3.18.22

Diocese of Fall River, Mass. † Friday, March 18, 2022

Lumen Christi Gala to support Cathedral

WESTPORT — All are invited to gather as great faith and energy come together to shine the Lumen Christi, the Light of Christ, on one of the oldest and most well loved structures in the Diocese of Fall River—the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption. On Wednesday, June 8, at White’s of Westport, the Lumen Christi Gala will be an evening that celebrates the Cathedral’s history and helps chart a renewed future in service to all diocesan parishioners and the wider community.

More than 165 years ago, the Cathedral’s first stones were laid. Since then, it has served as a parish and, since 1904, as the Diocese’s Cathedral. Mother church, the seat of the bishop, and the Spiritual home where diocesan Liturgies take place,

so much has been celebrated and memorialized within the Cathedral’s walls. Given the Cathedral’s age, many repair and renovation projects are becoming critical — including work needed on the roof, the bell tower, and the stained-glass windows.

The inaugural Lumen Christi Gala will help raise awareness of the Cathedral’s history and significance as well as funds to address repairs and renovations. Event co-chairs Nicholas Christ and Maryellen Sullivan Hughes, Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., and Rector and Pastor Thomas Washburn will gather with attendees to celebrate the Cathedral’s past, present, and future. This special evening will also honor a couple that has stood as a pillar of 8 Turn to page eight

Anthony Park of St. Mary’ Parish in Norton signs the Book of Elect during the recent rite held at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River. Traditionally coinciding with the first Sunday of Lent, this ceremony is one of the final steps for the Catechumens, now technically ”Elect,” before receiving the Sacraments of Initiation and becoming members of the Catholic Church.

(Photo by Deacon Alan Thadeu)

Transfiguration of the Lord Parish in Taunton recently celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation at Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro. One-hundred-andfifty-three young men and women received the Sacrament from Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V. (Photo by Deacon Alan Thadeu)

Knights from around the world rapidly respond to needs of Ukrainian people Supplies already arriving in Ukraine and Poland to assist refugees

By Dave Jolivet Editor

davejolivet@anchornews.org

And news from a Knights’ press release

NEW HAVEN, Conn.

— The Knights of Columbus recently announced that Knights and their families, as well as communities around the world, have rapidly responded to a call for contributions to its Ukraine Solidarity Fund, and supplies are already arriving in Ukraine and Poland to assist displaced families and refugees.

Michael Lesperance, State Deputy of the Knight’s Massachusetts State Council, updated The Anchor saying, “On Friday, February 25, the Knights of Columbus committed $1 million of immediate aid for Ukrainians impacted by the recent Russian invasion.

The Order also launched the Ukraine Solidarity Fund, pledging to match all funds raised up to an additional $500,000. So far, the fund has raised more than $2.4 million, for a total of nearly $4 million in assistance. Knights on the ground, meanwhile, are delivering much-needed aid to those in Ukraine, and to those seeking refuge in Poland.”

A press release from the Knights’ headquarters in New Haven, Conn., quoted from a video message by Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly to the more

than 1,800 Knights of Columbus in Ukraine in late February; “Some of the proudest moments in the Order’s history have come amid the adversity of war.

We are called ‘Knights’ for a reason. There is a reason we count patriotism among our guiding principles. The hour is upon us.”

Lesperance told The Anchor, “The Massachusetts State Council Knights of Columbus have contributed thousands of dollars along with the local councils to the Ukraine Solidarity Fund. This was set up 8 Turn to page 13

Synodal happenings in the diocese Page two March 18 2022 †

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Diocesan parish Synod news and events FALL RIVER — The following is a list of Synodal events and news in parishes across the diocese: • St. Ann Parish in Raynham hosted nearly 50 people for its first synodal gathering in February and is expect-

ing a similar number tomorrow. The threehour gatherings include individual witness, Mass and the opportunity for Confession.

The second session will have the synodal discussions take place in the context of a Lenten

theme of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

• St. Mary Parish in Norton is conducting a parish-wide survey and convening the third in-person synod consultation this Sunday following the 10:30 a.m. Mass.

Father Tim Reis encouraged individuals age 11 and older to participate in the survey.

• Transfiguration of the Lord Parish in North Attleborough is holding listening sessions after all Masses this weekend — March 19 and 20 — at its three worship sites.

Additional sessions are also being held after three daily Masses as well as a Zoom session on Thursday evening March 24.

•Stating that the goal of synodal consultations

“is to prayerfully discuss what the Church is doing well and what the Church can improve upon,” synod ambassadors at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Acushnet are hosting a parish consultation on Saturday morning March 26 at the parish school gym.

• St. John the Evangelist Parish in Attleboro is in the midst of two week-

ends of “focus group” sessions following each of the weekend Masses.

An additional evening session will be held on Thursday March 24. The invitation stressed that sessions are open to all ages, active parishioners, those who “may have fallen away from practicing your faith” and anyone in the greater Attleboro community.

Become involved Let us Hear From You! — What do you want to know about the Synod?

— What is your parish doing?

We’re listening @ synodnews@anchornews.org

Prayer for the Sy no d We stand before You, Holy Spirit, as we gather in Your name.

With You alone to guide us, make Yourself at home in our hearts; Teach us the way we must go and how we are to pursue it.

We are weak and sinful; do not let us promote disorder.

Do not let ignorance lead us down the wrong path nor partiality influence our actions.

Let us find in You our unity so that we may journey together to eternal life and not stray from the way of truth and what is right.

All this we ask of You, Who are at work in every place and time, in the communion of the Father and the Son, forever and ever. Amen.

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Diocesan Office for Safe Environment explains ‘Essential Three’ FALL RIVER — In July 2020, Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., promulgated the Diocesan Policy for Protecting the Faithful.

This policy updated the diocese’s existing protection polices in substantial ways.

One significant change in this policy is the mandate of the Essential Three for those who minister, work or volunteer in the diocese. For decades the diocese has required some form of background check and training for those who work with children and youth. The Essential Three is now required for all who minister, work or volunteer regardless of whether their work is directly involved with minors. The Office

for Safe Environment answered some common questions: • What does Essential Three mean?

— The Essential Three refers to three components: Criminal Background Check, Safe Environment training and Code of Conduct. Most people assent to the Code of Conduct when they complete the online safe environment training.

• I’m just a …(lector, Eucharistic Minister, food pantry volunteer etc.) and I don’t work directly with children or youth. Must I complete the Essential Three?

— Yes. The Essential Three is required for all who minister, work or vol-

unteer throughout the Diocese regardless of whether their position is directly connected to children and youth.

• It is hard enough to find volunteers, why would the diocese make people do all this work?

— We recognize that volunteers are already giving freely of their time. The goal of the Essential Three is not to make people jump through hoops but rather to create a culture of safety and child protection throughout the diocese.

The more people who are screened, trained, and have agreed to a Code of Conduct, the more assurance we can have that ALL the faithful are in a safe envi-

ronment in every parish, school, and diocesan facility. We know that many of our volunteers are parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Even if their volunteer work does not directly involve children and youth, the training can help them be aware of signs that raise concern about the safety and well-being of the young people in their lives.

• If this is because of the clergy abuse crisis, why must lay volunteers and employees do this?

— This is not just about clergy abuse. The clergy abuse scandal led the Church to make significant changes. One positive outcome is that it has helped raise awareness of the

devastating impact of child sexual abuse throughout our world. Research suggests that one in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before they reach 18. With these troubling statistics in mind, we want everyone to know what to watch for and how to respond if they see behaviors that raise concern.

We want our parishes and schools to be full of trusted adults who can assist a child if needed.

If you have any questions about the Essential Three and/or the Diocesan Policy for Protecting the Faithful, please contact the Office of Safe Environment at 508-6751311 x6511.

