10.05.12

The Anchor Diocese of Fall River

F riday , October 5, 2012

Church, diocese prepare for Year of Faith

Mass at Cathedral on October 11

Focus on ‘Catechism,’ Vatican II

FALL RIVER — With his apostolic letter of Oct. 11, 2011, Porta Fidei, Pope Benedict XVI declared a Year of Faith would begin on Oct. 11, 2012 and conclude on Nov. 24, 2013.

October 11, the first day of the Year of Faith, is the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and also the 20th anniversary of the “Catechism of the Catholic Church.” During this Year of Faith, Catholics are asked to study and reflect on the documents of Vatican II and the “Catechism” so that they may deepen their own knowledge of the faith.

To officially kickoff the 2012-2013 Year of Faith, Bishop George W. Coleman will celebrate a special Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral beginning at 7 p.m. on October 11, to which everyone in

FALL RIVER — For Catholics around the world, October 11 will usher in Pope Benedict XVI’s call for a Year of Faith.

Clergy and faithful in the Diocese of Fall River will join their brothers and sisters in every nation to heed the Holy Father’s call to appreciate the gift of faith, to strengthen our relationship with God, and to make a greater commitment to share that faith with others.

Last October the pope made the call in his apostolic letter Porta Fidei (The Door of Faith), giving the faithful one year to prepare. “Faith grows when it is lived as an experience of love received and when it is communicated as an experience of grace and joy,” he wrote. The special year opens on the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Turn to page 18

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

Turn to page 14

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

October is Respect Life Month; Church calls faithful to defend life

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — The Catholic Church will observe Respect Life Month during October, an annual tradition that is in its 41st year. The initiative will be formally launched on October 7, Respect Life Sunday.

The month is dedicated to having Catholics renew their personal commitment to defend all human life, especially those most vulnerable. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is calling on all Catholics to demonstrate this commitment by participating in prayer services and educational conferences, engaging in public witness and advocacy, and helping to offer Church and community services to those in need.

According to this year’s Respect Life statement by the USCCB, “The theme of this year’s Respect Life program is one often expressed by Pope Benedict XVI: ‘Faith opens our eyes to human life in all its gran-

deur and beauty.’” The pope reiterated this insight during his recent visit to Lebanon: “‘The effectiveness of our commitment to peace depends on our understanding of human life. If we want peace, let us defend life! This approach leads us to reject not only war and terrorism, but every assault on innocent human life, on men and women as creatures willed by God. The grandeur and the raison d’être of each person are found in God alone. The unconditional acknowledgement of the dignity of every human being, of each one of us, and of the sacredness of human life, is linked to the responsibility, which we all have before God. We must combine our efforts, then, to develop a sound vision of … the human person.

Without this, it is impossible to build true peace.’”

Respect Life Month is especially timely in the state of Massachusetts, as voters will be deciding in November whether to apTurn to page 14

Diocese names new Development director

FALL RIVER — James A. Campbell, officer at New England Baptist Hosa veteran leader of development efforts pital; vice president for Development for healthcare institutions and and Public Affairs at Spectrum universities, has been named to Charitable Foundation, Worceshead the Development Office ter; and vice president for Defor the Fall River Diocese. velopment at St. Elizabeth’s Bishop George W. Coleman Medical Center and Caritas last week announced the hiring Christi Health Care System. of Campbell as the diocesan DiEarlier in his career he also rector of Development. In that oversaw development for Sufpost, he succeeds Michael J. folk University and for the Donly, who retired at the end of School of Law at Fordham UniJames A. June after 15 years. versity and was director of MaCampbell Campbell comes to the diojor Gifts at the College of the cese after having held top deHoly Cross. velopment positions at several large Most recently, as a consultant, he has New England institutions. He has served worked with a variety of clients includas vice president and chief development Turn to page 15

PARISH PET — Father Conrad Salach, OFM Conv., pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in New Bedford, blesses his own pet pal, Abby, during the annual Franciscan Blessing of the Animals held last weekend in the church parking lot. Abby is a French poodle who shares the rectory with him. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)

New Bedford chapel rejoices at 10 years of perpetual Eucharistic Adoration

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

NEW BEDFORD — For 10 years, Catholic faithful in the New Bedford area have vigilantly maintained a presence with the most Sacred Blessed Sacrament at Our Lady’s Chapel. Through all types of weather and circumstances the true presence of Our Lord was in the tender presence of at least one of His children.

On October 13, the faithful who coordinate and maintain a physical presence in perpetual Eucharistic Adoration will celebrate a decade of blessings and devotion.

“I’m not surprised that what began here 10 years ago is still being continued today,” Father Louis Maximilian, FI, guardian of Our Lady’s Chapel, told The Anchor. “There are a great many who are devoted to our Eucharistic Lord and Our Lady, who live out their faith by maintaining the adoration schedule. Their faith is a

great inspiration to the body of Catholics in the New Bedford area. They’re solicitous about spreading the Good News of Our Lord’s presence. They know Eucharistic Adoration changes lives.”

The chapel will host a weeklong series of events leading up to the October 13 celebration Mass. Beginning October 8 various priests, including diocesan priests, will lead a Holy Hour each night at 6:30 followed by a 30-minute reflection on the Eucharist and Our Lady.

Father George Roth, FI, from Griswold, Conn. will begin the celebration on October 8, followed on consecutive nights

by Father Edward A. Murphy, pastor of St. Anthony’s Parish in New Bedford; Father Ron Floyd, a parochial vicar at St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham; Father David Mullen, pastor of St. Brendan Parish Turn to page 18

News From the Vatican

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October 5, 2012

Vatican congregation restructures course on religious life

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — To mark the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council and reflect on the major changes it brought to consecrated life, the Vatican’s Congregation for Religious has overhauled the course it offers on theology and canon law.

The Second Vatican Council’s call for religious to return to the founding inspiration of their orders and, at the same time, to respond to the needs of the modern world “was not an easy task,” said Sister Nicla Spezzati, a member of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ and undersecretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

“Laudable initiatives were undertaken by various institutes and organizations,” she told L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper.

At the same time, she said, there was also “a certain ‘experimental’ character,” which made it “difficult to find a wise balance” in how religious orders could remain faithful to their founding inspiration while adapting to modern needs and concerns.

In the past 50 years, Sister Spezzati said, religious orders faced enormous challenges and most of them experienced “tensions that were painful at times” as they rewrote their constitutions and attempted to minister in the Church and to a changing world in a way that flowed from the original inspiration of their order.

The congregation for religious, which for 60 years has offered a two-year course in theology and canon law, has revised and expanded the program in the hopes

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that it will help leaders in religious congregations and diocesan officials working with religious better respond to challenges posed by the Gospel, the tradition of the Church and papal teaching, and their vows to follow Christ in poverty, chastity and obedience, Sister Spezzati said.

“The essence of consecrated life is simple and must be proposed and lived as such,” she said.

“Nevertheless, this simplicity must be able to respond to the questions that today’s culture poses.”

“One must be able to identify the path that brings everything back to the essential, which is and always will remain the mystery of a vocation to follow Christ in the radical style of the Gospel,” she said.

Religious orders experienced the same tensions as the wider Catholic community because of the way they interpreted the teachings of Vatican II — seeing them as a complete break with tradition or viewing them as a development of tradition, Sister Spezzati said.

“Within the reality of consecrated life where a ‘hermeneutic of discontinuity’ prevailed, there were more serious problems,” both in relations between members and in identifying and living the specific identity of each order, she said.

The congregation’s new course includes 200 hours of lectures and seminars over a two-year period.

Courses begin October 24 at the Pontifical Urbanian University in Rome. It is open to religious, priests and lay people interested in the topic. Those who successfully complete the program will be awarded a diploma recognizing them as an “expert” in Church teaching and canon law on consecrated life.

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 56, No. 38

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UNDETERRED — A gust of wind blows Pope Benedict XVI’s mantle as he leads his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican recently. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

‘VatiLeaks’ trial will be landmark event for Vatican tribunal

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — For the Vatican’s criminal court, the trial of Paolo Gabriele and Claudio Sciarpelletti for their alleged part in leaking papal correspondence will be unusual and may lead the Vatican to invoke a never-used cooperation agreement with Italy.

Giovanni Giacobbe, promoter of justice in Court of Appeal of Vatican City State, explained to reporters how the Vatican conducts a criminal trial. But he also admitted that such trials are “extremely” rare, and the only thing remotely similar was a trial for drug possession on Vatican property some 10 years ago.

If Gabriele and Sciarpelletti are found guilty and are sentenced to jail time, they would serve that time in an Italian prison under the terms of a decades-old ItalianVatican agreement that has never been used, Giacobbe said. Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who tried to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981, was handed over to Italian police and found guilty in an Italian court, not a Vatican court.

Gabriele, who was arrested in May after Vatican police found papal correspondence and other items in his Vatican apartment, faces a charge of aggravated theft, which Giacobbe said carries a possible sentence of up to four years.

Sciarpelletti, who had a copy of a document from Gabriele in his desk at the Vatican Secretariat of State, was charged with aiding and abetting Gabriele. He faces up to one year in prison.

Giacobbe said Gabriele’s innocence or guilt will have to be determined first because Sciarpelletti cannot be tried for aiding and abetting if the original act is not determined to be a crime.

The judge said there was no way to predict how long the trial would last, although an indication could come from the first session when the prosecution and defense teams make motions, declare whether or not they will contest any of the evidence gathered by Vatican investi-

gators and whether or not they will call more witnesses.

The fact that Gabriele has admitted to investigators that he took the material and shared it with an Italian journalist does not constitute absolute proof, and the judges cannot base their judgment solely on the confession, Giacobbe said.

At one time, he said, “a confession was known as the ‘queen of all proofs,’” but most legal experts recognize that confessions can be coerced or that defendants may confess to protect another person.

The responsibility of the judges hearing the trial, Giacobbe said, is to determine whether the evidence supports Gabriele’s confession.

He said the confession could “facilitate the trial,” making it go more smoothly, and if the accused confesses or expresses repentance and contrition then the judge “will take that into consideration” during sentencing.

Giacobbe said the practice of beginning a trial with a defendant entering a plea of “guilty” or “not guilty” does not exist in Vatican or Italian trials. Also, under Vatican law, a defendant is not asked to take an oath before testifying “like on Perry Mason,” he said.

The accused has every right to “say things that are false in order to defend himself” and not incriminate himself, the judge said.

In addition, Giacobbe said, the defendant cannot represent himself. He is asked to choose his own lawyer, and if he hasn’t, one is appointed for him by a Vatican judge.

However, the accused has a right not to attend the trial, having a lawyer represent him instead.

“He is free” to decide to not show up and face questioning because the trial’s aim is to safeguard the rights of the accused, Giacobbe said.

The trial is designed to substantiate, “verify,” flesh out or contest information gathered in the preliminary investigation, he said.

Gianluigi Nuzzi, the Italian journalist who published secret pa-

pal documents allegedly received from Gabriele, is not subject to a Vatican criminal investigation because that potential crime occurred on Italian territory and therefore, the Vatican has no jurisdiction there, he said.

Gabriele is being accused of theft even though the bulk of sensitive documents he had in his possession were photocopies and not the originals; Giacobbe said making copies of materials accessed illicitly is still a form of stealing.

Vatican trials are usually held on a Saturday because the Vatican judges and prosecutors all work Monday through Friday as Italian lawyers or judges or as professors in Italian universities, Giacobbe said. However, more complex cases will run into the work week, he added.

Vatican judges usually try about 30 cases a year, and the overwhelming majority of them involve “petty crimes” like pickpocketing and usually finish quickly and simply.

The trial of a Vatican employee for possessing 87 grams of cocaine in 2007 was the biggest case they’ve had in recent memory, he said. There was no trial for the double murder-suicide of a Swiss Guard in 1998 because “the suspect killed himself,” and charges were never brought against the woman who attacked the pope during the Christmas Liturgy in 2009 because of mental illness.

Giacobbe said the final verdicts in the cases of Gabriele and Sciarpelletti will require a majority vote, not a unanimous decision, among the three judges.

If the three-judge panel finds the defendants not guilty, the Vatican prosecutor can appeal the judgment, just as the defendants can appeal a guilty sentence.

The pope, like many heads of state, has the power to grant clemency at any time to anyone found guilty. While he also has the power to close a case before a trial is scheduled, the pope cannot intervene once a trial starts.

October 5, 2012

The International Church

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U.S. bishops offer condolences, support after Nigeria church bombing

sound work — Workers clean church bells at the Catholic cathedral in Brasilia, Brazil recently.

(CNS photo/Ueslei Marcelino, Reuters)

Caritas Spain warns of worsening economic crisis as poverty rises

OXFORD, England (CNS) — Caritas Spain, the Church’s charitable arm, urged the Spanish government to consider the “sinister concrete implications” of the country’s economic crisis after reporting a tripling in the number of people needing its help.

In a report released the organization said Spanish society has “followed a precarious integration model, which has gradually deteriorated and failed, reducing the protective capacity of the public system.”

“This crisis does not only concern concepts of aid management.

It also has sinister concrete implications in the loss of jobs, fall in household earnings and weakening in social support,” the Caritas report added.

The report pointed to growing “poverty, inequality and unfairness” as a major concern despite the agency’s efforts to provide assistance through Catholic parishes.

The number of Spaniards receiving aid from the charity has tripled in the past four years, topping one million people in 2011, the report said.

“If poverty was not reduced when there was economic growth in 1994-2007, and if social protection was not improved as a share

of national growth, it is difficult to imagine that poverty and inequality will be reduced now at a time of crisis,” the agency said.

The report was published as the center-right government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced a new wave of spending cuts and tax increases in its 2013 budget in a bid to cut Spain’s deficit and avoid a bailout by the European Union.

The measures were met with angry street protests in Madrid and other cities, as well as calls for secession by the country’s wealthy northwest Catalonia region.

Caritas Spain spokeswoman Ana Girao recently told Catholic News Service that poverty showed signs of changing “from a recent to a long-term problem.” Those most affected are unemployed, currently 25 percent of the Spanish workforce, as well as immigrants, single mothers and young couples with children, she said.

She expressed gratitude for the work of the Spanish Catholic Church, traditionally claiming the loyalty of 82 percent of Spain’s 40 million inhabitants, which supplemented the work of her agency in individual dioceses by offering money, food and clothing to the

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growing ranks of the poor.

“We are the Catholic Church.

So what Caritas does for the needy is also what the Church does,” Girao said.

“Although the media has shown interest in our report, we’re not expecting reactions from the politicians,” she added. “But they must be made aware that the situation is becoming more chronic and the needs ever greater.”

The report said Caritas disbursed about $43 million in aid annually and has been guided by an “evangelical vision” and “ecclesial perspective” in its mission.

“We also listen to people who come to our parish centers and try to address not just economic needs, but also to offer warmth,” the charity said.

“Actions which address these needs are valuable, since they are significant and transformative for the lives of individuals, as well as for relationships in society.”

Washington D.C. (CNA) — Leaders of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops offered their support to the Church in Nigeria after a suicide car bomber attacked a cathedral in the northern region of the country.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost loved ones in this attack and with the scores of others who were wounded,” said Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Bishop Richard E. Pates of Des Moines, who chairs the conference’s Committee on International Justice and Peace.

The clergymen expressed their sympathy over a recent suicide bombing in a recent letter to Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria.

