The Anchor Diocese of Fall River
F riday , September 14, 2012
Catholics face important decisions at ballot box in 2012 B y Christine M. Williams A nchor Correspondent
BOSTON — One can tell that fall is on its way. Temps are cooler, children are headed back to school and — since this is an election year — the robo-calls have started. Campaign ads litter commercial breaks on television — as pervasive as autumn leaves will soon be. Unregistered Massachusetts residents must register within the next month in order to be
eligible to vote on November 6. The deadline is October 17. Before heading to the polls, members of the Commonwealth have important decisions to make. A U.S. Senate seat is up for grabs, and there are members of Congress to be sent to Washington, state representatives to elect and several important ballot questions. In a message to the Pontifical Council on the Turn to page 12
Five to receive awards at Red Mass — Page 15
Elizabeth A. Almeida
Gina L. DeRossi
Professor Dwight G. Duncan
Attorney Kenneth L. Sullivan
Judge Raymond P. Veary Jr.
Seminarian spends summer in India By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff
ROME — Jack Schrader of Corpus Christi Parish in East Sandwich may have spent his childhood living wherever his father’s latest military deployment took the family, but the 24-yearold has settled nicely into his seminarian studies in the shadow of the Holy Father in Rome, and most recently walked in the footsteps of Blessed Mother Teresa by spending this past summer volunteering at her Missionaries of Charity in India. Schrader was born in Japan and when he settled at Corpus Christi Parish he was already attending college. After attending parishes in different states and countries, Schrader brought his devotion to Corpus Christi by assisting the parish’s youth group in various activities. He also attended Mass almost every day, he said, and though he felt the call, he was encouraged to explore his feelings before committing his life to Jesus Christ as a priest. “I had always been Catholic, but for the first time I desired to go to Mass in order to encounter God truly present in the Eucharist,” explained Schrader via email
during a break from his theology studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. “Jesus Christ became important and real to me. When I was 16 years old, my pastor invited me to think and pray about becoming a priest. “Before this I had never thought of it. Soon after, I met some seminarians who encouraged me to take a real step forward in discovering God’s will. They told me
that the seminary is a place where someone can learn to be a virtuous Catholic man, even if he does not become a priest. They said that entering the seminary is the best way to see if God is really calling a man to be a priest; but I was not ready for the seminary immediately after high school. I decided to go to Franciscan University of Steubenville. There I joined the Turn to page 18
IN HER FOOTSTEPS — Accompanied by Sister Mary Prema, Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, seminarian Jack Schrader, currently studying in Rome, prays at the tomb of Blessed Mother Teresa at the Motherhouse in Calcutta, India. Along with three other seminarians, Schrader spent this past summer doing missionary work at Blessed Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.
seeking a “no” vote — This is the cover of a parish guide put together by diocesan members of the Physician-Assisted Suicide Steering Committee formed to inform Massachusetts voters about the upcoming proposed bill that will appear on the November 6 ballot seeking to legalize physician-assisted suicide in the Commonwealth. The entire content of the book can be found via a link on the Diocese of Fall River website at www.fallriverdiocese.org.
Lay committee urges ‘NO’ vote on Question 2 By Dave Jolivet, Editor
TAUNTON — In essence, the ballot question flew in under the radar. If accepted by the voters, the bill becomes Massachusetts law almost immediately with no debate on the State House floor or vote by the Massachusetts Legislature. Through the efforts of a lowprofile initiative petition, a question will appear on ballots across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on November 6 asking voters if they approve of a bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide in the Bay State. This bill, called the Death with Dignity Act, despite the opposition of the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the Massachusetts Medical Society, and many health care and religious organizations, is entirely in the hands of Massachusetts voters. The initiative was organized by a group labeling themselves “Death with Dignity.” Currently, physician-assisted suicide is a common-
law crime in this state. Many Massachusetts voters are not even aware the petition was started and that the proposal has successfully found its way on this November’s ballot. Even more citizens are not aware of what the proposed bill is about. In an effort to counteract the Death with Dignity effort, the Massachusetts Catholic Council created a state-wide Physician-Assisted Suicide Steering Committee, comprised of lay people, to make voters aware of the upcoming ballot referendum and to urge people to vote “NO” on Question 2 this fall. Kathy St. Laurent, a nurse and former director of Professional Development at Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, and the current vice principal of Academic Affairs at Coyle and Cassidy High School in Taunton; Marian Desrosiers, director of the Pro-Life Apostolate for the Diocese of Fall River; and Jean Arsenault, assistant direcTurn to page 10
News From the Vatican
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September 14, 2012
Pope calls on lay Africans to evangelize their continent
Vatican City (CNA/ EWTN News) — Pope Benedict XVI has called upon lay Catholics to evangelize Africa, the “continent of hope.” “In this transformation of the whole society, which is so urgent for Africa today, the lay faithful have an irreplaceable role,” the pope said in a recent message to the Pan-African Congress of Catholic Laity. “Women and men, young people, the elderly and children, families and entire societies, all of Africa today looks to the ‘ambassadors’ of the Good News, the lay faithful,” he wrote. The Pan-African Congress of Catholic Laity took place September 4-9 in Yaoundé, the capital city of Cameroon. Organized by the Pontifical Council for the Laity, it brought together Africans from all walks of life, along with the continent’s bishops to “reflect on various challenges and share experiences.” The pope hailed the new lay Catholic movements that have arisen in recent decades as “brave peacemakers and heralds of true hope” who are “in love with Christ and the Church, filled with joy and gratitude for the Baptism they have received.” Pope Benedict XVI has visited the continent of Africa twice during his sevenyear pontificate. His first trip in 2009 was a pastoral visit to Cameroon and Angola. In 2011 he made his second trip, this time going to Benin, where he signed the blueprint for the future of the Church in Africa, the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation “Africae Munus.” In the document, the pope dubbed Africa the “continent of hope.” “Of course, at first sight, Africa’s problems appear serious and not easy to solve,” the pope remarked in his message to the lay congress. He also observed that even “valu-
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able traditional values of African culture” are now being threatened by a “secularism which causes disorientation” that “tears in the personal and social fabric, exasperates tribalism, violence, corruption in public life, humiliation and exploitation of women and children, growth of poverty and hunger.” However, he countered, at the “heart of the African people” we soon discover “a wealth of spiritual resources” which are “precious for our times.” “The love for life and for the family, a sense of joy and sharing, the enthusiasm of living the faith, are all values that I have seen during my travels in Africa, and that are still etched in my heart,” he said. Pope Benedict prayed that the “dark and nihilistic relativist mentality that affects various parts of the world” may never “open a breach” in the reality of African life. He then praised the gathering in Yaoundé for paving the way for the October opening in Rome of the Synod of Bishops on New Evangelization and the Church’s 2012-13 “Year of Faith.” The role of the lay faithful, the pope stated, is key to all of the Church’s efforts because they have received a “divine gift” in their Baptism. “In fact, the acceptance of this divine gift goes hand in hand with the enthusiasm for the proclamation of the Gospel in a kind of a ‘virtuous circle’ where faith moves the announcement and the announcement strengthens the faith.” The pope finished his message by entrusting the congress to the care and intercession of “Our Lady of Africa, Queen of Peace and Star of New Evangelization,” before imparting his apostolic blessing. OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 56, No. 35
Member: Catholic Press Association, Catholic News Service
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vatican goes green — Pope Benedict XVI arrives next to Carlos Ghosn, chairman and CEO of Nissan and Renault, during a presentation of a new Renault electric car at the Vatican September 5. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters)
Conference participants look at relation between power, abuse in Church
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The “most tragic wound” of clerical sexual abuse will not heal without a response from the entire Catholic Church — hierarchy and laity together — said the chief Vatican investigator of abuse cases. “I think that slowly, slowly, slowly we are getting toward a response that is truly ecclesial — it’s not hierarchical, it’s the Church. We are in this together, in suffering (from) the wound and trying to respond to it,” Msgr. Charles Scicluna told Vatican Radio. The monsignor, whose formal title is promoter of justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, spoke to Vatican Radio during a conference in England titled “Redeeming Power: Overcoming Abuse in Church and Society.” The European Society of Catholic Theology sponsored the conference at St. Mary’s University College in Twickenham as part of the International Network of Societies for Catholic Theology’s three-year research project on “the power of theology to overcome power abuse in Church and society.” Msgr. Scicluna told Vatican Radio the conference was an important part of the ongoing conversation about how to empower all members of the Church to prevent abuse and promote accountability. “We are accountable not only to God, but to each other and to our peers in how we respond to difficult questions, including sin and crime,” he said. The monsignor said Pope Benedict XVI is setting an example for the whole Church when he discusses the abuse crisis, repentance and reform of Church norms with bishops, priests and laity. Marie Keenan, a social work-
er and psychotherapist who has worked with perpetrators and survivors of clerical sexual abuse, told Vatican Radio that the Church has been slow in responding to the abuse crisis, “but I think that we’re moving in the right direction and I think this conference is part of that.” Keenan, who lectures at University College Dublin, said she is concerned that clerical sexual abuse is sometimes seen as “a problem of individuals, either individual perpetrators who were devious and managed to get through the doors” of the seminary undetected, “or bad or erring bishops who didn’t have the right heart or spirit or intellect or knowledge or something.” The conference is part of an effort to look at relationships and structures of power within the Church and determine how they may have contributed to the crisis. Keenan said that without addressing those broader issues, the Church risks placing too much trust in the important psychological tests designed to “screen out deviants.” Relying exclusively on the tests is dangerous, she said, because “some of these men chose an abusive road not because they were deviants to begin with, but because something happened to them in the course of their life, either in formation or priesthood or living their life that wasn’t picked up on and with which they weren’t helped adequately.” At the same time, she said, “even with the same formation and the same lifestyle, many, many men don’t turn to abuse,” so there must be a recognition that Church culture hasn’t caused everyone “to use their power position in an abusive way.” In addition, Keenan said that in her research “I found no evidence that celibacy is a cause of
sexual abuse.” While “there may be good reasons for the Church to rethink the celibacy issue, it’s not because of the child sexual abuse issue,” she said. Sister of Charity Nuala Patricia Kenny, a pediatrician and retired professor of bioethics in Canada, said recent cases of abuse and sexual scandal convinced her that “we had not finished the job” of addressing clerical sexual abuse. “The Church, in the area of policies and protocols, surely now has become a world leader,” she said. But as she told the conference, “we have been a slow learner on this one.” Catholics, she said, need to reflect on the question: “How does power and our sense of Church, how has the inactivity of the laity, our inability to have good, positive, loving experiences between priest and people in our Church that would make us a healthy Church — how has all of that made us continue to deny, to fail to accept the difficult challenges” posed by the abuse crisis? Sister Kenny, who has been a religious for 50 years, said there were days “when I had to kneel, kneel, kneel at my desk and literally hold on to the New Testament because I’ve been so overwhelmed by how much harm has been done, not just to the individual victims, but to the whole Body of Christ.” “I’m not a woman who breaks down easily and cries, but I have wept about this issue,” she said. “On the other hand, I can tell you that I know in my heart that the Holy Spirit is leading us somewhere graced and I am perfectly prepared to do whatever I can with the grace and energy the Lord gives me to contribute to that.” “Walking away is not an option because it belongs to my baptismal commitment,” Sister Kenny said. “This is my Church.”
September 14, 2012
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The International Church Exiled Jesuit priest still hopeful for Syria’s future
papal performance — Children perform in Jounieh during the filming of a video greeting for Pope Benedict XVI in preparation for his September 14-16 visit to Lebanon. (CNS photo/Jamal Saidi, Reuters)
Family violence kills more than 80,000 Latin American children yearly
LIMA, Peru (CNS) — Ask Maykon Quispe what kind of violence he sees in his hometown of Huancavelica, in the Peruvian Andes, and he thinks of the markets, where kids his age or younger haul sacks and crates. “A lot of kids want to help out their families by earning a little money, but the merchants make them carry too much weight,” the 12-year-old said. Anahi Salazar, 16, immediately thinks of death. “Children suffer psychologically because of the violence,” she said of her native El Salvador. “There are too many murders in our country. What we want most is peace.” Family violence kills more than 80,000 children a year in Latin America, and more than six million suffer severe abuse, according to U.N. figures. Experts — and even some young people — say those high levels of violence are not surprising in a region that also has the greatest gap between rich and poor. And the younger the child, the greater the risks. “Early childhood, from birth to age five, is silent,” said Father Gaston Garatea, who heads a nonprofit civic group in Peru called Investment in Children. Kids that age “don’t go on strike, don’t protest, don’t set up roadblocks” to call attention to their problems, he said. “The causes of violence are the same in nearly all countries,” said 18-year-old Sofia Melgarejo of Paraguay. “The main one is poverty, which leads children to work. That’s something we see in many countries. Working children and street children suffer a lot of violence. There is also domestic violence by parents who think they are educating their children by mistreating them physically or verbally.” Quispe, Salazar and Melgarejo were among about 20 children and teens who participated in a U.N. expert consultation on children and violence in Lima in late August. These young participants and adults — including government of-
ficials and representatives of nonprofit organizations that work with children and their mothers — offered a glimpse of the violence that affects children, as well as possible solutions. The forms of violence range from gang murders to sexual abuse, from corporal punishment in schools to harsh punishment by parents or guardians. Because much of the violence occurs behind closed doors, experts say statistics are unreliable, especially for children under age three, and that the problem is probably underreported. The figures that do exist reveal the magnitude of the problem. About 28 percent of the approximately 100,000 people murdered in Latin America and the Caribbean every year are between ages 10 and 19, according to U.N. figures. Some killings are related to organized crime or gangs — an estimated 82,000 young people between ages 13 and 29 belong to gangs in Central America and Mexico — according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. But while those cases grab the headlines, everyday violence at home and in school often goes undetected and may be more insidious. A study in Peru in 2011 found that 44 percent of children in three major cities — Lima, the highland city of Huancayo, and Iquitos, in the Amazon region — had suffered violence at home and 28 percent in school. About 27 percent of the children reported having been struck with an object at home, while 6.4 percent suffered serious injury, such as cuts or burns. When parents in Colombia were asked if they mistreated their children, all said no. When asked about specific actions, however, 60 percent said they had yelled at their children, 30 percent had spanked and about 15 percent said they had struck their children with hard objects. The percentage of parents in Cali, Colombia, who said they had struck their children with hard objects was nearly twice the national
average. Armed with that and other statistics, Cali Mayor Rodrigo Guerrero put his experience as a physician and epidemiologist to work to understand the problem of violence in his city. He lengthened the school day, adding recreational and sports activities, spruced up parks, and implemented programs to improve housing and create jobs. The city also has focused on health care and support for pregnant women to help reduce child abuse — which, in turn, helps reduce youth violence, he said. Although it has little direct impact on his city, the armed conflict in Colombia “has legitimized the use of violence to achieve political ends,” Guerrero told Catholic News Service, adding that, as a result, the violence of drug traffickers “fell on fertile ground.” Father Garatea said the same was true in Peru, where nearly two decades of political violence left many children in remote parts of the country traumatized. Increasingly, countries in the region are addressing violence against children through health programs and changes to legislation, but those efforts can be slow. Last month in Peru the office of the government’s human rights ombudsman criticized changes made to a proposed updating of the Code for Children and Adolescents, after a congressional commission removed specific protection against sexual violence and physical punishment. The young people at the U.N. consultation called for parents to open lines of communication with their kids instead of resorting to force and urged countries to spend more on children’s programs. Quispe said he hoped to organize workshops for his peers and would like to see “parents’ schools” for adults. Father Garatea said adults’ attitudes about children must change. “To work for children is to work for the present, not for the future,” he said, “because children deserve it now.”