Best-selling author and virtuoso pianist shares mother’s refugee story during Nazi invasion, at diocesan Catholic schools conference NORTH DARTMOUTH — The situation in the Ukraine currently has the attention of the entire world and, because of technology, the world is able to see and hear the effect this war has on the Ukrainian families and way of life. Journalists on the ground provide live information on the two million

Ukrainian refugees who have fled the country for safety — never knowing if they will ever see their home, city, or other family members again.

The heartbreaking images of fathers sending their families away have captured the world and remain a visible sign of the reality and hardships of

† Diocese of Fall River † OFFICIAL Appointments

His Excellency, the Most Reverend Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., D.D., Bishop of Fall River, announces the following appointment: Very Reverend David C. Frederici, Vicar General, while remaining Pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in South Dartmouth Effective February 28, 2022

war. These same excruciating decisions were made by thousands of Jewish families during WWII when opportunities arose to send their children far away from the perils of the Nazi invasion.

Mona Golabek, whose mother was 14 when she was sent from Vienna to London on the Kindertransport, tells her mother’s amazing story of perseverance and triumph during one of history’s darkest times, all while pursuing her dream of becoming a concert pianist.

On March 11, the entire Diocese of Fall River Catholic Schools faculty, staff and school leaders had the privilege of hearing Golabek tell her mother’s story, adapted from her book, “The Children

of Willesden Lane,” which recounts Lisa Jura’s journey from daily life in Vienna to the challenges of being a refugee in a new country. According to Mona, “I tell my mother’s story because I believe one story can change our lives and inspire us to do better and achieve the highest values within ourselves. When I was a little girl, my mother taught me to play the piano. During those lessons, she told me stories about her life and about the precious words her mother, my grandmother, said at the train station: ‘Lisa, hold on to your music. It will be your best friend and I will be with you always through the music.’”

“The timeliness of this story in light of current events could not be better,

and no one could have foreseen the incredible gift of Mona’s story for our educators,” said Daniel S. Roy, Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Diocese of Fall River. “Despite human tragedy that has occurred throughout history, we need to focus on the stories that provide hope, resilience, and faith that inspire future generations.”

Golabek’s story was viewed via a pre-recorded performance on a large screen at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth and was followed by a 30-minute Q&A via Zoom directly with Golabek. Educators had an opportunity to ask questions about her mother’s experience, how music 8 Turn to page four

March 18 2022 †

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T

o help people navigate some of the complex decisions involved in end-of-life situations, the National Catholic Bioethics Center offers a free and confidential consultation service via email or phone. Often we are asked about the appropriate use of morphine and other opioids. Family members may be understandably concerned about the potential for overdosing their loved ones, as Hospice workers appear to “ramp up” the morphine rapidly, especially in the last few hours of life.

What principles can guide us in the appropriate use of morphine near the end of life? It can be helpful to summarize a few key points here.

Morphine and other opioids can be very useful — indeed, invaluable — in controlling pain and reducing suffering for many patients near the end of life. Morphine is also used to alleviate anxiety and labored breathing. Opioids are highly effective pain management tools in the tool box of palliative care and Hospice specialists.

These drugs need to be used carefully, since very high doses are capable of suppressing a patient’s ability to breathe, which can lead to death.

Medically appropriate use of these drugs for pain management will involve

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Too much morphine?

the important concept of titration. Dosage titration means giving enough medication to dull or limit the pain, but not going so far as to cause unconsciousness or death. This implies continually assessing and adjusting the balance of a drug to assure it is effective and not unduly harmful.

In other words, pain medications should be dispensed in response to concrete indicators of pain and discomfort, so that patients can have their pain-relief needs met but not be unnecessarily over-medicated.

Practically speaking, it is important to pay attention to signs of discomfort that a patient may be manifesting, whether grimacing, twitching, crying, flailing extremities, or other movements. Such objective indicators should guide those making dosing decisions as they seek to control pain and limit discomfort.

As families receive advice about how to care for their loved ones, and try to make good decisions on their behalf, one question that should be asked is, “What is the reason someone is being given (or is being advised to receive) pain medication?” Is the medication being provided because the patient is actually experiencing pain, or for some other reason, such as an intent to hasten death? This can be an important factor in determining whether the administration of a particular

† March 18, 2022

pain medication would be ethical or not.

By carefully dispensing pain medications without rendering patients lethargic or semi-comatose, to

the extent possible, we afford them the opportunity to make preparations for their death while still conscious. In general, patients should not be deprived of alertness or consciousness except to mitigate excruciating or otherwise unbearable pain.

In order to address situations of escalating pain, it may become necessary to administer higher and higher doses of morphine or other opioids. At a certain point, we may face the prospect that the next dose we provide to control the pain properly will be so high that it will suppress the patient’s breathing, leading to death. The principle of double effect can guide and assist us in such cases. When the clinical requirement of proper titration of pain medications is carried out, and the other conditions of the principle are satisfied, a strict and appropriate use of pain medication in this manner can be allowable, even when it may indirectly or unintentionally contribute to an individual’s demise.

This has been helpfully summed up in Directive 61

of the Ethical and Religious Directives of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which reminds us, “Medicines capable of alleviating or suppressing pain may be given to a dying person, even if this therapy may indirectly shorten the person’s life so long as the intent is not to hasten death. Patients experiencing suffering that cannot be alleviated should be helped to appreciate the Christian understanding of redemptive suffering.”

In situations of truly intractable pain, it can be legitimate to employ “palliative sedation,” which involves the decision to render a patient unconscious during his or her final hours. This should be done with proper consent, obtained from the patient or

the designated surrogate. It is important to avoid any suicidal intention and to ensure that other duties, such as receiving the last Sacraments and saying goodbye to loved ones, have been fulfilled.

Such careful attention to pain management is of paramount importance in end-of-life care and supports both the patient and the family in a dignified way during the dying process.

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

Diocesan educators hear story of resilience continued from page three

impacted Lisa’s ability to thrive in a foreign country, or any other relevant topic.

Students from the Diocese of Fall River Catholic schools are invited to join Mona in her March 29 virtual performance as an additional learning opportunity. This 50-minute live-streamed event includes a theatrical performance and concert based on the best-selling book “The Children of Willesden Lane.”

More than one million students across the world have already experienced the Willesden READs program. During the event, students have opportunities to interact with the

book’s author, performer, and virtuoso concert pianist Mona Golabek, who offers uplifting messages of resilience and hope for students at a time when they most need it.

To deepen student understanding of the historical context of the performance and “The Children of Willesden Lane” books, educators are invited to incorporate companion resources found in IWitness, USC Shoah Foundation’s educational website, into their teaching.

For more information, please go to www.

CatholicSchoolsAlliance. org.

L

ast Saturday the Church marked the 400th anniversary of the joint canonization of four of the most influential figures not just in the counter-reformation but in all of Church history — Saints Teresa of Avila, Ignatius Loyola, Francis Xavier and Philip Neri — together with the one who, at the time, King Philip IV tried to make the “headliner,” St. Isidore the Farmer.

St. Isidore was already devotionally the patron of the new Spanish capital of Madrid, and the Spanish monarch sponsored a theater structure within what is now St. Peter’s Square with scenes and miracles from St. Isidore’s life.

Of course it didn’t work, because even with four Spaniards, they couldn’t collectively match the popularity of the Italian St. Philip, only 27 years after his death. The Romans dubbed the canonization, quattro Spagnoli e un santo!, “Four Spaniards and a Saint!,” a quip that has similarly stood the test of time!

The quatercentenary is something I have looked forward to from the first time I had heard — during my college years — that all of these saints, to whom I had devotion, were canonized together.

