08.05.11

The Anchor Diocese of Fall River

F riday , August 5, 2011

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS — Students who attended the first-ever diocesan-sponsored Pro-Life Boot Camp last month kneel in prayer outside the Four Women, Inc. abortion clinic in Attleboro during the second day of the weekend. They wore shirts that were a takeoff on the clinic’s name emphasizing they were praying “for women.”

(Photo by Marian Desrosiers)

Diocesan youth attend first-ever Pro-Life Boot Camp

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

NORTH EASTON — A dedicated group of youth from the diocese attended the first-ever ProLife Boot Camp weekend last month on the campus of Stonehill

College in North Easton.

Sponsored by the Pro-Life Apostolate of the Fall River Diocese, the event provided students with an opportunity for daily Mass, an introduction to Blessed Pope John Paul II’s “Theology of

a nice fit — Dr. Michael S. Griffin has been settling in to his position as the new superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Fall River. (Photo by Dave Jolivet)

New school superintendent to build on established foundation

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

FALL RIVER — When Dr. Michael S. Griffin was the New England Representative on the executive committee of the National Catholic Education Association, and a chairman of the six New England Association of Schools and Colleges Accreditation Visiting Committees, he

learned of the great reputation earned by the school system in the Diocese of Fall River. That was one of the attributes that led him to apply for the superintendent position left vacant when Dr. George A. Milot retired after a decade at the helm.

“The schools in the Fall River Turn to page 18

the Body,” prayer time at a local abortion clinic, and a chance to participate in service projects for families in need through Pro-Life and pro-family organizations.

“Throughout the weekend, the young people learned and experi-

enced what Jesus meant by ‘have life and have it to the full,’” said Marian Desrosiers, director of the diocesan Pro-Life Apostolate.

“Our world often presents a very different message, one that leads many into the culture of death.

Through various speakers, Pope John Paul II’s ‘Theology of the Body’ and the ‘Gospel of Life’ invited them to help rebuild a new culture of life.”

According to Desrosiers, the Turn to page 18

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

to people in their office and raise a little bit more awareness about different things. It makes our job easier and it makes it so the children in our community get the things they’re due.”

Opening the conference was Ann Cooper, an immigration law analyst who has helped develop recommendations for Congressional review, assisted individuals and employers with case problems

and researched immigration issues.

Cooper is a member of the national movement Kids in Need of Defense, and she spoke about the legal status of immigrant children who are victims of abuse, abandonment or neglect in their home countries.

KIND aims to provide competent and compassionate legal counsel to refugee and immigrant children who come to the United States Turn to page 14

When children are immigrants

NEW BEDFORD — This year’s annual Immigration Law Education and Advocacy Project conference was focused on the rights and services available to children born to parents who are undocumented immigrants. Held in the parish hall of Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Parish in New Bedford, more than 30 attorneys, social workers and other individuals who work closely with the immigrant population came to listen to four guest speakers share their stories and concerns regarding the youngest individuals who struggle to become U.S. citizens.

The goal of the conference wasn’t just to talk about the law, said attorney Tim Warden-Hertz, legal director of the Fall River Catholic Social Services.

“There are other places where you can go to get the very detailed information. We were trying to give people an overview for those who haven’t done this before and give them the ability to access more resources,” he said. “I try to reach 35 people and hopefully they’ll talk

child advocate — Nina Sá, legal director of the Immigrant Victims Representation Project at Catholic Social Services of Fall River, speaks during the recent annual Immigration Law Education and Advocacy Project conference held at Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Parish Hall in New Bedford. (Photo by Becky Aubut)

News From the Vatican

2

August 5, 2011

Documents reveal Pius XII saved 11,000 Roman Jews

all set to go — Pope Benedict XVI receives the official World Youth Day 2011 backpack from Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela of Madrid during a private meeting at the Vatican. The cardinal was the archbishop of Santiago de Compostela in 1989 when Pope John Paul II met young people there for World Youth Day. Spain is preparing to host World Youth Day in Madrid August 16-21. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters)

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OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 55, No. 29

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ROME (Zenit.org) — The direct action of Pope Pius XII saved the lives of more than 11,000 Jews in Rome during the Second World War, according to documentation recently discovered by historians.

Pave the Way Foundation representative for Germany, historian and investigative researcher Michael Hesemann, discovered a number of very important original documents in his research of the open archives of Santa Maria dell Anima Church, which is the National Church of Germany in Rome.

The U.S.-based foundation, founded by Jew Gary Krupp, announced the findings in a statement sent to ZENIT. “Many have criticized Pius XII for remaining silent during the arrest and when trains left Rome containing 1,007 Jews who were sent to the death camp Auschwitz,” Krupp stated. “The critics also do not acknowledge Pius XII’s direct intervention to end the arrests of Oct. 16, 1943.”

“New discoveries prove that Pius XII acted directly behind the scenes to end the arrests at 2 p.m., on the very day they began, but who was powerless to stop the ill-fated train,” he added.

According to a recent study by researcher Deacon Dominiek Oversteyns, there were 12,428 Jews in Rome on Oct. 16, 1943.

“Pope Pius XII’s direct action saved the lives of over 11,400 Jews,” Krupp explained. “On the morning of Oct. 16, 1943, when the pope learned of the arrests of the Jews, he immediately ordered an official Vatican protest with the German ambassador, which he knew would no doubt be fruitless.

“The pope then sent his nephew, Prince Carlo Pacelli, to meet with Austrian Bishop Alois Hudal. Bishop Hudal, head of the National Church of Germany in Rome, was by some accounts, sympathetic to the Nazi’s and had good relations with them.

Prince Carlo Pacelli told Hudal that he was sent by the pope, and that Hudal must write a letter to the German Governor of Rome, General Rainier Stahel, to demand that the arrests stop.”

Bishop Hudal’s letter to General Stahel stated: “Just now, a high Vatican source reported to me that this morning, the arrest of the Jews of Italian nationality has started. In the interest of a peaceful dialogue between the Vatican and the German military command, I ask you with urgency to give order to immediately stop these arrests in Rome and

the surrounding area. The German reputation in foreign countries requires such a measure and also the danger that the pope would openly protest against it.”

The letter was then handdelivered to General Stahel by a close confidant to Pope Pius XII, German Father Pancratius Pfeiffer, superior general of the Society of the Divine Savior, who personally knew General Stahel.

The following morning, General Stahel responded by telephone: “I forwarded the affair immediately to the local Gestapo and to Himmler personally, Himmler ordered that, concerning the special status of Rome, these arrests are to be stopped immediately.”

These events are further confirmed by the testimony obtained during the investigation of relator (high Judge) to the cause of Pius XII, Jesuit Priest Father Peter Gumpel.

Father Gumpel stated that he personally spoke to General Dietrich Beelitz, who was then liaison officer between Kesselring’s office and Hitler’s command.

General Beelitz listened in to the Stahel-Himmler telephone conversation and confirmed that General Stahel used a threat of military failure to Himmler if the arrests were to continue.

An additional document titled “The direct actions to save innumerable persons of the Hebrew nation” states that Bishop Hudal managed — through his contacts with Stahel and Colonel Baron von Veltheim — to get “550 religious colleges and institutions to be exempt from inspections and visitations of the German military Police.”

Just in one of these places, the Institute of St. Joseph, 80 Jews were being hidden.

The note also mentions the involvement “for a great part” of Prince Carlo Pacelli, the nephew of Pius XII. “The German soldiers were very disciplined and respected the signature of a high German official ... Thousands of local Jews in Rome, Assisi, Loreto, Padua etc. were saved due to this declaration.”

Michael Hesemann stated that it is obvious that any public protest by the pope when the train departed could have triggered the resumption of the arrests.

In addition, Hesemann explains that Pave the Way has on its Website the original SS order to arrest 8,000 Roman Jews, who were to be sent to the work camp at Mauthausen — to be held as hostages — not the

death camp in Auschwitz. One may speculate that the Vatican may have felt they could negotiate their release.

We have learned that it was also Bishop Hudal who was acknowledged by the Vatican as actively participating in helping some Nazis war criminals escape arrest after the war’s end.

Because of his political position, Bishop Hudal was persona-non-grata at the Vatican and in fact, was chastised in writing by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini (later Pope Paul VI), for even suggesting that Vatican help any Nazi escape arrest.

Gary Krupp, President of Pave the Way, further commented that “Pave the Way has devoted vast resources in order to obtain and post publicly all of this information for historians and scholars. Curiously, none of the most outspoken critics of Pope Pius XII, has bothered to either come to the open Vatican Archives (completely opened since 2006 up to 1939) for original study, or even accessed our restricted free Website, according to sign in sheets in Rome and our registration records.”

Krupp further commented that he has the sincere hope that the scholarly representatives of the Roman Jewish community, research original materials only steps from their homes.

“I believe they will find that the very existence today of what Pope Pius XII called ‘this vibrant community’ is because of the secret efforts of Pope Pius XII to save every life,” said Krupp. “Pius XII did what he could, while under the threat of invasion, death, surrounded by hostile forces and infiltrated by spies.”

Elliot Hershberg, chairman of Pave the Way Foundation, added: “In the service of our mission, we are committed to try to bring some resolution to this controversy, which affects more than one billion people.

“We have used our international connections and trust to obtain and post on our free restricted Website over 46,000 pages of original documents, original news articles, video eyewitness, and scholarly interviews in order to spoon-feed this documentation to the historians and scholars.

“The international publicity from this project has yielded new documentation almost weekly, which show how we have moved to eliminate the academic logjam that has existed since 1963.”

3 The International Church Pope decries terror attacks in Norway, calls for end to violence, evil

August 5, 2011

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In the wake of two terror attacks in Norway that left 76 people dead, Pope Benedict XVI called for an end to hatred and ideologies that promote evil.

“We are all deeply saddened by the serious terrorist acts,” the pope said after praying the Angelus with pilgrims at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.

The pope launched an appeal “to abandon once and for all the path of violence and avoid principles of evil.”

As a further expression of his condolences and prayers for those affected by the attacks, the pope sent a message to Norway’s King Harald V. Written on behalf of the pope by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, the pope said he was praying for all those affected by “the acts of senseless violence perpetrated in Oslo and Utoya.”

The pope asked that the country “be spiritually united in a determined resolve to reject the ways of hatred and conflict and to work together fearlessly in shaping a future of mutual respect, solidarity and freedom for coming generations.”

Explosives ripped through Norwegian government headquarters in Oslo July 22, leaving seven people dead and dozens injured. Shortly after the bombing, witnesses said a man dressed as a police officer shot at people attending a summer youth camp run by the country’s governing Labor Party on the island of Utoya. Police said at least 68 people died at the camp, but authorities were searching the island and the waters just offshore for several missing people.

At least 96 other people were injured in the twin attacks.

The suspect, 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik, has admitted to carrying out the killings but has not admitted any criminal wrongdoing. He pleaded not guilty in an Oslo court after being charged under the country’s terrorism act.

His lawyer told journalists that his client thought “it was gruesome having to commit these acts, but in his head, they were necessary.”

“He wished to attack society and the structure of society,” said the lawyer, Geir Lippestad.

The suspect is believed to have links to far-right groups and to have produced materials espousing anti-Muslim and anti-immigration views, and a desire to bring about a revolution against the government in Norway.

Meanwhile, Bishop Bernt Eidsvig of Oslo told Vatican Radio July 25 that the country was united in mourning for the victims and still in shock over the killings.

“It has affected every one of us. Despite political differences or other differences, this is a tragedy,” he said. “We do not know anything like it in our history, that 100 people are killed in cold blood. So it is creating unity, and in spite of the grief, also strength.”

Bishop Eidsvig said in the interview that people were shocked the prime suspect was Norwegian saying, “Of course in all countries, there are disturbed and misled persons. I am quite sure he is one of them. He must be mentally disturbed. I don’t think ideology is sufficient to explain this.”

The bishop said he expected a traditionally lax approach to secu-

nightmare in norway — People light candles at the sea of memorials left in front of the cathedral in Oslo, Norway. The attacks carried out by Anders Behring Breivik July 22 traumatized normally peaceful Norway, which was struggling to come to terms with its worst peace-time massacre of modern times. (CNS photo/ Fabrizio Bensch, Reuters)

rity around government buildings would be quickly reversed, saying they had already been planning to block off the street where the suspect allegedly parked a car with a bomb inside.

“In Oslo, you’ve practically been able to drive your car to the prime minister’s office or to the king’s palace if you pretended to have business there. But I think all this will come to an end fairly soon,” he said. “I think we are waking up to reality.”

President Barack Obama sent condolences to the people of Norway soon after the attacks. He

said the incidents were a reminder that the world must work together to prevent future terror attacks.

The president recalled in a statement the warm reception he received from Norwegians during his 2009 trip to Oslo to receive

the Nobel Peace Prize. “So our hearts go out to them, and we’ll provide any support we can to them as they investigate these occurrences,” Obama said.

4

August 5, 2011 The Church in the U.S. Step forward to defend DOMA from repeal, bishops’ official urges

Washington D.C. (CNA/EWTN News) ­— Following President Barack Obama’s backing of a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, an official with the U.S. Catholic bishops’ conference says Catholics and others cannot take the legislation for granted but should be prepared to defend it.

“We just can’t simply sit back. Every Catholic and every Catholic institution concerned about marriage and the family will need to be able to step forward and advocate for the Defense of Marriage Act as federal policy,” commented Dan Avila, a policy advisor to the U.S. bishops on marriage and family issues and a member of the Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage.

“We can’t just take DOMA for granted,” he told CNA on July 20. “Even if there’s no immediate prospect for this bill to race through Congress, the fact is that the pressure is building and the case is being made for the eventual demise of DOMA. All those concerned about the preservation of marriage simply need to pay attention, stay tuned, and be ready to respond.”

The Defense of Marriage Act defines marriage for the purposes of federal law and protects states which do not recognize “gay marriage” from being forced to recognize unions contracted in states which do.

On July 19, White House press secretary Jay Carney announced that President Obama supports Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) Respect for Marriage Act that would repeal DOMA. Carney said the proposal would “uphold the principle that the federal government should not deny gay and lesbian couples” the same rights as others, the Washington Post reports.

But Avila warned that a repeal would begin “a further and more intense erosion of public policy on marriage.”

“Marriage is the keystone of the common good.

When you erase from a policy on marriage any reference to sexual difference, you will force the government to ignore and to be indifferent to the absence of either the man or the woman in the most fundamental relationship that we know of.”

