Anchor 01.29.10

Diocese of Fall River

The Anchor

F riday , January 29, 2010

The value of a Catholic school in light of the diminishing family

S

ome families sacrifice much in order to provide their children a Catholic education. The main reason for this is quite simple: they want their sons and daughters to learn and live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In addition, many people who choose Catholic over public schools do so because they desire educators who are committed to the mission The Value of of the Church and who enCatholic Schools courage their children to

By Bishop take responGeorge W. Coleman sibility for themselves, respect others, and learn Catholic values and teachings.

We often think of the Church as the place where we come together to worship God. We must not forget, however, what we sometimes refer to as the “domestic Church.” Children begin to learn the basic practices of their faith, recite their prayers, and acquire a Christian morality not by sitting in the pews, but from their parents’ efforts and example and even by interacting at home with their siblings.

Nevertheless, it remains obvious that over the past two generations our society has witnessed changes in and challenges to the traditional family structure. For example, both father and mother usually have careers and work. Furthermore, a large Turn to page 17

Bishop Coleman endorses Manhattan Declaration Hopes clergy and faithful will join him FALL RIVER — In a recent letter to the priests and deacons of the Fall River Diocese, Bishop George W. Coleman announced his support for the Manhattan Declaration and encouraged the clergy and faithful of the diocese to do the same.

Released November 20, the Manhattan Declaration “unites the voices of Catholics with those of our Christian brothers and sisters in the Eastern Orthodox, Anglican and Evangelical traditions to give a common witness to those principles of justice and the common good that underlie a moral, healthy society,” Bish-

op Coleman wrote.

The Declaration, which was printed in the December 4 edition of The Anchor, has now received more than 400,000 signatures. It calls all people of good will to rise up to defend three foundational principles of justice and the common good that are presently under attack in U.S. culture: the sanctity of human life in all stages and conditions; the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife; and the rights of conscience and religious freedom.

“As pastors,” the bishop’s letter continued, “we are witTurn to page 15

life support — Students from John Paul II High School in Hyannis take part in the March For Life in Washington, D.C. on January 22. Story on page 11.

Educators reflect on Catholic school education’s dividends B y D eacon James N. Dunbar FALL RIVER — Every year as January comes to an end, Catholic elementary and secondary schools across the nation take time to celebrate the important role they play in providing an education that emphasizes not only academics, but also the spiritual, moral, and social values to an estimated 7.6 million students.

For the approximately 200,000 dedicated educators involved, it means going beyond preparing their students for a successful secular life in today’s modern world, but more importantly, readying them for a Christian life as they contribute to their communities and their nation.

The 2010 Catholic Schools Week celebration set for January 31 to February 6, a joint project of the National Catholic Educators Association and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has as its theme “Dividends for Life,” reflecting the long-lasting benefits of a Catholic school education.

“Catholic schools provide good things for students and families — high expectations and daily experience of faith,” said Karen Ristau, NCEA president.

“In these challenging times, the theme also reminds parents that the dividends of a Catholic school educaTurn to page 15

Msgr. Moore and Father Buote to celebrate 50 years of priestly ministry NEW BEDFORD — Two diocesan priests will Father Buote will celebrate with an anniversary commemorate a half-century of serving the people of Mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Parish the Fall River Diocese this in New Bedford Sunday at weekend.

10 a.m. with a reception Msgr. John F. Moore immediately following in and Father Martin L. the parish hall.

Buote were ordained to the For Msgr. Moore, who priesthood 50 years ago said he is still trying to

by Bishop James L. Conadjust to life after retiring nolly on Jan. 30, 1960 at last year, the last 50 years St. Mary’s Cathedral. have been quite fulfilling.

Msgr. Moore will mark “It’s just been excitthe occasion with a small ing,” he said. “It was a private gathering Saturday busy time, but it really Father Martin Msgr. John with family and friends didn’t feel like it was busy L. Buote F. Moore and plans to have a more because I was constantly elaborate celebration in active. It’s been a joyful May at his home parish of St. Lawrence Martyr in experience. It hasn’t always been easy, but it’s been a New Bedford.

Turn to page 23

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News From the Vatican

January 29, 2010

At Vatican, U.S. military chaplains study post-traumatic syndrome VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As chaplains in the U.S. military around the world are doing, a group of Catholic chaplains meeting at the Vatican spent a full day studying how to provide pastoral and spiritual care to people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, head of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, brought 40 U.S. Catholic chaplains, who are on active military duty, to the Vatican January 19-21 to discuss what’s going on in the archdiocese, learn more about responding to post-traumatic stress disorder and discuss preparations for using the new Mass translations.

Archbishop Broglio said sessions of the annual archdiocesan priests’ convocation are always scheduled in five different cities around the world; this year, one was held at the Vatican. Unless he is deployed with troops on a military mission, each chaplain is expected to attend one of the sessions, the archbishop said.

The chaplains attending the

Vatican meeting went to Pope Benedict XVI’s weekly general audience, and Archbishop Broglio spoke briefly with the pope.

The archbishop said he told the pope that Auxiliary Bishop Richard B. Higgins had recently suffered a heart attack, and the pope promised his prayers.

Archbishop Broglio said that even though the entire 2008 convocation was dedicated to posttraumatic stress disorder, it is such “a major problem for men and women in the armed services and for our own chaplains, who are deployed multiple times,” that he decided an entire day should be dedicated to the topic again.

The key speaker at the Rome meeting was Jesuit Father Richard Curry, founder and artistic director of the National Theatre Workshop of the Handicapped and founder of the Writers’ Program for Wounded Warriors. The program helps veterans write dramatic monologues in order tell their stories and help begin the healing process.

good horse sense — Cardinal Angelo Comastri offers rosaries to men on horses just outside St. Peter’s Square in Rome recently. The Italian cardinal blessed farm animals brought by an association of farmers and ranchers. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Christians must pray for unity while tackling new problems, pope says

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — The search for Christian unity “is not a linear process,” because as churches resolve their past differences, differing approaches to new questions create new difficulties, Pope Benedict XVI said.

During his weekly general audience January 20 — in the middle of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity — the pope said the unity that Jesus wants for his disciples will require human effort and conversion, but ultimately it will be a gift of God for which people must pray.

Discussing the ecumenical landscape, the pope said, “we must be aware, on the one hand, of how much real progress has been made in Christian collaboration and fraternity over the past 50 years, but at the same time, we know that ecumenical work is not a linear process. Old problems, born in the context of another age, lose their weight, while in our own context

new problems and difficulties are born.”

Pope Benedict did not list the new problems, but in the past he has noted how the approach of different Christian communities to modern moral and social sensitivities has created new divisions, for instance when they have led some churches to ordain women or to recognize homosexual unions.

The new divisions, he said, call on all Christians “to be always ready for a process of purification, through which the Lord will make us ready to be united.”

Christians will never be able to give a united witness to the world until each of them is united to Christ, he said.

Ecumenism does require intellectual effort and theological dialogue, but even more it requires Christians who know and experience the love of God through Jesus and are prepared to share the Gospel with the world, he said.

The commitment to dialogue,

despite new problems and tensions, is a sign of Christians’ intense desire for unity, he said, but it is not enough.

A new, united Church constructed with human hands and minds, the pope said, “would be something human, while we want the Church of God, made by God. God will create unity when he wills, when we are prepared.”

Pope Benedict asked God to listen to all Christians, who plead especially intensely for unity during the January 18-25 Week of Prayer.

Participating in the audience were members of the Continuation Committee of Ecumenism in the 21st Century, a body convoked by the World Council of Churches and made up of representatives of 15 Christian communities, including the Catholic Church. The committee is working to help the ecumenical movement evaluate its past achievements and identify paths forward in the search for unity.

Papal assailant Agca released from prison VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The man who tried to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981 was released January 18 from a Turkish prison.

Mehmet Ali Agca, 52, was taken from prison to a military hospital to be assessed for compulsory military service, which is obligatory for all Turkish men. Agca fled the military draft in the 1970s.

In a statement released by his lawyer immediately after his release, Agca made the kind of wild declaration for which he has become known, proclaiming himself “the Christ eternal,” saying he in-

tended to write the perfect Gospel and predicting the end of the world in this century.

Agca, who had connections to a Turkish ultra-nationalist group, shot and seriously wounded Pope John Paul in St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981. He was apprehended immediately, tried in an Italian court and sentenced to life in prison.

Agca at first said he had acted alone. He later claimed the Soviet KGB and Bulgarian agents were involved in the papal shooting, but his alleged accomplices were acquitted in a second trial in 1986.

Pope John Paul publicly forgave his assailant, and in 1983 he visited Agca in a Rome prison cell. In 2000, with the pope’s support, Italy pardoned Agca and returned him to his native Turkey, where he began serving a sentence for the 1979 murder of a Turkish journalist.

In recent weeks, as his prison release date approached, Agca made several written statements, saying among other things that he wished to visit the tomb of Pope John Paul II at the Vatican and hoped to team up with writer Dan Brown on a “Vatican Code” project.

January 29, 2010

The International Church

3

Portuguese bishops’ spokesman: Samesex marriage far from becoming law

utter destruction — The ruins of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption are seen at the end of a street in downtown Port-au-Prince, in this photo from the United Nations. (CNS photo/ Marco Dormino, MINUSTAH, Reuters)

Woman rescued from cathedral rubble seven days after Haitian quake MEXICO CITY (CNS) — Caritas search and rescue teams miraculously found and pulled a 69-year-old woman from the rubble of the badly damaged Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, where she had been clinging to life for seven days.

Anna Zizi was pulled out by expert teams from Mexico and South Africa who worked for two hours to extract her.

Caritas officials said she suffered injuries to her hips and possibly a broken leg, but “was not critically injured.”

Zizi told her rescuers, “I love you,” upon being pulled from the rubble January 19.

Mexican rescue worker Gabriel Romero Vega said trained dogs “signaled that someone was alive in the collapsed building” and that Zizi had been singing to draw the attention of others.

“It was a gigantic surprise,” Romero told Catholic News Service upon returning home January 20 to Cancun. “It’s something that I consider to be a miracle.

“The joy was overwhelming, more than you can imagine,” he added.

Others among the 40 people who worked to pull Zizi from the rubble echoed those sentiments.

“It was like witnessing a small miracle,” said Caritas translator Ruth Schoffl of Austria. “After a week of searching we heard this voice. I was able to speak to her, translating for the rescue team.”

South African relief team leader Ahmed Ham called the rescue “the best thing in the team we have experienced.”

“It is the first time we have saved somebody’s life after such a long time after the quake. The team has got an energy boost anew and we are heading out to do more work as there is still hope,” he said.

Msgr. Charles Benoit, vicar general of the archdiocese, was not among those found alive. His body was found “with his hands around a reliquary with a wafer inside,” Caritas said in a statement.

Alejandro de Hoyos of Cari-

tas in the eastern Mexican state of Quintana Roo — which sponsored the Mexican rescue workers — said Zizi was the fifth person rescued from the cathedral site in the days following the earthquake.

The miracle of finding Zizi alive marked one of the few bright spots since a magnitude 7 earthquake flattened much of Port-au-Prince January 12. Relief efforts have been hampered by damaged infrastructure, security problems and shortages of critical supplies as well as a January 20 magnitude 6.1 aftershock that media reports say caused even more panic in the Haitian capital.

Romero and his Mexican team — known locally as “Gophers” — were among the first wave of foreign rescue workers to arrive in Port-au-Prince January 14. He described the current situation as “improving very, very slowly” although the city still lacked many basic necessities such as food, clean water and medicines.

“The city is paralyzed,” he said. “Violence is latent.”

Bishop: Ukrainian Church rights won’t be affected by election WARSAW, Poland (CNS) — A Catholic bishop from Ukraine said his country faces new uncertainty after its January 17 election, but added he was confident that church rights would be unaffected.

“Both presidential contenders represent industrial eastern Ukraine — this will pose problems for people in (Ukraine’s) West, where mentalities are different,” said Bishop Marian Buczek of Kharkov-Zaporizhzhya, secretary-general of the Ukrainian bishops’ conference.

Ukraine will have a presidential runoff February 7, but the bishop said whoever is elected would treat churches equally.

“Although ordinary people

are still sometimes negative toward us, those in government know it’s important to keep up with the worldwide observance of religious rights. No one wants to go back to the Soviet era of fighting the faith,” he said.

Ukraine’s current president, Viktor Yushchenko, was eliminated in the poll, which international monitors said had met democratic standards. Opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych will face Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in the runoff.

In a January 21 telephone interview with Catholic News Service, Bishop Buczek said the vote could be viewed as a rejection of Ukraine’s December 2004 Orange Revolution, which

swept Yushchenko to power.

“People had great hopes of improvement then, but the Orange Revolution victors unfortunately fell out and didn’t keep their word,” added the bishop.

A Church source told CNS that many Catholics had voted for Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a Catholic and former speaker of Ukraine’s parliament; the source said it was uncertain which candidate most Catholics would back in the runoff.

Bishop Buczek told CNS that Yushchenko and Yanukovych had visited several Orthodox churches during the campaign, but added that none of the election candidates had mentioned religion.

TORONTO (CNS) — Portuguese legislation that would allow gay couples to marry is still far from becoming the law of the land, said a spokesman for the Portuguese bishops’ conference.

The legislation “still has to be signed by the president, and also there is a question about it being unconstitutional,” the spokesman, Father Manuel Morujao, told CNS in a telephone interview in mid-January.

Whether Portugal’s constitution allows a change in the definition of marriage is the current debate that President Anibal Cavaco Silva has been avoiding, said Father Morujao. Silva was quoted in the Portuguese press saying that he was unable to “say even one word” about the issue, pointing out that constitutional law is not the president’s competency.

Father Morujao said the nation’s bishops had urged a referendum on gay marriage, and he said the issue has the potential to fracture Portuguese society.

The Anchor www.anchornews.org

Redefining marriage will hurt the “basic cell of the family hierarchy,” said Father Morujao.

He emphasized that even though the Church opposes gay marriage, “all people should be treated with respect.” He also said there might be other “possible models of family.”

Portugal’s parliament passed the legislation allowing same-sex marriage January 8, and Silva is expected to sign it. The legislation does not allow gay couples to adopt children.

Father Morujao said the bishops do not believe the legislation, if signed into law, would affect Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the country May 11.

“The pope will speak to all God’s people,” said Father Morujao, highlighting that the pope “will promote the biggest causes of humankind, nurturing the church’s principles of uniting all the Portuguese people.”

