christ, and who love the outdoors should give Wyoming Catholic College a serious look.

Nature makes me sneeze, which is one reason why I’m a confirmed urbanite. I appreciate the beauty that surrounds Lander, however, and I wish the school and its students the very best as Wyoming Catholic sends its first graduating class out into a world that can use more young men and women steeped in the western classics, serious in their Catholic faith, and ready for just about anything. The school is in the midst of a capital campaign; resources invested in Wyoming Catholic are resources invested in the kind of higher learning from which both Church and society benefit.

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

May 13, 2011

All dressed up and someplace to go

Sunday 8 May 2011 — on the shores of Three Mile River — Mother’s Day he celebration of the Easter season is incomplete without something new to wear.

New life requires new clothes. St. Paul advised parishioners of the Church at Rome to “put on Christ.” His phrase is still used in our baptismal rites as the white garments are handed to the initiates. Putting on a new garment is a reminder of our participation in the new life of the Resurrected Lord.

Everybody needs something new to wear during these 50 Days of Easter (or at

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Lack of money is no excuse.

Be creative. Take a page from Dorothy Day, co-founder of

The Ship’s Log Reflections of a Parish Priest

By Father Tim Goldrick the Catholic Worker Movement. Finding herself one Easter with only loose pocket change, she bought some new shoelaces. Voilà — her new Easter outfit.

The Easter season is filled

with opportunities to wear something new for Christ. Not only are there the white robes worn by the newly-baptized, but consider the special clothes traditionally worn by those making their First Holy Communion.

Many parishes discreetly provide garments for children whose families may be unable to meet the expense. In the sea of smiling children on First Communion Day, nobody is the wiser. In a word, recycle.

Our diocese requires candidates for the Sacrament of Confirmation to wear robes.

Eastertide witness

Minority Affairs, Shahbaz o say that the Middle Bhatti, we learned of that East is in crisis is an man’s ready embrace of understatement. Christians in death should it be asked of the region are intensely nerhim. He prayed intensely, vous about unfolding events, stayed close to the Sacraand one religious leader ments and recorded a meshas begged the West not to sage that would stand as his encourage the widespread testament of faith should he political protests. The head be killed. In the aftermath of the Melkite Greek-Cathoof that tragedy, his brother lic Church, Patriarch Greagreed to take his office — gorios III, suggests instead knowing that he might well that Western leaders press be called to the same end. for democratic structures, freedom and respect for human rights.

Truly enough, the violence that has accompanied the protests has targeted Christians with horrific results. While

By Genevieve Kineke the New Year’s Eve car bomb at a church in Alexandria, Egypt At the funeral Mass, garnered the attention of the Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauworld’s media, it was only ran pointed out, “To be a one isolated incident among Christian is always to make hundreds before and since a choice: between light and that have left thousands of darkness, between faith and Christians dead and wounded law, between life and death, — the latest violent incident between God revealed by Jetaking place at a church in sus and the wisdom of men, Cairo in early May. between serving and ruling.”

On one level, it’s only What an excellent summary natural that Christians would of our faith! Moreover, durfear the growing instabiling Eastertide we’re hearing ity, as numerous concerned once again of the trials of the clergy and diplomats have first Apostles — repeatedly publicly agreed that they ridiculed, rejected, beaten, are the most vulnerable in stoned, and often killed — the current climate. Often and yet these same narrathey have fewer rights, and tives are suffused with joy as they’re hemmed in by those those who were persecuted who are intensely hostile found opportunities to relive to their faith. As anarchy the Passion and Resurrection grows and natural anxieties saga in their own flesh, unitare channeled into sectarian ing their own wills to that of attacks, is it conceivable that the Triune God. anyone could remain calm?

Our part in these events With the assassination is to pray without ceasing, of Pakistan’s Minister for

The Feminine Genius

to love all persons who are made in the image and likeness of God, and to provide our own witness of faith.

Countless converts from Islam have said that this very witness is what led them to Christianity — where they saw kindness towards all regardless of religion, fellowship and joy among believers, and mutual respect between men and women.

Furthermore, once they read our Scriptures, they were astonished at the power of the words and the loving God revealed therein.

The word martyr means “witness,” which implies that there is one who sees the action. Now that a growing number of witnesses may be needed, let us be aware of the dry martyrdom that is being asked of us — even here far from the strife. Prayer, steadfastness in virtue, and fidelity to that God of love will be demanded of each of us in our turn, so that others may see that the Christian truth is worth defending at every opportunity. We trust that God will provide the graces needed to sustain those who are in harm’s way around the world, but we must also trust that our prayerful collaboration is vitally important, for our particular witness is to keep vigil in the privileged calm we enjoy for now.

Genevieve Kineke is the author of “The Authentic Catholic Woman” (Servant Books) and can be found online at feminine-genius.com

Many parishes rent a few extra robes for need-based distribution. Sometimes the rental companies slip in a few robes at no charge. It’s important to have something special to wear on your Confirmation Day. In some parishes, girls wear white Confirmation robes and boys wear red. I prefer to have all of the students wear the same color.

On my Confirmation Day, I wore a rented red robe. The robe was heavy. The church was hot. I passed out. I was carried out the door by two burly men. I don’t actually remember being confirmed by Bishop James Gerrard, but I have a certificate stating that it did in fact take place. It’s a good thing, too. I needed to provide the certificate of my Confirmation in order to begin my studies for the priesthood. Apparently, there’s no such thing as a priest who has never received the Sacrament of Confirmation.

This year, our parish Confirmation Masses fell during Easter Week. It was a lot of extra work for an already exhausted worship team, but if I had my way, all Confirmations would take place at Easter. Easter is the time par excellence for all three of the Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, and First Communion).

Since it was Easter Week, all of our Confirmation students, boys and girls alike, wore white robes. In a concession to the occasion, the robes were adorned with embroidered red Holy Spirit doves.

As Frank Lloyd Wright said, “God is in the details.” I’m a big fan of details.

Even in the secular culture, this is the season for new clothes — proms, weddings, etc. The special clothes we wear for these rites of passage do not need to be brand new.

There’s no sense spending money we don’t have. After all, how many times does a bride get to wear her wedding

dress? Ideally, the answer is once.

Parishioner Danielle Brodeur, a high school junior, came up with an idea for her Gold Award, the top rank of the Girl Scouts of America, Troop 1230 Dighton/Berkley. Her plan was to help the young girls in town who dreamed of “going to the prom” but couldn’t afford it.

Guys just go out and rent a tux (these days, it’s the flashy outfits that catch their eye — something you wouldn’t be caught dead in at the age of 30. As a young man, I wore to the proms a white sports coat and a pink carnation (or whatever color matched my date’s corsage). It was considered “groovy” at the time. Times changed and so did I. Proms, I’m told, are more complicated for girls.

Danielle collected “lightly used” prom dresses. There was a “drop off” station at the family home. The signs posted all over town read, “Need a prom dress? Come to St. Nicholas Pastoral Life Center.” The Lion’s Club loaned the sign for the church yard. There was even a sign on the lawn in front of Dighton Town Hall.

The dresses (in all styles, shapes, and colors) poured in. A local laundry repaired, dry-cleaned and pressed all of them at no charge.

On the day of the “Great Prom Dress Give-away,” the parish center resembled Filene’s Basement. In our great room, there were more than 200 dresses from which to choose. A local restaurant donated platters of food.

Matrons were on hand to assist the girls in four changing rooms.

Our parish finds itself once again engaged with the broader community. I love it. In the words of Good St. Nicholas, “You go, girl!” Or something like that.

Father Goldrick is pastor of St. Nicholas of Myra Parish in North Dighton.

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The Anchor

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

May 13, 2011

Helping build the Church, in more ways than one

NORTON — He had a huge role in constructing the new church building of St. Mary’s Parish in Norton, but Paul Schleicher came very close to shaping the souls of the parishioners inside its walls.

“I came real close to becoming a priest in high school. Part of the reason I couldn’t do it was because of the idea of never owning anything. I didn’t realize that I had the wrong concept back then. I had uncles who were missionary priests, and I didn’t realize it’s the missionary priests who take the vow of poverty that the diocesan priests don’t. That was the deal-breaker,” said Schleicher.

As one of 10 children, the idea of owning very little after a lifetime of hand-me-downs wasn’t very appealing, said Schleicher, who still questions whether his line of thinking was selfish or just teen-age angst. Considering he was also being pulled in the direction of becoming a firefighter — a career choice that has provided him a different way to give back to his community — Schleicher has no regrets. And while he may not have found a permanent place in the pulpit, he certainly has found a permanent place in St. Mary’s Parish of Norton, courtesy of his parents’ passion for their faith that helped cultivate his own innate sense of devotion.

Some of Schleicher’s earliest memories of church were missing school to serve at funerals, done during a by-gone era when the priest would pick up the boys before Mass. As part of the first four-year class at Coyle and Cassidy High School in Taunton, even

thumbing rides home after par- Schleicher who, after becoming a ticipating in drama club or playing lieutenant in 1990, became deputy trumpet in the school band are no chief 15 years later.

