Anchor 06.18.10

The Anchor Diocese of Fall River

F riday , June 18, 2010

One new pastor named; five others are reassigned Father Kevin A. Cook will become pastor of Holy Family in East Taunton

By Deacon James N. Dunbar EAST TAUNTON — Father Kevin A. Cook, 38, who, since June 2007 has served as chaplain at Coyle and Cassidy High School in Taunton, part-time chaplain at Morton Hospital also in Taunton, and assistant director of Vocations for the diocese, has been appointed pastor of Holy Family Parish in East Taunton by Bishop George W. Coleman.

Effective July 14, it will be the first pastorate for Father Cook, who has also served as assistant director for vocations, and has been in residence at Annunciation of the Lord Parish in East

Taunton.

The five pastors given new assignments by Bishop Coleman include: Father Marcel H. Bouchard from pastor of Corpus Christi Parish in East Sandwich, to pastor of St. Mary-Our Lady of the Isle Parish in Nantucket. He replaces Father Paul E. Canuel who retired earlier this month. It is effective June 30.

Father George E. Harrison, from pastor, Holy Name Parish in Fall River, to pastor, Corpus Christi Parish in East Sandwich.

It is effective June 30.

Father Jay T. Maddock, pas-

tor of Holy Family Parish in East Taunton, to pastor of Holy Name Parish in Fall River. It is effective July 14.

Father Arnold R. Medeiros, pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in North Falmouth since June 2009, will also become pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Pocasset. At the latter he replaces Father John C. Donovan, who also retired this month. It is effective June 30.

Congregation of Holy Cross Father James Doherty, a former pastor who has been serving as a parochial vicar at St. Patrick’s Turn to page 18

Father Pignato receives doctorate

By Deacon James N. Dunbar

“Yes, I’m eager to get back to the Fall River ROME — Just days after receiving a doctorate Diocese come July and meet with many friends, in dogmatic theology from the Angelicum Univer- and get ready to teach at the seminary,” he said exsity in the Eternal City, Father David A. Pignato citedly. said he was anxious to return to the “But I’ll also take two trips and U.S., visit with old friends, and pretake time this summer camping pare for his teaching assignment this and hiking, as well as conducting a fall at St. John’s Seminary in Brighmission appeal as I have done durton. ing the summers,” recalling he had “It was on June 3 that I defended led one along with colleagues in the my thesis and received my degree, Ukraine. and only this morning I brought it to It will be a well-deserved break the printer for copies — which will for the 38-year-old priest, who comget the imprimatur or approval by the pleted in just two years what for most Vicariate of the Diocese of Rome,” clergymen involves a three-year Father Pignato told The Anchor in a graduate course leading to the docrecent telephone interview.

Father David A. Pignato Turn to page 15

One Step Closer — Fall River Diocesan Seminarian Christopher Peschel, right, stands with diocesan Vocations Director Father Karl Bissinger after Peschel’s recent graduation from St. Charles Borromeo College Seminary in Overbrook, Penn. He will begin his four years of theology studies at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton this fall.

Taking their summer vacations with Jesus

By Dave Jolivet, Editor NEW BEDFORD — Summertime may be a period of relaxation, rest and escape, but God doesn’t take vacations from bestowing on his children blessings and graces.

In fact, for hundreds of youngsters across the diocese, the summer months provide them with a great opportunity to include Jesus in their vacation fun.

Across the diocese, parishes and at least one parochial school, offer their young charges fun and fellowship with various Vacation Bible Schools. The themes and programs vary, but the focus is the same — God’s love for his children, and his

desire for them to grow closer to him.

Holy Family-Holy Name School in New Bedford has the unique concept of offering its students the opportunity to attend a summer Vacation Bible School that allows them to nurture their young faith and to establish and strengthen friendships with classmates they’ll spend a great deal of time with beginning with the opening of school in late August or early September.

Linda Boswell and Melanie Michaud codirect the program, themed this year the “Great Bible Reef.” The prepared Bible program Turn to page 15

Public debates casinos at Senate hearing

By Christine M. Williams Anchor Correspondent

BOSTON — Opponents of Massachusetts casinos testified to expanded gambling’s social cost at a public hearing on June 8. The issue hits close to home as two Native American tribes vie for a casino in Fall River.

Edward Saunders, executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, told The Anchor, “There is a human side to gambling. The economic problems of the Commonwealth are being put on the backs of those who can least afford to pay it. Those who are struggling see gambling as a quick

fix and a way out of their financial problems, and they’re more likely to become addicted.”

He described the way addicts suffer financially as a “snowball rolling down hill.” First, there is no money to make the car payment. Then, the vehicle is repossessed, there is no way to get to work and the person’s job is in jeopardy. Proponents of expanded gambling treat the social consequences as a “cost of doing businesses,” he said.

Saunders testified at the Senate’s public hearing — the first held since House speaker Robert A. DeLeo introduced a casino bill that would bring at

least two casinos and thousands of racetrack slot machines to the Bay State. The House bill passed on April 14. The Senate bill differs in that it provides no racetrack slots and a third casino, which the state would offer first to the Native American tribes.

Asked if there was any comfort in the absence of racetrack slots in the Senate bill, Saunders responded, “My understanding is that all casinos have slot machines.” Wherever the slots are located, they are predatory, he added.

“The citizens of the ComTurn to page 18

patrons of the arts and crafts — Young campers from last year’s Vacation Bible School at Holy Family-Holy Name School in New Bedford allow their creative juices to flow. Vacation Bible School programs have been established in parishes across the diocese to help youngsters stay connected with God and their faith through the summer months.

News From the Vatican

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June 18, 2010

Pope, at audience, asks prayers for Middle East B y Cindy Wooden C atholic News Service VATICAN CITY — At his first general audience since his trip to Cyprus, Pope Benedict XVI asked Catholics around the world to pray for peace in the Middle East and for the special Synod of Bishops on the Middle East, scheduled for October.

The synod, he said June 9, will be a chance for Catholics of different rites living in countries from Egypt to Iran to share their experiences and hopes, as well as their commitment to dialogue with other Christians, with Jews and with Muslims.

The pope said the synod should be accompanied by the prayers of all Catholics “for whom the Middle East occupies a special place in their hearts, because it was there that God made himself known to our fathers in faith.”

Political leaders around the world, he said, need to work with greater effort “so that that region can overcome the situations of suffering and conflict that still afflict it and so that, finally, peace and justice will return.”

In addition to distributing the synod’s working document to regional Church leaders at the end of his visit to Cyprus June 4-6, the pope said he had an opportunity to strengthen his relationship with Archbishop Chrysostomos II, head of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, and to visit the tiny Catholic communities on the island.

Since 1974, Cyprus has been divided between the Greek Cypriots in the South and Turkish

Cypriots in the North. Many Maronite Catholics who lived in the northern part of the island fled south and can no longer returned to their villages, some of which are occupied by troops from Turkey.

Pope Benedict said a presentation of music and dance June 5 at a Maronite school in Nicosia allowed him to see the rich spirituality, but also the suffering of the Maronites from the northern villages.

The villagers, he said, “are a people who suffer and who hope.”

“May the Cypriot people and the people of the other countries of the Middle East — with their governments and the representatives of different religions — build together a future of peace, friendship and fraternal cooperation,” the pope said.

On a hot, sunny day, with the pope wearing his widebrimmed red hat, the crowd in St. Peter’s Square was unusually colorful. Representatives of the 16 teams who played in the Clericus Cup soccer tournament for seminarians in Rome were there, as were hundreds of Italian children who had participated in a nationwide soccer tournament.

Alongside a shiny, new helicopter, there were several ambulances, not in anticipation of the sun being too hot for some of the estimated 10,000 people in the square, but so the pope could bless them. More than 300 drivers, pilots, emergency medical technicians, nurses and doctors who work for the Italian air ambulance service also were at the audience.

papal greetings y’all — Teen-age boys with the St. Maximilian Kolbe Vocations Club from the Diocese of Charleston, S.C., attend Pope Benedict XVI’s general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican recently. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Mass and Vigil give personal look at God’s servants VATICAN CITY, Zenit. org — An image of the newlyproclaimed patron of all priests was center stage June 11, hanging from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, as Benedict XVI and 15,000 priest-concelebrants closed the Year For Priests with a Mass for the feast of the Sacred Heart.

St. Peter’s Square was teeming with rows of white-vested priests from every corner of the globe, as well as 80 cardinals and 350 archbishops and bishops.

Priests began to file in at 7:30 a.m. for the 10 a.m. Mass — thousands of them have been in Rome for the three days of closing celebrations that culminated today. By 8:30, the procession was under way, and 15 minutes later, St. Peter’s bells sounded the final preparation for the Mass.

Hymns and texts alluding to the priestly vocation enabled the thousands of concelebrants and participants in this event to recollect themselves before the Eucharistic celebration.

As is customary for such events, the liturgy was carried out in several languages, with readings focusing on the theme of the Good Shepherd.

As the Mass progressed, the intense heat of a Roman late spring washed over the priests, but there was still an atmosphere of prayer and recollection as they prepared to renew their ordination vows after the Holy Father’s homily.

Benedict XVI’s words were full of encouragement for the priests. The Bishop of Rome told them that the priesthood is “a gift concealed in ‘earthen vessels’ which ever anew, even amid human weakness, makes [God’s] love concretely present in this world.”

At the end of the Mass, Bene-

dict XVI entrusted the priests of the world to the Virgin Mary, asking her help to make priests worthy of their “sublime vocation” and to protect them from the “suggestions of the Evil One.” “Not only with words but with our life,” he prayed, “we want to repeat humbly, day by day, our ‘here I am.’”

Though the service was the culminating event for the closing ceremonies, the previous night’s vigil in St. Peter’s Square also was characterized by poignant moments.

Benedict XVI participated in the vigil, answering questions off-the-cuff and encouraging the priests in their vocation.

It was also a chance for the testimony of ordinary priests to encourage their brothers. Some testimonies were given live; others were transmitted by video on giant screens in the Square.

The video testimony that drew the most applause was that of Father José María di Paola, known as Pepe, a priest who works in poor neighborhoods in Argentina.

“In my country, favelas [slums] are called villas, and in my villa, 60,000 people live,” the

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priest explained, as the screen showed images of him playing soccer with boys of the villa, celebrating Mass and taking part in a procession.

“There is overcrowding, unemployment, under-employment, migratory problems and young people suffer the problem of drugs and violence,” he said.

“Our job is to transmit a proposal from the Gospel. There are many problems, but the Catholic faith is very great.

“In this very poor place, with so many inequalities, we live our faith and, as priests, we feel happy to develop our faith here.”

The vigil drew to a close with Eucharistic adoration and Benediction, imparted by the Holy Father.

The Year For Priests thus came to its final moments in the same light with which it began: with the pope inviting his priestly brothers to Christ.

In the letter with which the Holy Father proclaimed the year, he wrote: “Dear priests, Christ is counting on you. In the footsteps of the Curé of Ars, let yourselves be enthralled by him. In this way you too will be, for the world in our time, heralds of hope, reconciliation and peace.”

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 54, No. 24

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.

Subscription price by mail, postpaid $20.00 per year, for U.S. addresses.

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

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

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The International Church

June 18, 2010

Martyred Polish priest beatified at Mass in Warsaw in front of 140,000

By Jonathan Luxmoore Catholic News Service WARSAW, Poland — A martyred Polish priest was praised for standing against the oppressive forces of communism when he defended human rights in his sermons, during a beatification Mass in the Polish capital.

More than 140,000 people listened intently during the June 6 ceremony in Pilsudski Square as Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Saints’ Causes, recalled how Father Jerzy Popieluszko “did not yield to temptation to survive in this death camp” under communist rule.

“Father Jerzy ... helped only by spiritual means, such as truth, justice and love, demanded freedom of conscience for citizen and priest,” Archbishop Amato said of the 37-year-old priest who was linked to the Solidarity labor movement and murdered by communist secret police agents. “But the lost ideology did not accept the light of truth and justice.”

“So this defenseless priest was shadowed, persecuted, arrested, tortured and then brutally bound and, though still living, thrown into water by criminals with no respect for life, who thus left him contemptuously to his death,” he said.

More than 3,000 priests and 95 bishops were among those who attended the ceremony.

Among those in attendance were Cardinal William J. Levada, prefect of the Vatican’s Congrega-

tion of the Doctrine of the Faith, Church leaders from neighboring Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and the Czech Republic and former Solidarity leaders including Lech Walesa, past president of Poland.

The priest’s widowed mother,

30, 1984, 11 days after his abduction while returning at night from a Mass in Bydgoszcz.

The Warsaw Archdiocese launched a canonization process in 1997 and sent its 1,157-page dossier to Rome in 2001. A decree

Benedict said the priest’s “sacrificial service and martyrdom” was a “special mark of the victory of good over evil” and offered an example to Catholic clergy and laity everywhere.

Speaking at the start of the

almost a saint — Young women carry a relic of Blessed Jerzy Popieluszko through the streets of Warsaw, Poland, recently. Blessed Popieluszko, who was murdered by communist police agents in 1984, moved a step closer to sainthood during a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes. (CNS photo/Michael Wargin, East News via Catholic Press Photos)

Marianna Popieluszko, who turned 100 on June 1, led the congregation in a rosary recital before the Mass.

The bound and gagged body of the Father Popieluszko was dredged from a reservoir on the Vistula River near Wloclawek Oct.

recognizing Father Popieluszko as a martyr was issued by Pope Benedict XVI December 19. His beatification is a major step toward sainthood.

In a message to the beatification Mass from Nicosia, Cyprus, Pope

ceremony, Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz of Warsaw said Father Popieluszko had suffered “severe punishment” for his religious devotion during military service in the 1960s but had rapidly attracted a following after being assigned to

the Warsaw parish of St. Stanislaus Kostka in May 1980.

He added that the priest had been viewed as a “danger to the communist system” for his defense of human dignity and freedom of conscience, and calls for “reconciliation and peace,” and had also been aware the dangers facing him.

In his homily, Archbishop Amato said he had been reduced to tears during several visits to the crypt museum at the Church, where Father Popieluszko lies buried with a rosary given him by Pope John Paul II, who prayed at his grave in June 1987.

He added that pictures of the dead priest’s “monstrously deformed face” had recalled that of the crucified Christ, which had also been stripped of “beauty and dignity.”

“What was the reason for this great crime? Was Father Jerzy perhaps a criminal, a murderer or a terrorist?” the prefect told the thousands at the Mass.

“Far from being any of these, Father Popieluszko was simply a faithful Catholic priest, who upheld his dignity as a servant of Christ and the Church, and the freedom of those who, like him, were victimized and humiliated,” Archbishop Amato said. “But religion, the Gospel, human dignity and freedom were not concepts which suited Marxist ideology.

This was why the destructive hatred of the great liar and enemy of God was unleashed against him.”

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His Excellency, the Most Reverend George W. Coleman, Bishop of Fall River, has announced the following appointments: Rev. Marcel H. Bouchard from Pastor of Corpus Christi Parish, East Sandwich, to Pastor of St. Mary – Our Lady of the Isle Parish, Nantucket.

Rev. George E. Harrison from Pastor of Holy Name Parish, Fall River, to Pastor of Corpus Christi Parish, East Sandwich.

Rev. Arnold R. Medeiros Pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish, Pocasset, while remaining Pastor of St. Elizabeth Seton Parish, North Falmouth.