Canada, South Africa, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden already have same-sex marriage.

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 54, No. 4

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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Send address changes to P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA, call or use email address

PUBLISHER - Most Reverend George W. Coleman EXECUTIVE EDITOR Father Roger J. Landry fatherrogerlandry@anchornews.org EDITOR David B. Jolivet davejolivet@anchornews.org NEWS EDITOR Deacon James N. Dunbar jimdunbar@anchornews.org OFFICE MANAGER Mary Chase marychase@anchornews.org ADVERTISING Wayne R. Powers waynepowers@anchornews.org REPORTER Kenneth J. Souza kensouza@anchornews.org Send Letters to the Editor to: fatherrogerlandry@anchornews.org PoStmaSters send address changes to The Anchor, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722.

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From Tuesday, February 02 2010 To Thursday, February 04 2010 Please come and hear Sherry Weddell and Fr. Mike Fones, O.P. (co-directors of the Catherine of Siena Institute) speak about Spiritual Gifts Discernment. This program is specially designed to help Catholics discern the charisms of the Holy Spirit that they have been given. It helps them begin to learn how to use those charisms to serve God and other people. Please join us and discern your calling.

Location : Immaculate Conception Parish, 600 Pleasant Street, Malden MA 02148 Contact : Mary Morin at pf@icmalden.com From Friday, February 05 2010 To Saturday, February 06 2010 Come and hear Sherry Weddell and Fr. Mike Fones, O.P. (co-directors of the Catherine of Siena Institute) speak on discernment. This Spiritual Gifts Discernment Program is specially designed to help Catholics discern the charisms (spiritual gifts) of the Holy Spirit that they have been given. It helps them begin to learn how to use those charisms to serve God and other people. Please come and begin the discernment process.

Location : St. Catherine of Alexandria, 107 N. Main Street, Westford MA 01866 Contact : Diahne Goodwin at (978) 692-6353 or DiahneG@stcatherineparish.org

The Church in the U.S.

4

January 29, 2010

Catholic leaders still see hope for health reform after Brown election

By Nancy Frazier O’Brien Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON — The election of Republican Scott Brown to fill the U.S. Senate seat held since 1962 by Democrat Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts does not mean Catholic leaders will abandon efforts to achieve much-needed health reform.

That was the message from the president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association and the director of the Office of Domestic Social Development of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops the day after Brown, a state senator in Massachusetts, defeated state Attorney General Martha Coakley, 52 percent to 47 percent, in a special election January 19.

“The bishops are not abandoning the health reform effort,” said Kathy Saile of the USCCB. “But it clearly needs to be done in a different way (than the current bills) and we are very much interested in being a part of that conversation.”

Once Brown is seated in the Senate, Democrats will lose the 60-seat supermajority that had allowed them to cut off GOP filibustering on health reform legislation. Brown has said he would vote against the current Senate

health reform plan.

“The important thing to remember is that even if they throw the bills away and abandon the effort to achieve health reform, that still leaves a lot of people hurting,” said Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity who is the CHA’s top executive.

The Democratic leadership in the House and Senate has been working to reconcile the health reform bills passed by both chambers, but the likelihood of a Senate filibuster once Brown is seated means a bill that includes some of the House provisions probably would not come to a vote in the Senate.

One possible strategy is for the House to approve the Senate version without changes.

But the bishops — who have called the Senate bill “deficient” in its treatment of abortion, conscience protection, immigrants and affordability — would strongly oppose such a move, Saile said.

“The bishops have consistently said health reform is both a moral imperative and a national priority,” she said. “That is still the case.”

Saile said the “most helpful” step at this point would be to “take a deep breath, take a step back and remember why we started the

health reform process — because 50 million people in the United States don’t have health insurance and access to health care.”

Sister Carol urged a similar moment of reflection, followed by renewed action.

“Finding a way to get something done is a very worthwhile goal,” she said. “We have to look at what is best for the country, for the people.”

While the health reform debate has been going on, “more and more people have a desperate need for adequate health care,” Sister Carol said. “We have to find a way to come together and get health reform that is worthy of this nation.”

Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, said that Brown’s election “represents several simple facts about the current state of American politics.”

One is that “pendulums swing,” he said. “The American people, no matter what their political affiliation, are not comfortable with any one party holding supermajorities in Washington.”

Another lesson is the importance of elections, Father Pavone said.

“Whether the issue is health care, abortion or anything else, when the people feel powerless to change the minds of those in power, they change those in power,” he added.

she’s a survivor — Melissa Ohden of Sioux City, Iowa, is pictured with her two-year-old daughter, Olivia. Ohden survived a saline abortion her own mother obtained six months into her pregnancy with Melissa in 1977. Ohden, who said she recently forgave her mother for the failed abortion, spoke recently at an annual Pro-Life rally at St. Joseph Middle School in Appleton, Wis. (CNS Photo/courtesy of Melissa Ohden)

Archbishop praises New Jersey vote ‘for the truth of marriage’ WASHINGTON (CNS) — The New Jersey Senate “stood for the truth of marriage as a bulwark of the common good” with its recent vote to defeat a bill that would have legalized same-sex marriage, said the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for the Defense of Marriage.

“Preserving marriage between one man and one woman is a mat-

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ter of justice; indeed it is one of the premier social justice issues of our time,” said Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., in a statement. “It does not deny but rather supports basic human rights — especially the rights of children.”

By a 20-14 tally January 7, the state Senate voted down a bill called the Marriage Equality Act; if the bill had passed and been signed into law, New Jersey would have joined five others states in allowing same-sex couples to marry.

The others are Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.

But Archbishop Kurtz noted in his statement that the New York state Senate rejected a similar measure by a 38-24 margin December 2 and in November the voters in Maine overturned a legislative move to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples.

“The recent decisions in Maine, New York and New Jersey are signs of hope and sources of encouragement,” he said.

Archbishop Kurtz’s statement was released on the day that U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker was to begin hearing testimony in San Francisco in a federal court challenge to the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8, which overturned same-sex marriage in that state.

“We are in a pivotal moment in this country on the issue of marriage as more and more people recognize that protecting the basic rights of persons need not and should not come at the expense of the unique truth and value of marriage,” said Archbishop Kurtz.

The Church in the U.S.

January 29, 2010

“There was a sense of joy as they were brought to the U.S.,” he said. “I hope the process is as smooth as can be for them.”

Catholic Charities is helping in that process. The agency provided the bulk of volunteers and interpreters assisting the children

welcome arrival — Volunteers carry Haitian orphans from a plane at Pittsburgh International Airport January 19. The children, numbering 53 and ranging in age from infancy to 12, were among 150 left homeless following the January 12 earthquake that destroyed their orphanage, Brebis de Saint-Michel de L’Attalaye in Port-au-Prince. Area government, medical and social service agencies joined to bring them to Pittsburgh. At front is Marjorie Rendell, wife of Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.

(CNS photo/courtesy Gov. Rendell’s office)

Haitian orphans arrive in Pittsburgh, as well as families to adopt them

By Patricia Bartos Catholic News Service

airport while Rendell and other officials went to the U.S. embassy to solve documentation quesPITTSBURGH — Capping tions delaying the children’s dea rescue that mesmerized much parture. of the country following the Once their departure was apdevastating earthquake in Haiproved, the children, who had ti, 53 orphans arrived safely at been staying at the embassy Pittsburgh International Airport since the destruction of their January 19. home, arrived in vans to board The children, ranging from the huge C-130 transport plane. infants to age 12, came from an The older children were orphanage in the capital city of buckled in, while aid personnel Port-au-Prince operated for the the babies in their last two years by two n arrival, the children were im- held laps.

Pittsburgh-area sisters, mediately taken on three buses Shepard had high Ali and Jamie McMutrie to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh for praise for the “two of Ben Avon.

That facility, housing medical checkups and processing. They amazing young women 150 children, was badly were staying with licensed caregivers un- who have been taking care of the children” — damaged by the earthquake. The McMutries til their adoptive families could arrive to the McMutrie sisters.

In yet another compliquickly contacted Pitts- take them home. cation, Jamie McMutburgh relatives, seeking Rendell and Altmire joined rie stayed behind when it was supplies and help with rescuing 30 other local aid and medical learned that one of the orphans the children.

Those efforts soon involved personnel, including Catholic had wandered off. Both arrived the University of Pittsburgh Charities board president Mark in Miami January 20 en route to Medical Center, the American Shepard, on the rescue flight Pittsburgh.

“It was kind of surreal,” ShepRed Cross, Catholic Charities, that left Pittsburgh January 18 Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell for Port-au-Prince. The plane ard said of his expectation of and the women’s congressman, also carried 4,000 pounds of encountering children who had been traumatized by the earthmedical supplies for Haiti.

Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Pa. Shepard, a member of St. quake. “I had anticipated they’d On arrival, the children were immediately taken on three John Neumann Parish in Frank- be in much worse shape.”

“These kids have been well buses to Children’s Hospital of lin Park, had been invited on the Pittsburgh for medical checkups flight by a UPMC official and cared for and are thriving, and processing. They were stay- “asked if I could assist with the thanks to their little community ing with licensed caregivers un- children once they were in the in that orphanage,” he said. “It was clear they had a wonderful til their adoptive families could U.S.,” he said.

They spent six hours at the community relationship there. arrive to take them home.

O

Many of the children had already been in the process of being adopted by U.S. families when the earthquake hit.

The complicated adoption process has been sped up by an emergency ruling by Homeland Security director Janet Napolitano, but the agency and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services still must clear the children to leave Pittsburgh with the families.

5 until they can be released to their new families, Shepard said.

Nearly 90 children from the orphanage are now in the care of the French and Dutch governments, while the others are heading to new families in other countries.

6

The Anchor

Taking back the people’s seats from monopoly rule Scott Brown’s victory over Martha Coakley in the special election for U.S. Senate has not only massive national ramifications but perhaps even more pronounced statewide implications. January 19 was a bold declaration of independence by Massachusetts voters against a one-party system, both in Boston and in Washington, that has acted as if it prefers to ignore rather than heed their opinions and to presume rather than earn their electoral support.

The Boston Globe, in a refreshingly balanced and blunt January 24 editorial, said that Brown’s victory “told a broader story about Massachusetts politics and of voters’ hunger for options in a state that has often offered only one meaningful choice.” It welcomed the fact that his triumph “created the potential for improvement in the state’s political culture.” It “will almost surely be more competition for seats in the U.S. House as well as the Massachusetts House and Senate” and enable “forces of reform” within the Democratic party to gain traction.”

A couple of days after Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston wrote on his blog, “It is refreshing that the people of Massachusetts have voted independent of their party affiliation … [and looked] at issues rather than just vote party-line,” The Globe basically concurred, giving strong reasons for why voting the party-line for so long has harmed the Commonwealth. “Single-party dominance leads to stagnation,” the editorial continued, in words that can be applied not just to Beacon Hill but to Capitol Hill, where the Democratic majority has cut Republicans totally out of the health-care discussion and has awarded not just pork but whole pigsties to buy votes in Louisiana and Nebraska. “Supermajorities in state legislatures often breed political bosses and corruption. In Congress, representatives who are too confident of their re-election can become politically tone-deaf and complacent, even if they otherwise work hard on legislation. When times get tough, and voters look skeptically at all incumbents, those signs of arrogance loom large.”

Among the “signs of arrogance” the editorial writers specified was the “high-handed and foolish move” that Democratic leaders on Beacon Hill took to “upend the traditional system of filling a vacancy in the U.S. Senate.” Beacon Hill bosses changed the rules in 2004 away from a principle fair to all to a system that would give the best chance of retaining Democratic influence on Capitol Hill. Then they changed the rules again in 2009 for the very same reasons. It was a classic political example of “might makes right,” and they could only get away with such corruption because they had such a supermajority that no one could stop them. Another sign of the “arrogance of single-party rule” that the editorial describes is that the U.S. Attorney has indicted three straight Speakers of the House. “In a more competitive political environment,” they write, “such a run of corruption would be devastating to Democrats. But the vast, overfed majority on Beacon Hill paid no visible price. … The party chose DiMasi’s handpicked replacement and kept on moving as if nothing had happened.”

People do not like oligarchic rule, and especially resent corrupt oligarchic rule. That is basically the way, the editorial implies, Democratic leadership in the state has been behaving.

These were among the factors, it concludes, in “last week’s disaster for the Democratic party.”

The Globe also suggested that Martha Coakley was a symbol and product of the arrogance of one-party rule. “Her career … was marked by single-party dominance. She followed a greased path from Middlesex County district attorney to state [Attorney General], with little competition along the way.” The lack of competition clearly hurt her in the election, the editorial continues.

“Without electoral competition, even the best political skills begin to atrophy.” It leads to politicians’ spending “far more time crafting policies in back rooms than explaining them to constituents; even if the policies are sound, members can only benefit from having to confront their critics.”

That point leads to what was perhaps the biggest contrast in the Senatorial campaign.

It wasn’t the stark policy differences over the present health care bill, the economy and jobs, Afghanistan and whether we should defeat or defend terrorists like the Christmas Day bomber. All of these policy divergences were important and clearly played some role in Brown’s victory. The biggest gap of all between the candidates, however, seemed to be how they approached the ordinary hard-working men and women of the Commonwealth.

Scott Brown seemed to be on a series of job interviews across the state, treating people as his future bosses and asking them for their vote. He seemed to enjoy meeting them and comported himself as if he aspired to be their servant and their voice in Washington. His driving his GMC truck, in great condition after more than 200,000 miles, became a powerful symbol that seemed to reinforce that he was anything but elitist and had no aspiration to be chauffeured in a town-car or Cadillac Escalade.

In contrast, Martha Coakley, after an aggressive campaign in the Democratic primary in which she and the other candidates jockeyed to satisfy the demands of those on the far-left fringe, gave the impression of retreating from direct contact with all but her supporters. When asked by a reporter in a generally sympathetic piece about why she was choosing to hold most of her campaign events with officially sympathetic union members, she responded by asking, sarcastically and condescendingly, whether she should rather be shaking hands with Bruins’ fans in the cold outside Fenway Park at the January 1 Winter Classic. That is hardly the way someone seeking to serve such people is expected to behave. Such a comment appeared to portray that she thought that she was above such fans, above shaking their hands, above the cold, and above appealing for and earning votes one at a time. This is what The Globe means by arrogant and out-of-touch.