In 1985, Schleicher became aclonger part of the everyday culture, said Schleicher. Another tradition tive in the Lion’s Club, serving as that has fallen by the wayside is the custom of dressing in your Sunday’s best to attend Mass.

“We used to dress up.

One of the things I still do is, and I am one of the only ones who do this at St. Mary’s, religiously wear a suit and tie to church. One of my pet peeves is when people are not dressed appropriately; I don’t understand the lack of respect in God’s house that way,” said Schleicher.

While wearing a suit and tie to Mass is a holdover of his youth, so is Schleicher’s decision to become a firefighter. Inspired by a neighbor who was the then-fire chief of Norton, Schleicher pursed a degree in forestry at UMass Amherst, first taking a year off after high school while serving as a call firefighter in Norton.

He then served on the colAnchor Person of the Week — lege’s auxiliary fire departSchleicher. (Photo by Becky Aubut) ment as a freshman, ending up as a full-time firefighter in his hometown after weighing secretary as well as having served a full-time firefighter position in as district governor for Southeastern Mass, Cape Cod and the Islands Amherst.

“It wasn’t a difficult choice. from 2000-2001. He also took up Norton is a beautiful community, a the Lion’s cause of trying to help place that I made the decision early find a cure for blindness, traveling on that if I had the opportunity that around, raising money and awarenot only would I start my career in ness by showing a video of a womNorton but I was going to end in an having a corneal transplant; an Norton, whether as a firefighter or eerie foreshadowing of what was to as an officer, deputy or chief,” said happen to him years later.

“Little did I know that I would be having two corneal transplants myself,” said Schleicher of the treatments to his right eye to help alleviate a progressive disease.

“Fortunately my left eye has been stable and hasn’t needed any aggressive work.

Because of the research and the advances made, I actually can see distance with my right eye and read with my left; I don’t even use glasses. I see everything crystal clear.”

Through it all, Schleicher never lost track of his Catholic priorities. He married his “absolute best friend and confidant” in 1987, and his two children followed in their father’s footsteps by being active altar servers. More than 10 years ago, a new partnership was formed with the pastor of St. Mary’s Parish and the fire department, motivating Schleicher to do more.

“I will tell you the rebirth of my being active in the Church was when Father Bob Oliveira came to St. Mary’s in Norton, and Paul became our first-ever chaplain for the fire department,” said Schleicher. “To see the compassion and caring that he was able to intervene on our behalf at many emergency scenes — be it a suicide or a massive heart attack — he would jump right in and take care of the living for us. We arrive on scenes to take care of the victim but the people who need the assistance are the living, the family.

He was always right there for us; the way he handled himself really re-instilled in me what it was all about. Father Bob is the real deal.”

Schleicher started mowing the grass around the parish center for free, became an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, added a membership to the Knights of Columbus, and joined the parish council. After Father Oliveira left St. Mary’s Parish, Father Marc Tremblay took his place, offering Schleicher’s biggest challenge to date as the chairman of the build-

ing committee during the construction of the new church building for St. Mary’s.

“I was hesitant. We certainly needed a new church, we were aware of the patchwork system that was keeping the church together was borderline safe. I knew we needed to build a new church but to try and build one, over the last couple of years with the downturn in the economy, I thought Father Marc was crazy,” chuckled Schleicher. “Father Marc had the faith to push it forward. I decided to take on the challenge.”

St. Mary’s Parish celebrated its one year dedication Mass last month, and Schleicher still gets a thrill walking into a building that is beautiful and built on a strict budget.

“Sometimes I’ll look up and see the beautiful sky and the steeple,” said Schleicher of the steeple, one of many cost-saving materials taken from other churches that were scheduled to be demolished. The set of 16 stained-glass windows from a different facility is a source of pride. “It’s such a welcoming feeling when you go in there. To be part of it, it is unique. It’s not just about me; it was a phenomenal building committee.”

Schleicher and his family continue to visit his parents after Sunday Mass, visits treasured even more deeply after his mother almost died a few years ago after falling while leaving the old church building. He still hasn’t lost that desire to preach from the pulpit, a “loose end” he would like to tie up by becoming a deacon, he said. Until then, fresh off taking the fire chief’s exam, he hopes to fill in the position of fire chief after the current chief leaves later this year.

“It’s been such a rewarding career to be in the fire service,” said Schleicher. “The number of times you directly help people, it’s just very rewarding. It’s hard to put into words when you know you’ve made a difference. I couldn’t have asked for a better life.”

To submit a Person of the Week nominee, send an email with information to fatherrogerlandry@ anchornews.org

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The Anchor

May 13, 2011

The strange tale of bears in Bean Town

ow gather round young readers, settle down, and allow me to spin a strange tale. One that you may not be able to believe. One that boggles the mind and makes one’s heart race.

No, it’s not about the Mayan calendar in 2012. And it’s not about a time when you could say the “Pledge of Allegiance” in school, and when Christmas trees didn’t have to be called holiday trees, and God was in Whom this country trusted.

No, this tale is much stranger than those. This is a story where everything is turned around in a heartbeat. Where black becomes white, where cold becomes hot, and where normal becomes abnormal. And this phenomenon can only happen in the wide, wacky world of sports ... particularly our hometown version.

You, the younger generation, are the envy of “old-timers” like myself and beyond. You see, you never really had to “suffer” like we did.

There’s an old expression, “You don’t know what you have ’til its gone.” Well young’ins, you’re getting a bird’s eye view of this adage kicking in.

Think about it for a moment. Within the last 10 years, since the panic of the great computer disaster that didn’t happen at the turn of the millennium, your Boston Red Sox have won two World Series. It still blows my mind to utter that phrase, so allow me to say it again ... the Boston Red Sox have won two World Series. Big deal, right? Yeah. There were some poor souls

who never got a chance to witness even one. Anyone whose lifetime began and ended between 1919 and 2003. I realize that time means nothing to you right now, but believe me when I tell you that 86 years is a long, long time.

As if that weren’t enough for you, the New England Patriots, nee Boston Patriots, won three Super Bowls during the last 10 years.

That’s three Super Bowls!

To put this in

By Dave Jolivet proper perspective, of the 35 Super Bowls prior to the Patriots’ first title on Feb. 3, 2002, we got to see 15 different teams ride in mid-winter ticker tape parades ... some several times.

Yet in a four-year span, you got to see it three times! Yikes!

And just for good measure, you experienced Celtics’ pride in 2008 with their 17th world title.

Simply put, you guys don’t know what it’s like to suffer. Ooooops, sorry. I forgot about the Boston Bruins. OK, you do have a flavor of what we geezers went through as young men and women.

By now, you may be asking, “When is this old guy going to get to the strange tale he teased us with at the beginning of this rambling?”

Patience young ones. This is not a story you can just spring on someone. You have to be buttered-up first. You have to know how good you had it, before you’re told, as Paul Simon once sang, “It’s slip-sliding away.” To a degree, anyway.

Your beloved Red Sox, this year’s World Series favorites claw their way toward the .500 mark, only to hit a banana peel and skid backwards time after time this season.

Today’s Celtics, who should be eliminated by the time this graces your mailbox, more resemble an old-timer team than an NBA powerhouse. And the New England Patriots, since that incredible four-year span, have blown one Super Bowl, and have made early playoff exits several times. Are you starting to get a little hot around the collar yet? Did you ever think you’d see the day when your teams would be “average”?

Do you worry that you’ll end up like us old-timers who have such high hopes at

My View From the Stands

season’s start, and such low expectations at season’s conclusion?

Weird huh?

Well, here’s where it gets really weird.

The Boston Bruins are the hottest ticket in town now. The B’s are in a place right now that none of you youngsters have ever seen.

They’ve made it to the conference finals for the first time in 19 years, and are four wins away from making the Stanley Cup finals ... giving them a chance for their first Cup in 39 years.

Sit back, relax and enjoy this trip. It’s been a looooong time coming. We oldsters had the pleasure of witnessing two Bruins’ Stanley Cup teams in three years in the early 1970s. And we were graced to have been able to watch the greatest player, bar none, to ever lace up skates, Bobby Orr. Boston used to be a hockey town, and now Bean Town is shaking off the cobwebs and resurrecting itself as a city of rink rats.

The Bruins may not win the Cup this year, but there are surely some exciting moments to come in the next week or so. And it’s been a long time since that’s happened.

So kiddies, jump on board, and root for the bears in Bean Town. It just may ease the sting caused by our other hometown teams.

I told you this was weird.

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

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The Anchor

May 13, 2011

Midwestern Mothers of Priests group nurtures special connection

MAPLEWOOD, Minn. (CNS) — When Father John Helmueller was ordained to the priesthood 10 years ago for the Diocese of Sioux Falls, S.D., he was not the only member of his family to assume a new role.

His mother Mary, who lives in Maplewood and is a parishioner at St. Jerome, felt so blessed to become the mother of a priest on that day. But at the same time, she wasn’t quite sure what that meant for her own life.

Helmueller began to think and pray about ways to make connections with other mothers whose sons were priests, whether in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis or elsewhere, so that they could come together to find support and companionship with one another.

