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theM VOL. 50, NO. 35

FALL RIVER, MASS.

• Friday, September 15, 2006

New Office of Faith Formation opens in diocese; director chosen

Worldwide Catholic St~wardship is topic of October 1-4 annual meeting in Boston

By DEACON JAMES N. DUNBAR

leadership.

FALL RIVER ~ Claire ''1 believe there is a cry within the McManus, the director ofthe Office diocese for someone to come in and ofFaith Formation newly established unify the effort, because we are all in the Fall River dioabout faith formacese, enthusiastically tion because that is took the reins in what the Church hand last week. does:' she said. "By 'Tm overseeing . bringing these three three ministries areas under one roof, within the diocese, we are able to offer the Office of Relimuch more to the gious Education, the parishes."

Office ofYouth MinAsked how the istry, and the Office job was going, of Adult Education McManus anand Evangelization:' swered: ''This is day the 50-year-old '-.......... two, and so far it's Marshfield resident CLAIRE McMANUS fine. I'm very exexplained to TheAncited to help bring chor.

Fall River to the level that Bishop The new position places one di- George W. Coleman wants it to be. rector over ministries that in the past He would like to see Fall River betwere separate, each with its own Tum to page 19 - Formation

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Famed newsman/analyst to stress importance of Catholic eduction

By DAVE JOUVET, EOITOR WESTPORT - ''1 watched my dad's sermons more than I heard them:' Tun Russert told The Anchor in a telephone interview last week. The host of NBC's "Meet the Press:' and the network's chief political analyst added, "my mom and dad lived their faith and my three sisters and I learned what it meant to be Catholic by that example. " Russert will be speaking at the St. Mary's Fund Fall Dinner on September 28 at White's of Westport.

The dinner helps raise funds nee-

essary to assist need-based families send their children to Catholic elementary and middle schools in the Fall River diocese.

"My parents had such a strong Catholic faith, and they shared that with their children," said Russert. "As children, and as a family we would attend Mass together, novenas together, say the rosary together, and pray the Stations ofthe Cross together.

'There were always reminders of the faith around the house with statues and crucifixes. My mom had a Tum to page 10 - Education

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Parish stewardship team~ from Attleboro and Sandwich will make presentations.

By

DEACON JAMES

N.

DUNBAR

Stewar~ship Has Grown Through Three Pastorates."

ATTLEBORO - When more than 1,500 members It will include a discussion and sharing. of the clergy and laity worldwide convene for the an"Stewardship began here in the mid 1980s with nual conference of the International Catholic StewFather Marcel H. Bouchard, then pastor, so it is ardship Council in Boston next month to coni one of the first parishes in the diocese to have template the place of stewardship as a way of stewardship on its agenda," Father Costa life in the Church, they'll be hearing from said. a local group well experienced in its appli"At the time the parish was not growcation. ing in membership. Following a steward"Our parish will making a principal p r e - , ship conference, Father Marcel, with much insentation," reported Father David A. Costa, . spiration, gathered a group of parishioners and pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Attleboro. taught the parish all about the gratitude to Dr. Ernest Collamati, head of our _~m God for all he has given us and how we . h Steward sh'Ip C omml'ttee, an d ~'-"" <;-fS"''''~ADi'';~'R.~l?pans _"''''"."".,_~ respon d b y" glvmg b ack t0 G 0d, our I will be giving the hour-and-a-half time, talent and treasure. It is not a PowerPoint presentation coordinated by our com- , money issue." mittee members," Father Costa explained.

The result, reported Fa$er Costa, "is that through The presentation is entitled "Staying Alive: How Tum to page 18 - Stewardship

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Well-known liturgical Illlusic composer giVing presentations at ~tonehill College

By MIKE GORDON ANCHOR STAFF

EASTON - Father Jan Michael Joncas, a priest of the Archdiocese ofSaint Paul-Minneapolis, and wellknown composer of liturgical music, including the song "On Eagle's Wmgs," will give a series of presentations September 20-21 at Stonehill College.

One presentation on Thursday afternoon will focus on "Change and Transition in Ordained Ministry," and is open to priests and deacons. The day will begin with midday prayer at noon in¡ the Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows in Donahue Hall. Lunch will follow in the Gartland Dining Room.

.The other presentations are at 7 p.m. and should be of particular interest to those working in pastoral

, FATHER JAN MICHAEL JONCAS

music and pastoral planning.

Wednesday night's talk is entitled, "Spiritual Resources for Engaging Change and Transition: Psalms of Praise, Lament and Wisdom."

The Thursday evening program is entitled, "Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs: Pastoral Choices According to Music in Catholic Worship."

Pastoral ministers, religious educators, chaplains, priests, deacons and all who love the Church are welcome to attend. Both evening events will be held in the Chapel of Mary. Campus minister for music and worship, Denise Morency Gannon, couldn't be happier about the upcoming preTum to page 18 - Stonehill

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When it comes to hazing, the message .is very clear in diocesan schools

By DAVE JOLIVET, EDITOR

BEST FOOT FORWARD - Members of the Bishop Connolly High School girls' soccer team prepare for the upcoming season. The Fall River school and the other three Catholic high schools in the Diocese of Fall River work hard to protect all athletes from harmful hazing rituals. (AnchodGordon photo)

FALL RIVER - The Merriam-Webster online dictionary describes hazing in the simplest of terms: "an initiation process involving harassment." The Microsoft Network online encyclopedia, "Encarta," is more descriptive: "to persecute or torture somebody in a subordinate position." Wikipedia defines it as: "often a ritualistic test, which may constitute harassment, abuse or humiliation with requirements to perform meaningless tasks."

Whatever the definition, hazing is nothing short of debasing another human being physically, emotionally, or both. On the heels of a recent alleged hazing incident involving football players from an area public high school that may lead to criminal charges, The

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Anchor ~poke with the athletic directors of the four diocesani!Catholic high schools for their perspectives on hazing.

"Hazihg is the most detrimental thing you can do to a young student athlete," said Paul O'Boy, who has been the Bishop Feehan High School A.D. for 20 years.

"It makes no sense and it's inherently unfair to deil grade young students." O'Boy told The Anchor that the Attleooro school's "Student Handbook" condemns hazing, quoting directly from Chapter 269 of the General Law~ of Massachusetts prohibiting the practice of hazing.

"There has never been an incident of hazing since' I've been~at Feehan," O'Boy continued. "Our coaches Tum to page 16 - Hazing "

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NEWS FROM' THE 'VATICAN

Friday, September 15, 20061

Christ can be seen in faces of all people, pope says at sanctuary MANOPPELLO, Italy (CNS)All Christians should be on a neverending search for Christ, who can be seen in the faces of all people, especially the poor and needy, Pope Benedict XVI said.

To be drawn and transformed by the splendor of Jesus' face is to live in God's presence on earth, the pope said during a brief visit September 1 to the Sanctuary of the Holy Face in this small city some 120 miles east of Rome.

Some scholars believe the sanctuary houses "Veronica's Veil," the cloth used by Veronica to wipe Christ's face prior to his crucifixion and which, according to tradition, now contains the image of Christ's face.

"We will be filled with the presence of God" by imitating the lives of the saints who lovingly recognized the face of Jesus in their brothers and sisters, "especially the poorest and those most in need," Pope Benedict said.

The pope flew by helicopter early in the morning from his summer home at the papal villa in Castel Gandolfo to visit the church that houses the seven-inch-by-9.5-inch transparent veil that portrays the image of a male face with long hair and a beard. Studies have found no pigments or paints were used to create the image.

The two-hour stopover marked the first time a pope visited this small cio/ of 6,000 people and its sanctuary.

In a speech to priests, religious and pilgrims who packed the long, narrow church, the pope quoted Jesus, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father."

In order to recognize Christ, especially in other people or in one's daily life, people must have "innocent hands and pure hearts," Pope Benedict said.

Having innocent hands means living one's existence "enlightened by the truth of love that conquers indifference, doubt, lies and selfishness," he said. A pure heart, he added, is a heart that has been "cap-

tured by divine beauty" and houses Christ's very image.

It was only after Jesus' passion and resurrection that the disciples recognized him as the true Son of God, "the Messiah promised for the redemption of the world," said the pope.

"Looking for Jesus' face must be the yearning of all of us Christians," the pope said. For those who persevere in that search, he said, Jesus "will be there at the end of our earthly pilgrimage."

The pope also made an urgent appeal for greater respect for the environment. The Church in Italy marked its first day of reflection and prayer for the protection of the environment September 1.

The pope said nature was in great danger as it is "always ever more exposed to serious risks of environmental degradation" and must be "defended and safeguarded."

After arriving in this small city nestled in the mountains not far from the Adriatic Sea, the pope walked to the Sanctuary of the Holy Face and was met by local city and Church officials. He greeted thousands of exuberant pilgrims who路 lined the streets as they cheered and waved small yellow and white Vatican flags.

Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto told Vatican Radio that before his election to the pori'tificate, Pope Benedict, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, had hoped to visit and pray at the shrine.

The visit was "a personal pilgrimage," the archbishop told Vatican Radio, "to highlight the importance of faith in looking toward the face of Jesus in life."

The archbishop, a close collaborator of the pope's through their work on the International Theological Commission, led the pope to the sanctuary.

A Capuchin friar unlocked and opened the protective glass case housing the icon above the church's altar. The pope spent several minutes venerating the relic.

PAPAL PAINTINGS - A woman looks at watercolor sketches from an exhibit on the life of Pope Benedict XVI at Buergersaal Church in Munich, Germany. The exhibition, "Sketches of the Life of Pope Benedict XVI," features the work of a Munich architect. (CNS photo/ Philip Crebbin)

A CHILD OF GOD - Pope Benedict XVI, wearing a Roman "ga/era," offers a kiss to a child at his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican recently. The wide-brimmed red hat, often worn by Popes John XXIII and Paul VI, had not been worn since Pope John Paul II's trip to Mexico in 1979. (CNS photo/Daniele Colarieti, Catholic Press Photo)

Pope: Being Christian means to know Jesus personally, as a friend

By CAROL GLATZ CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE VATICAN CITY - Being Christian is not just about listening to God's word and understanding his teachings, it is also about getting to know Jesus as a friend and personally discovering who he really is, Pope Benedict XVI said.

Jesus "in fact is not only a teacher but is a friend, indeed, a brother. How can we know him from afar? Intimacy, familiarity, routine" are what help people discover who Jesus really is, the pope said.

The pope's remarks came during his September 6 weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.

The large number of people requesting tickets to the audience prompted organizers to move the venue from the smaller air-conditioned Paul VI hall to the spacious square in front of St. Peter's Basilica.

To shade himself from Rome's intense sunlight, Pope Benedict wore for the first time in public a Roman "galero," the widebrimmed red hat often worn by Popes John XXIII and Paul VI. The last time a pope wore the shady, lightweight, ecclesiastical hat was when Pope John Paul II visited Mexico in 1979.

Pope Benedict's "galero" was adorned with a red ribbon and decorated with gold-thread trim; it marked another revival of traditional attire in this papacy. In December, the pope reintroduced the "cainauro," a red velvet cap trimmed with ermine.

In his address, the pope continued a series of talks on the Apostles, this time focusing on the life and

example of Philip.

Even though Jesus had told the Apostles, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father," Philip still asked Jesus to show them God the Father so as to know and see him, the pope said. Jesus assured Philip that "I am in the Father and the Father is in me," adding his surprise that "you still do not know me, Philip?" Pope Benedict said.

Jesus, in fact, invited all the Apostles not just to listen to him, but to be with him, to take part in his life and become his friends so that they would know God, said the pope.

The pope said, "The important thing is to learn Christ, not only and not just by listening to his teachings, but even more so by knowing him in person, that is, his humanity and divinity, his mystery, his beauty."

This friendship with Jesus and truly getting to know him is like any real friendship in that "it necessitates closeness, it even exists in part" on being close to each other, the pope said.

But Christians are also called to

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share with others and show the way that leads to Jesus, he said.

When bystanders asked Philip to show them Christ, he did not just "announce the Gospel like a theory," the pope said, but he invited the others to experience Jesus in person.

"This teaches us to also always be ready both in welcoming questions and requests from wherever they come and in directing (people) toward the Lord, the only one who can fully satisfy" people's needs, said the pope.

The faithful must be "an open road" that leads others to Christ, he said, adding that living without the "indispensable fellowship" of Jesus is living a life of solitude, of being "ever more alone."

In greetings to pilgrims in Italian, the pope said he hoped his upcoming visit to Germany would help the German people experience "a renewed springtime of faith and civil progress."

He thanked God for the opportunity to visit his homeland in Bavaria for the first time since he was elected pope more than a year ago.

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER

Published weekly except for two weeks in the summer and the week after Christmas by the Catholic Press of the Diocese of Fall River, 887 Highland Avenue, Fall River, MA 02720, Telephone 508-675-7151 - FAX 508-675-7048, E-mail: theanchor@anchomews.org. Subscription price by mail, postpaid $14.00 per year.

Send address changes to P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA, call or use E-mail address Member: CathoUc Press AsSOCiation. New England Press Association, Catholic News Service PUBLISHER - Most Reverend George W. Coleman EXECUTIVE EDITOR Father Roger J. Landry fatherrogerlandry@anchomews.org EDITOR David B. Jollvet daveJollvet@anchornews.org NEWS EDITOR Deacon James N. Dunbar Jimdunbar@anchornews.org REPORTER Michael Gordon mlkegordon@anchOrnews.org OFFICE MANAGER Mary Chase marychase@anchornews.org

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Friday,

sePt~mber 15, 2006

THE INTERNATIONAL CHURCH

Argentine archdiocese to send special soup to hungry in Mozambique BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (CNS) - The Archdiocese of Buenos Aires has launched a campaign to feed thousands of people in Mozambique with a soup developed by a local university.

Father Guillermo Marco, archdiocesan spokesman, said the soup, developed by the National University of Quilmes in the province of Buenos Aires, was made from liquidized Argentine beef, fresh vegetables and fat.

Father Marco said that for about 15 cents a person can eat for one day. Each tin of soup. costs about $2.60 and can feed 17 people. Father Marco said the aim was to raise $24,000 in order to send a

container's load of soup. .Transport costs are low because the soup does not need refrigeration, he said.

The archdiocese, which has had a mission in Mozambique for 15 years, has opened a bank account for the funds.

An estimated 78 percent of Mozambique's population lives on less than $2 per day, and 41 percent of children under age five suffer from malnutrition. The country, which has been tom by civil war, severe floods, droughts, crop failures and HIV/ AIDS in the last three decades, has made strides to improve its economy and reduce poverty, but remains highly dependent on donor aid.

Two new deans appointed' to serve diocesan deaneries

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pastors and priests in the deanery, MAKING CHANNELS OF PEACE - The 20th annual Interreligious Prayer Meeting for Peace conmaking him available to them even cludes in Assisi, Italy, recently. Sponsored by the Sant'EEgidio Community, the meeting was attended for one-on-one meetings if they ask. by more than 150 religious leaders and included num!3rous round-table discussions and separate He sets meetings of the pastors usu- prayer rituals. A joint appeal for peace was delivered in front of the Basilica of St. Francis, seen in this ally from October through May, to photo. (CNS photo/Daniele Colarieti, Catholic Press Photo) hear what they have to say, and the dean visits the various parishes to ensure all is running well and records are being maintained. As a member of the Presbyteral Council, the dean

By JOHN THAVIS is the link between the parishes and cated in a special way t¢ Pope John had' had an important, though not CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE the bishop and reports to him."

Paul II, who launched the Assisi en- always visible, impact in the world.

Msgr. Avila, who succeeded Fa"Prayer is already a lot, because ASSISI, Italy - Muslims knelt counter as a way for religions to prother Bellenoit as pastor ofSt. Mary's on prayer rugs in the Assisi town fess commitment to peace and who peace starts in the hearts of people, I' in Mansfield, said this is his first hall, Shintoists performed rituals in personally presided ov~r the 1986 just as war does. So promoting peace experience as a dean, "and it will be the garden of a Franciscan convent, event. through prayer does make a differa hands-on learning experience for and Buddhists meditated in a room Tributes to the late pope came ence," he said. me. It means acting as a liaison be- ' full of Renaissance frescoes.

Many speakers focused on the from members of everylfaith.

I tween the priests and people of the Christians filled the town's cathe"Pope John Paul II wllS the stron- challenge posed by current conflicts Attleboro Deanery and the diocese dral to pray until the tolling of the gest voice of hope and justice that around the world. But others, like and our bishop," said Msgr. Avila, church bells called members of all we've ever heard. He was a friend of Mozambican Archbishop Jaime who had served in the post as secre- faiths to an evening procession for the oppressed, the poor, the sick and Goncalves of Beira, pointed to some I positive results of the prayertary to the bishop. peace through the streets of "I think it is essential to form a . the medieval city. for-peace movement. It was collaborative ministry by all the The 70 minutes of prayer "Those spreading terror, death the spirit of Assisi and the priests - as fellow members of the marked the central moment of and violence in the hame of God Sant'Egidio Community, he clergy - with the people our par- the 20th annual Interreligious must remember that peace is the said, that set in motion peace ishes serve, and at the same time Prayer Meeting for Peace Sepname of God. God is stronger than talks between the government and rebels in his country, leadlearn from that," he added. "And I tember 4-5, attended by more those who want war, Ii cultivate ha- ing to a peace agreement in look forward to the new responsi- than 150 religious leaders tred a'nd live on violerice." . 'bilities as a dean."

1992. from around the world.

Most participants exLike the originai encounter in 1986, this one took place in the hungry, and a defender ofthe dig- pressed the fundamental conviction Assisi, the Italian hill town where St. nity of every human tieing," said that all trUe religions lead to peace Francis lived and preached. Spon- Mohammed Amine smaili, a profes- and reconciliation. But the chronic violence and historic hostilities in the sored by the Sant'Egidio Commu- sor of Islamic dogma in Morocco.

