11.27.09

Diocese of Fall River

The Anchor

F riday , November 27, 2009

Renovated Taunton church will reopen its doors Sunday

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

TAUNTON — Father John W. Quirk celebrated the very first Mass at St. Joseph’s Church in the Silver City on Christmas Day in 1910. The parish’s second pastor headed the project for the new church building, for which ground was broken in 1909, with then-Fall River Bishop Daniel F. Feehan laying the cornerstone.

For nearly 100 years, wear and

tear from daily use and the elements created the need for an extreme make-over for the venerable English Gothic style edifice.

That face-lift began very early this past January, and on Sunday, Bishop George W. Coleman will celebrate the church’s reopening with an 11 a.m. Mass, at which he will bless the remodeled house of worship and consecrate a brand new altar.

Much has changed at the church during the 11-month reconstruction, but much had changed just prior to the project.

After careful study by diocesan officials and a Founding Parish Task Force, and input from the members of St. Joseph’s and St. Paul’s parishes, the diocese suppressed the two parishes and formed the new St. Andrew the Apostle Parish, Turn to page 14

Diocesan priests’ convocation planned for December 15-17

B y Deacon James N. Dunbar

STARS LIGHT, STARS BRIGHT — The message that Jesus is the light of the world will burn even brightly this Advent and Christmas season as the annual Festival of Lights at La Salette Shrine in Attleboro has added more than 100,000 lights to its already-impressive outdoor display. The shrine’s display is now open nightly from 5 to 9 p.m. through Jan. 3, 2010. (Photo by Fatima Bigda)

Christmas message burns brighter at La Salette’s annual Festival of Lights B y Kenneth J. Souza A nchor Staff

ATTLEBORO — A Christmas tradition in the Fall River Diocese since it first began on Dec. 8, 1953, the annual Festival of Lights display at La Salette Shrine this year promises to “shine brighter than ever” according to shrine director, Father Andre A. “Pat” Patenaude.

With more than 400,000 lights illuminating 10 acres of shrine property every night through January 3, the iconic display continues to emphasize the true meaning of the otherwise busy Christmas sea-

son — celebrating the coming of Christ as the “Light of the World.”

The theme for this 56th year of the Festival of Lights is “Jesus is God’s YES!” — a phrase inspired by St. Paul’s declaration: “For all the promises of God find their yes in him” (2 Cor 1:19-20).

“The theme basically gives us something to preach about for the Advent and Christmas season,” Father Pat told The Anchor. “It’s a theme we’ll be touching upon during the season. We’ve also depicted the word ‘yes’ in many difTurn to page 18

CENTERVILLE — When priests of the Fall River Diocese gather for their three-day convocation next month in Advent, they will reflect on the timely theme of “Pastoral Ministry in a Season of Expectation.”

“Our age (season) is characterized by major cultural deficits that make pastoral ministry very difficult: poverty and unemployment, progressive secularism, scandal in the Church, the lack of quiet,” said Dr. John Cavadini, who will be the keynote speaker.

“Perhaps ministry in the face of such daunting problems makes it seem futile, and even worse, ministry in such a time makes it harder for the bonds of friendship and mutual support among priests to flourish, even though they are needed more than ever,” said Cavadini, chairman of the Theology

Department at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. “The idea of these days of recollection is to find a paradigm that can turn these cultur-

First Sunday of Advent

al deficits, if not into cultural assets, nevertheless into the locus of blessing, of beatitude,” he added, in an interview with The Anchor.

Turn to page 14

November 29

Bishop accepts recommendation to join neighboring parishes as one

ATTLEBORO — In a letter read at all November 21-22 weekend Masses at St. Mary’s Church in Seekonk and St. Stephen’s Church in Attleboro, Bishop George W. Coleman informed parishioners that he has formally accepted the recommendation of their combined parish task force to join the two communities into one new parish.

The task force, comprised of a representative group of parishioners from both parishes and their pastors, has been meeting over the past year-and-a-half to

discuss planning for the future of their parishes, located just 1.5 miles apart, particularly with the pending retirement of Father James H. Morse from St. Stephen’s in 2010.

Bishop Coleman wrote in his letter that, following the specifics of the recommendation, the new parish will be inaugurated next spring upon Father Morse’s retirement and that it will utilize St. Mary’s Church as its worship site because of its larger size.

Father Thomas L. Rita, current pastor of St. Mary’s, will become

its founding pastor.

Over the next several months the Parish Founding Task Force will oversee planning for the transition with assistance from diocesan Pastoral Planning staff.

All parishioners will be invited to offer input into the selection of a name for the new parish.

“I know that this development may not be easy, and that you may experience different emotions,” Bishop Coleman said in his letter. “Changes in our diocese are impelling us to examine how we Turn to page 12

News From the Vatican

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November 27, 2009

Respect for life means seeing it as God’s gift, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Recognizing that each human life belongs to God is the only way to promote respect for every person, Pope Benedict XVI said.

Too often today, people see life as “a merely human product” rather than as “a gift of God welcomed in the loving intimacy of the marriage between a man and a woman,” the pope said November 14 in a speech to bishops from Brazil.

The bishops from the State of Sao Paulo were making their “ad limina” visits to the Vatican to report on the status of their dioceses.

Pope Benedict urged the bishops to undertake a “constant and methodical evangelization” of their people focused on educating their consciences not only to help them live their faith more deeply, but also to empower them to be a positive force for promoting respect for human life and human dignity in society.

“It is not an exaggeration to affirm that authentic social life begins with the conscience of each individual,” the pope said.

“Because a well-formed conscience leads to the realization of the true good of the human person, the Church — by specifying what this good is — enlightens people and tries to educate their consciences through every aspect of Christian life,” he said.

Pope Benedict said it is obvious that Christians are not the only people committed to defending and promoting the dignity of human life.

“Even if it receives light and extraordinary strength from faith, it is part of every human conscience that strives for truth and is attentive to and concerned about the destiny of humanity,” he said.

The pope asked the Brazilian bishops to speak to the hearts of their people, “reawaken their consciences” and rally them to act together “against the growing wave of violence and disrespect for the human person.”

The attitude of individuals and of national laws toward the human person is a direct result of whether one sees life as just one more commodity two people can produce or as something precious that ultimately belongs to God, the pope said.

The pope told the bishops that he knows their task is not easy, “but we would not be faithful followers of our divine master if we did not remain solid in ‘hope against every hope’ in every situation.”

“Continue to work for the triumph of God’s cause, not with the sad spirit of one who sees only deficiencies and dangers, but with the firm faith of those who know they can count on the victory of Christ,” he said.

Holy Rosary Church

120 Beattie St., Fall River, MA Sat., 5 December 2009• 508-673-2833

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9:00 am

Church: Procession of Our Lady. Angelus. Crowning Ceremony. Sung Litany of Loreto. The Five Joyful Mysteries

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Mass of Our Lady: Celebrant and Preacher, Fr. Dominic, FI

11:10 am

Lunch break (please bring bag lunch)

12:10 pm

Exposition and Procession of the Blessed Sacrament

12:35 pm

Sermon on Our Lady by Fr. Raphael, FI. Silent Adoration.

1:15 pm

Meditations on the Passion of Our Lord

1:50 pm

Break (20 minutes)

2:10 pm

The Five Glorious Mysteries. Act of Consecration.

2:40 pm

Benediction

2:55 pm

Enrollment in the Brown Scapular and Conferment of Miraculous Medal. Procession of Our Lady.

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BUSTIN’ A MOVE AT THE VATICAN — Dancers perform at a recent multicultural celebration during the Sixth World Congress on the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees at the Vatican. Immigrants living in Italy performed at the celebration. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Luxury, waste unacceptable when hunger is on the rise, says pope

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service

ROME — Opulence and waste are unacceptable especially when hunger — the cruelest form of poverty — continues to rise, Pope Benedict XVI told world leaders at a summit on food security.

The pope condemned the greed that fuels speculation on food prices, aid that debilitates agricultural production, and excessive exploitation of the earth’s resources.

Pope Benedict spoke November 16 during the opening session of the United Nations’ World Summit on Food Security.

The November 16-18 conference, hosted by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, brought together leaders and delegates from countries around the world to find concrete solutions to end the scourge of hunger and malnutrition and find ways to stabilize food prices.

According to the FAO, more than a billion people are undernourished and one child dies every six seconds because of malnutrition.

“Hunger is the most cruel and concrete sign of poverty,” the pope said in his address to summit leaders. “Opulence and waste are no longer acceptable when the tragedy of hunger is assuming ever greater proportions.”

“Norms, legislation, development plans and investments are not enough, however; what is needed is a change in the lifestyles of individuals and communities, in habits of consumption and in perceptions of what is genuinely needed,” Pope Benedict said.

The transcendental worth of every human being must be recognized if there is to be “the con-

version of heart that underpins the commitment to eradicate deprivation, hunger and poverty in all their forms,” he said.

The pope said the growing number of hungry people in the world is not directly linked to an increase in world population.

There is enough food to feed the world, he said, adding that food shortages are caused by the rising price of foodstuffs, “the reduction in economic resources available to the poorest peoples and their limited access to markets and to food.”

“The lamentable destruction of foodstuffs for economic gain” is more proof that “there is no causeand-effect relationship between population growth and hunger,” he said.

Pope Benedict called for greater action in creating “a network of economic institutions capable of guaranteeing regular access to sufficient food and water.”

Countries must “oppose those forms of aid that do grave damage to the agricultural sector, those approaches to food production that are geared solely towards con-

The Anchor

sumption and lack a wider perspective, and especially greed, which causes speculation to rear its head even in the marketing of cereals, as if food were to be treated just like any other commodity,” he said.

Not enough is being done to lift people out of poverty because some people exhibit “resigned regret, if not downright indifference” to the plight of others and tend to believe hunger is just part and parcel of life in certain countries, he said.

Everyone has a moral responsibility to show solidarity toward the rest of the human family and concretely meet the needs of others “so as to favor the genuine sharing of goods, founded on love.”

The fundamental right to life depends on the right to sufficient, healthy and nutritious food and safe drinking water, he said.

At the end of his address, the pope — speaking in Arabic, Chinese, Russia, English, French and Spanish — thanked the FAO and its member states for their efforts “to ensure that all people are given their daily bread.”

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 53, No. 45

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Published weekly except for two weeks in the summer and the week after Christmas 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.

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PUBLISHER - Most Reverend George W. Coleman EXECUTIVE EDITOR Father Roger J. Landry fatherrogerlandry@anchornews.org EDITOR David B. Jolivet davejolivet@anchornews.org NEWS EDITOR Deacon James N. Dunbar jimdunbar@anchornews.org OFFICE MANAGER Mary Chase marychase@anchornews.org ADVERTISING Wayne R. Powers waynepowers@anchornews.org REPORTER Kenneth J. Souza kensouza@anchornews.org Send Letters to the Editor to: fatherrogerlandry@anchornews.org

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November 27, 2009

The International Church

3

Vatican hopes U.S. lifts Cuba embargo, archbishop says

NO WAY TO LIVE — Children from a slum area scavenge through a garbage dump in Nairobi, Kenya. Pope Benedict XVI called for prayers and greater efforts on the part of the international community to help the children around the world who live in dramatic situations. (CNS photo/Noor Khamis, Reuters)

Catholic leaders welcome national apology to ‘Forgotten Australians’

By Anthony Barich Catholic News Service

PERTH, Australia — Australian Catholic bishops and religious leaders welcomed a government apology to the “Forgotten Australians” for the ordeals they suffered in state institutional care.

During an emotional apology to the victims in the Great Hall of Parliament in Canberra November 16, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd vowed such abuse would never happen again.

Between 7,000 and 10,000 child migrants were separated from their families and shipped to Australia from the United Kingdom and Malta from the 1930s to the 1970s. Promised a better life, they were instead raised in institutions and orphanages, where many were subjected to mental, physical and sexual abuse.

Australian Catholic leaders prayed that the prime minister’s apology would “play an important role in healing many of the wounds which were laid bare with great courage before the Senate Inquiry Into Children in Institutional Care,” said a November 16 statement signed by Archbishop Philip Wilson of Adelaide, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

Addressing an emotional audience of former state wards and about 1,000 victims who shouted encouragement during a lengthy speech and at times stood to applaud, Rudd said Australia is “sorry for the tragedy, the abso-

lute tragedy, of childhoods lost.”

Saying it was time Australia faced up to this brutal episode in its history, the prime minister said the government would consolidate its records to form a national database to help those who had lost family members reunite with them, adding that, beginning November 16, those who survived the ordeal would instead be known as the “Remembered Australians.”

“We come together today to offer our nation’s apology, to say to you, the Forgotten Australians, and those who were sent to our shores as children without their consent, that we are sorry,” said Rudd, who was raised a Catholic and now regularly attends an Anglican church.

“Sorry that as children you were taken from your families and placed in institutions where so often you were abused,” he said.

“Sorry for the physical suffering, emotional starvation and the cold absence of love, of tenderness, of care.

“Childhoods spent instead in austere and authoritarian places where names were replaced by numbers, spontaneous play by regimented routine, the joy of learning by the repetitive drudgery of menial work.

A 2004 Senate inquiry recommended the apology to those who suffered sexual abuse, violence and emotional trauma in state and Church-run orphanages, foster homes and institutions.

The probe unearthed hundreds

of disturbing stories of children placed in care because of family breakdown, families with unmarried mothers or children were considered “uncontrollable.” It found widespread assault and emotional, physical and sexual abuse, neglect, humiliation and the deprivation of food, education and medical care.

“We sincerely renew this apology again today,” the Catholic leaders said.

“As stated in 2004, the revelations contained in the Senate inquiry report are the very opposite of all that we would wish to stand for. We are also deeply regretful for the hurt caused whenever the church’s response has denied or minimized the pain that victims have experienced; and we regret the hurt and distress caused to the many good people who have worked in this area.”

The bishops and leaders of religious institutes also assured people that the Toward Healing protocol “continues to listen and respond in the best possible way to the many different needs of people affected by their experience in institutions in ways that, in the words of Pope Benedict (XVI) when he was in Sydney, ‘bring about healing, reconciliation and ever greater fidelity to the moral demands of the Gospel.’”

