09.30.11

Diocese of Fall River

The Anchor

F riday , September 30, 2011

Permanent deacons: Serving in a multitude of ways

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

MASHPEE — The ministry of the Permanent Diaconate encompasses many responsibilities beyond what Catholics observe them fulfilling at Mass on Sundays, but there’s one common thread tying all of them together. “Always be

welcoming,” said Deacon Robert D. Lemay who is a pastoral assistant at Christ the King Parish in Mashpee and is the director of the diocesan Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults program.

Lemay is one of nearly 100 Turn to page 18

a half century of excellence — Clergy, faculty, students, alumni and friends gathered with Bishop George W. Coleman last week in the Bishop Feehan High School auditorium for a celebratory Mass marking the 50th anniversary of the Attleboro school. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)

Bishop Feehan High celebrates inaugural 50th anniversary Mass B y K enneth J. Souza A nchor Staff

LIFE TO THE FULL — Tomorrow begins Respect Life Month, which the Catholic Church throughout the United States will observe for the 40th time.

MCFL Respect Life Walk is Sunday

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

BOSTON — Dozens of ProLife organizations stand to benefit from the thousands of dollars that will be raised from this year’s Respect for Life Walk. Organized by Mass Citizens for Life, the 25th year of the walk will see hundreds of participants taking to the streets of Boston on Sunday.

“It’s a very positive event,” said Helen Cross, board member of MCFL and co-chairman of the event. “A lot of Pro-Life can be sad

because we’re talking about abortion; we’re talking about the death of young children. This is very positive and is a way to encourage people to say yes to life, and to actually have a practical affect too. This is a practical way to help women to choose life and to show that our commitment to life is not just words but in our very actions. As a devout Catholic — I love God — I believe that this is how we bring the face of Christ to the world. When you walk out in the streets, you are making a Turn to page 11

ATTLEBORO — The second high school to open its doors in the Fall River Diocese celebrated the half century of its founding with a Mercy Day school-wide Mass on September 22.

The entire student body along with faculty members and staff joined together with alumni, invited guests and students from other diocesan schools for the 10 a.m. Mass celebrated by Bishop George W. Coleman.

It was standing-room-only inside the school’s auditorium for the solemn yet joyful

Liturgy that concluded with the awarding of six “Spirit of Feehan Medallions” to groups or individuals who have made key contributions to the high school during its 50-year history.

When it first opened in September 1961, there were six Sisters of Mercy to welcome the 192 students who made up the first class at Bishop Feehan High School.

Over the past 50 years, the school has thrived and expanded and now has an enrollment of nearly 1,000 students and about 100 full-time teachers.

During his homily, Bishop Coleman praised Turn to page 14

Taunton Catholic Middle School: Forty years and counting B y B ecky Aubut A nchor Staff

TAUNTON — This fall Taunton Catholic Middle School will be celebrating its 40th anniversary with a two-day event that kicks off October 21 and continues on October 22. The former Msgr. Coyle High School, originally established by the Sisters of the Holy Union, opened its doors in September 1971 for 606 students in grades six through eight; fifth grade was added in 1987.

Dr. Corinne Merritt, in her second year as principal of TCMS, said the school is ready to build on this year’s theme: “Forty Years of Excellence in Catholic Education,” adding that serendipitous events seemed to have led her to becoming the principal of a school that she had only heard about while studying in college.

“I’m honored that I’m part of it because I look back at how it was a fluke that I happened to notice the establishing of a Catholic middle school in 1971 when I was studying for my first master’s degree,” said Merritt.

“It’s interesting how God places you in different situations. I never expected to leave the college and yet here I am administering in a school that’s 40-years old and doing exactly what I think is vital for kids today.”

Plans began over the summer with the formation of an anniversary committee comprised mainly of faculty. The eight-member team worked on the planning until the school year started, then parents were able to look beyond the electronic notices that had been sent out and voice their opinions and support.

“I have such a wonderful school commuTurn to page 15

2

September 30, 2011 News From the Vatican In Germany, pope says godlessness poses new risks for society

FREIBURG, Germany (CNS) — On a four-day visit to Germany, Pope Benedict XVI warned that godlessness and religious indifference were undermining the moral foundations of society and leaving its weakest members exposed to new risks.

He repeatedly mentioned the duty to protect the unborn, and proposed this as an area where Catholics and non-Catholics can witness together and help resist ethical erosion.

The pope, making his first official state visit to his homeland, said after arriving September 22 that he had come “to meet people and to speak about God.” He took that message to the country’s political leaders, to the Church’s ecumenical partners, to the Catholic faithful and, through the mass media, to the German people.

The 84-year-old pope beamed when enthusiastic Catholics in central and southern Germany chanted his name and waved banners with the trip’s slogan, “Where there is God, there is a future.”

When the pope stepped off his plane in Berlin, the German capital, he was greeted by President Christian Wulff and Chancellor Angela Merkel. The pope smiled as a boy and a girl presented him with a bouquet of flowers, and cannons boomed out a 21-gun salute.

At a welcoming ceremony at the presidential Bellevue Palace in Berlin, the pope strongly defended the Church’s voice in public affairs and said that to dismiss religious values as irrelevant would “dismember our culture.”

Wulff, in his own speech to the pope, agreed that the Church’s message is needed in modern society. But the presi-

dent, a 52-year-old Catholic who is divorced and civilly remarried, added that the Church too is challenged by important questions today: “How compassionately will it treat points of rupture in the lives of individuals? How will it approach points of rupture in its own history or the wrongdoing of members of its clergy?”

The pope’s main event in Ber-

of threatening the whole world and driving it to the edge of the abyss.”

Today, he said, with unprecedented opportunities to manipulate human beings, the threat is even more dramatic. He pointed to Germany’s ecology movement as a step in the right direction, but said an “ecology of man” was needed to protect human dignity.

abuse, but he urged them to work against such crimes “on the inside.” The pope later met with five sex abuse victims in Erfurt, an encounter that the Vatican said left the pontiff “moved and deeply shaken.”

The pope presided over major ecumenical events September 23 in Erfurt, the town where Martin Luther was ordained and site of an Augustinian monastery where

good to be home — Pilgrims begin to gather to attend a prayer service led by Pope Benedict XVI at the Marian sanctuary of Etzelsbach in Germany during the German-born pontiff’s four-day visit to his homeland. (CNS photo/Andrew Medichini, pool via Reuters)

lin was his speech to the German parliament, the first time he has addressed a legislative body.

Although dozens of parliamentarians boycotted the event, he received a standing ovation from the assembly.

The pope’s speech, philosophical in tone, argued that belief in God was the foundation for Western progress in law, social justice and human rights through the centuries.

Germany’s Nazi past, he said, illustrates that without justice, the state becomes “a highly organized band of robbers, capable

Our Lady’s Monthly Message From Medjugorje September 25, 2011

Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina “Dear children! I call you, for this time to be for all of you, a time of witnessing. You, who live in the love of God and have experienced His gifts, witness them with your words and life that they may be for the joy and encouragement to others in faith. I am with you and incessantly intercede before God for all of you that your faith may always be alive and joyful, and in the love of God. “Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Spiritual Life Center of Marian Community One Marian Way Medway, MA 02053 • Tel. 508-533-5377 Paid advertisement

The pope later met with Jewish representatives and recalled the Nazi “reign of terror” in his homeland, saying it showed what people are capable of when they deny God. “The supposedly ‘almighty’ Adolf Hitler was a pagan idol, who wanted to take the place of the biblical God, the Creator and Father of all men,” he said.

Celebrating Mass in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium for 70,000 people, the pope appealed for a better understanding of the Church, one that goes beyond current controversies and the failings of its members.

On the plane carrying him from Rome, the pope told reporters he understood the feelings of German Catholics who have left the Church because of revelations about clerical sex

The Anchor www.anchornews.org

he lived for several years. Meeting with Lutheran leaders, the pope prayed for Christian unity and said ecumenism today faces threats from both secularization and Christian fundamentalism.

“God is increasingly being driven out of our society. Are we to yield to the pressure of secularization, and become modern by watering down the faith?” he said.

The pope also cautioned against viewing ecumenism as a type of negotiation. The best path to Christian unity, he said, is witnessing the Gospel courageously in a society that is often antagonistic toward the faith.

Meeting with Orthodox representatives September 24, the pope urged Christian churches in Germany to speak up jointly in defense of human life “from conOFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 55, No. 37

Member: Catholic Press Association, Catholic News Service

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, email: theanchor@anchornews.org.

Subscription price by mail, postpaid $20.00 per year, for U.S. addresses.

Send address changes to P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA, call or use email address

PUBLISHER - Most Reverend George W. Coleman EXECUTIVE EDITOR Father Roger J. Landry fatherrogerlandry@anchornews.org EDITOR David B. Jolivet davejolivet@anchornews.org OFFICE MANAGER Mary Chase marychase@anchornews.org ADVERTISING Wayne R. Powers waynepowers@anchornews.org REPORTER Kenneth J. Souza k ensouza@anchornews.org REPORTER Rebecca Aubut beckyaubut@anchornews.org Send Letters to the Editor to: fatherrogerlandry@anchornews.org

PoStmaSters send address changes to The Anchor, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722.

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

ception to natural death” and defend “marriage between one man and one woman from any kind of misinterpretation.”

In encounters with the faithful in Erfurt and Freiburg, the pope did not enter into details of the contentious issues that have divided German Catholics, such as priestly celibacy, women’s ordination and Church teaching on homosexuality. Instead, the pope preached the importance of living the Gospel and held out German saints as models of the “radical” embrace of Christ.

In Erfurt, a city in former East Germany, the pope said at a Mass that Nazism and communism had been like “acid rain” for Christianity. But he said the oppression and difficulties in those dark years actually left many Catholics with a stronger faith — stronger, perhaps, than under current freedoms.

Addressing German lay leaders in Freiburg September 24, the pope said the Church in Germany was clearly “superbly organized.” Then he asked: “But behind the structures, is there also a corresponding spiritual strength?” He suggested that small Christian communities may be the most promising path toward renewing the Church’s impact in society.

At a prayer vigil in Freiburg, the pope rode his popemobile past screaming teens who snapped photos with cell phones.

An oversized road sign proclaimed in English, “Highway to Heaven — B16.”

His talk to the youths emphasized that human efforts to make a better world were never enough, and that only faith in God cuts through the “darkness and gloom” of suffering and evil.

At a Mass on his final day in Freiburg, the pope told an estimated 100,000 people that agnostics who are troubled by the question of God are closer to the kingdom of God than “routine” Catholics whose hearts are untouched by faith.

He said the Church in Germany would make an impact in society only if everyone works together “in fidelity to their respective vocations” and in unity with their bishop and the pope.

In a meeting afterward with Catholics involved in Church institutions, lay movements and political life, the pope said the best way for the Church to influence society was to “set aside her worldliness” and stop adapting to the standards of secular society. History has shown that when it is liberated from organizational and political burdens, the Church’s “missionary witness shines more brightly,” he said.

September 30, 2011

The International Church

never mind the weather — People wait in the rain for Pope Benedict XVI to arrive to celebrate Mass at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium. (CNS photo/Fabrizio Bensch, Reuters)

In pope’s Germany, a test case for ‘new evangelization’

FREIBURG, Germany (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI’s four-day visit to Germany highlighted two closely connected challenges for the Church: how to re-evangelize traditionally Christian countries in the West, and how to regain a credible voice in modern society.

In a sense, the pope’s German homeland was a test case for the “new evangelization” project that has taken center stage in his pontificate.

As the pope pointed out repeatedly during the September 22-25 visit, modern Germany is a highly secularized country where atheism or religious indifference is widespread, where traditional moral values are eroding and where the Church’s message seems to have less and less impact.

And yet Germany has a native son as pope — still a point of pride for many Germans — and a tradition of intellectual debate. At the very least, the pope hoped for a fair hearing, and at some levels, he got one.

His address to the German parliament, in which he argued that social justice must be grounded in morality, prompted reflection and discussion in German media.

The normally critical weekly Der Spiegel called the speech thoughtprovoking and “courageous.”

It was a classic Pope Benedict speech, a philosophical exposition that ranged from the biblical account of King Solomon to the positivist world view of modernity. He showed that he can connect with the intelligentsia, and at this rarified level he gets respect.

The pope also clearly connected with the Catholic faithful who turned out by the tens of thousands for his Masses and prayer services.

Praying before a statue of Mary at a shrine in Etzelsbach or kneeling in eucharistic adoration at the Freiburg cathedral, the pope heard behind him the sound of silence — music to his ears, because it was a sign of intense participation.

His appeal to return to the Christian roots of Germany met with enthusiastic approval from what one woman called his “base” — the

Catholic families who have tried to maintain their religious traditions in the face of decades of communism and more recent years of social fragmentation.

Other audiences appeared less in sync with the pope’s message and his single-minded focus on the “return to God” theme.

To Germans who have left the Church or those who have pushed for a “dialogue” within the Church on issues like priestly celibacy and the role of women and lay people, the pope had some pointed words.

First, he said the root problem was a misunderstanding of the nature of the Church: It’s not just a social organization that people opt in or out of, but a community of believers that belongs to Jesus Christ.

He blamed internal dissatisfaction on Catholics’ superficial notions of a “dream Church” that has failed to

materialize.

In a meeting in Freiburg with officials of Germany’s central lay Catholic committee, the pope bluntly described the German Church as “superbly organized” but lacking in spirit. Rather than relying on big Church structures and programs, he said, “new evangelization” will depend more on small Catholic communities and individuals able to share their faith experiences with co-workers, family and friends.

The pope’s visit was also designed to reach a wider audience, the millions of Germans who have drifted away from the Church or religion. At the trip’s first event at Berlin’s presidential palace, Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich told Catholic News Service that he was convinced these Germans would be listening to the pope — even the skeptics, he said.

The skeptics were not at the papal venues, however. They followed the visit through the media, if at all. And their reactions were mixed.

“His speech to parliament showed he is a man with high intellect. But for most people, it is too high. The talk about needing to rediscover God — this I didn’t understand. It sounds like what he’s saying belongs to the past,” said Magda Hilmers, a Protestant from Freiburg.

Inga, a 46-year-old woman who comes from a Catholic family but said she is “not religious,” thought the pope should have spoken more about social issues, including war and economic imbalances. She said she was put off by the cost and showiness of the papal visit.

For Andres Capriles, a young Bolivian immigrant to Germany, the pope’s words were important but did not address what’s on many Catholics’ minds.

“People are not just disillusioned about God and religion, they are disillusioned about the Church and the direction the Church is moving, which seems to be away from the Second Vatican Council,” he said.

