06.10.11

Diocese of Fall River

The Anchor

F riday , June 10, 2011

Fall River Diocese loses two beloved, long-time priests

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — Two diocesan priests, each with more than 50 years of priestly service, passed away last weekend, leaving a void in the hearts of the many faithful they touched over the last half century.

Father Luis Augusto Cardoso, age 80, died at Rhode Island Hospital June 3, surrounded by family and friends. Born in Faja Grande, Flores, Azores, he was the son of the late Francisco Inacio Cardoso and Maria Augusto (Fagundes) Cardoso.

Father Cardoso was ordained June 15, 1958 in the Cathedral of Santissimo Salvador in Angra,

Terceira, Azores after graduating from the Seminary of Angra.

Three months after his ordination, he came to Fall River Diocese. He served as a parochial vicar at St. John the Baptist Parish and then was assigned to Immaculate Conception Parish of New Bedford and Espirito SanTurn to page 12

surrounded by friends — Father Timothy P. Reis, center, pastor of St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Taunton, celebrated his 25th anniversary as a priest at a Mass at the church on May 29.

With him are, from left: Father Barry W. Wall, Father Michael K. McManus, Deacon Alan J. Thadeu, Father Maurice J. O’Connor, and Father David Stopyra, OFM. Father Luis A. Msgr. Edmond Cardoso R. Levesque

CSS foreclosure help: No place like home B y B ecky A ubut A nchor S taff

FALL RIVER — The housing market wasn’t always like this.

“When I first started with the program, it was pretty much just me; I was the only housing counselor,” said Carol Hernandez, manager of the housing program run by Catholic Social Services.

When the housing market reached its breaking point, coupled with a staggering number of job losses, homeowners began to see the results. In 2008, CSS brought in five full-time housing counselors, but in 2010 the program lost its funding, leaving 75 open cases for Hernandez to handle. This year Hernandez was able to secure grants from Morgan Stanley and the Division of Banks to provide funding for three full-time counselors; all done with the

intention of helping each client save his or her home.

Hernandez and her team start from the beginning, offering assistance to a firsttime home buyer with a course that focuses eight hours of education on helping establish the fundamentals of homeownership, including creating a budget.

“We talk to them about how to make a spending plan and what they should be looking for, and the new expenses of homeownership,” said Hernandez. “Then we go right into credit, where if you have difficulties getting a mortgage loan, what could be done to help improve your credit score.”

The clients listen to a lender-partner, who will come in and speak to them about the programs that are offered through mortgage companies.

Turn to page 14

Five classmates mark 25 years of walking the same priestly path

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

FALL RIVER — They shared the front page of The Anchor on May 23, 1986, one week before they were ordained priests for the Diocese of Fall River on May 31.

Fathers David M. Andrade, Freddie Babiczuk Jr., Thomas A. Frechette, Maurice O. Gauvin Jr., and Timothy P. Reis were classmates at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, and now they share the same 25th anniversary as priests.

All five were ordained on May 31, 1986 by Bishop Daniel A. Cronin at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River.

“It is a great joy that the five of us are still in active ministry together,” said Father Frechette,

pastor of St. Mark’s Parish in Attleboro Falls. “That’s a bit rare today. So many things can occur in 25 years. We’re very pleased to be celebrating this milestone together.”

Father Frechette told The Anchor that the last quarter century has sped by. “Twenty-five years go by amazingly fast,” he said.

“My only regret is I haven’t yet had time to ponder and appreciate all the beautiful moments I’ve had as a priest.

“It’s a far better ride than I ever expected. I’ve been blessed every step of the way, even in the difficult times. I had high expectations coming into the priesthood, and it’s exceeded those.”

Father Frechette shared the

joy of 25 years with his parishioners at a recent Mass and luncheon. “I wanted it simple. This isn’t about me. It’s about God.” Father Gauvin told The Anchor he sees the last 25 years as a “growing experience” for him.

“My first assignment was at Immaculate Conception Parish in New Bedford,” he said. “It was a Portuguese parish and I had to learn a new language. It was a challenge. I had a private tutor and studied for two years.

It was a rewarding experience and one that would help me out in other assignments down the road.”

He remarked on “learning to be a pastor,” over the years. “It’s one thing to be a priest, it’s anTurn to page 15

Diocesan priests assigned to new parishes

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — Bishop George W. Coleman has announced the appointments of five pastors to new parochial assignments, effective June 29.

Father Edward E. Correia has been appointed pastor of St. Joseph’s Parish in Fall River while remaining pastor of St. Michael’s Parish in the city.

Father William M. Costello has been appointed pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Seekonk.

Father Maurice O. Gauvin has been appointed pastor of St. George’s Parish in Westport.

Father Gerard A. Hebert has been appointed pastor of St. Anthony’s Parish in East Falmouth.

Turn to page 18

2011 Catholic Charities Appeal update — page 20

2

News From the Vatican

June 10, 2011

Pope says Moses mediated for Israel as Christ mediated for mankind

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Moses was willing to sacrifice himself to God for the sins of the people of Israel, just as Jesus Christ later sacrificed Himself for the sins of humanity, Pope Benedict XVI said.

In a recent weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Benedict said that the intercession of Moses, in which he asked God’s forgiveness on behalf of others, invites Christians to recognize their sins and be saved through God’s mercy.

The explanation about the role of Moses was the latest in a series of papal audience talks emphasizing the importance of prayer and its transformative power.

Pope Benedict recounted the story from the Book of Exodus when Moses, who had been fasting for 40 days to prepare for receiving the Ten Commandments, is told by an angry God that in his absence the people of Israel have made a golden calf to worship.

The pope said this is because the people, after having been led

out of Egypt by Moses, are not able to understand the mystery of an invisible God and therefore produce “a comprehensible god, which corresponds to their ideas and their projects.”

God is ready to destroy them for praying to a false god, but Moses, in prayer, begs Him to forgive them and “show Himself stronger than sin and death,” the pope said.

In reality, the pope said, God gave Moses the chance to intercede, “thus revealing that God’s desire is always salvation.”

In asking for forgiveness, the pope said, Moses does not make excuses, but admits wrong and appeals to the mercy of God “who offers the sinner the possibility to return to Him.” At the end of the audience, Pope Benedict gave a special greeting to pilgrims from Croatia, where he was to visit June 4-5. He asked Croatian Catholics to pray for the success of his trip there, which will focus on the theme of Christian families.

Church must find more effective ways to evangelize, says pope

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — New evangelization means finding the most effective ways to proclaim the Gospel to a world that is either too distracted or too blind to see the divine, Pope Benedict XVI said.

Today’s spiritual crisis is marked by people excluding God from their lives, “generalized indifference” toward Christianity and stringently pushing faith from the public to the private sphere, he said.

The Church will have to “find ways to make the proclamation of salvation more effective,” he told members of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization.

The newly-created council, headed by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, met for its first plenary assembly May 30 to June 1.

Pope Benedict, who estab-

The Anchor www.anchornews.org

lished the new council, said he hoped the members would help outline a plan for the whole Church in regards to the urgent task of evangelization, which must include formation, especially for young people.

It’s important for people to understand that “being Christian is not a kind of outfit to wear in private or on special occasions but is something that is alive and all-encompassing, capable of taking on all that is good in modern times,” he said.

Part of reinvigorating the missionary spirit involves making sure one’s actions are compatible with one’s beliefs, he said.

“The lifestyle of believers needs real credibility,” he said, adding that the more “dramatic” the situation of society is, the more “convincing” Christians need to be with their lives.

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 55, No. 23

Member: Catholic Press Association, Catholic News Service

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

Subscription price by mail, postpaid $20.00 per year, for U.S. addresses.

Send address changes to P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA, call or use email address

PUBLISHER - Most Reverend George W. Coleman EXECUTIVE EDITOR Father Roger J. Landry fatherrogerlandry@anchornews.org EDITOR David B. Jolivet davejolivet@anchornews.org OFFICE MANAGER Mary Chase marychase@anchornews.org ADVERTISING Wayne R. Powers waynepowers@anchornews.org REPORTER Kenneth J. Souza k ensouza@anchornews.org REPORTER Rebecca Aubut beckyaubut@anchornews.org Send Letters to the Editor to: fatherrogerlandry@anchornews.org

PoStmaSters send address changes to The Anchor, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722.

THE ANCHOR (USPS-545-020) Periodical Postage Paid at Fall River, Mass.

spanning generations — A child reacts after being kissed by Pope Benedict XVI as he leaves his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican recently. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Vatican AIDS conference focuses on need to change sexual behavior

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Back-to-back speeches at a Vatican AIDS conference illustrated that condoms in AIDS prevention remains a sensitive issue for both church officials and international health experts.

Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS, told conference participants that he was delighted when Pope Benedict XVI, in his recent book-length interview, “Light of the World,” hypothesized that use of a condom to prevent infection could be a first step toward moral responsibility.

As Vatican officials listened with rather pained expressions, Sidibe quoted the relevant section from the pope’s book.

“This is very important. This has helped me to understand his position better and has opened up a new space for dialogue,” Sidibe said.

A few minutes later, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi also quoted from the pope’s book — the part that began, “We cannot solve the problem (of AIDS) by distributing condoms.”

Like other Church officials at the conference, Archbishop Tomasi, the Vatican’s representative to U.N. agencies in Geneva, took the view that condom campaigns have failed to tackle the fundamental issue of irresponsible sexual behavior in the spread of the AIDS virus.

The two-day conference was billed as a forum for clarifying pastoral practices when it comes to the Church’s efforts against AIDS. No guidelines were issued, but they may come later; the Vatican typically lays down principles at a gathering like this one, and specific instructions may emerge somewhere down the road.

One thing, however, was already crystal clear: Whatever the moral arguments over an individual’s use of a condom for disease

prevention, the Vatican has judged condom promotion a failure in the battle against AIDS. Several speakers cited data to show that countries in Africa that rely primarily on condom campaigns have not stopped the spread of AIDS, while the continent’s “success stories” have featured a strong emphasis on sexual responsibility.

Edward C. Green, the former director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at Harvard University, told the conference that there was a growing international consensus that AIDS can be controlled only by changing patterns of sexual behavior. This is not simply a moralistic point of view, but one based on practical effectiveness, he said.

He cited the case of Uganda, where a government emphasis on sexual fidelity and abstinence helped reduce the HIV infection rate from about 14 percent in 1991 to about four percent in 2003. But over the past eight years, he said, the focus on sexual responsibility has diminished. Drugs and condoms are now viewed as the solution, and the HIV rate has begun to rise again, he said.

Green said that while faithbased organizations have worked successfully to change high-risk behavior, they sometimes are denied international funding because they won’t support condom distribution.

“Willingness to promote condoms should not be a litmus test for working in AIDS prevention,” he said.

Several speakers at the Vatican conference said the Church supports greater access to medical care for AIDS patients in poor countries. Antiretroviral drugs have proven very effective in treatment but are too costly for many Africans.

Green cautioned, however,

against thinking that drugs are the answer to AIDS. Most countries simply can’t afford it, he said.

Instead, he urged support for “simple, low-cost, sustainable and culturally tailored solutions” like behavioral change, and less reliance on “the multi-billion dollar industry of biomedical research and pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and clinics.”

In a keynote address to the conference, Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, head of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, said it would be a mistake for the Church to drop its insistence on sexual responsibility and to support all anti-AIDS measures, with the idea that “the end justifies the means.”

Like others at the conference, Archbishop Zimowski said he was intrigued by recent advances in early antiretroviral treatment of AIDS and evidence that it dramatically lowers the risk of transmission. At the same time, he said the very success of the drugs, especially in richer countries where they are widely available, has led people to resume high-risk sexual behavior.

Archbishop Zimowski said the success of early antiretroviral treatment in preventing AIDS transmission had brought hope to married couples where one spouse is infected with HIV. He said the early therapy has also been shown to greatly reduce the risk of transmission of HIV from mother to child during pregnancy. That means HIV-positive couples, in some circumstances, could risk having sexual relations in order to have a child, he said.

In general, the archbishop said, the Church recognizes that it is proposing “the most difficult path” in limiting the spread of AIDS, but he said it was a path that respects the values of conjugal fidelity, human life and the family.

June 10, 2011

3

The International Church Registration opens for 2012 International Eucharistic Congress B y Michael K elly C atholic N ews Service

anniversary card — The Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations of the bishops’ conference has designed a prayer card for the pope’s anniversary that can be downloaded from www.foryourvocation.org.

Benedict XVI to celebrate 60 years as a priest June 29

WASHINGTON, D.C., (Zenit.org) — The U.S. bishops want to know how your parish is planning to prepare for and celebrate the 60th anniversary of Benedict XVI’s ordination to the priesthood.

The pope will celebrate his anniversary June 29, the Solemnity of SS. Peter and Paul.

The Congregation for Clergy has issued an appeal to Catholics worldwide to mark the pope’s anniversary with 60 hours of eucharistic prayer for vocations and the sanctification of the clergy.

According to a statement of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, dioceses nationwide are planning to organize prayers before the Blessed Sacrament throughout the month of June. Some celebrations will conclude on July 1, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the World Day of Prayer for Priests.

“Dioceses and parishes are asked to share information on how they are celebrating the anniversary in prayer,” the statement added. To advise the bishops of any activities in local parishes or dioceses, send an email to clergy@usccb.org.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the bishops’ conference, highlighted the importance of this celebration in a letter to the bishops last week. He called prayer for vocations “a worthy intention” and an appropriate spiritual sacrifice “in gratitude for the example and service of Benedict XVI.” “An increase in number and sanctity of the priests in service to our dioceses is a sign of health and vitality in the Church,” he added.

Archbishop Robert Carlson

of St. Louis, chairman for the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, said that the occasion “is an exceptional opportunity to give thanks for our Holy Father, to pray for all of our priests, and to ask the Lord for more vocations to the priesthood.”

“The Holy Father has been an outstanding model of priestly ministry and service to the Church,” he added. “In his Message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, Proposing Vocations in the Local Church, he reminded the faithful that we all have a responsibility to pray for vocations.

This is a great opportunity to do just that.”

The Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations of the bishops’ conference has designed a prayer card for the pope’s anniversary that can be downloaded from www.foryourvocation. org.

Foyer of Charity

Scituate, MA 02066-1499 Scripture-based Eucharist-centered Retreats since 1977

Upcoming Retreats July 11 - 17 July 25 - 31 (Blessed John Henry Newman’s thought) August 15 - 21 For reservation or information: www.foyerofcharity.com or info@foyerofcharity.com or 781-545-1080

DUBLIN — Registration has officially opened for the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in 2012, and organizers hope the event will help reinvigorate the Irish Church.

Delegates from some 70 countries met June 1-3 to hear plans for the events that Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin described as a “vital element in the reform agenda of the Irish Church.”

Participants at the June 1017, 2012, congress will hear reflections, catechesis and workshops from leading prelates and theologians. A day devoted to ecumenical communion through Baptism will be led by Anglican Archbishop Michael Jackson of Dublin.

Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, will preside at a day dedicated to Reconciliation.

That session will also be addressed by Richard Moore, who was blinded by a British army rubber bullet in Northern Ireland in 1972.

Moore subsequently tracked down the soldier who fired the round and established a friendship with him.

Other senior prelates who have so far been confirmed to lead events are Honduran

Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga and the Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois of Paris.

Father Kevin Doran, secretary-general of the 2012 congress, said he expects around 25,000 people to participate in the catechesis and workshops and 80,000 to participate in the concluding Mass.

The theme for the congress is: “The Eucharist: Communion With Christ and With One Another.”

To raise awareness about the event a congress bell has been taken to parishes and Catholic schools around Ireland. In each community the bell is rung as a sign of invitation to the Dublin event.

More information is available on the congress website, www.iec2012.ie.

The Irish Church will host a national eucharistic congress at Knock shrine, in County Mayo, June 25-26.