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in the new year he would issue an apology for the Child Migrants Program, under which the children were shipped abroad.

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican consistently has criticized the U.S. embargo against Cuba and hopes the Obama administration will lift the restrictions, recognizing the fact that they cause untold suffering for the Cuban people, a Vatican official said.

Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, visited Cuba in early November and met with local bishops and Catholics involved in communications work, but also with government officials.

The embargo “undeniably has a negative influence on the life of the people,” Archbishop Celli told Vatican Radio.

Asked whether he expects U.S. President Barack Obama to change U.S. policy, Archbishop Celli said, “I hope this can occur because, undeniably, it is the population that suffers most.”

He said that while the Catholic Church in Cuba has few resources and extremely limited access to the media, its communications efforts are having an impact.

“I told them it was exactly like the multiplication of the loaves and fishes” in the Gospel where a huge crowd is fed miraculously, the archbishop said.

While economic resources are a problem, the government restrictions are the biggest obstacle to the Church’s communication efforts, he said.

“After the visit of the Holy Father, John Paul II, in 1998, the authorities gave bishops permission to access local radio stations three times a year for 15 minutes each time. So the bishop — who has no right to have a Catholic radio station — can speak on the local radio only 45

minutes each year,” he said.

“I told the competent government authorities that it would be wonderful if the Church were allowed to have normal access to the media,” he said.

“They said they would think about it,” Archbishop Celli added.

The archbishop said he explained to the authorities that the Gospel message, a message already accepted by the majority of Cubans, has a profoundly human aspect that promotes the good of individuals and the development of the community.

In addition, he said, he told them that Cuban Catholics “would appreciate the fact that their bishop had access to the radio and could deliver words of human and Christian inspiration.”

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The Church in the U.S.

4

November 27, 2009

Bishops approve translations of final five sections of Missal

BALTIMORE (CNS) — The U.S. bishops approved the English translation and U.S. adaptations of five final sections of the Roman Missal in voting on the second day of their annual fall general assembly in Baltimore.

With overwhelming majority votes, the bishops approved translations of the proper of the saints, specific prayers to each saint in the universal liturgical calendar; the commons, general prayers for celebrating saints listed in the “Roman Martyrology”; the Roman Missal supplement; the U.S. propers, a collection of orations and formularies for feasts and memorials particular to the U.S. liturgical calendar; and U.S. adaptations to the Roman Missal.

There was some debate on the floor about a separate piece of the translations — the antiphons — which has not come to the bishops for consideration, but instead has advanced through the Vatican’s approval procedures without the consultation of the English-language bishops’ conferences around the world.

But the final five sections of the missal before the bishops passed with minimal discussion and only a handful of proposed amendments to the texts.

Each translation needed to pass by a two-thirds majority of the Latin-rite bishops. Each of the five pieces received at least 88 percent of the bishops’ votes.

It’s been nearly six years since the U.S. bishops began considering pieces of a new English translation of the missal. In June they approved four texts, containing prayers and prefaces for various occasions, votive Masses and Masses for the dead; solemn blessings for the end of Mass and prayers over the people and eucharistic prayers for particular occasions.

During the bishops’ spring meeting, Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., chairman of

ing t a r leb ur e C O d

3Y3ear r

the bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship, this summer warned the bishops that if they failed to approve the texts by the end of November, they risked being shut out of the process by the Vatican.

Each of the English-language bishops’ conferences has gone through or is going through the same process. Once all the information is received at the Vatican, the Congregation for Divine Worship must grant its “recognitio,” or approval, to proceed with the translations.

They approved a motion suggested by Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles and made by Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk to formally approve the action taken by Cardinal George in agreeing to the Vatican congregation translating the antiphons.

The translations approved will, like the previously approved sections, be compiled into a new missal for use in English-speaking countries.

Among the changes people will notice in the new translation is a rephrasing in the Nicene Creed. It will read, in part: “I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, ... begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father.”

That section of the Nicene Creed currently reads: “We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, ... begotten not made, one in being with the Father.”

In the “Ecce Agnus Dei,” (“Behold the Lamb of God”) the people will say, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”

Currently, they say: “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.”

FITTING BEGINNING — Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, celebrates Mass on the opening day of the U.S. bishops’ annual fall meeting in Baltimore November 16. (CNS photo/Bob Roller)

Bishops approve revised directives on withdrawal of food and water

By Nancy Frazier O’Brien Catholic News Service

BALTIMORE — The U.S. bishops overwhelmingly approved a revision to the directives that guide Catholic health care facilities, clarifying that patients with chronic conditions who are not imminently dying should receive food and water by “medically assisted” means if they cannot take them normally.

“As a general rule, there is an obligation to provide patients with food and water, including medically assisted nutrition and hydration for those who cannot take food orally,” says the revised text of the “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services” prepared by the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine.

“This obligation extends to patients in chronic conditions (e.g., the ‘persistent vegetative state’) who can reasonably be expected to live indefinitely if given such care,” the new text adds.

The vote was 219-4 in favor

of the revision November 17, the second day of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops fall general assembly in Baltimore.

Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Doctrine, said the changes would help bishops to be “teachers of the faith,” medical practitioners to “follow the appropriate medical protocols” and “our people when they face these difficult decision” for themselves or their loved ones.

Deleted from the directives was a reference to “the necessary distinctions between questions already resolved by the magisterium and those requiring further reflection, as, for example, the morality of withdrawing medically assisted hydration and nutrition from a person who is in the condition that is recognized by physicians as the ‘persistent vegetative state.’”

The only substantive debate on the revised directives was about whether to use the term “permanent vegetative state” or “persistent vegetative state” in the document.

The committee initially accepted a recommendation from Archbishop Jerome G. Hanus of Dubuque, Iowa, to change the word from “persistent” to “permanent,” but later reversed itself.

When the archbishop brought the matter to the floor of the bishops’ meeting, asking for a return to “permanent vegetative state,” the proposal lost by a vote of 34-186, with one abstention.

In presenting the revised text, Bishop Lori said the directives, last revised in 2001, “were written long before” Pope John Paul II’s March 2004 address to an international conference on “LifeSustaining Treatments and the

Vegetative State” and the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s August 2007 reply to questions raised by the USCCB on artificial nutrition and hydration.

Bishop Lori said the changes were needed “particularly since the recent clarifications by the Holy See have rendered untenable certain positions that have been defended by some Catholic theologian and ethicists.”

Some Catholic ethicists had argued that, because doctors consider a persistent vegetative state irreversible, artificial nutrition and hydration can be withdrawn from those patients.

Much of the ethical discussion of the nutrition and hydration question in recent years has focused on the case of Terri Schindler Schiavo, a brain-damaged Florida woman whose husband successfully fought for the right to discontinue her feeding tube.

Schiavo died March 31, 2005, 13 days after doctors withdrew nutrition and hydration.

“While medically assisted nutrition and hydration are not morally obligatory in certain cases, these forms of basic care should in principle be provided to all patients who need them, including patients diagnosed as being in a ‘persistent vegetative state,’ because even the most severely debilitated and helpless patient retains the full dignity of a human person,” the revised directives read.

“Medically assisted nutrition and hydration become morally optional when they cannot reasonably be expected to prolong life or when they would be ‘excessively burdensome for the patient or (would) cause significant physical discomfort,’” they add.

Bishops OK document criticizing some reproductive technologies

By Nancy Frazier O’Brien Catholic News Service

BALTIMORE — Although the Catholic Church shares the pain of married couples facing infertility problems, some reproductive technologies “are not morally legitimate ways to solve those problems,” the U.S. bishops say in a new document.

The 15-page document, “LifeGiving Love in an Age of Technology,” received overwhelming approval November 17 at the fall general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore. The vote to approve it was 220-4, with three abstentions.

Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said the new document would “fill a true pastoral need” among U.S. Catholics for a better understanding of “the difference between the Catholic understanding and the secular understanding of human life.”

“Life-Giving Love in an Age of Technology” is designed as a companion to the bishops’ 2006 statement, “Married Love and the Gift of Life,” which urged Catholic couples to reject the use of artificial contraception and to learn how natural family planning can benefit the marital relationship.

Like the earlier document, “Life-Giving Love in an Age of Technology” is in question-andanswer format, with a short introduction.

“In an age of advances in reproductive medicine, many solutions are offered to couples going through” infertility problems, says the document.

“Some solutions offer real hope for restoring a couple’s natural, healthy ability to have children,”

5

The Anchor

November 27, 2009

it adds. “Others pose serious moral problems by failing to respect the dignity of the couple’s marital relationship, of their sexuality, or of the child.”

Specifically, the bishops reject the use of eggs or sperm from “donors” — whom the document says are often paid and should instead be called “vendors” — as well as surrogate motherhood, artificial insemination, in-vitro fertilization, or IVF, and human cloning.

“Children are not parents’ possessions to manufacture, manipulate or design; rather, they are fellow persons with full human dignity, and parents are called to accept, care for and raise them to be new members of God’s family and his kingdom,” the document says. “Children deserve to be ‘begotten, not made.’”

The bishops express strong support for adoption, calling it “a wonderful way to build a family,” but do not endorse the concept of “embryo adoption,” in which a frozen embryo that would otherwise be discarded is implanted into a woman willing to give birth to and raise the child.

“Serious moral concerns have been raised about embryo adoption, particularly as it requires the wife in the adopting couple to receive into her womb an embryonic child who was not conceived through her bodily union with her husband,” the document says.

“The terrible plight of abandoned frozen embryos underscores the need for our society to end practices such as IVF that regularly produce so many ‘spare’ or unwanted human beings,” it adds.

But the bishops say couples with fertility problems do not necessarily need to abandon their

hope of conceiving a child.

“The challenge is to diagnose and address problems so these (male and female) bodies can function as they should — and there is no moral problem in doing this, any more than there is in other medical treatments to restore health,” the document says.

“Hormonal treatment and other medications, conventional or laser surgery to repair damaged or blocked fallopian tubes, means for alleviating male infertility factors, and other restorative treatments are available,” as is natural family planning to maximize a woman’s chance of conceiving, it adds.

“These and other methods do not substitute for the married couple’s act of loving union; rather, they assist this act in reaching its potential to conceive a new human life,” the bishops say.

The document includes several statements from those who have experienced infertility.

“Natural methods took the focus of conception away from the wonders of technology and back to the love between me and my husband, and I didn’t have any of the awful side effects from medication or treatments,” said Amy Cagliola Smith of Norristown, Pa. In introducing the document to the bishops November 16, Cardinal Rigali said many Americans, including many Catholics, consider “any method of ‘making babies’ ... to be ‘Pro-Life.’”

“The widespread moral acceptance of IVF and the large numbers of frozen embryos have contributed to the general public attitude that human embryos are less than human and are better used for scientific experimentation rather than ‘wasted,’” he said.

U.S. bishops gather at national shrine in Washington for jubilee Mass

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception — the largest Catholic church in the United States and one of the largest Catholic churches in the world — is celebrating its 50th anniversary but it is still a work in progress, as are the people who worship there, said a West Virginia bishop who was once the shrine’s rector.

“Even as it still looks to the construction of this major dome over us this evening and countless other physical projects to make this an ever more beautiful building, these stones would speak about how this church and every church in Christendom is a ‘work in progress,’” said Bishop Michael J. Bransfield of WheelingCharleston, W.Va. “As faithful as we try to be and are, we are not perfect,” he added, which is “why we come to this building to worship” and to be inspired by the Gospel.

Bishop Bransfield, who was the shrine’s rector for 18 years, was the homilist for an anniversary Mass November 19 for the U.S. bishops, who concluded their annual four-day fall general meeting in Baltimore earlier that day.

“We need to hear and ponder the age-old stories of call and response in the Bible, from Abraham and Sarah through Joseph and Mary, Simeon and Anna and all the rest,” Bishop Bransfield said.

“We know well that we are imperfect and that Gospels like these (the Annunciation story proclaimed at the Mass) and the mysteries we celebrate are not optional extras, rather they are our life blood and life support as we seek to be converted more and more fully to the Lord that we worship and whose Gospel we hear through Scripture stories such as these because these stories are announcements to us of what really matters in life.

“If we were perfect,” he added,

“we would not need the Gospel, this Eucharist or this building.”

Bishop Bransfield used the rhetorical device “if these stones could speak” to highlight many episodes in the shrine’s history since construction of its upper church was completed in 1959.

“For some this basilica was a place of inspiration and support as they sorted out our new ways to live their Catholic faith” in the years following the Second Vatican Council, he said.

“If these stones could speak they would speak of a house of hope amidst riots in D.C. that occurred in the late 1960s because of racial prejudice and protests against the Vietnam War,” Bishop Bransfield added.

“If these stones could speak they would speak of a house of welcome and of refuge since the early 1970s when Catholics and others have gathered here for the Right to Life Mass on January 21, the feast of St. Agnes,” he said.

Bishop Bransfield added, “They would (also) speak of a house of charity and service to the poor to this day on Christmas Day when so many other D.C. agencies are closed but the doors of this basilica are wide open to welcome and feed the poor.”

The Mass, with Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington as the principal celebrant, featured more than 50 bishop concelebrants, including Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, who was at the 1959 dedication and was the first chaplain of the Knights of Columbus council based at the shrine.

The Knights have had a longstanding relationship with the shrine. Their contributions include a $1 million donation in 1959 for construction of the shrine’s bell tower and a $1 million gift for the creation and installation of the Incarnation Dome above the south nave of the shrine’s upper church completed in 2008.

6

The Anchor

‘Completely unacceptable’ and ‘An enormous disappointment’

In a November 20 letter to U.S. Senators about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s 2,074-page health care reform bill, Cardinal Daniel Dinardo, Bishop William Murphy and Bishop John Wester, writing on behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, minced no words in calling Reid’s proposal “completely unacceptable” and “an enormous disappointment.” They said that it fails to meet the moral criteria with regard to human life and conscience protection as well as fails to achieve universal access to care and ensure for adequate affordability and coverage standards.

Reid’s proposal, they stated, “violates the longstanding federal policy against the use of federal funds for elective abortions and health plans that include such abortions — a policy upheld in all health programs covered by the Hyde Amendment, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program — and now in the House-passed ‘Affordable Health Care for America Act.’ We believe legislation that violates this moral principle is not true health care reform and must be amended to reflect it. If that fails, the current legislation should be opposed.”