On the morning of September 13, a suicide car bomber attacked St. John’s Cathedral in Bauchi, a city in northern Nigeria, leaving at least two people dead and 45 injured, many of them seriously.

While no group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, the city of Bauchi has often been the target of violence perpetrated by Boko Haram, a militant Islamic group in Nigeria whose name means “Western education is sinful.”

Boko Haram, which rejects the Nigerian state and seeks to impose strict Shariah law throughout the country, has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks on Christians and is reportedly involved with rebels and terrorist groups in the region.

The group has been accused of systematically terrorizing and bombing churches in an attempt to force all Christians out of Nigeria.

Dozens of Christians in northern and central Nigeria have been killed or injured in recent months alone, and according to the BBC, the group has been blamed for attacks that caused the deaths of 1,400 people since 2010.

In July, a U.S. congressional subcommittee hearing discussed ways that the U.S. can respond to the continuing terrorist attacks in the country.

Nigeria’s military said that it killed Boko Haram’s spokesman and another leader on September 17.

Calling the suicide attack “horrible and totally unacceptable,” Cardinal Dolan and Bishop Pates voiced “condolences and solidarity,” as well as “great sadness” at the news.

“It is sobering to note that the deaths and injuries could have been even worse had the Church not taken security precautions after the earlier bombing of a church in Bauchi last June,” they said.

Acknowledging “the severity of the threat of violence,” they praised Archbishop Kaigama for his “positive and courageous role of the Church in Nigeria.”

Cardinal Dolan and Bishop Pates said they hope “the perpetrators of violence and terror will be brought to justice.”

They assured the archbishop of their “unconditional support to the Church in Nigeria at this difficult time.”

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October 5, 2012 The Church in the U.S. Catholic women urged to bring their voices to the public square

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (CNS) — When the National Council of Catholic Women chose “Be the Voice of Catholic Women” as the theme of its 2012 convention, the organization’s members probably didn’t foresee how relevant those six words would be in today’s political and cultural environment.

More than 540 women who attended the annual gathering September 19-22 in Myrtle Beach heard speakers discuss how vital it is to spread the message in the public square, especially when religious liberty is threatened by, among other things, the HHS mandate on contraception.

Bishop Robert E. Guglielmone of Charleston was the principal celebrant of the opening Mass. He was joined by more than 30 priests who are spiritual advisers for women’s councils around the United States.

The bishop praised the work that women do in the daily life of the Church, and said it is more necessary today than ever before. He urged attendees to not be discouraged by troubles at the national level or in their personal lives, and to turn to God for solutions and encouragement.

“If we are willing to confront and not run away from problems, the presence of Christ will sustain us,” Bishop Guglielmone said. “As we try to conquer the evils of our times, we need to remember we don’t want to defeat people, we want to convert them. We want them to see the presence of Christ.”

Increased involvement also was encouraged by John Carr, a fellow at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics and former executive director of the USCCB’s Department of Justice, Peace and Human Develop-

ment, who gave the keynote ad- iar to many women, is the true “People who never thought dress. key to a happy life nurtured by they were or could be evange“This is not a time for dis- God’s grace, he said. lizers are slowly but surely becouragement, but a time for inElizabeth Scalia, the final ing formed by the Holy Spirit creased engagement,” he said. keynote speaker, encouraged to share their voices,” she Carr said women play a vital the faithful to embrace the Inter- said. “People who thought that role in spreading the Church’s net and new technology as a po- all they could ever do for the message, educating the culture tent tool for evangelism. Scalia Church was iron altar cloths are about the sanctity of all hu- is a writer and managing editor on the Internet. The New Evanman life, and standing up for of the Catholic portal at www. gelization is astonishing. That’s the most vulnerable in how the Holy Spirit society, including the f we are willing to confront and moves. In the end, it’s unborn, the elderly and not about profit, but not run away from problems, becoming moderndisabled, poor people the presence of Christ will sustain us,” day prophets.” and immigrants.

But taking sides will Bishop Guglielmone said. “As we try People need to only dilute the message, to conquer the evils of our times, we pray to find the way he said.

God wants them to “We’re not factions need to remember we don’t want to de- communicate, Scaor interest groups but feat people, we want to convert them. lia said, because their one family of faith,” We want them to see the presence of voices are needed Carr said. “We can di- Christ.” more than ever in a vide up the work, but we world where everyshouldn’t divide up the thing from pop culChurch.” patheos.com, where she writes ture to politics seems ever more William Thierfelder, presi- The Anchoress blog. hostile to Christianity. dent of Belmont Abbey ColShe said too many people reShe said the partisanship and lege in Charlotte, N.C., noted gard the Internet as the devil’s downright meanness that infilthat the college was one of the tool and don’t engage in the me- trates nearly every discussion first to file a lawsuit against the dium with the voice and truths of of faith and politics, from mainHHS mandate requiring em- the faith. Scalia noted that Pope stream media to comment boxes ployers, including most reli- Benedict XVI embraces the In- on blogs, shouldn’t drive people gious employers, to provide free ternet’s evangelistic power, and away. contraceptive coverage to their described the diverse Catholic “Cling to the Word and God workers. He urged attendees population who use new media, will take you where He wants to develop their own sense of from young couples with pod- you to go,” she said. “I don’t gratitude and faith as a defense casts to the woman who started see how Catholics have a choice against secular culture. http://Catholicmom.com. but to get engaged in the public “If God took everything away from me, I could still never be thankful enough for what He’s given me up this point,” Thierfelder said. “If we overlook praise and thanksgiving to God NEW YORK (CNS) — The gan: “And now, bless the God each day, we have lost before communications revolution of of all, Who has done wondrous we have even begun to fight.” modern times has given the things on earth.”

Thierfelder said an over- peoples of the world an unprecThe cardinal spoke of the whelming self-centeredness in edented opportunity to come U.N., founded in 1945 to American culture has led to ev- together in understanding, Car- promote peace and dialogue erything from the breakdown dinal Edward M. Egan said at a among nations, as one of of the family to today’s debates prayer service for the opening God’s wondrous works at the about contraception, abortion, of the 67th session of the Unit- disposal of humankind. health care and poverty. Sacri- ed Nations General Assembly.

Calling the world body “a fice and service, already familSpeaking to ambassadors remarkable institution,” he and diplomats, including U.N. said, “Only the Lord knows Secretary-General Ban Ki- what horrors of war and strife moon, as well as religious might have been ours to enleaders of various faith tradi- dure if it had not been for the tions, the retired archbishop of multitude of successes (of) the New York called on his listen- United Nations.” ers to “seize the day and move The U.N., he said, is a “unique forward” — taking advan- instrument of peace that gives tage of God-given “wondrous us hope at a time when hope is things” as they seek resolution in short supply.” to conflicts around the world.

But our gratitude to the Also speaking at the ser- Lord does not stop there, he vice at Holy Family Church, said. Because of His wondrous the U.N. parish in Manhattan, works here on earth, “We are were the secretary-general able at this moment in histoand the Vatican’s U.N. nuncio, ry to speak with one another, Archbishop Francis A. Chul- communicate with one anothlikatt, who delivered a mes- er, dialogue with one another, sage from Pope Benedict XVI converse with one another, with a blessing to the new ses- even negotiate with one anothsion. er as never before in history.

Cardinal Egan based his And what a blessing that is for talk on the service’s Scripture those who yearn for and work reading from Sirach, which be- for understanding and peace

“I

discussion. If we don’t fight for our faith and identify as Catholics, we’re going to lose our identity and our freedom. You can’t be a hammer, but you can share the truth when you know you have the Church behind you.”

Workshops throughout the four-day event focused on how women could reach out to the poor, young adults and victims of domestic violence, how to nurture vocations and a Pro-Life message in a secular culture, and how to nurture true Catholic womanhood.

Sally Jackson, of the Diocese of Knoxville, Tenn., received NCCW’s highest honor, the 2012 Our Lady of Good Counsel award, for nearly 50 years of service to the organization from the parish to the national level.

She has worked with a variety of community outreaches, and is dedicated to promoting Catholic values.

Jackson said her involvement with the council helped her grow from a shy young mother from a rural background to someone who was not afraid to speak out in public.

“Bringing the voice of Catholic women to the world is truly essential right now ... I really believe that,” Jackson said.

Cardinal Egan, at U.N. service, says communications can be tool of peace

among nations.”

The cardinal continued, “Walk down any crowded street in London, Athens, Shanghai, Paris, Buenos Aires, Lagos or even stroll along a country road in Ethiopia, and what do you see? You will see cellphones held up to the ear.”

“It’s almost as though the world has suddenly decided to engage itself in a constant and unrelenting conversation,” he said.

“And to this add the wonders of the Internet, Twitter, websites ... and what do we have? We have a world that can speak ... and come to accord. We can talk as never we could before.

“Of course, all of these wonderful works can be abused,” Cardinal Egan said. “They can be turned into means of betraying truth and fomenting controversy and conflict.”

Even so, he said, “the leadership is available at the United Nations and the means of communication are open as never before. We have the means, we have the opportunity, we need to only seize the day and move forward.”

The Church in the U.S. Former abortion clinic workers detail conversion stories

October 5, 2012

Washington D.C. (CNA/ EWTN News) — At a recent conference in Illinois, former abortion workers told the stories of the work that they once thought was helping women, and how they were converted to the Pro-Life position.

“We wanted to better understand the mindset of people who work in the abortion industry,” said conference planner Ann Scheidler, who serves as the vice president of the Pro-Life Action League.

She told CNA that the purpose of the “Converted: From Abortion Provider to Pro-Life Activist” conference was to hear what former abortion workers had to say about why they entered the abortion industry and what led them to leave it.

While abortion doctors and clinic workers are sometimes viewed as heartless by Pro-Lifers, some are actually “extremely compassionate people” who are misguided and believe that they are “helping women,” she explained.

“It’s very good for us to understand where these people are coming from,” she said.

The recent conference was held Crowne Plaza O’Hare Hotel in Rosemont, Ill., and featured eight former abortion workers who told their personal stories of conversion.

Scheidler said that each one had a different story, but they shared the experience of realizing, “This isn’t what I thought.”

The decision to leave can be “difficult,” she continued. They of-

ten find that “everybody they know is pro-abortion,” so leaving their job means finding an entirely new community and peer group.

“That’s asking a lot,” she said.

“That’s hard to do.”

While the lack of resources has made this transition especially difficult in the past, a new ministry by former Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson is now helping those who wish to leave the abortion industry but are struggling in their decision to do so.

Johnson spoke about her ministry, And Then There Were None, which has had contact with 30 abortion workers in recent months.

Drawing about 100 attendees, primarily Pro-Life advocates who talk to women outside abortion

NEWARK, N.J. (CNS) — Marriage is “not created by law or the state because it is “a natural and pre-political institution,” Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark said in a recent pastoral reflection.

“Governments rightly recognize it in law and protect and support it for the sake of the common good,” but “the truth of Marriage is ... part of the natural law,” Archbishop Myers said in his reflection.

Titled “When Two Become One,” the document discusses the definition, meaning and sanctity of Marriage as a union of man and woman.

A news release said the reflection, which “is consistent with the teaching and tradition of the Catholic Church,” was aimed at helping “the faithful of the archdiocese form their consciences, discern their vocations and, for the married, fulfill their vows.”

He also addressed the push for legalization of same-sex marriage and spoke out against the use of contraception in Marriage.

“Many young people today have not experienced permanence and faithfulness in the familial relationships around them,” Archbishop Myers wrote. “This impedes their appreciation of the truth about Marriage and makes it difficult for them to make serious and permanent commitments which overcome self-regard in favor of the good of others and the common good.”

The reflection was published in recent issue of The Catholic Advocate, the archdiocesan newspaper.

The archbishop said that although “sexual difference and complementarity” have always been part of God’s plan for Marriage, “the current state of Marriage in our Church and in our society often acts as a countersign.”

Responding to claims that equality and justice demand the recogni-

tion of same-sex marriages, he said, “This argument might be stronger if the Church’s opposition were based solely on religious beliefs, and same-sex relationships were equivalent to conjugal partnerships that have historically been denoted by the word ‘marriage.’ Neither is true.”

He said civil authorities have always recognized the specific sexual nature of Marriage and have always limited its recognition in society to a union of man and woman.

“A brother and sister or an uncle and his niece are prohibited everywhere from marrying because of the relationship of Marriage to sexual activity and the laws of consanguinity,” Archbishop Myers said. “Everyone, including the state, has a vital interest in ensuring the best possible environment for begetting, rearing and educating the next generation.”

The letter, posted on the archdiocesan website at www.rcan. org/archbish/jjm_letters/wtbo.pdf, will be distributed to each of the 30 high schools in the archdiocese for incorporation into the schools’ family life curriculum. In addition, clergy in the archdiocese were to read a letter from Archbishop Myers about the pastoral at all Masses during the weekend of September 29-30.

In the letter, Archbishop Myers said Catholics “who do not accept the teaching of the Church on Marriage and family — especially those who teach or act in private or public life contrary to the Church’s received tradition on Marriage and family — by their own choice seriously harm their communion with Christ and His Church.”

He said those who are “unable to assent to or live the Church’s teaching in these matters must in all honesty and humility refrain from receiving Holy Communion until they can do so with integrity.”

He also warned that once a society “enshrines in law a ‘civil’ right to ‘marry’ someone of one’s own sex, then any persons or groups that believe otherwise will be seriously disadvantaged in law and in fact.”

“How long would the state permit churches, schools or parents to teach their children that homosexual activity is contrary to the natural law if homosexual marriage were a civil right?” he asked. “Already in Canada and other democratic nations ‘hate speech’ laws have been used to harass or even arrest clerics who preach the biblical message about Marriage.”

Archbishop Myers noted that the Church affirms “the dignity and worth of people with ‘deepseated homosexual tendencies,’ commanding that they be ‘accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity’” and condemning any unjust discrimination against them.

“Indeed, it is precisely because of this love and respect for the dignity of every human being that Christ and His Church call us to strive for full development as beings created in the image and likeness of God, and to renounce every act unworthy of our exalted status,” he wrote. “As human persons, each has the capacity to exercise sexual capacities on the basis of reasonable judgments and moral values.”

The archbishop said the Church does not consider homosexual attraction as “necessarily an impediment even to Marriage.”

“Today and throughout history, there are and have been persons who experience same-sex attraction, even strong and predominant same-sex attraction, who also understand Marriage and its value and have chosen to be joined to a person of the opposite sex in true Matrimony,” he said. “Many such persons have lived good, faithful and even joyous married lives.”

True Marriage ‘part of natural law,’ archbishop says in pastoral letter

clinics and sometimes speak with clinic workers, the conference was deemed a success by organizers.

One presenter, Dr. John Bruchalski, is currently a Pro-Life OB/ GYN in northern Virginia. However, he performed abortions during his first two years of residency.

Although Bruchalski grew up in a Catholic household, he lost his faith in the 1970s and ’80s. Wanting to be a “great” doctor, he felt that he needed to perform abortions, which he believed would help women to be “happier” and “healthier.”

It was a combination of factors that changed his mind, he told CNA. Part of it was the experience of performing abortions.

“As you do the procedure, you begin to kill another human being up close,” he said, describing the experience of watching “the life drain from them” from just inches away.

“That reality goes through your hand and into your heart,” he reflected.

Performing abortions “hardens your heart every time,” because you have to continually justify your actions to yourself, he explained.

In addition, he said that there was more and more emerging data

5

showing that abortion and contraception were not healthy for women, but had some “pretty significant side effects,” physically and psychologically.

