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Diocese of Fall River, Mass.

F riday , October 30, 2015

Diocesan St. Vincent de Paul council welcomes new president

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff beckyaubut@anchornews.org

ATTLEBORO — Steve Meaney, a member of St. Mary’s of the Immaculate Conception Parish in North Attleboro, was recently commissioned as the president of the Diocesan Council of the St. Vincent de Paul Society — an interesting leadership role for someone who admitted that up until recently he didn’t volunteer

for much.

“My wife and I were the type of people who were never really ‘joiners,’” said Meaney. “We didn’t join organizations, that as we went through life, work and family were the main focus. Then in late 2008, the weekend before Christmas, we had a snowstorm and my neighbor next door — who I was aware was involved in organizations at the parish — was Turn to page 14

Students, faculty and staff from Stonehill College in Easton have been selling fresh, organic vegetables grown at the school’s farm during a weekly mobile market in Brockton. From left, staff volunteer Tim Watts, farm manager and instructor Bridget Meigs, and students Erin Colford and Alana Cotto sell vegetables at a recent Wednesday afternoon market. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)

Stonehill students cultivate crops to sell at mobile market

The seventh- and eighth-graders of the greater New Bedford Catholic Schools: All Saints Catholic School, Holy Family-Holy Name, St. Francis Xavier, St. James-St. John, and St. Joseph School, recently attended the annual Rosary Rally at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth. The day started with Mass at St. Julie Billiart Church, followed by praise, worship music, and guest speakers. This year’s speakers were Stang seniors Dan Fealy and Matt Golden. The rally concluded with the Rosary, which included a set of Rosary beads that extended around half the gym. Students from the five elementary schools along with Stang students held the beads and led the prayers of the Rosary.

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff kensouza@anchornews.org EASTON — Thanks to a $5,000 grant from Project Bread, The Farm at Stonehill College is furthering its mission of providing neighbors in the Brockton area with fresh, affordable produce as part of the college’s mobile market effort.

“A partnership with Project Bread is exciting because we share their vision of implementing both immediate and long-term solutions to food access in

Massachusetts,” said Bridget Meigs, farm manager and environmental science instructor at Stonehill College.

“Together, we are taking steps to have a significant impact on food accessibility and personal empowerment for a diverse community of people seeking to make healthier choices for themselves and their families.”

“At Project Bread, we support community initiatives that ensure food security,” added Ellen Parker, executive director at Project Bread. “The Turn to page 15

Cape Cod native finds calling in war-torn Rwanda

By Linda Andrade Rodrigues Anchor Correspondent seaskyandspirit.blogspot.com

MASHPEE — Led by the Spirit, Erin McDonald, 35, travelled the world on a quest to ease the suffering of the poorest of the poor. Transformed by loving God and neighbor without distinction, she ended up where she started.

“It was the mystical work of God drawing me,” she said.

The daughter of Tom and Debbie McDonald, she has one younger sister, Megan. The family moved to Mashpee when she was in third grade and became parishioners of Christ the King Parish.

She attended public schools and Religious Education classes at the parish.

“That was my first connection to the Sisters of St. Joseph,” she said. “Sister Claire and Sister Annette headed the Religious Education program.”

Graduating from Falmouth High School, she enrolled at Regis College in Weston, where she spent her freshman year.

“I actually got to connect with the Sisters of St. Joseph there,” she said.

“Something about religious life attracted me, but there was no absolute clarity.”

During the summer she volunteered for a two-week mission to aid the poor in West Virginia, which was sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston.

“It really was very serendipitous,” she said. “I flew into Wheeling and didn’t know anybody. I was a spunky 19-yearold who wanted to go somewhere different and loved it. There was a lot of poverty, and I wanted to make the world a better place.”

McDonald transferred to Wheeling Jesuit University and for three years Turn to page 18

Erin McDonald is surrounded by school children in a Rwanda refugee camp. (Contributed photo)

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October 30, 2015 News From the Vatican Synod report urges ‘accompaniment’ tailored to family situations

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — While not specifically mentioning the controversial proposal of a path toward full reconciliation and Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried, members of the Synod of Bishops on the family handed Pope Francis a report emphasizing an obligation to recognize that not all Catholics in such a situation bear the same amount of blame.

The 94-paragraph report approved October 24, the last working day of the three-week synod, highlighted the role of pastors in helping couples understand Church teaching, grow in faith and take responsibility for sharing the Gospel.

It also emphasized how “pastoral accompaniment” involves discerning, on a case-by-case basis, the moral culpability of people not fully living up to the Catholic ideal.

Bishops and other full members of the synod voted separately on each paragraph and the Vatican published those votes. The paragraph dealing specifically with leading divorced and remarried Catholics on a path of discernment passed with only one vote beyond the necessary two-thirds.

Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna told reporters that the key word in the document’s discussion of ministry to divorced and civilly remarried people is “‘discernment.’ I invite you all to remember there is no black or white, no simple yes or no.” The situation of each couple “must be discerned,” which is what was called for by St. John Paul

II in his 1981 exhortation on the family, he said.

The cardinal told Vatican Insider, a news site, that although St. John Paul called for discernment in those cases, “he didn’t mention all that comes after discernment.” The synod’s final report, he said, proposes priests help divorced and remarried couples undergoing conversion and repentance so that they recognize whether or not they are worthy to receive the Eucharist.

Such an examination of conscience, he said, is required of every Catholic each time they prepare to approach the altar.

As Pope Francis said at the beginning of the synod, Church doctrine on the meaning of Marriage as a lifelong bond between one man and one woman open to having children was not up for debate. The final report strongly affirmed that teaching as God’s plan for humanity, as a blessing for the Church and a benefit to society.

While insisting on God’s love for homosexual persons and the obligation to respect their dignity, the report also insisted same-sex unions could not be recognized as marriages and denounced as “totally unacceptable” governments or international organizations making recognition of “‘marriage’ between persons of the same sex” a condition for financial assistance.

The report also spoke specifically of: the changing role of women in families, the Church and society; single people and their contributions to the family and the Church; the heroic

witness of parents who love and care for children with disabilities; the family as a sanctuary protecting the Sacredness of human life from conception to natural death; and the particular strain on family life caused by poverty and by migration.

The Catholic Church recognizes a “natural” value in Marriage corresponding to the good of the husband and wife, their unity, fidelity and desire for children. But the Sacrament of Marriage adds another dimension, the report said. “The irrevocable fidelity of God to His covenant is the foundation of the indissolubility of Marriage. The complete and profound love of the spouses is not based only on their human capabilities: God sustains this covenant with the strength of His Spirit.”

But human beings are subject to sin and failure, which is why synod members recommend the need for “accompaniment” by family members, pastors and other couples.

“Being close to the family as a traveling companion means, for the Church, assuming wisely differentiated attitudes: sometimes it is necessary to stay by their side and listen in silence; other times it must indicate the path to follow; and at still other times, it is opportune to follow, support and encourage.”

A draft of the report was presented to synod members October 22, and 51 bishops spoke the next morning about changes they would like to see in the final draft. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican

spokesman, told reporters that several bishops mentioned specifically a need to improve the text’s references to “the relationship between conscience and the moral law.”

The text refers to conscience in sections dealing with procreation and with marital situations the Church considers irregular, particularly the situation of divorced and civilly remarried Catholics.

First, though, synod members promised greater efforts to be with couples in crisis and praised divorced Catholics who, “even in difficult situations, do not undertake a new union, remaining faithful to the Sacramental bond.” Such Catholics, they noted, can and should “find in the Eucharist the nourishment that sustains them.”

Those who have remarried without an annulment of their Sacramental Marriage must be welcomed and included in the parish community in every way possible, the report said. “They are baptized, they are brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit gives them gifts and charisms for the good of all.”

Quoting from St. John Paul’s exhortation on the family, the report insists that pastors, “for the sake of truth,” are called to careful discernment when assisting and counseling people who divorced and remarried.

They must distinguish, for instance, between those who “have been unjustly abandoned, and those who through their own grave fault have destroyed a canonically valid Marriage,” in

the words of St. John Paul.

Priests must “accompany interested people on the path of discernment in accordance with the teaching of the Church and the guidance of the bishop,” the report said.

While the report makes no explicit mention of absolution and the return to Communion, it seems to leave some possibility for such a solution by quoting the “Catechism of the Catholic Church’s” affirmation that “imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified” because of different conditions.

Just as the degree of guilt will differ, the report said, “also the consequences of the acts are not necessarily the same in all cases.”

In several places the text praises the teaching of “Humanae Vitae,” the document of Blessed Paul VI on married love and the transmission of life.

“Conjugal love between a man and a woman and the transmission of life are ordered one to the other,” the report said.

“Responsible parenthood presupposes the formation of the conscience, which is ‘the most secret core and sanctuary of a man. There he is alone with God, Whose voice echoes in his depths,’” said the report, quoting from the Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. “The more spouses try to listen to God and His Commandments in their consciences, the freer their decision will be” from external pressures, the report said.

Jesus’ disciples are called to lead without lecturing, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As disciples, Christians are called to imitate Jesus’ heart and lead others directly to Him, without lecturing them, Pope Francis said.

Thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica for the recent closing Mass of the Synod of Bishops. The Mass concluded three weeks of intense discussion and debate on pastoral responses to the challenges facing families in the modern world.

Reflecting on the day’s Gospel reading, which recalled Jesus’ healing of Bartimaeus, a blind beggar from Jericho, Pope Francis said Christ is not content with giving the poor man alms, but preferred to “personally encounter him.”

Jesus asking the beggar what he wanted may seem like a senseless question, the pope said, but it shows that Jesus “wants to hear our needs” and “talk with each of us about our lives, our real situations.”

When Jesus’ disciples address Bartimaeus, they use two expressions: “take heart” and “rise,” the pope said.

“His disciples do nothing other than repeat Jesus’ encouraging and liberating words, leading him directly to Jesus, without lecturing him,” he said. “Jesus disciples are called to this, even today, especially today: to bring people into contact with the compassionate mercy that saves.”

In moments of suffering and conflict, he said, the only re-

sponse is to make Jesus’ words “our own” and most importantly, to “imitate His heart.”

Today, the pope said, “is a time of mercy.”

However, Pope Francis also warned that the Gospel shows two temptations that face those who follow Jesus when confronted with people who are suffering. The first is the temptation of falling into a “spirituality of illusion,” shown in the indifference of those who ignored Bartimaeus’ cry, “going on as if nothing were happening.”

“If Bartimaeus was blind, they were deaf: his problem was not their problem,” the pope said. “This can be a danger for us: in the face of constant problems, it is better

to move on, instead of letting ourselves be bothered.”

This “spirituality of illusion,” he said, makes one capable of developing world views without accepting “what the Lord places before our eyes.”

“A faith that does not know how to root itself in the life of the people remains arid and creates other deserts rather than oases,” he said.

The second temptation the pope warned against was of falling into a “scheduled faith” where “everyone must respect our rhythm and every problem is a bother.” The pope said that like those who lost patience with the blind man and rebuked him for crying out to Jesus, there is the risk of excluding “who-

ever bothers us or is not of our stature.”

“Jesus, on the other hand, wants to include above all those kept on the fringes who are crying out to Him,” he said.

“They, like Bartimaeus, have faith, because awareness of the need for Salvation is the best way of encountering Jesus.”

Pope Francis thanked the synod participants for walking together on a path in search of ways “which the Gospel indicates for our times so that we can proclaim the mystery of family love.”

“Never allowing ourselves to be tarnished by pessimism or sin, let us seek and look upon the glory of God, which shines forth in men and women,” the pope said.

October 30, 2015

The International Church

Volunteers from Lviv, Ukraine, clear debris to repair sewer and septic tank lines in eastern Ukraine. The home was destroyed by three mortar shells during the war. (CNS photo/Maria Voronchuk)

Restoring walls, rebuilding communities: Ukrainians help one another

LVIV, Ukraine (CNS) — Rebuilding in Ukraine does not just mean construction.

“We restore walls of the houses and destroy the walls between people,” is the slogan of volunteers with “Building Ukraine Together,” an initiative of young people from western and central Ukraine, who are helping people in the eastern regions to rebuild their houses destroyed during fights between pro-Russian militants and the Ukrainian military forces. Sixteen months of fighting left nearly 7,000 people dead and more than 17,000 injured, according to the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR. Ihor Feshchenko, a journalism student from the Ukrainian Catholic University, is one of the volunteers.

“Here in Lviv, we observe a war from 1,000 miles through tablets and computers or donate money sometimes. But during this camp, there was a sense that I was actually doing something that really helped,” he said. He added that he did not tell his mother that he was going to the east of the country, because the front line was just some 50 miles from the city in which they worked.

Volunteers work in the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, strongholds for pro-Russian forces liberated by the Ukrainian Army after fierce battles.

“We came to Kramatorsk after the city was liberated in late July 2014 on a weekend and saw great destruction. On some streets there were no buildings that survived,” recalled Vitaliy Kokor, executive director of Lviv Education Foundation, the nongovernmental organization that runs these small rebuilding projects.

After this trip, they decided to launch a reconstruction camp to answer the great need they saw. Sixty volunteers — students

mainly from Lviv but also from Kiev — responded and took part in the camp for a month last fall. About $5,000 was raised on a crowd-sourcing platform, and local entrepreneurs helped with materials, so that close to 30 houses and apartments were renovated.

More construction camps were held in December and August, but even after 12 months of peace, the needs are still huge, said Kokor. He added that international charities, religious organizations, and small nongovernmental organizations like his cannot fill all the gaps.

Local people who suffered from the conflict help volunteers — with materials, food and manual labor.

“We see them as partners, for our true task is communitybuilding and reconciliation, not only restoration of houses and apartments. A physical destruction is a consequence of mental confusion, conflicts between people,” said Kokor.

