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Diocese of Fall River, Mass.

F riday , October 2, 2015

Area pilgrims share in papal history

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff beckyaubut@anchornews.org

PHILADELPHIA — The group from the Fall River Diocese making the trip alongside this Anchor reporter may have been small in number, but they were large in Spirit as the 14 pilgrims made their way to Philadelphia to the participate in the World Meeting of Families and to see Pope Francis.

Sister Marianna Sylvester, R.S.M., a member of Our Lady of Assumption Parish in New Bedford, said that making the decision to attend the World Meeting of Families didn’t require much thought; she wanted to be part of history, she said.

“I knew he was coming to the United States and I felt it was a moment of Catholic history,” said Sister Sylvester. “I decided that I wanted to be visible, not an invisible, member of the Catholic Church.

Some people say living life to the fullest is at least showing up and being there.

“Pope Francis knows how to focus in on the critical concerns for humanity. I’m a Sister of Mercy and for the last 15 years our chapter developed a framework for our work, and it all has to do with human dignity, and the vision is local and global. When I listen to him, I get very excited because it’s not a hidden message. He’s taken the theology of social justice and made it personal and global at the same time.”

For Odete and Joe Depina, members of Espirito Santo Parish in Fall River, seeing Pope Francis would be an opportunity to add to their growing list of trips that have included seeing past popes: “I wanted to see Pope Francis,” said Odete. “I have seen John Paul, Pope Benedict, and I wanted to see the Holy Father. I was very happy to see him, and be able to be with everybody. I was very surprised to see so many young people, and at the same time very happy, because it’s the future, the Church of tomorrow.”

Turn to page 12

Sister Marianna Sylvester, R.S.M., member of Our Lady of Assumption Parish in New Bedford, and Eleanor Fischer, member of St. Joan of Arc Parish in Orleans, have some fun while waiting for the papal Mass to start and posed for a ‘picture’ with Pope Francis as he made his way down Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. (Photo by Becky Aubut)

The canonization of St. Junipero Serra in historical perspective

By Dwight G. Duncan Anchor Columnist dduncan@umassd.edu

A group of parishioners gathered last Sunday at St. Pius X Parish in South Yarmouth for an afternoon of “Patriots and the Pope.” They watched the 1 p.m. Patriots game followed by Pope Francis’ 4 p.m. Mass at the conclusion of the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. Here are some attendees during halftime.

Retired diocesan priests captivated

by Pope Francis’ U.S. visit

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff kensouza@anchornews.org

FALL RIVER — On any given weekday morning, it’s a sure bet that you’ll find at least a few residents of the Cardinal Medeiros Home for

Retired Priests gathered in the facility’s spacious community room after breakfast, enjoying coffee, some light conversation, and the fellowship of their brother priests.

But with the wall-to-wall media Turn to page 18

that no one could be venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church without the approval of the pope, papal canonization has WASHINGTON, been a prerequisite to D.C. — When Pope the public recognition of Francis formally declared someone’s holiness. UsuJunipero Serra to be a ally, canonizations occur saint on September 23 in Rome, for obvious reaat Washington, D.C.’s sons. And, indeed, all the basilica, the National previous canonizations Shrine of the Immacuof Americans have taken late Conception, the first place in Rome, starting pope to be called Francis with St. Isaac Jogues and chalked up at least three his companions in 1930, other significant firsts for and most recently in the Catholic Church in 2012, SS. Kateri Tekakthe United States: It was witha , a native American the first time a saint was from what became New canonized in this country, York, and Marianne the first time a HispanicCope, a nun who worked American was canonized selflessly in Molokai for the United States, ministering to lepers for and the first time Pope Pope Francis pauses in front of decades after St. Damien Francis ever celebrated the sculpture of St. Junipero Ser- died. ra in Statuary Hall at the U.S. CapMass here.

Vatican II stressed Ever since Pope Alex- itol in Washington. (CNS photo/ that everyone is called to ander III in 1170 decreed Michael Reynolds, pool) Turn to page 14

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October 2, 2015 Pope Francis in the U.S. Serve, care for each other, pope tells families at closing Mass Pope Francis held up the family as vital to building the Church for the future. He said love must be freely shared for faith to grow.

“That is why our families, our homes, are true domestic churches — they are the right place for faith to become life, and life to become faith,” he said.

“Little gestures” of love exist

They are little signs of tenderness, affection and compassion,” he said.

“Like the warm supper we look forward to at night, the early lunch awaiting someone who gets up early to go to work.

Homely gestures. Like a blessing before we go to bed, or a hug after we return from a hard day’s work. Love is shown by little things, by attention to small

PHILADELPHIA (CNS) — Pope Francis urged the hundreds of thousands of people gathered for the closing Mass of the World Meeting of Families to serve and care for each other as freely as God loves the human family.

The pope called upon the faithful to embrace signs that the Holy Spirit can work through everyone. He referred to the readings in the multilingual Mass — from the Book of Numbers and the Gospel of Mark — in which members of the faith community questioned the work of those not part of their group and for prophesying in the name of God. “To raise doubts about the working of the Spirit, to give the impression that it cannot take place in those who are not ‘part of our group,’ who are not ‘like us,’ is a dangerous temptation,” the pope said. “Not only does it block conversion to the faith; it is a perversion of faith. Faith opens a window to the presence and working of the Spirit.

It shows us that, like happiness, holiness is always tied to little gestures.”

Illustrating his point before the Mass, Pope Francis engaged in “little gestures” himself along the papal parade route to the Mass, kissing and blessing many babies brought to him from the sidewalk throngs by Secret Service agents, who themselves managed to crack smiles after days of maintaining a stern demeanor as they guarded the pontiff.

Pope Francis recalled that Jesus encountered “hostility from people who did not accept what He said and did,” say-

ing they thought it intolerable that Christ was open to honest and sincere faith from men and women who were not part of God’s chosen people.

“The disciples, for their part, acted in good faith. But the temptation to be scandalized by the freedom of God, Who sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous alike, bypassing bureaucracy, officialdom and inner

circles, threatens the authenticity of faith. Hence it must be vigorously rejected,” he said.

“Once we realize this, we can understand why Jesus’ words about causing ‘scandal’ are so harsh. For Jesus, the truly ‘intolerable’ scandal consists in everything that breaks down and destroys our trust in the working of the Spirit,” he continued.

daily in the lives of family and serve to carry on God’s love as well, Pope Francis explained.

“These little gestures are those we learn at home, in the family.

They get lost amid all the other things we do, yet they do make each day different. They are the quiet things done by mothers and grandmothers, by fathers and grandfathers, by children.

daily signs which make us feel at home.”

Pope Francis asked the worshipers to consider how they share God’s love with people in their families and in the world around them.

“What kind of world do we want to leave to our children?” he asked, referencing a line in his encyclical “Laudato Si’, On

NEW YORK (CNS) — Seeing New York for the first time in his 78 years of life, Pope Francis said he knew Madison Square Garden was an important gathering place for sporting events and concerts. For him, it was transformed into a chapel in the heart of the Big Apple.

True peace in a big city comes from seeing the vast variety of people not as a bother, but as a brother or sister, Pope Francis said in his homily during the Mass at “The Garden” where 20,000 people gathered to pray with him.

With tough security and long lines, people arrived hours early. They prayed and listened to inspirational music sung live by Gloria Estefan, Jennifer Hudson and Harry Connick Jr.

Before vesting for Mass, Pope Francis entered the arena in an electric cart, riding up and down the aisles, kissing babies and blessing several sick children.

In his homily, the pope urged the congregation to go out into the city, to seek the face of Jesus in the poor and suffering and to share the joy of the Gospel with all.

Jesus urges His disciples “to go out and meet others where they really are, not where we think they should be,” Pope Francis said.

“Go out to others and share the Good News that God, our Father, walks at our side,” the pope told them. “He frees us from anonymity, from a life of emptiness and selfishness” and moves people to encounter and

to peace instead of competition.

The pope had visited Ground Zero earlier in the day, participating in an interreligious service for peace. The evening Mass used the readings and prayers for a Mass for peace and justice.

The first reading, from the Book of Isaiah, began with the passage, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.”

People who are faithful to God, the pope said, “can see, discern and contemplate His living presence” in the midst of the city.

“The people who walk, breathe and live in the midst of smog, have seen a great light, have experienced a breath of fresh air.”

The pope, who was born in and served as archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, a city

of three million people, said he knows it is not always easy living in a big city, especially one made up of people of dozens of different languages and cultures.

However, he said, those differences are riches that express “all the different ways we human beings have discovered to express the meaning of life.”

Pope Francis recited most of the Mass prayers in English, although he read the Eucharistic Prayer in Latin. He preached in Spanish and the prayers of the faithful were offered in Italian, German, Polish and Tigrinya, one of the languages spoken in Ethiopia.

For Christians, the real challenge of big cities is the way that they can “conceal the faces” of people who don’t fit in or even

Pope Francis gives a copy of the Gospel of Luke to a family during the closing Mass of the World Meeting of Families on Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Care for Our Common Home.”

“Our common house can no longer tolerate sterile divisions,” he continued. “The urgent challenge of protecting our home includes the effort to bring the entire human family together in the pursuit of a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change.”

The pope asked the congregation to consider how they treat each other in their own home.

“Do we shout or do we speak to each other with love and tenderness? That’s a good way of measuring our love.”

Calling the Church to renew faith in the Word of God, the pope said people can live prophetic lives as a “kind of miracle in today’s world.”

“Would that we could all be prophets. Would that all of us could be open to miracles of love for the sake of all the families of the world, and thus overcome the scandal of a narrow, petty love, closed in on itself, impatient of others,” he said.

As the Mass concluded, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, who also was lead Vatican organizer of the World Meeting of Families, announced the next meeting will take place in Dublin, in 2018.

Six families, representing five continents, received copies of the Gospel of Luke. Families from Syria, Vietnam, France, Australia, Congo and Cuba were chosen for their Church involvement and faith life. The Vatican also planned to distribute 100,000 copies of Luke’s Gospel in the families’ home countries.

Pope brings Gospel of ‘encounter’ to Madison Square Garden

are treated as if they had no right to be there, Pope Francis said.

“They are the foreigners, the children who go without schooling, those deprived of medical insurance, the homeless, the forgotten elderly.”

Too many people just walk by them, he said. They have become part of the “urban landscape.”

But being a Christian means seeing Jesus in others, all of them, and actually looking for His face in the faces of those who usually are ignored, the pope said.

The Christian virtue of hope frees people from isolation and self-absorption, it is “unafraid of involvement,” he said, and it “makes us see, even in the midst of the smog, the presence of God as He continues to walk the streets of our city.”

October 2, 2015

Pope Francis in the U.S.

Pope Francis shows Americans who he really is

PHILADELPHIA (CNS) — Pope Francis speaks often about memory and motion, the importance of remembering where you came from and setting off without fear to share the Gospel.

That’s what he did in the United States. He circled the Statue of Liberty in a helicopter and flew over Ellis Island not preparing to condemn the world’s great superpower, but to reflect on its history and promise as a land that welcomes people, makes them part of the family and allows them to thrive.

Over the course of six days in the United States, Pope Francis let the U.S. public see who he really is with touching blessings, strong speeches, prayerful Liturgies and an unplugged proclamation of the beauty of family life, even when it includes flying saucers.

With constant television coverage and a saturated social media presence, Pope Francis was no longer just the subject of screaming headlines about the evils of unbridled capitalism and a “who-am-I-to judge” attitude towards people whose behaviors the Catholic Church describes as sinful.

Instead, he repeatedly admitted his own failures and reminded people they, too, have fallen short. He urged them to trust in God’s mercy and get a move on proclaiming that to the world — first with gestures and maybe with words.

Sin is sin even for Pope Francis. Human life is Sacred at every stage of its development, and that includes the lives of convicted murders, he said during the visit. People are blessed and at their best when they are part of a family composed of a mother, a father, children and grandparents. The well-being of a nation is served by businesses and enterprises that make money, but that do not make money their god.

The pope’s proclamation of the Gospel in Washington, New York and Philadelphia September 22-27 focused on reinvigorating people’s faith, hope, trust and commitment to loving God, serving others and living up to the founding ideals of the United States: equality, opportunity for all, religious liberty and the Sacred dignity of every creature — human especially, but also the earth.

Pope Francis had never been in the United States before landing in Washington September 22. He was welcomed to the White House and became the first pope to address a joint meeting of Congress. He joined leaders of other religions in honoring the dead and comforting their surviving family members

at Ground Zero in New York.

He addressed the United Nations. And, in Philadelphia, using a lectern once used by Abraham Lincoln, he called for respect for religious freedom and for ethnic and cultural differences.

At home and abroad, Pope Francis scrutinizes people and identifies something good and beautiful in them. He affirms their core concerns, and he challenges them to grow.

For the Catholic Church — in the United States as elsewhere — the key challenge is “not about building walls, but about breaking them down,” as he told the bishops, clergy and religious of Pennsylvania.

From the beginning of his trip — September 19 in Havana — the pope made it clear that with all the important meetings he would have, his primary purpose was to join the celebration of the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia September 26-27.

And he insisted it be a celebration, not a funeral or a simply a session for rallying the obedient, loyal troops before they set out to battle.