It got worse. Many snickered, of course, when Martha Coakley demonstrated that she didn’t even know that Curt Schilling was a Red Sox hero, not a Yankees fan. Perhaps the greatest demonstration, however, of how out of touch she was with people at large was demonstrated by the way she made radical support for abortion a centerpiece of her campaign.

She attacked Scott Brown not because he was Pro-Life — unfortunately he isn’t, although he does support a few restrictions — but because, while supporting the distribution of the morning after pill to rape victims in emergency rooms, he authored an amendment at the State House exempting medical personnel and institutions who opposed abortion from being forced to administer these potentially abortifacient pills. Coakley attacked Brown for even wanting to protect the jobs of those who in conscience could not administer such pills.

After she raised the subject on Ken Pittman’s WBSM radio program in New Bedford, Pittman asked her whether Catholics and others who might oppose abortion still have religious freedom in emergency rooms. The Attorney General replied that they do, but then declared that they “probably shouldn’t work in the emergency room.” She said this in a state where nearly half the residents are baptized Catholics, many of the hospitals were founded by the Catholic Church, and a high percentage of the medical personnel is Catholic. Coakley somehow was convinced that trampling on the consciences of health care workers would be a winning issue in this state — perhaps because she seemed to consult and value the opinions of her radical pro-abortion donors on Emily’s list more than those typical nurses and pharmacists who populate our state who would be voting on January 19.

Brown made a lot out of his debate one-liner that he was campaigning for “the people’s seat.” Last Tuesday, the people of the Commonwealth demonstrated that they consider such a seat theirs to give and put other politicians, locally and nationally, on notice, that unless they regard the people’s seats they presently occupy with humility rather than as an entitlement, that unless they begin to listen to the voice of the people and serve their legitimate interests, the people will rise up to fire them and offer the seat to someone else who will.

January 29, 2010

St. John Vianney’s favorite work Perhaps as a result of his many hardships ers an adequate training. He sent two young due to the inadequate education he received as a women from the village, Catherine Lassagne young boy, St. John Vianney was always a great and Benoite Lardet, to the Sisters of St. Joseph apostle of the importance of Catholic schools. in Fareins, to be formed in subject matter and He founded two such schools in Ars and en- pedagogical method. They had agreed to work dowed several others in surrounding villages. for nothing but room, board and the knowledge He sacrificed all his property and his entire in- that they were doing good. heritance to build them and would regularly go As a school building, he bought a new house on begging tours to sustain them. He poured his close to the Church in the middle of the town. It heart and so much of his energy into making had one large room on the first floor that could them succeed. serve as a classroom and two small rooms above, As we begin Catholic Schools Week on Sun- where the teachers could live. He dedicated all of day, focusing on how the Church’s and parents’ his personal assets to its acquisition. Money was investment in a Catholic education pays off in so tight that he didn’t have any left to pay the “dividends for life,” we can all profit from the notary who drew up the deed. It was fitting that example and the wisdom of the patron saint of the school be called “La Providence,” because it priests, who treated Catholic education as the would be dependent on God’s care for its daily pearl of great price for which he expended all he upkeep and survival. had to make possible.

It was opened in November of 1824. FaFather Vianney thought that a good Catholic ther Vianney had originally intended it as a day education was worth almost any sacrifice. Once school, but, because the school was free — in a mother said to him, “I have now spent all I own contrast to even public schools in the villages — in providing a good education for my children; parents from surrounding towns soon began to all I have left is my house.” The saint’s reply was send their girls as well. As a result, one of the swift and a little shocking. “Sell it,” he encour- upstairs rooms had to be converted into a dormiaged her, “and complete your work.” That led tory. her to reassess her priorities and to surpass her Once students started to live there and previous limreceive 24its of maternal hour supervilove. She sold sion, however, the house, but as the school God would have would soon it, the elderly adapt again. buyer, moved Father Vianby her willingney could not

By Father ness to sacrifice help but be Roger J. Landry everything for touched by the Christian upall the orphans bringing of her and girls from children, decided secretly to name her the ben- destitute families in the area, who were often eficiary of the house in his will. The Lord called exposed to abuse as domestic servants at very this benevolent man home a short time after the young ages. Without an education, they would sale. So, by God’s providence, not only did she have little chance in life. He decided, therefore, not lose her house but, because of her willing- to found a home for orphaned girls attached to ness to sacrifice, also obtained the money neces- the school. sary to educate her kids.

This was hard to accomplish. He prayed and Father Vianney’s upbringing helped to en- begged God for help. He implored parishioners sure that he would never take a Catholic edu- for financial assistance, but the only response he cation for granted. When he was about to begin got was literally a sack of potatoes. So, despite school, the French Revolutionaries passed a law his reluctance and incompetence as a fund raiser, prohibiting priests or present or former religious he started a begging tour, knocking on the gates from teaching in schools. They also required ev- of the various chateaux in the Lyons region and ery teacher to take an oath of “civism,” forcing writing letters to the affluent in places too far to lay teachers to adopt the anti-religious secular- visit. Eventually enough people gave that he was ist presumptions of the Revolution. Finally, they able to purchase the land and the materials and mandated parents, at the risk of huge fines, to begin building. Vianney himself would serve as send their kids to school for three years to be the masons’ assistant in order to cut costs. indoctrinated in the ideas of the revolution. MaSoon 60 orphans began boarding at the thieu and Marie Vianney avoided the dilemma school. To make room for them, Father Vianney of choosing either to pay the fines or send their decided that they would no longer accept chilkids to such schools because so few teachers dren from well-to-do families in the area. When took the oath that there was no teacher available there was no longer a vacant corner for another in Dardilly and the school remained shut. young waif, he persuaded the teachers to give Eventually, because of the dearth of teachers, up their beds. Several children, even newborns, the government needed to abolish the blacklisting would be left on their doorstep. There was unof priests and religious and the oath of civism. A believable need. virtuous man named Mr. Dumas came to DardilThe teachers worked very hard to educate ly to teach reading, writing, math, history and ge- in a multi-level environment. Older students, to ography to the children during the winter, when practice their lessons, were encouraged to pass they were not required to work in the fields. John them on to the younger ones. In addition to the Vianney began his formal schooling when he was ordinary academic subjects, the girls were trained nine. The late start, and the short invernal school in sewing, washing, ironing and cooking. Father “year,” made progress very slow. Thereafter, de- Vianney served as their religion teacher and also spite much dedication, he would struggle to get taught them proper manners and other things that anything into what he called his “bad head.” We ordinarily kids should learn at home. When they saw in previous columns the enormous academic left La Providence at about 18, he would persondifficulties he had in the seminary. ally help each one find a good situation.

When Father Vianney arrived in Ars, there Everyone in Ars knew that the school was was no school and no one trained to teach. Dur- their pastor’s favorite work. “Only on the day of ing the winters, the villagers would try to recruit judgment will people see how much good has someone, but even when they succeeded, the been accomplished in that institution,” he once “school” was co-ed and Father Vianney believed said with pride. He knew that the dividends rethat this was not an optimal situation — amply paid by such an education not only profited so reconfirmed in our own day by multiple stud- many girls in this life to become great wives and ies — either for boys or for girls to learn. He mothers, teachers, maids and even religious, but quickly determined that there was a need for a would continue to pay returns into eternity. year-round single-sex school. He decided first to Next week we will look at how St. John Vianerect a school for girls, anticipating that parents ney tried to provide the same investment for boys would more easily permit their girls to come to and for children in other villages. We will also school year round than their boys, whose work discuss how God, in his Providence, would ask in the fields they valued more. him to sacrifice his favorite work.

Father Vianney took three years to make Father Landry is pastor of St. Anthony of plans, raise funds and get potential teach- Padua Parish in New Bedford.

Putting Into the Deep

“C

The priest as spiritual father to young people

ling to him, forsake him not, thus will your future be great.”

These words from Sirach 2:3 were inscribed into a Bible that I received from my home parish of St. Julie Billiart in North Dartmouth in 1991, as part of a ceremony blessing high school graduates in all of their future endeavors.

Fast forward to the year 2002, one that would be very memorable and unforgettable for two very different reasons.

First, the Church would be rocked by the nationwide crisis of sexual abuse of minors by clerics. This was certainly a troubling time, not only for priests, but also for the entire Church. In fact, at the height of the crisis, I was still studying at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton.

That brings me to the second memorable event of 2002 — my ordination to the priesthood on June 8. In the midst of crisis, scandal, doubt, and uncertainty, I took a leap of faith to be ordained a priest of Jesus Christ.

Why? Because of those words that have been with me ever since I graduated from high school: I clung to the Lord, I never forsook him, and always looked to a great future with a deep faith and hope in our good

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January 29, 2010

and gracious God. where I eventually received my My involvement in youth degree in mathematics in 1995. ministry as a high school and Through all of these pursuits, college student enabled me to diocesan priests were constantrespond generously to God’s ly engaged in youth ministry, call in my life to serve him and shaping me to become the man, his Church as a priest. It began and the priest, I came to be. with my willingness to serve as As I was preparing for the an altar boy (there were no altar priesthood, I had always envigirls in my day), with the privilege of serving at the funeral Mass of Year For Priests Father John Hogan, the Vocational Reflection first pastor of St. Julie’s.

Many will also remember Father Hogan as the

By Father longtime director of the Jeffrey Cabral televised Mass.

It continued with the various social, service and spiritual activities of the St. sioned that I would continue Julie’s Youth Group. I became to be involved in various youth even more involved with the ministry activities. Young peoYouth Group after my wonderple need to be taught and shown ful experience in the summer of God’s love for them. But more 1990 with the diocesan-sponthan that, young people have to sored Christian Leadership Inbe shown that they are not only stitute or CLI, where I learned the Church of the future, but various skills to be a lay leader they are certainly the Church at my parish. I attended the of today. Young people should very first YES! retreat in 1991 be encouraged to be involved in and also had the privilege their school and parish commuof making the pilgrimage to nities, and that encouragement Denver, Colo. in 1993 for starts with the priest.

World Youth Day to welcome The perfect example of a and participate in the various priest who was committed to activities with Pope John Paul ministering to young people II. I was involved in campus was our beloved late Pope John ministry at UMass-Dartmouth, Paul II. The people’s pope, and

certainly the pope of the youth, had always been involved in youth ministry, from the time he was a priest in Poland to the pope who started the World Youth Day celebrations. In fact, in the jubilee year of 2000, during his annual address to the clergy of Rome, the Holy Father observed: “We cannot forget that the priest, by vocation, is an evangelizer and spiritual father to the young people entrusted to him by the Lord. They need to find in their priest an available and sincere friend, but also a witness who lives his calling with joy and with spiritual and moral consistency. Then they will be helped, in turn, to discover, and to accept the vocation that gives their whole life meaning and value.”

Even though youth ministry has changed since 2002, this basic truth has not. The priest is indeed an evangelizer and a spiritual father to the young people entrusted to him.

Through my seven years of priestly ministry, I have been privileged to be involved in youth ministry activities at St. Anthony’s Parish in Taunton, to be the chaplain of both Taunton Catholic Middle School and

Coyle-Cassidy High School, to help coordinate a monthly Youth Mass in the Taunton Deanery, to be a team leader and spiritual director for CLI, to share the sacraments with young people — especially offering the gift of God’s mercy and forgiveness in the sacrament of reconciliation — to participate in the YES! retreat, Emmaus retreat, Steubenville East Conference, Extreme East, confirmation retreats, and countless other moments of youth ministry.

Each time I minister to youth, I am conscious of my humble role as a spiritual father and evangelizer to the youth. I pray that through my example and service of the priesthood, I may encourage many young men to be open to hearing God’s call to serve his Church as a priest. May those same words that sustained me as a high school student, and continue to do so today, encourage a new generation of priests: “Cling to him, forsake him not, thus will your future be great!”

Father Cabral is studying canon law at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., with residence at the Church of the Little Flower in Bethesda, Md.

Catholic schools: Cultivators of priestly vocations

atholic Schools Week in the midst of the Year For Priests lends itself to reflection on how much of an impact our Catholic schools can have on a priestly vocation. I thought it would be most effective to do this based upon the role Catholic schools played and continue to play in my own vocation.

My 13-year journey through Catholic schools began in the spring of 1995 when I entered first grade at St. Mary’s Primary School in Taunton. I had just spent two and a half years at a public school in the city of Boston and, even at the age of six, I was able to notice the vast differences between the two institutions. The public school was huge with thousands of students in large classes and was one of the noisiest places I can remember; St. Mary’s was smaller and more intimate. The public school was chaotic; St. Mary’s was ordered and had a true sense of peace.

From first through fifth grades at this school, St. Mary’s helped to form me not only academically but also as a Catholic. We had daily religion

the altar. In these years many classes and prayers. We regularly attended Mass and prayed of my teachers, and even classmates, were beginning the rosary. The pastor of St. to encourage and support my Mary’s at the time, Father priestly vocation. Father MauWilliam Costello, was known rice Gauvin regularly used to to all the students, and always come to celebrate Masses, hear appeared approachable and confessions and be a priestly available to us whenever he was at the school. My teachers continually urged all the students to know the faith.

Guest I received first holy Columnist Communion in second grade and shortly after Christopher that, initial thoughts Peschel of the priesthood began. By the time I was in fourth grade, presence to us. my Halloween costume was a I had known probably from cassock and “padre hat.” Mrs. third grade on what a religious Carol Zopatti, a fifth-grade Sister was, but I didn’t have teacher, used to bring us over one as a teacher until seventh to St. Mary’s Church so often grade.

Sister Marie Baldi, to help with “cleaning,” that SUSC, was a wonderful examthe church, which is quite an ple to us of someone who had imposing structure, became a given her life to the service place which we were comfortof God. She was full of joy in able visiting and genuinely letting others know the blessenjoyed spending time in. ings of a life lived for God and From sixth to eighth grade, the happiness one receives by I attended Taunton Catholic passing on the Catholic faith to Middle School. I became an active altar server at my parish younger generations.

In 2002 I started high and the school and I relished school at Xaverian Brothers every opportunity to serve at

High School in Westwood.

Here, too, I found many positive influences from faculty and peers towards a priestly vocation. The academic work became much more challenging for me, but the spiritual dimension of the school was not lost. Students were able to participate in daily Morning Prayer with the Brothers, and faculty offered a prayer before every class. The theology classes got progressively more difficult ranging from Church history and Scripture, to morality and The Nature and Existence of God. Several of the school’s theology teachers and campus ministers obviously considered their work more than merely a job; rather they saw it as a vocation and an opportunity to bring students closer to Christ.