Rabbi Rene SamuelJI Sirat, the Middle East ....:- including religious nity, it featured numerous roundtable discussions, separate prayer former chief rabbi of France, enu- antagonisms - were reflected in the rituals and a joint appeal for peace merated Pope John Paul's overtures speeches of several participants.

Ahmad al-Tayyeb, rector of the His Excellency, the Most Reverend George W. Coleman, Bishop delivered in front of the Basilica of to Jews and said: "May the rememof Fall River, has announced the following appointments: AI-Azhar University in Cairo, brance of this faithful friend of the St. Francis.

Egypt, the oldest and most presti"War is not unavoidable. Reli- Jewish people be a source of blessReverend Monsignor Stephen J. Avila, V.F., Dean of Attleboro gious university in the Muslim gions never justify hatred and vio- ings forever."

Deanery world, delivered a critique of the Pope Benedict XVI sent a meslence. Those using the name of God Very Reverend George C. Bellenoit, V.F., Dean of Cape Cod West and unnamed countries that he intetlaith meetsage supporting the to destroy others move away from Deanery said are adding to people's oppresings, saying his prede'cessor had true religion," the appeal said.

Reverend Monsignor Edmund J. Fitzgerald, V.F., Dean of Fall River Deanery ''Those spreading terror, death come up with a "prophetic" initia- sion and suffering ''under the false Very Reverend Jay T. Maddock, V.F., Dean of Taunton·Deanand violence in the .name of God tive in an age when religion is some- cover of treaties and international ery must remember that peace is the times used as a pretext fpr violence. organizations."

Very Reverend John J. Oliveira, V.F., Dean of New Bedford He said these "disordered civiliCardinal Walter Kasper, the name of G~d. God is stronger than .

Deanery those who want war, cultivate hatred Vatican's top ecumenist, told Catho- zations" have turned away from relic News Service that the "spirit of ligion and are oriented totally toward and live on violence;' it said.

Effective September 13, 2006 earlier satisfying the individual's needs.

This year's meeting was dedi- Assisi" introduced 20 J J !ears

FALL RIVER - Msgr. Stephen J. Avila, pastor of St. Mary's Parish in Mansfield, has been named the dean of the Attleboro Deanery, and Father George C. Bellenoit, pastor of St. Pius X. Parish in South Yarmouth is the new dean of the Cape Cod Deanery.

Their three-year appointments were announced Monday by Bishop George W. Coleman.

Reappointed are Msgr. Edmund J. Fitzgerald as dean ofthe Fall River Deanery; Father Jay T. Maddock as dean of the Taunt<.>n Deanery; and Father John J. Oliveira as dean of the New Bedford Deanery.

Their reappointments are also for three years.

Father Bellenoit, who for 10 years has been pastor of St. Mary's in Mansfield until his recent appointment to St. Pius X, on the Cape, had just completed a term as dean of the Attleboro Deanery.

Asked what a dean does, Father Bellenoit, laughed and told The Anclior, ''Last week's column by Father Tun Goldrick looked at it from many angles. But in essence the dean is to attend to the good and welfare of the

More than 150 religious leaders discuss, pray, appeal for peace

Diocese of Fall River

OFFICIAL

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THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES

Friday, September 15, 20061

'African roots' to faith experience explored at eucharistic congress WASIllNGTON (CNS) - The "African roots" of the "Jewish seed" produce "American fruits" for faith and worship, according to Msgr.

Raymond East, head of the Archdiocese ofWashington's Office of Black Catholics.

Msgr. East made the declaration at a September 2 workshop on inculturation as part ofthe African National Eucharistic Congress held in Washington.

Msgr. East recalled having to field a call from an angry parent whose child was being taught at the parish school that Jesus had grown up Jewish. "Why are you teaching falsehood?" he recalled the parent saying. "Jesus wasn't Jewish. He was Catholic!"

He said at the workshop that Jesus had been an "Afro-Asiatic Jew;' which prompted a couple of whoops from workshop participants. He noted the location of Jesus' birth would be considered Asia, and that the Holy Family fled to Egypt - in Africa - to escape Herod.

"They didn't fly there. They didn't take a boat there. They didn't need a passport. They walked to Africa;' he said. To drive his point home, Msgr.

East voiced references to Jesus' hair as being ''like lamb's wool" and having "skin bumt by the sun."

After the first Pentecost, Africa was

among the destinations ofthe disciples, who had heard the Apostles speak to them in their own tongues, Msgr. East added. "Africans took the Eucharist with them," he said.

What was probably the first passag~ ~tten in what is now known as the Old Testament, Msgr. East said, is Chapter 15 of the Book of Exodus, in which Miriam, the sister ofMoses and Aaron, sings and plays a tambourine at the Israelites' victory over Pharaoh.

'That tambourine had to have been an African tambourine;' Msgr. East said. "And she must have been singing an African song. At that point, they had been in Africa for 400 years."

Msgr. East said Africa has "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, but many languages and many cultures." There .are times in the past, he added, when different styles ofcelebrating brought division.

He said one challenge to full inculturation is the current model of liturgical worship. "Our processions won't fit into a 57-minute box,."

Eucharist isjust one sacrament deserving a closer look at African inculturation, Msgr. East said. "What about the other sacraments? Don't we have work to do, Church?" he added, beseeching workshop participants for "prayers for the birth ofa new expression of worship."

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SIGNED, SEALED, TO BE DELIVERED - Msgr. Paul Showalter, vicar general of the Diocese of Peoria, 111., applies melted sealing wax in late July to ribbon on a package containing two folders documenting an alleged miracle"attributed to the intercession of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, the famed radip and television host and author. Other participants in the ceremony included, clockwise from lower right, Msgr. Richard Soseban, the Diocese of Peoria's delegate to the cause; Andrea Ambrosi, postulator of the cause; Father Andrew Apostoli, vice postulator; Father Edward Roberts, promoter of justice; Sandy Staes, copyist; and Heather Milligan, Ambrosi's assistant. (eNS photorrom Dermody, The Catholic Post)

Two cases of alleged miracles claim intercession of Archbishop Sheen

By TOM DERMODY CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE PEORIA, nl. - Documentation of two alleged miracles attributed to the intercession of the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen were sent to Rome this summer as part ofthe promotion of his sainthood cause.

The cases claiming the archbishop's intercession involve a woman from Champaign and a baby in Pittsburgh. The cases were investigated and documented and, following ceremonies in Peoria and Pittsburgh, documentation was sealed and prepared for delivery to the Vatican Congregation for Saints' Causes for further study.

The ceremony in Peoria was witnessed by several members of the Sheen family and officials promoting the sainthood cause. During the ceremony, folders containing more than 500 pages of witness testimony and medical data regarding the Champaign case were packaged and sealed.

The documents tell the story of the recovery of Therese Kearney, a member of Holy Cross Parish in Champaign, who suffered a tear in her main pulmonary artery during surgery in December 1999. When her husband, Frank, was told there was little chance for his wife's survival, he prayed to Archbishop Sheen, whom he had long admired.

Kearney, then in her early 70s, survived, but died just five days before the Peoria ceremony. Her husband, who first shared his wife's story with those promoting Archbishop Sheen's cause,

died in February.

Msgr. Richard Soseman, whom Peoria Bishop Daniel R. Jenky appointed as delegate to the archbishop's sainthood cause, said Kearney's death at age 79, more than six years after the alleged miracle, will not impact the case.

Archbishop Sheen, a native ofEI

ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN Paso路in the Diocese ofPeoria, gained worldwide fame as a radio and television host and author. He died Oct. 3, 1979. The Diocese of Peoria officially launched his cause for canonization in September 2003.

Andrea Ambrosi, postulator for the archbishop's sainthood cause, traveled to Peoria to oversee the ceremonies and planned to hand-deliver the files to the Vatican congregation.

Those who prepared the documents pledged the accuracy and authenticity compiled in the three thick

folders; two of them were to be sent to Rome while a third was to remain in the diocesan chancery. ''The diocese cannot presuppose that anything miraculous happened: That judgment is made in Rome," said Msgr. Soseman. "When Rome finds that something miraculous has occurred in such cases, it is seen as a sign of God's favor, working through the prayers of a candidate for sainthood, and so the process is able to move forward."

The Peoria ceremony closed months of fact-gathering facilitated by the Archbishop Fulton 1. Sheen Foundation and carried out by Msgr.

Soseman, a medical expert and'an ecclesiastical notary.

Ambrosi attended a similar ceremony in Pittsburgh with diocesan officials and documents surrounding the claim of a miraculous healing of a gravely ill Pittsburgh infant who recovered after his parents prayed for ~chbishop Sheen's intercession.

Ambrosi said the child's disease and recovery were supported by the main physicians involved in his case and all of them "recognized that a force superior to their medical science intervened for his recovery."

The infant's family are Ukrainian Catholics and belong to the Ukrainian Diocese of St. Josaphat in Parma, Ohio, whose territory includes western Pennsylvania.

Because the diocese's resources and personnel were too limited to undertake the extensive investigation of the alleged miracle, the Pittsburgh Diocese agreed to do the legwork.

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,I Friday, September 15, 2006 the atlChOlS) Catechetical Sunday celebrates those who bring the Good News to others

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September 17 events including blessing, commissioning of teachers and catechists By

DEACON JAMES

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DUNBAR

Collamati, head of the theology department at Regis FALL RIVER - Following a long tradition, pas- College," Deacon Bonneau reported. tors in parishes across the Fall River diocese on Sep"There are many people including directors and tember 17 - the third Sunday in September - will volunteers that do such a tremendous job in their miscall forth all those involved in Religious Education to sion of teaching about Jesus to thousands of children bless and commission them to as they begin a new across our diocese," said Deacon Bonneau. year of instructing their charges in living out the GosThis week, The Anchor talked with Ellen Westlund, pel message. who, as director of Religious Education at St. Mary's "All those who assist their bishop in proclaiming Parish in Mansfield, is responsible for an amazing the Good News, such as Religious Education direc- 2,300 public school students who attend those classes tors, coordinators, teachers and volunteers, those in- weekly. volved in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults "We have the largest if not one of the largest attenand continuing education of adults, are among dance of children in these programs in the Fall those usually brought up at the weekend River diocese," reported Westlund, whose tenMasses for a blessing and commissionure since 1971 also makes her one of the ing," said Deacon Bruce Bonneau, longest in the directorship post. director of Religious Education "I think I was the first perfor the diocese. son who was not a member of The timing is approa religious order of congregapriate because the opention to become a DRE," she ing of the catechetical said. year coincides with the "There are 200 children inopening of school for the volved in each grade in Relifall semester, when stugious Education classes from dents begin again a learn~' one through nine ... you do the math," she said. "There are also ing process.

"It is also a good re" 40 in kindergarten and 20 more in minder that it is the responpre-school. These are apart sibility given every from the children in our Christian at baptism \ (l -r\ (\ ~ A.. parish school, who reto evangelize as ad.....LJo JOU . d' . . . .d' fl~' ceived religious epucadressed by the U.S. CATECHETICAL DAY tion in our parish school Conference of classes - kindergarten Catholic Bishops," Deacon Bonneau added. through grade-eight, every day. The classes we conThis year's theme for Catechetical Sunday is "Who duct are held one a week, on Sundays."

Do You Say That lAm," taken from this Sunday's GosWestlund said there are 200 students readying for first pel according to Mark. The pericope relates the ques- Communion in her first- and second-grade classes. There tion by Jesus to Peter, which ends with Peter's remark- are another 200 in a three-year program in seventh-, eighthable declaration of faith based on what had been re- and ninth-grade classes preparing for confirmation. vealed to him.

"We coordinate the ceremonies that include students Deacon Bonneau will address the importance of from the parish school, in our classes, and there are so catechesis in his homily given at the TV Mass broad- many involved that we have to hold two confirmation cast on September 17, to be celebrated by Father Ri- liturgies and four first Communion Masses annually chard Degagne, pastor of St. John Neumann Parish in to accommodate the numbers of students and their East Freetown. families," Westlund told The Anchor.

The topic of the homily will be "Importance of the A widow with three adult children and the grandShared Ministry and Mission of Religious Education." mother of three, Westlund can't say enough about how Following videotaping of the Mass on Saturday, happy her mission makes her.

September 16, there will be a convocation of diocesan "What is unbelievable is that we have more than Religious Education directors at Bishop Stang High 200 wonderful teacher volunteers ... among them School in North Dartmouth. many talented and dedicated young adults and some "We'll be talking about the schedule of diocesan teens, so involved in Religious Education," she said. events in Religious Education in the coming year, and ''There is always a good feeling. You can feel the givthere will also be a presentation by Dr. Ernest ing atmosphere when you come in here."

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LIGHTS IN THE DARKNESS - One hundred eighty four lights shine onto cloud cover September 11 from the Pentagon near Washington in tribute to 184 people who lost their lives at the Pentagon in the Sept. 11,2001, terrorist attacks. (eNS photo/Paul Haring)

2006

VISIT THE WORLD ON OUR WEB! Ii

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ists, lending publicity to the event.

Over the years, Pope John Paul chatted with artists like Jose Feliciano, Whitney Houston, Dionne Warwick, Gloria Gaynor and the late John Denver. B.B. King, who performed "Merry Christmas Baby," gave the pontiff one of his electric guitars.

In 2003, U.S. pop singer Lauryn Hill stunned the concert audience when she asked Church leaders to "repent" and spoke of the pain of those abused by priests. Vatican Radio termed the outburst a "sour note" to an otherwise enjoyable show.

visit the HqA web page for adults and educators for free mission,education materials.)

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For more than 160 years, children in this country have made a real difference in the lives of children in the Missions by showing them the lqve of Jesus through their prayers, sacrifices ahd finandal help. Please, won't you

Vatican to discontinue annual Christmas concert VATICAN CITY -After a 13- perform were disappointed that year run, the annual Christmas con- Pope Benedict XVI did not make cert at the Vatican will not be con- time for the traditional papal audience with the artists. tinued.

The annual event was taped in The Vatican did not say who made the decision, which was reported by the Vatican audience hall in early Italian media. In recent years some December and rebroadcast on Church officials have viewed the con- Christmas Eve. It always drew a cert as a distraction because of minor sellout crowd of about 6,000 controversies involving performers. people, including many cardinals, Last year, Church officials bishops and Vatican officials.

The concert was an initiative of dropped Brazilian pop singer Daniela Mercury because they the Diocese of Rome, which used feared she would use the concert to proceeds to help build new promote the use of condoms as an .churches in the ci~. Pope John Paul anti-AIDS measure. Those who did II made it a point to greet the art-

about the Missions? Then check out \he Holy Childhood Association's (HCA) website for kids ferturing fun downloads, interesting stories and news from HCA kids all over the wbrld! Visit WWlv. worJdmisSions-catholicchurch.org I and follow me, Polly Parrot, the HCA Mascot.

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Friday, September 15, 20061

Voting is a moral act The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council, in their "Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modem World," wrote that "all citizens are to bear in mind that it is both their right and duty to use their free vote to promote the common good" (75). Each of us has a responsibility for the common good. "It is neither something that others can justly deny us nor something we can morally forsake.

The "Catechism of the Catholic Church" lists exercising the right to vote as one of the three basic moral obligations - the other two are paying taxes and defending one's country - that flow from our joint responsibility for the common good (2240).

Voting is, quite simply, a moral act. Not to vote is to neglect one's responsibility for others and for society. These truths are valid for everyone, as sound moral philosophers of all religions and no religion have taught for generations. But they are particularly relevant for Christians, who have been given by Christ the mission to be leaven for nations, salt of the earth and light of the world. One of the principal means by which Christians can peacefully raise up their cultures, prevent corruption, and illuminate their fellow men and women about right and wrong is through their participation in the electoral process.

Many Christians know this, and take their responsibility at the ballot box very seriously. They recognize that in a democratic society, we essentially get the leaders we deserve, and each person eligible to vote bears some responsibility for the leaders we have and the decisions they make.

But the majority of citizens - Christian and otherwise - shirk this important duty, either partially or fully. One-third of citizens in our country do not bother even to register to vote. Of those who are registered, four out of 10 almost never show up at the ballot box,

EDITORIAL even in a tightly-contested general election for president. In many of the localities in southeastern Massachusetts, nine out of 10 enrolled voters blow off the primaries.

This apathy is nothing short of a moral and civic cancer. The less people hold themselves accountable to their personal responsibilities toward the common good, the less they hold their elected representatives responsible for the common good, and the easier it is for elected representatives to take advantage of them against the common good. It should not be surprising that several politicians have.

The person who either consciously or carelessly chooses not to vote - particularly in the ubiquitous situation where the common good is violated and injustices need to be rectified - is morally no better than Pontius Pilate, who washed his hands of ~esus, or the levite who passed the suffering man on the opposite side of the road.

A sin of omission is still a sin.

But showing up - as important as it is ~ is not enough. Although increased voter tumout is a good, it is but a limited one. The fulfillment of our moral responsibilities with regard to elections is not a question merely of voting, but of voting well.

How we vote is sign of what we value most. When we pull the curtain of the ballot box behind us, it is similar to closing in back of - us the curtain of the confessional, in which we stand hidden before God and confess who we are and what we prioritize. Some people make their political party an idol and vote the party-line no matter what particular candidates hold. Others vote for or against a candidate solely on the basis of superficial criteria, like the person's last name or looks or hometown. Others worship a modem golden calf and choose the candidate they deem will pad their pockets the most.

Others look to the most serious crises of our day and try to determine, on the basis of the character and positions of the candidates, which of them would best govern or legislate in accordance with fundamental moral truths.

Sometimes our choice is between apples and oranges, two good candidates who vary simply on prudential implementation of sound principles. At other times the choice is between Christ and Barabbas.

But the reality remains that whom we decide to support and why are moral decisions that express and form our character, and for which we will be voted upon by God. For that reason, we should wisely vote only after much prayer, which should mark all of our important decisions.

