11.02.12

The Anchor Diocese of Fall River

F riday , November 2, 2012

Panelists encourage voters to vote ‘No’ on Question #2

By Becky Aubut Anchor Staff

sis.

It’s all about health care costs, said Toffler. Insurance companies won’t pay for treatments if the patient is expected to live less than five years, but will happily pay 100 percent of the cost of assisted suicide under the banner of “comfort

care facilities in the country.

Quality treatments can be found TAUNTON — Even as the in your backyard, said Toffler; gray clouds began to gather and “For me, there’s no neutrality on the wind began to pick up speed, these issues. I believe in dying the energy of the impending with dignity, but naturally.” storm had nothing on the pasBoston attorney Henry Lusion felt by those who attended thin, whose wife is the directhe panel discussion focused tor of the Pro-Life Apostolate on the upcoming Masfor the Archdiocese of sachusetts Physician63-year-old is not worth as Boston, warned that if Assisted Suicide Ballot this ballot does pass, much as a 40-year-old” when amendments are rare: Question #2 at the Holiday Inn in Taunton. it comes to dollars in healthcare, said “This is it,” he said.

Organized by the Pro- Toffler. “When you hear progressive, The phrasing is Life Apostolate of the what throws people as it’s actually regressive.”

Fall River Diocese, supporters of the bill presenters from varyhave co-opted wording ing backgrounds came that seems to lull those together to help educate voters care.” Medicare ranks Oregon reading it into compliance, thus and show why they should vote 39th in total number of Hospice going along with the act instead “No” when he or she casts their days per covered person. To put of fully understanding the ramivote on November 6. it in perspective, while the aver- fications. A huge issue from a Known as the “Death with age spent on Hospice per person legal standpoint, said Luthin, is Dignity” initiative, the proposed in the U.S. is $1.20, in Florida the death certificate will list the measure of ballot Question #2 it’s $3.25 per person, while in underlying disease as the cause would allow for a terminally-ill Oregon it’s a paltry nine cents of death, not suicide, which patient to be given lethal drugs. per individual. Oregon is also “falsifies documents.”

A terminally-ill patient would well above the national average Dr. Mary Patricia Tranter, be defined as a patient being in suicide rates. president of Coyle and Cassidy given six months or fewer to “A 63-year-old is not worth High School in Taunton and colive; the patient requesting the as much as a 40-year-old” when chairman of the Ethics Board at medication must be mentally it comes to dollars in healthcare, Good Samaritan Hospital, said capable to make medical de- said Toffler. “When you hear if the bill presented different opcisions while consulting their progressive, it’s actually regres- tions to dying, such as by using respective doctors; the patient sive.” a knife or gun; “We wouldn’t be would be required to submit his The irony is this bill is being here talking about it today.” or her request orally twice, with proposed in Massachusetts, the Using pills prescribed by a the initial verbal request made home of some of the best healthTurn to page 15 15 days prior to the second oral request accompanied by a written request; the patient’s terminal diagnosis and capability to make health care decisions must be confirmed by a second doctor.

Already well established in Oregon, the Death with Dignity Act has a vocal opponent from one of its residents in Dr. William Toffler, the National Director of the Physicians for Compassionate Care Educational Foundation. The goal of the initiative that has now swept to the east coast, said Toffler, is to “immunize you against the cul- JUST VOTE NO — The Pro-Life Apostolate of the Fall River Dioture of death.” cese brought together a panel discussion focused on the upcomProponents of the act say that ing ballot Question #2 regarding physician-assisted suicide, better it’s great to allow those who are known as the “Death with Dignity Act.” “The biggest enemy is lack suffering to end his or her life, of knowledge,” said Marian Desrosiers, apostolate director, as she but taking 90-100 sleeping pills spoke at the podium while leading the Q & A portion of the panel “has nothing to do with pain discussion. From left to right: Peter McNulty, Elizabeth Dost, Mary control,” said Toffler, holding Patricia Tranter, Henry Luthin and William Toffler. (Photo by Becky up a large pill bottle for empha- Aubut)

“A

CENTURY OF FAITH — Bishop George W. Coleman gives a homily during a special centennial celebration Mass at St. Anthony of Padua Church in New Bedford last weekend. The 100th anniversary Liturgy drew a sizeable congregation to the historic New Bedford church and was concelebrated by Father Marc Bergeron; Father Roger Landry; Msgr. Barry Wall; Father Herbert Nichols; Father Edward A. Murphy, pastor; and Father Thomas Lopes.

(Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)

News From the Vatican

2

November 2, 2012

Four new cardinals had to keep news secret from synod

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Four of the six new cardinals announced by Pope Benedict XVI October 24 were participating in the world Synod of Bishops at the Vatican and had to keep their impending appointments secret as they participated in the synod’s small-group work that morning.

The appointment of new cardinals was not announced to synod members, so those who did not have smartphones or tablets or a friend with one found out only during the synod’s lunch break.

When they returned to the synod hall in the afternoon — four hours after the announcement — the synod hall’s foyer turned into a receiving line and photo studio. Synod members congratulated the cardinals-designate, and the cardinals-designate congratulated one another.

The four synod members named cardinals were: Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai, 72; Indian Archbishop Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, 53, head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church; Nigerian Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of

Abuja, 68; and Philippine Archbishop Luis Tagle of Manila, 55.

Between slaps on the back and warm handshakes in the synod hall, Cardinal-designate Rai told Catholic News Service he was told at 5 p.m. October 23 of the pope’s intention to make him a cardinal, and he was sworn to secrecy until noon the next day.

Cardinal-designate Thottunkal started to tell CNS the reasons

why his nomination was such an honor, but he was interrupted by Patriarch Rai grabbing both his hands and saying, “Dear, dear brother.”

When others began congratulating the patriarch, Archbishop Thottunkal continued his brief interview, saying, “For our Church, it’s a great honor from the Holy See, recognizing our apostolates as well as our missions in India and all over.”

The cardinal-designate said the appointment also is an honor for India: “It’s great culture and people,” and the Vatican recognizes “the great unity in diversity of our country.”

Cardinal-designate Tagle said a bishop’s job often involves keeping secrets, so spending the morning with other synod members and not breathing a word about the news was not a huge challenge.

He told CNS that Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, informed him of the pope’s decision just before 5 p.m. the previous evening.

“Listening to the text of the pope’s letter being read out to me, I also felt like — here it comes,”

of Peter.”

The Secretariat of State, headed by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, pronounced that the trial was a just one. The facts were discovered, it stated in today’s communiqué, and they showed that Gabriele “had carried out his criminal plans not at the instigation of third parties, but on the basis of his own convictions.

Various conjectures about the existence of plots” or third-party involvement have also been “shown to be false.”

In a separate October 25 statement, the Vatican’s official spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, confirmed that the sentence “has become final,” the “promoter of justice this morning ordered the guilty party be imprisoned,” and “the order will be carried out during the course of the day.”

However, the possibility that Gabriele could receive a pardon from Pope Benedict XVI still remains, the Secretariat of State noted.

But that “reasonably presuppose(s)” Gabriele’s repentance “and a sincere request for pardon to the Supreme Pontiff” and the others his theft “unjustly offended.”

When Italian police officers searched Gabriele’s apartment May 23, following the publication of several confidential letters in Italian journalist Gianluigi

Nuzzi’s book “Your Holiness,” they discovered approximately 1,000 incriminating documents and 82 boxes of evidence.

During the week-long trial, the judges heard how Gabriele stole copies of confidential documents from the Papal Apartments. These included personal documents sent between the pope and various cardinals, along with encrypted communications from papal ambassadors across the world.

Some of the papers were marked “to be destroyed” in German and were written in the pope’s handwriting.

The judges made the distinction that Gabriele’s actions constituted theft and not embezzlement, since his actions showed no intention to obtain economic benefit.

During his trial, Gabriele told judges, “I do not feel like I’m a thief,” adding that he “acted only out of visceral love for the Church of Christ and for its visible head on earth.”

In his final court address, he said he acted alone and without accomplices.

Yet the Vatican announced October 23 that the Claudio Sciarpelletti, a computer technician accused of helping Gabriele steal confidential papal documents, will go on trial November 6.

SYNOD SURPRISE — Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai, 72, was among the six new cardinals named

by Pope Benedict XVI recently.

(CNS photo/Jim West)

Pope’s former butler goes to prison

VATICAN CITY (CNA/ EWTN News) — The pope’s exbutler has been taken to prison for stealing his boss’ private documents and leaking them to the press in the so-called “Vatileaks” scandal.

“The sentence in the trial of Paolo Gabriele, which has now become final, puts a full stop to the end of a sad affair which has had very painful consequences,” read an October 25 announcement from the Vatican’s Secretariat of State.

Gabriele was sentenced October 6 and ordered incarcerated in the Vatican prison to begin his 18-month sentence.

The Vatican communiqué declared the sentence “lenient and just.”

“A personal offense was done to the Holy Father” and “the right to privacy of the many people who … addressed themselves to him was violated” began the litany of wrongs.

The Holy See and affiliated institutions also “suffered prejudice,” “communications between the bishops of the world and the Holy See were hindered,” and “scandal was caused among the community of the faithful.”

The statement also underscored that the media sensation and speculation about Vatican conspiracies disturbed “the serenity of the working community which daily serves the Successor

he said, fighting back tears, — “it felt like someone far greater than I am is here. Very near.”

He told Vatican Radio the announcement was “a spiritual experience for me,” and that his initial reaction was “to respond with the words of the prayer before Communion: ‘I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof,’ but I felt that someone greater than me has come to call me.”

The month of October, which is the month of the Rosary, “is big for me,” he told CNS. He was informed in October 2001 that he would become a bishop

and was told he’d be transferred to Manila in October 2011. “And now it’s October again,” he said, and began laughing.

When the bell rang for the synod’s work to begin again at 4:30 p.m., Vatican security escorted reporters out. CNS did not have a chance to speak to Cardinal-designate Onaiyekan.

U.S. Archbishop James M. Harvey, the 63-year-old prefect of the Papal Household, and Colombian Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez of Bogota, 70, were the two new cardinals who were not participating in the synod.

The International Church

November 2, 2012

3

Pius X Society expels Bishop Williamson for disobedience

Menzingen, Switzerland (CNA/EWTN News) — The Society of St. Pius X has expelled Bishop Richard Williamson, saying he has distanced himself from the traditionalist Catholic group’s leadership and he has refused “to show due respect and obedience to his lawful superiors.”

The Switzerland-based society said October 24 that the “painful” decision was necessary because of “concern for the common good” and for the good government of

the society.

The society’s Superior General Bishop Bernard Fellay and his council declared the bishop to be excluded on October 4. Bishop Williamson, in response to a final deadline for him to declare his obedience to the society, published an open letter asking the superior general to resign.

The Society of St. Pius X broke from Rome in 1988 when its founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, consecrated four bish-

Vatican delegation visits locations for 2013 World Youth Day

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (CNA/EWTN News) — A delegation from the Vatican arrived in Rio de Janeiro October 24 to visit the sites where World Youth Day 2013 will take place and decide on whether to approve them.

World Youth Day 2013 will take place in July of 2013 and will be attended

by Pope Benedict XVI. The Holy Father was the first to register for the event through the website www.rio2013. com.

According to the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro,

The Anchor www.anchornews.org

the coordinator of the papal trips, Alberto Gasbarri, will be the one to evaluate the proposed sites for the closing World Youth Day Mass, which was originally going to take place at the Santa Cruz Air Base.

The site could be changed “for the good of the event and of the pilgrims,” the archdiocese said.

The Apostolic Nuncio to Brazil, Archbishop Giovanni d’Aniello, will join the delegation on its tour of the venues.

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 56, No. 42

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ops, including Bishop Williamson, against the orders of Pope John Paul II. The ordinations resulted in the excommunication of all five bishops. Archbishop Lefebvre founded the society in 1970 as a response to what he saw as errors in the Church after the Second Vatican Council.

The society only celebrates the Tridentine Latin Mass.

Pope Benedict XVI has endeavored to reconcile the society with the Church. He lifted the excom-

munications of the society’s four living bishops in 2009. However, that act caused significant controversy because, unbeknownst to the pope, Bishop Williamson had made statements that diminished the magnitude of the Holocaust.

The bishop told Swedish public television that only as many as 300,000 Jews died in the Holocaust, when the accepted figure is about six million.

Bishop Williamson caused internal strife in August when he

made an unauthorized visit to a Brazilian breakaway Benedictine monastery and celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation there for nearly 100 lay Catholics.

