Anchor 11.19.10

Diocese of Fall River

The Anchor

F riday , November 19, 2010

Bible school: Pope encourages devoted approach to Scripture

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In his new apostolic exhortation on the Word of God in the life and mission of the Church, Pope Benedict wrote that God constantly tries to enter into dialogue with the people he created — speaking through creation and even through silence, but mainly in the Church through the Bible and through his son Jesus Christ.

In his apostolic exhortation, “Verbum Domini” (“The Word of the Lord”), the pope encouraged Catholics to embrace and value each of the ways God tries to speak to humanity.

The document, a papal reflection on the conclusions of the 2008 Synod of Bishops on the Word of God, was released at the Vatican November 11 and

emphasized the need to improve Catholics’ familiarity with the Bible and with the need to read and understand it in harmony with the Church.

The Bible is not a dusty collection of ancient writings addressed only to ancient peoples, he said. But it’s also not some sort of private letter addressed to individuals who are free to interpret it any way they please, the pope said in the document.

The pope said he wrote “Verbum Domini” because “I would like the work of the synod to have a real effect on the life of the Church: on our personal relationship with the sacred Scriptures, on their interpretation in the liturgy and catechesis, and in scientific research so that the Turn to page 15

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

sociations, and movements.”

Bishop George W. Coleman of the Fall River Diocese has fully embraced the call from the pope and will preside at a “Vigil for All Human Life at Its Very Beginnings,” that evening at 7 p.m. at St. Julie Billiart Church, 494 Slocum Road, North Dartmouth.

“Pope Benedict XVI has requested that bishops throughout the world, together with their faithful, offer prayers during the Vigil of the First Sunday of Advent,” the bishop told The Anchor.

“By making his request, the Holy Father reminds us of the power of prayer and the necessity to protect human life.”

The evening for the protection of human life at St. Julie’s will include a holy hour with adoraTurn to page 18

Bishop to lead ‘Vigil for All Human Life’ November 27

NORTH DARTMOUTH — Realizing the constant bombardment levied against life from conception to natural death, Pope Benedict XVI has called upon Catholic faithful worldwide to join him in a “Vigil for All Nascent Human Life,” on November 27.

At 5 p.m. at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, the pope will hold a service coinciding with first vespers of the First Sunday of Advent.

According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Holy Father has requested that “all diocesan bishops of every particular church preside in analogous celebrations involving the faithful in their respective parishes, religious communities, as-

mission of mercy — Anthony Simmons and Arnold Briden open and stack bags in preparation for distributing grocery items before the doors open to allow area families in need to come in for food, clothing and a hot lunch at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in New Bedford. Growing up in the Depression as the son of a grocery story owner, Simmons related a moment in his youth that motivated him to volunteer: “I was very lucky, we always had plenty to eat. Next door was a poor family,” said Simmons, who was eating an apple one day. “When I got done chewing the apple, one of the boys asked me if he could eat the core. That has been on my conscience for years and years. I realize these people need help.” (Photo by Rebecca Aubut)

Food pantries of the diocese: The neediest time of the year

By Rebecca Aubut Anchor Staff

NEW BEDFORD — “Food pantries in this area have seen a 49 percent increase” in the amount of people seeking aid, said Paula Briden, the food pantry coordinator of St. An-

thony of Padua Parish in New Bedford. “They say that one out of every eight families needs some type of help or support. It’s estimated that at least eight percent more need help, but don’t know how to apply for help or are too embarrassed

to come for help.”

It’s no secret that food pantries struggle to help feed those in need, but due to the recent economic downturn, area pantries and soup kitchens have had to dig deeper into their resourcTurn to page four

of Lights on Thanksgiving, there will be an additional highlight that may be of interest to a great many people in and around the Fall River Diocese.

This year, during the 57th annual festival themed “Believe in the Gift,” the Shrine will introduce a cozy indoor commemorative garden in honor of the recently-canonized St. André Bessette. “St. André was well known by many people in this area,” La Salette Father André “Pat” Patenaude, Shrine director, told The Anchor. “There are still many French-Canadian Catholics nearby. Folks from Fall River, New Bedford, Attleboro, and Central Falls, Pawtucket, and Woonsocket, R.I. And many of them are either related or know someone who was related to St. André, or who were friends with him.”

For that reason, Father Pat, who was named after Brother André, and others at the Shrine thought the garden would be Turn to page 18

St. André is one bright light among thousands at this year’s Festival of Lights at La Salette

By Dave Jolivet, Editor

ATTLEBORO — When the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette throws the switch to power up its amazing Festival

Marian Medals to be awarded Sunday at Cathedral — Page 12

part of the festival — A special garden of newly-canonized St. André Bessette will be among the many inspirational displays at this year’s Festival of Lights at La Salette Shrine in Attleboro, beginning on Thanksgiving. (Photo by Dave Jolivet)

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News From the Vatican

November 19, 2010

Even with new media, actions speak louder than words, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — While the Church is looking for creative ways to evangelize through new media, the actions of Catholics always speak louder than words, said Pope Benedict XVI. “Only love is worthy of belief and turns out to be credible,” he told participants of a meeting hosted by the Pontifical Council for Culture. The virtuous lives of saints and martyrs fascinates and attracts others in a way words can-

not, he said November 13 at the Vatican. “We need men and women who speak with their lives, who know how to communicate the Gospel with clarity and courage, with the transparency of their actions, and with the joyous passion of charity,” he said.

The pope spoke to members and invited speakers attending the council’s plenary assembly November 10-13 on the theme, “The Culture of Communication and New Languages.” Profound cultural change is under way today with new technologies and modes of communication, the pope said.

Priests and lay Catholics have noted, “with concern, some difficulties in communicating the Gospel message and conveying the faith within the Church community itself,” he said.

bound treasure — A copy of the Borgianus Latinus, right, a missal for Christmas made for Pope Alexander VI, is displayed in a new exhibit on the Vatican Library at the Vatican. The exhibit gives visitors a glimpse of the Vatican Library, which is only open to qualified scholars. (CNS photo/ Paul Haring)

Exhibit shows inner workings and treasures of Vatican Library

By Sarah Delaney Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — State-ofthe-art technology and the latest in multi-media presentation techniques reveal some of the centuries-old treasures housed in the “pope’s library” in a new exhibit at the Vatican.

The show’s blend of antique and super-modern aims to give a glimpse of the vast and varied collection of books, manuscripts and prints that line the Vatican Library’s 31 miles of shelves.

From November 11 to January 31, the exhibit “Know the Vatican Library: A Story Open to the Future” offers a virtual glimpse of the papal library that is off-limits to all but the most highly qualified scholars from around the world.

The show, held in the Braccio Carlo Magno next to St. Peter’s Square, is part of the celebration marking the end of a three-year restoration of the papal library, created in the 15th century by Pope Nicholas V. The exhibit was conceived “to allow all those who don’t have the privilege to enter” to get to know the library, said the Vatican archivist, Cardinal Raffaele Farina.

At a news conference at the Vatican, he also said the show would illustrate how the Vatican Library “is the patrimony of all humanity.”

Cardinal Farina said Pope Benedict XVI is expected to view the exhibit December 18.

Visitors walk in to a re-creation of the frescoed Sistino hall, where they can see in video images on

the walls of how monks of centuries past toiled at their desks as they wrote their manuscripts and illuminated them with exquisite drawings. Visitors can don white gloves and take their turn at turning the pages of high-quality reproductions of the medieval- and Renaissance-era volumes.

Another room shows a selection of the manuscripts kept in the library, most of them reproductions of the invaluable originals. They include a Book of the Hours in Latin from 1500, Greek Bibles in parchment rolls and a book by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio.

Original prints and engravings of maps and landscapes of Rome from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries are followed by original volumes of printed texts

by Galileo, Petrarch, Ludovico Ariosto and Voltaire. An original 15th-century print by German artist Albrecht Durer can be found with original drawings for

The Anchor www.anchornews.org

the altar at Rome’s Basilica of St. John Lateran by Baroque architect Francesco Borromeo.

The Vatican Library’s rich collection of coins and medallions is represented by original pieces and a video explaining the evolution of coinage.

An eight-minute video describes the history of the library and offers a glimpse of the building, its study halls and endless shelving and describes the contents: some 80,000 manuscripts, nearly 1.6 million books, approximately 8,400 incunabula and an important coin and medallion collection of 300,000 pieces.

It also explains how in such a vast network, a misplaced book can be lost forever. Now, each book can be identified and found through a system using radio frequencies.

Entrance to the exhibit costs five euros and reservations can be made by through the website www.vaticanlibrary.va.

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 54, No. 44

Member: Catholic Press Association, Catholic News Service

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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November 19, 2010

The International Church

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Polish parish to dedicate what it says is largest statue of Christ

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) — A parish in western Poland will dedicate what it says is the world’s largest statue of Christ in what a local Church spokesman said is a “show of devotion” by local Catholics.

“We’re treating this monument as a sign of faith — an external manifestation that religious belief is still alive here,” said Father Andrzej Sapieha, spokesman for Poland’s Zielona Gora-Gorzow Diocese.

“While we are called to live a Christian life, faith also demands material proofs through the figures and crosses adorning our churches. This statue very much reflects this logic,” he recently told Catholic News Service.

The reinforced-concrete statue, more than 35 feet taller than the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro and the Christ of Peace statue in Cochabamba, Bolivia, will be dedicated in late November at Divine Mercy Parish in Swiebodzin, 20 miles from the border with Germany.

Father Sapieha said the statue was a local initiative, “but there’s been great interest in this project among the faithful everywhere.”

“The fact that the biggest Christ figure in the world is being set up here shows the strength of Polish belief and will encourage Catholics to have trust in Christ and renew their faith,” he added.

Poland’s Catholic information agency, KAI, said the head of the statue was 15 tons.

It is situated on a mound and will be visible for at least 10 miles in each direction.

It added that the 433-ton figure, topped by a 10-foot crown, had already attracted sightseers to the 22,000-inhabitant town.

Msgr. Sylwester Zawadzki, the former pastor who commissioned the statue, said the figure, with its adjoining altar and Stations of the Cross and its proximity to the main highway, would “provide a catechesis for millions of people” passing the town.

“It really wasn’t a question of whether this statue was the biggest, but that it should be sumptuous,” he told KAI. “It’s been erected largely thanks to parish donations, as well as money offerings not just from Swiebodzin, but from around Poland and abroad.”

Father Sapieha told CNS the statue’s costs had not been disclosed by the parish, where a new twin-towered church and rectory were consecrated in November 2008.

“The success of this project owes everything to determination and decisiveness

by Msgr. Zawadzki and his ability to enlist support from many people,” the diocesan spokesman said. “But it hasn’t just come down to material entrepreneurship. Devotions and prayers have also helped overcome the many obstacles and difficulties.”

MIAMI (CNS) — With 1.3 million people still living in tents and the threat of cholera hovering over them, Haiti’s earthquake survivors seem to be living a crucifixion.

Where, in the midst of their suffering, is God? “We don’t hear him, but he is with us,” said Father Alphonse Quesnel, a Montfortian priest who serves as pastor of St. Louis Roi de France Parish in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Father Quesnel is certainly sharing that crucifixion with his people. His church and his rectory were destroyed. A fellow priest, 10 parishioners and 10 seminarians were killed on the grounds. Father Quesnel survived. About 300 people are still living amid the rubble of the parish buildings — rubble that Father Quesnel has used to build a brick wall inscribed with the names of those who perished.

Now the timid, soft-spoken priest wants to turn that suffering into spiritual lessons — for himself and for his people.

Father Quesnel visited Miami recently to show Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski the catechesis he has put together: a CD with several recorded reflections, a songbook and a catechetical book with more reflections and prayers.

Father Quesnel calls it an “earthquake catechesis,” to give people “something spiritual so that they can go beyond what happened.”

The songbook, a collection of hymns already known to the people, draws its theme from survival. Its title is “Songs of Love to Get Through Times of Trial” (“Chants d’Amour pour Traverser les Preuves de la Vie”).

The message of the catechesis is this, Father Quesnel said: “During the hard moments of life, do not think that God is absent.

In his silence, he holds us in his gaze.”

In fact, the catechesis includes the testimony of several people who were buried in the rubble, and rescued after three days.

Haitian priest develops post-quake spiritual reflections for his people

Christian to die for refusing to convert to Islam

(CWNews.com) — Asia Bibi, a resident of Ittanwali in the eastern province of Punjab, Pakistan, was working at a local farm when the Muslim women with whom she was working called her an infidel and urged her to convert to Islam. Bibi refused, saying that Christianity was the only true religion. A Pakistani Christian mother has been sentenced to death for blaspheming the prophet Mohammed after she refused to convert to Islam.

“The Muslim men working in nearby fields also gathered and attacked Asia Bibi on which she fled to village in her home,”

the Pakistan Christian Post reported.

“The angry Muslims followed her and took her out of home and started beating her. They tortured her children also, but meanwhile someone informed police.”

Police then arrested Bibi on blasphemy charges. Following a lengthy trial, she has been sentenced to death.

In the past two months, five other Pakistani Christians have been falsely accused of blasphemy, according to Peter Jacob, executive secretary of the Pakistani bishops’ national commission for justice and peace.

the king of kings — A worker walks past the head of a giant statue of Jesus in Swiebodzin, Poland, recently. Msgr. Sylwester Zawadzki, former pastor of Divine Mercy Church, who commissioned the statue, said the figure, with its adjoining altar and Stations of the Cross and its proximity to the main highway, would “provide a catechesis for millions of people” passing the town. (CNS photo/Kacper Pempel, Reuters)

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The Anchor

Food kitchens realize their most busiest time of the year continued from page one

es to match the increased number of those looking for help.

When Coyle and Cassidy High School in Taunton recently opened the doors of its food pantry to distribute bags of groceries, food pantry director Michael Cote said he usually plans for roughly 300 families to receive the items. Instead, volunteers found themselves having to use more donated goods than usual.