Rome, Italy (CNA/EWTN News) — The Italian Jesuit who was exiled from Syria after criticizing President Bashar al-Assad says he is still hopeful for the country’s future despite its descent into war. “I see hope in the fact that the Syrian people are very attached to their country, very attached to the fact that they are a mosaic country. People want to keep that. They are committed to pluralism,” said Jesuit Father Paolo Dall’Oglio in an interview with CNA. Father Dall’Oglio spent more than 30 years in Syria as part of the Deir Mar Musa Monastic Community. Throughout that time he was a champion for interfaith dialogue in the majority-Muslim country, where Christians make up around 10 percent of the population. Since being exiled, he has watched in horror as fighting has spread throughout Syria. “We have so much blood on our streets, so many people lost, so many people standing for freedom and democracy have been lost. So many good, youthful people … It’s such a tragedy.” The armed revolt against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011. On September 4, the new UN-
Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, told the United Nations General Assembly that the death toll from the internal conflict is “staggering” and the destruction “catastrophic.” “Syria is suffering enormously, but nevertheless people are hopeful,” said Father Dall’Oglio. “They want to have a democratic Syria where the will to be together does not come from above or outside, but it is really a spring from the inside, from the souls of the people.” To that end, Father Dall’Oglio is currently in Rome to participate in a Week of Solidarity for Syria. The event is organized by the Italian section of the Religions for Peace movement. They hope to encourage “fasting, prayer, reflection and awareness in support of the Syrian people who are suffering from the effects of civil war and repression.” “We cannot be living with others without a religious and theological consideration of the weight and the role of these people in the history of salvation,” Father Dall’Oglio said. The Week of Solidarity is also aimed at helping people prepare for the September 14-16 visit by Pope Benedict XVI to Lebanon.
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The Church in the U.S.
September 14, 2012
Archbishop: Slain chaplain, saint candidate learned to go where needed
WASHINGTON (CNS) — On by the whole person.” the 45th anniversary of a Navy Father Capodanno, who was chaplain’s death amid enemy awarded a Medal of Honor for gunfire in Vietnam, the archbish- his Vietnam service, has been op for the U.S. military services cited as the intercessor for the said the chaplain had learned to cure of a Vietnamese woman’s imitate the way of Jesus by going illness. The priest’s sainthood where he was needed. cause began in 2006. Father Vincent Capodanno’s “Effective, silent witness will motivation was “much more than always further the Gospel, and it a series of regulais always within tions or military our reach,” Archprecision,” said bishop Broglio Archbishop Timsaid, citing an othy M. Broglio anecdote from in a September “The Grunt Pa4 homily at the dre.” Basilica of the “For some National Shrine days, while away of the Immacufrom his ‘home’ late Conception battalion, Father in Washington. Capodanno was “If that were the like his Master, case, he would with no place to never have been lay his head. Maj. at the front.” Edward FitzgerFather Danald offered him iel Mode, who Father Vincent Capodanno space in his tent. wrote the book The other occu“The Grunt Padre” about Father pant was not too thrilled about Capodanno and became the pos- the idea of a priest sharing his tulator for the Maryknoll mis- space, and so he tacked up insioner’s sainthood cause, noted appropriate pictures around the that Father Capodanno “had to priest’s cot. No word about them serve all the battalions in the came out of the priest’s mouth. 7th Marines, because he was the The other officer finally came to only Catholic chaplain in the his senses and took the pictures regiment.” down.” “It is clear that the devil must Archbishop Broglio said he go when the Lord commands,” selected a votive Mass for the Archbishop Broglio said. “We preservation of peace and juswho follow Him also experience tice on the anniversary of Father the power of His Word. Father Capodanno’s death “because Capodanno obviously experi- those intentions well up in the enced it.” hearts of the men and women It was the same for Jesus in who are served by this global the Gospel reading for that day, archdiocese.” the archbishop observed. “He “While many remain ungoes to Capernaum to teach and aware, so many still suffer the heal and thereby shows His au- effects of the longest war in our thority” at the beginning of His history,” he noted, a reference to public ministry, he said. “He the war in Afghanistan. “As we leaves Nazareth and begins to remember and pray for the eterbring the message of salvation to nal repose of Father Capodanno, others. He wants to be heard and we cannot forget those he served welcomed by each person — and and how he served.”
wait and see — Sisters who immigrated to the United States from Guatemala wait to meet with a Catholic Charities immigration counselor at the North Fork Spanish Apostolate offices in Riverhead, N.Y., recently. The girls were seeking to determine their eligibility for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which defers deportation for some young adults who came to the U.S. as children. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)
Cardinal Dolan’s prayer at Democratic convention alludes to sensitive issues
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (CNS) — When Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York offered the closing benediction September 6 at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, he made allusions to issues that have put the U.S. Church and the White House at odds with each other. “Renew in all our people a profound respect for religious liberty: the first, most cherished freedom bequeathed upon us at our founding,” Cardinal Dolan prayed, an apparent reference to an ongoing dispute between the U.S. bishops and the White House over a mandate from the federal Department of Health and Human Services that would require most religious employers to offer contraceptive coverage in violation of Church teaching. The other options would be to drop all health coverage for its workers or risk paying steep fines if contraceptive coverage is not included in their insurance package. Dozens of Catholic institutions have filed suit over the mandate, and the bishops’ early-summer “Fortnight for Freedom” was an effort to raise awareness of the issue. “We ask Your Benediction on those waiting to be born, that they may be welcomed and protected,” prayed Cardinal Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. While the cardinal uttered a similar phrase in his closing benediction the week before at the Republican National Convention, the GOP’s platform on abortion is generally viewed as closer to the Catholic Church’s teaching than the Democrats’, which supports legal abortion. Cardinal Dolan also made an allusion to same-sex marriage, which President Barack Obama voiced his support for earlier this year. “Show us anew that happiness is found only in respecting the laws of nature and of nature’s God,” the
cardinal prayed. “Empower us with Your grace so that we might resist the temptation to replace the moral law with idols of our own making, or to remake those institutions You have given us for the nurturing of life and community.” PBS reported that some Democratic officials were worried that some delegates would rebuke Cardinal Dolan during his prayer by either turning their backs on him or by making catcalls, but the convention stayed silent and the prayer proceeded without incident. In his closing Benediction at the Republican National Convention the week before, Cardinal Dolan made reference to all three issues as well. On the second day of the Democrats’ September 4-6 convention in Charlotte, one of the “nuns on the bus” became a nun on the podium, as Sister Simone Campbell, a Sister of Social Service who is executive director of Network, a Catholic social justice lobby, issued a denunciation of the budget plan formulated by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. “Paul Ryan claims his budget reflects the principles of our shared Catholic faith. But the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops stated that the Ryan budget failed a basic moral test, because it would harm families living in poverty,” Sister Simone said. The bishops who chair two USCCB committees criticized Ryan’s budget plan in April, the month after the Republican-majority House voted to adopt it. “We agree with our bishops and that’s why we went on the road: to stand with struggling families and to lift up our Catholic Sisters who serve them. Their work to alleviate suffering would be seriously harmed by the Romney-Ryan budget, and that is wrong,” she said. Sister Simone called the budget
plan, titled “The Path to Prosperity,” an “immoral budget that hurts already struggling families (that) does not reflect our nation’s values. We are better than that.” She said she agrees with Romney and Ryan who say that “each individual” should be responsible. “But their budget goes astray in not acknowledging that we are responsible not only for ourselves and our immediate families,” she said. “Rather, our faith strongly affirms that we are all responsible for one another.” She cited examples of Catholic Sisters helping the poor — including Toledo, Ohio, and Milwaukee, two stops on the “Nuns on the Bus” tour. Sister Mary Rose Reddy wrote to the Syracuse Post Standard in response to Sister Simone’s speech. Sister Mary Rose noted that Sister Simone had “urged her listeners to oppose the Romney-Ryan budget plan and to support the Affordable Care Act.” Sister Mary Rose, a Daughter of Mary, Mother of Healing Love from Rochester, N.H., said, “While it is true that the bishops have criticized what they consider to be too severe cuts to services for the poor in the proposed Romney-Ryan budget, it is definitely not true that the bishops, or even most nuns in the United States, support the Affordable Care Act.” Sister Mary Rose recalled that the Affordable Care Act is the source of the HHS mandate to force religious employers that will force “to cover contraceptives, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs is an assault on religious liberty. No Catholic Sister can support it and support the Church’s teaching at the same time.” She ended her letter by noting that she had been a religious for 29 years and “I need to state clearly that Sister Simone Campbell is not speaking for me or for thousands of other Sisters in the United States.”
September 14, 2012
The Church in the U.S.
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Democrat who brokered health law compromise calls HHS mandate illegal
gentle reminder — A worker finishes posting a sign on the side of St. Peter Catholic Church in Charlotte, N.C., ahead of the Democratic National Convention September 4-6. The banner, which reads “A Message from the Catholic Church: Religious Liberty, The Soul of Democracy,” is one of two on the property of the church which sits in the middle of convention activities. (CNS photo/David Hains, Catholic News Herald)
Democratic platform includes free abortions, official ‘gay marriage’ support
Charlotte, N.C. (CNA/ EWTN News) — For the first time in American history, a major U.S. political party has incorporated support for a redefinition of marriage into its official statement of beliefs. The Democratic Party’s platform, formally adopted at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. on September 4, supports “marriage equality,” a phrase used by those who wish to redefine marriage to include homosexual couples. The platform, which outlines the party’s official views on a variety of subjects, called for the full repeal of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act that defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman for federal purposes and protects states from being forced to recognize the gay unions of other states. It also called for the passage of the so-called Respect for Marriage Act, which would require the federal government to recognize same-sex “marriages.” While the document voiced support for the freedom of “churches and religious entities” to determine how “Marriage as a religious Sacrament” should be administered, it did not include any mention of individuals or groups that hold religious objections to recognizing and supporting civil marriage. It also noted that the administration has redefined the word “family” in immigration regulations to include homosexual relationships. Affirming its support of abortion with no restrictions, a redefinition of marriage and free birth control for all women, the Democratic Party said in its official statement of positions that it
is committed to “pursuing policies that truly value families.” The platform also recognized the importance of good fathers and noted President Obama’s initiatives to support and encourage fatherhood. “We all have a stake in forging stronger bonds between fathers and their children,” it said. The president has drawn criticism for acknowledging the irreplaceable role of fathers while at the same time undermining this important role by supporting “same-sex marriage,” which renders fathers unnecessary and optional. The Democratic platform initially had no reference to God in it, but at the convention, after a series of controversial voice votes (due to the appearance that the convention chairman was ignoring the will of the delegates), God’s name was inserted into it. It called for “constitutionally sound, evidence-based partnerships with faith-based and other non-profit organizations to serve those in need and advance our shared interests.” “There is no conflict between supporting faith-based institutions and respecting our Constitution,” the document said, “and a full commitment to both principles is essential for the continued flourishing of both faith and country.” At the same time, the party voiced its support for the controversial federal mandate that requires employers to offer health care plans that include free contraception, sterilization and early abortion-inducing drugs, even if doing so violates their consciences. Widely criticized for its infringement upon conscience rights and freedom of religion,
the mandate has drawn the opposition of individuals and organizations from across the religious and political spectrum, including objections from bishops in every Catholic diocese in the U.S. However, the Democratic Party’s official statement of beliefs argued that the president “has respected the principle of religious liberty” in promoting “affordable family planning services.” The party reiterated its commitment to “safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay” and opposed any restrictions or attempts to “weaken or undermine that right.” In addition, it observed that Obama issued an executive order to repeal restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research and voiced support for “evidence-based and age-appropriate sex education,” although it did not elaborate on which types of sex education it considers to meet these criteria. The platform also said that America must advance its “core set of universal values” around the world. “President Obama and the Democratic Party are committed to supporting family planning around the globe,” it said, highlighting the president’s decision to overturn the Mexico City Policy, which bans U.S. funds from supporting foreign family planning groups that promote or perform abortions. Insisting that “gay rights are human rights,” the party also said that the State Department is currently “funding a program that finances gay rights organizations” and vowed to “actively combat” the actions of other nations that it believes are engaged in “discrimination.”
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (CNS) — The Department of Health and Human Services’ mandate that would force many religious institutions to provide free contraceptives against their consciences is illegal, former U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Wis., said September 4 during a meeting of Pro-Life Democrats. During debate over the legislation that would become the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Stupak negotiated an executive order with the Obama Administration that guaranteed the act would not violate the Hyde Amendment, which forbids federal funding for any abortion or abortion-related care. The HHS mandate violates that executive order, as well as the Hyde Amendment itself, Stupak believes. “Specifically, as written, it violates the law and violates the executive order,” said Stupak, who decided not to seek re-election after passage of the health reform law. Last year, as her agency set forth the nuts and bolts of the Affordable Care Act, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius declared that nearly all employers must include free contraception and sterilization services in their health insurance policies. HHS drafted a narrow exemption for religious employers who object to providing contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs as mandated, but to be exempted they must serve and hire people primarily of their own faith. Catholic schools, hospitals and charitable organizations would not qualify under that standard; they would either have to provide such coverage in violation of Catholic teaching, pay steep annual fines in order to keep providing health insurance to their employees and students, or stop providing health insurance entirely. Stupak said he was “bewildered” and “perplexed” by the HHS mandate when it was announced last summer. Religious organizations led by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops bristled, and under the vocal leadership of Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, conference
president, fought back. They denounced the move at first, asking the Obama Administration to back off the HHS mandate. Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina was one of the first to file a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the HHS mandate. More than 20 similar lawsuits are now in the works. In response to the criticism, President Barack Obama announced a compromise, giving Catholic institutions a year’s reprieve from having to comply with the HHS mandate and allowing them to pass the coverage costs onto their insurance carriers rather than pay for it directly. But the bishops and other religious institutions argued that the mandate itself was unconstitutional because it violates the First Amendment protection for religious freedom. The Affordable Care Act was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year, but the court did not review the HHS mandate or other details of the act. One justice even hinted in her written opinion that the HHS mandate, if challenged in federal court, is at risk of being ruled unconstitutional. Stupak said he agrees with the public outcry over the HHS mandate and its assault on religious organizations’ freedom to not offer health insurance coverage for services they consider immoral. He smiled when he was asked about the court battles now getting under way, and he said the Catholic bishops are absolutely right to challenge the HHS mandate. He also noted, without giving specifics, that there have been some moves by the Obama Administration to modify the mandate. Cardinal Dolan and the USCCB staff have asked to meet with administration officials to work out a fix, but those efforts have so far been unsuccessful. Stupak hinted it is in the Obama Administration’s best interest to bend on this controversial issue, because the HHS mandate could be overturned in court. “We don’t want this stuck in the courts, being challenged for years,” he said.
6
The Anchor The bad news is not the whole story
Last week Bishop Robert Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph (Kansas) was convicted of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse by Father Shawn Ratigan, a priest of his diocese. As we began this summer applauding the conviction of Msgr. William Lynn of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for his cover-up of several cases of sexual abuse, we also are grateful that some justice has been served in secular courts in this case from the Midwest. No joy comes from covering these cases. For one thing (and the most important thing), these cases are about truly excruciating suffering which innocent minors have suffered at the hands of clergymen, who were supposed to be leading these people to God, not distorting their image of God. Bishop Finn and Msgr. Lynn did not directly abuse anyone themselves, but their failure to act meant that many more youths were harmed, when an earlier call to the police could have saved them. It is hard to understand how Bishop Finn and Msgr. Lynn could have stood by as they did, after having lived through the “Scandal Year” of 2002. In the Diocese of Fall River we thank God that we did not have to learn that lesson in 2002, having already lived through our own painful year of media scrutiny in 1992, when the abuse done by former priest James Porter came to light. Apparently Bishop Finn and Msgr. Lynn believed that what they were doing was “for the good of the Church.” It is obvious to everyone now that the harm done to the youthful victims during the years of inaction and the harm done now to the entire Church community in Kansas City-St. Joseph and Philadelphia and throughout the country is much worse than any supposed “good” that these clerics were trying to preserve. To consider how the reputation of the Church has been tarnished by the scandal of inaction by clerics when they became aware of abuse, we just need to look through this edition of The Anchor. For example, Question 2’s advocacy of doctorassisted suicide would probably not be garnering 58 percent support in recent polls if the Catholic Church were not discredited by these scandals. A priest who was praying in defense of human life outside of the last remaining abortion clinic in our diocese (in Attleboro) said that someone yelled at him from a car, “Father Ratigan,” in reference to the priest that Bishop Finn “defended.” As Christians we are a people of hope. We know that God always has “Easter Sundays” after our personal “Good Fridays.” Sometimes we need to wait much longer than three days for our “resurrections” in this life, but they will come, if we trust in God. In terms of the issue at hand, the first priority must be the healing of those who have been victims of abuse, helping them to deal with the psychic and spiritual harm which was done to them. The Church has been working to bring this about through organized programs and through the good work done by laity and clergy in showing a loving, instead of monstrous, face to these children of God. As we read on page two, there was a recent conference at the Vatican about the relationship between power and abuse in the Church. “The conference is part of an effort to look at relationships and structures of power within the Church and determine how they may have contributed to the crisis,” reported Catholic News Service. This is not some radical group holding a protest meeting. This was the Vatican itself calling for reform in how power is exercised in the Church. Jesus did establish the Church with its hierarchical structure, but He also reminded the Apostles in their ordination at the Last Supper that their power is to be exercised as servants. It seems Bishop Finn and Msgr. Lynn may have misunderstood what that meant. The abusers misused their power in a horrific way and then their superiors either failed to use their power to rectify the wrong (and avoid future abuse) or used it to just “defend the Church” instead of defending children (who are the Church, too). Page three of this edition reminded us that abuse is not just sexual and is not just committed by clergy. The problem of domestic violence is something which has been addressed in the United States over the last generation, but in many other lands the topic is still “brand new.” Even with the attention that this “horror in the home” has received in our country, there is still an alarming incidence of it in our country. Again, here is where the teachings of the Church may have been abused by those with power (often parents or spouses) to be able to mistreat the weaker members of their households. Just as the household of faith (the Church) is in constant need of conversion, our own households need it, too, so that they might truly be the “domestic churches” that God intends them to be. All of us, clergy and laity, are called to conversion — that we ourselves constantly turn back to Christ — and then we are commanded by Him to convert the world. This edition of The Anchor has stories of hope — from the increasing role of the laity in being a “leaven” in our society, witnessing to Christ wherever they go, be it in the legal profession or driving a tow truck; to the story about a young seminarian serving the poorest of the poor in Calcutta; to the witness of a religious Sister who served her Lord in vows for 85 years. These hopeful stories can help us deal with the news from the Midwest which might make us embarrassed about the Church. They remind us that the bad news is not the whole story. There is a lot of work to do — and as the Sister said on page two, there is a lot of prayer that we need to do, too. May this autumn, with the falling of the leaves, also be a time in which we let God continue to remove what is blocking the light of His love from shining through the Church into a world which needs it. May we allow Him to prune us, so that later this fall we may bear good fruit, especially in the defense of human life. Our witness to defending youth will go a long way towards making our advocacy for the unborn, the sick and the elderly more credible.