Diocese of Fall River

OFFICIAL

His Excellency, the Most Reverend George W. Coleman, Bishop of Fall River, has accepted the request to retire of: Reverend John F. Andrews, Pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Wellfleet Rev. Henry J. Dahl, Pastor, St. Peter the Apostle Parish, Provincetown Rev. Brian J. Harrington, Pastor, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Seekonk His Excellency, the Most Reverend George W. Coleman, Bishop of Fall River, has announced the following appointments: Rev. Edward E. Correia, Pastor, St. Joseph Parish, Fall River, while remaining Pastor, St. Michael, Fall River Rev. William M. Costello, Pastor, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Seekonk Rev. Maurice O. Gauvin, Pastor, St. George Parish, Westport Rev. Gerard A. Hebert, Pastor, St. Anthony Parish, East Falmouth Rev. Hugh J. McCullough, Pastor, St. Peter the Apostle Parish, Provincetown and Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Wellfleet Effective, Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The International Church

4

June 10, 2011

Europe doomed if conscience isn’t rediscovered, pope says

Zagreb, Croatia (CNA/ EWTN News) — Europe is doomed if it doesn’t rediscover the true meaning of conscience, warned Pope Benedict XVI on the first day of his visit to Croatia.

“If, in keeping with the prevailing modern idea, conscience is reduced to the subjective field to which religion and morality have been banished, then the crisis of the West has no remedy and Europe is destined to collapse in on itself,” the pope told a gathering of members from Croatia’s civil society in the capital of Zagreb on June 4.

“If, on the other hand, conscience is rediscovered as the place in which to listen to truth and good, the place of responsibility before God and before fellow human beings — in other words, the bulwark against all forms of tyranny — then there is hope for the future.”

Several hundred key figures from the world of Croatian politics, academia, culture, arts and sport gathered at the country’s national theatre to hear the pope.

His speech echoed his prior warnings against the “dictatorship of relativism.”

He told the assembled dignitaries that many of the “great achievements of the modern age” such as “the recognition and guarantee of freedom of conscience, of human rights, of the freedom of science and hence of a free society” would be undone unless “reason and freedom” were kept rooted in “their transcendent foundation” of God. To make his point, the pope

drew upon the life and work of Father Ruder Josip Boskovic, an early 18th century Croatian Jesuit, who was a great theologian, physicist, astronomer, mathematician, philosopher and poet.

Boskovic, said the pope, was a clear example of “the happy symbiosis of faith and scholarship” in which “there is study of multiple branches of knowledge, but there is also a passion for unity,” and where learning is both “diversified and capable of synthesis.”

This forming of consciences rooted in faith and reason is where “the Church makes her most specific and valuable contribution to society,” said the pope, stressing that this formation should begin in the home, the parish and the school.

In this way children “learn what it means for a community to be built upon gift, not upon economic interests or ideology, but upon love,” and so society is transformed for the better.

Pope Benedict explained that the impact of living in this selfless way, when “learnt in infancy and adolescence, is then lived out in every area of life, in games, in sport, in interpersonal relations, in art, in voluntary service to the poor and the suffering.”

And once this way of life has taken root, “it can be applied to the most complex areas of political and economic life so as to build up a polis that is welcoming and hospitable, but at the same time not empty, not falsely neutral, but rich in humanity, with a strongly ethical dimension.”

Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center “Dedicated to Caring”

Madonna Manor is pleased to announce it has been awarded deficiency-free Department of Public Health Annual Surveys for Quality of Care and Life Safety 85 North Washington Street North Attleboro, MA 02760

reconciling with god — A priest hears the confession of a young man at the Hippodrome in Zagreb, Croatia, where during Pope Benedict XVI celebrated an outdoor Mass June 5. (CNS photo/ Alessia Giuliani, Catholic Press Photo)

World needs Christian families more than ever, pope says

Zagreb, Croatia, (CNA/ EWTN News) — Pope Benedict has given an emotional plea for all people to recognize the beauty, joy and witness of Christian marriage and family life, and to reject secularism, artificial contraception and cohabitation because they are opposed to true love.

“Everyone knows that the Christian family is a special sign of the presence and love of Christ and that it is called to give a specific and irreplaceable contribution to evangelization,” the pope told more than 400,000 pilgrims at Croatia’s first annual family day in the nation’s capital of Zagreb.

“In today’s society the presence of exemplary Christian families is more necessary and urgent than ever,” he said.

The gathering at the city’s Hippodrome racetrack was the highlight of the pope’s two-day visit to Croatia. In his homily he extolled both the virtues of Catholic family life and flatly rejected many of the modern attacks upon it.

Because of the “difficulties and threats” that Christian families face, Pope Benedict said that they have a “special need of evangelization and support.”

He praised them as a decisive resource for education in the faith, for the way families build up the communion of the Church and the ways they contribute to the Church’s missionary presence “in the most diverse situations in life.”

Pope Benedict then turned to those things that destroy family life and happiness — the first being extreme secularism.

“Freedom without commitment to the truth is made into an absolute, and individual wellbeing through the consumption of material goods and transient experiences is cultivated as an ideal, obscuring the quality of interpersonal relations and deeper human values; love is reduced to sentimental emotion and to the gratification of instinctive impulses, without a commitment to build lasting bonds of reciprocal belonging and without openness to life,” he observed.

“We are called to oppose such a mentality!”

In particular, he urged the young people in the vast congregation to reject cohabitation and artificial contraception. Both, he suggested, undermine true love.

“Do not give in to that secularized mentality which proposes living together as a preparation, or even a substitute for marriage!

Show by the witness of your lives that it is possible, like Christ, to love without reserve, and do not be afraid to make a commitment to another person!”

“Dear families, rejoice in fatherhood and motherhood!

Openness to life is a sign of openness to the future, confidence in the future, just as respect for the natural moral law frees people, rather than demeaning them!”

He then gave parents practical advice on how to live out the radical Christian ideal he was proposing to them.

“Dear parents, commit yourselves always to teach your children to pray, and pray with them; draw them close to the Sacraments, especially to the Eucharist.”

“Introduce them to the life of

the Church; in the intimacy of the home do not be afraid to read the sacred Scriptures, illuminating family life with the light of faith and praising God as Father.”

The pope said that while human effort and ingenuity are commendable, it is prayer and openness to the Holy Spirit which are primarily required if a Christian family is to survive and prosper.

“Sometimes it is thought that missionary efficacy depends primarily upon careful planning and its intelligent implementation by means of specific action. Certainly, the Lord asks for our cooperation, but his initiative has to come first, before any response from us: his Spirit is the true protagonist of the Church, to be invoked and welcomed.”

Ending his homily on that note, Pope Benedict concluded with a prayer. “Let us pray to the Lord, that families may come more and more to be small churches and that ecclesial communities may take on more and more the quality of a family!”

The pope traveled onto Zagreb Cathedral where he prayed at the tomb of Cardinal Blessed Aloysius Stepinac. He was the leader of the Catholic Church in Croatia under the occupation of the Nazis during the Second World War and the communists in subsequent years. Cardinal Stepinac died while under house arrest in 1960 and was beatified

by Pope John Paul II in 1998.

The pope then returned to Rome after his brief 33-hourvisit to Croatia, a country where 89 percent of the population is Catholic.

5 The Church in the U.S. Bishops’ document on assisted suicide will be first by full conference

June 10, 2011

WASHINGTON (CNS) — When the U.S. bishops consider a proposed policy statement on physician-assisted suicide during their mid-June meeting in Seattle, they will be taking on for the first time as a body of bishops one of the most divisive issues in U.S. society today.

A Gallup Poll released May 31 showed that Americans are more closely divided on the issue of physician-assisted suicide than on any other issue, including abortion, out-of-wedlock births, gay and lesbian relations or medical testing on animals.

Asked whether doctor-assisted suicide was morally acceptable or morally wrong, 45 percent said they thought it was acceptable and 48 percent said they believed it to be wrong — a result that fell within the survey’s margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said the time is right for the statement, titled “To Live Each Day With Dignity.”

“After years of relative inaction following legalization of physician-assisted suicide in Oregon in 1994, the assisted suicide movement has shown a strong resurgence in activity,” said the cardinal in a news release about the proposed statement.

“This renewed effort has led to the passage of an Oregon-style law in Washington by popular referendum in November 2008, a state supreme court decision essentially declaring that assisted suicide is not against public policy in Montana, and concerted efforts to pass legislation in several New England and Western states,” Cardinal DiNardo added.

“The Church needs to respond in a timely and visible way to this renewed challenge, which will surely be pursued in a number of states in the years to come,” he said.

Although the U.S. bishops’ Administrative Committee issued a brief “Statement on Euthanasia” in 1991, the bishops have never commented on the topic as a group.

The 1991 statement said euthanasia violates divine law, human dignity and basic “American convictions about human rights and equality.”

In the works since November, the proposed policy statement aims to counter two arguments of assisted suicide proponents — that their agenda affirms patients’

“choices” and expresses “compassion” for suffering. The assisted suicide movement once known as the Hemlock Society has rebranded itself as an organization called Compassion & Choices.

The document says physician-assisted suicide does not promote compassion because its focus is not on eliminating suffering but on eliminating the patient. True compassion, it states, dedicates itself to meeting patients’ needs and presupposes a commitment to their equal worth.

The practice also undermines patients’ freedom by putting pressure on them, once society has officially declared the suicides of certain people to be good and acceptable while working to prevent the suicides of others, the statement says.

It argues that assisted suicide would not supplement palliative care but would instead be a poor substitute that can ultimately become an excuse for denying better medical care to seriously ill people, including those who never considered suicide an option.

The draft statement speaks of the hardships and fears of patients facing terminal illness and the importance of life-affirming palliative care. It cites the Church’s concern for those who are tempted to commit suicide, its opposition to physician-assisted suicide, and the consistency of this stance with the principle of equal and inherent human rights and the ethical principles of the medical profession.

If passed, “To Live Each Day With Dignity” would be paired on a USCCB website with a variety of fact sheets on such issues as the role of depression, views of medical experts, assisted suicide as a threat to good palliative care, lessons from Oregon and Washington state, lessons from the Netherlands and other topics.

It is by happenstance that the document will be debated and voted on in one of the two states where physician-assisted suicide has been approved by voters. The USCCB spring general meetings are held in various U.S. cities, and the locations are set years in advance.

A recent report on physician-assisted suicide in Washington state dur-

Charter review among topics facing bishops

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The U.S. bishops’ spring general assembly will focus primarily on a review of the 2002 “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” at the June 15-17 meeting in Seattle and also will include a variety of presentations looking forward and back.

Ken Hackett, president of Catholic Relief Services since 1993, will address the bishops about his nearly four decades of work with the international humanitarian agency of the U.S. Catholic community as his retirement nears. Msgr. David Malloy, a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, also will address the assembly as he concludes a five-year term as general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The bishops are expected to look to the 2012 elections as they discuss their perennial “Faithful Citizenship” document on political responsibility, and Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington will report to them on progress toward incorporation of Anglican groups into the Catholic Church in the United States under Pope Benedict XVI’s November 2009 apostolic constitution “Anglicanorum coetibus.”

ing 2010 — the first full year that it had been a legal option — showed that 68 different doctors wrote prescriptions for lethal drugs for 87 patients. The state Department of Health said at least 51 of those patients took the drugs and died and 15 died without taking the drugs.

Another six of the patients died, but the state did not know whether they had taken the drugs or not; the Department of Health said it did not know if the remaining 15 pa-

tients were alive or dead.

In its report covering 10 months of 2009, the state health department said it had lost track of 20 patients who had requested and received prescriptions for lethal drugs. At least 36 people died from physician-assisted suicide in Washington state in 2009.

Since physician-assisted suicide began to take place legally in Oregon in 1998, 525 deaths from assisted suicide have been reported there.

6

The Anchor Opening anew the school of prayer

The tradition of papal general audiences goes back 140 years to Blessed Pope Pius IX. Up until then, the popes would regularly grant “private audiences” to individual bishops, priests and religious, visitors, diplomats, and small pilgrimage groups. Beginning in 1870, however, when Pius IX declared himself a “prisoner of the Vatican” and for 59 years he and his successors refused to travel outside of the Vatican walls, the general audience became the means by which not only pilgrims coming to Rome could see the successor of St. Peter, but the pope could maintain a personal contact with the flock Christ had entrusted to him. It also provided the opportunity for a clear and healthy shift in the public understanding of the papacy, from the pope as the chief administrator of a small nation to the more ancient and authentic model of the Bishop of Rome as the teacher of faith.

The use of the papal audience as a catechetical opportunity for the pope to lead Catholics of the world into a deeper understanding of the Catholic faith took a giant leap forward under Pope John Paul II, who used the Wednesday audience format not merely for short faith fervorinos but to debut theological series, most famously his five years of catechetical talks on human love in the divine plan, popularly called the “Theology of the Body.” Over the course of his pontificate, he also gave an enormous rich body of catechetical series reflecting on creation, the Sacraments, the Profession of Faith, the Church, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Trinity and the Psalms. Pope Benedict, after he brought John Paul’s series on the Psalms to a conclusion, has launched into several series of his own: on the Apostles, the early fathers of the Church, St. Paul (during the Pauline Year), the great women saints, and the doctors of the Church. In an age of celebrity, when people are convinced more by witnesses than words, Pope Benedict has focused on the greatest catechesis and catechists of all, given by the lives of those of the saints who have radiated God’s presence and truth in every generation. The beauty of their holiness, the effulgence of their joy, Benedict believes, is the most attractive and compelling presentation of the faith possible.

As important as his first six years of catecheses have been, however, last month Pope Benedict began a new series that may prove to be his most important of all. It is being dedicated to Christian prayer.

The context for the series appears to trace back to the insights Pope John Paul II mentioned in his 2001 Pastoral Plan For the Third Christian Millennium, Novo Millennio Ineunte. Pope John Paul II wrote that the Church exists to train people to become holy and “this training in holiness calls for a Christian life distinguished above all in the art of prayer. … We have to learn to pray. …

Learning this Trinitarian shape of Christian prayer and living it fully … is the secret of a truly vital Christianity.” He noted that there is a widespread demand for “spirituality” in today’s world and many religions and movements offer some responses to this demand, but “we who have received the grace of believing in Christ, the Revealer of the Father and the Savior of the world, have a duty to show to what depths the relationship with Christ can lead.”

He said that, therefore, it is “essential that education in prayer should become in some way a key-point for all pastoral planning” and that “our Christian communities must become genuine ‘schools’ of prayer, where the meeting with Christ is expressed not just in imploring help but also in thanksgiving, praise, adoration, contemplation, listening and ardent devotion, until the heart truly ‘falls in love.’” He also described how dangerous it was for the Church as a whole, and our parishes in particular, not to become true schools of prayer that train people to pray well and deeply. “It would be wrong to think that ordinary Christians can be content with a shallow prayer that is unable to fill their whole life,” he declared. “Especially in the face of the many trials to which today’s world subjects faith, they would be not only mediocre Christians but ‘Christians at risk.’ They would run the insidious risk of seeing their faith progressively undermined, and would perhaps end up succumbing to the allure of ‘substitutes,’ accepting alternative religious proposals and even indulging in far-fetched superstitions.”

The series that Pope Benedict XVI began on May 4 appears to be responding to these needs and within this context. If the Church as a whole is meant to be a school of prayer, and if prayer is to be the key-point for everything the Church does at every level, then it is fitting that the pope take the lead and set the example. Christians throughout the world are fortunate that, by this series, we will not only be able to profit from the pope’s great intellectual gifts and his deep comprehension of the teachings on prayer in the Bible and in the great Christian mystical tradition, but we will also be able to enter into the fruits of his own eight decades of intense prayer. More than any of the catechetical series of the popes over the past century and a half, this series will likely have the broadest and most immediate application to daily life. Over the course of this catechesis, we will be running news articles on what he says each week, but it would behoove every Catholic to try to read the entire catechesis each week and take it to his or her own prayer. Catholics who use the Internet can find the English translation of his full catechetical address on zenit.org each Wednesday night; on that same website, they can also subscribe to receive a free email with the pope’s catecheses, homilies and other news and interviews from the Vatican each day. Those readers who do not use the computer would be encouraged to obtain a subscription to L’Osservatore Romano so that each week they are able to read the entire papal catechesis on prayer as well as many other papal speeches (to subscribe, call 443-263-0248).