Effective June 30, 2010 Rev. Jay T. Maddock from Pastor of Holy Family Parish, East Taunton, to Pastor of Holy Name Parish, Fall River.

Rev. Kevin A. Cook to Pastor of Holy Family Parish, East Taunton.

Effective July 14, 2010 His Excellency, the Most Reverend George W. Coleman, Bishop of Fall River, has accepted the nomination of the Very Reverend Thomas P. Looney, C.S.C. Provincial of the Congregation of Holy Cross, and has made the following appointment: Rev. James Doherty, C.S.C. to Pastor of St. Mary Parish, Taunton.

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The Church in the U.S.

4

June 18, 2010

Medical college CEO talks health reform at Catholic media convention B y Sarah D upre Catholic News Service NEW ORLEANS — Dr. Wayne Riley, who is president, CEO and a professor at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., told Catholic media professionals June 4 he feels the new health care reform law was aimed mostly at reforming health insurance.

Riley spoke at a plenary session during the June 2-4 Catholic Media Convention in New Orleans.

He explained some of the changes under the law are only beginning to take place, with the majority of changes coming in 2014.

One change that will be seen September 23 of this year will be the end of restrictions on certain insurance practices, he said.

Lifetime limits no longer will be an issue, he said, and patients no longer will have to worry about coverage if they are diagnosed with cancer or other diseases that require costly procedures.

Riley said other changes include providing coverage for patients with pre-existing conditions, extending coverage for dependent children through the age of 25 and including more procedures under the descrip-

tion of preventative care.

He also admitted one major problem that has contributed to the high price of health care is that physicians do not realize how much procedures and tests cost patients.

Riley said some physicians, erring on the side of caution, prescribe extra unnecessary tests and procedures without being aware of how much they cost. These physicians must learn and become more familiar with the prices of what they prescribe, Riley said.

Other key proposals to lower costs are simplified insurance forms and electronic medical records for patients, he said.

He also touched on the lack of primary care physicians, as every year more medical students enter specialty fields where they earn higher salaries because the primary care field is less lucrative.

Riley said the problem of having fewer primary care doctors will become increasingly evident in the years ahead as all the changes outlined in the new health reform law take effect.

There will be more people with insurance and fewer physicians to care for them, he added.

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communicating on communication — Bishops engage in a conversation about Catholic communications recently with professionals attending the Catholic Media Convention in New Orleans. From left is Archbishop Richard Smith of Edmonton, Alberta; Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans; Bishop Ronald P. Herzog of Alexandria, La; and Bishop Thomas G. Doran of Rockford, Ill. (CNS photo/Nancy Wiechec)

Bishops discuss role of Catholic media with those who practice it

By Julie Asher Catholic News Service NEW ORLEANS — The bishops who met with Catholic media professionals in New Orleans June 4 said they hoped the gathering would lead to more such dialogues and pledged to report on the session to their fellow bishops.

Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans promised to propose that the bishops’ communications committee draw up a “bill of rights” of sorts outlining both the bishops’ expectations of the Catholic media’s role in the Church and what those media organizations expect of the bishops, such as access to information and Church officials.

The archbishop was joined on a panel by Archbishop Richard Smith of Edmonton, Alberta, and Bishops Thomas G. Doran of Rockford, Ill., and Ronald P. Herzog of Alexandria. Archbishop Claudio Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, was also in attendance.

The overall theme of the discussion was: “What does it mean to be a faithful Catholic media organization in the 21st century?”

The session, the first of its kind, was on the last day of the 2010 Catholic Media Convention, sponsored by the Catholic Press Association and the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals. Helen Osman, secretary for communications at the bishops’ conference, opened the dialogue.

The June 4 session — organized at the suggestion of committee members during a January meeting — focused mainly on the independence and autonomy of Catholic publications; the bishop as publisher; building trust between bishop and editor; and financial support of Catholic media.

How bishops respond to questions from the secular press and the difference between Catholic news organizations and diocesan public

relations offices were among the issues raised.

The U.S. bishops agreed that the bureaucratic nature of their national conference in Washington often makes it difficult for them to speak with one voice and said they felt someone must be empowered to give an immediate answer to journalists seeking a response on deadline. Otherwise, the credibility of the Church suffers, they said.

Questions posed to the bishops from the floor included one about how the Catholic press can report differing Church views on an issue when the bishops say one thing and other leaders in the Church have a different viewpoint.

Franciscan Father Pat McCloskey, editor of St. Anthony Messenger magazine, used coverage of health care reform as a case in point. He said many Catholic publications were criticized when they reported not just that the bishops had, in the end, rejected the reform over the abortion issue but also reported that the Catholic Health Association supported the reform measure. Can a “faithful” Catholic news organization cover both sides? he asked.

“The answer is yes,” Archbishop Aymond said. A Catholic publication must explore both sides “without bias,” he said. However, rather than just report that one group is saying this and the other is saying that, he continued, the publication also has a duty to report why the Church teaches what it teaches on a particular issue.

The archbishop said he thought how the U.S. Church handled the health reform debate “was a great tragedy” and cost the Church credibility.

Chris Gunty, associate publisher and editor of The Catholic Review in Baltimore, suggested that Catholic media organizations and the bishops need to acknowledge their interdependence,” noting that there is no Catholic paper without a Catholic community and the bish-

ops and priests “need a vehicle” to inform their people.

The bishops agreed with that view of interdependence, with Bishop Herzog adding that bishops need to trust that their editors or communications directors are competent and are not going to undermine them. He added that in a smaller diocese, like his, which does not have the bureaucratic levels of large dioceses, it is easier to have a close relationship with his editor, not to oversee what goes into the paper but to keep communication lines open.

Bryan Cones, managing editor of U.S. Catholic, asked if the Church and the Catholic media itself wouldn’t have had more credibility if, rather than the secular press, the diocesan papers and national Catholic publications had been allowed to break the story on the abuse crisis in 2002, when the U.S. scandal erupted, and now with the current abuse scandal affecting the Church in other countries.

If Catholics could have learned all about it in their own papers, Cones suggested they have trusted those papers and not have had to go to the Boston Globe, New York Times and other secular media.

Archbishop Aymond agreed.

He said that while the bishops have learned much since 2002 — going from a defensive strategy to transparency and acknowledging “our sin” — “we have hurt ourselves by the way we responded to this through the media” when the scandal erupted, he said.

In other comments during the dialogue, Bishop Doran said, “Diocesan papers are extremely important. We can’t shortchange the communications apostolate.”

Archbishop Smith said bishops and the media must be collaborators for the sake of the mission of the Church — evangelization. He added he would “share the fruits” of the dialogue with his brother bishops in Canada.

June 18, 2010

The Church in the U.S.

5

Study finds lasting problems for those conceived through sperm donation

trouble-shooting — Bishop Francois Lapierre of Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, gestures during a press conference at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ headquarters in Washington recently. Also pictured is Chicago Auxiliary Bishop John R. Manz, left, and retired Bishop Francois Gayot of Cap Haitien, Haiti. The bishops were attending a regional bishops’ consultation on migration. (CNS photo/Bob Roller)

Tackle immigration problems at economic roots, bishops say WASHINGTON (CNS) — Bishops of the United States, Canada, Central America and the Caribbean called on their governments to address the economic root causes of migration and seek policies that will help create jobs for people in their homelands.

During a regional consultation on migration held at the headquarters of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops June 2-4, Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City and bishops from Canada, Haiti and Latin America spoke with reporters about some of the issues being discussed at the meeting.

Addressing economic root causes of migration “in our mind, is the lasting and humane solution to the challenge of illegal immigration,” said Bishop Wester, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration, in a statement he read at the June 3 news conference.

“Second, we believe that all governments, not only the U.S., should look at their immigration laws and reform them in a manner which respects basic human rights,” Bishop Wester continued. The nations of the hemisphere also must “redouble their efforts against the scourge of human trafficking,” he said.

He noted that in a globalized world, where capital, communications and goods are readily exchanged, the movement of labor has not been regularized, and the impact of globalization on human beings has not been acknowledged or addressed.

“As the most powerful country in our hemisphere and a destination for migrants, the United States should lead the way in this effort by reforming immigration laws as soon as possible,” said Bishop Wester.

Guatemalan Bishop Alvaro Ramazzini Imeri said, for example, that the poor of his country have not benefited from the Central American Free Trade Agreement, known as CAFTA, which it ratified three years ago.

“The level of poverty in Guatemala is increasing,” he said.

Bishop Francois Lapierre of Saint-Hyacinthe in Canada said, “We are living an incredible contradiction. We want to live in a global economy, but every day we make it more difficult to go across the border.” In Europe, people cross borders more easily all the time, he said, but even for Canadians and U.S. citizens to visit each others’ countries, passports are now required. Mexicans now need visas to visit Canada.

Meanwhile, the Church continues to address migration-related issues from a Gospel perspective, Bishop Lapierre said, “because somebody years ago said, ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me.’”

In an interview with Catholic News Service, Bishop Ramazzini said Guatemala is reeling from the twin effects in less than a week of a volcanic eruption near the capital, Guatemala City, that coated streets and farms with inches of ash and the inundation of much of the country with up to three feet of rain by Tropical Storm Agatha. The two have destroyed many farmers’ entire production for the season, he said.

That jeopardizes their income as well as the source of affordable food for Guatemalans, he said.

At the news conference, Bishop Rafael Romo Munoz of Tijuana, Mexico, chairman of the Mexican bishops’ migration commission, said his country is becoming a collection of semi-

abandoned small towns as working-age teens and men have gone to the United States to be able to provide for women, children and elderly people left behind.

During the meeting, which was not open to reporters, participants heard reports from Church and government workers with migration-related expertise.

Speakers included directors of programs for Hispanic ministry, Church public policy and social services to migrants. A panel of U.S. federal officials, including representatives of the White House and the Border Patrol, also met with the group.

Participants included more than two dozen bishops from the United States, Canada, Haiti, Mexico and Central America and other representatives of national bishops’ conferences, including the migration program director for the Cuban bishops.

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Those who were conceived through sperm donation are more likely to experience depression, delinquency and substance abuse than their counterparts who were adopted or raised by their biological parents, according to a new survey by the New York-based Commission on Parenthood’s Future.

The survey — touted as the first representative, comparative study of the experiences of donor-conceived adults — also found greater confusion about their own identity among those conceived through sperm donation, along with significant isolation from their families and widespread concern that they might be related biologically to someone they could date.

A report on the findings, called “My Daddy’s Name Is Donor: A New Study of Young Adults Conceived Through Sperm Donation,” was published June 3 and is available online at www.familyscholars. org. The report said sperm donation “has been practiced widely in the United States and around the world for decades,” with an estimated 30,000 to 60,000 children born each year through sperm donation in the United States alone.

The study looked at a representative sample of 485 adults between the ages of 18 and 45 who said their mother used a sperm donor to conceive them, as well as comparison groups of 562 young adults who were adopted as infants and 563 young adults who were raised by their biological parents.

“We learned that, on average, young adults conceived through sperm donation are hurting more, are more confused and feel more isolated from their families,” the report said. “Donor offspring are significantly more likely than those raised by their biological parents to struggle with serious, negative outcomes such as delinquency, sub-

stance abuse and depression, even when controlling for socioeconomic and other factors.”

Although the Catholic Church considers sperm donation to be morally objectionable because it separates the unitive and procreative aspects of sexual intercourse, 36 percent of the donor-conceived respondents said they had been raised as Catholics and 32 percent said that continued to be their religious preference.

Karen Clark, a co-investigator for the study with Elizabeth Marquardt and Norval D. Glenn, said it is important for Catholics to be aware that “the donor-conceived are within your congregations, probably hiding within the Catholic community because of the shame associated with” sperm donation.

Clark, who is not Catholic, has a personal reason for wanting the views of donor offspring to become better known. She herself was conceived from a sperm donation — a fact she did not know until she was 18 and the father who raised her had died.

“I grew up in a family where it was hidden, shameful ... and I don’t want to see (others) experience that kind of stigma and shame,” she told Catholic News Service in a June 9 telephone interview. “At the same time, I don’t want to normalize the process of creating an intentional disconnect” between children and their biological parents, she added.

In addition to its effects on the well-being of the children conceived, Clark said sperm donation creates societal problems because it “commodifies human life” and confuses family relationships.

“We all have room in our hearts and in our families for all kinds of people in all kinds of capacities,” she said. “My (biological) father cannot replace my dad, but my dad can’t replace my father either.”

6

The Anchor Ending anonymous fatherhood

Last month, we noted the irony that Mother’s Day fell on the 50th anniversary of FDA’s approval of something that symbolizes the antithesis of motherhood, the birth control pill. This month, as we prepare for Father’s Day, we do it in the context of a groundbreaking study published three weeks ago on what is, in some ways, the clearest antithesis of fatherhood.

The May 31 study was entitled, “My Daddy’s Name is Donor” and was published by the Institute for American Values’ Commission on Parenthood’s Future. It looked at the issues faced by children whose fathers are anonymous sperm donors through the immoral process of artificial insemination. In the United States, anywhere from 30,000 to 60,000 children are conceived a year through secret fathers and it is believed that there are now about a million Americans who were brought into existence by these means. No one really knows the precise figures because there’s no required reporting in the fertility industry. All that is known about these nameless fathers is what is listed in the consumerist catalogs that aspiring mothers can browse in order to select the physical, racial and intellectual attributes of the unidentified father of their future child.

The 140-page study looked at 485 offspring of sperm donors, ages 18-45, and compared them to similarly-aged control groups of 562 adults adopted as infants and 563 raised by their biological parents.

There were several notable findings. The study shows that young adults conceived through sperm donation experience profound struggles with their origins and identities. We live in a society that takes genealogy seriously and in which many seek to trace their genealogy back many generations; “donor offspring” cannot even trace it back one generation on their father’s side. They may know the attributes of the designer dad their mothers selected in a catalog — if their mothers shared the information with them — but that’s it. Half of them report that they think a few times a week or more about how they were conceived. The study documents that 45 percent are troubled that they were conceived as a result of a financial transaction, and that not even their mothers know the identity of their fathers. One out of 10 confess that they believe they are a freak of nature and therefore substantially different than others.

Ignorance of their origins leads to other issues. Fifty-eight percent of sperm donor offspring say that every time they see someone who resembles them, they wonder if they are related, compared to 45 percent of adopted adults and 14 percent raised by biological parents. Forty-six percent say that they’re worried about becoming romantically attracted to or sexually involved with someone to whom they would be unknowingly related (compared to 16 percent of adopted adults and nine percent of those raised by biological parents). Sixty-nine percent confess wondering what their sperm donor’s family is like and whether they would want to have a relationship. Forty-eight percent say that they feel sad when they see friends with their biological fathers and mothers and 53 percent say that it hurts when other people start talking about their genealogical backgrounds. When asked for medical histories, they express anxiety that they simply do not know anything about their father’s side other than what was listed in the catalog their mothers perused.

Other issues flow from this confusion and anxiety about their origins. Donor offspring are significantly more likely than those raised by biological parents to struggle with criminal behavior, substance abuse, depression. They are twice as likely to have problems with the law and with drugs and 1.5 times more likely to report mental health problems than those raised by biological parents.

Those who were raised by a married set of parents also had to deal with the issues flowing from a much higher divorce rate: when a wife basically commits technological adultery with another man through the assistance of doctors, it is demonstrably unhealthy for her marital union; the study showed that 27 percent of the married heterosexual parents of the donor offspring divorce before the child turns 16, compared to 14 percent of those who were adopted.

