08.07.2020 by The Anchor

Diocese of Fall River, Mass. † Friday, August 7, 2020

The crisis confronting all schools — A message from Bishop da Cunha

Back to School, 2020 Version

Dear Friends in Christ,

As you are well aware, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption across almost all aspects of our daily lives. It is having an especially profound impact on young people, including those in our Catholic schools, whose education is being altered or interrupted. The pandemic and resulting economic fallout have dramatically reduced the number of parents who can afford to make tuition payments for the upcoming school year. In the spring, I shared the sad news that two of our 8 Turn to page 16

Kenneth J. Souza, 12-year Anchor staple, dies at age 55 By Dave Jolivet Print Editor

davejolivet@anchornews.org

DALLAS, Ga. — The Anchor family is saddened to report that Kenneth J. Souza, the web editor and a 12-year staff member of The Anchor, died on August 1 at the age of 55. He succumbed to complications of a major stroke he suffered several weeks ago. Ken was born in Fall River on June 5, 1955 to the late Manuel and Elvira “Eva” Souza. He is survived my his loving wife, Margie; a brother Robert Souza of Fall River, several nieces, nephews, godchildren; and his beloved dog Spenser. Ken grew up in Fall River and attended Bishop Connolly High from which he graduated in 1983. 8 Turn to page 11

Schools in the Fall River Diocese have begun to receive supplies for the upcoming academic year. Along with the standard books, paper, and computer essentials, schools are receiving face masks, gloves, sanitizing liquids and all Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) items necessary to meet the Commonwealth’s guidelines. Denise Peixoto, assistant superintendent of the diocesan Catholic Schools Office was instrumental in organizing the PPE needs for all the schools. More photos on page seven.

Two La Salette Brothers profess vows at outdoor ceremony in Attleboro. Page two.

Newly-ordained Jesuit priest from New Bedford receives congratulations from his home parish. Page eight.

FACE volunteer to take part in “At Home Edition” Falmouth Road Race. Page 10.

August 7, 2020 †

Two La Salette Brothers profess vows at outdoor ceremony ATTLEBORO — The La Salette Community announced that at a ceremony on July 26 at the outdoor chapel, La Salette Brother Ryan Jones professed Temporary Vows and Brother Joe Everton professed Perpetual Vows. Brother Ryan P. Brother Ryan P. Jones, M.S. Jones, M.S. celebrated his 30th birthday in July. Before he joined the La Salette Community he traveled the U.S. working at various regional theaters as a stage manager. He holds a master’s degree in stage management from Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich. He is originally from St. Louis,

Mo., where his family still resides. Brother Joe E. Everton, M.S. is a La Salette scholastic in formation attending Boston College, School of Theology and Ministry. He was born and raised in Attleboro. The La Salette Brother Joe E. Shrine was an Everton, M.S. influence in his decision to enter the seminary because of the message and charism of La Salette. He hopes to live and embody the charism of La Salette in his future ministries. The La Salette Community asks all to keep both in their prayers and continue to pray for vocations.

Family Rosary director interviewed for Netflix docuseries “Down to Earth” EASTON — Father Jim Phalan, C.S.C., national director of Family Rosary, is one of the Catholic voices interviewed in the new Netflix travel docuseries, “Down to Earth With Zac Efron.” In episode two, a segment about the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, co-hosts Zac Efron and Darin Olien explored the importance of water from several different perspectives. The pair interviewed Father Phalan while he was stationed at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in Lourdes, France. The Sanctuary is world-famous for the miraculous healings that take place when Spiritual pilgrims bathe in the waters of its grotto. The series is now streaming on Netflix. All six episodes of the docuseries are available to Netflix subscribers. Before taking on his newest role with Family Rosary in February of this year, Father Phalan served on the Family Rosary Team in France as assistant director, managing the Family Rosary Pavilion/Chapel at the Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine in Lourdes, France. At the same time, he served in the English-language pastoral program at the Shrine. It was during this time that the docuseries visited 8 Turn to page 13 2

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The Time For Change is Now — A Call For Change and Unity A Statement of the Roman Catholic Bishops of Massachusetts Regarding Police Reform Legislation

The sin of racism and struggle for racial justice has been part of our nation’s history for centuries. Awareness of both has never been absent, but too often both themes have been marginalized. Periodically, they are brought to the forefront of common discourse, most often triggered by aggressive, violent, or horrific acts perpetrated on members of our African-American, Latino, and other minority communities. As a result, serious discussions regarding how society acts and reacts to alter the culture of discrimination, violence, ignorance and indifference often occur and appear to gain momentum. Meaningful debate raises expectations that society will finally emerge from the culture of racism. However, as history has shown, those discussions ultimately fade into the background as time elapses and other seemingly pressing issues make any change less urgent and somehow less important. That collective mindset and cycle of inaction must end now. The time is upon us as a society to take responsibility for our actions. Racial injustice, bigotry, scorn and intolerance against individuals based upon their religion, ancestry, ethnicity or skin color must end now. Excuses for hate-filled behavior can no longer be tolerated. We are all created equal in the eyes of God and all human lives are to be valued and protected. It is upon us to

make that human equality the norm — not the exception. As the four Roman Catholic Bishops of Massachusetts, we pledge our full support to the cultural shift towards meaningful reforms in the area of racial injustice. As a country and a commonwealth of immigrants from all regions

police reform. We acknowledge the vast majority of the police officers in the state of Massachusetts are capable and honorable public servants who serve and protect all residents with distinction. We also acknowledge that racial biases have infiltrated the mindsets and actions of some police officers. Those

effort to reform the laws and professional standards inherent in effective policing. The NAACP of Boston, the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus, religious leaders, elected officials in our cities and towns, police unions and countless other individuals and groups have stepped forward to help effectuate change.

As the four Roman Catholic Bishops of Massachusetts, we pledge our full support to the cultural shift towards meaningful reforms in the area of racial injustice. As a country and a commonwealth of immigrants from all regions of the world, we must join together as one race — the human race. of the world, we must join together as one race — the human race. We must learn from our mistakes. We must learn from our passive acceptance of inaction and not let this opportunity fade into the background. Today and every day until reforms are implemented, this must be the pressing issue of the day. We must seize this opportunity with energy, determination and vigor. We must act now — it is our collective responsibility. Police Reform Legislation The underlying racial injustice and inequality issues we face are countless. They include, but are not limited to, education, housing, employment, law enforcement, the judiciary and many more. As Bishops, we take this opportunity to specifically voice our support of the efforts of Governor Baker and the legislature as they craft a bill to enact meaningful

are the individuals targeted by the legislation currently being debated by our lawmakers. That legislation is a step in the direction of meaningful change and is the reason we support our elected officials in their efforts to address these systematic problems. As Catholic bishops we do not pretend to know the business of policing. However, recent violent police actions from across the country inform us that methods, tactics, training, attitudes and biases must be addressed to bring about better policing. These fundamental changes must be done with the expertise, input, and cooperation from as many resources as possible — especially those who have experienced racial injustice firsthand. To that end, we are encouraged that so many individuals and organizations in the minority community are deeply involved in the