“On that particular day we went up to 353 families. That wasn’t something I was an-

ticipating or expecting, it came out of the blue. The last three years, especially because of the downturn of the economy and the difficulty, we’ve been pretty stable at that 300 number of families,” said Cote.

He added, “This was a very unusual increase. When we got towards the end, we began to substitute items because we had run out of main items. We always have enough on hand to go beyond; we turned no one away that Saturday.”

The high school’s food pan-

try opened in 1992 and the student-led, school-sponsored pantry has been working hard the last 18 years to serve area families while helping students promote their faith through their actions.

“The students’ contribution, first and foremost, is a volunteer effort. It really speaks volumes as to what they’re all about, and for us as a Catholic high school — living our mission,” said Cote. “Students have told me so many stories about how they would see this family at the food pantry, and how it confirmed in an instant that what we are doing was really touching lives.”

It’s that passion for helping others that drew Cynthia Gamache to become the coordinator of the food pantry and community service program at Sacred Heart Parish in Fall River.

Without the benefit of state subsidies, the parish’s food pantry runs solely on donations from area businesses, clubs and youth groups throughout the city. Displayed on shelves, recipients can come in and “shop” for their items that range from pasta to vegetables, including personal care items.

“Depending on what we have, they more or less shop according to their needs and wants,” said Gamache. “They are very good about taking what they need.”

Volunteers are often moved after contributing their time to the pantry and soup kitchen.

“They go back and do a food drive or collect money with a fund-raiser,” said Gamache, who recently received a donation from a Catholic youth group of $350. “The ministry just extends, it’s like a ripple effect.”

Yet even with monetary and

November 19, 2010 food donations, the church sometimes struggles to match the demands.

“Sometimes there are 180 people who come through on a Monday,” said Gamache. “The need is much greater now.”

That conclusion was echoed

by Briden, who said when she took the reigns of the food pantry at St. Anthony’s Parish six years ago, she had only six volunteers and approximately 30 families coming in for food.

Now she has more than 1,500 people in their database, with 80-plus volunteers seeing more than 250 families in need every week.

Food insecurity or suffering from hunger is something that more and more families are struggling with, said Cote, forcing families to make the difficult choice either to pay their rent or buy food. As layoffs become more prevalent in the area, those who happily volunteered their time at food pantries now find themselves accepting the donations instead.

“I remember so clearly,” said Cote of the woman who was once a volunteer, and now needed the food pantry and its service. The woman used an expression to sum up her current situation that struck a chord in Cote.

“She said, ‘The past couple of weeks I’ve gone from middle management to mental illness,’” recalled Cote. “That was such a statement, and I talked to her a little about that.

The job she thought was so secure and had worked at for so long, her middle management position that offered security, and how that all got pulled out from under her.”

Such moments become teaching tools to his student volunteers.

“There is an increased Christian empathy for those who are struggling in this economy,”

This week in 50 years ago — More than 300 high school newspaper editors and their faculty advisors from three states attended a Scholastic Press Institute at Stonehill College in North Easton.

The day-long conference included panel discussions and seminars for the student journalists along with a “best newspaper” contest.

25 years ago — The new parish center at St. Mary’s Parish in North Attleboro was blessed and dedicated by Bishop Daniel A. Cronin, along with pastor Father Ralph D. Tetrault, and former pastor Father Cornelius J. Keliher.

said Cote. “They know that it can be anyone of us in this position. It breaks down all the stereotypical notions and prejudices that kids have about people who are in a position of need.”

Briden has responded to the increased need with the addition of the Baby Project, which provides diapers and other baby-related items. Tables of donated clothing are laid out.

Snowsuits for babies and jackets, hats and mittens are needed as winter begins to wrap its cold grip in the New England area.

In 2009, the parish celebrated the certification of its new soup kitchen that served hot lunches to 10,000 people last year.

“Almost every family that comes through here either says thank-you or God bless you,” said Briden. “I try to tell people that it’s a service, and it’s for anyone. We try to make everyone as welcome as possible. We don’t turn anyone away.”

During Coyle and Cassidy’s next food distribution, Cote said he’ll plan for an increased number of recipients but he hopes that the most recent upsurge in figures was only temporary.

“This increase we saw this past month, maybe there were a couple things that weren’t available to families in the whole network in place in the city, and maybe we were one of the ones on schedule and were able to respond accordingly,” said Cote. “I hope it was something like that and not a true indicator of this stage of the economy where families who maybe made it through a first round have now lost jobs.”

“I care about the families,” added Cote, “and hope that it was something out of the ordinary and not something indicative of something more seriously wrong.”

Diocesan history 10 years ago — A group of permanent deacons and their wives from the Fall River Diocese attended the Regional Assembly of the National Association of Diaconate Directors held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Newport, R.I. One year ago — The first bishop of the Diocese of Fall River, Bishop William Stang, was among the dozen honorees inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame. Bishop Stang was honored as first shepherd of the fledgling Diocese of Fall River, an offshoot of the Providence, R.I. Diocese, founded in March 1904.

November 19, 2010

The Church in the U.S.

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Bishops’ meeting opens with Cardinal George reviewing health reform debate

BALTIMORE (CNS) — In his final address as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago criticized those who define the Church’s usefulness by whether it provides “foot soldiers for a political commitment, whether of the left or the right.”

In his talk opening the November 1518 fall general assembly of the USCCB, the cardinal devoted much of his time to reviewing the debate over health care reform earlier this year and the “wound to the Church’s unity” caused by differences over the final legislation.

The first day of the meeting included the introduction of items to be voted on the next day, including an agreement on the mutual recognition of baptism from the Reformed-Catholic dialogue, guidelines for the provision of sustenance to retired bishops, and some proposed revisions to regulations regarding USCCB

statements and publications.

The bishops heard reports on donations

by U.S. Catholics for reconstruction in Haiti; preparations for World Youth Day in Spain in August 2011; the need for the bishops to embrace social media to effectively evangelize the “digital continent”; and the work of the bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for the Defense of Marriage, which has been upgraded to a subcommittee of the marriage and family life committee.

They also heard a plea from Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services for more chaplains to serve the needs of the military.

In discussing health reform in his address, Cardinal George said “developments since the passage of the legislation” have confirmed that “our analysis of what the law itself says was correct and our moral judgments are secure.” He did not specify what those developments were.

BALTIMORE (CNS) — New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan was as surprised as anyone that he was elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops November 16.

“I’m surprised, I’m honored, I’m flattered and a tad intimidated,” Archbishop Dolan told Catholic News Service shortly after being elected in an unprecedented departure from the USCCB’s normal tradition of electing the conference vice president to the presidency.

He said he had no idea what was behind the bishops’ 128-111 third-ballot vote to make him president instead of current vice president Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz.

The election of Archbishop Dolan marks the first time since the bishops’ conference was reorganized into its current form in 1966 that a sitting vice president who sought the presidency did not win the election. In two elections, circumstances dictated that the vice president did not rise to lead the conference.

In 1974, St. Paul-Minneapolis Coadjutor Archbishop Leo C. Byrne, vice president since 1971, died less than a month before his term ended.

Three years later, Cardinal John J. Carberry of St. Louis as vice president declined to run for the top spot because he was 73 years old and was due to retire before he could complete a three-year term as president.

A sampling of bishops interviewed after the vote suggested the choice of Archbishop Dolan seemed to be more about changing the process of assuming the vice president would be elected president.

Bishop Roger P. Morin of Biloxi, Miss., said it was his sense that “there’s been some question as to whether the vice president should automatically be elected ... and that the election was more about that principle.”

Archbishop Dolan said amid public criticism in recent weeks of the long-held election process, he suspects bishops had begun to “bristle” a bit at the notion that they were not electing a president on his own merits, but by virtue of the office he’d held for three years.

He added that the vote “was hardly a landslide,” and that he doesn’t think it was a personal reflection on Bishop Kicanas.

Archbishop Dolan, 60, said he’s a bit daunted to be following Cardinal Francis E. George as conference president because of his predecessor’s skill in the position. He took office at the end of the bishops’ meeting November 18.

He said several times that he doesn’t see the role of president as “bishop of the bishops,” but as someone who is there to serve the interests of the bishops.

Archbishop Dolan called his election “a humbling moment. I was very grateful (to be elected). It was unexpected. There were 10 candidates. The posture of the bishops, of course, is you don’t really run for office, you run from it,” he said with a laugh.

“Our major focus, our major drive is our dioceses,” Archbishop Dolan continued. “We love the conference. We respect and appreciate it. We are so immersed in our dioceses most of us say we have our hands full at home” yet still offer to do something to help the conference when needed.

Incoming president of USCCB among those surprised by his election

bishops’ choice — New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan smiles after being elected the next president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops during the bishops’ annual fall meeting in Baltimore. (CNS photo/Nancy Wiechec)

The USCCB opposed passage of the final health reform legislation, saying it would permit federal funding of abortion, inadequately protect the conscience rights of health care providers and leave out immigrants. Other Catholic groups, including the Catholic Health Association and many orders of women religious, said the final bill and an executive order signed by President Barack Obama would exclude any possibility of federal money going to pay for abortions under the health plan.

Cardinal George said the debate also raised the question of “who speaks for the Catholic Church.”

“The bishops speak for the Church in matters of faith and in moral issues and the laws surrounding them,” he said. “All the rest is opinion, often well-considered opinion and important opinion that deserves a careful and respectful hearing, but still opinion.”

The cardinal addressed several other issues in his outgoing speech, among them concern for Christians in the Middle East. He said Christians were “uniquely ... without protection in the wake of the American invasion of Iraq.”

Cardinal George’s voice caught as he told the story — recounted by a U.S. Dominican nun in Iraq who is a friend of a friend — of a three-year-old boy named Adam, who “witnessed the horror of dozens of deaths, including that of his own parents,” during the October 31 massacre at the Syrian Catholic church in Baghdad.

Two hours later, the boy was murdered.

“As bishops, as Americans, we cannot turn from this scene or allow the world to overlook it,” Cardinal George said.

His comments paralleled the message he sent to Obama in a November 9 letter, in which he urged the U.S. government to “redouble its efforts to assist Iraqis” in providing safety for its citizens, especially religious minorities.

The assembly also heard from Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States, who set the stage for next year’s synod of bishops on evangelization, announced by Pope Benedict XVI at the conclusion of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East in October.

Referencing the Gospel of St. John, he commented that “despite all our limitations, I am deeply convinced that what we do in the name of the Lord, in his Spirit, for his Church, will ‘bear fruit, fruit that will last.’”

He noted that he recently received as a gift a painting of the small Chapel of the Sacred Heart in Bowie, Md., where the 1789 appointment of the first American bishop, John Carroll was announced.

“After 221 years, the dioceses now number 194, and the living bishops number 454,” he said. “The same can be said of the growth of the faithful, of the priests, of the religious.”

This past “should be for each of us a stimulus to build the future,” Archbishop Sambi said.

6

The Anchor

The Word of God in the life and mission of the Church

Last month we discussed the embarrassing results of the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, which revealed that atheists and agnostics had a much greater grasp of the books of the Bible and key Bible figures than Catholics do. Only 42 percent of Catholics could name Genesis as the first book of the Bible. Just 33 percent could name the four Gospels. In multiple choice questions, only 54 percent could identify Bethlehem as Jesus’ birthplace, 55 percent Abraham as the father who nearly sacrificed his son Isaac, and 25 percent Job as the figure associated with enormous suffering. The results were a clear reminder for individual Catholics and their pastors of the problem of biblical illiteracy.

Those results reinforced the results of a 2008 international study of Catholics and the Bible, which found that only three percent of Catholics read the Bible daily and that 80 percent of Catholics confess that the only time they encounter the Word of God is when they hear it proclaimed at Sunday Mass.

One of the obvious conclusions of these studies is that even though 93 percent of Catholics in the developed world own a Bible, it has little impact on their daily lives.

That’s one of the reasons why Pope Benedict XVI convened in 2008 a Synod of Bishops on the Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church. It’s also one of the reasons why last Thursday he published his apostolic exhortation “Verbum Domini,” the most expansive papal document on sacred Scripture in the history of the Church. The exhortation was addressed not just to bishops, clergy and consecrated persons, but also explicitly to the “lay faithful.”

Most of us, when we receive a letter, normally open and read it. When the letter is from a close family member, we generally pore over it faster. And most of us do not seem to mind when, at Christmas for example, the letter we receive is identical to those that other family and friends get. The only mail we generally do not read is what we classify as junk mail. With that analogy in mind, it’s important to recognize that last week each of us received a letter from our Holy Father in the faith. For sure, it was a form letter, sent not uniquely to one of us, but to all the members of our family. Moreover, in order to prudently to save on expenses, the Holy Father didn’t put Vatican stamps on 1.1 billion envelopes to send it via snail mail to our individual mailboxes; he put it on the Internet so that each of us could download it, format it and study it in the way most comfortable for us to read.

The question for each of us is how we will respond to the Holy Father’s missive. Will we treat it as a love letter, receive it with gratitude and read it, aware that Pope Benedict worked for two years writing it for us and that in it he has tried to communicate to us not only his own wisdom but God’s wisdom about one of the most important aspects of our Christian life, identity and mission? Or will we treat it basically as junk mail and ignore it?

The same questions apply, obviously, to the much larger series of love letters that God himself has written to us through various inspired human authors.

“Verbum Domini” is divided into three main parts. In the first section, Pope Benedict speaks powerfully about how through revelation God has made himself known as a loving communion and has bidden us to enter. He seeks a dialogue with us, not just in words but in life.

