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The Anchor Diocese of Fall River

F riday , May 31, 2013

New Bedford Corpus Christi procession expands citywide

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff NEW BEDFORD — On Sunday, in commemoration of the feast of Corpus Christi, Our Lord will be traveling for the first time from one end of the City of New Bedford to the other.

Although the Franciscan friars at Our Lady’s Chapel in downtown New Bedford have been hosting a Corpus Christi procession for the past 11 years, this year marks the first time that a second procession will take place concurrently in New Bedford’s north end.

“This year in the north end we will also have a procession as the churches are spread out and not all can go to the south end,” explained Father Edward A. Murphy, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Church,

where the second procession will begin at 2 p.m. “We will process to St. Kilian’s and, from there, to Immaculate Conception (Church) and then back to St. Anthony of Padua Church.”

Father Murphy said St. Anthony’s Band from Fall River will lead the procession from his parish.

“It’s a beautiful occasion where once a year the Church asks us to have processions and to go out into the streets with the Blessed Sacrament,” Father Murphy said.

“This is an event for everyone — young and old.”

Father Murphy said this second procession was never meant to compete with the 11-year-old tradition established at Our Lady’s Chapel.

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bernard blessing — St. Bernard Parish in Assonet recently blessed a new outdoor statue of its patron saint on Pentecost Sunday. Here guest of honor Father Leonard Mullaney, the first resident pastor of St. Bernard’s from 1981-1986, presides over the blessing as current pastor, Father Michael Racine, looks on. (Photo by Carol Levesque)

Attleboro students star on CatholicTV Centerville parish succeeds with new style of teaching

By Christine M. Williams Anchor Correspondent

WATERTOWN — “Tomorrow, they’ll come in wanting a dressing room with a star on it,” said third-grade teacher at St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro Susan O’Korn.

Students from her class taped a CatholicTV program on May 22, which will air in September.

“WOW: The CatholicTV Challenge,” a game show that asks faith-based questions, pits three third graders against each other in friendly competition.

The winners of each of the first three rounds compete in the final round from which a grand-prize winner emerges.

O’Korn said that the show has given her students confidence in the fact that they can accomplish a task when they put their minds to it. “WOW” motivated them to learn important religious material and got them excited about it too.

“I think they did excellent.

I was very proud of them,” she said.

In all, 106 students in grades two through six came to the taping. Only the third graders were eligible to compete, and none of the contestants knew they would be chosen until it was announced

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff CENTERVILLE — The Faith Formation program at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville broke out of the proverbial box and launched a unique spin on its religion classes a few years ago, all to much success. Based on John Roberto’s “Generations of Faith” (now called “Lifelong Faith”), the “Generations of Faith Together” program at Our Lady of Victory uses a Liturgy-based

approach targeting an intergenerational congregation that comes together as a whole every other month to nurture not only the youngest members of its parish, but every member.

Our Lady of Victory Parish had used the traditional format for its Faith Formation classes for years, until the 2008-2009 year saw the GIFT program initiate itself in the form of a requirement for those children in a Sacramental year, Turn to page 18

PRIME TIME — Students from St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro recently taped an episode of “WOW” for Catholic TV. Here, from left, Alexavier Almeida, William Bedard and Sophia Elliott tape a promo piece for the show. (Photo by Christine M. Williams)

in the Watertown studio. All of them prepared to answer questions on the episode’s topics. The school taped two episodes — one on the theme “The Words of Jesus” and the other on “Vestments and Vessels.”

Father Robert Reed, the show’s host, took the students through the ropes, explaining the rules and letting them know that giving an incorrect answer is “no big deal.”

There will be plenty more questions for them to answer before

the round ends, he added.

He told them that in the studio they are the teachers and audience members at home are the students.

Father Reed started asking the questions. Each correct answer garners an enthusiastic “wow” and applause from the studio audience. The studio’s multi-colored lights flash and three large flatscreen televisions display animation of the word Turn to page 18

HANDS-ON BLESSING – During a session, the Proto family had their hands blessed with oil by Father Hession to “go forth in unity because you are a gift from God.” Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville launched a new type of Faith Formation program that brings all family and parish members together every other month to engage in hands-on activities to build a stronger church community.

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News From the Vatican

May 31, 2013

Vatican denies pope performed public exorcism

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When Pope Francis solemnly laid both hands on the head of a young man in a wheelchair and prayed intently over him for several minutes, he was not performing an exorcism, said the Vatican spokesman.

The young man, who was among dozens of people in wheelchairs greeted by the pope at the end of Mass May 19, appeared somewhat agitated when the pope approached.

The priest with him, Legionary of Christ Father Juan Rivas, said something to the pope, who then prayed over the man.

“The Holy Father had no intention of performing an exorcism, but — as he often does with the sick and suffering people presented to him — he simply intended to pray for the suffering person before him,” said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi.

Father Lombardi issued his statement after Italian papers began reporting the story, citing TV2000, the satellite television station owned by the Italian bishops’ conference.

Promoting an upcoming program on Pope Francis’ teaching about the existence of the devil and his influence on people, the station said it had asked several exorcists to watch the video clip from May 19 and they agreed, “It was a prayer of liberation from evil or a real exorcism.”

Other theologians and exorcists contacted by Italian media said a priest — even the pope — would never perform an exorcism on the spur of the moment and without first ascertaining that the suffering person was not afflicted by a physical or mental illness. In

addition, exorcism is a rite that includes set prayers, blessings and invocations.

According to the “Catechism of the Catholic Church,” “The solemn exorcism, called ‘a major exorcism,’ can be performed only by a priest and with the permission of the bishop. The priest must proceed with prudence, strictly observing the rules established by the Church.

“Exorcism is directed at the expulsion of demons or to the liberation from demonic possession through the spiritual authority which Jesus entrusted to His Church. Illness, especially psychological illness, is a very different matter; treating this is the concern of medical science. Therefore, before an exorcism is performed, it is important to ascertain that one is dealing with the presence of the Evil One, and not an illness.”

On his Facebook page, Father Rivas, who works in Tulum, Mexico, said Pope Francis “prayed over a possessed person. Since no one heard the words he said, and he was right in front of me, we can say he recited a prayer for liberation, nothing more.”

Father Rivas said the man’s need for the pope’s “prayer of deliverance” was related to the decriminalization of abortion in Mexico, which the priest said had returned the country to “the pagan times of the Aztecs with their human sacrifices.”

In an earlier Facebook post, before stories about a supposed exorcism began circulating on the Internet, Father Rivas simply said, “I was able to greet the Holy Father Francis. Angel, the patient who was in the wheelchair, and I received his blessing at the end of Mass.”

bearing gifts — Pope Francis talks with members of the Missionaries of Charity during a visit to a soup kitchen and women’s shelter at the Vatican recently. The facility is inside the Vatican walls and serves meals to about 60 people each day. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters)

Selfishness is a downer, proclaiming Christ brings joy, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Selfishness only brings sadness and bitterness, while stepping outside of oneself to evangelize is the ultimate “pick me up” and source of joy, Pope Francis said.

“Let’s live the Gospel with humility and courage. Give witness to the newness, hope and joy that the Lord brings to your life,” the pope said last week at his general audience.

Speaking to more than 80,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis also called for prayers for those struck by a deadly tornado in Moore, Okla., which left at least 24 people dead, including at least eight children, as it destroyed numerous homes and leveled an elementary school May 20.

“I invite all of you to pray with me for the victims, especially the children, of the disaster in Oklahoma,” he said.

“May the Lord Himself console everyone, in particular parents who have lost a child in such a tragic way.”

The pope made the call for prayers after leading his weekly general audience in which he continued a series of talks about the affirmations of faith in the creed. He focused on the role of the Holy Spirit in the “one, holy, Catholic and apostolic” Church.

The Holy Spirit gives the Church life and guides her steps, he said.

“Without the presence and constant action of the Holy Spirit, the Church could not live and could not fulfill the task the Risen Christ entrusted her to go and make disciples of all peoples.”

The Church exists to evangelize, which is the mission of all Baptized Christians, not just a few, he said.

However, it takes prayer and the Holy Spirit to truly evangelize, he said.

Proclaiming the Gospel “must always start from prayer,” he said, since “only a faithful and intense relationship with God” lets people break out of their shell to share the Good News with others.

“Without prayer, what we do becomes empty and our proclamation lacks soul, it isn’t enlivened by the Spirit,” the pope said.

The Holy Spirit provides courage and unity, helping people proclaim the Gospel out loud and “with frankness” at every time and in all places.

The Holy Spirit brings unity because it brings “a new language” — a language of love that everyone can understand and express in every culture and part of life.

“The language of the Spirit, the Gospel and Communion invites us to overcome being closed up, the indifference, divisions and polarization,” he said.

Sometimes today it seems like it’s Babel all over again with

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divisions, the inability to understand each other, rivalries, jealousies and selfishness, the pope said.

People have to ask themselves: “What am I doing with my life? Do I create unity around me or do I divide, divide and divide with gossip, criticism and jealousies?” he said.

People should reflect on whether they bring, through their words and deeds, “the reconciliation and love” of the Gospel to every aspect of their lives.

“Bringing the Gospel is us, first of all, proclaiming and living reconciliation, forgiveness, peace, unity and love that the Holy Spirit gives.”

The pope asked people to never close themselves off to the action of the Holy Spirit and to receive His gifts of courage and strength to share the Gospel.

It’s something every Christian should do “because evangelizing, proclaiming Jesus gives us joy while egoism gives us bitterness, sadness; it drags us down and evangelizing picks us up,” he said.

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3 The International Church With no bishop, Shanghai priests concerned about Masses, pilgrimages May 31, 2013

MANILA, Philippines (CNS) — A Chinese priest who recently arrived in the Philippines said that, this year, he did not make his usual May trek up Sheshan hill outside Shanghai, where thousands of pilgrims offer special prayers to Mary, Help of Christians.

Speaking to Catholic News Service on the condition of anonymity, the priest said that, until he left China, Shanghai priests — who currently have no bishop — were still discussing how to proceed with the month’s largest pilgrimage, May 24. Shanghai Bishop Jin Luxian died April 27; his Vatican-approved successor, Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin, is under house arrest.

Bishop Ma has been detained since his ordination as bishop last July when he publicly quit the government-run Catholic Patriotic Association, which directs the Church in China, spurning ties with the Vatican.

“I admire Bishop Jin, be-

cause he is very wise and knows how to deal with the government and with Rome,” the young Chinese priest said.

“I also admire the bravery of Bishop Ma.” In Manila May 18 the Chinese priest said, “Shanghai clergy meet every now and then and discuss whether to let a bishop of the patriotic association come and say Mass. But they do not want them to preside at the Masses. They say, ‘We (Shanghai priests) will say the Masses.’”

The Chinese priest said he believes Bishop Jin’s death and troubles with Bishop Ma may be making the government more nervous about the Sheshan pilgrimages, which attract tens of thousands of pilgrims each May. The pilgrimages culminated May 24, designated by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008 as the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China.

“I have a classmate ... a priest now in another province who tried to bring two bus-

loads of people on a pilgrimage to Sheshan April 30, but they were refused at the gate at the foot of the mountain,” the priest said.

Some religious told him they got announcements from the Shanghai government saying they should prevent people in their provinces from going to the Sheshan shrine. Others reported being required to apply for a special pass, similar to one required for interprovince travel in 2008 during the Summer Olympics in Beijing.

However, the priest said he expected there would still be “many pilgrims,” especially May 24.

“When the Church is suffering, we know God is with us,” he said.

He links the story of the devotion to Our Lady of Sheshan and the pilgrimage to the story of the struggle of the Church in Shanghai and the rest of China’s 10 million Catholics.

The shrine and two-ton bronze statue of Mary raising

the Child Jesus above her head is located in Song Jiang district on the outskirts of Shanghai, where a 19th-century Jesuit retreat center was built in the middle of a bamboo forest.

In the 1870s Jesuit priests reportedly prayed to Our Lady of Sheshan for protection, and the diocese was spared from attacks during the Taiping Rebellion.

Jesuit priests led the construction of a new church there in that era. It drew large groups of pilgrims from around China and Asia each May. In 1894 Catholics built a church midway up the mountain and dedicated it to Mary as Mediatrix.

Three chapels built soon after were dedicated to Mary, St. Joseph, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Stations of the Cross were built along the path to the mountaintop.

The current structure was completed in 1935. In 1942, Pope Pius XII named the Sheshan Cathedral a minor basilica.

During the 1949 Communist Revolution, the church’s stained glass windows were heavily damaged, and carvings, and art work and the statue on the bell tower were destroyed.

In the 1950s, Bishop Ignatius Kung Pin-mei of Shanghai was arrested and imprisoned for more than 30 years, and the Chinese government put the basilica under the control of Catholic Patriotic Association.

When the revolution ended, damage to the church was repaired, and the statue was replaced in 2000.

The Chinese priest said prayers for the Church in China are needed because, in addition to churches and structures being destroyed in rebellions and revolution, relationships were affected. In a 2007 letter to Chinese Catholics, Pope Benedict urged reconciliation among those who functioned underground and those who decided to work with the Chinese government.

Base communities and mega-Masses: Parish ministry in Brazil varies

SAO PAULO (CNS) — On a Saturday night in a small community on the outskirts of Sao Jose dos Campos, parishioners flock around the entrance of a church in the Parish of St. Lucia, waiting for Father Vitor Mendes to arrive. Father Mendes is one of the two priests who take care of parishioners in the parish’s five churches.

“The other father and I usually each conduct a Saturday night Mass and three Masses on Sunday,” he said.

Although it is a heavy schedule, Father Mendes was not complaining. He said there are other places in Brazil where

priests have to scramble and travel hours and even days to tend to their flock.

Recent Brazilian Church data reiterates the priest’s feelings, showing that although there has been an increase in the number of priests, they are not spread evenly throughout the country.

As a result, ministry differs in different parts of the country, which is larger than the 48 contiguous U.S. states and varies geographically and socially.

“There are regions, such as the Southeast and South, where there are a lot of priests and other regions, like the North, where there is one priest to

serve an enormous area,” Father Jose Carlos Pereira, who has analyzed some data, told Catholic News Service.

For instance, Father Geraldo Ferreira Bendahan of Our Lady of Grace Parish, just outside the city of Manaus in Brazil’s Amazon region, is in charge of 12 churches, with no other priest to help him. He often has to travel hours by boat or car on dirt roads to celebrate weddings, Baptisms and Masses.

“Here in the north of Brazil, parishes have a much greater area than in other parts of Brazil, because parishioners are more spread out. The low demographics in many areas result in parishes that extend for many kilometers,” said Father Joao Sucarrats, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Manaus.

He said parishioners in re-

mote locations only see a priest two to four times a year.

“The presence of laypeople within the Church organization in these parishes is very strong,” said Father Sucarrats. “They conduct celebrations during the weeks the priest is unable to attend their church.”

The chancellor said attempts to bring in priests from other parts of the country are not always successful.

“Priests from other regions have to embrace different cultures found in this region and try to get their message across in many different ways. Sometimes this is difficult for some religious to understand,” he said.

Father Sucarrats said the more active participation of laypeople within the day-to-day workings of the parish causes

tension between the new priest and his parishioners. He said it takes two-three years for priests to adapt to the Amazon’s way of life, and that many who come enthusiastically return home before their first year is up.

Tension between religious and laypeople is also felt in Brazil’s basic ecclesial communities, which combine scriptural reading with everyday issues.

Celia Aparecida Leme, one of the coordinators of base communities in the Sao Paulo Archdiocese, said these grass-roots groups are usually involved in issues such as housing, violence and health and, like other Church groups that deal with social issues, sometimes face opposition from priests and bishops.