Simply put: abortion is not health care and taxpayers should not be compelled to subsidize it.

“In the aftermath of the overwhelming and bipartisan House vote for the [Stupak] Amendment,” they continued, “there has been much misunderstanding of what it does and does not do.” This misunderstanding has come from an organized campaign of mendacity coming from the Obama White House, various pro-abortion figures on Capitol Hill, as well as segments of the secular media that are claiming that the Stupak Amendment “changes the status quo” on abortion funding. The bishops respond forthrightly: “This amendment does not change the current situation in our country: Abortion is legal and available, but no federal dollars can be used to pay for elective abortions or plans that include elective abortions. This provision simply keeps in place existing policy and allows Congress to honor the president’s commitment that ‘no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions.’ The amendment does not restrict abortion, or prevent people from buying insurance covering abortion with their own funds. It simply ensures that where federal funds are involved, people are not required to pay for other people’s abortions.”

The bishops then get specific about how Senator Reid’s bill changes the status quo. “Thus far, the pending Senate bill does not live up to President Obama’s commitment of barring the use of federal dollars for abortion and maintaining current conscience laws. The bill provides federal funding for plans that cover abortion, and creates an unprecedented mandatory ‘abortion surcharge’ in such plans that will require Pro-Life purchasers to pay directly and explicitly for other people’s abortions.

Its version of a public health plan (the “community health insurance plan”) allows the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to mandate coverage of unlimited abortions nationwide, and also allows each state to mandate such abortion coverage for all state residents taking part in this federal program even if the secretary does not do so. The bill seriously weakens the current nondiscrimination policy protecting providers who decline involvement in abortion, providing stronger protection for facilities that perform and promote abortion than for those which do not. The legislation requires each region of the insurance exchange to include at least one health plan with unlimited abortion, contrary to the policy of all other federal health programs. Finally, critically important conscience protections on issues beyond abortion have yet to be included in the bill. To take just one example, the bill fails to ensure that even religious institutions would retain the freedom to offer their own employees health insurance coverage that conforms to the institution’s teaching.

On these various issues the new Senate bill is an enormous disappointment, creating new and completely unacceptable federal policy that endangers human life and rights of conscience.”

Following upon the massive mobilization of Catholics to help the House pass the Stupak Amendment, the bishops are asking all Catholics to contact their Senators to ensure that the pro-abortion provisions of the present bill are stricken and language similar to the Stupak amendment is added.

Massachusetts residents are requested to call, email or fax the offices of Senators John Kerry and Paul Kirk with a message similar to the following: “Please adopt the House-approved Stupak Amendment that upholds longstanding policies against abortion funding, and please protect conscience rights in health care.” Senator Kerry’s phone number is 508-677-0522 and his web-accessible email portal, kerry.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm. Senator Kirk’s phone is 877-472-9014 and email portal, kirk.senate.gov/contact.

The prelates included with their letter a detailed fact sheet on the Stupak Amendment that responds specifically to the “number of misunderstandings and false claims” about the amendment being claimed by pro-abortion spin machine. Against the charge that the Stupak Amendment is “broader” than the Hyde Amendment and changes the status quo of abortion funding, the fact sheet replies, “Critics of the Stupak Amendment have said that the Hyde Amendment prevents the use of federal funds only for the abortion procedure itself, not for entire benefits packages that include abortion. But this is simply not true. For many years the annual Hyde Amendment has said that no funds appropriated in the Labor/HHS appropriations bill may support ‘health benefits coverage that includes coverage of abortion.’ This and other current federal health programs already bar use of federal funds to subsidize health plans that include elective abortions. The Stupak Amendment follows this same policy.”

The fact sheet adds that the Stupak Amendment does not forbid abortion coverage in health plans that use only private funds. In fact, it says, the amendment “explicitly says that people not using federal subsidies to purchase a health plan may purchase a plan with elective abortion coverage.

Even people who use federal subsidies to buy their overall health coverage may use their own private funds to purchase a supplemental policy covering abortion if they wish to do so.” It goes on, “Anyone who has employer-based or other private insurance coverage now can keep it as before, because anyone who can afford such coverage without a federal subsidy will not be covered by the Hyde policy. Individuals who do not get insurance from their employer, but do not qualify for a subsidy, are free to buy a plan on the exchange that includes abortions. Someone who does qualify for a subsidy can use it to purchase a plan without elective abortions, then purchase a supplemental abortion policy using only private funds if they wish to do so.” The bishops are obviously not encouraging people to purchase plans that pay for abortions, but merely saying that the Stupak Amendment does not prevent private insurance plans from covering abortion, which is the status quo.

The fact sheet details that “most Americans oppose public funding of abortion. A September 2009 survey conducted by International Communications Research is of special interest: Strong majorities opposed ‘measures that would require people to pay for abortion coverage with their federal taxes’ (67 percent against to 19 percent in favor), as well as measures requiring them to pay for such coverage with their ‘health insurance premiums’ (56 percent against, 32 percent in favor).

Respondents were also asked: ‘If the choice were up to you, would you want your own insurance policy to include abortion?’ Sixty-eight percent said no, with 24 percent saying yes. Opposition to abortion coverage was somewhat higher among women (69 percent), and people in lower income and education brackets; those who lack insurance now, the people most affected by this legislation, opposed abortion coverage 82 percent to 15 percent.”

The fact sheet concludes: “In short, the Stupak Amendment is a modest and reasonable measure. It reflects the Hyde Amendment and all other existing federal abortion funding policies in the context of health care reform. Under this policy, anyone who actually wants abortion coverage can buy it with their own money; the government does not use taxpayer funds for abortions; and no one who opposes abortion is forced through their health premiums to pay for other people’s abortions.

Congress should retain this amendment in any final health care reform legislation.”

Catholic citizens are urged to act to ensure that Congress does retain it.

November 27, 2009

Helping penitents achieve true conversion

In the last two weeks, we’ve discussed how that she thought he was exaggerating the danSt. John Vianney would try to help people to gers. So he prophetically revealed to her how make better confessions. He began by teaching low she would fall in Paris. She responded that them how to examine their consciences more she thought herself incapable of such abomithoroughly. Then he focused on trying to help nations. Vianney assured her that she would them achieve real sorrow for their sins, not so commit them, but also told her what she had much out of fear of punishment, but out of love to do when she eventually hit this spiritual rock for Christ who died to forgive us these sins. bottom: she was to leave Paris, begin certain These first two steps were the foundations for practices of penance, and return to the south of the third and final stage of preparation, which France where she would meet him again. Evis the focus of today’s column: a firm purpose erything happened precisely as he described. of amendment of life.

When he saw her three months later, she was St. John Vianney knew that the greater chastened, humble and ready to make a firm one’s examination of conscience — identify- purpose of conversion of life. She finally reing not just the sins but the various factors and ceived absolution and the joy of reconciliation occasions that led to the sin — the greater the with God. game plan one would be able to form to seek The Curé of Ars was as strong as steel in reto avoid these sins and occasions in the future. quiring a firm purpose of amendment, because Likewise, the more contrite someone was for without it, he knew that the sacrament would the sins committed, the greater the resolve that be invalid due to insufficient “matter.” He was person would have not to wound the Lord, consequently unyielding with those who delibhimself and others again by sin. erately lived in the occasion of sin, refusing to But even so, it’s not automatic that some- give them absolution until they had eliminated one who has made a good examination of con- what was the cause of the spiritual downfall. science and who is filled with sorrow will make To a woman who repeatedly was falling a solid plan to amend one’s life. They might into sin because of evil books in her library, not necessarily be intending to commit sins in he required her to burn the books before he the future; they would give her may even have absolution. a positive desire Those in illicit not to commit relationships similar sins in needed to end the future; but them. Drunks they will lack the had to eliminate type of strategy the booze from

By Father and resolve to their home and Roger J. Landry be brutal with stop going to the themselves in bars. seeking to avoid To those who them. frequented the vogues — the sensual dances When St. John Vianney encountered peni- that he believed were volcanoes of lust that led tents with insufficient purposes of amend- to all sorts of sins — he refused to give absolument, he did whatever he could to help them tion until the penitent would make a promise to achieve it. Many times this took the form never to attend another one. A woman testified of guidance and encouragement. Sometimes it at his canonization that she was refused absotook the form of strictness in helping them — lution for six years because as a teen-ager she to use Jesus’ image from the Sermon on the was unwilling to make a commitment to forMount (Mt 5:29-30) — to cut off their hands or sake those dances in the future. She said that pluck out their eyes if they were causing them St. John Vianney was always kind to her, would to sin. In all circumstances his goal was to help give her his blessing and promise to pray for his penitents not merely confess their sins but her, but was adamant about the conversion reachieve real conversion. He knew, as he said in quired in the sacrament of penance. When the one homily, that there are “many who confess girl’s mother said that her daughter could go to but few who convert … because there are few another confessor, the Curé replied, “As you who confess with repentance.” He hoped that, like,” but said that he hoped that she wouldn’t, by his preaching and his priestly work in the because that would just be ducking the issue of confessional, everyone who came to confes- the conversion the daughter needed. Eventually sion in Ars would leave converted. the girl recognized the seriousness of what she One time St. John Vianney was returning was doing and began to hate the sins that were from a sick call and met a woman from Paris keeping her from the Lord’s mercy in the conin the village square of Ars. She had no inten- fessional and his Body and Blood in holy Comtion to go to confession; she merely wanted to munion. She returned to the sacraments with a observe the curious phenomenon of the Curé firm resolution and lived a good life thereafter. of Ars. When the saint met her, he asked her to With inveterate sinners who refused to give follow him to a place they could converse pri- up the near occasions of their ruin, the saint vately. Much like Jesus did with the Samaritan would remind them of the eternal consequencwoman at the well (Jn 4), the saint revealed to es of their stubbornness. “Unless you avoid her, with a divine light that we’ll have a chance such an occasion,” he would say, “you will to talk about in future columns, all that she be damned.” Hearing those words would be had ever done. The woman’s first reaction was enough, on many occasions, to bring people to stunned silence, not knowing what to say, as all their senses. One such penitent, François Bourthat she had tried to conceal to the world was din, left the confessional repeating, “What, I now out in the open in her conversation with will be damned! Cursed by God forever!” This the pastor of Ars. When she finally spoke, she became a flash of light that led to his conversaid, “Father, will you hear my confession?” sion, return to the confessional and good life After all, she thought, he already knew her from that point forward. sins; since this tough part was out of the way, In helping the people to make a firm purpose there was nothing stopping her from receiving of amendment, he was not encouraging them absolution. principally to use their willpower, but to trust in “Your confession would be useless,” St. the power of God. “We trust too much in our resJohn Vianney shockingly replied. With the olutions and promises,” he said from experience, same interior light with which he had seen her “and not enough on the good God.” He helped sins, he continued: “I can read in your soul and them to see that, even though it might seem imthere I see two devils that enslave it, the devil possible to them to eliminate a sinful occasion of pride and the devil of impurity. I can only from their life, it was not impossible for God. absolve you on the condition that you do not This is the wisdom that continues to undergo back to Paris; seeing your dispositions, I lie the act of contrition to this day: “I firmly reknow that you will return there.” Paris was an solve, with the help of your grace….” We need irresistible occasion of sin for this woman and God’s help to eliminate the near occasions of she needed to be willing to cut Paris off from sin, but, as St. John Vianney always taught, that her life in order to make a valid confession. help is never absent.

She was unwilling at this point, however, to Father Landry is pastor of St. Anthony of do something so “drastic.” She told the priest Padua Parish in New Bedford.

Putting Into the Deep

November 27, 2009

W

hen a happily married couple is asked about their relationship, they can often recall the little details of the moments when they met, their time of dating and engagement, and their wedding day. Sometimes, however, they are not as quick to recall the countless moments of their married life for which those previous years prepared them. When they reflect on their marriage itself it takes more effort, because there are so many great memories that it is hard for them to describe it in a way that one can grasp the immensity and beauty of it.

This is a similar experience for me as a priest. Sometimes when giving vocation talks I can call to mind the detailed moments of when the awareness of God’s call began, intensified, or came to profound clarity. But when speaking about my life as a priest, it is harder to convey in words the experiences God has drawn me into and how Christ used them to bring others to him.

Like joyful married couples, a priest has countless joys along with many crosses. Though the crosses are real, they never come close to outweighing the joys one

F

rom the Reformed tradition and its derivatives (the Baptists, Disciples, and Churches of Christ) we turn now to Anglicanism, which in many respects seeks to mediate between Catholicism and Protestantism. Earlier in this series we noted that the Church of England resulted not from theological disputes but from a king’s desire to have his marriage annulled. As the establishment of the Church of England arose from political concerns, so too did the shaping of its theological identity.

The strong claims of both Catholic and Protestant beliefs in Reformation England led to the Elizabethan Settlement, a politically astute, if theologically nebulous, compromise between the two theological perspectives.

This theological identity accounts for the great diversity of beliefs and forms within Anglicanism. Church historian Diarmaid MacCulloch (Oxford) has identified Anglicanism as a “mood” that makes a virtue of uncertainty. But even in the midst of this confusion, Anglicanism’s history, from Cranmer’s 1549 Book of Common Prayer through the sixteenthand seventeenth-century Anglican divines (leading writers and clergy), reveals an emphasis on the authority of early Church councils and the Church Fathers, more so than most continental Protestant theologians. And unlike most Protestant bodies, Anglicans value the apostolic succession of

7

The Anchor

The crosses and joys of priestly life

waiting at in intersection (on experiences when doing God’s Easter of all days); or the cross of will. In fact, when the crosses being rejected by a brother priest. are responded to with faith and Even with those crosses, howoffered to Our Lord, they purify the soul and intensify the capacity ever, the joys are infinitely greater.

Most of the supernatural joys of to love. being a priest are humbling as Some of the daily crosses for well, because they come from a priest are: meeting people who just celebrating the sacraments are indifferent about the faith or as the Church asks the priests to angry with the Church; hearing offer them — and it is knowing it people blame priests for every problem in the Church, when many times their Year For Priests anger comes more from a troubled conscious Vocational Reflection than some comment their priest made to them; or hearing the jokes about

By Father going to confession that Kevin A. Cook people feel they have to make whenever they see is not me who gives the profound a priest. experience but Christ through the Then there are the unique crosses that stand out in my mind: sacrament.