There was also a relational aspect to his conversion, as a neonatologist whom he worked with challenge him to rethink his ideas.

Finally, he said that he experienced a spiritual renewal, brought about in part by two pilgrimages he attended.

“All those pieces came together in 1989,” he said, explaining that he was forced to “adjust my heart and my whole outlook.”

Now, he tries to witness to others, helping them to see the reality of abortion. In 1994, he founded Tepeyac Family Center, a Pro-Life practice in Fairfax, Va. “If it’s so darn good, why do so few doctors perform abortions?” he asks medical students when he gives talks.

Bruchalski said that he knows other former abortion doctors who have converted, and each has a different story. He believes that God speaks to each person in his or her own way.

“He spoke to me in a language that I intrinsically understood,” he said.

6

The Anchor Living out our faith in charity

“Do you miss me now?” That line has been seen on the bumpers of cars, with one or another former political office holder’s picture on it, over the last several years. One wonders if maybe people in Spain might also be asked the same question, this time with the Catholic Church being the thing posing the question to the public.

As you can read on page three of this issue, Caritas Spain, the equivalent of Catholic Charities for Spain, has tripled the number of people that it is assisting over the past four years, due to the severe economic downturn in that country.

The relevance of the situation in Spain to us Catholics in the United States is that we can see there a vision to a potential future for our own country. In the past Spain was one of the most practicing of Catholic countries in the world. It exported missionaries, priests, Sisters, Brothers and lay people to lands far and wide. It was the country which gave us so much of our spiritual heritage, from St. Dominic in the Middle Ages, to SS. Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, and Teresa of Avila at the time of the Counter-Reformation (to name only a few of the many Spanish saints of that time), to Opus Dei, the Cursillo movement, and the Neo-Catechumenal Way in the 20th century (again, to name only a few of the Catholic movements which grew out of Spain in the decades after its Civil War).

What happened? Many people argue about the causes of the decline of Catholicism in Spain. Some say that it was a delayed reaction to the dictatorship of Generalissimo Francisco Franco, who, although still dead, continues to rile many people in that country.

Since he wrapped himself in the Church (even though the Church tried to distance herself from him, especially in the later decades of his rule), some young Spaniards equate Catholicism with a lack of freedom. They want to have the freedom which their fellow members of the European Union have — to do whatever they want with their bodies (or other people’s bodies), without some Church frowning on them.

Pope Benedict’s invitation for us to enter into a Year of Faith could be an opportunity for the people of Spain to realize what they have lost in turning away from the Church.

As Father Landry wrote to the right of this editorial, the last Year of Faith in 1967 may not have been lived well enough by us Catholics, if we look at what the Spirit of 1968 bequeathed to us (or maybe things would have been even worse — hard to imagine what that might have been — had it not been for the 1967 Year of Faith).

As mentioned above, the sad experience of Spain is a lesson for us. Now people who turned away from approaching Christ’s altar (although, one must praise Spanish fallenaway Catholics for at least respecting the Lord in the Eucharist enough, that they know that they need to avail themselves of the Sacrament of Reconciliation before receiving Jesus again in Holy Communion) have returned to the Catholic Church, this time asking for some type of financial assistance. They didn’t come to the Church when they could receive the King of Heaven and Earth for free, but they do come when they need help to pay their rent or their food bill.

The Church sees this as an opportunity to show the loving face of Christ to those who approach her for assistance. Ultimately, we do not know why people stop going to Church (and, as Father Landry mentions on this page, the evils done by clergy haven’t exactly been a wonderful invitation to the world to become Catholic). We thank the Lord that somewhere inside of the hearts of these folks, a voice said that the Catholic Church truly does care for them, truly loves them and wants to help them.

The Letter of James a few weeks ago at Mass reminded us that we need to put our faith into action, that we cannot look on while someone is starving and tell them to “keep warm and well fed.” Saying such a heartless greeting would be a mockery of Christ in the poor.

In his apostolic letter, Porta Fidei, Pope Benedict says that how we treat the poor is one of the measures of our faith. He wrote, “The Year of Faith will also be a good opportunity to intensify the witness of charity. As St. Paul reminds us: ‘So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love’ (1 Cor 13:13). With even stronger words — which have always placed Christians under obligation — St. James said: ‘What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works?’”

The pope then quoted the line mentioned above and continued, “Faith without charity bears no fruit, while charity without faith would be a sentiment constantly at the mercy of doubt. Faith and charity each require the other, in such a way that each allows the other to set out along its respective path.”

The experience of charity without faith has been lived out in Spain, where socialist governments (which have been elected on and off since the death of Franco) have attempted to serve the poor with little or no reference to Christ. As Ann Scheidler discussed on page five of this issue, even people who work in abortion clinics think that they are doing something helpful for the people they “serve.” It is due to the lack of connection to faith (and even natural law, which doesn’t require faith) that such atrocities are done by people who are well-meaning, but very confused about humanity.

We Catholics are called upon to live out our faith in charity, which, as a side benefit, can bring many people back to Christ. The Holy Father wrote, “Indeed, many Christians dedicate their lives with love to those who are lonely, marginalized or excluded, as to those who are the first with a claim on our attention and the most important for us to support, because it is in them that the reflection of Christ’s own face is seen. Through faith, we can recognize the face of the risen Lord in those who ask for our love. ‘As you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me’ (Mt 25:40). These words are a warning that must not be forgotten and a perennial invitation to return the love by which He takes care of us. It is faith that enables us to recognize Christ and it is His love that impels us to assist Him whenever He becomes our neighbor along the journey of life.

Supported by faith, let us look with hope at our commitment in the world, as we await ‘new Heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells’(2 Pet 3:13; cf. Rev 21:1).”

Unfortunately, people have not always experienced the love of Christ when we Catholics have looked them in the face. May God help us to do better, here, in Spain, and throughout the whole world.

T

October 5, 2012

The stakes of the Year of Faith

he Year of Faith announced begins our faith may grow. I say “may,” because next Thursday. It has no official whether our faith grows depends on how we theme, but I think the best one would be, respond to the situations that put our faith to “Lord, increase our faith” (Lk 17:5), the plea the test. We have to be ready for those trials. the Apostles made to Jesus after they realized The last time the Church had a Year of how much they needed His help in order to Faith, many in the Church just looked at live up to His call to forgiveness. There are it as an occasion for a few pious events. It no plateaus in the spiritual life; we’re either remained on the periphery of most of the going uphill or sliding downhill, and hence Church’s life. And when the tests came, this upcoming holy year is an opportunity for many in the Church were caught off guard, each of us to look candidly at the vitality of with disastrous consequences. our faith and ask the Lord’s assistance that Back in 1967, Pope Paul VI called a Year this great gift may grow. of Faith ostensibly to celebrate the 1,900th The greatest compliments Jesus ever gave anniversary of the martyrdoms of SS. Peter were about faith. “O Woman, great is your and Paul. But the pope saw some portentous faith,” Jesus said to a pagan woman in Tyre signs on the horizon and called the holy year after she with beautiful perseverance begged specifically to strengthen his brothers and Jesus to heal her daughter. Jesus publicly sisters in the faith before, somewhat literally, marveled about the deep faith of a Roman all hell would break loose. centurion who showed total confidence that Just look at what happened in 1968: Jesus could heal his servant simply by saying the multiple assassinations, riots across the a word a great distance away. He likewise globe, the excesses of the sexual revolution, praised the faith of His own mother as one the terrible destruction of the war in Vietwho heard, believed into practice the Word nam, and the massive crisis of faith after the of God (Lk pope published 11:28), indicatHumanae Vitae ing, as the early reaffirming saints of the the Church’s Church beautiteaching on the fully noted, that sinful character before she had of contraceptive conceived the use by married

By Father Word of God couples. And Roger J. Landry in her womb, that was just she had already the beginning. conceived Him Within a few in faith in her heart. years, thousands of priests and religious In contrast to these great icons of faith, abandoned their vocations, while many there are also figures of little or no faith. others remained within but were consciously Jesus reproved the Apostles on four occaunfaithful to their promises and vows, most sions because of their “little faith.” Jesus notoriously the priests who began the cycle wasn’t able to work miracles in various of abuse of minors that eventually came to places, including His hometown of Nazareth, light in 2002. There was also the publicabecause He was amazed at their lack of faith. tion of the Dutch “Catechism,” in which the He candidly called out many of His contem- bishops of Holland officially proposed as poraries for being a “faithless and perverse authentic Catholic doctrine things that were generation” (Mt 17:7). And forebodingly, heresies.

Jesus wondered aloud about His second Rather than a palpable increase of faith, coming: “When the Son of Man comes, will Paul VI would say in 1972, that the “smoke He find faith on earth?” (Lk 18:8). of Satan” had entered the Church. “There As this Year of Faith begins, it’s important is doubt, incertitude, problematic, disquiet, for us to ask: Would the Lord compliment dissatisfaction, confrontation,” he went on. us for our “great faith” or reprove us for “There is no longer trust of the Church; they our “little faith”? If He were to come today, trust the first profane prophet who speaks in would He find faith in us? some journal or some social movement, and All of us this year in the Church — they run after him and ask him if he has the whether we’re fervent or tepid, a daily formula of true life. Doubt has entered our communicant or fallen away — need to consciences, and it entered by windows that imitate the Apostles and beg, “Lord, increase should have been open to the light.” our faith!” Even better, we should say with That’s what happened the last time. the father of the stricken boy, “Lord, I do What’s going to happen this time? believe. Help my unbelief!”

Pope Benedict has called this year in order The Lord will never give us a stone when to strengthen our faith so that when it is tested, we ask for something good, like an increase the Church may respond with greater fidelity in faith. But we have to be prepared for how than the last time around. We’re facing the He will respond. challenges of a highly secularized society Many people have come to me discourseeking to push faith to the margins or ban it aged that, no matter how much they pray for altogether. The faith of many Catholics has patience, it seems that they’re always losing been wounded by scandal and a lack of holiit. “How do you think God responds to such ness among many Church leaders. We see the prayers for patience?,” I generally ask them. crisis of faith in the vocations crises affecting “Do you think He responds by removing Marriage, religious life and priesthood. you from whatever would try your patience So as we prepare for the Year for Faith, or rather by giving you His grace but then we have to be conscious of the stakes. I providing challenging opportunities to grow believe that if faithful Catholics and Church in that virtue?” Most recognize it’s the latter. leaders could have foreseen what would fol“The next time you find yourself in a situlow the 1967 Year of Faith, they would have ation that puts your patience to the test,” I lived the year with much greater insistence counsel them, “try to remember that it’s an and fervor. We need to try to ensure that the answer to your prayer to grow in patience. same thing doesn’t occur this time around.

God is with you to help you to respond This is a year in which we’re called patiently.” to prepare for the tests of faith that are on In a similar way, when we pray for an the way so that, when they come, we may increase in faith, the Lord is going to respond respond by putting out into the deep, with a by permitting us — individually and together faith that can move mountains. as a Church — to have our faith tested, Father Landry is Pastor of St. Bernaso that, in responding well in those trials, dette Parish in Fall River.

Putting Into the Deep

October 5, 2012

T

here has been much going on in the world that has been discomforting and unsettling.

On September 11, we had the attack on our embassies in the Middle East. The safety of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict, during his recent trip to Lebanon was a concern. Fortunately it was a safe and peaceful visit.

We are bombarded with commercials and talk shows showing the division of our country by political party and, in some cases, ideologies. Continual campaign ads focus on differences, divisions and the dissimilarities of the presidential candidates. To some extent, this is necessary to assist voters in making intelligent choices based on their knowledge of the candidates.

However, in this and other campaigns, one person or position is portrayed to be good and another evil.

Even in our state campaign for senator, Warren and Brown demonize each other. Every snippet or misspoken word is trounced upon in an attempt to discredit the other.

These political arguments are fodder for the press; they have something to write about. The television media enjoys covering these events as well. The revenue from the print and television ads substantially fills the coffers of the news media.

There is a fostering of division of Americans. There does not seem to be a healing presence in anything that is going on in our world or in our election process this year. We seem to be intent to

7

The Anchor

Seeing with God’s eyes

divide and conquer. It might work name, receives Me: and whoever in a battle situation, but I am not receives Me, receives not Me sure it is all that good in other but the One Who sent Me” (Mk realms.

9:36-37).

This division also exists in Sister Mary Timothea Elliott, churches. In some denominations, there is no agreement on certain fundamental issues like gay marriage, gay ministers and the sexual orientation of church

By Msgr. leaders.

John J. Oliveira The Catholic Church has four identifying characteristics: It is one, holy, catholic and apostolic. Even RSM, has suggested, that unlike that characteristic called one is Matthew’s version, which would often challenged. We divide the have us imitate the virtues of conservative and the liberal mem- a child, Mark challenges us to bers and leaders. We separate an even greater calling. In the those more attuned to Vatican II context of Jesus teaching His and those who want to reverse Apostles how they should act, the changes made 50 years ago. this child is not as we would We all agree Catholic formation imagine today. In fact, she sugneeds attention in our schools and gests that a child at the time of Religious Education programs, Jesus was known by the Aramaic but disagree on the solution. term tayla, which means child In our own State of Massachu- and servant. setts, the acceptance of abortion She suggests that disciplelegally, and by some morally, has ship is to receive and care for the encouraged what we can call the unimportant in society, like the “culture of death.” In November, child. It is a call to loving service hard to believe, we will vote on of the weaker members of the whether we should legally allow community, those on the margins physician-assisted suicide. Oh, it of society. Accepting and embracis called “death with dignity,” but ing those who are weak and have it is really allowing a person to no claim to greatness. commit suicide with certain legal The disciple of Jesus, thereparameters in place. fore, is called to embrace another So we divide those who agree in caring love. We cannot justify and those who disagree. unity to stave off the adherence to Mark tells us in a lesson to his our principles. Yet we can debate, disciples how Jesus placed a child argue, convince and express our in the midst of the Apostles and positions with care and concern, told them: “Whoever receives not hatred and divisiveness. one child such as this in My Years ago, there was a song

Living the Faith

called “In Your Father’s Eyes.”

I recall it being sung by Amy Grant. The premise is that the little girl hopes that “when people look inside my life, I want to hear them say,” then the song goes into the refrain: “She’s got her father’s eyes; eyes that find good in things, when good is not around; eyes that find the source of help, when help just can’t be found. Eyes full of compassion, seeing every pain; knowing what you are going through and feeling it the same. Just like my

father’s eyes.”

I think we can substitute God the Father for this little girl’s father. We do disagree, there is disunity, but let us look at the other with God, our Father’s eyes.

This month, I hope we can remember the bumper sticker I saw recently. It had the signs of all the major religious faiths; for example, a cross, a star of David, etc. When you looked closely it spelled the word COEXIST. God bless.

Msgr. Oliveira is pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in New Bedford and director of the diocesan Propagation of the Faith Office.

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

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8

W

hen we read and listen to this week’s selection from the Book of Genesis, one might ask the question, how is it possible that every person has their own unique DNA? If Eve, according to the Book of Genesis, was indeed created

by God out of one of Adam’s ribs, surely Adam and Eve would have the same DNA. Further, it might be reasoned that each of their children would also have the same DNA. If there were no other humans yet in existence, it would follow that all of their descendants would also share the same genetic code.

So when and how did a “new” DNA get introduced into the history of mankind?