A
September 14, 2012
Visiting the Seminary for Martyrs
t the beginning of September I like any I had ever seen, even at Auschwitz. went to Spain to do a retreat and a There were display cases featuring the bullets continuing formation course for priests in that had been taken from the bodies of several the Pyrenees. In addition to a lot of time for of the martyrs and then guns that had been prayer surrounded by natural and artistic used to shoot them. Other displays featured beauty, some very thought-provoking lectures their breviaries, opened to the Common of on the upcoming Year of Faith, many new Martyrs, which they prayed every day as friendships with 29 priests from Spain and the they prepared to become martyrs themselves. obvious opportunity to improve my Spanish, There were hymn books featuring the sacred the retreat center was also strategically situmusic they would chant as they were incarcerated to provide some incredible excursions: a ated awaiting their fate. The silver tabernacle pilgrimage to Lourdes, something I’m always in an adjoining chapel was made to look like ready to do, but even more important now a bread basket, because each morning the that I’m pastor of a parish dedicated to St. person whom the anarchists sent to bring Bernadette; Barcelona’s famous and recently them bread would also smuggle the Eucharist dedicated Basilica of Sagrada Familia; the hidden within the basket. There were display breath-taking mountain shrine of Our Lady cases with front pages of the Socialist Worker of Montserrat; the cave in Manresa where St. newspaper, proclaiming with joy that they Ignatius of Loyola began writing his “Spiritual had bombed the Basilica of Our Lady of Pilar, Exercises”; the Basilica of Our Lady of Pilar were extinguishing religion after millennia of in Zaragosa; some incredible mountain hikes ignorance, and executing priests, religious and and more. seminarians. It was a very rich interior and exterior When we got to the room with the remains pilgrimage, but the most unforgettable stage of the 51 martyrs, arranged in small, transparon that itinerary ent caskets with was totally their names unexpected. on the outside One afternoon, and their bones two carloads visible on the of us went to a inside, we all small city called knelt down to Barbastro where pray right before By Father we visited the them. After Roger J. Landry birth place of St. I opened my Josemaria Escrieyes, I looked at va, the Spanish the remains in priest and Apostle of the Laity canonized the casket in front of me, a seminarian named a decade ago by John Paul II who founded Josemaria Ormo. The first thing I noticed Opus Dei to help lay people to become holy in was the bullet hole into the top of his skull, the midst of daily lives and work. As we were meaning that he was shot kneeling. I called thanking the woman who gave us the tour of the attention of the priest next to me to it and the house in which he was born, she asked if he then pointed out to me the crushed skull of we were going to go to the shrine housing the the martyr’s remains in front of him. We were relics of the Claretian martyrs. Most of us had both stunned. no idea what she was talking about, but we It’s hard to believe that not even that was said we were interested. She gave us directhe most powerful part of the visit. The letters tions and told us to hurry, because she thought they wrote were. While the Claretians were it was about to close for the day. awaiting their deaths, they wrote to their We arrived at 7:20 p.m., 20 minutes after families, fellow Claretians, murderers and the closing time. But the door was still open and whole Church on any writing materials they I entered and spoke to a religious Brother incould find — on the bottoms of piano benches, side, asking if it were still possible to visit the on wrapping paper for chocolates, on the relics. He said that they had just closed for the insides of walls — hoping that these last testaday but, sensing a different Spanish accent, he ments would be discovered after their death. asked me how far I had traveled to get there. One of the seminarians wrote in Latin “De los Estados Unidos,” I responded with a a phrase that indicated their bravery, that smile. He graciously said that, considering I they saw themselves as the successors of the might never make it back there, he would give valiant gladiators of old: “Christe, Morituri te me and my brother priests a tour after hours. salutant,” “O Christ, those who are about to Using models and diagrams, he told the die, salute You!” story of the Spanish Civil War and how on But their overall message was one of comJuly 20, 1936, a group of anarchists firing fort to their families of origin and in religious muskets burst into Barbastro’s Seminary life, telling them not to be sad, but to rejoice, of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate because they were about to be martyred and Heart of Mary, popularly called “Claretians” would pray for them from Heaven. They after their founder St. Anthony Mary Claret. wrote that even though they would not have They rounded up all those present: the three the chance to preach the Gospel from pulpits, priest formators, the seminarians preparing they would preach it even more powerfully by for priestly ordination, and the Brothers of the their witness and, like St. Therese, spend their community who worked in the seminary and eternity doing good upon the earth. Finally received formation, 51 in all. After taking a they wrote that they forgave their assassins, census and roughing some up for sport, the begging God to accept the shedding of their three priests were brought to the city jail and blood as a prayer that He not hold their sins the rest were brought across town to another against them. religious house that the anarchists were using Pope John Paul II, who beatified them all as a makeshift holding cell. Over the course on Oct. 25, 1992, said that they were the most of the next month, they were taken in waves illustrious graduates a seminary could ever to be slaughtered: first the priests on August have, and called their house of formation a 2, shot in the cemetery; then the six oldest of “Martyrs’ Seminary,” a place that prepared those who remained, who were scourged with them not only to celebrate the Mass but to wires and cords to the point of death and then enter fully into Christ’s passion, mercy, death shot; on August 13 and 15, in two groups of and resurrection and show others how to do 20, the Claretians prepared for and celebrated the same. On this day in which we celebrate the Assumption of Our Lady by seeing her in the triumph of the Cross, we remember how person; and on August 18, the two last Clarthey preached this mystery 76 years ago. etians, who had been sick, were executed. Father Landry is Pastor of St. Bernadette The brother then took us into a room unParish in Fall River.
Putting Into the Deep
P
7
The Anchor
September 14, 2012
Difficult decisions
atients and families sometimes struggle with the question of whether dialysis is “worth it.” A young woman wrote recently on a website addressing dialysis patients’ concerns, “My father has been on dialysis for three years, and he’s 62 years old. A few days ago he said he wanted to stop going because he was ‘sick of it.’ We talked to him and told him that it would hurt us if he did that, but now I’m thinking that maybe I shouldn’t have talked him out of it — this isn’t about me and my feelings. This is about what he has to deal with.” When would discontinuing dialysis be a reasonable and morally acceptable choice? Could discontinuing dialysis ever be tantamount to suicide? While every person is obligated to use ordinary (or proportionate) means to preserve his or her life, no person is required to submit to a health care procedure that he or she has judged, with a free and informed conscience, to provide little hope of benefit or to impose significant risks and burdens. Weighing benefits and burdens is at the heart of the question of starting, continuing or stopping dialysis. As the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has noted:
“We have a duty to preserve our sharp drops in blood pressure life and to use it for the glory of during or after the procedure. God, but the duty to preserve life Fainting, vomiting, nausea, is not absolute, for we may reject muscle cramps, temporary loss life-prolonging procedures that of vision, irritability, and fatigue are insufficiently beneficial or can occur. Some patients manifest excessively burdensome. Suicide abnormal heart rhythms from and euthanasia are never morally electrolyte imbalances, while acceptable options.” others may experience allergic The benefits of the commonly-used procedure known as hemodialysis (filtration of the blood) are well known: as kidney function declines, dialysis performs By Father Tad part of the work that Pacholczyk healthy kidneys normally do, filtering toxins from the body. Dialysis can serve as a bridge to a kidney reactions or bleeding problems transplant, which can offer the pa- from the chemicals or bloodtient a new lease on life. Disconthinning medicines used during tinuing dialysis during complete the dialysis. kidney failure usually means that Long term dialysis can cause the patient will die in a matter of bone and joint pain from a dedays or weeks. posit of various proteins known The burdens of dialysis vary as amyloid in the hands, wrists, from patient to patient. The proshoulders, and neck. Cost may cedure can be time-consuming, represent yet another burden, derequiring visits to a dialysis center pending on the patient’s personal three times a week for three to finances and insurance situation. four hours at a stretch, with adStill other burdens may include ditional time for transportation. problems with the access point One can also feel washed out the made for the dialysis — called a next day. fistula — which usually occurs in Other burdens may include the arm. This is a surgical connec-
tion made under the skin between an artery and a vein, allowing needles to access bloodflow for dialysis. As many as 25 percent of hospital admissions among dialysis patients are due to problems with fistula malfunction, thrombosis, infection, and access. Multiple surgeries may be required to assure that a fistula continues to function during the time it is used. In sum, then, dialysis can prolong and save a patient’s life, but can also impose significant burdens. Depending on the various side effects and problems associated with the procedure, and depending on how minimal the benefits may be in light of other medical conditions the patient may be struggling with, it can become reasonable, in some cases, to discontinue dialysis. The burdens of hemodialysis can sometimes be lessened by using a different kind of dialysis known as peritoneal dialysis, where fluid is instilled in the abdomen via a permanently positioned catheter and later drained. Peritoneal dialysis can be performed by the patient at home each night. It’s not possible with the lim-
ited information we have to draw any moral conclusions about the case of the father who is “sick of it” and wants to stop dialysis. We need further details, such as: What is the reason for his request? Is he experiencing serious complications and significant burdens from dialysis? Does he have other medical problems besides kidney failure? Is he suffering from depression, for which he could be treated? We should never choose to bring about our own or another’s death by euthanasia, suicide or other means, but we may properly recognize, on a case by case, detail-dependent basis, that at a certain point in our struggle to stay alive, procedures like dialysis may become unduly burdensome treatments that are no longer obligatory. In these cases, it’s always wise to consult clergy or other moral advisors trained in these often-difficult bioethical issues. Father Pacholczyk earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, and serves as the Director of Education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. See www.ncbcenter.org.
Charlotte, N.C. (CNA/ EWTN News) — Supporters of Planned Parenthood argued at a September 4 rally that Pro-Life views amount to the belief that women are inferior and should not have certain rights. Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) asserted that Po-Life politicians are trying to remove “women’s basic rights” and the ability to control “their destinies.” Republicans believe that women “are not created equal” and do not include women “when they talk that freedom and liberty stuff,” she argued. Moore charged that abortion foes are radically “backwardlooking” and warned against those who want women “to be barefoot and pregnant.” Moore was one of several speakers who endorsed President Barack Obama at a September 4 Planned Parenthood rally held outside the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., during the Democratic National Convention. The rally featured a woman dressed as a giant container of birth control pills who led chants, as well as speakers like Emily Sussman, executive director of Young Democrats of America, who declared that she is a “b-tch for choice.” Although the rally was not an official convention event, Planned
Parenthood supporters wearing pink T-shirts were very prominent around the convention center. Many of the speakers at the event focused on a controversial federal mandate that requires employers to provide health insurance covering contraception, sterilization and early abortion-inducing drugs, even if doing so violates their consciences. Religious organizations and individuals across the country have voiced objections to the mandate, arguing that it infringes on their freedom of religion because such products and procedures are contrary to their beliefs. Republican candidates have vowed to protect religious employers and those who object from the mandate. Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards told the crowd that “we’re fighting over the right of women in this country to have birth control” and argued that opponents of the mandate “want to let our boss decide whether or not we should be able to get birth control.” But the numerous churches and secular employers who object to the mandate have responded to these claims by pointing out that most companies already cover contraception and would be free to continue doing so. Employ-
In addition, Democrats for Life of America recently announced that nearly one in three Democrats self-identifies as Pro-Life. The organization made an attempt to expand the party’s 2012 platform to include Pro-Life positions in addition to pro-abortion views, but its request was rejected. Georgetown University law graduate Sandra Fluke also spoke at the rally, highlighting the importance of the 2012 election. Fluke has become a hero for the push to promote the contraception mandate since she testified before
an unofficial committee at the U. S. Capitol in February on why she believed religious institutions such as Georgetown University should be required to provide free contraception to students. The 31-year-old recounted stories of fellow students who allegedly suffered because they were unable to treat medical conditions with contraceptives, even though the university’s student health care plan was later shown to cover birth control if needed for medical purposes rather than contraceptive ones.
Making Sense Out of Bioethics
Planned Parenthood rally speakers frame Pro-Life views as anti-woman ees who work for the minority of morally objecting employers can find contraception already widely available for little cost at many pharmacies and for free at some health clinics, they add. Still, rally participants repeatedly made the claim that their opponents are attempting to prevent insurance policies from covering birth control. Newark’s Mayor Cory Booker argued that the GOP is “denying women access to healthcare.” “You see, there’s some people in the Republican Party that believe that when they say all men are created equal, that they are leaving out women,” he said. Speakers at the event veered away from discussing abortion, despite the fact that Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest abortion provider. “It’s not just about abortion,” said actress Aisha Tyler, a Planned Parenthood national board member. When discussing the organization and surrounding issues in the months leading up to the election, she advised the crowd, “don’t let it be about abortion,” shift the focus to “women’s health.” The transition in emphasis may have been in response to polls that indicate Americans who identify as “pro-choice” are at an all-time low.