“In the center of all our discussions is the word of God. Our social activism is a consequence of the study and reflection of the Scriptures,” she emphasized.

“It is the people of these communities who, through group discussions, find solutions to specific problems and promote change in their neighborhoods,” she said.

Although the Brazil Census Bureau has shown a reduction of Catholics in Brazil, from 91.8 percent of the population in 1970 to 64 percent in 2010, in the latest survey, Catholics still represent the largest religious group in the country, approximately 123 million.

May 31, 2013 The Church in the U.S. Being priest was ‘everything’ to man ordained two days before he died

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MAUMEE, Ohio (CNS) — Ordination “meant everything” to Father Scott R. Carroll.

“His dream was to be ordained a priest.” That’s how the 46-yearold priest was remembered by Father Keith Stripe, pastor of his home parish of St. Joseph.

Father Carroll lost his battle with cancer May 10, just two days after Toledo Bishop Leonard P. Blair ordained him a priest at the family home in Maumee.

“He had been totally prepared and called to be a priest, and I saw no reason not to ordain him, even in his last days,” said Bishop Blair.

“I’m very proud and happy that he should be numbered among the priests of Toledo.”

Father Carroll had hoped to be ordained with his four classmates at Toledo Rosary Cathedral at the end of June, but because of the severity of his illness, it was decided that he should be ordained sooner, said Msgr. Charles Singler, diocesan director of vocations.

His new ordination date was set for May 10 at the cathedral but was moved up to May 8.

Concelebrating the Mass with Bishop Blair were Msgr. Singler, Father Stripe and Father Kishore Kottana, associate pastor of St. Joseph.

The ordination Liturgy was “simply beautiful,” said Father Stripe, describing it as “reminiscent of the early Church, when the church was in the house. It was a very intimate ceremony with the bishop, immediate family and a couple of very close friends.”

The priest’s funeral Mass was celebrated May 14 at Rosary Cathedral. At the end of Mass, Bishop Blair announced the creation of the Father Scott Carroll Fund for Seminarian Education and Formation. The fund was created within the Diocese of Toledo’s Catholic Foundation at the suggestion of Father Carroll’s former classmates from Holy Spirit Seminary.

In an interview with the Catho-

lic Chronicle, Toledo’s diocesan newspaper, Father Stripe described Father Carroll as an “unassuming” person who didn’t want to draw attention to himself, noting that even in his last month of battling cancer he was always concerned about someone else and comforting them.

The priest was first diagnosed and treated for melanoma in the summer of 2011, according to his brother Tim. Last December, he learned the cancer had recurred and spread.

“I will always remember the example Scott gave us,” said Deacon Nathan Bockrath, one of Father Carroll’s classmates. “He was never one to complain about his cancer. In times of suffering, he was a witness.”

Before entering the seminary, he taught social studies for 18 years at Swanton Middle School. He had four master’s degrees, including one in educational administration.

The vocation to priesthood was

“something that never left him,” said his brother Tim Carroll. “It was always something that he was thinking about.”

He eventually decided to take a leave of absence from work for a year to try the seminary. Once he started down that path, “there was no real indecision,” Tim Carroll said. “He was very passionate about it and there was never really a period where he really looked back from there.”

In his profile on the diocesan vocations website, the then-seminarian wrote: “I consider the vocation of priesthood to be the most demanding and rewarding thing that God could ever call me to do.

It is my duty to find out if this is what is meant for me, to represent Jesus by teaching, learning and just being there for people.”

In his homily at Father Carroll’s ordination, Bishop Blair said he related the priest’s suffering to that of Christ.

“We think of the priest in his

ministry in everyday life, but spiritually, the truth is that we are never more priests than when we are hanging with Christ on the cross, because Christ did not offer something outside of Himself to the Father, what He offered was Himself,” he said.

The bishop felt as if he were “in the presence of Christ hanging on the cross” witnessing the priest’s suffering during his ordination.

Msgr. Singler said the most touching moment in the ceremony was when Bishop Blair walked over to the chair where the newlyordained priest was seated, knelt down, removed his miter and asked for his first blessing.

“Scott did it like he’d been doing it all his life,” said Msgr. Singler. “I was like a proud parent, as a vocation director, that this man that I’d had the privilege of walking with and advocating for in the seminary these last three years, was able to come to this point to become a priest.”

Judiciary Committee approval moves immigration bill on to full Senate

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Advocates for comprehensive immigration reform expressed optimism and hope for a law to pass this summer after the Senate Judiciary Committee May 21 finished wading through 300 proposed amendments — accepting about a third of them — and passed the massive bill on to the full Senate.

Comments lauding the committee’s effort came from faith groups, young adults who would benefit from the DREAM Act, which is included in the bill, and even from a Catholic bishop in Ireland.

A statement from the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration May 23 lauded the bill’s progress and encouraged legislators to broaden the potential number of participants in its legalization provisions and to rethink those that would eliminate some categories of family reunification immigration.

Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles said the bishops and their staff had been advocating to change the eligibility cut-off date and make other changes that will allow more people to participate.

“To leave a large population behind would defeat the purpose of the bill, which is to bring persons into the light so they can become full members of our com-

munities,” said his statement.

In the final hours of the fifth day of the bill’s markup, agreements were reached on two areas that threatened to derail the bipartisan alliance that wrote the bill and will be crucial to its passage by the Senate.

One agreement wrangled by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, would expand the number of visas the bill would provide for highly skilled workers. The other was a concession by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the committee, to withhold an amendment he supports that would include same-sex married couples under the provisions for family reunification visas.

The proposed provision would have been a deal-breaker for at least one of the so-called “gang of eight,” the bipartisan group of senators who drafted the bill, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Some of the faith groups that have been active in pushing for comprehensive immigration reform but oppose same-sex marriage, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, also worked to keep the amendment off the bill.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., another of the bill’s authors, said he thought leaving out the provision amounts to “rank discrimination,” but added, “as much as it pains me, I cannot support this

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amendment if it will bring down the bill.”

Leahy read a statement saying that after more than 50 years of Marriage he “cannot fathom how I would feel if my government refused to recognize our union or if the law discriminated against me based on who I fell in love with.”

He said his amendment wouldn’t have changed a single state law — more than 30 prohibit same-sex marriage — and likened those current laws to the era of miscegenation laws, which barred marriage between people of different races.

The federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines Marriage as between a man and a woman, means same-sex spouses currently are not entitled to the immigration benefits that heterosexual spouses may seek. That law is under constitutional review by the Supreme Court, with a ruling expected before the end of this term in late June.

Faced with the prospect that the amendment might mean the end of the whole bill, Leahy said he would withhold it, after having concluded, “it is not the bill I would have drafted and falls short of what I had hoped we could accomplish, but it may well be the best we can do in the present partisan circumstances.”

Archbishop Gomez’s statement on the bill said family reunification “based on the union of a husband and a wife and their children, must remain the cornerstone of our nation’s immigration system.”

The bill will move to the Senate floor for debate probably in

mid-June. A House comprehensive immigration reform bill is reportedly in the works.

Among other provisions, S. 744 incorporates the DREAM Act, without an upper age limit; would offer a 13-year path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who arrived before 2012; would expand the pool of visas for skilled and unskilled workers; dramatically changes the process for adult children or siblings of legal residents to immigrate; and would create a new set of “triggers” for determining that the border is “secure” before parts of the law may be implemented.

Those lauding the bill’s progress included Catholic Bishop John Kirby, chair of the Irish Bishops’ Council for Emigrants, who asked for prayerful support for the success of a bill that he said would “give a path to citizenship for the estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish living in the United States.”

Bishop Kirby, who heads the Diocese of Clonfert, said the legislation would enable Irish emigrants “to realize their dreams and ambitions, to come out of the shadows and to contribute actively as members of their local community. Crucially, it would also be a family-friendly law allowing our emigrants to return home to visit parents and loved ones, especially for important family occasions.”

Archbishop Gomez’s statement said he welcomed amendments that were added to the legislation which would help immigrant children. Those included provisions to set humane condi-

tions standards for the circumstances under which juveniles are detained and a requirement that minors who end up in immigration custody on their own be provided with government-paid legal counsel.

Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, said the Judiciary Committee’s step means “immigration reform took a giant step forward.”

He called it a carefully balanced piece of legislation “that can pass this Congress and work when implemented.”

Cristina Jimenez, managing director of United We Dream, said in a statement that the committee’s vote, 15-3, moves the nation one step closer to a historic victory.

“Immigration reform that creates a real roadmap to citizenship for millions of Americans, ends senseless deportations, and reunites families, is within our sights,” she said.

Evangelicals participating in Pray for Reform: 92 Days of Prayer and Action to Pass Immigration Reform, said they focused their prayers on a bill “with no amendments that would jeopardize chances for final passage,” said a statement. “As reported, the bill meets that description.”

5 The Church in the U.S. Catholic singer-songwriter aims to bring Christ to ‘10,000 places’ May 31, 2013

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Singer-songwriter Audrey Assad seeks to bring a message of Pope Francis about building bridges to the music business.

“Paul is a pontifex, a builder of bridges,” the pope said at a recent Mass. “He doesn’t want to become a builder of walls. This is the attitude of Paul in Athens: Build a bridge to their heart, in order then to take another step and announce Jesus Christ.”

“As a musician, a unique way I live that out, being Catholic in an industry full of evangelicals and Protestants,” Assad said, is to “establish bridges ... (to) be Catholic in the presence of people (who have) never encountered a Catholic before.”

A New Jersey native, Assad grew up in a Christian Plymouth Brethren home and never encountered a Catholic until she was 21.

Then she met a high school student who changed her life.

A Catholic involved in LifeTeen ministries, he knew his faith really well, and he “asked me questions that challenged my faith,” Assad recalled. She said she was already considering entering the Catholic Church because she liked the reverence and the incense, but that his words really challenged her to come to a deeper understanding of her faith.

She became a Catholic in 2007, realizing that the “Sacraments were real and I needed them, and that the only place to really get them was in a Catholic Church,” she told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview.

Both of her parents came to her Confirmation, and she describes them as being supportive of her decision after they had seen her growing in her faith for two years.

Assad, whose mother is musi-

cally inclined, started playing piano at age two. After attending college for a few months, she left and supported her musical career with odd jobs for several years before moving to Nashville, Tenn., at the promising age of 24 with $7,000 she had raised for the venture.

She said she was just putting it all out there and then seeing what happened. She thought, “This is the time. I’m not married. I feel this was obedience” to God’s plan.

“One afternoon me and my roommate ... (were) looking under couches for quarters to go eat at Wendy’s,” she recalled, explaining that she often rolled change because she just wasn’t making enough money to eat.

“I trusted that God will provide and He did over and over,” she told CNS. “I just held on and believed that God had called me to it.”

“All my pride, you know it doesn’t stand a chance against the way you move. You’re tearing up roots and breaking down walls,” she writes in a song titled, “The Way You Move.”

After working at a record company for several years, she spent some time going on tour with Matt Maher, Chris Tomlin, Jars of Clay, Tenth Avenue North, Michael W. Smith and many other Christian artists.

Over time, the now 29-year-old has cut several albums and built a reputation for herself in the music industry. Her husband, William Price III, is her publicist.

A big fan of the teaching and mystical insights of Blessed John Paul II, Assad takes composing lyrics and music of her songs quite seriously.

“I don’t want to just write what I’m feeling,” she said. “Am I feeling desolate, joyful? Now let me read some Scriptures and teachings so

I can write a song that is helpful to people, (and) not just me venting,” she said, describing her music ministry as “pastoral.”

“These songs are true to the teachings of the Church ... with richness of orthodoxy,” she said. At the same time, though, she gives a huge effort to making them artistically beautiful because the “Church deserves my best work,” she said.

“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it,” Flannery O’Connor once said.

O’Connor, a Southern Catholic writer from the 1950s and ‘60s, is one of Assad’s literary favorites. An avid reader, the singer-songwriter is on a mission to encourage people to read and write.

She says her current favorite books are “Anna Karenina” by Tolstoy and anything by Jane Austen.

Asked about a book popular with

young people right now, she commented: “I hate ‘Twilight.’” She was referring to the series of young-adult vampire-romance novels that have been made into a series of movies.

“I don’t have a problem with fantasy. I like zombie shows. I’m not ... against those things, but I think I just don’t like the idea that teenagers are reading things that aren’t challenging to read. ‘Twilight’ sells them short on what their brains are capable of taking,” she said.

Assad draws much of her inspiration for her music from just living life.

“I’ve never been a musician who sits down” and plays a lot because “I have to be in a certain headspace to really feel the desire to do that,” she explained. “I like to read or cook and then if I’m writing, then I’m writing.”

Musically, she is “super-influ-

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (CNS) — The U.S. Supreme Court in the fall will hear oral arguments in a case from upstate New York about the practice of praying at open public meetings.

One of the questions the high court may consider is what steps a municipality should take to ensure the religious diversity of prayers offered at such meetings.

The court announced May 20 that it would hear the case Greece, N.Y., v. Galloway, Susan, et al., a dispute that dates back to 2008. It centers on the constitutionality of prayers at the beginning of town board meetings in Greece, a suburb of Rochester.

According to background on the case filed by attorneys representing the Town of Greece, public prayer has been offered at town board meetings since 1999

by Greece clergy members who

were invited by the town based on lists published by the Greece Chamber of Commerce and by a local newspaper.

The houses of worship located in Greece are predominantly Christian. As a result, a majority of the invocations offered from 1999 to 2010 contained Christian references, according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a nonpartisan, nonsectarian group that is representing plaintiffs Susan Galloway and Linda Stephens, who are Greece residents.

“A town council meeting isn’t a church service, and it shouldn’t seem like one,” said a statement from the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “Government can’t serve everyone in the community when it endorses one faith over others.

That sends the clear message that

some are second-class citizens based on what they believe about religion.”

Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal organization founded in 1994 that advocates for the religious liberty of Americans and people around the world, contends that the town did not regulate the content of the prayers, permitted citizens of any religious tradition — or no tradition — to volunteer to say prayers, and did not discriminate in who was selected as “prayergivers.” Alliance Defending Freedom is representing the Town of Greece on a pro bono basis.

In May 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit struck down the town’s prayer policy and recommended potential changes.

Among those recommendations was that Greece should in-

vite non-Christians from outside the town’s borders to pray at its town meetings and take steps to ensure that the prayers said were nonsectarian.

Alliance Defending Freedom asked the Supreme Court in December 2012 to review the case, noting that in the 1983 case Marsh v. Chambers the court had affirmed the constitutionality of prayers offered according to the conscience of the speaker before public meetings.

“Americans today should be as free as the Founders were to pray,” said a statement from David Cortman, the alliance’s senior counsel. “The Founders prayed while drafting our Constitution’s Bill of Rights, and the Supreme Court has ruled that public prayer is part of the ‘history and tradition of this country.’ America continues this cherished practice.”

BUILDING BRIDGES — Singer-songwriter Audrey Assad describes her musical efforts as “pastoral,” bringing a Catholic presence to the world of Christian music. (CNS photo/Ellie Arciaga, courtesy of Audrey Assad)

Court to hear case on constitutionality of prayers at public meetings

enced” by Paul Simon.

“He’s just not selfish about performing. He sees it as an exchange between himself and the audience,” she said. “When I go to a place and sing, that is an experience we’re all having together,” she added, explaining that her concerts are not the same every night.

Among her other inspirations is the English poet-priest Jesuit Father Gerard Manley Hopkins (18441889). “For Christ plays in 10,000 places,” the priest once wrote in his poem “As Kingfishers Catch Fire.”

“To the Father through the features of men’s faces,” he said. That inspired Assad to write the song “For Love of You”: “You live in a million places.

Your fingerprints can be seen on a million faces. There is a trace of You in every hallelujah. Every song that I sing.”

