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Diocese of Fall River, Mass.

F riday , August 16, 2013

Cape Cod Bus for Life to honor diocesan Pro-Life Apostolate

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

WAREHAM — The Cape Cod Bus for Life, Inc., based in Wareham, will present its first-ever awards to two driving forces behind the diocesan Pro-Life Apostolate during a banquet to be held tomorrow night.

According to Kevin Ward, president of the Cape Cod Bus for Life — which for the past decade has sponsored several busloads of diocesan pilgrims

to the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. every January, the inaugural awards will be presented to Marian Desrosiers, director of the Pro-Life Apos-

Marian Desrosiers

Jean Arsenault

tolate for the Fall River Diocese, and her associate director, Jean Arsenault, during a dinner beginning at 6 p.m. in the parish hall of St. Patrick’s Parish, 82 High Street in Wareham.

It is hoped the award, named in honor of Lloyd McDonald and his late wife, Mary, will be presented annually to people who help promote and sustain the Pro-Life effort within the diocese.

“Lloyd and Mary McDonTurn to page 15

Beloved Attleboro shrine marks significant anniversaries

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

ATTLEBORO — On Sept. 19, 1846, the Virgin Mary appeared to two children near a village named La Salette in the French Alps. In tears, she called for her people to return to their God, asking that her message be made known “to all my people.” In 1892, the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette came to the United States, purchasing the former Attleboro Springs Sanitarium in 1942 for use as a seminary; in 1953, the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette — under the direction of Father René Sauvé, M.S. — opened on Dec. 7, 1953.

“When he started this, he had great vision and

needs to be credited,” said Brother Robert Russell, M.S., current director of the shrine. “Father Sauvé wanted to make Our Lady’s message known, and I think the shrine went way beyond his expectation. He took the initiative. This used to be swampland; this is all filled in with dirt.

He brought in people he knew, who gave of their time and talent; he was a go-getter and was a man of great vision and foresight of what this shrine should be.”

Now 60 years later, the shrine has continued to be a respite for the faithful to renew their spirituality and find inner peace, as evidenced by this year’s theme “60 Years Serving God’s People.” Its mission statement continues Our Lady’s mesTurn to page 18

St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro recently held its annual new family picnic. The picnic welcomes all the new families to the school at a meet-and-greet with fellow soon-to-be classmates, the teachers, and other school facility members. The new students enjoyed a picnic of tasty food and played fun games. More than 40 families attended the picnic and enjoyed the day. Pictured are Father David Costa, the school director, the two kindergarten teachers Maria Stathakis, Elizabeth Moura, and all of the new students who will be joining the SMSH family on August 27 when the 2013-2014 year begins.

From left, Bishop George W. Coleman, Msgr. Gerard P. O’Connor and seminarian Steven Booth chat following a recent Holy Hour for Vocations at St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham. Booth is a parishioner at St. Patrick’s. (Photo courtesy of Father Jay Mello)

‘The Lord of the Harvest has heard our prayers’ Diocese of Fall River experiences increase in number of seminarians

priests, for our seminarians, and we need to pray specifically for WAREHAM — In the more young men to hear and ninth chapter of St. Matthew’s answer the Lord’s call to serve Gospel, as Our Lord is continu- here in the Diocese of Fall River.

So many throughout our dioing to teach in the synagogues, preach the Gospel and cure all cese have made this their prayer the sick, He is moved with com- and have been fervent not only passion for the people who are in supporting vocations, but “like sheep without a shepherd.” most importantly, of praying St. Matthew goes on to tell us each day that God would send that Jesus told His disciples to us holy young men who are will“pray to the Lord of the Harvest ing to step up and answer His to send out laborers into His call to the priesthood.

It is a tremendous joy to revineyard for the harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few” port on behalf of the diocesan Vocation Office that the Lord (Mt 9:37-38).

This passage serves as the of the Harvest has heard our principle Biblical text for voca- prayers and has sent us more lation work! It is clearly recog- borers! Last year, five young men nized that the laborers (priests) entered seminary formation in are fewer in number and the the fall and one more in January. harvest (the work) seems to be This coming fall four more men getting greater, and so it is vi- will enter seminary for the Diotal for us to storm Heaven with cese of Fall River and next year our prayers, just as Our Lord looks very promising as well!

Seminarians hail from parinstructed us to do. We need to pray to the Lord of the Harvest, ishes in Acushnet, East Taunton, Turn to page 16 our Heavenly Father, for our

By Father Jay Mello

Assistant Director of Vocations

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August 16, 2013 News From the Vatican Before pope’s election, conclave warned of Europe’s waning faith

Vatican City (CNA/ EWTN News) — When Cardinal Prospero Grech delivered a meditation to the cardinal-electors at the beginning of the 2013 conclave, he emphasized the value of the New Evangelization in the face of Europe’s loss of faith.

“In the West, at least in Europe, Christianity itself is in crisis, there is a rampant secularism and agnosticism which has diverse roots,” Cardinal Grech, an Augustinian, told the 115 cardinal-electors in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel March 12.

“You feel therefore the urgency of the New Evangelization which begins with the pure kerygma (Gospel proclamation) announced to non-believers, followed by a continuing catechesis nourished by prayer.”

Cardinal Grech was delivering a meditation to the cardinal-

electors on the problems facing the Church and the need for discernment “concerning the grave duty incumbent on them and thus on the need to act with right intention for the good of the Universal Church, having only God before their eyes,” according to the document which governs the conclave process.

The text of his meditation, delivered in Italian, was recently released in the “Acts of the Apostolic See,” the Vatican’s official journal of record.

He began his meditation with a humble apology, saying that at 87 years old, he “is among the oldest in the College of Cardinals, yet in terms of appointment I am just a newborn.”

Cardinal Grech was only made a cardinal in February 2012. He added that his life has been one of study and that his

Touch the poor and needy, pope tells Argentineans

Buenos Aires, Argentina (CNA/EWTN News) — As his fellow Argentineans gathered to celebrate the feast of St. Cajetan, the country’s most popular saint, Pope Francis urged them to encounter and touch the poor, rather than helping them in a distant way.

“With Jesus and St. Cajetan, we go to meet the most needy!”

Pope Francis said, repeating the theme for this year’s procession in a video message to participants.

“It speaks of meeting people who have the greatest need, of those who need you to give them a hand, those we look at with love, with whom we share their pain or their anxieties, their problems.

“But the important thing is not looking at them from afar, or helping from afar. No, no!

It is going to encounter them.

This is the Christian! This is what Jesus taught: to go meet the most needy,” the pope said in his Spanish-language message.

He illustrated his point for the thousands of devotees in the Liniers neighborhood of Buenos Aires by explaining what he asks people about giving to the poor.

“Do you give alms?

“They tell me, ‘Yes, Father.’

“And when you give alms do you look in the eyes of the people you give them to?

‘Oh, I don’t know, I don’t notice.’

“Look, he has not met the

people. He threw the alms and left. When he gives the alms, does his hand touch (the hand of the poor) or does he toss the coin?”

“No, you throw the coin.

And you have not touched, and if you did not touch him, you did not meet him.”

Pope Francis then told those at the procession, “What Jesus teaches us is first to meet, and (after) meeting, to help. We need to know how to meet. We need to build, to create, to construct a culture of encounter.”

“Your heart, when you meet those most in need, will begin to grow, grow, grow! Because the meeting multiplies our capacity to love. The encounter with the other enlarges the heart. Courage! ‘By myself I just don’t know what to do.’ No, no, no! With Jesus and San Cajetan!

St. Cajetan of Thiene was born in October 1480 in the northern Italian town of Vincenza. He dedicated his life to the poor and is the most popular saint in Argentina. He studied philosophy and theology, and then earned his doctorate in civil and ecclesiastical law, before being ordained a priest in 1516. He died on Aug. 7, 1547 in Naples and was canonized in 1671.

After the economic crisis of 1929, he became the patron saint of bread and labor and still has a particular following among Argentinean workmen.

knowledge of the curia is “not above a third-grade level.”

“Only as such do I dare to present this simple meditation in the Lord’s name,” he concluded his apology.

He noted that the conclave is a “strong moment of grace” in salvation history but added that it is also a moment of “the maximum responsibility.” The nationality or race of the man to be elected pope is unimportant, he said.

“The only thing of importance is if, when the Lord asks the question ‘Peter, do you love Me?’, that he can respond in all sincerity, ‘Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You.’ Then the sheep entrusted to him

by Jesus will be safe, and Peter will follow Christ, the chief Shepherd, wherever He goes.”

Cardinal Grech said he was not there to “make a sketch” of the next pope, “and much less to present a working plan for the future pontiff.”

“It is my intent,” he explained, “to draw from the Scriptures some reflections to help us understand what Christ wills for His Church, reflections which may assist you in your discussions.”

Having explained his aim, Cardinal Grech began the preface to his meditation. His prefatory remarks focused on the proclamation of the Kingdom of God and the scandal of the cross — Christ’s and the Church’s.

He called the Kingdom of God a “moment of grace and of Reconciliation,” brought through Christ and the Church, and warned against the temptation, since Vatican II, to give into religious “indifferentism,” not stressing the necessity of Baptism for Salvation.

The proclamation of the Kingdom of God is “the proclamation of ‘Jesus Christ, and Him crucified,’” he stressed. The scandal of the cross, he said, “humbles the hubris of the human mind and elevates it to accept a wisdom which comes from above.”

Christ’s cross, he emphasized, must not be relativized, but regarded as the one, universal way to Salvation, offered to “the modern world, which suffers from an existential depression.”

Christ crucified, he told the cardinal-electors, is “intimately tied to the Church crucified” and the persecution of the Church for proclaiming truth.

“Persecution is a constitutive element of the Church, as is the weakness of her members,” which he called “a cross which is

to be embraced.”

He noted the pedophilia scandal and the acts of Benedict XVI to humble the Church and to remove the evil at all costs.

In light of this, Cardinal Grech called for a greater “transparency” because the Church can be “obscured or hidden.”

He called for courage in the face of the scandal, and to “trust only in God” rather than placing faith in political solutions.

After finishing his preface, Cardinal Grech moved to discuss God’s will regarding the Church. Christ’s “highest desire” is “the unity of His Body,” he noted, in a plea for Church unity, within and without the Catholic Church.

With regard to ecumenism, he said that “to desist from dialogue would run explicitly contrary to the will of God.” He also said the future pontiff would face the problem being able “to hold onto the unity of the Catholic Church herself.”

“Between extremist ultratraditionalists and extreme ultraprogressives, there will be always the peril of minor schism.

“Unity at any cost,” he urged.

“Unity yes, but this does not mean uniformity.”

Cardinal Grech emphasized that it is “evident that this does not close the door to intra-ecclesial discussion, present in all of Church history. All are free to express their thoughts on the task of the Church, yet which are proposed in line with the deposit of faith which the pope together with all the bishops has the task of preserving.”

He lamented that theology and philosophy today are suffering, and that “we need a good philosophical foundation from which to develop dogma with a valid hermeneutic that speaks in a language intelligible to the contemporary world.”

Saying this, Cardinal Grech, who had been a priest 12 years when Vatican II began, noted that “certainly laws and traditions which are purely ecclesial may be changed, yet not every change signifies progress; we must discern whether changes act to augment the holiness of the Church or to obscure it.”

Having addressed all of these issues, Cardinal Grech then moved on to what he called an “even more pressing chapter,” the secularism and abandonment of Christianity in the West, and especially in Europe.

The roots of this secularism and agnosticism, he said, include relativism; a materialism that

“measures everything in economic terms;” governments’ desire to remove God from society; the sexual revolution; and scientific advances that recognize neither moral nor humanitarian brakes.

In the face of a culture which is ignorant not only of Catholic doctrine but of the very “ABCs of Christianity,” he stressed the urgency of the New Evangelization and its position as the central-most issue for the pontiff who was to be elected.

Cardinal Grech added, however, that while doors are “closing” in Europe, they are being widened elsewhere, particularly in Asia.

Even in the West, he said God will “preserve a remnant of Israel that will not kneel before Baal,” adding that the remnant is seen especially in the new movements which “contribute strongly to the New Evangelization.”

“Be on guard, though, that particular movements not believe that the Church is exhausted in them.”

He re-assured the cardinalelectors that “God cannot be defeated by our carelessness” and that “the Church is His.” Cardinal Grech then turned to consider the importance of the sensus fidelium — sense of the faithful — found among the “anawim,” the “simple faithful,” in whose prayerful hearts the “Logos of God shines.”

He told the cardinal-electors this because, he said, while it is common to say that the Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church, we “do not always take this into consideration in our plans for the Church.”

Cardinal Grech emphasized that God is always greater, that the Holy Spirit “transcends every sociological analysis and historical prediction.” The Spirit “exceeds” all the scandals that obscure Christ’s Face in the Church.

He concluded his remarks by noting Michelangelo’s fresco “The Last Judgement,” before which the cardinal-electors would shortly be casting their votes for the new pope.

Christ’s raised hand in the fresco, he told them, was there “to illumine your vote, that it might be according to the Spirit, not according to the flesh. In that way the one chosen will not be only yours, but essentially His.” Cardinal Grech finished his meditation by telling the cardinal-electors, “the Lord be with you and bless you.”

August 16, 2013

The International Church

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Sri Lanka cardinal condemns army shooting of civilians in church

People cheer for St. Cajetan as they mark his feast in Madrid recently. The celebrations included a traditional procession and prayers appealing to the patron of job-seekers. Spain’s unemployment rate is 26 percent, highest in the eurozone. (CNS photo/Susan a Vera, Reuters)

Canadian Catholic hospitals see dwindling support for care standards

TORONTO (CNS) — Officials at Canada’s largest Catholic hospitals and health services expressed concern that national health care standards are becoming a thing of the past after provincial and territorial leaders did not address the issue at their July Council of the Federation meetings.