A Society of St. Pius X district superior protested that the visit was an act of disobedience that disrespected the society’s procedures.

The society’s ongoing talks with the Vatican on possible reunification are also a source of internal controversy.

The Church in the U.S.

4

November 2, 2012

Ruling a victory for monks, brings end to ‘casket cartel,’ says lawyer NEW ORLEANS (CNS) — A federal appeals court ruling in favor of Benedictine monks who had been blocked from selling their handmade caskets by Louisiana’s state funeral board “is a victory for the monks as well as for free enterprise and entrepreneurs” in the state, their lawyer said.

“And it puts a nail in the coffin of the casket cartel,” said Darpana Sheth, an attorney with the Arlington, Va.-based Institute for Justice, which represented the monks pro bono in the case.

In a unanimous opinion, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled October 24 that a fiveyear battle by the Louisiana State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors to stop the Benedictine monks of St. Joseph Abbey in St. Benedict, La., from selling handmade, cypress caskets was either unconstitutional or unauthorized

by Louisiana law.

The only question remaining to be determined by the threejudge appeals court panel was a legal technicality, Sheth told the Clarion Herald, newspaper of the New Orleans Archdiocese. The 5th Circuit asked the Louisiana

Supreme Court to determine by January if state law authorized the state funeral board to regulate casket sales.

The law requires any business selling caskets in Louisiana to be a licensed funeral home that employs a funeral director and has a casket showroom. The monks twice had gone to the Louisiana Legislature to amend the law, but those bills never got out of committee, so they filed a lawsuit in 2010.

“The court, out of an abundance of caution, wanted to make sure before it rules on constitutional grounds that the state board could even regulate the sale of caskets when that’s all someone (such as the monks) does,” Sheth said. “In its opinion, the 5th Circuit said very strongly they can’t find any reason to uphold the constitutionality of the law. The court rejected all the arguments put forward by the state board in support of constitutionality.”

“It’s a win-win for us, as well as an answer to our prayers,” said Benedictine Abbot Justin Brown.

“It also confirms the feelings we’ve had all along that this was

the right thing to do. We had a right to sell our caskets, and the courts are upholding that right.”

The Benedictines of St. Joseph Abbey have made the caskets for decades to bury their brother monks, but public interest in the caskets began in the early 1990s and has grown over the years.

In 2007, the Benedictines launched St. Joseph Abbey Woodworks, headed by Deacon Mark Coudrain, a master woodworker, to begin making caskets to sell to the public.

The Louisiana State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors presented the monks with “a cease and desist” order, which led to the monks’ ultimately unsuccessful efforts to get recourse from the Legislature and their lawsuit.

In 2011, the monks received a favorable ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Stanwood Duval, who struck down the Louisiana law, saying it created an unfair industry monopoly.

The state funeral board appealed to the 5th Circuit, saying the law protected consumers by ensuring that any caskets sold were the right size to fit into Louisiana’s oddly

News outlets seek unsealing of Legion of Christ docs in lawsuit Providence, R.I. (CNA) — Four news organizations are seeking the release of sealed court documents from a lawsuit contesting the will of a Rhode Island woman who gave $60 million to the Legion of Christ.

Jim Fair, Communications Director with the Legion of Christ, said the donor was “a beloved member of our spiritual family” and the religious congregation was “respectful and diligent in carrying out her wishes.”

He told CNA recently that it is “appropriate” for the documents to stay sealed “to ensure that potential jurors are not influenced and that the Legion’s constitutional right to a fair and impartial jury is protected.”

On October 24 the Associated Press, The New York Times, The Providence Journal and the National Catholic Reporter submitted a legal filing that argued the public has a right to access the documents concerning a legal challenge to the will of Gabrielle Mee. Mee, a member of the Legion of Christ’s lay movement

Regnum Christi, left $60 million to the congregation.

Mee’s niece, Mary Lou Dauray, challenged the will in court. She said her aunt, who died in 2008, had been defrauded by the order into leaving her fortune to it.

Since Mee’s death, the Legion of Christ has been through major turmoil following revelations that its founder Father Marciel Maciel had sexually abused seminarians and fathered children by at least two women.

Father Maciel had given financial advice to Mee, while another priest helped her with estate planning.

Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein threw out Dauray’s challenge in September on the grounds she lacked standing to sue.

However, he said the transfer of money from “a steadfastly spiritual elderly woman to her trusted but clandestinely dubious religious leaders” raises “a red flag.”

Dauray’s attorney Bernard Jackvony, a former Rhode Is-

land lieutenant governor, plans to appeal the ruling.

He told the AP that the case documents contain information about the Legion that is not known to the public. He favors their unsealing.

However, Fair defended the Legion. “We believe our actions with regard to Mrs. Mee and her estate were appropriate and honorable and are confident we will prevail in any legal actions in this regard,” he said.

Mee became a consecrated laywoman for Regnum Christi in 1991. Fair said she was a benefactor of the Legion of Christ and apostolates like Mater Ecclesiae, Inc. because “that way she could fulfill the wishes of her late husband and her own to help the Roman Catholic Church.”

shaped, above-ground crypts.

Deacon Coudrain said he was thrilled that “common sense” had prevailed in the 5th Circuit ruling.

The woodworks project turns out about 20 cypress caskets a month, and all the notoriety the casket case has received has helped business.

“It doubled what we thought we would be selling,” Deacon Coudrain told the Clarion Herald.

“Right now we’re selling about 20 a month. This is absolutely common sense. Common sense is what drove us to this point to say that this didn’t make any sense and was really an injustice to the monastery.”

The deacon said the support the monks have received across the state has been encouraging.

“Monasteries are not known for suing states, you know?” he said.

“We’ve gotten excellent feedback.

We’ve had people buy caskets just because they’re so angry that oth-

November 4

ers are trying to stop us. We’ve also gotten a lot of good feedback from funeral directors. A lot of them were very supportive and helped us out.”

Deacon Coudrain said several monks and volunteers were hard at work making the caskets when they got word of the court decision.

“We’re free to pray and to offer prayers of thanksgiving,” Deacon Coudrain said. “We can also pray for those we are making the caskets for. We’re just a bit freer to do that now. That’s what we do when we’re making the caskets — pray for those we are making the caskets for.”

The federal case will be stayed pending an answer from the Louisiana Supreme Court on the question that the 5th Circuit posed. The appeals court set Jan. 22, 2013, as a follow-up deadline.

Embracing Our Journey: Your “Self” is a Wellspring of Hope – Presenter: Jacqueline M. Sitte, RN, CARN, LADCI

November 4

A Biblical Mystery Tour – Presenter: Dennis Taylor, Ph. D. Emeritus Professor at Boston College

November 18

Discovering God’s Will and Finding PeaceHow to Follow God’s Will, Deal with Pressure and Find Freedom – Presenter: Fr. Bob Masciocchi, CSS

December 2

Christian Psychology Approaches to Emotional Problems – Presenter: Dr. Michael Murphy, Christian Psychologist

December 9

Day of Healing- Understanding Healing Prayer & Finding Healing in Our Lives – Presenter: Fr. Bob Masciocchi, CSS

Day Retreats for Women: Presented by Jerri Lou Buffo & Sue Gormley November 14 Saint Watching December 12 The Precious Gifts of God’s Love and Our Call to Regift January 9 Living a Mary Life in a Martha World February 13 Love, A Life We Are Called To: Seeing Life in the

Reflection of the Life, Death and

Resurrection of Jesus March 13 Dealing With Loss- Seeking Healing ________________________________________ Marriage Preparation Dates 2012-2013: Nov 3-4, Dec 1-2, Jan. 5-6, Feb. 2-3, March 2-3, April 6-7, May 4-5, June 1-2, July 6-7 Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament – Adoration Chapel Tuesday 10:00 am – 6:00 pm, Wednesday 10:00 am – 5:00 pm & Thursday 10:00 am – 5:00 pm Every Tuesday Rosary at 7:00pm, Praise and Worship 7:30pm, Teachings, Mass at 8:30pm Every Last Tuesday of the Month Healing Service and Mass at 7:30 pm ________________________________________ For further information please contact: The Espousal Retreat House, 554 Lexington St, Waltham, MA 02452 Phone: (781) 209-3120 ~ Fax: (781) 893-0291 or e-mail espousaladmin@gmail.com

November 2, 2012

The Church in the World

Catholic couple rescues 1,400 Chinese orphans

Beijing, China (CNA/ EWTN News) — An American couple living in China for 15 years says their success in rescuing more than 1,000 medicallyfragile orphans is due to totally relying on God, especially during trying times.

“You really have to have an absolute dependence on God that the money’s gonna show up when you need it and that you’re going to stay out of trouble,” Brent Johnson of the organization China Little Flower told CNA October 17.

Founded in 1998, China Little Flower is the parent organization of Brent and Serena Johnson’s “apostolic hobby,” Little Flower Projects, a charity that seeks to reach out to the most vulnerable of China’s population by providing medical care to abandoned orphans and children.

While one was a student and the other a tourist, Brent and Serena met in China in 1990 and soon returned to the United States, where they converted to Catholicism and were married.

When they returned to China as teachers shortly after the 1995 birth of their eldest son, Thomas Becket, the Johnsons were confronted with the “unbelievable” conditions of Chinese orphanages.

“It was a confrontation with the truly ugly side of humanity,” Johnson said. “So we said, ‘We gotta do something.’”

Although conditions in the government-run orphanages have improved since the 1990s, he said around one-third of the

country’s roughly 700 facilities still have an infant mortality rate that hovers near 100 percent.

The Johnsons asked the orphanage leaders if they could foster one of the children in their own home and were granted permission.

“We were just kind of ordinary, young Catholics living our faith, trying to do the right thing,” Johnson said. “When we started this, we didn’t think of ourselves as missionaries.”

From then on, they convinced family friends in China to do the same. Eventually, they began to pay Chinese families to take in orphans as well.

“This wasn’t any great leap in brilliance, this was just doing what (Serena’s) parents had done,” Johnson said, referring to his in-laws in Connecticut who three adopted children, had three biological children and served as foster parents for several years.

Since then, the Johnsons and those who work with Little Flower Projects have helped rescue 1,400 orphans who would have otherwise died.

In 2005, the organization also began to arrange group homes for children with physical disabilities, giving them a place where they can live and be educated in a family-like setting until adulthood.

“We feel this incredible pressure to just save as many babies as we can,” he said.

Johnson, who works full-time as a start-up business manager and now has six children of his own, said the charity gener-

ally has only about two to three months of funding in the bank at one time.

“I don’t know if it’s bad management on my part,” he said with a laugh, “or God’s plan.”

Johnson added, “The truth of the matter is that every time we get ahead with money, we start a new project.”

While some people have called such a move financially irresponsible, Johnson generally ignores their criticism.

“I think, ‘Well, I have this money now. I can save 100 babies this year that otherwise wouldn’t be saved.’”

Regardless of one’s opinion of China, Johnson said it is important that Americans not “forget the little people” who make up the “bottom rung” of the country’s nearly 1.4 billion population.

Prayer and educating oneself about China’s orphans is the best way to get involved, he added.

Those who are interested can receive updates about the organization and the children they serve by “liking” their Facebook page, which frequently adds prayer requests and photos of the children in their care.

“As I said in the beginning, I think this is God’s hand at work here, and I’m not one of those kinds of Christians that says that lightly,” Johnson said.

To find out more about China Little Flower, visit www.facebook.com/pages/Little-FlowerProjects/230680524654.

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WINDS OF CHANGE — A man moves his belongings from his home which was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, October 25. Hurricane Sandy grew into a major potential threat to the East Coast of the United States after hammering Cuba’s second-largest city. (CNS photo/Miguel Rubiera, via Reuters)

Uruguay bishops clarify statement on excommunication of lawmakers favoring abortion

Montevideo, Uruguay (CNA) — The Uruguayan bishops’ conference has explained recent statements regarding Catholic lawmakers who voted to legalize abortion in the country, saying they are not excommunicated if they voted in favor of abortion.

“Excommunication applies to Catholics who have acted directly in carrying out an abortion, which does not include those who vote for a law that allows it,” Bishop Heriberto Bodeant, secretary general of the conference said.

In an October 23 interview with Radio Carve, he clarified that excommunication would apply only to those who have performed an abortion and not those who voted to legalize the procedure in Uruguay.

“Automatic excommunication is for those who collaborate in the execution of an abortion in a direct way, and direct means committing that specific act,” the Bishops Conference explained on their website.

The conference said the need for clarification arose following Bishop Bodeant’s October 19 comments when he was asked about excommunication in gener-

al and not about the excommunication of specific lawmakers who voted to legalize abortion.