After speaking to us in many ways, he spoke to us definitively in his Son (Heb 1:1-4), “abbreviating” in Christ the message about who he is, who we are, and the communion of love he desires to have with us. Christianity is this encounter with a God who speaks — and speaks personally to us, one-on-one, in Christ. “Every man and woman appears as someone to whom the word speaks, challenges and calls to enter this dialogue of love through a free response,” Pope Benedict writes. “Each of us is thus enabled by God to hear and respond to his word. We were created in the word and we live in the word; we cannot understand ourselves unless we are open to this dialogue.” He describes sin as the refusal to hear God’s word and enter into that dialogue. “Sacred Scripture shows how man’s sin is essentially disobedience and refusal to hear. … For this reason it is important that the faithful be taught to acknowledge that the root of sin lies in the refusal to hear the word of the Lord, and to accept in Jesus, the Word of God, the forgiveness which opens us to salvation.” These are powerful words, not just in terms of their description of salvation history, but also because they communicate to us the seriousness of the practical refusal of so many Catholics to read and heed God’s word through the study of sacred Scripture and, like the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints, enflesh what they hear.

In the second section of the exhortation, the pope turns to how God’s word is meant to enliven everything the Church is and does. He describes the indispensable role of God’s word in each of the sacraments, the liturgy of the hours, the various approved blessings, catechesis, and personal and communal prayer; gives concrete tips to those who proclaim the Word of God, who teach it and who preach it; and emphasizes how the Word of God should form the lives of ordained ministers, seminarians, religious, lay faithful and families. He called the Church to a “biblical apostolate,” by which he meant that the Bible should not merely be one more thing that the Church offers and does, but rather should inspire and be at the center of all the Church’s pastoral work. He gives concrete advice to pastors, catechists and parents about passing on the treasure of the Word of God. In order to eliminate problems like those exposed by the Pew Forum study, he encourages all those in the Church to grow in “knowledge of biblical personages, events and well-known sayings,” suggesting that “judicious memorization of some passages that are particularly expressive of the Christian mysteries” be promoted.

He asks bishops and pastors to increase their emphasis on the Bible and provide training and continuing formation in sacred Scripture for all the faithful, especially for religious educators and those with particular responsibilities in the Church. He appeals to parents to “pass on and bear witness to the meaning of life in Christ” by proclaiming God’s word to their children, by having a Bible at home, keeping it in a worthy place and using it for individual and familial reading and prayer.

In the last section, Pope Benedict focuses on the great mission Jesus Christ bequeathed to his Church, that of going to all the nations and proclaiming the Word of God to every creature.

He describes how Pentecost is meant to continue in every generation, as the Holy Spirit moves the baptized to share God’s saving truth with others, not just with words but with a witness thoroughly imbued by God’s word. He also encourages artists to imitate the greats of previous generations in using their God-given talents to depict and radiate the beauty of the great events and figures of salvation history.

“Our own time,” Pope Benedict concluded, “must be increasingly marked by a new hearing of God’s word and a new evangelization. Recovering the centrality of the divine word in the Christian life leads us … vigorously to embark upon the new evangelization, especially in those nations where the Gospel has been forgotten or meets with indifference as a result of widespread secularism.” He called on all Catholics “to become increasingly familiar with the sacred Scriptures” and never to forget that “all authentic and living Christian spirituality is based on the word of God proclaimed, accepted, celebrated and meditated upon in the Church.”

The response of the Church to this “Verbum Domini” should be nothing short of “Deo gratias!,” “thanks be to God.”

R

November 19, 2010

‘You got a friend in me’

the example of what it means to be a true ecently, a dear friend of mine has been undergoing some difficulties friend.

There are many things that cause peoin her life that are beyond her control. ple to feel alone or helpless. Many times These circumstances certainly challenge there is nothing that we can do to “fix the the faith of this devout Catholic. We all problem,” but there is something that we know how difficult it is to stand by and can do to help those that we care about to watch helplessly as people that we love face their challenges by finding strength endure such pain and hurt. in the reality that they are not alone.

In such cases, I am convinced that The feeling of being alone, helpless, the Lord is providing opportunities for without hope, can be one of the most his followers to “put out into the deep,” crippling feelings that one can experito place total and complete trust in his ence. They are often the result of the loss providential love and mercy. These are of a loved one, separation or divorce, or moments that not only challenge one’s a variety of other human experiences. faith, but they also challenge the quality Many of us struggle to find the right of our friendship. They provide us the words to say to our friends in pain, as if opportunity to follow the example of the there were right things that could be said. “beloved disciple” who stood by Christ In these moments, we don’t need to at the foot of the cross, even when all the say anything, but the image from the others abandoned him.

I realized this myself a bit more clearly movie does provide something we can do. We can reach out and hold the hands during a recent flight. I was thinking of of our friends, letting them know by this this friend while watching the movie simple gesture that they don’t have to go shown during the flight, “Toy Story 3.” through it alone. This simple act of love Now one may be tempted to laugh here, and friendship is what Christ asks of us but the movie, like the first two films when he says, “Love one another as I of the trilogy, provide an interesting have loved insight into you.” the concept of The Old friendship.

Putting Into Testament “You got a the Deep book of Sirach friend in me” is also provides the theme song a wonderfrom this popuBy Father ful reflection lar animated Jay Mello upon the trilogy, and it concept of touches upon friendship. The author writes, “Let your what the Vatican has recently praised acquaintances be many, but one in a in the new children’s film, namely true thousand your confidant. When you gain friendship. a friend, first test him, and do not be too Personally, this is one of my favorite ready to trust him. For one sort of friend animated films and I could not agree is a friend when it suits him, but he will more with the Vatican’s newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, which commend- not be with you in time of distress.”

On the other hand, the sacred author ed the film for providing a profound reflection on “transcendental human themes continues, “A faithful friend is a sturdy and lessons on true friendship through the shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure.

A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum experience of the characters.” can balance his worth. A faithful friend In the recently-released third movie, Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the other toys is a life-saving remedy, such as he who fears God finds; For he who fears God are confronted with their destiny. Andy, behaves accordingly, and his friend will their owner, has grown too old to play be like himself” (Sir 6, 6-17). with his childhood toys and is preparOne may be reading this and asking ing to go off to college. He must decide what does friendship have to do with bewhether to donate the toys to a day-care coming a better Christian or in particular center or throw them away.

When circumstances beyond their con- a better Catholic. The concept is certainly not exclusive to the Christian faith, but trol separate the friends, they do all they by becoming a better friend to those who can, including risking their own lives, to are most in need, we become more like stay together and ensure the safety of the Christ who always sought out those who others. The movie exhibits the spiritual felt abandoned, alone and without hope. reality that true friendship follows the Being a Christian means following the example of Christ who said that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life example of Christ!

In just a few days we enter into the for a friend. holiday season of Thanksgiving, ChristL’Osservatore Romano columnist mas and New Year’s. This can often be a Gaetano Vallini wrote that “Toy Story 3” reveals that “friendship is the true bond of time where many people feel most alone or depressed. This can be a time of year this unlikely yet tight-knit group of toys” that is not the most joyful time of year and allows the moviegoer to reflect on for those who have no one with whom to “important themes such as the value of share it. friendship and solidarity, the fear of feel“Putting into the deep,” perhaps means ing alone or rejected, the unavoidability of growing up and the strength that comes that we open our homes and our hearts from feeling like you belong to a family.” to those who need a true friend in their As the movie draws to its end, the toys life. Perhaps it means that we reach out to hold the hand of those who need us most. are all confronted with a disastrous end.

Perhaps we know someone who needs to Instead of panicking or screaming out hear the words, “You got a friend in me.” in fear, they simply reach out and hold Father Mello is a parochial vicar at each other’s hand to endure such an end St. Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth. together. This simple gesture provides us

November 19, 2010

Q: I seldom ask my parish priest to offer up Masses for a particular need such as a sick person or someone that has just died. Usually I offer up myself the Masses I attend for these needs, but a friend told me this was not valid. May we offer up our Masses for departed souls or those in need without specifically asking the priest to say these Masses? — A.K., Sacramento, Calif.

Q: Unlike our present pastor, our former priest always would mention the intention for the Mass. Is this up to the individual priest? It gets printed in our bulletin, but I would hope the priest would mention who the Mass is for at some point, even though I know God knows who it is for. — L.S., St. Louis, Mo. A. With regard to the first question, it is not a question of either/or but of and/and.

Any Catholic may offer up the Mass in which he or she participates for any good intention. Certainly, graces will accrue in accordance with the intensity of that person’s participation and sincerity.

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man, You cannot say, or guess, for you know only A heap of broken images, where the sun beats, And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, And the dry stone no sound of water. Only There is shadow under this red rock, (Come in under the shadow of this red rock), And I will show you something different from either Your shadow at morning striding behind you Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; I will show you fear in a handful of dust. need a disclaimer here: technically, T.S. Eliot was not a Roman Catholic but an Anglo-Catholic. He was caught within the shock waves of that historic time bomb called John Henry Newman, detonated in 1846 in England, the shock waves which shook many of the figures we’ve chatted about here. Beginning with Newman and The Oxford Movement, there was an intense Renaissance period of England’s traditional Catholic

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Mass intentions

fering, the faithful, by parting This is a genuine exerwith something that is their cise of the royal or common own, associate themselves priesthood of the faithful. more intimately with Christ However, the custom of who offers himself in the sarequesting a priest to offer the Mass for a specific inten- cred host, and obtain thereby more abundant fruits. tion, even when one cannot With regard to mentioning be physically present at the the intention at Mass, there Mass, is a long-standing tradition in the Church.

This is because the Church considers the Mass as the greatest possible prayer of intercession insofar as it is the perfect

By Father offering of Christ to Edward McNamara the Father by making present the paschal mystery of his death are no universal laws regardand resurrection. ing this topic. Some dioceses Because of the particular have published norms with role of the priest as mediator between God and man, acting common-sense indications that all priests may take into “in persona Christi” when account. offering the holy sacrifice of My reply is inspired by the the Mass, it is usually considnorms issued by the Diocese ered that special graces may of Rome. be obtained when he applies There is no requirement to the Mass to a particular inmention the priest’s intention tention. at the Mass.

Thus, a menThe faithful generally tion in the bulletin or some make an offering, called a stiother public notification is a pend, to the priest in order to legitimate option, especially apply the Mass to a specific when the pastor is aware that intention. By making this of-

Liturgical Q&A

the person who requested the Mass will not be present at the celebration.

If the person or family who requested the intention wishes to be present, then it is good that the celebrant mention the name of the person for whom the Mass is being offered. This may best be done either after the greeting at the beginning of Mass or as an intention of the prayer of the faithful.

The name should not normally be mentioned during the Eucharistic Prayer.

This naming is best left for funeral Masses, Masses at the notification of death, and significant anniversaries. The special formulas for funerals, especially in Eucharistic Prayers two and three, were specifically composed with such occasions in mind and were not conceived for daily recitation.

It should be remembered that the Mass intention refers above all to the intention of the celebrating priest who took upon himself the com-

Caught within the shock waves

roots manifesting first as a friend Eliot who even as an agtheological orientation within nostic dwelt like a night-shade the Church of England, and plant in the shadow of our then, for some, a movement mutual great-great grandfather of conversion/reversion to the in imagination, Dante. He, like Church of Rome.

Waugh, existed within a culturIt was much as it was al milieu known as modernism, for English Catholics under which was construed not just Elizabeth I: a heart-tearing as an aesthetic but as an ideoltug-o-war between crown and ogy. As an aesthetic, it was a Church, where allegiance to one meant betrayal toward the other.

And so it was for men like C.S. Lewis and Eliot, whose community standing and patriotism prevented an embrace

By Jennifer Pierce of the papacy however much they intuitively felt the pull of the magesterium, her traditions, sacdistinctly identifiable response raments and moral authority. to the horrors of, first, one, It is something we Americans, and then two European world perhaps, can empathize with as wars, when Christendom was we occasionally find ourselves confronted with technological torn between our private and godlessness. As a philosophy public roles, in a public square approximated from a mood, that has never been welcommodernism induced from this ing to the Catholic and grows desperate state of affairs that increasingly hostile to the the felt absence of God must theistic position in general. In mean his non-existence, an any event, T.S. Eliot defiantly idea that has always been declared his conservatism afloat since man first began to when he asserted: “I am an think and waxes and wanes in Anglo-Catholic in religion, a various cultural environments classicist in literature, and a just as the idea of his existence royalist in politics.” does. I believe, along with An odd meld appears in our the late Father Richard John

On Great Catholic Writers

Neuhaus, that God is equally present — and felt to be absent — throughout history.

Still, the intensity of the moment led Pope Pius X to treat modernism as a formal philosophy, and he wrote the encyclical Lamentabili Sane Exitu (“with truly lamentable results”) in 1907, declaring modernism — as an ideology and as a theological trend — heretical.

In the case of European secular modernism, we have an ideological movement that may have been, after all, a post-traumatic syndrome induced depression. The expression of this mood was not the heresy — it was the peculiar belief that one’s mood was also one’s truth, as all previous tradition seemed to dwindle next to the gaunt pallor of wartorn Europe’s cheek.

This is how we arrive at the quizzical case of T.S. Eliot — whose journey through Dante in his own work inevitably brought him to conversion, the philosophical opposite of modernism as an ideology. The quizzical thing about it is: he expressed his journey through all the outward moods, colors, and paradoxes of modernism,

mitment to celebrate for a specific intention when he accepted a stipend.

Since the Mass is infinite, the priest may also have other personal intentions that may or may not be reflected in the Mass formula used.

For example, a priest may offer the Mass for a deceased soul while at the same time using the Mass formula “For Vocations,” with the personal intention of asking God to bless the Church with abundant vocations.

Likewise, while any person assisting at Mass is free to associate his prayer with the intention of the priest celebrant, he or she is also free to offer up participation at the Mass for any number of personal intentions.

Father Edward McNamara is a Legionary of Christ and professor of Liturgy at Regina Apostolorum University in Rome. His column appears weekly at zenit.org.

