11.02.18

Diocese of Fall River, Mass.

Friday, November 2, 2018

Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., recently celebrated Mass at the women’s facility at the Bristol County House of Correction in Dartmouth as part of the Residents Encounter Christ retreat. It marked the 20th year of REC at the facility. The Liturgy celebrated was the Mass of the Lord’s Supper which included the washing of the feet in remembrance of what Jesus did for His Apostles. Story on page two.

(Photo by Deacon Alan Thadeu) The Anchor - November 2, 2018

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Diocesan Residents Encounter Christ program celebrates two decades of reaching out to ‘visit the imprisoned’

By Dave Jolivet Anchor Editor davejolivet@anchornews.org

DARTMOUTH — Of the seven Corporal Works of Mercy, arguably, the most difficult is “Visit the Imprisoned.” There are several reasons for this point of view, not the least of which is that most “people in the pews” don’t have the opportunity to visit those in prison.

Others find it a very uncomfortable environment, and still others are afraid.

Not to say that many faithful Catholics don’t pray for those who are incarcerated, but it takes a unique person to step outside that comfort zone to share their faith and compassion with those who

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The Anchor - November 2, 2018

have made some very consequential choices in their lives.

In the Diocese of Fall River, there is a core group of folks with that special something to make sure those often cast aside by society get to feel the love God has for them.

The Residents Encounter Christ program members visit diocesan prisons weekly and they periodically offer separate retreats for men and women inmates.

On November 4 the REC ministry will celebrate 20 years of service in the diocese with a Mass of Celebration at St. Julie Billiart Parish in North Dartmouth at 11 a.m., followed by fellowship and light refreshments. The program sends out a warm invitation to the

joyous event to “all current and former members of the ministry and their spouses, especially those who were instrumental in its formation, growth and continuing success.”

The foundation for REC was laid slightly more than two decades ago when then-Bishop Sean P. O’Malley, OFM Cap., called upon Sacred Hearts Father Matthew J. Sullivan to serve as chaplain at the House of Correction in Dartmouth.

While Father Sullivan was small in stature, he was a giant among the men and women inmates as well as the staff at the HOC. Through his love of his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and his hard work and dedication to the ministry, the REC program was created.

Father Sullivan enlisted the very able assistance of several deacons and couples to head up the pro-

gram, among which were Permanent Deacon Richard J. Murphy, Pat and Mary Ann Breault, Charlie and Ruth Sullivan, and Al and Betty Rivet.

The first men’s retreat, under the direction of Deacon Murphy, was held in February of 1998 with another taking place in June of 1998.

The first women’s retreat was held in September of that year.

“Mary Ann and I were asked

by Father Sullivan to help start REC with Al and Betty Rivet and Charlie and Ruth Sullivan,” Pat Breault told The Anchor. “We started our journey by attending REC in Barnstable Prison on the Cape. We started Dartmouth doing men’s and women’s retreats.

“There have been so many blessings being a part of this over the Turn to page 18

Diocesan schools celebrate New England Catholic Schools Week

FALL RIVER — There are many things to celebrate in Catholic schools today. So many that the 11 (arch) dioceses of New England came together to create a new Catholic Schools Week in November to highlight the great things happening in Catholic schools. This year the Diocese of Fall River Catholic Schools Alliance is embracing the theme “Celebrating the Beauty of Every Child” for the New England Catholic Schools Week and the 2018-19 school year.

Between November 411, schools will host Open Houses and other events aimed at inviting new families to visit each of their campuses. Schools will also use social media and other outlets to increase awareness within the broader community. Each day has a theme that highlights different students, leaders, and programs that make their school special.

On Sunday, schools will highlight their “FaithFilled Leaders.” Whether they are the priests, women religious, or lay teachers who work every day with students, alumni who followed their priestly or religious vocation, or students and parents who help with campus ministry, all play an important role in helping their schools stay centered in Christ.

Catholic schools are filled with students who have great academic success at all levels. On Monday, schools will highlight current and past students who embody what it means to be a lifelong learner. Academic success isn’t about achieving the highest score in the class — it is about achieving the highest score possible for each student.

Every student’s story of achieving academic excellence is different. Catholic schools are increasing the opportunities for personalized learning and instructional coaching for teachers to help create educational environments in which every student realizes growth and progress.

One of the things that sets Catholic schools apart is the focus on service.

On Tuesday, schools will highlight the “Humble Servants” in their schools.

From the parents and community members who give their time to the school, the teachers who dedicate their lives to serving their students, to the students who mentor and serve their community. Also on Tuesday, the faculty and staff from all 20 schools will gather together for a day of Spiritual Professional Development. The day will start with Mass with Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V. Then Father Joe Corpora from the University of Notre Dame will present on the “Mercy of God and 13 Marks of Growing in Holiness.” This is one of two days this year that all of the faculty and staff will be together to learn and pray.

Wednesday and Thursday’s themes are similar in that they focus on the impact that Catholic schools and students have on the broader community.

On Wednesday, schools will highlight current and past students who are “Global Influencers,” such as students who go on mission trips, or work on projects that help students on the other side of the world.

For example, students from Bishop Stang High School partnered with students from a school in Tanzania

to create electricity from mud as part of their “Let There Be Light” project.

Thursday’s theme of “Game Changers” brings it closer to home to feature students who are working at the local level to improve their schools and communities, or use innovative methods to create new opportunities for fellow students.

Catholic schools offer an intimate environment where students feel safe, welcomed, and loved, and form friendships that last a lifetime. On Friday schools will highlight the friendships that have been formed and fostered in Catholic schools.

Catholic schools prepare students for success in college and beyond. Because of the holistic education — Spiritual, academic, emotional, and social — graduates are prepared for a wide range of careers and vocations. On Saturday, schools will highlight their “Confident Graduates” who are impacting their families and communities because of their Catholic education.

To wrap up the week on Sunday schools will highlight their “Active Alumni.” These are people who come back year after year to support the school because they recognize the impact their education has had on their lives.

If you are an alumnus of a Catholic school and not actively involved, now is a great time to reach out to the school and see how you can help strengthen it. If you are an active alumnus — thank you! Your support is an enormous help to your school. Please keep sharing why you value and support Catholic education.

You are invited to help support Catholic

education in the Diocese of Fall River by attending an Open House, telling your friends and neighbors about your local Catholic schools, or by liking and sharing what schools post on social media. You can find more information about Open Houses and links to each school’s website and Facebook page by visiting www.

CatholicSchoolsAlliance. org/csw. Catholic schools play an important role in building the future of the Church and society and need the support of the full Church to serve the students of today and help the world see and “Celebrate the Beauty of Every Child.”

anchornews.org

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Sexual orientation: Hope for restoration and healing with SOCE

exual Orientation Change Efforts rely on professional therapy and counseling, often in a religious context, to assist those struggling with unwanted homosexual inclinations who would like to diminish their same-sex attractions and grow in their ability to abstain from same-sex behaviors. Many proponents of same-sex lifestyles argue that Sexual Orientation Change Efforts are not only not effective, but also are harmful and unscientific, going so far as to advocate for legislation that would restrict a practitioner’s ability to offer SOCE. A sweeping bill recently tabled in California, for example, would have labeled any sexual orientation therapies offered for a fee as “consumer fraud.” Are such laws sensible or reprehensible?

What do scientific studies indicate about attempts to change sexual orientation?

Peter Sprigg, Senior Fellow for Policy Studies at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., has provided a very helpful analysis of six studies published between 2000 and 2018 in a recent review

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article entitled, “Are Sexual sion” (23 percent) or “SucOrientation Change Efforts cess: Chastity” (30 percent).

Effective? Are They Harm- That was more than twice ful? What the Evidence the number (25 percent) Shows.” He concludes that who described the outcome SOCE “can be effective for as “Failure: Confused,” or some clients in bringing “Failure: Gay Identity.” about significant change Interestingly, the obin some components of served success rates in the sexual orientation,” and that study trended higher as the “few harms were reported.” study continued. Between Older reports from the literature, includMaking Sense ing 600 studies and five meta-analyses, Out of support the same Bioethics conclusions.

By Father Tad One of the six Pacholczyk SOCE studies reviewed by Sprigg, “A Longitudinal Study of Attempted Rethe third and sixth year, for ligiously Mediated Sexual example, the “Success: ConOrientation Change,” was version” results improved published in the “Journal of from 15 percent to 23 Sex and Marital Therapy” percent of the participants, in 2011. In this study, rewhile the “Success: Chassearchers Stanton Jones and tity” portion improved from Mark Yarhouse evaluated 23 percent to 30 percent. In 61 men and women who commenting on this pheopted to pursue religiously- nomenon, Sprigg notes that mediated change efforts. “rather than relapsing into At the end of the study, homosexuality after initial after tracking them through success in overcoming it, as therapy for six years, they SOCE critics claim, clients found that 53 percent of are more likely to achieve them self-categorized as success the longer they persome version of success, severe in the process.” either as “Success: ConverWhen participants

The Anchor - November 2, 2018

reported “Success: Conversion” as an outcome, this did not indicate that all samesex attraction went away, but that “a reduction in homosexual attraction and an increase in heterosexual attraction” had occurred.