Petra Kollmar, a 57-year-old Catholic from Freiburg, said the problem with the pope’s visit was

3 “what he did not talk about — the ‘no’ to women priests, the Church’s attitude toward homosexuals and divorced people in the Church, the abuse of children that has occurred.”

Many of those interviewed said these are issues that have left the Church with less influence and credibility among Germans.

Such attitudes are not uncommon throughout Europe, and they complicate the “new evangelization” plan, making it much harder for the pope to reach his target audience of the indifferent and disaffected.

But the pope’s approach in Germany was not to make concessions.

In Freiburg, he said that rather than launch a “new strategy,” the Church needs to “set aside its worldliness” and stop adapting itself to the standards of the secular society.

Faith lived fully is always counter-cultural, he said, but history has shown it’s the only way for the Church to regain credibility for its mission.

As evident in Germany, the pope sees “new evangelization” as a long and uphill process that starts with a clearer understanding of the Church’s own nature and purpose, and not an attempt to find middle ground with critics.

September 30, 2011 The Church in the U.S. Church’s mission to serve ‘all who come our way,’ says Bishop Vann

FORT WORTH, Texas (CNS) — The Catholic Church serves “all who come our way because we are Catholic,” Bishop Kevin W. Vann of Fort Worth told participants at Catholic Charities USA’s first Poverty Summit and National Gathering.

“We repeatedly emphasize that our mission to serve all in need comes from the fact that we are Catholic,” Bishop Vann said, “and that since one of the marks of the Church is “universal,’ that applies to our call to ministry and mission here. We are who we are.”

He made the remarks in his homily at the Mass opening the recent two-day summit.

That universal group served by Catholic Charities and its partner agencies is growing.

Carol Quasula is dealing with a new kind of poverty. She’s accustomed to helping the generational poor — children of parents with no resources or money who grow up to live in poverty themselves. But the families now walking through her door at Catholic Charities in rural Cottonwood, Ariz., about 35 miles outside Flagstaff, are used to hav-

ing jobs, a paycheck and a modest lifestyle.

A rise in mortgage foreclosures stopped new home projects in the area, and the loss of construction work means more people are slipping into poverty.

“They’ve lost jobs, unemployment benefits have run out, and they come to me humbly asking for assistance,” explained Quasula told the North Texas Catholic, Fort Worth’s diocesan newspaper.

Need in the community is growing at a time when services and staff at the site’s small Catholic Charities office are at an alltime low.

“Funding for nonprofits is drying up and becoming highly competitive,” she added.

On the other side of the country, Joseph Ransom sees a different kind of poverty crisis. Finding affordable shelter for the homeless in New York City is almost impossible, he says.

“We clearly don’t have the necessary housing, and there’s no space to build any,” he said.

The executive director of the St. Raymond’s Outreach Center in the Bronx hires part-time em-

Upcoming Events

!

4

Oct. 9 - HEALING SERVICE: Month of the Rosary.

(Sun.) 3pm Presenter: Fr. Joe McDermott, Pastor of

Immaculate Conception Church, Stoughton. There

will be healing prayer. Mass will be celebrated.

Oct. 15 - A DAY OF RECOLLECTION: “Come to Me, all you (Sat.) 10am-3pm who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Matt 11:28-30. Presenter: Barbara Wright, OCDS Oct. 29 - A TIME OF HEALING: “Come to experience (Sat.) 10am-1:30pm the healing love of Jesus freeing us to discern,

hear and recognize the Lord’s voice amid daily

distractions.” Presenter: Dr. Hugh Boyle Jr., ED.D.,

Christian Psychologist.

Nov. 5 - (Sat.) 10am-1:30pm

A TIME FOR HEALING: Presenter: Dr. Joseph Coyle, Ph.D. Christian Psychologist. Dr. Coyle is a licensed Psychologist with his own offices in Norwell and Waltham. He will be sharing with us how to deal with depression and axiety.

Nov. 19 - (Sat.) 10am-3pm

A TIME FOR HEALING: “Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.” Month of “ALL SOULS.” Presenter: Fr. Mike MacNamara. The day will start at 10 a.m. with Mass for Generational Healing.

There will be special prayers for those with addictions. There will be additional talks, healing service and adoration.

BRING A LUNCH TEA AND COFFEE WILL BE SERVED

For required registration for each event and for further information please call 1-508-947-4704

ployees who live in the local shelter with their children. Limited funds prevent him from having a large, full-time staff.

“They’re poor. The money I pay helps sustain them,” explained Ransom, who believes government bureaucracy often works against homelessness. “At the same time, these are the people who are serving the other poor.”

Both social service advocates were among the 600 participants attending the inaugural Poverty Summit held September 18-19 in Fort Worth.

Hosted by Catholic Charities USA in conjunction with nine nonprofit partners, the groundbreaking event brought together people from around the country with the intention of forming initiatives to reduce poverty in America and protect federal funding of programs that assist the poor.

The Poverty Summit served as the first two days of Catholic Charities annual gathering, which continued with programming and workshops September 20 and 21.

In opening remarks, Father Larry Snyder, president of Catho-

lic Charities USA, reminded summit participants that they are the voice of single mothers, homeless veterans and the others who have been pushed to the corners of society.

There are currently 46 million Americans living in poverty, and one of every five children deals with food insecurity. Poverty also is linked to diabetes, heart disease and failing grades in school.

“Let us bring our collective creativity, compassion, and energy to search together for solutions that will improve the lives of so many, while creating a more compassionate and just society,” he asked. “If we can do that, our first annual Poverty Summit will be a success.”

Last year, Catholic Charities USA served more than 10 million people in the areas of nutrition, health care, housing, disaster relief, and others. Feeding America and Save the Children — two of the Poverty Summit’s organizing partners — also have done their share, Father Snyder pointed out.

More than 27 million Americans benefited from Feeding

America’s food bank network and Save the Children provided highquality early childhood development, literacy and physical activity programs to 21,000 youngsters from underserved, rural communities across the country.

Other nonprofit sponsors included the American Campaign for Human Development, Bread for the World, the Corporation for Enterprise Development, the Coalition on Human Needs, the National Alliance to End Homelessness, and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

“We live in the richest country in the world, even with our deficit challenges, and yet the vast majority of the country is content to go to bed at night without thought for the one out of every six Americans who are struggling simply to get by,” said Father Snyder.

“That has to change. And it’s up to us to change it.”

The following day, experts who work on the front lines of homelessness, hunger, and economic opportunity, engaged in a vigorous discussion on how to reduce poverty in America.

PHOENIX (CNS) — Plans are under way in the Diocese of Phoenix to implement new local norms for the distribution of holy Communion.

As a result, the wine that becomes Jesus’ Blood at consecration will not be offered at every Sunday Mass, but instead will be reserved for special occasions, left to the determination of each parish pastor.

The change will bring local Catholic celebration of the Eucharist into union with the practice of the faithful around the world, according to diocesan officials, who said receiving Communion under both kinds is uncommon in most countries.

“What many people don’t realize is that we’ve had experimental privileges,” said Father Kieran Kleczewski, executive director of the Phoenix diocesan Office of Worship. “We’re now under the same norms as the Church in the rest of the world.”

For Catholics in the United States, it will seem like a restriction, he said, but it’s an expansion for the rest of the world.

Communion under both kinds should be offered on the occasions in which both kinds further the sign of unity or are clearly a fuller expression of Christ’s presence, Father Kleczewski said. The Church teaches that Christ — Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity — is present fully in the bread form. He is also fully present in the wine form.

“It’s offered to a bride and groom at their wedding. Why? Because it’s

a beautiful sign of Christian unity in the Sacrament of Marriage,” he said.

“That’s why you would offer them the chalice as well as the host.”

The same goes for offering both kinds on retreat, in order to recognize a great unity among participants.

“If the majority of people receiving Communion do not receive from the chalice, then you shouldn’t be offering the chalice,” Father Kleczewski said.

In his church, St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Avondale, the first four or five pews receive from the chalice. But few others do.

“That’s destroying the sign of unity that this is supposed to be,” Father Kleczewski said.

After the Second Vatican Council called for more occasions when the cup could be offered to the laity — which had not been the practice for hundreds of years — the U.S., the United Kingdom and Oceania received experimental permission to offer the cup to the faithful.

The 1975 missal — the one currently used — allows for 14 times when the cup can be offered to the laity. In poor countries, Father Kleczewski said, churches don’t have the resources to offer the chalice to the laity every time they celebrate Mass.

“The universal Church is what is considered in making universal norms,” he said.

So the experiment didn’t work?

“Yes, it did,” Father Kleczewski said. The experiment will lead to broader use of both kinds of Com-

munion throughout the world with the new Roman Missal. Pope John Paul II promulgated the new Roman Missal in 2000, and — now translated — it is to go into use in the United States this November.

“If you read those early documents from the council, it was never envisioned that every time we have Mass the chalice would be offered to the lay faithful,” Father Kleczewski said.

The new norms give the local bishop latitude in application. In the Diocese of Phoenix, the norms provide for the distribution of Communion under both kinds for special feast days and other important occasions — like the chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, the feast of Corpus Christi, retreats, spiritual gatherings and weddings.

The 2011 norms, which Father Kleczewski said he received in June, incorporated: — The new English translation of the Roman Missal.

— The new norms for the Church in the United States.

— Church teachings on Communion under both kinds published since 2002.

— Responses from the Holy See to inquiries from the U.S. bishops.

No date has been set for implementation of the new norms. Some priests, like Father John Ehrich at St. Thomas the Apostle in Phoenix, made the change years ago. Father Kleczewski discontinued the use of the cup at daily Mass earlier this year.

Phoenix Diocese to adopt new norms for distribution of Precious Blood

5 The Church in the U.S. Tribunal studies healing attributed to intercession of Archbishop Sheen September 30, 2011

PEORIA, Ill. (CNS) — That James Fulton Engstrom celebrated his first birthday September 16 is amazing. In fact, some would call his life a miracle.

Considered stillborn one year ago after his mother’s healthy pregnancy and “a beautiful, short labor,” James was without a pulse for the first 61 minutes of his life. It was only when doctors at OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria were ready to call the time of death that his little heart started beating.

His parents, Travis and Bonnie Engstrom, believe James is alive because of the intercession of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, a candidate for sainthood.

On September 7, a tribunal of inquiry was sworn in to investigate the tot’s alleged miraculous healing. Joining James and his family at the ceremony in Peoria were Bishop Daniel R. Jenky; Andrea Ambrosi, postulator for the cause; and members of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation board, some of whom are relatives of the late archbishop.

Peoria is the late archbishop’s home diocese. His cause was officially opened in 2002. The Sheen Foundation centralized its operations in the diocese in 2007.

In addition to Bishop Jenky and Ambrosi, others sworn in included Msgr. Jason Gray, a pastor and judicial vicar of the diocesan marriage tribunal, who as episcopal delegate to the Sheen tribunal is responsible for guiding the process; and Dr. Louis Varela, a Houston family physician, who chairs the Sheen Foundation board and is the Sheen tribunal’s medical expert.

The tribunal’s work takes place in secret, so there is much

miracle baby — James Fulton Engstrom is seen with his father, Travis of Goodfield, Ill. A tribunal of inquiry will investigate the alleged miraculous healing of the boy, who had no pulse for 61 minutes following his birth Sept. 16, 2010. His parents credit the intercession of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.

(CNS photo/Jennifer Willems, The Catholic Post)

that Msgr. Gray cannot say. But since the Engstroms have shared their story widely, he said the general details could be made public.

Msgr. Gray noted that the tribunal’s task is to investigate the alleged miraculous healing and determine whether it can be proved through medical documents and the testimony of witnesses.

“We call them to testify to different things,” he said, including the seriousness of the medical condition. “We call them to testify about the fact that prayers were addressed to Fulton Sheen asking for his intercession. And then we need witnesses to testify to the end result, meaning that the crisis situation was cured, that health was restored.”

Not only will the tribunal confer with the doctors and nurses involved in the case, but also with two outside doctors who can report on the child’s current state

of health.

“That way we can see that this isn’t something that has resurfaced,” Msgr. Gray told The Catholic Post, Peoria’s diocesan newspaper. “In other words, it’s a lasting healing.”

He said the number of witnesses is small, so testimony should be collected relatively quickly.

Some time will be needed, however, for the two outside doctors to make their examinations, write reports and then explain the contents to the tribunal.

“My guess, though, is we’re talking about months, not years,” Msgr. Gray said. However, the results gathered by the Peoria investigation will go to the Vatican Congregation for Saint’s Causes, he explained, and “then they open another phase of this tribunal.”

Only after that investigation is done will recommendations be sent to the pope, who will decide

the matter, Msgr. Gray said.

Archbishop Sheen is a native of El Paso, “down the road” from Germantown Hills where Bonnie Engstrom grew up. “I always heard people say he was going to be a saint,” she told The Catholic Post.

She learned more about the media evangelist as a student at the Salve Regina Newman Center at Eureka College, where Msgr. Stanley Deptula was chaplain. He is now executive director of the Sheen Foundation.

She learned even more last year in writing the proposal for a grant from a diocesan Fulton Sheen endowment for an annual women’s conference.

Six or seven months pregnant at the time, Bonnie said she started to pray that this “hometown hero” would pull some strings for the conference and also watch over her pregnancy. The Engstroms decided Fulton would be a good middle name if their baby

was a boy.

When their son was born in crisis at home a year ago, because it was an emergency situation, Travis baptized him James Fulton before the ambulance came.

“I have a memory of watching the midwife perform CPR and praying to Sheen,” Bonnie said.

Later in the day she asked people through her blog, learningtobeanewlywed. blogspot.com, to pray for Sheen’s intercession.

While doctors had warned that he might be blind and unable to function normally, James is medication free and almost walking. “He laughs and plays with his toys and does things just like he should be doing and has for awhile,” Bonnie said.

“I believe it was Sheen’s intercession that played a key role in it, but it was Jesus who healed my son,” she said. “It was for His greater honor and glory.”

6

The Anchor

A Commonwealth of Kevorkians or Good Samaritans?

On September 7, Attorney General Martha Coakley certified an initiative petition aimed at legalizing physician-assisted suicide in our state. Dubbed by euthanasia supporters the “Massachusetts Death With Dignity Act,” it must now obtain 68,911 signatures by December 7 to bring it before the members of the state legislature, who will then be able to back the proposal as legislation, offer alternative legislation or permit the petition to be decided at the ballot box in November 2012 if supporters are able to garner an additional 11,485 signatures.

