Anchor 07.02.10

Diocese of Fall River

The Anchor

F riday , July 2, 2010

Charities Appeal again passes the remarkable $4 million mark Special to The Anchor

Pro-Life plates available for Massachusetts drivers

By Christine M. Williams Anchor Correspondent BOSTON — Most people do not look forward to a trip to the registry, but Cori Connor-Morse was so excited about picking up her new plates last month that she emailed a picture of them to her friends and family.

After seven years, the Choose Life license plates are finally available at the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. Anyone can sign up at a local branch or on the registry’s website. So far more than

1,700 people have signed up. A total of 3,000 needs to be reached within the next two years to ensure the return of the $100,000 bond, put up by an anonymous donor.

The plate features a mother cradling her infant and the words “Choose Life.” The cost of the plates is $90 every two years with an initial fee of $20. Proceeds, which amount to $40 per plate every two years, will fund abortion alternatives.

Connor-Morse, a parishioner at Turn to page 18

FALL RIVER — “It was a madhouse,” said one of the secretaries in the Catholic Charities Appeal Office, referring to the final day of the 2010 Appeal. “But it was worth it,” she later exclaimed. It was worth it because the 2010 Catholic Charities Appeal exceeded last year’s total, was the second highest total in the 69 year history of the Appeal, and fell less than $7,000 shy of setting an all-time high. The $4,299,375.14 figure represents a phenomenal accomplishment by the 90 parishes in the Diocese of Fall River, and unsurpassed generosity by the thousands of contributing parishioners.

“These are such difficult times for so many of our parishioners,” said Mike Donly of the Appeal Office, “but that’s what makes it so meaningful and at the same time so necessary. If you could have been here on the last day and felt the enthusiasm as the phones literally rang off the hook, faxes were being sent in, and online donations were flowing in like never before. And the number of parish chairmen, secretaries, and pastors bringing in their last-

minute reports personally was like the old days, when every report was hand-carried. So many parishes called in two and three times on that day just to report something new they had gotten from a parishioner after morning Mass or in the mail.

And so many of these were already over their previous year’s total and were simply doing their best to increase the total of the overall Appeal. It was really obvious that ‘we were all in this thing together to the very end,’” concluded Donly.

The Appeal was highlighted by the fact that an amazing 63 percent of the parishes exceeded their previous year’s total with many of them realizing double digit increases. The number of parishes in the urban areas of the diocese, specifically the two largest, Fall River and New Bedford, had an inordinate number of parishes top their previous high totals. Considering that these areas are the worst hit by the present state of the economy, have some of the highest unemployment rates in the state, are destined to be the slowest to recover, and traditionTurn to page 18

Dear Friends in Christ,

A

s Bishop of Fall River, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the priests, deacons, religious, and lay faithful of this diocese who have contributed to or in any way supported the 2010 Catholic Charities Appeal. I am very pleased and find it exceptional that during these difficult economic times we have surpassed last year’s collection total. Because of your prayers, interest, and help, and also because of your generous response, we will be able to provide for and assist those in our area who are most in need. The people in the Diocese of Fall River have once again demonstrated a spirit of sacrifice and a true desire to share with their neighbors. I am especially grateful for the generosity of the many benefactors who made an extra effort to give this year. In light of the high unemployment rate in our cities, your donations truly make a difference. On behalf of all those who will be assisted by this Appeal and to those who worked so hard to make this year’s collection an outstanding success, I extend my heartfelt thanks.

With deep appreciation and gratitude, I am Sincerely yours in the Lord, FOR GOD AND COUNTRY — Navy cadet John Michael Falzetta of Troy, Mich., poses with Bishop George W. Coleman after receiving the sacrament of confirmation at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River recently. Falzetta was stationed at Naval Station Newport in Newport, R.I. and asked Father George F. Almeida, who has been the Navy base’s officiating priest for the past year, to help him receive the sacrament before leaving for pilot training in Pensacola, Fla. Story on page 11. (Photo by Father George F. Almeida)

Bishop of Fall River

Father Cabral earns degree in canon law Will assume duties at Diocesan Tribunal

By Deacon James N. Dunbar

FALL RIVER — Having spent three years studying at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and with his recently awarded JCL — licentiate in canon law — tucked into his portfolio, Father Jeffrey Cabral will soon be practicing Church law at the Diocesan Tribunal.

“While I still consider myself

green and a newcomer to this field, I look forward to full-time work and all the responsibilities it entails,” he said humbly during a recent interview at The Anchor.

The assignment is effective July 14.

Until then he will temporarily guide Holy Name Parish in Fall River — two blocks from the Tribunal offices — even as former

pastor Father George Harrison leaves to become pastor at Corpus Christi Parish in East Sandwich; and Father Jay T. Maddock settles in as Holy Name’s new pastor following his pastorate at Holy Family in East Taunton.

Those assignments are also effective July 14.

Ironically, Father Cabral will be Turn to page 18

News From the Vatican

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July 2, 2010

Pope announces formation of pontifical council for new evangelization VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI announced he is establishing a pontifical council for new evangelization to find ways “to re-propose the perennial truth of the Gospel” in regions where secularism is smothering Church practice.

Leading an evening prayer service June 28 at Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, Pope Benedict said there are areas of the globe that have been known as Christian for centuries, but where in the past few centuries “the process of secularization has produced a serious crisis” in people’s sense of what it means to be Christian and to belong to the Church.

“I have decided to create a new organism, in the form of a pontifical council, with the principal task of promoting a renewed evangelization in the countries where the first proclamation of faith has already resounded and where there are churches of ancient foundation present, but which are living through a progressive secularization of society and a kind of ‘eclipse of the sense of God,’” he said.

The challenge, he said, is to find ways to help people rediscover the value of faith.

The pope did not say what the formal name of the pontifical council would be and he did not announce who would head it, although in the weeks leading to the announcement, Vatican commentators suggested it would be Italian Archbishop Rino Fisichella, currently president of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Pope Benedict made the announcement at the basilica built over what is believed to be the tomb of St. Paul, who dedicated “his entire existence and his hard work for the kingdom of God,” the pope said.

The Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, established

by Pope John Paul II in 1985, was the last pontifical council created.

The pope’s evening prayer service marked the vigil of the feast

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of SS. Peter and Paul, the Vatican’s patron saints and the symbols of the Church’s unity and its universality, he said.

Saying he wanted to focus the evening service on the universal aspect of the Church, Pope Benedict recalled how Pope John Paul II repeatedly used the phrase “new evangelization” to describe the need for a new commitment to spreading the Gospel message in countries evangelized centuries ago and the need to find new ways to preach the Gospel that correspond both to the truth and to the needs of modern men and women.

The pope said the social and religious challenges of the modern world cannot be met by human strength and ingenuity alone. In fact, he said, he and other Church leaders often feel like the disciples of Jesus faced with a hungry crowd but having only a few fish and a couple loaves of bread to divide among them.

“Jesus showed them that with faith in God nothing is impossible and that a few loaves of bread and fish, blessed and shared, could satisfy everyone,” he said.

“But there wasn’t — and there isn’t — only hunger for material food: There is a deeper hunger, which only God can satisfy,” the pope said.

Men and women today want “an authentic and full life, they need truth, profound freedom, unconditional love. Even in the deserts of the secularized world, the human soul thirsts for God,” he said.

Welcoming a delegation from the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople, the pope said the task of new evangelization also is tied to the commitment to working for Christian unity.

“May the intercession of SS. Peter and Paul obtain for the whole Church an ardent faith and apostolic courage to announce to the world the truth we all need, the truth that is God,” the pope prayed.

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 54, No. 26

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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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 m arychase@anchornews.org ADVERTISING Wayne R. Powers waynepowers@anchornews.org REPORTER Kenneth J. Souza k ensouza@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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Subterranean history — The burial chamber of a Roman noble woman is seen in this lighted view of the Catacombs of St. Thecla in Rome. Fourth-century paintings of SS. Peter, Paul, Andrew and John on the ceiling of the woman’s burial chamber are believed to be the oldest in existence. (CNS photo/Nicola Forenza, Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology)

Early evidence of devotion to Apostles found in Rome catacombs

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service ROME — In the basement of an Italian insurance company’s modern office building, Vatican archaeologists — armed with lasers — discovered important historical evidence about the development of Christian devotion to the Apostles.

At Rome’s Catacombs of St. Thecla, in the burial chamber of a Roman noblewoman, they have discovered what they said are the oldest existing paintings of SS. Peter, Paul, Andrew and John.

Technicians working for the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology discovered the painting of St. Paul in June 2009 just as the Year of St. Paul was ending.

Barbara Mazzei, who was in charge of the restoration work, said June 22 that she and her team members knew there were more images under the crust of calcium carbonate, but excitement over the discovery of St. Paul in the year dedicated to him led them to announce the discovery even before the rest of the work was completed.

Presenting the complete restoration of the burial chamber to reporters a year later, Msgr.

Giovanni Carru said that the catacombs “are an eloquent witness of Christianity in its origins.”

Into the fourth century, Christians in Italy tried to bury their dead near the tomb of a martyr.

The walls of the tombs of the wealthy were decorated with Christian symbols, biblical scenes and references to the martyr.

At the Catacombs of St. Thecla, the noblewoman’s burial chamber — now referred to as the Cubicle of the Apostles — dates

from late in the fourth century.

The arch over the vestibule features a fresco of a group of figures the Vatican experts described as “The College of the Apostles.”

The ceiling of the burial chamber itself features the most typical icon found in the catacombs — Christ the Good Shepherd — but the four corners of the ceiling are decorated with medallions featuring the four Apostles, said Mazzei.

Fabrizio Bisconti, the commission’s archaeological superintendent, said that in the decorations of the catacombs one can see “the genesis, the seeds of Christian iconography,” with designs from the very simple fish as a symbol of Christ to the resurrection image of Christ raising Lazarus from the dead.

The discovery of so much attention to the Apostles in the Catacombs of St. Thecla documents the fact that widespread devotion to the Apostles began earlier than what most Church historians believed, he said.

“This is the time when the veneration of the Apostles was just being born and developed,” he said, and the art in the catacombs no longer presented just the martyrs or biblical scenes.

The burial chamber also features frescoes of Daniel in the lion’s den, the Three Wise Men bringing gifts to Jesus, Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac and a very large wall painting of the noblewoman herself — jeweled, veiled and with “an important hairstyle,” a symbol of status in ancient Rome, he said.

Mazzei said that when restorers first went into the burial chamber in 2008, all the walls were white — completely covered under the crust of calcium carbonate that ranged from a millimeter

thick to 4-5 centimeters deep. The Vatican, however, had watercolors and diary descriptions from the 1800s testifying that there were paintings on the walls.

In the past, she said, restorers would use tiny scalpels and brushes to remove the white crust, but some of the paint always came away with it. Restorers were left trying to find the right balance between removing enough to see a faint image of a catacomb fresco and destroying it.

Then along came the laser, Mazzei said.

After attending an art restoration conference and listening to presentations on how lasers were being used on frescoes in buildings above ground, she said she suggested to the Vatican that they gather a team of experts to see how lasers would work in the extremely humid catacombs where almost no air circulates.

“We went slowly and basically set up an experimental laboratory” in the catacombs, she said.

The restoration project was just as painstaking as the scalpeland-brush method because it involved firing the laser pinpoint by pinpoint across the surface of the cubicle, “but the result is totally different,” Mazzei said.

She said the two-year project to restore the tiny cubicle cost only about $72,000 because many of the consultants donated their time and the laser company gave the Vatican a steep discount.

Bisconti said the Vatican has no plans to open the Catacombs of St. Thecla to the public, although the pontifical commission occasionally gives permission for groups to visit as long as they are willing to pay a licensed guide and escort.

July 2, 2010

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The International Church

Vatican clarifies Cardinal Schonborn remarks, defends Cardinal Sodano

most welcome guest — Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Vatican foreign minister, walks with Havana’s city historian Eusebio Leal during a visit to the Belen Convent in Old Havana. Archbishop Mamberti was on five-day visit to Cuba to participate in a commemoration of 75 years of diplomatic relations between the Caribbean nation and the Vatican. (CNS photo/Reuters)

Vatican envoy ends Cuba visit with meeting with Raul Castro HAVANA (CNS) — Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican’s foreign minister, concluded an official and pastoral visit to Cuba June 20 saying relations between the Catholic Church and the Cuban government are on a healthy course.

Just hours before his departure, the archbishop met with President Raul Castro, saying afterward that bilateral relations are “cordial, continuing and on the rise.”

An official release to various Cuban state-run news media reported on the meeting and said the president and the Vatican diplomat also discussed subjects of common interest on the international agenda.

“The visit of (Archbishop) Mamberti also showed the favorable development of relations between the state and the Catholic Church in Cuba,” the government’s note said.

The Vatican diplomat spent several days on the island, marking 75 years of diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Cuba and participating in a national conference on the Church’s social teachings.

Archbishop Mamberti is considered an expert on Latin America, the United Nations, Africa, the Middle East and Islam.

His visit took place at a time of Church-state dialogue, focused primarily on the status of political prisoners, although other subjects have also been on the table.

As a result of these conversations, begun in May, the government recently released one jailed political opponent, Ariel Sigler, who had become ill, and moved another 12 prisoners to jails closer to their homes.

During his stay on the island, Archbishop Mamberti participated in several official programs, including a tribute to 19th-centu-

ry Cuban hero Jose Marti and a meeting with the foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez.

At a joint press conference following their meeting, Archbishop Mamberti welcomed the results of the conversations between the Church and the government and said he hoped his visit would contribute to strengthening such talks.

Archbishop Mamberti said one of the Vatican’s diplomatic objectives was “to support the dialogue between local churches and the authorities of various countries.”

Rodriguez emphasized the church’s social programs and called its communications with the government “profound and constructive.” He said the conditions were right to continue such “fruitful exchanges.”

The archbishop’s official visit included stops at various schools, a concert and a tour of Havana’s

historic district.

His pastoral visit opened with a session on the state and laity during a Church social teaching forum that analyzed subjects like dialogue and reconciliation among Cubans, the economic situation of the island and the public role of the institutional church.

Archbishop Mamberti is the highest-ranking Vatican representative to visit the island since February 2008, when Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, represented Pope Benedict XVI for celebrations marking the 10th anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s historic visit.

Cardinal Bertone was the first international dignitary received

by Castro after he officially assumed the presidency, a few days after the announcement that Fidel Castro was turning over the role to his younger brother.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In an unusual public chastisement, the Vatican said a series of statements by Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schonborn have contributed to widespread misunderstandings on issues related to clerical sexual abuse.

In particular, the Vatican took issue with Cardinal Schonborn’s statement that Cardinal Angelo Sodano, former secretary of state, had blocked an investigation of sexual abuse and offended victims by calling their complaints “petty gossip.”

“It should be remembered that in the Church, when there are accusations against a cardinal, the competence rests solely with the pope; others may have an advisory role, always with the proper respect for the person,” a Vatican statement said.

The statement was issued after Pope Benedict XVI met June 28 with Cardinal Schonborn, the archbishop of Vienna. The meeting was requested by Cardinal Schonborn to “clarify the exact meaning of his recent statements” on a number of topics, the Vatican said.

In a closed-door session with Austrian news editors in May, Cardinal Schonborn reportedly said that Cardinal Sodano, the

longtime secretary of state under Pope John Paul II and now the dean of the College of Cardinals, had hindered the investigation into allegations of sexual abuse of minors by the late Austrian Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, who was forced to step down as archbishop of Vienna in 1995.

Cardinal Schonborn said that at that time, Pope Benedict, then head of the Vatican office in charge of investigating accusations of clerical sex abuse, had been thwarted

by Cardinal Sodano in his efforts to take more direct action on the accusations against Cardinal Groer, Austrian news media said.

