06 26 15

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Diocese of Fall River, Mass.

F riday , June 26, 2015

New board hopes to address ‘vocations crisis’

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

TAUNTON — Acknowledging that vocations are a “crucial thing in the life of the Church,” Father Kevin A. Cook, director of vocations and seminarians for the Fall River Diocese, said it is imperative that we all respond to the will of God in some way.

“Without vocations, everything falls apart,” Father Cook said. “Without vocations to the priesthood, you don’t have priests and you don’t have the Sacraments. Without the vocation of Marriage, the family falls apart. Without vocations to consecrated life, you don’t have that profound witness of a total gift of life to the Lord.”

To that end, Father Cook said Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., recent-

ly asked him to organize and oversee topher M. Peschel, associate director a Diocesan Vocations Board comprised of vocations and seminarians for the of priests, deacons, religious and mar- diocese; Sister Paulina Hurtado, O.P., ried lay people who “have all shown in Episcopal Representative for Religious different ways a and associate dipassion for vocaithout vocations, ev- rector of vocations,” he said. erything falls apart,” tions; Father Jay This newlyMello, former formed, 10-mem- Father Cook said. “Without voca- associate direcber board has been tions to the priesthood, you don’t tor of vocations; meeting since the have priests and you don’t have Father Arnold beginning of the the Sacraments.”

Medeiros; and year and held Father David its most recent Pignato. brainstorming Rounding out the group is Deasession at Holy Family Parish in East con Rick Varieur of St. Theresa of the Taunton, where Father Cook serves as Child Jesus Parish in South Attleboro; pastor.

John and Paula Wilk, members of St. In addition to Father Cook, the Patrick’s Parish in Wareham; and Phil board is comprised of Father Chris- Martin, chairman of the Theology De-

“W

partment at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth.

In speaking with Bishop da Cunha, Father Cook said he expressed a desire to have a diverse group with representatives from different walks of life who have each responded to their own vocations in different ways. While the priests have an obvious vested interest in vocations, it’s equally important to get input from members of the diaconate, religious orders, and married lay people as well.

“There hasn’t been another group like this (in the diocese) in recent memory,” said Father Peschel.

Father Cook said he remembered around the time of his ordination that Father Craig Pregana had attempted Turn to page 18

UMD Campus Ministry seeks to aid as young students ‘Embark’ on new life

By Dave Jolivet Anchor Editor

The St. John’s Eagles Wings Relay for Life Team participated in the recent annual Greater Attleboro Relay for Life at North Attleboro High School. The SJ Eagles Wings brought in $9,270.29 to help the American Cancer Society in their fight against cancer.

From left: Judy Little, David Erwin, Father Riley Williams, Sandy Kelley, Seamus Sutula, Sheila Cryan, Barbara Kelley (obscured), Melissa Quaglia, Lisa Brochu, Jayne Conroy, Rita and Tom Turgeon, and Sheryl Singh.

Promoting vocations in the diocese and beyond

By Christine M. Williams Anchor Correspondent

WAREHAM — Two priests and three seminarians from New York biked 1,400 miles up the East Coast earlier this month in order to promote vocations. Their effort to highlight the importance of responding to God’s call mirrors the everyday efforts of Catholics in the Diocese of Fall River.

From May 17 to June 14, the Biking 4 Vocations team pedaled from St. Augustine, Fla. to Rockville Centre, N.Y. traversing as many as 85 miles in a single day. The pilgrimage spanned 11

states, and the men made many stops at parishes to meet with youth groups and discernment groups. They also attended Mass and prayed the Liturgy of the Hours five times each day. They wore white T-shirts with Matthew 28:19 “Go and make disciples of all nations” emblazoned on the back.

Afterward, the men — who represent the Archdiocese of New York, the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Diocese of Rockville Centre — talked about the physical challenges they faced on their arduous journey, adding that at particuTurn to page 18

NORTH DARTMOUTH — “Any transition is difficult in life,” said Father David C. Frederici, diocesan director of Campus Ministry and chaplain at UMass Dartmouth and Bristol Community College, and pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Pocasset. And he should know, having made the journey from high school to college to seminary to the priesthood, where one can, and usually does, wear many hats.

Another who knows a bit about change is Deacon Frank Lucca, a campus minister at UMass Dartmouth.

Lucca also made the trek from high school to college, to the business world, to being a father and husband, then embracing the challenges of preparing for the permanent diaconate and all that ministering as a deacon entails.

With such vast experience in facing and accepting change, the two are offer-

ing area students who will be entering college within the next few months an overnight program to help them prepare for the biggest changes most will encounter yet in their young lives.

“We’re offering a program for firstyear students focusing on transition,” Lucca told The Anchor. “It’s for any student, not just those planning on attending UMass Dartmouth.”

“And,” Father Frederici added, “it’s not just for those who will be moving away to campus. It’s also for those who will be commuting. They too, are experiencing a major transition in their lives, and transitions are disruptions.”

The free overnight program will take place on the peaceful grounds of the Sacred Hearts Retreat Center in Wareham beginning with registration at 12:30 p.m. on August 4, ending at 1:30 p.m. on August 5.

“When freshmen students begin that Turn to page seven

Bishop da Cunha’s father dies at age 91

FALL RIVER — As The Anchor went to press, it was learned that Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha’s father, Manoel Antonio de Cunha passed away in Brazil June 23 at the age of 91.

He was surrounded by his family, including Bishop da Cunha.

Mr. da Cunha is survived by his wife of 68 years, Josefa, his 13 children (including the bishop), 36 grandchildren, 20 great grandchildren, and six great, great grandchildren.

The Anchor will have full coverage in next week’s edition.

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News From the Vatican

June 26, 2015

Love life, have fun — a Pope Francis pep talk to Special Olympians Vatican City (CNA/ EWTN News) — Pope Francis recently met with Italy’s top Special Olympics athletes, encouraging them and all athletes to make sports a place for loyalty, human dignity and joy.

“It is my hope that you all might live the upcoming games in a joyful, passionate, serene manner: have fun,” he said.

The pope held a June 19 audience for Italy’s 150 delegates to the Special Olympics 2015 World Games. The event will be held in Los Angeles, Calif.

July 25 to August 2.

During his remarks, Pope Francis reflected on the promise of sports. “It is beautiful and meaningful that young people and adults find in sport and participation in competitions, including at an international level, an incentive to live their life fully,” he said. “It is a challenge, and you have accepted it and ‘taken the field.’”

“I encourage you to continue in your efforts to help each other to discover your potential and to love life, to appreciate it in all its limits and above all, its beautiful sides.”

The pope also encouraged the Special Olympians to make friends from around the world.

Special Olympics were founded in the U.S. in 1968

by Eunice Kennedy Shriver to provide sports and athletic opportunities for the mentally disabled. More than 4.4 million athletes in 177 countries take part in over 81,000 games

and competitions each year, according to the website of the Special Olympics’ 2015 world games.

Pope Francis said the athletes had chosen sports as “an experience of development and growth, in the presence of a condition of fragility and limitation.”

He told them that sports is a way to learn “to participate, to outdo oneself, to strive together.”

“All this helps you to become active members of society and also of the Church; and it helps society itself and the Church to overcome all forms of discrimination and exclusion.”

He encouraged the athletes to be faithful to this ideal of sports.

“Do not let yourself be contaminated by a false sporting culture, that of economic success, victory at any cost, and individualism,” he continued. He praised amateur sports’ culture of “gratuity” and of “sport for sport’s sake.”

“We must protect and defend sport as an experience of human values: competition yes, but in loyalty and solidarity. Dignity for every person: always! No one must feel excluded from sport,” said Pope Francis.

He said the world of sports and the Church can work together to restore the “true meaning” of sports in its “educational, playful and recreational” aspects and to restore its cultural and social dignity.

Pope Francis greets family members as he leaves a gathering with young people in Piazza Vittorio in Turin, Italy, recently. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Pope, Orthodox patriarch express commitment for unity

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis and the patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch expressed their desire to work toward full communion of the two churches.

The pope met with Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II at the Vatican June 19. This was Aphrem’s first official visit with Pope Francis. The two Church leaders spoke privately, after which each gave a public discourse.

“We express our desire and readiness to look for new ways that will bring our churches even closer to each other, paving the way for Antioch and Rome, the only two apostolic sees where St. Peter preached, to establish full communion,” Patriarch Ignatius Pope says Scripture must have central Aphrem said.

The patriarch also expressed place in Church’s pastoral life his church’s readiness to come VATICAN CITY (CNS) “The lack of support and to an agreement to celebrate — A lack of enthusiasm for vigor for the Word leads to Easter on a common date. He Scripture weakens well-es- the weakening of Christian said the Holy Synod of Antablished churches and stunts communities of ancient tra- tioch, motivated by the Second the missionary verve of new- dition and halts the Spiri- Vatican Council, adopted a found Christian communi- tual growth and missionary resolution in 1981, expressing ties, said Pope Francis in a fervor of young churches,” “the eagerness of our church” written message shared with the pope wrote. Therefore, to celebrate Easter “on a fixed members of the Catholic he said, there must be a pas- Sunday in April” in common Biblical Federation. Meet- toral commitment to make with other Christian churches.

The celebration of Easter ing federation members — Scripture central to Church “on two different dates is a including representatives life, and an “encounter with source of great discomfort and of bishops’ conferences and Jesus” through Scripture weakens the common witness some 200 Catholic Biblical must be part of the habituof the Church in the world,” institutions — Pope Fran- al activities of all religious cis spoke spontaneously, but communities, parishes and he said, thanking Francis for gave them a copy of his pre- movements, he added. “Ser- recently “considering to take pared text in which he noted vants of the Word,” includ- the initiative to lead the efforts the importance of Scripture. ing bishops, priests, religious on this matter.”

Meeting a group of priests The audience June 19 or lay people, he said, must in Rome June 12, Pope Francis came during the federation’s promote this encounter with said the Catholic Church “is plenary assembly June 18-23 Christ, which inspires faith willing to establish a fixed date in Nemi, outside of Rome. and transforms lives.

for Easter so that it can be celebrated on the same day by all Christians, whether Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox.”

In the current situation, he said, being ironic, “A Catholic and an Orthodox meet. One says, ‘Your Christ has risen?

Mine rises next Sunday.’”

The patriarch also thanked Francis for “courageously” speaking of the Armenian genocide and “opening the way for others to do the same.” The patriarch said about 500,000 Syriac Orthodox died in the 1915 genocide, for which the community continues to seek healing and reconciliation.

In addition, he noted the loss of life of Christians and others in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, as well as the high number of refugees and the destruction of numerous religious buildings and monuments. He thanked Pope Francis for his prayers for the suffering Christians but urged the Vatican to engage in more diplomatic activity toward peace in the region.

“We believe that the Vatican can initiate dialogue with certain European countries (which) may have influence on the regional government that are directly or indirectly supporting and funding the terrorists in the region,” said Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem.

In his speech, Pope Francis urged the two churches to “further strengthen the bonds of friendship and fraternity” during this time of “difficult trial and suffering” for Christians and to “hasten our steps on the common journey, hold-

ing the gaze fixed on the day when we can celebrate our belonging to the one Church of Christ around the same altar of sacrifice and praise.”

The two churches should “exchange the treasures of our traditions as Spiritual gifts because that which unites us is far greater than that which divides us,” he said.

The Syriac Orthodox Church, he said, has been “a church of martyrs” since its founding and is “still today in the Middle East” along with other Christian churches there.

“It seems that the powerful in this world are incapable of finding solutions” to such suffering, he said.

The pope asked Aphrem to pray with him for the two kidnapped Orthodox bishops of Aleppo, Syria, for the priests and lay faithful affected by the conflict and for the “grace to be always ready for forgiveness and to work for reconciliation and peace.”

Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan Gregorios Yohanna and Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Paul were kidnapped in the province of Aleppo April 22, 2013. And as recently as May, Syriac Catholic Father Jacques Mourad was kidnapped. Their whereabouts remain unknown.

“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of unity of the Church and the tool for building the Kingdom of God, which is the kingdom of peace and justice,” the pope said.

After their meeting, the pope and patriarch led prayers in the Vatican’s Redemptoris Mater chapel.

June 26, 2015

The International Church

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A new church is consecrated in United Arab Emirates amid hope for peace, dialogue

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (CNA/EWTN News) — The inauguration and blessing of a new parish in the capital of the United Arab Emirates last week was met with jubilation, as the Church will be a boon to the thousands of migrant Catholics working and living on the outskirts of the city.

“We thank the rulers for providing an attractive environment where Christians feel accepted and are able to live their own identity and to practice their religious beliefs,” said Bishop Paul Hinder, Vicar Apostolic of Southern Arabia, at the recent consecration.

“The mission of the Church is to do everything possible to foster the human capital of the Christian faithful and to make them strong in the pursuit of truth and moral behavior and thus able to better serve the country.”

St. Paul Parish was consecrated by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, in the presence of Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the UAE’s minister for culture, youth, and community development.

The following day, more than 5,000 faithful gathered for a Mass of Thanksgiving. The parish is located in Mussafah, a satellite town of Abu Dhabi, nearly 19 miles from the city center.

St. Paul’s can accommodate

1,200 faithful, and was constructed on land donated by the government of Abu Dhabi. It spans more than 49,000 square feet. The complex also includes within its premises a three-story building that houses a multipur-

and the Philippines, though some are local Arabs.

Along with daily Masses in English, St. Paul will also have weekly Masses in Arabic, Konkani, Malayalam, and Tagalog; fortnightly Masses in Tamil; and

From left, Cardinal Parolin, Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, and Bishop Hinder assist in the ribbon cutting at the recent inauguration of St. Paul parish in Mussafah, Abu Dhabi, UAE. (CNS/AVOSA photo)

pose hall, a residence for priests, and meeting rooms.

The church is expected to serve the approximately 60,000 to 70,000 faithful who live in the surrounding industrial area.

Many of the Catholics in the area are guest workers from Africa, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan,

monthly Masses in Konkani.

Speaking at the inauguration, Cardinal Parolin said: “I think Christians who live in this country need opportunities to give witness of faith and to grow in their faith — they may be strengthened in their efforts to grow in their faith, and be chari-

Pope OKs synod members elected

by Canada’s bishops, superiors general

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis formally approved a further list of delegates to October’s world Synod of Bishops on the family.

The pope approved the Canadian bishops’ election of: Archbishop Paul-Andre Durocher of Gatineau, conference president; Bishop Noel Simard of Valleyfield; Cardinal Thomas C. Collins of Toronto; and Archbishop Richard W. Smith of Edmonton.

The Canadian bishops’ alternates also were approved. They are Bishop Lionel Gendron of SaintJean-Longueuil and Archbishop J. Michael Miller of Vancouver.

