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VOL. 50, NO. 28 .• Friday, July 14,2006

FALL RIVER, MASS.

Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly • $14 Per Year

Centebnial celebrations evoked much nostalgia II

Memories abeunded of Dominican Father Pierre £ Lachance, who diedon the anniversary and was buried Mondax !I

By DEACON

N.

JAMES

DUNBAR

FALL RIVER - Since its dedication on July'4, 1906, St. Anne's Church ha~' been a constant reflection of God's wondrous plan, especdlly for those II

of French Canadian heritage who built it, as well as the thousands who made pilgrimages to seek healing there.

For hundreds of their descendents who came Sunday to celebrate a Mass and later attend a banquet to mark the church's lOath anniversary, God's plan was again clearly - and most poignantly reflected - in the passing of their well-known Tum to page 18 - Nostalgia

BISHOP GEORGE W. Coleman, priests, parishioners, and friends celebrated a special Mass last Sunday marking the 1Oath anniversary of St. Anne's Church in Fall River. The building was dedicated and officially opened its doors on July 4, 1906 with a Mass celebrated by Bishop William Stang. (Photo by Eric Rodrigues)

Bishop Connolly's new principal eager to join school community

By MIKE GORDON ANCHOR STAFF

FALL RIVER Bishop Connolly High School's new principal, Michael Scanlon, has a long track record in Catholic education.

Prior to accepting the position, he compiled an impressive resume with more than 20 years of involvement in educating Catho-

lic youth. All of his service has come under the banner of the Christian Brothers of Instruction, including a long tenure at La Salle Academy in Providence, R.I. According to Scanlon, it was love at first sight when he saw Bishop Connolly High School. "I fell in love with the school right away. It's a hands-on school due

to its smaller size and I feel it has a big future in front of it."

A native of Somerville, Scanlon is married to Nancy Menaldi-Scanlon. He most recently worked at La Salle Academy implementing a program for at-risk students.

Before that, he was president Tum to page 20 - Principal

DOMINICAN FATHER Pierre E. Lachance, center, celebrated the 60th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood June 27, 2002, with a Mass at St. Anne's Church, Fall River, with then Bishop Sean O'Malley, OFM Cap., and pastor Father Marc H. Bergeron.

Holy Cross FatHer elected president of Mariolo,Q;icalISociety of America

By DAVE JOLIVET, EDITOR

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NORTH EASTON - Holy Cross father John Phalen, president of Holy Cross Family Ministries, was recently elected to a two-yea{· term as pre$!,gent of the Mariological Society of America. !

The Society, of which Father Phalen has been a member for nine years, is according to its Website "a Catholic theological association dedicated to studying and makling known the role of the Blessed Mother in the myStery of Christ and in the Church and in the history of salvation."

• It was founded in 1949 by Francis¢an Father Juniper B. Carol in Washingt~)O, D.C. The main office is now located at the Marian Library of the University of D~yton in Ohio.

"I first joined the Society because I was HOLY CROSS Father John Phalen, president of Holy Cross Family Minis- looking for an organized and Scripturetries in North Easton, was recently elected president of the Mariological So- based study of Mariology," Father Phalen ciety of America. (Anchor/Jolivet photo) told The Anchor. "They were and still!"'e :1

some of the greatest Mariological scholars. Most have doctorates in Mariology."

Father Phalen saw the need to increase his knowledge and understanding of Our l:-ady because tll~Holy Cross Family Ministries serves Christ and his Church worldwide by promoting and supporting the spiritual health of the family. Through Family Rosary, a ministry of HCFM, families are encouraged to pray together, especially the rosary, in the spirit of founder Holy Cross Father Patrick Peyton, whose cause for sainthood continues. Father Peyton is famous for the phrase, "The family that prays together stays together."

"Our mission here at Family Ministries includes devotion to and praying for the intercession of Our Blessed Mother," said Father Phalen. "Like Father Peyton, we look to Our Lady through Scripture and Vatican teachings. Our ministry must be Tum to page ]8 - Mariology

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Friday, July 14, 2006

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At Mass in Valencia, pope uses what tradition says is Holy Grail VALENCIA, Spain (CNS) King Arthur and his knights and Indiana Jones looked for it, and most recently Dan Brown's sleuth, Robert Langdon, hunted it down in "The Da Vinci Code."

But these legendary and fictional characters might have saved a lot of trouble in their hunt for the Holy Grail by just going to Valencia.

The host city of Pope Benedict XVI's third pastoral journey abroad July 8-9 is home to what tradition says is the cup Jesus used during the Last Supper.

The custodian of the "Santo Caliz, " or Holy Grail, said the age of the stone chalice and documents tracing its history back to 1071 make it "absolutely likely that this beautiful cup was in the hands of the Lord" during the Last Supper.

Msgr. Jaime Sancho Andreu, head of the Val e n cia Archdiocese's liturgy commission and curator of the Holy Grail, wrote a full-page article in the July 5 edition of the Vatican newspaper ,

dates back to the first century B.C. and is of eastern origin, from Antioch, Turkey, or Alexandria, Egypt.

The part of the chalice that the cup rests upon was made during the medieval period. The chalice's stem and handles are made of fine gold, and its alabaster base is decorated with pearls and other precious gems.

Msgr. Sancho wrote in the Vatican paper that tradition says after Christ instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper St. Peter took the cup to Rome, where it was protected by successive popes.

The cup then made its way to Spain during the Christian persecutions in Rome by Emperor Valerian in the third century. The grail has a paper trail spanning the 11th15th centuries

that supports its origins, the Spanish monsignor said.

However, Umberto Utro, head of the said, especially since Jesus Vatican Museand most of the Apostles ums' departcame from humble or poor ment of early backgrounds. "He most Christian art, probably used a cup made told Catholic from glass like everybody News Service that Valencia's L'Osservatore else," he said. grail was not Romano, describthe cup used ing the chalice, its history and the during the Last Supper. likelihood of its being authentic, "It's impossible Jesus drank although at least one Vatican art from it; that there were such rich official challenged the notion. and fine vessels used at the Last Pope Benedict admired the holy Supper was nonsensical," he said, vessel during his July 8 visit to especially since Jesus and most of Valencia's cathedral, where the the Apostles came from humble or chalice has been kept since 1437, poor backgrounds. and Church officials also gave him "He most probably used a cup a replica as a gift. made from glass like everybody The pope used the Grail during else," he said. the July 9 outdoor Mass to close Utro also said preserving relics the Fifth World Meeting of Fami- was not part of the Jewish culture.

The Holy Grail, like most other lies, just as Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass with the holy chal- Christian relics, represents the pilice during his visit to the city in grims'. "pious desire" to have a ma1982. terial or physical connection to one's Valencia's sacred chalice is spiritual roots, he said. Like the made up of two parts. The polished Shroud of Turin or Veronica's veil, stone vessel on top is supposed to people do not base their faith in be the cup of the Last Supper. It is Christ on the existence of such obmade of dark brown agate and jects, he said, but the relics do help measures 6.5 inches tall and 3.5 people recall the real past events that inches wide. Archeologists say it make up the Christian faith.

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"It's impossible Jesus drank from it; that there were such rich and fine vessels used at the Last Supper was nonsensical," he

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OFFICIALNEWSPAPEROFTHE DIOCESE OF FAll';1";Y7'; RIVER

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Published weekly exc!'!ptfor two weeks I0tnesummer Christmas by the CathorlC'Press of the DloceseofF'all River, .

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Send address changes to P.O. Box 7, Fall RiVer, MA, call or use E-mail address Member; Catholic Press Association, New England Press Association, Ouholi¢,News Service PUBUSHER • Most Reveretld,Qeotge W. Coleman EXECUTIVE EDITOR father RogerJ. e EDITOR "David B. Jollvet velolivet NEWS EDITOR Deacon James N.Du rJimdunbar@attcb ews.org REPORTER Michael Gordon tnikegordon@attChomews.org OFFICE MANAGER Mary Chase marychase@anchol1lews.org Send lettelS to the EdItor to: theanchor@anchomews.olg PQS1MASlERS send address changes to The Anchor, P.O. Box 7, Fall MA 00722. mE ANCHOR (USPS·S45-0'20) Periodic:l.lP\>$tage Paid at Fall

POPE BENEDIC:r XVI comforts a relative of one of the victims of the July 3 subway disaster while visiting the basilica in Valencia, Spain, July 8. (eNS photoNincenzo Pinto, Reuters)

Pope urges thousands of families in Valencia to create loving homes VALENCIA, Spain (CNS) Surrounded by hundreds of thousands of families from every comer of the globe, Pope Benedict XVI urged mothers and fathers to be open to life and to create a home based on love, acceptance and mercy.

Though this seaport city was still reeling from a July 3 subway disaster that left 42 people dead and dozens more injured, the atmosphere during the pope's July 8-9 visit was full of joy and celebration.

The pope journeyed to Spain's third-largest city to help close the July 1-9 Fifth World Meeting of Families and to focus on its theme, ''The Transmission of Faith in the Family."

In his July 9 closing Mass homily, Pope Benedict emphasized that families have a duty to make sure "the good news of Christ will reach their children with the utmost clarity and authenticity."

Handing down Church teaching and Gospel values also entails consistently living out those same values of love and charity, the pope said to hundreds of thousands of people gathered at Valencia's ultramodern, outdoor City of the Arts and Sciences center.

Children will be more likely to appreciate and cherish their Christian heritage if they witness their parents' constant "love, permeated with a living faith," along with experiencing the support of a Christian community, he said.

In his homily, the pope urged husbands and wives to be open to the gift of life, saying each human is not created by accident or random selection, but is part of "a loving plan of God." "Married couples must accept the child born to them, not simply as theirs alone, but also as a child of God, loved for his or her own sake and called to be a son or daughter of God," he said.

Then these children must be bathed in love, the pope added, stressing that "the experience ofbeing welcomed and loved by God and by our parents is always the fum foundation for authentic human growth" and development.

The pope also emphasized this during a festive July 8 vigil when he told parents that every child has his or her own "personality and character" and, no matter what, parents need to accept their children, including adopted children.

He urged people to "be sensitive, loving and merciful like Christ" even to people outside the family.

Families should not be "closed in on themselves," the pope said at the vigil, so children can learn that "every person is worthy oflove, and that there is a basic, universal brotherhood that embraces every human being."

The late-evening vigil was marked by testimonies from families and experts from allover the world, interspersed with singing and a dance performance by the Taiwan Ballet.

In an address to the city's seminarians July 8, Pope Benedict said a loving, harmonious home life is also good for vocations since the love, devotion and fidelity of one's parents create a fertile setting for men and women "to hear God's call and to accept the gift ofa vocation."

The pope reemphasized the Church's teaching against divorce and insisted marriage is based only on a union between a man and a woman. Spain recently passed laws that made divorce quicker and easier and allowed homosexual couples to marry and adopt children.

The Church in Spain has been at loggerheads with the government led by Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero for what the Church sees as promoting policies that attack the family and life.

The pope met with Zapatero in a private audience July 8 in the archbishop's residence, and reporters said crowds outside jeered the prime minister upon his arrival.

The Spanish daily ABC reported July 9 that a government spokesman for Zapatero said the half-hour audience was "extremely cordial" and that he and the pope talked about "peace, the family, immigration, the future of Europe and, especially, the situation in Africa."

In some of his speeches, all delivered in Spanish, the pope said laws need to protect families and life not because of Church teaching, but to promote and protect "the integral good of the human being."

In a written message delivered July 8 to the country's bishops, the pope encouraged them to "continue dauntlessly" in their efforts to remind people that acting as if God did not exist or that pushing faith out of the public sphere "undermines the truth about humankind and compromises the future of culture and society."

Organizers said at least 800,000 people attended the weeklong meeting and that close to 1.5 million people saw the pope in the city over the weekend.

The pope made the site of the subway disaster his fIrst stop after his arrival. He laid a wreath of white flowers and bowed in prayer at the entrance ofthe Jesus subway station with the city's archbishop, mayor, some members of the royal family, and scores of emergency workers.

Later that day in the city's Basilica of the Virgin, the pope met with family members of those who died when two subway cars overturned after smashing against the tunnel walls. He greeted the griefstricken families individually after they prayed together before a statue ofOur Lady of the Needy, the city's patroness.

the ancholS)

Friday, July 14, 2006

FALL RIVER - "Even though we didn't reach our goal of surpassing the 2005 total, the energy and interest in the success of the Appeal was as vibrant as ever," 'stated Mike Donly, director of Development for the diocese.

A witness to this was Father Timothy Goldrick, pastor of St. Bernard's Parish in Assonet. As he tells it, at noon on the closing day of the Appeal, a parishioner on his lunch hour came running frantically into the church hall. The first person he happened to meet was the parish chef working in the kitchen, "I know the books of the Ap,peal close today, and I know our parish has almost beaten last year's parish total," the parishioner blurted out. "My contribution will not amount to anything, I'm sure, but I wanted to get it in on time anyway." The chef immediately delivered the check to the rectory. The amount was telephoned into Appeal headquarter's.

"That man's check put the parish over the top" reported Father Goldrick. "The Lord provides."

The Lord provided in every parish across the diocese to the tune of $3,936,578.37, a slight decrease of 3.3 percent from the 2005 Appeal total, but certainly a tremendous testament to the caring and generosity of literally tens of thousands of parishioners in the Diocese of Fall River.

"It certainly points out that the diocese has done well conveying to its parishioners that the work of the Church is their own," said Donly. . . "These generous people, 40,000 of them, have shown they understand the message of the Gospel and are doing what they can to enable their diocese to address the needs of literally tens of thousands of those who come to us for aid each year, and are ministered to through the dozens of Catholic Charities Appeal-funded agencies and apostolates. Obviously our thanks for their generosity of time and treasure is on behalf of those whose needs are met but will never have the opportunity to thank them personally.

"The number of donors to the Appeal appears to have remained approximately the same," continued Donly, "however it does appear the economy has forced some people to make a more calculated decision re-

number of individuals and families who tum to the Church during their time of need," Donly added.

parishioners bodes well fOf future Appeals as the Diocese of Fall River continues to address , the needs of the ever-increasing

Catholic Charities'Appeal2006: A testament to' caring, generosity garding the amount of the dona- as much as in the past but wanted to make certain they did tion they could make." .

The price of gasoline, and the whatever they could to help," fact that it is a daily reminder of Donly noted. ~'The theme of the 2006 Cathothe cost of living, was mentioned by a number of people as ' lic Charities Appeal, 'Sharing ... a source of hardship for many, Our Response to the Needs ofOthers,' certainly did not find any 'deaf he said.

"One person actually related ears' among the thousands of dothe story of a gentleman saying nors who made very conscious and he was thinking about getting a calculated decisions as to how they second job in the area to pay for could help the most vulnerable the gas to' get to his primary job. among us. ''The focus and energy of pasSome donors actually apolo. gized that they could not donate tors, committee members, and

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Friday, July 14, 2006

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Soldier's death should not lead to 'unholy rage,' bishop says BROWNSVILLE, Texas (CNS) - The death ofArmy Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, the U.S. soldier captured and bnitalized in Iraq, should not lead people to feel "unholy rage and anger," said Bishop Raymundo J. Pena of Brownsville during the funeral Mass for the soldier.

During the bilingual Mass at the Brownsville Event Center, the bishop told hundreds of mourners that reacting with anger "would only dishonor Kristian's very name and Kristian himself."

"At this moment, we must, as he did, reach for the ideal: to work for peace and an end to conflict wherever we may find it - at home, on the streets or even in a foreign land," he said.

The 23-year-old soldier, the son of a Mexican immigrant, was one of three U.S. Army soldiers who died after an insurgent attack at the checkpoint they were guarding.

Menchaca and another soldier, Pfc. Thomas Thckerfrom Madras, Ore., were missing for three days before their mutilated bodies were found booby-trapped with expli siv ~third soldier .路nabineau from S field, Mass., died in the initial attack.

Bishop Pena, who concelebl'3cted the Mass June 28 with a dozen priests, described Menchaca/as a loving and caring husband aJjld son who recently on a home leave spent a weekwith his wife and then a week with his

mother.

''ToKristian, or Kris as he was called by ~amily and friends, being a soldier in today's world meanttha~ he volunteered to put

himself in harm's way, no matter where it might bring him," the bishop said. "Sadly it brought him to Iraq, to a battle far away and too complicated to be easily understood."