“W

e just can’t simply sit back. Every Catholic and every Catholic institution concerned about marriage and the family will need to be able to step forward and advocate for the Defense of Marriage Act as federal policy,” commented Dan Avila, a policy advisor to the U.S. bishops on marriage and family issues and a member of the Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage.

Marriage between a man and a woman is a “first cell” of society that helps bridge “the most fundamental difference between man and woman, in a way that no other relationship can.”

The redefinition of marriage at the federal level would have “extraordinarily broad effects,” Avila warned.

“Attempts to redefine it through statute forces anyone who disagrees to take the position of being a threat to the public good,” he explained. “The whole premise of redefining marriage is that marriage as we define it now is a form of bigotry and prejudice.

Therefore anyone who disagrees with this redefinition will be treated as equal to racists, for example.”

This premise carries “great threats” to the Catholic Church and all like-minded organizations.

Avila cited various instances where recognition of same-sex unions has affected religious liberty.

“In New York right now, long-serving faithful public servants, who have the responsibility of issuing marriage licenses, are being told that they have to

be fired if they refuse to issue licenses to same-sex couples.”

Soon after the Massachusetts Supreme Court redefined marriage, he noted, Catholic Charities in Boston was required to make legal adoptions to same-sex couples and was forced out of the adoption business.

State tax exempt status was revoked from a Methodist organization in New Jersey which indicated that they would not allow a same-sex couple to rent a beachfront pavilion for a civil union ceremony. A bed and breakfast in Vermont is now being sued after it refused for religious reasons to allow its facilities to be used for a same-sex “marriage” ceremony.

In February the Justice Department stopped defending the Defense of Marriage Act against a federal lawsuit on the grounds it believes it is unconstitutional because it discriminates against homosexuals.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) praised President Obama’s support for the repeal, calling the Defense of Marriage Act “discriminatory and cruel.”

Avila contended that claims that Defense of Marriage Act is discriminatory are not decisive arguments, because at issue is a question of whose discrimination will be adopted.

“I would dare say that Congressman Nadler and others who are advocating the repeal of DOMA are not also advocating for the repeal of the requirement that be limited to people,” he said. Many who argue for same-sex marriage have taken positions against recognizing group marriage, even as polygamists have filed suit charging that polygamy bans are discriminatory.

“Having a mom and dad in the home is best for children,” Avila stated.

The Defense of Marriage Act passed in 1996 with “overwhelming” bipartisan support and was signed into law by a Democratic president, Avila noted, while 31 states have amended their constitutions to define marriage as a union of a man and a woman.

“It still represents the will of the people in this country,” he said. “DOMA strongly affirms the consensus that marriage is between a man and a woman.”

Contraception mandate tramples religious freedom, U.S. bishops say

Washington, D.C. (CNA/EWTN News) — The U.S. bishops spoke out on August 1 against federal rules requiring nearly all new health plans, including those of most religious agencies, to cover all government-approved methods of contraception as well as surgical sterilization.

“Under the new rule our institutions would be free to act in accord with Catholic teaching on life and procreation only if they were to stop hiring and serving non-Catholics,” said Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Pro-Life committee.

“Although this new rule gives the agency the discretion to authorize a ‘religious’ exemption, it is so narrow as to exclude most Catholic social service agencies and healthcare providers,” the cardinal noted.

The guidelines, announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on August 1, offer the exemption only if a religious employer “has the inculcation of religious values as its purpose,” “primarily employs persons who share its religious tenets,” and “primarily serves persons who share its religious tenets.”

Cardinal DiNardo wondered whether the federal government may actually “intend to pressure Catholic institutions to cease providing health care, education and charitable services to the general public,” by forcing the institutions to choose between following Catholic principles on the one hand, and serving non-Catholics on the other.

In a July 22 letter to Congress, the cardinal stated that “those who sponsor, purchase and issue health plans should not be forced to violate their deeply held moral and religious convictions in order to take part in the health care system or provide for the needs of their families or their employees.”

“To force such an unacceptable choice,” he wrote,“would be as much a threat to universal access to health care as it is to freedom of conscience.”

In his remarks on August 1, the bishops’ Pro-Life chairman also objected to Sebelius’ statement that the “historic guidelines” would “help ensure women get the preventive health benefits they need.”

“Pregnancy is not a disease, and children are not a ‘health problem,’” Cardinal DiNardo said. “They are the next generation of Americans.”

He added that Catholics were “not alone in conscientiously objecting to this mandate,” which would include drugs such as the controversial drug “Ella.” While it was approved as an emergency contraceptive, the cardinal noted, Ella “can act like the abortion drug RU-486,” and “abort an established pregnancy weeks after conception.”

“The Pro-Life majority of Americans — Catholics and others — would be outraged to learn that their premiums must be used for this purpose.”

Cardinal DiNardo said it was “now more vital than ever” for Congress to pass the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act, so that “employers and employees alike will have the freedom to choose health plans in accordance with their deeply held moral and religious beliefs.”

That proposal, which nine Republican and Democratic senators introduced in the House on March 17, would amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (popularly known as “Obamacare”) to allow conscientious objectors to opt out of providing some medical treatments.

The conscience-protection proposal has made no progress in the House since its referral to a subcommittee on March 28.

August 5, 2011

The Church in the U.S.

5

Archbishop Dolan: U.S. Church had ‘highest respect, deepest affection’ for nuncio

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the apostolic nuncio to the United States since early 2006, “enjoyed the highest respect and deepest affection” of the U.S. bishops and the nation’s Catholics, said New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Archbishop Sambi, 73, died July 27 at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore apparently from complications of lung surgery performed approximately three weeks earlier.

On July 22, the apostolic nunciature in Washington announced that the archbishop had been “placed on assisted ventilation to attempt recovery of his lung function” two weeks after undergoing “a delicate lung surgery.”

“Archbishop Sambi understood and loved our nation,” Archbishop Dolan said in a statement July 28.

“He traveled throughout the country, often to attend the ordination of bishops, always eager to meet the faithful, and to share with them the affection that the Holy Father has for them and their country.”

“He was open to the media as a conveyor of truth and welcomed journalists as representatives of the American people,” the USCCB president said. “He enjoyed everything from a stroll in the park near his residence in Washington to the diplomatic functions he attended as part of his service as the representative of the Holy See to the United States.”

Archbishop Dolan recalled “the indispensable role” the nuncio had during Pope Benedict XVI’s trip to the U.S. in 2008, saying he had “enabled our entire nation to see the

wonderfully warm solicitude of the Holy Father for America.”

A veteran Vatican diplomat, Archbishop Sambi was named as papal nuncio to the U.S. by Pope Benedict XVI in December 2005.

At the time of his appointment he was the Vatican’s representative to Israel and Palestine, where he helped arrange Pope John Paul II’s historic pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2000.

After he arrived in the U.S. Feb. 24, 2006, he said in an interview with Catholic News Service in Washington that he was impressed by the vitality of U.S. Catholicism, the level of weekly Mass attendance among U.S. Catholics and their generosity toward others.

In Baltimore Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien said the impact of the late nuncio’s work in the U.S. “will be felt for many years to come.” “Both as a diplomat and a priest, Archbishop Sambi excelled through his gentle spirit and infectious goodness,” he said.

“A churchman who served us with extraordinary spiritual insights, boundless physical energy and a compassionate generosity that reached out in all generations, Archbishop Sambi has been a great model to so many of us of fullhearted love for Christ’s church and dedication to the Holy See and to the vicar of Christ,” Archbishop O’Brien said.

Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington said everyone in his archdiocese felt “a particular bond” with Archbishop Sambi because of the planning that led up to the papal visit in 2008 as well as the events themselves. He added that he personally will miss his friendship.

“We all recognize his extraor-

dinary work as the pope’s personal representative and the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, his sense of humor, his friendly and open manner, and his clear love for the church and our Holy Father.”

In a statement released in Los Angeles, Archbishop Jose H. Gomez noted all the postings Archbishop Sambi had in his 42 years of diplomatic service, and said “he had a special affection for his last posting, as papal nuncio to the United States.”

“In speaking to U.S. bishops last fall, he said, ‘Here the Lord has planted me, here I must flourish.

This has become my home, this has become my people; to put all my energies at its service is my joy and my crown.’”

Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley said the archbishop represented the pope “with distinction and great skill” and was “an engaging and dedicated leader who had great love” for U.S. Catholics.

Bishop Paul S. Loverde of Arlington, Va., recalled Archbishop Sambi as a “joyful priest who had the ability to blend a sense of humor, deep spiritual insight and a great humility in a way that drew people to him. He clearly enjoyed the vibrant faith he experienced in the United States, as we enjoyed his.”

He said the archbishop seemed happiest when encouraging young people in their faith, especially each year during the Mass for Life or when he welcomed a group of diocesan school students to the nunciature.

Archbishop John J. Meyers of Newark, N.J., called the apostolic nuncio a “strong friend and supporter” U.S. Church.

NUNCIO’S PASSING — Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, celebrates a Mass of Thanksgiving for the canonization of St. Damien of Molokai inside the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. in January 2010. Archbishop Sambi, 73, died July 27 from complications in the aftermath of lung surgery. (Anchor file photo by Jack Iddon)

He said he worked with Archbishop Sambi for many years and “relied upon his counsel and friendship” as they not only shared the joys of ministry but sought ways to help the homeless and victims of natural disasters, sexual abuse and poverty.

Among other messages of condolences was a statement from Rabbi David Rosen, international director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee, who said the archbishop’s “untimely death” is “a loss for the Catholic Church and for Catholic-Jewish relations.”

Rabbi Rosen and Archbishop Sambi worked closely together on Israel-Vatican relations and the establishment of the bilateral commission of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the Holy See, an initiative of Pope John Paul II. “Archbishop Sambi was a consummate diplomat even though he could often be unusually forthcoming for someone in his profession,” said Rabbi Rosen. “He was a genuine friend of the Jewish people and a devoted advocate of JewishChristian reconciliation and cooperation.”

Vice President Joe Biden said he “greatly appreciated Archbishop Sambi’s friendship and counsel”

and “admired his distinguished diplomatic service” for the church in the United States, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, South Asia and Europe.

Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, recalled the archbishop’s “catching smile and warm personality,” and said “above all deep fidelity to the Holy See and his kindness to all” will be greatly missed.

Miguel Diaz, U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, said in a July 28 statement that the apostolic nuncio had “a profound understanding of the rich and diverse reality of the United States” and was a “superb diplomat whose skills left a lasting impact in places where he served.”

Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity, who president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, said described Archbishop Sambi as someone who “loved the church in the United States and was loved in return.”

Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life/Gospel of Life Ministries, praised the archbishop for his efforts on behalf of the Pro-Life cause, saying, “At certain critical moments of our growth, he provided direct assistance and guidance to protect and strengthen our ministry.”

6

The Anchor Living and dying with dignity

At their June meeting, the bishops of the United States approved and published a superb statement against physician-assisted suicide entitled, “To Live Each Day with Dignity.” It was a response of spiritual shepherds to wolves in white medical jackets who pretend that the compassionate response to those who are contemplating taking their lives is to give them the drugs to do it.

The movement in favor of physician-assisted suicide — which is legal in Oregon and Washington state — thinks that present circumstances harbinger an opening to persuading legislatures to allow what they morbidly dub “the ultimate right of the 21st century,” the right to kill oneself.

With the baby boomer generation now becoming seniors, with all the concern about the rationing of health care costs, and with an increase in the number of those with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, assisted suicide proponents are trying to make a move for legalization in states they think might be friendly. “With expanded funding from wealthy donors,” the bishops noted, “assisted suicide proponents have renewed their aggressive nationwide campaign through legislation, litigation, and public advertising, targeting states they see as most susceptible to their message.”

Massachusetts is one of those targeted states. In April, drivers exiting the Callahan Tunnel in East Boston were confronted with a billboard paid for by the Final Exit Network suggesting that to die with dignity means to do so on one’s own terms. White letters against a black background proclaimed, “Irreversible illness? Unbearable suffering? Die with Dignity.” Unsuccessful attempts to pass pro-assisted suicide bills on Beacon Hill have already occurred, and there’s every reason to believe those salvos will continue. Therefore, Bay State Catholics have a special duty to be aware of the reasons why physician-assisted suicide is always false compassion, what Blessed John Paul II called, “a perversion of mercy.”

The bishops observed that many people today fear the dying process and “being kept alive past life’s natural limits by burdensome medical technology. They fear experiencing intolerable pain and suffering, losing control over bodily functions, or lingering with severe dementia. They worry about being abandoned or becoming a burden on others.” They went on to add, “Our society can be judged by how we respond to those fears” and to those who have those fears “at the most vulnerable time in their lives.”

Assisted euthanasia proponents believe that the proper way to respond is by facilitating “selfinflicted death” by giving doctors — who by profession are supposed to help save lives — the permission to kill through prescribing or administering a poisonous drug overdose when a patient requests it. People should have the right to end their lives, proponents assert, and doctors like the late-Jack Kevorkian should have the legal right to “help” them.

The Church — and many others — recognize that eliminating the person in order to eliminate the person’s suffering is not an act of compassion. Most in our society readily understand that when someone is contemplating suicide at any age of life, he or she is normally suffering from a depression triggered by very real setbacks and serious disappointments and sees death as the only path to relief. The psychological professions know that people with such temptations need help to be freed not from life but from these suicidal thoughts through counseling, support, and when necessary, medication. Most in society grasp that the compassionate response to teen-agers experiencing a crushing breakup, to unemployed fathers overwhelmed by pressure, to unhappy actresses feeling alone and abandoned, to middle-aged men devastated by scandalous revelations, is never to catalyze their suicide. Heroic police and firemen climb bridges or go out on the ledges of skyscrapers for a reason. Dedicated volunteers staff Samaritan hotlines around the clock for a reason. This same type of care and attention needs to be given by a just and compassionate society to suffering seniors or others with serious illnesses.

“The sufferings caused by chronic or terminal illness are often severe,” the bishops wrote.

“They cry out for our compassion, a word whose root meaning is to ‘suffer with’ another person.

True compassion alleviates suffering while maintaining solidarity with those who suffer. It does not put lethal drugs in their hands and abandon them to their suicidal impulses, or to the self-serving motives of others who may want them dead. It helps vulnerable people with their problems instead of treating them as the problem.”