The United States of America is a country of hopes, dreams, ideals and ideas. To that end, many specific ideas have emerged as the legislature considers the different proposals. We do not choose to endorse a particular bill as the legislative process unfolds, nor do we dismiss the critical service police officers provide to maintain law and order and public safety throughout the commonwealth. On the other hand, we strongly support legislation that draws the best ideas from each bill creating a best practice model for meaningful reform. Although there are differences in the qualified immunity debate which must be rectified, not surprisingly a common vision has emerged. It is a vision that embraces a unified, systematic desire to enact legislation that will have permanent ramifications. The specifics will be de-

bated and vetted over the next 10 days as we near the conclusion of the legislative session. The killing of George Floyd at the hands of officers of the Minneapolis Police Department finally triggered a movement that will not be deterred, will not be silent and will not die. Laws need to be changed across the country. We have been given the opportunity to contribute to that change in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This will be a defining moment in Massachusetts history. As we celebrate the life of United States Congressman John Lewis of Georgia and his unyielding commitment to the principal of equality, let us not forget why he lived — to end racism for all Americans. The time has come for all of us to do our part to end racism and unite as one race. That time is now, let us seize this opportunity always remembering more work will remain. The letter was signed by: — His Eminence Seán P. O’Malley, OFM, Cap., Archbishop of Boston — Most Reverend Robert J. McManus, Bishop of Worcester — Most Reverend Mitchell T. Rozanski, Bishop of Springfield — Most Reverend Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., Bishop of Fall River

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Reparation for the frightful wounds inflicted on the whole human family

e mark this week, on August 6 and 9, the 75th anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As Americans we look with horror and rightly condemn the evil attacks against Pearl Harbor or on 9/11, where 2,403 and 2,977 people, respectively, died. What should our attitude be toward the dropping of the uranium gun-type bomb “Little Boy” on Hiroshima and the plutonium implosion “Fat man” bomb on Nagasaki, which between them killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, the equivalent of six to 10 weeks of September 11s? In the United States, a sense of patriotism has kept many of us from confronting how World War II ended. To question the morality of the tombs dropped by the Enola Gay and Bockscar mainly on Japanese non-combatants seems to question the moral legitimacy of the Allied victory, turn the good guys into bad guys, and undermine the authentic heroism of the greatest generation. We’re told that dropping the bombs was necessary to prevent an estimated 130,000-220,000 U.S. casualties (25,000-46,000 dead) that would have come from a land invasion of Japan. We’re reminded of the unlikelihood of Japanese surrender through conventional means and of Japanese sadism not only to Allied prisoners of war, but also to the civilians of the Philippines, Korea and China. We had already, after all, obliterated 67 Japanese cities with fire bombings, destroying 267,000 buildings and killing 100,000 people in Tokyo in a single night; is there really that much moral difference, we’re asked, between using conventional rather than atomic weapons to achieve the same end? Such consequentialist and proportionalistic moral reasoning, however, can’t make something evil good. A just end, like concluding 4

the war or saving American lives, cannot justify any and all means. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen spoke forthrightly about the ethical deformation that came from ignoring moral absolutes and justifying the intrinsically evil decision to use atomic weapons with merciless indiscrimination to destroy whole cities in order to intimidate survivors to surrender. “The dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima,” Sheen said, “blotted out boundaries. There was no longer a boundary between the military and the civilian, between the helper and the helped, between the wounded and the nurse and the doctor, and the living and the dead. For even the living who escaped the bomb were already half-dead. So we broke down boundaries and limits and from that time on the world has said we want no one limiting me. The key moral question comes down to the principle that the end does not justify the means. A noble intention to end the war does not make immoral acts moral. The same is true in the moral life more generally.” That’s why when the popes have visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they have spoken in terms of horror and shame over the slaughter of so many people, the wounding of 650,000 more, the birth of the age of atomic and the threat of global self-suicide, and the eclipse of moral reason. St. Pope John Paul II in 1981 called it an “unforgettable tragedy,” a “frightful wound inflicted on the whole of the human family,” and a terrifying realization that “man is capable of destruction beyond belief.” He said that what happened in those cities stands out even against the horror of “concentration and extermination camps where contempt for man and for his inviolable rights reaches its most base and cruel

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expression.” To remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he said, is to abhor nuclear war and to commit oneself to help humanity make a “moral about-face.” Pope Francis, during his visit last November, insisted, “We cannot allow present and future generations to lose the memory of what happened here.” He said that the two cities must become a “living memory that helps us to say in every generation: never again.” He poignantly asked: “How can we speak of peace even as we build terrifying new weapons of war?” Quoting St. Pope Paul VI, he said, “No one can love with offen-

sive weapons in their hands.” And that’s why he underlined, “The use of atomic energy for purposes of war is immoral, just as the possessing of nuclear weapons is immoral.” While the Church has since the start of the atomic age spoken out about the immorality of the use of nuclear weapons — Vatican II had unequivocally and unhesitatingly denounced any “act of war aimed indiscriminately at the destruction of entire cities or extensive areas along with their population” as “a crime against God and man himself ” — the condemnation of the possession of nuclear weapons is new to Pope Francis. But it is a clear logical development of Church’s thought. Nuclear weapons are not collectors items. They are maintained with the clear intention and threat to use them under certain circumstances if deemed necessary. The intention to do something intrinsically evil, however, is itself evil. The whole machinery of possessing nuclear weapons

involves training people to use them, weeding out conscientious objectors who would hesitate to launch, keeping them on alert, choosing targets, constantly assessing and updating weapons readiness, and so on. Human or system error, after all, could be catastrophic — just remember Chernobyl and Fukushima. The possession of nuclear weapons has been justified in the past under the guise of a doctrine of deterrence and mutually assured destruction, that one state’s threat of nuclear retaliation will impede other states from attacking with their nuclear weapons. During the height of the Cold War, the Church tolerated it on an interim basis, with St. Pope John Paul II saying in 1982, “In current conditions ‘deterrence’ based on balance, certainly not as an end in itself but as a step on the way toward a progressive disarmament, may still be judged morally acceptable.” Over time, however, the “current conditions” have changed: it’s no longer “superpowers” who alone have them in somewhat balanced numbers, but also rogue states with unstable political situations and apocalyptic leaders, and non-state actors and terrorists have striven to obtain them from failed states or corrupt officials. The provisional nature of the tolerance as a gradual step toward gradual disarmament and abolition has proven illusory, as disarmament agreements and commitments have not been honored, allowed to expire, or withdrawn from. The present situation of deterrent possession is destabilizing and crumbling. There is also a deep moral flaw in the rationale of mutually assured destruction. Two people will never form a friendship if they have loaded guns pointed at each other. Similarly, mutually assured destruction, as Pope Francis

stated in 2014, will never be the “basis for an ethic of fraternity and peaceful coexistence among peoples and states.” Now is the time, he said, to “counter the logic of fear with the ethnic of responsibility and so foster a climate of trust and sincere dialogue.” These thoughts cannot be looked at as kumbaya utopianism. President Barack Obama said in 2011: “Today I state clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. I’m not naive. This goal will not be reached quickly, perhaps not in my lifetime. It will take patience and persistence.” President Ronald Reagan similarly committed to this nuclear free world, in 1984, when he stated, “A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. The only value in possessing nuclear weapons is to make sure they will never be used. But then would it not be better to do away with them entirely?” As we mark the 75th anniversary of bombings that should never recur, now is the time patiently and persistently to work for nuclear disarmament and eventual abolition. Nuclear weapons won’t disappear by magic or by words. It is a time to ratify, buttress and implement the various international and bilateral treaties to this end. It’s also a time to pursue what the Church has called “integral disarmament,” referring not only to the reduction of weapons of war in general, but also to the defusing of bellicose hearts. Jesus told Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Those who live by the sword die by the sword.” If we don’t wish to suffer the fate of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, we must address not just the weapons involved but convert the minds and hearts of those who justify their possession and their potential fratricidal use. Anchor columnist Father Roger Landry can be contacted at fatherlandry@ catholicpreaching.com.