Children born through sperm donation believe they should have a right to know the truth about their origins. About two-thirds of them believe they should have the right to know the identity of their biological father and have the opportunity to form some kind of relationship with him, to know whether they have any half-siblings and to have the chance to form a bond with them. At present in the United States, they have absolutely no such rights. Happily in recent years several nations — Britain, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland and some parts of Australia and New Zealand, all societies basically with permissive reputations with regard to bioethical mores — have banned anonymous sperm donations precisely in recognition of the rights of offspring to know their origins. They have also introduced other regulations, for example, limiting the amount of children sperm donors can genetically father, seeking to prevent one man with an attractive profile in a sperm catalog from becoming the biological father of hundreds or more children, as has happened in certain infamous cases.

The authors of the study state that the results warrant “nothing less than … a national and international debate on the ethics, meaning and practice of donor conception, starting now.” The lack of regulations for sperm donation flows from prioritizing the interests of adults without taking into consideration the legitimate rights of children conceived. The irony of the whole situation is that artificial insemination — and the whole fertility industry — is based on the premise that biological connections matter. The reason why a woman undergoes the painful and demeaning process of having a doctor inseminate her with a stranger’s sperm via medical apparatus is because she wants to have a biological relationship with a child, and not simply adopt one of the millions of children worldwide awaiting a home. That a mother who values such a biological connection with a child would participate in a system in which that child would have no relationship whatsoever with his or her biological father shows the intrinsically contradictory nature of the whole industry. Moreover, the way artificial insemination reduces fatherhood essentially to an act of masturbation in a doctor’s office, severed from any relationship with, responsibility for, knowledge of, or contact with his child and the child’s mother, is something tremendously damaging to the notion of fatherhood as a whole.

It’s time for the U.S. to start to stand up for the rights of these children. The authors of the study call on political leaders to end anonymous sperm donation and establish registries so that those born before the law is changed can find their biological relations, when mutually agreeable. They also urge that donor conception should be treated legally more like adoption, which has regulations to help it function in the best interests of children.

They advocate that health professionals discuss with potential sperm donors and parents the life experience of donor offspring, that limits be set on how many children a sperm daddy can father, and that, conscious of the genetic, heritable basis of disease, require sperm banks to track the health of donors and keep parents informed about the genetic diseases donor children may develop in the future.

They exhort religious leaders to help donor children address some of the difficulties the study shows they will have and to appeal to parents and donors to recognize the consequences of their actions in the lives of potential children. They entreat everyone to remember that such reproductive technologies generate not just babies but persons, to examine the sufferings experienced by donor children and ask, “Does a good society intentionally create children in this way?”

As we approach Father’s Day and publicly recognize the inestimable good of the relationship between children and their fathers, it is a time for all of us to appreciate how irresponsible it is — and contrary to the meaning of fatherhood — for society to continue to tolerate anonymous fatherhood any longer.

June 18, 2010

A pastor after God’s heart

Since last June, to mark the Year For Priests, behold at his Eucharistic Lord behind the taberwhich took place on the occasion of the 150th nacle door with smiles and ineffable sighs. anniversary of the birth into eternal life of St. We examined his eucharistic pastoral plan for John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests, the people of Ars, how he sought to help them I dedicated a year-long series to helping make live truly eucharistic lives. That plan took four the Curé of Ars better known and loved. As the steps. He first worked to get everyone he could Year For Priests concluded last Friday, it’s time to begin to come to Sunday Mass. Then, once evto bring this series to a close. eryone was present, he began to catechize them We began the series by focusing on St. John on what the Mass truly was: our participation in Vianney’s early life, how he learned the impor- time in the eternal actions done by Jesus during tance of the faith during the time of the fero- the Last Supper, on Calvary and from Joseph of cious anti-clerical persecutions of the French Arimathea’s sepulcher. He helped them to see Revolution. At the risk of fines, imprisonment that the Mass was the “greatest action” any of and more, the Vianney Family gave shelter to us can ever do. That led to the third step, which fugitive priests and often traveled in the dark was to take Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist hours of the night to attend their illegal Masses seriously and treat Jesus like we would anyone celebrated devoutly in out-of-the-way barns. we love. He helped them to start to make regular The young John Mary learned from all of this visits to him in the Blessed Sacrament, convincthat the Catholic faith was worth living for and ing them that the reason why Jesus’ remained dying for. He learned that the Mass was worth in the tabernacle was because he was awaiting every sacrifice and nocturnal journey to attend. our prayers. Lastly, he sought to help them to And he saw the absolutely irreplaceable value recognize that there’s nothing more important of the priest in the way his families and others we could be doing on any day of the week revered the courageous men who put their lives than coming to Mass and receiving Jesus with on the line to bring them the sacraments. All of love. By the end of his time in Ars, the vast majorthese realizations would mark his entire life. ity of the residents were daily communicants, at a We then turned to the subject of the difficul- time when in other parts of France the vestiges of ties he had to overcome to realize his priestly Jansenism had led to a situation where even cloisvocation. His lack of formal education due to tered nuns were receiving Jesus in holy Commuthe revolution’s closing all Church schools left nion only a few times a year. Jesus, working from him without the within these daily adequate intelleccommunicants, tual rudiments for was able to do the seminary studies. rest.

He struggled to I dedicated retain anything 13 articles of the taught him, not series to his fato mention obtain mous work recBy Father minimal profionciling sinners Roger J. Landry ciency in the lito God: how he turgical and theoneeded to enlogical language dure a “martyrof the Church, Latin. From his philosophical dom of waiting” for a decade until his people studies, he received the grade of a “poor student would come regularly to confession; how he to the extreme.” He was dismissed from the Ly- prepared people for the conversion by preachons theologate because he couldn’t even grasp ing, by prayer and mortification, and by pulling the Latin exam questions, not to mention answer and pushing people into the confessional onethem. In all of this, he persevered, thanks to by-one. The reason why he heard more confesprayer and to the help of his priestly mentor, Fa- sions than any priest in history was likely bether Charles Balley, who repeatedly put his rep- cause he prayed harder and more persistently utation on the line to persuade the ecclesiastical than any priest in history for the conversion of authorities that, despite Vianney’s academic dif- sinners. God rewarded his efforts and heard ficulties, he would make a good and holy priest. his prayers. We saw how he taught his people With that assurance, the vicar general of Lyons to make a good examination of conscience, admitted him to holy orders, saying, “the grace to increase their sorrow by his weeping over of God will do the rest.” We saw throughout the their sins, to acquire true purpose of amendseries how the grace of God did do the rest. ment, and to adopt a life of penance in repaWe observed how, after a brief stint as Father ration for their sins and the sins of others. In Balley’s assistant, Father Vianney was assigned short, he opened a “great hospital of souls” in to Ars, a tiny hamlet of 60 families where, as the Ars to which people flocked non-stop for more vicar general told him, there was little love for than three decades. Pope Benedict has called God. Helping the Catholics of Ars fully receive every priest to learn from the conversion of Ars and reciprocate the gift of God’s love became from a place where no one confessed to where the aim of his life. That task, however, was easi- the world came to confess what is possible for er said than done. He made all-night vigils in the them today. church praying for the conversion of his people.

We focused on St. John Vianney’s 35 years He took to the pulpit to preach about the need of battling against the devil, his concern for kids for repentance and labored for decades to put an and passion for education, his renowned charity, end to the widespread profanation of the Lord’s his preaching, his love for saints and for makday, to blasphemy, to the human destruction ing his people saints, his devotion to the Blessed wrought by the taverns, and to lust fueled above Virgin Mary, his miracles and his death and canall in the lascivious dances called the vogues. onization.

There was serious blowback. Several resiEarly in his time in Ars, he had said, “A dents fought to drive him from town. They at- good shepherd, a pastor after God’s heart, is tacked him. They insulted him. They mocked the greatest treasure that the good Lord can him. They plastered the rectory with filth from grant to a parish, and one of the most precious the farms. They invented and spread calumnies gifts of divine mercy.” In all that he did, he that he was a pervert. It got so bad that Father sought to be that type of pastor after God’s Vianney anticipated that he would eventually heart, which is why the Church now venerates be carried off from the town in handcuffs. But him as the patron saint of and model for all he persevered, out of love for the people, and parish priests. eventually — after 27 years — won almost evIt’s been a great joy for me, with you, ery resident over. His triumph is a witness to the to have spent this last year getting to know power of God’s grace, to priestly perseverance him better and love him more. Let us conand to the importance of pastoral stability. tinue to invoke his intercession for all We focused on how, as Pope Benedict said, priests, that they may share their patron’s his life was an “existence made prayer” and on awareness of how great a treasure and prethe means he employed to make his parish a gen- cious a gift their priestly ministry is, idenuine school of prayer. In contrast to many others tity themselves totally with their mission, in his day, he taught that prayer is a simple lov- and cooperate with the Lord for the salvaing contemplation, where we look at God and he tion of all his people. looks at us. His greatest catechesis of all was his Father Landry is pastor of St. Anthony of example, kneeling in front of the tabernacle and Padua Parish in New Bedford.

Putting Into the Deep

June 18, 2010

J

ohn Henry Newman wrote a friend who was upset over Newman’s plans to leave Anglican ministry: “At present I fear … [that] I consider the Roman Catholic Communion to be the Church of the Apostles, and that what grace is among us (which, through God’s mercy, is not little) is extraordinary, and from the overflowings of his dispensation.”

Newman entered the Church in 1845. In 1847 he was ordained priest in Rome, awarded a Doctorate of Divinity by Pius IX, and returned to England.

Writing in 1952, Father Joseph Keenan claimed that, following Newman, “The list of converts was so top-heavy with members of the aristocracy that Chesterton noted ‘hardly a family among the British nobility that has not given several members to the Church.’” These included 636 “titled” aristocrats, 700 clergymen, along with 1,000 members of their families, nearly 600 Oxonians and 350 Cambridge men. W.G. Campbell numbered about 800 authors and artists.

(From this Keenan infers that Newman was chiefly responsible for a “virile Catholic Literary Revival which has continued almost without

“T

7

The Anchor

The ‘preacher’s preacher’

interruption from 1845 to the else in our time. A mysterious present.” The “Pre-Raphaelite” veneration had by degrees gathand “Aesthetic” artistic moveered round him,” “as though ments inspired by Walter Pater, Ambrose or Augustine of older with their emphasis on beauty, days had appeared.” Oxford also was due in no small part to undergrads “would drop their Newman’s influence on Pater.) voices when he passed by and Yet above all Newman was gaze at him as at some appariknown — even prior to entertion, a preacher who ‘could ing the Catholic Church — as a “preacher’s preacher.” Newman The Enduring would have agreed with Importance of Vatican II’s “Decree on the Ministry and Life Cardinal Newman of Priests” (“PresbyDr. Peter J. Mango terorum Ordinis”) that preaching is the “first duty” of the sacred minister. In an age when people make the old truth new,’ and bought volumes of sermons to spoke of it as of ‘things he had read aloud to themselves and seen and known.’” one another, Newman’s serAnother reason was the mons were high on the “Nontimbre of Newman’s voice.

Fiction Bestseller’s List,” so to Matthew Arnold wrote of “the speak. A writer for the “Methcharm of that spiritual appariodist Recorder” has written, “It tion, gliding in the dim afterwas a day of spiritual giants but noon light through the aisles … Newman who o’er topped of St. Mary’s, rising into the them all.” pulpit, and then, in the most One reason for this, in addientrancing of voices breaktion to the fact that his sermons ing the silence with words and were carefully prepared, was thoughts which were a religious that Newman was perceived as music.” having “personal experience” Newman’s success was also of what he preached. A contem- due to his psychological penporary wrote that Newman’s etration, which was a type of influence was “unlike anything “spiritual surgery.” There was

no place for listeners, or readers, to hide. When preaching, “he seemed to be addressing the most secret consciousness of each of us — as the eyes of a portrait appear to look at every person in a room.”

According to Ian Ker, “There is no question that the English sermon had never before and has never since attained such psychological intensity and subtlety.” This is what makes “Newman’s Parochial and Plain Sermons” good Lenten reading. Ker adds, “Even for a public that bought volumes of sermons as eagerly as the Victorians, his Parochial and Plain Sermons achieved remarkable sales….

The preacher’s appearance and voice may have seemed ethereal to his listeners, but what also struck them — and what still strikes a modern reader — was the stark, even harsh, realism of his words …. Instead of using vague statements about love …, the sermons attempt to present ‘Christ as manifested in the Gospels … external to our own imaginings … really a living being.’”

Some years back a survey of Catholic youth surprised some.

What did young people “want” from the Church? Listed No.1: “a challenge.” Newman knew this, and preached accordingly.

Consider this line from “Sermons on Subjects of the Day”: “Virtue is its own reward, and brings with it the truest and highest pleasure; but if we cultivate it only for pleasure’s sake, we are selfish, not religious, and will never gain the pleasure, because we can never have the virtue.”

Newman knew how to uplift and console too: “We know that to holy people the very name of Jesus is a name to feed upon, a name to transport, or the name of Mary… . These are the words which can raise the dead and transfigure and beatify the living.”

One of a preacher’s greatest challenges is knowing when to afflict the comfortable, and when to comfort the afflicted.

Newman could do both.

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 third in a 10-part series.

Joseph Ratzinger: The hermeneutic of continuity

radition properly understood is, in effect, the transcendence of today in both directions. The past can be discovered as something to be preserved only if the future is regarded as a duty; discovery of the future and discovery of the past are inseparably connected, and it is this discovery of the indivisibility of time that actually makes tradition.”

On Apr. 19, 2005, white smoke curled from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, signaling “Habemus Papam!” (We have a new pope!) to the Catholic faithful. It was the day that Joseph Alois Ratzinger became the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, bringing with him a message of hope and the enduring strength that is hope’s most assured offspring.

A theologian and professor, Joseph Ratzinger was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising and was made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1977.

Under John Paul II he became Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Taking the name Benedict XVI, he has lived up to the expectations people had of him from the beginning: he has been a warrior against relativism, secularization, and a defender of tradi-

tion. He has defined his mission as fostering a “hermeneutic of continuity” for the Catholic faith as opposed to a “hermeneutic of rupture.”

The word hermeneutic can be mysterious — but it simply means interpretation.

What Benedict XVI calls for is a contemporary interpretation of our Catholic faith that aims to be continuous with our rich past. It seeks relationship not By rupture. Emphasizing always that the Church is exactly who she claims to be — the descendent of the Holy See of Peter — Papa Benedict calls us to embrace what has been called in scripture “the fullness of time.”

This is what the opening quotation means, referring to the “indivisibility of time.” If God has created all things he has also created all of time, and He created it as a whole. If it seems that there are three distinct temporal realms, past, present, and future, it is, after all, a human — and therefore, limited — perception of what God has created in completeness. Understanding that, the “indivisibility” of it, makes the pull of tradition both a backward and a forward

reach. This is the hermeneutic of continuity — a past that is remembered is a past that matters, a past worthy of redemption. A past brought into the present will affect the future and does honor to what God has created

Great Catholic Thinkers

Jennifer Pierce

in “the fullness of time.”

Mistakenly, his critics see him as an ultra-conservative backward looking pope who threatens to put the Church “back” a couple of hundred years. It’s one of those mistakes in perception that’s easy to make from a distance. The current Bishop of Rome does not look back in order to negate the present, he looks back in order to redeem it.