The bishops pointed out that once we allow doctors to start to kill patients with terminal illnesses, the meaning of the medical profession changes, from one that seeks always to save lives, to one in which it is possible to end them. Once that occurs, then it’s a small step to allowing them to assist non-terminal patients in taking their lives and another to putting pressure on those who are in terminal illnesses to do family members and society a “favor” by ending their lives so that medical resources can be spent elsewhere.

“Taking life in the name of compassion,” they stated, “also invites a slippery slope toward ending the lives of people with non-terminal conditions. Dutch doctors, who once limited euthanasia to terminally-ill patients, now provide lethal drugs to people with chronic illnesses and disabilities, mental illness, and even melancholy. Once they convinced themselves that ending a short life can be an act of compassion, it was morbidly logical to conclude that ending a longer life may show even more compassion.” Moreover, this agenda “actually risks adding to the suffering of seriously ill people. Their worst suffering is often not physical pain, which can be alleviated with competent medical care, but feelings of isolation and hopelessness. The realization that others — or society as a whole — may see their death as an acceptable or even desirable solution to their problems can only magnify this kind of suffering.” Not only can this undermine health care providers’ ability and willingness to provide effective palliative care or pain management, but it can also create the conditions in which society can begin to believe that sick seniors or those with difficult illnesses are “better off dead,” that assisted suicide is an “inexpensive treatment” that will allow government or private insurers to direct medical resources to those with lives others consider more valuable. Those with illnesses and disabilities are right, the bishops said, to be “deservedly suspicious when the freedom society most eagerly offers them is the ‘freedom’ to take their lives.” To help them end their lives is “a victory not for freedom but for the worst form of neglect.”

There is an “infinitely better way” to care for the needs of people with serious illnesses,” what Blessed John Paul II called “the way of love and mercy.” This involves a “readiness to surround patients with love, support, and companionship, providing the assistance needed to ease their physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering.” It involves “effective palliative care” to treat the pain they’re undergoing. Even the Boston Globe recognized, in a June 6 editorial on the death of Dr. Kevorkian, that “with proper palliative care, patients shouldn’t need to take their own lives.”

The bishops added, “Learning how to face this last stage of our earthly lives is one of the most important and meaningful things each of us will do, and caregivers who help people through this process are also doing enormously important work. As Christians we believe that even suffering itself need not be meaningless — for as Pope John Paul II showed during his final illness, suffering accepted in love can bring us closer to the mystery of Christ’s sacrifice for the salvation of others.” To die with dignity is not to commit suicide, but to suffer and die within this mystery of the Lord’s own death.

The bishops ended their statement with a specific call to Catholics to become “messengers of the Gospel of life” and “leaders in the effort to defend and uphold the principle that each of us has a right to live with dignity through every day of our lives.” Catholics, they said, need to be on the front lines not only in preventing legislative enactment of assisted-suicide but also in caring for those with chronic or terminal illnesses. They reminded us that “the choices we make together now will decide whether this is the kind of caring society we will leave to future generations.” They summoned all of us to get together to “build a world in which love is stronger than death.”

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August 5, 2011

A worthy successor

n the months leading up to his beati- the opportunity to attend a much smaller celebration of the Mass where the cardinal fication, I wrote a series of articles once again was the main celebrant. Each about Blessed Pope John Paul II. In the Thursday morning, he would celebrate the weeks following, I received many comdaily Mass in a small chapel within the ments from folks who also had a tremenwalls of Vatican City that was open to the dous love and affection for the “Polish public. pope.” I thoroughly enjoyed listening to What was most exciting about this people from across our diocese express encounter was that Cardinal Ratzinger why John Paul II was so important to would greet people after Mass, just like a them. normal parish priest. His ability to greet On more than one occasion, however, the members of the congregation in their there were people who followed their own language with ease was certainly praise of John Paul by saying such things impressive, but what I remember most as, “I liked him much more than the new one,” or “John Paul was much better than vividly about this brief encounter was the gentle and compassionate manner Benedict.” In each case, I was quick to remind people that Cardinal Joseph Ratz- in which he greeted those who came to speak with him. Clearly, there was more inger (Pope Benedict XVI) was one of John Paul II’s closest friends and collabo- to this man than had been reported about him by the secular media. rators for 25 years. In fact, the transition The second reason that I think most from John Paul to Benedict can almost be people haven’t warmed up to Pope Benedescribed as “seamless.” dict is because of an unfair comparison to I think that perhaps there are several John Paul II. The first thing to remember reasons why many people don’t share the is that while same affeche may be tion for Pope the immediBenedict as Putting Into ate successor they had for to John Paul Pope John Paul the Deep II, his proper II, but I think identity is the that there are successor of two primary

By Father St. Peter. He reasons.

Jay Mello is the Vicar First, the of Christ on secular media earth. He holds the keys of the Kinghas unfairly portrayed Pope Benedict as dom that were given to Peter by Christ some cold, out-of-touch Church bureauHimself. crat who wants to reinstitute an inquisiThere is, however, a natural tendency tion. to make comparisons. We do it every The second reason is based on an untime a priest is moved from one parish fair comparison of personalities between to another and doesn’t do things exactly the very charismatic John Paul and the the way that his predecessor did them. introverted academic that Pope Benedict In all fairness, who could have filled the is. shoes of Pope John Paul the Great? His Because of this, I believe that some people haven’t given Pope Benedict a fair was the third longest papacy in the history of the Church, he visited more countries chance and in light of this, haven’t given than any other pope, and because of the much attention to the great contributions advances in technology he was the most that he has made to the Church during viewed pope ever. his years as a professor of theology, as a John Paul II was also 58 when he was priest, a bishop, as Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith and elected, Benedict had just days before celebrated his 78th birthday. John Paul II finally as the successor to St. Peter. was an actor and an athlete; Benedict was In the next couple of weeks, I will an academic and a professor. John Paul reflect upon these great contributions that was charismatic and even entertaining; Pope Benedict XVI has made with the hope of helping us all grow in a greater af- Benedict is more introverted and disfection and filial love for our Holy Father. creet. As different as these two men were personally, they were tremendously close With respect to the unfair media friends, and Ratzinger was one of John representation of Joseph Ratzinger as a Paul’s closest collaborators throughout his person, I must first admit that I also had a preconceived notion of him when I was pontificate.

Pope Benedict XVI, however, was well in college and was first introduced to the work he did as a theologian and as prefect aware of whom he was being asked to succeed, and he did so with great humilof the CDF. When I read theological ity and faith. This is clearly evident from articles or publications from his office, I the first words he spoke from the balcony had an image in my mind of a tall, stern of St. Peter’s Basilica on April 19, 2005, German academic with little personality, though certainly one who had great fidel- the night he was elected pope: “After the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have ity to the teachings of the Church. elected me, a simple and humble laborer It was a celebration of the Holy Mass in the vineyard of the Lord. The fact that in St. Peter’s Basilica when my preconceived notions of Cardinal Ratzinger were the Lord knows how to work and to act proven wrong. As he celebrated the Mass, even with inadequate instruments comforts me, and above all I entrust myself to I was mesmerized by his humility and your prayers.” meekness. He certainly wasn’t tall. He I was there that night in St. Peter’s didn’t come across as stern or harsh either.

Square and remember thinking to myself He was clear and articulate in his preaching, and not at all like the “pit bull” that he that God has truly blessed us, He has had been described as by those who didn’t given us a true shepherd, someone to pick up where John Paul had left off. share his fidelity to the teachings of the Father Mello is a parochial vicar at Church.

St. Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth.

In the early summer of 2004 I had

August 5, 2011

Q: Several girls around 10 years of age, on their own initiative, have asked parents to take them to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. They know their catechism and when asked why they wished to be confirmed, responded that they wanted the graces of Confirmation and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit so that they might use them to be holier. The parents made two unsuccessful attempts, through different avenues, to get their daughters into a Confirmation ceremony of the local ordinary. A pastor denied Confirmation through a parish ceremony, saying that the girls are too young (despite the parents’ informing the pastor of the canons that grant the right to the Sacrament at the age of reason). And a school official denied Confirmation through a school ceremony, saying that the girls are not enrolled nor the relative of an enrolled student. What should the parents do? — V.F., New England A: This difficulty of wellcatechized children spontaneously asking for Confirmation even though diocesan policy requires a higher age is increasing in many places.

I suggest that you request an appointment with the local bishop, or another diocesan official with the necessary authority, who can assess the children’s free desire and adequate formation and thus arrange for the Confirmation to

I

n my April column on Ruth Pakaluk’s book “The Appalling Strangeness of the Mercy of God,” I promised to continue with more on the incredible story of Ruth, who died of metastatic breast cancer in 1998 at the age of 41. The book, edited by her husband Michael, collects her letters and talks. Her writings, particularly her letters, are wonderfully eloquent, glistening with insight, humor and profound spirituality.

They document an amazing spiritual journey from disbelief to holiness through the rollercoaster of a Harvard education, marriage, motherhood and the loss of a child, Pro-Life work and terminal cancer. Ruth Pakaluk of Worcester reminds me of Flannery O’Connor of Milledgeville, Catherine of Siena, Joan of Arc, and Teresa of Avila — a woman exemplary in her Christian calling — except that Ruth was also married, with seven children and a full-time job.

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The Anchor

When youngsters request Confirmation

instructed.’ take place.

“2. Your Excellency indiIf met with resistance, the cates that the Diocesan Policy parents, or a canonist who establishing that conferral of assists them, could point out a the Sacrament is to be no earDecember 1999 protocol letlier than the sophomore year of ter from the Congregation of high school is within the right Divine Worship to an Englishspeaking (and probably Ameri- inherent in the law in light of the legislation complementary can) bishop on this theme. The letter (protocol No. 2607/98/L) was published in the congregation’s official organ, Notitiae, in 1999, pages 537-540.

By Father The case is almost Edward McNamara exactly parallel, in that the bishop denied an 11-year-old girl Confirmation because diocesan policy to can. 891 for the Conference of Bishops to which you held Confirmation in sophobelong. more year.

“With respect to Your After clarifying that the Excellency’s first point, it is Vatican congregation does no doubt true that there is a have authority to examine the pastoral judgment to be made bishop’s decision not to allow in such cases, provided that the Confirmation, the letter by ‘pastoral judgment’ one is proceeds: speaking of the obligation of “In reply to this Congregation’s decision that appropriate the Sacred Pastors to determine whether those elements steps be taken to provide for required by the revised Code of the girl’s Confirmation in the Canon Law are indeed present, near future, Your Excellency namely, that the person be baphad proposed essentially two tized, have the use of reason, arguments: be suitably instructed and be “1. Though willingly properly disposed and able to admitting that the girl is well renew the baptismal promises instructed and that her parents (cf. cann 843,1; 889,2) … it are very good Catholics, you point out that ‘instruction is not is clear this young girl has satisfied each of the canonical the sole criterion for recogrequisites for reception of the nizing the opportune time for Sacrament.”

Confirmation … this evaluIn regard to the second ation is a pastoral one which involves much more than being point, while the selection of an

older age for Confirmation is within the bishop’s right, the congregation goes on to say: “[I]t is also clear that any such complementary legislation must always be interpreted in accord with the general norm of law. As has been stated before, the Code of Canon Law legislates that Sacred Ministers may not deny the Sacraments to those who are not prohibited by law from receiving them (cf. can 843,1).

Since it has been demonstrated that the girl possesses these requisite qualities, any other considerations, even those contained in the Diocesan Policy, need to be understood in subordination to the general norms governing the reception of the Sacraments.”

After pointing out that it is the role of parents as the primary educators, and then of the sacred pastors to see that children are properly instructed, the letter adds: “Consequently, when a member of the faithful wishes to receive this Sacrament, even though not satisfying one or more elements of the local legislation (for example, being younger than the designated age), these elements must give way to the fundamental right of the faithful to receive the Sacraments. Indeed, the longer the conferral of the Sacrament is delayed after the age of reason, the greater the number of can-

didates who are prepared for its reception but are deprived of its grace for a considerable period of time.”

The letter concludes with the Vatican congregation insisting to the bishop that the girl be given the opportunity for Confirmation as soon as possible.

Since the mind of the Holy See has been made manifestly clear, most bishops or diocesan officials would be happy to arrange for the Confirmation provided the necessary conditions are met.

It is important to point out that the congregation made no evaluation as to the wisdom of this, or any other, bishop’s decision to designate an older age for Confirmation. Such a decision may be pastorally advisable taking into account the general situation of religious formation and catechesis within the dioceses.

Such a designation, however, should not be a straitjacket, that would deprive a sufficiently well-formed young member of the faithful, who freely requests it, the right to receive the Sacrament.

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

She did all this without … even if it were a prayer that complaint and with a cheerwas occasionally punctuated ful spirit, active in the life of by a tap on the shoulder, a hug her parish and diocese. Her from behind, and an entreaty eldest daughter Maria wanted from Sarah or Sophie, ‘Mom, it recounted “that when asked are you still praying?’ ‘No, I’m why her mom always smiled, Ruth replied so her wrinkles wouldn’t go down” (from Father Reidy’s homily at her funeral).

She went to daily

By Dwight Duncan Mass and Holy Communion, and prayed at length and regularly, including the Rosary.

As Father Reidy, the then-recjust normally catatonic.’” tor of the Worcester Cathedral, She loved her life as a wife put it in his funeral homily, and mother in Worcester. Even “My most enduring image of when she was President of Ruth is her at St. Paul’s. It Mass. Citizens for Life, she could be a half hour, 45 minwould always list “homemakutes, even an hour after Mass er” as her occupation when and there she’d be in front of filling out forms. that tabernacle, deep in prayer, In his encyclical “The with the God who created Gospel of Life,” Blessed her, endowed her with gifts, John Paul II made an appeal redeemed her, and strengthto women: “You are called to ened her for the challenges of bear witness to the meaning life and death. Deep in prayer of genuine love, of that gift

of self and of that acceptance of others.... The experience of motherhood makes you acutely aware of the other person and, at the same time, confers on you a particular task.” That was Ruth he was talking about, no doubt about it.

When her first son, Michael, was born, here is what she wrote: “[Michael’s] birth was one of the greatest things that ever happened to me. For the first time in my life, I had to put the needs of someone else ahead of my own preferences almost constantly throughout the day. And though it was a little difficult to get used to, I loved it.”

Being a mother, she understood the value of a child’s doddering attempts at showing affection. Indeed, she applied the lesson to her spiritual life.