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

6

The Anchor Is the door open?

Today (Friday) the Church celebrates the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth. Upon hearing Mary call out to Elizabeth, the unborn John the Baptist, growing in Elizabeth’s womb, leapt for joy, knowing that His Savior was being carried into his parents’ home in the womb of the Blessed Mother. Mary, who had become the world’s first tabernacle a few days beforehand (after she gave her “yes” to God’s plan at the Annunciation), in a way brought Jesus on a procession through the hill country of Judea in her mission of charity to help her cousin in the final three months of her pregnancy.

This Sunday we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi, in which we thank God for giving us the gift of the Eucharist, of Christ’s continuing physical and spiritual presence amongst us. The more we believe that Jesus is with us at Mass and in the Blessed Sacrament at all times, the more likely we are to (at least spiritually) jump for joy that He is here to love us, help us, challenge us, accompany us.

We often take for granted this great gift. As Father Landry describes to the right of this editorial, we get more excited about some extraordinary things (such as seeing the pope), while forgetting about the most extraordinary thing — that God has made Himself our food, that God is available for us to go and visit in every Catholic church everyday.

Sometimes we remember this reality, but then our attitudes make it difficult for other people to come to know of Jesus’ loving Presence amongst us. Pope Francis has discussed this topic a number of times, including last Saturday, May 25, in his homily at morning Mass. Vatican Radio summarized his message as being: “Those who approach the Church should find the doors open and not find people who want to control the faith.”

The holy father spoke about that day’s Gospel (Mk 10:13-16) in which Jesus rebuked the Apostles for not letting children approach Him. He then quoted Jesus’ evaluation of the children and people like them, “the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

He then discussed examples of how people with a simple faith often have a much more profound understanding of God and Mary than people with many academic degrees. “If you want to know who Mary is go to the theologian and he will tell you exactly who Mary is. But if you want to know how to love Mary, go to the people of God who teach it better.”

The pope then spoke about how people can be insistent in approaching the Church — be it for a blessing or a wedding or a Baptism — and he criticized us for negative reactions to this. He described the dogged pursuit of these and other things by laypeople as “the insistence of those who believe ... That is the faith that we always look for, this is the faith that brings the Holy Spirit. We must facilitate it, make it grow, help it grow.”

Instead of facilitating growth, sometimes we are more concerned with “protocol,” Pope Francis said, than with helping someone mature their faith.

He then spoke about people who approach a parish secretary (although the same story could be true for people approaching a priest, deacon, housekeeper or other Church employee). He described a couple who were “good Christians, with good will,” and who say to the secretary, “‘We want to get married.’ And instead of saying, ‘That’s great!’ They [secretaries] say, ‘Oh, well, have a seat. If you want the Mass, it costs a lot.’ Instead of receiving a good welcome, instead they get this response: ‘Do you have the certificate of Baptism?’ And they find a closed door. When this Christian and that Christian [the Church employees] have the ability to open a door, thanking God for this fact of a new Marriage, [instead] we are many times controllers of faith, instead of becoming facilitators of the faith of the people.”

The pope said that we are tempted to “try and take possession of the Lord,” one which has existed from the time of the earthly life of Jesus (when the Apostles thought of themselves as the gate-keepers) until now.

In another example, the holy father suggested, “Think about a single mother who goes to church, in the parish and to the secretary she says, ‘I want my child baptized.’ And then this Christian [the secretary] says: ‘No, you cannot because you’re not married!’ But look, this girl who had the courage to carry her pregnancy and not to return her son to the Sender, what is it [that she faces in the parish]? A closed door! This is not zeal! It is far from the Lord! It does not open doors! And so when we ... have this attitude, we do not do good to people.”

The pope described this way in which we act sometimes as an “eighth sacrament,” not invented by Jesus, “the sacrament of pastoral customs!” And it’s not one that Jesus is pleased about seeing our ingenuity. “Jesus is indignant when He sees these things [because those who suffer are] ... His faithful people, the people that He loves so much” “So we ask the Lord that all those who come to the Church find the doors open, find the doors open, open to meet this love of Jesus. We ask this grace.” This is a grace which Mary and Elizabeth shared. They were not closed in on themselves, but were open to letting the love of God change their lives in radical ways, even though it meant tremendous inconveniences for them.

St. John the Baptist, when he grew up, also lived out this admonition of Jesus to let people approach him. Jesus and John were clear about their teachings, but they also delivered these teachings in a way which conveyed true love for their listeners. The questions that parish secretaries have to ask (to which the pope referred last Saturday) are not irrelevant ones. They are things which are important and which have to be ascertained, but first we need to convey to people who approach the Church that they are loved, that whatever it is that is bringing them to our door is an opportunity for grace to help them grow in the love of God. The sinners who came to John the Baptist could feel this message, while the self-righteous, who had already rejected these folks, could not (because they were not open to it).

As we adore Our Lord this weekend in the great gift of the Eucharist, may we also give thanks for the people, created in the image and likeness of God, who approach the Church.

Often times these encounters are not easy — we don’t instinctually rejoice upon hearing them ring the doorbell as the unborn John did hearing Mary’s voice — but it is Christ Who comes. “Whatsover you did to the least of My brothers, you did unto Me.”

O

May 31, 2013

Christ and His Vicar

ne of the greatest learning experiences of ment actually belong to St. Peter. my life was to study for three years with The reason why I believe so many adults the papal Latinist, Father Reginald Foster, during would break into tears, I said, is because they inmy studies in Rome. A Carmelite from Milwautuit that if the tomb and bones at which they were kee, he was a pedagogical genius who was as looking really belonged to Simon Peter of Galilee, eccentric as they come. then that would mean that he really existed, and I think he sought to prophesy against the if he existed, then his remains and tomb would hypocrisy of externalism in the Church, probmean that Jesus likewise existed. The bones and ably dating from his time as a young religious monument were an indication that the Christian when one could be permanently booted from the faith that perhaps they had taken somewhat for seminary or novitiate for taking a cigarette puff or granted wasn’t a morality fable but true. And that reading the Bible with a flashlight under the covvalidation would lead to their rediscovering the ers after lights were supposed to be out. faith they once had, or discovering a faith they He would often say and do outrageous things never had. to make a point.

One of the reasons that faithful Catholics go Instead of his Carmelite habit, he would wear nuts in the presence of the pope, I suggested, is a blue jumpsuit that made him appear like a not because of his celebrity status but because garage mechanic, because he really didn’t think they recognize in his presence a direct link to the clothes one wore mattered as much as being Peter and through Peter to Jesus. simply vested.

He paused for a few seconds to consider the He would claim occasionally to celebrate argument. He conceded that it could explain the Mass early in the morning in his underwear in his behavior of some but never one to want to lose a monastic cell — rather than in priestly vestments debate, he said in his opinion the majority treat the in a chapel — to highlight that the most important pope as a rock star more than as a successor of the part of the celebration of the Mass was prayerful rock on whom Jesus had built His Church. unity with Christ rather than one’s apparel. We He then exclaimed that, no matter what the were never sure if he was telling the truth, but no reasons are that get people to hail the pope, it one ever asked to serve his daily Masses! doesn’t alter his main point that there should be He would say more enthusiasm shockingly irfor Jesus Himself reverent things in than for one of the classroom — His ambassadors. about the Church, He then the Gregorian looked at me and University where added, somewhat he was teaching, triumphantly with the Carmelite ora grin, “Quid

By Father der, various coundicis?,”for “What Roger J. Landry tries — to startle do you say to his students that?” to go beyond I smiled appearances, common wisdom and nonchalant back — and not one who likes to lose a friendly acceptance of the status quo. parley either — said, “Well, Father Foster, there’s Once he fulminated about how much he never any shame in losing an argument to you, “hated” going to papal events in St. Peter’s especially when in order to win, you need to take Basilica. Such an iconic declaration caught, as he the bushel basket off of your Eucharistic piety and knew it would, all his students’ attention — not love for the Lord Jesus!” only priests, seminarians and religious but also the His round face reddened with embarrassmany non-Catholics who would come to study ment at having had his carefully concealed faith with the best Latinist in the world. exposed before all his students. He couldn’t hold The reason he loathed papal Liturgies, he back a smile, however, when everyone started declared, was because as soon as the pope entered laughing at the true Father Foster. the basilica, everyone would lose their minds I thought of this conversation with the one we screaming “Viva il Papa!,” climbing over people affectionately called “magister noster” after the to take pictures, giving their infants to total extraordinary Pentecost vigil of prayer that Pope strangers in the hope that the pope might embrace Francis held in St. Peter’s Square with members them, and behaving in such a way that if they of the new movements raised up by the Holy comported themselves like that at any other Mass, Spirit. they would immediately have been visited by a During his 38-minute homily, after stressing team of ushers. that Jesus is the center of our faith, Pope Francis “But,” Father Foster thundered, “nobody goes said, “I would like to take the opportunity now into a frenzy for the presence of Jesus Christ! to make a small, but fraternal, correction, among No one shouts, ‘Viva, Gesù Cristo!’ They’re all ourselves, alright? All of you in the square have focused on the pope coming down the main aisle shouted out: ‘Francis, Francis, Pope Francis,’ ... while ignoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament but, where was Jesus? I want to hear you shout chapel. Vast crowds come to acclaim the pope but out. ‘Jesus, Jesus is Lord, and He is in our midst.’ no one goes to acclaim Jesus. How much sense From now on, no more ‘Francis,’ only ‘Jesus.’ does that make?”

Alright?”

When I heard him say this for the first time, And as he was leaving St. Peter’s Square, I recognized that he was making a valid point, that’s precisely what the crowd of 200,000 did. such that at many papal Liturgies and events there Instead of hailing the pope, they cried out, “Jesus seemed to be more enthusiasm for the pope than is Lord,” “Praised be Jesus Christ!,” and “Viva for God. Gesù Cristo!”

When he said it a second time — he would in Father Foster, who has since returned to Milfact make the point routinely— I engaged him in waukee to deal with various health issues, must conversation because I thought he was missing have been smiling. the fundamental motivation for why people cheer Pope Francis’ words and Father Foster’s obthe pope. He always relished these give-and-takes jections give us all something to think about as we with students, especially in Latin. approach Sunday’s feast of Corpus Christi.

I asked him whether he thought that the If Pope Francis were coming to downtown crowds did this because they liked to cheer Poles New Bedford on Sunday to walk through the in general. “Of course not!,” he replied. streets, the whole city would be mobbed with How about because they liked figures dressed Catholics. Probably everyone reading this column in all-white cassocks? “Stultus,” he retorted, would want to be there. “crazy.”

While Francis won’t be there on Sunday, Because the masses have read John Paul II’s Christ will be, as He traverses the streets in Euphenomenological personalism and just couldn’t charistic procession. Will we be there with even restrain themselves? He smiled and asked me more enthusiasm than for His vicar? what my point was.

Likewise, if we knew that the pope would be “Do you think it’s possible that they’re cheerin our parish Church one work day this week, ing for the pope because of faith in Jesus rather most of us would absolutely rearrange our than instead of faith in Jesus?,” I asked. He looked schedules to be there. Each of the days this week, at me quizzically. however, Jesus is coming, to be with us at daily I told him of my experience as a guide to St. Mass and in Eucharistic adoration.

Peter’s tomb, that after a 90-minute visit about If we’d be there for the pope, how much more half of the pilgrims would get deeply emotional should we be there for his Boss? when I would describe the history of the altars Father Landry is Pastor of St. Bernadette being built over the fisherman’s grave or made the Parish in Fall River. His email address is case that the bones discovered within the monufatherlandry@catholicpreaching.com.

Putting Into the Deep

May 31, 2013

7

The Anchor

Vatican organizing worldwide, simultaneous Eucharistic adoration

VATICAN CITY (CNS/ CNA/EWTN News) — Vatican officials are making strategic phone calls to some of the world’s most far-flung dioceses, trying to verify that in each of the world’s inhabited time zones there will be an organized hour of Eucharistic adoration coinciding with 5-6 p.m. Rome time June 2.

The Vatican is trying to organize a global hour of prayer around the Eucharist “for the first time in the history of the Church,” said Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, the office organizing events for the Year of Faith.

Pope Francis will preside over adoration and Benediction in St. Peter’s Basilica beginning at 5 p.m. June 2, the date most dioceses in the world celebrate the feast of the Body and Blood of the Lord.

To celebrate at the same time as the pope, Catholics in Mumbai would begin at 8:30 p.m., those in New York would begin at 11 a.m., in Seattle at 8 a.m., in Honolulu at

A

lthough Time magazine devoted a recent cover piece to the narcissistic self-absorption of the “millennials,” the article was greeted with a shrug by many readers who believe it’s merely the perennial complaint made about young adults. While older people have always had some measure of disdain for the usual defects attached to immaturity, the children who are presently coming of age are suffering from a moral free-fall that does make their generation unique.

The standard task given to young people is to sift through the inherited wisdom, social customs, and cultural conventions in order to decide how to calibrate their own moral compasses, and yet we would be hard-pressed to find another era in which so little was passed on in each of these categories.

Between kindergarten’s cozy mantra, “Believe in yourself!” and high school’s admonition to “Reach for the stars!” our young people have been nourished with a broad tolerance of all things — ex-

5 a.m. and at 1 a.m. June 3 in Sydney.

In at least two time zones — Greenwich Mean Time minus 10 hours and GMT minus 2 hours — there is little hope for participation, the archbishop said; both time zones cover vast areas of uninhabited ocean.

Archbishop Fisichella said the worldwide adoration would “witness to the profound piety found in the Church for the Eucharist,” the mystery of the real presence of Christ’s Body and Blood, which unites and nourishes all Catholics.

While dioceses are free to organize the hour of prayer and adoration as they please, he said Pope Francis has chosen a specific prayer intention for each half hour of the service.

The first, Archbishop Fisichella said, will be for the Church and its mission of mercy; the second for the needs of those who suffer, including victims of war, the unemployed, the sick, immigrants and prisoners.

The Catholic world will be

united with Pope Francis on the feast of Corpus Christi as he leads this “historic” hour of simultaneous Eucharistic adoration.

“Even some islands in the middle of the ocean … at two in the morning — they don’t have electricity — but even with that they will be in communion with us and Pope Francis for one hour,” Archbishop Fisichella said as he explained the intense reaction he is seeing to the June 2 event.

“I am proud to say that this is a historical moment for the history of the Church because for one hour all the churches in the world will be united. …

We are united because the Eucharist makes us all one body and one spirit, so we enter into the deepest meaning of the Eucharist,” the archbishop told CNA in an interview.

Archbishop Fisichella said that the strong response to the event did not surprise him because he has seen “an increasing number of people engaged in adoration” in recent years.

The gathering will be an hour of simultaneous adora-

tion for the feast of Corpus Christi, which Pope Francis will begin in St. Peter’s Basilica at 5 p.m. Rome time.

As of May 28, the New Evangelization council had received responses from hundreds of dioceses worldwide, including all of those in Vietnam and South Korea.

The list is a virtual tour of the globe, stretching from Reykjavik, Iceland in the north, to dioceses in South Africa, Chile and New Zealand in the south.

Christ will also be adored in the Eucharist in the Cook Islands, Samoa, Honolulu, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Guam.

Other countries with a large number of parishes or dioceses participating are: the United States with 243, India with 163, Brazil with 56, and Italy with 50.

While Pope Francis will pray in Italian and Latin, the worldwide Holy Hours will be conducted in the local language.