Those questions were posed to me a few years ago by a young person preparing for Confirmation. Good questions, but they point to the danger of literal interpretation of the books of the Bible.

When we casually read or

October 5, 2012

The Anchor

The dangers of some literal interpretations even when we carefully study cept as a fundamental truth. sacred Scripture, there are It isn’t a “fairness” issue many mysterious concepts wherein society should be and stories that make reaconcerned about whether a sonable people scratch their same-sex couple can qualify heads. That’s why our Church for the same insurance, disstrongly suggests that Cathoability and other benefits. lics should not take everything literally Homily of the Week that they read in the Bible. Many parables Twenty-seventh Sunday or “stories” are used in Ordinary Time to convey true mesBy Deacon sages that one might easily misinterpret.

Joseph F. Mador Some fundamentalist Christians take every word as “gospel.” Yes, sacred Rather, it reflects the basic Scripture was written by truth that only heterosexual humans and was inspired by couples are capable of proGod Himself, but we should creation, which is the primary seek the expertise of biblical purpose of Marriage. scholars before attempting to This coming Sunday has fully digest God’s revelations been designated as Respect to us.

Life Sunday. Pro-Life marchIn the Gospel, Jesus makes es and other gatherings serve it absolutely clear that Marto remind us that our nariage is a permanent committion is still failing to respect ment between one man and human life — in all stages one woman. The Catholic from conception to natural Church teaches this condeath. We still have far too

many abortions — one is too many of course. We still hear of states that have legalized doctor-assisted suicides and the potential mistreatment of those people who are judged not to be worthy of continued medical assistance and protection.

When I was an elementary school student at St. Mary’s School in Taunton, I remember one of my teachers saying that we, the students, will live to see the day when children with physical or mental problems, even babies, as well as the elderly, will be regarded as non-productive and eliminated from society, by one means or another. When Hitler tried it in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, the world condemned it as genocide. But today when similar activities take place, they have politicallycorrect names such as “a woman’s right to choose” or

“doctor-assisted suicides.”

Like many of our politicians, our society has learned that it isn’t the substance of an issue that counts, it’s the “spin” that we use to make it sound morally and socially acceptable. For instance, wouldn’t it have a different impact if, instead of calling abortion “pro-choice,” we called it what it really is — “pro-death”?

I totally support the rights of women to have all of the rights and privileges in the workplace and elsewhere that men have always enjoyed, but saying that a woman has “the right to choose” an abortion totally ignores the right to life of the unborn child — that is the first and most important right that any person, but especially any U.S. citizen has. Please pray for the overturning of Roe v.

Wade. Amen.

Deacon Mador serves at Holy Redeemer Parish in Chatham.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Oct. 6, Jb 42:1-3,5-6,12-17; Ps 119:66,71,75,91,125,130; Lk 10:17-24. Sun. Oct. 7, Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Gn 2:18-24; Ps 128:1-6; Heb 2:9-11; Mk 10:2-16 or 10:2-12. Mon. Oct. 8, Gal 1:6-12; Ps 111:1-2,7-10; Lk 10:25-37. Tues. Oct. 8, Gal 1:13-24: Ps 139:13,13-15; Lk 10:38-42. Wed. Oct. 10, Gal 2:1-2,7-14; Ps 117:1-2; Lk 11:1-4. Thurs. Oct. 11, Gal 3:1-5; (Ps) Lk 1:69-75; Lk 11:5-13. Fri. Oct. 12, Gal 3:7-14; Ps 111:1-6: lk 11:15-26.

T

he foreign policy debate in the United States has often been peculiar, in that it’s not infrequently about the United States rather than the world. Throughout history, other great powers have thought about world politics in terms of national interest. Americans typically think about the world through the prism of their image of America.

Thus in the 1920s and 1930s, American isolationists worried that American involvement in Europe’s bloody affairs would corrupt the United States. Two generations later, Vietnam-era neo-isolationists argued precisely the opposite: a racist, imperialist, militarist America (often spelled

America and the world

“Amerika”) was bad for the world. hostility and insensitivity toward Good America, bad America: how Islam. The other camp deplores Americans think about our own intolerance but argues, correctly country has a profound effect on how we imagine U.S. foreign policy.

Thus in the wake of the recent murder of the U.S. ambassador to Libya, when an Egyptian demonBy George Weigel strator declares “We hate America” and USA Today headlines his declaration above-the-fold on page one, in my view, that stupidity is no Americans (and those who would excuse for homicide; this second lead us) quickly divided into two camp also believes (again corcamps. One camp, while deploring rectly, in my view) that the lethal the death of Ambassador Christoattack on Ambassador Stevens pher Stevens, immediately begins and other U.S. diplomatic personapologizing for alleged American nel had far more to do with the anniversary of 9/11, the cultural pathologies of the Arab Islamic world, the despair among jobless young Arab men, and a pattern of U.S. fecklessness in the face of Islamist aggression than it did with an idiotic film trailer shown on YouTube.

This division is mirrored in the Catholic debate about world politics, which reflects different understandings of the relative moral and prudential merits of conventional expressions of power (called “hard power”) and new forms of nonviolent political action (“soft power”).

The soft power camp rightly points to the success of the nonviolent

The Catholic Difference

Revolution of 1989 in central and Eastern Europe, and argues that, if soft power could crack the Berlin Wall and put an end to the greatest tyranny in history, there’s no problem that the deft application of soft power can’t solve.

While acknowledging the contributions of soft power to the communist crack-up, Catholic hard power advocates remember that successful exercise in new modes of political action took place within a hard power context set by western re-armament under Reagan, Thatcher, and Kohl and the Strategic Defense Initiative. In this view, soft power alone is no guarantor of peace, security and freedom, especially when the West is confronted with the irrational passions of jihadist Islam.

Despite the priority that the next president and Congress will necessarily give to fixing a broken U.S. economy, America’s leaders must also confront grave foreign problems that will not be wished away: The jihadists smell American weakness and irresolution; and history has taught us the harsh lessons of where that perception can lead.

Religious freedom is under assault throughout the world, with thousands of new martyrs being

consecrated annually; yet the present administration has, for almost three years, refused to promote religious freedom in full (dumbing religious freedom down to a mere “freedom to worship”) — just as the previous administration did not grasp that the assault on Christians in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan was symptomatic of serious problems which any effort at democracy-building in those societies had to confront.

Russia has indeed accepted the present administration’s offer of a “re-set,” except the “re-set” is likely not what the administration anticipated: Vladimir Putin has “reset” Russian grand strategy back to the days of Peter the Great, aiming to recover the losses incurred by the collapse of the Soviet Union.

This, in turn, has created new pressures on the new democracies of Central and Eastern Europe, some of whom are making accommodations with Moscow in light of a perceived American withdrawal from world leadership.

Americans are not imperialists by nature; yet history has thrust global responsibilities upon us.

How shall we respond? From behind? Or from ahead?

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

October 5, 2012

Y

Good night, good captain

ou’re probably expectasked to slip into retirement. ing to see your captain’s While that’s perfectly underphoto in this spot. It’s been here standable, I just couldn’t let this for more than seven years.

I was thinking of donning the old cap’n’s hat, but readers are much too sharp to get away with that.

I’m sad to announce

By Dave Jolivet that Father (Captain) Tim Goldrick’s vessel, “The Ship’s Log,” is in dry dock. With a new bustling good captain, as the great Dylan port of call to maintain and all Thomas once wrote, “Go quietly that goes with it, Father Tim has into the night.”

My View From the Stands

M

9

The Anchor I owe Captain Tim a debt of gratitude for what he’s meant to The Anchor and its faithful readers over the last seven years.

The captain set sail in our July 8, 2005 edition with a column called “I get seasick.”

“We sail together, you and I, on this ship we call Church — the Barque of Peter,” he wrote. “For better or for worse, I will share with you my experiences and reflections on this journey of ours. So, then,

‘I’ll take the job’

is placed before you. any of us have been on Don’t believe me? Let’s take at least one job intera look in the Bible; you see view in our lives. We put on our great examples of God choosbest suit, make sure all our facts ing someone for a position, who are in order, polish off our redid not feel at all competent to sumes, and do everything in our handle it. Moses, for example power to insure we put our best had a speech impediment, yet he foot forward. All in preparation was sent to talk to the Egypfor those precious few moments, tians. Noah started to build an when we get a chance to tell ark even though he knew his someone why we feel we are the neighbors thought he was losright person for the job. ing it. Jonah wanted no part of So now you are probably going to Nineveh, and David wondering, “What could a job interview possibly have to do with my faith life?”

It’s not so much the interview, as it is more about the questions that are asked, namely — “Tell

By Rose Mary me why you believe Saraiva you are qualified for the job?” and “Why should I hire you?” All too often, was just a young lad who was even though we know we are the asked to slay a giant with a sling right person for a position, these shot, no less. Daniel started his simple questions leave us filled employment totally unaware that with doubt, all our readiness part of the deal was overnight vanishes, or so it seems. So it is accommodations in a lions’ den. with our faith — are we qualified They may not have felt up to the for the task at hand? job, but trusted God enough to Looking to my own faith life let Him take the lead; knowing and journey, too often I have they would be given what they asked myself this very same needed to get the job done. question, “Am I worthy?” of Fast forward to the New what is being asked of me. In Testament, and you see a very those moments, I find myself young teen-age girl accepting turning to God and asking Him, the responsibility of becoming what are You thinking; do You the Mother of God. Thirty-somereally want me to do that? To thing years later, her Son Jesus which the reply is “why not?”; can be found recruiting disciples, you can handle this, besides, I’ll and drawing workers from a be with you every step of the wide range of skill levels and way. Oh and by the way, if you abilities, some even questionhaven’t yet noticed, God is all able. He didn’t look at what they about on-the-job training, and were qualified to do, but rather has no problem with us starting their willingness to do it, their over and over again, until we ability to trust and their openness get it right. The only qualificato what was being asked of them. tions required of us are: perseThe same is true with us, we verance, trust, flexibility, and a may not feel worthy or qualified, willingness to travel occasionally but there is something there that (itinerary to arrive just moments He sees in us that we are not yet before departure). Don’t ask for a aware of. God recognizes and job description — the game plan knows our potential and begins changes day to day, and what urging (sometimes pushing or you thought you would be doing pulling) us towards our new today, gets shelved as a new task

In the Palm of His Hands

roles, ever changing our responsibilities, stretching us beyond our comfort zone, allowing us the opportunity to grow. God is an equal opportunity employer, Who looks at each and every one of us, and sees us as fully qualified and worthy to fill the job.

In my own personal life, I have taken on various “jobs” ranging from catechist to coordinator; active listener to lector; from communicant to extraordinary minister; and so many other roles in between. Each and every time questioning my worthiness in fulfilling my new role; only to be gently reminded, that I am worthy, that I am not alone, and I join the ranks of many others who doubted as well. I may not necessarily be able to part the Red Sea, build an ark, or take out a giant with a small pebble, but I can be Christ to those I encounter; if not through my deeds, by my actions.

That is what is asked of each and every one of us, to simply trust that we are the right person for the position, that we will be given the necessary tools and skills, and that we are not alone.

So the next time you are asked to step into a new role, or take on a new task, don’t worry about your worthiness or qualifications. Just simply know that God is a great Provider, a loving Father, and is asking us to do what He already knows we are capable of. As for the interview, don’t sweat it! The job was already yours before you even walked through the door; God was just waiting to hear you say, “Yes! I’ll take the job.”

Rose Mary Saraiva lives in Fall River and is a parishioner of St. Michael’s Parish, and she is the Events Coordinator and Bereavement Ministry for the diocesan Office of Faith Formation. She is married with three children and two grandchildren. rmsaraiva@dfrcec.com.

let’s shove off. Let the voyage begin — come Heaven or high water. Your attention, please.

This is the captain speaking.

Did I happen to mention I get seasick?”

Over the course of the captain’s journeys he’s submitted more than 300 logs, taking us across this wonderful Diocese of Fall River and beyond.

We’ve met and grown to love his greyhounds, his penchant for food, his sense of humor, and most importantly, his passion for being a Catholic priest.

He’s taken us with him to Guaimaca, Honduras; Arizona; Texas; Colorado; across the pond and back, whether real or imaginary.

We’ve gone on retreats with our captain, as well as to Creche conventions. We’ve even been privileged to get an inside look at the annual priests’ retreat.

The common themes in each of Captain Tim’s logs is humor and a great love of God. That’s a winning combination.

He took the nautical theme for a few reasons; one of which is The Anchor. Another is because one simply can’t escape the sea when one lives in the Diocese of Fall River. Still another is his heritage.

In his maiden voyage he wrote, “On my mother’s side, I descend from Francisco Jose Martins, an Azorean sea captain. On my fathers’s side, I descend from Godfrey King, a Yankee whaling captain out of Westport.”

Yet to temper that rich heritage he continued, “But I get seasick. I figure I come from the shallow end of the gene pool.”

That was his way; keeping things in perspective.

It’s fitting that the captain’s last port of call is Falmouth.

If someone were to ask what I enjoyed most from the “Ship’s Log,” I’d have to say the opportunity to get inside the mind, heart and soul of a Catholic priest. That and the occasional barbs we’d hurl each other’s way in our columns.

I’m sure Captain Tim will miss taking us all along on his priestly journey. And we, for sure, will miss the ride. But it’s his love for the priesthood is exactly why he’s stepping away from the helm.

Father Tim needs more time to devote to his parishioners.

Priorities. And the greatest priority is his ministry.

Thanks for the great ride captain. Allow me to quote the Grateful Dead in my farewell.

“What a long, strange trip it’s been.” And let me add to that, enjoyable, comical, and inspirational.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go swab the decks.

Remember, the captain did get seasick.

Revised and updated ...

2012-2013 Diocese of Fall River Catholic Directory ... NOW SHIPPING !!

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

10

The Anchor

October 5, 2012

Diocesan prayer and charismatic groups keep faith alive

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — As the Fall River Diocese prepares to cel-

ebrate the Year of Faith beginning October 11, a variety of English-speaking prayer and charismatic groups in parishes

are coming together as a means to strengthen their faith.

“I think Pope Benedict XVI’s call for a Year of Faith this year is timely with the anniversary of the Second Vatican Council to get people back to understanding our faith,” said Father Edward A. Murphy, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in New Bedford and diocesan director of English Prayer and Charismatic Groups.

“As the Holy Father said in his apostolic letter, confessing with the lips indicates, in turn, that faith implies public testimony and commitment,” he added. “You should never think of belief as a private act.

Faith is choosing to stand with the Lord so as to live with Him. He points out later on that it is the gift of the Holy Spirit that makes us His witness.”

“Prayer is everything,” agreed Pam Wood, a member of the prayer group at Christ the King Parish in Mashpee and one of the coordinators of the Cape Cod Prayer Group Deanery. “It’s how we communicate to God, how we listen to God, how we get our directions in life. I can’t imagine life without prayer. I think my faith has greatly deepened since becoming involved with the group and my prayer life has certainly gotten stronger.

It’s nice to just set aside some time to spend with the Lord.”

Now in its third year, Wood said the Mashpee-based prayer group is made up of a small but devoted group of parishioners

who meet once a week for a prayer session.

At St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham, there is a vibrant charismatic prayer group that also meets weekly for what coleader Robin Rumbolt called “lively worship.”

“We’re definitely a charismatic group,” Rumbolt said.