The initiative petition is another attempt by which physician-assisted suicide proponents are trying to bring medically-facilitated euthanasia to the Commonwealth. Legislation was unsuccessfully proposed on Beacon Hill in 1995, 1997, 2009 and earlier this year. With the baby boom generation now becoming seniors, with the ubiquitous concern about the rationing of health care, with an increase in the number of those with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, and with many fearing being kept alive in intolerable means, past life’s natural limits by burdensome medical technology, assisted suicide proponents and their wealthy supporters are trying to get Massachusetts to become the third state after Oregon to permit doctors to prescribe lethal drugs to patients.

Back in 1995 and 1997 when the first bills to legalize euthanasia were introduced here, the Massachusetts bishops responded with a vigorous “In Support of Life” educational campaign that mobilized citizens, Catholic and non-Catholic, to recognize the false compassion of “mercy killing” and rise up to defeat the attempts to make it legal. Eliminating a person in order to eliminate the person’s suffering, citizens grasped, is not an act of compassion. Rather, helping someone to commit suicide, rather than treating the psychological issues that lead someone to contemplate ending one’s life, is a perversion of mercy. True compassion, the “In Support of Life” campaign stressed, means “suffering with” another person, maintaining solidarity with them — not putting lethal drugs in the hands of those suffering and leaving them to act on their suicidal impulses.

Catholics citizens and institutions throughout Massachusetts are almost certainly going to have to play another major role if this new, aggressive and well-financed attempt to legalize selfinflicted death in our state is going to be defeated. Catholics should begin to prepare for the battle by studying the superb June 2011 statement of the U.S. bishops entitled “To Live Each Day with Dignity” (http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/assisted-suicide/ to-live-each-day). They should also avail themselves of the resources available through the Massachusetts Catholic Conference (www.macathconf.org/EOLresources.htm).

The most prominent Catholic teacher in Massachusetts, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, got the educational campaign off to a powerful start by prophetically sounding the alarm to Catholic attorneys, judges and legal personnel at the September 18 Red Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston. He summoned them to use all their talents “with courage and resolve” to defeat efforts to allow doctors to pervert the medical profession in order to kill rather than to save. The initiative petition, he underlined, is an “attempt to undermine the sacredness of human life that demands an energetic response from Catholics and other citizens of good will.”

He acknowledged the fears that many have today of a “protracted period of decline at the end of life,” in which they may experience pain, loss of control, dementia, abandonment, and becoming a burden on others. But then he declared, “We as a society will be judged by how we respond to these fears.” The way to respond to the fear is not to allow those with the fears to kill themselves, but to respond to them with greater attention, love and care. “Suicide is a tragedy, one that a compassionate society should work to prevent,” he stressed. Allowing doctors to help patients kill themselves, he underlined, is a “corruption of the medical profession,” a clear violation of the Hippocratic oath by which doctors promise, “I will not give a lethal drug to anyone even if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan.”

Physician-assisted suicide, the cardinal continued, sends a chilling message about the values of those societies who support or allow it, and these values will not be satisfied merely by facilitating the premature deaths of those who request it. “By rescinding the legal protection for the lives of a category of people, the government sends a message that some persons are better off dead. This biased judgment about the diminished value of life for someone with a serious illness or disability is fueled by the excessively high premium our culture places on productivity and autonomy which tends to discount the lives of those who have a disability or who are suffering or dependent on others. If these people claim they want to die, others might be tempted to regard this not as a call for help, but as a reasonable response to what they agree is a meaningless life.

Those who choose to live may then be viewed as selfish or irrational, as a needless burden on others, and might even be encouraged to see themselves in that way.” He referenced the conclusion of the National Council on Disability, which said that “the experience in the Netherlands demonstrates there is little doubt that legalizing assisted suicide generates strong pressures upon individuals and families to utilize the option, and leads very quickly to coercion and involuntary euthanasia.”

The “collateral damage” of the assisted suicide agenda, Cardinal O’Malley accentuated, is that “legalizing assisted suicide leads to more suicides,” something that has been demonstrated unmistakably in Oregon. “A decade after Oregon’s law allowing physician-assisted suicide took effect, suicide had become the leading cause of ‘injury death’ in Oregon and the second leading cause of death among those between 15 and 34 years of age. The suicide rate in Oregon was in decline until legalizing physician-assisted suicide. The suicide rate has been rising since 2000 and by 2007 was already 35 percent higher than the national average — without counting physician-assisted suicides of seriously ill patients which Oregon law does not allow to be counted as suicides and without counting 1,000 failed attempted suicides each year.”

The data and experience from Oregon demonstrate that legalizing physician-assisted suicide promotes suicide in general. “We hope that the citizens of the Commonwealth will not be seduced by the language,” Cardinal O’Malley stressed. “Dignity, mercy and compassion are [being] used to disguise the sheer brutality of helping some kill themselves. A vote for physician-assisted suicide is a vote for suicide.” It is also, as the experience in the Netherlands shows us, the first step in making possible and “justifiable” the murder of those whose lives medical personnel, insurance companies, impatient family members and others may no longer deem valuable. “God’s approach is expensive,” Cardinal O’Malley added with a touch of realistic humor in the midst of a somber topic, “and the insurance companies would not be in favor.”

In response to a culture aggressively pushing death, Catholics must be resolute in defending the dignity of life and in protecting those at the end of life. “In the eyes of the world,” Cardinal O’Malley stated, “those who are in the last stages of life are somehow diminished in their humanity and should be eliminated. We must see them through God’s eyes and recognize that each and every person is created in His image and likeness and that we are all connected to God and to each other. We are our brother’s keeper and our sister’s helper. Cain, who forgot he was his brother’s keeper, ended up becoming his executioner. ‘Thou shall not kill’ is God’s law and it is written in our hearts by our Creator.”

This initiative petition is a time in which all citizens of the Commonwealth have the chance to choose the path of Cain and Kevorkian or the path of the Good Samaritan. It’s the path of the executioner or of the truly compassionate care-giver, the life-affirming hospice nurse, the 24hour operator at suicide prevention hotlines, and the heroic firefighter or policeman who climbs bridges, risking his life to save those who are contemplating ending their own. The path of the true brother’s keeper will also be shown in the educational work of those who begin anew to educate others about the dignity of every human life and persuade legislators and fellow citizens to rise up to defeat soundly this evil initiative. It’s a matter of life or death.

O

September 30, 2011

Sacred signs

ur Catholic faith is full of differ- derstanding of the Eucharist, said that ent gestures, symbols and signs, she “now thought of it as a symbol and implied that it was a pretty good one,” all of which communicate something O’Connor uttered her often quoted faabout what we believe and hold to be mous comment, “If it’s only a symbol, true. For example, when we genuflect to hell with it.” before the tabernacle, we express our It is a rather blunt and perhaps belief that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist. We have statues in our crude response for a dinner party, but churches that remind us of the saints — it certainly gets the point across: if the Sacrament is merely a symbol and not the men and women of great faith who really an instrument of God’s grace, provide for us an example of how we then it really isn’t necessary at all. But are to live our lives. the Sacraments are not just symbols, Often Catholics are criticized for these external signs and symbols of our they really do give us access to God’s grace; so they are necessary, as Christ faith, but when we really understand Himself intended them to be. what they are and also of what they are This last point is crucial. Our Lord not, we see how much sense they make.

Jesus Christ is the One who instituted The different symbols and signs of our and gave the Sacraments to the Church. faith teach us, remind us and help us to focus on what we believe. For example, The seven Sacraments (Baptism, Reconciliation, Eucharist, Confirmation, we don’t worship a statue made of marble, but we kneel down in front of a Holy Orders, Marriage, and Anointing of the Sick) are not ceremonial innovastatue of one of the saints and pray for tions of the their intercesChurch, but sion. sacred actions There are given to the also other Putting Into Church by things that we the Deep our Lord. do as CathoThe lics that are Sacraments often considBy Father of the Cathoered symbolic Jay Mello lic Church or ceremonial, continue the such as a Bappower and love of Christ that first “went tism or a wedding. These are, in fact, much more than mere signs or symbols; out” from Him. The Sacraments are, as it were, powers that come from His Body they are Sacraments, which are signs and means of intimate communion with (the Church) to heal the wounds of sin, and to restore the image of Christ within us.

God. This reality and theological underToday I begin a new series in this standing finds its scriptural basis in the column on the seven Sacraments of the Church. Before getting into the particu- Gospel passage where our Lord encounlar Sacraments themselves, I would like ters the woman who had been hemorto begin first with a general explanation rhaging for many years. In great faith, she reaches out to touch the garment of of what a Sacrament is. our Lord, believing that just touching The “Catechism of the Catholic the tassel of His cloak could heal her.

Church” defines a Sacrament as an, When she grabs the garment our Lord “Efficacious sign of grace, instituted turns and asks, “Who touched my garby Christ and entrusted to the Church, ments?” recognizing that power “had by which divine life is dispensed to us gone forth from Him” (Mk 5:25-34). through the work of the Holy Spirit.”

This dramatic scene from the Gospel Our Lord Himself gave the Church the Sacraments as a means of receiving His is depicted in the catacombs of SS. Marcellinus and Peter that date back grace in the different circumstances of to the early fourth century. The image our lives. is the one that “The Catechism of the A “Sacrament,” which means a “saCatholic Church” uses to begin its seccred sign,” is more than just a symbol tion on the Sacraments, because in this or a sign. Signs and symbols point to image we find the very nature of a Sacsomething, whereas a Sacrament acturament — the power that comes from ally makes present the reality that it Christ to bring healing and strength to points to. Allow me to use the classical the lives of those who believe in Him. example of a street sign: Those large Important to notice with this image is green signs along the highway point that it is not the physical body of Christ, to different locations. A sign may say, but the outer layer (His cloak) that con“Braga Bridge,” but the sign isn’t the bridge, it just points you in the direction veys something mysterious of the inner of the bridge. A Sacrament, on the other meaning of the life of Christ. This image symbolizes the divine and saving power hand, isn’t just a sign. The Sacrament of Baptism is not a sign of original sin’s of the Son of God who heals the whole person, body and soul, through the being washed away; it actually does it. sacramental life. The Sacraments of the One of my favorite stories on this subject comes from Flannery O’Connor, Church continue the works that Christ had performed during His earthly life.

(1925-1964) who was an important They are the “powers that go forth” from southern author who allowed her the Body of Christ to heal the wounds of Roman Catholicism to influence her sin and to give us the new life of Christ. writing. In a letter to a friend she very In the following weeks, I will reflect pointedly explains that the Sacrament upon different elements of each of the of the Eucharist is not a mere symbol. seven Sacraments with the hope of In the letter, dated 1955, she tells of providing a deeper awareness of these a dinner party to which she had been invited with her Protestant friend, Mary sacred signs of our Catholic faith.

Father Mello is a parochial vicar at McCarthy. She says that McCarthy, St. Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth. after explaining her childish misun-

September 30, 2011

I

n preparing for the new translation of the Roman Missal, we will necessarily focus on the words themselves.

However, our preparation for the new versions of the prayers would not be complete unless we consider how we are to prayerfully listen.

Surely in our own human relationships, we all know that listening is not always the same as hearing, and that not listening well has consequences — ask any parent if you need proof of this point. In the Liturgy, a key element in our active participation is the capacity not simply to hear, but to truly listen to all that is to be heard, whether spoken, sung, or made by sounds of musical instruments, bells, etc. Though many parishes have hymnals or missalettes that contain written versions of most, if not almost every word of prayer, such written resources can not claim to convey the full value of the sung or spoken sound meant

H

istory is a problem because history is vast and various. Though the tangible nature of the “history book” and its gleaming white pages suggest the opposite, history is riddled with black holes that defy knowledge and elude understanding. We must ignore this obvious fact or else how could we go on? How could we convince ourselves that we know anything at all? So, we have a tendency to group information and figures into the simplest terms, the most convenient definitions. We equally have a tendency to forget that these are approximations and not “realities,” and that social “remembering” is parasitically dependent upon forgetting.

Further, we have a tendency to believe that might makes right. Protestantism must have been popular in England because Protestantism won, right? Yet, a closer examination of “Protestant England” reveals a divided England, split between a public Protestant self dictated by the state, and a private, Catholic faith that believed it would one day see a restoration. A secret Catholic England, expressing itself culturally in drama, literature, art, and even architecture.

In 1935, Herbert Butterfield identified something he called “Whig History.” Whig History, named for the party in England that supported the gentry and the Church of England, presents history as an inevitable, linear progression toward greater enlight-

7

The Anchor

Praying requires listening well

At the very beginning of to be heard by listening. How Mass, the Sign of the Cross important is it that we listen (both in words and as a geswell? How can good listening ture) initiate the Mass as an lead us to a deeper encounter act of prayer offered unto God with God? One of the most useful ways Himself. The greeting of the people by the priest is meant to consider listening at Mass directly for the people, who, is to consider the Mass itself as a dialogue. In this dialogue, those who are speaking include God himself (especially in the Gospel), the priest, other ministers, and the people in the

By Father congregation. We can Joel Hastings even identify how each individual recipient of holy Communion contributes having listened to the words words. The spoken words may of greeting, give the fitting be directed toward God, to one particular person, to a particular response to the priest (this very set of people, etc. As our words dialogue will be covered in are meant to communicate with some detail in a later article).

The greeting is followed by the others, it is essential that the intended audience of the words invitation to “acknowledge our sins” so that we are ready to is not only able to hear them, celebrate the sacred mysteries but is ready to take in their full meaning by listening well. Here of the Eucharistic sacrifice. The tone of these words, meant as is an example:

Praying the Mass Anew

they are for the whole congregation (including the ordained minister/s), serves more as a directive to act than as a prayer in itself. Conscious listening to these words will affect whether or not each person acts accordingly — by silently calling to mind any sins that they may have recently committed. The prayer that follows (“The Confiteor” [“I confess to almighty God…”], or the invocations followed by the words “Lord, have mercy”) are spoken unto God Himself, mindful of how each individual says the words, as members of the One Body, the Church, in public worship. Through our proper listening to all of the words that lead to this moment of prayer, we are made ready to pray the words with their proper intention. When there is a failure to listen, the intent of the words risk being lost all together, or being less than

The black holes of history

enment and human liberty. Thus, ship from the churches; but the traditionally, the Reformation Protestant Reformation did not has been presented as an inevigenerate widespread attachment table progression toward greater to Protestant doctrines.” There human advancement as we grew were, of course, people of the away from our superstitious past. opposite extremes. Clergy and This conceit in “Whig History” faithful who rejected any hint of has prevented us from underthe old as “popish,” and, consestanding the context in which Shakespeare lived and wrote.

