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Diocese of Fall River, Mass.

F riday , July 18, 2014

Local Father Peyton Guild chapter prays for Rosary Priest’s mission of families

Diocesan faithful donate more than $4 million to Charities Appeal

NORTH EASTON — Shortly after the “Rosary Priest” Holy Cross Father Patrick Peyton’s sainthood cause was opened on June 1, 2001 in the Fall River Diocese, the Father Peyton Guild was born, with chapters springing up across the globe. The purpose of the guild was to have faithful routinely pray for the cause, and learn more about and continue the mission of Servant of God Father Peyton; that being to have families pray together and come to know Jesus Christ better through the intercession of His Blessed Mother via

FALL RIVER — Faithful Catholics across the Diocese of Fall River have once again sought the Face of God in their neighbors and responded with love, generosity and compassion. The books have closed on the 2014 Catholic Charities Appeal for the Diocese of Fall River, and the results confirm the spirit of shared purpose that defines the work of a community of believers.

Inspired by the words and actions of the Holy Family, Pope Francis, clergy and laity have demonstrated extraordinary generosity for the needy throughout the diocese.

The $4,207,920.45 total was the third

Special to The Anchor

By Dave Jolivet Anchor Editor

Members of the renowned Group Folklorico dancing troupe perform during the 2013 Feast of the Blessed Sacrament in New Bedford. This year the world’s largest Portuguese feast will celebrate its 100th anniversary July 31-August 3.

New Bedford prepares for 100th Feast of the Blessed Sacrament in all of New England.

“We never called it ‘the feast,’ someNEW BEDFORD — While parishes one else started calling it that,” said Larry throughout the Fall River Diocese have all Abreu Jacques, president of Club Madeicelebrated some form of an outdoor picnic rense S.S. Sacramento and, by extension, the or summer festival and every Portuguese president of this year’s Feast of the Blessed parish worth its salt has hosted a feast in Sacrament. “Instead of saying ‘the Feast of honor of its namesake patron saint at one the Blessed Sacrament,’ they shortened it time or another, there’s only one event to ‘the feast.’ But it’s still the Feast of the that can be simply identified as “the feast.” Blessed Sacrament in my book.”

This year the Feast of the Blessed Anyone who grew up within a stone’s throw of New Bedford will immediately Sacrament will celebrate its milestone know that “the feast” is regional shorthand 100th anniversary on the weekend of July for the annual Feast of the Blessed Sac- 31-August 3 at the Madeira Field grounds rament — a four-day outdoor event that adjacent to Immaculate Conception Parhas evolved over the last century into the ish on Earle Street in New Bedford.

Founded in 1915 by four Azorean imlargest Portuguese feast of its kind in the world and the single largest ethnic festival Turn to page 14

Turn to page 12

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

Holy Cross Father John Phalen, former president of Holy Cross Family Ministries, speaks to the Easton chapter of the Father Peyton Guild, one of many chapters across the world devoted to praying for Servant of God, Holy Cross Father Patrick Peyton’s sainthood cause, and to carry on the “Rosary Priest’s” mission of bringing the Rosary to the world and to keep families together through prayer. With Father Phalen is Ann Marie Melanson, a member of the chapter since its beginning in 2003.

the Rosary.

Several guild chapters were established in other countries before the U.S. gained its very first in 2003.

“In 1997, there was a group of us who made a pilgrimage retreat, and when we returned, we felt called to create a ‘Rosary Group,’ that met each week to pray the Rosary for various intentions,” Ann Melanson, a Mission Assistant at Holy Cross Family Ministries in North Easton, told The Anchor. “We met on the Stonehill College campus until Bishop George W. Coleman poses with student greeters Victoria Burgess and Mary 2000 when then-HCFM president Fa- Rondelli during the annual St. Mary’s Education Fund Summer Gala held on July 11 ther John Phalen invited us to use the on Cape Cod. The gala helps raise funds to assist need-based families in sending their Turn to page 18

children to diocesan parochial schools. (Photo by Judith I. Selleck)

CABH projects in full swing during summer

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — During summer, the warm weather encourages those cocooned in their homes during the cold winter months to venture out, enjoy the brilliant sun and open up the windows to allow fresh air to permeate their home.

Yet for some families, summer is just another season because homeless families don’t have windows to open, but Ed Allard, program director for Catholic Social Services’ Community Action for Better Housing, has been overseeing numerous projects in the diocese to try and give the homeless a home so that they can enjoy that window-opening moment.

The Oscar Romero House on Allen Street in New Bedford just opened last year and “it’s been great and we have great tenants,” said Allard of the eight units that came fully-applianced and offered a community space and laundry Turn to page 15

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News From the Vatican

July 18, 2014

Vatican appoints first woman rector of pontifical university in Rome

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Congregation for Catholic Education has named Angeline Franciscan Sister Mary Melone, 49, to a three-year term as rector of Rome’s Pontifical Antonianum University, making her the first woman to head a pontifical university in Rome.

The Antonianum is run by the Order of Friars Minor — the Franciscan fathers and Brothers — and offers degrees in canon law, theology, philosophy, Biblical studies and archaeology, Franciscan Spirituality and medieval studies.

Father Michael Perry, minister general of the Franciscans and grand chancellor of the Antonianum, issued a statement in early July congratulating Sister Melone and “sharing with conviction the confidence expressed” in her by the education congregation. He said he was certain “the daring novelty of this appointment will open new horizons for the life and academic activities of the Franciscan institute of study and research.”

In 2011, Sister Melone’s allmale colleagues elected her the first woman dean of a theology department at a pontifical university in Rome. She earned her doctorate in theology at the Antonianum in 2000 and served as president of its religious studies department in the 2001-02 and

2007-08 academic years.

She also is president of the Italian Society for Theological Research.

In an interview with the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, after she was elected dean of theology in 2011, Sister Melone was asked what she thought about “feminist theology” or “women’s theology.”

“I’m against these kinds of labels,” she said, even if “perhaps in the past there was a reason” women theologians had to assert themselves. “Certainly, much more room for women must be guaranteed.”

Still, Sister Melone said, it is true that each person brings their own sensibilities and experience to their theological research.

“The way one approaches mystery, the way a woman reflects on what this mystery reveals, certainly is different from the way a man does.”

Rather than demanding that men in the Church allow more women to study theology, she said, women’s religious orders and laywomen must see the importance of such study and dedicate themselves to it “because it is a treasure.

Theology done by women is done by women; you cannot say it is not distinguishable. However, it is about complementarity and richness rather than opposition and claiming space.”

Pope Francis blesses the womb of a pregnant woman during a recent visit to Isernia, Italy. The pope was visiting the Italian region of Molise. (CNS photo/Ciro De Luca, Reuters)

Vatican’s new U.N. observer to face key challenges

Vatican City (CNA/ EWTN News) — Archbishop Bernardito Cleopas Auza, the new head of the Holy See’s Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations, served on the front lines in response to Haiti’s disastrous 2010 earthquake.

Now he will have to tackle key international issues like restricting the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Archbishop Auza, 55, hails from the Philippines and is a former nuncio to Haiti. He is the first Filipino to lead the observer mission at the U.N., and the fourth Filipino to serve as a nuncio.

On July 2, Archbishop Auza was named to replace Archbishop Francis Chullikat, an Indianborn prelate who had led the Holy See’s main U.N. presence since 2010.

The new permanent observer is set to arrive in New York at the end of August.

The Holy See’s mission at the United Nations is of key importance for the Holy See’s diplomatic work. It aims to assist the U.N. in realizing “peace, justice, human dignity, and humanitarian cooperation and assistance,” the mission’s website says.

The mission aims to communicate the Catholic Church’s centuries of experience to humanity.

Archbishop Auza will likely bring his commitment for the poor to the core of the mission.

He was born in the city of Talibon on the central Philippines island province of Bohol, the eighth of 12 children. Archbishop Auza received a licentiate in philosophy in 1981 and another licentiate in theology in 1986.

He received a master’s degree in education in 1986. He advanced his studies in Rome, where he received a licentiate in canon law and earned a doctorate in Sacred theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas.

He also studied at the Vatican diplomatic school, the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy.

Thereafter, he served as secretary of the apostolic nunciature in Madagascar and Mauritius from 1990-1993 and in Bulgaria from 1993-1996. He was appointed counsellor in the nunciature of Albania in 1997, after which he served as charge d’affaires in London. He then served as counsellor of the Second Section of the Vatican Secretariat of State from 1999 to 2006, and worked for the Holy See’s mission to the U.N. in New York from 2006 to 2008.

In 2008, he was appointed papal nuncio to Haiti. He was in Haiti in 2010, when a massive earthquake hit the western part of the country. At least 316,000 people died in the quake and many buildings were destroyed, leaving hundreds of thousands without homes.

Among the dead was Haiti’s senior churchman, Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot of Port-auPrince.

Archbishop Auza helped lead the Catholic Church’s response.

He worked on the front lines of the disaster to rebuild the country and to help its people. He especially helped collect relief money from the Vatican and other sources to direct to Haiti, one of the world’s poorest countries.

Now, the archbishop is going to take over one of the most influ-

ential posts of Vatican diplomacy.

The first issue he will handle will likely be nuclear weapons, the target of the Non-Proliferation Treaty to be discussed in 2015.

The archbishop’s predecessor at the U.N., in his last intervention at the Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparation Conference April 30, stressed the need to achieve a non-proliferation treaty which would not lead to an indiscriminate nuclear ban that would preclude “civilian” uses.

“It would be better to have the nuclear-weapon states working with the non-nuclear states to prepare a common path to develop a legally binding instrument banning the possession of nuclear weapons,” said Archbishop Chullikat.

Archbishop Auza will continue the Catholic Church’s leading role in the debate. As one of the founders of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Holy See has always backed the right use of nuclear energy for civilian reasons. At the same time the Holy See has always worked for a treaty which would lead to a ban on the possession of nuclear weapons.

Several times the Holy See has been asked to raise its status in the United Nations to that of a member state. However, it has preferred to keep its permanent observer status so as to be able to exercise its moral authority without being obliged to vote on war resolutions or resolutions against the Church’s teaching.

There is a separate Holy See permanent observer mission to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva.

July 18, 2014

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The International Church Korean celebrities create music video ahead of pope’s visit

Vatican City (CNA/ EWTN News) — More than 20 Korean celebrities have come together in making a music video honoring Pope Francis’ upcoming visit, and in an initiative they hope will help to overcome religious differences.

“I thought that if we united in praying for others (through this song), it would be the most beautiful flower bouquet that we could give to the pope when he arrives,” actor Ahn Sung-ki, who organized the event, stated Palestinians run following what police said was a recent Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City. The Is- in a recent news conference reraeli army intensified its offensive on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, striking Hamas sites and killing dozens leasing the video. of people in a military operation it says is aimed at quelling rocket fire against Israel. (CNS photo/Majdi According to the Korea HerFathi, Reuters) ald, the video, entitled “Koinonia,” is a celebration of Pope Francis’ August 14 – 18 visit to South Korea, and was named for the title’s Greek meaning of fellowship, sharing in common JERUSALEM (CNS) — ciscan custos of the Holy Land, titudes and expressions of those and communion.

Catholic leaders in the Holy called the situation in Gaza “an who have despaired of any hope “So many people live just Land called for an end to the illustration of the never-ending to reach a just solution to the for themselves. If more people cycle of violence and criticized cycle of violence in the absence conflict through negotiations. prayed for others, the world Israel’s occupation of Palestin- of a vision for an alternative fu- Those who seek to build a towould be a better place to live,” talitarian, monolithic society, ian territories and its collective ture.” the song’s composer and lyripunishment of Palestinians.

They criticized Israeli “lead- in which there is no room for cist, Noh Young-sim, said at “Using the death of the ership that continues to foster any difference or diversity, gain the news conference, which was three Israelis to exact collective a discriminatory discourse pro- popular support, exploiting this held in Seoul’s Myeongdong punishment on the Palestin- moting exclusive rights of one situation of hopelessness. To Cathedral where Pope Francis ian people as a whole and on group and the occupation with these we also say: Violence as will celebrate Mass his final day its legitimate desire to be free all of its disastrous consequenc- a response to violence breeds in Korea. is a tragic exploitation of trag- es. Settlements are built, lands only more violence.”

Among other celebrities “We need radical change,” edy and promotes more vio- are confiscated, families are who participated in the event lence and hatred,” said a recent separated, loved ones are arrest- they said. “Israelis and Paleswere actress Kim Tae-hee from statement from the Assembly ed and even assassinated. The tinians together need to shake KBS TV drama “Iris,” actor of Catholic Ordinaries of the occupation leadership seems to off the negative attitudes of Kim Woo-bin from SBS’ “The Holy Land. believe that the occupation can mutual mistrust and hatred.”

Heirs,” actress Kim Ha-neul “We need to recognize be victorious by crushing the They called for educating the from SBS’ series “A Gentlethat the kidnapping and cold- will of the people for freedom younger generation “in a new man’s Dignity” and singer Bada. blooded murder of the three and dignity. They seem to be- spirit that challenges the exist“The song carries our hope Israeli youth and the brutal lieve that their determination ing mentalities of oppression that the pope’s visit will bring vengeance killing of the Pales- will ultimately silence opposi- and discrimination,” but they joy to all of Korea, beyond retinian youth are products of the tion and transform wrong into also called for a change in poligious differences,” Sung-ki litical leaders. injustice and of the hatred that right.” explained, stating that “Sur“We must find leaders who the occupation fosters in the “Resistance to occupation prisingly, many (stars) were hearts of those prone to such cannot be equated with terror- are clear-sighted and couradeeds,” the Church leaders said, ism,” they said. “Resistance to geous enough to face the urbut added that the deaths “are occupation is a legitimate right, gency of the present situation in no way justifiable.” terrorism is part of the prob- and to take the difficult decisions that are needed, leaders In early July, Israel launched lem.” airstrikes into the Hamas-conThe Church leaders said they who, if necessary, are ready to trolled Gaza Strip, killing more mourned all those, Israeli and sacrifice their political careers for the sake of a just and lasting than 40 Palestinians — includ- Palestinians, who had died. ing children, elderly and mili“Some of their faces are well- peace. Such leaders have the tants — in a circle of escalating known because the media have vocation to be healers, peaceviolence that began with the covered in detail their lives, in- makers, seekers of justice and discovery of the bodies of three terviewing their parents, bring- visionaries of the alternatives to kidnapped Israeli teens and the ing them alive in our imagina- the cycle of violence,” they said, brutal apparent revenge killing tions, whereas others — by far recalling Pope Francis’ separate of a Palestinian teen. The Israeli more numerous — are mere meetings with Israeli and Paloffensive, dubbed Operation statistics, nameless and faceless. estinian leaders during his May Protective Edge, has hit hun- The selective coverage, mourn- visit to the Holy Land and “his dreds of targets, while more ing and memory are themselves incessant call for justice and than 100 missiles have been part of the cycle of violence,” peace.”