Here’s Ruth on devotion to Mary: “Think of how it is when your child gives you some small gift. Don’t you

love him all the more because you see how much he wants to give you something to show you how much he loves you, and you see how powerless he is to give anything except that fact — that he loves you and wants to give you something to make that love visible? There is nothing we can give Mary, our heavenly Mother, except that same thing — we give her the fact that we want to show her our love. And she will accept the bouquets of limp dandelions and the construction-paper cards dripping with Elmer’s glue.”

Having priests and religious canonized and held up as models and intercessors for the rest of us is wonderful, but perhaps even more wonderful is to recognize the possibility of holiness in married people.

In that regard, Ruth Pakaluk is a powerful example.

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

Liturgical Q&A

More on the new book of Ruth

Judge For Yourself

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he readings for Mass for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary remind me of a couple of old sayings: 1) don’t anticipate and 2) keep your eye on the goal.

In the first reading from the first Book of Kings we hear the Lord God telling Elijah to go outside because God will be passing by. Sounds simple enough, until we start to add our own expectations as to how we expect God to make an appearance: is it in a powerful way like in a strong and heavy wind that crushed mountains and rocks? After all God is powerful; is it in an earthquake? After all God is a heavy mover and shaker; is it in fire? After all God leaves a burning impression upon us. If we believe that God will come in only any of these ways, we might miss God’s presence, and become disappointed because God

August 5, 2011

The Anchor

Keep your eye on the goal — Jesus

came in a very gentle way tossed about boat you know in a tiny whisper — and to how scary an experience hear God’s voice we need to that can be. To make things be quiet and be paying close worse, Jesus decides to apattention. So don’t anticipate proach the boat by walking how God is going to come, simply be quiet, be open and Homily of the Week pay close attention.

Nineteenth Sunday In the Gospel toin Ordinary Time day Jesus has just fed the multitude. EveryBy Father one had been filled Michael Nagle to the brim with good food and Good News. It was time to move on, to spread the word on the water. The disciples to others. Since they had to are already frightened, they cross the Sea of Galilee, the already think they are going disciples got into the boat to drown, and here comes and started for the other side.

Jesus, walking on the water, Jesus stays behind to renew like He’s out for a stroll.

His energy in prayer, to talk Well they have never seen to the Father, to listen to anything like this and so God’s voice. they thought they were seeAs it was accustomed to ing a ghost. I’m sure I would do, a squall blew up and think the same thing. And so was tossing the boat about. they cry out — in fear. The If you have ever been in a Scriptures say that at once

— right away — Jesus answers them. He says “Don’t be afraid, it’s just Me, take courage.” Well, Peter speaks up and says something to the effect — “Oh yeah, if that’s really You, call me to come to You across the water.” Jesus says “Peter, hop out of the boat and come to Me.” And of course Peter does. Once he’s out of the boat he realizes what he’s done. He gone from the frying pan into the fire. Hey, there’s wind and waves all around. He loses his focus on Jesus and starts to sink.

He cries out to Jesus, “Lord, save me!” and of course Jesus grabs him and throws him back in the boat and then says to him — “Peter, why did you doubt? You were doing so well — then you took your eyes off of

Me.” The wind calmed down, the seas subsided, all was well. The other disciples were amazed and all they could say was “You, Jesus, are the Son of God.” These readings remind me of the power of fear to distract me, to cause me to lose my focus on Christ’s presence in my life, and sink into more trouble than I want to be in.

The antidote for this is to always keep our eye on the goal. The goal of course is Jesus and listening to His voice, following in His footsteps and being His courageous disciples. May our prayers this week, may our listening to God’s Word, may our celebration of Mass and reception of the Eucharist, keep us focused, listening closely and filled with the calm that Jesus brings to our lives.

Father Nagle is pastor of Good Shepherd Parish on Martha’s Vineyard.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. August 6, Dn 7:9-10,13-14; Ps 97:1-2,5-6,9; 2 Pt 1:16-19; Mt 17:1-9. Sun. August 7, Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 1 Kgs 19:9a,11-13a; Ps 85:9-14; Rom 9:1-5; Mt 14:22-33. Mon. August 8, Dt 10:12-22; Ps 147:12-15,19-20; Mt 17:22-27. Tues. August 9, Dt 31:1-8; (Ps) Dt 32:3-4,7-9,12; Mt 18:1-5,10,12-14. Wed. August 10, 2 Cor 9:6-10; Ps 112:1-2,5-9; Jn 12:24-26. Thu. August 11, Jos 3:7-10a,11,13-17; Ps 114:1-6; Mt 18:21-19:1. Fri. August 12, Jos 24:1-13; Ps 136:1-3,16-18,21-22,24; Mt 19:3-12.

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n a 2010 interview with Catholic World Report, Cardinal Joseph Zen, S.D.B., the emeritus bishop of Hong Kong, wondered aloud about the Catholic Church’s reticence to acknowledge those who had been martyred by Chinese communists during the Maoists’ rise to power, and thereafter. “Why should we not publicize…those martyrs?” Cardinal Zen asked.

The truth demands it. Selfrespect requires it. Today’s Chinese Catholics, especially those who are persecuted for the fidelity to the Bishop of Rome, would be strengthened by the example of brave witnesses who held firm until the end, Zen suggested.

Why hasn’t Francis Ford been beatified?

arrested by the Chinese comI think Cardinal Zen is munist authorities and died in entirely right. One way to prison in 1952. Seven months start filling in the blanks of after his death, Time described China’s modern Catholic histhe drama of his last days, and tory would be to remember, and beatify, a martyred American missionary in China, Bishop Francis X. Ford, M.M. Francis Ford, the first student to come to the new Maryknoll

By George Weigel seminary when the order was founded in 1911, was one of the elements of his heroic life, first four Maryknoll missionrelying on the testimony of ers to go to China. Ordained Ford’s secretary, Sister Joan a bishop in 1935, he made a Marie Ryan, M.M., who had point of training a native clerbeen placed under house arrest gy to whom he could eventually entrust his diocese. Before after Bishop Ford had been arrested on false charges of that could happen, Ford was espionage: “Bishop Ford … though never tried, was … publicly paraded, beaten and degraded in some of the cities in which he had done mission work since 1918. In one town the mob which had gathered to beat him with sticks and stones became so fierce that Bishop Ford’s Communist guards fled in terror. Though knocked to the ground again and again, Bishop Ford did his best to walk calmly through the streets till the guards returned. In another town his neck was bound with a wet

The Catholic Difference

rope which almost choked him as it dried and shrank. Another rope was made to trail from under his gown like a tail. To humiliate them both, the communists once forced him to undress before Sister Joan Marie. She caught a glimpse of Bishop Ford for the last time in February of this year [i.e., 1952], the month the communists now say he died.

His once dark hair was completely white, his body so emaciated that another prisoner was carrying him ‘like a sack of potatoes.’

“Bishop Ford had neither courted martyrdom nor shirked it. In first arriving in China, he uttered this prayer: ‘Lord, make us the doorstep by which the multitudes may come to worship Thee, and if … we are ground underfoot and spat upon and worn out, at least we … shall become the King’s Highway in pathless China.’

In 20 years, Francis Ford increased his flock from 9,000 to 20,000, built schools, hostels and churches. When World War II came, he stuck by his post, aiding Chinese guerillas, helping downed American airmen escape, relieving war refugees in distress.”

Several years ago, I in-

quired of the relevant authorities why there was no public beatification cause for this brave man, who should certainly be Blessed Francis Ford.

It turned out that the cause had indeed been introduced, but that Roman concerns about offending the Chinese government — which, it will be remembered, pitched a fit when John Paul II canonized over 120 Chinese martyrs (all of whom had died before China’s communist period) during the Great Jubilee of 2000 — had led to the process being put on hold.

Such reticence strikes me as a demeaning, self-inflicted wound to the Church’s mission. The evangelical future of the Catholic Church in China depends in no small part on the heroic resistance of today’s Chinese Catholics to governmental attempts to turn their local Church into a subsidiary of the Chinese communist state. Those Catholics need the encouragement of a witness like that given by Francis Xavier Ford, whose blood may yet prove to have paved the King’s Highway in the Middle Kingdom.

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

August 5, 2011

Sunday 24 July 2011 — Parents Day (public law 103-362) — annually, the fourth Sunday in July y friend the late Father Terry Keenan once told me a story. Upon reporting to a new parish assignment, he called a meeting of the Parish Finance Council. Together they inspected the parish bank accounts. The task didn’t take very long. There was no savings account. The one and only checking account contained less than a thousand dollars. “What did you do?” I asked. “What could we do? We laughed out loud,” he answered.

In one financially-challenged parish to which I had been assigned, a formal installation ceremony was held to welcome me. Various symbolic items were presented: The key to the tabernacle, a Book of the Gospels, and a collection basket. The collection basket was empty. I graciously received the items and, turning the collection basket upside down, whacked the bottom. Nothing fell out, of course. What could we do? We just laughed out loud.

Local, state, and federal governments rely primarily on taxes but our parish churches

M

T

he chattering classes have focused fresh attention on what they perceive as that last definable sin: hypocrisy. They claim to have found it anew in Sarah Palin’s family, because her son — recently married — seems to have conceived his first child before exchanging vows.

This has naturally led to heated discussions over the abstinencebased programs which Mrs. Palin and other conservatives have consistently promoted.

To be sure, the Church also supports these programs, that advise young people to refrain from sexual intimacy rather than offering them salacious details about “safe sex,” how to use contraceptives, and how to procure abortions when contraceptives fail. If Mrs. Palin, as a mother, cannot convince her own children to abstain, the argument goes, then what hope do these programs have in our schools?

It must be noted from the outset that the schools’ primary goal is to reduce what they see as a civic annoyance: children giving birth to children. Their mission is to educate the young and to set them up for success in this world, and unplanned pregnancies introduce a host of complications into their already difficult task. Thus, statisti-

9

The Anchor

The Lord provides

down so that they could at least exist solely on free-will offerdo that. Guess what? The ushers ings. Some other denominaroutinely went out and passed tional churches and synagogues impose taxes on the members of the collection basket in the churchyard. At least the “outthe congregation. siders” didn’t have to pay seat While touring a synagogue money. one day, I asked the rabbi about finances. He responded that a visitation team was periodically sent out to inspect congreReflections of a gants’ homes, cars, etc.

They then imposed an Parish Priest appropriate memberBy Father Tim ship fee to belong to Goldrick the house of worship, based on perceived lifestyle. “And what if the Seat money was a custom individuals can’t pay the tax? I we adopted from some of our asked. The answer was shockProtestant neighbors. They ing to me: “There are cheaper called it pew rent. This was back congregations to which one can in the days when Massachusetts belong. Let them go to one of officially favored one particuthem.” lar denomination. The State of Remember the old “seat Massachusetts was the 12th of money?” You paid 25 cents at the door for a seat at Mass (even the original 13 colonies to sign the Bill of Rights because the if you stood). In one of my First Amendment forbade the esparish assignments, the church tablishment of a state-sponsored building was quite small and, church. in the summer, filled quickly.

At any rate, a family could Overflow worshippers had no annually rent the use of one or choice but to congregate on the more pews in the church for lawn, peaking through the open their exclusive use. If the family windows in order to participate decided not to worship some at Mass. The foundation shrubSunday, nobody else could sit bery had been thoughtfully cut

in their designated pew. The pews even had little doors to help prevent gate-crashers. The high rent district was towards the front. Poorer families could rent cheaper pews further from the sanctuary (and the wood stove). Servants could sit in the gallery. If the church needed a new roof, you were taxed by the number of pews you were renting at the time.

Ours was the last diocese in the United States to abolish seat money. When the bishop at the time asked his priest councilors how the Church might make up for the lost revenue, one wag suggested that meters be installed in all church parking lots and, when the parish needed more money, the priest could simply preach longer and folks would have to run out to feed the meter. The bishop was not amused. I meant it as a joke, not a suggestion.

If there is one thing I have learned in 40 years of ministry, it’s this: the Lord provides.

Catholics are generous, but they need financial information. An understandable annual financial report to parishioners is de ri-

gueur. People won’t give if they don’t know where their money is going.

On the other hand, it’s counterproductive if “all the priest talks about is money.”

Our primary task is to lead worship, preach and teach the Gospel, and oversee ministry.

Our first task is not to raise funds, although all of the above costs money. If a parish is to be growing, vibrant, and active, somebody has to pay for it.

And another thing, if a priest clearly identifies what task or item the church needs, he should be prepared for an overwhelming response. Be positive. Nothing succeeds like success. Avoid poor-mouthing. Do not upbraid the congregation for being stingy with their time or talent.

It doesn’t work. Instead, compliment those who come forward to meet the challenge.

I know many parishes in our diocese, including mine, struggle financially. There are only a handful of exceptions. You just do the best you can and firmly believe in your heart that, if you are truly doing God’s work, the Lord will provide.

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

cal outcomes drive policy, and sin, both as a concrete reality of the tidy work of eliminating this world and a constant elethese distractions leads them to ment in our daily lives. Finding entirely superficial solutions. ourselves unable to be good, we If they can kick the can further acknowledge our unworthiness down the street, so to speak, and and beg for the graces necessary delay the natural outcome of to choose well. sexual intimacy until after graduation, then they will have accomplished their immediate mission. At this point, education in virtue, or the larger questions of morality and sexual

By Genevieve Kineke ethics have no place in the public schools.

With this high-profile example of another child conceived out-of-wedlock, As we consider the things the advocates of contraceptionGod asks us to avoid and the based sex education can crow virtues He demands we emabout two things at once: the brace, with reflection we dispurported failure of the “absticover that each of those categonence” approach to avoiding ries of sin are ultimately harmful pregnancy and the obtuseness of to the human person, and each Christians who exhibit the exact virtue helps to fortify us in behaviors they preach against in the most difficult of circumpublic. Each of these arguments stances. Thus, while becoming is based on a bad premise. a Christian means entering into One point of confusion seems a personal relationship with the to be the erroneous notion held One who was sent to save us, it — by those outside the Christian also offers a way of life that will fold — that embracing Jesus allow that friendship to prosper as our Savior should eradicate and deepen. our sinfulness. Nothing could So this brings us to the probbe further from the truth. The lematic foundation of the abstireason people cling to Christ is nence programs in public schools. precisely because we recognize Since they are strictly designed

to limit a particular behavior — sexual activity — in a moral vacuum, they provide the students with just a sliver of truth at best. Abstinence is required of all unmarried persons, but it requires tremendous grace for perseverance. We know that God’s commandments are in our best interest, and that promiscuous behavior brings a host of physical side effects, drags young people into a maelstrom of confusing emotions and runs the risk of creating babies who will not be born to parents in lifelong unions, but those mundane reasons are strictly academic — and remarkably abstract — to passionate youngsters.