The bishop praised Menchaca for his bravery and courage. "We are all proud ofhirn." he said. "At the same time, we are one with the family, sharing in their grief at this hour of intense sadness."

He also questioned if those who took his life knew him or knew that he was "there to serve and help people and not to injure them."

"Did they know the enormous pride his family felt in him?" he asked. "Did they know how his presence brought happiness to his loved ones, whose lives will be forever affected by this senseless and brutal act? We don't know.

Only God doeS. ''What we do know, however, is that this wondertUl young man is with a mercifuland loving Father who alone has the power to restore our shattered happiness and give us eveda~lipgpeace with hirn." Bishop ~ He' in the 'd' in Iraq, and in Afghamsbln "so that our troops may sOOn me home to .ch our land enjoy the has cherished,路.fihich our ancestors havefougJ'it<md{orwhich Kristian ga,ve ~ Mench March 2 inf<mtry with(b me Division atFortC~bell, Ky. He was postbumqusly >awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart and the Prisoner of War Medal.

WIDOW CHRISTINA Menchaca, 18, is' comforted by her mother during the burial of her husband, Army Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, in Brownsville, Texas. (CNS photo/Brad Doherty courtesy of The Brownsville Herald)

HIROMI TSUDA, 17, places a crown of flowers on a statue of the Virgin Mary following a rosary at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception recently in Washington. The young Japanese-American woman from Sf Luke Parish in McLean, Va. , joined hundreds for prayer and Mass during the first National Asian and Pacific Catholic Convocation. (eNS photo/Nancy Wiechec)

Asi:an, Pacific, Island Catholics in U.S. celebrate faith, dive'rsity ARLINGTON, Va. (CNS) Hundreds of Catholics of Asian and Pacific Island h~ritage from allover the country gathered in.

Arlington June 30-July 3 for the first National Asian and Pacific Catholic Convocation.

'We are witnesses of a historic moment," said Paulist Father Ricky Manalo from San Francisco, who was master of ceremonies for the event, which. drew religious and lay leaders, diocesan ministry directors, social workers, theologians, educators and youths.

"We gather together to give thanks for the many; gifts of the Asian and Pacific cultures and traditions. This weekend we gather to praise God most of all, and the power of the Holy; Spirit," he' added.

"We meet at a hopeful moment in this world," said Auxiliary Bishop Dominic M. Luong of Orange, Calif. "A time when more people have a chance to claim the freedom God intended for us all.

It's also a time of great challenge.

"In some of the most advanced parts of the world some people no longer believe in hope," said Bishop Luong, who is the nation's first Catholic bishop of Vietnamese origin. "The Catholic Church rejects such a pessimistic view.

We offer a vision of human freedom and dignity rooted in the same self路evident truths of American founding."

The convocation was organized and hosted by the National Asian Pacific Catholic Organization, based in Ontario, Calif., in cooperation with the Office for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Migration and Refugee Services.

The California-based organiza- for the Pastoral Care of Migrants tion, according to its brochure, and Refugees at the USCCB, said . was established in 2004 to bring that the historic convocation reto the U.S. Church's attention is- sponded to an invitation from the sues affecting As.ian and Pacific U.S. bishops to promote opportuIsland Catholics, to dialogue and nities for building and strengthento advocate on their behalf with ing the nation's Asian-Pacific bishops, diocesys and other na- communities, such as continued tional Catholic organizations. Its education and formation in theolaim is to strengthen these Catho- ogy, liturgy and ministry with dilics' connection to the local verse ethnic groups.

"At this gathering we celebrate Church, and to advocate .for social justice in their communities. the bountiful gifts offered by the Participants in the first national Asian-Pacific communities to the event, which had as its theme Catholic Church in this country," "Harmony in Faith," included Motus said.

In addition to plenary sessions Filipinos, Tongans, Samoans, Chamorros, Chinese, Vietnamese, and colorful liturgies and prayer the HmQng and Kmhmu peoples, services, the convocation agenda Indians, Laotians, Koreans, Indo- included workshops on immigranesians, Sri Lankans, . tion reform, human trafficking . Bangladeshis and Pakistanis. At- and social justice for immigrants tendees represented' eight geo- in the U.S. and around the world.

"Free societies need 'high graphical Asian and Pacific Island moral standards. The Catholic regions.

Representing the Arlington dio- Church and its institutions playa cese, Father Richard Mullins, di- vital role in helping citizens acocesan director for multicultural quire the character we need to live ministries, read a letter of welcome as free people," said Bishop to the audience on behalf of Ar- Luong, who is episcopal vicar for lington Bishop Paul S. Loverde, the National Asian Pacific Catholic Organization. who was unable to attend.

Convocation participants also "I am very pleased to welcome you to the Diocese of Arlington, made a pilgrimage to the Basilica enriched and blessed by many dif- of the National Shrine of the Imferent ethnicities," wrote Bishop maculate Conception in WashingLoverde. "The theme, 'Harmony ton. Bishop Luong was the in Faith,' shows that with many presider of the eucharistic liturgy.

There are 12.8 million Asians different voices we can come together to sing .one common song and Pacific Island peoples in the of our diverse and beautiful United States. Of that number 11.9 Q1illion are Asians, including Church.

"May this convocation be for Chinese, Filipinos, Indians, Koreeach of you a special time to ex- ans, Vietnamese and Japanese, perience unity in our diversity and according to the 2000 U.S. Cenhope for future generations of sus, ASian and Pacific Island Catholics constitute four percent Asian and Pacific Catholics."

Cecile L. Motus, who is in- of the U.S. Catholic population of terim director of the MRS Office about 69 million.

5

Friday, July 14, 2006

THE INTERNATIONAL CHURCH :'

Cardinal: Those involved in stem-cell destruction can face excommunication

By CAROL GLATZ CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

VATICAN CITY - Female egg donors, doctors and researchers involved in the destruction of embryos for stemcell studies can face excommunication, said the head of the Vatican's family council.

Because embryonic stem-cell research involves the destruction of a human embryo and therefore human life, "it is the same thing" as abortion and similarly entails excommunication, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, said in a recent magazine interview.

Italy's leading Catholic magazine, Famiglia Cristiana, published the interview with the Colombian cardinal in its July 2 issue.

"To destroy the embryo is equivalent to an abortion," he said, "and the excommunication applies to the woman, the doctors, the researchers who elimi-

nate embryos."

In his 1995 encyclical "Evangelium Vitae," Pope John

Paul II wrote that the Church's evaluation of the immorality of abortion "is to be applied also

CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL Boston released this high-magnification view of human embryonic stem cells when it announced in early June that it is pursuing research that utilizes discarded donor eggs and embryos from women undergoing in-vitro fertilization. (CNS photo/M. W. Lensch, Children's Hospital Boston)

Medjugorje apparition claims still controversial (CWNews.com) - The Catholic bishop whose diocese includes the town of Medjugorje has warned that "something similar to a schism" has arisen at the parish church where apparitions of the Virgin Mary are alleged to take place. In a homily delivered in Medjugorje on" the feast of Corpus Christi, Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar-Duvno, in BosniaHerzegovina, said that both he and his predecessor have expressed severe misgivings about the reported apparitions.

He added that both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI backed the judgments of the local bishops. In his homily Bishop Peric explained that - "while recognizing the Holy Father's right to give a final decision" on the validity of the reported apparitions- he doubted their validity.

He recalled that when he discussed the reports from MedjugOlje with Vatican officials, including then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, they shared his incredulity. "They particularly do not seem to be authentic," the bishop observed, "when it is known before that these socalled 'apparitions' will occur."

Bishop Peric cited the schedule that the Medjugorje seers have provided, listing the times and places at which they claim the next visits by the Mother of God will occur.

Thousands of messages from Mary are now claimed, and the bishop observed that "the flood of so-called apparitions, messages, secrets, and signs do not

strengthen the faith, but rather further convince us that in all of this there is nothing neither authentic nor established as truthful." The first reported appearances of the Virgin at Medjugorje occurred just over 25 years ago.

During the 1980s, thousands of Catholic flocked to the little town, with many reporting profound spiritual experiences.

These pilgrimages were eventually slowed by the violent bloodshed that tore through the region in the 1990s and by the increasingly public skepticism of the hierarchy. Bishop Peric reminded his people of the restrictions that he has imposed on activities in Medjugorje.

The parish church is not formally a "shrine," he said, and should not be characterized as such. Pilgrimages to the church are discouraged. Priests there are "not authorized to express their private views contrary to the official position of the Church on the so-called 'apparitions' and 'messages,' during celebrations of the sacraments, nor during other common acts of piety, nor in the Catholic media."

The bishops urged the "seers" of Medjugorje to "demonstrate ecclesiastical obedience and to cease with these public manifestations and messages in this parish." Some of the Franciscan priests assigned to the MedjugOlje parish, he said, have been expelled from their order because of their refusal to accept Church authority. "They have not only been illegally active in these parishes, but they have also administered the sacraments profanely, while

others invalidly," he said.

As Bishop of Mostar-Duvno, he said, he felt obliged to warn the faithful "who invalidly confess their sins to these priests and participate in sacrilegious liturgies."

to the recent forms of intervention on human embryos," even if the aim of the experimentation is legitimate, such as in research to treat fatal or debilitating diseases.

Any act that uses embryos or fetuses "as an objlect of experimentation constitutes a crime against their dignity as human beings" and this "killing of innocent human creatures, even if carried out to help others, constitutes an absolutely unacceptable act,'l the encyclical said.

The Church supports the use of stem cells derived from adults or umbilical-cord blood for scientific research.

Cardinal Lopez Trujillo said those who face excommunication in the case of an abortion include "the mother, the doctor, the nurses, the father if he is in agreement" with aborting the child.

Abortion "is a trime, and instead it is becoming a right" in some countries, the cardinal said.

Human life is no longer considered something "sacred, untouchable, but has become something flexible in the hands of people who can decide even when (life) begins and when it ends," he said.

Instances where Catholic politicians pass Ilaws that go againsf the teacpings of the Church call for "a reflection, because these (legislators) would not be able to approach the Eu-

charist," he said.

"No one in the world is authorized to contradict Church doctrine concerning the protection of life at all stages," he added.

The cardinal's comments came a little more than a week before he and Pope Benedict XVI were set to attend the Fifth World Meeting of Families in Valencia, Spain, where life issues and threats against the family were some of the major topics of discussion among participants.

In the magazine interview, Cardinal Lopez Trujillo also denounced the growing trend among governments to legally recognize same-sex unions and said giving legal rights to gay couples was "even more serious" than giving similar rights to heterosexual couples.

Couples can only be a man and a woman, he said, and homosexual relationships represent "absolute emptiness."

Because of the Church's vocal stand against laws that oppose Church teaching, Cardinal Lopez Trujillo said he feared "the Church risks being brought before some international court, if the debate gets more tense."

Speaking out in defense of human life and the family, "in some places, is becoming a sort of crime against the state, a form of disobedience against the government, discrimination against women," he said.

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thea~ Giving humanity a future As Pope Benedict was flying from Rome to Valencia for last weekend's World Meeting of Families, reporters on the papal plane asked him for a preview of what he would say. They were particularly interested in how he would respond to the sexual and familial revolution - same-sex marriage legislation, fast-track divorces, embryonic stem-cell research, easing of abortion laws and the elimination of religious education in state schools - that Spain's Zapatero government has been aggressively implementing in its first two years.

Benedict's response caught several of the reporters off-guard. "I would say that we shouldn't begin immediately with the negative things," Benedict XVI said to the press corps, "because we also see families that love each other, that are happy, and we want to encourage this reality, which gives us hope for the future. It's true that there are problems, things to which Christian life must say 'no.' We want to make people understand that on the basis of human nature, it's man and woman who are ordained to one another, who are ordained to give humanity a future."

In his homilies and addresses during the weekend, Benedict continued to stress this positive aspect of the vocation of the marriage of man and woman to fill us with hope and give humanity a future. He recalled with gratitude and joy the truth that man and woman are created in the image and likeness ofGod, who is a loving communion ofpersons and has called man and woman to an intimate and fruitful communion of life and love in marriage. Through their one flesh union, man and woman are enabled to act in God's image and likeness and become collaborators with him in the summit ofhis creative work, the bringinginto-existence of new human persons in his image and in theirs.

Proclaiming this Gospel of the family in God's plan has been one of the top priorities of the pontificates of both Pope John Paul IT and Pope Benedict XVI. From Pope John Paul's famous catechetical addresses on the theology of the body to Pope Benedict's first encyclical on the purification of human love by divine love, the successor of St. Peter has been announcing the deep and abiding blessings ofself-giving love, marriage, human sexuality and children.

This uplifting message of marriage and the family as a source and sign of hope and a service to the future of humanity is one that increasingly and urgently needs to be proclaimed from the housetops and lived joyfully in Christian homes and bedrooms. Christian couples, Benedict said, are called to live an emphatic and inspiring "yes" to the goodness of marriage and children, which will provide a light shining to all those walking in the valley ofthe culture of death.

This "yes" has been largely muted in the Church in Western society for the past few decades. Nowhere is this seen more clearly than in the fertility rates in traditionally Catholic European countries, from which most of the participants in Valencia came. For a population to sustain itself, the average number of children per couple needs to be 2.1. In Spain, the fertility rate is 1.1; in Italy, 1.2, in Germany 1.3; in France, despite the large families of immigrant Muslims, 1.7. By 2050, Germany is expected to lose the equivalent of the population of the former East Germany and 60 percent of the Italians will have no brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts or uncles. Altogether 18 European countries are reporting more deaths than births. Europe is dying. More appropriately, Europeans are slowly committing demographic suicide.

Closer to home, things are not much better. While the fertility rate of the United States overall is 2.09, four of the five states with the lowest number of children per couple are in New England. In Massachusetts, the rate is 1.66.

If children are a sign and source of hope, then the failure to replace oneself is a sign of a certain despair. It also brings all types of extra burdens on society. To look at the situation from an economic point of view alone, as fewer young people enter the work force, there will be decreased productivity; as more people retire, not only will there be higher social security costs on the working generation, but it will also make it increasingly harder for young families to afford children on their own. There will be a vicious cycle of economic stagnation and a continued downward spiral in fertility.

What are the causes ofthe plummeting birth rates? Experts, like Eric Cohen of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, point to three. First, children have become culturally optional; there is no longer a stigma attached to a childless woman. Secondly, they are now deemed economically burdensome; while they were once economic assets on a farm, now they are voracious consumers who produce nothing until generally after they leave the home. Thirdly, they are technologically avoidable through the use of contraception, without even the cost in former days of disciplining the sex drive.

Even among those who want and have a child, Cohen says, "the most compelling reason not to have more children is to benefit the child they already have, with the best schools, the best medical care, and the nicest neighborhoods. In this conception, having only one or maybe two children translates into an effort on the part of parents to act responsibly in a world of high economic expectations and emotional pressure." Pro-child in intention, they are anti-children in effect.

It is against this backdrop of the birth dearth and its causes that Pope Benedict addressed Catholic families from across the globe in Valencia..More than any other priority, he wanted to encourage them, solid Catholic families who had sacrificed much to attend the World Meeting, to be generous in cooperating with God for the increase of their family, the human family and God's family. The first commandment God ever gave was "increase and multiply," (Gen 1:22), and in most generations this has been a precept obeyed with joy and a source of great blessings. Like all God's commandments, it is meant to teach us how to love God and to love others. It is meant to help man and woman grow more deeply into the image and likeness of God. It is a positive message meant to give humanity a future.

Friday, July 14, 2006

the living word .

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FAMILY WATCHES FROM A BALCONY AS POPE BENEDICT XVI RECITES THE ANGELUS

PRAYER IN A PLAZA IN VALENCIA, SPAIN. THE POPE, ATTENDING THE FIFTH WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES, URGED MOTHERS AND FATHERS TO BE OPEN TO LIFE AND TO CREATE A HOME BASED ON LOVE, ACCEPTANCE AND MERCY. (eNS PHOTOIHEINO KALIS, REUTERS)

"THEY MUST FIRST LEARN TO PRACTICE PIETY IN REGARD TO THEIR OWN FAMILY," (ITIMOTHY 5:4).

The all-or-nothing gift Life-long commitments can be daunting. When we bind ourselves to someone or something for life, we are faced with the concept of permanence, a concept that can be more than a little intimidating. The thought of permanence necessarily prompts the thought of relinquishing our options for the future, and this gives most of us pause and cause for serious reflection. It's why many may hesitate to make these life-long commitments.