According to the statement on the Uruguayan bishops’ website, “There was confusion after a television interview that took place the day after the Senate approved a measure that legalizes abortion, in which the bishop was asked about the question of excommunication in general terms and not specifically related to lawmakers.”

“At no time during the interview did the bishop say that lawmakers were excommunicated, but rather he responded to a generic question about excommunication in cases of abortion based on Canon Law (Canon 1398), which states, ‘A person who procures a completed abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication,’” the statement said.

As a result, “it was an erroneous inference of the bishop’s words that led to the statement that ‘the Church excommunicated those who voted to legalize abortion,’ which was immediately reproduced by various national and international media outlets,” the conference statement said.

6

The Anchor A November meditation

“This week is an opportunity for us to look into our hearts and see how we are living the message,” we are told today on page eight. This is true for us every week, but as we begin the month of November, a month in which we remember the faithful departed, both the saints in Heaven and the souls in Purgatory, we realize that each week is a new opportunity to say “yes” to God’s will for us. The saints have already “passed” this test, while the holy souls are being helped by the prayers of the saints and our prayers and sacrifices. Our Merciful Father “grades on a curve” and has saved those souls, thanks to their faith, either explicit or implicit, in Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Back in 1999 Blessed John Paul II gave three talks, explaining that Heaven, hell and Purgatory are not three places, but three states of being for souls after death. Heaven is being in a perfect union with God in love, while hell is the fulfillment of a desire to be totally separated from God. Purgatory, however, is not a permanent state, but an intermediate one for souls which have been saved, but which still need to be purified. The Holy Father taught, “Before we enter into God’s Kingdom every trace of sin within us must be eliminated, every imperfection in our soul must be corrected. This is exactly what takes place in Purgatory. Those who live in this state of purification after death are not separated from God but are immersed in the love of Christ. Neither are they separated from the saints in Heaven — who already enjoy the fullness of eternal life — nor from us on earth — who continue on our pilgrim journey to the Father’s house. We all remain united in the Mystical Body of Christ, and we can therefore offer up prayers and good works on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Purgatory.”

The saints in Heaven accepted Christ’s message as well as they could. They lived out their faith in love. The souls in Purgatory did not get to that level in this life, but still were people who tried to love, who tried to entrust themselves to God’s will. As we have the opportunity this week to vote, we ask ourselves whether our voting will be an action which conforms to the will of the Heavenly Father, or is it something which we are doing just out of political loyalty to a party or an individual candidate.

Father Landry has a great article to the right of this one which explains very well our duty to be Catholics first and to work for the defense of human life. Throughout this edition, we can read about threats to the dignity of human life, sometimes even cloaked with terms like “Death with Dignity” while other approaches used by proponents of this approach have been called “creepy.”

After the election, our work will have just begun (to paraphrase The Carpenters). With those candidates who have supported the right to life and have been elected, we will have to continue to help them “have backbone,” so that our support will not have been in vain. We will also have to work with them to help them see that a consistent ethic of life involves seeing the dignity of each human person, in whatever situation they find themselves. This includes the immigrant and the prisoner on death row. This involves discerning what are the truly just solutions our country may be able to offer to lands in conflict, such as Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria (and wherever else conflict will arise). While we do not cast our ballots on those issues, we need to pressure our political allies to see that the Catholic position is not just about the beginning and end of life, but also about affirming it at every stage.

With those candidates who have opposed the Church’s stance on the “nonnegotiables,” but who nonetheless will be elected (given the many uncontested or poorly contested races, we are guaranteed to have many of them elected), we can work with them on other issues and we are called to continue to try to show them the logic behind our positions on life and family. No one is a hopeless case, although we may have to ask for the intercession of St. Jude a lot.

Even with the candidates who are with us on the “non-negotiables” we need to pray for them, asking God to help them interiorize the logic of love which is behind the respect for human life. As Father Rodrigues said, we all need to “look into our hearts,” to see how we are living out the message, not just repeating it.

In the long-range work post-election we have the task of the New Evangelization. As we can read on page 18, this will be a multifaceted effort, between things which we can do in our church buildings (such as offering the Sacrament of Reconciliation more often), things done in people’s homes (such as visiting peoples, not as the often-maligned Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons do [although, one has to hand it to them for taking Christ’s command to “go out to all the world and tell the Good News” seriously], but with the training which the Synod of Bishops has recommended for us), and things done in “cyberspace,” where so many people spend a great deal of their time today. The more effective the New Evangelization is (which will be thanks to our collaboration with God’s grace), the less effort we will have to make in last-minute pitches before elections to convince people to vote for the right candidate for the right reason.

Ultimately, we do all this so as to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbor as ourselves. We ask all the saints in Heaven to help us do this, in imitation of the love that they have for God and for all of humanity. May our efforts, joined in communion with theirs, help us grow deeper in the love of God, so that when the end of our lives comes (we know neither the day nor the hour), we will be saved (in either Heaven or Purgatory) and will encounter other souls whom we have helped along the way.

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November 2, 2012

Making your vote count

month ago I received an email from a the Senate and Congress, progress in many young woman from our diocese who areas would probably be slow and bumpy. But is studying in Ohio. She was asking advice she said that with regard to the presidential about whether she should register to vote in election, there would be a dramatic impact on Ohio or get an absentee ballot to vote in Mas- the question of religious freedom and whether sachusetts. She wanted her vote to make the the Church’s overall charitable mission can biggest difference it could. continue unencumbered. On that basis, she I wrote her back saying I was proud of her decided to register to vote in Ohio. just for asking the question. It showed how I recount this conversation not because seriously and responsibly she was living her many of us are going to be in the situation of faith and trying to exercise care over the com- determining where to vote, but to highlight mon good. Rather than answer her question the type of seriousness with which all of us directly, I tried to engage her in a conscienceshould approach our solemn Christian and forming dialogue, asking her to compare the civic duty. Our votes always matter. They advantages, as a Catholic voter, to casting her matter not just because there are occasionally ballot here or where she’s going to school. elections like the 2000 presidential election in She replied saying that the greatest advan- which 537 votes in Florida decided the entire tage to voting in Massachusetts would be to contest. They matter not just because they defeat item #2, which is trying to give doctors express our deepest values and preferences the legal permission to prescribe poison to and form our character. They matter because, enable people with terminal diagnoses to one way or another, they express a message, kill themselves. According to the polls, she a message that countless candidates, consulsaid she thought her ballot would make little tants, pollsters, pundits and others grasp. difference in the presidential election. While Even when an election or ballot item she believed her vote could be consequential doesn’t go the way one wants, a message is in her Congressional district and the race for sent. When one scribbles in a write-in candiSenate, in both date rather than campaigns, vote for two or however, she more candidates framed both whose positions races as pitting one can’t stoma gung-ho proach, a message abortion canis sent. One of didate against the reasons why

By Father a pro-choice so many races in candidate Roger J. Landry Massachusetts who basically are uncomsupports some petitive and both abortion restrictions. She said she wasn’t parties routinely put up candidates who supparticularly excited to vote for someone as the port intrinsic evils is because Catholics here lesser of two evils. have largely demonstrated in past elections Turning to Ohio, she admitted that she that, unlike the Catholic girl from our diocese didn’t know anything yet about the Ohio studying in Ohio, their faith matters very little Senatorial election or even who was running to them when they vote. for Congress in her district. But she thought Last week, Philadelphia Archbishop that if she registered in the Buckeye State, her Charles Chaput talked plainly about the mesvote might make a difference in the presisage Catholics are called proclaim at the ballot dential election, since most election experts box. “We’re Catholics before we’re Demothen — and still now — look to Ohio as the crats. We’re Catholics before we’re Republimost important of all the battleground states cans,” he said. “We’re even Catholics before that could decide the whole contest. In that we’re Americans, because we know that God election, she said, she would be able to vote to has a demand on us prior to any government defeat a candidate who not only is staunchly demand on us.” He said a lack of this clear in favor of abortion but is trying to force awareness among Catholics has, for example, Catholics and all people of conscience to have allowed the Democratic Party to become to pay through their insurance policies for oth- so virulently pro-abortion. “Catholics have ers to have free access to chemical abortions, been historically part of the Democrat Party sterilizations and contraception; whose poliin great numbers, and I think really could’ve cies, as the U.S. bishops have said, could force stopped [the party’s push for abortion], if they Catholic schools, hospitals, food pantries and tried, but they didn’t, in order to accommoother charitable institutions to close through date people from the other side of the issue. crippling fines rather than exempt them from That’s why the position of the Democrat Party having to pay for these practices; who is tryhas gotten worse and worse as time goes on, ing to redefine Marriage to be a husband-less because Catholics haven’t abandoned them as or wife-less institution and who has instructed they’ve moved in that direction.” Our votes his lawyers to argue that the belief that Marmatter and the more Catholics vote in favor of riage is a union of one man and one woman pro-abortion candidates, others notice that our is bigoted and unconstitutional; and who, she faith isn’t really that important to us. fears, will nominate as justices to the Supreme Archbishop Chaput didn’t spare RepubliCourt only those who support abortion and the cans either. “You can’t trust the Republicans radical redefinition of Marriage. to be Pro-Life 20 years from now,” he added.

She wasn’t thrilled with the main alterna“You can’t let any party take your vote for tive — whom she didn’t trust because of how granted. And that’s unfortunately what’s easily he’s changed his positions over the happened. I think many of the Democrats years on crucial issues — but she said that have (taken) Democrat Catholic votes for while there’s some doubt about whether that granted because they’ll go with them no candidate will keep his campaign promises, matter what the party position might be on there’s little doubt over what the first candiabortion. … So we just have to be insistent date will continue to advance. on that, Catholic identity takes precedence I gave her feedback on what she had writover everything.” ten and asked her to identify, among all that Our Catholic faith is meant to influence she had noted, what for her was the biggest every thing we do. Catholics should vote and most realistically achievable goal that differently from the general populations, and could come from her casting her ballot. She consistent with the teaching of the faith. When emailed two days later stating that even if the we do, that’s when our votes will matter. battle against the assisted suicide ballot item That’s when no party will be able to take our was lost, we could still work to try to prevent votes for granted. That’s when Catholicism in the suicides, and so her vote, as important our country will regain its salt and once more as it would be, was not necessarily a gamebecome real light and leaven for the betterchanger. In terms of abortion and Marriage, ment of the country we love. because much of the debate is happening in Let’s make our votes count on Tuesday. the courts, she thought that even if fervent Father Landry is pastor of St. Bernadette Pro-Lifers were elected to the White House, Parish in Fall River.

Putting Into the Deep

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The Anchor

November 2, 2012

‘I approve this column’

y name is Msgr. John J. Oliveira, and I approve this column.

By now I think most of us are sick and tired of listening to political ads. They continually demonize the opposing candidate and selfishly promote their own agendas.

With the continual bombardment of political advertising, I just wonder how the money could have been spent in better ways.

By now we could have the elusive train route from Fall River and New Bedford to Boston paid for.

In my view, so many political ads are a waste of time and money.

While I am sure advertising agents advise candidates on the best route to gain votes, it seems they think voters are dumb and need to hear the same message over and over again. At times, an ad is repeated incessantly within the same program.

This is an important election in many ways. The issues are clear and the platforms of the Democratic and Republican parties are different and each portends results which can affect our lives for many years to come.

Legal restrictions prevent Catholic churches from supporting individual candidates. Some of our non-Catholic brothers and sisters do not seem to be impeded in the same way. Yet, as a citizen, as a Christian and as a Catholic, I do have certain values which I will carry with me into the voting booth. That freedom still exists

for all of us. prayed over before deciding who The media is allowed to to vote for. You may have other suggest people for us to vote concerns; you are obligated to be for. Programming from certain an informed voter as well. networks is known to support We are free to choose our particular candidates or ideas maintained by them. In a free country, that is expected and appreciated.

Unfortunately for the Church, our views are not supported by

By Msgr. many in the media.

John J. Oliveira The only newspaper that we can count on to support the views of leaders and express our opinion the Catholic Church is a Catholic newspaper in print form or online. on certain matters. This freedom did not come lightly. Many have In our diocese, The Anchor is the official newspaper of the Catholic died in the service of our country Church. The Pilot serves the Bos- to preserve our freedom. The least we can do is not only exercise this ton Archdiocese and the Rhode privilege of voting, but do so in Island Catholic (formerly the an informed matter.