By the time I graduated from high school in 2006, I was spiritually prepared to begin discerning a call to the priesthood. There was so much support and encouragement from my peers and teachers in the Catholic schools until then

that it seemed neither awkward nor out of place to say that’s what I wanted to do with my life.

In November 2006, after a period of three months at the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, I was almost certain that God was calling me to the priesthood.

The following August I entered seminary and to this day I believe that responding to God’s call when I did was one of the most rewarding decisions I have ever made in my life.

I write this not to suggest that if parents send their children to Catholic schools that they will necessarily become a priest or a religious. I tell my story, rather, to show that Catholic schools are a place where a vocation is fostered. I look back with gratitude on so many vivid examples throughout my years in Catholic schools of how God planted and so many others nourished seeds in me of the vocation to the priesthood.

Christopher Peschel is a seminarian for the Diocese of Fall River studying at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Penn.

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H

ow quickly they turned to anger and attempted murder. Just moments before this sudden change, the Jews in the synagogue of Nazareth were praising Jesus for his gracious words and for the marvelous acts of mercy and healing that he did in the neighboring towns.

They wanted to see and experience these marvelous deeds for themselves but when Jesus spoke truth to them and claimed that he was the fulfillment of the prophets, they turned on him and tried to kill him.

The history of salvation in the Old Testament is replete with tales of prophets scorned and murdered because the people did not want to hear the truth.

It’s often been said, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” This certainly seems the case when it comes to humanity’s hearing and accepting the word of God.

January 29, 2010

Truth and consequences

As baptized Christians, also been darkened by this evil. we are called to the order of Pro-choice is simply a benign prophet, priest and king. As sounding euphemism for aborprophets, we are called by God tion on demand. to speak truth, even if we suffer for it.

We know the conseHomily of the Week quences of not speaking Fourth Sunday truth. Last Friday, the in Ordinary Time United States marked the 37th anniversary

By Deacon of the Supreme Court Steven F. Minninger decision, “Roe v. Wade.”

The consequences of that shameful and immoral decision to legalize aborAs God called the prophtion on demand have resulted in ets to speak truth, we too, are the deaths of more than 50 milcalled by God through baptism lion unborn babies. As horrible in Christ to speak truth, to deand tragic and mind-numbing fend truth and defend life. as that is, that is only part of St. Paul reminds us in the the tragedy. Each of those 50 second reading, “If I have all million unborn babies, had a faith so as to move mountains, mother and a father, whose but do not have love, I am souls were deadened by the evil nothing.” We must remember that they entered into. Many that Jesus is love. He is patient. thousands of others’ souls, who He is kind. He is humble. He performed, assisted, supported is gracious. He is selfless. He or advocated for abortion have bears all things, and endures

all things. He never fails. He is love and he is truth.

The cross of Christ is the perfect sign of his of love. He laid down his life for us. He calls us to pick up our cross and follow him.

As a reader of The Anchor, you, no doubt, are serious about your faith in Jesus Christ and his Body, the Church.

Although we represent only a portion of the total population of our diocese, as part of the Church militant, we can make a difference if we stand up for and speak truth in love.

That cross for us Catholics in Massachusetts, at this moment in time, is to go against the secular mentality and the culture of death and to stand for and speak up for the truth: the truth that life begins at conception; the truth that God ordained life to be conceived in the sanctity of

a marriage of one man and one woman; and the truth that life is to be nurtured and cared for, until natural death.

The prophet Jeremiah writes, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying: before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nation’s I appointed you.

“But do you gird your loins; stand up and tell him all that I command you…. For it is I this day, who have made you a fortified city, a pillar of the iron, a wall of brass against the whole land….”

These words to the prophet Jeremiah are also meant for you and me today. Will we stand up and tell them all that God commands us to?

It’s a matter of life and death.

Speak truth. Choose life!

Deacon Minninger serves at St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Provincetown and Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Wellfleet.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Jan. 30, 2 Sm 12:1-7a,10-17; Ps 51:12-17; Mk 4:35-41. Sun. Jan. 31, Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jer 1:4-5,17-19; Ps 71:16,15,17; 1Cor 12:31-13:13 or 13:4-13; Lk 4:21-30. Mon. Feb. 1, 2 Sm 15:13-14,30;16:5-13; Ps 3:2-7; Mk 5:1-20. Tues. Feb. 2, feast of The Presentation of the Lord, Mal 3:1-4; Ps 24:7-10; Heb 2:14-18; Lk 2:22-40 or 2:22-32. Wed. Feb. 3, 2 Sm 24:2,9-17; Ps 32:1-2, 5-7; Mk 6:1-6. Thur. Feb. 4, 1 Kgs 2:1-4,10-12; (Ps) 1 Chr 29:10-12; Mk 6:7-13. Fri. Feb. 5, Sir 47:2-11; Ps 18:31,47,50-51; Mk 6:14-29.

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Papal environmentalism: Pro-Life and pro-marriage

n his recent address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, Pope Benedict XVI continued to carve out an interesting Catholic position on ecology. The pope insists that care for creation is a moral obligation that falls on both individuals and governments. His very invocation of “creation,” however, challenges the secular shibboleths that underwrite a lot of contemporary environmental activism.

Here is the money paragraph in the papal address to the diplomats assembled in the Sala

Regia of the Apostolic Palace: of God distorts the freedom of “Twenty years ago, the fall of the human person, yet it also the Berlin Wall and the collapse devastates creation. It follows of the materialistic and atheistic regimes which had for several decades dominated a part of this continent, it was easy to assess the great harm which an economic sysBy George Weigel tem lacking any reference to the truth about man had done not only to the dignity and freethat the protection of creation is dom of individuals and peoples, not principally a response to an but to nature itself, by polluting aesthetic need, but much more soil, water, and air. The denial to a moral need, in as much as nature expresses a plan of love and truth which is prior to us and comes from God.” Now, the overlap between orthodox Christians and radical environmentalists may not be what the mathematicians call a “null set;” but I rather doubt that those who qualify on both January 25, 2010 counts would fill, say, the new Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina Cowboys Stadium. Doubts on this front harden when, “Dear children! May this time be a time of person- two paragraphs later, the pope al prayer for you, so that the seed of faith may grow explicitly linked an aroused conscience to in your hearts; and may it grow into a joyful witness environmental the inalienable right-to-life: to others. I am with you and I desire to inspire you all: “this concern … for the environment should be situated grow and rejoice in the Lord Who has created you. within the larger framework “Thank you for having responded to my call.” of the great challenges now facing mankind… . [Thus] how Spiritual Life Center of Marian Community can we separate, or even set One Marian Way at odds, the protection of the Medway, MA 02053 • Tel. 508-533-5377 environment and the protecPaid advertisement tion of human life, including

Our Lady’s Monthly Message From Medjugorje

The Catholic Difference

the life of the unborn? It is in man’s respect for himself that his sense of responsibility is shown. As Saint Thomas Aquinas has taught us, man represents all that is most noble in the universe.…”

Two paragraphs after that, Benedict tied care for the environment to the defense of marriage rightly understood — another issue that does not, I suspect, loom large on the agenda of Greenpeace: “We must remember that the problem of the environment is complex; one might compare it to a multifaceted prism. Creatures differ from one another and can be protected, or endangered, in different ways, as we know from daily experience.

One such attack comes from laws or proposals which, in the name of fighting discrimination, strike at the biological basis of the difference between the sexes. I am thinking, for example, of certain countries in Europe, or North and South America” — that is, countries (or, in our case, states) that have given legal sanction to so-called “same-sex marriage.”

So: according to Benedict XVI, a consistent Catholic environmentalism must include the defense of life from conception until natural death and the defense of marriage as the stable

union of a man and a woman.

Indeed, I expect the pope would argue that any environmentalism worthy of the name would take up the cause of life and the cause of marriage, for the truths that undergird the Catholic prolife position and the Catholic defense of marriage-rightlyunderstood are moral truths that can be known by reason — they’re not some “sectarian” Catholic theological chicanery, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and the vice president of the United States notwithstanding.

It will be interesting to see if the new papal environmentalism coaxes a few brave souls from the ecology camp into common cause with those less politically correct movements in defense of life and marriage.

I’m skeptical, not least because of decades of moral confusion during which radical environmentalists have shown far more concern for endangered species of insects than for endangered pre-born children. As for the gay insurgency, it takes no prisoners and is unlikely to see its cause as counter-environmental.

Still, the papal challenge has been laid down, and as they say in Rome, “We think in centuries here.”

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

Spring cleaning

Still in the file cabinets, howFriday 29 January 2010 — at home in Old Dighton Village ever, remained what is delicately referred to as “varia,” — “Fun at work day” pastor has the responsibility of learning the history of a The Ship’s Log particular faith commuReflections of a nity in order to set the Parish Priest course for the future.

How can you know

By Father Tim where you are going if Goldrick you don’t know where you have been? The Latin for “a bunch of stuff.” history of a faith community In cleaning out the files, a is often found in dusty file thousand decisions must be cabinets. made. What does this piece of The sacramental records of paper concern? What does it both St. Peter and St. Joseph say about the subject? Is the Churches were secured immediately upon the establishment information contained herein still valuable and worthy of of the parish of St. Nicholas.

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January 29, 2010

preservation? This is tedious work, but I find it fascinating.

I recently dedicated a few days to the task of triage. Specifically, since I am now in residence in the former St. Peter Rectory, it was time to sit down quietly and open every file preserved in the rectory office. We are talking here about almost 100 years of paperwork. To their credit, most of my predecessors were very fastidious record keepers.

Some papers could be disposed of easily — a paid receipt for a pound of nails purchased in 1929, for ex-

Justice and peace

as icons of Holy Mother ope Benedict has apChurch, the Bride — allows pointed a lay woman, them tremendous latitude in Flaminia Giovanelli, as a their own feminine service, superior in one of its dicastas we find in such a story as eries, the Pontifical Council this. for Justice and Peace. Each It is particularly intriguing dicastery is headed by a that one of the major tasks of prefect or president (usually a cardinal or archbishop), as- her office is to promote the beautiful message of Benesisted by a secretary (usually an archbishop or bishop) and dict’s encyclical, Caritas in Veritate. The relationship an under-secretary (usually between “love and truth” and a monsignor or cleric). The “justice and peace” is proonly other woman serving as an under-secretary is a Salesian Sister, thus making the latest assignment another precedent.

When asked by reporter John Allen

By Genevieve Kineke about what her appointment says about the Church’s recognifound and inescapable. As tion of the talents of women, Aquinas put it so succinctly, she answered, “Maybe it’s “peace is a product of right growing in what I might call order,” and the order of love a visible way, but it’s always demands a radical rethinking been there, and anyone who of how many secular observknows the life of the Church ers look at peace in our time. and its mechanisms, includMother Teresa was blunt ing its institutions, knows in her assessment of the that women have always had disorder of our day, blaming a very important role. Now, abortion for the woes of the I would say, that’s becoming world. In her address to the more visible.”

National Prayer Breakfast Indeed, the faith is not in 1994, she noted, “Any about titles and power grabs, country that accepts abortion which is what some conis not teaching its people to fused souls believe in their love, but to use any viopush for women’s ordinalence to get what they want. tion. She is absolutely right This is why the greatest that women have always destroyer of love and peace been extremely important, is abortion.” Elsewhere, she beginning with the foundaexplained how that disorder tional fact that all of our joy at the heart of the family rests in the fiat of Our Lady.

Priests are icons of the bride- causes a ripple effect that covered the world. groom, which explains the The hearts of women are proscription against women integral to the battle over priests, and yet women —

The Feminine Genius

abortion, but peace is broader in scope than their views on reproduction. Peace is founded in their receptivity to God’s invitation to love, which has an order of its own. Pope John Paul II explained this in “The Dignity and Vocation of Women,” where he wrote, “In God’s eternal plan, woman is the one in whom the order of love in the created world of persons takes first root” (MD, 29).

Thus, even the quiet lives of women — often hidden, humble, and limited by a variety of circumstances — can have a tremendous impact on how peace is manifest in the world. It begins when their receptivity of the love of God is translated into concrete expressions of love for those they encounter on a daily basis. Furthermore, their loving collaboration with men can transform corners of the globe that no government agency or corporate project can penetrate.

We should offer our heartiest congratulations to Giovanelli for this groundbreaking honor, as well as our prayers for her effective service for years to come, but remember that this visible honor on the institutional level is only a mirror of what must be lived in every setting.

Mrs. Kineke is the author of “The Authentic Catholic Woman” (Servant Books).

She can be found online at www.feminine-genius.com.

ample. In the case of other documents, it took some time to evaluate their worth. My favorite category was those files that were unquestionably worthy of preservation.

I see that on 8 June 1928, Father Thomas Doherty, Pastor of St. Joseph Church, North Dighton, purchased land for the proposed County Street (called “the new road”) rectory from Mrs. Catherine MacKillop, the next-door neighbor.

MacKillop sold exactly half of her property. A 25-foot span was left between her land and that of the proposed rectory, seemingly as a common access. The 117-by-125-foot lot for the rectory cost $500. Save this file.

Dated two months after the land sale, I find a contract between a certain Quinlan McMullan, housewright, residing at Brownell Street, Fall River, and Father Doherty for the construction of a frame rectory for St. Peter Church in Dighton. Architect Joseph Higgins of Fall River designed the building. McMullen was to do the carpentry, the masonry work, and the painting. Father Doherty was to provide all the materials. An expense of $302.67 to the Cook Borden Lumber Yard seems to have been contested until settlement was made in 1931. The monies to be paid to McMullen amounted to $7,366. In return, McMullan promised to carry out the work with all due diligence and to complete it as rapidly as possible. The document was dated 29 August 1928. McMullan did a good job. I now live in this house.

Save this file.

There are even older documents. I found what appears to be a purchase agreement for 90-and-three-quarter square rods of land on Main Street.

Thomas Shahan of Beverly sold this parcel for $1 to a “clergyman” of Providence and to his heirs. Clergyman indeed. That would be Bishop Thomas Hendricken, who, at the time, held ecclesiastical

jurisdiction over Dighton. This was back in the days before the Diocese of Fall River was established. Bishop Hendricken, of course, left no heirs. Silly lawyers and their jargon. The deed transfer took place on 21 May 1874. Save this file.

Here’s another document signed by a Bishop of Providence, Matthew Harkins, and dated 2 November 1903. He purchased a tract of land and building on Main Street for $2,700. The mortgage was discharged on 29 October 1925, during the pastorate of Father George Flanagan and so Father Flanagan wrote boldly in his own hand across the envelope.