It's also why many of our young people today might hesitate to consider answering a religious vocation. They know that such vocations entail permanent, life-long commitments that are sealed by sacred promises or vows that can never be taken lightly.

Perhaps each of us who were ordained priests questioned at least once, during our time of discernment, or as we approached the day of our ordination, why we couldn't commit ourselves for a certain term of service, a term that could be renewed periodically, but something less than a life-long commitment. The all-or-nothing requirement of the priestly. vocation most likely scared each of us, at least a little.

But after a little thought and prayer, we realized that the decision to become a priest is an irrevocable one precisely because it is a decision to accept a share in the priesthood of Christ, which is

eternal. It's also a decision to be configured to Christ, who g~ve his whole life to the world and to each of us. Christ gav.e it all, holding nothing back, and so should we. Nothing less than a life-long commitment to Christ would be worthy of the transformation and identity that come with priestly ordination.

This process of accepting and adjusting to a commitment for life

can be a dramatic one. Interestingly though, the notion of a permanent, irrevocable commitment, which might previously have scared us, at some point, becomes the very thing that we begin to desire and yearn for, as a way of defining ourselves. We desire these commitments, because we come to realize that we are defined by them.

As we mature, we realize that being truly human means giving and living our lives for others. As beings created in the image and likeness of God, who is a Trinity of Divine Persons, who give themselves to each other completely and eternally, we, too, are programmed by our creation to live and find fulfillment through permanent, binding commitments

that somehow, mysteriously, imitate the relationships within the inner life of God. It is these life-long commitments that give us daily opportunities to sanctify our lives by acts of self-sacrifice and self-denial. It is by living faithfully to these permanent, irrevocable promises and vows that we come to be more like Christ, in whose image we were made.

What sustains these permanent, life-long commitments is a daily renewal of that gift-ofself that solemnly sealed the commitment when it began. This happens when a husband and wife daily renew their pledge of love to each other, and when a priest or religious daily recommits himself in prayer to his ordination promises or vows.

What we need to remind ourselves and our young people today is that life-long commitments are not to be feared. To be sure, they are to be approached carefully and solemnly, but they are not to be feared. Rather, they are to be welcomed and embraced as invitations to follow Christ and become truly human. They are also tremendous opportunities to put into the deep, giving ourselves to Christ and to others, and relying on God's direction and grace to sustain us.

Father Pignato is chaplain at Bislwp Stang High School in North Dartmouth and is secretary to Bislwp George lv. Coleman.

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Friday, July 14, 2006

Another child growing in wisdom and grace The ringing of church bells is Danilo's parents considered part of the Honduran culture. keeping him at the hospital They call people to worship, during the week for his brief - daily treatment. Danilo, howannounce an event, toll for a death, peal for a celebration. ever, desperately wanted to Each night before Mass the return home, so each day they servers look forward to climbing make the trip. the bell tower, or campanario, The ~azing part is that to ring the bells for Mass. Unfortunately, the bells at the Mission are beyond repair, So on Saturday, the town began a campaign to. raise funds for new church bells.

Recently one evening before Mass, the bells pealed with being "at home" has revitalized more fervor than .usual. They the spirits of this ll-year-old announced the arrival of Danilo "Pilo" Reyes for Mass. Danilo is boy. His friends visit him each - one of the altar servers at the day and he is surrounded by parish who has been recovering family. He has a long road ahead from surgery related to thyroid of him but his mother credits his cancer. Following a regimen of recovery to all the prayers being chemotherapy and very serious offered for Danilo and the fact surgery to remove a tumor, that he's able to be at home..

Although they live in poverty, Danilo spent a few months in home is home. It is the famiHar the hospital. His doctors have discovered more cancer in his place, where one is surrounded body and have begun a series of by family and friends, healing radiation treatments at the the heart as well as the body. hospital in Tegucigalpa, a twoFor this 11-year-old, it has made hour ride from Guaimaca. all the difference.

When Danilo felt strong enough, he asked his parents to bring him to church for Mass.

On a calm Wednesday evening, the servers were waiting in the bell tower and outside church for their friend to,arrive. Then the church bells began to peal with more fervor than usual. Danilo arrived and entered the church in a wheelchair that Sister Maria had given him. Allthe kids surrounded him and welcomed him. I told '. ' him how glad we all were that he had come and that we had prepared a special place for him on the side of the servers' pews.

In a very soft voice, Danilo asked that he be wheeled to the chapel where the tabernacle is.

His first priority was to make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament.

From the look on his face, it was a prayer of thanksgiving for having returned "home," and probably a prayer of petition for the road ahead. Whatever his prayer, it was very moving to witness the depth of his faith. At 11 years old, he knows God comes first. On his return visit to church after months of hospital-

I ge~ the picture Most of the time, it's not easy Blessed Sacrament to thank God Pilo was praying for strength, I was probably praying for a sharing this page with the other for the progress he's made, and strikeout with the bases loaded.

Anchor columnists~ There's to pray for strength for the About the same time Pilo Father Tad who can make uncertainties that lie ahead. bioethics very understandable to About the same time that Pilo went to a simple Mass with his family and friends, I was the average Joe (me). Before was sitting quietly with his probably complaining about that I didn't know the difference Lord, I was probably grumbling tuition costs, gas prices, and cell from a stem cell and a ship's about how the Sox have no phone bills. stem. pitching. About the same time I can't look at th'e . Greta has a charming photo of Pilo in reverent ability to see the good in prayer before the everything and finds the beauty of God in all.

Blessed Sacrament and ever be the same again.

I can siphon the good out of anything if the From now on, Pilo Red Sox lose that will be in my daily particular day. prayers. From now on, I'll ask my family to And Father Craig pray for Pilo. From now never ceases to inspire on, I'll seek the intercesme with his tales from sion of Father Patrick the diocesan mission in Peyton, Pope John Paul II, Guaimaca.

Blessed Mother Teresa, My mission is to moan and St. Padre Pio for and groan about the local Pilo's healing. sports teams when things don't go 'my way.

From now on, in my We're at opposite ends daily communication with of the spectrum, but I my son Davey I'll ask him to pray for Pilo. They're figure variety is the spice of life, and I'm the nearly the same age and I . cayenne pepper - a bit know my little one will be' happy to do it. kicky and little hard to From now on I think swallow som~times.

I'll start taking things that But Father Craig's are less serious, less column this month seriously. touched me to the deepest I pray the Pilo will be recesses of my heart and soul. healed and live a happy To the right is the most life. I pray for Pilq's family. And I pray that I inspiring photograph I've may be granted just a seen in a long, long time.

In that wheelchair is small portion of the faith ll-year-old Danilo Reyes, ' \ of that ll-year-old altar boy in Guaimaca, Hondua young Guaimacan altar ~---~... ras. boy, stricken with cancer.

DANILO "PILO" Reyes, a cancer paHis first wish when he Comments are weltient, prays before the Blessed Sacrament come at davejolivet@ came home from the anchornews.org. hospital was to visit the at the mission chapel in Guaimaca.

ization, he first wanted to make a visit to the chapel. WJ1at an example for the othe~ servers, and for all of us!

At our Diocesan rytission, the church bells call us to worship but then there are other exi;

amples, like that of Danilo, that remind us of the many blessings we have received, as well as the responsibility we have to offer thanks to the giver of those blessings. www.HonduranMission.org

ELEVEN-YEAA-OLD Danilo "Pilo" Reyes has had cancer surgery and continues with chemotherapy treatments in Honduras. Reyes, shown with his mother, is an altar boy and his first priority after coming home from the hospital was to visit the Blessed Sacrament at the mission chapel in Guaimaca..

HWe can only pay him $3.52 a month but he is like a priceless gift to our people." .So says Bishop Joseph -Willio'b.rs of Jinja, Uganda,

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Friday, July 14, 2006

Proclaiming the faith always Our Lord calls ordinary men and women to extraordinary things. Often when we hear of the prophets, the Apostles, or the saints, we think they were miraculously spared the ordinary struggles and always had perfect trust in God. Somehow, we think, they were always receiving insights from God and always knew how to respond perfectly to a given situation. But such is not the case, for they were very much human and their circumstances were very much real.

In all the Scripture readings for this Sunday we hear of different ordinary individuals who are asked to do difficult things. In the first reading there is the prophet Amos, a herdsman sent by God to expose injustices among those who will tell him to leave and never prophesy again. In the Gospel, the Twelve Apostles are sent out ahead of Our .

Lord to prepare his way. He tells them to bring nothing with them, so they will learn how to rely completely on God's providence. In the second reading, St. Paul reminds the people of their daunting and awesome task to

make the mystery of Christ known to all the nations.

The Church is in her very nature missionary. As Christ sent the Apostles to proclaim the Gospel to all the nations, so we, too, are called to preach the Gospel and make Christ known. Throughout the history of the Church, missionary work has been understood as men and women going to foreign lands to preach where the faith has never been heard. We are often in awe of the heroism of famous missionaries like St. Francis Xavier or St. Isaac Jogues, who faced and met great dangers with even greater faith. We love how each year a missionary comes to our parish to speak about the missions in other parts of the world.

But the missionary work of the Church is not exclusive to the foreign lands. In fact, there is a great need, now more than ever, in our own towns and state to proclaim the Gospel anew. As Pope John Paul II pointed out, countries that were at one

time Catholic or Christian now have entire groups of baptized people who have lost the sense of faith. In an age when the population is more literate than ever, we are

perhaps the least knowledgeable Catholics in centuries.

For us to be effective, we need to seek to learn and be formed. If we want to help .others to come to know the mystery of Christ, we must know him and live all the . more in his love. This is why daily prayer, the sacraments, spiritual reading, and study are essential for every Catholic. If we want to know what are the concerns of the Church and how to respond to those concerns, we must know and love the teachings of the Church and the intentions of our shepherds.

Yet, even with the little

knowledge that we have, our Lord sends us. Most of us are not being sent to the missions, but to our daily surroundings.

Our "Indies" are our families, friends, neighborhoods, workplaces, and schools.

Our witness of Christ must be genuine if it is to be effective.

Our actions must be in conformity with what we profess. Even if we are not eloquent orators, if we speak with truth, humility, and charity, what we try to convey will have - impact. However, no matter how eloquent we are, if we do not package the message in virtues, what we say will have minimal effect. Others will not hear what we have to say because the noise of who we are will drown out the message. It may even drive a person further away from growing in the faith. This is what St. Francis of Assisi was getting at when he said that we must preach always and use words when necessary.

Before speaking to a friend or family member, we should pray to discern what we . should say and when. Like the

Apostles, we, too, have so many means at our disposal: God's grace, the Church, prayer, truth, and love. These should fill us with confidence.

We don't have to wait for an "ideal" moment, but trusting in God, and having tried to preach the Gospel by our moral actions in our ordinary struggles, we should strive to fulfill the mission Christ has given to us. These will be moments for growth in sanctity for ourselves and others.

Every person should be able to look at our lives and recognize that we are people who know Jesus Christ. Like Amos, we should not fear how a person will respond to us if we remain faithful to God. St. Paul reminds us that we have been entrusted with unsearchable riches from Christ through his Church.

Billions of people are waiting to hear the riches of the truth which will set them free. Our Lord simply asks us to bring it.

Father Cook is parochial vicar at St. Patrick's Parish in Wareham and vocation director for the New Bedford Deanery.

Tales from' the Vienna woods During a conversation in Cracow last July, Cardinal Christoph Schoenbom, O.P., the archbishop of Vienna; proposed that he and I organize a conference to discuss the growing gap between America and Europe, the roots of that gap as analyzed in my book ''The Cube and the Cathedral," and the possibilities of strengthening the trans-Atlantic Catholic dialogue and the new . evangelization on both continents.

I readily agreed, and the conference, which included some 50 public intellectuals from "Old Europe," "New Europe," and the United States, met in April in the archbishop's palace in Vienna.

Many of us were housed in a former barracks of the Teutonic Knights; to have come from Poland, where I had been visiting, to the barracks of the Teutonic Knights was ... historically interesting, to say the least. (Why? Google "Battle of Grunwald, 1410"). But the

Deutschordenshaus is a story for another day.

Cardinal Schoenborn, who makes great sense in a half-dozen languages, provided the intellectual glue that held an international, interdisciplinary conversation together; as an American present, Dr. William Hurlbut of Stanford, put it, "Coming from .

California, it's refreshing and amazing to hear words of truth and light in the accents of Arnold Schwarzenegger." But perhaps the most intriguing intervention of the conference came from rp.y friend R6mi Brague, who divides his time between the Sorbonne in Paris, where he teaches philosophy, and Munich, where he holds the chair .of the late, great Romano Guardini. Professor Brague's name

Please note, Th~ finchor will not publish on July 28 and August 4, 2006. The office will remain open from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. on weekdays during that period. Th~ finchor will return to your homes . with the August 11 edition.

would rightly appear on any list of Ten Most Intelligent Catholics in the World, and in Vienna, he didn't disappoint.

Picking up on a phrase I had used in "The Cube and the

Cathedral," that Europe is "dying from a false story," Brague suggested a fascinating way of looking at the last two centuries of Western history. The 19th century, he proposed, was focused on the question of good-and-evil: the "social question," posed by tlie industrial revolution, the emergence of an urban working class, and the demise of traditional society, dominated the landscape.

The 20th century, he argued, had been the century of the question of true-and-false: totalitarian ideolo. gies, built on perverse misunderstandings of the human person, defined the contest for the human future that drove history from the aftennath of World War I until the Soviet crack-upin 1991.

And the 21st century? Ours, Professor Brague said, is the century of the question of beingand-nothingness - the century of the metaphysical question.

Which may sound extremely abstract, but is, in fact, very concrete. For if nothing is "given" in the human condition, then everything is up-for-grabs. If, to take a salient example on both sides of the Atlantic, maleness andfemaleness are mere "social constructs," then "marriage" can mean anything someone wants it to mean, including not only "gay marriage" but polygamy and polyandryand to deny that is an act of irrational bigotry.

Brague, who knows a great deal about- Islamic philosophy, knows all about the threat to the West from jihadist Islam. In Vienna, however, he insisted that nihilism - a soured cynicism about the mystery and wonder of being - is the prior enemy-within-the-gates. For nihilism leads to deep skepticism about the human capacity to know the truth of anything; skepticism leads to what Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger described on April 18, 2005, as the "dictatorship of relativism;" and relativism is a solvent eating away the founda- . tions of Western self-understanding, Western civilizational morale' - and the Western capacity for intelligent self-defense.

An Enlightenment intellectual, .cited by Professor Brague, once said that he didn't have children because begetting children was a criminal act ~ a matter of condemning another human being to death, to oblivion. That is .the

kind of nihilism that lies beneath Europe's demographic suicide of recent decades. That is the kind of nihilism that occupies some of the commanding heights of Arnerican culture. That is the kind of nihilism that makes the defense of Western civilization difficult today - and would make it impossible tomorrow, were it to triumph culturally.

The very goodness of life, the goodness of being - that is The Issue beneath all the other issues of the 21st century. So suggested R6mi Brague. I'm afraid he's right.

George Weigel is a senior feUow ofthe Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

Daily Readings July 15 July 16

July 17

July 18 July 19 July 20 July 21

156:1-8; Ps93:12,5; Mt 10:24-33 Am 7:12-15; Ps 85:9-14; Eph 1:314 or 1:3-10; Mk 6:7-13 Is 1:10-17; Ps 50:8-9,1617,21,23; Mt 10:34-11 :1 Is 7: 1-9; Ps 48:28; Mt 11 :20-24 Is 10:5-7,13b-16; Ps 94:5-10,1415; Mt 11 :25-27.

Is 26:7-9,12,16路 19; Ps 102:1321; Mt 11 :28-30 Is 38: 1-6,2122,7-8; (Ps) Is 38:10-12,16; Mt 12:1-8

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A funny thing happened on the way to the funeral Thursday JuLy 13 2006 Homeport - Night Watch on the eve ofBastille Day (La Retraite Aux FLambeaux) - Firemen sponsor pubLic events throughout Paris.

I have read about the gleeful celebration of the New Orleans jazz funeral. I have heard about the shenanigans at an old-time Irish wake.

But in staid New England, one does not usually associate funerals with merriment. Fact is, you never know what's going to happen at a funeral. A priest needs to always be prepared.

