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Diocese of Fall River, Mass.

F riday , September 12, 2014

Unbound ministry brings its message to local parishes

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — ­ Formerly called Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, Unbound was founded by lay Catholics in 1981 and works with more than 300,000 children, youth and elderly of all faiths in more than 20 countries, including Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

When Father William Martin retired more than 17 years ago as an Air Force chaplain, he was looking to work on a project that embraced the mission of the

Church. He had witnessed representatives from Unbound visit air bases where he had been stationed and liked what Unbound stood for as a charity.

“I liked the fact that it does something directly and quickly and efficiently,” said Father Martin. “It’s the real mission of the Church, the concern for the poor and social justice; Unbound does it very well.”

Traveling almost every weekend from where he lives in Vermont to parishes and other organizations to look for new Turn to page 15

The Anchor recently visited Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., at his home in Newark, N.J., to talk about his vocation and his upcoming installation as the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Fall River, that will take place September 24 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River. (Photo by Dave Jolivet)

Road to Fall River was led by spirit of faith, devotion, and adventure

By Dave Jolivet Anchor Editor

This small, little shanty-type home in Huaycán, Peru, and others like it, dot the hillsides of the poor areas of some countries and are where many families with no money to buy a house or rent an apartment live and raise children. With no running water, even going to the bathroom requires a hike to an area where it’s safe to use a latrine.

Our Lady’s ‘Silver Rose’ to make second trek through diocese

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — The Massachusetts Knights of Columbus will be participating in a North American relay of sorts to pay special tribute to Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas, through its Silver Rose program.

Sometimes referred to as the “Running of the Rose,” it involves devotion to one of six silver roses — symbolic of the roses that miraculously materialized on Our Lady’s tilma (robe) when she first appeared to St. Juan Diego in December 1531 — that stop at different locations en route to the Shrine of Our

Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico for her December 12 feast day.

Last year was the first time the Silver Rose in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe was displayed in Massachusetts.

In nine days it is estimated that the single Silver Rose traveled 518 miles and was viewed by nearly 3,000 people.

This year, members of the Massachusetts K of C will once again be traveling with and displaying the New England Silver Rose at various locations within the Fall River Diocese from October 11 through October 19.

“This is the sixth rose this year,” exTurn to page 18

NEWARK, N.J. — In a recent interview in the humble home of Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V. in Newark N.J., the man soon to become bishop of the Diocese of Fall River told The Anchor, “I always had an adventurous spirit.”

It was that spirit of adventure combined with a deep faith and devotion to Jesus Christ and His Church that led him from a simple village, Riachão do Jacuípe, Bahia, Brazil, where he was born in 1953, to the Diocese of Fall River where he will be installed as the diocese’s eighth bishop at St. Mary’s Cathedral on September 24.

The foundation of faith for Bishop da Cunha was first laid in that Brazilian village by his family. “I come from a large family,” he said. “I have 13 brothers and sisters. My family was very supportive.

“Where we lived, we didn’t live close by to a church, so we didn’t have Mass every Sunday. We had it when the priest came. But we had a strong faith life in the family and in the neighborhood. We prayed together and God was so important in the lives of the people in my home town.

It was very traditional values and faith that we received from our parents and grandparents that continues living on.

“The day the priest came everything stopped. Everyone went to church. It was a whole-day thing. It was so important to us when those days came, feasts, processions and the

feast of the patron of the town.”

Bishop da Cunha said that today many people are in a rush to get to church, and there are many churches available and Masses available and many don’t even make the effort to go.

“I look back and I treasure those days,” the bishop continued. “I don’t feel like, ‘Too bad we didn’t have this and we didn’t have that.’ I say thank God for what we had because they were simple things. We didn’t have all the comforts and luxuries that we have today. We had other very important values and I thank God for that.

The influence of the faith and support of my family was so important in my development.”

Another great influence in Bishop da Cunha’s life was the presence of the Vocationist Fathers. “I was baptized by the Vocationist Fathers,” he said. “In fact, the priest who baptized me came to my ordination as auxiliary bishop in Newark 11 years ago.

“I grew up under the influence and Spirit of the Vocationists, whose primary mission is to promote vocations.

The pastor of my parish built a vocationary (minor seminary) there. So I saw other young men join the seminary and heard them talking about the Vocationists promoting vocations.

I kept becoming more and more interested in the joy of the seminary.

“It’s funny because even before I joined the seminary, even before I told my pastor, he pulled me aside and said, ‘I think you’re going to be Turn to page 14

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News From the Vatican

September 12, 2014

Pope cites three lessons from Mary: Be joyful, help others, never give up

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When a mother has a birthday, children send their greetings and love, so make sure to do the same thing on the feast of the Nativity of Mary, Pope Francis said.

The Liturgical feast day September 8 “would be her birthday. And what do you do when your mom has a birthday? You send her greetings and best wishes,” the pope said, after praying the Angelus with people gathered in St. Peter’s Square September 7.

The pope asked people to say “a Hail Mary from the heart” and to not forget to tell her “Happy Birthday!”

Mary has three very important lessons for today’s Christians, the pope said in a written message to Cuban bishops marking September 8 as the feast of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, patroness of Cuba.

He said Mary teaches people to experience the joy of Christ and share it with others; to never let adversity beat you down; and always help those in need with love and mercy, he said.

The pope said people should imitate how Mary responded to God’s call with her same joy, haste and perseverance, the pope said.

“Every time I read Sacred Scripture, in the verses that talk about Our Lady, three verbs catch my attention,” the pope said.

The three kinds of action — be joyful, help without hesitation and persevere, should be “put into practice” by all Catholics, he added.

Whoever discovers Jesus will be “filled with an inner joy so great that nothing and no one

can take it away,” he said.

With Christ in their lives, people find the strength and hope “not to be sad and discouraged, thinking problems have no solution.”

For the second action, people should always rise “in haste,” just like Mary, to help others in need, he said.

“Victory is to those who repeatedly rise up, without getting discouraged. If we imitate Mary, we cannot sit with our arms crossed, just complaining or perhaps avoiding any effort so that others do what is our responsibility,” he said.

Making a difference and helping others does not have to be done on a grand scale, he said, but entails doing everyday things “with tenderness and mercy.”

“The third verb is to persevere,” the pope said.

Mary relied on God and His goodness for the strength and courage needed to stay by Christ’s side no matter what and to encourage His disciples to do the same.

“In this world in which long-lasting values are rejected and everything is changing, in which the disposable triumphs, in which it seems people are afraid of life’s commitments, the Virgin encourages us to be men and women who are constant in their good works, who keep their word, who are always faithful,” the pope said.

Cuban bishops visited the Vatican in late August for the installation of their gift, a replica of the statue of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, which was placed in the Vatican Gardens.

Retired Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone uses holy water to bless a statue of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, Cuba’s patroness, during its dedication in the Vatican Gardens Aug. 28. The original statue is housed in a shrine in the town of El Cobre, in the eastern province of Santiago, Cuba. The dedication was attended by several bishops from Cuba. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano)

Pope Francis welcomes former Israeli President Shimon Peres during their recent meeting at the Vatican. The former president asked Pope Francis to head a parallel United Nations called the “United Religions” to counter religious extremism. (CNS photo/ L‘Osservatore Romano via EPA)

Peres: Pope Francis is only leader respected enough to end today’s wars

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Former Israeli President Shimon Peres asked Pope Francis to head a parallel United Nations called the “United Religions” to counter religious extremism in the world today.

“In the past, most wars were motivated by the idea of nationhood. Today, however, wars are incited above all using religion as an excuse,” Peres told the Catholic magazine, Famiglia Cristiana, ahead of the recent papal meeting.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, confirmed that Peres, who ended his presidential term in July, had requested the meeting and told the pope about his idea.

The pope, however, did not commit himself to the proposal.

“The pope listened” to the idea just as he always does with any peace initiative, “showing his interest, his attention and encouragement,” Father Lombardi said.

But “the pope made no personal commitment” and reminded Peres that the Vatican has the Pontifical Councils for Interreligious Dialogue and for Justice and Peace — two offices “that are suitable” for supporting or following such initiatives, Father Lombardi said.

Pope Francis also met later in the day with Jordan’s Prince El Hassan bin Talal, who, for the past four decades, has worked to promote interfaith understanding and dialogue around the world.

Father Lombardi said that, during the 30-minute meeting, the prince talked about the latest activities and “pressing issues” of the various initiatives supported by his Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies.

Father Lombardi said the pope’s meeting with Peres lasted an unusually long 45 minutes, reflecting the pope’s “esteem and appreciation” for Peres, whom he earlier praised as a “man of peace.”

The main focus of their talk was Peres’ idea for a “United Religions” organization and did not touch on current “political issues in any depth” the Vatican spokesman said.

In an exclusive interview with Famiglia Cristiana, the 91-year-old former two-term prime minister of Israel said he wanted to establish an international body representing the world’s major religions, as a moral force able to intervene in conflicts.

Peres said Pope Francis would be the best person to head such a world body because “perhaps for the first time in history, the Holy Fa-

ther is a leader who’s respected, not just by a lot of people, but also by different religions and their representatives.”

“In fact, perhaps he is the only leader who is truly respected” in the world, said Peres, who was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1994 with Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Premier Yitzak Rabin.

Peres said the United Nations and its peacekeepers “do not have the force or the effectiveness of any one of the pope’s homilies, which can draw half a million people just in St. Peter’s Square alone.”

“So given that the United Nations has run its course, what we need is an organization of United Religions,” Peres said, as “the best way to counteract these terrorists who kill in the name of their faith.”

“What we need is an unquestionable moral authority who says out loud, ‘No. God doesn’t want this and doesn’t allow it,’” he said.

Prayer is also an important part of peacemaking, he said; people should not underestimate “the power of the human spirit.”

“We must not become cynical. The human being is much more than being made up of just flesh and blood,” he said.

September 12, 2014

The International Church

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Scottish archbishops urge Catholics to vote in independence referendum

Pro-Russian separatists stand guard at a checkpoint near Donetsk, Ukraine, recently. A Ukrainian Catholic Church leader urged Western governments to use “all available means” to curb Russian military interference. (CNS photo/ Maxim Shemetov, Reuters)

Ukrainian Church leader: West must help stop Russian interference

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) — A Ukrainian Church leader said Western governments need to use “all available means” to curb Russian military interference.

“Every right-thinking European should realize that what’s happening here has worldwide implications,” said Bishop Bohdan Dzyurakh, secretary-general of the Ukrainian Catholic Synod of Bishops.

“Besides raping all international law, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is also showing the kind of security the world can expect from a nuclear-armed Russia. He will go as far as he’s allowed to go.”

In a recent interview with Catholic News Service, Bishop Dzyurakh said Putin and Russia had “violated all norms of international security.” He said that, under a 1994 memorandum, Russian, U.S. and British leaders had promised to respect and refrain from using force against the “independence, sovereignty and existing borders” of Ukraine.

He said it was time the international community stopped “imagining it can talk to this aggressor and lead him to peace, and began using all available means to bar him.”

“Innocent civilians are dying here every day, and we still hope Western governments will take their obligations seriously, and go beyond merely expressing concern and displeasure,” he said.

The same day the bishop spoke, NATO leaders met in Wales and criticized Russia for further destabilizing Ukraine, where at least 2,600 people have died in fighting between government and rebel forces since April.

Bishop Dzyurakh said Catholic life was now “practically paralyzed” in rebel-controlled areas, where Church members were preoccupied “only with surviving the terrible conditions.”

He added that separatists in Donetsk had claimed to “have the addresses of all faithful and clergy” of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and said many Catholics had gone into hiding.

Church sources told CNS a Catholic convent belonging to the Immaculate Conception order had been seized by separatists in Donetsk, where Ukrainian Catholic Archbishop Stepan Meniok had also been thrown out of his residence.

They added that a local Catholic priest had been “imprisoned and tortured” by proRussian fighters, while another was being hunted because he backed the Kiev government.

Bishop Dzyurakh said he believed the separatist campaign in eastern Ukraine had been orchestrated from the start by Russia’s special services and now had to be backed with direct Russian intervention because of the success of Ukraine’s counter-insurgency.

He added that Putin claimed to be defending the “Russianspeaking civilian population” of eastern Ukraine, but had in reality destroyed it by wrecking the region’s infrastructure.

“This merely shows he isn’t concerned for the welfare of these people — only for his own neo-imperialist ambitions,” the bishop said.

“Unfortunately, the Western sanctions policy isn’t effective. As a Ukrainian citizen, I think other means must be used, not excluding military action, to stop this aggression, defend our nation and restore the international order Putin is destroying. By helping us in this way, the international community will be helping itself.”

Earlier, a bishop from Ukraine’s smaller Latin-rite Catholic Church told Vatican Radio that some of his Church’s members had been forced to flee rebel-held areas, making Catholic life impossible.

Poland’s Catholic bishops said they believed their country was now also threatened by events in neighboring Ukraine.

“These events violate the right of nations to choose their own path and are causing justified concern about our own homeland’s future,” the Polish diocesan bishops said in a recent statement marking 75 years since the outbreak of World War II. “We appeal for effective action to stop the tragedy of this war through peaceful means.”

MANCHESTER, England (CNS) — Scotland’s archbishops have encouraged Catholics to vote in the forthcoming referendum on independence — and to pay attention to the issue of religious freedom.

The September 18 ballot will decide whether Scotland will break away from union with England and Wales after more than 300 years.

Archbishops Philip Tartaglia of Glasgow and Leo Cushley of St. Andrews and Edinburgh recently issued pastoral messages to encourage Catholics to help to shape the outcome of the election.

They did not direct Catholics precisely how to vote but urged their participation and asked them to reflect on issues of concern when making their decision.

In his message, Archbishop Tartaglia, president of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, said the bishops were “deeply conscious of the importance of this referendum.”

“I encourage and urge all those eligible to vote to do so with complete freedom of choice and in accordance with their prayerful judgment of what is best for the future,” he said. “May God guide us and bless us in whatever choice we make in good conscience.”

In a longer pastoral letter, Archbishop Cushley asked the faithful to have religious freedom at the forefront of their concerns when considering how they should vote.

“We are called to promote peace, integral human development and authentic human rights, and to have a special care for the poorest and the weakest in society,” Archbishop Cushley said.

“We are also concerned for the rights of all people, to freedom of conscience and to the right to believe and to practice their faith,” he continued. “These freedoms are as important as they are fragile, as has been proven all too often, to the dismay and death of many millions.”

He added: “These freedoms are absolutely essential to a modern democratic society, and we should always be vigilant of those who would seek to limit them.”

The archbishop explained that the promotion of laws “which allow us to believe, teach and live our faith and morals is and will always be of concern to us, whether at the Scottish, U.K. or European levels.”

“So I encourage you, in the light of Catholic social teaching, carefully to consider the issues and to do your civic duty on the day itself,” he said.