Language — veiling or unveiling moral truth?

o sanction or encourage certain wrongful actions, it is often necessary to manipulate language. The plain meaning of words can get in the way of convincing others they should tolerate or participate in wrongdoing, or otherwise embrace situations of evil or injustice. Verbal obfuscation becomes necessary to veil evident moral truths. A recently-published book by Laura Fabrycky, the wife of a U.S. Diplomat in Berlin, offers insight into this phenomenon during the Nazi regime. Fabrycky served for several years as a tour guide to the house of anti-Nazi dissident and Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Fabrycky describes how bewildered she was coming across a seemingly mundane bureaucratic memorandum in an exhibition catalogue. Only after reading it through several times did its meaning begin to “coalesce with nauseating clarity. It concerned vehicles that the Nazis designed to kill people — Jewish people, mostly. These mobile units killed through asphyxiation. Nazis loaded Jewish people into them, filled the vehicles with carbon monoxide, and then emptied the dead from the killing machines. Whoever wrote the memo, however, used language to tap dance, delicately, almost soothingly, around the subject at hand to obscure the heavy murderous footfall of its horrific realities. The quicksand sentences swallowed more than they

said; these ear-ticklers softened the blow that plain and direct speech would easily level on human conscience.” The careful hijacking of language by purveyors of wrongdoing described by Fabrycky is a widely-deployed tactic in the battle for the soul of every culture. The phenomenon is especially prevalent when discussing bioethical situations in which the human person and the human body are systematically violated, often under the aegis of the medical profession and the health sciences. A current example can be found in the April 2020 issue of the “Mayo Clinic Proceedings” in an article entitled, “Fertility Preservation for Transgender Individuals: A Review.” The problem of fertility preservation in transgender individuals, of course, arises precisely because physicians carry out interventions that deliberately disrupt and suppress healthy hormonal physiology and mutilate healthy sexual anatomy to the point that properly functioning fertility may be permanently lost. The authors consequently attempt to identify ways to “salvage” fertility while carrying out, or in the wake of, direct medical attacks on the human body. Throughout the article, the destructive interventions are carefully veiled by the almost compulsive use of jargon such as “gender-affirming hormone therapy and

gender-affirming surgery.” Such euphemisms obscure the fact that the procedures, while affirming subjective gender feelings, most decidedly do not affirm objective biology. The article would read quite differently if such phrases were replaced by “biology-opposing” surgery or “biology-denying” hormone therapy. Similarly, if one were to replace “gender-affirming” with

the more accurate “fertility-denying” or “fertility-destroying” therapy, the moral implications and objections surrounding these “treatments” would come into much clearer focus. The use of tap-dancing and ear-tickling language, however, veils the reality of unethical medicine directed against the human person. Similar tap-dancing is evident in the morally problematic world of infertility treatments and in vitro fertilization. As David Dodge notes in his 2014 New York Times article, “Fertility clinics, in particular, have mastered the art of sperm donor doublespeak.” Instead of the clinic’s staff “greeting me with, ‘This way, please, to the masturbation room,’ at my scheduled ‘donation time,’ a technician guides me to the ‘collection room,’ points out my various ‘entertain-

ment options,’ and hands me a sterile cup for my ‘specimen.’ I realize all this veiled terminology is supposed to make the process less awkward for me. Somehow, though, it just makes things worse.” Msgr. William Smith, the late and renowned moral theologian at New York’s Dunwoody Seminary, once quipped that had society been courageous enough years ago to speak frankly about the issue of contraception, it would have termed it “life prevention” rather than “birth control.” That would have led to a much different social dialogue regarding the ethical and medical harms of contraception. It would be hard to imagine husbands asking their wives the question, “Honey, did you remember to pick up the Life Prevention Pills at the pharmacy today?” During the COVID-19 pandemic, verbal gymnastics have also been evident in media headlines like, “Abortion Services Unavailable During the Lockdown,” or “Texas Clinics Resume Abortion Services.” Abortion, of course, is never a “service,” but rather a lethal disservice for every pre-born human

victim it ensnares. The moral nausea caused by such direct acts of killing almost demands linguistic recasting to tickle our ears and assuage our consciences. Fabrycky’s provocative encounter with the Nazi memo led her to conclude that “even language has a morality, or immorality, in whether it discloses or seals off facts and responsible thought, in whether it serves the truth or lies. Language often does our thinking for us. We take in words and phrases like air, and this ambient language forms our thoughts without ever stimulating our minds to interrogate them.” 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

August 7, 2020 †

Editorial

Ken Souza

As you can read on pages one and 11, we are in grieving here at The Anchor, as our longtime colleague, Kenneth Souza, passed away this past Saturday. Heeding what St. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, we do “not grieve like the rest, who have no hope” (1 Thes 4:13). Fathers Richard Wilson and Roger Landry, the current and former executive editors of The Anchor, have both offered several Masses already for Ken’s soul and countless members of the community have been keeping Ken and his family in prayer. Father Landry recalled when Ken joined the team at The Anchor. “When a position opened at The Anchor, we had more than 40 strong applicants, but Ken Souza stood out above everyone, as a superb reporter, genius graphic designer, faithful Catholic, and amiable collaborator. He very much improved us as an organization as we sought to get the Good News out about what God was doing within the diocese, her parishes and her people. He revolutionized the diocesan directory and helped establish The Anchor’s online presence. More than anything, he was fun to be around, and a great, humble, hard-working laborer in the vineyard. I will miss him. I pray that the faith he lived and covered has come to its fulfillment and the Lord, Who remembers every word, has now said to him what He once said to St. Thomas Aquinas: ‘You have written well of Me.’ Indeed he did.” Before working at The Anchor, Ken was a reporter and editor at The Wanderer of Mattapoisett. In a book by Jim Bernhard, “Porcupine, Picayune, and Post: How Newspapers Get Their Names,” Ken explained that the Wanderer was the name of the last whaling ship built in Mattapoisett in 1878. The ship was anchored off of Martha’s Vineyard in 1924, when a storm blew it into pieces on rocks. Ken told Bernhard that the newspaper was named in remembrance of that event, although with the hope of not suffering a similar fate. Bernhard then noted that “a wanderer is ‘one who moves about without a fixed course,’ rooted in the Anglo-Saxon wandrian, which in turn comes from an earlier word, windan, meaning ‘to turn.’” It is interesting how Ken went from working at a newspaper whose name was linked to a shipwreck and aimless journeying to another whose mission is about anchoring oneself into some solid — into the rock that is Christ, Who lays out the course for our lives (although it is normally a course about which Christ does not give us all of the details; instead He invites us to follow the guideposts (e.g., the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, etc.) which He has set along the way for us. As Dave Jolivet’s above referenced article about Ken mentioned, Ken was a great scholar of various media — movies, music, the Internet, etc. He also both made a documentary movie about Lizzie Borden (who was infamous for the 1892 Fall River murder of her father and stepfather, of OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 64, No. 16