Health was not the top of the agenda for premiers gathered in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, July 24-26 and not much got done to ensure a sustainable national health care system, said James Roche, executive director of the Catholic Health Alliance of Canada.

As part of the Health Action Lobby, the alliance had urged provincial premiers to address coming funding shortfalls and federal government reluctance to enforce the Canada Health Act. The basic question is, “Are the provinces really committed to a national health system?” Roche said.

“I don’t think health care was really that big an issue at the gathering, and I suppose that’s understandable,” Roche said. “We have always been concerned about a national perspective for health care and we didn’t hear much about the fact that this meeting of the Council of the Federation is the last one that will take place prior to expiration of the 2004 health accord.”

The accord, which set forth an ambitious plan governing the delivery of health care services, expires in 2014.

It would have been helpful to have Prime Minister Stephen Harper or Minister of Health Rona Ambrose at the meeting with provincial premiers, Roche said.

“The Harper government thus far seems to be indicating a retreat from a strong role in upholding

national standards and improving drug coverage and home care, and certainly not seeming to be as concerned about stable and adequate funding for the system,” he said.

The federal government is in the midst of a $36 billion reduction over 10 years in the Canada Health Transfer, the Canadian government’s payment program that supports health systems in the country’s provinces and territories, according to a July 2012 Council of the Federation report.

Without federal dollars the government will be unable to enforce the Canada Health Act, according to the Health Action Lobby and the CHAC. “For Catholic health care, it is a concern with the principles of the Canada Health Act, affordability, universality, accessibility, all of those that have been key foundation stones for the health care system which are going to be very hard to sustain without federal leadership and cohesiveness,” Roche said.

The federal government denied that it is cutting health budgets or weakening the Canada Health Act. “The Canada Health Act remains the law and is enforceable,” Ambrose’s media relations staff wrote in an email to The Catholic Register, the Toronto-based national Catholic Canadian newspaper. The Canadian government in Ottawa claimed it will increase funding to at least $40 billion annually by 2020-21.

“This future growth path of transfers to the provinces and territories will provide sustainable and predictable funding to support health care for all Canadians,” said the Ministry of Health email.

The provinces did announce a new bulk-buying arrangement for generic drugs, which could save

up to $100 million and continued commitment to the Health Care Innovation Working Group.

Those are half-measures compared to the changing landscape of health care needs, Roche said.

An aging population will demand more home care and palliative care and evolving health science puts far more emphasis on drug therapies and preventative care, but Canada still has a national health insurance system that was designed to protect people only from hospital costs.

Even as Catholic hospitals have changed to offer more services outside the traditional hospital building, national funding arrangements have stayed stuck in the past, Roche said.

Catholic health care’s lobbying focus will now shift to the next federal election, he added.

NEW DELHI (CNS) — Cardinal Albert Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo, Sri Lanka, expressed “shock and distress” in accusing the military of storming a Catholic church and firing on residents who had sought refuge there.

The cardinal condemned the army’s action in a strongly worded statement read during the funeral for one of three people who died in the August 1 incident at St. Anthony Parish in Weliweriya, a village just outside the capital.

Authorities said more than 50 people also were injured during the assault, which occurred as soldiers broke up a demonstration by villagers protesting a factory polluting a local water source.

“It was sacrilege for anyone to enter such sacred precincts with arms in their hands and to behave in a violent manner there,” Cardinal Ranjith said at the funeral of Ravishan Perera, 18, a student at St. Peter’s College in Colombo who died after being shot in the head.

“It is always necessary that we preserve this sanctity of sacred premises of any religion and respect the people who enter such premises seeking protection,” he said.

Cardinal Ranjith also demanded that the “those found guilty (should) be pun-

ished without consideration of rank or status.”

During the protest, residents blocked a road and demanded permanent closure of a factory that they said was contaminating ground water with chemical waste.

According to reports, army troops were called to assist the police in dispersing the protesters who refused to end the blockade.

Reiterating that an attack on unarmed civilians was “unacceptable under any circumstances,” Cardinal Ranjith said “we do not accept using one’s power in a repressive manner to suppress protests, even if they get out of control.”

“When the army started attacking and shooting at people, crowds of people rushed to the church for safety. People hid themselves in the church premises and some went to take refuge in the convent as well,” the cardinal said, quoting Father Lakpriya Nonis, the parish priest.

A human rights leader also voiced outrage over the army’s actions.

“It’s absolutely unacceptable to shoot at people asking for clean drinking water, even more unacceptable to attack at people seeking shelter in a church,” Ruki Fernando, a Catholic human rights activists told Catholic News Service.

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The Church in the U.S.

August 16, 2013

Several Nashville Dominicans mark transitions along vocational path

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CNS) — The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation celebrated a series of transitions in their Nashville-based community as several women made their final profession of vows or their first profession of vows, and still others entered the novitiate.

The transitions were capped with the arrival August 15 of 28 young women who entered the community as postulants.

The Nashville Dominicans, in their traditional white habit, form one of the youngest and fastest growing communities of religious Sisters in the country; the community has experienced steady growth since the 1980s.

The congregation was founded in 1860 and is dedicated to the apostolate of education.

The Sisters operate more than 30 schools in 19 U.S. dioceses and archdioceses as well as in the Archdiocese of Vancouver, British Columbia, and the Archdiocese of Sydney.

On July 22, 11 Sisters made their profession of perpetual vows at a Mass celebrated at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville. Bishop David R. Choby of Nashville celebrated the Mass, and retired Bishop Bernard J. Harrington of Winona, Minn., concelebrated.

Dominican Father Gabriel Gillen, a member of his order’s Province of St. Joseph, was homilist for the Mass, and Deacon Waldo Martinez Jr., the father of one of the newly-professed, was deacon of the word.

The 11 Sisters who made their final profession of vows came from eight dioceses in the United States, one in Poland and one in Canada.

In his homily, Father Gillen spoke of the “radical act of abandonment,” which the 11 young women were called to make as each of them professed

the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience “for all my life.”

He noted that this is “a special calling they are given from the Lord Himself.”

Like Mary’s response to her call at the Annunciation, he said, the Sisters’ profession of vows is, for each of them, an “act of immersion in the will of God,” an act which unites them to Christ in self-giving love.

Father Gillen said Mary shows the Sisters what their role is as brides of Christ, and that by their profession, they are to be images of the Catholic Church, which is the bride of Christ.

On July 25, 12 novices made their first profession of vows at the cathedral. The Sisters came from eight U.S. dioceses as well as two dioceses in Australia and Ireland.

Principal celebrant of the Mass was Bishop Choby, with Bishops R. Daniel Conlon of Joliet, Ill., and William F. Medley of Owensboro, Ky., were concelebrants. Dominican Father Albert Trudel, also from the Province of St. Joseph, gave the homily.

Shortly before entering a retreat to prepare for their profession of vows, the Sisters made a Year of Faith pilgrimage to Rome for a meeting Pope Francis had with seminarians, novices and those discerning a religious vocation.

On July 27, 11 Sisters renewed their vows at the community’s Mass in the motherhouse chapel. The same afternoon 16 postulants received the Dominican habit from Mother Ann Marie, prioress general, in the presence of the community. At the ceremony the postulants received their religious names and began their year of canonical novitiate, a year devoted to study and preparation for religious profession.

San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller greets Knights of Columbus and their family members during the Catholic fraternal organization’s recent 131st annual convention in San Antonio. (CNS photo/ courtesy of Knights of Columbus)

Love of neighbor called motivation for Knights’ commitment to charity

SAN ANTONIO (CNS) — Saying “our order is stronger today than ever before, and the best is yet to come,” Supreme Knight Carl Anderson delivered an annual report that chronicled the record-setting activity of the Knights of Columbus at the organization’s recent 131st annual convention.

For the 13th consecutive year, Knights’ charitable contributions have grown. While charitable giving in the United States grew by two percent last year, charitable donations from the Knights of Columbus grew three times as much, by six percent. That increase of $9.4 million set a record of $167.5 million donated last year.

Volunteer time donated by Knights of Columbus members also climbed to a new record high, reaching more than 70 million hours.

Anderson focused on a number of charitable undertakings carried out by the order within the past year, such as helping victims of disasters including Hurricane Sandy, the recent explosion in West, Texas, and the tornadoes in Oklahoma.

“Charity has always been a defining characteristic of the Knights of Columbus because our love of neighbor has always motivated us to protect God’s gifts,” he said. “From the beginning, we have understood that God’s gifts include the poor, the suffering the marginalized — in other words — every human being.”

Pope Francis has lived out charity in a way that is unmis-

takable, said Anderson, adding that the pontiff ’s “leadership in charity through his teaching and personal actions are an example for every member of this order.”

The Supreme Knight said that membership in the international fraternal organization grew for the 41st consecutive year, to a record 1,843,578 Knights. Nearly 230 new councils were added, including eight in Mexico, 10 in Poland, 13 in Canada, 80 in the Philippines, and 117 in the United States, bringing the total number of councils to 14,606.

In addition, the Knights continue to rank among America’s largest companies, climbing 56 spots to number 909 on this year’s Fortune 1,000 List.

And, insurance in force reached $90.6 billion, nearly double the amount just 10 years ago.

Anderson received a standing ovation when he spoke of the order’s opposition to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ requirement — better known as the HHS mandate — that most employers provide insurance coverage of contraceptive services for employees, even if the employer objects on moral grounds.

“We continue to work to undo the HHS contraceptive mandate, which attempts to force us to violate our fundamental religious beliefs regarding abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception,” he said. “I am confident that as has occurred already in many court cases, this ill-con-

ceived mandate will ultimately be found unconstitutional.”

He quoted from a speech Pope Francis gave to the bishops gathered in Brazil for World Youth Day in late July: “Our pastoral work does not depend on a wealth of resources, but on the creativity of love.”

Then Anderson said: “Through charity, we strengthen our own faith through our love of neighbor and evangelize those around us through this witness.

We show ourselves to be protectors of God’s gifts and we invite others to join us in protecting those gifts.”

Prior to Anderson’s report, a letter of greeting to the annual convention from the pope was read by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Pope Francis praised the charitable works of the Knights of Columbus and encouraged the organization to defend the sanctity of Marriage, the dignity of life, the beauty and truth of human sexuality, and the rights of believers.

“In this time of rapid social and cultural changes,” the letter stated, “the protection of God’s gifts cannot fail to include the affirmation and defense of the great patrimony of moral truths taught by the Gospel and confirmed by right reason, which serve as the bedrock of a just and well-ordered society.”

More than 2,000 Knights and their family members were attending the supreme convention.

August 16, 2013

The Church in the U.S.

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Expert urges U.S. to address Nigeria violence against Christians

Ken Hackett, left, then president of Catholic Relief Services, stands with Carolyn Woo and U.S. Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas in the remains of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption in Port-au-Prince in 2011.

The cathedral was destroyed in Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake in 2010. Hackett was recently approved as America’s Vatican ambassador. (CNS photo/Jim Stipe, courtesy of Catholic Relief Services)

Bishop says joblessness, exploitation denying millions ‘honor, respect’

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Millions of workers are being denied the honor and respect they deserve because of a lack of jobs, underemployment, low wages and exploitation, according to the bishop who heads the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.

“Earlier this year, Pope Francis pointed out, ‘Work is fundamental to the dignity of a person. It gives one the ability to maintain oneself, one’s family, to contribute to the growth of one’s own nation,’” said Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif., in the U.S. bishops’ annual Labor Day statement.

“Unfortunately, millions of workers today are denied this honor and respect as a result of unemployment, underemployment, unjust wages, wage theft, abuse and exploitation,” Bishop Blaire said. The 1,200-word statement, dated Labor Day, September 2, was available August 6 on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website, www.usccb.org.

“The economy is not creating an adequate number of jobs that allow workers to provide for themselves and their families,” Bishop Blaire said.

“More than four million people have been jobless for more than six months, and that does not include the millions more who have simply lost hope. For every available job, there are often five unemployed and underemployed people actively vying for it.

This jobs gap pushes wages down.

Half of the jobs in this country pay less than $27,000 per year.

More than 46 million people live in poverty, including 16 million children.”

In his message, Bishop Blaire

quoted from “Gaudium et Spes” (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), one of the more influential documents of the Second Vatican Council: “While an immense number of people still lack the absolute necessities of life, some, even in less advanced areas, live in luxury or squander wealth.”

“How can it be said that persons honor one another when such ‘extravagance and wretchedness exist side by side’?” he asked.

Those words, Bishop Blaire noted, “seem to be just as true today.”

Bishop Blaire also quoted from Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 encyclical “Caritas in Veritate,” (“Charity in Truth”), which also dealt in part with the specter of inequality.

“The dignity of the individual and the demands of justice require, particularly today, that economic choices do not cause disparities in wealth to increase in an excessive and morally unacceptable manner,” Pope Benedict said, “and that we continue to prioritize the goal of access to steady employment for everyone.”

Bishop Blaire spoke of the importance of unions in his statement.

“Since the end of the Civil War, unions have been an important part of our economy because they provide protections for workers and more importantly a way for workers to participate in company decisions that affect them. Catholic teaching has consistently affirmed the right of workers to choose to form a union. The rise in income inequality has mirrored a decline in union membership,” he said.

“Unions, like all human institutions, are imperfect, and they must continue to reform them-

selves so they stay focused on the important issues of living wages and appropriate benefits, raising the minimum wage, stopping wage theft, standing up for safe and healthy working conditions, and other issues that promote the common good.”

The bishop also spoke about how workers’ issues are tied to other issues. “High unemployment and underemployment are connected to the rise in income inequality,” he said. Such inequality leads to an erosion of social cohesion, he said, and puts democracy at risk.

“The pain of the poor and those becoming poor in the rising economic inequality of our society is mounting,” Bishop Blaire added.