The big challenge, he told more than 100 bishops who came to the meeting from around the world, is to recognize just how many beautiful families God has blessed the Church with.

“For the Church, the family is not first and foremost a cause for concern, but rather the joyous confirmation of God’s blessing upon the masterpiece of Creation,” he told the bishops.

“Every day, all over the world, the Church can rejoice in the Lord’s gift of so many families who, even amid difficult trials, remain faithful to their promises and keep the faith!”

Tossing aside the text he had prepared for the nighttime festival of families, Pope Francis had tens of thousands of people watching him with awe or with laughter or with tears as he described the blessing of real-life families.

“Some of you might say, ‘Of course, Father, you speak like that because you’re not married,’” he admitted. But he proved he knew what he was talking about.

“Families have difficulties. Families — we quarrel, sometimes plates can fly, and children bring headaches. I won’t speak about mothers-in-law,” he quipped.

But mothers-in-law deserve a break and understanding, if one applies the pope’s words to the bishops the next morning and to hundreds of thousands of people gathered on Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway for the event’s closing Mass.

Trust the Holy Spirit, he told the crowds. Recognize that God

is at work in the world. Treasure the little daily gestures that show love within a family. Affirm all those who do good, whether or not they are “part of our group.”

“Anyone who wants to bring into this world a family which teaches children to be excited by every gesture aimed at overcoming evil — a family which shows that the Spirit is alive and at work — will encounter our gratitude and our appreciation.

Whatever the family, people, region, or religion to which they belong!” he said.

3 Diocese of Fall River

OFFICIAL

His Excellency, the Most Reverend Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., D.D., Bishop of Fall River, has made the following appointment: Rev. Edward A. Murphy and Rev. Octavio Cortez, I.V.E., Pastors in solidum of Saint Anthony of Padua Parish in New Bedford.

Effective: September 22, 2015

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October 2, 2015 Pope Francis in the U.S. Be shepherds concerned only for God and others, pope tells U.S. bishops

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Acknowledging the real challenges and burdens the U.S. bishops face in their ministry, Pope Francis shared with them his own experience as a pastor and urged them to keep their eyes focused on Jesus and their hearts open to others.

“Woe to us,” he said, “if we make of the cross a banner of worldly struggles and fail to realize that the price of lasting victory is allowing ourselves to be wounded and consumed.”

The 78-year-old pope met the U.S. bishops September 23 in Washington’s Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle for midday prayer. His speech to them, delivered in Italian, was to be among the longest of those he would give in the United States.

“I did not come to judge you or to lecture,” the pope said, but he wanted to address the bishops “as a brother among brothers, “one who served as archbishop of a large, diverse archdiocese and now, “in old age,” is called to encourage Catholics around the world.

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, welcomed

Pope Francis, telling him, “Your humble witness that no one is beyond the healing power of Christ’s mercy and love energizes the Church.

True to our heritage, we seek to spread the Good News so that each human life is cherished and given an opportunity to flourish.”

The pope also was welcomed by Washington Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, who rode with Pope Francis in the popemobile part of the way from the White House to the cathedral.

A majority of the country’s more than 400 bishops were present for the meeting. Many of them, after arriving in a bus caravan, stopped to take photos with their smartphones of a cream-colored sign above the center cathedral doors that read, “Welcome Pope Francis.”

Dozens of office workers in high-rise buildings around the cathedral pressed their faces or smartphones to the glass windows in hopes of getting a better glimpse and photo of the pontiff on the steps leading up the cathedral.

In his speech, Pope Francis focused on the basic qualities needed in a shepherd, a pastor called to share the Good News of Jesus Christ and God’s mercy in word and deeds.

The Catholic Church in the United States already excels at that mission in so many ways, the pope told them. “Whenever a hand reaches out to do

Pope Francis arrives to the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle for a meeting with U.S. bishops September 23 in Washington. Seen in the photo insets are Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, OFM Cap., of Boston; Bishop Emeritus George W. Coleman and Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha of the Fall River Diocese. (CNS photo/Jonathan Newton, pool)

good or to show the love of Christ, to dry a tear or bring comfort to the lonely, to show the way to one who is lost or to console a broken heart, to help the fallen or to teach those thirsting for truth, to forgive or to offer a new start in God, know that the pope is at your side and supports you.”

He also praised the bishops’ defense of the unborn and the U.S. Catholic community’s history of welcoming and assisting migrants and refugees.

Pope Francis also acknowledged the “courage” and the “mortification and great sacrifice” made by the U.S. bishops as they came to grips with the clerical sexual abuse crisis and its impact on survivors.

“I realize how much the pain of recent years has weighed upon you, and I have supported your generous commitment to bring healing to victims — in the knowledge that in healing we, too, are healed — and to work to ensure that such crimes will never be repeated,” he said.

At the same time, Pope Francis insisted that no matter the challenge, the misunderstanding and even hostility the bishops face, they cannot stop “to lick one’s wounds, to think back on bygone times and to devise harsh responses to fierce opposition.”

The ministry with which they have been entrusted is God’s, not theirs, he said.

Compassion, joy, inclusivity, simplicity, dialogue, self-giving, mercy and humility must mark a bishops’ ministry, the pope told them.

“As pastors, we know well how much darkness and cold there is in this world,” he told them. But the Church can attract people by being “the family fire” that offers warmth, comfort and community.

To do that, the Church must be certain of “the embers” of Christ’s presence, “kindled in the fire of His passion,” he said. “Whenever this certainty weakens, we end up being caretakers of ash, and not guardians and dispensers of the true light and the warmth which causes our hearts to burn within us.”

Sharing the faith, he said, “is not about preaching complicated doctrines, but joyfully proclaiming Christ Who died and rose for our sake.”

People need to know that the message is for them, not for an abstract group, or worse, for a group of like-minded people, Pope Francis insisted.

“May the Word of God grant meaning and fullness to every aspect of their lives; may the Sacraments nourish them with that food which they cannot

procure for themselves; may the closeness of the shepherd make them long once again for the Father’s embrace.”

Bishops, he said, must “flee the temptation of narcissism” and recognize that “we fall into hopeless decline whenever we confuse the power of strength with the strength of that powerlessness with which God has redeemed us.”

Encounter and dialogue must be the hallmarks of a bishop’s interactions with others, especially with those who hold differing opinions, the pope said. Dialogue is not “a shrewd strategy” but the path Jesus chose to offer His love to all people.

Without listening and dialogue, he said, “we fail to understand the thinking of others or to realize deep down that the brother or sister we wish to reach and redeem with the power and the closeness of love, counts more than their positions, distant as they may be from what we hold as true and certain.”

“Harsh and divisive language does not befit the tongue of a pastor,” Pope Francis said. “It has no place in his heart; although it may momentarily seem to win the day, only the enduring allure of goodness and love remains truly convincing.”

Pope Francis in the U.S. Pope to Congress: Stop bickering, world needs your help

October 2, 2015

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The past, the promise and the potential of the United States must not be smothered by bickering and even hatred at a time when the U.S. people and indeed the world need a helping hand, Pope Francis told the U.S. Congress.

Making history by being the first pope ever to address a joint meeting of Congress, Pope Francis was introduced to the legislators by the House sergeant at arms September 24 as: “Mr. Speaker, the pope of the Holy See.” The pope introduced himself, though, as a son of the American continent, who had been blessed by the “new world” and felt a responsibility toward it.

In a long speech, he gave the sense that he sees the United States as a country divided, one so focused on calling each other names that it risks losing sight of how impressive it can be when its people come together for the common good. That is when it is a beacon of hope for the world, he said.

Pope Francis condemned legalized abortion, the death penalty and unscrupulous weapons sales. He called on Congress to “seize the moment” by moving forward with normalizing relations with Cuba. And, again referring to himself as a “son of immigrants” — and pointing out that many of the legislators are, too — he pleaded for greater openness to accepting immigrants.

A reporter had asked the pope in July about why he spoke so much about the poor and about the rich, but rarely about the lives and struggles of the hard-working, tax-paying middle class.

The result of a papal promise to correct that was the speech to Congress and through Congress to the American people.

“I would like to take this opportunity to dialogue with the many thousands of men and women who strive each day to do an honest day’s work, to bring home their daily bread, to save money and — one step at a time — to build a better life for their families,” the pope said.

“These are men and women who are not concerned simply with paying their taxes, but in their own quiet way sustain the life of society,” he said. “They generate solidarity by their actions, and they create organizations which offer a helping hand to those most in need.”

Showing he had studied the United States before the visit — something he said he would do during the Rome August break — he used four iconic U.S. citizens as relevant models of virtue for Americans today: Abraham Lincoln, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day and Father Thomas Merton.

“A nation can be considered great when it defends liberty as Lincoln did; when it fosters a culture which enables people to ‘dream’ of full rights for all their brothers and sisters as Martin Luther King sought to do; when it

strives for justice and the cause of the oppressed as Dorothy Day did by her tireless work; the fruit of a faith which becomes dialogue and sows peace in the contemplative style of Thomas Merton,” the pope said.

Describing political service with the same tone used to describe a vocation to religious life — “you have been invited, called and convened by those who elected you” — the pope recognized the weighty responsibility of being a member of the U.S. Congress.

Dialogue, he said, is the only way to handle the pressure and fulfill the call to serve the common good, promoting a culture of “hope and healing, of peace and justice.”

For the speech, Pope Francis stood in the House chamber in front of Rep. John Boehner, speaker of the House and a Republican from Ohio, and Vice President Joe Biden, president of the Senate. Both men are Catholics.

Besides the senators, representatives and their invited guests, the attendees included members of the U.S. Supreme Court and members of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet.

Tens thousands of people watched the speech on giant screen from the Capitol’s West Lawn. Gathered hours before the pope’s morning visit, they were entertained by military bands.

In his speech, Pope Francis gave strong support to several concerns of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic faithful, including defending the right of people to publicly live their faith and join political policy debates from a faith-based perspective.

“It is important that today, as in the past, the voice of faith continue to be heard, for it is a voice of fraternity and love, which tries to bring out the best in each person and in each society,” he said. The dialogue the country needs must be respectful of “our differences and our convictions of conscience.”

“Every life is Sacred,” he insisted, calling for the “global abolition of the death penalty” and the “responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development.”

Some U.S. politicians and pundits have expressed confusion or even anger over Pope Francis’ teaching about the damage provoked when money becomes a god and profits count more than people. The pope insists his words are straight out of Catholic social teaching.

His speech to Congress included more of that teaching, delving deeper into the positive aspects of a market economy — as long as it is ethical and includes controls, solidarity and a safety net for the poorest and weakest members of society.

“The creation and distribution of wealth” obviously is important for continued efforts to reduce poverty in the United States and around the globe, he said. “The right use of natural resources, the proper application of technol-

ogy and the harnessing of the spirit of enterprise are essential elements of an economy which seeks to be modern, inclusive and sustainable.”

“Business is a noble vocation” when it seeks the common good, Pope Francis said. And today, he told legislators, the common good includes protecting the environment and taking bold steps “to avert the most serious effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity.”

After his speech, Boehner led Pope Francis through the Capitol’s Statuary Hall and showed him a statue of St. Junipero Serra, whom the pope canonized the previous day.

The pope then proceeded to the

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West Portico of the Capitol, where tens of thousands of people with tickets had waited for hours.

“Good morning, everyone,” he said in Spanish, then blessed the crowd.

“I am so grateful for your welcome and your presence here, especially for the most important ones here — the children. I will ask God to bless you.

‘Lord, Father of all, bless this people, bless each one of them, bless their families, give them what they need most. And I ask you all please to pray for me. And if there are among you any who do not believe or cannot pray, I ask you please to send good wishes my way.

Thank you. Thank you very much. And God bless America.”

Pope Francis addresses a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress as Vice President Joe Biden (left) and Speaker of the House John Boehner look on in the House of Representatives Chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (CNS photo/Kevin Lamarque, Reuters)

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October 2, 2015

Anchor Editorial

After the visit

It is hard to believe that it has been almost a week since Pope Francis left the United States. The outpouring of love caused by his visit made even hardened news people sad when he got on the plane to return to Rome — with the cameras even aimed into the jet, where he sat with a bottle of water on his tray table before takeoff.

A good question posed (to the general public) by another member of the media the day after he left was: what are you going to do now to change, in response to the pope’s visit?

One of the Holy Father’s general themes of his pontificate has been that of “encounter,” how we encounter Christ all the time — in our prayer, in our brothers and sisters, in our world. We can ask ourselves, in an examination of conscience: am I conscious of Christ’s presence? How do I encounter Him in prayer, at home (as the pope said Sunday, we need to look at how we communicate with our tone and our gestures), at work, out in the streets, etc.?

A busload of people from Attleboro made it to Philadelphia to attend the closing Mass. Although they attended Mass while standing on a side street full of people, following what was going on at the altar via the Jumbotron, they expressed how moved they were Spiritually. Even though some anti-Catholic bigots screamed at them through megaphones (saying that priests are rapists, that we should take Jesus off of crucifixes because He has Risen, that we should not pray the Rosary, that all Catholics are going to hell) while inching up to the TSA checkpoint for a few hours, they sang hymns and prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet and said that they felt God’s presence even in that awkward situation.