Providence Visitor) is the official This year, Massachusetts votnewspaper for its diocese. Cathoers will have an opportunity to be lic Television stations such as Eternal Word Television Network heard on the question of whether a person who has six months or Boston Catholic Television to live can commit suicide. It support Catholic teaching and is called “Death with Dignity” values as well. but it is really physician-assisted However, we are all asked suicide. to review the platform of each Those who believe in the Ten candidate and each party. For exCommandments, as commands ample: will my vote help others; and not suggestions, will recall will it get more people to work; the fifth commandment states will it be productive for peace; “you shall not kill.” The desire to will it protect life; will it enhance preserve our life is the most basic the beliefs I have? While none of instinct we have. To ignore this is these criteria are mutually exclusive or present in each candidate to act in peril. or party, I feel it is important that This proposal, aside from the these concerns be studied and obvious moral deficiencies from

my viewpoint and that of many others, is also not good medicine.

It goes against everything a doctor stands for and promises as he/ she takes the Hippocratic Oath.

The American Medical Association has spoken and has said that “physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, etc.”

The Massachusetts Medical Association has voted overwhelmingly against this procedure, stating that “assisted suicide is not necessary to improve the quality of life at the end of life. Current law,” they further state, “gives every patient the right to refuse life-saving treatment and to have adequate pain relief, including Hospice and palliative sedation.”

The proposed law would allow suicide after a terminal diagnosis of six months or less to live. We all know people who have survived such a diagnosis by many more months and in some cases, years.

The same law would not require the patient be examined by a psychiatrist before receiving a lethal prescription, despite the fact that many patients are suffering from depression. The patient is not bound to notify family members so a husband could receive a lethal prescription without requiring that his wife being notified.

We should be about killing the

pain and not the patient.

More information on this law can be found at www.

FallRiverDiocese.org, StopAssistedSuicide.org and other sites.

Please vote in the upcoming election and be an informed voter.

Take your values and faith beliefs with you into the voting booth.

Exercise your cherished right to vote freely according to your properly formed conscience.

Occasionally, I have the opportunity to teach the eighth grade at All Saints Catholic School in New Bedford. I have always taught that they will be challenged in the future with many moral problems. While I do mention the Church’s teaching on euthanasia, I did not think it would be something we would be trying to make legal so soon. The culture of death is escalating its reaches into our society.

Although some may call it silly, I do wonder if we are not becoming the society that Hitler wanted.

The perfect society, where every child is perfect and the criteria for those allowed to live are perfectly formed bodies and minds. People whose life have meaning and worth and are not a burden to society are allowed to exist. Genetic selection which exists and now the termination of the life of the “non-productive” begins to form that dangerous mentality in our country.

The measure of love is to love without measure.

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Statements on preaching and ways that bishops can respond using new technologies to modernday challenges to their teaching authority are among the items the U.S. bishops will consider when they gather in Baltimore for their annual fall assembly.

Set for November 12-15, the assembly also will consider a statement on work and the economy proposed by the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development as a way to raise the profile of growing poverty and the struggles that unemployed people are experiencing.

The document on preaching that the bishops are to consider encourages preachers to connect the Sunday homily with people’s daily lives.

Titled “Preaching the Mystery of Faith: The Sunday Homily,” the document is the bishops’ first substantive statement on preaching in 30 years, said Archbishop Robert J. Carlson of St. Louis, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations.

The intent to address preaching first surfaced among the bish-

ops six years ago, but drafting it took place over the past year and a half, Archbishop Carlson said.

The bishops also will consider a proposed statement on opportunities to use new media — including blogging and social media — in exercising their teaching authority.

The statement drafted by the Committee on Doctrine, “Contemporary Challenges for the Exercise of the Teaching Ministry of the Diocesan Bishop,” has been distributed to the bishops and suggested amendments are being received, said Capuchin Franciscan Father Thomas G. Weinandy, executive director of the bishops’ Secretariat for Doctrine. The text, like all of the proposed documents the bishops will consider, has not been made public.

The statement complements a 1989 document on the doctrinal responsibilities of local bishops that sets forth guidelines for a bishop to follow when responding to comments, statements, books or other communication from a theologian that incorrectly portrays Catholic teaching, Father Weinandy told Catholic News Service.

terrible toll the current economic turmoil is taking on families and communities.”

The bishops will devote time to discuss whether to revise the norms governing fund raising as covered by Canon 1262 in Church law. The discussion is expected to focus on the need to clarify when a bishop would have to approve any appeal to raise funds based on from where the fund-raising appeal originated.

Existing norms on fund raising were approved unanimously by the bishops in 2002 and received approval from the Vatican, or “recognitio,” in 2007.

A proposal to establish a new national collection for the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services will be weighed by the bishops. Under the proposal from Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia and Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the military archdiocese, the collection would be taken up every three years.

The U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services provides pastoral ministries and spiritual services to those in the U.S. armed forces. The archdiocese serves 1.8 million men, women and

children in more than 220 installations in 29 countries, patients in 153 Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, and federal employees serving outside the boundaries of the United States in 134 countries.

Liturgical matters also are scheduled to come before the bishops.

In regional meetings, bishops are expected to spend 30 minutes evaluating the implementation of the third edition of the Roman Missal, which was introduced at the start of liturgical year last November. The comments were being solicited by the Committee on Divine Worship to assist in preparing translations of other liturgical books and plans for their implementation.

In addition, the bishops will vote on a proposed “scope of work” for revision of the Liturgy of the Hours submitted by the Committee on Divine Worship.

The committee’s request comes as the International Commission on English in the Liturgy has started work on revising some parts of the Liturgy, specifically hymns, some orations and some antiphons.

Living the Faith

Internal matters top agenda of bishops’ fall assembly in Baltimore “Given the situation and the speed and breadth in which (a theologian’s view) could be circulated, the bishops on the doctrine committee felt it would be good to encourage, in some circumstances, (ways) to put up more quickly a response to these situations,” Father Weinandy explained.

An immediate response from a bishop would be followed up with the normal invitation to dialogue with the theologian, he said.

The statement on work and the economy, titled “Catholic Reflections on Work, Poverty and a Broken Economy,” is expected to advance the bishops’ priority of human life and dignity to demonstrate the New Evangelization in action, Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif., chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, explained during the bishops’ June meeting in Atlanta.

It would be a follow-up to a Sept. 15, 2011, letter by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, in which he urged bishops and priests across the country to preach about “the

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he Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength,” (Deut 6:4-5).

This captures the central theme of the readings of this weekend’s Mass. Indeed, this is the central theme of our faith as well. The Book of Deuteronomy, in great part, is a speech in which Moses reminds the people of the events of Mount Sinai, reviews the stipulations of the Ten Commandments, and exhorts the people to observe these statutes and ordinances.

The Commandments have been taught from one generation to the next. The chief Commandment, from which all the rest follow, is devotion to the One true God. The issue is not really monotheism, but the single-minded love for them only One. In other words, the Commandments are to

November 2, 2012

The Anchor

Putting the Lord first

be internalized so that they St. Mark describes an enshape the will, the heart and counter Jesus had with one form a whole way of life. of the scribes. The scribe The second reading of said to Jesus: “Well said, this weekend’s Liturgy reTeacher: You are right in minds us that Jesus is the saying, ‘He is the One and fulfillment of Moses’ teaching. Jesus fills the old system Homily of the Week with new meaning.

Today we are reThirty-first Sunday minded that as the in Ordinary Time old disciplines have

By Father value, how much William M. Rodrigues more valuable is Jesus Whose life is a perfect and complete commitment to doing there is no other than He.’ the will of God the Father.

And ‘to love Him with “It should be fitting that we your whole heart, with all should have such a High your understanding, with Priest: holy, innocent, unall your strength, and to defiled, separated from sinlove your neighbor as yourners, higher than the heavself’ is worth more than all ens. He has no need, as did burnt offerings and sacrithe high priests, to offer fices” (Mk 12:32-33). The sacrifice day after day, first scribes, we recall, were for his own sins and then highly trained teachers of for those of the people, He the tradition. They were did that once and for all scholars much given to diawhen He offered Himself” logue and were not afraid (Heb 7:26-27). of being open to other opinIn the Gospel reading, ions or of expressing their

own.

Although it was a serious endeavor, the scribes’ style of has been described as something of a game that operated according to certain rules of discourse and required a certain level of understanding.

With this in mind we may wonder whether Jesus’ affirmation that this scribe “is not far from the Kingdom of God” is really all that flattering. The scribe agrees with Jesus’ interpretation of the law, which certainly broke no new ground in understanding the faith.

At this point in the Gospel, merely agreeing with Jesus is not enough. Jesus, here, is calling His listeners to conversion of heart and discipleship.

The same is true for us today. We have heard the message. It has been passed down to our own generation. We know “the Golden

Rule.” Today we are invited to not only agree with the message, but to put it into effect in our daily lives.

Moses struggled with his people, encouraging them to put their faith into action by a conversion of heart.

Jesus likewise, struggled with His disciples. The 21st century heralds of the Good News encourage us to put the Lord first, as well.

This week is an opportunity for us to look into our hearts and see how we are living the message of this weekend’s Mass. What are the things that compete with the Lord for our attention? Let us ask the Lord, in prayer, for them grace to truly put Him first. May our right answers lead us to right action. And thus, may our discipleship keep us always close to the Kingdom of God. Father Rodrigues is a parochial vicar at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. John the Baptist parishes in New Bedford.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Nov. 3, Phil 1:18b-26; Ps 42:2-3,5cdef; Lk 14:1,7-11. Sun. Nov. 4, Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Dt 6:2-6; Ps 18:2-4,47,51; Heb 7:23-28; Mk 12:28b-34. Mon. Nov. 5, Phil 2:1-4; Ps 131:1-3; Lk 14:12-14. Tues. Nov. 6, Phil 2:5-11; Ps 22:26-32; Lk 14:15-24. Wed. Nov. 7, Phil 2:12-18; Ps 27:1,4,13-14; Lk 14:25-33. Thurs. Nov. 8, Phil 3:3-8a; Ps 105:2-7; Lk 15:1-10. Fri. Nov. 9, Ez 47:1-2,8-9,12; Ps 46:2-3,5-6,8-9; 1 Cor 3:9c-11,16-17; Jn 2:13-22.

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merican political campaigns have never been for the squeamish. With the sole exceptions of George Washington’s two uncontested elections, every presidential campaign has seen its share of vulgarity, skullduggery, and personal disparagement. Those who imagine that “going negative” is the invention of today’s polls and focusgroups haven’t read very much about the rhetorical character of the senior Adams-Jefferson battle of 1800, the younger AdamsJackson contest of 1824, or the Blaine-Cleveland fight of 1884, not to mention the dubious goings-on in Illinois and Texas in 1960, or in Florida in 2000.

American presidential politics is a contact sport and while we may wish it were not so — while we may wish that JFK and Barry Goldwater had set a new pattern by their plan, aborted by the Kennedy assassination, to rent a plane together and fly around the country, holding something akin to the Lincoln-Douglas debates — what we’ve experienced these

Campaign 2012 — What voting means past months is likely what we’ll matter of framing and executing public policy, but of voting. Vothave for the foreseeable future.

But just because electioneer- ing, in other words, is an exering increasingly resembles a cise in moral judgment. Which is reality show, voters are not ab- to say that serious Christians, for solved from treating the electoral whom love of the Lord Jesus and fidelity to His Kingdom measure franchise as something rather different than casting a vote on “American Idol.”

In the Catholic understanding of these things, politics, for all its tawdriBy George Weigel ness, still engages questions of right and wrong, good and bad, the noble and the all our other loves and loyalties, base. Political judgment is pru- vote with their brains, not with dential judgment; but prudence their emotions.

Morally serious voters unis a virtue, a habit of the mind derstand that casting a ballot is and heart that, as the “Catechism not an exercise in nostalgia, and of the Catholic Church” teaches, “disposes a person to discern that gratitude to FDR for givthe good and choose the correct ing grandpa a job in the Civilmeans to accomplish it.” Pru- ian Conservation Corps, or fond dence “guides the judgment of memories of the Eisenhower conscience,” and helps us “over- years, cannot be determinative of come doubts about the good to one’s moral judgment about the American future, and those who achieve and the evil to avoid.”

For the vast majority of Amer- would lead us into it in 2012.

Morally serious voters underican citizens, exercising prudential judgment in politics is not a stand that the character of po-

The Catholic Difference

litical parties changes over time, and that voting for the Democrats or the Republicans because “that’s what we’ve always done” is outsourcing one’s moral judgments to others.