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8
I
n the Gospel reading for this week, we meet Jesus and the Apostles at Caesarea Philippi and things are at a turning point. From here on, Jesus begins to reveal who He is to the disciples and to teach them about the proper role of the Messiah and the mission He was sent to accomplish. Jesus sets all of this in motion with a simple question: “But who do you say that I am?” It is a question that has profound implications not only for the disciples, but for us as well. Of course, Jesus doesn’t just lead off with His question, nor does He start this teaching out of the blue. Jesus causes the disciples to thinking about whom the people say that He is. This is a relatively easy question for them to answer, as they undoubtedly heard from the people themselves their opinions. In their answer, John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the prophets, we see that the people, and as we can tell from the rapidity of their reply, the disciples, understand that Jesus is someone special, someone sent by God to Israel. In asking the disciples their own opinion, Jesus is
September 14, 2012
The Anchor
Real love
simultaneously showing them on Holy Thursday night, Peter a greater level of intimacy doesn’t get it. He’s not ready and causing them to reflect yet to be the fearless leader, and deeper on their own experiuntil such time as he is, he must ences with Him. Peter reget behind Jesus. Jesus then sponds with swiftness: “You introduces (and will spend the are the Messiah.” In so doing, Peter shows a greater receptivity Homily of the Week to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. In St. Twenty-fourth Sunday Matthew’s account of in Ordinary Time this same scene, Jesus By Father acknowledges Peter’s answer and confirms David C. Deston Jr. it. In Matthew and here in Mark, Jesus enjoins the Twelve to keep silent on this news. He rest of Mark’s Gospel building does this not to hide anything on) the central mission of the from the people, but to take Messiah, and by extension the time to teach them what the Christian, that to save one’s life, role of the Messiah is, that He one must give it up. must suffer and die. This is where we see that Peter does not take this well. the question that Jesus asks the The Gospel tells us that Peter Twelve has implications for begins to rebuke Jesus. Jesus us, for that same question is rebukes right back: “Get behind asked of each one of us: “Who me, Satan.” Jesus uses the same do you say that I am?” Who do term to Peter that He used at we think He is? Every week at His temptation in the desert. Mass, the Church answers that Here, however, Jesus is not question in the Creed. Indeed, equating Peter with the devil, the section about Jesus is the but using the term as a comlongest part of our profesmand to follow Him. As is evision of faith. Do we believe dent, and as we see played out it? We’re pretty good about
saying the prayer in church with everyone else, but do the words that we speak mean anything to us, or are they just words that we say because that’s the time we’re supposed to say something? I believe that we do believe that Jesus is who He says He is. I think that at one time or another we have each seen God working in our lives. It may have been a fleeting glimpse or it may have been a full-blown miracle, but we have seen, and having seen, we believe. The last line of the Gospel reading tells us what we’re supposed to do about it. We must deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow Him, for whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Jesus will save it. This is a profound statement, and really, it’s the Great Commandment and the Golden Rule in disguise. Jesus is telling us that if we’re so worried about stuff, if we’re too wrapped up in ourselves,
then we’re dead; our lives are empty and meaningless. However, if we love God and neighbor, then we have found eternal life. Furthermore, this love needs to be a real love, an active love where we give of ourselves to others. In the second reading, St. James tells us that faith without works is dead. It is useless, he tells us to just say to others, “Keep warm and well fed.” Good thoughts are nice and all, but we need to be out there helping other people. We need to be like Christ. We’re not alone, though. In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah tells us that we have God for our help. With God’s help, we can be firm and resolute in our love, and bring Christ to a world that needs the grace, the strength, and the love that He can provide. Let us then take up our crosses and follow Jesus Christ through this world to that perfect life in the heavenly Jerusalem. Father Deston is a Technical Assistant at St. Michael’s Parish and Chaplain at Charlton Memorial Hospital, both in Fall River.
Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Sept. 15, 1 Cor 10:14-22; Ps 116:12-13,17-18; Jn 19:25-27 or Lk 2:33-35. Sun. Sept. 16, Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Is 50:5-9a; Ps 116:1-6,8-9; Jas 2:14-18; Mk 8:27-35. Mon. Sept. 17, 1 Cor 11:17-26,33; Ps 40:7-10,17; Lk 7:1-10. Tues. Sept. 18, 1 Cor 12:1214,27-31a; Ps 100:1-5; Lk 7:11-17. Wed. Sept. 19, 1 Cor 12:31—13:13; Ps 33:2-5,12,22; Lk 7:31-35. Thurs. Sept. 20, 1 Cor 15:1-11; Ps 118:1b-2,16ab-17,28; Lk 7:36-50. Fri. Sept. 21, Eph 4:1-7,11-13; Ps 19:2-5; Mt 9:9-13.
“I
t’s the economy, stupid!” — James Carville’s memorable note-to-self during the 1992 presidential race — will be the determining factor in the 2012 campaign, according to the common wisdom. That may be true. But as Catholics consider their responsibilities between now and November 6, it would be good to remember that the future of the Pro-Life cause in America is also at stake. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 79. Justices Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy are 76. Justice Stephen Breyer is 74. The president elected in November will likely appoint two Supreme Court justices, and may appoint as many as four, over the next quadrennium. If that next president replaces Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, and Kennedy with nominees who think that Roe v. Wade (1973) and Casey v. Planned Parenthood (1992) were wrongly decided, there could conceivably be a 7-2 Court majority to overturn (or, in effect, gut) those dread-
The future of the Pro-Life cause
ful decisions and return the aftermath of the 1992 election, abortion debate (and related several of us gathered around life-issues questions like euGovernor Robert Casey of thanasia) to the states. There, Pennsylvania to plan a Demothe Pro-Life cause would win cratic nomination challenge some states (likely the majorto President Clinton in 1996. ity) and lose some others. With Casey had been blocked by the national opinion polls showing a Pro-Life majority for the first time in a long time, however, the conditions would be right for legally advancing the cause in a By George Weigel dramatic way. If, conversely, Justice Scalia (and Justices Ginsburg and Breyer, and Clintons from speaking at the possibly Kennedy) were to be 1992 Democratic convention; replaced in the next presidential he combined a strong Pro-Life term by nominees favorable to record with an appeal to the imthe Court’s judgment in Roe portant voting bloc of “Reagan and Casey, the radical abortion Democrats”; he had twice been license created by those two elected governor of a crucial decisions might well be set in swing state; and whether or not federal legal concrete for the he could wrest the Democratic next 30 years. The Pro-Life nomination away from Presicause would go on, but it would dent Clinton, a strong Casey continue under severe federal campaign in 1996 would have legal restraints. established two crucial points That this choice should — the Pro-Life issue is a biparpresent itself in partisan terms tisan one, and there is ample is a national tragedy. In the room in the Democratic Party
The Catholic Difference
for gung-ho Pro-Lifers. It would have been great fun; it might have been historic; but it was not to be. Governor Casey’s health went south, the challenge to President Clinton never materialized, and the throw-weight of Pro-Lifers within the Democratic Party was further reduced. Where all of that eventually led was demonstrated in early 2010, when Pro-Life Democrats in the House of Representatives provided the slim margin of victory for Obamacare — the implementers of which are now whittling away religious freedom and asking dental insurers whether they provide abortion coverage in their plans, all in the name of a virtually unlimited and government-funded right to abortion-on-demand. As the natural successor to the classic civil rights movement, the Pro-Life cause ought to have been a bipartisan cause; it should certainly have been the cause of Catholic progres-
sives. Yet as early as 1967, Richard John Neuhaus, then a Lutheran pastor and a civil rights veteran, warned his fellow-liberals in a Commonweal article that they were betraying the civil rights cause by flirting with “liberalized” abortion laws. Neuhaus’s article won a prize from the Catholic Press Association; but that was then, and this is now. And as the Democratic Party has become ever more intransigent on the abortion question — with rare exceptions like Congressman Dan Lipinski (D-Illinois), a true Pro-Life hero — the Pro-Life cause has been abandoned by the old pro-civil rights coalition, even as African-American communities are decimated by the abortion license. In any case, the Pro-Life stakes in 2012 could not be greater. Men and women of conscience will form their judgments accordingly. George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.
September 14, 2012
Back to school
Friday 14 September 2012 — that story impacts directly on Falmouth Village — feast of the those who are currently in resiExultation of the Holy Cross dence. A house is like a living he Tuesday followthing. I do know this house was ing Labor Day, I’m out constructed by a builder named of the rectory early with my Russell Nickerson sometime greyhound Transit. The leaves have not yet begun to show their autumnal color, but there are some that Reflections of a have already given Parish Priest up, turned brown, and By Father Tim fallen to the ground. There’s a tree visGoldrick ible from my upstairs window. It’s displaying bright yellow leaves on its topmost branches. More during the seven-year adminwill follow. The traffic on Main istration of the first resident Street is noticeably lighter. I can pastor. That pastor was Father make out the figures of small James Coyle. Father Coyle had children passing the rectory as come to Falmouth from St. Peter they walk to school for opening Parish, Provincetown, in 1928 to day. I wonder how many chilserve as the first resident pastor dren over the years have walked of St. Thomas the Apostle Parpast this old house on their way ish, Falmouth Heights. The newto and from school. ly-created parish of St. Thomas, I don’t yet know the history previously a mission of St. of the house in which I now live. Joseph Parish, Woods Hole, had Every house has its story and no rectory. Father Coyle rented
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The missing piece
frustrated them — especially wenty years ago, I comparisons with those whose began writing about the lives and dispositions were so feminine vocation. In the decade different from their own — and prior to that, having converted they were free to embark on a to the Catholic faith, I found that life whose only yardstick was the air was thick with stereohow it measured up to what the types and hyperbole about what mystical Bride of Christ was women could and couldn’t do. called to be. I wondered if there weren’t a Unfortunately, they still more organized way of discussweren’t entirely free to eming the subject that would enbrace God’s will for their lives. courage and unite women, rather than further fracturing their ranks. Years of writing — as well as raising a family (and maturing enormously myself!) — helped me to distill enough By Genevieve Kineke thoughts on the matter to put some ideas in a book (“The Authentic CathoSince the bottom line of every lic Woman,” Servant Books, woman’s vocation is to love, 2006). It was well-received, the and the risk of loving in a fallen thoughts rattling about my head world is to be hurt, the fear of had been entrusted to paper, and how to deal with injuries was I thought that was the end of it. still crippling many women who Surely, I was a “one-trick pony” deserved to be liberated in the and could call it a day. only real sense of the world — As I crisscrossed the country, liberated in Christ. The last chalthough, and spoke about my thelenge was learning how to deal sis — that women live as icons with a lifetime of wounds, large of Holy Mother Church — I and small, that sucked the joy found that one piece was missout of living the faith. I found ing. When I explained how that that it was still difficult to follow theme was applied to everyday Christ’s insistent call to “be not life, and that each woman is free afraid!” to live within that paradigm acOur salvation hinges on our cording to the unique landscape ability to forgive, and yet there of her world (considering her is little practical advice on what gifts, her challenges, and her forgiveness entails. We know family situation) women were Christ forgave us from the cross, delighted. They were free from Our Lady took us to her bosom comparisons with others that
The Feminine Genius
while we were still deep in sin, and the prayer Jesus left us reminds that the forgiveness of our sins depends on our forgiveness of others, but what does that really mean? How is it actually done? What is enough? What follows? Is there anything we don’t have to forgive? How do we proceed after the forgiveness is offered? Thus it is with great joy that I announce that I’m now a “two-trick pony.” “Set-Free: The Authentic Catholic Woman’s Guide to Forgiveness” will be available in midOctober, and I’m thrilled that I was invited to put these very practical ideas into print. If you will bear with me, I’ll share a little of what Dr. Alice von Hildebrand said about the work: “This book — written for a very large public — if read with an open heart, will be a powerful help to those who with God’s grace, realize that to forgive is to love oneself with a true love. Whereas the unrepentant forgiven person is still sick, the forgiving one is healed. Tolle lege.” Having found that healing grace myself, I want it for all women. You owe it to yourselves — and your loved ones — to break the chains and to love without fear. Forgiveness is the key. Mrs. Kineke lives in Rhode Island and can be found online at feminine-genius.com.
Parish, it didn’t have a rectory. The task fell to Father Coyle to build one. The house I live in, then, is somewhere between 75 and 80 years old. Many students over the years must have walked past this house on their way to school. The students passing the rectory this particular day were from the Mullen-Hall School just off Main Street. Not all students at the school live close enough to walk so seven yellow school buses are available to transport those who need to be transported. In a few weeks, the school administration will be sponsoring a “Walk to School Day” to encourage more students to do so. It must have an underlying motive of encouraging young people to get more exercise. The village school (as it was once named) accommodates students in kindergarten through fourth grade. The smallest of the perambulating scholars, I noticed, had brand-new school bags almost as big as they were. Some of the parents were carrying the bags for the very little ones. The parents had a certain spring in their step, I thought, but the children seemed a bit sluggish and apprehensive. Perhaps, for the children, it had to do with the early hour of rising after so many carefree days of summer vacation. I was sure their energy levels would rise as soon as they saw all of their friends at school
and experienced enthusiastic greetings from their teachers. Lunch, too, would cheer them up. I had already read in the newspaper that they would be having chicken nuggets. There’s nothing like some tasty chicken nuggets to cheer up a small child. I could also speculate as to the reason the parents seemed to step so jauntily, but I won’t. If you are a parent, you know the reason. The opening of school is the curtain call of summer. There can be no doubt about it. We have entered the dark half of the year. There are always those who fear the dark, but seldom people whose faith is strong. Instead of fearing the darkness, the faithful exult. We know that the darkness has already been overcome. It is no accident that the feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross occurs today in the Church calendar. Still, there remains a great deal of darkness in our world. Wars rage on. Poverty and injustice exist all across the planet. The state of the worldwide economy is frightening. In our own quadrennial election year, allegations of incivility and untruths are frequent. Dark clouds loom even over the Church. No, there is certainly no shortage of darkness. On this day, with faith and confidence, we lift high the cross. Father Goldrick is pastor of St. Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth.
Revised and updated ...
2012-2013 Diocese of Fall River Catholic Directory ... NOW SHIPPING !! Published by The Anchor Publishing Company P.O. Box 7, Fall River, Massachusetts 02722 Please ship _____ directories x $18 each, including shipping and handling. Total Enclosed $_____ NAME ____________________________________________ ADDRESS _________________________________________ CITY _____________________ STATE _______ ZIP _____ Please make checks payable to “Anchor Publishing” For more information, email theanchor@anchonews.org, call 508-675-7151, or order online at www.anchornews.org
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Diocesan DCCW to host talk on physician-assisted suicide in Mass.
NORTH FALMOUTH — The Fall River Diocesan Council of Catholic Women will hold its next meeting on September 29 at 9:30 a.m. at St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in North Falmouth, and the topic is of great importance to everyone throughout the diocese and the state. The guest speaker will be Peter T. McNulty, associate director for Policy and Research for the Mass. Catholic Conference. The theme of the presentation is “Physician-Assisted Suicide (aka) Doctor-Prescribed Death Its Flaws and Implications.” McNulty joined the MCC in August of last year after having previously served in various positions in the administrative offices of the Archdiocese of Boston. His presentation will expose the dangers of this latest ballot initiative in today’s society.
Physician-assisted suicide is currently legal in two states in the United States: Washington and Oregon. Proponents of the bill in Massachusetts circulated petitions and obtained enough signatures to insure it will appear on this November’s ballot. Earlier this year efforts to do the same in Vermont were defeated. McNulty hopes to inform attendees of the dangers of the bill and explain how it can be defeated in the Commonwealth. DCCW officers stressed to the people of the diocese how important this presentation is to inform people of this measure. “No one has the right to take the life of another, no matter what the circumstances,” said DCCW publicity chairman Madeleine Lavoie. The public is urged to attend and bring a family member or friend.