As Benedict XVI reaches back toward our Christian past, at a time when we all seem to suffer from a pernicious religious amnesia, he is reaching forward toward our promised Christian future. In the Encyclical Spe Salvi he writes that the “distin-

guishing mark of Christians [is] the fact that they have a future: it is not that they know the details of what awaits them, but they know in general terms that their life will not end in emptiness. Only when the future is certain as a positive reality does it become possible to live the present as well.”

He affirms this present blessing and this hoped for future as the very essence of the backward look when he further writes: “the Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known — it is one that makes things happen and is life-changing. The dark door of time, of the future, has been thrown open. The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life.”

Only those who have hope for the future can securely reach back for the past, without fear of imperfection, without fear of stagnation, without fear of being left behind. For isn’t that the basis of much of what passes for anti-traditionalist argument?

Fear that “the Church will be left behind” — that we will become “irrelevant?” We know that this cannot be so — we

know that the gates of hell will not prevail against her. Hope in the completion of the Last Judgment includes the knowledge that past injustice will be at last rectified, what Benedict XVI calls the impossible dream that all the wrongs of history will be righted. It is for that reason we should not fear looking at our past and being dissatisfied with it — that is as it should be. But it is equally as it should be that we should embrace our past because it is all a part of who we will become, not by human effort and innovation alone but through God’s covenant and abiding promise to return.

Jennifer Pierce is a parishioner of Corpus Christi in East Sandwich, where she lives with her husband Jim and two daughters. This is the final installment of the Great Catholic Thinkers series. She will soon begin a new series on Great Christian Writers.

8

I

n today’s Gospel, Jesus asks his disciples two questions: Who do the people say that I am? Who do you say that I am? Jesus knew the answers to these questions would reveal not only what the disciples were hearing about him, but also what personal image of him they were forming in their own minds.

Today, we need to ask ourselves those same questions: Who do people say that I am? Who do I say that I am? Are they the same? If not, why not? Each and every one of us must deal with these questions honestly; our answers will define our self image as a disciple and what image is perceived by others.

As disciples of Christ we should reflect an image to others that will help others through their faith journeys.

June 18, 2010

The Anchor

Who do people say that I am?

But before we can answer is the Beloved Son of God these questions, we must the Father. How we experialso answer the question: ence this truth depends on Who do I say that Jesus is? how we see ourselves as his Our own personal image of followers. If we have a poor Jesus comes from the images self image as a disciple, we have drawn upon from our Church community, as well as Homily of the Week from our own perTwelfth Sunday sonal experience of in Ordinary Time Jesus in our lives. We need only look at the

By Deacon artists over the centuPaul M. Fournier ries who have painted images of Jesus to see then we are apt to miss the how varied our own personal important message given to conceptions can be. When us by St. Paul. In today’s we think of Jesus, we form reading from Galatians, he an image in our minds and tells us that through faith we hearts based on what we are all children of God in have been taught and what Christ Jesus. He is telling us our relationship has been that if we belong to Christ, with him. then we are Abraham’s One of the most impordescendants, heirs according tant truths we have been to the promise. We are heirs taught about Jesus is that he

because we share in Jesus’ sonship just as we are heirs of our earthly parents. Through our baptism, we are coheirs with Jesus for all that our heavenly Father has promised. St. Paul tells us, all of you who have been baptized in Christ have clothed yourselves with him.

In other words, we are identified with him; we are brothers in what he is — beloved of the Father.

In the process of asking ourselves how we see Jesus and how we see ourselves as followers of Jesus, it is important that we allow our faith to influence our answers.

Seeing Jesus as the Beloved of the Father, tells us as much about who we are, as it tells us about who Jesus is. What the Scriptures and our Christian

community tell us about Jesus is not just nice historical facts or theological goodies. They are the truths of our faith to help us appreciate who we are in the sight of God and how we ought to see ourselves and one another.

As Catholic Christians, we sign ourselves with the cross of Jesus. This cross is a sign of suffering; a sign of compassion; and a sign of reconciliation; a sign that we must carry in his footsteps. On the cross, Jesus opened his arms to embrace the whole human race with divine love. On this Father’s Day, let us thank our heavenly Father for the wonderful gift of his Son. Deacon Fournier is assigned to St. Joseph and Holy Ghost parishes in Attleboro, and serves as a chaplain at Sturdy Memorial Hospital.

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. June 19, 2 Chr 24:17-25; Ps 89:4-5,29-34; Mt 6:24-34. Sun. June 20, Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Zec 12:10-11;13:1; Ps 63:2-6,8-9; Gal 3:26-29; Lk 9:18-24. Mon. June 21, 2 Kgs 17:5-8,13-15a,18; Ps 60:3-5,12-13; Mt 7:1-5. Tues. June 22, 2 Kgs 19:9b-11,14-21,31-35a,36; Ps 48:2-4,1011; Mt 7:6,12-14. Wed. June 23, 2 Kgs 22:8-13;23:1-3; Ps 119:33-37,40; Mt 7:15-20. Thur. June 24, The Nativity of John The Baptist, Is 49:1-6; Ps 139:1b-3,13-15; Acts 13:22-26; Lk 1:57-66,80. Fri. June 25, 2 Kgs 25:1-12; Ps 137:1-6; Mt 8:1-4.

E

ight years ago, during the Long Lent of 2002, I started using the phrase “Catholic Lite” to denote a cast of mind that, in my judgment, had contributed mightily to the crisis of fidelity that was at the root of clerical sexual abuse and episcopal misgovernance.

Within that mind-set, one of the fundamental questions shaping ecclesial life had become, “How little can I believe and do while still remaining a Catho-

Deep Catholicism lic?” Then as now, the question to distinguish between those struck me as not only mistaken, parts of the “Baltimore Catechism” that stood at the core of but ultimately boring. But it didn’t come from nowhere, and understanding its origins was, and is, important.

In the late 1960s, the emergence of Catholic Lite was a reaction to

By George Weigel some of the weaknesses of pre-Vatican II catechesis, and especially Christian conviction and those the kind of teaching that failed that were on the periphery. This dumbing-down tendency in catechetics received intellectual reinforcement from efforts by scholars like Karl Rahner, an influential figure at the Council, to create what the German theologian called “brief creedal statements” (three examples of which may be found at the end of Rahner’s Foundations of Christian Faith). Rahner likely meant to provide short, compelling summaries of the Creed from which the serious work of explaining Christianity to unbelievers could begin; what too many learned from efforts like his was Catholic Lite.

Catholic Lite was also informed by interpretations of the Council which held that Vatican II marked a decisive break-point with the past, and that the boundaries of faith and morals were now sufficiently elastic as to accommodate virtually any construal of what it meant to believe, pray, and

The Catholic Difference

live as a Catholic. This notion of a “council of rupture” was rejected by the 1985 Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which counterposed a “council of continuity and reform.” But traces of the mentality of rupture remained.

Catholic Lite also had a certain pastoral appeal.

During the Long Lent of 2002, and again during 2010’s Scandal Time II, I’ve been approached by concerned Catholics who begin a conversation by saying, “I’m a bad Catholic, but….” To which I invariably, and truthfully, reply, “We’re all bad Catholics ….” — before going on to make the point that holding the bar of expectation high, even knowing that we’ll fail, is the path to genuine spiritual and moral growth. Yet it’s also understandable that, in a society dominated by the culture of the therapeutic, some pastors would imagine it more, well, pastoral to prescribe Catholic Lite rather than challenging parishioners to live Catholicismin-full: understandable, but short-sighted and, in the final analysis, a disservice to Christians baptized for spiritual and moral grandeur.

What’s the alternative to Catholic Lite? I found one answer in a new book by Father Aidan Nichols, O.P., one of the intellectual adornments of

Anglophone Catholicism, who teaches at Cambridge University in England. In “Criticizing the Critics: Catholic Apologias for Today” (Family Publications), Father Nichols responds to the challenges posed (according to the book’s table of contents) by “modernists, neognostics, academic biblical exegetes, feminists, liberal Protestants, progressive Catholics, the erotically absorbed, and critics of Christendom” in a series of trenchant essays. Toward the end, he gives us a luminous description of the Catholicismin-full that we need. That kind of Catholicism is not sectarian, nor does it attempt to re-create the Catholic 1950s, “which … showed its Achilles’ heel by the manner in which its adherents subsequently fell way.”

Rather, what we should seek is: “a deep Catholicism [that] is not simply sure of its dogmatic basis and at home in its corporate memory, though these are essential. It is also profoundly rooted in the Scriptures, the Fathers, the great doctors and spiritual teachers, and receptive to whatever is lovely in the human world of any and every time and place, which the Word draws to himself by assuming human nature into union with his own divine person.”

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

June 18, 2010

Chain letter found in church pew

Friday 11 June 2010 — on — A perfect pastor celebrates the shores of Three Mile River Mass in 16 minutes or less.

— Solemnity of the Most Sacred — A perfect pastor works Heart of Jesus from 5 a.m. to midnight and frequently inspect the pews serves as the church janitor in in the church to assure that some phantom visitor has not left behind a note of dubious Reflections of a spirituality. Recently, Parish Priest I came across a chain letter in the fifth pew on

By Father Tim the left. It read: Goldrick Are you tired of your pastor’s imperfections? Is it time for a new priest? You’ve probably not his spare time. encountered a perfect pastor.

— A perfect pastor makes Perfect pastors are never as$40 a week, wears finely-cut signed to your parish, but always black suits with French cuffs, to a neighboring church. Here’s buys all the latest theology what to look for: books, and donates $100 a week

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The Ship’s Log

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The Anchor to the Catholic Charities Appeal.

— A perfect pastor has a burning desire to work with youth and spends all of his time at the Council on Aging.

— A perfect pastor is 28 years old and has been preaching for 40 years.

— A perfect pastor smiles constantly but with a straight face because he has a sense of humor that keeps him seriously dedicated to his work.

— A perfect pastor makes 27 Communion calls daily and is always available to chat whenever you happen to pop in for a Mass card.

If your pastor does not

Curriculum overhaul isn’t enough

toward women is definitely or once, I share the part of that education prooutrage of Maureen gram.”

Dowd, who brings to light a Time for a curriculum horrific case of mysogynisoverhaul. Young men everytic thuggery in a prestigious where must be taught, beyond boys’ school. platitudes, that young women he boys who would are not prey. be freshmen this fall While Dowd’s ultimate at Landon, which is in a point about the respect for wealthy Washington, DC young women is exactly suburb, had devised a game right, virtue is not effectively involving local girls. Dividtaught in a curriculum, and ing themselves into two character education cannot be teams (each with vile names) they made lists of girls with whom they wished to do crass and unseemly things.

Attributes were considered, points were assigned, and the comBy Genevieve Kineke petition began.

Well, actually, it was nipped in the left to the schools. There can bud when the details became only be spotty success at best known. The girls found out, in such isolated institutions their parents went ballistic, which are left to operate in and the matter was subject to a wider culture that winks at some school-based punishpromiscuity, laughs at fidelments that have been shroudity, and scorns integrity. ed in confidentiality. All well With the divorce rate and good, considering there escalating, the family being was nothing good about the redefined, the acceptance of endeavor. (I was actually cohabitation and the underlygratified to hear the anger in ing expectation (even within the statements given by the the family) that “all kids will girls’ fathers — the absence have sex,” what is shocking of which has led to many a about setting up a game like girl’s demise.) structure for an activity? Isn’t But then, Dowd’s final that what boys do? Haven’t paragraphs left me entirely they simply imbibed what unimpressed: secular society feeds them Jean Erstling, Landon’s through movies, music and director of communications, the internet — which are all said she was “aware of the rife with the objectification incident” but that “student records including disciplinary of women?

In this larger context, we infractions are confidential.” now have a generation introShe said that “Landon has an duced to intimacy as an act extensive ethics and characdevoid of meaning, separated ter education program which from commitment (either includes as its key tenets to partner or offspring) and respect and honesty. Civility

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The Feminine Genius

ubiquitous in the mass media.

Those who decry porn (or even promiscuity) are tarred as prudes and those who try to set standards of decency are dismissed as myopic and judgmental. To be sure, instead of shunning promiscuity, the tabloids wallow in such sagas with delight.

Sadly enough, these young men have watched how many adults around them act and applied their boy genius to the rules of the “game.” Why the shock?

Our post-Christian culture is in a process of decay and the structures that once reflected Revelation are now empty constructs peopled by non-believers. The dignity owed to girls as persons in the image of God has been eliminated and cannot be effectively replaced by book learning or secular models.

Anything short of a religious revival will be inadequate to slow the decline.

Marriage, modesty, chastity and charity are unhinged from the God who gave them meaning. Their ghostly remnants have no transcendent meaning — and our children recognize that. If girls are not raised to know the beauty of their vocation, and boys are not taught to protect and collaborate with them as coworkers in God’s vineyard, then all the angry fathers and fierce op-eds are useless to direct them otherwise.

Mrs. Kineke is the author of “The Authentic Catholic Woman” (Servant Books) and associate editor of woman.catholicexchange.com.

measure up, simply bundle him up and send him to the parish at the top of the list. In one week or less, you will receive 1,643 priests. One of them is bound to be perfect.

Do not break this chain. One parish did. They got their old pastor back in four days. Was he ever upset.

Actually, dear readers, I didn’t find this in a pew. I found it on the Internet. The author is unknown to me. I read it at a recent parish Mass concluding the observance of the Year For Priests.

Parishioners here have been praying for priests all year.

Scores of prayer cards were distributed. There was a calendar available at the door listing the name of a priest to pray for every day of the month. Prayers for priests were included every weekend in the General Intercessions, especially mentioning Father Rich Furlong and myself.

Parishioners wanted to do more. They met without my knowledge to strategize a surprise event. They came up with a plan. What more could they do?

Celebrate Eucharist together and then take their priests to lunch.

Part of my responsibility is to keep my thumb on the pulse of the parish. I sensed they were up to something. Besides, I read all about it in the parish bulletin.

Nevertheless, I was very much surprised. The church was packed. In the old days, it would have been called a Solemn High Mass. Clouds of incense rose at every occasion. There were legions of altar servers. Everything that could be sung was sung. The master of ceremonies, Greg Bettencourt, made sure that the ritual was worthy of a Pontifical Mass. I sat there, frankly, being embarrassed as people scurried about, bowing whenever they passed in front

of me. I’m not used to this sort of thing. I’m just a parish priest, not some cardinal archbishop.

Since the Mass happened to fall on the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, it was my task to commission the parish’s extraordinary ministers of holy Communion. I welcomed the opportunity. Although a priest is essential to the celebration of the Eucharist, there is a support team to assist him.

It also happened that several of the altar servers were making their debut in the sanctuary.

Who knows? Maybe there will be a priestly vocation among them. The assembly applauded the extraordinary ministers of holy Communion and the new altar servers. I was happy to escape the spotlight, if only briefly. Parishioners, in the end, gave us priests a standing ovation.

Following Mass, there was the “surprise brunch” in the Pastoral Life Center. There was a delegation of the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation and parishioner Beth Lee, the only consecrated virgin in the diocese, present among the guests.

The brunch was potluck. The tables were laden with delicious food. Children and adults ate heartily. I was delighted.

I received the spiritual gift of 335 rosaries, 95 Holy Hours, 56 days of fasting, 346 Mass Intentions, 168 novenas, 288 Divine Mercy Chaplets, 173 Masses offered, and 2,091 general prayers.