Offering the Mass is my burying a baby and knowing that greatest joy in life; being God’s only the message of faith will instrument of mercy in the sacrabring the baby’s parents comfort ment of reconciliation is a close in the future; or the time a group second. Some of the blessed of men drove up to a priest friend moments I have experienced have of mine and I as we were walkoccurred when, after offering the ing in Boston and spat at us; or Mass, someone leaves telling me the young ladies in New Bedford they had an experience of truly (who I never laid eyes on before) knowing Christ was present in who decided to make some very the Eucharist; the countless times vulgar comments at me as I was

after hearing people’s confessions and giving absolution that I could sense an incredible peace overwhelm them, especially those who had been away from Our Lord for so many years; the memories of anointing people while tears were streaming down their faces because they knew Christ was with them helping them not to be afraid to face their grave illness; those moments of being present to people when they were taking their last breath, and though there was sadness for the family, they were at peace because you were there to help send the soul onward to God; the memories of witnessing the marriage of a couple that truly grasps that marriage is a vocation and they desire to let God lead them in their love; the many joys of baptizing someone and knowing God’s life is poured into them, especially when having the opportunity to baptize several nephews and nieces; the joyful occasions of preparing people to receive the sacrament of confirmation and seeing how they really grasp what it means to ask for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit; and lastly,

Anglicanism: Diversity and discord

bishops. return to England for ordination, The worldwide Anglican and the colonials were unable to Communion of 70 million receive confirmation until after Christians comprises a number the American Revolution. At of independent sister churches the outbreak of the Revolution, largely confined to Britain and to most Anglican clergymen fled to former British colonies. Its two England and Canada because they largest provinces are the Church had taken an oath of loyalty to the of Nigeria (15 million) and the king. Before the hostilities, the Church of Uganda (9 million). No mother church had been supported figures are available for England by taxes in the southern colonies. specifically (rather than the United Kingdom as a whole); the Church of The Fullness England puts the number of the Truth of regular churchgoers at just under two million.

By Father The Archbishop of Thomas M. Kocik Canterbury (since 2002 Rowan Williams, a Welshman) is primate of the Church of England and spiriWith this financial support gone, tual head of Anglicanism. The its clergy scattered, and its name king or queen is technically the associated with tyranny, the AnSupreme Governor of the Church glican Church in America faced of England, but the prime minisserious postwar problems. It lost ter (who needn’t be an Anglican many members to the energetic or even a Christian) appoints Baptists, Congregationalists, and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Methodists. A General ConvenEvery ten years the Archbishop tion in Philadelphia in 1789 united of Canterbury invites all Anglican the Anglicans in the newly formed bishops to meet at his residence, United States into the Protestant Lambeth Palace.

Episcopal Church (the word “ProtBritish colonists brought estant” was dropped in 1967). As Anglicanism to these shores in in colonial times, the Episcopal the Virginia settlement of 1607.

Church finds its chief strength on Wholly dependent on the mother the Eastern seaboard.

Church of England, the American Both the Episcopal Church and branch had no bishop or diocthe wider Anglican Communion esan organization for 177 years. have faced many crises in recent Candidates for the priesthood decades. In the mid-1970s the risked smallpox and shipwreck to Episcopal Church unilaterally

decided to ordain women to the priesthood, and the Church of England followed suit. At about the same time, the church adopted permissive attitudes toward abortion and divorce. The Episcopal Church then ordained women to the episcopate, and the Church of England is currently considering the ordination of women bishops.

More recent commotion in the Episcopal Church was sparked by the ordination of Gene Robinson, a partnered homosexual, as bishop of New Hampshire. A number of Anglican provinces, notably in Africa and Asia (where the great majority of Anglicans are), have declared that they are no longer in communion with the American church.

While on the subject of ordination, the Catholic Church maintains that Scripture and authoritative Tradition do not authorize the ordination of women as priests. If the ordination of women priests is invalid, the ordination of women bishops casts a broader pall of invalidity, since bishops ordain priests. Aside from the matter of gender, Pope Leo XIII declared in 1896 that Anglican holy orders are null and void, a decision that still stands. The reason, in short order, is that under the reign of Edward VI (1547-53) Archbishop Cranmer cut the sacrificial heart out of the Mass and revised the

the great opportunities to assist at priestly ordinations and be able to be the one who calls the newlyordained priest for the first time in his life “Father.”

There are also the joys of learning more deeply how to be a spiritual father to others; of preaching, teaching, and forming people in their faith; of doing spiritual direction; of becoming a part of the lives of families; of helping someone to hear God’s call; of working with youth in the parish or school; of being able to serve the poor; of visiting the sick; of ministering to the men and women in jail; of chatting with a stranger in unexpected places and helping them with their problems, knowing they came up to me simply because I was a priest.

I do not know why God called me to be a priest of Jesus Christ, but he did, and I am forever grateful to God for such an extraordinary gift.

Father Cook was ordained in 2001 and is the assistant director of Vocations for the Diocese of Fall River as well as chaplain at Coyle and Cassidy High School and part-time chaplain at Morton Hospital, both in Taunton.

ordination rite to exclude mention of the priest’s sacrificial function.

By Catholic standards, a church that denies a sacrificing priesthood cannot pass on the priesthood.

The defective ordination rite was used until 1662, by which time all validly ordained Anglican bishops had died, and the apostolic succession was broken.

Disaffected Episcopalians have formed at least a dozen breakaway churches. From a high of 3.6 million communicants in 1966 the Episcopal Church now numbers 2.2 million, one of the greatest declines of any denomination except perhaps the Disciples of Christ.

Last month Pope Benedict XVI offered to establish “Personal Ordinariates” which will allow former Anglicans or Episcopalians to enter the Catholic Church while maintaining elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical tradition, including the ordination of married former Anglican clergy as Catholic priests. The Anglican liturgy has behind it a long tradition, stretching back further than the past several centuries of Anglicanism itself. Because it reflects in some ways an essentially monastic approach to theology, it can broaden what has been, at least in the past century or so, a rather narrowly defined Catholic liturgical landscape.

Father Kocik is a parochial vicar at Santo Christo Parish in Fall River

8

A

t the beginning of last week, most, if not all, of the sports fans in New England assumed the role of Monday-morning-quarterback, asking “What was Coach Belichick thinking with that disastrous play at the end of the fourth quarter against the Indianapolis Colts?”

We all can offer our opinions, as only New England sports fans can do, but ultimately the only analysis that really matters is that of Bill Belichick himself. Did he feel his decision was well thought out and based upon given parameters? Did he support his options with a certain objective in mind? And, ultimately, was his decision something he would be proud of?

Obviously, Coach Belichick was not proud of the outcome.

Then again, who among us has not made decisions that have led to outcomes we didn’t intend?

There are occasions when we would prefer to put our personal lives in reverse and

The Anchor

November 27, 2009

A better game plan

rethink a certain road we chose makes on fourth-and-two. to travel, to reconsider certain They impact not merely the options that seemed reasonoutcome of a game but the able at a given moment but led eternal outcome of our lives. to undesired consequences.

St. Luke’s Gospel, which We’ve all had the experience of hanging our heads in shame Homily of the Week because of a decision First Sunday that we have made. of Advent In today’s second

By Deacon reading, St. Paul Dennis G. O’Connell speaks to us of another path, a game-plan that will help us to hold our heads high before God we begin to read again this and others. He urges us to be Sunday, can sometimes paint a “blameless in holiness before pretty bleak picture in describour God and Father at the coming the world in which the ing of our Lord Jesus with all disciples were living, a world his holy ones.” full of extreme temptations and At the beginning of this enticements that upon closer new liturgical season, this new examination is not much difChurch year, we’re called to ferent than our own. ask whether we’re living in But St. Luke also gives the a manner that is blameless disciples, indeed all of us, the before God in holiness. We’re hope that we need in order not called to examine our decisions to be lured into a life that will and ask whether they’re pleasdisplease our Lord and Savior. ing to God. The decisions we Through everyday vigilance make are far more important we will have the strength to not than those Coach Belichick become drowsy and compla-

cent on our journey. St. Luke’s inspired words fill us with the hope that we can stand erect and raise our heads when we finally meet our heavenly Father face to face.

This is God’s plan and purpose: that we conduct ourselves today with the “holiness that has been revealed” so that, when we are called to our eternal home, our Lord and Savior will be able to look us in the eye and say, “Job well done.”

If we hope to have that outcome, then we need to make our decisions with that goal in mind. In our daily actions and decisions, we should seek to do them in a manner pleasing to the Lord. In the way we spend what free time we have, we should seek to give ourselves to others and bear fruit through good works. If we seek to spend our eternity in the company of Jesus and his angels and saints, then we should make the decision to spend time with Jesus in

prayer, spend time with the saints in the Church, and imitate and cooperate with them in trying to add others to that eternal company.

A few months ago I presided at the committal service for my second-grade teacher.

While saying the prayers I had a flashback of something Mrs. Bianchi had said to me so many years ago: “Dennis, it’s OK to make a mistake, but it’s what you do with that mistake that ultimately matters.”

We are all going to make some terrible decisions like Coach Belichick, but it’s what we do with those mistakes that matters in the long run. As we begin a new liturgical year, let’s learn from the mistakes of the last one and make a resolution to seek to please God and be blameless in holiness before him, so that we all can stand tall and proud when we meet our heavenly Father.

Deacon O’Connell is assigned to Corpus Christi Parish in East Sandwich.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Nov. 28, Dn 7:15-27; (Ps) Dan 3:82-87; Lk 21:34-36. Sun. Nov. 29, First Sunday of Advent, 3 Jer 33:14-16; Ps 25:4-5,8-9, 10,14; 1 Thes 3:12-4:2; Lk 21:25-28,34-36. Mon. Nov. 30, Feast of St. Andrew, Apostle, Rom 10:9-18; Ps 19:8-11; Mt 4:18-22. Tues. Dec 1, Is 11:1-10; Ps 72:1-2,7-8,12-13,17; Lk 10:21-24.

Wed. Dec. 2, Is 25:6-10a; Ps 23:1-6; Mt 15:29-37. Thur. Dec. 3, Is 26:1-6; Ps 118:1,8-9,19-21,25-27a; Mt 7:21,24-27. Fri. Dec. 4, Is 29:17-24; Ps 27:1,4, 13-14; Mt 9:27-31.

O

n November 3, Ken Cuccinelli was elected attorney general of Virginia in a landslide. His 15 percent margin of victory strongly suggests that Old Dominion voters were unimpressed by a shrill Washington Post editorial published on October 30, which opined that Mr. Cuccinelli “would likely become an embarrassment for the commonwealth” as his “affability and quick wit … have tended to mask his extremist views.”

What, you ask, were those “extremist views”? Well, the Post’s indictment — in an editorial titled “Mr. Cuccinelli’s bigotry” — centered on the fact that candidate Cuccinelli had described homosexual behav-

Natural law = bigotry? Please.

guise of tolerance and extended ior as contrary to “natural law” to those who think there are and had further suggested that natural law was a useful guide to moral truths built into the world public policy. Mr. Cuccinelli did and into us — truths that we can not propose to prosecute, much less jail, every gay and lesbian between the Potomac River and the North Carolina border, and no sane person thought he intended to

By George Weigel do so. Yet the Post’s anonymous editorial writer described Mr. grasp by reason.

Cuccinelli’s appeal to natural Ken Cuccinelli is a serious, law as a “retrofit (of) the old practicing Catholic. He’s also language of racism, bias, and a sophisticated politician who intolerance in a new context.” knows that you don’t argue pubBaloney. What’s being lic policy in the public square on retrofitted here is old-time antiCatholic bigotry, tarted up in the the basis of uniquely Catholic theological premises. Rather, you make your arguments in a public vocabulary, accessible to all. That’s the grammar and vocabulary of the natural moral law: the basis on which Thomas Jefferson argued the case for American national independence, Martin Luther King Jr., promoted the civil rights of African Americans, and John Paul II passionately and effectively defended the religious and political rights of all.

Was Jefferson a bigot when he staked America’s claim to independent nationhood on “self-evident” moral truths de-

The Catholic Difference

rived from “the laws of nature?”

Was King a bigot when, in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” he argued that “an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law”? Was John Paul II a bigot when, at the United Nations in 1995, he suggested that the truths of the natural moral law — “the moral logic which is built into human life” — could serve as a universal “grammar” enabling genuinely cross-cultural dialogue? Please.

On the 20th anniversary of the Revolution of 1989, it was a sadness that the editors of the Washington Post misread the moral texture of the American founding, the civil rights revolution, and the revolution of conscience that brought down the Berlin Wall — revolutions in which believers, non-believers, skeptics, and agnostics united in defense of human rights that could be known as such through the natural moral law. Jefferson and the other American Founders would have found the Post’s identification of “natural law” with “bigotry” simply bizarre. So would Dr. King. And so would Vaclav Havel and other leaders of the Revolution of 1989, if they happened to be surfing the Inter-

net on October 30 and stumbled across the Post’s lamebrained attack on those who think that rationally known moral norms ought to have some bearing on how we should live together.

To be sure, the Post was not quite as over-the-top as Frank Rich of the New York Times, who labeled as “Stalinists” those Republicans in upstate New York who thought abortion-ondemand and gay “marriage” bad ideas. But that’s Frank Rich: the former “Butcher of Broadway” is always over-the-top. The Post editorial branding natural law reasoning as bigotry was worse, because the moral lexicon of the natural law is the common vocabulary by which Americans of every political, ideological, and religious flavor have argued in defense of life, in defense of marriage rightly understood, and in defense of religious freedom.

To call such arguments retrofitted “bigotry” is a crude attempt to drive classical moral understandings out of the public square, by smearing their advocates as morally coarse anti-social misfits.

Memo to Post editors: we’re not impressed and we’re not going away.

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

A star is born

Sunday 15 November 2009 vention, the agenda arrived.