Back at the Vatican, the Holy Father continues his work. Of local interest, on Tuesday he named a coadjutor bishop for the Diocese of Angra, which covers all of the Azores Islands. The coadjutor is Bishop João Evangelista Pimentel Lavrador, who up until now has been the Auxiliary Bishop of Porto in Continental Portugal. As coadjutor bishop he will become the bishop of the Azores automatically upon the retirement or death of the current ordinary, Bishop António de Sousa Braga, who has been serving there since 1996.

Given the close relationship of the Diocese of Fall River with the Diocese of Angra (due to the immigration of lay people and clergy

from the Azores to the Southcoast), we wish Bishop Pimentel well and pray for him as he begins his ministry in the islands. A number of the pilgrims from our diocese to Philadelphia were of Azorean origin — the faith that they learned there, they continue to live out here. They prayed in English, Spanish and Portuguese with their fellow Catholics who traveled with them from Massachusetts.

On the flight back to Rome, Pope Francis was told by a reporter from France that he had “become a star” in the United States and she asked him if that was good for the Church. The Holy Father replied that the title that the popes themselves use and which they encourage others to use for them is “servant of the servants of God” (the servants of God being the members of the Church, with the pope as our servant).

“That is a little different than a star,” the pope said. “The stars are good to watch, I like to look at them in the sky in the serenity of the summer. But the pope must be — must be! — the servant of the servants of God. Yes, in the media they use this [term], but there is another truth: how many stars have we seen who burn out and fall?

They are a passing thing. Rather, to be the servant of the servants of God, that is beautiful. It doesn’t go away.”

To paraphrase Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr., one does not have to be a star to be in God’s show. One has to be a servant and then one will truly be important, as Jesus has told us.

From this life, other than the Blessed Mother, St. Joseph and the Apostles, we have no idea who the most “important” people in Heaven are (although, given the attitude of humility one needs to enter Heaven, no one there would care about any type of “ranking” amongst them).

As we discern what changes God would like us to make in our lives in response to the pope’s visit, we need to remember this attitude of service. Whether it be working to improve the environment, to protect human life from conception to natural death, to aid those in poverty or looking for refuge in a foreign land, to protect religious liberty — whatever it is, Pope Francis would like us to be mindful that we are servants called to encounter Christ in all the people we meet.

Pope Francis’ speech to victims of clergy sexual abuse in Philadelphia My dearest brothers and sisters in Christ, I am grateful for this opportunity to meet you, I am blessed by your presence. Thank you for coming here today.

Words cannot fully express my sorrow for the abuse you suffered. You are precious

children of God who should always expect our protection, our care and our love.

I am profoundly sorry that your innocence was violated by those who you trusted.

In some cases the trust was betrayed by members of your own family, in other cases by OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER

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priests who carry a Sacred responsibility for the care of soul. In all circumstances, the betrayal was a terrible violation of human dignity.

For those who were abused by a member of the clergy, I am deeply sorry for the times when you or your family spoke out, to report the abuse, but you were not heard or believed. Please know that the Holy Father hears you and believes you. I deeply regret that some bishops failed in their responsibility to protect children. It is very disturbing to know that in some cases bishops even were abusers. I pledge to you that we will follow the path of truth wherever it may lead. Clergy and bishops will be held accountable when they abuse or fail to protect children.

We are gathered here in Philadelphia to celebrate God’s gift of family life.

Within our family of faith and our human families, the sins and crimes of sexual abuse of children must no longer be held in secret and in shame. As we anticipate the Jubilee Year of Mercy, your presence, so generously given despite the anger and pain you have experienced, reveals the merciful heart of Christ. Your stories of survival, each unique and compelling, are powerful signs of the hope that comes from the Lord’s promise to be with us always.

It is good to know that you have brought family members and friends with you today. I am grateful for their compassionate support and pray that many people of the Church

will respond to the call to accompany those who have suffered abuse. May the door of mercy be opened wide in our dioceses, our parishes, our homes and our hearts, to receive those who were abused and to seek the path to forgiveness by trusting in the Lord. We promise to support your continued healing and to always be vigilant to protect the children of today and tomorrow.

When the disciples who walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus recognized that He was the Risen Lord, they asked Jesus to stay with them.

Like those disciples, I humbly beg you and all survivors of abuse to stay with us, to stay with the Church, and that together, as pilgrims on the journey of faith, we might find our way to the Father.

7

October 2, 2015

W

hen I started working for the Holy See’s Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations seven months ago, I knew that no matter how long the assignment lasted, one of the highlights would come right at the beginning: the opportunity to play some role in Pope Francis’ pilgrimage to New York in general and to the United Nations in particular. I knew I’d learn a lot, work a lot, not sleep a lot, and have a lot of fun — all of which came true.

Based on the amount of texts, emails and phone calls I’ve been receiving from friends asking what the experience was like, I thought I’d share a few observations, one difficult and two exhilarating, with a wider audience.

First, the difficulty.

There’s an aphorism that those who have been involved in the planning of papal pilgrimages regularly communicate that the toughest part of hosting a papal trip involves requests for tickets and papal access.

For most events on a papal itinerary, tickets are finite while the demand is basically infinite. Even when there will be an outdoor Mass in a venue large enough to accommodate millions, there is still a blitzkrieg of requests for tickets to special sections up close. Even the most hospitable organizers have got to get ready to say no much more than they can say yes.

That’s especially hard when as a Catholic and a cleric you’d want to do everything you can to bring as many people as possible into con-

New Bedford — The Central American employees at Bob’s Tire, a recycling company located in New Bedford, recently made working-class history by voting for the United Food and Commercial Workers’ Union to represent them in collective bargaining with their employer.

Nearly all the employees at Bob’s Tire are members of the K’iche’ ethnic group from Guatemala, and this is the first time that a group of Maya workers in New Bedford have organized a union.

From my papal visit notebook tact with the Successor of St. gies and papal audiences in Peter and all the good such the Vatican where I’ve seen an encounter might bring. how moved people can get, On the positive side, it’s but the experience never gets great to see the extraordinary old. Witnessing U.N. perinterest. It’s also great to be sonnel and delegates, fellow put back into contact from staff members, kids, seniors, people you haven’t heard police officers, handicapped from since kindergarten. On people, religious women, the other hand, you have to priests and everyone else get get good at saying no when you constitutively want to say yes.

Putting Into Allied with the the Deep ticket dilemma is the parallel situation of people wanting to

By Father meet the pope perRoger J. Landry sonally or at least have you give him things. so emotional just at seeing There were parishes askthe pope pass in a motoring him to come to celebrate cade, walk down the nave of daily Mass; organizations St. Patrick’s, pass by their and families that wanted him seat in the General Asto come for lunch; business sembly, or be driven around leaders, academics, artists, Madison Square Garden even world leaders, asking before Mass was even more for appointments to brief special. him on what they’ve been Why can just being in the up to. pope’s presence make people People were sending of every conceivable category him Rosary beads they had respond with overflowing made, drawings they had elation or copious tears of sketched, books they had joy? The reaction is so far written, dossiers with their beyond what happens, in lengthy musings on various kind and degree, when we’re subjects, sweets they had in the presence of other baked, stuffed animals they famous people. thought he’d like and so I’m convinced that it ocmuch more. curs not simply because of The interest, generosity, grace but because the pope even creativity was beautiful, is fundamentally a sign. The but I often wondered how pope binds us to the hisbig people thought the papal torical reality of St. Peter, carry-on was!

St. Peter points us to the The first of the two exhistorical reality of Jesus hilarating aspects of the pilChrist, and Jesus points us grimage was watching how to God the Father and the people responded to being in mystery of His love. Being in Pope Francis’ presence. the presence of the Successor I’ve had the privilege to be of St. Peter is a moment in present at hundreds of Litur- which, whether consciously

or subconsciously, we are moved inwardly to say, “It’s all true! God is real. Christ truly came. He founded a Church. And this pope, here in front of me, is proof that everything that I heard and to some degree believed occurred 2,000 years ago really happened!”

And it’s so beautiful to see so many Spiritual light bulbs go off at the same time.

The other exhilarating experience was meeting Pope Francis for the first time and introducing my parents to him. I had the privilege back in 2000 to introduce my mother and father to St. John Paul II in the Vatican, but they were so overwhelmed by the experience that the only part of their body that spoke were their tear ducts. This time I sought to prepare them as we were heading over to the residence where Pope Francis was staying.

I asked each of them what they wanted to say.

My mother said, “I want to tell him, ‘Pope Francis, I love you and I pray for you every day!’” I told her that I’m sure Pope Francis would really appreciate that.

My father — like St. Joseph, a strong man of few words — asked me for a suggestion. I replied, “I think you should say, ‘Thanks, Pope Francis, for being such a good Spiritual father.’” My dad liked the suggestion.

I’m happy to say that both of them with tenderness, poise and affection said flawlessly what they were in-

Immigrant workers take historic step by voting in union It also represents an historic collaboration between an immigrant workers center — the Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores — and a national union. Voting started at 6 a.m. and continued until 1 p.m., when an official from the National Labor Relations Board, which supervised the election, opened the ballot box and counted the votes.

The final count was 65 votes for the union, five votes against, with six votes contested.

The recycling industry is one of the major employers

of Central American workers in New Bedford, and it is an industry that is notorious for health and safety violations, lack of benefits, and workplace accidents. This is grueling work, and the employees work outdoors regardless of the weather, lifting hundreds of pounds of used tires.

Since January, the workers at Bob’s Tire had been engaged in discussions with company management about improving conditions at their workplace, including salary increases, adequate space for meals, and paid sick leave.

Many of the employees have worked at Bob’s Tire for more than a decade, and some are making the same wages as when they started. Although the company agreed to a modest wage increase, it was never implemented, and when the four-member workers’ committee went to talk with the management again in August of this year, they were all fired. When workers came to CCT for advice, CCT brought them and the UFCW together.

Adrian Ventura, the executive director of CCT

tending — and each solicited a sincere, smiling, “Thank you!” from Pope Francis.

I, too, had thought a lot about what to say. I decided that I most wanted to thank him for the impact the way he’s spoken and shown mercy and compassion have had on me.

“Gracias, Santidad,” I said in Spanish with a smile, “por su ejemplo sacerdotal que f inalmente me ha convertido!”

“Thanks, Holy Father, for your priestly example which has finally converted me!”

The pope grinned and with a little mischief in his eyes and voice said, “Convertido ciertamente por lo peor!”

“Converted, no doubt, for the worse!”

Whether he was talking about the present state of my soul or the directionality of his example, we both broke out in laughter as I replied, “¡Espero que no!” “I hope not!”

Very touchingly after my parents had met him, he started pulling on my mom’s arm to lead her to his side as he said, “Una foto de familia!”

“A family photo!” And once my mother lined up on his left with my dad and me on his right, he commented, “Tres padres y una madre!”

“Three fathers and a mother,” as the photographers took a family photo we’ll never forget.

It will always be for me as well a reminder of one of Pope Francis’ main messages: how each of our families is meant to fit into the much bigger family of God. Anchor columnist Father Landry can be contacted at fatherlandry@ catholicpreaching.com.

commented, “This sends a message to other workers, that they don’t have to put up with unsafe working conditions, intimidation and mistreatment. And to other employers, that they need to treat their employees right.”

Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores of New Bedford is supported by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development as administered

by Catholic Social Services of Fall River.

For more information, contact CCT at cctnbm@hotmail. com or 508-979-1961.

8

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n this week’s readings we are reminded about the relationships that God has created for us because “It is not good for man to be alone.” Our God knows this desire because He, too, has a primary longing to be in a loving relationship with us. He understands how difficult it is for each of us to be alone in this world.

He wants to support us through this journey by providing us with many kinds of relationships.

Marriage is the most precious of these earthly relationships because it is a covenant with our spouse and our God. The couple united with God is meant to produce the love and support they will need to journey through the many stages and trials of life. In its perfection their rela-

October 2, 2015

It is not good for man to be alone

tionship produces new life greatest loss because they and a family unit which are abandoned by parents further aids all of us in who were meant to teach our journey back to our them about love and relaCreator and away from the tionships. loneliness which is a place The innocent now feed of darkness and emptiness on what they experience. in this world.

The Church is saddened by divorce Homily of the Week but it does not Twenty-seventh Sunday bless it. When the in Ordinary Time union of God with

By Deacon a couple is broken Ralph Guerra it disrupts a communion that was instituted to bring us the love and support we This is not the diet our need to navigate through God intended for those He life. This broken promise loves. He gives us the commade by a couple to God plete banquet and not the and which most likely now bitter aftertaste. Divorce includes offspring, shatters does not stop there because the connective bond and all those affected carry opens the doors to darktheir brokenness and their ness and brokenness. The bitterness into the world, children from this brointo new relationships in ken connection suffer the an attempt to fill the holes

where broken hearts and broken promises now exist.

None of us are meant to be alone or excluded but divorce does exist and does continue to create havoc on our individual lives and our communities. In this week’s responsorial psalm, God reminds us to walk in His ways and not to follow decrees set forth by man. And if we remain in relationship with Him we will be blessed and our lives will be fruitful.

He also reminds us that we will eat the fruit of our handiwork. And when our handiwork is not fruitful but bitter He still does not abandon us. Divorce and its consequences is not His option. Instead He reminds us in our second reading that He contin-

ues to love us so tenderly that He sent His only Son Jesus to perfect us through His suffering. We are His children and He wants us to return to Him as His children. He blesses us and consecrates us because we all have one origin and God’s one desire is to bring His family home.