This Tuesday, September 19, is an occasion for all of us to show who we are and either fulfill or forsake our responsibilities toward our neighbors, especially the most vulnerable. It is an occasion for us to choose well. May the Lord help us to do Him proud.

the living word

XVI IS SURROUNDED BY 400 CHILDREN WHO RECENTLY MADE THEIR FIRST COMMUNION DURING A MAss IN THE CATHEDRAL IN MUNICH SEPTEMBER 10. (CNS PHOTO/ CATHOLIC PREss PHOTO, L'OSSERVATORE ROMANO) POPE BENEDICT

"BEHOLD, ClDLDREN ARE A GIFT OF mE LORD" (PSALM

127:3).

The whole person of Christ Sometimes 1 think our Lord might be the greatest victim of misrellresentation in the history of the world Because he is the most important man who ever lived, Christ is often the subject of conversation, and people don't hesitate to refer to him whenthey discuss how we should live and what we should believe.

People also don't hesitate to assert with confidence how Jesus would act in a given situation, such as how he would respond to others, and it is in these claims that the misrepresentation often lies.

Most commonly, our Lord is accurately described as a peaceful, loving, compassionate and forgiving person.

But because Jesus ate with sinners and had a special concern for those who were marginalized (Mk 2: 1517), many today also claim that h~ was accepting and tolerant of everyone, regardless of how they lived or what they believed. It is claimed, or at least implied, that people's actions and beliefs were irrelevant and of no consequence for ChriSt. It is true, of course, that Christ was loving and forgiving, but it is no less true that it also mattered to him what people believe and do. We cannot forget that the same Lord who showed divine love, compassion and mercy was also not afraid to be firm and even provocative, when necessary (cf. Lk 4:16-30). It was the same loving Jesus who said: . ''Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" (Mt 23: 13ff); 'This generation is an evil generation" (Lk 11:29); "0 faithless and perverse generation, how long am 1 to be with you? How long am I to bear with

you?" (Mt 17:17); and "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Mt 7:21).

Again, it was the same loving Christ who said, ''For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fomication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness,

deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man" (Mk 7:21-23); "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell" (Mt 5:29); ''It will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 20: 23); "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband" (In 4:17-18); "Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you" (In 5:14); ''For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?" (Mt 16:26); and ''You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt5:48).

These words ofChrist may not be as commonly quoted, but they are just as important a part of his teachings and revelation to us. And none of these words means that Christ was any less loving and

forgiving. Rather, they show us how he often expressed his divine love.

They also show us that, although Christ had an unconditional love for every soul he 'created and came to save, what we do and believe most certainly still matters. Christ's love for us was always expressed together with his emphatic and strong insistence on the truth of God's moral teachings.

It is not right, nor is it fair to Christ, to describe him in an incomplete or selective way, omitting those aspects of his divine personality that we might not like. "Christ's whole earthly life - his words and deeds, his silences and sufferings, indeed his manner of being and speaking is Revelation of the Father.." ("Catechism of the Catholic Church," No. 516).

As the Second Vatican Council taught, "the deepest truth about God and the salvation of man shines out for our sake in Christ, who is both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation" (Dei ~rbwn, 2). This means that we will miss and lose part of what God has revealed to us in Christ, if we misrepresent what and how he taught us. We will also miss the mark of true holiness, if the Christ we try to imitate is somehow incompletely or inaccurately portrayed.

A selective reading of our Lord's words misses the full picture of Christ, who is the fullness of God's revelation. Putting into the deep requires remembering and trying to imitate the whole person of Christ.

Fother Pignato is chaplain at Bishop Stong High School in North Dartmouth and is secretory to Bishop George If. Colenum.

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Friday, september 15, 2006

7 II

G'day mate, g'day!

We've all experienced the pain and numbness of losing a loved one - a family member, a friend, a colleague, a mentor. For most of us there is a grieving process, and that process differs from person to person.

Then there are those losses that affect us even though we weren't personally associated with the person. Losing Pope John Paul II and .

Blessed Mother Teresa were very sorrowful, heartbreaking events.

Watch the .evening news any night of the week and there's a good chance you'll hear of the tragic death of a teen-ager, a young parent, a toddler. All of these affect most of-us in some way.

And for me, there are those

deaths that gnaw at my Ted William's death lingered heartstrings because I feel a small , with me for quite a while. He may part of me has been lost. have been an abrasive, press. It happened in 1984 when John hating egotist, but he also poured Lennon was shot and killed. To out his heart and soul to kids. me, Lennon wasn't the hippie One of those gnawing deaths happen~d again on September 4. Steve Irwin, the Australian "Croc Hunter," died following an accidental encounter with a sting ray in the Great Barrier Reef.

I never met Irwin, but to me he was a kindred spirit. Irwin loved animals and did all he could to protect all of God's freak he appeared to be when he creatures. Irwin loved his wife died. I still remember him as the and two children. In fact, when one of the mop-topped Fab Four Beatles that I grew up with. It Irwin died he was in the middle of happened in 2001 when his a television project with his eightcomrade George Harrison passed year-old daughter Bindi. away from cancer.

I recall The Anchor running a

her own placenta, a protective membrane that cushions her and protects her from infection until the day she's born. Clever little girl!

Even though she's doing her best to grow and be strong and safe, she might not survive ifher mum's been using hormone-based contraceptives or morning-after pills. Crikey!

They can change the lining of the womb so it's hard for our little gal to implant and get the food and oxy-

STEVE IRWIN

gen she needs to stay alive.

Ifshe does makes it, by her 22nd day of life, her heart begins to beat.

And s~on her own blood, often a totally different type from her mum's, starts flowing through her veins. By six weeks, her brain waves can be measured and by eight weeks, all her bodily organs are present and complete! She even has her own set of finger-prints unlike anyone else's in the world. Better not cross the law little lady or you'll get busted!

Of course, it's best if she can stay safe inside her mum for ·another seven months to get bigger and stronger, but today kids born a little more than halfway through preg-

nancy can survive with good medical care. Unfortunately, in the U.S. and many other countries, it's legal for a doctor to abort these kiddies right up to the day they're born if that's what mum wants.

The most remarkable thing about these little tykes is son;tething you can't see: every human has a body and a soul that's our innermost self, all rolled into one. Like the "Catechism" says, we are the only creatures in the world able to know and love God and to share in God's own life. And because God makes us in his image and loves us so much that he died for us, every human life is priceless and has equal dignity! Even five-day-old embryos in lab dishes that some scientists want to kill so they can use their stem cells in research, even people struggling with disabilities and patients in comas, those who are dying, and poor people living in slums in far away countries, and even convicted killers. Everyone deserves our respect and concern.

Currently there are more than five billion homo sapiens on earth, but it's fair dinkum we're an endangered species. We keep find~ ing new ways to harm each other - terrorism, chemical and biological weapons, abortion, destructive embryo research, assisted suicide, and euthanasia to name a few. Everyone urgently needs to do his part to defend life.

When we honor the image of God in other people, we'll become more like Jesus himself and be more likely to share in eternal life with God. A good deal all around!

Reprinted from the October 1, 2004 Anchor, from the Respect Life Program 2004, USCCB Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities.

fullest and lived life to the fullest.

I'll miss him blurting out "crikey," when surprised by the movement of one of God's creatures. But more than that, the world lost a true champion for the cause of life - whether it be a 200-pound alligator, or an unborn child the size of a 'fingernail.

"We keep finding ways to harm each other," Irwin wrote.

"Terrorism, chemical and biological weapons, abortion, destructive embryo research, assisted suicide, and euthanasia to name a few. Everyone urgently needs to do his part to defend life.

"When we honor the image of God in other people, we'll become more like Jesus himself and be more likely to share in eternal life with God. A good deal all around!"

Enjoy eternity Steve.

I felt the need to re-publish Irwin's October 2004 column provided by the USCCB. It appears on this page.

Good stuff. Crikey!

Comments are welcome at davejolivet@anchornews.

Montie Plumbing & Heating ~Q.

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Kids' Corner: 'The Croc Hunter' - on the trail of homo sapiens G'day, mates. I'm Steve Irwin, and welcome to another fantastic episode of "Croc Hunter."

Today we're on the trail of the most amazing anima1 in the whole wide world. He's the real king of the jungle and anyplace else he might happen to w~der, from the Outback to downtown Sydney. His name is homo sapiens. That means he's a human and he's really smart.

Not perfect, mind you, he does really stupid stuff from time to time, but compared to the rest of the animal kingdom, homo sapiens is in a class all by himself.

The immature young of this species - like my little girl Bindi - are cute as a button and fun to photograph. But the fantastic story of their life begins nine long months before we can snap the first Polaroid. In fact, as soon as mum's egg is fertilized, a brand new, one-of-akind giri or boy human comes to be.

In the beginning, she's as tiny as a dot over an "i" but she has all the genetic information she'll need for her whole life - a library - full of codes packed into. a little-bitty one-cell dynamo. What she's going to look like, how smart she is, her personality and natural talents, how she's going to grow from one cell to trillions -it's all right there in her genes..

She's got instructions built right in that'll send signals to mum's immune system when she's just a day old: "I'm your little baby! Don't attack me like some nasty awful germ!" And she tells her mum to start producing more hormones so that, in her second week oflife, she can nest in a nutrient-rich lining in mum's womb. Meantime, our little gal is busy growing and building

USCCB-sponsored column by Irwin for Respect Life J]lonth in October of 2004, entitl~d "Kids' Comer: 'The Croc Hunter' - on the trail of homo sapie¥." . The column was entirely about the stages of a fetus in its mother's womb, using Bindi as an Ii example.

Irwin beautifully described the womb as a safe, nurturing harbor of the unborn child, yetlihe knew, like the rest of the animal kingdom he loved so dearlyil there were dangers lurking.

"Unfortunately, in the U.S. and many other countries, it'~ legal for a doctor to abort these kiddies right up to the day they're born if that's what mum wants,'i he wrote.

He continued, "The most remarkable thing about these little tykes is something you ~an't see: every human has a body and a soul ... like the "Catechism" says, we are the only creature's in the world able to. know and love God and to share in God's own life."

Not bad wisdomfrodt a crocodile wrestler. ,i • Steve Irwin knew life, to the

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Friday, September 15, 20061

Peace begins within us, If I myself am not at peace, how can there be peace on earth?

In 1955 Sy Miller and Jill Jackson wrote a song that contains the words: "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me."

These familiar words take on fresh meaning in light of Sunday's Second Reading (James: 3: 16-4: 3). Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from? Is it not from your passions that make war within your members?

St. James identifies concisely that wars and conflicts result from the inner discord that each of us experiences. All wars, no matter how large-scale they may become, begin because of one person's inner conflict with passions. That being the case, to eliminate wars, all we need to do is to get rid of our inner conflicts and, presto, war will be no more, and peace will reign.

However, peace is not all that who had been discussing, arguing, which one of them was the easy to attain, is it? How do I greatest. I needn't be surprised by bring my passions, disordered emotions, under control so that their discussion, since I am like they do not make war within me? those 1\velve, wanting to be first, center stage if you will, because How do I stop the ambitious drive within me that I need to be first; that my own desires need to be mily of the ee satisfied before anyone 24th Sunday in else's; that I have to have --~~-Ordlnary Time more power than another? In the Gospel

By Fath4':tr (Mark 9: 30-37) Jesus Samuel Leonard, IVE gives me the answer: ''If anyone wants to be first, let him be the last of all and the my disordered passions demand servant of all." Then taking a to be satisfied and waited on first. child, Jesus placed him in their I don't relish serving - being a servant - because in my midst, and putting his arms around the child, said to them, sinfulness I want to be served. I "Whoever receives a child such as want to be somebody; to be this in my name, receives me; and noticed; to be adulated; to have others at my beck and call. And whoever receives me, receives not these desires are fueled by the me but the one who sent me."

Jesus responded to the 1\velve world's allurements and entice-

ments; by the very thinking put forth by the world: Be number one; you owe it to yourself; treat yourself to the very best, etc.

Jesus, on the other hand, to replace my inner wars and conflicts, offers me freedom and peace. But I'm not so sure that I want to ''be received as a little child:' as Jesus instructed.

After all, a child is weak, often helpless, with no ambitious thoughts of "getting ahead:' nor any thought of "lording it over another." A little child has no "clout" in the world's view of things, and is therefore more tolerated than accepted.

Parents, frequently without malice of forethought, who tell their child, ''Little boys/girls should be seen and not heard," devalue their little one as a person simply because he or she is a little

child. The child's opinions are . neither accepted nor acceptable.

Jesus, however, not only accepts the little child, but even identifies himself with that little child. In God's eyes, I have value and dignity - even as a child. It is this reality that makes St. Therese of the Child Jesus so popular. She attracts people to our blessed Lord as though she were his own personal magnet because she shows us her child - like way of humility and confidence in God's merciful Love.

Let us pray for the grace to have a childlike heart - a heart that is eager to serve, to love, and to walk with Jesus on his way to the Cross.

Lord, teach me to be meek and humble like you and your Little Flower, St. Therese. Amen.

Father Leonard is pastor of St. Kilian Parish in New Bedford.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat, Sept 16,1 Cor 10:14-22; Ps 116:12-13,17-18; Lk 6:43-49. Sun, Sept 17, Twenty-fourth Sunday in ordinary time, Is 50:5-9a; Ps 116:1-6,8-9; Jas 2:14-18; Mk 8:2735. Mon, Sept 18,1 Cor 11:17-26,33; Ps 40:7-10,17; Lk 7:1-10. Tues, Sept 19,1 Cor 12:12-14,27-31a; Ps 100:1-5; Lk 7:11-17. Wed, Sept 20,1 Cor 12:31-13:13; Ps 33:2-5,12,22; Lk 7:31-35.

Thurs, Sept 21, Matthew, Apostle, Evangelist, Eph 4:1-7,11-13; Ps 19:2-5; Mt 9:9-13. Fri, Sept 22,1 Cor 15:12-20; Ps 49:6-10,17-20; Lk 8:1-3

.9/11 , five years later Five years ago, confronted by understands to be the will of Althe rubble in lower Manhattan, lah. the smoldering wreckage at the That the war is global can no Pentagon, and the debris of longer be doubted. It is inaccu-· United Flight 93, most Americans rate to speak of the "Afghanistan instinctively, and correctly, un- . War" or the "Iraq War," or "the derstood that the country was at war in Lebanon," as if war. But with what? Or whom? these were discrete inWhat was at stake, and what pas- cidents. They are difsions motivated an. enemy who ferent fronts in the struck in this way? same war.

And Those questions have been de- whether the enemy is bated with the vigor appropriate Sunni ·radicalism or !o a mature democracy for the . Shia radicalism (or an past half-decade. Recent events alliance of convein Lebanon should have had a nience between the clarifying effect on the debate. two), the enemy's strategic purOur enemies may call this the pose is the same: to impose Islatest round of "Islam v. the Cru- lam for its own sake (because this saders." We should name it for is what Allah requires of the what it is: the global war against faithful) and/or to hasten the end radical Islamic jihadism, which of days, the appearance of the aims at nothing less than the sub- Twelfth Imam, and the kingdom mission of the entire world, by to come. violence if necessary, to what it As for the most recently

ITALY 2006

opened front, Hezbollah has never needed much excuse to lob rockets into Israel, deliberately targeting women and children. In this instance, however, one of Hezbollah's motivations was to

deflect international attention from Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, just as the G8, the U.N., and even the European Union were preparing to bring serious pressure to bear on Tehran. To repeat: the same war is being fought on multiple fronts, not unlike like the world wars of the 20th century.

Five years after 9/11, and fa.cjng an adversary prepared to

carryon the struggle for decades, even centuries, the peoples of the West, while retaining our distinctive commitment to moral selfexamination and self-criticism, must shed the bad habit of gratuitous self-flagellation.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair put this well in a speech in Los Angeles last month: " .. .it is almost incredible·to me that so much of Western opinion appears to buy the idea that the emergence of this global terrorism is somehow our fault ... no one who even half bothers to look at the spread and range of activity related to terrorism can fail to see its presence in virtually every major nation in the world. It is directed at the United States and its allies, of course. But it is also directed at nations who could not conceivably be said to be allies of the West. It is also rubbish to suggest

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that it is the product of poverty.

It is true [that] it will use the cause of poverty. But its fanatics are hardly the champions of economic development. It is based on religious extremism. That is the fact. And not any religious extremism, but a specifically Muslim version."

The West must also recognize the stakes in this war, which are nothing less than the moral truths at the heart of our civilization: the inviolability of innocent human life; the sanctuary of religious conscience; the dignity of the human person as the bearer of inalienable rights; the moral superiority of consent over coercion as a political method. Radical jihadism denies everyone of these truths, and indeed regards them as abominations. I'd suggest substituting "moral truths" for that overused and slippery term "values;" but do that, and I think Prime Minister Blair defined the stakes correctly when he told his audience that "what is happening today out in the Middle East, in Afghanistan and beyond, is an elemental struggle about th~ values that will shape our future." Nothing less than that is at issue.

This is a mid-1930s moment.

The adversary is energized and ruthless; it has its apologists; it counts on our weakness. The West must not make the mistake of appeasement again.

.George Weigel is a senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

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Friday, September 15, 2006

What's the matter with kids today?

Saturday 9 September 2006 - Port-O-Call: North Dartmouth - Diocesan Convocation of Religious Educators.

I have an 1890s doorbell. It's a brass knob. You have to pull it. Youngsters can't figure it out. It's not like any electronic equipment they've ever seen.

They push it, turn it, bang it, then give up and knock. What's the matter with kids today?

The old doorbell rings. On the porch is young Matthew, with his father along for moral support. Matt shyly explains that he is going into eighth grade

9

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and that he has been elected to the National Junior Honor Society. He is required to do a community service project. He

came up with an idea - cans!

He spent his summer collecting 1,445 aluminum cans then brought them to the recycling center. His was an ecology

project with a twist. Not only did he help the environment, but he also did his part in supporting his parish church. He presented the parish with a check for $72.25, refunded from those recycled cans. What's the matter with kids today?