Save this file.

I find documentation that Father Bill O’Reilly (with whom I served in Taunton,) purchased land from the Gordon Family in 1965. The 15 acres across from the rectory cost $6,000. The land was never developed. Save this file.

There is a file, dated 13 October 1993, is the purchase agreement of what formerly served as the St. Peter Church Hall. Father Francis Allen (with whom I shared breakfast once a month), purchased the former Smith Memorial Hall on Main Street, built in 1889, from Dighton Community Church for $90,000. It was the “social center” of Dighton until the 1930s, according to one report, but then used only sporadically. In need of funds, the Dighton Community Church decided to sell the property to the Catholic Church, which needed meeting space. The local newspaper ran the headline “Catholics take over Protestant Hall.” The Protestants objected strenuously. The newspaper reran the article with another heading, “Dighton Community Church sells Smith Memorial Hall to St. Peter’s.” Save this one, too.

When it comes to spring cleaning, I tend to save more than I discard.

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

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The Anchor

January 29, 2010

Parents willingly make sacrifices to send children to Catholic schools

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff FALL RIVER — Parents of students throughout the diocese can attest to the value and importance of a Catholic education by the daily sacrifices they make to send their kids to parochial schools.

Most willingly take on the additional financial burden of tuition payments to provide their children with Catholic schooling, while others also sacrifice their time and resources to transport students to and from classes and extracurricular activities.

But for all, it’s a sacrifice they don’t regret making.

“We felt that sending our children to a Catholic school would enrich their lives,” said Maria Pereira. “We felt they would not only get a great education, but also learn about and live God’s message everyday.”

Maria and her husband John have three daughters currently enrolled at St. Mary’s School in New Bedford: Meagan, 11, is in sixth grade; Alyssa, nine, is in fourth grade; and Sara, seven, is in first grade.

“I went to public school while John attended Catholic school at St. Anthony’s in New Bedford from first to eighth grade and then attended a public high school,” she said. “When Megan was old enough to start school, John was adamant about her going to a Catholic school and after talking to other parents we decided that St. Mary’s was a good fit.”

Even despite the economic hardship of having to pay tuition for three students for the past seven years, Pereira said it’s something she and her husband willingly do to ensure their daughters’ “academic and spiritual needs are met.”

“John always talked about how when he went to public school it was a very different environment,” Pereira added.

“He felt like a number and not a part of a family and that the (Catholic school) teachers take a very personal interest in their students.”

For Rochester resident Ann Domagala, the financial obligations of footing the tuition bill for five children at St. Mary’s School in New Bedford is also compounded by the daily commute that often includes two or three trips a day, depending on after-school activities.

“Rochester is a nice town and it has a good school system, but my husband and I felt we wanted the Catholic experience for our kids,” Ann Domagala said.

“That’s why we’ve decided to cart them down to New Bedford everyday, back and forth, because we valued it so much.”

A parishioner at St. John Neumann Parish in East Freetown, Ann and her husband Anthony have five children currently enrolled at St. Mary’s School — Meghan in seventh grade, Jack in fifth grade, Marc in fourth grade, Luc in second grade, and Jenna who just began kindergarten.

“We pay about $15,000 a year in tuition, and that’s a big pill to swallow,” Domagala admitted. “But the bottom line is we felt the financial expense was worth it. This is something they’re going to have for the rest of their life. You can’t put a price on that.”

A former public school teacher who worked in the New Bedford school system, Domagala also said while there are many dedicated teachers in public schools, she finds the level of commitment among Catholic school teachers to be inspiring.

“It seems the Catholic school teachers give it a 150 percent effort,” she said, “they seem more dedicated to their work.”

Leslie Vicente, a parishioner at St. John the Baptist Parish in New Bedford, would have to agree.

Not only does she work part-time at Holy Family-Holy Name School and St. James-St. John School, in New Bedford, but her two youngest sons are currently enrolled in the latter — Lucas in sixth grade, Joey in fourth grade.

“Some days I’m trying to figure out where the money is going to come from,” she said.

“But my kids love St. JamesSt. John School. Lucas has not missed a day of school since third grade. I can’t see my kids anywhere else.”

It’s particularly challenging for Vicente as a single mother of four, who not only has to pay tuition for Lucas and Joey, but also for her eldest daughter Sasha, who’s attending classes at Bristol Community College in Fall River. Her other son, Tyler, attends New Bedford High School.

“It’s quite a bit of money when the huge salary isn’t there,” Vicente said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen this year — tuition just went up $200 for each child. It’s a sacrifice, but to me the special attention my kids get from their teachers and the values they are taught are all worth it.”

“We do OK, but we work extra hard just to do OK,” she added.

Kristen Hyde of Mashpee and her husband Brian currently have four children enrolled at St. Pius X School in South Yarmouth, with the prospect of sending their three preschoolaged children there sometime in

the near future.

The Hyde Family currently has representation in just about every grade at St. Pius X — Brian in third grade, Brendan in second grade, Kylie in first grade, and Michael in kindergarten.

For the parishioners of Christ the King Parish in Mashpee, it’s not just the four tuition payments they have to contend with each year — it’s also the 22-mile commute to and from school everyday.

“We do have a commute, it probably takes about 40 minutes to drive in the morning,” Kristen Hyde said. “But the kids love the school.”

Since Brian teaches for the public schools in Mashpee, Kristen said people were surprised they opted to send their children to Catholic school.

“To me, they really provide a nurturing and family atmosphere in Catholic schools,” she said. “I think our decision will pay off in the long run. It’s not only the education, it’s the person that you are, I believe … and I think Catholic schools help mold you into a good person.”

When Nirva Moncoeur immigrated to the United States from Haiti seven years ago, the widow made a promise to herself that she would do whatever she could to put her two daughters through Catholic school.

While her youngest is still at home, her daughter Valeka is currently enrolled in third grade at the parochial school of her home parish of St. Stanislaus in Fall River. The proud mother expressed her excitement at the prospect of her daughter getting a Catholic education through an interpreter.

“It’s not easy at all to send her to Catholic school,” Mon-

coeur said. “Her father is dead and now I’m working full-time to pay her tuition. But I want my child to have the best education possible. I want her to speak English better than me.”

Likewise Anna Resendes, a parishioner at St. Michael’s Parish in Fall River, said she and her husband work two jobs each just to put their daughter Victoria and son Christian through the parish school.

“I would work a third job if tuition went up,” she said. “I would make any sacrifice to send them there.”

As one of five daughters who immigrated to the United States with her parents in 1978, Resendes said her parents unfortunately didn’t have the means to send all five girls to Catholic school at the time, so she is thankful to be able to provide that opportunity to her own children.

“I live in Swansea and we have a great school system that we pay taxes to support,” she said. “I could send them to public school, but I choose to send them elsewhere. I hope God will keep me healthy enough so they can both graduate and I can keep them there. We always want better for our children.”

Like so many parents who make daily sacrifices to send their children to Catholic school, Resendes cited the religious beliefs and values that St. Michael’s School imparts to students as one of the key reasons she opted to send them there.

“Religion is a huge part of my life and I was raised to believe in God and I want my children to have the same values,” she said. “As they say in the American Express commercials, to me a Catholic education is priceless.”

Family Rosary is collecting rosaries for Haitian earthquake victims

NORTH EASTON — The world looks on as rescue efforts continue in a Haiti, and one can feel so helpless while witnessing the devastation on television sets daily, wondering, “What can I do that will matter?”

Many have reached into their wallets and shared what little they have, so that food, water, and medicine can be distributed to those in such dire need there, and that is all good.

All who can are encouraged, with whatever amount, big or small, to help out financially in this awful crisis. There is also an appeal to rosary-makers

across the diocese to help to minister to the spiritual needs of these people as well. Haiti has a population that is 80 percent Catholic. So many in that country have lost everything that they have; their homes, loved ones, and every material possession they had.

While relief workers work to minister to the physical needs of the Haitians, Anchor readers should be aware that The Family Rosary in Easton is collecting rosaries to send to Haiti.

Imagine the comfort a simple rosary can bring to the victims of this tragedy.

A physical, personal possession they can call their own, when they have lost everything.

And not just any material possession, but rather one that will minister to their spiritual needs, reconnecting them with the loving God, and his Blessed Mother, who have not abandoned them in their hour of need.

Won’t you please consider donating some of your hand-made rosaries?

Please send to: The Family Rosary Rosaries for Haiti 518 Washington Street North Easton, Mass. 02356

Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, January 31 at 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father David M. Andrade, pastor of Holy Trinity Parish in Fall River

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The Anchor

January 29, 2010

Life support: An issue for young and old

By Dave Jolivet, Editor WASHINGTON, D.C. — What, one would ask, would a 13-year-old seventhgrader from Fairhaven and an 86-year-old gentleman from Harwich have in common? A great deal more than most would think.

Both have a desire deep down to protect the most innocent of all life and to make public that passion.

Ben Reis attends St. Francis Xavier School in Acushnet and Lloyd McDonald has been an active member of Mass. Citizens for Life for nearly four decades. The two were part of an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 Pro-Life pilgrims who descended on our nation’s capital last week to participate in the annual March for Life through the streets of D.C. For Ben, it was his inaugural experience defending the unborn. In contrast, McDonald has been making the trek since the beginning, 37 years ago. Reis and McDonald were among scores of faithful from the Diocese of Fall River who made the trip with various groups, to support life.

The dominant observation at this year’s march was the overwhelming presence of thousands of young people.

“The presence of so many youth at the march was very impressive,” said McDonald, who was part of a bus group sponsored by Cape Cod Bus For Life, Inc. “Their joy, enthusiasm and energy spell great hope for the future of the Pro-Life movement. The teen-agers, high schoolers and young adults made up more than 60 percent of the pilgrims at this annual protest.”

Reis was part of a 50-person bus group from St. Francis Xavier Parish in Acushnet. “I chose to go because I thought it would be a nice thing to do to support life and to show that abortion is not OK,” Reis told The Anchor. “My mom explained to me what abortion is, and we’ve learned about it in school. I wanted to go on the trip to protest abortion.”

Another first-time attendee to the march was 74-year-old Jeanne Duggan, also a St. Francis Xavier parishioner. “When I learned of the trip, I wanted to go, not just to support the unborn, but also to support the teens from our parish who were going, who truly believe in this cause,” Duggan told The Anchor.

“I couldn’t believe I saw so many teens, so many young people,” said Duggan.

“It’s so great that they understand what’s happening with abortion and they want to fight to do something about it. I was also impressed by seeing so many different age groups there — folks my age and all ages — and from all over the country.”

Elaine Bartie, 62, a parishioner of St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham, was on the Cape Cod Bus For Life trip. “Overwhelming,” she described the event. “Today, I am so filled with hope. The Pro-Life movement is growing with young people — teens, parents with young children. When I was in the throngs of people I thought — hope. Just look around.”

Thousands of teens and young adults made their presence well known at this year’s march, and the Fall River Diocese was well represented, with dozens of teens from the five diocesan Catholic high schools making the trip.

All of the students who shared their thoughts with The Anchor agreed that their presence in Washington was vital to helping those who don’t understand the horrors of abortion, realize it’s the modern day Holocaust.

“Abortion does affect us teen-agers,” said Brent Medeiros, a senior at Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River.

“Kids are having kids today, and the issue of abortion will always be raised. I’ve always been Pro-Life and I was fueled by that to make my first trip this year. When it comes to abortion, we’re expected to hold our tongues and not say what we feel, but at the march there were so many of us not afraid to express our beliefs and stand up for them.”

Classmate Marc Messier concurred.

“I’ve been learning about the Holocaust and how nothing was done to prevent it,” he told The Anchor. “I realize that we have a chance this time to stand up against abortion. It felt good to speak out against this Holocaust.”

Nicholas and William Stylos, twin brothers and juniors at Connolly, also made the trip south to D.C. “This was my first time,” said Nicholas. “I was amazed that there were so many people my age who felt the way I did about abortion. It felt very good to meet with others who feel the same way and voice our opin-

ions. People really do care about other people. Humanity isn’t bad.”

William added, “This was more than just a religious gathering. It was a gather-

ing of people who share the same beliefs that abortion is wrong. There are really a lot of Pro-Life people, people who are Turn to page 21

The Anchor

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World Day for Consecrated Life Mass is February 6 at cathedral FALL RIVER — Dioceses and parishes nationwide will celebrate World Day for Consecrated Life February 6-7.

The diocesan Mass will be February 6 at St. Mary’s Cathedral, celebrated by Bishop George W. Coleman at 4 p.m.

The annual event recognizes and supports men and women who have made a special commit-

ment to the Church as vowed religious, consecrated virgins, and members of secular institutes.

All are welcomed to offer gratitude to God for all who have espoused consecrated life and who have graced the diocese throughout the years by their unique vocations and special charisms.

Prayers are also encouraged for more vocations.

January 29, 2010

Return east proves to be a wise move

By Michael Pare Anchor Correspondent

his life.

“It got me to understand that Church is more than showing up to Mass on Sundays and going through the motions,” he said. “The program gave me a deeper understanding of the Catholic faith and how important religion is to my life … to human life.”

So Ron Standish became a Catholic and the Standish Family — son Jordan would arrive three years after Megan — became an integral part of the St. Pius X community.

At $5 per person, it’s a bargain, with a menu that inSOUTH YARMOUTH — cludes pancakes and eggs, Maybe there was a blessing bacon, crepes, quiches, and in those “ride arounds,” when an assortment of other items.

Ron Standish was taking those Students at the school help to first steps towards becoming serve. a police officer in Phoenix, Jack Regan, principal at Ariz. It was a decade ago and St. Pius X School, certainly Standish was set to embark on appreciates the hard work of a career in law enforcement.

Ron and Angelique Standish A California native, he had and all the volunteers. settled in Arizona and was liv“They get no recognition,” ing in the valley area marked he said. “They do all of this by cities like Tempe, Scottsso unselfishly and the school dale, and Phoenix, where the benefits.” population had soared Last September, for to more than 4.5 million example, the school people. received a check for Standish saw a lot $10,000 as a result of those nights. He saw that the breakfasts, said the cities in the valley Regan. were changing, that the To Angelique, helponce undisturbed west ing to organize the was desolate no more. breakfasts represents “It had gotten huge,” what it truly means to he said. “The culture be a part of a parish. It was changing. And I got is an opportunity, she to see another side of said, to “lead by exlife there.” ample.” And anything At that time, Standish that benefits the school, and his wife, Angelique, she said, is time and enwere expecting their ergy well spent. She has first child. There were always seen Catholic important decisions to education as a wise inbe made. Where would vestment. it be best to raise a famThe lessons taught at ily?