At its best, private enterprise creates “decent jobs,” contributes to the common good and puts people ahead of profits, he said.

“Whenever possible we should support businesses and enterprises that protect human life and dignity, pay just wages and protect workers’ rights,” Bishop Blaire added. “We should support immigration policies that bring immigrant workers out of the shadows to a legal status and offer them a just and fair path to citizenship, so that their human rights are protected and the wages for all workers rise.”

At the end of the Mass, the congregation is sent forth to “go and announce the Gospel of the Lord,” he noted, and everyone departs with “a sense of mission to show one another honor by what we do and say.”

“On this Labor Day, our mission takes us to the millions of people who continue to suffer the effects of the current economy,” he said.

Washington D.C., (CNA/EWTN News) — As bombings against Christian churches in Nigeria continue, a religious liberty scholar is calling on the U.S. government to recognize the scope of the problem and take steps to end the violence.

Paul Marshall, senior fellow at the D.C.-based Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, explained that Nigeria has experienced “increased religious violence and attacks on Christians for about 12 years.”

He recently told CNA that the violence has been “worsening a great deal in the last three years, with the rise of Boko Haram — an al Qaeda-affiliated militia, that has been targeting Christians, amongst others.”

But despite this rise in violence, he warned, the United States government has yet to “recognize the religious element of the conflict” and take strong steps against the extremist organization.

Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is sinful,” has been responsible for thousands of deaths in recent years, according to human rights groups. The organization has previously stated that its goal is to “purify Islam” and that it intends to “continue to wage war against the Nigerian state until we abolish the secular system and establish an Islamic state.”

A July 29 attack on Christ Salvation Pentecostal Church and two other Christian communities in the northern town of Kano left nearly 50 people dead, the latest in a wave of ongoing violence in the region. Local military forces have said that the

attacks appear to be the work of Boko Haram, though the organization has not claimed responsibility for the violence.

Marshall noted that more than 1,000 Christians were killed in 2012, and U.S. State Department reports have noted mass movement of Christians away from the country’s predominantly Muslim north.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has in its 2011 and 2012 reports highlighted the group’s terrorist attacks against both Christians and Muslims, and stated that the organization has led to “a dramatic deterioration of religious freedom and stability in Nigeria.”

The commission has repeatedly asked the State Department to label Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern,” thus allowing the U.S. government to take more forceful action to promote religious freedom in the nation.

However, the State Department has not done so.

Marshall commented that Nigerian Christians have a “large and strong community” that may be able to withstand persecution.

He took hope in the fact that the “U.S. military is training government forces in West Africa on combatting terrorism.”

But overall, he said, there is “little international activity” in fighting Boko Haram and violence in Nigeria more broadly.

He suggested that the global community target Boko Haram’s aims and modes of attack, adding that the U.S. could “also help in supporting good education in the north of Nigeria” in order to curtail the organization’s recruitment efforts.

6

August 16, 2013

Anchor Editorial

Door-to-door for Christ

This week’s edition of The Anchor we have printed 1,000 extra copies, which will be distributed in the part of Attleboro covered by St. Vincent de Paul Parish on Saturday, August 24. That day teams of people, walking in pairs of twos, will go out knocking on doors, trying to imitate the attitude of love that the Blessed Mother had when she made her way around Israel and Egypt 2,000 years ago and which she has shown in Guadalupe, Lourdes, Fatima and so many other places over the years. The love that she shares with the people she meets is rooted in the love that she has received from God, a love that she cannot help but share.

The Day of Evangelization (DOE) which the people will be doing in Attleboro is an off-shoot of an effort which began in Rhode Island’s Diocese of Providence a few years ago. Members of the Legion of Mary, who have an obligation to reach out to spread Jesus’ Good News, knew that they could not do this alone, so they set up a program of working with other lay people to evangelize Rhode Island, parish by parish. They recently were praying through the intercession of St. Vincent de Paul that a Massachusetts parish might be interested in doing a DOE and then St. Vincent’s in Attleboro contacted them.

We here at The Anchor encourage everyone to participate in this effort. If you are free on Saturday, August 24, please go over to St. Vincent’s (71 Linden St.). They will begin with Rosary at 7:40 a.m., followed by Mass at 8 a.m., then a breakfast and training session. Around 10:15 a.m. the pairs will be sent out (inexperienced people will be paired with experienced Rhode Island Catholics), while those who cannot go out will remain in church, praying before the Blessed Sacrament for this effort. Around 12:45 p.m. everyone will gather together again at church for Benediction, then lunch and an opportunity to share experiences (but not names or other personal information). The day will end by 2:30 p.m.

Pope Francis, in his homily in Rio de Janeiro on July 28, reminded his listeners of what Jesus told the Apostles shortly before ascending into Heaven. “Jesus did not say: ‘Go, if you would like to, if you have the time,’ but He said, ‘Go and make disciples of all nations. This is a command that the Lord entrusts to the

whole Church and that includes you.”

The pope did not say that we had an obligation to participate in the DOE or a similar program, but he did remind us that we all have a duty before God to spread the Good News about Jesus Christ. He then made an interesting comment about this command of Christ’s. “It is a command that is born not from a desire for domination, from the desire for power, but from the force of love.” The pope knows the history of Christianity — that sometimes our faith was spread by the sword (although this is not normally effective, which is why Mary herself had to go to Mexico in 1531 to restart the evangelization which the Spanish had begun there, but which was not going well because of the association in the minds of the native Mexicans between the conquistadores and the missionaries) or through societal pressure to conform (which also is ineffective — notice how so many formerly Catholic lands can so easily lose the faith, once it no longer is the “in thing”).

The pope wanted the youth in Rio and all of us to know that we have this obligation to spread the faith in love and that the love of Christ will help us with this challenging task. Sometimes this is a test of the limits of our love. The Holy Father said, “Jesus sends us to everyone, not just for some. It is not only for those who seem closer to us, more receptive, more welcoming. It is for everyone.

Do not be afraid to go and to bring Christ into every area of life, to the fringes of society, even to those who seem farthest away, most indifferent. The Lord seeks all, He wants everyone to feel the warmth of His mercy and His love.”

We might be anxious about spreading the Gospel, be it going door-to-door on a DOE or just witnessing to Christ with the people in our lives. We can look back to our father in faith, Abraham from the Book of Genesis. God didn’t ask him to go around the neighborhood, but to an entirely new land, unknown to him. Abraham went, because he trusted in God’s promise that he would be the father of a great nation. God calls us to spread His Word so that we might gather into His family many souls, part of that great nation that God promised Abraham.

Pope Francis’ weekly Angelus address and prayer Dear brothers and sisters, hello! This Sunday’s Gospel (Lk 12:32-48) speaks to us of the desire for the definitive meeting with Christ, a desire that makes us always ready, with our spirit awake, because we await this encounter with our whole heart, with our entire self.

This is a fundamental aspect of life. There is a desire that we all have in our heart, whether explicit or hidden, we have it in our heart, we all have this desire in our heart. It is important to see this teaching of Jesus, too, in the concrete, existential context in which He transmitted it. In this case, the evangelist Luke shows us Jesus, Who is walking with His disciples towards Jerusalem, towards the Passover (Pasqua) of death and resurrection, and on this

journey He teaches them, confiding to them what He has in His heart, the intimate attitudes of His soul. Among these attitudes is the detachment from earthly goods, the confidence in the Father’s providence and, precisely, interior vigilance, the active expectation of the Kingdom of God. For Jesus it is the expectation of returning to the house of the Father. For us it is the expectation of Christ Himself, Who will come to get us to bring us to the feast without end, as He has already done with His Mother, Mary Most Holy: He brought her to Heaven with Him. This Gospel wishes to tell us that the Christian is one who carries within himself a great desire, a profound desire: that of meeting with his Lord together with his brothers, with his companions on the road. And all of OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER

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this that Jesus tells us is summed up in this well-known saying of His: “Where your treasure is, there your heart is too” (Lk 12:34). The heart that desires. But we all have a desire! How poor are those people who lack desire! The desire to go forward toward the horizon, and for us Christians this horizon is the encounter with Jesus, the real encounter with Him, Who is our life, our joy, What makes us happy.

But I will ask you two questions.

The first: Do all of you have a desiring heart, a heart that desires? Think and answer in silence and in your heart: Do you have a heart that desires, or do you have a closed heart, a heart that is asleep, a heart that is anesthetized against the things of life? The desire: to go forward to the encounter with Jesus. And the second question: Where is your treasure, that which you desire?

Because Jesus told us: “Where your treasure is, there your heart is, too,” and I ask: Where is your treasure? What is the most important, most precious reality for you, the reality that pulls at my heart like a magnet? What pulls at your heart? Can I say that it is the love of God? Is there the will to do good to others, to live for the Lord and for our brothers? Can I say this? Everyone answers in his heart. But someone might say to me: “But, Father, I’m someone who works, who has a family. For me the most important thing is to move my family ahead, to get

ahead in work.” Of course, it is true, it is important. But what is the power that unites the family?

It is precisely love, and God is the One Who sows love in our hearts, the love of God: It is precisely the love of God that gives meaning to the little daily duties and also helps us face the great trials. This is man’s true treasure. Going forward in life with love, with that love that the Lord sowed in the heart, with the love of God. And this is the true treasure. But what is the love of God? It is not something vague, a generic sentiment.

The love of God has a name and a face: Jesus Christ, Jesus. The love of God manifests itself in Jesus.

Because we cannot love air. Do we love air? Do we love everything?

No, it is not possible! We love persons, and the person Whom we love is Jesus, the gift of the Father among us. It is a love that gives value and beauty to everything else; a love that gives strength to the family, work, study, friendship, art, to every human activity. And it gives meaning even to negative experiences because this love allows us to go beyond these experiences, to go beyond, not to remain prisoners of evil, but makes us go beyond, it always opens us up to hope. So, the love of God in Jesus always opens us up to hope, to that horizon of hope, to that ultimate horizon of our pilgrimage.

In this way even our struggles and falls have a meaning. Our sins, too, have meaning in the love of God,

be cause this love of God in Jesus Christ always forgives, it loves us so much that it always forgives us.

Dear brothers and sisters, today in the Church we recall St. Clare of Assisi, who, in the footsteps of Francis left everything to consecrate herself to Christ in poverty. St. Clare gives us a very beautiful witness to today’s Gospel. May she help us, together with the Virgin Mary, to live it also ourselves, each one according to his own vocation.

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary: And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy Word.

Hail Mary . . .

And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary . . .

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray: Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.

August 16, 2013

hen we look to how the W Church in the United States grew so strong so fast, we have to admit

that the principal reason was because of women religious. They were the ones who more than anyone else made the vast network of Catholic schools work. They made Catholic hospitals work. They began many charitable apostolates. They moonlighted teaching Religious Education programs in parishes. They taught everyone how to pray, how to say yes to God, and how to put God first. They inspired thousands of priestly vocations. And these are only the most conspicuous footprints of their tremendously fruitful apostolates.

This is not to deny or minimize the indispensable and enormous contributions of the clergy, religious Brothers and Catholic families. The flourishing of the institutional Church in the United States was the hard work of the entire Body of Christ. But women religious were the mothers of the entire growing family of the Church in the United States and so many sacrificed as hard as moms of big families do to nurture and care for a vast number of children with love.

As we confront the challenges of the New Evangelization, it’s hard to imagine that we’ll ever succeed without similar contributions from women religious. Because of that conviction, throughout my priesthood I’ve spent most of my vacation time preaching retreats or giving formation to various women’s religious communities that are experiencing a spring time of new vocations. I also dedicate a lot of time giving spiritual direction to young women discerning whether God is calling them to the consecrated life and, if so, to which community.

God is certainly calling many

P

eople sometimes use the phrase “moral compass” to describe the innate sense of right and wrong that human beings have. President Obama, for example, recently mentioned in one of his speeches how we need to, “keep our own moral compass pointed in a true direction.”

Although he didn’t spell out what that true direction might be, his remark nevertheless highlighted something that all can agree upon, namely, the importance of being guided by a moral compass.

When functioning properly, this moral compass (a.k.a. our “conscience”), not only encourages us from within to “do good and avoid evil,” but also sets off internal alarm bells when we are tempted to carry out evil acts.

Some acts, such as murder, torture, theft, and adultery will trigger those alarm bells almost universally, irrespective of time period, culture, or upbringing within a particular society.

No society erects statues to honor their greatest adulterers, or to celebrate their most prolific murderers. When a genocidal leader is cast in marble, it is to memorialize qualities like courage or leadership, not his murderous proclivities.

Anchor Columnists Help for the future of the Church young women to this beautiful life and of work. It’s tough for candidates to I’m happy to have gotten to know so women’s religious life to gain access many who have responded with a full- to really well-paying jobs because if hearted fiat. But one of the troubling they’re honest at an interview, many things I’ve discovered as I’ve been do- companies are not interested in hiring ing this work is something that wasn’t someone who will be at their company a big issue in the vocations boom of only long enough to pay off debts. And decades ago: how many young women losing a job because of layoffs due to being called to the religious life need downsizing or Obamacare requireto defer following that call for years for ments only adds to the stress of seeking financial reasons. to follow the Lord.

In order to enter into religious life, a young woman needs to be debt-free since once she begins living according to the vow of poverty she will earn no money of her own to pay off the debts. In past generations, this wasn’t a big

By Father deal, because most women Roger J. Landry were entering the convent right out of high school. Among those who went to college on their own, the college tuitions at the There are some institutions that time were relatively affordable and the have arisen in order to try to help good loans that needed to be taken out were young women in these circumstances. small and payable somewhat quickly.