Perhaps the only Liturgical dates I’ve looked forward to with greater anticipation are April 6-9 in 30 AD, which, if scholars are right, will be the 2,000th anniversary of the Last Supper, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. Even though the actual bimillennium of the Resurrection will take place on Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent in 2030, I’m planning — if God permits me still to be around — to break the fast and celebrate with the joy befitting such an anniversary. I’d encourage you to

Celebrating like it’s 1622 circle your calendar and, if God permits you, likewise, to be around, to join me!

For this 400th anniversary, I was fortunate to have scheduled a Lenten Day of Recollection for the New York City Chapter of the Leonine Forum, an apostolate for young adult Catholics for which I’ve served as chaplain since 2017. In addition to a Sunday-length homily, I had two 45-minute conferences with which I could share insights from the lives and words of the five saints, which made it one of the most enjoyable days of recollection I’ve ever preached. Afterward we had a fitting celebratory lunch.

During the homily, because Jesus’ words in the Gospel focused on the call to Christian perfection, I focused on how these five illustrate for us the call to conversion and holiness.

Because the recollection was taking place early in Lent, I used the two conferences to highlight what they teach us about two of the three practices Jesus mentions in the Ash Wednesday Gospel, prayer and almsgiving, more specifically, the greatest form of Christian almsgiving.

Since such a big anniversary shouldn’t remain just a one-day grace-filled Liturgical memorial, and since these Spiritual giants’ words and example are relevant to all Christians, I would like to share briefly what I shared with my Leonine Forum festal accomplices.

With regard to holiness, I spoke about how St. Teresa showed us an extraordinary hunger for it as a seven-year-old, resolving to journey immediately with her younger brother Rodrigo to Morocco to be martyred so that they could

become a saint the quickest way possible. Their plan was foiled by a chance meeting with their uncle Francisco coming back from the hunt; otherwise we would have seen how they would have traversed the Mediterranean!

A similar desire for holiness ultimately characterized all five, but it didn’t come easily. It required conversion. After 19 years of religious life, Teresa need-

ed to convert from laxity, lukewarmness and a life of deliberate venial sin. Isidore needed to convert from fear in the face of criticism by co-workers. Philip Neri needed to convert from his Florentine desire to become rich. Francis Xavier needed to convert from a desire for ecclesiastical ambition to become, first, a famous priest professor, and, later, Bishop of Pamplona. And most famously of all, Ignatius needed to convert from a desire for worldly fame on the battlefield. After his right leg, however, was shattered and his left calf torn off by a cannonball, as he was biding his time reading lives of the saints during many months of convalescence, he was touched in conscience and asked why he couldn’t respond to grace the way Francis of Assisi and Dominic of Guzman had before him. He eventually did.

The Christian vocation is a call to holiness and all five show us how: turning away from sin and being truly faithful to the Gospel.

Each of them, likewise, was a person and a

master-teacher of prayer.

Through his “Spiritual Exercises,” St. Ignatius is the most famous teacher of Christian meditation in the history of the Church.

St. Teresa, together with her Spiritual co-conspirator St. John of the Cross, is the greatest teacher of contemplation and cartographer of the prayerful journey of the soul. St. Isidore taught us how to pray our work.

St. Philip showed us how to pray with the saints and to incorporate the beauty inspired by faith into our conversation with God. Finally, St. Francis Xavier taught us how to teach others to pray, as he creatively catechized so many converts in Goa and the Pearl Fishery Coast of India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Japan.

They also all gave witness to the greatest form of almsgiving, which is to share the most important gift of all, which is the gift of God. Each was incandescent with a desire to share the gift of faith.

The most famous example is that of St. Francis Xavier, the greatest missionary in Church history after St. Paul. His 1544 letter from the trenches has stirred readers ever since — and gripped many of the young adults listening to me.

After describing how hard he was working to baptize the multitudes, he commented, “Many, many people hereabouts are not becoming Christians for one reason only: there is nobody to make them Christians. Again and again I have thought of going round the universities of Europe, especially Paris, and everywhere crying out like a madman, riveting the attention of those with more learning than charity: ‘What

a tragedy: how many souls are being shut out of Heaven and falling into hell, thanks to you!’ I wish they would work as hard at this as they do at their books, and so settle their account with God for their learning and the talents entrusted to them.”

He got that desire from the one to whom he sent the letter, St. Ignatius, whose whole life was a commentary on Jesus’ words, “I have come to set the earth on fire and how I wish it were already blazing!,” (Lk 12:49). St. Ignatius ignited a Spiritual bonfire that lit the flame of generations of Jesuit missionaries who risked and in many cases gave their lives to bring the Gospel to the New World.

A similar zeal characterized their brothers who founded educational institutions to carry out a deep penetration of the Gospel among those in Europe and areas already evangelized.

St. Teresa founded convents all over Spain on the principle that the first and most important aspect of the Church’s mission is to pray to the Harvest Master.

On our own, she knew, we cannot make new disciples, because faith is always a gift.

We must beg them of God and that’s what St. Teresa taught her Carmelites — and the whole Church — to do.

St. Isidore sought to evangelize the farmers who worked alongside of him, and, together with his wife, St. Maria de la Cabeza, to spread the joy of faith to other couples, families and their neighbors.

St. Philip was the example I focused on most. After having read St. Francis Xavier’s letters, he approached his Spiritual director saying that he believed God was asking him to follow his Jesuit contemporary to 8 Turn to page 14

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Editorial

Responding to our vocation as peacemakers

As we witness the appalling images of death and destruction from Ukraine and many — including some national leaders — behave as if they’re impotent before the atrocities being committed, such a helpless attitude can never be the response of a Christian who lives the faith.

Christians have received from Jesus the vocation to be peacemakers, not peace-wishers or peace-dreamers. By our Baptism we have become children of God, and — as Jesus made clear in His declaration, “Blessed are the peacemakers” — true children of God are those who restore and build peace (Mt 5:9).

To be a disciple of the Prince of Peace (Is 9:5) means to be a peacemaker. During the Last Supper, Jesus gave and left us His peace (Jn 14:27) and backed up that gift by His first words to the Apostles after His Resurrection were “Peace be with you” (Jn 20:19). He sent His disciples town-to-town and even house-to-house to offer that gift of peace (Mt 10:12) and spoke regularly about the conditions — like fraternity, humility and forgiveness — that are necessary for lasting peace.

To be a faithful Christian is to be on the front line in the battle for peace. It means to live according to the terms of Christ’s definitive peace plan and to commit oneself to the arduous communal effort to guide peoples into the path of peace (Lk 1:79). It does not mean to adopt utopian fantasies that fail to consider the consequence of the existence of evil, chosen by leaders who attack and bomb rather than love their neighbors. It also does not mean to forget the essential responsibilities leaders have to protect their peoples from unjust attacks and to remedy the evil being suffered, including, when necessary, trying with just and proportionate means to defeat the aggressor and restore justice.

But since peace is both a Divine gift and the fruit of human effort, peacemaking involves two interconnected activities: imploring God for the gift of peace; and collaborating in the long and demanding battle to defeat evil by good.

It involves, first, prayer. In the face of war, prayer is not an escape. It’s not a placebo taken in substitution for real medicine that might address the cancer of conflict. It’s a recognition that only an intervention from on high can help untie seemingly unbreakable knots. It’s also a way by which our gaze can go beneath the surface of history and entrenched animosities to a source of peace even deeper than the legacy of sin.

To bring peace to the world, as St. John Paul II wrote in his 1992 Message for the World Day of Peace, there must be, “intense, humble, confident and persevering prayer.” That is because “prayer is par excellence the power needed to implore that peace and obtain it. It gives courage and support to all who love this good and desire to promote it” OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 66, No. 6

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† March 18, 2022

and shows, even in the seemingly direst of circumstances, that “nothing is impossible with God” (Lk 1:37).