“We believe in the gift of the Holy Spirit. We pray in tongues. We have a guitar or two and we like to sing during our sessions. We have a very active kind of worship as opposed to the more traditional, sort of quiet type of Catholic worship.”

Having been active for about 17 years, Rumbolt said the prayer group at St. Patrick’s begins each weekly meeting with a Liturgy and concludes with a 40- to 45-minute prayer session. They also set aside time for Confessions and to offer prayers for the needs of the parish and its parishioners.

“We have a prayer box and a prayer line where people can submit intentions for prayers,” she said. “Sometimes we’ll have Scripture sharing and occasionally we’ll have a guest speaker, but we haven’t had one in a long time.”

While she said it’s comprised of a mixed-age group, Rumbolt admitted the majority of prayer group members are part of the “over-the-hill gang.”

“We mostly have people in our 50s and 60s,” she said. “But we do have one family with three generations attending — a woman with her daughter and granddaughter.”

Although there is a sense of community and socializing among them, Rumbolt said the charismatic group is “all about prayer.”

“To me, prayer is a conversation with God,” she said. “It’s talking and reflecting on His words. It’s an important part of my daily life. Prayer is what we’re all about. I don’t think you can have faith without prayer, because it’s all about our relationship with God.” Alice Bahnsen would wholeheartedly agree.

As a member of the charismatic prayer group at Holy Trinity Parish in West Harwich for more than 25 years, Bahnsen said the weekly meetings with her prayer peers is an essential part of her faith life.

“Prayer is very important today for our country and our children,” she said.

Despite a dwindling number of attendees in recent years, Bahnsen said the prayer group

once boasted as many as 300 members in its heyday. She also acknowledged that attendance fluctuates based on the changing summer population on Cape Cod. But there is a core group of devoted people who keep the ministry alive and well.

“The people who have been coming remain faithful,” she said. “We have a few new members who have joined within the last year. I hope we get more involved.”

Bahnsen said some people might get a little nervous when they hear the word “charismatic.”

“That might be why some people don’t join,” she said.

“But we believe that the Holy Spirit is among us — He’s always among us. Some people will speak in tongues and it is a very prayerful and powerful experience. I know it’s done a lot for me.”

During this month of the Rosary, the members of Our Lady’s Rosary Prayer Group at Immaculate Conception Parish in North Easton know firsthand the power of prayer.

“I think it’s important for everyone to have prayer in their life,” said Ann Melanson, the leader of Our Lady’s Rosary Prayer Group. “I think it’s important during this Year of Faith to pray the Rosary. We live the mysteries on a daily basis, and this helps to bring it to the forefront.”

Having just celebrated its 15th anniversary in July, the prayer group meets twice weekly — every Wednesday at Immaculate Conception Parish and every Sunday at the Father Peyton Center in Easton.

Like most prayer groups, Melanson said attendance varies from week to week, but they have an average of 12 to 18 people who attend on a regular basis.

“We meet every week, regardless,” she said. “As Christ said: ‘Wherever two or more are gathered, there I am.’”

While the North Easton prayer group seeks intercession from Our Lady through the Rosary, the prayer group at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Hyannis has a special devotion to Christ’s Divine Mercy.

“Prayer is very important,” said Anne Mazzola of the Eucharistic Apostles of Divine Mercy. “I don’t think any of us could live without it. Things just fall into place with prayer.”

As a member of the Hyannis-based prayer group for more than 15 years, Mazzola Turn to page 15

The Anchor

October 5, 2012

Hispanic, Portuguese prayer groups combine culture and great faith

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

TAUNTON — Portuguese and Hispanic charismatic renewals and prayer groups may not be different from their Englishspeaking counterparts, but certainly those who participate in the groups within the Fall River Diocese have a special, deeprooted connection to the cultural heritage that each brings to their Catholic faith. As Pope Benedict ushers in the Year of the Faith this month, it’s Catholics of all cultures that will help celebrate and renew their relationship with Jesus Christ and the Church.

When the Portuguese charismatic movement began to pick up steam in the area during the mid-60s, “it just hit everyone like fire,” said Father Henry Arruda, pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Taunton.

“Of course 35-40 years ago, when the movement started there was an extraordinary enthusiasm because of its newness and people were really touched by this moving of the Spirit,” said Father Arruda. “Of course, the numbers we have now are not what they used to be. I remember meetings where we would have 1,000 people attending one of the prayer meetings. We just had our annual retreat and had upwards of 600 people.”

When Father Gastão Oliveira, pastor of Santo Christo Parish in Fall River and director of Portuguese Communications for the Fall River Diocese, began his pastoral duties at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in New Bedford in 1977, he started the first Portuguese prayer group in the diocese the following year.

The prayer group was “the first or second in the United States,” said Father Oliveira. “The early years were incredible because society was completely different.

People had more time and more availability to go to meetings.”

“The group at Mount Carmel, before we started praying at different Portuguese parishes, had 900 people,” he said of the weekly gatherings. “It was incredible.

Afterwards parishes started their own prayer groups. People were converted by the Word of God and by the Spirit of God. In the Diocese of Fall River, we started eucharistic ministries among the Portuguese parishes from the prayer group. We started the Teams of Our Lady from the charismatic renewal. We started so many things in the diocese, so many ministries.”

Father Craig A. Pregana, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Parish in New Bedford

and newly-appointed director of the Hispanic Apostolate for the Fall River Diocese, said that the Spanish prayer groups allow those of the same cultural community the opportunities to deepen their faith. Thirty years ago the gatherings leaned more towards a retreat-type model where parishes would come together as a large group to sustain their faith, “but times have changed in such a way that there are small group communities in the parishes,” said Father Pregana.

“I remember when I was a kid

in high school I went on a retreat for young people called Teens Encounter Christ, and it was through that retreat where my faith really came alive” recalled Father Pregana. “I think in those times, 20 or 30 years ago, that’s how people connected with God in a powerful way — retreats for young people, married couples, single laity. Now things are done in such a way that there are more prayer communities that help support the connection with God.” Turn to page 15

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October 5, 2012

The Anchor

New York conference to explore life, death of Pope John Paul I

DOUGLASTON, N.Y. (CNS) — Experts from Europe and the United States will speak at an international conference focusing on the life of Pope John Paul I and his brief pontificate October 12-13 at the Immaculate Conception Center in Douglaston.

Speakers at the conference on “The True Pope John Paul I: A Man of Faith for Our Time” will include the pope’s niece, Pia Luciani; Italian journalist Stefania Falasca, one of the prime movers in his sainthood cause; and Paul Spackman of Corwen, Wales, author of “God’s Candidate: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul I.” Lori Pieper, a secular Franciscan who has translated some of Pope John Paul I’s pre-papal writings for an upcoming book, “A Passionate Adventure: Living the Catholic Faith Today,” said the conference was organized to refute conspiracy theories about the pope’s death raised in books like David Yallop’s 1984 “In God’s Name” and John Cornwell’s 1989 “A Thief in the Night.”

“The purpose of the conference is to take John Paul I back from all the Yallops and Cornwells, and to establish an accurate portrait of him based on sound historical research,” Pieper said. “People don’t know that as a bishop he was a great supporter of Vatican II and antic-

ipated the New Evangelization in many ways.”

Pieper, Luciani and Father Joseph Curran of Watertown, Mass., who was at the Vatican after the pope’s 1978 death, will speak October 12 on the allegations about his death, providing information from his medical reports and eyewitness accounts.

The conference marks the centenary of the birth of the former Cardinal Albino Luciani, who served as pope for 34 days.

After the conference, Falasca and the postulator of Pope John Paul I’s sainthood cause, Bishop Enrico Dal Covolo, will present information they have gathered about the pope to the Vatican to advance his cause.

not-so-scary movie — Animated characters Dracula, voiced by Adam Sandler, and Mavis, voiced by Selena Gomez, are seen in the movie “Hotel Transylvania.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/Columbia)

CNS Movie Capsules

Pope John Paul I

This Message Sponsored by the Following Business Concern in the Diocese of Fall River Gilbert C. Oliveira Insurance Agency

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

“Hotel Transylvania” (Columbia) When Count Dracula (voice of Adam Sandler) invites his fellow fiends to his “monsters only” resort for the celebration of his daughter’s (voice of Selena Gomez) 118th birthday, the focus of the overly protective vampire is to keep his offspring protected from the outside world and free from human contamination. Yet a skateboarding backpacker (voice of Andy Samberg) stumbles across the hotel, the birthday girl’s interest is heightened and the caped protagonist must scramble to cover up the youngster’s humanity. While director Genndy Tartakovsky’s goofy comedy dips its toe into the swamp of vulgarity, the animated adventure has some surprisingly touching moments. These come in the form of Dracula’s relationships with his daughter and his long-deceased wife over whom he is still grieving. Although this theme is part of a commendable pro-family narrative that will have Catholic viewers nodding in approval, the few sad moments, along with the rude humor and slightly scary themes, may exclude younger audiences, Occasional mild scatological humor and a few scary scenes. The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

“Looper” (FilmDistrict) Vengeance story set in the near and distant future, involving a group of assassins, including Jo-

seph Gordon-Levitt, who has to give chase when his next victim is his future self, played by Bruce Willis. Director-writer Rian Johnson has produced a mix of science fiction and old-time Western that looks to have been concocted by a couple of 13-year-old boys with little consideration of logic but an endless supply of “What if this happened?” twists. Pervasive gun violence, including the murder of a child, two implied sexual situations, brief upper female nudity, fleeting rough, crude and profane language. The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

“Won’t Back Down” (Fox) A David-vs.-Goliath story, directed by Daniel Barnz, about a teacher (Viola Davis) and a parent (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who join forces to save a failing public school from a wicked bureaucracy, hoping to turn it into a charter school where students not only learn but thrive. Facing mighty opposition from the powerful teachers’ union and its boss (Holly Hunter), and a school board whose chairwoman (Marianne JeanBaptiste) resists change, teachers and parents unite for a showdown.

Some intense emotional moments.

The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested.

Some material may not be suitable for children.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, October 7, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Riley J. Williams, a Parochial Vicar at Holy Ghost, St. John the Evangelist, and St. Joseph parishes in Attleboro.

October 5, 2012

13

The Anchor

Key Church leaders shepherded Church through Second Vatican Council

TORONTO (CNS) — The Second Vatican Council was the biggest stage in the history of the Church.

There were more bishops present than at any of the 20 previous councils stretching from the First Council of Nicaea in 325 to the First Vatican Council in 1870. The bishops present came from more countries, more cultures, more languages than the Church had ever experienced.

While all of the bishops were equal, some were more influential. Joining them were expert theologians whom pre-eminent cardinals and bishops brought with them. Known as “periti” in Latin, the official language of the council, they played a significant role throughout the council’s deliberations.

Here are a few of the names with starring roles at the council, which ran from Oct. 11, 1962, to Dec. 8, 1965: — Pope John XXIII: A plump, elderly, smiling Italian of peasant origins, Angelo Roncalli had an illustrious career as a papal diplomat in Bulgaria, Turkey and postwar France. He became pope in the shadow of the Holocaust, amid the dismantling of colonialism, the rise of the Cold War and on the cusp of a technological transformation unlike anything the world had seen since the Industrial Revolution.

He called the council and put the word “aggiornamento,” or updating, on every Catholic’s lips.

— Pope Paul VI: Cardinal Giovanni Montini began the council as a curial insider in the secretariat of state who had worked closely with Pope Pius XII. He had doubts about Pope John’s decision to call a council, but as his successor (he was elected pope in June 1963), he

faithfully carried it to conclusion. During the council, he gave Mary the title Mother of the Church.

— Cardinal Paul-Emile Leger: Montreal’s archbishop wrote a letter in August 1962 to Pope John challenging the curial preparatory documents. The letter was eventually signed by a number of cardinals and archbishops, and the preparatory documents were reworked. He gave one of the council’s closing speeches in 1965. During the three sessions of the council, he argued for a stronger statement against anti-Semitism, greater Catholic commitment to ecumenism and a re-examination of Church teaching on birth control with more emphasis on love shared between a man and woman as the final purpose of Marriage. Once considered a candidate for the papacy, he retired in 1968 to become a missionary in Cameroon.

— Cardinal Augustin Bea: Jesuit rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome who eventually headed the Secretariat for Christian Unity was in the front line of defense against attempts by the Roman curia to control the council agenda. A German, Cardinal Bea was deputized by Pope John to ensure the council said something bold on the Catholic relationship with Jews and world religions. The result was one of the most important documents, “Nostra Aetate” (“In Our Era”) on the relationship of the Church to non-Christian religions.

— Archbishop Dom Helder Camara: Head of the Archdiocese of Recife in Brazil’s dry, impoverished northeast who spoke for the poor and alerted the world to the idea that the Church was no longer a purely European phenomenon. Speak-

ing for the world’s largest Catholic population in Brazil, he insisted on new priorities.

— Cardinal Josef Frings: The archbishop of Cologne, Germany, was an intellectual and a confidant of Pope John who supported a role for theologians that counterbalanced the influence of the curia.

— Bishop Maxim Hermaniuk: As Ukrainian Catholic bishop of Winnipeg, Manitoba, he chaired the 15-member delegation of Ukrainian bishops to the council. He insisted that the Catholic Church was more than the Roman Church, and fought for the principal of collegiality through a permanent synod of bishops. He also insisted that the 11th century excommunication of the patriarch of Constantinople was not based on any Church teaching.

— Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani: A canon lawyer and prefect of the Holy Office (now called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), Cardinal Ottaviani’s view of the council was framed by his anti-communism and opposition to theological modernism. He was the council’s leading conservative.

— Cardinal Leo Joseph Suenens: The great conciliator, a friend of Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul, Belgian Cardinal Suenens was once thought likely to be elected pope. It was the cardinal who ironed out a program that satisfied the concerns of Cardinal Leger and Cardinal Ottaviani.

— Cardinal Eugene Tisserant: The French cardinal was the key to participation by bishops from behind the Iron Curtain. He negotiated a secret 1960 deal with Russia that allowed bishops to travel to the council in exchange for non-condemnation of atheistic communism. He was viewed

as a conservative and a defender of the curia. He was also dean of the College of Cardinals.

Here are some of the “periti,” or experts, who had a role at the council: — Father Yves Congar: The Dominican expert in ecumenism was one of many theologians helping the bishops at the council who had been forbidden to publish or teach during the pontificate of Pope Pius XII. Father Congar offered one of the biggest ideas at the council: that the Church does not exist outside of history and Church teaching constantly must be restated in new ways to speak to new realities. He survived almost five years as a POW in World War II and was a major influence on Archbishop Karol Wojtyla, who as Pope John Paul II made him a cardinal in 1994.

— Father Henri de Lubac: A French Jesuit silenced from 1950 to 1956, he was a prolific scholar associated with the “nouvelle theologie” (new theology) school. He promoted the idea of “ressourcement” at the council. Ressourcement is a return to the sources of Christian wisdom and a deepening of the Church’s understanding of itself, a movement that sought to retrieve Catholic teaching from the very earliest Christian communities and the desert fathers.

Pope John Paul II made him a cardinal in 1983.

— Father Joseph Ratzinger: The future Pope Benedict XVI was closely associated with the nouvelle theologie movement.

He was an expert for Cardinal Frings who wrote detailed critiques of the original curial schema for the council.

— Father Karl Rahner: This German Jesuit’s ideas are everywhere in the council documents.