September 14, 2012
Lay committee urges citizens to vote ‘NO’ on Question 2 continued from page one
tor, are on the committee and have illness and has an estimated six or esting is the cause of death on the devoted much of their time over the less months to live to receive from death certificate is not the lethal last few months preparing materi- a licensed physician a prescription drug. It’s listed as the disease itself.” als to inform voters in the diocese for a lethal drug with which to kill “The important thing for termiabout the November ballot ques- themselves. nal patients to know is that they are tion, and the repercussions of its “The Death with Dignity pro- not alone,” said St. Laurent. “They passing. ponents say that this bill will allow will be cared for and live out their “Most people are not aware of people to end their lives on their lives with dignity and love.” the bill,” St. Laurent told The An- own terms and eliminate suffering “One of the biggest concerns for chor. “The name, ‘Death with Dig- for themselves and their families,” the terminal patient is the fear of nity,’ is very misleading. There are said St. Laurent. “But today there future pain,” added Arsenault. “It’s some very important flaws in the are so many forms of pain man- all fear-driven, the fear of the unbill that people need to be aware agement and palliative care that re- known. But Hospice care, and palof.” move those factors from the equa- liative care, and pain management “I know that there are even tion. There is simply not enough eliminate those worries.” medical people who Many people fear the don’t know this is on the advent of legal physicianost people are not aware of assisted suicide could be upcoming ballot,” said the bill,” St. Laurent told the precursor to legalizDesrosiers. “There is definitely a lack of under- The Anchor. “The name, ‘Death with ing euthanasia, whereby standing of this proposed Dignity,’ is very misleading. There are a patient does not need a bill.” terminal diagnosis, furBecause so many some very important flaws in the bill that ther ushering in a culture Massachusetts voters are people need to be aware of.” of death and not life. Curnot aware of the proposal, rently in the Netherlands or its content, the three where physician-assisted committee members have prepared education about these options out suicide and euthanasia are legal, an information book, brochures, there, even in the medical com- that right is extended to those as bookmarks, pew cards, and posters munity. This bill has some major young as 12 years old. that have been distributed to every flaws.” “This ballot question is going to diocesan parish where they will be Some of those flaws include the be a battle,” said Desrosiers. “Right made available to area faithful in fact that many people outlive their now not too many people know the weeks to come. These materials diagnosis, some for years, and that about the bill or that it’s on the balare already available at the Diocese doctors often cannot accurately lot. A lack of communication beof Fall River website at www. predict how long a person will live. tween people is what pushes a bill fallriverdiocese.org. Another major omission is that like this forward.” In addition, St. Laurent, Desro- the person is not required to seek a “We must get the word out and siers and others have been speak- psychiatric evaluation before opt- let people know what’s going on,” ing at area locales about the issues ing for physician-assisted suicide. added St. Laurent. “Tell a family and will continue to do so wherever “Often, a terminal diagnosis is ac- member about it, tell a friend, tell a requested up until Election Day. companied by major depression for parishioner. Tell them to vote ‘NO’ Materials were also distributed to the patient,” said St. Laurent. “This on Question 2 on November 6.” diocesan directors of Religious depression, along with the pain is St. Laurent and Desrosiers also Education and Cape Cod hospi- very treatable.” stressed the need for people to destal chaplains, and meetings are in Once the prescription is written, ignate a Health Care proxy, whose the works with various Knights of there is no requirement for reevalu- purpose is to make health care deColumbus councils to get the word ation. cisions for an individual should out. Yet another disturbing fact is they become incapable of doing so A panel presentation on the bill that the bill does not require that the themselves. will take place October 28 from 11 ingestion of the lethal drug be done For more information on this a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Holiday Inn in in the presence of any witnesses. important issue, visit the Diocese Taunton. It is open to the public. To obtain the prescription, a pa- of Fall River website at www. “We encourage everyone to reg- tient needs to be witnessed by two fallriverdiocese.org and click on ister and bring family and friends people, at least one of whom who is the physician-assisted suicide link, who may not be aware of the flaws not a relative. Someone who may or visit stopassistedsuicide.org. and dangers of this bill,” said Des- end up inheriting the dying person’s For information or to schedule rosiers. For information or registra- estate can be a witness. Immediate a speaker contact the Pro-Life tion, email pla@plrachel.com or relations need not be informed of Apostolate, Diocese of Fall call 508-675-1311. the patient’s request. River, P.O. Box 2577, Fall River, If passed the bill will allow a “The bill does not require a doc- Mass. 02722-2577, e-mail: pla@ person 18 years old or older who tor to give options to the patient,” plrachel.com, or by telephone 508has been diagnosed with a terminal said Desrosiers. “And what’s inter- 675-1311.
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MUSIC MENTOR — Marie Chabot, music teacher at St. Mary’s School in Taunton, conducts class with her fifth-grade students. Chabot recently released a CD of original music titled “Home Again” and will be giving some of the proceeds from the sales to benefit the school. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)
Music teacher’s new CD will benefit Taunton school
By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff
TAUNTON — Fifth-grade students at St. Mary’s School in Taunton happily filed into Marie Chabot’s music class earlier this week, eager to learn about lyrics and music and the composers who create them. And they’ll be learning from someone with firsthand experience — Chabot released her own CD of eight original songs in June titled “Home Again” on the independent Tate Music Group label, and she’s decided to donate a portion of the proceeds from the sales to benefit St. Mary’s School. “I think music is so important in this curriculum, and I know that schools are struggling, so I hope this is a way to help,” Chabot said. “Ultimately I would like the money raised to go towards the music program, but that’s up to the principal. Wherever they need it is fine, but I would like to see it used here.” Chabot, who is beginning her eighth year as a teacher at the Catholic elementary school, said the music program has been doing well, but they don’t have a lot of resources. “It would be nice to have some research materials available for the kids,” she said. “I would like to see them do a little bit more work in writing about composers and learning about different types of music from different countries.
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September 14, 2012
Except for what I teach them, we don’t really have a music library, which would be nice. It would be nice to be able to buy some more sheet music, too.” A graduate of St. Mary’s School and Bishop Feehan High School, both in North Attleboro, Chabot has been writing songs since she was 12 years old and even spent
some time in Nashville, Tenn., pursuing a music career before returning to teach in Taunton. “I lived in Nashville for 15 years and moved back here in 2000,” Chabot said. “I was a backup singer for other artists, but I’ve always been interested in Catholic education and the Church.” Chabot’s devotion to music and her faith are evident in her role as music director for her current home parish of Sacred Heart of Jesus in Hopedale. “As of October 1 we’ll be moving to St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Bridgewater, which is closer to
Taunton,” she added. Having collected a pile of rejection letters over the years from potential song publishers and record labels, Chabot was stunned when she received a call from Tate Music Group in the summer of 2011. “I thought it was a hoax,” she said. “They said they were interested in signing me. They said they were going to send me a contract to look at and, sure enough, the next day FedEx arrived with a big, 60-page contract. I have a friend whose son is involved with entertainment law and had him review it. He told me it was a good, solid contract. They wanted me to record eight of my songs, so I went to Oklahoma where the company is based last November and recorded the album.” Over the years Chabot said she had probably written about 100 songs and she hand-picked eight of her best to record for “Home Again.” “They gave me complete license to select and record what I wanted,” she said. “I picked some that I wrote way back, and others from different periods in my life — some happy, some sad.” While she characterized the CD as pop, Chabot said there are many different influences on the session — from blues to country to classical. “The Beatles were a big influence,” she said, pointing to a prominent poster of the famed Fab
Four in her classroom. “I grew up during the era of the singersongwriters — people like James Taylor, Carol King, Carly Simon, Janis Ian — so they are some of my influences, too.” Chabot said her parents’ musical tastes also informed her — from her father’s affection for Neil Diamond and Cat Stevens to her mother’s appreciation for classical music. She also cited the late Karen Carpenter, whose vocal range is similar to her own, as another “big role model.” Then there’s her former English teacher at Bishop Feehan High School who not only inspired her to write better lyrics, but also had an impact on her wanting to become a teacher. Her favorite track on “Home Again,” a song called “Rain on Friday,” was written as a tribute to him. “He still teaches at Feehan and when the CD came out I brought it to him and told him he inspired the song,” she said. “He was shocked, but I’m glad to have had that kind of closure. He always taught me to write about what you know. I was trying to write songs that anybody could sing, but when you do that sometimes you lose the feeling.” Despite her success, Chabot remains grounded and committed to passing on her love of music to her students. “Last year when I told my students I was going to Oklahoma to record the CD, they were all asking me if I was going to come back,” she said, laughing. In addition to teaching general
music to students from kindergarten through grade five, Chabot is also responsible for overseeing the music for the school’s annual Christmas pageant, for providing music for school Liturgies, and for the school’s annual spring musical. “I started a glee club here two years ago,” she added. “It started with five girls; it was manageable, it was fun. The next year I had 10 kids signed up, but the first day we had rehearsal I had 21 kids show up. It was wonderful, but it was really hard to do as much. So this year I’m going to have two groups — one for grades four and five and another for grades two and three. We’ll see how that goes.” As for future songwriting prospects, Chabot is careful to keep a tape recorder by her bed these days in case something comes to her in the middle of the night. “I used to wake up in the middle of the night and think of something and I’d have to write it down, because if you go back to sleep, it’s gone,” she said. “Now I have a tape recorder by my bed, which makes it a lot easier. I can just sing something into it. Sometimes the best ones are the ones that just come without thinking too much about them.” Marie Chabot’s “Home Again” CD can be purchased through St. Mary’s School, www. stmarystaunton.com, through Amazon (www.amazon.com), or via Apple’s iTunes store. For more information, visit www. mariechabot.org.
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Catholics face important decisions continued from page one
Laity in 2010, Pope Benedict XVI said, “It is the duty of the laity to participate actively in political life in a manner coherent with the teaching of the Church.” The pope cited areas of particular concern, including the defense of life and freedom, the protection of truth and the good of the family, solidarity with the needy and the search for the common good. The most important Massachusetts ballot item for Catholics this fall is Question 2, the measure that would legalize doctor-prescribed death, according to James Driscoll, executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the public policy arm for the four bishops in the Commonwealth. “It’s against the Catholic faith and the Catholic teachings to take life before life is taken naturally,” Driscoll said. “We are working closely with the four dioceses to get the message out to parishioners across the state.” The Archdiocese of Boston has launched a campaign called “Suicide is Always a Tragedy.” Information sessions have been held across the state. Question 2, Prescribing Medication to End Life, is a citizens’ initiative petition. Proponents claim the measure would give patients greater peace of mind, choice and control in their final days of life. The legislation permits individuals who are given six months or fewer to live to receive life-ending drugs. The law would require that two doctors verify the mental competence of patients and that there be a 15-day waiting period between the request for and writing of each prescription. On top of legalizing the taking of life before natural death, the bill has other significant problems, Driscoll said. “Doctors do the best they can, but they cannot accurately predict life expectancy as this bill calls for,” he said. “There are plenty of people on plenty of occasions who live much longer than their physicianpredicted life expectancy.” He also criticized the bill for failing to call for psychiatric evaluations. “It would certainly make sense for a psychiatrist or psychologist to evaluate the patient for mental health issues, which may have been caused by receiving this news,” he said. A poll released by Public
Policy Polling on August 22 found that 58 percent of Massachusetts voters support the legislation. Two other questions will appear on the ballot — Question 1: Availability of Motor Vehicle Repair Information and Question 3: Medical Use of Marijuana. The latter seeks to create 35 marijuana distribution centers across the state. If passed, Massachusetts would become the 17th state to approve marijuana for medicinal use. The state ranks fifth in overall pot use, and use among Commonwealth youth is 30 percent higher than the national average. The PPP poll found that 58 percent of voters support legalizing medicinal marijuana. Groups like the Massachusetts Family Institute and the Massachusetts Prevention Alliance oppose the legislation. The United States Drug Enforcement Administration released a position paper on marijuana last year, stating that the drug is not medicine and that legalizing pot comes at the expense of children and public safety. Other August poll data from the state has found that President Barack Obama leads former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney — 55-39 percent. For the first time in a year, Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) was leading Elizabeth Warren by a margin greater than the margin of error. He was up five points with a 2.9-point margin of error. Brown, who won the special election for the seat formerly held by Sen. Ted Kennedy in 2010, has continued to bill himself as an “independent thinker” in a pickup truck. Social conservatives heavily supported the senator in his last election, but Brown has repeatedly referred to himself as “pro-choice” this election season. NARAL Pro-Choice America has endorsed Warren and gives Brown a 45 percent rating. Brown has an 80 percent approval rating from the National Right to Life Committee and was endorsed by Massachusetts Citizens for Life. The election between Brown and Warren may determine which political party controls the Senate. For a preview of your ballot or instructions on how to register to vote in Massachusetts, visit the Secretary of State’s website at http://www. sec.state.ma.us.
not in his own words — Zoe Saldana and Bradley Cooper star in a scene from the movie “The Words.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/CBS)
CNS Movie Capsules NEW YORK (CNS) — The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed by Catholic News Service. “2016: Obama’s America” (Rocky Mountain) Engaging political documentary in which filmmakers Dinesh D’Souza and John Sullivan set out to answer the question, “What does Barack Obama believe?” In bringing his 2010 best-seller “The Roots of Obama’s Rage,” to the screen, right-leaning scholar D’Souza, who also narrates, uses the 44th president’s own memoir as his starting point for a globetrotting journey in search of the chief executive’s intellectual roots. The fairly slickly produced movie that results offers a studied — if obviously partisan — analysis of the president’s early life and influences. Though the conclusions drawn from this examination are radical and questionable, the shy and likable D’Souza’s tone is never uncharitable. Still, most viewers are likely to come away from his film holding precisely the same view of the president they did going into it. Adult themes and a single expression that could be construed as profane. The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — paren-
tal guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children. “The Words” (CBS) This mostly pleasing rumination on moral choices and how the theft of ideas propels fiction eventually lurches to an ambiguous ending likely to please no one. The three-tiered story centers on a struggling writer (Bradley Cooper) who happens across the manuscript of a novel which he publishes as his own work, only to face an ethical dilemma when the real author (Jeremy Irons)
turns up. Co-writers and directors Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal’s talky drama is just the thing for those yearning to don tweed and corduroy, sip red wine and discuss literature on rainy nights. Two premarital situations and occasional profane and crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, September 16, 11:00 a.m.
Celebrant is Father Michael Racine, Pastor of St. Bernard’s Parish in Assonet
September 14, 2012
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marian misunderstanding — Holy Cross Father James Phalan, president of the Mariological Society of America and director of Family Rosary International, part of Holy Cross Family Ministries headquartered in Easton, is pictured at a Marian conference in Rome last week. Father Phalan said that devotion to Mary “collapsed” in some parts of the United States after the Second Vatican Council even though council participants had upheld her critical place within the Catholic faith. (CNS photo/ Paul Haring)
Misreading of Vatican II led to ‘collapse’ in Marian devotion, studies
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — life of the Church,” he said in “The council fathers wanted Devotion to Mary “collapsed” his talk on “Mary and the Sec- us to see Mary as identified in some parts of the United ond Vatican Council.” with the Church,” a notion States after the Second Vatican Father Phalan, who is also Pope Benedict XVI has often Council even though the coun- director of Family Rosary In- repeated, saying that Mary, as cil fathers had upheld her criti- ternational, was one of the a personification of the Church, cal place within the Catholic scholars, experts and theo- should be appreciated and faith, said a leading American logians speaking at the 23rd imitated in her contemplative expert in Marian studies. Mariological Marian Interna- and personal relationship with The council’s decision to tional Congress held in Rome Christ, Father Phalan said. integrate a draft text on Mary September 4-9. Cardinal Angelo Amato, into a larger dogmatic text — In light of the upcoming president of the congress and “Lumen Gentium” prefect of the Con— rather than pubhe was the first evangelist,” gregation for Saints’ lish it as a separate said Vatican showing Jesus to the world, Causes, document — sent II was a “momentous an unintended mes- starting with the shepherds and wise watershed moment for sage to the rest of the men. And she is a model for all Chris- Marian discourse” — Church, Holy Cross tians in understanding what faith is steering it away from Father James Phaundeserved and how to accept and participate in “every lan, president of the doctrinal and devoMariological Society salvation, Father Phalan said. tional exaggeration,” of America, said in a which would put presentation at an acaMary on equal ground demic conference in Rome. 50th anniversary of the open- with the Lord. Rather, it upEven though bishops felt ing of the Second Vatican held her unique, yet human Mariology, like the Church as Council, the talks focused on role in God’s plan of salvation; a whole, needed to be renewed “Mariology Since the Second she is “the living vessel who, in light of Tradition, Liturgy Vatican Council: Reception, in receiving, transmits the saland the Bible, later an “over- Results and Perspectives.” vation of Christ,” he said. ly rationalist” historical ap- More than 300 people from 37 proach reduced the role of the countries attended the meetHoly Spirit and marginalized ing, which was sponsored by most forms of devotion, Father the Pontifical Marian InternaPhalan said. tional Academy. Worsening the problem, The council fathers had he said, was the timing: post- drawn up what Father Phalan Vatican II coincided with the called “the most complete and upheaval of the 1970s when conclusive doctrinal statereligious traditions and beliefs ment about the Blessed Virgin were being intensely ques- Mary ever written” and made tioned or completely dismissed it the final chapter of the 1964 by society. Dogmatic Constitution on the Marian devotion “was Church (“Lumen Gentium”). caught up in this confusion” Its placement within a docuand there was a drop-off in ment about the Church as the practice and study, he said. Body of Christ underlines the “The apparent change in council fathers’ vision of Mary emphasis on the Blessed Vir- “in relation to Christ and the gin contributed to a full-scale Church,” not as someone sepacollapse of Mariology that has rate or independent of Christ had very notable effects on the and the Church, he said.