Beginning the series, Pope Benedict said, “Together with the first disciples, we now turn with humble trust to the Master and ask, ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’” In these catecheses, “we will learn to live yet more intensely our relationship with the Lord, as though in a ‘school of prayer.’ We know well, in fact, that prayer cannot be taken for granted: We must learn how to pray, almost as if acquiring this art anew; even those who are very advanced in the spiritual life always feel the need to enter the school of Jesus to learn to pray with authenticity.”

In the first two episodes, he focused on prayer in ancient cultures “to reveal how, virtually always and everywhere, people have turned to God” aware of his “condition as a creature and his dependence on Another superior to him and the source of every good.” There is a universal religious sense, no matter how much those influenced by the secularist tendencies of modern culture seek to live as if God did not exist. Prayer is an expression of the human person’s desire for God. After that introduction, Pope Benedict began a biblical review of prayer, saying to those in St. Peter’s Square with him and all of us throughout the world: “I would like to invite you to take advantage of the journey we will make in the forthcoming catecheses to learn to know the Bible more, which I hope you have in your homes and, during the week, pause to read and meditate in prayer; to know the wonderful history of the relationship between God and man, between God who communicates with us and man who responds, who prays.” In the first few weeks, he gave rich meditations on what we can learn from the prayers of Abraham, Jacob, and Moses, about praying for mercy, with persistence and in intercession, respectively.

“Lord, teach us how to pray.” God has responded to that plea, by giving us a deep instruction on prayer in the Bible. And Jesus Christ continues to respond to that request in our own day in the person of His earthly vicar.

W

June 10, 2011

‘Let the fire fall’

in our graduates who serve the Church in ith this upcoming Sunday being so many outstanding apostolates, in family the Solemnity of Pentecost, life, as priests and religious, in business, I couldn’t think of a more perfect time healthcare, and in their churches and comto reflect upon the life of the one of the munities.” greatest American Catholics of the last 50 Father Henry called him “a champion years, a man who is truly filled with the Holy Spirit, Father Michael Scanlan, TOR, of the civil rights movement, one of the founders of the Pro-Life movement, and president emeritus of Franciscan Univerone of the first and greatest leaders in the sity of Steubenville.

For 37 years, “Father Mike” served the Catholic charismatic renewal, the Catholic catechetical renewal, and the renewal of Franciscan University of Steubenville in Catholic higher education in America.”

Ohio (of which I am a proud alumnus).

Father Mike, who though almost 80 Known for being the birthplace of Dean years old, maintains a Pope John Paul Martin, the small town along the Ohio II-like youthfulness. But after 37 years, River has been transformed by a CathoFather Mike is saying farewell to the unilic university that he was responsible for versity and entering into a well-deserved renewing. Almost entirely due to his leadership and tremendous docility to the Holy retirement at the Franciscan’s Retirement Spirit, Franciscan University has one of the home in Loretto later this summer.

At the recent Baccalaureate Mass, honstrongest Catholic identities in the nation.

In 1956, Father Scanlan graduated from orary degree recipient Raymond Cardinal Burke, prefect of the Apostolic Signitura Harvard Law School. He then served as Staff Judge Advocate in the U.S. Air Force in Rome, praised Father Mike for leading before discerning a call to religious life and Franciscan University “during some very entering the Franciscan Third Order Regu- critical years.” Father Scanlan, “with a lion’s heart, lar in 1957. He held to the was ordained truth and to the to the priestPutting Into integrity of this hood in 1964. university, and After serving the Deep we’re all very his religious deep in our order in various

By Father gratitude to assignments inhim,” he said. cluding rector Jay Mello In a recent of St. Francis interview, Seminary in Father Mike explained what he thought Loretto, Penn., he accepted the office of was his greatest accomplishment in all of president at the then College of Steubenhis years at Franciscan, “The thing I am ville in 1974.

The culture in which Father Scanlan as- most happy that I did was pray hard for sumed the presidency was turbulent to say what God wanted. I would spend three or the least. The local economic situation was four hours in the morning in prayer before I would go to the president’s office. I knew in bad shape and the university was struggling just to keep its doors open. But there that God wanted to change things in the university, and I needed the same kind of were more than just economic issues; the assurance for what God wanted for the struggle to maintain its Catholic identity university as from what God wanted for was no easy task. An attitude of dissent my life.” from Church teachings was taking over at “What stands out is that it was God Catholic universities and colleges throughwho was inspiring and leading me,” he out the nation (many of which sadly lost that battle and compromised their identity). continued. “I was just trying to be faithful. As I look back, I realize that we had The university explained in a release to come up with a God-inspired mission. about his retirement, “Under Father ScanThat mission was the same focus of a lan’s leadership, the university’s theology charism as the New Evangelization of professors became the first at any CathoPope John Paul II.” lic college or university in the nation to Even though many of us will not be publicly pledge an Oath of Fidelity to the magisterium. Franciscan University gained asked to lead a university or college, there international attention during his tenure for is so much that we can learn from Father its fidelity to the Catholic Church, integra- Mike Scanlan. We can often find ourselves in difficult circumstances where it looks tion of faith and reason in academic and like the world is caving in upon us, when residence life programs, and its commitwe feel helpless or afraid. In these moment to excellence in education.” ments, we can follow the advice of Father In 2000, Father Mike stepped down Mike, and pray that God “let the fire fall” after 26 years as president and became and to allow the power of the Holy Spirit the university’s first chancellor, a position to come into our lives and empower us the that he has held for the last 11 years. This move away from the administration of the way He did to the first Apostles.

What Father Mike did at Franciscan university allowed Father Mike to do what he loves most — spending time on campus University is not the result of a great plan with students and travelling throughout the or just a lot of hard work, it was and continues to be the work of the Holy Spirit in country visiting with alumni and benefacthe lives of faithful Catholics. tors.

God called Father Mike Scanlan to The man chosen to succeed him as president, Father Terence Henry, TOR said renew Franciscan University, but God is also calling each of us to be a part of the of Father Mike, “It is impossible to calculate the thousands of lives transformed and renewal of the whole world and an integral part of the New Evangelization. For this, souls brought closer to Christ because of we too, must pray that the fire of God’s Father Scanlan’s decades of service.

Holy Spirit my fall upon each of us and “Franciscan University’s mission burn deep within our hearts! springs from the heart of the Church, Father Mello is a parochial vicar at St. which has borne so much fruit from Father Michael’s endeavors. This fruit can be seen Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth.

June 10, 2011

Q: Many Catholic brides and grooms acknowledge themselves as “living together” right up to the time of a sacramental marriage, and/or they admit that they have not followed the precepts of the Church (Mass on Sunday, Easter obligation, etc.). They decide to have a “Catholic wedding.”

Their marriage preparation lacks the requirement that they attend the Sacrament of Reconciliation to place themselves in a state of grace. Must a Catholic bride and/ or groom be in the state of grace as they enter into matrimony in order for them to receive the grace of the Sacrament? Is their marriage valid if they are not in the state of grace?

-- M.T., Bloomfield, Conn.

A: The present state of social mores is a source of frequent consternation to priests, deacons and others involved in preparing couples for marriage.

Many pastoral agents feel caught between Scylla and Charybdis, fearing that demanding the couple’s separation before marriage might dash any hopes of re-evangelizing them during the marriage preparation course. For this reason some might be tempted to turn a blind eye to cohabiting couples.

Here the Latin adage “Suaviter in forma, fortiter in re” (gentle in form, firm as to principle) comes into play.

When a couple requests a Catholic wedding it is necessary to inquire as to their motives. When the motives are genuinely, even if imperfectly, religious, it should be

T

7

The Anchor

Cohabitating brides and grooms

riage by living in the state of grace. gently but firmly explained that being married in the Church, more than Cohabiting couples should be gently but clearly told that their situation a pretty social event, is a lifelong is not conducive to an adequate binding pact between them and God. It thus requires serious spiritual preparation for a Catholic wedding.

Cohabitation also risks the future preparation, and the couple should stability of their life together, as has be encouraged to take the commitment fully aware of what is required. been shown by both pastoral experience and formal scientific studies.

Any diocesan policies should be explained right from the beginning. While the Church is almost always willing to conduct a sacramental marriage so as to at least give the couple the opportunity of returning to the SacraBy Father ments, many dioceses and pastors are wont to refuse Edward McNamara cohabiting couples the full panoply of a religious wedding and insist on a discreet Marriage, just like Confirmaprivate service. tion, Eucharist, Holy Orders and, This is done out of respect for, whenever possible, Anointing of the and to emphasize, the essentially Sick, require the state of grace for religious nature of the Sacrament of their fruitful reception.

Holy Matrimony so that it is never With respect to validity, however, reduced to the social sphere. someone who is married while in While marriage preparation courses have several goals in prepar- a state of mortal sin may be validly married (as they would be validly ing the couple for married life, it is confirmed, ordained, or validly celgravely incumbent that the couple ebrate Mass). But he/she would not reaches a clear understanding of the receive the grace proper to this Saccommitments toward fidelity, perrament and indeed commits a further manence and openness to children. grave sin of sacrilege and renders the These commitments are essential Sacrament objectively illicit. to celebrate a valid wedding in the Such a state hardly augurs well Catholic Church. Otherwise the for future marital bliss. It is therewedding should not proceed, since no pastor should ever risk witnessing fore of utmost pastoral concern that couples be prepared in such a way a probably invalid marriage.

It is also of very great importance that they clearly understand the beauty of Catholic teaching regardthat the couple prepares for mar-

Liturgical Q&A

ing pre-nuptial chastity, sincerely repent of any sins they may have committed, and seek the Sacrament of Reconciliation so as to enter into marriage in the state of grace.

The challenges are immense and certainly exceed the possibilities of this column to enter into details. This is why we have limited ourselves to enunciate some basic guiding principles.

Related to the subject of cohabitating couples, several readers asked questions as to what weddings a Catholic should not attend.

This is a very delicate question and one which sometimes sparks bitter division among families, especially as relatives often instinctively allow the heart to rule the head when faced with clearly erroneous choices made by loved ones.

There sometimes is no simple answer, and persons with doubts about particular situations should consult their pastor before making a final decision.

A Catholic cannot approve of an action by which relatives deprive themselves of the possibility of benefiting from the Sacraments and should do all that can reasonably be done so that their kith and kin marry in good standing. True love for our relatives must embrace concern for their eternal salvation and cannot be limited to their temporal happiness.

In making clear that in conscience they cannot support their relative’s

decision by their presence, they should strive to retain human affection and support and avoid a breach in social relationships.

In deciding how to react, Catholics should take into account their relative’s level of catechesis and practice. It is very different if the relative is making an incorrect choice out of ignorance or fully aware that he or she is disobeying Church laws. The relative’s degree of faith knowledge also influences the possibility of his or her understanding a loved one’s refusal to attend the ceremony.

If one sees that it is simply ignorance, and nothing but bitterness is to be gained by refusing to attend the celebration, or at least the reception, then one could attend while making one’s disapproval clear. But this kind of case is best discussed with one’s pastor ahead of time.

One general principle could be that a Catholic should not attend a wedding in which the person is entering into an objectively irregular state. This would include cases where a Catholic enters into a second union after having divorced a living spouse, and without having received an annulment.

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

Does the Catholic Church have doubts about brain death?

he Catholic Church has long acknowledged the role of the medical professional in declaring death. It is the proper competency of medicine, not theology, to identify reliable signs that death has occurred. The hardening of the body known as rigor mortis, for example, is a reliable medical indicator that death has occurred.

When the heart permanently stops beating and the lungs permanently stop functioning (cessation of cardio-pulmonary function), medical professionals recognize these signs as another reliable way to assess that death has occurred.

The complete and irreversible loss of all brain function (commonly known as “brain death”) is yet another reliable way medical professionals determine that a patient has died.

In an August 2000 address, Pope John Paul II took up the particular question of brain death and concluded: “The criterion adopted in more recent times for ascertaining the fact of death, namely the complete and irreversible cessation of all brain activity, if rigorously applied, does not seem to conflict with the essential elements of a sound anthropology.” In other words, he affirmed that the Church does not see any fundamental conceptual problems with the idea

tion of brain death gained consenof brain death. The complete cessus and became widely accepted sation of all brain function (brain within both the medical and legal death), is also referred to as “neucommunities. rological criteria” for determining The Catholic Church likewise death, to distinguish it from the classic “cardio-pulmonary criteria” acknowledged these medical developments and has never used for centuries.

The medical profession initially expressed any serious conceptual reservations about brain death in accepted the notion of brain death the years following the Harvard renot because it was looking to procure organs for transplant, as is sometimes supposed, but because of a new situation that arose from the burgeoning use of ventilators, with some patients becoming permanently

By Father Tad “ventilator-dependent.” As Pacholczyk early as 1959, well before widespread organ transplantation was possible, Drs. Mollaret and Goulon wrote in port. Today, medical professionals remain in broad agreement that the the “Review of Neurology” about complete and irreversible cessaa subgroup of these ventilator-dependent patients who had suffered tion of all brain activity serves as a reliable indicator that a person has catastrophic brain injuries. This died. Major medical societies such could result in a definable condias the American Medical Association from which recovery was imtion and the American Academy possible (“a state beyond coma”).

Patients in this state had died, even of Neurology have issued official statements affirming this. though ventilators could continue Nevertheless, a certain number to oxygenate their bodies and preserve organs for a limited period of of Catholics today insist that brain time. Following the publication of death is not really death. One a pivotal 1968 report detailing this moral theologian, for example, kind of situation by a committee at recently expressed doubts “that ventilator-sustained brain dead Harvard Medical School, the no-

Making Sense Out of Bioethics

bodies are corpses.” Several Catholic physicians have raised similar concerns. As long as thorough and accurate medical testing is performed, however, the Church continues to support the determination of death based on neurological criteria. In addition to Pope John Paul II’s address mentioned earlier, a number of other Church documents and declarations affirm this. These include statements from the Pontifical Academy of Life, the Pontifical Council for Healthcare Workers, and the Pontifical Academy for Sciences, among others.

In a recent article on the Catholic News Agency website, Dr. John Haas argues that the number and common thread of these ecclesiastical statements in recent years indicates that the teaching authority of the Church has “generally resolved” the question of the acceptability of relying on neurological criteria as a means for ascertaining death.

In the face of clear Church teaching on this issue, Dr. Haas further observes how it is not responsible for Catholics to generate uncertainty by openly and publicly disputing the suitability of neurological criteria for determin-

ing death. Such speculations can “cause confusion in the minds of the faithful and unsettle consciences.” If consciences become unsettled on this matter, the practical ramifications can be far-reaching: consent to harvest organs is not given, transplants of such organs do not occur, and lives that could validly be saved by such transplants are instead lost.

The fact remains that the Catholic Church to date has expressed no official doubts about brain death, emphasizing instead that a health care worker can use neurological criteria as the basis for arriving at “moral certainty” that death has occurred. Meanwhile, the Church continues to recognize the generous nature of freely-chosen organ donation, an act Pope John Paul II once called “particularly praiseworthy” and an act which can offer “a chance of health and even of life itself to the sick who sometimes have no other hope.”

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

8

T

oday’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, also known as the “Gospel of the Holy Spirit,” as well as the Gospel pericope from St. John, describe to us the descent of the Holy Spirit. Luke’s and John’s narratives complement each other, teaching that the Holy Spirit is the new law and the new force that leads us to follow and to comply with this new law.

The Holy Spirit is a source of unity, destroys all barriers, and erases all sin.

The second reading from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians describes the impact of the presence of this Spirit in the community: each member is enriched with gifts, originating from the Spirit: gifts that do not create competition, but rather, serve to promote unity.

This passage from St. Paul may lead to the following question: where do divisions within the community originate? From mutual jealousies and distrusts! Why do people with good qualities (intelligence, strength, good health, studiousness) act poorly, instead of using these gifts

June 10, 2011

The Anchor

The Spirit destroys all barriers

with humility for the good of the origin of all these gifts is the brothers and sisters? They the same and only one: the demand rather than earn conSpirit. As a matter of fact, St. sideration. They expect to be Paul says, “There are differtreated like important or big ent kinds of spiritual gifts but people, with great respect; the same Spirit” (v. 4). they like to think of themIn an effort to stress the selves as having only rights importance of this unity and privileges, and always seek to occupy the first places Homily of the Week of honor.