In addition, the Union of Superiors General of men’s religious orders elected 10 members, who also received papal approval. They include: Father Adolfo Nicolas, superior general of the Jesuits; Father Marco Tasca, minister general of the Conventual Franciscans; and Canadian Father Michael Brehl, superior general of the Redemptorists.

U.S. Father G. Gregory Gay,

table to others.”

Cardinal Parolin also noted that “The number of Christian faithful in the UAE is growing, and even though they come from many national and ethnic groups, languages, and cultures,

superior general of the Vincentians, was named as an alternate.

The heads of the offices of the Roman Curia are automatically members, as are the heads of the Eastern Catholic churches, which elect additional delegates according to the size of their church synods. Pope Francis approved the election by the Maronite Catholic bishops of Sydney-based Bishop Antoine Tarabay; Brooklyn-based Bishop Gregory J. Mansour was elected as an alternate.

Pope Francis also will appoint members; papal appointees usually are chosen to improve the geographical mix of the synod’s voting members and to include bishops with a special expertise in the topic under discussion.

The world Synod of Bishops will be held October 4-25 at the Vatican and will focus on the theme, “The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and Contemporary World.”

The recent announcement was the third list of delegates and

alternates to have been released by the Vatican since February.

Those already elected and approved for the 2015 gathering include: — U.S. Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., conference president; Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia, host of the World Meeting of Families in September; Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of GalvestonHouston; and Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles.

— British Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster and Bishop Peter Doyle of Northampton.

— Irish Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin and Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, Northern Ireland, president of the Irish bishops’ conference.

— Australian Bishop Daniel E. Hurley of Darwin and Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane; and Bishop Charles Drennan of Palmerston North, New Zealand.

yet they are brought together in unity by their Catholic faith.”

Cardinal Parolin emphasized that “Our lives are closely linked to people of other religions and we seek to promote peaceful coexistence of peoples as we endeavour to become a global fraternity of nations with the common goal of building human society upon the noble principles of justice, peace, prosperity, and equality for all.”

Bishop Hinder thanked the president of the UAE, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the UAE government for their generosity and graciousness in granting the land and necessary permits, and for the stability, security, and peace enjoyed in the country.

Bishop Hinder noted, “Wealth is only a blessing when it is administered with a high sense of responsibility by well-

qualified and dedicated leaders.”

“The Catholic Church is not simply a praying community but forms its followers in respect for life, care for the environment, honesty and dedication,” Bishop Hinder continued. “Working together in mutual respect, we can all contribute to the prosperity and peace of the country.”

Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan observed that the opening of St. Paul’s highlights the religious tolerance of the UAE’s leaders. He praised the leadership of Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the previous president and father of the current president, saying he was guided by wisdom, courage, prudence, temperance, loyalty, justice, and generosity.

He also referred to Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s declaration that the UAE has, and will continue, to rely on the diversity of its people, voicing hope that the parishioners of St. Paul’s would bring unique identities and commitments to the country’s cosmopolitan society.

“Our leadership knows its true wealth and accepts the obligation to respect and understand the many religious beliefs of the people living in this country,” Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan further said. “I believe that each of you can provide evidence that the leaders of the UAE are fulfilling that obligation.”

Around 76 percent of the population of the UAE is Muslim, while Christians constitute around nine percent. There are also sizable minorities of Hindus and Buddhists.

St. Paul’s is the second parish in Abu Dhabi, following St. Joseph’s Cathedral in the city’s center. Its lot was granted by the Municipality of Abu Dhabi, with construction starting in 2013.

The Vicariate Apostolic of Southern Arabia serves the more than two million Catholics in the UAE, Oman, and Yemen.

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The Church in the U.S.

June 26, 2015

Modern martyrs should inspire U.S. Christians, archbishop says

BALTIMORE (CNA/ EWTN News) — The plight of persecuted believers overseas should inspire Americans to continue their defense of religious freedom at home, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore said.

“We should be inspired by their courage and renewed in our resolve not to let religious freedom in our country be compromised by degrees until it all but disappears,” he said.

“These believers exercise that God-given freedom which no tyrant can eradicate — the freedom to bear witness to one’s faith even at the cost of one’s life,” he preached recently.

U.S. religious freedom challenges are not on the same magnitude as the outright persecution facing Christians in other countries, he said, but U.S. Christians are nevertheless “in the same boat.”

The homily came during Mass at Baltimore’s Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was attended by about 1,000 people.

It launched the U.S. bishops’ third Fortnight for Freedom.

“We seek the freedom to bear witness to Christ’s love, not just in church but in our service to the wider community through works of justice and charity, education, social services, and health care,” he said, echoing the 2015 campaign’s theme “Freedom to Bear Witness.”

The event, from June 21July 4, coincides with the feasts of several martyrs and is intended to raise awareness about threats to religious freedom in the U.S. and about the need for religious freedom protections like the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Fortnight began in 2012 in response to the Obama Administration’s efforts to mandate that employers provide insurance coverage for drugs and procedures to which they have religious and moral objections, such as sterilization procedures and contraceptive drugs, including drugs which have abortion-causing effects.

While the Supreme Court’s 2014 ruling against the mandate in favor of Hobby Lobby provided protections for closely-held for-profit corporations and their owners, the courts are still considering legal challenges for non-profits and oth-

er groups.

The rise of “gay marriage” and strict application of antidiscrimination law have also caused problems for many religious believers. Small businesses with moral reservations about participating in samesex ceremonies have faced discrimination lawsuits for declining to provide services, while Catholic-run adoption agencies have been forced to close because the law would require them to place children with same-sex couples.

Archbishop Lori said there are “many intolerant voices” working to stifle freedom by “labeling as bigotry long-held beliefs about the sanctity of life and Marriage,” by imposing “a grey and godless secularism,” and by “branding basic religious liberty protections as ‘a license to discriminate.’”

“Religious institutions in the United States are in danger of losing their freedom to hire for mission and their freedom to defend the family,” he said. “It is one thing for others to disagree with the Church’s teaching but quite another to discriminate against the rights of believers to practice our faith, not just in word but in the way we conduct our daily life, ministry, and business.”

Efforts to pass religious freedom protections have faced increasing opposition.

The controversy over Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act was so intense that the Indiana legislature passed an amendment that critics said significantly undermined religious freedom in the state.

“Catholics for Choice” has launched a campaign to undermine the Fortnight. It placed ads in the front cover wraparound of the Washington Post Express showing a caricature of a bishop who points at the reader and says, “We want you to help us discriminate.”

“Catholics for Choice” said the ad shows a bishop “recruiting an army of intolerance” and that the bishops want the “freedom to discriminate against anyone who disagrees with them.”

The archbishop praised the witness of martyrs during the Roman Empire and the English Reformation and cited the execution of 20 Coptic Christians in Libya, whom Islamic militants beheaded for being Christian.

Sister Mary Thecla of the Daughters of St. Paul prays outside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. Two days prior, nine people were murdered during a Bible study session at the church. (CNS photo/Brian Snyder, Reuters)

People express heartache, outrage as they mourn shooting victims

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The tragic taking of nine lives at a historically black church in downtown Charleston, S.C., brought an outpouring of solidarity, compassion and sorrow from around the country.

Arrested was 21-year-old Dylann Storm Roof in neighboring North Carolina and charged him with the murders. He did not fight extradition so he was returned to South Carolina.

Witnesses said Roof had joined a prayer meeting the evening of June 17 at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. They said he sat with church members for about an hour then stood up, yelling racist remarks, and opened fire.

Religious leaders as well as government leaders issued their condolences and condemned the shooting, which is being investigated as a hate crime.

Catholic Bishop Robert E. Guglielmone of Charleston expressed a deep sadness over the tragedy.

“The inside of any church is a sanctuary,” he said in a statement.

“When a person enters, he or she has the right to worship, pray and learn in a safe and secure environment. For anyone to murder nine individuals is upsetting, but to kill them inside of a church during a Bible study class is devastating to any faith community.”

Bishop Guglielmone also shared his sympathies with those who lost loved ones in the shooting and prayed they will “feel the comforting presence of our Lord surrounding them during this difficult time.”

Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Raleigh in the neighboring state of North Carolina, said: “In solidarity with my brother bishop I ask all the Catholic faithful and

people of goodwill in the Diocese of Raleigh to stop at some point today, and offer sincere and thoughtful prayer for the nine victims of this horrific crime and for their families.”

A number of Jewish groups issued strong statements on the crime that took place in Charleston.

“Hate crimes attack both individual victims and entire communities,” said the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. “They are meant to isolate and terrorize. We stand in direct contrast: for an inclusive and pluralistic community, one that cherishes life and recognizes that every person is created in the Divine image.”

The statement went on to point out that tragic act “highlights that there is still racism in our society and that there is urgent need to address the issue directly. We must clearly and unequivocally demonstrate that hate violence has no place in our society.”

Rabbi Noam Marans, director of interreligious and intergroup relations at AJC Global Jewish Advocacy, said that “this horrific massacre of innocents at prayer is extreme depravity. We are shocked beyond words that someone could enter a house of worship in our country and commit such a horrific crime, all the more so if it was racially motivated.”

Numerous government officials weighed in on the shooting, with some citing an attachment to Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

According to AP coverage of a news conference, Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley, who is Catholic, said that for someone to go into a church and kill people who had gathered to pray and worship “is beyond any comprehension. We are going to put our

arms around that church and that church family.”

A number of Catholic bishops across the country issued statements, including Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., who is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

He expressed “grief and deep sadness” over the murders, saying, “There have been far too many heartbreaking losses in the African-American community this year alone. Our prayers are with all those suffering from this heinous crime. We join our voices with civic and religious leaders in pledging to work for healing and reconciliation.”

Archbishop Kurtz added, “We must continue to build bridges and we must confront racism and violence with a commitment to life, a vision of hope, and a call to action.”

Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap., in a statement said: “It is foundational to our country’s heritage that places of worship always be sanctuaries of prayer, safety and peace. We must reject these senseless acts of hatred and brutality in society.”

Washington Auxiliary Bishop Martin D. Holley in a statement as the national chaplain of the Knights of Peter Claver said: “We stand in solidarity with all the people of South Carolina offering our sympathy, condolences, love and prayers for the survivors and all the family members of the victims begging God to grant us peace and security and respect for the dignity of every human person.”

The American Jewish Congress called it “a hateful act of terror. Nobody should be unsafe in a house of worship, no matter the color of their skin or the religion they practice.”

The Church in the U.S. U.S. Catholic leaders laud Pope Francis for encyclical on environment

June 26, 2015

WASHINGTON (CNS) — U.S. Catholic leaders lauded Pope Francis for his encyclical, Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home, for calling all to be good stewards, for putting “a human face” on environmental issues and for starting “a new conversation” on the urgent need to protect all of creation.

As soon as the long-awaited document was released at the Vatican June 18, statements of reaction quickly followed.

Dominican Sister Donna Markham, president of Catholic Charities USA, said she hopes the encyclical’s message will “inform, inspire, and influence discussion about how our obligation to care for creation is as essential as our responsibility to care for each other.”

She said the encyclical “promises to shine a light on our moral obligation to care for all of God’s creation, from our neighbors who are marginalized to the earth that nourishes us all.”

Bishop Peter A. Libasci of Manchester, N.H., said the pope’s encyclical “envisions a world growing closer, rather than consumed by war and dissension, and stresses that there is a connection between care for the earth, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and our own interior peace.”

He said the pope was ultimately “asking us to re-evaluate our needs and our wants, and pointing the way to happiness: not a happiness based on the continual accumulation of material goods, but a true satisfaction and happiness in an environment that produces and sustains life.”

Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori applauded the Holy Father for calling attention to the need for responsible environmental stewardship.

“On this issue, the pope has done what he has done since his election: He has illuminated and made new an age-old teaching of the Church and in doing so, begun a new conversation in hopes of advancing the common good,” he said.

The archbishop added that “whether one agrees or not with the scientific consensus on the link between human activity and recent climate change, the Holy Father rightly makes the moral case that the need remains for us to act to protect the our environment. We must resist the ‘throwaway culture,’ the pope warns against, and seek ways in our daily lives to practice environmentally friendly behavior.”

Across the country, the bishops of Alaska welcomed it “with joy and thanksgiving.” In a joint statement quoting from it, Anchorage

Archbishop Roger L. Schwietz, Juneau Bishop Edward J. Burns and Fairbanks Bishop Chad W. Zielinski said: “At the heart of Laudato Si’ we find this question: ‘What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?’”

They noted that the pope deals with environmental issues within the context of the purpose of life and why human beings exist at all.

Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron described the encyclical as a “moment of grace for the Church and for the world.” He said the pope “offers a clear witness to the Creator’s plan for the human family and our care of our common home, so that this wisdom will serve as the norm for how we should live together and care for those on the peripheries.”

The Sisters of Mercy, based on Silver Spring, Md., said the pope “clearly connects concern for people who are poor with care for creation, which is central to us.

We believe this is one of the great moral issues of our time and for us a compelling and urgent call to respond.”

“In our ministries throughout the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Philippines, we see vividly the links between climate change and environmental degradation and the plight of immigrants, women and children, and those victimized by violence and racism,” the statement said. “We worry about even greater suffering given forecasts for increased climate refugees, environmental-related conflicts and food crises if we do not act.”

Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain said Pope Francis “put a human face on the issue of ecology and caring for creation. This teaching document, which is consistent with the teaching of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI and other recent popes, is an urgent call to Christians, people of other faith traditions and those of no faith to protect our earthly home and our brothers and sisters who inhabit it.”

The document also calls the Church to a new role, said Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Ill. “That role,” he said, “is not in judging scientific questions, many of which remain unanswered definitively — including the analysis of the nature and the extent of humanity’s contributions to climate change. Rather, the Church’s role, as in many other complex and practical decisions, is in proposing moral parameters within which any effective solution should be judged.”

Joan Rosenhauer, executive

vice president of U.S. operations for Catholic Relief Services, said the U.S. bishops’ overseas relief and development agency is “continuously encouraged by Pope Francis’ commitment to the poor, and the relationship between the environment and our well-being.”

She said the pope’s message “resonates with CRS as we work to help the most vulnerable around the world adapt to the effects of climate change.”

Colorado’s bishops said they hope “this encyclical will motivate the many interested parties in Colorado and across the globe to dialogue and develop prudent and constructive action to protect the precious gift of creation that we have been given.

“We also hope that it will inspire renewed solidarity in responding to the concerns and needs of those in the margins, especially the poor, vulnerable and young.”