In the Gospel we are reminded not to judge or become a stumbling block that hinders God’s desire to be with His children.

We are asked instead to become His disciples and partner with Him in the process of restoring relationships. We are asked to become the hands and heart that will bring His children back into His loving embrace.

Deacon Guerra ministers at St. Margaret’s Parish in Buzzards Bay.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Oct. 3, Bar 4:5-12,27-29; Ps 69:33-37; Lk 10:17-24. Sun. Oct. 4, Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Gn 2:18-24; Ps 128:1-6; Heb 2:9-1; Mk 10:2-16 or 10:2-12. Mon. Oct. 5, Jon 1:1–2:1,11; (Ps) Jon 2:3-5,8; Lk 10:25-37. Tues. Oct. 6, Jon 3:1-10; Ps 130:1b4b,7-8; Lk 10:38-42. Wed. Oct. 7, Jon 4:1-11; Ps 86:3-6,9-10; Lk 11:1-4. Thurs. Oct. 8, Mal 3:13-20b; Ps 1:1-4,6; Lk 11:5-13. Fri. Oct. 9, J1 1:13-15;2:1-2; Ps 9:2-3,6,8-9,16; Lk 11:15-26.

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e are grateful for the historic and wonderful trip of Pope Francis to the United States. May the pope’s vision challenge us, our country and the United Nations. Please God his visit will reap many blessings for us. As Church, as a nation, and as members of the human race may we bring about the necessary changes in our values and attitudes to live in peace and harmony with one another and with the planet God has so generously given us.

With the end of the pope’s visit to the United States and Cuba, focus and attention moves to the Synod of Bishops. This synod which began last year continues with a particular focus on the family and the care of God’s people.

While some may anticipate changes in the teaching of the Church regarding Marriage, birth control, or the reception of Communion by divorced and remarried Catholics, that will not happen. The Church’s teaching will not change but the interpretation of its rules or the simplification of certain rules may be a result of these deliberations.

In the early years of my

Church teachings won’t change

regulations changed to make priesthood I was appointed a things a little easier on the tribunotary of the diocesan tribunal. nal personnel and those seekThe tribunal assists people in ing judgment for themselves. seeking annulments and deals Thank God these changes were with other matters pertaining introduced. to the life of the Church and The point is that while the individual Catholics. teaching of the Church did not Among the rooms in the tribunal was a “court room.”

The room had a “judges Living bench” — like on “Judge the Judy” — and behind it sat the judges — three Faith of them. To the left I sat

By Msgr. with a chair and table.

John J. Oliveira To the right was seated the defender of the bond — another priest with a change, the rendering of juschair and table. In the center of tice became easier. This is what the room was a chair and table where the petitioner — the per- Pope Francis did recently when he issued some changes to the son seeking the annulment — sat. How intimidating was that? canonical process for an annulment beginning on December 8.

In those days copies were That is the date for the beginnot accepted, nor were taped ning of the Year of Mercy — a conversations. Everything had Jubilee Year. The pope has made to be in person. I recall typing the testimony with carbon paper it easier to get an annulment.

He also shortened the time for for four other copies. Imagine a judgment by stating that the having to correct an error in decision of the local diocese is typing five times. No fun. Each adequate. It does not have to paper had to be stamped with a be reviewed by another diocese. note saying that it was a correct This in itself saves two months document. of a lengthy process. Those who After the new Code of are experts in canon law will Canon Law, many of these

delineate the finer aspects of the recent changes.

This is another indication of the Church’s willingness to assist those in need to receive God’s mercy. It encourages those who are fearful to address their situation in the Church so they can receive Holy Communion. It is an opening again to the great mercy of God in this special Year of Mercy.

An annulment is not a “Catholic divorce.”

It means that a Sacrament was not received at the time of the Marriage ceremony. Something was missing that was needed for a Sacrament. It does not mean that the couple did not love each other, nor does it mean that the children are illegitimate. An annulment has no legal effect, only a Sacramental one.

Aside from the annulment there is a “convalidation” process which is more common. This is used when a “destination wedding” or a Marriage ceremony took place outside the Church and therefore no Sacrament was received. Many of these couples could have been married in the Catholic Church, but for

their own reasons sought to be married elsewhere and not by a priest.

In this case a civil marriage is “validated” by the recitation of vows in the presence of a priest and two witnesses. The Marriage would then be Sacramental and recognized by the Church. The couple would be able to receive the Sacraments and be a sponsor for Baptism or Confirmation.

Beforehand their Marriage may have been civil but not recognized as a Sacramental Marriage.

The Church reaches out to help couples receive the Sacrament of Marriage and thereby attain God’s grace to assist them to live the commitment they made to one another.

Anyone who has questions about their situation should be in contact with their parish priest to assist them in their married life.

Perhaps the October synod will bring even more graces to the Church and married life.

Anchor columnist Msgr.

Oliveira is pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in New Bedford and director of the diocesan Propagation of the Faith and Permanent Diaconate offices.

October 2, 2015

Saturday 26 September 2015 — Homeport: Falmouth Harbor — Pope St. Paul VI birth anniversary (1897) he heading of this column, dear readers, if read incorrectly, could mislead you. Far be it from me to cause confusion. To clarify, I added a slash between words. I’m not referencing time set aside for prayer in remembrance of the Holy Dead. No. No. I’m writing instead about “dead time.” We in the broadcasting industry use this expression to indicate the time in which someone is inactive while we are trying to film live action.

Dead time can be costly when you’re paying top dollar in broadcasting fees.

Msgr. Steve Avila, who oversees the weekly television Mass, knows this term well. What happens if, while the cameras are rolling, the priest celebrant just sits there in his chair for five minutes of silent meditation?

Silence is a necessary part of the celebration of Holy Mass, of course, but in the media we call it “dead time.” In the case of a televised Mass, one could say it is holy dead time. It still gets cut out.

Pope Francis is back in

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an you believe we’re in October already? With the season changing and the weather getting a little bit cooler, even in Virginia, it’s turning into sweater weather. As I brace myself for the winter ahead, sometimes a season that feels lonely and full of aimless days, I find myself looking inward to find the internal spaces that have seemed a little lonely these days.

And if I’m being honest, I’m in a rut. Lately, I’ve found myself searching, looking for something I can’t seem to find.

My days are full with classes, work, meetings, to-do lists. My weekends have become precious hours of self-care and relaxation.

They mean sleeping in and spending a lot of time in front of the oven, waiting on a new recipe to come out. This also means that I often hear the bells of church from my bed, which provokes the search to continue.

The search starts with the thinking. From under my covers, I start in, but lately, it spills over into my day-to-day comings and goings. No matter where I am (bells ringing from afar or not), I catch myself thinking about how I would not be the person I am

Anchor Columnists Holy/dead time Chit-chat is not my forté. Small Rome following his six-day talk is a real challenge for me. It visit to the United States. He landed in Washington, D.C., on takes an enormous amount of energy on my part.

September 22. Besides WashOn the outside chance that I ington, he also visited New York would be asked by some televiCity and Philadelphia. During the pastoral visit of Pope Francis, sion network to give a running commentary during the papal the secular and religious media covered his activities extensively. visit (which, thankfully, I was Now, the thing is, when you have all this live filming going on, The Ship’s Log you need at least one Reflections of a person (preferably more) Parish Priest willing and able to give a running commenBy Father Tim tary. In the case of the Goldrick papal visit, the task of the commentator was not), I prepared in advance a list to talk incessantly about what of irrelevant facts I could inject the pope was doing and why he during dead time. You know me, was doing it — and just about dear readers. My motto is “Semanything else concerning the papacy. Above all, any commen- per Paratus” (always prepared), the marching song of the Coast tator must be able to babble on Guard. unceasingly without ever taking But now I have an unused list a breath. Those of us in the trade of papal trivia. I’ve never had a call it “vamping.” Dead time is thought that wasn’t published. unacceptable. Nor should ignoNot to waste all that work, I’m rance of the subject prevent us passing it on to you, dear readcommentators from pontificating on the matter at hand — or, ers. In case you yourself should, upon occasion, experience an actually, any other matter that embarrassing loss for words, feel comes into our head.

I’m glad I was not asked to be free to use my list during that a commentator during the papal awkward lull in the conversation.

It makes no difference if you are visit. I lack the wherewithal.

on topic or not. You will impress everyone. I suggest you preface your statement by, “Well, did you know…?”

Did you know that the first pope to change his name was John II in 533? His given name was actually Mercury, the pagan god. It was considered unseemly at the time for the pontiff to be known as His Holiness, Pope Mercury I. Did you know that the only English pope was Nicholas Breakspear (Pope Adrian IV, 1154 – 1159)?

Did you know that the first pope to be officially called “pope” was Leo the Great (440-461)?

Did you know that Pope St. John XXIII was an army chaplain during World War II? I know a couple who received a papal blessing from Pope St. John XXIII. The pope signed it “John XXII.” It was the wrong numeration. John XXII died in 1334.

Did you know that the successor to St. Peter, the first pope, was St. Linus?

Did you know that 60 popes have been non-Italian? This includes 15 Greeks, 15 French-

9 men, seven Germans, and one Argentinian.

Did you know that an apostolic bull is a formal papal document on serious matters and that it gets the name from the bulla (Latin), the attached leaden seal embossed with the pope’s signet ring?

Did you know that each pope has his own distinctive signet ring and that it’s destroyed immediately upon his death?

Did you know that “Defender of the Faith” is not a title the pope takes but one he gives?

It was first given to King Henry VIII, but then things turned sour.

Did you know that the Swiss Guard is composed of drafted Swiss soldiers on active duty?

Did you know the pope’s phone number? No? It’s +39.06.6982.

If you have any further questions on the papacy, just telephone the pope yourself.

Leave a message. He’ll get back to you when he gets a chance.

Now you, too, are prepared to serve as a papal commentator.

You’re welcome.

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

Repent (v.): To turn

today without it. It has shaped who I am, led to the intentionality I place in the relationships I engage in, has provided me with countless models of Christ in others. And it has, on countless occasions, renewed my faith in humanity. So that’s great, right? I think about it, I process it, give it the reflection time it has earned. But the nagging tug on my heart remains — what am I doing about it?

Aren’t we called to act, to serve one another, to live our lives as reflections of Christ’s love for us?

If that’s the case, then I’ve got some stepping up to do. These thoughts have got to take shape somehow.

That being said, when I was asked by one of my colleagues, and now good friends, from the office I worked in as a graduate assistant last year if I would like to join her and her family at their church service this weekend, I agreed. Ever since first meeting Mary last year she has been to me exactly what I just described above — she is a woman who truly lives her

faith. She is Christ to others in her words, her actions, and her presence. Mary watched as I had moments in my first year of graduate school when I soared and moments when I sank. She was the one who gifted me a box of Kleenex and lotion for the

Radiate Your Faith

By Renee Bernier winter months, and a devotional for when things got hard. She spent hours listening, and meaningful moments responding with loving and supportive words.

She watched me grow exponentially in one year’s time, quietly supporting me and sharing her faith along the way so that I was constantly reminded that I was never alone and through it all I gained yet another amazing model of Christ in my life.

With Mary’s invitation at the ready, I was anxious as I entered into a faith setting that was new and unfamiliar to me.

Though much different from my normal Sunday routine and the traditional Catholic Mass I’m accustomed to, there were several times throughout the sermon that I found myself entirely engaged in the message.

Rapt by the pastor’s physical representation of his words, I found myself especially captivated as he asked another pastor in the gathered congregation to join him and represent Jesus. Standing with his back to the new pastor, he began to walk away from him, all the while talking to us about what it is like to separate ourselves from Christ.

As he walked further and further from “Jesus” he approached literal darkness and stopped walking only when he was in the shadows of the stage. Turning around he spoke about how when we feel this far apart from our faith, it feels we will never get it back, that there are too many obstacles, and that Christ is just too far. He then proceeded to walk back to “Jesus” and replayed the scene, this time with the pastor walk-

ing directly behind him, step for step. When he got back to the darkness, he stopped. Without turning around he told us that what we forget, when we feel far from Christ, is that all we have to do is repent, which literally means “to turn,” and there He is.

He’s never as far as we think He is. He’s never far at all, actually.

Instead, He’s been right behind us, even beside us, the whole time. Sometimes, as the “Footprints in the Sand” poem likes to remind us, He’s actually carrying us and we just never realize it.

It’s when we feel that pull, that tug, that search coming on that we just need to turn and see Him to know that He’s always within reach. Sure, we might have some ground to make up, but we’re not doing it alone. As I reflect on what this means for me as my search continues, I encourage you to do the same.

Just make the turn, and see that exactly Who you need is by your side.

Anchor columnist Renee Bernier graduated from Stonehill College and is a graduate student in the College Student Personnel Program at James Madison University in Harrison, Va.

10

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here are myriad sights, sounds and emotions that came from watching Pope Francis visit the good old U.S.A. last week.

It’s very difficult to pick one that stands out from amongst the thousands of Francis moments on his trek from Washington, D.C., to the Big Apple, to the City of Brotherly Love.

Some include the Holy Father speaking to a joint session of the U.S. Congress for the first time in history, and his straightforward words and the emotions he evoked from some.