Similarly, “Success: Chastity” was defined as “stable behavioral chastity and a reduction in homosexual attraction,” which, in the words of the report, can “also be regarded as a successful outcome” by “conventionally religious persons.”

As with most studies of this type, most participants reported some significant, but not complete, change.

This same research study

by Jones and Yarhouse also assessed any reported “harms” from SOCE during the course of the change efforts. They evaluated psychological distress among the participants using a standardized checklist of symptoms, but the only statistically significant trends indicated “improving psychological symptoms” rather than harms to SOCE clients.

In his review of the literature, Sprigg examines the issue of SOCE “harms” from another angle as well, evaluating the methods and claims of a very influential paper by Ariel Shidlo and Michael Schroeder, two self-identified gay researchers whose work was sponsored by the National Lesbian and Gay Health Association and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (the latter being a political activist group).

Their paper, published in 2002, is one of the more widely-cited works asserting that clients who undergo SOCE may experience

significant damage. Sprigg observes that the authors make no pretense of “being unbiased, nor of recruiting a representative sample of SOCE consumers.” Despite a scholarly veneer, their report offers almost entirely anecdotal reports of harm.

It fails to offer compiled data, statistical evidence or data analysis and relies on a narrative approach and dubious claims regarding various harms and negative outcomes from SOCE. The more robust and rigorous research studies reviewed by Sprigg, meanwhile, do not find notable harms to clients from SOCE, but, on the contrary, find very notable improvements both in the ability to resist homosexual behaviors and in their sense of sexual re-orientation.

Set within a broader religious and human framework, these statistically significant findings about SOCE from the field of psychotherapy help push back against the dogmatism of same-sex advocates and even of some professional medical societies. Such dogmatism ignores the best interests of clients by seeking to restrict the availability of important and potentially helpful therapies when everyone should instead be supporting access to ministries of healing and change for those desiring to restore psychological and Spiritual wholeness in their lives.

Anchor columnist Father Pacholczyk earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, and serves as the director of Education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. See www.ncbcenter.org.

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Anchor Editorial

Ending Anti-Semitism

Last Saturday in Pittsburgh was the worst massacre of Jewish people in United States history. That morning at Mass St. Luke (Lk 13:1) told about how Pontius Pilate had mingled the blood of Galilean believers with their sacrifices (thus belying the notion that Pilate wasn’t that bad a guy. He was an oppressor of the Jewish people and seemed to relish mocking the Jews on Good Friday, when he presented Jesus to them, asking, “Shall I crucify your King?” { Jn 19:15}). At the same time Luke’s Gospel was being proclaimed, these innocent people were being killed as they tried to worship God. Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel, the executive director at the Aleph Institute, a Jewish Humanitarian organization in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, spoke to WBUR radio on its “Here and Now” program Monday and what he had to say was an amazing example of how someone of faith can react to great injustice.

The rabbi described how his 10-year-old daughter asked him Saturday night, “Why are the Jewish people being attacked again? Why are the Jewish people being attacked?”

The dad and rabbi told his daughter (Saturday) and the radio interviewer (Monday), “And the answer is that we’ve got to bring more light, that we can’t push down, we’ve got to stand stronger.”

While the rabbi also discussed the rise of Anti-Semitism, he did not give a “woe is me” attitude to his daughter or to the general public. Although he strongly called for punishment of the murderer and for working to end AntiSemitism, he also reminded everyone that God wants us all to be that light for the world, instead of reacting to our sufferings by embracing darkness.

“The Talmud teaches us that a small light dispels much darkness, and in times like this, we have to remember that the more light we bring, the more darkness we’re going to dispel, and the better the world is around us.” What an example for us all!

Discussing the hatred that the Jewish people have had to endure, through no fault of their own, for millennia, Rabbi Vogel said, “We’ve been through our Hamans [editor’s note: see the Old Testament book of Esther — he plotted to kill off the Jews in his territory] in our day, we’ve been through our Hitlers of the day — they’re not going to deter us, we’re going to bounce back and we’re going to be stronger.”

On Sunday Bishop Joseph Bambera, the chairman of the Committee for Ecumenism and Interreligious Affairs for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, expressed his sadness about the attack. “Yesterday morning, death and violence entered a house of worship. The attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, is a cowardly act and to be condemned by all Americans. Those killed and injured represent the best of who we are: people of faith gathered to pray and celebrate the birth of a child and officers responding to the ensuring violence with no concern for their own safety. AnOFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER www.anchornews.org

Vol. 62, No. 22

Published bi-weekly by the Catholic Press of the Diocese of Fall River, 887 Highland Avenue, Fall River, MA 02720, Telephone 508-675-7151 — FAX 508-675-7048, email: theanchor@anchornews.org. Subscription price by mail, postpaid $25.00 per year, for U.S. addresses.

Send address changes to 887 Highland Avenue, Fall River, MA, call or use email address

PUBLISHER - Most Reverend Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V. EXECUTIVE EDITOR Father Richard D. Wilson fatherwilson@anchornews.org EDITOR David B. Jolivet davejolivet@anchornews.org ADVERTISING Wayne R. Powers waynepowers@anchornews.org REPORTER Kenneth J. Souza k ensouza@anchornews.org Send Letters to the Editor to: fatherwilson@anchornews.org

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The Anchor - November 2, 2018

ti-Semitism is to be condemned and has to be confronted by our nation. The Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops stands with our Jewish brothers and sisters during this time of great distress. May God grant peace to the dead, healing to the injured, and comfort to the families of those hurt and killed and to all the Jewish community.”

The month of November is the month in which we specifically remember the souls of the deceased. May we pray for the deceased in this terrible attack and for all of the Jewish people who have been killed over the centuries, just for being Jewish. May we also pray for healing, physical and Spiritual, for the survivors, the people in Pittsburgh and for our Jewish sisters and brothers around the country and around the world. They need to see in concrete ways our love and support. As Rabbi Vogel said, simple acts of kindness can bring light and healing.

We also need to make an examination of conscience, to see if in our individual or communal actions there is some tinge (or worse) of Anti-Semitism, so that we can ask God to help root it out of our hearts and actions.

On Saturday itself, a few hours after the attack, the president of the USCCB, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, wrote, “To our brothers and sisters of the Jewish community, we stand with you. We condemn all acts of violence and hate and yet again, call on our nation and public officials to confront the plague of gun violence. Violence as a response to political, racial, or religious differences must be confronted with all possible effort. God asks nothing less of us. He begs us back to our common humanity as His sons and daughters.”

The cardinal’s statement can be seen as alluding to other mass shootings in our country, done for a variety of reasons (but never really with real “reason” involved). He also reminded all of us, the vast majority of whom would never do such a thing, to also think and pray about how we can be part of God’s solution to this problem and not continue to contribute to the sourness of our society.

In the face of such evil, Rabbi Vogel offered hope for our country. “I think this attack — I hope and I would like to believe — that this is a one-out attack. This is a deranged individual, but it doesn’t reflect the vigil that we had last night, the community had last night. [It] was attended by so many, [showing] the support there is in the community. I’m not packing up. We’re not leaving. We’re not going anywhere at this point. I think the country in the whole is a kind country. We live in a very kind and welcoming country, and other individuals out there are hateful. Yes, throughout history, there’s always been the Hitlers, who have attacked society, attacked Jewish people. To go and say the entire community, like Germany, [is] going to rise against us and we’re seeing such widespread anti-Semitism — I don’t think we’re at that point.”

May our prayer and our love help us to make this a more welcoming society.

Daily Readings Nov. 3 – Nov. 16

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.

Sat. Nov. 10, Phil 4:10-19; Ps 112:1-2,5-6,8-9; Lk 16:9-15. Sun. Nov. 11, Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, 1 Kgs 17:10-16; Ps 146:7-10; Heb 9:2428; Mk 12:38-44 or 12:41-44. Mon. Nov. 12, Ti 1:1-9; Ps 24:1-6; Lk 17:1-6.

Tues. Nov. 13, Ti 2:1-8,11-14; Ps 37:3-4,18,23,27,29; Lk 17:7-10. Wed. Nov. 14, Ti 3:1-7; Ps 23:1-6; Lk 17:11-19. Thurs. Nov. 15, Phlm 7-20; Ps 146:7-10; Lk 17:20-25. Fri. Nov. 16, 2 Jn 4-9; Ps 119:1-2,10-11,17-18; Lk 17:26-37.