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which she was accused, tried and acquitted) and was the editor of the Lizzie Borden Quarterly. The movie review website letterboxd.com described our late colleague as “A lifelong career writer and journalist, Kenneth J. Souza has always been a movie buff who obsesses over directors like John Carpenter, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Joe Dante, George A. Romero and Francis Ford Coppola, to name but a few.” In an Aug. 2, 2013 edition of The Anchor, Ken wrote of how Hitchcock used a stairway in many of his movies “as a metaphor for the dichotomy between good and evil — the gap between Heaven and hell.” In the Oct. 7, 2004 edition of The Wanderer, Ken wrote a column occasioned by the death at age 77 of actress Janet Leigh, the star of Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” which he entitled, “Fair Leigh Well.” After mourning her passing and summarizing the movie, Ken commented, “Those who know me can attest that I hold three film-maker in the highest regard: the members of this directorial ‘holy trinity,’ if you will, are Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, and John Carpenter. As the last living legend who worked with all three, Ms. Leigh's death marks the end of an era.” Earlier, in the May 7, 1998 edition of the same newspaper, Ken wrote of the death of a schoolteacher. “It’s rare that I use the pages of The Wanderer to offer personal opinion or express sentiment over the passing of an individual. After all, there have been countless people in the tri-town area who have come and gone during my six-year stint as News Editor covering Mattapoisett, Marion and Rochester. But there was something different about the pleasant and affable person of Llewellyn ‘Len’ Roberts that inspired me to pause and think about those people you encounter on a daily basis — and how delicate life really is.” What Ken wrote in the above two paragraphs is true — his death both marks the end of an era for us at The Anchor and it reminds us of how delicate our lives are. As a man of faith who could see the hidden Catholic meaning to so much of good art and who had to mourn several family members before his own early death at 55, he lived these truths with deep feeling in his heart. It is our prayer that God in His mercy welcome Ken into the eternal banquet which he longed to attend. May God also permit him to meet many of the people for whose souls Ken prayed in this life, both his loved ones and the people whose works he enjoyed on the silver screen or on a CD. At our staff meetings we would invoke St. Francis de Sales, the patron saint of journalists. This great saint wrote extensively about praying for souls. May he intercede for this good journalist.

Daily Readings † August 15 - August 28 Sat. Aug. 15, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin (not a Holy Day of Obligation in U.S.) 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. Sun. Aug. 16, Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Is 56:1,6-7; Ps 67:2-3,5-6,8; Rom 11:13-15,29-32; Mt 15:21-28. Mon. Aug. 17, Ez 24:15-24; (Ps) Dt 32:18-21; Mt 19:16-22. Tue. Aug. 18, Ez 28:1-10; (Ps) Dt 32:26-28,30,35c-36b; Mt 19:23-30. Wed. Aug. 19, Ez 34:1-11; Ps 23:1-6; Mt 20:1-16. Thu. Aug. 20, Ez 36:23-28; Ps 51:12-15,18-19; Mt 22:1-14. Fri. Aug. 21, Ez 37:1-14; Ps 107:2-9; Mt 22:34-40. Sat. Aug. 22, Ez 43:1-7ab; Ps 85:9ab,10-14; Mt 23:1-12. Sun. Aug. 23, Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Is 22:19-23; Ps 138:1-3,6,8; Rom 11:33-36; Mt 16:13-20. Mon. Aug. 24, Rv 21:9b-14; Ps 145:10-13ab,17-18; Jn 1:45-51. Tue. Aug. 25, 2 Thes 2:1-3a,14-17; Ps 96:10-13; Mt 23:23-26. Wed. Aug. 26, 2 Thes 3:6-10,16-18; Ps 128:1-2,4-5; Mt 23:27-32. Thu. Aug. 27, 1 Cor 1:1-9; Ps 145:2-7; Mt 24:42-51. Fri. Aug. 28, 1 Cor 1:17-25; Ps 33:1-2,4-5,10-11; Mt 25:1-13.

The Diocese of Fall River Catholic schools are preparing for the return of school in the fall. Each desk is the proper social distance measure and tape on the floor will help the students to maintain safe social distancing in accordance with the State of Massachusettsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; guidelines.

August 7, 2020 â&#x20AC;

K of C founder to be beatified October 31 VATICAN CITY — On May 26, Pope Francis approved a decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of Michael Joseph McGivney, (1852 –1890), an American Catholic priest based in New Haven, Conn. He founded the Knights of Columbus at a local parish to serve as a mutual aid and fraternal insurance organization, particularly for immigrants and their families. The Knights of Columbus developed through the 20th century as the world's largest Catholic fraternal organization. Today, the members number two million internationally. During the 2019 fraternal year, the order donated $187 million and 77 million man-hours to

charity. Father McGivney served his flock during the pandemic of 1890, before himself becoming ill and dying of pneumonia. The pope’s approval opens the way for Father McGivney to be beatified and declared Blessed. The miracle recognized as coming through Father McGivney's intercession involved an unborn child in the United States, who in 2015 was healed in utero of a life-threatening condition after prayers by his family to Father McGivney. The beatification Mass for Father McGivney is scheduled for October 31 in Hartford, Conn., according to the Congregation for Saints’ Causes.

Father James Ferus, S.J., was ordained as a Jesuit priest on August 1 at Holy Cross Cathedral in Boston by Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, OFM, Cap. Father Ferus was born in New Bedford and was a parishioner and altar-server at St. Lawrence Martyr Parish. Here his former parish congratulates him. (Photo courtesy of Cecilia Felix)

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Diocese of Fall River Office of the Bishop