The Church teaches that salvation only comes from God in Jesus Christ, he said, but the human being must still be open and receptive to that grace. Any sense of Mary being “coredeemer” must be understood as cooperating “with,” not being “equal to” Jesus, because God the Father generates salvation and Mary, the mother, is the recipient of that gift. “This is the theological reason to affirm the reality of Mary and the ‘Marian principle’ in the Church,” the Italian cardinal said. While popular piety may have suffered in some parts of the West, Cardinal Amato said Popes Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict did much to enrich and invigorate Marian reflection and tradition. Pope Benedict has promoted attachment to Mary as a way for the faithful to draw closer to Christ. While Catho-
lics must not exaggerate or over-sentimentalize her role, he told pilgrims at the Mariazell shrine in Austria in 2007, Mary “is a creature of courage and of obedience ... an example to which every Christian — man and woman — can and should look.” In light of the upcoming Year of Faith and the call for New Evangelization, Mary can again play a critical role, Father Phalan said. “She was the first evangelist,” showing Jesus to the world, starting with the shepherds and wise men. And she is a model for all Christians in understanding what faith is and how to accept and participate in salvation, Father Phalan said. Given the troubled world of today, he said, “the love and mercy of God that flow through Mary” must be “even more present as part of evangelization today.”
“S
This Message Sponsored by the Following Business Concern in the Diocese of Fall River Gilbert C. Oliveira Insurance Agency
14 No dignity in suicide One of the questions on the ballot in November will be legalization of assisted suicide, a.k.a. death with dignity, or more accurately known as doctor-prescribed suicide. There is no dignity in suicide. It is a terrible tragedy. If this bill passes, it will shift our approach toward the sick and dying in this state from one of compassion and care to one of encouraging self-destruction. doctor will not have to be present when the patient takes the lethal drugs. The Massachusetts Medical Society voted last December to reaffirm its opposition to physicianassisted suicide. Life is the most basic gift from God, a gift which is entrusted to our care, not that we have control over it. To sanction the taking of human life is to demean life itself. If a doctor-prescribed suicide bill becomes law, the voiceless or marginalized in our society; the poor; the frail; the elderly; the mentally ill; the disabled; the terminally ill and chronically ill would be the first to feel the pressure to die. We must remain ever vigilant in seeing to it that such a law is not passed in this state. This initiative would allow a person 18 years of age and older to request doctor-prescribed suicide. Medical professionals have stated that when a person who is ill wants to die, in most instances, it is because they are depressed, and once the depression is addressed, there is no longer a request for suicide. The legalization transforms doctor-prescribed suicide into a medical treatment. Euthanasia and doctor-prescribed suicide are not private acts. They involve one person facilitating the death of another. This can lead to tremendous abuse, exploitation and erosion of care for the most vulnerable people among us. When a suicide kit is delivered to the person, there does not have to be anyone from the medical profession present to see to it that it is administered properly, and that it was delivered to the right person. It would allow someone who would benefit financially from the patients’ death to serve as one of the witnesses on the form requesting doctor-prescribed suicide and claim that the patient was competent to make the decision to end their life, and it is conceivable that the patient could be tricked into taking the lethal drugs without knowing what they were taking. This initiative would allow health care providers and others to suggest and encourage vulnerable patients to request doctor-prescribed suicide, setting the stage for elder abuse and pressure on vulnerable patients. This initiative would give government bureaucrats and health insurance programs the opportunity to cut costs by denying payment for more expensive treatment, while approving payment for less costly doctor-prescribed suicide deaths. Euthanasia and assisted suicide/ doctor-prescribed suicide are not about giving rights to the person requesting to die, but instead they are about changing public policy so that doctors or others can directly
The Anchor
September 14, 2012
Our readers respond
and intentionally end or participate in ending another person’s life. Euthanasia and assisted suicide/doctorprescribed suicide are not about the right to die; they are about the right to kill. Those who are dying should be treated with loving care and dignity, with palliative care, not with suicide. According to the State House News Service, the Massachusetts Legislature is working on a bill for health care cost containment. The goal is to cut $150 billion from health care over the next 15 years, or $10 billion a year. State and private insurers, in an effort to cut billions in care, would certainly have the incentive to follow the procedure which Oregon has adopted of covering the lethal dose but not other treatments. William Toffler, M.D., an Oregon doctor, wrote when a patient says, “I want to die,” it may simply mean, “I feel useless.” When a patient says, “I don’t want to be a burden,” it may really be a question, “Am I a burden?” When a patient says, “I might as well be dead,” they may really be saying “No one cares about me.” The organizations pushing for this initiative to become law do not value human life — they demean life. Please give careful consideration to all aspects of this initiative and be informed before casting your vote in November. Catherine P. Fox, Swansea Executive Editor responds: Thank you for your letter. I hope our readers heed your advice.
The culture of death Assisted suicide is a form of life termination measure that is as much the “culture of death” as that of “abortion and euthanasia.” Physicians who practice in the “culture of death” are knowingly and willingly violating their professional oath, “Thou shall do no harm,” as well as the Fifth Commandment, “Thou shall not kill.” While a patient who fills out a “Health Care Proxy Form” indicating that he or she would not want to be kept alive indefinitely; the question remains as to who determines the meaning of the word “indefinitely.” Medical history records that patients under care of life-sustaining measures have come to be survivors after periods extending more than six months or even one year or more. Attention must be brought forward in the understanding of the following measures and procedures as pertains to “invitation to prematurely end lives.” Hierarchical indifference is leading to instances of quiet, carefully orchestrated efforts to put in place instruments and programs that will give appearances of being helpful to patients and their families while actually being tools of death. These practices are seeping into the ethics committees and end-of-life care protocols in many Catholic and other hospitals and nursing homes. One such problem is Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment. POLST is designed to improve the quality of care people receive at the end of life. It is based on
effective communication of patient wishes, documentation of medical orders on a brightly colored form, and a promise by health care professionals to honor these wishes. Sounds innocent enough, but in practice it is anything but. Elizabeth Widcham, Ph.D., has written: “The name says ‘for treatment’ but in fact POLST is much more likely to limit life-sustaining treatment. The POLST form becomes part of doctor’s orders and is prominently displayed in the patient’s medical record wherever the patient goes.” A trained facilitator, using carefully designed curricula such as the “Respecting Choices” program, may assist in filling out the form which then becomes part of doctor’s orders, although it can come into effect with neither the patient’s nor a physician’s signature. It is well to remember the discussion of death panels in the proposed federal health care bill last summer. Did you know that the “consulting sessions” between physician and patient that were to be encouraged and federally funded involved filling out the POLST form? Researcher Julie Grimstad, in her analysis, makes several salient points based on flawed morality of this program. Among her points are the following: 1) If a POLST proposal says that withdrawing treatment does not constitute suicide, does that mean that even withdrawing life-sustaining treatment is not to be considered a death wish or a crime against the integrity of the human person? 2) Is death by dehydration a natural process if the patient is subjectively determined to be dying anyway or is in a vulnerable situation similar to Terri Schiavo’s? 3) POLST advocacy is based on patient autonomy, asserting that it is paramount in all situations. This is contrary to Catholic teaching which states, “A person has the moral obligation to use ordinary or proportionate means of preserving his or her life.” 4) While POLST forms suggest that nutrition and hydration can be withheld as medical treatment and thus withdrawn or withheld, the Church teaches otherwise. 5) POLST opens the door for neglect, substandard medical treatment, and cost saving at the expense of patients’ lives. Although POLST promoters steer clear of mentioning the money motive, it is undoubtedly a factor in efforts to limit treatment. POLST paradigm programs, which are touted as being successful in avoiding unnecessary “treatment” like artificially-provided nutrition and hydration are the latest in a long line of programs designed to change the way we think about death, ask for early death, and help keep those we love depart their lives sooner rather than later. Excerpts reproduced by permission from Judie Brown, president, American Life League, Inc.; Book “The Broken Path.” Joseph R. B. Levesque Swansea Executive Editor responds: Ma-
rie T. Hilliard of the National Catholic Bioethics Center addressed your concerns in 2010. She said, “a patient could complete a POLST form before any of the facts that would be appropriate to such decision-making were in play. These orders might indicate the patient did not want life-sustaining treatment, which under specific circumstances could simply be an antibiotic, a blood transfusion, or proportionately beneficial assisted nutrition and hydration. The National Catholic Bioethics Center favors the designation of a health care agent, over an advanced directive, and definitely over a POLST form. The designated agent should be one with whom the patient has had a detailed discussion of the principles the patient wishes to guide decision making in the event that the patient becomes unable to communicate such decisions. In that way management of care is determined only as specific situations unfold and is truly respectful of the patient’s wishes. Treatment is not withheld carte blanche, based on a document signed months or years past that did not anticipate the present medical scenario. Hospital comfort Your article of August 24, “Hospital ministry: The calm within the storm,” prompted me to write this letter. A few weeks ago I was blessed to have experienced this ministry at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford. Although my illness was nonlife-threatening, I did appreciate the spiritual comfort I received from three extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. These indeed are holy people who represent well the laity of the Catholic Church. I truly felt “back home” at St. Julie Billart Parish in North Dartmouth. May God bless Father Thibault and his faithful volunteers as they continue to offer spiritual healing at St. Luke’s Hospital. Helena Rodrigues Spencer, D.A. North Dartmouth Executive Editor responds: Thank you for sharing with us this good news about people who shared the Good News with you!
Spiritual transfiguration I am a bit late to catch up with this addition to the Good News about the Church in our times: Bob Grant’s interview with Mary Langton in The Anchor’s August 17 issue. It is an inspiring example that the Focolare spirituality can bring about an enviable transfiguration for one’s individual spiritual life. I would like to draw attention to an element mentioned in the Focolare website, The Economy of Communion in Freedom — communion in the sense of sharing graces, ideas, or experiences in economics and our material needs. Economics is an important part of our Christian lives. People in commerce, or in business school, can do us much good; it can be good for them as well. Rugged individualism was once considered characteristic of the
American, but we can carry it too far, into selfishness, the death of community. All types of people agree that there are problems in our economy now, a crisis almost. This country is a good place to live in terms of liberty and equality, but the spirit of “brotherhood” is lacking, unity, and togetherness. We are great at competing in team sports, but even within the teams themselves there can be divisiveness. If, in my conversations, I say we need brotherhood, etc., I am thinking of Focolare, but I do not use the word. We are a bit xenophobic about adopting foreign words; focolare is really untranslatable into plain English. It means a fire, not like gunfire or arson, but the kind which gives off warmth. The movement’s official name in Italian is Opera di Maria — Mary’s work, to make Jesus present. Focolare was a nickname, used by the people who used to call on the first group in the house where they lived during World War II, taking the prayer in John 17 “that they may all be One” as their Word of Life to fulfill. When we do it, we experience Jesus’ presence (Mt 18:20). Chiara Lubich, the Focolare foundress, on her first visit to the U.S. about 50 years ago was impressed by the degree of peace and unity achieved here, between peoples that have been at swords drawn for centuries. What we are is good. Can we make it better? Could a fraternal spirit be successfully imposed by law from above by the federal government? That sounds totalitarian, and it is doubtful. Economy of Communion in freedom recommends we do not wait for it to be imposed in the future from above; start from the grassroots, here and now. The EOC was conceived when Lubich visited Brazil 20 years ago, and was pained by the poverty surrounding Sao Paulo. It has grown into more than 700 businesses in Brazil. It works. It takes a youthful spirit, trust in God and in each other. A cowardly skepticism will get us nowhere. It is better to choose the challenges of a noble life over the pains of a slow death. “If Christ is with us, who is against us?” asked St Paul. Christus vincit. More factual information is available in the paperback “Focolare, Living a Spirituality of Unity in the United States” by Thomas Masters and Amy Uelmen, and for a deeper study Chiara Lubich “ESSENTIAL WRITINGS, Spirituality, Dialogue, Culture,”; and “The Charism of Unity and Economics, between Politics and the Arts.” Both books are published by New City Press, Hyde Park, N.Y. Father Julian Stead OSB Portsmouth Abbey, Portsmouth R.I. Executive Editor responds: I came to know the Focolare by being a classmate of Amy Uelmen in college and then through meeting seminarians associated with the movement in Rome. Their warm approach brings many people to unity in Christ.
September 14, 2012
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The Anchor
Red Mass set for September 30; five to receive St. Thomas More Awards By John E. Kearns Jr.
FALL RIVER — The Fall River Diocese will offer the annual Red Mass at 10 a.m., on September 30 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River. A long standing tradition in the Church, the Red Mass is celebrated each year in the diocese to invoke God’s guidance and strength on those who work to promote justice in the legal system. Judges, attorneys and others working in the justice system throughout Southeastern Massachusetts, Cape Cod and the Islands are invited to attend. Bishop George W. Coleman will be the principal celebrant of Mass. Homilist will be Jesuit Father Dennis J. Yesalonia, who is a practicing attorney. He is now serving as general counsel to the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester. Music for the Red Mass will be led by the Stonehill College Chorale. In keeping with a tradition in the Fall River Diocese, the Red Mass will conclude with the presentation of the St. Thomas More Award to members of the area legal community to recognize dedicated service. Selected for the honors this year are, as distinguished jurist, Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Raymond P. Veary Jr., of New Bedford; as distinguished attorney, Professor Dwight G. Duncan of the University of Massachusetts School of Law, Dartmouth; as distinguished court employee, Elizabeth A. (Betty) Almeida of Somerset, who is Sessions Clerk for the Probate and Family Court, Bristol Division; as distinguished recipient of the ecumenical award, Gina L. DeRossi of Dartmouth, who is Bristol County Register of Probate; and as distinguished recipient of the Founder’s Award, attorney Kenneth L. Sullivan of Mattapoisett. The final recognition, the
Founder’s Award, is presented in memory of New Bedford attorney Joseph P. Harrington, the longtime Red Mass Committee chairman before his passing in 2010. Last year, the Red Mass Committee established the award to pay tribute to him. “It is presented in the spirit of Joe Harrington’s dedicated commitment to his Church and our legal community,” explained attorney Michael Harrington who succeeded his uncle as Red Mass Committee chairman. The Red Mass is so named because of the color of the vestments worn during the Liturgy, which is the Mass of the Holy Spirit, Who will be invoked upon those in attendance. Its roots date back to 13thcentury Europe, and it is widely celebrated in dioceses throughout the U.S. The St. Thomas More Awards are unique to the Red Mass celebration in the Fall River Diocese. They are named for St. Thomas More, a 16th-century English layman and lawyer martyred for his opposition to the divorce of King Henry VIII and for refusing to renounce papal authority. The Red Mass Committee nominates recipients for the awards. Judge Veary became an associate justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court in 2011. His appointment to the bench followed a combined 25 years of service as an assistant district attorney in Bristol County, from 1977 to 1991, which included 11 years as first assistant; and then from 2000 to 2011. His skill and success as an assistant district attorney were recognized often by his colleagues: in 2007 he received the Massachusetts Bar Association Prosecutor’s Award and in 2009 he was named “Prosecutor of the Year” by the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association. Born and raised in New Bed-
This week in 50 years ago — Maronite Catholics of the Fall River Diocese prepared for a visit from His Beatitude Paul Peter Meouchi, Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and the Whole East, who visited parishes in Fall River and New Bedford. 25 years ago — Representatives from the Fall River Diocese attended the Leadership Conference of Women Religious held in Niagara Falls, N.Y. Representing the Fall River Diocese at the meeting of 700 religious were Sister Mary Noel Blute, RSM; Sister Elizabeth Menard, OP; Sister Ann Kernan, SUSC; and Sister Mary Catherine Guiler, SP.
ford, he maintained a private law practice in that city before joining the district attorney’s office and again between his terms there. Judge Veary is a 1972 graduate of Boston College Law School. Long active in professional law organizations, he is a past president of the New Bedford Bar Association and the year 2000 recipient of the Pro Bono Publico Award from the Bristol County Bar Association. He and his wife Claudette are members of St. Mary’s Parish in New Bedford. Professor Duncan joined the faculty of the then Southern New England School of Law, now UMass School of Law, in 1989 as an adjunct professor and has since taught Constitutional Law and Legal Ethics during most semesters along with other courses. He also serves as faculty adviser to three student law organizations. In 1997, he earned tenure as an associate professor and in 2005 was appointed a full professor. He received the school’s Outstanding Professor Award in its inaugural year of presentation in 1996. Through the years he has written extensively and presented frequently at law conferences around the world. His articles have been published in a variety of law reviews and his commentaries on topics of law and of faith and sometimes of both have appeared in National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, The Catholic Lawyer, and Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, among others. He writes a monthly column, “Judge for Yourself,” for The Anchor. He has written numerous briefs for pro bono cases. He serves on the board of the Pro-Life Legal Defense Fund of Massachusetts and is a member of many professional groups including the Canon Law Society of America. Duncan holds degrees in civil and canon law, the former earned
Diocesan history
10 years ago — Hundreds of enthusiastic Catholics prayed, sang and applauded during a weekend FIRE Rally at the Cape Cod Melody Tent, inspired by keynote speakers to renew their faith and deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ. One year ago — As students filled the hallways of Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro to face the challenge of another academic year, there was an added sense of excitement as the school community prepared to begin a year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of the school’s opening and founding.