Five years ago, Mary Helmueller contacted Father Joseph Johnson, rector at the Cathedral of St. Paul, looking for some assistance with her plan.

“He agreed to be our spiritual director and selected three other mothers of priests to help me start a group in the archdiocese,” Helmueller said.

Now, with close to 70 members throughout the archdiocese, the Mothers of Priests group has truly blossomed. Helmueller said there are four pillars on which the organization is based — prayer, catechesis, service and community.

Every mother is asked to attend daily Mass and pray the Rosary for priests and vocations each day. If they are able, the mothers are also asked to make a Holy Hour each week. In terms of catechesis, the mothers meet for 8 a.m. Mass on the first Saturday of each month and then gather for a mini-retreat.

The service component includes sending anniversary cards to all active and retired priests, serving homemade rolls and coffee after their monthly Mass at the cathedral and hosting a lunch for mothers of newly-ordained priests in May. “We visit the mothers of priests who are in nursing homes or can’t come to our meetings,” Helmueller said. “We also want to find a way to connect to moth-

ers whose sons are in different orders of the priesthood and not in the archdiocese. We believe they need our support and friendship, too.”

A more personal part of their roles as mothers of priests comes through their relationships with their sons, said Helmueller, who is frequently asked by her son to pray for parishioners at his church in the Diocese of Sioux Falls, S.D. “It was St. Pius X who said that a vocation to the priesthood comes from the heart of God, but goes through the heart of the mother,” she said. “I believe it is absolutely necessary for a mother to be part of the son’s mission to save souls.”

Father Kevin Kenney, who has been a priest for 17 years and is pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in St. Paul, is well aware of the role the group plays in his ministry.

“They support us in prayer,” said the priest, whose mother, Dorothy, is a founding member of Mothers of Priests.

Mary Helmueller and Dorothy Kenney said they had a few inklings from the time their sons were young that they were going to eventually be called to the priesthood.

“Father John was born on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, so she had him from the start,” said Helmueller, who had been saying an extra decade of the Rosary every day, from her wedding day onward, for a religious vocation for one of her children someday (which includes two other sons and a daughter).

“Kevin kept holy pictures on a table right next to his bed from the time he was very young,” said Kenney, who raised seven children with her husband, Bill.

When asked about the special blessing of having a son who is a priest, Helmueller said knowing that her son can bring her the Sacraments of the Church is very powerful.

“Since he is at the altar every morning for Mass, I feel like I am there, too, because my blood runs through his veins,” she said.

“It is hard to put into words the joy I feel.”

ALL TIED UP AT THE MOMENT — Animated characters Gretel, voiced by Amy Poehler, and Hansel, voiced by Bill Hader, appear in the movie “Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil.” For a brief review of this film see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/The Weinstein Company)

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

“Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil” (Weinstein) Things have once again gone awry in the world of fairy tales in director Mike Disa’s tired, substandard 3-D animated sequel to 2006’s “Hoodwinked!” Hansel and Gretel (voices of Bill Hader and Amy Poehler) have been kidnapped, and the prime suspect is a witch (voice of Joan Cusack). Their rescue is clearly a job for the super-spies of the Happily Ever After Agency, led by a long-legged frog (voice of David Ogden Stiers), and including Red Riding Hood (voice of Hayden Panettiere) who must reunite with her partner, the Big Bad Wolf (voice of Patrick Warburton), and join forces with her granny (voice of Glenn Close) to make sure the villains get their just desserts — and don’t get possession of a chocolate truffle that renders the eater invincible. Mildly rude bathroom humor and some very loud action sequences. The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested.

“Prom” (Disney) Wholesome but ho-hum high school-set romantic comedy in which a variety of teen couples (principally clean-cut class president Aimee Teegarden and mild bad boy Thomas McDonell) discover, renew or lose love in the buildup to the big dance. Though it gathers some emotional momentum as it proceeds, director Joe

Nussbaum’s low-key, carefully choreographed social square dance is realistic enough that the characters’ problems seem relatively trivial but sufficiently romanticized that a goodhearted, nerdy underclassman (Nolan Sotillo) gets a shot at besting the captain of the varsity lacrosse team (De’Vaughn Nixon) as they compete for the affections of a fetching sophomore (Danielle Campbell). Appropriate and agreeable — if not especially enthralling — entertainment for all. The Catholic News Service classification is A-I — general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested.

“Thor” (Paramount) Based on the exploits of the titular hammer-wielding Marvel Comics superhero, this commendable epic has the hotheaded

warrior-prince (Chris Hemsworth) banished to present-day Earth by his father (Anthony Hopkins), king of the celestial realm of Asgard.

In a small New Mexico town, he falls for an astrophysicist (Natalie Portman) and prepares to foil his dissembling brother’s (Tom Hiddleston) bid to usurp their father’s throne. Director Kenneth Branagh exhibits a mature, light touch that highlights the Christian framework of the narrative, though the visual aspects are less satisfying. Much moderately intense, but bloodless, hand-to-hand combat, a few scary sequences and a couple of mild oaths. The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, May 15, 11:00 a.m.

World Day of Prayer for Vocations

Celebrant is Father Karl C. Bissinger, diocesan director of Vocations and secretary to Bishop George W. Coleman

May 13, 2011

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The Anchor

Coming out of himself

he Bible tells us all that glitters is not gold.

We can, I think, assume that the converse is also true: gold doesn’t always glitter. At least, not at first.

For example, St. Thomas Aquinas seemed so dense and fumbling he was known as the “Dumb Ox” before his life’s work had fully blossomed. So it didn’t surprise me to learn that when G.K. Chesterton was a school-boy, he didn’t show much promise. The boy who would go on to become the author of 100 books and countless literary contributions in journalism, criticism, poetry, and drama appeared to most dull and vacant, while his schoolwork and earliest medical exams indicated that he might be little more than a barely functioning idiot.

He walked around with his mouth slightly agape, falling over feet stuck out to deliberately trip him. In the winters, he was occasionally bewildered when he looked down and discovered his inexplicably wet pants, as a favorite school pastime of his schoolmates was to stick snow in his pants when he wasn’t looking. As if his vacuous staring and absent-mindedness weren’t enough to make him a target, he was gawky, gangly, and exceptionally uncoordinated. As one biographer,

for poor physical sight with an Michael Coren, noted, even acute interior vision. While the more than pelting Gilbert with snowballs and stuffing his pock- outside world remained a blur, inside he thought in crystalline ets with snow, his classmates pictures with all the romance of enjoyed dropping everything to “La Morte d’Arthur” and all the watch Gilbert try — and fail — to get over the exercise horse in gym class.

In short, though the word had not yet been A Twitch coined, G.K. Chesterton was a nerd.

Upon a Thread You may have noticed that while God occasionBy Jennifer PIerce ally sees fit to give us deficits in one area, it is usually accompanied with some reactive ability, abili- intrigue of “Hamlet.”

Thankfully, our Chesterton ties that are sometimes referred did not, like some unfortunate to as “gifts.” It is the secret people, remain trapped in the truth that makes Superman so amber of that imaginative world; appealing. At some level, we by degrees, he began to come all understand that every Clark out of himself through relationKent is somehow, beyond all ships he forged with the outside expectation, also Kal-El, son of world.

Jor-El. Through selected, intimate Gilbert illustrates this phefriendships, the images of his nomenon in more ways than interior world escaped into one. illustrations of others’ writing Through time, it became and his own imaginings, drawclear that all was not as it aping with whatever materials he peared. Gilbert was finally could find, but eventually dediagnosed with severe myopia, veloping a special affection for which may have accounted for his squinty, brooding, and some- brown paper and white chalk.

He was enamored of moving times dim-witted appearance, images as well and played with as well as his poor academic performance. Though appearing toy theaters into adulthood, outwardly vapid, the introverted nurturing a dramatic instinct he applied to everything he saw.

Chesterton was compensating

FALL RIVER — “Every year I wonder if I can be more humbled by what’s given. Sometimes it’s the oldest of our parishioners or it’s the person who has little that gives the most.”

Mary Lou Frias, the Catholic Social Services volunteer coordinator, uttered these words when asked about the Christmas Gift Program that provides thousands of toys and clothing to children around the diocese each year.

“Her words could certainly be echoed when talking about the Catholic Charities Appeal as well,” remarked Mike Donly of the Appeal office. “It is amazing to see just who it is that supports the yearly Appeal. It is those who in many instances have very little or literally nothing to give. It could be likened to the Widow’s Mite story in the Scriptures; the widow who impressed Jesus so much that He referenced her and used her as an example because she was giving from her want as she had no surplus. This is the gift that is so meaningful on a multitude of levels. Obviously it helps to assist those in need, but it also exemplifies the very essence of what it means to be a Christian.

As Pope Benedict said, ‘Under-

stand that the exercise of Charity is the culmination and synthesis of the whole of Christian life.’”

The “exercise of charity” was certainly evident in the central office of Catholic Charities this week as the first parish reports began to pour in from the 90 parishes across the diocese. Now through June 21 when the 70th Appeal closes, literally tens of thousands of charitable donations will be recorded by parishes which are working tirelessly to spread the message of the Gospel and have it show itself through generosity to the Appeal. The basic message being delivered to parishioners is that “No gift is too small when offering hope to someone in need.”