The complete statement can be launched into southern Israel, they said. found at http://en.radiovaticana. reaching into the center of the The Church leaders also va/news/2014/07/09/holy_ country and Jerusalem as well. said the “violent language of land_a_call_for_courageous_ The ordinaries, who include the Palestinian street that calls Catholic bishops and the Fran- for vengeance is fed by the at- change/1102679.

Holy Land bishops criticize ‘collective punishment’ of Palestinians

willing to participate, although some couldn’t make it because of their schedules.”

Executive producer of Realies Pictures Won Dong-youn, whose former projects include “Masquerade” (2012), directed the music video. Speaking with those present during the Monday conference, he pointed out that all celebrities involved in the video did so on a volunteer basis.

“As a producer, it was such an extraordinary experience to work with so many stars all at once,” he said. “It was easy too, because they were so willing to do this, considering it a true honor to be part of it.”

Won and Noh are also making plans to release different versions of the song and new videos in coming weeks. The original version will be played during numerous events in the pontiff ’s trip, including the Beatification Mass of 124 Korean martyrs.

The preparation committee organizing the pontiff ’s visit also revealed that they have been in contact with North Korean authorities to negotiate the possibility of inviting North Korean believers to the pope’s final Mass in Seoul.

“We’ve invited around 10 North Koreans to participate in the event,” Rev. Mattias Hur Young-yup, a representative for the committee, said.

“We expect an answer by early August.”

Pope Francis’ visit was announced by the Vatican in March, and comes after his reception of an invitation from the president of the Korean Republic, Park Geun-hye, and the bishops of Korea.

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The Church in the U.S.

July 18, 2014

Anne Lotierzo, director of Pregnancy Care Centers in Fort Pierce and Stuart, Fla., welcomes listeners in early June as she kicks off a new Pro-Life radio show that is broadcast in the Diocese of Palm Beach, Fla. (CNS photo/Linda Reeves, Florida Catholic)

New radio program covers life issues, ways to spread culture of life FORT PIERCE, Fla. (CNS) — A new radio program launched in the Palm Beach Diocese in June with a focus on shedding light on Pro-Life issues, and sharing ways to get involved in promoting the culture of life in the not-so-Pro-Life world.

Organizers believe the program may be the only one of its kind in Florida, if not the United States, that is broadcast from a site across the street from an abortion clinic.

“We are doing battle on the frontlines,” said Anne Lotierzo, a parishioner of St. Joseph Parish in Stuart, who hosts “CrossRoads” with Duane Berreth, a parishioner of St. Mark the Evangelist in Fort Pierce. Berreth, a grand Knight of Columbus, heads the parish’s respect life ministry.

“We like being at the front lines. That is where the battle is,” Lotierzo said in an interview with the Florida Catholic, Palm Beach’s diocesan newspaper.

“CrossRoads” airs on WJPP 100.1 FM (Prince of Peace Radio) that reaches listeners in areas of Stuart, Palm City, Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce.

“I think the program idea is great,” said Eva Daniel-Barrera, a parishioner of St. Mark the Evangelist. “The program will let everybody know about current Pro-Life issues. There are a lot of concerns today.”

Computer users can tune

in through the Internet to hear broadcast as well as www. wjppfm.com.

“You won’t hear the issues we will cover on mainstream media,” said Lotierzo about the program, which has commentary, guests, and special features and discussions with a Catholic, Pro-Life perspective.

Lotierzo and Berreth, directors of the Pregnancy Care Centers of Fort Pierce and Stuart, a nonprofit organization dedicated to Pro-Life education and saving babies, have set up a studio in a back room of the care center in Fort Pierce. It is across the street from Woman’s World Medical Center, an abortion facility.

“I have been out on the streets in front of the abortion clinic since 1995,” said Berreth about joining groups on the sidewalks near the abortion clinic to pray and provide witness to the ProLife movement. “If this (the radio broadcast) goes well, it will go nationwide and be syndicated.”

The weekly one-hour program premiered June 9 with Father Frank Pavone as the first guest. He is national director of Priests for Life and president of the Christian coalition National Pro-Life Religious Council.

The priest also is a national pastoral director of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, organized to make the public more aware of the effects abortion has on women and men, and Rachel’s Vineyard, a healing ministry for those suffering in the aftermath of abortion.

“I have never been more confident that we are closer to seeing the end of legal abortion,” Father Pavone said, as he joined the co-hosts by phone. He sees a weakened abortion industry and

pointed to changes in state and federal laws “recognizing the unborn as a real human being.”

“We see changes in the laws laying the groundwork and moving us into that direction. We are seeing similar changes in public opinion,” said the priest, who has been involved in the Pro-Life movement since 1976.

The conversation turned at one point to sweeping changes over the last decades and modern society’s growing acceptance of divorce, sex outside of Marriage, same-sex relationships and babies born out of wedlock.

“How do we bring the light to the truth?” Lotierzo asked.

“Two words come to mind,” Father Pavone replied. “One is ‘witness’ and the other is ‘suffering.’ Witness means we have to live out the truth in our Church in our families and in our communities.”

“The second thing is suffering.

We are all in this together and we all have to suffer together,” he said. “We need to reach out in love to the people who need our help: the divorced, the lonely, those who are suffering from the wound of abortion, those who are confused about their sexuality. We need to reach out in love and show people we are here to help people follow the law of God.” Lotierzo and Berreth hope to change hearts with “CrossRoads.”

“Simply said, we hope to inform, educate and inspire listeners to take action,” said Lotierzo.

“We live by the motto ‘We can make a difference, we must make a difference,’ and I hope that is something we can communicate to our listeners and that they can come to embody that same motto.”

July 18, 2014

The Church in the U.S.

5

Cardinal Dolan slams anti-Catholic New York Times advertisement

New York City (CNA/EWTN News) — A New York Times ad criticizing Catholic Supreme Court justices who ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby’s religious freedom case is part of a long history of anti-Catholic bigotry in the U.S., Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York has said.

“In keeping with a long, shadowy, legacy of antipathy, justices who happen to be Catholics are branded and bullied by a group who only succeed in providing the latest example of a prejudice that has haunted us for centuries,” Cardinal Dolan said in a recent column for Catholic New York.

The cardinal facetiously thanked the Freedom from Religion Foundation for giving him “yet another handout” for his talks on anti-Catholic bigotry in the U.S. The secularist foundation’s full-page ad, headlined “Dogma should not trump our civil liberties,” ran July 3 on page 10 in the New York Times’ front section.

The ad claimed that the “all-

male, all-Roman Catholic majority” on the Supreme Court “puts religious wrongs over women’s rights.”

It claimed that the Supreme Court majority in the Hobby Lobby case was an “ultra-conservative, Roman Catholic majority” that sided with “zealous fundamentalists.”

The ad reacted to the Supreme Court’s June 30 fivefour ruling that the Obama Administration violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in attempting to mandate that closely held corporations provide employees with insurance coverage for possible abortifacient drugs.

The legal cases concerned Hobby Lobby, a craft store giant owned by a Protestant family, and Conestoga Wood Specialties, which is owned by a Mennonite family. Both employers objected that they could not provide some of the required drugs without violating their religious beliefs.

The five justices who ruled in Hobby Lobby’s favor are Catholic; one remaining Catholic justice, Sonia Sotomayor,

sided with the Obama Administration, as did the court’s three Jewish justices.

Cardinal Dolan said the Freedom From Religion Foundation ad did not provide a “robust examination” of the decision in a way that attacked ideas and viewpoints.

Rather, its arguments attacked persons, “the weakest and most vicious of arguments.”

He said the ad “attacks the people on the court, and implies that their Catholic faith makes it impossible for them to protect the cherished Constitution they have sworn on a Bible to uphold.”

The cardinal said that the decision was not surprising, citing White House sources who said they knew the mandate would not pass constitutional muster.

“Scholars, journalists, and thoughtful commentators have elsewhere convincingly defended the unsurprising and long-predicted Supreme Court defense of ‘our first and most cherished freedom,’ religious liberty, from the hyperbolic

Court may compel priest to break Confessional seal in abuse case

BATON ROUGE, La. (CNS) — Louisiana’s Supreme Court has ruled that a priest may be compelled to testify as to what he heard in the confessional in 2008 concerning an abuse case.

The priest, Father Jeff Bayhi, faces automatic excommunication if he breaks the seal of the confessional, but he also could face jailing if found to be in contempt of the court should he refuse to testify.

In the case, a girl who was 14 in 2008 said she told her parish priest — Father Bayhi, pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish in Zachary — in the confessional that she was abused by a nowdead lay member of the parish.

The girl’s parents sued Father Bayhi and the Diocese of Baton Rouge for failing to report the abuse. The parents won at the district court level about compelling the priest to testify, but lost in Louisiana’s First Circuit Court of Appeals, before the state’s highest court reversed and vacated the appellate court’s decision.

“As you know, one of the great Sacraments of healing in the Church is the Sacrament of Reconciliation/Confession.

It has given hope and comfort to all Catholics throughout the

centuries and continues to do so today,” Father Bayhi said in a recent statement.

“The seal of Confession is one that can never be broken.

Through its use the faithful must always be protected, so much so, that as a priest I cannot even say someone has come to Confession, let alone divulge the contents of what was revealed.”

The Baton Rouge Diocese, in its own statement, said the state Supreme Court violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in its decision.

“A foundational doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church for thousands of years mandates that the seal of Confession is absolute and inviolable. Pursuant to his oath to the Church, a priest is compelled never to break that seal,” the diocese said.

“Neither is a priest allowed to admit that someone went to Confession to him. If necessary, the priest would have to suffer a finding of contempt in a civil court and suffer imprisonment rather than violate his Sacred duty and violate the seal of Confession and his duty to the penitent.

“This is not a gray area in the doctrines of the Roman Catho-

lic Church. A priest/confessor who violates the seal of Confession incurs an automatic excommunication reserved for forgiveness to the Apostolic See in Vatican City.”

The diocese added, “In this case, the priest acted appropriately and would not testify about the alleged Confessions.

Church law does not allow either the plaintiff (penitent) or anyone else to waive the seal of Confession.

“This matter cuts to the core of the Catholic faith, and for a civil court to inquire as to whether or not a factual situation establishes the Sacrament of Confession is a clear and unfettered violation of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution of the United States,” it continued.

“This matter is of serious consequence to all religions, not just the Catholic faith. The statutes involved in this matter address ‘sacred communications’ which are confidential and are exempt from mandatory reporting.”

The diocese said, “For a civil court to impinge upon the freedom of religion is a clear violation and the matter will be taken to the highest court in the land by the Church in order to protect its free exercise of religion.”

over-reaction of the ideologues who claim that there is a ‘war on women,’” the cardinal said.

He also noted that Catholic Supreme Court justices have made “frequent votes” that are not in accord with Catholic teaching.

Cardinal Dolan described the Freedom From Religion Foundation as “notoriously anti-Catholic.” He said that the foundation would not take out an ad, and a newspaper would not publish an ad, questioning Jewish, Baptist, or Mormon public figures on the grounds of their religious affiliation.

He claimed that the ad was part of a long line of bigotry against Catholics dating back centuries, to New England Puritans, to the anti-Catholic nativists and Know-Nothings of the 19th century, and the Ku Klux Klan and other groups which included Catholics among the objects of their hate in the 20th century.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation, which had filed an amicus brief against Hobby Lobby, claimed that the Hobby Lobby ruling allows employers “to decide what birth control an employee can use,” charging that this is not an “exercise of religion,” but “of tyranny.”

The foundation’s ad called for the repeal of the Reli-

gious Freedom Restoration Act, a 1993 law passed by overwhelming majorities and signed into law by Democratic president Bill Clinton in response to Supreme Court decisions which weakened religious freedom protections.

Its ad follows similar attacks targeting the Hobby Lobby decision on the basis of the Catholic affiliation of the justices in the majority.

On June 30, Huffington Post blog contributor Ronald A. Lindsay, head of the secular humanist Center for Inquiry, asked “Is it appropriate to have six Catholic justices on the Supreme Court?”

Lindsay claimed that the majority in the Hobby Lobby case “may now be resurrecting concerns about the compatibility between being a Catholic and being a good citizen, or at least between being a good Catholic and an impartial judge.”

The National Organization for Women has also grouped many Catholic organizations, including the Little Sisters of the Poor, EWTN, the University of Notre Dame and several Catholic dioceses, as the “Dirty 100” because they are plaintiffs in cases challenging the federal mandate on religious freedom grounds.

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July 18, 2014

Anchor Editorial

Assisted suicide and the Anglican Communion

This week the international Anglican Communion, which traces its origins to the Church of England, faced new divisions as the retired Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey came out in favor of assisted suicide. The current Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, immediately responded, saying that a proposed law in the British Parliament to legalize the practice of doctors giving poison to patients so that they might end their lives is “mistaken and dangerous.”