— Temple Square, Salt Lake The first line took me by surCity prise. It read, “Tim Goldrick, agreed to be the master The Star.” This was too much. of ceremonies at the True, I enjoy being in the spotbiennial convention of the light, but it was very embarFriends of the Creche, a national organization dedicated to furthering the tradition of Reflections of a the Christmas manger Parish Priest scene. I’ve done this before. It’s refreshingly

By Father Tim different from my rouGoldrick tine as a parish priest and I suppose we all need a change now and then. rassing to be called a “star.”

I am a quiet person by nature I telephoned the convention but when I’m on stage I morph planners to object. “Please into something else. I even don’t refer to me as the star of have a stage persona. They the convention. It offends my call me the Cape Cod Cowboy. sense of humility,” I protested.

This might have something to They answered, “The star do with my 10-gallon hat. doesn’t refer to you. It is the A few days before the contitle of your talk. Don’t you

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The Ship’s Log

W

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November 27, 2009

remember we asked you to deliver a lecture on the star of Bethlehem?” Oh, right. So much for my humility.

I know nothing about the star of Bethlehem other than what is written in the Gospel of Matthew.

I needed information in a hurry, so I got on the “information highway,” the Internet.

In a few hours, I had prepared 2,000 words on an obscure subject: “Astronomical possibilities concerning the star of Bethlehem as compared to astrological interpretations in first century Persia.” It’s not what one would call a catchy title, but I was in a pinch.

Carrying my 10-gallon hat in hand (much to the chagrin of my travel companions,) off

Tinkering with life

omen who carry some numbers of people are stepping away from the fundamental genetic diseases may premise that children are a soon be offered access to a gift entrusted to a committed technique that will allow them couple who have given themto create children who do not selves totally to one another. inherit their condition. In an Instead, babies are simply one unsettling announcement, docmore consumer item — actors hailed the creation of four quired at the convenience of baby monkeys who each have the caregiver. Thus the home three biological parents. This becomes merely a form of was made possible through an self-expression rather than a IVF procedure that inserted the place of communion in which healthy DNA from their mothpersons may thrive. ers into a donor egg and subsequently was fertilized and reintroduced into the female monkey.

If the animal trials continue successfully, scientists believe the first children could be

By Genevieve Kineke genetically engineered in a few years. It has, in fact, already been Some might protest that tried in England, where 10 guaranteeing a healthy child is human embryos were created in the child’s best interest but and destroyed at Newcastle the argument is fatuous at best.

University (since the law there How can one insist that health will not allow such babies to is paramount when the death of progress beyond 14 days).

Its supporters see in the pro- so many are guaranteed in the process? How can one avoid cess an opportunity to eradithe obvious conclusion that incate potentially fatal forms visible suffering (in the lab) is of inherited epilepsy, heart preferred to the more tangible disease and blindness — but seem oblivious to the countless suffering that parents themselves might endure with a lives sacrificed in the process sick child? And who has taken (those 10 mentioned above are time to weigh the existential the tiniest tip of an enormous suffering of a child created iceberg). Calling the children through such a process? Is it “hybrids,” ethicists have atnot the parent who is ultimatetacked the procedure, which ly relieved by sorting through will further erode the sanctity DNA to find the perfect baby of life and cannot be justified cocktail? by any purported benefits.

The integral needs of the Beyond the issues of life human person should never and death — which must take be reduced to the flat analysis precedence, there is the serious of mundane considerations. shift in thinking about what In Evangelium Vitae, John constitutes a family. Increasing

The Feminine Genius

Paul II decried the reduction of human life to “biological material” through just such heavy-handed scientific experimentation. That document also pointed out that “the eclipse of the sense of God and of man inevitably leads to a practical materialism, which breeds individualism, utilitarianism and hedonism. The so-called ‘quality of life’ is interpreted primarily or exclusively as economic efficiency, inordinate consumerism, physical beauty and pleasure, to the neglect of the more profound dimensions — interpersonal, spiritual and religious — of existence” (EV, 23).

And yet this jarring new twist on the horizon goes hand-in-hand with the push for same-sex couples, parents who are single by choice, serial monogamy and other creative jabs at the traditional family. Those promoting “reproductive rights” have worked relentlessly to recast motherhood, fatherhood and marriage into archaic phantoms. Those vocations are being eclipsed by choices so far removed from the authentic needs of persons that to insist that “healthy children” are the goal is ludicrous on every level.

Ultimately, we must accept life on God’s terms — complete with the suffering he humbled himself to endure. In that way, we choose authentic love which alone bears all things.

Mrs. Kineke is the author of “The Authentic Catholic Woman” (Servant Books). She can be found online at www. feminine-genius.com.

I flew to Salt Lake City. I had never been in Salt Lake City.

The streets are impeccably clean. There is a great deal of new construction going on in Temple Square. Banners proclaiming “SLC rising” hang from all the lamp poles. The temple itself dominates the cityscape, in competition with the state capitol building, even though the new high-rises far exceed both in height. Everything I needed was within easy walking distance, even though the city blocks are each five square acres and the streets are broad enough to turn an oxen cart without unhitching. If you prefer, you can take a trolley instead. It’s free.

Standing outside in the darkness, I wondered why the silly birds were singing so late at night. It was explained to me that the pedestrian crossing signals are rigged with birdcalls for the safety of the blind. But of course.

I took a guided tour of Temple Square. Mormon ushers were positioned every six feet or so, each one smiling and extending warm words of welcome. None of the women were wearing beehive hairdos and pastel prairie dresses. The men were all dressed in suit and tie.

Although the docents were happy to take questions, I still can’t figure out exactly what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints actually believes. They proclaim themselves to be Christians, but I’m not sure what that means to them. I will have to do research. The Mormons I know are very nice family-oriented people.

How could I be in Salt Lake City and not attend a

performance of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir? The live 30-minute broadcast was musically flawless and obviously the result of many hours of rehearsal. The acoustics in the old building were exceptional.

I will let you in on a secret, if you promise not to tell anyone. I can now say that I sang on stage right there in Temple Square, Salt Lake City. I chose a rendition of the hit song “This is the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius” from the classical rock musical “Hair.”

The audience enthusiastically applauded, but I never was offered a contract by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Perhaps it was my choice of songs, or maybe the 10-gallon hat.

And now the rest of the story. I sang on stage in Salt Lake City, true, but in the convention meeting hall, not in the temple. “It is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius” was part of my presentation on the astrological and astronomical implications of the Star of Bethlehem. I wanted to make the point that Jesus was born at the dawning of the age of aries, the zodiac sign representing Judea. I subscribe to the theory that the Star of Bethlehem was a triple conjunction of planets that took place in 6 BC. When I had finished singing, the audience applauded out of amusement, not out of appreciation. My star fizzled.

Did I ever tell you of the time I appeared on stage at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville?

But that’s another story.

Father Goldrick is pastor of St. Nicholas of Myra Parish in North Dighton.

Vocationist Fathers • Florham Park, NJ 07932 973-966-6262 • www.vocationist.org

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By Michael Pare Anchor Correspondent

WAREHAM — Everyone, it seems, has that time or place when they feel they are closest to God. For Theresa Tripp, that time and place may well be on a cold winter morning at St. Anthony’s, the small mission church on Gault Road in West Wareham that is among the ministries of St. Patrick’s Parish on High Street in Wareham.

“When it is winter and you are the only one there and you are locking up … it is just so peaceful,” she said.

Tripp is one of the sacristans for her parish. She is one of those unassuming individuals who dutifully prepare all of the things needed to make holy Mass possible. It’s a soup to nuts job.

Tripp unlocks the door and turns on the heat on Saturdays.

She carefully prepares the altar, ensuring that the linens are in place and that the candles have not burned too low. If there happens to be a visiting priest there to celebrate Mass, she will show him where to find everything.

Preparing the church for holy Mass is a simple gift, as Tripp sees it. It is the least she can do.

The Anchor

November 27, 2009

There for the God who’s there for her

And yet, it is also a profound act. day. Tripp greets them warmly as It brings her closer to God. they enter the church. They often “God has been very good to me,” said Tripp. “He answers my prayers. Not always exactly how I ask, but I know that I am never alone.”

And that is how she sees it. Serving as a sacristan is something she can do for God, and so she does.

“I know that we all have talents,” she said. “But I don’t feel that I….”

Her voice trails off. She is a humble person and what she means is that she doesn’t see herself doing anything special. She is there for God, simple as that.

“When he needs me to do something, he directs me through someone to go and do it,” she said.

“I know that may sound funny.”

But it doesn’t sound funny at all. It sounds like faith — like serving God. ANCHOR PERSON OF THE WEEK — Consider a typical Sat- resa Tripp. urday Mass at St. Anthony’s. Several of the older sit together. parishioners routinely arrive “They look forward to seeing early. It is the focal part of their me,” she said.

It is such a routine that if one of the “regulars” doesn’t show, Tripp will call after Mass and check on them.

“I’ll call to make sure there isn’t anything wrong,” she said.

While Tripp serves as a sacristan on Saturdays, her friend Claire Gordon fills that role on Sundays.

It was Gordon who inspired Tripp. She said that she has always admired the quiet way in which Gordon served the parish and the way she spends so much time simply helping others. Tripp could have been describing herself.

Father Arnold R. Medeiros, the former pastor at St. Patrick’s Parish who is now at St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in North Falmouth, said he was always impressed by the dedication that Tripp showed to her faith.

“Even without my askThe- ing, she was always doing something,” he said. “She is just so dedicated. I was always very grateful to her.”

Especially, he said, on those cold Saturday mornings. The fact that Father Medeiros knew he could depend on Tripp to open up the church and turn on the heat meant a lot. He remembers well many days in which Tripp grabbed a shovel and made sure the walk was clear of snow.

“It was such a big help,” he

said. “All parishes need someone like that, a person who works behind the scenes. She does everything so quietly.”

Tripp grew up in New Bedford. Going to Mass was a part of the fabric of her childhood.

She said that when she was first married, for a time, she drifted away from Church. But then something happened and she can’t help but think it was God at work. She and her husband purchased a home. It was just a couple of doors down from St. Anthony’s. Her faith was rekindled. It all made sense. It was as if God had placed her there.

“God has always been there,” she said.

Tripp has been active at the parish for 30 years. It has always been her rock. She has given so much to it, but has also received so much in return.

Tripp’s four children are all grown. She has been blessed with eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Spending time with them provides her with a constant reminder of God’s kindness. He has indeed, been good to her.

And so preparing St. Anthony’s for Mass is the least she can do. Winter is approaching. She will make sure the rock salt is in place.

“But I am getting older,” she said. “I may need to find someone to shovel.”

To nominate a person, send an email message to FatherRogerLandry@AnchorNews. org.

FALL RIVER — St. Vincent’s Home is offering an unique way to remember and honor loved ones this Advent and Christmas season, while providing support for children and families in need.

The home will host its annual Memorial Mass and Tree Lighting Ceremony on December 6 at 5 p.m. at the chapel at 2425 Highland Avenue.

Following the Mass, a large tree decorated with lights in memory of loved ones will be lit. In addition to the Mass and lights, the names of those to be remembered are placed in a memorial book and are remembered at St. Vincent’s Sunday Masses throughout they year.

To include a loved one in this year’s service, call Melissa Dick at 508-235-3228.

St. Vincent’s Home to host memorial

The horse and the ping-pong ball

I

t was a game-time decision this past Sunday. The decision was whether I was going to watch the Patriots-Jets game or not.

My psyche was still rubbed raw from the bitter defeat against the Colts the week prior. You know the game — the one where we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Regardless of whether I would squelch my feelings of angst and

My View From the Stands

By Dave Jolivet watch the Pats, I would be watching the one o’clock games.

Come game time, I settled into my big old recliner, yanked back the handle and slipped into the horizontal, pigskin viewing position.

During one commercial, I was watching Igor playing with a ping-pong ball on the hardwood floor.

She would attack the orb, whack it with her paw bouncing it off furniture in a canine version of a pinball machine. While the ball was in flight she would pounce and gently grab it with her canines, molars and incisors. The key word is gently. She barely left a mark on the delicate

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November 27, 2009 plastic sphere, only to go through the process again.

It looked like so much fun that I wanted to join her, but that meant resorting back to a vertical position and actually extracting my being from the big soft recliner cushions. Nope, I thought, too much effort.

Finally, when Iggy was tired with the game she gave the ball one final chomp. This ping-pong ball would bounce no longer.

While Igor was playing pinball wizard, I was watching the ColtsRavens game, when a gridiron epiphany hit me. The Colts and Igor have many similarities.

The Indianapolis Colts defeated the Ravens 17-15. After hanging up 35 points against the Pats the week prior, all that potent offense could muster was 17 measly points. Aha. Indy is now 10-0. Of their 10 wins, six have been by four points or less. Of the 10 teams they defeated only four have a better than .500 record.

The Indianapolis Colts are toying with the NFL. Just as Igor smacked the ping-pong ball around, chasing it all over the living room, the Colts have been pawing at their opponents, gently pouncing on them and squeezing only as hard as it takes to subdue

the enemy.

With arguably the best quarterback in the game at the helm in Peyton Manning, the Colts can win 7-6 or 100-99, depending on the foe. They always play one notch above the competition.

I believe come playoff time

we’re going to see a horse playing pinball and we’ll also find three ping-pong balls that will no longer bounce, and possibly one of those will be the Pats.

Come Super Bowl Sunday, that chomp you hear will be when Peyton Manning is finished

toying with his opponents and crushes another little white orb.

By the way, the game-time decision was to watch the Pats, but with far less gusto than usual. We’ve been toyed with once, and I fear it will happen again in January.

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November 27, 2009

Bishop approves recommendation continued from page one

are utilizing our resources in order to best provide for the Catholic community of the future. It is my prayer that we concentrate on the establishment of a new and vibrant parish community.”

On Sunday afternoon, an informational assembly was held where all parishioners were invited to ask questions and to become involved in the creation of the new parish.

In closing his letter to St. Mary’s and St. Stephen’s parishioners, Bishop Coleman assured them of his prayers as well as his confidence as they move forward.

“I know that the people of both parishes have manifested their love for the Church over the years, and I am certain that we can rely on your continued cooperation and service,” he wrote.

Once the new parish is formed, plans call for St. Stephen’s Church and rectory to close.