One is the Mater Ecclesiae Vocations Today, many of those hearing Fund (fundforvocations.org), which God’s call to espouse themselves to last year helped 23 candidates enter Him as women religious are college religious life. The way it works is that it grads with massive loans to be repaid. assumes responsibility for the monthly The National Religious Vocations payments of college loans for as long Conference did a study in 2010 that as the person is in religious life. If the said 42 percent of those aspiring to re- young woman decides to leave the ligious life in the U.S., who have been convent, she reassumes responsibility accepted and otherwise would be able for the monthly payments. Because of to enter the convent or monastery, are limited resources, however, the Mater blocked from pursuing the call due to Ecclesiae Vocations Fund needed to college loans, with the average loan be- inform 11 applicants that as much as ing about $40,000 plus interest. they wanted to be able to help them, Those are huge sums to pay off in they just didn’t have the funds. a very tough job market for college Another organization is the Lagraduates where good jobs are scarce. bouré Society (labouresociety.org), Some women are working more than which over the last decade has helped one job to be able to pay down these 240 young men and women enter loans so that they can enter, but doing religious life through student loan so requires two-to-three years worth resolution. The Labouré Society trains

Putting Into the Deep

those already accepted into a community how to raise money morally and sends them out for a period of six months to fund-raise for the Labouré Society as a whole. Depending upon how large their loans and how much the individuals raise along with their fund-raising “classmates,” they receive a pledge of quarterly loan payments that begins once they enter religious life and will have the rest of their loan paid off at their final vows.

The society has been able to raise and disburse $2 million since 2003.

I strongly recommend helping both of these organizations.

My preferred way, however, is helping people directly. On a priest’s salary, it’s impossible to help pay off major loans but I’ve been able to help a few women anonymously with smaller debts get them paid off so that they have been able to enter religious life.

I think it’s a really good investment for the future of the Church not to mention for my own priestly life and apostolate to have some religious woman committed to praying in gratitude each day for someone who has played the role of St. Nicholas in her life.

For larger debts, of course, I’m incapable, but I’ve been very happy to see that there are lay people with great love for women religious and religious life who have been able to step up and help young women enter.

A young woman I befriended last year was trying to enter a women’s religious community here in Massachusetts and was working very hard in order to pay off her college loans.

Even though she had a good job, she

Universal morality and the natural law

The fact that certain actions and writer (106-43 B.C.), has like murder and adultery are a famous passage wherein he wrong and invariably harmful, and describes the Natural Law: readily perceived as such, leads “There is in fact a true law — to what is known as the “Natural namely, right reason — which is Law.” The Natural Law signifies in accordance with nature, applies that we can know through our to all men, and is unchangeable powers of reason what is right and and eternal. By its commands wrong, and that our reason can it summons men to the perthereby guide us towards an ethical life. Becoming aware of the Natural Making Sense Law through a carefullyOut of formed moral compass is an essential part of Bioethics what it means to be huBy Father Tad man. Those who invoke Pacholczyk Natural Law appeal to self-evident principles that can be known by all humans. formance of their duties; by its Catholic teachings about prohibitions it restrains them from morality also rely on the notion of doing wrong. To invalidate this Natural Law. The Second Vatican law by human legislation is never Council, to consider but one morally right, nor is it permissible example, describes our moral duty ever to restrict its operation; and this way: “Deep within his conto annul it wholly is impossible.” science man discovers a law which He also notes how the Natuhe has not laid upon himself but ral Law cannot be “one thing at which he must obey.”

Rome, and another at Athens; one The Natural Law, nonetheless, thing today, and another tomoris not a specifically Christian idea, row; but in all times and nations but has its origins in pre-Christian this universal law must forever thought. A number of ancient reign, eternal and imperishable.”

Greek philosophers discuss the Despite its constancy and notion. Cicero, the Roman lawyer universality, the demands of the

Natural Law are not easily specified or deduced, free of disputation or debate. Some people today, in fact, influenced by the hedonism and relativism of our age, would go further and outright deny the existence of the Natural Law. Interestingly, though, whenever a serious crisis or threat to civilization arises, the validity of natural law reasoning tends to reassert itself. Such a resurgence occurred, for example, at the end of World War II, during the Nuremberg trials and in the prosecutions against those who had perpetrated heinous crimes against humanity. Nazi defendants objected to being placed on trial for simply following the orders of their superiors and the laws of their country. Most of their actions were recognized as being legal under the judicial system of the Third Reich. They were ultimately found guilty, nevertheless, of violating a higher law to which all nations and peoples are subject.

Sir Hartley Shawcross, the British prosecutor, stressed that there could be no immunity “for

7 anticipated that it would take her a few years. A few months ago I found out that she would be entering that community this fall. I asked her how she retired her debt so soon. She told me that a woman had visited the community where she’s planning to enter and was so impressed by their life that she asked the mother superior if there was anything she could do to help them.

The superior asked if she’d be able to help a young woman enter the life by helping her reduce some of her loan debt. After the woman met my friend, she decided to pay off her entire debt.

I now have an inspiring young woman coming to see me for spiritual direction who wants to enter the Sisters for Life, the great new order founded

by Cardinal John O’Connor that assists so many women in difficult pregnancies to choose life. The obstacle is that she owes $90,000 in college loans.

She’s working really hard at a real estate company and waitressing to try to pay down the loans but with what she’s making and her daily expenses, it’s going to take her a few years. She’s talked to the societies above, but until her loans are substantially reduced, they don’t have the resources to help her.

I know that many Anchor readers value women’s religious life as much as I do and some have always wanted a religious from their own family. Putting out into the deep, I’m wondering if any of those reading this column would be willing to “adopt” her and help her pay off or down her loans so that she can enter the Sisters for Life?

If you can, please get in touch with me.

Anchor columnist Father Landry is pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River. His email address is fatherlandry@catholicpreaching. com.

those who obey orders which — whether legal or not in the country where they are issued — are manifestly contrary to the very law of nature from which international law has grown.” The prosecutors at Nuremberg built their case on the fact that, in the final analysis, the laws of man and of nations are subject to the laws of God and the Natural Law. To discern the Natural Law and thereby perceive our moral obligations requires reflection, reason and discipline. The darkening of our reason and the weakening of our will that has subtly infected us because of sin can make it challenging, even two millennia following Cicero, to properly grasp our natural moral obligations. The Natural Law, nevertheless, represents an essential core of universal morality, serving as a key foundation for ethics, and an antidote to the lawlessness that tempts us in every age.

Anchor columnist Father Pacholczyk earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard.

He is a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, and serves as the director of Education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia.

See www.ncbcenter.org.

8

J

eremiah was not a bull frog (with apologies to Three Dog Night, the singers of that famous line, opening the song “Joy to the World” [not the Christmas hymn]), but he was truly a good friend to the people of Judah.

Many of them were not good friends of his, because they did not like listening to his constant warnings about how their sinfulness and stupidity was going to be their undoing.

Instead of listening to him, they decided to “kill the messenger,” by lowering him into the mud of a somewhat dried-up well, hoping that he would starve to death down there. But as Psalm 40 says, “The Lord heard my cry. He drew me out of the pit of destruction, out of the mud of the swamp; He set my feet upon a crag; He made firm my steps.” The idea of God setting our feet upon a crag might not sound that

August 16, 2013

Jeremiah is still with us

reassuring; it might sound to the point of shedding like something from a Road blood.” That is probably true Runner/Wile E. Coyote for most of us who live in cartoon. However, when we the Diocese of Fall River, are dealing with the difficulalthough our fellow Christies of life, sometimes as people of faith a sense of humor is a Homily of the Week great help to us, so Twentieth Sunday that we do not fall in Ordinary Time into despair. Thus, we might be walkBy Richard ing on the edge of D. Wilson cliff, figuratively, but we have God as our “Sherpa,” guiding us as we climb His mountain. tians reading this on the People who don’t believe Internet may well have had in God might challenge us, to resist the power of evil to asking, “Where was your that extent. We do not realGod?” when life continues ize how good we have life to be challenging, when our here — but “the good life” prayers are not answered in sometimes ends up being an the way in which we would obstacle for us to living life like. In today’s second readin a good way. Just as the ing, the New Testament Judeans who were content author of the Letter to the with their lives wanted to get Hebrews reminds us, “In the meddlesome Jeremiah your struggle against sin out of earshot, so we Chrisyou have not yet resisted tians in the developed world

often would rather listen to anything which can drown out God’s loving Words of warning to us.

The Ink Spots released a song in 1941, “I don’t want to set the world on fire” (made popular again a few decades ago in a perfume commercial). The next line of the song was, “I just want to start a flame in your heart.”

In this week’s Gospel Jesus does say, “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” He then speaks about how He did not come to bring peace, but division.

He does not mean that He actively came to foment hatred in families, but is stating that when people follow Him, when people allow Him to start a flame in their hearts, often other people are strongly motivated to try to

blow that flame out (because the light from it makes them uncomfortable, because unconsciously it reminds them of their own faults, something which they try their best to ignore).

We ask God to help us be more receptive to the “Jeremiahs” of our world today. Sometimes the world dismisses them by focusing on what everyone can admire about them (e.g., Blessed Teresa of Calcutta’s care for the poor), while ignoring the challenging message they have (e.g., her strong Pro-Life stances); other times it just tries to make these messengers appear crazy or irrelevant. We need to listen to them — and to be them, when God asks us to do so.

Father Wilson is pastor of St. Vincent de Paul and St. John parishes in Attleboro and is executive editor of The Anchor.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. August 17, Jos 24:14-29; Ps 16:1-2,5,7-8,11; Mt 19:13-15. Sun. August 18, Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jer 38:4-6,8-10; Ps 40:2-4,18; Heb 12:1-4; Lk 12:49-53. Mon. August 19, Jgs 2:11-19; Ps 106:34-37,39-40,43-44; Mt 19:16-22. Tues. August 20, Jgs 6:11-24a; Ps 85:9,11-14; Mt 19:2330. Wed. August 21, Jgs 9:6-15; Ps 21:2-7; Mt 20:1-16. Thurs. August 22, Jgs 11:29-39a; Ps 40:5,7-10; Mt 22:1-14. Fri. August 23, Ru 1:1,3-6,14b-16,22; Ps 146:5-10; Mt 22:34-40.

I

n the wake of late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell’s homicide convictions this past May, several state legislatures began crafting laws that would protect unborn life at earlier stages of gestation while shutting down horror houses like Gosnell’s Philadelphia “clinic.” Whether these laws will stand constitutional scrutiny remains to be seen; what is worth noting now is the degree to which deeplyentrenched supporters of the unrestricted abortion license created by the Supreme Court in 1973 still don’t get it — and still continue to muddle the public debate with their confusions.

Thus a June 29 editorial in The Washington Post deplored the fact that these proposed state statutes would “Require abortion clinics to meet the same standards as surgery centers, like those in hospital wings.” Moreover, “doctors who perform abortions would have to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. The case that such standards are needed to protect the health

On really not getting it of abortion patients is weak.” ers, Ruth Marcus, who, in an April column, described state Say what? In many states, legislative efforts to hollow abortuaries are not required out Roe v. Wade’s abortion to meet health and safety license through state regulastandards required of the local McDonald’s or Wendy’s. After testimony in the Gosnell case depicted a foul, cluttered, ghoulish “clinic” in which basic sanitary

By George Weigel standards were massively violated, how can anyone reasonably suggest that the tion of abortion clinics as case for protecting women “the result of a sincere and by enforcing proper sanitaintense belief — one I do not tion and safety standards for surgical procedures is “weak”? share — that abortion is the taking of a human life.”

How can anyone reasonably Well, one wants to ask, suggest that there is a “weak what is it, then? case” for requiring that those What, precisely, are those who perform those procedures have the minimal professional creatures whose spinal cords Kermit Gosnell cut with sciscredentials of other surgeons and doctors? How can anyone sors? Why did all of Great Britain ask “Is it a baby girl plausibly and conscientiously or a baby boy?” when the claim to promote “women’s health” by resisting such regu- Duchess of Cambridge became pregnant? Why did no lations? one ask of the former Kate The Post’s obfuscations were of a piece with the deep Middleton and future Queen of England, “Is it a male fetus confusions of one of the or a female fetus?” Why does paper’s regular op-ed writ-

The Catholic Difference

a widely-used embryology textbook state what every first-year biology student can see, absent ideological blinders: that the product of human conception is a human being with a unique genetic identity, capable of self-directed development so long as neither nature (in the form of miscarriage) nor technology (in the form of abortion, chemical or surgical) intrudes?

Marcus’s confusions do not stop at Embryology 101, however. After correctly noting that the legal battle for unborn human life was largely being won when the Supreme Court preempted the state legislative struggle in 1973, Marcus noted that, irrespective of what was happening in state capitals, a 1973 Gallup Poll “found 64 percent agreeing that ‘the decision to have an abortion should be made solely by a woman and her physician.’”

And here is another of the canards of Those Who Really

Don’t Get It. The abortion decision is most frequently made, not by a woman and “her physician,” but by a frightened woman talking with a “counselor” in a clinic run by an agency like Planned Parenthood, which has a deep financial interest in abortion.

That frightened woman, who has often been abandoned by an irresponsible man, is then remanded to an abortion “provider” who is no more “her physician” than he or she is “her hairdresser.”

And in light of the Gosnell case, which revealed grotesqueries like infant feet and hands kept in jars in refrigerators, do Ruth Marcus and the Post editorial board really think of the Kermit Gosnells of this world as “physicians”?

Are the Chinese doctors who remove organs from political prisoners “physicians?”

Is the abortion license worth this shameful abdication of decency and reason?

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

August 16, 2013

I

t was a windy fall day. As I tried to rake the maple and oak leaves, many blew to the other corner of the yard.

Topping this were my two younger brothers, allegedly helping me, but really throwing leaves at each other! How to make all these leaves go away right now? A plan came to mind as I remembered Jesus’ words, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you” (Lk 17:6).