Later in the week Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, the retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, came out in favor of Carey’s proposal, citing the example of how the late South African President Nelson Mandela was kept alive for a long period of time.

Welby warned in The Times of London: “I know of health professionals who are already concerned by the ways in which their clients have suggestions ‘to go to Switzerland’ [so as to be euthanasized there] whispered in their ears by relatives weary of caring for them and exasperated by seeing their inheritances dwindle through care costs.”

Pope Francis has often complained about the “throw-away” culture that Archbishop Welby was referencing, when he spoke of sick people feeling the pressure to go to countries where they could legally commit suicide with the help of a doctor (who would be breaking the Hippocratic Oath).

Speaking to the San Egidio Community in Rome on June 15, the Holy Father said, “We throw away the elderly, behind which are attitudes of hidden euthanasia, a form of euthanasia. They aren’t needed, and what isn’t needed gets thrown away. What doesn’t produce is discarded.”

Back on February 28, the pope addressed a similar message to the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. “The old, too, are discarded, they tend to discard them, and in some countries of Latin America there is hidden euthanasia, hidden euthanasia! Because social services pay only up to a certain point, and no more, so the poor old people make do as they can. I remember visiting a retirement home for the elderly in Buenos Aires, which belonged to the state. The beds were all occupied; so they were putting mattresses on the floor, and the elderly just lay there. A country cannot buy a bed? This is indicative of something else, is it not? They are like waste material. Soiled sheets, with every sort of filth; without a napkin and the poor old people were eating there, they were wiping their mouths with the sheet. I saw this with my own eyes, no one told me about it. They are treated like trash; and this worries us.” What the Holy Father said at this encounter reminds us that it is not enough to ban assisted suicide — we always need to reach out and help the sick and all people in need, to let them know that we value and love them, putting that love into concrete action.

Back in 1999 there was a conference sponsored by the Vatican in Buenos Ai-

res, Argentina, for which the future pope, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, S.J., offered Mass. This “Third Meeting Politicians and Lawmakers of America” issued the Buenos Aires Declaration, which can be read on the Vatican website (something which is normally only done for things which have the Vatican’s blessing, at least implicitly). In the declaration, these Catholic thinkers wrote, “The family, as the cradle of human life, is also the most appropriate place to take care of the sick and to accompany them in the process of their illness until death.

Some propose a ‘death with dignity’ and with this argument falsely pretend to justify and defend euthanasia for those with serious illnesses. It is necessary to have a proper understanding of ‘human dignity,’ a fundamental principle in bioethics that is based upon the truth about man and an anthropology which recognizes the eminent value of the human person. The concept of ‘death with dignity’ needs constant revisions if it is not to become empty and conventional, especially when faced with the Utilitarian cost/benefit analysis used to decide who shall or will not benefit from health resources. If dignity is replaced by utility, how can life have intrinsic value? The distorted use of the concept of ‘dignity’ hides the deformation of the value of life and of the person. The true right to die with dignity supposes the acceptance of dying with the dignity proper to man: with nobility, acceptance, serenity, that is to say, ‘holding the office of life until the end’ (Cicero, “The Dream of Escipion,” III, 7). The sick person, given the care they need and the responsible love manifested by their families, in hospitals and clinics, dies with the dignity of someone loved by God, by their family and all those who recognize the dignity of the person” (St. John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 88).

Today (Friday) we celebrate the memorial of St. Camillus de Lellis (we celebrate him on July 18 in the U.S. due to July 14 being the memorial of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, a homegrown saint). On Sunday Pope Francis reminded the crowd in St. Peter’s Square that this week we celebrate the 400th anniversary of St. Camillus’ death. “I invite the Camillan family to be a sign of the Lord Jesus Who, as the Good Samaritan, bends over the wounds of body and spirit of suffering humanity, pouring the oil of consolation and the wine of hope.”

Our Anglican brothers and sisters, like so many other people in our world, are deeply sorrowful, seeing the suffering of people they know. Out of a misplaced compassion, they advocate for assisted suicide. They, like all of us, need the consolation and the hope that can only come from accepting Jesus’ invitation: “Take up your cross and follow Me.” Sometimes that cross is living with an illness for a long period of time; sometimes that cross is caring for someone else in that situation. As Christians, we are called to be like the Blessed Mother, Mary Magdalene and the Apostle John at the foot of the cross, helping our brothers and sisters with our loving presence. May God help us to do so.

Pope Francis’ Angelus address of July 13 Good day, brothers and sisters!

This Sunday’s Gospel (Mt 13.1-23) shows us Jesus preaching on the shore of Lake Galilee, and because there was a large crowd around Him, He gets on a boat, moving away a little from the shore and preaches from there.

When He speaks to the people, Jesus used many parables: a language understandable to everyone, with images drawn from nature and everyday life situations.

The first that He tells is an introduction to all the parables: it is that of the sower who casts his seed OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER

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without holding back on all types of terrain. And the real protagonist of this parable is the seed, which produces more or less depending on the land on which it has fallen.

The first three terrains are unproductive: on the way the seeds are eaten by birds; on rocky ground it buds, but withers quickly because they have no roots; the seeds that fell among thorns are choked by the thorns. The fourth ground is good ground, and only there does the seed take root and bears fruit.

In this case, Jesus did not limit Himself to presenting the parable; He also explained it to His disciples. The seed that fell on the path indicates those who hear the proclamation of the Kingdom of God but do not receive it; the evil one comes and takes it away.

The evil one in fact does not want the seed of the Gospel to sprout in the hearts of men. This is the first comparison. The second is

the seed that fell among stones: it is the people who hear the Word of God, and receive it immediately, but superficially, because they have no roots and are inconstant; and when trials and tribulations arrive, these people give up immediately.

The third case is that of the seeds that fell among the thorns: Jesus explains that it refers to the people who hear the Word but, because of worldly concerns and the seduction of wealth, it remains stifled.

Finally, the seed that fell on fertile soil represents those who hear the Word, welcome it, keep it, and understand it, and it bears fruit. The perfect model of this good earth is the Virgin Mary.

This parable speaks to each of us today, as it spoke to the listeners of Jesus 2,000 years ago. It reminds us that we are the land where the Lord tirelessly throws the seed of His Word and His love. What do we receive? And we ask ourselves

the question: how is our heart?

Which land does it look like: a pathway, rocky ground, a thornbush? It’s up to us to become good soil without thorns or stones, but tilled and cultivated with care, so that [the seed] can bring good results for us and for our brothers and sisters.

And we will do well not to forget that we also are sowers. God sows good seed, and here we can ask ourselves the question: what kind of seed comes from our heart and our mouth? Our words can do so much good and also so much bad; they can heal and they can hurt; they can encourage and they can depress. Remember, what matters is not what goes in, but what comes out of one’s mouth and from the heart.

Our Lady teaches us, by her example, to welcome the Word, keep it, and bring forth fruit in us and in others.

July 18, 2014

T

he summer is a time in which many parishes host missionaries to beg for Spiritual and material support and to raise the awareness of people here to the various needs, struggles and successes of our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world.

I have always been especially happy to welcome missionaries from Africa, where the Church is growing exponentially in the midst of persecution and poverty. The scale of the good that can be accomplished by Christian fraternal charity is readily evident in the African missionary context.

Two weeks ago I welcomed Father Stephen Kitonga, a young priest from the Archdiocese of Nyeri, Kenya. His archbishop had sent him to try to appeal for help to expand their seminary which is bursting at the seams, to care for orphans with AIDS and HIV in a Church clinic and to attend to the tens of thousands of Somali refugees who have come to the diocese fleeing poverty and persecution.

We were the first missionary appeal that he had ever made and so he sought my advice about the best way to ask for money.

I told him that my experi-

I

can well remember catching my very first fish. It was on a Sunday afternoon in the summer time of my primary school days. On that glorious, golden day I was ably assisted in my fishing by a girl from my own village who was a couple of years older than myself. (I always have liked older women.) While I succeeded in hauling in a beautiful fish that afternoon, that girl got away. She entered the convent as a Sister of Mercy.

A few years later I entered the seminary and became a Brother of the Sacred Hearts.

So we both gave up fishing for sole and took up fishing for souls.

Each time I visit my home in County Galway, the memory of those golden days and years come flooding back, as will happen next week when I go home to visit family. It happened also here in Kalaupapa this weekend on this northern shore of Molokai during our fishing tournament, when the

Anchor Columnists

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The good we can do ence is that American Catholics of orphaned, sick children for a are very generous when they’re day, or help prepare a priest get given the information they need one day closer to ordination to to determine where their money take the place of those priests will go and how much of an who have been killed for the impact it will make. So I asked faith. him a few questions in search of If they had the means to sacthe information he’d need. rifice $5, he added, they would How much does it cost each be able to do all three at the year to educate a future priest in same time. the seminary? He told me about And if they were “rich” and $700, or about $2 a day.

What is the expense to feed a family Putting Into of refugees for a day the Deep in the camps? He said between $1 and $2,

By Father depending upon the Roger J. Landry size of the family.

What was the typical salary for a nurse in the “Consolata Hospital” that cares had the chance to give more for AIDS orphans? He replied than $5, he said, “I can’t even about $1.50 a day. describe the good you would be So I encouraged Father able to do!”

Stephen to share that informaI looked out at my parishtion with my parishioners at the ioners as he was making that Masses. appeal and many had stunned Weaving the appeal into a looks on their faces as they ponhomily based on Jesus’ calling us dered how materially loaded we to yoke ourselves to His lovare, even in an inner-city parish, ing compassion, he movingly compared to our brothers and said that if Catholics here could sisters in Africa. The people as “make the sacrifice” of sharing a whole responded very gener$2 in the second collection, they ously, giving far more than their would be able to feed a large typical beneficence to the weekly hungry family after a treacheroffertory in order to help out ous escape from Somalia, or pay with these very important works. for a nurse to care for dozens Before the last Mass, how-

ever, as I was introducing him, I mentioned something else that we had spoken about the night before at dinner.

One of the main struggles in African villages is access to clean water, so I asked Father Stephen whether his native village had a well. No, he said. In fact, every Saturday the people of his village have to travel two-anda-half hours each way over mountains and valleys to the nearest river, where the women wash the family’s clothes and the men fill up water jugs to bring back to the village. The round trip, he says, takes all day. I asked him how much it would cost to drill a well there.

He told me that it was “astronomical,” about $4,000.

Putting into the deep, I mentioned that story before the last Mass and commented how great it would be if our parish would be able to raise the money to drill a well in his village.

A half hour after Mass, a woman came by the rectory with $4,000 in cash, saying that she and her husband wanted to pay for the well in Father Stephen’s village. She shared that both of her children had already died and they wanted to do something

with their savings to make a difference in the lives of the 392 families that dwell there as well as thousands of families in neighboring villages who would be able to come to get fresh water.

A few days later, a young mother came to see me. She had just received a bonus at work and had been thinking about using it to do house repairs or go on a pilgrimage. After hearing about the need for wells, she and her children decided it would be better to use the bonus to bring water to the well-less village where Father Stephen used to serve a pastor.

When I informed Father Stephen of these gifts, he could hardly keep himself together thinking about the difference that will soon be coming to the lives of so many families he knows and loves, including his own. He had previously declared that he couldn’t describe the good that more than $5 could do. Now he was totally speechless.

Just imagine how much good the faithful of the whole diocese can do during this Missionary Appeal season.

Anchor columnist Father Landry is pastor of St. Bernadette’s Parish in Fall River. fatherlandry@catholicpreaching. com.

Dropping a line in Kalaupapa whole community got caught weekend visit with family on up in the fishing activities, Topside Molokai in order hook, line, and sinker. to run this event. He did a Fishing has always been a tradition here in Kalaupapa where for the most part it is now done from the pier (I call it Damien’s Landing) where Father

By Father Damien and many Patrick Killilea, SS.CC. others arrived from Honolulu on May 10, 1873. Fishing also great job making sure that all takes place in the vicinity of participants “toed the line” the Lions’ Club Pavilion on and stayed safe in the process. the airport road. Many of the men of the settlement in the past spent a lot of time casting on these waters and this settlement was noted for years for the presence of the Fishing Nun. The number who entered the tournament this year was less than the expected but did number about 20. Most of the fishing was done off the outer edge of the peninsula.

Our trusted electrician, Eddie English, sacrificed his usual

Moon Over Molokai

All enjoyed the tournament even though there seems to have been a scarcity of fish taking the lure. Our own Mr. Everything, Lionel, said he enjoyed the weekend and assured me that there is no truth to the rumor that he almost got dragged into the water by a monster fish.

As always with our special events, this event culminated in a feast at McVeigh Hall where the voices in the hall grew louder

and louder as the evening progressed, especially when aided and abetted by Mr. Heineken and Miss Corona. Today being Sunday, everybody is recovering from the weekend’s action.

So it is time to relax and watch the mermaids (and the mermen) frolic on the pier and in the waters at nearby Damien’s Landing. See you next month.

Aloha.

Anchor columnist Father Killilea, SS.CC., is pastor of St. Francis Parish in Kalaupapa, Hawaii.

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T

his week’s readings can be a challenge. It is easy to say the good and the bad will work and live together until their appointed time of death.

Death will bring either an eternal reward or damnation.

However, I chose to look at the eternal Word of God, which can only bring us to eternal life.

The tongue is a double-edged sword. A simple word can bring much happiness like the wheat growing in the field. Or a word can bring much pain and suffering because the evil that it brings can never be taken back. These are the weeds that can bring us to the final judgement of hell.

We must consider how fear and doubt are the seeds that are activated by Satan.

Faith, on the other hand, is the seed that produces good wheat that comes from our holy tongue through the gift of the Holy Spirit that dwells in all of us.

Genesis, chapter one shows us that God created with the “Word,” His holy tongue — “Let there be….”