The very best of these programs and the most eloquent teachers are hobbled by stringent regulations which demand that they remain secular in their approach. Thus, while suggesting the most virtuous way of life possible for the student, they cannot fully explain the larger picture, which weaves together the nature of sin and temptation, the need for life-long discipline, and the demands of charity — nor can they offer them the concrete means of finding the graces essential to its success.

So what the secular pundits are currently batting about as hypocrisy is nothing more than the age-old story of sin and redemption. Those who love God will seek His will, and when they fail, they make amends and they try again. While there are many bad habits among us that will remain hidden, known only to God, promiscuity has an outcome that will be quite visible (if not compounded by additional sins — namely contraception and abortion). The greater good is proper human formation, but that is entirely lost when our public policy is driven by narrow, mundane goals.

Clearly, as Christians we must prioritize the need to catechize our young people on the nature of sin, how to avoid it, and how to live chastely.

Therefore, it is incumbent on us to surround them with a wider culture that supports healthy choices and facilitates virtue, and in that sense, the only amendment we could offer to improve the abstinence-based programs isn’t contraception but confession. And then the necessary graces would follow.

Mrs. Kineke is the author of “The Authentic Catholic Woman,” and blogs at feminine-genius.typepad.com. She lives in Rhode Island.

The Ship’s Log

Regimentation without grace

The Feminine Genius

10

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

SOUTH EASTON — When Virginia “Ginny” Croak injured her back while working at a teaching hospital in Boston in 1994, she thought her career in nursing was over.

Then she happened to read an article in The Anchor about a parishioner who had started a nursing ministry in Dighton and she found her new vocation.

“It was almost like a God moment, because that’s what I decided to do,” Croak said. “I had a lot of nursing experience and I approached our pastor at the time and he said another nurse had also mentioned to him about parish nursing. He hooked us up and that’s when we started the parish nursing and health ministry here at Holy Cross Parish.”

For more than 11 years now, the parish nursing and health ministry program has been thriving at Holy Cross Parish in South Easton thanks to the tireless efforts of Croak and a core group of nursing professionals.

“This opened up a whole new world for me and exposed me to a different part of nursing, which was wonderful,” she said. “I’ve grown tremendously in my faith and I’ve learned so much about how to do a spiritual assessment of a patient.”

The program eventually drew the attention of other parish nurses — some retired, others who were only working part-time — and the group eventually enrolled in and completed a nursing course sponsored by Saint Anne’s Hospital.

“We were the second graduating class and I think we’ve had the most nurses who have completed the course,” Croak said. “We still have a core group of about six or seven nurses who run various pro-

The Anchor

Parish nurse shares her God-given talent

Croak said this type of com- terrible diagnosis. I don’t know grams in the parish. We do blood pressure screenings, we munity outreach is an impor- what you do.”

Croak said her ministry ofdo home visits, and we do hos- tant part of Christ’s teaching and it’s something we all need ten extends to attending the fupital visits.” neral of anyone she’s had as a A parishioner at Holy Cross to do.

“This is what Jesus tells us patient.

Parish since 1973, Croak has “I think it’s nice when the always been involved in her to do: go out and minister to family sees us there parish since the days and gives them extra when she taught CCD support,” she said. classes to students in “A lot of parish nurssecond grade. ing is done behind “That really helped the scenes.” me to renew my own To that end, Croak faith and to help me has also become acto learn on a level tive with the parish with the students,” prayer shawl minisshe said. “I taught try — a spin off of CCD for more than the parish nursing 10 years. My two program that was daughters eventustarted by fellow ally helped me in the nurse Pat Brophy. classroom and went “Pat is also a paron to teach CCD ish nurse and she themselves. I nohas done a beauticed what a wondertiful job with the ful community Holy prayer shawl minCross was and I enistry,” Croak said. joyed being around “We have a group of them.” dedicated ladies who Even though she’s get together to pray also been involved as and knit and croa member of the parchet shawls. We’ve ish council, serving given out so many as an extraordinary we don’t even count minister of Holy them anymore. I Communion, and know we’ve made working with the St. more than 400 that Vincent de Paul Sohave been given out ciety, Croak said she Anchor Person of the Week — Virginia to Hospices, to the found her true calling “Ginny” Croak. bereaved, to hospiwhen she started the tals and anyone who parish nursing program, a growing ministry that other people,” Croak said. “We just needs some prayers to put many parishes are now adopt- as nurses have a skill and we around their shoulders. It’s ing. have a gift to help people and such a lovely ministry. We also “People sometimes misun- to guide them through an ill- make lap robes and chemo caps derstand, but we’re not a vis- ness or a diagnosis or even, un- for those undergoing chemoiting nurse agency,” she said. fortunately, the last few months therapy treatments.”

According to Father James “We don’t do procedures or of someone’s life. I know I’ve dressing changes or administer helped people to even get a Fenstermaker, C.S.C., pastor of medications. We simply give second opinion or to reassure Holy Cross Parish, Croak has advice, referrals, and provide them and show them how their been an integral part of makadvocacy and teaching. Those faith can help them cope with a ing the parish health ministry a are the four basic principles of serious illness. I feel very bad success.

“Ginny is a dedicated, comparish nursing. We are recog- for someone who doesn’t have nized by the American Nursing any faith when they’re dealing mitted member of the parish; Association.” with a catastrophic illness or a professional and thorough in

August 5, 2011

all she undertakes,” Father Fenstermaker said. “She is caring and empathetic, truly concerned with the well-being of others. The time and careful attention she gives to our parish health ministry is a true testimony to the importance she places on promoting comprehensive health of body, mind, and spirit among our parishioners.”

Croak said with such a supportive pastor and fellow parishioners, it’s easy to want to become involved and she can’t imagine others not wanting to join in.

“What joy you’re missing if you don’t get involved with your parish,” she said. “I’ve met so many wonderful people of all ages who have so much in common. We all have this wonderful faith community.

There’s nothing like the camaraderie of preparing for a parish picnic or working with the music ministry. I know it’s a busy world and we all have to work, but if you can just give an hour or two a week I think you’ll get so much back in return.”

Despite the summer doldrums, Croak’s work in the parish is never done. She recently started a CPR training course and is about to get ready for the parish Vacation Bible School later this month.

“That’s our chance to play school nurse,” Croak said.

“The little kids will come in and need a Band-Aid or the younger ones might miss their moms and we’ll sit and just talk with them. Our parish is fortunate that we have a parish nurse office.”

And some might argue that Holy Cross Parish is equally blessed to have someone like Ginny Croak.

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

August 5, 2011

P

hew! That was close. I shudder to think what summer would be like without football. Now that I see this written in print, it does look a bit odd, but it has been ages since football was a fall sport. By and large teen-age student athletes have remained “true to their school” so to speak and culminate their seasons at the annual Thanksgiving Day game, but in college and the National Football League; it’s pretty much morphed into a 24/7, 365day season.

I can’t even imagine what the perpetual NFL Network would have aired hadn’t New England Patriot owner Robert Kraft led others to see the forest through the trees, and end a labor dispute that was clearly destined to be a lose-lose situation. There are only so many classic NFL games one can take, and I already have all the Patriots’ Superbowl games on DVD. But we don’t have to worry about that now. As the dog days of August hang heavily over us, sports freaks can rejoice because football is back.

For those who don’t understand America’s obsession with the pigskin, football is our lifeblood. I don’t know why. I can’t explain it. I don’t know how it makes us better people. It’s just a phenomenon. Somewhere, somehow our minds were abducted, and we can’t get them back. We just roll with it now.

Now I get to see and read about how many millions of dollars players will be paid for switching allegiances from one team to the next ... until they do it again in a couple of years.

Now I get to see and hear players with a history of questionable antics say, “This is a new beginning for me,” as they secure their new

Catholic Church will never violate seal of Confession

Rome (CNA/EWTN News) — The regent of the apostolic penitentiary, Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti, firmly stated that the Catholic Church will never divulge the confession of a penitent.

“Ireland can pass whatever laws it wants, but it must know that the Church will never submit to forcing confessors to inform civil officials,” said Archbishop Girotti in recent statements to Il Foglio.

On July 14, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny promised to introduce a new law that would establish a prison sentence of five years for priests who do not inform civil authorities about cases of sexual abuse revealed to them in Confession.

The proposed law contradicts Canon Law, which defends the inviolability of the seal of Confession and prohibits confessors from breaking it.

Archbishop Girotti said, “A confessor who breaks the seal of Confession is subject to ‘latae sententiae’ excommunication — which is automatic — by the Church,” and therefore the proposed measure is “absurd and unacceptable.”

“Confession is a private affair that allows the penitent to amend and purify himself. The seal is a necessary condition,” he said. “This does not mean that bishops should not guard against pedophiles and, once appropriate investigations have taken place, ask these individuals to pay for their crimes,” he added.

“If they want to violate Confession, the Church’s answer will always be no.”

“All criminals have the duty to render an account of justice for the crimes they have committed, but this does not involve the confessor violating the seal. Confession is meant to cleanse the soul before God,” he recalled.

Archbishop Girotti said confessors “have the duty to absolve sins, assuming that there is sincere repentance,” and that informing civil officials, prison sentences or sanctions established by the laws of the state are another matter.

The Anchor

It’s good for all of us

team’s cap on their noggin during a welcoming press session. A new beginning until they resort to their old ways.

Now I get to see players who are supposed to be

My View From the Stands

By Dave Jolivet in the prime of their athletic lives fail conditioning tests and end up riding a stationary bike on the sidelines as their teammates knock heads in 100-degree temperatures.

Now I get to watch the NFL Network to learn the latest instead of watching makeover shows the many

11 home improvement networks to see how my house will never look.

Now I get to see and hear 90-year-old Brett Favre say that he’s considering coming out of retirement. I thought you had to actually be retired to “come out of retirement.” The man can’t keep still. I think it’s his family who is prompting him to come back every year.

Now I get to see meaningless exhibition games with players whose names I’ve never heard, and will never hear again.

Football’s back, and I love it.

Some may look at us and shake their heads. I can think of close family members, for instance. But the return of football will benefit them as well. Now that the football season has been saved, you’ll notice that the crime rate across the country will drop.

Dido you see how many players were arrested during the lock out? Now they have something to keep them out of trouble.

Football is back. And it’s good for all of us.

12

The Anchor

August 5, 2011

Archbishop Gomez: Immigration helps recover Christian origins of America

Napa Valley, Calif. (CNA) — Immigration is an opportunity and a key to American renewal because it helps bring to light the Christian, Catholic missionaries’ “heritage of holiness and service,” Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles told a gathering of Catholic leaders and laity.

“America is intended to be a place of encounter with the living Jesus Christ,” the archbishop said.

“This was the motivation of the missionaries who came here first.

America’s national character and spirit are deeply marked by the Gospel values they brought to this land.”

Archbishop Gomez presented his talk Thursday at the Napa Institute’s first annual “Catholics in the Next America” conference at the Napa Valley’s Meritage Resort and Spa in California.

The meeting brought together 300 Catholic leaders, including bishops, priests, religious and lay people, to discuss the future of the Church in an increasingly secular culture and to enjoy time for fellowship.

The archbishop said that although America was founded by Christians, it has become home to “an amazing diversity” of cultures and religions that flourishes “precisely because our nation’s founders had a Christian vision of the human person, freedom and truth.”

But America is changing because of globalization, threats from abroad, and internal cultural forces.

“We have an elite culture — in government, the media and academia — that is openly hostile to religious faith,” he continued.

“America is becoming a fundamentally different country. It is time for all of us to recognize this — no matter what our position is on the political issue of immigration.”

The Los Angeles archbishop described the country’s immigration situation as part of a set of larger questions about America’s national identity and destiny. Catholics must answer these questions “in light of God’s plan for the nations.”

The archbishop said immigrants are “people of energy and aspiration” who are “not afraid of hard work or sacrifice.”

“The vast majority of them believe in Jesus Christ and love our Catholic Church,” he said. “They share traditional American values of faith, family and community.

That is why I believe our immigrant brothers and sisters are the key to American renewal. And we all know that America is in need of renewal — economic and political, but also spiritual, moral and cultural renewal.”

The archbishop said that Americans have largely forgotten their history or only know an incomplete version that leads to “the wrong assumptions about American identity and culture.”

While the New England-focused American history tells the story of “great men” like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and also of “great documents” like the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, it is not the entire story.

“When we forget our country’s roots in the Hispanic-Catholic mission to the new world, we end up with distorted ideas about our national identity,” Archbishop Gomez said. “We end up with the idea that Americans are descended from only white Europeans and that our culture is based only on the individualism, work ethic and rule of law that we inherited from our Anglo-Protestant forebears.”

The “whole story” about America starts in the 1520s in Florida and in the 1540s in California. This story also centers on New Spain and teaches that “before this land had a name its inhabitants were being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.”

“The people of this land were called Christians before they were called Americans. And they were called this name in the Spanish, French and English tongues,” Archbishop Gomez said. “Long before the Boston Tea Party, Catholic missionaries were celebrating the holy Mass on the soil of this continent. Immigrant missionaries were naming this continent’s rivers and mountains and territories for saints, Sacraments and articles of the faith.”

“Before there were houses in this land, there were altars,” he continued. “This is the missing piece of American history. And today more than ever, we need to know this heritage of holiness and service — especially as American Catholics.”

Archbishop Gomez contended that forgetting these other roots has lead to bad episodes in history, such as the mistreatment of Native Americans, slavery, outbreaks of nativism and anti-Catholicism.

He worried that the political debates over immigration signals a new period of nativism.

However, he urged American Catholics to make their own contributions to America through the way they live their faith in Jesus Christ.

“The ‘Next America’ will be determined by the choices we make as Christian disciples and as American citizens. By our attitudes and actions, by the decisions we make, we are writing the next chapters of our American story,” he said.

feeling blue — Brainy, Papa, Grouchy, Gutsy and Smurfette appear in a scene from the movie “The Smurfs.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS/Sony Pictures)

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

“Captain America: The First Avenger” (Paramount) A complete absence of cynicism, a crackling undercurrent of dry wit, and the classical purity of its golden-age Hollywood references distinguish this comic book adaptation relating the origins story of the titular superhero (Chris Evans).