Cardinal Schonborn also was quoted in the reports as saying Cardinal Sodano had offended victims of sexual abuse in the Church when, at the pope’s Easter Mass in April, he used the term “petty gossip” in referring to the current controversy surrounding the Church.

The pope and the cardinals were able to “clarify and resolve some misunderstandings that were widespread and in part deriving from some expressions used by Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, who expresses his displeasure at the interpretations that were given,” the Vatican statement said.

Rev. Msgr. John J. Oliveira, V.E. 106 Illinois St., New Bedford, MA 02745 Anchor 07/02/10

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The Church in the U.S.

July 2, 2010

Catholic Charities director: Spill could be ‘worse than hurricanes’ WASHINGTON (CNS) — The ultimate tally of the devastation wrought by the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in April could be “worse than hurricanes,” said the director of Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, La. “The level of anxiety is incredibly high,” said Rob Gorman, who has been with Catholic Charities since 1982 and married the daughter of a French-speaking bayou fisherman. “If you’re a trawler, you don’t know if you’re going to be able to trawl this year, or if you’re going to be able to trawl next year, or the year after that, or the year after that.”

The same, Gorman said, applies to fishermen, crabbers and shrimpers.

While “we all get very anxious at the start of hurricane season,” he said, “folk here are adept at recovering from hurricane damage” since they know what to expect should a hurricane come.

If hit, “we start rebuilding and recovering,” he added. “It’s all very predictable.”

It’s not knowing the extent of the continuing crisis in the Gulf of Mexico that is ratcheting up anxiety in southern Louisiana, Gorman said during a June 23 conference call with reporters arranged by the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change.

The millions of gallons spilled into the Gulf linger in the water as “not one solid blob (but), hundreds of thousands of little, smaller blobs (which) when gathered together can go in any direction,” Gorman said. “If they start sneaking under the booms we’ve tried to set up,” he added, “it’s worse in the sense that we just haven’t a clue how this is going to play out.”

Gorman cited an unnamed professor at Loyola University in New Orleans who told him the spill “is going to have ripple effects all throughout the country. ... If you don’t have plankton, you don’t have a little fish called the menhaden. The biggest port for landing that fish is in our diocese. Menhaden is a hugely important fish for us particularly. If you don’t have menhaden, you don’t have chicken feed. And if you don’t have chicken feed, you’ve got a crisis for the chicken growers.”

It is the unknowns that are gnawing at Gorman.

Would a hurricane help or hurt matters? “It’s still being batted around (by scientists). They just don’t know,” he answered.

“I think there’s growing concern on the part of Louisiana scientists that even a tropical depression will kick up this oil from the

surface of the water and from underneath the water and deposit it inland. But really they just don’t know. It’s never happened before.”

Hurricane Katrina, which battered New Orleans and other areas in the Gulf five years ago, “was the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history,” Gorman said, “and now we’ve got this oil spill, which is the costliest man-made disaster in US history.”

Gorman did not give specifics on how Catholic Charities is helping those in the Houma-Thibodaux Diocese get through the spill, but he spoke of the spill’s human costs as well.

“Drilling mud — that’s a misnomer. It’s a toxic lubricant,” Gorman declared. “It’s a mixture of heavy metals and volatile organic compounds; that drilling mud is just very dangerous stuff.”

Add to that the oil and the chemical dispersant and “we have this toxic soup in the Gulf.

And the folks from Alaska are saying, ‘Do not take these health concerns lightly.’ And the respirators are good for only 24 hours,” Gorman said.

Alaska’s Prince William Sound was the site of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker mishap in 1989, which likewise spilled millions of gallons of crude oil into the water.

“The other thing they told us is to look for a spike in mental health concerns,” among them depression and suicide, as “folks have a growing sense of anxiety,” Gorman said. “These mental health issues are going to become much more prevalent.”

The apparent June 16 suicide of an Alabama charter fisherman who was hired by BP, the oil company whose rig exploded in April, for cleanup work may be indicative of the troubles ahead.

“There are very few people with respirators out there.

They wear boots and gloves and in some cases protective goggles and in some cases protective suits, but it’s just so hot out there,” Gorman said. “The people from Alaska say you’re really putting yourselves at risk” by not wearing the protective gear, he added.

Gorman said there are 1,100 crabbers, 232 seafood dealers, 375 seafood transporters and 135 recreational charter fishermen in the two-and-a-half-county (called “parish” in Louisiana) diocese.

“The spill has hit primarily our diocese and the Archdiocese of New Orleans,” Gorman said. “It’s spreading to Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and it may well get to Texas. There are people who lost jobs from the spill, but now from the moratorium on drilling.

scout’s honor — Cub Scouts stand as Bishop W. Francis Malooly of Wilmington, Del., celebrates Mass during the Religious Scout Awards at Church of the Holy Child in Wilmington June 19. Girl and Boy Scouts enrolled in a Catholic school or Religious Education program or who receive regular religious instruction were eligible for religious recognition awards given out each year by the Diocese of Wilmington. (CNS photo/Don Blake, The Dialog)

Florida ultrasound bill vetoed; other states looking at similar bills

By Nancy Frazier O’Brien Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON — Although Florida Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed a bill that would have required women to have an ultrasound before a first-trimester abortion, similar legislation is having more success in other states.

In Louisiana, a bill requiring ultrasounds before all abortions is awaiting the signature of Gov. Bobby Jindal, who has said he supports the legislation. In Michigan, where an ultrasound already is required before an abortion, a Senate committee is considering a bill that would mandate highquality images from the best ultrasound equipment available at the facility where the abortion is performed.

Sheila Hopkins, associate director for social concerns and Respect Life at the Florida Catholic Conference in Tallahassee, called Crist’s June 11 veto of the ultrasound requirement “a sad day for Florida women.”

“Many women have lamented their decision (to have an abortion) and wish they could have viewed an ultrasound before making a choice that they now deeply regret,” Hopkins said. “Without this bill in place, women will continue to make a life-altering decision without the benefit of informed consent.”

Currently in Florida, ultrasounds are required before all second- and third-trimester abortions in order to determine the gestational age and location of the fetus. The Florida Catholic Conference estimated that more

than 80 percent of abortion clinics in the state already perform ultrasounds before first-trimester abortions.

The legislation would not have required women to look at the ultrasound images or hear a description of them. It also would have exempted victims of rape, incest, domestic violence or human trafficking from the requirement.

Crist said in his veto message that the bill “places an inappropriate burden on a woman seeking to terminate a pregnancy.”

The Louisiana bill sent to the governor June 16 requires that an ultrasound be performed before an abortion and that the woman having the abortion be informed of her right to view a photograph of the ultrasound or hear a description of what it shows.

As originally introduced, the legislation had required women seeking an abortion to hear a description of the fetus, including its dimensions and whether arms, legs or internal organs were visible, and to receive a photograph of the ultrasound. Those requirements were removed by a Senate committee, however.

State Sen. Sharon Weston Broome, a Democrat who is chief sponsor of the legislation, said it “empowers women” and noted that at least 15 other states have a similar requirement.

According to testimony during the debate on the bill, more than 95 percent of women receiving abortions in Louisiana already have ultrasounds performed.

The Michigan proposal now before the Senate Judiciary Committee would strengthen a 2006 law requiring the ultrasounds. Pro-Life advocates contended that those performing the ultrasounds in abortion clinics were deliberately using older equipment to produce blurry images for the women before their abortions but were using newer, state-of-the-art equipment when performing the abortions.

The bill states: “The physician or person assisting the physician shall ensure that the most technologically advanced ultrasound equipment available at that location is used for the ultrasound examination, for viewing an active ultrasound image, and for creating the physical picture of the ultrasound image.”

At a June 15 committee hearing, representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union and the state chapter of the National Organization for Women opposed the bill as an unnecessary intrusion into the doctor-patient relationship. A representative of Citizens for Traditional Values spoke in favor, saying it would give women “one more source of information when considering her choice” of whether to have an abortion or not.

State Sen. Wayne Kuipers, a Republican who is primary sponsor of the legislation, said he expected the bill would be approved by the Michigan House and Senate but could face a veto

by Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat who supports keeping abortion legal.

July 2, 2010

The Church in the U.S.

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Cardinal voices ‘grave concern’ over drug known to cause abortion WASHINGTON (CNS) — The head of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities expressed “grave concern” about a drug labeled as an emergency contraceptive and the Food and Drug Administration’s process for approving it.

He said it was misleading to call it a contraceptive, as it is also known to cause abortions.

In a June 17 letter to Dr. Margaret Hamburg, FDA commissioner, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston criticized the advisory panel’s hearing that day on the drug. He said the hearing — held without broad public input or a full record on the drug’s safety “for women or their unborn children” — demonstrated a failure to understand the “new medical and moral issues” the drug presents.

The drug, ulipristal, is being marketed under the brand name ellaOne or ella, and would be available only by prescription.

The drug is said to prevent pregnancy five days after sex — two days longer than the morning-after pill known as Plan B, which is sold over-the-counter to women 17 and older.

The FDA’s advisory panel of 11 reproductive health experts voted unanimously for ulipristal’s approval and called it safe and effective. Although the FDA is not required to follow the panel’s advice, it often

does.

The drug, manufactured by a French pharmaceutical company, is currently available in 22 European countries.

In his letter, Cardinal DiNardo raised concerns that the new drug is more similar to the drug RU-486 — which can cause abortions several weeks into pregnancy — than it is to other emergency contraceptives, which are believed to have an effect on a fertilized egg after implantation in the uterus.

“Millions of American women, even those willing to use a contraceptive to prevent fertilization in various circumstances, would personally never choose to have an abortion,” said Cardinal DiNardo. “They would be ill-served by a misleading campaign to present ulipristal simply as a ‘contraceptive.’”

RU-486, known generically as mifepristone, was approved by the FDA 10 years ago. It induces an abortion in the first seven weeks of pregnancy when used in conjunction with another drug, a prostaglandin.

The drug prevents the fertilized egg from clinging to the uterine wall, and the prostaglandin is used 48 hours later to set off contractions that expel the embryo.

In a June 2 letter to the FDA, Donna Harrison, president of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gy-

necologists, described ulipristal as “an abortifacient of the same type as mifepristone” and said its “approval as an emergency contraceptive raises serious health and ethical issues.”

The letter said the new drug had the potential to “destroy established pregnancies as well as prevent implantation.”

Plan B, approved by the FDA in 1999, prevents pregnancies with its high doses of a hormone that mimics progesterone. Although the drug works primarily by stopping ovaries from producing eggs, it can also prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the womb.

Cardinal DiNardo noted that for many years, “Congress has acted to ensure that the federal government does not fund abortion and does not endanger or destroy the early human embryo even in the name of important medical research.”

He also said the current administration has similarly “voiced support for federal laws to ensure that no one is involved in abortion without his or her knowledge or consent.”

“Plans for approving a known abortion-causing drug as a ‘contraceptive’ for American women is not consistent with the stated policy of the administration on these matters,” he added.

The FDA is scheduled to make a decision on the drug by late July.

Christophers pamphlet offers advice for couples in a troubled marriage

By Catholic News Service NEW YORK — As the U.S. divorce rate continues to climb, a New York-based Catholic organization has advice for those in a troubled marriage who are willing to help fix it.

The Christophers, founded in 1945 by Maryknoll Father James Keller, has created a new pamphlet titled “Hope for Troubled Marriages.” The free publication is part of “Christophers News Notes,” published 10 times a year to address timely topics in a way that reflects hope, encouragement and responsibility.

“Successful marriages don’t work on autopilot” is one of many points made in the new pamphlet.

The Christophers break down marriage problems into four basic stages: criticism, contempt, defensiveness and stonewalling.

To help the relationship “sail smoothly and get safely through rough spots,” the pamphlet offers seven guiding principles. Among

other things, it says husbands and wives need to communicate effectively and listen to each other, make decisions as a unit and always remember to fight fair and maintain self-respect in arguments that are unavoidable.

“Marriage is not for the fainthearted,” the pamphlet says.

“Most issues can be successfully handled with patience and persistence,” it adds. But it notes that if problems result in domestic violence, in most cases getting out of the relationship is the best and sometimes the only option.

Free copies of “Hope for Troubled Marriages,” News

Notes No. 525, can be ordered by writing to the Christophers, 5 Hanover Square, New York, NY 10004 or by calling (888) 2984050.

lights out — The Empire State Building in New York is seen in this 2009 file photo. Brushing off calls from political leaders and others to reconsider, the Empire State Building management stands by its decision to deny a request that the building pay tribute to Blessed Mother Teresa with a lighting display on the 100th anniversary of her birth August 26. (CNS photo)

Knights set record for charitable donations, volunteer service hours NEW HAVEN, Conn. (CNS) — The Knights of Columbus set record highs in 2009 for charitable donations and volunteer service hours, according to the results of an annual survey.

The Knights’ Annual Survey of Fraternal Activity for 2009, released June 4, indicates that the Catholic fraternal organization contributed more than $151.1 million to charitable causes in 2009.That amount exceeds the 2008 total by more than $1 million, said the survey.

Group members also collectively contributed nearly 68 million volunteer service hours to charitable causes in 2009 — an increase of more than 468,000

hours over the previous year, the survey said.

The survey reported that group members volunteered 227,900 hours to Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit Christian housing organization that builds affordable housing in partnership with people in need. It was the most common service program for Knights.

The survey also recorded more than 413,000 blood donations from members in 2009.

Knights have donated more than $1.37 billion, and nearly 640 million volunteer hours to charitable causes in the past decade, according to cumulative totals from the group.

6

The Anchor The great scandal of priestly celibacy

Recently the importance of priestly celibacy in the Church has been questioned from different quarters. Some, influenced by implicit Freudian premises, have suggested that priestly celibacy is a contributing factor to the clergy sexual abuse crisis, although such critics always fail to explain how the marriage of a priest to an adult woman will resolve the issue of priests acting out on perverted attractions to teen-age boys (in four out of five abuse cases) or to pre-pubescent children (in one out of 10). Others have raised doubts about the prudence of maintaining the discipline of priestly celibacy when there is a shortage, in many parts of the world, of men responding to God’s call to commit their lives to him and his Church as priests. Even a highly influential European cardinal, responding, it seems, to repeated calls in his country for optional sacerdotal celibacy, said that the subject should be examined anew.

As the Year For Priests was coming to a close, Pope Benedict responded to these questions coming from different segments of the Catholic world. His response took place within a June 10 nighttime question-and-answer session with priests in St. Peter’s Square. A Slovakian priest, a missionary in Russia who said he was “disoriented in reading the many worldly criticisms of this gift” of priestly celibacy, asked the pope “to enlighten us about the profundity and the authentic meaning of ecclesiastical celibacy.” Pope Benedict gladly took up the challenge. In doing so, he stressed how and why priestly celibacy is needed now more than ever. His thoughts about the beauty, meaning, purpose and importance of priestly celibacy in the Church and world today should be pondered by every Catholic.

Speaking spontaneously, the pope began with a brief introduction about the priesthood, inaugurated by Christ and strengthened by the Eucharist, which he called the “permanent and vital foundation” of celibacy. To say that the priest celebrates the Eucharist in persona Christi (“in the person of Christ”), Benedict said, means that priests “speak in the ‘I’ of Christ. Christ ‘pulls us into himself’ and permits us to unite ourselves … with his ‘I.’ … In this way he really is always the one priest, and nonetheless very much present in the world, because he ‘pulls’ us into himself, and so makes present his priestly mission. … This unification of his ‘I’ with our own implies that we are also ‘pulled’ into his reality as the Risen One, we advance toward the full life of the resurrection … in which we are already beyond marriage” (cf. Mt. 22:23 –32).