And how good it was!

The wheat and the weeds are words that are uniquely human

July 18, 2014

Heeding the Word functions because they blend are afraid to live our lives in faith man’s intelligence and imaginaand trust in the Word of God. tion with the ability to speak as a However, we must remember, speaking spirit. negative words bring negative John 10:10 says, “The thief emotions and the weeds accucomes to steal and destroy” the mulate at a rapid pace. inner spirit of man. Jesus said, The seed of faith is a gift from “I come that you might have life, and that you might have life more Homily of the Week abundantly.”

Sixteenth Sunday However, how can in Ordinary Time we have it more abundantly if our thoughts

By Deacon and words are consumed Anthony Cipriano, SFO with fear, doubt and depression?

I might ask, how can I posGod that helps us through the sibly feel better surrendering to most difficult times in our life.

God all my pain and suffering?

Satan does not want us to feel I still have the pain, so why surthe presence of God in our pain render all that I am to God? and suffering. He would prefer Because by virtue of prayer that we would feel hopeless and the innermost longing of our think that God does not really being is expressed in the form care about us, but we know betthat is most representative of ter. the human soul. Good or bad, Prayer is the wheat of the the words like the wheat or the soul. Prayer is a process of selfweeds will come out. evaluation and self-judgement.

We must remember that if It is a process of removing onewe operate our lives in fear and self from the pandemonium of doubt we live in misery and spirlife to a little corner of truth itual death. It is impossible to live and refastening the bonds that our lives more abundantly if we tie one to the purpose of life

which is to love.

We must remember if there is a weed in our heart, an evil thought, it is going to come out of our mouth. We might be able to cover it up for a while. But just as soon as we get upset or we get the opportunity, it is coming out of our mouth whether we like it or not; it will come to light.

We must pray that God’s mercy will conquer our anger, that God’s mercy will overshadow our negative thoughts about others. We must pray for the attribute of mercy and love toward our neighbor instead of a lack of forgiveness toward our neighbor which is the weed of hatred.

Jesus said by our words will be justified, and by our words we will be condemned (Mt 12:37).

When I was in business I always said I never lie. I never lie because I know I won’t remember the lie. I never wanted to be judged by someone for my lack of responsibility for my words.

We might apologize for gossiping or being rude and mean

to another person, but that does not dull the effects of our words or actions.

I was once told it was like getting a feather pillow and cutting it open and letting the feathers out. We can never retrieve all the feathers, the damage is done.

“I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.”

God teaches us to guard the Word He has planted in our hearts. Those who have heard and listened to the Word of God by faith live on good soil and the wheat is flourishing.

God’s judgement is not hasty, but it does come. In the end God will reward each according to what they have sown in their hearts and reaped in this life. In that day God will separate the good from the evil.

Do you allow God’s Word to take deep root in your heart?

Lord, may we hunger for righteousness now. May we look forward to the day of judgement with happiness and joy.

Deacon Cipriano is currently serving at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Attleboro.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. July 19, Mi 2:1-5; Ps 10:1-4,7-8,14; Mt 12:14-21. Sun. July 20, Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Wis 12:13,16-19; Ps 86:5-6,9-10,15-16; Rom 8:26-27; Mt 13:24-43 or 13:24-30. Mon. July 21, Mi 6:1-4,6-8; Ps 50:5-6,8-9,16bc-17,21,23; Mt 12:38-42. Tues. July 22, Mi 7:1415,18-20; Ps 85:2-8; Jn 20:1-2,11-18. Wed. July 23, Jer 1:1,4-10; Ps 71:1-4a,5-6b,15,17; Mt 13:1-9. Thurs. July 24, Jer 2:1-3,7-8,12-13; Ps 36:6-7b,8-11; Mt 13:10-17. Fri. July 25, 2 Cor 4:7-15; Ps 126:1b,2-6; Mt 20:20-28. Sat. July 26, Jer 7:1-11; Ps 84:3-6a,8a,11; Mt 13:24-30. Sun. July 27, Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 1 Kgs 3:5,7-12; Ps 119:57,72,76-77,127-130; Rom 8:28-30; Mt 13:44-52 or 13:44-46. Mon. July 28, Jer 13:1-11; (Ps) Dt 32:18-21; Mt 13:3135. Tues. July 29, Jer 14:17-22; Ps 79:8-9,11,13; Jn 11:19-27 or Lk 10:38-42. Wed. July 30, Jer 15:10,16-21; Ps 59:2-4,10-11,17-18; Mt 13:44-46. Thurs. July 31, Jer 18:1-6; Ps 146:1b-6b; Mt 13:47-53. Fri. Aug. 1, Jer 26:1-9; Ps 69:5,8-10,14; Mt 13:54-58.

W

hen families gather together and reminisce, one is often shocked by how others remember particular persons and events. We carry with us an eclectic composite of memories that have shaped us over the years, and that have colored our opinions about how the world works, but occasionally two persons will remember an occasion or encounter so differently that they have trouble recognizing the shared experience.

When the memory concerns an innocuous event, the banter back and forth is usually lighthearted and entertaining, as each helps the other to see that his details are incomplete or wrong.

But for the more serious events in life, the details — accurate or not — become seared in the psyche. There is little joy in going to the heart of the matter, because to re-image the details is to interfere with the very person himself and how he has coped

God is in the details used to the tone and inflection with that memory. of those she loves, will distinThis is where the gift of guish where subtle fault-lines motherhood is so valuable in a may rest, and prayer will then family circle. As we have people over to our homes in the coming tell her what to do about it.

I confess to scratching my weeks, and the relaxed visits turn to “Do you remember?” a wise woman would do well to talk less and listen more intently to the conversation. To remove herself from the discussion may

By Genevieve Kineke prove challenging (we do remember!) but the reward will be to hear astonishing things head over the misunderstandabout how the others have been ings from the earlier years of processing family life and its Marriage. My children will challenges.

The advantage to listening to laugh over chaotic situations from years ago, having no grasp such exchanges is two-fold, in of the complexities we were that an attentive ear can disdealing with at the time. Or they tinguish the difference in how events are packaged for retelling may laugh about their parents’ and whether anger, animosity, or “tantrums,” oblivious to how their childish inanities accumubitterness have been caught up late over time until the silliest in the residue. A motherly ear,

The Feminine Genius

action triggers a mental collapse. Furthermore, their breezy dismissal of various details transforms their parents’ attentive care into a string of blunders that make their very survival appear miraculous.

While those memories served up with increasing embellishment may give one’s pride a serious thumping (all for the good!) there are other accounts that creep into the telling that remind us of the pain, the anxiety, and the resentments that linger after most have moved on. While squabbles of old may make for amusing folklore, in many instances a loaded phrase will enter in (for example, “you always,” or “she still,” or worse, “I never ”). When “always” or “never” are thrown in, it may indicate that walls have been erected delineating behavior that

doesn’t change, suffering that endures, or characterizations that are cast in stone. These must be addressed.

The attentive mother will take note of such reference points and bring them to God, Who sees all. Whether or not the memories correspond to reality is irrelevant — they have formed the pattern that either strengthens the family bond or undermines it, and that’s the reality that needs to be addressed.

A quiet one-on-one later can serve to soothe the ache, restore the breach, or reorient the affections. It’s a delicate — but essential — process. Let this guide your interactions this summer, and may the balm of forgiveness carefully applied allow our family reminiscences be true occasions of joy for all.

Anchor columnist Mrs. Kineke is the author of “The Authentic Catholic Woman.” She blogs at feminine-genius.typepad.com.

July 18, 2014

Thursday 17 July 2014 — Homeport: Falmouth Harbor — Anniversary of the 1918 execution of Czar Nicholas II n St. Nicholas Day, 6 December, 1908 George “Baby Face” Nelson was born in Chicago. On that same date, in Manhattan, Mildred Pinto was born.

“Baby Face” Nelson died in a hail of FBI bullets in 1934.

Parishioner Mildred Nicoletta (Pinto) Allen died peacefully at a local nursing home this month at the age of 105 years.

Mildred was a celebrity in the Town of Falmouth and in the Parish of St. Patrick.

Grandma Moses discovered late in life that she had a talent for painting. Mildred Allen, in her 90s, discovered a penchant for poetry. One of Mildred’s poems is entitled “My Mother.” It reads in part: Mom made my dresses and curled my hair.

I’d help a little. I really did care.

Fulltime mother was her vocation, Years went by without a vacation. …I “see” her before me so loving and kind.

I weep for her still, I’m her motherless child.

O

P

Anchor Columnists Mother is always right Mother taught me that This goes to prove, dear food dropped on the ground readers, that even if you live is perfectly safe to eat if it is to be 100, you will always retrieved within five seconds. remember your mother and It’s the “five-second rule.” everything she taught you.

Unless the floor has been Perhaps, as a young child, sterilized (highly unlikely,) your mother taught you the same things my mother taught the surface is crawling with bacteria and viruses. Some me. And, as we all know, will be harmful. Bacteria and mother is always right.

Didn’t mother teach you not to run with The Ship’s Log scissors? You could fall and hurt yourself. To Reflections of a this day, I seldom run Parish Priest with scissors (In fact, I

By Father Tim seldom run at all). See, Goldrick mother is always right.

Mother taught me to wait precisely one viruses contaminate immehour after eating before godiately on contact. Would ing into the water. If you eat anything within 60 minutes of you want a surgeon to use a entering the water you will be dropped instrument on you because it was more or less seized with stomach cramps sterile? I think not. There isn’t and doomed to a horrible even a .01-second rule. Even death by drowning. After all, if mother was a little off-base this is a scientific fact clearly in this matter, I’m sure she stated in the 1908 manual was well intentioned. Mother “Scouting for Boys.” Let me didn’t want you to waste food. put it delicately, dear readers.

Why, think of all the starving There has never been a single children in Biafra (or some death by drowning anywhere other location of her choice) in the world attributed to entering the water too soon after of which she was constantly reminding you). eating. There has never even Mother taught me to leave been a near drowning. Need I a window open during a say more?

hurricane in order to prevent pressure buildup in the house.

Actually, leaving a window open will allow gusts of wind to blow into the house. The wind will then proceed to find an outlet. When it does, there go parts of your house. Well, who knew back then?

Come to think of it, my father taught me a tip for hurricane survival as well: crisscross the windows with duct tape in the shape of giant asterisks. Studies have shown that duct tape won’t prevent window glass from breaking nor will it prevent the shards of glass from flying through the air.

There is, however, one proven benefit to taping the windows during a hurricane. It’s a windfall for the duct tape manufacturer.

Mother warned me not to swallow chewing gum.

It stays in your stomach for seven years. Actually, that’s not true either. When you swallow gum, it goes through the process of digestion in the same amount of time it takes real food to digest. Oh well, to give mother the benefit of the doubt, you could possibly

9

choke by swallowing a wad of gum, but then that applies to almost anything you eat if it “goes down the wrong way.”

Mother taught me that poinsettias are poisonous.

Now here, finally, we have an indisputable fact. Everyone knows that. There is just one small problem, however. It happens to be untrue. Oh, yes, you’ll no doubt point out to me that death back in the year 1919 in Hawaii that was assumed to have been caused by the ingestion of poinsettia leaves. It was an incorrect diagnosis, but why let an erroneous assumption get in the way of what your mother told you? There is a possibility that the disgusting taste of poinsettia leaves might make you nauseous, but it won’t kill you.

Scientific testing on animals gave up at the ingestion of 600 leaves and no animal was harmed in the process.

You know me, dear readers. I’m a stickler for accuracy in everything I write.

So, allow me to qualify the title of this column: Mother is always right (except when she isn’t).

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

Renegade researchers and the future of biomedical research

roducing human embryos in the laboratory for research purposes makes most people uneasy. Even those who tolerate the creation of embryos in test tubes so that infertile couples might have children will often have reservations about the creation of embryos to serve as experimental research material or to destroy them for their cellular parts.

Twenty years ago, when a deeply divided government panel recommended allowing such research experiments on human embryos for the first time, even Bill Clinton summarily rejected the idea. Two years later, Representative Nancy Pelosi concurred in the Congressional Record: “We should not be involved in the creation of embryos for research. I completely agree with my colleagues on that score.” The proposal to engender human embryos by cloning has similarly drawn strong opposition from Americans for many years.

Yet society’s views are shifting.

Clinton, Pelosi and many others have reversed their views in recent years. Scientists and politicians now seem ready to draw

cies could reasonably have been ethical lines — and then erase them — as expediency demands. expected to ensue.

Human embryos, our own Last week, with little fanfare, progeny, surely deserve better the journal Nature published than being reduced to a kind of a paper from a major research laboratory describing a study that raw material, a commodity to be would have been largely unthink- used for research and commercial purposes. Embryos, of course, able when the embryo research are strikingly unfamiliar to us. debates first began in the early They lack hands and feet and 1990s. Dr. Shoukhrat Mitalipov and his colleagues at Oregon Health and Science University described Making Sense the creation of multiple Out of human embryos in the Bioethics laboratory for research purposes. Two of the

By Father Tad embryos were produced Pacholczyk by in vitro fertilization (IVF), and four more voices. Even their brains have not were generated by nuclear yet developed. They look nothtransfer or cloning, the same technique used to produce Dolly ing like what we expect when we imagine a human being. But the sheep. All six of the human they are as human as you and I; embryos were engendered for they’re simply younger, smaller the purpose of “disaggregating” and more vulnerable. Embryos them for their embryonic stem may not register with us on first cells to enable further study and glance; we may need to make a detailed comparisons of their genetic and epigenetic patterns. If concerted effort to avoid disconthose human embryos derived by necting them from what we once were ourselves, given that each of IVF or by cloning had not been us is precisely an embryo who has destroyed but instead implanted grown up. into their mothers, pregnan-

Human embryos ought to be accorded the same respect that every human being deserves, as a matter of basic human rights.