Absolutely nothing.

Whoever said children are the "ChurcQ of the future" got it wrong. Are they not baptized? Kids are part of the Church now. As adult members of the Church, we must recognize this reality and include young people . actively in parish life.

It's wonderful at Sunday

Keeping, it si.mple uncomplicateq and loving.

Jesus was the master of How I envy that ability and simplicity. He took the Ten lo~y to i'ead about f,amous Commandments, reduced. people who reflected it like them to two, and still covered St;,;Francis ofAssisi and the same moral ground. Faced Blessed Mother Teresa. Even with the need to feed 5,000 hungry men and their families , more sO,;I love to be with people who live uncomplion a windy Galilean hillside, cated love like my two, Jesus didn't start calculating unmarried aunts who have the outrageous amount of food or money he would need to satisfy everyone. He simply prayed in thanksgiving for the available food, five loaves of bread and two fish, and started passing it around.

Jesus was a simplispent their lives caring for my fier. He had the divine ability grandmothers. These people to cut through centuries of are what they seem to be. They complex and competing rules, do not play mind games or try laws, and expectations and get to work the sYStem. They do right to the heart of the matter, not wear their faith on the no matter what the matter was. outside like actresses wearing Jesus didn't recommend that glittering gowns at the Acadhis followers swear by heaven, emy Awards. they have a by anywhere on earth, or even deeper beauty that is revealed by their own honor. He said, by the sparkle in their eyes and "Simply let your 'Yes' be the ready smile on their faces.

'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; They are what I call "simply anything beyond this comes Christian," and they are my from the evil one." When it ultimate role models. came to advising how to Maybe it's our fallen spend and how to save our nature, but it has been my time, talent, and treasure, experience that simply Jesus covered all the bases by Christian people are hard to saying, "Do not store up for find. Pei'haps it is because yourselves treasures on earth, being simply Christian is not where moth and rust destroy, all t.hat simple. In fact, ~t~ takes and where thieves break in real effort and divine ass'isand steal. But store up for tance. After reading whaJ yourselves treasures in Jeslls said about not storing up heaven, where moth and rust earthly treasQres and to gelp do not destroy, and where myself grow in simple Christhieves do not break in and tianity, I dreamed up somesteal. For where your treasure thing like a hope chest in is, there your heart will be heaven that is mine to fill. My also" (Matthew 6:19-20). heavenly hope chest is a big, No matter with whom or beautiful box, fashioned from what Jesus was dealing, he cherry- and almond-colored had this easy ability to remain

woods. Its surface.is silky smooth, the kind a child's fingers instinctivelY reacb out to touch. The inside is lined with fresh-smelling cedar and contains many triangle-shaped compartments. My heavenly hope chest gives me a place to "put" virtuous acts like patience, hope, love, or modesty. HaVing this chest makes more tangible the somewhat illusive idea of storing up beavenly treasure and helps me to think about the "heart of the matter" when I need to decide how to spend or to store up my time, talent, and treasure.

What a wonderful family activity it would be to have everyone envision and draw his or her heavenly treaSure chest. Perhaps a man would picture his heavenly treasure box more as a toolbox or tackle box. A child might think of a toy box or pirate's chest. A woman niight imagine a wicker basket or an upright wardrobe. A drawing of each person's treasure cQest could be displayed somewhere in the house as a reminder to him or her to choose simple, loving behaviors tbat hold their value in heaven over earthly possessions that moths and rust can destroy. Ultimately, I think the virtues we", deposit in our heavenly treasure chests will lead us not only to our own hyarts, but also to the heart of JesQs, the master of simplicity. . Heidi is an authQr, photographer, andfull-time mother.

She and her husband raise theirfive children in Falmouth.

Comments are welcQme at homegrownfaith@yahoo.com.

Mass to see young families with toddlers in tow. The children, small as they may be, are already absorbing the rituals and spirituality of the Catholic faith.

Kids are like sponges. They even notice sounds. Some alert toddler blurts out during Mass, "What the bell?" That's spelt with a ft. "Hush!" warns the parent, totally chagrined.

I try to be attentive to the very little ones tagging along in the Communion procession.

Some like to bless small children when they reach the front, but I prefer to communicate in other ways. I tried patting them on the head, until one day a little four-year-old girl complained loudly, "Don't mess up my hairdo." Now I just make eye contact. Often, the child will give a response - a silly smile, a batted eyelash, a subtle wave. I return the very same gesture. I know it's not liturgical, but "When in Rome ..." And I try to remember which child gOes with what gesture. I often see the gesture repeated as I process past their family pew on the way out of church. I, of course, return the gesture. It's "our thing."

Then there are "Family Masses." These involve simple "story time" homily basyd on the readings of the day. The kids sit around on the floor. During story time, it's as though we are the only ones in the chur,ch. The children are totally unselfconscious and, as Art Linkletter observed, "kids say the darndest things." I have to be on my toes. Parents sometimes thank me for explaining some teaching of the Church that they themselves never really understood. After the Liturgy of the Word, the little ones go on to their religious formation sessions. It's timed so that the classes let out simultaneously with Mass.

The middle school, and younger high school children' sometimes "sponsor" a parish Sunday Mass. They participate as a class. Everybody gets to do something, from passing the collection basket to proclaiming the Scriptures. The adult ministers graciously step aside that day. The whole community is proud of our kids - and tells them so.

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The young adults of high school and college age also have their place. Some of my altar servers are "taller than Father" (I'm six feet). A couple of them sport goatees. Last year, one eighth-grade altar server was 230 pounds, six feet tall, and had earned a black belt in karate. Sometimes, they "graduate" from being an altar server to being a lector or an extraordinary minister of holy Communion. Older teens seem to feel comfortable in church.

Some spend all Sunday morning here, just hanging with their friends, ready and willing to step in if somebody fails to show, and available for anything I might need done. It appears to be more enjoyable to them than "chilling" at the mall. Go figure.

When the diocese introduced the St. Pius X Youth Award, our parish was able to kick it up a notch, as Emeril Lagasse says. I make sure that every year there's a parish candidate. There are so many kids from which to choose. Being publicly recognized in the cathedral church by Bishop Coleman is something kids will never forget. They will tell their grandchildren; maybe there's even a religious vocation among them.

Consider the young people serving on retreat teams throughout the diocese, those in peer ministry, and those who travel to mission lands. Kids do as much again in their school and civic communities. Kids are already "church."

Dh, wait. I think I hear someone on the porch, trying to figure out my dumb doorbell.

Yes. We have guests.

Father Goldrick is pastor of St. Bernard Parish, Assonet.

Comments are welcome at' StBernardAssonet@aol.com.

Previous columns are at www.StBernardAssonet.org.

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Prayer to OrlrMother of Good Success Soul ofMary, sanctitY me, Body ofMary, purify me, Heart ofMary, infnune me, Sorrow ofMluY, comfort me, 'ThatSofMary, console me, a Sweet Mary, hear me. Wi~ th~ ~nign eyes, look upon me, Through ~y holy steps, guide me, To thy DiVIDe Son, pray for me, Pardon for my sms, achieve for me, Devotion t<;> your holy Rosary, infuse in me, Love for God and my fellowman, grant me, Permit me .not to ever be separated from thee. In the hour of my death, comfort me, From my enemies, defend me, With the shield of thy holy: name, protect me, With thy mantle, cover me, In the fatal instarit ofmy agbny, assist me, From dying in sin, free me, Into the arms ofJesus, deliver me, To the eternal mansion, bring me, So that, with the angels and SlUq\s I can praise thee forever and ever. Amen. ': Paid advenise.me1;lt

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With Christ at the center of their marriage, couple inspires others By

MIKE GORDON, ANCHOR STAFF

centennial celebrations. They give so much back WESTPORT - Although the focus is typi- to the Church and they do it because they love i cally on individuals when one thinks of person God and have allowed him to be at the center of of the week, this time we spotlight Joe and Inez their lives."

Varao, a couple who has Christ firmly centered They also help engaged couples prepare for in their married life, and in the lives of their married life and see marriage preparation as a children as members of the Teams of Our Lady good opportunity to introduce others to the movement.

Teams of Our Lady. "Getting involved with the The group is an international lay movement Teams of Our Lady at a young age, helps a officiall y recog - r-:--c:-r..,.......:---:c-~..........-----~-,-----.,-----rr--~..--.-, co U pIe grow. If , nized by the Holy ):,:<)',~S~ ~.o you think of a rope

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Education special devotion to the Blessed Mother.

In fact we still have a statue of our Blessed Lady in our yard."

Russert told The Aru:hor that his father, "Big Russ;' was always a man offaith. "My dad was in a plane crash when he was 19 years old. Many people were killed or seriously injured.

I asked my dad, 'how did you deal with being one of the survivors?' He told I me that he was blessed and God had plans for him, a mission for him. That

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God," she said.

When asked

involved for 19 I about advice they years, now taking 6 "\..)

I could offer to on the role as a young married sector couple, orcouples, Joe said, ganizing some of "Be open and acthe 55 couples in cept God in your our diocese. They life. Let him be focus on ways to your guide in your grow in married marriage." love and holiness.

Inez and Joe "It's hard in were born on the istoday's society to land of St. have a strong faith Michael's in the based-marriage, Azores and were but our invol vemarried in 1984. ment has helped us Shortly thereafter, grow spiritually as they became ina couple and it's volved with a really strengthcouples prayer ened our mar\~; group at the parish. riage," said Inez. "\.When the Teams of As a couple, Our Lady Movethey pray daily toment made its way gether and have to the diocese, they family prayer bee PROUD TO BE A FAMILY -Inez and Joe Varao share helped organize fore meals. They a moment with their four children. Seated is 10-year-old their group in accorPhilip; standing from left: Julia, 14; Andrew 15; and Saalso study the rah, 21. (Anchon'Gordon photo) dance with the strucBible together and ture of the growing focus on ways to improve their marriage and movement. They hope to expand the program into communication. other parishes throughout the diocese and were reTeams, which are comprised of five to seven cently working to plan an annual retreat for New couples with a priest or deacon as spiritual ad- England couples. visor, meet once a month in one of the couples' "They are a shining example for others and homes for a meal and fellowship. They reflect inspire other parishioners," said Father Ferry. on Scripture and share prayers and intentions. "Being involved with the Teams has really They talk about their efforts to improve their helped them place God in their lives where he marital spirituality and discuss study material should be and they truly make a difference." on married life and faith. All topics are confiThe couple left earlier this week for an interdential. national gathering of the movement in Lourdes, "We can't see our lives without the Teams of France where more than 9,000 people are exOur Lady," said Joe. "The other members are pected to attend. They have attended three nalike aunts and uncles to our children. This has tional gatherings, held every three years, but this benefited us as a couple and it's a way to teach will be their first international conference. our children that service to God is important "It's exciting," said Joe. "It's a nice opportuwhile trying to build a good faith foundation nity to gather with people that have the same for them." goals and share with other couples."

It must be working because several of their Joe is a construction surveyor in Boston and children are involved at Espirito Santo Parish, Inez is the regional marketing and admissions Fall River, as lectors and with the youth group. director for several skilled nursing facilities in When asked about the couple, pastor, Father southeastern Massachusetts.

James Ferry was not sure where to begin, given For more information about the Teams of Our their extensive involvement with the parish. Lady, visit the Website: www.teamsofourlady.org.

"Besides the Teams of Our Lady, Joe is treaThe Anchor encourages readers to nomisurer of the St. Vincent de Paul Society and he nate others for the Person ofthe Week - who and Inez are lectors. Inez also teaches CCD, and why? Submit nominations at our E-mail prepares first Communion classes and works with address: theanchor@anchornews.org, or the youth group. Each has also been involved write to The Anchor, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, with Catholic Charities and played a role in the MA 02722.

TIM RUSSERT

mission was raising four faith-filled children to carry on."

As a young boy growing up in Buffalo, N. Y, Russert was influenced by another faith-filled individual: Sister of Mercy Lucille Socciarelli, now a member of the Catholic chalaincy at Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River. She was Russert's seventh- and eighth-grade teacher at St. Bonaventure Grade School.

"Sister Lucille has been an enormous influence for most of my life;' said Russert. ''And she knows it. She's the reason I said 'yes' to speaking at the upcoming St. Mary's Fund Dinner. And I do it because Catholic education is very important. I've spoken at 10 other dioceses across the country to help raise funds for Catholic education."

Russert also said that parents have a vital role in complementing a Catholic education. "Parents have to take an interest in what's going on in their children's school life," he said. ''My dad worked two full-time jobs to help support the family and send us to Catholic schools. If there was a meeting at school for parents, he always made sure he planned ahead to be at those meetings. He wanted to be a part of it. ''My mom was at home. While she was cooking dinner, we would gather around the table and do our homework. Before we could exchange a pencil for a fork, my mom would make sure our homework was complete, then she would sign off on it."

From St. Bonaventure Russert went on to attend Jesuit-run Canisius High School in Buffalo.

In 2004 Russert wrote about fatherhood, using as an example the best role-model he could - his own dad. ''Big Russ & Me," hit No. 1 on the New York TImes best sellers list.

Russert received volumes ofletters from folks across the country relaying stories of their own dads. From

Continued from page one

those responses, Russert followed up ''Big Russ & Me;' with another bestseller, ''Wisdom of our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons," sharing some of those stories.

The Catholic faith doesn't stop with Russert and his wife Maureen. Their son Luke is a junior at Boston College. ''We've tried to instill in Luke the same values and faith we received," said Russert. "Luke went through CCD, made his first Communion and confirmation. He understands his faith and has seen it in action with his parents and his grandparents. At B.c. he chooses to attend Sunday Mass."

Russert agrees that today's family often isn't the conventional "motherfather-children;' nucleus, but single moms and dads can still provide a good Catholic example. ''I was talking with NBA hall-offamer Charles Barkley," Russert told The Anchor. "He was raised without a dad, and now he's raising a young daughter. I remember him saying to me, 'No one taught me how to be a dad.' But he wants to be a good father."

Russert and his family are no strangers to the Diocese ofFall River, spending time on Nantucket when possible.

"St. Mary's/OurLady ofthe Isle is such a vibrant parish;' said Russert. ''Father Paul (Caron) truly takes the time to develop a good homily."

The St: Mary's Education Fund

JOHN GHIORSE

Fall Dinner will begin with a reception at 5:30 p.m. on September 28. The event will include, in addition to Russert's presentation, a video snapshot of Catholic schools, student entertainment, and a multi-course meal.

Master of ceremonies for the evening will be a long-time fixture in local weather reporting, meteorologist John Ghiorse from NBC Channel 10 News in Providence, R.I. Fall Dinner chairman Nicholas M. Christ and lay volunteer committee members from the Fall River, New Bedford, Attleboro and Taunton areas are inviting business, community and academic leaders, and individuals to sponsor a table or purchase a ticket to support the St. Mary's Fund.

Those seeking more information should contact the Diocesan Development Office at 508-675-1311 or any of the area chairmen: WJ.lliam Adair in the Attleboro area; Nicholas Christ in Fall River; James Ka1ife in New Bedford; and Harold Rose in Thunton.

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Pope visits Bavarian Marian chapel where he prayed as child AL1UITING, Gerritany (CNS)-

PILGRIMS' PRIDE - Pilgrims in traditional Bavarian clothes wait for Pope Benedict XVI to arrive to celebrate Mass in Munich, Germany, September 10. (eNS photo/Kai Pfaffenbach, Reuters)

Children in Munich cathedral find pope is 'very nice person'

By JOHN THAVIS CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE MUNICH, Germany - He came as leader of the universal Church, but to 400 first communicants he preached like a local pastor.

Pope Benedict XVI gave one of the simpler talks of his papacy in Munich's cathedral Sunday. It was matched by unadorned sentiments of good will expressed by the children seated closest to the altar.

"He's a very nice person and I would like to shake hands with him and tell him he's a very lovely person and we love him a lot," said nineyear-old Laura Lustig, who wore a small gold cross around her neck.

Like the other young people in the group, she recently made¡ her first confession and Communion, then found herself at the center of a big papal event.

Next to her, Valentin Hofman described the pontiff as "a really good man" and added: "I'm happy

that he's serving God." The children, holding flower bouquets, gathered around the smiling pope after his sermon, in a clearly unchoreographed moment.

Then they laid the flowers on the steps of the altar before singing ''The Magnificat," the song of Mary.

At a Mass that morning for 250,000 people, the pope had delivered a challenging homily on the dangers of secularization and the pastoral priorities of the Church.

At this evening service, attended by the children, their families and Catholic teachers, he brought it down to a more basic level.

"Naturally, we want to find the right road, to find true life and not a dead end or a desert. We don't want to end up saying, 'I took the wrong road, my life is a failure,'" he said.

The first step on the right road is baptism, he said. But to continue to "walk with Jesus," Catholics have

Communion, where they can "drink directly from the source of life," he said.

The pope said the Eucharist has another aspect: forming a community that has no borders and that embraces all languages, the universal Church.

Addres'sing parents~ the pope asked them to go to church on Sunday with their children. They will see it is "not time lost," he said.

"And please, pray together at home, too, at meals and before going to bed," he said. Prayer brings families closer to God and to each other, he said.

To teachers, he said he realized it was not easy in today's pluralistic world to bring up the subject of faith in schools. But he suggested they encourage their students to always ask about "the why and the wherefore of life" and help them realize that the answers ultimately lead to God.

Pope Benedict XVI retraced his childhood pilgrimage steps, visiting Bavaria's most famous Marian sanctuary and saying Massi for more than 60,000 people.

The pope's visit toAltotting Monday was a mixture of private prayer, personal reminiscences and liturgical celebrations with flag-waving believers.

In a sermon, he said the essence of true prayer is giving God a place "in the world, in our lives and letting him enter into our time and our activity."

Pope Benedict has said some ofhis most beautiful memories were those of his family pilgrimages to the Altotting sanctuary.