The word “remember” is exactly what it claims to be — when we remember, we

By Jennifer Pierce “re-member” forgotten people into our collective memory. Looking at English history we discover quently, of the devil. Now, howsilenced voices, rendered mute ever, we learn a more complete through state censorship and, picture: “The Tudor Reformasometimes, the gallows. Examtions had not replaced a Catholic ining diaries, wills, the writing England by a Protestant England: of exiled Englishmen, and legal the country was divided, and the registers, we discover that there Protestants were insecure.” are many English people whom Here we have not only a Whig history simply asked us to more restorative history but an forget but whom, thankfully, we infinitely more interesting one— are now asked to remember. a country with two faces, a pubThanks to the work of consci- lic, new face, and a mourning, entious historians we can now wailing, ghostly one. Sometimes restore pieces that have been those black holes in history missing, a world in which what mentioned above are literal. historian Christopher Haigh calls Priest-holes are an emblem of “altar, Mass, rood, images, prothe period, remaining today as a cessions, singing, bells,” meant fixed part of England’s historic much to many, and were at least architecture, an architecture an habitual part of the everyday one can read like rune stones lives of everyone. When these cast upon a floor, mapping a things were stripped away, the concealed history. England’s English people suffered, mostly, 16th century architects built but not completely, in silence. As structures that expressed and Haigh further writes, “The politi- served the divided identity of cal Reformations had succeeded the populace. St. Nicholas Owen in driving Catholic public worwas the mastermind of the

Hidden Shakespeare

period, building a network of concealed “priest-holes,” where community priests hid, waiting to perform Sacraments in secret.

(Some even died of asphyxiation and starvation during periods of intense scrutiny.) He also built passageways to secret rooms for Mass, doubled staircases, and constructed clandestine holding places for relics, roods, and the accoutrement of the Catholic Mass.

False walls, hollowed out fireplaces, and holes under floorboards were commonplace and have since been discovered peppering structures in the English countryside as a sprawling monument of darkness and absence.

St. Nicholas, a lay brother of the Jesuit order, worked in the dead of night, building his catacombs, until eventually he was caught.

what their full value invites.

Hence, it is by way of listening that we are able to actively participate in this prayer (and any prayer or response at Mass) to their fullest degree. Listening well can (and does) lead us to encounter God more fully and consciously in the Mass.

As we continue to prepare for praying the Mass anew with the new translation, we can already begin and continue to practice listening, properly focusing our attention on every spoken word in listening and in responding to each word in the most fitting manner. By our ability to listen well, our participation in the Mass, especially through the new prayers, can be raised to a higher level, opening ourselves to a deeper, more meaningful encounter with Jesus Christ.

Father Hastings is Director of the Office of Liturgy and Worship of the Diocese of Duluth and pastor of St. Rose Parish in Proctor, Minn.

Or, rather, surrendered. Owen offered his life to distract attention from priests, nearby, hiding in some of the holes he had built with his own hands. We know little of his life, only scraps of evidence survive. The rest was quieted forever on the Southern bank of the Thames, where he was murdered by the state for his efforts.

It was into this world of executions, doublings, hiding, dissembling, interior division, and secrecy that our Shakespeare was born. Knowing what was swirling around him, we start to understand one of the Bard’s most famous lines in a different light: “And the rest is all silence.”

Jennifer Pierce is a parishioner of Corpus Christi in East Sandwich, where she lives with her husband Jim and three children.

8

September 30, 2011

The Anchor

V

ineyards and grapes galore. Hedges and wine presses here and there. Our readings make us feel we’re in a commercial for California wines. Our responsorial psalm gives us images of vines and fruit and a sense of wine-tasting events typical of our New England autumns. But these feelings and images vanish with a closer look at what the prophet Isaiah and evangelist Matthew say to us.

We find threats of violence, beatings and murder, stonings and wretched deaths.

Bloodshed is everywhere. In no uncertain terms, Isaiah tells us of an angry God punishing those who trash God’s carefully tended vineyard leaving not splendid grapes, but wild grapes: the worst grapes not suitable for making fine wine.

That is all of us when we — like many of the people of Isaiah’s time — refuse to act justly and ignore the cries of the poor. We become the worst grapes when we are unjust and seek prestige and wealth at the

Love: The true cornerstone

expense of the needy who we know God to be: loving and put in a wine press and squeeze forgiving. out of existence leaving just They clash with what we their empty skins behind. The hear in the letter of St. Paul result, according to Isaiah, is to the Philippians where we God abandons the vineyard. are reminded about the peace God “makes it a ruin.” of God. Thinking of an Oreo Matthew builds upon this cookie, we find the white image of God being the vineyard owner by having the owner’s Homily of the Week tenants (chief priests and elders) repeatedly Twenty-seventh Sunday hurt or kill the owner’s in Ordinary Time servants (poor and

By Deacon needy) and eventuDavid Pierce ally kill the owner’s son (Jesus). Matthew says God provides a wretched death for those unjust frosting’s sweet taste of peace tenants who think of nothing described by Paul sandwiched else but power, prestige, and between the harder and darker wealth. sides of Isaiah and Matthew.

Although we can underTo remove the darker sides and stand why God might act with expose the light interior, Jesus anger and vengeance — belends a hand, and God’s peace cause most of us would react is with us. the same way — these images Paul tells us that the peace of death and ruination are actuof God will guard our hearts ally our attitudes and human and minds in Christ Jesus. behaviors we attribute to God. To get and keep this peace, They run counter to what we however, Paul insists we are

to keep thinking about what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, gracious, and praiseworthy. When we do so, God is with us.

Imagine God with us at the top of a vineyard watchtower.

God turns to us, God’s tenants, and asks simple questions: “Have you welcomed my servants — the poor and the hungry?

Have you given them justice? Have you defended the rights of the poor? Are you the worst, wild grapes, or are you my cherished grapes?”

Being at the top of a tower with God asking the questions leaves us very little wiggle room. So, we reply truthfully, “Too often we have been unwelcoming, unjust, and the worst.”

Instead of God’s response being rage and abandonment leaving us to be overgrown with thorns and briers as a ruined vineyard, we receive love, encouragement, and the

God-given words of Paul and our Church that never stops teaching us: “Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Never stop trying; you are Christ’s branches.”

And Christ is the choicest vine. But he’s more than that.

At the base of the watchtower we find the cornerstone — Jesus, supporting the structure with all of us as branches yielding good fruit on His vine.

At every Mass wine becomes the Blood of Christ. In a strange but very compelling way, we, too, become the good grapes from God’s fertile vineyard that produce the fine wine coursing through the veins (vines) of the Body of Christ.

Our pulse should have a simple repeating, heartfelt beat: jus... tice, jus...tice, jus...tice. To be just is to love, and love is the true cornerstone.

Deacon David Pierce serves at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Pocasset and St. Elizabeth Seton in North Falmouth.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Oct. 1, Bar 4:5-12,27-29; Ps 69:33-37; Lk 10:17-24. Sun. Oct. 2, Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Is 5:1-7; Ps 80:9,1216,19-20; Phil 4:6-9; Mt 21:33-43. Mon. Oct. 3, Jon 1:1-2:2,11; (Ps) Jon 2:2-5,8; Lk 10:25-37. Tues. Oct. 4, Jon 3:1-10; Ps 130:1-4,7-8; Lk 10:38-42. Wed. Oct. 5, Jon 4:1-11; Ps 86:3-6,9-10; Lk 11:1-4. Thu. Oct. 6, Mal 3:13-20b; Ps 1:1-4,6; Lk 11:5-13. Fri. Oct. 7, Jl 1:13-15;2:1-2; Ps 9:2-3,6,8-9,16; Lk 11:15-26.

I

n the flood of commentary surrounding the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I found but one reference to a related anniversary of considerable importance: the fifth anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s Regensburg Lecture. That lecture, given the day after the fifth anniversary of 9/11 at the pope’s old university in Germany, identified the two key challenges to 21st-century Islam, if that faith of over a billion people is going to live within today’s world in something other than a condition of war. On the fifth anniversary of Regensburg, therefore, it’s worth reviewing what the pope proposed, not least because the 9/11 anniversary commentary assiduously avoided the question that the Holy Father

9/11, Benedict XVI and Regensburg

was when Catholicism concourageously confronted: the fronted political modernity and question of what-must-change in Islam in the future, to prevent found a solution in the Second an ongoing global war of Islam-against-therest.

Benedict XVI made two proposals at Regensburg.

Islam, he suggested,

By George Weigel must find a way to affirm religious freedom as a fundamental human right that can be known by reason and that in- Vatican Council’s Declaration cludes the right to change one’s on Religious Freedom. The solution has to come from within, religion — and it must find in what Christian theology this “way” from within its own would call a “development of religious, legal, philosophical doctrine.” and theological resources. The Secondly, Islam must find a question is not one of surrender to certain secularist conceptions way — again, from within its own religious and intellectual of public life, any more than it resources—to affirm a distinction between religious and political authority in a just state.

This need not and indeed cannot mean a radical “wall of separation” between the two, based on some (mis)conceptions of the American constitutional order.

It might mean something like what the Catholic Church did during the late 20th century, when Catholic scholars reached back into the fifth century and rediscovered a traditional distinction between priestly and imperial authority: a tradition

Be sure to visit the Diocese of Fall River website at fallriverdiocese.org The site includes links to parishes, diocese offices and national sites.

The Catholic Difference

whose deepest roots go back to the Lord’s own distinction between what is owed to Caesar and what is owed to God (Mt 15:21).

Despite their being largely ignored during the 9/11 anniversary, these do seem to be the two key issues.

An Islam that affirms religious freedom, including conversion from one faith to another, and that buttresses that affirmation through its own religious self-understanding and the arts of reason, is an Islam with which “the rest” can live at ease, and in enriching ways.

An Islam in which religious and political authority are distinct, if related, is an Islam in which a genuinely civil society can begin to take root—and a robust civil society is one barrier against the corrupt authoritarianism that has bedeviled Islamic countries for centuries.

A robust civil society in which there is room for religious freedom and multiple political perspectives is also essential to realizing the promise of today’s “Arab Spring” — which could give birth to a hot summer and a bitter winter if its chief accomplishment is to effect a change from secular political authori-

tarianism to religiously-warranted political authoritarianism.

What hit the United States on 9/11 was not a “tragedy,” despite the ubiquitous and virtually universal misuse of that word in the 10th-anniversary commentary. What hit New York and Washington was evil unleashed from within an intraIslamic civil war that had been going on for decades. And at the center of that civil war is a contest over whether Islam can embrace such modern political ideas as inalienable human rights (that can be known by reason, and thus by everyone) and the separation of powers within governments.

If the answer to that question is “no,” then the cycle of war between Islam and “the rest” that has ebbed and flowed since the seventh-century will continue. If the answer is “yes,” then that answer will have to come from within Islam, not by a process in which Islamic societies radically secularize.

Pope Benedict XVI was insightful enough, and courageous enough, to say this at Regensburg. It’s about time the world paid attention.

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

September 30, 2011

Eat dirt and live

29 September 2011 — Three For me, dear readers, one Mile River — Michaelmas of the high points of the could never live always now-passing summer is eatin one season. I require ing vine-ripened tomatoes four. God loves variety and fresh from the garden. It’s so do I. Sure, winters in New England can be cold and snowy; sure summers can be Reflections of a hot and humid; but what could be finer Parish Priest than a New England

By Father Tim autumn?

Goldrick I try to keep my mind and heart attuned to the seasons.

It gives a sense of peace and a simple pleasure. I haven’t stability to my life. It’s how grown tomatoes since I was human beings have always in high school (just after kept themselves grounded. the Civil War, by some acThe cycle of the seasons is counts) but rather depended programmed into our genes, on parishioners to share not to mention our Liturgy their tomatoes with me. This and prayer-life. year, I put in three plants of

I

The Ship’s Log

W

9

The Anchor my own — each a different variety. Undeterred by the hard-packed soil in my yard, I planted my tomatoes by the back door in raised beds filled with a professional container mix. The plants grew verdant and enormous. People marveled. The secret is the soil. Plants, like people, grow only when they are properly nourished.

They tell me tomatoes aren’t vegetables at all, but rather fruit. I also understand that when tomatoes were first introduced to Europe, and for approximately the next 400 years, people believed tomatoes were poisonous. I now know why folks came to that conclu-

It’s rather simple, really

This is the atmosphere that hile the majority blankets our contemporary of Massachusetts’ culture, being reflected in movcitizens have chosen to allow ies, music, the Internet, and same-sex couples to attempt the lives of prominent people. marriage, more than half of the Children simply have few other states have passed constituvisible models, and the educational amendments that define tional system has done its share the bond as being between one of censoring any messages that man and one woman. And yet, compete with: your life is your the definition is only part of the own, your body was made for deeper crisis about marriage pleasure, and you make your that has been brewing — which is based on how young people choose to live and in what circumstances they bring children into the world.

Whether or not defenders of marriage

By Genevieve Kineke succeed in their fight to keep marriage defined in traditional terms, the own rules. Of course, it’s not larger problem is that fewer only the mass media that influyoung people are entering into ences children, but their own marriages, fewer of those who homes. Brad Wilcox, direcdo see their unions as binding tor of the National Marriage for life, and most young people Project, notes that more than 40 don’t consider marriage as a percent of children will be part requisite for starting families. of a cohabitating household for Thus, while we cannot comat least a part of their formative promise on what constitutes a years. marriage, it is also critical to What is the harm? Is it understand anew why marriage possible that old-fashioned is important at all. ideas were too repressive? That Attitudes towards marChristians misunderstand marriage have long been subject riage or are unfair in trying to to a relentless media campaign “impose” their views on nonthat has insisted that sexual believers? That modern life intimacy is a private matter beis incompatible with stifling tween consenting individuals. religious dogmas? Each ChrisMost young persons would be tian will have to ponder these astonished to think there could questions as family situations be any meaningful reason to arise, as schools reformulate restrict sexual intimacy to marthe ground rules and as the opriage, for just as Pope Paul VI portunities to state one’s belief predicted, widespread access to become further constricted in contraception has given rise to the public square. rampant promiscuity, decouThere is a wealth of data pling it from social taboos, lastconcerning increasingly dising commitments or pregnancy.

The Feminine Genius

oriented children, the rampant growth of sexually-transmitted diseases, and the unsustainable tax burden of single-parent households. Every honest study shows that chastity before marriage and fidelity afterwards benefit both the spouses and their children. But are we a people of faith or of statistics? What is the foundation of our belief concerning marriage?

The Church is clear about marriage — that it is between a man and a woman, that they are to be faithful to each other, that they are to receive children as a gift from God, and that the wider community benefits by being grounded in such stable households. For those who were married in the Church, this is what they attested to when they exchanged vows, and those who benefitted from being born into such homes are themselves a testament to the graces therein.