Human dignity demands nothing less. Respect for our own progeny, then, will have the obvious consequence that human embryos should not be generated in the laboratory for premeditated destruction, nor for cellular cannibalization by scientists.

Dr. Mitalipov’s laboratory, of course, is not the first to carry out human embryo-destructive research. But if he and his 25 co-authors on the paper are able routinely to create human life merely to extinguish it for research ends — and are able to chronicle their exploits in professional journals without engendering so much as an ethical hiccup from the scientific community — perhaps it really is time to ask whether our corporate practice of science is returning to its pre-Nuremberg days, when weak and vulnerable human subjects did not need to be accorded unconditional protections, particularly if expedient

and important research agendas happened to be at stake.

On the other hand, one might argue that the biomedical sciences have not yet lost their ethical footing, concluding instead that a few renegade and influential scientists have managed to hold sway over a silent majority of other researchers who actually harbor substantive ethical objections to human embryo research. In that case, we can hope that papers like the one published last week may trigger the research community to begin drawing some long overdue ethical lines, and to reign in some of their own rogue investigators. We can hope for a new measure of courage in taking the important step of joining science to ethics, and working to protect the youngest and most voiceless members of the human family from research exploitation.

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

10

July 18, 2014

Priest challenges parishioners with homework assignment feast, Deacon Paul Levesque had mentioned to Father Racine ASSONET — At the con- that he had seen a video posted clusion of Mass on the feast of by a priest on Facebook that exCorpus Christi, Father Michael plained in a light-hearted manRacine, pastor of St. Bernard’s ner how to receive Eucharist in Parish, blessed the people and a proper, reverent manner.

“Father Mike and I watched sent them forth with homework. the video and agreed that we The assignment included the viewing of a short video posted should make it available to on the parish website on how to the parish,” Deacon Levesque properly receive Holy Commu- said.

“The video was humorous, nion.

In his homily Father Racine but it was sad because the mestaught about the significance of sage of today’s society existed,” added Father Racine. “We forthe 750-year-old feast.

“I spoke about how fortunate get the beauty and the reverence we are as Catholics to have the of Christ in the Eucharist, and Eucharist available to us every we treat Communion as someday of the year and how the Eu- thing unimportant. That’s when charist strengthens and nour- I challenged the people to watch ishes us as food for the journey,” the video.”

Sponsored by a grant from said Father Racine. “I also talked about the importance of rever- the Catholic Communications ence to the Eucharist and how Campaign and presented by we receive Holy Communion Busted Halo, the five-minute video, “Sacraments 101: Euchawith love and respect.”

Earlier, in preparation for the rist,” offers an important mesBy Linda Andrade Rodrigues Anchor Correspondent

sage with a humorous approach.

“So at Mass we see people receive Holy Communion in their hands or on their tongue,” a young woman says. “Is there a certain way you are supposed to receive it?”

“Ah yes, Communion the Sacrament of the Eucharist,” says Father Dave Dwyer, CSP. “For many of us the last time we learned about it was in first grade, and who can remember that far back; so how about a refresher on how to receive this most Holy Sacrament?”

The Church gives us two options. According to Roman Missal No. 60, “The Consecrated Host may be received either on the tongue or in the hand at the discretion of each communicant.”

“Sounds simple, your choice,” says Father Dwyer. “But you may be surprised at how easy it is to get those wrong. We are not taking — snatching — or biting.”

This is where the video highlights communicants actually snatching and biting the wafers.

“We don’t take the Eucharist,” adds Father Dwyer. “Rather all we can do is make ourselves completely open or receptive to this beautiful gift of grace that God is offering us.”

St. Cyril of Jerusalem who lived in the fourth century said, “Receive Communion by making a throne — one hand under the other — ready to receive our great King.”

These beautiful words also remind us of the reverence needed when receiving the Sacrament.

As Catholics, we believe that Jesus is truly present Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist.

“We express our reverence first with a simple bow of the head as we approach the minister,” says Father Dwyer. “That’s not a full body bow or genuflection or curtsey, but it should be more than perfunctory motion.”

(Again we watch the demonstration as communicants fully bow and curtsey. Hilarious).

“Be careful not to get too close when you bow either,” he

adds. “Many people make it when they are next in line for Communion.”

The priest also offers some practical considerations when receiving the Blessed Sacrament.

“If you hold your hands like a trapdoor, there’s likely to be an accident; and if you have stuff in your hands, how much room do you have for Jesus?” asks Father Dwyer. “If your hands aren’t clean, it’s probably best to receive on the tongue that day.

In receiving on the tongue, try not to make it difficult for the minister to place it there. You really need to open your mouth and stick out your tongue. And when you receive the precious Blood of Jesus, take the cup in your hands and drink as you normally would.”

The simple words — “The Body of Christ. Amen.” — exchanged between the communicant and the priest, deacon, or extraordinary minister of Holy Communion are important.

Here we watch communicants respond with “Thank you” and “Cool.” (Silly).

“When we say, Amen, we say, “Yes truly, this is the Body of Christ,” says Father Dwyer. “I will take Jesus into my heart and into my life this week.”

Finally the priest warns not to be afraid to get close enough for the Communion minister to actually reach you, but not so close as there are personal space issues.

“Having said all that don’t be overly concerned with getting it right,” adds Father Dwyer. “You can prayerfully appreciate receiving the Lord into your life.

The whole point of our faith is that even when you’re not perfect, God’s grace makes up for that.”

According to Father Racine, the incidents that prompted the video assignment are many.

“And that’s the lack of respect that is given for the Eucharist and lack of knowledge of how to receive Communion reverently, and it’s everywhere in society,” he said. “I want to emphasize, however, the good in people, particularly parents who come to church weekly and teach the beauty of the Eucharist to their children.”

“We have received a lot of great positive feedback from parishioners who have watched this video,” Deacon Levesque added.

To view the video, visit www. stbernardassonet.org and click on the link at the top of the page.

11

July 18, 2014

Shipping in early September!

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

12

T

July 18, 2014

I just don’t understand

his past July 2 marked a significant anniversary in the history of this great country.

But I’ll bet not many people heard, saw or read about it much.

It was the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson’s signing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It was meant to eliminate segregation in public places. It was meant to end the horrific, and often violent relationship between some whites and African-Americans in this country.

Just because a law is passed doesn’t mean it will change hearts.

As a young boy growing up in the ’60s, I witnessed on television the race riots and inhumane ways many whites treated blacks in this country.

It left an impression on me that I will never forget, nor do

understand today how some I want to. As a young boy I people I know still feel that way. couldn’t understand how people I cried when Dr. Martin could be so hateful to others because of the color of their skin. Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. Others cheered.

Fifty years later, I still can’t.

I will never know what I grew up in an all-white African-Americans went neighborhood, with all my friends being white. But I would watch the news and read other media outlets and learned that black children my age didn’t have half of what I had — and I wasn’t wellBy Dave Jolivet to-do by any stretch.

These children and their parents were killed simply for being black. They were through since they were “freed” ostracized simply for being black. by President Abraham Lincoln.

They were banned from using the I will never know their suffering, and I wish I could apologize for same doors and seats as whites, all that my white “brothers and simply for being black. sisters” did to them.

I couldn’t comprehend that I had a few black friends in as a young boy. I couldn’t underhigh school, and none in college. stand how some people I knew In the work field I became good didn’t like blacks simply because friends with several black people. of the color of their skin. I don’t And you know what? They were just like me, even though they were black. Go figure.

I did feel the sting of prejudice once. While working in Providence I became good friends with a black co-worker. We played ball together, and he came over to my house to eat with De-

My View From the Stands

nise, the kids and me. We were always together at work.

Then, out of the blue, he accused me and another co-worker of saying racist things to him.

We were reprimanded at work without even a chance to give our side.

I soon found out from another black friend that he had been going to meetings where the agenda was anti-white.

I hadn’t done anything wrong, yet was treated totally unfairly. A small dose of what our African-American brothers and sisters went through — and unfortunately are still going through today.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 did change some things, but not all. This country is still inhabited by too many ignorant, arrogant white people — a race that feels entitled and I don’t know why.

Whites weren’t the first race on earth — what makes them so special?

I recently went to a Blues festival featuring mostly black Blues artists (including the legendary B.B. King, who has seen more of his share of back doors and the back of buses). Shemekia

Copeland sang a song her Blues musician father wrote and recorded in 2003, “Ghetto Child.”

She sang, “I’m just the ghetto child. Somebody, please, please help the ghetto child. I’m just the ghetto child. In this so-called, in this so-called free land.”

Too many things haven’t changed since the ’64 CRA, and that’s a shame and a crime.

Prejudice and racism don’t come naturally — they’re taught and learned. America is still the greatest country on earth, filled with millions of good, honest people — of all races, colors, creeds and nationalities. Unfortunately, the hateful heart still exists though. And as long as that heart lives, so too, will evil — in this so-called free land.

But God sees what’s happening — here and across His good earth. Evil hearts will have to answer to Him. Meanwhile African-Americans, Mexicans, other Hispanics, Native Americans, Asians and others who are “different” will continue to feel the deep, hurtful sting of hateful hearts no matter what act is signed by whom. And that makes me sorry for us all.

Dave Jolivet can be reached at davejolivet@anchornews.org.

than 10 percent increases. Twenty-four of the 84 parishes in the diocese had increases over their 2013 total.

“I believe that several factors helped to distinguish our Appeal in the mind of our donors,” continued Campbell. “First, there is a genuine respect for the work being done on behalf of the poor by the Diocese of Fall River in meeting the needs of those to whom it ministers through its various agencies and apostolates, and secondly, our efficiency, as measured by the fact that 93 cents of every dollar donated goes directly to these agencies and apostolates to address the needs of those who turn to us for assistance during their time of need. We are very proud of the sound stewardship which has always been a benchmark of the Appeal.”

Bishop George W. Coleman, as he visited throughout the diocese, was moved by the work done on behalf of the those served by the Appeal. “I am so proud of our priests and the lay leaders in every parish who advocate so strenuously on behalf of the poor,” he said. “We act, not only with professionalism and diligence, but also out of a spirit of love. This is what distinguishes our services

and the people feel that. The response of a great number of people, parishes, and businesses in the Diocese of Fall River to our annual Appeal demonstrates an admirable degree of respect for the dignity of the individual.”

Campbell expressed gratitude to the many pastors and parish workers who made the Appeal successful. “Many pastors’ stepped up to the challenge of bettering their parishes’ results and we are so thankful. I also want to thank our three teen-age speakers at this year’s kickoffs. Victoria Johnson from Apponequet High School, Kate Franklin from Bishop Feehan, and Owen Leary from Bishop Stang were inspiring examples of young people who are animated about their faith and recognize that their faith impels them to act on behalf of those in need. If they are representative of our future, then the future is bright indeed,” said Campbell.

“I want to express my thanks to so many parish assistants for doing the little things that lead to success. Preparing the mailings, analyzing initial responses and preparing follow-up mailings is laborious and time consuming but the results speak well for their efforts.”

Appeal brings in more than $4 million continued from page one

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, July 20, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Craig A. Pregana, Pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish at St. James Church, New Bedford

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, July 27, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Msgr. Stephen J. Avila, pastor of St. Anthony’s Parish in East Falmouth

highest total of donations in the 73-year history of the Appeal.

Figures for the number of donors in the 84 parishes are complete and it appears that more than 31,000 individuals and businesses were moved to support those in need in the diocese.

The focus of the Appeal proved compelling enough to inspire sacrificial giving once again. “When you consider the state of the economy nationally, and especially in southeastern Massachusetts with our two largest cities of Fall River and New Bedford continuing to experience a slow recovery from the economic downturn of recent years, it is an amazing example of a Christ-centered faith for those who do contribute and to their authentic witness to the good works made possible by the Appeal and the agencies it sponsors,” said James Campbell director of the diocesan Development Office, of which the Catholic Charities Appeal is a part.

The results of the Appeal showed amazing accomplishments across the diocese. Ten parishes throughout the region had double-digit increases over last year’s Appeal total, with one parish exceeding a 40 percent increase, and nine others with more

13

July 18, 2014

What the Supreme Court did (and didn’t) do to religious freedom

R

ecently, the Magna Carta, in one of its four surviving original copies, the one from Lincoln Cathedral, began a U.S. tour with an exhibit at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. The legal document, dating from June 15, 1215, which means it’s celebrating its 800th anniversary, begins and ends with King John guaranteeing “that the English church shall be free,“ with its rights undiminished and its liberties unimpaired. It is one of the few provisions of the Magna Carta that still remains on the English statute books.

On July 6, I visited the Magna Carta, and was struck by the coincidence that July 6 is also the anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Thomas More, once Lord Chancellor of England, who was executed for treason because he would not take an oath prescribed by Parliament that made Henry VIII Supreme Head of the Church of England. At his trial, he was overruled in his claim that the Act of Supremacy violated the Magna Carta and the king’s coronation oath. After all, the provision of the Magna Carta originally meant freedom of the Church from royal control.

Which goes to show that religious freedom, however admirable in theory, can rather easily be disregarded in practice.

Admittedly, there are close cases. The recent Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties cases, however, released by the U.S. Supreme Court June 30, the last day of its term, should not have been among them.

The case was decided 5-4, however, with Justice Samuel Alito writing the majority opinion, and Justice Anthony Kennedy, in concurrence, once again providing the swing vote.

The court’s four liberals, led by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, dissented.