The Conference of Major Superiors of Men and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which represent the leaders of U.S. religious congregations, said they welcomed the pope’s call to care for one another by caring for all of God’s creation. These leaders pointed out that women religious and men’s religious orders have had a long history of standing with those most in need which includes those who suffer the consequences of environmental degradation and the destruction of God’s creation.

“The Holy Father reminds us of our Biblical call to live in right relationship and to cooperate with God’s design for our world.

When we choose lives of simplicity, hope, and love we honor God’s presence in our world; we grow closer to God and we build the community for generations to come,” said Holy Cross Sister Joan Marie Steadman, LCWR executive director.

Capuchin Father John Pavlik, CMSM director, said: “We wholeheartedly support Pope Francis’ encyclical on integral ecology and the urgent implications for addressing climate change. This is a matter of faith in the God of all creation who calls us to love, respect, and walk humbly with all of creation.”

The leadership team of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace encouraged all sisters and associates of the congregation to “prayerfully read and reflect” on the encyclical, and recommitment themselves to several principles agreed upon by the congregation at its 2008 chapter, including to “deepen our Spirituality of peace regarding care of creation” and “identify and reduce

our carbon footprint in our communities, ministries and institutions.”

“Pope Francis’ recurring use of the image of our ‘common home’ weaves together the importance of responding to the environmental crisis in all of its complexities, from the economic inequities that create an everwidening gulf between the rich and the poor to the underlying Spiritual hunger felt by so many today,” said San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone in his statement.

He added: “If we are going to repair creation and safeguard the dignity of every human being living on ‘our Sister, Mother Earth,’ it will require cooperation, sacrifice and goodwill from everyone.”

Pope Francis “challenges us today to go beyond the political, to go beyond the economic,” said Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark, N.J. “He says squarely, clearly, simply, that we have a ‘responsibility to nurture the earth, to nurture creation, to keep it and make it grow according to its

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laws.’”

Archbishop George J. Lucas of Omaha, Neb., encouraged “a thoughtful reading of the encyclical in the days ahead,” urging people “to take personally the pope’s call for conversion of heart.”

“Pope Francis calls individuals, families, communities, corporations and nations to a fresh way of thinking and acting,” he said.

“As previous popes have done, he urges us to reject a utilitarian consumerism that does not preserve the environment for future generations and that shows a harsh disregard for the poor today.”

Benedictine Sister Michaela Hedican, prioress of her order, called the document “a timely reminder to all of us who live in richer countries to take moral responsibility for the earth’s environment.”

“Our community welcomes the pope’s call to recognize the ‘collective selfishness’ which has resulted in such damage to the environment,” she said in a statement released by St. Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, Minn.

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June 26, 2015

Anchor Editorial

Laudato Si’ — Part I

As you can read in this edition of The Anchor (and as you have heard from the secular media), Pope Francis came out with an encyclical letter, Laudato Si’, eight days ago, which he subtitled, “On care for our common home” (that being Earth). Papal documents normally take their names from the first words of the document in Latin (which is why the Vatican II documents are known as Lumen Gentium, Gaudium et Spes, etc.). However, Pope Francis chose to have this document be known by its first words in Italian (since he was quoting St. Francis of Assisi, who wrote in that language), Laudato Si’, which in English means, “Praise be to You” (the “You” being God).

Pope Francis discusses how St. Francis referred to the earth as our sister and called all of nature a brother or sister. In No. 11 of the document, the pope says about his namesake’s filial attitude towards Creation: “Such a conviction cannot be written off as naïve romanticism, for it affects the choices which determine our behavior. If we approach nature and the environment without this openness to awe and wonder, if we no longer speak the language of fraternity and beauty in our relationship with the world, our attitude will be that of masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters, unable to set limits on their immediate needs.”

Throughout the document the Holy Father condemns this negative attitude and sees it connected to the selfishness which harms our fellow human beings. At No. 6 he writes, “Pope Benedict asked us to recognize that the natural environment has been gravely damaged by our irresponsible behavior. The social environment has also suffered damage. Both are ultimately due to the same evil: the notion that there are no indisputable truths to guide our lives, and hence human freedom is limitless.”

The pope is criticizing this “limitless” idea of human freedom; his attitude is one that many Americans over the centuries have also believed. The Prohibitionist speaker John Finch said in 1882, “Your right to swing your arm leaves off where my right not to have my nose struck begins.” However, Laudato Si’ lists many incidents in which the powerful are figuratively ignoring the boundary of the noses of other people, especially the poor.

Among the people Pope Francis refers to in the document is his friend Bartholomew, the Patriarch of Constantinople. At No. 9 the pope writes, “Bartholomew has drawn attention to the ethical and Spiritual roots of environmental problems, which require that we look for solutions not only in technology but in a change of humanity; otherwise we would be dealing merely with symptoms. He asks us to replace consumption with sacrifice, greed with generosity, wastefulness with a spirit of sharing, an asceticism which ‘entails learning to give, and not simply to give up. It is a way of loving, of moving gradually away from what I want to what God’s world needs. It is liberation from fear, greed and compulsion.’”

At No. 25 and many other places in the encyclical, the pope conveys this truth about our changing environment. “Its worst impact will

probably be felt by developing countries. Many of the poor live in areas particularly affected by phenomena related to warming.” Later in that paragraph the pope connects this reality to things we’ve seen in the news repeatedly during the Francis papacy and especially in the last 12 months: “There has been a tragic rise in the number of migrants seeking to flee from the growing poverty caused by environmental degradation.

They are not recognized by international conventions as refugees; they bear the loss of the lives they have left behind, without enjoying any legal protection whatsoever. Sadly, there is widespread indifference to such suffering, which is even now taking place throughout our world.

Our lack of response to these tragedies involving our brothers and sisters points to the loss of that sense of responsibility for our fellow men and women upon which all civil society is founded.”

Here we see a parallel between the lack of action on the environment and lack of action about human suffering. John Carr, who used to work for the U.S. bishops conference and now is at Georgetown University, said on NPR about the encyclical, “The pope clearly puts care for Creation and action on climate change at the center of Christian life, and that will challenge and irritate some people. He also clearly places care for the weak and the vulnerable, including unborn children for example, at the center of the environment ethic, and that’ll make other people uncomfortable.”

Pope Francis makes the latter group uncomfortable at No. 50. He writes, “Instead of resolving the problems of the poor and thinking of how the world can be different, some can only propose a reduction in the birth rate. At times, developing countries face forms of international pressure which make economic assistance contingent on certain policies of ‘reproductive health.’ Yet ‘while it is true that an unequal distribution of the population and of available resources creates obstacles to development and a sustainable use of the environment, it must nonetheless be recognized that demographic growth is fully compatible with an integral and shared development’ (quote from the “Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church”). To blame population growth instead of extreme and selective consumerism on the part of some, is one way of refusing to face the issues. It is an attempt to legitimize the present model of distribution, where a minority believes that it has the right to consume in a way which can never be universalized, since the planet could not even contain the waste products of such consumption. Besides, we know that approximately a third of all food produced is discarded, and whenever food is thrown out it is as if it were stolen from the table of the poor.”

There is a lot of “food for thought” in this document, food we don’t want to throw away. We will look at it more over this summer, but as Father Landry says in the column to the right of this editorial, why not go out and read a copy at home?

Pope Francis’ Angelus message of June 21 At the end of this celebration, our thought turns to the Virgin Mary, the loving and thoughtful mother to-

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est gesture of love. An icon of that love is the Shroud, which this time again has attracted so many people to Turin. The Shroud draws us towards the Face and the broken Body of Jesus and at the same time, directs us [to look at] the face of every suffering and unjustly persecuted person.

It moves us in the same direction of the gift of Jesus’ love. “The love of Christ impels us”: these words of St. Paul was the motto of St. Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo. Recalling the apostolic zeal of many holy priests of this land, from

Don Bosco, about whom we recall the bicentennial of his birth, I greet with gratitude you, priests and religious.

You dedicate yourselves with commitment to pastoral work and you are close to the people and their problems. I encourage you to go forward in your ministry with joy, always focusing on what is essential to proclaim the Gospel.

And while I thank you, brother bishops of the Piedmont and of the d’Aosta Valley, for your presence, I exhort you to be near your priests with paternal affection and warm proximity.

To the Holy Virgin I entrust this city and its territory and those who live in it, so that they can live in justice, in peace, in fraternity.

In particular I entrust families, young people, the elderly, and all the suffering, with a special thought for those ill with leukemia on today’s National Day against leukemia and myeloma.

May Mary, Consolation [of Christians], queen of Turin and Piedmont, make firm your faith, reassure your hope and make fruitful your charity, so as to be “salt and light” of this blessed land, of which I am a grandson.

June 26, 2015

E

ight days ago, Pope Francis published his encyclical on the environment entitled, Laudato Si’: On the Care of Our Common Home.

Have you read it yet? If not, have you started to read it? If not, do you plan to start?

Odds are that the vast majority of Catholics, including Catholics who read Catholic newspapers like this one, will respond no to those questions. Some might read an article in a newspaper or magazine about the encyclical. Others might watch a news report or listen to a radio program. But even though Pope Francis has written it for them, few will actually read it.

The reason is because most Catholics don’t read things that will help them grow in faith. An extensive survey of American Catholics done by folks at Dynamic Catholic a few years back revealed that only one percent read a good Catholic book each year. Only one out of 100 reads at least one a year. And chances are that that Catholic book isn’t a papal encyclical.

Yet it’s pretty difficult to deepen one’s faith and grow in the capacity to spread it confidently and competently to others unless one is study-

Anchor Columnist Spiritual reading ing the faith. It’s pretty plain, der the life-altering impact it therefore, that one of the had in the lives of some of the most important sources of greatest saints. St. Augustine renewal of one’s life of faith, converted when he heard an and of the revitalization of angel saying, “Take and read,” our parishes and the Church and he picked up the Letas a whole, will come through ter to the Romans and read reading. a passage that spoke to him As we continue this series personally of what God was on a Catholic plan of life, asking. St. Ignatius of Loyola, the series of Spiritual practices that help us to grow in faith, Putting Into holiness, and apostolic effectiveness, the the Deep publication of Laudato Si’ is a good time

By Father for us to focus on the Roger J. Landry importance of Spiritual reading.

Spiritual reading refers to the practice of having read numerous lives prayerfully studying or perus- of the saints, was moved to ing good Spiritual literature: ask why he couldn’t do what the lives of the saints and SS. Francis and Dominic had other important religious done. While still an atheist, figures, books on prayer and St. Edith Stein pulled an allthe Spiritual life, commentar- nighter reading the biography ies on Sacred Scripture or the of St. Teresa of Avila and writings of the saints, papal in the morning, approached encyclicals and exhortations, by friends, said, “This is the bishops’ pastoral letters, and truth.” She was baptized soon works of this genre. It’s done afterward. not so much as an exercise of My own Spiritual life information but of formation, began to take wings when I not of learning but of assimi- began to do Spiritual readlation to life, specifically to ing as a freshman in college. help one grow as a Christian. My parents bought me for When we think about Christmas Butler’s fourSpiritual reading, we can pon- volume “Lives of the Saints”

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and for the next decade I spent 10 to 15 minutes each night reading about the saints whose feast day would be celebrated on the morrow.

I began prayerfully to read the documents of the Second Vatican Council and of St. John Paul II. I read the Spiritual classics written by the great saints. I can still remember how much I was changed reading St. Therese Lisieux’s “Story of a Soul,” the biographies of SS. Francis Xavier, John Vianney, and Alphonsus Ligouri, the works on prayer

by SS. Catherine of Siena, John of the Cross, Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila, and Josemaria Escriva, and various others.

Spiritual reading is a habit that, I’m grateful, I’ve never lost. Besides the Mass, out of all the aspects of the plan of life, I’ve always found Spiritual reading the sweetest. To some degree, we become what we read.

One of the great prophets of the importance of Spiritual reading today is Matthew Kelly. In his study of the habits that make for dynamic Catholics, one of the most important he said is Spiritual

reading. Highly-engaged Catholics read about 14 minutes a day on average of a good Catholic book, whereas most Catholics don’t read at all.

One of the challenges Matthew makes to Catholics is to read five pages of a good Catholic book each day.

If that were done, he says, in a given year one would read nine average-size (200page) Catholic books a year and 241 in a 25-year period.

Imagine how much richer one’s Catholic life and apostolate would be if over the next 25 years, one read that many good Catholic titles.

But it begins one page at a time. And for most American Catholics, that will begin by turning off the television, if even for a half-an-hour or hour, and starting prayerfully to read books that can help us grow in faith.

St. Paul’s advice to the young St. Timothy was, “Attend to reading!” (1 Tim 4:13). That advice is still valid!

Perhaps we could begin by reading at least five pages a day of Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’.

Anchor columnist Father Landry can be contacted at fatherlandry@ catholicpreaching.com.

during their college years. The ministry is there for them; to help them when they need help; to provide a Spiritual haven if that’s what they need; and to be there for students to help them include the Spiritual aspect in their lives that can sometimes become so overwhelming and busy.

“Come August, all the re-

alities of a major change in life will sink in rapidly.”

The program is free and open to any student attending any college or university for the first time this coming semester.

For more information, contact Deacon Frank Lucca at flucca@ umassd.edu or visit www. fallrivercampusministry.com.

‘Embark’ program to assist new college students make transition continued from page one

new journey in their lives, often their faith lives fall through the cracks, even if they’ve been active in their parishes for many years,” said Father Frederici.

“Also, at some point during that first year they may also get that ‘I don’t belong here,’ feeling about the college experience and leave.

“The overnight program is called ‘Embark,’ something all the students will be doing in a couple of months. We’re hoping to ease the disruptions of transition for them, with the help of some students who have gone through the very same thing.”

Along with Father Frederici and Deacon Lucca, the Embark team will be comprised of three young adults who have been active with campus ministry, and/or who have experienced retreat programs geared toward college-age individuals.

“We have three young adults who will be assisting their peers,” explained Lucca. “A UMD graduate student and an undergrad, and a undergradu-

ate from Rhode Island College.

Each are peer leaders in their respective campus ministries and have attended a campus ministry retreat.”

“It’s important for new students to hear about the transitions they’ll face; whether it be living away from home for the first time, dealing with school and work, and still finding the time to keep their faith lives alive,” said Father Frederici.

“But it’s also important that they hear the message from someone their own age; someone they can relate to. It’s important to have them socialize with them, and then when they’re on campus there can be that comfort zone.”

The overnight program includes prayer, PowerPoint presentations, talks, small-group sharing, personal reflections, Eucharistic Adoration, food, and social time.

Father Frederici and Deacon Lucca agree the program can give young students the opportunity to make contacts on cam-

pus who they’ll know and trust.