The referendum was called by the Scottish National Party after it won Scottish parliamentary elections by a landslide in 2011.

The party has fought a long campaign for the repeal of the 1707 Act of Union that united Scotland to the rest of Britain.

On referendum day voters will be presented with the single question: “Should Scotland be an independent country?” to which they will be invited to answer either yes or no.

Opinion polls have repeatedly found that a small majority say they are in favor of Scotland remaining part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland, but support for independence appears to be increasing, and the narrowing margin is making the outcome of the vote uncertain.

Much of the public debate has so far focused on the issues of North Sea oil reserves, which nationalists say would make an independent Scotland a wealthy nation, and the continued use of the pound as currency.

Residents of Scotland who are at least 16 years old are eligible to vote, meaning that 400,000 non-Scots living in the country will have a say in the referendum while some 800,000 Scots living in England and Wales will not.

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September 12, 2014 The Church in the U.S. Courts strike down two same-sex marriage bans, but uphold another

WASHINGTON (CNS) — A federal judge upheld an amendment to Louisiana’s state constitution in early September that defined Marriage as the union of one man and one woman, but later that same week, a federal court struck down same-sex marriage bans in Wisconsin and Indiana.

In the Louisiana case, U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman said the state did not overstep its authority in adopting a constitutional amendment approved in 2004 by 78 percent of the voters that banned same-sex marriage.

It was the first such decision by a federal court since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act last year.

“The defendants (the state) maintain that Marriage is a legitimate concern of state law and policy, that it may be rightly regulated because of what for centuries has been understood to be its role,” Feldman wrote in his 32-page decision.

The plaintiffs were six same- by their biological parents,’” to only two people?’ Indeed, sex couples who had wed in Archbishop Cordileone said. all who work to promote and other states and wanted Loui- “The federal court affirmed defend Marriage should be ensiana to recognize their mar- that the voters of Louisiana couraged by this federal court riages. A seventh couple living who overwhelmingly chose to decision.”

But on September 4, a threein Louisiana sought the right define Marriage as the union to marry in the state. of one man and one woman in judge federal appeals courts in Feldman said for gays to their state constitution made a Chicago overturned same-sex have rights superior to the rational decision by embrac- marriage bans in Indiana and Wisconsin, calling the democratic process, they o court can change our bans unconstitutional. must constitute a proStates cannot justify Catholic teaching on tected class, and no court has bestowed that status Marriage and no one is suggest- gay marriage bans on the on them. “In light of still- ing that the ruling will have that grounds of the tradition of Marriage being for one binding precedent, this man and one woman, the court declines to fashion effect.

U.S. 7th Circuit court of a new suspect class. To do so would distort precedent and ing the definition of Marriage Appeals said.

“Tradition per se therefore demean the democratic pro- ‘that has endured in history cess,” he wrote. for thousands of years, and cannot be a lawful ground for Archbishop Salvatore J. prevails in a majority of states discrimination — regardless of the age of the tradition,” the Cordileone of San Francisco, today.’” chairman of the U.S. bishops’ He added, “Those who are court said, citing the “historiSubcommittee for the Promo- arguing to redefine Marriage cal realities” of “bad traditions” tion and Defense of Marriage, based upon the desires and in- as cannibalism, foot-binding lauded the decision in a recent terests of adults were present- and suttee — the practice of a statement. ed by this court with obvious widow immolating herself on “The federal court rightly questions raised by the logical her husband’s funeral pyre — declared that Louisiana’s Mar- consequences of their argu- as well as traditions that are riage laws ‘serve a central state ments to which they were un- neither good nor bad, such as interest of linking children able to give an answer, includ- Halloween trick-or-treating.

After separate courts in to an intact family formed ing: ‘Must Marriage be limited

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Wisconsin and Indiana overturned the same-sex marriage bans in their respective states in June, the cases were combined before the federal panel.

Noting that the ruling “follows the trend of similar decisions across the nation,” the Wisconsin Catholic Conference said in a recent statement, “These opinions focus on opposition and animus, rather than the state’s recognition of the nature of Marriage. We now await a determination by the U.S. Supreme Court on whether a state and its citizenry retain the power and right to define civil marriage.”

The statement added, “No court can change our Catholic teaching on Marriage and no one is suggesting that the ruling will have that effect.

Whatever the Supreme Court decides, the challenge for Catholics going forward is the same as it has always been, to witness our belief in Marriage and what it signifies in a way that invites others to share in our belief.”

Ice bucket challenge brings attention to Pro-Life research center

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Few people think of Iowa City, Iowa, as a hotbed of medical research. But in a roundabout way more Catholics are beginning to take notice of a Catholic, Pro-Life medical research center.

This summer’s ALS ice bucket challenge craze has netted nearly $100 million in donations for the ALS Association as celebrities and commoners alike are taking to social media, posting videos of themselves getting doused with ice-cold water (and sometimes ice cubes), and challenging four friends to do the same: Get an ice-cold soaking, make a donation, or both, all for the purpose of fighting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

But because the ALS As-

sociation has acknowledged conducting research using embryonic stem cells — a practice opposed by the Catholic Church, and one the association said is funded by one specific donor and is coming to an end — a few dioceses have recommended making donations instead to the John Paul II Medical Research Institute, which conducts ALS research without using such cells.

The institute focuses on developing core technologies that all diseases need, and doing this within a Pro-Life value system.

Compared to what the ALS Association is pulling in from the challenge, the institute’s income thus far has been, well, a drop in the bucket, but it represents a 100 percent increase in donations.

“Last year, we raised $170,000 of private donations, primarily through word of mouth, people we know.

Because we’re small, we don’t have an organizer for marketing, a professional fund-raising organization,” said Dr. Alan Moy, who co-founded the institute in 2006 with his wife Jeanne.

“In the last 10 days, we’ve received exposure and that’s doubled. That’s pretty significant,” Moy told recently Catholic News Service. “But compared to ALSA, that’s peanuts.”

The institute’s website says that it saves money by being in the Midwest as opposed to either of the two coasts, and it doesn’t pay huge salaries to its researchers. In all, according to Moy, there are 10 full- or parttime employees in all phases of the institute, including nonresearch tasks.

Moy said the findings of the research done by the institute would have applications for ALS as well as for cancer and other debilitating illnesses.

“Our model is what do we need to do that can reduce the time and money it costs to push a drug into a clinical trial,” he said.

At the institute, as at Catholic hospitals, “there’s a

lot of people who may not be Catholic and they may not be Pro-Life, but they have to recognize that the hospital isn’t going to do anything that’s opposed to Catholic teaching,” Mow explained. “They’re going to have to abide by certain Catholic principles. As long as they know that, I want them to work passionately, work hard, and know what the end game is. People are interested in making a difference.”

The institute takes credit for several accomplishments: helping facilitate the first commercial adult stem cells for medical research; helping facilitate achieving the world’s largest repository of adult stem cells; helping facilitate the development of induced pluripotent stem cells, which takes a patient’s cell and, through genetic manipulation, creates a stem cell that has all of the biological features of an embryonic stem cell but without the need to destroy embryos; creating technology to convert stem cells into neurological cells; creating a clinical infrastructure to recruit patients from private centers around the country with less red tape than found in academia and government.

Moy said many of the adult stem cells created at the insti-

tute have therapeutic potential for ALS. The institute, which partners with Mercy Hospital of Iowa City to gain access to patients, has a plan — contingent on continued increased donations — to “scale up” its activities, Moy said.

Elements of that plan include recruiting more ALS patients around the globe, collecting their clinical data, creating personalized stem cells from them, screening drugs on those ALS stem cells to find the best lead drug candidates for entering into clinical trials, manufacturing FDA-approved adult stem cells that could be approved for ALS clinical trials, and then participating in those trials.

Moy also hopes to double the institute’s staff.

“The ice-bucket challenge created an awareness among Pro-Life individuals about ALS and the supportive position of the ALS Association towards embryonic stem-cell research,” Moy said in a recent email to CNS. “With all of the attention given to this media phenomena, Pro-Life individuals just stumbled across the institute and decided to give us financial support to conduct research on ALS.”

The Church in the U.S. Archbishop Sheen’s sainthood cause suspended indefinitely

September 12, 2014

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The canonization cause of Archbishop Fulton Sheen has been suspended indefinitely, according to a statement issued recently by the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, where the archbishop was born.

The suspension was announced “with immense sadness,” the diocese said. “The process to verify a possible miracle attributed to Sheen had been going extremely well, and only awaited a vote of the cardinals and the approval of the Holy Father. There was every indication that a possible date for beatification in Peoria would have been scheduled for as early as the coming year.”

Archbishop Sheen, who gained fame in the 1950s with a prime-time television series called “Life Is Worth Living,” died in New York in 1979.

The diocesan statement said the Archdiocese of New York denied a request from Bishop Daniel R. Jenky of Peoria, president of the Archbishop Sheen Foundation, to move the archbishop’s body to Peoria.

Deacon Greg Kendra, in a recent posting on his blog, “The Deacon’s Bench,” said the reason for the request was for “official inspection and to take firstclass relics from the remains.”

A September 4 statement from Joseph Zwilling, commu-

nications director for the New York Archdiocese, said Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York “did express a hesitance in exhuming the body” absent a directive from the Vatican Congregation for Saints’ Causes and family approval. The statement added that Archbishop Sheen’s “closest surviving family members” asked that the archbishop’s wishes be respected and that he had “expressly stated his desire that his remains be buried in New York.”

Zwilling said Cardinal Dolan “does object to the dismemberment of the archbishop’s body,” but, were it to be exhumed, relics that might have been buried with Archbishop Sheen might be “reverently collected” and “shared generously” with the Peoria Diocese.

A subsequent statement from the Peoria Diocese said it had received a “shocking statement” June 27 from an attorney for the New York Archdiocese saying the archdiocese “would never allow the examination of the body, the securing of relics or the transfer of the body.”

The new statement said Bishop Jenky had been assured in 2002 by Cardinal Dolan’s predecessor, now-retired Cardinal Edward M. Egan, that New York had “no interest” in pursuing Archbishop Sheen’s sainthood cause. A 2005 re-

quest to transfer the body to Peoria received a response from the Vatican congregation that it was not yet an appropriate time.

“With this inquiry complete and a miracle being attributed to Sheen, now is an appropriate time,” the Peoria statement said.

It added, “Clearly Archbishop Sheen’s wishes for his final resting place could not have anticipated that he would go through a canonization process led by his native Diocese of Peoria, after it was turned down by the Archdiocese of New York.”

Peoria diocesan chancellor Patricia Gibson said in the statement, “After New York clearly turned down the cause, Peoria was happy to put forth the lengthy work and effort because of how much he is loved by the priests and lay faithful in this diocese.”

In a recent interview published by Crux, the Boston Globe’s Catholic news website, Cardinal Dolan said, “We’ve had some issues (with Peoria) over what to do with the remains of Archbishop Sheen and what relics we might be able to share, and I’m committed to doing whatever we can that’s consistent with Sheen’s own wishes, the wishes of his family, the instructions we get from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and New York

state law.”

If the Peoria Diocese’s decision is final to suspend Archbishop Sheen’s cause and to assign it to the Vatican congregation’s historical archives, Zwilling said, “the Archdiocese of New York would welcome the opportunity to assume responsibility for the cause in an attempt to move it forward.”

Cardinal Dolan told Crux, “I guess my next step is to write a formal letter to Bishop Jenky and the congregation, saying we’d be honored to take over the cause if that’s what seems best.”

“After further discussion with Rome, it was decided that the Sheen cause would now have to be relegated to the congregation’s historic archive,” the Peoria diocesan statement said.

Bonnie Engstrom, whose delivery of a stillborn baby in 2010 provided the basis for a possible miracle attributable to Archbishop Sheen, expressed sadness and confusion over the delay in the sainthood cause.

“We are very disappointed that the cause to canonize Venerable Fulton Sheen had to be closed, especially because it had been progressing so well,” she told the Catholic Herald, a British Catholic newspaper. “We are incredibly saddened and confused by the Archdiocese of New York’s decision to not co-

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operate with the Sheen Foundation on the cause. We trust in the goodness of God.” Engstrom’s son James had no recorded heartbeat for 61 minutes after delivery. Then, as doctors were about to pronounce the child dead, James’ heart started beating. He has defied doctors’ predictions that he would not survive, or that he would have severe physical and developmental limitations. In March, a seven-member team of medical experts convoked by the Vatican reported there is no natural explanation for the boy’s survival.

“Countless supporters especially from the local Church in Central Illinois have given their time, treasure and talent for this good work with the clear understanding that the body of Venerable Sheen would return to the diocese,” the Peoria statement said. “Bishop Jenky was personally assured on several occasions by the Archdiocese of New York that the transfer of the body would take place at the appropriate time. New York’s change of mind took place as the work on behalf of the cause had reached a significant stage.”

Archbishop Sheen, after his years in the TV limelight, retained a high profile by running the Society for the Propagation of the Faith out of New York City.

Diocese asks U.S. Supreme Court to hear case involving confessional seal

BATON ROUGE, La. (CNS) — The Diocese of Baton Rouge has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a Louisiana Supreme Court decision that a priest may be compelled to testify as to what he heard in the confessional in 2008 concerning an abuse case.

The legal step is the latest in a case involving Father Jeffrey Bayhi, pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in Zachary, La., and the Sanctity of the Seal of Confession.

The petition to the U.S. Supreme Court comes after a Louisiana Supreme Court ruling in May outlining arguments that priests are subject to mandatory reporting laws regarding abuse of minors if the person who made the Confession waives confidentiality. The state Supreme Court opened the door for a hearing in which the priest would testify about what he heard in the confessional.

Under canon law, the Seal of Confession is Sacred under the

penalty of excommunication.

In the case, a girl who was 14 in 2008 said she told her parish priest, Father Bayhi, in the confessional that she was abused by a now-dead lay member of the parish.

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

NOLA.com reported that the young woman was identified as Rebecca Mayeux, now 20, in an interview with WBRZ, a Baton Rouge television station.

She told the station that Father Bayhi told her to “take care of it” after she told him of the abuse when participating in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

In a documents filed with the U.S. Supreme Court August 21,

the diocese said the state Supreme Court ruling threatens “Church autonomy.”

The diocese cited case law from a court decision involving the Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese that found that “religious controversies are not the proper subject of civil court inquiry.”

The hearing proposed by Louisiana Supreme Court would violate the Church’s constitutional protection afforded by the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution to abide by its own laws, the diocese claimed.

In a recent statement, the diocese said the state Supreme Court’s decision “strikes a very hard blow against religious freedom, and one which the diocese and Father Bayhi feel compelled to vigorously contest.”