It was an oak tree, but to my 10-year-old self, it was close enough. I closed my eyes and silently wished the tree into the ocean at Horseneck Beach. I peeked out through one eye — nothing. I thought OK, so you have to say it with authority just as Jesus did. I summoned up my courage and told that tree, “Go to the sea!”

A great gust of wind came. I closed my eyes. What was the tree’s answer? It dumped a pile of leaves on me! As I picked dead leaves out of my hair, my mother called out to all of us to rake the leaves behind the garage where the wind was blowing less so that we could bag the leaves. Did she know what I had just done? I was

I

Anchor Columnists Mustard leaves?

scared, I found myself telling scared and crushed. My faith my mom about the stubborn didn’t match that of a mustard oak tree that wouldn’t move. seed!

I know she told me someI had just celebrated my thing pseudoscientific about 12th birthday and we were at why trees wouldn’t move, but Mass. The priest was talking about that mustard seed again. that is all beyond me now.

The only part I remember A chill ran down my spine — was her smile as she told me, did my mom know I didn’t match up to that mustard seed? “The trees wouldn’t move for This time though the priest said, “Wouldn’t it Wrestling with God be silly if all of us used our faith for sending Holding on for trees flying?” I looked His blessing up at him. Father then said something about

By Dr. Helen Flavin the mustard seed representing a beginning of a project for God. I me either when I raked the liked that idea. After Mass, leaves.” I knew then everything as I buckled my seat belt, I would be OK. Those friendly told my mom that the idea of talks continued until my mom faith as seeds was much more died in September 1999. The interesting than the idea of flying trees. She stared at me a last time I saw her alive was moment, then drove us home. when she was sitting at that very same kitchen table where Later that afternoon my we shared all our teas and mom called me over to the thoughts. kitchen table. It was to be a February 2004, I helped private chat. My heart sank; my dad clean out the back of she knew about that oak the garage prior to his selling tree! We had tea and cookthe house. We found one very ies together. We had the first tiny, old box. It was my mom’s of what I guess I would call secret possession from high my big girl or growing up school through the first few chats. There must have been years of her Marriage. Don’t something magic in that tea tell my dad you know about because even though I was

9

this, but he sent her the cutest card when they were dating!

In that box were my mom’s articles and notes on nurturing growth and development of children. For example, there was a piece on fluoride making teeth strong. As I read it, I remembered going to the dentist and my mom (neither me nor my brothers) had cavities! You understand? After reading up on the medical advice, my mom had arranged for us to have those “new” fluoride treatments. I smiled as I remembered my mom telling my teen-age self that the one thing she wanted for herself in life was to have three children and to be a good mom.

As the breeze ruffled the magazine clippings in my hands, I remembered Jesus’ words, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants” (Mt 13:31-32). I realized that what I was really holding were the faded leaves from one of God’s mustard trees. I finally understood Jesus’

Money is flying out the window

The eagerly awaited Barge Day

’ve never seen such the great Biblical flood! commotion and exHowever, the only animals citement since my childcurious enough to be on the hood days (just a few years scene were the ever-present ago) in my homeland in mongoose who must have the west of Ireland when thought the Russians were Duffy’s Circus came to town. The barge had settled in at the pier and now Moon Over the action began.

Men and women Molokai from the State and

By Father National Park dePatrick Killilea, SS.CC. partments wearing hard hats of different colors scurried coming. Even the usually about giving directions to their co-workers or buzzing chattering mynah birds around in one of the settle- watched in silent awe as the barge emptied its cargo ment’s forklifts, front-end or back-end loaders, or onto the pier and its environs. trucks. It’s a miracle that there was no accident.

Barge Day in mid-July in Meantime onlookers like Kalaupapa is always looked myself sat or stood nearby forward to with childlike anticipation. It is that day watching all the action between the barge and the in the year when a new pier landing. I half expected washer or dryer, car, truck to see some elephants or or van makes its debut on rhinos rumble off that Kalaupapa. It is the date barge as in the days after when the settlement’s cru-

cial gasoline supply arrives.

It is the time when much of the non-perishable food supply is restocked. It is the moment when Santa Claus comes to town in the middle of July. It is midsummer Christmas in Kalaupapa.

The collection of old, battered vehicles and appliances had been joisted onto the barge for salvage purposes.

Outgoing items had been stowed away safely aboard. Now the barge pulled away from the pier and headed slowly out of the harbor and towards the open sea. The harbor waters were now free for our lovely Hawaiian mermaids to play in those waters and to collect some sun on the harbor walls.

Aloha!

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

parable. One part is a personal challenge to seek the courage to start the project. The second part is Jesus’ gentle reminder to trust our loving Father and what He can bring forth from our humble beginnings.

Faith nurtures the planting of the seed of a dream and also nurtures all the hard work involved in collaborating with God to bring that dream to fruition.

What mustard leaves have you seen or held? Do you feel the serenity their presence brings? This week, let us each choose one experience and share it with a friend.

My mom was born on August 16. In celebration of her birthday, my prayer today is one of thanksgiving for the gift of my mom.

Anchor columnist Helen Flavin is a Catholic scientist, educator and writer born and raised in Fall River. She is a member of St. Bernadette’s Parish and received her Ph.D. in neurochemistry from Boston College and teaches in the Chemistry Department at Rhode Island College. She is also a science instructor at Bishop Connolly High School.

She can be reached at hflavin@bishopconnolly.com.

In 2012, The Anchor spent nearly $2,000 in postage change fees!

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

Please Print Your New Address Below

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

Clip and mail form to: The Anchor, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722

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August 16, 2013

Anti-Catholic Facebook pages worry Latino communities

Lima, Peru (CNA) — Facebook’s continued tolerance for obscene anti-Catholic pages in Spanish are causing some users to question the site’s policies — and whether they should keep using the social network.

“I report anti-Catholic pages every so often,” user Carlos Wadsworth of Costa Rica said in response to an open Facebook query from CNA executive director Alejandro Bermudez.

“And it is so disgusting that when I report a comment that is literally an insult to a bishop and/ or to all Catholics the answer from Facebook is that the post does not violate Facebook policies.”

Mario De Jesús Gallardo Mendiolea, who says he is involved in evangelization in the Diocese of Leon, Mexico, claims that Facebook’s policy is “very tolerant of anti-Catholicism.”

“They have blocked me three times. At first I thought it was because of complaints from Protestant brothers and sisters because of what I posted on my wall. Now I think that Facebook tolerates anti-Catholicism and is targeting us,” he said.

Another user, Rodrigo Perez M. of Colombia, said Facebook allows “open anti-Catholicism that is out of control and unfettered.”

“I am about to close my account, it bothers me to see so much hatred and venom towards the Catholic Church. There is no control and on the contrary if you make a comment warning about Satanism, the first thing Facebook does is temporarily block

your account, as it did to me.”

While many Catholic users say anti-Catholicism faces little rebuke from Facebook’s Spanishlanguage administrators, positive Catholic pages have not been as fortunate. One of the most popular Spanish-language pages, “Memes Católicos,” was deleted from Facebook.

Yhonathan Luque Reyes of Peru created the page, which helped others learn more about the Catholic faith and counter anti-Catholic attitudes in a humorous, accessible way. His page had drawn more than 110,000 followers.

In fall of 2012 Facebook notified him that various users had denounced his page for allegedly promoting language that incited religious hatred.

The social network offered him the alternative of locating the page under the category “polemical humor” to be maintained on the site.

In January 2013, several anti-Christian groups campaigned for Facebook to ban the page as offensive. The page was removed in such a way that it could not be restored.

The elimination of the page drew the attention of the Pontifical Council for Communications, which noted the deletion on its Twitter account.

Though “Memes Católicos” has been deleted, the Spanish-language Facebook page “Peneadicto XVI” continues to broadcast anti-Catholic and anti-religion messages to more than 44,000 followers.

The Facebook page, whose name has a lewd connotation in Spanish, denigrates Jesus Christ, Pope Francis and Pope Benedict, and the Catholic Church. It depicts Pope Francis and Pope Benedict as pedophiles The page also directs campaigns that promote hatred of religion and acts of physical aggression against the pope and other Catholic leaders.

Despite Facebook’s prohibitions on pornography, for a time the Facebook page’s cover

image was a montage that included a depiction of Pope Benedict XVI in a sex act with a naked man at the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica.

A manager of the Facebook page, Carlos Alberto Becerra Mendoza of Peru, is the subject of a lawsuit from Catholic News Agency’s Lima-based partner ACI Prensa for allegedly hacking the news agency’s website in January. The “Peneadicto XVI” page published images of hacked pages at ACI Prensa website, even though the hacked pages were only visible for about an hour.

Facebook’s Latin American division declined to respond to specific charges that the Facebook page violated the social network’s policy.

“The conversations that take place on Facebook as well as the opinions that its users express, are a reflection of the diversity of people that use Facebook,” Alberto Arebalos, Facebook’s head of communications for Latin America, recently told ACI Prensa.

“In order to balance the interests and needs of a worldwide public, Facebook protects expressions of opinion and content that meets the norms described in our policies.”

“I can assure you that there is no anti-Catholic spirit at our company,” he said, declining to respond to the specific incidents ACI Prensa reported to him.

“Every complaint is studied and analyzed in accord with our policies, without any slant in one direction or the other.”

In May, Facebook announced that a review of its policies on removing offensive content and hate speech, indicating that it has listened to women’s groups and Jewish, Muslim and LGBT groups for feedback.

The move appeared to have some effects, including the deletion of anti-Christian pages like “Christians I’d Like to Throat Punch.”

However, this policy may not exclude obscene attacks on Jesus Christ and the pope.

Alison Schumer, a member of Facebook’s communications and public policy section, on June 10 told CNA that its anti-harassment standards “do not cover public figures.”

She cited Facebook’s community standards, which say “We allow users to speak freely on matters and people of public interest, but take action on all reports of abusive behavior directed at private individuals.”

The standards also bar “hate speech,” meaning “direct and serious attacks on any protected category of people,” including religious categories. The company says that some “distasteful humor” does not qualify as hate speech.

Asked if Facebook was working with any Catholic or Christian groups for feedback about its policy, Schumer said that in early June Facebook’s Washington, D.C. office held a meeting with “national faith-based leaders” created under the guidance from the leaders of the U.S. Catholic bishops.

Schumer said June 19 that the meeting was “private” but she said it was “one example of many in which we meet with external groups regarding our policies.” The U.S. bishops’ conference confirmed that the meeting took place, but likewise described it as “private.”

Facebook has been in operation for nine years. While it has come to dominate social media, it has shown signs of stagnating growth and declining enthusiasm among some younger users.

August 16, 2013

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August 16, 2013

Artist combines faith, imagery, Biblical messages for his religious art MURRYSVILLE, Pa. (CNS) — Christopher Ruane remembers drawing and coloring pictures of Christ and listening to his father, Michael Ruane, read him stories from the Bible.

Today, these visuals and biblical messages from his childhood are fused with his strong faith, respect for traditional art and astute sensitivity to the culture around him as he creates a unique type of religious art using photography.

“I don’t just photograph people, I photograph every single element in the picture,” he said.

Although all of Ruane’s pieces are rooted in Scripture, his work is a departure from the more recognizable, traditional religious art.

He presents biblical stories and messages with a modern interpretation, using strikingly vivid colors and visuals that range from surreal to starkly realistic.

“My work is supposed to illicit a powerful response — and make you think about Christ and contemplate who you are in your faith,” he said in an interview with The Catholic Accent, newspaper of the Greensburg Diocese.

Using Photoshop, he engages in a labor intensive process of bringing together each photographed element to create a cohesive image that communicates a Christ-like message.

“The images have the clarity of traditional fine art photography with the heart, soul and freedom of painting,” Ruane said.

A lifelong Catholic, Ruane, his wife, Stefanie Ruane, and their two-month-old son, Isaac, are parishioners of Mother of Sorrows Parish in Murrysville.

Ruane, 32, earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in 2004 from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, where he double majored in photography and graphic design and minored in art history.

Last fall, his piece “Good Samaritan,” which was inspired by the Trayvon Martin shooting, won first place at the fourth annual Nationwide Juried Catholic Arts Exhibition at St. Vincent College in Latrobe. It explores the powerful message of loving one’s neighbor, showing love where one would expect animosity, Ruane said.

Benedictine Brother Nathan Cochran, director of the St. Vincent College Gallery and curator of the art collections at the college and monastery, said he was pleased that Ruane submitted work for the competition because “it was exactly the type of art that I hope emerges out of the Catholic art competition — good artists

producing good work that is recognizably Biblical yet updated to our times,” he said.

Brother Nathan said that throughout time, artists have interpreted Jesus and the Bible in contemporary terms, striving to make Scripture and the stories of the saints alive for their own particular time.

“They are not trying to replicate Bible times and Bible books, they’re trying to replicate what the message is,” he said. “This was true in the Renaissance and Baroque periods, which we frequently see as the high point of Church art.”

Ruane said that like faith, one has to look at his art, explore it and find it.

An example of that is his work “Doubting Thomas,” where Thomas is depicted as a young boy in front of a TV in a Christian home.

“In my depiction, I have Thomas guiding his own hand into the wounds, taking responsibility for his own faith,” Ruane said. “In our modern time, no one is going to grab your hand and make you believe in faith. You have to be responsible for your own faith — and guide your own hand.”

Greg Petrucci, director of evangelization for the Diocese of Greensburg, said Ruane’s work speaks to the current culture.

“That’s what we’re being asked to do with the New Evangelization, he said, “to bring the Gospel and our witness of Christ to the current culture.”

Petrucci said Ruane is clearly open to what God is doing in his life, which is reflected in his work that he “puts out there” in public venues such as galleries and arts festivals.

“That’s kind of a key to what evangelization is really about,” he said.

Petrucci said evangelization needs to be intimately connected to people.

“We’re sharing Christ, but we’re sharing Christ out of ourselves and our own experience.