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his second wave of the revelation of the sexual abuse scandals in the Church has been sickening and disheartening for so many as we confront the suffering of countless victims, the wickedness of predators, the lack of Spiritual paternity and pastoral determination on the part of those with the responsibility to root it out, and the corruption and tepidity that not only tolerate such filth and infidelity but sometimes augment it.

Those who know Church history are aware that throughout the centuries there have been periods of infidelity and iniquity in which Spiritual cancer spread throughout the members of Christ’s Mystical Body, the clergy, religious orders, the laity, even the papacy. They also know that in response to such pervasive degeneracy, God was not indifferent and inert. Where sin abounded, His grace superabounded, witnessed above all in the saints, movements and devotions that He Himself inspired to bring the Church to her knees in prayerful conversion.

Hope comes from the recognition that God never abandons His people but remains with us speaking to us in prayer, purifying us through Penance, Sanctifying us through His Sacraments, and desiring to draw good even out of evil we have committed and endured. The pace of reform always depends on the level of cooperation we give to God’s work of rebuilding.

Over the past several months, there have been many voices, including my own, that have tried to sketch out the ways the Church needs to be reformed, but if we were able ecclesially to receive Jesus’ clear input — not just our inferences based on what He has said to us already through the living Word of Sacred Scripture, but the Divine Physician’s diagnosis of the problem and prescription for

Jesus’ response to the scandals?

healing for the Church’s pres- not repented, My angels look on with horror, My mother ent wounds — what might grieves, and I am again He say? wounded in My hands and I think the answer to that My feet and in My heart.” question may have sketched Would we expect any less? out through credible private Jesus’ desire, however, is not revelations given to an anonymous Benedictine priest from to condemn but to convert: “I am about to renew the Oct. 3, 2007 through June priesthood of My Church in 2, 2016, found in the book recently published by Angelico holiness. I am very close to cleansing My priests of the Press entitled, “In Sinu Iesu: When Heart Speaks to Heart impurities that defile them.

Soon, very soon, I will pour — The Journal of a Priest at out graces of Spiritual healPrayer.” ing upon all My priests. I will The words In Sinu Iesu come from the Latin Vulgate of how St. John reclined durPutting Into ing the Last Supper “on Jesus’ breast” ( Jn the Deep 13:23). This priest’s journal, in which he

By Father humbly and plauRoger J. Landry sibly claims to have regularly heard Jesus separate those who will accept and Mary speaking to him, the gift of My Divine friendreminds us that Jesus desires ship from those who will to have an intimate heartharden their hearts against to-heart relationship with all Me.” He emphasizes about of His beloved disciples, but the latter what we now all especially with His priests. know: “Those who do not live Throughout its 308 pages, Jesus and Mary — and also on in My friendship betray Me and impede My work. They rarer occasions God the Father and a few saints — cover detract from the beauty of holiness that I would see shine many fundamental aspects of in My Church.” the Christian Spiritual life in The root of priestly sins, such a profound, direct and moving way that it’s the most Jesus says, is the “loneliness” that comes from a lack of compelling text of Spiritual friendship with Him. Jesus reading besides Sacred Scripdesires to be the friend each ture that I’ve read in years. priest needs, “the Friend with What I’d like to focus on, Whom they can share everyhowever, is what Jesus communicates to His interlocutor thing, the Friend to Whom they can tell everything, the about the roots of the priestly Friend Who will weep over scandals and what God is their sins without, for a moasking the clergy and all the ment, ceasing to love them.” faithful to do in response.

He laments, “If priests lived in “All of Heaven weeps over My friendship, how different the sins of My priests,” Jesus My Church would be! Many states, which are a “grievous of the sufferings and hardships affront to My Own Priestexperienced with My Church hood,” adding, “Every time at the hands of her ministers, a priest sins, he sins directly My priests, would not exagainst Me and against the ist.” The lack of “experiential most Holy Eucharist toknowledge of My friendship ward which his whole being and love,” Jesus continues, “is is ordered. When a priest the root of the evil that eats approaches My altar laden away at the priesthood from with sins that have not been confessed or for which he has within.”

This lack of friendship, He says, is seen in the “coldness and indifference” with which priests approach Jesus in the Eucharist. “There are priests who go into My Church only when they have a function to perform.” They receive little from their daily Communion “because they expect so little.”

He adds sorrowfully, “Even after 2,000 years of Eucharistic presence in My Church, I remain unknown, forgotten, forsaken, and treated like a thing to be kept here or there.”

Priests, moreover, “keep themselves apart from Me. Their lives are compartmentalized. They treat with Me only when duty obliges them to do so.”

And because of loneliness, they look for love “in other places and in creatures unworthy of the undivided love of their consecrated hearts,” as they try to “fill the emptiness within with vain pursuits, with lust, with possessions, with food and drink.”

What’s the remedy?

“The sins of My priests call for reparation,” Jesus declares.

The particular reparation He implores is Eucharistic Adoration. “The renewal of My priesthood in the Church will proceed from a great return to the Adoration of My real presence in this the Sacrament of My love. This is the remedy for the evil that has so disfigured My holy priesthood in the Church.” He underlines, “I want priest adorers and reparators,” “priests who will adore for priests who do not adore, priests who will make reparation for priests who do not make reparation for themselves or for others.” He says that priests “will be renewed in holiness and purity when they begin to seek Me out in the Sacrament of My love,” meaning the Eucharist.

Time with Christ in prayerful adoration will develop that friendship that is the source of true priestly

life. “The secret of priestly holiness,” Jesus states, is “a life of friendship with Me, a ‘yes’ renewed each day to the gift of Divine friendship that I offer each priest.” This is where priests learn to identify “with all My interests, with all My sorrows, with all that offends Me, and with My burning zeal for the glory of My Father and for the holiness of all My people.” He adds, “All the rest is secondary.”

To enter into friendship with Jesus means to enter, He notes, into a “privileged and sweet relationship with My Mother,” imitating the relationship St. Joseph and St. John had with her. “The great renewal of the priesthood in My Church will begin when priests understand that I want them to live in the company of My Immaculate Mother.”

He wants us to pray each day the Rosary and the Ave Maria Stella and to entrust our lives and needs to her, big and small.

The reform also involves, He says, embracing the purifying fire of love of the Holy Spirit in very practical ways: “I will pour out the Holy Spirit upon all priests in the form of a purifying fire. Those who welcome that fire will emerge from it like gold from the furnace, shining with holiness and with a wonderful purity for all to see. Those who refuse My fire will be consumed by it.”

Living by the fire of the Holy Spirit means demanding that priests strive for holiness.

“There has never been in all of history a single priest whom I have not destined for a great holiness,” Jesus says. “A holy priest is quite simply one who allows Me to live in him,” and for this reason, “I offer them My presence in the Eucharist.

Yes, this is the great secret of priestly holiness.” So many of the problems in the clergy and in the Church have come from priests’ lowering the bar for themselves and everyone else.

To grow in holiness, Jesus Turn to page 10

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Parish Vocation Committee members invited to cathedral

FALL RIVER — All parish Vocation Committee members are invited to St. Mary’s Chapel in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River on Sunday, November 4 for the opening of National Vocation Awareness Week.

Members will gather to celebrate, pray for vocations and to advance their reflections in the service of vocation ministry.

The day will begin at

1:30 p.m. with sign-in and a greeting and introduction.

Opening prayer will begin a 1:50 p.m. From 2-2:45 p.m. there will be a presentation: “Practicing Discernment With Youth.” The presenter will be Sister Hilda Ozokwe of the Daughters of Mary, Mother of Mercy.

A Holy Hour, which is open to anyone, will take place at the church at 3 p.m.

NEW BEDFORD — Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., has authorized the formation of a new class for permanent deacons beginning in the spring of 2019.

Those interested in pursuing the vocation of the diaconate, scheduled to begin the Aspirancy phase in the spring, are invited to submit a preliminary application.

Additional details and a preliminary application are available on the website: fallriverdeacons.com.

Information meetings will be held on November 8 with a final information meeting to be held on Jan. 17, 2019.

These general information meetings will delve into the process of formation of a deacon for the Diocese of Fall River.

The info nights will be held at Holy Name of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish Center, 121 Mount Pleasant Street, New Bedford, 02740 at 7 p.m.

If you have any questions, contact Deacon Frank Lucca or Father Robert Oliveira, co-directors of the diocesan Office of the Permanent Diaconate at office@ frpermanentdiaconate.com, or contact the Office of the Permanent Diaconate at 508-990-0341.

Permanent Diaconate Office to offer information nights

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The Anchor - November 2, 2018

Tuesday 30 October 2018 — Homeport: Falmouth Harbor — Mischief Night (traditional). hey come here in droves. They come from Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Columbia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, Azores, Puerto Rico, Russia, Ukraine, and Vietnam. Every Wednesday night, we welcome more than a hundred people, representing some 20 countries. There are so many people this year we ran out of space.