The New Evangelization council has posted the program that will be used in

Negotiating the chaos

cept for the “confining” notion ing guidance are given stones that truth exists. instead of bread. “Believe in Between one’s nascent self yourself!” is a supreme chaland those distant stars, the lenge to those in an existential unfolding drama of each life crisis. is to distinguish principles and Several decades ago, public boundaries, beginning with schools exchanged virtues for identity. Unfortunately, because of the current fragility and redefinition of family, and since motherhood and fatherhood are increasingly marginalized, the foundational identity

By Genevieve Kineke of many youngsters is deeply unsettled. With homosexual themes pervading the media, “gender values, and vice was repackbending” activities being intro- aged as individuality. The duced in elementary schools, wider culture, conflicted over and traditional Marriage under authority, often shrinks from attack, the normal touchstones making even the most prudenthat children have relied on are tial judgements. vanishing.

Whereas the coming of age Is it any wonder that young process includes testing existpeople are bewildered when, in ing strictures in order to find all seriousness, adults ask them room to manoeuvre, presently how they understand their those very strictures are dissexual identity? Children — integrating. What will young many of whose pathologies are people do when there are no a cri de coeur — receive a pat categories left to reject, when on the head (or a condom when there are no remaining barriers they’re older), while those to beat down, and when when desperately in need of loveven his “whatever” is lost on

The Feminine Genius

the neighbor absorbed in his own screen?

Once upon a time, sexual identity was a given, social norms were reasonably fixed, and a child’s place in the universe was understood — even if not terribly secure.

Now that most conventions have crumbled, each person has to create his own earth and sky, his own universe and natural law. Nothing can be taken for granted, for even personhood is no longer sacrosanct.

Is it any wonder that our young people are tattooing their identity in all possible venues to establish themselves amidst a chaotic and distracted world?

The new Cartesian twist seems to be, “I Facebook, therefore I am.” Social media — tedious as it is — is like the heartbeat of the fetus; if each thought isn’t amplified and shared, the youngsters run the risk of being ignored as non-persons.

Contrary to the prevailing fear, our recognition of truth — rather than suffocating society — would free each person

Rome on its website and will soon make it available there in six languages.

The Year of Faith will be celebrated with another weekend event dedicated to Pope John Paul II’s encyclical “Evangelium Vitae” (The Gospel of Life), which take place in Rome June 15-16.

Pilgrims will be coming from all over the world and will be able to make a pilgrimage to St. Peter’s tomb, take part in a teaching session with different cardinals or archbishops depending on their language, hold a silent candlelight march to St. Peter’s Square and attend Mass with Pope Francis.

English-speaking participants will receive catechesis from Cardinal Raymond Burke at the Pontifical Urban College, and attend a panel discussion with Professor Francis Beckwith from Baylor University and Robert Royal of the Faith and Reason Institute.

For further information on the Year of Faith events and to register for them, visit: www.annusfidei.va.

to live a life of love and meaning. Instead of groping blindly to define himself and the world according to his limited experiences and impaired sense of reason, he could spend his energy in less self-absorbed ways. Only when taught to believe in the reality beyond himself — with a concrete measure of good and evil — can he lift himself beyond his shallow horizon and discover why he is here.

We should have patience with these young people who seem so absorbed in finding ways to illustrate every mundane detail of their existence.

Few have been introduced to the God Who cares, or a culture that cherishes them for themselves. Imagine how exhausting it must be to recreate the wheel each morning because one cannot perceive the Grand Architect behind it all.

Prepare a smile for them, for between the tweets and texts there may be a time for truth.

Mrs. Kineke’s newest book, “On the Dignity and Vocation of Women: Anniversary Edition,” will be available for study groups this fall.

8

I

n recent weeks our Church has been blessed to celebrate the great feasts of the Ascension and Pentecost. We gave thanks that Jesus did ascend back to the Father, “not to abandon us” but that the Holy Spirit might come to dwell within us.

Pentecost hopefully has assisted us in realizing all the more the magnificent “things of God” that can be accomplished by our allowing those spiritual gifts to lead and guide us in our decisions each day.

Prior to the Ascension and the first Pentecost, Christ took great care to remind people of every generation that He has not and will not abandon us while we live on this earth. As we hear from St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians at today’s Mass: “I received from the Lord ... that the Lord Jesus, on the night He was handed over, took bread, and, after He had given thanks, broke it and said, ‘This is My Body that is for you. Do this in remem-

May 31, 2013

The Anchor

The Body of Christ

brance of Me.’ In the same way to bring His Good News of hope also the cup, after supper, saying, to people in our lives.

‘This cup is the new covenant in Our Gospel today is revealMy Blood. Do this, as often as ing of this command. When the you drink it, in remembrance of Apostles encourage the Lord to Me.’” In giving us His Sacred Body and Blood, Christ reassures us of Homily of the Week His love for us even as Corpus Christi He calls on us to be the Sunday bearers of that love to our brothers and sisters.

By Father When we are asked Jay T. Maddock to “remember” Jesus, it’s not an intellectual exercise recalling someone who lived on earth years “dismiss the crowd” so they can ago. Rather, we must make this go and find something to eat, “remembrance” something that He tells them “Give them some is alive and present in us today. food yourselves.” We know When we dare approach the then that the 5,000 were fed to Lord’s table on earth to (hopesatisfaction by the five loaves fully) receive in a worthy manner and two fish, with much left over. “the Bread of Life,” it is imperaThis is what Christ, in the Holy tive for us to remember Jesus’ Eucharist, is able to do for each desire that we not keep His love of us. Our spiritual hunger is to ourselves, but rather follow satisfied by our worthy reception the command He gave to His of Holy Communion and we are disciples and to all the Baptized strengthened or “graced” by this

“Bread of Life” to feed and assist in other ways our brothers and sisters who hunger so much in this world.

In celebrating this great feast of Corpus Christi, we are given the opportunity to reflect on the sacrificial love the Lord offers each of us on a daily basis. The truth we see in the Eucharist is the example of pure love, total giving of self to another. Christ’s total giving of self is for all of us. We have only to choose to accept what He offers and use His strength to help us carry out His will.

We remember today the opportunity the Lord gives us to be nourished by Him, some on a daily basis, others certainly on the Lord’s Day and on Holy Days. Many who are ill and not able to leave where they live to participate in the celebration of Mass are given a great gift of

being able to watch Mass on television and make a spiritual Communion at that time. We pray that all who claim to be disciples of the Lord will grab hold of these opportunities with great fervor realizing the great good that can come about when we are filled with the unlimited love of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

Think of the healing that can come about for ourselves and others when we faithfully receive the Body and Blood of the One Who desires to heal all of our spiritual woes. Think of the strength you will have from Him to be an integral part of His mission to bring hope to all people.

Yes, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” Friends, through our worthy reception and great love of the Holy Eucharist, may these great words of hope be ours now and always.

Father Maddock is pastor of Holy Name Parish in Fall River.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. June 1, Sir 51:12cd-20; Ps 19:8-11; Mk 11:27-33. Sun. June 2, Feast of Corpus Christi, Gn 14:18-20; Ps 110:1-4; Cor 11:23-26; Lk 9:11b-17. Mon. June 3, Tb 1:1, 3, 2:1a-8; Ps 112:1-6; Mk 12:1-12. Tues. June 4, Tb 2:9-14; Ps 112:1-2, 7-9; Mk 12:13-17. Wed. June 5, Tb 3:1-11a, 16-17a; Ps 25:2-9; Mk 12:18-27. Thurs. June 6, Tb 6:10-11, 7:1bcde, 9-17, 8:4-9a; Ps 128:1-5; Mk 12:28-34. Fri. June 7, The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Ez 34:11-16; Ps 23:1-6; Rom 5:5b-11; Lk 15:3-7.

D

espite his humble origins as a baker’s son from Trastevere, Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, longtime curial head of the Holy Office (“successor to the Inquisition,” in journalese) and scourge of the Nouvelle Theologie of the 1950s, was a formidable figure in pre-conciliar Catholicism.

Ottaviani’s approach to theology was neatly summarized in the Latin motto of his cardinalatial coat of arms, Semper Idem (Always the Same), and his fierce defense of what he understood to be orthodoxy made him a not-implausible model for the character of Cardinal Leone in Morris West’s novel, “The Shoes of the Fisherman.”

Despite the caricatures of the world press, Ottaviani was no monster; indeed, he was reputed to be a man of considerable personal charm. Nor was he a dyed-in-the-wool conservative politically; he wanted the council to condemn all forms of modern war, another cause in which Ottaviani (whose Vatican II batting average did not rise above the Mendoza Line) failed.

But perhaps his greatest defeat at the council came on the question of Church-and-state.

For before and during the Vatican II years, Cardinal Ottaviani

The last laugh of Alfredo Ottaviani

stoutly, and, ultimately, futilely, much alive — and precisely in resisted the development of those quarters where religious doctrine that led the world’s indifference has indeed led to bishops to approve the counintolerance of religious conviccil’s Declaration on Religious tion.

Freedom.

As a legal scholar considering the future of society, Ottaviani’s fear was that religious freedom would result in religious indifference and then to a

By George Weigel collapse of religious conviction, which would in turn lead to state hostility toward religious When a Canadian evangelibelievers and religious institucal pastor is levied a significant tions. fine for preaching Biblical His theological argument truth about men, women, and against religious freedom, wide- the nature of Marriage in his ly held in the Roman universichurch, or when a Polish priest ties of the day, rested on the and magazine editor is punproposition that “error has no ished with even stiffer fines by rights.” The council’s response a European human rights court to that claim was that persons and a Polish court for accurately have rights, whether their relidescribing in print what an aborgious opinions be erroneous or tion does, the forces of coercive not, and that, in any event, states political correctness (embodied lack theological competence. in the gay insurgency and the Alfredo Ottaviani lost virtuglobal campaign for “reproducally every one of the battles he tive health”) are using state fought at Vatican II, but from power to nail down the notion his present, post-mortem posithat “error has no rights.” tion he may be enjoying a last When the present U.S. laugh (if of a subdued, even administration attempts to sorrowful, sort). For the notion overturn decades of equal that “error has no rights” is very employment opportunity law by

The Catholic Difference

attacking the legal exemption that allows religious bodies to choose their religious leadership according to their own criteria, the same dynamic is at work.

And that mantra — “Error has no rights!”

— will, inevitably, be used to punish religious bodies that do not recognize any such thing as samesex “marriage” — by taking away their tax-exempt status, denying their ministers the legal capacity to act as witnesses of Marriage under civil law, or both.

An idea long associated with the farther reaches of Catholic traditionalism has thus migrated to the opposite end of the political spectrum, where it’s become a rallying point for the lifestyle left. There are many reasons why Kathleen Sebelius, the HHS secretary responsible for the coervice contraceptive/abortifacient/ sterilization mandate currently being fought by the seriously Catholic elements of American Catholicism, is ill-cast in the role of Ottaviani redivivus.

But in the oddities of history, that’s what’s happened. The Catholic Church in the United

States, which did more than any other local church at Vatican II to disentangle the Universal Church from the notion that, in the civil order, “error has no rights,” is now being hardpressed by aggressive secularist forces arrayed under that banner.

There are many ironies in the fire.

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

To advertise in

The Anchor, contact

Wayne Powers at

508-675-7151 or Email waynepowers@ anchornews.org

9

The Anchor

May 31, 2013

Catholic college graduates urged to go out and change the world

WASHINGTON (CNS) — At Catholic college and university graduations across the United States this May, the graduates were urged to make a difference in today’s world, equipped with tools and experience from their college years.

At the University of Notre Dame’s May 19 graduation, New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, urged graduates to look upon their future endeavors with a broad view recognizing that “here our goal is not just a career, but a call; not just a degree, but discipleship; not just what we’ve gotten, but what we’re giving; not just the now, but eternity; not just the ‘I,’ but the ‘we’; not just the grades, but the Gospel.”

The cardinal, who received an honorary doctor of laws degree at the ceremony, called the 2,078 students receiving undergraduate degrees his “new classmates.” He urged them to recognize that the “secret of Notre Dame” isn’t its library, the professors, courses, the campus, the football team or service projects but the presence of Mary, the university’s namesake.

“You, the class of 2013, have sensed Mary’s maternal presence,” he said, stressing that their job now is to respond as Mary did in saying: “Let it be done to me according to Thy will.”

At the Notre Dame ceremony, Providence Sister Susanne Gallagher, Sister Mary Therese Harrington, a Sister of the Society of Helpers, and Father James McCarthy, a priest from the Chicago Archdiocese, received the university’s 2013 Laetare Medal for founding the Special Religious Education Development Network. Known as SPRED, the organization works with parents, special educators and catechist volunteers of several parishes to make Catholic Liturgies and catechesis more accessible to children and adult parishioners with developmental disabilities.

“May you be surprised by joy as you undertake your life’s work,” Father McCarthy told the graduates. “May you go beyond your comfort zone to help those in need.”

At Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md., May 12, Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori advised the graduates to be conscious of each moment in life and build character through habits of virtue, not vice.

“Your education at Mount St. Mary’s has given you the tools to be men and women of virtuous character, so as to inherit everlasting life,” he said. “But whether and how we use those tools is, of course, up to you.”

He also urged them to find their identity in Christ.

“If you want to know who you are and who you can become, follow Jesus,” he said. “If you want to know what real virtue is, follow Him.” At the May 18 graduation at The Catholic University of America in Washington, Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and professor of poetry and public culture at the University of Southern California, spoke of the importance of a Catholic education.

He said the hard work and love of the religious Sisters, priests and brothers who taught at the Catholic schools he attended prepared him for successes in life.

Gioia, who received an honorary doctorate of fine arts during the ceremony, praised his former teachers for always linking academics to “the things of the spirit,” which he said enabled him to develop “a Catholic sense of life as a purposeful journey.”

At the May 19 graduation at Marquette University in Milwaukee, comedian Bill Cosby urged the graduates to always rely on the values they learned at the Jesuit university: respect, integrity and a responsibility to serve others.

Cosby, who received an honorary doctor of letters from Marquette, encouraged graduates to strive to help others and always keep their integrity.

He also reminded students to thank their parents and relatives who “got all dressed up” for the graduation ceremonies.

Marquette also presented

Pomp and circumstance — Graduates applaud as comedian Bill Cosby gives the commencement address to the class of 2013 at Marquette University in Milwaukee May 19. Cosby urged the graduates to rely on the values they learned at the Jesuit university — respect, integrity and a responsibility to serve others. (CNS photo/courtesy Marquette University)

Mercy Sister Rosemary Connelly with an honorary doctorate of humane letters. She is executive director of Misericordia Heart of Mercy, a service organization in Chicago that supports people with developmental disabilities.

This year’s college commencement season did not have its usual set of controversies concerning speakers although it was not completely free of disputes.

Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley decided not to attend Boston College’s May 20 commencement ceremonies this year because the college planned to honor Prime Minister Enda Kenny, of Ireland who has supported a bill to introduce legalized abortion in that country.

“I am sure that the invitation was made in good faith, long before it came to the attention of the leadership of Boston College that Mr. Kenny is aggressively promoting abortion legislation,”

the cardinal said in a May 10 statement.

Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn responded with a statement that said the university invited the prime minister in recognition of its close relationship with Ireland.

He also said that Kenny “has encouraged individuals to read the proposed bill and his position statement, which reaffirms the constitutional prohibition on abortion in Ireland and attempts to clarify and regulate Ireland’s response to the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights.”

Cardinal O’Malley gave the commencement address May 11 at Regis College in Weston, and received an honorary doctor of laws degree from the school.

The announcement that Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., would deliver the commencement speech May 11 at Benedictine College in Atchinson, Kan., was initially met with opposition by students,

faculty and alumni who said the Catholic congressman’s proposed budget cuts did not go along with Catholic social teachings.

In his address to about 350 graduates, Ryan mixed a little politics with his advice to graduates, telling them that if society continues to “believe that the war on poverty is primarily a government responsibility, then we will continue to weaken our communities. We will drift further apart as people.”

He also urged the students to keep searching and questioning.