from Georgetown University Law Center and latter from Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. Fall River Family and Probate Court staffer Almeida holds the formal title of Sessions Clerk, meaning in essence she is the assistant to Associate Judge Virginia Ward and as such handles secretarial and clerical work related to cases heard in her court. Almeida has worked for the court system for 42 years. Born and raised in Somerset, she received a bachelor of secretarial science degree from the Bay State School of Business after high school and decades later returned to school at night to earn a bachelor of arts degree from UMass Dartmouth. She got her introduction to the justice system while working at the Taunton Superior Court during summer breaks from business school. She worked for a few years for the Central Intelligence Agency in Washington, D.C. right after school but decided to return to Somerset in 1970 when her father became ill. She was then hired by Judge James B. Kelley Jr., at the time the Register of the Probate Court and Court of Insolvency, and she began her longtime service to the local judicial system Almeida is a communicant of St. Thomas More Parish in Somerset and participates in music ministry at St. Louis de France Parish in Swansea. Register DeRossi began as Bristol County’s first female Register of Probate in January 2009 following her election to the post the previous November. A graduate of New England School of Law, she began her legal career as an associate in a Boston law firm before returning to her native New Bedford as a partner with the law firm of Scannell, Lynn and DeRossi. In 2003, she established her own private practice, concentrating in the areas of probate and
family law. From 2002 to 2009 she served as a Bristol County Public Administrator, a position to which she was appointed by successive governors of Massachusetts. She is active in numerous civic and professional organizations, including serving as a volunteer judge for the Youth Court Program, a participant in continuing legal education panels and frequent guest speaker at UMass Law School events and classes. A member of the St. George Orthodox Church in Dartmouth, she helped lead the effort to build its new church and community center. She is married to attorney Darren Goldberg and they reside in Dartmouth with their son and daughter. Attorney Sullivan practiced law in Southeastern Massachusetts for well over 50 years. The Fall River native earned his law degree from Boston University Law and then entered the U.S. Army, where he was commissioned a First Lieutenant in its Judge Advocate General’s Corps during the Korean War. Returning home, he launched what was to become a very active career as a criminal defense attorney. He took on many challenging cases, firmly believing in the Constitution’s guarantee that everyone has a right to representation and vigorous defense before the court. At different intervals in his career, he also served as a public defender in Bristol, Dukes and Nantucket counties representing indigent clients. For a short time in the early 1970s, he was an assistant district attorney. In retirement, he now resides in Mattapoisett with his wife, Gwen, and he is a parishioner of St. Anthony’s Parish in that town. All are welcome to the Red Mass. A reception and luncheon will follow for which a ticket is required. For information, contact Atty. Harrington at 508-994-5900.
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Youth Pages
they’re off — Kindergarten classes began last week for 38 students at St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro. Kindergarten teachers Elizabeth Moura and Maria Stathakis welcomed the children and helped them acclimate to their new school settings. This school year marks the 15th year of service given by Stathakis to St. Mary-Sacred Heart School.
September 14, 2012
PATRIOT’S DAY — National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve’s Southeast Area chairman Bob Pomeroy, presents the Patriot Award to SS. Peter and Paul School Principal Kathy Burt, center. U.S. Army Reserve Specialist Renee Avilla, right, is also a teacher at the Fall River school. She nominated Burt for the award.
Fall River principal presented Patriot Award
state of the art — A new day dawned at Pope John Paul II High School in Hyannis. On the fifth anniversary of its opening, all students began the new academic year with laptops. Many of their textbooks are online. Instructors are now able to incorporate the vast resources available on the web in order to develop individuals who will contribute to a world in which they will live, work, play, and pray.
FALL RIVER — Renee Avilla, a committed, dedicated and enthusiastic teacher at SS. Peter and Paul School in Fall River, also serves as a medic with the 338 MCD of the US Army Reserve. Avilla recently nominated her principal, Kathleen Burt, for the Patriot Award. She wrote of Burt; “Although I know employers have to allow time off to attend drills and for training, I have never worked for a principal that is so accommodating!” She further wrote: “Kathy takes my drill and training schedule and she immediately finds substitute teachers for the entire fiscal year. She never complains or has any questions should there be sudden changes in my drill or training dates.” The reservist finished her narrative by writing: “Other schools I previously worked in viewed my military career as an inconvenience. Not Ms. Burt or SS Peter and Paul! They have always been supportive and understanding!” After Burt received the award from MAESGR’s Southeast Area chairman, Bob Pomeroy, the principal signed a statement of support. The National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve is a Department of Defense agency established in 1972. The mission of ESGR is to gain and maintain employer support for Guard and Reserve service by recognizing outstanding support, increasing awareness of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act law of 1994 and resolving conflicts through mediation. The Mass. Field Office has more than 45 volunteers dedicated to helping every “Citizen Soldier.” Correction In the story about renovations to Bishop Stang High School in the August 31 edition, the name of the general contractor was mistakenly reported as Orion. The contractor is Ryan Construction from Walpole. The Anchor regrets the error.
The Anchor is always pleased to run news and photos about our diocesan youth. If schools or parish Religious Education programs, have newsworthy stories and photos they would like to share with our readers, send them to: welcome back — Students from Holy Family-Holy Name School in New Bedford were greeted on the first day of school with a little hospitality and, of course, smiling faces.
schools@anchornews. org
September 14, 2012
T
he beginning of school this month provides students with a new beginning. Human beings tend to enjoy those things that we can define as “new beginnings.” They are opportunities for us to grow, to change, and to better ourselves. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why Jesus was always preaching repentance: we like second chances, in fact we need them! This is a chance to improve your study skills, to get rid of some of your bad habits that you have picked up. Any positive habits you can build now will help you in the future, particularly when you transition to college and then to a career. The start of a new school year is also a chance to grow and mature in faith. If you reflect on where you are now, you will see that your experiences have contributed to how you view the world and approach life. Have you challenged yourself to grow in faith, not just to know about God, but to know Him in a deeper way? I like to remind people that God doesn’t ask to be a Facebook friend, He wants a real friendship. That involves spending time with each other, communicating, sharing your dreams and frustrations, learning about the other. Do you do that with God? If not, why not?
Youth Pages
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Some thoughts on the first day of school
In school you will learn things How about your famthat will challenge your view of ily? Does this new beginning the world, your understanding of provide you (and them) with how the world works and your an opportunity to deepen those concept of yourself and God. These moments can be stressful and at the same time exciting. Don’t simply accept something because someone else said it was By Father so. Reflect upon it, study David C. Frederici it and come up with an understanding of it. Above all, do not do this alone! relationships? The family is the We need others in life. Arisdomestic Church, it is where totle said that we are social bewe first learn about God, and ings. We need others to not only how to love and pray. At wedsurvive, but to flourish. This dings I remind the couple and is true socially, academically, those gathered that our parish emotionally and spiritually. The families are only as strong as Church isn’t an institution that the weakest of our domestic employs men and women to tell churches. us how to live. It is a commuFamilies are powerful ways nity, a family of faith that seeks that God makes Himself known to help us grow in friendship to us, and yet they can be pretty with God. Sometimes this com- tough to belong to as well. Ofmunity will challenge, at other ten this occurs when a member times it will be there to console or members become focused on and to lift you up when you themselves and not on others. can’t continue on. Do you take How can you better contribute time for this family? When you to your family? In the growing think of your parish, do you list responsibilities and commitoff complaints about it, or do ments that you have, how can you take some time to reflect you be sure to still take time for about the good things about it? them? How can you make God What are the ways that you can and His love present to your contribute to a stronger parish parents and siblings? community? This is a chance to begin
Be Not Afraid
road crew — The Bishop Connolly High School Principal’s Executive Advisory Committee recently announced the completion of the $154,750 roadway reconstruction project. The completion of the project was made possible through a grant from the Oliver S. and Jennie R. Donaldson Charitable Trust and the generosity of a small group of investors including the Oliver S. and Jennie R. Donaldson Charitable Trust; Mr. and Mrs. Dan Bogan; Attorney and Mrs. Thomas Quinn; the Flynn and Saulnier families; BayCoast Bank; and BankFive. Attending the recent ribbon-cutting ceremony opening the new road to the Fall River school were, from left: Leslie Flynn, Maria McCoy (BankFive), Dan Bogan, Nicholas Christ (BayCoast Bank), Kyle Saulnier, Jack Flynn and Christopher Myron, Connolly principal. (Photo by Dave Jolivet)
new friendships, perhaps mend some fences with others. You will need others to be successful in life, whether it is for the moral and spiritual support you will need in the good and bad times, or to be challenged, the proverbial kick in the butt that we sometimes need to be motivated. True friendships are lifegiving. They are conduits through which God continues to reach out us. If
you are in a friendship that makes you feel bad about yourself, that leads you to hate in any way, shape or form, it isn’t a friendship. That’s a lot for a new beginning! Don’t forget you don’t go about all this on your own. You have your teachers, coaches, school staff, friends and family to help you. You also have your family of faith and above all God to give you the strength and encouragement you need. Good luck! Father Frederici is chaplain at UMass-Dartmouth.
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The Anchor
Seminarian Jack Schrader spends summer in India continued from page one
Priestly Discernment Program, where I learned about the priesthood and was encouraged to go to daily Mass, monthly Confession, pray the Rosary and pray before the Eucharist for one hour each day. It was during these years of intense prayer and pleading with God that I heard God’s call and was given the courage to apply to the seminary.” Schrader majored in political science and philosophy and graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio in 2009, then studied pre-theology at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton for 16 months before finding himself studying in one of the holiest places on earth. Schrader finds inspiration from his surroundings, through the perpetual connection the surrounding area has with the saints and martyrs found in the history of the Church. “I seek the saints of Rome from every age in order to peer into their relationship with God. I have especially grown in my devotion to St. Philip Neri and St. Francis Xavier,” said Schrader. “One of my favorite places to pray is the Basilica of St. Bartholomew on Tiber Island. Blessed Pope John Paul II designated it as a shrine to the martyrs of the 20th century, so it holds relics and articles from the lives of the martyrs killed because of their Christian faith by the nazis, the Soviet communists, guerillas of various African nations, etc. I am inspired to take up the challenge of the Gospel because of the witness of these men and women who offered their lives for Christ in our age.” Having already spent two spring breaks doing missionary work in Mexico with fellow students from Franciscan University, Schrader was inspired to follow Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta’s example after seeing a documentary produced by Ann and Jeanette Petrie and traveling to India to be a part of the work being done by the Missionaries of Charity. “I read many books about the spirituality that drove her life,” said Schrader. “She is one of the greatest persons of the 20th century because she was a Christian in every aspect of her life and she unabashedly followed the call of God. She is a heroine, becoming poor so she could truly unite herself to the poor of Calcutta. I wanted to learn how to love the poorest of the poor with the total gift of self that characterized the work of Mother Teresa.” After their first year studying theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, seminarians are given the opportunity to do pastoral work outside of the U.S.
and Schrader got all the support he needed from Bishop George W. Coleman of the Fall River Diocese and the Pontifical North American College. Joined by three other classmates who “also felt the call to go to Calcutta,” the group made all the proper arrangements to spend July and August fully immersed in missionary work. The adventure, said Schrader, began the moment the four men stepped out of the airport and into the noisy crowd of taxi drivers, nonEnglish-speaking natives and air pollution that stung as soon as you took a breath. “We had reserved a pre-paid taxi inside the airport. We piled into the little yellow taxicab built
for directions a couple of times and eventually stopped at the Motherhouse of the Missionaries of the Charity. It was not the convent where we were staying, but we paid the taxi driver anyway and entered the Motherhouse. We went straight away to the tomb of Blessed Mother Teresa. The Sisters at Motherhouse helped us find our way to our convent, but God wanted us to keep our priorities in order. We were in Calcutta to learn from Mother Teresa how to imitate Jesus in love for the poor.” Schrader was prepared for the poverty he knew existed in Calcutta, a large city of 4.5 million residents where unemployment hovers around 30 percent. What he
September 14, 2012 however, I can’t say that I ever adjusted to it. The Muslim people that we encountered were friendly and generous to us, but living in the vicinity of multiple mosques in a Muslim neighborhood for more than a month taught me that the Islamic approach to religion and the Islamic image of God is very different from the freely offered revelation of Jesus Christ.” At the Prem Dan home, reserved primarily for those suffering from tuberculosis and individuals with mental disabilities, Schrader joined the three or four Missionaries of Charity Sisters in their work helping attend to the 120 men who live there. Along with the 10 Missionaries of Charity Brothers and laymen and the roughly 20 volunteers who often help, the seminarians assisted in
THREE’S COMPANY — Seminarian Jack Schrader poses with “two card playing buddies” at the Prem Dan home in Calcutta, part of the Missionaries for Charity founded by Blessed Mother Teresa. Schrader just resumed his seminarian studies in Rome after spending the summer doing missionary work in India.
in the 1950s and our driver pulled away. Soon we realized that our driver did not speak or read English. We naively trusted that he was instructed on how to arrive at the convent where we were staying. Indian traffic is chaotic. Every vehicle constantly honks the horn to notify the surrounding vehicles of its nearby presence. There is constant roar of car engines and car horns. I quickly realized that resting my arm outside the window was dangerous because Indian vehicles come very close to one another, moving and not moving. The air pollution is so severe in Calcutta that it bothered my nose and eyes to let the wind from outside hit my face. “We passed buses packed like crazy and little motorized rickshaws carrying women in saris. We saw cows rummaging through the piles of trash on the sides of the street. Our taxi driver asked
didn’t expect was to be living in a predominantly Muslim section of the city. Caught up in the holy season of Ramadan during his stay, the frequent call to prayer added to the cacophony of everyday noises that permeated his surroundings. “Each morning at sunrise around 3:15 a.m., the mosque would loudly announce the beginning of the daily fast,” said Schrader, who said that during the trek to Mass at the Motherhouse, the group would pass a large mosque and see men praying at 5:30 a.m. “Each evening at sunset around 6:15 p.m., the mosque would loudly announce the end of the daily fast. In addition, daily from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., there would be continuous live recitation of the Koran. This added to the overall noisiness of the city and you could not escape from it. I learned to not be surprised by the call to prayer at these times;
washing those who were unable to wash themselves, lifting men in and out of bed, cleaning clothes and hanging them up to dry, assisting those who needed to use the toilet, spoon-feeding patients and spending time with those who were bedridden and needed a comforting touch. But it was when the patients needed to be moved from their temporary facility to the newly-renovated building that Schrader said he had a day where he “experienced death and resurrection.” “Arriving at the temporary facility, the condition of the place made it clear that a new facility was desperately needed,” said Schrader. “We were tasked with moving the patients and the beds out of their rooms in order to do a thorough cleaning. We carried a man, who was missing a leg, into the nurse’s room. There we discovered that he had soiled his
pants overnight and needed a serious cleaning before the nurse could work. “Michael [Schrader’s fellow seminarian] and I were directed to the washroom with our disabled brother. Unsure of what to do, Michael and I embraced the situation and helped our brother clean himself with a bucket and some water. There were no showers. As we finished cleaning the first man, two other men were brought to us for the same reason. It was humiliating for them and for us, but it was a moment of intimate encounter. Mother Teresa spoke about the privilege of serving Jesus in the poorest of the poor in a most intimate way and we were given that gift. “In the afternoon, we returned to help with the final stages of the move. When I arrived, all the men were loaded into vans to be transported to the newly-renovated [building]. I packed into the van with the patients and we slowly moved through the crowded Calcutta streets. After about 45 minutes we arrived. It was a glorious sight, a beautiful historical building newly painted white. It seemed like a palace. We carried the men in our arms from the vans and placed them in their new beds. The men who were capable of expressing themselves were clearly happy and grateful for the new facility. Sunlight was streaming into the large room where all of the men were resting. My three seminarian brothers and I left that afternoon with great peace and hope in our hearts after a day of intimacy with our Lord in the distressing disguise of the poor.” The work was not easy and Schrader admits it was the Lord Who gave him the strength to continue day after day. His experience in India has shaped him forever, said Schrader, adding the moment he was brought to his knees begging God to help him when he was overwhelmed, showed him that his hardships in Calcutta were an opportunity for God to use him as an instrument of God’s love to those who needed it most. “I have realized the awesome connection between true love and a willingness to suffer and sacrifice,” said Schrader. “In God’s love for us He is willing to suffer, to sacrifice His only Son. In Calcutta, I was brought to my knees begging God to help me endure the difficulties of life in India in order to love Him and the poor. Forever I will remember the sweetness of offering to God the hardships of life in Calcutta in order to love with His love. In my weakness and exhaustion, I realized that my natural abilities were not enough. My human love was not enough, so God’s love took over. I want to always allow God’s love to take over.”