Why do they come here? They come to learn English. They’re students in the English as a Second Language Program, an outreach of the diocesan Department of Social Services. The students range in age from 19 to 68 years. Their formal education spans fourth-grade to doctorate level. There are four beginners’ classes, three intermediate level classes, and one advanced class. This year, for the first time, two of the beginner classes are being held at the local Methodist Church to help alleviate our need for more meeting rooms. There are no tu-

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And they will come

ition fees. There are eight ent meanings and/or difteachers, a bilingual asferent spellings. There are sistant, and six substitutes. words whose definitions All are volunteers. are often confused. To The English as a Second make matters worse, EngLanguage classes here are lish can vary from country nothing new. Next year, to country and even region we will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the program’s foundThe Ship’s Log ing.

Long ago, I Reflections of a learned a valuParish Priest able lesson from

By Father Tim my fifth-grade Goldrick English teacher, Mr. Ingram. He said: “Boys and girls, first you must learn to region. Then we have all the rules of the Engslang, puns, and idiomatic lish language. Only then expressions. As for text are you allowed to break messaging, we won’t go them.” I’ve had fun with there. And, finally, we have words ever since (much to those creative spirits who the consternation of my purposely break the rules proofreaders and editors). (such as American poet, I wonder if the English painter, essayist, author, as a Second Language and playwright, e. e. cumProgram should have a mings — who preferred postgraduate class on how to misspell his own name.) to break the rules. Maybe No, English is not an easy I could teach it. language to learn.

The rules of English Teaching English as a usage are not easy to learn. Second Language must Ask any fifth-grader. But be even more challenging. beware: the rules can The primary language may change during one’s lifevery well use a different time. Whatever the rules sentence structure and at the moment, there are grammar than English. I always exceptions. There will now proceed to prove are words that sound the my point, dear readers. same but may have differWere cattle rustlers

Catholic Social Service’s English as a Second Language Program in North Falmouth.

hung in the Old West?

No, but many were hanged.

Are you hardly sorry for all your sins? You are?

Well, that won’t do. You need to be heartily sorry.

Did King Edward VIII abrogate or arrogate? Neither. He abdicated.

Did the candidate canvas the entire neighborhood? Probably not. That would take too many bolts of cloth. Maybe the candidate canvassed the neighborhood, though.

Did you have an acute or a chronic illness? If it lasted a long time, it was chronic. If it came on suddenly, it was acute. If it came on suddenly and lasted a long time, I’ll pray for your intention.

Did the murderer finally get his just deserts? Yes, and, at his last meal, he just had Jell-O for dessert.

If you have it, flout it.

Really? “Flout” means to ignore. “Flaunt” means to show off. Do you want me to ignore your attributes or admire them?

The Anchor is published every other Friday.

Is that bimonthly? The answer is both “yes” and “no.” “Bimonthly” can mean every other month (six times a year) or it can mean twice a month (24 times a year). Just say The Anchor is published semimonthly.

Did the man lay The Anchor on the table and

then lie down for a nap?

No, no. If anything, he laid The Anchor on the table and then lay down for a nap. (By the way, I’m pretty sure the man must have been drowsy before he even picked up our fine newspaper.)

Did The Anchor copy write this column? Not that I know of, but it did copyright it.

Do you attend St. Patrick’s Church? No. St. Patrick died in 461 A.D. He no longer owns anything, certainly not churches. I attend St. Patrick Church.

Do you feel alright? I feel it’s not all right to use “alright.”

Whose line is it anyway? I don’t know. So, who’s going to answer that question?

Do you have any stationery? Sure. I have such a heavy crate of stationery on my desk that it must remain stationary. Help yourself.

Our flack, no flake, takes no flak. Otherwise put: Our astute director of Communications (John E. Kearns Jr.) deflects adverse criticism.

I considered volunteering in our English as a Second Language Program, but later thought better of it. (Or is that “latter”? Did I actually feel better or did I feel worse?)

Now I’m confused.

As we say in Yiddish, “Oy vey!”

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

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How Catholic worship is to be Editor’s note: This is the final installment in a series of columns by Father Buote on Catholic worship. id you notice the difference in this installment of our series?

I have changed the title to “How Catholic Worship IS to Be,” to make some applications for when we of the 21st century and the third millennium participate in Mass at our own parish churches.

This series started with a consideration of covenant.

The conditions imposed by the Lord in His covenant with us involve love. “This I command you: love one another” ( Jn 15:17). “If you love Me, you will keep My Commandments” ( Jn 14:15).

“Whoever loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him” ( Jn 14:21).

“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the first and greatest Commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself ” (Mt 22:37–39).

D

As God, Jesus imposed the at Mass is not an entertainterms of the New Covenant. ment for the assembled As Man He fulfilled them. people, but rather an ex“No one has greater love pected participation of those than this, to lay down one’s sharing the Lord’s Supper. life for one’s friends. You are Often people complain My friends if you do what I that God does not hear or command you” ( Jn 15:13). answer their prayers. Perhaps The time of the Kiss of Peace at Mass How Catholic offers an opportunity Worship Is to express that love directly to another to Be person, not just a cutBy Father and-dried greeting Martin L. Buote as at a school open house.

Covenant was connected they have not been listening. to sacrifice in the second A person, for some unavoidinstallment. The type of sac- able reason, may come late rifice was specified to be gift- to Mass, arriving during the giving to God. At Mass, the readings or homily. That priest invites, “Pray, brethren, person then kneels down to that my sacrifice and yours say his prayers, as if what he may be acceptable to God, has to say to God is more the Almighty Father.” The important than what God is Mass is a sacrifice. What gift trying to say to him from the do you bring to place with pulpit (ambo or lectern). the Body and Blood of the Pay attention to the Word Lord? Or, how do you make of God from the readings, Jesus’ gift your own? and the preacher’s explanaThe Scriptures note that tion of the Word. It may Jesus and His companions well be that you will hear sang a hymn at the conclusomething that touches sion of the Last Supper (Mt upon what you were discuss26:30, Mk 14:26). The music says He wants priests to “go to Confession weekly,” to meditate each Thursday on chapters 13-17 of the Gospel of St. John, preferably together with Adoration, and to grow in the exercise of Spiritual fatherhood based on trust in God’s Fatherhood. “The fatherhood of the priest is a grace that I shall renew in the Church now,” because the Church “suffers in that so many priests do not know how to live the grace of their fatherhood,” abandoning souls to “live like Spiritual orphans.” Jesus says to His Benedictine dialogue partner and through him to all priests, “Be a father.”

Finally Jesus encourages the prayer of what He calls the “Chaplet of Reparation” or

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Amen was said or sung. The Lamb of God is said or sung while the priest is breaking the Bread to be shared in Communion.

The early Catholics celebrated Mass in a domestic setting. Try to get into that same frame of mind. We have come into Jesus’ house to have a meal with Him. A person’s dress and be behavior should be such that it can be recognized that he knows where he is. Remember that Our Lord said that where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them.

The first Mass was at the Last Supper, many centuries ago. I hope these thoughts on Catholic worship have brought that Mass and our companion Catholics of the first centuries closer to you so your participation at Mass now can be more Spiritually rewarding to you, and more glorifying to God. Father Buote is a retired priest of the Fall River Diocese and a frequent contributor to The Anchor.

the “Offering of the Precious Blood for Priests.” Like the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, it is prayed on ordinary Rosary beads. On the “Our Father” beads, we say, “Eternal Father, I offer You the Precious Blood of Your Beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb without blemish or spot, in reparation for my sins and for the sins of all Your priests;” on the 10 “Hail Mary” beads, “By Your Precious Blood, O Jesus, purify and Sanctify Your priests;” and at the end of each decade, “O Father, from Whom all fatherhood in Heaven and on earth is named, have mercy on all Your priests and wash them in the Blood of the Lamb.” What a beautiful prayer to say for the

renewal of the clergy!

What I’ve shared are just a few coins of the enormous treasure contained in “In Sinu Iesu.” I urge you to buy this book and prayerfully read it.

I encourage you to purchase a copy for the priests of your parish and the bishop of your diocese. And I exhort you to pick up copies for your friends and family members who don’t know how to respond to the scandals the Church is enduring. It will bring you and them into the heart-to-heart conversation with Jesus that is at the root of the renewal the Church urgently needs.

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

Father Landry

continued from page seven

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ing with the Lord! If you have something further you wish to say to God besides the Mass prayers, there are appropriate opportunities, for example, before Mass, during the preparation of the gifts, after Communion, after Mass, etc.

The Constitution on the Liturgy notes that a person should do all, but only those things assigned to him. Dialogs (at the opening, at the Prayer of the Faithful, at the Preface, etc.) should involve everyone in the assembly.

That is no time to be saying your own prayers or private devotions.

There are certain parts of Mass which belong exclusively to the congregation outside of the dialogs.