He said they were “off to a great start” and wished them continued success as they find their path.

“And whether you walk on the left side of the street or the right, whether you walk the straight and narrow — or you take the scenic route — I hope you will always walk with God,” he added.

10

The Anchor

May 31, 2013

Faith and family key to student-athlete’s success

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff FALL RIVER — Even though he had passed away just days before, Tommy Keyes sensed his beloved grandfather, Ed Keyes, was with him during the decisive game against Lynnfield that ended in a 65-62 victory and secured Bishop Connolly High School’s first-ever state basketball title.

During that March 12 Division IV championship bout at the TD Garden in Boston, Keyes wore sneakers with the words “Rest Easy” written across the back — a small but humble tribute to his late grandfather.

“I know he was there with me,” said Keyes.

It’s clear after talking for just a few moments with the soft-spoken teen-ager that two of the things he values most are his faith and his family.

“I believe what helped me through my roughest times was my relationship with God,” Keyes told The Anchor. “When things get tough God is the first Person I turn to and He’s always been there for me.”

For Keyes, even the occasional obstacles in life are part of God’s Divine plan — a way to “make you a stronger and better person,” he said.

Given his familial history in” with the Connolly crowd. when needed. It was the same and lifelong connections to “They have more of a one- in public schools but here I felt Bishop Connolly, it’s not sur- on-one relationship with you,” the teachers and students were prising that this driven closer. They seem to understudent-athlete would one stand the students better.” day bring a state title to Besides offering plenty the diocesan high school. of academic and athletic His grandmother, Mary options, Connolly also Jane Keyes, worked as a helped to nurture Keyes’ physical education teacher burgeoning sense of faith. and was former athletic di“I started getting inrector at Connolly and his volved in campus minisdad, also named Ed, coached try,” Keyes said. “I had the girls and JV boys’ basBrother Walter for my first ketball teams at the school. religion class and that was “I’ve been here since one of my favorite classes.”

I was little,” Keyes said.

As a lifelong parishioner “So it means even more of Sacred Heart Parish in to me to win it for them.”

Fall River, Keyes had been Oddly enough, having an altar server since second attended public schools for grade — a task he did so most of his life, when it came well that his pastor, Father time to settle on a Catholic Raymond Cambra, eventuhigh school Keyes origially invited him to become nally considered Bishop an extraordinary minisStang in North Dartmouth. ter of Holy Communion.

“But Bishop Connolly “It’s very special,” Keyes was always at the back of said of being a Eucharistic my mind, because my grandminister. “You know while mother worked here and my you’re doing it it’s very dad was a coach here, so I meaningful to everyone — always thought about it,” he Anchor Living Stone — Tommy yourself, the person you’re said, adding: “And this felt Keyes. giving Communion to — more like a home to me.” so you really feel blessed.”

Being a somewhat smaller he said. “They talk more to Keyes exerts that same and tight-knit school, Keyes you and they’re more will- calm demeanor in everything immediately felt like he “fit ing to reach out and help you he does — from church to classroom to basketball court.

“I’ve seen Tommy take students aside and use his calming influence to help them,” said Anthony Ciampanelli, director of admissions and internal relations at Bishop Connolly. “They respect him and he leads by example. Even after all those wins, they were happy but they didn’t get obnoxious about winning either. They worked hard for it and they deserved to win, but they didn’t brag about it. I was amazed that they were still the same guys — they didn’t change.”

Keyes, in turn, credits his teammates for making it easy to succeed.

“From day one, everyone

was working together,” he said.

“I was lucky to have such great teammates. We always tried to stay positive, no matter what was happening. I think you always need to be there for your teammates — and help them when they’re in trouble. And when they do well, you’ve got to encourage them to keep doing a good job.”

When asked if his faith played any role in the big win, Keyes shrugs it off.

“There were a couple of times prior to a game that I’d say a prayer, but it wasn’t always a pre-game ritual,” he said. “During a game I don’t really pray.

But I will stop after the game and say a prayer of thanks.”

The one noteworthy exception, he added, was when the entire team prayed together in the cafeteria right before they boarded the bus to go to the TD Garden in Boston and win the championship.

“It’s been a dream to win the basketball championship since I was little,” Keyes said. “I never thought it would come true.”

Ciampanelli said Keyes has been active with charities and fund-raisers outside the school as well — from participation in the PanMass Challenge to the annual Relay for Life.

“My grandmother on my mom’s side passed away of lymphoma, and my uncle on my mom’s side also died from brain cancer, so I’ve always tried to do things to support them,” Keyes said.

In the fall, Keyes will be attending Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I., where he plans to study to become an English teacher … and where he’ll be playing basketball for yet another Catholic school.

“Now my mom can come to the games,” he said. “I’m thinking about trying out for the baseball team at Salve Regina, too, but basketball and baseball in college will overlap, so I have to see how the workload is first.”

But don’t expect him to cut ties with Bishop Connolly High School anytime soon.

“They plan on raising the championship banner on June 15,” Keyes said, with a touch of pride. “They are naming the court after Coach Billy Shea and his father, Shifty Shea, on that day as well. The whole team will be there, and most of the fan base as well. It will be nice to have everyone there to celebrate.”

To submit a Living Stone nominee, send an email with information to fatherwilson@anchornews.org

11

The Anchor

May 31, 2013

New principal named for St. Margaret Regional School

BUZZARDS BAY — Mary Jackson, who has served as lead teacher for the middle school grades at a Catholic School in Norwood, has been named the new principal of St. Margaret Regional School in Buzzards Bay, effective July 1.

Fall River Diocesan Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Griffin announced the appointment late last week in a meeting with school faculty and in a letter to the entire school community.

Jackson will replace Laurie Plante, the school’s principal for the past two years, who this past

winter announced her intention to resign the post at the end of the current academic year.

St. Margaret Regional School has an average yearly enrollment of 200 students in grades pre-kindergarten through eight and is located on Main Street in the heart of the village of Buzzards Bay. Jackson holds a master’s degree in educational administration from Emmanuel College and certification from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as an elementary school principal.

She comes to St. Margaret’s from St. Catherine of Sienna School in Norwood, where she was lead teacher for the middle school grades and also taught fourth-grade.

She has written and implemented curriculum aligned with the Common Core State Standards, which is now being implemented in schools across the Diocese of Fall River. She was also a member of the school’s iPad Technology Implementation Team.

In 2012, Jackson gave a presentation at the National Catholic Educational Association Convention entitled, “Redesigning a Middle School to Focus on

Mary Jackson Math and Science Instruction.”

In 2011, she was a recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship.

Jackson is a resident of North Easton.

In his letter to parents announcing her appointment, Griffin stated, “Jackson brings excellent experience to her new role as principal. Her strong background in quality Catholic elementary education, her deep commitment to the Catholic

identity and academic mission of Catholic schools, and her demonstrated ability to provide direction and leadership will greatly assist St. Margaret Regional School in its next stages of growth.”

Jackson is grateful for the opportunity that awaits her and is eager to begin.

“I am blessed, appreciative and excited to have the opportunity to be part of St. Margaret Regional School as it enters its third decade of academic excellence and spiritual growth,” she said.

Paramount in her decision to accept the principalship at St. Margaret’s, she explained, was the school’s commitment to its academic and spiritual mission.

“When I visited St. Margaret Regional School, I saw happy students, hardworking teachers and helpful parents,” she said.

“The pastor of St. Margaret’s Church, Father Roger Hall, nurtures this wonderful community’s Catholic faith by celebrating a weekly school Mass and

he understands and promotes well its regional identity.”

Jackson also made note of the school’s unique location so near the Cape Cod Canal.

“The school’s location on the shore of Cape Cod Canal serves as a reminder that the region’s ancestors dared to imagine an enormous project using the most advanced technological innovations of the time,” said she.

“At St. Margaret Regional School, we will dare to embrace the future as we preserve and celebrate our traditions of Catholic faith following the tenets of our motto: ‘Work, Pray, Study.’”

The selection of Jackson followed an interview process that included a committee composed of Father Hall of St. Margaret Parish and representatives of the school’s advisory board, faculty, and parent community.

At the conclusion of the process, Dr. Griffin recommended Jackson for the appointment and Bishop George W. Coleman approved it.

12

May 31, 2013

The Anchor

Author finds Catholic themes in Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’

GREENVILLE, S.C. (CNA/ EWTN News) — Editor and author Joseph Pearce’s new work, “Shakespeare on Love,” sees the Catholic presence in “Romeo and Juliet” and corrects popular interpretations of the play, which see the pair only as victims.

“If we’re not prepared to treat it as a cautionary tale, with Romeo and Juliet being in the wrong, the play is unsettling, because somehow they’re the good guys and yet they finish so badly, and surely it’s not fair,” Pearce, Thomas More College of Liberal Arts’ writer-inresidence, told CNA. “But once you understand that actually the outcome is the consequence of their own actions, decisions, and choices, and also sins of omission of the lack of parental guidance — parental bad influence actually — all of a sudden it is seen as a profoundly Christian, cautionary tale.”

Pearce explained that his motivation for writing “Shakespeare on Love,” released in March by Ignatius Press, was to “correct the misreading of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by the modern academy.” Some interpret the lovers as victims of fate, with no one at fault in their death because fortune and fate eradicate free will.

Since the 19th century and the Romantic era, when emotion was exalted over reason, the play has been read overwhelmingly through that lens, seeing Romeo and Juliet as heros for love and victims of their families’ hatred for each other.

The Romantic reading of “Romeo and Juliet” distorts the meaning of love, Pearce said, making it “really about feelings, and that

feeling usurps reason where romance and love is concerned, and it’s become the norm for critics to read ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in that way.”

“But of course ‘Romeo and Juliet’ was not written in the light of Romanticism ... but in the light of a profoundly Christian understanding of morality and love, with love being something that is connected to reason and will, and the necessity of laying down one’s life for the beloved.”

“Shakespeare on Love” is meant to “rectify the non-Christian understanding” of “Romeo and Juliet,” analyzing the play’s text to demonstrate how Shakespeare portrays the pair as culpable for their outcome, stuck in a self-indulgent passion that ultimately harms them both.

Pearce shows that Shakespeare portrays Romeo and Juliet as lacking prudence and temperance, but that their elders, who ought to guide them in the virtues are similarly lacking. Pearce then sees the play as a tool for teaching morality and the nature of true love.

Since “Romeo and Juliet,” together with “Julius Caesar” is one of the most widely taught texts of Shakespeare in high schools, Pearce considered it important to correct its interpretation, saying it is “almost invariably taught badly.”

“Shakespeare is a powerful voice, a voice that’s been distorted by the secular academy, and that’s something that needs to be rectified,” Pearce concluded.

His reading of the the text of “Romeo and Juliet” is meant “to have Shakespeare understood as Shakespeare understood himself.”

catholic influence — William Shakespeare is depicted at age 34 in this painting from 1847. (CNS /courtesy of Art Resource)

SLUG LINE — A slug named Mub, voiced by Aziz Ansari, and MK, voiced by Amanda Seyfried, are seen in the animated movie “Epic.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/Fox)

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

“Epic” (Fox) Pleasant 3-D animated fantasy in which a 17-year-old girl (voice of Amanda Seyfried) finds herself magically transported to a miniature world within nature where the champions of growth and life (their leader voiced by Colin Farrell) battle the dark forces of decay (their commander voiced by Christoph Waltz). While becoming caught up in the conflict, she falls for a youthful warrior (voice of Josh Hutcherson) whose freewheeling ways make him an initially unreliable ally for his fellow good guys. With some of its characters drawn from William Joyce’s book “The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs,” director Chris Wedge’s cheerful journey into the undergrowth sends innocuous messages about environmental stewardship, teamwork and responsibility. There’s also some familial bonding via the protagonist’s ultimately appreciative interaction with her stereotypically absent-minded professor of a dad (voiced by Jason Sudeikis).

Though the impact falls well short of Wedge’s overly ambitious title, some lovely imagery compensates for various hit-or-miss attempts at humor. Potentially frightening clashes, themes involving death.

The Catholic News Service classification is A-I — general patronage.

The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

“The Hangover Part III” (Warner Bros.)

On its surface, this is a defanged, declawed version of the

first two “Hangover” installments with no sex, no alcohol or drug abuse and almost no nudity. Director Todd Phillips, who co-wrote with Craig Mazin, focuses the plot on the long-overdue maturation of a spoiled rich boy (Zach Galifianakis), a process in which two of his friends (Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms) try to assist by transporting their unstable pal to a mental health facility in Arizona. En route, the trio is waylaid by a gangster (John Goodman) who wants them to help him retrieve stolen loot purloined by an archcriminal (Ken Jeong).

While the shenanigans that made the earlier entries repellent may mercifully be absent, there’s a different, deeper — and philosophically, at least, potentially more troubling — recklessness at work in this picture. In the inkiest vein of nihilistic black humor, the frequent intrusion of death — whether that of disposable animals or of equally disposable people — is presented as a cue for guffaws. Stylized gun violence, a fleeting glimpse of frontal male nudity, a brief but vulgar reference to sexual activity, some profanity, pervasive rough and crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

“Fast & Furious 6” (Universal) Lured by the promise of pardons for their past misdeeds, a crew of law-flouting underground car racers — led by Vin Diesel and Paul Walker — reassemble to help a federal agent (Dwayne Johnson) thwart the civilization-threatening schemes of a criminal mastermind (Luke Evans) who uses hotrods to speed his heists of top-secret military equipment. The fact that the gangster’s number two (Michelle Rodriguez) is Diesel’s not-deadafter-all love interest is another draw. Director Justin Lin’s barroom brawl of a movie features well-orchestrated chases, and softens the tone of its grunting machismo with the occasional flourish of vague religiosity. But the self-determined code which its heroes substitute for civil obedience is morally dubious and certainly not for the impressionable. Murky moral values, considerable stylized violence including a scene of torture, cohabitation, partial nudity, a few uses of profanity, at least one rough term, much crude and crass language, an obscene gesture. The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG13 — parents strongly cautioned.

Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, June 2, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Michael A. Ciryak, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Swansea

May 31, 2013

NOTE: Due to an editing error, these letters ran in last week’s edition (May 24, 2013) of The Anchor without responses from the Executive Editor.

We reprint them here with the proper responses as they were intended to be published last week.

Gun article unwarranted I was dismayed to see the political article by Father Blaire in the April 26 issue concerning gun control. This does not belong in a Catholic newspaper, as it is a political/personal issue not a theological issue. Please see the recent PEW research. I would hate to cancel my subscription through my church but will do so if you continue to publish letters from priests on non-Catholic issues.

Joseph R. Asiaf, M.D. Brockton EXECUTIVE EDITOR RESPONDS: Thank you for your letter.

You refer to an article which we published from Catholic News Service, in which Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton, CA, the head of the U.S. Bishops Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, wrote to the leaders of the Senate to complain about their failing to pass gun control legislation.

This newspaper does not endorse everything which someone does in a news story which we publish, so I would hope you would not cancel your subscription just because we ran that article. True, we do not run every article which our two wire services, CNA and CNS, provide, due to space needs and due to whether we think a story would be relevant to our readership.

We thought that it is good to keep our readers up-to-date regarding the gun control debate amongst Catholics.

As I stated in a response to a letter a few months ago on this topic, we Catholics are not bound to support one policy or another regarding gun control, since there is no defined doctrine in this area. As I have stated in responses to letters and in editorials, the “defined” topics where Catholics are required to follow the teachings of the Church when voting are the “non-negotiables” (abortion, euthanasia, stemcell research, cloning and traditional Marriage). That being said, Catholics are encouraged to apply our theological teachings to all aspects of our lives, so anything political should be looked at from the perspective of trying to love God with our entire being and of trying to love our neighbor as ourselves.