In terms of prayers Catholic peacemakers can offer, the foremost will always remain the Mass, by which we enter into Christ’s prayer from the Upper Room and Calvary in which He signed with blood the definitive peace treaty for the human race. In the Mass we turn to Him as the Lamb of God Who takes away the world’s sins and beg, “Grant us peace.” We implore Him, “Lord Jesus Christ, Who said to Your Apostles, ‘Peace I leave you, My peace I give you; look not on our sins but on the faith of your Church, and graciously grant her peace and unity in accordance with Your will.” We extend to each other the peace of the Lord and, with God’s blessing, are dismissed in peace to announce the Gospel of the Lord and to glorify Him with our life.

Catholic tradition has similarly prized the Rosary as a prayer for peace, especially since the miraculous victory of the Christian fleet in the 1571 Battle of Lepanto seemingly because of the prayers of the Rosary in Rome led by Pope St. Pius V. This privileged prayer to the Queen of Peace has been efficaciously invoked in time of conflict and regularly proposed by the popes as a prayer for peace.

In his 2002 Exhortation on the Rosary, St. John Paul II said, “One cannot recite the Rosary without feeling caught up in a clear commitment to advancing peace.” Through it we learn the “secret of peace,” grow in “hope that, even today, the difficult ‘battle’ for peace can be won,” and are inspired to make peace our “life’s project.”

The second thing peacemaking involves is action, which flows from prayer. Rather than “offering an escape from the problems of the world,” John Paul II insists that prayer “obliges us to see them with responsible and generous eyes.” Prayer reminds us that God is with us always. It emboldens us to tackle even the most intractable problems with patience, realism, perseverance and hope. It impels us to beg God to make us “instruments” of His peace and to bear witness, in every way at our disposal, to the “Gospel of peace” (Eph 6:15), cooperating with other believers and all people of good will in the immense work to bring it about.

So, in response to the situation in the Ukraine and the other conflicts plaguing our world, we are not powerless spectators. Rather, through prayer and the charity that flows from it, we are influential participants as peacemakers living up to our identity as children of God. And so we pray and act with confidence, as disciples of the Risen Prince of Peace, Who has conquered crucifixion, snatched victory out of claws of death, and brought the greatest good from the greatest evil.

Daily Readings † March 26 - April 8

Sat. Mar. 26, Hos 6:1-6; Ps 51:3-4,18-2ab; Lk 18:9-14. Sun. Mar. 27, Fourth Sunday of Lent, Jos 5:9a,10-12; Ps 34:2-7; 2 Cor 5:17-21; Lk 15:13,11-32. Mon. Mar. 28, Is 65:17-21; Ps 30:2,4-6,11-12a,13b; Jn 4:43-54.

Tue. Mar. 29, Ez 47:1-9,12; Ps 46:2-3,5-6,8-9; Jn 5:1-16. Wed. Mar. 30, Is 49:8-15; Ps 145:8-9,13c-14,17-18; Jn 5:17-30. Thu. Mar. 31, Ex 32:7-14; Ps 106:19-23; Jn 5:31-47. Fri. April 1, Wis 2:1a, 12-22; Ps 34:17-21,23; Jn 7:12,10,25-30.

Sat. April 2, Jer 11:18-20; Ps 7:2-3,9b-12; Jn 7:40-53. Sun. April 3, Fifth Sunday of Lent, Is 43:16-21; Ps 126:1-6; Phil 3:8-14; Jn 8:1-11. Mon. Arpil 4, Dn 13:1-9,15-17,19-30,33-62 or 13:41c-62; Ps 23:1-6; Jn 8:12-20. Tue. Mar. April 5, Nm 21:4-9; Ps 102:2-3,16-21; Jn 8:21-30. Wed. April 6, (Ps) Dn 3:14-20,91-92,95; Dn 3:52-56; Jn 8:31-42. Thu. April 7, Gn 17:3-9; Ps 105:4-9; Jn 8:51-59. Fri. April 8, Jer 20:10-13; Ps 18:2-7; Jn 10:31-42.

Genocide II

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lthough sterilization and the promotion of Aryan children through the Nazi breeding program (Lebensborn) would eventually change the profile of the German people, it was too slow for the Nazi leadership. Perhaps an event on 1939 gave them an idea.

Nearly 1,000 Jews crowded the SS. St. Louis to try to escape the Nazi regime. They came to our shores, but we sent them back, most to end up in death camps. If they wanted to leave so badly, perhaps the Reich could help, and be rid of them.

Australia was a penal colony.

The State of Georgia had been a place to dump debtors. The ageold method of getting rid of the unwanted by shipping them out appealed to the Nazi mind. On Aug. 15, 1940, Hitler ordered Adolf Eichman to send a million Jews per year to Madagascar for the next four years. There is something written about the best laid plans of mice and men — a blockade prevented the German ships from landing. Thus the architects of the Third Reich had to find some other solution to the Jewish “problem.”

As the United States provided an example for sterilization, so we had also made use of the principle of “out of sight, out of mind.” The white European settlers of this land wanted the land of the Indigenous people for homes and farms and natural resources. We now have that land, so depriving them of home and livelihood.

I want to give an example of haw a pagan government treated early Christians in the matter of confiscated goods. With the legalization of Christianity by the Edict of Milan in 313, there also came the order regarding Christian properties: “Everything was to be handed back to the faithful ‘without compensation, without charge, and without delay, without legal proceedings.’ The State itself assumed the burden of compensating the parties who had acquired these properties and possessions in good faith” (Henri Daniel-Rops, “History of the Church” paperback

edition, v. 2, p. 155).

By enjoying our real estate and the produce of our great farmlands, in a measure, we are complicit in the injustice on our Indigenous neighbors.

O Christian! I know what I am doing quietly and without fanfare to acknowledge complicity and to accomplish something positive for Native Americans. What can, should, will you do? Yes, in the light of this complicity we must pause and re-examine the various aspects of “we the just” and “they the unjust.”

Reflections of Rabbi Raphael Kanter, a friend and colleague of Father Buote: Father Martin Buote’s meditations on genocide (Genocide I) are stark reminders that the Holocaust carries with it some of the most heinous and evil ideas about humanity. These ideas stand in stark contrast to the understanding of each human being is created in the image of God, Btzelem Elohim, as articulated in the Biblical book of Genesis.

His meditation on genocide begins with eugenics and how the understanding of White U.S. citizens and sterilization laws lead us down a path to the idea that some lives are more valuable than others and then to the understanding that some human lives represent an evil within the world simply built on fantasies of who does and does not have power. The Jew has always carried that burden but it is not exclusive to the Jew. Any group can be marginalized and any group can be attributed as an evil as part of that marginalization. Father Buote calls this out. He calls us to look at all actions in our society through the ethical lens of the Divine standard.

In Genocide II, Father Buote moves from sterilization to the

Aryan ideal that leads to death for the anti-Aryan ideal that is the Jew. First unwanted in the case of the SS. St. Louis in 1939 where Jews on this boat were turned away and ultimately sent back to Germany.

He then moves on to 1940 when Adolf Eichman, Hitler’s second in command, ordered a million Jews per year to go to Madagascar and leading to the

“Final Solution,” the liquidation of Jews from the world through mass murder.

Other such “problems” lead to solutions of other kinds such as the confiscation of Indigenous peoples’ lands by European settlers. Again the evil of man to ignore the Divine spark that resides within each human being leads to the perpetration of evil.

I am pleased to see him boldly call to arms against anything that denigrates the ultimate standard of each life valued and Divine.

Father Buote is a retired priest of the Diocese of Fall River, and a regular Anchor contributor.

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ou may have heard the tall story about the elderly woman in New York who decided to prepare her will. She told her pastor that she wanted him to celebrate her Funeral Mass. Then she wished to be cremated and to have her ashes scattered over Walmart Shopping Center. This startled her pastor who said, “Walmart!

Why would you want that?