Some liturgical pieces from the church will be incorporated into St. Mary’s to be become part of the new community, and the Parish Founding Task Force will eventually consider future use of the buildings.

The decision to join the parishes is in response to changing demographics in the Fall River Diocese, particularly in its cities, and a declining number of priests. There are currently 113 active diocesan priests. Diocesan Pastoral Planning projects that the number will drop to 85 in 2015 and to 57 in 2020.

In September 2008 the pastors of St. Mary’s and St. Stephen’s assembled a group of parishioners as the St. Mary-St. Stephen Alliance to look at beginning collaboration between the places.

Their Religious Education programs and music ministries have already been combined. Eventually, knowing of Father Morse’s

plan to retire and the limited number of priests, the alliance reached consensus on the recommendation to come together as one. The recommendation was announced to parishioners at both parishes and forwarded to Bishop Coleman and his advisors for their consideration.

In announcing his acceptance of it, the bishop expressed his gratitude to Father Morse, Father Rita, and the members of the alliance, who now serve as the Parish Founding Task Force.

“I know the process has been very challenging, and I want them to know of my appreciation for their thoughtfulness and commitment to the task,” said Bishop Coleman.

Interestingly, the two parishes share the same territorial boundaries and have intertwined roots.

St. Stephen’s Church was dedicated in 1875 as a mission church for the Dodgeville section of Attleboro with no resident pastor. It became a parish 10 years later as additional immigrants, many of them of French-Canadian ancestry, moved into the area to work in local mills. In 1906, it was decided to establish St. Mary’s Parish in nearby Hebronville for the English-speaking members of St. Stephen’s, which at that point became for many years the Frenchspeaking parish for the area.

The original St. Mary’s Church in Hebronville was replaced by a new one built over the town line in North Seekonk in 1957 and a parish center was opened in 1970. All buildings and belongings of both parishes will become the property of the new parish.

St. Mary’s Parish has 1,657 registered families with total weekend Mass attendance averaging 1,052 persons; St. Stephen’s numbers 620 registered families and has an average weekend Mass attendance of 427.

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, November 29 at 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is David C. Deston Jr., a parochial vicar at St. Pius X Parish in South Yarmouth

HOLLYWOOD PLANET — Scene from the animated comedy “Planet 51.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/Ilion Animation Studios)

CNS Movie Capsules NEW YORK (CNS) — The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed by the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“Fantastic Mr. Fox” (Fox) Droll stop-motion animated adventure, set in the animal world of rural Britain, in which the titular vulpine creature (voice of George Clooney), now a respectable newspaper columnist with a wife (voice of Meryl Streep) and son (voice of Jason Schwartzman), tries to recapture his wild past as a chicken thief poaching on local farms, but his renewed raiding, abetted by his daring nephew (voice of Eric Anderson), enrages a trio of meanspirited farmers whose escalating countermeasures endanger the whole burrowing community. A touch of menace and a fleeting joke about Mrs. Fox’s youthful indiscretions aside, director and co-writer Wes Anderson’s clever, lovingly crafted adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1970 children’s book offers sophisticated family entertainment, with abundant fun for youngsters and a few insights into the tensions and paradoxes of human nature for adults. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-I — general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

“Planet 51” (TriStar) Delightful animated comedy based in a galaxy far, far away where little green aliens live in a 1950s “Happy Days”-style suburbia, complete with white picket

fences, backyard barbecues and monster movies playing at the drive in. When a real alien, in the shape of a human astronaut (voice of “The Rock,” Dwayne Johnson), drops from the sky, all heck breaks loose as this E.T. tries to return home with the help of a gaggle of teens led by a shy would-be astronomer (voice of Justin Long). Some mildly suggestive humor aside, co-directors Jorge Blanco, Javier Abad and Marcos Martinez’s generally wholesome film, which features positive life lessons about friendship, loyalty, and acceptance of others, offers fun for all ages. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-I — general patronage.

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

“The Blind Side” (Warner Bros.)

Inspirational family drama, based on real events, in which a wealthy white couple (Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw) in Memphis, Tenn., offer shelter to a homeless black student (Quinton Aaron) from their children’s (Lily Collins and Jae Head) school and, as he becomes an increasingly integral part of their clan, help him to hone his football skills while also hiring a determined tutor (Kathy Bates) to raise his academic standing. Driven

by Bullock’s field-sweeping performance as the feisty, religiously motivated adoptive mother, writer-director John Lee Hancock’s unapologetically Christian tale of human solidarity across racial and class divides, adapted from Michael Lewis’ 2006 best-seller “The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game,” is funny, shrewd and ultimately

uplifting. Brief nongraphic marital lovemaking, at least one profanity, a few sexual and drug references, a half-dozen crass terms. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III — adults.

The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

“The Twilight Saga: New Moon” (Summit) Lovelorn gothic romance sequel in which a well-mannered vampire (Robert Pattinson), anxious to protect the mortal high school student (Kristen Stewart) who has captured his heart from the less controlled members (especially Jackson Rathbone) of the undead clan with which he lives, breaks off their relationship and disappears, but the American Indian friend (Taylor Lautner) to whom she turns for solace not only wants to be more than mere pals, he has a supernatural secret of his own. With temptations of the flesh kept at bay for fear of temptations of the blood in director Chris Weitz’s adaptation of the second book in Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling series of young-adult novels, the chaste but intermittently violent proceedings play out against a picturesque background ranging from the misty Northwest to the sunny hills of Tuscany. Considerable action violence, a vague sexual reference, at least one mildly crass term. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II — adults and adolescents.

The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

November 27, 2009

O

ne of the many advantages of living in this region of our country is that we are immersed in the natural beauty and cultural icons that embraced the Pilgrims back in the early 17th century.

The idyllic Thanksgiving image of a persecuted European religious community triumphing over depravation and starvation with the help of the native people has shaped our collective American imagination. It’s hard to look back at the first Thanksgiving without wondering how we have managed to devolve into such a polarized society.

“To polarize” is benignly defined as that which causes one to concentrate around two conflicting or contrasting positions. The reality of polarization is much more electric.

Two images come to mind when I think of polarization: metallic pieces flying off to adhere to magnetic poles; or the electrically charged battery poles that repel when touched together. There is a great deal of energy behind issues which polarize.

There are quite a few issues in our Church that tend to polarize her members.

Some of these issues have done more than drag us to opposite poles, but have done so much damage that they have propelled members of our Catholic family out into the void. Whether or not we ever get these lost sheep back into the fold may depend upon yet another polarizing issue: sin and repentance.

Let’s examine two very different responses to sin that tug at each other from opposite poles. A pastor who is a few years away from retirement once told me that his understanding of Church and priesthood changed when he experienced in a profound way that God loved him despite his sinfulness. He believes that people must be told, at every possible opportunity, that they are radically loved by God, who gratuitously extends mercy with an abundance that we can never begin to comprehend. At the other pole is a middle-age woman who so believes in the power of sin in the world that she wants every homily to be an exhortation to repentance.

“The problem with our priests is that they don’t spend any time telling people what sin is.” She believes that there are too many people in our Church who take for granted their worthiness, and whose presence at the altar des-

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Becoming magnets for the Lord

ecrates the eucharistic assem- historian William Hubbard bly. wrote, “Standish … never enThough these two positions seem to be polar opposites, there is much more agreement than meets the eye. The priest who has devoted the remainder of his life to proclaimBy Claire McManus ing the good news of God’s abundant mercy knows that sin is very pertered the school of Our Savior sonal. It wounds our human Christ … or, if he was ever relationships, and hardens us to the reality of God’s love.

A person steeped in sin is transformed when faced with an experience of God’s radical love. On the other hand, the woman rightly observes that society has become so secularized that it has transformed the very nature of humanity; stripping it of its inherent dignity. She reminds us that sin is also corporate.

Our culture ignores the suffering of the most defenseless members of our society: the poor, the sick, the unborn, the immigrant, and dresses up this ignorance in very acceptable political garb. When sin is cloaked in secular garb it morphs into a monolithic entity that hides our individual complicity.

Jesus taught us how to respond to both realities of sin: “Forgive 70 times seven times” the person so steeped in the abandonment of personal sin that God’s love can’t penetrate. Jesus responded with abundant mercy. “Go now, your sins are forgiven.” Woe to you, hypocrites, who burden the oppressed with the de-humanizing effect of societal sin. Jesus stood in solidarity with the marginalized, not in condemnation of them.

How did these two responses to sin become juxtaposed as polar opposites?

Perhaps our modern penchant for polarization and intolerance is too much a part of our cultural memory. We were taught in grammar school that the Pilgrims came to the New World to escape religious persecution, but as historians continue to peel back the layers of myth and legends, we have discovered a grim reality. Historians have observed that the religious fervor that sustained the Pilgrims in their first few harsh winters gave way to “mean-spirited fanaticism” in the subsequent years of plenty. Appalled at the brutality with which Miles Standish dealt with an English “stranger” who was fishing in their midst, the Puritan

The Great Commission

there, had forgot his first lessons, to offer violence to no man” (“Mayflower,” Philbrick).

We may need a refresher course in the basics of discipleship. John Paul II told us that “Christian morality consists, in the simplicity of the Gospel, in following Christ, in abandoning oneself to him, in letting oneself

be transformed by his grace and renewed by his mercy, gifts which come to us in the living communion of his Church” (Veritatis Splendor, 119). As we approach the season of Advent let us demonstrate Christ’s abundant mercy so that we may become the magnets that draw others to him.

Claire McManus is the director of the Diocesan Office of Faith Formation.

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Taunton church set to reopen after make-over continued from page one

uniting faithful from both former Church communities.

Pastor of the two former parishes, Father Timothy P. Reis, logically became pastor of the new parish, and celebrated that faith community’s first Mass at St. Joseph’s Church Oct. 26, 2008.

Again following intense evaluations, it was decided that St. Joseph’s Church would be the worship site for St. Andrew the Apostle Parish. But it was also decided that St. Joseph’s needed a make-over — on the interior and exterior. Since work began inside the church in January, St. Paul’s Church has been utilized for worship.

The creation of a new parish can have its psychological ups and downs, and there were some who were dejected with losing a home parish, each more than 100 years

old.

Yet the newly-formed community pulled together during the last year, and now they will share one of the “ups,” when the doors of a beautifully refurbished St. Joseph’s Church opens its doors again this weekend — just weeks shy of the centenary of the Christmas 1909 original opening, and a wonderful Christmas gift for the faithful of St. Andrew the Apostle Parish.

Deacon Alan Thadeu told The Anchor, “The church is so beautiful, inside and out, I hope it helps unite us as a parish family even more. Once the faithful see it they will realize that this is one of the most beautiful and wonderful places to worship in the city. Hopefully, those who chose not to come in the past will have a change of heart and join us.”

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Deacon Thadeu, who was a life long parishioner of St. Paul’s, said there were some who were devastated by the change, “but those who accepted this new parish have been absolutely positive about their new community. I think the past year has helped many of the parishioners to focus on their faith and not a church building. And that’s a good thing.

“I believe everyone needs to do that. To realize that Church is about the Eucharist. With Advent just beginning, the reopening of the church gives us the anticipation of the coming of the Lord, and the growth of a new parish. The inaugural Mass last October was filled, and that was a great thing. I’m anticipating the same thing for the reopening on Sunday.”

Deacon Thadeu gave much of the credit for the smooth transition to Bishop Coleman and the Planning Office. He said this was one of the first times the parishioners chose what would be their worship site. “This whole process can be a model for others,” he said. The deacon also credited the parishioners who have been through so much change during the past two years. “They deserve all the credit in the world for making this such a smooth process.” Now they have a beautiful, state-of-the-art permanent place of worship.

The pastor of St. Andrew’s, Father Timothy Reis, did not respond to repeated Anchor requests for comment on this historic occasion in the life of the parish.

November 27, 2009

Regional daily Masses, but no funerals scheduled during convocation

By Deacon James N. Dunbar

FALL RIVER — Bishop George W. Coleman has directed that no funerals be celebrated December 16 and 17 while diocesan priests gather for their annual convocation, but that at least one daily Mass be celebrated within each of the five deaneries for those who want to attend Mass on those days.

The funeral policy “has been the norm for every convocation over the past 25 years … and I thank you for your cooperation,” Bishop Coleman said in an October 29 letter to priests.

“Each deanery has identified a parish where Mass will be celebrated during the convocation,” the bishop noted. “I ask you to notify the people of your parish where Mass will take place. Furthermore, I ask that you do not schedule Communion services during the convocation so that people will not equate (the service) with the celebration of the Eucharist.”

Bishop Coleman added, “This should be a teachable moment for our people, reminding them of the shortage of priests and the centrality of the celebration of the Eucharist.”

The following is the sched-

ule of Masses and where they will be celebrated during the three days of the convocation: Fall River Deanery — St. Anne’s Church at South Main and Middle streets in Fall River, 11:30 a.m.

New Bedford Deanery — Our Lady’s Chapel, 600 Pleasant Street in New Bedford, 6:45 a.m., and 12:10 p.m.; and Sacred Hearts Retreat Center, 226 Great Neck Road in Wareham, 8 a.m.

Taunton Deanery — Holy Rosary Church, 80 Bay Street in Taunton, 7:30 a.m.; and Stonehill College Chapel, 320 Washington Street in North Easton, 8 a.m., and 12 noon.

Attleboro Deanery — National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette, 947 Park Street in Attleboro, 12:10 and 5:30 p.m.

Cape Cod Deanery — St. Francis Xavier Church, 21 Cross Street in Hyannis, 12:10 p.m.

(Wed. and Thur.); St. Anthony’s Church, 167 East Falmouth Highway in East Falmouth, 8 a.m. (Wed.); St. Patrick’s Church, 511 Main Street in Falmouth, 9 a.m. (Thur.); Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 76 Wianno Avenue in Osterville, 5:30 p.m. (Thur.)

Priests’ convocation is Dec. 15-17 continued from page one

On November 19, within hours of his interview with the newspaper, Cavadini was appointed a member of the International Theological Commission by Pope Benedict XVI. The Commission members conduct research on theological topics and serve as advisors to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The 2009 convocation will be held December 15 through 17 in Rhode Island.