Morally-serious citizens recognize that voting a straight party line is an abrogation of moral responsibility, because the judgment one makes on a party’s candidate for, say, president, cannot be applied willynilly to that party’s candidate in House or Senate races.

Morally serious Catholics recognize that no one party in contemporary America fully embodies Catholic social teaching; but alert Catholics will also take notice when a party holds Catholic social teaching — including the Church’s teaching on such fundamental issues as the inalienable right to life and the nature of Marriage — in contempt.

In this particular season of decision, all adherents of biblical religion will pay close attention

to the religious liberty concerns raised by the U.S. bishops over the past year and will weigh their votes in light of a candidate’s commitment to religious freedom in full.

Voting is an exercise in moral judgment about the immediate future that must take into account the medium- and long-term future. Voters who think only of themselves, and do not take into account what kind of country their children and grandchildren will inherit, are being politically shortsighted and morally obtuse.

Voting is not simply a privilege; it is a noble privilege, because it asks each of us to bring our best judgment to bear on matters of grave consequence.

The voting booth isn’t the confessional. But like the confessional, it should be entered after serious moral reflection and prayer.

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

November 2, 2012

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enesis 19 recounts the story of the destruction of the cities Sodom and Gomorrah.

These two cities, because of their wickedness, incurred the wrath of God. In one of these cities, however, is a man wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord — Lot, the nephew of Abraham. In the events leading up to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot opens his door to two different groups of people: the first group is a pair of angels on a mission to save Lot and to level the cities. The other group is a mob composed of citizens who wish to kidnap the angelic visitors.

This story from Genesis 19 is a great starting point to reflect on the first Person to knock on our porta fidei, our door of Faith — that Person being God the Father.

It illustrates well how there are always several people knocking on the door of our souls, vying for our attention. However, when our

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The Anchor

Knock! Knock! Who’s there?

heavenly Father knocks, He does disappear, never run out. The so not for attention or glory, but to Father offers us something genusave us from those other groups ine, that will help us become better that threaten our safety. people, the people He has always Our usual impressions of God meant us to be. He does not want or are that of an old wizened man try to deceive us because He made with a long white beard. His us for the truth and He is the only knowledge and experience — His wisdom — beaming from His eyes tells us that He is compassionate, but not a Man with Whom to mess. The “Catechism”

By Father reminds us that we are William Sylvia to describe God as omnipotent, omnipresent, and limitless (Par. 268274). All of the Father’s attributes One who can really give it to us. It can be summed up by two words: is through truth that we can continually come to know the Lord. truth and love.

A few paragraphs later, we also Paragraphs 215-217 of the learn from the “Catechism” that “Catechism” teach us that the FaGod the Father not only offers ther is true, and that He offers us us truth, but offers love as well truth. When God knocks on our doors of faith, He offers us some- (218-221). This love has been exthing that can never fade, never pressed through the mission of the

Living Our Year of Faith

Eternal truths through a woman’s eyes

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o follow up on our intro- the centuries, what sets Hildeduction to the newest fe- gard’s apart is her ability to wrap male Doctor of the Church, the the eternal truths in perceptively medieval Abbess Hildegard of feminine terms, even then calling Bingen, it is next important to to mind the “catechesis on human consider the nature of the par- love” that was such a centerpiece ticular insights entrusted to her of John Paul II’s work.

by God. Pope Benedict tells us As Benedict notes, “With the that “Hildegard’s mystical vi- characteristic traits of feminine sions resemble those of the Old sensitivity, Hildegard develops Testament prophets: expressing at the very heart of her work the herself in the cultural and religious categories of her time [the early 12th century]. She interpreted the Sacred Scriptures in the light of God, applying them

By Genevieve Kineke to the various circumstances of life. Thus all those who heard her felt the need to live a consistent and theme of the mysterious marriage committed Christian lifestyle.” between God and humanity that Rather than opening new is brought about in the Incarnavistas of revelation, her visions tion. On the tree of the cross take augmented what God had al- place the nuptials of the Son of ready revealed through Holy God with the Church, His bride, Scriptures, making the prin- filled with grace and the ability ciple events of salvation history to give new children to God, in come alive to a new generation. the love of the Holy Spirit. From She wrote to St. Bernard: “The these brief references we already vision fascinates my whole be- see that theology too can receive ing: I do not see with the eyes a special contribution from womof the body but it appears to me en because they are able to talk in the spirit of the mysteries .... about God and the mysteries of I recognize the deep meaning faith using their own particular of what is expounded on in the intelligence and sensitivity.”

Despite lasting misperceptions Psalter, in the Gospels and in other books, which have been about the Church and the Middle shown to me in the vision. This Ages, the vitality and cultural vision burns like a flame in richness revealed in these mystimy breast and in my soul and cal visions show the vibrancy of teaches me to understand the the female monasteries in that period of history. Among many text profoundly.”

While a number of mystics other things, the women religious have received such visions over were interested in myriad fields of

The Feminine Genius

study, including medicine, music, art, the natural sciences, poetry, and geography. Hildegard herself is known for marvelous musical compositions and intriguing paintings.

This extraordinary saint was widely known in her day, and her advice sought from people in all strata of society. Regardless, she knew she had been entrusted with a wisdom that had to be carefully guarded from her own unreliable senses and various temptations. She wrote: “The spiritual life must be tended with great dedication. At first the effort is burdensome because it demands the renunciation of caprices of the pleasures of the flesh and of other such things.

But if she lets herself be enthralled by holiness a holy soul will find even contempt for the world sweet and lovable. All that is needed is to take care that the soul does not shrivel.”

God is good, and He loves His daughters with a Father’s love. May what He revealed though this newly-proclaimed Doctor of the Church help you to understand your femininity better and create a deeper appreciation for the feminine genius.

Mrs. Kineke is the author of “Set Free: The Authentic Catholic Woman’s Guide to Forgiveness,” and can be found online at www.feminine-genius.com.

prophets in the Old Testament and through Jesus and the Apostles in the New Testament. The goal of the prophets and the Apostles was to help the people live in right relation with God and neighbor.

The prophets and the Apostles, then, served as living “love cards” that the Father sent to His people, calling them to faithfulness in Him as He is always faithful to us.

All this stands in contrast to the second group that knocked, almost breaking down, the door of Lot. The denizens of Sodom and Gomorrah want to appease their appetites. They are willing to do just about anything to do so. This scene from Genesis, sadly, was not an isolated incident. Throughout human history, men and women have torn down their neighbors in order to fill their own desires. The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council warned the world of this continuing trend in the document Gaudium et spes. The first 18 paragraphs of this great document speak of the imbalance in which the world finds itself. Countries are finding themselves getting either richer or poorer. Technology and science are quickly replacing God and religion. Humanity is forced to live in an uneasy peace due to the threat of nuclear war. Individuals are now seeking to be heard and seen, even if it comes at the detriment of the common good.

How, then, are we supposed to know who is knocking at our door of faith, the door of our souls?

The answer is to be found in the offering of the person knocking.

When God comes to be with us, He offers us something, actually someone. What He offers us is His name — I Am Who Am. By offering us His name, God the Father is offering His very self to us. It is when we accept His name that we encounter ultimate truth, goodness, and beauty.

When the world comes knocking on our door as the mob was storming Lot’s door, we can learn that the world comes not to offer, but to take. The world is contending for attention and glory. When it does not get it right away, it keeps coming like a mob trying to break down the door. It seeks its own interests, not our own.

I would be willing to bet that in our lifetimes we have opened our doors to both groups, to the Father on some occasions and to the world with its allurements on other occasions. This can cause quite an unbalance in our spiritual lives! The only way out of this rut is to venture to a door of faith not found in our souls but in our churches — the door to the Confessional. It is at this door that we can greet and welcome the Father of mercies wholeheartedly into our lives as Lot did in his.

Father William Sylvia is technical assistant at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Hyannis.

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Health care providers complete training course

FALL RIVER — Twenty-four people recently graduated from the 30-hour Train the Trainer Stanford University Evidence-Based Course, “My Life ­— My Health, Chronic Disease Self-Management.”

Among the new certified trainers: From Visiting Nurses Association: Mary Devlin, Katherine Berry-Mcdonagh, Amy Chipman Barbara Silva, Kathy Ganey, Marti Baker and Melanie Phinney; from Elder Services of Cape Cod and the Islands: Debbie Machon, Linda Zevitas, Dot Kingsbury and Patricia Hart; from SHINE of Cape Cod and the Islands: Sonya Brewer; from Mashpee Wampanoag Health Services Unit: Edwina Johnson-Graham, Suzanne Green, Wampsikuk Mills, Heather Rhodes and Lorraine Reels; from Harwich Council on Aging: Barbara-Anne Foley and Diane Behan; from the Parish Nurse Program at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville: Gerard Tierney; from Age Wise: Harriet Rzetelny; from Dance for Parkinson’s Disease: Jane McDonald; and from the community: Alisa Galazzi and Debbie Hagen.

People with chronic health conditions face challenges every day.

They must manage their medical condition and also maintain their ability to complete the simple daily tasks most people take for granted. At the same time they often have to deal with the frustration, anger, and depression that many accompany any chronic health problem.

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Originally based on a five-year study conducted at Stanford University, this work has grown to include the feedback of medical professionals and people with chronic conditions all over the world. The course has helped thousands of people with chronic illness fulfill their greatest possible physical potential and to once again derive pleasure from life.

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SURF’S UP — Gerard Butler and Jonny Weston star in a scene from the movie “Chasing Mavericks.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below.(CNS photo/Fox)

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

“Chasing Mavericks” (Fox) Compelling fact-based portrait of Jay Moriarity (Jonny Weston), a gifted California surfer who, at the tender age of 15, took on the Mavericks, a famously formidable Golden State coastal spot where some of the largest waves in the world are found. Jay enlists his surfer-dude neighbor (Gerard Butler) as his trainer, while try-

November 2, 2012

The Anchor

ing to help his alcoholic mother (Elisabeth Shue) rebuild her life, and working to win the heart of the prettiest girl (Leven Rambin) in his high school. The film, co-directed by Curtis Hansen and Michael Apted, offers viewers — particularly teens — a refreshingly positive role model in the person of a young man who, despite a mountain of obstacles, inspires others with his inherent sense of goodness, perseverance, and self-discipline. Intense sports scenes and some emotionally challenging moments. The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents.

The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

“Fun Size” (Paramount) In this Halloween-themed comedy, directed by Josh Schwartz, a high school senior (Victoria Justice) is forced by her widowed mom (Chelsea Handler) to take her mischievous little brother (Jackson Nicoll) trick-ortreating, despite her plans to attend a big costume party being given by the boy of her dreams (Thomas McDonell). When the siblings accidentally become separated,

she turns to her best friend (Jane Levy) and two nerdy schoolmates (Thomas Mann and Osric Chau) to help find the missing tot. But their search soon descends into farce.

Some enjoyable humor — especially from Thomas Middleditch in the role of a slacker store clerk — and a pleasingly innocent central romance are drowned out by discordant notes that bar endorsement for the targeted age group.

These include the revelation that one of the geeks has been raised by a lesbian couple as well as the pass given to an off-screen sexual encounter between two teens.

Frivolous treatment of homosexuality, adult cohabitation, implied nonmarital — and possibly underage — sexual activity, obscured rear and partial nudity, some sexual and scatological humor, at least one use of profanity, a few crude and crass terms. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

“Hellbound?” (Area23a) Thought-provoking documentary showcasing a variety of viewpoints on the topic of hell.

Filmmaker Kevin Miller interviews writers, theologians, ministers and even some heavy-metal rock musicians, asking questions about the existence of the inferno, its nature and its duration.

While the focus is mostly on the debate about this subject within the evangelical community, the Catholic standpoint is ably, albeit briefly, presented by Boston College professor — and celebrated apologist — Peter Kreeft. Both he and Orthodox Archbishop Lazar Puhalo of Ottawa, Ontario, come across as more reflective and humane in their outlook than some of the hard-line Protestant fundamentalists with whom Miller

talks — and with whom he clearly disagrees. Along with the obvious issue of its potentially upsetting theme, some less than kid-friendly images and words make this intelligent exploration of a weighty subject suitable for grown-ups only. A brief act of blasphemy, a few rough and crude terms. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America.

“Cloud Atlas” (Warner Bros.)

Sweeping screen version of David Mitchell’s 2004 novel — co-written and directed by Lana and Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer — that interweaves six connected stories set at different times between the 19th and 24th centuries. Tom Hanks leads an ensemble cast that also includes Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, Keith David and James D’Arcy — all skillfully juggling multiple roles. The half-dozen tales which make up the plot send mostly positive — if sometimes ponderously expressed — messages about the bonds uniting all human beings and the courage required to do the right thing on behalf of others. But one of the central relationships is a sympathetically portrayed romance between two men. An incidental extramarital affair, moreover, is treated as essentially harmless.