We can find ourselves tongue-tied when confronted with the superfluous arguments about false conception of human rights, authentic liberty and legitimate authority, but marriage isn’t rocket science.

The Triune God loved us into existence and asks us to live accordingly. If the nation is to survive, we must defend the most basic truths about marriage — both with our words and our lives.

Mrs. Kineke is the author of “The Authentic Catholic Woman” (Servant Books) and blogs at feminine-genius.com.

sion. In the old days, if you had the wherewithal, you ate off pewter plates. Acidic food on a pewter plate can cause the lead content of the pewter to leach into your food. A tomato is acidic. Some people eating tomatoes off pewter plates got sick and died of lead poisoning. It wasn’t the tomato, it was the plate. I eat my tomatoes off paper towels, or, if I feel like being fancy, off the Melamine.

With the cherry tomatoes, I don’t bother to even wash them. I just pop some in my mouth as I walk by, trying to get a jump on the chipmunks.

It’s always a contest between me and the garden critters.

They wait until the tomatoes are just a day short of luscious perfection and then come sneaking in the night and gobble them up before I do. I have a theory: Too many health precautions can make you sick. If you’re not exposed to enough germs, your immune system grows weak.

You get sick. Eat dirt and live, I say.

The “Big Boy” tomatoes are another story. These I pick and bring into the kitchen.

I slice them thin to add to sandwiches or thick to make a sandwich out of tomatoes alone, with a little salt and a dab of Miracle Whip. I’ll miss my tomatoes.

The name of the third variety of tomato I planted escapes me. It was so overshadowed by the trees it ended up producing little. This also applies to people who spend their lives in the shadows, eclipsed.

I didn’t have a single backyard cookout all summer.

I didn’t even fill the propane tank on the grill. I just never got around to it. Now it’s almost too late. Oh, well —

there’s always next summer, God willing.

I did however spend some time this summer sitting out in the “garden room.” It’s only a light-weight structure I picked up at Ocean State Job Lot, but in my mind it’s a grand Victorian gazebo. I struggled to take the canopy off as Tropical Storm Irene approached in August and then stored it away.

I’ll drag it out next spring. I still sit out in my garden room, even with no roof, enjoying God’s creation.

Each season has its own signals — not only sights, but sounds and aromas as well. The aromas are strongest in the early morning. At night, I hear the sounds of autumn. This time of year, I keep alert to indications of the inevitable black frost and gather in the potted plants and herbs I intend to winter over on the enclosed porch.

The evenings are already cool. “St. Bartholomew brings the cold dew,” maintains folk wisdom. The Feast of St. Bartholomew (August 24) is long gone.

Gone too are the lingering summer sunsets. When I had the time, I would sit in my upstairs room and watch out the window as the sun set over the swampland across the street.

I have an evening ritual. I take the greyhounds out for their last walk of the day and seize the moment to absorb what is happening around me in nature. Somehow, all my worries about the situation of the world we live in and of the state of the Church today seem to evaporate. Summer wanes. Autumn comes softly.

All is well.

Father Goldrick is pastor of St. Nicholas of Myra Parish in North Dighton.

10

The Anchor

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — When Fall River native Ron Correia retired, he thought he would go from working at the Naval Station in Newport to working on his swing on an 18-hole golf course.

“I’m probably busier now than I’ve ever been, but other than that I’m enjoying myself,” said Correia. “I always thought I was going to retire and have all sorts of time to go golfing and do all sorts of things, but as it turns out I don’t have all that time; I’m busy doing other things.”

Correia’s youth was spent at St. Elizabeth’s Parish in Fall River and his parents’ altruism in that parish was passed on to their son.

“I always looked up to my parents. I thought it was great that they went together every Sunday to Mass, worked together in different organizations to support the Church.

I thought it was a wonderful family experience. I guess you could say that it drove me to continue to the family tradition,” said Correia.

Correia explained how 30 years ago, while playing music for the parish, the local St. Vincent de Paul Society was going to have a district meeting. After playing the music for the Mass, Correia was invited to the reception afterwards, and it was there that someone said he should join the group.

“I had heard of St. Vincent de Paul but I wasn’t really sure of who they were at the time,” recalled Correia. “They explained to me how they give food to the poor and so forth, so I joined. To me it was a real positive accident because I found out exactly what St. Vincent de Paul was, that they were not

Too busy to retire

just helping the poor but a Catho- leadership to the parish,” said Fa- Correia was ready to take on a new lic lay organization whose main ther Andrade. “He made himself task and create a soup kitchen out primary function was to improve available in a positive way. Merg- of Holy Trinity, but Correia said their spirituality and do some good ers are a very sensitive issue and that Father Andrade made the wise at the same time. I really got into it you have to walk people through choice to let everyone settle in beand have been there ever fore “trying to bite off since.” more than we could Correia has moved chew,” said Correia. through the ranks, hold“I agreed with him. ing terms as district After a few years, he president, diocesan presicalled me over and dent and is currently the said that maybe now assistant to the northwould be a good east region. He is also a time to start that soup member of the National kitchen.”

Grant Committee, NaCorreia put forth tional Communications his idea to the congreCommittee and National gation during Mass, Formation Committee. highlighting the plight Through the years it was of the homeless while hard finding a balance trying to drum up a between volunteering, healthy number of working and raising two volunteers. Many peochildren alongside his ple, said Correia, honwife, said Correia, but estly didn’t think there there was a higher power were people in need that was a driving force living in their area. behind his dedication.

“There are no poor “You just do it,” said people around here.

Correia. “When you do What do you mean the work of our Lord, it we’re going to feed seems to work.” the homeless?” said When St. Elizabeth’s Correia of the reacmerged to become part tions he received from of the Holy Trinity Par- Anchor Person of the Week — Ron some people. “And ish of Fall River in 2000, Correia. like I told them at the Correia was elected time, if you don’t bechairperson of the committee that it, you have to be patient. You also lieve me just drive by Harbor Mall would oversee the details of the need to be able to let go because if on a Saturday evening and look merger — a leadership role that his you don’t, you’re living more in under the tractor trailers and you’ll current pastor at Holy Trinity Par- the past than in the present. You’ll see all these cardboard houses. We ish, Father David Andrade, has ap- have a lot of resentment and issues might be in a more affluent area but preciated ever since. that you can carry with you. I think it can happen anywhere, and it hap“Even though it’s a painful real- Ron has been a real model in that pens everywhere.” ity for a lot of folks who have to regard in the sense that he helped Donations came pouring in and face this, Ron did so with great people to deal with the present along with food items more than optimism. He’s been very positive while respecting the past.” $3,000 was raised. The first interest and he’s brought a lot of talent and When the merger was complete, meeting for volunteers was standing room only, and after dividing people into groups, the soup kitch-

September 30, 2011

en was off and running. Five years later, the second and last Thursday of each month finds the soup kitchen catering to anyone who walks through the door.

“It’s just wonderful, I love it.

The people who come in to help are just wonderful people,” said Correia. “We usually feed about 80 to 100 people, and it’s amazing. You see these families that one time might have been OK, had life all wrapped up in their right hand and suddenly someone came along and chopped off that right hand and now they don’t have anything anymore. They are so appreciative of everything you do for them. It’s just heartwarming.”

Even when money has been tight or more people come to the soup kitchen looking for food than originally planned, Correia and his team of volunteers continue to make sure no one walks away hungry.

“Ron is very low-key, a very humble man but at the same token willing to do what needs to be done,” said Father Andrade. “He doesn’t have a problem tapping people on the shoulder. The way that he does things is just pleasant and in spite of difficulties and obstacles, Ron is always able to look at the positive side of everything.”

While also balancing the soup kitchen duties, Correia is also a parish greeter, member of the parish finance council and more recently, assists during funerals.

Couple that with his continuing obligations with St. Vincent de Paul, and it’s no wonder he doesn’t have time to play golf.

“Not everyone may know who Ron is,” said Father Andrade, “But I’m sure those who have been involved in those areas, and the beneficiaries of his work, do.”

The Anchor

September 30, 2011

MCFL Respect Life Walk is Sunday in Boston continued from page one

very public commitment to your life of faith and your love of life. It ultimately is really all about love.”

And that love will be spread among this year’s 42 beneficiary organizations that offer a range of services for women; pregnancy testing, prenatal services, legal assistance, transition housing and even post-abortive services are part of the Pro-Life message of support.

“All these wonderful places will support women,” said Cross. “The other side doesn’t want you to know that. They prey on desperate women, which is despicable. They prey on women’s fears to have them come in and get an abortion.”

The other side that Cross refers to are the abortion clinics that skew the choices pregnant women have, and scare them into thinking they have no other alternative than to get an abortion.

“If somebody thinks they’re going to lose everything and not have a home, you don’t really have a choice,” said Cross. “It’s really an insidious low that gets put on women — the whole idea of not having a choice.”

That’s why the Respect for Life Walk is so important in helping fund the services to counter that negative message; services like Friends of the Unborn, a shelter for homeless pregnant women.

“The women who have come to Friends have really taken a leap of faith and have found the love,” said Cross. “That unconditional love and practical help, not just to bring those babies to life but to have a good life.

They get education, to learn how to cook and live healthfully and eventually live out on their own. Those are just really powerful stories. It gives them a choice.”

Last year’s walk raised roughly $50,000. This year Cross hopes to raise more, but she knows that it’s not just about raising money but about raising awareness and continuing to perpetuate the truth that abortion results in the death of a child, not just the removal of a globule of cellular tissue.

“It’s been an educational process because the other side would like you to believe that [the fetus] is just a blob of tissue, but ultrasound has shown that to not be true,” said Cross. “This is a big deal. Anybody knows that if it weren’t a big deal, why would they spend so much time trying to pretend it’s not a big deal? I think the edu-

cational efforts and technology have really helped show the lie that whatever abortion kills, it’s a human being.”

While Cross feels passionate about the Pro-Life cause, the walk itself is not designed as a protest. Cross hopes that the walk will inspire a change in the laws, that abortion will eventually be made illegal. Though she knows that particular outcome is an uphill battle, Cross said that maybe having a person see such a large supportive group take to the streets will motivate more people to add their voice — thus making the voice for the voiceless that much louder.

“A lot of what we do, we never know whom we’re going to affect,” said Cross.

“When you speak, you become the voice of the Pro-Life movement. You want to make sure that people know that abortion is wrong.”

Likening the Pro-Life movement to the moral questions posed to people of bygone eras, Cross said it’s easy to look back and say that people would stand up for the slaves or Native Americans, or fight for the Jewish people during the Holocaust of World War II; but what about now, especially with technology bringing to light the truth, that there is a massacre of the innocent?

“My premise is we live in a time that a great moral evil is being done, similar to slavery,” said Cross. “You’ve got a choice — what am I going to do? Am I going to come out against this, or am I going to be nice and safe; against it but not be as active? I really think this is a wonderful time to see what

11 you’re made of, to come out against the great moral evil of our time, which is the slaughter of our unborn. I hope this will inspire people to look at themselves.”

For information on the Respect Life Walk to Aid Mothers and Children, go to www.masscitizensforlife.org.

12

The Anchor

September 30, 2011

Dolores Hope dies at age 102; was supporter of many Catholic causes

LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Dolores Hope, a lifelong Catholic who was the widow of comedian Bob Hope and an entertainer in her own right, died September 19 at age 102 at her home in Toluca Lake outside of Los Angeles.

A family spokesman said she died of natural causes.

“Dolores Hope was a Catholic of deep and abiding faith, and her own spiritual journey was her highest priority,” Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez said in a statement. “Her deep life in Christ was the spring board for her charitable giving to countless ministries, apostolates, and works of mercy across the country and around the world.”

“Both the entertainment world and the Church have lost a woman of profound faith, gifted musical talent, and dedication to the betterment of peoples worldwide,” he said. “The death of Dolores Hope leaves a huge void in Southern California.”

With her husband Mrs. Hope supported numerous Catholic causes over the years and continued to do so after his death in 2003.

Among other efforts the couple were the benefactors of the Chapel of Our Lady of Hope of Pontmain, France, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.

News reports said funeral services for Mrs. Hope would be private, followed by burial next to her husband at the Bob Hope Memorial Garden in the San Fernando Mission in Mission Hills.

Mrs. Hope and her husband were longtime members of St. Charles Borromeo Parish in North Hollywood. But it wasn’t until 1996 that Bob Hope officially became a member of the Catholic Church.

She and Bob had been married 69 years when he died July 27, 2003.

Dolores was praised as an instrument in her husband’s Baptism and reception into the Church.

“Dolores has always known the gift of faith is the greatest gift you give,” said Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, at a memorial Mass

celebrated for Bob in August 2003 at the national shrine. The cardinal, then archbishop of Washington, was a longtime friend of the Hopes.

Born Dolores DeFina May 27, 1909, to an Italian father and an Irish mother in Manhattan’s Harlem neighborhood, Dolores grew up in the Bronx. After her father’s death, she and her sister were raised by their mother.

During the 1930s, Dolores began a singing career as Dolores Reade on the advice of her agent. In 1933, after appearing at a Manhattan nightclub, she was introduced to Bob Hope.

The two were married Feb. 19, 1934, and she joined his vaudeville act. They later adopted four children — Nora, Linda, Kelly and Anthony, who died in 2004. The family moved to Hollywood in 1938 so Bob could launch his film career.

Dolores had left show business so she could stay home to raise their children.

In the 1940s, Dolores began helping her husband on his tours entertaining U.S. troops overseas and she would continue to do so for more than 50 years. In 1990, she was the only female entertainer allowed to perform in Saudi Arabia.

It was Bob’s last trip to entertain U.S. troops.

Among the many Catholic charities the Hopes supported was Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops’ overseas relief and development agency. In 1999, the couple matched actor Paul Newman’s $250,000 donation to CRS to assist Kosovar refugees with a quartermillion dollars of their own.

They were among the first contributors of the Big Shoulders Fund, a nonprofit Chicago organization whose contributions go to inner-city Catholic elementary and secondary schools. In 1988, they received the first Big Shoulders Award.

She was one of the first women in the world to become a Dame Commander with Star of the papal order of St. Gregory the Great, bestowed by Pope John Paul II.

the buddy system — A bottlenose dolphin called Winter and Nathan Gamble are seen in the movie “Dolphin Tale.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/ Warner Bros.)

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

“Dolphin Tale” (Warner Bros.)