Thus, the minisPentecost tries of the communiSunday ty turn from opporBy Father tunities to serve into Henry S. Arruda instruments to affirm one’s own authority, power and prestige at the expense of others. within the community of The Christians in Corinth believers, St. Paul utilizes were not better than today’s the comparison of the body.

Christians; they commitThe Christians constitute one ted the same mistakes and body, a composite of many had the same faults we do. members. Each must use his They were divided as to the own functions for the good varied charisms each one had of the whole organism. The received from God. same must follow with the St. Paul writes to remind diverse gifts that enrich each them that their many qualities member of the community: and gifts were not given them their purpose is so that each for division but to enable may manifest to the oththem to live in unity. “To ers their love, by means of each individual the manifeshumble service. tation of the Spirit is given The Catholic renewal for the common good” (v. 7). (sometimes called the CathoAnd why is this so? Because lic charismatic renewal) as

we have today is blessed indeed with a renewed appreciation of the gifts of the Spirit St. Paul refers to in chapter 12 of first Corinthians.

We cannot have light without the sun, water without its source, heat without a flame.

The Holy Spirit was poured in praise and witness, but also in the manifestation of a series of gifts which we know as charisms. With the renewal, we literally started to step onto these gifts. The term charism appears 17 times in the New Testament, 16 times in St. Paul, and once in the First Letter of Peter (4:10). A charism is a grace, a gift, something we cannot merit by our own effort.

It can simply be described as “a free gift of the Spirit, given for the edification of the Church.” St. Paul says it is “a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”

The intent of these charisma is to serve, build or edify the Church with dynamism.

A community will be more or less alive or dynamic inasmuch as these gifts exist

grow or mature in the same community. A Church without charisms gets old loses its attractiveness and beauty.

The gifts can be given to anyone, a sinner or a saint, man or woman, wise or ignorant, believer or non-believer, in any circumstance and at any time or moment. The Holy Spirit distributes these gifts with entire freedom, but always having in mind the common good. A charism is a grace for anyone, and for the entire community.

The Spirit and His charisms are two inseparable realities. A Church without the Spirit or without charisms would not be Jesus’ Church; a Christian without the Spirit, without His charisms is a dead Christian!

These charisms are authentic opportunities for the life of the Church. Some may be more useful and may edify the community more than others, yet they are all graces that we receive from the Holy Spirit with joy. Therefore, we have to ask for and desire them.

Father Arruda is pastor of St. Anthony’s Parish in Taunton.

Upcoming Daily Readings: June 11, Acts 11:21b-26;13:1-3; Ps 98:1-6; Jn 21:20-25. Sun. June 12, Pentecost Sunday, Acts 2:1-11; Ps 104:1,24,29-31,34; 1 Cor 12:3b-7,12-13; Jn 20:19-23. Mon. June 13, 2 Cor 6:1-10; Ps 98:1-4; Mt 5:38-42. Tues. June 14, 2 Cor 8:1-9; Ps 146:2,5-9a; Mt 5:43-48. Wed. June 15, 2 Cor 9:6-11; Ps 112:1-4,9; Mt 6:1-6,16-18. Thur. June 16, 2 Cor 11:1-11; Ps 111:1-4,7-8; Mt 6:7-15. Fri. June 17, 2 Cor 11:18,21-30; Ps 34:2-7; Mt 6:19-23.

I

n recent centuries, the College of Cardinals has not been noted for its boyishness.

Indeed, one of the human fascinations of a conclave is that it’s a rare opportunity to see a deliberation-with-consequences conducted by elderly men. This can have its down side: according to one story, perhaps apocryphal, a very old cardinal kept writing “Achille Ratti” on his ballot throughout the conclave of 1958; Ratti had died in 1939 as Pius XI. Whether that fragment of conclave lore is true or not, Paul VI’s restriction of the papal electoral franchise to cardinals who were not yet 80 was presumably intended to forestall any such difficulty in the future.

There have been modern exceptions to the general rule of cardinals being typically created in their 60s or 70s. Rafael Merry del Val, Secretary of State to Pius X, became a cardinal at 38 in 1903. Achille Lienart, bishop of Lille and a leader of the reformist party at Vatican II, was named a cardinal at 46

A 40-something cardinal?

take the measure of the new in 1930. Giuseppe Siri, archleader of the world’s Ukrainian bishop of Genoa and, by some Greek Catholics 10 days after accounts, Pius XII’s preferred his election, during a 45-minsuccessor, was created cardinal in 1953 at 47. Trying to bring some comfort to the stricken city of Sarajevo in 1994, John Paul II named its archbishop, Vinko Puljic, a cardinal at 49.

By George Weigel This exclusive club of modern, 40-something cardinals is likely to gain a new ute conversation in Rome that member in the next few years: covered a lot of territory: relaSviatoslav Shevchuk, who was tions between the Ukrainian chosen in March by the Synod of the Greek Catholic Church of Greek Catholic Church and Russian Orthodoxy; relations Ukraine as that Church’s new between the UGCC and the leader, or major-archbishop; various Orthodox jurisdictions his election was subsequently in Ukraine; relations between ratified by Pope Benedict XVI. the UGCC and the Holy See. Major-Archbishop Shevchuk is 40, and if he becomes a cardinal Major-Archbishop Shevchuk is an impressive personality shortly after his predecessor, — fluent in several languages, Cardinal Lubomir Husar, turns theologically and politically 80 in 2013, Shevchuk will be alert, good-humored despite the the youngest member of the weight of responsibility that had College of Cardinals in more fallen on him. than a century.

I was particularly struck by I had the opportunity to

The Catholic Difference

his calm. Less than two weeks before we met at a Ukrainian Catholic center near Santa Maria dei Monti, this former seminary teacher had been bishop of the Ukrainian diaspora community in Argentina. Over the previous 10 days, and to everyone’s surprise (including his own), he had been elected to succeed Cardinal Husar, a man of extraordinary moral authority in Ukraine; then he had been enthroned in Kyiv; then he had immediately come to Rome, to affirm his communion with the pope and to undertake a whirlwind visit of the Roman Curia.

Major-Archbishop Shevchuk had every right to be a bit frayed at the edges when we met. But he was perfectly self-collected, full of a quiet energy, and eager to share ideas about his Church, the largest Eastern-rite Catholic Church and one that lives, as he put it, in a “very difficult neighborhood.”

Since his enthronement,

Major-Archbishop Shevchuk has reached out to the Orthodox communities in Ukraine as well as to the leadership of Russian Orthodoxy, making clear his interests in genuine dialogue, real problem-solving, and joint work to repair the vast human damage done to Ukraine by 70-plus years of communism. Whether his open hand will be met by a similar openness from Moscow remains to be seen, but the open hand has been extended.

Ten years ago, Blessed John Paul II came to Ukraine and won the hearts of its people, challenging Greek Catholics, Latin Catholics, and Ukrainian Orthodox believers to work together to realize what he called Ukraine’s “European vocation.”

Major-Archbishop Shevchuk will play a considerable role in addressing that challenge. He and his Church deserve the unwavering support of Catholics around the world.

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

June 10, 2011

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Sunday 5 June 2011 — out in my own backyard — National Cancer Survivors Day — 24th annual celebration of life new day is dawning. I wander over to Alice’s Restaurant for my cup of coffee. They keep an eye out for me.

When I appear at the counter, I need not say a word. My coffee, piping hot, is there waiting for me. The waitress asks how my greyhounds are faring and are they enjoying this fine weather? She’s a dog person.

All the regular customers are sitting in their normal places, eating their usual breakfasts.

We tend to live our daily lives in a rut, but isn’t all life daily life?

If I’m running early, the town policeman will be in his favorite booth, scoffing a hearty breakfast of a four-egg omelet before a day of adventure on the streets of Dighton.

A

A

9

The Anchor The nursing home custodian always eats a bowl of oatmeal with a dollop of strawberries.

Sometimes the guy from the

The Ship’s Log Reflections of a Parish Priest

By Father Tim Goldrick local heating oil company, who always sits at the table by the door, will inquire about a pending funeral about which he heard “through the grapevine.”

He has the newspaper spread out on the table, scanning for items of interest. Sometimes the fellow from the town Highway Department will tease me about something or other. He’s a quiet man with a highly-developed sense of humor. I tease him back. There’s even a retirees’

table. They will solve all the problems of the world before lunch. That’s what retirees are supposed to do.

It’s such a fine morning I decide to sit in my backyard, listening to the birds chirping, sipping my coffee and skimming the local newspaper. The sun is growing warmer.

The night-fog hanging over the marsh is lifting. The chartreuse leaves of the woods across the street are becoming visible. Ah, spring!

For some reason, I glance at the police log. I usually never bother with it. Most big-city newspapers no longer publish items from the police blotter, what with so many news items demanding attention — terrorists’ bombings, devastating tornadoes, cold-blooded murders, the pending end of the

A summer of communion

a few more hours of leisure, s another summer looms perhaps mothers could make a before us, we may not study of those individual needs have a precise plan about how to that may have gotten lost in the spend the next two months. Of crush. course, there are camps, sumWhile family outings are fun mer classes, sports and childcare for bonding and a change of arrangements for parents who scenery, perhaps parents could work. There are doctors appointlook for opportunities to single ments to prepare children for the out each child for a few hours upcoming school year, braces to each week, perhaps a lunch or a be tightened and new wardrobes cultural event that would appeal to assemble. Perhaps there will be a vacation within the vacation — seeing new sights or catching up with distant relations.

Perhaps there are vague ideas about museums and historical venues, or intentions to get

By Genevieve Kineke a firm start on some long-deferred books.

(Many children, of primarily to that child. Large course, will have their reading families, especially, run the risk assignments in hand.) of traveling as groups — which Is that what summer is all can be great fun and filled with about? Could we take a moment a dynamic all their own, yet to consider what will set this it’s usually during one-on-one time apart so that we can apencounters that a child reveals proach the new school year with what’s on his mind. a different mindset? Granted, Another temptation is to there are some non-negotiable schedule outings or pastimes that items, but how can we prioriwill occupy the hours that school tize those things that will truly would otherwise fill, so that there refresh and restore us for the is less idleness or boredom. But coming year? the thing is that idleness and If we make the whole person boredom are not entirely bad — our yardstick, it would benefit us in fact they can give rise to deep to discern the challenges particuthoughts and sustained wonder. lar to each member of our circle.

Do children still have opporWhile education itself is meant tunities to lie in the grass and to form the person, now we can watch the clouds? Do they have look more closely at the spiritual a chance to consider what and and psychological elements that whom they miss when school make us human, especially the ends — and why? Do they take unique characteristics of those time to build and read and enjoy we love. Now, especially, with

The Feminine Genius

unconstructed play?

I know you don’t want to spoil them. There’s the yard work, the housework, the myriad chores and a variety of responsibilities which cannot be overlooked. But this brings me to the most difficult suggestion of all: could they work and play and pass their days without gadgets?

Is this possible any more?

The greatest obstacle to human interaction in this generation is our retreat into the world of screens. Nothing can make conversation dryer or affection more forced than the distracting technologies that entertain and fragment us. If the parents’ movies and music are dull for the children, and the older children’s choices inappropriate for the little ones, and the little ones’ pastimes are tedious for everyone else, then what’s left of our family communion?

Perhaps this concern should provide the backdrop to our summertime resolutions. Asking your loved ones to go “cold turkey” from all technological distractions could prove untenable, but firmly establishing eye contact with each person would provide the key step to uncovering his deepest needs, and in reaching out to respond, we would make this summer a leisurely success.

Mrs. Kineke is the author of “The Authentic Catholic Woman” and can be found online at feminine-genius.com

world, etc., but in this neck of the woods, we still do. It gives us something to talk about at Alice’s.

And there it is — the crime of the week. It wasn’t actually a crime but certainly very suspicious activity. A woman had telephoned the police to report that she had spied a strange chicken loitering in her neighbor’s driveway and was afraid it was intending to cross the road. I am not making this up. The police immediately dispatched the Animal Control Officer to find out to whom this delinquent chicken belonged and why was it planning to cross the road. Let me guess: to get to the other side?

Or, maybe the free-roaming chicken was just looking for a change of scenery, a break in routine. A little side trip is soup for the soul, even if you’re a chicken.

The time of summer vacation is fast approaching. Growing up, my family could never afford an expensive “summer get-away,” as they are now sometimes called. The factory in which my father worked shut down completely for two weeks in July. Each day of vacation (weather permitting) my parents would pack all five kids in the “station wagon” and head for the beach. Minivans had not yet been invented.

This meant we traveled from our home in New Bedford to a friend’s cottage in Fairhaven (I remember him being a retired policeman). It wasn’t a very

long drive. I had no time to even ask the perennial question of childhood, “Are we there yet?” On the way home, we would stop at a farm stand for a special treat, freshly-picked corn on the cob for supper. I still consider corn on the cob a treat. Each day I would return home sunburned to a crisp.

Sunscreen had not yet been invented. This is what I did on my summer vacations.

I will never be a world traveler, jetting around the world to exotic destinations. I would much rather just stay home. I did have a passport once, but it expired a decade ago. I prefer making short trips, returning to sleep in my own bed at night.

With the price of gasoline these days, they say day trips are fashionable. It doesn’t cost a lot of money to cross the road.

A book from a friend in Manhattan arrived in the mail.

It was a travel guide. A homebody like me does not normally study travel guides, but I do like to expand my horizons, so I began to read the book. It was a guide to sacred sites and peaceful places in New England. None are far away and even if you’re home bound, you can always travel in your mind. The days of summer will soon be officially upon us. Oh, wait. Am I in a rut? Grab your sunscreen, dear readers; we’re going for a ride.

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

10

The Anchor

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — “I don’t like to bring attention to myself,” said Robert Bouchard. “I like to do things for the sake of doing things.

I like to do things quietly.”

Those things include an intense dedication to his parish, being part of the faculty during the final days of Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in New Bedford, and most recently being a volunteer teacher at Holy Family-Holy Name School in New Bedford.

The former altar boy from Notre Dame de Lourdes Parish in Fall River calls the Immaculate Conception Parish in Fall River home after getting married there more than 43 years ago, and it didn’t take being a product of Catholic school education to instill a deep sense of devotion — that credit, said Bouchard, goes to his grandparents.

“My grandfather went to Mass every single day, and when he wasn’t there the priest would call the house to see if he was OK,” recalled Bouchard, whose early memories of the Church also include his grandmother reading to him in French from the Bible. “My grandmother was a spectacularly religious person.”

Bouchard took his grandparents’ philosophy to heart even while earning a master’s degree in Texas; driving upwards of 30 miles away from the school to find a Catholic parish amidst the slew of Baptist churches in order to attend Mass.

“I think that Mass is a vital part of our lives. I never quit going,” said Bouchard. “I think if you miss

A model in many roles

Mass, you’re missing a big part of put one on me; maybe somebody booths, he suddenly saw a sign life.” would want me. I was 50 and I stating Catholic Schools.

Shortly after joining Immacu- said to myself, who is going to hire “I was hesitant to walk up but late Conception Parish, he was me?” all of a sudden four ladies, whom sitting in the pew one day durFinding a job in the same indus- I didn’t know, said, ‘It’s a man,’” ing Mass when a poke in the ribs try, he languished for eight years in recalled Bouchard, chuckling. caught him off guard. It was Needing male teachers the parish’s sexton, asking for to offer not only a Catholic help collecting the donations; education but also to act a duty that Bouchard has conas role models for the stutinued to do for the past 30 dents, Bouchard willingly years. sent in his resume and in“I think you need to give formation to the Fall River back. Life is not just going to diocesan office. Within a Mass, it’s like the Nike symweek he was interviewed, bol,” he said, referring to the hired and spent that sumcheckmark-like logo used mer preparing lessons for to promote the “Just-do-it” his fourth-grade class. mantra.

Bouchard still remembers He brought that ideal to seeing his class for the first the parish’s 100th annivertime. sary, getting deeply involved “You’re so anxious and in the Planning Committee so happy to start somethat saw him compiling the thing new, you’re walking church’s history and digging into your first classroom, through the files at The Anlooking at these children. chor.