This is the ground of priestly celibacy, the pope said. It is an “anticipation” of heaven in which “we transcend this time and go forward, and so we ‘pull’ ourselves and our time toward the world of the resurrection, toward the newness of Christ, toward the new and true life. Celibacy is an anticipation made possible by the grace of the Lord who ‘pulls’ us to himself, toward the world of the resurrection; he invites us always anew to transcend ourselves, this present, toward the true present of the future, which becomes present today.”

It has long been said in the Church that one of the aspects of priestly celibacy and the vowed celibate chastity of those in religious life that it is an “eschatological sign,” something that points to the next life. Pope Benedict is saying that it’s more than a sign, but an eschatological reality, a resurrected life, in the midst of the world. In priestly celibacy, the choice for heaven, for God, becomes concretized and stands as a challenge to those who choose to set their horizons solely on worldly aims. This, the Holy Father says, is a “very important point,” because priestly celibacy challenges one of the most fundamental postulates of secularist modernity.

“One big problem of Christianity in today’s world,” the pope clarified, “is that God’s future is no longer considered, and the now of this world alone seems sufficient. We want to have only this world, to live only in this world. So we close the doors to the true greatness of our existence.

The meaning of celibacy as an anticipation of the future is precisely to open these doors, to make the world bigger, to show the reality of the future that must be lived by us as already present, to live, therefore, in a testimony of faith: we really believe that God exists, that God is part of my life, that I can base my life on Christ, on the future life.”

He said that such testimony provokes “worldly criticisms.” For the “agnostic world, the world in which God has no place,” he said, “celibacy is a great scandal because it shows precisely that God is considered and lived as a reality. With the eschatological life of celibacy, the future world of God enters into the realities of our time.” Celibacy is a “great scandal” precisely because it challenges the dominant cultural mentality — which exists even among many in the Church — that rejects the Christian premise that God must be the “pearl of great price,” the “one thing necessary,” the “chosen portion,” “cup” and “inheritance” of human beings (Mt 13:46; Lk 10:42; Ps 16:5).

The Holy Father was expanding here on a point he first expressed in a 2006 pre-Christmas address to the members of the Roman Curia, when he said that celibacy “can only be understood and lived” if it is based on this total option for loving union with Christ as the defining reality of one’s existence. “The true foundation of celibacy can be contained in the phrase: ‘Dominus pars’ — You are my portion. It can only be theocentric. It cannot mean being deprived of love, but must mean letting oneself be consumed by passion for God and subsequently, thanks to a more intimate way of being with him, to serve men and women, too.” He continued in that 2006 address, “Our world, which has become totally positivistic, in which God appears at best as a hypothesis but not as a concrete reality, needs to rest on God in the most concrete and radical way possible. It needs a witness to God that lies in the decision to welcome God as a land where one finds one’s own existence.” That witness is priestly celibacy and consecrated virginity for the sake of Christ in his kingdom — and that’s why, he said, “celibacy is so important today.”

Priestly celibacy is crucial today for another reason, the pope added on June 10. Such a priestly commitment reinforces and undergirds the commitment of marriage. He noted that the “increasingly fashionable” option of so many in the world not to get married” is something “totally, fundamentally different from celibacy, because not getting married is based on the desire to live only for oneself, not to accept any definitive bond, to have life at every moment in full autonomy, to decide at every moment what to do, what to take from life; and therefore a ‘no’ to commitment, a ‘no’ to definitiveness, a having life only for oneself. Celibacy is precisely the opposite: it is a definitive ‘yes,’ it is allowing ourselves to be taken in hand by God, giving ourselves into the hands of the Lord, into his ‘I,’ and therefore it is an act of fidelity and trust, an act that the fidelity of marriage also supposes. It is the exact opposite of this ‘no,’ of this autonomy that does not want to be obligated, that does not want to enter into a bond. It is precisely the definitive ‘yes’ that supposes, that confirms the definitive ‘yes’ of marriage … with its ‘yes’ to the future world.”

Priestly celibacy, in sum, makes present “this scandal of a faith that bases all of existence upon God … a great scandal, which the world does not want to see.” It is a “great sign of faith, of the presence of God in the world.” That’s why, in the midst of the “scandals of our insufficiencies, of our sins,” this “true and great scandal” of priestly celibacy is all the more important — and is here to stay.

July 2, 2010

Good shepherds of the young

As the whole Church has been confronted with Lord. the evil of the sexual abuse of young people in her Both characteristics ought to define Christian midst during the past several decades, one of the leaders and people in every age. most frustrating explanations I’ve heard about the Even though Mkasa and Lwanga were willing failure of some Church leaders to respond force- to die to defend the pages from the king’s wickfully and adequately to stop this evil was that they edness, they did not have a death wish. They first were unaware at the time of how much harm such tried to persuade those pages who could easily abuse causes in those who suffer it. We know so disappear from court without any harm coming to much more now than we did then about the nature their families to run away. With various ruses, they of pedophilia and ephebophilia, they say, as well as next began to ensure that the pages who remained about the long-term psychological, relational and were “otherwise occupied” whenever the king sent spiritual consequences endured by victims. For for them. They furthermore began to teach the these reasons, they assert that it’s inappropriate to pages various ways to avert the king’s advances if judge decisions of the past by today’s standards. the other measures failed.

While it’s certainly true that the psychological All of these stratagems worked for a time, but sciences do know much more now than they did the king soon figured out what was going on and 50 years ago about the nature of these perversions became enraged. No longer able to avoid a direct and while the bold witness of sex abuse victims confrontation, Mkasa bluntly rebuked the king has made it impossible for us any longer not to for his perverse attraction to the boys in his serrecognize the trauma they experience, I’ve always vice. Mwanga was consumed with anger against thought that the suggestion that past leaders some- Mkasa and his fellow Christians whom he knew how did not have all the information they needed to were helping and training the boys to avoid his adrespond decisively and adequately as morally and vances. Under the pretext of Mkasa’s disloyalty for historically flawed. putting the commands of another king, “The God For the second installment of this mini-series on of the Christians,” over his own, Mwanga had him saints whom God has raised up to illustrate the vir- executed. tues those of us in the Church need now to respond A few months later, when the king returned to the crisis of the sex abuse of minors, I want to turn from a trip to see one of his routine victims receivto the martyrs of Uganda, principally SS. Joseph ing catechetical instruction — which obviously Mkasa, Denis Sebuggwawo and Charles Lwanga. involved teaching on the sin of homosexual activThey show us, in the context of a primitive culture ity and abuse — he summoned the catechetist, St. from the 1880s, Denis Sebuggwhat the Church wawo, put a spear in the northern through his chest hemisphere, for all and then had its sophistication, his executioners should never have hack his corpse to forgotten. pieces.

I wrote about The followBy Father these saints last ing day the king Roger J. Landry June 5, concenrounded up all his trating above all pages and gave on their heroic fithem a choice bedelity to the point of brutal martyrdom, only a few tween the Christian God and him, between prayer years after having been evangelized. Today I want and the predator, between life and death. Three to focus on what they teach us about the proper re- sided with the king. Charles Lwanga and 26 pages sponse to the sexual abuse of minors: in short, they — 16 Catholics and 10 Anglicans — sided with died to protect the young from suffering sexual God. Mwanga sentenced them to be burned alive abuse. and they were brutally tortured.

When King Mwanga arose to the BuganWhat do we learn from their heroic example? dan throne in 1884, he appointed Joseph Mkasa, Those called to lead Christ’s flock learn the gift of baptized two years before and a loyal servant of courage, hatred for sin, and a love for God’s chilMwanga’s father Mtesa, as majordomo, or chief- dren even to the point of death. in-charge, of his palace and court. The king litAll members of society, inside and outside the erally owed his life to Mkasa, who a few years Church, learn two valuable lessons as well. before courageously captured and killed with his First, King Mwanga was not an ecclesiastical bare hands a venomous snake that was threaten- figure. It’s a simple fact that the vast majority of ing the then-prince’s life. In addition to his official abuse that takes place in our society does not ocduties, Mkasa was also the de facto leader of the cur within the Church, as media attention might nascent Catholic community, since in 1882 the erroneously imply. Therefore, sincere members of aging and paranoid King Mtesa had banished the the Church and society should work just as hard to White Fathers from the realm, leaving Mkasa as extirpate abuse in those places — public schools, the principal catechist of a growing number of cat- in homes with unrelated adult males and other situechumens. ations with higher incidence rates of sexual abuse Upon becoming majordomo, Mkasa appointed of minors than exists in the Church — as they do a young catechumen, Charles Lwanga to supervise in the Church. the court pages. A short time later, the two of them Secondly, and this deserves to be stressed: began to observe that the new king was homosexu- King Mwanga came to the throne at 16 and exally attracted to the teen-age pages and was seek- ecuted the Ugandan martyrs at 18. SS. Joseph ing to have them brought into his private company Mkasa and Charles Lwanga weren’t trying to to molest them. Bugandan culture at the time made stop the perversions of a lecherous sexagenarian, room for such perversion, especially coming from but of a boy who was only a few years older than someone in a position of power. Though just a his victims. Mkasa and Lwanga knew, however, neophyte and a catechumen, Mkasa and Lwanga, that such abuse was just as disastrous for those however, knew that such behavior was absolutely who suffer it, even for those who were consenting incompatible with the Gospel and they determined to the king’s designs. to do all that they could to be good shepherds and If we as a society are truly against the sexual protect the sheep entrusted to them from the raven- abuse of minors, then we must seek to eliminate ous wolf in regal garb. it, even when the perpetrators are other minors.

They, first, had a genuine Christian love for We have to acknowledge, however, that most of others, such that they were willing to sacrifice their our society not only is ignoring, but enabling, the lives for their good. It was impossible for them as damage done by peer-on-peer sexual abuse, such Christians to do nothing, even though looking the as occurs when seniors prey on freshmen, popuother way or enabling the king’s perversity would lar freshmen go trophy hunting after their weaker obviously have been good for their court careers. classmates, or junior high Casanovas abuse their Serving the Lord came before serving any earthly classmates for their own gratification. king — and serving the Lord in this case clearly The Ugandan martyrs gave their lives to protest meant, as spiritual fathers, defending the young young people being taken advantage of in this way. from evil.

Today we ask their intercession that we might imiThey also had a true Christian horror for sin. tate their courage, their love for the young and their They were revolted by the evil that the king de- horror for all sexual sins that injure the young from sired. They had a simple Christian common sense modern day Mwangas. of black and white, of right and wrong, and hated Father Landry is pastor of St. Anthony’s Parsin with all the zeal with which they loved the ish in New Bedford.

Putting Into the Deep

July 2, 2010

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ovelist Muriel Spark once referred (without irony) to “the sublime Father Newman.” For a writer of Spark’s reputation to say this about John Henry Newman, one might guess it had some something to do with the quality of his writing.

Newman published 40 volumes in his lifetime. The Birmingham Oratory he founded has published an additional 31 volumes of letters and diaries.

Sheridan Gilley calls Newman “the prince of English autobiographers, and one of the greatest letter writers in the English language.” Newman’s autobiography entitled “Apologia pro vita sua” (“An Explanation of His Life”) is considered a classic in the spirit of St. Augustine’s “Confessions.” The book resulted in the rebirth of Newman’s reputation with the English public decades after Newman’ unpopular embrace of Catholicism. Decades after this, Hilaire Belloc could still claim, “Over all Europe the effect of the ‘Apologia’ continues increasing.” Novelist Graham Greene considered Newman’s “Apologia” one of his favorite books.

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7

The Anchor

A love for the English language

Ian Ker maintains that New“Lead, Kindly Light” has been man’s “Discourses on the Scope adopted as a hymn by a variety and Nature of University Educa- of non-Catholic denominations. tion” is “perhaps the finest exHe also authored a collection tended example of non-fictional entitled “Lyra Apostolica.” Here prose in the English language.” are some lines from his poem Newman’s writing style in “Lec- “James and John”: “Christ tures on the Present Position heard; and willed that James of Catholics in England” was should fall / First prey of Satan’s praised by George Eliot, herself the author of one of the greatest novels of The Enduring all time, “Middlemarch.”

Importance of Newman’s writings were a favorite with 20th-cen- Cardinal Newman tury anthologies of reliDr. Peter J. Mango gious and non-religious prose. Nicholas Lash declares, “Whether people rage / John linger out his fellows have any interest in philosophy all / And die in bloodless age. / or education or Christianity or Now they join hands once more whatever it may be, if they have above / Before the Conqueror’s a love for the English language throne: Thus GOD grants prayer they should find Newman worth / but in His love / Makes times reading.” and ways His own.”

Nowadays in the western There are two interesting world, we don’t always connect stories surrounding Newman’s poetry with masculinity. For poem “The Dream of Geronearlier ages it was quite differtius.” It narrates the journey of a ent. Abraham Lincoln penned man to his judgment by God and poems for himself, as men did subsequent entry into purgafor centuries since David wrote tory. A copy of “Gerontius” was Psalms and Homer wrote his found on the decapitated cadaver “Odyssey.” Newman was better of General Charles Gordon folat it than most. Newman’s poem

lowing a battle. Gordon put an end to the enslavement of black Africans in Sudan — for a while, anyway. He was called the “Martyr of Sudan” for dying in the assault of an Osama-bin-Laden type extremist called the “Mahdi,” an event depicted in the 1966 film “Khartoum.” Gordon’s copy of “Gerontius” was mailed back to Newman.

Moved, Newman said Gordon “was always on his death bed, fulfilling the common advice that we should ever pass the day as if it was to be our last.”

A second story regards the presentation of “Gerontius” as a wedding gift to the British composer Edward Elgar. Elgar transformed Newman’s poem into his finest choral work — in fact, some consider “Gerontius” Elgar’s greatest work, period. Here are some lines: “Rouse thee, my fainting soul, and play the man / And through such waning span / Of life and thought as still has to be trod / Prepare to meet thy God.” And: “From the nethermost fire / From all that is evil / From power of the devil / Thy servant

deliver / For once and for ever.”

Then there’s Newman the novelist. In addition to writing a semi-autobiographical novel called “Loss and Gain,” Newman wrote a love story called “Callista” set during ancient Rome’s persecution of the Christians.

Some consider this the best place to start reading Newman.

For North Americans to copy Newman’s way of speaking, writing, or preaching too exactly can come across as conceited.

Let’s face it: We just don’t sound like the British.

Still, at a time when things like instant text-messaging and Facebook snippets are molding the way we express ourselves — as in “AFAICT I’m afrd we’re losing d capacity 2 spk wel @ all” — Cardinal Newman, the Prince of Style, still has a lot to teach us.

Dr. Mango, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on Cardinal Newman, teaches philosophy at the Thornwood Center for Higher Studies as well as at the Archdiocese of New York’s St. John Neumann Pre-Theology Program and Institute for Religious Studies. This is the fifth in a 10-part series.

Maybe it’s time to get back into game shape

y my calculations, and remember I majored in English because a Math whiz I was not, by the end of July, the Boston Red Sox should be fully staffed by the current Portland Seadogs’ roster.

The Bosox are, as the old saying goes, “dropping like flies.” And I don’t think there’s much that can top last weekend’s bedlam by the bay in San Francisco. On Friday night we watched as little bulldog Dustin Pedroia was felled by a foul ball off his paw, breaking it; on Saturday we witnessed Sox ace Clay Buchholz come up lame running to second base; and the trifecta came on Sunday as red hot Victor Martinez suffered a fractured thumb while twice being nicked by foul balls. It was like watching a “M*A*S*H” rerun.

The fact that the Red Sox are still very much in the postseason hunt is nothing short of New England Patriotesque. The Pats seemingly are always bitten by the injury bug, yet claw their way to the playoff picture.