Among these are the Great Amen, which gives the congregation assent to what the priest has just done, and the Lamb of God. St. Jerome, in the fourth century, noted that when he was in Rome, the rafters of the church would shake when the Great

Catholic Relief Services celebrates 75 years of ‘life-saving’ assistance

Born 75 years ago as a result of the refugee crisis that unfolded during World War II, Catholic Relief Services, the international relief and development agency of the United States Catholic Church, has since grown into one of the largest humanitarian aid agencies in the world while responding to some of the most devastating modern crises of our time.

“From its beginning, Catholics in the United States saw this agency as an expression of the compassion of Jesus Christ, carrying out the mission He gave us in the Gospels,” says Bishop Gregory J. Mansour, Bishop of the Eparchy of St. Maron of Brooklyn and chairman of CRS’ board. “Even as the work has expanded and grown more complex, that Gospel mission has always remained the foundation of everything that CRS does.”

To mark its 75th anniversary, CRS is holding events in dioceses across the country, culminating with an event in November at its global headquarters in Baltimore, Md. While the organization has grown to work in more than 110 countries and employs more than 7,000 people worldwide, its mission remains unchanged — to act in solidarity with the world’s most vulnerable people while leading the Catholic faithful in the United States in doing the same.

“This is a time when we celebrate all that we have accomplished over the past 75 years, and double down on our commitment to provide lifesaving and lifetransforming assistance to some of the most disadvantaged people around the world,” says Sean Callahan, CRS president and CEO, who became the agency’s eighth president last year.

Looking back on 75 years of history The organization began as War Relief Services after an outpouring of concern from Catholics in the United States led U.S. bishops to help thousands of World War II survivors and refugees. From the very beginning, CRS’ operating principal was to assist people based on need, regardless of race, creed or nationality, and in partnership with local organizations, particularly Catholic Church agencies.

CRS’ first project helped shepherd some 1,500 Polish refugees into Colonia Santa Rosa, Mexico, where the agency set up a safe haven for education, training and rehabilitation.

“It’s hard to express gratitude for everything you guys do for all the refugees

throughout the world,” says Julek Plowy, a Polish refugee who was helped by CRS as a child at Santa Rosa.

As Europe regained its balance after World War II, CRS expanded its operations and opened offices in Africa, Asia, the

Middle East and Latin America in order to serve those who could benefit most from the assistance of Catholics in the United States.

Over the last 75 years, CRS has responded to numerous emergencies, from the Ethiopia Turn to page 13

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Attleboro Area SVdP Society facilitates successful inaugural ‘Getting Ahead While Getting Out’ program at Dartmouth HOC

By Jonathan Darling Public Relations Director Bristol County HOC Special to The Anchor

DARTMOUTH — It’s easy for people from the Bristol County Sheriff ’s Office or the Attleboro District Council of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul to describe the success of

the “Getting Ahead While Getting Out” program at the House of Corrections in Dartmouth.

After all, SVdP volunteers facilitated the program, which brought 10 inmates together in a group setting to plan out their lives when they are released from jail. And the Sheriff ’s

Office staff worked with those volunteers to make the program happen.

But don’t take the officials’ or volunteers’ word for why the program was such a success. Just read what a participant had to say at the program’s recent graduation ceremony.

“The first thing I would

like to do is thank St. Vincent de Paul and the amazing facilitators of this class for being so generous with their time, for being a

voice for the unheard, for being crusaders in a fight for teaching change in what a lot of society would call Turn to page 15

Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Attleboro District, members Diana Reeves, Paul Hodge and Peter Kortright are joined by the graduates of the “Getting Ahead While Getting Out Program” after the program’s graduation ceremony inside the Bristol County House of Corrections in Dartmouth recently. The graduates are Mark McVay, Ryan Babineau, Arthur Pacheco, Stewart Hunt, Neil Lyonnais, Christopher Giles, Sean McDonald, Emmanuel Pizarro and Samuel Rorriguez. Not pictured is Darron Hurt, who was paroled days before the graduation ceremony.

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Catholic Relief Services celebrates 75 years of service continued from page 11

famine of the 1980s, to the global HIV epidemic of the 1990s and 2000s, to myriad natural disasters that can strike anywhere in the world at any time.

“CRS got its start by helping refugees, but what’s amazing is that we’re still working with refugee populations all over the world,” Callahan says. “What’s changed is that unfortunately, for so many refugees today, the period of displacement is much more protracted than it might have been in the past. Therefore, our assistance to these populations has changed to reflect that new reality.”

In addition to helping the poor and vulnerable overseas, during its 75year history CRS has also created impactful programming that engages U.S. Catholics in living out the Church’s mission to serve the world’s poor.

For instance, in 1977, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted Operation Rice Bowl as CRS’ official Lenten program. Since then, CRS Rice Bowl has become a Lenten tradition in thousands of parishes and schools across the United States, providing a tangible way for families to pray, fast, give and learn about our poorest brothers and sisters around the world.

Looking toward the future Today, CRS implements programming in emergency response and recovery; agriculture; health; and education.

Since it was founded, the agency has helped more than 130 million people worldwide.

“We’re trying to create a more just and prosperous world for all,” Callahan says of the agency’s ongoing mission. “And we also continue to seek

ways to foster within the U.S. Catholic community a sense of global solidarity, providing inspiration to live out the Spiritual tradition of compassion-

ate service to the world.”

He notes that CRS wouldn’t be able to do any of its work without its vital supporters in the U.S. Catholic Church.

“Our U.S. Catholic community brings CRS

to life. They’re such a vital part of our past, present and future, and we couldn’t do it without them,” Callahan adds.

To explore more about CRS’ rich history, visit 75.crs.org.

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Watch the Ordination to Priesthood Online

The 2018 Fall River Diocese Ordination to Priesthood is available for viewing on the video-sharing website YouTube. Visit the diocesan website at www.fallriverdiocese.org and click on the Ordination to Priesthood image on the home page to access the video. The ordination took place on June 9 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 November 4 at 11:00 a.m.

National Vocation Awareness Week

Celebrant is Father Kevin A. Cook, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Seekonk, and diocesan director of Vocations.

November 11 at 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father James M. Fitzpatrick, parochial administrator of St. Louis de France Parish in Swansea.

Attleboro SVdP holds successful inaugural HOC program continued from page 12

the unteachable, for giving light in a dark place, and for providing hope,” inmate Christopher Giles said to the group during graduation. “With this newfound knowledge and understanding of our past, and the ability to write our future story, we can change our future selves and the communities we have grown to love.

“It’s time we stop getting by, and start getting ahead.”

Those themes were shared by all inmates and staff at the Sheriff ’s Office as the program wrapped the inaugural session with a recent graduation ceremony inside the chapel at the Dartmouth jail. Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III and District Court Judge Kevin Finnerty spoke at the graduation, telling the inmates how proud they were of their dedication to making their communities better upon release, and thanking the SVdP volunteers for their dedication and effort.

Diana Reeves, who serves as a program facilitator with Paul Hodge and Peter Kortright, said the program is broken into two parts: “The program takes the participants through sort of an examination of where they are right now and how have they been impacted by poverty. A lot of them don’t think about poverty, which is a lack of resources, not a lack of money. Almost everyone in the program suffered at one point in time from poverty,” Reeves said.

“The whole second half of the program is focusing on developing contacts and their social network and support system. It’s really about trying to expand their list of resources

beyond the people back in their neighborhood or community who might not have been helpful to them in the first place.”

Peter Kortright explained that a big part of the program is developing a 72-hour plan that will give an inmate a game plan for the first three days following release. “Being as specific as possible, the plan lines up exactly where they will go, who they will call, what agencies to contact and when and if they need services such as housing or substance abuse counseling, and even whether they will need a cab or a bus schedule to get around town.”

The initial plan also highlights backup options in case things go sour.

“If your housing falls through, who is the backup person to contact? How will you get clothing? Will you have money in your account, and how will you access it?” asked Paul Hodge.

“We develop all this information, this plan, as specific as possible. We show them the light switch; they have to turn it on.”

Once the first three days are planned out, the focus turns to long term in which the facilitators work with inmates on personal resources. Finding a role model in a career field may be on the list. Developing higher self-esteem or per-

sonal integrity, and how to get there may be another.

While the inmates and facilitators are inside the jail working on their plans, the SVdP Reentry Team is working on developing community connections on the outside to complete the process. For example, Vincentian volunteers network with people in all types of trades to pair inmates with mentors and career opportunities, as well as work with Bristol Community College on educational advancement.

“We’re making more and more partners in the community who are willing to assist these men and women achieve their longer term life improvement goals,” Reeves said.

Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson hailed the program and expressed optimism for the future of the program.

“Every correctional facility in the country should have this program,” Sheriff Hodgson said. “It does an amazing job of getting inmates focused and ready for re-entry into their communities and neighborhoods. We can’t thank the amazing volunteers from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul enough for their tireless work and commitment to helping these men integrate successfully back into society.”

