08.08.22

Catholic Appeal raises $4.3 million

Diocese of Fall River, Mass. † Friday, August 5, 2022

Diocesan Parish Leader Convocation slated for September 10 in East Freetown

years, following the Second Vatican Council, one of the things that has Editor davejolivet@anchornews.org become prominent in the teaching of the Church, and has been clearFALL RIVER — In their only stated in many post-conciliar going efforts to keep diocesan faithful informed and enlightened, documents, is the recognition that Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., all Christians, from their baptism are called to be a and the diocesan missionary disciples.

Office for the New That means we are Evangelization have called to follow Jesus announced a Parish and are entrusted Leadership Convowith the responsication, scheduled to bility to be witnesses take place on Septo our faith in the tember 10 at St. John modern society. In Neumann Parish in countless documents East Freetown. The in the last half cenevent will run from 9 tury, the Church has a.m to 2 p.m. It will Deacon Bob Rice, PhD recognized and embe open to all who phasized the importexercise a role of leadership in a parish, priests, staff, ant role of the laity in the mission of the Church.” and volunteers.

David Carvalho, diocesan Bishop da Cunha told The Anchor, “During the last 50-plus 8 Turn to page two

By Dave Jolivet

FALL RIVER — The 81st Catholic Appeal, “Journeying Together in Faith and Love,” has closed with the annual campaign raising $4.3 million to support the work of the Church across the Diocese of Fall River. In the midst of an extremely challenging economic environment, donor support remained strong, as more than 16,000 individual donors made gifts and pledges to

sustain the Appeal’s longstanding mission of serving those in greatest need.

The successful conclusion to this year’s Appeal is a reflection of how well the faithful of the diocese responded to its theme of walking down a common road together, and how they connected the tenets of Pope Francis’ worldwide synod to the good works 8 Turn to page three

Faithful from near and far took part in the 150th Mass and procession for the feast of St. Anne in Fall River. Story on page 13.

Boys will be boys!: Cardinal Medeiros residents get a cool treat

By Father Paul C. Canuel Special to The Anchor

An ice cream truck recently made a welcome visit to the retired priests living at the Cardinal Medeiros Residence in Fall River.

ie and Louie Clara, parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in New Bedford.

They had been sent there on a mission organized by Manny and Suzanne Rapoza from Fairhaven.

Just last week Manny had retired from nearly five years as manager of maintenance at CMR, having previously served 14 years in the maintenance department at Our Lady’s Haven in Fairhaven. This was Manny’s way of saying goodbye and thank you.

The priests had just finished lunch when the tunes ”It’s a Small

FALL RIVER — While all the traffic and excitement on Wednesday afternoon, July 20, buffeted routes 195 and 103 in Somerset with a Presidential motorcade, something much more enjoyable was occurring in Fall River at 375 Elsbree Street.

As the thermometer crescendoed past 90° Fahrenheit, the priests living at Cardinal Medeiros Residence for Retired Priests (CMR) were summoned by the incessant sounds emanating from the Rainbow Ice Cream Truck, a truck owned and operated by Ang- August 5,8 Turn† to page 15 2022

1

Diocese to hold Parish Leader Convocation September 10 continued from page one

Secretary for the New Evangelization told The Anchor, “In the past, the diocese has offered a time and a place for folks who work in ministries like Faith Formation, RCIA, Youth Ministry, but we realize there are many parish leaders who serve in voluntary roles, yet are leaders nonetheless. We want to offer all parish leaders, regardless if they are employees or volunteers, the opportunity to gather, be inspired, share thoughts, learn new techniques and to be able to network with other parishes.

“At the beginning of each school year, all school faculties and staff attend a formation meeting to get ready for the new school

2

year. We want to be able to offer that same type of dynamic for parish leaders as well. We are hoping this can become a regular yearly event.”

Carvalho said that this convocation shows how the diocese is committed to sharing talents and resources, to prioritize the formation of those who carry out the mission of the Church, and to unify and strengthen the faithful in the Diocese.

“We want to minister to those who minister to others,” Carvalho added. “For

† August 5, 2022

many, there isn’t the chance to meet and share thoughts and ideas and form a network.”

“In order to be able to exercise this call to be wit-

nesses to their faith and to be missionary disciples, we need to have more formation in the faith,” the bishop told The Anchor. “This convocation of leaders on September 10 is an opportunity for all our faithful to come together to reflect, pray and

engage in the discovery and embrace of that call of their baptism to be instruments of evangelization right here in our midst.”

He said that the hope is that it is a continuation of sorts of the spring diocesan Women’s and Men’s Conference.

“Each spring diocesan laity meet.

With this Parish Leader Convention taking place on the cusp of fall, it helps keep people across the diocese connected.”

The scheduled guest speaker is Deacon Bob Rice, PhD. Deacon Rice is a permanent deacon of the Diocese of Steubenville, Ohio, and is a professor of Catechetics at Franciscan University of Steubenville.

The husband and father of seven is a well-known international speaker, podcaster, author and musician.

Deacon Rice earned his PhD in Theology from Liverpool Hope University in England. While there he researched Catholic youth and youth ministry and evangelization.

His published writings include the Discipleship Quad Guidebooks, and a novel about St. Peter, “Between the Savior and the Sea.” He co-hosts a weekly podcast, “They That Hope,” with Father David Pivonka, TOR, the President of Franciscan University.

Additionally, he has several music recordings on CD and can be found on Apple Music, Spotify and other online music sources.

He often leads worship

for thousands of people yearly, particularly at the Steubenville Adult Conferences.

Bishop da Cunha will also address the gathering.

On a pamphlet promoting the event, the bishop says, “Regardless of where you may be in your journey of faith, I ask you to come forward and allow the Lord to use you as his instrument.

Say yes to God’s call to bear witness to Him!” “The job of ministering to the faithful in the pews and beyond is a hard job right now,” Carvalho told The Anchor. “We want this convocation to ensure parish leaders have all the support and resources they need. It’s important for leaders to know they are part of a community, regardless of the type of ministry.

“This should be the largest gathering of laity in the diocese since the recent opening of the Eucharistic Revival event in June at Bishop Connolly High School.

“It’s been a difficult three years since the pandemic first hit, and we want to assist parish ministers in performing their jobs well and efficiently.”

The deadline for free registration for all Diocese of Fall River registrants is August 19. After that, the cost will be $20. The fee is $30 for non-diocesan registrants. Registration includes the presentation by Deacon Rice, Bishop da Cunha’s address, resources and materials, exclusive early access to new platform, refreshments and lunch.

To register, visit https://form.jotform.com/ yyafamily/parish-leaderconvocation

Annual Catholic Appeal raises $4.3 million

Miriam Finn Sherman, Chief Executive Officer of one another and to all made possible through the Catholic Foundation es was St. John of God in humanity.” collective support for the Somerset, which exceeded of Southeastern MassaOn a parish level, 31 annual Appeal. chusetts. “The Catholic its 2021 fundraising total “I am grateful to Foundation teamed with by 10 percent. “St. everyone who helped all our parishes to help Peter reminds us, continue the rich tra‘As each has received tens of thousands of peodition of service we ple of all ages and in every a gift, employ it for have in our diocese one another, as good corner of our diocese. It through their supis inspiring to witness the stewards of God’s port of the Catholic faithful generously anvaried grace’ (1 Pt Appeal,” said Bishop swering the call!”