One very wise pastor I assisted as a young priest was Father John Carroll. A favorite saying of his was, “to honor one priest is to honor all priests.”

We sure needed this Year For Priests. It ends today, but I hope the prayers continue. We can still use all the prayers we can get.

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

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- Prof. Richard J. Larschan, University of Massachusetts Available at local book stores, Amazon.com, & other internet sources, or direct from Authorhouse: 1.888.280.7715

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The Anchor

June 18, 2010

Sharing, caring drives Attleboro couple

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff

values and ideals of Frederic Ozanam, the founder of St. Vincent de Paul,” Father Costa said. “The are very NORTH ATTLEBORO — While some couples concerned for other people and very good stewards look forward to spending their retirement years re- of the Vincentians. In all aspects, they are caring and laxing at home or traveling to exotic locations, John devoted parishioners.”

Even despite the state of the current economy, the and Laurette McAfee have taken the opportunity to devote more time to their beloved St. Mary’s Par- McAfees noted how people still manage to be generous to charitable organizations like St. Vincent de ish.

“Working for the parish is what keeps us young Paul.

“We organize a Brown Bag Project before and vibrant and it gives us a reason to get up in the morning and put our feet on the floor,” John said. Thanksgiving,” Laurette said. “We asked parishio“I’m getting to do things I’ve always wanted to do ners to put four items into brown paper bags to be but never had the time, and that makes a world of used to fill Thanksgiving baskets for needy families. difference. For me, it’s become a new vocation and The first year we did it, we thought we’d be lucky if we got 200 bags of groceries. We ended up getnot an avocation.”

“My parents taught us from a young age that it ting 700 bags filled with items. We tried to limit it so was important to be involved in the Church to carry people wouldn’t have to spend more than $5 or $6 on on the faith,” Laurette added. “We’ve tried to do that their items and people were so generous the project through our whole married life and we’ve tried to has really taken off.”

“Even in this bad instill that in our children economy, people can as well. You can do lots be generous,” John of things or even just little agreed. “I think that has things to help others — a lot to do with the fact there’s always someone that when people know that needs help, and it just somebody who is hurting doesn’t mean you have to or they are hurting themgive money.” selves, they find a way to It was that faith her share with someone else. parents instilled in her at They realize they may a young age that actually be hurting, but someone led to Laurette’s finding is probably hurting even her husband nearly 50 more and they’ll reach years ago. Having grown down deeper and share up in Attleboro, she met from their want rather John from nearby Wrenthan from their excess. I tham through the parish know this year in St. VinCatholic Young Adults cent de Paul we’re seeing organization. an increase in donations “This wasn’t the CYO, and I think the numbers it was the CYA group — from the Catholic Chariit was for members who ties Appeal will bear that were ages 18 to 25,” she out when all the numbers said. “It was wonderful.” are in.”

Within two years they Noting that “faith has were married and the couple joined St. Mary’s Par- Anchor persons of the week — John and always been an important Laurette McAfee. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza) part of our lives,” John ish shortly thereafter. said he and his wife previ“We still live in the same house, as a matter of fact,” John said, jokingly ously taught Faith Formation classes at the parish for nine years and he’s proud one of their daughters has adding: “We’re rather unstable.”

Although they’ve been active in countless minis- taken over the reins.

“She’s been doing it for the last 17 years now,” tries since joining the parish 46 years ago, it’s their recent charitable efforts with the St. Vincent de Paul Laurette said. “Our grandchildren are also altar servers. Even the youngest one, Abigail, will begin this Society that they’ve found the most fulfilling.

John first joined 32 years ago and has previously year now that she’s old enough.”

In fact, Laurette is elated that all three of her served as president, vice president and treasurer for the organization. He currently is the district vice children — Eileen, Lynn and Stephen — and now her grandchildren — Bryan, Kim, Caitlyn and Abipresident for the entire Attleboro area.

Laurette joined 16 years ago when they first al- gail — have remained involved and active with the lowed women to become members and is currently Church.

“As you can see, our faith has not only been the treasurer for their conference.

“The St. Vincent de Paul Society established a a strong part of our personal lives, but we’ve food panty that started about 12 years ago to deliver also extended it to our family as well,” John food to needy families,” Laurette said. “We have an- added.

Whether it’s serving as extraordinary ministers other food pantry in town named Lenore’s and during the rain last March they were completely flooded, so of holy Communion, working with the Greater they asked us if we could help with their clients until Attleboro Area Self-Sufficiency Coalition, or volthey are up and running again — so we’ve been do- unteering for various fund-raisers and benefits for the parish Women’s Guild, it’s clear that John and ing double-duty lately.”

“Lenore’s is an open pantry and they serve the Laurette McAfee are happiest when they’re helping community once a week, but we do ours on a will- others.

“We all face difficult challenges and I find the call basis,” John added. “They can get dry goods from us and vouchers are also issued every 30 days Church tends to be our rock,” John said. “I feel from the St. Vincent de Paul Society to supplement we need to espouse our faith through actions and them with perishables and things they can’t purchase share it that way so others will know there is goodness in life and love through the Church. There’s with food stamps.”

According to Father David A. Costa, pastor of St. a great deal more to our faith than just going to Mary’s Parish, it is the couple’s involvement with the Mass.”

To nominate a Person of the Week, send an email St. Vincent de Paul Society that defines them.

“They are true Vincentians, true followers of the to FatherRogerLandry@anchornews.org.

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The Anchor

June 18, 2010

It’s just par for the course

Golf Tournament,” the monsiemorial events are usugnor told me. “I was flattered, but ally reserved for those I really wish they hadn’t.” who are no longer with us. “My The annual event is routinely opinion is why not recognize very well attended by friends, great individuals when they’re still doing great things,” said Cecilia M. Felix, principal of Holy FamilyHoly Name School in New Bedford. She was referring to the annual Mgsr. Thomas J. HarBy Dave Jolivet rington Memorial Golf Tournament that greatly benefits the students and family, fire fighters, and brother staff at her school. (See advertisement below — not a bad plug priests. It doesn’t surprise me in the least. segue, if I do say so myself.)

Msgr. Harrington and I began Anyone who knows Msgr. hitting the links together a few Harrington knows exactly what years back, and we have always she’s talking about. The good had a wonderful day of golf, monsignor, now retired and conversation and laughs. We talk wailing on the saxophone at the about sports, religion and life in Cardinal Medeiros Residence in Fall River, has touched the hearts general ... all things that are a passion to him. and souls of countless men, He’s sight-challenged, meanwomen and children across this ing he can’t drive a car, but that great diocese. doesn’t stop him from adeptly He’s been a beloved pastor, taxiing me around the course fire chaplain, school chaplain in a golf cart. The first time he at Holy Family-Holy Name, a took me out, I told him, “Well, if sports enthusiast, evangelist, and we total out, at least you’re here friend. And personally speaking, to give me last rites.” No need I can add golf partner to that list. for that at all. He could drive “When Msgr. Harrington that course with no moon out at retired in 2004, there was no question that we would name our midnight.

He does request that I moniannual golf tournament after the tor the flight of his ball once he’s man who always was and still is this school’s greatest cheerleader, made his shot. I’ve been tempted, when I’m behind, to tell him “hit and a priest who taught all of us another monsignor, it’s out of to plant the seed of Jesus and let bounds,” but he’s such a nice guy, the Spirit take over and make and a golf course is an easy place things grow,” added Felix. “He for God to rocket a lightning bolt makes the simplest things the at me, that I’ve refrained — even biggest things in all he does. He if it eventually costs me an iced makes God come alive, even in coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts (or a the world of sports he loves so Coffee Coolatta for me) ... the dearly.”

“I really wish they had named price of defeat.

Through the years, the wins it the Holy Family-Holy Name

My View From the Stands

and losses have been pretty even.

There were times when I thought he may have “let” me win, but those notions were quickly dashed when he would say to me, just as I’m beginning to swing, “Are you sure you’re using the right club?” or “Be careful not to hit it too hard.” Once he started playing mindgames with me, I knew we’d have a great time from then on out.

I spoke to Msgr.

Harrington this week about his tournament coming up later this month. He said he hasn’t missed playing in one since they were named after him five years ago.

“As a matter of fact,” he was quick to point out, “my foursome won the championship two years ago.”

He plays with a college classmate from Holy Cross College, John McDonough; his nephew Peter Cain; and his niece’s husband Charlie Dolan. I asked him if anyone cried “foul”

when they won, but he replied, “No, no. We played really well that day.” I believe him.

Msgr. Harrington also mentioned a number of his brother priests have played the tourney over the years. He never offered who won though. Must be a priest thing.

He said the tourney was originally held in the fall, but now it’s a springtime event. “There’s more daylight in the spring, so there’s more time to play.”

That would make sense if I were playing, since I make the most of my golfing experience — getting the most swings for my money ... so to speak.

The good monsignor added

that the weather, for the most part, has been very cooperative.

And another nice feature about the Msgr. Harrington tourney is that a tourney within a tourney has developed, pitting fire fighters from Fall River and New Bedford, vying for their own trophy. Luckily, the retired fire chaplain is there, in case things get “too heated.”

I concur totally with Cecilia Felix, “Why wait to show appreciation for the good ones.”

Especially when he’s a beloved pastor, fire chaplain, school chaplain, cheerleader, sports enthusiast, evangelist, friend, and golf partner. It’s just par for the course.

12

The Anchor

June 18, 2010

Commercials bombard TV viewers, but FCC monitors ad time aimed at kids

By Mark Pattison Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON — The catalogs I get in my mailbox offer an intriguing six-DVD set — of 1,001 classic commercials. The price is low — lower than a single-CD offering of classic TV theme songs.

I have been tempted to plunk down some coin and make the purchase. Who wouldn’t want to see a black-and-white Speedy AlkaSeltzer traipse across the screen?

Or to sing along with the jingle “You’ll wonder where the yellow went, when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent”? And 999 other slogans and such that were collectively slammed into our skulls during our formative years.

But do I really want to pay for the privilege of watching commercials? Not having to watch commercials was supposed to have been the promise of cable TV, and that promise was never fulfilled.

I’ve grown cold to commercials — even to the TV specials touting the best commercials of the year, or the Super Bowl’s best commercials ever. Believe it or not, the networks are able to sell commercial time for a TV show that is nothing more than a glorification of commercials.

It’s almost second nature for me now to hit the mute button when the overlong commercial breaks come on during shows. I don’t need to hear the ads to figure out what they’re selling. Even if they aren’t louder than the shows themselves, I hold that individual commercials are consistently loud in the marketers’ attempt to separate their commercial from the pack.

But everybody’s doing it, so there’s no advantage.

As an adult, I can grab the remote and press “mute,” a reflex that has developed over a lifetime of growing discontent with our materialistic lifestyles.

Children, though, are a different matter. They are too young to have built up such defenses — or to decide whether they want to build up those defenses. That’s why there are mandated limits on the amount and kind of commercials that can be aired on shows tailored to children.

For one thing, the characters featured in that show cannot be used to pitch products during the show. For another, there can be no more than 12 minutes per hour of commercial time on weekdays, and 10.5 minutes per hour on weekends.

The Federal Communications Commission has dealt with stations that have violated these limits in the past, but with relatively paltry fines of $8,000. Those fines did not prove to be enough of a deterrent.

In a new round of fines issued in May, the FCC levied penalties of $25,000 to $70,000 against stations that repeatedly broke time limits.

WSOC in Charlotte, N.C., got fined $25,000 for 78 violations.

The greatest number of violations was by WBDT in Dayton, Ohio, with 164 violations bringing it a $45,000 fine.

But the highest fine was $70,000, levied against KSKN in Spokane, Wash. All of its 86 violations were judged by the FCC to be full-length commercial violations because a character from the cartoon “Yu-Gi-Oh!” appeared in ads during the show.

While the fines are substantial, they could have been even heftier.

But each of the seven stations fined turned itself in to the FCC. And, with the exception of KSKN, the ad overages were seconds over the limit.

But the fines probably won’t be a true deterrent until they start costing more than the commercial time sold that resulted in the violations.

Pattison is media editor for Catholic News Service.

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plenty of head room — Lee Pace stars in a scene from the movie “Marmaduke.” 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 Catholic News Service.

“The Karate Kid” (Columbia) Stirring, satisfying update of the 1984 hit shifts the action to modern China, where an unassuming kung fu master (Jackie Chan) teaches an undersized American boy (Jaden Smith) how to confront a bully while imparting other life lessons.

Director Harald Zwart balances fealty for the crowd-pleasing original with embellishments that, aside from a manipulative musical score, enhance the appeal of the timeless underdog story. Hard-hitting and occasionally cruel but not graphic martial arts violence, including a boy being struck across the face by an adult, the use of a crass term for the human posterior, some mild toilet humor, one instance of sexual innuendo, an unnecessary kiss between pre-teens. The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents.

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

“Killers” (Lionsgate) Very much the definition of mindless fun, only if you enjoy anything Ashton Kutcher says or does. Director Robert Luketic and screenwriters Bob DeRosa and Ted Griffin play explosions, gunfire and car crashes by rote in this combination of marital comedy and espionage thriller, very much derivative of “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” and others

of the genre, but the comic bickering between Kutcher and co-star Kathleen Heigl is usually stale and insipid. Fleeting crass language, mild sexual banter, and all violence is played for comic effect, making this acceptable for older adolescents. The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

“Marmaduke” (Fox) Small children might like this comedy based on the titular comicstrip Great Dane (voiced by Owen Wilson), but adults may find it about as charming as a bucket of doggie drool. Director Tom Dey has constructed a slapstick-laden story with the canine hero as a gangly and quite talky adolescent attempting to fit in with cliques at a dog park that represents high school, while a parallel plot has his human family (led by Lee Pace) attempting the same transformation after they move from Kansas to Southern California. Some mild scatological humor. The Catholic News Service classification is A-I

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

“Splice” (Warner Bros.)

Director Vincenzo Natali’s perverse tale of modern science run amok chronicles how genetic engineers (Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley) who create new life forms by “splicing” together genes from different animals decide to take the next step and use human genes to create “Dren” (Delphine Chaneac), a monster with the body of a beautiful woman. The trio morph into a happy if unconventional “family” until Dren grows up and her hormones start raging, with deadly results. Generally sympathetic presentation of human cloning, genetic engineering and embryo destruction; nudity; nonmarital sexual activity; rape; rough language; and bloody scenes of violence and torture. The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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

Celebrant is Father Richard E. Degagne, pastor of St. John Neumann Parish in East Freetown

13

The Anchor

June 18, 2010

Our readers respond Immigrant v. illegal immigrant I am not in total agreement with Crystal Medeiros’ assessment of who is my neighbor. It is not that we are against immigration, as we are all immigrants or descendants of them, but illegal immigration changes the picture. We are supposed to be a country of laws, which in this case justifies asking people to identify themselves when suspicion arises, whether it be for a hand gun or for an illegal entry into the country. I am sure you would agree that if I wanted to concelebrate at Mass, the priest would want to find out if I was a priest and I would need to produce a “celebret” to show that I was a priest. I am for immigration, but for legal immigration. You have to get in line. I agree with all of her references in the Gospel, but I put them in context to the question, “Are you a legal or illegal immigrant?”