Most Reverend Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V. July, 2020 Dear friends in Christ, Since my installation as Eighth Bishop of Fall River in September of 2014, I have made it my mission to protect our most vulnerable throughout the diocese. I am pleased to report that we are continuing to make progress in the protection of children and vulnerable adults and in our pastoral outreach to victim/survivors. Today I am announcing important developments in furtherance of those goals. We have created a new Ministerial Review Board (MRB) with an expanded mandate to replace the Diocesan Review Board. This board is composed of members of the laity and a member of the clergy. We have been blessed by the extraordinary people who have agreed to serve on the MRB, including a retired judge, a retired FBI agent, and a licensed psychologist, to name just three. We have also created a new policy for the MRB that provides this Board with broad authority to advise me on all issues involving the protection of minors and vulnerable adults and, in particular, to advise me regarding allegations of all forms of misconduct by clergy, including sexual abuse. I have adopted an updated policy outlining the protection of minors and vulnerable adults which clarifies that all who minister, work or volunteer in the Diocese will be required to agree to the "Essential Three": 1) Submit to a criminal background check; 2) Complete Safe Environment Training; and 3) Sign a Code of Conduct. These policies were the work of many people including outside consultants and my Chancery Staff as well and, before I approved them, they were unanimously recommended to me by the MRB. These are just the latest steps we've taken toward achieving the important goals I've set. Over the last year we have also enhanced our protection of minors and vulnerable adults and our outreach to victim/survivors of abuse by developing a number of initiatives, which include the following:

• On July 1, 2019, I established a new position of Director of Professional Standards and Oversight and hired Lorraine Levy, a retired Massachusetts State Trooper to fill that role. She now oversees the Office of Safe Environment as well as managing the requirements of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and The Essential Norms for Diocesan/Eparchial Policies Dealing with Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Priests or Deacons. • In July of 2019, we posted an opening for a licensed social worker to join the OSE as the Victim Assistance Coordinator to advocate and promote healing for victim/survivors. We have hired Carolyn Shipp to fill that role and she has gone to extraordinary lengths to work with our victim/survivors. • We have hired a new CORl Coordinator for the Catholic School Office to ensure that all who minister, work and volunteer in our schools are compliant, including fingerprinting any clergy who are assigned to each Catholic school.

I believe that our Diocese has never been in a better position to both protect children and vulnerable adults, and to effectively and pastorally address the needs of our victim/survivors. We still have much work to do. I acknowledge the need for continued self-examination to improve the way we safeguard the most vulnerable, as well as the way we address the needs and the suffering of those whom we, as a Church, have harmed over the decades. I congratulate those who have worked so hard to bring us this far, and I thank you in advance for your work in protecting and serving God's people. With my sincerest gratitude for your efforts in sharing in this vital ministry in the Church, I remain Most Reverend Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V. Bishop of Fall River

The updated Protecting the Faithful Policy and the new Ministerial Review Board Policy are both available on the Fall River Diocesan website at www.fallriverdiocese.org under the Safe Environment menu option at the top of the homepage. August 7, 2020 †

“Life is easy, when you’re up on the mountain And you’ve got peace of mind, like you’ve never known But things change, when you’re down in the valley Don’t lose faith, for you’re never alone. For the God on the mountain, is still God in the valley When things go wrong, He’ll make them right And the God of the good times is still God in the bad times The God of the day is still God in the night.” — Bill & Gloria Gaither f it seems like my column has become one of music and song promotion, it is not so by

God on the mountain

design even though many of my first homilies, as a newly-ordained, were highlighted by songs of the times in conjunction with the Gospel of the day. It just happens that a family friend from County Mayo today emailed me this Gospel song delivered so beautifully by Lynda Randle. In today’s crazy world, afflicted by the Coronavirus, as well as the chaos in many of our cities, it provides a lift for those of us down in the valleys. As I sit looking southward and over the row of palms lining the fringe of our church property,

my eyes fall on the Pali. Seemingly only yards away, rising majestically, are the green clad

mountains towering over Kalaupapa Town. We are blessed in that these majestic Pali cliffs help protect us from the effects of the virus. However, because of this epidemic, the many pilgrims who ordinarily get to visit this historic peninsula six days a week are unable to visit the land of Saints Damien

and Marianne at this time. That is sad and unfortunate. “You talk of faith, when you’re up on the mountain But talk comes easy, when life’s at its best Now it’s down in the valleys, of trials and temptations That’s where your faith, is really put to the test.” The good news from this valley is that so far 11 monk seal pups have been born here. The grocery store is getting a new floor so that we do not fall through. The palm trees have been stripped of coconuts so that nobody

gets conked on the head by a big one. I myself am in one piece after rolling out of bed recently, and Sister Barbara Jean, our Fishing Nun, has not been dragged into the water by a giant fish. “For the God on the mountain, is still God in the valley When things go wrong, He’ll make things right And the God of the good times is still God in the bad times The God of the day is still God in the night The God of the day is still God in the night.” Anchor columnist Father Killilea is pastor of St. Francis Church in Kalaupapa, Hawaii.

The countdown for the ‘At Home Edition’ of the Falmouth Road Race has begun

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FALMOUTH — There is less than one month left to go before the modified Falmouth Road Race. Now dubbed the “At Home Edition” Falmouth Road Race, the participants will

Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts. Cassandra has chosen FACE as the charity for which she will participate. FACE provides critical support to children

choose their own 7.0-mile course in their neighborhood to run or walk, between the dates of August 15 and 29. Participating this year is Foundation to Advance Catholic Education (FACE) volunteer Cassandra Robin, daughter of Jane Robin, even coordinator for the Catholic

in need of financial assistance to attend Catholic schools of the Diocese of Fall River. To support Cassandra's “Race for FACE” efforts, visit www.face-dfr.org/ donate. Or you may mail a donation to FACE (note FRR to the memo line), 450 Highland Avenue, Fall River, Mass. 02720.

Long-time Anchor staff member dies at age 55 continued from page one

He was a 1991 graduate of Southeastern Massachusetts University (now UMass-Dartmouth), where he worked for the campus newspaper, The Torch. Ken also worked at a Mattapoisett publication, The Wanderer, and was a Film and Video Production teacher at Bristol Community College in Fall River. Ken joined The Anchor team in April of 2008, becoming a full-time employee in February of 2009. He was a reporter, photographer, and quickly became The Anchor’s IT guy, learning and putting into practice many of the latest newspaper innovations, bringing The Anchor up to speed with today’s publications. As a reporter, Ken quickly put those whom he interviewed at ease with his charm, wit and easy-going nature. As the years passed, Ken developed The Anchor’s online website, keeping diocesan readers up to date with breaking news, photos and videos. In February of 2019 he became an editor of The Anchor, and when he and Margie moved to Georgia in October of 2019, Ken remained on board with The Anchor as its web editor, as well as continuing to write and edit the publication with his co-workers up north. Ken was always ready and eager to learn new technical innovations and enjoyed the world of social media and using it for good purposes. He also had a very successful side business, serving as a DJ for KJTunes, supplying the music for

dances, weddings and all types of social get-togethers. He brought that energy and excitement with him to Georgia where KJTunes was beginning to flourish once again. Ken was a great fan of classic movies of all genres, and part of The Anchor’s staff meetings were devoted to film trivia tête-à-tête’s. He was also a big fan of all New England sports and promised to carry that loyalty down to Georgia with him. Ken will be remembered by his Anchor colleagues for his sense of humor, his hearty laugh and we could always count on a elongated “yeeeeeessss,” when he walked into our offices. He will also be remembered for his writing skills, especially when he would adeptly tackle very sensitive and important political issues when it affected the Diocese of Fall River or the Church beyond the diocese. Ken also served on the Diocese of Fall River's Strategic Planning Committee, and could often be found in

The Anchor booth at diocesan events and conferences, extolling the benefits of a diocesan Catholic newspaper. He was predeceased by sisters Linda Mathieu, Geraldine Mathieu, and Rosemary Souza. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on August 4 at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Dallas, Ga. Interment followed at Peaceful Meadows Memorial Cemetery, also in Dallas. The family would like to extend its love and appreciation to everyone who was not able to attend the service in person due to COVID-19 restrictions. A celebration of Ken’s life will be held at a later date for friends and family in Massachusetts. That date will be announced in The Anchor. To leave online condolences for the family, please feel free to visit the website at www. samclarkfuneralhome.com. Clark Funeral Home, Hiram, Ga., was in charge of arrangements.