4:10),” said Father Edgar M. da Cunha, In addition to the Jason Brilhante, S.D.V. “Each doindividual parish totals, Pastor of St. John of nor has embodied nearly $700,000 in gifts to God. “Thank you to the words of Pope the 2022 Catholic Apthe parishioners of Francis who said, St. John of God Par- peal were collected from ‘Participation is a refriends and supporters ish for sharing their quirement of the faith we of the 72 parishes in the consisting of individuals, treasure so generously received in baptism.’ I am diocese — 43 percent of corporations, and organiwith the Annual Catholic all parishes — surpassed blessed to serve so many Appeal to support services zations unaffiliated with a their 2021 fundraising thousands who share a for our brothers and sisters specific parish. total. Among those parish- in Christ!” loving commitment to The need for support “With the help of so TOP PARISHES IN DOLLARS RAISED many of our pastors, paIN THE 2022 ANNUAL CATHOLIC APPEAL rishioners, retired clergy, and friends, we can 1. St. Joseph Guardian of the Holy Family, continue to support those Falmouth: $245,620.00 living with disabilities, 2. St. Mary’s, Mansfield: $139,685.47 bring comfort to the hos3. St. Pius the Tenth, South Yarmouth: pitalized and homebound, $136,150.68 4. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Seekonk: $129,118.65 feed the hungry, promote our Brazilian and His5. Christ the King, Mashpee: $123,548.87 panic ministries, assist 6. St. Mary’s - Our Lady of the Isle, Nantucket: our lay leaders, support $120,225.00 marriages, champion life, 7. Our Lady of the Cape, Brewster: $115,320.00 8. St. Mary’s, South Dartmouth: $110,210.00 and so much more,” said 9. Transfiguration of the Lord, North Attleborough: $107,825.00 10. St. Joan of Arc, Orleans: $90,082.00 continued from page one

of the many agencies, ministries, and programs of the Diocese of Fall River, and the demand for them, remain strong.

The Catholic Foundation encourages the faithful to show their support of their brothers and sisters in need throughout the year.

The complete parish Appeal totals can be found on page 11 of this edition.

Donations can be made online at any time at givefrdiocese.org or mailed to the Catholic Appeal office at 450 Highland Avenue, Fall River, Mass., 02720. They may also continue to be dropped off at any parish in the diocese.

TOP FUNDRAISING INCREASES FROM 2021–2022 1.

2.

3.

4.

St. Julie Billiart, North Dartmouth: 22.9% St. Joan of Arc, Orleans: 19.2% Our Lady of the Cape, Brewster: 19.1% St. Mary’s - Our Lady of the Isle, Nantucket: 18.5% 5. St. John the Evangelist, Attleboro: 16.8% 6. St. Joseph’s, Fairhaven: 15.4% 7. St. Mary’s, Norton: 15.1% 8. St. Joseph Guardian of the Holy Family, Falmouth: 14.4% 9. Santo Christo, Fall River: 13.8% 10. St. Andrew the Apostle, Taunton: 13.1% August 5, 2022 †

3

Man down: The crisis of Catholic men and what to do about It

S

ome memories are so vivid that you can almost taste them. My memories of my maternal grandfather are like that for me: the sight of him standing at the bandsaw in his woodshop with the statue of St. Joseph in a niche nearby, the smell of freshly cut wood or lighter fluid on the charcoal grill in the back yard.

I can still see “Grampy” getting into the Buick in his blue, pinstriped suit on Saturday afternoon, backing out of the garage, and driving to the Vigil Mass at St. Mary. We sat in the last pew so that he could organize the ushers and help with the collection.

I would sit between him and my grandmother.

Kneeling next to him, I would often look up at his

4

face; oftentimes his eyes would be gently closed as he listened to Father Bath pray the words of consecration, or as he prayed after Communion. My grandfather exuded simple faith; his guidance was gentle but sure. He was no theologian, but he lived the words of St. Peter with simplicity and charity; he was always “ready to give an explanation to anyone who [asked him] for a reason for [his] hope” (1 Pt 3:15).

My memories of my dad are similar: the time he so often spent with me when I was a child playing “Johnny West” or “Ringolevio” or “Kick the Can” with the kids in the neighborhood, his teaching me how to ride a bike or to play basketball, his quietly getting up much earlier than he needed to so that he would have time to pray before he went to work.

No fanfare or fireworks, just simplicity, selflessness, patience, and love.

More than any other

† August 5, 2022

influences in my life, my grandfather and my dad taught me what it means to be a man, and a man of faith. It is a lesson I learned as much by watching as by listening, as much from their example as from their words.

I don’t know if my grandfather or my father

read Pope Paul VI’s Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi in 1975, but I do know that they lived it.

The pope wrote, “Above all the Gospel must be proclaimed by witness. All Christians are called to this witness, and in this way they can be real evangelizers.” (#21). My dad and my grandfather proclaimed the Gospel by the witness of their lives, and they were always ready to give a reason for the hope they had

in Christ.

One of the most pressing questions in the Church today is how to keep our children Catholic. Recent studies have shown that the single most significant factor in keeping kids Catholic is the religious practice of their father. A Swiss study suggests that the chances of children practicing their faith as adults rises from two percent to as much as 75 percent if the father faithfully practices his faith, regardless of whether their mother attends church.

The problem is that according to a 2008 Pew survey, only about 36 percent of Catholic men go to church on a weekly basis, and most don’t have a regular prayer life (50 percent said that they pray only “occasionally or sometimes” or “seldom or never”).

This is not to minimize the importance of women in the family or the role they play in passing on the faith. (My mom will be pleased to know that I do remember her reading to me out of the “Baltimore Catechism.”) But there is a crisis in the Church, and it is a crisis of men. Men have caused it and only men, with God’s grace, can fix it.

The good news is that the remedy for this crisis isn’t complicated; and it isn’t a program. The key to keeping kids Catholic is for Catholic men to simply live the Gospel.

Catholic men who have encountered Jesus Christ need to share Him with those who have not encountered Him. They need to give witness to their

love of Christ with honesty and simplicity, charity and truth, like “Grampy” did for me when I was growing up, and like my dad still does for me today.

In order to keep kids Catholic, Catholic men need to meet other men where they are at, in the same way our Lord met the Samaritan woman. Jesus met her in the midst of her faults and failures but He didn’t leave her there; He called her to more! He called her to the fullness of life and love and joy she could have in Him. Catholic men can and must do the same with the men they know who have fallen away from the faith, or who aren’t living their vocations as husbands and fathers to the fullest. Catholic men need to witness to the hope and the joy they have in Christ through His Church. They need to invite other men to see and to seize their role as the spiritual leaders in their homes, for the sake of their own spiritual welfare and that of their wives and children.

The solution to the “man crisis” in the Church is for one Catholic man to help one other man to encounter, know, and love Jesus Christ, and find strength through the Eucharist and Confession so that he can be the true servant leader of his family.

One man at a time. One day at a time. And repeat.

Just like “Grampy” and my dad did for me.

Deacon Paul is the Director of Adult and Child Discipleship for the diocesan Secretariat for the New Evangelization.

E

An apostle of Eucharistic Revival for every age

arlier this week, on August 2, the Church celebrated the feast of St. Peter Julien Eymard (18111868), whom future generations have rightly come to call the “The Apostle of the Eucharist.” As the Church in the United States enters more deeply into its three-year Eucharistic Revival, we have much to learn from what God inspired him to do in post-Revolutionary France.

Eymard’s Eucharistic love began very young in a practicing Catholic home in the French Alps. One day when he was five, his parents couldn’t find him and sent out his older sister Marianne to look for him. She found him in the church, where he had used a stool to climb up on the mesa of the high altar and was leaning his head upon the tabernacle door.