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For and About Our Church Youth ‘Called By Name’ retreat for girls 14-18 to be held November 10

DIGHTON —The diocesan Vocations Office will host a “Called

By Name” retreat for girls ages 14-18 on November 10 at the Dominican Sisters Place, 3012 Elm Street, Dighton, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Participants will explore “the art of making choices.” Choices shape all of life and are the building blocks of our present and future.

Through activities and appreciation of each other’s gifts, stories and personal experiences, seen in the light of God’s love and care for each one, the group will discover and value what will lead to a good personal harvest. They will celebrate in praise and thanksgiving to the Creator Who guides and gives life.

For more information, contact Sister Paulina Hurtado, O.P., at 508675-1311, extension 6533, or at sr.paulina@dioc-fr.org.

Four educators from UMass Dartmouth came to Holy Family-Holy Name School in New Bedford and taught about nutrition and healthy eating habits to the students in grades five through eight. Pictured are students creating and enjoying some of the meals they made during the class.

Third-graders from St. James-St. John School in New Bedford recently reviewed multiplication facts.

Tenderhearts from American Heritage Girls Troop MA3712, completed a service project for Operation Gratitude. The girls wrote letters thanking our service men and women for their selfless service to our country. The cards were sent with Beanie Babies that will be delivered to deployed military around the world by Operation Gratitude. The girls hope these care packages and their prayers will help the men and women feel closer to home and bring them comfort. https://www.operationgratitude.com

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I

must preface this column with the caveat that I’m not diminishing the great sense of loss of those whose parish and/or schools have or are going to close. My family has felt those losses along our life trek as well.

My purpose is just to say that no matter what has happened, we realize God is still watching over us and loves us unconditionally.

I say this because Denise and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary last weekend. And looking back over the last four decades and even longer, we’ve noticed so much has changed.

I was baptized at the old St. Roch’s Church in Fall River, which has long since closed I grew up in St. Anne’s Parish in Fall River, and we all know the sad news that recently came out about the parish having to close.

I attended St. Anne’s School for nine wonderful years. I first got to see the old ball park where I had so many fond memories playing in the St. Anne’s Little League, covered over by a parking lot.

Then the school itself closed. I remember when it was being razed, my dad, when he was still with us, snuck

We’re still standing

behind the fence closing off the site and took a brick from the old building and gave it to me. I still have it in my office.

Denise grew up in Notre Dame Parish in Fall River. She attended Notre Dame School, as did three of my children: Ben, Lauren and My View Emilie.

The grand From old edifice that the Stands could be seen for miles from

By Dave Jolivet any direction coming into the city burned to the ground in 1982, and took with it a whole city block that included the long-time homes of dozens of people, many of whom we knew or were related to.

Then the parish merged with Immaculate Conception Parish and became St. Bernadette’s, which also ended up closing.

Denise and I got married at the old Notre Dame Church, and the priest who performed the Marriage later realized the priesthood wasn’t his calling, and he went on to another phase in his life.

So, to sum things up, the churches in which Denise and I were baptized, made First Holy Communion, and Confirmation are all closed or are slated to close. The same goes for our children.

The church and parish in which we became husband and wife 40 years ago is no longer, and the priest who married us is no longer a priest.

The parochial schools in which Denise, I, and our children attended are also no longer.

Through the years, each and every closure, merger or change was difficult to go through — and there have been many.

But one major fact remains front and center throughout all the changes, and that is: My wife, children and I are still

baptized Catholics; we have made our First Holy Communion, and we are Confirmed in the faith.

We received wonderful educations that cannot be taken away; and Denise and I are still married.

Circumstances may have changed, and adjustments may have had to be made, but in the end, the foundation in the faith that has been laid, and the journey of faith we walk together, continues.

We’re still standing.

Scandals, demographics, finances, and other human elements cannot change our God, Who remains steadfast in His love for us.

I think a verse from the old Quaker hymn, “How Can I Keep From Singing,” perhaps sums it up best: No storm can shake my inmost calm, while to that Rock I’m clinging. Since love is lord of Heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing? davejolivet@anchornews.org.

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REC Program celebrates two decades of service continued from page two

years. There were blessings in the preparation of team, praying for a team and asking for guidance as team was in formation.

“But for me the greatest blessings were working with the men and women who were dedicated to the program and the many inmates who were blessed because of them.

The time and the work shows a true love of God.” Recalling the infancy of the REC program, Charlie Sullivan told The Anchor, “I was asked to go to the Barnstable jail to observe the meeting and get a handle on the program.

“While there I heard a song that for me captured the essence of our journey, regardless of the life circumstances. An elderly man played an ancient guitar and sang: “‘Holy Spirit You are welcome in this place. Omnipotent Father of mercy and grace You are welcome in this place.’ It continues with welcome in my heart, soul and life.

“This song, with its message of

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self, others, and God. I went on to further my education and earned a master’s degree in Pastoral Ministry invitation of grace into all of it, from Providence College and had has been played and sung at every the blessing of serving in a volungathering of this community inside teer lay chaplain’s position for five and outside the prison.” years — leading Communion serClaire Amiot joined the REC vices, discussion groups, and visiting Program shortly after its formation. one-on-one with inmates.

“I have been involved with REC “The people who have been part almost from the beginning,” she of the ministry have all been amaztold The Anchor. “I was recruited ing people of faith who contributed in the fall of 1997 together with as they felt called and added depth others who had lived Cursillo in the to the work. So many different taldiocese to attend an information ents and personalities came togethnight. er to be family to one another and “My first retreat was in Septemto the men and women we serve. ber 1998. It was REC 3 for the All have carried the love of God.” women. I have been involved ever Jeanette Ferri also enlisted her since. With the retreat this October, services shortly after REC was REC 69, I will have given every formed. “A friend of mine informed talk on the retreat at some time me about a ministry being formed or other.’’ She is also one of the at the Dartmouth HOC,” she told lead musicians at meetings and for The Anchor. “I attended and knew retreats. that I wanted to join.

“Blessings abound from this “I have received blessings of ministry,” she continued. “I met friendships with the residents and some amazing fellow team memthe team. Our stories are differbers who modeled lives of faith for ent, but as human beings we are me. Each talk I wrote helped me very much alike. I have learned look at my relationship with mycompassion and understanding for residents who have had difficult, insecure, unloving childhoods. I also learned how unfair it is for us to judge others.”

As have other REC family members, Ferri says the blessings she receives are countless. “The REC ministry has been a blessing for me,” she added. “The residents keep thanking us for coming in. It is difficult to express to them the gifts that we receive from what they contribute to our REC meetings.

“With trust and courage they share their stories with us. A lot of their stories are very sad. We hug them when they enter our meetings and when they leave.”

Deacon Douglas Medeiros has been a long-time REC family member. He previously told The Anchor that, “the retreats are based on the Paschal Mystery, so Friday night is about dying, Saturday is about rising and Sunday is about Christ coming again into our lives.

The talks are focused around those themes.”

And the message of Christ’s love for everyone isn’t lost on many of the residents who attend a REC retreat and the follow-up meet-

ings. Deacon Medeiros told The Anchor that a former inmate came back to lead a REC weekend. “A former inmate became a facilitator of a weekend,” he said in an earlier Anchor feature. “That is the first time in our history where we’ve had a former inmate direct the retreat.”

In January of this year, Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V. appointed Father Rowland Omuegbu, S.D.V., a member of the bishop’s Vocationist order, as a full-time prison chaplain for the Diocese of Fall River.

Father Rowland balances his time between the Barnstable and

Father Matthew J. Sullivan, SS.CC., was one of the cornerstones of the Residents Encounter Christ Program in the Fall River Diocese.

Here Father Sullivan is honored at a dinner after he retired from prison ministry in 2000. Father Sullivan died in 2012. (Anchor file photo)

Dartmouth facilities.

A native of Nigeria, Father Rowland was ordained in 2000 and spent his first years as a director of vocations. In 2012 Bishop da Cunha asked him to work with him in the Diocese of Newark, N.J., where he got to know the young priest.

Bishop da Cunha was seeking a full-time prison chaplain for the Fall River Diocese and Father Rowland was recommended.

Despite having no prison ministry experience, Father Rowland eagerly accepted and is learning Continued on page 19

Continued from page 18

as he goes. “When I get in there, I see those who want to speak to me or with me or want me to pray for them or who need anything that a priest can help with — or even just to listen,” he told The Anchor earlier. “And I give them the opportunity to be human. So I see that aspect of the residents, the humanity in them. I see them cry, I see them regret the things they have done, the choices they have made in the past, and they make promises to themselves. I am there to give them a listening ear without judging them.”

The REC family works in partnership with Father Rowland, who carries on the labor of love started two decades ago by Father Sullivan.