Another plotline involves the debunking of a fictional faith that may or may not be intended as an attack on real-life religion, and the script at least hints that some of the characters may be reincarnations of people in the earlier sections of the vast chronology.

Considerable gory violence, including torture and a suicide, a benign view of homosexual acts and adultery, graphic premarital

and nongraphic adulterous sexual activity, upper female and rear nudity, a same-sex kiss, a few uses of profanity, at least 20 rough terms, occasional crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive.

The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted.

Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

“Paranormal Activity 4” (Paramount) This extension of the durable horror franchise shifts the focus to a teen couple (Kathryn Newton and Matt Shively) whose lives are disrupted in increasingly eerie ways after her parents (Stephen Dunham and Alexondra Lee) take in her little brother’s (Aiden Lovekamp) weird playmate (Brady Allen) because his reclusive single mother (Katie Featherston) has been hospitalized. The found footage conceit behind co-directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman’s flesh-crawler becomes strained at times, leaving moviegoers to wonder who would continue to carry a camera around with them while being terrorized by demons.

But the comparatively restrained mayhem that has made this series more commendable than many of its genre competitors endures, though the young leads often express their shock or amazement via expletives and indulge in some sexual banter as well. A few scenes of harsh but bloodless violence, some sexual and scatological humor, a few uses of profanity, about 20 rough and crude terms, references to occult hokum. 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 4, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Michael Fitzpatrick, parochial vicar at Corpus Christi Parish in East Sandwich

November 2, 2012

13

The Anchor

Court allows Texas to defund Planned Parenthood

New website gathers video resources for Catholic ministry

Rome, Italy (CNA) — The new website Catholic Link catalogues videos and other resources useful for ministry and evangelization, aspiring to proclaim the Gospel with “creativity and ingenuity.”

“We are deeply convinced that our Catholic faith in the Lord Jesus is the answer today, for all people, of all ages,” said

Garrett Johnson, the manager of Catholic Link’s new Englishlanguage site.

He said the site invites visitors to “discover the truths of the faith that are literally all around them” that speak to them through sports, music, school, friendship or at Church.

“We try to express this through the diversity of sub-

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jects, tones, and sources of our videos,” said Johnson, who is an American student of philosophy and theology in Rome.

The site collects various streaming videos from sites like YouTube and offers commentaries and interpretations. The site suggests how the videos can be used for Catholic ministry.

Categories include videos about Jesus, the Catholic Church and the Catholic faith, as well as Christian life and family. Other topics include faith and science, Pro-Life issues, apologetics, recommended movies, music and art, and humorous videos.

Mauricio Artieda, a Peruvian communications major studying in Rome, founded Catholic Link in its first Spanish-language version. He said it began “very quietly” in a blog format.

“Very rapidly, many seminarians, catechists, consecrated men and women and people generally involved in the apostolate (the majority being younger) started to write to us saying that they were using our videos and that the page was helping them a lot in their apostolate,” Artieda said.

The Spanish-language site began last year, while the Englishlanguage version is less than a month old. Johnson voiced great hopes for the site.

“My hope, above all, is that Catholics, and especially the youth, will realize the possibilities of evangelization that are out there when you join together a spirit of initiative and prayer,” he said.

Catholic Link’s Englishlanguage website can be found at: en.catholic-link.com.

New Orleans, La. (CNA/ EWTN News) — A federal appeals court has declined a rehearing for Planned Parenthood, which was trying to block Texas’ effort to defund its clinics in the state.

“Today’s ruling affirms yet again that in Texas the Women’s Health Program has no obligation to fund Planned Parenthood and other organizations that perform or promote abortion,” Texas governor Rick Perry said in a recent statement.

“In Texas we choose life, and we will immediately begin defunding all abortion affiliates to honor and uphold that choice.”

In March, Texas indicated it would forgo federal funding for its Women’s Health Program and established a rule that barred clinics which perform elective abortions, or affiliates of those that do, from participating in the program.

Women’s Health Program provides health care for uninsured, low-income women throughout the state.

Planned Parenthood sued Texas, claiming that the state’s noabortion provision violated their clinics’ First Amendment rights to free speech and association.

On August 21 a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals removed an April 30 injunction that had prevented Texas from defunding Planned Parenthood until a trial could be held about the issue.

That panel decided that “the authority of Texas to disfavor abortion within its own subsidized program is not violative of the First Amendment right.”

“Today a unanimous appeals court rightfully recognized that the taxpayer-funded Women’s Health Program is not required to subsidize organizations that advocate for elective abortion,” Texas attorney general Greg Abbot said August 21.

“We are encouraged by today’s decision and will continue to defend the Women’s Health Program in court.”

Planned Parenthood requested a rehearing before the full appellate court, but was denied October 25.

Judge Grady Jolly indicated that none of the circuit judges requested that the court be asked about the rehearing petition.

Texas Alliance for Life executive director Joe Pojman told The Texas Catholic newspaper that he is remaining optimistic.

“Protecting innocent human life has never been popular in this country, but you look at the legislative progress that has been made here in Texas, especially in the last five years, and there are things we got done that we didn’t dream we’d get accomplished,” said Pojman, referring to the state of Texas’ recent decision to de-fund Planned Parenthood.

Texas’ rule against abortion affiliates participating in Women’s Health Program was due to come into effect November 1.

Chicago, Ill. (CNA/EWTN News) — A nonpartisan political analyst says Obama’s new ad featuring a young woman describing her “first time” voting for the president in terms similar to losing her virginity is “nothing short of demeaning and sexist” towards women.

“As a woman, I am horribly offended by this ad,” Kara Mone of CatholicVote.org told CNA. In the ad, 26 year-old actress and writer Lena Dunham, tells the camera that, “Your first time shouldn’t be with just anybody. You want to do it with a great guy — someone who really cares about and understands women.”

“A guy who cares about whether or not you get health insurance, specifically whether you get birth control,” Dunham added.

The political advertisement, featuring Dunham likening her “first time” voting for President Obama to her first sexual encounter has received just over 275,000 views on YouTube, with nearly 9,000 “dis-

likes” and roughly 6,600 “likes.”

Mone said the ad is “anti-woman” because it sends the message that female voters are essentially “reducible” to their reproductive organs.

“Mr. Obama has constantly reminded young women during this campaign that all we need to be concerned with is sex, birth control and abortion on demand,” she said.

Dunham closes the video saying, “My first time voting was amazing.

It was this line in the sand. Before I was a girl, now I was a woman.”

The ad, which has only been released online, has received mixed reviews in the video’s comments section, with some calling it “clever” and others referring to the ad as “creepy.”

Mone said that for Dunham “to suggest that voting for Obama is what made her a woman” is “a slap in the face to women,” especially those who “have worked hard to become what they are today through hard work, dedication and sacrifice.”

Catholic analyst reacts to Obama campaign’s new ‘anti-woman’ ad

14

Synod of Bishops on New Evangelization

Faith in Jesus means being optimistic about future, synod message says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Despite the growth of secularism, increased hostility toward Christianity and sinful behavior by some Church ministers, members of the Synod of Bishops said they are optimistic about the future because of Christ’s promise of salvation.

Addressing a message to Catholics around the world October 26, synod members said they were certain God “will not fail to look on our poverty in order to show the strength of His arm in our days and to sustain us in the path of the New Evangelization.”

Even if the world often resembles a “desert” for Christians, “we must journey, taking with us what is essential: the company of Jesus, the truth of His word, the Eucharistic bread which nourishes us,” the fellowship of community and the work of charity, the message said.

Pope Benedict XVI and the synod members — more than 260 cardinals, bishops and priests — along with priests, religious and laymen and women serving as synod observers and experts, began meeting at the Vatican October 7 to discuss ways to strengthen Catholics’ faith and to encourage lapsed Catholics to come back to church.

The synod members approved their “message to the people of God” October 26. They were to vote on proposals to make to Pope Benedict, who will write an apostolic exhortation on the New Evangelization, and concelebrated the synod’s closing Mass October 28.

While the message described forces hostile to the Christian faith today, the synod members also said, “With humility we must recognize that the poverty and weakness of Jesus’ disciples, especially of His ministers, weigh on the credibility of the mission.”

At the same time, they said, they also were “convinced that the Lord’s spirit is capable of renewing His Church and rendering her garment resplendent if we let Him mold us.”

“It is our duty, therefore, to conquer fear through faith, humiliation through hope, indifference through love,” the message said.

At a news conference about the message, Philippine Cardinaldesignate Luis Tagle of Manila was asked how the bishops could take the line of optimism when Catholics in some parts of the world were leaving the Church because of the clerical abuse scandal.

The cardinal-designate said

that “no one pretended there was no problem. There was no such blindness in the synod hall,” but the bishops “are believers” and the Catholic faith teaches that with real conversion, God will help the Church and its ministers respond to “those really painful and scandalizing moments in the Church.”

The message included special words of thanks and encouragement for Catholics in different regions of the world. It said synod members were grateful for the generous charity and missionary work of North American Catholics, but it also said Catholics in the United States and Canada “need to recognize the many expressions” of their culture “which are today far from the Gospel.”

Addressing Catholics’ involvement in political life, the synod message insisted “politics requires a commitment of selfless and sincere care for the common good by fully respecting the dignity of the human person from conception to its natural end, honoring the family founded on the marriage of a man and a woman,” and working to end “injustice, inequality, discrimination, violence, racism, hunger and war.”

Looking at specific areas of Church and social life, the bishops first highlighted the role of the family, “where women play a very special role,” in teaching the faith.

The bishops promised greater efforts to strengthen and accompany Catholic families, particularly through marriage preparation and post-wedding programs.

While they condemned efforts to move away from a traditional definition of Marriage, they expressed particular concern for

divorced, separated or unmarried couples.

“To all of them we want to say that God’s love does not abandon anyone; that the Church loves them, too; that the Church is a house that welcomes all; that they remain members of the Church even if they cannot receive sacramental absolution and the Eucharist,” it said.

In the message, the bishops offered thanks for the work of priests, religious and deacons whose ministry is crucial for the Church. And they recognized the many men and women who witness to Christ in the world, including other Christians “with whom unity, unfortunately, is not yet full,” but who share Baptism in Christ.

Synod members said they were “concerned, yes, but not pessimistic” about the situation of young Catholics around the world because while they often are under “the most aggressive attacks” of secular culture, they have “deep aspirations for authenticity, truth, freedom, generosity, to which we are convinced that the adequate response is Christ.”

While many synod members spoke during the meeting about the importance of using social media and other new forms of communication to spread the Christian message, it earned only a brief mention in the 11-page message.

The new media, they said, are places where “consciences are often formed, where people spend their time and live their lives. It is a new opportunity for touching the human heart.”

November 2, 2012

SYNOD SMILES — Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, right, smiles after a meeting of the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization at the Vatican recently. Cardinal John Tong Hon of Hong Kong is second from left. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Cardinal Burke: Vatican II betrayed by breakdown of Church discipline

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Abandonment of internal Church discipline over the past half century has undermined the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, said the American cardinal who heads the Vatican’s supreme court.

Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, prefect of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature and a former archbishop of St. Louis, made his remarks recently in a written submission to the afternoon session of the world Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization.

The cardinal said that a secular version of “antinomianism” — the belief that grace exempts Christians from obedience to moral law — is “among the most serious wounds of society today,” responsible for the legalization of “intrinsically evil” actions such as abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, euthanasia and samesex marriage, and for the denial of conscience exemptions and other infringements of religious liberty.

“This antinomianism embedded in civil society has unfortunately infected post-council ecclesial life,” he said.

“Excitement following the council, linked to the establishment of a new church which teaches freedom and love, has strongly encouraged an attitude of indifference toward Church discipline, if not even hostility,” he said. “The reforms of ecclesial life which were hoped for by the council fathers were, therefore, in a certain sense, hindered if not betrayed.”

The cardinal’s remarks to the synod echoed a much longer address he delivered August 30 in Nairobi, to the Canon Law Society of Kenya.

In that speech, the cardinal linked a breakdown in internal discipline with theologians’ interpretations of Vatican II as a radical break with Church tradition — an approach that he said encouraged contempt for canon law.

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November 2, 2012

Panel urges voters to vote ‘No’ on Ques. 2 continued from page one

doctor somehow makes it acceptable when it shouldn’t, said Tranter. “We have to ask ourselves, how did we get to this point?”