“The ruling, left undisturbed, would result in a trial during which the plaintiffs would be permitted to offer evidence regarding what transpired during a series of alleged Confessions

with Father Bayhi and the diocese utterly unable to defend themselves, unless Father Bayhi were to violate his vows to his Church by divulging whether or not Ms. (Rebecca) Mayeux obtained Confession, and, if such Confessions did take place, what was said.

“The Louisiana Supreme Court has directed the trial court to hold an evidentiary hearing

and then to take the unprecedented step of deciding whether or not a Sacrament actually took place. Such a trial is completely at odds with the guarantees of religious freedom enshrined in our federal and state constitutions, and the diocese and Father Bayhi will take every legal step available to ensure that those proceedings never occur,” the statement said.

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September 12, 2014

Anchor Editorial

St. John Chrysostom

Tomorrow (Saturday) the Church celebrates the feast of St. John Chrysostom.

Chrysostom was not his surname — it was a nickname given to him meaning “golden mouth,” due to the wisdom which came from his mouth. Pope Benedict, back in 2007, noted that this saint was also called “the almoner” (in more modern English, “the almsgiver” or “charitable giver”).

Pope Benedict, in that Sept. 26, 2007 general audience address, noted that this saint did not just urge giving material help to people (although Chrysostom insisted on this), he also said that society needed to be reformed. The saint, who was patriarch of Constantinople (this was before the split between Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy), believed that we were called to live out the Acts of the Apostles. Pope Benedict said that Chrysostom viewed the early Church, as detailed in Acts 4: 32-37, “as a pattern for society, developing a social ‘utopia’ (almost an ‘ideal city’). In fact, it was a question of giving the city a soul and a Christian face. In other words, Chrysostom realized that it is not enough to give alms, to help the poor sporadically, but it is necessary to create a new structure, a new model of society; a model based on the outlook of the New Testament.

It was this new society that was revealed in the newborn Church. John Chrysostom thus truly became one of the great Fathers of the Church’s social doctrine: the old idea of the Greek ‘polis’ gave way to the new idea of a city inspired by Christian faith.”

It is interesting what Chrysostom perceived here — something which many brilliant minds cannot grasp today. They can laud Socrates, Plato or Aristotle, but they think of Christianity as bringing some type of stifling darkness to our world. They do not realize that the Church brought more respect for human dignity to our world than did the ancient philosophers.

Pope Benedict continued, “With Paul (cf. 1 Cor 8: 11), Chrysostom upheld the primacy of the individual Christian, of the person as such, even of the slave and the poor person. His project thus corrected the traditional Greek vision of the ‘polis,’ the city in which large sectors of the population had no access to the rights of citizenship while in the Christian city all are brothers and sisters with equal rights. So it was that a society built on the Christian conscience came into being with Chrysostom. And he tells us that our ‘polis’ [city] is another, ‘our commonwealth is in Heaven’ (Phil 3: 20) and our homeland, even on this earth, makes us all equal, brothers and sisters, and binds us to solidarity.” A great message to remember — each and every day!

In his apostolic exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”), Pope Francis quoted Chrysostom in a section entitled “No to a financial system which rules rather than serves.” At #57 in the exhortation, the Holy Father quoted the saint, “Not to share one’s wealth with the poor is to steal from them and to take away their livelihood.

It is not our own goods which we hold, but theirs” (Pope Francis also read that quote to a group of new ambassadors to the Vatican on May 16, 2013).

Among his many writings, a homily on the Gospel of Matthew is often quoted.

Chrysostom asks us, “Do you want to honor Christ’s Body? Then do not scorn Him in His nakedness, nor honor Him here in church with silken garments while neglecting Him outside where He is cold and naked.” The saint draws a parallel between the Eucharist and care for the poor. “For He who said, ‘This is My Body,’ and made It so by His words, also said, ‘You saw Me hungry and did not feed Me,’ and ‘inasmuch as you did not do it for one of these, you did not do it for Me.’” He continued, “Let us learn to honor Christ as He desires. For a person being honored finds greatest pleasure in the honor he desires, not in the honor we think best.” In other words, we need to be guided by God, not by our own plans, so as to give God the honor God wants, not the honors we want to give Him. “Peter thought he was honoring Christ when he refused to let Him wash his feet; but what Peter wanted was not truly an honor, quite the opposite! Give Him the honor prescribed in His law by giving your riches to the poor. For God does not want golden vessels by golden hearts,” said golden mouth.

Our duty to help our neighbor in need and to reform society is a very serious one.

Chrysostom wrote, “For those who neglect their neighbor a hell awaits with an inextinguishable fire and torment in the company of the demons. Do not, therefore, adorn the church and ignore your afflicted brother, for he is the most precious temple of all.”

Chrysostom’s belief in the dignity of the poor as a presence of Christ was rooted in his belief in the true Resurrection of Jesus’ Body. In a homily which he wrote on First Corinthians the saint shows how simple people know better than the worldly wise. “It was clear through unlearned men that the cross was persuasive, in fact, it persuaded the whole world. Its enemies lost out and perished; the living who waged war on a dead man proved helpless. The good deeds which tax collectors and fishermen were able to accomplish by God’s grace, the philosophers, the rulers, the countless multitudes cannot even imagine. That the preaching of these men was indeed Divine is brought home to us — for how otherwise could 12 uneducated men, who lived on lakes and rivers and wastelands, get the idea for such an immense enterprise? How could men who perhaps had never been in a city or a public square think of setting out to do battle with the whole world? How then account for the fact that these men, who in Christ’s lifetime did not stand up to the attacks of the Jews, set forth to do battle with the whole world once Christ was dead — if, as you claim, Christ did not rise and speak to them and rouse their courage? Did they perhaps say to themselves, ‘What is this? He could not help Himself when He was alive, but now that He is dead He will extend a helping hand to us?’”

The saint concludes, “Would it not be wholly irrational even to think such thoughts, much less act on them? It is evident, then, that if they had not seen Him risen and had proof of His power, they would not have risked so much.” May our faith in the Risen Christ help us to risk much, trusting that the reward will be great.

Pope Francis’ Angelus address of September 7 Dear brothers and sisters, good day!

The Gospel of this Sunday, taken from the 18th chapter of Matthew, presents the theme of fraternal correction in the community of believers. Jesus teaches us that if my brother sins against me, I have to use charity towards him and, first of all, talk to him personally, explaining that what he has said or done is not good.

And if the brother does not listen to me? Jesus suggests a progressive

intervention: first, go back with two or three other people to make him more aware of the mistake he has made. If, despite this, he does not accept the exhortation, I need to tell the community. And if he won’t even listen to the community, I need to make him feel the fracture and detachment that he himself has caused, by failing in communion with our brothers and sisters in the faith.

The stages of this route show the effort the Lord asks of His OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER

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community to accompany those who make mistakes, so they are not lost. It is first necessary to avoid the clamor of news and the gossip of the community: “Go and admonish, you and him alone” (verse. 15). An attitude of gentleness, prudence, humility, and attention against those who have committed a crime, avoiding that words can hurt and kill the brother. Because, you know, eh?

Even words kill! When I make an unfair criticism, when I “curse” a brother with my tongue, this is killing the reputation of the other!

Even words kill! Let’s be serious about this. At the same time this discretion has the purpose of not unnecessarily mortifying the sinner. The two have a talk, no one notices and it’s all over. It is in light of this need, which also includes this series of interventions, which includes involving some witnesses and then even the community. The goal is to help the person realize what he has done, and that with his sin, he has offended not just one, but all. But it also helps us — us — to free our-

selves from anger or resentment which only hurt: that bitterness of the heart that brings anger and resentment, and that lead us to insult and attack. But it is very bad to see this come out of the mouth of a Christian as an insult or an attack! It’s bad! Got it? No insults!

Insulting is not Christian!

In fact, before God we are all sinners in need of forgiveness.

Everyone! In fact, Jesus told us not to judge. Fraternal correction is a matter of love and communion that must prevail in the Christian community, it is a reciprocal service that we can and must render for one another.

And it is possible and effective only if everyone is a sinner and in need of forgiveness of the Lord.

The same conscience that makes me recognize the mistake of the other, beforehand reminds me that I have erred and wronged so many times.

For this reason, at the beginning of the Mass, every time we are asked to recognize that we are sinners before the Lord, expressing with words and gestures sin-

cere repentance of the heart. And we say: “Have mercy on me, Lord.

I am a sinner! I confess, Almighty God, my sins.” We don’t say: “Oh Lord, have mercy on this person next to me or those that are sinners.” No! “Have mercy on me!”

All are sinners and in need of the Lord’s forgiveness. It is the Holy Spirit Who speaks to our spirit and makes us recognize our faults in the light of the Word of Jesus.

And it is the same Jesus Who invites us all, saints and sinners, to His table by gathering us on the main crossroads, the various situations of life (cf. Mt 22.9 to 10).

And among the conditions that are common to those participating in the celebration of the Eucharist, two are fundamental: we are all sinners and God gives everyone His mercy. We must always remember this before going to the brother to offer fraternal correction.

We ask all of this through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, noting that tomorrow we will celebrate the Liturgical feast of her Nativity.

Anchor Columnist The sad and scandalous controversy over Sheen’s beatification

September 12, 2014

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uring my time in college and seminary, I developed a great devotion to Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. I would regularly listen to recordings of his innumerable retreat conferences, Good Friday meditations and catechetical instructions on my “Walkman” while exercising or in my car on frequent long drives. I read many of his 69 books and purchased and repeatedly watched his “Life is Worth Living” videos.

I was transfixed by his brilliant insights into the Gospel as well as the passion with which he communicated them. He greatly influenced the way I grew to understand, pray and preach the Scriptures. His thoughts on the priesthood — especially his sense that with Christ every priest must be a priest-victim; his notion that a priest needs to have one foot in the fonts of the faith and another in the daily newspaper; his insistence that priests make a daily Eucharistic holy hour; and his love of the Blessed Mother shown above all through celebrating a votive Mass each Saturday in her honor — all became parts of my priestly DNA. My devotion to him has just kept growing over the years.

Whenever I’m in Manhattan, I visit St. Patrick’s Cathedral in order, above all, to pray at or near his tomb. When I was

preaching a parish mission in nified attempt to foment public, the Diocese of Peoria, Ill., a few political pressure on New York years ago, I made a pilgrimage to force New York to acquiesce to his birthplace in El Paso, to Peoria’s 12-year effort to get to the Cathedral of St. Mary Sheen’s body returned to his where he used to serve Mass native place. Because New York and where he was ordained has not agreed to transfer his a priest, and to the excellent remains, Peoria would unilatermuseum set up to honor him ally shut down the cause for within the diocese’s Spaulding canonization.

Center. It was there that I picked up a holy card with a prayer for his canonization Putting Into that I’ve been praying the Deep almost every day since.

That’s why last

By Father Wednesday’s decision Roger J. Landry of the Diocese of Peoria to suspend his cause for canonization when everything seemed ready for his This shows, lamentably, that beatification as early as next year Peoria cares less about Sheen’s flummoxed me. And the reason beatification than it does in havgiven and the way it was done ing his corpus be the centerpiece saddened me immensely. of a national shrine it’s seeking The Diocese of Peoria put to build. out a press release trying to Peoria halted the process for blame the Archdiocese of New the same reasons once before York for the suspension of the in November 2010, but three process, saying that New York months later resumed it because refused to agree to transfer its attempts to shame New York Sheen’s body to Peoria so that into capitulation failed. the body could be examined What should Catholics think and relics taken as part of the about this controversy? We can normal procedure for beatificabegin with some relevant facts. tion. But those protocols can First, because Sheen died be fulfilled anywhere, including and was buried, at his express where Sheen’s tomb is in New request, in New York, New York York. had the right to be in charge of Peoria’s release was an undig- his cause, but formally declined

to lead it in 2002 for various reasons. Peoria agreed to take responsibility. Since then Peoria has expended much effort and money pushing forward the case and we wouldn’t be where we are without Peoria’s diligence.

Second, Peoria Bishop Daniel Jenky and New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan have great devotions to Sheen and obvious reasons for wanting Sheen’s principal relics in their diocese as a center of veneration.

Third, the most appropriate place for Sheen to have been buried would have been in Rochester, N.Y., where he had been the diocesan bishop, but in his will he wanted to be buried in New York City. That doesn’t necessarily have to be the final and only word, but it is highly significant.

Fourth, Bishop Jenky says that former Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Edward Egan, had in 2002 and 2004 agreed to translate Sheen’s body to Peoria and that Peoria is just trying to get New York to fulfill its promise. We have not heard from Cardinal Egan as to whether this was a misperception, whether he said it and later changed his mind, or whether he recognized that it is not his sole decision, but one that also

His siblings would take his head in their hands and follow the jet’s trajectory.

“But I had shadow vision and couldn’t see it,” he said. “I saw specialists from all over, and everyone said there was nothing they could do.”

It was late August 1954, and plans were underway for his enrollment at Perkins School for the Blind in Boston, 500 miles away from his home and family in northern Maine. His younger sister had the flu, and the doctor was there on a house call.

“I see an airplane. I can see one now,” he told them. But no one believed him.

His mother asked him to point, and he did. She began to cry.

Their family doctor witnessed the miracle.

“I don’t know what to say,” said the doctor. “We don’t even know how he’s alive.”

“We’ve got a God Who loves us,” his folks told him.

Instead of going to a school

for the blind, he re-enrolled in public school.

“I went through all of my schooling competing with my friends,” he said. “I read my books one single letter at a time.

Instead of 180-degree span of vision, I had two or three degrees of central focus — tunnel vision.”

Since he didn’t read fast enough, he started memorizing as he read.

“That’s how I got through school,” he said.

The nuns came every Saturday morning to his parish to teach the children. In the fifth grade he memorized the “Baltimore Catechism” from cover to cover. At the end of the school year, they had a catechism contest similar to a spelling bee.

“I beat everybody,” he said.

“How come you’re not an altar server?” asked his parish priest.

“My blindness,” he answered.

“If you can memorize the entire ‘Catechism,’ you can be an altar server,” the priest said.

7

legally involves the members of Sheen’s family. Regardless, we’re dealing with what would have been a gift of New York — a gift that Peoria would obviously be sad to lose — but not a “right” of Peoria to Sheen’s body.

Fifth, the process of beatification, technically, could continue without the examination of the body and acquisition of relics. An examination is needed simply to identify the remains — something that’s clear in Sheen’s case — and second-class relics (what someone used, like clothing) suffice for a beatification ceremony. But first-class relics (parts of the body, hair, nails) are preferred Liturgically and devotionally.

New York has been giving Peoria a hard time about the relics, probably because Peoria has been giving New York a hard time about the translation of the body. Peoria says that New York’s lawyer sent a letter in June saying it would never allow the examination of the body, the securing of relics or the transfer of the body. New York, however, in a press release on Friday went on record saying it would allow the examination of the body and the securing of relics provided that it would not involve the dismemberment of Sheen’s body.