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests and deacons during the coming weeks:

Aug. 15 Rev. Charles W. Cullen, Founder, Holy Family, East Taunton, 1926 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, 1895 Msgr. Anthony M. Gomes, PA, Retired Pastor, Our Lady of the Angels, Fall River, 1992 Aug. 24 Rev. Peter J.B. Bedard, Founder, Notre Dame de Lourdes, Fall River, 1884 Very Rev. James F. Gilchrist, CPM VG, Vicar General of the Congregation of the Fathers of Mercy, 1962 Rev. Msgr. James E. Gleason, Retired Pastor, St. Patrick, Falmouth, 1987 Aug. 25 Rev. Joseph F. Hanna, C.S.C, Founder, Holy Cross, South Easton, 1974 Rev. Thomas E. Lawton, C.S.C., Holy Cross Retreat House, Easton, 2002 Aug. 27 Rt. Rev. Francisco C. Bettencourt, Pastor, Santo Christo, Fall River, 1960 Rev. Msgr. Hugh A. Gallagher, P. A. Retired Pastor, St. James, New Bedford, 1978 Rev. James E. Tobin, C.S.C., Retired Parochial Vicar, Our Lady of Victory, Centerville, 2008 Aug. 28 Rev. Thomas L. Campbell, C.S.C., 2012 August 7, 2020 †

“W

ell, your A1C is approaching a diabetic level so we’ll start you on a drug to lower it. And you are overweight or, according to the charts — obese!” Those were the words of my doctor, said to me just before the pandemic hit us hard. Those comments, which detailed underlying conditions which can threaten my chance of survival should I contract COVID-19, were enough for me to get my body moving. My wife and I made a conscious effort to right the wrongs of our health during the months ahead. We were fortunate to have good gym equipment which my daughter had bought, and which laid unused since my car accident a number of years ago, so we set up a daily regimen of exercise and eating well. And so, there began our twice daily workouts in the basement as the pandemic began to sweep the Northeast. We were stuck home anyway, so why not use it to better ourselves so that we could enjoy our children

F ocus on C hurch Y outh What a workout

and grandchildren in the years ahead? I went through the circuit huffing and puffing initially, but putting everything I could into the exercises because I just want my body well again. It seems like a perfect time to start this activity and hopefully with the proper eating and training I can continue to strengthen my aging body. It occurred to me, as I was riding the bike the other day, that it is also a good time for “training” for our souls too. Just as our bodies need training and exercise to stay fit, so do our souls. So many of us have had to be away from church due to the pandemic. Many have just fallen out of the routine of prayer or spiritual formation. Just think, when was the last time you spent some time with Jesus in a personal way. What have you done lately to develop that personal relationship with Him? Well, perhaps now is

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pounces. If he had the guts to try to tempt Jesus, who are we to think he won’t try to tempt us? Are we fit enough to resist his temptations? Are we strong enough for the battle? I hope so, but we won’t be able to avoid being a casualty unless we get that soul in shape by turning to Christ and opening up ourselves to the free gift of grace through which the Holy Spirit can “power up” our soul! Remember, Jesus is the answer to the can be used during these mess we find ourselves in. difficult times to help So, what can we do to exercise our souls a bit. It set up your soul’s training contains various prayers that can be used to lead you program? I think the first step, at into prayer each day. And least for me, is to take some don’t forget, many parishes time to really look deep are streaming Mass. Don’t inside myself to see what I fall out of the habit of need to strengthen in my attending Mass and giving soul. Where is it flabby and praise to God because what can I do to get fit? you’re still not comfortable What do I need to work on? returning to church. Visit In other words, I need to set stmarysdartmouth.org up “circuit training” plan or umassdatholics.com for my soul — it just won’t to download a copy of happen on its own. You’ve CHURCH FROM HOME. got to work at it. During this difficult I know, if your life is time, it feels that things anything like mine, it is are spinning out of control doesn’t it? Don’t allow your- jam packed with things to do even during this time self to give up. We need to of isolation. I think I never keep exercising our bodies and our souls to help us stay really exercised much over the years because I just fit. Times like these can be didn’t think I could fit it challenging. They can lead into my busy life. For many us into depression. Times like these, where we are iso- years I went to a weekly lated, can cause us to turn to prayer group meeting and don’t know how I could fit temptations to fill our time or needs and that can easily it in but I did. For five years move us to abuse of alcohol, we visited my mother-indrugs, and pornography etc. law every day while she was in the nursing home, just to get through the day. It seems, that lately, the and I couldn’t imagine that we could fit that into devil is having a field day! our schedules, but we did. The devil (Yes, Virginia, Before the pandemic we visthere is a devil) lies in wait until we are weak and flabby ited my mom in the nursing home every day, and we or depressed and then he the time for training and exercising our souls as well. It’s time to get it in shape spiritually! At St. Mary’s Dartmouth and at UMass Dartmouth, we just released a CHURCH AT HOME booklet that

were able to fit that in also. I know that once you make time for something then somehow you fit it into the schedule, and it doesn’t become a burden that you thought it would be. If it is important to you, you’ll make time for it. We need to take time to get our physical bodies in shape and our spiritual soul in shape. So, I propose the following — give up 10-20 minutes of computer or TV or video game time to pray each day. Make an effort to give the family an extra dose of love. Give up purchasing something and give the money to the poor. Give up something that currently takes time to get some time with God — THE physical trainer for the soul. I promise you a workout you’ll never forget! There are any number of other things we can give up to find the time to exercise our souls and prepare for what we hope will be better days ahead. If your soul is fit and healthy, your entire being will be healthier and fit and you’ll feel great! By the way, I’m down 30 pounds. Diabetes medicine is discontinued. Blood pressure returning to normal. Prayer time is more productive and beneficial. God is good! Overall things are looking up. If I can do it, so can you! Now drop and give me 10. Anchor columnist Frank Lucca is a deacon in the Diocese of Fall River assigned to St. Mary’s Parish in Dartmouth and a campus minister at UMass Dartmouth. He is married to his wife of 42 years, Kristine, and the father of two daughters and their husbands, and five grandsons! So blessed!