Since the beginning of April, the Red Sox have had 13 players suffer significant injuries: Boof Bonser, Junichi Tazawa (out for the season, before it even began), J.D. Drew, Pedroia, Martinez, Buchholz, Mike Cameron, Dice-K, Josh Beckett, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie, Jeremy

Hermida, and Mike Lowell.

As it stands now, we have Out of this baker’s dozen of to survive, at least through the wounded, two were placed on All-Star break without top-notch the 60-day disabled list and nine headed to the 15-day disabled list.

Yet, at press time, the Sox had scratched their way into second place in the American League East after a couple of

By Dave Jolivet months near the bottom, and were only two games behind the Yanplayers like Pedroia, Martinez, kees. And we have a one-game Lowell, Ellsbury, and Beckett. lead in the A.L. wildcard race.

Can we do it? Time will tell.

So, back to my calculation theory, there have been major injuries to 13 players in 77 games. With 85 games remaining, we can therefore expect 14 more by season’s end.

Rumor has it that the Sox have chartered an Amtrak Acela Express from Pawtucket to Boston, and plans are in the works for one from Portland, Maine to Beantown. The beauty of having Seadogs report to the big club is that their ballpark is nearly identical to Fenway Park in its dimensions, including a Down East version of the Big Green Monster. Granted they’re not facing Major League pitching in the north country, but frankly there aren’t that many Major League pitchers in the Majors.

Watch out American League if this team ever gets all its ducks in a row.

My View From the Stands

But I’m not taking any chances.

In my younger days, I could handle the leather pretty well at second base or shortstop, so I broke out the old mitt, lathered it up with petroleum jelly and gently massaged it back into something that remotely looks like leather.

I started taking some ground balls, but there’s a good-sized obstruction around my waist preventing me from easily scooping up the grass-huggers. After a few

throws to first, I feel like I can tie my shoe without bending down, and my knee joints could stand a good lube job. Just a little out of shape. Yet, come late August I could be ready to help the Sox. By then they could be well through the Lowell Spinners’ roster.

Calling all ex-jocks — start getting into shape. We may have a World Series title to pursue come October.

Tito take note, relax, you’ll have a team to field no matter what.

8

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his Sunday we celebrate our country’s birthday.

Each year people leave their homeland to come to America to begin their dream of freedom. On this 14th Sunday in Ordinary time, as we prepare our barbecues and family gatherings, we reflect on God’s gifts of love as today’s readings offer the opportunity to be thankful for the peace and freedom that America has enjoyed over a number of years.

Isaiah’s reflection in the first reading comes from a time when Israel was in exile from its homeland and mourning the destruction of its temple. Isaiah was encouraging the people of Israel to joyously celebrate the end of Israel’s exile and their return to their homeland.

Isaiah proclaims, “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her, all you who love her; exult, exult with her, all you who were mourning over her!”

For Israel, the time for trial and sorrow had ceased and its nation would return to life. God exhorts Israel to rejoice in his peace and be joyful in his love

July 2, 2010

The Anchor

In God we trust

rifice by the Church’s founding for them. fathers and saints.

In St. Paul’s letter to the GaThis trust and glorying in the latians, we are reminded that in beauty of the love behind selforder to experience the “peace sacrifice for God and others is and mercy” God intends for us, also seen in the self-sacrifice of we must “follow this rule” of the cross that St. Paul describes and with him boast in the glory of Homily of the Week God’s love for us and Fourteenth Sunday our sacrificial love for him and others. in Ordinary Time In St. Luke’s Gospel

By Deacon we are all asked to Peter M. Guresh proclaim peace, “The kingdom of God is at hand for you.” The ultithe men and women of the milimate reward of eternal salvatary our country that has made tion awaits those who enter the possible for our nation to enjoy kingdom and work to extend it. freedom and independence over Jesus warns us that discipleship 300-plus years. It is our belief requires a strong conviction of in God’s plan and his love that faith that is uncompromising. has led to America’s desire to We are asked to trust God will aid other nations in their search provide for our needs; “Carry for peace and freedom. no money bag, no sack, no When the founding fathers sandals.” signed the Declaration of As Catholics we proclaim Independence, it signified our our trust in God’s love and country’s freedom from British believe in eternal salvation, rule, a gift from God. Thomas which are core elements of our Jefferson believed this to be faith. These beliefs have been true when he was quoted as the backdrop of heroic self-sac-

saying, “My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy. ” On this Sunday, as you enjoy the Fourth of July fireworks, I encourage you to reflect on God’s love and the personal sacrifices that have been made for our faith and freedom. Proclaim God’s blessings and trust in his plan for America, which was enshrined for us by our founding fathers in a caption on our currency, “In God We Trust.”

I’d like to finish by meditating with you together on the words of Marilyn Ferguson in her 2003 poem, “Jesus on the Fourth of July.”

We gather ’round to celebrate On Independence Day Pay homage to our country As the children run and play.

With barbecues and picnics And fireworks in the air The flag we own is proudly flown To show how much we care.

The stars and stripes spell freedom She waves upon the breeze While bursts of colors can be seen Above the towering trees.

This is all quite wonderful We revel in delight But God above in divine love Has brought this day to light.

With just a stroke of liberty A touch of His great hand He gave democracy to us And helped this country stand.

The stripes upon our stately flag Were touched by His sweet grace Each star of white that shines so bright Reflects His loving face.

So as you turn to face the flag For battles that were fought Be filled with pride for those who died And freedoms that were bought.

But don’t forget to thank the One That gives the bright display The reason why we paint the sky On Independence Day Deacon Guresh serves at St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in North Falmouth.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. July 3, THOMAS, APOSTLE, Eph 2:19-22; Ps 117:1bc-2; Jn 20:24-29. Sun. July 4, Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Is 66:10-14c; Ps 66:1-7,16,20; Gal 6:14-18; Lk 10:1-12,17-20 or 10:1-9. Mon. July 5, Hos 2:16,17c-18,21,22; Ps 145:2-9; Mt 9:18-26. Tues. July 6, Hos 8:4-7,11-13; Ps 115:3-6,7ab-8,9-10; Mt 9:32-38. Wed. July 7, Hos 10:1-3,7-8,12; Ps 105:2-7; Mt 10:1-7; Thur. July 8, Hos 11:1-4,8c-9; Ps 80:2ac,3b,15-16; Mt 10:7-15. Fri. July 9, Hos 14:2-10; Ps 51:3-4,8-9, 12-14,17; Mt 10:16-23.

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lthough I played a bit of the “beautiful game” in high school and college, and rooted for the Baltimore Bays when professional soccer was trying to get started in the U.S. with rosters composed of aging Europeans and not-quiteready-for-prime-time players from Latin American and the Caribbean, I can’t say that I share the passionate interest of, oh, 80 percent of humanity in the current World Cup goings-on.

Perhaps it has something to do with some recent history.

I watched the 1994 World Cup final in Cracow’s unair-conditioned Hotel Royal, recovering from a 104-degree fever caused by an attack of food poisoning that struck me on a bus trip to the shrine of the Black Madonna in Cze-

World Cup blues

Jacques Chirac happy, and as a stochowa — not the place general proposition, whatever to suffer a violent attack of made Jacques happy made gastric distress, I assure you.

George unhappy.

The TV in my hotel room was On the first day of World a six-inch diameter black and white job, which reduced the Los Angeles Coliseum to the size of a large soup plate. Nor was my frame of mind improved by the game itself, a 0-0 (or “NilBy George Weigel Nil,” in soccer-speak) tie between Brazil and Italy, ultimately won by the Brazilians who prevailed in Cup 2002, I happened to be in Lisbon, preparing to address penalty kicks, 3-2: a practice a lunch meeting of what was that struck me, then and now, described to me as “75 percent as akin to settling the seventh of the Portuguese GNP.” The game of the World Series by United States played Portugal playing home run derby. that morning and the PortuThe 1998 World Cup was guese capital adjourned all held in France and saw the business in order to watch the host country record its first match, which it was assumed Cup win. That made President Portugal would win handily.

Somehow, though, the U.S. prevailed, 3-2, which did not put my lunch audience in the most receptive of moods. I fear I did not improve the situation by apologizing for the game’s outcome, on the grounds that “You obviously care about this a lot more than we do….”

Then there was World Cup 2006, the final game of which

The Catholic Difference

is remembered primarily for the French star, Zinedine Zidane, getting himself ejected in overtime for head-butting an Italian adversary. Again, neither of the finalists managed to score a goal, so once again, the soccer equivalent of home run derby settled things in favor of the Italians.

I’ll be teaching in Cracow when the World Cup is in its win-or-gohome elimination round this year, and my students from central and eastern Europe will be intensely following every game — even the Nil-Nil games which, I will be told, are exercises in beauty that one must learn to appreciate.

I’m sorry but I’ve tried, and it doesn’t work.

I am perfectly prepared to argue that people who complain that “nothing happens in baseball” simply don’t know what they’re watching, for something is happening in baseball, the most situational of our sports, every second. But I’m not prepared to concede that I’m “missing something” in a sport in which there are more histrionics than

in small-town Italian opera, scoring is about as frequent as Commonweal editorials praising the Roman Curia, and the premier global event is settled by home-run derby (or, if you prefer, a field-goal kicking contest).

As for the beautiful game’s athleticism, I readily concede that these guys are in fantastic shape and do some amazing things. But will a month of World Cup highlights produce any more incidents of beautiful athleticism than two weeks of “Web Gems” on ESPN’s “Sports Center” during the baseball season? I very much doubt it.

Out of solidarity with my students, I’ll watch the World Cup final, praying that it isn’t settled by a penalty-kick shootout. And I’ll be grateful that, for a few weeks, the usuallyempty phrase “international community” actually means something. But I wish it would happen through a sport that acknowledges a simple, biblical truth: God gave us opposable thumbs for a reason.

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

July 2, 2010

Is the pope Catholic?

Tuesday 29 June 2010 — at cal practices (rites) and sometimes home in Old Dighton Village (but not always) their own church — Solemnity of SS. Peter and law (canons). They are not ProtPaul, Apostles and martyrs of the estant. Neither are they Orthodox.

Church at Rome They are Catholic. have a friend who, whenever he encounters someone with a different way of doing Reflections of a things, shrugs and says, “Well, that’s why they Parish Priest make both chocolate and

By Father Tim vanilla ice cream.” He Goldrick means that, within certain parameters, there’s room for variety.

Did you know, dear readers, Let’s first take a brief look at that the Catholic Church comes in those Latin Rite Catholic Churchmore flavors than Ben and Jerry’s es that have distinctive rituals and ice cream? All varieties are Catho- customs but follow the Canon lic. All are in union with Rome.

Law of the Roman Catholic Only one (our own) is Latin Rite.

Church, including the mandate The others have their own liturgiof clergy celibacy. These ancient

I

T

9

The Anchor

The Ship’s Log

Western European Churches include the Milanese (or Ambrosian) Rite. Pope Paul VI was previously Archbishop of Milan. He was sympathetic towards preserving the Milanese Rite. It was preserved.

Some rites in this category are now extinct, like the Celtic Rite in Ireland and the Galician Rite in France. The Sarum Rite fell into disuse before the time of Henry VIII. It was partially revived by Anglicans, not Catholics.

Now let’s turn to the Catholic Churches of Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and India.

These are the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches, formerly called “uniate” churches. Most of us think all Catholic parishes are exactly like

Bracing for Hurricane Ella: The need for a new plan

sions: first, that the non-judghe name “Ella” has mental shrug that accompanies universal appeal, the “contraceptives for kids” meaning a variety of things from “burning torch” to “god- mentality is proving disastrous on every level; and secondly, dess,” depending on the lanthat there is not only no desire guage. Hinting at Cinderella to change it, but rather a plan and Ella Enchanted, it brings to ramp up the creative efforts to mind a girl oppressed by to contain the damage. fate who needs a potion to Of course, introducing one free herself from an awkward more chemical fix to the “cansituation.

How rich, then, is the choice dy store” does nothing to counof “Ella” as the name of the next “morningafter pill” on the horizon — which can be used up to five days after sexual intimacy.

Unlike RU-496, whose name hearkens back

By Genevieve Kineke to the pristine lab that concocted the deadly chemical mix, this ter the deeper problems that sweet name wraps the abortifahave created both an expandcient in a layer of euphemism ing spiritual wasteland and a that is sheer marketing genius burgeoning medical nightmare.

— especially for its increasThese young girls are increasingly younger target market. ingly from broken homes, These youngsters seem have little parental oversight, shocked when their sexual are hooking up at increasingly flirtation ends in pregnancy, younger ages and ultimately and yet the FDA is striving to become unable to extricate help. The same government sexual activity from their structures that provide “saferelationships. Thus, they never sex” manuals, ready access do learn to relate to young men to contraception and a benign in meaningful and chaste ways, attitude towards promiscunor stand a chance of building ity have now unanimously the next generation within a approved another option to framework of well-grounded guarantee that these otherwise marital unions. fruitful unions be subsumed Medically speaking, into the more cost-effective sexually-transmitted diseases barrenness that better serve the are multiplying and morphing state. beyond our ability to stop Recent statistics out of them, so that chronic illness England, which show that and sterility will form the repeat abortions are becoming ugly backdrop to these young commonplace and that even people’s lives. Despite the a sizable number of young women have had between three Center for Disease Control’s and five apiece, bring us to two campaigns marking each April as STD awareness month diametrically-opposed conclu-

The Feminine Genius

and the current push to “Get Yourself Tested,” every form of disease is spreading to record levels.

That means that pregnancy is only the tip of the iceberg — the most visible outcome of the most sex-absorbed generation in history — and yet, often it’s hardly even on the radar screens of hormonal youngsters with no moral boundaries. “Ella” will only enhance their cavalier attitude about promiscuity, play havoc on the girls’ reproductive systems and provide one more illusion about how to dodge the shortterm consequences of their actions.

Ella may be translated as “light” in some etymologies, but it is entirely dark in its present application. Those who have been raised to trust in the harmlessness of sexual intimacy have been fed a vile pack of lies — but that makes it all the more incumbent on those who know the truth to expose the deception.

Perhaps this summer we can pray over this problem, collaborate in our leisure hours with others who are similarly concerned, and come up with a plan to present to our local communities. We’ll call it Plan C — because authentic charity demands that we save these youngsters from the abounding folly that puts every one of them — and our culture — at grave risk.

Genevieve Kineke is the author of “The Authentic Catholic Woman” and associate editor at woman.catholicexchange.com

our own Roman Catholic parishes.

This is simply not so. It never has been.

Many Catholics in full communion with Rome practice quite different liturgies and have their own codes of Church law, including the legislation that all bishops must be celibate but not necessarily all priests.

Besides the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, there are five main categories: The Byzantine Rite (the largest,) the Antiochene Rite, the Chaldean Rite, the Armenian Rite, and the Coptic Rite.

The Byzantine Catholic Church is a coalition of 14 rites. These include the Melkite, Rutherian, Ukrainian, and Romanian Rites, as well as the Albanian Church, the Belarusian Church, the Bulgarian Church, the Greek Byzantine Church, the Hungarian Church, the Italian/Albanian Church, the Macedonian Church, the Russian Church and the Slovak Church.

Some of these rites broke from the Roman Catholic Church following the separation of Rome and Constantinople in the 11th century. Some remain Orthodox to this day. Others returned to the Catholic Church beginning in the 16th century and continuing into the 20th century. One was never Orthodox to begin with.

The Chaldean Rite is the one that was never Orthodox. They were the followers of Archbishop Nestorius of Constantinople.

His opinions were condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431 and confirmed heretical by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. The Chaldeans reunited with Rome in the 16th century.

The Chaldean Rite is centered in Iraq. These Catholics have been undergoing terrible persecutions in recent times.