His conception of the Trinity, the idea of anonymous Christians, the pilgrim Church and his rejection of the counter-reformation practice of developing positions by condemning other positions helped shape Vatican II. It was Father Rahner who after the council pointed out that it was the first ecumenical council that was truly global, embracing a Catholic world beyond Europe.

— Father Gregory Baum: The German-born Canadian theologian worked with Cardinal Bea on “Nostra Aetate,” “Dignitatis Humanae,” the Declaration on Religious Freedom and “Unitatis Redintegratio,” the Decree on Ecumenism, the three documents that redefined the Church’s relation to nonChristian religions and particularly to Jews, its attitude toward democracy and religious liberty, and its mission for the unity of all Christians.

— Father Bernard Haring: The German Redemptorist taught how freedom of conscience was the necessary precondition for any meaningful morality. He was part of the commission which wrote “Gaudium et Spes,” the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World from Vatican II. — Jesuit Father John Courtney Murray: An American Jesuit theologian, he was one of the chief architects of the “Dignitatis Humanae.” The council basically adopted as official Church teaching the priest’s theology of church-state separation and of religious freedom as a human right that the state is required to protect. He had been silenced by his Jesuit superiors in Rome in the 1950s for his views on church-state relations but was vindicated with the adoption of the declaration.

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The Anchor

14

October 5, 2012

Diocese opens Year of Faith October 11

Faithful called to defend life during Respect Life Month

the diocese is invited.

Father David A. Pignato, a faculty member at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton and a priest of the Fall River Diocese, will be offering a homily during the Mass in which he plans to “reflect on the difference that Christian faith makes, not only in the lives of the members of the Church, but also in society as a whole.”

“I also plan to reflect on the legacy and the blessings to the Church of the Second Vatican Council, 50 years later,” he added.

Father Pignato said the pope’s call for Catholics to revisit and reflect on their faith during this year is a means for them to gain “renewed conviction and confidence” in their beliefs.

“This conviction is what makes it possible to preach the Gospel with boldness, as the Apostles did, and bold preaching is critically important for the New Evangelization,” Father Pignato said. “Christian faith is the conviction that the teachings of Christ provide the ultimate answers to the universal questions about the meaning and mystery of our lives.”

Father Pignato said it is the Holy Father’s hope that this Year of Faith will help all Catholics rediscover and appreciate the joy and hope that result from the conviction of Christian faith.

“The Holy Father sees the Year of Faith as an invitation to ‘renewed conversion to the Lord,’” he said. “If our faith in Christ is strengthened, then so, too, will be our resolve to live as He taught, and this will result in greater holiness throughout the whole Church. Something is always missing if our faith does not change the way we live. The more members of the Church progress in authentic conversion to Christ, the more the Christian faith will spread.”

This is not the first time the Church has observed a Year of Faith. In 1967, Pope Paul VI announced a Year of Faith commemorating the 19th centenary of the martyrdom of SS. Peter and Paul.

The 1967 Year of Faith called upon the Church to recall the supreme act of witness by these two saints so that their martyrdom might inspire the present day Church to collectively and individually make a sincere profession of faith.

In establishing this latest Year of Faith, Pope Benedict XVI declared it a “summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the One Savior of the world.” In other words, the Year of Faith is an opportunity for Catholics to experience a conversion — to turn back to Jesus and enter into a deeper relationship with Him. The pope described this conver-

prove the “Death with Dignity” act. Question #2 is the prescribing of medication to end life, a proposed law that would allow physicians licensed in Massachusetts to prescribe medication at the request of a terminally-ill patient and, after meeting certain conditions, to end that person’s life. According to various polls, nearly two-thirds of those living in Massachusetts support the “Death with Dignity” bill.

The Pro-Life Apostolate of Fall River is working hard to counter that majority by presenting arguments at parishes and schools all over the Fall River Diocese, and distributing materials to inform and help defeat the Physician-Assisted Suicide ballot question. On October 28 at the Holiday Inn in Taunton, there will be a panel discussion regarding the upcoming PAS ballot question. Guest panelists are Elizabeth G. Dost, executive director of Guardian Hospice and Palliative Care; Mary Patricia Tranter, Ph.D., president of Coyle and Cassidy High School, teacher of a bioethics class at the school and chairman of the Ethics Board at Good Samaritan Hospital; Henry C. Luthin, Boston attorney; and Peter T. McNulty, associate director for Policy and Research for the Massachusetts Catholic Conference.

“The devastation from such a seriously flawed bill and the dangerous message it sends to the people of Massachusetts makes it a priority focus for our office this month and early next month,” explained Marian Desrosiers, director of the diocesan Pro-Life Apostolate.

The apostolate is sending ProLife materials to all parishes and schools, including Respect Life kits that were shipped in September for use throughout the diocese, added Desrosiers: “The HHS mandate information and its threat to religious liberty in the country has been disseminated to all. Our newsletter was sent out with various articles and topics to be sure plenty of additional material is available on all subjects.”

Desrosiers also plans to travel throughout the diocese to give presentations focusing on the “Theology of the Body” and the “Dignity of the Human Person” at Faith Formation classes. Titled “God as Our Origin and Destiny,” Desrosiers puts the stressor on the dignity of human life and “takes the audience on a journey to help deepen their understanding of the sacredness and goodness of all human life, from fertilization through natural death and the spiritual battle that rages within our culture to destroy it,” she said. “It invites them to help build the ‘new’ culture of life that Pope John Paul II asked of us in Evangelium Vitae. A civilization

continued from page one

sion as opening the “door of faith” that was first opened at Baptism; but during this year Catholics are called to open it again, walk through it and rediscover and renew their relationship with Christ and His Church.

“Pope Benedict has expressed his hope that this Year of Faith will prompt members of the Church to ‘rediscover and study the fundamental content of the faith,’” Father Pignato said. “Faith is a decision to believe that the teachings of Christ are the truth about how we are to live and how we will find real happiness and fulfillment, in this life and in the life to come.”

Given the increasing secularization of today’s society, this call to reaffirm our faith is timely.

“The modern world, which is always searching for the meaning of human life, needs the answers that Christian faith provides,” Father Pignato said. “But this means that Christians need to be able to explain those answers, which are found in the content of our faith.

Only if we understand the content of our faith will we be able to explain it to others in a convincing way.”

In anticipation of the October 11 Year of Faith launch, a synod of bishops on the New Evangelization will be held at the Vatican beginning this Sunday.

Like the Year of Faith, the New Evangelization is a call for each Catholic to deepen his or her own faith, have confidence in the Gospel, and possess a willingness to share the Gospel. The New Evangelization is first and foremost a personal encounter with Jesus Christ — it is an invitation to deepen one’s relationship with Him and a call for each person to share his or her faith with others.

“As the bishops in our country have warned, religious liberty is being threatened by those presently in political office here in the United States,” Father Pignato said. “This threat also exists in other countries throughout the world. Only if we regain a deep appreciation of our faith and the difference it makes in our lives will we be motivated to defend the right to practice our faith and not be coerced to participate in acts that we believe are sinful.”

“Hopefully, this Year of Faith will help believers understand how important religious liberty is and inspire them to take more of a stand in defense of religious liberty,” he said.

For more information and resource material on the Year of Faith and the New Evangelization, visit the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website at www.usccb.org.

continued from page one

built of truth and love.”

During October, said Desrosiers, there is usually an uptick in phone calls received through Project Rachel, a post-abortion help line. The increased number of calls seems to be due to the inundation of Pro-Life literature that saturates parishes and schools during the month of October.

“These men and women often feel they have committed the unforgivable sin, but ‘God’s greatest desire is to forgive,’” said Desrosiers, who said she lifted the quote from the front of the apostolate’s Project Rachel brochure.

“Through the Church’s ministry of Project Rachel they can find understanding, forgiveness and healing through compassionate counseling and the Sacrament of Reconciliation.”

The apostolate is involved in planning the Rosary Rally for Life that includes grades seven and eight from the five New Bedford Catholic schools and is scheduled for October 25 at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth.

Desrosiers said that her team will continue to promote prayer and attendance at the Attleboro abortion clinic during the 40 Days for Life campaign.

Desrosiers knows the ProLife rhetoric is not lost on all individuals and that the apostolate is making inroads. According to a USCCB statement, polls show that Americans are increasingly identifying themselves as ProLife, a shift from recent years.

The USCCB is encouraging Catholics to gain a deeper understanding of the teachings of the faith and to live out the teachings more faithfully.

“By our unflinching defense of human life and religious freedom, by our witness to the transcendent nature of the human person, and by our compassionate service to our brothers and sisters in need, may we spark a renewal of love and commitment to the true good of others,” read the statement.

“Only a love that seeks to serve those most in need, whatever the personal cost to us, is strong enough to overcome a culture of death and build a civilization worthy of human beings made in God’s image.”

Deadline for registration to attend the panel discussion for the PAS ballot question is October 18. For more information, contact the Pro-Life Apostolate in Fall River at 508-675-1311.

I Am a Human Being — By Richard Carey I am not just some tissue.

I am not just an issue.

I am not merely a choice.

I’m a child without a voice.

I am not a fish.

I am not a cat.

I want to be born.

What’s wrong with that?

You can speak for me, But you won’t.

You can defend me, But you don’t.

The child after birth, you protect.

The child before birth, you neglect.

Why, except for his age and size, Should one live while the other dies?

If not you, then who?

If not now, then when?

I am not only voiceless.

I am voteless too.

So, remember in November That I shall have much need of you.

It has been said that one picture is worth a thousand words. If that is true, then it follows that two pictures are worth 2,000 words. The first picture of my granddaughter, Nora, was taken six weeks before she was born, and the second was taken two hours after she was born.

As you can see, the difference between the baby before birth and the baby after birth are age, size, and place of residence — all nonessential differences. It is the same human being, but there is one big difference. The child before birth can be legally killed, while the child after birth cannot. And we call ourselves a civilized society.

Richard A. Carey Needham

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The Anchor

October 5, 2012

English prayer groups help keep faith alive Hispanic, Portuguese prayer groups share culture and faith continued from page 10

said they meet twice a month to meditate on the diary of St. Faustina, read from the Bible and the “Catechism of the Catholic Church,” and pray the Divine Mercy novena. The group boasts about a dozen faithful attendees.

“They can’t wait to come and they look forward to the next meeting,” she said. “If they aren’t able to come, they get upset. I always feel strengthened by it.”

In addition to prayer and charismatic groups, some parishes also have established prayer lines wherein a group of volunteers will agree to pray for specific petitions or parishioners.

Rachel Constant, coordinator of the parish prayer line at St. John Neumann Parish in East Freetown, has been involved in this ministry for more than 25 years.

“When someone calls the rectory, they let me know that one of our parishioners is in need of prayers,” Constant said. “If someone, for example, is sick or in the hospital, we pray for them. When I get the prayer call, I call one of our prayer leaders and they, in turn, call the next person on their list. So we have three prayer lines going at one time.

On each line there are five or six different people praying.”

continued from page 11

Noting that they receive requests for prayers on a daily basis, Constant said it’s a strong ministry that bears much fruit.

“I tell everyone, God always answer your prayers,” she said.

“He may not answer the way we want Him to, but he always answers us. It’s either a ‘yes,’ a ‘no’ or ‘wait.’ Sometimes we have a tragedy in life and people have a hard time praying for themselves. But if others are praying for you, it helps.”

With several established Portuguese and Spanish prayer groups in the New Bedford area, Father Murphy said he is planning to start an Englishspeaking prayer group at St. Anthony of Padua Parish.

“I think there’s a great need for one in this area,” he said.

“I’m hoping to start one in November, which will coincide with the 100th anniversary of the parish. I’ve dedicated that month to the Holy Spirit and I also hope to start a Life in the Spirit seminar to teach people more about the Holy Spirit.”

And in this Year of Faith, it’s clear that the more people who are praying, the better.

“There’s a great need today for healing and I think prayer is a great expression of our faith,” Father Murphy said.

“That is my way of witnessing as we begin this Year of Faith.”

Diocese names new Development director continued from page one

ing the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, for which he served as director of advancement, and the Foundation for Nantucket Cottage Hospital, a foundation which he helped launch and then grow as its executive director.

After what he describes as “a privilege to assist colleges in strengthening programs to educate tomorrow’s leaders and to assist healthcare institutions in growing their capacity to care for the sick,” he said he is now eager to begin applying his 20plus years of development experience to help the diocese.

“I strongly believe in the mission of the Church and consider my principal responsibility to enthusiastically promote the many ways in which the Church teaches, heals, comforts and cares for everyone, both temporally and spiritually,” he said.

“I am happy to be serving the Fall River Diocese and I look forward to working with clergy and laity to generate the resources to allow for all that we do and for all that we want to do going forward.”

Campbell was born and raised in New Jersey and earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and urban planning from Fordham University in New York and an MBA from that university’s Graduate School of Business.

He and his family live in Northborough, where he is an active member of St. Rose of Lima Parish.

In his letter to priests and diocesan administrators announcing Campbell as the new diocesan development director, Bishop Coleman wrote that the diocese “will benefit from his expertise and enthusiasm.”

In that same letter, the bishop took the opportunity to thank Donly for his dedicated service over the years.

“Being the first director of Development, Mr. Donly has established the office as a very important component of the diocese,” Bishop Coleman said.

In particular, the bishop noted Donly’s work on the annual Catholic Charities Appeal and for the St. Mary’s Education Fund.

For the Portuguese and Spanish populations, the charismatic renewals and prayer groups offer individuals the freedom to celebrate their faith in the way of their native country. While the English-speaking faithful are loyal to their faith, Mass is often a reserved affair during the 10 a.m. Mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Parish, said Father Pregana. When the 11:30 a.m. Spanish Mass begins, Father Pregana is taken back at how his congregation would celebrate at his former St. Rose of Lima Parish in Honduras.

“What I find is the Spanish community is much more expressive about the faith. When I was in Honduras, faith was very much alive in the singing, clapping and expressions during Mass,” said Father Pregana of his years in Honduras. “When I came home I found the English-speaking community is much more reserved. I don’t want to say there’s a lacking of faith, but their faith is simply expressed differently.”

There are three groups at Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James: Puerta del Cielo (Gate of Heaven), mainly composed of individuals from Guatemala and a few Salvadorans; the St. Michael the Archangel prayer group, mainly composed of Salvadorans and Puerto Ricans; and the St. John Bosco and St. Dominic Savio youth prayer groups. At St. Kilian’s Parish in New Bedford there is also a prayer group, Nuevo Amanecer (New Dawn).

There are also prayer groups at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Hyannis, St. Mary’s/Our Lady of the Isle on Nantucket, St. Joseph’s in Attleboro, and St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River.

The Spanish also have a diocesan Hispanic council, where representatives from each community meet every other month; “I guess it could be compared to a parish council but at a diocesan level,” said Father Pregana.

“We are a very active group in our diocese. We don’t have just a weekly prayer meeting, but the various New Bedford, Fall River and Taunton churches do have monthly leadership schools,” said Father Arruda, of the Portuguese groups that also offer additional teaching that focuses on many topics, including the new ‘Catechism’ in the Church and the New Evangelization. “Last month we had our annual retreat and it was an exceptionally moving experience with Christ. People were very excited about it.”

All the priests agree each group has its own special charisms and gifts of worship,

offering the Hispanic and Portuguese populations a beautiful way of celebrating Jesus and the Church. The lure of the Holy Spirit is so great, “that we have English-speaking people who come,” said Father Arruda, “even though they don’t understand the language. The singing is overwhelming and very good; it’s moving.”