When Marianne, astonished, asked what he was doing, with child-like simplicity he replied, “I am near Jesus and I am listening to Him!” Before he was able to receive his first Holy Communion, he used to do something similar with his sister.

He would sit next to her at Mass and, after she had returned from the communion rail, he would put his head on her breast and say with sincere, joyful fervor, “I can feel His presence!”

It’s unsurprising that a boy who had received such graces of confidence in the Real Presence of Jesus would hunger to be a priest. When at long last he made his first Communion at the age of 12, he embraced Jesus within and told Him, “I shall be a priest, I promise You!” After his mother’s death and over the opposition of his father, he sought to become an Oblate of Mary Immaculate, but five months after entering, he was so sick with asthma and fierce migraines that the Oblates sent him home “to die.”

Though he struggled with his weak lungs and a throbbing head most of his life, he did not die, but was providentially present for the death of his father, which happened soon afterward. He applied to become a seminarian for the Diocese of Grenoble, and thanks to the recommendation of the former Oblate superior, the future St. Eugene de Mazenod, he was accepted. Three years later, at age 23, he was ordained.

He was an energetic young priest who worked zealously and fruitfully in two different parish assignments.

He preached often about Jesus in the Eucharist as well as how the Blessed Virgin Mary teaches us how to love Him. Such loves dilated his priestly heart beyond the confines of his parish and he began to sense a calling to join a religious order. When he approached his bishop to ask for permission, the bishop, testing his vocation, told him he would not consider it until he had brought back to the sacraments all of the 450 parishioners in the village of Monteynard. Two years later, he had succeeded in bringing every lost sheep back to the Eucharistic Good Shepherd and returned to bishop asking permission to join the newly-founded Society of Mary. When the bishop expressed a hope to keep him in the diocese’s service longer, he replied, “God calls me today. Tomorrow will be too late.” The bishop gave permission, confident that the Lord through blessing Eymard’s apostolic fruits, was giving a clear sign of His will.

Father Eymard entered the Marist novitiate, three years later professed vows, became a seminary spiritual director, popular mission preacher and precociously Provincial Superior at 33. As

he traveled, he encountered various new movements of Eucharistic reparation and nocturnal adoration arising in parishes. After a powerful moment carrying Jesus in a Corpus Christi procession, he was fired with a desire “preach nothing but Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ Eucharistic” and, since there was no religious institute dedicated entirely to glorifying the mystery of Christ’s Eucharistic love, he hoped to

and lay people, respectively, would be able to aggregate themselves to the work of Eucharistic adoration and promotion.

While other Eucharistic movements were focused on reparation for sacrileges against the Blessed Sacrament, St. Peter Julien emphasized the mind-blowing love of the Lord in giving Himself to us. He prayed that, like the transubstantiation of bread and wine into Jesus’ Body and Blood, he might have his life changed “into the spirit and life of Jesus.” He urged people to recognize Jesus in the Eucharist, to come to receive Him with love, to spend time in prayer before Him, and to establish one, initially think- spread love of Him. ing it would be possible to do “What a joy that you can within the Marist charism. receive Holy Communion His superiors ultimately often,” he taught. “It’s our life discerned otherwise and and support in this life. Reso he resolved to leave the ceive Communion often, and Marists whom he loved to Jesus will change you into found a community of priests Himself.” He promoted daily consecrated to the Blessed Mass, which he promised Sacrament who would help would “prosper the whole people who had given up the day,” help us better to do our practice of the faith, especially work and strengthen us to poor, uncatechized adults, bear our daily crosses. not to mention children from He urged us to draw non-practicing families, to be close to the Eucharist in prepared to receive Jesus well. prayer like he used to pray He approached the Bishop as a child. “Go to the good of Paris, Archbishop Marie Lord very simply, with the Dominique Sibour, to ask surrender of a small child. for canonical erection, which Tell the good Lord what was given only 12 days later you are thinking, what you on May 13, 1856, a sign of want, what is upsetting you. how important the archbishO how happy we become op deemed the work of the when we discover this inteBlessed Sacrament Fathers to rior conversation with our promote perpetual adoration Lord! We carry our treasure and carry out Eucharistic everywhere. He becomes catechesis. the center of our heart and Two years later, with life.” He hoped our “whole Marguerite Guillot, he also life ought to be drawn to [the founded the Servants of the Eucharist] like a magnet.”

Blessed Sacrament, religious He urged not to keep women dedicated to adoring the gift to themselves but the Lord, and then the Priests rather “be the apostle of the Eucharistic League and the divine Eucharist, … go to Archfraternity of the Blessed proclaim Him to those who Sacrament, so that priests don’t know Him,” communi-

cating that the Eucharist “is the divine oasis of the desert, the heavenly manna of the traveler, the Holy Ark, the life Paradise of love on earth” as well as “the sacrifice par excellence, the sacrament of love, the fountainhead of holiness, the goal of Christian perfection, the nutriment of piety, and the means as well as the model of religious life.”

In short, he said, “The Blessed Sacrament is everything!”

During the last years of his life, Eymard suffered from rheumatic gout and insomnia, but united those sufferings to Jesus in the Eucharist. Very soon after his death in 1868, many miracles took place at his tomb.

He was beatified during the Jubilee Year of 1925 and was canonized at the end of the first session of the Second Vatican Council, a sign that St. John XXIII thought he was a model and missionary of making Jesus in the Eucharist “the source and summit” of the Christian life.

In New York City, at the extraordinarily beautiful Church of St. Jean-Baptiste run by his spiritual sons and suffused with Eucharistic images, there is a stunning altar dedicated to him in which he holds a monstrance presenting Christ in the Eucharist to the world. Underneath the statue is his intact right humerus, by which he used to lift such monstrances for Christ to bless the world.

As we celebrate St. Peter Julien’s feast this week at the beginning of the Eucharistic Revival, we ask the Lord he adored to bless priests with a similar Eucharistic faith, amazement, love, life and zeal so that the 21st-century Church in the United States may be renewed like, through him, God renewed 19th-century France.

Father Landry is Interim Executive Editor. fatherlandry@ catholicpreaching.com.

August 5, 2022 †

5

Editorial

The vocational key to ongoing Eucharistic Revival

The center of the Eucharistic Revival, the three-year initiative of the Church in the United States, is obviously and appropriately the Eucharistic Jesus, the root, center, source and summit of the Christian life.

But as the Church celebrates on August 4 the patron saint of parish priests, St. John Mary Vianney, it is a fitting time to focus on the indispensable importance of the priest in the Eucharistic life of the Church. Without the priest, there is no Eucharist, and without the Eucharist, there is no Church. For the Eucharistic revival to spur the renewal of the Church, there is a need to strengthen the Eucharistic dimension of the priests we have and to pray to the Harvest Master for many more priestly laborers for His harvest.

Most Catholics are aware that there is a crisis in priestly vocations, with painful consequences in the life of believers. Twenty percent of U.S. dioceses did not have a priestly ordination last year. Many dioceses are bracing for the retirement and death of priests ordained in the 1970s, who presently represent 50 percent of their clergy. In the United States, there are 3,500 parishes without a resident priest, and lack of sufficient clergy is causing many Churches to have to close.

There are attempts at quick fixes in various places, like importing priests from religious orders or vocation rich dioceses in Mexico, Colombia, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, India or Poland. In some circles, rather than look to such short-term solutions, people are trying to exploit the dearth in order to push for the ordination of married men or even to propose the dogmatically-impossible solution of the ordination of women.