“The goal of our Appeal doesn’t change from year to year,” said Donly,” “namely ‘to get everyone to give.’ Yet, with the economic climate and forecast being what it is we are hopeful and confident that the same thing will happen that happened last year; namely, that people will give more than they have ever given before even if it means they will have less for themselves. Last year we recorded the second highest total in the

Charities Appeal: No gift is too small

history of the Appeal (from more than 33,000 donors), due we believe not only to the hard work of the parishes, but more importantly to the awareness of people that there is a ‘new poor’ in our midst. People who have never asked anyone for help before but now need our assistance. A stark reality we need to be conscious of and respond to,” concluded Donly.

Donations to the Appeal can be sent to the Catholic Charities Appeal Office, P.O. Box 1470, Fall River, Mass. 02722; dropped off at any parish in the diocese; or made on the Appeal website: www.frdioccatholiccharities.org

As his autobiography tells us, Gilbert was struck deeply by everyday images that pass most of us by, unnoticed. Simple images, such as a man walking across a bridge with a golden key, or three teachers walking in the schoolyard, could inspire narratives exposing the drama he saw trapped within these living tableaux.

Did such plain yet inexplicably poignant images remind him of the secret heroism and drama of his own introverted self? Perhaps this is how Chesterton the boy located the puzzle of Chesterton the man inside himself and drew him out. At any rate, one thing is clear: his mind matured and grew almost entirely on the food of imagination. Chesterton described the situation in his autobiography: as a boy he never said, “Let’s make pretend.” He was, simply, always pretending.

What revelation must have occurred when Chesterton was finally diagnosed with myopia and given a prescription for spectacles? How different did the world appear to him, at least at first, compared to the world he merely

imagined from its outlines?

This later became a persistent Chestertonian theme, the relationships of insides to their outsides, appearances to their essences. At first, what begins as a simple sort of bemused curiosity later grows into the absolute certainty that appearances are but one part of reality.

He doesn’t disregard them: appearances, like all sensual data, are important. But they are not all.

He wrote in a passage concerning St. Francis of Assisi that the world has a “curious trick of turning everything inside out; so that the really central things become external and the merely external things central.”

For him, the contemporary world was dangerously close to mistaking the soul for a passing detail, and the passing details for enduring things — or T”heEnduring-Thing.”

It was “The Thing” that inspired his conversion to Catholicism — “The Thing” that we will explore in the next column.

Jennifer Pierce is a parishioner of Corpus Christi in East Sandwich, where she lives with her husband Jim and three children.

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Serving immigrants in Christ’s name continued from page one

pastor at Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Parish in New Bedford, especially when the background stories of many of the immigrants are revealed.

“I don’t think people acknowledge why the immigrants came here in the first place,” said Father Wilson. “Just like our ancestors, the living situation back home was impossible. It’s a very tough situation; we have a moral responsibility.”

Two of the more recognized populations of immigrants in our area are those of El Salvadorian or Guatemalan descent, many of whom fled their countries when civil wars broke out in the mid80s and relocated to the local area, including New Bedford, to find work.

“The industry for fish packing in New Bedford is a very strong industry,” said Father Fallon.

“New Bedford and Dutch Harbor, Alaska, are always ranked one and two nationally; not in the volume they process but in the commercial value in processing. In the last few years, New Bedford has run at roughly $200 million, most of that has to do with the scallops.”

The immigrants found their niche when the fish factories successfully broke up the unions in New Bedford, opening the door for non-union employment, said Father Fallon.

The immigrant population has flourished not just in New Bedford, but also all over Massachusetts. The Asian and Hispanic populations have risen 46 percent in the Bay State during the last two decades, according to the latest U.S. Census figures released earlier this year. They are working hard to provide for their families, said Father Wilson, and are adding

a new depth of devotion to their respective parishes.

A wealth of immigration support programs is available, including the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, which helps support community and labor organizing along with economic justice. Working under the auspices of CCHD, the Maya K’iche Organization was established to help orient and support the Maya and non-Mayan Central American community through the correct and efficient performance of the collaborating corporations. The Immigrant Victim Representation Project deals specifically with immigrant victims of crime, domestic violence and unaccompanied minors. The Immigration Law Education and Advocacy Project provides low-cost, high-quality immigration-related legal services in Southeastern Massachusetts concerning immigration law and policies.

“We have a number of cases of folks who are seeking asylum,” said Attorney Tim Warden-Hertz of CSS’s ILEAP. “We represent folks from all over the world.”

Many of those are having difficulty just supporting themselves, not to mention paying for an attorney who specializes in immigration issues, said Warden-Hertz.

And even understanding immigration law to apply for a work permit can be a tricky prospect.

“There isn’t really just a way to apply for a work permit. There has to be an underlying basis for why you get that work permit,” said Warden-Hertz, adding the language barrier is an additional hurdle many immigrants have to overcome. “Notario” is one of the Spanish words for attorney and “many assume a notary is an

Specializing in: Brand Name/ Foreign Auto Parts 1420 Fall River Avenue (Route 6) Seekonk, MA 02771

attorney. You can be fooled and people do end up getting charged thousands of dollars and not having much done.”

Communication is key, said Father Fallon, and the CCHD takes strength from a memorable quote of Pope Paul VI, “If you want peace, work for justice.” The idea of all these programs is to have a more ongoing relationship with the diocese through Catholic Social Services, CCHD and other service providers.

“Part of the methodology for the campaign of human development,” said Father Fallon, “is the premise that you are going to find leaders, and we certainly have; leaders in the parishes and the groups.”

Father Wilson said there are those in his parish who act as mentors for the new arrivals; often those second or third generations of immigrants will have established themselves as part of the parish family, and help to bridge the gap between those who have been here for a while and recent immigrants.

The 2007 Bianco Raid brought the illegal immigrant issue to the surface by scooping up 361 immigrants working in a New Bedford textile factory and disrupting their lives forever.

“That day, in 2007, criminalizing people that, at most, had civil issues with the government; part of the response to that was that we really needed to look at that question completely differently,” said Father Fallon. “The strongest reaction that I had was, they were treating everyone as a criminal. Again, it’s an issue of civil law. It was an example where Homeland Security was taking this point of view and collective action that was re-

May 13, 2011 ally contrary to the human spirit of this entire population.”

Father Fallon remembers how he and Father Wilson were working around the clock, helping support those who had been taken.

When a reporter asked him why the Church was the strongest supporter, rather than a government agency, of those taken in the raid, Father Fallon had an immediate answer.

“If you’re baptized, you’re home,” he said. “We’re not asking for papers when you walk in through the door. We are an inclusive ecclesiology.”

To date, 200 of the 361 immigrants have been permitted to stay in the area but continue to deal with certain issues.

“I’ve never been able to speak candidly about it during the cases, but three or four years later, we are having a significant success rate,” said Father Fallon. “For someone who has been pastoring this community, there’s a real process in which we describe it as emerging from the shadows. The undocumented workers are considered to be in the shadows.”

For many of those working through the legal system, the CSSrun ILEAP program has been their only lifeline.

“We’re the only not-for-profit immigration legal service in the diocese. Attorneys are very expensive. We’re often the only option,” said Warden-Hertz. “Unlike criminal proceedings where the government will appoint you an attorney if you can’t afford one, despite the fact that deportation is an incredibly serious consequence, you don’t get an attorney in court.”

Father Wilson recalls talking to three women who had spent several months in the Barnstable House of Corrections, and after praying together, asked to be deported rather than continue to

languish in jail. And yet another group of women said they’d stay in jail rather than be deported, said Father Wilson.

“They said that at least they were safe in jail,” recalled Father Wilson.

Everyone involved knows that they cannot win every case but after working with dozens of families through the years, it’s difficult to not get emotionally attached.

“You meet many times with them and you’re asking sensitive questions about their life, what’s happened to them, their fears and their families,” said Warden-Hertz.

“Oftentimes I’m amazed at the wisdom and grace at, what it seems to me, these unjust decisions; I think for many clients, their faith carries them in a lot of ways.”

Immigrants don’t come here looking for handouts, said Father Wilson. Often they are looking for a better life for their families and to flee a country where living there is a death-sentence.

“A number of people I know have been threatened or have had relatives killed,” said Father Wilson. “Sometimes it really is a question of whether you want to be killed or not.”

People assume the immigration legislation is the same as it was 100 years ago, added Father Fallon, and when faced with misconceptions pouring out of Washington and highlighted in the media, many immigrants looking for a better life often face a life where they had better tread carefully.

“There’s no question that the people have always felt the support from the parishes in this diocese, and other communities. The strong message is that the Church has always supported them,” said Father Fallon. “For me, it is nothing less than the process of becoming a recognized person.”

The Bianco Raid may have brought a seemingly unsympathetic spotlight on the issues of immigration but the dignity of human life, regardless of status, should be in the forefront of every discussion, said Father Fallon.