Besides that, Mrs. Murphy, the Catholic Church doesn’t sprinkle the ashes.

We only sprinkle holy water.” To which she replied, “I want my ashes to be sprinkled over Walmart.

Ashes to ashes

Then I’ll be sure that my daughters will visit me twice a week.”

All right! I can hear you say, “That is really corny.” Well, I’ve got to live up to my longtime reputation.

It is interesting that, when I recently shared my wishes with our beloved provincial superior and requested that my ashes be transported to my homeland and interred in the Killilea family cemetery plot, he replied that that would be an excellent excuse for him to visit

Ireland where he has long wished to visit. I’m glad that he has a sense of humor and doubly glad that I can promote Irish tourism in this fashion.

All this frivolity takes us to Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten season. In Biblical times those who were repentant of their sins clothed them-

Visit the Diocese of Fall River website at: fallriverdiocese.org

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selves in sackcloth and ashes as the outward sign of their inner repentance.

Today, anyone who did so might be encouraged or told to take a bath. In our Catholic culture we have our foreheads marked with ashes from last year’s Palm Sunday palms. Because of the COVID, sprinkling of ashes on the head is permitted. I myself prefer the ashes on the forehead and I’ve always been very generous to those with receding hairlines.

As I type this, Russians are bombarding Ukrainian civilians while the rest of the free world watches from easy chairs.

What a travesty. Some say that Putin is a madman. I say he is possessed by the evil one, in which case he should present himself for exorcism. Then it will be time for him to spend the remainder of his days in sackcloth and ashes — in Siberia. Let us pray for the people of Ukraine. Let us

pray that the powers of evil are vanquished and that those who are in any way facilitating this outrage be brought to their knees, clothed in sackcloth and ashes.

Aloha.

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

Lumen Christi Gala to benefit Cathedral continued from page one

support to our diocese, Bob and Christine Long of Long Built Homes. The evening will also feature the musical stylings of Vatican III, which includes Diocese of Fall River priest Father Matt Gill, seminarians Matthew Laird and Larry Valliere, and Father Patrick Fiorillo from the Archdiocese of Boston.

Seminarian Matthew Laird shared, “With three members of the band being from the Fall River Diocese, the night will be a real home-coming of sorts, having not played in the diocese since July of 2019. It will be a honor to perform in front of so many who have helped us on our vocation to the priesthood. We so look forward to this exciting night.”

To learn more about attending and supporting the event and purchasing tickets at: www. catholicfoundationsema. org/Cathedral-gala or scan the QR code with your mobile device.

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aturday, March 12, marked the 400th anniversary of maybe the most spectacular canonization of saints in the fascinating history of the Catholic Church. Pope Gregory XV proclaimed five people saints that day in St. Peter’s Basilica, and they are among our greatest saints: Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits; Francis Xavier, the legendary Jesuit missionary; Teresa of Avila (big Teresa), the founder of the Discalced Carmelites; Isidore the Farmer, the 12th-century patron saint of Madrid; and the Florentine Philip Neri, founder of the Oratorians and 16th-century Apostle of Rome — in an Italian wisecrack, “Four Spaniards and a Saint.”

It was the first time that a number of individuals were proclaimed saints together, and also the first time that they had been beatified beforehand, a requirement recently imposed throughout the Church, along with the formal structuring of the Roman Curia, as part of the Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation. There were four men and one woman; or alternatively, four associated with ecclesiastical or religious orders (three of whom were founders of orders) and one layman; or four from the 16th-century Catholic reform and one from the 12th-century middle Ages, depending on how one wishes to classify them.

Pope Francis, our one and only Jesuit pope to date, celebrated a 400th anniversary Mass at the

‘Four Spaniards and a Saint’ Gesu in Rome on Saturday, March 12, the Jesuit mother Church where St. Ignatius lived, died and is buried, and St. Francis Xavier’s arm is exposed for veneration as a relic. The Mass was live-streamed at www.ignatius500. global/live. The Vatican Post Office is also issuing a special aerogramme with a Baroque painting of the five saints for the 400th anniversary.

My personal favorite among the saints is St. Philip Neri. He also lies underneath a side-altar in another splendid Baroque church in Rome, Santa Maria in Vallicella, also known as Chiesa Nuova (it was “new” in the 16th century, before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth). As one of his Spiritual sons, John Henry Cardinal Newman, now also canonized a saint, said most eloquently, “He wished his children, individually and in private, to cultivate all their gifts to the full. He, however, was, after all and in all, their true model — this humble priest, shrinking from every kind of dignity, or post, or office, and living the greater part of day and night in prayer, his room or upon his housetop.”

(He refused a cardinal’s hat several times, saying that he preferred to go to Heaven.)

“And when he died, a continued stream of people,” says his biographer, “came to see his body, during the two days that it remained in the church, kissing his bier, touching him with their Rosaries

or their rings, or taking away portions of his hair, or the flowers which were strewed over him; and, among the crowd, persons

of every rank and condition were heard lamenting and extolling one who was so lowly, yet so great; who had been so variously endowed, and had been the

pupil of so many masters; who had the breadth of view of St. Dominic, the poetry of St. Benedict, the wisdom of St. Ignatius, and all recommended by an unassuming grace and a winning tenderness which were his own.”

In the Vatican Museums, there is a wonderful painting

by Andrea Sacchi of the interior of the Oratorians’ Church of Santa Maria in Vallicella elaborately decorated for the celebration of March 13, 1622, the day after the can-

onization, when the huge banner of St. Philip, which had decorated St. Peter’s for the canonization and is still extant, was brought to his resting place.

The amazing thing is that, apart from the banner and elaborate decoration, the Church looks the same today as it did then. May our own day and time see such a flourishing of holiness.

Anchor columnist Dwight Duncan is a professor at UMass School of Law Dartmouth. He holds degrees in civil and canon law.

St. Vincent’s Services appoints new Chief Financial Officer FALL RIVER — St. Vincent’s Services Executive Director, John T. Weldon, is pleased to announce the appointment of Colleen Simpson to the position of Chief Financial Officer.

Simpson began her employment with St. Vincent’s on January 10, and comes to St. Vincent’s with more than 15 years of progressive financial management, accounting, and supervisory experience. Simpson has previous experience in the non-profit human services sector from positions held at the Kennedy Donovan Center, and most recently, Times2 Inc. Simpson received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts — Dartmouth with a major in accounting.

In her role as Chief Financial Officer, Simpson will be responsible for the preparation, monitoring, control, and reporting of agency budget and financial statements, payroll, and accounting systems.

She will assure St. Vincent’s compliance with all regulatory, licensing, and accreditation standards and best financial practices. In addition, Simpson will provide coaching and training for the fiscal department.

Simpson will work with the outgoing Chief Financial Officer, Jack Patricio, to transition the responsibilities of the above-mentioned functions.

Simpson was interviewed by members of the St. Vincent’s Services Operations Leadership Team and members of the Board of Directors and was unanimously selected from a field of more than 30 candidates.

Simpson is active in her parish of St. Nicholas of Myra in North Dighton, has served more than six

years as a volunteer member of her town Finance Committee and is a longtime participant (20-plus years) of the Save the Bay swim. She lives in Rehoboth with her husband of 32 years and several pet ducks.

Established in 1885 as an orphanage, St. Vincent’s is now a multi-service, behavioral health, child- and family-serving organization with offices in Fall River.

Staff provides direct care, in-home, and community-based services, outpatient behavioral health, school-based services, residential and group living support, many forms of support and stabilization, respite for families, life skills training for older adolescents, and special education for middle and high school students. For nearly 140 years, St. Vincent’s has been providing Treatment, Care and Transformation.

For more information, please call visit www.