The first thing they said, “I found a lot of things ‘It’s a guy,’” laughed interesting. It was fun lookBouchard. “Up to that ing through the old pictures, point, all they had were laresearching, meeting people dies. It didn’t take me long who had served there — the to assimilate into the promost difficult part was findcedures. The whole year ing the whole list of priests was an uplifting experiwho had served there, from ence. I was always dealing the first one to the most re- Anchor Person of the Week — with things, now I was becent, without leaving a gap,” Robert Bouchard. (Photo by Becky Aubut) ing asked to deal with chilsaid Bouchard, who assemdren and their education, a bled all the information into a sou- a position that often saw him chal- completely different ball game.” venir booklet for parishioners. lenging his values, said Bouchard; Bouchard spent the next seven Working briefly as a teacher at a and he thought he was stuck until years teaching fourth- and fifthjunior college in Boston, Boucha- he saw an ad for a job fair in 2001. grade classes. rd would go on to spend 33 years “I said to myself, you’re going,” “I knew I made the right working for Anderson Little until he recalled. “Somebody there must choice,” said Bouchard. “There it closed. Watching as people put need somebody with experience.” were a few days in the beginning tags on everything, Bouchard jokAfter walking around and that I wanted to kick myself for not ingly said, “Maybe you should dropping off resumes at different doing it earlier. I never considered myself part of the faculty, I considered myself part of a family.”

When the school closed in 2007, Bouchard said that the entire student body and staff were sad, and he decided to retire instead of pursuing another teaching position. He said that first summer was great, getting to enjoy the beach and his grandchildren; but when the long days of winter set in, he became restless until a fortuitous phone call from Cecilia Felix, prin-

June 10, 2011 cipal of Holy Family-Holy Name, changed everything.

Parents from students at the former Our Lady of Mount Carmel School had been talking about him — would he be interested in becoming a volunteer teacher at the school? Teaming up with another teacher, Bouchard began to teach seventh- and eighth-grade science classes, two to three times a week.

“The minute you open the door,” said Bouchard, “you can feel the sense of family. I was welcomed there.”

This past December, Bouchard fell ill; then two months ago he required open-heart surgery in Boston. Before entering the hospital, he had two requests. One was to know if there was a chapel in the hospital, and the second was to be allowed to say his prayers a few minutes before being put under for the operation.

“While I was in the hospital, I have to say my faith was the best medication I could have,” he said. “It’s like a pill but it doesn’t cost anything. I prayed a lot and I watched Mass on television.

The nurses told me this, and I don’t quite remember, that when I came out of the operation that my first words were ‘Thanks be to God.’” The father of two grown boys and grandfather of four young boys, Bouchard is coming full circle in his own life.

“I had a good role model in my grandfather,” he said. “The most important thing I think you can do with grand kids is not to buy them gifts or fill them with things on a regular basis, but to spend time with them. I remember the time that my grandfather spent with me but if you asked me to say what he gave me for Christmas, I couldn’t answer.”

While his grandchildren have kept him busy during his recovery, Bouchard tears up when talking about the students of his classes.

Cleared by the doctor to return to the school in the fall, Bouchard isn’t going to wait that long; he will offer his gratitude to the many students who sent more than 70 handmade Christmas cards, by attending the upcoming Parent Awards Night.

He is also going to be in attendance for this year’s eighth-grade graduating class, made more poignant by having eight students from his final year at Our Lady of Mount Carmel among the graduates.

“I hope my true legacy will be that I have made a difference in a few young people’s lives; to my grandchildren, that I was a great grandfather; and to my parishioners at Immaculate, that I was a good friend,” said Bouchard.

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

11

The Anchor

June 10, 2011

Legal abortion must be eradicated, speaker says

B y Christine M. W illiams A nchor C orrespondent

HINGHAM — Pro-Lifers will not rest until abortion is “eradicated completely without exception,” Father Frank Pavone, director of Priests for Life, said at St. Paul School in Hingham on June 4.

“We will see the end of legal abortion in the United States,” he proudly proclaimed to a crowd of 230.

Father Pavone added that it is essential for the movement to strategize in order to reach that goal as quickly as possible. He said the movement has had success by leading people to oppose abortion in cases where it is more obviously wrong and then work toward less obvious cases.

Politicians need to understand that their first duty is to defend life. If they cannot distinguish between serving vs. killing the public, they must be voted out of office, he said.

Father Pavone said the greatest Pro-Life victory since Roe v. Wade — the 1973 case in which the Supreme Court ruled that women have a “right to privacy” with regard to having an abortion — is the Partial Birth Abortion Ban. The law, enacted in 2003, marked the first time the United States Congress banned an abortion procedure. It was later upheld by the Supreme Court even though it did not contain a health exception.

Groups that support abortion argued that the law was overbroad and could cause abortionists to be unsure about what other similar procedures would still be acceptable under the law. Before Congress, they testified about Dilation and Evacuation. During the process, an abortionist administers medication to dilate the cervix, and then tears the fetus

apart before vacuuming the dismembered body out of the womb.

Father Pavone said that testimony will help the Pro-Life movement outlaw D&E, a step that Priests for Life is already looking into.

Most Americans, even those who support legal abortion, do not support the dismemberment of fetuses, but no ProLife group is mobilizing those who identify as pro-choice to fight abortion, he said.

“They’re not as against us as we may think,” he added.

Another Pro-Life advance is the new wave of state laws that ban abortion after 20 weeks based on research that indicates a fetus can feel pain.

The first fetal pain law was enacted in Nebraska in April of last year.

Father Pavone said these laws strengthen the authority of states to enact laws restricting abortion, and they are educational to the general public.

So far none of them have been challenged despite the abortion lobby’s immediate court action in almost every law that restricts abortion.

“They’re afraid,” he said, explaining that such laws could be upheld by the Supreme Court and cause more Americans to rethink their position on abortion.

Father Pavone encouraged everyone to continue to work for the Pro-Life cause and pointed them to the free resources available on the website, www.priestsforlife. org. Some of those resources are specifically aimed to help priests address abortion from the pulpit.

While in Massachusetts, Father Pavone also prayed outside Planned Parenthood in Boston, visited Friends of the Unborn, met with former

new leaders — The Diocesan Council of Catholic Women recently installed new officers. From left: Fran Brezinski, treasurer; Bea Martins, recording secretary; Gina Desmarais, vice president; Mary Mitchell, president elect (next in line); Virginia Wade, president; and Sister Eugenia Brady, SJC, moderator.

ambassador to the Vatican Ray Flynn, celebrated all Sunday Masses at St. Paul Parish in Hingham and attended the Milton Pro-Life March.

William and Nancy Wise, parishioners at St. Paul Parish in Hingham, told The Anchor they invited Father Pavone to speak at their parish because his message affirms that the Pro-Life movement has meaning and is effective.

“He’s energizing the base,” William said.

Kelsey Gallagher, 16 and student at Montrose School in Medfield, said she was encouraged to hear about the gains made in state fetal pain laws.

“I thought it was very uplifting to know the Pro-Life movement is going somewhere,” said Gallagher, who attended this year’s March for Life in Washington, D.C. Lorraine Loe, parishioner at St. Mary Parish in Dedham, told The Anchor that encouragement to keep fighting for the Pro-Life cause is necessary.

Loe has been a sidewalk

counselor outside Planned Parenthood for decades.

“Your heart just bleeds for those girls,” she said of the women who enter the clinic.

“A save is the greatest thing for us as well as them.”

Loe has been arrested four times for sitting in front of clinic doors in order to block entry. She compared her actions to the peaceful protests of civil rights activists. All four times law enforcement had to drag her away from the clinic, and she said that her time in prison was “like a retreat.”

She and the others who were arrested shared experiences, sang hymns, read from the Bible and praised the Lord all night long. They became so close that the others were like family to her, she said.

Speaking with The Anchor after the event, Father Pavone said that those who are ProLife must deliver that message with love. Information about the true nature of abortion often disturbs people. If they have been touched by abortion

in their lives, they may feel like they are being knocked down and that no one will catch them. They need to hear that God forgives.

The number of surgical abortions that occur each year has been declining, but those are not the only abortions to be concerned about, he added.

The Guttmacher Institute, a research organization founded

by Planned Parenthood, estimates about 3,400 surgical abortions occur each day, but those numbers do not include statistics from every abortion facility. Father Pavone said the rate of surgical abortions is likely closer to 4,000 per day, and that figure does not include the many children who are killed by chemical means.

He said that there is a “new kind of pastoral need” to educate the faithful about abortions that occur as a result of abortifacient medications, which include the birth control pill.

“There is a whole world here of life being taken that is incalculable,” he said.

12

The Anchor

A

s we go to press today, the Boston Bruins are in the middle of the Stanley Cup finals against the high-flying Canucks of Vancouver. The Bruins trail two games to one, but by the time this graces your mailbox, game four will be his-

June 10, 2011

The chase for the (coffee) cup

tory with the series either tied at two or the Nucks up three to one. Praying for the former, not the latter.

Well last week my chase for the cup began as well. The only difference is that the carrot at the end of my string is not the

oldest sports trophy competed looking good that I would win for in North America. No mine the hole. Msgr. Harrington lined is a bit smaller and made of Sty- up a difficult putt to halve the rofoam, not sterling silver. hole, and as it rolled it looked Mine is produced at area better and better. However, it Dunkin’ Donuts shops, not lipped the cup and rolled out. forged in Sheffield, England.

“I already had this down as a The cup I shoot for is an iced coffee or Coolatta. My opponent is the high-flying Msgr. Tom Harrington. Our sport is a bit more subdued. Golf clubs are our weapons of

By Dave Jolivet choice.

We’ve been playing together for several years now. Several times a tie,” he said. I asked him if he season he kidnaps me from my went to the Miami Heat school desk and we shoot for an iced of early celebrations. “Yeah, I drink, as opposed to hitting the guess I did,” was his response. ice and shooting a puck.

I won the hole and that would After a cold, wet spring, the be the last for me for a while. good monsignor and I finally As each hole progressed, the made it out on the links last good monsignor built his lead. week for our first tête-à-tête.

And as each hole progressed, Now it should be noted that he would tell me how difficult a in past years, our “cup” finals, shot I was facing. The man was match play events, have been getting into my head! amicable and gentlemanly.

A short while later, after This time, to borrow an ice striking a fairly long putt, he hockey expression, the gloves walked toward the hole sure that came off. it would fall. Not so. I reminded On the very first green, it was him again of the Miami Heat.

My View From the Stands

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

Celebrant is Father John A. Gomes, pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in South Dartmouth

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

He chuckled.

I, too, initiated a “head game” strategy. After all, we were playing for the cup.

To be fair to my golf pal, though, he did, on several occasions tell me to hit a shot again because I “was rushing.”

I had to; he kept reminding me he had a graduation Mass at Bishop Connolly High School to get to that evening!

It came down to the final hole. Win it, and it would be a tie. Lose it and monsignor gets the cup. Monsignor got the cup.

We drove to pick up his trophy and at the drive-through window he said, “This is going to taste real good!” Either he was very thirsty, or he relished taking me for a free cup of joe. I’m pretty sure it was the latter.

This was only round one.

There are more cups to fight for. I truly hope the Bruins can drink from the cup for the first time in 39 years. But I’m more concerned about drinking from my cup. It does taste better when it’s free.

Diocese of Fall River loses two beloved, long-time priests continued from page one

to Parish of Fall River. He was named pastor of Our Lady of Health Parish and Espirito Santo Parish; in 1996, his last assignment was at St. Michael Parish of Fall River, where he remained active even after retiring in 2006.

He celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination in 2008.

Father Cardoso was a chaplain to several groups of couples in the Teams of Our Lady, an international movement that ministered to the development and growth of strong marriages through faith.

“For my husband and I, he was almost like our right-hand,” said Maria Cabral of working together with Father Cardoso with the Teams of Our Lady ministry. “I have a little difficulty in Portuguese; I would write in English and he would translate it for me. We always asked him for his help in writing an article for us in our small little bulletin that we distribute quarterly to the Teams of Our Lady. He would always be looking forward to help us out.”

He will be remembered as “someone who was devoted to his priestly vocation and also someone who was devoted to Mary and to the Sacrament of Matrimony,” said Cabral. “We could see in him, and anyone can testify to that, a great devotion to the married couples as well as to Our Lady. He went the extra mile for

married couples. He recognized that the Church was built on the foundation, and also needed the support of married couples.”

Msgr. Edmond R. Levesque, age 82, passed away Sunday, June 5, on his way to celebrate the 8 a.m. Mass at St. George’s Parish in Westport. Born in Fall River, he was the son of the late Desire Levesque and Elise (Albert) Levesque.

Msgr. Levesque was ordained Feb. 2, 1955 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River by Bishop James L. Connolly after graduating St. John’s Seminary. His first assignment was as parochial vicar at St. George’s Parish in Westport; he would go on to pastor Our Lady of Grace Parish in Westport; St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Parish in Attleboro; St. Anthony of Padua Parish in New Bedford; coming full circle back to St. George’s Parish in Westport, retiring in 2005.

Among his diocesan appointments were: notary of the diocesan Tribunal; chaplain/director of Camping Activities at St. Vincent de Paul Camp, Nazareth Day Camp and Catholic Boys Day Camp; and judge of Matrimonial Court. He was also chaplain of the St. Isidore the Farmer Council No. 4373 of the Knights of Columbus in Westport.

He was made monsignor in 1999 and celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination in

2005.

During his time as pastor at St. Anthony of Padua in New Bedford, Msgr. Levesque began a major and successful restoration of the church and school for the parish’s 100th anniversary in 1995, doing much of the washing, painting and furniture refinishing himself. In an article in The Anchor in 1997, Msgr.

Levesque spoke of how he and a small group of helpers spent three years renovating the vast interior of the church.

A Yankee Magazine article, featuring all that his hard work restoring the church accomplished, touched on the labor that the monsignor did for different parishes within the diocese. At St. Theresa, he tore down an abandoned church building with a pry bar and hammer to make way for a bigger parking lot. At Our Lady of Grace in Westport, he worked through an acre of woods with a chain saw to clear space for a new parish hall. At St. George’s Parish in Westport, he personally renovated a building rented by the parish for its parochial school before finding himself at the steps of St. Anthony of Padua.

A Mass of Christian burial for Father Cardoso was celebrated June 8 at St. Michael Church in Fall River.

A Funeral Mass for Msgr.

Levesque was celebrated June 9 at St. George’s Church in Westport.

June 10, 2011

W

hen asked about his work, Michelangelo said that the sculpture lived in the block of marble and that his job was to set the sculpture free.

In other words, he chipped away at all the pieces of the marble that were not the statue.

Michelangelo’s technique is something I call an aesthetics of “negative space.” Tragedy, for example, depicts grace through negative space. We feel the presence of grace because of its marked absence; we yearn for something to arrive, even if it doesn’t; we want Hamlet to emerge the victor amongst villains, we wish Raskolnikov to be delivered, we desire Tony Soprano’s redemption. The fruit of tragedy is that we become acutely aware of a longing we may have forgotten was there. Reading G.K. Chesterton requires patience because his domain is negative space: he sneaks up on his topic, describing other things than what it is he truly wants to say. He came at “The Thing” — the Roman Catholic Church — from multiple angles, his favorite being heresy, a perfect parallel

13

The Anchor

All our Church is not

to the “not statue” paradigm set joke, to the point that some came forth by Michelangelo. What to believe that G.K. Chesterton better way to define the faith than himself must be joking about a by defining its heresies? Chestopic that for him was deadly terton’s developing faith was the serious. marrow in the bones of his imIt is a humorless age that ages and metaphors and, as such, regularly mistakes joy for mockpeople eventually caught a whiff of incense about him. When they did, they accused him of A Twitch being a closet defender Upon a Thread of Papists, until he did them one better: he

By Jennifer PIerce became one.