He returned there for the first time as pope, stopping in an octagonal chapel to pray before a much-venerated statue of the ''BlaCk Madonna."

The small linden wood statue, darkened by candle soot and surrounded by votive medallions, has been revered for more than 500 years.

The A1totting sanctuary is known as the "heart of Bavaria," in part because the hearts ofBavarian kings and princes are preserved in silver urns inside the church. Through the centuries, all of them swore special allegiance to Mary.

1}:1e image ofMary, decorated with

jewels, was later moved to an outdoor altar platform where the pope celebrated Mass.

He dedicated his homily to the figure of Mary, saying she inspires by leaving "everything to the Lord'sjudgment." He said that was exemplified in the Gospel account of the wedding at Cana, where Mary pointed out the lack of wine - but didn't demand a miracle from Jesus. "She doesn't tell Jesus what to do," he said.

"TIns is how she teaches us to pray: not by seeking to affirm our own will and our own desires before God, but by letting him decide what he wants to do," he said.

Mary shows Christians how to be confident that "whatever (God) says in response will be best for us," he said.

The pope's older brother, Msgr.

Georg Ratzinger, was among those concelebrating the Mass in the open area in front of the shrine. The crowd spilled into the side streets ofthe town, where photos of the pope and Vatican flags decorated shop windows.

When BishopWIlhelm Schraml of Passau greeted the pope on the altar with the words ''Welcome home," the crowd erupted in applause.

After the liturgy, the pope led a procession to a new chapel at the sanctuary, where the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed for continual adoration.

Pope urges a religious values revival in society 'deaf' to God MUNICH, Germany (CNS) On the first leg of a six-day visit to his Bavarian homeland, Pope Benedict XVI urged a revival of religious values in a society that he said risks going "deaf' to God. "Put simply, we are no longer able to hear God - there are too many different frequencies filling our ears," the pope said at a Mass in Munich.

"Along with this hardness of hearing or outright deafness where God is concerned, we naturally lose our ability to speak with him and to him," he to 250,000 people gathered at a fairground in Munich, where he was archbishop from 1977 to 1981.

The pope told reporters on his plane that he was milking the September. 9-14 visit in part to see and thank the people who made a difference in his life and to join fel-

low German Catholics in celebrating their faith.

But the pope also took aim at secularization in his homeland, explaining at an airport welcoming ceremony that he worried whether the centuries of Christian values were being transmitted to younger generations of Germans.

When people lose the ability to communicate with God, he said, they also lose a capacity for perception. This "dangerously curtails the range of our relationship with reality," he said.

Seated near the pope were Germany's bishops, and the pope praised their efforts and the German Church's generosity toward poorer areas of the world.

The pope also expressed a gentle criticism. He ,said Af~can bishops

told him that German Church organizations are happy to open purse strings for social projects, but are less than enthusiastic about funding evangelization initiatives.

But the pope said he was also thinking of other Christian communities, particularly Lutherans and Orthodox, during his visit. In a welcoming speech at the airport, President Horst Koehler, a Protestant, made a point ofunderlining the strong desire of many Germans for ecumenical progress.

The pope met privately on the first day of his visit with German political leaders at the Residenz palace in Munich. In his final pastoral event in Munich, the pope celebrated an evening prayer service in the city's cathedral with young first communicants.

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OUR CENTER OF1ATTENTION - A nun holds up a picture of Jesus and Mary as the helicopter carrying Pope Benedict XVI flies over Bavaria's spiritual center of Altotting, Germany, September 11. The German-born pontiff's visit to Altotting was a mixture of private prayer, personal reminiscences and liturgical celebrations with flag-waving believers. (eNS photo/Wolfgang Rattay, Reuters) '";--

Friday, September 15, 2006

eNS video/DVD reviews

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NEWYORK(CNS)- Thefollowing are capsule reviews of new andrecentDVDandvideoreleases from the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. ''The Complete Shiloh Film Collection" (1997-2006) Author Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's Newbery Award-winning trilogy is gathered is one package, though they are all available singly as well. The films are each offered in both full-screen and anamorphic widescreen versions (Warner Home Video).

"Shiloh" (1997) After lying to his stem but loving father (Michael Moriarty) in order to save an abused puppy from its cruel master (Scott Wilson), an ll-year-old lad (Blake Heron) learns the painful consequences of dishonesty. Writer-director Dale Rosenbloom probes the father-son relationship meaningfully but the narrative is slow. Strong threat of animal abuse and domestic tensions. The DVD includes an introduction by Roger Ebert, as well as interviews with the author, cast and filmmakers. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-IT - adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG - parental guidance suggested.

Some material may not be suitable for children.

"Shiloh 2: Shiloh Season" (1999) The further adventures of a young boy (Zachary Browne) and his beagle center on growing problems with the dog's former owner (Scott Wilson) until a car accident seriously injures that hard-drinking miscreant. Directed

by Sandy Tung, the story is dramatically uneven, but it pays off in an emotionally satisfying conclusion, especially for young viewers. Menacing situations, an alcoholic central character and some vulgarity. The DVD includes interviews with cast, filmmakers and author. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-IT - adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG - parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

"Saving Shiloh" (2006) Gentle boy-and-his-dog tale completes the trilogy. Here the titular beagle's young owner (Jason Dolley) reaches outto befriend the pooch's ornery previous owner (Scott Wilson). Director Sandy Tung's disarming film wins you over with a touching performance byWl1sonandanearnest,redemptive message about opening your heart to others. Some mild menace and peril involving children and a homicide subplot. TheDVD offers the film in both full-screen

and anamorphic widescreen versions, and includes both behindthe-scenes and cast interview featurettes, as well as a music video. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is AI - general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG - parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

*** Brother Bear 2 (2006) Sequel to the 2003 animated fable, based on native American folklore, which finds boy-turnedbear Kenai (voiced by Patrick Dempsey) traveling with his childhood love (Mandy Moore) to a sacred spot to destroy an amulet that will free her to marry a member of his former tribe. Old feelings are rekindled, forcing him to choose between remaining a bear and becoming human again, thus sacrificing his big-brother relationship with mischievous cub Koda (Jeremy Suarez). Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas once again provide laughs as daffy moose duo Rutt and Thke. Directed by Ben Gluck, the visually lovely follow-up is funny and tender, with stirring songs by Melissa Etheridge. While some parents may have problems with the story's shamanistic elements, others will enjoy it as a fairy tale that warmly affirms family bonds, the wonder ofcreation and the permanenceof.love. The film contains some mild innuendo and minor peril. Bonus features include a behind-the-scenes look at scoring the movie. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-I - general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is G - general audiences. All ages admitted (Buena Vista Home Entertainment).

"The Flying Nun: The Complete Second Season" (1968·1969) The latest boxed set contains 26 more episodes of the engaging series which featured an appealing do-gooder heroine. The young Sally Field played Sister Bertrille, whose comet headdress allowed her to fly high above the windswept Convent San Tanco in Puerto Rico. Series regulars Madeleine Sherwood, Shelley Morrison, Marge Redmond and Alejandro Rey are back, with the episodes spread over three discs though no extras are included. The scripts are generally good, and the portrayal of the nuns is unobjectionable. As before, the print quality is excellent, and there are some interesting guest stars in this batch; they include Dwayne Hickman, Ri ch . Farr and Little, PauI Lynde, Jarme Gavm · M acLeo. d PIeasant larm ~'ly viewing (Sony Home Entertainment).

guage and humor and an instance of profanity. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting 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.

"This Film Is Not Yet Rated" (IFC) Lively but disjointed and ultimately unconvincing documentary that sets out to expose biases and inconsistencies in the ratings process of the Motion Picture Association of America, the film industry's lobbying organization, arguing that the ratings board treats sexual content more stringently than violence, curbs the freedom of independent filmmakers, favors the big studios and applies double standards to homosexual themes. Filmmaker Kirby Dick hires a- private investigator to uncover the identities of the MPAA board members (anonymous parents from everyday walks of life), but his premise is undermined by most of his illustrative clips which, if anything, seem to indicate that the movies from which they derive well deBASKET CASE _ Phillip Champion stars in a scene from th~ movie served their restrictive ratings on "Crossover." For a brief review of this film, see CNS MOVie Cap- the levels of sex, violence or lansules on this page. (CNS photo/Sony Pictures) guage. Brief clips of graphic sexuality and some rough and crude tors Mark Neveldine and Brian language. The USCCB Office for Taylor load on the bloody video- Film & Broadcasting classificagame-style action in an empty and tion is L _ limited adult audimindless exercise. Excessive and ence, films whose problematic graphic violence and gore, lewd content many adults would find sexual content, vulgar humor, re- troubling. It is not rated by the curring partial nudity, drug use Motion Picture Association of lC~' ~'I()viile and pervasive rough and crude America. language and profanity. The The Wicker Man" USCCB Office for Film & Broad(Warner Bros.)

NEW YORK (CNS) _ The casting classification is 0 - morUninspired remake of the following are capsule reviews of ally offensive. The Motion Picture 1973 cult thriller, here transmovies recently reviewed by the Association of America rating is posed from Scotland to the PaOffice for Film & Broadcasting of R _ restricted. Under 17 requires cific Northwest, about a policethe U.S. Conference of Catholic accompanying parent or adult man (Nicolas Cage) who, invesBishops. guardian. tigating the disappearance of a "Crank" (Lions Gate) "Crossover" (Sony) young girl, becomes entangled Noisy and endlessly unpleasUrban drama about lifelong in the strange goings-on of a seant action film about a Los Ange- Detroit friends Cruise and Tech cretive island community of les hit man (Jason Statham) who a college-bound basketball modern pagans led by a mystemust keep in perpetual motion af- prodigy (Wesley Jonathan) with rious matriarch (Ellen Burstyn). ter he finds out that a rival thug med-school ambitions and a high- Following the basic outline of (Jose Pablo Cantillo) has poisoned school dropout (Anthony Mackie) the original, minus the erotihim with a substance designed to with dreams of his own - who cism and adding a feminist kill him within seconds if his heart enter an underground "streetball" twist, director Neil LaBute genrate drops. Co-writers and direc- tournament run by a smooth-talk- erates some suspense in his ceing promoter (Wayne Brady) to rebral approach, but overall the Movies Online dethrone the league's cocky star film is a bland and unnecessary player (Phillip Champion), jeop- retread, more hokey than creepy Can't remember how a ardizing Cruise's promising fu- as the story progresses. Some recent film was classified ture. Written and directed by disturbing images, including a by the U.S. Conference Preston A. Whitmore II, the film burning human sacrifice, pagan of Catholic Bishops? is commendable in its endorse- rituals, an instance of rough Want to know whether to ment of education and integrity language and scattered crude let the kids go see it? You over money and fame, but, some expressions and profanity. The can look up film reviews energetic hoop sequences aside, USCCB Office for Film & on the Catholic News the effort is weighed down by a Broadcasting classification is trite, tired and predictable script. A-III _ adults. The Motion Service Website.

Some sexual content, including a Picture Association of America Visit catholicnews.com subplot .involving an out-of-wed- rating is PG-13 _ parents and cl'lck on "Movies," unJock pregnancy, lewd dance ~nd strongly cautioned. S ome mateder the "News Item" cheerleading moves, suggestlve rial may be inappropriate for menu. wardrobe, sporadic. crude .lan- ..ch-ildi'en .undeF 13, .... _.....

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Friday, September 15, 2006

Political world keeps eye on Faithful Citizenship Catholics'

the anch~ news briefs Embryonic stem-eeU researcher upbraided at Senate hearing WASHINGTON - Senators criticized a researcher behind a controversial new technique to obtain stem Cells from embryos during a Senate subcommittee hearing on the controversy. "It's a big black eye if scientists are making false and fraudulent misrepresentations:' said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chainnan of the Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, during a September 6 hearing. Specter aimed his remarks at Dr. Robert Lanza, vice president of research and scientific development at Advanced Cell Technology, which has offices in Alameda, Calif., and Worcester, Mass. Lanza was the senior author of a study published in August in the online edition of the science journal Nature, which declared that research had "demonstrated, for the first time, that human embryonic stem cells can be generated without interfering with the embryo's potential for life." In a series of pointed exchanges between Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Lanza, Harkin told the scientist that the technique outlined "may be possible in theory, but it hasn't actually been accomplished."

Islamic conference includes workshop on Catholic-Muslim dialogue CHICAGO - A workshop on a Catholic-Muslim dialogue about divine revelation was among the events featured at a gathering ofmore than 30,000 Muslims over the Labor Day weekend They came to Chicago from across North America for the annual conference of the Islamic Society of North America at the Rosemont Convention Center. The society is the only Islamic organization in the world that has succeeded in bringing together such a diverse groups of Muslims: black, white, Shiite, Sunni, people who trace their origins to the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. The event, established in 1%3, combines learning - 120 workshops on a wide variety of mostly nonpolitical subjects - with celebration in the form of evening entertainment The Muslim Student Association offered a parallel program for high school and college students. One ofthe workshop sessions focused on a document by the Midwest Regional Dialogue of Catholics and Muslims titled ''Revelation: Catholic and Muslim Perspectives."

Catholic colleges ranked high for renewal efforts, other attributes WASHINGTON - The University of Dayton, a Marianist-run Catholic university, ranked third in a list of U.S. universities and colleges described as "Saviors of Our Cities" for efforts in community revitalization and cultural renewal. The list was compiled by Evan Dobelle, president and CEO ofthe New England Board ofHigher Education. Jesuit-run Creighton University, the only other Catholic university on the list, ranked 25th. A major project at the University of Dayton has been the revitalization of a dilapidated neighborhood adjacent to the university through a partnership of the school, a local hospital, the city of Dayton and an economic development group. The effort, called the Genesis Project, involved the investment of $15 million to rebuild the Fairgrounds Neighborhood Dozens of homes in complete disrepair were torn down, 23 new ones were built and another 11 were rehabilitated. The university also has purchased land to expand its campus and spur commercial development.

Chilean Church criticizes guidelines authorizing free contraceptives SANTIAGO, Chile - Chilean Catholic Church leaders have criticized govemment guidelines authorizing public health centers to distribute free contraceptives, including the morning-after pill, to minors older than 14 without parental consent. Cardinal Francisco Errazuriz Ossa of Santiago has called the guidelines a ''blow to marriage, the birthrate and the family;' The Health Ministry resolution was announced September 2 and immediately criticized by Catholics, the conservative opposition and the Christian Democratic Party, a member of the ruling coalition. Those opposed to the morning-after pill consider it equivalent to abortion. The guidelines makes the morning-after pill Postinor-2 available for free, but require a prescription after counseling in primary health centers.

New breakthrough with adult stem cells (CWNews.com) - Italian researchers have announced a potential breakthrough in treatment for liver and kidney disease, using stem cells taken from adult tissues, the ANSA news service reports. A team of scientists in Florence, led by Sergio Romagnani, discovered kidney stem cells that could help repair diseased kidneys. And a separate team in Turin, led by Benedetta Bussolati, made a similar discovery of stem cells from livers. Both teams of scientists found that the stem cells they had drawn from adult tissue could be cultivated in laboratory conditions to serve in other functions. Bussolati said that her team found the cells could "differentiate into liver cells, bone cells, bloQ'l' cells, and even pancreatic cells." The diverse possible uses for tlte~ stem cells make them a viable alternative to stem cells harvestedJrom embryonic tissue.

By

DEACON JAMES

N.

DUNBAR

FALL RIVER - Traditionally, Massachusetts' Primary Elections don't spark a great turnout at the ballot boxes in communities statewide.

But for nine Fall River diocese parishes ranging from Taunton to Fall River and New Bedford, a continuous campaign to get-out-thevote for the 2006 Federal and State elections on September 19 is again expected to have far-reaching effects, when 17,000 voters from those parishes cast their votes.

What makes the political world slowly but surely take notice to the increased political presence of these parishes?

According to James Martin McGlinchey, coordinator of the Portuguese American Citizenship Project, although parishioners from the four participating Fall River parishes amount to less than 15 percent of all registered voters, parish

members account for more than 20 ing up the cities. percent of all votes cast in both the But the effort by the parishes primary and general city elections since th~ last elections amounted to a process, in which the parishes rein 2005.

In New Bedford, says viewed the promises made by the McGlinchey, the four parishes are winning candidates' to see if they but 13 percent of registered voters, kept them. but account for more than 17 perIt also unnerves the political cent of all votes cast. world when a non-political organiThe effort - which includes fo- zation - for example, a Catholic rums and candidate's nights - is a parish - knows exactly how many commitment by the ,parishes to parishioners are registered to vote implement the mandate of Faithful because it has conducted parish regCitizenship, the initi~tive by the . istration programs, McGlinchey U.S. Conference of Catholic Bish- notes. ops, to promote citizenship and In coming weeks prior to the November 7 General Elections, The civic activism.

The bishops do not believe that Anchor will feature stories on Faithpromotion of civic pahicipation is ful .Citizenship based on an elective activity but an essential McGlinchey's efforts and findings. part of the practice of"the faith.

It will focus on how parishes and The parochial foruins keyed on pastors are involved and how they issues such as neighbbrhood secu- accomplished their goals, which rity, drugs, a proposed LNG plant, amounted to a parish voter turnout municipal spending, the economy, that in 2005 amazingly exceeded education and schools, and clean- the community turnout.

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Friday, September 15, 2006

Canadian couple tracks saints at churches, museums worldwide BALTIMORE (CNS) - St. George is an easy one. tinue working," said Lorna Momin, a Catholic who lives He's almost always portrayed as the gallant figure in Vancouver, British Columbia, with her husband. "She mounted on a white steed driving a lance through the refused and threw her sickle in the air and it stayed susheart of a writhing dragon. pended in the air by the hand of God." And that bearded man preaching to the birCls? It must Edward Momin, a member of the Church of Scotland be St. Francis of Assisi, the noted peacemaker and ani- and a retired professor of Germanic studies at the Unimal lover. :-----,~, versity of British ColumBut what of the eld' bia, said there is often erly man with two doves great irony in the patronperched on an open ages assigned to saints.