But many places are not yet committed in a practical way corresponding to the importance and urgency of priestly vocations, for an effective long-term, whole-Church solution. It’s not enough for a diocese to appoint a vocations director and then to expect him to be able to remedy the crisis single-handedly or with an assistant or small team. There’s only so much one or a few can do.

The reality is that many parishes — just like many Catholic schools and high schools — have not produced a single seminarian in decades and a visit from a vocations director will almost never be sufficient to change what seems to be, sadly, vocationally infertile soil.

A profound culture change is needed, in which vocational promotion is not considered the duty of a few specialists but the common responsibility of priests and parishioners, moms and dads, catechists and coaches, siblings and friends, Catholic school teachers, cooks and custodians, everyone.

But a culture change is not enough. There’s also a need for prayer as if the Church’s whole life depended on it — which, in fact it does — as well as for effective action. Where can priests, parishioners and parents turn for best practices?

VocationMinistry.com is a superb place to begin. It was started by Rhonda Gruenewald, a convert, wife, mom, former public school English teacher and debate coach who in 2011 was asked by a priest at St. Cecilia’s Parish in Houston to help revive the parish’s weak vocations efforts. She did not even know at the time what the terms “vocation” and “discernment” meant, yet nevertheless agreed to help. She turned to the Internet to try to find best practices, only to discover that while there were various sites with some prayers or activities, there was nothing at all comprehensive. So she endeavored to fill the gap.

Over time, the fruits of her ideas spread throughout the Archdiocese of Houston and she started to get requests to speak in other dioceses and to address groups like the National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors. Dioceses that have adopted her OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 66, No. 16

www.anchornews.org

Published biweekly except for one week in autumn by the Catholic Press of the Diocese of Fall River, 887 Highland Avenue, Fall River, Mass. 02720, Tel. 508-675-7151; FAX 508-675-7048; email: davejolivet@anchornews.org.

To subscribe to The Anchor online visit www.fallriverdiocese.org;subscribe Subscription price by mail, prepaid $29.00 per year for U.S. addresses.

Please send address changes to The Anchor, PO Box 318, Congers, NY 10920, call or use email address.

PUBLISHER – Most Reverend Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., D.D. EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Father Richard D. Wilson INTERIM EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Father Roger J. Landry - fatherrogerlandry@anchornews.org EDITOR;PRODUCTION MGR.

David B. Jolivet

davejolivet@anchornews.org

ADVERTISING

Wayne R. Powers

waynepowers@anchornews.org

POSTMASTERS send address changes to The Anchor, PO Box 318, Congers, N.Y. 10920.

THE ANCHOR (USPS-545-020) Periodical Postage Paid at Fall River, Mass.

6

† August 5, 2022

strategies have seen substantial progress, like the Diocese of Stockton, Calif., (no seminarians to nine), Grand Island, Nebraska (one to nine), Ogdensburg, New York (three to 18) and Peoria, Illinois (nine to 21), all in just three years.

Gruenewald has uploaded her best practices for free to VocationMinistry.com and has published them in two books, “Hundredfold: A Guide to Parish Vocation Ministry” (2015) and “The Harvest: A Guide to Vocation Ministry in Education” (2021) which are very easy-to-use, super-practical handbooks full of effective ideas for in parishes, Catholic schools, religious education program, and homes. They should be mandatory reading not just for vocation directors but for priests, Catholic school principals, religious education directors, parents, parish vocation teams and any Catholic who loves the Eucharist and wants to see Christ’s loving self-gift accessible to Catholics always and everywhere.

Gruenewald has broken down the nuts and bolts of priestly vocational promotion to four main activities.

The first is prayer, because priestly vocations are always a gift of the Harvest Master.

She gives templates for prayer cards, intentions at Mass, bulletin blurbs, adoration for vocations and more.

The second is education, since so many Catholics don’t really know much about vocational discernment, what vocations there are in the Church, and where they fit into the Christian’s fundamental vocation to sanctity. VocationMinistry.com provides many educational resources and links to others.

The third is youth ministry, since 70 percent of priestly callings take place prior to a boy’s 18th birthday. Gruenewald gives many materials to help young people think about vocations at Mass, Catholic schools, religious education classes, youth activities, altar serving, Vacation Bible Schools and more.

The last is affirmation, in which those who have already said yes to a vocation — priests and seminarians — receive encouragement and support, through spiritual bouquets, cards, anniversary remembrances and other activities to persevere faithfully.

Her resources focus not just on priestly vocations, but also on religious and marital vocations, which are obviously interrelated with priestly vocations. A vocations culture involves helping everyone in the Church to seek, discover and respond to what God is asking.

Gruenewald’s research has shown that only 10 to 20 percent of Catholic parishes nationwide have anything in the parish intentionally working to stimulate and normalize vocational awareness and response. Many parishes don’t do anything even during the occasions when the Church explicitly focuses on vocation, like the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests, Priesthood Sunday, or National Vocations Awareness Week. She’s seeking to make vocational promotion the heart of every parish, family, parochial school and religious education program, since her research has shown that 80 percent of seminarians come from the 10 to 20 percent of parishes with a vocation ministry or committee.

She’s convinced that the lack of vocations in the Church today comes not because the Harvest Master has ceased to call, but because so many do not recognize the call and answer. That’s what she, through her work at VocationMinistry.com is trying to remedy. That’s what the Church, during this Eucharistic Revival, has an opportunity to revivify.

Daily Readings † August 6 — August 19

Sat. Aug. 6, Transfiguration, Dn 7:9-10,13-14; Ps 97:1-2,5-6,9; 2 Pt 1:16-19; Lk 9:28b-36. Sun. Aug. 7, Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Wis 18:6-9; Ps 33:1, 12,18-22; Heb 11:1-2,8-19 or 11:1-2,8-12; Lk 12:32-48 or 12:35-40. Mon. Aug. 8, Ez 1:2-5,24-28c; Ps 148:1-2,11-14; Mt 17:22-27. Tue. Aug. 9, Ez 2:8—3:4; Ps 119:14,24,72,103,111,131; Mt 18:1-5,10,12-14. Wed. Aug. 10, 2 Cor 9:6-10; Ps 112:1-2,5-9; Jn 12:24-26. Thu. Aug. 11, Ez 12:1-12; Ps 78:56-59,61-62; Mt 18:21— 19:1. Fri. Aug. 12, Ez 16:1-15,60,63 or 16:59-63; (Ps) Is 12:2-3,4bcd,5-6; Mt 19:3-12.

Sat. Aug. 13, Ez 18:1-10,13b,30-32; Ps 51:12-15,18-19; Mt 19:13-15. Sun. Aug. 14, Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jer 38:4-6,8-10; Ps 40:2-4,18; Heb 12:14; Lk 12:49-53. Mon. Aug. 15, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Vigil: 1 Chr 15:3-4,15-16; 16:1-2; Ps 132:6-7,9-10,13-14; 1 Cor 15:54b-57; Lk 11:27-28.

Day: Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a,10ab; Ps 45:10-12,16; 1 Cor 15:20-27; Lk 1:39-56. Tue. Aug. 16, Ez 28:1-10; (Ps) Dt 32:26-28,30,35cd-36b; Mt 19:23-30. Wed. Aug. 17, Ez 34:1-11; Ps 23:1-6; Mt 20:1-16. Thu. Aug. 18, Ez 36:23-28; Ps 51:12-15,18-19; Mt 22:1-14. Fri. Aug. 19, Ez 37:1-14; Ps 107:2-9; Mt 22:34-40.