I was presiding at a funeral in another church, filling in for the pastor. Before the funeral began, the sacristan kept expressing his concern that he had not put sufficient charcoals in the

censor. Not to worry, I assured him. Silly me, I didn't check the charcoal. During Mass, it came time to put the incense on the charcoal. The altar server

opened the cover. It was overstuffed with burning briquettes.

The red-hot charcoals fell out on the floor. "Oh great," thought I. The pastor is going to arrive home from vacation and be greeted with the news, "Father Goldrick was here for a funeral and set the church on fire."

Fortunately, the floor was

tile. Immediately, the altar server began stomping on the ground. Sparks flew everywhere. I joined him in the stomping. There we were jumping up and down in the sanctuary like two wild men. No, Sister, it's not one of those newfangled liturgical dances, just basic fire prevention. Liturgical dance is not permitted.

Then there was the Quest for the Sacred Feather. Following a morning funeral, I noticed the flowers left behind in the sanctuary were wilted. I threw them in the dumpster. At dusk, as I was walking through the church parking lot, I spotted a limousine with its headlamps shining on my dumpster. There in the churchyard was a distinguished gentleman dressed in a

Building our children's character I love hiking in New England. Enormous sugar maples, towering pines, granite cliffs, sandy beaches, and scenic vistas dot the entire region. I love the quixotic rock walls that crisscross nearly every landscape, plunging off even into the deepest woods.

When we first moved to the region, I must admit that I was baffled as to why anyone would labor so hard to build a rock wall in the middle of the woods. It didn't take long and only a few snickers for a New England native to point out to this Midwestern foreigner that the rock walls had been built after old growth forests had been cleared for farmland by the first generation of European settlers, but before new growth forests had reclaimed the land when subsequent generations of farmers had packed up their wagons and rolled westward to the less rocky Ohio River Valley and beyond.

Looking at the woods with this new knowledge, I could see that many of the mature trees were completely bent around the rock walls, something that could only happen if the walls pre-dated the saplings. Hiking along with the family one day, daydreaming about the lifespan of the rock walls, it occurred to me that parenting or building our childl:'en's char~yter is in.; ; many ways like building a rock wall. There are three steps to both processes: Step one is to pi(;;kthe rocJ<s out of the field. Baily settlers . labored intensely to pick the rocks out of their fields by hand. Tl1ese rocks could onlyc,: be goo&ifthey were on the

sides of the fields, not in the middle. In parenting terms these rocks represent the character traits we handpick to teach our children. EXatllI!!es of character traits are obedience, truthfulness, faithfulness, resourcefulness, generosity, and diligence, and e",ery family will consciously or unconsciously emphasis those traits they

consider to be most important.

Step two is to stack the rocks in a line, making a recognizable boundary. In farming, rock walls were established to mark land boundaries and to contain farm animals. In parenting terms, rock walls symbolize the collection of rules we establish in our home in order to teach the handpicked character traits of step one. Family rules include things like bedtimes, household chores, eating habits, allowance, church attendance, and writing thank-you notes. If we picture our children as livestock, an image to which some may obje6tand others may heartily agree, we can easily see that family rules that are ",ell thought out and consistently applied are like rocks arranged in a wall. They are useful and loving boundaries. whichc~,safelycQntain growing childtecn.;3f'" Step three is to maintain the established rock wall. In far,tping this means regular.trips aroulin the perimeter onme's

property to repair any!breaches in the walls. In parentfrtg terms, this means deciding on the methods of discipline we will use to enforce the family rules we established in step two.

Methods of discipline include deciding how to communicate family rules, how to motivate our kids to follow them, and what to do if the rules are broken. Specific examples include things like time-outs, spankings, and posting charts of a child's responsibilities. Regularly reinforcing family rules and establishing routine consequences for any breaches helps to keep the entire system of discipline intact and working smoothly.

Like rocks scattered haphaz- , ardly throughout farm fields, sometimes-taught character traits or sometimes-enforced rules are not helpful in the cultivation and growth of our children's character. Like building a rock wall, parenting as I've described it here initially involves a lot of backbreaking, mind-bending, time-consuming labor, but the results are lasting.

When I hike through the New England woods, I praise God for the omnipresent rock walls.

Steadfast, silent reminders of an. era gone by; they encourage me . to choose well, to assemble in an orderly fashion, and to apply . consistentl}'0the chafill.!ter traits,,,,?

I want fixed in my children C long after I am gone from their daily lives.

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fine black suit. He Was dumpster diving.

The funeral director explained that the deceased had been of Native American decent. An eagle feather had been placed in one of the floral pieces by the tribal shaman. The staff forgot to remove it and the family wanted the feather for a keepsake. So now there were two of us grubbing through the garbage. I found the prize, thanks to a quick prayer to St. Anthony. Thus successfully ended the Quest for the Sacred Feather.

At yet another funeral, just as the cemetery rites were concluding, one of the mourners ducked behind the headstone. There he had hidden a gigantic boom box.

"Happy Trails to You" began blasting louder than a 2l-gun salute. First the Indians, now the cowboys. Parish ptiests, like the U.S. Coast Guard, must always be prepared. Semp€!r paratus.

The Funeral Rites of the Catholic Church slIcceed in being both human and holy.

They are an effective expression of human grief and a faithful expression of hope in the Resurrection.

A person arrives at church on the day of baptisnii and is greeted at the door. The body of the deceased arrives at the door of the church on the day of the funeral and is gre~ted with the symbols of baptism.

Just as a person processed down the aisle for ,holy Communion, so the casket is carried down the aisle one last time and placed before the altar. The Easter Candle shiqes brightly.

It's Easter Sunday morning for the deceased.

In the Eucharist, God the Father is praised ~nd thanked for gifts without number. Every Mass is a celebration of life.

The final commendation at the end of Mass is especially moving. The Song of Farewell is sung. The body of the deceased may be reverenced with incense.

As the smoke of the incense rises to heaven, so do our

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prayers. Then the Prayer of Commendation, "Into Your Hands, 0 God, we commend our loved one." For me, this is an especially intimate moment. I feel the bond between all the baptized, living and deceased. I experience the communion of saints. Often I place my hand on the casket for the final antiphon: "May the angels lead you into paradise."

Then off to the gravesite for the Rite of Committal. "Eternal rest grant unto him/her, 0 Lord.

May he/she rest in peace. May the love of God and the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ bless and console us and gently wipe away every tear from our eyes."

Amen. Another soul passes into eternity.

One Saturday morning, down at the Village Post Office, I overhear two matrons gossiping.

"And you know, Mabel, the priest was 10 minutes late for poor Gladys' funeral. Ten minutes. Can you believe it?

There's just no excuse for that."

I smiled at them pleasantly and continued tossing my junk mail.

It's best to start Mass on time (and end it on time, for that matter), but there can sometimes be extenuating circumstances.

Perhaps at the last minute the priest was called to go dumpster diving. You just never know.

Semper paratus.

Father Goldrick is pastor of St. Bernard Parish, Assonet.

Comments are welcome at StBernardAssonet@aol.com.

Previous columns are at www.StBernardAssonet.org.

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Friday, July 14, 2006

Ten years of giving Bv MIKE GORDON

stilled Catholic values and faith in her. "Helping others has always been a central part of my life," FALL RIVER - Reflecting on more than a she said. "My father had a love of faith and my decade as director of Adult Education in the dio- mother had a love of hospitality." One of her cese, Lisa Gulino paused and smiled. brothers, Father Steve Gulino, is a priest in nearby "I have a lot offond memories here," she said. Connecticut.

"It's been an honor and a privilege to assist people Gulino earned a bachelor's degree in theoldiscoverandliveoutacommitmenttosacramen- ogy from the Franciscan University at tal life and grow in love for the Church."

Steubenville in Ohio and went on to receive a A native of Attleboro, Gulino began working master's degree in religious studies from Provifor the diocese as its director of Adult Educa- dence College. tion, but that position grew to also include evanWhile continuing her studies in Washington, gelization. She Gulino will be workalso took on the """"...,.---;---;;------;;------~~ . ...".,-----..-c:-:-.".,...,...,.......,..,....,.-,,-.,....,,;~ â&#x20AC;˘.-,.~,.l',\ ing part-time at Holy : ....... .. ' role of assistant Com for t e r - St. director of the Cyprian Parish on Rite ofChristian Capitol Hill. She will Initiation for be the parish director Adults Program of faith formation and assistant diand oversee the rector of the dicatechesis program ocesan RENEW including its RCIA program. component.

She will be "I'm looking forleaving in Auward to the next gust to begin phase of my life and studies at the I leave the diocese Catholic Univer- ' with treasured persity of America sonal friendships and in Washington, profound respect for D.C. where she all the directors of will pursue a Religious Education doctorate in reliI've worked with. I gious education have truly enjoyed working with the and catechetics.

"It will be like people of God." leaving home Gulino said that but at the same when she was a ditime I'm very rector of campus excited about ministry at Seton my future," she Hall the advice "AIsaid. ways stay close to the When asked people of God and why she's pursthat will keep you ing an advanced rooted in your faith," degree, Gulino was offered to her. stated that she "I've always tried to would like to follow that advice someday teach and it's never let me on the college LISA M. GULINO, diocesan director of Adult Edu- down. I've always been inspired by level. "I have a love of teaching, cation, will be leaving her post for graduate studies God's people."

What's rewarding, but I plan to stay at the Catholic University of America in Washinginvolved in ton, D.C. (Anchon'Gordon photo) she said, has been Church ministry seeing catechists and too." catechumens grow in their faith. "Oftentimes Gulino is a member of St. Julie Billiart Parish people will come up and thank me saying they've inNorth Dartmouth. As part of her duties for her learned so much about their faith. When I see jobs she helped with adult conflrmation, planned adults who've received the sacrament of reconthe fundamentals of faith program and numer- ciliation for the flrst time rejoice at the sense of ous retreats, led evenings of reflection and taught newness in their life it's heartwarming."

Bible studies and spirituality classes in all flve When not working, Gulino enjoys attending deaneries. She also assisted and helped train plays and listening to Celtic music. She also enpeople involved in RCIA and RENEW. joys volunteering and sidewalk counseling for "One of my great joys has been helping Catho- women in Boston near abortion clinics. lies to encounter Christ in his Church and deAccording to Gulino, one of the challenges in velop a personal relationship with him," said her many years of service has been ministry in Gulino. "It's been rewarding and has enriched the midst of a secular world. She cited the recent my own faith." decisions of the Massachusetts Legislature reFather Henry J. Dahl, pastor of St. Peter the garding marriage.

Apostle Parish, Provincetown, worked with "It's important for the voice of the Church to Gulino for flve years when he served as director be heard," said Gulino. "It's not enough to just of the RCIA. They put together the foundational believe anymore. We must explain the reasons aspects of the program and Father Dahl said he why we believe what we do to others and share enjoyed working with her. that. I always remember the words that Cardinal "She was always excited about her work in Sean P. O'Malley once gave me when he dethe RCIA and her enthusiasm was contagious," clared, 'Don't keep your faith, give it away.''' said Father Dahl. "I think she brought a lot of Ten years and counting of doing just that. gifts to adult education. Her natural goodness and The Anchor encourages readers to nominate desire to serve God's people was lived out in her others for the Person of the Week - who and work." ' w h y ? Submit nominations at our E-mail adOne of six children raised by Jean and Sal dress: theanchor@anchornews.org, or write to Gulino, she reflected that her parents always in- The Anchor, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722.

ANCHOR STAFF

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The end of 'the world' single hour to his life? Seek Sometimes we share with first his kingdom and his someone something that is righteousness, and all these bothering us. To us it is a "serious" concern or problem. things will be given to you as well."

We may confide in a friend, a Contrary to Jesus' teachcolleague, a parent or family ings and exhortations, we live member. And often the in a world where most everyresponse we receive is, "Well, one harbors his or her own set it's not the end of the world. of worries and concerns; a "Yeah right," we might "little world" for every think, "easy for you to say. It person. is the end of 'my world,' don't The walls of our world can you realize?" expand, however, when our This brings us to a very "little world" touches the interesting observation. There are probably as many different world that is God's. A world where there is no time, when "worlds" as there are people. the moment is all there is, a For the concerns of one world of true love and peace. person are usually not the This expansion of "our concerns of the person next to world" happens in moments of them. prayer, moments when we And concerns there are. allow the Holy Spirit to touch Worries and problems; us, when there is true love for most everybody has them.

Worries and problems may be quite related, but are in fact also very different.

Worries are concerns that reta,MacKoul, mayor may not have materialized.

We may worry another, and often in the about what will happen, that realization of human tragedy. we hope doesn't. And we may September 11, like many worry about whether someother human tragedies, was thing that we want to happen one of those moments. Sudwill in fact occur. Actual denly, there was a common problems are also a source of ground and people were worry.

In the general population, it touched deeply by the suffering, the loss of life and the has been observed that most people worry periodically, and heroic acts of many. Suddenly, and for a time, the walls of many suffer from anxiety to the "little worlds" of millions some degree. Yes, life can be of people came down and stressful. And people of all their horizons expanded. The ages may worry. usual worries and concerns In addition to the adult seemed unimportant. population, high school and God is a great mystery. It 'elementary students may not is impossible to know everybe exempt. The stress of thing about him.

But we do school and grades, keeping up know that someday the world with all of the activities, will end. And I believe that social pressures, family deep inside we know that the dynamics, health issues, and purpose of our journey of events in the world may all faith is to bring our "little have an effect on everyone. world" in union with God's And it is probably safe to "to seek first his kingsay that many people worry or dom." are concerned too much about Seeking first that kingdom things that are truly not will allow his vision, his will important to God, like selfand his Spirit to keep the importance and possessions. walls of our world down, so Jesus tells us not to worry. that we will not fear the end In the Sermon on the Mount, of the world or be overcome he remind'?alJs, "Do not by worry in our day-to-day worry about your life, what living, but rather find peace you will eat or drink or about and joy in knowing that there your body, what you will is nothing to fear. wear. Is not life more imporGreta MacKoul is the tant than food, and the body author and illustrator of more important than clothes?

"The Ocean Flowers, A Look at the birds of the air; Parable of Love" and numerthey do not sow or reap or ous articles. Greta and her store away in barns, and yet husband George, with their your heavenly Father feeds children are members of them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of Christ the King Parish in you by worrying can add a Mashpee.

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Friday, July 14, 2006, •

11

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Sacred Hearts Congregation seats provincial, counselors

By MIKE GORDON

Petrie. "It is living and making alive our Congregation's charism that will help contribute to the mission of the Church here and throughout the world. We must proclaim love as a way of life to the world."

Father Petrie also plans to continue to affirm the work being done by the Congregation and will also be working on the Molokai Project. "We continue the work of Blessed Damien today and hope to have more people out on the island of Molokai. Right now the Catholic community out there is working to raise funds for a church dedicated to Father Damien."

In 2004, on the 115th anniver-

ence and has a global vision. Father Petrie will bring that to our WAREHAM - Father Willcongregation and we are certainly iam F. Petrie, SS.Cc., former voin good hands. This is a time of cations director for the Congreganew hope and excitement for the tion of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus Congregation of Sacred Hearts." and Mary was installed as the Although he does not know Eastern Province's 11th provincial where his next assignment might July 9, the feast of Our Lady lead him, Father Reid is currently Queen of Peace. finishing a book on the rosary, He replaces Father David P. "The Graces of the Rosary."

Reid, SS.Cc., who served as proPaulist Press will publish it this vincial for six years. Ceremonies fall. He is hoping to begin work were held at the Sacred Heart on a new book about the renewal Retreat Center and a reception of the devotion to the Sacred Heart. followed.

Father Petrie said the news that According to a history of the religious order, it was founded in he received a majority vote for provincial on the first ballot in 1800 by Father Peter Coudrin in France. They are sometimes April "came as a complete surcalled the Picpus Fathers, beprise. It usually takes three or cause their first location was four months for one to be picked. I was asked and I on Picpus Street in Paris. prayed about it. The Holy The Sacred Hearts comSpirit seemed to say yes." munity was founded to exSuperior General Enrique press the love of Jesus and Losada, SS.CC, confirmed the Mary at a time in history when appointment· from the the Church in France was becommunity's headquarters in coming more and more secuRome, Italy. lar. Their mission is to conThe 64-year-old Father template, live and announce Petrie was born in Windsor, to the world the saving love Ontario, Canada, and was of God. raised in Phoenix, Arizona. At Today the Sacred Hearts an early age he read about the community has 1,500 priests, life of Father Damien de brothers and sisters serving in Vuester and knew by the age 38 countries around the of 16 that he wanted to pursue world, including missions in a religious vocation. the Pacific, Asia, Africa, "I wanted to be a priest, a South American and Europe. missionary and work with There are three provinces in leper patients in India. It all the U.S., the Eastern and came true," said Father Petrie.