The Anchor

Our readers respond

In terms of the Pew research, having looked at its survey of Catholics, I see nothing having to do with gun control.

Another point of view on Communion I am writing in response to Jean Willis’ excellent letter on the subject of the reception of the Eucharist. In the early post-Vatican II era there were many, including liturgists, who had waited for decades for an opportunity to break from what they considered to be the inflexibility of the Counter Reformation Church.

To many of these individuals and groups, no facet of the faith formed a more fruitful field than the Liturgy.

They felt they were supported in this by the council’s statement that, “Even in the Liturgy, the Church has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity in matters which do not implicate the faith or the good of the whole community” (D:37, “Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy – Sacrosanctum Concilium”).

The goal here was to make changes in the Liturgy that they felt would generate an even more vigorous involvement by the congregation, more accurately reflect the laity as the “priestly people” and make the Mass more closely resemble the Last Supper. While those ends were well intended, they appear to have created some issues, particularly in regard to the reception of the Eucharist.

There are two areas that one may review in regard to this subject. The first relates to the Eucharist itself. For many of us who were born into and grew up in the pre-Vatican II Church, it was quite astonishing to be told by liturgists that there should be no consecrated hosts in the sanctuary in order to more accurately emulate the Last Supper.

Using VI:95 of the “Instruction on the Liturgy” (1964) as justification, tabernacles began disappearing from church sanctuaries. The second area relates to the issue of the removal of as many medieval trappings from the Liturgy as was prudent. There was a strong movement in the Midwest to remove kneeling, a movement that has not disappeared. This did not only include kneeling for the reception of Communion, but also kneeling during the consecration. I make no claim that this is why we receive Communion standing, but it certainly played a part in its acceptance.

Finally, the reception of Communion while kneeling is inexorably tied to the altar rail. Remove the rail and the option essentially disappears (unless you’re in

great physical shape). For this to be a true option, altar rails would have to be replaced. Good luck with that one!

Even the bow or genuflection before reception is optional. Everything is optional but the reception of Communion in a kneeling position. This option was taken away the minute the altar rail disappeared. I find it hard to believe that those who were empowered to make that decision were not aware of this.

In one of the letters on this subject, it was stated to the effect that Jesus wasn’t concerned about the physical positioning of the Apostles at the Last Supper. In comparing the Mass to the Last Supper, one must be careful to recognize that the Last Supper was unique.

At Mass it is emulated but not completely replicated because the Apostles received the Body and Blood, soul and divinity of our Lord prior to His Passion, death and resurrection; acts that Jesus Himself told us were required for our salvation.

The Apostles were singularly blessed because of their future role in establishing His Church. While we reenact the essence of the Last Supper at Mass, we do so recognizing the ultimate sacrifice that Christ made for our salvation. That element is acknowledged in its title as “The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.”

We worship Christ knowing what the Apostles didn’t. When we worship the Lord at Mass, our body as well as our mental, emotional and spiritual disposition expresses our commitment to hearing His Word and receiving His Body and Blood. All of these not only impact us individually, but affect those around us and create an atmosphere that helps us all to recognize God’s Presence in our midst.

William H. MacLachlan West Dennis EXECUTIVE EDITOR RESPONDS: Thank you for your letter. In terms of the tabernacle placement, I had never heard of that theory (that since there were no pre-consecrated hosts at the Last Supper, for that reason there should be no tabernacles in the sanctuary of the church).

In 1947 Pope Pius XII, in his encyclical Mediator Dei (#118), discussed the topic of people wanting to receive hosts which were consecrated at the very Mass they were attending (as opposed to receiving hosts from the tabernacle). “Our predecessor of immortal memory, Benedict XIV, wishing to emphasize and throw fuller light upon the truth that the faithful by receiving

13 the Holy Eucharist become partakers of the divine sacrifice itself, praises the devotion of those who, when attending Mass, not only elicit a desire to receive Holy Communion but also want to be nourished by hosts consecrated during the Mass, even though, as he himself states, they really and truly take part in the sacrifice should they receive a host which has been duly consecrated at a previous Mass. He writes as follows: ‘And although in addition to those to whom the celebrant gives a portion of the Victim he himself has offered in the Mass, they also participate in the same sacrifice to whom a priest distributes the Blessed Sacrament that has been reserved; however, the Church has not for this reason ever forbidden, nor does she now forbid, a celebrant to satisfy the piety and just request of those who, when present at Mass, want to become partakers of the same sacrifice, because they likewise offer it after their own manner, nay more, she approves of it and desires that it should not be omitted and would reprehend those priests through whose fault and negligence this participation would be denied to the faithful.’” Popes Pius XII and Benedict XV were not scheming to do something so as to get rid of the reserved Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle, but they were responding to a pious desire of some people who wanted to receive Our Lord in His bloodless sacrifice on the altar which they had just witnessed a few minutes earlier. As the popes said, when receiving from the tabernacle, we are still united to Christ’s one sacrifice, but there is a sign value in receiving hosts consecrated at the same Mass.

Praise and prayers We enjoy The Anchor more and more, especially the write-up of Pope Francis.

We pray daily for Pope Francis; he is touching many lives, especially the children’s lives. Please keep praying for the healing of the people that are ill from the Boston Marathon. That was so sad.

We all need to pray for all the tragedies that are happening around this world.

God must be very sad.

Olive Veiga South Dartmouth EXECUTIVE EDITOR RESPONDS: Thank you for your prayers and support. As we’ve explained to other frequent writers, we cannot publish every letter we receive and we appreciate your (and other letter writers’) understanding.

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The Anchor

May 31, 2013

Boy Scouts vote to allow openly gay youths to belong to Scout troops

GRAPEVINE, Texas (CNS) — The Boy Scouts of America’s National Council voted late May 23 to allow openly gay youths admittance as members into the 103-year-old organization, effective Jan. 1, 2014.

In a statement, the organization said the decision to review the organization’s ban on accepting homosexuals as members was made based on “growing input from within the Scouting family.”

“Today, following this review, the most comprehensive listening exercise in Scouting’s history, the approximate 1,400 voting members of the Boy Scouts of America’s National Council approved a resolution to remove the restriction denying membership to youth on the basis of sexual orientation alone,” the statement said.

The announcement was made at the Boy Scouts of America’s annual national meeting, held at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine. The organization said it did not reconsider its ban on homosexual adults as Scout leaders and that the policy remains in place.

“The Boy Scouts of America will not sacrifice its mission, or the youth served by the movement, by allowing the organization to be consumed by a single, divisive and unresolved societal issue,” the statement added. “As the National Executive Committee just completed a lengthy review process, there are no plans for further review on this matter.”

The announcement of the policy change comes amid intense debate about the role of homosexuals in the Boy Scouts of America.

The National Catholic Committee on Scouting said that since the policy change does not take effect until next January, it will have “adequate time to study its effects.”

“The NCCS will determine how it may impact Catholic chartered Scout units and activities. In doing so, we will work within the teachings of our Catholic faith and with the various local bishops and their diocesan Scouting committees,” the Catholic organization said in a statement.

The Catholic Church teaches that people “who experience a homosexual inclination or a same sex attraction are to be treated with respect recognizing the dignity of all persons,” the statement said.

HONOR GUARD — John Stemberger, an Eagle Scout and founder of OnMyHonor.Net, a coalition opposed to allowing open homosexuality in the Boy Scouts of America, addresses the media May 23 in Grapevine, Texas, after the Scouts voted on allowing openly gay members to join the Boy Scouts of America May 23 . (CNS photo/Ben Torres, The Texas Catholic)

“The Church’s teaching is clear that engaging in sexual activity outside of Marriage is immoral,” it continued. “Individuals who are open and avowed homosexuals promoting and engaging in homosexual conduct are not living lives consistent with Catholic teaching.”

In a separate statement, the Washington Archdiocese said the Boy Scouts of America policy change “does not affect the teachings of the Catholic Church and the manner in which the Archdiocese of Washington conducts the Scouting programs under its purview.”

“Scouting programs seek to instill the importance of duty to God and to country, and groups chartered through the Catholic Church witness to the faith while continuing to provide an opportunity to involve youth in the life of the local parish,” it said in a statement.

“The Church, through its clergy and lay leaders, has the responsibility to teach the Gospel and encourage all people to live out the teachings of Christ — regardless of their sexual preference,” it added.

The Denver Archdiocese in a statement said that the Catholic Church “agrees that no group should reduce a person to their sexual orientation or proclivity.

However, the moral formation of youth must include a firm commitment to respecting and promoting an authentic vision of sexuality rooted in the Gospel itself.”

“While the Archdiocese of

Denver will continue to allow parish-chartered Scouting organizations,” it said, “we will be steadfast in articulating a Christian understanding of human dignity and sexuality.”

At a news conference in Grapevine, John Stemberger, founder of OnMyHonor.Net, said that “on this day, the most influential youth program in America has turned a very tragic corner.” His organization is a nationwide coalition of parents, Scout leaders, Scouting donors, Eagle Scouts and other members of the Boy Scouts.

“The Boy Scouts of America has a certain logo and it has this phrase ‘Timeless Values.’ Today the BSA can no longer, in good faith, use this phrase,” he said.

“It has demonstrated by its actions that the organization’s values are, in fact, not timeless. Instead, they are governed by the changing winds of polls, politics and public opinion.”

Stemberger said that according to the Boy Scouts’ own assessment, the move will cause as many as 400,000 current members to leave the organization.

“They also predicted they will lose $30 million of their $300 million budget,” Stemberger said. “That’s their estimates.

Why they would do this just because some activists are screaming loudly makes no sense to me whatsoever.”

Regarding the organization’s decision to leave in place its policy against allowing adult homosexuals to be Scout leaders, Stemberger said a change in

that policy will only be a matter of time.

Proponents of the change said they welcomed the move, but that the policy remains insufficient.

“We view this as a first step to full inclusion,” Zach Wahls, executive director of Scouts for Equality, said at a news conference in Grapevine. “For me, this resolution clearly doesn’t go far enough, but there is no doubt that for young men all over the country, this is a validation of who they are and an important testament to the ability of scouting to reconsider its position.”

In the 2000 case Boy Scouts of America v. James Dale, the U.S. Supreme Court declared in a 5-4 ruling that the Boy Scouts of America was within its rights to set its own membership standards, including whether gay youths can be admitted into the organization.

Since then, gay rights activists have been lobbying the Boy Scouts to change its policy and have pressured corporations who give financial support to the organization to also push for the change.

According to the organization’s website, there are more than 2.6 million youths and one million adult members in the Boy Scouts of America. Catholic parishes and organizations across the country operate more than 8,300 scouting units, including the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Varsity Scouts.

The Boy Scouts of America was incorporated Feb. 8, 1910,

and chartered by Congress in 1916. Its stated mission is to provide an educational program for boys and young adults to build character, to train in the responsibilities of participating citizenship, and to develop personal fitness.

About 70.3 percent of the more than 100,000 chartered scouting units are sponsored by faithbased organizations, according to the Boy Scouts membership data.

A breakdown shows: — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the largest faith-based organization of chartered scouting units with 37,856 and 430,557 youth members.

Church leaders have publicly supported the new membership standards.

— Catholic-chartered units total 8,397 with 273,648 members.

— The United Methodist Church is the second-largest sponsor of Scouting with 10,868 chartered unit and 363,876 members.

New membership standards were floated in January by Boy Scouts. It gave sponsors of local Scout units the option of welcoming gays as youth members and leaders. The Boy Scouts then decided to survey its members before introducing a formal proposal for a vote by members.

The survey showed that of the 200,000 members who responded, 61 percent supported the current policy while 34 percent opposed it. Boy Scouts officials then decided to put the issue before the National Council.

In a late April statement, Bishop Robert E. Guglielmone of Charleston, S.C., liaison to the National Catholic Committee on Scouting for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that leaders and organizations that serve young people “have a responsibility to protect and foster a life of virtue according to their particular mission.

“Organizations have a duty to select leaders that model virtues and core values with integrity; Catholic-chartered (Scouting) units will continue to provide leaders who promote and live Catholic values.

“This is a matter of responsibility, not a matter of unjust discrimination, which is always wrong and contrary to the inviolable dignity of every human person,” he said.

The Catholic Scouting committee, he said, would continue to offer input to the Boy Scouts of America based on Catholic teachings and values.

May 31, 2013

New Bedford Corpus Christi procession expands citywide continued from page one

“We simply could not have one procession — the churches are too far apart — so we decided that we would do one for the north side of the city,” he said. “We’re trying to get the whole city involved by doing the north and the south ends at the same time and we’d like to have the whole city participate.”

According to Bruce Pawelczyk, a longtime volunteer and adorer at Our Lady’s Chapel who handles the logistics of organizing the annual Corpus Christi procession there, the traditional Corpus Christi procession is a way to celebrate “the Body and Blood of Our Lord.”

“The procession helps us to bring Eucharistic adoration from inside a church or chapel — a confined space — to the outdoors,” Pawelczyk said. “So it’s a great tool of evangelization in bringing hope and strength to the city in which the procession is taking place.”

Instead of waiting for the people to come to Christ in a church, Pawelczyk said this is a way of bringing Christ to them.

“There are people we’ll meet along the way who have never met Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, so by bringing Our Lord to them, it helps them to see and observe Him,” he said. “I think it

15

The Anchor

helps people who may not always profess their belief in the Eucharist to be in His Presence. All these people are making a public witness to their faith and their belief to those who are not of the same belief.”

Pawelczyk said the annual procession generally draws “between 200 and 300 marchers” and it has consistently grown in popularity in recent years.

“I attribute that to Blessed Pope John Paul II, who had asked that Eucharistic adoration begin again in earnest back during his pontificate,” Pawelczyk said. “I think people heard the cry from him and that’s when it grew in many areas. That was in our minds and in our hearts when we first began the procession 11 years ago.

We wanted to offer our prayers of thanksgiving and reparation to Our Lord.”

Catholics worldwide know that the Blessed Sacrament is not just a symbol of Christ’s sacrifice, but the actual presence of His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.

It is this sacred reality that moves faithful to adore and venerate the Blessed Sacrament in chapels and churches all over the world. It is also that sacredness that motivates faithful to accompany the Blessed Sacrament through public streets

in a solemn procession in celebration of the feast of Corpus Christi.

It is an outward display of the love and appreciation Catholics have for the Holy Redeemer.

The custom started in the early 14th century when Catholic faithful would process through towns following Mass on Corpus Christi Sunday. Through the years popes encouraged this practice, some granting indulgences to those who participated. In the mid-1500s, the Council of Trent solemnly approved and recommended the Corpus Christi processions.

In 2004, during the Year of the Eucharist, Blessed Pope John Paul II, in his apostolic letter, Mane nobiscum Domine, advocated the procession saying, “This year let us also celebrate with particular devotion the solemnity of Corpus Christi, with its traditional procession. Our faith in the God Who took flesh in order to become our Companion along the way needs to be everywhere proclaimed, especially in our streets and homes, as an expression of our grateful love and as an inexhaustible source of blessings.”

The southern procession — which is just under a three-mile trek — also steps off at 2 p.m. on Sunday from Our Lady’s Chapel, 600 Pleasant Street, and will con-

tinue to Our Lady of Purgatory Church, then St. Lawrence Martyr Church, and then the home of the Missionaries of Charity, before returning back to Our Lady’s Chapel.

“I help organize things with the New Bedford police,” Pawelczyk said. “I make sure all the walkers are safe and that they have water. We walk rain or shine. We’ve been through 90-degree days and we’ve also had 50-degree weather with rain showers.”

Both processions will entail the carrying of a monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament, including hymn-singing and praying the Rosary. Children dressed as angels typically toss flowers along the route, and various diocesan organizations carry banners, all in a public display of their devotion to the Body of Christ.