August 5, 2022 †

7

School superintendent Roy reflects on the priceless value of Catholic teachers

By Daniel S. Roy

Diocesan Superintendent of Schools

“There is nothing better than teaching.”

Those were the words of a priest during my first year of teaching. I approached Father Al after I had struck gold with a crackerjack lesson plan.

After many attempts to get my bearings in the classroom, I had finally seen my students truly engaged in learning. It had been gratifying to recognize the light go on. In search of someone to tell at the end of the day, I found Father Al, always a willing ear with a pithy response. For

many years, he had taught math in Iraq, which was the birthplace of algebra.

Saddam Hussein, when he came to power, shuttered Catholic schools and expelled Father Al and his brother priests from the country.

Throughout my career as an educator, I have

Andrew Raposo, principal of Espirito Santo Parochial School in Fall River, is shown outside of the Cathedral after an Eighth-grade Mass with Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V. thought of Father Al, who put so much on the line to further the Kingdom of God. In a great act of faith, he journeyed to a new country where he made a difference in the lives of young people and their families. Returning to the United States, he continued his ministry as a math teacher, a lover of learning who cared

8

† August 5, 2022

deeply for his students.

When Father Al told me that there is nothing better than teaching, his words carried a clear validity and staying power.

Today our teachers have rich opportunities to affect the lives of young people. Through their words and actions, they transmit a faith tradition 8 Turn to page nine

Fall River Catholic high school plans to become 100 percent solar powered

A rendering of the proposed rooftop solar system on the Bishop Connolly High School building in Fall River.

FALL RIVER — The Diocese of Fall River recently announced its intention to install a 544 kWDC solar system on the roof of Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River that will cover 100 percent of the school’s electricity needs. The proposed system will produce 628,000 kWh of electricity annually which is equivalent to driving a gas-powered car more than one million miles.

“We are excited for the opportunity to partner with Resonant Energy on this important initiative. This project will not only serve as an educational opportunity for our students, but as a symbol of our community’s continued commitment to the environment,” said Kathleen St. Laurent, Bishop Connolly High School President/ Principal.

K-12 schools in the U.S. spend roughly $8 billion on electricity every year, making it one of their largest expenditures, second only

to staffing costs. In order to ease this burden and promote solar education, Resonant Energy has launched the Students for Solar Campaign which is designed to help students, faculty and administrators bring solar to their schools.

The Bishop Connolly solar project will join more than a dozen solar projects owned by the Diocese, producing more than 10M kWh annually. The proposed solar project will be managed by Dorchester-based Resonant Energy which recently developed projects for the Diocese at the St. Francis Xavier School in Acushnet and St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in New Bedford. The solar system is expected to save the school nearly $2 million over the 25-year lifespan of the system.

The project is currently in the development and engineering stage and installation is expected to take place in the spring or summer of 2023.

School Superintendent Roy reflects on the importance of Catholic teachers continued from page eight

and grounding in prayer and service. In the present day, they may not be unlike those priests who traveled to another land and introduced young people to the Catholic faith.

Our world has changed significantly in the first decades of the 21st century. It longs for community in the face of isolation and alienation. It longs for meaning in the face of so many jumbled and harmful messages, many of which are pitched directly to our young people. Many in our world long for personal, spiritual direction and a deeper appreciation of their God-given gifts and talents in order to respond vocationally to the many needs they see. Some simply ask what can be done in the face of these realities.

The noble work of a Catholic school teacher could not be more important.

The schools of the Diocese of Fall River join in a global

mission. Catholic schools create faith-filled communities where people are known and experience God’s love in a sustaining way.

In our schools, you find teachers who view their work as more than a job. Their focused commitment to forming the hearts and minds of young people is a vocation.

Catholic schools have sustained in-person learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. When faced with seemingly unstoppable adversity, our principals and teachers answered the call.

They moved to remote learning in the spring and have sustained in-person learning through two challenging, variant-ridden, policy-shifting years in the world of education. These feats are attributable to their unflagging dedication to their students. Underlying this dedication is the belief that every last student matters as one who is made in the image and likeness of God, and who is called

to excellence in the here and now on their way to eternal life.

Catholic schools present educational content in the context of our faith tradition. Education is more than a mental exercise.

When learning engages heart and mind, students find deeper meaning and purpose. From this deeper meaning and purpose comes the imperative to act. Our history shows that our students graduate to become servant leaders dedicated to the common good.

Catholic schools meet young people where they are in their journey. When I was a principal, I was always struck by the graduates who returned to school to check in with us. As students with us, they were often the wayward sheep whose grades and attitudes weren’t exemplary. But when the door opened on a Friday afternoon or at the beginning of Thanksgiving or Christmas vacation, it was these students who

were there wanting to tell us how things were going and what they were learning. While unexpected, I believe it was so because the school had met them where they were. They were checking back in to tell us where they had been, sometimes seeking guidance from an old mentor. Catholic schools understand and live this reality of the faith journey in compelling ways.

Indeed, there is nothing better than teaching. As someone who has worked with, hired, observed, and evaluated hundreds of teachers over the last 23 years, I firmly believe that good teachers are needed now more than ever. Catholic schools provide a context where great teaching can flourish.

For more information on teaching or working in the schools in the Diocese of Fall River, see the ad on page seven of this Anchor edition.

August 5, 2022 †

9

Long-time golf classic returns to benefit Diocesan Health Facilities

By Dave Jolivet Editor

davejolivet@anchornews.org

LAKEVILLE — It’s a life dynamic. There are days when people are active, outdoors and living life to it’s fullest. There also comes a time when, for many, such days become part of their past, often needing the assistance of a health care facility.

In the Diocese of Fall River there’s been a tradition, more than a decade old, where those living life to the fullest use that gift to help those who are in need of some type of physical, mental or spiritual assistance. But like many events over the past few years, that tradition was forced to take a hiatus.

The annual Diocesan Health Facilities Golf Classic, which has raised thousands of dollars over a dozen events, was forced to cease operations during the pandemic.

This year, the classic is back, being held at the LeBaron Hills Country

10

† August 5, 2022

Club in Lakeville on August 22, with the proceeds benefiting the five skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers sponsored by the Diocese of Fall River: Catholic Memorial Home in Fall River, Madonna Manor in North Attleborough, Marian Manor in Taunton, Our Lady’s Haven in Fairhaven, and Sacred Heart Home in New Bedford.

“We are so very glad to be back,” Lisa Ferreira, Director of Purchasing for DHFO, told The Anchor. “Our 13th event would have been held in 2020, but due to COVID we had to postpone. So we are glad to be getting back on track with the event which hasn’t been held since our last one in 2019.

“We’re looking forward to a great event to raise monies for our residents in our nursing homes.

This is the largest fundraising event health facilities offers and we’re excited to be able to bring it back.”

In a letter to families and friends of the Diocesan Health Facilities, Chief Executive Officer Joanne Roque said, “Your participation and donations help support many projects, such as new programs and renovations that are enjoyed by our residents and their loved ones.”

The August 21 event at LeBaron Hills Country Club will begin at 10:30 a.m., rain or shine, with registration and lunch, and a shotgun start at noon. It’s a “Florida Style Scramble” tourney, meaning all members of the foursome tee off.

After the best tee shot is selected that member sits out and the others play the ball, three members play until the ball is holed, with the golfer with the best shot sitting out the next.

In addition to the monies raised from the foursomes, sponsors and vendors also donate funds and some offer prizes for the raffles, best shot prizes, etc.