Western and the Hawaiian He took his final vows in Province. The East Coast 1965 and was ordained in Fall Province includes missions in SACRED HEARTS Father William Japan, the Bahamas, India River on May 26, 1969. He served for 25 years in India F. Petrie was installed as the Eastern and Ecuador. ministering at the Shantinagar U.S. States Province's provincial last When asked what he enLeprosy Rehabilitation Center week at the Sacred Hearts Retreat joys most about being a Sanear Calcutta. He was spon- Center in Wareham. cred Hearts priest, Father sored by Blessed Mother Petrie said, "I feel like I am Teresa and helped found the sary of Blessed Father Damien's so blessed. I receive so much from Damien Institute, known today as death, Father Petrie established my vocation and as a member of the Damien Social Development the Damien of Molokai Center as the Congregation. When I was out Institute. an official provincial center for in the jungle with no lights or run"I had a tremendous mentor," vocation recruitment through pro- ning water I was happy. Mother proclaimed Father Petrie. "I moting the legacy of Damien and Teresa always wanted us to do learned that the more you see your mission awareness. He also something beautiful each day for powerlessness, the more God helped construct more than 1,000 God. I always remember that and seeks to use you. I see myself be- homes for leprosy patients. take it one day at a time." ing open to the guidance of the Father Petrie spoke about standA new leadership team was also Holy Spirit for the voice of this ing on the shoulders of those who elected and has four new members. community. I am looking forward have come before him. "I am Brother Paul Alves, SS.Cc., was to working with the Provincial blessed to have known the 10 other installed on July 9 as third counCouncil and being part of the provincials from this congregation. selor. Other members include Sateam. Some of our priorities will They built up an infrastructure and cred Hearts Fathers Richard be vocations and parish ministry." I would like to build upon the foun- McNally, vicar provincial; Martin He served as vocation director dation they have laid."

Gomes, first councilor; and Stan for three years and called the asFather Reid said the opportu- Kolasa, second councilor. Due to signment, "a wonderful faith ex- nity to serve as provincial was "a scheduling conflicts they were inperience. It was a privilege to see very good experience," and stalled on June 19. how God works in their lives." added, "it has been an exciting Brother Alves serves as treaSome of the responsibilities of time to be in leadership." surer of the Eastern Province and the new provincial will include coHe is currently in Puerto Rico is vice principal at Cardinal ordinating activities and working brushing up on his Spanish and Spellman High School. Father closely with the provincial staff. will be attending a general chap- McNally has resided with the "We have a development and com- ter of the Congregation in Rome community in France for the past munications office and we will be this fall. Members of the commu- three years. Father Kolasa is paslooking at how our U.S. provinces nity gather from across the globe. tor of Our Lady of the Assumpcan work together as one," he said. every six years. tion Parish, New Bedford. Father "We ask what do we need to When asked about the new pro- Gomes is pastor of St. Joseph's do to continue being a vital and vincial, Father Reid said, "He Faith Community in Nassau, the life-giving presence," said Father comes with a wealth of experi- Bahamas.

ANCHOR STAFF

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ROSEMARY DEARIE, center, accepts a first-place award in the "Good Night, JeSus" prayer contest, sponsored by Catholic Family Ufe Insurance, the oldest Catholic fraternal society in the United States. From left, her mother Joanne Dearie, her grandmother, Rosemary Dearie, herthird-grade teacher, Susan O'Kom, and Paul Pinsonnault, member of CFLI's Board of Directors and president of its local chapter, Duvernay No. 42, North Attleboro.

St. Mary-Sacred Heart student wins natio1l,al prayer-writing contest sues of The Family Friend, the official publication ofCatholic Family Life Insurance. In addition, the top 30 prayers will be featured in a book published by Catholic Family due out later this year.

Several other students from the Fall River diocese were named as National Finalists in the competition, including: Deegan Lee, Madison Elliott, Danielle Houle, Chelsey O'Brien, Derek Beyer, and Andrew Payne from St. Mary-Sacred Heart School, North Attleboro; and Rachel Quinlan, The Montessori School of the Angels, Westport.

Catholic Family Life Insurance is the oldest Catholic Fraternal Society in the United States and provides for the financial security needs of Catholics.

Catholic Schools for America is the national cause of the organization, which annually contributes more than $400,000 to Catholic schools through donations, matching funds, and educational grants. The Society also offers its members social and volunteer opportunities, with members contributing more than 132,000 hours of volunteer service last year alone.

NORTH ATTLEBORO Rosemary Dearie, a third-grade student at St. Mary-Sacred Heart School, North Attleboro, earned a first-place prize in the "Good Night, Jesus" prayer contest, sponsored by Catholic Fam'ily Life Insurance, the oldest Catholic fraternal society in the Unit~d States.

Approximately 1,790 students from around the counp-y submitted their entries last April. Louise R. Champigny, director, New England Operations, for Catholic Family Life Insuranc~, and Paul Pinsonnault, membei! of CFU's board ofdirectors and president of its local chapter DuverjIay No. 42, North Attleboro, recently presented Dearie with a trophy, a plaque imprinted withl:her prayer, and a savings bond f6r $500. St. Mary-Sacred Heart School also received a check for $500.

Catholic Family sponsored the contest at the suggestion of Father James Connell, the Society's national chaplain, as a way to encourage young people to contemplate their relationship with Christ. National prizes were awarded in two age categories, grades three-five and six-eight. The winning prayers will be published in upcoming is-

Unchanging Belief Most Americans stay with the same religion throughout life.

72% stayed with the same religion

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moved away from religion

Major reasons cited for changing or moving away

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Courts in New York, Georgia uphold same-sex marriage bans

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WASHINGTON (CNS) - The one who ever lived, in any society what it has always been, the union New York stateCourtofAppeals and in which marriage existed, that there of one man and one woman."

The New York ruling came in a the Supreme Court of Georgia have could be marriages only between upheld the ban on same-sex mar- participants qf different sexes," said case that combined four lawsuits inriages in their jurisdictions. the majority opinion, written by Jus- volving 44 same-sex couples.

The decisions, handed down July ticeRobertS. Smith. "A court should In a dissent, Chief Justice Judith 6, came less than a week before the not lightly conclude that evel)'one Kaye said the court had failed in its Massachusetts legislature prepared who held this belief was irrational, obligation ''to safeguard individual to consider a proposed constiliberties ... and to order redress tutional amendment defining - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - for their violation." marriage as the union of a man 'The judges rejected this effort and "The S~premeCourt ofGeorand a woman. made clear that the Legislature has gta unannnousl~ ?verturned a On Wednesday, the Massa. . . . lower court declSlon that had chusetts legislature was to con- a ratIOnal baSIS for keepmg mamage blocked an amendment to the sider a vote on whether to put what it has always been, the union state constitution approved by the question of same-sex mar- of one man and one woman."

76 percent of the state's voters in 2004. riage on the 2008 ballot.

Massachusetts is the only U.S. ignorant or bigoted. We do not so "It is apparent that the prohibistate to grant marriage licenses to conclude." tion against recognizing same-sex same-sex couples.

Dennis Poust, director of com- unions as entitled to the benefits of In New York, the Court of Ap- munications for the New York marriage is not 'dissimilar and dispeals ruled by a 4-2 majority that the State Catholic Conference, said in cordant' to the objective of reservstate constitution "does not compel a statement that the conference ing the status of marriage and its atrecognition of marriages between was "pleased that the majority ex- tendant benefits exclusively to members of the same sex" and that ercised restraint in this case, and unions of man and woman," the the question should properly be ad- that they expressly rejected the court said. dressed by the legislature. notion that those who oppose re''We conclude, therefore, contrary "Until a few decades ago, it was defining marriage are ignorant or to the trial court's ruling, that the first sentence of subparagraph (b) of the an accepted truth for almost evel)'- bigots."

'The court was asked to redefine amendment does not address a difthe institution of marriage in so fun- ferent objective than that of the damental a way as to change its vel)' amendment as a whole and does not meaning and purpose," Poust added. render the amendment violative of 'The judges rejected this effort and the multiple-subject prohibition," 'PTH SHOE made clear that the Legislature has said the opinion written by Justice a rational basis for keeping marriage Robert Benham.

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the ancho~ news briefs Pro-Life leader decries Buffet's charitable choices (CWNews.com) - An American Pro-Life leader has decried American billionaire investor for supporting non-profit organizations that advocate abortion. Buffett has been widely applauded this week for the announcement that he will donate most of his vast personal fortune - a sum of more than $36 billion - to the Gates Foundation, established by his fellow billionaire, Microsoft chief Bill Gates.

But Father Thomas Euteneuer, the president of Human Life International, sees an ugly pattern in the investment guru's charitable activities. "Warren Buffett's money has gone to fund the deadly abortioncausing drug RU-486, the production and distribution of portable suction-abortion devices in the developing world, organizations that push abortion on developing countries, and many other radical organizations," Father Euteneuer said. He added that the Gates Foundation, to which Buffett will now make a record donation, has also "given millions of dollars to organizations pushing abortion around the world." Rather than lauding his philanthropy, Father Euteneuer decried Buffett's sense of priorities. "Warren Buffett's philanthropy," he said, "aims at killing preborn children, not curing childhood disease; eliminating the poor, not poverty; and destroying the developing world, not aiding development."

Israeli Parliament rejects bid to ease abortion access (CWNews.com) - The Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, has voted overwhelmingly to reject a proposal to expand abortion availability, the LifeSiteNews service reports. The vote was 39 to nine against a proposal to abolish the committees - made up of doctors, rabbis, and social workers - that currently judge whether a woman may have an abortion. Approximately 40,000 abortions are committed against Israeli children per year. The Pro-Life movement is gaining ground in Israel and in Judaism in general. In 1997 the Jerusalem Post published a series of advertisements telling the story of a child slated for abortion, from his point of view. "Mommy let me live!" was sponsored by Efrat: The International Organization for Saving Jewish Babies. The organization, made up of doctors, psychologists, social workers, rabbis, and public figures say their policy is simple, ''We cannot prevent a woman from having an abortion if she really wants one and is determined to go ahead. But it is our humanitarian and professional duty to explain to her all the repercussions of her actions. Knowledge of all the facts will allow the woman to make the right choice." The group I. also provides material support for expectant mothers.

Exhibit using human bodies stirs curiosity, raises questions ST. PAUL, Minn. - Visitors to an exhibit at a St. Paul museum displaying plastinated human bodies are immediately greeted with words from the Psalms. ''What is man that thou shouldst remember him, mortal man that thou shouldst care for him? Yet thou has made him little less than God, him with glory and honor," proclaims one of the hanging banners at the display in the Science Museum of Minnesota's exhibit ''Body Worlds." The exhibit, which runs until September 4, features anatomical displays ofhuman bodies preserved through a process called plastination. "Body Worlds" has generated controversy since its 1996 opening in Tokyo. For starters, there is the general discomfort with human remains being displayed publicly. Many have questioned whether this kind of exhibit is sensational or in keeping with the dignity of the human person. Others are concerned about whether those who donated their bodies gave proper consent. The museum's officials asked similar questions before deciding to host it, said Paul Wojda, a bioethicist and associate theology professor at St. Thomas University in St. Paul and a member ofthe Science Museum's advisory board for "Body Worlds." The museum was reassured that all of the bodies ~ called "plastinates" - were from consenting donors. In the case of fetal, infant and children's bodies, parents consented to their use for display. Nothing in Catholic teaching prohibits the donation of bodies for science, Wojda said.

In Manila, diocese debates pros and cons of Masses at malls MUNTINLUPA CITY, Philippines - A prayer room with glass windows could not hold the crowd for Sunday Mass in a mall just south of Manila. On that Sunday in June, about 300 people spilled onto the corridor around the packed room. They peered through the glass to follow the liturgy under the watchful eyes of bald mannequins clad in designer underwear at a nearby shop. Most large shopping malls and centers in metropolitan Manila have rooms or chapels where Masses are celebrated regularly, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. In Paranaque diocese, only one of seven large malls does not host Masses, because it is near a church. Canon law directs that Mass be celebrated in a "sacred place," though a "decerit"place other than a church may be used if necessary. Paranaque priests who favor shopping-mall Masses say the liturgies are part of a "new evangelization" and make the Eucharist accessible. Others, however, have voiced concern about preserving the meaning and sanctity of the Mass. For some, guarding against fraud is also an issue.

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Friday, July 14, ~()06

eNS路 video reviews

JOHNNY OEPP stars in a scene from the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest." For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/Disney)

IC~~ ~'I()viile (Call[)~Ulllle~ NEW YORK (CNS) - The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed by the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

''Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" (Disney) Cockeyed pirate Capt. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) batten down the hatches for another round ofhigh-sea hijinks - involving a villainous British bureaucrat (Tom Hollander), sea monsters, comical cannibals, a ghost ship and a quest to find the locker of fabled Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) - in this

highly entertaining, if slightly . darker, sequel to the 2003 sleeper hit based on the Disney theme-park ride. Director Gore Verbinski delivers more ofthe same rip-roaring fun as in the original, the film's skeletal plot kept afloat by the deftly executed swashbucklirig slapstick, imaginative visuals and Depp's show-stealing performance. Recurring action-adventure violence and peril, including a nongraphic throat cutting and off-screen executions, a fleeting gruesome image; some intense sequences and frightening supernatural effects, voodoo hokum, lightly suggestive humor and innuendo, and a mildly rude expression.

The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II - adufts and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 - parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

"A ScannerUarkly" (VVarnerlndependenQ Bleak, cautionary tale of futuristic investigator (Keanu Reeves)

who goes undercover to investigate drug users (Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder and Rocy Cochrane), only to discover that he's also spying on himself. Performances are a plus in writer-director Richard Linklater's faithful version of Philip K. Dick's hallucinatory 1977 science-fiction novel, but the results are surprisingly talky and dull. The milieu is almost unremittingly sordid and unpleasant - some humorous dialogue notwithstanding - and the use of animated rotoscoping over the live action only adds to the already confusing narrative. Pervasive substance abuse, much profanity, rough and crude language, partial nudity, premarital sexual encounters, disturbing imagery, and a suicide attempt. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L -limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association ofAmerica rating is R .:- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Media ownership to get a new review by the FCC WASHINGTON (CNS)- The Federal Communications Commission is trying to change media ownership rules again.

The last time the FCC tried to make changes, in 2003, a federal court thwarted it a year later.

We shall see whether the FCC, under a new chairman, Kevin Martin, can craft a plan that will withstand the likely court challenges..

The U.S. bishops came out against the 2003 set of media ownership rules, which would have allowed for much greater consolidation of media, and cross-ownership of TV, radio and newspaper interests in the same city,' under fewer owners.

The FCC, under previous chairman Michael Powell, failed to compile a sufficient record to justify the changes it approved three years ago, according to the federal court, which sent the suspended regulations back to the FCC for further review two years ago. That review h<rs been in limbo until now. . Powell had been criticized for

trying to push through the changes without listening to citizens, even after an estimated 1.5 million Emails - and scores of essays published in newspapers, magazines and Websites - criticized the FCC media consolidation efforts.

This time, the FCC is allowing 120 days for public comment and has allocated $200,000 for studies on media competition, marketplace changes, local coverage, minority participation in media, children's programming, and how people get news.

Martin said the FCC was planning six public hearings around the country to touch on different issues that could be affected by changes in the media ownership rules.

Michael Copps, a Catholic who serves on the FCC, said at a recent FCC meeting he wanted at least a dozen public hearings.

He said that without a more concerted effort to reach out to citizens, or a firm commitment to let. the public see and comment on specific rule changes before they

are adopted, any new rule changes could meet the same fate . in court as the last set did.

Copps and the other Democrat on the FCC, Jonathan Adelstein, voted against the rule changes in 2003. Martin, a Republican, voted for them. Since then, Powell and another Republican commissioner have left the FCC, and two new Republicans have replaced them.

One question the FCC will face is what limits should be set in local markets on the number ofradio and television stations that companies can own.

Copps has linked media concentration to growing indecency over the public airwaves, and advocated for the large fine increases for indecent content passed by Congress and signed into law this year.