The Antiochene Rite, like the Byzantine, also has several subcategories. These include the Malankar Rite of India, the Maronite Rite, and the Syrian Rite. These united with Rome as early as 1182

and as recently as the 1930s.

The Armenian Catholic Rite has no subdivisions. It is centered today not in Armenia but in Syria.

The last of the five major Eastern Catholic Churches is the Coptic Rite. It has two subdivisions, one headquartered in Egypt (the Alexandrian Rite) and the other in Ethiopia (the Abyssinian Rite.)

Most of these Catholic Churches operated behind the Iron Curtain during the communist era.

They suffered greatly under the Soviet regime. They are just recovering from the trauma. They live as minorities, mostly in Muslim and Orthodox areas.

Eastern Rite Catholics are our brothers and sisters. They remind us that the Catholic Church has always had different expressions.

These expressions continue into our own times. They embody a wide variety of cultures, liturgies, Church laws, and practices. They are not only part of Catholic history; they make us truly catholic today. We are one, holy, catholic and apostolic — but we are not all the same.

We will become even more catholic if and when the Catholic Churches and at least some of the Orthodox churches agree to reunite. We have twice come very close to a reunion of Rome and Constantinople — in 1274 and 1439. Dialogue with the Orthodox churches continues.

You don’t have to travel far to experience the liturgies of the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches. In Fall River, visit St. Anthony of the Desert Catholic Church (Maronite Rite.) In New Bedford, visit Our Lady of Purgatory Catholic Church (Maronite Rite.) Not only will you broaden your concept of the Catholic Church, but you can also fulfill your Sunday Mass obligation. The Eastern Rite Churches are, as they say, as Catholic as the pope.

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

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The Anchor

July 2, 2010

Faith in action: The life of Lauren Dykas

By Deacon James N. Dunbar

a job well done — Sister Mary Ellen Donahue shares a laugh with Catholic Memorial Home administrator Tom Healy at a retirement party honoring her years of service at the skilled nursing facility in Fall River.

TAUNTON — If there’s going to be a comeback to young Catholics regularly attending Mass on Sundays it’s going to happen because they have been taught how important the Eucharist is in their lives, as well as the accompanying action of the Holy Spirit to spur them on, says one young Faith Formation teacher.

“But all I can really do right now is teach them as best as I can all about the Mass … and I do see more of them coming to Mass than before,” reported an optimistic Lauren A. Dykas.

Asked how she feels about what’s she’s finding, the 15-year-old Faith Formation teacher of grades one and two students who are candidates for first Communion at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Parish in Taunton, said, “really pleased.”

“I know some students are attending Mass regularly and some are not so regular. It seems the older they become the less they attend. So it becomes more important that they gain an understanding of how the Mass plays an important part in their lives. I try to do this,” she said.

That her young charges “correctly answered all the questions” when tested on their knowledge of the faith and about the second of the initiating sacraments they were about to receive, “was one of the most satisfying things and very rewarding personally,” Dykas explained.

That one so young is The Anchor’s Person of the Week, doesn’t surprise Father David M. Stopyra, OFM, Conv., pastor of Holy Rosary Parish, who nominated her.

“I have always been Anchor person of impressed by Lauren’s Dykas. sincerity, poise and mature behavior,” he said. “She displays many fine qualities of a Christian teen-ager. She is polite, courteous, trustworthy and respectful. She is a member of a devoted parish family who participates fully in the services and activities of the parish.”

Her service to the Church and her parish began in the second grade when she became what Father Stopyra recalls as “a devoted, most dependable and faithful altar server.”

That commitment continued until grade seven when she took upon herself the ministry of lector.

“After enjoying serving at the altar, it seemed that becoming a lector or reader was the next step I looked forward to, and after receiving confirmation it seemed that becoming an extraordinary minister of holy Communion at Mass was next for me,” she told The Anchor in a recent interview. “They have been high points of my life.”

She said she assists distributing holy Communion at Saturday’s 4 p.m. Mass, “But I don’t yet go out to the nursing homes or the homebound. However I really look forward to that,” Dykas, who doesn’t yet drive a car, explained.

“I’ll be driving soon,” she said excitedly.

Her ministry in Faith Formation is wider

than simply teaching.

She is called sometimes to substitute for the Faith Formation coordinator in preparing for the classes on Mondays that involves approximately 60 students encompassing grades one through nine.

“It includes such things as getting the textbooks ready, taking attendance and some planning, and I look forward to that responsibility when called,” she added.

To that task she has added a personal touch: getting the Faith Formation program online by making use of her computer skills.

“It’s not so much,” she said playing down her input. “It’s just getting the names and the programs and other things set up on the computer.”

Does she have a teaching vocation in mind?

“Most definitely,” she readily acknowledged.

“For some long time I have thought I would enjoy being a principal too.”

This fall, when she returns to Coyle and Cassidy High School in Taunton for her junior year, Dykas will resume a series of Christian Life ministries that most high schoolers would find daunting in addition to academics.

“I am very fortunate and very grateful to have been accepted as an honor student by the National Honor Society,” she reported.

As a member of the Campus Ministry Team she has been involved in such service projects as mailing cards to U.S. troops serving overseas, and more locally to sick children.

She’s involved in planning activities, prayer services and mentoring her peers.

Yet another: “One the week — Lauren Saturday a month I coordinate our school’s food pantry that provides for 300 people. It means planning in advance for the amounts of food needed, and weekly we get different things done,” she explained.

Another project she’s into as a member of the “Green Team,” involves positioning recycling bins for cans and papers in encouraging green activities.

What spurs her to getting so much accomplished?

“It’s a lot of work. But I love doing it. The past two years have been very meaningful for me in whatever I’ve become involved in — in the Church and in my student life,” she emphasized.

But just as important to any success, she added quickly, “is the heavy and strong support of my devoted parents, James and Susan Dykas, who are police officers in everything I do. They are behind me every step of the way. They set an example for me, and without their support and endorsement I would not be able to do anything.”

As to being nominated The Anchor’s Person of the Week, Lauren Dykas said, “it is a great honor, but at the same time very humbling.”

To nominate a Person of the Week, send an email to FatherRogerLandry@anchornews.org.

11

The Anchor

July 2, 2010

Even in retirement, Father Almeida continues ministering to military

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

NEWPORT, R.I. — Even though he’s been retired and living at the Cardinal Medeiros Residence in Fall River since 2001, lately Father George F. Almeida feels like he’s still a full-time working pastor.

For the better part of a year now, he’s been answering the call of God and country by ministering to the military at Naval Station Newport, where he’s contracted as the officiating Catholic priest at the Navy base’s Chapel of Hope.

“It’s really like running a parish there, because I have daily Mass at 11:45 a.m. Monday through Friday, two Masses on Sunday, along with confessions before and after Mass, baptisms and marriages,” Father Almeida said. “I even had a funeral there for an officer that passed away. They have three petty officers that help out, but I’m the only officiating Catholic priest.”

Father Almeida’s association with the Naval base began when he was asked to fill in for the former officiating priest, Father Dennis Rocheford, in July 2009.

“Someone gave him my name and told him I was retired here in the Fall River Diocese,” Father Almeida said. “He called me to fill in during July and August just for the two Sunday Masses — one at 9 a.m. and the other at 6 p.m. The reason they have a late Mass is because many of the enlisted are in training and have classes and they can’t make the morning Mass — so we have another group of men and women who come to the 6 p.m. Mass.”

When Father Rocheford’s unexpected death at the end of September suddenly left the base without a priest, Father Almeida said Command Chaplain Don Bladog contacted him about taking the post.

“I committed myself to them for one year,” Father Almeida said.

“I had to sign a one-year contract with the military.”

One of the Navy’s key training facilities on the east coast, Naval Station Newport is home to more than 4,000 civilians, approximately 1,600 military staff personnel, and another 2,100 students.

“There’s a big turnover on the base and it’s important to have a Catholic priest there for them,” he said. “Many come to me and ask to join the Catholic faith. I hear confessions before and after Masses, too. They’re away from home and they need someone to build up their spiritual health. Many of them haven’t been to confession in a long time and they don’t even know the Act of Contrition. I provide them with little prayer books to help them.”

Father Almeida was proud to have recently been able to help

a cadet from Troy, Mich. receive confirmation from Bishop George W. Coleman at St. Mary’s Cathedral.

“This young man came to me and said he had been baptized and received first holy Communion, but he had never been confirmed,” Father Almeida said. “I wanted him to be confirmed by the bishop and they were having an adult confirmation ceremony on Pentecost Sunday, but it would have been too late for him — he was going to ship out for pilot training in Pensacola, Fla. So I asked if he could be confirmed with the youth classes from St. Mary’s Cathedral and St. Stanislaus Parish at the Cathedral.”

Noting that his work at the Navy base goes well beyond just celebrating Mass, Father Almeida explained how important it is for the enlisted men and women there to have access to a Catholic priest on a regular basis.

“There’s a lot of apostolic work to be done on that Navy base,” he said. “It’s important to have a Catholic priest available.

A lot of them are confined to the base and can’t leave, so this is their only opportunity to attend Mass or speak to a priest. There’s always someone coming in to see me for counseling, for confessions, or to receive the sacraments.”

Since starting there last year, Father Almeida has celebrated an estimated 10 baptisms, about a half dozen weddings, and one funeral in addition to his daily and weekend Masses.

“The only day I have off is Saturday, but this week I agreed to baptize a baby at the base, so I’ll be working then, too,” he said. “I haven’t even had a chance to walk around the base.

Some day I hope to have time to just walk around.”

With the ongoing shortage of priests available for pastoral work, Father Almeida said it’s understandably difficult to get someone to commit to the daily needs of a busy Navy base.

“They had Father Rocheford, but when he passed away they didn’t have anyone to fill in,” he said. “I’m the fill-

in priest for now until they find a permanent replacement. The Navy used to train chaplains here in Newport, but they moved the train-

ing facility south. When they had the chaplaincy school here, there was always someone available on Turn to page 15

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The Anchor

July 2, 2010

Churches among those who might need to switch wireless microphones WASHINGTON (CNS) — Churches across the country are among those who might need to switch the kind of microphones they are using if they have outdated wireless microphones utilizing the 700 MHz band on the frequency spectrum.

The Federal Communications Commission, effective June 12, has reserved 700 MHz for the exclusive use of public safety workers and first responders.

One effect of last year’s transition to digital television was to clear out TV stations from that part of the spectrum, according to Matthew Nodine, chief of staff of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.

But getting what could be potentially thousands of wireless mic users to vacate that spot, despite the FCC’s best efforts, is a tougher task.

Nodine, in a June 25 telephone interview with Catholic News Service, said he reached out to 43 national organizations, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, to help spread the word about the looming obsolescence of 700 MHz wireless mics, a decision that was finalized in January.

He estimated that only 10 to 12 percent of all wireless mics made used that part of the spectrum. Nor were churches the sole users of the wireless mics. Cheerleaders and even store-bought karaoke machines possessed wireless mics that used the 700 MHz bandwidth.

Nodine knows all too well about the karaoke side of the equation.

He recalled buying a karaoke machine for his daughters a couple of years ago that contained wireless mics, “not even checking” what bandwidth they used, he told CNS. “They got a new karaoke machine last Christmas,” Nodine added.

To prepare for the vacating of the 700 MHz part of the spectrum, the FCC assembled a list of every known make and model of wireless mics that used 700 MHz, Nodine said. The full list appears at www. fcc.gov/cgb/wirelessmicrophones/ manufacturers.html.

“From what we have found, most people left 700 MHz years ago,” Nodine said. Churches that had a member “who’s tech savvy, stays on top of electronics and were on top of this, they migrated out of 700 MHz,” he added.

Those that haven’t and are caught by the FCC using 700 MHz equipment face fines, the forfeiture of their equipment and potential criminal liability, according to Nodine.

Tony Rogalski, a co-owner of Eagle Communications in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale, Mich., said his firm had done sound system work with about 1,400 churches, and all should have a clean bill of health as far as the wireless spectrum is concerned.

He did, however, voice his frustration with a music store that sold a 700 MHz wireless mic to one of his Church clients just before Christmas last year, and “that mic was going to be obsolete in less than a year.”

Rogalski said it upset him “because I think that’s not responsible salesmanship. You should know what’s going on in your industry.

It’s not like it came on overnight.

A lot of people tried to ignore the situation. A lot people are still using their 700 bandwidth microphones until they don’t work.”

He said he stopped selling 700 MHz mics about four years ago “when the rumors got strong” that they would be phased out.

One of Rogalski’s clients, Dan Tardiff, has crafted the sound systems for his parish, St. Anastasia in the Detroit suburb of Troy, Mich.

He still remembers the bandwidth of the wireless mics from that first system: 169 MHz: “VHF, low frequency,” Tardiff said. VHF was the original home for television channels 2-13; the switch to digital TV has moved their frequencies, although the stations retain their numerical identity after having built up brand equity over 60 or more years.

Tardiff says his parish has a “frequency agile” system using the 500600 MHz portion of the spectrum used by FM radio for better sound inside church. The system scans for unused spectrum in the vicinity and settles on a channel.

He added the worst problem came about last year. He was playing music for a special parish Mass celebrated to honor couples married 25 or more years when, he recalled, “we started getting calls over the system for flag handling” for a nearby high school’s football game.

“That’s the worst we’ve had” in the six years with the current sound system, Tardiff said.

on cruise control — Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz star in a scene from the movie “Knight and Day.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/Fox)

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

“Grown Ups” (Columbia) Meandering, scattershot comedy, of interest mainly to devoted Adam Sandler fans, in which co-writer Sandler and director Dennis Dugan set out to tell the tale of five friends (Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade and Rob Schneider, along with Sandler), all once members of a championship private-school basketball team, who reunite with their families at a New England lake cabin after their coach dies, but this weak entry mostly offers up stale riffs and physical comedy in lieu of a strong story.

Some mild sexual and scatological humor, including a running gag about a four-year-old boy who still breastfeeds, brief rear nudity, fleeting crude and crass language, a few instances of innuendo. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

“Knight and Day” (Fox) This good-natured, though intermittently violent, actionand-romance combo sees an everyday woman (Cameron Diaz) unwittingly caught up in the conflict between a highly

skilled but apparently rogue CIA agent (Tom Cruise) and his former colleagues (led by Viola Davis and Peter Sarsgaard) as they battle each other and an evil Spanish arms dealer (Jordi Molla) for possession of a recently invented (by young geek Paul Dano) energy source with revolutionary potential. Director and co-writer James Mangold’s breezy diversion takes a largely bloodless toll on the extras while the adroitly portrayed central

relationship progresses, for the most part, innocently enough.

Frequent, though mostly nongraphic, action violence, at least one use of profanity and of the F-word, some crude language, a few instances of sexual humor.

The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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

Celebrant is Father Daniel W. Lacroix, pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Hyannis

Our Lady’s Monthly Message From Medjugorje June 25, 2010 Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina

“Dear children! With joy, I call you all to live my messages with joy; only in this way, little children, will you be able to be closer to my Son. I desire to lead you all only to Him, and in Him you will find true peace and the joy of your heart. I bless you all and love you with immeasurable love.

“Thank you for having responded to my call.”

Spiritual Life Center of Marian Community One Marian Way Medway, MA 02053 • Tel. 508-533-5377 Paid advertisement

13

The Anchor

July 2, 2010

Annual training camp helps mold future Church leaders

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff EAST FREETOWN — For Renee Bernier of St. Dominic’s Parish in Swansea, it just wouldn’t be summer without her annual week-long stint at the Christian Leadership Institute at Cathedral Camp.

“I’ve spent five summers doing this now … and it’s really only one week out of the summer,” Bernier said, seemingly disappointed that it didn’t last longer. “It’s powerful to see this number of teen-agers here singing and having such a great time.