“The diocese responded in a remarkable way to assist some of those families who were really put upon by the federal government,” said Father Fallon. “I think there’s no question that the harshness of those times, those memories for better or worse, will always be with me. I think our hearts still ache for those whom we were not able to assist. We would really just ask all the members of the diocese — all the faithful — that they set aside a short-term reaction and engage the complexity of the question.”

After all, added Father Fallon, “One hundred years ago, if you were a Catholic immigrant, there were all kinds of discrimination.

It’s quite unseemly for us to treat others in that way.”

May 13, 2011

Little Rose at age 22 in 1924. This is the last photo taken of her when she lived in Fall River.

Little Rose devotees still pray for sainthood cause continued from page one

But not everyone agrees that Ferron’s canonization is inevitable.

“It’s a fascinating story, but you never hear much about it around here anymore,” said Father Edward G. St-Godard, pastor of Holy Family Parish in Woonsocket, where the Ferron Family once belonged.

“Even among those who remember her, most people no longer talk about it. I don’t think she’ll ever become a saint.”

Born May 24, 1902 in St. Germain de Grantham in Quebec, Marie-Rose Ferron was the 10th child in a family of 15 children.

The Ferrons were a deeplyfaithful and pious Catholic family and Rose’s mother, Delima Mathieu Ferron, is said to have offered to God through the Blessed Mother each of her children in honor of the 15 Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. Being the 10th child, Little Rose was to become forever linked with the final Sorrowful Mystery: Christ’s Crucifixion.

In 1906 when Ferron was just four-and-a-half years old, the family moved from Canada to Fall River where they lived at 175 Tremont Street and attended the former St. Roch’s Parish until relocating to Woonsocket, R.I. in 1925.

It was while living in Fall River at the age of six that Ferron had her first vision of Jesus as a child, carrying a cross. “He was looking at me with sadness in His eyes,” she once said.

When she was 13, Ferron became stricken with a mysterious paralysis and painful contraction of the muscles in her legs, feet, arms and hands, forcing her to walk with crutches for several years until her twisted and clubbed feet confined her to a bed for the rest of her life.

Because her muscles would sometimes painfully contract, making it very difficult to straighten once again, a flat board was placed on her narrow bed to which she was rigidly strapped.

She also suffered an intestinal problem that made it difficult to digest solid food and contracted tetanus and pyorrhea.

According to Glenn Dallaire on

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The Anchor

his website devoted to “Mystics of the Church,” Ferron’s stigmata first appeared about a year after the family moved to Woonsocket in 1926.

“But it was during Lent of 1927 … that these wounds began to appear regularly every Friday. The red and purple stripes were clearly visible on her arm, which seemed to have been lashed with whips.

The wounds swelled and hurt like burns.

“Two days later, before the eyes of her biographer and another priest, the wounds of the nails appeared in her hands. Her feet, too, bore the marks of the nails. The stigmata of the heart began during the Lenten season of 1929. They brought such sharp pains to Ferron that she sometimes fainted into unconsciousness. The wounds of the crown of thorns resembled, in Ferron’s mother’s words: ‘two heavy cords that encircled her head.’ The holes made by the thorns themselves made Ferron feel ‘as if her head were breaking open.’

“Finally Ferron suffered from the shoulder wound, which likewise brought her acute pain. The five wounds and the crown ‘came to stay,’ but the others appeared every Friday and disappeared on Saturday as rapidly as they had come, without leaving a trace. On Fridays, when the bleeding would begin, Ferron’s mother would lock the doors of the house and would admit only a few visitors who had obtained special permission.”

Because of Ferron’s digestive problems, it is said that for the final decade of her life she took only liquid food and sustained herself solely on Holy Communion.

“I saw her face full of blood one time,” said one of Ferron’s few surviving relatives, her 99-year-old cousin Rose Myette. “Her face was covered in blood, you couldn’t see her face. I saw that on a Friday. She always suffered. I saw her suffer so much; it was terrible. No one will ever know how much she suffered.”

The amazingly vibrant Myette, who still lives in the same house where she converted a front parlor

into a chapel to honor her cousin, spoke fondly of how she and her family used to help care for Ferron.

“I was 13 when I first started visiting my cousin; they had just moved from Fall River,” Myette said. “I used to make her clothes.

My brother and I used to stop there two or three times a week.”

Myette’s love and devotion for her cousin is manifest in the home chapel she built which contains some of Ferron’s personal belongings including one of the narrow beds to which she was strapped for months on end. The entire room is filled with statues and relics and everything is either framed or adorned with hand-carved wooden thorns — all of which Myette made herself using a jigsaw in the barn out back.

Even the wall-to-wall carpeting within the chapel — patterned with roses and thorns — was handmade

by Myette and her sister Wilda.

That’s why the sprightly Myette makes no bones about asking all who enter to remove their shoes first.

Although in her heart she already considers her late cousin a saint, Myette is surprisingly pessimistic that Ferron will ever be canonized.

“You won’t see her become a saint,” Myette said firmly. “She’s never going to become a saint, and I’ve been telling everyone that since she died.”

After nearly a decade of suffering for souls, Ferron passed away on May 11, 1936.

“Seven years before Ferron died, she cried out to Jesus and asked when He was going to take her home, and He said ‘in seven years,’” Marshall said. “And it was exactly seven years later when she died at age 33: the same age when Jesus died on the cross.”

As word of Ferron’s life and suffering began to spread in the aftermath of her death — due in no small part to the publication of Father Boyer’s book — many devotees were confident that their “Little Rose” would soon join the famous ranks of stigmatists like St.

Francis of Assisi and St. Catherine of Genoa.

“Her cause has been studied and investigated three times by the Diocese of Providence and denied all three times,” Father St-Godard said. “Bishop Russell J. McVinney issued a formal decree on the matter on Jan. 9, 1964.”

Bishop McVinney’s decree, issued after two of the three official diocesan investigations, acknowledged Ferron to be “a girl of deeply religious bent” and suggested that Father Boyer’s biography had generated “great interest so that a rather extensive cult developed around Little Rose.”

It concluded: “Two investigations were undertaken in the Diocese of Providence … the findings in both of these investigations were predominantly negative. Therefore, with deep regret, we conclude that any further action to promote the cause of Rose Ferron is not warranted.”

Father St-Godard said some suggested the decree was ethnically motivated, claiming that the Irish Bishop McVinney was against promoting a French-Canadian to sainthood.

“But then Bishop Louis Gelineau, who was our first French bishop, investigated the matter a third time and came up with the same conclusion,” he said.

“When they did the investigations, they interviewed three people who were against Ferron becoming a saint and they never interviewed any member of the family or the eyewitnesses who saw her stigmata,” Marshall said.

Even more surprising, Marshall said Ferron’s cousin Rose Myette was never interviewed.

“Common sense would say there were certain things in those investigations that should cause people to think and question,” agreed Deacon Mazzei. “I just think they need to look into the situation and acknowledge the good and virtuous life that she led and the suffering that she endured. I also understand that the Church is very prudent, and with St. Joan of Arc it took 500 years, so maybe Little Rose will never be canonized within our lifetime.”

More recently, a Jesuit priest named Father John Baptist Palm, S.J., took it upon himself to investigate the Ferron cause.

“Father Palm came here and interviewed thousands of people who met and knew Ferron and he documented everything and made them sign an affidavit,” said Dr. Ben Healey, a longtime family friend.

“He put all his research together into a bound book entitled ‘Tape Recorded Little Rose Testimonies’ that’s well over 2,000 pages.”

Before his death in 2009, Father Palm is purported to have sent his findings to the Diocese of Providence.

“How can a person investigate a cause and not interview surviving

members of the family?” Deacon Mazzei said. “There are many miracles that have taken place through her intercession. They have been recorded and sent to Rome and that’s where we’re at right now and we’re not giving up.”

Although Ferron’s life may no longer be readily familiar to those in Fall River and Woonsocket, she continues to attract interest elsewhere — having inspired a magazine, newsletters, several websites, a remote shrine in Taylor, Mich., an apostolate in North Huntingdon, Pa., and the aforementioned foundation dedicated to promoting her sainthood cause based in Yonkers, N.Y., to name a few.

“For me, the mere fact that here is a young lady who has experienced so much pain and suffering and yet continues to smile has always captured my attention,” said Deacon Mazzei. “We who are devotees of Little Rose already recognize in our hearts that she is in the presence of God. We just keep praying for the time when the Church recognizes it, too.”

While she doesn’t think she’ll see her cousin canonized, Rose Myette — who will turn 100 in September — continues to pray the novena Ferron taught her consisting of 33 Our Fathers, 33 Hail Marys and 33 Glory Be to the Fathers every morning.

“They’re going to see what’s going to happen before long,” Myette said. “She told me one day all her things will be together … and that day is coming.”

“I do find that the people who are devoted to Little Rose are enthusiastic and a little overzealous,” Father St-Godard said. “Every once in a while someone will pick up one of the books about her and call us to visit the shrine to Little Rose Ferron. Of course, we have no shrine.

Some will come and want to see her house and others want dirt from her grave.”