Al Laurino Plymouth Telling the Word of God I am a devout Christian and a student at St. Mary’s School in Mansfield. I read Genevieve Kineke’s article “Wading Through the Scandal,” which was about sexual abuse and how the bishops and priests can help and prayers can help. I think her writing talent is cool. She is living out the Catholic Social teachings because she is telling others the Word of God. Kristin Deltano Mansfield Thank you Father Marcel Bouchard I thoroughly enjoyed Father Marcel Bouchard’s Vocational Reflection article in your May 21 edition. He neglected to mention, most likely out of humility, the role he has played as spiritual advisor to the Cape and Islands St. Vincent de Paul Society for so many years. He has been an inspiration to all the Vincentians who had the pleasure to know him and to work with him. He was always available to us, and during the six years I served as president, never missed a meeting. His homilies served to renew our spirit and determination to get to know and serve the less fortunate among us.

Our district awarded him a welldeserved and long overdue Top Hat Award in recognition of his dedicated service. Thank you, Father Bouchard.

Marty Henry Mashpee Well done recognition Thank you for writing such a wonderful article on Jean Sullivan as Anchor Person of the Week in the May 14 issue. She is my aunt and has always been and contin-

ues to be a wonderful and loving role model for my entire family.

I have always marveled at her faith. She took care of my parents during their terminal illnesses, and has impacted the lives of so many more people than she will ever know. Thank you for giving her the recognition that she truly deserves, but finds so humbling to accept.

Dara Willison Freeport, Ill. Reflecting on fatherhood There is a quote on the desk clock I have at work. It’s entitled “priorities” and reads: “A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove … but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.” Each time I look at this clock I am reminded of so many ways that a father can be important in the life of a child.

Sometimes it can be the simplest things like the precious moments between a father and child when they go fishing together or the first time dad lets go of the bicycle after the training wheels are off; the fostering moments when the child needs encouragement at the Little League games or the dance recitals; the nurturing moments when the children need their spirits lifted after a disappointment or a heart break. Father’s Day is the day we set aside to show our gratitude for all those precious moments. It’s the day we give thanks for the many ways that we have been shown that we are loved, nurtured and protected. It’s the day we say, “Thanks, dad, for choosing to give me life.”

It’s the day when we overlook the faults and failings or misunderstandings and celebrate the underlying good that is in every man who has been important in the life of a child. Today’s precious moments are tomorrow’s memories.

Make the most of today. Happy Father’s Day to all dads.

Barbara Wenc Fall River Feeding on Orthodox Catholic teachings In ever increasing numbers Catholics are being drawn to the pages of The Anchor, feeding on the pure truths of Orthodox Catholic teachings. We are most blest to have such a publication in our diocese. Father Landry’s editorial (Repairing the wounds, June 4) is a case in point of straight-from-theshoulder, honest reporting; “outing” the numerous groups/people parading as “Catholic” and misleading the public simply because of using that name. The USCCB has indeed come out in opposition to a health care bill which includes abortion and calls for all

Catholics to oppose it. Yet, I find myself disappointed that the bishops endorse any kind of nationalized health care; a major step toward socialization of America. For more than 100 years every pope has adamantly opposed socialism which inevitably leads to enslavement of a population, impoverishment, population control and harsh suppression of religion. (See China, Poland, Germany, Russia, North Korea, et al.) Our efforts as real Catholics should be actively to demand the repeal of this onerous, draconian health law. Our bishops and we, the Church militant, need to insist that the focus be on caring for those in real need — the elderly, poor, handicapped and chronically ill — rather than forcing the entire nation into a one-size-fits-all healthcare power grab. The first, firm step would be to band together and “clean house” in our state and federal legislative bodies this fall. Wouldn’t hurt to start praying more, either.

Patricia Stebbins East Sandwich The true spirit of social justice As members of St. Patrick’s Somerset Social Justice Committee, we would like to bring to your attention the letter of Patricia Stebbins of April 30, in which she states, “That is the true spirit of social justice, to give knowingly, generously and willingly to causes we believe in, as individuals.”

This is a common belief among us faithful and unfortunately this causes us to leave social justice unfulfilled. Donating to charity is strictly speaking a matter of the spirit of charity and not derived from a spirit of justice. The true spirit of social justice, different from the spirit of charity, which makes demands on all Christians beyond charitable giving, is to change those social, political, economic, cultural, and yes, even religious structures that obstruct well being and justice for all. This is a common responsibility for all Christians, and yet it is often overlooked precisely because of our mistaken impression that if we support charitable giving or if we work in a soup kitchen or some other charitable work we have fulfilled our obligations to justice.

It is akin to saying that if we feed the hungry, that is sufficient for the work of justice when what we more importantly need to do is to work to change those structures that caused the hunger in the first place. This is the matter of justice.

This work to change structures that violate justice is what the true spirit of social justice is about. In regard to the need to do the work of justice, we quote from a document written by representatives of the world’s bishops gathered in a

synod in Rome in 1971 that succinctly points out that “action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel, or in other words, of the Church’s mission for the redemption of the human race and its liberation from every oppressive situation.” It is our hope that this clarification of the difference between acts of charity and the workings of social justice may be useful to your readers and help to move all of us to follow up our works of charity with the works of justice.

George Lee Somerset Rescinding prayers after Mass didn’t boost attendance In reference to the May 28 note from diocesan history of 50 years ago about the Holy See’s making the Leonine Prayers after Mass optional, a lot of us old timers are still baffled by the action to do away the three Hail Mary’s, Hail Holy Queen, and prayers to St. Michael and the Sacred Heart. I’ve asked why? Never was a good reason given. At the time — supposedly — shortening the Mass by doing away with these beautiful and powerful prayers, and by lessening the obligation of attending Mass on most holy days; by not promoting frequent confession and by lessening Marian devotions, were to make it “easier” or “more palatable” for new, younger or fallen away Catholics to come to Mass more often. I don’t feel that happened. I’m told that during this era, guidelines were given for priestly homilies to “stick to the readings of the day.” This is fine, but what fell through the cracks were reminders

(all backed by Scripture) to give loud and clear sermons exposing the evils of abortion; the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman; the hypocrisy of pro-choice Catholics, especially politicians; and the avoidance of the modern, overwhelming sewer culture of media, movies, television and books. When is the last time powerful sermons on these topics have been heard at Mass? I hope that stronger themes will be heard at Mass, fortifying the great messages Mother Church has for us.

John F. Waygan East Falmouth A breath of fresh air Each week I look forward to receiving The Anchor. What a blessing it has been for me and many others I talk to. Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it is doing a wonderful job helping us Catholics through this very difficult period. With so much negative press regarding our Church, it’s a breath of fresh air to read The Anchor each week. Thank you for this gift to our Church.

Maryjean Cannata East Sandwich Letters are welcome but the editor reserves the right to condense or edit for clarity if deemed necessary. Letters should be typed, no longer than 100 words and should include name, address, and telephone number. Letters do not necessarily reflect the editorial views of The Anchor.

Letters should be sent to: The Anchor, Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 7, Fall River, MA 02722-0007, or emailed to: fatherrogerlandry@anchornews.org

14

The Catholic Response

June 18, 2010

Joined by priests of the world, pope leads vigil for Year For Priests B y John Thavis C atholic News Service VATICAN CITY — Meeting with nearly 10,000 priests from around the world, Pope Benedict XVI expressed the Church’s gratitude for their ministry and encouraged them to resist secularizing influences.

At a vigil in St. Peter’s Square June 10 at the end of the Year For Priests, the pope said the clergy shortage cannot be solved by turning the priesthood into merely “a normal profession, a job,” and added that today’s priests need to be on fire with love for Christ.

While he did not explicitly speak of clerical sex abuse cases, he appeared to refer to the crisis when he defended priestly celibacy. He said celibacy was a scandal for the world because it anticipates eternal life with God, a reality rejected by many people today.

The role of the faith, he said, is to announce this “great scandal” of God’s place in their lives, a task that is made more difficult by the “secondary scandals of our own inadequacies and sins.” He asked for prayers that God would free the Church from such sins.

The evening encounter featured testimonials from priests working around the world, including Latin America, France and Hollywood, Calif. When the pope arrived and rode his popemobile through the vast crowd, he was greeted with a standing ovation.

Answering five questions posed by priests, the pope began by expressing his appreciation for their work and his sympathy for the problems they face in ministering to populations that are increasingly large and fragmented.

He said today’s priests must not try to do everything, but should focus their energies in key areas: providing the Eu-

charist and the sacraments, preaching well, and helping the poor and suffering. He urged them not to neglect their own spiritual lives and, when needed, to “find the humility and the courage to rest.”

He spoke beneath a banner portrait of St. John Vianney, patron of parish priests. The pope proclaimed the yearlong focus on priestly ministry to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the saint’s death.

Several of the questions posed to the pope suggested that the world doesn’t really understand priests or the priesthood.

A priest from Slovakia, for example, said he fully appreciated the importance of celibacy, but was disturbed when reading “the many worldly criticisms of this gift.”

A Japanese priest said the very unworldly lifestyle of St. John Vianney, especially personal and sacramental penitential practices, also seem to run counter to contemporary ways of living.

In response, the pope said the Church must make clear to an often skeptical world that its practices are not designed to close priests off from people, but to direct them toward others.

An African priest said theology as taught in modern seminaries sometimes reflects modern tastes and tendencies instead of being focused on God and Jesus Christ — as if the world were judging the faith and not vice versa. He said this has led to the “spread of subjective opinions that allow the introduction, even in the church, of a non-Catholic way of thinking.”

The pope answered that this was a difficult and painful problem in the Church.

He called it an “arrogance of reason” that seeks to deny the greatness of God. Pope Benedict said he’s

seen nearly three generations of theologians come and go, including times when such “scientific” ideas appeared to gain the upper hand, but which today “have grown old, and are practically worthless today, in fact many of them seem ridiculous.” His words were greeted with applause.

All week long, priests from more than 90 countries filled the streets of Rome, attending liturgies and conferences at major churches in the city.

They spent most of their time praying, listening and chatting among each other.

Among the approximately 300 from the United States was Father Anton Quang Dinh Van of San Francesco di Paola parish in San Antonio, a native of Vietnam who has lived in the United States since 1981. He said he came to Rome to meet other priests and find better ways to “bring the Gospel to our people.”

Asked about the effect of the sex abuse scandal, he said the close of the special Year For Priests was a moment for priests to reflect on their promises.

“In every generation there is something bad, but the Holy Spirit is there to purify us.

There are many holy priests and seminarians who have dedicated themselves to God and the people. It is a very good time for priests to renew their promises,” he said.

Father Robert J. Carr, 51, the pastor of St. Benedict Parish in Somerville, Mass., said his parish had sent him to Rome to celebrate the end of the Year For Priests with the pope.

He said it meant a lot to his parishioners that he be present.

Throughout the year, he said,

“I’ve been working at being a better priest for them — supporting them, letting them know I am there for them, fostering their creativity.”

As for the sex abuse scandal coming up again during the Year For Priests, Father Carr said he didn’t think it was a coincidence.

“I think what’s going on, I think the Lord is cleaning up his church, strengthening his church because the world is heading for trouble” and holy ministers will be needed more than ever, he said.

Vatican officials and other main speakers at the closing events focused on such themes as “conversion and mission,” the priest’s configuration to Christ, priestly identity and the priest’s relationship with laypeople and bishops.

But several also mentioned the sex abuse scandal in their talks.

The pain of the clerical sex abuse crisis has led to a “providential awareness” that the priesthood must experience a season of rebirth and spiritual renewal, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, told hundreds of priests gathered at the Vatican June 9.

“We have had to experience pain because of the infidelities, sometimes very serious, of some members of the clergy, which has had a negative impact on the credibility of the church,” he said.

Cardinal Bertone reminded the priests that in May Pope Benedict had spoken to reporters of “a ‘persecution’ that was born within the Church itself” and said the experience must lead to a conversion, purification and reconciliation.

Quebec Cardinal Marc

Ouellet spoke to priests June 10 about an “unprecedented wave of challenges against the church and the priesthood following the revelation of scandals whose gravity we must recognize and sincerely work to repair.”

“But beyond the necessary purification our sins require, we must also recognize that at the present moment there is open opposition to our service to the truth and there are attacks from both outside and inside that aim to divide the church. We pray together for the unity of the Church and for the sanctification of priests, these heralds of the good news of salvation,” he said.

Cardinal Claudio Hummes, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, welcomed the many priests who traveled long distances to be in Rome for the close of the special year.

Speaking at a Mass June 9 in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, he said that while priests are called to minister to all Catholics, they have a special obligation to care for the poor who “are marginalized from the table of material, social, cultural and — often — spiritual goods.”

German Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne lamented the drop in the practice of the sacrament of reconciliation, saying it has hurt the Church and priests.

“Where a priest is no longer a confessor, he becomes a religious social worker. In fact, he is missing the experience of the greatest pastoral success, which is when he can collaborate to ensure that a sinner leaves the confessional as a sanctified person,” the cardinal said.

Year For Priests was time of grace, suffering, says Vatican newspaper B y John Thavis C atholic N ews Service VATICAN CITY — The Year For Priests, which coincided with new revelations of clerical sex abuse, has been both a time of grace and a time of suffering for the Church, the Vatican newspaper said.

“The infidelity, sometimes grave, of some priests in various parts of the world has, in fact, obscured the Church’s credibility in the eyes of many people. The wound will take time to heal, and things cannot go on as if nothing happened,” said a front-page commentary in the June 10 issue of L’Osservatore Romano.

But although some have spoken of an “annus horribilis” — a horrible year — it has actually been a year of grace, the commentary said.

“The seed that has been planted of interior renewal of priests and their more incisive witness of the Gospel will bear fruit. The time of trial has been revealed as an opportunity for greater awareness of this ministry in the Church,” it said.

The model priest — one who serves, loves and acts unselfishly — is essential to humanity as it searches for God, it said.

The article said many discussions about the priest will

continue “until the end of time,” including the priest’s identity through history and the obligation and appropriateness of celibacy. More important, it said, is the witness of priests among the people and the difference they make in people’s lives.

The price priests pay is most evident when they share people’s suffering, when they cry out against injustice, or when they defend the weak against the powerful, sometimes paying with their own lives, it said.

The commentary was signed

by Carlo di Cicco, vice director of the newspaper.

June 18, 2010

15

The Anchor

Taking their summer vacations with Jesus

Father Pignato receives doctorate

continued from page one

continued from page one

is open to all HF-HN students age three through grade eight, including children who will be entering the school for the first time this fall.

This year the program runs from June 21 through August 13, Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

“I’m beginning my seventh year with the Vacation Bible School program, and it’s been a great success every year,” said Boswell. “This year, all the religious activities will have an under the sea theme. It’s all Scripture-based, and it’s a safe place for children to come in the summer and continue their faith journey.”

In addition to the one-hour per day classroom religious instruction, the children also relate to the Bible through outdoor play, arts and crafts, science projects, movies, food, and water fun.

“All of the activities are age appropriate,” Boswell told The Anchor. “Our hope is that the children have fun and strengthen their relationship with God. We’ve had great feedback from the campers and the parents. And one of the great features is that it helps the students build friendships with their peers, with whom they’ll be attending regular school for the rest of the year.

It especially helps new students become acclimated and establish friendships.”

Boswell and Michaud are assisted by seven staff members, one parent volunteer, and one foster grandparent.