To submit questions, email liturgy@zenit.org. Please put the word “Liturgy” in the subject field. The text should include your initials, your city and state.

so much so that his literary style has come to define poetic modernism; a strange but true fact that brings us some comfort, as we realize through our Catholic thinkers, writers, and artists, mood is not everything, all manner of darkness just indicates dawn, and as Kierkegaard told us sometime ago: paradox and passion are the core of belief as fear and trembling are at the center of even the most faithful heart.

We see this confrontation in Eliot’s “The Wasteland,” quoted earlier, as he journeys through despair to face the fear in a handful of dust, until we arrive at his conversion poem, “Ash Wednesday,” where that dust becomes not the proof that all our suffering is for naught, but rather is raised to the forehead in a sign of eternal hope, as Eliot indicates in the very familiar tropes of our own Memorare: And even among these rocks Sister, mother And spirit of the river, spirit of the sea, Suffer me not to be separated And let my cry come unto Thee.

Jennifer Pierce is a parishioner of Corpus Christi in East Sandwich, where she lives with her husband Jim and three children.

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his year the Gospel for the Solemnity of Christ the King is about the crucifixion.

One of the reasons for this selection is that the sign placed on the cross declares that Jesus is the King of the Jews. But it is in the dialogue that takes place between Jesus and the two thieves that we learn more about the qualities of that kingship.

It is in this act of total giving of self that we see the depth of the love this king has for us.

One part of the crucifixion story is the rejection of Christ by one thief and a request for mercy from the other. Let us focus on the second one because it is in his offering of mercy and

November 19, 2010

The Anchor

‘This day you will be with me in paradise’ it. But we need to believe forgiveness that we begin that, with God, all things to appreciate the qualities are possible and, with of Christ who is our king.

God, we can change for The Gospel story of the the good. repentant thief is meant A missionary in the to be a message of hope — a message that forgiveness and change are alHomily of the Week ways possible. It Solemnity of is a message that Christ the King compassion is at the heart of Jesus’

By Msgr. Daniel teaching.

F. Hoye That is a great message to hear: despite the sins we Pacific tells the story of commit, the mistakes that a woman coming to his we make, we can always hut with her hands cupped change. We can always be with sand. She told the assured of God’s compasmissionary that her sins sion if we but ask for it. were as numerous as the Change is never easy. sand on the shore and did We get in a rut and it is not know how she could often hard to break out of

ever be forgiven. The missionary told her to go back to the shore and make a big pile of sand on the ocean’s edge and then watch the waves make the pile disappear.

That, he said, is like the mercy of God. No matter what, God can make our mountain of sins disappear if we but seek his mercy.

The Solemnity of Christ the King is a reminder that this king is always ready to forgive if we but recognize the need we have to be forgiven.

We are reminded that God never abandons us, even when death stares

us in the face as it did the repentant thief.

Perhaps in our own lives we could seek the grace to imitate this king. Who is it that I might forgive? Someone in my family? Someone at work? At school?

As the Church’s year draws to a close with this feast we start a “new year” next week with the first Sunday of Advent. Why not make a few Church New Year’s resolutions: to change where we need to and to offer forgiveness to those who have hurt us.

What better way to celebrate the feast of our King?

Msgr. Hoye was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Fall River in 1972 and is pastor of the Parish of Christ the King in Mashpee.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Nov. 20, Rev 11:4-12; Ps 144:1-2,9-10; Lk 20:27-40. Sun. Nov. 21, Solemnity of Christ the King, 2 Sm 5:1-3; Ps 122:1-5; Col 1:12-20; Lk 23:35-43.

Mon. Nov. 22, Rv 14:1-3,4b-5; Ps 24:1b-4b,5-6; Lk 21:1-4. Tues. Nov. 23, Rv 14:14-19; Ps 96:10-13; Lk 21:5-11. Wed. Nov. 24, Rv 15:1-4; Ps 98:1-3b,7-9; Lk 21:12-19. Thur. Nov. 25, Rv 18:1-2,21-23;19:1-3,9a; Ps 100:1b-5; LK 21:20-28. Fri. Nov. 26, Rv 20:1-4,11-21:2; Ps 84:3-6a,8a; Lk 21:29-33.

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n mid-September, I ran into retired General Barry McCaffrey in the green room at the NBC studios in Washington. He was discussing the latest turn in the don’t-askdon’t-tell wars; I was providing commentary on Pope Benedict’s visit to the U.K. In between our appearances (known in the trade as “hits”), McCaffrey asked me about my new work on John Paul II, “The End and the Beginning,” and we discussed the late pope’s role in the Long Lent of scandal in 2002, which I describe at length in the book.

We then fell to talking about the reform of the U.S. military after the debacle of Vietnam, in which McCaffrey played a significant role. I mentioned that I had long had a hunch that there were lessons in that process of institutional selfrenewal for the Church, and he promised to send me a book

Lessons from the post-Vietnam military

was its younger officers — the on the subject, “Prodigal Solcaptains and majors who had diers” by James Kitfield. seen their men’s lives wasted “Prodigal Soldiers” conby stupid civilian strategists firmed my hunch that authentic Catholic reformers have a lot to learn from the men who turned a crumbling Army — driven by racial hatreds, beset by drug problems far greater than those of

By George Weigel society at large, weak in discipline and even weaker in strategic understanding — into the high-tech, high-energy, no- in Washington whom the brass nonsense force that is the U.S. declined to confront — who began to say, “Never again.”

Army today. The American They refused to accept the military, in 2010, is arguably ingrained American attitude the best-functioning major that, while our typical lack of institution in our country, depreparedness meant that we spite the strains caused by two almost always lost the first wars and a large number of battles of any war in which smaller overseas deployments. we finally engaged, we would How did this happen? inevitably bludgeon the enemy The Army was in terrible into surrender with a vast shape after Vietnam, and it

The Catholic Difference

industrial mobilization. There wouldn’t be time for this in future wars, the reformers believed; and in any event, it was an immoral waste of soldiers’ lives to use Napoleonic, massed army tactics rather than the maneuver warfare mastered by such great commanders as Alexander the Great and Robert E. Lee. Concurrently, the reformers jettisoned the hoary prejudices and ancient inter-service rivalries that had been another impediment in Vietnam, creating a new model of “joint operations” in which land, air and sea forces are thoroughly integrated in the command structure, with everyone therefore pulling on the same oar, in the same direction.

They insisted that the Army stop accepting social misfits in order to fulfill recruiting quotas. They were determined to rid the Army of racism, and took the educational and disciplinary measures necessary to do it. They worked vigorously to stamp out drug abuse, by rehabilitation programs and by discharging those who couldn’t be helped.

They convinced the authorities, military and civilian, to make life something less than an ongoing, low-grade misery in the barracks. They stressed

educational opportunity for recruits, and they rebuilt the backbone of the Army, the career non-coms whose ranks had been particularly decimated by Vietnam.

Above all, they were selfcritical, and learned to be even more thoughtfully self-critical in the revamped graduate programs they helped force into the military’s advanced command schools. They took risks in challenging superiors, and they challenged those of their peers who couldn’t cut it. They were prepared to resign rather than see out their careers in comfort, if the latter meant risking a repeat of the disaster through which they had lived as young officers.

There are important lessons here for seminary reform, for the relations between priests and bishops, and for relations among the bishops themselves.

Catholic clerical culture today, especially at its higher altitudes, still exhibits some of the characteristics that helped turn what came to light in 2002 from sin and crime into scandal. The analogy to the post-Vietnam Army isn’t a perfect one, but there’s a lot for the Church to learn from the hard path of self-renewal taken by the U.S. armed forces.

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

Blowing in the wind

Saturday 6 November 2010 vase for $10.

— at home in The Dightons Some weeks later, the — All Saints Day in Sweden, bishop received an inquiry honoring the memory of deceased relatives and friends bishop (whose Reflections of a name escapes Parish Priest me) told this story. One day, a package arrived

By Father Tim at his rectory. In the Goldrick package was an ornate vase (fancy enough to be called a “vaz”) but there from the attorney of a deceased was no letter of explanation.

Italian countess of the bishop’s “This must be for our parish acquaintance. Had His Excelflea market,” the puzzled office lency not yet received the urn staff concluded. At the flea containing the ashes of the market, somebody bought the late countess? The poor bishop

The Ship’s Log

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November 19, 2010

nearly fell over. Fortunately, the countess was retrieved and given proper burial.

This being the month of the Holy Dead, dear readers, let’s consider current trends involving cremation. For centuries, the Church could not accept the practice.

This was due to the fact that cremation was, in former times, often a statement of disbelief in the resurrection of the body.

The resurrection of the body is a core belief of Catholics. Jesus died and was buried. Jesus rose from the dead. His body

A more robust attitude of gratitude

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portance of these little acts few weeks ago a comhas become incredibly obviplete stranger stopped ous recently as I struggle to by our table at IKEA’s cafe potty train their two-and-half restaurant and complimented year old brother. my three teen-agers on sayAt the same time that I am ing grace with the family rewarding my toddler with before eating. I was egoextravagant, verbal praise tistically ready to have the and jelly beans each time stranger also compliment me he makes it to the bathroom for raising such good kids, on time, his older siblings but he did not. Instead he are, without expecting any turned to me before leaving praise, jelly beans or other and said, “And, mom. I hope reward, doing things like you appreciate these teens of washing his soiled laundry, yours. Not one of them gave cooking meals, raking the you a hassle about praying in public. That’s unheard of in this day and age.

You should be extremely grateful.”

Well, I was, and I am grateful, so after the observant stranger

By Heidi Bratton left, I took the opportunity to thank my children not only lawn, caring for their braces, for saying grace before all keeping up with their homemeals, but also for their work, and the list goes on. many other godly attitudes And the same goes for my and behaviors. husband. I don’t remember Now, I know I’m not the the last time I thanked him only parent who has ever for cheerfully working two, taken her children’s goodand sometimes even three ness for granted, more often jobs, so that I could stay correcting than compliat home to raise and home menting them, but it was a school our six children. little embarrassing to have a Really, they all deserve so complete stranger point out much more praise than I give my weakness right in public. them, and so I am glad that Unless, maybe, he was an stranger, whether he was an angel dressed in workman’s angel or not, stopped by our boots, in which case it was table at IKEA. a really cool way for God to This month, as we prepare give me a little kick in the to celebrate Thanksgiving pants.

Day, perhaps we could all Either way, I have to conbecome more intentional fess that I do forget to affirm about saying thank you for and thank my older children our everyday blessings, for remembering common thereby fostering a more courtesies and for basic robust attitude of gratitude in good behavior, but I know I our homes. shouldn’t. These little acts There are many ways this of courtesy and obedience can be done, but here are are vitally important to the four to prime the thanksgivoverall positive atmosphere ing pump: in our home. In fact the im-

Homegrown Faith

— We can compliment people on who they are, instead of on what they do.

This is what allows us to do what Jesus taught and love people even if they behave badly (Lk 6:27-36). As an example, if a child gets in a fight in the process of defending a friend, we might compliment him on his loyalty as well as disciplining him appropriately.

— We can express gratitude for the wearying behaviors our children have outgrown. An example of this might be remembering to thank them when they don’t ask us to buy them candy in the checkout lane at the grocery.

— We can phrase our compliments individually instead of competitively. For example say, “Shopping with you was really pleasant today,” instead of saying “Thank God you didn’t pitch a fit at the checkout like your sister used to.” One of my father’s favorite sayings is, “It’s not what you say, but how you say it.”

— We can begin the family tradition of a praise blitz.

Everyone gets two minutes to write down what they are grateful for that very day, and then everyone gets to share their list without interruption.

A very happy Thanksgiving to you, dear readers, and if I haven’t told you lately, thank you for allowing me to share God’s love with you through this column.

Heidi is an author, photographer, and full-time mother.

She and her husband raise their six children in Falmouth. homegrownfaith@ gmail.com.

had been transformed, yet it definitely remained his human body. The Risen Lord was certainly not a disembodied spirit.

This is evident in the biblical accounts of the post-resurrectional appearances of Jesus.

For example, the Risen Lord, it says, was famished so he sat down on the beach and ate a nice fish sandwich (baked, not fried) (Lk 24:42-43).

When the Lord returns in glory on the last day, our human bodies will also rise into a state of fullness, wholeness, completion, and perfection.

In short, glory awaits us. Our human bodies are not just a disposable shell for our souls.

Our human body is part of who we are. Our human body is sacred. We Catholics have always had a profound respect for the body. We have a theology of the body. Even after death, our bodies are honored as the temple of the Holy Spirit they once were.

The Catholic Church clearly prefers and strongly urges that the rites of Christian Burial be conducted in the presence of the body, even if the body will be cremated afterwards.

Following the rites, the body (or the cremated remains of the body) should be given a decent burial in the ground, in a mausoleum or columbarium, or intact at sea.

In extraordinary situations, the body cannot be present for the funeral Mass. For example, the deceased may have died in some far-away place. The Church in the United States, with indult from the Vatican, has acknowledged these special pastoral circumstances by permitting a funeral Mass with the cremated remains of a body.

Since All Souls Day of 1997, the practice is conditionally allowed. A funeral service for cremated remains is, in certain cases, the only sensible option.

The Church formally recognizes this reality.

One day, I was praying alone in the church when a woman approached me.

“Father,” she asked, “Will

you bury my mother? We had her cremated last year but we have not yet buried her ashes.”

This kind of situation calls for pastoral sensitivity towards the family of the deceased on the part of the Church’s ministers.

Of course, I conducted the funeral.

On another occasion, a woman phoned to arrange for the Rite of Christian Burial for her aunt. The deceased had already been cremated. “Can we have a double funeral?” she asked.

“The daughter of the deceased, my cousin, died five years ago and her ashes have not yet been interred.” Burying the dead is a Corporal Work of Mercy. Of course, I agreed to the proposed funeral arrangements.

The cremated remains should be treated with the same respect due to the human body from which they come. Do not cast the ashes from an airplane or hot air balloon. Do not scatter them from a boat (burial at sea involves the use of a special soluble urn). Do not cast them into the wind. Do not display them on the mantle or store them in your garage.