Ferron was laid to rest in Precious Blood Cemetery in Woonsocket 75 years ago beneath a gravestone that declares her a “victim of her Jesus” and a “stigmatist” in French. In his homily at Ferron’s well-attended funeral, Father Norman Neunier claimed: “You will have a little saint in Woonsocket.”

While many continue to pray that Marie-Rose Ferron will one day be recognized as a saint, an official from Bishop Thomas J. Tobin’s office in the Diocese of Providence confirmed there are currently no plans at the diocesan level to further pursue Ferron’s sainthood cause.

An Anniversary Mass for Little Rose Ferron will be celebrated Sunday at 9:30 a.m. at her beloved Holy Family Church, 414 South Main Street in Woonsocket, R.I. A second Mass in Little Rose’s memory will also be celebrated at Holy Family Church on May 29 at 9:30 a.m.

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Youth Pages

May 13, 2011

lab work — Parents from All Saints Catholic School in New Bedford display a plaque recently presented to the school commemorating the donations of Bristol County Savings Bank, Citizens-Union Savings Bank, Rockland Trust, the former St. Mary’s School PTO, the former St. Joseph-St. Therese Spirit Group, BankFive, and Chapel of Hope, Newport, R.I. The donation will be used to fund the science lab at All Saints Catholic School. Pictured, from left: Cheryl DeSouza, Nancy Cabral, Amy Hurteau, Linda Dugas, Pat Kalisz, Suzanne Cookson, and Joleen DiGiacomo.

EXCELLENT EDUCATION AND EXAMPLE — Bishop Stang Principal Peter Shaughnessy stands with Portuguese teacher Filomena Silva and Senior Jill McHenry after the school learned that McHenry’s essay about Silva’s influence on her life won the top prize in the Barnes and Noble Teacher competition. McHenry wrote in her award winning essay: “Teaching isn’t solely about presenting the curriculum. It is about leading students by example and showing them what it means to be an admirable and respectable adult. This is something that Senhora Silva demonstrates all of the time. … She values each individual for who they are and treasures what they have to offer. Furthermore, she epitomizes the Catholic faith that Stang highly values. In her class, we further our knowledge of faith by praying together and living God’s golden rule of loving each other. … She is so much more than just a teacher to me; she is a role model, an inspiration and a caretaker. Senhora Silva has left her handprint on the clay of my heart, a mark that will last forever.” a friend in deed — Bryleigh Roakes, a kindergarten student at St. John the Evangelist School, decided that she would like to do something special for her birthday this year. Since her friend and playmate, Leah Fernandez, was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor, Bryleigh decided to raise money to help Leah’s family with expenses. To assist Bryleigh with this project the SJE’s National Junior Honor Society sold lollipops to the student body and Bryleigh was able to donate $350 to help her friend. Donations can be made for Leah c/o North Easton Savings Bank, P.O. Box 495, Norton, Mass. 02766.

that’s all she wrote — The first-, second-, and third-place high school winners of the annual essay contest sponsored by Rockland Trust in conjunction with National Volunteer Week were Bishop Feehan High School juniors Olivia Hitchcock, Carolyn Chlebek, and Chandler Townsend respectively. The essays addressed the theme “Volunteers: Touching Lives, Lifting Spirits” and were judged on originality, clarity of thought, and writing skills by a panel from the Greater Attleboro Women of Today. The contest was open to area students in grades six through 12. Hitchcock read her essay at Attleboro High School during the Annual Volunteer Day ceremonies sponsored by Sturdy Memorial Hospital and Attleboro Area Community Council. Rockland Trust presented $1,000, $500, and $200 savings bonds to the winners during the Volunteer Day luncheon afterwards at the Attleboro Elks. Pictured are Feehan English teacher David Powell with essay winners, from left: Chandler Townsend, Olivia Hitchcock, and Carolyn Chlebek.

make mine apple — The seventh-grade pre-algebra class held a special celebration in honor of Pi, the all important 3.14. The party included refreshments, contests, the singing of traditional Pi carols, and some math slipped in during all the fun. The students calculated the volume of marshmallows, the value of Pi with a cookie activity, the distance a hula hoop traveled, and the size of a piece of pie that, after calculations, each student could eat. From left, Will Roche, Madison Gagnon, and Teagan Sweet lead the class in the singing of “Pi” carols.

Youth Pages

May 13, 2011

H

ere we are in the middle of the Easter season, in the middle of May, on the weekend of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. This is a perfect time to reflect on the advice that Mary gave to the waiters at the wedding feast of Cana, and continues to give us today: Do whatever He tells you. These are the last words of Mary recorded in the Gospels; the motherly advice that we need to heed.

First, we need to hear what Christ is saying. We are not very good listeners these days.

We have filled our lives with noise and stimulation and we find it hard to find the silence and solitude that would help us to hear Jesus speak to our hearts. We need to recognize the need for quiet and put in the effort to listen and hear.

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Do whatever He tells you

ability to hear clearly what We can hear the Lord speak God is calling us to. Pray that to us in the Scriptures, if we all young men might ask the would take the time to open question: Is God calling me to them. We can hear the Lord speak to us in the stillness, if we would slow our lives down.

We can hear the Lord speak in the conversations we have with friends, if we could pull ourselves away

By Jean Revil from our computers long enough to have real conversations.

We can hear the Lord speak in the priesthood? It is the duty the depth of our hearts if only of every Catholic man to at least ask the question. we would choose to move If we hear His voice, we from the superficial aspects of life and journey within to find may not always understand what God is telling us. It God there. We need to hear might not make sense to us. what Christ is saying, espeI’m sure it didn’t make sense cially when it comes to our to the waiters at the wedvocations. Perhaps our prayer ding to go fill the jars with this Sunday might be for the

Be Not Afraid

water. I’m sure it made even less sense to draw some of that water out and give it to the head-waiter. But they did what they were told, and because they did what they were told they witnessed a miracle! So even if it doesn’t always make sense, if you believe that you know what God is asking you to do, do it! There could be a miracle just waiting for your obedience!

And so comes the action portion of Mary’s advice. Do it! We need to find the courage to respond, to risk humiliation or embarrassment, to move forward in spite of our fears.

Obedience is a virtue that our society does not always value.

We tend to think of ourselves

as free-thinkers and in charge of our own destinies and being obedient somehow rubs us the wrong way. Yet obedience is indeed a Christian virtue. Jesus was obedient to the Father and modeled that virtue for us.

There is beauty in this virtue, and paradoxically, there is freedom in this virtue. We obey because we love and trust the One who commands us. It’s easy to do whatever He tells you if you know your happiness and your holiness are incredibly important to Him. If the all-knowing God, who wants nothing but our complete joy, tells us to do something, it would make no sense to disobey.

Jean Revil teaches theology and is campus minister at Bishop Stang High School.

Comments welcome at: jrevil@bishopStang.com

tinue after the May 2 meeting and called on bloggers to take the next step.

Hilary White of the blog “Orwell’s Picnic” was already ahead of the game. She had scheduled an “alternative” blognic for May 3 to give bloggers who didn’t get invited to the Vatican Blog-stock a chance to meet and talk in a much more informal setting — specifically at an Irish-themed pub.

One of the most distinctive contrasts between the two gatherings, aside from the bar stools and beer, was the near total absence of clicking keys and heads hiding behind laptop screens.

People at the Vatican event were so connected to their mobile devices that the venue’s bandwidth was too saturated to

operate smoothly.

When Thaddeus Jones, an official at the social communications council, was ready to show off a new Silverlight video player for a Vatican news portal, nothing but black hit the screen.

One person said it was “a Steve Jobs moment” referring to a similar glitch in 2010 when excessive Wi-Fi network congestion prevented the Apple CEO from showing off the new iPhone features at the product unveiling.

Maybe the old-fashioned pub decor inspired an old-fashioned tradition of just “sitting around and talking,” but it also showed that the Vatican blog meet was the catalyst it wanted to be for new pockets of dialogue to sprout up.

Tweets at St. Pete’s: What happens when bloggers and the Vatican meet

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Some things just can’t be done online. Like shake the hand of a blogging Benedictine nun (aka @Digitalnun on Twitter) and get her advice on how to create a profitable app with no startup money.

Or drink prosecco, nibble on focaccia and discover while chatting with a scientist who blogs about biology and religion that he is a Protestant married to a Muslim and couldn’t believe he was invited to a Vatican event.

At a landmark “Blog Meet,” the pontifical councils for culture and for social communications brought together 150 bloggers — in the flesh — from all parts of the world May 2 to get a sense of their hopes and concerns. Once again, the Church insisted the virtual world should only be a tool, not a substitute for, real human contact, even when the meeting underlines the extraordinary powers of new media.

Greeting people face-to-face also broke down some barriers and suspicions that have built up over the years between some bloggers and the sometimes communication-ch allen g ed Catholic hierarchy.

And create communion they did; the St. Peter-meets-tweeters blognic was a real coup — a mini Berlin Wall knock-down — as calling cards, emails and hugs were exchanged.

“The Church has something to learn from bloggers,” Archbishop Claudio Celli, president of Vatican’s communications

council, said in an interview with L’Osservatore Romano May 5.