There was Speaker of the House John Boehner’s emotional reaction when the

October 2, 2015

The weight of the world

pontiff stepped out to look over the steps of the Capitol and witnessing a sea of humanity.

There were the visits to the poor at soup kitchens and Catholic Charities; visits with prisoners; the warm embrace and blessings of special-needs children.

There were the smiling faces of the throngs of people who lined the papal motorcade

By Dave Jolivet route in each of the three

My View From the Stands

metropolises.

There were the raw emotions of visiting Ground Zero in NYC, and the impact it made on everyone, especially family members who lost loved ones on 9/11.

There was the incredible ovation Pope Francis received at Madison Square Garden, and everywhere he went for that matter.

I could go on and on and still not even scratch the surface of incredible Francis moments of last week.

But there is one image that I will never forget. Ever.

That happened when Pope Francis was boarding Shepherd One at JFK Airport on his way to Philly.

The 78-year-old pope slowly made his way up the steep stairs and stumbled a few times on the way. Clearly, this was a struggle for him, as he carried a briefcase in one hand, held the railing with the other, and his cassock had a mind of its own.

No one went to help him. I don’t know why. I was watching it live with Denise and we sat there in fear for the blessed man’s safety. I wanted to run up to the TV screen and hold him up.

As the scene was unfolding, I immediately thought of Jesus’ grueling walk to Calvary, and how He struggled under the weight of the wood, compounded by the pain of the crown of thorns and the whipping He received beforehand, all while bearing the burden of everyone’s sins on His shoulders.

I know Pope Francis wasn’t headed to Calvary climbing those stairs, but he was indeed on a mission — a mission from God to reach out to His people.

The stairs the pope climbed are not easy for someone half his age, and one has to bear in mind that the pope suffers from sciatica and a bad knee.

And he was being buffeted by a strong

breeze on the climb.

The nearly-80-year-old pope was in the middle of a non-stop, whirlwind sojourn to bring the Good News to America — a schedule that would tax the most healthy of individuals.

I saw in Pope Francis’ struggles a man carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Climbing up those stairs, the pope carried the plight of the refugees across the world, the indignities suffered by immigrants everywhere, the loneliness of the elderly, the pain of the disabled, the hunger pangs of the malnourished, the cold and hopelessness of the homeless, the struggles of families trying to make ends meet while raising their children in the faith, the tragic future for so many unborn children who will never see the light of day, and the selfish destruction of earth’s natural resources.

That is what caused good Pope Francis to stumble on the stairs at JFK Airport. And looking back, I was so wrong to think no one was there to help him make it to the top. It was the Father Who supported His faithful servant. It was the Almighty Who assisted the humble man who said yes to God’s request to bring His Word to all nations.

Pope Francis may have stumbled a couple of times, but he didn’t fall.

Instead his frailty and weakness showed the world just what it means to be a servant of God. Despite his pain and fatigue, Pope Francis climbed aboard Shepherd One once again and continued his grueling schedule for two more days in Philadelphia before returning to Rome.

And we shouldn’t get the idea that he went there for some R & R. Pope Francis still has a mission to complete, and a few more stumbles to endure. But rest assured, God will provide rest in His time — after Francis finishes running the good race. Meanwhile, the least we can do for him is, as he requested so often on American soil, pray for him. davejolivet@anchornews.org.

www.svdpusa.org 508-699-4185 Society of St. Vincent de Paul - Diocesan Council of Fall River

October 2, 2015

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

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Pope Francis in the U.S.

October 2, 2015

Mass; Deacon Porter was sent ing,” said Deacon Porter, who to the Cathedral Basilica of eventually stumbled on the SS. Peter and Paul, “which is webpage offering deacons a gorgeous, by the way,” he said. chance to serve at the papal It was when he got off the Mass. “[I thought] how great bus at the foot of the cais that? Who gets to do this?

I had to ask Bishop da Cunha thedral that he realized the enormity of the moment and for a letter stating I’m in felt the uplifting Spirit of the good standing, and when it faith-filled crowd: “We got came through I electronically off the buses, pouring out and sent all the information they needed down to them, and got all of the sudden the whole a response the next day saying, place just erupts into cheers,” he recalled. “And it was like, ‘you’re in.’ I was thrilled.” is the pope coming? And then Alongside his wife Eliza[we realized] it’s for us. As we beth, they traveled with the walked, people were giving us rest of the group except durhigh-fives. It was remarkable ing moments when Deacon to see all these deeply, faithPorter had to check in with filled people.” organizers. Deacon Porter’s They stayed in the cathedral first stop after arriving at the historic center district on Fri- until the pope consecrated day was to travel to the Phila- the Eucharist, then ciboriums were distributed “and we had delphia Convention Center an escort with the umbrella,” to pickup his credentials that While leading up to participating at the World Meeting of Families, stops were made at area said Deacon Porter, “[Escorts] was “essentially a special ticket shrines, like the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and National Shrine of St. Katharine Drexel in were nuns, religious, Knights with a bar code” he said, addBensalem, Pa., where the pilgrims from the Fall River Diocese stopped to take a photo. (Photo

by Becky Aubut) of Columbus, and I’m not ing he was scanned wherever sure if it was a Catholic high he went. school or college, but a lot of By Sunday he found Area pilgrims make historic trek to witness pope in Philly young people. The lady who himself at The Mann Center continued from page one was with me was from Califor the Performing Arts and fornia.” when the pope drove past me,” from there, he and his fellow away the moment McManus Claire McManus, director In a well-coordinated effort said McManus. “I was in that and others saw Pope Francis deacons traveled by bus to the of the Faith Formation Ofand led by priests associated whole crowd and when that drive past in the popemobile Philadelphia Museum of Art. fice in the Fall River Diocese, happened, and after all the on Saturday night. During Having time to mingle before with the cathedral, the deaheard that the pope was comdiscomfort, you say, ‘this was the Holy Father’s ride from Mass was a great way to meet cons were led out and guided ing to the United States, so either right or left, with worth it, to be part of that his giving a speech at Indepeople he would never have after consulting with Bishop moment.’” pendence Hall to visit the had the chance to meet other- someone already in place who Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., would tell them when to stop.

Among the hundreds of festival of the World Meeting wise, said Deacon Porter. about organizing a pilgrimthousands of pilgrims that of Families, he drove through “I met a deacon from Min- Each deacon — though it may age, she went ahead and got not have looked like it on TV, descended on Philadelphia, downtown and his route took neapolis who lives five miles things rolling. Even with her said Deacon Porter — were there were a select few who away from my aunt’s house,” past experience, she wasn’t fully him right by many of the told to be spaced roughly 14 had more on their mind than members of the group from he said. “I met a couple from prepared for the toll that navifeet apart. just hoping to see the pope — California, North Carolina; it Fall River. gating blocked-off streets and As he began to hand out they were there to help hand “When I saw the Holy was a camaraderie-type thing. long security lines would take the Eucharist, said Deacon out Communion during the They were from all over the on her and her fellow travelers. Father go by with all the Porter, “my first thought was, papal Mass. Deacon Gary lights and all the cheering, country. I’m not sure how “I organized the pilgrim‘why isn’t everyone this excited Porter said a few serendipitous they got there, but there was it just touched me — his age, got a group together and to receive the Eucharist?’ You key strokes on his computer humility, he is very humble,” a Vietnamese contingent and it was a very different expericould see the joy in their face, led him to becoming one of said Odete, who noted that I understood, and maybe I’m ence for me,” said McManus. the desire and the love — it more than 370 deacons taking seeing the pontiff would be a wrong, that they were from “I’ve done five World Youth part in the event. treasured memory. “[I hope] Vietnam and if that’s true, the was an incredible thing. It was Days, and this was very simi“I found out by accident. I to increase my faith and my fact that a communist country just a beautiful thing. I felt so lar to what I’ve done before privileged.” was just Googling something, would allow them to leave humility, and to see everyone but this was with a crowd of While most receiving the and the World Meeting of with the same eyes as Pope and do something like this is people who are very mature, Eucharist understood it to be Families popped up, and I Francis does.” remarkable.” very committed, and also not the Body of Christ and acthought this looks interest“The moment for me was The deacons were then used to dealing with a lot cepted it with reverence, there broken up into groups based of discomfort. It was a little was one woman who came up on where they would actually challenging.” serve the Eucharist during Because of security meaContinued on page 13 sures, vast swaths of blocks were cordoned off and shut down to everything but foot traffic, causing confusion and angst for those who had to walk for extended lengths to Sunday, October 4, 11:00 a.m. get to where Pope Francis was, and then having to make the long trek back to where their transportation was parked.

Celebrant is Father Christopher M. Waiting in long lines at Peschel, a parochial vicar at St. Pius X security checkpoints, though Parish in South Yarmouth, and chaplain the reasoning was understood, at Cape Cod Hospital also caused additional discomfort. However, all that pain and aggravation was washed

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6

October 2, 2015

Pope Francis in the U.S.

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Our readers respond

For most visiting the event, this was the view — large screens were found in many locations, allowing full coverage of not just the pope, but international speakers and performers that included Aretha Franklin, Andrea Bocelli and comedian Jim Gaffigan.

Continued from page 12

to receive it, said Deacon Porter, and “she was walking and taking it away, and I tapped her on the shoulder and said, ‘Ma’am, you have to consume it — now, in front of me.’ She looked at me and you could tell she didn’t want to, I don’t know what her intentions were but it wasn’t to consume the Eucharist.”

A circle of Catholics surrounded her, said Deacon Porter, and that’s when the woman put the Eucharist in her mouth. He wasn’t sure if she was trying to keep it as a souvenir, but Deacon Porter said people need to realize it’s not for keeping.

After they covered their area, a lot of the deacons had some hosts left and since they still had some time, 20 deacons made their way down another street to continue giving out the host. People were so grateful, said Deacon Porter, especially since they knew where they were standing was not on the official route. After returning to the cathedral, deacons received the Eucharist, extra hosts were returned to the Tabernacle, and Deacon Porter managed to snag two of those distinctive Vatican umbrellas from the extras they had available.

“Without a doubt, the fondest memory I will have is the incredible look on people’s faces when we got off the bus and started cheering, and the absolute joy when we left the cathedral to distribute the Eucharist — those are the two memories that will stay with me forever,” said Deacon Porter.

After braving more than two hours in a security check-

point; Odete wasn’t sure she would even be able to receive Communion, “but when I saw deacons coming by with the umbrellas,” she said, she knew she would be able to receive Communion, and was thrilled.

McManus and a few others in the group opted not to go too far inside the city, and instead rested on a raised curb to watch the Mass on a big screen: “The Mass was beautiful and we were comfortable; it was just a great experience.

[Sunday] was much more relaxed and Spiritual,” said McManus.

As she reflected on the her experience, McManus said that she wants to truly

sit down and read in depth everything the pope said during his six-day trip to the United States, especially his homily during Mass.

“I think he had some powerful messages,” said McManus. “I didn’t really get a chance to absorb because we were really dealing with logistics all the time. In his homily today, he talked a lot about love being the Gospel message and that it happens in the family, and that’s something I can bring back to my own family. It’s very easy to do the work of God on the outside, but when you do it with your family, that’s where it counts the most.”

Odete Depina has her bag searched thoroughly while her husband Joe waits to be scanned. Led by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, security checkpoint lines were long but understood as a necessity during the pontiff’s visit to the city. (Photos by Becky Aubut)

Sunday Mass is back I wish to thank all those responsible for reinstating the TV Mass at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford. This response to a community need is deeply appreciated.

Sunday Mass is now aired on the hospital’s cable channel No. 3 at 11 a.m. The Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) has also been added to their cable network as channel No. 50.

The hospital also carries the Portuguese Channel with Mass at 7 p.m. By contacting the hospital’s Religious Ministry Department, the Eucharist will be made available.

Now, if my 97-year-old mother returns to St. Luke’s Hospital, I am comforted to know that her physical and Spiritual needs can be met.

Mary Ann Booth South Dartmouth

each part for a specific fee and often bargain for a higher price.

The fact that these parts may be used for scientific research does not lessen the horror of what is being done. Illegally, they sometimes alter the abortion procedure to obtain intact specimens.

Why aren’t we hearing this outrage from all our pastors, and yes, our pope? Catholics must galvanize to stop this horrible slaughter but we need to be led by our shepherds.

Doris Toohill, secretary of the St. Joan of Arc Pro-Life Committee Orleans

EXECUTIVE EDITOR RESPONDS: Thank you for your letter. I myself have written about the Planned Parenthood scandal and have spoken about it in some homilies, as have other clerics. However, for things to change in the U.S., generally we Where is the outrage?

Recently on cable’s Fox need the laity to rise up — the News’ “The O’Reilly Factor,” general public and those laity Monica Crowley, a Fox News who are in politics. Due to the contributor, asked why Pope abuse scandal, people will often Francis is not speaking out do the opposite of what a priest on the Planned Parenthood or bishop tells them to do, but the scandal. My question is, “Why laity do not carry that “baggage” aren’t our priests speaking out?” with them.

In terms of the pope, he does Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of abortions not normally get involved in in the nation. They construct the specifics of internal political huge facilities to carry out this battles in countries, but his critiindustry. Of the 1.2 million cism of the “throwaway culture” abortions performed in the U.S. obviously fits here.