St. Pius X, she said, are “We didn’t want our important life lessons.

Anchor person of the week — Ron children to grow up Standish with his wife Angelique.

“It’s not just about there,” he said. academics,” she said.

Angelique had family “They are in a safer in Massachusetts. She longed Megan and Jordan attend St. environment and they learn to return to New England. Pius X School, from which how to respect and treat one While so many people con- she will graduate in June. another.”

Ron and Angelique have tinued to head west in search Ron looks back now and of new opportunities, Ron been volunteering at parish feels good about that decision and Angelique chose the road and school activities wherever to move east. There are no reless traveled, deciding to head and whenever possible. grets, no lasting longing to pa“It’s amazing how many trol the busy streets of Phoenix east. The found their way to Cape Cod, along with new- people you run into who you in a police cruiser. Cape Cod know from the parish,” said suits his family just fine. And born Megan.

Angelique’s parents were Ron, who is now a commer- so does St. Pius X and the opnearby. They had found a cial real estate professional. portunities that the parish prespeaceful place, an ideal set- St. Pius has really helped our ents to connect to others. ting to raise a family. And roots to grow faster and deep“There is a real satisfaction just down the road a bit, they er in the community.” in helping others,” he said.

Many of the folks who “When I was younger it was found St. Pius X Parish on Barbara Street. This, too, pre- bump into Ron and Angel- all about me.” sented Ron with an opportuni- ique during the course of their But now it’s about others. ty — and a decision to make, day no doubt comment on There are still fast cars in Ron how much they enjoy Sunday Standish’s life, though they’re a crossroads to address.

“I was brought up in the breakfast at St. Pius, which not racing through the streets Presbyterian Church,” he said. Ron and Angelique coordi- of Phoenix. They’re small — But he had been searching for nate regularly. made of wood. Just the other The breakfasts serve as night, he was busy at the Cub something for years and was “looking to grow spiritually.” fund raisers for the parish Scout Pinewood Derby.

The Catholic faith felt right. school and are pulled off by a And he wouldn’t have Angelique encouraged him. dedicated army of volunteers wanted to be anywhere else.

They attended Mass at St. Pius who begin preparing for the “Children give you a differand became involved in parish post-Sunday Mass crowd Sat- ent perspective on life,” he said. activities. Ron took part in the urday afternoon. They’re typiTo nominate a Person of Rite of Christian Initiation of cally back the next morning at the Week, send an email mesAdults. It was the fall of 1996 6 a.m. as the kitchen begins to sage to FatherRogerLandry@ and a critical turning point in buzz with activity.

AnchorNews.org.

January 29, 2010

The Anchor

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The Anchor

January 29, 2010

Using new technology to evangelize youth

By Christine Williams, Anchor Correspondent

CAPE COD — Those who seek to bring the Catholic faith to young people must first speak their language. Teens today tweet on Twitter, friend on Facebook and text on their cell phones. To those unfamiliar with these forms of communication, the jargon alone is confusing.

“Our mission is the proclamation of the Gospel and the building up of the kingdom, and in order to do that we need to engage people and speak in a language they understand,” said Father David Frederici, chaplain at Cape Cod Community College. “It’s too important not to use these means to get this message out.”

With the ability to send text messages on social networking sites and with cell phones, youth and young adults are emailing less frequently. As these new forms of technology take prominence in young people’s world, those who seek to catechize them must adapt, he said.

In 2009, the Pew Internet and American life project conducted a study that found that 93 percent of teens use the Internet with 63 percent doing so daily.

Game consoles, iPods or MP3 players, cell phone and computers are owned by two-thirds or more of teens. The study also discovered that teens communicate more often with cell phones and social networking sites than in person with their friends outside of school.

A study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, released in January 2010, found that eight- to 18-year-olds use media for more 7.5 hours daily, an increase of more than an hour from five years ago.

Father Frederici quickly discovered the importance of technology after he started ministering to the students at Cape Cod Community College at the request of Bishop George Coleman.

Now he has accounts on the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter as well as a website for young adults at youngadultfaith.com. He posts videos on the website YouTube and links them to his Facebook account. Podcasts — digital recordings — of his homilies can be found on his website and on iTunes, an online music store. He has looked into Livestream, an Internet site that provides live broadcasts. And this coming Lent, he will be leading an online Bible study for the second year.

Father Frederici also has a Blackberry, a cross between a cell phone and a PDA, and receives his Facebook messages on it. On one occasion, someone requesting an emergency visit to the hospital contacted him by Facebook and his pager.

“The Facebook message got to me quicker than the pager message,” said Father Frederici, who is also chaplain at Cape Cod Hospital.

The benefits of technology include reaching a large number of people quickly and even the opportunity to reach the un-churched. These forms of communication have their pitfalls too. Facebook applies the term friends to two people who have no real relationship. Faith groups who use such means of communication need to make sure that new technology leads to live connection with others. It is not a substitute for face-toface interaction, he said.

“We need that human contact and human relations because that’s where we experience the love of God,” he said.

As young people increasingly use technology at the expense of personal interaction, technology becomes a way to reach out and find them, said CrystalLynn Medeiros, director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the Diocese of Fall River.

“Young people today, they’re not at CYO centers. They’re not in parish

youth groups for the most part. The only way we can reach them is through technology,” she said.

When utilizing technology, Catholic ministries need to have policies in place to ensure the media are used safely and appropriately. Young people need to be taught that there are repercussions to their online activity, especially if they are youth group leaders.

“This generation is very good at compartmentalizing their lives,” Medeiros said. “If they’re going to be involved in their parish and lead by example, they have to take that example and thread it through the rest of their lives, including technology.”

Currently there are no widespread Church policies on using technology to communicate with youth. The topic is on the agenda for the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry’s membership meeting in Los Angeles from January 27-30.

Last year, the Archdiocese of Baltimore came up with recommendations for the use of technology in youth and young adult ministry. They note that while the desire people have to communicate has not changed, the possible venues have expanded “exponentially” in recent years. Since the Internet and social networks are not going away, young people must learn to use them safely and responsibly, the document said.

“Parishes and schools should do everything possible to inform, support and encourage parental engagement with young people in regards to technology.

As always, we seek a partnership with parents in the faith formation of their young people.”

The use of technology to promote the Catholic faith is widespread. Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley of the Archdiocese of Boston posts weekly on his blog. Pope Benedict XVI has his own YouTube

channel. CatholicTV has podcasts and videos on their website. Even organizations like Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Citizenship and The Anchor are on Facebook.

Users of Facebook have many options for Catholic personalization of their individual pages. They can become fans of Catholic chant, a religious leader or a diocese. There are applications, such as “Pope Quotes” which posts words from the Chair of Peter on their page.

They can join groups for Catholics, different ministries or even random groups like “You might be a hardcore Catholic if…”

That last group, designed for Catholics who are serious about their faith, lists certain Catholic attributes, including “You have a favorite religious order,” “You think Scott Hahn writes the coolest books” and “You would rather get your picture with the pope then with a huge celebrity.”

Lauren Goldberg, a senior studying psychology, theology and youth ministry at Benedictine College in Kansas, said she and a friend started the group when she was a senior in high school.

In the last four years, the group has attracted 30,000 members.

“We never really planned for it to get this big,” she said. “I think it’s awesome that we have this many members, and it really surprised me.”

Goldberg said the Facebook group has become a place where Catholics and non-Catholics can post questions about the faith. It also gathers young people who are enthusiastic about being Catholic.

“If they can hear the Gospel in their teen years, that can form the foundations for the rest of their lives,” she said. “It’s very important for them to see people who are excited and committed and to feel that solidarity.”

January 29, 2010

The Anchor

Educators reflect on Catholic school education’s dividends continued from page one

tion — students prepared in faith, knowledge, morals and discipline — last a lifetime. There is no better way to invest in a child’s future — or in the future of our world,” she added.

The NCEA has also provided schools and parishes with Scripture readings and reflections that key on faith, knowledge, discipline and morals, all portrayed in the official 2010 logo.

During this 37th annual week-long observance that first began nationally in 1974, a variety of social and religious events and activities are geared to involve the students, families, teachers and staffers — as well as parishes.

To find out how Catholic schools in the Fall River Diocese educate its students that they may reap “Dividends for Life,” The Anchor spoke to local Catholic school leaders.

George A. Milot, superintendent of Catholic schools in the diocese, said “statistics reveal that those who had received a Catholic school education, are, in later life, unequalled in the Church and in the community, and known for their generous volunteerism.”

He said approximately 750 teachers and staffers are currently bringing academics, discipline and the faith to 7,567 students enrolled in the diocese’s Catholic schools, “who will prove a dividend to the Church and its societal issues and society as a whole.”

The principal of St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro, Passionist Sister Mary Jane Holden, said “What our teaching comes down to is instilling Christian morals in our young people that we hope and pray will carry them throughout their lifetime, as well as educating them in the love of God and neighbor called for in the Gospels that will be meaningful in whatever they do in life.”

“And the proof is seen in what our students do,” she added.

She said that after study of the recent devastation and suffering in Haiti from the catastrophic January 12 earthquake, a collection was taken in which the 260 students and 20-member staff participated.

“We collected an amazing $600 dollars, which will be sent to Passionist Father Richard Frechette, who is also a physician, and who runs three hospitals in Haiti. The hospital in Port-

au-Prince was completely destroyed in the earthquake, and we are told the healthcare needs are great and our donation will be well spent,” she added.

“This is a real testament to our teachers and students. It is indeed a ‘dividend’ or ‘fruit’ in the sense that Catholic education demands generosity and love being passed on in our teaching of the faith as well as the academics, and here we’ve seen it in action,” Sister Holden commented.

In Hyannis at St. Pius X High School, Principal Christopher Keavy said “people make an investment in tuition dollars and their talents and treasures — and volunteering, and to buy uniforms and textbooks — and so they expect dividends on those. The for-life dividends — from a Catholic education — include self-discipline, generosity and service, and intellectual preparation, but most important, a disposition to honor, love, and serve God.” While St. Pius X High School has newly added two more students, bringing the total enrollment to 100 and has a 21-member staff, a recent ice cream social raised a whopping $1,248 for the Haitian Relief Fund, Keavy reported.

While there are various activities during the week’s observance, said Keavy, the most meaningful event of Catholic Schools Week is the tradition of five schools in the Cape Cod region for the second year gathering in common to attend a Mass.

At St. Mary’s School in New Bedford, Principal Cathy Lacroix is enthusiastic about what is happening at the school, which will celebrate “Dividends for Life” in Catholic Schools Week with a variety of events that target the parish, community, the nation, vocations, and student and staff levels.

“With the advent of the Internet, it is great to see so many of the alumni of St. Mary’s who have gone on to be successful in their adult life. Doctors, lawyers, educators, business owners, politicians, moms and dads, and even grandparents,” she told The Anchor.

Since the establishment of the school in 1965, thousands of young men and women have received the solid educational foundation needed to be built on for success in future life, “and the tradition of excellence providing a spiritual foundation con-

Catholic Memorial Home announces new assistant administrator FALL RIVER — Catholic Memorial Home recently announced that Jennifer M. Davis, LICSW, has been named as an assistant administrator at the skilled nursing and rehabilitative care facility in Fall River.

A Rhode Island resident, she has been employed at Catholic Memorial Home as a social worker for the last five years.

Davis graduated from Bowling Green State University of Ohio in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in social work, and

completed her master’s degree in social work at Boston University in 2007.

Davis is the past president of Catholic Memorial Home’s Employee Recognition Team, a member of its Ethics, Palliative Care and Pain Management Committees.

Catholic Memorial Home is one of five long term and rehabilitative care facilities that are part of the Diocesan Health Facilities system that provides programs and services to more than 850 men and women and is sponsored by the Fall River Diocese.

tinues today,” Lacroix added. “We have a staff of dedicated professionals who care about each individual child.”

Their efforts are seen in the highest awards won by its students at the Regional Science Fair; 40 members of the Christian Service Club that assists teachers and staff with daily tasks; the work of volunteers in two popular clubs, science and knitting; and the sharing of time, talent and treasure by students who make monthly visits to a nursing home, conduct food and coat drives and blanket collections, and play on several CYO basketball teams.

“We’re looking for a repeat of these accomplishments this year,” Lacroix noted.

At Holy Trinity School in Fall River,

15 Principal Brenda Gagnon said following the tradition of an annual service project, students and teachers chose a science topic, “Jump for a Healthy Heart” following a Heart Association lead.

“We’re teaching that following guidelines such as good exercise, good food and good rest will show a dividend … a healthy heart,” said Gagnon.

Another project, she said, has students discerning their vocation in “When I Grow Up, Who Shall I Be?” “Giving thoughts and preparation to this hopefully will show a dividend of one day entering the chosen profession, and an essential part of that is building on a foundation that has them following the teachings of Christ and the Church in their everyday lives,” Gagnon explained.

Bishop Coleman endorses Manhattan Declaration continued from page one

nessing the troubling consequences that result from our society’s failure to incorporate these three principles.”

Bishop Coleman stated that together with many other bishops in the United States, he has signed the Declaration.

“I invite you to do the same,” he wrote, “and to bring it to the attention of the faithful.”

He described the good that he hopes will come about by bishops, priests and Catholic faithful uniting to defend and promote these three foundations of justice and the common good.

“I pray that by speaking with one voice on these pressing moral issues, we may offer a strong witness on behalf of human life, marriage and conscience.”

He added that such common witness is “most appropriate during this month of January when the annual March for Life takes place in Washington, D.C.” Clergy and faithful alike may read and sign the declaration by visiting the website www.manhattandeclaration. org.

16

The Anchor

M

Good luck with that

ankind is a funny animal. For creatures who are far more intelligent than all of God’s creatures, they’re not too bright sometimes.

I think man’s biggest folly is his insistence that he can hide things from the Almighty. It started right from the very beginning — the first week the world was the world, for that matter.

Adam, after having eaten from the

My View From the Stands

By Dave Jolivet

forbidden fruit hears God and attempts to hide. When found he tells the Lord meekly, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

God’s response — “Who told you that you were naked?” Busted.

Many of us have tried it. I know I have — with the same result: busted. We may fool others, and even ourselves — but God? Busted.