What’s the path forward? I Turn to page 13

Blind faith:The miraculous ministry of Father Patrick Martin

By Linda Andrade Rodrigues Anchor Correspondent

ASSONET — Carrying a cane and guided by Father Michael Racine and Deacon Paul Levesque, Father Patrick Martin walked gingerly to the lectern during the 7 a.m. Mass at St. Bernard Church.

“My vocation came when I was 10 years old,” Father Martin told the congregation.

Born and raised in Maine, he was number 17 of 22 children.

There were no twins, and none were adopted.

“I had to be taken to the hospital to die on July 20, 1953,” he said. “There was no hope.”

He had contracted meningitis.

“If he doesn’t die today, he will die tonight,” the doctors told his parents.

They prayed to God to spare their child. Five months later he was discharged from the hospital.

“Your son is blind and crippled,” the doctors told them.

“He’ll never walk again, and he

can’t see two inches in front of his nose. What kind of life will he have? He’ll be nothing but a vegetable. Wouldn’t it be better that he had died?”

“My parents didn’t think so,” Father Martin said.

It was Christmas time, and his siblings were excited that their little brother was home again.

“I couldn’t walk so they decided to teach their little brother to walk,” he said.

The doctors said that he would never sit in a chair or stand.

“But kids don’t know what they can’t do,” said Father Martin. “All they know is love. We teach them the other stuff, and it’s sad.”

His brothers and sisters held him up as they passed him down the hallway — over and over again — and they taught their little brother to walk again.

The family lived three miles from Loring Air Force Base, where jets soared overhead.

“I don’t think he knew the hope he opened up in me,” he said. “Just maybe I can share God’s Word with the people, even with my blindness.”

Many years passed. A week before Father Martin’s ordination, his retreat director said, “If you could ask one thing from God, Patrick, what would that be?”

“I would ask Him for a picture,” he said. “I’d show everyone a picture. ‘Look! This is the God that loves you.’”

Every day he took a walk in a nearby park.

“I love to sing right out loud,” he said. “If you have a good voice, you sing as loud as you can. If you have a voice like mine, you sing to get even.”

But he stopped in his tracks.

He had stopped singing, yet the words kept coming. He returned to his room and wrote down six verses of a song. Then he made a tape recording so he wouldn’t forget the melody.

That night he played the Turn to page 10

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any of us remember exactly where we were that day when we heard the news of a plane hitting one of the World Trade Center towers. And then a second plane hit the other tower. Then the Pentagon.

Still another in a field.

And then the scenes we’ve seen over and over, but can barely comprehend, of one tower and then the other crumbling in a deadly inferno.

As we reeled in shock and outrage at the evil that could viciously slaughter innocent human life, we struggled with the reality of being a “victim” of terrorism on our own soil.

We felt smaller somehow in this new vulnerability. We had a taste of what so many people of the world know as a way of life.

But within hours we were filled with inspiration and pride as we heard stories of true heroism: firefighters rushing up the stairs to try to save more lives; thousands of

September 12, 2014

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross New Yorkers responding with These days we can find a an almost unbelievable spirit depiction of a cross almost of generosity and togetheranywhere — but it wasn’t ness; and the passengers who always so visible. took their plane down in a Although the first ChrisPennsylvania field to avert an tians spoke of the cross as the even greater tragedy. instrument of Salvation, it Most of all, we were inspired and proud because these acts for Homily of the Week the common good The Exaltation of seemed so spontaneous the Holy Cross and automatic — so genuinely part of an

By Deacon Arthur American character we L. LaChance Jr. had lost sight of.

And we seemed to turn to God, at a new level, seldom appeared in Christian in ways that were somehow art. To the eyes of these first more “acceptable.” believers, it had no beauty.

Two images from the same It stood outside too many event: the world at its worst city walls — decorated only — our nation at its best. And, with decaying corpses — as a while we would gladly forgo threat to anyone who defied the horror, death, and deRome’s authority. struction of that day, we hold Under those circumstances dear the reminders of who we it’s easy to understand why are and what we are capable they would not choose it to of. be a symbol to display their This Sunday, the Church faith. celebrates the feast of the And yet when we look Exaltation of the Holy Cross. beyond its intended purpose

the cross holds our key to a deeper understanding of God. In a statement rich with profound meaning, Jesus tells Nicodemus in our Gospel reading that: “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son” ( Jn 3:16).

He is saying that His coming into the world and everything about His life here on earth reveals the love of God for us. It is a love that is not merited on our part. Yet God gives us His love freely and without reservation.

The words of St. Paul in the second Scripture reading are equally powerful. He tells his readers from Phillippi that Christ Jesus is really and truly God. Yet Jesus cooperated with the plan of God by coming among us as Man. St. Paul says it very well: “He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.”

These readings then focus our attention on the cross as

an instrument of our Salvation.

One event — two enduring images. Humanity at its worst. Divinity at its best.

The cross, an instrument of extreme cruelty and disgrace, has become God’s instrument of triumph and glory.

Because of Jesus’ submission to the will of the Father, even to the point of death, He has won the victory of all victories. His death put an end to death. His suffering has dispelled our darkness.

By Jesus’ victory, God’s plan is accomplished. Jesus’ last words from the cross — “It is finished” ( Jn 19:30) — rang out as a proclamation that the old creation, grown weak and tired in sin, was ended.

A new creation in His risen life was about to begin, and we are all heirs of that new creation — the people He won through His death on the cross.

Deacon LaChance currently serves at Corpus Christi Parish in East Sandwich.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Sept. 13, 1 Cor 10:14-22; Ps 116:12-13,17-18; Lk 6:43-49. Sun. Sept. 14, The Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Nm 21:4b-9; Ps 78:1b-2,34-38; Phil 2:6-11; Jn 3:13-17. Mon. Sept. 15, 1 Cor 11:17-26,33; Ps 40:7-10,17; Jn 19:25-27 or Lk 2:33-35. Tues. Sept. 16, 1 Cor 12:12-14,27-31a; Ps 100:1b-5; Lk 7:11-17. Wed. Sept. 17, 1 Cor 12:31—13:13; Ps 33:2-5,12,22; Lk 7:31-35. Thurs. Sept. 18, 1 Cor 15:1-11; Ps 118:1b-2,16-17,28; Lk 7:36-50.

Fri. Sept. 19, 1 Cor 15:12-20; Ps 17:1b-d,6-7,8b,15; Lk 8:1-3.

Recognizing American saints

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ost attention-paying U.S. Catholics are aware of the beatification causes for Father Patrick Peyton and Catholic Worker co-foundress Dorothy Day. Five more causes, currently in the works, illustrate the rich diversity of American Catholicism and the extraordinary ways in which the Holy Spirit enlivens “heroic virtue”— the mark of a saint.

The Servant of God Vincent Capodanno, M.M., was born on Staten Island and ordained for Maryknoll in 1957. After seven years of missionary service in Taiwan, he volunteered for the Navy Chaplain Corps and was posted to the 1st Marine Division in Vietnam in 1966. During a battle in the Que Son valley in September 1967, Father Capodanno, already wounded while administering the last rites to the dying, tried to save a wounded corpsman who had fallen near a North Vietnamese machine gun. The “Grunt Padre” was killed in the midst of his act of mercy and posthumously

The Servant of God Walter awarded the Congressional Ciszek, S.J., a Polish-AmeriMedal of Honor. can, was something of a hellion Venerable Solanus Casey, when he was growing up in O.F.M. Cap., entered the diocesan seminary in Milwau- a Pennsylvania coal-mining kee in 1891 and was dismissed town in the early 20th century.

So he surprised everyone when on grounds of academic incapacity in 1896. On Christmas Eve of that year, he entered the Capuchin monastery in Detroit, where he again encountered difficulties with the

By George Weigel pre-ordination course of studies. Recognizing his impressive Spiritual and moral qualities, his superi- he entered the Jesuit novitiate ors permitted his ordination in in 1928; a year later, he volunteered to go to Soviet Russia as 1904, but he was not granted a missionary, inspired by Pius faculties for preaching or XI’s efforts to rekindle Cathohearing Confessions. Despite lic life in the Stalinist USSR. the limitations placed on his Trained at Rome’s Russicum ministry, he became a beloved and ordained in 1937, Ciszek Spiritual director and counmade his way to the Urals in selor, and the vehicle of many the chaotic early days of World cures, physical and Spiritual, during 53 years of priestly ser- War II, where he worked as a vice in New York, Detroit, and logger while conducting an unHuntington, Ind. His example derground ministry. Arrested by the Soviet secret police and is one of the inspirations of charged with being a Vatican the Franciscan Friars of the spy, Ciszek spent almost 23 Renewal.

The Catholic Difference

years in captivity, including hard time in the Gulag.

Swapped for two Soviet agents in 1963, he spent the last two decades of his life in New York, giving Spiritual direction and writing two books of memoirs, before dying in 1984.

The Servant of God Augustus Tolton was born into slavery in 1854, his master’s wife standing as godmother at his Baptism in Brush Creek, Mo. After the Civil War, Tolton began his education at a parochial school in Quincy, Ill., over the objections of racially prejudiced parishioners. Despite the support of his pastor, Tolton was denied admission by the American seminaries of the day and eventually completed his studies for the priesthood at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome. Ordained in 1886, he imagined he would serve in the African missions, but was instead sent back to Quincy, where his ministry met with considerable resistance

from bigots. Transferred to Chicago, he built St. Monica’s at 36th and Dearborn into a thriving African-American parish before dying of heatstroke in 1897 on his way to visiting the sick.

And then there is the Servant of God Francis X. Ford, M.M., about whom I’ve written before. A Brooklyn native and Maryknoll’s first seminarian, Ford was ordained in 1917 and immediately went to China where, after serving as priest and later bishop for more than three decades, he died in a communist prison on Feb. 21, 1952; his remains were scattered by his persecutors lest his tomb become a pilgrimage site for Chinese Catholics.

As there is no question that Bishop Ford was martyred, one can only hope that Vatican nervousness about ruffling feathers in Beijing will subside so that Ford’s long-overdue beatification can be celebrated.

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

September 12, 2014

Tuesday 9 September 2014 — Homeport: Falmouth Harbor — night of the Full Harvest Moon here’s a certain ebb and flow to life on Cape Cod. Gone now are the bicyclists (mostly). During high season, there are literally hundreds of them. I’m amazed at how many different styles of bicycles I see peddling past the rectory. There are, of course, the standard bikes. These come in various sizes and colors, some with training wheels. There are also more exotic versions — the bicycles built for two, the adult tricycles with a fringe on top, the bicycles with a cart attached for small children. Many people in the hospitality industry here get to work on their bicycles.

Some attend Mass on their bikes, and some attend our daily 12-step meetings on bikes.

I installed a bicycle rack this summer for the convenience of the cyclists. There are also occasional skateboarders and in-line skaters. I have not yet seen a unicycle.

There are fewer pedestrians strolling Main Street. Like the bikes, they come in all shapes and sizes. The greyhounds have the habit of pausing for a mo-

T

H

appy September, friends! Can you believe it’s already that time, when school starts up and the shopping for notebooks and pencils commences? First-day-of-school pictures are taken and those lengthy lists of classroom needs surface among a new backpack full of permission slips and such.

The nostalgia hit me pretty hard these past few weeks, as I myself began a new academic journey: graduate school. Standing in the aisle of Walmart, debating if I should get solidcolored or patterned-covered notebooks, I felt almost like a child again. Ironic, considering this will be the most adult degree I will be working to earn to date. But leave it to notebooks to put me back in my place.

That being said, I began my program in College Student Personnel Administration at James Madison University nearly four weeks ago. I moved down to Virginia, started my assistantship in Academic Student Services working with and for students who are in academic probation/suspension status, and unbelievably, I just completed my second week of classes. Time truly is flying. In that time the

Anchor Columnists The tide goes out ment or two, always at a certain while, but these are uncommon.

Cape Codders know that if you place on the front lawn. The want to see autumn color, you dogs are very curious about all go to the bogs. Cranberry bogs this activity on the streets and turn a lovely shade of garnet sidewalks. in the fall. It’s certainly not as Automobile traffic has also dramatic as New Hampshire subsided. It’s very obvious the or Vermont in the autumn, but day after Labor Day. This is the time of year for the tour busses. My guess is that the tour comThe Ship’s Log panies wait until the Reflections of a streets are quieter before Parish Priest attempting to navigate their behemoth busBy Father Tim ses through our narrow Goldrick Cape Cod byways. The weather is still fine and the off-season rates are in effect the bogs have their own subtle charm. as an added incentive.

The bogs stay in their No “leaf-peepers” come to autumn mode much longer Cape Cod to admire the fall than the flaming maples of the foliage. There isn’t any foliage North Country. You have more to see. The scrub pines pretty much stay the same year-round, time to admire them. In New Hampshire and Vermont, your perhaps a bit browner in the leaf-peeping must be timed fall and winter. The leaves of as precisely as a rocket launch. the scrub oaks just turn brown.

One overnight windstorm and Some of the leaves fall to the the leaves are gone. ground but some simple stay Fall on Cape Cod brings on the tree. I read somewhere that oaks have characteristics of other changes as well. The evergreens and deciduous trees. rabbits are everywhere. They seem to have spent the summer Oaks are a transitional species. multiplying like — well, you You might come across a deep blackish-red scrub oak once in a know. I suppose they are now in

a frantic rush to put on weight before becoming less active during the winter months. Did you know that rabbits do not actually hibernate? They just slow down. Come to think of it, slowing down is something we humans might also take into consideration as the nights grow longer.

The Canada geese appear overhead as they make their way south for the winter.

I hear them honking in the night. I would guess that the Cape is a fly zone for them. I heard someplace that in the classic wedge formation, the leader has to fight the air currents more than the others in the flock. The lead goose consequently tires out before the others. When the leader becomes too tired to carry on, they say, another goose will come up from behind to take the lead position. They rotate.

This may be just another urban legend, but, true or not, it conveys a helpful message.

In a many parish communities, lay leaders tend to stay on even after they run out to steam. This they do out of the

9 goodness of their hearts and also “because who else is going to do the job?” This is good for neither the lay leader nor the community itself. Maybe there should be clearly defined term limits in all volunteer ministries — even as short as two or three years, renewable. Perhaps all a lay leader needs as a shot in the arm is to become involved in an exciting new ministry.

Or maybe the leader just needs a break. In the end, I believe people should be allowed to retire gracefully and with sincere thanks.

When the lay leaders are the same year after year, the clear message (intentional or not) is “Our church can manage just fine without your help, thank you very much.” The de facto title of “President for Life” sends the wrong message to would-be volunteers.

Maybe the geese are on to something in sharing leadership. After all, the tide comes in and the tide goes out. Otherwise Falmouth Harbor would stagnate — as would a parish community.