“We find that the earlier we have contact with students, the more likely they will remain involved in campus ministry or their parishes at home,” said Father Frederici. “We want students to know that the campus ministry is not one of the many clubs that will seek out students

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June 26, 2015

hen you live on an island, a speck in the Atlantic several miles off the coast of Cape Cod, you gradually develop an affinity for all things nautical. This Gospel reading immediately brought to mind a quote attributable to Commodore John Paul Jones, the great naval leader of the American Revolution: “It seems to be a law of nature, inflexible and inexorable, that those who will not risk cannot win.”

The Gospel relates the parallel stories of Jairus and the woman afflicted with hemorrhages. Both were looking for the same thing from Jesus, a remedy for a physical problem, a cure. But they received much more than they expected.

Jairus was a prominent worship leader in the synagogue. He was among the community leaders who disapproved of Jesus because He associated with sinners. We

What are you willing to risk?

don’t know how this synacommunity. She was in a state gogue leader broke away from of lonely desperation after 12 his tradition and his comyears of physical and Spiritual munity to prostrate himself pain. She had exhausted all before Jesus, but we do know earthly possibilities of a cure. the reason. His dying daughHer courage and her faith ter made him desperate. That led her to take the risk of her desperation led him to take the greatest risk of his life.

Homily of the Week But that was only Thirteenth Sunday half of his story. in Ordinary Time Messengers from his family announced that

By Deacon his daughter had died.

Karl G. Buder They summarily dismissed Jesus’ ability to help at that point. But life. She was Spiritually dead Jairus stayed the course. He and Jesus brought her back to still believed that Jesus could life in her Spiritual commuprevail in the face of death. nity. Jesus certainly cured her That was an astounding and physical ailment but, more an even greater risk. He was importantly, He healed her truly “all in” and his reward Spiritually. was beyond his wildest expecBoth had great faith in tations.

Jesus, took monumental risks The woman with hemorout of desperation and were rhages was ritually unclean, a rewarded with more than social outcast who could not physical healing. practice her religion in the Many of us know people

who walk through the doors of our churches from desperation, seeking healing, both physical and Spiritual, in a modern day version of Jairus and the woman. These people will do whatever it takes to connect with Jesus.

What about the rest of us? Many of us are quite comfortable living a middleof-the road faith existence, neither hot nor cold, free of desperation and fully embracing the status quo. Those folks are risk averse.

Jesus seems to agree with John Paul Jones. Jesus rewards those willing to take the risks that make them reach out to touch Him, to prostrate themselves before Him and beg for healing.

But what if our backs are not against the wall and we lack that overwhelming sense of desperation? What kind of

faith-driven risks are we willing to take?

For starters, it may be as simple as sitting in a different pew at Mass. Instead of sitting three rows from the back, sit three rows from the front. Embrace risk on a gradual basis. Join a prayer group with members outside your circle of friends. Volunteer with your parish food pantry, soup kitchen or youth group. Seek the Sacrament of Reconciliation at least once a month. Move outside your comfort zone.

Eventually, in embracing those risks, you will find an inner desperation. You will be desperate for Jesus’ healing touch and you will win for yourself the unfading crown of Salvation.

Deacon Buder is assigned to Good Shepherd Parish on Martha’s Vineyard.

His primary ministry is the Brazilian Community on the island.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. June 27, Gn 18:1-15; (Ps) Lk 1:46-50,53-55; Mt 8:5-17. Sun. June 28, Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Wis 1:1315,2:23-24; Ps 30:2,4-6,11-13; 2 Cor 8:7,9,13-15; Mk 5:21-43 or 5:21-24, 35b-43. Mon. June 29, Acts 12:1-11; Ps 34:2-9; 2 Tm 4:6-8,17-18; Mt 16:13-19.

Tues. June 30, Gn 19:15-29; Ps 26:2-3,9-12; Mt 8:23-27. Wed. July 1, Gn 21:5,8-20a; Ps 34:7-8,10-13; Mt 8:28-34. Thurs. July 2, Gn 22:1b-19; Ps 115:16,8-9; Mt 9:1-8. Fri. July 3, Gn 27:1-5,15-29; Ps 135:1b-6; Mt 9:14-17.

Don’t give up five minutes before the miracle Editor’s note: “It’s What We Do,” by James A. Campbell, will become a regular Anchor column featuring works and workers who serve the faithful of the diocese. elcome to the first column entitled, “It’s What We Do.” I intend to use this space to bring our readers closer to the lives of those we serve and also to the stories of those heroic men and women who devote themselves to service on behalf of our diocese.

Each year we ask every parishioner to consider a special gift to fund our Catholic Charities Appeal. I hope that by sharing glimpses of the people behind the Appeal that you will be inspired to learn more and to discover anew the true value of charity.

Karen Reddy has a favorite expression that she often shares with the women she encounters in her role at Grace House, a transitional housing program that she oversees in New Bedford: “Don’t give up five minutes before the miracle.” That simple phrase encapsulates so much of her philosophy: tenacity, faith, conviction and hope.

Karen’s journey to her leader-

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ship position was fraught with challenges. She was the eldest child of four born to a 20-year Navy veteran. In her youth the family moved to Japan for four years and for many years they would be uprooted every two years. The family roots were in South Boston and when they came back to the States permanently in 1964 they settled in Brockton.

As the oldest child in the family, Karen chafed at the amount of responsibility and accountability that was placed on her.

She began her selfdescribed “wild rebellious side” in the late 60s and early 70s. While she completed her GED in 1982 she still retained an attitude that, she allows now, was not yet ready to confront reality.

In August of 2007 she walked through the doors of the Catholic Social Service offices in New Bedford. She credits the kindness and wisdom of Sister Clair Chabot, a Bernadine Franciscan, with setting her on the path to a life of service. “Sister Clair saw something in me that helped me to see it in myself. I went from being served to serving others

and learned so much about the incredible importance of love and support. It is what makes us whole.”

Karen is now responsible for helping manage many of the services for women under the tutelage of Catholic Social Services’ director Arlene McNamee.

It’s What We Do

By James A. Campbell “Arlene truly gets it. She knows what women who have fallen need to get back on their feet,” Karen affirms. Together, and with the staffs in Taunton, Fall River, New Bedford and Hyannis, programs such as Grace House, St. Clair’s, Donovan House and Good Samaritan provide tangible examples of hope for the broken.

“I remember a phrase I overheard from a program director at St. Francis House,” Karen said.

“In speaking to someone who was bereft and depressed about her current circumstances, she

was encouraged to keep hoping by saying, ‘Don’t give up five minutes before the miracle.’”

Karen related that she often repeats this mantra to women she encounters today. “There are not enough services for women who faced domestic violence, or homelessness, even though we have made great strides.”

Karen is enthused by the newest program initiated by Catholic Social Services this winter. Grace House was scheduled to open this past March 28. It happened to occur on one those brutal storm days that virtually paralyzed many parts of New England. By sheer determination, and in her words, “God’s plan,” they were able to open on time and now serve a full complement of women who are seeking to transition back to responsible lives.

Karen’s personal journey has come full circle. Once a “wild child,” she has resumed a central role in her clients’ success and with her own family. “I was able to help my mother fulfill an important wish,” she said. “When she was stricken with cancer, she

wanted to be in her own bed at home when she passed. We made that happen. Two years ago, I was able to hold my dad’s hand as he passed on Memorial Day. Today it ‘makes my heart smile’ that my niece and I are so close.”

Karen is an example of transformational love and its power.

She was helped once and now provides that help to hundreds.

Yet she worries about what she calls her “frequent flyers,” women and many youth who continue to require the service she oversees. “We are seeing a lot of young people, ages 18 to 24 who are abandoned. We see more families at our soup kitchens, more need and more in need of that miracle of the moment.”

Scripture tells us that “the poor will always be with us.”

Our role as Catholics is to work and care with love in our hearts to treat the poor with the dignity they are entitled to. When that happens, the miracle is often less than five minutes away.

Anchor columnist James Campbell is director of the diocesan Development Office/Catholic Charities Appeal/St. Mary’s Education Fund.

June 26, 2015

Wednesday 24 June 2015 — Homeport: Falmouth Harbor –— Priests’ Moving Day ou know me, dear readers. I find words fascinating. Take the Hawaiian word “aloha,” for example. Now, there’s a multi-purpose word if there ever was one. Everyone knows aloha means hello and goodbye but, more than that, aloha is a philosophy of life. I’m not a kahuna, but then you don’t need any kahunas to tell you that, in the cosmic scheme of things, hellos and goodbyes are part of the fabric of life in which our own lives are but a thread. That one word aloha says it all, proving once again my inverted adage, “A word is worth a thousand pictures.”

Today is “Aloha Day” in the Diocese of Fall River.

Today priests who have been transferred report to their new assignments.

Today is the day of hellos and good-byes. It’s the cycle of life.

Relatively speaking, there aren’t that many transfers this year, so the effects are somewhat localized. Even the smallest pebble, however, when thrown into the pond, will cause ripples.

Fewer clergy transfers though there may be, my life is directly affected by

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t was 7:30 p.m. as we began celebration of Mass here at St. Francis Church. Now ordinarily at this hour I myself would be comfortably seated in my reclining chair in the rectory. No, I do not spend all day on my knees. At this stage in my life my knees need a rest and actually talk back to me at times. On this evening members of the Newman Center from the University of Hawaii had gathered for Mass to give thanks to the Lord for a wonderful day of exploration of this Flat Leaf, otherwise known as Kalaupapa.

This is holy ground.

While I had happily escorted this pilgrim group to Kalawao, the site of the original Hansen’s Disease settlement, on the previous

Anchor Columnists The way of aloha the ripples (as you well appears in this newspaper know, everything is always highlighted by a border. all about me).

The occasion of your No, dear readers, I’m not name appearing in the box hauling anchor — but Facomes as no surprise to you ther Peter John Fournier is. (usually). You have (usuMy worthy parochial vicar ally) already received in has been called to serve in the mail from the Bishop’s one of the largest parishes Office a succinct notice of in the diocese. He and I have been onboard together in The Ship’s Log Falmouth for three Reflections of a years.

Parish Priest This day is provBy Father Tim ing to be bittersweet Goldrick for me. That’s an emotion I never anticipated. I’ve been reassignment. The envelope assigned as parochial vicar is cream-colored, with the (formerly known as curate) episcopal crest printed in to many pastors over the blue-grey ink. The letter years. I wonder if they felt inside is hand-typed and this way when I was reassigned. Somehow, I doubt it. signed by the bishop, using his favorite fountain Peter John is the only pen. There is also (usually) parochial vicar with whom a facsimile copy of a differI have ever shared minisent letter of intent mailed try. Quite frankly, I never simultaneously to your next imagined I would have the assignment. opportunity, since a paroThe process of transfer chial vicar is rarer than a usually begins with a telered diamond (which goes phone call from the Bishop’s for about $1.5 million per Office. “Can you meet with carat). the bishop at such and such “The Box” has appeared a time on such and such a in The Anchor. I know a bit date?” You respond, “Let’s about what Father Peter see. I think I just might be John is experiencing. “The Box,” by the way, is what we able to squeeze it in.” Then comes the interminable priests call the bishop’s official announcement, which wait. “What can the bishop possibly want?” you ask (for graphic emphasis)

9

yourself. Your imagination comes up with bizarre possibilities.

Finally, you meet personally with the bishop and the reassignment is named. The bishop carefully listens and observes your reaction to the assignment. A priest is expected to accept the assignment, although there may be extenuating circumstances of which the bishop is unaware.

On rare occasions, after hearing all the details, the bishop may withdraw the contemplated assignment.

Somehow the word quickly gets around among your brother priests. Soon it reaches the parishioners.

The reactions can be awkward. “Will you miss us, Father?” “Don’t you like us here?” “Why didn’t you just say no?” “Will you come back to visit us?” “What are we ever going to do without you?” “Good riddance.”

Meanwhile, you have to wrap up your personal affairs. This means change of address forms, new calling cards, making arrangements to move your belongings, inspecting your new quarters, meeting with the staff, and considering the possibility of a new barber, dentist and primary

care physician. You have to change your driver’s license and vehicle registration, find a nearby coffee shop, and locate the nearest pizza joint. You have to pack.

Then you deliver your “swan song” at weekend Masses.

Finally, it’s aloha.

I’ve enjoyed working with Father Peter John. He’s kept me current on what younger priests are thinking and doing. This has given me great hope for the future of the Church.

One day, when I’m sitting in my rocking chair on the porch of the priests’ retirement home and some curmudgeonly comrade comments, “These young priests!” I’ll just smile, knowing full-well the Church is in good hands.

I bade farewell to Father Peter John and went back into the rectory. “Peter, Peter!

Wait! You forgot your dog!”

Too late. I have, it seems, inherited the greyhound Justin. These young priests!

There’s a knock at the door. It’s Father Ray Cambra reporting for duty — with Maximillian, his Great Dane, in tow.

“Aloha, Ray!” He looks puzzled by my greeting.

Anchor columnist Father Tim Goldrick is pastor of St. Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth.

This is holy ground day, I had chickened-out on It is an attraction especially this day as I was still recov- for the able-bodied. Harry took some of the group ering from jet lag, having recently returned from Ireland where my family had laid to rest my older brother, Frank. He had unexpectedly passed

By Father away from pancreatic Patrick Killilea, SS.CC. cancer. State-worker Harry Arce and 91-year young John down into this ancient cave Arruda, did the honor of taking the group around the while John stayed on top “to make sure that the women peninsula in their trucks.

Amongst the notable places in the group did not get hurt.” What a wily fox! I they visited was the now myself have not ventured dormant crater, Kauhako, always an attraction even for down into the depths of this cave since I might need to older people like myself. It be hauled back up by rope. is holy ground.

This is holy ground.

The Old Woman’s cave Some visitors come is located on the outer edge to Kalaupapa as part of of the peninsula and is at the ocean end of a lava tube. a tour or out of curiosity.

Moon Over Molokai

This Newman group had come, however, on pilgrimage to this Sacred land of SS. Damien and Marianne and at the same time had enjoyed exploring the peninsula and witnessing its beauty. Now it was time to worship and to give thanks for this opportunity. So as darkness began to envelope

this quiet neighborhood, we raised our voices in prayer and song: “Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.

Praise Him all creatures here below, Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts, praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” For this is holy ground.

Anchor columnist Father Killilea is pastor of St. Francis Church, Kalaupapa, Hawaii.

Visit us online at www.anchornews.org

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June 26, 2015

Pope Francis contemplates Shroud of Turin, calls it ‘icon of love’ VATICAN CITY (CNS) — It took place in silence and lasted only a few minutes, but Pope Francis’ time of prayer and contemplation before the Shroud of Turin was marked with gestures of reverence and tenderness.