This was also the philosophy behind the small construction camps in Western Ukraine earlier this year. Volunteers from the East helped restore a house damaged by fire and a school assembly hall in the village of Bortnyky.

“There’s a lot of talk about the need for reconciliation in Ukraine, but we don’t think that’s where you begin. First, people need to work together, achieve something together, build relationships and trust, and then eventually they can tell their different stories,”said Jeffrey Wills, member of the Lviv Education Foundation’s board.

Construction and renovation works are not the only activity to bring the community together.

The “Vilna Khata” (Freedom Home) in Kramatorsk and the “Teplytsia” (Greenhouse) in Slovyansk are youth programs

that grew out of building projects.

The programs invite young people for bonfires, movie screenings, and evening discussions and ask different organizations to present their initiatives. They hold exhibitions and workshops and invite famous cultural and public figures. For example, one recent guest in Slovyansk was Ukrainian Catholic Bishop Borys Gudziak of Paris, president of the Ukrainian Catholic University.

Andriy Kozlov, a university alumnus and native of Kramatorsk, said the educational component is as important as restorations.

“We need to create a critical mass of young people that would know the world and bring this knowledge to the city,” he told CNS. Wills, who helped build Ukrainian civil society through different projects for 20 years, said there are several wars going on in Ukraine.

“The one against tanks, the one against ignorance and propaganda, the one against corruption, and perhaps the most importantly the one against hard hearts. In the name of ‘communism,’ the Soviet Union destroyed real community and caring for neighbors — and that’s what the service camps and youth initiatives are rebuilding,” he said.

Anastasiya Vorobyovska, who is studying public administration program at the Ukrainian Catholic University, said “volunteers return home tired but happy.”

“They are well aware that this week they could spend somewhere at the sea, but decided to help their country and people.

The sense and understanding that this is my country and is my personal responsibility, I like most about this camp,”said Andriy Levytsky, manager of the projects and programs for Lviv Education Foundation.

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The Church in the U.S.

October 30, 2015

Synod report has new emphasis, not changed doctrine, U.S. bishops say

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Several hours before the final report of the Synod of Bishops was put to a vote, two U.S. bishops said that what is new is not the Church’s message, but the synod’s emphasis and attitude toward the role of the family in the modern world.

Bishop George V. Murry of Youngstown, Ohio, and Bishop Kurt Burnette of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic, New Jersey, recently met with journalists at the Pontifical North American College.

Bishop Murry was among 45 prelates appointed by the pope to attend the synod. Bishop Burnette was invited to attend as a substitute for Bishop William Skurla, the head of the Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh five days before the start of the synod.

Both bishops spoke about a perception — an erroneous one, they said — that the final document would introduce change and reform, two words Bishop Murry said should be separated.

The synod report, Bishop Murry said, has a “new emphasis and a new focus” on the role of the family to remind them “of their essential role in passing on faith, in passing on culture and in being a symbol of God’s ongoing love and forgiveness.”

“To bring that together in one place, to articulate that clearly and unambiguously, I think is new,” the bishop said.

As for changes in procedures, for example, with regard to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, Bishop Murry

said, “That is not there, that was not the direction that the synod went.”

“The synod fathers recommended to the Holy Father that the expedited annulment process be used,” he said, “that it be more commonly used by people rather than saying we’re going to create a completely new way of handling these Marriages where there is divorce and civil remarriage.”

Bishop Burnette agreed the report shows a “new attitude, a new emphasis” in facing the challenges in ministering to families.

Based on his own pastoral experience, the Byzantine bishop said that it is not enough to tell people what’s wrong, rather a minister must tell them “that there is a way out” and “that God is open to them.”

“It’s not a different message, it’s a different emphasis, he said. “And I really believe that’s what Pope Francis is trying to tell people.”

“You don’t have to tell people they have something wrong; they know. Telling them that there is a way out is what they don’t know.

That’s why they stay where they are instead of moving on,” he added.

The Byzantine Catholic Church is one of 23 self-governing Eastern churches in communion with the pope. Bishop Burnette said that in certain pastoral matters, the Eastern churches can serve as a model of unity in diversity for the Roman Catholic Church.

The word “catholic,” he said, refers to parts of the faith that are universal and that “had come from Christ and the Apostles,” and not the parts “expressed in individual cultures and traditions.”

The Eastern churches in union with Rome have a great deal of diversity and that “in that diversity there is a sense of unity,” Bishop Murry said. “I think that we can all learn something from that.”

A girl holds up a welcome sign as Pope Francis arrives to celebrate the final Mass for the World Meeting of Families along Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia last month. (CNS photo/Lisa Johnston, St. Louis Review)

Papal favorability numbers rise following September U.S. visit

NEW HAVEN, Conn.

(CNS) — A Marist Poll survey commissioned by the Knights of Columbus found Pope Francis’ favorability made significant gains among Catholics and among Americans overall in the wake of his recent visit to the United States.

Among practicing Catholics, 90 percent now say they view Pope Francis favorably, up from 83 percent in August, one month before his visit. Among all Americans, the pope’s numbers jumped from 58 percent to 74 percent.

Asked if they are clear about Pope Francis’ vision for the church, 55 percent of Americans said yes, up from 43 percent, and 88 percent of practicing Catholics said the same, up from 73 percent.

Fifty-six percent of Americans said they now feel better about their own faith because of his visit, including 86 percent of practicing Catholics.

Strong majorities of the respondents said they agreed with the pope on: — Supporting religious freedom: 85 percent of Americans surveyed agreed, while seven percent said they were more likely to agree now than before the papal visit. Of the practicing Catholics surveyed, 87 percent and seven percent, respectively, shared that view.

— Being more respectful of the earth and the environment: 84 percent of Americans agreed, and seven percent were more likely to agree now. For practicing Catholics, the numbers were 81 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

— Respecting life at every stage of development, including for the unborn: 62 percent of Americans agreed, and six percent were more likely to hold that view now. For practicing

Catholics, the numbers were 81 percent and five percent, respectively.

— Allowing people to opt out of actions contrary to their religious beliefs: 57 percent of Americans agreed, while five percent were more likely to agree now. For practicing Catholics, it was 70 percent and six percent, respectively.

— Upholding Marriage as between one man and one woman: 55 percent agreed; an additional four percent were more likely to agree now. For practicing Catholics, it was 60 percent and seven percent, respectively.

There was more divergence among respondents on the death penalty, according to the survey results. Regarding the overall American response, 41 percent agreed with the pope on opposing capital punishment, and an additional five percent said they were more likely to agree now; 44 percent disagreed with the pope, and another four percent were more likely to disagree now. For practicing Catholics, the numbers on both sides of the issue were similar.

Another survey finding showed that 58 percent of Americans, and 82 percent of practicing Catholics, are more likely to engage in charitable activity as a result of Pope Francis’ trip.

The telephone survey was conducted October 1-9 among 1,095 U.S. adults ages 18 and up, including 269 self-identified Catholics, 160 of whom said they practice their faith. The margin of error in survey results was plus or minus three percentage points for Americans, plus or minus six percentage points overall for Catholics, and plus or minus 7.7 percentage points for practicing Catholics in that group.

Landline telephone numbers were randomly selected for one

survey sample and cellphone numbers were randomly dialed for a second survey sample; the two samples were then combined.

“The data clearly show that Pope Francis’ trip to the United States was a success by any measure,” said in a recent statement by Carl Anderson, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus. “Not only is the pope viewed more favorably on the heels of the trip, but Americans also feel he made a real difference in their own lives — motivating them to become more involved in charitable activity, and making them feel better about their own faith.”

The Marist Poll is a service of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, which operates out of Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. During the papal trip, the Knights of Columbus contributed funding and volunteers and covered printing costs for the 350,000 programs used at the September 27 Mass that the pope celebrated to close the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.

The 24-page program, printed on recycled paper, was designed as a keepsake for Massgoers, according to the Knights. It included the prayers, readings and music for the Mass — with portions printed in English, Greek, Latin, Spanish and Vietnamese.

On the cover was an image of the Holy Family commissioned for the world meeting.

The Knights also printed prayer cards and booklets related to the September 23 canonization of St. Junipero Serra at an outdoor Mass Pope Francis celebrated on the grounds of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and the adjacent campus of The Catholic University of America.

October 30, 2015

The Church in the U.S.

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Child migrants’ home countries have only grown worse, U.S. Congress is reminded

Washington D.C. (CNA/ EWTN News) — The number of Central American migrants to the U.S. might be down this year, but their problems at home have grown worse, said Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso before the United States Congress on Wednesday.

“It is clear that now that the situation is worse and that over the last year violence has increased in communities in the countries of the Northern Triangle — Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras,” Bishop Seitz stated in a recent written testimony before the Senate Homeland Security Committee. He advises the U.S. bishops’ conference migration committee, and is on the board of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.

The U.S. can and must do more to address this refugee crisis, the bishop insisted.

“If we cannot respond justly and humanely to this challenge in our own backyard, then we relinquish our moral leadership and influence globally, where

much greater crises are being experienced,” he said.

The surge of migrants coming to the U.S. from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras peaked in fiscal year 2014, when more than 67,000 children were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border according to government data. Many of the migrants are women with children, or unaccompanied children.

The numbers were significantly lower in the first half of 2015, although a rise in unaccompanied child migrants in August surpassed the month’s 2014 totals, according to numbers cited by Bishop Seitz.

Many migrants have relied on smugglers to bring them north, suffering horrific abuses along the way. Mothers are also vulnerable, many having suffered physical or emotional trauma and abuse.

The root causes of the migration are many, including economic hardship, gang violence, domestic abuse, and death threats from gangs in the home countries.

U.S. bishops have insisted that those

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Religion, which has been blamed for being behind much of the violence in today’s world, might be a scapegoat, according to one Georgetown University scholar.

“The role of religion needs to clearly be determined,” said Jesuit Father Drew Christiansen, a scholar at Georgetown’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, where the recent symposium was held.

Based on his eight years serving as the director of international justice and peace office for the U.S. bishops, plus 14 years of Vatican work in international affairs, Father Christiansen said things are not always what they seem to be.

The conflict in the former Yugoslavia is one example. “Serbians identified with Orthodoxy as their cause,” he said, but all ethnic groups in the nation were testing freedom’s waters after 50 years under communist control.

Even in protracted conflicts like that between Israel and Palestine, “ethnology and nationalism is the issue,” Father Christiansen asserted.

Another factor in violence is what the Jesuit called “religious tribalism.”

“Yemen is a clear example,” he said.

“Tribalism is a strong problem when you talk about ‘jihadism.’” And “when you look at Saudi Arabia, you see it’s informed by tribal culture,” he added.

Father Christiansen acknowledged that some violence can be attributed to religion.

Some of the conflicts in the Middle East, he said, are “Sunni-Shiite religious conflicts for leadership of the Muslim world.” In these situations — such as Iran’s aid to the embattled Syrian government — adherents of one branch of Islam will cross borders to aid their like-minded brethren embroiled in conflict. If their aid proves helpful in winning the conflict, that patronage gives the helping country

a leadership leg up. And some fights are even more fratricidal in nature, such as Islamic State’s bid to impose its brand of Sunni Islam in the region by waging war against other Sunnis. By the same token, he noted Saudi aid “informs how Islam is taught in Pakistan.”

Jesuit Father Leo Lefebure, another Berkley Center scholar, said it was easy to make religion a scapegoat. “If we get rid of one scapegoat, the goal is, we have to find another,” he said. “Jesus came to undo the scapegoat mechanism. But we used Jesus to scapegoat the Jews.”

The lack of communication or dialogue can be injurious when reading the foundational texts of a one faith. “If Christians think they know who Jews were from the Bible, Muslims think they know the Christians and Jews from reading the Quran,” Father Lefebure said.

If one were to read the Sacred texts of the others’ faiths, he added, “we would realize it should be a friendly competition on who should be more virtuous to each other.”

A third Berkley scholar, Kathleen Marshall, a senior fellow in religion and global development, noted the “fractured” state of interreligious dialogue. “We’ve hit the wall” when it comes to dialogue about violence, she said.

“It’s worth breaking down what development means,” Marshall said. For some, she added, “changes in lifestyle, the end of slavery, it is about the aspirations for a better life.” But these aims are hard to realize in “fragile states,” which number up to 50 around the globe, she noted.

“We overlook (the role of ) religion in the Ebola crisis, which is a fragile-state case,” Marshall said.

While “there are many ways” to engage fragile states or those struggling with violence, she added, “the least satisfactory is to send a check.”

Religion not at the heart of many world conflicts, scholars say

fleeing violence be treated as refugees and given asylum.

“The violence is the difference,” Bishop Seitz said, explaining why the migrants come from those three particular countries, which have some of the highest murder rates in the world. El Salvador benefitted from a gang truce a few years ago, but as that fell apart the murder rate there skyrocketed and is on pace to surpass Honduras, which has the worst in the world.

More than 60 percent of the migrants “had legitimate asylum claims” according to a United Nations report, Bishop Seitz said in his testimony.

And although the numbers of migrants to the U.S. are down this fiscal year, that does not mean the overall number of migrants is down, he added.

The Obama Administration claims its efforts to persuade people against migrating have been successful, but the reality is that a “large part” of the drop is due to Mexico, he explained.

More migrants are now going to neighboring Central American countries, or tried to enter Mexico but were stopped and turned back by authorities. According to the Migration Policy Institute, the bishop said, Mexico has sent back 70 percent more migrants this fiscal year than the previous year, and six times the number of child migrants.

“We have transferred the responsibility of this crisis to others, and in so doing, perhaps we’ve abdicated our own,” the bishop stated.

The U.S. must heed the plea of Pope Francis to see the humanity in migrants, he noted.

In his September 24 address to a joint meeting of Congress, the pope said that “on this continent, too, thousands of persons are led to travel north in search of a better life for themselves and for their loved ones, in search of greater opportunities.”