Roque encourages people to

become a part of this event, saying, “Each tax-deductible contribution to our Golf Classic will benefit more than 700 hundred residents from communities throughout Southeastern Massachusetts.”

“We’ve been very successful in the past,” said Ferreira, “and we hope that tradition continues.”

With many semblances of normalcy returning to everyday life, the time is right for those who can live life to the fullest to enjoy a day outdoors on the links and help those whose lives have changed through the years in one form or another.

The sponsors and vendors already taking part at press time are: DEG Associates, Partners Pharmacy, Symbria, STAT Ambulance, TridentCare, A&T Plumbing, Geriatric Medical, Attorney Jane Sullivan, Ecolab, Gay & Gay P.C., Maunel S. Mello Contracting, Medi Weight Loss, Norel Service Co., Por Shun Dairy, SDX Dypahgia Experts, St. Anne’s Credit Union, BayCoast Bank, Coogan Smith LLP, Fire Systems, Boston Textile Co., Germain Plumbing and Heating, L & G Graphics, Livingston and Haynes, Morgan and Stanley/Denise Robers, and Norton and Associates.

For additional information on the various levels of sponsorships, or to register to participate in the classic call the Diocesan Health Facilities Office at 508-679-8154 or email Debra Medeiros DebraM@ dhfo.org for more details.

Individual parish Appeal totals in the Diocese of Fall River

The new and fully updated Diocesan Directory 2022 is NOW AVAILABLE! Only $30 per copy, including shipping

Order TODAY! Please send _____ copy(ies) of Diocesan Directory 2022. I am enclosing $30 for each directory ordered.

Amount made payable to The Anchor enclosed: $__________.

Name: ________________________________________________

Visit the Diocese of Fall River website at: fallriverdiocese.org

Address: ______________________________________________ City: ____________________________________ State: ________ Zip: _________________ Telephone: _______________________ Complete and return original form or photocopy to: The Anchor (Attention Directory) 887 Highland Avenue, Fall River, Mass. 02720 August 5, 2022 †

11

I

T he C hurch and Y outh & Y oung A dults The little Civic that couldn’t: Signs of damage

t was the hottest day of the summer in Chesapeake, Va., and throughout the area of Hampton Roads. I am certain that there were heat warnings on that day discouraging unnecessary time outside. My family was away, and I was determined to surprise my wife with an area outside where we could sit, relax, and pray. I was inspired by the pictures of prayer groves and other similar outdoor seating areas. Now would be the time to inform you that I am as handy as Edward Scissorhands working as a clown making balloon animals.

I saw an advertisement for concrete pavers 35 minutes away, for free.

The advertisement read “A TON OF PAVERS FOR FREE.” Without hesitation, I reached out and said I am on my way to get them. I saw concrete pavers as part of the pictures, and knew this was a no-brainer. So I jumped in my black Honda Civic Coupe to collect my

12

free stuff.

When I arrived, I told the man that I was here for my pavers. In which he replied, “Is someone else coming?” I looked surprised and taken aback by the comment. Why would someone else be with me?, I said to myself.

“No, sir,” I said.

To his second question, “Is that your transportation?,” I replied, “Yes, sir.” He immediately called his friend, who called his mother and I was told to repeat why I am there. “I am here to pick up the pavers, in my Honda Civic Coupe.” They collectively laughed and said, “No you ain’t! We said a TON!” Then it dawned on me, not a metaphorical ton, but pretty close to an actual ton. But I am prideful, and when they said, “No you ain’t,” I heard, “No, you can’t!,” and no one but God limits me. So I moved all 66, 2-inch thick pavers

† August 5, 2022

into my car. I rolled out of that drive way to an audience. On the highway, I was going blazing speeds of 20 mph and that was my being lead footed. An hour-and -half later, I arrived home and I unloaded these pavers and started working. I got

about a quarter done and decided to celebrate my 25 percent accomplishment by chugging a mountain dew and going to the Chinese buffet. Well, that day my car died, and my body was in critical condition, as I experienced extreme dehydration. Just as my car was showing signs of failure, so was my body, but I ignored both. What happens when we ignore signs that our soul needs attention?

God is very intentional in His creative genius.

If you look at the Genesis account, you will see that each day has a design and purpose. The beginning of Sacred Scripture starts with the words, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void” (Gen 1:1-2).

If you notice, He created everything in twos because there were two distinct darknesses: “without form” (formless) and “void.” He created light into two: day and night. God creates the firmament and

divides water to above it and below it. God creates earth and sea, then plants yielding seed and fruit.

From this point forward in creation, God starts to assign purpose to those things, and who/what is to have dominion over those things, i.e. day and night to track time, and ruled by Sun and Moon, etc.

Scientifically, if you look at the Earth and the details of its design, you will find exact details that make Earth the only sustainable planet for complex organisms. Our distance from the sun, our axis, rotation speed, and even placement in our Solar System make it impossible for this to be all by chance.

All this to say that God was extremely detailed and intentional in His creation.

Therefore, the way we were designed follows the same pattern. We are both body and soul. The body has crucial systems within it and each complex in its own right: integumentary, musculoskeletal, respiratory, circulatory, digestive, excretory, nervous, endocrine, and the reproductive system. Our body gives critical signs when one or more of those systems need attention, as simple as a drop of sweat or as complex as skin changing in color and texture.

If signs are present in our biology, then surely signs are present when our soul needs work.

St. Augustine said, “Take care of your body as if you were going to live

forever; and take care of your soul as if you were going to die tomorrow.” Your soul starts to have warning signs for care when: sin seems more and more appeasing, others seem more and more annoying, your society and community becomes more and more negative. And once those signs get ignored, then it gets critical when you have no room for a neighbor and you turn on yourself with negative talk, self-hate, self-loathing, etc.

Our whole self, body and soul, is designed with a great purpose. And we ought to be attentive to the signs that can damage it. My car showed signs early, when my car all of sudden became a low-rider, then showed more signs when my foot was all the way down and only going 20 mph. My body started showing signs when I was profusely sweating and then stopped sweating.

Our bodies alone will not get us to eternity, but they can show the world the beauty of God’s creative genius. However, our souls are the vehicle that will drive us to our eternal resting place. If we beat up our soul and neglect it or rely on it to carry the excess weight of anxiety, fear, worry, etc, or the spiritual malnourishment of sin, then that wear, and tear can and will damage your vehicle to heaven.

Anchor columnist Oscar Rivera Jr., is director of Youth Ministry in the diocesan Secretariat for the New Evangelization. orivera@dioc-fr.org

St. Vincent’s Services holding annual back-to-school supply drive FALL RIVER — The new school year is quickly approaching which means Saint Vincent’s Services is looking for donations of Back-to-School supplies.

Every year its team collects school items to distribute to hundreds of youth in its programs. Help them prepare the children at Saint Vincent’s for another fantastic school year.

Donations for the

back-to-school supply drive can be dropped off Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. at: Saint Vincent’s Main Entrance, 2425 Highland Avenue, Fall River, Mass., 02720.

For more information on our Back-toSchool supply drive, please contact: info@ SaintVincentsServices.org or call 508-679-8511.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on the Portuguese Channel Sunday, August 7 at 7 p.m.

Broadcast from Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church in Providence

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on the Portuguese Channel Sunday, August 14 at 7 p.m.