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

There is always another plan opportunities have already been countless and my gratefulness is evident in the way I look at campus as I walk around in awe: my eyes are wide and I still can’t believe I’ve been given this opportunity.

It’s especially meaningful because for some time now, JMU has been a beacon on my radar, the perpetual blip of academia that never fades or falters for just one second. Having my godmother as a staff member at JMU has aided in that, and for many years I have been exposed to the campus, driving through it, walking around it, and gazing at how the institution seems to captivate its surrounding town of Harrisonburg. But JMU was just too big for me when I looked at undergraduate schools. I loved my time at Bishop Stang High School and was looking, in a way, to replicate that experience.

So I looked at small, private/ Catholic, schools with a similarity in mission and a broad range of degree offerings. Ultimately, I settled on Stonehill College, and though I enjoyed my time there, I was a nontraditional student in

many respects.

That stereotypical image of college was just not something I found college to actually be and around graduation time I decided that I wanted to work in student affairs and make a difference in the area that I did connect with at Stonehill.

Though I tried to find work

Radiate Your Faith

By Renee Bernier first, the job market is ever-so stingy, and after about a yearand-a-half of working part-time outside of that field and many informational interviews, I found myself filling out graduate school applications and saying a silent prayer that this was what I was supposed to be doing.

In the spring I received acceptance letters from JMU and URI, and with JMU’s program including a guaranteed two years of assistantships the choice was obvious and humbling. They liked me, they really liked me!

Excited and apprehensive, I

began working at the end of August and felt I was in that weird place of limbo. There were no students on campus yet, my classes hadn’t begun, and I began to question what things would be like when the normality of campus life started back up. I’ve not been known to be the greatest transition-er, so there were quiet moments of panic as I booted up my computer in the morning and long walks through the neighborhood where I thought hard about what it meant to be a graduate student. But things did begin, as they inevitably do, and there I was not panicking so much anymore.

I have a great cohort of people that I am learning alongside, our discussions in class are great, and I feel as if I’m finding out that my desire to be in higher education is exactly what I thought it was and exactly why I’m here. The days are long and there’s a lot of processing and reflection to be done in regards to course materials and experiences, but through that, I can’t forget something very important: Back when I was filling out those applications, I knew the

competition and that the reality of getting accepted into graduate programs comprised of cohorts of 12-17 students was going to be difficult. I also knew that if I didn’t get in, it was because that was part of someone else’s plan for me and not my own.

There are times when our plan makes the most sense and then it gets snatched away and we are rerouted. I knew that if I was rerouted, it would be because I had to be, because graduate school just wasn’t meant for me at that moment. At the end of the day, it was.

For a brief moment, my plan for myself and the plan that has been laid for me all along synced up. And as I walk through campus, gazing up at buildings I wasn’t sure I’d have the opportunity to stand among, I make sure I thank God for the opportunity that He provided. Because there will be days when my plans get derailed and I get detoured and I won’t know why. And in those moments I will remind myself that there is a purpose and there is always another plan.

Anchor columnist Renee Bernier is a graduate student at James Madison University.

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September 12, 2014

Blind faith: The miraculous ministry of Father Patrick Martin continued from page seven

song.

“My retreat director cried all the way through,” he said.

“Don’t you see, Patrick, what God did for you today?” the retreat director said. “You asked Him for a picture. Do you think God forgot that you are blind? God gave you an audio photo so that you can hear that He loves you.”

Father Martin began to sing and the congregation joined in: “He loves me! He loves me! /He loves me as I am,/Oh yes, He loves me!/Yes, He loved me yesterday,/And yes, He’ll love me still tomorrow,/For He loves me just today, the way I am! He loves me! He loves me!/ He loves me as I am/Oh yes, He loves me!/Finding me wherever

I am,/He gently guides me by the hand,/For He loves me as I am, oh, He loves me!/For He loves me as I am, oh, He loves me!”

Father Patrick A. Martin leads parish missions all over the world. To schedule a mission or retreat, contact Jim Oscar at frpat.missions@verizon.net or call 727-372-8690.

In an effort to foster deeper Spiritual development among students and staff, Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River has created a new Peer Ministry program for the upcoming school year. Peer ministers have been defined as strong Spiritual leaders who exhibit a consistent practice of prayer and who put their faith into action daily. Adult members of the Service and Leadership Team will be working closely with the peer ministers to meet the Spiritual needs of the school community. Through retreat programming, greater participation in Sacramental life, increased catechesis and other social justice initiatives, the peer ministers will help strengthen an evolving Campus Ministry program. Pictured are members of the Bishop Connolly Peer Ministry and SALT who recently attended a retreat to start the new school year.

Video tribute to Bishop Coleman on Anchor website

FALL RIVER — A 15-minute video tribute to Bishop George W. Coleman is now posted and viewable on the main page of The Anchor’s website.

Culled from file photographs and portraits from the official diocesan newspaper’s archives that had been taken over the past 50 years, the video was compiled and edited by Emilie M. Jolivet, who worked as a design intern with The Anchor during the summer.

In preparing for the August 29 special edition commemorating Bishop Coleman’s 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood and his 11 years of service to the diocese, Joliv-

et uncovered stacks of photos which had to be categorized and scanned, prompting the creation of the video.

Knowing Bishop Coleman’s affection and appreciation for classical music, the video is set to the second movement of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in D Major, Op. 123, titled “Gloria.”

The video tribute to Bishop George W. Coleman can be viewed on the main page of The Anchor’s website at www.anchornews.org.

Click on the “play” triangle icon in the lower left corner to begin viewing. Then click on the doublearrow icon in the lower right corner to watch it full-screen on your computer or device.

This is a screen capture from the new 15-minute video tribute to Bishop George W. Coleman that is now available on The Anchor’s website, anchornews.org.

September 12, 2014

11

NOW shipping!

Father Francis X. Wallace, a retired priest in residence at St. Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth, greets his new friend Kevin “Showboat” Jackson in the sacristy. Jackson, a professional athlete, plays with the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters. He was in town for a charity event. (Photo by Father Peter John Fournier)

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September 12, 2014

Sistine Chapel weathers fallout from ‘Francis effect’ on attendance VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The “Francis effect” has spilled over into the Sistine Chapel, bringing a surge in visitors but also increasing risks to maintenance of what Antonio Paolucci, director of the Vatican Museums, calls “the world’s chapel.”

Prior to a 14-year restoration, completed in 1994, visitors to the chapel numbered about 1.5 million annually. That rose to more than five million in 2011.

Since the March 2013 election of Pope Francis, whose weekly public audiences and praying of the Angelus have boosted turnout in St. Peter’s Square, the number of chapel visitors is up to 5.5 million, or 20,000 per day and 30,000 on the last Sunday of every month, when admission is free.

Every 20 minutes, a group of almost 700 people is let into the room, which measures less than 6,000 square feet.

So many visitors not only make the viewing experience less pleasant, they bring in perspiration and bacteria that threaten the survival of masterpieces by Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Pinturicchio, Perugino and, most famously, Michelangelo.

Recent accounts in the Italian press have complained that the chapel is “as crowded as a train station,” and warned that a “wall” of human breath threatens “unimaginable disaster” for the 12,000 square feet of painted surfaces. As one headline put it, “The enemy is you.” Paolucci himself wrote in the Vatican newspaper that the chapel “risks being a victim of its own success.”

The problems are aggravated by the late-15th-century chapel’s peculiar design, which resembles that of a fortress, possibly reflecting the defensive architecture of Avignon, France, during an earlier period of papal

exile there. The chapel has no exterior entrance, and is entered solely through the Apostolic Palace; its high windows are permanently closed and abut an interior balcony called, in medieval style, a “patrol corridor.”

All this keeps the exchange of air to a minimum, accentuating the effects of pollution, including wind-borne car exhaust and dust, and of exterior humidity and abrupt changes in temperature.

One obvious remedy would be to reduce the number of visitors, but Paolucci has vigorously opposed this, insisting the faithful have a right to see the room where cardinals have elected new popes for more than five centuries.

The present air-conditioning system, installed in the mid1990s, was designed for only half the current number of visitors, so the Vatican is installing a powerful new system slated to be operative in October.

That is not the only new technology being introduced to assist in conservation.

To reduce the risk of heat damage from illumination, the Vatican is installing an advanced LED lighting system that, according to its manufacturer, will also slash energy consumption by 60 to 80 percent. The previous halogen lamps, installed in the 1980s, used 90 percent of the energy for heat and only 10 percent for light.

LED illumination has its critics. Because each LED light must be color-adjusted for the surface upon which it is directed, colors can appear inconsistent.

Total cost for the 7,000 new LED lights and their installation was $2.5 million, almost half of it paid for by the European Union, the rest by private sponsors.

A video of the August 26 Mass of Thanksgiving honoring Bishop George W. Coleman is airing on several cable television public access channels in the Fall River Diocese.

As of press time, the announced schedule is as follows: — Bourne, cable channel 13, September 14 and 21 at 4 p.m. and 10 p.m.

— New Bedford, cable channel 95, September 17, 24 and October 1 at 2 p.m.

— Sandwich, cable channel 13, September 14 at noon and 10 p.m.; September 16 at 5 p.m.; September 18 at 8 a.m.; and September 20 at 4 p.m.

— Somerset, cable channel 9, September 14 and 21 at 11 a.m.; September 16 at 10 a.m.; and September 18 at 1 p.m.

— Taunton, Comcast channel 15 or Verizon channel 22, September 13 and 20 at 1 p.m.; September 14 and 21 at 7:20 p.m.; September 16 and 23 at 10 p.m.

Air dates and times for Bishop Coleman Thanksgiving Mass

Blake Rayne stars in a scene from the movie “The Identical.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/Katherine Bomboy Thornton, City of Peace Films)

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

“As Above, So Below” (Universal) Claustrophobic chiller in which two archaeologists (Perdita Weeks and Ben Feldman) who share an interest in the occult and a romantic history together search for the legendary, supposedly miraculous philosopher’s stone in the network of catacombs that lie beneath Paris. Despite the presence of a local expert on the tunnels (Francois Civil), the expedition goes badly wrong as the duo, the guide and the other participants (Edwin Hodge, Marion Lambert and Ali Marhyar) all begin to have hellish hallucinations. Director and co-writer John Erick Dowdle tries to create a sense of immediacy with a found-footage approach. But the initial promise of his alternate-history tale gets lost as quickly as his characters do, while gory images and an excess of hysteria-induced swearing set this off limits to most moviegoers. Intermittent bloody violence, a handful of profanities, pervasive rough and crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult

guardian.

“The Identical” (Freestyle) Evangelical Elvis fans seem to be the target audience for this reality-related drama in which Blake Rayne plays a Presley-like entertainer and his identical twin brother. Though the singer believes his sibling died in infancy (as Presley’s sadly did), in fact he was secretly given up for adoption by the duo’s impoverished parents (Brian Geraghty and Amanda Crew) and raised by a Protestant minister (Ray Liotta) and his wife (Ashley Judd). As the vocalist rockets to stardom, his obscure but equally talented lookalike defies dad’s plans for him to enter the ministry and instead pursues

a career impersonating his longlost counterpart under the moniker of the title. Wholesome and faith-friendly, director Dustin Marcellino’s film is a homespun piece of entertainment with a goodhearted but naive tone that will not be to the taste of city slickers. A single vague reference to the connection between romantic passion and the arrival of babies may debar those who are still members of the stork club. The Catholic News Service classification is A-I — general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, September 14, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Rodney E. Thibault, pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in South Dartmouth

September 12, 2014

13

Pope mourns murder of three missionary Sisters in Burundi

VATICAN CITY (CNS) had gone to the mission house — Pope Francis mourned the September 7 after he and Sister deaths of three Xaverian Mis- Boggiani had been unable to sionary Sisters of Mary, who reach Sisters Pulici and Raschiwere murdered in two separate etti by telephone all of that day. attacks in their residence in Bu“I was in front of the main rundi. door with the idea of forcing it Sister Lucia Pulici, 75, and open when it opened and I saw Sister Olga Raschietti, 82, Bernadetta there very upset. were found dead September 7 She had found a side service in their mission residence in entrance open and, once she the capital of Bujumbura. Sis- entered, found the lifeless bodter Bernadetta Bogianni, 79, ies of Sisters Olga and Lucia,” who had found the bodies, was he said.

Women in Rwanda tend a community garden with techniques taught by Catholic Relief Services. (Photo killed the next night.

They alerted government,

by Michelle Bauman/CNA) In telegrams sent to Arch- military, judicial and religious bishop Evariste Ngoyagoye authorities, the priest said, and of Bujumbura and Sister Ines an investigation was begun.

Frizza superior general of the Despite the murders, the Washington D.C. women are being helped around and Gynecologists, briefed the Xaverian Missionary Sister of Sisters decided to spend the (CNA/EWTN News) — Re- the world every day through U.N. Commissioner on HuMary, the pope expressed his night in their home. However, cent claims that the Catholic Church-run programs focusing man Rights on the risks of sadness concerning the “tragic they phoned Father Pulcini Church disregards women fail on maternal and child nutri- promoting abortion as part of deaths” of these “faithful and during the night of September to acknowledge the Church’s tion, girls’ education, and liveli- attempts to aid international devout nuns.”

8, afraid that “the aggressor was critical work to support women hoods for women, to name just development or address materThe messages, sent on behalf in the home.” When the priest and families around the world, a few.” CRS runs programs that nal mortality. of the pope by Cardinal Pi- arrived, he found Sister BogiThe provision of abortion in say leaders in medicine, aca- distribute food in times of need etro Parolin, Vatican secretary anni had been killed, too. demia and global relief work. and teach farming techniques developing countries, Harrison of state, said the pope hoped There was no word yet on “Anyone who thinks that the that aid with food production wrote, “increases, not decreases that “the blood they have shed possible suspects or motives of maternal mortality and morCatholic Church doesn’t sup- and nutrition. may become the seed of hope the killings. port women doesn’t know much The Catholic Church, she bidity in resource poor nations,” to build true fraternity between The three missionary Sisters about the Church, its mission continued, also provides pro- increasing the “risk of hemorpeoples.” had been working in Burundi, and its presence around the gramming, such as The Faithful rhage, infection and incomplete Xaverian Missionary Father helping the poor and the sick, world,” said Joan Rosenhauer, House in sub-Saharan Africa, abortion” in such areas.

Mario Pulcini, superior of the the past seven years, Vatican The promotion of abortion executive vice president of U.S. that helps strengthen famiXaverian Missionaries in Bu- Radio reported. Sister Bogianni Operations for Catholic Relief lies and relationships between as a development policy, she rundi, told MISNA, the mis- had been a superior of the conServices. spouses in order to help fami- continued, also diverts funds sionary news service, that he gregation for many years.

“Every day, the Catholic lies find their basis in loving, and attention from interventions that have been proven to community supports women respectful relationships.