Director Joe Johnston displays a warm affinity for 1940s America as he chronicles the muscular warrior’s battle against a rogue Nazi (Hugo Weaving) and his restrained romance with a fetching scientist (Hayley Atwell). Despite some scenes of destruction, the result is, for the most part, full-on family entertainment of the old school. Much action violence, including gunplay.

The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned.

Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

“The Smurfs” (Columbia) The famous blue elves return in a 3-D mix of animation and live action as the evil wizard (Hank Azaria) who has long been their nemesis chases a sextet of them (voices of Jonathan Winters, Alan Cumming, Katy Perry, Fred Armisen, George Lopez and Anton Yelchin) from their enchanted forest village through a wormhole that leads into real-life New York City. As the pursuit continues through Gotham, the Smurfs attempt to navigate their new surroundings while coming to

the aid of an expectant couple (Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays).

Extending a franchise that originated in the 1950s with the work of Belgian cartoonist Peyo, and continued with a popular 1980s television series, director Raja Gosnell keeps the story fun for youngsters and largely free of objectionable elements, a few forays into potty humor notwithstanding. Moderately intense action sequences, mild scatological humor, some slapstick violence. The Catholic News Service classification is A-I — general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested.

Some material may not be suitable for children.

“Winnie the Pooh” (Disney) Delightfully innocent, predominantly animated adaptation in which the immortal bear (voice of Jim Cummings) finds his characteristic quest for honey interrupted by his friend Eeyore’s (voice of Bud Luckey) latest crisis — the

downcast donkey has lost his tail — and by a misunderstanding that leads all the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood (voiced, among others, by Craig Ferguson, Travis Oates and Tom Kenny) to fear that Christopher Robin (voice of Jack Boulter) has fallen into the clutches of a monster. With its messages about friendship and putting the interests of others first, directors Stephen Anderson and Don Hall’s visually and spiritually faithful screen version of incidents drawn from A.A. Milne’s classic books for children is family fare of the highest quality and widest appeal. The proceedings — though brief at an hour-and-a-quarter — are further enhanced by narration from John Cleese and songs by the husband-and-wife team of Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. The Catholic News Service classification is A-I — general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is G — general audiences.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, August 7, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Kevin J. Harrington, Pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in New Bedford

August 5, 2011

Catholics must take a stand It gets really discouraging to see and hear some of the things that are happening in our country. We have a “Transgender Equal Rights” bill being discussed on Beacon Hill. We have sex classes in our schools being given to children who have not yet reached the age of reason.

We have teachers asking children about their sex lives for a survey. Many are pushing for same-sex marriages. Now we have a priest in Boston having a special Mass to celebrate gay “culture.” What is next? Are we going to have a Mass for straight people? Where is the outcry of Catholic and Christian people? The Catholic faith does not discriminate against those with same-sex attractions but it has to make it mandatory that anyone participating in a culture celebrating practices contrary to the faith must be refused Communion before Confession and conversion. We Catholics must make a stand before it is too late or like the bathroom bill, which allows one bathroom for all, will eventually take us down the unforgiven trail.

Al Laurino Plymouth Moral consistency Thank you for your editorial in July 1 edition “Toward the True Pastoral Care of Those with Same-Sex Attractions.” It is a breath of fresh air, and one felt right across the world, here in New Zealand. You really hit the nail on the head by making the comparison with “welcoming” pro-choice activists, or contraception supporters. (Why not welcome gamblers with slot machines in the foyer?)

However, I fear that the power of contradiction is not as strong as it used to be. For instance, it is against the law in New Zealand to disturb or destroy the eggs or young of a certain poisonous spider, but abortion is OK. Many people, however, are completely unmoved by the inconsistency. In Fides et Ratio, Blessed Pope John Paul II mentioned the “principle of non-contradiction” in relation to the unity of truth being a fundamental premise of human reasoning. But many people are ignorant of the principle, somehow able to live their lives amidst pervasive contradictions — like expecting or demanding “good” behavior from children, while feeding them a non-stop diet of bad examples in media, politics, entertainment, music, TV, video games, etc. So, once again, thank you for sounding

13

The Anchor

Our readers respond the true Catholic voice, loud and clear — across the world.

Anthony A. Broad North West Bay New Zealand Thanks for series Thank you so much for your sensible articles about the “gay pride” Mass at St. Cecilia and its larger implications. I had almost despaired of ever again hearing the truth about these matters in the Church in our area. As a convert to Catholicism (from the United Methodist Church), it has been deeply disappointing to see some in the Church hierarchy “fudge” or “cover” or “hide” basic truths in an attempt to be “kind” or “correct.” This is not the first time nor the first subject; but this is the worst. It always makes me wonder if I did the right thing by converting.

I must hide behind the Eucharist and cry. I am so grateful to you for The Anchor’s speaking clearly and speaking the truth.

It reinforces my conversion.

Thank you so very much.

Freda Muldoon, Atkinson, N.H. Universal call to chastity Thank you for your editorials on the issues raised by the controversy at St. Cecilia’s Parish in Boston. You took the elephant out of the room so that all

could see the truth. We all have a universal call to chastity, as Father Tad Pacholczyk stated in his article in The Anchor on July 15.

A pure chaste life brings countless blessings. It is sad that in today’s society chastity is seen as old-fashioned and out of date.

Margaret Dittami East Sandwich America the beautiful As we marked the Fourth of July and sang “America the Beautiful,” tears filled my eyes as I thought about America then and today. Our forefathers worked so hard to make everything stable and secure in the hearts of men, giving our country a solid foundation. Yet today many are seeking to throw God out of our country. This is an insult to all the troops who died fighting for our country’s God-inspired principles. People ask where was God on 9/11, but He’s right where many of our courts and leaders have placed Him: out of our plans and purposes, out of our government, courts, schools and marriages. I sometimes wonder why we celebrate our patriotic holidays when so few believe in the sacrifices they represent.

I wrote this poem to express this message: “Each masterpiece once

St. John the Baptist

Parish Fair

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written / By the founders of our land / they knew came from Our Father / from the good Lord’s mighty hand. The Constitution we will live by / The Bill of Rights so pure and fair / Became as our Forefathers / Rested in the good Lord’s care.

They knew without a doubt that / the laws they had received / Were not of their own making / But as Our Father pleased. Indeed our great foundation / Was laid by God’s own hand / As He set aside America / To live free

by His command. How sad our land is falling / Off the hill she

once was set / To only reap a harvest / Of heartache and regret!”

Nancy Taylor South Yarmouth Letters are welcome but the editor reserves the right to condense or edit for clarity if deemed necessary. Letters should be typed, no longer than 100 words and include name, address, and telephone number. Letters do not necessarily reflect the editorial views of The Anchor.

Send letters to: The Anchor, Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722-0007, or emailed to fatherrogerlandry@anchornews.org

Shrine of The Little Flower of Jesus

JUBILEE CHURCH & SHRINE

18th Annual Feast Day Celebration First Shrine To St. Theresa In America

Sunday, August 21, 2011 Rain or Shine

10:30 AM ~ Prayers at Holy Stairs 11:15 AM ~ Stations of the Cross 12:00 PM ~ Lunch and Praise & Worship Concert 1:30 PM ~ Outdoor Living Rosary 2:45 PM ~ Procession with St. Theresa 3:00 PM ~ Chaplet of Divine Mercy Solemn Feast Mass - Main Celebrant: Father James T. Ruggieri (Pastor of St. Patrick Church, Providence, R.I.) Blessing with St. Theresa’s Relic ~ Continuous video showing of St. Theresa’s life ~

• Gift Shop • Food & Refreshments • Canopy - Covered benches at outdoor altar • Bus Groups welcome • Priests are invited to concelebrate the Feast Mass • Bring Chairs and umbrellas for the sun

For information please call (401) 568-0575 • (401) 568-8280 E-mail: shiirl@cox.net www.SaintTheresaShrine.com

Shrine is located at intersection of Rt. 102 and Rt. 7 in Nasonville (Burrillville), R.I. (near Wright’s Farm Restaurant)

14

The Anchor

The harmful effects of pornography

By Christine M. Williams Anchor Correspondent

BOSTON — When Shelley Lubben first shot a pornographic film, she had no idea how much harm years in that industry would inflict. She had already spent six years in sex work as a prostitute and stripper. She said life on the streets, running from law enforcement, almost killed her, so she turned to pornography, which is legal in California.

“I was burned out. I was a drug addict, an alcoholic. I was already damaged before I went into porn and then porn just damaged me more,” she said. “The porn industry lures in an already-damaged population.”

After less than two years, Lubben contracted two sexually-transmitted diseases, one incurable, and attempted suicide. She says that Christ saved her from the porn industry.

Lubben has written a book, “Truth Behind the Fantasy of Porn: The Greatest Illusion on Earth” and starred in a documentary film about her story, “Out of Darkness.”

The War on Illegal Pornography Coalition used that film as part of their awareness campaign from July 11 to August 7. Their campaign, meant to bring the harms of pornography to light, focuses on four topics: pornography addiction, harms to children, links to sex trafficking and violence against women. It also provides resources to those who are trapped in a life of pornography or pornography addiction.

Most of the more than 25 indi-

vidual events consist of webinars, live conferences on the Internet.

Just two weeks in, thousands of people from 47 countries had participated.

The coalition and its website, www.pornharms.com, were both launched early last year. There are already more than 100 member organizations, including the directing member, Morality in Media.

A Jesuit priest, Father Morton A. Hill, S.J., founded Morality in Media 49 years ago.

The Massachusetts Family Institute, which has been promoting the awareness campaign, noted that America has become “pornified,” citing a new television show set to hit airwaves in the fall.

NBC plans to show “The Playboy Club,” which will feature Hugh Hefner, “a known pornographer and exploiter of women.”

MFI and the Family Research Council released a report in 2009, “The Effects of Pornography on Individuals, Marriage, Family and Community.” The 28-page document evaluated the impact of pornography by gathering information from many peer-reviewed studies by social scientists, clinical psychologists, biologists and neurologists.

“Pornography use is a pathway to infidelity and divorce,” the report said. “Pornography eliminates the warmth of affectionate family life, which is the natural social nutrient for a growing child.”

Research found that of those addicted to sex, which typically involves viewing pornography, 40 percent lose their spouse, 58 percent suffer severe financial losses

and about 30 percent lose their job.

Lubben said God healed all the damage inflicted by her life in sex work and the abuse she suffered in her childhood. She ended up getting married and having children.

“I was a Christian when I was little. I went to Sunday school, so I still knew God, and I believed in Jesus. I just didn’t believe in His trust or love for me,” she said. “I believed many lies about myself.

I believed that I was ugly and unlovable.”

Ten years later God called upon her to share her shocking and redeeming story, she said.

“God told me to go back. He told me to tell my story, and, of course, I threw a fit. I was like ‘I’m not talking about porn. All my kids are in Christian school and my husband has a really good job.’ I was like a soccer mom,” she said.

But Lubben answered God’s call and has spent the last several years working against the multibillion dollar industry. She has helped more than 50 men and women escape from porn as she did through her foundation, the Pink Cross Foundation.

“I want men and women to know what they are contributing to every time they click on a porn site. They are contributing to sex trafficking,” she said. “They are contributing to the destruction of human lives.”

That message is backed by Dawn Hawkins, executive director of Morality in Media, who added that there has been a decrease in prosecution of hardcore pornographers, which has lead to a rise in the most deviant kind of porn.

Over the last 20 years, the waning consequences have led violent porn to become mainstream. Since President Barack Obama took office, no producer or distributor of illegal adult material has been prosecuted.

Hawkins said of the campaign, “I was at church, and it just came that we need to do a national awareness, education effort to help people understand the devastating effects of pornography.”

In the digital age, most pornography is viewed on the Internet.

There are 4.2 million pornographic websites, 420 million pornographic web pages and 68 million daily search engine requests.

Hawkins said Morality in Media and its partner organizations seek to counteract that online presence. That is why most of the campaign’s events are online and why the groups are using social media to combat porn. Their Facebook page gained more than 50,000 supporters in just over a year.

She called the present a “critical time” in the effort to stem the tide against the rise of pornography and its harmful effects.

August 5, 2011

When children are immigrants continued from page one

without parents or a legal guardian.

It was created in response to the lack of attention to the more than 8,000 children who come to the U.S. annually, often alone, and are placed in custody.

The majority of these children face immigration proceedings without a lawyer, said Cooper, so KIND acts as a “hands-on mentoring program so that these kids don’t have to go through this alone.”

Children coming into the country bring their own personal story of despair, said Cooper. The journey itself is fraught with danger.

“It can take over a month and the children take any method they can,” said Cooper, saying the children resort to begging for food, walking for weeks or being packed into trailers for days without food or water. As they are making their way, they will fall victim to rape, kidnapping, assaults or even worse.

Cooper related stories of children using a “coyote” or person paid to smuggle them across the border, only to see the coyote sell them into a child sex trafficking ring. It’s no wonder that when a child does make it across and is then seized by authorities that they are predisposed to mistrusting adults and are often reluctant to disclose sensitive information like possible physical or sexual abuse.

“They may not understand the big words like ‘court’ or ‘confidential’ but once they realize you’re on their team, they are incredibly grateful,” said Cooper.

Intense screenings are held to make sure children are eligible to stay and once a child had been accepted into the system, Cooper said that everyone works hard to keep them in the country.

“Children with viable claims are being deported,” said Cooper.

“Many kids have a right under federal law to stay here.”

Nina Sá works as the legal director of the Immigrant Victims Representation Project at Catholic Social Services of Fall River, and she spoke of how her clients, regardless of age, will seek asylum due to a “well founded fear of persecution” based on religion, political affiliations, race, nationality or membership of a certain social group.

There are cases where a parent will leave his or her children in the home country to work in the United States thinking they will make a lot of money and then be able to provide a better living environment for the children. He or she will arrive only to struggle, and the children left at home are sometimes left to their own devices on making ends meet.

“These kids don’t know that what’s happened to them is abuse,” said Sá, of those children who, without anywhere to turn, will take the risky journey to try and find

their mother or father in the U.S. The asylum appeal is made tougher when a child is asked if they are afraid to go home and, without knowing any better, a child will say no.

Judges have been known to take into consideration the child’s age and level of comprehension, said Sá, but it’s also up to the lawyers to do their research and evaluate the evidence.