Revered by many as the burial cloth of Jesus, the shroud was the second stop on the pope’s packed itinerary for his two-day visit to the northern Italian town of Turin.

The pope did not give a speech June 21 in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, where the shroud is housed, but he described it later as an icon of Christ’s great love for humankind.

After his first meeting in Turin, a gathering in a public square with thousands of people from the world of work, Pope Francis walked to the cathedral nearby. He entered the church at 9:15 a.m. and walked directly to-

ward the shroud, which had been on public exhibit since April 19.

The pope stood before the shroud for about 20 seconds, then crossed himself before settling into a wooden armchair, set several feet from the shroud. He sat in dim lighting and in silence, with his head bowed for several moments. He crossed himself again before approaching the shroud, stopping only a few feet away. He stood there, contemplating it for another 20 seconds or so, before walking right up to its case, touching it gently and crossing himself again.

He then prayed before a side altar in the cathedral, the location of the tomb of a native of Turin, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who died at age 24 after a short life dedicated to helping the poor.

The pope then celebrated an outdoor Mass in one of Turin’s central squares, Pi-

Pope Francis prays in front of the Shroud of Turin in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, recently. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

azza Vittorio. Officials estimated the crowd at 100,000 people.

During his homily, the pope reflected on three as-

pects of the love of God. God’s love is faithful, recreates all things anew, and is stable and sure, he said.

On the first aspect, the pope said God’s love does not disappoint and never fails and is incarnate in Jesus.

“For love, He became man; for love, He died and resurrected; for love, He is always at our side, in beautiful moments and in difficult ones. Jesus loves us always, until the end, without limits and without measure.

And He loves all of us to the point that we each can say, ‘He gave His life for me.’ For me,” he said.

“The faithfulness of Jesus does not give up even in the face of our own unfaithfulness,” he added.

A person experiences the ability of God’s love to recreate when one realizes his or her own mistakes, sins and weakness and opens up to the forgiveness and love of Jesus, the pope said.

“The Spirit of the world is always searching for newness, but only the faithfulness of Jesus is capable of true newness, of making us new people, of re-creating us,” he said.

The day’s Gospel reading about Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee demonstrates the third aspect: the stability and sureness of God’s love, said the pope.

When people feel they are

unable to go on, he said, Jesus offers them “the rock of His love, onto which each person can grasp, certain they will not fall.”

“How many times have we felt that we cannot go on,” the pope said. “But ( Jesus) is always beside us, with an extended hand and an open heart.”

The pope then urged the faithful to reflect on whether they are living on the “rock” of God’s love. People, including even Christians, run the risk of forgetting God’s love and of feeling “paralyzed by fears of the future and seeking security in passing things or in models of closed societies that tend to exclude more than to include,” he said.

He prayed that the Holy Spirit would help make Christians aware of the constant and faithful love of God, “to face life with courage and to look at the future with hope.”

“The peace that (God) gives us is for everyone,” he said, “even for the many brothers and sisters who are fleeing wars and persecution in the search of peace and freedom.”

The pope’s two most recent predecessors also visited the shroud: Pope Benedict XVI in 2010, calling it the “icon of Holy Saturday,” and Pope John Paul II in 1998.

The shroud was expected to be on public display until June 24.

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June 26, 2015

Covenant House gives street kids respite from ‘bullets, bullies, perps’

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The inner cities of America are full of youth that call the streets home.

According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, five percent to seven percent of American youth become homeless in any given year. These kids face sexual and emotional abuse, human trafficking, hunger and mental illnesses.

One agency that helps them is Covenant House, a shelter system for homeless and trafficked youth that provides them with education, job training, health assistance, pastoral and crisis care.

Last year the agency, which was founded under Catholic auspices in 1972 and today operates in 27 cities in six countries, served over 56,000 youth last year alone under the guidance of the current president and CEO, Kevin Ryan.

“The fact that we reach 56,000 homeless and trafficked young people every year and give those kids the opportunity to leave the streets and break the gangs, the guns, the bullets, the bullies, the perps, the predators, and find a bridge to opportunity and find real promise in their lives is a real legacy,” said Ryan.

Cheryl Anne Davis, a young woman who has been assisted

by Covenant House, spoke to Catholic News Service about what confronts homeless youth on a daily basis.

“Some of the obstacles that you face are that you are broke, you do not have any money.

You do not have any resources or connections. You have people putting doubt in you. You have suicidal thoughts,” she said.

She spoke to CNS during a June 16 event at the Library of Congress in Washington that brought together about 40 for-

merly homeless youth helped by Covenant House programs in the nation’s capital as well as in New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Atlantic City and Newark, N.J. Some in the group currently live at a Covenant House residence and others now have housing of their own.

“You have thoughts of not wanting to be around people because it is embarrassing (to be homeless). There are times when you cannot take a shower or a bath, or you do not have toiletries,” Davis continued. “You do not have the necessities you need to get by. I know that when I was homeless it was hard for me to be able to finish school.

“You have to take into consideration that your education is being jeopardized, as well as your housing, as well as your overall sanity. It’s a lot of things that you go through,” she said, “and so I guess you just need to have faith and have a strong belief that you will surpass your obstacles.”

Davis was homeless for almost three years, and because of Covenant House, she has now met her goals of obtaining affordable housing and getting a driver’s license. She is now pursuing a bachelor’s degree in English.

Another formerly homeless youth, Christopher Hall, said he “had experiences as far as sleeping on buses, trains and even staked out at some vacant homes sometimes. It’s been a journey.”

The hardest part for Hall was when his family abandoned him.

“I felt like I was lost and that life was over,” he told CNS. He was homeless for two years.

He found Covenant House through a friend, and they helped him confidence-wise, allowing allowed him to see his own potential.

Dajanee, a formerly homeless young woman, who identified herself with one name, expressed similar sentiments about the struggles of finding places to eat, sleep and shower, as well as the inability to take care of her daughter. Covenant House assisted her in obtaining her GED, and they offered her an internship which eventually turned into a part time job. She is currently working for Covenant House as an accounting clerk.

“My goals are to become a sign-language interpreter. I want to open my own business as far as a sign-language school for kids. I also want to run my own day care, and my own hair salon.

I have big goals,” she said.

Tom Manning, a fund-raising and public relations employee of Covenant House New York, feels there are too many success stories to choose just one to talk about.

“We have so many because we have been doing the work for 43 years, so kids who came into Covenant House when I was first working are now board members! There are success stories all across the country. Our kids are doctors, teachers, social workers etc.” he said.

Ryan said he is inspired by all that the Covenant kids have accomplished.

“The least interesting thing about the kids at Covenant House is that they are homeless.

They are artists, athletes, musicians, mathematicians, readers, writers and interns. They inspire me,” he said. “These young people are crossing a bridge from homelessness to hope, and I get to sit ringside to some of the most miraculous transformations of the human spirit, and I deeply love this work.”

Formerly homeless youths who live in Covenant House facilities around the U.S. pose for a photo at the Library of Congress in Washington recently. (CNS photo/courtesy Covenant House)

The relationships formed and the assistance given at Covenant House are based upon mutual trust, because if the kids do not trust the employees at Covenant House they will not make it through the program. Those programs also don’t exist without generous contributions, and fund-raising is an ongoing challenge, according to Ryan.

“Some have been mistreated by the very people who are supposed to love them the most, so sometimes it takes a little bit of time for the trust to be built up

before they stay,” Manning said about Covenant House youth.

“We have outreach teams that go around and a lot of what they do is they’ll see kids on the street, and most kids won’t hop in the van and say, ‘I’m coming!’ on the first night, but they’ll take a sandwich or a coat in the winter, and so when they see that we are out there every night the trust starts to build,” he said.

“That’s when we can begin to transform their lives, when they come in and start to believe in themselves.”

12

June 26, 2015

A Vatican two-wheeler: Teen mechanics restore motorbike for Pope Francis

Turin, Italy (CNA/ EWTN News) — A group of teen-agers at a Salesian-run professional school in Italy have restored a motorbike as a gift for the pope.

The motorbike, an Itom 50 model that dates back to the 1960s, was present in Turin during Pope Francis’ meeting with Salesians at the House of Valdocco, the motherhouse of the Salesian congregation.

The teens plan to give it to the pope in a private audience in the Vatican in the near future.

About 10,000 young people gathered June 21 in front of the Church of Mary Auxiliatrix in the quarter of Valdocco in the city of Turin. Many came from the Salesian schools and oratories in Italy and other parts of the world.

When Pope Francis came out of the Church to address young people with a short speech and to give a blessing, he could see the motorbike on his right side.

The restoration of the motorbike was done by the Salesian Professional School in Bra, a town in northern Italy.

“Students, with the help of a teacher, disassembled the motorbike, and then they restored it, repainted it in white and yellow (the colors of the Vatican flag), and re-coated it with zinc,”

Gianfranco Morra, one of their teachers, told CNA. He said that the school proposed the project in a letter to Pope Francis. “We got a positive response from the papal entourage, we have been told our initiative was welcomed,” Morra said.

Their letter to the pope explained the story of the Professional School of Bra, which was founded in 1959 with its first courses focused on carpentry.

“Then, we had classes of industrial mechanics, automotive mechanics, and we started a new repair shop with new workshops and tools, so we have a wide space to train our students,” the teacher said.

He added that the school now has about 600 students. About 90 of them are taking classes on car and motorbike repair.

Morra said that students and teachers “are waiting to be invited to go to a private audience to Pope Francis, to give the pope the motorbike in person.”

St. John Bosco, the founder of the Salesians, started professional schools in Italy, with the aim of teaching young disadvantaged people job skills, a revolutionary idea in the 19th century. The year 2015 is the bicentenary of his birth.

Students and teachers who helped restore a motorbike, a gift for Pope Francis. (CNA photo by Salesian Professional School of Bra)

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, June 28, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father David M. Andrade, pastor of St. Louis de France Parish in Swansea

Animated characters Fear, Joy and Disgust appear in the movie “Inside Out.”For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/courtesy Disney-Pixar)

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

“Inside Out” (Disney) Splendid animated comedy, founded on strong values, in which an 11-year-old girl’s (voice of Kaitlyn Dias) personified emotions — principally Joy (voice of Amy Poehler) and Sadness (voiced by Phyllis Smith) — struggle to help her cope with the crisis brought on by her family’s move from Minnesota to San Francisco. Aided by top-notch supporting performances from, among others, comedian Lewis Black as the lass’ Anger and Richard Kind as her big-hearted imaginary friend, codirectors Pete Docter and Ronaldo Del Carmen prove equally deft at tickling and touching the wide-ranging audience for which their Pixar production is suitable.

A few potentially upsetting incidents, a single mature reference.

The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

“Jurassic World” (Universal) Humans are mere dinosaur fodder in this extension of the $2 billion-grossing sci-fi franchise that dates back to 1993’s “Jurassic Park,” Steven Spielberg’s wildly popular adaptation of Michael

Crichton’s 1990 novel. The potential victims of the latest crop of genetically recreated prehistoric predators who, for a price, can be observed at the resort of the title, include a career-focused member of the theme park’s staff (Bryce Dallas Howard), her visiting nephews (Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins) and the ex-military animal trainer (Chris Pratt) with whom she shares a romantic attraction thinly disguised as mutual dislike. Anyone looking for interaction more meaningful than that between the DNA disaster of an uber-dino to whose rampage director Colin Trevorrow devotes most of his attention and

the anonymous extras on whom the ill-designed creature contentedly munches have come to the wrong fictional island. Though the elements listed below rule out the “Flintstones” crowd, parents of insistent teens who find their patience in danger of extinction need not feel too guilty if resistance proves futile. Some gory interludes, a bit of comic innuendo, at least one use of profanity, a few crude and crass terms. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

13

June 26, 2015

J

une 15, was the 800th birthday of the Magna Carta, the “Great Charter” which inaugurated government limited by the rule of law.

When King John affixed his seal to the parchment, however unwillingly, he was acknowledging that he could no longer tax and punish and rule at will.

No wonder that it was an inspiration to our ancestors at the time of the American Revolution. As our Massachusetts Constitution would recognize in 1780, our government was to be “a government of laws, and not of men.” Magna Carta marks the beginning of our written constitutional tradition.

King John was an awful ruler. He governed haphazardly, often consumed with his own power and an insatiable need to pay for his far-reaching schemes. John frequently tried to force opponents and rivals to pay large sums to his government.

He interfered in religious matters, telling St. Hugh,

Happy birthday to the rule of law Bishop of Lincoln, to cut short cal Roman law, which would his Easter sermon, not once but inspire the continental civil law three times, in 1200, because systems, did not think that the the king wanted to dine. John sovereign was limited by law. justified his actions with an ap- “The emperor is not bound by peal to royal authority, which he laws,” proclaimed Justinian’s conceived of in almost unlimited terms. When the barons of England had had enough, they revolted. They took several large towns, and eventually the capital

By Dwight G. Duncan itself.

Under intense pressure, John agreed to a peace treaty of sorts. The docuDigest. ment, which came to be known The English tradition was as the “Great Charter,” provided different. As Henry de Bracton that the English Church would wrote later in the 13th century, be free and that future taxes “The king must not be under would be raised only with the man but under God and under “common counsel of the realm,” the law, because law makes the including bishops and barons, king, for there is no rex where an early version of “no taxation will rules rather than lex.” without representation.” It is a As clauses 39 and 40 of the tribute to the righteousness of 1215 original version of Magna the barons’ cause that the prinCarta specified: ciples they enunciated remain “No free man shall be taken to this day. or imprisoned or disseised or The tradition of classioutlawed or exiled or in any

Judge For Yourself

way ruined, nor will we go or send against him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.” (The royal we refer to King John.)

“To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice.”

This last clause, in its Latin original, appeared in the seal of Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court in 1785.

The “judgment of one’s peers” was the predecessor of trial by jury, and “the law of the land” was the predecessor of our due process. In any case, government could make bad things happen to people not simply because the king so willed, but only according to law and legal process.

Recently, the United States Supreme Court, in the case of Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v.

EEOC, quoted the first clause of Magna Carta on the free-

dom of the English Church in explaining the reach of the First Amendment’s religious freedom clauses. The court decided that religious groups can choose their own teachers and ministers, regardless of what the government says.

Thus, Magna Carta with its rule of law is still alive today, as law and as symbol: from Watergate to Obamacare, from Deflategate to FIFA. And what of John?

It’s the most popular name for popes (23) and second most popular for presidents of the United States (five).

But England has only one king with his name. His performance is remembered as so poor that no monarch of England has ever named his or her son John. Eight-hundred years later, the unwilling signer of Magna Carta is still King John the Only.