The true story of “Winter,” a dolphin which received the first artificial tail, is brought to the screen in a family-friendly film that offers lessons in faith, perseverance, and respect for persons — and animals — with disabilities. Eleven-year-old Sawyer (Nathan Gamble) finds Winter washed up on a beach, badly injured from a fishing trap. His new friend is transported to the Clearwater Marine Hospital, run

by Dr. Clay Haskett (Harry Connick Jr.) and his father, Reed (a very grizzled Kris Kristofferson), with a little help from Clay’s young daughter, Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff). When Winter’s tail is amputated, his survival is threatened, until Dr. Cameron McCarthy (Morgan Freeman), a master of prosthetics, decides to take on the challenge. A refreshing diversion for the entire family. The Catholic News Service classification is A-I — general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

“Machine Gun Preacher” (Relativity) Harrowing true story about a Pennsylvania man (Gerard Butler) who finds God and goes from drug-dealing and committing mayhem as a member of a

Pennsylvania biker gang to protecting Sudanese children orphaned during a bloody civil war.

Director Marc Forster glosses over the protagonist’s spiritual journey, focusing instead on the action-oriented sequences and enforcing viewer suspicion that he’s more of a mercenary than a humanitarian. In addition to triggering cognitive dissonance and contravening basic Catholic teachings about peace and social justice, the movie is filled with disturbing and offensive material that undercuts the salubrious aspects of the partially redemptive conversion story. Frequent graphic violence in the context of war and a crime spree-including disturbing images of child victims of burnings, mutilations, beatings, and gunplay-pervasive rough, crude and crass language, one instance of marital lovemaking and another of marital foreplay, some heroin and alcohol use, some profanity, and several racial epithets. The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted.

Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

“Moneyball” (Columbia) Based on the book by Michael Lewis, this enjoyable, thinking person’s sports movie centers on the real-life general manager (Brad Pitt) of baseball’s Oakland Athletics who, together with a young statistician (Jonah Hill), gambles on a new approach to the game and fields a team with a comparatively miniscule payroll.

Director Bennett Miller, working from a script by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, has crafted a mature, humorous and modest film that will appeal to aficionados and nonfans alike. Respectful of America’s pastime yet eager to spur positive change, it relays a timeless, double-headed piece of wisdom: Money can’t buy baseball pennants or happiness.

Two uses of rough language, some crude and crass language, an instance of sexual banter, a few sexist remarks and a scene in which a player’s religiosity is treated in a sarcastic manner.

The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, October 2, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Kevin A. Cook, pastor of Holy Family Parish in East Taunton

September 30, 2011

“T

he greatest thing on earth is respect, because it is the heart of love.” This quote was lifted from a tabernacle in a small village church somewhere in Europe. It may have been placed there to remind parishioners of the reason for our reverence of the Eucharist, but it is not coincidental that “respect” should be linked to the Sacrament which we call “Communion.” Communion is the hallmark of our Christian understanding of Church; without it we are a collection of lost souls.

We do not “do” Communion, we are Communion. Parker Palmer, educator and philosopher, describes Communion as part of our “spiritual DNA.” We are born to be in communion with others, for “the soul wants to keep us connected to the community in which we find life, for it understands that relationships are necessary if we are to thrive.” If respect and love are the essence of our communion, then respect for life is its finest display. Respect for life is not rooted in politics or ideology, but is planted on the strands of our spiritual DNA. Palmer says that respect for life is in the nucleus of the soul, which “wants to give us life and wants us to pass that gift along, to become life-givers in a world that deals too much with death.”

Respect for life is the springboard of our hospitality to all people. Hospitality is more than simply handing out a bulletin with a smile, for it is deeply rooted in our Christian consciousness to be welcoming to the marginalized. The first Sunday of October is designated as Respect Life Sunday; what better way do we have to open our souls to share the gift of life?

The Catholic Church offers many

This week in

50 years ago — Reverend Mother Virginia Bento, R.S.D., who served for 16 years as a teacher, then superior and principal at Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in New Bedford, was named the U.S. provincial for the Sisters of St. Dorothy.

25 years ago — Bishop Daniel A. Cronin attended ceremonies at St. Patrick’s Church in Fall River celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first arrival of the Sisters of Mercy in the parish. He was joined

by Sisters Mary Noel Blute, Mary Madeline Strang, Mary Christopher O’Rourke, Mary Romana Murphy and Jean Marie McGee.

13

The Anchor

Respect is meant for all

divine mercy be directed toward these ways to breathe life into a world consumed by death. The U.S. Confer- tortured souls. Perhaps a parish that prays the Divine Mercy Chaplet can ence of Catholic Bishops suggests several areas of parish life that can be dedicate those prayers to prisoners on death row. an example to the world of our love In the for life. For paradoxiexample, we cal world of celebrate politics and life when government, we open our the same doors to the state that dementally and nounced the physically

By Claire McManus death penalty disabled. The is about to Kingdom vote on the of God has legalization of assisted suicide. We broken through the secular culture in can launch a political response to this its inclusion of all people into pubtragedy by calling our local reprelic spaces, but many of our parishes sentatives to voice our objection, and need to catch up. Some of our public we can be proactive by showing our schools have moved in the direction compassion toward people facing the of full inclusion classrooms where suffering and loneliness of the end of children of every level of ability share teachers, curriculum, and extra- life. One of the best practices reported from around the country is the No curricular activities. Simply stated, One Shall Die Alone ministry that was they share life. We can learn from this example and make our parish set- started at a parish in Coeur d’Alene, tings places that replicate the ideal of Idaho. Parishioners volunteer to visit the Kingdom of God in which one’s level of ability is never a source of exclusion.

Although we have done away with the death penalty in Massachusetts, it still challenges us as a culture.

Though this can be a difficult lesson for some, the Church teaches that “the death penalty no longer serves a useful purpose in protecting society, and it ends the offender’s opportunity for conversion, halting the action of the Holy Spirit on his soul for eternity.” Many of our faithful are involved in prison ministry and parishes can take part in simple ways. One approach could be to form a prayer group that prays for those facing the death penalty, asking that God’s

The Great Commission

local nursing homes and hospices, specifically those patients who are dying and have no family members nearby.

This ministry does not require any special skill since volunteers simply sit in the room and listen, talk, pray, or just be a comforting presence.

“Every human person — no matter how vulnerable or helpless, no matter how healthy, handicapped or sick, no matter how useful or productive for society — is a being of inestimable worth created in the image and likeness of God” (Bl. John Paul II). This is the foundation of the Church’s teaching on the respect for life. We must remember this teaching every day of the year, not just on the first Sunday of October. Respect Life Sunday is not just a moment in time to be marked on the liturgical calendar, but is the inauguration of the radical breaking forth of the Kingdom of God from the depths of our souls to the farthest boundaries of our reach.

Claire McManus is the director of the Diocesan Office of Faith Formation.

Visit The Anchor online at http://www.anchornews.org

Diocesan history

10 years ago — Bishop Sean P. O’Malley, OFM, Cap., took a tour of the St. Vincent de Paul store in Fall River along with Vincentians Leopold Thibault, store treasurer, and Armand Frechette, diocesan president of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. The bishop also blessed the site, which was rebuilt after a fire in 1999.

One year ago — The New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Dr. David MacKenzie, along with the Providence Singers and 100 choral singers presented Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis in D Major, Op. 123” at St. Anthony of Padua Church in New Bedford.

14

The Anchor

September 30, 2011

Bishop Feehan High School celebrating 50th anniversary continued from page one

his predecessor, Bishop James L. Connolly, for realizing his dream of building a Catholic high school in Attleboro back in the mid-1960s.

“As we know he chose the Sisters of Mercy, renowned as educators of young people,” Bishop Coleman said. “Bishop Feehan High School received its first students in the fall of 1961. Not only do we today celebrate the opening of the high school 50 years ago, it’s fitting that we also celebrate today on Mercy Day, during which we recall the importance of the presence of the Sisters of Mercy, who have been here at the school for the past half-century. We truly have so much to thank God for as we celebrate Mass this morning.”

It’s appropriate that the second Catholic high school in the diocese would be named after the second bishop of the diocese.

Born in Athol to William and Joanna (Foley) Feehan on Sept. 24, 1855, the future Bishop Daniel F. Feehan moved as a young boy to Millbury with his family where he attended school and became a friend of the future President William H. Taft. Feehan graduated from St. Mary’s College in Montreal, Canada, and spent his formation years at St. Joseph Seminary in Troy, N.Y. He was ordained a priest on Dec. 20, 1879. Father Feehan’s first parish was in West Boylston and he served twice at St. Bernard’s in Fitchburg.

During his second time, he

was pastor for 18 years.

On July 2, 1907, at the age of 52, Father Daniel Feehan was appointed the Bishop of Fall River, a new diocese formed just three years earlier in 1904.

He succeeded Bishop William Stang who was the first Bishop of Fall River. During his 27year tenure, the longest of any Fall River bishop, he became known as the “Benevolent Bishop.” Bishop Feehan established 36 parishes and was especially devoted to children, giving much attention to the child care institutions of the diocese. Bishop Daniel F. Feehan died July 19, 1934.

Bishop Coleman also noted that the second reading of the Liturgy was a passage from St. Paul’s second letter to the Colossians.

“This passage includes the motto of Bishop Feehan High School: ‘Set your heart on things above, and not on the goods of earth,’” Bishop Coleman said. “Does this mean St. Paul is recommending that we not pay attention to our world?

Not at all. St. Paul brought to the people of Colossae the message of the Gospel — that the risen Christ is the source of Salvation. We should set our hearts on Him, the risen Christ. Therefore, everything that makes up our daily lives — the joys, the sorrows and challenges — are to be lived in light of the Gospel message.”

Among the honored guests present for the Mass were Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Griffin and members

of the Sisters of Mercy, who have staffed Bishop Feehan High School from its founding to the present day. In fact, the Sisters of Mercy collectively received the first “Spirit of Feehan Medallion” award for their ongoing service to the school.

“As far as my perspective is concerned, I have sensed since my arrival in 2006 that the Sisters of Mercy have been the foundation of Feehan,” said Principal Bill Runey in presenting the award. “How fitting is it that they receive the first of 50 Spirit of Feehan medallions? The standing ovation given by our students and guests was a fitting tribute.”

The remaining five Feehan Medallions awarded that day went to “Other Religious Sisters and Chaplains” who have been at the school for the past 50 years; Sister Mary Urban; Sister Mary Noel Blute; Sister Mary Faith Harding; and Sister Patricia Harrington, who still teaches at the school and has been there for the past 43 years.

The Mercy Day Mass was the first of several “enhanced” events the high school has planned throughout this 20112012 anniversary year.

According to Christopher E. Servant, a 1966 Bishop Feehan graduate and the school’s current president, the school “made the decision that we would not just have one signature anniversary event that would be over and done in four hours” and “we de-

time to celebrate — Bishop George W. Coleman was the principal celebrant of a Mass commemorating the 50th anniversary of Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro. He was joined by several priests, faculty members, alumni, and the entire student body. (Photos by Kenneth J. Souza)

cided to enhance several traditional events … which will have special invited guests in addition to the distribution of

Feehan medallions to individuals, past and present, whose lives have helped us sustain our mission over the past 50 years.”

Future “enhanced” events include a Homecoming Game on October 15 beginning at 1 p.m.; an All Saints’ Day Mass on November 1 at 1 p.m.; a Thanksgiving Liturgy on November 23 at 10 a.m.; the Feast of Immaculate Conception Mass on December 8 at 1 p.m.; a Catholic Schools Week Mass on February 2 at 10 a.m.; and a dinner and auction at Christina’s on March 24 beginning at 6 p.m.

September 30, 2011

Taunton Catholic Middle School marks 40th year continued from page one

nity here,” said Merritt. “The staff is outstanding and extremely dedicated; they go beyond the extra mile and live the true vocation of a Catholic school educator. My parents are equally supportive.”

Wanting to do something for adults and returning alumni from years past, Merritt decided to make the annual “Devil’s Wings, Witches Brew” the kickoff event. The beer-tasting event and chicken wing competition will be held at the Elks Lodge in Middleboro, 24 High Street, October 21, from 6-9 p.m.

Sponsored by Muckey’s Liquors of Lakeville, breweries are invited to bring samplings of beer while professional restaurant chefs and amateurs compete in the chicken wing competition.

“We vote like you would do at any food-fest, and the winner gets to gloat for a year that they won the ‘Cluck-bucket Chicken Award.’ It’s a lot of fun. My intention is to bring people together, the adults,” said Merritt.

Families will come together the next day for the Fall Fest, to be held on school grounds on October 22 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. A DJ will be doing double-duty by spinning tunes and overseeing the Karaoke, while food provided by the school’s food service will be available.

The admission to the fest is free while to purchase food or play games, tickets will be on sale for a nominal fee.

“We’re not looking to make money; we’re looking to have a family day together. We’re also going to have tours of the school. The student council will be bringing in anyone who wants to visit the school,” said Merritt, who hopes that the alumni will enjoy seeing the updates to the school such as computer labs and the new showcase of all yearbooks dating back to 1972.

“They’ll find a lot of new things and a lot of memories,” she said.

A large tent will be set up with a guest book from each decade made available for alumni to leave a message or simply update their personal information. At the end of the fest, there will be a celebration of Mass held at 6 p.m. in the auditorium with the school’s choir singing during the Liturgy.

“Hopefully, God willing, the sun will be shining and we’ll be able to have it right

15

The Anchor on the grounds,” said Merritt of the fest, though she has a contingency plan if it rains. “If not, then we’ll have it indoors.

We have a lovely auditorium that can welcome a big festival of that sort.”

TCMS has touched so many lives, mainly in part because the spiritual aspect of the school’s education can be felt as soon you walk through the doors, said Merritt: “To me that’s the basis for all Catholic teachings, start when they’re

young and it stays with them.”

She added, “It complements it in so many ways the struggles that parents have, many parents are active in their own parishes. Because we’re not a parish school, I think it’s very important for students to see that what we do here reflects in their home faith life, and in their parish lives. There has to be a direct connection. If they don’t see it, they know. You can’t hide; they know sincerity.”

Bishop Stang High School congratulates Bishop Feehan as they celebrate 50 Years of Excellence!

Bishop Connolly High School congratulates Bishop Feehan High School as you celebrate your 50th Anniversary!

We extend our best wishes to Bishop Feehan High School as you celebrate your 50th Anniversary!

Our Lady of Lourdes School Taunton

We extend our best wishes to Bishop Feehan High School as you celebrate your 50th Anniversary!

National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette Attleboro

Congratulations to Bishop Feehan on 50 Years of Faith, Service & Academic Excellence!