“We must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation. To respond in a way which is always humane, just and fraternal,” he continued.

He cautioned Americans not to “discard whatever proves troublesome” but

to “remember the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Mt 7:12).

The U.S. must also intervene in these Central American countries to address the root causes of migration, Bishop Seitz insisted. Its aid must focus more on protection and migration and less on enforcement.

First, Congress should approve President Obama’s request for $1 billion in foreign aid to the region for fiscal year 2016, he said.

Legislators should also work to improve the administration’s Central American minors program, which allows child residents of the three countries to apply to enter the U.S. as refugees or on humanitarian parole without having to make the journey north.

Currently only 19 of 120 applicants have been approved, Bishop Seitz noted, much less than the U.N.’s figure of 60 percent of migrants having “legitimate asylum claims.”

He said there should also be investment in the region’s groups and projects directly helping the migrants like the Youth Builders project of Catholic Relief Services-El Salvador and other organizations, which provides youth threatened by gangs and unemployment with job training and life skills to be leaders in the community.

In fact, the bishop noted, some of the best programs are the individual youth programs at every Catholic parish in the region. “They have some incredible youth ministry going on,” he said. “I think there might be some way to connect with these organizations.”

The U.S. should make changes to border policy including having a child welfare expert present at processing stations, allowing child migrants a better chance to fully express why they migrated and the abuses they suffered along the way should they be eligible for asylum.

“One of Jesus’ first experiences as an Infant was to flee for His life from King Herod with His family to Egypt. Indeed, Jesus Himself was a Child migrant fleeing violence,” Bishop Seitz stated in his written testimony.

“The Holy Family is the archetype of the refugee families we see today, both at our border and around the world.”

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October 30, 2015

Anchor Editorial

Church burnings

The Archdiocese of St. Louis, as well as various Protestant churches, has been subject recently to a spate of arson attacks. The archdiocese, in a press release, noted that “the recent rash of church fires in St. Louis are saddening acts of violence in a community already devastated by violence and division.”

This last clause was a reference to the racial conflict triggered by the death of Michael Brown in the suburb of Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 9, 2014.

On October 22 the Shrine of St. Joseph was attacked, after the doors of another Catholic church, St. Augustine’s, were torched the previous week. The press release continued, “It is unimaginable why these acts of violence have taken place at churches which are vitally important parts of our community. The doors of St. Augustine and the Shrine of St. Joseph can be replaced. We are thankful that no one was injured in these incidents. We will pray for and forgive those who have committed these acts.”

The day beforehand the archdiocesan website had posted a “Prayer for the Burned Churches” (it is still on there at http://archstl.org/node/4384796).

The prayer reads, “We join in prayer with the churches burned in St. Louis.

‘Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer’” (Rom 12:12).

The site also lists the five Protestant churches and one Catholic church which had been attacked by that point in time.

A common denominator of these churches is the service that they give to African-American Christians, which makes one wonder about the connection between the arsonist(s) and the Ferguson crisis.

David A. Graham, writing in The Atlantic (formerly The Atlantic Monthly), noted, “The situation is not unlike the arsons that followed the massacre at Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston this summer. As The Atlantic pointed out at the time, there’s a long history of terrorism against black churches in America, one that begins in the era of slavery and continues up through Reconstruction, the civil-rights era, and into the 1990s. But unlike those burnings — and despite the intense focus on the St. Louis area since the August 2014 death of Michael Brown in Ferguson — the recent arsons have been slow to get the same attention, either in the national media or even in the area.”

Graham observed that people in St. Louis feel hurt by the lack of support from others. “Facing the attacks mostly alone seems to grate on some of the churches. People should be standing up and saying, ‘Hey I’m with you,”’ the Reverend Rodrick Burton, the pastor of one targeted church, told The Washington Post. “I’ve been surprised at the apathetic response. To me, it’s very telling, very disappointing.”

We should not react to attacks on Christians (or anyone) only when they

fit our ideological mindset. We cannot decry the destroying of Christian churches in the Middle East by ISIS and others and then ignore what is going on in our own country. Although the attacks abroad are due to a hatred for Christianity in general, while the arsons appear (at least, at first) to be more racially motivated, both are evil and need to be condemned and the victims need our solidarity.

Graham commented, that like many things in the U.S., “In the aftermath of the Charleston shooting, a partisan divide emerged (mostly, it must be said, among white politicians and commentators) over whether the attacks were mostly a case of racial animus — after all, Dylann Roof [the Charleston mass murderer] was a self-proclaimed white supremacist who said he wished to start a race war — or whether it was an attack on Christianity, since it struck a church.”

However, although white pundits, liberal and conservative, want to view the arson through their own prisms (just as they do the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi), the church people have a different perspective. Graham reported, “What’s interesting is how leaders of these churches deal with that dichotomy. By and large, they refuse to even countenance the idea that there might be a divide. This is a Spiritually sick person,” said the Reverend David Triggs of New Life Missionary Baptist Church. “This is a sin issue. It’s not a race issue.” He elaborated to the Post: “It could be a black man coming against black churches. We don’t know if there’s any race barrier to this; but we know it is a sin issue and it has to be addressed as such — through prayer.”

Again, it is the power of sin which causes these types of violent actions, whatever the animus or psychosis behind them. A Catholic laywoman (the business manager at St. Augustine’s church), told the Associated Press, “We are upset and we’re concerned that there’s an individual who, for whatever reason, is sick. We prayed for them Sunday. There’s something wrong with someone who would do something like that.”

Graham reported that Pastor Burton “portrayed the arsons as an assault on faith, and expressed disappointment that more local churches, synagogues, and mosques hadn’t reached out in solidarity. Whether you practice faith or you don’t, everyone should be very concerned about that,” Burton told the AP. “Religious freedom is part of our identity as Americans.”

We should not be concerned about religious freedom only when it concerns ourselves or fits our ideological interests. Either we support each other in maintaining this freedom or we lose it little by little (be it by literally burning a church down or by figuratively burning the Constitution).

Pope Francis’ Angelus message of October 25 This morning, with the Holy Mass celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica, the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the family has ended. I invite everyone to give thanks to God for these three weeks of intense work, animated by prayer and a Spirit of true communion. It was hard work, but it was a true gift of God, which

will surely bring much fruit.

The word “synod” means “walking together.” And what we experienced was the experience of the Pilgrim Church, on the way especially with the families of the holy people from God throughout the world.

Thus, the Word of God that comes to us today in the prophecy of Jeremiah struck me. He OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER

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says: “Behold, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth; among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and the woman in labor: they will come back here in a great multitude.” And the prophet adds: “They left weeping, I will lead them back with consolations; bring them back to the rivers full of water by a straight path in which they will not stumble, because I am a Father to Israel” ( Jer. 31:8-9).

This Word of God tells us that the First to want to walk with us, to want to do “synod” with us, is He, Our Father. His “dream,” always and forever, is to form a people, bringing them together, to lead them to the land of freedom and peace.

And this people is made up of families: they are “the pregnant woman and the mother giving birth”; it is the people who while walking moves life along,

with God’s blessing.

It is a people that does not exclude the poor and the disadvantaged, in fact, it includes them. The prophet says: “Among them are the blind and the lame.” It is a family of families, in which those who struggle are not marginalized and left behind, but manage to keep up with the others, because this people progresses in the steps of the last one (in line); as is done in families, and as we are taught by the Lord, Who became poor with the poor, became little with the little, the least with the least.

He has not done this so as to exclude the rich, the great and the first, but because this is the only way to save them, too, to save all: go with the little ones, the excluded, with the last.

I confess that this prophecy of the people on the way I have also compared with the images of refugees marching on the

streets of Europe, a dramatic reality of our days. God says to them: “They have departed weeping, I will lead them back with consolations.” Even those families most suffering, uprooted from their land, were present with us in the synod, in our prayers and in our work, through the voice of some of their pastors present at the meeting. These people in search of dignity, these families looking for peace are still with us, the Church does not abandon them, because they are part of the people that God wants to free from slavery and lead to freedom.

Thus, in this Word of God is reflected the synodal experience we have lived, and the plight of refugees marching on the streets of Europe. May the Lord, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, help us also to act in this style of fraternal communion.

Anchor Columnists The most endearing and enduring of all the Works of Mercy

October 30, 2015

O

n Monday, with Catholics throughout the world, we will commemorate all the faithful departed — those who have died in the last year, the beloved deceased members of our families, the victims of war, violence and genocide, those who have died of hunger, disease and neglect, the infants who have died in miscarriages or who have been killed through exposure or abortion, the Christians who have died for the faith in persecution, the anonymous who rest in common graves, those forgotten by the world and whose names are known only by God. Contrary to the popular heresy that presumes that everyone who dies automatically goes to a “better place,” the Catholic faith does not believe everyone who dies goes to Heaven, especially immediately. Jesus told us emphatically not to judge, and this means not only not to condemn to hell someone we thought was evil but also not to place in Heaven someone we thought good, for only God sees the heart.

As so on All Souls Day and throughout the month of November, we pray for those who lived, to our eyes, a good and holy life, who cared for Christ in the hungry and poor, who died with the Sacraments. We also pray for those who lived, by human impressions, a life

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oday, press day, Tuesday, October 27 is the 37th anniversary of Denise and I getting married. We have nothing special planned. Actually, we never really did on this day.

Since day one, we’ve never been blessed with the type of bankroll that would allow us to go to tropical islands, take cruises, or go on extensive trips.

Once in a while we could manage a weekend get-away, or eat at a place that isn’t graced by big arches.

But that’s not important.

We’ve been blessed in other ways — with four great children, and the fact that we’re still together after all these years.

We were married in a church that later burned to the ground, taking a whole city block with it. We were married by a man who is no longer a priest. We were married in a parish that no longer exists. Three of our children attended a Catholic

far from God, His Sacraments had lived a double life and beand Commandments, and trayed the Lord by carrying in who may have died in objectheir clothing various idols of tively sinful circumstances. We the Greek pagans who sought pray for them all, entrusting to destroy the temple and them to God’s mercy. extirpate the Jewish faith. If, The Church teaches that the Sacred author wrote, they to enter Heaven, one must be “were not expecting that those completely attached to God who had fallen would rise and radically detached from again, it would have been suall sin and everything that is not of God. “Nothing unclean Putting Into shall enter Heaven,” the book of Revelation the Deep stresses (Rev. 21:27).

There are many who do

By Father not live and die with Roger J. Landry that type of purity of life and hence they need to be purified to enter perfluous and foolish to pray into the Kingdom in which for the dead” (2 Macc 12:43God is all in all. This state in 45). In St. Matthew’s Gospel, which the dead are deconJesus says, “Whoever speaks a taminated from all sin and word against the Son of Man worldliness has been tradiwill be forgiven, but whoever tionally called by the Church speaks against the Holy Spirit “purgatory” from the Latin will not be forgiven, either in term purgare, which means “to this age or in the age to come” cleanse.” Pope Benedict, in a (Mt 12:32), implying quite 2007 encyclical on Christian clearly that there are some hope, says that purgatory sins that can be forgiven in seems to be the state where the age to come, the type of “the great majority of people,” sin which St. John’s first letter go after they die. says is not “mortal” or “deadly” The Church has believed in (1 Jn 5:16). the need for purification after Continuing the tradition of death since before she was the faithful Jews, the Church founded. In the second book has therefore prayed for of Maccabees, written about people to be purified of their 140 years before Christ’s venial sins, because “it is a birth, we see that the Jewish holy and wholesome thought people offered sacrifices in the to pray for the dead, that they temple for all those Jews who might be loosed from their

sins” (2 Macc 12:45).

The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” states, “From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead” (“CCC” 1032).

In an Angelus meditation last November, Pope Francis urged us to carry out this Spiritual work of mercy. “Church tradition,” he said, “has always urged prayer for the dead, in particular by offering the celebration of the Eucharist for them: it is the best Spiritual help that we can give to their souls, particularly to the most abandoned ones. The foundation of prayers in suffrage of souls is in the communion of the Mystical Body,” and that communion is expressed most powerfully at Mass.

So let’s get practical.

Are we praying for the dead? Are we carrying out this Spiritual work of mercy as if others’ lives depended on it?

Do we have funeral and memorial Masses offered for our family members and attend Masses offered for others? Do

We are not two, we are one

school that no longer exists. The and arguments; periods of fourth never got to go because silence and anger. And yes, we the Good Lord loved him so have countless times gone to much He took him back after bed angry, without saying, “I’m only a few days. sorry.”

The days of starry-eyes and In fact, through the last 37 Camelot romance have long years, we never really did apolosince passed. We had 10 months of living alone before our children wanted a piece of our lives.

Our lives have been ones of sacrifice for our

By Dave Jolivet kiddies, but those sacrifices were wise investments in the futures of our kids. No regrets there — gize for hurting the other — the ever. remorse was sensed and acceptWe have never been the ed. That’s what happens when poster people for the perfect two are no longer two, but one. couple. To paraphrase Led Through the years, we have, Zeppelin, “Good times, bad as one, been hurt and disaptimes, you know we’ve had our pointed by others, even by some share.” in our beloved Church, yet There have been lots of we’ve always had each other to laughs, and lots of tears. We’ve soothe the pain and erase the had our share of disagreements disappointment.

My View From the Stands

I think it’s been a long time since we’ve been “in love,” but we’ve always loved each other. I think being “in love” is far less iron-clad as loving each other.

I’ve often shared in a witness talk at Confirmation and Emmaus retreats, “When we were first married we cut so many corners, all of our furniture was round.” “In love” doesn’t get you through that, love does. “In love” doesn’t get you through the death of a child, love does.

Getting through or around major illnesses and worries isn’t buffered by being “in love,” it’s the impenetrable armor of loving each other that does.