Jean Kelly, director of Religious Education for the past 15 years at St. Pius X Parish in South Yarmouth, is part of a well-established summer program. “The Vacation Bible School has been alive at St. Pius X for nearly 20 years, and it’s always been very successful,” she told The Anchor. “Families look forward to it each year, and it’s a good way to bring in families who like to be involved in parish events. Many of

the campers’ older siblings come back to help out each year.”

This year, the program is themed, “Hero Headquarters Where Kids Join Forces With God.” It runs from July 19-22 and July 26-29 from 9 a.m. until noon. It’s open to all children from kindergarten through grade six. There will be separate classes for K-grade four, and one for grades five and six.

The eight-day program is Scripture-based and this year campers will learn in depth about heroes from the Bible. “Particularly the unsung, unknown heroes,” added Kelly. “The focus is to let the children know we can all be heroes if we join forces with God.” Kelly said the attendees will participate in games and crafts related to a different Bible story each day.

Each class has a teacher and an aide and the children receive snacks, play games, participate in skits, and learn songs, “all to help bring the Bible story alive.”

There is also a guest speaker each day. “It’s someone who has participated in the parish,” said Kelly.

“The parents love this program,” she added. “The children generally ask if they can come back next year, and the parents are amazed at their children’s reaction that they’re disappointed when it’s done.”

For information on the program or to register call Kelly at 508-3940709.

“Son Quest Rainforest” is the theme of the Vacation Bible School taking place at Holy Cross Parish in South Easton. Kathy Traficanti and Terry Dotolo are the codirectors of this pre-packaged program to be held August 16-20.

Traficanti told The Anchor the parish utilizes the Vacation Bible School because, “The more things we can use in learning about God and his Word, the better.”

She said the Scripture-based

This week in 50 years ago — The second annual diocesan school picnic was held over three days at Lincoln Park in Westport. Schools were divided into three groups of approximately 6,000 students each. The students were given strip tickets to allow them to ride on the amusements, play mini golf, roller skate and bowl.

25 years ago — Hundreds of hospital workers, friends and members of the Greater Fall River community attended a Mass at St. Anne’s Church in Fall River to accompany the dedication of Saint Anne’s Hospital’s $3.3 million Harold K. Oncology/Radiation Therapy Center.

program is “a good shot in the arm in the summer for our children to get excited about Jesus and God.” Traficanti said she sent her children to Vacation Bible School and they greatly benefited from it. “It’s a lot of fun and one of the best ways for kids to continue to build their faith life.”

The South Easton program is for children in kindergarten through grade five. There is a teacher and an assistant in each grade level, and the children share in song, dance, drama, food, and crafts to help the Bible stories come alive. “We try to make it as multi-sensory as possible,” she added.

She said the whole parish gets involved. “We have teens who assist us, and the parish prayer group prays to the Holy Spirit for guidance.”

Traficanti also added that the parish priests and the parish nurses are a great help to success of the program. “The children love, it,” she said. “They want to come back the next year, and the parents are very impressed with their children’s reactions.

“Our hope is to help the children to grow in a greater love for God, become stronger in their faith, and have fun doing it.”

For information on the Holy Cross program, call Traficanti at 508-238-1663 or Dotolo at 508285-5329.

Other parishes with Vacation Bible Schools include St. Ann in Raynham, St. Nicholas of Myra in North Dighton, Holy Family in East Taunton, and St. Julie Billiart in North Dartmouth.

To find out about these programs contact the parish office. To determine if other parishes offer them, call your parish or any nearby parish.

There may be a wonderful opportunity nearby for youngsters to share their summer with Jesus.

Diocesan history 10 years ago — An eight-day Eucharistic Congress began in the diocese with pilgrimages, evenings of reflection and eucharistic adoration.

It culminated with hundreds attending an outdoor Mass celebrated by Bishop Sean P. O’Malley, OFM Cap., at Kennedy Park in Fall River.

One year ago — Bishop George W. Colman ordained Fathers Peter J. Fournier and David C. Deston Jr. at a Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River. The ordinations took place at the beginning of a Year For Priests initiated by Pope Benedict XVI, coinciding with the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests.

torate at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas — commonly called the Angelicum.

It has its historical roots in the medieval House of Studies of the Dominican Order in Rome.

“It was hard work. But I was anxious to complete it and come home and get on with the teaching assignment that was offered me by Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley two years ago,” he added.

“However,” he said, “in order to teach, the theological degree had to come first.”

He quipped that as a seminary professor he will be “The Fall River Diocese’s donation to learning.”

In June 2008, Bishop George W. Coleman assigned Father Pignato to begin the graduate studies.

That followed two years of having been secretary to the bishop, as well as serving as chaplain at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth.

His doctoral thesis, “Church — State Relations,” examines the obligations of the state towards the Church. The dissertation centers on dogmatic theology, that is, what the Church teaches as truths of the faith that must be believed.

“It was a major topic presented at the Second Vatican Council,” Father Pignato said. “But it left many questions unanswered.”

He said the printing of the thesis “is not because it will be presented for commercial use because it is so technical that the average person would not be interested or want to read it,” he said.

“However some authors have tweaked theirs” in order that it might be used as a teaching tool or reference, he added.

Father Pignato said that he will teach fundamental theology and Christology to seminarians at St.

John’s, a major seminary, where those en route to the priesthood study theology for four years.

“That comes after two years of pre-theology that includes philosophy,” he explained.

Although it will be his first full-time stint as an educator, Father Pignato feels the experience of having taught deacons in the permanent diaconate formation program as well as to Catholic high school students as part of Religious Education, “have given me a basic background I can work with as a start.”

He is no newcomer to the field of education.

A native of Foxboro, where he was a member of St. Mary’s Parish, he was educated in public schools. He graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 1992 with a degree in political science.

After studies at Boston College Law School, he entered Harvard Law School and received a law degree in 1995.

He was an associate attorney for a year in Boston before entering Mount St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., in 1996.

Then he was sent to the Pontifical North American College in Rome for five years.

“During the several years I have studied here, I have come to know Rome so well,” he noted.

One of his apostolic ministries as a seminarian there was as a tour guide at St. Peter’s Basilica.

Father Pignato was also an Anchor columnist from 2005-07.

He was ordained to the priesthood in July 2001 by then-Bishop O’Malley. He ministered as a parochial vicar at St. Julie Billiart Parish in North Dartmouth, prior to becoming secretary to Bishop Coleman in 2004.

16

Youth Pages

fair weather fans — Channel 12 Meteorologist Michelle Muscatello visited students at St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro. Some of the students have been studying the weather in class. The students had an opportunity to simulate a tornado with soda bottles and water, and see some of the tools Muscatello uses daily in her weather reports. The presentation ended with a question and answer session.

June 18, 2010

sporting chance — Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth recently announced the school has appointed Ryan Sylvia athletic director to replace Peter Shaughnessy who is moving into the role of principal effective July 1.

Sylvia, a graduate of Springfield College, has a master’s of Education degree in Athletic Administration. “I am eager to continue my career on the SouthCoast, where I grew up and competed in interscholastic athletics,” said Shaughnessy.

“I look forward to being part of a school with a strong academic and athletic tradition.”

brushing up — Several students spent an afternoon painting pottery with first-grade teacher Ms. Powell from St. Mary’s School in Mansfield. The outing was an auction item offered at the Spring Gala in March.

using their heads — Bishop Feehan High School seniors, Kevin Boland, Brendan Burke, and Nicole Daly coordinated a fund-raising basketball tournament called “Hoops for Helmets” to help raise money for Markman Daycare. It started as part of a Social Justice/ Service class. The three students left campus twice a week to volunteer their services in different venues in the city. While at Markman Daycare, they noticed that the daycare had more than 30 bikes, but only four helmets. They raised more than $200 for Markman Daycare to buy more helmets for their children. Principal Bill Runey presents a check to Debbie Roux of Markman Daycare. From left: Brendan Burke, Kevin Boland, Runey, Roux, and Nicole Daly.

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

Y

ou have to think outside the box. I love telling my students that. I often use the story of the two black pebbles to make the point that the best answer is often the option you weren’t aware of.

The story is told of an old man and his beautiful daughter who loved each other very much.

The old man was poor and in debt, and the money lender came demanding his payment, but the old man had nothing to repay him with. The money lender tried to bargain for the old man’s daughter, but they would not hear of such a vile suggestion. So the money lender offered to leave it to chance. He offered to put two pebbles inside a bag, one white and one black, and let the girl choose a pebble. If she chose the white pebble, the debt would be cancelled and the daughter could stay with her father. But if she chose the black pebble she would have to marry the money lender, and the father’s debt would again be cancelled. If they wouldn’t play the game, the money lender would have the father thrown in prison.

The daughter agreed to the game of chance. However, as she

17

Youth Pages

June 18, 2010

Think outside the box

watched the money lender put the lunch period without a priest walking around the cafeteria pebbles in the bag, she noticed checking in with the students or a that he put two black pebbles in sporting event, including practhe bag. She knew she couldn’t tices. That may not seem like a expose him as a liar, because he big thing, but getting to know the would imprison her father, and students is key to inviting them there was no way to smoothly closer to Christ. That’s the beauty pick up another pebble from the of having a chaplain rather than a ground without being seen.

She found her way out of the situation by thinking outside the box.

The conversations around Bishop Stang

By Jean Revil High School these days are focused on the recent decision to remove variety of priests who volunteer chaplains from the high schools in the diocese. Most of the people to say one of the whole school doing the talking are the students. Masses during the year, or hear confessions during Lent.

The current student body has The faculty, staff, and adminknown two part-time chaplains: istration of Bishop Stang High Father David Pignato who left School have worked very hard for Rome two years ago, and to build a Catholic culture in Father Jay Mello who is being transferred to St. Patrick’s in Fal- our community. The school is consecrated to the Sacred Heart mouth at the end of this school of Jesus, we have first Friday year. We have been blessed to adoration and Benediction, we have two priests who had the stress the sacraments and offer freedom in their other duties to the sacrament of reconciliation at make themselves available at a variety of times during the week. least once a week, our retreats include the opportunity for confesIt’s been a rare thing to have a

Be Not Afraid

sion and a celebration of Mass, we begin each day, before school even starts, with either prayer or Mass, and we encourage our students to pray about their vocations. All of this becomes either impossible or difficult without a chaplain. Our students respond well to this environment, which is not always one they are familiar with, because they develop a relationship with Father Jay, or Father Dave, or Father Craig, or Father Steve.

You get the idea.

We currently have one alumnus studying for the priesthood in Rome. He will be ordained a transitional deacon in October.

A 2010 graduate hopes to enter the seminary after college to become a priest in the Diocese of Providence and a third alumnus is entering religious life this year. How will we encourage vocations to the priesthood without the living example of a faithful priest as a part of our community? That, however, is where we find ourselves. We have done our best to explain to the students that there are just not enough priests, and to

remind the young men in our community that they have a duty to pray for the gift to hear God’s call, to ask the question, “What does God want for my life?”

Perhaps it’s time to think outside the box. Is there some creative solution that no one has thought of yet, because we are looking for the obvious ones?

I’m hoping and praying that there is.

The girl in the story found a solution to her dilemma by getting creative. As she reached into the bag and pulled out a pebble, she dropped it from her hand to the ground covered with pebbles.

She apologized for being so clumsy and attributed it to the fact that she was just so nervous.

She suggested, however, that the money lender would be able to tell which pebble she picked by looking inside the bag to see which pebble was left.

Let us pray for a similarly creative solution in meeting the need for chaplains in our Catholic schools.

Jean Revil teaches theology and is campus minister at Bishop Stang High School. Comments welcome at: jrevil@bishopStang.

Espirito Santo School honored as oldest Portuguese parochial school in the U.S.

By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff FALL RIVER — It was nearly a century ago on Sept. 19, 1910 that Espirito Santo School admitted its first students, becoming the first Portuguese parochial school in the United States.

Students, faculty and staff members gathered in the school auditorium June 9 with local politicians and representatives of Portuguese-American organizations to celebrate the ongoing mission of the nation’s now oldest Portuguese Catholic elementary school. The school was lauded for not only providing a superior Catholic-based education to its many students, but also for continuing to teach the Portuguese language and culture over the years.

While a more elaborate celebration and anniversary Mass are being planned for the September 19 centennial, this gala was appropriately timed to coincide with the June 10 Day of Portugal observance.

Among the guests and dignitaries present were Fernando Goncalves Rosa, chairman of the Portuguese-American Leadership Council of the United States; Portuguese Consul Graça Maria Araujo Fonseca of New Bedford; and Fall River Mayor Will Flanagan.

Flanagan, along with representatives from the Commonwealth, marked the occasion by presenting formal citations to school Principal Louise Kane and Father James Ferry, pastor of Espirito Santo Parish.

Fonseca noted how Portuguese is spoken by an estimated 240 million people in the world today and is the official language of eight countries.

“Being able to speak a second

language will help you in the future when you reach the job market,” she said.

But it was Rosa who made the biggest splash with students and staff alike, first announcing that PALCUS was officially adopting Espirito Santo School, then doling out gifts including a monetary donation from Brown University Professor Onesimo Almeida and medals and Portuguese flags for the 260 students, who proudly waved

them during the assembly.

“It’s an honor for me to come here and celebrate 100 years of your school,” Rosa said. “We recognize your efforts in promoting the culture and teaching the Portuguese language and we applaud your willingness in continuing to go forward while remembering your past.”

Several students reciprocated Rosa’s largesse with gifts of their own, including songs and speeches

PORTUGUESE PRIDE — Espirito Santo School in Fall River, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary in September, was recently honored as the oldest Portuguese parochial elementary school in the country by local officials and representatives of Portuguese-American associations.

Pictured here at the recent celebration, from left, are George Milot, school superintendent for the Fall River Diocese; Louise Kane, principal of Espirito Santo School; Fernando Goncalves Rosa, chairman of the Portuguese-American Leadership Council of the United States; and Deacon Thomas J. Souza, Espirito Santo Parish. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)

in Portuguese.

“It’s an advantage to understand two languages and two cultures — don’t ever be ashamed of your roots,” Rosa said.

“It’s great to have an ethnic school like Espirito Santo in our diocese that has kept the Portuguese culture alive for the past century,” agreed George Milot, school superintendent for the Fall River Diocese.

Louise Kane, who has been principal at Espirito Santo School for the past two years, boasted how students in grades four through eight are taught Portuguese everyday and many of her graduates will go directly into Portuguese II classes in high school because they are so proficient.

Still housed partially in a building that originally included the church on the first level, she also marveled at how the founding parishioners had the foresight from the beginning to provide space for a Catholic school for their children.

“I’m just so blessed to be here at Espirito Santo School during this exciting time for students, their families, and those who have attended the school,” Kane said.

“We’re looking forward to teaching children here for another 100 years.”

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The Anchor

June 18, 2010

One new pastor named, five others reassigned

Public debates casino at Senate hearing

continued from page one

continued from page one

in Falmouth for two years, will become pastor at St. Mary’s in Taunton. He succeeds Father William H. Kelley, CSC. It is effective June 24.

Father Cook was ordained a priest June 9, 2001 by then Bishop Sean P. O’Malley, OFM Cap., now a cardinal and archbishop of Boston.

A Boston native, he served as a parochial vicar at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in New Bedford and Father Kevin St. Patrick’s A. Cook in Wareham before taking up the high school and hospital chaplaincies.

“I’m excited because Holy Family is an extraordinary parish and Father Maddock — a great spiritual father — has done a magnificent job in the spiritual growth of parishioners, and so I’m looking forward to being a pastor there and getting familiar with all that entails,” Father Cook said in an interview.