While the numbers may not be what they used to be due to the slowdown of incoming immigrants and the aging of immigrants already celebrating within the diocese, Father Oliveira believes “the charismatic renewal is in good spirits. It’s still an active ministry of the Church.

Even today I feel the charismatic renewal is a great ministry in the Church.”

Father Oliveira is in talks with Father Arruda to put together a program that traces the history of the movement with a probable air date in January; “It will be great because people will see the

benefits of the charismatic movement,” he said.

Father Pregana is in the early preparations for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in December, but will celebrate at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River on October 20 at 6 p.m. with a Spanish-speaking Rosary. For those whose roots began in another country, praising Jesus in their native tongue creates a closer connection to God. “I think it’s home for them to pray in their own language,” said Father Pregana. “I remember when I was in Honduras, whenever I really wanted to pray, I really prayed in English because for me that’s where home is with God. I certainly prayed in Spanish, but to find home with God and find that spiritual connection, I prayed in English. For them, where they grew up speaking Spanish, listening about God in Spanish, I think they need to have a connection with God in their own language.”

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Our Lady’s Monthly Message From Medjugorje September 25, 2012

Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina “Dear children! When in nature you look at the richness of the colors which the Most High gives to you, open your heart and pray with gratitude for all the good that you have and say: ‘I am here created for eternity’ — and yearn for heavenly things because God loves you with immeasurable love. This is why He also gave me to you to tell you: ‘Only in God is your peace and hope, dear children.’

“Thank you for having responded to my call.”

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

Youth Pages

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pumpkin power — The fourth-grade class at All Saints Catholic School in New Bedford recently got the chance to do a Pumpkin Estimation Project.

All students had enjoyed cleaning out the pumpkins and sorting the seeds.

They had to estimate the weight of the pumpkins, the seeds, and then were to chart and journal their experience.

a warm gesture — Already in the first month of classes at Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River, students have shown a desire to serve the community. Four members of the growing international program at the local high school are learning to knit an assortment of items, including scarves, hats, and mittens. Led by Joan Flanagan of the Cardinal Medeiros Residence, these students will devote a significant amount of time learning the craft and perfecting it before the winter months, afterwards donating finished products to local homeless shelters in the area. From left: Cheng Li, Xinru Zhang, Danna Liu, and Joan Flanagan. Lian Zhang is just out of the photo.

October 5, 2012

class mates — Students at St. James-St. John School in New Bedford enjoy time with their buddies.

it all adds up — Once again, St. John’s School in Attleboro, in partnership with Bristol County Savings Bank, is offering a banking program to the students in grades two through six. The program will run until the end of the school year. Students are encouraged to continue their banking and savings throughout the summer. A representative comes to the school bimonthly. The students are able to deposit money of any denomination into a statement savings account. Shown here is Harrington’s second-grade class along with Michelle Sinclair, Christine Eames and Patrick Murray Jr., president of Bristol County Savings Bank.

in the running — Bishop Feehan High School senior Evan Grandfield was recently named a semifinalist in the 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically-talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered next spring. From left, Feehan President Chris Servant ’66; Grandfield; Director of Guidance Rhonda Laliberte; and Principal George Milot.

preparing to adore him — In preparation for Eucharistic Adoration which will take place on the first Friday of each month in Holy Family-Holy Name School’s Adoration Chapel, Father Stan Kolasa, SS.CC., gave the students at the New Bedford school an uplifting talk on adoration and its value in our lives. Here fourth-grader Billy Byrd assists Father Kolasa with preparing the incense.

Youth Pages

October 5, 2012

“G

o therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19).

This selection of the Gospel is referred to often as the “missionary mandate.” Jesus’ last words to the Apostles and to us are to share the message of the Gospel with others, inviting them to come to know Jesus.

You will probably hear much in the coming months about this mandate as our Church begins a “Year of Faith.” This coincides with a gathering of theologians and bishops at the Vatican for a synod on the theme “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith.”

Now, I’m sure the thought that comes to mind when you hear the word “evangelization” is one that makes you a little uncomfortable. We think of the person standing on a soap box (OK, it’s 2012, how about a milk crate?) yelling Scripture verses at people and telling

Take advantage of opportunities

them they are going to H-Eour experience of faith? Last double-toothpick if they don’t year at UMass Dartmouth, we repent and become members of conducted a survey of students the Church. This is an extreme to help us identify areas that we example and one that the did well, and areas we needed Church desires you not follow. to address. A student submitted Evangelization should follow the model that Christ gave us: kindness and charity in our interactions with others, sharing our faith and reliance on God,

By Father listening to others, David C. Frederici remembering that we are works in progress while at the same time encouraging others to learn a response that I occasionally about Jesus. Letting others pull out and read. Here are know that you are Catholic, excerpts: posting on Facebook that you “My experience of Catholic are going to Mass, youth group, Church has been about as bland Bible study, etc. is not “inas a Ritz cracker. My home your-face religion” anymore church is spiritually dormant, than telling someone about a and my parents refuse to leave. great book you just read is “inThey are convinced that my your-face reading.” new, Protestant-style worship is Let’s be honest for a mo‘another religion.’ ment though. To fulfill our role “There is also a prevailing in the missionary mandate, to mindset in the Catholic comshare our faith, we need to be munity that raising Catholic knowledgeable, excited and children is enough, that evanpassionate about it. Is that gelism is for some reason

Be Not Afraid

Knights leader will promote family, laity at New Evangelization synod

New Haven, Conn.

(CNA) — Carl Anderson, the head of the Knights of Columbus, will focus his participation at the upcoming Synod of Bishops on the role of families and the laity in the New Evangelization.

“I would hope to make a contribution in both those aspects, the importance of family and the importance of the laity,” Anderson told CNA in a recent interview.

Both John Paul II and Benedict XVI have said “the role of the laity can be decisive in the New Evangelization,” he recalled.

As for the family, Anderson explained, it is an “evangelizing subject and object”: families can both proclaim the Good News, and the Gospel is proclaimed to and within the family.

The gathering of 200 bishops, experts and observers from around the globe will take place at the Vatican October 7-28 under the title of “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith.”

Anderson was invited to participate in the synod as an auditor by Pope Benedict, which means his primary task is to offer counsel and contribute to the discussions of the synod.

17

He said the forthcoming gathering is “tremendously important” in the Church’s life because “the New Evangelization is the way for the Church to move forward … in Europe and in the Western Hemisphere especially.”

Anderson, who has already participated in three synods, described the day to day structure of a Vatican synod as “pretty filled with work.”

He said the day begins usually with a general session, “in which there are interventions by various members of the hierarchy and experts,” with “discussion of various drafts and papers that are presented.”

There are then working groups, to which individuals are assigned based on their language abilities. These groups, he explained, offer the opportunity for discussion and “really in-depth analysis of various questions that are presented to the synod.”

After the synod wrapsup, the recommendations and ideas that come out of it are sent to a committee that drafts a working document which is presented to the pope.

He then writes a post-synodal apostolic exhortation based on his reflection, which “takes into account much of

the deliberation of the synod and the work of the bishops who are there.”

The Supreme Knight also took time to discuss the role of his fraternal organization in the New Evangelization.

Anderson recalled that Pope Benedict described the Knights as “pioneers in the lay apostolate” in his message to their international convention in August.

“The lay apostolate in our lifetime, I believe, is the New Evangelization; and the New Evangelization is about Christian witness and an authentic Catholic identity,” Anderson stated.

“It is about being able to articulate the faith in a convincing way, but equally and perhaps more importantly, living the faith in an authentic and convincing way.”

He noted that the Knights have had 130 years’ experience doing just that, confidently living out the Christian life and reaching out to the community and parishes to make them “more vibrant.”

Anderson said that “the most important role of the Knights of Columbus will be in the daily activity of our councils, and the work of our 1.8 million members and their families.”

unnecessary, or the work of lone missionaries who go to remote villages in Africa. I knew so little about spreading the Gospel to others when I attended Catholic Church that I thought it was another religion! Reaching out to others is essential; I would argue that it is the point of each person’s life. Talking to others about your faith reminds you why you believe what you do, allows you to grow as you consider and look up answers to questions you may have never asked, and brings others to Christ—what could be better? That he should ‘always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect’ (1 Pet 3:15). I don’t think that the average Catholic is adequately prepared to provide a defense for what they believe, and this is a major failing on the Church’s part. I respect differences in styles of worship, as well as the great effort that many Catholic leaders put into serving their communities, but I don’t think the current Catholic Church does a good job of encouraging spiritual growth.”

Wow! This should provide a wakeup call to those of us who minister in the Church. It also challenges all of us who call ourselves Catholic. We have a responsibility to share our faith and at the same time, we have a responsibility to grow in

our knowledge and practice of faith. The student’s reflection (and many others who sent in similar statements) motivated us to be sure we were providing resources and programs through the website, our resource table and in gathered activities that would help students grow in knowledge and practice of the faith. The piece we can’t control is a person making use of the opportunities.

If there is a teaching that troubles you, that you don’t understand, learn more about it.

Talk to a priest, youth minister, campus minister, theologian, etc. Find resources on your parish, school, or diocesan website to help you research it. Then pray about it. In addition, the community gathered at Mass has a role to play in a worthy celebration: singing the hymns, reciting the responses, welcoming visitors, etc. In parishes different Mass times tend to have different “personalities,” find the one that feeds you and challenges you spiritually.

If you take advantage of the opportunities you will be challenged spiritually and intellectually. The search and the struggle will draw you closer to God and create an enthusiasm and passion that will be contagious. Faith is a 24/7 lived experience. If you are striving to live faith and to learn more about God in everyday life, you will be effective in the role of witnessing to the faith.

Father Frederici is chaplain at UMass Dartmouth.

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The Anchor

October 5, 2012

YOF to focus on Vatican II, ‘Catechism’

New Bedford chapel rejoices in 10 years of Eucharistic Adoration

Council. He suggested utilizing the “Catechism of the Catholic Church,” published in 1992, to help Catholics “rediscover the truths of faith and deepen their understanding of Church teaching.”

Stressing the importance of more acts of charity, the pope said, “What the world is in particular need of today is the credible witness of people enlightened in mind and heart by the Word of the Lord, and capable of opening the hearts and minds of many to the desire for God and for true life, life without end.”

In a letter to diocesan priests, Bishop George W. Coleman announced that Father Mark R. Hession, diocesan director of Continuing Education for the Clergy, and pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Osterville and Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville, prepared a year-long program for priests “including days of reflection, study days, and the annual retreat, with themes highlighting the Year of Faith.”

Bishop Coleman also encouraged pastors to “be aware of the Year of Faith in planning programs in your parishes during the following months,” and start initiatives to help raise “awareness among the laity of the importance of faith.”

Claire McManus, diocesan director of Faith Formation told The Anchor, “We’re going to focus on the two themes presented by Pope Benedict — getting reacquainted with the ‘Catechism,’ and putting the teachings that came out of Vatican II into the hands of our religion teachers.”

“The ‘Catechism’ is in everyone’s hands,” she said, “and in it are the teachings that came out of Vatican II. It is good for people to look at what the council did. It anticipated the changes that were to come in the next 50 years, like expanding technology and such. Vatican II was prophetic.”

McManus said her office has always dealt with faith issues, not just for the upcoming Year of Faith. “But the focus this year will be to make the laity more aware of that faith and the teachings of the Church. One of the great lessons that came from Vatican II was that the laity has a responsibility to be leaven in this world,” she added.

The Faith Formation Office began its preparations this past June with a training session for diocesan catechetical leaders called “Strong Catholic Families,” to help them “utilize the

in Bellingham; and Msgr. Gerard O’Connor, pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Acushnet.

On October 13, Bishop George W. Coleman will celebrate the Sunday Vigil Mass at the chapel at 6:30 p.m., preceded by the Rosary at 6 p.m. A reception will follow.

A special exhibit will also be available at Our Lady’s Chapel throughout the week. “Prodigies of Eucharistic Miracles of the World Captured in Lenses,” will show from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. from October 8 through 12.

The Vatican International Exhibit allows people to view and read the stories of a collection of worldwide miracles that prove God’s Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament.

While the perpetual adoration at the chapel has endured for the last 10 years, it wasn’t always easy. “The Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate cover the hours that are not scheduled, but the laity are so faithful and committed,” said Father Maximilian. “In the two years that I’ve been here, I’ve seen an increase in the number of faithful willing to spend a fixed hour of time.”

Father Maximilian told The Anchor that it’s the laity who coordinate the schedule and run the goings on. “They are Third Order of Franciscans who know that this is the Body, Soul, Blood and Divinity of Our Lord. They know the need to put, front and center, the Eucharistic Lord to sustain our faith against the many challenges of the world today.

“There are two pillars to sustain our faith — Eucharistic Adoration and devotion to Our Lady.

Those pillars and obedience to our Holy Father will sustain our faith and bring joy and blessings to the Church and our local community.”

Martha McCormack has been involved with the perpetual adoration at Our Lady’s Chapel since day one. “I’ve received so many blessings from this,” she told The Anchor. “It’s a gift. Life is a challenge, and Eucharistic Adoration gives me great strength to help meet those challenges. I know that God is with me, even when I can’t feel Him. “In bad times or on bad days, I head straight to the chapel and I always come out feeling revitalized and stronger. It’s a refuge for me.” And for others as well.

McCormack admits that at times it’s a struggle to maintain a schedule. “Some people get older, get sick, and some die, so we have to replace those times,” she explained. “Things do happen to people. The numbers are up and down at times, but it continues. I

continued from page one

parent meetings to be moments of evangelization.”

“We will be continuing the focus of evangelizing the families right through our convention next November,” she said.

“Our 2013 convention will deal more on the Year of Faith and our Youth and Young Adults and the Adult Evangelization Office is likely to pick up on Vatican II themes as well.”

McManus said her office will use the theme from the pope’s Porta Fidei letter for adult retreats scheduled at the Sacred Hearts Retreat Center in Wareham: Young Adult Retreat on January 4-5; Women’s Retreat on January 25-26; and a Men’s Retreat on February 8-9.

The annual Youth Convention will be on March 3 with the theme, “Go and Make Disciples.”

As part of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Acushnet’s Year of Faith program Sister Johanna Paruch, professor of theology at Steubenville University will give a talk on “Passing on the Faith to the Next Generation,” on November 5 at 7 p.m.

Diocesan faithful should consult their parish bulletins and The Anchor throughout the upcoming Year of Faith for events in and around their parish and the diocese.

Father Hession has a monthly event scheduled for diocesan clergy that began in September and will run through January of 2014.

Some of the events include talks, presentations and retreats, concluding with the 2014 convocation.

The annual Priest Retreat in November will key on “Vatican II at Fifty: Praying our Personal and Priestly Spiritual Renewal,” presented by Father Raymond Kemp and Sister Nancy Sheridan.

Speakers include Father J. Bryan Hehir, Th.D.; Dr. Carolyn Woo, Ph.D.; Father Tad Pacholczyk, S.T.D.; Father William O’Malley, SJ, S.T.D.; Brother Loughlan Sofield, S.T.; Patricia Kelly, Ph.D.; Father Donald Reilly, OSA; and Father Stephen Salocks, S.S.C. “It is my hope that as a diocese and as a presbyterate, we can enter fully into this Year of Faith,” Bishop Coleman wrote.