These days, the funeral industry is coming up with even more (and costly) ways to dispose of the ashes. You can have your deceased husband’s ashes compressed into a diamond to wear in a pendant around your neck. You can have your deceased wife’s ashes sent into outer space on the next space shuttle. You can have your loved one’s ashes mixed with concrete and dropped into an artificial reef. You can have the cremated remains of a body packed into pyrotechnics for a memorial fireworks display.

Sad to say, I am not making this up. Our society desperately needs to return to honoring the dead. It’s an essential part of what it means to be human. It’s an essential part of the culture of life.

May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

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

10

The Anchor

By Rebecca Aubut Anchor Staff

November 19, 2010

Volunteerism for Cape woman is a natural thing

BREWSTER — When Chris Romanick first entered through the doorway of Our Lady of the Cape Parish 22 years ago, she brought with her an innate willingness to donate her time and effort without hesitation.

“I always like to volunteer for things,” said Romanick.

Born in Manhattan, N.Y., Romanick grew up in the Bronx. Raised Lutheran courtesy of her mother’s influence, Romanick was exposed to the Catholic faith through her father.

“I always had a curiosity about the Catholic Church. I guess because my father had been raised in it when he was younger,” said Romanick.

“When he came from Germany, he didn’t attend church over here, but my mother did.”

Romanick’s parents opened a delicatessen when she was 12 years old, and coupled with attending a Lutheran elementary school until she graduated, Romanick says she considered the Church and its members a part of her family.

“My mother was a marvelous cook. They were very successful, but it meant not having a family,” said Romanick, who is an only child. “It was holidays spent in the store and being alone. I was in the Bronx at home and they were in Manhattan at the delicatessen. The Church was like my family.”

Romanick joined the church’s youth group, but years later when she met her husband, she knew she was ready

to embrace the Catholic reli- ber two. We’ve got a wonderful Romanick said she had to gion. She entered the Church group of volunteers.” break the news to some of the shortly after they were married She has also enjoyed hold- members of the guild, who had and settled into being a home- ing different positions within no idea what had happened. For maker, soon thereafter becom- the guild, including being a the girl who grew up in New ing the mother of four children. secretary for nine years and York, hearing that the towers “I always had a strong feel- president for three; but it was had fallen struck her hard. ing for the Catholic Church her last year as president that “It really hit home. To this anyway, so it was an easy was marked by one of the most day I always tear up, for all crossover for me. I wanted the tragic moments in American those people who were lost,” children to be Catholic,” said history. said Romanick. “And the reaRomanick. son behind it, that we When the children found out that they were were old enough to terrorists and doing it for spend their days in their religion. Like everyschool, Romanick enone else, you can’t comjoyed spending her prehend something like days being active in the that. It’s mind-boggling.”

Catholic Big Sisters The small church filled through her parish. quickly and Romanick had “I wanted to fill my to abandon the customary days, so the best way guild’s meeting itinerary for me was to serve and reach out to those who the groups within the continued to come to the Church,” she said. church to find solace.

Her husband opted “It was standing room for an early retireonly by the time we were ment and the couple finished,” said Romanick. moved to Cape Cod in “People milling about out1988 and not surprisside and trying to comfort ingly, Romanick hit the one another.” ground running after When Father Bernard becoming part of Our Baris came to Our Lady of Lady of the Cape Parthe Cape, he was ready to ish. introduce a new ministry “We were here not Anchor person of the week — Chris Ro- that had been part of his even a month when manick. previous parish. Called I joined our Ladies’ Martha Ministry, and to Guild,” said Romanick. be done under the Lazarus Through the guild, she “I remember 9/11 so clearly Ministry, the priest wanted to quickly volunteered to be part because that was the day of our start a group of parish members of the parish’s thrift shop. first meeting of the season,” who would handle collations “We have a very, very active said Romanick. “It started with after funerals. After leading a thrift shop,” said Romanick. the Mass and people just start- talk during a general interest “In fact, it was voted the best ed flowing into the church that meeting, he asked those attendthrift shop on the Cape from had nothing to do with the la- ing for volunteers.

The Cape Cod Times this year; dies’ guild, they just wanted to “At the end of the meeting the year before we were num- be part of the service.” he said, ‘Now I need a chair-

person,’” recalled Romanick, who attended the meeting. “I had always sworn that when I came to this area that I was not going to get heavily involved because I had been involved in New York. Well, somebody pushed my hand up, and I think it was the good Lord. So I got into the funeral collations.”

Twelve years later, Romanick has compiled 25 volunteers and has taken what was once a spur-of-the-moment gathering into a well-planned and masterfully executed ministry.

Romanick is hands-on during the preparation of the parish center, including setting tables with lace tablecloths and adding placemats and utensils.

She has created a reference list for grieving families if they want the collation catered, and at the end of the day she will take home and clean all the tablecloths and towels. Even talking during this interview triggered her memory of having to buy more supplies for the church, joked Romanick.

Romanick also is the chairperson for the Dennis and Yarmouth ministry for Remembrance, where she will faithfully send cards and flowers to those unwell or as a welcoming gift after a hospital stay. Romanick is also a lector.

“My time is very full,” said Romanick.

Yet not full enough to be unable to mark a momentous occasion in her mother’s life.

“My mother turned 100 in August, and she runs that assisted living [center] in Brewster,” laughed Romanick, of the home where her mother lives.

“Everybody loves her.”

When asked if her mother was her inspiration for being so willing to constantly volunteer her time, Romanick grew quiet and thoughtful.

“I guess it’s always been a part of us. I guess maybe my mother must have influenced me. In the Lutheran church, she was a part of that, too; she sewed costumes for when we put on little shows at the local high school. I guess, without realizing it, I felt that you always contribute something back,” said Romanick, who quickly added her own dash of humor to her answer. “Somebody asked me why I do so much, and it’s because I have a lot of sins to make up for; it’s always a good plus on my side, just in case.”

To submit a Person of the Week nominee, send an email with information to fatherrogerlandry@anchornews. org.

November 19, 2010

11

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The Anchor

Bishop to confer 2010 Marian Medal awards

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

FALL RIVER — When Lorraine Gentili first learned she would be the recipient of the Marian Medal this year for her parish, she felt moved and honored at being singled out.

“When I got the letter, I just sat down and my eyes started tearing up,” she said. “When I told my husband, his eyes started tearing up, too. It was just emotional for both of us. I’m still on cloud nine, you know.”

As a parishioner at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Acushnet for the past 47 years, Gentili has done everything from helping to clean the church on a weekly basis, to

volunteering with the St. Vincent de Paul Society, to serving as one of the regular adorers of the Blessed Sacrament.

Gentili will be among 86 at the 42nd annual award ceremony to receive the medal given for devotion and service to the Church from Bishop George W. Coleman Sunday during a 3 p.m. prayer service at St. Mary’s Cathedral.

The tradition of recognizing laymen and laywomen for their outstanding volunteer efforts to the local Church was established

by Bishop James L. Connolly, and the awards were presented by him for the first time in 1968.

Turn to page 14

B

November 19, 2010

There’s nothing new under the sun

logging is a powerthe excesses of the newlythe Sodalitium Piarum (Sodalful force within our industrialized society, Pope ity of Pius V,) a secret orgaculture, and not just among Leo XIII defended the rights nization known by its code the avant-garde or youth. This of workers in his encyclical name: La Sapinière. The secret new-age media is not for the Rerum Novarum. This encycli- bloggers attacking the local feint of heart, however, for a cal, promulgated in 1891, laid hierarchy pale in comparison blog can be an insidious and the foundation of the Church’s to La Sapinière. This organivindictive way of airing one’s modern social teaching. Durzation operated clandestinely opinion without the usual con- ing the papacy of St. Pius X within the Church as a secret straints of truthfulness, or the (1903-14) the anti-modernist international anti-modernist burden of proof. movement gained some steam network, and had support from An attack blog has reared in its fight against the liberalsome very well-connected its head in the diocese to izing trends within the Church ecclesiastics. During the beour north, in the guise of an and society. atification of Pius X in 1950, anonymous blog that claims At the turn of the 20th cencertain documents came to to present the views light that revealed the of concerned Cathorelationship between lics that have serious St. Pius X’s Secredisagreements with the tariat of State, Mgsr. way the Church is beUmberto Benigni and ing run. The bloggers La Sapinière. Like the refuse to reveal their present-day bloggers, identity, can say just members of La SapBy Claire McManus about anything, and inière were not bound have launched various by the burden of truth accusations at Church leadertury, Catholics who felt disand only had to suggest that ship, selecting from a garden trust for liberal ideas formed a Church official held liberal variety of evils including an anti-modernist contingent. views for that person to come heresy, simony, and MarxistThis movement became known under scrutiny and be silenced, leaning social agenda. They as “integralism,” because it or worse, excommunicated. even have people on the inside firmly maintained the integrity The bloggers should take note, feeding them with informaof traditional Catholicism, however, that La Sapinière was tion and confidential material. rather than allow any liberalsuppressed by the next pope, Whether or not you agree with izing of Catholic beliefs. “We Benedict XV (1914-22) when their tactics, you should know are integral Roman Catholics,” he got wind of the excesses of that campaigns to re-invent the boasted an editorial from that secret society.

Church in one’s own image one of their periodicals, La When history repeats, it are not a new phenomenon.

Vigie. “That is, we set above morphs into an appearance As Qoheleth lamented in the all and everyone not only the vaguely resembling its previBook of Ecclesiastes, “There’s Church’s traditional teaching ous form. We may be experinothing new under the sun.” in the order of absolute truths encing the era of St. Pius X Lest we despair that our but also the pope’s directions Redux, or we could embrace Church is being torn apart in the order of practical conthat which is true and good in from within, we should look tingencies. For the Church and the other. Whether self-proback at the lessons from the pope are one.” claimed “Progressive,” “Tramodern Church history, which Among the many Catholics ditional” or “JP II Catholics,” in Church time refers to any who called themselves intewe are all gathered by Christ time after the French Revolugralists, the Jesuits were confor the same Eucharist. As tion. At the end of the 19th sidered to be the staunchest Qoheleth reminds us, “Even century, society was taken up defenders of traditional views. the thing of which we say, by the propositions of moThis was an era in which ‘See, this is new!’ has already dernity, especially its intelbook-banning and excommupreceded us.” lectual embrace of science, nications were pandemic, and Claire McManus is the dirationalism, and its opposition one of the most effective inrector of the Diocesan Office of to a society governed by the struments of outing heresy was Faith Formation. aristocracy. Much like today, the Church constantly had to react to changes in society that challenged her doctrine and civic prerogative. As with many movements that call into question the status quo, the liberal movement that modernity spawned was a mixed bag of truth and error. The tension that this caused within the Church is evidenced by the reactions of the papacy Sunday, November 21 at 11:00 a.m. of this era. Pius IX (1846-78) tried to fight back against the proposals of modernity with the Syllabus of Errors, while Leo XIII (1878-1903) took a Celebrant is Father John J. Perry, different approach. Recognizing that Marxism was gainpastor of St. Jude the Apostle ing a foothold because no Parish in Taunton other political institution was protecting the workers against

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November 19, 2010

13

The Anchor

Cape parish offers ministry to help those seeking employment

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

CENTERVILLE — While the recent economic downturn seemed to catch many off-guard, John Allen had an inkling things might get bad more than two years ago — and acted.

“I do recruiting and financial services as part of my work, so I saw this thing coming and I saw the severity of this downturn in my work and I knew it was not normal,” said Allen, an active parishioner at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville who approached his pastor, Father Mark Hession, about reaching out to others who may have lost their jobs.

“I told Father Hession this is something that could be very relevant for parishioners,” he said.

This simple suggestion resulted in the first career decisions workshop held at the parish in November 2008. The unique ministry has been going strong ever since and is now about to begin its third year.

“It’s been such a great experience to watch the folks come in and sort of get the tools they need to find a job,” said Kelly Spordis, business manager at Our Lady of Victory Parish who also coordinates the workshops. “We’ve had a good response and it’s been interesting because it isn’t limited to our parishioners. We’ve been getting the word out into the greater community as well.”

According to Allen, there have been more than 120 people who have attended the workshops over the past two years and he estimated that at least half have successfully found employment as a result.

“We’ve probably helped 50 or 60 people find jobs over the last two years, which is pretty impressive,” he said.

Although similar job-seeking ministries are prevalent among parishes in the southern part of the United States, Allen said it’s an idea that has only recently begun to take root here in the northeast.

“I think it’s a growing ministry that’s becoming more common in all denominations up here, especially in areas where there have been noticeable swings in unemployment,” he said.

“It seems that down south this is a well-established ministry — in places like Georgia and Tennessee,” Spordis agreed. “But we haven’t found it a lot up here in the northeast.”

While not the typical “job fair experience,” Spordis said the parish’s ongoing series of workshops — which are open to everyone, regardless of religious affiliation — have drawn people going through a variety of circumstances.

“I think the majority of people have been out of work — and

that’s the core group we thought we’d have,” she said. “But a good percentage of them have also had to take a job just to get by. John Allen also tries to help people to think outside the box to find something outside their related fields. I’ve had some people tell me they didn’t think they could do anything other than what they did before.”

Drawing on his 20 years of experience working as an executive recruiter and managing director with the Charles Stirling Group, Allen has tapped job recruiters and human resource professionals to assist with the ministry.

“I’d say over this two-year period, I’ve accumulated about 30 people whom I’ve called on to make presentations at our workshops,” he said. “I’ve asked them to come

in and talk, and I’ve learned that people are willing to help if you ask them. The outpouring of support and participation in this series has been amazing.”

A special one-day workshop for college students will be held November 26 from 9 a.m. to noon at the parish center.

“This is the first time we’ve offered this. It’s for college students who are just about to graduate or who have just graduated and they’ve only really had summer jobs,” Spordis said. “It’s really our full workshop condensed to a few hours.”