Educating your readers Since the murder of George Floyd The Anchor has had many good articles on the subject of racism. One special one was Dave Jolivet on 6/26, where he states we must change the hearts and minds and souls of people. Also Bishop da Cunha said something similar when he spoke and said we must educate people. To his end I would like The

Our readers respond

Anchor to educate its predominately white readership about two aspects of racism: the financial aspect as well as the physical aspect. Wealth is cumulative. For over 200 years people of color have been dealt many financial blows. Imagine being a slave and working your entire life with not a penny to show for it. Imagine not leaving one cent to your children, who in fact

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on the Portuguese Channel Sunday, August 9 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 16 at 7 p.m. Broadcast from Immaculate Conception Church in New Bedford

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, August 9 at 11:00 a.m. Celebrant is Father Christopher M. Peschel, Parochial Administrator of Our Lady of Grace Parish in Westport

Sunday, August 16 at 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Edward A. Murphy, Pastor of Annunciation of the Lord and St. Andrew the Apostle parishes in Taunton

are not your children. They are owned by the man who owns you. When our country wished to populate the west they gave large tracts of land to whites. When a black man went into the U.S. Navy he was restricted to a few menial job categories like being a cook. When our country wished to help people become homeowners they helped white people buy homes in a new place called Levittown where it was written in the deed that if you sold the house it had to go to a white person. Yes wealth is cumulative. There’s a reason people of color are poorer. Institutional racism. The other aspect of racism is the physical aspect. I liken it to abortion where the perpetrator does not think of the victim as being a real human being. How else could white men have beaten a 14-yearold, Emmet Till, to death and thrown his body in a river. How else could white men track down an unarmed black jogger, Ahmad Arbery, corner him like an animal and shoot him. How else could several white men beat a black father of three, James Byrd Jr., chain him to a pickup truck and drag him down a Texas road till he

was dead and then decapitate him. Yes looting and damaging businesses is wrong, as stressed in Father Landry’s detailed and graphic article on 6/12. However, we can fix broken windows. We can’t bring back a life. The Anchor needs to show its readers the whole picture. Then perhaps, we won’t be as upset about the violent attacks on property as we are about the violence, both financial and physical on people of color. Joyce Ehrenzweig Taunton

EXECUTIVE EDITOR RESPONDS: Thank you for your comment. You bring up a lot of good points, some of which I have tried to also draw out in my recent editorials. Renee Graham in The Boston Globe wrote on June 21, “Anyone more upset about what’s happening to Aunt Jemima than about what happened to [George] Floyd last month in Minneapolis, or [Rayshard] Brooks in Atlanta, underscores why every corner of this nation’s foundational sins mush be scrubbed clean, no matter how small.” I don’t agree with everything Graham writes in her columns, by any means, but I also do not

understand how any Christian cannot think that sin needs to be removed, whether the sins are somehow tied to the right or the left. Another reader, who did not wish to have her letter published, asked why I had to be so negative in my editorials. I was not trying to be negative, but as baptized Christians we are all called to be prophets (I have had people cancel subscriptions over the years due to what I have written, which means I no longer can try to influence them by what I write). That does involve pointing out our own failings, while also helping others to turn away from theirs. She also wrote, "Maybe there are less black Catholics because they do not believe,” and said that the Church does nothing to criticize Catholics who support abortion or redefining Marriage. I don’t see the direct connection from one topic to another, but we live in a very polarized time. St. Teresa of Calcutta felt free to criticize all forms of sin (be it of left or right), but she also epitomized loving all people. May her intercession help all of us to examine our personal and collective consciences.

Family Rosary director interviewed for Netflix docuseries continued from page two

the Lourdes Sanctuary and spoke with him. Father Phalan was called upon to describe the meanings of the miracles associated with the waters of the grotto and why people from around the world make the pilgrimage to this holy location. Father Phalan has worked in many capacities at Holy Cross Family Ministries since 1994. As National Director of Family Rosary (one of several ministries of Holy Cross Family Ministries), he manages dayto-day operations of the ministry founded in 1942 by

Venerable Patrick Peyton, a candidate for sainthood by the Vatican. Family Rosary’s mission is to inspire, promote and foster the prayer life and Spiritual well-being of families throughout the world with impactful videos, retreats, radio, daily family prayers via app or email, Rosary app, weekly eBooks, and reflections through social media and blogs. As such, Father Phalan is sometimes called upon by the secular media to shed light on the power of prayer and faith. He does so with a calm and open demeanor, making him the perfect Catholic

voice for the Netflix docuseries. “It was a pleasure to speak with the co-hosts and production team for the docuseries and provide some education on how the Sanctuary continues to draw the faithful from all over the world,” Father Jim Phalan said. “I was pleased to see that the episode focused on the hope and comfort that the Sanctuary brings, especially in these uncertain times we now live in.” For more information about Family Rosary, visit familyrosary.org.

August 7, 2020 †

Statement by South Coast leaders of faith and social equality July 2020 We, South Coast leaders of faith and leaders for social equality, come together to affirm the heart of our different traditions — we all are made equally in the image of the Divine, all life is Sacred, and every human being is our neighbor, worthy of love. Despite this common truth, we as a nation consciously or unconsciously deny that our society is structured in ways that gives privilege to people who are born white and disfavors those who are not. The pain, anger, and heartbreak manifesting today in the United States of America started 400 years ago when human beings were first stolen from Africa and enslaved for forced labor. Fellow human beings, deprived of all rights, were considered property that could be treated brutally, raped, and disposed of at will by predominantly white owners. White dominance continued after the Civil War as the North, imposing its own restrictions on newly-emancipated people, was complicit with the failure of reconstruction in the South. The whole na-

tion promulgated laws and practices that disenfranchised all African-Americans. Both northern and southern states deliberately created exclusive zoning and red lining, forcibly displacing African-American lawful owners. Budgets for education, healthcare, housing, and social services in predominantly black neighborhoods were severely and deliberately curtailed. Suppression of the black vote, especially egregious in the Jim Crow South, was also practiced in the North. Police forces, derived from posses to chase runaway slaves, were created largely to keep white neighborhoods “safe” from incursion by non-whites. The use of force in enforcement is considered an acceptable norm. The selective application of laws by the criminal justice system promotes mass incarceration of the black community. We also acknowledge that the violence against people of color hearkens to the license white settlers took in the mass slaughter and dislocation of indigenous people while appropriating their lands. The disregard for basic human