The priest celebrant, under a canopy, holds the Eucharist devoutly at eye-level. He is the only person under the canopy, which protects the Blessed Sacrament literally and symbolically.

Candle-bearers and cross-bearer also flank the canopy, while clergy, religious, religious associations and the faithful reverently follow.

“In the morning … people will be there to lay out a pattern on the ground,” Pawelczyk added.

“It’s actually sawdust with coloring on it that they use to create a

pattern on the street. That’s where the Blessed Sacrament comes out of the chapel. The priest holding the monstrance will actually walk on that beautiful pathway to the end before he gets under the canopy which we use to cover Our Lord as we walk through the city streets.”

At each location Pawelczyk said they will stop briefly for about 15 minutes for Benediction and prayers before moving on to the next site.

“After the procession there will be a simple potluck supper back at Our Lady’s Chapel and everyone is invited to join in,” he added.

Noting that Pope Francis has encouraged increased Eucharistic adoration in churches, Father Murphy said this is a great way of honoring that wish.

“We would just hope that people join us,” Father Murphy said.

“All those children who have made their First Holy Communion from the area churches are also invited to join the procession.

The tradition is to have them process in front of the canopy (under which the Blessed Sacrament) will be carried. We also encourage other parish groups to participate in this beautiful occasion.

“This is really two different events with one theme: to make the Eucharistic processions available for both the north and south sides of the city.”

El Salvador’s leader gives pope bloodstained relic of Archbishop Romero

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis received a bloodstained relic of slain Archbishop Oscar Romero as a gift from El Salvador’s President Mauricio Funes Cartagena.

Funes had told the media before his May 23 trip that the primary aim of his visit with the pope would be to express his gratitude that the archbishop’s canonization process had been “unblocked” and to encourage the sainthood process move forward.

The Vatican said the pope and Funes talked about Archbishop Romero and “the importance of his witness for the whole nation” of El Salvador.

The two leaders also talked about the Church’s work in fostering peace and reconciliation; providing education and charity, and in fighting poverty and organized crime, the Vatican said in a written statement.

“The defense of human life, Marriage and the family” was also discussed, it said.

Upon meeting the pope outside the papal library, Funes told the pontiff he was “very honored” to be there. “Many thanks for receiving me and thank you very much for this audience,” the president told the Argentine pope.

Pope Francis and Funes then spoke privately for 12 minutes, followed by an exchange of gifts.

Funes presented the pope with a large gold-colored reliquary containing a faded white bloodstained piece of the vestment Archbishop Romero of San Salvador was wearing when he was gunned down March 24, 1980, while celebrating Mass in a hospital chapel.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, told reporters that there was “clearly a bloodstain” in the middle of the cloth.

The reliquary was a gift from the Sisters of the Congregation of Missionary Carmelites of St. Theresa who run the Divine Providence Hospital where the archbishop had lived and was killed.

The engraving on the reliquary said in Spanish: “Monsignor Oscar Romero, Spiritual Guide of El Salvador.”

The president’s visit came one month after Italian Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the postulator for the archbishop’s sainthood cause, said the process to beatify and eventually canonize the slain Salvadoran archbishop has been unblocked.

The Congregation for Saints’ Causes authorized the opening of his cause in 1993, but many people working for Archbishop Romero’s cause described the congregation’s standard review of the candidate’s writings as being “blocked” from 2000 to 2005.

Pope Benedict XVI told reporters in 2007 that the archbishop was “certainly a great witness of the faith” who “merits beatification, I do not doubt.”

However, he said even though work on the sainthood cause was proceeding, problems had been created when some groups unjustly tried to co-opt Archbishop Romero as a political figure.

El Salvador’s ambassador to the Holy See, Manuel Lopez, told The Associated Press before the May 23 meeting that when he greeted Pope Francis along with other diplomats March 22, the Latin American pope told him: “‘I hope that under this pontificate we can beatify him.’”

Msgr. Jesus Delgado Acevedo, who worked with Archbishop Romero and is now vicar general of the Archdiocese of San Salvador, told reporters recently that when he spoke with the future pope in 2007, thenCardinal Jorge Mario Bergo-

ROMERO’S RELIC — Pope Francis and President Mauricio Funes Cartagena of El Salvador look at a reliquary containing a blood-stained piece of the vestment of Archbishop Oscar Romero. (CNS photo/Alessandro Bianchi, Reuters)

glio told him that if he were the pope, the beatification and canonization of the slain archbishop would the first thing he would pursue.

Msgr. Delgado said that during another meeting in 2010, then-Cardinal Bergoglio recalled what he said about Archbishop Romero in 2007, but added that the problem was that he would never become pope because he was too old.

Father Lombardi told reporters after the president’s meeting

with the pope that Archbishop Romero’s “cause is going forward in the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, according to Church rules” and that it is solely up to the congregation “to inform us” about the status of the process.

The next step in the process is a formal papal declaration that Archbishop Romero died a martyr — that he was killed because of his faith. A miracle is not needed for the beatification of a martyr.

16

Youth Pages

May 31, 2013

Welcome to wonderland — St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro recently staged its seventh annual cabaret production. This year’s theme, “Movies on the Big Screen,” provoked music derived from musicals such as “The Trial of Alice in Wonderland,” “Mission Impossible,” “The Muppet Movie,” and “Pink Panther”. There were 21 performances which included 87 students, seven parents, eight teachers, one priest and one grandparent. Director Sue Fortin, music teacher at St. John’s, was assisted by Ms. Brittany Fowler Montagna, dance instructor at Alden Harrison Dance Centre, and faculty and alumni of St. John’s. Pictured here is Theresa Castro as Alice from “Alice in Wonderland” along with members of Wonderland.

damien drama — Kindergarten students at Holy Family-Holy Name School in New Bedford recently dramatized the life of St. Damien of Molokai. Pictured here are Thomas Clavell as Father Damien and Kendra Santiago as Queen Liliokaelani.

He has the floor — Students from St. Mary’s School in Mansfield, hosted a debate recently on several topics of interest. Teams of students presented their arguments before a panel of judges made up of local lawyers. “Should employers have passwords to social media accounts of their employees?” was a hot topic debated from both sides of the room.

high honors — Twenty seventh and eighth grade students from Holy Family-Holy Name School in New Bedford were inducted into the National Junior Honor Society in an impressive candlelight ceremony.

PALANCA PARTY — Students in grade eight from St. James-St. John School in New Bedford prepare for graduation at a spiritual retreat, reading palanca letters while Father Jack Oliveira looks on.

May 31, 2013

K

eep holy the Lord’s day! It is the day of renewal. It is a time for spiritual nourishment and knowing God’s great and unconditional love for us. It is the day of the main event, the main course — the Mass. It is here where we can have it all and be on the right path to winning it all.

When you go to Mass and look around and see many empty spaces, do you ask yourself, “Where is everybody? Are they not here because they find Mass boring? Are they not here because they have better things to do?”

I am always in awe at the number of people that fill our stadiums for sporting events, concerts, and the like. And I’m equally in awe at the pre-game/ concert events they plan, called tailgating parties. I think it’s a great and awesome experience.

I always hope that our churches would be filled to capacity with that same energy and intensity. I am also fascinated with people who will wait hours upon hours, sometimes through rain, sleet and snow, to be one of the first to buy the latest electronic gadget

Youth Pages

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The main course

or toy when the store opens — life?” This is where the real sometimes at midnight. I think mission of the Church begins to myself that these people — with you, all of us. It is here really know how to enjoy their where we are given the nourlife, how they’ll stop at nothishment, the main course, to get ing to fulfill that enjoyment. I us started on our journey. This always hope that they will be just as patient at spending an hour at Mass each week in the presence of the Lord.

Isn’t it true that sometimes you try to find any excuse not

By Ozzie Pacheco to go to Mass? The real question here is why do you look for a reason not to attend? I’ve heard is the journey of a new week many responses, from “it’s of school, work, vacation, etc. boring” to “I get nothing out There’s nothing more exciting of Mass.” At every Mass, we than waking up on Monday have two choices: we can “go morning knowing that everythrough the motions,” recitthing planned for the week is ing the prayers but remaining doable, all because I started it distant from God. with the Lord the day before Or we can have a lifeand the assurance that He will changing encounter with God. accompany me all the way.

Jesus wants much more than When I go to Mass there is just our attendance. He wants a peace that comes over me our experience of the Liturgy to that I cannot, and have not, be every day. Isn’t that how we experienced anywhere else. live the Mass everyday? Isn’t For a time I could not underthat what the final words of stand why that was. But, as I the Mass mean, “Go in peace, grew in my faith, I realized that glorifying the Lord with your this peace came about simply

Be Not Afraid

top of the class — Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro recently announced the students ranked in the top two positions as well as its “Tree Dedicator,” an honorary title going to the third-ranked student in the class. The Salutatorian made her address at Senior Recognition Night on May 28, while the Tree Dedicator addressed the student body outside after the Baccalaureate Mass. The Valedictorian made his valedictory address at graduation on May 30. Valedictorian Evan Grandfield is the son of Patricia and Scott Grandfield of Rehoboth; Salutatorian Lauren Sachs is the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Henry Sachs of Walpole; and Tree Dedicator Sahana Nazeer, daughter of Ms. Shobha Muthukrishnan of Franklin. Pictured here, from left, Valedictorian Evan Grandfield, Salutatorian Lauren Sachs, and Tree Dedicator Sahana Nazeer.

Send school and Religious Education news to: schools@anchornews.org

because I am in the presence of the Lord, the true presence of Jesus revealed in the Eucharist — his Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. This is truly the peace that Jesus gives and the world cannot. Yet, in a world always seeking peace I am saddened that our churches remain much less than full.

I share with teenagers in catechism and youth ministry that the Mass is like a party for all God’s children.

Jesus is the Host and He has carefully set a place for each of us at His table, complete with name cards.

However, at this party, Jesus is the One to offer a gift. All He asks from us is to accept that gift. I can picture Jesus’ sad face as He goes around the banquet table and sees many empty places. How would you feel as host of your party and some of your friends were “no shows?” Just as Jesus gives us is the gift of Himself, His presence, He also wants the gift of our presence.

Be renewed through the Eucharist, with the Eucharist and in the Eucharist! Let the celebration and reception of the Eucharist become the start of your week! I know that many youth can’t get to church on

their own, so I make this plea to their parents — renew the commitment you made to the Church and your children at their Baptism: “You have asked to have your child Baptized. In doing so you are accepting the responsibility of training them in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring them to church on Sundays and Holy Days and to teach them to live as Christ has taught us, by loving God and neighbor. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?”

And you answered, “I do.”

And the journey began for your child. Do not hinder that journey.

God gives us everything we need to be happy and to be successful. God wants us to win it all! That’s the hope of Heaven!

And Heaven meets earth at every Mass, at the altar. Jesus said, “I am the Living Bread that came down from Heaven; whoever eats this Bread will live forever; and the Bread that I will give is My Flesh for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51).

If you truly want to win it all do you really want to miss this feast, this main event, this main course?

God bless!

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

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May 31, 2013

Centerville parish succeeds with new style of teaching continued from page one

‘COME ON DOWN’ — Father Robert Reed, host of “WOW: The Catholic TV Challenge,” on the set taping episodes of the awardwinning game show that tests students’ knowledge of the Catholic faith. (Photo by Christine M. Williams)

Attleboro students star on CatholicTV continued from page one

“WOW.” Father Reed — who also voices “Nosey,” the show’s animated know-it-all dog who asks some of the questions — explained many of the answers in more detail.

After a question regarding Matthew 7:7, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you,” Father Reed said that sometimes God answers prayers in a way we do not expect but that “God is good, and He knows what is best for us.”

Alexavier Almeida, Sophia Elliott and William Bedard competed in round one of the first show taped. Afterward, they stood in front of a green screen to shoot material for promos and spoke with The Anchor. Alex said the experience was “amazing” and “cool.” Sophia said she was “shocked” to be chosen as a contestant, adding that the game was “fun.”

Clearly a “ham,” Billy was the winner of the round. His victory dance, shot for the promos, was wild and enthusiastic. He said the show was “awesome.”

He received a “WOW” t-shirt and competed in the final round for

the grand prize — a four-foot remote control flying clownfish that “turns your whole house into an aquarium.”

Without spoiling the end of the episode, the competition comes down to a sudden death question between Billy and another player.

“WOW,” the Telly and Pixie Award winning show, has run for nine seasons. St. Mary-Sacred Heart School has participated twice; the first time was five seasons ago.

Principal Denise Peixoto said the school came back for this “very different kind of field trip” because of the faith element, which is “what we’re all about.”

Father David Costa, chaplain and pastor of the school, said of the show, “It’s another way of teaching the truths of our faith, a creative way of reaching them on their level.”

He hopes the students see that faith is fun and knows that people who watch the show say they enjoy seeing kids who are excited about the faith.

Father Reed said the show is an evangelizing tool. “It’s a great way to teach various aspects of our faith,” he said.

“WOW: The Catholic TV Challenge” episode air times

“The Words of Jesus” premieres September 15 “Vestments and Vessels” premieres October 27 episodes also available online at www.CatholicTV.com.

like First Communion or Confirmation.

“You had to come to one of the GIFT programs, either in October or March, like a retreat,” recalled Linda Mathieu, who had one of her daughters being prepared for First Communion. “So we went as a family and we liked it. It was great.”

Mathieu attended with her two daughters and her husband. Baptism was the theme of that gathering, and everyone attending had been asked to bring something that represented either his or her child’s Baptism, or their own Baptism.

“We brought pictures and that was really nice to sit around the table with other people we didn’t know and hear their stories,” said Mathieu. “Everyone has a story of his or her Baptism or First Communion because it’s such a big part of your life, so it was a really nice way to get to know somebody else and through your faith.”

Additional activities included making nametags and putting stickers or drawing what represented you, a great way to get the kids in the group talking, said Mathieu.

“You’re still working on your faith but it’s experiential,” she said. “It was lovely when we went through and renewed our Baptismal vows. The kids were sprinkled with water. It just made it more real, just like going to church with your children — it brings the Gospel, the Scripture alive, and that’s what GIFT is.”

Mathieu said the idea was to fully incorporate the GIFT program as its curriculum for the Faith Formation program. She recalled sitting at a children’s Mass one day, listening to Father Mark Hession, pastor of Our Lady of Victory Parish, talk; “And he said, ‘Your faith really comes from your experiences and your relationships with your family, and if you came to church every week with your family, you would get as much Scripture and teachings of the prayers that a person would really need without having to enter into a Faith Formation class,’” said Mathieu.

She continued, “And for me, that clicked because it’s true. I hated CCD. I went to somebody’s house and there was a book and was told to memorize this and this. I don’t remember anything from CCD; I remember because I went to Mass with my parents.

I know the prayers and the Creed because of being with my parents at Mass, saying them all the time.

Going to bed reciting the Rosary

with my grandmother before I went to sleep. Those are the experiences that I had in my life that has made my life strong, not because I attended CCD.” The following year, in 20092010, the GIFT program became the sole source for the Religious Education program at the parish.

Starting in September and continuing on until May, every other month families would assemble for a three-hour intergenerational gathering that would see everyone, from couples to teen-agers to grandparents, welcomed to help create a strong, Church-based community to become better disciples of Jesus Christ.

The staff of the GIFT program hosted six sessions per month, every other month, to accommodate the vast amount of families who registered: “We had 1,400 people registered,” said Mathieu of the first year, which worked out to roughly 400-500 families.

Each session would start with a meal “because the concept is whatever happens at the altar table also takes place at the kitchen table,” said Mathieu, and then the activities would begin, with attendees breaking up into age-appropriate groups. The first theme of “Call to Serve” highlighted many Church-related topics including the Eucharist, prayers, and Works of Mercy. The next session focused on “saints” with the story of the Sermon on the Mount and Bible readings. A total of five sessions were completed, each filled with hands-on activities, Scripture, prayer and other engaging types of activities that appealed to every age.