Well, for 37 years mankind has been preying on its own, killing the unborn under the guise of constitutional rights, women’s rights.

Make no mistake, there are those in the child-slaughtering industry who know

exactly what they are doing. Whether they think they are fooling God, or even believe in him, is unclear. What is crystal clear though is that they have been fooling most of the people, most of the time.

The pregnant woman is the victim here.

The unborn child? Why it’s not even human yet — despite it’s tiny toes, fingers, brain, beating heart, and feelings of pain.

The baby-killers know vulnerable women and men, many of whom under great duress, can’t see the tiny human, so they can easily soft-soap the issue and call it “tissue.” They assure the parents they are not killing a child, but simply wiping away tissue.

For a good three decades the murderous lot has been getting away with an ignorant, apathetic society. The cost? Fifty million little humans.

All that is changing though. God is coming back into the garden, and soon, the abortion advocates’ nakedness will be exposed.

Why? Because this generation of teens and young adults is not nearly as naive as their predecessors.

Take a look at the images of last week’s March For Life in our nation’s capital.

It consisted mostly of youth, teens, and young parents with their toddlers and infants. This generation has been properly informed as to what abortion really is. It is not a choice. It is murder.

This week I had the privilege to interview seven bright, well-informed, mature teen-agers from our diocese. These young men and women took the time to go to Washington to have their voices be heard.

Abortion, no matter how you slice it (there’s perhaps not a better way to phrase that) is killing.

These teens have been given correct information, not the propaganda handed out by the abortion mongers. And these teens are not afraid to rage against the machine.

The generation of naiveté is over. It’s

January 29, 2010 the age of enlightenment.

It seems to me those who make a living ripping the life from helpless children will have to go back to the drawing board and conjure up a whole new game plan.

They’ll have to find a way to fool a whole new generation that isn’t easily fooled. Their lies will have to be more creative, deceptive and devious to dupe this group. Good luck with that.

Hang on unborn, your exile is near. A bright new generation has picked up the torch. Let there be light.

January 29, 2010

17

The Anchor Bishop Coleman: The value of a Catholic school continued from page one

St. Mary’s Catholic School Mansfield, MA Providing academic excellence built upon Christian spirituality while partnering with families to educate our children in Catholic faith and values.

Join us during our open houses scheduled for Feb. 2nd and Feb. 4th 11am to 1pm 508-339-4800 Visit our website at www.stmarymansschool.org

number of families have only a single parent to provide for and raise the children. The average number of children in each family has also diminished.

In light of these situations and other — sometimes very complex ones — the role of a Catholic school can help a great deal. Catholic elementary, middle, and high schools provide a place where not only one can receive teaching in language arts, social studies, and mathematics, but also where pupils attend Mass, read the Bible, and pray together. Dedicated teachers, lay men and women for the most part, can serve as Christian role models for children.

They can answer questions about the faith, so that young people learn why as a Church we believe as we do, as well as the content of what we believe. They can also show their students how to put those beliefs into practice.

At Catholic schools, faith constitutes not just a part of one’s education, but takes in the whole range of subjects.

This is so because faith sheds light on and evaluates every aspect of human experience.

Catholic education does not treat faith as one or another dimension of a person’s life; it considers faith the one dimension that gives all the rest meaning. In other words, Catholic schools provide a

culture in which the next generation can grow up and mature.

Our Catholic schools propose a culture of life in the face of the current culture of death. They offer a vision of strong values to children and young people. They also provide a safe environment. Because of the way the family is developing in our society, mothers and fathers need as much assistance to provide their sons and daughters with the kind of education their children deserve. Based on these considerations, one can only conclude that the value of a Catholic education in light of the diminishing family is inestimable.

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK JANUARY 31 - FEBRUARY 6, 2010

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS CELEBRATE “DIVIDENDS FOR LIFE” Our Lady of Lourdes School 52 First Street, Taunton, Massachusetts 02780 Accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges REGISTRATION FOR SEPTEMBER, 2010 SCHOOL YEAR PRE-KINDERGARTEN — GRADE 5 Saturday, January 30th • 11AM - 2 PM — OPEN HOUSE Registration beginning Monday, February 1, 2010 1:00 - 4:00PM Birth and Baptismal Certificates Required Call (508) 822-3746 for additional information Website: ololtaunton.com Email address: olol@tmlp.com

Youth Pages

18

January 29, 2010

three’s a charm — Bishop Feehan’s first third-generation family includes, John Robertson Sr. (left) with his son, John Jr. and his grandson, Tyler.

First third-generation family recognized

by Bishop Feehan High School ATTLEBORO — When Bishop Feehan High School opened its doors to 192 freshmen in the fall of 1961, each time the student body did something for the first time, former principal Sister Mary Urban would proclaim it as “Another Feehan First.” Now 49 years later there are very few Feehan Firsts left to accomplish; however, this past year Bishop Feehan enrolled its first three generational family: John Robertson Sr., Class of 1965, his son John Robertson Jr., Class of 1987 and his son Tyler Robertson, Class of 2012, all from Attleboro.

Recently, the Alumni and Advancement Office hosted the Robertson Family for a luncheon where John senior, John junior. and Tyler, compared their Feehan experiences, each 22 years apart.

John senior recalled those early beginnings attending school in a “building that was not complete.” He also remembered “incredible spirit” among the students. “Our fans would cheer for our athletic

teams right to the end despite the fact that we might have been losing by 20 points.” He also reflected with pride on participating in Feehan’s first varsity football game away at Provincetown. Although John junior played freshmen football, his son Tyler opted for soccer, which did not exist at Feehan in 1965 and 1987.

The elder John stated that he cultivated the interest in Feehan and John junior wanted to attend. He in turn said that he sent Tyler to Feehan “for the sense of community and academics.”

Tyler, one of the top students in his class, validated his dad’s decision by describing his Feehan experience as one full of “challenging classes that motivate me to succeed in all aspects of my life.”

When asked to express their thoughts about being the first three generation family at the school, Tyler described it as “an honor,” John junior said “I feel privileged,” and John senior summed it up, “I am very proud of all of us.”

they nailed it — The fifth-grade students at Holy Name School in Fall River are learning about magnets. Here they successfully make an electromagnet using a battery, wire and a nail.

little big hearts — Students at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro have begun a drive to assist families affected by the devastating earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The funds raised will be sent to Passionist Father Rick Frechette, who runs a children’s hospital there now demolished after the earthquake hit. Pictured are second-grade students with their donations. Front, from left: Peter Lee, Cassidy Araujo, Ocean Rose Calpin, and Elyse Laparle. Middle: Katherine Quinn, Leo Fitzgerald, Olivia Grivers, Gavin Ward, and Morgan Gayton. Back: Daylin Melcher, Makenzie Killough, Shea Mulhern, Mary Davis and Maeve Sutula.

great work — Pam Potenza and Anthony Nunes, World Language Chairperson at Coyle and Cassidy High School in Taunton, are pictured with members of the Spanish Honor Society who recently raised funds for the diocesan mission in Guaimaca.

Coyle Spanish students raise funds for Guaimaca

TAUNTON — The Coyle and Cassidy High School Spanish Honor Society, as its service project during the Christmas Season, raised $1,540 to purchase gym uniforms for 70 girls at the Marie Poussepin Center for Comprehensive Formation in Guaimaca, Honduras.

For several years the Spanish Honor Society has supported the diocesan mission in Honduras by providing school supplies, baby vitamins and formula and over the counter meds. In November, Spanish teacher Anthony S. Nunes, contacted Pam Potenza of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Seekonk and asked her if there was anything in particular the mission needed. She immediately contacted Nunes and told him that she had received a request from the Sisters in Guaimaca: 70 gym uniforms consisting of a T-shirt and pair of nylon gym pants. Immediately, Nunes called for a meeting of the Spanish Honor Society to discuss this service project which the members embraced overwhelmingly.

Potenza was elated because she did not know how she was going to be able to honor the Sisters’ request.

The 70 girls who attend the school come from some of the poorest villages around Guaimaca and live at the school from Monday through Friday. Many of the girls walk great distances to get to the school or to a nearby bus stop. These girls would not be attending school if it were not for the school at the mission. Mandatory education ends with the sixth grade in Honduras and many girls are unable to continue their education beyond that. The Dominican Sisters of the Presentation from the Fall River Diocese staff the school in Guaim-

aca. Studies have shown that one way developing countries can improve the standard of living for the country is to educate women. It was precisely for that reason that the Sisters decided to educate some of the poor village girls from Guaimaca. The actual school building was built with help and support of many volunteers from parishes throughout the diocese.

A bulletin board was set up in the school by the students with pictures of the girls and the school along with a list of the names and ages of the 70 girls. Many of the students in the Spanish classes adopted one of the girls. Nunes stated that this endeavor will lead to establishing a pen pal relationship with the girls at the school.

Potenza, who serves as the diocesan liaison to the mission, visited the school recently to receive the check to pay for the gym uniforms, which were provided by End of the Road Tees in Taunton. At that time, she visited several of the Spanish and Religion classes to speak to the students about the mission and its work and encouraged students to visit the mission.

She also entertained questions the students had about the mission. Students were told that the gym uniforms had been taken to Honduras by the Mission Sisters who were in Dighton for meetings in December and returned to Honduras at the completion of the meetings.

Sister Marta Ines Toro, OP of the mission recently emailed Nunes to thank him, the students and teachers for supporting this worthy project and providing suitable uniforms for all the students who attend the school.

Youth Pages

January 29, 2010

J

Life if good

an. 22, 2010, was the 37th the process of redemptive sufanniversary of the Roe v. fering. I must admit that I don’t Wade Supreme Court decision understand. legalizing abortion in this counThe issue of abortion is try. Thousands upon thousands particularly unsettling to me. of people traveled to WashingThere is no doubt in the sciton, D.C., including five buses ence of biology that this fetus of high school students from is human. That is not up for the Diocese of Fall River, to debate. It is a unique human make a statement about the dignity of all human life from conception to natural death. I was privileged to be a part of the journey.

The popular slogan

By Jean Revil on T-shirts, and bumper stickers, “Life is good” is such an understatement. Life is amazing. Life is being as evidenced by unique this incredible, holy gift, full of DNA. That carrying the fetus possibilities and opportunities may be inconvenient is unforto love and be loved; and in the tunate but certainly not reason loving, we come to know God. for legalizing the destruction So, yeah, I guess you could of 1.5 million fetuses each say “life is good.” It is such an year. I can’t even wrap my incredibly sad statement about mind around that number. And our American society that we over the last 37 years, that’s allow our citizens to destroy about 50 million children. our future citizens, that we Where is the honor in this? consider execution as building I have always had a certain block of a safe society, or that amount of national pride. I we would contemplate allowing think the United States is an our countrymen to kill themincredible country. But our selves rather than assist them in insistence on personal comfort

Be Not Afraid

is keeping us from recognizing sin for what it is. Abortion is sin. It is an affront to God, throwing the gift of life in his face. I don’t know what could be more insulting to the author of life than the attitude of the American public which has allowed this to continue year after year.

Let’s fix it. This generation of teenagers is the most Pro-Life generation in decades. It’s time to rally the troops and begin a new age of American pride. We need to be willing to sacrifice for each other. Personal comfort has to take a back seat to simply doing the right thing. Self-control, self-discipline, and self-sacrifice helped to build this nation. These same virtues can return our country to the greatness it was destined for. Life is so much better than good. It’s holy. It’s time we treat it that way.

Jean Revil teaches spiritual theology and thanatology at Bishop Stang High School.

Comments welcome at: jrevil@ bishopStang.com.

19

Poll: More Americans, especially young people, say abortion wrong NEW HAVEN, Conn. (CNS) — A poll commissioned by the Knights of Columbus and released January 21 said that a majority of Americans called abortion “morally wrong.”

Americans in all age groups made that judgment in the poll, conducted by Marist College. The Knights paid the greatest attention in an announcement of the poll results to the “millennial” age group, those ages 18-29, because they were intentionally oversampled in the survey. Of the 2,243 Americans polled, 1,006 of them were millennial. And 58 percent of the millennials called abortion morally wrong.

More than 60 percent of seniors ages 65 and up called abortion morally wrong, as did 60 percent of those from Generation X (ages 30-44) and 51 percent of baby boomers (ages 45-64).

By comparison, 19 percent of all those polled — and 20 percent of the millennials — said abortion was “morally acceptable.”

The overall margin of error was plus or minus two percent, and plus or minus three percent for the millennials.

Carl Anderson, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus, based in New Haven, said the poll results mirror a survey conducted last July that indicated 86 percent of Americans wish to significantly restrict abortion, and an October 2008 poll that found that 71 percent of those who described themselves as “pro-choice” would restrict abortion.

Coupled with similar findings in Pew and Gallup polls last year, “we think that’s pretty significant,” Anderson said in a telephone interview with Catholic News Service from New York.

Correction A photo caption in the January 15 edition of The Anchor erroneously said a collection to benefit A Woman’s Concern was taken at a school in West Harwich. The donation came from Holy Trinity School in Fall River. The Anchor regrets the error.

20

The Anchor

January 29, 2010

These works of art were created by students for Catholic Schools Week last year. Above is a creation of Ashley Lessa from St. James-St. John School in New Bedford, and below one done by Kelvin Ortiz Jr., from Holy Family-Holy Name School, also in New Bedford.

Life support: An issue for young and old continued from page 11

willing to proclaim their beliefs and not just talk about them.”

Deacon Anthony Cipriano, a religion teacher and campus minister at Connolly, said, “This is the generation that will make the change. Unlike the generation before them, they are in tune to what is happening, they understand what abortion is, and they’re willing to take responsibility to change it.”

Racheal Marz and Madison Bailey are sophomores at John Paul II High School. The pair was part of a group from the Hyannis school that made the trip.

As women, they felt the need to witness to the fact that abortion has no place in American society. “A woman must not abort her child, no matter what the circumstances,” said Bailey. “Going to the march was my way of saying that to other women.” Marz added, “I cannot understand why any woman would consider abortion.”

“I went on the trip last year, and it really opened up my eyes to the abortion issue,” Marz continued. “I went back this year to share with others who have the same convictions as I do. It was really cool to be in the nation’s capital, a place with such history — the White House, the Washington Monument and others, and bring this important topic to the heart of our country.”

“I’m just appalled that people would counsel others to get an abortion,” said Bailey. “I’ve learned what abortion is and how it affects the unborn, mothers and fathers. The march is a great way to express to everyone that Pro-Life is another choice.