Anchor columnist Dwight Duncan is a professor at UMass School of Law Dartmouth. He holds degrees in civil and canon law.

Dorothy Day had nothing to say to this theologian — or so he thought Fort Wayne, Ind. (CNA) — Ever since entering the Church 27 years ago, theologian Lance Richey had always known about the Catholic social activist Dorothy Day in passing.

“It’s hard not to run across her name, but I honestly had not paid much attention to her,” Richey told CNA in a recent phone interview.

“I viewed her as, just kind of a social activist, and someone who probably didn’t have much to say to a theologian like myself.”

But last month, Our Sunday Visitor released his edits to the 75th anniversary edition of Day’s journal from the early years of the Catholic Worker Movement, “House of Hospitality.”

On top of that, he organized the annual Dorothy Day Conference at University of St. Francis in Fort Wayne, Indiana where he serves as Dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

So how did he go from having a cursory knowledge of Day to editing her personal journal — that had been out of print for decades — and organizing an annual conference about her?

“Several years back, I picked up her writings and started reading them,” he said.

“My opinion of her changed dramatically. I discovered her for the first time.”

From her writings, including the then nearly impossible to find, “House of Hospitality,” Richey said he discovered a “profoundly Spiritual woman” whose work and prayers “flowed from a very deep conversion to Christ and a deep love for the Church.”

The new edition of her diary covers the first six years of the Catholic Worker Movement which Peter Maurin founded

with Day in 1933 to serve the poor, unemployed and homeless of New York City.

Today there are some 228 Catholic Worker communities in the U.S. and around the world.

ignore her deep Spirituality and her utter commitment and fidelity to the Church.”

This approach takes away from the whole picture of who Day really was — namely, a deeply faithful woman who “de-

Dorothy Day, American journalist, social activist and Catholic convert circa 1916. (CNS photo courtesy of Gobonobo wikimedia commons)

Oftentimes Day’s social works and advocacy for the poor are upheld while her profound Spiritual life gets downplayed or even forgotten altogether, which is the result of man-made divisions within the Church, he said.

Catholics “tend to divide ourselves into Democrats and Republicans, and liberals and conservatives, and social justice or orthodox,” said Richey, who hold doctorates in philosophy and theology from Wisconsin’s Marquette University.

And Day “tends to be championed by people on one end of the spectrum who

fined her life around the Spiritual and corporal works of mercy.”

Richey said that in his studies he learned that “for Dorothy Day you can’t divide Catholicism into ‘kinds.’ There aren’t ‘kinds of Catholics.’ You’re either Catholic or you’re not, and being Catholic entails social obligations and theological obligations,” he said.

This is something he had in mind when speakers for the annual Dorothy Day Conference he organizes were selected, saying that his goal is that “everyone who attended the conference should be offended by somebody.”

“We should make sure we have something that we disagree with because usually in the moment it doesn’t change much,” he said, “but as we have to kind of process it, we come to challenge our own preconceptions and to expand our understanding of what does it really mean to be Catholic?

What does it really mean to want to imitate Dorothy Day?” This year’s conference included presenters such as Kathryn Jean Lopez of the National Review; Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles; and Martha Hennessy, Day’s granddaughter.

It’s important now to see the whole picture of who this woman really was, especially in preparation for the upcoming Year of Mercy, of which Richey says Day would be the perfect patron.

“I do think that it’s a very providential time for Dorothy Day’s message. Pope Francis is calling the Universal Church to what Dorothy Day called the American Church to be,” he said. “I mean, everything about her was, ‘How are we called to be merciful to others?’ and ‘How every day of my life can I carry out these works of mercy?’”

Now that she has been recognized a “Servant of God” — meaning that the Vatican sees no objection in her cause for canonization progressing — he thinks that the chances of her becoming “Venerable” are “very good.”

While the miracles needed to prove to the Church that she can be called a saint are “in God’s hands,” Richey said he personally thinks that Day “led a heroically holy life of orthodox belief and sustained a consistent living out of the Gospel in very difficult conditions.”

14

June 26, 2015

Pope asks Waldensians to forgive wrongs, urges youth to love chastely

the importance of saying “no” to a throwaway economy, the idolatry of money, corruption, and unfairness, which generates violence.

The pope said immigration “increases competition, but migrants are not to be blamed because they are victims of injustice,” he said.

All members of society have to collaborate to make sure work doesn’t harm people’s dignity, puts the common good first, and strongly protects the rights of women, “who also carry the biggest burden in taking care of the home, children and older people.”

He said women “are still discriminated against, even at work.”

“Work is necessary not only for the economy, but also for the human person, for their dignity” and for feeling a part of the nation and community, he said.

“Be courageous,” he said, and dare to move forward in Young people attend a gathering with Pope Francis in Piazza Vittorio in Turin, Italy, recently. (CNS pho- hope, being creative and “artito/Paul Haring) sans of the future.”

Pope Francis urged Salesian priests and Sisters to Waldensian Pastor EugenThe pope told young people people; instead, trust in Christ teach kids to “not be afraid” io Bernardini told the pope how to live out real love and and go against the grain. his visit represented climb- hold onto hope in a world “For you who live in this and offer them practical training over a wall that had been that disrespects, uses and de- economic, also cultural, he- ing in key skills for “times of erected “eight centuries ago ceives people. donist, consumeristic situa- crisis” like the electrician and when the Waldensian moveWith so many wars being tion, with ‘soap-bubble’ val- plumbing trades.

The order’s founder, St. ment was accused of heresy waged around the world, how ues, these values that don’t and excommunicated from people can trust today’s po- hold up, do things that are John Bosco, was from the Tuthe Roman Church.” litical candidates and global constructive,” no matter how rin region, and he was a pioThe pastor asked: “What leaders to do something about small they are, and unite peo- neer in vocational education was the sin of the Walden- it, especially if they have fi- ple with each other and solid and worked with poor and abandoned children. sians? Being a movement of nancial investments in the ideals.

Pope Francis explained he evangelization” by lay people arms industry, he asked.

“This is the best antidote on the move, sharing the BiBeing “two-faced is the against this distrust in life,” had gone to a Salesian boarding school when his mother ble in people’s native languag- currency of the day,” he said. he said. es, rather than the Latin.

It’s also important that love remained temporarily paraInvested interests are what He gave the pope a repro- kept many past atrocities from be: concrete — it is experi- lyzed after giving birth to her duction of the very first Bible being stopped, he said, includ- enced in actions, not words; fifth child. He said it was with communicative; respectful; the Salesians that “I learned and a form of sacrifice by to love Our Lady.”

“The Salesians helped me serving others.

The pope then warned them face life without fear and obhe was going to make himself session, to move forward with 10 years ago — Msgr. John F. Moore 50 years ago — Father Patrick J. unpopular by using a word “no joy and in prayer.” retired as executive editor of The Anchor O’Neill, superintendent of schools for During his brief time in one likes,” but “sometimes the after serving more than 35 years with the Fall River Diocese, was named to Turin, the pope also visited pope has to risk things in orthe official weekly newspaper for the the board of the New England Catholic the church where his paternal der to tell the truth.”

Fall River Diocese.

Education Center at the Boston College The word is “chaste,” he grandparents were married School of Education. said, as love between two peo- and where his father, Mario, One year ago — Lynette Ouellette was baptized. He said the ple has to be lived chastely. and Father Marc H. Bergeron were 25 years ago — Social workers, nurses “It is a love that considers trip was like a “homecoming” among the honorees at a La Ligue des and pastoral ministers to the sick were the life of the other as Sacred: as he used to make the trip Franco-Américains banquet in New among participants in Reflection and I respect you, I don’t want to from Buenos Aires, ArgenBedford that recognized the contribuRelaxation, an overnight retreat for use you,” he said, adding he tina. He spent time with six of tions of locals who are of French dehealth care workers held at Cathedral recognized “it’s not easy,” es- his cousins and their families, scent.

Camp in East Freetown. pecially overcoming the cur- about 30 relatives in all, the rent hedonist and “easy” con- Vatican said.

The pope’s father and other cept of love.

When meeting with work- family members, including his ers, employers and the unem- grandmother, Rosa, left for ployed, the pope emphasized Argentina in 1929.

TURIN, Italy (CNS) — In a world of “soap-bubble values,” hypocrisy and delusion, Pope Francis told young people to fight back with real love and told workers to build a new economy based on creativity and courage.

He also asked the Waldensians, whom the Catholic Church excommunicated and persecuted hundreds of years ago, for forgiveness.

“I ask you for forgiveness for the un-Christian, even inhuman, attitude and behavior that we had against you over history,” he told representatives and members of the Waldensian community June 22 in Turin.

“In the name of Jesus Christ, forgive us,” he said during a visit to the temple, making him the first pope in 800 years to visit a Waldensian place of worship.

The historic gesture was part of Pope Francis’ two-day pastoral trip to the northern Italian city. The pope visited June 21-22 to venerate the Shroud of Turin as well as commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of St. John Bosco.

During the trip, he spent private time with his Italian relatives who are from northern Italy; had lunch with juvenile detainees, immigrants and homeless people; visited with the sick; celebrated Mass in a major outdoor square; and met separately with workers, young people and members of the Salesians.

The pope called for Christian unity by making sure people focus on God first and differences later, in his talk to the Waldensians and

representatives of the Methodist, evangelical, Lutheran and other Christian communities.

Being brothers and sisters in the faith, like in a family, doesn’t mean being identical, it means “having in common the same origins,” he said.

This week in

printed in French, which the Waldensians had commissioned in 1532.

The pope said that by cooperating and working together with eyes fixed on Christ, “the Lord will help us live that communion that came before” there was conflict.

Diocesan history

ing being the reason why, during World War II, the Allies did not bomb rail lines being used to send Jews, Christians, Gypsies and homosexuals to concentration camps to be killed.

“If you trust only in men, you have lost,” he told young

15

June 26, 2015

Outline for synod on family calls for wide look at trials families face

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The working document for this fall’s Synod of Bishops on the family called for expanded discussion and pastoral solutions to challenges such as how economic disparity and environmental degradation affect families as well as the impact of infertility, aging and disability.

The Church seeks to address the actual and concrete situation of today’s families, who are “all in need of mercy, beginning with those who are suffering the most,” the document said.

The Vatican recently released the 77-page document, called an “instrumentum laboris,” in Italian during a news conference. Translations into other languages are still being worked on.

Pope Francis convoked the Synod of Bishops on the Family for October 4-25; it is to be the conclusion of a process that included a discussion within the College of Cardinals and an extraordinary Synod of Bishops last October.

The synod’s working document is a compilation the final “relatio,” or report, that had been approved by the bishops during the extraordinary assembly in October and includes further “responses, observations and contributions” received from bishops’ conferences, religious congregations, Vatican offices, academicians, lay organizations and other members of the Church.

“Even though the proposed synthesis” cannot include the “richness” and the “sizable amount” of input sent to the Synod of Bishops from every continent, “the text is able to offer a reliable reflection of the perceptions and expectations of the entire Church on the critical subject of the family,” the document said.

As a result of the broadened input, there are an additional 85 paragraphs added to the 61 paragraphs of the final “relatio,” thereby offering further considerations and areas of discussion for the next synod focusing on: “The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and Contemporary World.”

The bulk document, therefore, reflected the enormous variety of problems most families deal with today.

The question of the Church’s approach to Catholics who are separated, divorced, divorced and remarried, cohabitating or in civil unions also received detailed attention with a strong

focus on the importance of “graduality” and helping those Catholics see the beauty and fullness of a Sacramental, indissoluble Marriage.

Coming to this understanding and acceptance of the Church’s vision of Marriage cannot come from a simple solution; it must come from a process of “maturation” that needs to be led and cultivated by the Church and its members without compromising its Gospel ideals, it said. Several references were made to paragraph 84 of St. John Paul II’s apostolic exhortation, “Familiaris Consortio,” on the role of the Christian family in the world, which reaffirmed Church practice of not admitting divorced and remarried Catholics to communion, but encourages them to be present and active in other aspects of Church life.

The working document said, “Acquiring the awareness that the family according to God’s plan is not a duty, but a gift” comes with the help of the Holy Spirit, dialogue, prayer and accompaniment during this process of maturing in the faith and conversion.

While recognizing the limited, fragile and sinning nature of humanity, the document emphasized the Church’s message remains rooted in the truth of Christ and His unique approach — that of healing all who suffer and welcoming all who sin with the command to “go and sin no more.”

The document calls on Church members to live without judging others and with an attitude of respect and mercy, referring to it as an “art” that requires wisdom and skill.

It proposed offering “specialized centers” for priests and religious to offer them additional formation in a ministry of “consolation and care” as well as greater support for lay associations, movements and families courageously living a Sacramental Marriage so they can better reach out to and help those who are struggling.

There was a strong call in the document for “promoting common pastoral guidelines” that can still address all the varied and disparate situations of families.

A lack of a common approach “contributes to growing confusion and division, and creates searing pain for those who are living a failed Marriage, as often they feel unjustly judged,” it said.

However, the working document went well beyond the usual hot-button issues and fleshed out numerous strengths and weaknesses of today’s cultures and families that are meant to guide discussions in October.

“Taking care of wounded families and helping them experience God’s infinite mercy is considered by everyone to be a fundamental principle,” the document said.

The task is urgent not only because families are more fragile and vulnerable given the loss of cultural and Spiritual values, it said, but, on top of that, social and political structures have fallen short in coming to people’s aid.

Some additional issues that have been proposed for discussion include: — The impact of war, environmental degradation, human trafficking and forced migration.

— Economic insecurity and disparity, problem of loan sharking, need for resource “redistribution.”

— Feminist views that see pregnancy as exploitation and

an “obstacle” to self-fulfillment, sterility, artificial reproduction, adoption, foster care.

— Gender theory” that argues male and female characteristics are malleable social constructs.

— The dignity of aging, role of grandparents as “apostles” of the faith and hidden helpers of families.

— Disabilities, death of a family member or spouse, addictions in the family.

— Gospel as hope, not a “crushing” yoke, representing Jesus’ “indissoluble” love for humanity.

— Prayer, politeness and pardon in the family, willingness to ask for “outside help.”

Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, general secretary of the Synod of Bishops, told reporters at a Vatican news conference that the Synod Fathers requested that the next synod “avoid the long series of interventions of single members, as in previous synods.”

They also asked that “greater value be given” to the small working groups and spreading

discussions over time rather than lumping them all together, he said.

The cardinal said each week of the three-week synod will treat the three different sections of the working document respectively: listening to the challenges family’s face, discerning the vocation of the family, and the mission of the family today.

The final week will include time to prepare a final text that will be submitted to the pope, he said.

This method, he said, “will assure, all those entitled, to intervene in the hall, including during the hour at the end of the day, and will allow more time” for the small working groups.