“As pastors of souls, we must take this opportunity, given to us by our Holy Father, to help those entrusted to our care to understand and practice their faith more deeply. This represents the original pastoral intent of the Second Vatican Council.”

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know it will.

“Hearts are changed through Eucharistic Adoration. The people who do it start with an hour and so many of them increase that time. When someone is sick and can’t make their time, we suggest they get a family member or friend to replace them.

That way they’re exposed to a gift ... a gift they have never experienced before.”

McCormack said one of the great benefits that has come from the last 10 years is the emergence of Eucharistic Adoration in parishes all around the diocese.

“In the beginning there were no or very few parishes that had Eucharistic Adoration,” she said.

“Now almost every parish in the diocese has it at one time or another.

“We all desire so much to see it grow in this diocese,” said Father Maximilian. “We’d love to see more, but we are very thankful to the Lord that He has sustained it here at Our Lady’s Chapel and that it is spreading through the diocese.”

The fire has spread to a number of parishes throughout the diocese. A list of some can be found on page 19 of The Anchor each week.

One of the parishes that has caught fire is St. Francis Xavier Parish in Acushnet. Mary Cardoza felt the spark years ago. In 2006 she began efforts to bring it to St. Francis Xavier. “Eucharistic Adoration changed my life, and I wanted to bring that to people in my parish,” she told The Anchor. “I had no idea what to do, so I went to Our Lady’s Chapel in New Bedford to get some advice.”

It was there where she met McCormack and others who helped her through the process.

“They gave me great advice,”

she said. “And another great help came from an unlikely source. I had a friend who received information 10 years ago, on beginning Eucharistic Adoration in a parish. It had everything I needed.

“It’s crucial in our day and age. So many people have their lives changed by devoting one hour a week to spending time with the Lord. When you spend time with Him, you fall in love.

You have to have it. It’s building a strong relationship with Jesus.”

Over the last six years, Cardoza has seen the fruits of her labor of love. “We started out a few hours a week, and now we have all the days covered and we’re working towards perpetual adoration,” she added. “Our youngest is in junior high school and we have teen-agers, elderly and everywhere in between. One soul at a time. When you adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, you have a change of heart. Everything else falls into place.

He’ll lead you on the ride of your life.”

Cardoza told The Anchor that she has received requests from other parishes for help on starting adoration. “I put together a little kit from my experiences,” she said. “They’re starting to use that as a guide.”

“I hope this celebration will help others see what a great gift we have here and in other chapels in the diocese,” said Father Maximilian. “People work very hard to maintain this. We hope this will raise the profile and show the importance of adoration.”

He went on to say that Eucharistic Adoration is a great source of unity. “We unite with Our Lord through adoration and praise. We are His. It strengthens the bonds with God and with one another through charity in Our Lord. We unite through faith and love.”

October 5, 2012

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese

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

Evening prayer and Benediction is held Monday through Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

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

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

ATTLEBORO — St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Parish, 18 Baltic Street, has Eucharistic Adoration every Thursday following the 7 a.m. Mass until 4 p.m.

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

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

East Sandwich — The Corpus Christi Parish Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, East Sandwich.

Use the Chapel entrance on the side of the church.

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

FAIRHAVEN — St. Mary’s Church, Main St., has Eucharistic Adoration every Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to noon in the Chapel of Reconciliation, with Benediction at noon.

Also, there is a First Friday Mass each month at 7 p.m., followed by a Holy Hour with Eucharistic Adoration. Refreshments follow.

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

FALL RIVER — St. Bernadette’s Church, 529 Eastern Ave., has Eucharistic Adoration on Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the chapel.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NEW BEDFORD — St. Lawrence Martyr Parish, 565 County Street, holds Eucharistic Adoration in the side chapel every Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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

NORTH DIGHTON — Eucharistic Adoration takes place every First Friday at St. Nicholas of Myra Church, 499 Spring Street following the 8 a.m. Mass, ending with Benediction at 6 p.m.

The Rosary is recited Monday through Friday from 7:30 to 8 a.m.

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

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

Taunton — Eucharistic Adoration takes place Tuesdays at St. Anthony Church, 126 School Street, following the 8 a.m. Mass with prayers including the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for vocations, concluding at 6 p.m. with Chaplet of St. Anthony and Benediction. Recitation of the Rosary for peace is prayed Monday through Saturday at 7:30 a.m. prior to the 8 a.m. Mass. taunton — Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament takes place every First Friday at Annunciation of the Lord, 31 First Street. Expostition begins following the 8 a.m. Mass. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed, and adoration will continue throughout the day. Confessions are heard from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. Rosary and Benediction begin at 6:30 p.m.

WAREHAM — Every First Friday, Eucharistic Adoration takes place from 8:30 a.m. through Benediction at 5:30 p.m. Morning prayer is prayed at 9; the Angelus at noon; the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3 p.m.; and Evening Prayer at 5 p.m.

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

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

19

The Anchor Pope says not to be jealous when others do Christ’s work

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) — Catholics should rejoice, and not be jealous, when other Christians succeed in doing the work of the Lord, Pope Benedict XVI said.

“God can do good and even amazing things outside the circle” of the Catholic Church, the pope said, commenting on the day’s Gospel reading during a recent midday Angelus address.

Speaking to pilgrims gathered in the courtyard of the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo, the pope quoted St. Augustine who said that just as there could be non-Catholic elements within the Catholic Church, “so there may be something which is Catholic outside the Catholic Church.”

Pope Benedict said Catholics “must not be jealous, but should rejoice if someone outside the community does good in the name of Christ.”

The pope said that also sometimes, within the Catholic community, people have a difficult time recognizing the good that others accomplish. “We must all always appreciate each other and value each other, praising the Lord for the infinite creativity with which He works in the Church and in the world.”

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks 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, Our Lady of the Assumption, Osterville, 2006 Oct. 9 Rev. Paul J. Dalbec, M.S., La Salette Shrine, Attleboro, 2000 Oct. 10 Rev. James C.J. Ryan, Assistant, Immaculate Conception, North Easton, 1918 Rev. Boniface Jones, SS.CC., Chaplain, Sacred Heart Home, New Bedford, 1987 Rev. Joseph A. Martineau, Retired Pastor, St. Theresa, New Bedford, 1990 Oct. 11 Rev. James A. Downey, Pastor, Holy Ghost, Attleboro, 1952 Oct. 12 Rev. Felician Plichta, OFM Conv., Parochial Vicar, Corpus Christi, East Sandwich, Former Pastor Holy Cross, Fall River, 1999 Rev. David I. Walsh. MM, Maryknoll Missioner, 1999

Around the Diocese 10/6

Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, 2282 Route 6 in Wellfleet is hosting its annual Holly Fair tomorrow from 9 a.m to 4 p.m. There will be theme gift baskets, wreaths, hand made items, toys, baked goods, teacup raffle, jewelry, silent auction, quilt raffles and refreshments including hot dogs, sausage and peppers, clam chowder, and stuffed quahogs. There will also be an opportunity for photos with Santa from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., and instructions on how to make a hydrangea wreath at 2 p.m.

10/6

A Healing Mass and Blessing with St. André’s Bessette’s relic and anointing with St. Joseph Oil will be held at the Father Peyton Center tomorrow — French language and Sunday – in English, from 1-4 p.m. both days at 500 Washington Street in Easton. St. André’s relic will be available for blessings and veneration. The afternoon will include procession, Rosary prayer, anointing, blessing and Eucharist. For information call Holy Cross Family Ministries at 508-238-4095 or logon www.FamilyRosary.org/Events.

10/7

Celina and John Dellamorte will be offering an Introduction to Natural Family Planning on Sunday at St. Joseph’s Church, 208 South Main Street in Attleboro. The couple will speak briefly at the end of the 10:30 a.m. English and 12 noon Spanish Masses, then will invite folks downstairs to meet with them and watch a 25-minute video, “Introduction to NFP.” All are welcome to attend. After the video there will be a Q&A session.

10/9

The next meeting of the Catholic Cancer Support Group will be at Our Lady of Victory Church in Centerville on October 9 beginning at 6 p.m. with Mass and anointing of the sick in the church. Following Mass the group will go the parish center where a wonderful pot-luck supper will be served. Those whose last names begin with A-M should bring a main dish and those with last names N-Z should bring either a salad or dessert. The support group is faith based, but all are welcome — cancer patients, survivors, family and friends. Reservations are not needed. For more information call Mary Lees at 508771-1106 or email maryplees@comcast.net.

10/9

“Launching the Year of Faith: A Night of Faith to Get the Upcoming Year of Faith off to a Good and Holy Start” will take place October 9 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at St. Bernadette Parish, 529 Eastern Avenue in Fall River. The night will include: a talk by Father Roger J. Landry on Pope Benedict’s letter, “The Gate of Faith,” on suggestions from the Vatican for living the Year of Faith well, on various examples of faith for today’s Catholics, and on other practical ideas for adults, teens, families and parish communities; Eucharistic Adoration during which those present will pray to the Lord to “increase our faith,” as was asked of Jesus in the Gospel; and the recitation of the Rosary to enter into the exemplary school of Mary’s faith during the month dedicated to Rosary. All are welcome.

10/10

“Essential Catholicism: A Preparation Course for Adult Confirmation” will be held on Wednesdays, October 10, 17, 24 and November 7 and 14 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Bishop Connolly High School, 373 Elsbree Street in Fall River and on Mondays, October 15, 22, 29 and November 5 and 12 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Holy Cross Parish Center, 225 Purchase Street, South Easton.

10/11

Holy Name Parish, Fall River, invites post-confirmation adults to a new session of an Adult Faith Formation program, entitled “The Virgin Mary and Theology of the Body,” focusing on Blessed John Paul II’s masterful work, “Theology of the Body” and how we can further understand these teachings through better knowing and loving our Blessed Mother. Each week we will learn about different topics in our world including the human person and human body, God’s gifts of sexuality, marriage and different moral issues in our world. The sessions begin on October 11, from 6:30 - 8:15 p.m. at the Holy Name School/Parish Center. To register and/or obtain more information contact Greg at the Faith Formation Office, 508-678-732 or go to www.hnfr.com and click on Faith Formation.

10/13

There will be a Rosary Crusade at Peg Noonan Park, Main Street, Falmouth on October 13 beginning at noon. It is part of the rallies across the country occurring at noon in honor of Our Lady of Fatima. Everyone is welcome to come and pray the Rosary for peace and for our country. For more information call 508-540-3827.

10/13

The annual diocesan peace procession and Mass will take place October 13 beginning at 6 p.m. with a candlelight procession from St. Mary’s Cathedral, 327 Second Street, Fall River, to St. Anne’s Church, followed by a Mass celebrated by Bishop George W. Coleman at St. Anne’s. All are invited and encouraged to bring their own candle.

10/14

Sacred Heart Parish, corner of Pine and Seabury streets in Fall River, will hold its annual chopstick auction on October 14.

There will be more than $1,500 in prizes available and also special raffles and a $500 grand prize raffle. Food will also be available. Doors open at 11 a.m. The auctions starts at 1 p.m.

10/16 10/16

Courage, a support group for people wounded by same-sex attraction, will meet October 16 at 10 a.m. For location and information, call Father Richard Wilson at 508-992-9408.

A retreat titled “Your Own Heart and Soul,” will be facilitated by internationally-known speaker/writer Paula D’Arcy on October 16-18 at the La Salette Retreat Center in Attleboro.

For information contact Peggy Patenaude at 508-548-9149 or timeoutretreats@ comcast.net.

10/18

A healing Mass will be held October 18 at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue, New Bedford, at 6:30 p.m., including Benediction and healing prayers. There will be a holy hour beginning at 5:30 p.m. including Rosary. For location information visit www. stanthonyofpaduanewbedford.com or call 508-993-1691.

10/20

The Fall River Diocesan Council of Catholic Nurses is sponsoring a seminar, “Life’s Choices and Rights: A Seminar on the Ethics of End of Life Care and Physician-Assisted Suicide,” October 20 at White’s Restaurant in Westport from 8:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. The speakers will be ethicist Peter J. Cataldo, Ph.D.; and lawyer Henry C. Luthin. Morning refreshments and lunch will be provided. Five nursing contact hours will be awarded for this program. Deadline to register is October 12. For information call 508-678-2373.

10/21

Bishop Connolly High School, 373 Elsbree Street, Fall River, will have an Open House on October 21 at 1 p.m. The placement exam is scheduled on December 1 at 8 a.m. For more information, call 508-676-1071, extension 333.

11/3

A Day with Mary will be held on November 3 at St. Mary of the Nativity Parish, One Kent Street in Scituate. It will include a video presentation, procession and crowning of the Blessed Mother, with Mass, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and an opportunity for Reconciliation. There is a bookstore available during breaks. For information call 508-996-8274.

20

October 5, 2012

The Anchor

Rosary key to evangelization, helping families, says Marian expert

ROME (CNS) — As the Church is set to begin the Year of Faith and a synod on the New Evangelization, the Rosary can play a key role in strengthening and spreading the Word of God, said a leading American expert in Marian studies.

“This Year of Faith is a call for evangelization, a New Evangelization that’s to start with ourselves” in reawakening one’s love for Christ and then reaching

out to those who have become distanced from the Church, said Holy Cross Father James Phalan, director of Family Rosary International, part of Holy Cross Family Ministries in Easton.

October is the month the Church dedicates to the Rosary, and the world Synod of Bishops will start October 7, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Pope Benedict XVI entrusted the synod to Mary’s intercession, and he

has said the Rosary can stimulate missionary activity by leading Christians to meditate on the life of Jesus.

“During this Year of Faith we’re to take up the Rosary in our hands again,” Father Phalan told Catholic News Service during a visit to Rome in mid-September.

“Mary has always been the mother of evangelization,” he said, because “she’s always been

the one who shows us Jesus.”

Blessed John Paul II said the Rosary is “contemplating the face of Christ with Mary.”

By praying the Rosary, people are led to listen more deeply to God’s Word, to contemplate events in Christ’s life, to see what His life means and to find Christ’s presence in one’s own life, Father Phalan said. “It’s a way of identifying ourselves with Christ, so it’s a profound path to holiness.”

Praying the Rosary together, especially for a family, has added beauty and power, he said.

“It opens up areas of sensitivity, areas of intimacy” because “prayer is one of the most intimate things we do,” he said.

When couples or families pray the Rosary together, “there’s a real intimacy that’s bonded in faith” that then fortifies relationships and solidifies the wider Christian community, he said.

The Rosary

has been “a tried and true” way to strengthen Christian life in the home and to pass on the faith from generation to generation, he said.

“I’m convinced that when we talk about the New Evangelization, we need to talk about evangelization in the home,” because unless one’s prayer life and faith are reignited there, “it ‘ain’t gonna’ work, frankly,” he said.

Reawakening the faith in the home is not only a very effective way to develop a solid base for evangelization, it also helps families during troubled times, he said.

Family Rosary International was started by the late Holy Cross Father Patrick Peyton, who coined the phrase “A family that prays together stays together,” as part of his mission to build family unity through the daily recitation of the Rosary.

“He knew that something really simple” like prayer in the home could make a big difference in facing problems that seem so complex and difficult, Father Phalan said.

“Our work continues on his simple but profound insight, which is more important than ever, that family prayer can do so much in the face of the apparently chaotic situations of so many families,” he said.

mary’s tool — October is the month the Church dedicates to the Rosary. The Church synod on the New Evangelization begins Sunday, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. (CNS photo/Juan Medina, Reuters)