To me, that just proves the program is working.”

For the past 22 years, the diocesan Office of Youth Ministry has sponsored the one-week CLI “boot camp” — a concentrated leadership training experience for high school-aged men and women designed to heighten their own awareness of leadership, ministerial roles and responsibilities in their parish and high school settings.

Typically held during the last week of June within the retreat house facilities at the scenic lakeside Cathedral Camp, the temptation to call this summer getaway a “retreat” is quickly corrected by teens and team members alike.

“People want to call it a retreat, but we prefer to call it a ‘process,’” said Bernier, who worked as an intern on this year’s CLI and plans to be part of the support team in 2011. “It really takes you right from the beginning and helps you to analyze yourself — what your strongest qualities are, what makes you a marketable

leader — and you start at day one with workshops and you really learn a lot about yourself.”

“I have them all trained from day one to say ‘CLI is not a retreat, it’s a process,’” said CLI director Frank Lucca, who also serves as youth minister director at St. Dominic’s Parish, Swansea. “The reason we stress that is because although it has spiritual components to it, it’s also about communicating and connecting with others.”

“There are aspects of a retreat — you have Mass, you have an opportunity to experience the sacraments, you have prayer — but it really is a process of building yourself up as a leader,” agreed CLI support team leader Nathan Domingue, also a parishioner at St. Dominic’s in Swansea. “Right from the first night when you begin recognizing the different styles of leadership, it’s meant to help you decide what type of leader you are and can be.”

In fact, CLI could probably best be described as a cross between a youth retreat and a weeklong crash-course in leadership training.

“My daughter went through CLI training in 1999,” Lucca said. “When she went to work for General Electric in Kentucky they wanted her to go through six weeks of boot camp training. She called and told me it took them six weeks to teach what we taught here in one week.”

Every year each parish and Catholic school in the diocese is asked to recommend two candidates to attend the CLI session — preferably one boy and one girl to

keep things balanced.

“Some are already in leadership roles in their parishes, others have been picked by their pastor because they’ve seen potential leadership qualities in them and want them to recognize it in themselves,” explained Crystal-Lynn Medeiros, assistant director for Youth and Young Adult Ministry in the diocese. “CLI brings youth together so they can learn to be a leader and go back and take on leadership roles not just in their parishes, but in their homes and schools as well.”

According to Medeiros, somewhere between 900 and 1,000 youth have graduated through the CLI program since its inception in the diocese more than two decades ago.

“Over the last six summers, I’ve personally witnessed many CLI graduates who have gone on to earn St. Pius X Youth Awards and it’s always rewarding to have them come back and share their experiences,” she added.

Becky Couet, a 1997 CLI graduate and member of St. John Neumann Parish in East Freetown, is one of those who returned to join the CLI support team.

“When I first came to CLI, I was afraid of public speaking and it helped me to build up my confidence,” Couet said. “If I didn’t go to CLI, I wouldn’t be the leader that I am today.”

Father Jeff Cabral, who served on this year’s CLI team alongside Father David Frederici, also graduated from CLI in 1990 and has since returned to become a team member.

“I was involved with the youth

group at St. Julie Billiart Parish in North Dartmouth and my pastor at the time suggested I attend CLI,” Father Cabral recalled. “It had a great impact on me in helping to hone my leadership abilities and I also think it was an important part of helping me along the way with my vocational discernment.”

As part of the CLI process, participants are broken down into smaller teams that are each given various daily assignments to complete within a strict time frame.

“They have a facilitator, the team is given an assignment, and they have to complete a given project within an hour’s time,” said Lucca. “By the end of the week, I turn over the entire closing ceremony to them. They plan everything — the liturgy, the prayers, the songs, the presentations.”

For Abby Koczera of St. Mary’s Parish, in South Dartmouth, one of the more memorable tasks at this year’s CLI involved her being blindfolded and getting her teammates to help her navigate through an obstacle course.

“It taught me new skills that I wasn’t aware of before … and we had to work together as a team,” she said.

Amanda Bibeytino, a CCD teacher at Holy Trinity and Good Shepherd parishes in Fall River, admitted she expected CLI to be more like a retreat.

“But to me a retreat helps to bring you closer to God,” she said. “This helps bring you clos-

er to God and to other people.

It helps you to understand how other people see different points of view.”

Unlike a retreat, Lucca also said CLI manages to use anything and everything as a learning tool — even those unplanned and often unavoidable mistakes.

“We always say there isn’t anything we say or do during CLI that doesn’t have a reason,” Lucca said. “Even if something fails, we examine it. Everything is part of the learning process.”

With fewer youth getting involved in the Church today, supporters of CLI see the annual training camp as an important way to not only groom future Church leaders, but to get their peers involved as well.

“People always say that youth are the future of the Church,” Father Cabral said. “While that’s true, I like to think of them as the present of the Church, too. If they’re not involved in the present, they’re not going to be involved in the future.”

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FOLLOW THE LEADERS — Christian Leadership Institute director Frank Lucca leads a group workshop during the week-long CLI training session held at Cathedral Camp in East Freetown last week. The annual “boot camp,” now in its 22nd year, is designed to teach leadership skills to high school-aged youth from diocesan parishes and schools. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)

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The Catholic Response

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July 2, 2010

Canon law, crimes, and fitting punishments Lawyer reflects on pros and cons of even the worst sanctions WASHINGTON, D.C. (Zenit. org) — The Church’s law provides for various punishments when her sons or daughters go astray, but in the case of priest sexual abusers, perhaps the most serious canonical punishment is not always the best one, according to one canon lawyer.

This suggestion was made by Father John Beal of the Diocese of Erie, Penn., when he addressed participants at a one-day seminar May 25 on canon law and sexual abuse.

Father Beal cautioned that turning a priest-sexual predator loose in society by separating him from the clerical state might solve the internal problem for the Church, but could serve to worsen the issue as a whole, particularly when the chance of a successful civil trial is minimal.

The canon lawyer made this observation during the questionand-answer session that followed his address on “Crime and Punishment in the Catholic Church: An Overview of Possibilities and Problems.”

He was the third canon lawyer to address the seminar, which was sponsored by the U.S. episcopal conference and the Canon Law Society of America. Sponsors explained that the event was “held in response to media interest in clergy sexual abuse.” Videos and texts of the four speakers’ presentations, the questions-andanswers sessions, and a panel discussion are available online.

ZENIT is this week providing commentaries on the talks.

Father Beal noted how those who mete out punishment in the Church — as in a civil legal proceeding — have the challenge of making the punishment fit the crime, a task that is anything but clear-cut and rarely garners unanimous support.

Nevertheless, the Church teaches that penal sanctions in an ecclesial context have essentially a three-fold aim: “repair the scandal, restore justice, reform the offender.”

The priest gave an overview of the possibilities of punishment for addressing the crime of sexual abuse by members of the clergy: “These measures are: medicinal penalties or censures, expiatory penalties, [...] and penal remedies. There are also two non-penal strategies which may be useful in addressing the issue.”

The first of these, medicinal penalties, are “deprivations of spiritual goods,” privations which are theoretically temporary, and whose “primary aim

is to impress upon the offender the seriousness of his crime and thereby prompt him to repent and reform,” he said.

The current Code of Canon Law includes three such censures: excommunication (c.

1331), interdict (c. 1332), and suspension (c. 1333).

Regarding excommunication, Father Beal clarified that it does not expel a person from the Church, though he is forbidden to “participate ministerially in the Mass or any other liturgical rite, to celebrate or receive the sacraments and sacramentals, to exercise the functions of any Church office or ministry, and to perform acts of church governance.”

An interdict, the second medicinal censure, “prohibits a person from ministerial participation in and reception of the sacraments and sacramentals.”

And the third, suspension, is a punishment that can only affect members of the clergy. Depending on circumstances and degrees, it prohibits the clergy from “some or all acts of the power of orders” and the “power of governance,” (such as performing the sacraments or administering Church property), or from “some or all rights or functions attached to their offices” (such as witnessing marriage.)

Father Beal proposed that censures are unlikely to be effective punishments for priest abusers.

He explained: “Since they can only be imposed after a warning, there must be evidence of an incident of abuse or at least suspicion that a particular cleric is prone to such abuse before a censure can even be threatened.

Sad experience of the recent past suggests that even the sternest warnings and threats are unlikely to be effective in deterring abusive clerics from repeating their offenses. Even when a censure has been imposed, it must be remitted once the offender evidences repentance — and, as many bishops have learned to their chagrin, sexually abusive clergy can make very convincing displays of repentance when they are confronted with evidence of their offenses.”

Abusers can also be punished with expiatory penalties, which are: a prohibition from living in a particular place or an order to live in a specific place (Father Beal compared it to house arrest); a deprivation of a power, office, function, right, privilege, faculty, favor, title or insignia (these deprivations have a wide range, including prohibition to preach or hear confessions, for

example, or having the papal honor of monsignor removed); a prohibition on the exercise of powers, office, functions and rights; a penal transfer from one office to another; and finally, dismissal from the clerical state.

Father Beal took time to spell out this last penalty. He clarified the “ontological” change that comes with holy orders, making a priest a priest forever. What is not permanent, however, are his faculties as a priest — his permission to act as a priest, saying Mass, hearing confessions, etc., and the “juridic or legal status that is known in canon law as the ‘clerical state.’”

“These appointments and empowerments can be lost as can the clerical state itself. The clerical state can be lost by the declaration that a person’s ordination was invalid, by the grant of the favor of a dispensation by the Holy See, and by the imposition of the penalty of dismissal following an administrative or judicial process,” he explained.

“A cleric who loses the clerical state is thereby stripped of any offices, ministries or delegated power he may have still had, loses the rights proper to the clerical state and is relieved of its obligations — save for the obligation of celibacy — and is prohibited from exercising the powers of his order.”

The canon lawyer noted a practical consequence as well, at least in the United States: the priest also loses his financial support, the possibility of a pension, and health insurance.

Father Beal then considered penal remedies and penances.

The first is a formal warning given when there is grave suspicion of offense but a lack of sufficient evidence for a penal process. A penance, on the other hand, can be given when there is substantial evidence but the penal process is barred because of some other circumstance, such as age or infirmity. A penance like this could be barring the priest from ministry and requiring him to retire to a life of prayer and penance.

Finally, the canon lawyer looked at the two non-penal remedies: an administrative procedure leading to a dispensation from the obligations of the clerical state and return to the lay state, and a declaration of an impediment to the exercise of orders.

This first “remedy” involves a request made to the Holy See to return to the lay state, a request that comes either from the priest himself, or from the priest’s

bishop or superior who sees an “urgent need for expeditious action.”

The declaration of an impediment deals with those who have psychic illnesses. “When a priest clearly has committed offenses with minors but is judged too mentally unbalanced to be held criminally culpable, the declaration of the impediment might be the most expeditious way to distance him from public ministry and the risk of future offenses,” Father Beal opined.

The canon lawyer gave a brief overview of the process for dealing with a priest accused of sexual abuse. The task of handling this process is reserved to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

If a bishop receives an accusation that seems plausible, Father Beal explained, he conducts a preliminary investigation and forwards the results and his recommendation to Rome. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith then determines how to proceed.

Father Beal added: “If the Congregation decides that a process possibly leading to the imposition of penal sanctions is called for, it has several options.

First, the Congregation can order the initiation of a penal trial either at the Congregation itself or in the diocese where the complaint originated. The trial proceeds in two stages, the first to determine guilt or innocence and the second to apply the appropriate penalty.

“Second, the Congregation can order the initiation of an administrative process at the local level. In this process the bishop serves as decision-maker and the accused must be given the basic elements of what we would call ‘due process.’

“Third, when evidence of the accused’s guilt is clear and there is an urgent reason to proceed expeditiously, the Congregation can take the case to the Holy Father ‘ex officio’ and request that the accused be dismissed from the clerical state as a penalty.”

Father Beal concluded his address with some considerations regarding sentencing.

“When searching for the just balance of the aims of canonical penal law, the most important consideration for decisionmakers in the Church is not how best to punish the offender for past crimes but how best to protect the vulnerable from future abuse,” he said.

In this context, keeping the priest from ministry that entails

contact with a vulnerable population is key. The most sure way of ensuring this is leveling the most serious sanction: dismissal from the clerical state.

“As far as ministry in the Church is concerned,” Father Beal said, “the penalty of dismissal is the ecclesiastical equivalent of the death penalty.” And it might “help to dispel scandal by making it clear both to the faithful and to the broader public that, as Pope John Paul II said, ‘there is no room in the priesthood for those who abuse children.’”

Nevertheless, as the priest extrapolated in the question-andanswer session, “penalty of dismissal does little, if anything, to contribute to the rehabilitation of the offender.”

He noted that “dismissing a person from the clerical state also cuts him loose from whatever imperfect systems for monitoring and control the Church may have and leaves him free in society.”

And in any case, the Church cannot physically restrain a priest from continuing to “minister,” even if he no longer has the authority of the Church. As a case in point, Father Beal pointed to the example of Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, or the online service “RentaPriest” He continued: “Our understanding of the psychodynamics of sexual abusers is quite limited, much more limited than we once thought, but it does seem clear that those prone to compulsive or addictive behavior are most likely to ‘act out’ when they are under stress, lonely, and cut off from a social support network -precisely the situation in which dismissed clerics are likely to find themselves.

“The Church might benefit society by removing abusive clerics from ministry but stopping short of dismissing them from the clerical state so that it can at least attempt to monitor their behavior.”

“Balancing the aims of restoring justice, removing scandal and reforming the offender is not an easy task,” Father Beal concluded. “Efforts to achieve a just balance among these ends will open Church authorities to criticism from all sides just as efforts to find a balance in the secular arena has resulted in sharp criticism of secular judges, including the justices of the Supreme Court. But, in an imperfect world, one does what one can. And if we do what we can, perhaps we shall achieve in time that object all sublime of letting the punishment fit the crime.”

July 2, 2010

Vatican expresses indignation at raid on Belgian archdiocese VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In a strongly worded statement, the Vatican expressed surprise and indignation at the way Belgian police carried out a raid on the headquarters of the Belgian Catholic Church in connection with an investigation into alleged priestly sex abuse.

The statement June 25 from the Vatican Secretariat of State expressed “true surprise” for the nine-hour-long police blitz and “indignation” for what it said was the violation of tombs of two late cardinals during the search June 24.

News reports said that in the raid, police had sealed off the headquarters of the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels, including the residence of Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard. They also searched the home of Cardinal Godfried Danneels, the retired archbishop for the archdiocese.

The Vatican statement included the description of the raid provided by a spokesman for the Belgian bishops’ conference, detailing how bishops gathered for a scheduled meeting at the headquarters had been surprised by police who then confiscated documents and cell phones of all present.

It said that everyone had been questioned, and that while the interrogations had taken place in “a correct manner,” that it had not been “a pleasant experience.”

Neither bishops nor personnel were allowed to leave the building from 10:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m., according to the statement.

The statement also said the Vatican “reiterates the firm condemnation of every sinful and criminal act of abuse of minors on the part of members of the Church, as well as the need to remedy and face such acts in a way that conforms to the requirements of justice and teachings of the Gospel.”

It continued, “It is in the light of such necessity that the Secretary of State expresses true surprise for the way in which the searches were conducted yesterday by Belgian judicial authorities, and its indignation at the fact that there was the violation of the tombs of the Cardinals Jozef-Ernest van Roey and Leo Jozef Suenens, late archbishops of the archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels.

The statement said the authorities had violated the confidentiality of victims by seizing material under scrutiny by a special commis-

sion established by the archdiocese to examine alleged cases of priestly abuse.

Investigators took documents and a computer from Cardinal Danneels’ residence but did not question him, according to a spokesman for the cardinal. He said Cardinal Danneels was cooperating with authorities.