The cases involved claims by closely-held family-run businesses that the requirement promulgated by the Department of Health and Human Services to implement the Affordable Healthcare Act (Obamacare), that they had to provide free coverage for their employees of four types of contraceptives that can cause abortion. While the regulations required the companies to provide free-of-charge 20 different types of contraceptives to women, these companies, owned and run by Protestants, did not object to

contraception as such, but only corporate free-speech rights in the Citizens United case, those four types of contracepwhich President Obama had tives that have a feature that denounced in his State of the would prevent implantation Union address, this question of of a fertilized embryo into the the First Amendment rights of woman’s uterus and thus cause corporations, and specifically an abortion. whether for-profit corporations Like so much involving the were legal persons, has become Affordable Healthcare Act, politicized. Even so, two of the the cause became politicized. liberal justices, Justice SteThere’s an interesting contrast with the case the court decided phen Breyer and Justice Elena Kagan, did not join that part unanimously the week prior, of Ginsburg’s dissent that said McCullen v. Coakley, in which that for-profit corporations the Supreme Court struck were not legal persons. down a Massachusetts buffer As Justice Alito pointed out zone in front of abortion clinics, because it violated freedom for the majority, “It is imporof speech. So in a case that also tant to keep in mind that the involved abortion and the First Amendment, the court was capable of speaking with one voice, legally rather than politically.

In Hobby Lobby, the court ruled that a fedBy Dwight G. Duncan eral law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, applied to the purpose of this fiction [that case, and that it covered “any corporations are legal ‘persons’] exercise of religion, whether is to provide protection for or not compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief.” human beings. A corporation The only question that govern- is simply a form of organizations used by human beings to ment could consider was not achieve desired ends. When the truth or reasonableness rights, whether constitutional or centrality of the religious or statutory, are extended to belief, but only whether the corporations, the purpose is belief were sincere, which was to protect the rights of these not doubted in the case of people.” these companies. Interestingly, Since corporations, or at RFRA had passed in 1993 by least closely-held family-run overwhelming majorities of companies, can claim to exerboth houses of Congress. This cise religion, the law requires is because religious freedom, that if their religious exercise is like free speech, is a vital part substantially burdened, then the of our legal heritage and until government must show both recently, viewed as axiomatic. that it is seeking to achieve The court said that compacompelling government internies were legal persons within ests, and that it is doing so in the meaning of RFRA, an unexceptional view dating back the least religiously restrictive way possible: a demanding ends to the Middle Ages, when the and means test. If the governChurch, as the Body or Corpus ment passes the test, the matter of Christ, was viewed as a corporation with legal personality. belongs to Caesar. If not, then it belongs to God and the reliCiting William Blackstone, gious conscience of believers. the authoritative expounder of Justice Kennedy concurred the common law at the time by saying that while free of the American founding, the contraceptives for women court recognized that there were two types of corporations, was a compelling government interest, the government had ecclesiastical and lay, and that lay corporations could also have a lesser restrictive alternative in that it could either provide eleemosynary and religious the contraceptive coverage purposes (The amicus brief itself or extend the accomI filed in support of Hobby modation HHS was already Lobby for four non-profit corporations made the same point, giving religions non-profits to for-profit closely-held compaalso citing Blackstone). nies with religious objections.

Because of the political Because he was the swing vote, firestorm that erupted several the majority had to assume for years ago when the Supreme the sake of argument that there Court ruled 5-4 in favor of

Judge For Yourself

was a compelling interest in free contraceptives, though the prevalence of exceptions in the regulation for grandfathered companies, companies with less than 50 employees, and churches and other religious organizations, makes that very questionable. If it’s so important to government, then why is it handing out exemptions like party favors to all those except for-profit companies with religious objections?

And so the majority ruled that the huge fines the families faced for not covering the abortifacient contraceptives did constitute a substantial burden on their religious practice, and that even assuming a compelling government interest in support of the regulation, the government had failed to show that cost-free access to these contraceptives was the least-restrictive means of achieving its desired goal.

Either the government could assume the cost itself, or extend the accommodation it already was giving non-profit employers with religious objections to the mandate.

The court went on to say that its ruling did not necessarily apply to vaccinations or blood transfusions, nor did it provide a shield to employers illegally discriminating on religious grounds. Those matters will have to wait for another day.

It did not take long, however, for the plot to thicken.

On July 3, the Supreme Court issued an order in the case of Wheaton College v. Burwell, Secretary of HHS, granting an emergency injunction to the Protestant college, which had religious objections to filling out the bureaucratic form whereby the school notified its insurer of the obligation to provide full contraceptive coverage. The court said that “the applicant has already notified the government that it meets the requirements for exemption from the contraceptive coverage on religious grounds.” That was sufficient, at least pending full lower court review of the merits. The court said, “this order should not be construed as an expression of the court’s view on the merits.”

Even though Justice Sonia Sotomayor had issued a similar emergency injunction protecting the Little Sisters of the

Poor from the contraceptive mandate on New Year’s Eve, she now wrote a dissent joined in by the other female justices, Ginsburg and Kagan (Interestingly, they were not joined by Justice Stephen Breyer, who had dissented in the Hobby Lobby case). While the court here divided along gender lines, it did not divide along political lines or religious ones (Breyer is Jewish, and Sotomayor is Catholic).

Justice Sotomayor claimed that this emergency injunction was distinguishable from the one she granted, and the full court confirmed, in the Little Sisters of the Poor case, which is still pending. But more tellingly, she claimed that filling out the form that notified the insurer was not a substantial burden on religious exercise, and that it was the least restrictive means of achieving the government’s compelling interest. She also said that the court seemed to be backtracking on the viability of the “accommodation” that just days earlier they had said was a lesser restrictive alternative for religious non-profits.

I was struck by how overthe-top much reaction to the Hobby Lobby case was, as if, all of a sudden, applying a law intended to protect religious freedom to the facts of a particular case were a threat to civil liberties. Justice Ginsburg, for example, calls it a “decision of startling breadth,” and demonstrates that she is opposed to RFRA, in spite of the careful hedging of the majority’s opinion. In front of the Supreme Court building the Monday that the decision was issued, there were contending demonstrators. The pro-government contingent had a slogan, “My birth control is none of your business.” Precisely. That’s what the companies were saying: Get your hand out of my pocket.

As James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal pointed out, the Freedom from Religion Foundation’s full-page ad in the New York Times asserted, quoting retired Justice John Paul Stevens, “Corporations have no consciences, no beliefs, no feelings, no thoughts, no desires.”

Taranto retorted: “Then shut up.” But of course corporations, like the people who comprise them, can be hypocritical too.

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

14

July 18, 2014

New Bedford prepares for 100th Feast of Blessed Sacrament continued from page one

migrants who, ironically enough, all shared the common and popular name of Manuel — or Manny, for short — the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament began as a spinoff of the religious festivals that were common in the villages of their home island and was first established to commemorate their safe passage to America.

“It’s based on the same feast that they have on the island of Madeira,” Jacques told The Anchor. “When the four founders came over (from the Azores), they got together here in New Bedford and they wanted to continue that tradition from their homeland and it’s continued on ever since. I don’t think they ever thought that it would last 100 years.”

Even though the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament originated as a religious celebration under the auspices of Immaculate Conception Parish, over the years it has since evolved into its own entity, completely organized, financed and supported by the Club Madeirense S.S. Sacramento.

“It started at the church — the first feast was held on the grounds (of Immaculate Conception Parish),” Jacques said.

“But then the club started buying its own property over near the church and they started building and building and made it what it is today.”

“It’s not the way it used to be,” agreed Father Daniel O. Reis, pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in New Bedford. “They used to have a procession, but many years ago it became a parade — that’s what they have now.

There are no statues, there’s nothing religious about the parade.”

But many members of the Madeira Club are parishioners and Father Reis said the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament still retains connections to its religious roots.

“We open the feast with the exposition of the Blessed Sacra-

ment and Benediction,” he said.

“They first come to the church on Thursday to begin the (fourday) feast, then they go over and officially open the feast. One of the highlights of the weekend is the Feast Mass, which is one of the main events at 11 a.m. on Sunday.”

An Azorean native himself from the island of São Miguel, Father Reis said the Portuguese immigrants have always tried to keep up these traditions from their homeland.

“We always had our own feasts in every parish in the Azores — especially during the summer,” he said. “The feast from the parish where I was born was just held last week: the feast of St. Anthony.”

Although many ethnic parishes in the United States have since abandoned such celebrations, Father Reis said they have been kept alive at Immaculate Conception Parish.

“We still have the annual Holy Ghost Feast and the feast of Señhor da Pedra,” he said. “Señhor da Pedra is a statue of Jesus similar to Señhor Santo Cristo, only it shows His full body, sitting on a rock. We still have the Señhor da Pedra procession two weeks after the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament.”

Apart from celebrating the Feast Mass and the opening day Benediction, Father Reis’ participation in “the feast” will be limited to marching in the parade on Sunday and enjoying some of the flavors from his native land.

“I’ll go over once in a while during the weekend, but I don’t stay there too long,” he said. “But I always go over and get something to eat.”

Boasting a menu of tasty ethnic food that would make any Portuguese mother proud, the 100th Feast of the Blessed Sacrament will be offering its usual assortment of traditional Portuguese cuisine such as bacal-

their customs and their culture, but also a renewal of their brothhau (codfish), caçoila (marinated erhood together.” pork), carne de espeto (barbecued Father Ferreira, who served beef ), favas (beans in a spicy as pastor at Immaculate Consauce), linguiça (grilled Portu- ception Parish in New Bedford guese sausage), and malassadas from 1979 to 1992, said he still (deep-fried Portuguese dough makes an effort to attend the coated with sugar).

Feast of the Blessed Sacrament And it wouldn’t be a Madei- every year. ran feast without vinho — tra“I was born here, but my ditional wine and sangria blends grandparents were from São imported from the vineyards of Miguel in the Azores,” Father Madeira.

Ferreira told The Anchor. “I was All of these culinary delights brought up with my grandmothwill be cooked to order and sold er and she always instilled in me on the grounds of the Madeira a love for the Portuguese lanField by volunteer members of guage and culture and I always the club or feisteros, which are, lit- appreciated that — and I still do. erally translated, “party people.”

I learned all that from her.”

Jacques said when the Club Admitting that some PortuMadeirense S.S. Sacramento was guese traditions have fallen by first incorporated in 1953 to the wayside due to a lack of paroversee the feast, you had to be ticipation, Father Ferreira said of Madeiran ancestry to join. it’s good to know some things Now anyone who volunteers have continued to thrive. or serves on one of the planning “You hold onto traditions but committees is eligible to become once you let your faith go, your a member. traditions go as well,” Father Fer“Because it’s the 100th cele- reira said. “If you forget those bration this year, everyone gets to traditions, it all goes down the be on the committee if they are drain. I’m glad they’re keeping a member,” he said. “So we have this tradition alive.”

282 festeiros who are going to be Along with the usual assorthere during the weekend.” ment of food, rides and outdoor With many family members games, “the feast” is also known offering their time and talents for showcasing nationallyto make the Feast of the Blessed known entertainment acts — Sacrament a reality, Jacques said and this year’s milestone celebrathe four-day weekend some- tion is no exception. times resembles a family reunion Performing this year alongof sorts. side traditional Portuguese folk “It’s pretty amazing — we dancers and fado singers will be have some families who have rock acts like the Gin Blossoms been involved with this feast for on July 31; Blood, Sweat and three and four generations now,” Tears featuring former “Amerihe said. “I’m a third-generation can Idol” contestant Bo Bice on member myself. My grandfather, August 1; and country artist Phil my father and myself have all Vassar on August 3. been involved. We try to instill in As it has been throughout its our kids the things that are im- 100-year-history, there is no enportant to us.” trance fee to attend the Feast of “I would like to think that the Blessed Sacrament and adthey’re just not celebrating a feast mission to all live performances that marks 100 years,” agreed Fa- is free. ther Manuel P. Ferreira, retired Throughout its history, men priest of the Fall River Diocese. of Madeiran heritage and their “It’s an ongoing feast, but it’s also families have made the feast a renewal of not only their faith, possible through their generous

contributions of time and labor.

Supporting funds are also raised through the sale of food and drink at the feast, rental space paid by vendors on the feast grounds, and promotional events and items arranged by the club.

At this year’s feast more than 100,000 visitors are expected to enter the grounds during the four-day celebration. So, for the first time this year, the feast committee has recognized that some people may not want to battle the crowds.

As such, the feast grounds will open six hours earlier on Friday, August 1, beginning at noon.

“On Friday afternoon, many feast­-goers are still at work, so parking will be easier and all of our most popular foods will be fresh out of the ovens,” said David Luco, feast vice president.

“We hope this will attract a formerly set group of people who wanted to attend the feast without the crowds.”

Jacques said they had also extended an invitation to the Bishop of Madeira to attend this year’s feast, but he had a prior commitment.

“He’s sending us a letter of congratulations to be read during the Mass that weekend,” he said.

“Someone talked about bringing back the procession for this (100th) year, but they already had all their plans set up,” Father Reis added. “They’re probably going to do something more solemn for the 100th anniversary. I’m sure there will be more people involved this year.”

Even though he’s about to helm the landmark 100th anniversary Feast of the Blessed Sacrament, Jacques remains oddly nonchalant about the whole thing.

For him, it’s just another yearly opportunity to get together with family members and friends — albeit thousands of them — and carry on the tradition of his forefathers, the same way he’s always done since first attending “the feast” as a seven-year-old with his grandfather.

“We’re planning the same feast we always have. Nothing has really changed that much,” he said. “It’s still going to be the four days, and the same thing will go on that’s gone on for the past 50 years since I’ve been here.

“For me, it’s a labor of love. I do this because of my ancestry and my love for everything Madeiran.”

For more information about the 100th annual Feast of the Blessed Sacrament, including an updated schedule of events, visit www.portuguesefeast.com.

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July 18, 2014

CABH projects in full swing during summer continued from page one

facilities. “It’s fully occupied.

All the people who came into the Romero House were considered homeless, so obviously that moved them from a bad situation into a great situation.

We have mothers with children, couples and single people living there; it’s a mix of households.”

The units range from studio apartments, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, including the two handicap units on the first floor. When someone goes from living either on the streets, couch-jumping with friends, or trying to land a bed in a shelter, coming to live in a home and having a stable place to live can change a person or family’s life dramatically.