By listening to inhabitants of the blogosphere, the Church can learn not only what people in the pews are thinking and feeling, Church leaders can get a sense of how important it is to speak about the faith in a language that is less “ecclesial” and more “understandable,” he said.

Of the many issues brought up during the four-hour meeting was defining what, if any, kind of relationship should exist between the Church and bloggers.

That issue took on several forms.

On the one hand, some bloggers wanted to be on par with traditional media professionals and be included in the Vatican press hall loop when important news was set to break.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said only accredited journalists who have been vouched for by their employers and have pledged to follow journalistic ethics have that kind of access.

However, he said, bloggers have played a key role in clarifying the kind of mistakes and confusion that result when the secular press gets a story wrong.

Other bloggers expressed concern about authenticity and wondered if there could be some kind of “imprimatur” to show when online content reflects the faith. Others were quite happy to be left alone and exercise their freedom of speech unfettered by authority.

For the Vatican, the idea of “authenticity” is critical. The faithful need to know whether what they are reading is Church teaching or someone’s personal interpretation or opinion.

In fact, the Church’s initial wariness of the online medium may have stemmed from fears that the malleable and viral nature of digital texts meant Church teachings could become diluted, polluted or convoluted when they hit the web.

During a question-and-answer period at the end of the meeting, one audience member from the United States asked if there was a plan to create a sort of “mechanism” through which dioceses would be able to judge or control whether content coming out of Catholic newspapers, television outlets and blogs represented the “authentic teaching” of the Church.

Another audience member spoke out against such a plan, saying many Catholic blogs are not connected to the Church and want stay independent and free from regulation and Vatican or diocesan approval.

The panel made up of Vatican officials wasn’t able to address the concerns because of a lack of time. However, it was made clear at the beginning of the event that the Vatican’s goal with the meeting was not to regulate bloggers nor create a moral code of conduct, but rather to take the first step in starting a dialogue and looking at how blogging plays a role in speaking about faith.

Archbishop Celli said he hoped the dialogue would con-

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The Anchor

Diocesan youth to be recognized for service continued from page one

given to adults for service to the Church. The St. Pius X award recognizes the commitment and selfishness of teens towards Christ, His Church, and local parish communities.

Recipients are nominated by their pastors, must be confirmed, at least a sophomore in high school, and no older than 19 years old.

Several pastors across the diocese minister to two parishes, and also selected two winners, one from each of their assignments.

Father Richard L. Chretien is pastor of Immaculate Conception and Notre Dame de Lourdes parishes in Fall River, and he nominated a young adult from each.

Curtis St. Pierre is the Immaculate Conception representative and Timothy Rabbitt is the Notre Dame winner.

“Both are great young men,” Father Chretien told The Anchor.

“They do great things and are fine examples for other youth in the parishes. You don’t find too many people that age that committed to their parish community through service and action. I’m impressed with their dedication and their faith lives.”

Father Arnold R. Medeiros is pastor of St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in North Falmouth and St. John the Evangelist Parish in Pocasset.

His award-winners are Morgan DiNello and Aidan Milsted, respectively.

“I’ve been at St. John’s less than a year, so I don’t know Aid-

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an all that well,” said Father Medeiros, “but I do know he’s very active and he’s always at weekend Mass. And, he comes highly recommended by those who know him well.

“Morgan has been very active as well, including as an altar-server, right up through her senior year in high school. That’s very commendable. They’re both terrific young adults and fine examples for every generation.”

Crystal-Lynn Medeiros, assistant director of the diocesan Youth and Young Adult Ministry, said “Although the annual Pope Pius X Awards celebrate and acknowledge adolescents’ dedication to their parishes, the awards do something far greater. They provide adults with hope for the Catholic Church.

“The young men and women who receive this award each year do not fear going against, what most people would call the ‘norm.’

They are not afraid of their faith and openly embrace their baptismal call to serve Christ and His Church in some way. But these 58 young people are just a small sampling of dedicated and devoted young people who serve their parishes across the diocese. So when the question, ‘Will our faith have children?’ is asked, these adolescents can emphatically say ‘Yes!’” The ceremony, attended by parents, pastors, and friends will include eucharistic adoration and Benediction.

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May 13, 2011

2011 St. Pius X Youth Award Recipients Parish

Town Recipient

attleboro deanery Our Lady of Mount Carmel Sacred Heart St. John the Evangelist St. Mark St. Mary St. Mary St. Mary

Seekonk No. Attleboro Attleboro Attleboro Falls Mansfield No. Attleboro Norton

Thomas George Brawley Jessica Lynn DaSilva Mary Elizabeth Harrington Christopher James Pierson Jillian Elizabeth Holland Shane Edward Dillon Michael Coleman Keane

cape cod deanery Christ the King Corpus Christi Holy Redeemer Holy Trinity Our Lady of the Assumption Our Lady of the Cape Our Lady of Victory St. Elizabeth Seton St. Francis Xavier St. John the Evangelist St. Mary-Our Lady of the Isle St. Patrick St. Pius X

Mashpee E. Sandwich Chatham W. Harwich Osterville Brewster Centerville No. Falmouth Hyannis Pocasset Nantucket Falmouth So. Yarmouth

Anna McEntee Andrew N. Iarocci Rebecca Janet Rengucci-Cully David Peninger Annie Giannetti Victoria Whipple Mary Kate Cervin Morgan DiNello Elizabeth Rossi Aidan Asher Milsted Olivia Casey Harrington Kimberly B. Johansson Katelin Journet

fall river deanery Holy Name Fall River Holy Trinity Fall River Notre Dame de Lourdes Fall River Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Fall River Sacred Heart Fall River Santo Christo Fall River SS. Peter & Paul at Holy Cross Fall River St. Anne Fall River St. Bernard Assonet St. Dominic Swansea St. Francis of Assisi Swansea St. John the Baptist Westport St. Louis de France Swansea St. Michael Fall River St. Patrick Somerset St. Thomas More Somerset St. Anthony of Padua Fall River

Dorothy Mahoney-Pacheco Ian Omer Chaney Timothy Rabbitt Curtis St. Pierre Tyler R. Carreiro Cory Jerard Manuel Carvalho Anna Rose Stankiewicz Shane Michael Pacheco Ryan and Emma Bernard Jacqueline Borelli-Chace Lucas Matthew Notarangelo Evan Branco Kaitlyn Mary Gregoire Shana Hilario Nicole Morrisette Lauren Costa Peter Rose Janeiro

new bedford deanery Our Lady of Fatima New Bedford Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James New Bedford Our Lady of Mount Carmel New Bedford Our Lady of the Assumption New Bedford Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception New Bedford St. Anthony of Padua New Bedford St. John Neumann E. Freetown St. Joseph Fairhaven St. Mary Fairhaven St. Mary New Bedford St. Mary S. Dartmouth St. Patrick Wareham

Jessica L. Daffinee Karla Guzman Kendall Frances Morin Shane Burgo Kimberly Lynn Carreiro Cassandra Borges Audrey Dors Peter DeTerra Kaitlyn Talbot Thomas C. Leman Rachel Isabel Cowen Zachary Timothy Kowzic

taunton deanery Annunciation of the Lord Holy Cross Holy Family Immaculate Conception St. Ann St. Anthony St. Mary St. Nicholas of Myra

Michael Alberto Mark Eaton Alison E. Eddlem Maryanne Coughlin Alyssa Correia Krista deMello Michael Ruiz Neil Martin Caswell

Taunton So. Easton E. Taunton No. Easton Raynham Taunton Taunton No. Dighton

May 13, 2011

The Anchor Father Alphonsus M. Sutton, F.I.

NEW BEDFORD — Father Alphonsus M. Sutton, 91, of New Bedford, died May 7 at St. Luke’s Hospital after a long illness.

A convert to the Roman Catholic faith in his early years, Father Alphonsus was ordained a diocesan priest in 1957. He was a member of the Conventual Franciscans in the 1980s before becoming a member of the new religious institute of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate in 1990.

He was assigned to Our Lady’s Chapel in New Bedford in 1996 to assist the formation of the fri-

Father Wilfrid J. Vigeant, S.J.

WESTON — Father Wilfrid J. Vigeant, S.J., 98, died April 28 at the Campion Center in Weston.

Beloved son of the late David and Marie (LaFleur) Vigeant and the brother of Armand Vigeant of Somerset, Father Vigeant is also survived by his many Jesuit brothers, in New England and his former Province of French Canada.

Born Mar. 31, 1913, Father Vigeant entered the Jesuit Society Sept. 7, 1932.

Father Vigeant was reposed at the Campion Center, 319 Concord Road in Weston, with a funeral Mass celebrated in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit. Interment followed in the Jesuit Cemetery at the Campion Center.

Donations in Father Vigeant’s memory may be made to the Jesuit Community, Campion Center, 319 Concord Road, Weston, Mass. 02493 to support its ministry of care for elderly and infirm Jesuits.