Father Landry’s column with opportunities to strengthParticipants in the Faith- help reduce maternal mortality en their families, become better ful House, she said “report and increase overall health such continued from page seven educated, and build their eco- decreased alcohol use, better as “prenatal care, skilled birth think it involves three elements. York press release implies it will First, Peoria should acallow Peoria to leave with a few nomic and food security. Our management of household fi- attendants, antibiotics and oxyknowledge that New York isn’t strands of hair found in Sheen’s presence across the globe, in- nances, improved budgeting tocics.”

Helen Alvare, law professor going to permit the transfer of sarcophagus, clearly something cluding in some of the most re- and savings, and the ability to parsimonious after Peoria’s 12 mote places on earth, allows us pay for essential items such as at George Mason University Sheen’s body. Even if Peoria feels betrayed, it should reyears of hard and heroic work and consultor for the Pontifical to help many women the rest of school fees, household repairs, spond to the disappointment pushing Sheen’s cause. Even if the world has left behind,” she and transportation.” One par- Council for the Laity, called on New York is righteously intold CNA. ticipant comment that “by the critics of the Church’s repro- as Christians and stop wagdignant about Peoria’s public A recent “Poverty Matters” time our children have their ductive and sexual teachings ing battle politically through methods and importunity, conblog post in the British daily The own families, society will be to consider the importance of the media. It has three times sidering Peoria’s understandable Guardian criticized the Church better than it is now because these teachings in helping save publicly detracted the Archdiocese of New York and by disappointment in not receivas being anti-woman. Entitled children learn from watching the lives of the poor.

Abortion destroys lives, she implication its leaders. A good ing the body, New York should “Pope Francis has done little their parents in a loving and reat least allow it to return with told CNA, notably “millions end never justifies immoral to improve women’s lives,” the spectful relationship.” means.

Peoria’s method is major relics for its proposed blog post argued particularly The Church’s sexual teach- of children, and their mothers national shrine. against the Church’s stance on ings also help support women suffering the physical, psycho- a total departure from the Third, all those who love human sexuality. and families, Rosenhauer said. logical and Spiritual aftermath method of Sheen himself, Sheen and love the Church Rosenhauer pointed to sev- Catholic Relief Service’s work of a surgery unlike any other on who, even though everyone knew he had serious issues should pray through Sheen’s eral initiatives Catholic Relief to teach Natural Family Plan- earth.” intercession that the parties inThe Church’s teachings also with Cardinal Spellman of Services has started to help al- ning methods help “women volved will come to a fair accord leviate poverty, particularly for adopt life-affirming ways to help protect the most vulner- New York, remained silent, refusing to use his media quickly, that Peoria will resume able members of society — parwomen and their families. For space births in order to reduce prominence to embarrass the promotion of the cause, and that example, the Savings and In- the risk of the mothers dying ticularly women, children and all of us within a short period ternal Lending Communities during labor and improve the the poor — from “the sex and cardinal or undercut his auprogram has provided loans to chances that babies will be born mating markets that grow up thority. He knew that to do so of time may be able to celebrate the Mass of the first native-born when sex is divorced even from would result in a loss for the more than one million people healthy and thrive.”

Church and scandal for many. American bishop to be raised to — more than 80 percent of Other organizations cor- the idea of kids.” the altars.

The promotion of birth con- The diocese promoting his them women — to help start roborate the Church’s emphaAnchor columnist Father small family businesses or help sis on providing life-affirming trol and abortion in such schemas, cause would do well to follow Landry is pastor of St. Berwomen to become financially development policies. In 2009, Alvare noted, leads to an increase his example.

Second, New York should be nadette’s Parish in Fall River. independent.

Dr. Donna J. Harrison, presi- in the “rates of single moms and generous in cooperating with fatherlandry@catholicpreaching.

Additionally, Rosenhauer dent of the American Associa- rates of abortions,” as well as a dethe relic acquisition.

The New com. said, “thousands of girls and tion of Pro-Life Obstetricians cline in Marriage rates.

Church serves women ‘the rest of the world has left behind’

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September 12, 2014

Road to Fall River was led by spirit of faith, devotion, and adventure continued from page one

a priest.’ And I said, ‘Well I might but I think I have to think about it some more.’

Eventually I did decide that’s where I want to go and joined the vocationary there.”

While the young man was a student at the vocationary in Riachão do Jacuípe, the Vocationists’ Superior General visited. “He asked me, ‘Would you be interested in going to the United States?’”

The Vocationist Fathers had recently established a presence at St. Michael’s Parish in Newark, N.J. Because of the growing Hispanic community there, the archdiocese asked the Vocationists to take over St. Michael’s. “When they took over, they needed some new blood there,” said Bishop da Cunha.

“And I had always had an adventurous spirit and that kind of thing,” he continued.

“And I said to the Superior General, ‘You know what? I would like that.’ He told me if I was really serious about it, they would start planning on it.

“The night before I was to come to the United States, I couldn’t sleep very well. I realized it was going to be a big change for me. I was going to move out of my country and go to the U.S. The next morning the Superior General asked if I still wanted to go, and I said yes.”

Bishop da Cunha said he didn’t think he was going to stay there, but rather help out and learn a new language and get some valuable experience and bring those things back to Brazil with him. “But in the Superior General’s mind,

he said, ‘He’ll go and he’ll like it and he’ll stay,’” Bishop da Cunha said.

That was in 1978. Bishop da Cunha was ordained a Vocationist Father at St. Michael’s in 1982 and soon after was appointed vocation director. Less than four years later, he was named pastor of St. Nicholas Parish in Newark.

“Thirty-six years later I’m here and a bishop,” he said.

“It’s amazing when I think of it. How did all this happen?”

Besides his roles as pastor and vocation director, Bishop da Cunha’s experiences in the Archdiocese of Newark include vicar for evangelization and vicar general and auxiliary bishop. “The experiences I gained were pastoral and administrative,” he said. “You need to be able to strike a balance between the two. It is so important. Those two things coming together is not easy.

I had a tremendous opportunity for gaining experience in running a diocese. I feel this was preparing me to become Bishop of Fall River.

“Somehow I feel that God has given me those gifts. I’ve been able to put them into use in my life. I hope that I will be able to continue to be a good pastoral leader and a good administrator in the Diocese of Fall River.”

Bishop da Cunha told The Anchor that when he comes to the Diocese of Fall River he hopes to continue to stress the importance of vocations.

“I hope that I can encourage people to pray for vocations in general, in families,” the bishop said. “I hope to encourage young people to look at a

This week in

50 years ago — The Confraternity of Christian Doctrine offered courses in doctrine and methods for CCD teachers in the five deaneries of the diocese. The doctrine courses were given in the fall, and the methods courses in the spring. The eight-week doctrine course was conducted by the five area CCD directors, while the eight-week methods course was conducted by Sisters of five communities working in the diocese.

25 years ago — Bishop Daniel A. Cronin gathered with clergy and parishioners to celebrate the blessing of the newly-expanded St. Bernard Church in Assonet on the patronal feast day of the parish’s namesake.

religious vocation as a viable vocation in life; as something that is fulfilling, is joyful, is happy, and that priests are not unhappy miserable people. I want them to know priests are happy and fulfilled people.

“I want them to know there is more to life than just working, accumulating wealth — that you can be really happy and fulfilled doing God’s work with the Church, too.

“I hope we can bring that idea to parishes, families, schools, colleges and youth ministries. We must make priests and lay people all promoters of vocations, because if we don’t the Church won’t survive without priests, the Eucharist and the Sacraments. Encouraging vocations has to be a priority not just for me but for our priests and our lay people, and I’ll make sure that doesn’t get put on the back burner. It will be in the forefront of our work.”

When asked what he knows about the Diocese of Fall River, the bishop said, “Considering that I knew nothing when I got the call from the nuncio, I’ve come to know a considerable amount about the diocese through reading and talking to people.

I recently attended a retreat of bishops of New England and Archbishop (Daniel A.) Cronin was there. He told me a great deal about the diocese and he said he always loved it there.”

He said he’s been in contact with Fathers Michael McManus and Greg Mathias from the chancery and also Bishop George W. Coleman.

“And, I’ve been reading The

Diocesan history

10 years ago — The Education Department for the Diocese of Fall River began the school year by opening the new St. Pius X School in South Yarmouth. Patricia Marmen was appointed the principal of the new school.

One year ago — Candidates for the Permanent Diaconate attended a weeklong retreat at Sacred Hearts Retreat Center in Wareham led by Father Andrew Johnson. This was the final step before the 15 men were ordained as permanent deacons in October as part of the eighth class for the Permanent Diaconate in the diocese.

Anchor,” he added.

The bishop admitted his knowledge of the diocese was just “on the surface,” and when he finally arrives here he has much to learn.

“I need to know more about the priests, the people, the parishes,” he said. “I’m ready to go in with open ears and do a lot of listening.

“I want to hear, before anything else, I want to hear what the needs are; the hopes are; the gifts are, so that we can put those gifts and needs together and plan the work for the future.

“I think part of the reason I’m coming to the Diocese of Fall River is because of my work with a diversity of cultural settings. That’s why I think my whole life here in Newark, my experiences, I’m

confident, will be of use.

“I always tell people and I tell myself diversity is actually not a hindrance; it’s an asset.

It’s a gift. That’s what I’m hoping to convey. Let’s all use that in building up the Kingdom in the Diocese of Fall River with the gifts of priests, people and parishes.

“Those I’ve spoken with who have worked with or in the Diocese of Fall River say it’s a wonderful diocese and you’re going to do well.”

The Diocese of Fall River is a long way from Riachão do Jacuípe, Bahia, Brazil, and a change from Newark, N.J., but it seems that all roads travelled so far by Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha have prepared him for and led him to southeastern Massachusetts and the faithful who live here.

Pope: Christians’ only bragging rights are being a sinner, being saved

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis said Christians should boast about only two things: that they are sinners and they have been saved by Jesus Christ.

It’s useless to brag about formal education and degrees because they don’t have the power to transform people into credible Christian witnesses, the pope said; only a personal experience of God’s saving grace can do that.

In a recent homily, Pope Francis focused on the day’s readings. In the first, St. Paul warns about the vanity of those who are “wise” and how “the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God” (1 Cor 3:18-23). The Gospel reading tells of Simon Peter, the fisherman, who begged Jesus to “depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man” (Lk 5:1-11).

“Paul tells us that the power of the Word of God, the thing that transforms the heart, that changes the world, that gives us hope, that gives us life, doesn’t lie in human wisdom: It isn’t in speaking eloquently and in a beautiful discourse with human intelligence,” the pope said during an early morning Mass in the chapel of his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

“The power of the Word of God comes from the heart of the preacher” transformed by an encounter with Christ, the pope said, according to Vatican Radio.

The only way to be transformed, he said, is by recogniz-

ing one’s sins before God. “It is that encounter between my sins and the Blood of Christ that saves me,” he said.

That’s why Paul never boasted of his studies, the pope said; the Apostle only boasted of his weaknesses and sins, and of the cross of the Lord.

Peter, too, immediately recognized his sins after he encountered Jesus during a miraculous catch of fish. By seeing his own sins, Peter experienced the power of Christ, the pope said.

“If a Christian isn’t able to feel he’s a sinner and saved by the Blood of Christ — this crucifix — he is a Christian who’s gone just halfway, a lukewarm Christian,” he said. “And when we find churches in decline, parishes, institutions in decline, well, it’s certain the Christians there never encountered Jesus Christ or have forgotten about that encounter.”

“The strength of Christian life and the power of the Word of God lie exactly in that moment where I, a sinner, encounter Jesus Christ and that encounter turns my life upsidedown, changes my life. And it gives you the strength to proclaim this Salvation to others,” the pope said.

The pope ended his homily asking people to reflect on their ability to see themselves as sinners, “not in theory,” but by confessing “the concrete sin,” and to think about whether they really believe in Christ’s ability to redeem those sins and “give me a new life.”

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September 12, 2014 Alex can often be found in the field, doing work and meeting families to highlight their personal stories. “I was in Peru last summer and visited this sort of shanty town, and these are people who don’t have enough,” said Alex. “They don’t have enough to purchase a home or even rent an apartment. They build these small, little shanties on a big series of hills. You have to walk so high to get to the little home. There’s no plumbing so you have to walk pretty far to get to latrine or running water.

“I went to many homes but in one in particular, the mom and dad sold juice to people in the market place. They made a few dollars a week. In the summer they would sell ice cream to make a few extra dollars, but they Gerardo and Elsa, and their children, son Angelo and daughter Nayeli (last name withheld for privacy) just couldn’t sustain their family.”

Alex was welcomed into outside of their home in Huaycán, Peru. their home. One of the two Unbound ministry brings its message to local parishes children was being sponsored continued from page one through Unbound, and as Alex sponsors, a recent trip over the friends in person. loved the wonder of it; we can looked over the family’s living situation, she found a man summer brought him to MarAfter explaining what Un- all make a difference.” tha’s Vineyard to visit his good bound is, the response from Her parents had kept every without bitterness and “wantfriend, Father Michael Nagle, the parishioners on Martha’s letter and photo of the little ing to make the best for his pastor of Good Shepherd Par- Vineyard was typical of many girl they had sponsored, and family,” she said, adding that ish. of the parishes Father Martin when Alex began working for the man didn’t begrudge any“We’ve been friends for has attended: “The response Unbound, she was given those one else, and that he told her he years, partly because we share is good. They like the idea of letters; “She [the little girl] just wanted opportunities for an interest in aviation,” ex- corresponding with their per- changed so rapidly through his children so that they would plained Father Martin. “I nor- son. They like the idea of join- the years. She was a teen-ager not have to work as hard as he mally call Father Nagle directly. ing one of our trips to visit the when she left the program,” and his wife did.

“That struck me,” recalled I’ve been there [Martha’s Vine- country and see the child or ag- said Alex. “It was cute because Alex.

“He had no anger or felt yard] several times over these ing person. They like to know in every photo she was hold17 years. Having one parish that we are efficient; that a high ing a duck or a chicken, and I and three distinct churches, percentage of what we collect definitely got a sense of her life, sometimes I’d go to one or an- goes into the program that is hopes and dreams. They’re so other. I preach at all the Masses located right where the child or similar of what we have in our at a location and invite people elderly person is.” country, but they just don’t have Vatican City (CNA/ to sponsor a child.”

The broad range of benefits the opportunity.”