Besides active diocesan priests whose attendance is required, retired priests as well as priest members of religious congregations ministering in the diocese are welcome to attend.

Each day offers the priests time for Mass, talks, prayer and meditation.

Cavadini is a scholar of patristic and early Medieval theology, with special interests in the theology of St. Augustine, and in the history of Eastern and Western biblical exegesis, as well as in the reception and interpretation of patristic thought in the West from the sixth through ninth centuries.

He also directs Notre Dame’s Institute for Church Life and in September was named co-

chairman of the university’s Task Force on Supporting the Choice for Life.

He received his bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University, master’s degrees from Marquette University, and his doctorate from Yale University.

He is the author of three books, and his articles have appeared in such journals as “Theological Studies,” “Religious Studies Review,” “Traditio, Augustinian Studies,” and “American Benedictine Review.”

Cavadini reported that a colleague, Dr. Larry Cunningham, the John A. O’Brien professor of theology at Notre Dame, will also be a presenter at the Convocation on the topic of Lectio Divina. It is a Christian practice of prayer and scriptural readings intended to promote communion with God and increase the knowledge and understanding of God’s word.

During the gatherings’ daily sessions, Cavadini will also address such topics as the Beatitudes, notably “the poor in spirit”; the Book of Revelation, the Eucharist, and the Church as the bride of Christ.

November 27, 2009

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The Anchor

H

New year, new season, new life

appy New Year! that is one of the many reaI bet you weren’t sons why he is there, and in expecting that. We are nothis “Year For Priests,” it is where close to January 1. It probably one of the things that is, however, a new year. This would make him most happy Sunday, November 29, marks to do. the beginning of our new During the new beginning Church year. The First Sunday and first season of the Church of Advent is always the begin- year, Advent, we prepare ning of the new Liturgical ourselves inwardly for Jesus’ Year.

This means that you are allowed to go up to your Catholic neighbor and exclaim, “Happy New Year.” They’ll probably be more perAlexander Pacheco plexed than if they saw you wearing a nightgown at two o’clock in the afternoon. birth on Christmas, but we Personally, I wouldn’t want need to ask what is Christmas to do that, but that wouldn’t really all about. We often stop me from creating a list forget that Jesus is the primary of New Year’s resolutions. We source for all that goes on durcan all think of ways to make ing Christmas. We need to take ourselves better Christians. time out of our busy schedules Some things on our lists can to meditate on the true meaninclude the following: giving ing of Christmas. It is easy to more, praying more, and letforget about Jesus through the ting Jesus come into our lives hustle and bustle, but he wants and transforming us. to help us remain aware of his In this rough economy, presence and to think about it can be difficult to make him as we do our Christmas ends meet, let alone set aside shopping. The more we pray, money for people that we the more we will remember don’t even know. I am sure Jesus, and this is just another some of us, however, could incentive for us to pray more. find a little money that we could give away. “When Jesus looked up saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury and noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins,” we read a couple of weeks ago at Mass, he said “I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood” (Luke 21:14). This new year is a new opportunity for us to imitate the generosity of this holy, anonymous woman.

We can also find more time to pray. We can pray when we wake up in the morning, before we go to sleep at night, before and after meals, on our way to work or school, and on our way home. We should already go to Mass every Sunday and holy day of obligation, but if we don’t, that’s another thing to add to the list of ways to improve.

By praying, we also open up a life-changing connection with Jesus, as we allow him to enter our hearts and change our lives for the better. That takes care of the third item on our agendas.

If you need help getting your resolutions formed, your pastor can help you. After all,

Guest Advent Columnist

GOOD JOB — Karen Sullivan, LPN, center, was recently named Catholic Memorial Home’s Employee of the Quarter at a reception at the Fall River facility, where she received a monetary gift and a reserved parking space for three months. With Sullivan are Sherrie Grime, RN, director of nursing at the home; and Tom Healy, administrator.

CONVENTIONEERS — Several members of the Fall River Diocesan Council of Catholic Women attended the recent national convention held in Jacksonville, Fla., including, from left: Sister of St. Joseph of Cluny Eugenia Brady, DCCW moderator; Lynette Ouellette, past president; and former Boston Province director and current DCCW president, Jeanne Alves. Themed “Moving Forward With Faith and Joy,” the convention drew nearly 1,000 attendees, including members, guests, and clergy.

Pope calls for prayers, efforts on behalf of suffering children

By Sarah Delaney Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI called for prayers and greater efforts on the part of the international community to help the children around the world who live in dramatic situations.

“My thoughts go to all the children in the world, especially to those who live in difficult conditions and who suffer from violence, abuse, sickness, war or hunger,” the pope said at the end of his general audience November 18 at the Vatican.

Anticipating the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children, which was observed November 20, and this year will mark the 20th anniversary of the signing of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child,

Pope Benedict asked the faithful gathered inside the Vatican’s Paul VI Auditorium to pray for children.

“I invite you to join in my prayer, and at the same time, I appeal to the international community to multiply efforts to offer an adequate response to the dramatic problems of children,” he said. “All generous efforts must continue until the rights of children are recognized and their dignity respected.”

The U.N. sponsors the Universal Children’s Day every year on the anniversary of the adoption of the convention.

The World Day of Prayer and Action for Children is marked on the same day by the Global Network of Religions for Children, an interfaith network of organizations that promotes children’s rights.

If we really wish to be ready to welcome Jesus at Christmas, we should get our houses in order and fit to receive him. That’s why our last resolution should be to go to receive the sacrament of reconciliation. We rejoice that God sent his Son into the world to save us from our sins.

Together in this New Year, we should grow in gratitude to God for the gift of life and so many other blessings.

Every day we’re called to thank God for his love and kindness. We can do this in a prayer or just in the silence of our heart whenever we have a chance. Notice how it always seems to come back to prayer?

We need to pray every day, or, rather, as Father Roger Landry wrote in a September column, we need to “literally become a prayer.” What a goal that would be.

Have a happy New Year!

Alexander Pacheco is an eighth-grader at Espirito Santo School in Fall River.

The son of Paul and Diane Pacheco, he lives with his four brothers and sisters in Westport.

Youth Pages

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November 27, 2009

LOOKS LIKE FOWL PLAY — Students at St. Joseph-St. Therese School in New Bedford met the school-wide goal for their recent fund-raiser to put their principal, Sherri Swainamer, and pastor, Father Philip Hamel, on the new roof of the school and perform “The Chicken Dance.” At right students greet their adopted mascot.

PROUD PARENT AND DAUGHTERS — Army Master Sergeant Craig Chapman of the 772nd Military Police and father to kindergarten student Emma and Lauren in the third-grade at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro, presented the school with an American flag which was flown over his base at Al Kut, Iraq on September 11, 2009 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The flag, a letter of authenticity and MP badge were presented to the school at its Veteran’s Day ceremony. Chapman stands with his daughters Emma and Lauren.

GOODIES FOR SALE — St. Margaret Regional School in Buzzards Bay recently held a bake sale to raise funds for the school. Here, students at volunteer at the event.

A CLASS AT MASS — Msgr. Steven J. Avila, center, pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Mansfield, recently celebrated a “Teaching Mass” at Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro. At the Mass he explained the significance of each part of the Liturgy. Students were entirely engaged in the experience for 90 minutes. “Often we feel disconnected from the Mass,” commented junior Makayla Humphry, “Msgr.

Avila reconnected us to the Liturgy which helps us reaffirm our faith.” Principal Bill Runey said, “The Teaching Mass not only reinforced what we do daily in our theology classes and Campus Ministry programs but brought to our students a stronger sense of the significance of committing to attending weekly Mass.”

November 27, 2009

A

dvent is upon us. Sunday begins our annual season of anticipation and expectation.

Actually, we’re not very good with anticipation and expectation. We prefer doing, getting, deciding, finishing. Anticipation and expectation imply a sort of passive waiting, and Americans don’t wait very well. We are a society of immediate gratification with faster and faster connections, plugged in and wired for sound. It may be quieter outside as the weather changes, but it certainly is not quieter within. We miss so much peace and wisdom by not taking the time to slow our lives, and quiet our minds to listen for the sound of God’s voice in the midst of it all. And so, we welcome the season of Advent.

These next four weeks provide us with a wonderful op-

Youth Pages Wait for it

portunity to unplug and enter the nurture that relationship is with silence. Waiting is not always prayer, why do we so often find a passive experience. Just ask our prayer lives in such a desany expectant mother. There is perate state? Oh, how we need nothing passive about getting this season of Advent. We need ready for a new life to arrive. to take this opportunity to create Yes, there is waiting, but in the a deeper hunger for God in our waiting, there is work to be done. So it is with our waiting for the celebration of Jesus’ birth, our waiting for Christ to be welcomed again in our hearts, our waiting for

By Jean Revil the second coming of Christ. In the waiting, there is much work to be done. lives and fine tune our attempts We need to make the time at connecting with God. There and space for the work of God is so much drawing our attenin our lives. If we know in our tion away from God, especially hearts that there is nothing more during this holy season. The important in the world than marketing, materialism, and our relationship with God, and commercialization of Christwe know that the best way to mas have drawn our attention

Be Not Afraid

VISITING VETS — Our Lady of Lourdes School in Taunton recently conducted its annual Veteran’s Day program. Officers from the Disabled Veterans Chapter 57 visited the students to discuss the meaning of Veteran’s Day. With students, from left: Assistant Chaplain Daniel O’Connor, Commander Mort Morin, and Quartermaster Norm Willoughby.

PATRIOTIC GESTURE — Students at Holy Trinity School in Fall River recently took part in a Veteran’s Day Prayer Service that included the entire school and parents. Eighth-grade students Wynter Silva, Alyssa Silvia, and Julie Charest raise the flag.

17 away from the Incarnation. The love of God for his people has been overshadowed by a culture addicted to “stuff.” People complain about the Christmas shopping and often buy their gifts with an attitude of desperation or obligation rather than one of joyful sharing of love.

We may not be able to change the whole culture of our society, but we do have the power to change the culture of our homes.

We can create some silence each day and enjoy the waiting. Let’s teach each other about the joy of anticipation and the importance of prayerfully listening for God’s voice. Why can’t we simplify things and enter the sacredness of the season? Do we really think that this

will leave us and others somehow impoverished? Gifts are a wonderful part of Christmas, but they don’t need to be the only focus or our main Advent priority, and they don’t need to put families into debt for the rest of the year. Gather your family together this weekend and make an Advent plan if you don’t already have one. Don’t let the Advent season be replaced by Christmas. To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven (Ecc. 3:1). This is the season of waiting and expecting. Christmas will have its season of celebration … it is more than just a day.

We just have to wait for it.

Jean Revil teaches theology and is campus minister at Bishop Stang High School.

Comments welcome at: jrevil@ bishopStang.com.

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

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The Anchor

Christmas message burns brighter at La Salette Shrine continued from page one

ferent languages in different locations and designs throughout the shrine leading to the manger. We have it in French, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Philippino, Polish, Creole — it’s all about saying yes; yes to God, yes to the Nativity, yes to redemption, yes to salvation, and of course Mary’s yes.”

In addition to the “yes” signs, Father Pat noted another 100,000 lights have been added to the display this year, along with a few other newlyinstalled embellishments.

“The manger background is different: it now depicts more of a traditional stable scene,” Father Pat said. “We also have a new lighted display that’s been added behind the Calvary — the holy stairs — set behind the cross. We also have a scene of the shepherds in the field with the angels announcing the birth of Christ. And we’ve added a storyboard series called ‘Clopper, The Christmas Donkey,’ which is going to be in place of the Christmas alphabet located around the Rosary Pond. It’s a children’s story of a donkey that finds himself useful by carrying Mary to the manger.”

A special blue spruce Christmas tree has also been decorated with what Father Pat called “the doves of peace.”

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What better gift to give this Christmas?

“They’re about three feet in diameter, carrying an olive branch,” he said. “The tree is part of a display dedicated to those service men and women who either have died in combat or are serving in another country, so it’s very special.”

And it wouldn’t be Christmas without crèches.

Besides the shrine’s already popular and ever-growing collection of international nativity sets, this year they’ve added a special display of Portuguese crèches from Lagoa, Azores.

“They’ll be showing how they make these little crèche statues right on the spot,” Father Pat said. “The artists will be there. They will also provide some traditional Portuguese music.”

Father Pat said he’s proud that the Christmas festival has taken on a more international flavor with each passing year, and that the shrine remains a safe haven for large public displays of Nativity scenes during the Christmas season.

“Every year we hear about problems with having a manger on some civic lawn or public property, so at least we have one place where we can proudly proclaim as much as we want that Jesus is our savior and the light of the world,” he said.

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Favorite attractions from past years will also return, including the Christmas carousel for children, a trolley to transport those unable to walk around the shrine grounds to see the various lighted displays, and a full schedule of concerts and music events, including performances from the Daughters of St. Paul and a recording artist known as Father Pat. “I’ll be performing concerts at 3 and 7 p.m. everyday, except for Monday and on December 5 when I travel to the La Salette Shrine in New Hampshire,” he said.

Father Pat also stressed that the sacrament of reconciliation is offered at the shrine daily from 2 to 8 p.m., except on Christmas and New Year’s; and Mass is celebrated Monday through Friday at 12 and 5:30 p.m., and on Saturday and Sunday at 12, 4 and 5:30 p.m.

Although La Salette Shrine remains a popular destination throughout the year — especially for those seeking a place for prayerful reflection or to participate in a retreat — thousands flock to the site during Advent and Christmas.

“We figure probably close to 300,000 people visit the shrine during Christmas,” Father Pat said. “On a good weekend, we get maybe 20,000 people coming in and out. People of all ages come — from the very young to parish youth groups to senior citizens who come by bus. We still have 250 buses that come in during the season. It’s probably the biggest Catholic Christmas display in the northeast.”

That La Salette Shrine has also become known as a local Christmas tradition and a popular destination for families is something Father Pat considers a badge of honor.

“It can be a family outing and, in this time where a lot people are not working and are having financial problems, hopefully a return to faith and the real meaning of Christmas,” he said. “We hope a lot of people will come celebrate and get into the spirit.”