Earlier this month Bishop da Cunha celebrated Mass at the women’s facility at the Bristol County HOC helping to mark the 20th year of REC at the facility. The Liturgy celebrated was the Mass of the Lord’s Supper which included the washing of the feet in remembrance of what Jesus did for His Apostles (see photo on this week’s Anchor cover). It was a powerful moment for the residents and the team when Bishop da Cunha washed the feet of some women inmates.

It was just one of myriad powerful moments at the two prisons over the last 20 years.

“It is always a special experience celebrating Mass for the inmates,” the bishop told The Anchor. “I find that they have to have a special openness to the Word and the rites, perhaps because of their limited exposure to outside distractions and lack of freedom.

“The Mass I celebrated this time coincided with the conclusion of their REC

retreat which is celebrating 20 years of existence in the Diocese of Fall River. What I find most impressive about the REC ministry is how it impacts not only the lives of the inmates, but also the lives of the volunteers who minister to them. These volunteers have remained dedicated and faithful to this ministry all these years because they find joy in serving others and sharing their faith with them.

“What I see when I go to celebrate with them, is how the inmates are touched by the ministry of those volunteers and how the volunteers experience joy and happiness in being able to bring the Word of God to the inmate population. The volunteers are ministering to the inmates and in many ways they are also ministered to. They receive as much as they give. There is a mutual benefit that takes place in the REC Ministry.

I hope more people will discover the grace and value of this ministry and that we will be able to continue offering it for years to come.”

Some of the long-time REC members shared with The Anchor moments that will stay with them forever.

Charlie Sullivan told The Anchor, “During a meeting a man rose from his chair, walked across the room, stood in front of another man and said, ‘I’m sorry I shot you.’ The man stood up and said, ‘I know you are.’

The two embraced as brothers both in tears.”

“One of the first remarkable moments for me was a sharing by a woman who had never spoken at a meeting and this one evening was going to be her last one before leaving the jail,” recalled Amiot. “She shared that the night she was arrested she prayed to die because she couldn’t stand

the life anymore and felt so unworthy of living.

“She told us that she knew she had never spoken at a meeting, but had come week after week and our faithfulness of coming week after week made her convinced that she was indeed worth something and she was leaving the facility preparing to live a better life and take care of herself.

“That was a special moment for me, because in my life at that time I felt that my worth was wrapped into what I could ‘do’ and this woman taught me that showing up and being present was enough.”

Ferri shared, “I have continued writing to a resident from our first retreat. He is now in a federal prison, sentenced to life without parole. He is a good man, despite his serious crime. I would like our prison system to make positive changes regarding balance between punishment and more compassion and understanding for a prisoner who is worthy of returning to society.”

A little more than 20 years ago a tiny priest with a big heart and an even bigger love for God and his brothers and sisters in Christ was asked to reach out to people who many in society shun and condemn.

The largest of conflagrations can start from the tiniest of flames. That tiny flame, in the person of Father Matthew J. Sullivan, ignited the hearts and souls of countless lay faithful, and even more importantly, the hearts and souls of countless incarcerated men and women to be open to the love God and forgiveness God has for them — unconditionally.

Father Sullivan died in 2012, but the legacy he started in the late 1990s still burns brightly today.

In 2000, Father Sullivan,

shortly after he retired from prison ministry, was honored by the Bristol County Sheriff ’s Department at a dinner at White’s in Westport with more than 300 people in attendance.

“Father Sullivan was more than a chaplain to the inmates,” said Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson. “He was a friend and confidant to everyone at the Sheriff ’s Office. Staff members at every level love this man of God who was comfortable being a man of the people.”

Hodgson continued, “Who among us has watched this humble priest whisper forgiveness to a criminal through the bars of a cell at Ash Street and not felt the presence of Christ the Priest? Who has heard Father Sullivan’s compassionate message at a thousand Masses and not felt inspired and closer to God?

Who has watched this tiny man hug a hulking and sobbing inmate and not felt that they were at a sneak peak preview of the Last Judgment?”

The little big man is no longer gracing the cells of area houses of correction, but the love and compassion he once brought to countless inmates continues to be shared through the hearts of a dedicated group of faithful men and women, many of whom walked the walk with Father Sullivan for years.

Amiot told The Anchor, “If a person is considering becoming part of the REC Program they should speak with someone on the team already who would become their sponsor. They could come to a meeting to see if they feel called to the work.

They should pray and discern whether the Holy Spirit is the Initiator of the desire.”

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To advertise in The Anchor, contact Wayne Powers at 508-675-7151 or Email waynepowers@ anchornews.org 20

The Anchor - November 2, 2018

OFS-USA National Chapter 2018 statement

Submitted by Theresa Pratt Special to The Anchor

We, the members of the National Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan OrderUSA, gathered for our annual chapter at the Renaissance St. Louis Airport Hotel in Missouri, October 9-14. Approximately 90 leaders and observers were present, representing more than 12,000 members throughout the United States, including Guam.

The recent grand jury report in Pennsylvania is a cause of sorrow, pain and agonizing self-scrutiny for the Catholic Church in the United States. We recognize the tragic reality of sinful abuse perpetrated on the most vulnerable. It deeply saddens all of us.

We stand firm and make no excuses. The brothers and sisters of the Secular Franciscan Order extend mercy and compassion to the victims of abuse and to their abusers. Trusting in God Who allows the good seed and the weeds to grow together (Mt 13: 24-30), we pray for healing, forgiveness, reconciliation and peace.

More than 800 years ago, our Lord asked St. Francis of Assisi to “rebuild My Church which is falling into ruin.” Francis accomplished this by living a life of penance and sacrifice according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As followers of St. Francis, we commit ourselves to do the same.

We call the members of our order and invite all people of faith to be vigilant for the sake of the vulnerable and to foster strong relationships throughout the Body of Christ.

We support the clergy and religious who serve Christ Jesus and His

Church. Let us go forth in the light of Christ to rebuild our Church, that it may be renewed as a beacon of hope and safe refuge, grace and truth.

Theresa Pratt is the regional minister of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Region of the Secular Franciscan Order which covers Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, part of New York and part of Massachusetts.

She recently attended the Annual Chapter for The Secular Franciscan Order

for the United States. In response to the crisis surrounding allegations of sexual abuse, the body developed a position statement.

The Secular Franciscan Order is a community of Catholic men and women in the world who seek to pattern their lives after Jesus in the Spirit of Francis of Assisi. Secular Franciscans are tertiaries, or members of the Third Order of St. Francis founded by Francis of Assisi 800 years ago.

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Nov. 3 Rev. Jose M. Bettencourt e Avila, Retired Pastor, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, New Bedford, 1988 Nov. 4 Permanent Deacon James M. O’Gara, 1990 Nov. 5 Rev. Daniel A. Gamache, Retired Pastor, St. Joseph, New Bedford, 1998 Nov. 6 Rev. Patrick S. McGee, Founder, St. Mary, Hebronville, 1933 Rev. Joseph Oliveira, Retired Pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes, Taunton, 1999 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 Nov. 10 Rev. Msgr. Henry T. Munroe, Retired, Former Pastor, Our Lady of Victory, Centerville, 2017

Our readers respond We are all disgraced Father Roger Landry’s article in the September 12 issue of The Anchor was forthright and comforting in that it was chock full of truisms. It didn’t gloss over the most egregious scandal plaguing the entire Roman Catholic community of millions and was a valiant effort at consolation for the demoralized.

Nevertheless, with that said, quoting directly from that piece: “Failure to address the larger context of the sexual abuse of minors would be to repeat the inadequacies of the U.S. bishops’ response in Dallas in 2002, which partially led to the problem we’re facing in 2018,” and reflecting on these words, is there any reason whatsoever to assume that the laity can now blindly believe that anything is really going to change?

All of the lip service up to this point has been nothing but flatulence.

We the faithful have endured a lifetime of catechism (now known as

CCD) classes) homilies, Bible study, retreats, etc. and have been imbued with guilt over run-ofthe-mill transgressions (i.e. lying to our parents, missing Mass on Sunday, lust in our hearts, extramarital affairs with consenting adults, divorce, even in the case of an abusive spouse because “What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder” Mk 10:9) — and then somehow now to be expected to accept horrific behavior coupled with coverups by higher-ups, which incidentally have been used to euphemistically describe the real issue.

Suppressed is the reality of it.

As faithful followers and as a community we are all now disgraced and incensed by these actions.