When we talk about it from the perspective of what has this done in my life, than it becomes what we’re called to do, witness,” he told The Catholic Accent. “His work is his witness.”

And because Ruane’s art is so contemporary, it could appeal to someone who ordinarily might not show any interest in religious imagery — or religion, Petrucci said.

“That’s a big part of what we’re called to do as evangelizers — to provide people with a way into an experience of God,” he said.

Animated character Dusty, voiced by Dane Cook, appears in the movie “Planes.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/Disney)

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

“The Way, Way Back” (Fox Searchlight) A potentially nostalgic summer vacation spent by the sea is tinged with family problems and teen angst in this coming-of-age comedydrama, written and directed

by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash. A 14-year-old boy (Liam James) is miserable when forced to join his divorced mother (Toni Collette) at her boyfriend’s (Steve Carell) summer cottage. There the adults party hearty and the kids are left to their own devices. A bicycle provides escape for the lad who discovers a run-down water park nearby. Its funloving manager (Sam Rockwell) takes him under his wing as a mentor and friend, and the surrogate father-son relationship proves mutually beneficial. An adulterous relationship, acceptability of divorce, implied nonmarital sex, drug use, underage drinking, frequent crude and profane language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may

be inappropriate for children under 13.

“Planes” (Disney) The anthropomorphic world of the “Cars” franchise is transported to the skies in this exhilarating 3-D animated adventure, directed by Klay Hall. A spirited crop-duster (voice of Dane Cook) dreams of life as an air racer. He’s fast, but he has a potentially fatal flaw: Used to flying low and slow over the fields, he’s afraid of heights. Determined to succeed, he persuades a crusty veteran of wartime air battles (voice of Stacy Keach),

to train him for a race around the world, where the aircraft to beat is a devious fellow American (voice of Roger Craig Smith). The animation dazzles with acrobatic races over beautiful scenery, while the plot offers good lessons for kids about friendship and overcoming obstacles.

A few perilous situations.

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.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, August 18, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father David C. Deston Jr., chaplain at Charlton Memorial Hospital

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August 16, 2013

W

Waxing philosophical

thinking that if I don’t see ith Emilie just a or feel something, then how few weeks away do I know it’s happening? from beginning her years at Wow, college philosophy UMass Dartmouth, memoflashback there! It’s like the ries of my own time there old question, “If a tree falls in the late ’70s have been in the woods and there’s no aroused. one around to hear it, does it I’ve recalled my first-ever make a sound?” philosophy class. Like for most of my other freshman classes, I didn’t know what to expect. On day one the professor looked at the dozen or so confused faces staring at him and

By Dave Jolivet asked, “How do you know that the chair you are sitting on is Every day (or night) mereally there?” teors, meteorites, comets and I don’t know what my God knows what else, are compatriots were thinking, flying helter-skelter across but my first thought was, the cosmos. Why? “This is going to be a long Every night, billions of semester.” stars poke through the darkPhilosophy wasn’t really my thing, but it wasn’t as bad ness, taking their usual place as I imagined it would be on on God’s massive canvass.

Why? And scientists say that the first day and I successthe light we’re seeing from fully made it through the some of these stars is actucourse.

While not a philosophical ally thousands of years old, person per se, I do, once in a and we’re just now seeing it because it took so long to get great while, wax philosophihere. What? cally.

Every day, our relatively Lately, the Perseids tiny planet rotates on its meteor showers have been imaginary axis while revolvstreaking through the ing around the sun. Every nighttime skies. Years ago, day other planets in our when I could stay up late Solar System do the same and not feel the effects the thing. Why? And doesn’t the next morning, I witnessed sun move? And what is gothis magnificent event. A ing on further beyond in the group of us were sitting in galaxy? the bleachers of the Diman Are there other galaxies, High School football field and watched the show above other planets, other humans?

I think I shy away from us. It was, as the lady in the philosophical enigmas Dunkin’ Donuts commercial because it hurts my brain says, “Wicked awesome.” to try and figure them out.

While I can’t stay awake Yet, I do find it intriguing to to watch the meteors dancing with the stars any longer, reflect on what God has up His sleeve with all of this.

I have been thinking about Surely, none of what goes what’s going on up there. on above, below or around Too often I find myself

My View From the Stands

us, occurs without the Good Lord knowing about it. And if the saying, “Everything happens for a reason” is true, then this ballet of nature has a purpose. I truly believe this ... I just want to know what the purpose is!

I know answers to these and millions of other questions won’t be answered in this lifetime. But what these mysteries do provide, for me anyway, is proof that God is mighty and powerful, gentle and precise, in everything He gives His children.

There are so many beautiful gifts He’s bestowed on us ... on, in, around and above this little orb we call home. We just have to take the time to look. Every gift He sends us can help us realize His glory and love.

Every gift He sends our way is a prayer in the making: a prayer of thanks, wonder, mystery, awe, humility, and praise.

Only God could keep all of this in order. I’m reminded of the scene in the movie “Bruce Almighty,” when God allows Jim Carrey’s character to know what it’s like to be the Almighty — with the prayers of millions of people coming at him at once. Only God can sort through all of that. Wow. Our God is an awesome God. Just look. It’s all around us.

Thinking back I wonder if that chair I was sitting on back in my first philosophy class was actually there. I’m going to bet yes on that one.

Some philosophical questions are easier than others.

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

Catholic Memorial Home Administrator Thomas F. Healy, left, recently received a $3,000 donation from BayCoast Bank President Nicholas Crist.

Catholic Memorial Home receives donation from BayCoast Bank

FALL RIVER — Catholic Memorial Home is pleased to acknowledge a recent donation of $3,000 from BayCoast Bank.

BayCoast Bank President Nicholas Crist presented the donation to the home’s Administrator Thomas F. Healy for the home’s renovation project which will create additional short-term rehabilitation rooms at the home as the need continues to grow.

The rehabilitation rooms are used to help residents attain

their highest level of physical functionality following an illness, accident, hospitalization, or surgery by providing a mix of physical, occupational, speech/language and respiratory therapies, and a pulmonary rehabilitation program tailored to individual needs.

The ultimate goal of the short-term rehab programs is to return residents to their homes, whenever it is safely possible.

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August 16, 2013

Anchor updates diocesan directory; revises print, website editions

FALL RIVER — Despite the summer doldrums, work has been ramping up at The Anchor office of late. The staff has just completed months of work on the newly-revised and updated 2013-2014 Catholic Directory for the Fall River Diocese.

This annual information resource, published by The Anchor, has consistently been the go-to reference guide for all parishes, offices and apostolates within the Fall River Diocese and has continued to offer more information with each subsequent edition over the past few years.

Copies of the updated Catholic Directory are expected to begin shipping this week.

“We’re always looking for ways to expand and improve upon previous editions,” said Kenneth J. Souza, reporter for The Anchor and coordinator of the directory. “And it’s always a challenge to keep the information as up-to-date as possible so everything in it remains accurate.”

The 2013-2014 full-color, spiral-bound directory tops out at 250 pages — including heavy stock insert tabs and front and back covers — and is the largest edition The Anchor has ever published.

As in past years, the directory provides updated telephone and address listings of all diocesan offices, personnel, archives, priests’ residences, councils and apostolates ranging from The Anchor to Catholic Social Services and its many offices, campus ministry, the Development Office, chancery, Faith Formation, insurance, legal, communications, scouting, shelters, and vocations.

The popular “Parishes and Missions” section — which makes up the bulk of the book — dedicates one page to each parish in the diocese, and includes photos, maps, contact information and a listing of Mass times and personnel.

Recent additions, such as the handy 12-month desk calendar which runs from September 2013 through August 2014, returns to provide pertinent information such as saints’ feast days, significant events in the history of the Fall River Diocese, holy days of obligation, and a daily necrology of deceased priests and deacons.

But new to this year’s directory is the inclusion of full-color photographs of people and places within the diocese at the top of each month — a sampling of which also appears on the cover.

“We tapped into our growing archive of photos taken at various diocesan events throughout the year and decided to highlight some of the things that take place during that month,” Souza said. “The cover design also features a collage of five photos — one from each deanery — in the shape of a cross.”

Another new addition to this year’s directory is a listing of times and locations for Eucharistic Adoration within the diocese — a carryover from the weekly Anchor edition.

As always, the continued support of dedicated advertisers is pivotal to the directory’s annual success; and the 20132014 Catholic Directory is not only the largest volume of its kind, but also includes a record number of advertising sponsors.

“This edition of our direc-

tory is the most successful one we’ve ever had from an advertising perspective,” said Wayne R. Powers, advertising director for The Anchor and the directory. “I think people know it’s still one of the best vehicles and values to make their products and services known throughout the diocese.”

In response to ongoing readers’ concerns, the weekly print edition of The Anchor has also gotten a bit of a face-lift in recent weeks along with its online counterpart.

Most of the elements that appear in the weekly diocesan newspaper — from the article text to headlines and photo captions or “cutlines” — have either been tweaked or revamped to make them easier to read and more appealing.

“One of the most common complaints we had from readers was that the text in our print edition was either too small or too condensed,” said Souza, who worked with editor Dave Jolivet to create a new look for The Anchor. “We chose fonts that were easier on the eye and we’re limiting text to nothing smaller than an 11-point typeface.”

Page six has now been designated as the newspaper’s editorial/opinion page, replete with the publication’s “masthead,” or listing of staff and publication information.

All Anchor “columnists” — regular contributors who provide their own opinion but don’t necessarily speak for the publication itself — are now identified as such on other pages.

The newspaper’s banner that stretches across the top of page

It’s a BIG diocese out there The Diocese of Fall River 2013-14 Catholic Directory can make it smaller ... with valuable information and resources.

Order yours today!

Please ship _____ directories x $18 each, including shipping and handling. Total Enclosed $_____ NAME ____________________________________________ ADDRESS _________________________________________ CITY _____________________ STATE _______ ZIP _____ Please make checks payable to “Anchor Publishing” For more information, email theanchor@anchonews.org, call 508-675-7151, or order online at www.anchornews.org

one was also reverted back to the retro Anchor logo last used in October 2006, with the signature tilted anchor leaning against the “r” and a newly-added background image of water taken at Horseneck Beach in Westport.

Having returned to the retro Anchor logo, similar revisions were made to the publication’s online counterpart, The Anchor website located at www. anchornews.org. The site now offers a bevy of newly-designed Anchor products in the “Anchor Store” section (the proceeds of which all help to support the mission of the diocesan newspaper) and the new logo and columnist designations have been ported over as well.

With so many newspapers today struggling to remain rele-

vant, The Anchor is hoping these improvements will keep things fresh for its dedicated readers.

“There are a lot of ways people can get Church information today — in print and online,” Souza said. “So we hope these subtle changes will continue to make The Anchor and the Catholic Directory the primary resources for Catholic information in our diocese and beyond.”

To order a copy of the newlypublished 2013-2014 Catholic Directory, send a check for $18 made payable to “Anchor Publishing,” to Anchor Publishing Co., P.O. Box 7, Fall River, Mass. 02722; or use the handy coupon that appears in the ad in this and subsequent editions. You can also place an order online at www.anchornews.org or call 508-675-7151.

Anchor online now offers readers chance to post prayer petitions

FALL RIVER — A newly-added section that is unique to the Anchor website presence (anchornews.org) is the inclusion of a “Prayer Petitions” section which allows readers to publish prayer and novena intentions that are often included in the classified ads section of secular newspapers. Unlike those publications, The Anchor is providing this service free-of-charge to its readers.

“As a Catholic newspaper,

it didn’t seem appropriate to make money on prayers,” Kenneth J. Souza, who maintains the web edition, said.

The new Prayer Petitions section includes a handy email form that allows users to submit their promised prayers and petitions for publication online and a sampling of the most common prayers — which can be simply copied/pasted into the form — is also included on the same page.

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August 16, 2013

Cape Cod Bus for Life to honor diocesan Pro-Life Apostolate continued from page one

ald were long-time Pro-Lifers who were instrumental in helping us with the Cape Cod Bus for Life,” Ward told The Anchor.

“We wanted to honor their past work while honoring people who continue to support the Pro-Life cause in the diocese.”

Desrosiers and Arsenault told The Anchor it was an honor to be recognized by friends who are just as deserving of the award themselves.

“We accept on behalf of all those who have prayed, encouraged, marched with us, stood along beside us and yes, even cried with us, in our efforts to rebuild the Culture of Life,” Desrosiers said. “We could not do this ministry without them.”

Noting that the Lloyds were “faithful servants to the Pro-

Life cause far before either of us came on the scene,” Desrosiers recalled the couple traveling with them on the buses to the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. “Mary was always smiling and always had a pleasant word to say to everyone,” she said.

“And Lloyd was always encouraging us to keep going in our efforts. What great witnesses to the dignity of human life they both were to all of us!”

While she appreciates being singled-out for her work, Desrosiers said individual initiatives such as the Cape Cod Bus for Life and the many Pro-Life advocates throughout the diocese are more deserving of the accolades.

“The Cape Cod Bus for Life

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When he’s riding in the popemobile — at the Vatican or, for example, in Rio de Janeiro — Pope Francis uses his hands not just to bless people and hold the babies he’s kissing. He uses them to catch things.

Tossing, lobbing and throwing things to the pope or into the popemobile has been a growing phenomenon at the Vatican, but it took on epic portions during World Youth Day in Rio. “We filled a jeep four times with objects of every kind,” said Alberto Gasbarri, the chief organizer of papal trips.

Gasbarri’s partial inventory included: “T-shirts, hats, scarves, balls, flowers, bandanas, photographs, letters, drawings, Rosaries — and even a bishop’s ring.”

“It’s true, it was pretty substantial,” said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman. It wasn’t clear if the ring belonged to a bishop who tossed it or if it was meant as a gift from one of the pilgrims to the pope.