The 2009 Festival of Lights at La Salette Shrine, 947 Park Street (Route 118), Attleboro, will be open nightly from 5 to 9 p.m. through Jan. 3, 2010.

Admission is free, but donations are welcomed and much appreciated. A complete schedule of special Christmas events can be found online at www.lasalette-shrine.org.

November 27, 2009

Guaimacan Mission seeks financial assistance during political crisis

GUAIMACA, Honduras — Because of the political unrest in the country of Honduras, Father Craig A. Pregana, pastor of the parishes in the Fall River diocesan mission there is sending out an SOS to the faithful throughout the diocese.

In a flyer sent to all parishes, Father Pregana noted that this Advent would be a good time to give to the Mission. He reminded the diocesan faithful that since the political upheaval in June, the Mission has not received visitors or supplies that help the charitable work of the Mission.

“Since we are not sure when

the groups may be able to return to the Mission,” he writes, “a monetary donation would be greatly appreciated and easier to transmit to the Mission.”

The donations will help Guaimacan groups such as the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the School Bell Project, and the Marie Poussepin Center.

If anyone would like to make a monetary donation they can indicate a particular aspect of the mission and send a check to: Honduran Mission, Propagation of the Faith, 106 Illinois Street, New Bedford, MA 02745.

Visit the website at www. fallrivermission.org.

Fall River parish hosts Advent Retreat

FALL RIVER — Holy Name Parish, 709 Hanover Street, is hosting an Advent Retreat from November 28 through December 2.

Father Patrick Martin will present “God’s Calling Does Have a Dream For Us.” The schedule is as follows: November 28 at 4 p.m.; and November 29 at 8:30 and 10:30 a.m., and 5 p.m. — “God Does Have a Dream For Us”;

November 30 at 7 p.m. — “What Does God’s Voice Sound Like?”; December 1 at 7 p.m. — “God Calls Us To Be At Home”; December 2 at 7 p.m. — “What’s a Home Without a Mama?”

Father Martin will also be available for the sacrament of reconciliation November 29, 30 and December 1 from 9 to 11 a.m., and 6 to 7 p.m.

All are welcome. For more information, call 508-679-6732.

Our readers respond

Bishop Tobin and what it means to be Catholic I have just read, and re-read, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin’s “Public Letter to Rep. Kennedy,” referred to in your November 20 editorial. The first words I can think of are “praise be to God” for the wisdom and courage of the bishop of Providence.

For once, a member of the Catholic hierarchy has written a simple, clear and concise response to the hypocritical and “politically correct” blathering of Catholic-in-name-only politicians, who have embraced the illogical nonsense of “I’m personally opposed to abortion, but publicly I must support the right to chose.”

More importantly, Bishop Tobin gets down to the really important question, which underlies not only the Pro-Life/prochoice debate, but the fundamental question we all have to ask: “What does it mean, really, to be a Catholic? After all, being a Catholic has to mean something, right?”

When you answer that question, you have just to look at the history of the Catholic Church. Look at the sacrifice of Our Lord and savior. Look at the blood shed by thousands of saints and martyrs. When you look, what you see is courage, the courage to stand up for what is right and true, no matter what the cost.

In another time, another politician, spoke eloquently about

courage, stating that “The stories of past courage can define that ingredient … but they cannot supply courage itself. For this each man must look into his own soul.”

John F. Kennedy, I think, would applaud, as I do, Bishop Tobin, for his unswerving courage, in proclaiming what it means to be Catholic.

Salvatore A. Ferraioli, East Sandwich In defense of Catholicism I was surprised and delighted by your editorial of November 13. I was not aware of Archbishop Timothy Dolan’s statement (critique of anti-Catholicism in newspapers) to The New York Times when I responded immediately to a story by a columnist in my local newspaper.

It is our duty as laypersons that subscribe to newspapers to voice our defense of Catholic teachings when they are attacked so blatantly.

Doris Toohill Orleans Good story, good job Thank you so much for publishing the article “Saint Jeanne Jugan” written by George Weigle. It was a great article, filled with the truths of our society, things that people really need to hear. The Anchor is doing a great job.

Sister Joseph Grenon, Little Sisters of the Poor Baltimore, Md.

U.S. political parties are marked by hypocrisy, says former papal aide

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service

ROME — The political campaigns and policies of the Democratic and Republican parties in the United States suffer from “hypocrisy” and ethical inconsistency, a former papal aide said.

Joaquin Navarro-Valls, who served as Vatican spokesman for Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, said both major U.S. political parties “run campaigns that are inspired by an asymmetrical ethics” in which a rule or ethical principle applies in one instance, but not in another.

To give an example, he highlighted the Pro-Life platform of former-U.S. President George W. Bush, who was strongly antiabortion, but “at the same time began a war, such as the war in Iraq.”

It is one example of “the case of hypocrisy in the language of the Democrats and Republicans,” he said.

Navarro-Valls spoke November 18 during the presentation of his first book, “A Passo D’Uomo” (“At a Walking Pace”). The book, initially published only in Italian, is a collection of articles he has written for the Rome newspaper La Repubblica.

The short essays, which include some previously unpublished material, cover events during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II and current moral and philosophical issues of the day.

In his book, Navarro-Valls said an authentically ethical platform is consistently applied to all aspects of life.

“An ethical vision that is partial is like a person who only tells the truth every now and then and yet wants to be believed all the time,” he wrote.

Democrats are guilty of ethical inconsistency, too, he wrote, when they are able to decry the immorality of war in Iraq, but don’t easily recognize the ethical

Around the Diocese 11/28

Courage, a welcoming support group for Catholics wounded by same-sex attraction will gather to seek God’s wisdom, mercy and love. The next meeting will be held tomorrow at 7 p.m. For location information, call Father Richard Wilson at 508-992-9408.

11/29

The Legion of Mary of the diocese will hold its annual reunion Sunday at St. Joseph Parish, 208 South Main Street, Attleboro.

The program will begin with the recitation of the rosary at 1:30 p.m. All active and auxiliary members are invited along with family and friends. For more information, call 508-995-2354.

11/29

The Cathedral Adult and Youth Choirs will present their 14th annual Christmas Carol Sing at Holy Rosary Church, 120 Beattie Street, Fall River, on Sunday at 3 p.m. The choirs will offer a few selections but most of the one-hour program is intended as a sing-along for all present. There is no admission charge and all are welcome to bring family and friends.

dimension and social impact of undermining the family through legislation supporting samesex unions and allowing the use of embryonic stem cells in research.

“On the other side, for the ‘theocon,’ supporting the war is an ethical fact that doesn’t exist on the same plane as respecting environmental protection or building schools in the Third World,” he wrote.

Such an irrational and ethically inconsistent approach to the world “destroys the ethical validity of whatever is being proposed” by either side and is “immobilizing political decisionmaking” not just in the United States, but in Europe, too, Navarro-Valls wrote.

Though it is difficult, the only valid approach is one that is ethically consistent and recognizes the rights and promotes the good of all people at every stage of their lives, he wrote.

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Nov. 30 Rev, William J McCoomb, Pastor, Immaculate Conception, North Easton, 1895

Dec. 1 Rev. Phillipe Ross, Chaplain, Sacred Heart Home, New Bedford, 1958 Rev. Edward J. Gorman, Retired Pastor, St. Patrick, Somerset, 1964

12/2

Dec. 2 Rev. Arthur Savoie, Pastor, St. Hyacinth, New Bedford, 1917 Rev. Dennis W. Harrington, Assistant, St. Mary, Taunton, 1958 Rev. Stanislaus Basinski, Former Pastor Holy Rosary, Taunton, 1970

12/4

Dec. 3 Rev. John W. McCarthy, P.R., Pastor, Sacred Heart, Fall River, 1926

St. Louis de France Parish, 56 Buffington Street, Swansea, will host weekly Centering Prayer gatherings using the Lectio Divina format. The group will meet in the family room of the main church at 6:15 p.m. every Wednesday in Advent, December 2 through December 23. Prayer beings promptly at 6:30 p.m. For more information call 508-264-5823 or email forums8799@mypacks.net.

Composer, vocalist and guitarist John Polce, a featured artist on EWTN’s “Say Yes,” will headline an Advent evening of praise and worship at St. Patrick’s Church, 82 High Street, Wareham, on December 4 at 7 p.m. For more information, call 508-822-2219.

12/6

The Providence Adult String Ensemble, directed by John Gomes, and the Fall River Diocesan Choir and Cathedral Youth Choir, led

by Madeleine Grace, will present an Advent Concert at St. Mary’s Cathedral, corner of Spring and Second streets, Fall River, on December 6 at 3 p.m. A free will offering will be accepted for the Cathedral Pipe Organ Fund.

12/6

Please join St. Mary’s Parish, Fairhaven, as it serves its famous Parish Family Breakfast on December 6 from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Spend some time with family, friends and neighbors over a breakfast buffet of pancakes, scrambled eggs, baked ham, sausages, homemade potatoes, fruit, juice and coffee. Tickets will be on sale before and after weekend Masses through November 29. For more information, call 508-992-7300.

12/7

Good Shepherd Parish, Martha’s Vineyard, will offer an Advent program on December 7 at 7 p.m. in the parish center. Marjorie Milanese, spiritual director and retreat facilitator, will present a reflection on the topic “Advent: Waiting in Expectation.” A discussion and social with refreshments will follow and all are welcome.

12/8

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The Anchor

November 27, 2009

The Catholic Cancer Support Group at Our Lady of Victory Parish will hold its next monthly meeting December 8 at 7 p.m. in the parish center, 230 South Main Street, Centerville. The meeting will start with Mass and anointing of the sick in the church, then move to the parish center for discussion and support. The group is faith-based but all are welcome: cancer patients, survivors, family and friends. For more information, call 508-7711106 or 508-775-5744.

Dec. 4 Rev. Patrick Byrne, Pastor, St. Mary, New Bedford, 1844 Rev. Charles Ouellette, Assistant, St. Jacques, Taunton, 1945 Rev. Edward C. Duffy, Pastor, St. Francis Xavier, Hyannis, 1994 Dec. 5 Rev. Eugene J. Boutin, Manchester Diocese, 1986 Rev. Coleman Conley, SS.CC., Chaplain, Sacred Heart Home, New Bedford, 1990 Dec. 6 Rev. Joseph L. Cabral, Pastor, Our Lady of the Angels, Fall River, 1959 Rt. Rev. Msgr. John H. Hackett, JCD, Chancellor, June-December 1966, 1966 Rev. Joseph K. Welsh, Retired Pastor, Our Lady of Victory, Centerville, 1971 Rev. John T. Higgins, Retired Pastor, St. Mary, Mansfield, 1985

Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese ACUSHNET — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Mondays and Wednesdays 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Fridays 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturdays 8 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays end with Evening Prayer and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.; Saturdays end with Benediction at 2:45 p.m.

BREWSTER — Eucharistic adoration takes place in the La Salette Chapel in the lower level of Our Lady of the Cape Church, 468 Stony Brook Road, on First Fridays following the 11 a.m. Mass until 7:45 a.m. on the First Saturday of the month, concluding with Benediction and Mass.

BUZZARDS BAY — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Margaret Church, 141 Main Street, every first Friday after the 8 a.m. Mass and ending the following day before the 8 a.m. Mass.

EAST TAUNTON — Eucharistic adoration takes place First Fridays at Holy Family Church, 370 Middleboro Avenue, following the 8:30 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 8 p.m.

FAIRHAVEN — St. Mary’s Church, Main St., has a First Friday Mass each month at 7 p.m., followed by a Holy Hour with eucharistic adoration. Refreshments follow.

FALL RIVER — St. Anthony of the Desert Church, 300 North Eastern Avenue, has eucharistic adoration Mondays and Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and on the first Sunday of the month from noon to 4 p.m.

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

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.

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

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

OSTERVILLE — Eucharistic adoration takes place at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 76 Wianno Avenue on First Fridays following the 8 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 5 p.m. The Divine Mercy Chaplet is prayed at 4:45 p.m.; on the third Friday of the month from 1 p.m. to Benediction at 5 p.m.; and for the Year For Priests, the second Thursday of the month from 1 p.m. to Benediction at 5 p.m.

TAUNTON — Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament takes place every First Friday at Annunciation of the Lord Church, 31 First Street, immediately following the 8 a.m. Mass and continues throughout the day. Confessions are heard from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m., concluding with recitation of the rosary and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.

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.

WEST HARWICH — Our Lady of Life Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Holy Trinity Parish, 246 Main Street, holds perpetual eucharistic adoration. For open hours, or to sign up call 508-430-4716.

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

20

The Anchor

Reports say Pope John Paul closer to being declared venerable

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The cardinal- and bishop-members of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes voted unanimously November 16 to recommend that Pope Benedict XVI formally recognize that Pope John Paul II heroically lived the Christian virtues, Italian newspapers reported.

The Vatican did not deny or confirm that the vote took place because the process is supposed to be secret until Pope Benedict signs the decree recognizing the heroic virtue of his predecessor and declares him venerable.

Pope Benedict generally signs a dozen or more decrees three times a year: in April, in June or July and in December.

Members of the saints’ congregation meet regularly to study the life stories, eyewitness testimony and other documentation promoting the causes of proposed saints. The information is contained in a “positio,” or position paper, prepared by the promoter of the individual’s cause.

When the cardinals and bishops are satisfied that the “positio”

OLD FRIEND — Pope John Paul II is pictured at World Youth Day in Denver in this 1993 file photo. Italian newspapers were reporting that the pope was closer to being declared venerable following a unanimous decision by the Congregation for Saints’ Causes. (CNS photo/ Joe Rimkus Jr.)

is complete and demonstrates that the sainthood candidate lived an extraordinarily holy life, they recommend the pope sign the first decree.

Once the promoter of a cause identifies a potential miracle attributed to the candidate’s intercession, the documentation is turned over to the saints’ congregation. A panel of physicians, a panel of theologians and the members of the congregation all must recommend the pope sign a second decree recognizing the miracle.

When the decrees recognizing the heroic virtues and the miracle are signed, a date is fixed for the candidate’s beatification.

As the miracle for Pope John Paul’s beatification, the promoter of his cause has proposed the healing of a French nun. She allegedly was cured of Parkinson’s disease, the same disease from which Pope John Paul suffered.

November 27, 2009