“There are many adjustments I have to make,” he added. “And the assignment also brings mixed emotions, because I have to leave Coyle and Cassidy and the students I have come to know so well. But I have received so many good wishes and support from them and so many of their parents and teachers on my first pastoral assignment, and I feel confident because of them.”

Father Cook said Father Marcel that his minH. Bouchard istries at the school, as a hospital chaplain, and in the Vocations Office as a recruiter, “have provided a wide background of experience I feel have prepared me in many ways for becoming a pastor. But it doesn’t mean I don’t have much to learn,” he added quickly.

Father Bouchard was ordained a priest May 13, 1972 by Bishop Daniel A. Cronin. He was a parochial vicar at five parishes until becoming pastor at Sacred Heart in North Attleboro from 1988 to 1994. He has been pastor at Corpus Christi since 1994.

“It will be bittersweet saying goodbye, and when I initially announced to parishioners I would be leaving, they were very sad.

But when I told them I would be going to Nantucket, they were

all smiles,” he related to The Anchor.

“But it’s going to be good downsizing my responsibilities and I’m excited and looking forward to seeing how the Island has great crowds in summer and quiets down in the winter. Then I can catch up on my reading … and I have a bookcase of books ready.”

He said he would “miss terribly those I’ve come to know during the almost 16 years I’ve been pastor at Corpus Christi, and I have enjoyed it. But that’s a long time.

It would have been even longer if I waited until retirement, and so I asked Bishop Coleman to assign me to Nantucket.”

Father Doherty, 60, a native of Milton, entered the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1973 and was ordained to the priesthood in June 1978. He served as a pastor in Maine and Vermont; was involved in administration for 15 years at Stonehill College in North Easton, and for another five years as a director of Father James vocations.

Doherty CSC “I guess it was my time to take on a pastorate in the Fall River Diocese and of course I am looking forward to serving in whatever way and ministry I am chosen for,” he noted.

Father Harrison was ordained to the priesthood May 18, 1968

by Bishop James L. Connolly, and was a parochial vicar in six parishes before becoming the founding pastor of St. John Neumann Parish in East Freetown in 1983. In 1993 he became pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Seekonk, and in 2005 was named pastor of Holy Name in Fall River.

“Holy Name might be considered my home parish because I celebrated my first Father George Mass here E. Harrison and there are many family connections, and I will miss it and the wonderful people; but most especially the school,” Father Harrison stated.

“Seeing the formation of young people was special in my five-year pastorate here. It wasn’t that long — and I actually thought I would retire from here,” Father Harrison, who is 67, commented.

“It is never easy to leave a

community that one has grown to love,” he added. “But God has a plan, and I’m ready and willing to go to Cape Cod and participate in his plan, and take up his call. I never served on the Cape, so it will be a first for me.”

Father Maddock was ordained Father Jay a priest Aug. T. Maddock 2, 1975 by Bishop Cronin. He served as a parochial vicar at two parishes, was an administrator at three, and named pastor of St. William’s in Fall River in 1993 serving until 1997. He had been pastor at Holy Family in East Taunton since June 1997.

“It will be terribly difficult to leave such a wonderful parish with such great people after 13 years, and I will miss them. But this is what the life of a priest is all about, packing up and going where one is needed and following God’s plan,” said Father Maddock, who for more than a decade had also served in the Diocesan Tribunal.

“The time has gone by very quickly, and yet I’m looking forward with great confidence to meeting new people at Holy Name in Fall River. My whole life as a priest has been blessed and I’m s t re n g t h ened knowing how wonderful the people are wherever I’m sent.

God is good, and but for Father Arnold R. Medeiros brief assignments — in New Bedford and Swansea — I’ve spent most of my priesthood at parishes in Taunton, where I began at Sacred Heart, and in Fall River.”

Father Medeiros, who was ordained to the priesthood on May 10, 1975, has been pastor at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton since June 2009. He was pastor at St. Mary’s in Norton from 1995 to 1998 and at St. Patrick’s in Wareham from 1998 to 2009.

At St. John’s in Pocasset he succeeds Father Donovan, who had been pastor since June 1991.

“The two parishes will continue with their own staffs and deacons, but the challenge will be not only one of presence, but who’s doing what and when,” Father Medeiros said.

“I’m looking forward to it and I’m sure things will work out very well, as it has for other parishes that share a pastor.”

monwealth shouldn’t be dealt with in that way,” he said. “It’s not the way to go. The human toll on this is not being fully vetted and discussed.”

Opponents of the bill have long called for an independent cost-benefit analysis. They say the benefits have been overstated and its costs outweigh any gain.

DeLeo estimated his bill would create 15,000 jobs and bring in $300 million in tax revenue each year.

Supporters base their jobs creation and revenue claims on a study by a gaming group that considered the benefits and not the cost. The study by the Spectrum Gaming Group of New Jersey predicted high profits for Massachusetts gambling. It contended that more than half of Massachusetts residents who currently gamble out of state will stay closer to home. It also assumed that outof-staters would travel here to gamble and that Massachusetts residents would spend more money — $200 million more — on gambling.

That dependence on new gamblers has family advocates worried. The website for United to Stop the Slots in Massachusetts (USS Mass) says casinos and slots prey on the addicted, gaining the highest profits from the few who visit frequently and lose the most money. Somewhere between 70-90 percent of casinos’ profits come from 10 percent of the gamblers. Studies have shown that five years after a casino opens, the neighborhood sees an increase in robberies by 136 percent, aggravated assaults by 91 percent, auto theft by 78 percent, burglary 50 percent, larceny 38 percent and rape 21 percent.

Attorney General Martha Coakley has repeatedly stated that Massachusetts would need to toughen its wiretapping laws before legalizing casinos.

In a June 2 press release, president of USS Mass Kathleen Conley Norbut said that casino tycoons are counting on the “inevitability” of legalized high-stakes gaming. Norbut urged voters to speak out and tell their legislators that, “Now is not the time to gamble with our future.”

“Goliath hasn’t made it to the slots parlor just yet,” she added. “As the casino operators begin to move in to their hopedfor locations, opposition is of course springing up. We are working together with groups in communities to try to build this movement, from Fall River and Milford to Western Massa-

chusetts and Greater Boston.”

In Fall River, the two federally-recognized Native American tribes in the state — Aquinnah Wampanoag and Mashpee Wampanoag tribes — are sparring to build a casino there. Last month, the Mashpees reached an agreement with the city to build a resort-style casino with three hotels and a spa off Route 24. The plan would necessitate the relocation of a planned biotechnology park. The Aquinnahs have announced that the relocation would not be necessary with their plan to build a casino near Route 195.

Both tribes have expressed interest in bidding on a state casino license.

Gov. Deval Patrick has urged the city and tribes to take a step back as gambling has not yet been legalized in the Commonwealth. He added that Fall River would be one of many cities considered as a casino location.

Gov. Patrick, who introduced his own gaming bill in 2007, still supports bringing casinos to the Commonwealth and continues to oppose slot machines at racetracks. Senate President Therese Murray holds that same view. Many believe the final bill will need to be resolved in a conference committee of House and Senate leaders this summer.

Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, told The Anchor that both bills are bad for Massachusetts because they both authorize Class III gaming. He predicted that if slots were legalized, others would soon lobby for their slice of the gambling pie.

Any revenue gained would be at the cost of patrons.

Mineau said, “The losers are the ones who pay for this, and the majority of the people lose because the house always wins.

It’s an exploitation of our citizens.”

There’s still time to make a difference.

Send your donation to: Catholic Charities Appeal Office, P.O. Box 1470, Fall River, MA 02722

Blessed Mother Teresa’s relics coming to diocese NEW BEDFORD — On June 19, precious relics of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the founder of the Missionaries of Charity, will be coming to the Diocese of Fall River.

They will be available for public veneration at St. Lawrence Martyr Church in New Bedford, where Mother Teresa spoke in 1995, from before the 7 a.m. Mass until after the 4 p.m. Mass.

Missionaries of Charity Sisters from the New Bedford convent will be leading the veneration throughout the day.

The relics that are coming include Mother Teresa’s sandal, her rosary beads and her crucifix. They are traveling the world in anticipation of the 100th anniversary of Blessed Mother Teresa’s birth, which will occur on August 26 this year.

All the faithful are welcome to come to venerate the relics

In Your Prayers

Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks June 21 Rev. Owen F. Clarke, Former Assistant, St. Mary, Fall River, 1918 Rev. Desire V. Delemarre, Pastor, Blessed Sacrament, Fall River, 1926 Rev. George A. Meade, Chaplain, St. Mary’s Home, New Bedford, 1949 Rev. Francis D. Callahan, Pastor, St. Patrick, Wareham, 1948 Rev. Clement Killgoar, SS.CC., Pastor, St. Anthony, Mattapoisett, 1964 Rev. David A. O’Brien, Retired Pastor, SS. Peter & Paul, Fall River, 1976 June 22 Rev. Alexander Zichello, Pastor, St. Francis of Assisi, New Bedford, 1977 June 23 Rev. Finbarr B. McAloon, SS.CC., Retired Pastor, Holy Trinity, West Harwich, 1980 Rev. George Wichland, CSSR, St. Wenceslaus Church, Baltimore, Md., 1992 June 24 Rev. Bernard F. McCahill, Pastor, SS. Peter & Paul, Fall River, 1907 June 25 Rev. Msgr. Louis A. Marchand, Retired Pastor, St. Anthony, New Bedford, 1941 Rev. Raymond J. Hamel, Chaplain, St. Joseph Orphanage, Fall River, 1960 June 26 Rev. William Moran, Former Pastor, St. Peter, Sandwich, 1891 Rev. Charles P. Gaboury, Former Pastor, Sacred Heart, New Bedford, 1931 Rev. Msgr. Albert Berube, Retried Pastor, St. Anthony, New Bedford, 1973 June 27 Rev. John Corry, Founder, St. Mary, Taunton; Founder, St. Mary, Fall River, 1863 Rev. Dario Raposo, Pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes, Taunton, 1933 Rev. Msgr. Thomas F. Walsh, Retired Pastor, St. John the Evangelist, Attleboro, 1980 Rev. Msgr. Bernard J. Fenton, USA Retired Chaplain, Retired Pastor, St. Joseph, North Dighton, 1984

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The Anchor

June 18, 2010

and to pray through Blessed Mother Teresa’s intercession.

Mother Teresa was born to Albanian parents on Aug. 26, 1910. She founded the Missionaries of Charity, which

now has more than 4,500 Sisters worldwide, in Calcutta in 1950. She died at the motherhouse in Calcutta Sept. 5, 1997 and was beatified by Pope John Paul II Oct. 19, 2003.

Around the Diocese 6/19

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, North Front Street, New Bedford, will hold its annual two-day Polish Festival beginning at 11 a.m. tomorrow. The event is held rain or shine under big tents with plenty of entertainment, food and games until 8 p.m. A Polka Mass will kick things off Sunday at 11 a.m. and the festival will continue until 5 p.m. that day. For more information call 508-992-9378.

6/19

The third annual Walk for Life will be held tomorrow in Capron Park, Attleboro beginning at 10 a.m. Registration forms are available at local parishes. All proceeds will benefit a resource center in Attleboro for women with an unplanned pregnancy.

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.

6/19

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.

6/25

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.

The first annual My Brother’s Keeper Family Walk, “Building Community One Step at a Time,” will take place tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Stonehill College and The Sheep Pasture in North Easton. The thee-mile walk will benefit My Brother’s Keeper. For information visit MyBrothersKeeperFamilyWalk.org, or call Jim Burke at 339-9871333.

St. Vincent’s Home, Fall River, will host its second annual KickOff to Summer Celebration at the Battleship Massachusetts in Battleship Cove, Fall River, on June 25 from 6 to 10 p.m. The event will include a cocktail reception with music provided by the Compaq Big Band and a live auction hosted by Billy Costa of “The TV Diner.” For more information call 508-235-3228 or visit www.stvincentshome.org.

6/26

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

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

COURAGE, a welcoming support group for Catholics wounded by same-sex attraction who gather to seek God’s wisdom, mercy and love, will next meet on June 26 at 7 p.m. For location information call Father Richard Wilson at 508-992-9408.

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.

6/27

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.

The Cathedral Youth Choir will perform “Table for Five ... Thousand!” by Allen Pote and Tom Long on June 27 at 3 p.m. at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Fall River. The musical tells the Gospel miracle of Jesus feeding so many with a few loaves and fishes and lasts about 40 minutes. A free will offering will be accepted to benefit relief efforts in Haiti.

6/28

The Pro-Life Prayer Groups of Holy Trinity Parsh and Holy Redeemer Parish will hold a holy hour June 28 at 1 p.m. at Holy Trinity Church, Route 28, West Harwich. The rosary will be followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

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.

7/17

NEW BEDFORD — There is a daily holy hour from 5:15-6:15 p.m. Monday through Thursday at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue. It includes adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Liturgy of the Hours, recitation of the rosary, and the opportunity for confession.

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

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

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.

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.

8/16

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.

Summer Vacation Bible School for kindergarten through grade five students will be held at Holy Cross Church, 225 Purchase Street, South Easton, August 16-20 from 9 a.m. to noon. Registration forms are available at the parish office or online at www.holycrosseaston.org. For more information call 508-238-2235.

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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June 18, 2010

Mother Teresa sainthood cause awaits another miracle, postulator says NEW HAVEN, Conn. (CNS) — Father Brian Kolodiejchuk of the Missionaries of Charity, postulator for the sainthood cause of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, told a gathering at the Knights of Columbus Museum in New Haven June 1 that her cause is “still waiting for one more miracle” for her to be declared a saint.

With worldwide events now under way to mark the 100th anniversary of her birth August 26, Father Kolodiejchuk was in New Haven to talk about her life and mission as part of a current exhibit at the museum, “Mother Teresa: Life, Spirituality and Message.”

“So far, there hasn’t been one case that is strong enough to pass the medical board” of the Vatican Congregation for Saints’ Causes,

he said. “But we’re still hoping and praying.”

Father Kolodiejchuk also serves as superior general of the Missionaries of Charity Fathers, the religious order of priests founded by Mother Teresa in 1984 and now based in Tijuana, Mexico.

“Someone has to ask Mother Teresa’s intercession, then Mother Teresa has to intercede, God has to (perform) the miracle, someone has to report the miracle ... and then we can continue with the process,” he said of the canonization process.

In general, two miracles must be accepted by the Church as having occurred through the intercession of a prospective saint, one before beatification and the other before canonization.

“We get thousands of reports of favors from people praying,” he noted, “but so far, nothing that can be presented as a miracle.”

Father Kolodiejchuk said the legacy of the “saint of Calcutta” is to remind us of what it means be human — “that we are created for greater things, to love and be loved.”

“She saw the value of every human being,” he said, “and had a very deep, profound sense of the sacredness of the human being” and an understanding “that every single human being is a child of God created in the image of God.” The exhibit at the New Haven museum, which runs through October 4, chronicles Mother Teresa’s life from childhood to beatification. It includes biographical information, artifacts such as her sari and other religious and personal articles, and a full-scale replica of Mother Teresa’s room in her Calcutta convent.

“She was a woman passionately in love with Jesus,” Father Kolodiejchuk said. “She taught us that the way to our human fulfillment and happiness begins by giving oneself through love put into action through service to others” and by doing “ordinary things with extraordinary love.”