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rights is part of our birthright as a nation. Many of us do not even acknowledge or understand that we have subliminally accepted the structure of a society that gives privilege to those who are born white. We ignorantly proclaim innocence or reject responsibility — “I am not a racist,” “I am color blind,” “I have black friends,” and “All Lives Matter,” all the while benefiting from easy credit, easy hiring and promotions for work, forgiveness for minor infractions; all that are not afforded to people of color. Structural injustices need to be dismantled piece by piece. Given the immense challenge of our past and our present, we affirm another core belief of our faith traditions — we are called to work for justice. We see hope in this moment, believing this time to be another turning point in true racial justice. Though the arc is long it bends towards justice. We express our solidarity with and gratitude to activists and protesters in the South Coast and across our nation. We know that silence is complicity, and we are deeply grateful for your voice and witness. Some of us have worked many years and some are just awakening, but now awake we vow to not go back to sleep. We are committed to work together for racial and social justice. Our specific commitments vary depending on our racial and institutional positions, yet we know that it requires listening and truth-tell-

ing, humility and urgency, sincerity and resolve. We commit to honest, open, and challenging conversation, while we continue doing our homework, educating ourselves about the many ways that white favoritism and structural racism are woven into the history and fabric of our nation and our lives. We will work with our faith communities and social networks to explicitly engage in public education and dialogue around the issues of white privilege, anti-blackness, and structural racism. Our work for social justice is inseparably tied to our faith traditions. Speaking in one voice against hatred and ignorance, our interfaith and inter-organizational cooperation is strong. We call on others in our community, especially those in positions of leadership and law enforcement, to intentionally and critically review how we, as institutions and individuals, continue to perpetuate racism and white privilege in our laws and our practices. Beyond examining our hearts and our relationships, our laws must also be revisited. We commit to being informed about, involved in, and acting on public policy and legislation that will address systemic issues. As the headlines shift focus, we vow together to continue our focus on this Sacred internal and external work. We call on all in our communities to look inward, confess those things that we have done, or have not done. We

pledge to come to the table and collaborate together in the long, hard work of anti-racism and social justice. Faithfully, Rev David Lupo, SS.CC., Pastor of St. Mary's Church, Fairhaven; Sister Marianna Sylvester, RSM, Our Lady of the Assumption, New Bedford; Very Rev. Thomas Washburn from the Catholic Community of Central Fall River (Rector: Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, Pastor: Good Shepherd Parish and St. Stanislaus Parish). Deborah Zane, Pastoral Associate at the Catholic Collaborative of Central Fall River; Rev. David P. Reid, SS.CC., Parochial Administrator of Our Lady of the Assumption, New Bedford; the New Bedford Human Relations Commission; United Interfaith Action of Southeastern Mass.; the Westport Monthly Meeting of Friends; The NAACP, New Bedford Branch; Gail Fortes, Executive Director of the YWCA Southeastern Mass. Dax Crocker, South Coast Lead Organizer of Episcopal City Mission; Maria A. Rosario, Executive Director of NorthStar Learning Center, New Bedford; and 24 Protestant ministers, three Unitarian ministers, two Jewish rabbis and two cantors, and the Outreach Coordinator of the Islamic Society of Southeastern Massachusetts.

art of me says I should write about my longtime Anchor colleague Ken Souza, who was taken from us far too soon last weekend. And I’m sure there are some who feel I should as well. But I can’t. Not now. When Ken’s lovely wife, Margie, first contacted me about Ken being rushed to the hospital on a Monday night, the eve of press day, several weeks ago, she told me just before he went into surgery, he told her to contact Father Wilson and me to let us know not to expect his edits the next morning. When I spoke to Margie a few days later, we both marveled at his dedication to this publication. That first series of events was an incredible punch to the gut for me. I knew Ken was in serious medical trouble. The updates would fluctuate — hopeful, notso-hopeful. Gut punch after gut punch. It was frustrating to be so far from Ken and Margie, with them now residing in Georgia. Anyone who follows the sport of boxing knows that it doesn’t always take a powerful right cross to knock out an opponent. A series of well-placed and solid punches to the mid-section can do the job (just watch Sly Stalone's hit, “Rocky.” That one’s for you Ken). The final blow came when I received a text last Saturday morning telling me of Ken’s passing. That was the blow that took me out. After a flurry of solid gut punches, the

A flurry of solid gut punches final hammer-head fist to the gut was losing Ken at age 55. I have been rocked to the core since. I can’t put a finger on my emotions. What keeps emerging in my cerebrum is “You never know.” With that mantra constantly replaying in my head, yesterday I texted

a few close friends to tell them how I really feel about them. I told them I didn't want to weird them out, and explained my “You never know,” fear. I don’t want this to happen to me and never having said certain things to certain people. I told them I wasn’t looking for a response, I just wanted them to know how I felt. I don’t know how the texts were received, I am just glad I sent them. Then I went on Facebook yesterday and wrote a post to my FB friends. It read: “Had to write a colleague’s obituary today. Wasn’t too long ago I

had to write my mom and dad’s. I hate writing them. But this one made me stop and think that things can change in a heartbeat. You never know. I just would like to let all my Facebook friends know that in one way or another, in some unique way, you all mean something wonderful to me. Just want to get that out there. Because you never know.” The responses were heart-warming. I wasn’t looking for condolences or pats on the back. I just wanted my friends to know that each of them are a piece of the puzzle that is the life of Dave Jolivet. There are those of you out there who mean something special to me, but I don’t have you as a Facebook friend or have your email or text number. So to you, I reiterate, “In one way or another, in some unique way, you all mean something wonderful to me.” Also, I know there are those out there who don’t like me, and whom I don’t particularly care for, but to you, if you read this, please know that I respect who and what you are and

do, and I all I ask from you is the same for me. You never know. I pray for Ken’s soul and for Margie’s strength and for the peace of Christ to embrace her and carry her through this. She’ll never get over it, but she

will get through it and have the memories of Ken forever in her heart. People, be good to each other and let them know how your feel, because you never know. davejolivet@anchornews. org.

August 7, 2020 †

Please note that The Anchor website www.Anchornews.org is currently being retooled and is not yet up to date. We will advise you when it is up and running again. Bishop’s message about school crisis continued from page one

Catholic schools would not be able to re-open this fall because of steadily declining enrollment and anticipated budgetary shortfalls that the Diocese could no longer cover. To varying degrees, all of our schools are experiencing a troubling, growing financial strain. I am grateful to the many faithful and generous donors to the Diocese and our Foundation to Advance Catholic Education who have gone above and beyond to support our families in this time of need. Yet, the impact of the pandemic is extensive and will be felt for some time; it seems to me that without assistance to our parents and children from the Federal Government as part of its COVID-19 response, Catholic schools face a perilous future.

† August 7, 2020

Certainly, any closures that could result would harm hundreds of students in our own Diocese, and thousands more across the country. Many of our nation’s elected officials of both parties recognize the crisis that is confronting all schools, including Catholic and other non-government schools. Congress is working on another COVID relief bill to provide help to critical parts of our economy and society such as our schools. Catholic and other non-government schools must be included in that relief. At the outset of the pandemic all schools, public and private, were forced to close. It is essential that governmental support for all schools — and all students — re-

main strong and equal in recovery efforts. The time to make your voices heard is now. Congress needs to provide assistance to our schools within the next few weeks before the school year opens, or many parents may find themselves unable to meet even our modest tuition costs, creating additional uncertainty for our students and the schools they attend. Catholic schools save taxpayers $24B annually. That savings is $75B if you include all non-public schools around the country. When state and local governments are already facing significant financial hardship as a result of the virus, Congress should take meaningful steps to avoid an influx of students entering the

public school system. Please contact your elected officials — Senator Edward Markey at 202-224-2742 or 508-677-0523, Senator Elizabeth Warren at 202-224-4543 or 617565-3170, and your local Member of Congress (you can find the name and contact info of your Representative at House.gov) — and tell them how important it is to provide assistance in order to prevent Catholic schools from closing. I am grateful for attention to this, and send you my prayerful best wishes.

Most Reverend Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V. Bishop of Fall River