“It’s going to focus on this year’s graduating students and also assist people who in the last three years haven’t found jobs they’ve wanted,” Allen added. “It’s going

to focus on resume-writing, interviewing, what potential employers are looking for, using websites to look for jobs, and using social networks to find employment.”

Based on their initial success and the fact that the economy is “not any better today,” Allen said the Career Decisions Ministry is poised to become a permanent fixture at the parish.

“I feel, particularly in a time when the unemployment rate is so high, our Church needs to be there with the resources to help people find jobs as well as, frankly, reinforcing the role of faith in the job

search,” he said. “It’s an important part of a person’s success. They need to recognize there’s someone out there who can help them and I think this ministry has helped greatly.”

“It’s a nice support group, too,” Spordis said. “It’s humbling and a little bit embarrassing to have to admit that you’re out of work, but everyone is greeted warmly and it’s a really non-judgmental group.”

For information about the Career Decisions Ministry at Our Lady of Victory Parish, call Kelly Spordis at 508-775-5744, ext. 113 or visit www.olvparish.org.

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14 Eighty-six to receive Marian Medal continued from page 12

Since then, more than 3,000 the letter and I cried,” she said. dedicated representatives of a va- “Then I told my mother and she riety of parish agencies and min- said I was very deserving.” istries, who often remained the A member of Holy Trinity unsung heroes of their parishes, Parish since the merger in 2000 have been recognized for their and previously a lifelong parishendeavors and have received the ioner at St. William’s, Boff keeps prestigious award after being busy with the St. Vincent de Paul nominated by their pastors.

Society, teaches catechism to A retired homemaker who parish youth, assists with funeral now splits her time between her Masses, and also serves as an parish and her family, Gentili extraordinary minister of holy previously raised three children Communion. whom have now rewarded her Like many of her fellow rewith six grandchildren — all of cipients, Boff is humbled and a who have attended St. Francis little self-conscious about getXavier School, where she con- ting the prestigious award. tinues to help out.

“I do not like attention drawn “When I’m asked to bake or to myself, so this is very difficult do something, I still do it,” she for me,” she said. “I spoke to the said. “They know I’m available, parish secretary and asked when so they don’t hesitate to ask.” it was going to be published in Adding that everyone in her the bulletin so I could tell a few parish is good about helping out, people who are close to me perGentili said there are many oth- sonally. It’s so difficult to coners who deserve similar recogni- ceive that I’ve been chosen from tion. among so many other parishio“I have to wonder what I’ve ners.” done,” she said. “EvCharles Lawton, eryone’s been conthis year’s Marian gratulating me and Medal recipient for it’s almost been emSt. Peter the Apostle barrassing. I just can’t Parish in Provinctake praise, I guess.” etown, has more reHomer R. Depin, cently found himself who will receive the on the receiving end Marian Medal this The Marian Medal of parish ministry in year for his work at the wake of a surgiSt. Patrick’s Parish in cal procedure and Somerset, heaped similar praise lengthy recovery process. on his fellow parishioners.

“I live by myself and they’ve “I was very surprised to re- been good to me through all ceive the Marian Medal only this,” Lawton said. “I’m very because I know there are many pleased to receive the Marian other people in our parish who Medal, but I told my pastor I are just as involved and generous don’t think I should be getting it with their time and service to the this year based on what I’ve done parish,” he said. lately. But he told me it’s based An active member of St. Pat- on everything you’ve done over rick’s since 1989, Depin is a the years.” member of the parish St. Vincent A member of St. Peter’s Parde Paul Society and also serves ish since moving to Provincas an extraordinary minister of etown nearly 12 years ago, Lawholy Communion and Mass lec- ton has served as Mass lector, tor. He also volunteers with the extraordinary minister of holy local Salvation Army shelter.

Communion, and has been ac“I find the more you get in- tive with the parish home care volved with service to people, ministry, visiting the elderly and the richer your own faith be- sick in a local nursing home evcomes, I believe,” Depin said. ery Friday for the past nine years “You get much more than you to give Communion and pray the give, actually.” rosary.

For Carolyn Boff of Holy The semi-retired former high Trinity Parish in Fall River, re- school teacher and college proceiving the Marian Medal this fessor said he’s flattered his pasyear is a special honor since her tor first asked him to get involved grandmother and aunt were also with the parish years ago. previous honorees.

“It’s been a good thing for “I think my grandmother me,” he said, “and, to be honest, would be very proud,” Boff said, I’ve gotten as much out of it as noting that she was given the the people to whom I’ve minisaward at the former St. William’s tered.”

Parish before it merged with St. As The Anchor went to press Elizabeth and St. Jean de Bap- on Tuesday, the 2010 Marian tiste parishes to form Holy Trin- Medal recipients and their parity. ishes in the five deaneries across “I was speechless, absolute- the diocese included those listed ly speechless when I received on this page.

The Anchor

November 19, 2010

2010 Marian Medal Award Recipients

First Name

Last Name

Donald Mario Joyce Alice William Carolyn Arleen Robert Cecile Annette L. Ruth Marie Peter Paul B. Constantine R. Ulena Jose Philip Joseph M. Floriano Homer R. Robert C. Nathalie Margaret Dorothy Robert J. Loretta Lawrence Fern Louise Jeanette Theodore C. Gerda E. Lorraine Robert A. Barbara June A. Frank Paul Bruce Ernest Eino Elizabeth R. Edward M. John F. Charles Francis Leonore David Alan John F. Theodore Alfred D. Madeline M. Edward Joaõ Cecile Aurore Diane D. Jean George Judith Constance Marion Charles Leonard June Albert Judith Sheila Susan Donald Richard E. Maria Eugenia Judith Ann Abel Dennis Paul Jaime Raymond Annie Theresa I. Rose M. John Daniel Shelagh Manuel Barbara Gregory D. Delores Wayne Paula

Azulay Barbosa Barlow Bedard Bennett Boff Booker Bouchard Bourgeois Brassard Caldwell Camara Carrier Castleberry Chaberek Couto Cwynar David DeMatos Depin Di Iorio Dias Diggins Doran Erwin Ethier Ferreira Ferreira Ferri Gagliardi Ganci Gentili Gingras Griffin Groele Hagan Hodge Jaaskelainen Kazmier Kremzier Laporte Lawton Leary Leonard Lima Lochtefeld Machado Mailloux McGowan Medeiros Medeiros Michno Mitchell Murray Nicolan Norman Nowicki Oliver Pelissier Pierce Pina Ramos Rebello Rhodes Richard Rioux Roberts Rodrigues Roderigues Roies Sa Schleicher Senra Smith Souza Sunderland Talbot Tambolleo Tavares Taylor Telheiro Tracy Viens Vincent Yee Yetman

Parish

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish Saint Anthony of Padua Parish Saint George Parish Saint Jude the Apostle Parish Good Shepherd Parish Parish of the Holy Trinity Annunciation of the Lord Parish Immaculate Conception Parish Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus Parish Saint Anthony of Padua Parish Saint Margaret Parish Saint Anthony Parish Saint Joseph-Saint Therese Parish Saint Anthony’s Parish Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish Immaculate Conception Parish Our Lady of Victory Parish Saint Lawrence Martyr Parish Saint John the Baptist Parish Saint Patrick Parish Corpus Christi Parish Saint Mary Parish Christ the King Parish Saint Rita Parish Saint John the Evangelist Parish Saint Mary Parish Sacred Heart Parish Saint Mary Parish Saint John the Baptist Parish Holy Name Parish Saint Elizabeth Seton Parish Saint Francis Xavier Parish Saint Anthony Parish Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption Our Lady of the Cape Parish Saint Joseph Parish Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish Sacred Heart Parish Saint John the Evangelist Parish Saint Nicholas of Myra Parish Our Lady of the Assumption Parish Saint Peter the Apostle Parish Saint Mary Parish Saint Joan of Arc Parish Saint Andrew the Apostle Parish Saint Mary/Our Lady of the Isle Parish Holy Name of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish Saint Ann Parish Saint Pius X Parish Saint John Neumann Parish Saint Michael Parish Saint Anne Parish Saint Patrick Parish Saint Francis of Assisi Parish Saint John of God Parish Saint Bernard Parish Santo Christo Parish Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish at St. James Church Saint Louis de France Parish Saint Mark Parish Our Lady of Assumption Parish Saint Joseph Parish Saint Patrick Parish Immaculate Conception Parish Saint Mary Parish Saint Joseph Parish Saint Francis Xavier Parish Holy Ghost Parish Saint Francis of Assisi Parish Saint Stanislaus Parish Our Lady of Grace Parish Saint Mary Parish Espirito Santo Parish Holy Cross Parish Saint Dominic Parish SS. Peter and Paul Parish at Holy Cross Church Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Holy Trinity Parish Our Lady of Fatima Parish Saint Thomas More Parish Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish Saint Julie Billiart Parish Saint Joseph Parish Holy Family Parish Notre Dame Parish Holy Rosary Parish

City/Town

Seekonk Fall River Westport Taunton Vineyard Haven Fall River Taunton Fall River South Attleboro New Bedford Buzzards Bay Taunton New Bedford East Falmouth New Bedford New Bedford Centerville New Bedford New Bedford Somerset East Sandwich South Dartmouth Mashpee Marion Attleboro Mansfield Fall River Fairhaven Westport Fall River North Falmouth Acushnet Mattapoisett Fall River Brewster Woods Hole Seekonk North Attleboro Pocasset North Dighton Osterville Provincetown North Attleboro Orleans Taunton Nantucket New Bedford Raynham South Yarmouth East Freetown Fall River Fall River Wareham New Bedford Somerset Assonet Fall River New Bedford Swansea Attleboro Falls New Bedford Fairhaven Falmouth North Easton New Bedford Fall River Hyannis Attleboro Swansea Fall River Westport Norton Fall River South Easton Swansea Fall River Wellfleet West Harwich New Bedford Somerset New Bedford North Dartmouth Attleboro East Taunton Fall River Taunton

November 19, 2010

Pope encourages learning Scripture continued from page one

Bible may not be simply a word from the past, but a living and timely word.”

Pope Benedict asked for greater Church efforts to teach Catholics about the Bible, to help them learn to read it and pray with it, to treat it with great dignity during the liturgy and emphasize its importance by making sure homilies are based on the day’s readings.

For centuries, Catholic laity actually were in some places discouraged from reading the Bible themselves. Even though that began changing 100 years ago, Bible reading often is seen as a Protestant activity.

In fact, some evangelical Christians use passages from the Bible to preach against the Catholic Church, which the pope said is truly ironic since “the Bible is the Church’s book.”

It was the Church that decided which of the ancient Christian writings were inspired and were to be considered the New Testament, the pope said. And it was the Church that interpreted it for hundreds of years.

“The primary setting for scriptural interpretation is the life of the Church,” he said, not because the Church is imposing some kind of power play, but because the Scriptures can be understood fully only when one understands “the way they gradually came into being.”

Obviously, he said, the key message of the Bible — the story of God’s love for his creatures and the history of his attempts to save them — can be grasped only if people recognize that the fullness of God’s word is Jesus Christ.

Jesus “is the definitive word which God speaks to humanity,” the pope wrote, and “in a world which often feels that God is superfluous or extraneous, we confess with Peter that he alone has ‘the words of eternal life.’”

The Scriptures themselves teach that God created human beings with a special dignity, giving them intelligence and free will. In approaching the Scriptures, he said, people must use that intelligence to understand what is written.

Pope Benedict, a theologian who served for more than 20 years as president of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, said academic approaches to scriptural studies were essential for helping people understand the Bible, as long as those studies recognize that the Bible is not simply a piece of literature.

For example, he said, a lot of Catholics — including priests

15

The Anchor giving homilies — are completely at a loss when dealing with “those passages in the Bible which, due to the violence and immorality they occasionally contain, prove obscure and difficult.”

Those passages, he said, demonstrate that “God’s plan is manifested progressively and it is accomplished slowly, in successive stages and despite human resistance. God chose a people and patiently worked to guide and educate them.”

God’s education of his people continues today, for example, by helping people understand the importance of safeguarding creation and working for more justice in social and political systems, he said.

Pope Benedict said God’s dialogue with humanity through the Bible must lead to greater faith and a more powerful witness in the world.

While the papal exhortation mentioned plenty of early Church theologians and their approaches to understanding Scripture, it also included a long section about men and women who read the Bible and were inspired to live its message in the world.

“Every saint is like a ray of light streaming forth from the word of God,” he said, listing personalities ranging from St. Clare of Assisi to Blessed Teresa of Calcutta and from St. Dominic to St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, the founder of Opus Dei. Some of the Bible’s lessons are old but need to be given new attention, Pope Benedict wrote.

The Scriptures make it clear that the family founded on marriage is part of God’s plan for humanity and for human happiness.

“In the face of widespread confusion in the sphere of affectivity, and the rise of ways of thinking which trivialize the human body and sexual differentiation, the word of God reaffirms the original goodness of the human being, created as man and woman and called to a love which is faithful, reciprocal and fruitful,” he wrote.

The Bible, the pope said, is filled with words of consolation and joy, but as God’s word it also is “a word which disrupts, which calls to conversion.”

The encyclical letter can be read on the Vatican’s website at: http://www.vatican.va/holy_ father/benedict_xvi/apost_ exhortations/documents/ hf_ben-xvi_exh_20100930_ verbum-domini_en.html#The_ Word_Of_God_In_The_Life_ Of_The_Church

Selected quotes from ‘Verbum Domini’ Pope Benedict XVI’s Letter on 2008 Word of God Synod

VATICAN CITY, (Zenit.org) — Here are a selection of quotes from Benedict XVI’s postsynodal apostolic exhortation “Verbum Domini,” which was presented today in the Vatican. The document, which is dated September 30, draws from the 12th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, held October 5-26, 2008. The assembly reflected on the theme “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church.”