“We took one elderly tenant who was living in an unbelievably bad situation and had nowhere to go, and came [to the Romero house],” said Allard.

“The feedback has been terrific. The condition of the housing is such that when someone moves into our housing after we do it, it’s like nothing they’ve ever lived in. We do quality work and the place looks like a hotel.”

The same ideal holds true at the St. Dominic Apartments in Fall River. A four-year project, the apartments were created during a rehab of St. Anne’s Priory residence in Fall River.

The 18 one-bedroom apartments may have retained the unique architectural features of the gothic building, but Allard made sure that every apartments was handicap accessible; “The elders who have moved into St. Dominic’s really like the fact that they’re living in a safe, clean and stable environment,” said Allard. “They’re living with others, so there’s a sense of community there, which is good for them. When you get to that age, it’s good to have company and to hang out with.”

Places like St. Dominic Apartments are a godsend for elderly who may not have children living close by, or are not necessarily close with their children, said Allard. Living in a community-type based arrangement encourages neighbors to connect with each other, creating a special closeness not found when the elderly are living alone.

“They can build relationships with the other tenants and that’s happened,” said Allard.

There are many projects in various stages currently underway. The Sister Rose House, a sober men’s shelter, is waiting for the final financing to come through for its move from downtown New Bedford to the former St. Hedwig’s Parish on Division Street, where it will be able to offer beds to women for the first time in the city. The plan includes expanded living space for guests beyond a bed in a cubicle, a patio, raised beds for a community garden, jobtraining certificate program and GED/ELL classes.

Allard said Arlene McNamee, executive director of Catholic Social Services, has been extremely successful in raising private funds for the Sister Rose House “from individuals, corporations, hospitals and banks.

They’ve all stepped up. I’ve been doing this work for 35 years, and I’ve never seen this kind of response to a project.”

Nearly $700,000 has been raised, with a huge boost from a meeting with the Fishermen’s Association; “Arlene has gone in and talked, and from that some fishermen have stepped up,” said Allard. “One fisherman wrote a check for $50,000 on the spot.”

“I think what’s motivating them is they see the need for the shelter,” continued Allard. “Like in the case of the fishermen, some fishermen are struggling.

Also, a lot of them are members of the Church and they’re doing their charitable part. Others know it because of the reputation of CABH and the work we’ve done in the community, and they put that trust in us.”

Allard said he recently accompanied Rep. Joe Kennedy in a walk-through of a newlycompleted veteran housing project in Fall River on Eastern Avenue. The six units — two are handicap accessible — will be rented out to veterans through a lottery process; “With the construction just completed,” said Allard, “we’re hoping to have people starting to move in there sometime in September.”

CABH also works on rehabbing homes and selling them to low-income, first-time homebuyers. Currently a property on Leland Street in New Bedford was redone; the two-family home is in a “great location on a dead end street, next to the schools and the highway; on the next street over there’s a cul-de-

sac of newly-built homes. It sits on a third of an acre. It had been foreclosed on and we went in there and purchased it, and did a complete rehab. This place looks beautiful,” said Allard, adding that the new owner, who was chosen through a lottery-system from those who qualified, would be taking possession soon.

There are so many misunderstandings about those who are homeless, said Allard, and there is an idea that individuals become homeless “through their own fault,” he said, “that if they really wanted to do something, they wouldn’t be homeless. I think that’s an easy way out. People can get themselves off the hook by saying that, putting the onus on the individual, then no one has to think a lot about the issues over why a person would become homeless — until it strikes home, then it becomes more real.”

There is sometimes a fear born from those misconceptions, so in the case of the Sister

Rose House and its community garden, the garden will create a link with the guests from the shelter to the neighbors; “They can get to know each other, see each other and trust each other,” said Allard. “We try to do that with all our projects, to get the tenants involved in the neighborhood community.”

Seeing each job to its completion, Allard said he enjoys seeing each project give back to the community in two ways; one by helping homeless families and individuals, and the other is sprucing up a neighborhood by rehabbing a blighted property.

“Personally, this is one of the best things I like about my job,” he said. “There aren’t that many jobs that you can say, ‘This is what we did.’ In my job, I can do that. We can take a dilapidated building and turn it around into a shining star, look at it and know that it’s going to be wellmaintained by CSS and the tenants living there will be treated with respect.”

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Youth Pages

July 18, 2014

Participants in the annual Diocese of Fall River Pro-Life Boot Camp are pictured at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Attleboro, where they attended Mass and enjoyed a breakfast prepared by parishioners from St. Vincent’s and St. John’s joint Respect Life Committee, on July 12. The boot camp was held July 11-13 at Stonehill College, with a trip to Attleboro to pray for an end to abortion and to visit patients at area nursing homes.

With grateful hearts, students of St. Mary’s School (Mansfield) Class of 2014 thanked their parents for their dedication to the school/home partnership by presenting them with flowers during their recent graduation ceremony. Principal Joanne Riley’s message encouraged students to “go out and make a difference in the world. Remember what you have learned here at St. Mary’s, as we will remember you.” Front from left: Payton Rappold, Paige Mordarski, Kiana Soares, Brianna Kelly, Sophia Pelletiere, Grace Crowley, Skyler Basara, Julie Hogan, Angela Corkery, and Macy Ried. Back row: Sophie Drager, John Dekkers, Donald Jepsen, Owen Price, Sean Birch, John Pignato, Nathanial Stewart, and Derek Dattero. (Photo by First Choice Photography)

Students from St. James-St. John School in New Bedford had a celebratory ice cream party sponsored by Hood Ice Cream. The school was being treated to the party by Hood and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for placing fifth in the New England area for the Pennies for Patients fund raiser.

The Mystic Aquarium traveling program recently came to St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro to give presentations to the science classes. The seventh- and eighth-grader’s program was entitled Marine Scientist. The fifth-graders’ program was entitled “Beluga Ecolocation.” The sixth-graders’ program was entitled “Long Island Sound.” Pictured are seventh-graders Evan Andrews and Isaiah O’Sullivan with Cailee Smith from Mystic Aquarium as they diagnose a seal bone and radiograph.

July 18, 2014

H

Youth Pages Happy anniversary

appy Anniversary to me! I just celebrated four years of Marriage with my husband (I know — we are a Hollywood success story). As I write this article I am celebrating my one-year anniversary with The Anchor so congratulations to all of you for making it through a year with me!

Anniversaries are funny things.

Some people celebrate more anniversaries than others. Some celebrate month-long anniversaries (or as I hear they are called, “monthaversaries”).

Some people celebrate Marriage or dating anniversaries. Some people celebrate friendship anniversaries (“friendaversaries”).

Last week I went out to breakfast with two friends of mine and we were planning what we are going to do next year when we celebrate our 30th anniversary of friendship. I have married friends who even celebrated the anniversary of the first text they sent to each other (between you and me, I think this is too much but to each his own on this one). And lastly some anniversaries are not happy anniversaries.

Next week is the nine-month anniversary of my dad’s passing. I will be taking his remains to his final place of rest in Mississippi. He always wanted to retire there so that is where he will retire.

I did not think I was much of an anniversary person but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how many anniversaries we really celebrate.

I love birthdays! I always have. I love to gather with all the people I love and celebrate the anniversary of the day I was born (which is July 23, if anyone wants to send me a happy birthday email).

I love to celebrate my loved ones’ birthdays.

By Amanda My mom Tarantelli and my brother hate celebrating their birthday. They hate getting older. I feel like there is no better way to say “I love you” then “Yay I am so glad that you were born.”

Our holidays are all anniversaries as well. We celebrate the anniversary of the birth of America, the anniversary of a new year, and the anniversary of the first Thanksgiving. We memorialize many anniversaries.

When we look at our faith, we celebrate many anniversaries as well. Every December 25 we celebrate the anniversary of the birth of our Savior. Every

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The official logo and prayer for World Youth Day 2016 were unveiled in the event’s host city — Krakow, Poland — by the city’s archbishop, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz.

The Vatican released the information the same day, July 3.

The logo and prayer focus on the theme chosen by Pope Francis from the Gospel of Matthew: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”

The logo, created

by Monika Rybczynska, 28, with help from Emilia Pyza, 26, features a red and blue flame of Divine Mercy flowing from a gold cross that is surrounded by a red outline of the map of Poland. A gold dot represents the city of Krakow on the map and symbolizes the youth. The red, blue and yellow colors represent the official colors of Krakow and the city’s coat of arms.

The prayer begins with a line from St. John Paul II’s homily at the dedication of the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow in 2002: “God merciful Father, in Your Son, Jesus Christ, You have revealed Your love and poured it out upon us in the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, we entrust to You today the destiny of the world and of every man and woman.”

The first part of the prayer entrusts to the Lord’s mercy all of humanity, especially the world’s young people. The second part asks God to grant to the faithful the grace of being merciful toward others, especially those who have doubts about faith or who are discouraged. The last part asks for the intercession of Mary and St. John Paul — the patron saint of World Youth Day. The Archdiocese of Krakow is the former see of St. John Paul and is home to the Divine Mercy shrine. St. John Paul had a great devotion to Divine Mercy, the recognition of God’s mercy as demonstrated in His sending His Son to die for the sins of humanity.

Pope Francis has asked young people to read the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:112, not just as a way to prepare for the 2015 diocesan celebration for World Youth Day and the international gathering with the pope in 2016, but also in order to make them a blueprint for their whole lives.

The international gathering is scheduled for July 26-31, 2016, with Pope Francis and youth from all over the world.

The last international celebration of World Youth Day, which Pope Francis celebrated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in July 2013, concluded with a Mass attended by three million people.

Be Not Afraid

Pentecost we celebrate the anniversary of the birthday of the Church.

Every spring we celebrate the anniversary of the Resurrection of our Lord. Three days prior we remember the anniversary of the death of Christ.

Every day at Mass we recognize the anniversary of the Last Supper.

Our faith and our culture put a great emphasis on anniversaries.

I think we need to be mindful when celebrating or remembering anniversaries that we need to remember the reason we have anniversaries. When we celebrate Marriage or relationship anniversaries, we should not celebrate them without thanking God for the gift of that person in our lives.

When we celebrate the anniversary of a loved one’s death, we cannot forget to pray to God for the gift of their life and for their soul. When we celebrate the anniversary of our birth, we must not forget to thank God for the gift of our own lives and for our parents who chose to say yes to life.

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While it is not something that I would do, thinking about my friend and her anniversary of their first text, made me realize that maybe it is not such a bad thing. There is so much sadness in the world; maybe we should celebrate the small everyday things as well. For those people trying to quit smoking, celebrate every day you go smoke free.

For those of us dieting, celebrate the days where you choose carrot sticks over cheesecake.

Celebrate the anniversary of a first date, a graduation, a first word, a first conversation. Anniversaries remind us that God is in every moment. He is not just there on the one-month or on the one-year or the 10-year but He is in every day, every moment in between.

Celebrate the small anniversaries as well as the big anniversaries recognizing God in all of it.

And thanks for spending the last year with me here at The Anchor. Happy anniversary to us!

Anchor columnist Amanda Tarantelli has been a campus minister at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth since 2005. She is married, a die-hard sports fan, and resides in Cranston, R.I. She can be reached at atarantelli@ bishopstang.org.

Divine Mercy is focus of official logo, prayer of World Youth Day 2016

St. Michael School in Fall River participated in the Relay For Life 2014. Many students, families, faculty, and staff participated and nearly $4,000 was raised. Shown here is the St. Michael School Angel Fish Team that took part in various fund-raising activities.

St. Vincent’s Home (Fall River) annual summer celebration was recently held on the deck of the Battleship Massachusetts. With 410 guests in attendance, more than $97,000 was raised for the youth in St. Vincent’s Life Skills Program. From left: Mechanics Cooperative Bank President and CEO Joseph T. Baptista Jr., Mechanics Cooperative Bank Executive Vice President Deborah A. Grimes, and St. Vincent’s CEO Jack Weldon.

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July 18, 2014

Local chapter of Father Peyton Guild prays for cause, mission continued from page one

Father Peyton Center for our meetings.

“In 2003 Father Peyton thought it made sense for our group to become the very first Father Peyton Guild chapter in the United States. He invited us to do so, and we graciously accepted.”

Father David Marcham, vice postulator for Servant of God Father Peyton’s sainthood cause oversees the chapters across the world. There are certain criteria that must be made by each chapter, and one of those is that they meet three times a year.

“Our chapter, which is named the Connie Harvey Chapter of the Father Peyton Guild, tries to meet on or near important dates in Father Peyton’s life,” said Melanson. “We try to meet on or around January 9, his birthday; June 3 his date of death; and September 15, the feast day of the Congregation of Holy Cross, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.”

Melanson told The Anchor that a chapter meeting usually consists of praying a set of Mysteries of the Rosary, a speaker, fellowship, and refreshments. Currently there are 25 or so members of the Harvey Chapter.

“We pray for the cause, we

pray for the mission of Father Peyton to continue to spread, we pray for those in the military, for the unborn, for the respect for life from conception until natural death, and for personal intentions. We usually have a book of intentions for members to add to and pray for. And we always pray Father Peyton’s two prayers; for his beatification, and praying for a request or favor through his intercession.”

The Easton chapter met on June 6, and invited Father Phalen as its guest speaker. Father Phalen, who had been HCFM president for 18 years was just completing that assignment before beginning his new assignment as director of novices to the Holy Cross order in the Chosita Diocese near Lima, Peru. That assignment begins in November.

“We wanted to thank Father Phalen for all his good works at Holy Cross Family Ministries and across the world,” added Melanson. “And we wanted to present him with a gift. We gave him a gift of 12 Masses to be said for the success of his new assignment, one a month for the next year. There isn’t a better gift than to have a Mass celebrated for someone.