Instead of publicly criticizing each year, 350,000 of them are the pope, which undercuts his

by Planned Parenthood — 900 every day — 37 an hour. And teaching authority (so that other yet they receive more than $500 people can claim that you are a million of our taxpayer money. “Cafeteria Catholic,” which I As for trafficking in baby body imagine you are not — nor am parts, this has gone on for years. I), I would urge you to pressure They profit mightily from the your elected officials (which you sale of these dismembered ba- probably do — thank you for bies and, to that end, market that).

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

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October 2, 2015

St. Junipero Serra’s canonization in historical perspective continued from page one

holiness, no matter who you are or where you’re from. About that time, 50 years ago, the popes began to travel in journeys around the world, notably Blessed Paul VI and St. John Paul II and their successors. Thus the possibility arose of canonizations occurring in places other than St. Peter’s, bringing the possibility of canonization home to local audiences. St. Junipero’s was the first to occur in the United States.

A logical choice, Junipero Serra was the Father and Apostle of California. For 15 years between 1769 and 1784, the Franciscan friar worked tirelessly to establish a string of missions from San Diego to San Francisco, instructing and baptizing thousands of Native Americans. His statue is in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall representing the state of California, as St. Damien’s represents Hawaii. He lived, died, and is buried at Mission San Carlos in Carmel that he founded.

The second first is that St. Junipero is the first HispanicAmerican to be canonized from here. Of the 13 “American” saints that have been canonized (and

by American I mean either a U.S. citizen or someone born, living or working in the United States or what would become part of the United States), five were born French (the three Jesuits martyred in New York plus SS. Rose Philippine Duchesne and Theodore Guerin); three were American-born (SS. Kateri Tekakwitha, Elizabeth Anne Seton and Katharine Drexel); two were German- or Austrianborn (SS. John Neumann and Marianne Cope); one Italian (St. Frances Xavier Cabrini); one Belgian (St. Damien de Veuster); and now one Spanish-born, St. Junipero Serra. It does seem entirely appropriate that our first Hispanic American pope should canonize our first U.S. Hispanic American saint. And that the Mass of Canonization should be celebrated principally in Spanish.

Not only does this highlight the true ethnic and cultural diversity of the Catholic Church and the universal call to holiness, but it also fills a historic gap.

For it was the Spanish who first brought the Gospel to the New World, starting with the Spanish expedition led by Christopher Columbus. There were Spanish missions in Florida, for example, well before the first Englishspeaking Catholics landed in Maryland in 1634. And while the heroic evangelization of America by French Jesuits was

honored by the official recognition of their martyrdom and raising their Native American convert Kateri Tekakwitha to the altars, their mission’s center of gravity was actually Canada, where French is still the official language of Quebec. Father Junipero’s canonization looks south to Mexico, where he spent his 15 years as a missionary prior to coming to what is now California. Originally from the beautiful island of Mallorca, Spain, he left a prestigious university professorship to embrace a life of hardship on the frontier as a missionary to the Native Americans. He had a great devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

In deciding to canonize him, Pope Francis dispensed with the usual requirement of an additional miracle after beatification (St. John Paul II beatified Junipero Serra in 1988, after formally recognizing his heroic virtue and a miracle worked through his intercession). He similarly dispensed with the additional miracle in canonizing Pope John XXXIII last year. In Junipero’s case, I think Pope Francis chose to do this because St. Junipero exemplifies the selfless going out to the peripheries in order to spread the Gospel that Pope Francis always talks about.

St. Junipero, for example, walked thousands of miles with a badly injured and infected leg, in the service of souls. As Pope Francis said in his homily, “He was the embodiment of a Church which goes forth, a Church which sets out to bring everywhere the reconciling tenderness of God.” As a canon lawyer, I think it significant that this was not what is called an equivalent canonization, which Pope Francis has indeed performed in the past, most notably in the case of St. Peter Faber, one of the first Jesuits.

In the early 17th century, Pope Urban VIII decreed that public veneration of someone as a saint without Church approval would have the effect of disqualifying them from eventual beatification and canonization. This decree has been in effect ever since then, and so in order to qualify for equivalent canonization, where long-standing veneration as a saint is recognized as equivalent to canonization, one has to have died and received such veneration prior to the time of Urban VIII’s decree. But, of course, Pope Francis is not a lawyer; he’s a pastor, and so he basically does what he thinks best — and being

a holy guy himself, that is usually a good thing. Canonization is generally considered an infallible act of the pope.

Hispanic Americans are an increasing portion of the Catholic Church in this country, and it is about time that one of their own was formally recognized as a saint. Also, up until now, the west coast has not been represented among our saints: all have lived and worked either in the east coast or the midwest or in Hawaii. Now the left coast is represented, too. California is not just the home of Hollywood and various fruits and nuts, it’s also the home of a saint. Indeed, it was founded by a saint.

While a strong case could be made, for that reason, that the canonization should have taken place in California rather than in Washington, there is nonetheless something very appropriate about having it in our nation’s capital. That is where the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is headquartered, and also where the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and Catholic University of America are located. Canonization there represents a strong statement to the whole Church in the United States, and not just to California or Hispanic America. In California everyone knows about Junipero Serra, who is included in the public school curriculum. Not so in the rest of the country.

There is also now greater gender balance among American saints, though the women still outnumber the men, 7-6.

Immigrants outnumber natives 10-3, and there is still not an American-born male among our saints (I’m hoping for Bishop Fulton Sheen or Capuchin Solanus Casey). There is no question that the history of the Catholic Church in this country has been one of ethnic and linguistic diversity. The Catholic hierarchy is no longer an Irish-dominated institution in this country. Witness Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, who was himself born in Mexico.

The third first is that this was Pope Francis’ first Mass celebrated in the United States — ever. He had never before visited this country, being somewhat allergic to airport bishops. The canonization was inserted into the Sacrifice of the Mass, the representation of Christ’s Sacrifice on Calvary for the redemption of humanity. People become

saints by virtue of Christ’s love for them and their successful attempt, with His grace, to imitate Him. Canonization is the Church’s recognition that someone has successfully followed Christ to Heaven. Now that we have had our first American canonization, may there be many more!

One final thought: often, media focus on St. Junipero Serra has centered on the criticism that some Native Americans make of the entire Spanish colonization effort, which was sometimes violent and cruel. Since St. Junipero and his missions were a part of that colonial saga, there is a kind of broad-brush guilt by association. I think that careful focus on Native Americans and their treatment is fair, and something that the newlyminted saint would probably look favorably upon. Much of his story was concerned with fighting the excesses of the Spanish military and protecting the Native Americans from rape and murder and other forms of exploitation. Even saints can make mistakes, of course, and St.

Junipero authorized the practice of corporal punishment. Native American activists could not devise a better platform than this canonization to be heard on their grievances.

But in general, the popular historical narrative in the United States has not been Hispanic versus Indian. It has been Anglo versus everyone else. In that regard, I think, the Spanish approach of conversion and intermarriage with the Natives compares favorably with the dominant American narrative of exiling and exterminating Native Americans. In California, for instance, it was the Gold Rush and statehood that entailed the virtual end of Native American culture, rather than the Spanish missions. In that regard, the canonization of Junipero Serra represents a significant blow to the Black Legend of Spanish Catholicism.

St. Junipero, pray for us!

Anchor columnist Dwight Duncan is a professor at UMass School of Law Dartmouth. He holds degrees in civil and canon law.

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Pope Francis made a previously unannounced 15-minute stop at a Washington residence operated by the Little Sisters of the Poor, where he met with about 45 Sisters.

Sister Constance Veit, communications director for the Little Sisters, said the pope talked individually with each Sister, ranging in age from novices to 102-year-old Sister Marie Mathilde, who is Colombian and spoke to the pope in Spanish.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, told reporters in Washington that evening that the papal visit was intended as a sign of support for the Little Sisters’ lawsuit against the Obama Administration’s mandate that all employers offer contraceptive coverage in their health plans or participate in a religious “accommodation” that the Sisters have refused.

But Sister Constance said Pope Francis made no mention of the lawsuit during his visit.

Rather, his message to the group was about the Little Sisters’ “mission to the elderly” and “how important it is in a society that tends to marginalize the elderly and the poor,” she told Catholic News Service.

“We were deeply moved by his encouraging words,” she added.

The Little Sisters did not know about the visit until after the pope’s morning meeting at the White House with President Barack Obama, Sister Constance said. Three Little Sisters of the Poor, including Sister Constance, had been invited to attend the ceremony on the South Lawn.

Sister Maria del Monte Auxiliadora, the mother general, was told after the ceremony that Pope Francis wanted to make a five-minute visit to the Jeanne Jugan Residence, located across the street from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and not too far from the St. John Paul II Seminary.

Pope Francis made the stop between the canonization of St. Junipero Serra at the basilica and a visit to the seminary, run by the Archdiocese of Washington.

Because his visit was so brief, the pope was not able to meet any of the home’s residents, Sister Constance said. The visit ended up lasting about 15 minutes, she said.

In addition to the 12 nuns who live and work at the Jeanne Jugan Residence, Sisters from other homes operated by the Little Sisters of the Poor and the order’s postulants were invited to the meeting, Sister Constance said.

Little Sisters of the Poor get surprise visit from Pope Francis

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October 2, 2015

The treatment of offenders and the challenge of mass incarceration Reflections offered to His Holiness Pope Francis

Your Holiness, It is both an honor and a privilege to come before you and to share some reflections that I offer as president of the International Penal and Penitentiary Foundation. The IPPF is headquartered in Switzerland and promotes studies in the fields of crime prevention and the treatment of offenders and it is with that focus that I offer the following remarks. Before proceeding further, however, I would like to thank your holiness most sincerely for the opportunity to come before you today and to do so together with representatives of organizations whose work is allied to that of the IPPF. With your permission, Holy Father, I would like to begin by quoting from your letter to the participants in the 19th International Congress of the International Association of Penal Law and of the Third Congress of the Latin-American Association of Penal Law and Criminology. In that communication you stated that the “great challenge we all must face together” is to promote “a humanizing, genuinely reconciling justice, a justice that leads the criminal to rehabilitation and reintegration into the community.”

Your words, Holy Father, could not have been more timely. The rehabilitation of offenders and their reintegration into society is a pressing need that faces many challenges, one of which I would like to address today.

We live in a world in which high rates of imprisonment have resulted in the mass incarceration of millions. More than 10 million people worldwide are in prison and the number continues to increase. Indeed, during the last 15 years, the world’s prison population has grown at a rate almost 10 percent faster than the world’s entire population. Approximately one-quarter of the world’s inmates are imprisoned in the United States, where the prison population has quadrupled to 2.4 million during the last 40 years.

This is not, however, a uniquely American problem.

The prison population in England and Wales has more than doubled in the past 20 years, as the average prison sentence imposed and the amount of time served have increased. Similarly, considerable increases have occurred in Latin America, where prison populations have more

than quadrupled in El Salvador, our fellow man reflects a change tripled in Brazil and doubled over time in the philosophy in Mexico. It should be noted, of incarceration from one of however, that although not reform and rehabilitation to one every country contributes to the of incapacitation and punishproblem of mass incarceration, a ment. Redefining the theory significant number do. of incarceration in that way Higher rates of incarceration necessarily shifts the focus from not only increase the numrepairing the individual to conber of persons in prison, but centrating on his removal from also intensify the problem of society and punishment for his prison overcrowding. Indeed, crime. The prioritization of conapproximately 125 countries tainment and retribution as the worldwide have prison systems bases for incarceration is not the that are either beyond or nearly only cause, however, promotbeyond capacity. Overcrowded ing high rates of imprisonment prisons, in turn, are bastions of despair, disease and violence, with increased rates of suicide and sexual abuse. Such institutions

By Judge are seriously challenged Phillip Rapoza in their ability to treat inmates in a humane and dignified manner and are often without adequate around the world. Another is resources to provide basic eduthe perception that incarceracational, vocational, medical and tion is the most effective tool mental health services needed to for controlling crime and that help rehabilitate and reintegrate imprisonment reflects the just offenders. deserts an offender should anticThe continued high rate ipate for his or her actions. Inof incarceration has not only deed, the idea of getting “tough” affected the treatment of on crime drives many criminal inmates, but also changed the justice systems to the increased composition of prison popuuse of incarceration. This trend lations. Where prisons were also has been advanced by the once reserved primarily for so-called worldwide “war on violent or repeat offenders, they drugs” as well as other pracare increasingly populated by tices such as the imposition of low-level, non-violent and first harsher sentences and the use of offenders serving longer and mandatory minimum sentences. longer sentences. Moreover, In the United States in particuwhile prison populations are lar, the use of plea bargaining predominantly male, a notewor- has resulted in 95 percent of all thy growth in the rate of female criminal prosecutions concludincarceration has taken place. ing with a sentencing agreeThe impact of this escalation in ment, which often calls for a incarceration is increasingly suf- period of incarceration. Whatfered by children, who share the ever may be the merits of such consequences of their parents’ practices, it remains that twoimprisonment, often over the thirds of all inmates in the U.S. long term. In the United States, reoffend within three years of for example, approximately 1.5 their release from prison, often million children have a parcommitting more violent and ent who is incarcerated. The more serious offenses than those effects of mass imprisonment for which they were originally fall disproportionately on other incarcerated. groups as well, including the This is not to deny, of course, poor. Similarly, disparities are that there exist legitimate conevident in the rate of incarcerasiderations of public safety that tion for different racial and eth- support the imprisonment of vinic groups. By way of example, olent and repeat offenders. That young African-American and said, it is nonetheless appropriHispanic males are incarcerated ate to scrutinize the use of mass in the U.S. at a rate far exceedincarceration and to determine ing their representation in the the most suitable and effective population at large, jeopardizing means to ensure that rehabilitanot only their individual futures, tion and reintegration remain but also that of their families priorities of our criminal justice and their communities. policies. Perhaps the most The mass incarceration of proactive means of addressing

Guest Columnist

mass incarceration is to consider alternatives to imprisonment for nonviolent offenders as well as for those who are drug dependent or mentally ill. The use of alternative sentences, intermediate sanctions and diversion programs can be a productive, not to mention cost-effective, way to treat such individuals and for offenders to serve their sentence. Moreover, suspended sentences that employ services, supervision and monitoring while the offender remains in society provide obvious benefits to the individual, his family and the community of which he or she is a part. Such sentences also can help to avoid the sometimes tragic consequences of incarceration as well as the heavy social burden typically associated with imprisonment. If nothing else, the cost efficiencies of such alternatives as compared to imprisonment constitute a significant benefit.