Carol Hernandez, housing program coordinator for Catholic Social Services of Fall River, spoke of the benefits that immigrants may receive once they are approved for a temporary stay, and while they go through the legal immigration proceedings.

The youngest presenter, Sidia Escobar, spoke from personal experience. Born in Mexico, she grew up with her grandmother until she joined her mother in the U.S. when she was 10 years old. It wasn’t until she was a sophomore in high school and interning for a corporation that she learned about her immigration status. When her mother confirmed it, Escobar didn’t realize just what that meant for her until she tried to apply for financial aid two years later and was denied.

“I was very stressed out and sad because I wanted to continue my education,” she said.

She eventually got her green card and is currently studying at UMass Boston. Her personal struggle spurred her on to become active for the rights of undocumented students and is a vocal volunteer organizer with Student Immigrant Movement.

“She has played a brave role in pushing for change,” said WardenHertz. “Sidia’s story is impressive and inspiring, and somewhat indicative of what the difficulties are for people looking to move on with education despite status issues.”

The feedback after the conference was positive and while the conference itself was informative, the most common question was where should people go when they have clients who need help?

“People wanted to know what other resources are available in their area,” said Warden-Hertz. “I think part of the problem is, there really aren’t any. One of the issues we struggle with is that for immigration services, we’re the only notfor-profit provider in southeastern Massachusetts.”

Warden-Hertz said Catholic Social Services will continue to work hard by getting the word out regarding the latest information on immigration through the annual conferences, local organizations and parishes frequented by immigrants.

“We do our best and we do what we can,” he said. “The more people who know the rights, the better it can be.”

August 5, 2011

15

The Anchor

walking the walk — Thirty-two parishioners of Our Lady of Cape Parish in Brewster recently participated in the Housing With Love Walk. They walked 6.5 miles from Brewster to Yarmouth Port raising more than $12,000 for the homeless and those needing housing assistance on Cape Cod. Among the walkers were the four priests of the parish: Fathers Bernard Baris, John Dolan, Paul Belhumeur, and Flavio Gillio, S.J. Father Baris, the pastor, has participated in the walk for the past 13 years. Father Flavio, a Jesuit, is spending eight weeks at Our Lady of the Cape giving courses in Scripture. He resides in Jerusalem. Parishioner Phyllis Biron has organized the walk for many years.

summer on the cape — The 14th annual St. Mary’s Education Fund Gala recently took place at the Willowbend Country Club in Mashpee. In the 2010-2011 academic year alone, the St. Mary’s Education Fund provided $610,000 in partial tuition aid to more than 740 students in Catholic schools throughout the Fall River Diocese including those on Cape Cod. The Summer Gala was first held in 1998 and has become an important source of financial support for the fund. From left: general chairmen, Roy Jarrett and Jayne Plank with Bishop George W. Coleman. (Photo by Bruce McDaniel)

Our Lady’s Monthly Message From Medjugorje July 25, 2011

Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina

summer soiree — St. Vincent’s Home in Fall River recently held its Annual Summer Celebration, raising funds for youth in the Life Skills Program, grossing $65,730. There were 324 guests on board the Battleship Massachusetts for the event. From left: Joseph T. Baptista Jr., president and CEO of Mechanics Cooperative Bank, and Deborah A. Grimes, executive vice president Retail Banking and HR at Mechanics Cooperative Bank, display awards they received from John T. Weldon, CEO of St. Vincent’s, for dedication and service to the children, youth and their families served by the home.

“Dear children! May this time be for you a time of prayer and silence. Rest your body and spirit, may they be in God’s love. Permit me, little children, to lead you, open your hearts to the Holy Spirit so that all the good that is in you may blossom and bear fruit one hundred fold. Begin and end the day with prayer with the heart.

“Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Spiritual Life Center of Marian Community One Marian Way Medway, MA 02053 • Tel. 508-533-5377 Paid advertisement

catholic social services FALL RIVER 1600 BAY ST. P.O. BOX M SO. STA. 508-674-4681

lourdes pilgrimage — From left, Michael and Donna McManus, parishioners of Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville, recently traveled to Lourdes, France as guests of the Order of Malta. With them is Thomas Duffy of Centerville, a caregiver in the Malta Auxiliary.

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Youth Pages

16

standing room only — Workers remove seats in the Bishop Feehan High School auditorium as part of renovations taking place during the summer break in time for the commencement of the Attleboro school’s 50th anniversary this fall. New student lockers are replacing the 560 original lockers installed in 1961, when the school opened. The new lockers will be three inches deeper with additional shelving. The school is upgrading its auditorium by installing air conditioning and replacing the original 1,200 seats. Additionally, traffic flow and safety will be enhanced with the installation of several new granite curbs and additional parking spaces.

August 5, 2011

home sweet home — First-grade students at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro learned all about what it takes to build a house. The students read the book “A House Is a House For Me” and then made their own journal with 10 different ideas of what constitutes a house. They could choose anything except a house for a person. They had to draw pictures to go along with what they came up with. Finally, they had to build a house and write out the steps that took them to do the project. Proudly showing that “a pond is a house for sea creatures” is Taylor Harrison. The students got to show off their projects to all the first-grade parents.

Send us your summer youth program photos!

We’d love to run them. schools@anchornews.org

better late than never — A recent “butterfly release” was held after Mass at Annunciation of the Lord Parish in Taunton. As part of curriculum at the parish school, Our Lady of Lourdes, children were involved in raising butterflies. The butterflies were a bit late in hatching and they missed the last school days so pastor Father Timothy P. Driscoll presided over the release after a recent Mass. hard work rewarded — The yearly Msgr. Arthur G. Considine Scholarships are given to high school graduates of St. Mary’s Parish in South Dartmouth, provided by the parish Ladies Guild. Pictured with pastor Father John A. Gomes are this year’s recipients from left: Tyler J. Oliver, Morissa Vital, Katrina Machado, and Alexander Souza.

Youth Pages

August 5, 2011

P

17

Those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

lease, someone say it ain’t so!

I flicked on the TV this weekend and what did I hear? “… at the Kohl’s back to school sale!” “… only at back to school sale at Sears!”

Please, someone say it ain’t so!

It is difficult to believe that August is already under way and back to school ads and sales are running rampant on TV, online and at the retailers. But it seems like yesterday that we were just telling our young people at their graduations to stay safe this summer and be open to the possibilities the future holds. Now, everyone is preparing to “get back into the swing of things.”

This summer, there were opportunities for us to be lazy … at the beach. … by the pool. … on the boat.

told it could very well be … in the park. hazy in the August heat). In The list goes on. This fact, the young people will summer, there were many be crazy with the joy and hot and hazy days. And excitement of not only celwhile the dwindling days of ebrating their Catholic faith summer will be filled with with others from countries the craziness of shopping for back-to-school clothes, supplies, etc. for thousands of youth and their families as they spend their time at Kohl’s, Sears

By Crystal Medeiros or even Staples, mid-August will get a little crazier for like Albania, Bangladesh, several young people from our diocese and for hundreds South Korea and many more, of thousands (if not millions but also excited at the opportunity to see the Holy Father. once the final tally is given) This pilgrimage experiof young adults from across ence will not be confined the globe. These faith-filled to the short time spent in young people are about to Madrid. Rather, it is experiembark on the pilgrimage to World Youth Day in Madrid, ence that stays with each individual for years to come.

Spain!

The theme for this year’s Once these young people land in Madrid, their summer World Youth Day is from days will be anything except Paul’s letter to the Colossians “Planted and built up lazy (although I have been

in Jesus Christ, firm in the faith” (2:7). Beginning on August 17, pilgrims will attend morning catechetical sessions based on the overall World Youth Day theme.

On Wednesday, pilgrims attend sessions centered around “Firm in the Faith,” will invite young people to come closer and examine the gift of faith “which illumines and transforms the lives of the believers because we are made for God,” according to the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” (153155). Thursday’s theme, “Established in Jesus Christ,” will invite young people to build a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and to build their lives with Him on solid foundations. While Friday’s catechesis, “Witnesses to Christ in the World,” will remind the young pilgrims that every baptized person is called to mission and that

young people must be active participants in this new era of missionary activity, particularly among their peers.

As the pilgrims from our diocese and from around the world board planes or other modes of transportation next week to come together for this extraordinary event, I ask that you keep all of us in prayer. Whether young or old, pray for our safe travels. Pray for a conversion of heart and/or spirit. Pray for those pilgrims in attendance who are persecuted for their faith in their home countries.

Pray for the Holy Father.

Pray for those who could not attend World Youth Day but wished to. And pray that all pilgrims come into a closer relationship with Christ and return to their homes on fire with the Good News.

Crystal is assistant director for Youth & Young Adult Ministry for the diocese. She can be contacted at cmedeiros@dfrcec.com

NEW YORK (CNS) — Young people have been “beaten down” by a message from media and pop culture that anything goes in their personal and public life, but what they really want is to “make a difference in the world,” a former fashion model told a New York audience.

“Contrary to popular belief, all youth want a challenge, they seek purpose and meaning in life; not an easy way to success or opting out of personal and public responsibility,” said Leah Darrow. “They desire to make a difference, to put their mark on this great world.”

Darrow made the remarks at the Church of the Holy Family during an event sponsored by the Holy See’s permanent observer mission to the United Nations.

It was timed to coincide with the U.N. General Assembly’s highlevel meeting on youths July 2526.

Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, the Vatican’s U.N. nuncio, hosted the event at Holy Family, which drew about 90 people, and he introduced the day’s lineup of five young speakers.

Besides Darrow, now on the staff of Catholic Answers, the panelists were Megan Knighton, of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association; Kristan Hawkins, executive director of Students for Life of America; and Jeffrey Azize and Michael Campo of Grassroots Films.

The archbishop noted that last

August when U.N. SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon launched the U.N. International Year of Youth, he said “youth should be given a chance to take an active part in the decision-making of local, national and global levels.”

“I could not agree more. We are here today so that your voice can be heard,” Archbishop Chullikatt said.

“Youth have a significant part to play in the transformation of our society. Ours is a culture of instant gratification, of quick fixes and the quick buck,” he continued. “Today’s culture is eager to sideline God to the margins of our society.

“So, yours is the duty to transform culture following Gospel values and principles which are meant to renew societies as well as individuals. This is the challenge that lies before you.”

In her remarks, Darrow said after she appeared on a popular TV show “America’s Next Top Model,” she made fashion modeling her career.

But she ended up creating an image of herself “that lacked authenticity and inner freedom.”

“It was clear that I was being employed for my body parts rather than my person,” she said.

“I wanted to become one of the models on the billboards in Time Square — this had been reiterated to me by the culture that it would bring fulfillment, purpose and happiness,” Darrow said.

One project Knighton discussed showed how — through the efforts of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association — women and girls are being empowered in Ethiopia and their community life is improving with access to clean water and other resources.

The association serves the churches and peoples of the Middle East, Northeast Africa, India and Eastern Europe. Its programs focus on formation of clergy, religious and lay leaders, building religious and social service institutions, caring for children in need and humanitarian aid and development.

“We are standing between what has been and what could be and we have a moral responsibility to create a just society which includes a just distribution

of services ... and a world where we act out of genuine respect and love for the poor and vulnerable by listening to them and taking seriously what they have to say and what they need,” Knighton explained.

She told the young people in the audience that “every good deed, no matter how seemingly small, makes a difference.”

Azize and Campo described the work of Grassroots Films, based in Brooklyn. The independent film company aims “to make a change in society, to plant the seed and (promote) the idea that things can be different from what the world says,” Campo told Catholic News Service later.

“We all know that culture is affected by film, and our desire is to make great films that not only entertain but enlighten,” he added.

Be Not Afraid

Former model says young people want more than what pop culture offers But when her picture was finally “hoisted up on that billboard,” she realized “the deepest desires of my heart — to be known, to be loved and to fulfill my purpose in life — were not met.”

Her family and community have helped her make better decisions, she said, and now she is fulfilling her “greater purpose in life — to love my neighbor and help humanity in not falling.”

“Young people desire to be seen as good, as persons with dignity and worthy of our love and support. I pray that we, the adults, rise to the challenge of loving them and offering resources and ambassadors who uphold their inherent dignity so that they may live in the spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity.”

Hawkins and Knighton discussed the work of their organizations and showed videos highlighting their mission.

Hawkins said Students for Life of America’s goal is to “abolish abortion in our lifetime” and “equip the Pro-Life generation” on U.S. college campuses.

The abortion industry wanted the mothers of today’s college students to have an abortion, she said, and now expects these students to support legal abortion.

In the last four years, she said, her organization has helped start more than 330 new student Pro-Life organizations and has trained more 5,000 students to become Pro-Life activists.

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

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

18

The Anchor

Diocesan youth attend first-ever Pro-Life Boot Camp continued from page one

first evening of the three-day weekend began with a candlelight procession and a litany for the unborn, followed by a holy hour, eucharistic adoration and an opportunity for the Sacrament of Reconciliation inside Stonehill College’s Chapel of Mary.

“We were blessed to have seven priests present and two seminarians,” Desrosiers said. “Our young people quickly learned that the conversion of one’s own heart and mind is a vital step in order to defeat the culture of death.”

Among the speakers during the weekend were Monica Ashour, MTS, M.Hum., the co-founder of the Theology of the Body Evangelization Team, Inc., and former campus minister at St. Mary’s Catholic Church of Texas A&M University; and seminarian Jack Schrader of the Fall River Diocese, who kicked off the weekend with a personal witness talk about his vocation on Friday afternoon.

“We were blessed with terrific speakers,” said Jean Arsenault, assistant director of the diocesan Pro-Life Apostolate. “Jack Schrader, a seminarian from this diocese, gave the first talk and

was an inspiration to all. We were, indeed, blessed to be surrounded by so many with open and generous hearts as well as the young people who attended, became friends, and became more committed to Pro-Life principles and went home with an enthusiasm to promote the exciting message that was delivered over the weekend.”

One of the more powerful moments of the event, according to Desrosiers, was when the entire group boarded a bus on Saturday to pray and publicly witness outside the Four Women Abortion Clinic in Attleboro.