St. Sebastian, for exbook? Or how about the ample, who was used as pilgrim who points to an target practice, is the paopen wound on his leg while a dog sits at his feet tron saint of arrowsmiths and pin-makers because of carrying a loaf of bread in its jaws? the way the arrows stuck in his body like a pin cushThose were some of the questions that came ion.

St. Lawrence, who was to the minds of Edward roasted alive on a gridiron, and Lorna Momin as the Canadian couple toured \ is the patron saint ofchefs. churches and art gallerSt. Denis, who is often ies throughout the world portrayed calmly holding over the last three dehis head after his decapicades. tation, is the patron saint With few books to of headaches. explain why these iconic "You often find the refigures in stone, plaster BEASTLY BURDEN - S1. George and the dragon are verse of what you might and glass were portrayed shown in polychrome stone relief inside Soldiers Chapel expect," said Edward as they were, the at the Lincoln Cathedral in England. Edward and Lorna Momin. "In the past, they Mornins decided to re- Mornin of British Columbia included this artwork in hadadifferentsenseofhusearch it themselves. The "Saints: A Visual Guide," recently published by William mor. They took things seB~ Eerdmans PUblishing Company in Michigan. (CNS fruit of their three-year photo/courtesy of Edward and Lorna Morn'n) riously that we might find I effort, "Sl!ints: A Visull1 comic,:."

Guide," was recently published by Wtlliam B. Eerdmans Other connections are more obvious. St. Joachim, the Publishing Company in Michigan. father of Mary, is often shown as an old man with two The handy reference book includes photographs and doves, a reference to a Jewish high priest who rejected descriptions of more than 130 images of saints taken by the saint's sacrifice in the Temple. St. Roch is depicted the Momins on their travels to Germany, France, Spain, with an open wound and a dog at his side, referencing Italy, Austria, Portug-al, Japan, Canada, Mexico and the how the saint was a plague victim who miraculously reUnited States. covered with the help of a dog that brought him daily Many of the martyrs can be identified by the instru- bread.

Edward Momin said he was surprised at how comments of their deaths: St. Sebastian pierced with arrows or St. Matthias carrying an ax. Other images reference monly the saints are displayed. In addition to the interitales associated with the saints or special patronages as- ors of grand cathedrals and art galleries, he discovered signed to them over the centuries. images of saints in woodland shrines, on city flags, on Lorna Momin, a former scientist at the University of lamp posts, on playing cards and even on a manhole cover.

British Columbia, said in a telephone interview with The ''The more recently the saints lived, the more uniform Catholic Review, Baltimore archdiocesan newspaper, that are their depictions," said Lorna Momin, noting that she was particularly charmed by the legend of St. modem saints like St. Therese of Lisieux are almost idenNotburga of Eben, a patron saint of farmworkers who is tically portrayed around the world. ''We know what modem saints looked like. In medieval times, they could do portrayed with a sickle.

"At the end of the workday, she was ordered to con- whatever they wanted."

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PRECIOUS PROPERTY - Connie Ortiz removes crosses from the wall of her mother's destroyed house in the Lakeview area of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The catastrophic storm has prompted relief organizations to re-evaluate their workforces. (CNS photo from Reuters)

_.

Relief agencies re-examine their ability to respond to disasters TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (CNS) The hurricanes of the past two years have prompted relief organizations to evaluate their workforces and question if their workers have been professionally equipped to handle the scenarios posed by natural disasters.

After recent hurricanes, Catholic Charities and other private and governmental agencies brought in hundreds of case managers - with and without experience in the "helping professions."

To increase the level of expertise among reliefworkers, Catholic Charities USA awarded a $200,000 grant to Catholic Network Florida. in collaboration with Florida State University and matched by $50,000 from the state's Hurricane Recovery Fund, to fund online training for case managers.

Online training for a certificate pr0gram in culturally sensitive long-termrecovery case management is available through FSU starting this fall. The master's-level program aims to help students develop awareness, knowledge, skills and strategies for work with diverse populations in disaster relief and recovery efforts.

Those who suffer most in disasters are often the most vulnerable populations: rural minorities, migratory families, people with disabilities, low-income families, the homeless and the elderly. In contrast, disaster-reliefpr0fessionals and volunteers usually do not reside within the vulnerable communities, as pointed out in the proposal that won the grailt.

Although there are many online options for disaster response training, this program focuses on cultural sensitivity, long a specialty for the university's.School of Social Work.

Martell Teasley, an assistant professor at the university, said this program serves both professional and veteran workers and those new to social service and disaster response and relief. ''We hope that through these programs, we can increase the ability of case managers to recognize the cultural problems encountered in disaster response. Each situation is unique and each has the potential for misunderstanding," he told The Florida

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Catholic, newspaper ofthe Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee.

Peter Routsis-Arroyo, president of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Venice, said agencies that arrive to help in disasters can lack in-depth understanding of the cultural diversity of a state like Florida "You can't just pull into a rural town and expect that, without cultural sensitivity on the part of caseworkers, there will be any trust in the services provided," he said.

Routsis-Arroyo said the training will assure that Catholic Charities staff members are sensitive to populations' cultural ~versity in order to be'"more effective advocates" for the populations served.

He said the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the American Red Cross and other agencies "look to agencies like Catholic Charities that have experience working with culturally diverse populations. Even our staff members represent a wide range of cultural diversity."

Deacon Marcus Hepburn, emergency management specialist for the Florida Catholic Conference, said it has become "increasingly clear" that case management is a "critical link" between immediate disaster response and long-term recovery. "Often, especially in major disasters, the majority of caseworkers are not professional social workers. They may be homemakers, retired persons, students or even disaster victims themselves," he explained. ''This training will build their capacity to respond compassionately and effectively:' Another feature of the training is the focus on long-term recovery case management, the phase of disaster assistance in which Catholic Charities specializes. ''There are special challenges with long-term recovery case management," Deacon Hepburn said. "One of those is the occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder." He said caseworkers, who are in daily con~t with victims are ripe for post-traumatic stress disorder and noted that the training ''will, in part, help case managers recognize it in themselves and others and deal with it more effectively."

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Cqrdinal: 'patriarchal society' not cause ofall-male priesthood PHILADELPHIA The Church's prohibition against women priests is not culturally conditioned by the "patriarchal society" in which Jesus lived and taught, said Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali.

"Jesus treated women in a manner highly unusual for his culture," 'he said, noting that Christ "forgave the woman caught in adultery."

The cardinal described as an "unfortunate incident"·the July 31 riverboat ceremony near Pittsburgh at which eight women said they were ordained to the Catholic priesthood.

But the event provides an opportunity to discuss Catholic teaching, he said.

Some critics of the all-male

priesthood "have attempted to dismiss this teaching by stating that Jesus lived in a patriarchal society and that, because he was limited by the culture ofhis time, he chose only men to be priests," the cardinal said .in his weekly column appearing in the August 17 archdiocesan newspaper, The Catholic Standard & TImes.

Christ "could hardly be limited by culture," he said. .

"Furthermore, in the days of the early Church, priestesses were common in the polytheistic religions and cultures of pagan Rome and Greece," the cardinal said.

Although Christianity "displaced pagan worship, the Church, assisted by the Holy Spirit, re-

mained faithful to the intention of Jesus and did not ordain women to the priesthood," he said. .

Cardinal Rigali cited a 1976 Vatican docurnent by the Congre. gation for the Doctrine of the Faith which said that an all-mal~ priesthood "does not stem from a personal superiority" of men "but only from a difference in fact on the level of functions and service."

Church exclusion of women priests is not based on "a demeaning view of women," he said.

Women are "actively engaged in the Church's mission of evangelization," he said.

"All Catholic education and the health care apostolate are particularly indebted to women," he said.

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Friday, September 15, 2006 II

Security challenge: Protecting workers who aid those in need I

By PATRICIA ZAPOR CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE I

FOND MEMORIES - Missionaries of Charity nuns gather for a special prayer service in Calcutta, India, September 5, marking the ninth anniversary of Blessed Mother Teresa's death. Mother Teresa was beatified by Pope John Paull! in 2003. (CNS photo/Parth Sanyal, Reuters)

Pope urges priests to take heart in Church's history of survival CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) - Pope Benedict XVI said parish priests discouraged by a decline in religious practice should take heart in the fact that the Church has survived centuries of persecutions and trials.

Not even the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler could destroy Catholicism, although he wanted to, the pope said.

The pope made the comments in a question-and-answer session last week with priests of the Diocese of Albano. The encounter took place at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, which is part of the Albano Diocese.

Most of the questions touched on pastoral problems common across Italy, including the challenge of getting Catholics to Mass on Sunday and attracting young people to Church activities.

The pope said it was important for pastors to draw encouragement from the Church's long history.

The Church's early flowering in North Africa and Asia Minor, for example, has long disappeared, but Catholicism has gained new strength and vigor in the rest of

Africa and other parts of the world, he said.

"The faith is stronger than all the currents that come and go," he said.

He said Hitler was convinced that he had been chosen by providence to destroy Catholicism and was sure he finally had the means to do so. Likewise, he said, Marxist ideologies were certain the Church was a thing of the past.

"The Church in the end proved stronger. It is the hope that doesn't end," he said.

The pope noted that to reach young people one local parish was sponsoring a program based on St. Francis of Assisi. He said it was a good idea, but cautioned that the figure of St. Francis was sometimes "abused."

"He was not merely an environmentalist or a pacifist, but he was above all a man who converted," he said. As a young man in a wealthy family, St. Francis enjoyed the privileged life of medieval nobility before dedicating his life to God. "At first, he was a type of 'playboy,'" the pope said, using the English word. "But then he under-

PRACfICE 1HE DEVOTION OF 1HE Fmsr SATURDAYS, AS REQUESTED BY OUR LADY OF FATIMA

On December 10, 1925, Our Lady appeared to Sister Lucia (seer of Fatima) and spoke these words: "Announce in my name t1uJt I promise to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for the salvation oftheir souls, aU those who on the first Saturday of five consecutive months shaH: 1. Go to confession; 2. Receive Holy Communion; 3. Recite the Rosary (5 decades); and 4. Keep me company for 15 minutes while meditating on the 15 mysteries ofthe Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me."

In a spirit of reparation, the above conditions are each to be preceded by the words: ''In reparation for the offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary."

Confessions may be made during 8 days before or after the first Saturday, and Holy Communion may be received at either the morning or evening Mass on the first Saturday.

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stood that this was not enough."

In discussing how the Church can better communicate its teachings on marriage, the pope advised priests to learn from married couples about the meaning of sacrifice.

"Often we think that only celibacy is a sacrifice. But we can learn by understanding the sacrifices of married couples, including those with children, and all the problems that arise - the fears, the sufferings, illnesses, rebellions, even the problems of the first years, when there are sleepless nights with a crying child," he said.

The pope encouraged priests to use the celebration of marriage to explain the meaning of the sacrament to a wider audience than they normally see at Sunday Mass. In that way, he said, people may better understand why the Church says Catholics who have divorced and remarried without an annulment may not receive the Eucharist.

"They want to go to Communion and they don't see why it's not possible," he said. These same people probably didn't realize that when they said "I do" they were committing themselves in a sacramental way, he said.

Speaking of the need for respectful liturgies, the pope said that when the Church speaks of the art of celebrating Mass, it does not imply a type of theater or spectacle. Priests are not actors, he said.

The first thing a priest should be able to communicate in the liturgy is that he has entered into a dialogue with God, he said. The congregation will sense whether that is happening, or whether the priest is celebrating in a superficial way, he said.

WASHINGTONI - Michael O'Neill's education in the security needs of internation~laid organizaI tions came, literally, at the point of a gun. , "Well, guns," elaborated the security director for ~ave the Children. "Many guns.'"

As an employee of a Red Cross affiliate in Sierra Leone in 1993, O'Neill learned when he was kidnapped by rebel soldiers that there was no protocol in the local organization for protecting., employees or dealing with a security crisis. Since then, he's made a career of helping aid groups working in the world's most troubled regions keep their own employees safe, whether from traffic accidents or missile attacks.

The question of how well prepared the world's nongovernmental aid organizations are for handling their own security came to the headlines in early August when 17 employees of Paris-based Action Against Hunger were kidnapped and killed in Muttur, Sri Lanka. The government and the Tamil Tigers rebel group each blamed the other for the attack.

Since 2000, more than 50 aid workers in Afghanistan, Iraq" the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia and Sudan have been killed in attacks on 'their vehicles or offices.

In about the same time period, organizations including Save the Children, Catholic Relief Services, CARE, the International Rescue Committee and the International Committee of the Red Cross have developed or fine-tnned security procedures.

Lara Puglielli became director of staff safety and security for CRS in April, after five years as the agency's country director in Nicaragua. Before then, :,headqulJ!terslevel security planning had been a part of the work of ~e emergency response team, she said.

The main responSibility for se-

curity and crisis planning at CRS and other agencies lies with individual country directors, said Puglielli.

"They're the ones closest to the local communities," she said. "They can see what events are being reported out of proportion or underreported in the news, for instance."

In Nicaragua the main security problem for CRS worke;s was the country's terrible driving conditions, Puglielli said.

"Nicaragua is very stable," she said. "It's one of the safest places we work in the world. Nevertheless, we had a security plan. It covered what threats exist, what exposure we might have and an evacuation plan, just in case."

In other countries security considerations range from petty crime to being caught between warring factions. In some places, there are questions' such as whether there's more risk to using the local government to provide sec\!rity or going without armed guards.

Puglielli explained that sometimes aid recipients are more willing to approach an agency if there is no sign of government or military nearby. In other situations, armed guards are essential to protect people or supplies.

Sometimes even CRS' role as a contractor for U.S.-funded relief programs is a security factor. For instance, Puglielli said, in Colombia the local Catholic organizations that CRS works through have requested that they not accept U.S. aid because it would cause complications in the volatile political climate.

No matter what the local conditions, Puglielli said the keys to good security are prevention, foresight and planning.

Organizations generally do a good job of keeping aid workers safe from violence, O'Neill said.

"The fact is, more humanitarian workers die from disease and car accidents."

HAZARDOUS DUllY - Maurice McQuillan, part of an emergency response team foqCatholic Relief Services, stands next to a burnt CRS vehicle after mob broke into a compound in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Since 2000,1 more than 50 aid workers in across the world have been killed inl:attacks on their vehicles or offices. (CNS photo/ courtesy Catholic ~elief Services)

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Friday, September 15, 20061

St. John the Evangelist School granted lO-year re-accreditation

THEIR VIEW FROM THE STANDS - Members of the Bishop Connolly High School freshman class gathered before school started this year to meet one another and get acquainted with their new schoof and its faculty. Students and their parents enjoyed a picnic on the school grounds in what has become "a long standing tradition," according to school President Robert Morissette.

Hazing

ATTLEBORO - St. John the Evangelist School has recently been granted a lO-year continued accreditation by the New England Association of Schools & Colleges.

The Association is one of six regional agencies accryditing education institutions throughout the United States.

School Principal Sister Mary Jane Holden; C.P. said, "This has been a very thorough self-study lasting 18 months. We knew we were a great school, but it is affmning to have a prestigious organization agree." .

A six-member team of educators

from a variety of elementary schools in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts conducted a three-day, on-site visit earlier this year. The team then reported to the Commission on Independent Schools.

Father Richard Roy, pastor and director of the school, applauded the principal and faculty noting that this is a wonderful tribute to the work being done by all. He further noted that this proces's has a two-' fold purpose, to 'ensure the school offers quality education and to assist the school in building on its solid foundation.

Continued from page one

and our students are very aware of the school's stance. We focus on Christian values that will last a lifetime. Hazing is the antithesis of team. On all our teams, the veterans and the rookies share in the ups and downs. To put someone through a rite of initiation is totally against the idea that we are all in this together."

Some researchers have traced the hazing tradition back to 387 B.C., and have detected it from the Middle Ages right through the present. Hazing has been a fact of life in fraternities, sororities, and athletic teams for hundreds of years. Even crossing the International Date Line or the equator for the first time on a naval vessel was cause for hazing.

What may have begun as a harmless rite ofpassage has through the years increasingly become a passage into the afterlife for some and a lifetime of physical and emotional scars for many others. Some psychologists see the hazing ritual as having morphed from an initiation process into a revenge factor.

There are those who feel that inany upperclassmen feel that since they were humiliated as a rookie, it's their time to exact revenge for the humiliation and abuse they encountered earlier.

William Hart, the athletic director at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth, told The Anchor, "On all our athletic teams, everyone shares in the duties and responsibilities that go with being on a team. For instance, on our football team, the younger players are not subject to all of the bull work. Some days the seniors will carry the equipment, some days the juniors, the sophomores and the freshmen.

"There are absolutely no rites of initiation on any of our teams. All of our coaches are well aware of the rules against hazing of any sort, as are our athletes." The Stang Student Handbook also lists the Massachusetts regulations against hazing.

Hank Nuwer, an nationallyknown author and lecturer, has chronicled hazing in this country for many years. The author of several books has seen an increase in the decadence and inhumanity of hazing rituals. In his book "Wrongs of Passage," Nuwer says, "Hazing is an extraordinary activity that, when it occurs often enough, becomes perversely ordinary as those who engage in it grow desensitized to its inhumanity."

At Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River, A.D. Frank Shenp.an meets with all the coaches and addresses the hazing issue.

"Our protocol is that on school grounds, at least one coach must be on the field or on the court with the athletes at all times," Sherman told The Anchor. "Our student athletes are never left alone on'our playing fields.

"In the girls' locker room, there is always a female coach and in the boys' locker there's a male coach."

Sherman went on to say that he stresses to all student athletes, "we're all one family and we're here to take care of each other. And they do. Recently, one of our freshman football.players lost a close family member and 25 teammates, from freshman to seniors, attended the wake service."