With the new FCC review on media ownership, Copps said, "we have a second chance to get them (ownership rules) right. But it will take concerted citizen action to check big medIa's hunger for still more consolidation."

NEW YORK (eNS) - The following are capsule reviews of new and recent DVD and video releases from the Office for Film & Broadcasting of tile U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Theatrical :movies on \(ideo have a USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification and Motion Picture Association of America rating. The~e classifications refer only to the theatrical version of the films below, and do not take into account DVD releases' extra content.

"Annapolis~' ,(2006) Diverting but路 derivative drama about a scrappy shipyard worker (an appealing James Franco), who, after being accepted to the U.S. Naval Academy, must prove his mettle while training for the school's boxing tournament against his no-nonsense drill instructor (Tyrese Gibson). However, director Justin Lin's "An Officer and a Gentleman" retread is hollow and formulaic. Brutal boxing sequences, an attempted suicide, some sexually crude language and huinor, as 'well ~as profanity.

The anamorphic DVD includes seven deleted scenes with audio commentary; a "making of' featurette; -and another on the boxing sequences. Audio commentary by Lin and others from the creative team. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-Ill - adults.

The Motion Picturd Association of America rating.is PG-13 parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13 "(Touchstone Home Entertainment).

"Aquamarine" (2006) Sweetly told modem-day fairy tale about two 13-year-old best friends - Claire (Emma Roberts) and Hailey (Joanna "JoJo" Levesque) - who help a mermaid (Sara Paxton), washed ashore during a storm, experience true love in the h~pes that the magic wish rewarded them will undo Hailey's impending move to Australia. With. a delightful mix of fantasy, comedy and romance, director Elizabeth Allen's wholesome and warmly sentimental, if admittedly lightweight, effort scores points for admirably showing that authentic love can express itself iq varied ways.

Some mild sensuality and suggestiveness, a few crass expressions and innuendo. The widescreen DVD contains deleted scenes and three "making of' featurettes, as well as audio eornrAentary by the director and cast members. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A'i II - adults and adolescents. Motion Picture As~ociation of America rating, PG - parental guidance suggested (Fox Home Entertainment). :

"Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Ch~rm School" (2006) The wish of a dying man (John Goodman) leads ap emotionally "

scarred widower (Robert Carlyle) to a dance class where he - and later his fellow bereavement group mates (Sean Astin, Ernie Hudson, David Paymer and Adam Arkin) - finds fulfillment, and, in his case, love. Director and cowriter Randall Miller's compassionate film has touching moments and several redemptive situations, and is well acted by its impressive cast (Mary Steenburgen, Donnie Wahlberg, Camryn Manheim and Sonia Braga), but its jagged pace, oftenstilted dialogue and washed-out color palette make the film ultimately more dreary than uplifting.

A few rough and crude words and expressions, a nongraphic premarital sexual encounter, fleeting sexual banter, a car wreck and a bloody victim, a suicide theme and the dispersal ofcremated remains.

TheDVD contains full and widescreen versions ofthe movie, with audio commentary only on the latter. Also included is the charming half-hour short film of the same title that inspired the feature (which contains some mildly crude language and humor and a brief scene of two young boys smoking cigarettes). The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-Ill - adults.

The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 - parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13 (Sony Home Entertainment).

''Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion" (2006) Wacky but warm follow-up to the 2005 dramedy "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," which finds outrageous southern matriarch Madea (played in drag by Tyler Perry) helping one niece (Rochelle Aytes) escape her abusive live-in fiance (Blair Underwood); another niece (Lisa Arrindell Anderson) find love with a gentlemanly bus driver (Boris Kodjoe); and a wayward youth (Keke Palmer) turn her life around, all the while planning a family gathering. Once again written and directed by Perry, the sequel follows the original's lead, combining off-the-wall humor and serious story lines with strongly religious overtones, resulting in a heartfelt and agreeable affirmation of faith, family and forgiveness - highlighted by emotional speeches about black dignity by Cicely Tyson and Maya Angelou - that's easy to applaud, despite its messageheavy sentiment and intermittent vulgarities. Domestic abuse violence, briefdrug references, scattered crude sexual and scatological humor, and some crass expressions. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting 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 (Lions Gate Home Entertainment):

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U.8. dio'ceses facing financial squeeze, foundation head says

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Friday, July 14, 2006

PHILADELPHIA (CNS) projected to grow even more dra- get cuts each of the past four years Catholic dioceses in the United matically in the years ahead," because of depleted reserves, States "appear to be running He said the financial officer of growing costs for retired priests through their reserves at an a third archdiocese he contacted and necessary subsidies to paralarming rate," Francis J. Butler, told him that the parish assess- ishes serving the poor. president of Foundations and ment for archdiocesan programs "It need not be this way," ButDonors Interested in Catholic was rising mme slowly than ex- ler said. ,"I can say this confidently Activities, told the National Lead- penses. because there is the example of L ership Roundtable on Church "Income from special those路 dioceses and parishes that Management.

The round table, archdiocesan appeals is diverted have wholeheartedly embraced a gathering of more than 200 top to help fund clergy pension funds, stewardship practices and poliCatholic executives in business, school scholarships, Catholic cies." finance, law, philanthropy, charities and the running of the He said the Church needs to academia, nonprofits and present "a vibrant theology church institutions, includ- . and practice of stewarding a dozen bishops, met in ship," make its goals known He said the Church needs to in a clear, compelling way Philadelphia last week to 2006 present "a vibrant theology and that includes open accountdiscuss ways to improve the Church's fund-raising and practice of stewardship," make its ability for its use of its refinancial management and goals known in a clear, compf3l1ing sources, and get out the reporting practices. way that includes open accountabil- message that each person's Butler said he recently ity for its use of its resources, and gifts and personal involveinterviewed financialofficment in the Church's misget out the'message that each sion are not just welcome year, 11,000 fewer than the year be- ers of several dioceses he fore; .: considered "fairly typical person's gifts and p.ersonal involve- but needed. ment in the Church's mission are not He said the Boston Arch-confirmationsnumberedmore and well-managed." diocese, which has faced than 630,000, down 15,000from the "The findings are strik- just welcome but needed. major economic setbacks in year before; ing," he said. the past several years - in _ first Communions numbered "In the past eight years nearly 833000 a drop of almost路 one archdiocese experienced a 47 seminary,7' he said. "And still . part because of the clergy sexual 40 000' ' , percent decline in unrestricted net many needs go unaddressed, in- abuse crisis and action on long'_ 'infant baptisms totaled assets, whose value is probably cluding a huge backlist of repairs overdue parish closings - took a 943,000, down by 34,000; the be~,t bar~m~ter. of financial and maintenance of parish facili- big step forward this spring with its detailed, audited financial report. _ adult baptisms and receptions health: he Said: .'!ill~ amounts ~o ties."

The archdioceses he was talk- ''The local Church's more open into full communion totaled more a dechne of a whoppmg $16 mIl-路 ing about "would be generally policy is already making huge than 154000 about the same as the lion a year."

He,said "Impre~sive eff0I'!s to considered healthy and well-man- strides toward reuniting the commuyear bef~re; , _ there were 438 priestly ordi- . estabhsh schol~shl~ foundatIOns aged," he s.aid.. "They are. not nity and rebuilding trust," he said.

At a dinner that evening the nations 29 fewer than the year' be- as well as speCIal dIOcesan cam- bogged down in courtrooms nor paigns to benefit inner-city liquidating assets to meet legal Boston Archdiocese received the fore. ' The total number of priests in schools are not sUff~cient" to settlements. While their invest- round table's first "Best Practices ments generally have seen better. Award" for its financial reporting.

U.S. dioceses and religious orders stanch the flow of red mk.

"The Boston report is a great was 42271. This was 1 151 fewer . "To keep parish-run schools days, they have avoided great . losses and can claim balanced fiof the comprehensive, exemplar than th~ year before. The'number of afloat, the archdi~t~se is still consolidated, audited and readerwomen religious declined more than forced to channel rntlhons of dol- nancial portfolios."

Butler said another archdio- . friendly financial reporting the 2000 to 67 773. There were 5 252 lars away from other essential ~ligi~usbrofuers,265fewerth~the ministries," ~e added. "W~~t's cese he checked out has doubled leadership round table is calling year before. more, operat1,n~ .costs are nsmg its revenues in the past eight years for," said Geoffrey T. Boisi, chairFor the first time since the per- faster than tUItIOn levels and are but has been forced to make bud- man of the round table. manent diaconate was revived after the Second Vatican Council, the total number ofpermanent deacons in the United States - 14,995 showed a decline, but it was very slight at 32 below the previous year's total.

Although 46 new parishes were opened across the country last year, they did not offset parish closi!lgs or mergers. The 18,992 parishes listed represent a net loss of 305 parishes last year and mark the first time since 1983 that there were fewer than 19,OQO Catholic parishes in the United States and its possessions.

The 1983 directory, which listed 18,839 parishes, reported a Catholic papulation ofalmost 52.1 million, or one parish per 2,765 Catholics.

The figures in the 2006 directory indicate the ratio has now grown to one parish per 3,640 Catholics.

The 573 Catholic hospitals listed in the new directory are eight fewer than the year before, but in 2005 they served 84.7 million patients, 2.5 mil~ FATHER BOB Higgins; left, and Msgr. Kevin Sullivan; who heads Catholic Charitie~ lion more than the year before.

New York, assess flood damage in Livingston Manor, a small community on the Willowemoc One anomaly was the apparent River, 110 miles northwest of Manhattan recently. A 15-year old-girl there drowned when quadrupling of facilities for resiher house was swept away in raging floodwaters. Severe rains and flooding forced thoudential care of children, or orphansands of people to evacuate their homes in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and ages, from 235 last year to 1,023 New York state. (CNS photo/Chris Sheridan) . this year.

......

u.s. Catholic population up,

most other Church data down WASHINGTON - The U.S. Catholic population rose by more than a million last year, but the Church registered declines in Catholic school enrollments and in sacra. mental practice, according to figures in the 2006 Official Catholic Direc-

tory.

./

~

/

The 2,043-page tome, also known as the "Kenedy Directory" after its New Jersey publishers' imprint, came out at the end of June.

It lists all ordained U.S. Catholic . clergy, parishes, missions,. schools, hospitals and other institUtions. It also gives st~tistical data on the . c;hurch by diocese and nationally. Its national figUres inClude data from . Puerto Rico; a U.S. commonwealth, and U.S. territories.overseas such as the U.S. Vrrgm Islands, American Samoa and Guam.

Based on anmial reports submitted by each diocese, the directory is supposed to be a snapshot of what the Church looked like on Jan. 1, 2006. ~.

The Catholic population rose about 1.3 million last year, to 69,135,254, the qirectory said.

However, the number ofstudents in Catholic high. schools dropped to just under 6&0;000, a decline of 13,000. Elementary schools enrolled 1.76 million children, almost 84,000 fewer than the year before.

The number ofteachers in Catholic schools dropped by nearly 8,000, to just under 173,000, There were some 729,000 high school studeQ-ts enrolled in parish Religious Education programs, 26,000 fewer than the previous year, Elementary students in Religious Education numbered nearly 3.5 million, but the total was 81,000 below the previous year's figure.

In all, the number of Catholic children receiving faith formation in Catholic schools or Religious Education programs last year was 204,000 lower than the year before.

Catholic colleges and universities reported 764,000 students, about 9,000'fewer than the year before.

In key sacramental moments, according to the directory: - there were only about 212,000 Church-recognized marriages last

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Friday, July 14, 2006

151

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Women need to take active role in healing fragile world, says speaker Ii

BLESSED MOTHER Theodore Guerin is depicted in an image released by the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind. Pope Benedict XVI has cleared the way for her canonization this October. The Frenchborn missionary established the order and several schools in Indiana in the mid~1800s. (eNS photo/courtesy of Sisters of Providence) .

Blessed Mother Theodore Guerin to be canonized VATICAN CITY (CNS)Blessed Mother Theodore Guerin, the 19th-century foundress of a religious order and numerous schools in Indiana, will be canonized by Pope Benedict XVI October 15 along with a 20th-century Mexican bishop and two Italian religious founders.

The date for the canonization Mass was established when the pope and cardinals living in Rome met at the Vatican July 1 for an "ordinary public consistory," a meeting which formally ends the sainthood process. Earlier in the year, the pope had recognized the final miracles needed for the canonizations of the four candidates.

Born in France's northern province of Brittany Oct. 2, 1798, Mother Theodore traveled to the United States as a missionary in 1840 at the request of the French-born bishop of Vincennes, Ind. Mother Theodore, who had been superior of the Sisters of Providence at RuiIIe-sur-Loire in France, founded the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-ofthe-Woods. She and her companions also started Indiana's

first boarding school for young girls.

Before Mother Theodore died May 14, 1856, she set up 10 other Catholic schools throughout Indiana.

The other new saints will be: - Bishop Rafael Guizar Valencia, a Mexican born in 1877 who spent his life dedicated to preaching and· ministering to the poor despite government opposition to the Church's activities. Born to a wealthy family, he used family money to establish schools for girls and boys. He died in 1938 in Mexico City and was beatified in 1995 by Pope John Paul II. - Father Filippo Smaldone, an Italian priest who was born in 1848 and opened an institute for the deaf and mute and looked after their material and spiritual needs. He founded the Institute of the Salesian Sisters of the Sacred Heart, and died in 1923.

- Sister Rosa Venerini, who was born in 1656. The Italian nun founded the Congregation of the "Maestre Pie Venerini."

She died in 1728 and was beatified by Pope Pius XII in 1952.

St. Anne's Prayer "Good St. Anne, Mother of Mary, and Grandmother of Jesus, Intercede for me and my petitions. Amen."

WASHINGTON (CNS) Women leaders, particularly women in Catholic higher education, can take an active role in healing today's fragile world, said one of the keynote speakers at a summer conference sponsored by the National Association for Women in Catholic Higher Education.

"It is both a daunting task and a sacred trust we have been given - to be'part of the healing of our world and our Church, rather than to collude in its suffering," said Dominican Sister Donna Markham in an address during the two-day conference at Georgetown University.

Sister Markham, prioress general of the Dominican Sisters of Adrian, Mich., urged the academic leaders to "keep an active vigil" during these "times of global anguish," saying they should trust in God and put forth their own best efforts to make a difference.

The Sister, who is a clinical psychologist, was the executive director of Southdown Institute, a residential treatment center for clergy and religious just north of Toronto, for 10 years. She is also a former president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

She described today's world as "one punctuated by terrorism,

disillusionment, distrust - a world scarred in far too many ways by our barbaric behavior as a human race," and noted that it is in this environmerit women leaders must instill h6pe in the next generation.

To do this successfully, she said, women leaders must be courageous and try" new approaches to ~ransformi!their colleges and universities and enable them to "mentor a le~s violent, more compassionate and reverent society."

Sister Markham alsol1urged participants to deepen their own spirituality and be vigilant in their relationships with others - suspending judgment, being honest,

fostering reconciliation and building community.

"As women leaders in Catholic higher education, you hold a particular perspective," she said.

"You have been influenced by the unique landscapes of your institutional contexts and have been called to personal transformation as you engage the young adults entrusted to your wisdom and as you interact with skilled and competent colleagues who struggle toward insight and meaning across a spectrum of disciplines."

"You know profoundly the importance of keeping vigil with them and with one another as the anxieties of these times make their imprint," she added.

PRACTICE THE DEVOTION OF THE FIRST SATURDAYS, AS REQUESTED BY OUR LADY OF FATIMA

On December 10, 1925, Our Lady appeared to Sister Lucia (seer of Fatima) and spoke these words: "Announce in my name that I promise to assist at the hour ofdeath with the graces necessary for the salvation oftheir souls, all those who on the first Saturday"of five consecutive months shall: 1. Go to confession; 2. Receive Holy Communion; 3. Recite the Rosary (5 decades); and 4. Keep me company for IS minutes while meditating on the I~ mysteries ofthe Rosary, with the intention of fnaking reparation to me."

In a spirit of reparation, the above conditions are each to be preceded by the! words: "In reparation for the offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary."

Confessions may ~e made during 8 days before or after the first Saturday, and Holy Communion may be received at either the morning or evening Mass on the first Saturday.