McDonald told The Anchor, “I fought in the Battle of the

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The Anchor

January 29, 2010

Bulge.” But for the past 37 years, he’s fought a battle on a different front. “The Pro-Life movement has been a dedication for my wife and me. We have seven children and 17 grandchildren.”

To him life is very important, and he’ll continue the fight as long as he’s able. But he won’t be alone.

There are countless teens and young adults picking up torch to keep the flames alive of justice for all life.

“I’m so impressed by the number of youth attending, and also how far folks are coming to voice their opinions,” he said.

“We met a nice couple and their children who drove 18 hours up from Pensacola, Fla. to be there.

And what used to be a national protest is now an international one. We met people from Canada and Italy who came just for the march.” The army is growing.

“The youth are so energized,” added Bartie. “With a new president, and now an new senator in Massachusetts, we need to be heard. A lot of people still don’t understand. After seeing all those people, especially the young people, the government has to listen. The change won’t happen overnight, but if we all pray a rosary a day, the power of prayer will help win the battle.

“It was so great to see the young people fight for something like this,” said Duggan. “I believe in the cause, and so do they.”

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In a message embracing the evangelizing potential of digital media, Pope Benedict XVI asked priests around the world to use websites, videos and blogs as tools of pastoral ministry.

“The world of digital communication, with its almost limitless expressive capacity, makes us appreciate all the more St. Paul’s exclamation: ‘Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel,’” the pope said in his message for the 2010 celebration of World Communications Day. “Priests stand at the threshold of a new era: as new technologies create deeper forms of relationship across greater distances, they are called to respond pastorally by putting the media ever more effectively at the service of the Word,” he said.

The pope’s message, released at the Vatican January 23, was tailored to the current Year for Priests, focusing on the theme: “The priest and pastoral ministry in a digital world: New media at the service of the Word.” World Communications Day will be celebrated May 16 in most dioceses.

The pope said that while priests should not abandon traditional methods of pastoral interaction, they cannot afford to pass up the opportunities offered by digital media. He said “the recent, explosive growth and greater social impact of these media make them all the more important for a fruitful priestly ministry.”

For priests to exercise their

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proper role as leaders in communities, they must learn to express themselves in the “digital marketplace,” the pope said.

“Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis,” he said.

The pope emphasized, however, that the Church’s role is not simply to fill up space on the Web. Its overriding aim is to express in the digital world “God’s loving care for people in Christ,” not just as an artifact from the past or a theory, but as something concrete and engaging, he said.

Because digital media cross over religious and cultural boundaries, the Church’s presence requires sensitivity “to those who do not believe, the disheartened and those who have a deep, unarticulated desire for enduring truth and the absolute,” he said.

In order for priests to effectively use new media, formation programs should teach them how to use these technologies in a competent and appropriate way, the papal message said. This formation in digital media should be guided by sound theology and priestly spirituality, it said.

“Priests present in the world of digital communications should be less notable for their media savvy than for their priestly heart, their closeness to Christ,” the pope said. In this way, they help give a “soul” to the web, he added.

Archbishop Claudio Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, said the message once again illustrated the pope’s mainly favorable view of new media.

“The pope is aware of the limits of new technologies, but he wants to make the point that these new means of communication play a positive role, both in the wider society and in the Church,” the archbishop said in a briefing with reporters.

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The Anchor

Around the Diocese 1/30

Our Lady of Lourdes School, 52 First Street, Taunton, will host an Open House tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Come meet and talk with staff members and parents and register students from Pre-K through Grade 5 for the 2010-2011 school year. For more information, call 508-822-3746 or email olol@tmlp.com.

1/30

COURAGE, a welcoming support group for Catholics wounded by samesex attraction who gather to seek God’s wisdom, mercy and love, will meet tomorrow at 7 p.m. For location information, please call Father Richard Wilson at 508-992-9408.

1/31

Adoption by Choice, an adoption and pregnancy counseling program of Catholic Social Services of the Diocese of Fall River, will hold an information session for individuals interested in domestic newborn or international adoptions. The session will be held Sunday at the Catholic Social Services office, 1600 Bay Street, Fall River. For more information, call 508-674-4681.

2/5

The Fall River Area Men’s First Friday Club will meet February 5 at the Parish of the Good Shepherd, 1598 South Main Street, Fall River. Following the 6 p.m.

Mass celebrated by Father John J. Oliveira, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, New Bedford, a hot meal will be served in the church hall prepared by Father “Chef” Freddie Babiczuk. The meal will be followed by guest speaker, Father Jack Oliveira. For more information call 508-672-8174.

2/6 2/6

A Haitian Disaster Appeal will take place at La Salette Shrine, Attleboro February 6. The event will include Mass at 6 p.m. followed by a concert with Father Pat at 7 p.m. in the shrine church. A $10 donation is being requested for this cause.

2/7

A concert featuring Father Pat from La Salette Shrine will be held at St. Julie Billiart Parish, 494 Slocum Road, North Dartmouth on February 7 at 2 p.m. For tickets, call 508-996-5267 or 508-999-7290.

A Day With Mary will take place February 6 from 7:50 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. at St. Kilian’s Church, 306 Ashley Boulevard, New Bedford. It will include a video, instruction, procession and crowning of Mary, along with Mass, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and an opportunity for the sacrament of reconciliation. For more information, call 508-984-1823.

2/10

The Diocesan Divorced and Separated Group will meet at the Family Life Center, 500 Slocum Road, North Dartmouth on February 10 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The topic will be “Facing Your Anger” with video presentation. This tape offers constructive ways to deal with anger during a divorce. Discussion and support group will follow.

2/11

The Sacrament for the Sick will be administered on World Day for the Sick (and the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes) February 11 at La Salette Shrine, Attleboro. Masses will be celebrated at 12:10 and 6:30 p.m. in the shrine church, which is wheelchair accessible.

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January 29, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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 508336-5549.

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

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

Taunton — Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament takes place every First Friday at Annunciation of the Lord Church, 31 First Street, immediately following the 8 a.m.

Mass and continues throughout the day. Confessions are heard from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m., concluding with recitation of the rosary and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.

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

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

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

2009 Marian Medals video to air on cable

FALL RIVER — A video of the 2009 Marian Medals Ceremony that took place on November 22 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River is airing on several cable television public access channels in the Fall River Diocese.

As of press time, the schedule is as follows: — Bourne, cable channel 13, January 31 at 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.

— Fall River, cable channel 95, February 4 at 12 noon.

— Lower Cape TV, Brewster, Eastham, Orleans, Provincetown, Truro and Wellfleet, cable channel 17, February 2 at 10 a.m. and Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m.

— Marion and Mattapoisett, cable channel 9, February 2 at 6 p.m. and February 4 at 3 p.m.

— Mashpee, cable channel 17, February 4 and 11 at 4 p.m.

Public access channels in other communities are also airing the Marian Medal Ceremony video.

Not all airings are scheduled far enough in advance to include the information in this listing. Additional information for other communities will be published as the information is made available.

The 2009 Marian Medal Ceremony video is also available for purchase. Copies may be ordered in either VHS format ($22.95) or DVD format ($24.95).

To obtain a video, please forward a check payable to the Diocesan Office of Communications, Diocese of Fall River, PO Box 7, Fall River, Mass. 02722. Shipping is included in the video cost.

Our Lady’s Haven has new administrator FAIRHAVEN — Our Lady’s Haven has announced Michael J. Medeiros as administrator of the long-term care skilled nursing and rehabilitative care facility. He has been employed at Our Lady’s Haven as Food Service Director since March 2007, and recently received his Nursing Home Administrator’s license.

A resident of North Dartmouth, Medeiros holds an A.S. in Culinary Arts and B.S. in Food Service Management from Johnson and Wales University. He has more than 25 years of experience as a Food Service Director with more than seven years in Health Care and Assisted Living Communities. Prior experience includes working for the U.S. State Department at the Sinai Field Mission in Cairo, Egypt, where he was involved in the planning, organizing and opening of the International Dining Facilities to accommodate the Multinational Force and Observers from 11 countries.

Medeiros has been active in the Boy Scouts of America as Assistant Scout Master for 10 years, and a member of the Dartmouth High School Music Association. At Our Lady’s Haven, he has worked on the Safety, Ethics, Mission, Performance Improvement and Fund Raising committees.

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Feb. 1 Rev. Msgr. Michael J. O’Reilly, Pastor, Immaculate Conception, Taunton, 1948 Rev. Msgr. Patrick H. Hurley, V.F. Pastor, St. Joseph, Taunton, 1968 Rev. Anatole F. Desmarais, Pastor, St. Jacques, Taunton, 1975 Rev. Msgr. Gerard J. Chabot, Pastor, St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, South Attleboro, 1983 Rev. William F. O’Connell, Pastor, Holy Name, New Bedford, 1995 Rev. Arthur T. deMello, Retired Pastor, St. Elizabeth, Fall River, 2004 Feb. 2 Most Rev. William Stang, D.D., First Bishop of Fall River: 190407, 1907 Rev. Patrick F. McKenna, Pastor, Immaculate Conception, Taunton, 1913 Rev. John L. McNamara, Pastor, Immaculate Conception, Fall River, 1941 Rev. P. Roland Decosse, Pastor, St. Hyacinth, New Bedford, 1947 Rev. Daniel F. Morarty, Assistant, St. Brendan, Riverside, R.I., 1991 Feb. 3 Rev. Antonio O. Ponte, Pastor, Our Lady of Angels, Fall River, 1952 Feb. 4 Rev. Msgr. Hugh J. Smyth, P.R., Pastor, St. Lawrence, New Bedford.

First Vicar General, Fall River, 1904-07. Administrator of Diocese, February-July 1907, 1921 Rev. Raymond Graham, S.M.M., 2004 Feb. 6 Most Rev. Frederick A. Donaghy, M.M, Bishop of Wuchow, 1988 Feb. 7 Rev. Arthur N. Robert, O.P., St. Anne Shrine, Fall River, 1991

January 29, 2010

The Anchor

Two diocesan priests celebrate 50th anniversary continued from page one

wonderful 50 years and I’ve enjoyed it immensely.”

Msgr. Moore, 76, was born in New Bedford and previously spent 38 years writing for The Anchor — 28 of them serving as the diocesan newspaper’s executive editor. He also was director of Communications for the diocese and director of the Permanent Diaconate program.

He was ordained after studies at Cardinal O’Connor Seminary in Boston and St. John’s Seminary in Brighton. He served as parochial vicar at Holy Name Parish, Fall River; St. Joseph’s Parish, Taunton; SS. Peter and Paul Parish, Fall River; St. William’s Parish, Fall River; and at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Fall River. He served as pastor at St. Mary’s Parish, New Bedford; and finally at St. Elizabeth Seton Parish, North Falmouth, where he remained until his retirement last year.

Msgr. Moore also found time to earn a master’s degree in education from Bridgewater State Teachers College and in 1999 was named a chaplain to Pope John Paul II, with the rank of monsignor.

“I began teaching at Coyle-Cassidy High School, then worked for the deacon program, then I got involved with that newspaper they call The Anchor,” Msgr. Moore mused, reflecting on some of the highlights of his ministry. “I feel very blessed because I have a very large and expansive family — a lot of priests don’t have that — then I have a lot of wonderful priest friends and I’ve just enjoyed working with people in parish ministry.”

Celebrating his 50th anniversary during this Year For Priests, Msgr. Moore encouraged young men to consider a vocation to the priesthood.

“First and foremost, don’t get caught up with the distractions of our times, because we have to see beyond that,” he offered to those who think they may have a calling.

“The first person to ask me about going into the seminary was one of my Sister of Mercy teachers at Holy Family High School. She opened the door for me and I was very fortunate to have very supportive people around me at the time.”

Father Buote said his calling to the priesthood came while he was a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.

It was there that he developed not only an interest in mathematics and physics, but also “fell in love with all aspects of creation.”

“The beauty of God’s creation now became more evident in other ways as I became aware of the sweep of God’s plan in what is called the Economy of Salvation,” he said.

He subsequently left MIT to enter the seminary.

When asked about celebrating this 50-year milestone, Father Buote seemed to take it all in stride.

“If you wait long enough, it happens,” he said. “My original idea was to be out of town this weekend, so that I wouldn’t have to worry about a big fuss. But others have prevailed upon me, so we’re going to have a fuss.”

That “fuss” will include the an-

niversary Mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Parish, along with a reception and buffet to follow, and what Father Buote calls “a little museum of me.”

“Different things from my life, starting with photos at age two months, and various awards, certificates and highlights from the past 50 years will be on display in the parish hall,” he said.

Father Buote, 76, was born in Fall River and received his education at Pottersville Elementary School, Somerset High School, and MIT. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Boston College in 1964. He studied for the priesthood at the School of St. Philip Neri in Boston, Cardinal O’Connell Minor Seminary and St. John’s Seminary in Brighton.

After ordination Father Buote was parochial vicar at Immaculate Conception Parish, Taunton; Immaculate Conception Parish, North Easton; St. Joseph’s Parish, Fall River; St. Joseph’s Parish, Dighton; St. Mary’s Parish, Mansfield; St. Thomas More Parish, Somerset; St. Michael’s Parish, Swansea; and St. Joan of Arc Parish, Orleans.

He was named pastor of St. Anne’s Parish in New Bedford in 1980, where he remained until his retirement in 2004.

When asked about some of the highlights of his 50-year ministry, Father Buote immediately said one thing stood out.

“I heard people’s confessions,” he said.

“That was one of the most important things I’ve ever done in my ministry.”

Long involved in youth work, Father Buote was also co-director of the CYO in the Taunton area and assistant director of Scouting in the Taunton-Attleboro area.

He taught mathematics at Bishop Connolly High School from 1970 to 1974, was director of Scouting in the Fall River area, was chaplain to the Sisters of the Holy Union at Sacred Hearts Academy, was in residence and chaplain to the Sisters at Mount St. Joseph’s, was chaplain to the Camp Fire Girls, was a member of the Plymouth Bay

Girl Scout Council, and served as Diocesan Director of Scouting from 1977 to 1989.

Father Buote said everyone — family members, friends and past parishioners — is invited to attend the anniversary Mass

23 and reception Sunday.

“I’ve sent letters to the various parishes where I was assigned to be included in their bulletins,” he said. “However, it’s been a long time.”

24

The Anchor

January 29, 2010

Regis College in Weston celebrates Catholic Schools Week