Even then he used sly innuendo, using anything — Elfland, golden keys, ery. This was so much the case in Jack the Giant Killer, a dandelion his time (as it is in ours) that he — to say what it was he wasn’t opened his book “The Well and saying. For Chesterton, to be the Shadows” with an introduction direct about the matter would that said he considered the title not only be rude, it would be to “Joking Apart.” He had done what commit the mortal sin he most no one in his post-Victorian literary conscientiously avoided: humor- world thought could be serious: lessness. Today, we are used to he had become the secret Cathopiquant punditry and posturing, lic that people teasingly asserted to scurrilous sound bites and he always was. It would be like smack-downs, so his meanderannouncing at a suburban home ing style can be almost tiresome owners association that you were ... until the moment it becomes digging a well in your backyard refreshing. Even in his day, his and ditching your double tub sink. style had become something of a Chesterton’s close friend and

consummate biographer, Maisie Ward turned to “The Catholic Church and Conversion” to describe his conversion, in his own words, in three phases: “patronizing the Church, discovering the Church, and running away from the Church.” In the first phase, the wouldbe convert realizes that the accusations against the Church in popular opinion are either wrong or willfully taken out of context. In the second, he discovers new ideas that he didn’t even know were there. In stage three, a stage Chesterton compares to a bachelor getting drunk on the day of his wedding, the would-be convert flees from the Church: “He has come too near to the truth and has forgotten that truth is a magnet, with the powers of attraction and repulsion.”

The fear of the rash vow. A curious reversal happens to us, too. Though we should already know that the fallacies concerning the faith are just that, we do develop a spiritual amnesia. We hear from the media and our

friends that our Church is superstitious, stuck in the dark ages, out of touch with reality; our members are hypocritical, Rome is tyrannous. We are told that our Sacraments are empty rituals, our art, blank pastiche. We hear that the Church is not based on fides et ratio, faith and reason, but gullibility and illogic. We hear that man has no free will, that the soul is a fairy tale. We start to fear that all of it is true. We can hunker down and develop an angry siege mentality or secretly start to explain away the things about our faith that seem so contentious. We can gradually come to pick and choose what we will ignore and what we will accept. But we should not fear the clattering sound of the objections hurtled at the speed of light at our foundation; we mistake the sound entirely. It is simply the sound of marble falling to the ground, as all that our Church is not is chipped away.

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

What a difference a year makes: Pennies from Heaven

By Margaret Dutch, VP Fall River Central Council, St. Vincent de Paul Society

TAUNTON — What a difference a year makes. Faced with mounting debt and a thrift store operating with a deficit, Richard Silvia, president of the Taunton District Council of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, took a stand. “We do not have the option to fail,” he told the Vincentians. “We had plenty of excuses: the economy was bad, operating costs had increased, volunteers were inconsistent, but we knew that excuses would not solve our problem.”

Reminded that it was committed to deliver on the mission to provide food, clothing and shelter to those in need, the Taunton District launched a reorganization plan.

Simple in its design, the thrift store, Pennies from Heaven, was given the chance for a new lease on life. With renewed commitment, the Store Committee was reorganized. Acting in an advisory capacity, the committee searched for ways to make the store more profitable by conducting studies, examining trends, and reviewing cash register receipts.

An all-volunteer crew was recruited, including a store coordinator. Along with these new volunteers came new prices, a new arrangement, a new display window and a new way of doing business.

In just a few months, the store began to show a profit. One year later, Pennies from Heaven is a

profitable, viable business, staffed entirely by volunteers dedicated to the mission of St. Vincent de Paul. Located in downtown Taunton, Pennies from Heaven is accessible to many citizens. The Taunton area is rich in history and

diverse in culture. Once a vibrant center for silver manufacturing, Taunton’s wealth now lies in its citizens. The members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Greater Taunton, with more than 100 active volunteers and sup-

ported in part by the all-volunteer force at Pennies from Heaven, will continue to strive to maintain the dignity of all men women, and children in the area, to meet their needs the best they can and

Polish Fest

ENTIRELY UNDER TENTS

The Anchor provides a weekly wealth of Catholic information.

Subscribe and stay informed on Church issues.

“Summertime”

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church

235 North Front Street, New Bedford, MA

2 DAYS - SAT. & SUN. JUNE 18 & 19 ... CONTINUOUS LIVE ENTERTAINMENT ...

Subscribe to

The Anchor

One-year subscription — $20

SATURDAY JUNE 18 . 11:00 AM - 8:00 PM 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. & 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

“Lenny Gomulka & Chicago Push”

Name:

Returning to the Greater New Bedford

Address: City:

State:

Zip:

if given as a gift, the card should read: From: Street:

to remain valued partners in the Taunton community. Committed to its mission and blessed by its volunteers, Pennies from Heaven continues to show a profit. What a difference a year makes.

City/State:

Parish to receive credit: Enclose check or money order and mail to: The Anchor, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722 This Message Sponsored by the Following Business Concern in the Diocese of Fall River Gilbert C. Oliveira Insurance Agency

and South Coast area

SUNDAY JUNE 19 . *Fest* Noon - 5:00 PM 11 a.m. - POLKA MASS in the O.L.P.H. Church People of all Faiths are invited to join us.

Noon to 5 p.m. - The “EDDIE FORMAN” Orchestra from Hadley Falls, MA

Our Famous “POLISH KITCHEN” “Pierogi” Booths & Games “Golambki” Fun for the Entire Family BRING YOUR OWN CHAIRS FREE PARKING

14

The Anchor

June 10, 2011

Two more Illinois Catholic agencies CSS foreclosure help: No place like home from page one forced to halt foster and adoption care continued A real estate agent will come needed to send to the lender,

Joliet, Ill., (CNA/ EWTN News) — As civil unions begin in Illinois, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Joliet has announced that it has stopped processing applications for new foster or adoptive parents.

The diocese cited its “religious practice” of not placing children with unmarried, cohabiting couples of the same sex or opposite sex, a practice under increasing pressure from state law.

The recent letter from Glenn Van Cura, executive director of Catholic Charities in Joliet, notified the state government that the agency is “temporarily suspending the processing of new foster care and adoption applications.”

It did not say how or when the application process could resume, the Naperville SunTimes reports. The agency presently handles 210 foster care and adoption cases.

The letter did not mention civil unions, which went into effect on June 1. However, the law which created legal unions for same-sex and opposite-sex couples has already caused Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Rockford to announce an end to its foster care and adoption services.

Catholic Charities in Peoria has also said that it will stop licensing new foster and adoptive parents. All the Catholics agencies said they

would continue working with the children they have already placed in homes.

Kendall Marlowe, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, said this was “not a workable solution” in the long term as they will eventually run out of homes in which to place children.

“We would have been in this situation even without the civil union legislation,” he said.

Lawyers for the department and the Illinois attorney general were reviewing whether private agencies that take state money for adoption can refuse to license homosexual couples without violating the state constitution and Illinois Human Rights Law, Marlowe reported.

The Illinois legislature hastily passed the civil unions law late last year.

Catholic Charities had sought an amendment to the civil union law that would allow it to refer homosexual couples to other agencies that license foster and adoptive parents, but that amendment failed.

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago and the Catholic Conference of Illinois also opposed the bill because of its potential impact on the Church’s work in adoption and foster care and because it threatened to diminish the status of marriage in public life.

This week in 50 years ago — Representatives from 65 percent of the parishes in the Fall River Diocese met to coordinate Catholic Youth Organization activities for the year. Bishop James L. Connolly headed a large group of clergy together with state and local government representatives at the convention.

25 years ago — St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham, and its mission church, St. Anthony’s in West Wareham, each celebrated its diamond and golden jubilees, respectively, with Bishop Daniel A. Cronin presiding over an anniversary Mass.

and talk about the home buying process, what to look for in home and the importance of inspections and house insurance.

The overall emphasis of the course is to create a budget and stick to it. Homeownership comes with a slew of additional expenses, and Hernandez works hard to ensure those ready to take that step are well informed. It’s when the unexpected happens, said Hernandez, that her team really gets down to work.

“If they’re actually going to be behind, something has occurred like a medical issue or they lost employment, we hope they contact us right then and there,” said Hernandez. “Even if it’s just expenses increasing, the first thing we do is prepare a spending plan with them.”

The housing counselor will open a dialogue with not only the client but also the lender.

“We have to make sure they are going to be able to afford this home,” said Hernandez.

“In the event of the loss of a job, we wait to see if they are going to get unemployment or see what else will occur.

Once we get that information, if their monthly budget is in a negative one to two hundred dollars, we contact their mortgage company right away and see if there is anything that they may have, any new loan programs to see if they’re eligible for it.”

If the lender thinks they are eligible, then the housing counselors will work with the client to gather up documents

Diocesan history 10 years ago — Dr. George A. Milot, former principal of Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro and Bishop Stang High School in Dartmouth, was appointed director of the Diocesan Education Department by Bishop Sean P. O’Malley, OFM Cap. One year ago — Bishop George W. Coleman blessed six new suites that were added to the Cardinal Medeiros Retirement Home for priests located on Elsbree Street and connected to the adjoining Bishop Connolly High School. The six new rooms brought the total living quarters at the diocesan facility to 23.

which sounds easy in theory but ends up being a stressful time for all involved.

“Small, local lenders are very easy to work with, and their turnaround could be three to four weeks. The national ones, the big lenders like Citibank or Bank of America, we’ve had cases open between six months to over a year,” said Hernandez.

So Hernandez and her team act as a bridge, keeping in communication with the client as they check in with the lender to see what, if any, additional documents are needed.

Hernandez cites a particularly moving story of a woman who approached them for help for a mortgage modification after her husband passed away.

“She had two children and worked two, sometimes three jobs to keep this home,” said Hernandez. “We battled with her trying to get this mortgage modification, and once we did get the mortgage modified after about a year, the mortgage was sold. The permanent modification did not go through, so we had to do everything again with the new mortgage company. It took about two years to get her modified, and finally she called a few months ago to let us know she was all set.”

The job of housing counselor helps a client work his or her way through the overwhelming process of filling out the proper paperwork, sometimes made even more overwhelming by a language barrier, said Hernandez, who has bilingual counselors on her staff.

“When they’re talking to a lender, their fear is so big. And not only fear, we have some servicers that are not very friendly. A client will call and they are not treated the right way,” said Hernandez. “They are so confused. By having a housing counselor help them, that’s how they’re able to get all of it done in one shot. We already know what the lenders are going to require of you, so we get everything done instead of this back-and-forth.”

It also helps alleviate the heartache of a client if a housing counselor spots right away if a modification will even work, and will help advise the client of his or her options.

“Not every mortgage can get modified,” said Hernandez of the most common miscon-

ception clients have when he or she reaches out for services.

“We get that many times after we do our spending plan; we put them on their budget and they cannot understand why we’re going through all this.

They talk about seeing the news and they can get their mortgage for this percentage rate. We try to get them to understand that not every case is the same.”

As if battling with lenders isn’t enough, lurking in the shadows are unscrupulous individuals looking to make a dollar off of those desperate enough to believe in what they’re “selling.”

“They get these calls and advertisements from attorneys that are out there ready to take their money, promising them a modification if you come up with 2,000 dollars as a deposit,” said Maria Paiva, one of the housing counselors, “and then they do nothing. There is a lot of that going on.”

“If they’re asking to modify the loan for this amount of money, run away,” said Hernandez. “They’re not going to help you. There are so many programs out there that are going to help you, and there’s no money involved.”

The housing counselors understand the issues that homeowners are facing, and Hernandez wishes lenders could be more understanding of those issues as well.

“Taking [a home] away from them is not doing them a service because some of these people can get back out to work, it’s just one thing that occurred to them either through an illness or losing employment,” said Hernandez. “If they go back or their unemployment begins, they’re able to back on their feet.

If they’re able to get modified, they’re able to support the mortgage payment within their spending plan.”

CSS also has programs that will help assist a client in helping rebuild his or her credit; this past month five people have already signed up for credit counseling, a promising sign, said Hernandez, adding some additional advice.

“Come at the first sign of trouble, or they think they’re going to be in trouble, contact the housing counselor,” said Hernandez. “There are other options to be done, don’t wait until you’re in foreclosure.”

June 10, 2011

Classmates celebrate 25 years as diocesan priests continued from page one

other to be a pastor,” he said. “In that position, besides your ministerial duties, you sometimes have to be an administrator, change the light bulbs, cook the pasta, all while setting a direction for the parish. That’s ‘life in the big parish.’”

Father Gauvin said he has enjoyed each of his assignments over the last quarter century.

“My priesthood has exceeded my expectations,” he said. “I am overwhelmed by the faith of the people.

They readily hear and acFather David cept the Word M. Andrade of God. Each of my assignments has brought me unexpected growth.”

He celebrated an anniversary Mass at Holy Trinity in West Harwich on May 29, followed by a reception, and another at Holy Trinity Parish in Fall River last Sunday.

It’s really hard to believe that it has been 25 years ... surreal in many ways,” Father Andrade told The Anchor. “Despite the many challenging and difficult days over these years, the gift of being able to share the joy and hope of the Risen Lord with others has been and continues to be a wonderful gift. As a priest, that happens in a very beautiful way in the celebration of the Sacraments. Being able to celebrate the Eucharist is such a gift and privilege. It has always reminded me that I have a special responsibility to really welcome people and reach out to them.

That has always been both a challenge and a special joy for me over the years.”

Father Andrade is having an anniversary celebration at Holy Trinity Church June 26 with an 11 a.m. Mass.

Father Reis told The Anchor, “I am still amazed at how quickly the years have passed. I am happy to say that in the course of the years, while there have been some difficult moments, both in my ministerial and personal life, the good moments far outweigh the difficult. In each of my assignments, and with God’s grace, I have been blessed and humbled to have had the opportunity to bring the loving, compassionate, reconciling, healing Christ into the lives of those who seek to know God in a greater and more personal way.

As a priest and especially as a pastor, I have had the privilege of working side by side with a

15

The Anchor

great number of faithful people to continue the work of Christ in the communities I have served.”

He added, despite some of the negative changes in the Church over the last 25 years, “Christ is still in charge; so long as we all recognize this truth, we can make a difference if we live our lives in loving witness to Him. While this might seem to be somewhat simplistic, His message is simple; we have complicated it. One of my favorite prayers is the Prayer of St. Ignatius of Father Freddie Loyola”: Babiczuk Jr. “Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will, all I have and call my own.

You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will.

Give me only your love and your grace. That is enough for me.’”

“I try to live this prayer daily,” Father Reis said. “It keeps me focused, especially in moments when things can be difficult. It is this same prayer that I hope to follow in the years ahead so that my continued ministry will be fruitful for the people I serve and faithful to the God who has called me.”

Father Reis celebrated an anniversary Mass at St. Andrews Church on May 29 followed by a reception at Holy Rosary Parish Center, both in Taunton.

Father Babiczuk also marveled at his and his classmates’ still being in active ministry together. “It’s not only these last 25 years and our seminary years together,” he told The Anchor, “but we spent four years as counselors at St. Vincent de Paul Camp in Westport as well.”

He added, “I love being a priest more now than I did when I was ordained, and I loved it then. I’m very happy and fulfilled in my ministry. There are definitely no regrets.

“I am amazed at how much the Church has changed over the last 25 years. Some of the changes have been difficult.

Some people have become discouraged, but I am looking forward to the challenges of the next 25 years. After all, it’s about preaching and sharing Jesus’ Gospel message.”

Father Babiczuk celebrated his anniversary May 22 with a Mass at Good Shepherd Parish in Fall River followed by a simple meal that “turned into a Por-

tuguese feast.” He said he and his classmates scheduled their celebrations, so that each could attend the others.

Father Andrade was born in Taunton and was a member of St. Anthony’s and Sacred Heart parishes in that city. He attended Coyle and Cassidy High School, also in Taunton.

He attended Bristol Community College in Fall River before entering St. John’s Seminary. His first Mass was June 1, 1986 at St. Anthony’s Church in Taunton.

Father Thomas He was asA. Frechette signed as a parochial vicar at Our Lady of Health Parish in Fall River, and St. John of God in Somerset. He served as a parochial administrator at St. Theresa’s Parish in South Attleboro, before being name pastor at St. Jean the Baptiste Parish in Fall River in 1998.

Father Andrade was part of the transition process of the merger of the Fall River parishes of St. Jean Baptiste, St. Elizabeth’s and St. William’s in 2000. He became pastor of the new parish, Holy Trinity, and has served there since then.