Because the program was so radically different than the traditional Faith Formation programs in other parishes, there was some resistance from some participants.

“Anytime you have something that is a significant change, you’ll have people not sure if it’s working. Some people believe that if you don’t have a textbook, you’re not learning something,” said Mathieu, adding that the consensus was to try it for a year and “if we don’t like it, then it can go back to the way it was. That’s how we put it out there.

“Other people who have gone with children through Faith Formation program where they dropped them off at the door were having a much more difficult time.

“There was a real push-back at certain age levels, but at the same time people whose children were younger loved it,” said Mathieu, adding those who looked forward to going included both her girls.

“They couldn’t believe the change in kids wanting to come.”

Now in its fifth year, the positive reviews have made the GIFT program a permanent educational part of parish. Each year evaluations were taken, feedback given and changes made to make the program work better.

The sessions have now been shortened to two hours, though some may be slightly longer if a prayer service has been scheduled.

Meals are kept simple by serving only pizza, salad and cookies, but the most telling aspect is allowing some flexibility for those attending.

“I would answer the phone and hear they can’t make it, and I just tell them to come when you can,” said Mathieu of the roughly 15 percent who register for one session on a certain date, find they can’t make it but are allowed to come on a different day. “That flexibility is great as part of the program, that sign-ups are when you think you can come most often.”

Adults get more time with Father Hession during sessions than they did before, and another way the program is engaging the younger generation is encouraging the use of technology during the sessions.

Kindles, smart phones and iPads are being used to look up Bible quotes, and the program has its own website (www.olvgift.org) as a resource. And while Roberto’s program laid the foundation for the curriculum, those involved in the program have taken to tailoring the sessions to fit the parish’s needs.

“We want to make sure we’re covering the ‘Catechism’ and we’re teaching everything we need to teach, and need to bring in current events,” said Mathieu, like the Boston Marathon and the Newtown tragedy.

Her girls are now 13 and 11, and “love to come to GIFT because it’s something that’s fun,” said Mathieu. “This is the way.

This is the only way that Faith Formation should be taught today.

“This is the way to go because it makes people feel part of a community, sharing a meal together; it’s hard to sit together to have a meal together as a family. They feel like we care about them as a family; we get that they’re stressed and we’re listening to what they say. We are teaching the parents; that’s the key. If you can get the parents, you can get the kids. If faith matters to the parents, it’s going to matter to the kids.”

May 31, 2013

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese

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

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

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

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

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

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

Use the Chapel entrance on the side of the church.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Be salt of the earth, pope says at Mass

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christians are called to be the salt of the earth, and if they don’t share the flavor of their faith, hope and love with others, they are simply “museum Christians,” Pope Francis said.

“Salt has meaning when it gives flavor to something. Salt kept in a bottle, with the humidity, loses its strength and is useless,” he said in a homily during his early morning Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

Pope Francis was commenting on Jesus’ line from the Gospel of Mark: “Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor?”

Cardinals Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, and Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, concelebrated the Mass, which was attended by employees of the Eastern Churches’ office.

Pope Francis said God gives Christians flavor, or salt, in order for them to share it with others and make a difference in the world, he said.

“When salt is used well, you don’t taste it. Salt improves the taste of the dish, making it better and helping preserve it.”

One of the special characteristics of Christianity, he said, is that God gives each Christian different gifts and characteristics.

Christianity is not about uniformity, the pope said: “It takes each person as he is — with his personality, his characteristics, his culture — and leaves him with those, because they are riches. But it gives something more: It gives flavor.”

Often, he said, Christians try to push for uniformity in the Church;

In Your Prayers

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

Please pray for these priests during the coming week

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.

June 1 Rev. James A. Ward, Former Pastor St. Peter, Provincetown, 1911

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The Anchor

June 3 Most Rev. James J. Gerrard, DD. Auxiliary Bishop of Fall River 1959-1976, Retired Pastor St. Lawrence, New Bedford, 1991 June 4 Rev. Louis J. Terrien, O.P., Dominican Priory, Fall River, 1920 Rev. Jose P. d’Amaral, Parochial Vicar, Santo Christo, Fall River, 1949 Rev. George Daigle, Pastor, Sacred Heart, North Attleboro, 1979 June 5 Very Rev. Thomas J. McLean, V.F. Pastor, St. Francis Xavier, Hyannis, 1954 Rev. Msgr. Louis Prevost, Retired Pastor , St. Joseph, New Bedford, 1970 June 6 Rev. Cornelius J. Keliher, Retired Pastor, St. Mary, North Attleboro, 1993

they want “everyone to be salted the same. But it would be like a woman who puts too much salt in a dish and you taste only the salt, not the food.”

Pope Francis said God gave each person faith, gifts and talents

so that they would share them with others and bring the taste of the Gospel to the world. Christians must “go out with the message, go out with the riches of salt that we have received and give it to others,” he said.

Around the Diocese 6/2

On June 2 at the 11 a.m. Mass at St. Francis Xavier Church in Hyannis, there will be a Celebration of the 25th Ordination of Father Daniel Lacroix and the 60th Ordination of Msgr. Henry Munroe. A light brunch will follow in the St. Francis Xavier Preparatory School and all are welcome. Ont this feast of Corpus Christi, the parish will give thanks for these two priests and their lives dedicated to the Church and pray for and focus on new vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

6/7

Be a part of the annual Global Rosary Relay for Priests on June 7.

Holy Cross Family Ministries will be participating as people at more than 60 shrines around the world pray the Rosary to form a prayer chain circling the globe. Each shrine will be praying a particular set of mysteries each half-hour of the day to offer thanksgiving to God for our priests. At the Father Peyton Center in Easton at 11:15 a.m., participants will gather on the outdoor Rosary Walk (weather permitting) to pray the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary followed by Mass in the chapel in the Father Peyton Center on the feast of the Sacred Heart. For more information visit www.FamilyRosary.org/Events or call 508-238-4095.

6/7

The Feast of the Sacred Heart will be celebrated at St. Anne’s Church, Fall River, on June 7 with the following Masses: 7:15 a.m. “low” Mass in the shrine; 11:30 a.m. sung Mass in the shrine; 7 p.m.

Missa Cantata (sung Latin Mass, Extraordinary Form) in the upper church.

6/10

St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford, will celebrate the feast of its patron, St. Anthony, with a three-day novena June 10-13 concluding with a 6:30 p.m.

Mass on June 13. The homily will be given by Father Svetozar Kralijevic, OFM, a Franciscan priest from the parish of Medugorje. There will be a blessing with a St. Anthony relic and all are welcome.

6/11

The Catholic Cancer Support Group will hold its next monthly meeting on June 11 at 6 p.m. at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville. The meeting will start with a Mass and Anointing of the Sick in the church at 6 p.m., and then move over to the Parish Center for a Summer Potluck Supper. All are welcome to join for conversation, support, and sharing of information. If your last name starts with the letters A through L, please bring a main dish to share. For those with last names starting with M through Z, please bring a salad or dessert. If possible, please drop off your food before the Mass. The committee will provide all paper products and beverages.

The Catholic Cancer Support Group of Our Lady of Victory is a Malta ministry and is faith-based, but all are welcome: cancer patients, survivors, family and friends. Reservations are not needed. For more information, call 508-778-4468 or 508-775-5744.

6/13

St. Anthony’s Parish in East Falmouth will sponsor an Island Queen Evening Cruise on June 13 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Watch the sun set on Vineyard Sound, enjoy good food, entertainment, and a 50/50 raffle to benefit the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. For more information call 508-457-0085.

6/22

A Day with Mary will be held June 22 at St. Brendan’s Parish, 384 Hartford Avenue in Bellingham, Mass. from 8:00 a.m. to 3:35 p.m. It will include a video presentation, procession and crowning of the Blessed Mother with Mass and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. There is an opportunity for Reconciliation and a bookstore is available.

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

7/19

The Pro-Life Apostolate of the diocese is pleased to announce the third annual Pro-Life Boot Camp for young adults entering high school through senior year will be held on the campus of Stonehill College in Easton on the weekend of July 19-21. For more information and registration forms, contact the Pro-Life Apostolate, P.O. Box 2577, 450 Highland Avenue, Fall River, Mass. 02722; call 508-675-1311; or email pla@ plrachel.com.

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The Anchor

May 31, 2013

National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette

947 Park Street, Attleboro, MA 02703 Tel: (508) 222-5410 www.lasalette-shrine.org

“CELEBRATING OUR 60TH ANNIVERSARY” 1953-2013 JUNE & JULY 2013 CALENDAR OF EVENTS MASSES: Sunday 12:10 pm, Monday- Friday 12:10 pm & 6:30 pm Saturday 12:10 pm & Vigil Mass 4:30pm FIRST FRIDAY ADORATION: June 7 & July 5, 2013 PRO-LIFE (Vigil) 4:30 pm MASS – June 29 & July 27, 2013 Sponsored by Knights of Columbus CONFESSIONS: Every Day: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday: 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Wednesday 1:00 – 2:00 pm & 5:00 – 6:00 pm Saturday & Sunday: 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

hail, holy queen — As is tradition at St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro, the two second grade classes had their annual crowning of Mother Mary Prayer Service. May is a time when many second grade Catholics receive their First Communion. It is also one of the months they honor the Blessed Mother Mary. During the ceremony the children lay flowers at Mother Mary’s feet and crown her with a veil of roses. Pictured here are the two second-grade classes with their teachers, Mrs. Patricia Diamond and Mrs. Anne Sullivan, along with teachers’ aid, Mrs. Martha O’Neill, and the school pastor, Father David Costa.

SATURDAYS’ EXPOSITION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT 1:00 – 4:00 pm Every Saturday until Nov.23, 2013 - Shrine Church HEALING SERVICES: Sunday, June 2 & July 7 at 2:30 pm – SPANISH - Fr. Juan Patricio Sullivan, M.S. Sunday, June 16 & July 21 2:00 pm – PORTUGUESE & BRAZILIAN – Concelebrated by Fr. Manuel Pereira, M.S. & Fr. Almir Urbano, M.S. Sunday, June 30 & July 28 2:00 pm – ENGLISH - Fr. André (Pat) Patenaude, M.S. La Salette eXtreme Youth will resume in September - Welcome Center La Salette Youth Rally – June 29 8:00 am to 9:00 pm, Mark Nimo/Keynote Speaker, & Scott Anthony to register call Joe Everton at (508) 222-8530 Catholicism by Rev Robert E. Barron Sessions – June 1 – July 20th 10:30 am - 11:45 am Each session is an individual teaching and not dependent on the others. So come to one or come to all!

Saturdays: June 1 A Body Both Suffering & Glorious, June 8 Word Made Flesh, True Bread of Heaven, June 15A Vast Company of Witnesses, July 6 The Fire of His Love, July 20 World Without End. + We will watch the video together followed by discussion led by Jon and Denise Swedberg – Welcome Center SAINT PADRE PIO PRAYER MEETING – 2nd Monday of the month, June 10 & Jul 8 at 7:15 pm Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament Directed by Rev. Brother Bob Russell, M.S. & Ron Mendes – Reconciliation Chapel LA SALETTE SHRINE JUBILEE GALA – June 15 - 7:00 pm -12:00 am Tickets $50.00. Call (508) 222-5410 La Salette Cares About Your Spirit & Health – Join us every Tuesday June – Nov. 26 7:00 – 8:30 pm “Fit Club New England” Free workout All Fitness levels are welcome – Welcome Center Love offering - Do something healthy with your family and meet new friends! Call (508) 222-5410 Email: lasaletteprogramsoffice@gmail.com “MIND, BODY, & SPIRIT” HEALTH FAIR! Saturday, July 13, 2013 9:00 am – 3:00 pm - Welcome Center

BREAD OF LIFE — Second-grade students at St. John the Evangelist School and Parish in Attleboro recently celebrated their First Eucharist. They pose here outside after Mass with pastor, Father Richard Wilson, and parochial vicar, Father Riley Williams.

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

SMART RECOVERY MEETINGS/ EVERY MONDAY at 7pm –For more information call Randy (774)203-5220 LA SALETTE Novena & Divine Mercy Holy Hour - Every Wednesday 12:10 & 6:30 pm Masses Adoration at 7:15 pm – Shrine Church LA SALETTE INTERCESSORY PRAYER MEETING – 2nd Thursday of the Month June 13 & Jul 11 at 7:15 pm Rev. Brother Bob Russell, M.S. & Bev Noelte - Reconciliation Chapel EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT MODERN SAINTS BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK Every Third Friday at 7:15 pm June 21 – St. Julie Billiart & September 20 Mother Henriette Delille – Servant of God Brother David Eubank, M.S. Facilitator - Reconciliation Chapel PAX CHRISTI PRAYER MEETING 3rd Tuesday of the month June 18 & July 16 - 7:15 pm - Reconciliation Chapel BETHANY NIGHTS/ John Polce Last Friday of the month June 28 & July 26 7:30 pm Sharp – Shrine Church Vietnamese Pilgrimage Day Saturday, July 27th at 10:00 am - Shrine Church & outdoor Mass, Reconciliation and outdoor devotions 10:00 am – 5:00 pm Burmese Pilgrimage Day Sunday, July 28th at 10:00 am - Shrine Church & outdoor Mass, Reconciliation and outdoor devotions 10:00 am – 5:00 pm Sanctuary Lamp Intention for June: In Loving Memory of all deceased and injured on Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, July - For All the Living & Deceased La Salette Missionaries. If you would like to sponsor a Sanctuary Lamp Candle for a month in memory of a living or deceased loved one, please contact our office at (508) 236-9068. (The Candle is located at the right side of the Sanctuary) A plaque will be placed on the left side. For more information on our Shrine’s upcoming events, Memorials call (508) 222-5410 or log on to www.lasalette-shrine.org or www. lasaletteservices.info E-Mail: lasaletteprogramsoffice@gmail.com Save the Date: YARD SALE – WEDNESDAY - SUNDAY – CAFETERIA - Donations are welcome until August 3, 2013!

AUGUST 7, 8, 9, 10 & 11 - Time: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm (508) 222-5410 La Salette 4th Annual Golf Tournament/Chimawa Golf Course - No. Attleboro, MA Friday, Sept. 13 Register at 9 am call to register (508) 236-9068 THIS YEAR IS OUR JUBILEE YEAR “60 YEARS SERVING GOD’S PEOPLE” LET US HONOR OUR LADY BY ATTENDING THESE SPECIAL CELEBRATIONS: Thu. Sept. 19th - 167th Anniversary of the Apparition of Our Lady in La Salette, France We will celebrate Mass at 12:10 pm Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament from 1-6 pm followed by 6:30 pm Mass. We invite all ethnic groups to bring their children to the evening Mass with their Cultural attire.

La Salette Triduum 20, 21 & 22 – For Services schedule website www.lasalette-shrine.org La Salette International Cuisine – Sat., Sept. 28 We invite all ethnic groups to bring their children to the evening Mass at 4:30 pm with their Cultural attire La Salette Christmas Festival of Lights – Theme “60 Years Serving God’s People” When: Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 2013 – Jan. 5 2014 ————————————————————————————————————————————— We need donations for flowers! Sister Mila, S.N.D.S. appreciates your generosity!

VISIT OUR GIFT SHOP/RELIGIOUS ARTICLES STORE - OPEN YEAR-ROUND! SUN. – SAT. 10 am - 5 pm. – www.lasalettegiftshop.com FOR RETREAT & CONFERENCE CENTER SCHEDULE CALL (508) 222-8530 www.lasaletteretreatcenter.com