SaintVincentsServices.org

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FACE to participate again in Falmouth Road Race FALL RIVER — The Foundation to Advance Catholic Education (FACE) has announced that it will participate in the ASICS 2022 Falmouth Road Race again this year, as part of the Numbers for Non-Profit Program

with 10 entries.

Those who would like to participate in the 50th Anniversary of the Falmouth Road Race for TEAM FACE are welcome. The In-Person Race Day is August 21 or the At-Home Edition is from August 7-August 14, for the seven-mile race. Participating in the Falmouth Road Race

for FACE, will help raise critical scholarship aid for students to attend a school in the Diocese of Fall River.

For more information, please visit www. face-dfr.org or contact team captain, Jane Robin at jrobin@catholicfoundationsema.org to join TEAM FACE.

Members of TEAM FACE who ran in the 2021 Falmouth Road Race and will do so again this year to raise money for the Foundation to Advance Education are, clockwise, from top left: Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V.; Jim Bouchard; Joe Harrington; Cass and Jane Robin; Dan Roy; and Sara Seals.

Please visit The Anchor website at www.anchornews.org

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he Catholic Church continues to experience much pain. More revelations of abuse have been exposed. These included not only a cardinal but also a very prominent and well-known lay person.

We have made great strides.

There’s more accountability and safeguards especially concerning our children and youth. People have suffered.

The Church as the Body of Christ has been harmed. The reputation of the Church as a public institution has been tarnished.

With all that has happened in the Church I am frequently asked, “How can you stay?” and “Why do you remain Catholic?” My immediate response, from the heart, is “How can I leave?”

I want to help foster good changes within my Church.

I have too much invested in the Church. Christ has too much invested in me. Even though I have thought about leaving the Church, I cannot abandon the Church when it needs me the most. Most especially, I cannot abandon the good parish priests who have been steadfast in their ministry. The Church needs good clergy to foster healing and growth. It also needs lay people for the same reason.

It needs leaders. Do you think that the clergy should be the only leaders in the Church?

Who leads the Church?

Of course, we follow Jesus Who is the true leader of the Church. We look to the pope and our bishops for Spiritual and practical guidance.

Locally we are led by our pastors, priests, deacons and religious. These are not the only people who can and should lead the Church.

In 1980, the U.S. bishops issued a pastoral statement: Called and Gifted: The American Catholic Laity. With this

Servant leadership

statement, the U.S. bishops affirmed the importance of lay men and women answering the Lord’s call and encouraged the laity to take an active and responsible role in the mission of the Church.

This was restated in 1995 and 2006 in the U.S. bishops document, Called and Gifted for the Third Millennium.

The Church supports and affirms the role of the laity: “Sharing in the function of Christ, priest, prophet, and king, the laity have an active part of their own in the life and activity of the Church. Their activity within the Church communities is so necessary that without it the apostolate of the pastors will frequently be unable to obtain its full effect” (Apostolate of the Lay People, 10).

Lay people with their diverse knowledge and experience have a right and a responsibility to contribute to our shared understanding of what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Church. “[The laity] are, by reason of the knowledge, competence or outstanding ability which they may enjoy, permitted and sometimes even obliged to express their opinion on those things which concern the good of the Church” (Lumen Gentium: The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Second Vatican Council).

Lumen Gentium no. 31 defines the laity as all faithful except those in holy orders and those in religious state sanctioned by the Church.

Through our Baptism we are made one body with Christ and established as people of God. The laity share in the priestly, prophetic and kingly functions of Christ.

They carry out their own part in the mission of the whole Christian faithful with

respect to the Church and to the world. This is a special quality of lay people.

The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” (897-913) also reinforces the role of the laity in the Church.

There is an important distinction to note between clergy and laity. The priest, by virtue of Holy Orders, is charged with the threefold ministry of teaching, Sanctifying and governing. Priests are co-workers with the laity.

Lay people cannot perform

ministerial functions but can assist the priest in performing pastoral care. The pastor is in charge of the parish. As such, lay people do not have authority over him but both are co-responsible for care of the faithful and the success of the parish. Ideally, the individual gifts and charisms of the laity will be used by the pastor to share in the appropriate pastoral responsibilities.

So now that we know that since lay people can assume leadership positions in the Church, what should this leadership look like?

Leadership means to lead, guide or influence.

Some assume leadership positions to assume power, control or prestige. People don’t like to follow these kinds of leaders. Ideally, a parish leader will be a disciple who wishes to serve others. This is where we get the term Servant Leadership.

Servant Leadership is a philosophy in which the leader’s role is to serve others or serve the well-being of the organization. This is

different from traditional leadership where the leader’s main role is to promote the success of the organization and is not so much concerned about people.

The true servant leader serves followers by helping them achieve their goals.

Servant Leadership is best defined by Jesus Himself: “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave — just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mt 20:26-28).

As followers of Christ, all leadership should be Servant Leadership.

The disciples asked for a place of honor when Jesus returned to Heaven.

But Servant Leadership does not come with glory, power, and positions of honor. Jesus modeled the true servant style of leadership. He was the Son of God, yet He bent down and washed their feet, teaching them the true meaning of leading by first serving others (Jn 13:12-17).

There are many who want to exercise authority but few who want to take the towel and basin and wash feet.

Every Christian is called by Christ to be a servant. A servant leader invests herself or himself into the lives of the people of the community so that as a whole, the Church community is challenged to grow and be more like Christ.

Servant Leaders are humble and selfless. They focus on building the Body of Christ and the support of the community. They create safe and positive environments that foster innovation and vision. They promote unconditional dignity and respect for all people.

The Church needs leaders now more than ever. Lay leaders are needed to serve in roles to assist the pastors who are overloaded with responsibilities. Lay leaders are needed to serve in roles to help the Church heal. Lay leaders are needed to serve as role models for our children and youth. There are all kinds of ministerial opportunities in the Church for servant leadership. It could be as simple as facilitating a prayer group. It could be teaching about your faith as a catechist. You could serve on the parish pastoral council.

While all parishes welcome someone to coordinate the annual parish picnic or be the chairperson for the next fund-raiser, leading the Spiritual life of the parish is much more than that.

Pastoral leadership involves discipleship. Servant leadership involves serving others, helping them to grow in their faith and increasing their closeness to God. The beauty about servant leadership is that the leader grows in faith along with the one who is served.

If you are invested in your Catholic faith as Christ is invested in you, then seek opportunities to help the Church heal and grow from within. Work with your pastor to take advantage of your talents and gifts that can be applied to grow the faith life of your parish.

Rick Swenton is a parishioner of St. Pius the Tenth Church in South Yarmouth and is a member of the choir and a cantor.

He received a certificate in Lay Ministry from the Archdiocese of Hartford with a focus on Liturgy and Music and is a published composer. He resides with his wife, Gail, in South Dennis.

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T he C hurch

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got a great chance to spend my February vacation in Jamaica with two of my closest friends. This trip was postponed last year but we really think this trip was 25 years in the making. We met in high school and have been together ever since. While we were there we went on a beautiful excursion to the Black River and the YS falls. Our bus driver was a man we fondly called Papa for the day, as he drove us around the island. On the drive, he said something that really stuck with me. He told us, “Here in Jamaica we don’t have problems, only situations.” That came in handy at the end of our trip when our flight got delayed 18 hours.

We often get stuck in our own problems and see them as the end all, be all. We look at prob-

Y outh & Y oung A dults No problem

and

lems as long term. As any person who knows how to use Google, I looked up the definitions of problem and situation.

By definition a problem is a “matter regarded as unwelcome or harmful.”

It puts us in a position of stress or unease. When we find ourselves in the middle of a problem, all we can focus on is how to get out of the problem.

We miss what is going on around us. We miss the people helping us to move through. We miss the beauty in the mess that we are experiencing.

Most importantly, we miss God, by our side, guiding us through it.