He was chaplain at Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River from 1988-90, and worked fulltime as an auditor/advocate at the diocesan Tribunal from 1996-97.

He has served as spiritual director for the Fall River area St. Vincent de Paul Society; as director of the diocesan Office of Pastoral Planning; and served on the diocesan Personnel Board.

Father Babiczuk was also born in Taunton and attended Taunton High School. From there he went on to U-Mass Amherst, where he received a psychology degree.

He entered St. John’s Seminary in September of 1981.

Father Babiczuk celebrated his first Mass at Our Lady of

Lourdes Church in Taunton on June 1, 1986.

He served as a parochial vicar at Espirito Santo Parish in Fall River; St. Francis Xavier Parish in Hyannis, Immaculate Conception Parish in Fall River; Our Lady of Lourdes in Taunton, and St. Patrick’s in Wareham.

Father Babiczuk’s first pastorate was at St. Patrick’s Parish in Fall River in June of 1998.

While there, he also served as parochial administrator at Our Lady of the Angels Parish in Fall River.

When Blessed Sacrament, Our Lady of the Angels and St. Patrick’s parishes in Fall Father Maurice River merged O. Gauvin Jr. to form Good Shepherd Parish in 2002, Father Babiczuk was named pastor, where he’s served since.

Father Frechette was born in Hyannis and was a member of Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Osterville. He attended Barnstable High School. He entered St. John’s Seminary in 1980. His first Mass was June 1, 1986 at St. Francis Xavier Church in Hyannis.

He has served as a parochial vicar at Holy Name Parish in Fall River; Holy Trinity in West Harwich, and St. Mark’s in Attleboro Falls; he was parochial administrator at St. Patrick’s in Wareham, SS. Peter and Paul in Fall River, Notre Dame Parish in Fall River, and St. Peter’s in Dighton.

Father Frechette was named pastor of St. Peter’s in Dighton in 2001; and was pastor at St. Francis Xavier in Hyannis and St. Mark’s in Attleboro Falls, where he now serves.

He served as director of the diocesan Office of Family Ministry and as chaplain at Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro.

Father Gauvin is a native of Fall River and was a member of St. Elizabeth’s Parish there. He attended B.M.C. Durfee High School in Fall River before en-

tering the seminary.

He celebrated his first Mass at St. Elizabeth’s Church in Fall River on June 1, 1986.

Father Gauvin has been a parochial vicar at Immaculate Conception Parish in New Bedford; Santo Christo in Fall River; St. Anthony’s in Taunton; and Holy Trinity in West Harwich. He was pastor of St. John the Baptist in New Bedford, and will become pastor at St. George Parish in Westport on June 29.

He has served as the New Bedford area director of the Catholic Charities Appeal; chaplain of the New Bedford Police DepartFather Timothy ment; was a P. Reis deanery vocation coordinator; worked on the New Bedford area Marriage Preparation Program; was on the diocesan Presbyteral Council; a member of the diocesan Priests’ Spirituality Committee; and chaplain at Taunton Catholic Middle School.

Father Reis is a New Bedford native and was member of St. James Parish there. He attended Holy Family High School in the Whaling City prior to entering St. John’s in Brighton.

His first Mass was June 2, 1986 at St. James Church in New Bedford.

Father Reis has been a parochial vicar at St. Mary’s Parish in South Dartmouth; St. Anthony’s in East Falmouth; St. John of God in Somerset; and Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Seekonk.

He has served as pastor at St. Joseph’s in Taunton; and as a parochial administrator and also pastor at St. Paul’s there. When the two parishes merged to become St. Andrew the Apostle in 2008, Father Reis became the pastor, where he has since served.

He has served as chaplain at Falmouth Hospital; was part of the diocesan Marriage Preparation Program; and was the Taunton area director for the Catholic Charities Appeal.

Youth Pages

16

June 10, 2011

Awards Banquet caps another successful Fall River area CYO basketball season

creative minds — The fifth-grade class at Holy Name School in Fall River, recently completed a study of early China. To demonstrate what they had learned, the students broke up into groups and created board games. Each group had to research and develop questions, incorporating areas of government, religion, geography, family life, contributions and inventions. They then made a prototype of their game, tested it, and made adaptations before creating the final game. Some groups used 3-D constructions, made their own game pieces out of clay, and painted various items. Not only did the project lend itself to creativity and a review of the content area, but also provided a lesson in working through problems with others in the group. One group even wrote a copyright clause on its directions. In reflecting on the project, many students remarked on how they solved problems and what they would do next time to improve their game.

FALL RIVER — The Fall River area CYO Basketball League recently completed another successful season, culminated by the annual Awards Banquet, held at McGovern’s Restaurant.

Teams and individual players were recognized with various awards. Also receiving well-deserved congratulations were league officials: Director Tom Chippendale; assistant directors Paul Chippendale, Jayme Chippendale, Matt Bednarz and Jason Oliver. Several league referees were also on hand: Ed Fitta, Joe Macek, Peter Nasiff, Jeff Silvia, Tom Strojny, and Paul Zimmerman.

Team champions: Junior C Girls, first place regular season, Holy Name: Jamie Tavares, Abigail Callahan, Kylie Carroll, Emily Fiola, Sophie Pawlak, Jasmine Manteiga, Arianna Banville, Madison Leclair, Chhavee Nhean, Nina Krueger, Coaches Joe Callahan and Paul Doiron.

Playoff champions, Our Lady of Grace: Catherine Yeargin, Leah Fellows, Kayla Ure, Madison Collins, Lindsey Oliveira, Alexi Resendes, Lauren Ferreira, Erinn Harrington, Lilly Syron, Allyson Sasse, Madison Burt, Coach Greg Brien.

Junior C Boy champions, Holy Trinity: John Abrantes, Jacob Medeiros, Matthew Dias, Ryan Ferreira, Evan Amaral, Brandon Pacheco, Collin Bugara, Alex

Martinho, Carlos Borges, Brenden Carvalho, Daniel Shea, Austin Fernandes, Joseph Carvalho, Coaches Scott and Renee Fernandes.

Junior B Girls champions, Our Lady of Grace: Tyrez Stokesbury, Morgan Wood, Grace Moran, Sidney Amaral, Abigail Levesque, Mollie Duclos, Nia Lisver, Hailey Charest, Kady Long, Mary McGuill, Elia Johnson, Jenny Driscoll, Coach Greg Brien.

Junior B Boys, first place, regular season, Holy Name B1: Jacob Schnurr, Kyle Bouchard, Sean O’Connor, Adam Dellicker, John Paul McDonald, Chaten Nehra, Nicolas Salmon, Kevin Sullivan, Trevor Reis, Coaches Raj Nehra and Nick Salmon.

Playoff champions, Holy Name B2: Devon Kirkman, Brian McDonald, Justin Leclair, Drew Sardinha, Thomas Martin, Colby Cabral, Anthony Mahoney-Pacheco, Christopher Tetreault, Coaches Paul Chippendale and Paul Doiron.

Prep Boys champions, Holy Name: Michael Doiron, Austin Reiff, Ethan Augustine, Elie Karam, Dean Sylvaria, Jack Murphy, Alex Lisieur, James Lisieur, George Karam, Emmanuel Fernandes, Taylor Langley, Coach Paul Doiron.

Junior A Boys champions, Espirito Santo: Austin Costa, Chad Willard, Sedryk Sousa, Ryan Clayton, Eric Mendoza, Aaron Dias,

Liam Patterson, Adam Gagnon, Coach Octave Costa.

Junior A Girls diocesan champions, Holy Name A1: Caroline Dunn, Rebekah Patterson, Katherine Goncalo, Nicole Emsley, Haley Oliveira, Haley Alves, Brianna Turcotte, Mackenzie Belanger, Alexandra Belanger, Caroline Batista, Coaches Bill Goncalo and Garth Patterson.

Individual awards: Team Most Valuable Players: Notre Dame Boys C, Kyle Oliveira; Holy Trinity Boys B, Brendan Teixeira; Holy Trinity Boys C, team MVP; Holy Name Boys C1, Joseph Camara; Holy Name Boys B2, Colby Cabral.

Holy Name Girls C, Jasmine Montega; Our Lady of Grace Girls C, Catherine Yeargin; Our Lady of Grace Girls B, Abigail Levesque; Our Lady of Grace Girls A, Mckenzie Syron; Holy Name Girls B, Isabelle McDonald; Holy Trinity Girls B, Katherine Garcia; St. Michael’s Girls A, Breanna Camara.

Holy Name Prep, Elie Karam; Holy Name Boys B1, Nick Salmon.

Francis Fitta Memorial Award, Jordyn Gauvin, St. Michael’s Girls A; Al Therrien “Good Guy” Award, Brendan Sasse, Our Lady of Grace Boys A; Girls Sportsmanship Trophy, Samantha Medeiros, Our Lady of Grace Girls A; Boys Sportsmanship Trophy, Adam Gagnon, Espirito Santo.

onward and upward — More than 100 of the 146 Coyle and Cassidy High School members of the graduating class of 2011 have received scholarship offers to colleges throughout the country. Class valedictorian James Anderson will continue his educational career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He said everyone at Coyle “believed in me, which gave me the confidence to set my goal high. There’s no doubt the education I received here was key in my getting into MIT and receiving scholarships.”

With Anderson is Principal Robert Gay.

The Anchor is always pleased to run news and photos about our diocesan youth.

If schools or parish Religious Education programs, have newsworthy stories and photos they would like to share with our readers, send them to: schools@anchornews.org

birds of happiness — Colleen O’Brien, left, a fifth-grader at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro, wanted to give fellow students in Japan “one big wish.” After reading “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes” as a project in Sister Mary Dumond’s Language Arts class, O’Brien “wanted to grant Japan one big wish of happiness after what they’ve been through.” The book is about Sadako, a baby when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. Nine years later, as a sixth-grader, Sadako got leukemia, “the atom bomb disease.” Sadako was told that if she folded 1,000 paper cranes, she would get one wish. Sadako managed to fold 644 cranes in one year before she succumbed to the disease. O’Brien and her classmates and the students of the After School Program folded 200 paper cranes. They will be sending the cranes to the Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima, Japan. Colleen’s mother, Kathy O’Brien, taught them how to fold the paper cranes.

Pictured with O’Brien are fifth-graders Julie Grimes, Alexander Simoneau, and Alex Banner.

Youth Pages

June 10, 2011

J

ust over a week ago, we celebrated the Ascension of Jesus into heaven. It’s no surprise that the Apostles didn’t want Jesus to leave them that day. They must have felt like they were on an emotional roller coaster. First, He was dead and they were devastated.

Then He rose from the dead and they were astonished and elated. Now, He was leaving.

What were they going to do without Him? I can just imagine the conversation … Philip asks Peter, “Now what?” Peter answers: “We do what He told us. We go to Jerusalem and wait.” And the questions would continue: “What are we waiting for?” “What will the gift of the Advocate look like?” “How will we know?” And Peter, not really knowing any more than the others, would answer: “We’ll know it when it happens.”

Just wait

And so, the Apostles entered of all me! We all have periods what Dr. Seuss described in “Oh of confusion and disappointthe Places You’ll Go” as “The ment. Times when we were Waiting Place … for people just sure things would go our way, waiting. Waiting for a train to go but they didn’t. We prayed for or a bus to come, or a plane to God’s will and we were pretty go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a yes or no or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting. Waiting

By Jean Revil for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, sure we knew that God’s will perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a would match what we wanted! pot to boil, or a better break or a But it doesn’t work out that way. string of pearls, or a pair of pants Instead, we have to wait. The or a wig with curls, or another Apostles had 10 days of waitchance. Everyone is just waiting, but it wasn’t the mindless ing.” In the case of the Apostles, waiting or the wasted waiting waiting for the Holy Spirit. that Dr. Seuss seems to imply.

No one likes waiting, least The Apostles spent their waiting

Be Not Afraid

17 in prayer. That time of prayer made them even more receptive to the power of the Holy Spirit which filled them on that first Pentecost. Because of their openness to the gift of the Spirit, they were filled with intensity, emboldened with courage, some would say “On fire.”

How do we spend our waiting? Do we let anger and resentment close our hearts when things don’t go the way we think they should? Or can we accept that God’s will in a particular situation may not have been what we envisioned?

For example, if Jesus hadn’t ascended, the Holy Spirit would not have come. We can’t see what God sees. Sometimes what looks like a disaster turns out to be an incredible blessing.

So, how will we spend our

waiting? I would suggest that our waiting time should be a time of prayer and hope which will help us to keep an open heart and make us more receptive to the stirrings of the Holy Spirit that we received at our Baptism and with which we were sealed at our Confirmation. The Holy Spirit is at work within us all of the time. It’s part of the larger plan that we may be sanctified and made holy … something we cannot do on our own. God’s plan will always be better than ours!

May our hearts echo St. Paul: “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion.” Just wait!

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

Comments welcome at: jrevil@ bishopStang.com

Jesus will teach you life’s meaning, pope tells youth

helping hands — Otto Bingel and Lucy Kelliher, center, of Our Daily Bread Food Pantry accepts a check from, from left: Paul O’Sullivan, state advocate for the Mass. Knights of Columbus, Father William Sylvia, parochial vicar at St. Mary’s Parish in Mansfield, Msgr. Steve Avila, pastor, and St. Mary’s Mansfield Knights of Columbus officers Deputy Grand Knight Charlie Spath, and Grand Knight Chuck McPherson.

Mansfield Knights and St. Mary’s Religious Ed students help the hungry

MANSFIELD — The George C. Shields Council No. 420 of the Knights of Columbus of Mansfield in conjunction with the children in the St. Mary’s Parish Religious Education program raised more than $7,400 through the “Help a Knight, Change Someone’s World” Stewardship Program.

The Knights along with the 1,300 students collected pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters in Chinese food takeout containers over a six-month period in order to help “change someone’s world.”

The money was donated to the Mansfield Food Pantry (Our Daily Bread — Caring and Sharing) to help provide hunger relief to those area residents in need of assistance.

Chuck McPherson of the

Knights of Columbus said, “The Knights are overwhelmed by the support and generosity of the children, their families and members of St. Mary’s Parish. We far exceeded our expectations for this new council program. Even in these difficult economic times, the caring and giving spirit of the people of St. Mary’s did not waver as they continued to step forward to help us make a difference in our community.”

This important stewardship program was made possible with the support of Msgr. Stephen Avila and Father William Sylvia, as well as the Religious Education teachers and administrators of St. Mary’s Parish.

On May 22 the Mansfield Knights presented a check to Our Daily Bread.

Zagreb, Croatia (CNA/ EWTN News) — “If you are rooted in Christ, you will fully become the person you are meant to be,” the pope told more than 50,000 youngsters at a prayer vigil in Zagreb’s Ban Josip Jalacic Square.

Pope Benedict also challenged the young people. “The Lord Jesus is not a teacher who deceives his disciples: He tells us clearly that walking by His side calls for commitment and personal sacrifice, but it is worth the effort!”

The pope was greeted in rock star like fashion by crowds waving both Croatian and Vatican flags. Very noticeable among the crowd were scores of young priests and nuns.

Although the event often had the feel of a rally, it was also interspersed with periods of silent prayer. It included personal testimonies, Scripture readings and a musical accompaniment which ranged from the traditional Croat to contemporary hymns.

“This time of youth is given to you by the Lord to enable you to discover life’s meaning!” said the pope as he asked the young people the same question that Jesus Christ asked the youngest of His Apostles, John, when He first met him: “What are you looking for?”

“Young friends, these words, this question reaches beyond time and space ... Jesus speaks to you today, through the Gospel and His Holy Spirit. He is your contemporary! He seeks you even before you seek Him!” The pope said that while Jesus Christ was fully respects their

freedom, He offers Himself to young people as “the authentic and decisive response” to “the longing deep within your hearts, to your desire for a life worth living.”

“Let Him take you by the hand! Let Him become more and more your friend and companion along life’s journey. Put your trust in Him and He will never disappoint you!” he urged.

The pope told them that this was the only way to find true happiness “even amid difficulties, trials and disappointments” and “even when it means swimming against the tide.”