The Catholic Education Center Diocese of Fall River

Youth Pages

16

class history — Tom Neville recently presented junior Zachary Micciche and sophomore Lauren DeSousa with a scholarship in memory of his late brother Tim Neville, Coyle and Cassidy High School, Taunton, class of 1973. Each embodies many of the attributes of the late Mr. Neville. From left: Doug Ross Class of 1981, Brad Fitzgerald Class of 1978, DeSousa, Micciche, and Tom Neville Class of 1981.

a grand day — On National Grandparents Day, September 11, St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro celebrated its first annual Grandparents Day. More than 140 adults and 83 children participated. Grandparents and special guests were greeted by a video and opening remarks by Principal Sister Mary Jane Holden. Afterwards, they were invited to take a tour of the school and classrooms followed by coffee, dessert and formal photos. Each grandparent received a plant and frame commemorating the special day. Pictured here are Meghan and Julia Maguire with their grandparents, Gerald and Audrey Maguire.

athletes in action — Bishop Stang High School junior Jack Murphy, left, has been named to the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Student Advisory Committee. He joins a committee of 14 students who represent MIAA member schools from throughout Massachusetts.

Murphy is a member of the varsity soccer, basketball and baseball teams at the North Dartmouth school. With him is Stang athletic director Ryan Sylvia.

September 30, 2011

The people’s choice — Eighth-grade students at Holy Name School in Fall River recently elected class officers. From left: Sam Fellows, treasurer; Alison Nadeau, president; Madison Coogan, vice president: and Bridget Bogan, secretary. Their first assignment was to plan a September middle school dance.

scoring a touchdown — Students at Holy Family-Holy Name School in New Bedford participated in a Back-to-School NFL Friday food drive. Students were able to wear the jersey of their favorite NFL team in exchange for bringing in a bag of food to be donated to the St. Lawrence Food Pantry. More than 1,500 food items were donated by the generous families at the school.

fashion sense — The fourth annual St. Mary’s Education Fund Fashion Show and luncheon took place recently at the Coonamesett Inn of Falmouth with 21 models from the Catholic schools and parishes in the diocese and 170 guests in attendance. From left, back: Dr. Donna Boyle, assistant superintendent; Dr. Michael Griffin, superintendent of schools in the Diocese of Fall River; Kate Simpson, assistant superintendent; front: Abby Figlock from St. Mary’s Primary in Taunton, and Jillian Hardy from St. Margaret Regional School in Buzzards Bay. These models are wearing fashions from J. McLauglin of Osterville, Mulberry Corners of Osterville and Caline for Kids of Falmouth. (Photo by Fran Parsons)

Youth Pages

September 30, 2011

O

17

Making Jesus an icon of our culture’s bad taste

K. Now I’ve seen everything. I was walking through a store in Chicago last week and there before me was a section of Jesus action figures.

Yes, you heard me, Jesus action figures. I guess it is a new kind of Jesus for the modern generation.

Not the Jesus of Sunday School pictures, softly lit and holding a lamb. Nor is it the looming crucifix in our Catholic churches.

It’s Jesus meets G.I. Joe — a sixinch tall plastic, white robed toy: “with poseable arms and gliding action!” according to the box.

How widespread could this be? Well, I googled “Jesus action figure” on the Internet when I returned to my hotel. Google reported over four million results for “Jesus action figure.” Amazon even has this item and they also sell a Jesus bobble head doll.

How do the action figures sell?

According to some retail statistics, these things sell very well. What about the Jesus T-shirts? Like some I found online that stylishly proclaim “Jesus is my homeboy” or “Jesus surfs without a board.”

They’re sell-outs! What makes the Jesus-themed merchandise popular? Are people interested in religion? Probably not, people just think it’s funny.

By the way, the back of the Jesus action figure box makes strides to avoid offense, treating the toy as if it’s a kind-hearted effort to educate people about the world’s religions. The box manages to give a description of Jesus that says everything and nothing.

It states, “For Muslims and some Jews, Jesus was a prophet. Buddhists say He was enlightened.

Hindus call Him an avatar (the incarnation of a deity in human form), and Christians hail Him as the Son of God. So who was He?” The box defines Him mostly as an “extraordinary healer,” but — in true modern fashion — completely ignores the truth of who Jesus claimed to be.

In addition to the action figure, bobble head doll, and the T-shirts, a few Internet sites are offering other portrayals of Jesus. One site, which I won’t promote the address of here, presents artwork of Jesus for mockery on a week-by-week basis. The site’s commentary ranges from cheeky to caustic. The site is sponsored by the likes of a major bank and a site that sells underwear!

The items of evidence are in, and it seems that Jesus — the most influential person in human history — has become an icon of the day of our culture’s bad taste. As the creators of cool come up with trendy new ways to sell Jesus, they’re contributing to a culture that reveals what people think of Him. It’s interesting

that now, 2,000 years after Jesus changing consensus of their peers, walked the earth, people are still will continue misunderstanding asking or answering the question: Jesus. Their lives will settle into “Who was Jesus?” It’s the same an intellectual apathy that results question Jesus asked His disciples in the “whatever” way of life: when He was alive.

“Jesus is an action figure?” OK. “Who do people say I am?” He “He’s a joke to be made fun of asked His disciples in Mark 8:27. on websites?” Alright. “Yeah, They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?”

By Frank Lucca If I asked you that question today, what would you say?

This is the question that God whatever,” they say. asks each of us: Who do we say As Christians, we’re just as Jesus is? Today’s generation is apt to be influenced by modernist answering the question whether thought. Many of us make sure it knows it, or not. The makers of our definition of Jesus stays withthe Jesus action figure and T-shirts in our comfort zone, or within the are defining Jesus — as a joke, as current behavior of the Christian a gag gift, or as an expression of subculture. For instance, many cool. The founders of that Jesus Christian college students — and website are saying Jesus is to be post-college — would say they mocked. strive for the following goals: get Sadly, all these perspectives of a stable job, make money, marry Jesus are contrary to who Jesus and achieve worldly success and claimed to be. Jesus claimed to happiness. There’s nothing wrong be the Son of God, a claim that with these accomplishments, but would make Him one with the if they’re the things a Christian creator God. To us, this claim is is striving for, then he’s misuntrue. It demands us to offer Him derstanding Jesus. Jesus didn’t reverence and respect. The only emphasize any of these things. other option is to deny Him. In fact, His job wasn’t stable; He But many don’t care who Jesus was poor; He wasn’t married; He claimed to be. It’s a lot more com- didn’t achieve worldly success fortable and trendy to use Him for and He suffered incredibly. our culture kicks. And modernism Other Christians pretend Jesus makes this easy to do. is some kind magic healer they Modern truth is defined ignore unless they have a test, by individuals or by groups know a sick friend, or want a of like-minded people. Thus, girl to say yes to a date. Or they people don’t necessarily see a reduce following Jesus to a list disparity between Jesus’ claims of rules about what Christians do of deity and turning Him into a or don’t do (drinking, smoking, gimmick. That’s because within dancing and the like). It’s temptthis subculture, the Jesus products ing to reduce faith to a list of do’s are defined as funny, or maybe a and don’ts that supposedly define little edgy because they challenge Christianity, but Jesus argued Christianity, even though these against this type of legalism. All definitions have nothing to do of these things are examples of with the real Jesus. allowing Jesus, and His claims, to Unfortunately, people who be defined by us or by our Chrismake themselves the determiners tian subculture. of truth, or depend on the everSo who did Jesus claim to be?

Be Not Afraid

The Anchor is always pleased to run news and photos about our diocesan youth.

If schools or parish Religious Education programs, have newsworthy stories and photos they would like to share with our readers, send them to: schools@anchornews.org

The Bible — which is the best record we have of His life — says He is the Son of God and God all at the same time. He was perfect.

He was gracious, forgiving and loved unconditionally — and demanded His followers to do the same. He was more than a “healer” as the action figure box purports. That makes it sound like His main concern was with our finite and weak bodies. His purpose was to come to earth as God in the Flesh to heal the relationship between God and humanity. His submission to God led Him to die a brutal death, as a sacrifice for the sins of humanity.

To take the reality of Jesus and reduce Him to a gimmick, a toy, a healer, or a list of do’s and don’ts, is a misunderstanding with potentially eternal consequences.

Modernism makes it easy and comfortable, but it’s an outright denial of Jesus. In His love for us, God created us with the freedom to deny Him, but the only other alternative is obedience. If we say we don’t want to obey, that we want to wait until another day to be serious about our faith, then we’re denying Jesus. We’re pretending we can define Christ according to our level of commitment.

To obey Jesus, we need to do as He did — live in submission and relationship with God; be led by the Holy Spirit; and love people selflessly. As Jesus did, we should do according to God’s values, not those of the culture of the day. Obeying Jesus requires an accurate understanding of Him, based on His own words and not

on popular culture.

I think we need to be careful to even totally define Jesus as a friend, or buddy or homeboy.

Don’t some of us see Him that way? We cannot, however, diminish Him as Savior. Yes, it is great that we can love and trust Him as a friend but what about that fact that He is divine. When I think of Jesus, do I think about a close friend who I call upon once and a while to hang out with or when I need help? We must remember that Jesus is on a different level.

He is God. I’ll ask again. Who do you say Jesus is? Now is the time to learn more about Him. We are sometimes too superficial in our knowledge of Him. Take the time to read about Him and what He did for us. Get to know Him. Don’t let others define for you who Jesus is. It requires study. There is the Bible, Bible commentaries and numerous other books such as Pope Benedict’s “Jesus of Nazareth” that can help us come to know Him better. There is much to learn. Let’s get cracking!

We cannot be lulled by laziness or by this secular culture. If we are able to refuse this secular culture, the result will be a life of sincere discipleship and love and freedom — far more fulfilling than a mere action figure can provide.

Frank Lucca is a youth minister at St. Dominic’s Parish in Swansea. He is chair and director of the YES! Retreat and director of the Christian Leadership Institute (CLI). He is a husband and a father of two daughters. He may be reached at stdominicyouthministry@ comcast.net.

18

The Anchor

Permanent deacons: Serving in a multitude of ways continued from page one

active and retired permanent deacons ministering in the Diocese of Fall River, and each of these men are a valuable asset to diocesan priests whose schedules are often stretched to the limit.

It’s common knowledge that permanent deacons assist parish priests with preparing for the celebration of the Mass, preaching the Gospel, administering holy Communion, performing Baptisms, prayer services, officiating at wedding services, wake services and interments, among other things.

What’s not so well known is that these dedicated servants are mainstays at hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, police and fire departments, parish Religious Education programs and ministries, and prisons, and can often be found visiting shut-ins and lending an ear to anyone who requests it.

Catholic tradition holds that the first deacons of the Church were introduced in Acts 6:16, when men were called to assist the growing numbers of Christ’s followers with their spiritual and temporal needs. Today, permanent deacons across the Diocese of Fall River are carrying out those sacred traditions in assisting parish priests and ministering to thousands of faithful in a wide variety of ways.

“In all that I do as a deacon, one of the most important roles is to listen,” said Lemay. “Listen and

repeat what is said. Oftentimes people can answer their own questions simply by having someone listen to them without condemning them.”

Lemay, a permanent deacon for nearly 30 years, was in the U.S. Marine Corps and the Coast Guard and was later a social worker for the Commonwealth. “But working for the state, I couldn’t talk to people about God,” he told The Anchor. “As a deacon, I’m able to do that. People want to know what’s missing from their lives. Sometimes they feel that God is not listening to them, and sometimes they can feel more comfortable talking to a deacon since many of us have a wife and family. Often there isn’t an answer I can give them, but just by really listening, it helps them come to a resolution themselves.

“I get as much out of listening and being there, as the individuals who are looking for answers. I always feel the Holy Spirit working when I’m talking to people about Christ. At the end of the day, I’ll look back and go over what happened, and sometimes I’ll wonder if I messed up, but I’m not sorry I was there for them.”

In addition to his parish and RCIA duties, Lemay also works with recruiting and training altar servers, facilitates Baptism preparation sessions, blesses private homes, works with a children’s Christian initiation program and an adult Confirmation program. “I’m

Revised and updated ...

2011-2012 Diocese of Fall River Catholic Directory ... Now Shipping!

Published by The Anchor Publishing Company P.O. Box 7, Fall River, Massachusetts 02722 Please ship _____ directories x $18 each, including shipping and handling. Total Enclosed $_____ NAME ____________________________________________ ADDRESS _________________________________________ CITY _____________________ STATE _______ ZIP _____ Please make checks payable to “Anchor Publishing” For more information, email theanchor@anchonews.org, call 508-675-7151, or order online at www.anchornews.org

very busy, but I love what I do,” he said. “Life is wonderful, and as a cancer survivor, I’m very thankful for what God has given me, and what He hasn’t given me.”

Deacon Peter R. Cote, ordained in 2007, assists Father Paul A. Bernier at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River. Cote is also the director of Pastoral Care at Catholic Memorial Home in Fall River. “My main responsibility is to minister to the patients and staff at the home on a one-on-one basis,” Cote told The Anchor. “I find it very rewarding and fulfilling to bring Christ to them. I walk with them in their pain and troubles as a companion.”

Before becoming a permanent deacon, Cote was a nurse at the home. “While I was a nurse, I was ordained as a deacon and shortly after, a pastoral care position became available at Catholic Memorial. As a nurse, I loved taking care of the patients, but I had no time to sit and talk with them. As a pastoral care employee I was able to do that.”

Cote pointed out that he is not a trained psychologist and doesn’t have all the answers to everyone’s problems. “But,” he said, “I listen to them, without judgment. I offer them compassion and let them know I am available to them.

They are inspiration to me.

“I can’t teach them about life since many of the patients are twice my age, but it’s about being there for them. The patients experience a wide range of emotions. Some feel they’ve lost their independence and their home. Family members too, suffer. They feel guilt for placing them in an extended care facility.

Some patients have little or no family in the area to visit them. That’s where I can step in.”

Cote said staff members also need someone with whom to talk.

Even with a full slate at the home and the parish, Cote is studying for his master’s in min-

September 30, 2011 istry at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton. “Time is tight,” he said.

“But it’s a paradox — the more you do, the better you feel.”

A permanent deacon for nine years, Philip E. Bedard ministers at St. Jude the Apostle Parish in Taunton, and also at Holy Rosary Parish in that city. In addition to his parish responsibilities, Bedard assists Father Edward A. Murphy, chaplain at Morton Hospital also in Taunton and Holy Cross Father James Doherty. Always carrying his beeper, Bedard is on call 24/7 in case of emergencies. A retired state worker who served in the U.S. military, Bedard said he “tries to meet the spiritual needs of Catholic patients at the hospital. I visit with them and pray with them, and administer holy Communion. Each day Father Murphy and I pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for out patients before the Blessed Sacrament which is kept in our office.”

Bedard has been with the hospital for four years. He applied for the pastoral care position when the Sisters who were working there were called to serve elsewhere. “I find it extremely rewarding dealing with people in various conditions of emotional states,” he told The Anchor. “I’ve learned an awful lot from them.”