“Often the Holy Father has recalled that the synod is a place in which the Holy Spirit can act. It is not a parliament.

The Synod Fathers are invited to express themselves with ‘parresia,’” or with boldness and courage, he said.

Synod Fathers also “will be free to communicate with media at their discretion and responsibility,” he added.

Omaha archdiocesan phase for Father Flanagan cause ends; documents go to Rome

OMAHA, Neb. (CNS) — About 800 people witnessed history June 18 as the Archdiocese of Omaha advanced to Rome the sainthood cause for Father Edward Flanagan, Boys Town founder.

Archbishop George J. Lucas was the main celebrant of a morning Mass at St. Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha that marked the closing of the archdiocesan phase of the canonization effort with a special ceremony to encase and officially seal four boxes — 4,600 pages — of documents detailing the archdiocese’s three-year investigation.

The documents will be shipped to the Congregation for Saints’ Causes at the Vatican. If the findings are accepted, recognizing Father Flanagan’s heroic virtues, he will be declared “venerable.”

In general, two approved miracles attributed to the intercession of the candidate are needed for sainthood — one for beatification and the second for canonization.

The ceremony was a oncein-a-lifetime event, a first for the archdiocese, to have one of its members — an archdiocesan priest — advance toward pos-

sible beatification and canonization, said Omar Gutierrez, notary for the archdiocesan tribunal for the cause.

Among those concelebrating the Mass were Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin, Ireland, Father Flanagan’s native diocese, and Father Patrick O’Toole, pastor of the parish in which Father Flanagan grew up in Ballymoe, Ireland.

Numerous people have worked on the sainthood cause “diligently and respectfully over several years,” Archbishop Lucas said in his homily.

“The results of all this good work is wrapped up in these boxes,” he said. While unable to elaborate on the investigation’s findings, he gave a hint and garnered a laugh from the congregation, saying, “We wouldn’t go to all of this trouble if it wasn’t very good.”

The cause for sainthood is about more than promoting Boys Town or its founder, Archbishop Lucas said. “We’re trying to discover what God has accomplished in this holy priest, who allowed God to use him as His instrument.”

Like Pope Francis, Father Flanagan has “put a face on the precepts of the Gospel,”

a witness that extended from Omaha out into the world, for believers and nonbelievers, the archbishop said.

Father Flanagan cared for the physical and Spiritual wellbeing of children, Archbishop Lucas said. And that ministry continues today at Boys Town, evolving to meet the changing needs of youths, he said.

Boys Town residents filled two pews toward the front of the cathedral. Archbishop Lucas had them stand for special recognition after Communion.

“I’m afraid Father Flanagan would have put the brakes on this whole thing if I hadn’t recognized” the students, he said.

Members of Father Flanagan’s family also attended, including three great-nephews: brothers Mike, Jim and Ed Flanagan, all of whom live in Omaha.

Ed Flanagan, who serves on a board of directors for the Father Flanagan League Society of Devotion, said he felt “honored and blessed” by the large turnout.

Jim Flanagan agreed.

“It’s absolutely an honor,” he told the Catholic Voice, the archdiocesan newspaper. “It’s a great celebration.”

16

Youth Pages

June 26, 2015

Fourth-grade students from St. Francis Xavier School in Acushnet recently embarked on an end-of-year field trip to the Harvard Museum of Natural History.

Award-winning children’s author and illustrator Nancy Cote (“Watch the Cookie!”) recently visited St. Michael School in Fall River to share her talent, read to the children and talk about her career. She also looked at some of the students’ work and encouraged them to continue their drawings and shared how they could become authors and illustrators as well.​

Students from St. James-St. John School in New Bedford recently celebrated the end of the school year with a special prayer service. Here Father Craig Pregana blesses the students with holy water.

Students and staff members from Holy Trinity School in Fall River recently surprised Father Bruce Neylon with gifts and a party to celebrate his 40th anniversary of ordination. Here principal Brenda Gagnon and students extend their hands to offer Father Neylon a blessing on the occasion.

Second-grade students from Our Lady of Lourdes School in Taunton recently put on a play about Betsy Ross and the first flag of the United States of America.

June 26, 2015

A

couple of years ago, I wrote an article here that outlined a day in the parish. I recently did another one for the parish newsletter. Many wonder what the priest does outside of Mass, so I thought I would share a recent “day in the life.”

Monday June 8, 2015 5 a.m. Liturgy of the Hours — This is my favorite time of the day.

There isn’t much happening at 5 a.m., so it is a perfect time to grab some coffee and spend the first hour of my day praying the Liturgy of the Hours.

The Liturgy of the Hours (also referred to as the Breviary) is a collection of prayers that are prayed throughout the day by priests and religious. We are required to pray certain hours, but the Church recommends that all the faithful make at least one of the Hours part of their daily prayer routine. The Hours are: Office of Readings, Morning Prayer, Daytime prayer (which is also broken down into midmorning, midday, and midafternoon), Evening Prayer and Night Prayer. It is a Liturgy, meaning that when I pray one of these Hours I am praying with the entire Church.

7 a.m. Parish Office — Need to print out the Prayer of the Faithful. While I’m here a quick check of the email, voicemails and see what the calendar looks like. Doesn’t look like it’s too crazy of a day.

Now over to the church to set up the Missal (the book containing the prayers for Mass) and get ready for Mass at 7:30 a.m.

7:30 a.m. Mass.

8 a.m. Meetings at 8 and 9 a.m. — This morning I have two meetings with two staff members. We are discussing aspects of the parish convocation (a process of self-assessment and identifying the challenges and needs of

Youth Pages A day in the life the parish community), some of the isRunning home to grab a quick sues that are facing the parish and some lunch and pray midday prayer. A call new initiatives. to Kelley (business/finance)to go over 10:15 a.m. Mass at the Bourne some financial items and issues. Also a Manor — conversation on (you guessed it!) some Once a month I celebrate Mass at of the initiatives we are looking at and the Bourne Manor. I do the same for the financial considerations.

Cape Cod Senior Residences. Both faBefore I go I need to begin some cilities are visited each week by a team prep for Sunof volunteers day’s homily. from St. John I looked over the Evangelist. the readings They lead a quickly last prayer service night. Now to and bring look over them

By Father Communion again and see David C. Frederici to our brothers what words or and sisters who phrases stand cannot join us out. I will also try to identify some at Mass. The livestream is utilized by possible topics and issues from the both facilities as well. readings. In addition, what are some This morning on my way to the the things I’ve come across in town and Bourne Manor I spoke with Deacon my interactions with people. I will be Frank Lucca at UMass Dartmouth. reflecting on whether there something Orientation begins today so we are in the readings that address those situgoing over the schedule for the day as ations. Tonight at Evening Prayer I will well as a couple of points in regards to begin the process of lectio divina. This is planning for the fall semester. a style of praying with the Scriptures. It 11:15 a.m. — helps me come to a deeper understandBack at the parish. First a phone call ing of the texts. Often the homily idea to Father Jeff Cabral. Father Jeff and I comes from those prayer experiences are going to lead a pilgrimage to Rome and is often different than what I was next May. We are going over some originally thinking. I will also spend details in the flyer so we can get that some time this week reading Biblical out. Also a phone call to the chancery. commentaries on the texts. Towards the I need to check on something with the end of the week, when I have a better Finance Office. idea where things are going, I will also 11:30 a.m. Need to touch base with read relevant texts from the “Catechism Patty (parish secretary) and with Crys- of the Catholic Church” and some tal (youth and young adult ministry). theology books. If all goes well, I should No major issues this morning. Some have a rough draft written out by Friday discussions about some new initiatives night. It will be edited a couple more and planning for the summer and fall. times before the Saturday 4 p.m. Liturgy (Need to be vague here, sorry!) and between that Mass and the Sunday 12:15 p.m. Lunch — 8 a.m. Mass.

Be Not Afraid

As is tradition at St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro, the soon-to-begraduating eighth-grade students with their teacher, Betty Ann Petterson, and the school gym teacher, Ashley Hanson, hosted an end-of-the-year field day for all the underclassmen at the school. Students from kindergarten all the way up to grade seven were treated with a day of fun and games at the North Attleboro YMCA. Here, gradeeight students pose with Petterson.

17

1:30 p.m. Off to UMass Dartmouth.

2:30 p.m. At UMD — Spend some time going over things with Deacon Frank before an afternoon event.

4 p.m. Reception with Parents — We join other university staff for a reception held for parents of incoming students. Today and tomorrow is orientation for those incoming students to the school of business. This is a chance for the parents to meet us, ask any questions, and learn about our department. Tomorrow morning we will be with the students at breakfast so they can learn who we are and what we offer.

5:30 p.m. Leaving campus — Forgot that I have to work on a presentation with Father Jeff at Christian Leadership Institute, a week-long leadership development course offered by the Diocese of Fall River for high school students. They learn various leadership skills that will help them now and in the future. It is a program that stands out on college applications and resumes. Sending a text to Father Jeff before I head out. D’oh! Text isn’t sending. I’ll figure it out at home.

6:30 p.m. Home — Finally got the text out to Father Jeff. We will meet up Wednesday night for dinner and go over the presentation.

I will need to take some time before that to go over it myself. Now time for Evening Prayer and then dinner.

Tonight I need to work on a couple of letters and articles as well. Thankful that I have tomorrow off !

Anchor columnist Father Frederici is pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Pocasset and diocesan director of Campus Ministry and Chaplain at UMass Dartmouth and Bristol Community College.

Bishop Feehan High School 2012 graduate Douglas Cusack, a member of the Attleboro school’s first Chinese class taught by teacher Minli Lusher, returned to the school to talk to the current Chinese class about his experiences in China. A student at the University of New Hampshire, Cusack continued his studies in Chinese as a major in international business, and fulfilled a dream of his to visit the country when he spent four months studying abroad in the city of Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China this past year.

Cusack told the students that, “Chinese has become the number-one foreign language to learn. People can only benefit from learning it in the globalized economy environment.” Cusack will graduate in 2016 and plans on pursuing career opportunities in China afterward. Lusher and Cusack, far right, are pictured with the Chinese II class at Bishop Feehan.

18

June 26, 2015

New board hopes to address ‘vocations crisis’ continued from page one

to form a similar group, but pressing pastoral duties and assignments made it difficult to maintain.

He has higher aspirations for this latest venture.

“This will be an ongoing board, because in terms of vocation work, there’s so much that needs to be done,” Father Cook told The Anchor. “And you always have the challenges of society that will present new obstacles to vocation work.

But right now we’re looking at how we can set an initial direction and our hope is to be a real support for the work of the diocese.”

Noting that the diocese and the Church, in general, has fallen into something of a Catch-22 situation where the dwindling number of vocations has created a lack of visible role models for young people, Father Cook hopes to bring an awareness of these potential callings back to the parishes, schools and ministries of the diocese.

“It’s not that there aren’t as many vocations, it’s that young people aren’t listening and responding to them,” he clarified.

“I went to Catholic schools all my life and I was always close to the priests in my parishes,” said Deacon Rick Varieur. “My uncle was also a missionary in Haiti for 25 years and he would return and

tell me stories. I think that’s why I’ve always had an affinity for clerics and that’s what led to my own vocation.”

“Most young girls have never even seen a Sister or met one before and they don’t know what they do,” agreed Paula Wilk.

That’s why for the past several years Wilk has organized the three-day Called By Name Retreat for Women, which mirrors the similar Quo Vadis Days experience for young men held in July. This year’s Called By Name Retreat will be held August 21-23 at the Sacred Hearts Retreat Center in Wareham.

“It’s a weekend retreat for women, college-aged, to discern their vocation,” Wilk said.

“It’s not necessarily for those who are called to religious life — although we focus on that quite a bit — it’s a vocational discernment retreat. We have talks about Marriage, and what that really entails. We have talks about religious life, too.”

But one of the most important aspects of the retreat is having that one-on-one interaction with religious Sisters, Wilk said.

This year members of the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity and the Little Sisters of the Poor will be in attendance.

“They spend a weekend with the Sisters and see they are real

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people and they can have fun and go swimming with them in the ocean,” she said. “And the questions they ask them are so funny.”

In turn, Sister Paulina Hurtado said she’s worked with youth and young adults her whole life and she has always maintained “a special interest in vocations.”

“I worked with vocations for the permanent diaconate for about 14 years in the Diocese of Sacramento, Calif.,” Sister Paulina said. “As a Dominican Sister of Charity in the field of education and in the formation of persons to the religious life, my involvement with seminary vocations has given me the conviction and continued interest to make others aware of God’s personal call in their lives, to follow Jesus Christ closely either as priests or religious men and women, and to dedicate their lives to His work of Salvation for all.”

Already familiar with the Fall River Diocese through her frequent stays at one of her community’s main houses in Dighton, Sister Paulina was only too eager to take on the role of Episcopal Representative for Religious and associate director of vocations when Bishop da Cunha first contacted her.

“I belonged to this diocese, in a sense, because I started my religious life here,” she said.

“So I am very glad to be working with this board and the diocesan (vocations) team as well.”

As a teacher at Bishop Stang High School, Phil Martin said he sees teen-agers on the front lines everyday and he senses that they are being bombarded with mixed messages from the secular world and are struggling to discern God’s call in their lives.

“I think they’re only getting one side of the message and it’s the wrong side from our culture,” said Martin. “And not all of them are getting that message at home, so it’s important to meet them where they are and show them that God might have a plan for them and, hopefully, one they will follow to make them happy.”

Citing his own parents’ example and solid Catholic upbringing, Martin said he hopes his own children will reap the same benefits.

“Whatever God wants for them is what they need to do and hopefully we can find ways

to teach that and pass it on,” he said. “At least, that’s the goal.”

Some of the ideas discussed among Diocesan Vocations Board members included possibly having a full-time vocations director, looking at ways to start different prayer support groups for vocations, and declaring each diocesan ordination day as a solemnity, so that all priests and parishioners can attend.

“It’s like a big brainstorming session with people just tossing out best practices and good ideas,” Father Peschel said. “(We) frequently check out what’s working for vocations offices in other dioceses, especially ones that seem to be rather successful in sending a

number of seminarians. I guess best practices are good because we don’t need to reinvent the wheel here.”

For Father Cook, he hopes the Diocesan Vocations Board will at the very least become a catalyst to get people to more consistently talk about, pray for, and support vocations throughout the diocese.

“Our hope is that once we have a real sense of all the essential aspects of the diocese where that message of vocations can become more prevalent and fostered, then we can come up with a practical plan to present to the bishop to implement,” he said. “That’s how we’re approaching it right now.”