He concluded by holding up the example of Blessed Ivan

Merz, an early 20th century Bosnian-Croat layman and academic. Merz was the creator of Christian movement for young people called “The Croatian Union of Eagles.” He died in 1928, aged only 32, but had lived a life of such heroic sanctity that he was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003. “This young life, completely given over to love, bears the fragrance of Christ,” said Pope Benedict.

The pope then accepted enthusiastic cheers of “Benedikt!

Benedikt! Benedikt!” from the youthful crowd for a few moments before imparting his apostolic blessing and departing for the evening.

jolly good show — Students in grades five through eight at St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro recently showcased their projects on countries from around the world at the school’s annual geography fair. This year’s theme was “Postcards From Around the World.” Here seventh-grader Mikayla Bedard displays her geography backboard on the United Kingdom.

18

The Anchor

Diocesan priests assigned to new parishes continued from page one

Father Hugh J. McCullough has been appointed pastor of St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Provincetown and Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Wellfleet.

A native of New Bedford where he attended Immaculate Conception and St. John the Baptist parishes, Father Edward E. Correia graduated from Holy Family School, New Bedford, and studied at St. Father Edward Thomas’ SemiE. Correia nary in Bloomfield, Conn. before entering St. John’s Seminary in Brighton. He was ordained by Bishop James L. Connolly on May 18, 1968.

Father Correia served at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville; Sacred Heart Parish in Martha’s Vineyard; Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in New Bedford; and St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Fall River before taking on his first pastor assignment at St. Bernard’s Parish in Assonet in 1986.

He was later pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Parish, Fall River; St. James Parish, New Bedford; and St. Michael’s Parish, Swansea before taking on his current assignment as pastor of St. Michael’s Parish in Fall River. Father Correia previously served as chaplain at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford, was assistant director of the Cape Cod Area CYO, and was director Father William of Vocations M. Costello and Seminarians from 2004 to 2009. Father Correia will be replacing Father Hugh J. McCullough as pastor of St. Joseph’s Parish, Fall River.

Father William M. Costello was born in Northampton, where he graduated from St. Michael’s High School and later attended Greenfield Community College. He studied at Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell, Conn.; St. Mary College in Kentucky; and at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, where he earned a master of divinity degree.

He was ordained a priest on May 11, 1974 by Bishop Daniel A. Cronin in St. Mary’s Cathedral.

Father Costello served as parochial vicar at St. Pius X Parish, South Yarmouth until 1978 when he was named chaplain at Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, with residence at St. John the Evangelist Parish, also in Attleboro. In 1985 he was assigned as paFather Maurice rochial vicar O. Gauvin Jr. at St. Mary’s Parish, Norton, serving there until 1990 when he was transferred to St. Anthony’s Parish in Mattapoisett. He became administrator at St. Mary’s in Taunton in 1993 and named pastor there in February 1994. In 1999 he was assigned as pastor of St. Anthony’s Parish, East Falmouth.

Father Costello will be replacing the retiring Father Brian J. Harrington as pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Seekonk.

A native of Fall River where he attended St. Elizabeth’s Parish, Father Maurice O. Gauvin Jr. graduated from B.M.C. Durfee High School in the city before receiving his master of divinity degree from St. John’s Seminary in Brighton.

He was ordained a priest by Bishop Daniel A. Cronin on May 31,

June 10, 2011 1986 in St. Mary’s Cathedral.

He served as parochial vicar at Immaculate Conception Parish in New Bedford; Santo Christo Parish in Fall River; St. Anthony’s Parish in Taunton; and Holy Trinity Parish in West Harwich.

Father Gauvin served as the New Bedford area director of the Catholic Charities Appeal; chaplain of the New Bedford Police Department; was a deanery vocation coordinator; worked on the New Bedford area Marriage Preparation Father Gerard Program; was A. Hebert on the diocesan Presbyteral Council; a member of the diocesan Priests’ Spirituality Committee; and chaplain at Taunton Catholic Middle School.

He was previously pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish in New Bedford, and will be replacing Father Gerard A. Hebert as pastor of St. George Parish, Westport.

Father Gauvin expressed great joy at having been appointed pastor of St. George’s Parish and he is looking forward to serving the parishioners there “with the help of God through the intercession of St. George to be a good and faithful pastor.”

“As for the future of the parish, I hope to build upon the good works that the pastors before me have begun so the parish may continue to prosper and grow as a

IT’S EXPENSIVE!!

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

Please Print Your New Address Below

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

Please cut and adhere address label in this space CLIP THIS ENTIRE FORM AND MAIL TO:

The Anchor P.O. BOX 7 — FALL RIVER, MA 02722 THANK YOU

community of faith,” he added.

Father Gerard A. Hebert was born in Attleboro and attended St. Theresa’s Parish in South Attleboro. After graduating from Attleboro High School, he received a bachelor’s degree from Providence College before entering St. John’s Seminary in Brighton. He was ordained by Bishop Daniel A. Cronin on June 6, 1981 in St. Mary’s Cathedral.

Father Hebert served as parochial vicar at St. Thomas More Parish in Somerset; Sacred Heart ParFather Hugh J. ish in Taunton; McCullough Our Lady of Grace Parish in Westport; St. Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth; and St. Louis de France Parish in Swansea. He was named first-time pastor at his current assignment at St. George’s Parish in Westport in 1996.

He also served as judge and defender of the bond with the diocesan Tribunal; was chaplain for the Falmouth Police and Fire departments; was chaplain for the Somerset Police and Fire departments; and served as chaplain for the Fall River area St. Vincent de Paul Society.

Father Hebert will be replacing Father William M. Costello as pastor of St. Anthony’s Parish, East Falmouth.

A native of Yonkers, N.Y., where he attended St. Eugene’s Parish growing up, Father Hugh J. McCullough graduated from Salesian High School and received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Don Bosco College in Newton, N.J. before entering the Pontifical College Josephinum Seminary in Worthington, Ohio. He was ordained by Bishop Edward Herrmann on May 26, 1979 in Christ the King Church, Columbus, Ohio.

After serving various assignments and ministries as a Salesian of Don Bosco in California, Minnesota, Louisiana and Boston, Father McCullough’s first assignment in the Fall River Diocese was as parochial vicar at St. Pius X Parish in South Yarmouth in 1995.

He also served as parochial vicar at St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham and St. James Parish in New Bedford before returning to St. Pius X Parish in South Yarmouth as parochial vicar in 2003.

Father McCullough served at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Hyannis before being appointed pastor of St. Joseph’s Parish in Fall River in 2006.

He will be replacing the retiring Father Henry J. Dahl as pastor of St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Provincetown and the retiring Father John F. Andrews as pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Wellfleet.

June 10, 2011

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese

Acushnet — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays and Fridays 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Saturdays 8 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays end with Evening Prayer and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.; Saturdays end with Benediction at 2:45 p.m.

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

Brewster — Eucharistic adoration takes place in the La Salette Chapel in the lower level of Our Lady of the Cape Church, 468 Stony Brook Road, on First Fridays following the 11 a.m. Mass until 7:45 a.m. on the First Saturday, concluding with Benediction and Mass. buzzards Bay — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Margaret Church, 141 Main Street, every first Friday after the 8 a.m. Mass and ending the following day before the 8 a.m. Mass.

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

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

EAST TAUNTON — Eucharistic adoration takes place in the chapel at Holy Family Parish Center, 438 Middleboro Avenue, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. On First Fridays, eucharistic adoration takes place at Holy Family Church, 370 Middleboro Avenue, following the 8 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 8 p.m.

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

Fall River — Espirito Santo Parish, 311 Alden Street, Fall River. Eucharistic adoration on Mondays following the 8:00 a.m. Mass until Rosary and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

OSTERVILLE — Eucharistic adoration takes place at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 76 Wianno Avenue on First Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and every Friday from noon to 5 p.m., with Benediction at 5 p.m.

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

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

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

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

Benediction.

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

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

19

The Anchor

Assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian dies at age 83

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Jack Kevorkian, dubbed “Dr. Death” for his longtime advocacy of assisted suicide and his role in assisting in the deaths of 130 people, died June 3 at age 83 in a hospital in the Detroit area.

The former medical pathologist suffered from kidney-related problems.

Kevorkian was frequently in the spotlight throughout the 1990s, from his first role in an assisted suicide in Michigan in 1990 until 1999 when he was sentenced to serve 10-25 years after being convicted of seconddegree murder for assisting in a nationally-televised death of a man with Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Released on parole in 2007, Kevorkian was banned from assisting in suicides or advising anyone on how to make his suicide machine he called the “mercitron.” He was permitted to speak out in favor of assisted suicide, which he did in numerous speeches, interviews and editorials.

Throughout Kevorkian’s years of advocating assisted suicide and his direct involvement in this practice, Church leaders repeatedly condemned his actions. On the day of his death, the Michigan Catholic Conference released a statement saying:

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks June 11 Rev. Msgr. Augusto L. Furtado, Retired Pastor, St. John of God, Somerset, 1973 Rev. Richard J. Wolf, S.J., Bishop Connolly High School, Fall River, 1986 June 12 Rev. Thomas H. Taylor, Pastor, Immaculate Conception, Taunton, 1966 June 13 Rev. Edward F. Donahue, S.J., Boston College High School, Dorchester, 1974 Rev. Henry F. Bourgeois, CSC, 2004 Rev. Roland Bousquet, Catholic Memorial Home, Former Pastor, St. Theresa, New Bedford, 2010 June 14 Rev. Msgr. George E. Sullivan, Retired Pastor, St. Joseph, Fall River, 1980 Rev. Msgr. Joseph A. Cournoyer, Retired Pastor, St. Michael, Swansea, 1982 Rev. James H. Coughlin, S.J., Fairfield University, Fairfield, Conn., 1992 Rev. Justin J. Quinn, Chaplain, Madonna Manor, North Attleboro, Former Pastor, Immaculate Conception, Fall River, 1996 Rev. Ambrose Forgit, SS.CC., Damien Residence, Fairhaven, Former Pastor, St. Joseph, Fairhaven, 2010 June 16 Rev. James McDermott, Pastor, St. Patrick, Somerset, 1975

“Assisted suicide is and will always be an affront to the dignity of the human person, a heinous practice that must be aggressively confronted and contrasted by true compassion, support and love. Jack Kevorkian’s legacy of brutality and vain will now be

chronicled by history.”

A statement by Ned McGrath, director of communications for the Detroit Archdiocese, noted that much of the commentary on Kevorkian’s death omitted the “sobering and deadly legacy he leaves behind.”

Around the Diocese 6/12

The Cape and Islands Prayer Group will sponsor a Celebration of Pentecost at St. Elizabeth Seton Church, North Falmouth, on Sunday beginning at 1 p.m. with praise and worship. Father Joseph Byrne, a retired priest of the Archdiocese of Boston, will be celebrant and homilist. Following Mass, fellowship and refreshments will be offered on the church’s lower level. For more information call 508-563-3364.

6/14

The next meeting of the Catholic Cancer Support Group will be at Our Lady of Victory Parish, Centerville on June 14. Please note this meeting will start at 6 p.m. rather than the usual 7 p.m. The session will begin with Mass and Anointing of the Sick at 6 p.m. in the church, followed by a cookout with burgers, chicken and all the fixings in the parish center courtesy of Lorraine Dunnett and her crew. If possible, bring a salad or dessert. June 14 is Flag Day, so red, white and blue attire is encouraged. For more information call Mary Lees at 508-771-1106 or email maryplees@comcast.net.

6/17

Holy Ghost Parish, 71 Linden Street, Attleboro, will host its annual feast beginning June 17 from 5 p.m. to midnight. The feast will continue June 18 from noon to midnight. A procession will leave from the church on June 19 beginning at 9:30 a.m., followed by a Mass at 11 a.m. with free Portuguese soup served after Mass. The feast will resume that afternoon from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.

6/18

On June 18 Sacred Heart Parish, at the corner of Pine and Seabury streets in Fall River, will host its second annual Giant Indoor Yard Sale from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Come find some great treasures as there’s sure to be something for everyone. Food will also be available.

6/18

The second annual My Brother’s Keeper Family Walk will be held June 18 at Stonehill College and The Sheep Pasture in North Easton beginning with registration at 9 a.m. The threemile walk will begin with a prayer service and end with lunch and family activities. Parking is available at the Holy Cross Center, 500 Washington Street. For more information call Erich Miller at 508-238-7512 or visit www. mybrotherskeeper.org.

6/18

A benefit concert by La Salette Father Andre Patenaude (Father Pat) will be held at St. James Church, 233 County Street, New Bedford, June 18 at 7:30 p.m. The concert is to benefit Steven Massoud and his family. Massoud has late-stage brain cancer. Tickets are available at the door. For information call 508-993-7325.

6/21

The fourth annual Summer Catholic Reflections Series sponsored by St. Anthony’s Parish, East Falmouth; Our Lady of Victory Parish, Centerville; and hosting parish Christ The King in Mashpee will begin June 21 at 7 p.m with Father Robin Ryan speaking on “Prayer in Times of Suffering.” Father Ryan is the vice-provincial of the Passionist Congregation in the eastern United States and has taught systematic theology at St. John’s Seminary in Boston and at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. For directions and more information visit www. christthekingparish.com.

6/25

SS. Peter and Paul Parish at Holy Cross Church, 47 Pulaski Street, Fall River will be celebrating a Healing and Anointing Mass at the 4 p.m. Liturgy on June 25. The church will also host exposition of the Blessed Sacrament immediately following the 10:30 a.m.

Mass on June 26 in observance of the Feast of Corpus Christi and in honor of its patron saints. Benediction will be offered at 2 p.m. For more information call the parish office at 508-676-8463.

20

The Anchor

June 10, 2011

Catholic Charities Appeal is strong supporter of hospital chaplains

ATTLEBORO — “When people come to the hospital for the most part there’s a lot of trauma, a lot of anxiety.

They’re not sure what their condition is or what their state of health is. They’re very worried. We hope in our role to lessen much of that anxiety through listening, prayer, and companionship.” Sister Annette Langlois, a member of the Pastoral Care Team at Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, echoed these sentiments when asked why she felt it was important to have chaplains available to people when they are hospitalized.

“It is a privilege to be able to sit with a patient and to enter into conversation, to support them. To hopefully help them activate their faith if they have been away for a while. It’s amazing how they can open up to a chaplain. I feel so privileged that they would do that and I do not take it lightly. This is the support they and their families seek as well in many instances. I’ve seen moments where the families have joined together, after being estranged for a period of time, and are now there for one another.”

“Without Catholic Chari-

ties I wouldn’t be here into my 15th year. I’ve worked with abused children as well and again it was Catholic Charities that brought it about. And so I know Catholic Charities will continue to understand the needs of the poor, the depressed,” concluded Sister Annette.

Sister Annette is one of 22 full- and part-time chaplains and pastoral care staff assigned to all the hospitals in the Diocese of Fall River who provide ministry to the sick and dying 24 hours a day, seven days a week thanks to the donations made yearly to the annual Catho-

lic Charities Appeal. In fiscal year 2010, more than $785,000 was allocated to make certain no one in any of the hospitals in southeastern Massachusetts, Cape Cod and the Islands was denied the benefits of this essential ministry. In 2010 more than 137,000 patient visits were made to the sick and dying in these hospitals with more than 58,000 communions being distributed.

The Sacrament of the Sick was administered by priest chaplains more than 9,900 times, and there were 411 emergency anointings.

“We are one of the few di-

oceses in the United States, and there are approximately 195 dioceses nationwide, that totally funds this ministry thus insuring all patients have every opportunity to be benefit,” said Mike Donly of the appeal office.

Donations to the Appeal can be sent to the Catholic Charities Appeal Office, P.O. Box 1470, Fall River, Mass. 02722; dropped off at any parish in the Diocese; or made on the Appeal website www.frdioc-catholiccharities.org For information visit the website or contact the Appeal Office at 508-675-1311.

rosary Day with the knights — A Living Rosary sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, Father John Hogan Council, was recently recited at St. Julie Billiart Parish in North Dartmouth in the Our Lady’s Grotto. Pictured with the Knights is St. Julie pastor, Father Gregory A. Mathias.