And I hate to say that there are times when we question whether God even cares about us, but the love we have for each other ultimately comes from Him, so that, too, passes.

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we come to Mass on All Souls’ Day and throughout November to pray for all the faithful departed? Do we pray the Rosary, asking Mary to pray for the dead at the hour of their death and for us now? Do we offer sacrifices for them and try to obtain indulgences for them?

Similarly, do we ask people to pray for us after we die? Have we passed on to the younger generations the example of praying for deceased loved ones? Do we take them to Masses offered for friends and family members and to the cemeteries to care for their grave and pray for them? Have we written in our will the desire for a funeral Mass and left what we can for Masses to be prayed for us, so that we can count on the prayers of the Church even if our family members are not as prayerful as they should be?

“It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead,” Sacred Scripture tells us, and on Monday and throughout this month in particular way when the Church prays: “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.”

Anchor columnist Father Landry can be contacted at fatherlandry@ catholicpreaching.com.

Even today, there are some major storm clouds gathering on several horizons, and the waters have risen around us to a level we’ve never before encountered, but the bond we’ve forged over the last 37 years will sustain us. We know we have each other’s back. That’s what love is.

Last week I went to a Dave Davies’ concert in Fall River.

He was a member of one of my all-time favorite bands, The Kinks. I went with a friend and not Denise, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t think of her when he performed a Kinks’ classic written by Dave, “Strangers.”

I’ll close this tribute to my wife with a few lines from the song: “So I will follow you wherever you go, if your offered hand is still open to me. Strangers on this road we are on. We are not two, we are one. We are not two, we are one.” davejolivet@anchornews.org.

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oday the Church celebrates all of her saints which includes not only the “official” or canonized saints but those who have yet to be named. How often have you heard the expression, “He/she was a living saint” and indeed they probably were just that, a true living saint?

Being a saint is not limited to a few select individuals since all of us are called to holiness through our Baptism. Holiness is not a matter of grand gestures or miraculous feats. It is the simple day-to-day living of the Gospel message. Sainthood is the vocation of every Catholic/Christian and is not beyond the grasp of “ordinary” folks like you and me.

Henry Poppen, who devoted 40 years of his life to missionary work in China, recalled his experience of going to a remote village where no missionaries had been. He told the people

October 30, 2015

All Saints Day

Jesus ascends a mountain there about Jesus, His kindand commences to teach ness and forgiveness and His disciples the road to His ability to love everyone, holiness or sainthood, the even those who were conBeatitudes. sidered “unlovable.”

This week, if you do When Poppen finished something for someone else his discourse, some of the villagers said, “We know this Jesus. He was here.” Henry Homily of the Week Poppen patiently explained that Jesus Thirty-first Sunday in had lived and died Ordinary Time in a land far from

By Deacon China. “No, no,” the Mike Hickey villagers insisted.

“He died here. We’ll show you his grave.”

Leading Poppen to a cemfor no other reason than etery outside the city, they to bring joy to their lives, showed him the grave of a blessed are you.

Christian medical doctor If you find yourself feelwho had felt called to go ing the loss of a friend or to China, to live and work a loved one and in missing among the people, and die them, you realize that you there. experienced the love of It begs the question; God in their love for you, “Does my life in any way blessed are you. reflect Jesus’ life?”

This week if you put Today’s Gospel is taken yourself second for the from the Sermon on the needs of another, blessed Mount and it begins when are you.

If you do the “right” thing when the conventional wisdom is to do the “smart” thing, blessed are you.

This week, if you forgive someone or if someone forgives you, blessed are you.

Sometime in the next few days, if you stop, unplug and spend even just a few moments thinking about all the good in your life and find yourself embraced by a sense of gratitude, blessed are you.

This week, if you can diffuse someone’s anger, if you can bridge the chasm between you and another, if you bring a positive perspective to an otherwise negative situation, blessed are you.

If you risk being laughed at or misunderstood or if you endure a “funny look” from someone because you took a stand based on what

was morally and ethically right, blessed are you.

You have reason to be glad. In the blessings you give, you have been blessed.

To be a people of the Beatitudes is to embrace the Spirit of humility that begins with valuing life as a gift from God. A gift we have received only through God’s mysterious love, not through anything we have done to deserve it. Jesus calls all who would be His disciples to live the “blessedness” of the Sermon on the Mount: to embrace a Spirit of humble gratitude before the God Who gives, nurtures and sustains our lives and to respond to such unfathomable love the only way we can: by returning that love to others, God’s children, as a way of returning it to God. Deacon Hickey serves as chaplain at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Sandwich, and at St. Pius X Parish, South Yarmouth.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Oct. 31, Rom 11:1-2a,11-12,25-29; Ps 94:12-13a,14-15,17-18; Lk 14:1,7-11. Sun. Nov. 1, All Saints Day, Rv 7:2-4,914; Ps 24:1bc-4bc,5-6; 1 Jn 3:1-3; Mt 5:1-12a. Mon. Nov. 2, All Soul’s Day, Sugg: Wis 3:1-19; Ps 23:1-6; Rom 5:5-11 or 6:3-9; Jn 6:37-40 or 1011-1016.

Tues. Nov. 3, Rom 12:5-16b; Ps 131:1cde,2-3; Lk 14:15-24. Wed. Nov. 4, Rom 13:8-10; Ps 112:1b-2,4-5,9; Lk 14:25-33. Thurs. Nov. 5, Rom 14:7-12; Ps 271bcde,4,13-14; Lk 15:1-10. Fri. Nov. 6, Rom 15:14-21; Ps 98:1-4; Lk 16:1-8.

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n Proverbs 27:18 we read that, “whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who guards his master will be honored.” Why do I share this with you, this piece on stewardship, this passage that relays what it is to manage and care for something? The surface answer is that with the changing season comes an acute attention to the beauty that we are blessed to participate in.

As the leaves change around us, as they fall to the ground, and the air takes on a crisp and sometimes brisk note, I personally cannot help but feel a renewed sense of awe and responsibility for the earth around me. But in a deeper context, I share this because the concept of being stewards of the earth and caring for what we’ve physically been provided, is so closely tied to our relationships with one another and the care we show for those we are in relationship with.

This past weekend I experienced firsthand the pure joy it was to be on the receiving

Stewards of the earth … and one another

end of stewardship. I’ve been taken care of my whole life, that’s in no way in question.

I’ve been loved, cherished, treasured, and valued by family and friends whom I love, cherish, treasure, and value in return. In coming down to Virginia I met Mary, who I worked with last year in my assistantship office.

A Christian through and through, I firmly believe Mary was placed in my life last year to get me through the tough times and to celebrate my good. Since then, I’ve met her husband and children, she visited me over the summer while I was at Brown University, and I’ve gone to church with her family. We’ve broken bread, shared laughs, cried together, and her home has become a home away from my Massachusetts home. Just this past weekend I spent my Saturday morning at her house.

Over dinner a couple of weeks ago, we were talking about the weather getting

colder and how we were fixing to stay warm as the temperatures dropped and talk of our wood stoves came up. We had just run out of wood at our house, and Mary’s family, set back on a beautiful country plot, had a woodpile

Radiate Your Faith

By Renee Bernier to be envied and more where that came from. The deal was made — if I wanted to come help chop wood next weekend, I could keep what I hauled. And so, haul I did.

As I worked alongside Mary’s husband, sweat forming as I carried chopped firewood to and from the woodpiles, I couldn’t help but smile. Not only was this something I loved to do — being active, seeing progress made, completing a practical task — but I was able to truly appreciate

being outside, caring for a creation not my own, and seeing out a crucial step in allowing it to serve a greater purpose.

Seems a little intense to speak of firewood this way, but I felt connected to my actions in a way that rooted me to the earth around me. But what’s greater is the sense of care I felt as I watched Mary’s husband split wood and separate it into two piles. For each log he split he’d toss a couple of pieces aside, creating a pile just for me.

He’d look at the wood in his hands, see that it would burn well, and pass it along for us to burn in our house.

It was an amazing feeling to feel a beautifully entwined sense of stewardship to the earth, an abundant creation of goodness and beauty, but also to fellow man. As we worked in tandem, I helped to diminish the pile of wood yet to be stacked to help prepare them for their next haul, and I was helped to warm my “family” back at my house. I worked

with a smile on my face; I’d just cared for the maintenance and renewal of the earth and this relationship I’ve come to value so greatly.

I ask that you share in this with me. Be stewards to one another. Take care of those in your life — care for them and do right by them. We’re told this in so many ways, and this account is merely one example, however it rings very true for me.

We’ve been given a marvelous gift in our earth and what it provides us with. We’ve been given marvelous gifts in the people who come in and out of our lives. Just as we would do with our woodpiles, with our gardens, with tending our homes, we must too, cultivate the relationships we have and never forget their value.

Happy fall everyone, and happy stewardship!

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

October 30, 2015 Friday 30 October 2015 — Port-O-Call: Neiman Marcus, New York (in my mind) — belated Holiday greetings ou know me, dear readers. They call me “Father Christmas.” If I were to conduct a survey asking when the holiday season begins, I bet most people would answer, “with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.” That’s the response encouraged by Macy’s, but it is wrong — and not for the reason you suspect.

Faithful readers of The Anchor will probably answer that the Church’s Christmas season begins with the end of the Fourth Week of Advent.

That’s correct, but it’s not the question. The question is, “When does the commercial holiday season begin?”

People complain when, at Halloween, they already find Christmas merchandise displayed. I’m here to tell you that such Christmas merchandising isn’t early; it’s late.

You may think that Halloween/Christmas displays are in poor taste, but the reality is even more tasteless. By Halloween, the commercial holiday season is well underway. Hang on to your Santa hats, dear readers. The commercial holiday season began the first week of October.

You’re already running late.

Y

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he story goes that the great Chinese philosopher and teacher, Confucius, was holding forth one day to his class on his Silver Rule, “Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself.” Evidently the class was not responding to his message in the manner he had hoped for and desired, or perhaps just did not get it. So wishing to get some positive reaction, he raised his voice a decibel and said, “He or she who sits on tack gets the point.” Almost immediately one young student rose to his feet and said, “Yes, Master Confucius, and rises to the occasion.”

For that he got a standing ovation.

Now if Confucius had been here in Kalaupapa this week, he would have been most happy with the response of a group of senior students from Damien Memorial High School

Anchor Columnists Sorry, Macy’s

your own obituary.

Those in-the-know (like I’ve seen a couple of these myself ), realize that the Neiman Marcus catalogues checkered flag for the holiday rat-race is waved neither with over the years, but I’ve never bought anything. You’ve heard Halloween nor with Thanksof fantasy football, well, this giving, but with the publicais fantasy shopping. I suppose tion of the Neiman Marcus some millionaire someplace is Christmas catalogue. The pretentious enough to actually holiday season, dear readers, began a month ago.

Take heart, there’s still time for your lastThe Ship’s Log minute shopping.

Reflections of a Neiman Marcus mails a limited Parish Priest number of its ChristBy Father Tim mas catalogue (only Goldrick 900,000), but, to those in merchandising, it’s the traditional sigbuy this stuff. nal that the race is on. Sorry, Last year, if you were on a Macy’s. budget, you could get a genuTheir outrageous annual ine plastic ice scraper with Christmas catalogue was inspired by a question concern- fur-covered handle (faux, of course) for only $35. ing extravagant Christmas If you, for some reason, gifts of Texas oil barons. The dislike the smell of wet fur, question was posed by Edthe solution was also in the ward R. Morrow to Stanley catalogue. For only $475,000 Marcus. That radio interview you could get custom-made gave Marcus a bright (and perfume. This included two lucrative) idea. dozen bottles and 14 atomThe first Christmas “fanizers of your one-of-a-kind tasy gift” appeared in 1959. scent. It should last a lifetime, It was a Black Angus steer. It used sparingly. came with a cart (silver-platIn addition to the perfume, ed) from which to serve your the cost included two firstguests Black Angus steaks.

That was a publicity stunt but, class plane tickets to Paris to as we all know, there’s no such meet with the Grand Master Perfumer from the worldthing as bad publicity. The famous House of Greed (sic) one exception, of course, is

perfume company, an elegant dinner with the perfume guy, five-star accommodations, limo service, and a private tour of Paris.

Hope you shopped early (April, perhaps). It takes several months to concoct your signature perfume. They say April in Paris is lovely (By the way, you could have stayed home and got your mother’s “Evening in Paris” for only $35 an ounce — which amounts to considerable savings).

But last year’s catalogue is now s-o-o-o last year (as they say at the returns desk of Neiman Marcus). The 2015 catalogue is out.

This year, you can purchase an out-of-this-world adventure. You’ll be invited to Arizona to view a test flight of a high-altitude balloon. In 2017, you and seven friends (or enemies) will ascend 100,000 feet in the balloon’s “luxury capsule.” You’ll get a milliondollar view from the edge of space for only $720,000. Taxes not included.

If you’re terrified of heights, don’t worry. You can purchase a three-day motorcycle road trip through the backwoods of California with some guy named Keanu Reeves. The $150,000 price

9 tag does, after all, include airfare and your very own brand-new motorcycle. Meals and accommodations apparently not included.

For only $30,000, you can buy tickets to a concert by musicians Lyle Lovett, Billy Gibbons, and Steve Miller.

At the end of the concert, they will present you with their used guitars.

For the women, there’s a collection of costume jewelry from around the world. It includes lunch and a “styling session” with 93-year-old fashion maven Iris Apfel. Iris can be a tad flashy. Her motto is, “More is more, less is a bore.” For $80,000, perhaps Iris will encourage you to wear all 250 pieces of jewelry simultaneously.

For the past month, I’ve have been sitting by my prelit artificial Christmas tree awaiting the arrival of armfuls of Neiman Marcus gifts sent to me by friends and family.

In the meantime, I’m practicing a facial expression of surprise and the line, “Oh my, you really shouldn’t have.” But what if they really don’t?