September 14, 2012
Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese
Acushnet — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Monday and Tuesday from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Thursday from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Evening prayer and Benediction is held Monday through Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. ATTLEBORO — 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 — St. Joseph Church holds eucharistic adoration in the Adoration Chapel located at the (south) side entrance at 208 South Main Street, Sunday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Brewster — Eucharistic adoration takes place in the La Salette Chapel in the lower level of Our Lady of the Cape Church, 468 Stony Brook Road, on First Fridays beginning at noon until 7:45 a.m. First Saturday, concluding with Benediction and concluding with Mass at 8 a.m. buzzards Bay — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Margaret Church, 141 Main Street, every first Friday after the 8 a.m. Mass and ending the following day before the 8 a.m. Mass. East Freetown — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. John Neumann Church every Monday (excluding legal holidays) 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Our Lady, Mother of All Nations Chapel. (The base of the bell tower). East Sandwich — The Corpus Christi Parish Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, East Sandwich. Use the Chapel entrance on the side of the church. EAST TAUNTON — Eucharistic adoration takes place in the chapel at Holy Family Parish Center, 438 Middleboro Avenue, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. On First Fridays, eucharistic adoration takes place at Holy Family Church, 370 Middleboro Avenue, from 8:30 a.m. until 7:45 p.m. FAIRHAVEN — St. Mary’s Church, Main St., has eucharistic adoration every Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to noon in the Chapel of Reconciliation, with Benediction at noon. Also, there is a First Friday Mass each month at 7 p.m., followed by a Holy Hour with eucharistic adoration. Refreshments follow. Fall River — Espirito Santo Parish, 311 Alden Street, Fall River. Eucharistic adoration on Mondays following the 8 a.m. Mass until Rosary and Benediction at 6:30 p.m. FALL RIVER — St. Bernadette’s Church, 529 Eastern Ave., has eucharistic adoration on Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the chapel. FALL RIVER — St. Anthony of the Desert Church, 300 North Eastern Avenue, has eucharistic adoration Mondays and Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. FALL RIVER — Holy Name Church, 709 Hanover Street, has eucharistic adoration Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Our Lady of Grace Chapel. FALL RIVER — Good Shepherd Parish has eucharistic adoration every Friday following the 8 a.m. Mass until 6 p.m. in the Daily Mass Chapel. There is a bilingual Holy Hour in English and Portuguese from 5-6 p.m. Park behind the church and enter the back door of the connector between the church and the rectory. Falmouth — St. Patrick’s Church has eucharistic adoration each First Friday, following the 9 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 4:30 p.m. The Rosary is recited Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. HYANNIS — A Holy Hour with eucharistic adoration will take place each First Friday at St. Francis Xavier Church, 347 South Street, beginning immediately after the 12:10 p.m. Mass and ending with adoration at 4 p.m. MASHPEE — Christ the King Parish, Route 151 and Job’s Fishing Road has 8:30 a.m. Mass every First Friday with special intentions for Respect Life, followed by 24 hours of eucharistic adoration in the Chapel, concluding with Benediction Saturday morning followed immediately by an 8:30 Mass. NEW BEDFORD — Eucharistic adoration takes place 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 233 County Street, with night prayer and Benediction at 8:45 p.m., and Confessions offered during the evening. Please use the side entrance. NEW BEDFORD — There is a daily holy hour from 5:15-6:15 p.m. Monday through Thursday at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue. It includes adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Liturgy of the Hours, recitation of the Rosary, and the opportunity for Confession. NEW BEDFORD — St. Lawrence Martyr Parish, 565 County Street, holds eucharistic adoration in the side chapel every Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. NORTH DARTMOUTH — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Julie Billiart Church, 494 Slocum Road, every Tuesday from 7 to 8 p.m., ending with Benediction. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available at this time. NORTH DIGHTON — Eucharistic adoration takes place every First Friday at St. Nicholas of Myra Church, 499 Spring Street following the 8 a.m. Mass, ending with Benediction at 6 p.m. The Rosary is recited Monday through Friday from 7:30 to 8 a.m. OSTERVILLE — Eucharistic adoration takes place at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 76 Wianno Avenue on First Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to noon. SEEKONK — Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish has eucharistic adoration seven days a week, 24 hours a day in the chapel at 984 Taunton Avenue. For information call 508-336-5549. Taunton — Eucharistic adoration takes place every Tuesday at St. Anthony Church, 126 School Street, following the 8 a.m. Mass with prayers including the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for vocations, concluding at 6 p.m. with Chaplet of St. Anthony and Benediction. Recitation of the Rosary for peace is prayed Monday through Saturday at 7:30 a.m. prior to the 8 a.m. Mass. taunton — Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament takes place every First Friday at Annunciation of the Lord, 31 First Street. Expostition begins following the 8 a.m. Mass. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed, and adoration will continue throughout the day. Confessions are heard from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. Rosary and Benediction begin at 6:30 p.m. WAREHAM — Every First Friday, eucharistic adoration takes place from 8:30 a.m. through Benediction at 5:30 p.m. Morning prayer is prayed at 9; the Angelus at noon; the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3 p.m.; and Evening Prayer at 5 p.m. WEST HARWICH — Our Lady of Life Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Holy Trinity Parish, 246 Main Street (Rte. 28), holds perpetual eucharistic adoration. We are a regional chapel serving all of the surrounding parishes. All from other parishes are invited to sign up to cover open hours. For open hours, or to sign up call 508-430-4716. WOODS HOLE — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Joseph’s Church, 33 Millfield Street, year-round on weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. No adoration on Sundays, Wednesdays, and holidays. For information call 508-274-5435.
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The Anchor Sister Mary Reginald Zajac, OSF, at 101
READING, Pa. — Sister Mary Reginald Zajac, O.S.F., a 101-yearold Bernardine Franciscan Sister for nearly 90 years, died September 1 at St. Joseph Villa in Reading, Pa., where she resided since 2010. She was in the 85th year of religious life as a Bernardine Franciscan Sister. She was born March 9, 1911, in Taunton, to the late John Zajac and Agatha (Gwozdz). She entered the Bernardine community at the age of 14 and became a postulant. She became a novice in 1927 and taught grammar school students in eight states and Washington, D.C. After receiving her master’s degree from St. Bonaventure University in St. Bonaventure, N.Y., she started her work in Religious Education. In 1994, at the age of 83, she took a sabbatical at the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge. Sister Reginald served for a while at St. James and Cassidy convents in Taunton. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at the Sacred Heart Convent Chapel in Reading September. 4. She was buried in the community’s cemetery on the grounds. Arrangements were handled by Kopicki-Bradley Funeral Home.
In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks 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 Sept. 20 Rev. Simon A. O’Rourke, USN Chaplain, 1918 Rev. Omer Valois, Retired Pastor, Sacred Heart, New Bedford, 1958 Sept. 21 Rev. George Pager, Founder, Sacred Heart, New Bedford, 1882 Rev. George Jowdy, Pastor, Our Lady of Purgatory, New Bedford, 1938 Rev. William H. Crane, SM, Superior at National Shrine of Our Lady of Victories, Boston, 1988
Around the Diocese 9/18
The Daughters of Isabella will hold its first meeting of the fiscal year September 18 in the Holy Name of the Sacred Heart Parish Hall located at 121 Mount Pleasant Street, New Bedford beginning at 7 p.m. The speaker will be member Christine Dufresne who will discuss her missionary experience in Louisa, Ky. for the Father Beiting Appalachian Mission Center.
9/19
A Naturalization Workshop will be held on September 19 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, 230 Bonney Street in New Bedford. Legal staff from Catholic Social Services will assist with the N400 Application for Naturalization and provide information about the process of becoming a U.S. Citizen. For more information contact Ashlee Reed at 508-674-4681 or areed@cssdioc.org.
9/20
A Healing Mass will be held on September 20 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 also be a holy hour, including the Rosary. For information visit www.stanthonyofpaduanewbedford.com or call 508-993-1691.
9/22
A Life in the Spirit Weekend is being offered at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish, 385 Central Avenue (Route 152) in Seekonk, on September 22 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and September 23 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Attendance is required on both days. All are welcome to be renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit. A small registration fee is requested to help defray the cost of materials and a Sunday dinner. Sign-up deadline is September 13. For information call Rita Beaudet at 508-399-7519 or Beverly Foley at 508-399-7076.
9/22
The 13th Annual St. Francis Xavier Preparatory School Golf Tournament and Social will be held on September 22 at The Golf Club at Yarmouth Port. Shot gun start will be at 1 p.m., with boxed lunch, raffles and prizes. A silent auction and BBQ dinner at Ardeo’s Grille begins at 5 p.m. Put a foursome together or register as an individual golfer. All funds provide aid to children seeking quality, Catholic education to early adolescents at a school solely dedicated to meeting the needs of that special age group. For more information contact Jenn Canzano at jlcanzano@comcast.net, 781-589-5531 or Byron Lafferty at byron.lafferty@verizon.net. To learn more about St. Francis Xavier Preparatory School visit www.sfxp.org.
9/23
Bishop George W. Coleman will celebrate a special Mass of Thanksgiving for couples observing significant anniversaries (including the first year) during 2012. This celebration will take place on September 23 at 3 p.m. at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River. If you would like an invitation, please consult with your pastor.
9/26
Father Roger Landry will present a special night of education and action against Doctor-Prescribed Suicide in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on September 26 at St. Bernadette’s Parish in Fall River beginning at 7 p.m. in preparation for November ballot Question 2. The presentation is free and all are welcome.
9/26
All are invited to take part in the national 40 Days for Life effort from September 26 through November 4. In addition to 40 days of prayer and fasting for an end to abortion in America, please consider volunteering to pray outside of the abortion clinic, Four Women, 150 Emory Street in Attleboro, for one or more hours during the 40 days and spread the word to others about this important life-saving effort. For more information or to volunteer to help, contact 40DFLAttleboro@comcast.net or visit www.40daysforlife. com/Attleboro to register.
9/29
The Cape and Islands Prayer Group Deanery will host a New Age Conference at Corpus Christi Parish Hall, East Sandwich, on September 29 and 30. Conference speakers Moira Noonan and Susan Brinkmann will compare Catholic teaching with New Age beliefs during Saturday’s sessions and on Sunday will consider the effect of avitar, wicca, vampires and the like on the faith of our youth. There is no charge for the conference. Lunch which will be provided on Saturday for those who pre-register. Saturday’s session runs from 9:30 a.m. to 3:40 p.m. Sunday’s session runs from 2 to 4 p.m. For more information or to pre-register, call Pam at 508-759-2737 or Pat at 508-349-1641.
10/6
Father Stan Fortuna, CFR, will be at St. Lawrence Martyr Church in New Bedford on October 6 for a concert night of rapping, praise and jamming that will touch your heart and your spirit. Father Fortuna’s message is about “Youth spreading the Gospel.” He will be the main celebrant at the 4 p.m. Mass and his concert will begin at 7 p.m. An international artist, Father Fortuna is noted for his evangelical musical contributions of various genres, primarily Catholic-based jazz and hip hop. He has been a featured speaker at Franciscan University’s High School Age Youth Conferences and Youth 2000 events for several years and has appeared numerous times on EWTN’s “Life on the Rock.” Tickets for the concert will be available at the door. For more information, call 508992-4251 or visit www.francescoproductions.com.
10/6
Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Route 6 in Wellfleet, will once again host its annual Holly Fair on October 6 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the church grounds featuring wonderful theme gift baskets, wreaths, handmade items, toys, baked goods, a teacup raffle, jewelry, silent auction, food, and the opportunity to take photos with Santa from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., and a lesson on making a hydrangea wreath at 2 p.m. For information contact Donna Cambi at 508-349-1853 or Mary Beth Killigrew at 508-255-6076.
1/13
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Seekonk is sponsoring its 12th trip to the Honduran Mission. A group of 10-15 volunteers will travel to Guaimaca, Honduras from January 13-21, 2013. If you have ever wanted to share your time and talents with our brothers and sisters, contact Pam Potenza at pgp624@hotmail.com or 508-472-4242 for information. Doctors, nurses, dentists, carpenters are especially needed, but all are welcome.
20
W
e all have those days ... the ones where if it wasn’t for dumb luck, you wouldn’t have any. This past Monday was mine. But through it all, God tends to send little boosts where least likely expected. On Sunday I was out and about running errands, making
September 14, 2012
The Anchor
The time my brakes broke
absolutely certain to be home for the New England Patriots season opener at 1 p.m. All was well until I picked Denise up at her mom’s, went to pull away and my brake pedal went to the floor when I tried to stop. The steam coming from beneath the hood was not a good sign. A brake line ...
broke. I left the car there, secured a ride home for Denise, Emilie, her beau Danny, and our groceries. I didn’t make kickoff. On Monday I had it all planned. I’d take two buses to my disabled vehicle, call AAA for a tow, drop it off at my mechanic, take a bus to work, and all would be fine. At 6:10 a.m. I made the half-mile walk to Catholic Memorial Home to get my first bus. While in my chariot, I realized I had forgotten my car keys. Panic! I devised a plan though. Emilie goes to school less
than a block from where the car was. I called Denise and told her to give Em the keys, and I’d get them from her at school. I hopped on my second bus and made it to school ahead of Emilie. I called AAA and scheduled a tow. And waited. And waited.
My View From the Stands By Dave Jolivet
I met up with Danny and he said Emilie texted him and said she was close. Her bus was late. AAA called. The truck was there. Panic! I told them I was delayed. “How long?” came the annoyed response. “Ten minutes,” I said sheepishly. “I’ll see if they’ll wait,” was the reply. Of all days for the tow truck to make it so quickly. I waited. Fifteen minutes later Emilie showed up. I grabbed the keys and made a bee-line for my car. I ran up the street with my laptop flailing behind. What a sight. I neared the car and saw the driver checking his rearview mirror ready to pull away. I waved frantically like a
palm tree in a hurricane. What a sight. The driver saw me and nodded. This is where God stepped in. Instead of being greeted by an agitated tow guy, he told me to relax. He understood. He went about his business, flipped my car on the flatbed and off we went. The driver chatted me up the whole drive, talking about kids, cars, and whatever. I relaxed and thanked him again for waiting. “No problem, dude,” was the comeback. We arrived at the repair shop and went a bit over the allotted mileage allowance. “No problem dude.” My mechanic took the car and would have it done that day. Another thank you to my rescuer, and I made the nowthree-quarter-mile walk back to Catholic Memorial Home to take the bus to work. I got back on the bus and it was the same driver I had at 6:30 a.m. He looked at me and said, “Boy, you’re quick.” I explained my morning. He chuckled. When I got to my destination, I pulled the yellow chord. My chariot came to a stop. I told the driver, “I’m going to work to get some rest.” Another chuckle. He said, “It’s pretty bad when you go to work to get some rest.” “It’s been a rough day,” I smiled. Later, when Emilie got out of school, I texted her to thank her for getting my keys to me. “Yay! :)” was her response. What a good kid. That afternoon I got a call from my mechanic. The brakes were no longer “broke.” At the end of my day, I waited for another bus to take me to the mechanic. I half expected it to be the same driver from that morning. It wasn’t. I got my car, and the bill. It was half what I expected it to be. God back at work. I got home and was greeted outside by Igor with her tail frantically waving, just like my waving at the bus that morning. “Welcome home dad,” she wiggled. I walked in and was immediately greeted with the aroma of Denise’s yummy meatballs and sauce simmering in the crockpot. Aaaahhh! Home with my peeps. Thanks God for another great day.