In addition to making his daily rounds, Bedard provides direction to the many hospital volunteers who serve as extraordinary ministers of holy Communion, conducts Communion prayer services and religious services for the behavioral unit and the elderly.

He also visits residents of group homes who aren’t mobile enough to attend Mass and additionally he conducts Communion services at Taunton State Hospital.

For Deacon Daniel M. Donovan, who ministers at St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham, the road to the diaconate started while attending a Cursillo retreat weekend at Stonehill College in 1997. “That weekend moved my life along,”

Donovan told The Anchor. “After that, I made a pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi and I felt a calling to become involved in prison ministry. When I returned I became involved at the Plymouth House of Correction. In 2002 Deacon Dick Murphy asked me to fill in for someone who was ill at the Barnstable House of Correction.

It was there while working on a Residents Encounter Christ weekend retreat that I felt the calling to become a deacon.”

Donovan was ordained as a permanent deacon in 2007 and continued his ministry at the Barnstable facility.

“I truly love reaching out to the prisoners,” Donovan said. “You never know what to expect. God called me to this ministry, and I’ll continue until they plant me in the ground. It’s a comfort zone for me. I get as much out of it as I give, and more.”

Some of Donovan’s duties at the prison include “going from pod to pod visiting the inmates and reaching out to the men and women there.” On Monday evenings he’s part of a small gathering of REC members and women inmates in a sharing session, and on Tuesdays it’s the same for male inmates. Wednesdays entail the pod-to-pod sessions, and he also facilitates short services for the inmates during the week, and on Sundays he conducts services for men and women inmates.

Donovan is also heavily involved in the REC weekend retreats that are conducted six times a year; three for men and three for women. “The REC volunteers are incredible people and are crucial to the success,” Donovan said.

“And we couldn’t do any of it without a corps of priests we have who come in and offer the Sacrament of Reconciliation. These weekends wouldn’t fly without the availability of Confession.”

Donovan said while there are about 500 inmates, only a relatively small amount of them take advantage of spiritual ministry.

“It’s not about the numbers,” he said. “If you’re in it for the numbers, you’re in the wrong business. It’s about reaching out and giving someone a hug and being there to listen. These are people who are hurting and lonely. And those who end up returning, are embarrassed. We don’t judge.”

Regarding his prison ministry and the parish responsibilities as a deacon, Donovan said that the Church needs lay people and deacons to fulfill their vocations alongside priests in order to fulfill Christ’s mission on earth.

Currently there are 15 men aspiring to become permanent deacons in the diocese. The candidates are in their third year of formation and preparation, with two more to go.

September 30, 2011

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese

Acushnet — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Monday and Tuesday from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Thursday from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Evening prayer and Benediction is held Monday through Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

ATTLEBORO — St. Joseph Church holds eucharistic adoration in the Adoration Chapel located at the (south) side entrance at 208 South Main Street, Sunday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Brewster — Eucharistic adoration takes place in the La Salette Chapel in the lower level of Our Lady of the Cape Church, 468 Stony Brook Road, on First Fridays following the 11 a.m. Mass until 7:45 a.m. on the First Saturday, concluding with Benediction and Mass. buzzards Bay — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Margaret Church, 141 Main Street, every first Friday after the 8 a.m. Mass and ending the following day before the 8 a.m. Mass.

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

East Sandwich — Eucharistic adoration takes place at the Corpus Christi Parish Adoration Chapel, 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, Monday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday, 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. Also, 24-hour eucharistic adoration takes place on the First Friday of every month.

EAST TAUNTON — Eucharistic adoration takes place in the chapel at Holy Family Parish Center, 438 Middleboro Avenue, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. On First Fridays, eucharistic adoration takes place at Holy Family Church, 370 Middleboro Avenue, following the 8 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 8 p.m.

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

Fall River — Espirito Santo Parish, 311 Alden Street, Fall River. Eucharistic adoration on Mondays following the 8:00 a.m. Mass until Rosary and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.

FALL RIVER — Notre Dame Church, 529 Eastern Ave., has eucharistic adoration on Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the chapel.

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

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

FALL RIVER — Good Shepherd Parish has eucharistic adoration every Friday following the 8 a.m. Mass until 6 p.m. in the Daily Mass Chapel. There is a bilingual Holy Hour in English and Portuguese from 5-6 p.m. Park behind the church and enter the back door of the connector between the church and the rectory.

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

HYANNIS — A Holy Hour with eucharistic adoration will take place each First Friday at St. Francis Xavier Church, 347 South Street, beginning immediately after the 12:10 p.m. Mass and ending with adoration at 4 p.m.

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

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

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

NORTH DARTMOUTH — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Julie Billiart Church, 494 Slocum Road, every Tuesday from 7 to 8 p.m., ending with Benediction. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available at this time.

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

OSTERVILLE — Eucharistic adoration takes place at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 76 Wianno Avenue on First Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and every Friday from noon to 5 p.m., with Benediction at 5 p.m.

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

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

WAREHAM — Adoration with opportunities for private and formal prayer is offered on the First Friday of each month from 8:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Church, High Street. The Prayer Schedule is as follows: 7:30 a.m. the Rosary; 8 a.m.

Mass; 8:30 a.m. exposition and Morning Prayer; 12 p.m. the Angelus; 3 p.m. Divine Mercy Chaplet; 5:30 p.m. Evening Prayer; 7 p.m. Sacrament of Confession; 8 p.m.

Benediction.

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

WOODS HOLE — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Joseph’s Church, 33 Millfield Street, year-round on weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. No adoration on Sundays, Wednesdays, and holidays. For information call 508-274-5435.

19

The Anchor

Our readers respond

Beware of NEA At its recent annual meeting in Chicago, the executive board of the National Education Association (NEA) continued to push fullthrottle ahead on an agenda that has very little to do with education and very much to do with promoting abortion, same-sex marriage and various other staples of a leftist agenda. How many teachers actually support radical positions on abortion and the redefinition of marriage and want their money going to promote this agenda? In Chicago, the executive board approved an expenditure of 60 million dollars — that’s “million,” from the dues of hard-working teachers across the United States — to support the re-election of Barack Obama and delegates were asked to approve an early endorsement of him. This was even before anyone has decided whether to challenge him in the primary and

before anyone has been elected to oppose him in the general election — and therefore before there was even any knowledge of the educational policies of those who would be running against President Obama.

Do teachers want their money going to support his reelection no matter who runs against him and no matter what their policies on education and other issues? The total politicization of the NEA is crucial for us in Massachusetts, because here teachers must become members of the teacher’s union to work in public schools.

Many other states are now enacting “Right to Work” laws that say that people have a right to work without being compelled to join a union, especially a union that uses their money to support causes they don’t believe in or candidates even before their opponents are known. This is one

Around the Diocese 10/1

A dedication of the statue of St. Therese of the Child Jesus will take place at St. Lawrence Martyr Church, 565 County Street, New Bedford tomorrow beginning with a Mass at 11:30 a.m. followed by the dedication. Light refreshments will be served. For more information call 508-992-4251.

10/1

A Day of Reflection titled “Fall Back in Love with God” will be held in the St. Francis Xavier Prep School Gymnasium in Hyannis, located behind St. Francis Xavier Church, tomorrow from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., ending with a 4 p.m. Mass in St. Francis Xavier Church.

10/1

A Day with Mary will take place tomorrow from 7:50 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. at Corpus Christi Parish, 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, East Sandwich. It will include a video instruction, a procession and crowning of the Blessed Mother along with Mass, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and an opportunity for Reconciliation. For more information call 774-328-8394.

10/2

On Sunday Sacred Heart Church at the corner of Seabury and Pine Streets in Fall River will hold its annual Chopstick Auction.

Doors will open after the 10 a.m. Mass and food will be available beginning at 11:30 a.m. The auction will start at 1 p.m. and there will be more than 100 gifts, four special items and a $500 cash raffle, all to benefit the parish.

10/2

Massachusetts Citizens for Life is sponsoring the annual Respect for Life Walk to Aid Mothers and Children on Sunday beginning at 2:30 p.m. at the Boston Commons. The Greater Fall River MCFL Chapter is sponsoring a bus to bring local walkers to Boston Commons for a small fare. The central pickup location is in the parking lot of Immaculate Conception Church in Fall River. Departure time will be 12:30 p.m.

There will be a second pickup at the Taunton Galleria Mall Park and Ride in Taunton at approximately 12:45 p.m. To reserve seats or for more information call 508-674-8695 or 508-415-2599.

10/7

The Fall River Area Men’s First Friday Club will meet October 7 at the Parish of the Good Shepherd, 1598 South Main Street, Fall River. Following the 6 p.m. Mass celebrated by Father Freddie Babiczuk, there will be a hot meal in the church hall. The guest speaker is Joseph “Ben” Levesque, retired Capt. Fire Fighter, active in Knights of Columbus. Any gentleman wishing to attend may do so. Call Norman Valiquette at 508-672-8174 for guest seat reservations or with any questions.

10/7

The public is invited to join in a Rosary Prayer at 11 a.m. on October 7, at the Rosary Walk on the grounds of the Father Peyton Center, 518 Washington Street, Easton, in observance of the Feast of our Lady of the Rosary. Mass will be celebrated at noon in the chapel of the center. For additional information call Holy Cross Family Ministries at 508-238-4095 or visit www.FamilyRosary.org.

10/8

On October 8, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Route 6 in Wellfleet, will hold its annual Holly Fair from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The event will feature theme baskets, ornaments, toys, wreaths, a teacup raffle, quilts and paintings by local artists, baked goods, homemade items, silent auctions, a white elephant table, and much more. Refreshments including hot dogs, stuffed quahogs and chili will be served. Santa will also make an appearance from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The Men’s Club and the Ladies Guild of St. Elizabeth Seton Parish, North Falmouth, will host “La Bella Notte” on October 12 at 6 p.m. Experience a beautiful Italian-themed night of live accordion music and food prepared onsite including fresh antipasto, scala bread and butter, chicken Parmesan, penne pasta, meatballs in marinara sauce and seasoned vegetables. Social hour is from 6 to 7 p.m. with complimentary beverages and hors d’oeuvres. Dessert will include Italian cookies and mini-pastries with coffee and tea. For tickets or more information call 508457-6282.

10/12 10/13

A Healing Mass will be celebrated on October 13 at St. Anne’s Church, 818 Middle Street, Fall River beginning with recitation of the Rosary at 6 p.m., followed by Mass and Benediction and healing prayers immediately after.

reason why Catholic and others should demand that our legislators enact “Right to Work” laws for Massachusetts — now!

Patricia Stebbins East Sandwich Becoming a prayer vigil crusader To be Pro-Life, one must subscribe to the culture of life, not just be against abortion but against euthanasia, physician assisted suicide, life-ending sentencing in the penal code and all forms of life-ending measures. To be Pro-Life is to be a crusader for life in prayer, thought and action.

Several avenues of participation are available to pray: prayer vigils at abortion clinics; private prayer in the solace of one’s home; group prayer vigils in homes or churches. You can find such a prayer vigil at St. Dominic’s Church in Swansea every Tuesday at noon.

We invite people to join with us in becoming a prayer vigil crusader for life.

Joseph Ben Levesque Swansea Letters are welcome but the editor reserves the right to condense or edit for clarity if deemed necessary. Letters should be typed, no longer than 100 words and should include name, address, and telephone number. Letters do not necessarily reflect the editorial views of The Anchor.

Letters should be sent to: The Anchor, Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722, or fatherrogerlandry@ anchornews.org.

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Oct. 1 Most. Rev. William O. Brady, S.T.D. Archbishop of St. Paul, 1961 Oct. 2 Rev. Joseph E. Sutula, Pastor, St. Casimir, New Bedford, 1961 Rev. Rene R. Levesque, Pastor, Blessed Sacrament, Fall River, 1999 Oct. 3 Rev. Msgr. Arthur G. Considine, Retired Pastor, St. Mary, South Dartmouth, 1991 Oct. 5 Rev. Jean D. Pare, O.P., Assistant Director, St. Anne Shrine, Fall River, 1999 Oct. 6 Rev. Stephen B. Magill, Assistant, Immaculate Conception, North Easton, 1916 Rev. Roland Brodeur, Uniondale, N.Y., 1987 Oct. 7 Rev. Caesar Phares, Pastor, St. Anthony of the Desert, Fall River, 1951 Rev. Msgr. Arthur G. Dupuis, Retired Pastor, St. Louis de France, Swansea, 1975 Rev. Andrew Jahn, SS.CC., Sacred Hearts Seminary, Wareham, 1988

20

The Anchor

September 30, 2011

My View From the Stands

By Dave Jolivet

I

Good for them

was one of the thousands across New England last weekend licking my wounds after the Patriots floundered a 21-point lead against the Buffalo Bills en route to a 34-31 loss.

One loss does not make or break a season, unless, of course, it’s in the playoffs. But with only 16 games a season, each loss seems magnified. It stays with you for a whole week. In baseball, the sting of a loss only stays for a day or two before it’s soothed with another win (except for the Red Sox in September, but that’s another story).

So as the shock was wearing off last Sunday at about six o’clock or so, I started to feel less sorry for myself and thought about the people in Buffalo. During the game I was irked at how the crowd at Ralph Wilson Stadium was a whoopin’ and a hollerin’ as the Pats fell apart at the seams.

In my cool-down period I realized they weren’t acting any differently than the crazies at Gillette Stadium for the last 10 years.

I put myself in Buffalo shoes (not literally) and it felt kind of good to sense what the people in western, upstate New York were feeling. It’s been so long since they’ve tasted football success — any sports success for that matter, since their Buffalo Sabres are a perennial disappointment as well. But the 2011 Bills appear to be the real deal.

These nice people living southeast of Niagara Falls are moms, dads and kids just like we are.

They love their football just as passionately as we do. And they live in an area clobbered by snowstorms all winter long. They don’t need a low pressure system meeting a cold front to get a 12-inch “dusting.” Nestled so near Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, Buffalonians absorb the wrath of this pair of Great Lakes that create it’s own weather systems. So wouldn’t it be nice for the Bills to warm up the season for them.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a Patriots fan tried and true — since the 60s. But I’ve already adopted the city of Buffalo for the season. If the Pats can’t make it to the promised land, I’ll be rooting for the Bills. With our four Boston-area teams accounting for seven championships in the last decade, I almost feel guilty wishing for another. Almost. But deep down, I would like to see Buffalo, N.Y. noted for more than hot wings and a massive falling river.

But only for one year. Guilt only goes so far.

To advertise in The Anchor, contact Wayne Powers at 508-675-7151 or Email waynepowers@ anchornews.org