Well, there’s always the 2016 Christmas catalogue.

Neiman Marcus is working on it even as we speak.

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

Getting the point In Kalaupapa them. I confess that I was in Kalihi, Honolulu. They a spoilsport, because I told got the point right away them that we did not have a and most certainly rose to ladder long enough to reach the occasion. On Thursthe roof. Mea culpa! The day morning they arrived next day I “stumbled” on an in Kalaupapa, led by their vice principal, Carlo Carrasco, intent on experiencing this Sacred land of SS. Damien and Marianne and at the same time being of service

By Father to the Church and Patrick Killilea, SS.CC. to our community.

So it was that on that same morning extension ladder which the I found myself in the midst accompanying adults used of lovely teen-age girls and to finish the “surgery” at the muscular boys while pulling roof ’s edge. clinging vines off the walls On Wednesday afternoon of the garage. I haven’t had a caravan of vehicles took so much fun since my teen years — just a few years ago. us to Kalawao and Damien’s Church, St. Philomena.

They were so enthusiasThere, some of the students tic about the job that they helped Meli in the interior wanted to climb onto the of the church while others roof to finish the job. Of course, all this time they had worked on the outside cleaning the graves in the churcha video camera trained on

Moon Over Molokai

yard. Again the enthusiasm was obvious. Then it was on to Judd Park and the Landing for viewing, reflecting, and picture taking. On the way home to the Kalaupapa side we stopped to make the 10-minute hike up to the Kauhako crater, now dormant for about a half million years.

Thank the Lord that no one got pushed over the edge into the crater. They remembered the Silver Rule of Confucius, “Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself.” That evening the teens invited the local community to a delicious spaghetti dinner. And I did not have to resort to Pepto Bismol that night.

After a tour of the museum on Thursday morning, teens and adults set out on the daunting trail to Topside Molokai. I was excused,

thank the Lord, because I was to be a tour guide for two Sisters in the afternoon.

All made it safely to the top and back down in about four hours. One girl did say that she had been bumped by a mule on the way down the trail but suffered no ill effects. I guess the mule likes girls and I can’t blame it. I like them myself. After returning from the hike, some of the group went for a dip at Damien’s Landing. It has been said that “all good things come to an end.” So at 5:30 p.m. we gathered at Kalaupapa’s Terminal One to say aloha to our friends. It had been a memorable and exciting time for them and a rejuvenating time for us.

They had gotten the point of their visit and had risen to the occasion. Aloha.

Anchor columnist Father Killilea is pastor of St. Francis Parish in Kalaupapa, Hawaii.

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October 30, 2015

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Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., recently blessed the new Daily Mass Chapel of “Our Lady of Grace” at St. Anthony of Padua Parish, New Bedford. From left: David Lira, Deacon Leo Racine, Paul Valeiro, Manny Monte, Bishop da Cunha, Joe Moniz, Armando Pereira, and pastor Father Edward A. Murphy.

(Photo by Gary Marshall)

Cape parish opens convenient religious articles and gift store POCASSET — The process of finding that special religious item for family and friends for Cape Cod residents recently became a little easier thanks to the efforts of a group of people who saw the need for a religious articles store in the area.

The concept of a welcome center and religious goods store evolved from the St. John the Evangelist Parish Convocation this past year. The concerns were for growth in the parish family and growth in the faith. This led to a parish family effort to have a store open every day of the week.

For those looking for engagement or wedding presents, anniversary gifts or the statue of a favorite saint, the St. John’s store is well stocked.

There are also Baptism, First Communion, and Confirmation gifts, medals and Rosary beads. The parish also offers items for nurses, teachers and firefighters, as well as cards for all occasions, Christmas gifts and gourmet treats. Complimentary gift wrap is even offered. The store is stocked with items that parishioners have specifically asked for.

All are invited to visit the welcome center and parish store at St. John the Evangelist Church, 842 Shore Road in Pocasset.

The phone number is 508563-5887, and the hours are Monday through Thursday 8:30 a.m until 5:30 p.m., Friday 8:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

These hours are made possible by the kindness of 10 SJE Parish family members who have volunteered to join the Welcome Center Team, and parish secretary Patty Parsons.

Half of the team (top photo) of 10 volunteers who run the religious articles and gift shop at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Pocasset, along with parish secretary Patty Parsons are, from left: Christine McManus, Vivian Still, Clem Walsh, Maureen Carty, and Carol Connell. The second photo shows just some of the items available at the store.

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October 30, 2015

‘Protect our common home,’ world’s bishops ask climate change conference Vatican City (CNA/EWTN News) — Negotiators of a global agreement on climate change must take effective action to protect Creation, leading bishops from around the world said recently.

“This agreement must put the common good ahead of national interests.

It is essential too that the negotiations result in an enforceable agreement that protects our common home and all its inhabitants,” said the bishops’ recent appeal.

The bishops’ appeal addressed negotiators at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, which will take place in Paris November 30 through December 11.

The bishops said negotiators must secure an agreement that is “fair, legally-binding and truly transformational,” Vatican Radio reported.

“The building and maintenance of a sustainable common home requires courageous and imaginative political leadership,” the bishops continued, calling for legal frameworks which “clearly establish boundaries” and ensure protection for the ecosystem.

Signers of the declaration include Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, president of the United States bishops’ conference, and Bishop David Crosby of Hamilton, president of the Canadian bishops’ conference.

Other signers were the heads of

they said. The bishops advised that the regional bishops’ conferences of the global climate change agreement Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, recognize “the need to live in harmony the Middle East, and Oceania: Carwith nature” and the need to guarantee dinal Gracias of Bombay; Archbishop human rights for everyone, including Mbilingi of Lubango; Cardinal Erd of indigenous peoples, women, youth and Esztergom-Budapest; Cardinal Marx workers. of Munich and Freising; Archbishop The conference should “develop new Ribat of Port Moresby; Cardinal Salazar Gómez of he conference should “develop models of development Bogota; and new models of development and and lifestyles Cardinal Rai, the Maronite lifestyles that are climate compatible, that are cliaddress inequality and bring people out mate compatPatriarch of ible, address Antioch. of poverty.” inequality and The bishops bring people said scientific out of poverty.” evidence indicates that accelerated “Central to this is to put an end to climate change is due to “unrestrained the fossil fuel era, phasing out fossil human activity” and “excessive reliance fuel emissions, including emissions on fossil fuels.” from military, aviation and shipping, “The pope and Catholic bishops and providing affordable, reliable and from five continents, sensitive to the safe renewable energy access for all,” damage caused, appeal for a drastic the bishops said. reduction in the emission of carbon The bishops asked the conference to dioxide and other toxic gases,” the “set a goal for complete de-carbonizabishops said. tion by mid-century” to protect comThey called on the climate change munities most threatened by climate conference to forge an international change, such as Pacific islanders and agreement to limit global temperature coastal communities. increases as suggested by the scientific The agreement should also ensure community in order “to avoid cataaccess to water and land, while enabling strophic climatic impacts, especially on the participation of the poorest and the poorest and most vulnerable commost vulnerable in the discussions. munities.”

The bishops said their policy propos“The need to work together in a als draw on “the concrete experiences of common endeavor is imperative,” people across the continents.” The bishops

T

Marian Manor Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Care of Taunton recently announced Lynne Jensen as the director of Pastoral Care. A resident of Whitman, she received a BA in sociology at UMass, Amherst, an MA in pastoral ministry at Boston College, and a post master’s Certificate of Spirituality from Boston College.

Her experience in pastoral care includes hospital and skilled nursing settings, and many years in education and campus and parish ministry work.

The Thomas P. McDonough Knights of Columbus Council recently held its annual Installation Banquet at St. Mary’s Church in North Attleboro. The council devotes its time and energies to working with the Attleboro area parish communities of Sacred Heart, St. Mary’s and St. Mark’s. From left: Frank Simpson, district deputy; Erik Morris, chancellor; Geoff Ross, first year trustee; John O’Neill, Grand Knight; Joseph DiMartino, Deputy Grand Knight; George Devlin, recorder; Paul Schasel, treasurer; and Ed Butler, district deputy.

linked climate change to “social injustice and the social exclusion of the poorest.”

The bishops cited Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical on care for our common home, Laudato Si’, which said climate change is one of the principal challenges now facing humanity. The pope stressed that the climate is a common good that is meant for everyone, with the natural environment being part of humanity’s patrimony.

The pope stressed the need to find a consensual solution that is universal in a solidarity that extends across generations. The bishops’ appeal to the climate change conference echoed these concerns.

“We call for an integral ecological approach, we call for social justice to be placed center stage ‘so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor,’” the bishops said.

The bishops’ statement included a prayer that God will “teach us to care for this world our common home.”

They asked that God would inspire government leaders gathered in Paris “to listen to and heed the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor” and to “protect the beautiful earthly garden You have created for us.”

The bishops wrote their appeal in collaboration with Caritas Internationalis and the network of Catholic development agencies, CIDSE. The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace sponsored the effort.

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October 30, 2015

Vatican Museums app community growing two months after release VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Gone are the days when regularly discussing one’s favorite works of art in the Vatican Museums and funding the restoration of historic pieces was limited to a very small group of people.

“Patrum,” an app launched in mid-August by the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, is “the first ever cultural institution app bringing together instant chat technology, crowd-source fund raising and online community building,” according to its website.

Juliana Biondo, the digital initiatives manager for the patrons group, told Catholic News Service that while finding people to help fund projects was important, it was not the main goal.

“Patrum is intended for people who can’t get to the Vatican,” she said in a recent telephone interview. The Vatican is “a world treasure, so the question is, how do we make a world treasure accessible to someone who can’t travel the distance?”

The app is doing just that; analytic software shows that there have been more than 5,300 downloads and the number of users is increasing every day.

The growing usership “is the most satisfying thing because I know I spent a lot of time thinking about how to present the information to make it acceptable, approachable, readable and interesting,” Biondo said.

The app was designed to expand the “patrons” of the Vatican Museums to more than just the people visiting the museum in person.

“It was quite a feat to be able to integrate donation technology into the app, and we’re looking to add some more user functionality just in terms of having fun,” Biondo said. “But I think that the cool thing about the app is that it’s pretty new in the cultural institution field.”

Through the app users can choose to donate a minimum of $10 to a restoration project. For those hoping to make larger donations, there’s an option to become a patron.

Patrons have chapters in different cities around the world and members adopt various projects to restore with their pooled funds.

On average, one to two people apply to become a patron each month; since the app launched a total of 13 have inquired, Biondo said.

The app has a daily news feed and four categories: — “Idea,” which gives fun facts about the museums’ collections, the pope, papal gardens and more.

— “Person,” which spotlights a museum staff member, curator or patron.

— “Event,” where one can find various events patron chapters are hosting worldwide.

— “Restoration Projects,” where one can find projects that need restoration funding.

There is also a push notification capability that notifies users whenever something they have previously shown interest in is updated.

The news pieces can be saved to a “My Interests” page for later referral and can also spur conversation through the apps chat feature.

Leem Lubany and Bill Murray star in a scene from the movie “Rock the Kasbah.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/Open Road Films)

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

“99 Homes” (Broad Green) Trenchant, didactic and profoundly moral drama examining the human cost of the financial crisis that began in 2008. Director Ramin Bahrani, who co-scripted with Amir Naderi, portrays the Faustian bargain struck between two bit players on the Orlando, Fla., real estate scene — one an unemployed construction worker (Andrew Garfield), the other a seemingly pitiless broker (Michael Shannon) — as each tries to weather the maelstrom of forces unleashed by the meltdown. A scene of suicide, frequent rough and crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

“Rock the Kasbah” (Open Road) A fast-talking, downon-his-luck music manager from Southern California (Bill Murray) quips his way through war-torn Afghanistan as he attempts to propel a village girl (Leem Lubany)

to fame and fortune on the local version of “American Idol.”

Director Barry Levinson takes as his theme the idea that show-business survival skills can work in any setting, no matter how dangerous. But a jaundiced portrayal of Afghan society and a trivialization of violence are jarring potholes for the audience, while the one-liners in screenwriter Mitch Glazer’s script land like dud shells. Scenes of drug use, verbal and visual references to sexual activity, fleeting profanities, frequent crude and crass language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

“Steve Jobs” (Universal) Lively profile of the computer pioneer and Apple cofounder (Michael Fassbender) who died in 2011 at 56. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin uses three landmark product launches over 14 years to trace Jobs’ rise, fall and return as the company’s guiding light, and to chart his fraught professional relation-

ships with his long-suffering gal Friday, Joanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet), his longtime collaborator, Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen), and sometime Apple CEO John Sculley ( Jeff Daniels). As portrayed in director Danny Boyle’s engaging character study, Jobs’ personal ties — principally with his ex-girlfriend, Chrisann Brennan (Katherine Waterston), and their daughter, Lisa (Perla Haney-Jardine) — were equally tense. The film’s balanced portrait of its protagonist, a volatile and enigmatic genius, reveals his radical shortcomings as a parent but also celebrates his remarkable gifts as a designer and retailer. The vocabulary in Sorkin’s script, however, is anything but user friendly for youthful tech fans. Mature themes, including illegitimacy, a bit of irreverent and sexual humor, about a half-dozen uses of profanity, considerable rough and crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, November 1, 11:00 a.m.

Vocations Awareness Week

Celebrant is Father Kevin A. Cook, diocesan director of Vocations and Seminarians and pastor of Holy Family Parish in East Taunton

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October 30, 2015

S

ince getting involved in vocations work earlier this year, I occasionally get asked the question, “What can I do to help?” phrased in one way or another. I love this question because it means someone is motivated and willing to be of assistance to the cause of vocations promotion. There is a plethora of ways to answer, but I wish only to write of two areas in which those people willing to help, at the most local level, can do something and get involved in the vocations cause.