Objective: “In this way I wish to point out certain fundamental approaches to a rediscovery of God’s word in the life of the Church as a wellspring of constant renewal. At the same time I express my hope that the word will be ever more fully at the heart of every ecclesial activity” (No. 1).

Religion of the Word: “The Christian faith is not a ‘religion of the book’: Christianity is the ‘religion of the word of God,’ not of a ‘written and mute word, but of the incarnate and living Word’” (No. 7).

Tradition: “The living tradition is essential for enabling the Church to grow through time in the understanding of the truth revealed in the Scriptures” (No. 17).

Inspiration and truth: “Sacred Scripture is the word of God set down in writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In this way one recognizes the full importance of the human author who wrote the inspired texts and, at the same time, God himself as the true author” (No. 19).

God hears us: “Thus it is decisive, from the pastoral standpoint, to present the word of God in its capacity to enter into dialogue with the everyday problems which people face. [...] The Church’s pastoral activity needs to bring out clearly how God listens to our need and our plea for help” (No. 23).

Exegesis: “In their work of interpretation, Catholic exegetes must never forget that what they are interpreting is the word of God. Their common task is not finished when they have simply determined sources, defined forms or explained literary procedures. They arrive at the true goal of their work only when they have explained the meaning of the biblical text as God’s word for today” (No. 33).

Jews and Scripture: “I wish to state once more how much the Church values her dialogue with the Jews. Wherever it seems appropriate, it would be good to create opportunities for encounter and exchange in public as well as in private, and thus to promote growth in reciprocal knowledge, in mutual esteem and cooperation, also in the study of the sacred Scriptures” (No. 43).

Ecumenism: “Conscious that the Church has her foundation in Christ, the incarnate Word of God, the Synod wished to emphasize the centrality of biblical studies

within ecumenical dialogue aimed at the full expression of the unity of all believers in Christ” (No. 46).

Bible translations and ecumenism: “Promoting common translations of the Bible is part of the ecumenical enterprise. I would like to thank all those engaged in this important work, and I encourage them to persevere in their efforts” (No. 46).

Sacred liturgy: “I encourage the Church’s pastors and all engaged in pastoral work to see that all the faithful learn to savor the deep meaning of the word of God which unfolds each year in the liturgy, revealing the fundamental mysteries of our faith” (No. 52).

The homily: “The homily is part of the liturgical action and is meant to foster a deeper understanding of the word of God, so that it can bear fruit in the lives of the faithful. [...] For this reason preachers need to be in close and constant contact with the sacred text; they should prepare for the homily by meditation and prayer, so as to preach with conviction and passion” (No. 59).

Celebrations of the Word of God: “The synod fathers encouraged all pastors to promote times devoted to the celebration of the word in the communities entrusted to their care. These celebrations are privileged occasions for an encounter with the Lord. This practice will certainly benefit the faithful, and should be considered an important element of liturgical formation” (No. 65).

Acoustics: “Concern should be shown for Church acoustics, with due respect for liturgical and architectural norms” (No. 68).

Liturgical song: “As part of the enhancement of the word of God in the liturgy, attention should also be paid to the use of song at the times called for by the particular rite. Preference should be given to songs which are of clear biblical inspiration and which express, through the harmony of music and words, the beauty of God’s word. We would do well to make the most of those songs handed down to us by the Church’s tradition which respect this criterion.

I think in particular of the importance of Gregorian chant” (No. 70).

Biblical apostolate: “The synod called for a particular pastoral commitment to emphasizing the centrality of the word of God in the Church’s life, and recommended a greater ‘biblical apostolate,’ not alongside other forms of pastoral work, but as a means of letting the Bible inspire all pastoral work” (No. 73) Catechesis: “Catechetical work always entails approaching Scripture in faith and in the Church’s tradition, so that its words can be perceived as living, just as Christ is alive today wherever two or three are gathered in his name” (No. 74).

Lectio Divina: “The documents produced before and during the Synod mentioned a number of methods for a faith-filled and fruitful approach to sacred Scripture. Yet the greatest attention was paid to lectio divina, which is truly capable of opening up to the faithful the treasures of God’s word, but also of bringing about an encounter with Christ, the living word of God” (No. 87).

Holy Land: “The synod fathers recalled the felicitous phrase which speaks of the Holy Land as ‘the Fifth Gospel.’ How important it is that in those places there be Christian communities, notwithstanding any number of hardships! The Synod of Bishops expressed profound closeness to all those Christians who dwell in the land of Jesus and bear witness to their faith in the Risen One” (No. 89).

Proclamation and the new evangelization: “Many of our brothers and sisters are ‘baptized, but insufficiently evangelized.’ In a number of cases, nations once rich in faith and in vocations are losing their identity under the influence of a secularized culture.

The need for a new evangelization, so deeply felt by my venerable predecessor, must be valiantly reaffirmed, in the certainty that God’s word is effective” (No. 96).

Justice: “God’s word inspires men and women to build relationships based on rectitude and justice, and testifies to the great value in God’s eyes of every effort to create a more just and more livable world” (No. 100).

Reconciliation and peace: “In the present context it is more necessary than ever to rediscover the word of God as a source of reconciliation and peace, since in that word God is reconciling to himself all things: Christ ‘is our peace,’ the one who breaks down the walls of division” (No. 102).

Creation: “The arrogance of human beings who live ‘as if God did not exist’ leads them to exploit and disfigure nature, failing to see it as the handiwork of the creative Word” (No. 108).

Internet: “In the world of the Internet, which enables billions of images to appear on millions of screens throughout the world, the face of Christ needs to be seen and his voice heard, for “ if there is no room for Christ, there is no room for man” (No. 113).

Interreligious dialogue: “The Church considers an essential part of the proclamation of the word to consist in encounter, dialogue and cooperation with all people of good will, particularly with the followers of the different religious traditions of humanity. This is to take place without forms of syncretism and relativism, but along the lines indicated by the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration ‘Nostra Aetate’ and subsequently developed by the magisterium of the popes” (No. 117).

16

Youth Pages

faith in action — Coyle and Cassidy High School Food Pantry student volunteers recently provided grocery assistance to 352 families. The food distribution represented the completion of the food pantry’s 18th year of service in support of families experiencing food insecurity and hunger throughout the area. On average, approximately 100 student volunteers lend a helping hand on a monthly basis making the Taunton school’s motto, “Enter to Learn — Leave to Serve,” a reality.

It’s a small world — The students at Holy Trinity Regional School in West Harwich enjoyed speaking with Father Joseph, visiting from Central Africa. The students are learning about various cultures that make up our world. They found it fascinating when they learned of the differences in the African elementary school child’s life as compared to theirs.

November 19, 2010

book brigade — The first-grade students from Holy Family-Holy Name School in New Bedford recently enjoyed a walking field trip to the New Bedford Public Library. They enjoyed various presentations, ending with story time and a craft to bring home.

creature condo — Third-grade students at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro enjoyed a visit by Kathy Holfield, who enlightened them on the life of bats and helped them understand how the bats benefit our environment. Along with a display depicting the life of bats, Holfield brought in a bat house to show the students.

Holding the bat house are third -grade students Katherine Quinn and Athan Dafulas.

aptly-named school — The fifth-grade religion classes at All Saints Catholic School in New Bedford recently had a hands-on lesson about saints. The costumes were part of a month-long project on saints.

Each student was assigned a saint based on the students’ birthday. They had to research their assigned saint and prepare an oral report, with a written paper, to read to the class in costume and in first person. The students had a great time and learned a lot along the way.

Youth Pages

November 19, 2010

17

saints on the move — St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro observed the Solemnity of All Saints with a school-wide prayer service and the traditional pageant of saints presented by the first-graders. Father David Costa, director of the school, focused his reflection on the Gospel of the Beatitudes, explaining how they serve as a blueprint for following Christ. He explained that the saints are men and women who followed God’s plan to build God’s kingdom and serve as our example.

Following the homily the first-graders presented the lives of the saints they had researched. After the prayer service the first-graders walked to Madonna Manor Nursing Home to put on their pageant for the residents there.

Pro Orantibus Day (‘For Those Who Pray’) is Sunday

Chicago — Catholics throughout the world are encouraged to honor the cloistered and monastic life on Pro Orantibus Day, which is Sunday.

“The primary purpose of Pro Orantibus Day (“For Those Who Pray”) is to thank God for the tremendous gift of the cloistered and monastic vocation in the Church’s life,” noted Father Thomas Nelson, O. Praem., National Director of the Institute on Religious Life. “Since the lives of these women and men religious dedicated to prayer and sacrifice are often hidden, this annual celebration reminds us of the need to support their unique mission within the Body of Christ,” he added.

In 1997 Pope John Paul II asked that this ecclesial event be observed worldwide on November 21, the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Presentation in the Temple. It is a special day to thank and pray for those in the cloistered and monastic life for serving as “a leaven of renewal and of the presence of the spirit of Christ in the world.” It is also intended to remind others of the need to provide spiritual and material support “for those who pray.”

Pope Benedict XVI has spoken often of the tremendous value of the cloistered, contemplative life. Speaking to a group of cloistered Dominican nuns in Rome this past June, the Holy Father referred to such religious as “the heart” that provides blood to the rest of the Body of Christ. He noted that in their

work and prayer, together with Christ, they are the “heart” of the Church and in their desire for God’s love they approach the ultimate goal.

The nationwide effort to publicize Pro Orantibus Day is coordinated by the Institute On Religious Life, a national orga-

ing t a r leb ur e C O

nization based in the Chicago area. The IRL was founded in 1974 by Father John A. Hardon, S.J., and is comprised of bishops, priests, religious and laity who support and promote the vowed religious life.

Visit www.cloisteredlife.com for more information.

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18

The Anchor

November 19, 2010

Bishop to lead ‘Vigil for All Human Life’ continued from page one

tion of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction. The Evening Prayer for the First Sunday of Advent will be prayed. Also incorporated into service will be music provided by Madeleine Grace, director of the diocesan choir.

“In a world where respect for human life appears to be diminishing, each of us has the responsibility of recognizing the Godgiven sanctity of human life and of restoring the respect owed to it,” added Bishop Coleman. “The Vigil for All Human Life at its Very Beginnings reminds us that it is our responsibility to pray that the inestimable value of human life, especially human life in its earliest stages, be renewed.”

Father Karl Bissinger, secretary to the bishop, told The Anchor, “I’m hopeful that many faithful will join us, even though it’s a busy weekend, to come together and pray in solidarity with the Holy Father and Catholics throughout the world. Life issues are important and crucial in our world today with abortion, in-vitro fertilization, cloning, and assisted suicide becoming more common all over. I appeal to people to take part locally and become part of a much bigger thing.”

Father Bissinger added that it would be nice for people to take part in a “different type of service, and experience a different type of liturgy.”

Marian Desrosiers, director of the diocesan Pro-Life Apostolate told The Anchor, “The call

by Pope Benedict XVI to begin Advent with worldwide prayer for the newly developing human life is a reminder to all of us that we must recognize prayer as the foundation for the defense of human life. The attacks on the beginnings of human life are so grave and widespread, that we need to turn to prayer and ask God’s protection on every person called into existence. Prayer will give us the courage to speak in the public square in defense of the weakest and most vulnerable in our society. Through prayer we

find the strength to put aside our pride, our shame, our fears which keep us from doing what is right.”

Pro-Life activists and organizations across the world are taking the pope’s call for union and solidarity for life to heart by organizing services in line with the Holy Father’s.

Local Pro-Life organizations and advocates are encouraged to join Bishop Coleman in the Fall River Diocese’s observance. “Led

by Bishop Coleman, this vigil will unite and strengthen all of us so that we can help to rebuild a new culture of life with tiniest of human persons as the foundation,” said Desrosiers. “This Advent, let us journey with the young pregnant woman who said yes to life and gave us our savior so long ago. Let us gather in prayer and allow Mary to lead us to her Son once again.”

“Life is such a great gift from God,” said Father Bissinger. “I encourage people to share with us in the dignity and sacredness of this great gift.”

Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the USCCB said, “Recently Pope Benedict made an unprecedented request for such prayer by asking that Catholic bishops throughout the world, and all parishes and religious communities, observe a ‘Vigil for All Nascent Human Life.’ The U.S. bishops’ offices for Pro-Life activities and for divine worship will be working together to provide worship aids to assist pastors in planning these vigil services.

“I heartily encourage all Catholics, whether at home or traveling over the Thanksgiving holidays, to take part in this special prayer, whose purpose according to the Holy See is to “thank the Lord for his total self-giving to the world and for his Incarnation which gave every human life its real worth and dignity,” and to “invoke the Lord’s protection over every human being called into existence.”

“Joy to the world” — These wooden cutouts represent people from across the world, singing praises to the Newborn King. From left: The Middle East, Africa, China, Mexico, and the U.S. The display is one of many new features at the La Salette Festival of Lights in Attleboro this year. (Photo

by Dave Jolivet)

La Salette Festival of Lights to include St. André garden continued from page one

an appropriate addition to this year’s festival. “Hopefully this will call attention to this holy man, and turn to him in prayer, seeking his intercession.”

Father Pat said the Shrine prefers to concentrate its focus on our Blessed Mother, but the St. André garden comes at a perfect time. First, there are many local faithful whose lives were impacted by St. André, and second, St. André held a great devotion to St. Joseph, husband of Mary and Jesus’ foster father.

“Things just seemed to point to doing this,” added Father Pat. Employees of the Shrine’s bookstore and gift shop told The Anchor that many people have come in and shared their relationship with St. André or relatives or friends who knew him. “We’ve heard many stories since the canonization,” said Father Pat. The commemorative garden, which will be housed in the cafeteria lobby, will contain a bust and a portrait of St. André and a beautiful painting of the magnificent St. Joseph’s Oratory located in Montreal, Canada.

La Salette Brothers Bob Russell and David Eubank were instrumental in gathering artifacts and second-class relics of St. André, some from Montreal. These items will also be a part of the display.