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Friday, July 14, 2006

Pair of Westport Scouts achieve Eagle status

FIRST-GRADERS at St. John the Evangelist School display signs they used to cheer on their eighth-grade buddies after they qualifying to compete in the New England Basketball championship in Milton. A rally was held at the school that day to wish good luck to all the competing teams from the Attleboro school.

I CARE program gets high marks at St. Mary's School MANSFIELD - Concerned parent Kimberly Piro brought

her Introducing Children to Acceptance through Reading and

AS PART of the I CARE program, Kathy Price reads, "Andy and His Yellow Frisbee," to second-graders during library time at St. Mary's School, Mansfield. I CARE is an acronym for "Introducing Children to Acceptance through Reading and Education."

Education Program to St. Mary's School this year to help students children better understand and accept her autistic daughter's differences in the classroom.

The I CARE program has been part of the town's public school system for the past three years and teaches students about special needs topics and helps explain why some children may be different than others. It also educates students that all children should be accepted and appreciated for who they are.

Piro's goal for I CARE is to educate children about peers with differences so they will have a smoother transition into various environments. The I CARE program has been well received by both administration and students at St. Mary's.

Last year, Piro approached Principal Joanne Riley with her idea and plans were immediately made to put it into place. In March of 2005 the program was incorporated into the curriculum and this past year it was expanded further at the school.

Parent volunteers from the school community shared their time and talents reading and discussing special education books to students in grades kindergarten through five as part of the I CARE disabilities awareness program.

WESTPORT Ethan Duclos and Matthew Steven Weaver from Boy Scout Troop 100 of Our Lady of Grace Parish recently attained the rank of Eagle Scout. The two were honored during a high court of honor ceremony June 24 at the parish center attended by friends and family.

Both young men began their scouting careers with Our Lady of Grace Cub Scout Pack 100 and have entered into an elite class by obtaining the rank of Eagle. Only four percent of all Scouts across the nation reach the lofty goal.

Duclos joined Cub Scout Pack 100 at the age of seven as a Tiger Cub in 1994. As a Boy Scout he enjoyed camping and hiking and proved himself to be an accomplished fisherman and sharp shooter at summer camp.

In addition to his many camping experiences, Duclos particularly enjoyed the troop ski trips to Gunstock and Pat's Peak, New Hampshire. He is a 2005 graduate of Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth.路 He orga-

nized a blood drive with the American Red Cross for his Eagle project. With the help of his fellow Scouts, 58 units of blood were collected.

Matthew Weaver joined Cub Scout Pack 100 as a Wolf in 1995 with leader Denise Vieira. Besides attending weekly meetings, his first Troop activity was a 25-mile bike ride which he still remembers fondly.

In addition to the required badges, he has earned badges in horsemanship, wilderness survival, ham radio and photography.

In July of 2005, Weaver attended the National Jamboree in Virginia where he was the assistant senior patrol leader for Troop 137 of the Narragansett Council.

His Eagle project consisted of collecting relief supplies for hurricane victims in Florida affected by the numerous storms during the 2004 hurricane season. Twenty-eight boxes of much needed supplies were collected and sent to Florida.

MATTHEW STEVEN Weaver, left, and Ethan Duclos, from Boy Scout Troop 100 of Our Lady of Grace Parish, Westport, recently attained the rank of Eagle Scout.

171

Friday; July 14, 2006

Confronting the darkness of poor choices

New, Website aims to help Catholic couples prepare for marriage

By CATHOLIC

By CHARLIE MARTIN -

NEWS SERVICE

advertising, funds itself through the sale of wedding MARKHAM, Ontario With an estimated 280,000 programs that serve as a worCatholic weddings taking ship aid for the ceremony and place in Canada and the a memento of the day. A $50 United States each year, it deposit is required to access isn't always easy to plan a cer- the online templates to create emony that is both personal- a wedding program.

CatholicBrides.com was ized and understandable to the first company to receive guests of many faiths.

But a new Website, permission from the U.S. Conwww.CatholicBrides.com. ference' of Catholic -Bishops' aims to assist couples through- Secretariat for the Liturgy to out the various stages of the publish the approved readings average 17 -month engage- for Catholic marriages on its ment period, during the cer- Website and in its templates for weqding programs, ac,emony itself and afterward. l The site also offers articles cording to Mary E. Sperry,. as:on a variety of topies, ranging sociateldirector for permis- ' ,from an introduction to the sions ag;d Bible utilization in Catholic faith to an explana- USCCB Publishing.

The company also secured tion of the different rites that can be used for Catholic wed- l?ermiss~()n from GIA Publica-. dings and a guide to etiq\lette tions .a,~d Oregon Catholic Press ~p print the hymns, in Catholic Qb;urohes. ··-mtgaged couples cali leam psalm settings and other mu- ' •about pre-Canacourses, wed- , sic intl)~ir entirety in wedding ,ding music, ~terfaith mar- prpg~ Th pHnes offerinforI riages and other wedding-fematio standard etiquette llated issues. titles of each par, More than 23,000 people style, visited the Wt1~site during its ticipall~, Hispanic titles and local toms and traditions i first three. m~~~hs of operaweddingl:oSary Of ac¢~rding to sue : tion, ,. dthe candlelight : CatholicBrides,com, whichis "Ia ceremQl1yheld before a statue I based in Markham.

I The site, wJ;rich carries no of Mat1. , .

I

CATHOLIC News SERVICE

BLACK HORSE AND Big black horse and a cherry tree THE CHERRY TREE I can't quite get there" 'cause my Well my heart knows me better heart's forsaken me ,Sung by KT Tunstall ' than J know myself So J'm gonna let it do Copyright 2006 Virgin Records all the talking Funky! Different! Enigmatic!

J came across a place in the These are some of the ways KT middle of nowhere Tunstall's music strikes me.

With a big black horse and a From Scotland, Tunstall's music cherry tree got a big U.S. boost when American Jfell in fear upon my back Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee I said don't look back, just keep used her "Black Horse aM the Cherry on walking Tree" as a chart-based selection for When the big black horse said, the competition. After McPhee's ren"Look this way" dition, the song shot up 56 positions, He said, "Hey lady, will you on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. marry me?"

I had little idea what this song Refrain: was trying to say untillbumped into But J said no, no, no, no, no, no an interview with Tunstall in which J said no, no, you're not the one' she commented that the song's imforme ages are meant to express how easy lVo,no, no, nO,no, no it is to get lost in life. ~ut she also .I said no, no, no, ,no, no, no believes new paths wi\! emerge for And my heart had a problem in recreating one's life. ' the early hours We have to access inner strength So J stopped it dead for when confronting any darkness that a beat or two could keep us mired in hurtful deBut J cut some cord, cmd J cisions or actions of ours. shouldn't have done that All of us are likely to meet the And it won't forgive me after all "big black horse" of poor choices: these years choices that lead to addictions; deSo I sent it to a place in the ceptions; fears; and any choice that middle of nowhere causes us to put aside ,pur personal . integrity. How we handle temptaWith a big black horse and a cherry tree tions to go in such directions deterlVow it won't come back 'cause mines whether darkness or light will it's oh so happy influence our lives.

And now I've got a hole for the Hopefully, as we meet this "big world to see black horse," we will be able to join (Repeat refrain twice.) with the song's character in saying Big black horse and a cherry tree "no, no, no, no, no." Yet, if you reI can't quite get there 'cause my alize you've made a poor choice, heart's forsaken me recognize also that the power to

change is real for you.

The song provides a clue to accessing this power. The song's character announces that "my heart knows me better than I know myself." When any of us pause to listen to what the heart reveals, wisdom unfolds, and it can redirect our choices. The key is in the pausing, for temptation's allure'is immediate. When you back away from the situation in order to determine how you feel about a specific choice, you might notice an inner conflict. This lack of inner peace announces that you p.eed to make a different and wiser choice. Most likely, continuing tp act as you have been acting will not be good for you. , F~rthermore, as you stop yourself, ;you will gain the opportunity to e~aluate where your choice will lead.! Ask yourself: "Am I really at peace with everything that could happen if I 'continue to follow this impulse? Once more, if you feel discomfort about any of the consequences, it is time to reconsider your:choice. The heart is telling you to beware of the "big black horse" of darkness!

God equipped us with the power to make positive choices. The heart knows what is best for us. Even if you hustakenly wed yourself to the "big black horse" of darkness, your head can take you back to the truth.

Youican make changes. And you can rest assured that God's light is again guiding you.

Comments are always welcome at: ~hmartin@swindiana.net or at, 712$W 200S, Rockport, llV 47635.

Generation M - The next generation I

2006 Diocesan Youth ~onvention. candidates and graduates of ' " It is &~d that you will be the They've cominitted to working previous CLI experiences. next great generation. Every with adults arid others to finalize the millennials. What's the "M" Graduates ofCLI 2004 and generation rebels, in its own way, the event in the months ahead.

Generation? Well, it is those of you to reverse what it perceives as the 2005 came to help the team each They've responded to the call to be who were born between 1981 and day. Three of them arrived each . worst excesses of its older parent , active Christian disci~les. ' 2000. Sometimes people have generatidns, and to fill the role day by 7 a.m. to help with I find most of today's teens, like referred to you as Generation y, breakfast and stayed the entire day being vaCated by the dying the traditionalists, to be but that would basically mean that generation "Millennials positive, respectful, polite, you would be merely an extension Rising," Howe and loyal and goaVaction of Generation X (1965-1980) t:Ji.at Strauss. orientated. ~ey enjoy Caple before and according to the ,Research is showing volunteer work, are latest research, that is far from the that you millennials will community minded and truth. Research shows that today's be most like that dying are regaining trust in teens least admire Generation X. generation, or traditional"'institutions and authority.

Being in the retail business, ists (1900-1945), who are

By Fr~nk Lucca ,WOrld, we study the upcoming They also ceh~brate the ''boomers'' parents.

'II '" "\ diversity and are phenomgenerations to try to dtitemline You share many of the enal multi-taskers. Finally, what you will do and what you same qualities and values it is said that millennials will will buy. Some of that research of that generation, which in my to serve other meals. Others came along with my experiences at opinion is a good thing. They were to conduct workshops and assist in provide a focal point for the renewal of the American family.

ChOstian Leadership Institute last the various activities. I was referred to as the last great All of this spells well for the future w¢k got me to thinking about you generation. flabbergasted by the response of of this world. milIennials and what you will do the graduates and their willingness Last week I was fortunate to be You millenniaIs have been for the future of the world and our part of the team of CLI. We had to participate. What does that say Church. to those of us that work with youth called the- Church of today and young people from around the indeed you are. As yo~ move ' People like me are what are in our parishes. diocese participate in the weektoward college and beyond, you cal\ed the "Baby Boomers." We long leadership training program.

The candidates were no less will more likely be involved in the were born between 1946 and After spending a week with these impressive. They participated 1964, although contrary to popular young people, I have more hope actively in the workshops and used institutional Church and the institutional Church will need to belief, I was born closer to 1964. for our future than ever before. their skills to prepare activities prepare ourselves for your You rnilleimials are mostly the What a phenomenal group of during the week. By the end of the increased influence -l.., which I children of us boomers. week, they began planning the young people they were - 2006 : This week I'd like to direct my c~mments to Generation "M" or

.J'

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,

,

hopti some adults won't fear. We neeq to involve you more and we need to ask your opinion, challenge you, and give you opportunities to act more. I hope all of us that ~ involved with youth will begin this process of getting you, ' more involved and to take on more ownership in our parishes. , I have great confidence that our youm will tum this world around.

Wherever you find yourself in the next few years, you will begin to change the world for the better. I look forward to moving aside to let you t,\ke over for me, for you will , surelY.' be the next great g~neration of om' Church, our country and our world. You have some big shoes to fill b~t from what I've seen of you, you'qhave no problem filling the shoes:of the last great generation.

Fr'ank Lucca is a youth minister at St. Dominic's Parish in Swansea. He is the chair and a director ofthe YES! Retreat and t~e director ofthe Christian Leade,rship Institute (eLl). He is a husband and a father oftwo girls. Comments, ideas or suggestions? E-mail him at St/Jomjni£YouJhA.frnistry@comgLst.net

...

'118 Mariology

Friday, July 14,2006

Continued from page one

based on solid teachings, and that's why I joined the Mariological Society.

"There's no one who knew Jesus any better than his Mother, and we should use her as a model to bring us closer to her Son. She really was' one of the first disciples." , What Father Phalen discovers and uncovers with the Society not only helps him with Holy Cross Family Ministries' mission in the United States, but around the world. Family Ministries has a presence in 16 countries across' the world. ''There is a great devotion to Our Blessed Mother in many, other countries," said Father Phalen. "In fact some countries have a deeper devotion to her than in the U.S. But devotion to Mary' is on the upswing in this' country too.

"It's good to have a sound Scriptural Mariological founda,tion in other countries to help clear up some of the misconceptions and misinformation people

Nostalgia

Continued from page one

may have about her. but ailing spiritual guide, 90-year- others." the Novitiate of the Dominican "In fact the devotion to Our old Father Pierre E. Lachance five He said Father Lachance "la- Fathers in S1. Hyacinthe, Canada.

Lady is so deep in some countries days earlier. beled his ministry (one) of 'enHe was ordained a priest by the . that those who leave the Church "It's just amazing that his death couragement.' He was proudest late Bishop James E. Cassidy in and join a Protestant denomina- coincides with the actual July 4 when he could encourage one of S1. Mary's Cathedral on June 27, tion cannot let go of their devo- date of the looth anniversary of his many penitents to believe in 1942. tion to Mary."

Returning to the Dominican the dedication of St. Anne's up- God's love and be encouraged to As president of the Society, per church," commented pastor respond to that. His generosity House of Studies in Ottawa, Father Phalen will arrange meet- Father Marc R. Bergeron, who allowed him to touch many people Canada in 1944, he taught theolIngs and schedule speakers. Much was principal celebrant at Father - perhaps more than he was ogy, philosophy and liturgy, and of what is taught and talked about Lachance's funeral Mass on Mon- aware of." was also assistant master of stuat Society meetings is and will day.

Citing the Book of Sirach, Fa- dents through June 1955. ' continue to be published to proFor many St. Anne parishio- ther Bergeron said "Sirach the He was called to do missionmote Marian research and devo- ners, their church and Father wise encourages us to retell these ary work in Saskatchewan, tion.

Lachance, who had served them wonderful stories. His body is Canada from 1956 to 1958. His In his 10 years as president for 44 years, were so intimately peacefully laid away, but his name last assignment, in 1959, was to of Holy Cross Family Minis- linked that in c,elebrating the one lives on and on. At gatherings his his native S1. Anne's Parish here. tries, Father Phalen has always they were celebrating the other, wisdom is and will be retold, and He became involved in the been on the lookout for better Father Bergeron noted. ' the assembly proclaims his Charismatic Renewal and the and different ways to carry on As they gathered Sunday to praise."

Gr~ater Fall River Clergy Assothe work of Servant of God Fa- happily and proudly recall the Father Roy told those at the fu- ciation. As rector of St. Anne's ther Peyton. awesome faith of thousands of neral Mass "You laypeople have Shrine, he introduced healing "I've learned a great deal from poor French-speaking inimigrants no idea how you influence the services in 1978 and conducted the Society," said Father Phalen. from Canada in the mid-1800s, spiritual life of a priest,' by your services every Sunday after"But being so close to the lay whose generosity built the beau- faith, even just by your confes- noon. He also founded the St. people who come to the Holy tiful house of worship dedicated sion, and your taking spiritual di- Anne Fellowship and was spiriCross Family Ministry locations to St. Anne, the mother of tual director of the lay Dofor Mass, devotions and special the Virgin Mary, their talk minicans. events, I know what they need and and memories - mostly He directed the popular In his homily, Father Bergeron noted Novena to St. Anne and St. how they view things. I bring that , upbeat - frequently turned information back to the Society so to the popular and holy that the commandment of love is the Jude with his staff. He also they can have some feedback priest who' directed the most important of all. "Father Pierre introduced the availability The ~ames of genershowed us how this commandment of daily confessions. which helps their mission. It pro- Shrine from 1958 to 20Q2 ous donors, p~rishes vides great balance.