The most local unit for any vocations work to be done is in the family. A strong Church is composed of strong families. What fundamentally and practically can Catholic families, especially in the Diocese of Fall River, do to foster and encourage vocations in the home? First, one cannot ever discount the abundant power that comes through prayer. Remember, if we believe that a vocation is a call from God, then it only follows that He be the first One to be consulted.

Certainly regular prayer as a family will build strength and encourage that good habit. Additionally, I urge parents and grandparents to pray for their children and their vocation individually, especially that the child

Vocations: What can I do?

have questions of their parwill hear and answer the ents about their vocation. call of God and respond Parents may question their in kind. Maybe families child’s vocation. Questions could “adopt” a seminarian are to be expected, and in prayer, or even pray by there are many resources to name for the priests, deatry and answer them. cons, or religious Sisters at As a family, it would be their parish. When I was in important to make every efseminary and even now as a priest, I always appreciate fort to attend Mass together. Participation at Sunday getting letters from families supporting me and encouraging me with assurance of Guest prayers.

Columnist Some might find it interesting that in

By Father a study of recentlyChristopher M. Peschel ordained priests, family members Mass in the parish is not have been identified at only foundational for our times as those most discouraging towards their vo- life as Christians, but for cation. Understandably, one those discerning God’s Will can see why families would it will facilitate a necessary encounter with the livhave many questions of someone giving their life as ing God Who calls people a religious Sister or Brother forth to serve from these or as a priest. A life of total very parishes and families.

The parish is the second surrender to God as a priest area in which I want to or consecrated religious is radical and out of the ordi- focus on answering, “What can I do?” The parish, a nary. Maybe some parents large family composed of see a life lived for God as many families, has the posomething that couldn’t possibly make people happy tential to be a powerhouse of vocations if families have or result in anything proprayer and encouragement ductive for society (Actugoing on in their homes. ally, “Forbes” magazine has Here in the Diocese of Fall reported for several years River, every parish has been in the United States that clergy are the happiest with asked by the bishop to form their jobs). However, ques- a vocations prayer team. If you’re interested, ask your tions and discouragement are not equal. Children may parish priest and join this

This week in 50 years ago — An estimated 200 incoming freshmen enrolled in the new Bishop Connolly High School were temporarily accommodated in a $200,000 addition to the former St. William’s Church in Fall River pending completion of the high school.

25 years ago — A New England Conference of Separated and Divorced Catholics drew 140 representatives of the 11 dioceses in the region to Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro for a day of prayer, workshops and discussions.

Diocesan history

10 years ago — Major superiors of religious orders from throughout the Fall River Diocese gathered with Bishop George W. Coleman at the Family Life Center in North Dartmouth for a day of prayer and fellowship.

One year ago — Parishioners from St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham gathered after weekend Masses to go out, two-by-two, and knock on residents’ doors as part of its Day of Evangelization effort.

group! Having a stable group that can encourage people in parishes in their vocations or discernment is a blessing. Hopefully it can give a more personal approach to inviting people to consider a vocation. It is not to be pushy, but friendly and kind, in complimenting a young member of the parish that they could be a great priest or religious Sister.

What else could parishes do? Parishes can host Vocations Holy Hours and have the Vocation directors or seminarians visit and speak. Additionally, parishes can organize trips or buses for parishioners to come to the diocesan ordinations or holy hours, like the one that is happening this Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Cathedral with Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V. Parishes, especially parishes with schools, could organize trips with youth to visit a seminary or a convent. My brother priests could from time to time preach about vocations, or even better, tell their own vocation stories

and how they were called to be priests. About 80 percent of the priests ordained in the U.S. in 2015 reported having been altar servers in their parish. Parishes can support and encourage their Mass servers and even identify potential candidates from among their ranks.

Parishes with high schoolaged parishioners could encourage attendance at the summer Quo Vadis or Called

By Name retreats for young men and women respectively.

What can I do? The answer is a lot! This column is but a small sample of the many things that families and parishes can begin to do to foster a culture of vocations. Remember the answer to, “What can I do?” involves us actually doing something, discount neither the power of prayer nor the power of a personal approach and invitation.

Father Peschel is associate director of Vocations and Seminarians for the Diocesan Vocations Board, a parochial vicar at St. Pius X Parish in South Yarmouth, and chaplain at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis.

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October 30, 2015

On the recent feast day of St. Vincent de Paul, the commissioning of Steve Meaney as the new president of the Diocesan Council of the St. Vincent de Paul Society took place at St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Church in North Attleboro. Pictured with Meaney are Father David Costa, pastor of St. Mary’s and Sacred Heart parishes in North Attleboro, and outgoing council president Irene Frechette.

SVdP council welcomes new president continued from page one

gracious enough to bring his snow-blower down to my driveway.”

As a thank-you to his neighbor, Meaney went with him to help distribute gifts to families in the area through the St. Vincent de Paul Society. After loading up a van at the parish, Meaney and his neighbor visited four or five needy families in the area and gave gifts to the children — the visits had a profound effect on Meaney.

“It was a really, really good feeling for me; the main focus of being a Vincentian, though we do help people in need, the main priority is to increase their own Spirituality and to grow in their own personal holiness; and just going through that experience was a really good feeling by helping these people and doing God’s work,” said Meaney.

People don’t always realize there are people in need, especially when it’s in their own town or city; it’s something Meaney admits he didn’t recognize when he

drove around Attleboro: “I just didn’t open my eyes and realize it,” he said. “The graciousness of these people who allowed us into their homes and their genuine appreciation of the assistance we were offering — it just really made me feel good.”

Based on his experiences, a couple of months later his wife Diane and he went to an Ozanam orientation, named after Blessed Frederic Ozanam, the founder of St. Vincent de Paul Society. After learning about the society, he and his wife joined the local conference at St. Mary’s Parish and have become more involved as years have gone by, including being the food pantry helpline as phone captains. And yet, after a couple of years, one thing continued to gnaw at Meaney; he would see the same families coming to the society for assistance time and time again, he said.

“What we do with those families, helping them with their immediate needs whether it be putting food

on the table or assistance with keeping their lights on or home warm — that’s all very important, but there was something at the back of my mind that kept saying we should be doing more,” said Meaney.

Irene Frechette, a member of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish in Seekonk, has been a member of St. Vincent de Paul for more than 40 years, and became a member when men dominated the membership: “The wives of the men were very active helping them put together their various projects and raising money, so we decided that we should be full members. We appeared at the meeting and announced our membership,” she said, laughing at the memory. “It was breaking the ceiling there.”

Through her years, Frechette has also held many leadership positions, most recently as the president of the diocesan council — it was she who nominated Meaney for the position, she said, to replace her after her tenure was up.

Being part of the central diocesan council offers up a larger network, and a “wonderful opportunity” that she knows Meaney will take full advantage of; “Part of the problem being a local member is, you tend to see and only know what is going on within your group,” said Frechette. “If you are willing to develop yourself and look beyond your own parish and become an active member of a district, and then the Central Council — then, of course, the president of the Central Council becomes an actual voting member on the National Board — it’s an opportunity to meet the people doing the same thing you’re doing, with the same love and same fervor, and it’s

an opportunity to learn new ways of doing things. It’s an opportunity to bring that information back to your own local, central council.”

And having that connection has helped introduce new initiatives into the diocese, including “systemic change,” something that Meaney and Frechette feel will guide Vincentians into a new way of helping needy families.

Six years ago the society voted in the first woman president of the National Council of the United States Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Sheila Gilbert; “She brought a whole idea of systemic change to the society — nicely put it’s, ‘You always do what you always did, you always get what you always got,’ so it was time to do things different and think outside of the box,” said Frechette. “She has been an absolute visionary for the society in bringing us up into the 21st century; it’s not just about giving people a bag of food or keeping the lights on, it’s about helping them journey out of poverty.”

“It’s really about getting more involved with the families,” said Meaney.

Recently Frechette asked Meaney to attend a workshop on systemic change, which he did, and he learned even more about the new initiative and will enact many of the new ideas as he goes forward in his new leadership role: “These are programs we’re still continuing to develop and grow within the diocesan council. In this area, we’re still in the infancy stage,” he said.

Meaney is also looking into forming an “extension” initiative and to create new conferences.

“Right now in the Fall River Diocesan Council, we

have 75 parish conferences and I began looking into it, and I believe the diocesan website states there are 83 parishes so it seems like there could be an opportunity to start some new conferences,” said Meaney. “Extension is also about revitalizing existing conferences where, because of a drop in membership or other reasons, may not be as active as they used to be. Extension is also about bringing new members into the society, so we’re very interested in diversity.

“The majority of our membership is older, and we’re very interested in bringing in younger people into the society. I would like to look into the possibility of forming youth conferences in the five Catholic high schools, as well as at Stonehill College.

It’s hard to get younger members in that age group of 30s or 40s, but I think if we can ingrain the Vincentian spirit in people of a young age, then we have a better chance of people growing up and being involved during those midadult years.”

Frechette said that Meaney has been a “wonderful associate in bringing that whole concept to the Fall River area,” and said that Meaney showed an interest early on “to learn more and to find out as much as he could so that he could improve the work of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.”

“He is a dedicated Vincentian, and loves working with people in need. I just look forward to working with him as my leader now, and will support him fully,” said Frechette.

Though it seems that it took a serendipitous snowstorm to coax Meaney into becoming an active member, there is no question that it was God calling Meaney to service as he stands to make a huge impact in his new leadership role at St. Vincent de Paul.

“I have a lot to learn about the diocesan council,” he said. “Like I said, Diane and I were never really joiners and one of the great benefits of St. Vincent de Paul is the Christian friendships we’ve developed. We’ve met a lot of the nicest people in the world and I look forward to extending those friendships and look forward to continuing to grow my own Spirituality.”

15

October 30, 2015

Stonehill students cultivate crops to sell at mobile market continued from page one

Stonehill Farm and their new mobile market empower the change we need in our food system. Project Bread focuses on innovation, health and dignity, and we look beyond stopgaps and temporary help to evolve and maintain effective, sustainable, long-term solutions.”

Beginning in September, organic produce grown at The Farm on Stonehill’s campus was sold at or below market cost in a parking lot currently shared by The Family Center at Community Connections of Brockton and the Trinity Baptist Church, located at 1367 Main Street in Brockton.

“We grow things in Easton but we pretty much donate everything to food providers in the Brockton area,” Meigs said. “The church offered us the opportunity to use its giant parking lot, which is right on Main Street in Brockton, across from a high-rise apartment building where a large elderly population lives. It’s been a really nice location and I hope we’ll do better at getting the word out about it and people will be able to come (in the spring).”

The first-ever mobile market officially commenced on September 23 and was held every Wednesday afternoon through October.

The Farm’s mobile market gives residents who do not live near grocery stores access to healthy eating options, and shares information about other efforts to increase wellness in the community. The mobile market does this by partnering with other organizations to offer cooking demonstrations, recipes, and nutritional information to visitors.

While Meigs said The Farm project has been going

since 2010, this is the first year they’ve attempted to sell the produce at a “farmer’s market” type location.

“I think the big push for it was another way to improve access,” she said. “We wanted to try it this fall to see if it was something people had a taste for and to see how popular it would be, and it seems like we’ve had a very positive and warm reception and we’re looking forward to the spring where at that point we will have invested in more things like a cute, little tent and banners and flags so people can see the location and have that experience of buying their vegetables at a local market.

We’re planning to have a bigger launch in the spring.”

The creation of the mobile market extends The Farm at Stonehill’s commitment to addressing what is known as “food desert” conditions in parts of Brockton.

A “food desert” is defined as a geographic area where affordable and nutritious food is difficult to obtain, particularly for those without access to an automobile.

“It’s very important that everyone eat healthy, especially here where there’s a ‘food desert’ in Brockton,” said sophomore Alana Cotto, who was volunteering at a recent mobile market. “It’s awesome to have this community aspect of our class that we’re able to take the food that we produce and take it directly to the people who otherwise couldn’t get fresh produce.”

“It’s awesome to be able to experience this first-hand,” agreed fellow sophomore Erin Colford. “I’ve worked at The Farm a few times — it’s part of the requirements for our class — and I helped picked some of the vegetables being

sold here today.”

Established in 2010, The Farm uses one-and-a-half acres on Route 138 to grow produce and flowers for the mobile market and for its four community partners: My Brother’s Keeper, the Easton Food Pantry, The Table at Father Bill’s and MainSpring, and the David John Louison Center of the Old Colony YMCA in Brockton.

Since its inception, The Farm at Stonehill has donated more than 51,000 pounds of fresh organic produce to those four community partners.

The Farm grows more than 90 different varieties of fruits, vegetables and flowers, and contains several plots where students actively research sustainable agricultural practices such as permaculture and the application of soil amendments like biochar.

“We work really closely with other farms in the area on production and disease management issues and we have relationships with other farms to make sure we’re all on the same page with best practices for growing crops,” Meigs said. “We are not a certified organic farm, but we practice organic farming techniques — we don’t use any pesticides or herbicides or chemical fertilizers. We only use organic compost to grow our vegetables.”

Meigs said the mobile market now provides students with a way to directly interact with the people who are benefitting from the fruits of their labor.

“When you’re eating organic food and you come to a small market like this, you have the opportunity to talk to the farmers about how it’s grown, who grew it, and what were the labor practices

(at the farm),” she said. “We try to talk about that (social aspect of farming) to the students, too.”

Stonehill staff member Tim Watts considers The Farm and its new mobile market effort “simple and rewarding.”

“When The Farm took off a few years ago, I took a liking to it,” Watts said. “I grew up around farms and I just enjoy doing it. It’s such a simple, wholesome thing to do. You try to take a little bit of your time to give back here and there, and this was a perfect fit for me.”

A full-time custodian at Stonehill, Watts also works to help cut the grass, rake the leaves and harvest the crops at The Farm.