EWTN News) — The Vatican Headquartered in Kan- for those on the receiving end Thirty dollars a month may has released the schedule of Pope sas City, Kan., Unbound has of the sponsorship is strategi- not seem like a lot of money Francis’ main Liturgical celebramore than 266,000 sponsors cally targeting those families to help sustain a family, but it’s tions for the month of September, throughout the United States who need it most: “Our people budgeted in such a way that during which he will publicly perand it strives to spread its on the ground [in the coun- each dollar is stretched to its form the Marriage of 20 couples. message of connecting people tries] know these families,” said limit to make the program sucSeptember brings a full slate across economic, cultural, geo- Father Martin, himself a spon- ceed; “It’s such a cliché phrase: of activities for the pontiff, ingraphical and religious divides sor. “They’ve pinpointed these ‘It’s a hand-up, not a hand-out.’ cluding the commemoration of to live in solidarity and work families who need the help, That’s really what it is, though; lives lost in WWI, an audience towards a greater good. More who will accept the help and it’s supporting them and their with elderly, a day trip to Albania than 93 percent of all money will cooperate with the pro- own dreams,” said Alex, add- and the celebration of the Sacraspent goes to program support, gram.” ing that sponsors get more than ment of Marriage with couples and Unbound has an A-plus Elizabeth Alex, director of they give, that the gratitude of in St. Peter’s Basilica. rating from Charity Watch and Community Outreach and the children and elderly is “a On September 13, Pope Fransays it meets the BBB Wise Media Relations for Unbound, gift.” cis will travel to the Northern Giving Alliance’s 20 rigorous said her parents sponsored a litThe correspondence between Italian region of Friuli-Veneziastandards for charity account- tle girl in Guatemala for years. sponsors and sponsored friends Giulia, where he will visit the ability.

When Alex decided to leave is a hallmark of Unbound; “We famous World War I military Through a monthly contri- her job as a news anchor for an want that one-on-one relation- cemetery in Redipuglia and pay bution of $30 per month, an in- NBC news affiliate in Kansas ship because everybody benefits homage to the 100 thousand dividual sponsor in the United City to begin her “second act” that way,” said Alex. “To have an soldiers who are buried there by States can help provide educa- in life, she knew that she could American from somewhere say celebrating a solemn Mass. tion, food, health care and live- parlay her love for international ‘I believe in you’ is a powerful The largest of its kind, the lihood opportunities for a child work into being part of the Un- statement. And to get a letter memorial is composed of a large or elderly individual. From bound ministry. from a little girl in Guatemala stone staircase and is known for there, letters and photos are ex“I love helping tell stories thanking them for believing in its vast size. It was inaugurated changed, and group awareness of people who worked to get her is equally powerful.” in 1938 following three years of trips and individual visits can themselves out of poverty; that That love for international construction. be arranged for sponsors who was inviting me, and I loved work has blended well with The next day, Pope Francis want to meet those sponsored- the organization,” said Alex. “I her instinct as a news reporter; will celebrate Mass in St. Peter’s

that life had dealt him an unfair hand, he was just focused on his children and giving the best he could as a dad. They didn’t seem to measure success in life in the things they had.”

Also unique to the Unbound program is that along with sponsoring individual’s nutrition, health care and educational needs, micro-loans are offered for those looking to generate a more stable income. Children can be sponsored right through college — attending school is a mandatory requirement for sponsored children — and parents are required to be part of a community group.

“They won’t always need us,” said Alex. “Many of them, when they get on their feet, are the first ones to say they’re good, now go help someone else in my community.”

And while the U.S. has families living in poverty, government-run programs are not a given in other countries: “For us to imagine the poverty that these people live in, the biggest poverty is the inability to be able to turn to anyone else for help,” said Father Martin. “No one in their country is able to help, or willing to help, and so it’s the Catholic Church connection that help. We help everyone of any faith, but it’s an action of Catholic charity.”

In rare move, Pope Francis to publicly celebrate 20 Marriages

Basilica for the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, during which he will witness the Sacrament of Marriage of 20 couples.

He will be the first pontiff to perform public weddings since St. John Paul II in 1994 in Mexico for the World Day of Families.

The event is significant as popes don’t usually celebrate weddings in public. Pope Francis has also decided to organize the event in direct collaboration with Diocese of Rome rather than Pontifical Council for Families, as is usually done, and it is expected that he will perform more in the future.

On September 28, the pope will close the month by meeting with elderly and grandparents in St. Peter’s Square, celebrating a Mass for them.

Entitled “The Blessing of a Long Life,” the event will begin when the square opens at 7:30 a.m., with the official celebration beginning at 9 a.m. The day will culminate with an audience and Mass at 10:30 presided over by Pope Francis.

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Youth Pages

September 12, 2014

Noted speaker to give presentation on bullying and cyberbullying at Holy Name School in Fall River

The eighth-grade class at St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro gathered for a group shot on the first day of the new school year.

Teachers from St. James-St. John School in New Bedford recently prepared for the opening of the school year with CPR training.

FALL RIVER — Dr. Elizabeth Englander, director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center will be speaking in the parish center of Holy Name School on September 23 at 6:30 p.m. She will speak on bullying, cyberbullying and the social media as it pertains to children and young adults. She has excellent credentials. Parents are encouraged to make every effort to attend this important evening presentation.

Englander graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with Phi Beta Kappa and high honors, and completed her doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Southern California as an all university merit fellow. After being awarded a National Institute of Mental Health Research Service Award to study at the University of New Hampshire, she started teaching in Massachusetts and is now a professor of psychology.

She was awarded a presidential fellowship to found and direct the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center, which delivers anti-violence and anti-bullying programs, resources, and research to K-12 education, reaching about 100,000 children every year.

Englander’s research and

publications are nationally recognized and she was named Most Valuable Educator of 2013 by the Boston Red Sox because of her work in technological aggression and how it interacts with peer abusiveness.

She was the special editor for the cyberbullying issue of the Journal of Social Sciences, and has authored about a hundred articles in academic journals and books. She is the author of “Understanding Violence, and of Bullying and Cyberbullying,” recently released by Harvard Press.

She has been named the chairman of the Cyberbullying Workgroup for the Institute of Digital Media and Child Development, a project supported by the National Academy of Sciences to define the nation’s research agenda regarding children and digital technology.

She has written three researchbased curricula and many educational handouts for communities and professionals.

Reflecting her interest in educating lay people, Englander has answered questions in a column for the New York Times (online edition), and she writes the column “Bullying Bulletin Board,” which is syndicated by Gatehouse Media in hundreds of newspapers nationwide.

Send school and Religious Education news to: schools@anchornews.org

September 12, 2014

I

recall when I was participating in college orientation as a freshman (a few years ago), one of the speakers made the statement, “Don’t let the books get in the way of your college education.” Needless to say, it got my attention.

However, it didn’t take long to realize that I wasn’t being given permission to fake my way through the academics of college. It was a statement reminding us that our development in college not only included our intellect, but also our human and Spiritual development.

Intellectual development certainly is an important part of any institution of learning, whether elementary, secondary or higher education. Yet, in all these areas of education, human formation is also important. As we learn to think in the classroom,

Youth Pages Going deeper into the mystery of God we need to learn how this our knowledge of who we thinking helps us in other are. In addition, the more we areas of life. seek truth, beauty, goodness About 20 years ago, the and holiness, the more we Vatican issued a document are drawn into the mystery called “The Presence of of God Himself. As I menthe Church in the University and in University Culture.”

It states “The university was, in its earliest stages, one of the most significant

By Father expressions of the David C. Frederici Church’s concern.”

Why is this the case?

Well, because we realized early on that wisdom tioned in a homily a couple was gained not only through of weeks ago, learning is a intellectual formation, but religious activity. also in our human and Human and Spiritual Spiritual Formation. Our formation teaches us to apappreciation for art, beauty, ply the principles of critical goodness and holiness serve thinking to other areas of as powerful motivators for life, including, by the way, the human person and help faith. Without the use of the us remain true to who we intellect, faith devolves into are and help us to grow in myth and legend. St. Paul

Be Not Afraid

says that in his first letter to Timothy, “Avoid profane and silly myths. Train yourself for devotion” (1 Tm 4:7).

The Vatican document warns us that if we remove faith from our learning, universities are in danger of becoming simply work training centers.

“The faith that the Church proclaims,” the document reads, “must penetrate the human intellect and heart” otherwise we lose sight of who we are and can lose the motivation for discovery; of ourselves as well as the arts and sciences.

Last week at UMass Dartmouth, our chancellor, Dr. Divina Grossman, announced our strategic plan for the next five years. It is a plan that is meant to help UMD become more relevant to our stu-

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dents and the region. If you were to look over the goals of the plan, you would notice that one of the goals isn’t as academic- or researchoriented as the others. This is because the university recognizes what this article has been saying: we are about the development of the whole person. Grossman quoted Blessed John Henry Newman in her introduction of the plan. Cardinal Newman called the university “a seat of wisdom, the light of the world.”

Translation: Learning draws us deeper into the mystery of God. Anchor columnist Father Frederici is pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Pocasset and diocesan director of Campus Ministry and Chaplain at UMass Dartmouth and Bristol Community College.

In Google Hangout, pope helps launch worldwide social network

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The wisdom of “It takes a village to raise a child” has been lost as kids are either overprotected by permissive parents or neglected, Pope Francis said.

“The educational partnership has been broken” as families, schools and society are “no longer united together for the child,” he said after recently holding his first Google Hangout — a live video conversation — across five continents with teen-agers who belong to the international network of “Scholas occurentes,” uniting students of all faiths and cultures.

Parents and teachers used to stick together to teach kids important values, the pope said, recalling when he got into trouble in the fourth grade.

“I wasn’t respectful toward the teacher, and the teacher called my mother. My mother came, I stayed in class and the teacher stepped out, then they called for me,” he told a group of educators and experts involved with the worldwide Scholas network.

“My mom was really calm. I feared the worst,” he said. After getting him to admit to his wrongdoing, his mother told him to apologize to the teacher.

The pope said he apologized and remembered “It was easy and I was happy. But there was an Act Two when I got home,” insinuating stiffer punishment had followed.

However, today, “at least in lots of schools in my country,” if a teacher notes a problem with a student, “the next day, the mother and father denounce the teacher,” he said.

The family, schools and culture have to work together for the well-being of the child, he said. People have to “rebuild this village in order to educate a child.”

All of society also needs to help children and young people who are homeless, exploited, victims of violence or without any prospects, he said.

The pope pointed the blame on today’s “culture of disposal” and “the cult of money” for creating and perpetuating adults’ apathy to or complicity in the mistreatment of kids.

This is why “it’s very important to strengthen bonds: social, family and personal ties” with kids and young adults, and create an environment that helps them approach the world with “trust and serenity.”

Otherwise, kids will be “left only with the path of delinquency and addiction,” he said.

The pope’s comments came at the end of an afternoon encounter to launch scholas. social — a new social network for students from all over the world to cooperate on environmental and social causes, sport and art initiatives, and charitable activities.

The Scholas initiative was be-

gun in Buenos Aires and supported by its then-Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio, who also used to teach high school when he was a young Jesuit priest.

When he became pope, he asked fellow Argentine Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, to expand the network’s reach and impact.

With a small digital camera and studio lights aimed at him in the Vatican synod hall, the pope took questions from five Scholas members, who were linked in from Australia, Israel, Turkey, South Africa and El Salvador.

The pope urged the young people to build bridges through open and respectful communication, in which they listen carefully to others and exchange experiences, ideas and values.

Sina, a teen-age boy in Istanbul, thanked the pope for letting more than schools and students come together, “but also our beliefs and hearts.”

He then asked the pope if he thought the future was going to get better or worse.

“I don’t have a crystal ball like witches do to see the future,” the pope answered, adding that what the future will be like is in the hands of today’s young people.

The future “is in your heart, it’s in your mind and your

hands,” and if people cultivate constructive thoughts and feeling and do good things, “the future will be better.”

He said young people need two things: They need wings to fly and the courage to dream of big things, and they need strong roots and respect for their culture, their heritage and all the wisdom passed down from their elders.

“Today’s young people need three key foundations: education, sports and culture, that’s why Scholas unites everything,” he said.

He urged the teens to speak out against war and injustice, and to stick together like a team, defending each other against “gangs” and other negative influences that only seek to destroy and isolate people.

His last piece of advice, he said, came from Jesus, Who often said, “Be not afraid!”

“Don’t lose your nerve.

Don’t be afraid. Keep going.

Build bridges of peace. Play as a team and build a better future because, remember, that the future is in your hands.”

Pope Francis video chats with a Salvadoran student in the gang-infested neighborhood of La Campanera, San Salvador, recently. The pope said all of society needs to help children and young people who are homeless, exploited, victims of violence or without any prospects. (CNS photo/ Jose Cabezas, Reuters)

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September 12, 2014

Our Lady’s ‘Silver Rose’ to return to diocese continued from page one

plained Arthur Whittemore, Silver Rose representative and member of the St. Ann Council No. 10289 Knights of Columbus in Raynham, noting that last year’s Silver Rose made its inaugural appearance in Fall River as one of only five.

“Last year the fifth rose was the New England rose that traveled from Canada all the way through to Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, then Massachusetts and down into Rhode Island and finally Connecticut,” Whittemore told The Anchor.

Noting that the rose designated for New England will also take a brief detour into New York this year, Whittemore said another distinction between this and its five counterparts is that it will ultimately end its journey on December 12 at St. Mary’s Church in New Haven, Conn., the place where Father Michael McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus in 1882.

The other five Silver Roses — which originate from British Columbia, Canada; Alberta, Canada; Manitoba, Canada; Ontario, Canada; and Virginia here in the states — will proceed to Texas and cross the international bridge into Mexico where they will then be ushered by the Columbian Squires and placed on the altar at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico.

In fact, it is the Columbian Squires — the official youth organization of the Knights of Columbus — who can be credited with inspiring the Silver Rose program.

The group, headed by Brother Miguel Martinez Estrada, Grand Knight Andreas Saucedo and Fray Margil De Jesus of the Nuestra Senora de Monterrey Council No. 2312 in Monterrey, Mexico, first came up with the idea of running a rose to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Monterrey back in 1960 as a way of honoring Our Lady for her many blessings.

The Squires were so enthused that they wanted to invite fellow Squires from two other countries on the North American continent to participate, so they called on Squires from Laredo, Texas, and London, Ontario to join them. The Canadian Squires

Whittemore, Kourtz said it was very moving to meet the many people who came out to were asked to start the relay, see the Silver Rose and he is running the rose from there looking forward to that onethrough the United States on-one experience again this year. and finishing up in Mexico.

“Sometimes we would “By the time it got to Despend four or five hours cember 12, it wasn’t a rose in each place and the time that was placed on the altar, seemed to fly by so quickly,” but maybe the remnants of a Kourtz said.

“We went to one pedal, or a stem,” Whittemore parish and a woman came up said of the early runs.

In subsequent years, a real and told us she wished her rose was supplanted by first a husband could come and see bronze rose and, ultimately, a the rose, but he was an invalid rose cast in silver, because it and homebound, so Arthur remains one of Mexico’s most and I got together and (took the Silver Rose) to her house precious metals.