Broadcast from Santo Christo Church in Fall River

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

Celebrant is Father Marek Chmurski, Pastor of St. Margaret of Scotland Parish, Buzzards Bay

Sunday, August 14 at 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Thomas C. Lopes, retired priest of the Diocese of Fall River

150th annual St. Anne Novena draws crowds of faithful pilgrims from near and far FALL RIVER —From Rochester N.Y. to the Middle Atlantic States to the local Southeastern Massachusetts area, pilgrims made the journey to St. Anne Shrine in Fall River to pay homage to the grandmother of Our Lord and the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Despite the unseasonably warm temperatures, Father Allen Alexander, MIC, preached a full schedule of homilies during the nine daily Masses in the Shrine, as well as reflections during the Novena service to Good St. Anne after Mass. Father Alexander tied the themes of Divine Mercy, devotion to the Blessed Mother, and St. Anne’s role in the economy of salvation together for the edification of the pilgrims, and his insights were welcomed by participants in the services.

This being the 150th consecutive St. Anne Novena, which has taken place uninterrupted since it was begun by the founder of St. Anne’s parish, Father Paul

Montaubricq in 1872, the anniversary was made even more special by the presence of Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., celebrating Mass on July 26, the Feast of Saints Anne and Joachim.

The procession of the relics of Good St. Anne, a fixture of this entire festival, took place after Mass on the 26th through the streets of the St. Anne Shrine neighborhood, accompanied by hundreds of pilgrims singing the traditional hymn “Laudate Annam” while

they followed St. Anne’s relic and flower-bedecked statue.

The Feast concluded with formal Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction to close out the 10 days of celebration in honor of this beloved saint in the history of Fall River and the shrine that bears her name.

For more information on events at St. Anne Shrine of Fall River, visit the website www.st-annes-shrine. org or contact the Shrine office at 508-678-1510.

From left: Father Edward Murphy, Shrine Chaplain; Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V.; and Father Allen Alexander, MIC, at the recent Mass for the feasts of Saints Anne and Joachim. Father Alexander was the preacher.

Other photo on page 15.

East Freetown Day of Silence correction EAST FREETOWN — A Day of Silence on St. Bonaventure will take place Saturday, August 20 in the new lower level of Neumann Hall just outside the new courtyard and the lakefront in East Freetown. It was originally reported as being on July 30. For more information or to register, call 508-9470193. The phone number in the July 22 Anchor was also incorrect.

August 5, 2022 †

13

Pope Francis: Canada’s residential schools system was ‘cultural genocide’ IQUALUIT, Canada — organizations ran at least tuted a “cultural genocide.”

Pope Francis has agreed 60 percent of the governDuring the in-flight with the view that the ment-funded boarding press conference on his forced removal of Indigeschools. return flight to Rome from nous children from their The 85-year-old ponIqaluit, Pope Francis said families and their treattiff spoke at the end of a while he had not used the ment in Canada’s residenweek-long trip to Canada word genocide, he indeed tial school system was a in which he traveled to had described one. “I apolform of “cultural genocide.” Edmonton, Québec, and ogized; I asked forgiveness Speaking for this work, have come as a pilgrim, despite my physical to journalists which was limitations, to take further steps forward genocide.” on the papal plane on July with you and for you. I do this so that progress may The Truth be made in the search for truth, so that the process- and Reconcil30, the pope es of healing and reconciliation may continue, and iation Comexplained that he had so that seeds of hope can keep being sown for future mission, which not used the generations — indigenous and non-indigenous ran from term “genoalike — who desire to live together, in harmony, as 2008-2015, cide” during concluded that brothers and sisters,” the pope said. his public thousands of apologies for children died past abuses perpetrated Iqaluit on what he called a while attending “Indian

by Catholics in the system “penitential pilgrimage” to Residential Schools”, and because it had not come to apologize and repeatedly called for action on 94 mind. express his shame and sor- points.

Canada’s residential row to the country’s indigThe papal apologies school system, to which enous communities for the were one of the commisPope Francis referred, ran role the Catholic Church sion’s four points addressed for more than 100 years. It played in the system. to the Catholic Church. worked to stamp out indigIn 2015, the country’s In a brief address to enous culture and language Truth and Reconciliation delegates representing systematically, often by re- Commission concluded nine indigenous nations of moving children from their that the country’s residenCanada, Pope Francis said families by force. Catholic tial schools system constihe was returning home “greatly enriched” after his week-long journey.

“I have come as a pilgrim, despite my physical limitations, to take further steps forward with you and for you. I do this so that progress may be made in the search for truth, so that the processes of healing and reconciliation may continue, and so that seeds of hope can keep being sown for future generations — indigenous and non-indigenous alike — who desire to live together, in harmony, as brothers and sisters,” the pope said.

“I

14

† August 5, 2022

Saint Vincent’s Bike Run is August 21 FALL RIVER — Saint Vincent’s Services will be holding its 17th Annual Motorcycle Run and Raffle on Sunday, August 21 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. starting at 2425 Highland Avenue in Fall River.

Hopes are for another terrific bike run this year with more than 175 motorcycles and 300 guests, making this bike run one of the largest in the area. The route is a 45mile bike run that travels through the scenic back roads of Fall River, Assonet, Berkley, and Lakeville, and ends at the Fall River Elks Lodge. This State Police escorted ride is a relaxed run that features wide open country roads and lake views.

The Bike Run will end at the Fall River Elks Lodge on N. Main St., where riders, passengers, and friends are invited to stay and enjoy a BBQ lunch, cold drinks, our Run Raffle, and live music from the Most Wanted Band!

Tickets for the Run are available on Saint Vincent’s website, www.SaintVincentsServices.org), or can be purchased the morning of the Bike Run. Saint Vincent’s 17th Annual Motorcycle Run is presented by Preferred Concrete Forms.

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests and deacons during the coming weeks: Aug. 5 Rev. Martin J. Fox, Founder, St. Paul, Taunton, 1917 Rev. Thomas A. Kelly, Pastor, SS. Peter & Paul, Fall River, 1934 Permanent Deacon Robert W. Pelland, 2016 Aug. 6 Rev. Joseph P. Lyons, Pastor, St. Joseph, Fall River, 1961 Aug. 7 Rev. John F. Hogan, Pastor, St. Julie Billiart, North Dartmouth, 1986 Very Rev. Roger L. Gagne, V.F., Pastor, St. Mark, Attleboro Falls, 1987 Aug. 8 Rev. William Bric, Founder, St. Joseph, Fall River, 1880 Aug. 12 Rev. Victor O. Masse, M.S., Retired Pastor, St. Anthony, New Bedford, 1974 Rev. Msgr. John F. Moore, Retired, Catholic Memorial Home; Former Pastor, St. Elizabeth Seton, North Falmouth; Former Executive Editor of The Anchor; Former diocesan Director of the Permanent Diaconate Office, 2018 Aug. 13 Rev. Edward J. Sheridan, Pastor, St. Mary, Taunton, 1896 Rt. Rev. Leonard J. Daley, Pastor, St. Francis Xavier, Hyannis, 1964 Rev. Gabriel Swol, OFM Conv., Former Associate Pastor, Holy Rosary, Taunton, 1991 Aug. 14 Rev. Raphael Marciniak, OFM Conv., Pastor, Holy Cross, Fall River, 1947 Rev. Conrad Lamb, O.S.B., Missionary in Guatemala, 1969 Aug. 15 Rev. Charles W. Cullen, Founder, Holy Family, East Taunton, 1926 Aug. 16 Rev. James O’Reilly, 1856 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 Rev. Joseph M. Quinn, C.S.C., 2007

I

was driving home from church a few weeks ago. It was a beautiful, sunny Sunday morning and it was Father’s Day. As is often the case, I tuned my car radio to the local public radio station. The announcer posed a great question: “What’s the best gift your father ever gave you?” My mind immediately went to my 12th birthday. For weeks in advance of my birthday, I had made it very clear to my parents, and anyone else who would listen, that I wanted a new bicycle.