“There are lots of volunteers at The Farm,” added Meigs.

“If you came on any given afternoon, there might be 50 students there working. I’m the only paid person on this project and I try to involve as many students as I can to get the word out and to help me sell the product at the market.”

While other schools have similar farming initiatives, Meigs said Stonehill’s model is different in that it falls under the purview of the college’s mission division.

“I know a lot of them are under environmental science or agriculture, so I think it’s pretty unique to have it come under the mission division,” she said. “I got involved because the mission division of the college wanted to start a farm to teach about food desert conditions in Brockton, specifically. So I was hired to be that person to start The Farm and to then donate every unit we grow to four key partners in the community that address hunger. We added the mobile market as another way to access those vegetables and sell them to people at af-

fordable prices.”

Now, with Project Bread’s support, The Farm hopes to add an additional acre of growing space that will harvest more produce for the mobile market.

“There is some other land around there and we’re hoping to expand it at some point in the future,” Watts said.

“Especially now that we’re doing the mobile market, it does require a good deal of crops to distribute to the folks in the area.”

Meigs said the plan for next year is to start the weekly mobile market in the spring — probably in mid-May. “One of the students’ assignments this year is looking at aspects of sales and logistics to make it better for next spring,” she said. “We’re going to put together some nice, colorful flyers and handouts to give to people about the mobile market and healthy eating options.

“We’re also hoping to add a location and another day — somewhere in the northern part of the city — a place that doesn’t have access to great, affordable vegetables. Right now we accept credit cards, cash or checks and we’re also hoping by spring to be able to accept EBT cards and SNAP benefits, too.”

For Colford, the experience has been educational and rewarding.

“I’ve always been interested in soil and growing plants and just to see what we can produce and how we can produce it more efficiently,” she said.

“I’m also involved in campus ministry, so being able to help people have access to healthy food options is awesome.”

Meigs said The Farm and weekly mobile market have also helped to “bring together students, faculty and staff working on one common project.”

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In official beekeeping gear are some fifth-graders from St. Francis Xavier School in Acushnet who recently went on an educational outing, “Growing Ideas: Cultivating Connections,” at the Rotch Jones Duff House and Garden Museum in New Bedford. Students enjoyed a morning that reinforced classroom learning on pollination, the honey bee, and beekeeping practices, on the grounds of the museum. ​

Youth Pages

October 30, 2015

The eighth-grade students at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro recently gave church tours to the third-graders as part of their religion class. Eventually they will open up the tours to the parish and other grades in the school. The eighth-graders spoke about the meanings of the different symbols, statues and stained-glass windows which are found throughout the church. The students are shown here around the altar.

Bishop Connolly High School altar server Samuel McCarten assists Deacon Christopher Connelly as he blesses school rings before their presentation to the junior class during the Fall River school’s recent Junior Ring Mass. During the Liturgy, Father Freddie Babiczuk, background, chaplain at Bishop Connolly, led the school community in asking God’s continued blessings on the junior class’ academic and Spiritual journey.

Second-grade students from Holy Name School in Fall River recently included pumpkins in their academic lessons. Students had fun with a variety of hands-on activities, including using pumpkin seeds to practice counting by 10s, and measuring the heights and circumferences of various pumpkins.

Recently, more than 65 colleges from the greater New England area visited Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth to meet with seniors. While many seniors have already decided on their list of schools, this fair provided them the opportunity to ask questions and meet the admissions counselors who will most likely be reading their application. This “mini-fair” is one of the first of three college fairs being held at Bishop Stang this year. This is the fourth year Bishop Stang has collaborated with Coyle and Cassidy in Taunton and Bishop Connolly in Fall River to host the mini-fairs for students.

Stang will also host another college fair in the spring for juniors and their parents.

Eight-grade students from St. James-St. John School in New Bedford recently drew and labeled animal and plant cells.

October 30, 2015

T

Youth Pages An inspiration of God’s incredible love for us

his past June I drove down to Seton Hall University for the funeral of a good friend and former seminary classmate. There were seven of us who made up the pre-theology class that year.

I was the youngest at 21 and Walter was the oldest at 57. In doing some preparations for National Vocation Awareness Week next week, I found myself thinking about Walter.

Walter grew up in the Boston area and had been in the seminary for a while after high school. After a stint in the Army he began a career with IBM and climbed the corporate ladder. During this time his faith continued to grow, as did his love of Christ. At a time when he could make an even bigger career move up that ladder, he changed directions totally. He retired and went into the seminary.

What stood out about Walter was when he left the money and success of the corporate world, he never looked back and never lamented the move. He was perhaps the happiest person I have ever met. It took me a while to figure out why he was so happy: he was head over heels in love with Christ and was in total awe that the Lord had called him to be a priest. He loved being a priest and that love was contagious. I wasn’t surprised when his bishop reassigned him to the seminary faculty. He was a great listener, had a sincere care and devotion to the

tears recalling his friendship with Walter, people of God and, as I said, loved Jesus an emotion felt by all who gathered on and loved being a priest and shared that that beautiful and sad June morning. love with anyone who would listen.

My purpose in sharing this with you In the seminary he was one that is not to canonize Walter, he had his always sought to motivate his classmates faults, the least and at times of which was challenge them. he became a I know he Yankees fan recognized gifts somewhere and talents in along the way. me that I didn’t But Walter realize I had.

By Father inspired me In some of our David C. Frederici (and continues conversations he to) to have that would get a bit same love for God, to live simply and to frustrated with me and in hindsight it is be in awe of the gift of priesthood I have a wonder that he didn’t get frustrated a the privilege to have received. When I relot sooner. At 21, I thought I had all the flect on Walter’s example and my friendanswers and that I was going to change ship with him I quickly come to a sense everything that was wrong with the of amazement of just how good God is to world, the Church and anything else I His people. could change and fix.

All of us who are made in God’s imAt the wake and funeral I met many age and likeness are called to live that seminarians and priests who, like me, very same love and joy that my friend owed an awful lot to Walter. He inspired us all in very small and ordinary ways. He did, regardless of our vocation. If we truly discern God’s call and have the courage was an example of simple living and of to persevere in responding to that call, we living in love with God. It didn’t matter will find a happiness and peace that we who you were: the poorest of the poor or cannot create on our own. Not only that, the most powerful man in the universe, but the world itself will be changed. How Walter saw you as a child of God and could it not be if we all lived in such joy? would engage in a conversation with you I love being a priest. There are very real as if you were an old friend. During the challenges and there have been some bad funeral, the archbishop broke down in

Be Not Afraid

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days. However none of these challenges or bad days have ever led to me once to think that I made a mistake or should walk away. I have (and continue) to learn more about who I am and the gifts that I have.

I have been able to witness the power of God’s love at work in the lives of countless people. I continue to discover the treasures within the vocation of priesthood.

It is my continued prayer for the students I serve in the colleges, the youth and young adults in my parish and all the young people who read this, that they take the time to discern God’s love for them and the ways that they can share and grow in that love in their lives, whether as priest, religious, married or the single life. I pray that all of our families become true domestic Churches where God is celebrated, His love made manifest and where we have the help and support to listen for God’s call. I pray that all of us growing in our vocations show the love and support those who are discerning need.

Above all, I pray for the example and inspiration of people like my friend Father Walter and for God’s incredible love for us all.

Anchor columnist Father Frederici is pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Pocasset and diocesan director of Campus Ministry and Chaplain at UMass Dartmouth and Bristol Community College.

Pope Francis to youth:The Bible can change your life. Now read it!

Vatican City — The Bible is so dangerous that some Christians risk persecution to have one. But for Pope Francis, its life-changing role in daily life is important too.

“The Bible is not meant to be placed on a shelf, but to be in your hands, to read often — every day, both on your own and together with others,” he wrote in the prologue to a Bible for youth in Germany.

He encouraged young people to read the Bible together the way they play sports or go shopping together.

“Why not read the Bible together as well — two, three, or four of you? In nature, in the woods, on the beach, at night in the glow of a few candles … you will have a great experience!”

“Read with attention! Do not stay on the surface as if reading a comic book! Never just skim the Word of God!” he exhorted, according to a translation by the news site Aleteia.

The pope encouraged young people to ask what God says to them through the Bible.

“Has He touched me in the depths of my longing? What should I do?” he encouraged them to ask. “Only in this way can the force of the Word of God unfold.

Only in this way can it change our lives, making them great and beautiful.”

The pope’s comments come in the prologue to the German edition of the YouCat Bible. The youth Bible is from the makers of the YouCat “Catechism” for youth.

The new Bible edition includes the text of the Bible packaged in a modern layout

with a storyline, line drawings, and color photographs accompanied by explanations and quotations.

The YouCat Bible was proved popular at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Fifteen publishers from countries including the U.S., Poland, and Argentina signed agreements to publish the Bible.

Bernhard Meuser, project manager at YouCat, said the youth Bible is among the top 10 most valuable licenses at the book fair.

YouCat has printed six million copies of its youth catechism, published in 2011. The catechism is now available in 39 languages.

In the prologue to the YouCat Bible, Pope Francis reflected on his own muchused Bible.

“If you could see my Bible, you would not be particularly impressed,” he said.

“What — that’s the pope’s Bible? Such an old, worn-out book!”

But he would not trade it for a new one.

“I love my old Bible, which has accompanied me half my life. It has been with me in my times of joy and times of tears. It is my most precious treasure,” he said. “I live out of it, and I wouldn’t give anything in the world for it.”

Pope Francis praised the new Youth Bible for its testimonies from saints and young people.

“It is so inviting that when you start to read at the beginning, you can’t stop until the last page,” he said.

He encouraged readers not to let the Bible disappear on a shelf and collect dust.

There are more persecuted Christians in

the world today than in the early days of the Church. And why are they persecuted?

They are persecuted because they wear a cross and bear witness to Jesus. They are convicted because they own a Bible,” he said.

The pope described the Bible as a “highly dangerous book.” Some countries treat someone with a Bible “as if you were hiding hand grenades in your closet.”

He questioned whether the Bible can be just a piece of literature or a collection of old stories, given how many Christians are persecuted for it.

“By the Word of God has light come into the world, and it will never go out,” he said.

Pope Francis also recounted his own Bible reading habits.

“Often I read a little and then put it away and contemplate the Lord. Not that I see the Lord, but He looks at me. He’s there. I let myself look at Him. And I feel — this is not sentimentality — I feel deeply the things that the Lord tells me,” the pope said.

“Sometimes He does not speak. I then feel nothing, only emptiness, emptiness, emptiness. But I remain patiently, and so I wait, reading and praying.”

The pope said that sometimes he falls asleep while praying.

“But it does not matter. I’m like a son with the father, and that is what’s important.”

Bishop Feehan High School, Attleboro, principal Sean Kane recently announced that 11 students have been named Commended Students in the 2016 National Merit Scholarship Program. With Kane are the recipients, from left: Sydney Majka, Thomas Perry, Jenna Bourassa, Martin Murphy, Jillian Sarto, Joseph Corkery, Abigail Roberts, Emily Dold, Caroline Toomey, Tess Cullaz, Meredith Marcotte, and vice principal of academics Ann Perry. A letter of commendation from the school and National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which conducts the program, will be presented by Kane to these scholastically-talented seniors.

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October 30, 2015

Cape Cod native finds calling in war-torn Rwanda continued from page one

lived in community with the Sisters of St. Joseph.

“I did have an interest, but I was not a novice in any formal formation or discernment program,” she explained. “The Sisters were very welcoming and said, ‘Live with us.’ I paid some rent and contributed by cooking.”

McDonald earned an undergraduate degree in psychology.

She enrolled at West Virginia University and earned a master’s degree in social work.

Hired by Wheeling Jesuit University, she returned as director of Service and Social Justice, an extension of campus ministry. She worked with young adults instilling Catholic social teachings and serving on missions to the homeless and migrants, as well as provided disaster relief in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and humanitarian aid abroad to the people of El Salvador.

“I was renting my own apartment but still in relationship with the Sisters,” she said.

“I had a wonderful life full of blessings and challenges.”

Yet an internal struggle en-

sued in her mid- to late-20s.

“I was drawn to religious life, and this kept nudging at me; and I loved my ministry,” she said. “I have a wonderful personal prayer life and had two different boyfriends. Was I being called to married life, to religious life, to single life?”

After much soul searching, she came to a crossroads when she was 29.

“Two things just kept reemerging in my life: I was drawn to living and serving the poorest of the poor overseas and to religious life,” she said.

“I took a post with the Jesuit Refugee Service in Rwanda.

This last step was going to lead me in a new direction in life or bring me back to the threshold of the Sisters of St. Joseph.”

McDonald quit her job, sold her car and gave away all her possessions.

“I had to move to a place of complete freedom and follow where the Spirit leads,” she said.

McDonald landed in Rwanda in war-torn central Africa amidst the Congolese who were engaged in a violent ethnic conflict.

“The death toll rivalled the total death toll of World War II,” she said. “It was the worst place for women. I stripped my life down to its basest form.

Every single day is a question of life or death.”

For two years she ran an international NGO (non-governmental organization) that included two refugee camps of 54,000 people, six schools and 12,000 students. She learned French to communicate with them.

McDonald recalled one horrifying incident. They were helping refugees at an outpost where a rebel group had kidnapped women when they received word that the rebels where coming back.

“We got in a car and drove away,” she said. “But a group of children were running behind the car.”

She knew that the rebels could kill them.

“Why is my life more valuable than theirs?” she pondered.

“This does enormous things to one’s soul.”

Given the grace of walking in such suffering, she said she

realized the gift of her own life.

“Stripped away from all distractions, I learned who I am and what I was called to be in the world,” she said. “I’m called to be a Sister of St. Joseph.”

McDonald returned to Wheeling and began the canonical process with the Sisters of St. Joseph of West Virginia.