In 2000, the national so he could see it.”

At each stop, the rose is Knights of Columbus became involved with the Silver Rose displayed with an image of program as a means of pro- Our Lady of Guadalupe and moting the Pro-Life cause, there are typically Masses, since Our Lady of Guadalupe Benedictions, exposition of is an icon frequently linked to the Blessed Sacrament, Rosaries and other prayers. DePro-Life efforts.

“The single silver rose pending on time constraints, symbolizes one life,” Whit- most of the visits slated for temore told The Anchor last the diocese this year will inyear. “What better way to clude a prayer service and at show the love and respect we least one Mass celebration.

“We try to get to as many have for our Blessed Mother, parishes as we can in a certain who loves and respects all life, location, so this year we’re gofrom conception to natural ing to mostly different pardeath?”

“Not only is Our Lady of ishes,” Whittemore said. “The Guadalupe the patron saint only two parishes we’re going of the Americas, she’s also the back to again this year are patron saint of the unborn,” St. Ann’s (in Raynham) and Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. he added.

Having been asked by the James in New Bedford. The Massachusetts K of C to be reason for that is they had the point person responsible the biggest turnouts last year for coordinating and schedul- and Our Lady of Guadalupe, ing where and when the Silver in particular, had the biggest Rose would be on a daily ba- turnout of Spanish-speaking sis last year, Whittemore was people.”

The Silver Rose will also only too eager to step into the make a return visit to La role again.

Salette Shrine in Attleboro, “It was on a wing and a where last year it was placed prayer that we were able to do this last year,” Whittemore on the monument to the unsaid. “But thankfully God has born — a striking statue of blessed me with wonderful two hands cradling an unborn friends and wonderful brother fetus that was donated to the Knights who think the same shrine by the Knights in 2010.

“That’s where we had our way.” prayer service last year after Referring to his relationthe Mass,” Whittemore said. ship with fellow Knight and Silver Rose representative “It was very, very moving.”

Other than these three John J. Kourtz Sr. as akin to repeat visits, the rest of this that of the Lone Ranger and year’s schedule will consist Tonto, Whittemore said the of first-time venues for the effort couldn’t succeed with“Running of the Rose.” out his help and support.

“We’re trying to reach the “Arthur is being a little other areas of the diocese modest,” Kourtz countered.

“He’s the one who has been like Taunton and Attleboro,” making phone calls for the Whittemore said. “Next year, past six months to set every- I hope to talk to each of the thing up. He has to arrange deaneries and see what parhow people transport the rose ishes they’d like us to visit.”

Whittemore and Kourtz from place to place, and he expressed gratitude to The doesn’t tell you about all the Anchor for getting the word time he puts into that.”

Working side by side with out about the Silver Rose pro-

gram last year and also credited the great support and encouragement they’ve received from pastors, priests and lay people throughout the diocese for its success.

“Besides all the wonderful members of the various councils of Knights of Columbus, we also owe a debt to the people who staff the Pro-Life Apostolate here in the diocese — Marian Desrosiers and Jean Arsenault,” Whittemore added. “It’s always a team effort — it’s not about ‘I’ or ‘we’ — and it’s whatever God wants, it’s not what I want.”

The Silver Rose will actually make its first appearance in the diocese on October 5 which is, appropriately enough, Respect Life Sunday, when it will be displayed during the weekly TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 at 11 a.m.

The Silver Rose can then be viewed in person at the following locations: — October 11 at Holy Family Parish, 438 Middleboro Avenue in East Taunton, beginning with 7:30 a.m. Rosary, Mass and prayer service; — October 11 at La Salette Shrine, 947 Park Street in Attleboro, for a 1:30 p.m. Mass and Adoration; — October 12 at St. Ann Parish, 660 North Main Street in Raynham, during 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m., and 5 p.m. Masses; — October 13 at St. Nicholas of Myra Parish, 499 Spring Street in Raynham, during the 9 a.m. Mass; — October 13 at St. Dominic Parish, 1277 Grand Army Highway (Route 6) in Swan-

sea, for a 7 p.m. Mass and prayer service; — October 14 at Annunciation of the Lord Parish, 31 First Street in Taunton, for a 7 p.m. Mass and prayer service; — October 15 at Holy Cross Family Ministries, St. Joseph Chapel, 500 Washington Street (Route 138) in Easton, for an 11:30 a.m.

Mass and Rosary; — October 15 at Holy Cross Parish, 225 Purchase Street in South Easton, for a 7:30 p.m. Mass and prayer service; — October 16 at Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Parish, 233 County Street in New Bedford, for a 7 p.m.

Mass in Spanish; — October 17 at Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Parish, 233 County Street in New Bedford, for a 9 a.m.

Mass in English; — October 18 at St. Patrick Parish, 511 Main Street in Falmouth, for a 9 a.m.

Mass; — October 18 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, 984 Taunton Avenue in Seekonk, for a 4:30 p.m. Mass; — October 19 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, 984 Taunton Avenue in Seekonk, during 7:30 a.m., 9 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. Masses.

On the afternoon of October 19, the Silver Rose will be passed into Rhode Island.

For more information about the Running of the Rose, visit www.runningoftherose.org.

For specif ic visit information, contact the parishes listed above.

Knight Arthur Whittemore shows the Silver Rose of Our Lady of Guadalupe to students at St. Mary’s School in Mansfield during its inaugural visit last year. The Silver Rose will once again be making several stops in the diocese beginning October 11. (Anchor file photo)

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September 12, 2014

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

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

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

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

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

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

FAIRHAVEN — St. Mary’s Church, Main St., has Eucharistic Adoration every Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the Chapel of Reconciliation, with Benediction at 11:30 a.m. Also, there is a First Friday Mass each month at 7 p.m., followed by a Holy Hour with Eucharistic Adoration. Refreshments follow.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Please use the side entrance.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mass.

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

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

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

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

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

Cardinal backs St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee as gay ban is lifted NEW YORK (CNS) — Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York said he continues to support the city’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee after it lifted a ban prohibiting gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender groups from marching openly in the annual event.

The cardinal, who will be the grand marshal of the 254th St. Patrick’s Day parade in March, said in a recent statement that neither he nor his predecessors determined who could or could not march in the parade.

He said he has “always appreciated the cooperation of parade organizers in keeping the parade close to its Catholic heritage.”

“My predecessors and I have always left decisions on who would march to the organizers of the individual parades,” the cardinal’s statement said. “As I do each year, I look forward to celebrating Mass in honor of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland and the patron

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Sept. 13 Rev. Antonio Felisbesto Diaz, St. Lawrence Martyr (former St. Mary’s), New Bedford, 1866 Rev. Charles A.J. Donovan, Pastor, Immaculate Conception, North Easton, 1949 Rev. Isadore Kowalski, OFM Conv., Our Lady’s Haven, Fairhaven, 2003 Sept. 14 Rev. Stanislaus J. Ryczek, USA Retired Chaplain, Former Pastor, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, New Bedford, 1982 Sept. 15 Rev. Henry J. Mussely, Pastor, St. Jean Baptiste, Fall River, 1934 Rev. Brendan McNally, S.J., Holy Cross College, Worcester, 1958 Rev. John J. Casey, Pastor, Immaculate Conception, North Easton, 1969 Sept. 16 Rt. Rev. Msgr. Jean A. Prevost, P.A., P.R., Pastor, Notre Dame de Lourdes, Fall River, 1925 Sept. 17 Rev. Thomas F. McNulty, Pastor, St. Kilian, New Bedford, 1954 Cardinal Humberto Sousa Medeiros, Archbishop of Boston, 1970-83, Pastor of St. Michael, Fall River 1960-1966, 1983 Rev. Felix Lesnek, SS.CC., Former Associate Pastor, St. Joseph, Fairhaven, 1991 Sept. 18 Rev. Luke Golla, SS.CC., Seminary of Sacred Heart, Wareham, 1945 Rt. Rev. Msgr. Edmund J. Ward, Retired Pastor, St. Patrick, Fall River, 1964 Sept. 19 Rev. Henry E.S. Henniss, Pastor, St. Mary, New Bedford, 1859 Msgr. Arthur W. Tansey, Retired Pastor, Immaculate Conception, Fall River, 1985

saint of this archdiocese, to begin the feast, and pray that the parade would continue to be a source of unity for all of us.”

The parade committee’s decision comes in an effort to defuse the controversy that arose prior to this year’s parade over the exclusion of gay banners in the annual celebration of Irish and Catholic heritage.

The ban led New York Mayor Bill de Blasio to refuse to march earlier this year. Guinness also

withdrew its sponsorship.

The NBC television network, which has broadcast the parade for years, also was prepared to drop coverage of the event unless a compromise was reached to allow a group of the network’s gay employees to march under a banner identifying the organization, Irish Central reported.

There was no immediate word on whether the decision would lead to a wider gay presence in the parade.

Around the Diocese The Women’s Guild of Our Lady of Grace Parish in Westport will host its annual giant yard sale, rain or shine, at the parish center, 569 Sanford Road in Westport, tomorrow and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For directions or more information, call the rectory at 508-674-6271.

A Healing Mass and Blessing with St. André’s Relic and Anointing with St. Joseph Oil will be held at St. Joseph Chapel at Holy Cross Family Ministries on September 14, the Solemnity of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, with Rosary at 1:30 p.m. and Mass at 2 p.m. St. André’s relic will be available for blessings and veneration. Don’t miss this special opportunity to bring your family and friends for a blessing. St. André was known as the “Miracle Man of Montréal” for his intercession in the healing thousands of faithful at the St. Joseph Oratory in Montreal. More than two million people visit his shrine each year. For more information call Holy Cross Family Ministries at 508-238-4095 or visit www.FamilyRosary.org/Events. The event will take place at the Father Peyton Center, 500 Washington Street in Easton.

Holy Cross Parish, 225 Purchase Street in Easton, will host its Fall Festival on September 14 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. This year’s festival will include a money tree raffle, lottery wreath raffle, three rounds of Harvest Bingo, a unicycling balloon artist, face painting, lots of games and prizes, a DJ and other live entertainment.

Come climb into an inflatable ball and roll yourself down an alley to knock down bowling pins in “Bubble Bowling” or try not to get knocked over by the mechanical “Sweeper” (similar to the one used on ABC’s “Wipeout”). Don’t miss out on the chili cook-off and tasting and the cupcake wars challenge. You can also enter your crawling child in the fist annual Holy Cross “Diaper Dash” contest. For more information, call 508-238-2235.

A Healing Mass will be celebrated on September 18 at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford. The Mass will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will include Benediction and healing prayers. At 5:15 p.m. there will be a holy hour, including the Rosary. For more information visit www.saintanthonynewbedford. com or call 508-993-1691.

The St. Vincent de Paul Society of St. Anthony’s Parish in East Falmouth is having an Island Queen Evening Cruise on September 18 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Proceeds from the event will benefit the charitable work of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

Rain date will be September 25 and there is free parking at the Island Queen lot. For tickets or more information, call 508-457-0085.

St. Anne Parish on South Main Street in Fall River, will hold its yard sale on September 20 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Refreshments will also be available for sale. A large assortment of items will be available for sale and any donations will be gratefully accepted. For more information call Sue Chapdelaine at 508-678-1510.

The Fall River Diocesan Council of Catholic Women will meet at Our Lady of Victory Parish, 230 Main Street in Centerville, on September 20 beginning with a coffee hour at 9 a.m. The business meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m., followed by a talk by Christine Damery, a representative of Doane, Beal and Ames, offering advice on preparing funeral arrangements. All are welcome and new members are encouraged to attend. For more information call 508672-6900.

A fund-raiser to benefit the St. Anthony of Padua Parish Food Pantry in New Bedford will be held September 27 at 5:30 p.m. (after the 4 p.m. Mass). The food pantry, along with support from the Knights of Columbus, is hosting a clam cakes and chowder dinner. Tickets are $7 and may be purchased ahead of time or at the door. Please come join them to support this worthy cause.

Maria Rocha of the Mission From God Healing Ministry will present a teaching and conduct a healing service on September 27 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at St. Anthony’s Parish, 126 School Street in Taunton. The Sacrament of Reconciliation will be available at 4 p.m. This event is sponsored by The Living Word Prayer Group. For more information, call Mary Leite at 508-822-2219.

20

September 12, 2014

Wrong side of the tracks

I

had the good fortune last system. On this train there is week to travel to Newark, little quiet and no comforts of N.J. to meet with our soon-tohome. But the major difference is be Bishop of Fall River, Bishop the people.

Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V. In the station there were First of all, the meeting was homeless people and folks in an absolute delight. Bishop da various mental states, be it from Cunha was cordial, gracious and drugs or alcohol, or other confunny. When I arrived, he was tributing factors. having lunch with some of the The station and the train had Vocationist Sisters who teach at their fair share of people asking the Our Lady of Perpetual Help for money, in obvious dire straits.

Nursery at the former Our Lady In NYC we took the NY of Perpetual Help Church, now metro system to and from Times part of St. Michael’s Parish.

Square. Again we encountered I was offered a seat and a plate scores of destitute and troubled by the kind Sisters and felt right at home with them and the bishop — good food, good conversation, and good

By Dave Jolivet people.

Following our meeting, Bishop da Cunha drove me to people — on the street, in the Newark Penn Station so I could terminals, and on the trains. grab a train to New York City The difference between the where I was staying the night.

Amtrak ride and the public tranMy ride to Newark began in sit trains is stark and drastic. The Providence on an Amtrak train. people we saw can’t even afford a I’ve always enjoyed riding Amcup of coffee, let alone a ride on a trak, except for the time Denise cozy Amtrak car. and I headed for the Big Apple, I had a good amount of time but it was spring break, and we to think about these people who had to stand for the entire fourlive this existence daily, while I hour ride there. only see them when in large cities That wasn’t the case this time. or on TV or movies.

I was able to get a seat, and was The ride home, on Amtrak, able to plug in my smart phone was again quiet and cozy. There and my laptop. I worked for was no one looking for handouts. several hours on the ride down in There were no unnerving stares comfort and quiet. or people clad in filthy rags. But Denise came along and she that doesn’t mean they’re not out read the entire journey — getting there. They are, every day, all over a well-deserved break from her the world. hectic schedule.

I’m by no means a wealthy As anyone who has ridden the man, but I’m also by no means rails before knows, the trains are riding the rails on the wrong side complete with a dining car and of the tracks. rest rooms — pretty much all the Why? I don’t know. comforts of home.

But the trip gave me pause to Riding the rails can be an thank God for what I do have, enjoyable, relaxing experience. and to pray for those whose daily But it depends on which rails one ride on the rails is neither quiet is riding. nor cozy.

The train from Newark to Dave Jolivet can be contacted NYC was part of the N.J. transit at davejolivet@anchornews.org.

My View From the Stands