All my friends had English racers and I wanted one, too! For those of you who are unfamiliar with the bike I wanted, an English racer, as I recall, was a tall bike. It had skinny tires, at least three speeds, and hand brakes. It would be a huge step up from the little-kid bike I had. When I came home from school that birthday, my father led me out to our garage. I could barely contain myself as my dad pulled a tarp from my long awaited birthday gift. It was a “new” bike for sure, but not the English racer I’d longed for.

I stared in disbelief at the bicycle my father revealed and my heart sank. All I wanted was a bike like all my friends had. I wanted to be one of the “cool kids.” The truth of the matter is that my dad purchased a second hand bike. It wasn’t tall, it didn’t have hand brakes and it had big fat tires. Words cannot express my disappointment that day. I guess I managed a smile and a thank you, but it wasn’t sincere.

A bit of a back story is in order here. My dad was a poor farm boy from Kansas, and the oldest of nine children. His father was an alcoholic who often abandoned his family for long periods of time, leaving my father to be the “man of the house.”

In a post-depression era, his family

The best gift

had little: they worked hard, lived frugally, and valued everything they had. So in hindsight, it made perfect sense that rather than spending a lot of money on a new bicycle, my dad would find a less expensive way to give me the gift I so deeply desired.

I learned later that for weeks before my birthday, my dad would come home from work and spend hours cleaning, painting, and polishing that old bike to make it look like new. Quite a sacrifice after he’d spent a full day at work. He did it for me but I didn’t appreciate it.

In Luke’s Gospel last weekend, we heard the parable about the man, sometimes called “the rich fool,” who stores his wealth so that he can “rest, eat, drink, and be merry” for the remainder of his days.

He does not see any of his wealth as a blessing from God. He fails to be thankful for all that he’s been given.

He thinks only of himself. But God reminds him that those who store their treasures, accumulate great wealth, and care only about material possessions, are not rich in what matters to God. When I think back to the day my dad gave me that bicycle and my reaction, it brings a tear to my eye. I’m saddened, not just because of my lack of gratitude and appreciation for his gift of the bicycle. Like the “rich fool” I took for granted many of the sacrifices my dad made for me that went unacknowledged or under appreciated. Today, I have nothing but pride and admiration for all my dad accomplished. He was a man of few words but great

deeds. He never got the college education he so deeply desired, but he made sure his three children had the opportunities he never had.

Most importantly, he raised us to be good, decent, faith-filled people. He passed on his values of hard work and honesty.

He taught us to appreciate all the gifts we have been given and blessed with. He was rich in what matters to God. Haven’t there been times when we’ve all been a bit like that “rich fool”? Times when we’ve wanted more or better? Times when we’ve been so centered on ourselves that we’ve ignored the sacrifices others have made for us? Times when we’ve failed to appreciate all we’ve been given? I know I have. So to answer the question — What was the best gift your father ever gave you?

The best gift my dad ever gave me wasn’t that bike with fat tires. It was

his example of living each day with gratitude for all the blessings that he’d received. So often, we take for granted all that God has given us.

Our homes, our health, our families, our faith — everything we have is a gift from God. With grateful and thankful hearts, we are called to share those gifts with those around us for the betterment of the Church and the world. We are called to pass on our spiritual values and faith to our children, our grandchildren and all we encounter. Finally, we are called to give praise and thanksgiving to God for all the gifts bestowed on us, and for His best and greatest gift — the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, who frees us from sin and raises us to new life. And that, my friends, is the Good News.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father (Jas 1:17).

Anchor columnist Ada Simpson is former editor of Ministry & Liturgy magazine, holds an M.A. in Pastoral Ministry, and is the director of Music Ministry at St. Francis and St. Dominic parishes in Swansea.

Retired priests get a cool treat on sweltering day continued from page one

World,” ”When The Saints Go Marching In,” and ”Farmer in the Dell,” enticed them to come outside for desserts of watermelon bombs, ice cream sandwiches, cones, creamsicles, etc.

Lisa Breton, supervisor at CMR made sure to reserve some treats for the priests who were not present at lunch.

Thank you, Manny, for helping us beat the heat so creatively!

August 5, 2022 †

15

I

A mother fights back

n 1987 and 1988 beaches along the shores of Connecticut, New York and New Jersey were awash with sewerage and medical waste, including used syringes.

Those were days of panic, fear and finger-pointing.

The situation was so dire that because of the “Syringe Tide,” beaches along the entire Atlantic coast were closed.

The problem was finally traced back to a landfill in the Tri-State area, but that did little to restore one’s faith in heading back to the ocean for a dip, let alone walking along the sandy shore, for fear of treading upon a syringe contami-

nated with who knows what. What exacerbated the panicked reaction was that it happened during the surge of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States.

It was such a national problem that it gained a line in singer-songwriter Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” The song came out in 1989 and contained 118 references to major events in politics, medicine, war, crime, sports and significant social concerns and worries, since 1949, the year Joel was born.

One line states, “Hypodermics on the shore, I can’t take it any more.”

The song’s verse is a message to humanity: “We didn’t start the fire. It was always burning since the world’s been turning. We didn’t start the fire. No we didn’t light it but we tried to fight it.”

Our oceans, God’s oceans more correctly put, are things of majestic beauty, power, and life. But humankind has had a long-time disrespect for and neglect of one of the Almighty’s greatest gifts. Genesis 1:21 says, “So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, ac16

† August 5, 2022

cording to their kinds.” Mankind’s reaction: “So what?”

Countless times humans have trashed the magnificent seas with total disregard. Well, it seems that Mother Earth, the Good Lord’s daughter, is fighting back.

Just take a look at the summer of 2022. Countless beaches on both coasts have shut down because of shark attacks or sightings. It seems to me that good old Mother Earth has amassed an army to protect one of her most precious possessions.

Not only sharks, but she’s summoned Portuguese Man-of-Wars, jellyfish, and bacteria infestations to keep us pesky humans at bay, so to speak. Those are the elements we can see. Beneath the beautiful blue waters are sea urchins and sting rays that, when stepped upon, slice, cut, and infect human flesh.

Other natural elements shutting down beaches are rip tides, undertows and sink holes; and oh yes, don’t forget about the jagged rocks and shells that when engaged can make the most agile of humans dance like they are on hot coals.

I love the beach. I’ve been a beach-goer since I was a puppy proven by the 35 mm movies my dad took of me as an infant kicking around the shore of Horseneck Beach in Westport. And, I hate what we are doing to such a vast and crucial piece of Mother Earth’s puzzle.

It may be inconvenient for us to take a break from the breakers, but just maybe we’re being taught a lesson.

Oh, it’s not just in the waters where things are getting a bit askew. More and more we see bears, wolves, and other creatures who would just as soon stay away from the meanest of all animals, mankind, but with all our development and land purging, we’ve invaded their spaces. They have no choice but to make appearances in places that God had assigned to them and we gobbled up.

We didn’t start the fire. But sometimes we do add fuel. davejolivet@anchornews.org

Please support the TV Mass Donate online at www.GiveCentral.org;FRTVMass Or mail your check payable to: Diocese of Fall River – TV Mass, 450 Highland Ave. Fall River, MA 02720