He was fond of the arAnd they talked of him should be lived... how it can be pracand agencies contrib"Working with the Society is as being part of the St. ticed in ordinary, every day ways. He chives of the Dominicans uting to the 2006 like playing for the Red Sox in the Anne'sfamily. was one of those generous people who and was the author of many Catholic Charities Apbig leagues. The players are betBishop George W. find their deepest satisfaction in devot- biographies of Dominicans peal, will be pUblished ter than you, and they eventually Coleman, principal cel- ing themselves to the welfare of others. " who died at St. Anne's Monbegin to rub off on you. I learn ebrant and homilist, of the in a single suppleastery and also wrote stories from them and learn to understand anniversary Mass; Father for The Anchor. ment of The Anchor from them. Then I can hand that Bergeron, and Dominican Father rection. You helped Father He celebrated the daily mornon July 21. down to others." . Louis Roy, who represented the Lachance become like Christ. So ing Mass -at the Shrine until he Dominican's provincial, spoke of today is truly a celebration of the was unable to, and subsequently the magnificent house of worship solidarity in the Church. For by concelebrated from a wheelin which many Fall River family the suffering in the past year by chair. He had resided at the ~ members began, lived and ended Father Lachance, he showed how Catholic Memorial Home since their spiritual lives. key it is to being part of the life of 2003.

Father Lachance leaves three But they also shared remem- Christ. It is the support in the combrances of the Fall River native munion of saints that we celebrate brothers, Robert M. Lachance of INVESTMENT COMPA NY. INC. son who left to become a Domini- here today."

Swansea, Gerard Lachance of Fall @ can priest and returned to spend a' Two Dominicans, Brother River, and Roland Lachance of lifetime devotedly and energeti- ' Irenee of Lewiston, Maine, and Newington, Conn.; a sister, cally ministering to parishioners' Brother Fernand of Canada, also Beatrice Golden of Swansea; and nieces and nephews. _ spiritual needs - and even heal- assisted at the Mass. ing them - before being disabled Born in Fall River on Dec. 15, They attended their brother's ' by illness and in recent years re- 1915, Father Lachance was one funeral Mass.

• Mutual Funds Of All Types of the He was also the brother siding at the Catholic Memorial of 12 children of the late Emile • Tax Free Insured Income Trusts Home.

Raoul Lachance and the late Hel- late Hector, Raymon'd, Normand, • U.S. Treasury Bonds & Nates Many of those who attended ena (Robitaille) Lachance. His ,Emile and Bertrand Lachance, as • IR A's • ,Pension Plans the centennial Mass on Sunday given name was Evariste, and it ,well as Lillianne Desmarais and and the gala banquet that followed was used several times during his Juliette Lessard. ., Tax Planning .Following committal prayers at White's of Westport, returned funeral Mass.

AND to the upper church for an early After graduating from St. by Bishop Coleman, Father evening visitation to pay theirlast Anne's School he entered the Lachance was buried in his respects to the priest who lay in Seminary College of Montreal in family's plot in Notre Dame Cemstate there, and for a brief prayer - Canada in 1929. In 1936 he joined etery.

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Some also attended Father Lachance's funeral Mass on Mon,day at 11 a.m., at which Father Bergeron was the principal c~l­ ebrant and homilist, and nearly tw9 dozen priests were concelebrants.

Bishop Coleman presided in choir dress at the Mass.

In his homily, Father Bergeron noted that the commandment of love is the most important of all.

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EUCHARISTIC ADORATION ATTLEBORO - Perpetual eucharistic adoration is ongoing at St. Joseph's Church, 208 South Main Street. For more information call 508-226-1115.

Prayer is held each Wednesday at 7 p.m. during the summer at Our Lady of Victory Church, 230 South Main Street.

For more information call 508775-5744.

NEW BEDFORD - Perpetual eucharistic adoration is held at Our Lady's Chapel, 600 Pleasant Street. New adorers are welcome. For more information call Laurie Larsen-Silva at 508-8887751.

HARWICH - The Pro-Life groups of Holy Trinity and Holy Redeemer parishes will host a Holy Hour on July 23 at 1:30 p.m. at Holy Trinity Church, Route 128 in Harwich. Recitation of the rosary will be followed

by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. All are invited to come and pray for an end to abortion.

LECTURESIPRESENTATIONS ATTLEBORO - Grief Education Programs are offered each month at the La Salette Retreat House, 947 Park Street. Sessions provide individuals the opportunity to leam, explore feelings in a confidential setting and find ways to cope during painful times.

For more information call 508222-8530.

ACUSHNET - "Macbeth: A Study of Evil," a critical reading of Shakespeare's play will be presented by Deacons Maurice Ouellette and David Pepin on July 17, 18,24,25, and 31 from 7-8:45 p.m. in the basement of St. Francis Xavier Church. A copy of the play will be provided. It is sponsored by the Office of Adult Education. For more information call 508-678-2828.

MISCELLANEOUS CENTERVILLE - Taize

PROVINCETOWN - A day of reflection, an interfaith event for persons living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, caregivers, families and friends, will be held August 3 at St. Peter the Apostle Parish, 11 Prince Street. It is by invitation only. If you have an interest in attending please call the Office of AIDS Ministry at 508674-5600 ext. 2295.

SOCIAL EVENTS BRISTOL, R.I. The Columban Fathers of Bristol, a Mission Society working among the poor in mission countries will hold its annual festival July 30 at their grounds off Bristol Ferry Road. from noon to 6 p.m. For more information call 401-2536909.

St. Anne's Parish hosts novena FALL RIVER - S1. Anne's Parish has announced plans for the 135th annual Solemn Novena and Feast of Good S1. Anne, to be held through July 26, at St. Anne Shrine and Church grounds on South Main Street.

This year the novena celebration will be preached by Deacon Bernard G. Theroux, a permanent deacon for the Diocese of Providence, and also a former parishioner of Saint Anne, who also served as the parish secretary for many years.

In addition to the traditional novena devotions held each night un-

Macbeth: A Stud'y of Evil A Critical. Reading of Shakespeare's Play, Facilitated by Deacons Maurice Ouellette and David Pepin July 17, 18,24,25,31 7:00 -,,8:45 P.M. St. Francis Xavier Church Basement, Main Street, Acushnet Call 508-678-2828 to Registerl

Play Copy Provided, $6.00 No Prior Knowledge of the Play Necessary &, No Homework.

Sponsored b/the Offi~of Adulti' Education, Diocese of Fall River

til July 25, an expanded feast program has been added to the solem-

nities and will take place on July 2123 on the parish grounds. There will be American and Portuguese Foods, French Meat Pie, music, several grand processions, and an outdoor Mass in Portuguese. There will be bazaars, auctions, raffies and more.

On July 26, the feast day of S1.

Anne, the main celebration will be a solemn Mass in the upper church at 6:30 p.m., followed by an outdoor candlelight procession with the image of S1. Anne, returning it to the shrine.

. Father James T. Donohue CSC; .missionary, pastor and counselor EASTON - Congregation of Holy Cross Father James T. Donohue, 71, passed away July 2, at Lennox Hill Hospital in New York City, N.Y., after a period of failing health.

Born in the Bronx, N.Y., a son of Michael and Catherine (Carey) Donohue, he entered the Eastern Province of the Congregation of Holy Cross and made his profession offirst vows on Aug. 16, 1955.

He was ordained to the priesthood August 16, 1958.

His first priestly assignment in the Congregation was as a missionary in Uganda, East Africa, where he served from 1961-1967. In 1968 he was assigned to Sacred Heart Parish in Bennington, V1., as assistant pastor.

The same year he went to the Church ofOur Savior in the Bronx, where he served as assistant pastor from 1968 to 1974. He was later assigned to St. Ann's Church in the Bronx also serving as assis-

tant pastor from 1974-1985 and from 1985-1986 he was assistant pastor at St. Barnabas Church, also in the Bronx.

HOLY CROSS F~THER JAMES T. DONOHUE

He pursued graduate studies at Fordham University from 19861988 and upon completion he served as a religious counselor at

the Bronx Veterans Hospital from 1988-1989. From 1989-2004 he served as a social worker for Terrance Cardinal Cooke Memorial Center in New York. Father Donohue's final years were spent as the assistant pastor at Sacred HeartofJesus Parish in New York.

He is survived by two sisters, Holy Union Sister Mary Ellen Donohue ofFall River and Theresa Galvin and her husband Patrick of Lakewood, N.J.; a brother, John Donohue and his wife Rosemary of Lakewood, N.J.; a sister-in-law, Mary Donohue of Pennsauken, N.J; nieces and nephews; and all his brothers in the Congregation of Holy Cross. He was also the brother of the late Frank Donohue.

His Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated July 7 in the Chapel of Mary, Stonehill College, Easton.

Interment was in the Holy Cross Community Cemetery there. Arrangements were by the Kane Funeral Home ofEaston.

Father Paul Price SS.CC; served in many ministries NEW BEDFORD - Sacred Hearts Father Paul Price, 86, chaplain at Sacred Heart Home, died July 6, after a brief illness.

Born in Fall River, James Price, who later took the religious name Paul, was the youngest and last surviving of nine children of the late John Price and Honora (Sullivan) Price.

He was educated at Sacred Heart Parish School in Fall River, graduated from the former Msgr.

Coyle High School in Taunton, and attended Providence College.

He entered the Novitiate of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in September 1941 and made his first vows in 1942. He then studied at the community's seminary in Washington, D.C., and was ordained a priest in 1948 by Archbishop Amaletto G. Cicognani, then apostolic delegate to the U.S. Father Price served in a variety of ministries. He held positions

within the Congregation in the formation of its new candidates in both the United States and Ireland.

He served in parishes in the Dio-

SACRED HEJRTS FATHER PAUL PRICE

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In Your Prayers

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Please prayjor the following . d ' \\h e comln .. g wee ks przests urzng\t. s~

1983. Rev. Jo,o Modeiro,. Retired

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J,\ly, 18-.'----"----1968, Rev. Adalbert Szklanny, ¥sistailt, St. Patrick, Fall River 1984, Rev. Lion~O,,?~iSi;~\. S. \~ July\1119 1934, Most Rev. Daniel F. Feehluj, D.D., Second Bishop of Fall River, 1907-34 \\~ 1975, Rev. Francis M. Coady, Past~~SS. Peter & Paul, Fall River 1992, Msgr. Joseph R. Pannoni, ReS'red Pastor, Holy Rosary, Fall River July 20

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cese ofColumbus, Ohio; and in the Diocese of Fall River at Our Lady of Lourdes, Wellfleet; Holy Redeemer, Chatham; St. Anthony, Mattapoisett; S1. Boniface, New Bedford; and in St. Francis Xavier in Acushnet.

He is survived by nieces and nephews; grandnieces and nephews; cousins; and the Brothers, Sisters and secular branch of the Congregation. He was the brother of the late John Price, Frances Price, Margaret Edward, Lillian Shea, and Irene Curt.

His funeral Mass was celebrated Tuesday at St. Joseph's Church in Fairhaven. Burial was in the Congregation's community's cemetery in Fairhaven. The Fairhaven Funeral Home, Fairhaven, was in charge of arrangements.

508-676-1933 508-999-5100

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FridaYJ July 14J2006

Principal at San Miguel School in Providence and was principal at the Tides School in Pawtucket.

During his tenure at La Salle, Scanlon taught, served as viceprincipal, principal and president.

With an enrollment of approximately 375 students, Bishop Connolly High School will be a change of pace for Scanlon who was assisting more than 1,300 students in the Ocean State.

"A great quality of this school is its small size," he said. "You can know everybody here and so far it's been wonderful. There is a great sense of community here at Bishop Connolly and the faculty are superb."

When asked about Catholic education, the new principal discussed its current significance and stated, "Catholic education has never been more important than it is today. The world can be a dark and dangerous place and children are faced with tough decisions at an earlier age.

Catholic education gives them the tools to make good choices.

It's a way for us to bring our children to the light of Christ."

The 54-year-old Scanlon enjoys being in a Catholic school environment because of what a religious education provides. He said it is important for students to understand the Christian lifestyle because "we're about service to others. We want our students to love one another and love God and we must be good role models for them. It's not about what you have, but who you are."

When looking into the position, Scanlon was impressed with the academic reputation of Bishop Connolly and its faculty. "It's clear that academics here are top notch," he stated. "The faculty and staff are very dedicated and

Continued from page one

work so hard for their students.

They love their jobs and are outstanding educators."

As for goals, Scanlon is focused on getting to know everyone and make Bishop Connolly High School a welcoming and happy place for the students. He recently took part in a barbecue for incoming freshmen and parents and relished the opportunity to meet and greet those who are also new to the Fall River school.

He would also like to teach a class and is waiting to see if any will be available once assignments are handed out. Scanlon said he's always tried to teach a class even when serving as prin-' cipal because he has a great love of teaching. "It keeps calling me back," he said. "A principal is really the principal teacher," he added.

Asked what a principal does in today's schools, Scanlon reflected that it depends on the institution.

"A principal is like the chief operating officer of a corporation handling the day-to-day operations. He works to develop academics with the teachers and the spiritual life of students through campus ministry. But he also helps with student life in social activities and delinquency issues.

Each day brings new excitement and new challenges."

As far as educational philosophies go, Scanlon said he turns to the words of Socrates who believed that one could only teach those that you love. "I want to ' help bring our students a better understanding of the world around them and how they fit into it. I'm looking forward to being a part of the community here at Bishop Connolly."

The school officially opens its school year on August 29.

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MICHAEL SCANLON, the new principal at Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River, discusses his vision for the school during a recent Anchor interview. (AnchodGordon photo)

MEMBERS OF St. Bernard's Parish, Assonet, ride aboard and walk next to the parish's Grand Prize-winning float in this year's Freetown Fourth of July Parade. (Photo by Carol Levesque)

St. Bernard's parishioners keep tradition alive; win Grand Prize at the same time FREETOWN - Independence struction company offered the use tional and United Church of Day last year was a quiet day in of a shiny red flatbed truck and a Assonet. The Board of Selectmen came up with a light-hearted creFreetown. Main Street was empty. big bam for assembling the float.

Parishioners working on the ation of its own.

There was no Fourth ofJuly parade.

The parish float was enthusiastiThe town parade was cancelled due project included Henry Dionne, to a perceived lack of interest. An- Mitch and Sue Plonka, the cally greeted by a crowd of parishother cancellation in 2006, town of- Bendinelli Family, Joanna ioners as it passed St. Bernard ficials advised, and the long-stand- Levesque, David Morin, Gwen Church with the steeple bell pealing.

When all was said and done, St. ing tradition would be gone forever. Fernandes, Gary Guinen and Robert Adams, among others. Adams Bernard's won the Grand Prize with This would change.

The people of St. Bernard Par- also served on the town committee, it's first-ever entry. The trophy will be permanently displayed at ish in Assonet Village determined headed by Jeanne Fox. Two other Freetown churches Freetown Town Hall. In the tradisuch a prospect was unacceptable.

The annual parade was a patriotic independently decided to enter tion of the Rose Bowl Parade, plans are already being made for next necessity for Freetown families. A floats in the parade competition 14-member Parish Parade Task East Freetown Christian Congrega- year's parish float entry.

Force was organized and swung into action.

Working with all the secrecy of a New Orleans Mardi Gras Krewe the strategy took shape. A delegation of parish organizers, headed by Carol and Paul Levesque, was sent to the town planning committee meetings.

They attended with a long list of brain-stormed ideas about what could be done to increase interest and participation in the event. The town parade committee perked up.

The parish delegates announced that St. Bernard Parish was willing to enter a float in the parade in the' hope that other groups would follow suit. The parish float theme was determined: "Our Heritage: Capt.

Miguel Corte Real Claims Assonet Bay in 1511."

1 Year $14.00 Foreign $25.00 The design concept emergedName: _ a reproduction ofwhat is now called "Dighton Rock," a miniature Address: _ caravel or Portuguese sailing-ship, explorer Captain Corte Real himCity: State: Zip: _ self and his crew of seamen, a tiny tribe of pre-school children representing the original inhabitants of GIFT CARD SHOULD READ: Freetown, the Wampanoags, and From: _ ship's chaplains - all characters dressed in authentic period cosStreet: City/State: _ tume.

Six high school students carryParish to receive credit: _ ing colorful patriotic banners Enclose check or money order and mail to: marched alongside the float on the The Anchor, P.O. Box 7. Fall River; MA 02722 2.5-mile parade route. Runners distributed free Portuguese fried dough, freshly-made by one of the This Message Sponsored by the Following Business Concern In the Diocese of Fall River three parish malassadas teams, to GILBERT C. OLIVEIRA INSURANCE AGENCY spectators along the route. A con-

flny time is a good time to give The Anchor as a gift