The haul was divided between the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro and the Vatican, Gasbarri told Catholic News Service. Some of the things left behind will be souvenirs of the pope’s visit, while much of the clothing will be distributed to the poor.

The ball and soccer jersey Pope Francis left before an icon of Mary July 29 at the Basilica of St. Mary Major — when he stopped there on the way home from the airport — came from the Rio collection, Gasbarri said.

The same thing happens at

the Vatican with papal gifts.

Items handed to the pope or simply tossed into the popemobile are sorted. Some end up catalogued and stored, including in the Vatican Museums, but the clothing and most of the edibles go to the diocesan Caritas, the Vatican shelter run by the Missionaries of Charity or the Vatican’s maternal and pediatric clinic, which serves mainly immigrants and is run by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.

At least once, Pope Francis reached into the bottom of the popemobile and recycled a gift himself. During a weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square in mid-June — a hot, intensely sunny day — the pope kissed two little boys and motioned for their parents to put hats on them. A little while later, one of the Vatican security officers held up another hatless boy. The pope kissed the boy, patted him on the cheek then told the officer to wait while he reached down and found a hat. The green baseball

and the Cape Cod Bus for Life for “stepping up and offering to take responsibility to continue makes it possible for people the adult track” every year.

“I started 20 years ago to from all over the diocese to join us for our diocesan pilgrimage design a pilgrimage for youth with Bishop George W. Cole- and adults to travel to Washman each year to the March ington, D.C.,” Desrosiers said. for Life in Washington D.C.,” “Never in my wildest dreams Desrosiers said. “The opportu- did I expect such huge numbers nity to pray and stand in the of pilgrims from this diocese to public square in our nation’s attend every year. The pilgrimcapitol and march in solidarity age is a powerful experience of for the defense and protection God’s grace to transform hearts for all human life would not and minds. It gives us the courbe available to some had this age and perseverance to defeat means of transportation and the culture of death through travel not continued to be made truth and love.

“We have been the benefiavailable.”

While Desrosiers and Ar- ciaries in this office of the fruits senault make the travel ar- it bears by bringing into our rangements to transport ap- lives the help we have needed proximately 400 young people to continue this mission.”

Joe DiPetro, a parishioner at from the diocese to Washington every year, she said they are St. Vincent de Paul Parish in grateful to people like Ward Attleboro and the coordinator for one of the buses that went to Washington in January, said cap was a little large, but he put Desrosiers is well-deserving of the honor. it on the boy’s head anyway.

“When she organized a Asked if the gift tosses meeting at St. John the Evanfrighten Vatican security, Father gelist Parish in Attleboro, Lombardi said, “I asked them which many Pro-Life parishthat, too. They said not really. ioners in the area attended, her The pope’s not afraid.”

Home, abroad, popemobile fills with gifts for pope

This week in

message was that the women going to a clinic do not need to be told that abortion is bad or that they are going to hell,” DiPetro said. “What they need to know is that we love them and that we want to help them. The women see the infant growing in their womb as a threat, and we need to defuse that threat by being more loving and supportive of them. A lack of love and compassion is what is causing them to seek an abortion.

“I find this approach to be very refreshing. We will only have a chance of changing a woman’s mind if we first love them.”

Guest speakers for the awards dinner, which will include a choice of prime rib or baked stuffed chicken, will be Jocelyn Trindade, youth coordinator for the annual diocesan Pro-Life Boot Camp, and Edward F. Clancy, director of outreach and evangelization for Aid to the Church in Need based in New York.

For more information about the inaugural dinner or the Cape Cod Bus for Life, visit www. ccbfl.org or call Kevin Ward at 508-291-0949.

diocesan history

50 years ago — Bishop James L. Connolly announced the awarding of contracts for the construction of a new elementary school for St. Joseph’s Parish in Fairhaven located at the corner of Spring and Delano streets.

10 years ago — Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Osterville celebrated its 75th anniversary with a Mass celebrated by Bishop George W. Coleman, followed by a reception on the church lawn.

25 years ago — Bishop Daniel A. Cronin blessed the site of a proposed parish center for Our Lady of the Cape Parish in Brewster. The handicapped-accessible facility would include a 600-person function room and Religious Education classrooms.

One year ago — Author, talk-show host and founder of the Women of Grace apostolate, Johnnette S. Benkovic, came to the Fall River Diocese for a special day-long program held at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Acushnet.

Youth Pages

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August 16, 2013

St. Michael School in Fall River recently held a field day for its students at Bishop Connolly High School, also in Fall River.

Diocese seminarians growing in numbers continued from page one

North Dighton, Mansfield, Attleboro, Falmouth, Taunton, Seekonk, and East Sandwich.

This past year, the annual Quo Vadis retreat for high schoolaged boys saw its fourth straight year of increased attendance and continues to cultivate a culture of vocations in the young men from around our diocese. We also had two very successful college-age retreat weekends in the fall and in the spring.

While this is all fantastic news and while momentum is certainly on our side, it is still just as imperative that we continue to pray each day to the Lord of the Harvest. There is so much that we can all do, and all need to do, to promote vocations in our parishes and our homes. There is so much that we can do by simply encouraging young men to think about a possible priestly vocation, but we can never lose sight of the fact that the greatest thing we do is to pray for them. We need

to pray that their hearts and minds would be open and we need to pray that they have the courage to say yes.

Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, recently spoke about the challenges that young people face in the world today. In referencing the recent World Youth Day in Brazil, Pope Francis said, “Young people are particularly sensitive to the emptiness of meaning and values which surrounds them. And unfortunately, they pay the consequences.

However, meeting the living Jesus, in His large family that is the Church, fills the heart with joy.”

I encourage the faithful from around our wonderful diocese to continue to pray to the Lord of the Harvest who has already blessed us so much with an increased number of seminarians, to continue to bless us with many more young men who are willing to say “yes” to the call to serve His Church.

Bishop George W. Coleman presides over Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at the recent Holy Hours for Vocations at St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham. (Photo courtesy of Father Jay Mello)

Holy Name Parish in Fall River recently held its first-ever Vacation Bible School program. The event was called “Kingdom Rock: Where Kids Stand Strong for God,” and had 33 participants and more than 25 volunteers.

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

August 16, 2013

O

ne of my roles in the diocese is chaplain to Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. As you know, the BSA motto is “Be Prepared.” Not a bad bit of advice.

Jesus told us that very thing in our Gospel last week. “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come” (Lk 12:40).

Without proper preparation, life can be very difficult. So it is in the Spiritual life. A question that comes to my mind is, do we prepare ourselves for what we do here each Sunday at Mass?

Certainly if I don’t prepare, it would be obvious in the homily or in how I preside at Mass. But

Youth Pages It does us well to prepare for Mass

it isn’t just the priest who needs for this weekend?” It can be a to prepare for Mass, we all do. very enlightening exercise as we If we don’t take time to prepare, share our thoughts on the upcomMass is just something that we go ing Scripture readings and how to, not a prayer we participate in.

How do you prepare for Mass? You can read the Scriptures before going to Mass. They can be accessed online, phone apps or in a Missal. Spend a

By Father few minutes in quiet to David C. Frederici focus your thoughts on the Lord. Ask the Lord to help you open your mind and heart to they relate to our parishes. It can His Word and presence. also become a stepping stone for Sometimes when I am out a larger conversation about faith with brother priests, we ask and how it is lived in our lives. It ourselves, “What is your thought may or may not help us in writing

Be Not Afraid

Catholic blogger grateful for prayers following accident

Washington D.C., (CNA/EWTN News) — A young Catholic blogger known for his defense of the faith in the public square is thankful for prayers and support as he begins the long process of recovery following a severe accident.

“Rehabilitation will not be easy and there are no answers for how much Thomas will be able to rehabilitate,” said Natalie Peters in a statement collaborated with Thomas, her husband.

However, she told CNA that she and Thomas “have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of prayers” and encouragement coming from family, friends and supporters in the weeks since his accident.

A leader in the Catholic community, Thomas Peters starting the award-winning blog “The American Papist” in 2006 before joining the group Catholic Vote in 2010. The 27-year-old became one of a few American bloggers invited to the Vatican’s first blogger meeting in Rome. Peters also works as communications director and blog manager for the National Organization for Marriage.

On July 16, Peters was injured in an accident while swimming in Maryland, fracturing his fifth cervical vertebra, which is located in the lower neck. He is in “critical but stable condition,” according to the recovery website set up by family and friends.

Because of the location of the damage, the injury has had an impact on Peters’ sensation, strength and mobility, particularly in his fingers. While he has regained the use of his wrists, there “is no firm prognosis for his long term mobility,” the website said.

The accident also left water in Peters’ lungs, leaving them weak.

As a result, he has been on a ventilator since the accident, although he is now sitting and breathing on

his own for hours at a time in order to strengthen his diaphragm and chest muscles.

In addition, Peters has undergone a tracheotomy and had a head brace installed for stability.

Surgery will be required to fix the fracture, though the doctors will not be able to operate until an infection that formed at his tracheotomy site heals.

Despite the trials and challenges posed by the injury, Natalie explained that they “are committed to staying hopeful.”

According to the recovery blog, Thomas “is calmer, happier, better when Natalie is around.” Natalie helps her husband in completing daily tasks, such as shaving and washing his hair, while he gradually recovers his ability to do certain tasks on his own, such as holding tubing and other objects.

In addition, the couple strives to stay in high spirits between physical therapy and appointments. Natalie reads and responds to emails and letters, Thomas tells jokes, and the pair watches some of their favorite television shows and movies.

They have also been joined in prayer by family and friends, including several priests. Thomas has received the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, and is able to pray and receive the other Sacraments frequently while in the hospital.

Supporters have set up a spiritual bouquet website to collect prayers for Peter, along with a Facebook prayer page and a novena to Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, a 19th-century Italian lay woman who spent much of her life bedridden with infirmities.

The Peters Family has expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support — especially prayers — that they have received in the weeks following the accident.

“We feel the power and grace of these prayers every day,” Natalie said.

Natalie encouraged those who wish to follow her husband’s recovery to do so through the blog.

She also called on supporters to “get involved in the causes that we care about,” noting that Thomas “cares about getting the word out” on these critical social issues.

“Most importantly,” she added, “please continue to pray for us!”

our own homily, however it has accomplished something greater: a closer relationship to the Lord and one another. Have you ever thought of doing the same? Ask your friends or family what they think.

This also works after Mass by the way. What did you think of the readings? How do they relate to our lives? How did the homily help or challenge me to grow in my faith?

(I know, a big risk putting that last question in!)

There are prayers in the Roman Missal to help the priest in his final preparations for Mass.

Let me share with you one of those and suggest that maybe it could become part of your preparation as well. It is a prayer attributed to St. Thomas Aquinas: “Almighty and ever-living God, I approach the Sacrament of Your only-begotten Son Our Lord Jesus Christ, I come sick to the doctor of life, unclean to the fountain of mercy, blind to the radiance of eternal light, and poor and needy to the Lord of Heaven and earth.

“Lord, in your great generos-

17 ity, heal my sickness, wash away my defilement, enlighten my blindness, enrich my poverty, and clothe my nakedness.

“May I receive the Bread of angels, the King of kings and Lord of lords, with humble reverence, with the purity and faith, the repentance and love, and the determined purpose that will help to bring me to Salvation.

“May I receive the Sacrament of the Lord’s Body and Blood, and its reality and power.

“Kind God, may I receive the Body of Your only-begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, born from the womb of the Virgin Mary, and so be received into His Mystical Body and numbered among His members.

“Loving Father, as on my earthly pilgrimage I now receive Your beloved Son under the veil of a Sacrament, may I one day see Him face-to-face in glory, Who lives and reigns with You forever. Amen.”

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

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August 16, 2013

A tearful Our Lady of La Salette forms the centerpiece of a fountain on the La Salette Shrine grounds.

The fountain has inspired faithful from all areas for decades at the Attleboro site. Our Lady of La Salette visited two children on a mountainside in France in 1846, saddened by mankind’s sinful ways. She brought with her a message of hope and Reconciliation. (Photo by Dave Jolivet)

Beloved Attleboro shrine marks significant anniversaries continued from page one

sage, reading in part “… inspired by the event of La Salette and supported by our community life, we are strengthened by the Eucharist, prayer and faith sharing … Looking to Mary as our model, we discern new opportunities to make known her message of hope and Reconciliation.”

Making Mary’s message known to all of her people is something “we try to do as much as possible, whether here at the shrine or through outside ministry,” explained Brother David Eubanks, M.S. “We do try to bring that message that Mary is their mother, that she guides them to the Father.”

“What we do here at La Salette is serve God’s people in various ways,” continued Brother Bob. “What we really focus on are the people who come here and why they come here: for peace of mind? Comfort? Serenity? Then when they come here, they leave with a sense of peace.

“My goal here is to reach as many people as possible. We have people that are really in our backyard and never come here; these are the people we try to reach. Can we reach all of them?

No, but we can at least try to get Mary’s message out there.”

Part of the message includes offering “very powerful” healing services, along with daily Mass.

The priests at the shrine hear 42,000 Confessions a year, not only during religious holidays but “you see it every day; people who have been away from the Church for years,” said Brother Bob. “I have had priests tell me that those people feel a sense of relief when they leave the shrine, that they are taken care of, that time is being spent with them

and if they need more time, they can make an appointment.”

Known for its annual Festival of Lights, the shrine started with Father Sauvé’s initial 5,000 lights, and from there it grew to 350,000 lights; the increase due partly to the very young trees in Father Sauvé’s time that have matured enough to hold their own dazzling display during Christmas.

There are distinct elements to La Salette, including the Holy Stairs, the Rosary Pond and what the staff calls “the garden” but it’s technically called “‘Sauvé’s Garden,’” said Brother Bob. “His sister is still living and comes here once a year and I show her around, have lunch with her, and she always asks me, ‘Where’s my brother’s garden?’ And I tell her it’s here; it’s La Salette.”