Therefore in these trying times, my trust lies solidly with the old proverb: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

Jeanne L. Richard Taunton

Nov. 11 Rev. A. Gomez da Silva Neves, Pastor, St. John the Baptist, New Bedford, 1910 Rev. Richard Sullivan, C.S.C., President, Stonehill College, Easton, 2005 Nov. 12 Rev. James H. Looby, Pastor, Sacred Heart, Taunton, 1924 Rev. Bernard Boylan, Pastor, St. Joseph, Fall River, 1925 Nov. 13 Rev. Louis J. Deady, Founder, St. Louis, Fall River, 1924 Rev. William H. O’Reilly, Retired Pastor, Immaculate Conception, Taunton, 1992 Rev. Clarence J. d’Entremont, Retired Chaplain, Our Lady’s Haven, Fairhaven, 1998 Nov. 14 Rev. Francis J. Duffy, Founder, St. Mary, South Dartmouth, 1940 Rev. William A. Galvin, JCD, Retired Pastor, Sacred Heart, Taunton, 1977 Deacon John H. Schondek, 2001 Nov. 15 Rev. Thomas F. LaRoche, Assistant, Sacred Heart, Taunton, 1939 Rev. Daniel E. Doran, Pastor, Immaculate Conception, North Easton, 1943 Nov. 16 Rev. John Brady, Former Pastor, Sandwich, New Bedford, Wareham, 1856

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Around the Diocese The diocesan Marriage Preparation program needs more couples, newly-married and veterans. (Age is not a consideration.) The program meets in three locations: Mansfield, Dartmouth and Dennisport. In each location there is a team of volunteers who facilitate three to five sessions per year. Those interested in serving in this ministry can email bbonneau@dfrcs.org or call the Office of Faith Formation at 508-678-2828, extension 13.

The First Annual Massachusetts Citizens for Life Town Hall Tour will be coming to Catholic Social Services, 261 South Street in Hyannis from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 3. This meeting, one in a series being held across Massachusetts, will feature Anne Fox, president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, and Helen Cross, Editor of the MCFL Quarterly. Topics will include Life is Winning, Death is Losing, Roe Will Go, Fake News is Failing, and How to Achieve the Dream. After short, fast-pace presentations, speakers will respond to questions.

The Diocese of Fall River Prison Ministry (REC) is recognizing the 20th anniversary of its formation with a Mass of celebration on Sunday, November 4 at 11 a.m. at St. Julie Billiart Church in Dartmouth. All current and former members of this ministry, along with their spouses, are welcome to this joyous event. Light refreshments and fellowship will immediately follow.

A Healing Mass will be held November 8 at St. Andrew the Apostle Church, 19 Kilmer Avenue, Taunton beginning at 6 p.m. with the recitation of the Rosary, and will include the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Mass will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will conclude with healing prayers and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. All are welcome. For location information email standrewtaunton@comcast.net or call 508-823-5577.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Shop, 18 Davisville Road (next to CVS) in East Falmouth will hold a Ladies Night Out on Friday, November 9 at 7 p.m. Beauty advice, consultants and fashions from the racks will be modeled by shop volunteers. Light refreshments and door prizes will be offered. A $5 donation to attend will help fund the good works of St. Vincent de Paul in the community. For more information, call 508-540-0505.

The Christ the King Parish Thrift Shop, 4463 Falmouth Road (Route 28) in Cotuit, will host its annual Christmas Bazaar on November 8, 9 and 10 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Christmas items of every description and craft items for Christmas will be offered, and clothing, jewelry, paintings, crystal, linens and specialty holiday items from the boutique will be part of the Christmas Bazaar. This is a wonderful place to begin your Christmas shopping.

St. Jude the Apostle Parish, 249 Whittenton Street in Taunton, will be having its annual Penny Sale in the church hall on Saturday, November 17 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 $1,000 as the first prize. All are welcome.

The 21st annual Christmas Fair at St. Pius X Church, will be held in the parish life center on Station Avenue in South Yarmouth on Saturday, November 17 from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Mrs. Claus and Cookie the Elf will be attending and Cookie will be handing out candy canes and homemade cookies.

The Noel Café will be open for breakfast treats, bagels and muffins from 8:30 to 10 a.m. and then will reopen at 11 a.m. for lunch. There will be plenty to choose from for your holiday shopping. The fair is sponsored by the St. Pius X Women’s Society.

St. John the Evangelist Parish, 841 Shore Road in Pocasset, will host its fifth annual Family Christmas Fair on Saturday, November 24 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Local crafters will be highlighted in the Vendor’s Village with beautiful hand-crafted and delightful gifts for that special someone on your Christmas list. Family, friends and neighbors are invited to enjoy face-painting, cookie-decorating, as well as delicious treats from the bake table. Don’t forget the camera as Santa Claus will pay a visit! Crafters and vendors should contact Jane Robin at 508-759-3566 by November 8. For more information, call 508-563-5887 or visit www.stjohnspocasset.org.

To submit an event for consideration in The Anchor’s “Around the Diocese” listing, send the information by email to kensouza@anchornews.org

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The Anchor - November 2, 2018

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

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

ATTLEBORO — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. John the Evangelist Church, North Main Street, Mondays and Wednesdays from 5-6:30 p.m.

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

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

Brewster — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at Our Lady of the Cape Church, 468 Stony Brook Road, on First Fridays from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. buzzards Bay — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Margaret Church, 141 Main Street, every First Friday following the 8 a.m. Mass, ending at 5 p.m.

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

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

FAIRHAVEN — St. Mary’s Church, Main St., has Eucharistic Adoration every Wednesday from 8:30-11:30 a.m. in the Chapel of Reconciliation, with Benediction at 11:30 a.m.

FALL RIVER — St. Anthony of Padua Church, on the corner of Bedford and Sixteenth streets, has Eucharistic Adoration accompanied by music and prayer every first Wednesday of the month from 6-7 p.m.

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., and Thursdays following the 8 a.m. Mass until Friday at 8 a.m.

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

FALL RIVER — Good Shepherd Parish has Eucharistic Adoration every Friday following the 8 a.m. Mass and concluding with 3 p.m. Benediction in the Daily Mass Chapel. A bilingual holy hour takes place from 2 to 3 p.m. Park behind the church and enter the back door of the connector between the church and the rectory.

FALL RIVER — St. Joseph’s Church has a Holy Hour every Tuesday from 6-7 p.m., with Benediction at 6:45 p.m.

FALL RIVER — St. Michael’s Church has Eucharistic Adoration every Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with Benediction at 5:30 p.m.

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

HYANNIS — St. Francis Xavier Parish in Hyannis, 347 South Street, Hyannis, has Eucharistic Adoration from noon to 3 p.m., daily Monday through Friday.

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

MASHPEE — Christ the King Parish, Route 151 and Job’s Fishing Road has 8:30 a.m. Each First Friday Mass ends with exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Adoration continues until Benediction at 5 p.m.

NEW BEDFORD — Eucharistic Adoration is held every Thursday, with Confessions, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Church. Please use the side entrance.

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

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

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

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

NORTH EASTON — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at Immaculate Conception Church Chapel on the first Wednesday of the month beginning after the 8:30 a.m. Mass, until 6:40 p.m. Those wishing to make a monthly commitment can sign up on the parish website at www.icceaston.org or call the parish office at 508-238-3232.

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

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

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

Taunton — Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament takes place every First Friday at Annunciation of the Lord, 31 First Street. Exposition begins following the 8 a.m. Mass. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed, and Adoration will continue throughout the day. Confessions are heard from 4:15 to 4:45 p.m. Rosary and Benediction begin at 5 p.m.

Taunton — St. Jude the Apostle Parish in Taunton will host Eucharistic Adoration on Mondays following the 9 a.m.

Mass and the St. Jude Novena, until 11:30, ending with Benediction. It will take place at Holy Rosary Chapel during the summer months.

WAREHAM — Eucharistic Adoration at St. Patrick’s Church takes place 9 a.m. Thursday through 7 p.m. Friday. Adoration is held in our Adoration Chapel in the lower Parish Hall. ~ PERPETUAL EUCHARISTIC ADORATION ~

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

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

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

WEST HARWICH — Our Lady of Life Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Holy Trinity Parish, 246 Main Street (Rte. 28), holds perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. We are a regional chapel serving all of the surrounding parishes.

All are invited to sign up to cover open hours. For open hours, or to sign up call 508-430-4716.

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Anchor expiration date EXAMPLE

FALL RIVER — New mailing labels (right) were recently initiated on all Anchor publications, along with the notice of a $25 subscription amount beginning at renewal time. Below is a sample of the label that shows when the subscription expires allowing readers to renew to keep their subscriptions active. If no payment is received within 30 days of the expiration date, The Anchor will send one reminder notice at a later date. We cannot accept credit card payments by phone.

Subscriber name Subscriber Street Address Subscriber City/Town/Zip Code

A subscription to The Anchor would make a wonderful gift for a loved one, a friend, or yourself. It’s a publication that provides a Spiritual uplift and keeps Catholics connected to our Church — locally and beyond.

One-year subscription — $25 Two-year subscription — $45 Name: Address: City:

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if given as a gift, the card should read: From: Street:

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Enclose check or money order and mail to: The Anchor, 887 Highland Avenue, Fall River, MA 02720

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The Anchor - November 2, 2018