By definition a situation is a set of circumstances in which one finds

oneself. It’s just a set of circumstances. Circumstances can change quickly. Circumstances are not permanent. Circumstances do not have to be just negative. Changing

our mindsets, living as if problems are merely situations, can change our outlook in so many ways!

In a way, Jesus already prepared us for this. In the Gospel of John He says, “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation.

But take heart; I have

overcome the world (Jn 16:33). This is like the original “We have no problems, only situations.” Jesus reminds us that while we may have problems or tribulations here on Earth, in His timeline, they are merely situations.

Sometimes after reading Scripture, I will look at The Message Bible which is a paraphrase version and it gives me another way to look at it. So in the Gospel of Matthew, we read, “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes” (Mt 6:33 Message Bible). When we focus

on God, it can help us to turn our problems into situations. It allows us to see the stress as temporary. So we need to look at life through the lens of my favorite prayer, the Serenity Prayer.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; The courage to change the things that I can; And the wisdom to know the difference.

As we continue our Lenten journey, let us learn from the wisdom of Jamaica. There are no problems, only situations!

Anchor columnist Amanda Tarantelli has been a campus minister at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth since 2005. She is married, a die-hard sports fan, and resides in Cranston, R.I. She can be reached at atarantelli@ bishopstang.org.

Knights of Columbus Council 12380 held its annual Free Throw Championship on March 8 at the CYO Hall on Anawan Street in Fall River.

The Champions and District winners are shown with their winner’s medals. They are front row left to right: Sofie Resendes and Bradey Brum, and in the back row: Lucas Pavao, Levi Beaudry, Maddi Bednarz, Charlotte Mederios and Timmy Bui. Congratulations, Champions! Missing is Jameson Marinelli. All involved gave special thanks to Matt Bednarz and the entire team at the CYO Hall.

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Local and national Knights of Columbus quick to assist Ukraine continued from page one

by the Supreme Knight of Columbus, where 100 percent of the proceeds will go directly to the displaced people of Ukraine.

“Our councils have been praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet and praying the Rosary for the refugees of Ukraine,” Lesperance said. “They have been doing fund-raisers, such as fish

fries and pasta dinners.

We have been asked by our Council Chaplains to pray for the Ukraine people and our fellow Knights of Ukraine, and to pray for a peaceful end to this war.”

To Donate to the Ukraine Solidarity Fund, here is the link https:// www.kofc.org/secure/en/ donate/ukraine.html

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on the Portuguese Channel Sunday, March 20 at 7 p.m.

Broadcast from St. Francis Xavier Church in East Providence

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass

on the Portuguese Channel Sunday, March 27 at 7 p.m.

Broadcast from Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church in Providence

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, March 20 at 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Thomas Washburn, Rector, St. Mary’s Cathedral; Pastor of Good Shepherd and St. Stanislaus parishes in Fall River

Sunday, March 27 at 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Michael Ciryak, Parochial Vicar at Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Parish and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, both in New Bedford.

The Knights’ Ukraine Solidarity Fund website (https://www.kofc.org/ en/what-we-do/charity/ ukraine.html) said, “The relief funding is already being used to provide supplies and assistance to those in need in both Poland and Ukraine.

Through extensive local connections with churches and communities, as well as networks of local Knights and volunteers, essential resources and services are reaching families within hours of donations being received.”

The site listed the many ways the Knights across the country have aided their Ukrainian brothers and sisters through donations, prayers, and some Knights and their families in Poland are taking in refugees themselves.

• Funds are being used to provide shelter, food, medical supplies, clothing and religious goods, as well as other humanitarian needs as identified, both directly in Ukraine and through refugee sites in Poland.

• Knights in Poland have established tents at the Polish-Ukrainian border to distribute food and water to refugees, continuing the spirit of the Order’s “Everybody Welcome, Everything Free,” campaign in Europe at the start of the 20th century.

• The Knights are working with the Latin and Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine, with dioceses and councils in Poland, and with international humanitarian aid agencies to address needs quickly and effectively.

• Polish Knights have established collection sites in Kraków, Radom and Tomaszów Lubelski, where they are gathering and packaging medical supplies, warm clothing, and necessities.

• On March 1, an initial semi-load of provisions, warm clothing, and medical supplies arrived in Lviv, Ukraine, where it was met and unloaded by Ukrainian Knights.

• Anticipating a request from the Polish Bishops’ Conference, Knights in Poland have created a database of parishioner homes and parish centers that will host refugees.

• Polish Knights and their families have already received and housed wives and children sent by some Ukrainian Knights across the border.

• Local leaders of the Knights of Columbus in Ukraine, including the state deputy, state secretary and a district deputy, have been appointed part of an “Anti-Crisis Committee,” established by the Archdiocese of Lviv to coordinate and distribute humanitarian aid.

• Based on the Knights’ success in collecting and delivering relief supplies into Ukraine, a number of organizations and companies in Poland have asked to partner with the Knights of Columbus going forward.

Lesperance also shared with The Anchor that “within days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Knights in Poland created a housing network for refugees and delivered essential supplies to the war-torn country.

Additionally, Knights set up tents — dubbed ‘mercy huts’ — along the Po-

land-Ukraine border to welcome refugees escaping the conflict. Meanwhile, Knights in Ukraine have coordinated the distribution of supplies through the ‘Anti-Crisis Committee,’ a group established by the Archdiocese of Lviv. “‘The attack on Ukraine did cause evil, but at the same time, in many hearts, in many actions of those who reacted, great good was revealed,’ Poland State Deputy Kryzysztof Zuba said. ‘I have great hope that this good will bear fruit and that the war will end as soon as possible.’”

About the Knights of Columbus In 1882, Blessed Michael McGivney, a young parish priest in New Haven, Conn., founded the Knights of Columbus to serve the needs of a largely immigrant Catholic community. What began as a small fraternal benefit society has since grown into one of the world’s leading international charitable organizations, with two million members in more than 16,000 local councils.

During the past year, Knights around the world donated more than 47 million service hours and $150 million for worthy causes in their communities. The Knights of Columbus also offers extensive life insurance products to members and their families.

Based on the founding principles of charity, unity and fraternity, the Order remains committed to strengthening Catholic families and parishes and to practicing faith in action through service to all in need.

To learn more or to join the Knights of Columbus, please visit kofc.org/join.

March 18 2022 †

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Celebrating like it’s 1622 continued from page five

India. The wise Cistercian told him, “No. Rome will be your Indies!” And he spent the rest of his life re-evangelizing Rome, cooperating with the gift of the Holy Spirit, through contagious joy, friendship, caring for the poor and sick, fun pilgrimages to different Sanctuaries, opportunities for adult education and prayer, the Sacrament of Penance, and helping them appreciate what was really going on in the miracle of the Mass.

Over the course of his time in Rome, the eternal city went from a traumatized moral cesspool to a converted city in which holiness was not only tolerated but seen to be what it really is, the path to the only happiness that endures.

His example shows us

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

that to be a Missionary, we don’t have to go to far away places, but just as he made Rome his Indies, we’re each called to make our neighbor, city or town.

There are so many other angles we can focus on in their very rich lives. The main point is, however, that if we heed their lessons of conversion and holiness, of prayer and a love of neighbor so deep as to share with them the pearl of great price, the odds are we will be able, at the 500th anniversary, to celebrate with them in person — in that place where Christ, by what he did April 6-9, 30 AD made possible!

Anchor columnist Father Roger Landry is interim Executive Editor. fatherlandry@ catholicpreaching.com.