Healthcare has improved dramatically, and for 90 percent of us “life will not end suddenly,” said Tranter, “but as faithful Catholics, we know that death is inevitable. Our life’s purpose is to serve God and embrace death for what it is.”

If the bill passes, suddenly the elderly, who are of a generation that implicitly “trust their physicians,” will now be placed in a position to figure out whether their doctor is a “life” doctor or “death” doctor.

It is a “poorly-written law” that doesn’t preserve the dignity of death, said Tranter. “When someone says, ‘I want to die,’ it’s a cry for help. When you say, ‘I support you in that decision,’ it reaffirms that fear that they’re a burden or that life is too painful to keep on living.”

Elizabeth Dost, executive director of Guardian Hospice and Palliative Care, concurred with Tranter, saying the initiative hits

people at “the most fragile time in their life.”

So many patients, when given six months or less to live, often live much longer — on average it’s 18-24 months. When under the treatment of Hospice and palliative care, the support is unending; the goal is to manage pain along with offering the services of doctors, nurses, social workers and many others, including chaplains because it is recognized that many patients have “spiritual suffering,” said Dost.

Medicaid and Medicare will cover Hospice and palliative care; “I’ve never seen Hospice not covered,” said Dost. “Everyone can receive it. We say patients live on Hospice, that every day is a gift. The last few months can be dynamic and give patients a chance to get their affairs in order. There’s a lot of work to be done at the end of life.”

The bill preys on those in despair while Hospice and palliative care offer incredible support, said Dost; “I once had a patient say Hospice was her

time. It was her time for attention. She had all these wonderful people there for her and she was free from pain.”

While the campaign to stop the bill from passing may seem to be from a purely Catholic standpoint, the support to stop the bill can be found in other communities, including Americans with Disabilities, said Peter McNulty, associate director for Policy and Research for the Massachusetts Catholic Conference.

A concern, said McNulty, lies in the confusion some voters may face when looking at

the ballot. The #3 question has to do with legalizing medical marijuana, and McNulty thinks that while the #3 ballot question will pass, the worry is voters will simply check off “Yes” for #2 and #3 without thinking it through.

“This is poorly written and a bad law,” said McNulty, who said that Massachusetts is the litmus test for the east coast and that if ballot passes, the initiative will widen beyond the state’s borders. “It’s spreading and will continue to spread.”

Toffler, whose own wife was

diagnosed with cancer and continues to battle the disease, said that if he and his wife were on the Oregon Healthcare plan, she would not have had her choice of treatments but would have been given a blank check to cash in a prescription for sleeping pills. It’s a dangerous, slippery slope that awaits those in Massachusetts if the ballot passes, he warned.

“If you want to improve care, this is not the way to do it,” said Toffler. “Do not join Oregon.”

To find out more information, go to www.pccef.org or www. stopassistedsuicide.org.

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

Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina “Dear children! Today I call you to pray for my intentions. Renew fasting and prayer because Satan is cunning and attracts many hearts to sin and perdition.

I call you, little children, to holiness and to live in grace. Adore my Son so that He may fill you with His peace and love for which you yearn.

“Thank you for having responded to my call.”

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

disaster site — Homes devastated by fire and the effects of Hurricane Sandy are seen in the Breezy Point section of Queensborough in New York October 30. The storm knocked out power to huge swathes of the nation’s most densely populated region, swamped New York’s subway system and submerged streets in Manhattan’s financial district. (CNS photo/Shannon Stapleton, Reuters)

This week in 50 years ago — Some 500 Fall River area Boy Scouts and 75 leaders participated in the annual Scout retreat held at Camp Noquochoke in Westport. The event allowed Scouts to mix various campcraft with their spiritual lives. About 2,500 parents and friends were also present for the closing exercises.

25 years ago — Between 700 and 800 persons participated in a Marian year Living Rosary service held at St. Joseph’s Church in New Bedford. The event was one of a series planned by members of the Legion of Mary. Father Maurice Gauvin was homilist.

Diocesan history

10 years ago — The new perpetual adoration chapel on the north end of the Holy Trinity Parish property in West Harwich was blessed and dedicated. The Gothic-style facility would be open around-the-clock for prayer, meditation and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

One year ago — The Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Bechara Peter Rai, addressed a standing-room-only congregation inside St. Anthony of the Desert Church in Fall River during a special Liturgy celebration. The stop was one of several on Patriarch Rai’s first tour of U.S. Eparchies since being elected earlier in the year.

16

Youth Pages

November 2, 2012

cross training — The cross country teams of St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro, coached by Tracey Magill, Karen Flannery, Christine Doherty and Dena Paolino, have completed another successful season. In the R.I. Catholic Athletic League the girls’ middle school team finished in fourth place in the northern division and the boys came in third. New this year was a “B” race for fourth and fifth graders to introduce them to the sport of cross country.

LORD OF THE RINGS — The class of 2014 at Coyle and Cassidy High School gathered at St. Mary’s Church in Taunton recently to commemorate the receipt of their school rings and their ascension to upperclassmen. A long-standing tradition at the school, many students purchased school rings while others had special pieces of jewelry blessed by Chaplain Father David Stopyra. Shannon Largey of Raynham is pictured above leading in the members of the class of 2014.

STANG SCHOLARS — Twenty-seven students at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth recently earned the designation of AP Scholar by the College Board in recognition of their exceptional achievement on the Advanced Placement Program Exams. Pictured here are, front from left, President/Principal Peter Shaughnessy with Jonathan Noonan, Colleen Packard, Zachary Torres, and Assistant Principal of Academics Kathleen Ruginis; back from left, Andrew Paquette and Michael Dombrowski.

FARM FRESH — Third-graders from Holy Name School in Fall River recently visited Four Town Farm in Seekonk to supplement their study of how plants live and grow. The trip included a trailer ride through the fields and a visit to the carrot house which included the opportunity for students to bag their own carrots. The trip ended with a dash through the corn maze and everyone took a pumpkin home with them.

FEATS OF CLAY — Students in grade six at St. James-St. John School in New Bedford recently created a Phoenician alphabet tablet out of clay with their teacher, Mr. Malloy.

Youth Pages

November 2, 2012

17

Maryland’s Piscataway Indians honor St. Kateri, their ‘northern sister’

CHAPEL POINT, Md. (CNS) — To the Piscataway Indians of Maryland, the newly-canonized St. Kateri Tekakwitha is not just the first Native American saint — she is a member of the family.

On a wooded hillside overlooking the Potomac and Port Tobacco Rivers in southern Maryland, about 25 members of the Piscataway tribe gathered in a clearing, before a statue of the new saint, their saint.

During the ceremony on the grounds of St. Ignatius Parish in Chapel Point, Billy Redwing Tayac —the chief of the Piscataway Indian nation — stood before the gleaming white statue of the Native American saint. Holding up a feather, he led the crowd saying, “St. Kateri, pray for us.”

Tayac, a lifelong member of St. Ignatius Parish, said he often came to that place, to pray before the statue of St. Kateri.

“We are the direct descendants of the Piscataway people who were baptized at the bottom of this hill. I wish to raise my voice personally in honoring St. Kateri,” he told the Catholic Standard, newspaper of the Washington Archdiocese.

During the ceremony, the

chief also noted, “We give thanks today, and acknowledge one of our own as a Catholic saint. It makes us equal in mankind. It’s a blessing for us.”

Held the same day Pope Benedict XVI canonized Kateri at the Vatican, the Maryland ceremony included Native Americans offering an honor song, with chants and drumming celebrating the new saint. Tayac lit a calumet pipe and blew smoke on the statue, signifying the prayers they were offering to God, seeking the new saint’s intercession in heaven.

Parishioners and guests later joined the Native Americans in rhythmic dancing around the statue of the new saint, nicknamed the “Lily of the Mohawks,” in honor of her father’s tribe. Her mother was a Christian Algonquin.

In St. Ignatius Church, a stained-glass window shows Father Andrew White, an English Jesuit missionary in the Maryland colony, baptizing Chitomachen, the chief of the Piscataway Indians, in 1640. Father White had accompanied the first English colonists to Maryland, and celebrated the first Mass in

the English-speaking colonies after they landed there in 1634.

A Catholic elementary school in Leonardtown is named for the pioneer priest.

Like St. Kateri, the Piscataway Indians are part of the Algonquian native peoples, sharing a common language and culture.

St. Kateri, born in 1656 along the Hudson River in what is now upstate New York, was baptized at the age of 20 by a French-speaking Jesuit missionary.

Known for her spirituality and devotion to prayer and the Eucharist, Kateri taught children to pray and served the sick and the elderly, but she was taunted by other Indians because of her faith, and she later fled to Canada, where she died in 1680.

Her statue in southern Maryland, which was erected about seven years ago, depicts the new saint smiling, looking heavenward and holding a cross. During the ceremony there, Jesuit Father Edward Dougherty, St. Ignatius’ pastor, praised St. Kateri as someone who from a young age “grew in love for God and for her fellow human beings.”

The priest said she “had strong faith, despite great obstacles.” In

Simpsonville, S.C., (CNA) — Youth at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Simpson, S.C. recently received a crash course in what it’s like to be homeless.

Twenty-eight middle and high school students and parents from the church spent a weekend outside September 21-23, sleeping in cardboard boxes on the ground and relying only on donated supplies for food and hygiene.

Participants arrived on Friday afternoon to begin the event with only the clothes on their backs.

They weren’t allowed to bring sleeping bags, personal hygiene items or anything else. Parents could join the activity or visit with their children, but weren’t allowed to bring them supplies.

The parish youth already participate in an annual 30-hour fast to empathize with the hungry, and this project was meant to give them an idea of what it’s like to be homeless and fending for themselves on the streets, said youth leader Joe Maggio.

They also collected blankets, clothing, shoes, bottled water, non-perishable food and hygiene items for homeless programs, including United Ministries, Safe Harbor and God’s Pantry.

Basic physical needs weren’t the only concern. The youth also had to come up with ways to entertain themselves, a skill that’s

not often required in a busy, technology-driven world.

There were a few guest speakers during the weekend, but the rest of the time, they sang, talked with each other, or played games.

“It was a great bonding time, to be quite honest, because one of the things they found out is being homeless can be very boring,” Maggio said. “There was no technology, no diversions. It was a real chance to hang out together and really talk to people and get to know them, because there was none of the rush-rush of normal daily life.”

The daytime hours were sunny and comfortable, but at night temperatures dropped into the

50s. They learned just how cold that can feel without the protection of four walls and a roof.

“At night I felt like I almost froze,” said Abby Frazier, 17.

“I had two blankets and a mat to sleep on, and I was freezing.

I didn’t think it would get that cold at night. I totally sympathize now with what it must be like for people who have to sleep outside. It really opened my eyes to how they have to live to survive.”

Angel Vigil joined her two sons Isaac, 10, and Weston, 13, for some eye-opening lessons.

“Going without was an interesting experience,” she said.

“We only ate if people brought food, drank if they brought wa-

an opening prayer, he asked God to help people emulate the saint, “so we too might have a strong and abiding faith and put up with any difficulty.”

Francis Gray, a representative of the Piscataway-Conoy Tribe and a member of St. Peter Parish in Waldorf, helped lead the prayer service, wearing native dress like many of the participants.

A mechanical engineer who works as a patent examiner for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, he said, “We as Piscataway people are honored to be here. Our families, our lives are truly embedded into the faith of the Church. We wish to thank our northern sister, Kateri, for her conversion to Catholicism, just as we are faithful Catholics today.”

lily of the mohawks — Billy Redwing Tayac, the chief of the Piscataway Indian Nation, prays before a statue of St. Kateri Tekakwitha during a recent ceremony on the grounds of St. Ignatius Parish in Chapel Point, Md. St. Kateri, a 16th-century Mohawk-Algonquin woman known as the “Lily of the Mohawks,” was canonized at the Vatican that day by Pope Benedict XVI. (CNS photo/Michael Hoyt, Catholic Standard)

A weekend in the life helps youth empathize with homeless ter. You didn’t know where you were going to get things or if anyone was going to take care of you.”

Her kids learned what it was like to not brush their teeth or

take a shower.

“Homelessness is out there and people don’t really talk about this, and events like this can help start the conversation,” she said.

The Anchor is always pleased to run news and photos about our diocesan youth. If schools or parish Religious Education programs, have newsworthy stories and photos they would like to share with our readers, send them to: schools@anchornews.org

18

The Anchor

November 2, 2012

Synod members propose ways to promote evangelization

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Members of the Synod of Bishops recommended the Vatican establish a commission to monitor religious freedom, develop guidelines for training evangelizers and ensure there is a church in every diocese where Confession is always available.