Promoting vocations in diocese and beyond continued from page one

larly trying moments, they took a break for prayer.

“Many people are asking why we are biking up the East Coast when we could just drive,” said Father Marc Swartvagher, who teaches philosophy to seminarians at Cathedral Seminary House of Formation in the Brooklyn Diocese.

“We believe there is something unique about the physical and sacrificial element of biking to our pilgrimage. Our mission is one with physical, emotional and Spiritual dimensions. We feel strongly about our task to promote vocations, and we truly intend to give our all, including physically, to this journey.”

The men have also challenged others to join in their effort by spending 45 minutes in prayer or exercise for vocations.

Already many have responded, including Archbishop Secretary for Seminaries for the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy Jorge Carlos Patrón Wong.

Father Kevin Cook, director of the Diocese of Fall River’s Vocations Office, called Biking 4 Vocations a “unique” way to promote vocations. Speaking about vocations is not just a “nice, pious idea” but a “central part of the whole life of the Church.”

Each summer the Vocations Office leads Quo Vadis Days for young men discerning a call to the priesthood; the next one will be held from July 6-10. The majority of attendees leave with a greater openness to praying about the Lord’s call in their lives. There will also be a discernment retreat for young ladies in August. The goal of promoting vocations should be to help all Catholics be more attentive to God’s Will, he said.

“God has created us not only to come to know, love and serve Him but to serve in a particular way,” Father Cook said. “The reality is that whatever God moves us towards, if we respond to it, is going to be the path of greatest joy.”

Parents must pray for their children’s vocations at home as well as provide good examples of how vocations are lived, including joy-filled, healthy Marriages. Faith communities need to support those efforts as well, he added.

“The parish has to be praying for vocations. If the parish isn’t praying for it, well then, there’s not going to be an awareness about speaking about it in the home,” he said.

Paula Wilk, director of Faith Formation and Youth Ministry at St. Patrick Parish in Wareham, said that prayer for vocation discernment is woven into the fabric of the entire parish community.

St. Patrick’s has a Vocations Prayer Group, vocation dinners and a weekly vocation Rosary.

Families can take home a vocations chalice to aid in their prayer for vocations. The back of the missalettes features a special parish vocation prayer.

The Faith Formation program features vocation lessons for all grades, and in seventh grade the boys visit the seminary and the girls visit a convent.

“Vocation work is not just a prayer; it encompasses everything,” she said. “It’s not just to pray for our own specific needs but the needs of the greater Church worldwide.”

For a chronicle of the biking pilgrimage, visit www. biking4vocations.org.

19

June 26, 2015

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese Acushnet — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Monday from 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Tuesday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Evening prayer and Benediction is held Monday through Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

ATTLEBORO — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the Adoration Chapel at St. Vincent de Paul Parish, 71 Linden Street, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

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

ATTLEBORO — There is a weekly Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration Thursdays from 5:30 to 6:30 pm at St. John the Evangelist Church on N. Main St. Brewster — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the La Salette Chapel in the lower level of Our Lady of the Cape Church, 468 Stony Brook Road, on First Fridays beginning at noon until 7:45 a.m. First Saturday, concluding with Benediction and concluding with Mass at 8 a.m. buzzards Bay — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Margaret Church, 141 Main Street, Monday through Saturday, from 6:30 to 8 a.m.; and every first Friday from noon to 8 a.m. on Saturday.

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

FAIRHAVEN — St. Mary’s Church, Main St., has Eucharistic Adoration every Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the Chapel of Reconciliation, with Benediction at 11:30 a.m. Also, there is a First Friday Mass each month at 7 p.m., followed by a Holy Hour with Eucharistic Adoration. Refreshments follow.

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

FALL RIVER — St. Bernadette’s Church, 529 Eastern Ave., has continuous Eucharistic Adoration from 8 a.m. on Thursday until 8 a.m. on Saturday.

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

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

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

Falmouth — For July and August St. Patrick’s Church has Eucharistic Adoration on Wednesday and Friday 9 a.m. to noon Benediction at St. Thomas Chapel, Falmouth Heights.

MANSFIELD — St. Mary’s Parish, 330 Pratt Street, has Eucharistic Adoration every First Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with Benediction at 5:45 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. Please use the side entrance.

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

NEW BEDFORD — St. Lawrence Martyr Parish, 565 County Street, holds Eucharistic Adoration in the side chapel Fridays from 7:30-11:45 a.m. ending with a simple Benediction 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 Wednesday following 8:00 a.m. Mass and concludes with Benediction at 5 p.m. Eucharistic Adoration also 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.

NORTH EASTON — A Holy Hour for Families including Eucharistic Adoration is held every Friday from 3-4 p.m. at The Father Peyton Center, 518 Washington Street.

ORLEANS — St. Joan of Arc Parish, 61 Canal Road, has Eucharistic Adoration every First Friday starting after the 8 a.m. Mass and ending with Benediction at 11:45 a.m. The Sacrament of the Sick is also available immediately after the 8 a.m. Mass.

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

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

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

Taunton — Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament takes place every First Friday at Annunciation of the Lord, 31 First Street. Exposition begins following the 8 a.m. Mass. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed, and Adoration will continue throughout the day. Confessions are heard from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. Rosary and Benediction begin at 6:30 p.m.

WAREHAM — Eucharistic Adoration at St. Patrick’s Church begins each Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. and ends on Friday night at midnight. Adoration is held in our Adoration Chapel in the lower Parish Hall. ~ PERPETUAL EUCHARISTIC ADORATION ~ East Sandwich — The Corpus Christi Parish Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, East Sandwich. Use the Chapel entrance on the side of the church.

NEW BEDFORD — Our Lady’s Chapel, 600 Pleasant Street, offers Eucharistic Adoration seven days a week, 24 hours a day. For information call 508-996-8274.

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

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 are invited to sign up to cover open hours. For open hours, or to sign up call 508-430-4716.

Pray for justice, terrorists who kill in name of God, says cardinal

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christians and Muslims should pray for those who have “deviated from the true path of life” and kill in the name of religion, said Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran.

“Our prayer is much needed: for justice, for peace and security in the world,” as well as for those who “commit violence in the name of religion, so as to return to God and change (their) life,” said the cardinal, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

Cardinal Tauran’s annual message to Muslims for Eid alFitr, the feast marking the end of the monthlong Ramadan fast, was published by the Vatican June 19. Ramadan will end on or around July 17 this year.

The message was titled, “Christians and Muslims: Together to counter violence perpetrated in the name of religion,” and it called for renewed efforts, especially in education and law enforcement, to foster respect for human life and protect people’s rights. Unfortunately, many ethnic and religious communities around the world, he said, have had to face killings, rapes,

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks June 27 Rev. John Corry, Founder, St. Mary, Taunton; Founder, St. Mary, Fall River, 1863 Rev. Dario Raposo, Pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes, Taunton, 1933 Rev. Msgr. Thomas F. Walsh, Retired Pastor, St. John the Evangelist, Attleboro, 1980 Rev. Msgr. Bernard J. Fenton, USA Retired Chaplain, Retired Pastor, St. Joseph, North Dighton, 1984 Rev. George F. Almeida, Retired Pastor, Our Lady of Fatima, Swansea, 2012 June 28 Rev. Thomas C. Gunning, Assistant, St. Lawrence, New Bedford, 1947 June 30 Rev. Simon Pease, SS.CC., Administrator, Sacred Hearts, Fairhaven, 1952 Rev. Alphonse M. Reniere, O.P., Dominican Priory, Fall River, 1961 July 1 Rev. Fernando A. Veiga, CM, Vincentian Mission House, Fall River, 1993 July 2 Rev. Gerard A. Boisvert, Assistant, St. Anthony, New Bedford, 1967 Rev. Maurice H. Lamontagne, Retired Pastor, Our Lady of Grace, Westport, 1996 Rev. James C. Donohue, C.S.C., 2006 July 3 Rev. Thomas P. Doherty, Pastor, St. Kilian, New Bedford, 1942

enslavement, forced emigration and trafficking, even of human organs and cadavers. “We are all aware of the gravity of these crimes in themselves,” he said.

But what “makes them even

more heinous” is the attempt to justify such barbarity in the name of religion. “It is a clear manifestation of instrumentalizing religion for gaining power and richness,” he said.

Around the Diocese

St. Vincent Home’s seventh annual Kick-Off to Summer Celebration will be held June 26 from 6 to 11 p.m. on the deck of the Battleship Massachusetts. The evening celebration overlooking Fall River’s waterfront is expected to draw more than 400 guests and will feature complimentary beer and wine, cash bar, gourmet dinner and dessert, dancing to the sounds of The Pulse of Boston, and silent and live auctions emceed by volunteer auctioneer, Ryan Nadeau. The evening will also feature gourmet food with specialty dishes prepared by local restaurants. Proceeds will directly benefit youth participating in St. Vincent’s Life Skills Program. For tickets or more information contact Melissa Dick at 508-235-3228.

Our Lady of the Cape Parish, Stony Brook Road in Brewster, will host its 37th annual Summer Fair on June 27 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free. This “Whale of a Fair” is a fund-raiser with proceeds earmarked for local charities, college scholarships and the church’s sister parish in Dessalines, Haiti. New this year: the Brewster Fire Department will give children tours of a fire engine with lessons on fire safety. Specialty-themed baskets will be on sale as well as antiques and collectibles, handmade crafts, jewelry, books, tools, children’s toys, and more.

Make it a family day with the silent auction, face painting for kids, a barbecue, ice cream treats, home-baked goods, a variety of raffles, and hourly door prizes.

The 18th annual St. Mary’s Education Fund Summer Gala will take place on July 10, at the Willowbend Country Club in Mashpee. Proceeds from the evening benefit the St. Mary’s Education Fund, which provides need-based scholarships to children attending Catholic schools on Cape Cod and throughout southeastern Massachusetts. Former WCVBTV-Channel 5, Boston, anchor and reporter Natalie Jacobson will serve as Master of Ceremonies. For more details on the Fund’s Summer Gala, including ticket information and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Jane Robin at 508-759-3566.

A support group to help people cope with the loss of a loved one will meet on Tuesdays from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Catholic Education Center, 423 Highland Avenue in Fall River from July 14 through August 25. For more information about these sessions, call 508-678-2828, extension 27, or email rsaraiva@dfrcs.org. The group will also meet from September 23 through November 4 beginning at 6:30 p.m. every Wednesday at St. Mary’s Parish, 783 Dartmouth Street in Dartmouth. For more information, call 508-992-7505 or email beni@stmarysdartmouth.org.

The newly-installed pipe organ in the loft of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River is to be celebrated with a Dedication Recital on July 26 at 4 p.m., with David Carrier as guest organist. All are welcome to attend.

Pipes from the instruments at the former Sacred Heart and St. Louis churches form the core of the new instrument. Fund raising continues and donations in any amount will be recognized in the recital program and on the parish website. Donations may be sent to: St. Mary’s Cathedral Pipe Organ Fund, 327 Second Street, Fall River, Mass. 02721. For more information about the organ, visit www.cathedralfallriver.com.

The Diocesan Marriage Preparation Program is looking for married couples who would like to enrich their Marriage while helping engaged couples prepare for their lifetime together. There is also a Re-Marriage Prep Program for couples entering their second Marriages. If you are interested in sharing the joys and challenges of married life, please contact your pastor or the Diocesan Office of Faith Formation at 508-6782828 or email cmcmanus@dfrcs.org.

Retrouvaille is a Christian Peer Ministry sponsored by the Catholic Church for married couples who are experiencing difficulties in their Marriage. If you are considering separation or divorce, Retrouvaille can help! The next Retrouvaille Marriage renewal weekend will be held September 11-13. To register for the weekend or for more information, call 1-800-470-2230 or visit www.helpourmarriage.com.

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June 26, 2015

I didn’t start the fire, but am I trying to fight it?

n 1989 Billy Joel wrote a song called, “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” The chorus rang out: We didn’t start the fire It was always burning Since the world’s been turning We didn’t start the fire No we didn’t light it But we tried to fight it.

Did we? Have we? Are we?

Will we?

I agree the fire’s been burning since the world’s been turning, but I’m not so convinced that we’ve been trying to fight it.

Muslims hating Christians.

The recent sickening murder of nine Christians in their Prejudices and bigotries are cocked and loaded, ready to own house of worship, just fire at Hispanics, Asians, those because they were black, says of various sexual orientations, otherwise.

Many of us are appalled and saddened by the senseless taking of good people and the subsequent suffering of family, friends and their worship community. But

By Dave Jolivet what have we done to put out the fire? Really?

This world is rife with whites hating blacks and the elderly and the unborn.

I think many of us can say, blacks hating whites; Chris“That’s not me.” But is it retians hating Muslims and

My View From the Stands

Members of the Catholic Woman’s Club recently honored Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V. with an event at the Wamsutta Club in New Bedford. With the bishop in the center of the photograph is Father Philip Hamel, pastor of St. Joseph-St. Therese Parish in New Bedford. Bishop da Cunha elaborated on the events of his ministry that led him to the Diocese of Fall River.

ally? I think we’re all part of the fire. I believe that many of us have our own deep down prejudices and bigotries. Our thoughts reveal them internally even though our actions may not. Or, our actions may be subtle.

We cringe when a homeless person sits next to us on a bus or asks us for change. We complain because businesses and agencies seem to cater to non-English-speaking people.

We’re irritated when directed on the telephone to someone “who doesn’t even live in this country.”

When people talk to us do we really listen? Do we quickly change the topic of conversation to ourselves?

We’re envious of those who may have more than we do, but believe we work harder and deserve it more.

We blame the world’s woes on others — trouble-makers, low-lifes, barbarians. We see those who don’t share our Christian values as the enemy.

I shudder to think what God must feel as He watches the world’s legacy play out.

I wonder if He’s sorry He made the promise to never again flood the earth and

start from scratch. I wonder how many of us would truly deserve a seat on the new ark.

The world’s fire — do we really try to fight it or do we fuel it? The smallest sparks can lead to the largest conflagrations. Somehow we feel we have the right to be judge, jury and sentencer.

I could be all wet with this column. Maybe there are many more out there who don’t harbor any prejudices or bigotries or jealousies. I hope so.

I guess I’m just speaking for myself. I like to think I don’t hold such feelings, but I do know there are times when my thoughts make me ashamed of myself.

It’s tragedies like the S.C. AME Church massacre that force me to reassess my heart and soul.

I want to be a person who fights the fire. I suppose that’s going to begin when I extinguish the small sparks within.

I’m not in the same category as the poor soul who shot up a church, or who kills out of hatred. But I do have those little sparks that, kept unchecked, can fuel the fire.

I pray that I can fight it. I pray that I will. davejolivet@anchornews. org.

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