“I needed to be integrated into communal living,” she said.

For the past two years she has lived at the motherhouse of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cleveland. In preparation for taking first vows, she and two other novices planned a pilgrimage on the Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain along the French route. They would take a connecting flight through Dublin, Ireland, to France.

Arriving at the airport last month, McDonald was denied passage to France.

“I learned that my passport expired Dec. 31, 2015; and to enter France, a passport must be valid for the next six months,” she said. “I encouraged them to go, but they didn’t want to go without me. Everything changed.”

Our readers respond Law goes too far An amendment to the Massachusetts Anti-Discrimination Statute is proving to have farreaching negative consequences for Catholics with school-aged children. An Act Relative to Gender Identity became effective on July 1, 2012 and on its face prohibits only discrimination on the basis of gender identity. Individuals with gender identity disorders are anatomically one gender but self-identify as being of the opposite gender.

The Massachusetts Department of Secondary and Elementary Education has now mandated that students in Massachusetts public and charter schools must be given access to the locker rooms, rest rooms and changing facilities that correspond to the student’s self-declared gender identity and without regard to the student’s anatomy.

The department has published a “Guidance for Massachusetts Public Schools Creating a Safe and Supportive School Environment” which first makes clear what is meant by transgendered: “A transgendered boy, for example, is a youth who was assigned the sex of a female at birth but has a clear and persistent identity as male. A transgender

girl is a youth who was assigned the sex of male at birth but has a clear and persistent identity as female” (DESE Guidance at pages 3-4).

The DESE Guidance suggests a meeting with the transgender student, the student’s parents and the school’s principal to discuss what arrangements the student would prefer in terms of accessing locker rooms and rest rooms. However, the guidance makes clear that a student has a legal right to access whatever facilities match their gender identity without regard to anatomy: “In all cases the principal should be clear with the student (and parent) that the student may access the restroom, locker room, and changing facility that corresponds to the student’s gender identity” (Guidance page 9).

As a result of this law, male and female students are now to use the same gymnasium locker rooms and restroom facilities in Massachusetts public schools.

There are currently two bills before the state legislature which would, under the banner of inclusiveness, further promote transgender rights. H.1577 and S.735 would expand the law significantly to require this sort of gender identity based access in

all places of public accommodation, which would include most private businesses.

I believe that the book of Genesis models our world and provides for only two genders. I see no Biblical evidence for the notion of transgendered individuals. Although I certainly do not want to encourage discrimination of any kind, I believe the current law simply goes too far.

I hope that Catholic readers will take the time to contact their State Representatives and State Senator and voice their opinion on this matter.

Timothy R. McGuire Fall River EXECUTIVE EDITOR RESPONDS: Thank you for your letter. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church at paragraph 224 states: “Faced with theories that consider gender identity as merely the cultural and social product of the interaction between the community and the individual, independent of personal sexual identity without any reference to the true meaning of sexuality, the Church does not tire of repeating her teaching: ‘Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity. Physical, moral

and Spiritual differences and complementarities are oriented towards the goods of Marriage and the flourishing of family life.

The harmony of the couple and of society depends in part on the way in which the complementarities, needs and mutual support between the sexes are lived out.’

According to this perspective, it is obligatory that positive law be conformed to the natural law, according to which sexual identity is indispensable, because it is the objective condition for forming a couple in Marriage.” Positive Law in this context is state law, which is currently not written in accord with Natural Law. That being said, people who identify as “transgender” need our love. Pope Francis has spoken repeatedly against these new gender theories (to the chagrin of the left), but he has also showed great compassion to individual people.

What’s the point?

Father, your response to Mr. Perkins’ letter answered your own question, “Can we talk (and listen)?” We can listen all we want to but if it’s not Church teaching what’s the point? That’s the reason you don’t publish articles from those publications which,

They flew to Dublin and lodged with the family of a friend, a Jesuit priest she had served with in Africa. During their two-week stay, they went to the west of Ireland, walking a portion of the Wild Atlantic Way, an ancient Christian pilgrimage route. They climbed Croagh Patrick, the mountain where St. Patrick prayed and fasted for 40 days and nights.

“It is considered a holy place,” she said. “Irish Catholics climb barefoot and on their knees.”

On the east coast they also walked the Wicklow Way, a pilgrimage route since medieval times.

“It was a beautiful experience, but it wasn’t what I planned,” she said of the journey to her ancestral homeland.

“Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.”

McDonald took her first vows on October 10 in the Cleveland motherhouse.

“I had to get out of my own way to say yes to it and come to this formation process from a really healthy, whole place,” she said.

In three years she will take her final vows.

for the most part, are anti-magisterium. The faithful would be much better-off today if it didn’t listen at all after Vatican II and simply followed what actually came from it.

Mike Aiello Sandwich EXECUTIVE EDITOR RESPONDS: Thank you for your letter. While I do agree that the Second Vatican Council is often misquoted or misapplied in ways not intended by the council (or the Holy Spirit), we do need to listen to people who disagree with Church teachings — not so that we’ll abandon those teachings, but so that we can truly show compassion to these people. Compassion means “suffering with” someone else. How can we bring them to the truth of the Gospel (and the joy that can only be found in the Gospel) if we do not take the time to understand their suffering (which often underlies why they are in disagreement about some teaching)? We are not interacting with “ideas” but human beings, who can and do also witness to Christ.

Sometimes God can challenge us through them, just as God used many Gentiles to challenge the Jews (who were the true religion) to fidelity during Biblical times.

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October 30, 2015

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

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

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

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

ATTLEBORO — There is a weekly time of Eucharistic Adoration Wednesdays from 7-9 p.m. at St. John the Evangelist Church on North Main Street.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Nov. 1 Rev. William H. McNamara, Retired Pastor, St. Mary, Mansfield, 1924 Rev. Louis N. Blanchet, Assistant, St. Jean Baptiste, Fall River, 1927 Rt. Rev. Msgr. John F. Ferraz, Pastor, St. Michael, Fall River, 1944 Rt. Rev. Msgr. George F. Cain, Pastor, St. Mathieu, Fall River, 1953 Rev. William E. Farland, Pastor, St. Joseph, Taunton, 1987 Rev. William F. Gartland, C.S.C., Stonehill College, North Easton, 1988 Rev. John F. Sullivan, SS.CC., Retired Pastor, Holy Trinity, West Harwich, 1994 Rev. Manuel T. Faria, 1999 Nov. 2 A memento for the repose of the souls of our bishops, priests and permanent deacons not on this list Rev. Joseph S. Fortin, Founder, St. Jean Baptiste, Fall River, 1923 Rev. Michael V. McDonough, Chaplain, St. Mary’s Home, New Bedford, 1933 Nov. 3 Rev. Jose M. Bettencourt e Avila, Retired Pastor, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, New Bedford, 1988 Nov. 4 Permanent Deacon James M. O’Gara, 1990 Nov. 5 Rev. Daniel A. Gamache, Retired Pastor, St. Joseph, New Bedford, 1998 Nov. 6 Rev. Patrick S. McGee, Founder, St. Mary, Hebronville, 1933 Rev. Joseph Oliveira, Retired Pastor Our Lady of Lourdes, Taunton, 1999

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

Around the Diocese The Catholic Cancer Support Group at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville will celebrate a Mass of Healing on November 2 at 6 p.m. in the Msgr. Perry Parish Center, 230 South Main Street. Since the Mass is on the feast of All Soul’s Day, there will be a special remembrance for all past deceased members and family members. Following the Mass at 7 p.m., all are welcome to join the group for a presentation from Professor Marcy Smith, founder of Stress Concepts which provides consultation for stress intervention and management. Coffee and refreshments will be served. For more information, contact Geri Medeiros at 508-362- 6909.

The Fall River Area Men’s First Friday Club will meet November 6 at St. Joseph Church on North Main Street in Fall River. Mass begins at 6 p.m. and will be celebrated by Father Jay Mello, parochial administrator. Following the Mass, the group will gather in the hall next door for a hot meal prepared by White’s of Westport. Following the meal, the guest speaker will be Mark Sullivan who led the Fall River area’s Anti-Poverty Agency Citizens for Citizens as their CEO from 1972-2015. The Mass is open to the public, but any gentleman wishing to join for the paid meal and listen to the speaker should reserve a seat through a club member or by calling 508-672-4822.

Good Shepherd Parish, 1598 South Main Street in Fall River, will be holding its Portuguese Night on November 6 with take-out meals from 4 to 6 p.m. and dine-in meals from 6 to 8 p.m. Meal choice includes either roast beef or chicken, soup, potatoes, vegetable and desserts. Music featuring DJ Milton and Nadia will be provided from 6 to 10 p.m. For tickets or more information, call the parish office at 508-678-7412.

St. Mary’s Parish, 106 Illinois Street in New Bedford, is having its Holiday Fair on November 7 from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and November 8 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event will feature a full kitchen, crafts, bake table, white elephant table, Chinese auction, and much more. For more information, call 508-995-4166.

A presentation on End of Life Care and Decision-Making will be held November 7 from 10 a.m. to noon at Holy Cross Parish, 225 Purchase Street in Easton. This presentation will examine some of the basic moral principles in medical decision-making, and helping our loved ones to live out their final days with the true dignity each person deserves.

The presentation will include an opportunity for Q&A and materials will be available. The featured speakers will be Marian Desrosiers, diocesan Pro-Life and Project Rachel Director and John St. Cyr, a retired District Court Judge and member of the Cape Cod Family Alliance.

St. Anthony of Padua Parish in New Bedford is having its annual Holiday Bazaar on November 7 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on November 8 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the parish hall at 1359 Acushnet Avenue (Nye Street entrance). The bazaar will offer homemade crafts, Chinese auction and assorted raffles, full course meals, baked goods and meat pies. For more information call 508-993-1691.

A one-day Life in the Spirit Seminar will be offered by the prayer group of St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham on November 7 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the parish hall, 82 High Street.

The seminar will consist of personal talks and DVD teachings focusing on God’s love, empowerment by the Holy Spirit, gifts of the Holy Spirit, and growth in holiness. Coffee, tea and pastry will be served in the morning free-of-charge, but participants should bring a bag lunch. For more information or to register, contact Robin at 508-295-6650 or send an email to stpatricksprayergroup@yahoo.com by October 31.

The Women’s Guild of St. John Neumann Parish, 257 Middleboro Road in East Freetown, invites all to its annual Christmas Bazaar on November 7 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The oneday bazaar will feature a wide variety of booths including assorted gift basked raffles, money raffles, home-baked goods, Chinese auction, antiques and collectibles and guest vendors. Take the Chace Road exit off Route 140. Admission is free.

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October 30, 2015

With a child’s touch, sculpture seeks to comfort those who mourn abortion Rome, Italy (CNA/ EWTN News) — Five years ago a young Slovakian artist set out to create a statue that would

offer hope and healing to postabortive women suffering from pain and regret — and the project would touch hearts around

the world.

The statue portrays a suffering mother in imitation stone.

She is grieving with her face buried in her hands. She is approached by her aborted baby, depicted in a young child’s transparent form. The child reaches up to touch the woman’s head in a tender gesture of forgiveness and healing.

Sculptor Martin Hudacek, the statue’s creator, has seen its impact.

“Many people said ‘wow, it is me.’ They were crying, so many people said that sculpture touched their heart,” he told CNA. Hudacek created the sculpture, named “Memorial for Unborn Children,” while still

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a student. He hopes the piece will help to heal men and women suffering after an abortion.

The monument, located in Slovakia, has been praised for its depiction of the pain, sorrow and regret felt by women who have had abortions.

Hudacek presented a replica of the original statue to Pope Francis during the Pope’s October 21 general audience. He was assisted by the Wisconsinbased Family Life Council, Inc. He told CNA that a friend inspired the project.

“It all began when on my way back home from my friend’s place who prays and meditates a lot, (and) he told me I have to carve a statue” that depicts the effects of post-abortion syndrome, “a big problem and there is no such statue regarding this issue.”

Hudacek said that he was “touched in such way that I wanted to make a monument for the unborn children,” but he had no idea where to start. He asked people to pray.

“I was praying and many people came to me and said I need a picture of forgiveness,” he said. As time passed, the image became clearer and clearer in his mind: “It looked like a crying mother and a child who forgives her.”

Many people have come to him to tell how the statue speaks directly to their problem. When they look at the statue, “they see and experience what they needed to see and experience,” the artist said.

In the end, Hudacek said the statue seeks to fulfill the need for mercy. It speaks about healing by way of a child that comes to a mother who “really needs forgiveness, she needs the mer-

cy of God.” Despite the success of his sculpture, the artist said that it’s not really his work, but God’s.

He said he often asked people to pray for him while he was working on it. For him, their prayers made the long process a bit easier.

“It is not my work, I am only a sculptor and I must work with the material,” he said. When he prayed and asked others to pray for the statue, “the work was not so hard.”

Two weeks ago Hudacek completed a third version of the “Memorial for Unborn Children” statue. This edition is seven feet tall. But there is an addition: it shows a father alongside the grieving mother and their aborted child.

This statue now sits inside a cemetery in Wroclaw, Poland, where it has been placed above the crypt of a child who died before birth. This particular statue was done “only for the people in Wroclaw,” explained the artist, who currently lives in the small Slovakian village of Telgárt.

He said that while Jesus is the only One Who can heal, he hopes that his sculpture can offer “a small healing” for postabortive women. He hoped that when they look at it, they think about forgiveness more.

“It is interesting to see my statue on the Internet or in many places being presented in diverse ways,” Hudacek said, explaining that he can tell the sculpture is bearing fruit in reports from around the world.

“I see it is a world issue, thus I am personally impressed and I am glad I can participate in God’s work,” he said.

Memorial for Unborn Children, by Martin Hudacek. (Photo by Daniel Ibanez/CNA)