“The Masses will be cel-

ebrated by Holy Cross Father Steve Gibson in Ireland, director of the Father Peyton Centre in Attymass, Ballina, County Mayo in that country.”

Also attending the chapter meeting was Father Marcham, who gave an update on the sainthood cause (The Anchor will feature a story on the status of Servant of God Father Peyton’s cause in an edition in the near future).

“I am impressed when reading testimonials or when I have conversations with people who know Father Peyton and the things said in the ’40s right through to his death,” Father Marcham told The Anchor. “I thanked Father John for the same consistency following

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks July 19 Most Rev. Daniel F. Feehan, D.D., Second Bishop of Fall River, 1907-34, 1934 Rev. Francis M. Coady, Pastor, SS. Peter & Paul, Fall River, 1975 Msgr. Joseph R. Pannoni, Retired Pastor, Holy Rosary, Fall River, 1992 July 20 Rev. Joao Medeiros, Retired Pastor, St. Elizabeth, Fall River, 1983 July 22 Rev. Francis L. Mahoney, Retired Pastor, Holy Name Fall River, 2007 July 23 Rev. Patrick F. Doyle, Founder, SS. Peter & Paul, Fall River, 1893 Rev. George B. McNamee, Founder, Holy Name, Fall River, 1938 July 25 Rev. Michael J. Cooke, Pastor, St. Patrick, Fall River, 1913 Rev. Raymond R. Mahoney, SS.CC., Former Pastor, Our Lady of Assumption, New Bedford, 1984 July 26 Rev. Msgr. Alfred J.E. Bonneau, P.R., Retired Pastor, Notre Dame de Lourdes, Fall River, 1974 July 27 Rev. Damien Veary, SS.CC., Former Pastor, St. Anthony, Mattapoisett, 1981 July 29 Rev. Mathias McCabe, Retired Pastor, Sacred Heart, Fall River, 1913 Rev. Charles P. Trainor, S.S., St. Edward Seminary, Seattle, Wash., 1947 July 30 Rev. Francis Kiernan, Pastor Sandwich, New Bedford, Wareham, 1838 July 31 1865, Rev. Daniel Hearne, Pastor, St. Mary, Taunton 2003, Rev. Hugh J. Munro, Chaplain, Marian Manor, Taunton

Christ all his life, with fidelity to Christ and the Blessed Mother.”

Robin Cabral, the new director of Development at HCFM was also a guest speaker at the June meeting. She spoke of the importance of Father Peyton’s ministry and the need for faithful volunteers to give of their time, talents and treasures to spread the word of Father Peyton, bringing Christ to the family.

Since the Connie Harvey Chapter began in 2003 several more Father Peyton Guild chapters have blossomed in California, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia. Another Massachusetts chapter has also started in Shrewsbury.

Melanson said that the Rosary group, begun in 1997, is still going strong. “We used to meet

weekly, but now we meet monthly because of everyone’s busy schedules,” she said. “We meet on the first Sunday of the month to keep the First Friday and First Saturday themes going. At the monthly meetings, we pray all 20 Mysteries of the Rosary.”

For more information about the Father Peyton Guild or Servant of God Father Peyton, visit hcfm.org.

Father Marcham invites those who would like to start a guild chapter or join an existing one to contact him by email vicepostulator@hcfm.org; via mail at 518 Washington Street, North Easton, Mass., 02356; or by telephone at 508-238-4095.

To join the local Connie Harvey Chapter of the Father Peyton Guild, contact Melanson at 508-631-0533 or email amelanson@hcfm.org.

Around the Diocese The Cape Cod and Attleboro Bus for Life will have its second annual summer dinner event on July 26 at 6 p.m. at St. Pius X Parish, 5 Barbara Street in South Yarmouth. Guest speakers will include Father Ron Floyd and the keynote speaker is Kevin Burke of Rachel’s Vineyard and Priest for Life. The emcee for the event is newly-ordained Father Chris Peschel. Dinner options include beef or chicken, with all proceeds supporting the 2015 March for Life bus trip. To RSVP or for more information contact Kevin Ward at fkw194722@yahoo.com or 508-291-0949.

A special celebration of the profession of Father Flavio Gillo and other La Salette Seminarians will be held during the 12:10 p.m. Mass on July 27 at La Salette Shrine, 947 Park Street in Attleboro, in the shrine church. Together, let us invoke Our Lady and the Holy Spirit to bless and enrich their lives in Her service in “Making Her Message Known” throughout the world. Thank you for your esteemed presence and prayers.

Holy Cross Family Ministries’ annual retreat for families will take place at the University of Notre Dame the weekend of August 1-3. Why not take a road trip and pray, play and spend time with your family? Here’s a weekend to totally dedicate your time to each other and to God. Enjoy a candlelight procession, beautiful Liturgies, enriching presentations on prayer, fun recreational activities and more. For complete details visit www.FamilyRosary.org/Events or contact Ann Melanson at 800-299-7729 or amelanson@hcfm.org.

The annual Good Shepherd Parish Feast will be held on August 8 and 9 from 5 to 10 p.m. and on August 10 from 12 noon to 6 p.m. at 1598 South Main Street in Fall River. The feast will feature a multi-national food tent and live entertainment including Steel Dreams on Friday, Kings Row on Saturday, and Summer School on Sunday afternoon. Activities include homemade malassadas, a Portuguese bazaar, Chinese auction, jewelry, a country kitchen, games and activities for children and teens, along with many crafters, artisans and vendors. On Sunday, August 10, the Feast Mass will be at 10 a.m., followed by a procession through the surrounding neighborhood.

A healing Mass and blessing with St. André’s relic and anointing with St. Joseph Oil will be held at St. Joseph Chapel at Holy Cross Family Ministries, 500 Washington Street, Easton, Mass., 02356, on September 14 — the Solemnity of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, with Rosary at 1:30 p.m. and Mass at 2 p.m.

St. André’s relic will be available for blessings and veneration. Don’t miss this special opportunity to bring your family and friends for a blessing. St. André Bessette was known as the “Miracle Man of Montreal” for healing thousands of the faithful at the St. Joseph Oratory in Montreal. More than two million people visit his shrine each year. For more information call Holy Cross Family Ministries at 508-238-4095 or visit www.FamilyRosary.org/Events.

St. Mary’s Parish, 106 Illinois Street in New Bedford, is hosting its annual Holiday Fair in November and is looking for crafters. The fair will be held November 8 from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and November 9 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information contact Linda at 508-995-4166.

Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River is searching for missing alumni as the school plans for its 50th anniversary to take place during the 2015-2016 school year. If you or someone you know is an alumnus of Bishop Connolly High School and is not receiving communications from the school, please send your contact information by email to Anthony Ciampanelli in the Alumni Office at aciampanelli@ bishopconnolly.com; via the school’s website at www.bishopconnolly.com; by phone at 508-676-1071 extension 333; or mail the school at 373 Elsbree Street, Fall River, Mass. 02720. Please provide the graduate’s name (including maiden name if appropriate), complete mailing address, telephone number, email address, and the year of graduation.

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July 18, 2014

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FALL RIVER — Good Shepherd Parish has Eucharistic Adoration every Friday following the 8 a.m. Mass and concluding with 3 p.m. Benediction in the Daily Mass Chapel. A bilingual holy hour takes place from 2 to 3 p.m.

Park behind the church and enter the back door of the connector between the church and the rectory.

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

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

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

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

Please use the side entrance.

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

NEW BEDFORD — St. Lawrence Martyr Parish, 565 County Street, holds Eucharistic Adoration in the side chapel from 7:30-11:45 a.m. ending with a simple Benediction NORTH DARTMOUTH — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Julie Billiart Church, 494 Slocum Road, every Tuesday from 7 to 8 p.m., ending with Benediction. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available at this time.

NORTH DIGHTON — Eucharistic Adoration takes place every Wednesday following 8:00 a.m. Mass and concludes with Benediction at 5 p.m. Eucharistic Adoration also takes place every First Friday at St. Nicholas of Myra Church, 499 Spring Street following the 8 a.m. Mass, ending with Benediction at 6 p.m. The Rosary is recited Monday through Friday from 7:30 to 8 a.m.

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

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

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

Mass.

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

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

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

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

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

Sister Patricia Custy (Sister M. Joel), R.S.M.

CUMBERLAND, R.I. — Sister Patricia Custy, formerly known as Sister M. Joel, 88, a Sister of Mercy and a former teacher of special education, died July 8, at Mount St. Rita Health Centre, Cumberland, R.I. Born Winifred Patricia Custy in Fall River, she was the daughter of the late Patrick and Winifred (Bagnall) Custy and was also the daughter of Gertrude Bunting Custy. She entered the Sisters of Mercy, Cumberland, on Sept. 8, 1943 and professed her perpetual vows on Aug. 16, 1949.

Sister graduated from Durfee High School, Fall River, and Catholic Teachers College in Providence. She did graduate work at Cardinal Stritch College and Salve Regina University, Newport, R.I. Sister Patricia’s first ministry was as a first-grade teacher at St. Joseph School, Fall River.

She then was assigned to St. Vincent’s Home, also in Fall River; Sister then ministered at Nazareth Hall in Hyannis, and then at St. Joseph, Pine Harbor, R.I. For the next 20 years, she was a special educator at Nazareth Hall, Fall River. Following

Eleanor Doherty, mother of Father James Doherty, C.S.C.

MILTON — Eleanor (Walsh) Doherty died June 17.

Beloved wife of the late James J. Doherty. She is survived by her children: Mary Doherty of Brookline; Eleanor; William Gerson of Harwich; Father James Doherty, C.S.C. of Taunton; Ann of Winston-Salem, N.C.; Elizabeth Madden of Milton; Edward of Harwich; and Catherine D’Amato of Denver, Colo.

Doherty has 13 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. She was the daughter of the late Edward and Nora (O’Halleron) Walsh and sister of Rita A. Walsh of Milton and the late Mary E. Walsh, Edward J. Walsh, Vincent P. Walsh, and the Father Paul T. Walsh.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at St. Agatha Church in Milton on July 3.

Funeral arrangements were made by Dolan Funeral Home in Milton.

Memorial donations may be made to the James J. and Mary E. Doherty Fund at T. P. O’Neill Library, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Mass.

that assignment, Sister Patricia taught at St. Mary School, New Bedford, and completed her teaching career at St. Anne School, Fall River.

In retirement she resided at Landmark Assisted Living in Fall River and then at Mount St. Rita Health Centre where she has been in residence for the last year. Throughout her life, in school and in her religious community, Sister Patricia was known to be very strong in her convictions and at the same time

had a very gentle spirit.

In addition to her religious community, Sister Patricia is survived by her sister, Shirley Sarantakis and husband Peter, a sister-in-law, Catherine Custy, and nieces and nephews, and grandnieces and grandnephews. She was also the sister of the late Kenneth Custy.

A Mass of Christian burial was celebrated on July 11 at Mount St. Rita Health Centre Chapel, Cumberland. Interment was in St. Patrick Cemetery, Fall River.

Donations in her memory may be made to Mount St. Rita Health Centre, 15 Sumner Brown Road, Cumberland, R.I. 02864, or to the Sisters of Mercy, 15 Highland View Road, Cumberland, R.I. 02864.

Sister Louise Synan, O.P.

NEWBURGH, N.Y. — Sister Louise Synan, O.P. (Sister Mary Patricia) of the Dominican Sisters of Hope, died on June 4 at the Kaplan Family Hospice Residence in Newburgh, N.Y. She was 83 years old.

The daughter of the late William E. and Louise D. McNerney Synan, she was born June 14, 1931 in Fall River.

Sister Louise entered the novitiate of the Dominican Sisters of Fall River, in December 1951, made her First Profession in August 1954, and Final Profession in August 1957. Sister Louise earned her BA in English and history from the College of the Sacred Heart, Fall River, and her MS in guidance from Bridgewater State Teachers’ College.

Sister Louise began her ministry years as an elementary teacher in 1954 at Dominican Academy in Fall River.

She moved on to New Haven, Conn., where she taught at St. Bernadette School from 195760; then to Plattsburgh, N.Y., where she taught at St. Peter’s School from 1960-63. Returning to Dominican Academy in Fall River, she taught there until 1973 until she assumed the role of principal, which she held until 1986. In the fall of 1986, she accepted a teaching position at Coyle & Cassidy High School and accepted a position in the same school as guidance counselor. In 1996 she returned once again to Dominican Academy as guidance

counselor for one year and then as principal until the academy closed in June 1999. Between 1970 and 1992, Sister Louise also served on the leadership team of the Dominican Sisters.

She was a representative of the Dominican Sisters of Hope on the Dominican Academy Alumnae Board. She was Secretary for Admissions at Coyle & Cassidy High School in Taunton (2000-2003) and personal care and religious lifestyle coordinator for the Dominican Sisters infirmary (2003-2005).

She volunteered at San Miguel Academy, Newburgh, N.Y. in her retirement.

In addition to the members of the Dominican Sisters of Hope, Sister Louise is survived by Elaine Lorenzo (sister-in-law) of Westerly, R.I., and several nieces and nephews. She is predeceased by her parents and three brothers, Edward D., Owen J. and William E. Synan.

A Mass of Christian burial was June 2 at the chapel in the Dominican Center on the campus of Mt. St. Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y. Burial followed at the Dominican Sisters’ Cemetery at Mt. St. Mary College.

Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Brooks Funeral Home at 481 Gidney Avenue, Newburgh, N.Y. Donations in Sister Louise’s memory can be made to The Dominican Sisters of Hope, Development Office, 299 North Highland Avenue, Ossining, N.Y., 10562-2327.

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

July 18, 2014

To advertise in The Anchor, contact Wayne Powers at 508-675-7151 or Email waynepowers@anchornews.org Please note that The Anchor will take its annual summer break next week. We will not publish on July 25, and the office will be closed from July 21 to July 28, reopening on July 28.

The Anchor will return to your mailbox with the August 1 edition.