Belgian police have been investigating clerical sexual abuse for several years. Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, 73, of Brugge, Belgium, resigned April 23 after admitting he sexually abused a boy.

He had headed the Brugge Diocese for more than 25 years.

The Vatican announced June 25 that he will be replaced by Bishop Jozef De Kesel, formerly auxiliary bishop of Mechelen-Brussels.

According to AFP, Archbishop Leonard told reporters June 25 “the justice system does its work and it has the right to carry out searches.

Nonetheless, I find it slightly surprising that it went as far as rummaging around the tombs of bishops and that all the bishops were held until evening.”

He said the “sequestration” of the bishops showed “perhaps an excessive zeal,” AFP reported.

Pols urged not to repeal policy on abortions in military hospitals WASHINGTON (CNS) — Requiring personnel in military hospitals to perform or participate in abortions would place “a very heavy burden” on those in the armed forces who value human life, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services told U.S. senators.

“The United States is one of the few nations in the world based on self-evident principles: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” the archbishop said in a June 17 letter.

“Constraining the very men and women committed to defending those principles for the rest of the

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country to act against their consciences violates the foundation of this republic.”

Archbishop Broglio was commenting on an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2011 that would require military hospitals to perform abortions in both domestic and overseas military bases.

Proposed by Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., the amendment would repeal a ban on abortion in military medical facilities in effect since 1996. The prohibition on using Department of Defense funds to pay for those abortions would remain in effect.

This week in

The amendment was adopted by a 15-12 vote by the Senate Armed Services Committee May 27. Consideration by the full Senate was expected later this summer; the final Senate bill also must be reconciled with the House version passed May 28, which does not include repeal of the abortion ban.

In a statement posted on the archdiocese’s website June 1, Archbishop Broglio said that “sacrificing the moral beliefs of individuals” in response to “merely political considerations is neither just nor prudent especially for the armed forces at a time of war.”

Diocesan history

50 years ago — Eleven 1960 graduates of Msgr. James Coyle High School decided to study for the priesthood or religious life.

Six entered the diocesan priesthood; one the Maryknoll Missioners; one the Friars Minor Conventual; one the Trappist Brothers’ novitiate; and two, the Holy Cross Brothers.

10 years ago — The Sisters of St. Joan of Arc bid a fond farewell to Notre Dame de Lourdes Parish where they served for 70 years. Due to illness and retirements, it was no longer feasible for them to maintain their post there. Most returned to the order’s mother house in Sillery, Quebec, Canada.

25 years ago — Bishop Daniel A. Cronin and scores of others acknowledged Sister May Laurita Hand, PBVM, the outgoing associate superintendent of diocesan schools, and Father George W. Coleman, the outgoing diocesan director of Religious Education, at a reception in their honor.

One year ago — Bishop George W. Coleman joined Father Jay T. Maddock and the parishioners of Holy Family Parish in East Taunton, for the dedication and opening of the new parish hall. The new facility offered parish ministries and groups more room and a new kitchen area, as well as housing the parish offices.

Serving the military in retirement continued from page 11

the base.”

Father Almeida said he’s been impressed with Mass attendance and the number of requests from enlisted men and women who want to convert to the Catholic faith.

“Attendance at Sunday Masses is very good,” he said. “We have at least 200 at the 9 a.m. Mass and maybe between 50 and 100 at the 6 p.m. Mass. I noticed a lot of men and women in the service go to Mass everyday during Lent. I even had the Stations of the Cross there everyday, too.

“I’m trying to build up their spiritual life and so far it’s been working fine. But I don’t want to be restricted there because being retired I can’t be doing this everyday. It would be better to have someone living on the base or at least closer to the base.”

While there are other retired priests from the Providence diocese living in close proximity to Naval Station Newport, Father Almeida said they can’t be forced into taking on the responsibility either and the job also requires a bit of military training and experience.

Having been born in Newport, R.I. and baptized at St. Lucy’s Parish in nearby Middletown, R.I., Father Almeida not only had an immediate affinity with the Newport Naval Base, he also served for four years in the Navy himself during the Korean War before entering the seminary.

“I’m former military, so I know what they go through,” he said. “I wanted to stay in the Navy for 20 years, but I got the calling. I got an honorable discharge and entered the seminary. I just celebrated 45 years since being ordained.”

The combination of his military experience and past pastoral work made Father Almeida the ideal

candidate to take on this new postretirement ministry — although he doesn’t discount the influence of an even higher authority.

“The way I look at it, God gave me this grace of retirement, but he said ‘You’ve still got work to do for me. Don’t think that it’s all over,’” he said. “That’s how God works — you never know.”

And while the daily commute back and forth to Newport can be a bit taxing, Father Almeida said being able to help young cadets convert to the Catholic faith or receive the sacraments has been “very rewarding” for him.

“Remember Our Lord said: ‘I didn’t come to be served, but to serve,’” he said. “That’s always been a very powerful passage for me. I always think to myself: ‘Don’t be selfish. God sent you over here to help out and that’s his will, so do it.’”

With his one-year contract set to expire at the end of October, Father Almeida prays they can find a permanent replacement for him by that time. If not, he said he would stay on a bit longer if necessary.

“I’d hate to stay on for another year, but if that’s God’s will, I’ll do it,” he said. “The contract ends in October, but it can be extended for a month or two until they find someone to replace me. I don’t intend to return in 2011, but I’ll always be glad to help fill-in there once in a while.”

Adding that he also took on the task for the repose of the soul of Father Rocheford, Father Almeida said he wanted to continue the good work he started there.

“I knew I had to make this sacrifice,” he said. “But it’s a holy sacrifice because you’re bringing souls back to God, and that’s what’s important.”

Youth Pages

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July 2, 2010

best of friends — For the second year in a row, Bishop Feehan High School’s girls’ lacrosse team raised money for its favorite cause, Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, through an annual car wash. The Friends of Jaclyn organization was started a few years ago after the Northwestern Women’s lacrosse team was introduced to Jaclyn, a young child with a brain tumor, meeting her and then sending her messages of love and support as she recovered. Her parents said that this “adoption” by the team made a world of difference and after seeing how successful it was with their child, they formed the FOJ Foundation to help pair up other teams with children who have brain tumors. Since then, hundreds of lacrosse teams across the country have been “adopting” young children with brain tumors to offer them love, support, and friendship. Denis Murphy, father of Jaclyn and founder of the FOJ, drove from New York to accept a check for $1,160.20 and to personally thank the girls for their continued support of the program. It is the teams’ wish to eventually “adopt” a child of its own.

You can find more information about the Friends of Jaclyn organization at http://www.friendsofjaclyn.org. Pictured are some of Feehan’s girls’ lacrosse players from the 2010 team with Denis Murphy.

outstanding achievements — Senior Faculty Awards were recently presented at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth. The President’s Award of Excellence is presented to the senior who exemplifies the highest ideals of the school. This year’s recipient is Corinne Ainsworth, left. The Spartan Award, presented to the member of the senior class who best displays citizenship and service beyond the school service requirements was presented to Dominick Costa, right.

presidential soaking — The day prior to the closing of school, the St. Mary-Sacred Heart Student Council put on Kids’ Day, an annual tradition at the North Attleboro school.

Students from grades one-four enjoyed a variety of games.

Each student earned prizes while playing games. They all enjoyed Dell’s lemonade as a special treat to close the event.

Student Council President Cullen Murphy is doused by second-grader Livia Serak as they play a game of Drip-DripDrop.

four generations — Zachary Boudria, center, who is a member of the St. Michael School’s Class of 2010, is the son of Ted Boudria, Class of 1982; and nephew to Scott Boudria, Class of 1983; grandson to Norma Boudria (Pereira) Class of 1961; and great-grandson to Lorraine Pereira (Couto) class of 1942 of the Fall River school.

pooch patrol — Students at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro took up a collection to assist in the medical necessities for “Annie,” the abandoned and neglected dog featured recently in the local papers.

Through the generosity of the students, $201.41 was collected at school.

From left are students Kaitlin Corso, Michael Wheeler and Nick Vitorino, who led the campaign.

July 2, 2010

L

ast week I attended the first of many meetings at the Archdiocese of Boston’s Pastoral Center. The agenda item … 2011’s international World Youth Day celebration in Madrid, Spain. At least half a dozen people from the Diocese of Fall River have registered for this joint pilgrimage between the Archdiocese of Boston and the Diocese of Fall River. As we gathered around the table discussing creative fund-raising opportunities, I was reminded of my World Youth Day experience in Sydney, Australia two summers ago.

There are no words to describe what a World Youth Day experience is truly like. It is filled with moments of conversion, moments of becoming closer to Christ and simply moments too numerous to mention.

It is an experience to be lived and shared. There are no words to describe how moving the Stations of the Cross becomes when it is shared with hundreds of thousands of Catholics from around the world. There are no words to describe seeing those same hundreds of thousands of pilgrims trek through the city streets with backpacks and

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Youth Pages What must I do?

Madrid)? It’s simple. This year’s sleeping bags slung across their theme for the U.S. celebration backs on their way to the largof World Youth Day is “Good est camp out many have ever experienced. There are no words Teacher, What Must I Do to Inherit Eternal Life?” (Mark to describe the joy, wonder and 10:17). awe to be in the presence of the As our high school youth and pope as he sits vigil at the field our college young adults break on Saturday evening and then away from their studies and “let returns on Sunday morning for the closing Mass.

There are no words, though many have tried.

World Youth Day is an experience.

But what many do not realize is that

By Crystal Medeiros World Youth Day is not simply a week-long international celebration loose” during these dog days of held every three years. Rather summer, many will relax in their it is a celebration held every responsibilities and take some year in every country. Different much needed R & R at the local countries celebrate their World beaches. Summer is the time Youth Day at different times of when actually all of us become the year, many hold it on Palm lax. An afternoon off from work Sunday including Vatican City. here or there, the occasional In the United States, World Friday vacation day to make Youth Day is celebrated on the for more three-day weekends, 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time we are all looking for a respite (usually the last Sunday in somewhere. We’ll gather the October). iPods, iPads and anything else So why am I talking about small, portable and electronic World Youth Day in July (aside from the fact I hope more people to the beaches, parks and on vacations. Unfortunately, in the register for our pilgrimage to

Be Not Afraid

hustle and bustle of packing the beach bag and cooler the summer respite often includes a break from attending Mass every Sunday.

This year’s World Youth Day theme is a question posed by a young man who runs up to Jesus to ask what he must do to inherit eternal life. Picture in your mind the enthusiasm of this young person, speaking with Jesus and finding out what he must do to spend eternity with the Lord.

The young man goes on to say that he knows the Ten Commandments from his youth. I can hear the voice of a teen-ager or young adult saying, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know all of that already.

But what must I do?” The young man was not prepared to truly listen and hear Jesus’ answer, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me” (Mark 10:21).

But this was a young man of many possessions who could not bring himself to make such a sacrifice. Therefore he walked away from Jesus, not willing

to give up his possessions and follow Christ. This young man simply was not ready.

Keeping this young man’s story in mind, what could we all do this summer in between beach trips, summer picnics or trips to Six Flags to serve the poor and follow Jesus a little more closely? There are possibilities too numerous to mention here. Is it possible to take one of those vacation days and volunteer at a local soup kitchen? Perhaps take clothing to the shelter down the street? Maybe we could attend Mass every Sunday and pray for those without the basic possessions this summer?

But don’t just simply do these things and check it off your summer to do list. Instead when you are at Mass praying or serving a hot meal at the soup kitchen, look for Christ. Look for the moments where you see him present in those around you, those you serve and most of all within yourself.

Christ is present all around us. All we have to do is take the time to see him in the moments.

Crystal is assistant director for Youth & Young Adult Ministry for the diocese. She can be contacted at cmedeiros@dfrcec. com.

Volunteer groups travel to Tennessee to aid flood survivors NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CNS) — While the Nashville floods might have been largely off the radar of the national media, it did catch the eye of two people far from the epicenter of the disaster. “I was seeing places I recognize under water and feeling horrible,” said Chris Rogers, former youth ministry coordinator for the Diocese of Nashville.

“I decided I needed to get up and do something about it.” So Rogers put the word out, through the Diocese of La Crosse, Wis., where he is now director of youth ministry, and through Facebook. “I thought we might fill two minivans,” he said.

stars of knights — St. Bernard’s Knights of Columbus, Cross of Christ Council, in Assonet, awarded nine scholarships to seven college students and two Catholic high school students at a recent dinner. The Scholarship Committee co-chaired by Dr. Marlene Correia and Knights of Columbus member, Bill Morin, works diligently each year to raise the funds that are distributed to hard working students who are either about to enter or are enrolled in college or a Catholic high school. Monies raised from the committee’s annual March scholarship dance held at Whites of Westport this year and a Comedy Night held at the Fall River Elks Club in May, netted a total of $4,000 in scholarships. As Morin announced the recipients’ names, they were handed a certificate by Grand Knight, Joe Santos, and a Pierre Cardin pen and pencil set

by Correia. From left, front row: Zachary McGowan, Matt Houghton, Corey Andrade, Meghan Earle, Stephanie Couitt, and Correia. Back row: Bryan Bagge, Santos, Father Michael Racine, David Morin, Bill Morin.

Instead, 48 high school and college students and adults signed up for the flood relief mission trip. Rogers hired a bus and the group made its way to Nashville June 14-18.

Much further south, 13-yearold Nicholas Galle from Marrero, La., was formulating his own plan to help Nashville flood victims.

Galle’s family had spent a few days in Jackson, Tenn., when they had to evacuate in advance of Hurricane Katrina. “It just clicked off in my head: Isn’t that where we went for Hurricane Katrina? So I thought this would be a good time to give back, and be generous to them.”

The Anchor is always pleased to run news and photos about our diocesan youth.

If schools, parish Religious Education programs, or Vacation Bible Schools have newsworthy stories and photos they would like to share with our readers, send them to: schools@anchornews.org

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July 2, 2010

Pro-Life plates ready in Massachusetts

Father Cabral receives degree in canon law

continued from page one

continued from page one

St. Maria Goretti Parish in Lynnfield, told The Anchor that the experience of picking up her Choose Life plate on June 21 moved her to tears. She hopes the plates will spread the Pro-Life message, which is not politically correct in Massachusetts.

“The message is so hidden. People don’t hear the message of life in this state that’s so liberal. Our kids aren’t hearing the other side,” she said.

For Connor-Morse, the decision to get the Choose Life plates was personal. Connor-Morse had an abortion. Afterward, she was “miserable.” She had no faith, no life and no hope. When she heard about the plates, she thought she could never put them on her car. “My reaction was one of terror,” she said.

After accepting the healing God offered her on a Project Rachel retreat in 2009, she realized that putting the plates on her car was the least she could do to promote the dignity of life.

Connor-Morse said the plates were worth the wait and the trip to the registry. If even one baby and one woman are saved from a “lifetime of anguish,” the effort to bring the plates to Massachusetts will be justified. “We all have faith that it will do oh-so-much more than that,” she added.

Merry Nordeen, president of the non-profit responsible for the Choose Life plates, said there were times during the last seven years that she doubted Massachusetts would have Choose Life plates.

“So many people told me that it couldn’t happen — that Massachusetts is such a liberal state and that means we don’t have enough of a Pro-Life force to bring something like this to fruition,” she said. “It’s such a positive sign in the state of Massachusetts to have a plate like that on our cars.”

Just 18 months ago she considered quitting the campaign. She had spent years sending out mailings, attending conferences and building a list of supporters, but the numbers were not there.

“My husband and I talked about it, we prayed about it, and I said that we were going to try this one more

time,” she said.