In addition, a video of the life of St. André will show continuously during the festival’s hours of operation.

“St. André was such a simple man, the ‘humble man at the door,’” said Father Pat. “He loved greeting people and through his great devotion to St. Joseph, he healed countless people with that simplicity.”

While the Festival of Lights runs from Thanksgiving through January 2, 2011, the St. André display will remain through Jan-

uary 6, the new saint’s feast day.

Holy cards, medals, books and DVDs regarding St. André will be available at the bookstore.

As usual, the Festival of Lights promises to be an inspirational Christmas gift of sights and sound. There are 350,000 lights covering the more than 10 acres of peaceful grounds.

The La Salette community has also turned its focus on “going green,” this season by transforming more than 90 percent of the lights at the Nativity scene to energy-saving LED lights. According to La Salette Brother Paul Boucher, that’s 6,000 new lights in that area alone. In all, 10 percent, or 30,000 energy-saving lights have replaced the former bulbs across the Shrine.

New at the festival this season will be an addition to the “Peace on Earth” display located at the highest point of the Shrine.

Three new lighted symbols have been included, representing the three most prominent religions of the world — Christianity, with a cross; Judaism, with a Star of David; and Islam, with a crescent moon and star — providing a strong reminder of the need to pray for peace among religions especially in the Holy Land.

Clopper, a live donkey, will be keeping watch over the Nativity scene. He will be stabled at the Outdoor Nativity. Clopper, actually named Don Quixote, is a three-foot Jerusalem burro on loan from Sandra Fransey from Clemmey Farms in Mansfield.

La Salette Brother Ron Taylor (see My View From the Stands on page 20) will be its caretaker while at the Shrine. A stuffed Clopper, complete with a La Salette medallion, will be available for purchase Also new will be a family hay-

ride tour pulled by a tractor. The display of international Nativity sets is back, as are a Christmas Bazaar, trolley rides, a children’s carousel, and Birthday Cards for Jesus.

Several concerts are slated during the festival featuring area choirs and performers. In fact Father Pat told The Anchor the he’d love to hear from established parish choirs from across the Diocese of Fall River who would like the opportunity to sing during the festival.

Father Pat will also perform concerts of his sacred music at the Shrine church Tuesdays through Fridays at 3 and 7 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays at 3 and 7:30 p.m., with the exception of December 4 and Christmas Day, when there will be no performances.

Father Pat’s new CD, “Simply Christmas,” will be available at the Shrine bookstore.

Daily Masses and the sacrament of reconciliation are a usual staple at the festival.

The 2010 Festival of Lights begins with a 4 p.m. Mass on Thanksgiving followed by the illumination of the lights until 9 p.m.

Father Pat will perform a special opening day concert in the Shrine church that evening at 7 p.m.

After Thanksgiving, the illumination hours are daily from 5 to 9 p.m.

The bistro and cafeteria will be available for hearty food and beverages.

Admission and parking are free, and donations are welcome to help meet the exorbitant cost to light the Shrine. For more information on the Festival of Lights or the Shrine, visit www. lasalette-shrine.org or www. facebook.com/nationalshrinelasalette. To contact the Shrine call 508-222-5410.

November 19, 2010

Faith Formation Office to offer day of recollection

EAST FREETOWN — The diocesan Office of Faith Formation is presenting a “Retreat Day for Parish Ministers,” at Cathedral Camp on November 27 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The retreat will be directed

by Father John P. Kelleher, OSB, a parochial vicar at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville.

Father Kelleher is a Benedictine Monk from Glastonbury Abbey in Hingham, England, and was ordained in 1989.

He has a great deal of experience in preaching ministry and leading parish missions and retreats. He is also involved in parish ministry at Our Lady of Victory.

The theme of the retreat is “He Must Increase But I Must Decrease,” based on Jn. 3:30.

Encouraged to attend are: lectors, music ministers, RCIA team members, bereavement/ caregivers, pastoral assistants, special ministers of holy Communion, those in hospitality, youth ministers, and catechists, including DRE/CREs. Included in the session will be a morning and afternoon conference, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the opportunity for the sacrament of reconciliation, and individual reflection.

For information about the retreat, visit the Office of Faith Formation website at fallriverfaithformation.org or call 508-678-2828.

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Nov. 23 Rev. James E. Smith, Retired Chaplain, Bethlehem Home, Taunton, 1962 Rev. Msgr. Christopher L. Broderick, Retired Founder, St. Pius X, South Yarmouth, 1984 Nov. 24 Msgr. Daniel F. Shalloo, Retired Pastor, Holy Name, Fall River, 1991 Nov. 25 Rev. Philias Jalbert, Pastor, Notre Dame de Lourdes, Fall River, 1946 Rev. Dennis Spykers, SS.CC. Retired Pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes, Wellfleet, 1971 Nov. 26 Rev. James R. Burns, P.R., Pastor, Sacred Heart, Fall River, 1945 Rev. Charles Porada, OFM, 2000 Nov. 27 Rt. Rev. Patrick E. McGee, Pastor, St. Mary, North Attleboro, 1948 Nov. 28 Rev. Adrien A. Gauthier, Pastor, St. Roch, Fall River, 1959

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The Anchor Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese Acushnet — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Mondays, Tuesdays, 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, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays end with Evening Prayer and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.; Saturdays end with Benediction at 2:45 p.m.

ATTLEBORO — St. Joseph Church holds eucharistic adoration in the Adoration Chapel located at the (south) side entrance at 208 South Main Street, Sunday through Thursday from 6 a.m. to midnight, with overnight adoration on Friday and Saturday only.

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

EAST TAUNTON — Eucharistic adoration takes place 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 eucharistic adoration every Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to noon in the Chapel of Reconciliation, with Benediction at noon. Also, there is a First Friday Mass each month at 7 p.m., followed by a Holy Hour with eucharistic adoration. Refreshments follow.

FALL RIVER — 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.

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

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

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

HYANNIS — A Holy Hour with eucharistic adoration will take place each First Friday at St. Francis Xavier Church, 21 Cross Street, beginning at 4 p.m.

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

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

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

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 from 7:30 to 8 a.m.

OSTERVILLE — Eucharistic adoration takes place at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 76 Wianno Avenue on First Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and every Friday from noon to 5 p.m., with Benediction at 5 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.

WAREHAM — Adoration with opportunities for private and formal prayer is offered on the First Friday of each month from 8:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Church, High Street.

The Prayer Schedule is as follows: 7:30 a.m. the rosary; 8 a.m. Mass; 8:30 a.m. exposition and Morning Prayer; 12 p.m. the Angelus; 3 p.m. Divine Mercy Chaplet; 5:30 p.m. Evening Prayer; 7 p.m. sacrament of confession; 8 p.m. Benediction.

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

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

Around the Diocese 11/20

The annual Holiday Craft Fair at St. Margaret Regional School, Main Street, Buzzards Bay, will be held tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. featuring jewelry, blankets, scarves, ornaments, doll clothes, stocking-stuffers, candles, handbags, beauty products, wreaths, and more. The children’s choir sings at 3 p.m. and there will be a raffle drawing at 3:30 p.m.

11/21

The Knights of Columbus will be hosting a Blood Drive Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the parking lot of Notre Dame Church, 529 Eastern Avenue, Fall River. Light refreshments will be available in the church hall. For more information call 508-674-1146.

11/24

The Celebrate Life Committees of Holy Trinity and Holy Redeemer parishes will host a holy hour November 24 immediately following the 9 a.m. Mass at Holy Trinity Church, 246 Main Street, West Harwich. The rosary and Pro-Life prayers will be recited along with a short homily and Benediction. All are invited.

11/25

The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Attleboro will open its 2011 Christmas Festival of Lights on Thanksgiving evening, November 25 with daily illuminations following the 4 p.m. Mass until 9 p.m. through January 2. This year’s theme is “Believe in the Gift!” For more information call 508-222-5410 or visit www.lasalette-shrine. org.

11/26

The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette, 947 Park Street (Route 118), Attleboro will host its Christmas Bazaar on November 26 and 27 from noon to 9 p.m. and again on November 28 from noon to 8 p.m. For more information call 508-222-5410 or 508-236-9033.

11/27

Our Lady of Grace Parish, 569 Sanford Road, Westport, will host its 24th annual Christmas Bazaar on November 27 and 28 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days. The event will include food, music, crafts, gifts, raffles and pictures with Santa from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. each afternoon.

11/28

An Advent festival and fair, designed for adults and children of all ages to keep “Christ in Christmas,” will be held at St. Francis Xavier Parish, 21 Cross Street, Hyannis on November 28 from noon to 3 p.m. in the hall of the prep school. For more information call 508-775-1628.

12/3

There will be an Advent night of recollection on December 3 from 6-8 p.m. at St. Francis Xavier Parish, Main Street, Acushnet. Msgr. Gerard O’Connor and Fathers Andrew Johnson, Jay Mello and Roger Landry will give talks on imitating the virtues of certain great Jesuit saints. Mass and confessions will be offered. All are welcome.

12/4

A “Festival of Lights Walk” will take place at La Salette Shrine, 947 Park Street (Route 118), Attleboro on December 4 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. There is a choice of an 11- or five-kilometer (6.8or 3.1-mile route) and both trails are rated easy walks. The walk is sponsored by the Walk ‘n’ Mass Volkssport Club. For more information call 508-222-1152.

12/4

The placement exam for prospective students of Bishop Connolly High School, Fall River, will take place December 4 at 8 a.m. at 373 Elsbree Street. For more information call Anthony Ciampanelli, director of Admissions at 508-676-1071, ext. 333.

12/5

St. Joseph-St. Therese Church, New Bedford, will host its fifth annual Holiday Craft Fair on December 5 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the church hall featuring a variety of crafters, entertainment and great food.

12/5

The annual “Deacon Joseph Stanley Mass of Hope and Remembrance for Our Children” will be celebrated at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville December 5 at 11:30 a.m. Deacon Stanley and his wife Estelle, who lost a child at a young age, were the “founding parents” of this annual mass for bereaved parents who have experienced the loss of a child in pregnancy, infancy, sudden death, illness, accident, murder or suicide. For more information call 508-775-5744.

12/12

St. James-St. John School, 180 Orchard Street, New Bedford, will host a Holiday Fair on December 12 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. featuring more than 20 vendors of hand-crafted items and home party items. There will also be a bake sale and hourly door prizes will be drawn. For more information, email pto@sjsjschool. com.

20

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a Salette Brother Ron Taylor considers himself “a huge Red Sox fan.” Recently, Brother Ron experienced an event that would make even the most ardent fanatic in Red Sox Nation

The Anchor

November 19, 2010

Oh, Brother! What’s he done now?

look like a Yankee fan. Brother Ron had delivered to his door at the Brothers’ residence at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Attleboro, more than 20,000 red socks. When I heard the story,

I couldn’t help but think of Billy Joel’s “I we agreed that’s more expensive than Go To Extremes.” “No I don’t know why candy now-a-days.

I go to extremes. Too high or too low, He did tell me that parishes, diocesan there ain’t no in-betweens.” schools, Religious Education programs, But when Brother Ron explained the youth ministries, or any other diocesan circumstances, I soon came to realize that programs are more than welcome to he hadn’t “gone off the baseball deep end.” share in his bounty.

It started out as a typical day at the “There are 700 stockings per box,” he Shrine. Brother Ron was out attending added. “Anyone who would like to come a funeral, and in his absence, a delivery and get some are welcome to call the trailer pulled up to the Brothers’ resiBrothers at 508-222-5410 and schedule dence and unloaded palate after palate of a time to pick them up at the Shrine Welcardboard boxes. come Center.”

“My fellow Brothers were wonderIt’s not often one hears a story of an ing, ‘What is Ron up to now?,’” Brother abundance of stockings. Usually, there Ron told me. “When I came back from the funeral, they were snickering at me and I wondered what I had done. They told me, ‘You received a delivery.’”

Brother Ron couldn’t for the life of him remember placing any order, let alone one resembling a

By Dave Jolivet Walmart warehouse.

“When I opened one of the boxes, I discovered Christmas stockings,” he said. “They were the mesh are instances of missing stockings, more kind with a red felt background. They often the victims of those diabolical came from a company that I do business sock-eating washing machines or dryers. with, and evidently they thought I could I’m never quite sure which one is the use them. All 20,000-plus.” culprit.

The old saying goes, “When life gives So if Brother Ron has trouble unloadyou lemons, make lemonade.” Brother ing his Christmas windfall, he could alRon figured, “When life gives you ways throw them in the wash, or he could thousands of Christmas stockings, share give them to my Igor. Those stockings them.” And that’s why he called The would be history before you could utter Anchor to share his story and see if we “Merry Christmas.” could help “share the stockings.”

By the sounds of the reactions from “At our Festival of Lights celebration Brother Ron’s peers, it seems that nothevery year, we have a ‘Birthday Card for ing is all that out of the ordinary for him.

Jesus,’ station for young children, runWho knows, maybe I’ll hear from him ning from December 1 with another unique free offer. I only to 23,” said Brother Ron. hope its to share in his cache of 20,000 “We plan on including Red Sox tickets instead. a red Christmas stockFor all those interested in the stocking with each card. Too ings, please feel free to give the Brothers bad we didn’t get them a call. They’re a delight to meet. earlier, we could have And I’d like to wish everyone a very included something in happy Thanksgiving filled with food, the stocking as well.” football, family, and gratitude to the I suggested to Brother Almighty for the bounties he’s bestowed Ron a lump of coal, but on us.

My View From the Stands

women in washington — Some members of the Fall River Diocesan Council of Catholic Women attended the national convention in Washington, D.C. From left: Bea Martins, District I Family Concerns chairman; President Jeanne Alves; First Vice President; Virginia Wade; Boston Province Director Lynette Ouellette; and Third Vice President Laura Cousineau. This is the 90th anniversary of the National Council of Catholic Women. The event was themed, “Rejoice & Renew.”