“For me, this was one of the most profound and moving moments of the weekend,” Desrosiers said. “For more than one hour, these young people prayed and sang, on their knees, in a public park across the street from the clinic. They experienced firsthand the deep love, compassion and mercy of Jesus for the unborn, their mothers and, yes, even the employees who work at the clinic. I saw so many tears streaming down faces as they prayed and hoped that all could be set free from the lies of

Around the Diocese 8/6

The Catholic Women’s Club of Christ the King Parish, Mashpee, will sponsor a Summer Fair tomorrow from 3 to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 12 noon in the parish hall. The fair will feature a sought-after collection of Theme Baskets, a Farmer’s Market stocked with plants, herbs, flowers and fresh vegetables, and a Bake Shop offering a wide assortment of delicious treats. New this year will be the Porch, Patio and Garden Décor area where shoppers can select a variety of outdoor items. For more information, call 508-477-7700.

8/6

A Day with Mary will take place tomorrow from 8 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. at Our Lady of Assumption Parish, 76 Wianno Avenue, Osterville.

It will include a video instruction, a procession and crowning of the Blessed Mother along with Mass, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and an oppurtunity for Reconciliation. There is a bookstore available during breaks. For more information call 774-328-8394.

8/6

Father Roger J. Landry will lead a comprehensive introduction to Blessed Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Holy Family Parish Center, 438 Middleboro Avenue, East Taunton. To register email imagodeihfp@gmail.com or call 508-538-1TOB (1862).

8/8

The third speaker in the Summer Catholic Reflections series will be Dr. Sandra Keating, who will present “The Road Toward Understanding Relations Between Catholics and Muslims 10 Years After 9/11” on August 8 beginning at 7 p.m. in the parish hall of Christ the King Parish in Mashpee. Dr. Keating is an associate professor of Theology at Providence College and the author of “What Catholics Should Know about Islam.” The series is sponsored by St. Anthony’s Parish, East Falmouth; Our Lady of Victory Parish, Centerville; and Christ the King Parish, Mashpee. All the talks in the series are available in video form on the Christ the King Parish webpage at www.christthekingparish.com.

8/11

The Divorced and Separated Support Group sponsored by the diocesan Family Ministry Office will conclude its video series on “Marriage Breakdown” with a showing of “Outreach” on August 11 beginning at 7 p.m. Group discussion will follow. The group meets in the parish center of St. Julie Billiart Parish, 494 Slocum Road, North Dartmouth.

Parking is available to the left of the church. For more information call 508678-2828, 508-993-0589 or 508-673-2997.

8/13

Holy Family-Holy Name School in New Bedford will sponsor its fourth annual “Cool Jazz on a Hot Summer Night” concert to benefit the educational programs at the school. The event will take place August 13 at the Wamsutta Club, 427 County Street, New Bedford. Charles Langford’s Quintet featuring special guest vocalist Lori Dow will be providing entertainment from 8 to 11 p.m. For tickets or more information, call Celia Fix or Jim Oliveira at 508-993-3547.

8/29

The Diocesan Health Facilities’ Fourth Annual Golf Classic will be held August 29 at LeBaron Hills Country Club in Lakeville.

All proceeds will benefit the more than 900 individuals served in the skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers and community programs within the Fall River Diocese. For details on the various levels of participation available, call 508-679-8154. More information and printable registration forms are available online at www.dhfo.org

the culture of death and experience ‘life to the full.’

“When they sensed a child had or would lose its life, a great sadness prevailed. I was awestruck by the strength and power of their public witness in such a loving and compassionate manner. They were not afraid to go into the darkness and bear witness to the love of Jesus Christ. Our Church stood strong that day in the public square.”

Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Borges, a parishioner at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in New Bedford and one of the co-planners for the event, said the trip to the Attleboro abortion clinic had a noticeable impact on attendees.

“The experience of praying at the abortion clinic helped the campers recognize the real battle in this fight for life,” Borges said.

“Some campers were planning on getting together in groups to go pray at the clinic after the boot camp. It has really been a huge blessing for all of us. I think it has changed everyone for the better.”

“This is when the Pro-Life message really started to sink in,” agreed 21-year-old Jocelyn

August 5, 2011 Trindade, a fellow parishioner at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in New Bedford and a co-planner of the Pro-Life Boot Camp. “Many campers commented afterward that it had been their first time praying outside an abortion clinic and how it opened their eyes to the evil of abortion.”

But the three-day weekend wasn’t all just prayer and contemplation for the campers, either.

There was also a healthy dose of fun and friendly activities aimed at building camaraderie among the participants.

“I think along with the awesome group of young people we had at the camp, the balance of activities during the weekend helped to make the experience what it was,” Trindade said. “Friday started with a friendly — OK, maybe there was a little competition — game of ‘Pro-Life Bingo’ and continued with introductions, prayer, more games, and of course food. It was a packed schedule but we planned it that way purposely: it’s called boot camp for a reason.”

This being a first-of-its-kind event for the diocese, most participants signed up without knowing what to expect; but it didn’t take long for them to fit in.

“As the weekend progressed I noticed a visible spiritual change in the campers,” Borges said.

“Most campers arrived looking forward to departing, but all departed looking forward to next year’s boot camp. It was great to see how they took the experience into their own hands; they made it their camp, setting the mood and creating groups of friends.”

And based on the comments from some of the first-time participants, it would seem the Pro-Life Boot Camp will continue to draw interest in years to come.

“Praying outside the abortion clinic was one of the deepest prayer experiences I’ve ever had,” said camper Raquel Almeida.

“Every last part of (the weekend) was beyond awesome,” added Darius Haghighat. “I’m so glad I went. The talks were so motivating, the activities were fun, and I met some of the coolest, most Pro-Life people there.”

“I had the time of my life,” said camper Jackie Smith. “I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed anything as much as this weekend and I’m so excited for next year. I haven’t stopped talking about it to all my friends and they all want to come next year. I think next year will be even better.”

mittees and boards. He is also the product of a Catholic elementary and high school.

“I’ve enjoyed receiving a Catholic education,” Griffin said. “My teachers always went that extra mile. Today, more than ever, students need what a Catholic education can provide — stability, direction, and a sense of values. We look to provide the students with a solid foundation to go out into the real world, succeed and set a good example.

Today’s students are our future parents and religious, our future leaders in the Church and in society.”

Griffin said he hopes to build on the established foundation set

by Milot and current assistant superintendents Dr. Donna Boyle and Kathleen A. Simpson.

“Another fact I learned through the years was that Bishop George A. Coleman was a great supporter of Catholic education,” Griffin told The Anchor. “I look forward to working with him, Donna, Kathleen, the pastors, the principals and presidents.”

One element Griffin hopes to expand on is providing students with state-of-the-art materials in the ever-expanding world of technology. “Our students today are preparing for jobs that don’t even exist yet,” he said. “We must give them the skills they need to be creative and adapt to a rapidlychanging job market. We’ll work

with staff and teachers to ensure we’re up to date with new and effective methodologies. Our teachers will be encouraged to communicate with other Catholic educators from other areas to stay up on things and to share information and insights.”

Another area that Griffin would like to focus his attention on is marketing Catholic education and also making it affordable to more students and families.

Past experiences have seen Griffin coordinate a successful $5 million capital campaign that achieved new arts, athletic and library facilities, and increased endowment; and maintain budget planning procedures and controls that have resulted in excess of income over expenses and increased enrollments.

“We hope to seek rightful support in tax credits and such on the state level,” he said. “Catholic schools save city and town governments millions of dollars a year. Also, we realize that Catholic education alumni have benefited from their education and we hope to seek their support. It is an investment in future employees who will be well educated and of good character.

“And it’s important to stress that we believe strongly in Catholic schools. We hope to work at marketing our institutions of education and help spread the word of the success of our schools.”

School superintendent hopes to build on established foundation continued from page one

diocesan school system were always highly regarded,” Griffin told The Anchor in a recent interview. “With 24 years of experience in Catholic education, I felt I could share my experience and knowledge and work closely with the diocesan schools to help the students meet the challenges of the world today.”

Griffin will celebrate his 25th year in Catholic education by leading the diocesan school system.

“Catholic education provides the opportunity for the fullest growth of our young people,” he said. “As Catholic educators we help them explore all dimensions of their lives — including the moral and spiritual aspects. They can’t get that in secular schools.”

In his 24 years as an educator, Griffin has served as a teacher, cross country and track coach, department chairman, vice principal, school president and principal in Catholic schools in Connecticut and Western Massachusetts. Most recently, he was principal of Holyoke Catholic High School in Chicopee since 2009.

Griffin, who has a doctorate in educational administration from the University of Connecticut, a master’s in religious studies from St. Joseph’s College, and a bachelor of arts in English from Providence College, has also served on a number of education com-

August 5, 2011

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ATTLEBORO — Deacon James “Jim” Meloni Jr. passed away July 27 in his home surrounded by his loving family after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was the devoted husband of Anne (Creeden) Meloni with whom he celebrated his 54th wedding anniversary on July 21.

Born Dec. 27, 1932 in Brockton, he was a son of the late James Sr. and Norma (Fortini) Meloni.

He grew up in Whitman and graduated from Whitman High School in 1950. He studied for two years at Vesper George School of Art, and went on to earn a bachelor of fine and applied arts degree at Boston University. He served as a Morse Code Intercept Operator in the Army Security Agency during his tour in Germany during the Korean War. He joined the Air Force Reserve through ROTC and studied military strategy at Harvard University. While working in Boston in the advertising business he also earned a master’s degree in business administration from Northeastern University in 1968. He worked in the industrial advertising industry starting in 1961 and sold business to business computer advertising

Deacon James Meloni Jr. campaigns for Texas Instruments, John Norris and Company, Kenyon and Eckardt and later ran his own agency.

As successful as he was in business, Meloni was devoted to his family, the Catholic Church and his community. At St. Mark’s Parish in Attleboro Falls he was president of the parish council and a religion teacher. He was active in the lives of his children as president of the ElemenDeacon James Willet Meloni Jr. tary School PTA, Scout Master for Cub Scout Pack 38 and later as Boy Scout Council Commissioner.

Meloni became an ordained permanent deacon for the Diocese of Fall River, serving at St. Mary’s Parish in North Attleboro. He was a longtime treasurer, friend and supporter of School Talk Inc. a nonprofit organization, producing programs on education for WSBE, Channel 38. He was also a skilled artist and innovative craftsman, a gift he shared with many.

After leaving the advertising

business, he taught Theology for 10 years at Bishop Feehan High School. He and his wife Anne were awarded the school’s Distinguished Humanitarian award in 2002. Over his 30 years as deacon he spread the Gospel in three different area churches; St. Mark’s Church in Attleboro Falls, Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Seekonk and St. Mary’s in North Attleboro.

He served as Religious Education coordinator for Holy Angels Church in Barrington, R.I. and St. Alexander’s in Warren, R.I. It was his joy to work as a substitute teacher in the Norton, North Attleboro and Attleboro school systems. He worked up to the last day of this school year.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his four children: Roderick Meloni of Michigan, Lynne Meloni of Attleboro, Ned Meloni of Florida and Janinne Meloni of California, and five granddaughters.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at St. Mary’s Church on August 1. Burial followed in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Attleboro Falls. Sperry-McHoul Funeral Home was in charge of the arrangements.

Joaquim O. Reis, brother of Father Daniel O. Reis

FALL RIVER — Joaquim O. Reis, 66, brother of Father Daniel O. Reis, pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in New Bedford, died July 15 at his Fall River home with his family by his side.

He was born in Santo Antonio Alem Capelas, Sao Miguel, Azores, the son of the late Joaquim Claudio Reis and the late Maria do Carmo (Oliveira) Reis. Prior to retiring, Joaquim worked as a carpenter for the Carpenters Union Local 424, and he was a parishioner of St. Michael Parish in Fall River.

He is survived by his wife Virginia J. (Carvalho) Reis and children Sandy (Reis) Galhardo of Tiverton, R.I., and Daniel Reis and Steven Reis of Fall River; brothers Antonio, Jose, Gilbert Reis, of Canada;

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Aug. 6 Rev. Joseph P. Lyons, Pastor, St. Joseph, Fall River, 1961

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

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

Benediction.

Aug. 7 Rev. John F. Hogan, Pastor, St. Julie Billiart, North Dartmouth, 1986 Very Rev. Roger L. Gagne, V.F., Pastor, St. Mark, Attleboro Falls, 1987

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

Aug. 8 Rev. William Bric, Founder, St. Joseph, Fall River, 1880

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

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Aug. 12 Rev. Victor O. Masse, M.S., Retired Pastor, St. Anthony, New Bedford, 1974

Father Reis and Joao Reis of Fall River; and sisters Maria Reis of Portugal and Fracaela Silva of Canada; six grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by a sister, Isaura Viveiros.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at St. Michael Church in Fall River, with interment at St. Patrick’s Cemetery. Arrangements were handled by Manual Rogers and Sons Funeral Home, Fall River.

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August 5, 2011

Young people deserve to live free of violence, papal nuncio tells U.N.

UNITED NATIONS (CNS) — The world’s young people deserve to live their lives free of violence and in stable fam-

ily settings, the Vatican’s U.N. nuncio said on the last day of a worldwide meeting on youths.

“Each and every child, for

the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere

of happiness, love and understanding,” Archbishop Francis Chullikatt said July 28 at the conclusion of the U.N. General Assembly’s high-level meeting on youths.

A main part of the meeting was a series of round tables July 25-26, followed by a couple of days of debate.

The archbishop said a safe, loving and peaceful environment for children will promote responsible citizenship, an essential characteristic for the common good of humanity.

Highlighting the role of fam-

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ily as the fundamental unit of society, Archbishop Chullikatt urged world leaders to support the concept of marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

“The family must be guaranteed protection by society and the state,” he said.

Archbishop Chullikatt also called upon delegates to the meeting to develop programs benefiting young people that take into account the special role parents have in the development of children. Parents he said, cannot withdraw from their essential role to help children become “virtuous citizens and leaders.”

Cautioning that the philosophy of relativism is becoming more widely embraced, the nuncio suggested that not having absolute points of reference upon which to build society will lead to “instability, confusion and blind conformity to the fads of the moment with which certain cultures around the world tempt our youth.”

“Young people are entitled to receive from previous generations solid points of reference to help them make choice on which to build their lives,” he said.

He pointed to the upcoming World Youth Day festivities August 16-21 in Madrid as an event where young people can foster the importance of the spiritual dimension in their lives “rooted in the truth of the human person.”

Archbishop Chullikatt concluded his presentation by encouraging the delegates to uphold and implement the principle that young people should be brought up in the spirit of peace, justice, freedom, mutual respect and understanding as enshrined in the U.N.’s Declaration on the Promotion of Youth of the Ideals of Peace, Mutual Respect and Understanding Between Peoples adopted in 1965.

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