Even in circumstances where a sentence of imprisonment is imposed, there are opportunities to mitigate the current high rate of incarceration. In the case of mandatory sentences, judicial discretion should be restored and draconian sentences for non-violent and low-level drug offenses should be eliminated.

At the same time more services and opportunities for rehabilitation should be provided inside prison itself. To the extent that incarcerated populations are heavily impacted by substance abuse and mental health issues, it is also appropriate to question whether prison is the most appropriate setting in which to deal with such medical issues.

Incarceration itself does not remedy the underlying problem.

At the very least, however, we must consider how to provide such services during the period of incarceration. Finally, obstructions that prevent prisoners from reintegrating into society following incarceration should be removed. For example, in circumstances where the practice of parole has been eliminated it should be restored. In any case, considering that 95 percent of all prisoners are eventually released, they should be better prepared for re-entry into society. Moreover, the transition of an inmate back into the community generally will require the continued use of support ser-

vices, as least until the individual is self-sustaining.

In sum, your holiness, the weight of mass incarceration falls disproportionately on the poor, minorities, children, the drug-addicted and those suffering from physical and mental illnesses. In many ways such a process creates a society within a society, the social costs of which are considerable. Moreover, conditions of imprisonment often fail to respect basic human rights. The continued high rate of incarceration, although a response to crime, is thus not a solution to it.

Indeed, we cannot incarcerate our way out of the problem of crime.

As you stated in the letter that I have previously quoted, “measures adopted against evil are not satisfied by restraining, dissuading and isolating the many who have caused it.”

You went on to say that we must “help them to reflect, to travel the paths of good, to be authentic persons who, removed from their own hardships, become merciful themselves.”

To advance the social and moral rehabilitation of those who have offended, we must respect the human dignity of every person and view each individual as worthy of rehabilitation and reintegration into society. Each of us has that duty toward our fellow man, but as your holiness also said, “How wonderful it would be for the necessary steps to be taken so forgiveness does not remain exclusively in the private realm, but instead reaches a truly political and institutional dimension.”

I trust, your holiness, that it is not unreasonable to look forward to a time when our public policy and institutional practices more clearly reflect such a consensus, especially as it relates to the treatment of offenders who have stumbled but who may yet get up and walk the straight path. I humbly ask, Holy Father, that you continue to strive on their behalf, as will all of us.

The Honorable Phillip Rapoza, a parishioner of St. Anthony of Padua in New Bedford, is president of the International Penal and Penitentiary Foundation. He presented this address to Pope Francis during a private audience to which he was invited last October.

A book will be coming out in several months that will provide an overview of his visit to the Vatican and it will include the text of other addresses that were presented.

16

Youth Pages

October 2, 2015

Students from St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro recently took part in an international art and literacy project, Pinwheels for Peace, by “planting” pinwheels with messages of peace at St. John’s Church in honor of International Day of Peace. The students wrote their thoughts about living in harmony with others, on the pinwheels. Pinwheels for Peace is an art installation project started in 2005 by two art teachers, Ann Ayers and Ellen McMillan, of Coconut Creek, Fla., as a way for students to express their feelings about what¹s going on in the world and in their lives. Last year more than 4.5 million pinwheels were spinning in more than 3,500 locations, including the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, the Middle East, Africa and South America.

The Maronite Sisters of Dartmouth recently visited the fifth-graders at Holy Family-Holy Name School in New Bedford. Sister Therese Marie and postulant Natalie gave a presentation on the life of Pope Francis. Shown with the students are Sister Therese Marie, Ms. Moujabber and postulant Natalie. For more information about the Sisters of Light visit their website www.maroniteservants.org.

St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro recently hosted a motivational speaker to speak to its middle school students. Queen Underwood, an Olympic light welterweight from the 2012 Olympic U.S. Olympic team, came to speak to the students about her experiences growing up and becoming a boxer. Underwood, who began boxing in 2003, told the students how her childhood was not easy, but she didn’t let that keep her down. She pushed herself to succeed and told the students they could do anything if they put their minds to it, like she did in the 2012 Olympics when she became the first American woman to appear in an Olympic boxing match. From left to right, Arianna Schifman, Brianna Connors, Underwood, Ashley Stefanik and Toni Whalen.

Bishop Smaragde Mbonyintege of the Diocese of Kabgayi, Rwanda, recently visited the students of St. Stanislaus School in Fall River. St. Stan’s students raised funds to establish a computer lab at the Kigali Infant’s School in Gasogi. The bishop and Father Leonard Kayondo, right, show first-graders where Rwanda is located.

Fifth-graders in Mr. Eckilson’s class at St. Michael School in Fall River recently learned a lesson on latitude and longitude.

October 2, 2015

A

s I mentioned in a recent column, just before classes began on campus last month, our peer leaders participated in CorsairWorks, a leadership retreat. During that retreat we covered a number of important topics and offered them a number of workshops, all culminating in a session on hospitality and evangelization.

We spoke about how on a very basic level, hospitality is about relationship and hospitality can inspire evangelization by creating a wonderful place for people to be and people are willing to share the Good News with their friends and invest in it with their time, talent, and treasure.

As we talked during the workshop session, we told them how important it was for each of them to reach out to others and to be hospitable to the students, faculty and staff with whom they might come into contact. They are “in the field” and have an opportunity to reach out to many more of their friends than we, the adult ministers, might see in a day.

We spoke of a very simple idea — “Bring a Friend to Mass!”

Youth Pages BFTM*

It is something that I had worked of the Church that challenges each and every person to be a on with various parishes in the Christian leader and to bring diocese several years back with about a change in every environyouth ministry groups.

As we developed the idea, they came up with a name for the activity which played upon today’s text messaging vocabulary. BFTM — Bring a Friend to Mass.

By Deacon Not only did I like the Frank Lucca name but I really liked the concept. I felt that ment in which we live, work or they had hit on something very play by bringing people in those simple and doable. That is the environments closer to a relationgoal, but we have some work to ship with Christ, one person at a do before we can get to there. time — using the tools of prayer, I’m not sure about most of study and action. When I first you, but when I hear that we as learned of the Cursillo mission, I Christians are called to change could easily identify with it and the world, I look at that as a very I felt that it was achievable. I daunting task. The world is a very big place with lots of people. couldn’t change the world, but I could work to change the various Sometimes such a large task environments in which my life may make us give up because it looks so impossible. But with this connected with others and in bringing others to know Christ, concept of BFTM, we weren’t talking about the world; we were slowly but surely we could begin to change the world — one talking about just one other person at a time. person.

So, when I heard the conMany years ago, I lived a Cursillo. A Cursillo is a movement cept to bring a friend to Mass,

Be Not Afraid

For the first time, Bishop Stang High School freshman participated in a “Scavenger Hunt” to better acquaint themselves with the North Dartmouth facility. The freshman were placed in groups, with an upperclassman “guide.” The groups competitively searched the building to gain signatures in different offices and to identify the location of special landmarks, such as the St. Julie statue, the Donor Tree, and Spartan heads.

Eighth-grade students from St. James-St. John School in New Bedford use microscopes in science class.

They are learning the proper method to view objects in the microscopes.

17 that concept fit in well with the challenge that Cursillo gives us.

We all have friends and I’m sure many of our friends may or may not have knowledge of or a relationship with Christ. While it may be premature to invite each friend we have to Mass right away, the concept does open the door for us to begin to “set the stage” to do so. At the retreat we talked about their inviting some of their friends to perhaps Pasta Night at Newman House, or some other social activity. Then over a period of time, as the friendship grew and trust was established, perhaps their friends would move on to Spiritual openness, curiosity and seeking and finally becoming intentional disciples, as Sherry Weddell’s states in her book “Forming Intentional Disciples” which many regard as one of the most important Catholic books of this decade.

When you are in a group, whether friends, school, work or even the Church, take some time to think about those with whom you come in contact. Perhaps, if they are not known to you, you might even consider getting to know them. I’m not saying you should get up on a soap box and start rallying the folks around you as a preacher might do. What I am saying is perhaps we can do more to share our life in Christ with those we know — one person at a time. When is the last time you mentioned Christ in a conversation with a friend or acquaintance? You may not want to shock or turn off a friend by being preachy, but we can share a life in action — where what you do and say will bring others to ask why you act the way you do and hopefully will want to emulate that lifestyle. Or we can share stories of our lives and how we have been touched by Christ along the way. Whichever way you choose, we need to step out a little and start that process.

Who knows what it will bring? It

can only bring something good.

Perhaps over the months and years to follow, you will, through your words and action bring that friend closer to a relationship with Christ.

One important fact that I once read in the Vision for Youth Ministry document, tells us that we cannot only work with the churched youth or young adults.

Many people are in different places in their Spiritual lives. Different people have different needs.

An effective youth ministry or campus ministry program tries to meet the needs of all. Most young people are not going to accidently walk into our churches and say, “Here I am!” We adults and others in ministry to youth need to meet the needs of all of the youth and young adults in our area by going out to them.

So in that simple idea to Bring a Friend to Mass, the peer leadership team has come upon a real understanding of youth and young adult ministry even though they may not know it.

We’ve already seen evidence of their hospitality and outreach having an effect on campus and I’ve seen it work in parishes, too.

I recently read an article by Father Stan Bilinski. He stated very simply, “True youth and young adult ministry always reaches beyond the Church walls.” He mentions that we need to enter the world of young people and young adults and demonstrate that we care about and be hospitable to them first.

Relationships change lives more than any program ever will. So let’s get out there and BTFM! Frank Lucca is a permanent deacon in the Diocese of Fall River, a youth minister at St. Dominic’s Parish in Swansea, and a campus minister at UMass Dartmouth. He is married to his wife Kristine, and is the father of two daughters and their husbands, and a 20-month-old grandson. Please email him at DeaconFrankLucca@comcast.net. *Bring a friend to Mass.

Father Riley Williams, a graduate of St. Francis Xavier Preparatory School in Hyannis, recently celebrated Mass (with Father Ron Floyd in choir) in honor of the school’s 20th anniversary year.

18

October 2, 2015

Retired diocesan priests captivated by Pope Francis’ U.S. visit continued from page one

coverage of Pope Francis’ historic visit to the United States last week, the only wall that captivated the retirees’ attention for several days was the one to which a flat screen TV was affixed, displaying live images of every step of the Holy Father’s remarkable U.S. pilgrimage.

On the pope’s first full day in Washington, D.C., several priests were anxiously awaiting the pontiff ’s welcome at the White House. Seated in an assortment of recliners and couches were Father Thomas L. Rita, Father John A. Gomes, Father Paul E. Canuel, Father Thomas C. Lopes, and Father Edward E. Correia, who handled the all-important remote control duties on this momentous occasion.

Flipping back and forth between broadcasts on MSNBC, Fox News, EWTN and Boston’s Catholic TV, the group settled in to witness this first-ever visit of Pope Francis to the “land of the free and home of the brave,” as the Holy Father would so eloquently describe during his speech before a joint session of Congress the following day.

Reacting to the color commentary from the various networks, the priests began to talk about some of the critical issues that Pope Francis was likely to address: immigration, climate change, poverty, and religious liberty were all possibilities.

Many were certain he would discuss the environment, given the topic of his most recent encyclical, Laudato Sí’ (“On Care for Our Common Home”).

As President Barack Obama emerged with Pope Francis at his side from the entrance to the south lawn of

the White House, the chatter ceased and everyone’s attention turned to the live feed from Washington.

The president began his welcoming remarks by praising the “deep devotion of some 70 million American Catholics” and the “role the Catholic Church has played in strengthening America.”

“I have seen firsthand how every single day, Catholic communities — priests, nuns, laity — are feeding the hungry, healing the sick, sheltering the homeless, educating our children, and fortifying the faith that sustains so many,” President Obama said.

Several priests nodded in silent agreement.

When it came time for the Holy Father to speak, he began in his typical fashion by making a humble statement that instantly resonated with everyone in the room.

“Mr. President, I am deeply grateful for your welcome in the name of all Americans,” Pope Francis began. “As the son of an immigrant family, I am happy to be a guest in this country, which was largely built by such families.