Sherman stressed that the students are very aware of the antihazing philosophy, and "we tell our freshman, the practice is detrimental to our program and to let us

know immediately if anything like hazing happens."

Tom Pileski is a first-year athletic director at Coyle and Cassidy High School in Taunton. But he's far from a rookie in that positiQn. Pileski is the former athletic director of the very successful Brockton High School program and its former football coach.

Pileski, who is also Coyle's head football coach, told The Anchor that like the other Catholic high schools in the diocese, the Commonwealth's hazing laws are posted in the Student Handbook. BACK IN THE SWING - Coyle and Cassidy High School Presi"And we have the law posted in all dent Brother" Harold Hathaway, CSC, left, and Principal Mary-Pat of our locker rooms, both boys and Tranter, right, welcome back students Michael Lucini, Paul Crosby and Indu Ohri. Below, students Kelsey Grab, Amanda Lumnah and girls," said Pileski.

"I've met with all our athletic Ashley O'Donnell gather at their lockers prior to the opening of the coaches and discussed the hazing Taunton school for another academic year. Enrollment is nearly guidelines and in tum, we've dis- , 800 students representing 45 towns. cussed them with the student athletes.

"Hazing isn't only physically tormenting, it can mentally torment an individual as well. Even something like calling someone a name.

To some it can be funny, but it can be traumatic to the individual involved. People can be emotionally hurt."

Pileski also said that when he was in the public school system, he and his staff were "very, very concerned about the hazing issue.

We've always made sure the regulations are visibly posted. Hazing is a very debilitating practice."

Parents of student athletes can rest easy when it comes to the hazing issue in the four Catholic high schools in the Diocese of Fall River. The twisted practice is addressed, monitored and strictly prohibited. When it comes to hazing, the Diocese of Fall River's stance is quite clear. '

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Friday, September 15, 2006 .

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The road to faithfulness

Catholic school students take on opera writing, performing ST. LOUIS (CNS) - Take two classes of seventh-graders. Have them create a 20-minute opera, story, lyrics and all. Add two classes ofkindergartners, who will perform the opera before a rapt audience of school parents. Then do it year after year for six years.

The result - Opera America's first National Educator of the Year Award The proud recipient is Barbara Roddy, music teacher at St. Simon the Apostle School in St. Louis, who earned the award for such student-generated productions as "It's a Yummy World After All" and "Paul the Pickle:' This fall will be the 16th year Roddy has been teaching at St. Simon School. Although she studied classical music and keyboard in college, she never had opera training.

That changed about 10 years ago, when she decided to expand her middle-school music curriculum by attending summer teacher workshops presented by Opera Theatre of St. Louis at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

'This was something brand new for me;' Roddy tOld the St. Louis Review, archdiocesan newspaper. She said she loves opera now and can't say enough about the sunnnerprogram offered by the Opera Theatre.

In the workshops, Roddy learned how to create and produce operas for children. Six years ago, she decided to take her knowledge into the classroom.

"At St. Simon, the eighth-graders are paired with first-graders, so with our first opera we had the seventh-graders create it and the kin-

By CHARLIE MARTIN -

dergartners perform it, since the next year they would be paired together," she said. This pattern has stuck. Each year, the seventh-graders write the words to the opera, the lyrics and story line in a three- to four-page script that takes about 20 minutes for the kindergarten students to perform.

Roddy, who helps her students put the lyrics to music, said the opera involves more than the two grades and is a collaborative effort of the whole school.

"It's part of the St. Simon approach to involving the school community and cooperative learning with different teachers. The art teacher helps with set design, the language arts teachers help polish up the writing, the kindergarten teachers have input, ofcourse," spe said.

The two classes ofseventh-gradeJ;S brainstorm and eventually agree on one idea for the opera. They usually have the script and music put together by Thanksgiving. By March, the art teacher is working On set design and props. The performance is usually the second week in May. '1t's amazing, the kindergartners act like they've been dOing this their whole lives," ROddy said.

The child-friendly plots included oneabout a president whose re-elecdon platform was to give everyone all the sweets they wanted while in the backgroun~ students were sing~ ing, "No, we need veggies to grow big and strong!'

She said that through the expo.. sure to opera, her stUdents have learned to appreciate it . ,

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UNFAITHFUL Story ofmy life Se.arching for the right But it keeps avoiding me Sorrow in my soul 'Cause it seems that wrong Really loves my company He's more than a man And this is more than love The reason that the sky is blue But clouds are rolling in Because I'm gone again And to him I just can't be true And I know that he knows I'm unfaithful And it kills him inside .

To know that I am happy with some other guy I can see him dying Refrain: I don't wanna do this anymore I don't wanna be the reason why Every time I walk out the door I see him die a little more inside I don't wanna hurt him anymore I don't wanna take away his life I don't wanna be a murderer I feel it in the air As I'm doing my hair Preparing for another-date A kiss on my cheek He's here reluctantly As ifI'm gonna be out late I say I won't be long Just hanging out with the girls A lie I didn't have to tell Because we both know Where I'm about to go And we know it very well .

Our love ... his trust I might as well take a gun and put it to his head

Sung by Rihanna Copyright 2006 by De!Jam From the Caribbean islands to

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CATHqLIC NEWS SERVICE "

big-time pop/rock: Tha~1s Rihaima's story. Her ne~ disc ''A I Girl Like Me" expands her musical approach beyond regg~ and dance to a more reflective soubd.

A good.

I example of this change is her II current hit "Unfaithful.'il In the song, the girl laments her destructive behavior. She wonders why "wrong really 10vJs my company." For examplJ, she lies I' about going out with other guys.

Yet, she is resolved do differently. She tells hebeIf: "I don't wanna hurt him ~ymore; I don't wanna take awayllhis life; I don't wanna be a murderer." We " don't seem to be told exactly who the man in her life is (b6yfriend? husband?). Though sh~1 might not be a "murderer," how should she Proceed if she truly wahts to become a better person:~" First, she needs to admit to herself all her wrong bJhavior.

There should be no "bJts" as she .

Milost likeI y takes thi s mventory. she will need help frorrl trusted friends. Most of us rati6nalize or " minimize the hurtful effects of what we do. Thus, she heeds to talk with friends who elm help her I evaluate her actions with as much " honesty as possible. Self-judgment · . all or shame IS not requrre , but l . accurately 1'dentI'[y'mg Iier actIons . d ' I and attltu es IS. Ii Next, she needs a plan. Verbally . new goal' statrng s IS a n~essary positive step, but it willi not be enough to sustain real Jhange. She especially must addres~ the situations in which she lis more likely to revert to her Wrong behaviors. She can ask herself, I'

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"What situations or occasions are likely to trigger a response similar to my former ways?" Unless she has clarity on this question and a specific plan for acting differently, successful change will be difficult to sustain.

After these steps she is ready for a conversation with "him." The purpose of this discussion is not only to apologize but to offer him a clear choice for what now best serves his life. Since he now knows the truth of her behaviors, what does he need?

She also can emphasize that her choice to become a better person is not primarily focused on a hope of continuing their relationship. More important is her realization that being an '~nfaithful" and deceitful individual has robbed her of integrity. She no longer is willing to pay such a high cost.

Truthfully, she has a difficult road ahead. She needs to begin each day with a prayer for God's help and guidance. She will not be able to make these changes on her own. Loving, forgiving friends will be a definite support, but the strength of her relationship with God is the most important foundation for making this change.

She can do it! A truth-telling, faithful and loving person lives within her. This is the individual that God made her to be. Taking one step at a time, she can rediscover this woman.

Your comments are always welcome. Please write to me at: chmartin@swindiana.net or at .7125W 200S, Rockport, IN 47635.

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Not your'parents' dress code: Tattoos, nose rings amo~g today's concerns WILMINGTON, Del. (CNS) High school dress codes of the 21st century include a lot more concerns than the lengths of skirts and harr: - tattoos must be completely covered during school and while students participate in athletic contests; - a student may wear no more than two earrings per ear; - nose jewelry, tongue studs, etc., are not allowed.

Any parent encountering those rules - all found in current student handbooks of Catholic high schools in the Diocese of Wilmington might ask "tongue studs, etc. what could that et cetera be?"

If teen-age trends have pushed the hot-button concerns of dress codes away from clothes and toward body art, the overall goal of Catholic schools' rules remains "appropri-

ateness and modesty," according to Gene Alessandrini, assistant principal of student affairs at St. Mark's High School in Wllmington. .

Alessandrini has had student-discipline duties at St. Mark's since 1973, so he's seen a lot of fashions deemed in and out of style - skirts rolled, hems cut and sideburns grown up and down.

"Styles have changed and we've tried to adjust to them," Alessandrini told The Dialog, Wilmington's diocesan newspaper.

"Sometimes we've offered a lot. ofoptions," he said. "Lately there are fewer options; the more options, the more you have to adjust to them."

A perennial problem has been the lengths of girls' skirts, said Alessandrini. Skirts at St. Mark's can't be more than two inches above

the knees. One way the school has adjusted to the hem wars, he said, has been to require the girls to wear gray or hunter green tights, so when the skirt is a little shorter "it isn't that recognizable."

Whatever.its length; a skirt,is optional for grrls at St. Mark's; they can wear slacks purchased from a local uniform company.

"It's a matter ofkeeping one step ahead or no more than one step behind," said Alessandrini. "There's still that choice. Some schools have eliminated the skirts totally. We're still holding ground."

A uniform committee of faculty, arents and students at St. Elizabeth P High School in Wilmington decided to do away with a skirt as part of a girl's uniform in favor of pants, said John Petruzzelli, assistant principal.

"If you would talk to our girls, it's just more comforta~le; they prefer the pants over the skirts," he said.

Shirley Bounds, st.I! E~beth's principal, said neither ~tudents nor faculty members and administrators wanted.tostarteaChdayllllwithabattle. over skirt lengths.

St. Elizabeth, like other Catholic schools, prohibits extretbe hairstyles on its students. In its ctJss code, the

admiinstration''main~thepreroga-

tive to determine the suirlmility ofany individual's appearancf' including clothing, accessories and hairstyle."

As Alessandrini see~ it, students dressed in shirts and ties "are less likely to get involved in horseplay than (someone in) in ~" T-shirt and jeans. They're dressed for business, for school, which is th"eir business at this time in life."

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He also said studentS appreciate the uniform later in life when they recognize Ws a lot easier to wake up in the morning and know what you're going to wear.

Petruzzelli agreed tha,t St. Eli~abeth's dress code makes life easIer for both parents and students, who don't have to worry about what everyone else is wearing.

Gabby Serio, a junior at St. Mark's, said she "probably would have to wake up a lot earlier," if she had to pick out what clothes she would wear to school each day.

Nithin Paul, a senior, said St. Mark's boys tend to use ties to make a personal statement. He also remembers when a student wore a belt that made a statement with a flashing digital message. The belt, however, didn't meet the dress code.

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118 Stewardship the various pastorates the parish is not only growing in numbers but very active in 35 different and outstanding ministries. It has become a way of life for us. We have chosen to become disciples and follow Jesus."

Father Bouchard, pastor of Corpus Christi Parish in Sandwich, who is one of the planners for the gathering meeting in Boston, is the current diocesan director of stewardship.

"Stewardship is described as how we live our life as disciples in all areas of our lives, with great trust in God who gives so much ... and we in tum take up our responsibilities and thank him, Father Bouchard told The Anchor.

Two of his parishioners, Deacon Arthur Lachance and his wife, Julie, will be participating in the conference by giving witness presentations, Father Bouchard reported.

The moderator for that segment will be James Riley, a member of the Diocesan Stewardship Committee and former chairman of stewardship at St. Mary's in Mansfield.

Riley, active in stewardship since 1992, called it "is a logical extension of the mission of the Church, and very important in parish life. It is evangelization ... and it and reaches out into the world and the environment. It is not restricted to parish operations. God created and put this world in motion. But he has entrusted it to us for our safekeeping."

He said the conference offers new insights for those newly in stewardship as well as allowing those who have been in stewardship an opportunity to hone their skills.

"I think people will come away from this conference with fires of faith well lighted."

The presentations by the local parish groups will be to a large and diverse audience.

The ICSC indicated this week that archbishops, bishops, priests, 'religious, deacons and laities worldwide will attend it premier 2006 event, this year at the Sheraton Boston Hotel and Hynes Convention Center as the setting.

Some of the features speakers for the four-day meeting include Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipleship of the Sacraments; Father Charles P. Connor, rector of St. Peter's Cathedral in Scranton, Pa.; Father Raymond Kemp, executive director of Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.; Bishop Robert J, Baker of Charleston, S.C.; Bishop David D. Crosby, OMI, of St. George's in Newfoundland; and

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Friday, September 15, 20061

Continued from page one

Bishop John J. McRaith of Owensboro diocese in Kentucky.

Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, OFM Cap:, archbishop of Boston, will celebrate Mass on October 4 for conference attendees. Awards for service will be presented and numerous vendors, Catholic associations, consultants and professional organizations Will, exhibit their materials and services in support of stewardship as a way of life.

This year's theme is, "Stewardship: A Disciple's Response" emphasizing the essential link between the hands-on practicalities of stewardship and a vibrant personal relationship with Jesus Christ in the life of his Church.

According to ICSC's episcopal moderator, Archbishop James P. Keleher of Kansas City; Kansas, a deeper experience of this discipleship is key to the international fruits manifested through practical stewardship methods during good and bad economic times.

"It is the pope's wish 'an ever greater number of people may fully find themselves through a sincere gift of self' the very life of a steward."

Father George C. Bellenoit, pastor of St. Pius X Parish in South Yarmouth, echoed that statement.

"The special thing about stewardship is, indeed, it's really a way of life, based on Scriptures," he said. "It is not a program nor a process nor another activity in the parish. It is really a way of life, oriented with Scripture. It comes, from the Lord. Its whole concept is that God has given us all that we have. In appreciation for that we wish to express our thanks to him by using and sharing the gift ... 'and giving some back to him too."

Father Bellenoit, who has been involved in stewardship since 1993, said the statement by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is really the foundation of stewardship in the Church." '''It's wonderful to have an international meeting so close because it gives a lot of people in the area an opportunity to get an international sense of what stewardship is'?"

He recalled that in 2003, a unit from St. Mary's Parish in Mansfield, where he was pastor for 10 years, presented a parish festival as part of the ICSC convention held in Chicago, "in which we showcased the stewardship we ac.complished in our local parish."

How Catholic stewards are committed to living their faith is summed'up in the following fivepoint parish mission statement offered by Father Costa: "As members of Sacred Heart Parish we strive to accept all who enter our lives, nurture our children, pray as a family, share our gifts, and live the Eucharist."

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FATHERLY BLESSING - Father Jose E. Hoyos, the Spanish Apostolate director for the Diocese of Arlington, Va., offers a blessing to Jairo Munoz at an immigration rally in Washington recently. (eNS photo/Paul Haring)

Cardinal criticizes failure to legislate immigration reform LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony kicked off a week of immigration-related rallies nationwide with Labor Day letters to President George W. Bush and congressional leaders, urging them to push for c,:omprehensive' reform legislation and not let it become mired in partisan politics.

The letter was timed to coincide with one ofthe committee's field hearings on immigration held during the summer recess.

"Failure to enact comprehensive and fair immigration reform will simply continue the inequality of those living and working in our country for the benefit of all of us;' said Cardinal Mahony in the letterto Bush. ''We simply cannot allow that to happen."

In a Labor Day homily preceding an immigrant-rights rally, the cardinal blamed Congress for adding to confusion about immigration and warned members of Congress that they "do not have the right or luxury to let four weeks go by and refuse to deal with immigration reform." Congress returned to work after Labor Day for a brief session before planned adjournment in October, to allow campaigning prior to November's general election.

The event in Los Angeles was one of many held around the country during the Labor Day weekend. In Chicago, several thousand people joined

Stonehill

a rally to end a four-day, 45-mile protest march through various points around the city. The march concluded in front of House Speaker Dennis Haste!1's Bataviacongressional office.

The 250 or so people who walked the whole distance stopped ovemight or for events at Catholic churches in Cicero and West Chicago, Ill., and an Islamic center in Villa Park.

People from throughout the midAtlantic were to gather in Washington for a march and rally to urge Congress to pass a legalization program.

Although they didn't draw crowds as large as for a series of rallies in the spring, weekend rallies also were held in Miami, St. Paul, Minn., Trenton, N.J., Portland, Ore, and Milwaukee.

In his homily at the Labor Day Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Cardinal Mahony was blunt.

The current system for legal entry to the United States, particularly for family reunification, is a disaster, he said. 'That is a disgrace. That is really immoral as well."

Jesus called people ''to be concerned about those around us who most need our help - the poor, the blind, the lame, those who are aliens in our midst, those who have come from otherplaces;' he said. 'Those are the ones whom Jesus came to serve and to call us to serve them."

Cardinal Mahony said legitimate

security concerns are but one element of reforms that are needed. Legislation should also address the reality that immigrant workers "are essential to the life, and the economy and the opportunity of all ofus, notjust themselves, but all ofus. And so they must be given just treatment," he said.

The letter to Bush said the question of how the country deals with immigrants is "one ofthe mostimportant moral and ethical issues of our times."

"Sadly, over the past several months we have listened to sharply worded rhetoric, we have witnessed immigrants being blamed for almost every social ill in our country, and we have diminished our sense of being neighbor to one another," Cardinal Mahony wrote.

The letter urged the president to use his leadership position "to traverse political concerns and help all members of Congress to understand their moral responsibility and duty to be fully engaged in this important task.

Please do not allow immigration reform to become mired in partisan politics:' Atthe Mass, Cardinal Mahony said he was keeping his frustration with Congress in mind when he votes.

"On November 7, Election Day, I'm not voting for anybody for Congress who isn't supporting the legislation that we need;' he said.