Ten years after Father Sauvé’s dream came to fruition, Father Gilles Genest, M.S. founded the La Salette Center for Christian Living, currently known as the La Salette Retreat and Conference Center. By bringing the Cursillo movement to the diocese, Father Genest and the retreat center thrived off of Cursillo and other retreats for decades, but when Father Cyriac Mattathilanickal, M.S. came on board as director, he found a retreat center on unstable ground.

“When I came in, at that time the retreat center — like other retreat centers — was struggling financially,” said Father Mattathilanickal, of his arrival seven years ago. “That was the scenario; even in the summer we had very few ministries.”

Attributing the decline to a combination of factors, Father Mattathilanickal worked hard

to get the word out, advertising and bringing in a “change of strategy and making a note to the people of what we were providing during retreats,” he said. “We also had to upgrade the building, making it fully airconditioned, and that had resulted in a comfortable setting.”

Now there is a waiting list on weekends; “It’s fair to say that out of the 52 weekends, we have comfortably 48 weekends taken,” said Father Mattathilanickal. “That has been the case for several years now, especially for the last two years.”

The retreat center continues to add guest speakers, uses Facebook and a newly-redesigned website to continue to nurture the growth, and a newsletter that offers an entire year’s worth of the upcoming schedule, done from September to September.

The shrine and retreat center, though separate entities, work together for a “one ministry approach,” said Father Mattathilanickal. And like the shrine, the retreat center works off an

annual theme; this year’s focus is on the Year of Faith, with the idea that individuals can put some time into renewing their faith on a personal, familial and communal level.

On September 19, the retreat center will launch its “Golden Jubilee,” and has a full schedule of programs, retreats and seminars to mark the occasion.

“People have this hope that no matter what stage they are in,” he said, “or what mood they’re in, whether they’re going through a crisis, loss or problem, they come and we are able to meet their needs where they are.

We let them know that no matter where they are in their lives, God is accompanying them.”

People have to clear their schedule to attend a retreat, said Father Mattathilanickal, and his staff know that the “personal commitment” made by those visiting, whether they are local or part of a group from across the country, is appreciated. In the last few years, additional retreats have begun to take root, including Hispanic and Portuguese retreats. Father Mattathilanickal attributes the uptick in ethnic and other diverse groups coming for retreats to the dedication of his staff meeting every group’s needs.

“We want to provide more avenues for the ethnic groups to come in and find themselves,” he said. “I work with the Indian community, the Dominican community, and they all have been coming here for several retreats. Each group is different. I think Hispanics have really grown to make this their home.

“We have people who have been coming to a number of retreats for the past 30 to 35 years.

They always make La Salette Retreat Center their annual tradition to renew themselves. It’s a way to look back, see how the whole year has been and move

forward with new inspiration.”

The shrine also hosts multiple ethnic pilgrimages throughout the year, and it’s the stories of visitors and their experiences that highlight the holy grounds of the shrine. Brother David shared a story of a woman who was a distant relative of St. André Bessette, who was having a difficult year and decided to visit the shrine with her mother to see a display on St. André.

“She and her mother came in and she said they were just sitting there,” in the middle of the display, said Brother David, “and the only light is from the display case, and it’s not that bright, and she told me that all of a sudden there was a huge, bright light behind the bust — her mother even saw it — and she asked if we had a spotlight on a timer. I told her we didn’t have anything like that.”

What may have triggered that “miracle moment” was at that exact instant the woman was praying to God, asking simply for God to allow her to have a good year, and that’s when the light came up, said Brother David.

“To me, that’s between them and God if it was a miracle,” he said. “But you hear stories like that, or just stories from around the property; that someone heard something or sensed something that was very peaceful and meaning to them. That brings what Mary’s shrine is supposed to be about, to bring people closer to God, to Mary and Jesus, and to allow peace to invade their being.”

Anyone who visits La Salette Shrine or Retreat Center should walk away with the peace of mind knowing that “God is here to help them,” said Brother David, “they just have to ask.”

For the complete schedule for the shrine, go to www.lasalette-shrine. org, and for the retreat center, go to www.lasaletteretreatcenter.com.

“The Mansion,” was the former Attleboro Springs Sanitarium purchased by the La Salette Missionaries in 1942, at which time they transformed it into their Major Seminary. The magnificent building sat high on the hill behind what is now La Salette Shrine and Church. The building was destroyed by fire on Nov. 5, 1999, tragically taking the life of a visiting priest. (Photo by Dave Jolivet)

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August 16, 2013

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese Acushnet — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Monday and Tuesday from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Thursday from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.

Evening prayer and Benediction is held Monday through Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

ATTLEBORO — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the St. Joseph Adoration Chapel at Holy Ghost Church, 71 Linden Street, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

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

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

Mass.

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

East Sandwich — The Corpus Christi Parish Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, East Sandwich.

Use the Chapel entrance on the side of the church.

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

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

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

FALL RIVER — St. Bernadette’s Church, 529 Eastern Ave., has Eucharistic Adoration on Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 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 and concluding with 3 p.m. Benediction in the Daily Mass Chapel. A bilingual holy hour takes place from 2 to 3 p.m. Park behind the church and enter the back door of the connector between the church and the rectory.

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

MASHPEE — Christ the King Parish, Route 151 and Job’s Fishing Road has 8:30 a.m.

Mass every First Friday with special intentions for Respect Life, followed by 24 hours of Eucharistic Adoration in the Chapel, concluding with Benediction Saturday morning followed immediately by an 8:30 Mass.

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

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

NEW BEDFORD — St. Lawrence Martyr Parish, 565 County Street, holds Eucharistic Adoration in the side chapel every Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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

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

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

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

Taunton — Eucharistic Adoration takes place every Tuesday at St. Anthony Church, 126 School Street, following the 8 a.m. Mass with prayers including the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for vocations, concluding at 6 p.m. with Chaplet of St. Anthony and Benediction.

Recitation of the Rosary for peace is prayed Monday through Saturday at 7:30 a.m. prior to the 8 a.m. Mass.

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

WAREHAM — Every First Friday, Eucharistic Adoration takes place from 8:30 a.m. through Benediction at 5:30 p.m. Morning prayer is prayed at 9; the Angelus at noon; the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3 p.m.; and Evening Prayer at 5 p.m.

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

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

Knights launch prayer program centered on Immaculate Conception

SAN ANTONIO (CNS) — The Knights of Columbus launched a new Marian prayer program dedicated to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception at a Mass during the order’s recent 131st supreme convention.

It is the 16th such prayer program of the Knights of Columbus using a Sacred image as its centerpiece. In 1979, the first program was begun with images of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas. In preparation for the 1982 centennial of the order, the second prayer program was initiated, which also highlighted the Immaculate Conception.

Over the years, Mary also has been honored by the Knights under her titles of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Our Lady of Czestochowa, Our Lady of the Assumption, Our Lady of the Rosary, Our Lady of Charity and Our Lady of Pochaiv, a traditional Marian title of Ukrainian Catholics.

The image that will be used with the new campaign is a reproduction of the painting that embellishes the Basilica Cathedral

In Your Prayers

Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Aug. 17 Rev. Cornelius O’Connor, Former Pastor, Holy Trinity, Harwich Center, 1882 Rev. Msgr. Maurice Souza, Retired Pastor, St. Anthony, East Falmouth, 1996 Aug. 18 Rev. Msgr. William H. Dolan, Retired Pastor, Holy Family, East Taunton, 1977 Aug. 20 Rev. Bernard H. Unsworth, Retired Pastor, St. Mary, New Bedford, 1982 Rev. Thomas Cantwell, SSJ, Retired, St. Joseph’s Seminary, Washington, 1983 Aug. 21 Most Rev. Lawrence S. McMahon, Bishop of Hartford, Former Pastor, St. Lawrence, New Bedford, 1893 Aug. 22 Rev. Msgr. Manuel J. Teixeira, Pastor, St. Anthony, Taunton, 1962 Rev. William R. Jordan, Pastor, St. Louis, Fall River, 1972 Rev. Msgr. Joseph C. Canty, USN Retired Chaplain, Retired Pastor, St. Paul, Taunton, 1980 Msgr. John F. Denehy, USAF Retired Chaplain, 2003 Aug. 23 Rev. Thomas F. Clinton, Pastor, St. Peter, Sandwich, 2003 Msgr. Anthony M. Gomes, PA, Retired Pastor, Our Lady of the Angels, Fall River, 1992

Notre-Dame de Quebec, above the main altar, a colorful painting of Our Lady, the work of Sister Marie de l’Eucharistie, a Sister of

Charity of Quebec. Both the church and the Archdiocese of Quebec will be celebrating their 350th anniversaries next year.

Around the Diocese American Heritage Troop MA3712 is having its fall information and sign-up sessions. American Heritage Girls is a Christian Scouting Program that builds women of integrity through service to God, family, community, and country. Girls ages five through 18 are welcome, and parent participation is encouraged. For more information visit www.ahgonline.org, or contact Troop Coordinator Liz Day at 508-336-5262. Dates are: August 18 at 11:45 a.m. in the lower church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Route 44, Seekonk; and September 12 at 6:30 p.m. in the Parish Center, Route 44, Seekonk.

St. Anthony’s Parish in East Falmouth (Route 28) will host a Malassada Sunday featuring sweet fried dough for $1 each on August 25 after all Masses — 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Enjoy this hot and homemade Portuguese delicacy with freshly-perked coffee or juice. Take home packages will be for sale under the tent and all proceeds benefit the parish Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

The Diocesan Health Facilities’ sixth annual Golf Classic will be held on August 26 at LeBaron Hills Country Club in Lakeville. The day begins at 10:30 a.m., rain or shine, with registration and pick up of box lunches. The shotgun start is at 12 p.m. with a “Florida Style Scramble” format. There will be great raffles, terrific prizes for best drives and scores. Fee includes lunch, green fees, cart, golf gift, locker rooms, refreshments and buffet dinner. All proceeds will benefit the Diocesan Health Facilities, a non-profit skilled nursing and rehabilitative care health system serving more than 900 residents and clients in Southeastern Massachusetts. For more information or to register, call 508-679-8154 or visit www.dhfo.org.

A Day with Mary will be held on September 7 at St. Francis Xavier Parish, 125 Main Street in Acushnet, from 7:50 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. It will include a video presentation, procession and crowning of the Blessed Mother with Mass and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. There will be an opportunity for Reconciliation and a bookstore will be available. Please bring a bag lunch. For more information call 508-996-8274.

The Lazarus Ministry of Our Lady of the Cape Parish in Brewster is offering a six-week Bereavement Support Program called “Come Walk With Me” that begins September 12 and runs through October 17 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. each night. The program meets in the parish center and is designed for people who have experienced the loss of a loved one within the past year. For more information or to pre-register call 508-385-3252 or 508-394-0616.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul and American Heritage Girls at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Seekonk is co-sponsoring a presentation of Father Robert Barron’s “Catholicism” series on five Sundays, beginning September 22 and running through November 3. The series will be screened from 2 to 4:30 p.m. and again from 6 to 8:30 p.m. each day. Admission is free. The series will be shown in the upper parish center, 1040 Taunton Avenue in Seekonk. For more information call 508-336-8608.

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August 16, 2013

Please join us for a Special Mass Celebrating Our 9th Annual Solemn Feast Honoring

GOD’S PATERNITY

AUGUST 18, 2013 - SUNDAY@ 11:15 AM

SACRED HEART CHURCH

160 SEABURY ST. FALL RIVER, MA 02720 Celebrants: Rev. Fr. Cyriac C. Mattathilanickal, MS Rev. Fr. Joshua Mary & Rev. Fr. Martin Mary-Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate

SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES 11: 15 AM - God the Father Devotion with Adoration and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament (by Rev. Fr. Joshua Mary & Rev. Fr. Martin Mary-Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate) 12:15 PM- Holy Mass 1:30PM- Outdoor Procession with the participation of:

The Filipino Arts and Music Ensemble of New York (Belle Locsin- President & Hector Martinez- Music Director) Iskwelahang Pilipino (IP) of Boston Santo Nino Prayer Group- Queens, NY Sto. Nino Prayer Group of Boston KASAMA Association God the Father Prayer Group New York God the Father Prayer Group Boston God the Father Prayer Group New Hampshire Couples for Christ (Massachusetts) San Lorenzo Prayer Group of New York Filipino Apostolate-Boston PAMANA PNANE Our Lady of Perpetual Help Prayer Group FIL AM of Newport, Rhode Island FASA of Rhode Island

Refreshments will be at church hall soon after procession!

Offertory collections- All given to the Sacred Heart Church

Directions: (1) From the North of Fall River: Take Rte 24S. Take Exit 5/US-6 onto Eastern Ave/President Ave. Continue on N. Eastern Ave. Turn Right on Bedford St. Turn Right on Seabury St. Sacred Heart Church is on your left. (2) From the South of Fall River: Take Rte. 24N. Take Exit 4 onto I-195W. Take Exit 7-6/US-81 S onto Plymouth Ave becomes 13th St. Turn left on Bedford St. Turn Right on Seabury St. Sacred Heart Church is on your left. OR: (3) From President Ave, take left on Robeson St,and then right on Linden St. The entrance of the church is on left which is Linden St.

Knights of Columbus (Fred Bebe & Leo Eustaquio) Parking: Linden, Pine, & Seabury Streets only!!!

For more information: Bob & Linda Ravenscroft (508) 287-9159 or (508) 676-3602 God the Father's Childrens Apostolate of Greater New England, Fall River, MA 02720 "Misssionarie Unitas in Christo Ad Pattern" Via del Cinema, 16/1-00040 Anzio-Falache (Rome) Tel. no. 06-98-73-405