March 26 Permanent Deacon Francis J. “Frank” Camacho, 2019 March 27 Rev. James W. Conlin, Pastor, St. Patrick, Somerset, 1918 Rev. Msgr. Antonio P. Vieira, Pastor, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, New Bedford, 1964 Rev. Richard W. Beaulieu, Former Diocesan Director of Education, Former Pastor, Notre Dame de Lourdes, Fall River, 2007 Rev. Manuel Garcia, Editor of Portuguese Missalette, Founder of The Promotora Portuguesa and Rooster Printing, 2019 March 28 Rev. Alfred J. Levesque, Pastor, St. Jacques, Taunton, 1960 Rev. Bernard A. Lavoie, Chaplain, Catholic Memorial Home, Fall River, 1972 Rev. Dieudonne Masse, OFM, Retired, Montreal, Canada, 1983 Rev. Howard A. Waldron, Retired Pastor, St. Thomas More, Somerset, 1985 March 29 Rev. James H. Carr, S.T.L., Assistant, St. Patrick, Fall River, 1923 Rev. Msgr. Edward J. Moriarty, Pastor, St. Patrick, Fall River, 1951 March 30 Rev. Edward Norbert, 1909 Rev. Aime Barre, On Sick Leave, Fall River, 1963 Rev. Benoit R. Galland, USN Retired Chaplain, 1985 Rev. Lucio B. Phillipino, Retired Pastor, Immaculate Conception, North Easton, 2002 Rev. Robert F. Kirby, Catholic Memorial Home, Retired Pastor, St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, South Attleboro, 2015 March 31 Rt. Rev. Msgr. George C. Maxwell, Pastor, SS. Peter & Paul, Fall River, 1953 Rev. Dennis Loomis, M.S., Vocation Director, La Salette Shrine, Attleboro, 2019 April 1 Rev. George A. Lewin, Pastor, St. Mary, Hebronville, 1958 Rev. Edwin J. Loew, Pastor, St. Joseph, Woods Hole, 1974 April 2 Rev. Adolph Banach, OFM Conv., Pastor, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, New Bedford, 1961 Rev. Donald Belanger, Pastor, St. Stephen, Attleboro, 1976 Rev. James B. Coyle, Retired Pastor, St. Dorothea, Eatontown, N.J., 1993 April 3 Rev. Henry F. Kinnerny, Former Pastor, St. Peter, Sandwich, 1905 Rev. Roger G. Blain, O.P., 2000 Rev. Clarence P. Murphy, Former Pastor, Our Lady of the Assumption, Osterville, 2010 April 4 Rev. Lionel Gamache, S.M.M., 1972 Rev. James F. McCarthy, Retired Pastor, Sacred Heart, Fall River, 1985 Rev. Gaspar L. Parente, Retired Pastor, St. Theresa, Patagonia, Ariz., 1991 April 6 Rev. Philip Lariscy, O.S.A. Founder of the New Bedford Mission, 1824 Rev. Edward J. Mongan, Retired Pastor, St. Mary, North Attleboro, 1920 Rev. Msgr. John A. Chippendale, Retired Pastor, St. Patrick, Wareham, 1977 Rev. Lorenzo Morais, Retired Pastor, St. George, Westport, 1980 Rev. Msgr. William D. Thomson, Retired Pastor, St. Francis Xavier, Hyannis, 1987 Rev. Gerald E. Conmy, CSC, Associate Pastor, St. Ann, DeBary, Fla.,1994 Rev. Msgr. Francis J. Gilligan, P.A. STD, Archdiocese of St. Paul, 1997 Rev. Lucien Jusseaume, Chaplain, Our Lady’s Haven, Fairhaven, Retired Pastor, St Roch, Fall River, 2001 April 7 Rev. James A. Dury, Retired Pastor, Corpus Christi, Sandwich, 1976 Rev. Alvin Matthews, O.F.M., Retired, Our Lady’s Chapel, New Bedford, 1988 April 8 Rev. Alvin Matthews, OFM, Retired, Our Lady’s Chapel, New Bedford, 1988 Rev. Bento R. Fraga, Sacred Heart Home, New Bedford, 2012

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T

hroughout this Anchor edition are references to man’s great inhumanity to man. Father Buote’s Genocide II; the Knights of Columbus’ response to the Ukraine crisis; and Mona Golabek’s story of her mother’s experiences during the Nazi WWII invasion.

It’s mind-blowing how throughout history some “humans” believe they are better than others.

In my last column, I referenced a Muscogee Creek Native American, Marcus Bear Heart Williams; a healer and devout Baptist.

I spoke of how nature was crucial to the Indigenous people of North America in Bear Heart’s book, “The Bear is My Father,” but that only scratched the surface of

Too many ‘Trails of Tears’

what Native Americans (or First Nation in Canada) are about. Similar to Golabek’s sharing her mother’s story, in Bear Heart’s book and in its prequel, “The Wind is My Mother,” he relates the harrowing story of the White Man’s barbaric treatment of the Indigenous. In “The Wind is My Mother,” Bear Heart, who was born in Oklahoma in 1918, writes of his grandmother’s experience, “In 1832, President Andrew Jackson signed an order to remove the native tribes from the southeastern

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United States, and it was then that the Muskogee were moved,” along with other tribes. He continued, “We walked all the way from our homes to ‘Indian Territory,’ which later became Oklahoma.

History has recorded that removal, but never once have the emotions been included in that record — what our people felt, what they had to leave behind [everything], the hardships they had to endure.”

Bear Heart tells that the move was forced, and the people had to walk what was to become the “Trail of Tears.” They had to walk from Alabama and Georgia, often shoeless and under-clothed even in the snow and freezing cold. They were escorted by U.S. soldiers on horseback. If someone couldn’t keep up they were left behind to die. When some did die (many died), they were simply covered with leaves and left by the roadside, causing great pain to the Native American people, who had sacred ceremonies to send off their loved ones.

If someone refused to leave their home, soldiers snatched a child and murder her or him telling the holdouts they would do that to their remaining children as well unless they left.

They were forced to cross the Mississippi River on ferries intentionally overcrowded so that they would sink. They walked from sunup to sundown. Many never made it to their new “home” provided by the government.

Bear Heart says this was recorded, and I have read about it in several other accounts, but it certainly wasn’t in the history books I had as a student.

Once the survivors reached their destination, the children were often separated from their parents and forced to go to boarding school, where they weren’t allowed to speak their in their native language — they were forced to speak English. They had to cut their hair,

in which the Native Americans take great pride. They were mocked and ridiculed by the “civilized” people.

Yet, Bear Heart writes, “Those are just some of the things that we endured. And yet today in our ceremonies, many of our people still pray for all mankind, whether they be black, yellow, red, or white. How is it possible, with a background like that among our people, to put out such love?”

Bear Heart, in his 90 years on this earth, taught, healed, and inspired people of every race, creed, color and belief, despite how his ancestors were abused. He said, “Have a purpose, strive for its fulfillment. Strive to live in harmony and cultivate loyalty, belief and faith. All of these are ingredients that give substance to a full life.

“Love allows us to accept the dualities of night and day, guilt and non-guilt, negative and positive, black and white, man and woman.”

Bear Heart taught the Native American way, but also of the Great Spirit, God and His Son, Jesus. If ever there was a modern-day apostle, it was he.

I promise myself to research more on the “Trail of Tears,” and how Native Americans in this area known as the Diocese of Fall River were mistreated when the Europeans first arrived, and thereafter.

History is rife with the mistreatment of others, and sadly it continues today. But through the Knights, Golabek, Father Buote and Bear Heart, God’s love still shines overcoming the darkness.

And a shining example of that was in Fall River and New Bedford during the Civil War. Several sites in both cities were part of the Underground Railroad that ushered former Black slaves from their hellish conditions to places of safety and freedom in Canada.

You can read about that in “Anti-Slavery Days in Fall River and the Operation of the Underground Railroad,” by Edward Stowe Adams.

Light overcoming darkness.

Let’s all be light in a dark world. davejolivet@anchornews.org March 18 2022 †

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† March 18, 2022