I look forward to these days of encounter and dialogue, in which I hope to listen to, and share, many of the hopes and dreams of the American people.”

In short order, the Holy Father touched upon the importance of freedom and religious liberty, the need to address the current immigration crisis, and the urgency of reducing air pollution. He also mentioned the U.S. efforts to “mend broken relationships,” likely referring to the recent restoring of diplomatic relations with Cuba, which the pope facilitated.

As the welcoming ceremony concluded, Father Canuel

said he was very happy the pontiff had placed the immigration issue front and center.

In fact, he had heard Pope Francis originally intended to enter the United States via Mexico, but scheduling conflicts — and a required stop at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe — made that grand gesture impossible.

“I’m very proud of the fact that (Pope Francis) is of Hispanic/Latin American heritage and yet he’s coming here and speaking in English and calling attention to the immigrant situation — not only here, but also keeping in mind those poor refugees from Syria,” Father Canuel told The Anchor. “I’m glad that he at least touched on the international treatment of immigrants as people with dignity, and I think President Obama is really sensitive to that situation — no matter what we may think of him politically.”

Father Rita also praised the pope’s attention to the ongoing plight of immigrants and noted how important the notion of a cultural “melting pot” was in making America what it is today.

“Take the Spanish influence — whether it be from the people of Mexico or any of the countries in Latin or Central America,” Father Rita said. “They bring with them a love for the Church and an enthusiasm as demonstrated in the Liturgy. This is something that we somewhat staid Catholics here in the United States aren’t used to and I think it’s good for us to see this enthusiasm and maybe it will rekindle our own commitments to worship.”

Pope Francis’ mention of climate change didn’t surprise anyone.

“I thought he was right on spot in terms of the encyclical letter that he had promulgated not too long ago,” Father Rita said. “He seems to want to impart to the American people a congratulatory note that he sees these things happening in the United States and he sees this present administration on target with world issues of peace and the environment.”

The retired priests were impressed with the president’s commendation of the Catholic Church in providing corporal and Spiritual works of mercy in the U.S. “I was very proud to hear the (president) talk about what the Catholics have been doing and listing all the different services that he is grateful for that we don’t always hear so much about,” Father Canuel said. “To have him express it in the very beginning of his welcome to the Holy Father was encouraging.”

“We’re used to a society now where we expect the government to do things, whereas earlier on the churches did it,” Father Rita agreed. “It’s good that the government takes some responsibility, but the government can’t do everything.”

While Pope Francis is fluent in several languages, English is not one he uses on a regular basis; yet everyone thought he did an admirable job in speaking slowly and pronouncing every word of his remarks.

“I think he did extraordinarily well,” Father Rita said.

“It’s not easy trying to read another language when (the ideas) are in your own native language. And the pronunciation of English knows no rules, like Spanish and many of the romance languages do.”

“I had the experience of trying to learn another language later in life, and I think

he did a great job,” Father Canuel concurred. “It’s difficult to not be able to express everything as comfortably and as precisely as you’d like.

But knowing his background and listening to him express himself in English — and this late in life — is impressive.”

The pope also received high marks for his pointed and direct address before a joint session of Congress the following morning, which likewise drew several retired priests into the community viewing room.

Father Correia was thrilled to hear Pope Francis cite the accomplishments of four great Americans during the speech: Abraham Lincoln; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; and — most importantly — two prominent Catholics, Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton.

“I was so happy to hear him mention Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton,” Father Correia told The Anchor. “I think they are two fine examples of (American-Catholics) who have put their faith into action.”

And the Holy Father managed to bring both sides of the Congressional aisle to its feet with his mention of the “Golden Rule,” as quoted from Matthew 7:12.

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” the pope said. “Let us treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated.

Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves.”

The thunderous applause emanating from the TV was matched by cheers of approval from within the confines of the Cardinal Medeiros Residence.

“I just think he’s a wonderful and good father to us all and he’s encouraging us to keep up the good work,” Father Rita said.

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October 2, 2015

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

ASSONET — Beginning September 14, St. Bernard’s Parish will have Eucharistic Adoration every Monday from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed on the altar at the conclusion of 9 a.m. Mass and the church will be open all day, concluding with evening prayer and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.

ATTLEBORO — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the Adoration Chapel at St. Vincent de Paul Parish, 71 Linden Street, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FALL RIVER — Good Shepherd Parish has Eucharistic Adoration every Friday following the 8 a.m. Mass and concluding with 3 p.m. Benediction in the Daily Mass Chapel.

A bilingual holy hour takes place from 2 to 3 p.m. Park behind the church and enter the back door of the connector between the church and the rectory.

Falmouth — St. Patrick’s Church has Eucharistic Adoration each First Friday following the 7 a.m. Mass, with Benediction at 4:30 p.m.

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

MASHPEE — Christ the King Parish, Route 151 and Job’s Fishing Road has 8:30 a.m.

Mass every First Friday with special intentions for Respect Life, followed by 24 hours of Eucharistic Adoration in the Chapel, concluding with Benediction Saturday morning followed immediately by an 8:30 Mass.

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

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

NEW BEDFORD — St. Lawrence Martyr Parish, 565 County Street, holds Eucharistic Adoration in the side chapel Fridays from 7:30-11:45 a.m. ending with a simple Benediction NORTH DARTMOUTH — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Julie Billiart Church, 494 Slocum Road, every Tuesday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., ending with Benediction. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available at this time.

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

NORTH EASTON — A Holy Hour for Families including Eucharistic Adoration is held every Friday from 3-4 p.m. at The Father Peyton Center, 518 Washington Street.

ORLEANS — St. Joan of Arc Parish, 61 Canal Road, has Eucharistic Adoration every First Friday starting after the 8 a.m. Mass and ending with Benediction at 11:45 a.m.

The Sacrament of the Sick is also available immediately after the 8 a.m. Mass.

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

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

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

Taunton — Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament takes place every First Friday at Annunciation of the Lord, 31 First Street. Exposition begins following the 8 a.m.

Mass. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed, and Adoration will continue throughout the day. Confessions are heard from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. Rosary and Benediction begin at 6:30 p.m.

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

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

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

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

The prophets who live among us continued from page 20

geous!”

The composer is Steven C. Warner, and the lyricist “Bergoglio.”

“The song was created for the celebration,” said Sister Hurtado. “The composer used the thoughts of the Holy Father in his apostolic letter, who invites us to celebrate joyfully.”

In his homily Bishop da Cunha cited the work of Kahlil Gibran’s, “The Prophet.”

“The contemplative servant calls people by his example to look into one’s conscience and follow it to the best of one’s ability,” Sister Hurtado said.

“There is a time for gentleness and a time for strength.”

Pope Francis said that “only by such concern for the needs of the world, and by docility to the promptings of the Spirit, will this Year of Consecrated Life become an authentic ‘kairos,’ a time rich in God’s grace, a time of transformation.”

“This year Pope Francis has brought to religious a lot of joy and hope,” said Sister Hurtado.

“We feel appreciated, and we feel that God has loved us much more than we have given Him. Therefore, this year has given us a promise of a future that will not end, not only in Heaven but religious life is here to stay. The Church is for the whole world.”

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks 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 Oct. 8 Rev. Roger P. Nolette, 2006 Oct. 9 Rev. Paul J. Dalbec, M.S., La Salette Shrine, Attleboro, 2000

Around the Diocese A Mass of Healing will be celebrated October 5 at 6 p.m. at Our Lady of Victory Church, 230 South Main Street in Centerville. If you are coping with any physical illness, dealing with worries, fears or anxieties, struggling with a life crisis or just feeling lost Spiritually or if you are concerned about a friend or family member and don’t know how to help them, then come and pray for these concerns. The Mass is sponsored by Our Lady of Victory Catholic Cancer Support Group, which meets immediately following in the Msgr. Perry Parish Center at 7 p.m. The guest speaker will be Virginia Ryan, a former member of the parish, who will explain and demonstrate Chair Yoga, a gentle form of exercise with wonderful health benefits. The support group also offers an informal discussion opportunity for members who would prefer a smaller group that meets once a month. For information regarding date and times, contact Geri Medeiros at 508-362- 6909.

A healing Mass will be held October 15 at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford at 6:30 p.m. and includes Benediction and healing prayers. At 5:15 p.m. there will be a holy hour which includes the Rosary. For information visit www.stanthonyofnewbedford.com or call 508993-1691.

The Women’s Guild of St. John Neumann Parish, located at 157 Middleboro Road in East Freetown, invites all to its One Day Only Barn Sale being held in the parish barn on October 17 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., rain or shine. The Barn Sale has a large variety of items available to choose from and the prices can’t be beat!

Our Lady of Fatima Church, 4256 Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford, will host its Annual Harvest Fair sponsored by the Ladies Guild on October 18 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the parish hall. Ma’s Donuts and coffee, homemade food, baked goods and candy will be served. The fair will feature many talented crafters and vendors, books, jewelry, raffles of beautiful theme baskets, handmade quilt and cash raffles, Chinese auction, kids game booth and more!

There’s plenty of parking and admission is free.

Deacon Tony Cipriano will be offering a six-week Social Justice Course at Attleboro High School, 100 Rathburn Willard Drive in Attleboro from October 19 though November 23 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. each night. This Social Justice class is a rich treasure of wisdom about building a just society and living lives amidst the challenges of modern society. People have a right and a duty to participate in society, seeking together the common good and well-being of all, especially the poor and vulnerable. Since social justice cannot avoid the political, it is far better to address these issues explicitly than to pretend they do not exist.

The Fall River Diocesan Council of Catholic Women will host a breakfast presentation on Domestic Violence on October 24 at 9 a.m. in the parish center of Holy Name Parish, 850 Pearce Street in Fall River. Speakers will include District Attorney Thomas Quinn, Lt. Andrew Cook of the Fall River Police Department, and Paula Wilding, a representative from SSTAR. For reservations or more information, contact Mary Mitchell (508-993-3742), Lynette Ouellette (508-674-7036), Virginia Wade (508-676-6515), Rebecca Dean (508-761-4638) or Bobbie Dwyer (508-743-5448). The deadline for reservations is October 19 and no tickets will be sold at the door.

A holy hour is held every Monday at 7 p.m. at Holy Name Church, 709 Hanover Street in Fall River. The evening includes Benediction and Confessions (once a month). Each week includes the Rosary, novena, prayers for vocations to the priesthood, and a short meditation.

20

By Linda Andrade Rodrigues Anchor Correspondent seaskyandspirit.blogspot.com

TAUNTON — Preaching to the world and walking among the masses in Washington, New York and Philadelphia, Pope Francis is a prophet in our midst.

In his apostolic letter on the

October 2, 2015

The prophets who live among us

Year of Consecrated Life, the pontiff said: “Prophets receive from God the ability to scrutinize the times in which they live and to interpret events.

Prophets know God, and they know the men and women who are their brothers and sisters. They are able to discern and denounce the evil of sin

and injustice. Because they are free, they are beholden to no one but God, and they have no interest other than God. Prophets tend to be on the side of the poor and the powerless, for they know that God Himself is on their side.”

Pope Francis declared a Year of Consecrated Life from Nov. 30, 2014, the First Sunday of Advent, to the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the

Temple, Feb. 2, 2016.

“I am counting on you ‘to wake up the world’ since the distinctive sign of consecrated life is prophecy,” instructed the pope to all those with vocations. “Religious follow the Lord in a special way, in a prophetic way. This is the priority that is needed right now: to be prophets who witness to how Jesus lived on this earth.”

Seventy-five consecrated

Deacon Alan J. Thadeu and Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., read during the recent diocesan celebration of World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life. (Photo by Sister Mary Lou Simcoe)

Sisters, Brothers and priests from throughout the Diocese of Fall River recently gathered to celebrate World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life at St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Taunton. Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., presided at the event.

“Father Timothy P. Reis gave a special welcome to us, and we were joined by St. Andrew’s parishioners for celebration of the Eucharist,” said Sister Paulina Hurtado, O.P., Episcopal Representative for Religious and associate director of Vocations for the Diocese of Fall River.

The Holy Hour for Vocations included Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, as well as readings and reflections on the prophetic mission of the Church.

“At the very beginning of Christianity, religious life highlighted the aspects of living a regular daily life like Jesus did — poor, chaste and obedient,” said Sister Hurtado.

“Humbled in His way of living, He was liberated from the cares of poverty; chaste, He dedicated His love to humanity and God; and obedient, He lived by the will of His Father.

So from the very beginning of the Church, men and women somehow were inspired and followed religious life. The human being is made for God, and nothing else is as important as the love of God.” The prophetic element of the vocational calling is to stay awake, keep watch and mediate.

“Watchfulness for what is God’s Will doesn’t mean to be cautious, but observant,” explained Sister Hurtado. “We look for signs that may reveal God. We are vigilant, always focused on what the goal is.

We are mediators between God and society, working for the poor and intervening for those persons and for the planet as well. We pray for the strength to carry this out, not to deviate or give up.”

She also pointed out that one of the most important missions of consecrated life is to keep the world awake to the afterlife.

“We are in the world but not of the world,” she said.

The gathering sang “Wake the World with Dawning Joy”: “Wake the word with dawning joy! / Wake it with your gladness! / Work for justice, live in peace, / Claim the Word couraTurn to page 19