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks May 14 Rev. Robert E. McDonnell, CSC, 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 May 19 Rev. Ambrose Lamarre, O.P., 1940 Rev. Thomas Trainor, Pastor, St. Louis, Fall River, 1941 Rev. Arthur C. Levesque, Pastor, Our Lady of Fatima, New Bedford, 1988 May 20 Rev. Antonio L. daSilva, Pastor, Our Lady of Health, Fall River, 1952

ars in residence there and to fulfill pastoral duties. In 2007 Father Alphonsus celebrated the 50th jubilee of his priestly ordination.

He is survived by his sister, Barbara Sutton Nix, of Knoxville, Tenn.; one niece and two nephews, Kay Schultz, Bill Nix and

Jim Nix; five great nieces and one great nephew.

A Mass of Christian Burial was held May 11 at Our Lady’s Chapel, 600 Pleasant Street in New Bedford, followed by burial at St. Mary’s Cemetery, North Dartmouth.

Around the Diocese 5/15

On May 15 from 6 to 8 p.m. guest speaker Marian Desrosiers, director of the Pro-Life Apostolate for the Fall River Diocese, will present “God As Our Origin and Destiny” at Corpus Christi Parish in East Sandwich. In her presentation, Desrosiers will show how we can help rebuild a culture of life and love in these deeply troubled times. Dessert and coffee will be provided with discussion to follow. For more information or to RSVP call 508-833-8432.

5/19

A Healing Mass will be celebrated at St. Anne’s Church, Middle Street, Fall River, on May 19 beginning with recitation of the Rosary at 6 p.m. and followed by Benediction and healing prayers.

5/23

Saint Anne’s Hospital Regional Cancer Care Center located at 537 Faunce Corner Road in Dartmouth will host the American Cancer Society’s “Look Good ... Feel Better” on May 23 from 2 to 4 p.m. in the conference room. This is a free program that teaches patients hands-on cosmetic techniques to help cope with appearance-related side effects from chemotherapy and/or radiation treatments. To register call 508-674-5600, extension 2515.

5/26

The Divorced and Separated Support Group sponsored by the Fall River Diocese will hold an open meeting on May 26 beginning at 7 p.m. in the parish center of St. Julie Billiart Church, 494 Slocum Road, North Dartmouth. Parking is available to the left of the church and all are welcome. For more information, call 508-9930589, 508-673-2997 or 508-678-2828.

5/31

A Healing Mass in preparation for Pentecost will be held at St. Jude’s Parish, 249 Whittenton Street, Taunton on May 31 beginning at 6:30 p.m. Mass will follow at 7 p.m., with Benediction and healing prayers after Mass.

6/4

Spend the day together as a family at the Family Rosary Retreat sponsored by Holy Cross Family Ministries to be held at Boston College High School, Dorchester on June 4 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The full day of activities will include workshops for all age groups, keynote speakers, eucharistic adoration, Mission Rosary and Vigil Mass.

For more information or to register call 508-283-4095 or 800-299-7729 or visit www.familyrosary.org/conference.

6/4

Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, will be speaking at St. Paul School Hall on June 4 from 7:30 - 9:00 p.m. located at 18 Fearing Road in Hingham. He will share important insights about the Pro-Life movement today, and about the hope and healing that is available for those who suffer from abortion. Father Pavone will be giving the homily at each Mass at St. Paul Church during the weekend of June 4-5. All are welcomed to attend Father Pavone’s talk at the school. Light refreshments will be available. RSVP to this event at Stpaulchurchprolife@yahoo.com.

7/22

The Couples’ Club of Holy Name of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in New Bedford will sponsor an outing to Cathedral in the Pines in New Hampshire on July 22. For information call 508-992-6297.

19 Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese

Acushnet — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Fridays 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturdays 8 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays end with Evening Prayer and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.; Saturdays end with Benediction at 2:45 p.m.

ATTLEBORO — St. Joseph Church holds eucharistic adoration in the Adoration Chapel located at the (south) side entrance at 208 South Main Street, Sunday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

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 following the 11 a.m. Mass until 7:45 a.m. on the First Saturday, concluding with Benediction and Mass. 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 — Eucharistic adoration takes place at the Corpus Christi Parish Adoration Chapel, 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, Monday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday, 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. Also, 24-hour eucharistic adoration takes place on the First Friday of every month with Benediction at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning.

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, following the 8 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 8 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 8:00 a.m. Mass until Rosary and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.

FALL RIVER — Notre Dame Church, 529 Eastern Ave., has eucharistic adoration on Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the chapel.

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

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

FALL RIVER — Good Shepherd Parish has eucharistic adoration every Friday following the 8 a.m. Mass until 6 p.m. in the Daily Mass Chapel. There is a bilingual Holy Hour in English and Portuguese from 5-6 p.m. Park behind the church and enter the back door of the connector between the church and the rectory.

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

HYANNIS — A Holy Hour with eucharistic adoration will take place each First Friday at St. Francis Xavier Church, 347 South Street, beginning immediately after the 12:10 p.m. Mass and ending with adoration at 4 p.m.

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

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

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.

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 5 p.m.; and every Friday from noon to 5 p.m., with Benediction at 5 p.m.

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.

WAREHAM — Adoration with opportunities for private and formal prayer is offered on the First Friday of each month from 8:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Church, High Street. The Prayer Schedule is as follows: 7:30 a.m. the Rosary; 8 a.m.

Mass; 8:30 a.m. exposition and Morning Prayer; 12 p.m. the Angelus; 3 p.m. Divine Mercy Chaplet; 5:30 p.m. Evening Prayer; 7 p.m. Sacrament of Confession; 8 p.m.

Benediction.

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.

20

The Anchor

May 13, 2011

Bin Laden killing poses questions for moral debate

WASHINGTON (CNS) — As word got out that Osama bin Laden had been killed by a Navy SEAL strike team in Pakistan, television and the Internet quickly began to feature images of spontaneous celebrations outside the White House and at ground zero in New York.

Just as quickly, blogs and social media pages such as Facebook began to rage with debates: about

the morality of bin Laden’s killing and how it was accomplished and about the appropriateness of the celebratory atmosphere. Others questioned the meaning of the “justice” described by President Barack Obama in announcing bin Laden’s death.

“We must be clear what we understand when President Obama says ‘justice has been done,’”

said Gerard Powers, director of Catholic Peacebuilding Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, in an exchange of emails with Catholic News Service.

“Justice has been done in that the killing of bin Laden was necessary to defend the common good against terrorism,” Powers wrote. “Justice has not been done if we revel in his killing as an act of revenge for 9/11. It is unclear if justice has been done in the sense of holding bin Laden legally accountable for his past crimes against humanity, especially the 9/11 attacks.”

Also unclear was whether bin Laden could have been captured and brought to trial, Powers said.

“If it was possible to capture bin

Laden and he was killed anyway, then justice was not done.”

Bishop Paul S. Loverde of Arlington, Va., whose diocese includes the Pentagon, wrote that bin Laden’s death brings back painful memories for many in the community, which requires a note of caution.

“It is important that we recognize the distinction between support for this act of justice defending our nation and a misguided sense of revenge,” he wrote. “Let us not turn toward resentment or bitterness, but rather toward a deeper trust in our Lord. With confidence in His mercy and guidance, let us pray for those serving our country, for a conversion of heart among those who support the evils of terrorism and for the growth of faith and a desire for peace within our

own hearts.”

In one of the Catholic blog discussions, Jesuit Father James Martin, culture editor of the Jesuit magazine, America, captured some of the more charitable threads of the Internet debate: “Osama bin Laden was responsible for the murder of thousands of men and women in the United States, for the deaths and misery of many thousands across the world, and for the deaths of many servicemen and women, who made the supreme sacrifice of their lives. I am glad he has left the world. And I pray that his departure may lead to peace,” wrote Father Martin.

“But as a Christian, I am asked to pray for him and, at some point, forgive him. And that command comes to us from Jesus, a man who was beaten, tortured and killed.

That command comes from a man who knows a great deal about suffering. It also comes from God.” The Vatican was among the religious organizations that were quick to weigh in with a statement acknowledging bin Laden’s faults, including: “spreading divisions and hatred among populations, causing the deaths of innumerable people, and manipulating religions to this end.” But the Vatican also admonished against the gleeful response: “In the face of a man’s death, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibilities of each person before God and before men, and hopes and works so that every event may be the occasion for the further growth of peace and not of hatred.”

Powers said that there are other thorny moral issues raised by the case of bin Laden. They include the difference between attempts to assassinate heads of state, such as Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi, versus attempts to kill heads of terrorist organizations, such as bin Laden, which is less morally problematic, he said. Also subject to moral review might be whether the United States violated the sovereignty of Pakistan by waging the assault on bin Laden’s hiding place.

“Yet in Catholic teaching sovereignty is not an absolute,” Powers said. “If it was clear that Pakistan was unwilling or unable to take appropriate action against bin Laden and other terrorists in its midst, then, at some point, Pakistan cannot complain when others fulfill the responsibilities it cannot fulfill itself.”

Finally, Powers said, “even though we can justify the killing of bin Laden, we do so with a sense of deep regret and with a recommitment to develop nonmilitary ways to defend against terrorism and address its deeper roots, while cultivating the peaceable virtues without which no lasting peace is possible.”