At the end of the three-week world Synod of Bishops on New Evangelization, members of the gathering approved 58 propositions to give to the pope; although synod rules say the proposals are secret, Pope Benedict authorized their publication October 27.

The propositions were designed as recommendations for the pope to use in a post-synodal apostolic exhortation. Many of the propositions described current challenges and opportunities that the Church faces in sharing the Gospel, strengthening the faith and reaching out to lapsed Catholics.

Other propositions asked Pope Benedict or individual bishops to consider undertaking concrete projects, including: — Establishing a Vatican commission to monitor religious freedom around the world, denounce attacks on religious freedom and promote a broader understanding of its importance as a basic human right.

The propositions said, “The proclamation of the Good News in different contexts of the world — marked by the process of globalization and secularism — places different challenges before the Church: at times in outright religious persecution, at other times in a widespread indifference, interference, restriction or harassment.”

During the synod discussions, bishops in different parts of the world described different relationships with Muslim neighbors, ranging from situations in which Christian minorities experience serious discrimination to cases of Catholics and Muslims working together to address social problems.

The synod propositions en-

should describe the “qualities and guidelines for the formation of Catholic evangelizers today.”

— Asking that every diocese establish a parish or shrine dedicated “in a permanent way” to the administration of the Sacrament of Penance, ensuring “priests are always present, allowing God’s mercy to be experienced by all the faithful.”

“the world is God’s creation and manifests His love.” Even if Christians are just a little flock, they are called to “bear witness to the Gospel message of salvation” and “to be salt and light of a new world.”

The propositions emphasized that while the primary task of the Church is to bring people to a personal relationship with Jesus

closing session — Pope Benedict XVI leads a closing session of the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization at the Vatican October 27. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters)

couraged Catholics “to persevere and to intensify their relations with Muslims” in accordance with the teaching of the Second Vatican Council.

— Developing a “pastoral plan of initial proclamation” that would outline steps to help ensure that once people hear the Gospel, they are led to conversion and faith and are educated in Church teaching. It also

nature’s fury — People walk a street littered with debris in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, October 27, after Hurricane Sandy made way over the island. At least 65 people died in the hurricane as the massive storm moved through the Caribbean islands.

(CNS photo/Desmond Boylan, Reuters)

“The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation is the privileged place to receive God’s mercy and forgiveness,” it is a place of healing and strength, and it is the Sacrament that can bring people back into full communion with the Church, the synod members said.

As they did in the synod hall, synod members used several propositions to emphasize the importance of the family as the place where life and love are first given, where people are introduced to the faith and where they learn to live according to Gospel values.

The Church’s New Evangelization efforts must help strengthen families and must try “to address significant pastoral problems around Marriage: the case of divorced and remarried (Catholics), the situation of their children, the fate of abandoned spouses, the couples who live together without Marriage and the trend in society to redefine Marriage,” synod members said.

Recognizing an increase in secularism around the world, synod members said that in many ways Christians are living “in a situation similar to that of the first Christians,” who were small minorities in cultures indifferent or even hostile to Christianity.

Still, synod members said,

Christ, a relationship lived and nourished in the Church, part of reaching out to others and witnessing to the Gospel involves serving the poor and sick, working for justice and protecting the environment.

Synod members praised the members of religious orders, who have been on the frontlines of evangelization for centuries, as well as the activities of new movements and communities.

But they stressed the importance of all members of a diocese coor-

dinating their work with the local bishop, and they insisted on the key role of parishes as the places where most Catholics learn about and practice their faith.

The propositions included a suggestion that parish priests or other designated parish staff visit families in the parish as part of their outreach.

The propositions described the Liturgy as “the primary and most powerful expression of the New Evangelization” and a manifestation of God’s love for humanity.

“Evangelization in the Church calls for a Liturgy that lifts the hearts of men and women to God,” synod members said.

During synod discussions, several bishops spoke about the importance of the Church learning the particular language and culture of social media and new technology to share the Gospel with people who increasingly spend their time online.

In the propositions, they said Catholics should be trained “to transmit faithfully the content of the faith and of Christian morality” through the media, but they insisted that no technical talent or online presence could take the place of “the testimony of life” lived in accordance with the Gospel.

Synod members described young Catholics not primarily as objects of evangelization, but as evangelizers, especially of their peers.

“As the media greatly influence the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being of the youth,” they said, “the Church through catechesis and youth ministry strives to enable and equip them to discern between good and evil, to choose Gospel values over worldly values, and to form firm faith convictions.”

November 2, 2012

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Use the Chapel entrance on the side of the church.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed, and adoration will continue throughout the day.

Confessions are heard from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. Rosary and Benediction begin at 6:30 p.m.

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

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

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

19

The Anchor Entries sought for national prayer contest

EASTON — The call for entries has been announced for the 2013 “Try Prayer! It Works!” Contest. In this national competition sponsored by Family Rosary, children are encouraged express their faith through art, poetry and prose.

The “Try Prayer! It Works!”

Contest is open to students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The 18th annual national competition attracts more than 3,000 entries from more than 50,000 participants nationwide. Children and teens from Catholic schools, parishes, home schooling and other Catholic organizations use their talent to convey their beliefs.

This year’s theme — “Joy to the World!” — focuses on The Nativity, the third Joyful Mystery.

The “Try Prayer! It Works!”

Contest asks entrants to use creativity to depict their thoughts and feelings to show how they visit with family and friends.

Children in grades K-12 enrolled in a Catholic school, Religious Education program, parish, home school or other organization are eligible to participate. For details or to download an application, go to www.FamilyRosary. org/TryPrayer. All entries must be postmarked by Feb. 1, 2013.

For more information contact Holy Cross Family Ministries at 800-299-PRAY (7729).

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks

Around the Diocese 11/3

The Women’s Guild of St. John Neumann Parish, 257 Middleboro Road in East Freetown invites all to its annual Christmas Bazaar to be held in the parish hall tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. This one-day bazaar will feature a wide variety of booths sure to interest all tastes!

Included will be assorted gift basket raffles, money raffles, and an assortment of home-baked goods, baked beans, Chinese Auction, lottery ticket raffles, antiques and collectibles and guest vendors. Lunch will also be served and admission is free. Take the Chace Road exit off Route 140.

11/3

The Dominican Academy Alumnae Annual Communion Brunch will be held Sunday at 10 a.m. at St. Mary”s Cathedral, 467 Spring Street in Fall River. Brunch will immediately following the Mass at McGovern’s Family Restaurant on Shove Street. For more information call 774-319-5126.

11/3

St. Nicholas of Myra Parish, 499 Spring Street, North Dighton, will hold its annual Holiday Craft Fair tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The fair will feature many talented crafters, as well as a bake table, food from the kitchen, and the parish’s famous roll-up table.

11/3

“Women’s Day Retreat: Seeking the Peace of Forgiveness,” a day of inspiring talks by Allison Gingras, local Catholic writer and speaker, will be held on tomorrow at the Father Peyton Center, 518 Washington Street in North Easton. The retreat will provide information and strategies on how to bring peace and healing into your life. The day will include a Scriptural Rosary, Christian music, availability of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, lunch (included) and will end with Mass at 4 p.m. For information call Father Leo at Holy Cross Family Ministries at 508-238-4095, extension 2027 or register online at www.ReconciledToYou.com.

11/3

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, 235 North Front Street in New Bedford, will host its Spirit of Christmas holiday fair tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The event will feature a variety of booths, “grandma’s attic,” children’s corner, wine by chance, delicious baked goods, gifts and the parish’s famous Polish kitchen. Santa will also be on hand from noon to 2 p.m. For more details call the rectory at 508-992-9378 or visit www.olphchurchnb.org.

11/4

Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth is hosting its Open House on Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. Prospective students and their parents are invited to meet current faculty, students, parents, administrators, club moderators and coaches at Bishop Stang and explore its exceptional college prep program and understand the school’s vision for its students.

11/4

The Ladies Guild of Our Lady of Fatima Parish will host its Harvest Fair on Sunday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the parish hall on Tobey Street in New Bedford. The event will feature crafts, candy, baked goods, quilt and basket raffles, Chinese auction, kid’s game booth and craft room. They will also be serving Ma’s donuts, homemade soup, caçoila, linguiça and peppers, chow mein, shepherd’s pie and more. There’s plenty of parking and admission is free.

11/4

A Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving will be held at St. John the Evangelist Church, 133 North Main Street in Attleboro on Sunday beginning at 3:30 p.m. All family members and friends of Community VNA Hospice and Palliative Care, along with members of the public, are invited to gather together in an interfaith celebration honoring their loved one’s life and memory. The service features music, candle lighting and readings followed by refreshments. For more information, contact Community VNA Bereavement Coordinator at 508-222-0118, extension 1373 or visit www. communityvna.com.

Nov. 3 Rev. Jose M. Bettencourt e Avila, Retired Pastor, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, New Bedford, 1988

11/9

Nov. 4 Permanent Deacon James M. O’Gara, 1990

11/10

Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish is holding its annual Holiday Fair at the church hall, Coyle Drive off Route 152 in Seekonk, November 9 from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and November 10 from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Raffles will include chances to win an HDTV, Apple iPad, famous “Baskets Galore,” and more. There will be hand-knitted items, jewelry, Christmas items, almost-new items, toys, and more! Home-baked goods and fudge, candy, and meat pies will also be available and Louise’s Cafe both days.

The Corpus Christi Parish Women’s Guild will host its annual Gifts Galore and More shopping event on November 10 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the parish center, 324 Quaker Meeting House Road in East Sandwich. The event will feature a variety of handmade crafts for sale, gift baskets, crocheted items, delicious baked goods and other homemade foods. The Guild Café will be open for coffee in the morning and a delicious lunch in the afternoon.

Nov. 5 Rev. Daniel A. Gamache, Retired Pastor, St. Joseph, New Bedford, 1998

11/11

Nov. 6 Rev. Patrick S. McGee, Founder, St. Mary, Hebronville, 1933 Rev. Joseph Oliveira, Retired Pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes, Taunton, 1999

11/15

Nov. 7 Rev. J. Edmond Tremblay, Retired Chaplain, Sacred Heart Home, New Bedford, 1985 Nov. 8 Rev. Pacifique L. Emond, OFM, Retreat Master, Writer, Montreal, Canada, 1984

On November 11 the Holy Trinity Women’s Guild will be hosting a spectacular Fall Penny Sale at 1 p.m. in the Holy Trinity Church basement, 951 Stafford Road in Fall River. Admission is $1, which entitles you to 100 prizes on the grand table. Additional raffles will be offered for larger prizes including bicycles, food baskets, appliances, and more.

Door prizes are free to participants in attendance. A luncheon menu will also be available including chow mein sandwiches, hot dogs, chouriço and peppers and an abundance of delicious pastries.

A Healing Mass will be held November 15 at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford. The Mass will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will include benediction and healing prayers. At 5:15 p.m. there will be a holy hour including the Rosary. For location or more information visit www.saintanthonynewbedford.com, or call 508993-1691.

11/17

St. Jude the Apostle Parish will be having its annual Penny Sale at the Church Hall, 249 Whittenton Street in Taunton, on November 17 beginning at 6 p.m., with doors open at 5 p.m.

In addition to three regular series, there will be specials, roll-ups, refreshments, a raffle on 15 turkey dinner baskets, and a money raffle with a $1,000 first prize.

11/28

Courage, a welcoming support group for people wounded by same-sex attraction, will next meet on November 28 at 9 a.m.

Please call Father Richard Wilson at 508-226-1115 for location and more information.

12/1

The placement exam for Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth is scheduled for either December 1 or December 8 beginning at 8 a.m. and ending at 11:30 a.m. There is no pre-registration, and the testing fee is $20 payable the morning of the exam. The ten students who take the placement exam at Bishop Stang and receive the highest scores will receive $1,000 each toward their freshman year tuition. The five students who take the placement exam at Bishop Stang and receive the highest scores on the exam will receive free new textbooks for their freshman year at Bishop Stang. For more information call 508-996-5602 extension 424.

20

The Anchor

VIEW FROM THE TOP — Catholic Memorial Home recently completed a make-over of its landmark tower at the skilled nursing and rehab care facility in Fall River. Over the course of the last couple of months, the structure was surrounded by scaffolding while work was done to reconstruct parts of the tower, install new lighting, and repaint the golden dome and cross atop it. (Photo courtesy of Julie Cayer)

November 2, 2012