Continued from page one

sentations. ordained a priest of the Archdiocese "We're very much looking for- of St. Paul-Minneapolis in 1980. ward to having Father Joncas here;' Specifically, the September 21 said Gannon. "He's an amazing mu- presentation will address questions sician and an engaging speaker and I such as "How is God speaking to us think it will be very interesting. Each during this time of change in the year we bring in a theologian to do a Church?" and "What wisdom will we workshop for our students and choir offer the'next generation as we evolve and we feel that anyone that loves the ' from the Church we know, into the Church will enjoy Father Joncas. one we want to become?"

On September 22, Father Joncas Father Joncas holds a degree in English and liturgical studies and has will address why some psalm settings authored three books and more than accommodate the response between 100 articles and reviews. He is cur- the reading and why others serve best rently a professor at the University as Communion songs as well as how of St. Thomas in St. Paul. He was liturgical musicians choose the set-

tings of songs, hymns and psalms that best suit their communities.

Gannon is expecting a large turnout for the evening presentations at which Father Joncas will be playing music and speaking. '1t will be a good opportunity for those in music ministry to get some good ideas to better serve the liturgy. I think attendees will be uplifted with a sense of hope. We are a community of God and have hopeful hearts:' The presentations are sponsored by the Diocesan Office fo.r Worship, the Office of the Permanent Diaconate and Stonehill College.

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ATILEBORO - The PerpetuaI Adoration Chapel at St. Joseph Church, 208 Main Street seeks volunteers. Our Lady Queen of Peace Medjugorje Prayer Group meets Mondays at 7 p.m. For more information call 508-226-1115.

WEST HARWICH - The Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Holy Trinity Church, Route 28, invites people to spend an hour or two in prayer. This regional chapel of the mid-Cape area depends on the support ofpeople. For more information call 508-432-4000.

IU¢fur~~tib.tiofis. ~"%~':<J ATILEBORO - An hour-long Bible Study ofMark's Gospel will be presented

by La Salette Father Donald Paradis will be held tomorrow at 11 am. in the Reconciliation Chapel at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette. It will continue Saturday mornings until November.15. For more information call 508236-9068.

FALL RIVER -Adoption by Choice, an adoption and pregnancy counseling program ofCatholic Social Services will hold an information session September 27 for individuals and families interested in domestic newborn and international adoption. It will be held from 7-9 p.m. at the CSS office, 1600 Bay Street. For more information call 508-674-4681.

FAIRHAVEN -Our Lady's Haven seeks volunteers to assist at the nursing facility in transporting residents to and from their rooms to meals, activities and daily Mass. People are needed during the week and on weekends. For information, call Manuel Benevides at 508-999-4561.

FALL RIVER - The New England Family Wellness Foundation is sponsoring a Children's Wellness Walk and Fair on Sunday from 12-3 p.m. It starts and ends at 19 Fifteenth Street. The first 100 children to register will receive a free backpack and water bottle. The top three individual fund-raisers will win an MP3 player. There will be fitness demonstrations and backpack fitting and instruction from local chiropractors. For information call 508-646-4042 or E-mail nefwf@hotmail.com.

FALL RIVER - Bishop George W. Coleman will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving for couples observing significant wedding anniversaries, including first year, October 22 at 3 p.m. at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption. For more information contact your local parish.

HYANNIS - A rosary for children of the world will be held October 1 at 5 p.m. at St. Francis Xavier Parish. Those who cannot attend are asked to unite themselves with people across ihe world by praying the rosary for this intention at that moment.

NEW BEDFORD-The Daughters of Isabella Hyacinth Circle No. 71 will meet September 19 at 7 p.m. in the church hall at Holy Name of the Sacred Heart ofJesus Parish. Refreshments will be served. fur more information call 508990-7595.

will be held September22 from 6-8 p.m. and September 23 from 8 a.m. to noon at St. John the Evangelist Parish center, 841 Shore Road. It is sponsored by the parish women's guild and will benefit scholarship awards. For more information call 508-563-5887.

SOUTH DARTMOUTH - The Knights of Columbus Bishop Stang Council No. 4532 is seeking good Catholic men to become new members.

It meets on the first Tuesday of each month in the basement of St. Mary's Church, 783 Dartmouth Street. For more information call Brock Cordeiro at 508979-8930. .

EAST FREETOWN - The annual Scouting Retreat, themed 'The Year of Duty to God;' will be held September 29-October 1 at Cathedral Camp, 157 Middleboro Road. It is open to Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts ages 10 and older of any religious faith. The deadline for registration is September 22. For more information call Father Stephen Salvador at 508-676-8463 or Mary Powers at 508-824-4452.

ECHO of Cape Cod begins its 37th year with an opening Mass September 19 at 7 p.m. at Christ the King Parish. ECHO retreats are open to high school students in their 10-12th year. The first girls' weekend is November 10-12.Thefirstboys'weekendisNovember24-26. fur more information call Mary Fuller at 508-759-4265.

MASHPEE -

NORTH DARTMOUTH-A weekend retreat for men and women, sponsored by the Legion ofMary, will be held October 13-15 at the Family Life Center, 500 Slocum Road. The retreat master will be Father Sharuel Francis Mary Hayward, a Franciscan Friar from Our Lady's Chapel, New Bedford. For more information call 508-995-2354.

ACUSHNET-St. Francis Xavier Parish is sponsoring a golftoumament September 23 at the Acushnet River Valley Golf Course, 685 Main Street. It will begin at 7 am. with a shotgun start. For more information call Jackie Lang at 508-947-4729.

FALL RIVER - The Catholic Memorial Home will hold its annual Harvest 5K Road Race and Fun Walk October 21 beginning at 10 a.m~· Registration for the race is at 8:30 a.m. and an awards ceremony will follow the race. For more information call 508-679-0011.

NORTH DARTMOUTH Septemberfest will be held Saturday from 10 a.m. t04 p.m. at StJulie Billiart Parish, 494 Slocum Road. The day will include acar show, children's games and the Colum Cille Pipes and Drums of Cape Cod. A Seafood Supper, for which tickets must be purchased in advance, will be held from 4-6 p.m. For more information call 508-993-2351. ,

ATTLEBORO - The Women in Midlife Support Group, for those who are experiencing the challenges of midlife, will meet Seritember 26 from 6-8 p.m. at the Catholit Social Services office, 10 Maple Street. It will continue to meet at that time on the second and fourth ThesdaYs ofeach"month. For more information call 508-226-4780.

NEW BEDFORD - A Day of Recollection for priests will be held S.eptember 19 from 11:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. at St. Anthony ofPadua Church. Lunch will follow. For more information call 508- , NORTH FALMOum - A Cancer 993-1691. support group will meh September 20 at 7 p.m. at St. Eliza~th Seton Parish.

POCASSET - A fall Rummage Sale For information call 508-563-7770.

Formation Continued from page one ter served. And I'm very happy to be part of that process."

Her office is on'the third floor of the Catholic Education Center on Highland Avenue.

Born and raised in New Jersey, she came to Massachusetts in 1987 and took up residence in Marshfield, on the South Shore, where she is a member of St. Christine's Parish, which is in the Archdiocese of Boston.

She was the director of Religious Education for the high school-age and college-age students there; and also served as youth minister.

Her background in faith fonnation is extensive. It includes training of catechists. She also directed her parish's confinnation program, and had led retreats for adults at the parish and well as for the archdiocese.

She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from Rutgers University and a master's degree in pastoral ministry from Boston College. She also holds a licentiate in sacred theology from the Weston Jesuit School ofTheology in Cambridge.

"I think it's important to bring a broad knowledge of faith and theology into this job," she said.

She said the Fall River diocese had conducted a national search for a director as it planned to establish the ,three-tier q~w Faith FOrI1!:rtion oijice.

"Actually I answered an advertisement placed in America magazine, (published by the Jesuits) and was among three candidates brought in for an interview by a committee," McManus said.

Married to Timothy McManus, they are the parents of five children: TImothy 27, a Catholic school teacher in Dallas, Texas; Erin, 25, of Marshfield; Caitlin, 24, a nurse at Mass General Hospital and who resides in Boston; Patrick, 21, a senior at Boston College; and Ciara, 13, a student at St. Paul's School in Hingham.

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Doqald H. Raqine; father of F;ather MicHael Racine ;1

NEW BEDFORq - Donald H. he leaves two other sons, Richard Racine, 68, husband Of Mrs. Barbara Racine ofFairhaven; and Paul Racine (Rock) Racine, and father of Father ofNorth Attleboro; a daughter, Cathy Michael Racine, chApRacine-Sparks of lain at St. Luke's Ho~pi­ Johnstown, N.Y.; three tal, died September 4 i~_ brothers, Louis Racine of ter a battle with canc~r.

Westport, George Racine of Acushnet, and A lifelong resident of New Bedford, he was the Normand Racine of Avon, Conn.; a sister, son ofthe late Victor Jod .

Ii Theresa Hallett of Rachael (Desor9 Y) Racine. Prior to retireDartmouth; five grandment he was the control children; and nieces and room engineer at New nephews.

England Power, Brayton DONALD H. RACINE He was also the Point Station •in Somerset.

A member 6f St. Lawrence Parish, he was a recipierit of the Marian Medal from the Fall River diocese for ~s years of service t6 his parish. He was a volunteer at Holy Family-Holy Name School.

I Besides his wife and priest son,

brother ofthe late Roland Racine and Doris Donahue.

His funeral Mass waS celebrated September 8 in St. Lawrence Church.

Burial was in Sacred Heart Cemetery.

The Saunders-Dwyer Home for Funerals, 495 Park Street, New Bedford, was in charge of arrangements.

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Final Cath9lic Charities Appeal 2006 parish results BUZZARDS BAY I, St. Margaret: $loO-Yolanda &John Gray.

I CENTERVILLE II Our Lady of victOry: $lOO-M&M Robert Chase, M&M PilUl Pacella, Edith Scaramuzzo."

CHATHAM i Holy Redeemer: $500-M&M Clifford Whitcomb. II HYANNIS St. Francis Xavier: $210-M&M Ponchito Mangahas; $150-David Koss, Dorothy Tobin; $100'tJeremy Cadrin, Sheila Lutazi, Doroth~1 McHugh, M&M

Mark Silva.

MANSFIELD St. Mary: $100-M&M Robert C. Crowley, Daniel G. Hall.

MARION St.JillB: $100-Marianne Oien. ,MASHPEE . Christ the King: $3,OOO-M&M RobertM. Tischler.

NORTON S!..MBry: $IOO-William & Deborah McLaughlin.

SOUTH YARMOUTH St. Pius Tenth: $l,OOO-M&M Stanley W. Graveline.

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·Il~'·:·]i>r~yer$ Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks September 19 Rev. Henry E.S. Henniss, Pastor, St. Mary, New Bedford, 1859 Msgr. Arthur W. Tansey, Retired Pastor, Immaculate Conception, Fall River, 1985 September 20 Rev. Simon A. O'Rourke, USN Chaplain, 1918 Rev. Orner Valois, Retired Pastor, Sacred Heart, New Bedford, 1958 September 21 Rev. George Pager, Founder, Sacred Heart, New Bedford, 1882 Rev. George Jowdy, Pastor, Our Lady ofPurgatory, New Bedford, 1938 Rev. WJ.1liam H. Crane, SM, Superior at National Shrine of Our Lady of Victories, Boston, 1988 September 23 Rev. Antoine Charest, SM, Fonner Assistant, St. Jean Baptiste, Fall River, 2001 September 24 Rev. Joseph E.C. Bourque, Pastor, Blessed Sacrament, Fall River, 1955 September 25 Rev. RobertI. Woodley, S.J. Missionary, Taunton, New Bedford, Fall River, 1857

www.wDring-sulJi,"n.rom I .

A Service Fllmily Affiliate of AFF~ & Service Corporation Inkrnation31, 492 Rock St.n:el, Fall Ri...eJ. MA 02120 sos.676-24S4

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Friday, ,september 15, 2006 i

Retiring secretary of state's book illustrates Vatican's world role

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WJICAN CITY (CNS)-Nearly one week' before Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano was to retire, he published a book highlighting key addresses he made during 15 years of seIVice as theVatican secretary ofstate.

Titled ''The Leaven ofthe Gospel: The Presence of the Holy See in the Lives ofPeoples," the 138-page hardcover volume is a sort of memoir meant to show the Vatican as an advocate promoting and protecting human dignity and trying to save souls.

The book, released September 7 at a Vatican press conference, is written in Italian and contains 12 speeches the Italian cardinal made representing the pope and the Vatican at various national and international venues, including the United Nations.

The book is dedicated to Popes John Paul n and Benedict XVI, the popes under whom Cardinal Sodano, 78, served. The author also gives a word of welcome to his successor, Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who takes over today.

Cardinal Sodano writes in the book's preface, ''The time has come to hand over, like in the 9lympic Games, the appointment" he received in 1990.

At the press conference, Msgr.

Gabriele Caccia, councilor for general affairs of the Vatican Secretariat of State, said there have always been questions about the Vatican's role on the world stage.

Does the Church "only have a pastoral mission or also a political function?" he asked.

While the book does not give a black and white answer, he said, it does show that all the Vatican's dip-

lomatic activity, through its various nunciatures and papal representatives, is still carrying out the Church's fundamental pastoral task: the saving of souls.

The Gospel me,ssage can and should be brQught to all spheres of life and can make all human activity more enlightened and noble, he said.

The Vatican is often the only state ' on the world stage whose agenda is not based onpromoting the "particular interests of a person or peoples," Msgr. Caccia said.'

Msgr.

Pietro Parolin, undersecretary of state for foreign relations, said at the same press conference that the Vatican's nuncios and papal representatives play an important role "in defending the human being" and in strengthening the local churches, especially in regions where Christians face poverty, discrimination or other hardships.

When a political or social crisis threatens or erupts in a country or region, the Vatican's diplomatic corps springs into action, looking for peaceful solutions to the problem or coordinating needed aid in the event of a tragedy.

Msgr. Caccia said that while the Church and the Vatican do "not magically solve every problem" their visible efforts of helping people demonstrate that "there's a comniunity that cares and can band together" to help anyone in need.

Msgr. Parolin added that the Vatican's presence around the world shows people that the Church and the pope are always near, that Christians - no matter how small their numbers - are not alone in the world.

Creator of Life Most Americans believe -God

is responsible for life on earth.

THE POPE IN PENCIL - Russiakborn artist Igor Babailov of Brentwood, Tenn., displays one of the pencil sketches he made of Pope Benedict XVI for a portrait that he will complete over the next year. He has been commissioned Iby Ave Maria University in Florida to paint the portrait. (eNS photofTheresa Laurence, TennesSee Registet')

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I artist I . commlSSlone .. d .I.ennessee to paint pbpe Benedi~t's piirfrait

By THERESA LAURENCE II to see that his painting "is not in the archives collecting CATHOLIC NEWS SERVIC~ dust," but prominently displayed at Castel Gandolfo, NASHVlLLE, Tenn. - Looking oJt the front pic- the pope's summer residence.

- "It is a really great honor," Babailov told the Tenture window of his home, Igor Babail~>v takes in the sweeping view of the rolling green hills below. 'nessee Register, diocesan newspaper of Nashville.

The artist envisions that the portrait of Pope "The best artist in the world is Gd~; look at this beauty," he said. "The design of all tills is total har- Benedict will have some of the same themes as the' . mony."

II paintingofPope John Paul n, since they were so close.

Babailov, a Russian native and Tennessee resident The portrait of Pope John Paul shows him surrounded who has been commissioned to paint a ~ortrait ofPope by young people, in honor of World Youth Day. Pope Benedict XVI, said his goal is to pr6ject truth and Benedict's portrait will also highlight his "well-known beauty through his realist paintings. II quality of being an educator," Babailov said.

"Art should carry a strong message beyond just Babailov's portrait of Pope Benedict is sponsored pretty pictures," he said. "Withouta m~ssage, art is no by Ave Maria University in Naples, Fla. While details II of the sponsorship are still more than a candy wrap;, • .1 there's plenty of candy wrap , being discussed, Babailov tlJu~t like the masters of the past, will likely unveil the porall over the place." , To capture the essence of I don1t believe in shortcuts, espe- trait on campus before prehis subjects, Babailov will cially n portraiture, as it is a form of senting it to the pope, and spend up to a year complet- art which represents the highest will also paint duplicate the creation, us." copy to be displayed on Ave ing a portrait. With a few form rare exceptions, Babailov II Maria's campus.

The sponsorship from insists upon an in-person ' II sitting with his subject, where he w~'l dra~ pl<ncil Ave Maria University will help cover Babailov's ba7 sketches and take photographs for reference. In his sic expenses, but according to his wife Mary, "it,'s not studio, he will complete a series ofcompositional stud- about money ... you don't get paid to paint the pope." ies before starting the final oil painting.

The couple hopes the sponsorship will also draw atOn his Website, www.babailov.dbm, Babailov tention to the new Catholic university.

While Babailov has painted some prominent world writes that, "Just like the masters of the past, I don't believe in shortcuts, especially in portrluture, as it isa leaders, including President George W. Bush, Rusform of art which represents the high~st form of the sian President Vladimir Putin and former South Africreation, us."

II can President Nelson Mandela, as well as politicians Babailov saw Pope Benedict in June to begin the and film and sports stars, he says that one of the joys portrait process. The sitting, he said, ~as not a one- of his work is "to meet the people, not just presidents on~one meeting. Rather, Babailov Jketched Pope and popes." The people he paints who are unknown Benedict at one of his weekly audienc6s in St. Peter's to the general public "are not less interesting or less important," he said.

Square, w~th thousands of people wat~hing., Babailov's audience with Pope BenMict, however, A member of the Russian Orthodox Church, was not the first time he met a pope. Th~ artist was also Babailov says he relat~s closely to the Catholic faith. commissioned by the Vatican to paint a Portrait ofPope Both share Christian values, strong support of the traJohn Paul n on the 25th anniversaiy oflhis pontificate. , ditional family and the commitment to "constantly WhenBabailovvisitedRomethiss~hewashappy work to improve yourself," he said.

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