“If we do it one more time, we’re going to give it all we can, but we’re going to put in God’s hands,” she told her husband. “If we put it in God’s hands, we’ll know whether or not it’s meant to be.”

From then on Nordeen had many positive responses and new people came together to make the Choose Life plates possible. She stressed, “It wasn’t just me who did this.” Many people helped with the legwork and offered prayers, rosaries and hours in adoration.

“It’s been a wonderful spiritual experience,” she said.

Nordeen hopes the plates will inspire women facing crisis pregnancies to have their children. Many women in that situation feel abortion is their only option. “We’re just about helping preserve life and helping those young women,” she said.

Marian Desrosiers, director of the Fall River Diocese’s Pro-Life Apostolate, said she is excited to see the plates on the road and plans to sign up when she renews her registration. The plates are another way members of the Commonwealth can affirm the dignity of human life.

“We’re excited to know that we’ll begin to see a wonderful message on the license plates in Massachusetts,” she said.

The first Choose Life license plates were introduced in Florida 10 years ago. When Nordeen heard about them, she thought, “That’s a great idea. I want that for my car.”

But no one in Massachusetts was working to bring the plates to the Commonwealth. So Nordeen decided to give it a try. She started a corporation, secured non-profit status and began collecting registrations.

Massachusetts is the 25th state to offer the plates, which have raised more than $10 million nationally. It becomes one of 18 specialty tags offered by the Commonwealth.

Nordeen said, “I’m just hoping that we’ll give the Red Sox plate a run for its money.”

For more information about the Choose Life plates, visit www. machoose-life.org.

living in residence at the East Taunton parish even as Father Kevin A. Cook assumes his first pastorate there also effective July 14.

“I also look forward to resuming pastoral duties in the diocese, even if temporary, at Holy Name, which will be a nice break after three years concentrating on academics,” he said.

Father Cabral 37, who hails from New Bedford, was ordained a priest on June 8, 2002 by thenBishop Sean P. O’Malley.

“I was the last priest ordained in this diocese by Bishop Sean — now Cardinal O’Malley — before he left the diocese,” Father Cabral, who studied for the priesthood and received degrees in philosophy and theology at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, recalled.

A graduate of Dartmouth Middle School and Dartmouth High School, he had received a degree in mathematics from U-Mass Dartmouth in 1995.

His first priestly assignment following ordination was as a parochial vicar at St. Anthony’s in Taunton. Other assignments included serving as chaplain at Taunton Catholic Middle School and at Coyle-Cassidy High School.

In August 2007, Bishop George W. Coleman assigned Father Cabral to begin the canon law studies.

“It is a three-year program, a six-semester program,” he explained. “I could have done it in two years had I continued studies during the summers. But I wisely decided to take a break from classes in the summers, and that refreshment worked out as the best schedule for me. Some make it a five-year program, but for me that would have taken too long.”

He enjoined sandwiching in ministering at the Church of the Little Flower in Bethesda, Md., where he lived while studying.

“I assisted by hearing confes-

sions and celebrating Masses, but other pastoral duties like baptisms, weddings and funerals were handled by the five other priests also serving there,” he explained.

He said his studies “encompassed all of canon law, and in reality it means not just what pertains to marriage issues, but all the sacraments,” he reported.

“It was very extensive and involved the entire Code of Canon Law. But it also included Father Jeffrey much wider Cabral studies of religious law and the laws of the Eastern Church and its comparison with law of the Western Church,” he explained.

He said that the Code, which had been most recently revised in 1983 “in essence never really changes.”

However, he said, there have been motu proprio(s) (Latin for “on his own initiative”) signed by popes which officially made changes to law and procedures.

The motu proprio of Pope John Paul II added “some” revisions that centered on the issue of those who have defected from the Catholic Church.

More recently, the motu proprio of Pope Benedict XIV also added some adjustments, which dealt with the issue of clergy abuse and its affiliated scandals, Father Cabral pointed out.

“Other amendments that have come are in regard to how the Roman Rota, (Tribunal Apostolicum Rotae Romanae) the highest appellate Tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church, interprets the canons as well as administrates the law,” he added.

His study curriculum placed

much emphasis on “Casti Connubii” Pope Pius XI’s 1930 encyclical on the sacramental dignity, perpetual stability of Christian marriage as a sacrament instituted

by Christ, Father Cabral reported, adding, “the encyclical — from beginning to end — clarified many issues and had brought about several changes in canon law.”

As he walks into the Tribunal, he said, “despite all the great study, and a certain confidence, I know I have much to learn, and there is a certain nervousness,” he admitted.

Asked how he was feeling, he quipped: “You might ask me a year from now.”

Fielding questions, he said the most common issue that confronts those ministering in Tribunals is not, as many think, Catholics seeking to have their marriages blessed — convalidated — after a civil union. “That is usually and easily handled by pastors at the parish level,” Father Cabral explained.

And while there are many important and various issues the Tribunal is asked to resolve, the most dominant involves those who, for various reasons, seek an annulment, a declaration that their marriage itself was never valid, also based on several reasons,” he said.

Asked whether he enjoyed his personal time living in the nation’s capital, he said it was “a great and wonderful experience. When I had the opportunity I did all the things tourists do. I enjoyed the great history of the region and the sites and the magnificent churches and museums and memorials. There is always much to do and see,” he said.

“And there is still much I didn’t get to see.”

Among the most notable, he said, “Was the visit by Pope Benedict in 2008 as well as the ongoing conferences of people and religious organizations from across the world to forward their ideas of how to live in today’s world.”

2010 Catholic Charities Appeal tops $4 million mark continued from page one

ally are among the cities with the lowest median incomes in the Commonwealth, these results are seen as being quite amazing.

To quote one inner-city pastor “They say things are beginning to show a small improvement in the economy but we’re not seeing it, and still my parishioners showed extraordinary generosity.” Another pastor from a small innercity parish said “I’m amazed my small parish was able to give to this extent.”

In general, all areas of the diocese did exceptionally well with 18 parishes having double digit increases, led by St. Joseph’s in Fairhaven, St. Joan of Arc in Orleans, St. Anthony’s of Mat-

tapoisett, Good Shepherd in Fall River, St. Peter the Apostle in Provincetown, and St. Nicholas of Myra in North Dighton, all with increases in excess of 20 percent. These six parishes were followed closely by St. Mary’s in Fairhaven, and Sacred Heart and St. Mary’s parishes in North Attleboro with 19 percent increases.

When all of the figures were tabulated it was obvious that it was a total effort on behalf of the pastors, parish chairmen and committee volunteers, and the wonderful parishioners, all of whom showed tremendous generosity and thoughtfulness.

“It’s obvious,” said Donly, “that everyone cares very deeply for

those in need around us. The thousands who donate, and the hundreds who volunteer to solicit and publicize the Catholic Charities Appeal, year in and year out, wouldn’t try this hard, work with such enthusiasm, and feel such a sense of satisfaction in the end, if they weren’t so concerned about those who need our help. The one thing we do take for granted in this yearly Appeal is this spirit of caring and compassionate concern. We would never undertake an endeavor of this size and scope if we couldn’t feel confident that our parishioners saw this as their mission as Catholics and members of faithfilled parish communities.”

Gift launches training academy at Boston College CHESTNUT HILL (CNS) — Boston College’s Lynch School of Education has received a $20 million gift to fund a new educational leadership academy that will be the first in the nation to jointly train and support new principals from Catholic, public and charter schools.

The money is from Carolyn and Peter Lynch, who are longtime supporters of educational initiatives and benefactors of the Jesuit-run college and Boston’s inner-city Catholic schools. “Education in the early grades is the most important issue in America,” said Peter Lynch, adding that the “principal is the key individual who can affect everyone

Please note that The Anchor will not publish on July 23 and July 30.

We will return with the August 6 edition.

In Your Prayers Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks July 5 Rev. J.F. LaBonte, Retired Assistant, Sacred Heart, New Bedford, 1943 Rev. Edward P. Versailles, M.S., La Salette Shrine, North Attleboro, 1985 July 6 Rev. Edmond Francis, SS.CC., Pastor, St. Mary, Fairhaven, 1963 Rev. Paul J. Price, SS.CC., 2006 July 7 Rev. James E. Lynch, Founder, St. Joan of Arc, Orleans, 1965 July 8 Rev. Edward Murphy, Pastor, St. Mary, Fall River, 1887 Msgr. Patrick J. O’Neill, Retired Pastor, St. Julie Billiart, North Dartmouth, 1995 July 10 Rev. Pie Marie Berard, O.P., Dominican Priory, Fall River, 1938 Rev. Maurice E. Parent, Assistant, St. Michael, Swansea, 1972 Rev. John E. Morris, M.M., Retired Maryknoll Missioner, Former Assistant, St. Joseph, Fall River; Rev. Theodore M. Morin, M.S., La Salette Shrine, North Attleboro, 1987

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July 2, 2010

in the school.”

Peter, a 1965 Boston College graduate, is vice chairman of Fidelity Management and Research Co., and Carolyn is a noted philanthropist and the president and chief executive of the Lynch Foundation.

Their gift will create the Lynch Leadership Academy. In a June 20 statement, Jesuit Father William P. Leahy, president of Boston Col-

lege, praised the Lynches for their commitment to improving education for all children. “Carolyn and Peter Lynch have done so much on behalf of public and parochial education in the Greater Boston area,” said Father Leahy, adding establishing the academy “demonstrates their commitment to providing the training to prepare effective leaders for Catholic, public and charter schools.”

Around the Diocese 7/3

A Day with Mary will be held at St. Lawrence Martyr Church, 565 County Street, New Bedford tomorrow beginning at 7:50 a.m. The day will include exposition and procession of the Blessed Sacrament and Mass of Our Lady with celebrant Father Marek Chmurski, pastor. For more information call 508-992-4251.

7/7

The third Summer Catholic Reflections Series continues on July 7 at 7 p.m. at Christ the King Parish Hall, Mashpee, with Professor Pheme Perkins who will discuss “Parables and Today’s Church.”

Perkins will look at how Jesus told parables and what messages these stories have for us today. The series is sponsored by St. Anthony’s Parish, East Falmouth; Our Lady of Victory Parish, Centerville; and Christ the King Parish, Mashpee; and is open to the public. For more information visit www.christthekingparish.com.

7/8

St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham will host a “Life in the Spirit Seminar” beginning July 8 through August 19 from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Join them as they prepare to focus on God’s life for each person and prepare to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. For more information contact Peggy Kelley at 508-295-8165 or Robin Rumbolt 508-295-6650.

7/8

Our Lady of the Cape, 468 Stony Brook Road, Brewster, hosts its annual Summer Fair July 8, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. to benefit the parish. Jewelry, attic treasures, collectibles, crafts, books, toys, art work, baked goods, vintage linens and tools will be on sale. Refreshments available. For more information call 508-385-7867.

7/8

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

MASHPEE — Christ the King Parish, Route 151 and Job’s Fishing Road has 8:30 a.m. Mass every First Friday with special intentions for Respect Life, followed by 24 hours of eucharistic adoration in the Chapel, concluding with Benediction Saturday morning followed immediately by an 8:30 Mass.

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

A Healing Mass will be held at St. Anne’s Parish, Fall River, on July 8 beginning at 6 p.m. Rosary will precede the 6:30 p.m. Mass, to be followed by healing prayers and Benediction. For more information call 508-674-5651.

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.

7/17

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

St. Joseph Manor’s Barbecue Bash will be held on July 17 at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 375 Foundry Street (Route 106), North Easton, from 6 to 10 p.m. Enjoy this fun summertime event with all-you-can eat barbecue, live music and great raffle prizes.

For tickets or more information call 508-583-5834 or email mdunton@SJMBrockton.org.

7/17

Plan to gather your family July 17 for a Family Rosary Conference at Holy Cross Family Ministries, 518 Washington Street, North Easton. It will include workshops for adults, teens and youth, a Mission Rosary, vigil Mass, reconciliation, and keynote speaker. For more information visit www.hcfm.org or call 800-299-7729.

8/14

“A Life in the Spirit Weekend” will be offered at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish (formerly St. Mary’s), 385 Central Avenue, Seekonk on the weekend of August 14-15. Sign-up deadline is August 4. For more information or to register call Rita Beaudet at 508-399-7519 or Janet Nerbonne at 508-944-2431.

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

OSTERVILLE — Eucharistic adoration takes place at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 76 Wianno Avenue on First Fridays 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 — Eucharistic adoration takes place every Tuesday at St. Anthony Church, 126 School Street, following the 8 a.m. Mass with prayers including the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for vocations, concluding at 6 p.m. with Chaplet of St. Anthony and Benediction. Recitation of the rosary for peace is prayed Monday through Saturday at 7:30 a.m. prior to the 8 a.m. Mass.

WAREHAM — Beginning in May, adoration with opportunities for private and formal prayer is offered on the First Friday of each month from 8:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. The Prayer Schedule is as follows: 7:30 a.m. the rosary; 8 a.m. Mass; 8:30 a.m. exposition and Morning Prayer; 12 p.m. the Angelus; 3 p.m. Divine Mercy Chaplet; 5:30 p.m. Evening Prayer; 7 p.m. sacrament of confession; 8 p.m. Benediction.

WEST HARWICH — Our Lady of Life Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Holy Trinity Parish, 246 Main Street (Rte. 28), holds perpetual eucharistic adoration.

We are a regional chapel serving all of the surrounding parishes. All from other parishes are invited to sign up to cover open hours. For open hours, or to sign up call 508-430-4716.

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

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July 2, 2010

Marian Manor to host caregivers seminar

TAUNTON — Marian Manor, 33 Summer Street, will be hosting a series of “Quarterly Caregiver Educational Seminars.” The first of these seminars will be held at Marian Manor in its main dining room July 7 at 4:30 p.m.

The presenter will be Eric Oalican of Cohen & Oalican, LLP, who will speak on

“The Importance of Having a Health Care Proxy and Why.” This presentation will cover health care proxies, and the benefits and importance of having them prepared correctly; guardianships and those circumstances when it becomes necessary; conservatorships and how they differ from guardianships.

Anyone with these and other Elder Law questions and concerns is invited to attend.

There will be a question and answer session at 5 p.m. following the presentation.

For additional information contact Marla White, R.N., director of Admissions and Case Management at 508822-4885.

multi-lingual outreach — Catholic Memorial Home in Fall River recently participated in the Portuguese-Speaking Elder Network conference held at White’s of Westport. Established in 2004, the mission of this network is to present conferences in Portuguese to educate and inform the Portuguese-speaking elder community in how to connect with local agencies to access services, and to educate themselves on their social rights. The target areas are the greater New Bedford, greater Taunton and greater Fall River Portuguese communities. From left: Jennifer Davis, assistant administrator, Catholic Memorial Home, and Christine Powers, LCSW, Catholic Memorial Home.

St. Mary’s Fund Cape Cod dinner is July 16 MASHPEE — All are invited to join Bishop George W. Coleman, for the 13th annual St. Mary’s Education Fund event on Cape Cod. The fundraiser will take place at the New Seabury Country Club on July 16, beginning with a 6 p.m. reception, followed by a gourmet dinner, silent auction and live auction.

Event chairmen, Mary Jane and Marcel Rene’ Poyant of Osterville, have been working during the past several months on behalf of the St. Mary’s Fund.

The Poyants, along with many St. Mary’s committee members are reaching out to

businesses to obtain sponsorships and auction items, as well as approaching potential contributors in support of scholarship assistance.

The St. Mary’s Education Fund provides “need-based” scholarships to children in need of financial assistance to attend one of the schools of the Diocese of Fall River. Proceeds from the event will benefit the fund.

Anyone interested in supporting the July 16 fund-raiser on Cape Cod or obtaining more information on the St. Mary’s Education Fund is encouraged to contact Jane Robin at 508-759-3566.